#ten year old with an alien mutated virus in her

[cassioppenny]

milesverse green episode

[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Voltron Thursday

When Takashi Shirogane was twelve years old, even though he didn't know it at the time, a deadly virus that had swept through the universe for millenia, decimating entire planets, came to the Milky Way. No one knew for sure where it had come from, though there were theories that it had its origin in another dimension. There was a cure, but the time it took to get it to infected worlds usually wasn't fast enough to save large swaths of the population and often even wildlife.

When Takashi Shirogane was fifteen, the virus made it to Earth, embedded in meteorites. Within months, the outbreak had spread across the entire globe. There was widespread paranoia, and quarantined places began to fall into a kind of martial law. In the first two years of the virus, everything was chaos. Countries accused each other of using biological weapons, terrorists claimed responsibility only to be outed as lying when they caught the disease as well. A thousand and fifteen people ultimately died of the virus. Everyone else infected, surprisingly, recovered. But things on Earth were never quite the same afterwards.

When Takashi Shirogane was eighteen, large sections of the world resembled something out of post-apocalyptic fiction with a decidedly sci-fi flavor. The plants and animals that had been infected mutated rather than perishing, and any old Zoobooks previous generations had were now mostly useless. And, as it turned out, a lot of those stronger faster larger animals decided they were going to move into residential areas.

Like some of the Planet of the Apes movies, minus sentient animals. Or perhaps Jurassic Park was a better analogy. And that, rather than the virus itself, was what did the most damage to the human population.

Luckily, humans are pretty good at surviving.

When Takashi Shirogane was twenty, the convoy/wagon train he was traveling with ended up getting separated and scattered in the aftermath of a coordinated attack by four skunk-cougars (Which, yes, were just as unpleasant as they sounded). In the ensuing fracas, Shiro found himself alone in a battered S.U.V. with one of his old classmates, the classmate's nine year old sister, two ten year old boys, and an eleven year old boy he'd been sort of mentoring.

With two young adults and four children, they were a little bit of at constant risk in the vehicle, and ended up stopping at the first town they found that didn't look like either Jumanji or a weird Mad Max scenario. They'd been holed up in the Cold War era basement of a library for three weeks when the aliens landed.

No two ships looked the same, neither did the aliens. Some looked like they were made of rock, some looked like elves, and a lot of them were purple despite vastly differing in individual appearance. The only common feature among them was protective masks and oxygen tanks. Little Pidge was the first one to spot them, on one of her foraging trips. Being a quiet and clever girl, she crept back to the library without being seen and reported the "new mutants" to the adults.

Matt Holt went out first. Shiro was close behind, with a shotgun in a ready portion.

"The toxin is still airborne here," a big purple man with a prosthetic arm was saying, "Though scans show it's been a few years since landfall. It hasn't dissipated, that's not good."

"Yet there are still life signs on this planet," a shorter alien, an elf girl of sorts, mused. "Perhaps they're simply the altered animals?"

Suddenly one of the other purple ones spotted Matt and Shiro and raised the alarm. They were quickly surrounded, and scanners that sounded an awful lot like Geiger counters were thrust at them.

"I feel like we should be more freaked out that space aliens are real," Shiro muttered to Matt, who looked far too interested in what was going on, "But I guess the last couple years have been weird enough to make this look normal."

The elf girl eased forward, as though approaching a skittish animal, and raised her goggles with a gasp.

"No masks! No filtration units whatsoever! Ulaz, look: they are inhaling the toxin with every breath but they don't seem to be negatively affected!"

Matt frowned. "You mean the Pandemic five years ago?"

A paler purple alien with red facial markings behind his mask squinted at them. "A Pandemic, you say? Yes, that would be the right word to use. How many of your species are left, young one?"

Matt grimaced at being called "young one" and Shiro answered for him. "Er...I can't speak for what's going on at this moment in other countries, but last I looked, we were all mostly still here. The outbreak killed about a thousand of us, but everyone else who got sick mostly recovered. And a lot of us never got sick at all."

"Huzzah for vaccines," Matt joked, "Too bad they haven't figured out exactly which vaccine fights the virus yet."

The aliens seemed taken aback by this. There were whispers in a variety of languages among the teams and then the bat-eared one with the metal arm glared down at them.

"You mean to tell me that your species survived the Plague with minimal damage?!"

The elf girl's eyes seemed to sparkle as she ran a scanner over the humans' heads again.

"Sendak!" she breathed, "They're immune!"

[imalifegen89]

A Legacy Left Behind - Chapter 3 - The Origin Stories

Part 1

Summary

John's settling in at the SGC and slowly becoming a part of the team while Steve's back in his hometown, Hawaii, enjoying his leave. This chapter kicks off from the moment John's back at the SGC after his visits to the graves and starts learning about the origins of the Wraiths on earth. The Goa'uld are busy doing what they do - making trouble as usual. An investigation uncovers something that will eventually bring the SGC and the SEALs together, paving the path for a shared adventure.

Fandom : Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Hawaii Five-0 (2010)

Relationship : Steve McGarrett/John Sheppard

Characters : John Sheppard, Steve McGarrett, Adam Noshimuri, Laura Cadman, Alicia Vega, Kono Kalakaua, Bates (Stargate), PO Higgins (OC), Evan Lorne, Danny "Danno" Williams, Miko Kusanagi, Marshall Sumner, Joe White, Original Goa'uld Character(s), Jack O'Neill, Catherine Rollins, Billy Harrington,

Additional Tags : Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover Pairings, No DADT, Alternate Origins, Swearing

Beta : Salchat - As always, she's the best!

Officers Quarters, Level 14, SGC - Colorado

Sheppard returned to Cheyenne Mountain after his visit to Hawaii around six in the evening. He thought about taking a nap after a quick shower, deciding to go for dinner a bit later. When he finally settled on the bed, he found that he was not sleepy at all. Even though the long journeys to Arlington and then Hawaii had left him feeling physically exhausted, his mind was still stubbornly active. So he decided to spend some time on his required reading. He had a ton to catch up on after all.

……….

‘So, Colonel Carter was right. They had only known about the Wraith for about ten months.’

John reflected as he read that particular mission about Sumner's entanglement with the alien menace. He had a comprehensive summary Dr. Jackson had put together from all the data they had gathered from the Outpost and other sources, open on his PDA, to compare notes with Sumner's report.

Aftermath of Battle with Anubis

Few weeks after the initial discovery of the Outpost - Antarctica

The Marine teams had been conducting thorough searches in and around areas of the Antarctica Defense Outpost when they had come across the much smaller and somewhat older facility. It had been buried under the ice. But a wayward explosion that caught the area had caused half of it to become visible from the ground.

The unfortunate team of four Marines who had gone inside to search and secure the building had never made it back. The two hibernating Wraith Drones had woken up the moment they had entered the facility and fed on them before they could even utter a call for help. Colonel Sumner had been in the Outpost at the time co-coordinating the teams for security for exploration, science projects and helping to activate some of the Ancient equipment when he had felt the change overcoming him in response to the attack.

(He had written the mission report with unusually vivid details. John guessed that this was probably because they needed all the information in order to educate everyone on this newly discovered threat.)

It had taken several hours of brutal fighting between the two Wraith Drones and eight more Marines with Sumner on the lead until they had managed to neutralize the threats. There had been three more fatalities and everyone else had acquired varying injuries before it was over.

After securing the area of the attack and the facility, a team of scientists had gone in and downloaded whatever information they could from the old lab. And then they had leveled the facility to the ground, not wanting to take further chances.

This millennia-old information cache had been the SGC's discovery of the ‘Species of Wraith.’ The meticulous Ancient experimentation logs had shown how the pet project of the few overzealous Alteran scientists had gone terribly wrong and out of hand.

Summary of Reports from old Ancient lab & Terra Atlantus

The Origin of the Wraith

Over 10,200 years ago

They had started innocently enough by looking into the quite interesting species they had stumbled across during their visit to an unnamed planetoid at the edge of the galaxy. They had brought back a sample because the leading biologist of the group had thought the little black & red carapaced creatures that drained life from other living beings for sustenance was the best thing ever. The studies had progressed to the revelations of the longevity these creatures enjoyed due to their unique sustenance and that had been the point things had started to go downhill.

They had thoroughly mapped the genome of the creatures and had tried to duplicate the life-extending characteristics into a serum that they could inject their people with. When those trials failed they had gone to the extreme measure of feeding one of their own to an Iratus bug to manipulate a direct transition. Somewhere at this point the rest of the Ancients had caught a clue and shut the whole thing down. But somewhere down the line some of the bugs had escaped and it was speculated that this was what led to the beginning of the new species called "The Wraith."

Further information SGC had later uncovered while interacting with Terra Atlantus corroborated the records from the destroyed lab. This had produced further information and evidence of how the Iratus bugs had begun to feed on the Ancients on earth and other humanoid species on some of the other planets. This new feeding habit had started a mutation incorporating Ancient/Iratus DNA in the bugs, giving birth to the new Wraith species that grew to more humanoid proportions within mere decades.

The Ancients or the Alterans had not seen the ramifications or recognized these accelerated mutations for the threat they could become. Over the years they had grown in numbers and it had come to a point where the two species were locked in a war for survival; a war that had spread through the earth and few other planets in the Milky Way galaxy.

In a desperate attempt, a group of Ancient scientists had produced a retrovirus that could supposedly suppress the Wraith characteristics of the species and return them to humans. This had been released into the atmospheres of all the planets that were connected through the Stargates and even some that were not.

The results were not as advertised.

Instead of conversions, the Wraiths had all died in droves leaving the Ancients with a bittersweet victory. The peaceful societies the Ancients enjoyed had begun to fracture during this time due to the never-ending war that had been going for years and the somewhat abrupt end of it due to mass genocide.

About 10,000 years ago, a few more years after the supposed eradication of the “Wraith”, the majority of the Ancients had decided to leave the galaxy. From the best SGC could tell by the various accounts they found, the Alterans had lost the will to live in a world where their actions had almost led to the extinction of their species and the extinction of the Wraith that they had given birth to in the first place. Facing the evidence of their failure every day had become too much for them.

The mass exodus of the Gate Builder race known as the ‘Ancients’ had begun; they had been more focused on attaining inner peace and atonement by this point, towards something called 'Ascension' where one left behind the physical body to live in incorporeal form roaming the universe, according to the data from Terra Atlantus. They had not left any records as to where they had gone, taking their great city with them.

Another group of the fractured Ancients had been playing with a concept that not all the Wraiths had died as believed and that some of them might have gone into long-term hibernation scattered around the worlds. They had further contemplated the possibility of Wraith surviving and adapting to the virus slowly throughout the years only to become even a bigger threat in the future.

Unsurprisingly, this group had not become very popular among many with their Gloom & Doom predictions. So they had implemented their solution to the possible problem. They had manipulated their own genome with the ATA capability to act as a deterrent to the presence of anything related to Wraith. This was done in the hopes that if the Wraith were ever rediscovered as they feared, they would not hesitate to take swift action to annihilate the Wraith; thereby preventing another all-out war for survival. This same group had been instrumental in making sure that a part of Atlantis stayed behind in Terra Atlantus in order to help future generations if things were to become dire.

Information about this little revelation had been even more obscure than the Wraith. But the SGC now had an idea about what happened to the Marine Colonel. The 'ATA gene online experience' was a primal and visceral urge that was buried deep in the ATA genome that drove the gene carrier to utterly destroy anything and everything related to Wraith. While the gene carrier could activate Ancient Technology according to the strength of impression of their gene, this side effect came to the fore at the contact of anything related to Wraith; usually during combat. The purpose of it was to give the gene carrier an advantage over the Wraith, boosting physical strength, all senses, and perceptions enabling him/her to act swiftly.

According to Dr. Carson Beckett's reports, who discovered its existence, the ATA gene was always on, instructing various cells in the body to produce a series of proteins and enzymes that interacted with the skin, the nervous system, and the brain, allowing gene carriers to operate 'Ancient Technology' by thought alone. And when the online experience occurred, it interacted with the parts of the human brain sort of activating an extreme survival mode.

The ATA gene was introduced into the human population through interbreeding with the Ancients who stayed behind, resulting in a small percentage of humans from modern-day earth inheriting the gene. However, since nearly 10,000 years had gone by since the massive exodus of the Ancients to parts unknown, the gene had become exceedingly rare among humans, and rarer still for those who possessed it to have much proficiency in its general use.

……….

John felt a headache coming in, as his poor mind tried its best to wrap itself around the millennia-old origin story of the Wraith and the Ancients who had their careless hands deep in it. He shivered at the thought of being locked in a war of survival for decades. And now the same things were popping up around them and he understood the importance of the war that they were going to have to wage against the Wraith, as Sumner mentioned.

Then he turned his concentration to the revised report on Wraith biology. Although he had contributed to most of it and was still carrying a cache of info in his brain, he had to catch up with everything SGC had documented.

……….

SGC called the Hybrids, ‘Bug Experiments.’ John recalled the horror he killed back in Afghanistan and wondered what they had blended to produce something like it. Cameron Mitchell had his experience just a month back when he raided a suspected Wraith compound in Canada, of all places.

They had discovered a lab abandoned in haste and managed to capture one Hybrid bug that they had later tried to transport to Russia for study. (That had been the mission Hart and Co. had been involved in, that later went sideways). The other Hybrid had been killed by the Air Force Colonel. The operation had been a joint one with Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the ambitious leader of the native team had been adamant in capturing a specimen alive.

The Colonel had not taken kindly to that plan. An unconscious SIS team leader with a broken nose and a concussion, and one involuntarily sedated SG-1 team leader later, their 2ICs had managed to secure the facility with one live specimen, which they had sent away before either leader was brought back to consciousness.

……….

"Now, I would have paid to just watch that raid." John chuckled to himself.

Then he sobered up immediately when he thought about being in Mitchell's shoes in that situation. No. John was quite sure that it would have ended quite differently if that were the case. He remembered exactly how he felt and what he was capable of during the period he was "Online." No, he would not have tolerated anything that stood in his way and his objective, and things would have ended very badly indeed.

He made a mental note to discuss this with O'Neill, Sumner, and Mitchell. Interference with the destruction of anything Wraith-related had to be stopped, especially since this thing they all went through was going to be a recurring experience. They needed more solid procedures and protocols in the field on this subject to avoid friendly fire incidents. Whatever studies the scientists wanted to conduct would have to happen on dead Wraiths; not live ones.

……….

The next category they had was the Wraith Drones. They were as the name suggested, not quite sentient, but with basic animal drives and a taste for sucking the life out of humans. The Ancient data revealed that these sub-species were created by Wraith themselves to use as soldiers, bodyguards, slaves, and other assorted activities. Marshall Sumner, and soon after the General himself, had had their ‘Online experience’ while engaging these Drones.

Although SGC had documented information about basic make-up, biology, and sketches of what they looked like, none of them ever had even seen a male or a female fully-fledged Wraith before. It was theorized that another reason the Wraith preferred to use the Drones, instead of themselves, was that they were actually rare and they were protective of their species that could procreate.

This explained the rapt attention and the awe-filled fascination that was directed towards him during his debrief, John realized. He wondered how he had managed to kill two Wraiths relatively quickly when compared to the other field reports. The Wraiths and their Drones were highly advanced predators in their own right with long lives and enhanced physical and mental strengths. Moreover, a recent feeding would highly enhance their normal performances, acting as a drug that would last a couple of hours.

‘Maybe they were starving by the time I got to them,’ John thought to himself. But he remembered the way they moved and how the female was just playing with him at the beginning; so probably not starving, he amended to himself.

‘Or maybe because they were already messing with the minds of others - it could be that it makes them tired.'

Whatever it was, John decided not to dwell on the implications of that just yet. He had enough to worry about already.

John only skimmed over the next bit of the report, because it mostly had what they discussed when John had met with the doctors two days ago.

……….

He was saved from further headache-inducing studying by a knock on the door. Glancing at his watch, John noticed it was just past eight pm.

"Come. We are going out for dinner. You are buying." Captain Laura Cadman of the Marines informed him with a confident smirk on her face when he opened the door. He could also see Major Lorne, Captain Vega, and Dr. Miko Kusanagi behind her, wearing smiles and expectant looks directed at him.

"How nice of you to remember." John countered with a matching smirk. Taking a few seconds to grab his wallet and a jacket, he joined the group to go in search of food.

O’Malley’s Bar & Grill

Colorado

“So Sheppard, usually the ‘Flight Pool’ is run by Sergeant Markham, funnily enough. Anything and everything flight-related, your sims, mock battles, and evals and whatnot, he’s the man to go and say, place your, ahem… ‘Predictions.’ And if you have certain feelings about anything PT related, you go to Teal’c. He is very, I mean very serious about it. And Vala Mal Doran is definitely your girl if you come across any juicy bit of gossip or see somebody hooking up…”

An eyebrow wiggle and a wicked grin, as she paused to gulp down the rest of her beer.

“Then we have all things related to the Gate - now, for that, we have Harriman and Miko here in a joint effort. Because you see, it could be related to either one of ours or a geek…”

Marine Captain Laura Cadman was patiently breaking down the SGC Betting Pool's Organizational hierarchy to John, using the same serious tone she used when she conducted ‘Demolitions 101’ classes.

“Really Cadman? Is this the first thing you want to start telling the new guy? How the betting pool works?” The other Marine Captain, Alicia Vega decided to interrupt; adopting a mock superior tone. She was holding a glass of wine by the stem delicately, a picture of a dame at a palace function.

“Hey! Of course, it is. It is the most sacred tradition of all! This is the beginning where the ‘wet behind the ear newbie cautiously dips the shiny tip of his…” Miko snorted a laugh and almost choked on her water. Her glasses went askew as she erupted coughing and laughing at the same time. Vega thumped her on the back, in a decidedly un-lady-like manner. Lorne gave up and banged his forehead resoundingly on the table. John could see his shoulders vibrating with a silent laugh.

John was doing quite a good job maintaining composure - still pretending to listen attentively as if he was learning field surgery.

“Ha then, what would you tell him?” Cadman challenged Vega.

Vega turned her head towards Sheppard in a queenly manner. Then flashed all her teeth at him in a lecherous grin.

“Tell me, Sheppard, are you seeing anyone? If not, who do you prefer? Tell me specifics, there’s already a long list of people with varying levels of interests…” A loud chorus of groans - including John even as he was laughing - put a stop to whatever was about to come out her mouth.

Despite Cadman’s earlier threat, John hadn’t had to buy the whole group dinner. He had bought the first round of drinks and they had all chipped in for their dinner. They had then ordered another round of drinks and it would be the last as well because they all had to report for duty the next day. Well, everybody except John. He had to see Heightmeyer, the psychologist, in the morning and she would decide if John was fit for active duty or not.

“Hey, did you guys hear about that dignitary visit?” This was from Miko; the diminutive Japanese scientist wrinkled her nose as if she was inquiring about something nasty.

“It’s the annual visit doc. Although come to think of it, they are visiting a little early this time around. Scuttlebutt is that even the president is planning to pop by,” Lorne reflected thoughtfully.

“It’s a bunch of top brass from other military branches plus some diplomats from a few other countries. Oh and every one of the IOA. They visit every year. They usually walk around some of the labs, gawk at the Gate, eat the canapés and go back home to write reports or something. The General hates it. The officers have to put on dress uniforms if you are on duty.” He explained to Sheppard.

“When is it?” John asked.

“Thursday, next week. They get there around nine in the morning and only leave a couple of hours after lunch.” Lorne informed.

“I have a ‘Road Trip’ so I won’t be there for the circus,” Lorne used the term they used to refer to the Gate missions while they were in public. And he sounded positively happy at traipsing in another world doing trade negotiations than kowtowing with the dignitaries.

“Ah crap, I have some flight sims scheduled at Peterson that day. But I think I might be back before the visit ends. Do I still have to dress up?” John was hoping that he didn’t.

“You might.” Evan Lorne grinned, not very sympathetic to his colleague’s plight.

“Argh, I hate you people. You just have to dress up, flash a pretty smile and scatter. And Lorne, you lucky asshole, it was Kent’s team that was supposed to go on that trip in the first place. I have to follow them around the whole day, fucking escort duty. No talking, No smiling, No shooting, No blowing shit. Ahh, what a shitty way to spend the whole day following a bunch of ass-hats around!” Cadman moaned.

Vega shared the rest of her drink with Cadman; she had performed the same duty the year before; she knew it was decidedly an annoying task.

Cadman gulped it all down in one go and stared at Lorne sourly. Lorne gave her a grin. Cadman flipped him off. John shook his head and chuckled while Miko grabbed her purse, getting ready to leave.

They all left soon after settling the bills. They all piled up in the SUV they had signed out and John took the wheel. The whole ride was full of complaints about the visit, Miko’s hypothetical plans about sending the Mountain into a lockdown to cancel the whole thing, Cadman’s attempts at re-negotiating Lorne’s Gate mission, and all sorts of other insanities. By the time they returned to the Mountain and parted ways after back-patting and shouted good nights, John realized he was truly relaxed and happy. His mind had calmed down, releasing the tension he’d been carrying around. It dawned on him then; that had been the plan all along. The teams rarely went out during the week when they were mostly duty around the clock. This had been the first time John had been invited out for dinner; an unofficial integration ceremony of a sort and to make sure he was okay, especially after the visits he just came back from. John smiled to himself. He did have good people around him after all.

Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain - Colorado

Thursday: Annual visit of the Dignitaries

The week since John had gone out for dinner with his friends had been hectic. He had visited Dr. Heightmeyer, the psychologist, as scheduled the next day. She had served in the Army and had done three tours before completing her doctorate to become a psychologist. Her husband still served in the Navy. John had been apprehensive about the whole thing but had been surprised to find how easy it was to talk to her. She understood the job and didn’t waste time with unnecessary, soothing psychobabble. She had asked direct questions and John had answered honestly. They had talked about his visits to the cemeteries as well and she had frankly told him that she believed he was ready for active duty. She had instructed him to see her again in a month for a follow-up, or even before that if he felt the need. And that had been that.

So John had been busy with mandatory physical training sessions with the Marines and other lectures that were supposed to bring him up to speed on the SGC mandate. He had just begun to learn about another menace roaming the galaxy conquering worlds known as “The Goa’uld.” John hadn’t been able to hide his grimace, looking at the nasty and slimy snake-like things that burrowed into people’s heads and wrapped around their spines. He felt like an extra in the movie ‘Aliens.’ He still had to go for two more one-on-one sessions with Dr. Haroldson and Dr. Jackson who would be back in the Mountain next week. And there was still a bundle of After Action Reports on Goa’uld related missions to read through. John was not looking forward to any of that.

‘Now, Imagine what would happen if a Wraith met a Googadoodle and said ‘Hey buddy, let’s double up and screw this little world together.’ John’s mind was busily stirring disastrous scenarios while cackling evilly. He felt a shiver running through his spine at the very thought and almost fell on his face as his foot got tangled in the leg of his BDU pants he was in the process of shedding.

“Damn it, John, stop brewing up imaginary trouble. You’ve got plenty of crap to deal with for real already,” he berated himself.

Then he finally managed to put on his dress blues and the shoes. He had to hunt for his hat around the quarters and found it on the floor in the closet. He shook it off before placing it on his head, firmly hiding the cowlick that valiantly tried to push the offending item right off. After a stern tug on both sides, John convinced the hat to stay where he put it.

He checked himself in the mirror, making sure everything was neatly in place before leaving the safety of his quarters to brave the gathered sea of the top brass in every known military branch in the States. And of course the gaggle of visiting VIPs from the IOA as well.

..........

The Goa'uld called Nerus grabbed another canapé from a plate at the refreshments corner and inspected it thoroughly. He was bored. These 'people' he was supposed to mingle with, had absolutely nothing to contribute to an intelligent conversation. They were all right here, in the place that housed one of the greatest scientific creations in the galaxy, the technological marvel still, despite being a few million years old, the Stargate. Oh, the beauty of the complexity of the science behind it, the infinite possibilities that stemmed around it, waiting to be exploited, to be developed, so many scintillating theories that could be discussed...

But no!

He had to listen to these fat, accented assholes talking about the unlimited budget that had been pouring into this project and the scheming ways to bring more profit out of their investment. Then he had to pretend to sympathize with the old goat from the army or the navy, snidely commenting on how he'd have done a much better job than this insane maverick who was currently in Command of the SGC.

Nerus had gained access to this tour and reception posing as the PA of Shen Xiaoyi, the Chinese representative of the IOA, who happened to have had some dealings with the human he was occupying. She hadn't been any better. The woman had talked nothing about anything of importance either. What an utter waste of his time! He thought he felt his precious brain cells die, every time he participated in these progressively stupefying 'chit-chats.'

Well, not his brain cells, per se, they belonged to that human Wo Fat. But he wasn't there anymore to make any claims. Only Nerus was here now and everything that once belonged to Wo Fat was now very much his. Not to mention all the fuck-ups he had made along the way - now Nerus had to fix them as well. Hah. Well. No matter. He was a genius with millennia of experience to draw from after all. Fixing the mistakes of that insignificant human barely required anything out of his vast intelligence.

Now, what was up with the story of this pesky pilot Sheppard? Nerus hadn't seen him anywhere yet. Definitely not in the infirmary which was included in the tour. He had made a few discrete inquiries; never directly inquiring or mentioning any names, but everybody seemed to be firmly silent on the subject. Even talking to the fidgety scientist who supposedly just returned from Antarctica, hadn't revealed anything of value. The man had given him a suspicious look and Nerus had had to do some fast smooth-talking to pacify the man. Maybe this whole thing really was a waste of time. Maybe they didn't want to talk about the pilot because he was already dead. Humans got all weird and uncomfortable when they had to talk about their dead, didn't they?

...........

Nerus almost choked on the canapé he had just popped into his mouth when the subject of his musing chose that moment to walk into the reception area he was unsuccessfully mingling in. Nerus was coughing self-consciously into a closed fist when a glass full of clear liquid appeared in front of his face.

"Hi, I thought you could use a drink. I'm Stephanie, by the way." The smiling blond told the Goa'uld when he focused on her face.

"Thank you." He said politely, taking the offered water and gulping it down to clear his throat.

"I know the feeling. Got quite a shock myself. Looks rather handsome in his dress blues, doesn't he? I wasn't sure if it was him at first, but when Henry cornered him and took him away for a private pow wow, I figured that must be the guy."

Nerus carefully blanked the face he was wearing and gave the talkative woman an attentive stare. As luck would have it, he finally had someone willing to spill something on the subject of the mysterious pilot; the pilot who looked quite hearty and hale for somebody who was supposed to be dead. And the woman had it right. What with all the colorful military paraphernalia decorating half his chest on the sharp uniform with complementing shining boots, the man did look handsome indeed.

Noticing that she had the attention of her one-man audience, she moved closer to Nerus and lowered her voice conspiratorially.

"And to imagine this whole place and that secret base in Antarctica went completely haywire over this guy? Can you believe it? Henry almost had it blown to hell. But the geeks managed to sort it all out in time. Or so we were told."

She rolled her eyes at the incredulity of the story she just related. Nerus was thinking fast. This woman obviously had information. And he distinctly remembered her being introduced as an aide to someone in the White House. Since she was referring to the president of the United States by his first name, maybe she was the aide of someone in the inner circle. He needed to ask her more pointed questions; so to speak. And this was not the time or the place. He had to move her someplace else for that. Now how to go about doing that?

"Stephanie, my dear, I agree. As handsome as he is, blowing up a base for him does sound rather outrageous, doesn't it?" He said to her charmingly with what he figured was a witty smile. "Besides, why are we talking about someone we barely even know? I'd much rather talk about you. To be honest, you are the only person with whom I feel like I can have a lively conversation. Among all these dreadfully boring people, you are like a breath of fresh air."

Nerus briefly wondered if he had maybe layered it up too thick. But then he was rewarded with a chorus of giggles from her as she threw her head back and laughed. Then she extended her hand to him and he took it in his. He led her out with a smile that promised wicked things in the near future. Unfortunately for Stephanie, it was not going to be the type of wickedness she enjoyed.

..........

John had figured that he would enter the reception area where the visitors had gathered for refreshments, sidle close to Mitchell or maybe even Colonel Sumner, smile at some brass, and then make a discreet exit. But that plan got shot to hell when the President of the United States, flanked by General O'Neill and Colonel Sumner, followed by two of his Secret Service agents, came directly at him like a guided missile. John stopped his forward momentum, stiffened into attention, and saluted the Commander in Chief smartly.

"Relax son, relax. I just wanted to see you in person. Now, Jack tells me there's a meeting room over there we can talk in private. Let's go."

The man casually waved a hand in an approximation of a salute, pointed, and walked off, fully expecting John to follow. Taking deep breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart, John did as ordered. The barely-there snicker General O'Neill sent his way helped John to regain his composure into something a little more dignified than a hyperventilating mess.

"You see Major, it's not every day I have to give the order to blow up one of our bases. And when the entirety of the National Security gets compromised over one man's safety, you could say I get a little curious about the whole thing," the president, Mr. Henry Hayes was scrutinizing Sheppard with intensity.

"Sir." John didn't know how to respond to the statement, or whether he was supposed to respond at all.

"Anyway, I'm glad I didn't have to go through with it. I'm reading reports saying the productivity of the Exploration Project there has skyrocketed since your arrival. Isn't that right Jack?" President Hayes had a gleam in his eyes that said he was enjoying his pun at the General's recent experience.

"Yes. Mr. President. Rockets in the sky." The General agreed sardonically. The president laughed heartily and patted Jack O'Neill on the back.

"Well, Son, I wanted to meet you. I have seen your jacket and I can see your decorations. Jack tells me he's got a good feeling about you, and he tends to be right on these things most of the time. So good luck and try not to let the Ancient gadgets go psycho all over us again, yeah?" This last was directed at Sheppard and he managed to string together a coherent response just in time;

"Thank you, Sir, and I will do my best."

"Good man." John also received a pat on the shoulder as president Hayes made his exit the same way he made his entrance; taking his entourage away with him like a sweeping tornado.

John took a couple of minutes to just stay there in the relevant privacy of the meeting room to get over the shock that he had just met the POTUS. Nothing drastic had occurred. The man hadn't been angry; in fact, he seemed to have taken the whole thing in good sport. 'Well, he's read into everything that comes through the Gate and whatever the Gate teams bring back with themselves. So maybe he's just jaded,' John thought to himself.

When he finally exited the meeting room himself, Sheppard found Colonel Mitchell just outside as if he'd been waiting for him.

"I was just about to call a medic or a recovery team." He grinned at Sheppard.

"You know, I wasn't sure myself. I had to make sure I was still in one piece." John agreed with the course of action the Colonel had almost taken.

"He has a way of making you feel like a hurricane refugee, you know, leaving you wondering what the hell just happened." Mitchell sounded like he'd faced the same experience before.

"Anyway, come. Let's go get something to eat. This circus is about to wrap up soon." Food sounded like a wonderful idea and John followed the Colonel towards the area they had arranged the buffet.