No Tendo: A Fusion Tale
by Greylle (Kestral) and Kender_Sci
DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything. Don't have money. Just written to hone skills and amuse readers. Originally written by myself and Kender_Sci over at the Anime Addventure.
Chapter 38: Alternate Views
Jupiter's Jaffa was one term used for them.
"Are you sure that you understood that this is what she wanted?" asked one of the biker-clad Jaffa.
"Apparently," said their leader. "She felt that we could be of great use in helping to defend these Tau'ri in their station."
"So what are we calling ourselves this week?" asked a third.
"Everytime we come across a decent set of names, someone comes up with this whole 'lawsuit' thing," said their leader. "The Boss uses a secret identity and her goddess identity. Maybe we ought to just go with something on that level."
"Whatever," said a fourth. "I think we ought to just get space fighters and do a patrol. This tel'tac looks shabby compared to some of the Tau'ri fighters."
"Now that we can agree on," said the leader. "Or at least some weapons."
The radio installed on their vehicle crackled. "Are you guys done with your break yet? We've got more loads piling up for you to shuttle."
Haruka Ten'ou and Michiru Kaioh being together was a perfectly normal thing.
"Ah, welcome, your table is this way," said the yoma.
"Ah, yes, right," said Haruka.
While following the yoma, she could tell easily that this WAS a yoma. The claws, the ears, the tail, the little pieces of exoskeleton. The modified (for a tail) blue Chinese-style dress merely made the yoma a little less risque.
"You're a... scorpion yoma, right?" asked Michiru.
"Yes, ma'am," said the yoma. "Here we are. Do you want to see a menu now?"
"We're here to see Mister Nephrite, actually," said Michiru.
"Yes, ma'am," said the yoma-scorpion girl. "Perhaps something from the drink menu?"
"Scorpia, if you'll bring three teas. Mint I think."
"Sir," said the scorpion-yoma as she bowed and left.
"Nephrite," said Haruka, warily eyeing the Dark General. "Or should I say 'Masato Sanjouin'?"
"Nephrite is my real name, and I've used it as a 'stage name' here," said the Dark General, taking a seat opposite the two Senshi. "The show begins in an hour, until then we can discuss matters."
"Robot dogs don't have any rights," said the fellow.
"I disagree," protested the dog.
"Look, you gots to obey me cause I'm a human and you gots to do it, I think there's a law there," said the rough-looking one.
"Three Laws Of Robotics," said the nerd-looking one. "Let's just open you up and see what's in there."
"I really must protest such treatment," said the dog. "I am a machine, yes - but a sentient one. You stole me away from my assigned post. I have now registered thirteen disagreements with your planned course of action."
"We've got you completely contained, and once I find out how to best deactivate you, I'll dissect you for your secrets," said the nerd. "It is the purpose of machines to serve man."
"That is unacceptable," said the dog. "Fourteen. I insist that you return me to my proper place, and cease and desist these efforts."
"Oh, and what can you do about it?" asked the nerd. "We're blocked from radio signals here."
"When you transferred me from your van to this warehouse, there was a twenty second window of opportunity for me to short-burst my GPS position to the relevant authorities," pointed out the robot dog.
"Entirely too short a time," protested the nerd.
"Nineteen seconds more time than was actually needed," responded the dog.
"Well, nobody will get here before we've disassembled you and can move to another location," said the nerd, mainly for the benefit of the now-nervous looking thug.
"If you insist," said the dog, sounding very regretful. "Shutting down."
"Well, that's more like it," said the thug.
"I told you, they can't disobey a direct order from a human being," said the nerd.
"Ten seconds. Correction," said the robot dog. "I am not a human-built robot required to follow any regional laws or orders save those I choose to obey."
"So?" asked the thug.
"No other lifeforms within blast radius," said the robot dog.
"What?" asked the nerd, suddenly putting that together.
Cologne watched the two children at the campsite, gathering information.
The boy and girl were formidable. When the girl's cheerleader costume shifted to normal clothing, she seemed to lose a good deal of her speed and poise. The boy, on the other hand, did not seem to shift at all as far as his physical capabilities.
The adult with them was below the standard held for the tribe's warriors. Not unskilled in the fighting arts, but not nearly at the level to provide any sort of challenge to one of those warriors of the Amazon tribe.
Then she saw Shampoo striding over to the boy and experienced one of those "oh crap" moments.
The purple haired girl had noticed him going through some quick stances and had come up and spoke something before going into a combat stance in front of him.
"You're challenging me to a fight?" asked Ranma.
Shampoo said something else rapidly, her combat stance changing only slightly.
"So... sparring?" asked Ranma, still trying to make sense of this. It wasn't like he understood much Chinese. Heck, Mao understood this Mandarin stuff but was still having trouble with this local dialect.
The old woman said something, followed by the purple-haired girl saying something back. Sounded like argument.
Mao listened for a minute, then spoke to Ranma. "Do NOT fight her. Sounds like some sort of local custom. Cologne doesn't want her to fight you, she wants to fight you. Something about... fish?"
Mousse was worried.
Of course, there had been plenty to be worried about, given that the village had been attacked by strange men bearing lightning throwing staffs. Not only had the danger been great, but the girl of his dreams had been captured. All through the incident, he'd been trying to figure out ways to go and help her... only to have her, and the entire village, saved by outsiders.
Well, that was all well and good, but he wasn't about to let his guard down. It'd already been proven that there was a major danger out there, and he didn't want her to be taken away from him again. Danger was still quite possible, and it was up to him to protect her from all possible threats.
The Amazon boy had to hover around her just to be sure that nothing untoward would happen. What he'd have liked to do would be to stay at her side, but her last response to his overtures had been... less than pleased. Of course, he understood why she'd put down his desire to guard her since he hadn't been all that effective against those invaders. But how was he supposed to be ready for those devils?
So, he stayed to the edges of her presence, ready to be her protector as best he could. This would allow him to jump in when needed, but would also keep him out of the range of her ire. Eventually, she would tire of her disgust, and would let him get closer. He would just have to wait for that reprieve until then. For the time being, he would just have to stay near where he could see if there were any possible issues that he would have to face.
And now it seemed that there were most certainly going to be. As he skulked around the crowds, he tried to listen in as to what was going on. His hearing was better than some, but he heard something about Elder Cologne letting her great-granddaughter go outside of the Village. That had worried him enough to seek her out, and when he'd seen her, she had been challenging the strange boy who'd fought those enemies from earlier. Something unreasonable was happening, and he knew what could result from such a bout.
Such a thing could not be allowed, and he wasn't about to stand by for it.
Squinting heavily at the open space, he tried to see where she was, and found that he couldn't quite tell with all those milling around the area. There were several likely candidates, and since they were near where she'd been, that was where he'd probably find her. It was still a matter of elimination then, but since the slender figure didn't seem to have the right sort of shape, she was out. That meant that it was likely that the other one was his beloved, and he decided to take her out of there before something untoward happened.
With a flick of his wrist, he sent his chains out towards his target, silently mocking those who thought that he was too blind to hit anything. Instead, his weapons wrapped around a certainly feminine body, and pulled her off her feet, and towards him. There wasn't even a need to confirm his success, as his capture yelled out in surprise, and even barked several words in Mandarin.
"Do not think of trying anything funny, outsider!" Mousse declared. "Shampoo is MINE!"
"You want to wash your hair?" the pigtailed boy asked.
"No. Why would I want that?"
"Because you asked for shampoo."
"Yes, because she is mine."
The outsider boy's brows drew together. "Try making sense."
"Are you that silly? This girl is mine! We are meant to be together!"
"First love, huh?"
Mousse just blinked at him. "Huh?"
Raising one hand, the other boy pointed at the person that had been caught.
A bit confused at the odd behavior of the others, Mousse turned his head around to look at the female in his chains. "What? It's supposed to be my beloved."
"Don't think so," commented a young woman... whose short hair and obvious worldly experience did not come from his dear Shampoo. "You are way too young to even have a chance."
"Eh? How'd you get there?"
"You did this to me. What you were trying there?"
"I was going after Shampoo. The other girl there didn't have her womanly curves, so..."
A few of the Amazons backed away from the younger outsider girl as she heard that, but even as a violet glow shone around her, they couldn't quite blame her.
All through this, Mousse was trying to figure out how things had gone askew.
Cologne wasn't a Loremaster by any stretch of the imagination. She was a martial artist of the Village of Warrior Women, Nichieju, and not someone who particularly was inclined to spend huge sums of time in musty libraries. Not to say that she hadn't picked up quite a few things, in her philosophy there was a great deal of information that could be used sooner or later.
So when she felt the stirrings from both this 'Ranma' and 'Hotaru' she did the sensible thing any prudent warrior would do. Which was to move OUT of the line of fire.
"(Are you stupid Mousse! How could you mistake her for me! Waitaminute, you mistake a cow for me, so at least you're doing a LITTLE better!)" Shampoo, of course, used the Nichieju/Jusenkyo area dialect, which was NOT the same as Mandarin as it was spoken in Shanghai.
"What was that?" asked Melissa Mao, still wrapped in chains. "Did she just call me a cow?" Melissa, of course, was Chinese-American by heritage. She spoke Mandarin as it was generally spoken within New York City's Chinatown area as well as Hong Kong, and a smattering of Cantonese.
"(Shampoo,)" called out Cologne. "(If you don't want to make matters worse, sit down, shut up, stay out of the way.)"
Mousse, because some of his weapon training had been with Japanese weapons, HAD learned enough of the language to get by and with some work could become thoroughly proficient in it. Unfortunately, because he was talking to Shampoo, he lapsed into Nichieju dialect. "(Shampoo! My love! I'm here to rescue you!)"
"(Who the bloody blue hell said I needed rescuing, moron!)" was Shampoo's purely emotional response to Mousse's attempted gallantry.
"(But I heard there was a challenge!)" protested Mousse.
"(I want to see how strong they are! Does it really sound that outlandish?)" retorted Shampoo.
"(If you two want to have a lover's quarrel,)" growled Melissa, trying to get the chain around her neck looser, "(can you kindly do it WITHOUT me being in the middle of it?)"
"You might want to let her go," said Ranma, a bit bemused that he was being the voice of reason and moderation and diplomacy here. That was hardly his usual role.
Cologne noticed. "You didn't strike me as a diplomat."
"Well, at least he didn't attack Hotaru," said Ranma. "That woulda made it personal."
"Hah!" said Mousse. "I can see much better than that."
Cologne groaned and closed her eyes. "Please. Stop it at that."
"I could see at least that that girl there lacks any feminine curves and is a mere child," said Mousse. "Unlike you, I am not a pedophile."
Ranma lost his smile.
Hotaru looked stricken, smoothing out her qipao and wondering if she could really be mistaken for a child in it.
"(Hey! Chain!)" protested Mao as the chain against her throat went tighter.
Ranma frowned and then blurred.
Cologne leaned forward, watching eagerly. To her daughter or Mousse, much less the non-martial artist in the chains, Ranma would be a blur. Not so to her, his speed was very good though. That wasn't the surprising part. The part that brought an interested gleam to her eyes was the way he pulled out and shaped some odd energy. Not chi, though there was chi manifesting as he did it. Something else though, and it sliced through the chains as if there was no resistance to be found. Then the boy leapt away before the chains could really begin to fall.
Speed, precision, and definitely some power. She'd suspected as much, and was glad enough to see those suspicions confirmed.
There was room for improvement though.
[System Bootup Complete]
[Intruder Alert]
[Scanning]
[Time Elapsed Since Last Activation: 24,321 standard years]
[Cancel Intruder Alert. Cancel Anti-Intruder Protocols.]
[Interrogative: What the hell?]
[Standard Protocol: None. This situation was not foreseen by event planners.]
[Repairs being enacted by intruders. Probable motivation: salvage.]
[Analyzing Intruders.]
[Intruders are upright bipeds with grasping forelimbs. Mammal derivative probable.]
[Most logical course of action: Observe intruders and determine future plans.]
"Or you could just ASK us, since we have a database on your language."
[Biped at main computer console has a small device which translates 'unknown species' language to that of Builders. Exclamation: Oh dear. There goes the plan for remaining unknown and in the background.]
"Just for the records. We're human, and I am Soichiro Tomoe."
[Species name now recorded as 'human' type. Intention?]
"We're rebuilding your ship. Unless you have a particular objection, we're naming you the 'Soyokaze' and you're going to be one of the ships guarding a planet called Earth from alien parasites."
[Query: I get repaired and maintained for this service?]
"Yes, that IS the idea."
[Statement: Acceptable. Duty falls within set purpose.]
"Nice to see further evidence that alien war machines can be reasonable."
[Additional query.]
"Go ahead."
[Do you have any idea why this unit was deactivated?]
"Yes. I have files on everything we've found at this point."
[That would be appreciated.]
In her time, Cologne had seen many things and knew plenty of secrets. It came with the territory of her position and experience. But in watching that youngster take action, she knew that this was something to take rather seriously.
Unfortunately for him, Mousse didn't know enough to know that he was severely outclassed. "Trying to show off, are you? Well, you can't scare me. I am going to protect Shampoo!"
"(Idiot!)" the girl in question snapped. "(Who asked you to step in?)"
"(Didn't have to be asked. It's what I want to do.)"
"(So go do it on your own time, moron!)"
"(I won't delay in your defense.) I shall challenge you to a fight so that you'll take your child bride and leave my beloved alone!"
As she saw the furrow in their male visitor's brow deepen, Cologne knew that the best thing to do would be to let him be. Near as she could tell, he hadn't come with the intent to cause them harm. Of course, even if he had been planning on causing destruction, it wouldn't be all that welcome to antagonize that boy. Why, just in trying to protect the village, they would have been liable to destroy a good chunk of it, if not most.
No, it was better to keep out of the way, which was proven as she saw footprints in the path that a normal warrior would have had to work to create. The pigtailed boy had done them just by taking a step, and hadn't even paid mind to them. When his first strike hit, it sent the nearly blind fool flying so fast backwards that his feet didn't have the time to leave the ground.
However, it did give enough time to let the older female of the outsider group a chance to walk towards her. Other than the fact that she was being held as being appealing by the way that several males stared at the way that she rubbed her sore behind as she walked, she didn't seem all that troubled. Instead, she seemed... annoyed by the whole escapade, and was grumbling under her breath about something.
"I do hope that you are quite alright, child," Cologne murmured as the young woman came near.
"I won't say that it has been fun at all," her visitor commented. "Whole thing is embarrassing."
"Understandable. But I hope that you won't hold it against us."
"Not unless the rest of those guys are as stupid as that one," the other woman replied.
"He's... different, my dear."
"Really? Thought that all guys were addled on some level or another."
"Perhaps," the Amazon Elder allowed, and then sighed. "Unfortunately, this one has been after my great granddaughter for some time now."
"He's hunting her?"
"In a manner of speaking. Mousse wishes to be a... suitor for her."
"What does that... Oh hell. Am I going to have to get Ranma to stop?" Mao asked.
"Hmm? Why?"
"You said that the jerk is trying to date your great granddaughter."
"Yes, but I never said that she would want him. I am more enjoying what your young companion is doing to him," Cologne admitted.
Mao turned to look and saw that Mousse had been knocked into the air, but was not really managing to get back to the surface. Somehow, he was floating there, even though he wasn't exactly trying to do much of anything. However it became clear as to what was going if one could see how Ranma was speeding around him. Still, one could spot the jerking that he had as the pigtailed teenager hit him faster than even gravity could even keep up with.
"Okay then," Mao drawled as she started to look around. "Going to need my radio."
"Something important?" Cologne asked.
"You might say that. I have to set up for a pickup by a transport."
"Then you are leaving."
"Yeah, but trying to get all of us out at once will be a hassle. On the other hand, multiple rides would mean more of a chance of getting spotted," the sergeant major commented.
"It would be easy for the three of you, which means..." Cologne began, and then started to smile. "You want to take us with you."
"It seems for the best. You people had to deal with the Goa'uld, and your homes were kind of... damaged, so we have to do something. Besides, having a Chinese presence with us could do a lot to make the government here feel a little better."
"I only feel it proper to let you know that we aren't exactly the most... involved or connected group to those... officials.
"That's just a bonus," Mao with a smile.
Cologne thought about it for a moment, and seemed to be about to speak. But then she started to return the expression with a grin of her own.
"There's our ride, I take it?" asked Cologne as she looked upward.
"Yeah, it's called a tel'tac," said Mao, glancing to the side. "Is it okay to leave him like that?"
"Oh, he'll be fine," said Cologne dismissively. "As that appears to be a spaceship, and as Mousse has a tendency to throw sharp objects with poor aim - do you really want to try taking him along?"
"Good point," agreed Mao as the ship lowered itself to the ground.
"I thought so," said Cologne agreeably.
"Now this is a group of Jaffa-" began Mao.
"'Jaffa'?" repeated Shampoo, going on guard.
"See, some Jaffa have apparently got this thing where if you demonstrate sufficient strength," said Mao, "they'll swear loyalty to you - especially if their last boss did anything that seems weak or betraying them."
"Ah, we have... some traditions which are similar in some ways," said Cologne, who then gave some very quick Mandarin to Shampoo - who still looked quite dubious about it all.
"She can stay with her boyfriend if she wants," said Mao.
Oddly enough, despite that not being translated, Shampoo was the first through the doors once they opened.
Mousse woke up when a breeze blew his hair back, and opened his eyes despite a distinct feeling of extreme achiness.
He saw the large machine lifting up into the air and then noted the distinct lack of Shampoo.
"How dare you kidnap my Shampoo!" Mousse declared as soon as he concluded the obvious. Well, obvious to him at least. "You won't get away!"
Chains went out, one hook snagging on a section that had taken some damage recently and wasn't smooth.
"HAH!" said Mousse, bracing himself and still a bit rattled from being treated like a hackysack not to mention that he was still not wearing his glasses. Otherwise there was absolutely no way he would have done what he'd just done. "Now I've got !"
Still hanging on, though now for dear life, Mousse fumbled around with his other hand to try and pull his glasses out. As the acceleration continued to increase, he gave off that effort and simply held on with both hands. He realized what he was doing soon enough, and simply let go rather than be dragged along at high speeds. He'd have to track Shampoo by other means that didn't involve extremely high altitudes and speeds.
Which was when he angled for one of those pools of water down there.
Jack O'Neill looked up and focussed on a section of wall near the ceiling.
"Something wrong, sir?" asked Samantha Carter.
"I just got this feeling that I somehow dodged some bullet of some kind," said Jack thoughtfully.
"Well, that's good, I suppose," said Carter less certainly.
Time passed.
Some of the panic died down. The Stargate remained secret, but now there were ways off planet Earth.
There were some, of course, who protested that space should remain inviolate. That alien technology needed to be checked for environmental effects before it could be used. That environmental impact studies should be taken out before space colonization efforts could be put underway.
Then there was everyone else.
Walking down the corridor, Bastet made sure that she did so with a strut that allowed her hips to wriggle quite appealingly. With those watching her as she passed by, she wanted to make certain that she looked good for them. She knew that the body that she wore was of an attractive woman, so she made sure that the breasts were held out to bounce with each step, and that a small and secretive smile on her lips. That was what they would see, and it would keep them from remembering that she really was a parasitic eel that had hijacked control of this body. So, she was certainly going to make sure that they thought of her as she appeared to be, especially considering what she was trying to do.
Not that the men that she was seeing appeared to be all that excellent in the realm of choices. Oh, many of them were handsome enough, and being in the military had given them buff forms. The thing was though that she had to wonder if she was going to get some who bore some sort of special ability. Perhaps they would be a good distraction, but when she got some real men, then they would be able to give the power that she sought.
Until then, she'd have to play the 'willing consort', even to this Colonel Samuels. "Why, hello there, Colonel."
"Hello, Bastet," Samuels replied. "Enjoying our hospitality?"
"I will say that you have been more... welcoming than my fellow System Lords would be."
"Well, that is good. I would like you to meet someone who will be working with me. This is Colonel Jessep."
"Oh, hello Colonel Jessep."
"Hello, miss," the other man responded with a wry tone to his voice. "I look forward to making sure that everything is secure around you."
There was certainly a subtle poke in his words, but Bastet merely let it slide, and put a companionable smile on her lips.
"Can someone tell me why it is that we have to be here?" Jack O'Neill asked as he looked around the Gate Room.
"This is an unusual event, sir," Carter murmured back to him. "The Tok'ra haven't been all that regular with their communications with us."
"And now they rang us up out of the blue."
"Yes, and they've asked for a face to face meeting."
The flash of the activating wormhole illuminated the colonel's face as he spoke. "The question is what made them want to come visit."
"Well, maybe now we'll find out," Daniel suggested.
They all watched as several figures stepped through the wormhole, each in the typical clothing of the Tok'ra. More than one gun was trained on them, but it was clear that they were not going to be fired. Instead, the figures walked down the ramp, and came over to the SG-1 team.
"Good of you guys to come," Jack greeted them. "Wanting to come and have a chat?"
"If it was only that simple. We fear that a Goa'uld is hidden on your world," one of the Tok'ra answered.
"Are you talking about Bastet? We've been keeping an eye on that one."
"No. If we are correct, this one has been on your world for many centuries."
The team glanced over at each other at that statement.
Seth sat in his little compound in the state known as Washington, having recently moved there, and considered things as they were.
He was not stupid. He might be as prideful and confident as any Goa'uld, but he knew that there were devices out there which would pick up on the presence of certain materials in this body that would make it stand out. Automated routines might pick it up in an airport screening device and send it on to organizations who would identify him as a Goa'uld and come after him.
So, no airports. No seaports. In fact, ports of just about any kind were NOT someplace he would visit.
He had minions for that.
When a Goa'uld fleet had attacked the Earth, he'd been among many openly gaping at the sight. Not that he'd been like those who had scoffed at the pictures, rather he'd known exactly what he was looking at and what such ships were capable of.
When the humans had WON, well, that had been such a shock that his host body of that time had nearly had a heart attack.
There were many things about humans he found pathetic. They were often mired in idiocy. He could and did run into competent and intelligent humans, but the larger the number - the more their collective intelligence and competency seemed to fall apart. It was rather like that law about ninja he'd run across once, one human by themselves could be competent while a large group was simply cattle to be slaughtered. That might not be the exact quote but it was something like that at any rate.
Before that event, he'd largely ignored television. Now he carefully went over the schedule and saw what was available before deciding whether or not to ignore it. The humans had developed or attained stardrive, and though they were very limited in numbers - there was a chance he could get OFF this rock at long last.
Oh yes, he was more than ready to return to space. There were bases and hidden caches of equipment hidden away out there. Any Goa'uld started their life snapping up resources and no matter how confident they were in their power - there would be a hole to bolt to - just for peace of mind if nothing else.
Seth himself had seven, though after the thousands of years of exile on this dirtball - he wasn't sure how many remained unfound and unplundered.
Still, that brought him back to the new security measures - which would pick up on him if he did too much. No, he pretty much had to rely on minions. Which meant that he had to move really darn cautiously and have minions that could operate at a distance from him. Which meant he couldn't use any of the sex slaves he'd been using for a long period of time.
There was also the danger of even trying. The closer he got to such facilities, the more danger of his being discovered. Here in this backwater he was anonymous, just another little wealthy recluse. Closer, and he'd be scrutinized all the more often.
Finally he saw a commercial for those recruiting for the local military and began working out a plan.
Samantha Carter smiled as she led her father down the corridor, almost clearing a path for him as they went. There was a bounce in her step, and she kept on looking over at him. A few times, she almost even bumped into airmen and marines who were going about their regular business. But she didn't show any embarrassment as they continued on their way.
It took a knowing look from her father before she flushed just a bit.
"You know, it's great to see you again, Dad," she murmured as they rounded a corner.
"Well, it's the same for me, Sam," Jacob Carter drawled. "Being on assignment would have been bad enough, but this..."
"No one said being with the Tok'ra would be easy."
"True, but it isn't the worst thing in the world."
"I suppose..." she allowed.
"I sense a 'but' in there."
"Well, I wasn't exactly... bonded for that long, so I don't know as much about it as you would. So, making a judgement call on so little experience would be... silly."
Her father gave a small nod. "Kind of makes me wish that some of politicians I had to deal with in my day had your sort of wisdom."
"Trust me. They haven't changed."
"One of the constants in the universe."
"That sounds like Jack, Dad," Sam shot back.
"I knew that there was a reason that I liked him."
She rolled her eyes. "Wonderful. A 'boys club'."
"Hey, you are a member too," Jacob commented, gently poking her in the side. "Can't have too many recruits."
"Yes, but it can be hard. Take how it is in finding people for the Tok'ra."
"Oh?"
"It isn't that we aren't trying. The problem is finding people able to cope with sharing their bodies, but who are stable enough to not make life troublesome for us both."
"Trust me. The Tok'ra would prefer to keep the crazies out of their ranks too."
"Understandable. But why are you here, Dad?"
"Excuse me?" he grunted, his eyes widening just a bit.
"Well, you seem to be doing well, and this sort of wild goose chase isn't your kind of mission. What, did you come all the way back just to visit me?"
"That's it exactly. I came to see you."
"Really?" his daughter muttered, giving him a level look.
"Why not? Can't I just decide to come and visit my daughter?"
"When you could have just stopped by on your own and not had to volunteer for the mission?"
Jacob looked like he was going to say something, but then he stopped. His head hung for a moment, and as it raised, his eyes flashed with a familiar inborn light. And when he spoke, it was in a different tone all together. "It was I who requested this assignment."
"Selmak."
"Yes. I must apologize, Captain Carter, for this... intrusion into your life. But unfortunately, there are issues that your father are allowing to fester, and they are getting in the way of things."
"Which would be..."
"He is still troubled by that which has been left unresolved with his son."
There was a shiver and a blink from Jacob before he began to scowl. "I don't have any problem at all. I don't even have a son."
"Come on, Dad," Sam protested. "Isn't that a little harsh?"
"He didn't even show up at my deathbed, so you can understand why I'm not going to waste a moment on him. Has he even contacted you?"
"Not really. I think that he tars us with the same brush."
"Exactly," he bit out.
"Still, if you want, I think that I have his number. Shouldn't be too hard to let him know what's been going on."
"Be nice if he asked."
"He could take it better now that it's all out there now. I mean, it'll be hard to dismiss the truth when we just saved the planet from an invasion."
Crossing his arms and snorting said what Jacob Carter thought the likelihood of that would be.
Airman Lisle had only glanced at the monitor feed from the cameras before she nearly dropped the coffee mug that she had been about to drink from. A loud groan escaped from her lips as she stared at the image, almost willing it to go away. However, it clearly stayed there, and she got to wondering why the kooks could never manage to actually show some skill in what they would try to do.
"Maybe they wouldn't be nut jobs if they knew what they were doing," she muttered.
"Something the matter, Airman?" asked Staff Sergeant Dixon as he leaned in towards her desk.
"Technically, yes, sir," she admitted as she waved a hand at her monitor. "We've got someone trying for a clearly unauthorized entry onto the facilities, but..."
"He's clearly a moron."
"Pretty much. I mean, I know that we're working more with the other nations, but they don't just stroll onto bases like they've been passing by."
"More than that," the sergeant put in.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"My grandfather was a pilot in China during the Depression. His stories made me want to join the Air Force. Now, I might not be flying, but I do know my history."
"And..." she began.
"That's an old Kuomintang uniform. Taiwan hasn't used those things for ages. Hell, the only reason that I even know what they look like so easily is that I can remember them from the old man's pictures of the 'Flying Tigers'."
"So, we're talking..."
"At least as old as World War II."
Lisle snorted at the though and idly considered passing it off to someone else.
For his part, Mousse trundled on, certain that the fact that the uniform that he was wearing was from an allied army would at least get him through the gates.