Continuing Stargate

[Lt. Col. Mcoy]

There were a few places where they hint as though relatively long periods of time pass between episodes. Perhaps not much more than a year in total, but sufficient to throw it off. This changed over time, however.

Also, there are hints that the years are not directly linked to the release years; c.f. the president in earlier seasons being (apparently) Clinton based on his double (who was killed by Martouf), and Hayes being such an obvious Bush-replacement. It seems there's a 4-year lag for some reason.

[s09119]

I know Hayes took place during the Bush years and there are obvious parallels (he's a Republican, he has a scheming VP who wants more power, etc.), but I never saw him as anything like W. at all. He always appeared rather moderate, and wanting to put a civilian academic in charge of a top secret military project doesn't sound very GOP to me. Hayes always came off to me as an Independent or conservative Democrat, though of course I know neither of those are realistic given the political realities of the U.S.

[Lt. Col. Mcoy]

Don't forget the accent. And the looks, to a certain extent...

[s09119]

16x15 "Sui Generis" (Part 2 of 2)
Synopsis: Half its members cut off and facing Der'kal captivity, the SG-1 team races against time to stop an assassin from ending the Alliance summit on Heliopolis in a bloodbath.

Spoiler:

((30 second recap of "Armistice"))

On the scarred surface of P4X-933, Der'kal bombers and gunships are laying waste to the area immediately surrounding the stargate. Their interceptors fill the skies, taking potshots at anything that appears to move while their heavier brethren level swaths of ruined buildings. Rushing frantically into the barely-standing meeting hall in the city center, Col. Cameron Mitchell and Maj. Rebbecca Eaton take up positions at the inner doorway, weapons raised. The Venii delegate Venel extracts a plasma rifle of his own and overturns the central table, taking aim at the entryway. Tarrin and her surviving Aschen associates crouch down alongside him, perhaps regretting their society's shunning of personal armaments. Looking over, Mitchell asks why they didn't bring some biotoxin with them to deal with potential enemies, and Tarrin bitterly corrects him that they did. Unfortunately, it's the kind deadly to Alliance species only; they weren't expecting any outside interference that their waiting fleet couldn't handle. Obviously, they were mistaken.

Gunships and landing craft are touching down in the leveled section of the settlement just past the stargate, unloading dozens of alien warriors and a few small-range artillery pieces. They immediately begin to advance on the meeting hall, which has already taken significant damage from fighter attack, and begin taking cover in a semicircle all around it. Inside, Eaton watches the artillery begin firing preparations and gulps heavily. This building can't take even light punishment, and it'll collapse under one or two shots from those heavy guns. She's all for fighting to the last, but they're way outnumbered and even more outgunned. From his perch behind the table, Venel looks down at something in his hand, grimaces, and then sounds his agreement. They really only get to live as long as the enemy lets them, and it looks like the only winnable scenario is to surrender.

Heliopolis, meanwhile, faces an equally dangerous yet much smaller threat. Deep in the tunnels that run under the capital's city, Col. Samantha Carter looks down at the stunned form of Jonas Quinn, then looks back to the unidentified woman pointing a zat gun at her. Smirking, their attacker gives herself a moment to gloat, noting how easily she put one of the galaxy's mightiest warriors at her mercy. Carter, however, doesn't seem impressed, and counters that there's nothing honorable or impressive about stalking people through the shadows and causing terror. The woman replies that she's only doing what is necessary, a mantra she learned from the great SG-1 themselves. Smiling again, she asks Sam to give her a good look and tell her who she is, but Carter's at a loss. The Colonel finally admits that she has no idea, which seems to only embolden her adversary.

The woman clarifies that she didn't really expect Sam to know, seeing as she was born on some backwater world that none of the "more important" races paid any attention to. They all heard the stories of some humans fighting the Goa'uld, and for a time they even thought the heroes would come and set them free. But they never came, and their reigning snakehead ruled until the day he died and no one arrived to replace him. Her name isn't important, but Carter's lack of knowledge on it is what matters to her. They were left to suffer while Earth went and made a name for itself, helping only the people it deemed worthy and leaving the rest to survive on their own. And even when they'd won the Jaffa their freedom and the Tok'ra their future, did this new Alliance change anything? It stayed a coalition of the strong who looked to the weak as pawns in some game for greater galactic authority. Her homeworld was one of the dozens in the Der'kal warpath when the Alliance turned a blind eye and let it fall ("Coventry"). Her whole sector was ignored time and again so that the previous strongholds would be safe, and hundreds of millions died in lonesome agony. Their attempts to procure Allied aid were spurned or stifled ("Growing Pains"), and at the end of the day, they were viewed as expendable in a way the core species never would be. That's why she's here today, to show the Alliance that it doesn't deserve what it's trying to become. All it deserves is to be destroyed just as it allowed others to be reduced to dust.

Sam just sighs, noting that Danielle's efforts always seem to bring out the worst of humanity, and apparently this is no exception. This was supposed to be a day of celebration for the Milky Way's triumph over adversity, and instead here someone is trying to make it a day of destruction. The nameless woman doesn't appear interested in Carter's excuses, though, and just returns to mocking her victories. She's adamant that the Alliance survived because the Der'kal got a new leader who had a change of heart, nothing more. Had the armada stayed to fight, they'd have won handedly, so if they're celebrating anything, it should be blind luck. Either way, she didn't come her to argue. Millions of people have died because of this Alliance and she plans to see justice served. There are so many worlds on which the people remember nothing but being abandoned because someone calculated that they had to die for Dakara and Earth to stay safe. And those people won't forget that even as Heliopolis puts on pomp and circumstance and self-congratulating grandeur.

Stepping away, she tells Carter that she and the rest of SG-1 won't be able to stop her. She had to become a deadly warrior when the alien invaders sacked her world, and has she thinks she's already proven, she's quite good at what she's become. By the time this day is over, she's determined to see this Citadel and all it stands for tumble to the ground, and then the galaxy can truly be free. Her people and others like them won't just trade one pan-galactic tyranny for another. And with that, she raises her zat as if to finish the job, but freezes at the sound of approaching bootfalls. Annoyed, she tells Carter that they'll meet again, then disappears into the shadows. Crouching down, Sam tells Jonas to take it easy as he comes to, then grabs her radio and waits for the signal jamming to fade so she can call for help. It looks like they'll definitely need more of it.

Upstairs in the hearing chamber, Teal'c is listening intently to a proposal being read aloud when a communications device at his waist beeps quietly. Folding it inside his robes to prevent onlookers from seeing, he activates a small hologram projector which displays Goa'uld text an inch or so high. Scanning the report, the Jaffa Chancellor certainly looks concerned, then gives his attention back to the discussion. But one by one, the other delegates seated at the table are checking their own incoming messages, no doubt all being informed of what's going on below. Clutching at her earpiece and glancing worriedly at the others, Talbot suggests that they take a short recess to give the audience some time to stretch their legs, then hastily makes for a doorway. Standing and excusing himself to the Tok'ra and Venii leaders, Teal'c is quick to follow, catching Danielle just outside.

He asks if she just got the same warning he did, and she nods solemnly in reply. Given the sheer number of VIPs present, she has a half a mind to cancel the summit immediately and evacuate the Citadel, but Teal'c isn't sure it would matter. It's taken them years to arrange this meeting, and it would only be a capitulation to terror to give in to this madwoman's games. Such tactics have never swayed them before, not when the System Lords tried to derail a Tok'ra-Tau'ri treaty ("Divide and Conqeur"), nor when the Jaffa Senate tried the Traditionalists who destroyed Pandora's Box ("Shol'va"). Despite the threat of violence, they pressed on and succeeded and built something great that could last the test of time. If this new Alliance is to live up to Danielle's dream, they must continue. Nodding, Danielle agrees, praying that SG-1 won't let them down.

Offworld, though, the opposite plan has taken hold, with the besieged peace negotiators agreeing to surrender to the attacking Der'kal warlord. As bombers continue to blast all around the meeting hall, Mitchell shouts that they need something to signal their defeat since he's not too fond of trying to walk out with his hands up. Looking to Venel, Cameron motions for the alien to toss over his rifle, and once he has it, he leans cautiously out the front doorway and begins to fire. Three short bursts, then three more, then three more, separated by a reasonable span, are fired high into the sky. He keeps it up until the bombers and gunships slowly peel off, then tosses the weapon down and suggests they go turn themselves over. With no other choice, the eight of them that are left head into the open and watch as alien warriors close in around them.

Underneath the Citadel on Heliopolis, Jonas and Sam are leading a group of soldiers through the halls, checking one room after another and turning up nothing. Slamming her fists into the door, Carter says that they need to try something else or else their intruder's just going to slip away and do whatever she pleases. She grabs at her radio and shouts despite herself when it chimes, then calms down, apologizes, and asks what news they've got. Up past the atmosphere, an orbiting Tok'ra ha'tak has finished its scan of the underground and they have some preliminary results to share with the search teams. Daniel and Vala, still looking around with their own squad, pause and listen in as the commander of the vessel gives his report; firstly, they have a name for their mystery woman. Security footage of her scuffle outside the underground's entrance gave them enough of a face to run through Alliance Intelligence's database, but it's not quite what they expected.

Her name is Xana Kallow, and she was one of hundreds of representatives of non-aligned human worlds who flooded Heliopolis for assistance in the early days of the Der'kal invasion. She was also one of the ones who were forced to flee home to assist in evacuations when the aliens overran the outlying systems after the fall of Ankgor, which may explain her hostility to an Alliance that couldn't help her. Sam, already aware of her history, can only shake her head at all the potential allies they had to turn their backs on. The reporting's not done, though, and the Tok'ra continues that they've finished scanning the passages but have come up dry. This just confirms their suspicion that Kallow has a jammer with her, but the news only gets worse. While they couldn't find any sign of their target, they did pick up something else that's rather... disturbing. Daniel asks what he's talking about, and the commander reveals that they've detected deposits of naquadah in the tunnels that weren't there before, compact and placed near vital power relays. It could mean a number of things, but Vala immediately guesses the most-likely and most-terrifying; naquadah bombs ready to take down the entire complex from beneath.

Looking at one another, Carter and Jonas immediately spring out of the room they're in and down the hall, simultaneously shouting for the coordinates of the deposits. Listening from a serviceway nearby, Xana herself smiles, then begins to ascend a ladder tube leading higher up into the superstructure.

(Beginning of "Sui Generis," see next two posts for more.)

[s09119]

(More of "Sui Generis," see previous post for beginning and next post for end.)

Spoiler:

Rounded up on 933, the survivors of the Der'kal attack have been herded into energy pens identical to the ones that held Teal'c and other survivors of the initial battle of the war almost five years ago ("Inroads, Part 1"). Punching against the pale green barrier, Mitchell's hand is stung and he shakes it angrily, cursing and glaring at their captors. Tarrin dryly remarks that it's not designed to be interrupted by such pitiful attacks, and Cameron angrily remarks that if the Aschen knew anything about emotion, she might understand. Coming between them, Eaton pleads for them to both just shut up for a minute. She has no intention of being some form of entertainment for the Der'kal, and she would like to think that all parties here would like to go out with some measure of dignity.

The energy curtain suddenly flickers out, however, and they all pause to watch as a particularly tall and large Der'kal dressed in ceremonial garb steps inside the cage. Flanked by four warriors and armed with an impressive display of plasma pistols and knives, the leader introduces himself as the warlord under whom they are now captives. His name is Tren'ak, and he thinks of himself as somewhat more diplomatic than the other rogue alien commanders that defected from their fleeing armada. Whereas most of the rest remained in the Milky Way due to continued bloodlust or refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of Vur'naa ("The Parting of Ways, Part 2"), he stayed because he believed this galaxy offered the best hope for his people's future. That said, the Aschen have provoked a certain kind of reprisal, and he has no issues giving them what they fully deserve for their betrayal.

Tarrin gives the warlord a typical Aschen stare, completely devoid of emotion, and Mitchell asks if they can cut the dramatics and pleasantries and get down to business. They have work to do, and he'd appreciate not having to spend days here for no other reason than to play political games with one another's representatives. Tren'ak hisses with a slight chuckle and says that they'll be time for those games later after he's extracted all the intelligence he can from them. Then he'll be more than happy to ransom them back to their leaders for the assurance that his fleet will be ignored while they pursue the other rogue commanders. For now, though, they'll have to stay here. He needs to see what interesting tidbits he can find in the Aschen vessel, and he looks forward to all the biological countermeasures he should soon be able to produce thanks to this chance encounter. Eying the Colonel slyly, Tren'ak turns and leaves, reactivating the energy cell before departing.

Not wasting any time, Daniel and Vala have reached the location of the first naquadah deposit beneath the Heliopolis Citadel, but there's no sign of any bomb housing. Frantically scanning the room, a security station, Vala pulls out a flashlight and begins searching under every terminal and inside every crevice. Meanwhile, Jackson radios Sam and says that they're looking as fast as they can but that it looks like the explosives have been hidden. Not that they expected them to just be sitting in the open, but their intruder didn't have much of a timeframe to work with. She must have become quite the demolitions expert in preparation for her one-woman assault on the capital, and it looks like it paid off.

On that line of thought, though, Jonas isn't so sure that this is a one person job. They have representatives from literally hundreds of non-aligned human worlds here, any number of them could be members of Xana's anti-Alliance campaign, and they could be sitting anywhere in the city or within the complex. Possible or not, however, there's really nothing they can do about "What if?"s like that, so they try to put the thought out of their minds and focus on the task at hand. Jonas pulls the plate off a power conduit and cranes his neck to see a rudimentary naquadah bomb tucked within. Grabbing an omnitool off his belt, he pries it out and begins the work of disarming the explosive, telling Sam to take half their squad of agents and get to the next site while he finishes here. She nods and runs off, leaving her friend to put his demolitions skills to the test.

Two levels above, Xana Kallow's picture flashes momentarily on a security terminal to remind patrolling operatives who they're looking for, but she's already arrived. Bashing one guard's head against a wall, she grabs a knife out of her pocket and slashes at a second's chest. While the Jaffa in question is left reeling, she buries the blade near his lungs, then pulls out one of her pistols and takes down another officer rounding the corner down the hall. She listens with some satisfaction to the alarms blaring before shooting two of the closest speakers to silence them, then continuing on. She's nearly reached the Citadel levels proper, and she's not about to stop her ascent now.

Watching as Der'kal gunships deposit troops all over the downed Aschen cruiser for investigation, Venel finally turns and says that they need to take action. They all possess too much information on their respective governments to be taken into long-term captvitiy. Eaton, sitting on the ground a short ways away, agrees, but she doesn't see any plausible way for them to escape. If they were to somehow get out of this cage and make a run for the stargate, they'd probably be shot by the dozens of nearby warriors on the approach. If they were to try and commandeer a landed craft to try and flee into hyperspace, they'd just be intercepted by fighters or shot down by the orbiting cruiser. And even then, most of the landed ships are short-range strike craft lacking hyperdrives, so they'd need to overtake one of the larger vessels single-handedly and witihout any weapons. There just doesn't appear to be any way to win.

Smiling glumly, Venel admits that there's a potential solution waiting just beyond their grasp, and unfortunately he no longer has the means to summon it. Confused, Mitchell asks what he's talking about, and the Venii pulls out the destroyed long-range transmitter he'd been examining earlier in the meeting hall. Just as the Aschen feared betrayal and kept a fleet at the ready, his own government has a cloaked battle group waiting in a nearby star system. They figured that if the Confederation proved willing to attack or take them prisoner, Venel could bring in forces to either destroy them, rout them, or evacuate the Alliance personnel. He just needs to send out an all-channels transmission for them to pick up via subspace, and they'll arrive within minutes. That's why he reacted in such a noncommittal fashion when Cameron suggested that they should have hidden a fleet nearby at the start of the summit.

That's incredibly good news to Mitchell and Eaton, but the response from Tarrin isn't quite as relieved. She declares that as soon as they're all back in friendly space, she's informing her leaders of this deception. They'll no doubt rescind any offer to parley with Heliopolis, and the war will continue on until appropriate concessions on the part of the Alliance are made. That, in turn, provokes an equally-outraged outburst from Mitchell, who points out that they wouldn't be in this mess at all if the Aschen hadn't also stashed ships nearby. And the fact that the Aschen, knowing full-well how vigorously the Der'kal would pursue any of their ships, risked putting their ships way out here where any detection would look incredibly conspicuous to the aliens, is simply unacceptable. Neither party acted responsibly for such a tense peace conference, but if one side has to get more flak than the other, there's no way he's going to let it be pinned no Earth and its allies.

Perhaps a little humbled, Tarrin stiffly suggests they leave the question of who's to blame for when all this is over, admitting that the Venii ships present their best, and perhaps only, hope of timely rescue. And she has an idea that may allow them to get Venel to the communications systems he'd need, but she doubts any of the Alliance representatives are going to like hearing it...

While there may be a lack of good news for SG-1 on 933, however, there seems to be a fair amount of it on Heliopolis. Between Sam, Jonas, Daniel, Vala, and other operatives, seven rudimentary naquadah bombs have been diffused and dealt with, and an additional two are about to face the same fate. Wiping sweat from her brow as she sets her last job down on a ledge, Carter looks to a similarly exhausted Jonas and asks if the ships in orbit have picked up any more surprises. Thankfully, they haven't, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're out of the woods yet. If Xana was able to procure one signal jammer for herself, there's no reason to think she didn't have any more on her that she left with other bombs to shield them. But it's doubtful she was able to carry any more material on her than what they've already discovered, so it's really less of a tangible cocnern. Either way, Sam wants agents to keep looking while they meet back up with the rest of the team to go after Kallow herself.

The two of them trade their multitools for combat vests and a variety of weapons at a small mobile armory that Alliance Intelligence brought for the searching teams, then head for the nearest lift. Holstering a zat gun, Jonas notes that they're rapidly running out of time; even if she's sticking to access corridors and internal scaffolding, Xana's going to be approaching the public levels of the Citadel any time now. He knows that Talbot and the other speakers are trying to carry on without letting onlookers realize what's happening below, but "below" is very soon going to be right in front of them. A shootout in the packed chamber would be disastrous, but it's increasingly looking like that's what's going to happen if they can't find her fast.

Stepping into an elevator to the upper section, Carter doesn't think it'll come to that. Xana's gotten this far on attacking critical weak spots, staying hidden, and utilizing precision strikes against targets in her way. It'd be a major shift in style to just run into the summit, guns blazing, and she'd be surrounded by Alliance guards already alerted to her presence. She suspects something a little less obvious, and that's what has her worried. They'll need to anticipate something that they probably wouldn't even see until it's too late, and if they can't stop her in time, any hope for this summit's success is going to fade.

On 933, Tarrin has finished explaining her idea of how to break out to the others, and Mitchell looks nothing short of dumbfounded. Holding up his hands, he asks for clarification of what he just heard; she's suggesting to infect Venel with a contagion she knows will kill him? She nods, arguing that it may be their only hope of getting the Venii to a transmitter capable of broadcasting to his fleet. As she said earlier, neither she nor her colleagues brought toxins with them deadly to the Der'kal, but they brought plenty of hidden vials capable of killing the Alliance dignitaries they were meeting. Because the Aschen only recently learned of Venii physiology, the bioweapon targeting them is imperfect, showing symptoms within minutes but taking nearly an hour to kill. They could convince their captors to take him to the cruiser for treatment or at least isolation, but from there he'd be on his own.

[s09119]

(End of "Sui Generis," see previous two posts for beginning.)

Spoiler:

Cameron still doesn't like it, but Venel appears willing to go through with the plan. His people are staunchly analytical and logical, and he can already see that this is the most-promising plan they could probably come up with. He recognizes that it would ultimately cost him his life, but if it's the only way, so be it. Extracting a small vial from within her tunic, Tarrin suggests they proceed immediately then; the guards are at their maximum distance on patrol and time is of the essence. Rebbecca whispers that she's not sure she can watch this, and Mitchell grits his teeth but tells her to go ahead.

She steps up to Venel and prepares to smash the container, but pauses for a moment and looks the avian over. Speaking softly, she says that whatever he may think of her people, she takes no pleasure in commiting such an honorable sentient to death, regardless of their need. She will do this only with the utmost distaste for her actions, truly wishing there were a way to secure their escape that did not involve death. Ignoring the somewhat surprised looks from the humans, she promises that, whatever her government may want, she won't forget this sacrifice. And as long as she is the one negotiating for the Confederation, she'll ensure that a fair comrpomise is agreed upon by all parties.

Then, returning to the cold and emotionless demeanor more typical of an Aschen, she breaks the vial and flings her hand outwards toward Venel's face. Inhaling deeply, he closes his eyes and stands motionless for a few seconds, then makes a guttural noise and clutches at his throat. Eaton grabs his arm as he collapses to the ground, clawing at his neck and making high-pitched cries that immediately draw the attention of the patrolling guards. Less than a minute later, the Venii is convulsing and flailing wildly, so much so that he inadvertantly throws Rebbecca off him and into Mitchell. Three Der'kal deactivate the energy field and enter with their rifles at the ready, demanding to know what's happening. Cameron replies that one of their delegation has obviously fallen gravely ill and urgently requires medical attention. The aliens seem hesitant to do anything for him, but a frustrated Eaton shouts that hostages aren't any good if they're dead.

Communicating with the warlord, they manage to drag Venel from the pen, reactivate the barrier, and call for a gunship to take them to the cruiser immediately. Biting her lip, Eaton looks over to where Tarrin is watching the warriors prepare to load the still-spasming body into a craft for takeoff. Though her face maintains the Aschen lack of emotion, her gaze connects with Rebbecca's for the briefest of moments. She nods her head solemnly, perhaps the closest her culture can come to expression of sadness of regret, and then rejoins her companions at the far end of the makeshift cell. Whatever their differences, they're all just praying that this gambit pays off as the gunship departs and speeds off into the sky.

Fianlly back on the public floors of the Citadel, Jonas and the rest of SG-1 are geared up for a fight while heading to a security checkpoint directly under the treaty summit's audience chamber. Stepping through the door, the latter comments that she can hear the discussions above almost perfectly, adding even more anxiety with Xana Kallow believed to be so close to their location. Sam activates a hologram of the complex superstructure, adding red points of light for each confirmed sighting of their target and blue ones for each possibility. There's a clear and unmistakable trail leading up toward them, the latest alleged glimpse just one level down. If they're going to stop her before she's within shooting range of the delgates, it's now or never.

But they don't have many options, and they're still constrained by the need to keep any action away from the ambassadors. Sighing, Jonas wishes there was a beaming-capable ship in orbit; now that Xana's out of the shielded tunnels, all they'd need to do is get a locator beacon near her and they could end the chase right then. But that actually gives Sam an idea, and she grins before clapping her old teammate on the back excitedly. Telling everyone to follow her, she shuts down the security terminal and makes a hasty exit, leaving the others to look after her in confusion before following.

Still trapped in their cell, Mitchell and Eaton are looking up at the sky, wondering if, by some miracle, their plan will actually have a chance at working. But it's been over an hour and their hopes sink as another gunship approaches and touches down a ways away, ferrying their warlord captor down to begin interrogations. Tarrin shakes her head, guessing that Venel was unable to overcome the toxicity and succumbed before he was able to break away. She believes this is just further proof that it is foolish to trust any race but her own, and Cameron begins an angry reply before he's cut off by a shout near the landing gunship. The imprisoned group looks up to see flashes of plasma lighting up the atmosphere, Venii warships leaping out of hyperspace to rip into the waiting Der'kal cruiser. The clouds swirl apart as fighters stream down to destroy grounded enemy craft, the warlord himself caught in the explosion as his transport is blown apart.

A Venii squadron clears a path for an oncoming transport of their own, ready to evacuate the prisoners. A constant plasma barrage keeps the alien warriors nearby from approaching and executing their captives, and one shot in particular knocks out the energy pen's power supply. Mitchell motions at the others to move out, then makes a dash for the landing craft while Der'kal forces finally mobilize against them. Eaton grabs a few of their belongings dumped nearby and runs after, shouting for the Aschen to hurry. Cameron jumps onto the ramp while the hovering ship starts covering fire, and pulls up the others as they reach him. Tarrin's last to board, and she glances at him and the entry somewhat hesitantly, as if wondering what will happen once she gives herself over to an Alliance crew. But he shouts that he promises she and her companions will be unharmed, and she gingerly allows him to pull her up. With nothing else worth staying for, the transport lifts off and makes for its carrier, leaving the ruined P4X-933 behind.

On Heliopolis, Daniel looks around the ancient library Sam's led them to in confusion. It's one of the few parts of the original Citadel to have survived the majority's collapse into the ocean ("The Torment of Tantalus"), and the Nox thought it was historically important to preserve in the reconstruction. But he doesn't understand why, with time so critical, they've rushed all the way here. Activating the control pedestal, Sam explains that it's built on a hybrid Ancient-Furling design and radiates a specific type of electromagnetic energy unique to the later's technology. If they dial up the frequency and disable the hologram generator, it should send out a burst if the harmless radiation throughout the area. The ships in orbit can scan for the pulse, and since Xana has a signal jammer on here, the bubble in which they can't detect it will be their answer.

Watching her finish a quick modification of the pedestal's interface, Jonas has to admit he's impressed and, grinning, Sam hits the activation dome and listens as a high-pitched hum fills the air. In orbit, the Tok'ra ha'tak begins scanning immediately, having been patched into the conversation. One of the crewman watches closely as a 3D representation of the Citadel fills with pulsing energy, then spots a dead zone nearly on top of the audience chamber. Tapping the comm. channel, he informs the team that it looks like the intruder is in the ventilation shaft leading around the perimeter of the hall. And she's about to reach an access panel that will allow her to slip onto the observation balcony practically undetected. Without wasting a moment, SG-1 speeds off, radioing security around the level to close in on the designated coordinates.

Inside the shaft, Kallow clambers around a corner and feels her way to the appropriate panel, then raises the butt of her rifled and bashes on the four corners until it pops out enough for her to get her hands on. Pushing it the rest of the way, she lowers it down and slides out, already bringing her weapons up--then freezes as she comes face-to-face with a zat gun. She looks absolutely stunned as SG-1 and Alliance operatives close around her, then crumples to the floor as Sam fires a discharge. While they slip the unconscious assailant past surprised onlookers, Talbot is down below signing her name to the Treaty of Heliopolis, officially giving birth to the Interstellar Alliance. It will be a year before the Alliance of Great Races actually dissolves, as campaigns will need to be run and infrastructure put in place, but for the first time in a long time, the future couldn't look brighter.

Meanwhile, Cameron is signing his own name to a different treaty onboard the Venii frigate Ransik. The "Ransik Accords," as they'll probably be known, bring a ceasefire and official end to the ongoing hostilities between the Alliance and the Aschen, though some concessions have been made. The Confederation will restore independence to dozens of human worlds they conquered over the past few years, but will retain a core territory somewhat larger than what they had when the Der'kal invasion began. Mitchell dropped the demands of disarmament and resource reparations, and Tarrin went so far as proposing joint action against the rogue warlords they both need to deal with. Standing, the two shake hands, expressing hope that their regimes can find a common ground to stand on sometime in the years to come. Despite the death of a friend, their stay in captivity, and deception on both sides, it looks like their peace talks getting interrupted was the best thing for everyone. It fostered some real compassion on both sides that probably never would shown its head otherwise.

Taking his copy of the treaty and tucking it into his vest, Mitchell walks up to Rebbecca and asks how he did. Smirking, the New Zealander replies that he did alright, but he still has a ways to go before he'd make a respectable ambassador. Cameron rolls his eyes, assuring her that he has no intention of entering that line of work, then asks how the inventorying is going. Eaton's been going through the gear she grabbed during their evac to see if anything sensitive got left behind, but so far it looks all clear. Then she pulls out a utility belt that she doesn't remember bringing with her, and looks it over curiously before noting a large pouch. Flipping it open, she freezes, realizing that this isn't hers or Cameron's; the pouch is filled with toxin vials marked with Aschen symbols for the species against which it is effective. This must belong to one of them, and she grabbed it from the pile along with everything else.

Sighing, Cameron says he might as well return it before they accidentally open the one that kills humans, but Rebbecca pulls it back and shifts through the vials for a moment before freezing again. Pulling her hand out, she reveals one marked with a stylized but clear visage of a Der'kal, then gently deposits it in her CO's hand. Tarrin knew all along that she had the means to kill the aliens without needing to end Venel's life, but chose to ignore it. Mitchell stares at it for a long moment, visibly enraged, before finally squeezing his hand over the capsule and tucking it in with the treaty. Stiffly taking the belt, he says he'll return it to their "friends" and tells Eaton that it looks like he was wrong. They may be facing a new beginning, but now he's not too sure it's going to be any better than the one they're leaving behind.

[Rudy Pena]

Damm, It was very very good.

Sad how he had to die when he didnt have too.

[helimachoptor]

Excellent episode. Always had a feeling though the Aschen had a Der'Kal toxin with them. They are too paranoid not too. Will be a big shame when this adventure is over...

[Lt. Col. Mcoy]

Very well done. Is it a bad thing that everytime you said "omnitool" I had a mental image of Jonas with a sonic screwdriver?

[thekillman]

i was thinking of a swiss army knife.

[s09119]

Very well done. Is it a bad thing that everytime you said "omnitool" I had a mental image of Jonas with a sonic screwdriver?

I meant more the Swiss Army knife like killman said, but I kept getting a mental image of the omnitool from Mass Effect myself.

[Commander Thor]

I meant more the Swiss Army knife like killman said, but I kept getting a mental image of the omnitool from Mass Effect myself.

I can see Jonas with a ME Omnitool, and scarily enough it sorta suits him... O_O

I like how you managed to play-off, not how great we Tau'ri are, but that regardless of our successes we have let hundreds of millions die, we have ignored entire sectors. We, the ones who contributed more Goa'uld deaths than any other, We who toppled the Ori, We who can't even defend a few worlds from a minor Goa'uld. They presumably liberated themselves. But even still, I would help that woman. This alliance is supposed to be able to do what it can for the little people, yet it squandered resources and lives just to look out of the "Big Four's" home worlds. Logically and militarily I can see where the alliance stands, but if I were from that girl's world, I would want revenge aswell.

Then the Aschen twist, absolutely lush!
I can see a number of ways to pan this out, but what I love about your series, I haven't been right once, That is the hook,line and sinker for me. I have no clue what to predict, or if I should attempt to predict. It's gunna be a shame to see thins end, as it is going to soon(ISH) but 'east we have your SGA to continue.

If I may ask, is there an attempt to do an SGU thing on your mind? Because that would give you something else to do, a challenge. None of the resources for Earth, quite dark a storyline already... I would quite like to see something you pump out for that.

[s09119]

Well that was the idea. The Alliance obviously did what it had to, as Sam argued; they had to defend an entire galaxy, and if their strongholds were allowed to fall, their ability to fight the Der'kal would be severely hindered. Remember Ankgor? After the Jaffa lost that chokepoint the entire westward half of the Milky Way fell planet by planet all the way to Earth. Imagine if they'd lost Dakara, V'en, Chulak, and Arrakis, as well. Everyone would be speaking Der'kal right now.

But in the end... she has every right to be furious, as do her people. From her point of view, the galaxy left her world to burn. And hundreds of other worlds like hers. All so that the Alliance could survive another day. It may have been the only real choice they had, but that doesn't make it any easier to explain to the millions who died why they had to die instead of more Free Jaffa, Tok'ra, Venii, or Tau'ri.

As for the SGU question, see the OP(s)

[SG-18]

You know that's what we see here on earth everyday, the superpowers deal w/ the smaller nations when they have to, but cant be everywhere all the time which pisses off the small forgotten nations.

Its only when our core interests are at stake that we involve ourselves.

So that's the microscale in the Stargate universe, but the people are the same, still humans I mean. Humainty will act as it always does on the macro scale too.

That's the realism that this continued series pulls in and S09 has mastered.

[s09119]

(Finished adding the SGA main cast to the wiki along with a few other entries, next up is the SGU cast before I really need to go back and enter some important continuation secondary characters.)