The SPARTAN and The Princess

SGC Briefing Room

“So what do we know about our guest” General Landry asked SG-1 and Dr Lam.

“She is a bipedal equine with remarkably human internal physiology. Her internal organs are laid out very similar to ours and aside from lacking organs like a gallbladder, I would call her human from images of her thoracic cavity.” Dr Lam said. “Her musculature, not counting the extra muscles for her wings and tail and the lack of an ankle joint, is remarkably similar as well. Her bones however are much denser than ours. I would hazard a guess that they are almost as hard to break as Colonel Prower’s. Her brain however is the biggest difference. There is an extra lobe that is tied directly into the horn on her forehead.”

“Meaning?” Cam asked.

“Meaning that if struck, even lightly, it would cause severe amounts of pain. Of course during the course of my examination once she was awake and calmed down, Luna confessed that my hands moving carefully along the horn to get a feel for the texture and hardness was arousing to her.” Dr Lam replied. “The same happened when I examined her wings. Both spots, when touched or manipulated correctly by another appear to be major erogenous zones for her, and quite possibly her species.”

“What about the energy blasts she was generating?” Colonel Samantha Carter inquired.

“I am uncertain. The sensors respond similarly to Colonel Prower’s abilities, though Luna’s are more varied.” Dr Lam said. “She has shown the ability to levitate multiple objects at a time, all of varying weight, and with no sign of strain. She can also produce a shield, but without a way to safely test it, we can’t tell how strong it is.”

“How does she perform these acts Dr Lam?” Teal’c asked, with about as much curiosity in his voice as one asking about the weather forecast.

“She says it is magic.” Dr Lam said. “Myself, I believe that it is similar to how the Ancients were able to manipulate energy before they Ascended.”

Kerra nodded. “Or it could be that she is from a world that does have access to their world’s energy field. On Mobius, the field was mostly Chaos Energy, so it was easy to access. Here though, it is neutral, not leaning to Chaos or Harmony in any real appreciable way. I can sense the field and make use of the smaller reserve of Chaos, but not to any real extent, not like when I tap into the wider universe’s field.” The vixen replied.

“Yeah, can you please not do that again. You were actually quite terrifying when you did that.” Daniel said from his seat.

Kerra chuckled. “Yes, but at the time I was fighting a couple dozen Kull warriors so I needed the power boost.” She replied. “But as to whether she is a threat, I doubt it. She showed real remorse over her actions prior to whatever happened that brought her here. Obviously she won't be able to leave the mountain, and she should be restricted to certain areas of the base, but she just seems to be a scared young woman who just went through hell.” She added.

Landry nodded. “That is my assessment as well. Royalty usually doesn't break down like that unless they have been through something traumatic.” He said. “At this point, I see no reason that she shouldn't be able to stay in the guest quarters and have access to the less classified areas of the base. Once Dr Lam and her team clear her to leave quarantine, you will be in charge of her Colonel Prower. As the only resident non-human member of the SGC that is not outwardly human, you might make her more comfortable.”

Kerra nodded at this. “Yes Sir. Do I have permission to take her into my lab, I have a few projects going that I need to finish.” She inquired.

“I’ll allow it. But make sure that if she gets uncomfortable that you take her elsewhere.” Landry replied.

Kerra nodded.

As the meeting broke up, klaxons began to sound.

“Incoming traveller.”

The group rushed down to the control room.

“SG-13’s IDC Sir.” Walter said as they approached his station.

“Do we have communications? They aren’t scheduled to return for three days.” Landry asked.

“Checking now Sir.” Walter said. “Sierra Gulf One Three Niner, Sierra Gulf Charlie. What is your status?”

“Sierra Gulf Charlie, Sierra Gulf One Three Niner. We are secure and we have made contact with the locals.” Came the response from the leader of SG-13. “We are requesting the presence of Sierra-048. She might want to see this.”

Kerra leaned over to talk on the microphone. “This is Sierra-048. What do you have that I need to see?” She inquired.

“Ma’am, I just got done talking to a woman named Sally Acorn.” Came the response.

Kerra’s jaw dropped. She looked at General Landry, eyes pleading.

Landry gave her a smile. “Gear up Colonel. You have a go. You too Dr Jackson, Colonel Mitchell.” He said.

Twenty minutes later the three members of SG-1 were in the embarkation room, doing a final check of their gear.

As they were waiting for the control room to dial the Gate, Sam and Vala came in dressed in their off world gear as well.

“Kerra we heard the good news.” Sam said as she double checked her P-90’s load.

Kerra smiled. “Glad you two could make it. Too bad Teal’c has to go back to dealing with the Jaffa council. I am sure that he would want to come along as well.” She said.

“Yeah, I know that Muscles would be here for you Foxy.” Vala said in her ever optimistic way.

Kerra smiled at Vala as she walked over to the woman. It was not a kind smile, more the smile that a predator gets when they have trapped their prey.

“Now Vala, this is my home.” Kerra said as she wrapped an arm around the woman’s shoulders, gripping them firmly. “These are friends that I grew up with. There will be not thieving, lying, conning or anything else that might earn their, and by extension my ire. Are we clear?” Squeezing the woman to her side very tightly as the grip on her shoulders tightened.

“Crystal.” Vala squeaked out.

The others raised an eyebrow, but with Vala’s history of endangering missions due to her greed, understood the sentiment.

On the other side of the Milky Way, US Marine Colonel David Dixon stood near the Gate waiting for SG-1.

“Excuse me, Colonel?”

He looked up to see Sally Acorn looking at him.

“Yes Ms Acorn?” He asked.

“Please Colonel, call me Sally. What are we waiting for?” She asked.

“Our flagship team SG-1. They should be dialing in shortly. They are the best at handling First Contact scenarios.” Dixon replied.

“And your team is not?” Sally inquired, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dixon shook his head. “We are primarily a survey team, scouts. We can generally take care of ourselves if we run into locals, but the exploration teams such as SG-1 have civilians that are experienced in diplomacy. We're Marine Raiders Sally. Our job is to recon an area, check for enemy patrols and positions and do sabotage. Not exactly who you want to be the face of your world.” He replied.

“I see. So when are they coming?” Sally asked.

At that moment, the Gate activated.

“Marines! Get ready!” Dixon called out as he moved Sally to cover. “Just in case this isn’t SG-1.” He explained as he trained his weapon on the Gate.

The Gate connected and once the puddle had formed, Dixon’s radio crackled to life.

“Sierra Gulf One Three Niner, this is Sierra Gulf One Niner. We are coming through. Sierra Zero Four Eight will be dragging trail.” Came Colonel Mitchell’s voice over the radio.

“Understood Sir. We're waiting for you at the Gate.” Dixon replied before turning to his team. “Form up Marines!” He called out.

The other five members of his team rushed to one side of the Gate, and form a single file line, facing the path SG-1 would walk down to reach them. Dixon took his place at the end.

“Parade rest!” He called out, and his team responded, moving from the position of attention, to parade rest.

Cam came through the Gate first, with Sam, Daniel and Vala behind him.

All of them looked askance at the Marines before Cam motioned for them to do the same on the other side of the Gate, the two officers mirroring the Marines.

Sally looked at the Gate and wondered who was going to be coming through that deserved this level of respect.

She got her answer when a face she never expected to see again came through the Gate.

“T...Tails? Is, is that really you?” She said quietly.

Kerra looked around as she stepped through the Gate onto her home planet for the first time in decades.

She heard her name, and looked at Sally, who had an expression of disbelief on her face.

“It's me Aunt Sally. I’m home.” Kerra said with a small smile.

Sally ran up to her friend, her nephew and wrapped him in a hug. A second later she realized something.

“Tails, is there something you would like to tell me young lady?” Sally inquired flatley.

Kerra had been waiting for this and she was not disappointed. She burst out laughing as she picked her aunt up in a hug and spun her around.

“Got a lot ta tell ya Sal. But we should get the old crew together.” She said, setting Sally down and stepping back.

“Ooooo, this place is roomy.” Came a female voice.

Sally looked around while Kerra sighed and rubbed her eyes.

“Damn it Aura! You were supposed to stay on Earth until I was able to make arrangements.” Kerra said out loud.

Aura formed an avatar from the nanites of the city that they were in.

“Sorry Mom. I was just too excited.” The AI said in a contrite tone.

Kerra shook her head. “Just don’t mess with anything and don’t cause Nicole any problems.” She said.

“Tails.” Sally said softly. “We had to shut Nicole down about ten years ago. She was having issues with her personality and began to experience glitches. It was like nothing we had ever seen.”

Kerra nodded sadly. “Rampancy. It happens when an AI has been around for too long. Even Aura will eventually succumb to it. But I at least know about it and will be prepared when the time comes.” She said.

Aura nodded. “My condolences on losing your friend Sally. If you would like, and with your permission, I can look over the city systems and let you know of any issues that your monitoring may not be able to detect.” She said softly.

“Please do so. There have been lots of little issues over the last decade.” Sally said with a kind smile.

Sally lead SG-1 out of the building that the Stargate had been relocated to after it had been located.

“So what have you been up to all these years?” Sally asked Kerra.

“Oh, this and that.” Kerra said with a smirk, getting a flat look in response. “I want to get everyone together before I tell the story. It is a long one. But I have had a good life out there, and I am glad to come home, even if it is only for a short while.” She added, a wistful smile at the end.

“You aren't staying?” Sally asked.

Kerra shrugged. “Not up to me really. General Landry can put in a good word, but it will be up to the IOA if I stay. Even then, I will probably spend quite a bit of time off world. I have a unique skill set and it is constantly in need.” She replied. "That, and what is out there." She added, gesturing to the inactive Gate. "Is too exciting to not go and check out."

"Fair enough." Sally said. "Are you going to introduce your new friends?"

"Where are my manners?" Kerra said with a posh accent. "Here we have Colonel Cameron 'Cam' Mitchell, current leader of SG-1 and quite the skilled fighter pilot."

"Your Highness." Cam said in greeting.

"Colonel, please, all of you, call me Sally. I abdicated my title years ago." Sally said with a smile.

"Then we have Colonel Samantha 'Sam' Carter, one of the two original members of SG-1 with us today. She is a brilliant scientist that has been able to crack some tough technological puzzles. Also a fellow aviator as well as a scientist. She really is brilliant."

"Sally." Sam greeted with a smile.

"Next we have Dr. Daniel Jackson, former Egyptologist, unfairly disgraced only because the only way to prove his theory about the pyramids would probably cause World War III, and our linguist. Man knows more languages than almost anyone I have met and helped to find some real meaning of life stuff out there."

"Sally." Daniel greeted with a small wave.

"And this." Kerra said as she walked over to Vala and wrapped an arm around her shoulders once again. "Is our resident reprobate, Vala Maldaran. Interstellar thief extraordinaire. I put the fear of Chaos into her before we dialed the gate."

"Pleasure Sally, a friend of Kerra's is on my do not steal from list." Vala replied with a squeak.

Sally looked at Kerra with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

Kerra rolled her eyes. "Alright, so I threatened to send her to the most sickly sweet reality that I could think of. No way to steal even a cookie without getting a lecture." She said.

"Tails…" Sally said.

"What? This woman is an interstellar thief, wanted in a couple of dozens systems at least." Kerra said, gesturing at the raven haired woman who was pouting.

"Still, one does not threaten their friends with being sent to another reality." Sally said, an amused glint in her eyes.

"Fiiiinnnneeee. I'll be nice." Kerra drawled out. "Now where is every-" She started to inquire before being hit by a blue blur, sending her flying out of sight.

"Prower!" Mitchell shouted as said blue blur came crashing down near them moments later and Kerra appeared in a flash of green light.

"What the fuck Blue?" Kerra said as she shook her head to clear the cobwebs from being hit. "That would have killed me if I wasn't augmented."

"Sonic! What were you thinking?" Sally added, glaring down at the stunned hedgehog.

"That isn't Tails, Sal." Sonic replied as he stood up, shaking slightly from Kerra's Chaos enhanced punch. "It has to be one of Eggman's tricks. Why else would he have been so quiet for so long?"

"I dunno, he could have croaked and the automated systems could have kept things going in the meantime?" Kerra said, glaring at her pseudo brother.

"I doubt it. He went quiet about three years ago. Right after that weird pyramid showed up." Sonic said as he stood up, rubbing his jaw.

Kerra blinked. "Wait, weird pyramid? Lots of gold? Black frame around the outside of it?" She asked.

"Yeah. That sounds about right. Why? Have you seen something like that?" Sonic said.

"Yeah." Kerra said, her tone flat. "Usually right before I go in and blow it up."

Kerra turned to Cam.

"Sir, I need to get back to Earth. I think this calls for MJOLNIR deployment." She said.

Cam nodded. "Get to the Gate and get your gear. I'd rather get this snake situation sorted out sooner than later."

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Sally asked.

"Getting my armor and heavy weapons." Kerra replied as she turned to walk away.

"Why?" Sally asked.

"Because I am going to go to that ship and kill everyone on board that isn't Mobian. And even then, if they turn out to be working with the enemy, then they will be dead too." Kerra replied. "Can you guys explain the nature of the threat for me?" She added, looking at her teammates.

"We've got it. Go and get suited up." Cam replied.

Kerra nodded and took off running to the building with the Gate.