Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 151

Chapter 151 - Truth or Lies

Unfortunately they had not ended up stopping somewhere so Teal’c could pick up an apology gift, something Eventus was somewhat disappointed about given his desire to see just how the Jaffa as a people handled the day to day complexities of normal life.

So they had made their way to the high council chambers, at which point he had been shuffled off to one of the room’s small adjacent antechambers to wait for the high council itself to actually gather.

Being asked to wait wasn't entirely unexpected, all things considered, and it gave him some time to check over things in the local area with his interface.

He wasn’t entirely surprised to find that his interface couldn’t remotely connect to any of the nearby facilities systems. It had been a high security location after all. What was surprising however was that his interface’s scanners couldn’t even detect the smallest hint that there was a nearby facility.

The records he'd dug up listed the location as having a class seven masking system. Which, while a respectable rating for a pre-plague facility, should have been the modern equivalent of a class three. And a class three masking field shouldn't have been capable of hiding everything from the sensors in his interface.

Most likely that meant that someone had come along after the last official documentation and made a number of improvements. Though the question of whether it had been one of those left behind to finish up with things after the plague, or one of those who had later returned from Pegasus, was unlikely to be answered until he could get inside the facility and check its general logs.

With nothing else locationally relevant to do, he pulled up the file of Atlantis’s accumulated damage reports and continued down it from where he’d last left off.

Nearly an hour passed before a stiff looking Jaffa holding a Ma’tok staff strode into the antechamber. “The council is ready to address you.”

“All right.” Eventus nodded, closing up the repair schedule before rising to his feat. “Guess it’s time for politics.”

As such things went, the Jaffa’s choice for their high council’s chamber wasn’t particularly impressive. A somewhat ovalish room with stone walls, a single decorative window, and twin crescent shaped tables surrounded a raised stone platform lit mainly by more of the omnipresent flickering braziers that the Jaffa seemed to prefer as light sources.

The twelve members of the council were already seated when Eventus entered, six at each of the tables, and all watched him walk in with obviously schooled features. As unfortunate as it was, most of the faces were completely unrecognizable to him, with the only exceptions being Teal’c, Bra’tac, and Ishta.

And even the last was only because she was pretty much a dead ringer for Jolene Blalock if she had long bright blonde hair, an extra thirty pounds of muscle, and a naturally large chest.

“Thank you for agreeing to see us.” An older balding Jaffa offered as Eventus stopped before the ends of the twin tables.

“With an issue this important there was little else I could do.” Eventus acknowledged with a slight smile.

“The level of importance has yet to be decided.” A dark skinned jaffa with a golden sigil on his forehead insisted as he rose to his feet and stared Eventus in the eye.

“I am Gerak, leader of the Jaffa high council.”

“Eventus Iuxta Devera.” He returned. “Leader of the Lantean people. Those who you more colloquially know as the Ancients.”

Looks were exchanged between several of the high council members as Gerak scowled. “So you do claim to be one of the Ancients. You will have to forgive us for wanting at least some proof to back up that extraordinary claim?”

Eventus blinked, and then blinked again as he tried to figure out just what the man might actually be asking for with his demand. “Proof?”

“That you are what you claim.” Gerak repeated in annoyance. “And not yet another pretender hoping to take advantage of our newly won freedoms.”

Given the Jaffa’s recent circumstances Eventus couldn’t really hold that level of caution against the man, though his confrontational attitude suggested he wasn’t approaching the situation from an entirely innocent position.

“I suppose I can’t really argue with that.”

“Perhaps you could save us the time and directly state what proof would satisfy, Gerak.” Bra'tac put forward in a challenging tone.

“Have him show us a miracle that only an Ancient can perform.” Gerak returned instantly, obviously having expected something in that vein from someone at the table.

Eventus considered that for a moment before shaking his head in faux defeat. “There isn't one.”

Smirking, Gerak opened his mouth to speak when Eventus continued. “Everything my people can do could potentially be done by others with sufficient study and understanding. So you might as well ask me to make my eyes glow and talk with a reverberating voice of that is your criteria for me being an Ancient.”

Garek's scowl returned for several seconds before the man seemed to come to a decision and made a grandiose motion with one of his arms towards Eventus. “Then what would you suggest?”

“Well.” Eventus started, glancing over the other high councilors for a moment to see each seeming to be content to let the confrontation play out.

“I suppose I could address you in my native tongue.” He began in Lantean before switching back to English. “Though a language is just a language, and anyone sufficiently dedicated could potentially learn it.”

Pulling his interface off his belt, he accessed his personal archive and brought up a specific video before handing the entire device over to Ishta who gingerly held the device with a confused look. “I could provide you with a video of my four hundredth birthday party on Atlantis.”

Those words seemed to clear up the woman's confusion, and she watched the video for several seconds before passing the device down to the councilor next to her, the process repeating several times before Eventus continued speaking.

“But for all you know that could be an Earth movie set.”

“Like Star Wars.” Teal'c added, and all but two of the councilors gave nods of understanding.

“I could even regale you with a historical recounting of my contributions in the war against the Wraith during the time of our capital city’s submersion. But as entertaining as that would likely be for some here, you have absolutely no way to actually verify the truth of my words.”

“Enough.” Gerak snapped, motioning to one of the Jaffa flanking the doorway opposite of the side of the room Eventus had entered from who gave a small nod of acknowledgement in return before stepping out. “If all you wish to talk about is fakery it is better we move on entirely.”

Eventus gave a shrug of acquiesce, accepting back his interface from the dark skinned council member across from Ishta before clipping it back onto his belt. “Then I suppose we should begin discussing the Ori.”

“Yes.” Gerak agreed, letting the silence after word linger for several seconds before the sound of footsteps on stone announced the return of the guard who had exited the room less than a minute ago.

“And behold!” A male voice intoned as the instantly recognizable form of a prior followed the Jaffa into the council chamber. “In a far off land did the last of the demons of eld appear before the servants of light.”

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Author's Notes: Gerak doesn't really know who to trust, so in his mind what better way to find out then by having both sides directly confront each other? What could wrong!?