Chapter 32
Highway #95, NV
October 13, 2010
Daniel used his Asgärd tablet early Wednesday morning to surf Earth’s news channels and electronic newspapers. Reading up about the latest events and developments as well as continuing impact of Veritas as the diplomatic convoy he was a part of travelled from Las Vegas to Nevada Test and Training Range Air Force Base to board the vessel USAF Clymene.
Not surprising, with Phase IV deliberative assembly scheduled to commence on Alaris on October 15th, there had been a huge rush by various nations of Earth to have ambassadors and dignitaries in attendance only to learn that the sole method of transportation off the planet was strictly controlled and firmly under resistance control.
The notoriously infamous Area 51.
The other ’shipyards and the Reed Terminal were still shut down by Aschen tech killers and while technically the stargate could still be utilised, if a generator was hooked up as a power source and the device dialled manually, the resistance had decreed that Alaris’s stargate would only accept incoming calls from planets without spaceflight capacities.
That meant the Earth diplomats were being ferried by the six Prometheus-class ships: the flagship Prometheus as well as Iapetus, Atlas, Menoetius, Epimetheus and the ship he was boarding, Clymene. Ships under the control of infamous Phase II Commander ‘Bravo’ that was now known world wide to be retired Major Samantha O’Neill née Carter and manned by Colonel Maybourne’s staff.
Each recognised Earth government was permitted one ambassador, the UN organisation one representative, and each was permitted one aid and no further staff. The dignitary list of three hundred and thirty had been selected and submitted after the completion of Phase III on Aschen Prime. That was why the United States ambassador was the unpopular choice of the Earth-Aschen Ambassador Joseph Faxon. The list had already been approved by the resistance and no substitutions would be permitted even if an ambassador or aid died.
Those rules had been a bit startling for Daniel to learn but after thinking on it, something that removed any possibility of political jockeying, blackmail, or assassination to remove a selected ambassador or aid. Each nation knew they only had one chance and made sure their choices remained in perfect health.
It had allowed him to end his two days hiding with Colson as he had been chosen by the UN organisation to serve as the aid to their representative, Dr Elizabeth Weir. That announcement in the news had surprised him, even with his own desperate wish to attend the Phase IV deliberative assembly, as had the public support for the UN choosing him.
In fact, as much as people were acknowledging Dr Weir credentials for the role, having mediated a dozen of the most sensitive international treaties including high-level negotiations for the UN, their opinion was that he himself would have been much better suited as UN representative considering his past of mediating nearly a hundred galactic treaties.
Daniel looked up from his tablet as he thought about Weir to look at his brunette and pristinely dressed car companion just as the woman’s brown eyes looked up from her own electronic reader. As their eyes held, Daniel had to acknowledge to himself that maybe even he was a little resentful that Weir had been chosen but he would do his best to guide her through the labyrinth that was alien diplomacy.
“Is there anything you can tell me about Alaris yourself Dr Jackson?” Weir inquired politely as Daniel continued to hold her gaze.
Daniel blinked and gave a regretful shake of his head. “I have never been to Alaris personally so, as you, only have SG-12 reports and the resistance’s orientation file on the planet to go by.”
“SG-12?” Weir’s brow furrowed.
“Yes, SG-12 preformed reconnaissance on the planet back in 2000.”
Weir gave a sigh and shake of her head. “See Doctor, you already know more than I do. I was not aware that the planet had been visited by a StarGate Command team. I was under the impression that the resistance had specified that Alaris had no affiliation with themselves or any other involved party, was in fact, neutral ground?”
“That is correct. Alaris has no native sentient inhabitants and thus no affiliation with any political group or nation.”
“If it has no one living their Doctor, then why is it named Alaris? Would it no just be designated by an alphabet-numerical code?”
“While Alaris has no natives it has served as neutral ground to negotiate treaties for the Goa’uld and other local planetary governments in the past and because of the planet’s relatively poor resource supply in comparison to its neighbour it was never claimed or developed.”
“Poor resource supply?” Weir frowned. “What about weather? Is that unpredictable or dangerous?”
“Actually, Alaris is very Earth-like in environment but what I meant by poor resources is the absence of large deposits of naquadah, trinium, gold, or other materials used by space faring races.”
“If it is Earth-like, why was it not claimed by the Confederation for farming?” Weir inquired curiously.
It was Daniel’s turn to frown. “I am unsure why Alaris wasn’t made into an agricultural planet after Earth shared the address with the Aschen but perhaps it was scheduled for development in future as they seemed more interested in forming alliances with inhabited worlds.”
Weir nodded her head in understanding, privately suspecting that the Aschen had preferred inhabited worlds to have a small, controlled, and essentially enslaved workforce. Weir tapped the screen of her e-reader and tilted the screen so that he could see pages from the orientation file. “Do you know any of the ambassadors from the groups in attendance?”
Daniel turned his attention to his own tablet and opening up the orientation file started at the top of the list. Rambling off which planets he knew off, which ones he had visited, and which ambassadors he knew or knew of.
The ambassadors of the nine allied plants of the Confederation he knew: Ehud Benyamin and aid Leor Yonatan of Taldor; Kalan and his son and aid Tomin of Orban; Nodaal and his wife and aid Layale of Vyus; Nyan of the Bedrosian he knew personally and Ar’t of the Optrican by reputation; Farrell of the Eurondans and Gaynor of the Bredan; Marul’s grandson Gervas of Latona; Lucia Tarthus of the Andari, Vin Eremal of the Tiranian, and Gillian Dreylock of the Kelownan for Langara; and Pharrin and Tryan of Talthus.
He knew most of the thirty-three federated plants and his thoughts dwelled in particular on those people and worlds that Earth had been responsible for introducing to the Aschen: his brother-in law Skaara of Abydos; Abu of the Shavadai; Melosha of the Land of the Light; Darcy of Avnil where Sam’s former fiancé had gone nuts. Alekos and his wife Thetys as aid of Argos; Kendra who they had met on Cimmeria for her homeworld Jebanna; Hanno of Cartago; Talia of Nasya; Gillian and aid Cathy of Nedrag, the garden world of the Keeper that still bothered his dreams on occasion. Queen Shyla’s representative Anram of Terellan; Princess La Moor of Madrona; Elder John Taylor and Mary Mennell of Christia; Paynan and aid Garan of Edora. Eliam and his aid-wife Nikka of the Enkarans; Brenna of Iceae who’s planet had shed the ice age that gripped it because of the Aschen; and Darian and his aid and wife Hira of Juna.
He knew a larger amount then he had suspect of the fifty-eight planets that had treaties with the Confederation with most of them being Jaffa planets like Chulak, with Rya’c serving as representative and Neith of Hak’tyl. He was quite looking forward to the deliberative assembly, not just for what would be negotiated but for the change to meet up with some old friends and acquaintances he had not seen in years.
Daniel couldn’t imagine the logistical nightmare of hosting all the delegates—with three hundred ninety diplomats from Earth alone—and wondered how the resistance was going to manage it even with the requirement that all nations supply their own supplies and quarters.
Even as Daniel continued talking to Weir for the rest of their journey on the road his own thoughts turned to thinking about Jack. He was anxious to be reunited with Jack and Janet, but meeting up with Jack again was causing him the most anxiety.
Janet had kept up a steady stream of communication via their Asgärd tablets so he knew essentially what she had been doing and involved in since her departure to Aschen Prime. Jack however he hadn’t heard from directly since the O’Neill family had visited him in Chicago.
His major worry at the moment was how politically correct Jack was going to be at the deliberative assembly—how diplomatic Jack was being right now as well—without him present. At the very least, his presence on Alaris would allow him to buffer the military man’s words and attitudes before Jack bluntly stated them or offended any alien with his actions.