SGC, Gate Room
The clatter of chains ringing against each other was heard and the squat shuffle of soft soled feet padding against concrete. In concert with this were heavier sounds of booted leather feet thundering forward with resolute purpose. Two large figures entered the room with a third escorted between them. The contrast in color between was an eyesore, an orange jumpsuited individual between two green clad menacing looking military policemen.
They came to a stop near the embarkation ramp and met two others.
"Jack, sorry if I don't shake hands," said former Colonel Harry Mayborne, jiggling his leg irons and hand cuffs almost mockingly. "How long has it been?"
"Oh, probably not long enough, Harry," said Jack wryly.
"I'm sorry I couldn't oblige you by allowing myself to be killed by those disgruntled former NID assassins," said Mayborne equally as wryly. "You'd think a Federal solitary prison would be safe..."
"Yeah," grumped Jack, and turned to the Control room and nodded. The Stargate began to cycle and dial in coordinates.
"Mayborne," nodded Harry 'Potter', clad in his RAF BDUs with the Air Commodore rank on his lapels.
"Potter."
"The Tok'ra will be waiting for you on the other side of the Gate," explained Harry. "The particulars of your new 'home' planet will be explained to you by them. Take off his restraints."
The MPs nodded obediently and using a keyring began undoing the locks on various places. As soon as Mayborne was free to move he rubbed his wrists and winced slightly and gave a gimlet eye to one of the MPs...obviously the man had been too vigorous in clamping on the irons.
"I'm not even gonna get some basic gear? I'm not even out of my prison uniform," said Mayborne.
"No, the Tok'ra will see to any of that, and make sure that its 'appropriate' for the technological level of the planet where you will eventually be living on," explained Harry with a smile.
"Oh," said Mayborne, his shoulders drooping somewhat. "Knowing Jack he probably told them to send me to some nice pre-industrial civilization..."
"You deserve it, Harry," said Jack with a smirk as the Gate activated and the unstable vortex 'kawooshed' out of the gate and settled into a simmering pool.
Mayborne mockingly saluted Jack and walked the first few steps up the ramp. "Be seeing you."
"Hopefully not, Harry," said Jack, returning a sloppy salute.
Mayborne shook his head and walked the final few steps and vanished into the event horizon. The subspace path snapped off barely a few moments later.
"I almost feel..." said Jack thoughtfully.
"...sad," said Harry pointedly.
"Yeah, he may have been an enemy once, reluctant ally, and all around pain in the ass...but I'll miss his...rivalry."
Harry chuckled in response and walked out of the room.
Later in the same afternoon, Harry was reading a rather surprise email in his newly designated office on Sublevel twenty five. The office was actually two adjoining rooms, one was a standard admin style with large desk, meeting chairs, Qomputer, filing cabinets and a large architect's design table where he could draw blueprints. The other room was a pure science lab, a near replica of Sam's.
The email had been sent using the laptop he had given Hermione. Harry had included an emergency contact program in it that would allow Hermione to contact him in a direct fashion if there was ever any dire need or she didn't want to use 'proper' channels, ie through the government.
Her email brought some good news; the magical government had been reformed in Britain and the first ever Council of Nine had been selected by the Goblet of Fire. The Council was due to meet in a specially prepared location in a few days. The repairs to Hogwarts had finally been finished. However, there was now a conundrum plaguing the ancient institution; with the Great Leap, the magical register in Hogwarts that recorded magical births or children who could attend had exploded in size to cover every child in the U.K. Harry could only imagine what the old Ministry would have made of their magical adult register exploding in a similar fashion. In a way, Voldemort did the magical world a favor by destroying the Ministry in that regard.
Of course, there was no way Hogwarts could accommodate every child in the UK, and so Dumbledore had put his head together with Hermione and the provisional Hogwarts teaching staff and between them fashioned a device similar in the manner as the Goblet; which would select prospective students. Any Hogwarts graduate would be given incentives to move on and teach in the Delphi Academies or going into whatever careers they wish.
Hermione was also just as busy working with the Delphi Academies in the UK. She also wished to see him as soon as it was convenient for him. She gave no indication about what this was about, but said that it was a matter of mutual importance and was best discussed face to face.
Any further consideration of the email was interrupted when the incoming wormhole klaxon blared through the base. He shut down his Qomputer and headed to the elevator. By the time he could get a ride down to sublevel twenty eight the wormhole had shut down.
The Russian team, SG-15, was standing in the gate room, but with them was an unfamiliar youngish looking man dressed in drabby clothes and looking in awe at the surroundings he was in. SG-1, Hammond and Frasier were already there and were seemingly in the process of giving a scolding lecture to SG-15's leader, Colonel Evanov.
"You better have a damn good reason for bringing a person back with you without prior approval," said General Hammond sternly.
"General, Sir," said Evanov, hurrying to explain, "Alebran and his people are innocent victims of the Goa'uld Nirrti. I felt certain that you would wish to act."
"Colonel Evanov has promised that you would help us," said Alebran hopefully.
"If it is within our power to help, we will do so," said Harry in firm voice, glancing significantly at everyone with a raised eyebrow. If there was one thing that he would not stand, then it would be for Earth to fall into the same lofty self-centered attitudes that the Ancients and the Tollan had developed. As evidenced by either civilizations current states; it was a catastrophic trap to fall into.
Doctor Janet Frasier nodded firmly in agreement and kindly asked Alebran, "Are you in any pain?"
"It is nothing I cannot endure," said the drab young man.
"Sir, with your permission I'd like to take him to Isolation 3?" she asked of Hammond.
"Very well," nodded Hammond.
"Come with me," said Janet kindly and led the young man by the arm out of the Gate room.
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Isolation Room 3, SGC.
Janet was hovering over a prone Alebran, who was comfortably ensconced in a bed and she was waving a medical sensor over him which sent real time scans and imagery to a nearby plasma screen for her to interpret.
Everyone else had gathered around the room and was being brought up to speed on what happened on SG-15's mission.
"We found him near the Stargate after we performed a recon of Nirrti's fortress," said Colonel Evanov in his heavy Russian accent, "or rather he found us. Alebran has asked for our help to save his people being held prisoner inside."
"I thought she was helping us," said Alebran anxiously, "then I saw one of my people die in such a horrible way...I realized otherwise. When I questioned her methods, she released me."
"She let you go?" asked Jonas.
"I was well enough to return home she said," said the young man, "when I arrived back at the village, everyone was dead. She lied to us. Those of us she took away were the last of our people. She was using us."
"You look okay to me," said Jack in confusion.
"Please, do not be fooled by my appearance. I spent just as much time in the machine as the others. I know that I have been changed inside; I am not as I was before," explained Alebran.
"What kind of machine?" asked Sam shrewdly.
"It's one that sees inside of us, it allows her to manipulate that which we are made of," said the off-worlder.
"If he's talking about some kind of device which can directly alter human DNA in real time..." said Janet darkly.
"You believe Nirrti is attempting to create a hok'taur," said Teal'C with a raised eyebrow.
"I am not familiar with that term," said Evanov with a frown.
"It means advanced human, like us," explained Harry.
"Nirrti is most interested in creating the perfect human host in order to increase her power," said Teal'C.
"We should show her what happened in Steveston, she might change her mind," said Jonas sarcastically.
"So, she's at it again," said Jack, shaking his head.
"No, sir," said Sam, shaking her head. "This is worse."
"Sam's right," agreed Janet, "Up till now, Nirrti's been using eugenics. Like with Cassandra's people; selectively breeding only those that demonstrate specific genetic attributes. With a machine that can alter DNA and a population with which to experiment, Nirrti could create a new host or even alter the DNA of her current one. There is also no guarantee that a 'Steveston' effect would occur in an advanced human created in such a fashion, since the strong immune system needed to kill a symbiote could be genetically suppressed."
"A Goa'uld with the powers of a hok'taur," said Jonas darkly.
"Obviously we can't let that happen," said Janet.
"As you know, Nirrti does not have the power or resources of the other Goa'uld. She only has a small number of Jaffa in her service," explained Evanov. "I believe her capture or assassination is quite possible."
"Sir?" prompted Jack.
"Agreed," said Hammond.
"Can you get us into that fortress?" asked Jack of the young off-worlder.
"No. I cannot go back," said Alebran adamantly with a great wave of fear that Harry could clearly sense.
"We're offering to help your people, Alebran," encouraged General Hammond.
"No, there is no time," retorted the young man his breathing speeding up significantly, "I feel it, something's happening."
"What the...!" said Janet in alarm, staring incredulously at the medical sensors.
"Doctor, report!" snapped Hammond.
"His cellular structures are in a sort of...cascading failure!"
"Alebran believes Nirrti has the power to kill him even here," said Evanov grimly.
"Are you detecting a Stargate proximity device?" said Sam in a hurry. Janet waved the medical sensor over the chest area of Alebran...
"No," said Janet, breathing a slight sigh of relief.
"I don't understand..." said Evanov with a frown.
"Nirrti can place a device within a person that uses naquadah and the potassium in a person's own body to create a bomb that detonates when it comes into proximity of a Stargate..." explained Sam but was interrupted when Alebran began to convulse.
"Shit, code blue! He's in defib!" shouted Janet. Everyone knew that their cue to leave and an ER med team came rushing in the other way. Everyone gathered in the upper observation area to see if Janet and her team could save the young man.
They tried every conventional remedy...which failed. They next tried a modified Goa'uld Hand Healing device...
"...I feel like the boy holding a finger in the hole of a dyke trying to hold back an ocean," said Janet with gritted teeth as the device poured healing mitochondrial energy onto Alebran. The entire medical team even added to the effort by using their combined Touch Healing abilities.
"The damage is to his very DNA...it's been destabilized..." said one of the Nurses.
"Then we must reinforce it..." said Janet.
"That will only be a temporary solution...the damage is too extensive...none of us are geneticists here," said Dr Warner.
The team did their best, but in the end, they had only bought Alebran more time...he died after two hours.
SGC, Briefing Room 1
"He died from what I can only describe as acute cellular collapse," said Janet grimly to the assembled group. Harry shuddered as he recalled that moment. Alebran had almost literally disintegrated into the base components his body was made up of, mainly water. The young man had...dissolved; it was the only word that could come close to describing it. What had been a human was now a drying puddle of organic goo on the floor of the Isolation room. "We did our best to stave it off, but whatever Nirrti did to him in that machine had completely rewritten his base genetic code...and to a degree that made it impossible for us to repair in time before his cell walls collapsed."
"I understand, Doctor," said Hammond and turned to Jack. "Colonel, how soon can your team be ready?"
"Right away, Sir, I'd like to take SG3 as backup, and SG15," he said after a moment's consideration, glancing at Evanov.
"General, I'd like to accompany the team," said Harry.
"Any particular reason?"
"Firstly, this device to modify DNA in real time sounds like something the Alterans would build, and whose to say Nirrti has not been successful in engineering an advanced human or something close to it...if that is the case then the team might be facing a System Lord with a metaphysical ability."
"Very well," nodded Hammond. "Though let's hope it doesn't come to that."
Alebran's Planet, Remnant's of Nirrti's Domain
As they stepped through the Stargate and onto the home planet of Alebran, Harry could only note that it was characteristic in a manner Jack would sarcastically describe as 'trees, trees and more trees.' The sky did have two moons in it though. The team was armed for bear with PR8s, full armor and Combat Information systems. Harry on the other hand had only come with his chromesuit and carried a detached PR8.
There was a well worn path leading from the Gate towards the relative east.
"This is the path leading to the fortress," said Evanov, his HUD eyepiece glinting in the sun as he gestured towards the path leading off into the treeline and down a hill. "Guarded by Jaffa."
"Not many?" asked Jack.
"Only ten," said Evanov confidently.
"All right, SG3, perimeter of the Stargate, Evanov, Potter, you and SG15 with us," commanded Jack.
The teams split into their roles and Harry took point, just in case a Goa'ulded hok'taur jumped out at them. That initial worry was unfounded though as they managed to approach into visual range of the fortress uncontested and without challenge. The imposing structure was most definitely of early Alteran design and was surrounded on three sides by rugged terrain and the only easy approach was via an incline that had been walled off. The Jaffa were manning guard positions along this wall and three Staff cannons were also manned and ready to spit lethal energy at anyone attempting to assault the fortress.
"They're well positioned," commented Sam softly.
"We're gonna need a diversion to get their heads out of cover," said Jack considering his strategy. "Potter, Carter, that's you. Evanov, I want your men in sniping positions, uneven stagger, call your targets. Jonas, Teal'C, with me."
They split into their designated assignments, keeping low and putting as much cover between the Jaffa fortification and themselves as they moved. Harry and Sam made good use of the relative height of the fortification, and with skill and a Notice-Me-Not field that he stretched around them both, managed to sneak right up against the wall. C4 charges were placed and armed, after which they quickly made themselves scarce.
After they had reached a safe distance from the wall, they found some cover and charged their PR8s. Sam pulled out her remote C4 detonator, flicked the safety cap off and triggered her radio twice. Three bursts of radio static followed a minute or so later, everyone was in position. Sam triggered her radio once.
"Ten seconds," she whispered.
Harry took a deep breath and readied himself mentally, his hands tightening on the PR8. Ten seconds later, she flicked the switch on her remote detonator, it beeped and two massive detonation fireballs rocketed into the air. The shockwave from the blast took a whole section of the wall and crumbled it into pieces that were barely larger than pebbles. Three Jaffa had immediately been killed in the blast.
It was everyone's cue and immediately multiple blue bolts of energy whined through the air from multiple directions. The unfortunate effect of the explosion was that it had churned up a lot of dust into the air, meaning that a lot of the initial shots they fired were off the mark. Two Jaffa died in the first one sided exchange of fire.
The remaining five Jaffa managed to rally enough to return fire, even using the Staff cannon. But they were outnumbered and didn't have the initiative, nor a clear line of sight on their enemies. It was all over in another thirty seconds, with Jack taking out the last Jaffa who decided that retreat was the better part of valor. However, they couldn't risk the Jaffa getting away.
"Evanov, stay out here for now, watch our six, Potter, SG1 meet me at the entrance," came Jack's call over the radio.
"Yes sir."
"Let's go," said Sam, carefully breaking from cover and beginning the advance towards the fortress.
Nirrti's Fortress
The large structure was clearly showing its age on the lower levels, but there had been clear signs of reinforcement and rebuilding, most likely done by Nirrti. There were also signs in Goa'uld pointing the way to various points in the structure; clearly depicting a time when the place was used by just more than ten Jaffa.
As such it was quite easy to find their way to a large room on the upper levels that had a rather picturesque view of the surrounding countryside. The interior was clearly recently lived in and cleared of most of the dust and debris that had littered the other rooms in the place.
Harry's eyes instantly found what he suspected was the machine Alebran mentioned. It had two components...a raised dais with a pedestal, on top of which was crystalline touch pads, which had been remarked into Goa'uld. A few feet away from the pedestal embedded in the floor were a raised circular platform, about less than a meter in width.
Sam and the rest of SG1 swiftly began to scan the room, and immediately pointed their PR8s and single Staff weapon toward a screen that covered a corner of the room.
"Come out slowly," ordered Jack. "We know you're behind there..."
"Please, don't hurt us," said a voice. It belonged to one of four men in long drabby robes with hoods covering their faces that emerged from behind the screen. They had a strange loping gait that suggested that all was not well with them.
"We're not here to hurt anyone," said Jonas, lowering his PR8 slightly. "We've come here to rescue you. Take you from this place."
"No, no, we cannot leave," said the robed figure.
"One step at a time, Jonas," advised Jack, "where's Nirrti?"
"She is not here."
"Are you expecting her back?" said Sam.
"Of course, for our treatment."
"My name is Jonas," said the Kelownan Tok'ra, extending an olive branch.
"I am Woden," said the robed figure, glancing briefly at his similarly clad fellows. Woden raised his hands and removed his hood. Harry inwardly winced at Woden's appearance; the man had been heavily mutated and had an extra eye on the side of his misshapen head. Clearly Nirrti had been busy.
"We've come from a place called Earth. To help, all of you," said Jonas.
"That is not necessary," said Woden earnestly, "Nirrti is helping us."
"Excuse me?" said Jack incredulously.
"She cares for us. Nirrti is our god."
"Nirrti is of a race called the Goa'uld," said Teal'C archly.
"They're parasitical beings that use our kind as hosts," explained Sam.
"We are very ill," countered Woden, "Nirrti is curing us of our sickness."
"That is most unlikely," retorted Teal'C.
"When the god Nirrti came, a great plague had befallen our people. We were dying. With the machine, Nirrti has kept us alive," explained Woden.
"Ambassador? You make anything of that machine yet?" asked Jack.
"Well, it's definitely built by the Alterans," said Harry, standing next to the dais and looking it up and down. "It's clearly damaged however, Nirrti should not even have been able to activate it." He stepped onto the dais and the pedestal immediately lit up for him.
"You mean it's also keyed to Alteran DNA?" asked Sam curiously.
"Yeah, it should be, but as I said, the mechanism which detects who uses it must be damaged," he gazed at a few of the keys in front of him, "she defaced this thing with Goa'uld characters but I think this should be..." he tapped a sequence. The circular platform lit up and immediately a confinement beam shot out of it, clearly meant to hold the subject being modified completely immobile. He tapped another sequence, accessing the recent memory. A holographic DNA helix shot up from platform to ceiling.
"You can use the machine?" said Woden in astonishment.
"Yes, it will take me a few hours to figure out, but I can," said Harry with a nod.
"So you can cure them of their...you know?" asked Jack.
"The DNA manipulator stores the baseline DNA of everyone that goes in it and keeps a permanent record of any changes made, just in case a mistake is made that causes...yes I can," said Harry shortly when he saw Jack zone out.
"Good, now we need to know when and where Nirrti is coming back," stated Jack, looking at Woden.
"Very soon, and when she comes she will punish you," said another robed figure who removed his hood to show he was also severely deformed.
"This is Egar," said Woden gesturing to the man.
"Your people were never sick, Nirrti's been lying to you," said Jonas strongly.
"No, no, the plague ravaged our people long before she came. Our village was almost wiped out."
"It is possible she discovered them in this condition and merely took advantage of the situation," theorized Teal'C, his jaw flexing.
"She brought me to this place, she gave me back my life," said Egar, his deformed lips giving him an odd slur to his speech.
"Well, so can I," said Harry with a raised eyebrow. "Yet you don't see me proclaiming myself a god." It was then that Harry was surprised by a very strong mental probe come rocketing from Egar. His momentary surprise was enough for Egar to get a few glimpses of his recent thoughts...but he recovered to bat the probe away. Egar tried again, this time Harry felt less charitable and reversed the probe, causing the mutated man to flinch away and cry out in pain as he cradled his head. "My mind is my own, Egar, do not presume you have a right to read it," said Harry coldly.
"What did you do?" said Woden in alarm, kneeling down next to his friend.
"He tried to read my mind, I politely refused him access, he tried again," explained Harry.
"You can stop him doing that?"
"Yes."
"But why do you not look..."
"My abilities are natural Woden, I was born with them," said Harry softly. "I take it you have an ability too?"
"I...I can move things without my hands..." To seemingly demonstrate he shoved his hands outwards towards the screen that had been shielding them from view earlier...it bent as if a demolition ball had struck it.
"Impressive," nodded Harry with a smile. "But you understand that your...ability is not stable."
"Yes," nodded Woden, helping Egar up. "If we don't get treatment by tomorrow, we will die."
"Ok, Ambassador, get busy, I'll go brief Evanov. Jonas, Teal'C, Carter keep these fine folks company," said Jack, walking away.
"You are planning to kill Nirrti," said Egar with a wince.
"The Ambassador warned you about poking around in people's heads," said Jack darkly.
"Are you certain, Egar?" said Woden.
"Yes, even now..."
"And are you going to try to stop us?" asked Harry with narrowed eyes.
"Nirrti is our god..." insisted one of the remaining two men.
"She is not a god," said Jonas with a sigh. And turned to them, his eyes flashing and voice distorting as Kanan took over. "Does she also make her eyes glow? Does she also speak as I do now?"
"But...how is this...possible..." said Woden with wide eyes.
Jack left while Kanan quickly and simply gave him a rundown of the Tok'ra and Goa'uld, how the Goa'uld enjoyed gaining power by forcing people to worship them as gods and how in comparison the Tok'ra lived in symbiosis and were sworn enemies of the Goa'uld. He also gently broke the news of how Alebran died and the rest of the rest of their village and even allowed Egar to read his mind to verify that he was telling the truth. This seemed to mollify Woden considerably.
"I must speak of this to the others," said the Telekinetic. "Nirrti had commanded those of us who remain to live in the underground levels. I see it was now to isolate us from the truth. If we had been allowed to come and go as we please, we would have returned to the village."
"How many of you are there?" asked Sam.
"Twenty three," answered Egar.
"Speak to your people, I will call when I have mastered the device," said Harry with a kind smile.
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It took a few quick peaks into his Alteran Legacy and a bit of experimentation, especially since the machine's controls had been renamed into Goa'uld to finally get a good grip on how it worked. And since the baseline DNA info was there it was merely a matter of changing the altered mutated DNA strands to the baseline stored in the machine. It was also lucky that the machine kept a visual record of which DNA belonged to who, as well.
Jonas and Teal'C went off to join the ambush that was being laid out for Nirrti near the Stargate, whilst Sam stayed with Harry to learn all she could about the Alteran DNA Manipulator while he worked.
Woden was the first to enter the machine. He stood confined on the circular platform and his DNA swiveled ethereally around him. As it turned out the Manipulator could also be controlled mentally, which made the work go much faster. Woden spent barely twenty minutes in the machine before Harry was finally satisfied that he was back to normal.
"That is much faster than Nirrti ever was," said Woden in appreciation. "I once spent two hours confined in the machine."
"Well, this device was built by my distant ancestors and it's actually made only to be used by our kind," explained Harry. "But I digress, how do you feel?"
"Much better, and invigorated," said Woden.
"Your physical condition should improve in a few weeks, the deformities will recede as well," said Harry. Egar followed soon after, and by the end of his treatment, all the survivors of the village was in long cue to step into the machine. By the time the thirteenth villager had stepped out of the machine, Jack, Jonas and Teal'C had reappeared...all looking slightly disheveled.
"Hail Dorothy, the Wicked Witch is dead," said Jack with a smirk.
"I take it you mean that you've wasted Nirrti?" said Harry
"Yeah, though she did lead us on a merry chase of the woods, she went invisible with that gimmick of hers, didn't help her much though." He tapped his ears.
"Nirrti is dead?" asked Woden, not following the Earth idioms being used.
"Yes," nodded Jack.
"With her gone, you can get back to your lives, rebuild your village," said Sam.
"We can help you out with food and supplies until you get back on your feet," offered Jonas kindly.
"It is much appreciated," said Woden, bowing his head slightly.
"Also once we get know each other better, I'd really like the chance to study this machine," said Sam, glancing at Harry.
"I foresee no problems, but I was thinking rather that this device could be a first step towards a developing a cure for our little grey friends," grinned Harry.
"You mean this thing can cure Thor too?" asked Jack with surprise.
"It has the potential to be a first step, Jack. I better call Heimdall to get her little butt overhead with an Asgard Cruiser, she will also want to study this machine."
"Don't the Asgard have such technology already?" asked Sam.
"They can manipulate genes yes," answered Harry, "but neither with the speed nor ease with which this Alteran device allows. This will allow the research into their problem to go much faster."
"Well, let's all click our heels three times shall we."
It was two days later that Harry finally had a chance to reply to Hermione's email. Heimdall had insisted that he accompany her to study the Alteran DNA manipulator and show her the basic operating principles of the device. It took barely a single demonstration of it to convince his former teacher of its value, and not an hour later two O'Neill class Asgard Battlecruisers hovered in the space over the planet for its protection and an entire Asgard science team was beamed down to analyze the device.
He settled in front of his qomputer and after checking his schedule, set a meeting for a week from now at a restaurant he remembered seeing near the Tower of London.
There was a knock on his door and he looked up to see Jonas poking his head in.
"Ambassador."
"Jonas, you're back early," said Harry with a frown, "SG1 was supposed to be studying that nebula..."
"Yeah, we did, but it kinda got turned into an accidental First Contact," explained Jonas. "There's a briefing in ten minutes."
"Say no more, I'll be there, I just have send this email off."
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Briefing Room 1, SGC
Jonas was leading the briefing and Sam was back as well for some reason too, meaning Jack and Teal'C had stayed behind, most likely keeping the First Contactees company.
"We encountered a crashed ship here," said Jonas, gesturing with the remote to the viewscreen which displayed a topographical scan of the planet they were viewing the expanding nebula from. The screen changed again to show a picture of the ship partially buried in a clearing...it looked structurally intact, amazingly. "We encountered three human survivors with this ship; its name is the Sebrus. They were on their way to relieve an off world mineral extraction team when their ship got caught in an asteroid storm. Their ship was damaged and they were forced to do an emergency landing."
"Their home planet is called Hebradan. By the sounds of it, their ancestors might have come from somewhere near the Outer Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland." He nodded at Sam.
"Based on its position in space," she said, "I've determined that it doesn't have a Stargate, at least not one that we're aware of."
"Then how did a society of humans evolve there?" asked Hammond curiously.
"The Goa'uld would sometimes take a Gate with them if it suited their purposes when abandoning a planet," said Harry thoughtfully. "It was also used as a delaying tactic in the past if they were driven or beaten off a planet...this was of course, when Goa'uld Hyperdrives were nowhere near as powerful as they are today."
"To keep an enemy from using the Gate to launch further attacks," nodded Hammond in understanding.
"The real mystery though," continued Jonas, "is how they managed to advance to the technological level they've reached; since I've determined their society was taken there during the time we believe Sokar had a secret operational Gate on Earth during the Dark Ages."
"Meaning they went from agrarian society to interstellar star nation in less than eight hundred years without external help," commented Harry thoughtfully. "Doesn't seem possible, but the Universe is full of surprises."
"Their sub-light space flight technology is way in advance of our own," explained Sam further, obviously trying to put a concrete reason whey relations with the Hebradans should be pursued beyond the humanitarian one of helping repair their ship. "They use liquid nitrogen to fuel an ion propulsion system. Personally I can't wait to see how they generate a sufficient strength emission of ions to propel a ship at viable sublight speeds."
"We have a problem though," reported Jonas. "There are an unknown number of aliens also on this planet, who have repeatedly attacked the Sebrus over the past months."
"Non-human?" asked Hammond.
"Yes, Sir. Though they are bipedal and intelligent. We were attacked not a few hours after discovering the Sebrus. Colonel O'Neill tried to stun one of the aliens to find out why they were attacking, but the crew from the Sebrus killed the alien before 'he' could be revived and questioned. One of the crew was wounded in the attack and is being treated in the Infirmary."
"Very well, what's your evaluation of these people, Major?"
"Cautiously optimistic, sir."
"Can you fix their ship?" said Hammond.
"If I can recharge their batteries using a naquadah generator and bring along a sufficient quantity of liquid nitrogen to replace that lost in the crash and there are no other problems..."
"Take whatever you need, and SG15," agreed the General. "Ambassador, I want you to go along...see if you can't reason with these aliens to stop their attacks."
"Yes, Sir."
Nebula Planet
Harry stepped through the event horizon to another forested planet, though this one had a binary sun in the sky. Since it was a potential combat zone he was clad in chromesuit and carried the PR8 AW. Sam came through next controlling a Mobile Cargo Platform (MCP) carrying five large liquid nitrogen containers, transfer pipes and valves and a Naquadah Generator. Colonel Evanov and SG15 followed thirty seconds later and the Gate shut down.
The journey to the crash site with the MCP was quite slow and required a bit of creative maneuvering as the terrain was not exactly flat.
When the crash site finally came into view; Harry took a moment to admire the Sebrus. It had a distinct bird-of-prey shape with two engine emitters in the rear tail and what looked like variable geometry engines on the wing tips used for vertical take off and landing and precision maneuvering. It was painted a dull green that was coated in dust.
"Well, their spaceframe construction techniques must also be quite impressive if the ship could still be intact, after a crash like this," commented Harry.
"Yeah, I'm hoping to get a look at that as well," said Sam with a grin.
They approached the side of the ship where Jack, Teal'C and two unfamiliar humans were talking to each other in a rather brisk manner. They wore a form of leather jumpsuit and had a distinct air of being rather desperate survivors. Both held rather strange looking green 'pure energy' weapons (since they only had an emitter on the front and not a muzzle).
"Sir," called Sam. "Hammond sent SG15 as backup and the Ambassador to help solve our 'little' alien problem."
"Jack," nodded Harry.
"Ambassador, think you can help us get ET to back off?"
"I'll try," said Harry dryly.
"Rather well armed for an Ambassador," commented one of the unfamiliar men.
"Oh yeah, Ambassador, this Captain Aiden Corso of the Sebrus," introduced Jack, and pointed to the other more thickset blond haired man, "and navigator Lyall Pender. Their First Officer is Tanis Reynard."
"Ah the wounded woman in our Infirmary," nodded Harry. "Yes, well, it's nice to meet you and I extend friendly greetings from the people of Earth. Now...if one of you can point me in the direction you last saw the alien, I'll get things started."
"You're going alone?" said Pender in astonishment. "You'll be killed..."
"I am going alone because going out there in numbers will merely look like we're hunting them down, which according to Major Carter was done once unsuccessfully already. Jack?"
"Two clicks north-east," said the Colonel.
"Thank you, Jack, can I have a word."
"Sure, get cracking Carter," ordered Jack. She nodded and began unlatching the supplies.
Harry accompanied Jack out of earshot of everyone and whispered into his ear.
"Oh," said the leader of SG1 in response. "Sure?"
"Yes, things are not as they seem with these men, keep both eyes on them," said Harry significantly and walked off into the forest.
88888888888888888888
He considered the dead body of the alien as he stood disillusioned a few feet away. This alien was of a species he recalled as having seen in an Asgard database somewhere a long time ago. The Asgard didn't have much data on them beyond their appearance, physical characteristics and the fact that they were relatively advanced race, with FTL space flight and home system somewhere in the barren outer arm of the Milky Way that rose out of the galactic plane.
They were the Zerakens. A race with glistening brown patterned skin, knobbly heads and a characteristic white oval on either side of their heads that served as a highly sensitive ear. That being said he also had a silencing field around his body, since a Zeraken could most definitely hear a heart beat from a dozen feet away.
He was staking out the dead body of the Zeraken killed by either Corso or Pendell when the first attack happened. He was here in the hope that the others would come to collect their dead, if not, then at least the integrated dog tag on the front of the leather uniform.
His patience was rewarded after a few hours when out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Another Zerakan wearing the same uniform as his dead comrade was slowly approaching and keeping low to the ground.
Harry carefully moved out of the way and watched as the Zerakan carefully crept next to his fallen comrade and snag the dog tag off the uniform. The Zerakan was clearly spooked and was hyperalert...clearly he was expecting that his comrade's body would be used as a trap. But the fact that nothing had happened yet was even more unsettling to him.
For the next hour Harry tracked the Zerakan. The alien was clearly somewhat skilled in evasion as he made sure he left as little disturbance of his passage through the forest as possible. He double backed, never stayed on a single path longer than a few minutes and cleared any sign of his footsteps.
Finally, the alien seemingly reached his destination. A rather ramshackle camp that looked like it had once been occupied by much more than just the single Zerak. There was also equipment from the Sebrus around the camp, the Zerak also had a similar pistol version of the energy weapon that Corso and Pender had. The Zerak took it out of a holster and expertly pulled out its power pack and checked it; he gave a sad sigh as he looked at an indicator on it and reloaded his weapon.
Harry couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart as he saw the Zerak reach to a small bag and open it, to reveal numerous more dog tags. The alien took the one he had collected recently and stared at it in grim sadness and placed it with the others.
This Zerakan was the last one left.
Add the fact that the camp was quite a distance from the Stargate.
Harry sighed and slotted his PR8 onto the special catches the stretched across the chest armor. He walked across to a nearby tree and willed away the disillusionment and silence fields. The Zerakan instantly sprang up and brought his energy pistol to bear.
"Peace, Zerakan," said Harry raising his hands.
"Who are you? How did you get there?" said the alien quickly, still looking very jumpy.
"I'm Ambassador Harry Potter of Terra." Seeing no familiarity register on the alien... "I'm with those that are helping to fix the Sebrus."
"Your people should be more careful of who they help," retorted the alien.
"Perhaps," admitted Harry. "We did not know the Hebridans were hunting you...and not the other way around. You also attacked my people..."
"I...I am sorry," said the alien, his eyes constricting but keeping the weapon trained. "We could not risk them coercing your aid. Whatever the Hebridans told you is a lie. I am Warwick...Captain of the Sebrus."
Harry heard no lie in his voice.
"Well met, Warwick," nodded Harry. "I came in peace, I'm not here to kill you..."
"The leader of your team shot my first officer," retorted Warwick.
"The weapon has a stun setting," countered Harry, "O'Neill was not looking to kill your fellow crew. It was Pendell who fired the killing shot. Now...who are Corso, Pendell and Reynard to you?"
"Escaped prisoners," answered Warwick eventually lowering his weapon but keeping it in hand. "The Sebrus was a prison transport vessel. Three years ago my crew and I were transporting Aiden Corso and two of his accomplices to a prison colony. We hit an asteroid storm and began to lose power. Our only hope for survival was to set down on this planet."
"And?"
"We had no choice but to take them out of transport stasis. The ship had insufficient power to sustain their lives."
"How many were there...of you?" asked Harry grimly, he hadn't seen the exact number of dog tags in the pouch.
"My crew was eight, including myself," said Warwick dismally. "We watched them in shifts. My first officer and I were looking for food and water when they overpowered the men guarding them and killed them in cold blood. Corso then took over the ship and used its defences against us. We tried many times to retake the Sebrus but recently we were just lucky to stay alive. They hunted us like wild animals. You must believe me. They are the worst Hebradan has to offer. No matter what, they must not be allowed to go free."
Again Harry heard only truth.
"How did the Zeraken end up guarding Hebradan prisoners?"
"My kind helped liberate the Hebradans from the Goa'uld hundreds of years ago after we were forced to flee our homeworld when they attacked it in surprise," answered Warwick. "In turn the Hebradans gave us refuge on their world and we have lived in harmony, mostly, ever since."
"So you're the reason why their tech base is so high after so short a time," said Harry in realization.
"Indeed," said Warwick with a nod. He holstered his weapon. "What will you do now?"
"Give me a twenty minute head start...then follow, I have to warn my people."
"Corso and Pendell are there...your people could be taken unawares and hostage."
"I can be subtle," smirked Harry
Warwick blinked as the Ambassador walked backwards and moved behind a tree out of view. It was then that something happened that should've been impossible. He couldn't hear the Ambassador anymore. He rushed forward to look around the tree...nothing.
For a brief moment, he considered he had imagined the Ambassador...was he losing his mind?
No.
The footsteps of the Ambassador were still there. He felt the first stirrings of hope for a long time. The ship was being fixed, the prisoners would be defeated, he would see his wife Athea again. He rushed towards his things and began packing a small bag of items that he still had with him. But he paused when he saw the bag of ID tags for his shipmates.
They had been his crew...for over eight years they shared the dangers of being a transport ship in the farthest reaches of Hebradan explored space...they had become family, now they were all dead. For a long time he thought he would join them and then the prisoners would've won. He dreaded telling their families, that their loved ones had died, hunted down on a distant world for no other reason than fighting for survival against a pack of worthless though deadly criminals.
He was the Captain, it was his responsibility.
He glanced at his chrono and saw that the Ambassador's twenty minutes was up. He closed the bag with ID tags and put into his pack, shouldering it as he walked back to the Sebrus crash site. He was five minutes walk away from his beloved ship that had been stolen from him when he heard the distinctive energetic thumping sound of Hebradan energy weapons being fired, interspersed amongst this was a low whining sound that had to be the plasma weapons of the Terrans.
Warwick cursed...clearly the Ambassador hadn't been subtle enough. Corso was the slimiest snake in all of the Hebradan Union, and clever enough to outwit even the most skilled bounty hunters and law enforcement officials. His final capture had been largely due of the fact that Corso had eventually gotten overconfident in that ability to elude capture, and so became a victim of his own success. The event that had led to his capture had been an innocuous ship parking violation of all things.
He was very close now and began to approach the crash site at careful crawl, using a thick tree for cover he peeked at the sight of a full on running battle.
Two Terrans were on the far side of the crashed Sebrus, using a fallen as cover and traded weapons fire with Pendell who was using the starboard wing of the ship as his own cover. The belly turret of the Sebrus was shooting lethal green energy bolts towards another end of the crash site...where the Ambassador was, taking cover and darting from tree to tree...the belly turret was powerful enough to destroy the trees easily, but it nevertheless made a useful one use shield from the weapon.
Clearly Corso was inside the Sebrus and controlling its defenses. He wondered though why the criminal had not used the Sonic Field yet. It was a defensive, anti-personnel system which would painfully resonate the eardrums of anyone outside the ship. As a Zerak, Warwick and his crew had been quite vulnerable to that defense. It had less of a pronounced effect on humans, but was equally as incapacitating.
Warwick didn't know what good it would do, but perhaps he could alleviate the weight of fire on the Ambassador, enough perhaps for the Terran to get a clear shot at the belly turret. If the Terrans used plasma weapons as he suspected, the shots would most likely burn through the armor of the turret quite handily.
The Captain of the Sebrus pulled out his nearly drained energy pistol and taking careful aim, and began to fire on the belly turret. His first shot was too high, he cursed and quickly corrected his aim and a lethal energy pulse splashed against the turret, causing scorch marks on the paint.
The next moment the turret rotated to search out the new threat and locked onto him.
"Oh no." Clearly the sensors had been restored to some functionality.
He dived to one side and barely escaped with his life as two large green bolts from the turret disintegrated the tree he had been hiding behind. As it was, numerous splinters stabbed themselves into him and dug painfully into his skin. The turret moved to follow.
What happened next happened so fast he had barely time to comprehend it. The Ambassador was suddenly standing on top of the belly turret and he placed something on top of it...the next moment the Ambassador was gone...leaving behind...
...an explosion erupted...leaving the turret a twisted metal heap...
Warwick blinked. He couldn't believe he had survived that...and yet, he had. He also couldn't believe he had seen that...no, it must've been a trick of the moment...
The battle with Pendell had also stopped. The prisoner was down on the ground, unconscious. When did that happen?
The three Terrans rushed forward with their weapons still trained on the Sebrus. They met over the fallen form of Pendell and relieved the man of his energy rifle. There was a brief muttered conversation and then the Ambassador was heading towards his position.
"Warwick?"
"Here," moaned the Captain, rolling over on his back and wincing as the splinters of wood shifted in his skin.
"Ouch," winced Harry in sympathy. "Don't worry; we can have that looked at back on Terra."
"Thanks."
"No, I should be thanking you for attracting the attention of that turret, there was no other way I would've had the time to get close to it," said Harry kindly. He pulled out a small Battlefield Medkit from the AW armor and pretended to inject Warwick with a small vial of pain medication, while in fact he had cast a brief numbing matrix onto him. "Better?"
"Yes, thank you again."
"Ok, we're going to call in our back up team to take you to the Stargate, just hang in there and don't move, ok?"
"What's a Stargate?"
"You'll see. Now we just have to take care of Corso, he's holding Major Carter hostage inside the ship."
"Be careful and don't trust him to deliver on anything he promises..."
"I understand," nodded Harry and waved SG15 over to him. As soon as Warwick was in the capable hands of the SG15's field medic he walked back over to Teal'C and Jack who were quietly conversing at the edge of the clearing, no doubt figuring a way to get Sam out of her predicament. "Any ideas, Jack?"
"Plenty, just none that would ensure Corso doesn't kill Sa...Carter," he stammered on her name. "What I wanna know is why that asshole didn't use the Sonic gimmick against us?"
"Perhaps Major Carter is responsible," posited Teal'C stoically.
"Maybe," said Jack with a frown, staring at Harry, "hey, Sam told me you have one of those walk through the wall gadgets from Narim. Got two more?"
"I do have them," said Harry nonplussed. "But I have one on myself and a backup. You mean you want to...oh."
Inside the Sebrus
"This is Corso," spoke the convict into her radio. "Right now I'm pointing a Zat, I think it you call it, at Major Carter. I think you know what happens when I hit her twice with this thing."
Inwardly Sam fumed at herself. She had taken off her armor and weapons to fix the ship, since it was quite hot inside and she had to crawl into a few narrow spaces to get at the guts of certain systems. That had allowed Corso all the time in the world to steal her Zat, and he had oh so innocently and subtly asked her about her weapons. She had been lost in the zone and rapture she went into when tinkering or fixing a new machine or piece of tech to give any thought to the fact that she was basically telling a complete stranger how to use her weapons. Stupid. Stupid.
Now she was sitting tied up, leaning against a bulkhead in the cockpit with Corso pointing her own Zat on her. She winced as the bruise on the back of her head throbbed again from where the guy had hit her with the weapon.
"This is Ambassador Potter," came Harry's voice over the radio. "You have five minutes to release Major Carter and surrender yourself...or we do this the hard way."
"Did you not hear what I just said?" asked Corso angrily. "You try anything and the Major will be dead before you could even so much as begin to cut through the hull."
"We heard you. But who said anything about cutting?"
"What?" said Corso baffled.
Sam's eyes widened as she only now noticed the slight ripple of distortion in the bulkhead behind Corso. She hastily closed her eyes and curled up into a protective ball to shield her eyes and ears; just in time...as the world suddenly exploded in a haze of sound and white light, which she was mostly shielded from with her eyes closed and her legs buffering the intense overload of sound to her ears.
She didn't know how long it took for her senses to return, but she felt a supportive hand on her shoulder and a voice that seemed to come from a long way off.
"...s...am...SAM!"
She snapped out of the protective position and blinked away the stars in her vision to stare into the concerned face of Jack.
"You okay?"
"Fine," she said, trying to stand...the world suddenly couldn't decide which was the right way up.
"Oh no you don't," admonished Jack and pushed her back down, he took out a knife and cut off her restraints. "You've got a bad knock on the head, and you've just been in close proximity to a Flashbang. We're getting you home first to get that head looked at. This ship ain't going nowhere."
"Corso?"
"Stunned and in custody," answered Jack.
"Thank goodness for those Phaseshift devices," she mutttered, closing her eyes.
"They come in handy," her CO agreed.
"Pendell and Corso are secured and under guard by SG15," said Harry, coming into view. "We've also received an update from the SGC, apparently Jonas figured out that Reynard was lying all on his own."
"How did he do that?" asked Jack incredulously.
"Didn't say, you can ask him when he gets back with the third member of this terrible trio," shrugged Harry.
Two days later, the Sebrus was fully repaired and now sitting properly on it landing struts ready to take off.
"Everybody locked up okay?" asked Jack.
"They're all in transport stasis," nodded Warwick and turned to Jonas. "Mr Quinn, I never did ask how you figured out who Reynard really was."
"Just a feeling really. Although I did come across something interesting while I was researching the name of your ship. There was another ship built by the descendents of the Ancient Celts on Earth. It was called the Ceberus. Coincidentally it was designed specifically to transport convicts to a penal colony. The names were so similar I thought maybe there was some significance in Celtic history and uh…"
"The meaning of the word never changed," finished Teal'C helpfully.
"Incredible," said Jack, shaking his head. Jonas shrugged modestly.
"Well that and I've always been suspicious of a girl who kisses on the first date."
Everyone looked strangely at the Kelownan.
"What?"
"Ambassador, I want to thank you and your people for helping me," said Warwick turning to Harry.
"It's our pleasure, and please take this," said Harry handing a silver cylinder to the Zerak. "Please give this to the leaders of your government. Inside is a formal letter of introduction, asking for an opening of formal relations between our peoples and a method for contacting us."
"I will forward this to my government," nodded Warwick. "I look forward to perhaps seeing you all again? When you visit Hebradan?"
"We will look you up," affirmed Jack with a smile.
Warwick nodded and gave a last wave to them and walked up the boarding ramp which closed slowly behind him. SG1 and Harry retreated a safe distance as the Sebrus spooled and warmed up its engines, creating a heavy constant drone in the air. The ship's wing engines tilted and it rose vertically over the tree line before reorienting and blasting off into the sky.
London, England
He was the virtual picture of an affluent bachelor. Dressed in a formal suit that could have come straight out of the Armani fashion house, but adding a dash of casualness by loosing the tie that normally came with it and simply having a shirt underneath. He also was leisurely perusing a newspaper that he had picked up to simply pass the time until the scheduled time for his meeting with Hermione.
The waitress approached him again and asked if she could refill his coffee. He nodded with a smile at the woman, whom he thought must be rather uncomfortable in the uniform the restaurant foisted on its employees.
He was currently sitting at a table that was on a large exterior balcony, where those who wanted to enjoy a bit of fresh air could seat themselves while they ate. It gave an excellent view of the Thames River and the Tower Bridge a little further downstream. He also could keep an eye on a side street the restaurant used for deliveries that was only in use just before the rush hours. As such it was a perfect spot to Apparate, or as the Delphi Academies had termed the ability; Subspace Leaping.
He had suggested the spot for her in his email after having done some prelim scouting of the restaurant. That being said, he had also given the physical address if she wanted to arrive in a more traditional fashion.
And just so like her, she arrived bang on time, with a pop of displaced air in the side street. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a green blouse that accentuated her figure in all the right places, and made the part of him that he associated with the memories of his ascended brother give a pang of longing and regret.
'You have a very confusing life, my dear,' said Tok'ra Queen Egeria wryly within him. 'You love and care deeply for your wife, and yet I can't help but be attracted to Aiyana, meaning you are too. And here you are...feeling like this because of the memories of your brother..."
"Welcome to the madness that is my life."
"Harry!"
Her familiar and excited voice broke his conversation with his symbiote and he smiled at her as she approached his table. He stood and they shared a hug.
"It's so good to see you," she gushed.
"Good to see you too," he grinned. "You're looking radiant, as ever." She did indeed, her healthy tanned complexion spoke of many recent holidays on the beaches in France...something she always like to do. Her hair was pulled into a braid that fell down to her mid back.
"Always know what to say to get a blush out of me, eh?" she asked her cheeks coloring slightly.
He shrugged. Having to fight a war daily would be a drag on anyone's appearance. Compared to the last days of the Voldemort War this Hermione was looking like a princess.
They sat down at the table and the waitress came over to take their order.
"What's good here?" asked Hermione.
"I really don't know...Chinese food has never really been my thing," he answered and directed a friendly questioning glance towards the waitress. She explained the specialty dishes that were on offer and with a lot of help from Hermione (who was much more used to Chinese) Harry decided that he'd be content with a Lamb and Chinese Onion dish while Hermione settled on a Sweet and Sour Chicken.
Over their meal they talked about all the recent happenings within the 'Wizarding World'...of particular interest was all the Death Eaters that had been captured since he had 'left'. There had been no repeat of the under the table money dealing that had happened the last time around, allowing some Death Eaters who could afford it to walk free. Primarily since it was the Council of Nine who was judging them...and since no one could know who was part of the Nine, therefore the briber didn't know who to bribe.
There was no dillydallying as well. Veritaserum was used and in remarkably brilliant insight from one of the Nine, the Sorting Hat. Death Eaters were being punished depending on the severity of the crimes uncovered by the Hat. The worst were chucked immediately after sentencing into the Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries. The least a Death Eater could expect though was Petrifaction and Entombment in a Goblin run prison in a Fidelius protected abandoned coal mine.
"Nice to hear some decisiveness and backbone has entered the Wizarding world," mused Harry aloud.
"In no small part thanks to your actions and ideas, Harry," said Hermione astutely.
"So what did you want to really meet me for?" he said after giving her a penetrating stare, "surely not for just telling me of the Death Eaters meeting their justly deserved fate, which could have been easily sent in an email."
"No, well..." she flustered, "umm, could you place a Silencing Ward up...what I have to say is sensitive and I don't really know who I can trust with this information, except you..." She glanced significantly at the people around them also seated on the balcony.
"Very well," he acquiesced, and made a movement as if he was brushing of his hands, willing the air to prevent sound transmission in a sphere around them. Immediately the noise of the street and people around them was gone.
"As you know, I've been liaising between the 'Magical' and 'Normal' governments, helping with the organization of Delphi Academies, I've even taught at a few schools as a sort of roving guest lecturer," she explained and sighed heavily. "This means I have access to a lot of statistical data gathered by the government."
"Go on," he said curiously, wondering where this was going.
"In a nutshell, people...most of which are children, are disappearing."
In the heavy silence that followed that dark pronouncement he said, "I take it you mean beyond the usual statistics of children running away due to family problems or other common related phenomena?"
"Yes," she nodded, "because most of those who disappeared were from healthy family situations and had displayed rather pronounced magi...I mean metaphysical abilities. They were all seemingly picked up by their parents or accompanied by a loved one, only for the school to get a phone call or visit from the very same parents later asking where their children were. It was this incongruence that allowed me to pick up on it."
"You're saying someone or a group of criminals either using Polyjuice, or has a Metamorph ability and are kidnapping children by appearing to be their parents..." he trailed off, a suspicion niggled at him. "How widespread is it?"
"That's another reason why I asked you to come," said Hermione darkly, "it's not just in Britain. There are similar reports surfacing stippled all over Europe."
"Surely law enforcement has picked up on this already."
"They only pursue the individual kidnappings in their respective territories, they don't have access to all the data like I do," explained Hermione. "Interpol should have picked up on it, and something with this scope should've been announced, but I checked...through public channels and through back channels with the International Wizards Confederation. Nothing."
"That would imply that whoever is doing this has someone inside Interpol," theorized Harry thoughtfully.
"Indeed, but I wanted to ask you have the Goa'uld discovered us...that we all have metaphysical abilities?"
"No," said Harry confidently. "Oh...I see, you think that it might be them...stealing us and take us as hosts or using the children for experiments...no, since we last spoke a lot of things have changed. Our Solar System is rather quite fortified now. The Asgard has a Task Force here and Earth has two operational starships of its own with two more being launched very soon."
"Wow," said Hermione blinking in astonishment. "Ok, but what about the Goa'uld Cargo Ship, it can cloak itself right?"
"We did have one incident of a Cargo Ship penetrating Sol, but this was before the Leap and we found it soon enough...since then the Asgard have been keeping a tighter Sensor picket all over Sol which has the ability to detect cloaked ships," he explained. It was a lot more complicated than that, since Harry doubted she would understand a Neutrino based sensor system.
"Ok, so that rules out them at least," said Hermione with a half sigh of relief.
There was the sudden noise like an extremely fast bee buzzing through the air, followed immediately by the tinkling sound of broken glass. Harry saw the empty glass that had held his water crumple into pieces as if in slow motion. He felt droplets of something wet and warm hit his face. He looked with wide near disbelieving eyes to Hermione opposite him and met her surprised eyes.
"Where did that blood come from?" she asked and promptly slumped out of her chair like a puppet which strings had been cut.
MOVE! Shouted Egeria.
He flung himself to ground out of his chair and kicked upward, sending the table cantering on its side.
There was another buzzing sound and a thin hole appeared in the wood of the table, he had guessed correctly about the general direction and the temporary shield had done its job and the sniper missed by a half a meter to the left.
He flung himself forward towards Hermione and sent a mental scream towards the AI in his chromesuit. There was a flash of white light and they both vanished.
Leaving bedlam and cacophony in their wake...and blood.