The young American archeologist was supposed to be writing everything Professor was saying, instead he was lost in his second passion, that of drawing. The bearded professor saw the light begin to drop from where he wanted it and shouted. "Aziz! Light!" Frightening the small boy awake and making him move the polished brass sheet back into position so it would reflect the sun's light onto the hieroglyphs.
The American repeated the words softly. "Aziz light." And placed another stroke into the counter on another scrap of paper. The professor continued deciphering the text. "When the three planets are in eclipse, the black hole is open. Evil comes spreading terror and chaos... See the snake Billy? The ultimate evil, make sure you get the snake."
Billy looks weary and his eyes carry the bored look of someone who has seen too much of man's evil. "Yes I've got you're snakes." He continues to draw a very crude boat. "So when is this snake act supposed to occur?"
The professor works out the date from the hieroglyphs. "…If this is the five and this is the one...Every five thousand years."
Billy shakes his head and smiles. "So I've got some time then?"
The professor points to the glyphs. "You see here, these different peoples, or symbol of people, they gather together the four elements of life. Water, fire, earth air, around a fifth one .A fifth...element."
Billy hears someone approaching and turns to see the old priest walking towards them. He smiles and stands up, glad of the break from the monotonous work of deciphering an unknown tomb. "Ah Father! How are you today?"
The priest grips his hand and shakes it whilst holding up the water bag he had taken from the young boy. "Well. You have some glasses?"
The professor smiles and pumps the old priest's hand. "Father I am so glad to see you! It's the most extraordinary thing, look this must be the greatest find in history!"
The old priest looks worried and holds the poisoned water up. "You must be parched." He asks as he pours the water into three cups. The professor holds up his hands and smiles. "Yes I'm sorry." He takes one of the cups and is about to drink from it when he finally works out what the glyph means. "It's like a battle plan, here the good." He motions to the people then motions to the snake. "Here the evil he traces the lines to the centre of the picture and circles around the fifth element." And here, a great weapon against the evil. "He holds the cup up to his lips once more then tells him." I'm going to be famous!"
The priest smiles and holds up his cup. "Then let us toast to your fame!"
"Yes to fame!" The three clink their tins together. "Salute!"
The priest watches the cup touch the professor's lips, willing him to drink and thereby hiding once more the secret his order had vowed to conceal from man since the dawn of recorded time.
But the professor stops and then throws the water away. "You cannot drink a toast with water!" He turns and sees Billy drinking the grappa from the skin. "Billy the grappa!"
Billy gulps down the last mouth full then says. "I'll uhh get the other skin." He grins and rushes outside to bring it in. He opens his chest and grabs the last bottle from his belongings. Moving his diary aside and picks up the bottle.
The professor shakes his head as he reads the glyphs. "But this I don't understand, this could be something pre-historic...."
The priest leaves the man to work on his theory while he recognizes a sound only ever written about in the great book .He walks to the entrance and his eyes go wide as day is turned into night. "They are here!"
Billy moves his things back before shutting the case but stops when the light is blocked by something, he turns and sees a wondrous sight as the sunlight is blocked from the tomb.
The professor is looking at the being in the centre of the drawing. "This being, this man is the key, the fifth element. This divine light they talk about, what is divine light?" The professor curses as the light fade. "Aziz! Light!" Just then the ship illuminates the tomb and the professor nods. "Much better, thank you Aziz."
Meanwhile Billy is watching the landing of a gigantic starship just meters from where he sits and stares in wonder as the huge door drops open. He picks up charcoal and his pad and begins to draw all he sees as six metal monsters stomp past his position.
The priest begs them. "You are here my lord!"
The professor is still decoding the glyphs as one trudges behind him. "This is the most wondrous thing don't you think..."He turns to talk to the priest but instead he sees one of the creatures. "Ar...Are you German?" The creature shakes his head then turns to its leader as it approaches the priest. The priest is on his knees. "Lord, I know he was about to discover everything .But I was there in time to stop..." "PRIEST," The mechanical voice booms out." You and those before you have served us well, but war is coming stones are not safe on earth anymore. The priest almost cries as the creature nods to one of his men and it walks over to the wall. He moves his hand to touch the wall but before it can a small key protrudes from the metal finger and it pushes it into a small crack in the stone. The wall rumbles and moves aside.
The professor jabs his brush at the cavern revealed before him and pronounces. "This is really amazing."
The leader nods to the creature standing behind the professor and its eyes glow. The professor dies before he even realizes anything is amiss and collapses to the granite floor. Five of the creatures follow the leader inside and they begin to pick up the four stones that were set at each corner of the room. The priest watches one pick up the statue of the fifth element. "The fifth element." The priest whispers. The four place the small stones in an ornate chest and close the lid.
Meanwhile outside Billy has found the early model Luger he had purchased and modified in Casablanca and cocks it just as the statue of the fifth element glides by him. He watches one of the creatures walk beside the statue as it magically floats into the craft.
The priest argues with the leader. "If you take the weapon we will be defenseless when the great evil returns!"
"In three hundred years, when Evil returns, so shall we."
Billy jumps up after the creatures have made their way back into the craft; he points the gun at the ramp leading into the ship then turns around to face the tomb. "Professor!" He mutters, and then takes off at a run towards his mentor. He finds his lifeless body and he sees red! He stands up to see the priest talking to one of the demons and he motions him out of the way. "I have a gun!"
The priest stands in front of it. "Please Billy, understand these are our friends."
He glares at him. "Friends? They killed the professor! They're monsters"
The priest walks towards him. "I'll explain everything.."
Billy understands now. "You're...you're with them?"
"Let me explain..."
Billy waivers the gun between the priest and the monster as the priest continues. "I am your friend..." He sees anger behind the man's eyes then a look of resignation as he steps back and squeezes the trigger.
"Billy no!"
The step back entangled Billy's feet with the strap of the book case he had left there and he falls backwards the rounds ricocheting off of the armored hide of the creature and causing the great wall to close. "Hurry the wall is closing!"
But the great weight of the encounter suit makes it hard for the creature to do more than shamble along. "" Here is your new mission now, pass on your knowledge to the next priest as it was passed on to you."
"I'll do what you want but please hurry you don't have much time!"
The creature extends its hand and says. "Time is not important, only life important." The hand is crushed by the wall, sealing him in forever but the key is left protruding from the wall.
The priest grabs the key and rushes to the departing craft in time to see it depart. He holds the key aloft. "I will fulfill my mission, you can count on me! I shall pass on the knowledge until you return." He shouts to the diminishing craft.
Billy struggles to stand and rubs the back of his head where he hit the granite wall." Professor? At first he thinks it was all a dream caused by too much grappa but then he sees the professor's body and he searches for his gun and finds it.
He steps outside to find it was almost sunset, all the workers had simply run off when they had first saw the ship land but Billy knew he had to tell someone of what had happened here in the middle of this godforsaken land.
Xander was finally getting around to unpacking all of the things he had managed to drag out of the ruins of his family home. Buffy's house had simply vanished in the big 'quake' of '03 as the news was calling it. Even what little he had kept at his apartment had sunk into hell along with everything else. He snorted as he looked at the few belongings he had left. "Funny how the only things I had left to prove I even existed was all located in my parents basement."
Xander unpacked most of the things from the new trunk he had bought, remembering when and where he had been given each item. He spotted the old trunk some relative had no doubt left behind, luckily for him it held most of the things he had managed to drag up from the basement. He opened it and took out his old toys and several old 'tintype' photos' of old relatives. His hand struck a small box and he took it out. "Funny I don't remember ever seeing any of this before?" He opened it and inside was something wrapped in an old oil cloth. He unraveled it to find it held a rusted out semi-auto.
He checked it out and he can remember that it was a German Luger before from the First World War. He placed it to one side, his mind searching for a face to put with the ancient weapon, and rifled through the tin box. He came up with a leather bound diary and read out the name. "William Harris-My adventures in Egypt 1913-1914."
As he opened it a crinkled up paper yellowed by age fell to the floor. He bent down and picked it up then carefully unfolded it to reveal a crudely drawn picture of some demon. He placed it to one side and began to read the journal of William Harris-Archeologist.
Buffy, Willow and Kennedy had gone to help Dawn settle into her dorm at Cal-Tech but a certain one eyed male was still central to their thoughts. As he was with Giles, who was even now impatiently knocking on Xander's door. The door was thrown open by Xander dressed in a robe, waiving a twenty in one hand whilst reading from a computer print out with the other as he absentmindedly told Giles. "Here's a twenty put the pizza on the table and keep the change."
Giles shrugged and took the twenty. "Thanks but I don't have a pizza."
Xander looked up from the page he was reading then his eyes lit up. "GILES!" He exclaimed. "The very man I need." He ushered his mentor in and pushed the documents at him. "You're into uhh old um stuff..."
Xander ran off to his bedroom leaving Giles standing in the lounge. Giles automatically turned the print out so he could read it and then was drawn into the pages by the name at the top. "Professor Roberto De Agostino! My, my there's a name I haven't heard of in a while." He sat down and began reading the report in earnest as Xander returned holding an old leather bound diary.
"I found this along with some other things when I decided to clean out that junk I grabbed from my parents place before Sunnyhell became Sunnyhole."
Giles looked up. "Where did you find this?" Xander looked at his computer. "I mean why did you find this?"
Xander handed Giles Billy's diary. "This was written by a long lost relative of mine." Xander sat. "I spoke with every relative that would talk to me." Giles raised an eyebrow and Xander shrugged. "My parents had always told them I was a looser." He grins. "It appears there was another before me, my great, great." Xander concentrated. "Great grandfather?" He shrugged. "Anyway William Harris, or Billy as he liked to be called, was at the height of Harris greatness. He was a graduate of Yale and was even respected in his field when he signed on for the Professor's dig in some flyspecked stretch of sand in Egypt."
Giles looked at the date and he nodded. "I never knew you were related to 'that' Harris." Giles placed both the sheets of papers and the diary on the coffee table. "You shouldn't take this to heart Xander, William was obviously not in full control of his mind when he wrote that 'diatribe' after the search party found him. It's thought De Agistino's death and his being with him at the time of his demise unhinged him."
Xander shook his head. "No, NO! They just made that up so he wouldn't ruin their petty world!"
Giles smiled. "Xander he wrote a thesis 896 pages long about how we were not the builders of the ancient world but found and used the monoliths for our own purposes! "Giles took off his glasses and shook his head. "Frankly his work was condemned to the trash heap along with other crackpot theories."
Xander held up a finger. "Wait a second..."He stood and rifled through several other books until he found the two he wanted. "At first I thought he was just another person to blame for my Harris 'Looser' gene but then I found several other of your 'higher function' types that actually not only agreed with him but even used his ideas to support their own."
Giles glanced at the books. "Von Daneken, nuttier than a snickers bar." He dropped it and took another. "Oh please! You read Jackson's theorem of Galactic propagation!"
Xander blushed. "Yeah and it makes sense to me! If you believe that the dig my ancestor was involved in was visited by NTI's then it would back up Dr. Jackson's theory."
Giles shook his head. "Non terrestrial intelligence...I've found very little to prove of much terrestrial intelligence being at that dig let alone E.T. popping in for tea and crumpets." Giles picked up Jackson's book. "And however nice Dr. Jackson is in person it did not bode well for his career, as I recall shortly after presenting this 'gem' at the societies annual meeting he was laughed out of the society and damn well vanished."
Xander set his jaw and glared at Giles. "Say what you like Giles but I believe in Billy's work, hell they sent him to the freaking frontlines of WW1 just to shut him up! You can't tell me they'd do that if he was just one crazy lone voice shouting out the sky is falling. No they got to him, if they couldn't shut his mouth then they'd see his idea buried with him!"
Giles was taken aback by Xander's fervor; he had only ever seen it when it involved danger to his 'family' or the world. "You say you have his diary? No one has ever seen his original works, it may shed some light on whether he was either mad or just maligned."
Xander handed it over to him then said. "There was a sketchpad as well." He ran back into his room to retrieve it while Giles began reading Billy's diary. "My he did live in a wondrous time, a time when anything truly was possible...Hello!" He sat up straight and glanced towards Xander's room before he re-read the final chapter. "Good God!" He closed the book and sighed. "What the hell have you gotten yourself involved in?"
Xander came into the room carrying a very old artist's work pad. "I don't think what Billy saw was a couple of E.T.' dropping by to pick up some rocks." He held the corners of the pad and turned it so Giles could see. "What if they were demons? Wouldn't the human mind search for a reasonable means of off loading the idea? One more plausible than demonic visitation?"
Giles sighed. "Yes, I do believe it would." He looked at the rough drawing Billy did of the alien visitors and narrowed his eyes. "They look like a breed of Sequatchie, maybe even the original pack." He glanced up hoping this was sway Xander away from the dangerous path he had been about to follow. The council had set forth many rules, one of which was to cease any investigation into areas that infringed on the Holy Church of Rome's proscribed 'no go' area.
In fact had the watcher's council still have been around he would have very conflicting emotions at this time.Giles placed the sketches down by the diary and advised Xander. "Xander I would advise you to tread wearily from this point on. If you are in fact correct then these 'people' you say did this to your relative would still be very interested in keeping William Harris's findings locked away." Giles glanced at him. "Have you told anyone else? Spoken to any one about this?"
Xander shrugged. "I've been on a few websites and spoken to a few like minded people." Xander glanced at the box in the corner.
"May I ask their names?" Giles had the few names of the American contacts at his apartment and would check them against Xander's names to make sure he hadn't already alerted the Vatican to his stumbling onto one of their secrets.
"Yeah I talked...Well typed would be more..." He looked at Giles and saw his patience running out. "Most were just amateur stumblers like myself but one person has been a great help to me." He smiles. "It seems she was heavily involved in archeology from her early childhood trips with her father and up until nine years ago. Catherine Langford is her name."
Giles blinked. "Catherine! "He smiled. "I haven't heard that name.. Well not since I transferred from the British Museum and took up residence as Buffy's Watcher."
Xander smiled. "Yeah she knew your name too Giles, though she said she was quite shocked when she had heard you quit the British Museum"
Giles nods. "Yes she would often use the facilities of our Egyptian Room to work on some project or another. You know she once asked me to join her group in trying to decipher some cuneiform tablets her father had found on his last dig back in '28." He sighed. "But I had my other duties to perform and sadly I had to refuse."
Xander smiles. "Ever the faithful watcher huh Giles. "He took out his wallet and handed over a card. "She asked me to give you this if ever you asked about her."
Giles took the card and read the address. "She lives in Colorado? What on earth for?"
Xander shrugged. "Maybe she likes the cold after all those years in Egypt, any way she said she would get in contact with Doctor Jackson about my 'quest' as she called it. It seems he's always been interested in Billy's diary and had been searching for it for years."
"Why didn't he just ask a member of your family?"
"I think maybe that's one of the reasons they moved to Sunnydale, to get away from all the freaks that had chased after Billy's claims."
Giles checks his watch. "Look I have to meet up with Buffy and the 'West Coast Slayers' as they now call themselves, but keep me informed of your quest Xander, I would be glad to help you in any way I can."
Just as Giles leaves the phone rings and Xander picks it up.
In a room across the hall from Xander's residence a tape machine clicks on and begins recording Xander's phone call.
"Xander its Catherine, how are you today?"
Xander smiles. "Not to bad Miss Langford, in fact Mr. Giles was just here and I told him about you."
"Please Xander I've told you to call me Catherine and...Oh my! I haven't seen Rupert in …It must be all of ten years now, how is he? Does he still have that debonair 'Cary Grant smile?"
Xander's smile is frozen. "Giles debonair? He's just tweed guy Miss… I mean Catherine but he seems to think my quest is more of a wild goose chase than a serious need to see justice for my ancestor."
Catherine sighed. "In that case I have some news that will make you feel better. Doctor Jackson is back from a long umm sabbatical and he dearly wishes to see both yourself and Billy's diary. However he does live in Colorado now and can't come out to see you at this time so I told him I would bring you to see him if that's okay with you?"
Oh wow would it ever! "Xander enthused." I'm somewhat at a loose end these days and I can go at any time. "He grinned." What time should I be waiting outside for you?"
Meanwhile in the room across the street a man picks up the phone and dials. "Sir, yes sir the subject has made contact with Dr Langford and she intends bringing both the Harris Manuscript and Harris himself to meet with Doctor Jackson." The man nods and replaced the phone sighing as he did. "My advice kid is for you to burn the damned book and forget you ever heard of William Harris."
Daniel is waiting for Doctor Frazier to finish what she's working on before he moves into her line of vision. "Oh!" She smiles. "Hello Dr Jackson, to what do I owe the pleasure, we don't usually see a member of SG1 down here unless one of you is injured."
He pushes his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "Or needs a favor." He presses the palms of his hands together and asks. "I was wondering if I could 'borrow' your house for an hour or two on Friday."
Janet's brow furrows. "My house?"
"Well see it's like this, Catherine is bringing someone in that I really need to see and seeing as how my apartment was let after everyone thought I was 'gone' I really need someplace to bring them that isn't..."He motioned around him. "Here, if you know what I mean."
Janet paused and thought for a few seconds. "Cassie's home on spring break, so if you don't mind an inquisitive 18 year old under your feet?"
Daniel grinned and gripped her shoulders. "You can't know how much this means to me! I have been searching for the diary of William Harris ever since I first heard of what happened at the Khartoum Dig."
Janet nods. "Yes well just remember you break it you bought it and keep the destruction down to a minimum." She fished out her spare key and handed it over to him. "And take my advice; send Cassie to the movies or you'll have one bored twister on your hands."
Daniel nods. "I'll give her a ten..."
"A ten?" She snorts. "Good luck!" Then goes back to her research.
Jackson shrugs then asks. "What's got the lab in such a buzz?"
Janet looks up from the electron microscope. "Zani'th is coming to inspect the SGC and we want everything up to date on our Tokra allies just in case our luck holds true to form and we have a medical emergency."
Daniel looks puzzled until Janet tells him. "The military leader of the Tokra or what's left of them any way." She places another sample into the scope and continues. "He wants our help it seems there's more symbiot than hosts and he's beginning to side with those that think we 'owe' them the shortfall."
Daniel shakes his head. "They would become as bad as what they fight against!"
Janet nods. "That's why this meeting was called, Colonel O'Neil let him know they'd be taking unwilling hosts the same day Annubis wins the Nobel peace prize."
"That sounds like Jack." He checks his watch then tells her. "Look I've got to go get my research papers out of storage and in some kind of order before my visitor arrives, thanks again for the loan of your place for the afternoon and I promise to try and keep it in one piece."
Daniel walks into his lab to find Sam waiting for him, as she does she was reading some of his notes on Billy. She stands up as he enters. "You're late for the briefing and the Colonel thought I should check up on you."
Daniel sat down in front of his computer. "Jack worried I'm going to go 'poof' again?"
Sam shrugs. "He worries about you, we all do."
Daniel turns away from his computer and looks at her. "Funny thing, when he was a prisoner of the Goa'ould I tried telling him that he too was worthy of 'evolving' but after I read his mind I found he would never even contemplate it while a certain Major was alive."
She blushed then came back with. "The Colonel loves Kowalski?"
Daniel shook his head. "It's not the military keeping you two apart, you're both too frightened to even consider loving anyone else." He turned back to the computer and grinned evilly. "I hear Anise is accompanying Zani'th on his visit."
He watches her reflection in the monitor. "I also hear she got pretty up close and personal with Jack when he was there."
"If you can call almost getting him killed because her damned machine thought we were both assassins 'up close..."
"Oh, not that time, I'm talking about when Jack was 'blended'. I hear there was a hot time on the old Tokra home world."
Sam blushed and stood up and started to leave. "Well he's free, white and over 21."She was angered by the thought of Jack and another woman. "I'll tell them you're still amongst us mere mortals."
Daniel pretends to slam dunk. "He shoots, he scores." He checks his watch. "And I had better dig out my stuff before they lock up for the day."
Xander has a bag packed ready for the trip to Colorado; he places the wrapped diary at the bottom of his carry on luggage and carefully places a spare shirt and shorts on top. "That should about cover it." He shrugged. "I'm only going for a day, it's not like I'm...Buffy!"
The Slayer entered his apartment. "So nice of you to drop by."
She stares at the bag then at him. "Giles told me you were going; I had to see it for myself." She shook her head. "You really think this Jackass..."
"Uhh that would be Jackson, Dr. Jackson."
She shrugs. "Yeah he told me, he also told me he was a third class freak that thinks we owe our existence to."She points up humming the theme. "E.T.!"
Xander glares at her. "So did my great grandfather."
She shrugs. "And your point?" She walks over to him. "Look Xander we really need you here, we..."
"Buffy you haven't 'needed' me since ..."He searched for a word then said. "Super Willow came on the scene, hell even before that." He locked his bag and placed it on the floor. "All I am is your living breathing Mr. Gordo. Something to hold onto when you get down in the dumps."
Xander sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped but..."
Buffy nods then smiles. "Gotcha! For seven years you've been fighting in a war that wasn't yours." She leans in and pecks him on the cheek then says. "I think you more than deserve to do whatever the heck you want." She sits on the edge of his couch. "Just remember we want you here because you're you, not as some comedy relief."
Xander sits next to her. "As soon as Dr. Jackson tells me all he knows about 'the visit' I'll be back here till I figure what to do next."
The cab driver beeps his horn and Xander looks at his watch. "Wow a cab that arrives on time, we must be in civilization."
He grins at her as she tells him as she buttons his coat. "I know how you are with older women so just don't go falling in love with this one 'Kay?" She looked at him as he grinned. "And don't go eating too much before you fly, you know how traveling too far upsets your stomach."
Xander grinned at her. "Okay ma, sure thing. No falling for older women and any food before I fly, check." The horn blared and he shrugged. "Look I'll only be gone a few days at the most so just promise you'll stay safe?"
She nods. "As long as you do the same Xand."
Xander snorts. "Yeah like there are big creepy demons in Colo-freaking-rado!" He pauses. "Just what the heck is an Egyptologist doing in Colorado any way?" He picks up his bag and follows Buffy out, he locks the door and hands her his keys. "See ya on Monday Buff."
She watches him enter the cab and she feels alone for the first time in years. "Don't forget to send Dawn a card!" She shouts and Xander winds down the window. "Jeez! I'll be back a week before the damned thing gets here, but if that's what she wants." He waves as the cab pulls away from the curb.He leans out and does his best Arnie impression. "I'll be back!"
A man keys in his mike and whispers. "Only in the re-runs kid...Sector one Alpha, Elvis has left the building."
COLORADO. Daniel had set up his laptop on Janet's kitchen table and was preparing himself for an event he had placed just below deciphering the Gate hieroglyphs. He glanced at Cassie as she swept through the kitchen for the hundredth time and pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "Um…weren't you supposed to have gone to the movies by now?"
She took a bottle of mineral water from the fridge and snorted. "Yeah like ten buck's would get me into anything good!" She sat on the counter and tipped her head towards the laptop. "So this guy Sander, he's some high brow like you yeah?"
Daniel shrugged as he went over his notes. "I think he's a carpenter or something, Catherine knows more about him." His eyes went blank as he imagined what the diary and the, until now, unknown of sketchpad would contain. "All I know is that he has his great grandfather's diary and a few drawings that no one knew of."
She swallowed the mouthful of mineral water then proclaimed. "He's a nerd."
"So why don't you go see your movie and let us 'nerds' talk?"
She hoped off of the counter as a car pulled up outside. "See here's the thing, Kelly want's to see Pirates of the Caribbean and I want to go but all I have is a very lonely ten." She smiled. "I think both it and you would feel a whole lot better if you let its twin come with us."
The front doorbell rang and Daniel quickly fished out a twenty. "Would..."
Cassie snatched it from his hand and raced to the front door, swinging it open. "Gee thanks Dr. Jackson, I'll let you know of any historical inaccuracies the movie haszzz..." She stopped as she saw Xander standing in front of her. "Well hello!"
Xander looked at the address Catherine had written down for him then glanced at Cassie. "Hi uhh is this Doctor Jack..."
Cassie nods enthusiastically then ushers him in. "Sure is, I was just discussing the ramifications of the Neffertiti dig in Lower Egypt." She tugged her top so it showed off what the boys had said was her best features. "So you're pretty young for an archeologist Mr...?"
Xander walked inside clutching the bag to his side. "Uhh Harris, Xander Harris and I'm not an archeologist. I just have a burning need to set the record straight where my grandfather's concerned."
Daniel walks towards him motioning for Cassie to go with his head. "So nice to finally meet you Mr. Harris." When Cassie didn't move he turned to her. "Didn't you have some place to go Cassie?"
She smiled and shook her head as she showed Xander in. "Not any more."
The klaxon shut down as the gate formed the stable wormhole; Jack and General Hammond were in dress blues as the honor guard of Zani'th's party exited the gate. The Special Forces troopers snapped to attention as the military leader of the beleaguered Tokra proudly marched through with Anise close by his side.
Jack sighed as her barely clothed form passed by him. "Welcome to Earth sir." Hammond told Zani'th. "We hope you find your quarters to your liking."
Zani'th looked at him then looked at Jack and stated. "You are the one that corrupted our trusted aid Kanen and led him to his untimely death."
Jack shrugged and stared the Tokra down. "I believed 'civilized' is the word you were looking for."
Zani'th snorted. "Civilized? Your race has barely climbed out of the trees yet you dare speak of civilization to a race older than your planet!"
Hammond shook his head and sighed. "Why did I ever agree to come out of retirement for this?" He then moved between the two and smiled at Zani'th. "Our government will be pleased to offer the Tokra any assistance they would like in their hour of need."
Zani'th smiled at Hammond. "Ah, then you have come to your senses about our need for hosts?"
Jack whispered loud enough for the ancient Tokra to hear. "Over my dead body!"
Zani'th kept smiling. "If needs be Mr O'Neill, if needs be."
Anise shook her head then stepped up beside Zani'th. "Zani'th would like to observe your civilization in person." She saw both Hammond and Jack begin to protest so she played her trump card. "Maybe by seeing how your people live might change the way he feels about your race."
Hammond nods. "I will have to speak to our leaders first ,but I believe ,under suitable supervision, they might be agree."
Thoran nods. "That would be a most refreshing change from the last time I was here. I believe we would need go no further than the small cluster of surface dwellings beyond the confines of your base."
Hammond gripped Jack's arm as he was about to say something. "I think my 2IC and I need to discuss this first Thoran."
Jack all but growls and follows Hammond into the briefing room. "SIR! Don't tell me you're even thinking of letting that bunch of snakeheads wander around outside?"
Hammond leans against the desk. "Last time I checked they were our allies Colonel O'Neill."
"Allies don't look at us just for what they can get out of it...Unless they're French that is." He jerked a thumb at the door. "And the last time I checked they ain't even human let alone French."
Hammond sat in a chair. "Jack, maybe we can convince Zani'th that a host that lets them blend is better that one that will fight them at every turn. We're having enough trouble dealing with Annubis and the other System Lords, we don't need our allies turning against us as well."
Jack shrugs. "We won't need them once Thor and his people have finished rebuilding their home world."
"But till then we do need them Jack." He stood up and planted a hand on Jack's back. "Till then we need to tread carefully around them."
Jack shook his head. "You mean let them take people!"
"Good lord man, I do not! I don't know about you son but I signed on to protect the nation and the people of these United States, not to hand them over in an effort to appease a tyrant."
Jack smiled. "Good, I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page."
"If the President agrees to their request then our 'guests' will have more security following them than a bag lady at Gucci!"