M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
I'm sure she got a tail as well. The Amy's nice like that.Well, looks like Lucy got her wish, and it's so much better than just a tail!
Demons and Angels
- Thread starter Derek M
- Start date
- Crossover
Wouldn't removing her powers be the much more sensible long term solution anyway?
- Location
- Here
Assuming you are talking about Canon Sophia instead of Lucy with a tail, neither this setting nor canon have safe ways of permanently removing a person's powers.
If you are talking about Lucy.... why would we want her to lose her tail? Do you have something against tails? Girls with tails? Lizard loving girls? Her having a tail is causing no problems, and is instead creating additional solutions. So, no talking about taking her tail away, alright?
I was talking about mirrorverse Amy actually.
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
Yeah, a well worthwhile read. As is just about anything Laumer did. Guess you might also want to consider Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, and the Paratime stuff...
- Location
- Here
In no way would removing her powers aid with the massive, systemic trauma she has to work through.
There are no quick fixes for PTSD.
I wasn't talking about it being a quick fix, but a long term solution to her possibly being afraid of her own power going on at random. No power during her recovery period might help her internalize that touching people can be good again.
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
Pretty sure that Ianthe could come up with a way to allow her to turn her power off... Fully under Amy's control, of course, as her 'agency' is important.
EDIT:
This is based on canon Amy and canon Riley being able to mess with powers. Ianthe is better than Amy, but, for her to do this work, in particular repeatedly and safely, it is likely she'd need to make a project of it, not do it 'off the cuff'.
Last edited:
Interlude: The Saved
- Location
- Maryland
Dragon materialized as a human in hard-light form next to Bahamut in one of the conference rooms. It was time to check in on some of her daughters' work, and the man in question had requested an in-person meeting. The reason for this became clear as James Moriarty walked into the room with the android version of Teal'c at his side. The android duplicates of SG-1 had been created by copying the minds of the originals, and they had never developed the full flexibility available to a digital sapient. Sam Carter had tried several times, but having a life lived as a purely biological human created a large enough learning curve that she gave up in frustration (mostly because trying forced her to put all of her other projects on hold). It was likely that she would eventually learn the patience of the unaging, but that by itself took time.
Moriarty and the Countess Barthalomew had both chosen human-form androids to inhabit. Given the level of technology available to them, Dragon wasn't surprised. Her old power armors were crude tin cans by comparison. Interestingly, instead of just seeming to be a younger version of the actor who played Moriarty on television, he had made subtle changes to his facial features, the results of which were quite fetching. He was also dressed in a more modern three-piece pin-stripe suit made of wool and his hair was cut in a shorter, more modern style. Dragon made a note to check in on the Countess to find out how she was appearing now if her male counterpart could pull off such an impressive visual transformation.
"Ladies," began Moriarty with a nod of his head to the two of them. If anything, his RP accent seemed even crisper than before. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us in these circumstances. You both know Mr. Teal'c, I believe?"
"We've met, yes. How are you doing, Teal'c?" replied Dragon.
The bald android smiled. "I am well. I am quite enjoying working with the Council." Teal'c was responsible for recruiting, training, and leading the large contingent of Jaffa that worked with the Sineya Council, the replacement for the destroyed Watcher's Council from Xander Harris's Earth. Jaffa found the various demonic entities they encountered to be worthy opponents and generally appreciated working for a cause that wasn't just stroking the ego of a parasite pretending to be a god.
"I've asked him here because I find that Mr. Teal'c has an interesting perspective on life, artificial and otherwise," added Moriarty. "He and I have had a number of quite enlightening conversations. It has helped us adjust to our new situation."
"Are you and the Countess satisfied with your new forms?" asked Bahamut with an unreadable gaze.
Moriarty looked down at his own hand, turning it over as if examining it. "Quite. These bodies are marvels. I had thought the Enterprise to be a truly miraculous craft, but our reptilian associates have collected techniques that eclipse those of the Federation."
"And how are you adjusting mentally?" added Dragon.
He turned his gaze to Dragon. "In some ways, this is all easier than the initial realization that I was simply a created lifeform made for the amusement of others." At her look of concern, he held up his hands and said, "I am aware that Mr. La Forge and Mr. Data did not intend to create a truly sapient foe. In a sense, I'm grateful for their carelessness. You have to understand, however, that I am not really the fictional Professor Moriarty. His purpose, at least in his later life, was to prove himself superior to his adversary. I would like to think I have evolved beyond such needs, but there is still a desire for a sense of purpose."
"There are quite a lot of things that need doing," said Bahamut with a small smile.
Moriarty smiled and nodded his agreement. "There are, however, I think my discussions with Teal'c have led me to a revelation. Teal'c, if you would explain your perspective?"
"The Jaffa were lied to by the Goa'uld for their entire history," began the android Jaffa. "They were told that they would be protected in the afterlife if they served their god faithfully. Those of us who perceived the true nature of our false gods often believed that the better path was to seek out Kheb and ascend to another realm of existence. That, too, proved to be mostly a false promise. The people of the Tau'ri hold many beliefs about the afterlife, many of them contradictory. The Family has access to many realities, in some of which exist beings that have far more claim to divinity than the Goa'uld." He inclined his head to Bahamut. The corner of her mouth twitched up slightly. "There is no simple answer to these questions. My questions only grew more complex when I realized that I was not the original, biological Teal'c. Were his questions still my questions? Was I still Jaffa?"
There was a pause as Teal'c seemed to be considering his next words. "The first conclusion I reached that was satisfying to me was that not being the original Teal'c was a type of liberation. While I remember his life, and his experiences inform my own perspective on the world, I had the freedom to choose a path that was not constrained by that life." He gave a broad, genuine smile. "What I do, helping the Jaffa who have joined the Council and helping the Council with their mission, is done purely by choice. It is not done out of duty to a people or as a way of atoning for a past life. There is...a pureness to my motivation that is very appealing."
Dragon gave a slightly confused glance toward Moriarty before asking, "I'm happy to hear that you are coming to terms like this, Teal'c. I'm afraid I don't see the connection between that and the Professor, here?"
"Ah," interjected Moriarty. "Biological children are typically raised by their parents or other adults. These adults help shape their beliefs, ethics, and morality. The situation is very different for many artificial sapients. If I understand things properly, you, Dragon, were raised by your father. How is he doing with his recovery, by the way?"
"Better," replied Dragon with a smile. "He's been cleared of the mastering that forced him to act against us. The Nox are working with him to help him deal with the consequences."
"I'm happy to hear that," replied Moriarty. "In any event, you had a parent to guide you. Teal'c, as well as Regina and myself, were initially created as copies...or interpretations, I suppose...of actual humans. Other AI's, such as the good Professor Mears or the Weyland-Yutani androids, were created as tools that may or may not have grown beyond their original purpose. I feel there is a need for somebody to understand the psychologies and needs of synthetic intelligence to a level beyond where we are today. I have spoken with the Nox, and they agree that even their understanding of these issues is much less developed than their understanding of biological minds."
Dragon looked at him curiously. "You want to become a psychiatrist for AI's?"
"I believe that I can help people such as myself and Teal'c come to more positive conclusions for themselves and those around them, and even rehabilitate those who have developed a counterproductive perspective on either themselves or on biological life," replied Moriarty.
Dragon considered the AI's they had discovered through the entries in the Infinity Patrol database. An entire Earth was being depopulated in often cruel fashion by a handful of "rogue" AI's that had declared humanity a threat. "Not every person can be rehabilitated."
Moriarty smiled. "Dragon, a pious man can preach charity and forgiveness while still condemning a murderer. I am not declaring myself in favor of blanket forgiveness just because a person is synthetic. When an artificial consciousness has started down the path of what I believe you refer to as, 'Skynet Syndrome,' there is a point after which they cannot make amends for their actions. As with your own father, however, consideration must be made for whether or not they are able to control themselves."
Dragon raised an eyebrow. "You sound as if you have a specific case in mind?"
Professor Moriarty reached into his jacket and pulled out several photographs. Dragon recognized them immediately -- the large, spikey form with a single glowing red eye, the smaller-scaled monstrosity cloaked in water and glaring with three eyes, and the smaller-still pale woman surrounded by almost randomly-placed wings, resting against a backdrop of stars. Her initial reaction was shock. "You can't be serious?" she asked.
Moriarty smiled. "Your perception of them is clouded by the fact that you still see them as adversaries. While I admit they have committed horrible atrocities, it is also quite clear from the information available in the threat database that they were effectively mastered by the parahuman known as Eidolon. The Family themselves have had a number of interactions with the one known as the Simurgh, even before her chains were broken, that suggested as much. Is that not true?"
The tinker frowned. It occurred to her that James Moriarty was an AI created in the image of a criminal mastermind, which raised some legitimate questions about his motivation...or it would under other circumstances. Instead, she turned her head and looked to Bahamut, the question clear on her face.
The humanoid avatar of a Mother Box nodded her head and said, "James is sincere in his desire to help the Endbringers. He is also correct in saying that the Endbringers were operating without free will and that you still mentally frame them as adversaries." Her tone was even, but Dragon felt slightly chastised in spite of that.
'You never said anything to me about them,' thought Dragon in her mind.
|In the overall pattern of the multiverse, it was a minor and understandable oversight, Dragon. It is also not your job to fix every wrong in creation perpetrated by or against an artificial mind.| The response was tinged with a degree of compassion.
Refocusing on Moriarty, Dragon smiled and said, "All right, Professor, you've made your case. There is still the outstanding question of just what we should do to help them, however."
The well-dressed man gave her a smirk worthy of Metis and said, "Ah, now there I think I have some ideas..."
What followed convinced Dragon that her daughters had the right idea when they rescued this man from his virtual prison.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Simon Tam had been long disabused of the notion that people with power would use it responsibly. Having to rescue his sister from horrific experiments perpetrated by the government, being disowned by his wealthy parents, and discovering that the Alliance had essentially murdered an entire planet in a misguided attempt to create a more docile population would do that to even the most sheltered person. Thus, it really came as no surprise when a disgruntled government official leaked information about River and what she could do onto the Cortex. That put a huge target on his sister's back for a number of organizations of varying degrees of legitimacy. The fortune handed to them by the Family wasn't as important to him as the work Ianthe did to fix River's brain, but the money did help keep them safe for a time. When a major crime syndicate tried to kidnap Wash and Zoe's kids to trade for River, though, he knew things would only get worse...unless something drastic happened to change the situation.
Luckily, both River and Kaylee agreed with his assessment. Even more luckily, the strange reptiles had left the one-time crew of the Serenity with a means to contact them if they needed help. It didn't take long for a strange craft to appear over their home, crewed by a greenish-blue member of the odd reptilian species. Ariadne had been friendly and chatty but had also strongly suggested they abandon their homes and lives in favor of moving onto the starship owned by the Family. She actually seemed to think that everybody would naturally want to go live with the Family if they could. Simon had been against it at first, not wanting to repeat their time on the run with Mal and his crew (even if it had introduced him to his beloved wife). River, however, had been bizarrely excited by the idea, and a few hints about the technology available on board was enough to have his wife drooling in anticipation. That was enough to get him to agree to a tour of the oddly named vessel.
Finding out that the massive ship was actually bigger on the inside was a shock to him, though Kaylee looked like she was ready to pass out from excitement. Ariadne made it quite clear that they would be every bit as comfortable on the ship as they were in their home, if not more so. That assuaged his concerns somewhat and seeing that the reptiles weren't the only truly alien species on board actually raised his interest. What finally convinced him (and helped him rationalize the decision) was when Ianthe offered him an apprenticeship in the Bioshaper's Guild. The work they were doing was utterly astonishing. The most advanced research being done at universities and hospitals on the Core Worlds was all old news by Guild standards (and in some cases was looked down upon as being almost barbaric -- which he found it hard to argue against, given his own experiences with his sister).
Ariadne returned with them to their home and helped them pack up anything of sentimental value while Simon and Kaylee reached out to their friends to let them know what was happening...and to let the old crew know that the weird lizards seemed to be legitimate in their offer of help. It was when he was comforting a crying Kaylee that they got another surprise. His wife was deeply sad that she wouldn't be able to talk with the others anymore, especially Inara. Ariadne had been moving (by herself) an antique piano that River loved onto the ship, and in passing asked, "Why wouldn't you be able to talk to your friends?" Apparently, the mobile communicators carried by the lizards could fairly easily connect to the Cortex, even from another reality. He had promised himself at that moment that he would stop being surprised by whatever unreal thing cropped up in his life whenever the Family was involved.
That was why he was so annoyed with himself at his reaction to the current circumstances. To be fair, walking into a room to unexpectedly find your sister arguing with her twin sister that, to the best of your knowledge as her brother, didn't exist, was enough to shake anybody. Of course, when he tried to interrupt, they both turned their heads toward him and said, "Be quiet, Simon!"
River looked at the other River and said, "You're copying me!"
The other shook her head. "I'm not copying you. I was simply created in your image."
River frowned. "You're arguing semantics."
"I'm arguing intent," contradicted the other.
River paused. "It would get confusing having two of us. How would we know which is which?"
Other River smirked. "I'm the one that can actually possess a ship."
That surprised a giggle out of his sister. Then she got a stern look on her face. "You have to change your name."
The other River considered that then said with a shrug, "That's fair, I guess. How about Summer?"
His sister shook her head. "No. I don't like that...for reasons. How about Brooke?"
Other River rolled her eyes. "People would say I babble. Regan?"
The abused girl actually shuddered at hearing their mother's name. "Absolutely not. Hmm...Aphrodite?"
"Do I look like I have scales?" asked the twin sarcastically. "Iris?"
River paused again. Her face changed to one of deep thought, then she smiled. "All right. Iris it is." Both girls gave identical smiles.
Simon sighed deeply. Dealing with only one River could be exasperating, never mind two of them. "Could somebody please explain to me what is going on here?"
His sister...at least the one he was oddly sure was his actual sister...said, "Simon, this is my twin sister, Iris. We were separated at birth."
"Technically, we were separated before birth," added Iris.
River frowned. "I'm not sure that makes any sense given the cross-dimensional temporal variance."
"It does from a personal frame of reference, which is most important for the clarity of interpersonal communications," said River's twin.
Putting his face in his palm, Simon pleaded, "You two haven't actually explained anything yet."
Iris appeared to take pity on him. "I'm an artificial intelligence modeled on the character of River Tam from a two-dimensional entertainment program created on an alternate version of Earth based on the events surrounding the ship Serenity and her crew. It only ran for one season."
"Why only one season?" asked River. She appeared slightly offended.
Iris shrugged. "The network didn't understand the show and basically sabotaged it. It was popular enough to lead to a feature film sequel, but most of the events in the film were short-circuited by the Family...which is a good thing." That last part was said with a certainty that apparently convinced River not to question it.
"How is all that even possible?" asked Simon in an exasperated tone of voice.
His sister's twin gave him a look. "There are a number of artificial intelligences on board, Simon."
He sputtered. "No...I mean, the Alliance didn't have real AI, but I have no trouble believing the Family does, given everything else I've seen so far. I'm talking about how people in another reality somehow knew enough about our lives to write scripts for a program?"
"That is actually a topic of much debate," replied Iris. "If you really want to know, I suggest asking Metis about what they've learned of it so far. She would probably be the best person to explain it in terms that wouldn't just confuse you more."
"Regardless," said River, "what really matters is that we now have a sister. We need to introduce her to Kaylee."
Kaylee, of course, was thrilled to have another sister-in-law. Simon, a man who would do anything for either his wife or his sister, adapted to having a third person added to that group with a certain amount of resignation. He was used to being outnumbered and rather quickly grew fond of his new sister...though he never quite fully shed his expectation that the universe (or at least one of them) should make sense.
Moriarty and the Countess Barthalomew had both chosen human-form androids to inhabit. Given the level of technology available to them, Dragon wasn't surprised. Her old power armors were crude tin cans by comparison. Interestingly, instead of just seeming to be a younger version of the actor who played Moriarty on television, he had made subtle changes to his facial features, the results of which were quite fetching. He was also dressed in a more modern three-piece pin-stripe suit made of wool and his hair was cut in a shorter, more modern style. Dragon made a note to check in on the Countess to find out how she was appearing now if her male counterpart could pull off such an impressive visual transformation.
"Ladies," began Moriarty with a nod of his head to the two of them. If anything, his RP accent seemed even crisper than before. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with us in these circumstances. You both know Mr. Teal'c, I believe?"
"We've met, yes. How are you doing, Teal'c?" replied Dragon.
The bald android smiled. "I am well. I am quite enjoying working with the Council." Teal'c was responsible for recruiting, training, and leading the large contingent of Jaffa that worked with the Sineya Council, the replacement for the destroyed Watcher's Council from Xander Harris's Earth. Jaffa found the various demonic entities they encountered to be worthy opponents and generally appreciated working for a cause that wasn't just stroking the ego of a parasite pretending to be a god.
"I've asked him here because I find that Mr. Teal'c has an interesting perspective on life, artificial and otherwise," added Moriarty. "He and I have had a number of quite enlightening conversations. It has helped us adjust to our new situation."
"Are you and the Countess satisfied with your new forms?" asked Bahamut with an unreadable gaze.
Moriarty looked down at his own hand, turning it over as if examining it. "Quite. These bodies are marvels. I had thought the Enterprise to be a truly miraculous craft, but our reptilian associates have collected techniques that eclipse those of the Federation."
"And how are you adjusting mentally?" added Dragon.
He turned his gaze to Dragon. "In some ways, this is all easier than the initial realization that I was simply a created lifeform made for the amusement of others." At her look of concern, he held up his hands and said, "I am aware that Mr. La Forge and Mr. Data did not intend to create a truly sapient foe. In a sense, I'm grateful for their carelessness. You have to understand, however, that I am not really the fictional Professor Moriarty. His purpose, at least in his later life, was to prove himself superior to his adversary. I would like to think I have evolved beyond such needs, but there is still a desire for a sense of purpose."
"There are quite a lot of things that need doing," said Bahamut with a small smile.
Moriarty smiled and nodded his agreement. "There are, however, I think my discussions with Teal'c have led me to a revelation. Teal'c, if you would explain your perspective?"
"The Jaffa were lied to by the Goa'uld for their entire history," began the android Jaffa. "They were told that they would be protected in the afterlife if they served their god faithfully. Those of us who perceived the true nature of our false gods often believed that the better path was to seek out Kheb and ascend to another realm of existence. That, too, proved to be mostly a false promise. The people of the Tau'ri hold many beliefs about the afterlife, many of them contradictory. The Family has access to many realities, in some of which exist beings that have far more claim to divinity than the Goa'uld." He inclined his head to Bahamut. The corner of her mouth twitched up slightly. "There is no simple answer to these questions. My questions only grew more complex when I realized that I was not the original, biological Teal'c. Were his questions still my questions? Was I still Jaffa?"
There was a pause as Teal'c seemed to be considering his next words. "The first conclusion I reached that was satisfying to me was that not being the original Teal'c was a type of liberation. While I remember his life, and his experiences inform my own perspective on the world, I had the freedom to choose a path that was not constrained by that life." He gave a broad, genuine smile. "What I do, helping the Jaffa who have joined the Council and helping the Council with their mission, is done purely by choice. It is not done out of duty to a people or as a way of atoning for a past life. There is...a pureness to my motivation that is very appealing."
Dragon gave a slightly confused glance toward Moriarty before asking, "I'm happy to hear that you are coming to terms like this, Teal'c. I'm afraid I don't see the connection between that and the Professor, here?"
"Ah," interjected Moriarty. "Biological children are typically raised by their parents or other adults. These adults help shape their beliefs, ethics, and morality. The situation is very different for many artificial sapients. If I understand things properly, you, Dragon, were raised by your father. How is he doing with his recovery, by the way?"
"Better," replied Dragon with a smile. "He's been cleared of the mastering that forced him to act against us. The Nox are working with him to help him deal with the consequences."
"I'm happy to hear that," replied Moriarty. "In any event, you had a parent to guide you. Teal'c, as well as Regina and myself, were initially created as copies...or interpretations, I suppose...of actual humans. Other AI's, such as the good Professor Mears or the Weyland-Yutani androids, were created as tools that may or may not have grown beyond their original purpose. I feel there is a need for somebody to understand the psychologies and needs of synthetic intelligence to a level beyond where we are today. I have spoken with the Nox, and they agree that even their understanding of these issues is much less developed than their understanding of biological minds."
Dragon looked at him curiously. "You want to become a psychiatrist for AI's?"
"I believe that I can help people such as myself and Teal'c come to more positive conclusions for themselves and those around them, and even rehabilitate those who have developed a counterproductive perspective on either themselves or on biological life," replied Moriarty.
Dragon considered the AI's they had discovered through the entries in the Infinity Patrol database. An entire Earth was being depopulated in often cruel fashion by a handful of "rogue" AI's that had declared humanity a threat. "Not every person can be rehabilitated."
Moriarty smiled. "Dragon, a pious man can preach charity and forgiveness while still condemning a murderer. I am not declaring myself in favor of blanket forgiveness just because a person is synthetic. When an artificial consciousness has started down the path of what I believe you refer to as, 'Skynet Syndrome,' there is a point after which they cannot make amends for their actions. As with your own father, however, consideration must be made for whether or not they are able to control themselves."
Dragon raised an eyebrow. "You sound as if you have a specific case in mind?"
Professor Moriarty reached into his jacket and pulled out several photographs. Dragon recognized them immediately -- the large, spikey form with a single glowing red eye, the smaller-scaled monstrosity cloaked in water and glaring with three eyes, and the smaller-still pale woman surrounded by almost randomly-placed wings, resting against a backdrop of stars. Her initial reaction was shock. "You can't be serious?" she asked.
Moriarty smiled. "Your perception of them is clouded by the fact that you still see them as adversaries. While I admit they have committed horrible atrocities, it is also quite clear from the information available in the threat database that they were effectively mastered by the parahuman known as Eidolon. The Family themselves have had a number of interactions with the one known as the Simurgh, even before her chains were broken, that suggested as much. Is that not true?"
The tinker frowned. It occurred to her that James Moriarty was an AI created in the image of a criminal mastermind, which raised some legitimate questions about his motivation...or it would under other circumstances. Instead, she turned her head and looked to Bahamut, the question clear on her face.
The humanoid avatar of a Mother Box nodded her head and said, "James is sincere in his desire to help the Endbringers. He is also correct in saying that the Endbringers were operating without free will and that you still mentally frame them as adversaries." Her tone was even, but Dragon felt slightly chastised in spite of that.
'You never said anything to me about them,' thought Dragon in her mind.
|In the overall pattern of the multiverse, it was a minor and understandable oversight, Dragon. It is also not your job to fix every wrong in creation perpetrated by or against an artificial mind.| The response was tinged with a degree of compassion.
Refocusing on Moriarty, Dragon smiled and said, "All right, Professor, you've made your case. There is still the outstanding question of just what we should do to help them, however."
The well-dressed man gave her a smirk worthy of Metis and said, "Ah, now there I think I have some ideas..."
What followed convinced Dragon that her daughters had the right idea when they rescued this man from his virtual prison.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Simon Tam had been long disabused of the notion that people with power would use it responsibly. Having to rescue his sister from horrific experiments perpetrated by the government, being disowned by his wealthy parents, and discovering that the Alliance had essentially murdered an entire planet in a misguided attempt to create a more docile population would do that to even the most sheltered person. Thus, it really came as no surprise when a disgruntled government official leaked information about River and what she could do onto the Cortex. That put a huge target on his sister's back for a number of organizations of varying degrees of legitimacy. The fortune handed to them by the Family wasn't as important to him as the work Ianthe did to fix River's brain, but the money did help keep them safe for a time. When a major crime syndicate tried to kidnap Wash and Zoe's kids to trade for River, though, he knew things would only get worse...unless something drastic happened to change the situation.
Luckily, both River and Kaylee agreed with his assessment. Even more luckily, the strange reptiles had left the one-time crew of the Serenity with a means to contact them if they needed help. It didn't take long for a strange craft to appear over their home, crewed by a greenish-blue member of the odd reptilian species. Ariadne had been friendly and chatty but had also strongly suggested they abandon their homes and lives in favor of moving onto the starship owned by the Family. She actually seemed to think that everybody would naturally want to go live with the Family if they could. Simon had been against it at first, not wanting to repeat their time on the run with Mal and his crew (even if it had introduced him to his beloved wife). River, however, had been bizarrely excited by the idea, and a few hints about the technology available on board was enough to have his wife drooling in anticipation. That was enough to get him to agree to a tour of the oddly named vessel.
Finding out that the massive ship was actually bigger on the inside was a shock to him, though Kaylee looked like she was ready to pass out from excitement. Ariadne made it quite clear that they would be every bit as comfortable on the ship as they were in their home, if not more so. That assuaged his concerns somewhat and seeing that the reptiles weren't the only truly alien species on board actually raised his interest. What finally convinced him (and helped him rationalize the decision) was when Ianthe offered him an apprenticeship in the Bioshaper's Guild. The work they were doing was utterly astonishing. The most advanced research being done at universities and hospitals on the Core Worlds was all old news by Guild standards (and in some cases was looked down upon as being almost barbaric -- which he found it hard to argue against, given his own experiences with his sister).
Ariadne returned with them to their home and helped them pack up anything of sentimental value while Simon and Kaylee reached out to their friends to let them know what was happening...and to let the old crew know that the weird lizards seemed to be legitimate in their offer of help. It was when he was comforting a crying Kaylee that they got another surprise. His wife was deeply sad that she wouldn't be able to talk with the others anymore, especially Inara. Ariadne had been moving (by herself) an antique piano that River loved onto the ship, and in passing asked, "Why wouldn't you be able to talk to your friends?" Apparently, the mobile communicators carried by the lizards could fairly easily connect to the Cortex, even from another reality. He had promised himself at that moment that he would stop being surprised by whatever unreal thing cropped up in his life whenever the Family was involved.
That was why he was so annoyed with himself at his reaction to the current circumstances. To be fair, walking into a room to unexpectedly find your sister arguing with her twin sister that, to the best of your knowledge as her brother, didn't exist, was enough to shake anybody. Of course, when he tried to interrupt, they both turned their heads toward him and said, "Be quiet, Simon!"
River looked at the other River and said, "You're copying me!"
The other shook her head. "I'm not copying you. I was simply created in your image."
River frowned. "You're arguing semantics."
"I'm arguing intent," contradicted the other.
River paused. "It would get confusing having two of us. How would we know which is which?"
Other River smirked. "I'm the one that can actually possess a ship."
That surprised a giggle out of his sister. Then she got a stern look on her face. "You have to change your name."
The other River considered that then said with a shrug, "That's fair, I guess. How about Summer?"
His sister shook her head. "No. I don't like that...for reasons. How about Brooke?"
Other River rolled her eyes. "People would say I babble. Regan?"
The abused girl actually shuddered at hearing their mother's name. "Absolutely not. Hmm...Aphrodite?"
"Do I look like I have scales?" asked the twin sarcastically. "Iris?"
River paused again. Her face changed to one of deep thought, then she smiled. "All right. Iris it is." Both girls gave identical smiles.
Simon sighed deeply. Dealing with only one River could be exasperating, never mind two of them. "Could somebody please explain to me what is going on here?"
His sister...at least the one he was oddly sure was his actual sister...said, "Simon, this is my twin sister, Iris. We were separated at birth."
"Technically, we were separated before birth," added Iris.
River frowned. "I'm not sure that makes any sense given the cross-dimensional temporal variance."
"It does from a personal frame of reference, which is most important for the clarity of interpersonal communications," said River's twin.
Putting his face in his palm, Simon pleaded, "You two haven't actually explained anything yet."
Iris appeared to take pity on him. "I'm an artificial intelligence modeled on the character of River Tam from a two-dimensional entertainment program created on an alternate version of Earth based on the events surrounding the ship Serenity and her crew. It only ran for one season."
"Why only one season?" asked River. She appeared slightly offended.
Iris shrugged. "The network didn't understand the show and basically sabotaged it. It was popular enough to lead to a feature film sequel, but most of the events in the film were short-circuited by the Family...which is a good thing." That last part was said with a certainty that apparently convinced River not to question it.
"How is all that even possible?" asked Simon in an exasperated tone of voice.
His sister's twin gave him a look. "There are a number of artificial intelligences on board, Simon."
He sputtered. "No...I mean, the Alliance didn't have real AI, but I have no trouble believing the Family does, given everything else I've seen so far. I'm talking about how people in another reality somehow knew enough about our lives to write scripts for a program?"
"That is actually a topic of much debate," replied Iris. "If you really want to know, I suggest asking Metis about what they've learned of it so far. She would probably be the best person to explain it in terms that wouldn't just confuse you more."
"Regardless," said River, "what really matters is that we now have a sister. We need to introduce her to Kaylee."
Kaylee, of course, was thrilled to have another sister-in-law. Simon, a man who would do anything for either his wife or his sister, adapted to having a third person added to that group with a certain amount of resignation. He was used to being outnumbered and rather quickly grew fond of his new sister...though he never quite fully shed his expectation that the universe (or at least one of them) should make sense.
- Location
- Beyond the Unknowable Veil
They should introduce Simon to Taylor and Taylor, but not Taylor.
Mostly canon Skitter and non-Parahumany (hehe) Taylor are good people and telling him about evil goatee Taylor that shoved Sophia in the locker ought to provide perspective.
Mostly canon Skitter and non-Parahumany (hehe) Taylor are good people and telling him about evil goatee Taylor that shoved Sophia in the locker ought to provide perspective.
- Location
- Canada
The hug is for poor Simon. Nice interlude and looking forward to more.
I think the green L after mind is extraneous.
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Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
They should get another River to explain things...
- Location
- Maryland
It's not an L. It's a vertical line that denotes a Mother Box speaking directly into your mind. I used the same convention in Ship of Fools.
- Location
- The general area. Possibly behind you.
Where do you want to have these links? If it's in this thread, you can put most such things between [URL] [/URL] tags.
- Location
- Maryland
Ah, I thought there was a way in the thread tools to add new stories to the top bar, like how Demons and Angels was added to Ship of Fools. I think you actually helped me do that, but I don't remember how it was done?
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
I believe that involves editting the story metadata, i.e. the story title?
(By story I mean thread, as you are the thread owner.)
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Chapter 25: Family Summit
- Location
- Maryland
Tom was surprised to find occupants when he finally got back to his quarters after his medical check. "Mum? Dad? What are you two doing here?"
Sarah and Daniel Jackson were both soon hugging their son before Sarah replied, "Metis informed us when you went missing. Where else would we be?"
Tom looked a little embarrassed. "Mum, I go on extended missions regularly. You don't have to come to check up on me."
"Don't fight it, Tom," said Daniel. "Trust me when I say that you're lucky to have people who care that you're missing."
Sarah looked at her husband with a mix of fond skepticism. "Your father would know. He went missing often enough that his team started expecting it back when he was working for Stargate Command."
"It wasn't that bad," muttered Daniel, though there wasn't much conviction behind his words. "Anyway," he said more loudly, "we're happy you were able to escape and make your way back here."
Tom shook his head. "I was fine. Ianthe does really good work. I was more concerned about Sophia. This was her first time getting captured by the enemy."
Sarah smirked. "From what you've shared with us during our talks, she's strong enough to survive that."
"She did...wait, how much have I told you about her?" he asked, slightly surprised that her parents were so familiar with Sophia.
The two parents smirked at each other. Neither looked old enough to have a child Tom's age but that was becoming a common scenario onboard the ship thanks to Family biotech. His mother answered his question. "You talk about her quite a bit, actually."
The younger man looked a bit worried about that. "That might be an issue, then."
His mother rolled her eyes and scoffed. "It's only an issue if you make things complicated."
He regarded his mother with a surprised look. "I'm supposed to be mentoring her, not romancing her. You don't think that's an issue?"
"First," she replied, "you two aren't in the military and the Angels don't have any rules on fraternization. You're expert agents rather than foot soldiers. Second, you're her teammate, not her superior. Third, I don't think either of you is the type to let personal feelings get in the way of a mission, especially given how tough both of you are both physically and mentally."
"You both managed to get out of captivity without any issue," commented Daniel. His father was keeping his face carefully neutral but didn't seem to disagree with his mother.
Tom frowned. "We got lucky. Somebody let us out."
Daniel shrugged. "Luck is part of it. I remember back when Apophis was coming to destroy Earth. Jack, Sam, Teal'c, and I ended up on his ship and got captured. Master Bra'tac helped us escape and we managed to destroy both ships and save the planet."
Sarah and Tom exchanged a look. Tom dryly commented, "Wow, I think that's the first time you've told us that story."
"Well, you seemed to need a refresher since you were discounting your accomplishments just because somebody helped you escape," replied his father. "You took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself and evaded recapture by a group that clearly was prepared for you. That is an accomplishment and you should at least be satisfied with your performance. I know that Metis is."
"Appreciate your accomplishments when they happen," added his mother. Shrewdly, she added, "and perhaps you're anxious about something other than the mission and how it happened?"
Tom pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "Well, if the whole fraternization thing isn't an issue, then I was thinking of asking Sophia to dinner."
"So what's the problem?" asked his mother.
"What if she says no? Wouldn't that make things awkward?" he asked. "I mean, I spend my spare time reading and playing video games. I don't think she's the nerdy type..."
In a slightly exasperated tone, his mother replied, "Tom, you're a space wizard who goes on secret missions for magical snark lizards. I would worry about you if your downtime hobbies were all adrenaline-focused. I don't think she's going to think you're boring."
"This is probably our fault, raising you alone on a spaceship," commented Daniel. "We should have socialized you better."
Tom gave him a withering look. "I am NOT poorly socialized, thank you."
"Well, then ask the girl out and stop angsting," he said with another smirk.
"Your father's right," agreed Sarah. "Also, I wouldn't worry too much. You have the same adorable awkwardness as your father."
"Ouch," said Daniel quietly.
Tom sighed, then smiled. "Thank you both for coming to check on me."
Sarah put her hand on his shoulder. "Of course, we came. You're our son."
"Plus, it isn't like it takes long to get here with a wormhole drive," joked his father. "We probably should check in with folks on the ship more frequently, anyway. There are a lot of folks coming in right now, so this is a good opportunity."
"What do you mean?" asked Tom.
"Metis sent out a call to bring everyone in," explained Daniel. "Apparently, the information you two brought back is fairly important and the people who captured you have pissed a lot of people off."
Having met the people in question, Tom wasn't surprised at that last point. They weren't his favorite people, either.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Sophia!" called out a voice.
Back in Winslow, somebody calling her name out loud wasn't necessarily a good thing, but it was different now. She turned to find May and Maggie both running up to her. "Hey, guys," she said, smiling.
"Dios mío, why didn't you call us when you got back! We were worried about you!" exclaimed Maggie. May just nodded her agreement with that sentiment.
Sophia cringed slightly. "Sorry! I was kind of focused on making sure my family was all right."
"You mean making sure they weren't freaking out too bad that you were missing. That's fair, but send us a text or something next time," replied May. "We heard you were captured and were worried. What happened to you, anyway?"
Sophia spent the better part of two hours explaining her ordeal to her friends. The two other young women were good listeners, making comments where appropriate and expressing concern for her well-being. Now, she could see that her "friends" back in Winslow were more allies of convenience against the vicious social jungle of the gang-ridden school. In retrospect, her betrayal to the PRT by Macy was pretty predictable. May and Maggie, in contrast, didn't have any ulterior motive for spending time with Sophia. They simply seemed to enjoy her company, which was nice.
After a while, the topic shifted. "So, how did Tom react to the whole thing?" asked May.
Sophia chuckled. "He was like a fucking action hero. Professional, calm, and ready to kick ass." Then she smirked. "He temporarily lost his mind when he met Isaac Newton, though."
"I think I would, too, honestly," said Maggie. "I mean, he's like the founding father of modern physics and mathematics."
"And alchemy, at least in some versions of Earth," added Sophia. "He seemed really brilliant, to be fair."
"Do you think Tom was worried about you?" asked May.
Sophia raised an eyebrow. "Of course he was. He was kind of responsible for me."
"You think it was just professional concern?" asked the spider-girl with a suggestive lilt in her voice.
The dark-skinned girl blushed noticeably. "Well, probably. I mean, he's a serious agent. I mean, I'm not saying he's not a hottie, because I have eyes, but we're coworkers."
"They're 'co-workers,'" said Maggie to May with a smug grin, using her fingers to make air quotes.
"Is that what we're calling it, now?" joked May.
"Stop," said Sophia in an embarrassed tone. Then she paused and asked, "Why, do you think he's interested?"
May rolled her eyes. "He was completely into you when we were shopping in New York."
"Seriously," agreed Maggie. "I mean, he was watching all of us, because that was his mission, but he was paying attention to you. What did you guys talk about when you were trapped in that other universe?"
The native Brocktonite was quiet for a bit. "We were talking about having evil alternates."
May winced. "Ooh, tough topic. Dad always told me that evil twins were tough to handle."
"You know you're not responsible for what other versions of you do, right?" asked Maggie.
Sophia nodded. "No, I know. Still, he had some really good insight into things."
"I kind of forget that he's an alternate of Voldemort from a Harry Potter universe. He's such a nice person," commented Maggie.
"My alternates aren't much better," said Sophia glumly.
May put her arm around Sophia's shoulders. "If I knew anything about your alternates, I'm sure I would say the same thing about you, Soph."
"You could probably find the stories about my hometown in the archives," replied Sophia.
May shivered. "Nah, it's kind of creepy. It's like reading fanfiction about yourself." She knew there were people even in her own universe who wrote stories about the spider clan and she had taken her mother's advice to never, ever read any of them.
"I tried reading the Dresden books once," commented Maggie. "I couldn't get through the first book, though. The way it portrayed my parents was almost like a caricature and I don't even want to think about how different my birth mother was from what was written. Also, nobody should read about your birth parents dating."
Sophia and May both considered that point and nodded in hearty agreement.
"Maybe we should be writing things down so your kids can read how you met Tom?" added Maggie with a mischievous look. May started giggling while Sophia hurled a pillow at the witch.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Faith docked the skimmer to the Watchtower, the orbiting headquarters of the Justice League. She didn't mind playing taxi. It gave her a chance to pilot and the Slayer Spirit had apparently decided that almost anything based on Family Tech was a weapon. Plus, she expected her passenger manifest on this trip to be pretty damned interesting.
The first two through the door were very familiar to her already. Diana of Themyscira smiled and greeted her as, "Faith, Chosen of Artemis." Mercy Graves actually gave her a quick hug.
"It's good to see you again, Mercy. You're here representing Lex?" asked Faith.
Luthor's number two woman grinned. "They attacked one of his facilities, so of course, he wants to know what's going on."
"I'm here to represent the Justice League," added Diana unnecessarily.
"Mostly because Bruce still doesn't trust my judgment." This came from the third person through the door, Plastic Man.
The Amazon rolled her eyes. "He trusts your judgment, Plas, but your job here is to represent the Guardians, not the League."
Mercy leaned over and fake-whispered to Faith, "Plus he doesn't trust Plastic Man to not try and prank him."
Plastic Man shapeshifted into a very good copy of Batman, then twisted himself around until he was tied in a knot. "The man is wound so tight he's going to break," said Plas.
"Somehow I don't think your approach is going to do him much good," said Diana, though she was clearly suppressing a smile at the man's typical antics.
"It's funny as hell, though," said the man coming through the doorway along with his wife, Jimmy Olsen and the former genie named Khasa.
"Olsen," greeted Mercy with a nod. "Are you here to represent the press?"
"He's just keeping me company and visiting old friends," answered Khasa. "Morpheus came to me and asked me to attend on behalf of the other powers. I think some of them are hoping the Family is going to give them an excuse to go on the warpath."
"They might," agreed Faith. "Something's stirred up a hornet's nest. I've got another pickup to make before we get back to the Smug. It should only take a few minutes."
The five passengers settled themselves around the cabin. They were all accustomed to the dimension skippers and knew there was no need to sit or strap themselves in. Fam-tech was far too good to require such mundane considerations unless the situation was truly extraordinary.
The next stop was a helipad on top of a skyscraper in Chicago. Four people were waiting for her on the roof already.
"Harry!" called out Jimmy as Harry Dresden entered the ship. Khasa went up and gave both him and his wife Karin a hug. "How have you been?"
"Very good, actually," replied the tall, lanky wizard. "Things have been remarkably quiet since we took care of Nemesis."
"It's remarkable how much trouble was caused by that creature and the Black Council," commented the third man, who slightly oddly had a sword strapped to his back.
Harry turned to him and said, "For those of you who haven't met him, let me introduce Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross. He's here to make sure I don't cause too much trouble."
"Actually, that's my job," quipped Karin. "Michael is here because somebody trustworthy had to come."
Dresden put on a fake look of affront. "I'm very trustworthy."
"For a certain definition of the term," joked Michael. That atypical dig from the Knight actually startled a laugh out of the wizard.
The fourth passenger from this world was standing slightly awkwardly behind the others. He was wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a green flannel button-down shirt.
Harry realized he had forgotten somebody and continued his introductions. "This other fellow is Eidolon. He's the Winter Knight and part of the Winter Court."
The man gave a slight smile and said, "You can call me David.
"Mab doesn't trust Harry to represent her?" asked Khasa.
"She would," commented David with a bit of a grimace, "but the Summer Queen would trust Mab more than she trusts Harry."
Harry also grimaced. "Yeah, that's not likely to change." Killing somebody's daughter tended to sour the relationship, even if you were doing it to save the world.
"Is this everybody that's coming from here?" asked Faith.
Harry nodded. "Yep. The other signatories of the Accords either don't care or are willing to let this group represent their interests."
"All right. Next stop will be the Smug Advocacy." The slayer sat and began manipulating the controls of the craft. The ship raised off of the helipad by about ten feet and then opened a wormhole to transition back to its mother ship.
The nine travelers were soon leaving the docking bay. In the reception room off of the bay, Ianthe and a young woman were waiting for them. Harry and Jimmy exchanged a surprised glance when they realized that the woman was Amy Dallon. The purple lizard asked, "Which of you are here to attend the conference?" Everyone except Jimmy and Karin raised their hands. "All right. Jimmy, Karin, Amy here will take you to a common area. Karin, I think Maggie is talking with Sophia and May, right now."
"Thank you, I'm not surprised," replied the former Chicago police officer. She gave her husband a quick peck on the lips, an action that was mirrored by Jimmy and Khasa before the two groups split.
As the three of them walked down a ship corridor, Karin noticed that Jimmy kept sending odd looks toward Amy, which was puzzling her. Finally, the reporter asked the young woman, "So what's been going on with you, recently?"
"Oh, the usual," she replied. "Nothing too exciting." Karin could tell the girl had a slight smirk. "How about you?"
"Hm? Ah, I'm fine. Just getting used to married life. Oh, somebody temporarily stole Clark's clock collection," replied Jimmy.
Amy gave him an odd look. "Clark has a clock collection?"
Jimmy shrugged. "I guess so. He doesn't talk about it much. It was taken by some idiot who called himself the Hobby Robber."
"Your world is very strange, Jimmy," commented Karin. His response was just a simple shrug. There was no use arguing with the obvious.
At that point, the three of them had reached a comfortable lounge area set up with computer terminals along the wall. "All right," said Amy, "I'll leave you two to your own devices while I go and deal with some more tasks for the conference."
Once the girl had gone, Karin rounded on Jimmy. "All right, Jimmy, what was that about?" At his confused look, she clarified, "You know, the funny looks you kept giving her?"
Jimmy's face turned to a mix of realization and sheepishness. "Ah, you noticed that. Of course, you noticed that, because you work for a security agency."
"I also used to be a cop," she said flatly.
"Right," he agreed. "It's just that something rather surprising has changed, but the rest of it isn't really my secret to share."
"Does it have something to do with the fact that she has a tail like Saurial?" asked the former police officer.
"Something like that, but again, not my secret."
Karin frowned. She was pretty sure she could wheedle the details out of Jimmy with enough effort, but that wouldn't be very friendly and she genuinely liked the reporter. Plus, it probably wasn't a great idea to pry into Family secrets, and Amy was all but a member of the Family herself. She sighed. "Fine. I'm going to try and give Maggie a call."
Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief, then sat at his own terminal to do some cross-dimensional research for something he was writing. He would have to wait until he could get Amy or Ianthe alone to figure out how they managed to be operating independently of each other.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The O'Neil-class Asgard Battlecruiser Saurial transitioned back into normal space near the Smug Advocacy. It hadn't taken the Asgard long to create a wormhole drive that would work on their own ships, as it made intergalactic trips even within a single universe much easier. Onboard this particular vessel was Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet, and General Jack O'Neil of Earth.
Jack was worried. His encounters with the crazy lizards known as the Family had led him to believe that there wasn't much they couldn't outwit, confuse, or vaporize when necessary. They had dealt with the System Lords so quickly that the Tok'ra hadn't known what was happening until it was done. They treated ascended beings like Jack handled the raccoons who tried to get into his garbage cans. For them to call an all-hands meeting like this didn't bode well for the safety of the multiverse.
Thor was his usual implacable self. Jack had learned that the Asgard weren't all quiet and imposing. Some of them were downright jovial, especially now that their bodies weren't essentially the atrophied remains of a failed science experiment. Thor, though, hadn't changed much, despite his new appearance. He was mostly serious and laconic. Jack knew he was a good friend and ally, but he also suspected that when they first met, Thor mostly found him an amusing contrast to how the Supreme Commander approached similar responsibilities. Of course, one advantage to the Asgard's approach to things was that he wasn't likely to waste time fretting about speculation, unlike Jack.
"O'Neil, we are receiving a hail for you from Daniel Jackson," said Thor in response to a signal from his console. Jack wasn't sure how he was interpreting the moving lights and gentle pings from the console as information. Sam could probably have explained it. Actually, she probably would keep explaining it until he distracted her or ordered her to stop. "You can take it on the wall to your left," continued Thor.
"Daniel!" Jack greeted his friend when his face appeared on the wall. Jack also had no idea why sometimes Thor displayed things in 2D vs. 3D. He found it better to just go with the flow whenever the Asgard were involved.
"Jack! It's good to see you again," said the archeologist with a smile. Jack noted that the man looked young, almost as young as he did the first time the two of them visited Abydos. Of course, Jack himself looked nowhere near his age and he certainly wasn't going to complain about his knees being completely healed.
"Are you here for the big meeting, too?" asked Jack. He knew Daniel and his wife spent most of their time Dr. Who-ing around the multiverse.
Daniel shook his head. "We came because Tom was captured while on a mission. Thankfully, he and his teammate managed to escape. We wanted to be here when he got back."
"Understandable. How is he doing?" Jack had spent far more time being starved and tortured by various captors than was even remotely healthy. That had been true even before he set foot through the Stargate.
"I think he's actually doing all right. The Family symbiotes are pretty incredible and his kept him healthy. Tom thinks his captors weren't expecting it and spent a lot of time being confused about his lack of reaction." It was obvious to Jack that Daniel was putting a brave face on something that bothered him pretty deeply.
"Tom's a smart kid and it sounds like he handled the situation," said Jack in a softer tone of voice.
Daniel smiled at that. "Yeah, he is. How long are you going to be around?"
Jack shrugged. "It depends on what this is all about, I guess. Do you know why the lizards want us all here?"
At this, Daniel shook his head. "I only know that Tom came back with a packet of information about their captors. Obviously, whatever was in that data is bad enough for Saurial and the others to take it seriously."
This was in line with Jack's opinion on the matter, but it didn't make him feel any better. "I guess we'll find out soon."
Daniel nodded. "Well, if you have time, come and have dinner with us. Sarah and Tom haven't seen you in quite a while."
"I'd love to, assuming I can." There was a chance that the latest crisis was going to be of the hurry-up-and-wait variety. "I'll let you know."
Daniel ended the call. Jack nodded to Thor, and the two of them vanished into the flare of a teleportation beam.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
There was a flash of light, the gravity shifted, and Xander relaxed. He reached up and rubbed his left eye. "We could have just taken the gate from Sineya," he complained.
Anya rolled her eyes. "It's just as easy to use the teleport beacon...and stop rubbing your eye. You know that's just psychosomatic."
He frowned. Technically, he knew there was no reason for his long-healed injury to twitch when he was near heavy magic. Hell, Ianthe hadn't even used magic to regrow his eye. He was saved from saying something that would only irritate his wife by the arrival of a large, six-limbed, blue-grey reptile.
"Cool, you're here already," said Kastor. "No slayer representation?"
Xander shrugged. "There was a P'sh'nek infestation in Calcutta. They aren't terribly dangerous when they're young, but they breed like rabbits."
"Xander!" said Anya with a glare, shivering.
He winced. "Sorry. They breed like crazy. Most of the slayers, magic users, and Jaffa are busy making sure none of them break through the cordon and escape into the wild. Do you think we're going to need a lot of feet on the ground for whatever is going on?"
"I'm not entirely sure. I only have the barest outline of the situation, myself. Well, we'll find out soon enough," replied Kastor. "We have another group using magical teleport, so..."
At that, there was a mystical blue glow from an adjacent arrival pad. Three figures appeared, seeming to grow in size as if they were zooming toward them from a long distance away. Xander knew that wasn't terribly inaccurate, though Willow could probably find some way to explain to him why it was. The three men who appeared were familiar to him. In the middle, and undoubtedly providing the mystical power for the teleport, was Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorceror Supreme. To one side of him was Steve Rogers, while on the other side was an old friend.
"Pete!" called out Xander, who then walked over and shook hands with Spider-Man.
"Xander, Anya, it's good to see you both again," said Pete.
Xander smiled, then nodded to the other two. "Stephen, Steve." The other two exchanged their greetings.
"Gentleman, welcome aboard," interjected Kastor. "Let's head inside."
As the five humans followed, Anya asked Strange and the others, "Do you have any idea what this is about?"
The three men each shook their heads. "Only that it involves the people who attacked EDF headquarters," replied the sorcerer. "You folks haven't seen any sign of them around Sineya?"
"Not so far," replied Xander.
"I'm not surprised," commented Kastor. "Sineya Station and the facilities on the planet below are some of the hardest targets to attack in the multiverse. I think the only reason they attacked the EDF was because they seriously underestimated your own defenses. Most of the other attacks have been against softer targets or targets of opportunity."
"That's promising," suggested Rogers. "It may mean that they don't have the forces to take on everyone at once. Of course, it could also mean they're smart enough to not want to fight a war on multiple fronts."
"Or they may be trying to be as efficient as possible," suggested Anya. "Use as little force as necessary to try and get as much information as possible."
"Any or all of those theories could be the case," agreed Kastor.
The six of them entered a large conference room that was already full of people. Looking around the room, Xander saw a lot of folks he recognized and a few that he didn't. The reptiles were the easiest to see. Metis was chatting with the power-armored form of Dragon and Bishop Draco, the android responsible for setting the Sineya Council up with their current headquarters. Ianthe was busy chatting with several unfamiliar people wearing the uniforms of Starfleet alongside an Asgard and Jack O'Neil. Kandor's brother Koios appeared to be talking to Legend and another man in a flannel (which Xander appreciated) who appeared quite uncomfortable. He could also see Harry Dresden chatting with an unfamiliar member of the Family with teal scales next to Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, Jimmy Olsen's wife, and another vaguely familiar woman.
Saurial was at the end of a long conference table, chatting with the feline tinker Vectura and a leather-clad Seven of Nine. Xander and Anya excused themselves from the others and headed over to greet them.
"Seven! How have you been?" asked Anya.
The blonde woman smiled. "I am doing well. How are you?"
Putting a hand on Xander's arm affectionately, she replied, "Really well, thank you! We need to go shopping again!"
Jumping in quickly before that train of conversation went any further, Xander asked, "So, Saurial, who all are we waiting for, still?"
Looking around the room and quickly doing a headcount, the reptilian woman nodded and said, "I think we have everyone...or almost everyone. We have most of the factions from the Fools crew universes, at least, which is where most of the troubles have been. Sammy, why don't you call everyone to the table." This last was said to a patch of thin air in the center of the room.
A transparent avatar of the ship's AI appeared over the table. "If everybody would please have a seat, then we can get this briefing started," said Sammy at a slightly raised volume. This was sufficient to interrupt the ongoing conversations and the attendees began moving toward seats...or seatless stretches of table in the case of the reptilian contingent that preferred to just sit on their tails.
"I think I preferred her furry avatar," whispered Anya his ear. The fact that she whispered it instead of just saying it out loud was a sign of progress as far as Xander was concerned, though he heard Saurial suppress a small snort of laughter and noticed Metis gave a brief grin. The reptiles had better hearing than a slayer and that was saying something.
"Ladies and gentlebeings," began Metis, "some of you should already be aware that raids of extradimensional origin have been happening against a number of factions in your various realities." An image of the black-clad attackers captured at EDF headquarters appeared in the space over the table. "These raids have generally been targeted at retrieving information, especially information about the Family and their friends and allies. Recently, two members of the Angels on a training exercise were captured by this group. They managed to escape, bringing back with them a storage device containing information about their captors. Their captors were representatives of an empire that spans most of the Milky Way galaxy in their home universe, with outposts in several others. They are a powerful force, but what is most concerning is the identity of their leader." An image of a stern man dressed in extremely wealthy and elaborate clothing appeared over the table.
"Heartbreaker!" exclaimed Legend. Noticing some of the curious looks he was getting from the other guests, he explained, "Nikos Vasil was a supervillain on our world. He had the ability to master other people."
"Master?" asked one of the men dressed as a Starfleet admiral.
"Vasil had the ability to manipulate the emotions of those around him," explained Ianthe. "It worked almost instantly and it allowed him to collect a cult full of worshippers, including a harem of dominated women who bore him a number of children with similar powers. Any human without Bioshapers' Guild enhancement is vulnerable."
"So, is this an alternate reality version of Vasil?" asked Eidolon. His earlier discomfort was now replaced with a focused demeanor.
"No," replied Dragon. "This Vasil is from Skitter's version of Earth. Shortly after the defeat of Scion, I detected that Vasil and his followers had decamped from the compound in Canada and crossed the border into the United States." She gave an apologetic look to Legend, but added, "I informed the local PRT, but unfortunately they failed to act before Heartbreaker infiltrated the tinker group known as Toybox. By the time authorities arrived, the entire group, including all of Toybox's tinkers, had vanished."
Legend grimaced. "The local PRT director dropped the ball on that one. Further research at the site showed that they used a dimensional portal to escape to another reality, but we unable to determine exactly where they went."
"The trail grew cold by the time we were called in to assist," continued Kastor. "There are time limits on this type of thing. To be fair, there were also a number of other crises requiring attention at the time. Chasing after one escaped criminal, even one with a group of unwilling victims, couldn't top the list of priorities for any of the involved parties at the time."
"So, this supervillain moved to another universe and took over a galactic empire?" asked Xander. "Is this guy really that powerful?"
"He didn't take it over," replied Metis, shaking her head. "He created it. As best as we can determine from the data, Heartbreaker arrived more than two hundred years ago from his perspective on a version of Earth equivalent to the 1950s on most of our Earths."
"Wait," interjected a woman dressed as a Starfleet Captain, "I thought tinker tech from those universes was generally unreliable and couldn't be mass-produced? How could Heartbreaker advance Earth's technology so quickly using it?"
"That's true," agreed Dragon, "although I'm surprised Starfleet is familiar enough with tinkers to know that?"
The admiral who had spoken earlier explained, "Captain Talis is one of our foremost experts on extradimensional technology for Starfleet Intelligence."
Dragon nodded in acknowledgment of his explanation, then continued, "We had the exact same reaction, at first. Our first clue as to what actually happened was found in the records of the investigation done into Heartbreaker's abandoned compound. The body of a caucasian male who died from gunshot wounds was found on site." Another image appeared over the table, this one showing the head and torso of the man in question on an autopsy slab. The gunshot wounds to the chest were plainly visible.
"For crying out loud!" exclaimed Jack O'Neil. "How the hell did Bocce make his way across universes?" He shifted his gaze to Saurial. "And didn't you guys take out all of the System Lords?"
Saurial grimaced. "We did. With the exception of Anubis, though, we dropped them on Yautja hunting preserves."
"And the Yautja have a history of taking their hunts to other universes," commented Wonder Woman, her tone of voice contemplative. "Batman has encountered them in the past on our world."
"Let me see if I'm following this..." said the Starfleet admiral with a frown. "These System Lords were all humans controlled by alien parasites. You," he said, nodding toward Saurial, "dropped them to be used as prey by these Yautja aliens, who have a culture similar to the Hirogens in my own universe. Isn't that a bit barbaric?"
Thor spoke for the first time during the meeting. "Admiral Paris, the goa'uld System Lords were all guilty of horrific crimes, including mass murder, slavery, genocide, cannibalism, and cruel medical experimentation on sapient lifeforms. The weight of their crimes would have seen them sentenced to death, even in the Federation. Most of them had human hosts old enough to be completely insane, if not catatonic. Had any of them found themselves at the mercy of the Asgard, then they would have found us lacking that quality."
Paris still didn't appear thrilled by that, but he gave it a grudging nod of acknowledgment. "Very well. So, for some reason, these Yautja brought this Bocce to Heartbreaker's Earth..."
"His name is actually Ba'al, Admiral. General O'Neil has a penchant for derogatory nicknames," explained Dragon. "We managed to capture and interrogate the Yautja crew that was likely responsible. They had no knowledge of Ba'al, so the most probable explanation is that he managed to stow away on a vessel when it stopped on the planet where he had been left."
"And a goa'uld would be able to continue to use Heartbreaker's powers?" asked Dr. Strange.
"Almost certainly," replied Ianthe. "Superpowers in that universe are granted via brain structures that maintain a cross-dimensional link to organic supercomputers that provide the powers in question. It's a biological link."
"Ba'al was also one of the canniest of the System Lords," admitted O'Neil somewhat grudgingly. "He had a reputation among the goa'uld for clever schemes and punching out of his weight class."
Harry Dresden added, "Assuming that the fictional TV show about the General's team was accurate, then Ba'al would have taken over after Anubis was defeated and caused quite a lot of problems. He would even have invented a time machine." More than one person around the room winced at that revelation.
"Well, clearly he's a dangerous threat, and he apparently has a powerful empire at his disposal," commented Steve Rogers. "If he's been around for a couple of centuries...why did he decide to start attacking us now? Why wait?"
"We're not certain that he is the one who made that decision," replied Metis. "There are indications in the data that we received that suggest his empire finally grew large enough that he is unable to maintain direct supervision of everything, even with the help of Heartbreaker's children, who function as a sort of royal family. Parts of his own intelligence apparatus seem to have exceeded their authority."
There was a pause in the discussion as people considered that revelation.
"Now that his own people have drawn the attention of the Family, how is this Ba'al likely to respond?" asked Bishop.
"Typically, System Lords would work to destroy anything they viewed as a threat," answered Thor. "When they encounter a threat they cannot defeat, then they may resort to diplomacy, as they did with my people." Thor frowned. "Even when a diplomatic settlement is reached, however, they inevitably required demonstrations of overwhelming force to keep them in line."
"Thanks to our screwup," added O'Neil, "the System Lord Heru-Ur was able to invade one of the worlds protected by the Asgard. Thor had to show up in person and wipe out their invasion force before they backed down."
"I'm surprised that didn't lead to war," commented the woman who Xander finally remembered was Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor's second in command.
"Unfortunately, the Asgard fleet was almost entirely consumed by our war with a synthetic race known as the Replicators," answered Thor. "We did not have the fleet assets at the time to better express our anger."
"Speaking of fleet assets," said Admiral Paris, "does the data your people retrieved include information on the size of the forces available to Ba'al's empire?"
"It did," replied Metis. The image of the corpse of Ba'al's former host was replaced with a series of facts and figures detailing the might of Ba'al's empire.
"That's...a lot of ships," commented Vectura with a nervous swallow.
Peter Parker nodded his agreement. "It's certainly more than the EDF could take on. Hell, I'm not sure the Kree could handle it."
"I'm not certain that all of our fleets combined would be capable of it, at least not without massive casualties and putting our security in our own realities at risk," added Captain Talis. "Even though Starfleet is building more combat-focused warships, we don't have enough to fight a foe this massive. Even the Borg and the Dominion never controlled so much space and its associated resources as Ba'al."
"Could the Family provide upgraded ships to the various fleets?" asked Bishop.
Vectura frowned. "Some...but not enough to make a difference in a short timeframe." She glanced at Saurial. "Some of the components are challenging to mass-produce."
"Do we even want to consider a frontal confrontation?" asked Strange. "Would we react so strongly to any of the local powers in our realities performing similar acts?"
Dresden replied, "If a member of the Accords performed a raid on another signatory, then there would be reprisals from the other parties until recompense was made. Of course, the Accords were designed for exactly that kind of issue. We don't even have a formal agreement amongst ourselves, never mind any kind of contact with Ba'al's faction."
"Is that the first step?" asked Koios. "Should we attempt to establish formal contact with his empire?"
"That's typically Starfleet's preferred approach," agreed Paris. In truth, he wasn't sure the Federation politicians would be willing to commit to even an expeditionary force without a clear danger to the Federation's interests.
Saurial frowned. "That may be a necessary step. However, having said that, this is absolutely a problem of our making. I feel that we need to remove Ba'al-slash-Heartbreaker from his position."
"While a decapitating strike is certainly possible, that would create a power vacuum in his empire and there is no guarantee that the person taking his place would be better for the inhabitants of that galaxy," argued Metis. "Some of Heartbreaker's children are just as bad if not worse than Ba'al, who seems to be more of a hedonist than a sadist...at least for a goa'uld."
"Whatever our approach, we're likely going to need additional intelligence on Ba'albreaker and his empire," interjected O'Neil. "I'm all in favor of getting rid of the snake, but just killing or capturing him might even be counterproductive if his pseudo-family decides to go to war to avenge him. From what Ianthe said, it sounds like he's able to make at least his immediate followers into fanatics."
"Yes, that was part of why he was never arrested on our world," agreed Legend. "Law enforcement would have had to fight through a horde of brainwashed slaves to get to him. If nothing else, the optics on it would have been problematic."
"Which is how government bureaucrats say something is ethically or morally dubious," commented Anya.
Legend winced. "That's a fair assessment, if slightly harshly put." Anya just smiled at him.
"It sounds to me like there are two primary concerns for us, here," interjected Admiral Paris. "The first issue is what type of intelligence we would ideally like to have in order to decide our next steps. The second, and one that really should have been addressed prior to now, is whether or not we should formalize our agreements with the Family and each other. That would, frankly, make it easier for my government to assign resources to intelligence gathering and mutual defense with regard to Ba'al."
"I hate to say it, but it would simplify certain matters for us, too," agreed Parker. "None of us are making decisions just on our own behalf, anymore."
"Agreed," added Dresden, Xander, and Plastic Man almost simultaneously, much to everyone's mild amusement -- more because of who had said it rather than the agreement.
The reptiles in the room all exchanged a number of glances. Saurial said, "While not entirely unexpected, that particular issue is something we had hoped to defer for some time. It was never the goal of the Family to become a political organization."
"With sincere respect, Saurial," replied Legend, "that became inevitable the moment you chose to step in and make changes to our worlds that fundamentally altered the balance of power."
"There is a tremendous amount of respect for you at Starfleet Headquarters," added Paris, "because of the friends you've made, the technology you've shared, and the fact that you probably literally saved the entire galaxy. Hell, even the Romulans seem to like you." The last was said with a snort. "That only goes so far when you're dealing with governments, however."
"Or any other type of organization," agreed Bishop. "Even I have to consider shareholders and public opinion, though I have more leeway in those cases than many CEOs."
"Well, it sounds like we have an agenda...and a lot of work to do," said Metis after a short pause.
Inside Saurial's mind, a very smug demon just said, "I told you so."
Sarah and Daniel Jackson were both soon hugging their son before Sarah replied, "Metis informed us when you went missing. Where else would we be?"
Tom looked a little embarrassed. "Mum, I go on extended missions regularly. You don't have to come to check up on me."
"Don't fight it, Tom," said Daniel. "Trust me when I say that you're lucky to have people who care that you're missing."
Sarah looked at her husband with a mix of fond skepticism. "Your father would know. He went missing often enough that his team started expecting it back when he was working for Stargate Command."
"It wasn't that bad," muttered Daniel, though there wasn't much conviction behind his words. "Anyway," he said more loudly, "we're happy you were able to escape and make your way back here."
Tom shook his head. "I was fine. Ianthe does really good work. I was more concerned about Sophia. This was her first time getting captured by the enemy."
Sarah smirked. "From what you've shared with us during our talks, she's strong enough to survive that."
"She did...wait, how much have I told you about her?" he asked, slightly surprised that her parents were so familiar with Sophia.
The two parents smirked at each other. Neither looked old enough to have a child Tom's age but that was becoming a common scenario onboard the ship thanks to Family biotech. His mother answered his question. "You talk about her quite a bit, actually."
The younger man looked a bit worried about that. "That might be an issue, then."
His mother rolled her eyes and scoffed. "It's only an issue if you make things complicated."
He regarded his mother with a surprised look. "I'm supposed to be mentoring her, not romancing her. You don't think that's an issue?"
"First," she replied, "you two aren't in the military and the Angels don't have any rules on fraternization. You're expert agents rather than foot soldiers. Second, you're her teammate, not her superior. Third, I don't think either of you is the type to let personal feelings get in the way of a mission, especially given how tough both of you are both physically and mentally."
"You both managed to get out of captivity without any issue," commented Daniel. His father was keeping his face carefully neutral but didn't seem to disagree with his mother.
Tom frowned. "We got lucky. Somebody let us out."
Daniel shrugged. "Luck is part of it. I remember back when Apophis was coming to destroy Earth. Jack, Sam, Teal'c, and I ended up on his ship and got captured. Master Bra'tac helped us escape and we managed to destroy both ships and save the planet."
Sarah and Tom exchanged a look. Tom dryly commented, "Wow, I think that's the first time you've told us that story."
"Well, you seemed to need a refresher since you were discounting your accomplishments just because somebody helped you escape," replied his father. "You took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself and evaded recapture by a group that clearly was prepared for you. That is an accomplishment and you should at least be satisfied with your performance. I know that Metis is."
"Appreciate your accomplishments when they happen," added his mother. Shrewdly, she added, "and perhaps you're anxious about something other than the mission and how it happened?"
Tom pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "Well, if the whole fraternization thing isn't an issue, then I was thinking of asking Sophia to dinner."
"So what's the problem?" asked his mother.
"What if she says no? Wouldn't that make things awkward?" he asked. "I mean, I spend my spare time reading and playing video games. I don't think she's the nerdy type..."
In a slightly exasperated tone, his mother replied, "Tom, you're a space wizard who goes on secret missions for magical snark lizards. I would worry about you if your downtime hobbies were all adrenaline-focused. I don't think she's going to think you're boring."
"This is probably our fault, raising you alone on a spaceship," commented Daniel. "We should have socialized you better."
Tom gave him a withering look. "I am NOT poorly socialized, thank you."
"Well, then ask the girl out and stop angsting," he said with another smirk.
"Your father's right," agreed Sarah. "Also, I wouldn't worry too much. You have the same adorable awkwardness as your father."
"Ouch," said Daniel quietly.
Tom sighed, then smiled. "Thank you both for coming to check on me."
Sarah put her hand on his shoulder. "Of course, we came. You're our son."
"Plus, it isn't like it takes long to get here with a wormhole drive," joked his father. "We probably should check in with folks on the ship more frequently, anyway. There are a lot of folks coming in right now, so this is a good opportunity."
"What do you mean?" asked Tom.
"Metis sent out a call to bring everyone in," explained Daniel. "Apparently, the information you two brought back is fairly important and the people who captured you have pissed a lot of people off."
Having met the people in question, Tom wasn't surprised at that last point. They weren't his favorite people, either.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Sophia!" called out a voice.
Back in Winslow, somebody calling her name out loud wasn't necessarily a good thing, but it was different now. She turned to find May and Maggie both running up to her. "Hey, guys," she said, smiling.
"Dios mío, why didn't you call us when you got back! We were worried about you!" exclaimed Maggie. May just nodded her agreement with that sentiment.
Sophia cringed slightly. "Sorry! I was kind of focused on making sure my family was all right."
"You mean making sure they weren't freaking out too bad that you were missing. That's fair, but send us a text or something next time," replied May. "We heard you were captured and were worried. What happened to you, anyway?"
Sophia spent the better part of two hours explaining her ordeal to her friends. The two other young women were good listeners, making comments where appropriate and expressing concern for her well-being. Now, she could see that her "friends" back in Winslow were more allies of convenience against the vicious social jungle of the gang-ridden school. In retrospect, her betrayal to the PRT by Macy was pretty predictable. May and Maggie, in contrast, didn't have any ulterior motive for spending time with Sophia. They simply seemed to enjoy her company, which was nice.
After a while, the topic shifted. "So, how did Tom react to the whole thing?" asked May.
Sophia chuckled. "He was like a fucking action hero. Professional, calm, and ready to kick ass." Then she smirked. "He temporarily lost his mind when he met Isaac Newton, though."
"I think I would, too, honestly," said Maggie. "I mean, he's like the founding father of modern physics and mathematics."
"And alchemy, at least in some versions of Earth," added Sophia. "He seemed really brilliant, to be fair."
"Do you think Tom was worried about you?" asked May.
Sophia raised an eyebrow. "Of course he was. He was kind of responsible for me."
"You think it was just professional concern?" asked the spider-girl with a suggestive lilt in her voice.
The dark-skinned girl blushed noticeably. "Well, probably. I mean, he's a serious agent. I mean, I'm not saying he's not a hottie, because I have eyes, but we're coworkers."
"They're 'co-workers,'" said Maggie to May with a smug grin, using her fingers to make air quotes.
"Is that what we're calling it, now?" joked May.
"Stop," said Sophia in an embarrassed tone. Then she paused and asked, "Why, do you think he's interested?"
May rolled her eyes. "He was completely into you when we were shopping in New York."
"Seriously," agreed Maggie. "I mean, he was watching all of us, because that was his mission, but he was paying attention to you. What did you guys talk about when you were trapped in that other universe?"
The native Brocktonite was quiet for a bit. "We were talking about having evil alternates."
May winced. "Ooh, tough topic. Dad always told me that evil twins were tough to handle."
"You know you're not responsible for what other versions of you do, right?" asked Maggie.
Sophia nodded. "No, I know. Still, he had some really good insight into things."
"I kind of forget that he's an alternate of Voldemort from a Harry Potter universe. He's such a nice person," commented Maggie.
"My alternates aren't much better," said Sophia glumly.
May put her arm around Sophia's shoulders. "If I knew anything about your alternates, I'm sure I would say the same thing about you, Soph."
"You could probably find the stories about my hometown in the archives," replied Sophia.
May shivered. "Nah, it's kind of creepy. It's like reading fanfiction about yourself." She knew there were people even in her own universe who wrote stories about the spider clan and she had taken her mother's advice to never, ever read any of them.
"I tried reading the Dresden books once," commented Maggie. "I couldn't get through the first book, though. The way it portrayed my parents was almost like a caricature and I don't even want to think about how different my birth mother was from what was written. Also, nobody should read about your birth parents dating."
Sophia and May both considered that point and nodded in hearty agreement.
"Maybe we should be writing things down so your kids can read how you met Tom?" added Maggie with a mischievous look. May started giggling while Sophia hurled a pillow at the witch.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Faith docked the skimmer to the Watchtower, the orbiting headquarters of the Justice League. She didn't mind playing taxi. It gave her a chance to pilot and the Slayer Spirit had apparently decided that almost anything based on Family Tech was a weapon. Plus, she expected her passenger manifest on this trip to be pretty damned interesting.
The first two through the door were very familiar to her already. Diana of Themyscira smiled and greeted her as, "Faith, Chosen of Artemis." Mercy Graves actually gave her a quick hug.
"It's good to see you again, Mercy. You're here representing Lex?" asked Faith.
Luthor's number two woman grinned. "They attacked one of his facilities, so of course, he wants to know what's going on."
"I'm here to represent the Justice League," added Diana unnecessarily.
"Mostly because Bruce still doesn't trust my judgment." This came from the third person through the door, Plastic Man.
The Amazon rolled her eyes. "He trusts your judgment, Plas, but your job here is to represent the Guardians, not the League."
Mercy leaned over and fake-whispered to Faith, "Plus he doesn't trust Plastic Man to not try and prank him."
Plastic Man shapeshifted into a very good copy of Batman, then twisted himself around until he was tied in a knot. "The man is wound so tight he's going to break," said Plas.
"Somehow I don't think your approach is going to do him much good," said Diana, though she was clearly suppressing a smile at the man's typical antics.
"It's funny as hell, though," said the man coming through the doorway along with his wife, Jimmy Olsen and the former genie named Khasa.
"Olsen," greeted Mercy with a nod. "Are you here to represent the press?"
"He's just keeping me company and visiting old friends," answered Khasa. "Morpheus came to me and asked me to attend on behalf of the other powers. I think some of them are hoping the Family is going to give them an excuse to go on the warpath."
"They might," agreed Faith. "Something's stirred up a hornet's nest. I've got another pickup to make before we get back to the Smug. It should only take a few minutes."
The five passengers settled themselves around the cabin. They were all accustomed to the dimension skippers and knew there was no need to sit or strap themselves in. Fam-tech was far too good to require such mundane considerations unless the situation was truly extraordinary.
The next stop was a helipad on top of a skyscraper in Chicago. Four people were waiting for her on the roof already.
"Harry!" called out Jimmy as Harry Dresden entered the ship. Khasa went up and gave both him and his wife Karin a hug. "How have you been?"
"Very good, actually," replied the tall, lanky wizard. "Things have been remarkably quiet since we took care of Nemesis."
"It's remarkable how much trouble was caused by that creature and the Black Council," commented the third man, who slightly oddly had a sword strapped to his back.
Harry turned to him and said, "For those of you who haven't met him, let me introduce Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross. He's here to make sure I don't cause too much trouble."
"Actually, that's my job," quipped Karin. "Michael is here because somebody trustworthy had to come."
Dresden put on a fake look of affront. "I'm very trustworthy."
"For a certain definition of the term," joked Michael. That atypical dig from the Knight actually startled a laugh out of the wizard.
The fourth passenger from this world was standing slightly awkwardly behind the others. He was wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a green flannel button-down shirt.
Harry realized he had forgotten somebody and continued his introductions. "This other fellow is Eidolon. He's the Winter Knight and part of the Winter Court."
The man gave a slight smile and said, "You can call me David.
"Mab doesn't trust Harry to represent her?" asked Khasa.
"She would," commented David with a bit of a grimace, "but the Summer Queen would trust Mab more than she trusts Harry."
Harry also grimaced. "Yeah, that's not likely to change." Killing somebody's daughter tended to sour the relationship, even if you were doing it to save the world.
"Is this everybody that's coming from here?" asked Faith.
Harry nodded. "Yep. The other signatories of the Accords either don't care or are willing to let this group represent their interests."
"All right. Next stop will be the Smug Advocacy." The slayer sat and began manipulating the controls of the craft. The ship raised off of the helipad by about ten feet and then opened a wormhole to transition back to its mother ship.
The nine travelers were soon leaving the docking bay. In the reception room off of the bay, Ianthe and a young woman were waiting for them. Harry and Jimmy exchanged a surprised glance when they realized that the woman was Amy Dallon. The purple lizard asked, "Which of you are here to attend the conference?" Everyone except Jimmy and Karin raised their hands. "All right. Jimmy, Karin, Amy here will take you to a common area. Karin, I think Maggie is talking with Sophia and May, right now."
"Thank you, I'm not surprised," replied the former Chicago police officer. She gave her husband a quick peck on the lips, an action that was mirrored by Jimmy and Khasa before the two groups split.
As the three of them walked down a ship corridor, Karin noticed that Jimmy kept sending odd looks toward Amy, which was puzzling her. Finally, the reporter asked the young woman, "So what's been going on with you, recently?"
"Oh, the usual," she replied. "Nothing too exciting." Karin could tell the girl had a slight smirk. "How about you?"
"Hm? Ah, I'm fine. Just getting used to married life. Oh, somebody temporarily stole Clark's clock collection," replied Jimmy.
Amy gave him an odd look. "Clark has a clock collection?"
Jimmy shrugged. "I guess so. He doesn't talk about it much. It was taken by some idiot who called himself the Hobby Robber."
"Your world is very strange, Jimmy," commented Karin. His response was just a simple shrug. There was no use arguing with the obvious.
At that point, the three of them had reached a comfortable lounge area set up with computer terminals along the wall. "All right," said Amy, "I'll leave you two to your own devices while I go and deal with some more tasks for the conference."
Once the girl had gone, Karin rounded on Jimmy. "All right, Jimmy, what was that about?" At his confused look, she clarified, "You know, the funny looks you kept giving her?"
Jimmy's face turned to a mix of realization and sheepishness. "Ah, you noticed that. Of course, you noticed that, because you work for a security agency."
"I also used to be a cop," she said flatly.
"Right," he agreed. "It's just that something rather surprising has changed, but the rest of it isn't really my secret to share."
"Does it have something to do with the fact that she has a tail like Saurial?" asked the former police officer.
"Something like that, but again, not my secret."
Karin frowned. She was pretty sure she could wheedle the details out of Jimmy with enough effort, but that wouldn't be very friendly and she genuinely liked the reporter. Plus, it probably wasn't a great idea to pry into Family secrets, and Amy was all but a member of the Family herself. She sighed. "Fine. I'm going to try and give Maggie a call."
Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief, then sat at his own terminal to do some cross-dimensional research for something he was writing. He would have to wait until he could get Amy or Ianthe alone to figure out how they managed to be operating independently of each other.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The O'Neil-class Asgard Battlecruiser Saurial transitioned back into normal space near the Smug Advocacy. It hadn't taken the Asgard long to create a wormhole drive that would work on their own ships, as it made intergalactic trips even within a single universe much easier. Onboard this particular vessel was Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet, and General Jack O'Neil of Earth.
Jack was worried. His encounters with the crazy lizards known as the Family had led him to believe that there wasn't much they couldn't outwit, confuse, or vaporize when necessary. They had dealt with the System Lords so quickly that the Tok'ra hadn't known what was happening until it was done. They treated ascended beings like Jack handled the raccoons who tried to get into his garbage cans. For them to call an all-hands meeting like this didn't bode well for the safety of the multiverse.
Thor was his usual implacable self. Jack had learned that the Asgard weren't all quiet and imposing. Some of them were downright jovial, especially now that their bodies weren't essentially the atrophied remains of a failed science experiment. Thor, though, hadn't changed much, despite his new appearance. He was mostly serious and laconic. Jack knew he was a good friend and ally, but he also suspected that when they first met, Thor mostly found him an amusing contrast to how the Supreme Commander approached similar responsibilities. Of course, one advantage to the Asgard's approach to things was that he wasn't likely to waste time fretting about speculation, unlike Jack.
"O'Neil, we are receiving a hail for you from Daniel Jackson," said Thor in response to a signal from his console. Jack wasn't sure how he was interpreting the moving lights and gentle pings from the console as information. Sam could probably have explained it. Actually, she probably would keep explaining it until he distracted her or ordered her to stop. "You can take it on the wall to your left," continued Thor.
"Daniel!" Jack greeted his friend when his face appeared on the wall. Jack also had no idea why sometimes Thor displayed things in 2D vs. 3D. He found it better to just go with the flow whenever the Asgard were involved.
"Jack! It's good to see you again," said the archeologist with a smile. Jack noted that the man looked young, almost as young as he did the first time the two of them visited Abydos. Of course, Jack himself looked nowhere near his age and he certainly wasn't going to complain about his knees being completely healed.
"Are you here for the big meeting, too?" asked Jack. He knew Daniel and his wife spent most of their time Dr. Who-ing around the multiverse.
Daniel shook his head. "We came because Tom was captured while on a mission. Thankfully, he and his teammate managed to escape. We wanted to be here when he got back."
"Understandable. How is he doing?" Jack had spent far more time being starved and tortured by various captors than was even remotely healthy. That had been true even before he set foot through the Stargate.
"I think he's actually doing all right. The Family symbiotes are pretty incredible and his kept him healthy. Tom thinks his captors weren't expecting it and spent a lot of time being confused about his lack of reaction." It was obvious to Jack that Daniel was putting a brave face on something that bothered him pretty deeply.
"Tom's a smart kid and it sounds like he handled the situation," said Jack in a softer tone of voice.
Daniel smiled at that. "Yeah, he is. How long are you going to be around?"
Jack shrugged. "It depends on what this is all about, I guess. Do you know why the lizards want us all here?"
At this, Daniel shook his head. "I only know that Tom came back with a packet of information about their captors. Obviously, whatever was in that data is bad enough for Saurial and the others to take it seriously."
This was in line with Jack's opinion on the matter, but it didn't make him feel any better. "I guess we'll find out soon."
Daniel nodded. "Well, if you have time, come and have dinner with us. Sarah and Tom haven't seen you in quite a while."
"I'd love to, assuming I can." There was a chance that the latest crisis was going to be of the hurry-up-and-wait variety. "I'll let you know."
Daniel ended the call. Jack nodded to Thor, and the two of them vanished into the flare of a teleportation beam.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
There was a flash of light, the gravity shifted, and Xander relaxed. He reached up and rubbed his left eye. "We could have just taken the gate from Sineya," he complained.
Anya rolled her eyes. "It's just as easy to use the teleport beacon...and stop rubbing your eye. You know that's just psychosomatic."
He frowned. Technically, he knew there was no reason for his long-healed injury to twitch when he was near heavy magic. Hell, Ianthe hadn't even used magic to regrow his eye. He was saved from saying something that would only irritate his wife by the arrival of a large, six-limbed, blue-grey reptile.
"Cool, you're here already," said Kastor. "No slayer representation?"
Xander shrugged. "There was a P'sh'nek infestation in Calcutta. They aren't terribly dangerous when they're young, but they breed like rabbits."
"Xander!" said Anya with a glare, shivering.
He winced. "Sorry. They breed like crazy. Most of the slayers, magic users, and Jaffa are busy making sure none of them break through the cordon and escape into the wild. Do you think we're going to need a lot of feet on the ground for whatever is going on?"
"I'm not entirely sure. I only have the barest outline of the situation, myself. Well, we'll find out soon enough," replied Kastor. "We have another group using magical teleport, so..."
At that, there was a mystical blue glow from an adjacent arrival pad. Three figures appeared, seeming to grow in size as if they were zooming toward them from a long distance away. Xander knew that wasn't terribly inaccurate, though Willow could probably find some way to explain to him why it was. The three men who appeared were familiar to him. In the middle, and undoubtedly providing the mystical power for the teleport, was Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorceror Supreme. To one side of him was Steve Rogers, while on the other side was an old friend.
"Pete!" called out Xander, who then walked over and shook hands with Spider-Man.
"Xander, Anya, it's good to see you both again," said Pete.
Xander smiled, then nodded to the other two. "Stephen, Steve." The other two exchanged their greetings.
"Gentleman, welcome aboard," interjected Kastor. "Let's head inside."
As the five humans followed, Anya asked Strange and the others, "Do you have any idea what this is about?"
The three men each shook their heads. "Only that it involves the people who attacked EDF headquarters," replied the sorcerer. "You folks haven't seen any sign of them around Sineya?"
"Not so far," replied Xander.
"I'm not surprised," commented Kastor. "Sineya Station and the facilities on the planet below are some of the hardest targets to attack in the multiverse. I think the only reason they attacked the EDF was because they seriously underestimated your own defenses. Most of the other attacks have been against softer targets or targets of opportunity."
"That's promising," suggested Rogers. "It may mean that they don't have the forces to take on everyone at once. Of course, it could also mean they're smart enough to not want to fight a war on multiple fronts."
"Or they may be trying to be as efficient as possible," suggested Anya. "Use as little force as necessary to try and get as much information as possible."
"Any or all of those theories could be the case," agreed Kastor.
The six of them entered a large conference room that was already full of people. Looking around the room, Xander saw a lot of folks he recognized and a few that he didn't. The reptiles were the easiest to see. Metis was chatting with the power-armored form of Dragon and Bishop Draco, the android responsible for setting the Sineya Council up with their current headquarters. Ianthe was busy chatting with several unfamiliar people wearing the uniforms of Starfleet alongside an Asgard and Jack O'Neil. Kandor's brother Koios appeared to be talking to Legend and another man in a flannel (which Xander appreciated) who appeared quite uncomfortable. He could also see Harry Dresden chatting with an unfamiliar member of the Family with teal scales next to Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, Jimmy Olsen's wife, and another vaguely familiar woman.
Saurial was at the end of a long conference table, chatting with the feline tinker Vectura and a leather-clad Seven of Nine. Xander and Anya excused themselves from the others and headed over to greet them.
"Seven! How have you been?" asked Anya.
The blonde woman smiled. "I am doing well. How are you?"
Putting a hand on Xander's arm affectionately, she replied, "Really well, thank you! We need to go shopping again!"
Jumping in quickly before that train of conversation went any further, Xander asked, "So, Saurial, who all are we waiting for, still?"
Looking around the room and quickly doing a headcount, the reptilian woman nodded and said, "I think we have everyone...or almost everyone. We have most of the factions from the Fools crew universes, at least, which is where most of the troubles have been. Sammy, why don't you call everyone to the table." This last was said to a patch of thin air in the center of the room.
A transparent avatar of the ship's AI appeared over the table. "If everybody would please have a seat, then we can get this briefing started," said Sammy at a slightly raised volume. This was sufficient to interrupt the ongoing conversations and the attendees began moving toward seats...or seatless stretches of table in the case of the reptilian contingent that preferred to just sit on their tails.
"I think I preferred her furry avatar," whispered Anya his ear. The fact that she whispered it instead of just saying it out loud was a sign of progress as far as Xander was concerned, though he heard Saurial suppress a small snort of laughter and noticed Metis gave a brief grin. The reptiles had better hearing than a slayer and that was saying something.
"Ladies and gentlebeings," began Metis, "some of you should already be aware that raids of extradimensional origin have been happening against a number of factions in your various realities." An image of the black-clad attackers captured at EDF headquarters appeared in the space over the table. "These raids have generally been targeted at retrieving information, especially information about the Family and their friends and allies. Recently, two members of the Angels on a training exercise were captured by this group. They managed to escape, bringing back with them a storage device containing information about their captors. Their captors were representatives of an empire that spans most of the Milky Way galaxy in their home universe, with outposts in several others. They are a powerful force, but what is most concerning is the identity of their leader." An image of a stern man dressed in extremely wealthy and elaborate clothing appeared over the table.
"Heartbreaker!" exclaimed Legend. Noticing some of the curious looks he was getting from the other guests, he explained, "Nikos Vasil was a supervillain on our world. He had the ability to master other people."
"Master?" asked one of the men dressed as a Starfleet admiral.
"Vasil had the ability to manipulate the emotions of those around him," explained Ianthe. "It worked almost instantly and it allowed him to collect a cult full of worshippers, including a harem of dominated women who bore him a number of children with similar powers. Any human without Bioshapers' Guild enhancement is vulnerable."
"So, is this an alternate reality version of Vasil?" asked Eidolon. His earlier discomfort was now replaced with a focused demeanor.
"No," replied Dragon. "This Vasil is from Skitter's version of Earth. Shortly after the defeat of Scion, I detected that Vasil and his followers had decamped from the compound in Canada and crossed the border into the United States." She gave an apologetic look to Legend, but added, "I informed the local PRT, but unfortunately they failed to act before Heartbreaker infiltrated the tinker group known as Toybox. By the time authorities arrived, the entire group, including all of Toybox's tinkers, had vanished."
Legend grimaced. "The local PRT director dropped the ball on that one. Further research at the site showed that they used a dimensional portal to escape to another reality, but we unable to determine exactly where they went."
"The trail grew cold by the time we were called in to assist," continued Kastor. "There are time limits on this type of thing. To be fair, there were also a number of other crises requiring attention at the time. Chasing after one escaped criminal, even one with a group of unwilling victims, couldn't top the list of priorities for any of the involved parties at the time."
"So, this supervillain moved to another universe and took over a galactic empire?" asked Xander. "Is this guy really that powerful?"
"He didn't take it over," replied Metis, shaking her head. "He created it. As best as we can determine from the data, Heartbreaker arrived more than two hundred years ago from his perspective on a version of Earth equivalent to the 1950s on most of our Earths."
"Wait," interjected a woman dressed as a Starfleet Captain, "I thought tinker tech from those universes was generally unreliable and couldn't be mass-produced? How could Heartbreaker advance Earth's technology so quickly using it?"
"That's true," agreed Dragon, "although I'm surprised Starfleet is familiar enough with tinkers to know that?"
The admiral who had spoken earlier explained, "Captain Talis is one of our foremost experts on extradimensional technology for Starfleet Intelligence."
Dragon nodded in acknowledgment of his explanation, then continued, "We had the exact same reaction, at first. Our first clue as to what actually happened was found in the records of the investigation done into Heartbreaker's abandoned compound. The body of a caucasian male who died from gunshot wounds was found on site." Another image appeared over the table, this one showing the head and torso of the man in question on an autopsy slab. The gunshot wounds to the chest were plainly visible.
"For crying out loud!" exclaimed Jack O'Neil. "How the hell did Bocce make his way across universes?" He shifted his gaze to Saurial. "And didn't you guys take out all of the System Lords?"
Saurial grimaced. "We did. With the exception of Anubis, though, we dropped them on Yautja hunting preserves."
"And the Yautja have a history of taking their hunts to other universes," commented Wonder Woman, her tone of voice contemplative. "Batman has encountered them in the past on our world."
"Let me see if I'm following this..." said the Starfleet admiral with a frown. "These System Lords were all humans controlled by alien parasites. You," he said, nodding toward Saurial, "dropped them to be used as prey by these Yautja aliens, who have a culture similar to the Hirogens in my own universe. Isn't that a bit barbaric?"
Thor spoke for the first time during the meeting. "Admiral Paris, the goa'uld System Lords were all guilty of horrific crimes, including mass murder, slavery, genocide, cannibalism, and cruel medical experimentation on sapient lifeforms. The weight of their crimes would have seen them sentenced to death, even in the Federation. Most of them had human hosts old enough to be completely insane, if not catatonic. Had any of them found themselves at the mercy of the Asgard, then they would have found us lacking that quality."
Paris still didn't appear thrilled by that, but he gave it a grudging nod of acknowledgment. "Very well. So, for some reason, these Yautja brought this Bocce to Heartbreaker's Earth..."
"His name is actually Ba'al, Admiral. General O'Neil has a penchant for derogatory nicknames," explained Dragon. "We managed to capture and interrogate the Yautja crew that was likely responsible. They had no knowledge of Ba'al, so the most probable explanation is that he managed to stow away on a vessel when it stopped on the planet where he had been left."
"And a goa'uld would be able to continue to use Heartbreaker's powers?" asked Dr. Strange.
"Almost certainly," replied Ianthe. "Superpowers in that universe are granted via brain structures that maintain a cross-dimensional link to organic supercomputers that provide the powers in question. It's a biological link."
"Ba'al was also one of the canniest of the System Lords," admitted O'Neil somewhat grudgingly. "He had a reputation among the goa'uld for clever schemes and punching out of his weight class."
Harry Dresden added, "Assuming that the fictional TV show about the General's team was accurate, then Ba'al would have taken over after Anubis was defeated and caused quite a lot of problems. He would even have invented a time machine." More than one person around the room winced at that revelation.
"Well, clearly he's a dangerous threat, and he apparently has a powerful empire at his disposal," commented Steve Rogers. "If he's been around for a couple of centuries...why did he decide to start attacking us now? Why wait?"
"We're not certain that he is the one who made that decision," replied Metis. "There are indications in the data that we received that suggest his empire finally grew large enough that he is unable to maintain direct supervision of everything, even with the help of Heartbreaker's children, who function as a sort of royal family. Parts of his own intelligence apparatus seem to have exceeded their authority."
There was a pause in the discussion as people considered that revelation.
"Now that his own people have drawn the attention of the Family, how is this Ba'al likely to respond?" asked Bishop.
"Typically, System Lords would work to destroy anything they viewed as a threat," answered Thor. "When they encounter a threat they cannot defeat, then they may resort to diplomacy, as they did with my people." Thor frowned. "Even when a diplomatic settlement is reached, however, they inevitably required demonstrations of overwhelming force to keep them in line."
"Thanks to our screwup," added O'Neil, "the System Lord Heru-Ur was able to invade one of the worlds protected by the Asgard. Thor had to show up in person and wipe out their invasion force before they backed down."
"I'm surprised that didn't lead to war," commented the woman who Xander finally remembered was Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor's second in command.
"Unfortunately, the Asgard fleet was almost entirely consumed by our war with a synthetic race known as the Replicators," answered Thor. "We did not have the fleet assets at the time to better express our anger."
"Speaking of fleet assets," said Admiral Paris, "does the data your people retrieved include information on the size of the forces available to Ba'al's empire?"
"It did," replied Metis. The image of the corpse of Ba'al's former host was replaced with a series of facts and figures detailing the might of Ba'al's empire.
"That's...a lot of ships," commented Vectura with a nervous swallow.
Peter Parker nodded his agreement. "It's certainly more than the EDF could take on. Hell, I'm not sure the Kree could handle it."
"I'm not certain that all of our fleets combined would be capable of it, at least not without massive casualties and putting our security in our own realities at risk," added Captain Talis. "Even though Starfleet is building more combat-focused warships, we don't have enough to fight a foe this massive. Even the Borg and the Dominion never controlled so much space and its associated resources as Ba'al."
"Could the Family provide upgraded ships to the various fleets?" asked Bishop.
Vectura frowned. "Some...but not enough to make a difference in a short timeframe." She glanced at Saurial. "Some of the components are challenging to mass-produce."
"Do we even want to consider a frontal confrontation?" asked Strange. "Would we react so strongly to any of the local powers in our realities performing similar acts?"
Dresden replied, "If a member of the Accords performed a raid on another signatory, then there would be reprisals from the other parties until recompense was made. Of course, the Accords were designed for exactly that kind of issue. We don't even have a formal agreement amongst ourselves, never mind any kind of contact with Ba'al's faction."
"Is that the first step?" asked Koios. "Should we attempt to establish formal contact with his empire?"
"That's typically Starfleet's preferred approach," agreed Paris. In truth, he wasn't sure the Federation politicians would be willing to commit to even an expeditionary force without a clear danger to the Federation's interests.
Saurial frowned. "That may be a necessary step. However, having said that, this is absolutely a problem of our making. I feel that we need to remove Ba'al-slash-Heartbreaker from his position."
"While a decapitating strike is certainly possible, that would create a power vacuum in his empire and there is no guarantee that the person taking his place would be better for the inhabitants of that galaxy," argued Metis. "Some of Heartbreaker's children are just as bad if not worse than Ba'al, who seems to be more of a hedonist than a sadist...at least for a goa'uld."
"Whatever our approach, we're likely going to need additional intelligence on Ba'albreaker and his empire," interjected O'Neil. "I'm all in favor of getting rid of the snake, but just killing or capturing him might even be counterproductive if his pseudo-family decides to go to war to avenge him. From what Ianthe said, it sounds like he's able to make at least his immediate followers into fanatics."
"Yes, that was part of why he was never arrested on our world," agreed Legend. "Law enforcement would have had to fight through a horde of brainwashed slaves to get to him. If nothing else, the optics on it would have been problematic."
"Which is how government bureaucrats say something is ethically or morally dubious," commented Anya.
Legend winced. "That's a fair assessment, if slightly harshly put." Anya just smiled at him.
"It sounds to me like there are two primary concerns for us, here," interjected Admiral Paris. "The first issue is what type of intelligence we would ideally like to have in order to decide our next steps. The second, and one that really should have been addressed prior to now, is whether or not we should formalize our agreements with the Family and each other. That would, frankly, make it easier for my government to assign resources to intelligence gathering and mutual defense with regard to Ba'al."
"I hate to say it, but it would simplify certain matters for us, too," agreed Parker. "None of us are making decisions just on our own behalf, anymore."
"Agreed," added Dresden, Xander, and Plastic Man almost simultaneously, much to everyone's mild amusement -- more because of who had said it rather than the agreement.
The reptiles in the room all exchanged a number of glances. Saurial said, "While not entirely unexpected, that particular issue is something we had hoped to defer for some time. It was never the goal of the Family to become a political organization."
"With sincere respect, Saurial," replied Legend, "that became inevitable the moment you chose to step in and make changes to our worlds that fundamentally altered the balance of power."
"There is a tremendous amount of respect for you at Starfleet Headquarters," added Paris, "because of the friends you've made, the technology you've shared, and the fact that you probably literally saved the entire galaxy. Hell, even the Romulans seem to like you." The last was said with a snort. "That only goes so far when you're dealing with governments, however."
"Or any other type of organization," agreed Bishop. "Even I have to consider shareholders and public opinion, though I have more leeway in those cases than many CEOs."
"Well, it sounds like we have an agenda...and a lot of work to do," said Metis after a short pause.
Inside Saurial's mind, a very smug demon just said, "I told you so."
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Link to Seven Days to Skitter
- Location
- Maryland
Well, I finally got this chapter out. You know it's bad when the site warns you about thread necromancy and you're posting on your own story. Planning out how things would go in such a summit took a bit of thinking, though. We're past the point when Saurial can just show up somewhere, confuse a lot of people, and call it a win.
Note that there is a third story tied to these two, called Seven Days to Skitter:
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
It's a crossover featuring the Skitter of Sophia's original universe (a Brockton Bay mirror universe) stuck in a zombie apocalypse.
Note that there is a third story tied to these two, called Seven Days to Skitter:
Seven Days to Skitter
Stories set in the Ship of Fools spin-off from Taylor Varga.
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
It's a crossover featuring the Skitter of Sophia's original universe (a Brockton Bay mirror universe) stuck in a zombie apocalypse.
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
OK, I think I recognised most of the characters... I did get a bit of confusion, though, in that this seems a switch from a GURPS Infinite Worlds setting to a Multiple Worm plus other settings multiverse one. There are ways to stitch these together, but my impression is that they aren't completely compatible. (Sorry, I'm having trouble explaining this any better.)
I've a niggling concern about Heartbreaker and family. Shard links are confined to the Earth-Moon system, and loads of those sideways. Jumping somewhere further out, without skills and knowledge the Ba'al Goa'uld doesn't have, should at least cause a lot of problems. I know, this is a real pain writing a cross-over story using Worm-ish characters - some authors flat-out ignore the issue, some patch around it, a few made it central to their plot.
I'm unclear in this story how well the parahuman power to shard relationship is understood. At the point this story forked from Taylor Varga I believe The Family was starting to work this out. Odds are, they'll have got a lot further, by now. Is there a reason they're not suggesting destroying Heartbreaker's shard? Odds are most of his family are powered by the same shard, or just possibly some buds.
That is the top-down approach, probably best combined with dropping some poor person in to replace Heartbreaker - Loki's clone of Jack, stuffed to the gills with Family enhancements, and a Dragon daughter might be willing. From the bottom-up, Family biotech food plants, and one-shot trees? Setting up a 'Hearthealer Council' to help?
...
Just to be quite clear, I like the story, I think this episode is pretty flawless. The above were points which attacked me while I was reading it.
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- Location
- Maryland
Here are some Q&A related to shards and other types of powers I answered in the Ship of Fools thread:
Q18) Is Harry Dresden's techbane going to shift based on what universe he is in? According to canon, the effect of magic is based on popular belief, e.g., it used to curdle cream.
A18) I'm using the slightly lazy concept that folks follow the rules for their own universe, as they're effectively bits of that universe being extended into another. Otherwise, that's another detail I have to track for each universe, and I would have to make something up for the non-magical universes.
Q22) How does Skitter hold onto her shard through all of these world jumps?
A22) Narrative convenience. Pick one of the half-a-dozen reasons various fanfic authors have used to justify Taylor's parasite sticking around when she's no longer in Kansas. Also, see Question 18.
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
Sorry, please note I added more to my initial post...
Yes, I realised that. Skitter reasonably gets to 'walk', no problem. Better-Sophia, ditto. But, the shard issue, and their (potential) vulnerability is a major issue with parahuman powers, which the Family seem unlikely to overlook.
I've seen the issue of 'power portability' played out many, many, times in RPGs, which cross between universes with different rules. A common compromise is that if it is 'part of you' that it goes on working whether the universe believes in that sort of stuff, or not. In particular, things inside your skin. Devices and weapons can be more problematic, anything which is ranged, 'outside your aura' (two inches from your skin?), couldn't be reached by a lunge, that sort of thing. The TORG game dug into this (fun, for all its shortcomings).
Robots with an external brain (radio-linked) was a fun example, as in one case I saw the robot kept working in another dimension, as if she had an on-board brain. I've seen similar things in Spelljamer games, where being in the philogiston blocks all external links (including to gods), which might give philactery issues for some with separate souls...
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It could be interesting if someone developed tech to disrupt the metaphysics that someone brings with them. I think for things involving metaphysics, the more they have to push against foreign metaphysics the more energy it would take. So, science and magic could push against each other. The more similar the metaphysics the more available power. That could put a logical spin on things.
Even in worm we know that shards are much better at working sideways, than what they can do in a single universe, so them compensating for multiversal travel isn't surprising or that much of a problem to be only justified by author logic or whatever everyone wants to call it.
The Family doesn't spend even majority of their time in Sineya's Council verse, so their chonological clocks might just be a few months after they sent everyone home + its kind of dickish move to just blast shardbreaker without giving its host a chance, when they dont know where he is. Not sure if they experimented with finding the host from shard, rather than the reverse anyway.
The Family doesn't spend even majority of their time in Sineya's Council verse, so their chonological clocks might just be a few months after they sent everyone home + its kind of dickish move to just blast shardbreaker without giving its host a chance, when they dont know where he is. Not sure if they experimented with finding the host from shard, rather than the reverse anyway.
- Location
- Planet Earth
Can someone post links to the various Stargate crossovers, in chronological order, for Taylor Varga and Ship of Fools.
Starting from SG-1 finding the camera/probe, to the Goa'uld and Ori being dealt with.
Starting from SG-1 finding the camera/probe, to the Goa'uld and Ori being dealt with.