New
Arrivals
Author-fyresong
Titles
Standard Operating Procedure
by fyresong
Summary: Daniel not knowing a language? Teal'c and General Hammond discussing morality? Detective Ellison kidnaped by Ritu, or is it Tok'ra? Intrigue abounds! Companion, NOT sequel to Covert Operations. Alternate Universe or more accurately, veering from canon. Part 2 of a longer series. Crossover: StarGate SG-1. Rated PG-13; more swearing; some mention/hint of torture, nothing graphic though. (Revised 12/8/00)
Disclaimer: No major plot-lines, characters, setting, or major events alluded to in this story are mine in any way. Pet Fly, Paramount, and UPN own these guys. Stargate: SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. Some of the dialogue is pulled straight from the TV show for the sake of continuity and is thus logically NOT mine. No money is being made off this story. Please ask author before reproducing or posing anywhere else.
Special thanks to: Everyone in the SenFan universe who asked for the Stargate: SG-1 version and back story that goes along with the events in Covert Operations. Thanks for writing to let me know just how welcome I am here and how much they wanted this story to continue (especially the Pester Queen herself, Lila and her pointy sticks.) Detailed comments about what you guys liked helped me write this one.
Notes: This is mostly Stargate-centered. It's short. It's supposed to be read along with Covert Operations and before the next major part of the story arc Broken Soldiers which I shall post within one or two days. Is it necessary reading to understand the rest of the series? Well probably yes. There is a lot of exposition that explains the reason behind Jim's kidnaping. It would be good to read this just for that because we come back to the issues again later in the series. Would you guys believe that I was only planning to do like two stories in this plot arc and move on to another I have partially written? Boy am I surprised! This is number three and I've got at least three more in the works. As always all grammar and spelling mistakes are my own. I'm dyslexic so take pity on me! :( As for canon stuff, I've seen more Stargate: SG-1 episodes than The Sentinel, but I'm still rough in some canon areas. So if I screw up I apologize ahead of time. The Quechuan and the Inca history stuff was pulled from books and online sources I skimmed through in desperation. Sorry if I made mistakes there too, I'm an English major not an anthropologist/linguist! Set Post-Sentinel Too, part 2. I mixed in Murder 101 for good measure. This is also taking place after Stargate: SG-1's Shades of Grey during third season.
** for emphasis
All in all, it had been a good mission.
Dr. Daniel Jackson hadn't gotten injured, not so much as a paper cut while practically having kittens over the temple and people they'd found on PR5-997. Major Samantha Carter had found tons of interesting things in the atmosphere and soil to keep her busy. And the native populace of the planet had been wary, vigilant, but tolerant of Teal'c and the disgusting worm he carried in his stomach.
"Colonel O'Neill," General George Hammond called as he approached the ramp, stopping to acknowledge the former Jaffa's greeting as he headed for his quarters. "I see you and SG-1 are on time for a change. No trouble I hope?"
"No sir, remarkably," Jack agreed as he took off his sunglasses and pocketed them. Daniel came up to stand beside him, practically vibrating, just dying to tell anyone what they had found.
*Steady Danny, this is the military,* Jack thought at him urgently. For once Daniel managed to hold his tongue and let him as commanding officer give the report.
"The people were . . . friendly, perhaps a little primitive," Jack hemmed, seeing the faint disappointment masked quickly in the general's eyes. "But they threw off their Goa'uld conquerors some centuries ago. They haven't suffered Goa'uld invasion in a long time, and are willing to share their secret of keeping the snake heads away from their lovely hot and humid jungle."
The light was suddenly on in Hammond's eyes. "Good. I want a complete debriefing outlining this mission at 1600 today. A defense of Earth against the Goa'uld that does not involve relying on treaty or on the Asgard would be most welcome," the general replied nodding Carter's way as the major quickly saluted and made a dash for her lab, unable to wait a moment longer before she tabulated her results. "I'll see you all in the conference room then."
As soon as Hammond had moved away Daniel could hold himself no longer. "Jack you can hardly call those people primitive. Their culture was the quintessent example of urban and rural communities coexisting in harmony. The city dwellers have their buildings and their social life built directly on that of ancient Inca civilization. The nomadic tribes in the jungle would have been incorporated into the cities, one would imagine, yet they remain separate. Those tribes probably have distant cousins in the Quechuan tribes living in the Amazon today. They even have the same name. Tahuantinsuyu was the Quechuan word for the Inca empire. It means Land of the Four Quarters. Isn't that amazing? Think of how a historian would feel studying the Inca's as they must have existed before Spanish conquest, untouched by Europeans. So little of their oral culture remains since they didn't have a system of writing." Daniel began to dig though his bag pulling out his notes and tape recorder even as they left the gateroom. "I mean, I have to check, but I think that the spoken language is exactly the same as one of the Peruvian dialects, very little shift in sound and vocabulary at all."
"You have to check? Slipping Dr. Jackson?" Jack teased as he slid his keycard into the appropriate slot and then stepped onto the elevator.
Daniel pushed his glasses back up on his nose with one finger. "Well, I don't know every language Jack. And South American language families like the Aymara weren't ones a I studied intensively enough to be fluent."
"So that would explain your sudden switch to sign language off planet?" Jack ribbed his friend good-naturedly. Sometimes Daniel could be too serious. It was Jack's personal mission in life to get the guy to unwind and have fun over something other than his precious rocks, show him the finer things in life, like beer, and hockey.
Daniel colored slightly, remembering the long pantomime sessions that were necessary when words failed to explain to the Elders of the nomads, and the leaders of the cities what and who they were.
"Give me a couple of days and I'll be fine," Daniel insisted, slightly annoyed.
"Sure you will," Jack agreed smugly, glad he'd had the chance to ruffle a few of his friend's feathers. Sometimes when Daniel and Sam went off on some intellectual tangent O'Neill felt strangely lacking and definitely out of the loop. But then without Daniel they wouldn't have the Stargate working, and Sam was invaluable on missions.
*The price of command,* he thought to himself as he and Daniel entered the locker room to change and shower.
***
General Hammond tried not to get cross-eyed watching Daniel wave his hands about and pace as he went into detail about historical opportunities, ancient temples to various deities, systems of government, and a multitude of translations. There was no doubt that the Egyptologist with three different doctorates attached to his name knew his stuff, but was it necessary to *tell* everyone?
The previous commander of this base, General West, has written in his notes that the only reason he tolerated a scientist like Daniel at all was because of his flightiness. No one that scatterbrained was a threat to the U.S. military. After meeting with the man himself and overcoming his own anger at the doctor's AWOL conditions on Abydos, he found that beneath the occasional absentmindedness and allergies there was a staggering intelligence. Still that wasn't enough to let a civilian on a team like SG-1. It was in the end the Egyptologist's attitude that finally tipped the scales. Daniel didn't share his knowledge in hopes of belittling or impressing anyone. Jackson shared because he thought that everyone in the world found this as fascinating and enchanting as he did, and even if they didn't, how could they not see how valuable it was to the human race as a whole? And he didn't contradict military regs for the hell of it; it was only when it interfered with the high moral principles that Daniel felt that every human being should hold for another. Faced with that, Hammond found he couldn't argue.
*Not that I'd ever tell the boy,* George thought with an inward smile. Outwardly he sat up and raised his voice over Daniel's eager explanations.
"Dr. Jackson. In your estimation, do you think that you will be able to communicate our desire to obtain the Tahuantinsuyu's security measures if SG-1 returned to the planet?"
Daniel shared a quick glance with his teammates. "I believe communicating our wishes won't be as . . . problematic this time. And given the rate of their development I don't foresee trouble figuring out how to incorporate it into our own technological base, though Major Carter would know for sure," he said nodding at Sam.
"Given their state of technological development we shouldn't have any trouble figuring out their defense system sir. I mean," she added with a little laugh "they haven't even invented the wheel yet."
"They don't need it," Daniel countered, warming quickly to the subject once again. "They have a complex system of *chaski* or runners that deliver communications across the entire planet just like the Inca did on a smaller scale in South America. The Inca Empire was the most culturally and socio-politically advanced group of tribes in the Americas."
"I'm sure they were Dr. Jackson," the general cut in quickly before he received a blow by blow lecture of the rise of the Inca Empire. Not that it couldn't be useful but there were more pressing issues at hand. "I want SG-1 to head back to PR5-997 tomorrow at 0900 and invite the leaders of the Tahuantinsuyu to send a representative to discuss the sharing of this technology. Dismissed."
***
SG-1 stumbled out into the hot humid air of PR5-997 and found themselves once again facing the same two sentries stationed at the gate as last time.
The Tahuantinsuyu warriors greeted them, and escorted them through the jungle much like they had on their initial visit.
Teal'c had the rear guard, Carter was in flank position just like Jack was. Daniel must have spent the entire evening immersing himself in their Quechuan dialect because he was in fine form, asking about the wildlife, their culture, their history, and their personal backgrounds.
The warrior on point merely grunted a few short worded replies; it was his companion who seemed to spend as much time up trees shadowing the group as she did beside her larger partner that seemed more than willing to answer all of Daniel's endless supply of questions.
Jack was peering off into the underbrush, sure he'd spotted some animal with large sharp teeth that would, given odds, bite Daniel if it had the chance, when Daniel tugged on his sleeve. "Jack you won't believe this. Remember how you wanted to know if they always had people watching the Stargate?"
"Yeah?" O'Neill replied a little absently.
"Well, they spend their whole lives on the edge of the city, tracking game for their tribe that camps within a 50 mile radius of the gate, informing the city farmers and the tribal hunters of weather patterns, and guarding the gate. Their whole lives!" Daniel exclaimed in awe. "Tuya," he said pointing to the young woman, "and Killincho, " he continued gesturing towards their tracker through the jungle "have been out here since they were children! This is their whole lives!"
"Maybe we should give them an iris or something so that they don't have to sit watching the gate," Jack said helpfully.
"I think they do more than just watch the gate Jack," Daniel clarified trying not to roll his eyes at his friend's lack of excitement. "It's a great honor to be chosen to guard the Stargate."
"Well I'm tryin' to be practical here Danny!"
***
They left the jungle and Tuya and Killincho, took the stone road up to the city, (if it had a name Jack didn't remember it, probably because it was unpronounceable to him) and were taken before the same man who had met with them when they had first arrived.
He nodded in welcome and then he and Daniel began a rapid-fire conversation. Aside from the surprise at Jackson's newfound grasp of the dialect, Amaru was unsurprised to see them, and seemed forthcoming.
Daniel was the one who looked confused.
"What Danny? What?" Jack finally interrupted when the Egyptologist turned towards him.
"They're happy to let us into the temple and share the knowledge left behind when they drove the Goa'uld out. They just want to know when our Watchman and Guide, as near as I can translate in this dialect, are coming to get the information."
"Watchman and Guide?" Jack repeated in confusion. "Who the hell would that be?"
"It seems to be a chosen position. Like Tuya and Killincho, they're Watchman and Guide," Daniel explained.
"You mean they'll only give the knowledge to those who guard a Stargate for a living?" Sam clarified. "Well that would be us, wouldn't it?"
"Tell him that then," Jack instructed.
Daniel sighed in exasperation. "I *did.* According to Amaru none of us are Watchmen or woman as the case may be" he corrected quickly, nodding to Carter "or Guides. It's more than just guarding the gate; the way he describes it is difficult to translate. He keeps saying that a Watchman can see farther than an eagle, track like a wolf with his nose, hear the wind moving the clouds in the sky. This Watchman sounds like he's . . . superhuman, or something."
"Or like he's on drugs," Jack interjected sarcastically. "Teal'c, you even heard of this Watchman Guide thing?"
"I have not," the former Jaffa replied solemnly.
"So we can't check out the temple unless it's our Watchman and Guide who does it?" O'Neill asked in frustration.
Daniel glanced back at Amaru who nodded once. "They want to help us Jack, they just have very strict rules about who can and can't enter the temple. This Watchman needs to--" Daniel broke off, a "eureka" look coming over his features. Jack jumped up and took a step closer. Daniel had an idea, it could be dangerous, oft times brilliant, but always helpful.
"What Danny? What?" he pressed.
"I think, just maybe he's talking about superior senses, the tribal guardian myth," Dr. Jackson explained in a slow voice growing faster in wonder. Jack could practically hear the gears at work in the linguist's mind.
"Okay . . . work with that. What does that mean? We need to find someone with really good eyesight?" Jack asked moving his hands as if mimicking the thinking process Jackson was engaged in.
"I read about this a few years ago in an anthropology journal. Some student had researched . . . Who was it? Right, Richard Burton's work!" Sounding pleased, Daniel began to extrapolate, words tripping over his tongue as he vocalized his thoughts, hands flying. Jack decided it would be too cruel to stop him and point out that Richard Burton, one time husband of Elizabeth Taylor, was not a scientist. "Yeah, yeah I remember. The myth goes that every precivilized tribe had a Watchman who lived on the boarders of the tribe or village--"
"Like Killincho and Tuya," Jack interjected.
"Yeah, and the Watchman had five sense that were completely heightened. Sir Burton, an English anthropologist, not the actor Jack," Daniel put in with a smile as if he'd ben reading his friend's mind. "wrote about it in a book. The paper I read, I think it was a master's thesis. This guy was looking for a modern day Watchman, but he called it by another name."
"Why cannot we ask Killincho and Tuya to enter the temple and tell us what is inside?" Teal'c asked. "They both fulfill the requirements."
"I already asked about them," Daniel admitted. "It needs to be someone from our world, someone who protects our tribe as it were. They would only give the information to their own tribe, not to outsiders who could potentially attack them or be in competition for resources with them. Plus I doubt they'd be willing to come to Earth and explain it to us."
"Okay," Jack thought aloud. "Here's the deal campers," he said clapping his hands together. "We'll say good-bye, promise to come back, go dig up this guy who wrote about them and see if he's found a Watchman."
"We'll need both," Daniel interrupted. "We'll need both Watchman and Guide."
"Whatever, we'll get both then," Jack waved off the concern. "Make our good-byes Danny."
***
"A Watchman and Guide?" General Hammond asked.
"Well, this student, Blair Sandburg, actually calls them Sentinel and Guide using Burton's words," Daniel replied as he swivled slowly from side to side in his chair. He'd been working non-stop since they'd returned from PR5-997 finding sources on the mythical tribal guardians and even coffee wasn't keeping him very awake.
"I'll submit your reports through the proper channels," Hammond announced after a pause. "Good work. If we find what we need we will return, and if not . . . well as Major Carter pointed out, their level of technology is hardly comparable to that of the Nox or the Tok'ra. Dismissed."
***
Missions came and went, weeks passed and Jack forgot about the planet in face of dozens of other worlds, other first contact situations. Daniel would bring it up from time to time, an interesting piece of trivia he couldn't let go of. But life in the SGC returned to what passed for normal until The Meeting.
"NID DID WHAT?!" Jack yelled before he could help himself.
"They kidnaped a police detective? Out of his own home?" Daniel queried in shock. "But they can't do that!" He looked to Jack and Carter for answers, for reassurance.
"After all that happened with NID the last time they stole something, I thought they'd been controlled sir," Jack said in a tightly clenched voice.
General Hammond rubbed his forehead and tried to keep his face impassive. "I've spoken with the president about this; he doesn't condone their actions, but what's done is done and he feels that we should use what resources we have to protect this planet, including Detective Ellison if he is a Sentinel according to the report by Agent Brackett."
"But this is kidnaping!" Daniel protested. "We can't just turn a blind eye to it. This is wrong, as wrong as stealing technology, but worse! This is a human being!" The linguist stood and stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared out a window into the gate control room. Behind him Carter and O'Neill shared a worried glance. They didn't like it either, but they were military and sometimes rights got stepped on. Sometimes Daniel's beliefs as a civilian conflicted harshly with military life, but then without Daniel they wouldn't be the best SG team in the program, they wouldn't even HAVE the program. Sometimes Jackson took things that happened to other people personally.
That and Daniel's beloved wife Sha'uri had been kidnaped and possessed.
"I was under the impression that citizens of this country had rights that were upheld and protected by the military and law," Teal'c said darkly into the silence. "If you do not follow your own laws, why bother to uphold them?"
"These are times of outright warfare between us and the Goa'uld. Even though war is not declared, they have tried to attack our planet." Hammond explained earnestly. An outraged Jaffa was not to be ignored. They tended to make radical shifts in alliances towards the "greater good" swearing vengeance against those he felt were evil and hunting them down and then killing them regardless of costs or odds. Hammond never wanted to think of a time when Teal'c turned against them; that day humanity was truly unredeemable. "During wartime sacrifices and hard decisions have to be made. We don't make the decisions, but as soldiers we are bound to follow orders."
"And if those orders are wrong?" Daniel demanded harshly.
General Hammond stood, the full force of his command and rank in his bearing. "It is out of my hands."
Just then Dr. Janet Fraiser came in. "Sorry I'm late sir."
"Your report doctor?" Hammond asked.
Fraiser shot Daniel a concerned glance, but he still stood back to the group. "They placed Detective Ellison down on Level 23 in a secure cell. As far as I can tell from a complete physical is that he's alive and is a perfectly ordinary human being. No genetic markers, no enhanced sensory organs. I don't see how NID could have connected him to this Sandburg's work as a Sentennial."
"Sentinel," Daniel corrected.
"Is he awake?" the general continued, deciding to let Dr. Jackson be for the moment. The young man was not going to deal with this rationally. It hit too close to the only home he'd ever had.
"That's the problem," she admitted. "He's been tested pretty invasivly by NID. Whatever they did must have hurt because there's evidence that he struggled during the procedure. According to the notes I was given and his current condition, he hasn't been conscious since he was . . . taken sir."
"Any sign of it being drug related?"
"None sir. He's non responsive. His brain function is . . abnormal. He's comatose. I can't explain it." Janet said shrugging helplessly.
"Keep me informed."
"Wonderful," Daniel said with a humorless chuckle. "We kidnap someone we THINK is a Sentinel based on one paper I remember and an ex-CIA's report, and now he's in a coma and has no evidence of the senses we need, and NID totally forgot to pick up a Guide while they were at it. Cosmic irony at work."
With that the linguist left the room.
Jack met Hammond's eyes. "I'll talk to him sir."
"Very well," the general said with a sigh. He was growing tired of cleaning up after NID's mistakes. "Dismissed."
***
*Well I'm damn glad someone took this situation into their hands and cleaned it up,* Jack thought smugly as he sought to get comfortable. His wrists were slightly sore from the handcuffs, but they'd not been tightened cruelly. Dr. Janet Fraiser sat next to Jeremy Meyers, the Marine that Blair had clocked. The man was still out.
*Well Jacobs was mad,* Jack reminded himself as he leaned back and slipped his cuffed hands over his feet, bringing them out from behind his back. *At least he didn't kill anyone. God knows Blair can be vicious when he really really loses his temper and people he cares about are threatened.*
"So how do you know him?" Janet said, breaking the silence.
"Know who?" O'Neill looked at her, complete innocence in his expression.
She scowled and sat down next to him on the cot. "The camera is still off."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jack told her sincerely. "It must be the knock on your head from those faceless, nameless savages that stole what we rightfully kidnaped."
Rolling her eyes and swearing under her breath Fraiser shot him a death glare. "Fine."
"Fine," Jack agreed.
"Good."
"Good."
There was a sudden knock on the door and a voice calling from outside. "Jack? You in there?"
*Daniel. Perfect!* Jack thought with a smile. "Daniel? Help! We've been attacked." he yelled in his best victim-come-and-get-me-I'm-helpless voice.
"O'Neill?" Teal's voice boomed from outside and then the door was flung open.
"What happened?" Daniel was wide-eyed in curiosity. "I thought you were going down to see Ellison." The Egyptologist looked around. "Where is he?"
"He's been kidnaped right from under our noses," O'Neill said as Teal'c fiddled with the handcuffs, and alarms began blaring, and Marines came running in and out of the room yelling.
The grin on Daniel's face grew to exponential size. "Kidnaped, huh? Magical forces at work?"
O'Neill nodded. "Oh yeah! I'm thinking Ritu or Tok'ra."
"A very good explanation O'Neill," Teal'c nodded solemnly as he freed Dr. Fraiser and the colonel. "I am sure that is exactly what happened."
"Well we better go tell the General," Jack said with a smile.
***
"Tok'ra or Ritu," the general repeated suspiciously.
"That's my guess sir," Jack said.
"It all happened so fast," Janet added.
"You entered the room and were suddenly swept with dizziness and fell unconscious. When you woke you found Ellison was gone and you had been handcuffed with MP issued handcuffs and you think it's either Tok'ra or Ritu," Hammond explained yet again, his tone indicating he didn't buy this story for a second. "Tok'ra or Ritu when we've had the iris closed all day and no gate travel."
Fraiser fidgeted uncomfortably in her chair. Jack shrugged and spread his hands apologetically. "With those extraterrestrials you never know!"
The general picked up the security report and the report of his colonel and chief medical officer. "Security shows an outside force putting the cell camera on a feedback loop during the time of the kidnaping. The only report to go on of our mysterious attackers identity or identities is you. Are you sure you saw nothing?"
O'Neill and Fraiser nodded in unison. "Absolutely nothing sir."
"No residual dizziness?"
Jack smiled. "Nope."
In the long, uncomfortable silence that followed, Dr. Fraiser stood. "I really should go check on Meyers sir."
"Carry on."
O'Neill rose from his seat. "Sir? I really need to--"
"Sit down Colonel," Hammond said in his best deadly tone. Jack eased back into his chair, a look of puzzled bewilderment on his face that would fool anyone if the evidence wasn't so clear. "I've been looking over Ellison's file. He has many close friends in his police department in Cascade, many of which with military background."
"What a coincidence sir."
"Yes," Hammond agreed. The general leaned forward on his desk and laced his fingers together. "I think you're up for some vacation time Colonel. I hear the Pacific Northwest is lovely this time of year."
"Sounds positively restful sir," Jack said deferentially as he stood once more. "Will that be all sir?"
George Hammond looked down at his desk and then up at the man who after many years of work together on this project he respected and liked. "Jack, I don't agree anymore than Dr. Jackson about what we did to this man, but if former Captain Ellison *wants* to help us, is able to help us, I will do everything in my power to keep him out of NID and CIA hands. As even an adjunct member of the Stargate program he is untouchable and protected."
O'Neill nodded, understanding. *It must suck being in a position like that* Jack thought, staring at the general. *It was bad enough lying to Danny and Carter and Teal'c the last time NID started poking their noses in our business. Hammond must have his hands full.* "I'll keep that in mind sir. Thank you."
"Have a good vacation Colonel."
end