Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 162

Chapter 162 - Back on the Road

To Eventus's general lack of surprise, Anise hadn't returned in time to catch the early morning intergalactic wormhole back to Pegasus. Thankfully Thor hadn’t minded an extra passenger, just asking that the Lantean make sure the three stay in the small area of the Samatha Carter that the Asgard was setting aside for their temporary habitation.

The Tok’ra had come through the gate with a pair of duffle like bags slung over her shoulders and a three foot long crate of equipment that scans suggested was some sort of portable workstation. All perfectly within the limits of what Eventus had set for her bringing since the only thing he’d outright forbidden was subspace based communication equipment and nothing in his scans suggested anything on her even approaching that sort of capability.

So after saying his final goodbyes to people at the SGC, he’d led the Tok’ra woman to the gateship where Rayla and Yami had spent the past few hours in wait.

“Who is she?” Yami demanded in suspicion as she noticed baggage loaded Tok'ra following behind him.

“Anise and Freya,” Eventus began, giving it a moment to see if the names registered with the Goa'uld before continuing. “Of the Tok'ra.”

“The Tok'ra!” Yami hissed, taking a half-step back as she turned an accusatory look on Eventus. “You plan to turn me over to them!?”

“He refused to do that, actually.” Anise calmly interjected.

“She's here because the Tok'ra agreed to take on the role of your social guarantor.” Eventus explained with a smile. “Which basically means she's going to be watching over you during the judgement and sentencing.”

Yami didn't relax, continuing to eye them both with obvious suspicion. “And I assume I can not refuse this?”

“Legally speaking, you could.” Eventus admitted, seeing no reason not to play the issue completely above board. “But going along with it would add points in your favor, which can often be the functional difference between which rehabilitation assignment is decided on during your judgement.”

“A tempting thought if it was any but a Tok'ra.” Yami all but spat. “But she is sure to sabotage me at all turns.”

“Then she would share in your judgement.” Eventus said, more than a little amused that Yami had thought they had never run into that particular problem before.

“What!?” Anise exclaimed. 

Eventus glanced over his shoulder at the shocked looking Tok'ra. “A social guarantor is a position of utmost responsibility. So of course there are consequences if it's found that you abused your authority.”

“Heh.” A sharp laugh escaped Yami's lips, amd Eventus turned back to see the Goa'uld's shoulders shaking in barely restrained mirth. 

“Would it be possible to get an explanation of exactly what will be expected of us?” Freya inquired in her normal voice.

“Of course.” Eventus said. “It will have to wait till we get back to Atlantis though, as I don't have a copy of the guide on me.”

It was only a little over two hundred pages so it wouldn't take her more than a day or two to get through. “Though that reminds me, can either of you read my people's language?”

“We can.” Freya confirmed.

“Though only the simplified form.” Anise added in.

That made Eventus grimace in remembered pain. “Don’t worry, we mostly stopped using the three dimensional version when we moved to Pegasus."

“Mostly?” Anise repeated.

“Every civilization has people who do things in annoying ways just because they can.” Eventus admitted dryly.

Stepping into the gate ship and past Yami, he opened the cockpit door before rolling his eyes at the dramatic standoff that he could still hear occurring behind him.

“I do understand that the System Lords and Tok’ra have a violent history with each other. But I want you both to know that I’m not going to tolerate a continuation of that history on Atlantis. The fights over, the System Lord’s lost, and the Goa’uld that remain at least deserve the chance to try and move beyond them.”

“If that is what the surviving Goa’uld wish, they are welcome to join the Tok’ra.” Anise said curtly.

“And if they disagree with the Tok’ra’s way of doing things?” Eventus asked in a much more serious tone than he’d been using till now. “My people are OLD Anise. We’ve seen free democracies that have become corrupt hellholes and strict dictatorships that are bastions of fairness. The Goa’uld’s desire to rule over humans isn’t any more wrong than the Tok’ra’s desire not to. It only becomes wrong when they become monsters who think themselves gods while doing it like the System Lords.”

Leaving the pair with those words he headed into the forward cabin, giving a nod to already seated Rayla before stowing his suitcase away in the storage cubby on top of the ZPM cases.

“Ready to meet Thor?” He asked the Elf as he settled into the pilot's seat.

Rayla looked up from the interface she was playing on and cocked her head slightly as she considered the question. “I suppose? I kind of want to ask him about all the Earth legends about his people. But Daniel already did that and said the only answer he was able to get was that Thor doesn’t like to talk about them.”

“That probably means that it was someone’s idea of a joke.” Eventus offered as he quickly ran the ship through its customary preflight diagnostic. “Probably Loki given the way he was hovering around Earth for so long.”

The diagnostic sent a mental ping as it finished, and as expected all systems came up green. So he glanced over his shoulder to confirm Anise had made her way into the ship before raising the ramp and activating the communications system.

“Jumper One to Stargate Command, we’re ready to head out.”

“All right Jumper One.” Walter’s voice echoed back. “We’re opening the blast doors now.”

A mild vibration ran through the ship as the heavy silo doors above them began to slide open, several seconds passed before the man’s voice returned. “You’re clear to ascend.” 

Nodding to himself, Eventus engaged the cloak before sending the mental command to the gateships autopilot to take them up on the pre-programed course to the orbiting Asgard vessel. It took them nearly ten minutes to reach the rendezvous point, and coming into visual range of the ship he couldn’t help but be a small bit envious at the sleek lines of the Samatha Carter.

Size wise it was nearly as long as the Explorer class vessels his own people had favored. Unlike those however, most of the hull seemed to be dedicated to power generation for the twelve emitter arrays lining the forward saucer. 

The gateship slowed its approach, passing under the silver hull of the vessel as it headed towards the hidden docking bays on the vessel's neck. An almost liquid ripple appeared on the portion of the hull they were heading towards before a circular structure exactly twice the size of their gateship flowed open to show the inside of a landing bay.

“Now we just have to pick up Janus and we can head out.” He muttered under his breath.

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Author’s Notes: I figured I might as well use that particular ship design for the Samatha Carter since it was basically an unused concept design from the show itself.