Chapter 12: Chapter 12 Xion
A month later, Jack sat in the old control chair at the outpost. They had removed the ZPM and replaced it with a two-meter-tall contraption, their subspatial energy source that they had designed and was finally ready. They also integrated a shield generator and some defenses by dismantling a ha'tak. It would take at least a year to start producing the acquired technology. Now, they could only disassemble Apophis' ship and make improvements with it.
"All systems online, and probes ready to penetrate the shields of any Goa'uld ship, rendering them useless with a single shot," Jack warned the selected group of military personnel prepared to operate the chair in case of an extraterrestrial attack. The military personnel stood at attention.
"Captain Sheppard, you are a natural carrier of the Ancient genes and will always be the first choice to use the chair. So make sure you're rested and prepared at all times. Remember, don't waste our ammunition because, despite being tens of thousands, we have no weapon capable of matching them," Jack explained, and the military nodded in salute. Jack nodded and stood up from the chair, indicating Sheppard to sit and try. As a natural carrier, the chair activated effortlessly for him.
"Excellent," Jack said, leaving the pilots in place.
Sheppard was a recommendation he had made himself. Now it was easier to give advice because no one questioned where he got the information or how he reached such conclusions. He was an official prodigy, and that was the explanation. Jack used the nanites to open a subspace channel to contact his team.
"Carter, the outpost is finished, armed, equipped, and ready to blow up any extraterrestrial ship approaching Earth with hostile intentions," Jack said. "How are things on your end? Are our Goa'uld motherships ready?" he asked. A sigh was her initial response.
"Sir, it's still a week away. We're adjusting the glider shields for concealment, reducing pilot space, and adding the weapon system…"
"Carter, no excuses. I had to locate a base forgotten for millions of years, unearth it, and find people worldwide who could operate it, in addition to building an energy source," Jack interrupted smugly.
"Sir, my team has lost," Carter reluctantly admitted.
"So?" Jack asked, and he could almost hear her gritting her teeth.
"Sir, it's always better to be lucky than smart," Carter said in frustration.
"Thanks, Carter. When this project is revealed, and you become famous, I'll make sure that's your catchphrase," Jack assured, hearing something break on the other side.
"Colonel O'Neill!" growled General Hammond.
"Sir!" Jack said surprised, checking the communication channel to see how he overlooked General Hammond.
Jack was an experienced bully; it wasn't possible for him to overlook the general before bothering his victim. "Sir, please follow the protocols. You must use your rank and name to join this private chat," Jack accused.
"Colonel O'Neill, you will delete Major Carter's words and not speak of the matter again. It's an order!" reprimanded General Hammond.
"Sir, it was a fair bet…"
"Colonel O'Neill, do you want me to remove your virtual reality capsule from the base?" General Hammond threatened.
"They're already deleted, sir," Jack hurriedly said, still not over when they confiscated his PlayStation 1 and games.
"I hope so," said General Hammond, identified as "Supervisor" in the chat room, and left.
"Carter, this is dirty play at the highest level," Jack accused.
"Sir, you couldn't have won without cheating. You already knew the names of your personnel when making the deal, and I suspect you also knew the location of the base," accused Carter, receiving dozens of supports from her scientific team, while Jack's team complained of being falsely accused and doing everything within legal bounds. Jack let it be; he had already lost his prize, there was nothing left to fight for.
"Well, Dr. McKay, how is your weapons project going? And those personal shield generators? I've given you my specifications. I want them to be twice as resistant as a Goa'uld personal shield and able to withstand a whole platoon shooting at them," warned Jack.
"Colonel O'Neill, my name is Rodney McKay, not McCoy," McKay reprimanded.
"Dr. McCoy, stop deflecting. Carter will finish her work in a week."
"I thought you said you studied who knows where and did who knows what to be almost equal to her, 'in your opinion,' but now you haggle over a name to gain extra time. McCoy, you're pitiful," Jack said. "Stop beating around the bush and tell me about my weapons and my shield. Don't forget to mention if they can be made invisible," Jack said.
"You're just making upgrades; my team is working from scratch," McKay complained. "Still, we're making progress and about to test a prototype."
"Dr. McCoy, 'about to' is not a measure of time; you're pitiful. Even with a Tok'ra lab at your disposal and detailed schematics made by a prodigy, you're still dragging your feet," Jack said with a sigh.
"I have more assigned work," McKay complained bitterly. Jack knew Maybourne was pressuring him to hurry up and produce more lie detector artifacts, but since McKay couldn't say that, as he would end up in a dark cell under NID scrutiny, Jack took the opportunity to annoy him. McKay never liked him, talked too much and too fast, made a thousand excuses for delays, and was ten times more arrogant than any other scientist.
Now that he worked with him, Jack realized he was twice as difficult to deal with in person…
McKay left the chat room. Jack chuckled to himself. Since his team had finished earlier, he had all the time it took for Carter and McKay to complete their projects to rest, while his team of collaborators took care of the final adjustments.
…
Jack took the cargo ship and returned to the SGC. He didn't need pilots as the nanites in his body handled any Goa'uld interface.
Upon arriving at the SGC, Jack saw that the entire place was still being renovated, another unfinished project. It would take another month before they resumed activities, as they were making many improvements, including communications and sensors. Fortunately, the Tok'ra allowed them to use their labs in exchange for the lie detector technology. They weren't industrial production labs; at best, they were personal workshops, but they didn't even have that, and the Tollan, who did, slammed the door in their face, continuing with their stubborn way of doing things.
The only ones keeping their word and overseeing that nothing exploded in their faces were the Asgard, although Jack could see their expression of helplessness at the mess they were making, stripping ships and dismantling their structures… They looked like piranhas when they smelled blood. A Ha'tak, a bomber, and twelve death gliders had already been dismantled, and their components used in different projects.
Jack also knew that the Goa'uld would have a tough time when the projects were completed because the allied governments, consisting of Canada, the United States, England, Australia, and Israel, planned to launch a massive raid against the Goa'uld. They had been preparing troops and transporting armored vehicles to the SGC for two weeks, from where they would launch ground attacks.
The plans were simple: the Tok'ra would provide information on strategic locations with abundant equipment and weapons. They needed refineries and factories. There were also ship raids, but that would happen once they had prepared factories and plants to replace the parts once they took the ships.
For all these operations, infiltration technology would be vital. A team would infiltrate and eliminate the Goa'uld in charge, leaving the Jaffa without instructions, cutting communications, and even using their own bases against them by closing doors or maintenance systems. Then the troops would come in and sweep away any resistance. The troops would consist of soldiers with nanites and powerful weapons, backed by armored ground vehicles and adapted to go through the Stargate.
As for Goa'uld retaliation, any ship approaching Earth would be detected by a network of satellites with hyperspace and regular sensors and destroyed as soon as it showed its face. Hidden Goa'uld ships wouldn't be a problem, as infiltration technology was superior, and their enhanced sensors could detect them.
…
Jack looked around. This was a war separate from the SGC, led by allied military forces. They only had to keep exploring. But not him. He had occupied O'Neill's role for too long. There was nothing holding him there now, only things that would delay him in fulfilling the rest of his plans.
Jack sighed as he walked the last few meters to the Stargate. Though he dragged his feet, his steps slowed even more as he clenched his teeth and looked around, unwilling to give up this life, despite knowing it didn't belong to him and couldn't be his.
Jack reached out and pulled a gate control from a storage bracelet. He pressed it uninterrupted, even though there were people and military personnel everywhere. But no one even asked him what he was doing. Although he wished they would stop him to have an excuse to stay.
After the gate was active and connected to Atlantis, Jack took a deep breath. From now on, his journey would continue alone.
"Goodbye, SGC Command," he bid farewell to the place.
"At least you said goodbye," Daniel's voice said, appearing three meters away after deactivating a stealth device. Carter, Teal'c, and General Hammond were also there. Jack clenched his teeth realizing he had been deceived.
"They're prototypes. McKay and I worked together to finish them on time," explained Carter.
"How did you know I was leaving?" Jack asked.
"Well, you didn't hide your secret project, and we didn't have to think much to know what you intended to do with a tagging device. Besides, you seemed desperate to keep Earth safe," explained Daniel.
"I'm not Jack O'Neill…"
"You're ascended; the Nox told us months ago," said Daniel. Jack frowned; he had thought those green plants were trustworthy.
"Daniel, you don't even know what it means to be ascended. If I were ascended, I couldn't even talk to you," Jack explained.
"I meant you were," Daniel clarified. Jack sighed.
"Sir, you know too much to have only an enhanced perception," Carter said smugly. She couldn't accept that a laid-back slacker surpassed her, but if that slacker had been ascended, that was enough. Jack decided not to ruin her idyllic fantasies.
"General Hammond, sir, I have to go now. I've taken a life that doesn't belong to me; I just hope my compensation for him is enough. I didn't expect to end up here," Jack said sincerely.
"I just wanted to ask you about the real Colonel O'Neill before you left and thank you on behalf of Earth," General Hammond said. Jack nodded.
"I suppose I'll be back with you in half a year; it shouldn't take me longer to create a proper body," Jack said.
"By the way, what's your real name?" Carter asked. Daniel nodded, and General Hammond and Teal'c looked expectantly at him.
"I'm sorry, I forgot. That's one of the reasons I ended up here, but you can call me Xion from now on," Xion said, shaking hands with each of them.
"Xion, it's been a headache getting to know you," Daniel said with a not entirely cheerful smile as he massaged his neck. Everyone laughed.
"Don't complain; I warn you that my personality and O'Neill's are not very different," Xion cautioned.
"Well, Jack never grabbed me by the neck, threatened to shoot me, was going to blow up a bomb in my face, and called me a hippie a couple of times, but he never grabbed my neck," Daniel said, and everyone laughed again.
"I'll make sure to pay you back, and also provide fair compensation for the time I used your body. I'm sure you'll be more than satisfied. Besides, I won't erase the memories of these years, so there's no need to fill him in on the situation until now," Xion said.
"Hmmm… I'm not sure that's a good idea," Daniel said with some apprehension. General Hammond shook his head.
"Xion, on behalf of Earth, I want to thank you for everything you've done for us. I also wish you the best on your future path," General Hammond said. Xion nodded.
"Sir, thank you for everything. It's been an honor to serve by your side, and I guess I won't be able to come back to this place," Xion said.
"More things to resolve?" Teal'c asked.
"Life-sucking beings, devastating an entire galaxy," Xion replied.
"That sounds a bit more dangerous than the Goa'uld," Carter said.
"And creepy," Daniel added.
"Nonsense, I'll take care of them in a few months. Do you want to come with me? There's a lot to see there; you can even talk to the Ancients, although they're all grumpy with no personality. Humans are better, except the Tollan; they seem to have inherited no personality," Xion said, and then fell silent. After waiting so long, he had forgotten about another danger.
"Is something wrong?" Carter asked. Xion nodded.
"There's another population of humans as advanced as the Tollan, but even more devoid of personality. They are genocidal. Do not contact them, or Earth and the rest of the galaxy will be decimated. They are extremely dangerous and have the empathic capacity of a reptile. Don't believe a word they say; their main weapon is genetics, and in that field, Earth cannot defend against them. They're called the Aschen, although they call themselves the Aschen Federation by including the worlds they've decimated and now use as farming planets.
"If you encounter them, they'll try to offer you everything in exchange for portal addresses or worlds to conquer. They don't like to explore, but they're not violent and won't abduct you. So, if you come across their worlds, pretend you've never heard of them and never set foot on their planet again," Xion explained in detail.
"We will follow your advice," assured General Hammond.
"Sir, the energy source I created…"
"It's nothing compared to what you've given to this planet," General Hammond said. Xion nodded and finally entered the portal.
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