Currentpresent 5
Stargate Command,
Cheyenne Mountain
September 1997
“So, Carter, is there any reason pastfuture you didn’t just give us whatever the new 2020 service rifle was?”
After the stress of briefing the Joint Chiefs and
the President of the United States, Captain Samantha Carter had to admit that sitting around the briefing room table with a cup of coffee in hand with the rest of SG-1 felt... surprisingly comfortable. Maybe it was the fact that Colonel Jack O’Neill was a veteran special operator that preferred a more informal command style, which encouraged a tight knit bond amongst the team. It could be that compared to Daniel’s apparent nightmare of an experience with the CIA – which explained why her father kept encouraging her to
avoid working with them – her own stressful experience seemed insignificant in comparison.
She was annoyed that she hadn’t been able to get any hands on time with that Goa’uld ship, even if Teal’c called it utterly obsolete, but that was a minor thing she could probably get corrected.
“Two reasons, sir,” she replied. “First, she was prioritizing things that were fast and easily accomplished with our current technology, or absolutely necessary to the defense of the planet. Designing whole new weapon and ammunition designs take time, money, and other resources that could be used in other areas for more immediate gains. Second, because of the multiple time travel events, there was no guarantee that our doctrine would work out like it did in the pastfuture, so the actual designs from the future might not even meet our use requirements.”
O’Neill thought about that for a few seconds, then asked, “So, are we talking M14s in Vietnam…?”
“That’s actually a good parallel,” Carter admitted. “The pastfuture US military adopted a polymer cased telescoped 6.5mm round due to the US Army’s experiences in wars that probably won’t happen in this version of history. So what happens in
our history could lead us to design an entirely different round, for an entirely different purpose, for an entirely different weapon, but using the same technology.”
The colonel took a long sip of coffee, lost in thought.
“I find the openly chaotic nature of Tau’ri weapon development to be quite intriguing,” Teal’c reentered the conversation, taking a sip of his own coffee. “The Goa’uld would never allow the Jaffa to know the reasoning that produced their arms.”
“That’s one of the benefits of living in a free and open society,” Daniel said absently, checking something in the folder he’d brought to the briefing. “By sharing information on how things were accomplished, we allow people to duplicate the results of our processes, and figure out how to improve those processes.” He looked up and gave the Jaffa a wry grin. “Of course, that assumes the people in charge
want to do things better.”
“And let me tell you, Teal’c, there’s
way too many Goa’uld thinkers in government and business already,” the colonel added with somber shake of his head.
The arrival of Walter Harriman, handing out briefing folders, ended the conversation before General Hammond made his entrance.
Waving off the team’s attempt to stand, he sat down at the head of the table, placing his own copy of the briefing in front of him. “We have a lot to go through, so we might as well get started. First off, there’s still no set mission schedule for the foreseeable future, since our analysts are busy trying to combine the latest information we’ve gotten from the Asgard with the
other information you recently obtained.”
“That sounds pretty ominous, sir,” O’Neill commented.
“It gets better,” Hammond replied, opening the briefing folder. Carter and the rest of SG-1 followed suit. “The Asgard gave us a strategic overview of the galactic political situation, including information compartmentalized from even the First Primes of most Goa’uld.” Teal’c said nothing, reading the pages of the briefing intently. “Apparently, a Goa’uld named Sokar has been planning an invasion of the galaxy for centuries, building up his industry in an isolated corner of the galaxy. He has one heavily industrialized planet, his capital world of Delmak, and five nearby worlds industrialized to a mid-1800s level. Our analysts call them the Pentagram Worlds.”
Flipping from one page, which had Sokar’s emblem – a pentagon with blades sticking out of the corners – to another, Carter saw the star chart in question. Someone had helpfully labelled the planets, then drawn dotted lines between them – lines that indeed form a pentagram, one with Delmak at the center. She stared at it in disbelief.
“Sokar is a Goa'uld of ancient times. He once was ruler of the System Lords, but was defeated by an alliance of Goa'uld many centuries ago. Apophis and Ra were among his conquerors,” Teal’c ground out. Looking up, the captain found the stoic Jaffa warrior’s face to be positively grim. “If he has developed his domain as the Asgard claim, it is likely that he can conquer the rest of the Goa’uld.”
O’Neill glanced at Teal’c, then Daniel. “So, what’s this guy’s MO?”
“His name's also very old in Earth mythology. He was the most feared deity in ancient Egypt, the original God of Death,” Daniel said with a grimace. “According to the book of the dead, there was a time he ruled all of Earth. His lands around Memphis were covered by darkness and inhabited by what were described as 'serpents.'"
“Likely Unas, the first hosts of the Goa’uld,” Teal’c interjected.
“Well, that makes sense. I mean, if the Unas were the first ones, then there had to be a time when both forms of Goa'uld hosts co-existed.” Again, Daniel grimaced. “His portion of Tuat, or the otherworld, was filled with lakes of fire, where the wicked were thrown into as punishment after torture and mutilation. He was basically the original Satan.”
The colonel looked back at the image of the Pentagram Worlds, then said, “Well, at least he’s committed to the bit.”
“The Asgard tipped Ra off to Sokar’s survival centuries ago, leading to a gradual Goa’uld military buildup. Based on their signal intercepts, the Asgard say that Sokar believes he has an 8:1 advantage over the rest of the Goa’uld in ships,” Hammond continued. “However, there are a number of secret shipyards in Goa’uld territory that are pumping out ships as fast as possible, so that number is actually closer to 6:1.” He gave O’Neill and Daniel a wry look. “It turns out that the Goa’uld in the know thought Ra’s death was Sokar’s opening move, so they’ve been pulling out the stops in their military preparations, and didn’t find out any better until after Apophis attacked Abydos.”
A contemplative look crossed Teal’c’s face. “If this is true, the upcoming war amongst the Goa’uld would be catastrophic in scale. Even Sokar would suffer greatly if he prevailed.” He paused and grimaced. “Tales of Sokar’s brutality are still shared amongst Jaffa, and are comparable to the atrocities committed by Anubis. If those tales are in any way accurate, then Sokar’s victory would result in unimaginable suffering throughout the galaxy.”
“Which is why the Pentagon is trying to figure out how to best leverage our newfound knowledge,” Hammond replied, turning to Daniel. “From what I understand, Dr. Jackson, you have some information that might help in that regard.”
Pushing up his glasses, Daniel took center stage of the briefing. “After Jack, Teal’c, and I returned from Area 51, I started digging through the old files the Pentagon sent us, to find whatever it was Thor was hinting at. I think I found it.” He pulled out several sheets and passed them around. Each one was a collage of old camera footage that had been visually processed and enhanced, showing a gate address that was similar to, but distinct from the Abydos gate address. “In
1945, an American went through the Stargate to an address we didn’t get from Abydos. Now, we
know this post-dates the changes to the timeline, but this address is close enough to the one on the gate’s cover stone cartouche that it’s likely that this same event happened in the pastfuture.”
Daniel took a breath before continuing. “So the fact that this event was allowed to happen, the Asgard told us how to find it, and that Asgard didn’t send him back tells us that they likely
want us to go there for some reason.”
Everyone else looked at each other, uncertain what to make of this.
“Now, I’m completely willing to send SG-1 on a mission to retrieve this man,” Hammond began, “but is there
any way for us to get more information on this…”
“Totally bonkers situation?” O’Neill offered.
“Exactly,” the general confirmed.
“Well, sir, I managed to talk Daniel into
not jumping the gun and going over to Catherine Langford right away because we heard that the new dialing computer has a fancy database of all the planets the pastfuture SGC has visited,” O’Neill replied. “Daniel and I didn’t feel comfortable hassling Walter to teach us how to use it, but since Carter is here…”
Normally, she’d be annoyed by this kind of thing, but since she
was curious about the new system, she let it slide.
Everyone moved from the briefing room to the control room, crowding behind her as she flipped open the bound manual that had been provided for the computer. She was grateful for the detailed, full color pictures, and step by step tutorials, which she read aloud for her own benefit, as well as the rest of SG-1, but as soon as she touched the mouse, she realized her mistake. She was using a computer from
twenty-five years into the future, and as she moved the mouse quickly and easily through all the tasks, she realized that every other PC for at least a few years was going to feel terrible in comparison.
“It’s incredible how easy it is to use this,” she commented as she opened the “GateWiki” application. She had no idea what a “Wiki” was, but that was probably because of time travel related contextual issues. She clicked on the search bar at the top, like the instructions said, and a list of every symbol on the Earth gate appeared. “It even has an entirely mouse driven user interface for selecting gate addresses!”
“Look, there’s a dropdown menu option selector for… galaxies?” Looking over her shoulder, Daniel was drinking in as much as he could, and he tapped the screen where the menu option was. “It’s set to Milky Way… What’s the other option or options?”
Before she could click on it, Teal’c interjected. “Perhaps it would be advisable to
not look at the symbols for other galaxies. That would be pastfuture knowledge that might benefit our enemies in some way.”
“Good point, Teal’c,” General Hammond said. “Let’s just focus on
this specific address.”
With Daniel holding out the collage in front of her, Carter clicked the specific symbols, populating a list of gate addresses that got smaller and smaller as she progressed. “Here’s the planet – Heliopolis.” She looked at the manual, then right clicked and chose “Open in new tab.” A new page appeared, showing the gate address and a summary of the mission report, with links to the full report at the bottom of the page. “Incredible! I think this might actually be a locally hosted web site—“
“
Carter…” Colonel O’Neill growled.
“Sorry sir.” She let Daniel read off the summary, silently skimming the page for any technical details. Once he finished telling the tale of their original mission, she turned to face the rest of the team. “Sir, I think I remember seeing that the pastfuture SGC provided us with a laptop program that can dial a gate. If we have that, and bring some heavy duty batteries, we could probably get in and out fast enough to avoid any real danger.”
“General, I can get Catherine Langford inside of two hours,” Daniel said quietly. “Since she went on the mission in the pastfuture…”
The bald Texan nodded decisively. “Dr. Jackson, Captain Carter, you know what to do. I want SG-1 ready to go as soon as she arrives. Dismissed.”
Enlisting Teal’c’s help, Carter first went to MALP storage, where the pair “requisitioned” two fully charged spare MALP batteries, loading them on a cart that they rolled over to another storage room. This one held various items from the pastfuture crate that were field usable – mostly an assortment of Goa’uld weaponry, but also a few odds and ends, like portable storage drives, CDs, various tools, spare computer hardware, and an unassembled 3D printer, still in the box. Flipping through the binder containing the room’s inventory, she found what she was looking for in a small box that contained a spindle of CD-ROMs and a number of small USB devices called “flash drives.”
She assumed they were some kind of data storage device, but with the time crunch, Carter preferred to work with the tried and true CD-ROM over something that Windows 95 might not even recognize.
Digging through the CDs, she found one labelled “Version 1.0, Windows 95/98”, and pulled it, before pausing to look at some of the other labels.
“Huh, they included the source code for this,” she remarked to Teal’c.
“That is significant?” the Jaffa asked.
“Well, yes, having the source code means you have the basic building blocks of a software program and can adjust it as you see fit,” she explained, trying to keep things simple, since she wasn’t sure how much computer knowledge Teal’c had picked up in his short time on Earth. “I’m just surprised that they still had it around after 25 years. Things like this are
very easy to lose or misplace.”
“We should be grateful for the diligence and foresight of our pastfuture counterparts.” The corners of Teal’c’s mouth pulled up as he said that.
“Yes, we
should,” Carter replied with vehemence. “Do you mind taking the batteries to the gate room? I need to grab a laptop and see if I can even install this on it.”
Teal’c nodded and began pushing the cart down the corridor.
By the time she obtained the computer, installed the program, and gave it a test run, Daniel had returned with Catherine Langford, the former civilian head of the Stargate program. After a quick round of hugs and introductions, the pair of women were off to the locker room.
“For something thrown together on the fly, the amount of resources the military threw at this is impressive,” Catherine commented as she found a set of BDUs in her size.
“Well, for the first few months, we were basically running on whatever was left over from when you and General West were running things,” Carter replied, shrugging into her load-bearing vest. “That said, being a special operations command allows us to bypass a lot of military bureaucracy and procure things through alternate channels. For example, we got these boots from Magnum Boots and our load-bearing vests from Blackhawk.”
“So, where’s the penny-pinching?” the older woman asked.
“Weapons, ammunition, uniforms, and the cafeteria,” was Carter’s deadpan reply.
Once they finished, the pair headed down to the control room, where Walter was already halfway through the dialing sequence. Down in the gate room, a MALP and FRED were ready and waiting, with the FRED carrying all the supplies they would need to escape the planet. Hammond shot them a look as they entered.
“Given what’s happened on the last two missions, we’re sending the MALP through first to make sure Dr. Littlefield is even on this ‘Heliopolis,’” the general explained.
Catherine looked at SG-1, who all wore various grimaces, aside from Teal’c. “What’s he talking about?”
O’Neill looked over at Hammond, who reluctantly nodded. “Time travel stuff,” he replied. “Trust me, you’re better off not knowing the details. You’ll sleep better at night.”
Any further explanation was cut off by the kawoosh of the gate activating, and the MALP’s steady advance up the ramp and through the wormhole.
As soon as it exited the other gate, the video camera captured at least a dozen humans in metallic silver jumpsuits standing inside a gate room of hewn stone, along with various bits of equipment. Some were recognizable, like lights and carts, while the purpose of others were not so obvious, at least given the low resolution of the camera. There was an awkward pause on both sides of the camera, then General Hammond leaned over the microphone.
“This is General George S. Hammond of Earth. We are looking for an individual named Ernest Littlefield who arrived on the planet you are on. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, simply speak to our probe – it transmits audiovisual signals in real time.”
One of the silver wearing humans, a thin man with Caucasian features and black hair, approached the MALP.
“I am Narim, deputy director of this expedition.” He paused, looking over the MALP.
“The Asgard told us to expect you. Dr. Littlefield is currently busy, but I can relay any message you have to him.”
Hammond mulled that over, then asked, “Is Dr. Littlefield on that planet?”
“He is.”
“I have a team of representatives with me, including someone who knows Dr. Littlefield personally,” Hammond continued. “With your permission, I’d like to send them through the Stargate to speak with him and any representatives of your government, if available.”
“That is quite acceptable,” Narim assured him.
“Thank you. The team will be coming through shortly.” Hammond muted the microphone, then turned to SG-1. They did their best to ignore the exasperation on the general’s face as he gave out his orders. “Colonel, I want you to determine the status of Dr. Littlefield and figure out what the hell is going on here. Give me a preliminary report in two hours, and let me know if I have to make
another call to the president.”
“Yes
sir!” O’Neill replied, snapping off a salute before leading the team down to the gate room and through the gate. He quickly handled introducing the team to Narim, then asked, “Alright, can we
see Dr. Littlefield?”
“Of course,” Narim replied, seemingly unbothered by O’Neill’s brusque manner. “This way.”
“Aren’t you concerned that the structure might collapse?” Carter asked as they exited the Heliopolis gate room and began making their way through the stone castle.
A brief look of confusion crossed Narim’s face, which was quickly replaced by comprehension. “The Asgard teleported this fortress from its original foundations on the coast, to a geologically stable position far in land. There
has been some structural damage, which we are repairing, but there is no overall danger here.”
“They beamed the
entire building?” O’Neill asked, channeling the disbelief of all of SG-1 – including Teal’c, who had merely raised an eyebrow at the statement.
“The Asgard are quite advanced,” was Narim’s understated response.
“You’ve mentioned the Asgard, but nothing about your people,” Daniel observed. “We’ve also met the Asgard, Thor specifically. We’d like to open diplomatic relations with any peaceful civilization, especially if they are opposed to the Goa’uld.”
“My people are the Tollan,” Narim replied as he led them down a corner. “The Asgard first contacted us about a century ago, if I understand the calendar conversion between our planets correctly. Eventually, after formal relations were established, they informed us about the time travel events that had occurred, as well as events that had not yet occurred.” He gave them a significant look. “In the process, information you acquired allowed us to avoid the destruction of our planet.”
“Look, I’m not afraid to take credit for our pastfuture counterparts’ accomplishments,” Colonel O’Neill said, pointing at Narim, “but
you can’t hold it against currentpresent us if we’re nowhere near as cool as they were.” He paused, then added, “That’s more of a general ‘you’, not you specifically.”
“Pastfuture?” Catherine asked, perhaps a second or so before Narim could.
“It is our terminology for the previous iteration of the timeline that directly created the current one,” Teal’c explained, saving Daniel and Carter from that responsibility.
“I see, and understand the logic,” Narim replied. “As well as your concerns about your perception.” They paused before a set of stairs that led down to a room where scientists stood around a large pedestal topped by a red, glowing dome. “Dr. Littlefield is down in the library chamber.”
“Daniel, you and Catherine go on ahead. We’ll catch up with you as soon as we clear some things up with Narim here,” O’Neill said. Daniel and Catherine looked at him, and after a reassuring smile, they started down the stairs. When they were halfway down, the Colonel turned to Narim and asked, “There’s not going to be any problems regarding Ernest, right? He can come back with us if he wants, that sort of thing?”
Narim blinked, then looked at O’Neill in confusion. “I’m not an archon – a legal scholar – but it is my understanding your people have a concept called dual citizenship? Dr. Littlefield was given Tollan citizenship decades ago, and is free to go with you at any time.” Narim smiled. “In fact, the Curia – our governing body – expects him to do so, as part of our diplomatic corps.”
“That’s… good to hear,” the colonel replied. “I didn’t mean to imply anything, you understand. It’s just that my boss expects me to call him and let him know if he needs to call
his boss.” He shrugged in a “you know what I mean” way, then added, “You seem to know a lot of stuff…”
“I’m Dr. Littlefield’s deputy for this expedition,” the Tollan explained. “My government prepared me in case he stepped down and returned with you.”
“Ah,” O’Neill said. “So, when we say diplomacy, that means… what to you?”
“Obviously, a stable line of communications, and outreach efforts focusing on educating your people on advanced science necessary to safely operate and build technology to defend your planet.”
Carter’s head whipped toward her commanding officer. “Sir, this is
exactly the kind of knowledge we need. There’s entire categories of technologies that our pastfuture counterparts provided us that we can’t even
touch due to how dangerous they can be if misused.”
Teal’c shared a look with the colonel, saying, “I sense the hand of the Asgard in this. By making access to this knowledge dependent on good relations with the Tollan, it gives Stargate Command a potent weapon against any rogue elements amongst the Tau’ri.”
It didn’t surprise Carter that Teal’c could come up such an astute observation. As First Prime, he’d been in charge of Apophis’ armies, and that level of strategy required a hefty dose of analytical skill. It also helped that Teal’c was probably always on the lookout for ways to weaken the Goa’uld, in the name of Jaffa freedom.
And there was von Clausewitz’s maxim that “war is a continuation of politics by other means,” which was seeming like a universal truth at this rate.
“Good point, Teal’c,” Colonel O’Neill acknowledged, before turning his attention back to Narim. “I know Carter’s probably eager to geek out with Daniel at whatever’s in this library, so how about we continue this conversation down there,” he said, motioning towards the bottom of the stairs.
She couldn’t help rolling her eyes at that, but it was true. Any library the Tollan were interested in studying
had to be full of fascinating and possibly super-advanced information. What self-respecting scientist
wouldn’t want to spend time with such a treasure trove of knowledge?
Author's Notes: This chapter is very "don't let it (existential dread) set in," because if you're wondering why Carter doesn't know about certain things, it's because
they didn't exist at the time. That's right, Wikipedia
post-dates the premiere of SG-1, as do flash drives.
Also, big thanks to Spartan303 for passing on a video about
the uniforms of SG-1. There's a
lot going on with them, and I incorporated tidbits that made sense, but there's some bits that are just going to be "Stargate is an alt history." Like the cut of the BDU pants being different than the actual 1990s BDUs.
To be completely clear on the Tollan situtation - Sarita didn't blow up, and the planet Tollan is fine. Narim lucked out on existing in this version of the timeline, but other Tollan characters might not have been so lucky.