STARGATE 7

Five horizontal rings dropped from the ceiling one at a time to hover a set distance from each other. With a flash of light the figure of a man appeared in the middle of the rings. A moment later the rings raised back up into the ceiling where they were stored when the teleportation device was not in use.

The figure looked over the scene of the Jaffa that were bowing down before him. He caused his eyes to flash, to signify to his servants that he was their god. He then looked over to the Jaffa that had a gold tattoo of his symbol on his forehead.

"Report." Apophis, System Lord of the Goa'uld, barked at his first prime.

"My Lord! The Death Gliders and Al'kesh are fully armed and loaded in yours and Lord Klorel's Ha'taks. The Jaffa troops are all on board and ready for the invasion. Lord Klorel has reported he is ready to depart. We await your orders, My Lord." Apophis' First Prime remained in his bowed position, waiting for orders.

A cruel smirk appeared on Lord Apophis' face at the thought of how he would soon have the Tauri kneeling and groveling at his feet, especially that traitor of a former First Prime. They dared rebel against their gods! It wouldn't even take much effort. He had seen what level of technology they had, and they were ripe for the plucking.

Apophis then began the trek from the transport room to the Pel'tak of his own Ha'tak to oversee giving orders to his slaves. As he was moving along the corridors, he was pleased to see all the Jaffa they passed immediately pause what they were doing and bowed to their god, as was proper.

He arrived at the Pel'tak, and paused for a moment to savor the feeling of imminent victory. Apophis turned to give the order to depart, when he was surprised by a flash of light directly in front of him. Scowling at the object that appeared with the teleportation flash, his eyes widened in shock at the sight of the gas being released from the device.

Apophis spun about, holding his breath and trying to run to the nearest teleport point, but the fast spreading gas seeped into his bloodstream through his mucus membranes and he soon blacked out, collapsing to the floor. All of the Jaffa that were on the bridge with Apophis also passed out almost as soon as the gas hit them.

What Apophis had no way of knowing, was that the scene repeated itself throughout the two Ha'taks that were in orbit over the planet. Soon enough all the Jaffa, Goa'uld, and Tok'ra that were on the two Ha'taks were knocked out by the fast acting gas.

Flashes of teleportation light brought several figures to the Pel'taks, or bridge, of the Ha'taks. The one in the lead looked around at the scene in front of him and laughed, nudging the unconscious body of Apophis.

"Couldn't happen to a more deserving snake." Jack O'Neill commented while looking down at the body that lay at his feet. "This was almost too easy."

A larger figure had immediately moved to the controls of the Ha'tak upon arriving. "Indeed." Teal'c worked on the controls and soon had the Ha'tak in lockdown mode. "Nobody will be setting off the self destruct now, Jack O'Neill. We should get started confining all the prisoners."

"I hear ya, buddy." He turned to the rest of the Jaffa who came along on the op. "Let's get started."

There were quite a few Jaffa that they had recruited to join their ranks that hadn't been through the basic training that Jack and Teal'c had. They were part of the numbers making up the force for this operation. Even with as quick as Jack and Teal'c were now, after Carl's training hell, they wouldn't be able to strip and detain every Jaffa on board the two invasion Ha'taks in a reasonable time without damaging the prisoners.

At the moment, Dan and Suan were on the other Ha'tak guiding their own forces in taking over that Ha'tak, while the rest of Carl's forces were securing the planet surface.

The two forces on Apophis' and Klorel's Ha'tak began clearing the Ha'taks, cuffing and teleporting the Jaffa to the hastily organized mass brigs on their own ships. Meanwhile any Goa'uld or Tok'ra they ran across were put separately in their own confinement. The Goa'uld were too dangerous to house with the Jaffa, and they didn't want the Tokra to commit suicide when they learned they were prisoners in order to keep from being interrogated. It was better to use them as messengers to propose alliances with the Tok'ra.

While those teams of Carl's disciples were gathering the invasion forces, the cloned Daniel Jackson was teleporting down to the planet below from his own ship. In a flash of light, he appeared in front of the Goa'uld known as Amaunet, who was possessing his wife Sha're. Without letting the Goa'uld talk, he stunned her. Picking her up gently, he had his ship teleport him to the medical station on his own ship.

It was time to get rid of that damned Goa'uld and reunite with his wife.

XX

The afternoon after Senator Kinsey's flight arrived in Washington D.C., his security detail drove him to a particular high class hotel. He stepped out of his car and strode straight for the elevators, already knowing what conference room he was heading for.

Upon stepping into the conference room, leaving his security at the door, he smiled at the group of high level business men that were gathered around the table.

"It was a success. The program is shut down for now. After my meeting with the President and the Senate Appropriations Committee tomorrow, we will own the Stargate." Kinsey announced with a triumphant grin on his face, soon matched by the group of men of the Committtee.

But inside his mind, Kinsey was screaming bloody murder. He was unable to go against the orders of his new "Lord". Ever since that bloody man had stepped up alongside him at the airport, he had found himself unable to do anything other than follow the man's orders, a passenger in his own body.

He couldn't scream for help. He couldn't order his security detail to shoot the intruder. He was helpless in his own mind, watching as his body followed the orders he was given, as he set the foundation to destroy all of his and the Committee's work.

Kinsey watched helplessly as his body continued talking with the Committee members, telling them everything they wanted to hear. A red light shone brightly, encompassing everyone in the room, and Kinsey fell into darkness, no longer aware of what was happening.

XX

Carl looked down at the gaggle of unconscious businessmen with a grim smile. "Well, it is your unlucky day, gentlemen. Unfortunately for you, I'm taking a page out of my dear wife's playbook. In order to do the best I can for my own people. I'm afraid I'll have to go ahead and do something repugnant to me. I'm afraid the rest of your lives will be spent toiling for the sake of my organization."

The various bodies that he had stunned were levitated over to one corner of the room, where they were laid gently face down. With a quick switching spell, their jackets and shirts were swapped with air and left laid off to the side.

Carl pulled out the materials he would need to inscribe the needed arrays on the bare backs of each of them.

"While slavery is such a nasty thing, you people have already earned a death penalty by the laws of your own country for your various despicable deeds over the years." Carl conversationally spoke to the unconscious men, unconcerned that they wouldn't learn any lesson from what he was saying.

"And while I could go the route of informing the leaders of your country about your crimes and working within the system, that would just give you plenty of chances to bribe and coerce people to ignore your many wrongdoings. I find myself inclined to instead make use of your talents, connections, and resources to further my plans."

After arranging the special inks and herbs, Carl began inscribing the slave seals on the first person in line. He had already put the seals on Kinsey while they were on the plane. Carl focused on making sure the seals were perfect.

"Well, at least this way your families will not suffer too much from your evil deeds, like what would have happened if I chose a different route." Carl continued talking to himself after he finished with the first man. "I mean, imagine how much your family would suffer if you were dragged through court. They would be infamous in their social circles for something you did; shunned by their social peers. Maybe even become the targets of vindictive payback from those you wronged."

Carl began inking in the seals on the next man's back. Slavery as an institution was still just as repugnant to Carl. The idea of generations of human beings born in slavery, suffering injustice and horrendous conditions still filled him with righteous anger. It was a huge reason why he was building his empire, so it could overthrow the Goa'uld who were the biggest slave owners in the galaxy.

But these men were criminals. They had destroyed many lives in order to get rich. Carl was under no illusion that all people that became rich were corrupt. But these men had no bottom line. Destroying an opponent's business and life? Killing in order to hide secrets? Bribery, blackmail, treason? All done in order to fight and bite and claw their way to where they were.

So Carl didn't feel especially bad about using such extreme methods as slavery seals on individuals that earned their fate.

Carl finished the second man's seals and moved on to the next.

"And it's not like I can simply chastise you and expect you to learn your lesson. Or kill you and expect the next man to step into your place to magically have better morals than you." Carl conversationally said to the unconscious men. "So I made a hard decision. I'll use despicable means to make use of despicable men."

Carl finished the third man's back and began on the fourth.

"Am I right in how I interpret a leader's burden and responsibility?" Carl mused to himself. "As a leader, I understand I have to make hard choices. And that the responsibility falls on my shoulders. But is this decision, to enslave six corrupt men in order to do what I believe to be necessary, a correct decision? Will it come back to haunt me later? Will I regret it later?"

Carl finished with the fourth man's slavery seal and began on the fifth.

"I really don't know the answer. I fear and suspect that I'm taking the easy route to hell. That I'm sliding down that slippery slope." Carl confessed to a room of people who couldn't hear him. He didn't worry about anyone outside of the room entering, with the spells he'd set up to keep from being interrupted.

Carl finished up putting the slavery seal on the last man of the Committee.

"Will doing this one despicable act save many people down the line? Most assuredly it will. But could I achieve the same thing using less morally grey, or morally black, methods?" Carl sighed. "I don't really know. I mean, I watched how Caiyi handled it. And it seemed to work for her. It kept her Empire stable while she was able to train up replacements for the traitors."

"And there is a certain amount of poetic justice that such corrupt business men and a politician would, for once, be forced to work for the good of the people that you have so betrayed. Especially you, Kinsey. You were elected to safeguard the rights and lives of the American people. And so far all you've done is work to enrich yourself at your constituency's expense. Talk about a betrayal. So now you'll be forced to carry out the duties you were elected for. The duties you voluntarily assumed and never fulfilled."

Carl looked over the five men of the Committee lying unconscious. With a few applications of profound energy, he activated the slave seals on them. The seals glowed for a few seconds before seeping into their skins. Their bare backs were once more ink free.

With a few applications of will, their clothes were once more on their backs.

"Well, before you wake up, I just wanted to say that while I can't exactly regret what I'm doing to evil men like you. I do regret the manner in which I'm doing it. I know that would mean less than nothing to you, if you were to hear me say it. Which is one reason I'm being so verbose while you all are unconscious." Carl brushed his hands together, as if to indicate a job being complete. "Well, we've got some planning to do. I imagine I'll be busy for a while, making sure that you put some choke collars on the people in your corrupt organization, to make sure they don't go overboard."

Carl levitated the men back to their seats and took a seat himself, facing the six men arrayed in front of him.

"It's just a good thing I didn't wait a few more years for you to buildup your rat's warren even more. Who knows what you would have gotten up to with more advanced technology to play with?" Carl mused before he snapped and the men in front of him woke up.

On awakening, the six men got out of their chairs and took one knee in front of Carl. "What is thy bidding, my Master." The six men called out to Carl.

Carl smirked on the inside at Darth Vader's line that he programmed them to say. If he was going to be doing this slave thing, at least he could lighten his mood while doing it.

"Rise and sit down. We've got a lot of things to accomplish in the next week." Carl regally stated from his seat.

XX

Senator Kinsey was sitting at ease in a chair of the White House as he waited for his appointment with the President. His single aide was nervously shifting about, unused to being the target of the stares of so many trained military personnel.

"Senator Kinsey, the President will see you now." The business suited staff member announced from the doorway after Kinsey had waited for more than 20 minutes.

Kinsey rose smoothly to his feet, while glancing at his nervous aide. He sniffed at the man's lack of a backbone, before the two men followed the staff member through the corridors into a study.

"Senator Kinsey, so good of you to come by personally to brief me on this matter." The president greeted Kinsey with a personable grin, reaching out to shake his hand.

"It was good of you to make the time, Mr. President." Kinsey greeted back with barest hint of a smile.

"Well, come in, sit down. Would you care for anything to drink?"

"No thank you." Kinsey declined while sitting in the indicated seat while his aide stood behind him.

A few of the President's close advisors were sitting to the side, there to give the President their take on the information Kinsey would be presenting him. Kinsey gestured for his aide to hand out the information packet they had prepared.

The President took his packet, but put it to the side for the time being. "I'll go over your report in more detail later. Why don't you give me the broad strokes now, Senator Kinsey?"

Kinsey spent a moment to look the President in the eyes, judging the man's stance before he began. Kinsey had his orders from his master, but that didn't stop him from adjusting his presentation to best effect. And didn't that just make Kinsey rage inside his mind. He had to do the best he could to effect the changes that he would never have agreed to on his own.

"The broad strokes of the matter, Mr. President, is that the Stargate program as it is being currently run is unsustainable. The energy cost alone is eating up the budget at a rate that is ruinous. The costs of running the program is almost impossible to hide from the public. It just plain costs too much to pay for it from taxpayer dollars and keep it hidden."

"The idea and promise when the program was started was that we would find alien tech out there to bring back home. That with the patents that would come from it, the program would pay for itself. After over eight months of running, we have nothing to show for it, except for making some enemies."

"Thirteen personnel have died, another 24 have been injured so badly they are no longer on active duty. We've met at least three groups of people that are more advanced than us. One is so pacifistic that they don't get involved. One is so arrogant they won't help any "lesser" peoples. And the third would like nothing more than to kill or enslave us if we really gain their attention."

"We now know there are a lot of these Goa'uld out there, and if we continue to poke them without care, we will just be bringing more and more attention to ourselves. They will eventually get the idea that they should do something about us."

"So the proposal is a three step approach to getting the Earth ready for stepping out into the galaxy."

"The first step is preparation. We need to stop explorations for the time being. Blindly jumping out into the unknown is bound to bring us more danger than we can handle. At least until we've prepared properly."

"The next step is bound to be controversial, but getting at least some of our international allies in on the project is an important next step." The President looked like he was about to object, so Kinsey expounded on the idea. "As it is, we're poking a hornet's nest by going out there in the greater galaxy. It's unjust and disloyal to our allies to be poking a hornets nest and bringing them back home for everyone to have to deal with while keeping them in the dark. Also, what would be other nation's response if we came to them in five years and told them we need their help to work together to fight an enemy that we've made for the whole planet. Something we've done under their noses all this time."

The President actually gulped at the amount of political concessions he would have to make in order to get the other nations to work with them. It would be ruinous to his pocket and his political capital.

"But if we inform our allies, that information is bound to get out to the whole world soon, and that would just hasten the situation you're talking about." The President objected.

Kinsey shrugged. "It's only a matter of time before that situation happens. Would you rather do it now, when we're working from a position of strength? Or do it later when we're behind the eight ball and are facing a crisis that could see our entire nation wiped out? Which would give us better negotiating power?"

Kinsey could see that the President got his well made point, even if he didn't like the idea. Kinsey continued his urgings.

"If we work to bring our allies in early, we're in a better negotiating position. And the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of resources, both materials and brain trust wise, that we don't have access to because we're working in secret right now. Even the logistics of supplying the base cost three times what they should because we have to cloak everything in under the radar spy B.S."

"And some of the most brilliant scientists are members of other nations," Kinsey continued passionately, which pissed him off inside to hear himself sound so naïve and trusting in the human spirit, "and so we can't bring them in to work on getting our technology up to snuff because of the secrecy requirements. With everyone working together, a lot more can be accomplished than if we go it alone."

Kinsey paused for a bit to see if the President was buying the manure he was shoveling. To his utter disgust, the man seemed to be on board with it. Kinsey couldn't do anything but rage as he pedaled a syrupy sweet ideal that would lose him not just the possible money from the future technology, but also the power and supremacy that could be gained by solely controlling the Stargate.

"Along with the second step, we need to build a truly secure facility for the Stargate Program. The repurposed facility that we have now just doesn't cut it. What about vehicles specifically for gate travel? How far can our people really explore on these worlds if they are on foot? What about backup for our small teams if they get in any kind of a jam?"

The damned deluded President was nodding along cheerfully to Kinsey's spiel. Kinsey was hating every moment.

"What about instances of aliens invading us through our gate? The facility right now has a really poor method of defending against such a thing. It would be too easy for an enemy to establish a foothold on Earth, with our own facility providing them defensive structures. All that needs to be reworked."

"And the final step, once we are fully prepared here on Earth, is to finally move out slowly and make allies. To explore strange new worlds and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before."

"I never would have thought you to be a fan of Star Trek, there, Senator." The President laughed in amusement while Kinsey was thinking 'What the hell is Star Trek?'

Now that he was finished with his spiel, Kinsey sat quietly for several minutes as the President thought about what he'd said. The President then asked some questions, getting clarification on several matters in relation to the Stargate Program.

After a good 45 minutes, the meeting ended, and Kinsey made his way out. Inside his mind, he was snorting in disgust at the idea of sharing the information, responsibility, and most importantly profit with any other nation. He privately thought there was no way the President or any of his people should go for the proposal. But he'd been shackled and had no say in the matter.

But what Kinsey didn't know about was the subtle compulsion spells on the documents that he'd passed to the President and his people that gently persuaded the President to accept the proposal as the best plan for the future.

Carl sat back in his chair. He had been monitoring the meeting between the President and Kinsey. He was well pleased with the way the meeting had gone.

Carl had decided that if he was going to stop babysitting the SGC and focus on his Empire, he would feel much better if the people of Earth just stayed home and didn't get into trouble by blindly going through the Stargate. Keeping them in negotiations with other nations for the next few years while Carl got to work should work out just fine. Otherwise, Carl knew that the SG-1 team, at the very least, would initiate all kinds of chaotic shenanigans that Carl would have to clean up. And he didn't have time for that.

If all else failed and they continued to try to explore, he could just steal their Stargate to keep them from bumbling about the galaxy and making his operations more difficult. It wasn't like they had FTL ships to get away from the home planet just yet.

XX

Jack O'Neill was pacing the confines of the room he was restricted to while awaiting his court martial. The fact that he wasn't in the brig while waiting didn't really make him feel any better.

It had been his screw up that got them in the mess. Sure, he let Daniel talk him into going against orders and trying to go through the Stargate to prevent the invasion, but he was all for it too. He had just been considering the odds while Daniel was laying out his case, which made it look like he had been convinced by Daniels arguments.

Jack had believed the fantastic story Daniel brought back about an invasion by Apophis, no matter how much he had vocally scoffed. He'd seen the same shell shocked look in some of his soldiers after their first time participating in an op that had gone so wrong they were surprised to be alive. Jack knew that for Daniel to gain that look meant that he'd seen something completely horrifying on the other side of the mirror.

If only Daniel had brought something back to show evidence to the brass. Some video footage of the invasion, something!

But Jack knew that with so little evidence and with Kinsey in charge of things, they would be in serious trouble if they decided to go through the gate. But he'd hoped they would be coming back with some solid intel on the invasion that would help protect them from the results of massively going against orders. Something that would get the brass to back them up and protect them from the consequences of their actions.

But they hadn't even gotten to go through the gate, so all the evidence they had was them breaking orders and attempting to go AWOL. Now his team was in trouble and it was all his fault.

So Jack continued pacing angrily, wishing that he had some way to change the fate of his team.

A few moments later, he heard the sounds of boots striding down the hallway towards his cell. Jack stopped his pacing and stood facing the door, stoically waiting for whatever was coming his way.

"Step away from the door, Colonel O'Neill." Came the stern voice from outside the door.

"Okay. I'm away." Jack answered, matching actions to words.

The door opened and a military lawyer type looked in and saw that Jack was standing away from the door. He nodded to the guard and entered the room, the door shutting firmly behind him.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill. It's good to meet you." He held a hand out to shake Jack's hand, and Jack shook it, waiting to see what the man wanted. "I am Major John Smith." John smiled a little at Jack's snort of amusement at the man's name. "Yes, I get that a lot. I don't know what my parents were thinking naming me that most clichéd of ordinary names."

Major Smith gestured to the seats at the small table, and both he and Jack sat down.

"So what brought you by, Major, to see little old me?" Jack asked in an idle tone of voice, as if he was simply hanging about his retirement home.

A brief smile crossed Major Smith's face. "Well, Colonel, I came by to provide some information and a choice to you, and your team. You see, I've been briefed in on what your team has done so far during the period that the Stargate program was active. I must say, the number of…unusual…situations your team found themselves in was most impressive in such a short time. And the manner in which you extricated yourselves from said situations were good examples of ingenuity and application of force and intelligence."

"Okay, quit buttering me up, Major. Just lay out what you've got on the table." Jack interrupted impatiently.

"Very well then, Colonel. The long and short of the matter is that you and Captain Carter, being with the military, will face court martial, and most probably lose at least one rank, suffer from confinement on the base, and quite possibly lose some of your security clearance. Which means neither one of you will work on any sensitive projects in the future. If you decide to remain in the military, both of you will likely be shuffled off to do office work." Major Smith baldly stated.

Jack scowled at that information. Not so much for his own likely fate, he had already retired once, and he only came back for the special circumstances. If office work was his fate, he would just retire. No, Jack scowled at the likely future of Carter. A brilliant mind and talent like her, relegated to office work? Dying by inches in the bureaucratic nightmare? She didn't deserve that fate.

"And Daniel Jackson and Teal'c?" Jack asked in a quiet tone of voice that anyone that knew him would have been wary of.

Major Smith nodded at Jack with a serious look on his face. "Well, since Daniel Jackson is not military, the best he'll come away with is being slapped with so many NDAs and restrictions that he won't even be able to publish an Egyptian travel guide, let alone talk about Egyptian history that he had previously been working with. No one will want to touch someone who was sanctioned so hard by the government."

Jack struggled, gritting his teeth in anger, reminding himself that this Major Smith was just the messenger. Strangling him wouldn't help them.

"And Teal'c is a unique case. His first hand knowledge of the Goa'uld would prove advantageous. He will be retained as an expert advisor for future interactions."

"You mean he'll be imprisoned and interrogated." Jack snarled.

Major Smith merely shrugged unconcernedly at the accusation and the tone of Jack's rebuttal. "I couldn't possibly comment."

"So, that's the stick. Now what's the carrot?" Jack cynically asked after calming down a bit.

Major Smith smiled a bit in appreciation of Jack understanding his situation.

"Well, the carrot, as you put it, is that there is an alternate option. You and Captain Carter would leave the military, but all four of you as a team would be able to remain together, doing similar work to what you have been doing so far, working with a different group that will be in charge of the Stargate."

"It is understood that Teal'c defected from his previous position as First Prime of Apophis because of what you offered him, a chance to end the tyranny of the Goa'uld and free his people. If you choose this path, you would be able to follow through on that promise to him, even if it wasn't exactly in the manner you expected."

"Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson, two brilliant minds and talented individuals, would in turn be able to continue working in their chosen fields, not be shut out and relegated to a life of mediocrity." Major Smith continued.

"What's the catch? What bunch of sleazy types are we selling out to?" Jack sarcastically asked, not buying for a moment the rosy picture being painted for him.

Major Smith chuckled a bit, briefly. "Jack, I'll be frank here with you for a moment. The situation you find yourself in is a result of your own actions. We didn't engineer your current dilemma, even though we are taking advantage of it." Major Smith explained, which was slightly untrue. If someone hadn't shut down the Stargate before SG1 could enter, they wouldn't be on Earth at the moment, suffering confinement as they were.

"The longer the invasion takes to manifest, if it ever comes at all, the worse your bargaining position becomes. It just doesn't look good for you four that you were swayed by some nebulous vision and broke all the rules reacting to an imaginary invasion."

Jack gritted his teeth in anger. He still believed that Daniel had seen what he'd seen. There had to be a reason that the invasion hadn't come. But they were stuck here and couldn't do anything about it.

Major Smith stood up and smiled down at Jack. "Well, do think about it. I've been instructed to allow you to consult with your team about the offer. And a final something to think about Colonel. I know you're upset and angry about what's happening. But don't transfer that anger to the people who are offering you a way out of your predicament. We're not your enemy, and we have similar goals, keeping people safe. It's up to you and your people if you want to take the offer or not, but I guarantee you'll regret the missed opportunity further down the line. And if you need any further proof of our sincerity after talking to your team, do let me know. I'll be back in a few days to see what your answer is."

With that, Major Smith got up and exited the room, leaving Jack to his thoughts for the time being. Fifteen minutes later, though, Jack was ushered out of his room by the guards as they escorted him to a conference room where Carter, Jackson, and Teal'c were already waiting for him.

Jack felt the pressure as he looked at the worried faces of his team. Thinking about the offer and what it would mean for his team's future, Jack swallowed his pride. If those people really could get them out of the predicament they were in, for the sake of his team, he would seriously consider their employment.

"Hey guys. So this Major Smith came and visited me, and laid out a proposition…" Jack began explaining what he had learned from the meeting. Hopefully the offer was genuine and they wouldn't be dropping themselves in a deeper mess.

XX

After leaving the detention area where the SG-1 team had been detained, Major Smith hopped in his car and drove off to the local building that Fire Crow Industries had purchased for doing business in Colorado.

Once he had parked, he made his way to the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor. Upon arrival, he entered the CEO's office. Seeing Tera and Alice sitting together, Smith smiled and his form shifted back to that of Carl.

"So, how did your little pet project to "hire on" the other SG-1 team go?" Tera asked in an amused voice.

Carl chuckled. "It went decently well, we'll see what they choose when I meet them again in three days." He walked up and gave a greeting kiss to each of them before collapsing on the couch between them and wrapping an arm around each of his girls. "This Jack is a bit on the angry side that he let his team down, but it seems like he'll do what's best for them."

By the end of the first training session, Tera and Alice had made it abundantly clear to Carl that they desired to be in a relationship with him. Despite missing each of the women he had gotten to know in previous worlds, Carl had long become used to his strange luck with women, so he wasn't averse to adding to his family.

Among his original six disciples, Suan and Dan had gravitated to each other and become a couple around the 6th year of their first training session. Maria and Duncan had also worked together long enough that they grew on each other and finally got together after their 2nd year of the second training session.

"So, how is the reeducation and integration of Apophis's captured Jaffa going?" Carl asked.

"Suan, Dan, Jack, and Teal'c are working hard on that. They said only 7% of the captured Jaffa were so fanatical that it would take some mind wipes to do anything with them. They put the stubborn fools in the detention facility for now." Tera informed Carl.

"Sounds good. If they still can't change after the Goa'uld are fully overthrown and remain fanatics, they can either stay there for the rest of their lives or choose to end it to join their gods in death." Carl casually stated. He wasn't about to just let fanatics go so they could plot terror campaigns because they couldn't handle the way the world was. His empire didn't need that kind of instability.

"Maria and Duncan have the education facilities working full time now. The Human and Jaffa civilians going through are able to manipulate the basic technology available in only a few weeks. They are spreading around the planet Caladan and following the plans for industries we've outlined." Alice added on.

Alice, with her Alteran memories, had been a big help for Maria and Duncan in designing a safe device for downloading the basic education over a period of weeks to the civilians in their sleep. It allowed for a swiftly growing civilian population of workers and entrepreneurs who desired to build their own industries.

"So, Daniel is doing a good job of recruiting people to join us?" Carl asked.

Tera pulled out a datapad with the numbers on it. "Yup, he's really getting around. Many of those from Cimmeria for example seem to love the idea of being Star Warriors, and getting to go around and fight. Other planets like Abydos jumped at the idea of finding more fertile lands to grow food on, as well as joining the fight against the false gods. It seems that Jack and Daniels time there sowed some good seeds."

"Sounds like things are going good. Training seems to be speedy. I like the reports of integration among the various cultures." Carl commented as he read the reports from the four in charge of the army. Suan, Dan, Jack, and Teal'c were working wonders with the men they gathered. "Looks like it will be only a matter of weeks before we're ready to take over Molocs territory, judging by how swiftly the army is coming together."

"They are more than eager to start the conquest of the false gods." Alice cheekily commented. "Once those Jaffa have their belief system of the Goa'uld overturned in front of their faces and accept that the Goa'uld are not gods, they seem to be the most fervent in their desire to attack and throw down the Goa'uld." She finished thoughtfully.

"Hmm, it does seem to be the nature of realizing you've been a dupe and a slave all your life. It doesn't lend itself to warm and fuzzy feelings." Carl agreed with her.

"Oh, there was something that needed your approval. When Daniel reunited with Sha're and shared with her what has happened and how she was freed, after she was suitably grateful, she demanded to be cloned too. Apparently while she was happy to reunite with her husband after her ordeal, the idea that there was a Daniel out there who didn't have a Sha're with him seemed to offend her…" Tera trailed off because Carl was laughing too hard.

"I think that a woman that knows exactly what she wants like that should be rewarded. Definitely have her twinned." Carl finally gasped out after getting himself under control. "Daniel here on Earth and the rest of his team should be more than willing to join up when I give them the show and tell later."

Carl paused as he had a thought. "Wait, so if that was Sha're's reaction to finding out there were more than one Daniels out there, what was Drey'auc's reaction to hearing that there were two Teal'cs?"

The two girls started giggling on either side of him. "Apparently, she got a big grin on her face at the idea that she would have two Teal'cs to herself, and refused to share with anyone else, even another version of herself."

Carl couldn't help but to start chuckling along with his girls. That was too funny! Apparently Teal'c was a warrior on more than just the battlefield!

XX

A week later, Major Smith was escorting the former SG-1 team from where they had been in detention. After Colonel O'Neill had talked it over with his team, they had decided to take the offer of employment. Otherwise, they were looking at some bleak futures.

They piled in the SUV with Major Smith indicated was their ride. As they were driving away from their jail, they kept throwing questions at Major Smith.

"So, where are we going?" Jack asked as they drove out the gates of the base around the Cheyenne Mountain complex. "And are we there yet?"

Smith chuckled a bit. "Are you going to keep asking that until we get there?"

"Ooh, that sounds like a good idea!" Jack exclaimed to groans from Sam and Daniel.

"Well, it won't bother me. I'll just keep driving in circles until you stop. But you have to deal with the other people in the car." Carl disguised as Smith promised with a smile that promised he would enjoy the other passengers punishing Jack.

"Okay, okay. I'll behave." Jack promised when he saw the looks on everyone's faces.

"We're going to the main Colorado branch of the Fire Crow Industries." Carl offered once he saw he had won in the verbal spar.

"Really?!" Sam exclaimed. "They've been doing amazing things lately! Full Immersion Virtual Reality! The modeling technology in virtual reality is absolutely amazing and producing results you can't find in normal labs! It's absolutely amazing! I didn't know we'd be working with them, or I would have been more enthused about making the decision to join!"

Jack laughed a bit at Sam's exuberance, which prompted Sam to ask just what he was laughing at. His facile answer of "nothing, just thinking of all the amazing things" earned him a glare that shut him up.

"And we have a lot of brilliant brains working for us. I'm sure you'll recognize some of them." Carl threw in while laughing inside at their antics. He was amusing himself thinking of how they would react to seeing the duplicates of themselves.

Carl pulled into the parking lot at FCI. He soon ushered the four new employees inside.

"I'd first like to introduce you to some of your fellow employees." Carl in his Major Smith outfit said with an anticipatory look. He opened the conference room door and ushered the four inside.

They came to an abrupt stop as they saw their duplicates sitting at the conference table.

"What's going on here!?" The Jack that just entered yelled.

"Daniel!" One of the two Sha'res exclaimed, while the other was cuddling with the Daniel sitting down.

"Sha're?" The two were reunited and no longer paying attention to anyone else as they showed how much they had missed each other.

"Teal'c. It's good to see you again." Drey'auc said with a suggestive smile.

"Father." Both Rya'c and Samantha Carter said, looking at their respective fathers.

"Drey'auc. Rya'c." Teal'c kept his calm, but his eyebrow was raised at the sight of his duplicate sitting with his family.

"What are you doing here? And how is my robot duplicate here too?" Samantha Carter asked as she joined her father and new sister at the table.

"So. I'm sure you've got questions." Carl interrupted while chuckling at their reactions, bringing all their attention to him. "So, you know that Harlan guy?"

"Komtraya robot guy? These are the robots?" Jack exclaimed, still not letting down his guard after entering the room and seeing his duplicate.

"We were robots. Not any longer. Our boss man Carl here made like Pinocchio and made us real boys and girls." The formerly robotic Jack snarked.

"Who's Carl?" Jack asked.

"Yo." Carl answered and then let his appearance change back to his regular form from the Major Smith appearance he'd been wearing, stunning the four new recruits. "I figured you all would probably prefer to be out and about doing and learning things, instead of jail, so I pulled some strings and got you hired. Your basic training will start in two days, after you get a chance to reunite with your loved ones here and get settled in."

"Basic Training?! I've already gone through that!" New Jack exclaimed, annoyed that he was being treated like a raw recruit.

"Not like this, you haven't." The Jack that had already gone through Carl's training snorted. "You'll see what it's like soon enough. Now get in here and sit down. We've got some stuff to cover."

Jack scowled at himself, not at all pleased to be ordered around by his formerly robotic self. And if the formerly robotic Jack was looking forward to taking some of his frustrations out on the Jack that got to go home while leaving him stranded with Harlan, well, who could blame him?

"I've got a short video introduction to play for you all, saves me from having to give the speech over and over again." Carl mentioned while going to the head of the table and seating himself. "And I've got to tell you, the things you'll be learning and doing soon will blow your mind."

"Okay…Impress me." Jack sarcastically said as he sat down, far away from his formerly robot duplicate.

The chuckles from Carl's disciples who had been through his training didn't inspire a lot of confidence in Jack. But his other team mates were too busy sitting with their duplicates and families to pay attention to him.

Carl then started the orientation.