STARGATE: EXPLORER

by Lady Grey
Alpha/Beta by Jude

September 13

The Next Day

After so many nights in his comfortable bed in Shahr, Daniel found sleeping on a hard military cot difficult, so he rose early for a leisurely early breakfast with Jack at the commissary.

When they'd finished, the two men adjourned to a private conference room, where there was a small table and chairs.  At one end of the seating arrangement, a tripod with a digital video camera had been set up. 

Daniel's heart sank as he realized what would be taking place; a formal debriefing would be put on record for posterity, and he would have to relive the death of Earth in gut-wrenching detail. He fully expected to be thoroughly questioned about the part he'd played in the tragedy. For the moment, this was just a mission report; it could be much more than that later.

The weight of responsibility for Earth's destruction was heavy on his conscience and heart, but in Daniel's mind there could be no more severe penalty lodged against him than having been witness to the event. He had refused to cooperate with a Goa'uld, unaware of the great cost for that rebellion until it was too late; even if he had given Zeus what he'd wanted, there had been no guarantee that decision would have saved Earth.

A military body might later make a determination of his guilt or innocence. Jack was his friend and would believe what Daniel told him, but this business was as serious as it could get, and Jack might not be the only person to decide his fate. Things were different now, and there was no forecasting how this news might be taken by those now responsible for the fate of the remains of Earth societies. 

He watched fondly as Jack placed a box of tissues on the middle of the table, anticipating how difficult this would be. He gave his friend a broken smile and sat down with a sigh. "Whenever you're ready," he murmured as he folded his hands on the table. 

Jack turned on the recorder himself and began asking questions, which Daniel answered at length and in as much detail as he could recall, taking care to leave nothing out. Once he was finished with his narrative, he’d described up to the point where he'd returned to P9X-1017 as a fugitive, just trying to survive. Somehow, Daniel had managed to get through the tale without breaking down, but there had been several times when he’d had to stop and take a few deep breaths, gathering his emotions and then suppressing them, in order to continue.

"That's enough for now," Jack told him gently, patting his arm on the table between them. He reached over to turn off the video recorder and sat back in his chair. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I know that was rough." His expression was sympathetic but grave.

"I'm fine," Daniel returned automatically, blotting his misty eyes and wiping his runny nose with a wadded-up, thoroughly molested piece of tissue. "Thanks for the break." 

"Yeah. Just sit here for a sec, will ya? I'll be right back."

With a weary sigh, Daniel crossed his arms on the table and put his head down on them, just resting until the debriefing resumed. In a few minutes, Jack returned with a cup of fresh coffee and two manila folders that he put on the table in front of him, passing the mug to Daniel. "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Wanna show you some stuff."

Grateful for the coffee, Daniel accepted the mug with an appreciative sniff.

Jack opened the top folder, which was filled with photographs, charts, diagrams and reports, and began talking about Alpha and plans for developing the colony as the last remnant of Earth. "Our top priority here is survival," he explained. "We were so used to getting shipments of supplies from the SGC, never really fleshing out any programs for complete independence from home, and now we're heading into winter on this planet without enough food and supplies. Odyssey’s in orbit over us, and she’s outfitted with that cool Asgard replication technology, but there's only so much we can do with it. Needs are greater than the hardware's capacity to provide, especially when you include the production of Tretonin for millions of Jaffa. That's why I came here, initially."

“Speaking of which,” reaching across the table, Daniel plucked at Jack's sleeve hopefully, "have you heard… do you know anything about… Teal'c's family?"

"I haven't been able to…" Jack shook his head, eyes haunted, expression grim. "The inspection that brought me here was so last-minute, I wasn't able to get a full report on what teams were out on missions, where they went, any of that. We were gonna put in a full production plant for manufacturing Tretonin, and I was supposed to approve the building site and plans. Hammond was initially scheduled to do that, but he was called away for… something else."

Daniel suspected this was one of those "need to know" things he didn't need to know, so he let Jack's vagueness stand without asking for more details. "Do you know if he's…"

Jack shrugged and looked away, eyes on the folders on the table. "We still get the occasional straggler, like you, who got stranded without GDOs or comm units and couldn't contact us, but most everyone's accounted for, to the best of our reckoning. Haven't heard from the Jaffa or the Tok'ra, but we haven't really sent anyone out lookin' to make contact, either.  We've been kinda busy here. Just tryin' to survive, y'know?" 

Daniel nodded. "Of course. That’d have to be first priority." He wanted to ask about which others had made it to Alpha with Jack, but he’d find out those answers in time. He directed his gaze at the table, his mind and heart still shying away from the loss, and waited.

O'Neill cleared his throat. "So. About that survival thing." He pulled the second folder out from under the first. He fidgeted with it, as if he didn't want to talk about whatever was inside.

Finally, he just shoved it at Daniel and growled, "Well, just read the memo. As ranking officer, I've put together a council of advisors from all the various international contingents, academic branches, and military officers. It's the best we can do for government in the short term, and this is part of the survival plan they've put together for Alpha." His speech was very formal and General-esque, not at all his usual casual flippancy, so Daniel knew the subject was serious.

Ignoring the thrill of apprehension that skittered down his spine, Daniel opened the folder and began to scan the document. The paper was dated months ago, shortly after Alpha had lost contact with Earth, and the confirmation of the planet's disappearance was confirmed by Odyssey on a return mission from Atlantis. It was signed by General O'Neill and each member of the council, and as Daniel speed-read his way through it, his guts clenched and turned cold. 

He raised his eyes to stare at his long-time friend, now the commanding officer of all of the survivors of Earth. "No," he said flatly. "I'm not doing this." 

"You're in the top ten percent of the brains in this outfit," Jack argued. "Everyone's ponied up, Daniel." 

"So? I'm not doing it. Period." He crossed his arms over his chest, felt his chin tip up in defiance, digging in his heels, glaring at the General. 

Forcing a smile, Jack sat back in his chair, hands fidgeting, trying hard to lighten the mood and the subject matter, to coax rather than order. "Oh, c'mon, Daniel! We've got inspirational material for whatever suits your fancy. Miss July was pretty hot. I mean, she's no Mary Steenburgen or Uma Thurman, but she's hot.  This is a military installation, for cryin' out loud. We've got plenty of pictures." 

"No, Jack."

"C'mon! Don't make me give you an order." Jack's face gave ample evidence of his embarrassment and frustration.  And his complete willingness to do just that and order complicity, if necessary.

Willfully clinging to his determined stubbornness, Daniel sat back in his chair, fuming, embarrassed as hell, and completely reluctant to agree with the terms of the memorandum. "Did you… you know. Did you do it?"

Pushing out of his chair, Jack began to pace on the far side of the little room, worrying at the back of his neck with one hand, obviously uncomfortable with the subject. "All the guys here have, Daniel.”  He stopped pacing and eyed Daniel, hands on hips. “Just lie back and think of England.  Whatever it takes, you know?

“We're talkin' about survival here. Donations will be frozen and saved for later, if you don't find a partner right away. You won't have to even know what happens to it.... them.... whatever.  You know, if you don't wanna." Jack shot him a glance, nervous, unhappy, equally embarrassed, but firm in his decision.

He sighed and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. "I asked Doc Lam to skip that part of your arrival clearance exam. Figured it'd be better if you heard it from me. So, whenever we're done here..."

Daniel got up from the table so fast, his chair fell over backward. Both men flinched at the crash, but their gazes remained locked together. "I said no," Daniel snapped in a tight-lipped growl, "and that should be enough!”  He was certain his shock and dismay were all over his face. He didn't want to explain what was going on inside him, especially not to another man.

In the months since Earth had been destroyed, Daniel hadn't felt the slightest need for or hint of physical desire. He'd been living among aliens with utterly no privacy, not a moment to himself that wouldn't be logged into their memory recorders. Sex had been absolutely the last thing on his mind, shoved so far into the background, he wasn't sure he could find it again. He didn't want to try, either, certainly not under orders. He couldn't even think about giving a genetic donation, which the memo required of every male at Alpha for later use when a full-scale repopulation scheme would be put into place. 

"Nobody else had a choice," Jack added with an edge of bitterness in his voice. "Why should you?"

"None of your business," Daniel shot back, "and no one's gonna make me do it, damn it!" He left the conference room at a brisk walk, striding out of the building with Jack calling him, trying to catch up.

Daniel didn't want to talk to him, didn't want to look at him; he just wanted to get away.  Only he didn't have anywhere to go. Everywhere he looked there were other humans, some with familiar faces, all with familiar clothes, mostly in BDUs or fatigues.

All of them were adults.  There were no children here, only military personnel, along with a small contingent of civilian scientists and academics consulting for the SGC.

He stopped in the middle of the outdoor compound, just staring around him. Temporary buildings of corrugated tin were going up beside more labor-intensive structures of hand-made brick and chiseled stone. Paths were messy with churned-up mud from constant footsteps and recent rain because there were no sidewalks here, no pavement, no cars or trucks, no schools or playgrounds or the sound of high-pitched little voices raised in laughter.

His heart burned, and grief gripped him once again. He didn't want to bring children into this or any other world, not when there was someone like Zeus out there, waiting to prey upon them.

Then he thought of his late wife.

Daniel had wanted to have a family with Sha’re, but he’d convinced her to wait, thinking they had time to waste. If only he’d listened to her pleas for a baby and complied with them, he might have had something of her to keep.  A memory of her heavy with that bastard Apophis’s child surfaced unbidden, and Daniel bent over, a hand pressed to his chest.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Jack catch up to him, easing into place at his side. Jack's hands were on his hips, his posture filled with tension and anger. O'Neill wouldn't understand Daniel's reluctance. He'd want to know why he’d refused so vehemently, but Daniel couldn't tell Jack everything. Not yet.

"Sha're," he whispered hoarsely. The ache in his heart was just starting to ease a little, and Daniel slowly straightened up, meeting his friend's concerned gaze.

Impatience with Daniel's reluctance added an edge to Jack's voice, making it sound harsher than he probably intended. "Shake it off, Daniel. Come look at what we've accomplished here. Take your mind off things for a while, and we'll talk about it later."

Daniel nodded, pressing the heels of his palms to his tired eyes. Aching and lost inside, he took a deep breath and started off, walking blindly beside the man at his left, following along only out of instinct and trust. Jack would take care of him, he knew. Jack was his friend. For now, all Daniel had to do was put one foot in front of the other and listen.

The two men wandered around the crude city filled with tents, dotted here and there with Quonset huts, cindercrete buildings, and tin sheds.  It looked like something out of World War II. More permanent buildings were under construction, but for now, the place felt like the refugee camp it was. Most of the people Daniel saw wore military fatigues or lab coats, and men outnumbered the women almost four to one. 

Jack had his head down and his hands in his trouser pockets as they strolled. “We’ve made a lot of progress,” he said with a touch of pride, his earlier impatience now gone. “Pretty good for two months’ work.” 

It took Daniel a couple of breaths before he could get the words out, his hand gesturing around them to indicate the people in view. “H-how many?”

“Survived?” Jack glanced up at the hospital compound with its large red-cross insignia painted on the side of the largest building. “A little over two thousand, all told. That includes the folks at Atlantis, those who were already here on Alpha, crews of the ships we had out, and the off-world teams that made it back. They're not all here, either. The Atlantis crew is still out there, and the ships' crews are still aboard. We've only got five hundred at Alpha. This was just supposed to be an outpost, you know?” 

Two thousand survivors, out of nearly seven billion, and only two thousand on that world.

The news made Daniel ill. He hung his head, eyes squeezing closed as he tried to choke back the gastric juices crawling up the back of his throat and into his mouth.

“You okay?”

Daniel shook his head, opening his eyes and staring at the ground as he walked, swallowing his grief back down. “No, not really. Doubt I ever will be, after this.”

“Understandable,” agreed Jack. “Doc Lam says you’re in fine health, though. Eyesight’s perfect now, and all your scars are gone. How’d that happen?”

“A few cups of stinky tea,” Daniel shot back with a sad little grin. “I’ll see if the Furlings would be interested in trading with us. It’s not so bad, after you get used to it.”

“They good folks?” Jack eyed him briefly. "You didn't say much about 'em."

“They remind me a lot of us, though they look different,” said Daniel contentedly. “Similar values and nature. I… need to get back there soon.”

Jack’s expression hardened. He glanced guiltily at the ground and kicked a pebble in mid-stride. He looked angry, but not at Daniel. “I can’t allow you to go back.” 

“What?”  Daniel stopped walking, hardly able to believe what he’d just heard. “Of course, I’m going back. I’m not finished—”

“I said you’re not leavin’ here!” Jack cut in, raising his voice slightly, planting himself in front of Daniel, meeting his gaze with a fierce glare, his face set, leaving no room for argument. “You’re the best academic we have. Best translator. Best linguist. You’ve got more of Earth’s history rollin’ around in your head than anyone else who’s left alive, and we can't afford to lose that. We need you here, so you’re stayin’. Period.”

“You don’t understand!” Daniel snapped as he closed the gap between them, getting right up in Jack's face. “I promised them I’d be back. There’s something important I have to do for them, and I’m the only one who can.” 

Hands on hips, Jack gave Daniel his finest General glare. “Look, we’ve got way too much to do just to survive here. We need you teaching, so you’ll teach. You belong here.”

Daniel couldn't believe what he was hearing. This wasn't the Jack O'Neill he knew, always ready to spit in the enemy's eye. Being in charge of the last bastion of humanity had changed him. Other things were more important than finding big honkin' space guns now.

Then Daniel remembered something else. “What about Zeus?”

Jack stared at him for another moment. His gaze turned flinty. His mouth set into a firm, angry line. “What about him?”  His voice had an edge that could have cut steel.  He looked away and started walking, his pace no longer aimless and lazy.

Daniel hurried to catch up and fall into step. “Aren’t we going after him?”

“No.”

“What?” Daniel grabbed Jack's arm and spun him around to a stop. “Just ‘no’?  That’s it?”

“We’re not goin’ after Zeus, or anyone else,” Jack growled, leaning in for emphasis, eyes sparkling with frustration. “We can’t afford to lose any more people. We don’t have a military infrastructure anymore, Daniel. He comes here,” Jack flicked an index finger towards the ground under his boots, “we’ll damn sure give him a fight, but we’re not goin’ after him and take the risk of him goin’ on the offensive. I can’t afford to risk any of my people, not if I don’t have to.” He started off again, his stride angry and purposeful, fists clenched at his sides and swinging through the air with each step.

Daniel needed to say something to make Jack see reason, so he made a leap. “The Furlings can help us,” he called after his old friend as he hurried to catch up to him again. “They have amazing technology.”

“So do we, thanks to the Asgard,” Jack shot back over his shoulder. He rounded on Daniel, this time using that same index finger to point up into the air. “Odyssey's in orbit above this planet on full-time watch. We’ve downloaded and installed most of the technology on it here, and we’ll keep at it till we’re finished, but we’ve still gotta survive while we're doin’ that.  Lotsa mouths to feed, and barely any resources here this time of year. We need… everything. We use the replication hardware 24/7, and it's still not enough. We've gotta make do on our own, and use that stuff just for the things we need most.” He started off again, headed somewhere else fast.

Daniel kept up with him, trotting sideways so he could watch Jack's face. “But the Furlings are survival experts.  Ages ago, they were marooned on their planet with nothing, but they built a mind-blowing advanced civilization. They’ve been through what we’re going through now, and they have more than enough resources for everyone here. They can help us. Please, Jack! Just let me go back and ask them.” 

O’Neill didn’t slow down.

“Jack!”

“Daniel.”

“Jack!”
 

“Daniel!”

The two men stopped walking, staring at each other. Daniel jabbed his hands onto his hips, mentally immovable, staring at Jack’s obstinate gaze. Daniel knew he could make a bargain here, but the price would be steep.  "Look.... I’ll do it, okay?”  Daniel ground out. "I'll agree to the sperm donation. I'll try, anyway." He glanced away, taking sudden interest in a boulder beside the walkway. "It might just take me a little time, is all."

Jack shrugged. "Magazine. Cup. How hard can it…  Never mind."

Daniel couldn't meet Jack's eyes. His head was bowed, his shoulders hunched. He dropped his hands limply to his sides. "You'll get my best effort, then. Things are just… a little slow in that department right now." It was an embarrassing admission, but necessary. Daniel needed to avoid having a deadline hanging over his head; he'd have to be able to relax, and right now, under these conditions, he couldn't possibly accomplish what was being asked of him. "Just consider going back with me and talk to the Furlings."

After a moment, Jack’s resolve crumbled a little.  “Survival experts, huh?” he asked, his voice back in its usual casual, reasonable range.

A sense of relief washed over Daniel. “Better than Special Forces,” he promised, grinning.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” said a cocky O’Neill.  He stood still, his head tilted back as he pretended to examine a passing cloud.  After a few moments, he lowered his gaze and fixed it on his Daniel's face.  “All right.  You win.  We’ll go callin’ on your new friends.  But as soon as we’re done talkin’, we come straight back here, and you’ll get that sample to our medical personnel. Then you’ll get on with your life here on Alpha.  Understood?”

Laughing, Daniel slapped Jack's shoulder, committing to nothing and deftly changing the subject. “C’mon. You’re gonna like the Furlings.”

End Chapter 14

by Lady Grey

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