Chapter 33
Diplomatic Encampment, Alaris
Three Days before the Confederation Deliberative Assembly
Surveying the work being done on Alaris to prepare for the coming onslaught of dignitaries and support staff, Jack was pleased with the rapid progress. A click sound issued from the communication stone affixed to his shoulder and he raised a hand to touch a finger to the device.
“O’Neill,” he issued.
“Commander, the Nox delegation has arrived.”
Jack turned on his heels to look towards the stargate platform in the distance and squinted. He could make out that the ’gate was engaged and a diminutive group of forms stood before the transportation device. “Thanks for the report, please escort them to their pavilion.”
“Yes Sir,” was the response and the communication ended with another click sound from the stone.
Checking in with Sally so his aid knew where he was going, Jack began to make his own way to the pavilion that had been set up for the Nox separate from the rest of the encampment. While the Nox had space-faring capabilities it was their floating cities that were capable of space flight and the sheer size and population on those cities meant the city-ships were moved only when a planet suffered a catastrophe. The Nox also preferred using the stargate network to developing smaller forms of spacecrafts and thus mining the resources of their worlds, hence their arrival via stargate.
Walking briskly, he arrived at the prepared pavilion in good time but well after the Nox had settled in. The Nox’s standard hanging from its horizontal crossbar, the purple silhouette of a fenri on a gold background, was rustling softly in the light breeze as it stood before the pavilion area. Jack noted that four of the nine tents set up for the Nox had already vanished.
Of the Nox that were visible, Jack recognised Lya, Anteaus, and a few others that he had interacted with since the pacifists’ support of the resistance cause. Lya detached herself from the group of Nox she was with and approached him.
“Hello O’Neill,” Lya greeted in her soft tone.
“Hello Lya,” Jack returned the greeting respectfully. “Are the accommodations satisfactory?”
“They shall serve us,” Lya acknowledged as she swept her arm in a motion indicating the area beyond the pavilion. “We thank you for the return of some of our devices.”
“And we can’t say thank you enough for their loan,” Jack acknowledged the invaluable contribution of the Nox devices to the resistance as the Nox had walked the fine line of their pacifism as Lya had done years ago on Tollana when Skarra had gained his freedom: agreeing to hide weapons but having no involvement in using them. That and their absolute repugnance of the Aschens’ environmental manipulation. As nature activists on Earth had shown, it was not safe to anger environmentalists—and a lot more stupid to piss off the Four Great Races’ equivalent of tree huggers.
It was not only the underground bunker on his farm that was concealed by Nox invisibility technology but countless hangers hiding resistance ships and fighters on planets with significant resistance presence. And most important of all, used to hide the scattered off-world haven settlements where the families of resistance members, particularly from the dangerous allied worlds, could safely live.
A majority of the devices would remain in place until the situation with the Aschen was well settled but the ones used to hide the Asgärd fighters in particular were no longer needed on the worlds that had supported vígamaðrs fleets as the crafts were being returned to the Asgärd.
“O’Neill, if you would walk with me?” Lya inquired.
Jack inclined his head respectfully and fell into step with the petite alien as she lead the way deeper into the lightly forested area on the edge of the open grassland that had been selected as the deliberative assembly location.
“O’Neill, I can sense that you are conflicted,” Lya spoke softly as she tilted her head up to look at the much larger human that walked beside her. “What troubles you now?”
Jack resisted the urge to alternately sigh and grumble in aggravation. Years of interacting with the Nox and knowledge from the Asgärd about their empathetic nature—a major reason they were all so adamantly pacifist—had him understanding why Lya was asking such a question and her earnest desire to have his emotions tranquil. No one liked to be under a constant barrage of headache inducing noise, which was what conflicting and negative emotions were like to the empathetic Nox.
“No longer at peace am I?” Jack quipped, referring back to their last meeting in which Lya had complimented him on being emotionally balanced.
Lya tilted her head to the side. “No, you are still at peace but you are troubled.”
Jack resisted the urge to rub his forehead. That statement was contradictory to him but obviously Lya was speaking Nox, or, using poorly defined English terms in a Nox way. His years of interaction helped him as he asked, “I am sorry Lya, but how can I be peaceful if I am troubled?”
“Your core state has not changed. You are centred as you have been for the past four of your years. It is your surface that is troubled.”
“My core state?” Jack could not stop himself from asking, not remembering Lya or any other Nox speaking of such a thing before.
“Your core is… I do not know the English words to describe it. I can tell you this, when we first met and preformed the Ritual of Life upon you, all that you were was known to us and it… concerned us. Such an unsettled core state allows one to function as you were doing but it does not allow one to live. While your surface has continued to be troubled by the path you have set yourself upon, your core has centred.” Lya gave him a soft smile. “You may define yourself as a soldier O’Neill, but your core defines you as a protector.”
Jack thought he got the jest of what Lya was saying but like his wife’s technobabble, most of it was beyond his comprehension. “So, right now I am upset because… why?”
“Only you know that O’Neill, but I might say it is because of the stage in the path you have reached. You have forged yourself into a mightily tool O’Neill, but even the greatest of tools reach a time when they must be set aside or forged into something new.”
“Easier said than done.”
“It can be if one does not have the courage to become something more,” Lya counselled.
“So, basically you’re telling me to stop being upset that I’ve done what I said I would do and get on with the last step?” Jack summed dryly. “And trust that the people will make the right choice with this last step?”
Lya nodded her head gently. “We trusted you O’Neill to make the right choice when you came to us and asked for guidance. How can you not extend that trust to your people?”
“It isn’t that simple Lya,” Jack said regretfully, hating to disillusion the gentle alien as their circling walk brought them back to the Nox pavilion. “Freedom does not bring unity and universal good will between people.”
“That is your belief O’Neill, but we trust that it will happen. Not in your lifetime we agree, but it will happen for you have shown us how great the Fifth Race shall be.”