Stargate Through the Looking Glass and into Heaven.

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
That is progressing very nicely :) That ship looks perfect, still clearly of Asgard design but mean looking. Excellent choice.

Thanks! That particular bit of art inspired me. That and the SR71, which is just gorgeous.

Gotta look at least vaguely hammer like though.

I'm fascinated. I want to see more!

She couldn't just be trespassing in their backward without at least letting them know what's up.

Luckily for her Thor has a soft spot for enemies who go the distance :ROFLMAO:

Well time to roll out a fleet of the Culture's combat vessels for this particular snake

They ain't the only psychics that might need radioactive cleansing seeing as Jack as currently sitting opposite a little weirdo.:ROFLMAO:
 
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The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
I can't believe that plane is nearly 60 years old! Still looks pure sci-fi :)
Hope Aurora looks sufficiently awesome when it gets declassified :D



The Blackbird, Nighthawk and the B2 spirit are some of the most elegant designs ever put into the skies.

I'm thinking of doing a shoutout to the Nighthawk in the story actually. With the first space fighters being built partly out old Nighthawks since Constellation would have begun building its armament well before the president ordered it....maybe..possibly..have to read to find out :ROFLMAO:
 
Gods and Generals

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
Alright gents, new "chapter" out. The plans of patriots attempting to arrest a looming civil war are slightly revealed and we get a glimpse into the size of the Imperium's military.

Plus more Bra'tac.


Dakkara Imperial Capitol/ Crown World of the House of Ra/ Main hub of the Stargate Network: Month of Nu (Seventh Month of the Imperial Calendar) August by Tau’Ri reckoning.

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Red Continent:

He liked the red wastes, the one continent the Godhead, Amun-Ra had left as it was when the world was wrested from Ori control in the ancient past, before the dawn of his race. They were hard lands, brutal lands and due to the abundance of an odd variant of Naquadah the gravity was slightly higher than normal. Not enough to crush bone, but enough to make the Jaffa sweat a little more. He’d taken up residence in the Clerical palace on the edge of the southern most tip. There, where the frigid ocean currents carried polar winds against desert heat and created a beautiful if deadly coastal oasis. He enjoyed the Hurricanes and the cold weather reminded him of Chulak, the world of his birth and the world where events and the passing of time shaped him into a legend.

Ayyyeeee, kree, Rehu nej’yai!

The Clerics of the imperial faith and their rhythmic chants carried on desert winds swept down the walls and dunes towards the vast ocean of Jaffa youth that stood at parade.

One million in total, all of them representing the best and brightest of their respective territories. One million comprising the domains of every System Lord and their offspring who made up the middle of the nobility of the Empire. Those who aren’t System Lords in title but granted the right command their own standard in battle and to raise and equip and train Jaffa and to grant the minor nobles under their rule the rights to do the same. A class of one million that would have been one and a half, had Apophis not recalled all the Jaffa who qualified for training on Dakkara.

Half a million students, the second largest continent came from the realm of the house of Zeus, who had the third largest militia in the imperium. The third largest contingent that made up his graduating classes were always from the combined domains of the House of Ra (They outnumbered Zeus in total manpower, but the realm of the Olympians seemed to produce better soldiers even if they weren’t as well equipped or armed.), still the largest contingent always came from Cobra King. Nearly a quarter of the retired Primes who instructed here were also of the Domain of the Apophis. Perhaps the most alarming was that the academies on Chulak and other worlds within his former Lords domains produced graduating classes that averaged Dakkara in number on bad years.

Recalling those classes was bad enough, Ja’ma! Below him, drill instructors who had been primes before they retired roared into the poor ears of individual soldiers who were a microsecond slow at the call for attention, while the instructors who had been First Primes looked from the parade ground’s raised gallery with disdain. -I am preparing them for war, even though we are dedicated to the cause of peace within the Imperium-.

“They are magnificent this year-old friend.” The voice came from Se’tak somewhat short (By Jaffa standards, being nearly six six.) man of perfectly cut, short blond hair with dark eyes. Physically, he looked to be in his fifties, but he was pushing three hundred and thirty years old. A former Fleet Captain in the armada of Apophis, Se’tak retired some forty years ago and after a fifteen-year rest and time with his great grandchildren he had taken up a post as the instructor of stellar combat. The man Se’tak addressed as old friend was a seven-foot tall tanned skinned, grizzled lion of a Jaffa, whose long ashy gray hair and impressively long whisker like mustache blew in the warm wind. The black cloak he wore fluttered around his shoulders. Se’tak had known Bra’tac since he was a child and Bra’tac was a lowly common soldier. Even now, old as he was, Se’tak doubted there was anyone in the universe who could best the old War Master in a fight.

“They are indeed.” Bra’tac responded, his voice gruff as the Clerics continued their chant, blessing the legions of the Gods in their names and the names of their forebears, the Elder Gods now long dead. The Gods for whom the months of the Imperial calendar were named. “One million Jaffa who will in turn return to their domains and enrich the militias of their respective lords. We create leaders here, yet sometimes I feel like we should be preparing legions.”

Se’tak nodded. Gazing down at the parade, absorbing the chants and prayers, the benedictions heaped on the youths and remembered his own ceremony long ago. “I spent a lovely afternoon in the bank of Erjet old friend. I intend to build a retreat for myself on one of the moons orbiting Malkshor.” He waited for Bra’tac to smile and crack a joke about how his wife was going to enjoy the shops along the sea and Se’tak smiled thanked Apophis for the size of his pension and grew somewhat silent.

Small talk, two old men, great men but old none the less and friends discussing inanity was not going to be of interest to any gossip or any of the hundreds of prying eyes. “I hear the hunting on Ses’tah the sister moon of your vacation home is quite glorious” Certain words carried certain inflection, subtle changes in tone.

The stealth language of First Primes and in the case of Bra’tac one he invented all his own and shared only with the academy teachers and with Teal’c. report old friend.

“There are Ravanan Bulls that exceed eight tons in the wild, to say nothing of the lizards.” A dozen new accounts were created with various accountant guilds, the factors are concerned.

“Ja'ma! Do you still hunt those beasts with slug throwers?” How much? And where?!

“Ahh, I do enjoy the sensation of crude projectile weapons but no, a true Ravanan Bull can only be hunted with Hawks and slain with spears. Though, at my age I shall admit to using plasmic spears.” Apophis has moved some eighty billion in nine separate currencies from his personal accounts to the technologist guilds on Karnak. Enough to build fifteen thousand ground vehicles and eight hundred starships. No currency for capital ships yet, however.

Bra’tac nearly cursed out loud, instead what left his mouth was laughter and a shaking of his head. “Better plasma than shattered bones, you’ve more than acquitted yourself on great hunts in the past in any case old friend. I still recall the chase we led on Enkido” he’s adding to his already existing fleet?! He hasn’t even begun to prepare his existent forces yet; he cannot be serious…. Does he mean war irrespective of the vote a long one?!

“A hunt worthy of song that one, Herakles still speaks of it.” Unknown, his movements have become erratic and shaka wishes to meet us to discuss assemblage.”

“I seem to recall him being drunk and sleeping through most of it” He would have too, we’re the only ones left who have the experience.

Se’tak nodded. His eyes shifting from the parade ground to the dusty skies rapidly turning various shades of red as night approached. “I believe he slept through all of it old friend.” Any word from Shaun’ac?

Bra’tac shook his mighty head, laughing slightly before he threw an arm around Se’tak “Come Se’tak they are expecting a speech from both of us, and I’ve forgotten to write mine.” No, nor Aris Boch and that worries me. I will reach out to Drey’ac soon however, I..owe the girl a dialog.

The two men stepped towards the chanting clerics and the service elevator that would lower them to the parade grounds. They passed the rest of the way in silence, contemplating an uncertain future and where the chains of duty would carry them in such times.
 
Hunters Moon

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
Up next. Jack makes an unpleasant discovery, Teal'c shits a brick and everyone gets creeped out by the ten year old alien with the weird powers.

Also, they make a fateful decision that may not go exactly as planned, but still might turn out for the better.

…………

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Hunters moon.

“So that’s their camp huh?” O’Neill asked the youth who insisted on calling himself Nefreyu even though that just meant “whoops” in ancient dumbass. The Colonel’s breath rose in the midnight air, steam that filled the air like an intrusive plume of smoke. Teal’c had left with Marshal, escorting him back to the gate on a path laid out by the little kid who Jack was starting to think wasn’t entirely a kid at all. At least not in the way he understood it, there was something unnatural about the eyes that reminded him a bit of Ra and Apophis, the feeling that you were dealing with a mind that was similar enough to yours to grasp the basics but made utterly alien by the gulf of time and experiences. Though for some reason Jack had no doubt the youth was in fact a youth, it was just.

“Yes!” Nefreyu answered, crouching beside Colonel O’Neill, in the roots of an immense tree whose roots seemed to spread out for several hundred feet around it. Doc Carter and Jackson were both lurking in different roots which rose above the ground. Hiding almost like rabbits, both of them with binoculars trained on the great tents and banners that seemed to spring up in yet another meadowed clearing in the forest. O’Neill could make out some fifty or so people, mostly Jaffa dressed in what Jack assumed were the attire of various camp attendants. Not good, given the volume of Jaffa present but luckily, he could only make out six armed warriors, three wearing the bird man get up he remembered from Abydos and three which were adorned in a dark orange and red armor with lion heads instead of birds. Each group stood sentry over the mouths of the two huge ass tents that looked like something out of a historical drama about the hundred years war or something.

The banners flowing in the wind were troubling, he recognized one from Ra’s botched execution attempt on Abydos. The symbol of a Falcon -Horus- he thought, but the other. Jack had never seen that before, two pillars and between them aliens that vaguely resembled a lion and a big ass pig locked in mortal combat.

“Aslan’s a System Lord?” Jack asked bemused as Daniel and Doc Carter moved towards the duo. Jackson giving him a quizzical look causing O’Neill to roll his eyes “My kids liked Narnia Alright?”.

“Thankfully, no” Jackson said cutting off Carter’s attempts to prod O’Neill a little bit more. “But it is bad news Sir. The flag up there matches the description Teal’c gave us of the personal standard of Herakles.”

“Who?!” O’Neill asked.

“Herakles, a Demigod born to a mortal woman by Zeus the King of the Olympians and Lord of thunder. Cursed by his vengeful stepmother Hera, he was said to have killed his wife and children in a fit of madness and was.” Jack cut Daniel off as it dawned on him Herakles must have been the ancient Greek version of Hercules.

“Hercules?! That’s freak’n Hercules out there?” O’Neill asked with a mix of concern and amusement. -The mythology Geeks on the tenth floor won’t believe this! – “Wait, isn’t he supposed to be a hero?”

“Well, yes sir.” Jackson remarked.

“Then what’s he doing with ol’bird man out there?!” Jack asked annoyed.

“Well, Sir hero by the standards of bronze age Greeks wasn’t exactly hero by our standards. At least not in the case of men like Achilles or Herc himself.” Carter put in helpfully. While Nefreyu sat perched on a root in a birdlike fashion, observing them with keen interest. “And if we apply the Ballard-Jackson theory, then the ancient Greeks were really just copying the legends and fables, of a culture long dead.”

“Right…So the Greeks got a bunch of stuff wrong.” He opened a pocket flap on his vest and pulled out an earpiece which he turned on and set on his ear. “Teal’c big guy, you read?”

The voice came over the line, far clearer than he remembered communications devices being at any point prior to his return to duty. -Working for the SGC has some perks after all- “Indeed Colonel O’Neill, I have just finished escorting Doctor Marshal to the Stargate. Abydos has received him

“Good, listen we might have a problem here. Apparently, some snakes are on safari on this planet.”

Silence, followed by an Indeed? That made O’Neill swear he could see an image of Teal’c raising his eyebrow in surprise.

“We think they’re Herakles and Horus Teal’c.” Carter put in. “Daniel says their banners match.”

We must flee” came Teal’c reply with an urgency that surprised him.

“That bad huh?” O’Neill asked in a tone dripping with vexation.

I once witnessed Herakles face War master Bra’tac in a sixteen-hour sparring match. This was after both men personally slew scores of renegade Jaffa during the Titan’s rebellion. Horus is nearly as skilled, and both are almost as deadly as Apophis in personal combat.”

FUCK!

O’Neill took a slow breath. -One-man armies, like out of a damn heroic epic. Amazing, just amazing- And yet, as he gazed upon Nefreyu, something compelled him to remain. Something in him couldn’t just abandon these, whatever they were.

“Teal’c if they discover Nefreyu’s people will they harm them?”

Ordinarily no, Prince Horus is a being of honor as is Herakles and I do not believe they would slaughter a random settlement solely for being in his way. However, they are clearly psychic and given my how symbiote reacted, it’s possible the two will at least investigate them. That may go peacefully, or it may end in violence should they mistake the sensations for an attack.”

“Sir! We can’t”

“Save it Carter..” O’Neill ordered in a stoic that brokered no further discussion. His eyes shifted to Jackson. The blond was looking between Nefreyu and Jack, as concerned for their safety as he was but also somewhat reluctant to go up against two guys who could probably take turns taking several SG teams apart much less one. “Us being there, may also make them look bad..you..know..since we blew his father up.” Daniel pointed out.

“You killed his father?” Nefreyu asked, a tone that was filled with a mix of shock, concern and maybe even a little fear?

For the first time O’Neill felt a little pang of guilt for what he did to Ra. Which was rather weird because the guy was willing to blow up a mountain in a rage and potentially poison hundreds of thousands of people with radioactive debris. “He, tried to hurt my people, put a bomb near the Stargate and was going to send it home. We tried to disarm it, but.”

“Oh! He rigged it to go off?” Nefreyu asked, using terms and a tone of voice no child should. He nodded vigorously. “I understand then, I would have killed him too then.”

Jack blinked and Daniel cleared his throat clearly put off by hearing a child speak of death so easily. “It’s not that easy, we didn’t want to kill him even then. But when he gave us no choice, we did what needed to be done.”

The boy nodded, with those big innocent eyes of his that seemed to shift color, while not really having any color. But his nod was almost that of a child agreeing with something without really understanding what he was agreeing with. “I see, your people are different than mine, mother says that all life is sacred, but not all life is equal.”

Jack nodded, slowly ignoring the gnawing feeling in the back of his head that was warning him that this boy was less like a peaceful little elf and more like a fairy out of the old story books. The kind that could be warm and loving one moment and callous in their savagery the next. The sort that stole children just as easily as they protected them. “Is it, possible to meet your mother?”

“Why?” the boy asked.

“We just want to make sure you guys are safe is all” Daniel offered. “And to maybe meet her to make friends.”

“After that we’ll head back to the gate.” Colonel O’Neill added before glaring at Daniel -The Geek wants to make friends with the weird space fairies while there are two champion bros out there? This kids gonna be the death of me- “So we don’t attract any trouble.”

The boy seemed to consider it for a time before he smiled brightly. “We will bring Teal’c too, yes?”

“Of course, soon as we meet him at the…” O’Neill’s words ceased as the air five feet from him began to warp and bend, as if some sort of bubble was forming just on the periphery of what the human senses could detect and then a technicolored flash later and Teal’c was standing near them looking incredibly confused. “Colonel O’Neill! Are you well?!”

“I was about to ask you the same thing big guy…You kinda just.”

Carter’s jaw may as well have been on the floor, and she whirred on Nefreyu with excited eyes. “Did you just teleport him?”

“Yes, but that was tiring, I’m not used to doing it to people so heavy.” He smiled apologetically at Teal’c who understood the implications of this and was turning green and frantically patting himself down to make sure his clothes hadn’t merged with his skin or something. Then he stepped back in shock, regarding the boy with an alarmed look. He seemed about to ask something only to fall silent at the last moment. “You could have killed me boy.”

“Yes” Nefreyu conceded, with the look of a chastised youth. “That was very foolish and rude, do you forgive me?”

Despite himself Teal’c laughed. “I do boy….Though I would ask that you not do that again, save for when you’ve mastered this particular ability .”

Nefreyu smiled brightly “Agreed! I do not want harm to come to any of you either.”

There was an odd moment of silence as SG-1 stood around the odd ten-year-old who had just bent time and space to hurry along Teal’c as though he were a cornered tiger roaring and hissing at him and not a child. If they could things like this? Was there a point in checking in on them? They could easily dispatch the dynamic duo and their retinue if they could and worse, if the Peer subspecies of Goa’uld could protect itself against such…abilities then it made the prospect of trying to protect Nefreyu’s village even more absurd. Still, they all felt like they at least owed Nefreyu for helping them find the mushrooms and for the help they had received along the way for which Jack was certain they would have blundered around the woods until they ran into those two without their assistance.

There was another possibility, that these people could assist them against the System Lords.

Ultimately it was Carter who broke the silence with one of her chipper smiles she reached out for Nefreyu’s hand. “Well kid klutz, lead the way!”

So once again, Colonel O’Neill walked out of the frying pan and did a cannon ball right into the fire.

-Serpent men, space fairies and a fucking enchanted forest.

My life is an eighties adventure movie-
 
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UberIguana

Well-known member
And here are what I can only assume are the Nox. Less space hippies, more weird as shit fair-folk.

Might want to skip making any trade agreements or 'deals' with this lot if they're going with the Ballard-Jackson theory.
 

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
And here are what I can only assume are the Nox. Less space hippies, more weird as shit fair-folk.

Might want to skip making any trade agreements or 'deals' with this lot if they're going with the Ballard-Jackson theory.

There was an urban fantasy story I remember reading ages ago where the main character observed that being on a Fairy's good side was as risky a thing as being on its bad side because it meant said Fairy now knew you existed.

Jack's got all those red flags he's semi ignoring and here's hoping that doesn't bite everyone in the ass.
 

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
I won't lie. That kinda creeped me out. The whole Fae angle you push here. The Nox make my skin crawl a bit.

They were one of the four great races, ancient and remote. I didn't think Space hippies quite fit that description but the fair folk? Now that does fit!

@Spartan303
Just think how Oneil felt!

Between Carter plotting ways to kill the kid if things went sour and Nefreyu very clearly doing something to them....

Earth's First Prime ain't having a good day :ROFLMAO:
 

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
Man...what I'm wondering is who's going to have to die/get maimed for Carter to get a little more even keel in this one. Somethings going to give before she gets some sort of reserve that she had in the show, which was imparted by the USAF OTL.

I'm not sure yet, I know there's a Rubicon that if she crosses it's going to force her to either go full Lenea or mellow out and face her inner maniac.

I honestly thought of having it be a Tok'Ra. It would be an interesting spin on it to have Jolinar mellow her out.

As far the Imperium and the Children of Egeria know, Jolinar has been dead since the 1860s but I could change that.

Or have her mess with a ZPN and glass a planet by mistake.
 
Sidhe

The Immortal Watch Dog

Well-known member
Hetman
Alright, so O'Neill sees a big bird, Teal'c speculates, Carter befriends the weird kid and Jackson is mulling over Celtic mythology in a big hurry on this episode of Stargate: Through the Looking Glass and into Heaven!

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Because @Spartan303 @UberIguana and @Harlock seemed to catch how creepy the Nox are...here it kinda goes up to eleven.

Ballard-Jackson theory in play, but also possibly some tourism? Oh and a shoutout to a 90's Bruce Willis vehicle that I guess wasn't popular?

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It wasn’t often Jack O’Neill was stupefied into not really paying attention to his surroundings, or even if he was. To losing so much time he couldn’t determine how much time he’d spent walking around any given area. But he genuinely couldn’t tell how long they’d been walking, in what direction (Beyond North of the Gate.), the forest around them grew in size and variety. Trees that looked like redwoods on steroids (And Nefreyu seemed to agree that they likely were kin to the Redwoods of his homeworld though how the boy knew that Jack couldn’t say.) to small fruit plants, flowering groves and those glowing rose-like vines mixing in with trees that were the color of copper, or bronze or silver with almost glass like leaves.

The planet’s sun or suns Jack wasn’t even sure about that anymore, beamed through and he could hear the chirping of animals that were a mix of Earth descended life and alien creatures. A great example of such a weird combination was the tree Octopus that was trumpeting like a trombone only to be tackled by a rust-colored badger like creature some eight feet long, that seemed to run through the trees more like a lizard than a mammal. Above them he saw silver and blue colored birds that looked like they could have been descended from falcons, yet they were oddly more mythical in their looks. Large, crowned and Jack half wondered if they were slightly more intelligent than any bird minus a crow because they flew in patterns that were akin to search patterns. Though, they obviously weren’t searching for SG-1 or the boy’s settlement.

“I get the feeling the farther we go into these woods, the more under his mother’s power we are.” Daniel observed somewhat concerned but there was so much curiosity in his tone. He’d spoken with Nefreyu in a few different languages and the boy either knew them or learned them as he spoke (similar to how rapidly the humans classified as Lotar seemed to learn albeit faster by several orders of magnitude.) Or he was reading Daniel’s mind. It wasn’t until Jackson began speaking ancient Gaelic that the boy seemed to shift into a conversational tone that suggested he wasn’t keeping up but speaking in a language similar to his own. O’Neill was surprised Carter knew Gaelic (Or at least the more modern version) and she was doing her best to keep pace. O’Neill understood some of it, his grandfather was a militant for Irish culture and his father had allegedly traded American guns for Irish whiskey during prohibition (Part of Enoch Johnston and the Kennedy family operations..allegedly. Though Jack always doubted that story. If anything, Silas O’Neill the World War One hero was likely affiliated with Dean O’Bannon out of Chicago.) but it had been years since he’d spoken Gaelic (Minus that one time in the late 90’s when he and a very young Kim Statterfield helped FBI Director Carter Presten and that Commie chick hunt down a legendary assassin any way. Fuck’n Declan still owed him a bottle of bourbon wherever he was.)

Daniel had fallen back to interact with O’Neill and Teal’c, they botch watched Carter who had an arm around the boy and was chattering away with him in Gaelic as if she hadn’t been planning to slit his throat a mere dozen hours before. -What am I gonna do with her- He thought exasperated. “Dollars to donuts his mom’s been screw’n with us since we got out of the gate” O’Neill muttered.

“Indeed.” Teal’c remarked. “My Prim’tah has been unusually active.”

“I thought they were lobotomized minus certain exceptions?” Jackson asked.

“Indeed, however Daniel Jackson. Conceiving them without self-awareness does not strip them of their instincts...”

“Any idea who these guys are?” Daniel asked Teal’c “I mean if they can provoke such a reaction in your Prim’tah then surely they must be known to you?”

“The Galaxy is an immense place Daniel Jackson, even though I served an empire that ruled most of it. And I have been to several and could not tell you all the races that dwelled within each.” Teal’c responded with a raised eyebrow in almost chiding tone and Daniel laughed nervously. “I guess you’re right..The Universe is a big place, even when you have explored it extensively..”

“What about those guys, the ones who were part of that alliance of old guys. The ones you described as fairy like..the Knot or the…Nox there we go!” O’Neill offered enthusiastically, part of him hopeful, part of him ready to bug out the moment it was confirmed.

“I had thought the same O’Neill.” Teal’c responded in a tone that suggested he was trying to suppress how close to crapping his pants the thought brought him. “But I cannot be certain, the Nox are thought by our Lore masters to be eldest of the ancient races. Consider, that the Ori were successor to a half billion-year legacy and if our scholars are correct, it is possible they were the first sapient life in the universe.” Jackson looked up with a sense of awe, wondering if the Nox were the beings the Imperial religion referred to as the misguided Elder Gods who sided with the treacherous Ori or if that was in reference to another sub species kin to the Ori.

“You’re point?” O’Neill quipped as he stepped over a foot tall root that was sticking out of the ground, trying to ignore the fact that several flowers had just turned and eyeballed him in a manner that came too close to awareness for his liking.

“My point, Colonel O’Neill” Teal’c continued in the voice of an old man, patiently dealing with the impertinence of a particularly hyperactive child. “Is that there are several races in the Galaxies that I know of who share their physical characteristics. One of them, the Pangarans was on my list of recommendations for trade.”

“Oh right, the guys who you said reminded you of the books you read on the Napoleonic wars.” O’Neill nodded. Pangara, Teal’c said, was the capitol world of a four-planet spanning nation made up of a people who were “elf like” in appearance and had through gradual conquest of their own world and judicious use of the Stargate to build trade outposts, over the last thousand years created a mini kingdom on the edge of Izanagi’s domain. While they were a vassal of the System Lord, they weren’t fully a part of his domain and thus were willing to do business with almost anyone.

“But how many of these races are psychic or, whatever this is?” Daniel asked. He’d taken off his hat to scratch the back of his head and looking up was the first to see it.

An animal that was likely descended from or related to the Golden Eagles so common to Europe, Asia and North America soared above even the gigantic trees, its cry akin to thunder and given the height of the trees and how far above them it was, it was a testament to its size. “Jesus that’s a big bird.”

“The hunting Eagles of the house of Aether. They have a twenty-five-foot wingspan on average, but I once saw Lord Zeus field birds with a hundred- and ninety-foot wingspan when he was hunting a species of large lizards that inhabit Thyra a planet within the domain of Ra. We should be safe, the bird is not searching for us..Though I suggest we accelerate our pace.”

Carter who’d been listening turned with a look of shock “Teal’c how can a bird that large even fly?”

“Genetic engineering, extensive genetic engineering. The largest of his eagles were bred to carry neutron bombs over troops in suborbital altitudes. It was said their bone structure was also partially, artificial. I believe their intelligence is enhanced as well.”

“Great, giant flying cybirds.” O’Neill groused.

“Hera modified a primitive queen to produce a line of Goa’uld that could bond with animals. My belief is that the Eagles of Zeus are a result of that.” The way Teal’c spoke of it told Carter and Daniel how low an opinion Teal’c had of that.

“Cyborg birds with snakes in their brains..lovely” Jack sighed and once again sorely missed his cigarettes. “I take it you aren’t a fan?”

“When his father rebelled Lord Zeus sided with the Empire, but he was slow in sending military aid. Not enough to imply treachery, but the passive aggression against Ra and the nobility cost Apophis half a million Jaffa…” His jaw set tight as he looked out over the forest, catching Nefreyu’s perceptive eyes.

“He also, refused to take my father and us in when Cronus exiled us. I had a sister who needed a Prim’tah, we could not get one save for the larva of the lowest of breeds. It did not have the strength to repair her ravaged body. Lord Zeus had no reason to do this, save for mislike of my father who I believe exposed a Roshna running scheme the Lucian alliance organized. They were using the House of Aether to, legitimize their ill-gotten earnings.” Teal’c muttered venomously.

“Money laundering in space. Ol’Ra must have been mad as hell.” O’Neill asked with an amused grin.

“He was most displeased.” Teal’c replied in something that resembled smugness.

“We’re quite safe from the hunters.” Nefreyu interrupted gesturing forward with his little arms. “Look! We’ve arrived!” He smiled brightly.

Jack wasn’t sure how, because they’d all stopped walking, or so he thought. But the forest around them had changed, from vast trees to smaller ferns and pines and they sloped down a great ridge of hills where several rivers flowed into a lake.

At the center of the Lake.

“Is that...”

“Yes, Colonel O’Neill.” Nefreyu smiled and reached up to grab the Colonel’s hand. “My home, I think your people called it the Island of Apple trees, I don’t know why.” Nefreyu laughed seemingly innocently. “I’ve never seen an apple in my life, outside of the juice you gave me for lunch!”

It was beautiful, a grove of a bunch of thousand-foot-tall and taller trees that couldn’t have been trees, roughly the size of Manhattan, on an island three times that size. They were all silver and gold and he could see dozens of stairways winding between them and buildings that were seemingly grown out of the trees themselves. None of this was very far from the gate, maybe fifteen or twenty miles…. More than close enough for the solar powered drone to cover the distance, take some pictures and fly back inside of an hour at top speed.

Hell, we should have seen trees that size from the damn Gate.

“Wait, isle of apple trees?!” Daniel blinked. “Jesus, this is Avalon?!”

Nefreyu nodded. “Grandfather moved it here when he decided mother should take this planet for herself and her colony. Though I suppose great-grandfather is the proper term?”

“I… he moved it?” Carter muttered. “The same way you teleported Teal’c? From where?” She could feel her heart pounding as she tried to do the mental calculations on the distance and what it amounts of energy or what sort of control this grandfather would have to have to move an entire Island across space and to deposit it on a planet without disrupting anything. None of it made sense, the psychic powers of the Goa’uld at least had some science behind them but everything that Nefreyu’s people did seemed to make sport of mocking her concept of how the laws that governed the universe work.

Nefreyu smiled sheepishly. “Sam, I like you. You were willing to protect your people at all costs, that’s admirable. But I don’t know you well enough yet to tell you that!”

Carter ruffled the boy’s hair “So I guess that settles it huh? You're the Nox!"

Nefreyu nodded eagerly. “You didn’t ask, I would have told you that. It isn’t even our real name any way, just something the forefathers of the Alterans and Ori called us. The Asgard call us elves, mother says your people call us the fair folk. I like that name better than Nox.”

“What does Nox mean in the original language of those ancient peoples?” Daniel asked curiously.

Nefreyu tapped his chin in thought, as if trying to remember a name from something he probably only overhead adults in his tribe talking about. “umm…hmm..umm”

“Translated into your vernacular it means “Those weirdos over there” I can see why my son likes the fair folk label so much…its..fancier and its implications more apt.” a lyrical voice spoke to them though none of them had any idea where it came from until a moment after O’Neill stopped looking around and settled his eyes for a shape that seemed to appear out of nowhere behind Nefreyu.

Behind the boy stood a woman roughly six feet tall, she had long black hair that seemed to absorb the light creating an odd, absence of it around slender shoulders that were hidden behind a black tunic that was fastened almost like a Starfleet Captain from the Wrath of Khan or something. Her skin was a deep shade of blue minus waves of gold here and there and her ears were long and pushed out between her hair. She was beautiful, she looked young but also middle aged and her beauty didnt seem entirely natural to Jack who was laughing to himself. -you're in it now Jack. Freaking fairies- The Colonel's brain was caught between wanting to admire her and wanting to bolt out the there at top speed. The fact that she spoke English as if she’d been speaking it for years and not as if she had lifted it from his mind, also bothered the hell out of him.

-Thor is going to like this one..Hathor too, if she can stop running around the ass end of the universe playing Empress of the softpower- the creature thought eying Colonel O’Neill.

“So, you’re the kid’s mom huh?” O’Neill asked. Daniel sputtered out something in Gaelic, an apology and addressed her as Medb which caused the woman to laugh. “Relax Danny boy, I speak English just fine. And I’m not her, she’s my aunt. I am Leanan Sith’ie daughter of Morrigan, granddaughter of Oberon and Titania, governess of Avalon and well, ruler of this solar system I guess..oh and Ra knew me as Lya, a certain adventurer by the name of Langford knew me as Kiera and yes Excalibur is an awesome movie, but no we don’t fuck our brothers…Colonel. That’s a bad stereotype and from the wrong setting. I don’t ride Dragons thank you very much!”

Teal’c had fallen to one knee. “Forgive me, Princess, I had not.”

She waved him off. “Oh, for goodness sakes Teal’c, you’re a War Master not a grunt. Anubis never liked Jaffa of your rank kneeling and neither do I.” she beckoned for him to rise then turned to Daniel Jackson giving him a rather sweet smile. “You and I need to have a more private conversation later.” Then that adorable smile turned into a frown. “But I didn’t lure you here for more mushrooms and healing plants, well I did but that wasn’t my chief concern. Prince Horus is hunting near the Gate, and I believe his party will move off in two days. I would ask that you sojourn with me for those two days. We just moved here a few years ago and I’ve been able to keep the peace, I’d rather not have bloodshed sully that record.”

“Uhh..Right” O’Neill responded. There was a playfulness and kindness in her voice that was endearing, and Jack found himself liking it. But he detected something else as well, a sort of manic intensity that hinted at her being far more dangerous than her playful exterior let on. “After you then…”

As the group led off, Daniel’s eyes narrowed, she was too pleasing, too friendly and daughter of the Morrigan?

Didn’t that make her death’s daughter?

We need to be very careful with these people Jack. They’ll either be wonderful allies or the end of us all.
 
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