Stargate SG1 Fan Fiction ❯ Wormhole and Meteor Shower ❯ 17-27 ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

*Chapter 17*: Chapter 17


Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea of how to fit these two diverse worlds into one.

Hope you enjoy this chapter of Wormholes and Meteor Showers.

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Clark grunted as he again landed on the mat. He got to his feet and took the stance Jack had suggested. He wearily began to circle Tealc, looking for an opening. Even though it had been arranged as a ruse to deffer attention from his true orrigins, he was glade for the chance to spar against Tealc. He rarely got a chance to practice his fighting skills against an opponent who was strong enough for him to feel,yet wasn't trying to kill him.

Clark's only concern about the stagging was in tregards to Tealc's symbiont and the puch it resided in. He had been concerned about landing a punch to Tealc's stomach and having his hand end up inside with Junior. Jack and Tealc had shared a look, before Tealc lifted his muscle shirt and Jack droce his fist as hard as he could directly on the point where the flaps of skin met. His fist was stopped and he pulled it back with a shake before he slowly pushed his hand into it through the same point.

Jack explained that the muscles controlling the flap tensed and would remain tensed unless the Jaffa conciously released them or they were dead or unconcious. Tealc also mentioned that they relaxed near a full Goauld, which allowed the Goaled to remove the larval form as punishment for Jaffa failure or implantation in a new host. Clark then took a try, hitting no harder then he thought Jack had. He then hit a few more times, slowly increasing the power of his blows until he felt a slight give in the muscles. He fixed that level in his mind, and set his strength to try and stay several levels below.

It had been Sam's suggestion to picture a dial with various levels of strength factors with 1 being human and 10 being Kryptonian. Clark had expanded that ot a scale of 100 with 40 being human average (a professional boxer/soldier/martial artist/etc being in the 60's)and 100 Kryptonian. Tealc had been able to handle in the mid 80's on the scale before the muscles started to give. So Clark firmly set himself into the mid 60's, more then enough for Tealc to feel, but hopefully not enough to cause permanent damage. If he had to judge, the Jaffa's hits would likely be in the 80's himself, so Clark made sure to appear equally as strong and durable. He could just feel Tealc's blows. If he had to rank them, most of the people he usually fought would be in the high 80's, low 90's. Nearly as strong as himself, but that last 15 or so points on the scale were nearly as big a difference as the range of 40-85 on the scale he mentally created.

He tried to ignore the chatter of teh crowd, most of whom were SG teams. They clearly were cheering for Tealc, even though many of them had fallen victim to the Jaffa in a sparring match or three. They enjoyed watching him show up the cocky new comers who never believed what they'd been told about a Jaffa's increased strength. Even though they'd seen teh devastation of the caves caused guy Clark's battle against the Eliminator calling itself Milton Fine, they hadn't been witness to teh fight itself and were not ready to acept on blind faith what the SG1 team had told them. Feretti and his 2nd were, as usual, heading up a betting pool.

He being a little more believing of SG1's claims, kept the odds on CLark's winning/lasting past the record time before loosing at a respectable 6 to 1. Lois had made a few side bets within the SG teams, and she was looking forward to collecting. She might not have known as long as Chloe and Pete, but like people say: Hindsight is 20/20. As soon as she knew, her mind had brought her to several odd events she'd previously shrugged off. She'd brought these up earlier with Clark and he'd confirmed her opinion. He'd also explained all his abilities and how he'd learned of them as well as going on the explain several other occassions where she'd missed his hidden assistance or where she'd not been around at the time. She'd nearly hurt herself laughing as he explained his revenge against teh football team that hung in the field like a scarecrow.

Clark finally decided on a plan. He used just enough speed to get past Tealc's guard, grabbed teh larger man by the throat in one hand and the waist in the other and lifted him fully above his head in a military press maneover he'd seen used on a wrestling show. He held the Jaffa up, turning and taking a few steps then through him towards the pile of extra mats on the far side of the room, a good 30-40 feet from his position in the center of the marked circle that had been the boundry for their match.

Silence descended on the crowd before a collective gasp filled the noise vacuum. Even the normally stone faced Tokra were openly gawking at the end of the match and Clark's casual display of superior strength. The Tokra understood more then the SG teams, saving SG1, just how powerful you would need to be to overcome a warrior of Tealc's ability and strength. They exchanged glances amongst themselves as Tealc returned to teh ring and bowed to his opponent, acknowledging Clark as the winner. Disappointed SG members ripped up their make shift betting slips while the handful of winners collected their winnings from Feretti in the form of notes he'd fufill once he regained access to his bankroll back on Earth.

Lois gleefully admired her winnings, pretending to not notice Clark's approach or his running of a towel over his topless form. He was wearing only a pair of small boxing styled shorts that one of the larger members of Feretti's team had lent him, seeing as he'd only had his jeans and flanel. It took all her willpower to ignore the signals her body was sending to her at the sight of the sweaty, shirtless, short wearing Clark. One part of her mind noted the drooling new fans of Clark's form among the female members of the SG teams onboard. She also noted the only slightly less gaping leer of her cousin's. She sent Chloe a warning glare, which the blonde waived off with a knowing grin. Lois groaned as she realized the ammunition for teasing and blackmail she'd given the other girl. Her thoughts of retaliation were shot down as Clark sat beside her to examinge her winnings.

"What's all this?" her naive alien farmboy asked, gesturing to the pile of goodies.

"Just a few items I picked up, betting on you Smallville." she replied as she casually tossed an item from hand to hand. SHe gave a little gasp as Clark's hand whipped out, catching her new toy. "Hey that's mine. Give it back."

Clark's eyeborws met his hairline in surprise. "A grenade Lois? What are you planning to do with this? Blow up your Poli-Sci homework?"

Lois frowned and pried her toy out of his hands. SHe knew he was playing around because if he were seriously holding it, she knew she'd never be able to loosen his grip. "I was actually thinking that the next time I run inot one of those super freaks that stalk female inhabitants of Smallville, I could use it to slow them down and attract your attention, Mr. Sonar Ears." she gave him a wicked grin. "Or maybe wrap it in a peach skin and see what happens if you bite into it."

Clark chuckled and leaned closer. "I'll make sure to remind myself to never eat any solid foods you give me without peeling or cutting it first."

Lois grinned, pulled the pin and tossed Clark the grenade. Clark's eyes widdened and he quickly (not too quick but faster than human) grabbed the explosive, spun around and tucked it under his body, shouting for Lois and the others to clear the room. Instead, Lois calmly reached under Clark, who in some confusion allwed her to take the bomb. She then juggled it again, causing Clark to wince every time it landed in her hand.

"Calm down, Clarkie. While it's flattering to know you care enough to throw yourself on a bomb to protect little old me, things aren't always what they seem." She caught the device in one hand and grasping the end, firmly twisted the top until there was a pop. She then pulled off the connection and revealed the interior of the device.

Her grin widdened at the shock on Clark's face. She reached in, pulled out a small item from the inside and popped it into her mouth. "Skittle?" she asked innocently, inwardly laughing herself silly as Clark's face went through several expressions before settling on determination. He said nothing, just continued to glare with an obviousl wordless warning of pending retaliation etched on his face.

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hope you liked this. a little action, a little humor(or so I hope), and a chance to mess with the Tokra before they get all upity about Pete's joining.





*Chapter 18*: Chapter 18


Meteor Showers Ch 18

Here's the next chapter, sorry it took so long.

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Clark winced as he watched the initiation ceremony. The hideous looking eel-like creature hissed and screeched in the firm grip of one of the Tok'Ra elders. It was struggling to escape, not to the sanctuary of the watery nesting ground, but to find and invade it's host.

The elder passed the slimy creature to Jacob Carter. The former US General accept the symbiont with a solemn bow. He then turned to a low table, where the waiting host lay in ceremonial garb. For tis particular joining, that host was Clark's best friend, Pete Ross.

He resisted the urge to purge aswhe watched Pete open his mouth and the 2 foot long creature slither it's way in threw the opening. Despite himself, he could not look away, following the monster's progress with his xray vision. He watched and was mildly surprised by what he saw. From what Oneal and the others said, the Goauld were uncaring and unconcerned for causing their hosts pain. Especially when taking a host.

In contrast, this symbiont seemed to be going out of it's way to avoid any unnecessary pain. Not that the joining was painless, but Clark had seen the snake shift to avoid several nerve bundles that it could have plowed through.

The Tok'Ra preferred entering in this manner during a joining, where the Goauld preferred causing pain by implanting through the back of the neck or other area to increase the pain. It made it easier to gain control of the host if they were already struggling against the pain of implantation.

The whole process was highly upsetting and Clark quickly shut down the xray vision and turned his head. He was pleased to see that even though no one else had as detailed a view of the joining, they were all a little green around the gills. Even Lois looked a little sick.

If the implantation phase was nauseating, the next few hours were emotionally draining. Watching as Pete and the symbiont struggled to come to terms with being joined, with each trying to subjugate the other. While in control the symbiont, who proclaimed his name as Lujjan, would exclaim over the new sensations he was experiencing through the bond. Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch. All in ways different and greater then he'd ever known. When Pete was in control, he would mutter random strings of thought.

Under most normal conditions, some of those muttered statements would be embarrassing and potentially life threatening. Luckily General O'Neill (call me Jack)had had the Tok'Ra removed from the room. They had protested at first, but the General had talked them into leaving with a little sleight of hand concerning the device and the translation that Daniel, with Clark's help, had started on the symbols.

Sometimes, they would stand and pace, and there was more then one fit of rage. Pete's weakened mind allowed him to vent years of pent up emotions. From anger and hate for the Luthor's, to his not so secret love for Chloe, and even his occasional resentment towards Clark for being the object of Chloe's hidden desire.

He let loose about how hard it was not to hate Clark for either being the normal, All American idol of perfection he portrayed to the world without even realizing it, or for being an alien who compared to humans was a god. He screamed out how lonely and insignificant he felt in the face of Clark's perfection. He cried out the hidden pain caused by the failing of his parents marriage and the rift growing between his brothers as they all took sided and tried to force him to choose as well.

Although painful to hear, Clark stayed by his friend. He helped to restring Pete/Lujjan from hurting themselves. Normally a pair of experienced Tok'Ra would watch over the initiate, but given the sensitive knowledge Pete possessed in terms of Clark and kryptonite, there was only Jacob who was advised of Clark's secret and given a limited overview of the effect of kryptonite. They didn't mention that a long enough exposure or internal exposure could be fatal to Clark. Thor was aware, and had started small scale experiments with blood samples gleaned from Clark while he cleaned up form the fight with the Fine construct.

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They'd been on planet nearly a week. Clark's parents had gone back to Earth, along with most of the SG personnel. Only SG1 and Feretti remained. This was a matter of some disappointment as aside from Daniel, the SG members were not very willing to open up to a reporter. Even one that had Presidential approval for full disclosure.

So Chloe has asked Thor, and the Asgard had set up a terminal in her room that gave her access to a condensed history of the universe from the Asgard perspective. She also was given all the Asgard records relating to Krypton. The Asgard did not have much in the way of recent details, but did contain a limited amount of information regarding the history of Krypton in the universe. The Kryptonian system had been in an area beyond the Stargate's normal range, so there had been little contact with that section of space.

Apparently, Kryptonians were a very old race even when the beings referred to as Ancients were first leaving their home world. While human in appearance, there genetic makeup was vastly different. Whereas life on Earth and indeed, most of the Milky Way was carbon based, life on Krypton was silicone based. In fact they were based on a crystaline structure of cells instead of the double helix of Earth based life.

There was little in the way of details concerning the history of Krypton except to state the Krypton had once been the center of a galactic wide empire that ruled dozens of galaxies. Something had happened though and the great empire had crumbled into countless warring states. What had once been a peaceful, orderly section of the universe dissolved into endless wars that killed billions upon billions of beings. Entire races were wiped out in the wars that followed.

Krypton had then isolated themselves, destroyed all but their most powerful vessels which were tasked with a 2way blockade to prevent incoming threats as well as keep Kryptonians from leaving. This isolation lasted until the Ancients had become Ancient. Though they started to deal with the universe, they never again were the force they'd once been. Then, nearly 25000 Earth years ago, the Goauld met a distant Kryptonian colony and discovered 3 important facts:

1) Being crystalline in nature, Kryptonian biology prevented them from becoming hosts. This was Threat of the highest nature in the minds of the Goauld. A race with the Kryptonian's level of technology and knowledge that could not be enslaved? That was a greater danger to Goauld domination then even the Alliance of the 5 races.

2)The knowledge that under certain conditions, Kryptonian's already impressive physical abilities (ie a 200-250 years lifespan, strength a factor of 2x that of a Unas, etc...) and other lesser known but more enhanced abilities beyond those of human or Unas hosts. A race with such natural abilities enhanced and controllable by factors the Goauld did not understand was a danger to them.

3) While themselves incompatible as hosts, Kryptonian genetics were so complex and adaptable that they could theoretically breed with any of the near countless races of intelligent beings in the known universe. And these offshoots would retain the abilities of full Kryptonians, but were easily converted into hosts.

Chloe couldn't wait to share what she'd found with Clark, but knew it would be a few days before he'd show any interest. All his attention right now was fixed on helping Pete through this change and hiding his origins from the nosy Tok'Ra. He wanted to ensure that Pete was truly himself after the joining with the symbiont. He had no room for interest in Kryptonian history right now, though she made sure to make notes regarding the more salient pieces she'd found in the Asgard system.

A lesser, secondary part of her mind was still processing the growing affection between her long time crush and her siblingesque cousin. She had long known that they were at least physically attracted to each other, though each would vehemently deny even to themselves that such attraction existed. She had never considered that they might come to accept and expand that attraction to include more then just the physical. She had been in a form of denial herself, never accepting that their constant bickering was a subtle way for them to flirt without admitting any kind of attachment.

They seemed to act more like siblings, but with an underlying sexual tension that at times seemed thick enough to float in. Chloe had never allowed herself to admit that part of their fiery relationship on a conscious level and doubted that they themselves had ever thought that deeply about the matter.

Now she could no longer deny it. Her cousin, who was closer to her then a sister, and Clark, the boy she'd lusted for since 8th grade, had it bad. Even worse, it was not just physical. Oh no, it was never that easy in her life. Nothing a quick stop at a NoTell Motel or a roll in the hay would cure.

They had to fit in ways she couldn't hope to match. Even during that brief disaster of a relationship with Clark, she had never been able to get Clark to open up and relax the way Lois could. Not even Lana had ever breached the shell of isolation Clark carried, yet Lois it was not only breached, it was utterly annihilated. He was completely relaxed, open and even playful with her. He had never seemed as free as he did around Lois, not with her and Pete, not with Lana or Lex, and not even with his parents.

Lois was the 1st and she suspected the only one Clark felt or behaved that way with. The only hindrance had been their own reluctance to acknowledge the connection, and Clark's secret. Both of those were now non factors. The pair had been sharing a bed on the ship, though it had been simply for rest. She and Pete had shared the quarters with the pair, and aside from some annoying giggles and chuckles, with the odd look and caress, nothing further had happened. Yet. The whole situation had been awkward, especially with Pete there. She'd long known of his feelings for her, but had done her best to ignore them because he was a great friend, and she didn't want to hurt him by telling him he didn't stand a chance with her compared to what she felt for Clark. Now it was too late.

She sighed. "Enough, girl. Time to finally put Clark away. He might not realize it, but he's finally found the one thing he's been looking for his whole life. Time for your to try and do the same."

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Pete groaned as he opened his eyes. He felt sore all over, s though he'd been doing blocking drills against a bulldozer. He swung to a seated position,gasping as his head spun. Almost immediately, all his pain seemed to fade, and he remembered everything. 'Thanks Lujjan. For everything.'

'It was not much, Pete. Rather simple, since I am attached directly to your neural and nervous systems. I am grateful that we have come to an equitable term regarding the nature of our joining.'

'So am I, dude. Man, the last few days sucked. Still, I'm alive, healthy and still myself -mostly. More then I expected after seeing that damn thing in my chest.'

There was a sensation of mirth in his mind that he was learning to recognize as belonging to the new inhabitant in his now shared body. 'You sure you're okay with the way we compromised?'

'Perfectly fine Pete. You will deal mainly with human and human related issues, I will be in control for Goauld/Tok'Ra And we will alternate based on situational conditions and experience for any other issues. And as I saw in your mind, you are well experienced in a variety of situations. I do not mind - how does it go?- Taking a back seat to you? Though there are some experiences I look forward to experience more directly on my own.'

Pete chuckled. The mental conversation was oddly soothing. He did feel a bit weird responding to a voice in his head though. As the thought crossed his mind, he found himself standing in the center of a massive room. It was fronted on one side by a humongous screen that he instantly realized was showing what his eyes could see. Equally massive speakers were placed around the sides of the screen.

In the center of the floor, two of the plushest and most luxurious looking recliners sat awaiting use. On either side of each was a table. The table between had a bowl of cheddar popcorn, a dish of assorted gummies, and a central remote built into the woodwork. The side tables held several drinks and a table just out of range of the recliner's risers held a stack of magazines.

Pete moved over and flopped into one of the seats. "So Lujjan, how you wanna do this?"

Lujjan's voice came out of thin air. "I am quite sure that it would be uncomfortable for both of us if I were to assume a form identical to your own, and appearing in my own physical configuration would be discomfiting as well. So it occurred to me that perhaps working together, we can create a mental image for myself."

Pete nodded. That did make sense, and if they were to interact in this place, Lujjan would need a form that they both felt comfortable dealing with. "So how you wanna do this?"

A solid green figure appeared about 10 feet in front of the low table. A familiar looking menu popped on the screen. Amazingly, it didn't interfere with the view Pete knew to be his own eyes. Not that there was anything overly interesting out there right now. Clark and that Carter guy were talking to each other in low voices and hadn't yet realized that Pete was sitting up watching them.

He blinked as the recognition of the menu and featureless figure clicked in his mind. "I'm sure they never thought their 'Create-a-Wrestler' feature would be used by a symbiotic life form to choose a mental projection to interact with it's host body's mind." he stated with a grin.

"Likely not, but it is an excellent tool. It should make the adjustment to our situation easier if I am not an exact duplicate of yourself or of any 1 person you might know. Perhaps some similarity could be of use. Or should we choose a form directly opposite the physical body we share?"

Pete shrugged. As long as Lujjan wasn't a clone of himself or people he knew, he didn't really care. "Well let's go for variety. Since I'm a short, athletic black guy, let's start with tall white and geeky."

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Here ends this chapter of the story. I know it took longer than I stated or many of you might wish, but RL sucks sometimes. Several shift changes and new training at work slowed down my witting..





*Chapter 19*: Chapter 19


SM SG1: Wormholes and Meteor Showers.

CH 19

here's another chapter of the contiuing merging of the works of smallville and stargate. A lot on character in this one, not a lot of action. likely nearing the end of the story since this was just to work on getting the world together, though with the response I've had and the number of readers, i would consider doing a sequel.

I already have some ideas for an epilogue that could turn into the prologue for a sequel.

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CLark gave a soft grunt as he held up the end of the stone pillar. Around him there was excited chatter among the select group of witnesses and scientists chosen to oversee the testing. He concentrated until the voices faded and he was able to pock out the individual voices of Colonel O'Neill and his father as the COlonel attempted to run his father into shape. The colonel didn't realise that while John Knet was a long way from his days as an Army Ranger, running a farm was a lot of hard work, expecially when pride drove you to try and keep up with your teenaged son-whether that son had super powers or not.

They had been back on Earth for a little more then 3 weeks. During this time they had shared the news of Pete's 'death' with his family. There had been a touching tribute in several local papers. An article by Chloe that detailed all the lives that Pete had touched and helped to save over the last few years had won a Kansas State Literature award. It was followed by a few articles with interviews of various SG personnel. They were highly editted to avoid exposure, but were allowed as a means of testing the population for signs of readiness of the more detailed articles. Those that were already prepared and gave full disclosure of the Stargate program and the work they were involved with.

Lois had made the difficult decision to move back to Metropolis and finally finish school. She had accepted her fate and decided to major in Journalism, while doing a double minor in Computer Programming and Auto Shop, as well as signing up for Police Foundation. She was kept busy and unable to visit Smallville, but she never missed the 3 weekly calls they had agreed on. One on Tuesday, one thursday, and one on Sunday. Of course, they normally found excuses to call more frequently and Clark had do far found some reason to be in Metropolis each Saturday.

With Pete gone, Lois in Metropolis and Chloe spending her time doign research and exchanging email with those in the know, Clark had started to get board. Even the Meteor Freaks seemed to have decided to take a break. Aside from one girl with the ability to go for hours without needing to breath, there had been no distractions on that front. Lex was travelling still so there had been no scheming either by him or against him to keep him occupied. He hadn't realised that it could be so dull around the farm with no one to really talk to. Pete's brothers had been brought in to help out, as the SGC had sent in their own team to help the Kent's finish fixing up the house and clearing the farm. In fact, they had sent in a rather large crew to help out the whole town, not just the Kent property.

THe boredom had been driving him out of his mind, so when Daniel and Sam had called to see if Clark would like to help them out at hte SGC with the recording and other artifacts they thought could be related, he'd jumped at the chance. This had lead to Johnathon Kent's paranoia in regards to the military knowing Clark's secret to have him ask if he could accompany his son on the trips to Cheyenne.

IN order for John's presence on the secure base to be approved, he was re-inlisted by Presidential order and placed as a reserve member of the SGC. He would have to spend 2 weekends a month and 2 months of the year on standard rotation at hte base. Pending the results of Dr. Fraser's physical exams and bloodwork, as well as O'Neill's condensed training program, he would be assigned as base guard with emergency off world clearance, or if all went well, would be placed into hte general pool of personnel that was available for teams whose missions required extra personnel. His absence was covered by his 'official' title being listed as an agricultural consultant since his lifetime of farm work classified him as an expert in the field.

In fact, his ranking as a specialist in this field would be more likely to influence his possible acceptance for offworld field work then his military background. Part of the charter of the SGC that was undervalued was the search for alternate food sources or land for future farming. One of the long term goals was colonization of worlds for all forms of natural resources. With the appropriate equipment and regulations to assist in avoiding the damage to those worlds that they had caused on Earth.

Clark's attention was drawn back to the present as he was struck by a small stone. Not that he felt the impact of the rock any more than a normal person feels a dust mite. He felt and heard the stone as it moved through the air, rasing a small wind as the displaced air molecules rushed in to the vacuum created behind the stone as it moved forward. He squinted at the person who threw the stone.

"Anything you want to talk about Clark?" the man asked with a grin.

Clarke shrugged, causing the pillar to raise and lower. "Not really, Dr. Jackson. Why do you ask?"

"Because this is a test to see how much of your ability is due directly to your physical body as opposed to the energy field that Sam discovered surrounds you. You're supposed to be focussed on trying to feel if it's possible for you to tell at what point you are no longer using only your increased muscle density and start dipping into the solar energy that your body stores. The solar energy that provides your body the incredible strength and invunerability along with the rest of your abilities. And I though I asked you to call me Daniel?"

"Sorry Daniel. I remember. Just drifted for a moment." He paused and took a quick self assesment. "I can definitely feel a difference in lifting this to how I felt lifting the rocks earlier. If I start to to think about just how much I'm lifting I can feel it pushing at me. With the rocks, I felt myself lifting them and holding them up. When I lifted this, there was a faint sense just for a fraction of a section almost too fast for me to even notice if I hadn't trying to feel it. I could feel the strain of trying to life it. But then it was gone, and while I could feel a pull and can feel the weight, I had no problem lifting it. Even holding it now, I can't tell if it's my muscle strength or the energy field. I can feel the weight of it and it is tensing my muscles but only enough for me to know it is there. Feels about the same as anything else I lift. A bale of hay, an engine block,a tractor. No real effort but enough pressure for my muscles to tense."

Sam and Daniel nodded and murmered to each other. Sam worked at a console that held the read outs for the various testing equipment. Daniel might not understand what all the readouts meant, but he was able to document the readings into a separate system to track and record their findings. A few others wandered around base camp, checking equipment and marveling about earlier results.

"See here?" Sam asked, pointing to a zoomed in section of a line graph. "There's a spike here for about 1 1millionth of a second when Clark start's pushing up on the pillar. IT was too quick to be plotted normally so I had to manipulate the data timing set in order to provide better resolution. And looks, there's now clearly two points of data from then on. The larger output is being masked by the regular lower end output."

Daniel might bot be a physicist or mathematecian but he'd learned early how to keep records and record incomprehensible data. "So what do you think? I'm an acheologist, not a physicist."

Sam grinned. She and Daniel might have backgrounds in different fields, but both were at the peak for their given professions. She also knew that Daniel understood more then he let on. Somthing he'd learned to hide, thanks to both his childhood in the foster care system and the example of Jack O'Neill.

She turned from the screen to Clark, who was now -at the request of Folger- lightly tossing the pillar from hand to hand. "I think that the extra energy is being filtered into his muscle tissue. This is allowing his muscles to work at the same energy output, and use the extra power from his solar stores to feed the strength to lift the pillar."

She had been typing away while she spoke and jumped to her feet a moment later. "YES! I just confirmed some raw data by using the modified program. It clearly shows similar spikes in Clark's energy usage during the earlier tests. The first spike occurred when he lifted the UAV. That is about 500lbs. Do you know what this means?" Sam asked excitedly, her face beaming with excitement.

A ground shaking thud startled her out of her euphoria. All eyes turned to Clark as his face set in a stoic mask. "It means that physically, my limit must be close to 500lbs. It means even without this solar energy that my body stores, I will never be normal. I will always be well beyond the capabilities of a normal human."

Sam's eyes glittered and she shook her head so fast it flopped her hair around like a hummingbird on speed. She almost gave Clark a run for his money. "Actually it means that we can, with a lot of work, train you to only react at a human level for someone of similar size. Now that you are able to focus and register when you are reaching into the energy field, it's only a matter of traing you to be able to do so at tiems of your own choosing. We can help you learn how to limit yourself to human standards and abilities, as well as reflexes. We might even be able to train you to control you invulnerability."

"But I'd still just be faking, pretending to be something I'm not." Clark stated with a brittle tone in his voice.

Sam sighed, but it was Daniel who spoke. "Clark, there's nothing wrong with not being human. Just because of a difference in genetics and evolutionary history, doesn't mean you aren't human. It just means you have to broaden your definition of what constitutes 'being human?' " The linguist paused for a moment. "Clark, do you consider Jack human? What about Tealc? Or Sam and me?"

Clark blinked. "Well sure, you, Jack and Sam are human. And aside from that thing in his stomach, Tealc seems as human as any of you."

Daniel nodded. "And you would be wrong, if you limit the meaning of humanity to only follow lines of genetic heritage. Jack is only part human. He is a direct descendant of a race we call Ancients. Tealc is a Jaffa, and though they were once human, thousands of years of genetic drift after the Goauld experiments altered them have removed them from humanity as a species. Sam was a host to a Tokra, like your friend Pete and Sam's father Jacob. Neither are entirely human any more. At least by your definition of what constitutes human."

Clark took a moment to consider the arguement when he spotted a flaw. "But you are? You didn't list yourself as an exception."

Daniel's grin widdened. "But I am an exception. I became an Ascended." he held up a hand to forestall Clark's question. "The Ascended are for the most part what became of the Ancients. They grew so advanced that they evolved beyond the need of a physical body. Over the millenia since then, a few individuals of various species have reached a level that allowed them to cross that stage of evolution. I happen to hvae done so. And even though I returned, I'm technically no longer human. I was locked in this form and have all the normal human requirements. Though I can feel the power that ws stripped from me when I descended. It's there, but out of my reach."

"So that's the weird glow I see around you." Each of you has an odd . . .glow. I mena, everyone has a glow, but it's pretty much the same. But I've seen several been with glows similar to Jack's, but no one like you Daniel. Or like Sam and Tealc. The tokra looked similar, but the glow was a little darker."

"That's interesting and definitely something to look into at a later time. But for now, let's focus on getting what we can about this new information regarding the energy fields. I've heard that the samples we managed to get for your blood and other material is driving the biologists and other medical staff half out of their mind." Sam grinned. "I know some of the tests were rather embarassing, but they do need to run the full gamut of tests in order to get baselines for your physiology. Then they can use those to compare against any taken after or tested by exposure to Kryptonite to possibly work on some kind of antigen or cure for the effects it causes not only in you, but with those who were mutated by long term exposure."

Clark blushed and looked away. The fact that they had wanted blood and urine samples, as well as hair, saliva and skin were not too harsh, though his father had been extremely weary about allowing the sampling to take place. But worst was the request for a sample of his genetic material. He hadn't understood at first until a redfaced Lois had pointed out what they wanted, and then he had been almost too embarrassed to be able to . . . gather the sample. Lois's flush had turned from humor at his situation to anger, when more then a dozen of the female staff members had offered to help 'assist' Clark in producing the required sample, and perhaps, a few extra samples just to be safe. She had to be restrained by Tealc when one unfortunate RN had even gone so far as to try to subtly grope the solution to Clark's difficulty.

It had taken him some time and a lot of goading and teasing by Lois before he was able to provide the requested material. Oddly, Lois' teasing and joking had instead of causing him for embarrasment and difficulty eased a tension in him. Her threats of inducing bodily harm against any one who attempted to assist Clark in producing the samples with the added caveat of 'If any one is going to assist Clark in getting those samples, its me.' as well as more direct threats such as 'Touch my property and die you airforce skank.' had helped him see some humor in the situation and nature had been able to perform. His favorite though had to be when she told one over enthisuastic young man who had suggested a rather mundane surgery that would allow for more direct samples 'Those samples don't belong to Clark, he's just holding them for me.'

"So what do you suggest for trying to control my abilities, Sam." Clark asked, trying to steer the conversation to more neutral grounds.

Sam thought for a moment while considering some of the displayed information regarding Clark's biorythm's. "We can try using the method of the dial system like we came up with for your little spar session on the ONeal II. Though judging from our new information, we would have to adapt the system bit to adjust and even out for more realistic values."

Clark blinked then turned to Daniel. "She means that the original comaparisons were wrong and that she has to come up with a new scale level for baseline humans on up to a full Kryptonian accessing his full powers."

"So it's going to be a diffent scale then 1-10? I did adjust it to a scale of 100 during the fight actually. But if what you're measuring now is true then I really can say Idon'tknow my own strength and that the scale I was thinking in was wrong as well."

"Actually a scale of 10 could work. If it was an exponential variant like they used in the Star Trek series for warp speed. You know the kind of thing, Warp 1.0 to Warp 2.0 is something along the lines of the speed of warp one squared, then warp 2 to warp three is equal to w1 squared times w2 squared, and so on up to warp ten beind the sum of the squares of the current speed plus the squares for all preceding speeds."

Seeing that Clark was lost in the math, Daniel tried to clear it up using an example. "Think like this, if warp 1 is 1, then warp 2 is 1 times 1 times 2. Warp three is warp 1 plus warp two then that is squared. And so on."

Still lost in the math but trusting those that did know it, he simply shrugged. He didn't really know how it worked, just so long as it would help him, it didn't matter. "So would humans be at level 1 and full kryptonians as 10s? Would that put Tealc and the other Jaffa as lv2? Then the Unas you mentioned would be lv3 and so on. So if I want to be down at a human level, it isn't so much as a tength of my normal strength, but something like one one billionth?"

"Sounds about right, though it you want to avoid some of the conflicts this scaling might cause, we could stick to a scale based out 100."

"For now though, I think that's enough testing. Felger a d Barns will help you get those devices and gear off, then You can have some time for yourself. This world is empty, so it's safe. You can go explore for a while, or if you want to stick around, I'm sure Daniel and his team of linguist wouldn't mind a few lessons in Kryptonian. The rest of the day is yours. If you do explore, take a radio, but remember that even with the boosted signal, there is only a 20mile range. If you're going past that, let us know. I'm going to get started on crunching some numbers to get an idea of how to work the ranks of the scale that we'll use."

Clark nodded and let the scientist remove the electrodes and other monitor equipment. He then grabbed the shirt he'd left on the table and dressed. In the fatigues and with the light flak jacket they'd insisted he wear for the mission, he looked like any of the other members of the SGC. He'd refused a weapon, or at least a gun, so they'd outfitted him with a zat, a multitool, a collapsable baton and a knife that had a compass in the handle. As with most worlds they visited, they'd assigned the East as the direction from sunrise, and south as sunset.

"I think I'll go for a run. You said this world had only the one continent, but that it narrowed at the equator into a series of connected islands something like the Florida keys? And it's only about the size of Earth's moon?" he asked, gathering the gear they'd leant him. "Are there any dangerous or aggressive animals?"

One of the zoologists working nearby looked up as Sam called him over. "Nothing we've found yet, but we haven't had a chance to explore the entire surface, let alone the vast sea. From some findings made, we think that there might be ocean lifeforms that are similar to Earth's pleiosaurs and other aquatic dinosaurs. We did a survey on the north shore and found the remains of an animal that bore signs of having been attacked by something massive, but we've found no other signs of dangerous animals. Most likely, anything dangerous would be in the ocean, so as long as you don't go for a swim, you should have no difficulties."

Clark smiled. "Thanks. I won't be gone long. Hey, since I'm able to range out further in a shorter amount of time, want me to collect some samples or pictures or anything?"

A quick consultation among the several branches, and Clark was off, well past the 20 mile radio range within a couple of minutes. Even burdened with the backpack full of sampling cases and varius scanning and photography equipment, no one could make him out as he left at top speed.

After a short murmur of amazement at the unofficial display, everyone returned to their own concerns. It had been an unusually quiet few days for an SG1 mission, and everyone was taking advantage of the time to relax and refresh a little on the moon sized planet that held very little of interest and was thus unlikely to come to the attention of the Goauld.

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another chap done, I hope you are enjoying.

anyway, wondering if anyone wantsw me to continue past next chap or should i start ending the story? this was after all about them meeting and now that they are and are starting to work together, it might be time to end. if i do end should I do a sequel, perhaps one with more action? let me know.





*Chapter 20*: Chapter 20


Wormhole and Meteor Showers

next chap of wormholes, takes place roughly 5 years in future, but some of events of my time line differ. I am going to included things I like , (love Maxima!)

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Clark frowned and then placed a grimace on his face as the dig crew moved through the door he was holding open. The head of the dig, an old friend of Clark's archaeological mentor, Daniel Jackson, was aware of some of Clark's abilities as he had recently retired from the SGC himself in order to go back to field work with his wife and son. Most of the crew only knew that Clark was stronger and faster then most people. But his history was mostly restricted knowledge and he passed himself off as the son of a friend of Dr. Baines who was doing his friend a favor by getting his son some real world field experience before he went back to school.

Dr. Anton Baines was an expert in the fields of Central and South American native tribes. He knew that Clark was not human and significantly stronger and more durable then a regular human. Thankfully with the outpouring of what were being called 'metahumans' in the last couple of years, Clark's display of abilities were not as unusual as they might otherwise have seen. Being that the planned dig was in a section of South America that was rife with all manner of dangers, he'd asked Daniel to see if Clark was willing to come along on the trip as extra muscle and to gain some credit towards his degree. Clark had decided to take Daniel up on his offer and was working towards dual degrees in Journalism and Archeology. He'd already been published in several archaeological and hard science magazines. He was currently writing a series of articles for various South American papers regarding their current work.

Unlike Lois(now the Planet's most recognized investigative reporter) or Chloe ( who had disappeared for a year and came back using the name Cat Grant as a gossip columnist) he didn't have that driving need to uncover the truth or expose hidden evils. He liked writing and the excitement of the 'big scoop' well enough but it lacked something. He found the background work involved with the daily workings of a paper to be tedious and frustrating. He'd rather write about the world from the standpoint of personal experience then have to really on 2nd and third hand reports. He preferred the freedom of being a correspondent with no deadlines or assigned stories to force him into doing a less then satisfying job with his articles.

Now he had the ability to write and send in what he was interested in, and to do so at a pace that he found suited him. If he didn't feel like writing for a few weeks or didn't 'feel' the article, there was no pressure to try and force a story. Thanks to the field work and the per diem that was provided by the group funding the dig, he didn't really have any expenses and what little that wasn't provided for was extremely inexpensive for someone who could cross the globe in seconds. And he was still receiving a stipend through the SGC for both his off world assistance and for his being in the field tracking any potential signs of Goauld or other non human influence. A smaller part of the job was to see if there were any possible recruits for the SGC. He'd already referred 2 people who were now on SG teams, and had foiled 3 NID operations centered on robbing a few sites or kidnapping various archaeologists

He had practiced and nearly perfected his control of his powers over the last few years. Thanks to Sam's training and the mental dial she'd helped him create, he could now subconsciously alter all aspects of his abilities. On a daily basis he held himself at a level equal to that of a Kryptonian on their home world. It was again thanks to the emergence of the metahumans and non human superheros (Oliver Queen's group had exploded and there were more then a dozen members of various origins and abilities), he didn't have to hide so much of himself. HE was now more able to blend in then ever, and his control allowed him to experience many of life's little situations had had always been denied to him. He could now react like any one else to his environment.

He could feel the heat of a summer's day, or need to bundle up on a blistery morning. He'd felt the sting of a paper cut, and the self directed anger of stubbing a toe in the dark. He was still stronger and more durable then most, but he was able to self adjust his powers without consciously thinking of it. It was all automatic now. These might seem like little things to most, but for someone who'd never experienced them and received odd looks when in situations that should have resulted in a certain reaction didn't even notice that anything had happened, it was an important event.

Sam and Daniel had finally convinced him that trying to ignore his powers was not the right path. So instead of just control to limit himself, they'd also worked on controlling and expanding his powers. His heat vision could now seem as gentle as the heat off a sunlamp, or hot enough to melt stone. It could feel like a soft breath, or punch through several feet of solid steel. He could zoom his vision to view matter on an atomic level, or see the surface of Venus as clearly as if he was sitting on the 50yrd line of Metro Stadium. He could grasp a hummingbird's wing mid-flight with the speed and gentleness that it wouldn't miss a beat, or move a Texas sized asteroid out of it's orbit as easily as a normal person would push a toddler in a stroller.

Right now he was struggling to hold up the door to the hidden chamber as other grad students and dig rats scrambled to exit the cave. He knew that he could likely launch the door into the stratosphere through the top of the cave with just his pinky, but at the current strength level, the falling door was slowly wearing him down. It was likely about 3-4 tons of solid carved stone. It was only thanks to the engineering of the ancient crafters that it hadn't already crashed down, trapping everyone inside with the escaping gases.

"Okay Clark, Samuel is out and we can go for the night." Dr. Baines stated from the outer path.

Clark grinned and stood up, causing the door to lift up along it's running tracks for several moments which allowed Clark to step out of the door way and the heavy door to come crashing down with a resounding crash. He then turned to his professor. "Are we going to be going back in?"

"Yes, but I think we'll bring down the hydraulic frame supports. While it might not be exactly what we were searching for, this is more then worthy a site to explore more in depth. We can get it prepped for the 2nd team to work before we move on to the next candidate."

Clark nodded. It would be good to not be a door opener for a while. "We should bring in the spelunking gear and the Quads. The winches and power would help with the heavy lifting work. We could move the whole camp into that outer chamber."

"Not sure if we should do that right away. If the press breaks down, or runs out of fuel, we could be stuck inside. Though I suppose we could blow the door or otherwise remove it." The doctor stated with a frown. "I'd hate to have to do so, the door itself has some amazing carving and from what I've translated contains a warning to their enemies while claiming a refuge for the tribe. Even the sheer engineering of the pulley system that could raise and lower the door is astounding. If only the original ropes had not snapped."

"Well we could snake the cables of the winches through the openings and the pulley's. Then hook them into the door with a series of climbing pinions. Hammered into the top frame of the door, they won't cause any significant damage. Each winch has a pull of about 3500lbs. With the pulley system here, they would hold easily. It looks like the door could have been opened by 2 fit men or exceptional women."

"We'll let John decide when he arrives on Monday with Team 2. But Just in case, we'll switch Mike over to Team 2 and take Helena with us instead."

"You're the boss, Doc. I'm just hired muscle." Clark joked as they finally emerged into the light of the setting sun.

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Lois sighed as she was once again ignored by Lex Luthor during the press conference. You would think that their years of acquaintanceship and all the adventures they'd endured together would let him show a little common courtesy and answer her question about the leak in his new reactor. It had only been online for a few weeks, and already it was causing problems with the local environment. Some of the used coolant had leaked into the sewers and was boiling Metropolis from the ground up. Not to mention the radiation being thrown by the core. By all rights the damn place should never had been opened as it was build with substandard materials and seemed almost haphazardly built. The only reason it passed inspection by the EPA was that Lex has spent enough to support a small country in bribes and kickbacks.

She stood up, ignoring the others around her as she pulled out her headset and used the voice dial to call the assistant editor at the Planet. "Hey Richard, just letting you know Luthor shot me down again. He ignored my question and answered some crap by Nunzio from the Star. I know his name really isn't Nunzio. But the slime ball doesn't deserve to have his name brought into a conversation by a lady." She paused for a moment listening to his reply as she stepped around various other reporters and staff. "Hey buddy, talk to me like that and I won't show you how feminine I can be for a very long time." She hailed a cab and tapped a foot impatiently while waiting for the traffic to allow it to pull up to the curb. "Yeah, you got me there. So you gonna finish at the office soon? I'm heading home and will email the article from there. Luthor palmed the blame off on some sap and it's all standard stuff. I could probably copy and paste most of the story from any LuthorCorp press clips."

The cab finally pulled up and she went in, giving the address for her home. "So you bringing super home or are we going to attempt and burn down the house again? The fire chief wasn't happy with me after that article where I exposed his little private fun time with that cub scout troop. Though I'm sure his cell mates gave him a warm welcome." She fished out a stick of gum and popped it into her mouth. "Ok, Chinese it is. Order from Mao's and I should beat it home. If not, I'll call Sally next door and have her take the delivery. Yes, put it on the card, we didn't get that ting to look pretty in your wallet after all. Look, gotta go, I'll talk to you ate home. Love you too, Richie."

Despite the way that the conference had gone, Lois was in a good mood. Her life was at an all time high. She was one of the world's best reporters, her stories being sent out on the wire's to papers all around the world. She'd exposed more corruption, stopped more crime and brought to light more truth then a reporter with 4 times the years in the business. She was the top reporter at the best paper in the world, and was for the 1st time in her life in a true, adult stable relationship. She and Richard White, the nephew of Planet editor Perry White, had met not long after Lois had returned from a trip that was more likely to be posted in the Weekly News then in the Planet. She, her cousin Chloe, their friend Clark Kent, his parents and a young man by the name of Pete Ross had been taken by a group of Roswell aliens and a team of secret military planetary explorers to a planet on the other side of the galaxy where Pete had been implanted with an intelligent parasitic alien snake that had saved his life from injuries caused by battling an alien killer robot. And all this was in order to protect and save the life of an alien that had been living on earth long enough that she'd seen all his embarrassing baby pictures taken by the couple who found him when his ship crashed in a corn field not far from their farm.

She sighed as the thought of Clark brought up the feelings and memories of her time on the Kent Farm. She missed Clark, and she could admit to herself that she still loved him. They had kept in touch over the years and the connection they'd shared had grown in time. But as stated on that return trip, they hadn't been ready for an adult relationship. They had agreed to live their lives and not try and make any doomed attempts to never try and find anyone else to care about. Richard was her only true relationship since Clark, though she had dated a few guys here and there. She knew that Clark had had a few short lived relationships as well. Most notably with some alien queen of a planet named Almerac. She'd been searching the universe for her 'perfect mate', and had when learning that there were rumors of a Kryptonian on Earth, come to find Clark.

There had been a few deaths as a result of her actions while she searched for Clark, but she didn't commit any violence against anyone that hadn't first attempted violence against her. The death's had been a result of a reaction from the kiss Maxima had given to several men she'd mistaken for Clark. Clark upon confronting her had while not being pleased that people were dead, understood that there was no harm meant by her actions and after several further meetings they had developed a relationship that ended when Clark was unable to return with Maxima to Almerac. They had parted on good terms, and Maxima still occasionally returned to Earth and was considered a part of the Justice League, the group of superheros that had evolve from Ollie Queen's little band of merry men.

The queen had another reason for her return visits. After clearing up the situation of the confusion about her actions and their consequences, Maxima along with several newly encounter races, had established an embassy on Earth to rival that of the Themysciran Embassy. Though nothing could replace the lives lost by her actions, and she was too proud to apologize, the families of the victims had been compensated and though she was not subject to Earth's laws, she did ensure that the families, what was left of them, would never want for anything again. She'd also put them under the protection of the Almerac empire. With this accomplished, she and Clark had shared a relationship, though it had not lasted long. The fact that as queen, Maxima had to remain within her Empire in order to properly oversee her people, and Clark would never leave Earth on a permanent basis had ended their relationship. They still cared for each other though and the fruit of their relationship was a now 3 year old red haired blue eyed girl who even by Almeracian standards something of a precocious entity.

It was shear luck that the girl had inherited the best of both her parents. The combination of Almeracian and Kryptonian genetics had given her all of her parents abilities, but she did not suffer from her father's weakness to kryptonite to the same degree. The best scientists in the Almeracian empire had deduced that exposure to kryptonite would likely make her a little slower, perhaps a bit of soreness, and might make her unable to use some of her extreme gifts such as her various vision abilities. But she would keep her strength thanks to the strength of her Almeracian genes. She was exactly what Maxima had originally searched for when she'd tried to force a powerful male to mate with her, but what she had not counted on was that she would grow to truly love Clark, though she had known that it would not last forever. She had confronted Lois one evening and told her that neither she was entrusting Lois to watch over the man they both loved, and that she hoped that they could be friends. Well, as friendly as a egotistical socially inept queen and a hotshot, bullheaded reported could be, anyway. Lois had just started dating Richard around the time, and so she hadn't been able to promise that she and Clark would ever be able to be together in a romantic sense, she had promised that she would be there in every other way whenever Clark needed her. And if during their encounters over the years, Maxima had born another Kryptonian child, this one a dark haired tyke with his mother's eyes and temper, well Lois was not in a position to limit Clark's intimate encounters since she was in a relationship with a man she cared for deeply.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lois was pleased to see that she had arrived before the ordered dinner. She got inside and dumped her stuff off on the table near the door. She kicked off her shoes, cursing the man who must have invented the torture devices known as heels. She also cursed herself for giving in and going with the flow in terms of her dress. Gone were the days of jeans and blouses, and instead of the comfortable flat soles, the peels came out with the business dress. Now that she was the Planet's top reporter, and known world wide, she had to dress and act the part and it could be very annoying. Especially when the men she was trying to interview spend more time looking at her cleavage or her legs then her face. While she wasn't adverse to a little male attention, and certainly would take advantage of their distraction and inability to control themselves, it just pissed her off sometimes. It was hard enough being treated equally at the office, and even worse now that it was common knowledge she and Richard were living together, but in the male dominated world of investigative reporting, being talked down to like she was nothing more then another of the blond bimbo TV anchors was enough to make her want to knock some teeth loose. Luckily, she'd learned some control and while 5 years ago, she had knocked a few heads back, now she only did so to people who were actively trying to attack her first.

The food arrived and she placed it on the table, turning on the TV to catch the last part of the current crop of recycled crap. The news would be on soon and she and Richard would usually watch it while they ate and poke fun at the errors or lack of information in the stories as displayed on TV news versus the full story and what appeared in the Planet.

The sound of Richie's car in the drive caught her attention and she grinned, taking out a bottle of wine as she started setting the table. Life was good, and though she missed having Clark and Chloe around on a daily basis, Richard was far from a second choice. Chloe was still at the Planet, but she was no longer herself, and it pained Lois that they weren't as close as before, but after the time Chloe was infested with the Goauld, she'd changed. And while she still loved Clark and always would, what she felt for Richard was just as strong, if in a different way. He certainly wasn't 2nd fiddle to Clark by any means, and she wanted to see where their relationship would take them.

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Daniel was grinning as he walked down the ramp after Jack, who had tripped and rolled down the mesh ramp once again. The mission had been a success and they now had 3 more ZPG's to add to their growing collection. The people of Zendawa had been some of the most polite and easy going as any they had encountered. They had thrown off Goauld control more then 6000years ago and while still in a somewhat primitive cultural condition, had retained and expanded their knowledge and found a way to inject Naquadah into the bloodstream without the side effects of the heavy metal being in the human system. This had allowed them to have the same control over Goauld devices as the Goauld them selves, and they had eagerly agreed to a trade mission, as they were short on certain materials that didn't grow or replenish on the single continent. They had little in the way of metals and with their growing population, food sources were beginning to die out or dry up.

Johnathan Kent would be going with the next team, SG8, for an agriculture survey to see if he could help find plant life that the planetary system could grow and that the Zendawan physiology could handle. He had become as much an asset over the years as Clark. Not just for his knowledge of agriculture, but for his combat abilities and his manner. He had twice been offered to be upgraded to lead a team of his own, and had refused. While the Ross brothers were now full time at the Kent farm, which had grown larger as he used some techniques learned off world to improve his yield, he still preferred the freedom of only being a part time Off-world member. The stipend and pay for his work in the SGC, as well as the higher yield and quality of his crops had allowed the Kent's to purchase some of the surrounding land that had been floundering.

The sound of an incoming person caused Daniel to turn his head and he held his grin as Sam caught sight of Jack struggling to his feet. Their eyes met and an unspoken conversation was held. Sam eventually shook her head and went to help Jack up. The team was complete when Tealc came striding through the gate with the familiar slurping/whooshing sound of gate travel. Jack finally righted himself and through his CO and civilian a glare threatening revenge if they make mention of his condition.

"SG1, report to the briefing room after Dr. Frasier completes her exam. As of right now, all off world teams are being recalled, so make if quick." General Hammond's voice barked over the speakers.

"What's going on, General?" Jack asked as he and his team handed over their weaponry to the Sergeants from the armory who were now standard issue in the gate room. Bitter experience had taught them that it was best to disarm and keep a returning team under guard until they were cleared by medical. There was a wall on Level 3 that had a plaque with the name and dates for each person lost since the time the gate first opened.

The general hesitated for a moment before he continued. "It seems that with the exposure of meta-humans into the world and the establishment of non-terrestrial Embassy's and the generally positive reaction to alien life, the President and the Joint Chiefs, along with the Russian, British and Japanese agencies have decided it is time for the SGC to be made public. Congratulations SG1, as the flagship team and due to the length of service, you've all been reassigned. You're now the public face of the SGC. With the assignments come acknowledgement of promotions long since over due. I'm sorry to say this, but you will no longer be going on 1st contact missions. Now you're going to face a truly dangerous task. Facing the public with all we've down over the last 12 years."

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Author note:

so I decided to continue in this one story, though obviously we've now moved on a few years.

I decided to make a few changes to the universe by making Clark go with the archaeology first and not make his a reported on a full time basis. With this day and age, and the modern world, I feel it would be too difficult for someone in the news media to be able to get away with the constant disappearances and such that Clark/Superman would have to do for both his superman duties and his work with the SGC, but as a field worker, a digger if you would for a team of archaeologists, his movements would be less controlled and he could come and go from one team to another with ease as need be, not to mention that if there was a situation were he wanted to keep an eye on an area of the world in case of potential problems, an archaeologist or 'tomb' raider might have a better chance of being able to avoid the dangers that face foreign news media in some countries.

I had recently seen the episode with Maxima and decided that she was too good a character to pass up doing something with, though she won't have a major impact except that she is the mother of Clark's daughter and son. And I didn't want Lois to be alone, so I brought in Richard White, but no child for Lois/Clark yet. Don't want to give it away, but I do feel that Lois and Clark will be the final pairing, but it might take a while for them to get together. Loose canon usually reflects that they are in their mid 30's when they doe become a couple (varies depending on source and era) So in my fic, Maxima is the 'rebound' girl were Clark puts away any lingering childhood relationships and helps him become the man that will eventually be the world's greatest hero. Oh, and I'm not good at names, so if someone wants to think of names for the children, add them to your reviews, or email me. I don't want to go for the 'named after my father' thing that is so common. I'd rather have if not unique, at least not standard names.

So no for Sam, Joel, Jordan, John(or variations), Clark jr (definitely no). In fact if someone out there is reading and knows more about Almerac and names there, it might be appropriate to name them after that part of their heritage, since they are in effect being raised in that culture. Perhaps with a human/kryptonian second name.

I was actually going to go with something of a cliché and make Chloe become Vickie Vale and pair her with Bruce Wayne, but decided to turn her into Cat Grant. I might explain more detail, if desires either in story or in notes, so if you want to know more of Chloe's history, if if someone wants to try a sidestory with the basic idea I have for the catalyst of her change, please let me know.





*Chapter 21*: Chapter 21


Wormholes and meteor showers ch 21

continuing story of smallville joining stargate. People are still enjoying it so I decided to continue. Don't mind the long delays.

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Pete grunted as he ducked behind a boulder to avoid having his head blasted off by incoming staff fire. When the stream of fire slowed, he slid his hand around the boulder and fired off several rounds until the magazine ran dry. The Jaffa were so thickly clumped, he didn't need to aim and for a few moments the sound of metal on metal rang through the passage as the fired ammunition punch into and through the armor worn by the Goaul foot soldiers.

He pulled back his hand, dropped out the empty clip and popped in a fresh mag (his last) then placed the empty clip into the slot on his clip belt. He then hostlered the pistol and frowned. He reached into the pouch and pulled out his comm. "Where the hell are you guys?"

Carter's voice came back over the line. "Sorry Pete, Lajjan. Got stuck in traffic at the gate. Brought back some old friends though."

"Tell me you have got Clark or SG1 with you, and I swear I'll be your personal chef for the next 100 years."

"No Big Blue here, but you got the next best thing, Brother." came a bvoice Pete couldn't place at first. Lajjan ran through Pete's memories and matched the voice to a name and a face.

"Victor Stone? What are you doing here? I thought you were with Queen's group of merry men?"

Another voice came on the line, one Lajjan could not place at all not matter how detailed he searched Pete's memory. "Things on Earth have changed, Mr. Ross and Kal-El might not have thought toinform you of all those changes."

Pete cringed as the staff fire intensified and chips of boulder and cave wall filled the air. "Look we can chitchat later. Right now, I've got a heap load of Jaffa trying to cook my goose and I could use some help. How long until you are here?"

"Right now pal." came a voice to Pete's left.

Pete looked over and didn't know how to respond to the man in the garrish outfit. "Bart? What in the world are you wearing, dude?" he asked of the former thief.

"Don't mock the threads, Implant boy. And it's Flash now when on the job." There was a blur and when it cleared, Bart was holding a case similar to the ones Pete remembered his dad using to lock up the rifles and shotguns after they finished their hunting trips. He also set down a duffle bag that was obviously filled with other gear.

"Clark couldn't make it and SG1 is doing some kind of meet and greet. So the SGC called the good old JLA and we had a few people free so here we are!" The excitable young man pulled something out of the bag. "Cool, what's this thing do?" he said moving the thing around and examaning it like a child with a new toy.

Pete's eyes glowed as he saw what the Scarlet Speedster was toying with. "Flash baby, that right there might be just the thing to get us out of here. You know what a flashbang is?"

"Sure, cops use them when doing a hard entry into a dangerous situation. Batsy and his gang use the same thing. Small bang, big flash and then lots of smoke right?"

"Too true Flasheroo." Pete replied with as grin as he took the device from Flash's hands. "This is the next level up, a Sonic EMP Disruptor. Works with the same kind of principle in mind, but instead of a light show, this sends out a blast of low frequency sound, too low for humans to hear, but when it hits the brain, BAM! Instant KO. Supposed to work on most species with similar nervous systems to human or Earth life. Should put out those Jaffa just as easily as a rioting gang. They are human stock. And the EMP on this should also effect their gear and it might even conk out the snakehead at the back of the pile. It takes a few seconds to go off though, and the masks they are wearing could block it. Think you could soom over and deactivate the head pieces? That should confuse them long enough for the SED to kick off."

Bart grinned. "Consider it done. Man, never thought that week long training with the SGC would pay off like this. Now I owe Batsy for a week of delivery service and silence at the next 3 JLA meetings."

Pete finished setting the device then put on a set of ear coverings supplied with the kit. They looked like dark safety glasses with earmuffs on the arm bands. "Put these on before it goes off or you'll be out too. The others are for enough away not to be effected. Try and place this right in the middle of the group. Then hit the plunger and in about 5-6 secs, they'll be out." He cocked his head to the side. "And later, you'll need to explain what this JLA thing is all about."

Bart signalled his understanding then blurred into action. He moved through the cavern, easily side stepping the barely moving balls of energy and then weaved his way through the frozen troops. He reached the middle of the group, and placed the device, pressing the plunger as he went. He recalled that it took 2-3 seconds for the helmets to open so he had decided to cut down on the chance of loosing the opportunity by not giving them the time to recover. He made his way through the Jaffa to the gold glad figure at the rear. He opened this figures mask first, then after a moment's consideration, decided 'What the hell,' and performed an action known to children the Earth over as a SAW. Chuckling to himself as he made his way back through the still frozen Jaffa back to Pete, he made sure not to miss any of the nearly two dozen soldiers.

He resumed his crouched position and dropped out of the speed field. "Set and go." he stated with a grin.

There was a cry of pain and then a flash and the sound of electrical discharge, then the sound of heavy bodies collapsing onto stone ground. The two waited as the previously fired blasts struck various surfaces around them. After about 10 seconds had gone by with no further sounds, they cautiosly stood and approached. Pete lead the way, leveling the P90 that had been in the case.

Pete shrugged off the look Bart through him as he shouldered the weapon. "Never can tell how long something designed for a human system will work on a Jaffa or Goauld. Better to be safe."

Bart nodded. He pressed the earpiece built into the decorative lightning bolt of his mask. "Hey guys. Situation has calmed but we could still use your help ASAP."

The stranger's voice came on. "We are nearly there. Victor's systems were knocked offline, but he's rebooted. We should be there within 5 minutes.

Bart sighed. "Don't know how long these guys will be out. I'll secure them with the zipties."

"Better double them up son. Jaffa are much stronger then humans and if you have got a Goauld there, I'd suggest shackles and possible zatting him. The SED might have put out the human, but the snake could always be aware and leave the host seeking a new one."

"Got it General, there were several sets of heavy cuffs in the gear. Just try and hurry along. These things freak me out more then Gorilla Grodd and Solomon Grundy combined.

Jkllkjjklljkkjl

Pete was still shaking his head as they stepped through the gate to the 1st of several holding areas. "Man Bart, I can't believe you Melvined Hojo here." He shoved the stumbling Goauld host forward, ignoring the muttering coming from the blindfolded and gagged figure.

"Hey, just doing my part to spread Earth culture." the demasked crimefighter stated as he carried the duffel back and weapons case.

"Still, how did you even manage it with the clothes these guys wear."

"It wasn't easy, but man was it worth it! Did you see the expression on his face? I haven't seen anything like it since Plasty spiked Bats coffee with Exlax. It took him almost a month to unknot himself."

"That's twice now that you've mentioned this Bats character. Is he something to do with the JLA?" Pete as as they waited for the wormhole to be able to cycle through. He and part were escorting the Goauld through a series of gates to throw off any pursuits while Carter, Stone and the other person that had tagged along from the JLA had transported to a ship and were heading to the final destination. The other 3 Tokra that had joined the General on the mission had remained behind on Yahanwe to lead the pursuit into a different direction once the gate there was cycled.

"Well, it's mostly the same gang that Ollie brought together, but then we've grown and got more organized. I wanted to call it Team Justice, but it was eventually named Justice League of America, but everyone calls it JLA. It's grown now to be a group of heros from around the world and even some aliens have joined in. Hell, we even have our our space station as a hideout. Most of us deal with Earth based problems, but every now and then, we are asked to help out on other worlds. This isn't the first time we help out the SGC, but usually Clark is the main contact for them. Mainly because they know that he can't be implanted by a sneaky snake. There are a few others who would be immune, but they don't like to stray too far from their own comfort zones, as it were."

"So who is the other person that came with you and Victor. I couldn't recognize the voice."

"That's the Question. And before you bring it up, I'm not pulling a joke, he calls himself 'The Question.' Strangest guy you'll ever meet. No real powers, but he doesn't have a face. Literally. Imagine a human head, with ears, but no features. Nose, eyes mouth. It's like a flat slat of skin. A bit of a conspiracy nut, but in the last few years, a lot of his wacky theories have proved true."

Pete sighed as he watched a weird looking bird flying in the distance. He checked the timepiece and it was almost time for the gate to reopen. "Any hot chicks?"

Bart burst out laughing. "Man, let me tell you about some of the hotties that have joined."

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So here's the first update of 2009. hope you all enjoy it.





*Chapter 22*: Chapter 22


Wormhole and Meteor Showers Chapter 22

so here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy.

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For a moment, Clark resented the control he'd learned at the hands and minds of Sam and Daniel. The second that the telephone struck him, he wished that he'd set his dial to a higher level. He flew backwards across the street before slamming into the brownstone facade of the warehouse.

The brick crumbled under the impact and the air was driven from his lungs. He recovered quickly and pushed himself out of the wall to face his opponents. They stood across the street, getting ready to continue their attack. Well, one was standing. The other was hovering about 20 feet in the air, a glowing green stream of energy connecting a ring on his finger to the pole that had send the dark haired young man flying.

A burst of super breath set the hovering figure crashing through the window behind him. Clark then shot forward just as his second opponent opened her mouth for an attack. He could se the distortion in the air caused by her Sonic Shriek, and moved to the side to avoid the attack. He dropped into normal speed behind her and put her out of the fight with a series of well placed pressure points. He caught her as she fell and lowered her to the ground and stood just in time to be nailed by a giant green ball of energy that sent him flying once again under another person's control.

He was able to orientate himself so his feet hit the ground and dug up a pair of trenches to slow his backward momentum. He crossed his arms in front of his face as a green beam of energy slammed into him. Now braced and somewhat prepared, he was not sent flying but the force of the beam did continue to push him back, causing his feet to tear through the asphalt as though it was tissue paper.

Once again his faith in his training was restored, as he sent a blast of heat vision towards the green flying figure. He lowered the heat to a humanly tolerable level as well as pulsing the waves so that they would act in a manner similar to the blasts sent by various energy projectiles. In effect he was making an invisible fireball. At it's full intensity, it could carry the same impact force as a small meteor slamming into the Earth and having a temperature several times hotter then the sun. With the current level he sent towards his attacker, it was at a temperature similar to that of a freshly popped bag of microwave popcorn, and the physical force of a heavyweight boxer's KO punch. In simple terms in regards to people of their abilities, enough to be a distraction, without causing any real harm.

The distraction factor worked and Green Lantern had to stop his attack to form a shield to protect himself against a more intense attack. This gave Clark the spare second to dial up his abilities and fly forward, throwing a punch that shattered through the energy shield and sent Lantern slamming into the ground. Clark hovered over his opponent as Lantern struggled to rise for a moment before collapsing to the ground.

Clark waited a moment then landed. HE approached the still figure, one arm held at his side to support his sore ribs. "You ok, Kyle?" he asked.

A white gloved hand rose, and fingers formed the sign for OK. "Damn Clark, that was some punch. Glad you were holding back."

Clark grinned, reaching out and helping the slightly woozy man to his feet. "I wish you had. Those blasts you hit me with still hurt. And I swear Black Canary's Cry is enough to knock me out if I had left my hearing at full."

Kyle chuckled. It had taken him a while but he had overcome his hero worship for the man most considered the first true superhero and the public face of the JLA. "I bet, since at that level you can hear a pin drop on a pile of feathers from halfway around the world."

Clark and Kyle shared another laugh as they moved over to Canary. Clark had taken the time to move her out of the potential battle zone. Clark released her from the paralysis points he had learned at Bruce's urging. They helped her to her feet and then they made their way to the transponder, where they were then teleported from the deserted city to the JLA satellite known as the Watchtower. Once there, they met up with Jon Stewart, another of the Green Lanterns. He had been monitoring their training session from the Womb.

"You know, buying up those old ghost towns and converting them into training facilities for the JLA was brilliant." Dinah stated as the group continued to the medical bay for the standard post mission/ training exam.

The medical staff aboard the Watchtower like most of the personnel were the creme of the crop from around the world. Handpicked and cleared through security screening by Bruce, Oliver and J'onn as well as the Question. All had signed a nondisclosure agreement which were enforced by magical oaths sworn upon both Themyscaran magics and those wielding by Zatanna and other magical beings in the League. They could not reveal or discuss the secrets of the JLA, especially the civilian identities of it's members.

"Well Superman, looks like Green Lantern broke 2 of your ribs. And you have severe burns and bruising on your arms from blocking or knocking aside his energy beams. Crank up your recuperative abilities and go sit in the sun deck for about a half hour and you should be fine."

Clark thanked the doctor and left, eager to have the pain stop. Sometimes he wondered if control was a good thing. Pain sucked.

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Sam swore as yet another test resulted in pathetic failure. The device found on P3G 14X still refused to cooperate. The only redeeming factor was that it hadn't blown up, melted to slag or released some kind of lethal contaminate into the air.

Sighing in frustration, she stood, wincing as her back reminded her that she was no longer a young eager grad student. Nearly a decade on a field combat team and countless hours of lab work had taken their toll on her body. She was no longer the same eager young student, wanting to make her mark on the world as both a combat pilot and astrophysicist. Now she was the seasoned vet and mentor to a new generation of young genius, both scientists and soldiers. As a famous person once stated: 'It's not the years, it's the miles.' And literally only a handful of people could come close to the type of mileage she'd endured. Even she was forced to back away from trying to calculate that literal and in every sense of the word, astronomical number. All that action had lefts it's mark on her body.

Of course being 7 months pregnant didn't help her comfort level either.

That fact could be laid solely at the feet of her husband, General Jack O'Neill. She knew on an intellectual level that she was as responsible for her condition as he was. And if being totally honest, held far more responsibility considering how hard she had had to work to convince him to be a father again.

'A few more months, and it will all be worth it.' she thought to herself as she left her lab heading for the mess hall.

'Jack and i are both assigned planet side with only limited chance of off world missions, and certainly no more combat missions for either of us. T'ealc is being assigned as Ambassador to the Land of the Light, and Daniel is touring schools and bases on a recruiting drive. SG1 is being officially retired as a team designation. No other team will have that field ID. I am going to miss going off world, but I'm looking forward to having a real family.'

Her thoughts were interrupted as a klaxon rang out and a voice sounded over the PA. "Unscheduled off world activation. Code Delta Gamma. Fire teams 3 to 7 report to armory and then the Gate room. Teams 1 and 2 report to elevator. All other personnel report to secure duty stations."

Sam grinned as she left the mess to join Jack in the command room. "At least it's never going to be boring around here."

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Lois swore under her breath and ducked back into the records room. She had caught sight of the tall statuesque figure leaving her editor's office and didn't want to have anything to do with her. This dark haired woman was one of the few people she knew that she could just not tolerate in any way. Lois ranked her higher on her 'People to avoid at all cost list' than anyone except for Lex Luthor and Lana Lang-Luthor-Ross or whatever the former pink princess called herself these days.

The woman stalking through the bullpen was always so bright and cheerful, and clung to Clark like Bruce clung to he darkness. She was insanely possessive for someone who always claimed that she and Clark (or as she insisted on calling him despite his own requests-Kal) were only good friends. And her holier then though attitude and blatant condescension towards the rest of 'Man's World' set Lois's temper skyrocketing like almost nothing else.

"Oh Lois, there you are." Lois cringed before setting her face into a polite mask of feigned interest. "I was just looking for you. Perry said you were around here but he wasn't sure where."

"Hello Diana. What can I help you with?" the dark haired goddess giggled, seemingly unaware of all the male attention she was drawing.

"I'm actually here to give you this." she stated handing Lois an envelope with the El family crest. "I'm throwing a party for Kal next Saturday, and we would like you to attend. It's to celebrate the anniversary of his arrival on Earth."

Lois had to struggle to refrain from lashing out at the other woman's presumptive use of pronouns. 'What did Clark ever see in this snobbish wind bag?' her mental question was answered as Diana turned and nodded to someone who had called out a greeting. 'Oh yeah, 42DD's. How to think I could forgot those the way she throws them around.' "I don't know, Diana. Last time we tried celebrating that, Luthor hired Metallo, Grundy and Grodd to lay siege to the Embassy. 23 people died, including most of the security detail Ollie hired."

Diana waved her concerns away. "An unfortunate incident, but we are taking precautions. We're holding the party at one of the new training facilities. It has a fully equipped hotel and will be staffed by volunteers from the Watchtower." the woman gasped as she glanced at the clock above the elevator. "Oh, is that the time? I really must be going. I have a meeting with the North and South Korean ambassadors in 10 minutes. See you later, Lois." And she walked away, leaving Lois fuming and staring at her perfect back. Just before the doors closed, she glanced back at Lois with a smirk.

"And bring your little friend with you. Clark will be much to busy to spend time chatting with an old boyhood friend." the doors closed and Lois let out a short cry of indignation.

"Damn I hate that bitch." she muttered under her breath. Those nearby who heard her ignore the comment not willing to risk their lives by drawing her temper down on them.

She stormed other desk, threw down the invitation without opening it and yelled across the room to Perry who had remained standing in the little pulpit area in front of his office to watch the confrontation. "I'm going home! Tell Richard to stop and pick up some Thai." She gathered her purse and keys and stalked towards the elevator, muttering disparaging remarks about Amazon bimbos, overly busty brunettes and superheroines with a fetish for stripper wear. No one who heard made any comment, again avoiding potential loss of life and limb for themselves and raised insurance rates for the Planet. Every one had learned that Lois had a temper, but that it was a dozen times more dangerous when it was the result of induced contact with Diana of Themyscara, aka Wonder Woman.

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AN:

this is my take for this particular story on Diana. it's not how i feel she is in 'real' character, but I wanted to find a point of conflict for Lois in terms of Clark's other relationships, and since I had her accepting of his relationship with Maxima, I decided to make her 'enemy' be the other woman who is most often connected to Superman, which is Wonder Woman. She is everything that most people want in a woman: beautiful, intelligent, powerful both physically and socially/politically. She and Lois actually have a great deal in common, and I've always felt that Wonder Woman was in a real way, a super powered Lois Lane. She's a combination of Lois Lane and Superman, at least in the way I've always seen her. So since she ans Lois are so much alike, I feel that Lois would be most threatened by her compared to other woman Clark might have a relationship.





*Chapter 23*: Chapter 23


Wormhole and Meteor Showers Ch 23

Another day another chapter. Not as much action in this one, but I hope you all enjoy.

MINI GAME

there are at least 3 quotes from movies and TV in this chapter bonus to anyone who gets all three.

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Air stirred. Small many legged creatures scurried around in the darkness. The sound of stone grinding against stone echoed in the chamber. For the first time in over a thousand years, fresh air and light rushed into the cave as the doorway opened. Joining the sound of grinding stone was the soft chugging of a hydraulic lift as the modern model of technology raised the stone slab into the carved recess of the door opening. Lower in volume but just as noticeable was an excited whispering from the far side of the machinery. Once the stone was lifted completely into the recess, the lift was locked in place to hold open the passage and then specialized bracing were positioned to support the weight of the massive block that had guarded the inner cave from the elements for so long.

Once everything was locked in place and secure, gophers poured into the room, carrying lighting equipment and safety gear. Within 15 minutes the lighting was in place as were safety lines and evenly placed medical kits. It was as safe as they could make it without starting any potential excavation work or disturbing any of the artifacts or carvings. The lights buzzed harshly in the silence of the cave, casting their light to display the interior of the cave.

One of the gophers approached the head of the team. "Every thing seems secure sir, There's a drop at the back, looks like it leads deeper into more caverns. Might want to see about a spelunking trip. There might be more to locate back there."

A silver eyebrow rose as lips twitched. "And why would you think that?"

"I saw a ledge about 5 feet down, and there are hand holds cut into the wall. There also looks to be the remains of a guide rope leading deeper into the cavity."

"Good job. Great deductive reasoning. Insight like that is a great asset to any field work. It could even be the difference in making a great find or tripping a trap that kills you and your team." Dr. Baines considered for a few moments. "Let's focus on the chamber. If you find some volunteers during downtime you can make some trips further in. Nothing too deep as we aren't' fully outfitted for large scale cave work."

"I'll go, when I can." Clark stated as he carefully lowered the heavy case. It was one of several secure cases that were used to transport delicate and valuable artifacts. "In fact, if you don't need me right now, I'll take a quick look and make sure it's safe."

Dr. Baines nodded. "Take a line and secure a new guideline. Don't explore any branch systems and if you find something, mark it."

"I'll bring a full sample kit. I can hear running water so there might be an under ground river and that means potential plant and animal life. The new scanning equipment donated by the DOD can tell me if there's anything dangerous."

"All right. Take an hour. By then we'll have everything ready to start work in the morning. When you get back, you're on DogLeg tonight."

Clark sighed. He hated the middle of the three guard shifts they used in rotation. He didn't mind the work but with his lowered requirement for sleep, it made it difficult to go to sleep, wake for only a short time, then try and sleep again. There wasn't enough to do during guard duty since it mostly entailed sitting in front of the fire and occasionally walking the perimeter of the camp. His difficulty falling asleep was one of the draw backs of his being a living solar plant. He drew so much energy that he had near limitless stamina and endurance. If it wasn't for his finding ways to burn some of that energy, he'd have had to five up on sleep altogether. His favorite way to burn that excess was to stare into space and use his heat vision to blast asteroids and meteoroids into dust. Thanks to his training by Sam, he could calculate their trajectories and took some pleasure in destroying those that were on a collision course with either the Earth, the moon, or the sun.

"I thought it was Rick's week for DogLeg and I was on morning KP.:

"That was at the old site. New site, new schedule. You know that Clark."

"Fine, but don't expect me to be up for morning call." Clark stated, his face set as the stones surrounding them.

Everyone in earshot broke out in chuckles and giggles. They all knew that Clark would be the 1st person up in the morning. Most of the time he never bothered going back to bed. Often he would fly off and help out somewhere around the world. Sometimes returning to the farm and doing the morning chores, others heading to SGC or the JLA Watchtower.

He broke into a grin and a laugh of his own. He grabbed a pack containing the tools of the trade and followed John to the opening at the back of the cave. He noted the hand holds, then hovered down to the ledge. Before continuing into the darkness of the cave system, he attached one end of the steel guideline into a bracket in the stone wall. He dialed up his abilities to about ½ his full potential. He listened to the sounds of the cave, recognizing the cries of bats, and the scuttling of various critters of many legs. He paused, having learned the hard way not to take anything for granted. There was no telling what was down here, so it was best to be prepared.

"I'll be back in an hour."

"Clark, how many times do I have to tell you. That is not what you say when in these types of situations."

"Do I have to do this every time?" Clark asked with a bit of a whine in his voice.

John nodded. "Yes. At least when it might be dangerous." there was a pause. "Don't forget the accent."

Clark growled and rolled his eyes. "Fine." he twisted his neck a bit and cleared his throat. "Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast." Clark grumbled as the nearby crew again broke into laughter. "I don't' understand why you all find that so funny. It's a good show but not that good."

"CK, you'll never get it. You're more of a Zneet Znatter Zneet kinda guy anyway."

"Whatever, I'll take a look, and be back. Just make sure you don't burn the fish tonight. It throws off the taste."

"Says the guy who can eat rocks." John quipped. "See you soon, don't get lost down there."

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"Look I have a plan." Lois stated as she watched the men unloading the cargo from a moving van.

"What kind of plan do you have this time?" Jimmy asked, hating that he always got roped into these situations when Clark wasn't around. Which was most of the time since Clark was usually off on some dig or offworld with the SGC or acting as press liaison for the JLA or some other cover for when he was being Big Blue.

"A cunning plan?" Lois stated almost hesitantly.

"As cunning as the time you decided to try and go undercover in an all male strip club and in order to fit in taped a dill pickle to your crotch to 'simulate' a package? And it fell apart when one of the patrons grabbed you trying to cop a feel. Which caused a panic since this ripped off the tape, which tore out your hair causing you to scream, and this made the guy think he'd ripped off your package and he screamed and then everyone was screaming? Or maybe it's as cunning as the time you made me go undercover in a nursing home and I nearly got gang raped by a group of drug crazed octogenarians?"

Lois blushed a bit as she remembered walking in to find Jimmy holding off a trio of old ladies (and one old man) with a chair. He'd been careful not to hurt them, only using the legs to gently push them back when they approached. "How many times are you going to beat that dead horse? Get over it. It's the most action you've had since Chloe left 3 years ago."

"Lois, a group of 70 and 80 years olds tried to rip off my clothes share me like I was a tube of polydent. And all because you though the HMO doctor was using them as test subjects for a deaging treatment."

"Well I was half right. Part of them were being deaged." Lois quipped. "Any way, here's the plan. You get in the car, drive over there, take a few shots of them with your camera and drive off. While they start chasing you, I'll sneak in, crack open some of those boxes and get some samples that we can pass along to Henderson and Star Labs for analysis. Then I hop into that jeep Mr. Tight pants drove up in, and take off, you loose em some where by the docks and then we meet up at the planet and I write up another award winning story."

"Why is it that it's always my car we use when you come up with a plan where it might get shot up or slammed around? Why don't we ever use that beast you and Richard bought?"

Lois laughed and patted her friend on the cheek. "Jimmy, that's because the only stories were we get shot at are at places where a a new Silver SUV would be noticed 3 miles away while a beat up 10 year old Honda is ignored." She pushed him lightly on the shoulder. "Now get going Jim. We have a story to write."

Sighing, Jimmy decided as always just to go along with her. In the end, no matter what kind of silly or dangerous situation arose, it was easier just o do what Lois wants instead of trying to change her mind. Clark was the only one to even come close to winning that much from her.

Several hours later, an exhausted, bruised and shaken James Olsen shook his head as he watch a much less disheveled Lois slap down the button to send her copy of the report outing one of Metropolises leading citizens as the king pin of a major drug and movie piracy ring. Deciding not to mention anything so that she wouldn't take the chance to gloat, and as a little friendly payback for the wreck that used to be his car, he pushed aside some papers on her desk and lifter a black envelop with a familiar emblem. "So, are you going to Clark's party?"

There was no satisfaction in the glare she threw at him, and immediately he felt horrible for bringing up the situation. Everyone knew that Lois and Clark still had some kind of weird connection and most people who knew then considered it was only a matter of time for them to actually get together. Jimmy felt sorry for Richard, except that he seemed fully comfortable with being relegated to 2nd choice. At least in the minds of most people. Jimmy knew better. Lois didn't see Richard as a 2nd choice so much as he was the 1st choice for now. He had no doubt that the pair loved each other deeply, and would be a good match for each other. Clark himself had been known to comment on how great the two were together and how happy he was for her. And that was the problem. Most people didn't realize just how selfless an act this was on Clark's and Lois's behalf. Few of their current associates had known the odd history of the relationship between the two. They were more then friends, more then lovers. They were family, and each wanted nothing but the other to be as happy as possible in their life. And if that meant that they would each be with other people, then so be it.

"Sorry, that was a low blow. I know you don't like Wonder Woman much."

Lois snorted. "Dislike is a little mild for how I feel about that Amazon bitch. And what have I told you about calling her that? Her name is Diana. There's nothing wonderful about that manipulative man stealing whore. She only wants Clark because he's the closest thing to her so called gods and he's already proven that his strength carries into his children."

Jimmy shook his head. "I don't understand you Lois. You hate Diana because she's after Clark, yet you don't seem to mind that he has not only had a relationship, hell he's had 2 kids, with Maxima. And you know that they still get together when she's on Earth or he's there for League business. Yet you and her seem at times to be as close as you used to be with Chloe."

"That's because Maxima is completely upfront about what she wanted from Clark. And She might have only been after him as the Last Kryptonian to father her children, I think she really doesn't care about him. Diane just wants to use him as a stud and as a means to make it clear that she's in charge of the JLA. That's why she used to chase after Batman and Ollie like a bitch in heat. But she's seen that Clark is the Big Gun of the pack and the one they all turn to to make decisions or do the hard work. Never forget that no matter what else she is, she comes from a culture where men were nothing more then breeding tools. All she wants is to lay claim to Clark so she can control him." Lois sighed, and rubbed her eyes. "Look its late, we're both exhausted and I don't' want to talk about this crap any more. I'm going home, taking a long hot bath and then snuggling up with my man. I'll see you in the morning."

Jimmy watched sadly as she left. He really hoped that everything worked out. He'd hate to see what would happen to Lois if Diana ever actually won over Clark. He suspected the damage from Zod's attempted invasions would pale in comparison. Oh well, enough bad thoughts. Time to get home to his empty apartment and drown his sorrows in ben-gay and A535.

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*Chapter 24*: Chapter 24


Wormhole and Meteor Showers

Things going rough at work and slowing down on updates again, apologies and thanks to all my readers for continuing the display of patience between updates.

There's kind of an inside joke for those that remember the 90's in this chap. For those that don't I'll explain in the AN at the end.

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Clark winced and tried to dial down his hearing even lower then normal. The sounds of the celebration faded and he sighed in relief. While he appreciated the show of support and acceptance, he'd much rather have had a small get together of his close friends and family instead of this circus. He couldn't believe that he'd allowed Diana to talk him into this kind of massive gathering. He was pretty sure there were people he'd never met mixed in with others that he'd known for years.

Most were in civilian identities, but some were in full regalia. Since the release of the news confirming extra solar life and the emergence of superheroes, supervillians and meta humans, people had accepted it all with surprisingly little negative reaction. Many of the heroes had revealed themselves and even their most hardcore enemies tended to leave the civilian identities alone. Only the amateurs or mundane made efforts to assault their enemies outside of the bounds of heroic guise. After all for the true super villains, there was no glory in being able to claim victory over Barry Allen, but saying you beat The Flash brought instant respect in the meta human community.

Clark nodded at the people he knew when they made eye contact and smiled vaguely to those he didn't know. He regretted letting Diana convince him to come out and reveal his identity. He much preferred the previous anonymity of his double life (or triple life, but who's counting). Even the bit that had been released by the SGC was more then he really was comfortable with having the general public knowing.

He spotted Maxima and gave her a grin and wave, a little sad that she hadn't been able to bring the kids but understanding her reasons. He made a mental not to clear some time for a visit to Almerac. His only regret about his relationship with the Warrior Queen was that he by default was forced into the role of absenty father. He would like to have a larger role in the lives of his children, but he understood the cultural differences of his adopted home and Almerac were too vast for him to live there full time. And as they were Heirs to the Throne of a galactic empire, he had to allow them to be raised for their future positions in their culture. They would not be capable of living on Earth and then still gain the training and education they would need to lead their people.

He spotted a few of the SGC including Daniel, Sam and Jack. He knew Tealc was on a training mission with Pete and Bratac for a joint mission of Tokra, Jaffa and SGC personnel. The big man had sent a gift though, and Clark had been pleased with the though behind the present. Tealc had gotten him the Complete Works of Mel Brooks on BluRay3 with interviews and special events spanning the movies and careers of Mel and his cast and crews. Jack had gotten him a 2 year subscription to the official 'Superman' comic series produced with the approval of his recently created Superman Foundation. He got a kick out of the way they portrayed him and the rest of the Planet staff, especially the Lois based character, who was named Doris Dane.

Lois had gone on a 2 week rampage when she was sent the proof sheets for her approval. Despite her refusal to use her likeness and name, the company proceeded with the character and teen boys the world over were thankful. Her alliterative alter ego's initials matched her physical attributes and her own alias as Doris Dane was apparently known as Dangerous Dame Dane. This was a doubly effective name as it alluded to her ability to attract and survive life threatening situations as well as her own talents and abilities to protect herself from the myriad of attackers that sought to use her as a means to defeat the 'Man of Steel' as the comics had taken to referring to the Superman character.

A call from near the buffer pulled him from his thoughts and he turned to watch as Diana walked over, leading a man Clark recognized as one of the leading figures in the upcoming elections. His cheek twitched as Diana introduced them. He wasn't interested in being a spokesman for any politician let alone one with the voting history shown by this man.

"There you are Kal." Diana called out cheerfully, fully aware of all the attention her overly loud greeting drew. "Kal, this is Senator Joshua Little. He and I are working on a project for a joint Amazon/American funded expedition to several 3rd world nations to provide medical relief and food subsidy programs."

"Diana and I were speaking about ways to educate the public on our cause and she mentioned that if we had several well known and popular figures endorse our project, public opinion could force Congress to loosen the purse strings and increase the budget for the American portion of the funding. We already have several of the biggest Vid and Music stars." The man finally took a pause for breath and to let his statement sink in.

Clark spoke before the unctuous man could start again. "And you thought who better to add to the endorsement list then Superman?"

The senator blinked, obviously put off by the tone of Clark's voice. "Well yes, but not just you. We thought it would have the most impact if the whole League joined. Think of all the good that could be accomplished."

Clark frowned as Little continued to prattle about possible works that could be done with the proper support and backing. While he wasn't opposed to some of the man's ideas, Little's track record didn't lend Clark to fully believe that he was truly as altruistic as he was trying to depict himself.

Growing tired of the man, Clark interrupted as politely as he could. "I'm sorry Senator, but I'm afraid I can't help you. As I stated during my first interview after revealing my identity, I will not use or allow others to use Superman to propagate any political action or policy. If my own mother could not convince me to have Superman push her policies, then I could not in good conscience support someone else's policy. I do agree that you seem to be doing some good work for excellent causes, but Superman can not allow himself to be used as a political prop. If other members of the League decide to offer their services, that is their choice. If you'll excuse me, my parents just arrived and I need to speak to them. Enjoy the party. Diana." Clark nodded to the woman, barely able to restrain his anger.

This was not the first time the Amazon had tried to rope him into taking a political role and despite his repeated assertions to avoid that role she continued to try and manipulate him into these situations. Even going to the extreme of having chosen his attire and having a matching dress to give the appearance of unity he just wasn't comfortable with. She'd chosen a dark blue suit with a black dress shirt, a yellow and red patterned vest, red dress shoes, a El family crested tie in Superman red on blue scheme and a yellow leather belt. She'd also had a Kryptonian overcoat made with the El crest in silver and blue on the back. Her dress had a matching color and patterns in a distinctly Amazonian style with subtle undertones showing Amazonian symbols in ascent over his family crest.

Clark ignored the look Diana threw him at his dismissal of herself and the senator and let a real smile spread over his face. His dad was still in uniform fatigues so he guessed that he'd just returned from his visit to P4RX37. The SGC was scheduled to soon transport in the first completely off world grown and processed food within a few weeks so his dad had gone to supervise the preparations for shipping it back to Earth. It was slightly ironic that he'd just brushed off a senator to meet his parents since it had originally been his father who had been approached to replace his friend who had to step down due to various scandals. His father had declined citing his responsibilities on the farm and his new commission with the military. So those in the know had then asked his mother and she'd been in office nearly 2 terms.

"Dad! I didn't think you'd' be back until Sunday." he stated as he unashamedly embraced the older man and his mother.

"Seems that the farm is ahead of schedule thanks to Dr. Palmer and the team lent to us from Wayne Tech Agr. Got the first loads coming in tomorrow earmarked for distribution in Africa as of end of the week. The transport system created with the merger of Kryptonian, Asgard and Martian tech should soon mean a near end to world hunger as an epidemic. It won't solve all the problems in those areas but it should bring much needed relief to the worst areas."

"And with the issues of starvation being largely resolved, maybe there can be some real attempts to reduce the violence and bloodshed and maybe ends some of the seemingly endless wars." his mother added as she grabbed 2 glasses of champagne for her and Johnathon.

Before they could continue on more pleasant topics, they were interrupted as Diana and Little schmoozed their way over to them. "Martha and John Kent? It's good to see you. Though surely there was time to change into something matching the event."

Little and Martha had served on several comities together and were usually on opposite sides of the issues. Martha disliked the man and his old school back office dealings and palm greasing attitude. Little was unable to comprehend how anyone who seemed as good as Martha could actually be as clean and wholesome as they portrayed. He lived by the rule that everyone had some type of dirt and skeletons in their closet, yet despite spending vast sums of publicly generated funds could find nothing of any consequence against her. She'd had the typical college issues for someone in school in the 70's, some minor drug possession and political activism issues, but nothing that could have a detrimental effect on her popularity. He also greatly resented that she was far more popular and sought after by the public and by other members of the Senate. Even Congressman came to her for advice and ignored his own suggestions. In fact, he was only the front runner for the next election in their party because he had spent more money to grease palms then all others combined and because she had declined the nomination, citing a desire to take a break from federal politics.

"Well since this is supposed to be about our son and not a political even, it seemed more important to get here and spend time with him then dress up like a self important bore. This is supposed to be a party for my son to celebrate his time on Earth, not a fund raising meet and greet." Martha hid a grin as she watched her words lampoon the self titled hostess. She admired many things about the dark haired exotic beauty, but her preemptive assumption of control over her son and her steadfast refusal to accept his more down to Earth roots while commandeering his role as Superman was worrisome. She wanted Clark to abandon his life and become Kal-El/Superman full time. Likely because she could not relate to Clark on any real level, while Kal was like herself, an outsider beyond the touch of mortal concerns.

Kal was a suitable consort for a future Queen, but Clark was too much of a common man. This derision and split affection would always be a wedge blocking and deep relationship between the pair. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted another royal figure who had an interest in her son and she couldn't help but compare the two otherworldly woman. Maxima was by far no saint, but she was at least honest in her intentions towards Clark. She had chosen Clark as her mate originally for his status at the time as the Last Kryptonian and the only man she had yet to meet that could match her strength. Yet unlike Diana, Maxima had grown some real affection for Clark and could see Clark as a whole man and not just as a means to an end. It was for this reason that she went against tradition when Clark chose to stay on Earth and halted the impending invasion and still allowed Clark the opportunity to know the children he had sired.

In public, she was every bit the proud arrogant ruler she had to be to rule such a massive and turbulent empire, but she, unlike Diana, would let loose a little and show another more tender side to herself when in securely private settings. Martha had witnessed this tenderness when she had visited Almerac to meet her grandchildren. As Queen, Maxima should have sought another male to father her other children, but she had told Martha on that long ago visit, that no man but Clark would sire her children. And though she knew that Clark would never be hers in the long term, she was willing to settle for the piece of his heart that Clark had given her and their children. Her thoughts on the red haired beauty were interrupted as Little finally caught up with the conversation.

"Well of course, or course. It's just you know how these things go. Get a bunch of politicians, celebrities and big wallets together and you can't help but start the spiel." he paused to down his drink. "I hate to cut this short, but I promised my wife that I'd try to get an appointment for dinner with Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen." He smiled a politician's smile and left, leaving Diana to glare after him as she was left in the obviously hostile company of the Kent family.

The Amazon settled her face and smiled to the elder Kent's. "Martha, it's good to see you again. I know this went a little overboard, but once word got around that we wanted to have a party for Kal's arrival, well, everyone wanted to come. And this is a more comfortable setting for a gathering of important people like yourself then anything else that could fit all of us."

Martha narrowed her eyes at the proprietary tone in the Amazon's voice. She was about to say something but the motion as Clark's head whipped around drew her attention. "What is it Clark? Did you hear something?" Around the room out of the corner of her eye she could see several other of the super hero community paused as various senses and devices drew their attention from the celebrations.

"It's Lois! Somethings happened. I have to go." Clark stated. He barely took two steps before a powerful arm grasped his arm. He turned his head in confusion. "What are you doing, Diana? I have to go."

"Whatever is happening Kal, others can handle. Flash, Green Lantern and Jjon are on the way. Police scanners picked up and relaid to Watchtower that there was an accident in the Bay."

Clark looked at the woman like she had grown a second head. Or rather, like she had turned into something he'd never seen before since he had some pretty good friends that actually had 2 heads. "Lois is in trouble, Diana. I have to go."

Diana hissed quietly so that only he and the Kent's could still hear. "You can not leave! This is all for you. What do I tell everyone if you leave?" her grip tightened and Clark's body automatically adjusted to be able to withstand the pressure that was now reaching that of a hydraulic press.

Clark's face settled into the expression he often wore as Superman when facing down members of the criminal element. It was a look of mild disappointment mixed with stern resolution. He grabbed her wrist and used just enough force to cause her to release her grip. "Tell them whatever you want, Diana. The people who matter know the truth." before she could say anything he was gone, deliberately leaving as quickly as he could and punching through the wall instead of taking the time to race up to the roof or down to the lobby of the Lexor. The draft of wind and sonic boom of his departure drew all attention to the now gaping woman who had to recover quickly to hid her anger and embarrassment as all eyes settled on her.

She had to think quickly. "Sorry for that, ladies, gentleman. Apparently there is some kind of situation in the Bay that required Kal's special brand of assistance. Please, everyone, let's not let this spoil the evening. After all, Kal is out doing the kind of work that we are here to celebrate his doing." Most settled back into a calm state, ignoring the gaping hole in the wall and the dust and debris that had trickled into that side of the room.

Martha's eyes locked with those of Maxima and the Almeracian queen raised her glass in a silent toast, her eyes filled with the mirth that she could not allow to display in such a public setting. Martha returned the toast with an open smirk and then turned to Johnathon to accept his hand as the music started up with a dance.

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Lois was having a hard time catching her breath and was forced to put down her beer. Richard had just told her the story of the first time he went on assignment while still working at the Daily Times in Chicago. He'd been sent to cover a literal dog and pony show, and he'd been excited that he'd bought a completely new suit including loafers. 6 hours later, he was at his desk writing up the story which would eventually be a lead on the events page while his new suit and shoes were stinking up the small locker room and he was forced into wearing a pink jogging outfit borrowed from Bertha Kenneth, the head of sports and a former professional MMA champion. She'd retired 2 years before and still kept in shape with a sideline of training a local gym for women's fight circuit. It was the only clothing found in the building that fit. He'd spent the next few months being teased about getting into her pants, and finding other effeminate garments hiding in his locker and desk drawers. It wasn't until she'd grown tired of the teasing and threatened a free sparring session that people had stopped referring to him as 'Bertha's Bitch'.

"I know her, " Lois stated. "I interviewed her and even spared a bit a few years ago. Wasn't her nickname Bruiser?"

Richard chuckled along with her for a moment before taking a drink of his own beer. "Yeah, so after that the pranks and teasing stopped right away. Not long before I left, she was chosen for the Olympic team in wrestling and some kind of martial arts. She bought out the owners of the gym she used for training and is running the thing pretty successfully. I hear they want to franchise it and replace those old Bali fitness centers."

Lois snorted. "I never liked those places."

Richard grinned and popped a grape into his mouth. "Lois, why are we here? Why aren't we at the party for Clark?"

Lois stopped laughing and turned away to avoid Richard's face. She had been avoiding the whole thing for days ever since finding the invitation. She didn't know how to explain to her ...well boyfriend was a little childish, but it was hard to describe what Richard was to her. She cared for him, loved him even. But how to describe how it felt to be around Clark with that bimbo Amazon in the room. She still loved the farm boy and watching that bitch try and manipulate Clark into turning away from his life and into something that wasn't him.... She couldn't deal with it. She had never expected to have this relationship with Richard, never expected to feel for him as strongly as she did. Yet a part of her would always belong to Smallville.

Richard sighed as he saw that she wasn't going to answer. He'd known going in what he was going to face with Lois. They'd even spoken about it. A part of her still loved Clark and he knew that she always would. But he was also certain that a part of her loved him and he wasn't going to just stand aside without a fight. He loved Lois and he wanted to be in her life. "Lois, I know it's hard. And I won't ask you to throw away the connection you have with Clark. Whatever else he is to you, I know that he is your friend. He's mine too. He's one of the best people I know, and I thought that long before I learned about his hobby. I know that this is his day, and we should be there if for nothing else then to keep Diana from succeeding in driving Clark away from his life."

Lois eyes shot to Richard's in shock. The man chuckled at the expression on her face. "You're not the only one that sees what she is trying to do to him. She wants Kal El, Last Son of Krypton, the Man of Tomorrow. She doesn't care about Clark. The same Clark that saved my uncle and helped him get sober. The same Clark who after seeing you shoot me down the first time I asked you out, convinced me to keep trying, not because he didn't care about you, but because he thought we might work out. The same Clark who is always putting other people's happiness before his own. That's the Clark that is my friend. The Clark that we need to protect from people like Diana. I'm not saying that she's evil or anything. But Clark, well she'd eat Clark alive and leave only Kal El and it's the part of him that is Clark that really makes Superman the hero that he is. It's not his Kryptonian side, but his humanity that makes him the hero all others look up to. With or without the powers, Clark Kent is a man who would strive to save the world, and even without his powers, I believe he could do it. He's what we all should strive to be. So what do you say? Let's start up the engine, turn this tub around and head over to a party to protect our friend from the sharks."

Lois felt a surge of affection and knew that whatever she felt for Clark, Richard was not a mere substitution. "I love you." she stated. "I want you to know that. You're a good man Richard White and I love you. Don't ever think that I don't or that you're some kind of 2nd choice. Clark and I had a chance and I will always love him, but we're together and I don't ever want you to think that I'm with you because I'm not with Clark. Those things you said, the things about Clark and his humanity? You have that too, Richard. Never let anyone convince you elsewise." Smiling at him, she stood and started gathering their dishes. "Now, you're right. Let's get back to dock and then go protect Smallville from his own super powered stalker. The boy is too naive to be let out of the house. He needs looking after. I wonder if I could get a stipend or claim him as a dependent for all the times I've had to save his ass."

Richard roared in laughter as he walked to the bridge and started up the engine of the small yacht, really just an over sized cruising boat. He never spoke much about it but his family was actually pretty well off and it allowed him the freedom to explore his hobbies fully. Not only did he own this little toy, but he also had his own water plane and had even qualified for his license for large and small craft both sea and air. He started to ease the boat forward as he listened to the sounds of Lois cleaning up the dishes in the cabin. He turned on the lights as the sun was lowering. He set course for the private marina where he docked the boat (which he had named White Wash) when the plane(White Skies) was at the home dock and not the airfield. He locked the rudders and then hopped down to the deck to pass the rest of the dishes and remains of their meal to Lois.

A sudden roar filled the air and he looked up, only to have his eyes widen in horror. A speed boat was ignoring the marked boundaries and was heading directly into the path of their cruiser. He dropped the plates and scrambled up the short ladder, slapping the rudder controls and trying to turn the wheel to avoid the approaching boat, but the person steering the high performance racer must have panicked because instead of staying the course or turning away from the larger vessel, he turned in to the ship, the bow slamming into the port side of White Wash. Lois, who had been jolted by the sudden turn had climbed out of the cabin and was just reaching the deck in time to be thrown clear as the arrow shaped bow of the racer sliced through the side of White Wash.

The curved hull of White Wash resisted the impact by lifting the rising bow of the race and acting almost like a ramp to launch the racer out of the water. However no amount of curve was sufficient to deflect all of the energy and the racer tore through the upper hull, cabin and pilot's station like tissue paper. A piece of the hull tore off and struck Lois before she could react and she was knocked to the deck. Though a little woozy, she was still aware enough to stare in horror as the keel of the racer hit Richard and he flew overboard. She screamed in horror as she watched him fall almost in slow motion. Later she would remember noting the long streak of blood on the keel of the boat from where Richard's head had hit the boat.

But in that moment only one thing came to her mind. And she let it out as loud as she could. "CLLLAARK!!!"

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AN:

Don't worry, I'm already at work on the next chapter. Just thought this was a good place to end this one. Next will pick up not exactly where this left off, but deals with some of the after math.

For those who were wondering about the inside Joke, it's related to Bali Fitness.

During the 90's and the height of popularity for Lois and Clark: New Adventures of Superman, Teri Hatcher (who for those who only know her from Desperate Housewives was Lois Lane to Dean Cain's Clark Kent) was the first big celebrity spokesperson for Bali Fitness. Dean Cain was a guest star as a mad doctor looking for immortality in an episode a few years back. And I still get a chuckle when I see Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent since I first remember her as Lana Lang in Superman III and from the movie 48hrs. And I used to get Allison Mack confused with another actress named Larisa Oleynik but only because Larisa starred in a series called 'secret world of Alex Mack' and for some reason when Smallville started I thought that allison mack had played the role and that like often happens, the writers were too lazy to make up a last name so used hers.





*Chapter 25*: Chapter 25


Wormhole and Meteor Showers

Things going rough at work and slowing down on updates again, apologies and thanks to all my readers for continuing the display of patience between updates.

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Lois woke into a world of pain. There was no haziness and she knew exactly where she was. The smells and sounds of the hospital were as familiar to her as the feel of her own bed. She didn't need to open her eyes to know that Clark would be sitting tensely in a chair on one side of her bed and Chloe would be sitting on the other side. There would be a bouquet of hated wildflowers send from her father's assistant and stamped signed by him. "Is he alive?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady and strong. Usually when she woke in the hospital her voice was hoarse and her throat dry.

"Yes." a surge of relief filled her as the familiar voice replied to her question. "But it's still too soon to tell if he'll recover. He had a bad hit to the head and swallowed a lot of water before I could get to him. He's lucky though that the propeller missed him when the speed boat cleared through the yacht."

"And me?"

"Grade 2 concussion. Lot's of blood lost, maybe a dozen more stitches to add to your collection. Or rather, there would have been stitches, but I was able to pull a favor, and borrow Sam Carter and a healing device to close the wounds."

"Nothing to do for the concussion? What about Richard?"

"The device doesn't work well on head wounds. Sam thinks a full Tokra could have healed it and made you complete good as new, but as for Richard, well she's just not skilled enough or have enough. . . Call it power to control the device enough to heal Richard. And I tried but I couldn't get them to waive security clearance for him."

Lois finally opened her eyes, having enough experience with concussions and hospitals to do so slowly and not throw them open. "What about the drivers of the boat?"

"Dead on impact. The driver's chest impacted the steering wheel, crushing his ribs into his lungs and other organs. A passenger was knocked over the side, landed on the deck of White Wash head first breaking his neck. A second passenger was thrown through the windscreen at impact then fall back into the water and is in serious condition in the ICU. They were pulling a skier who slammed into the side of White Wash, impaled on a broken piece of the hull. There were enough empty beer cans and empty bottles in the cooler that the police have no doubt that they were habitually drinking/boating while drunk. Both boats are write offs and if he survives the passenger, who is the owner of the speeder will face a lot of charges."

Lois closed her eyes again, feeling a slight bit of guilt for the pleasure she felt knowing that the ones who had caused the accident had paid for their crime. "I was coming." she said, wanting to talk about something else.

"Coming? To what?" Clark asked, confused by her statement.

"Richard and I were turning around to head in to dock, then we were going to head over to your party. He reminded me that what ever else has happened we are friends and that you needed me, us there."

"Thank you Lois. I know things have been odd between us recently, but you are a part of my family and it hurt to think that you didn't want to be at a party for me."

Lois snorted but wished she hadn't as pain flared in her head. "Let's be honest Clark. That party was for the Glam Princess more then it was for you. She was trying to put her brand on you publicly and you were letting her. I don't know why you can't see that all she wants is to control you and show to everyone that even though you're the strongest man in the world, you're controlled by a woman."

Clark quirked his brow, he'd known Lois didn't like Diane, but he'd never expected this kind of vitriol. "Do you really think that, Lois? I mean she's a bit overbearing and controlling at times, but then again, so are you." he let his voice edge into a teasing tone towards the end.

Lois grinned. "Okay, so maybe I do have some issues. But those are private. I'm not trying to dictate every detail of your life. Let me guess, she picked out what you wore to the party, and made sure that it was something that reminded everyone of your costume and your origins, leaving nothing that would tie you to Clark. She wanted Kal under her thumb. She probably wore a matching dress that subtly implied that she as an Amazon was superior to you in some way."

Clark shook his head. "I have to admit, she is getting rather aggressive about it recently. I think she made some kind of attempt to seduce Bruce and it backfired on her. She had left him off the original guest list, but I was able to have him re-added."

Lois smirked. "Bruce is still hung up on Catwoman and doesn't really consider any other woman worth his time."

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Clark was sitting on top of the world. Literally. He was currently seated on the metal Globe that was the icon of the Daily Planet. From here, he could watch the hospital where Lois and Richard were recuperating. Lois was in a chair next to Richard's bed in the ICU.

He was mentally reviewing the discussion he'd shared with Lois. He knew he had to do something, or Diana would continue to try and run his life. The problem was that when she relaxed she was a good friend with a surprisingly witty and dry sense of humor. It was the other times, usually when it came to interacting with the public when the harsher side displayed itself. Then, she became manipulative and controlling. It was even causing issues in the League as she sometimes tried to exert authority over other members of the League.

She kept trying to use the history of the Amazons and the influence they had exerted on historical figures to brow beat others to accept her decisions, even though she was only 1 voice on the tribunal. The Tribunal was a bit of a misnomer as there were 7 members. 3 were of the original founders and 4 from the general roster. All were voted in by the entire Roster. Since there were the 7 original members, only 3 could serve at a time. Currently Chloe, Victor and Bart were the 3 originals on the tribunal. Oliver, Dinah, Arthur and (depending on who you asked) Clark himself were the other 4. Clark didn't consider himself one of them, and instead always insisted that it was J'jon Jonzz who was the 7th. The two each considered the other to be the 7th, no matter what others said. A few didn't like to consider Chloe part of the group as she was more of a support role then field work. All 7 of the others counted her among them.

Diana's main issues were that she wanted to be considered a founder, as she had been the next to join the group, right after they officially became the JLA. She was then followed by Bruce and his crew and then others started to swell the ranks. Diana apparently felt that her age and experience should allow her to be elevated to rank among the original members. Granted she had been around to watch the stars when Jesus was born, and had fought in countless battles against many evils more destructive then most of the villains they encountered. She couldn't grasp that this didn't mean that she was automatically the best suited to lead.

As Bruce proved every night, superpowers and age didn't mean anything if you didn't have the compassion to temper the more aggressive emotions. Despite his dark nature, Batman was at the core an outlet for Bruce's compassion and selflessness. He was Bruce's way to use the abilities he'd trained to try and ensure that no one else suffered as he had. And for those he could not prevent, he could help them find justice so they would not be tempted by vengeance.

A nearly inaudible pin and gentle vibration indicated that someone had joined him. He knew who it was before they spoke and without turning to face them. He was upwind slightly but with his sense little things like the wind direction were minor details. Now that he had full control over the intensity of his abilities, he was working on focus. Right now his hearing was mainly focused on Lois' breathing and heartbeat, his smell was dissecting the individual components of the perfume his guest was wearing. When she landed, he had switched his vision to normal so was now watching traffic on the ground far below.

"I heard what happened, Kal. Are Lois and Mr. White going to be okay?" She sat next to him, leaning a little too close for his comfort.

Clark shrugged. "Lois has a concussion and some bruising. She'll be fine. Richard... Richard is in a coma and no one knows yet if he'll ever wake up. Even if he does, the force that hit him broke several bones and did damage to his skull and spine. At best, he'll be a quadriplegic and in a wheel chair. At worst, he'll remain comatose and only survive while connected to life support." He stood and started pacing, not noticing he was walking in midair. It was a habit he had picked up in recent years and he never noticed if it was the ground, wall or the ceiling. Or as it was the case now, in midair. Since everyone pretty much agreed that a pacing Clark was easier ( and more amusing) to deal with then a brooding Clark, no one mentioned when he did display his casual disregard for the laws of gravity.

"What is going to happen to those responsible?"

Clark tilted his head as cries of pain reached his ears, but he could also hear that there was already someone helping the injured party (some type of kitchen accident from what he overheard). He ignored the cries and tuned back into Diana's questions. It was situations like this that he'd had to learn to ignore. It had been one of the hardest lessons for him to learn. He was only one man and couldn't be everywhere and do everything for everyone. He didn't have to stop every single mugging, be there to prevent all accidents or rescue every cat in a tree. He had learned to be a symbol of hope, something for others to strive to become and not an omniscient being controlling the fates of billions. As Lois had told him, "Don't sweat the small stuff. Let the cops and emergency crews handle the average situation and you do what they can't. Let them do their jobs and help when they ask because they would ask if they need you. They are trained to handle the things they do, and know the risks with their jobs. If they can't handle it, they'll call for your help."

"Most likely, they'll face significant jail time. Some are as bad off as Richard, and 1 of them died. So that's manslaughter and then drunken driving resulting in death makes it a murder charge. The severity of injury could add a charge of attempted murder or reckless indifference instead of just assault."

"Is there anything that we can do? Perhaps some Amazonian magic or the technology of non human allies could assist Richard."

Clark walked over and took a seat. "As a favor to me and to Lois the SGC is contacting several allies. Kara and Jjon are looking into Kryptonian and Martian technologies while Bruce is funding Victor and some of the others research for just this type of injury. Since is run in with Bane, spinal cord research is one of Bruce's pet projects." He finally looked at the woman, again marveling that such beauty held a strength that might rival his own.

Diana winced as she recalled her behavior towards Bruce during his recovery. He had finally reached out for her and she had derided him. Their relationship had never recovered so she had set her sights on Kal. She had cared deeply for both men, but her upbringing often over rode her emotions. She was aware that she was occasionally a little overbearing, but she could not help herself.

The world of Man was confusing and she then retreated to Themyscaran behavior. Men were even more wild and savage then she'd been taught and though they wore a veneer of civility and social progression, it was a very thin veneer. They easily reverted to and embraced barbaric practices and even some they claimed as 'humane' were just a cover for their often cruel and vindictive natures. Of course it never occurred to her that the same could and was thought in consideration of her own culture. It was in fact an inherent reaction of any culture advanced enough to have the ability to consider such esoteric thoughts. A culture evolved enough to recognize the nature of their own civilization and compare it to others was normally incapable of considering that their own culture held within it many of the flaws and draw backs that they derided in others.

"Kal...." she started then trailed off as she saw him tense. "Clark." she started again. "I'm sorry. I know I've been a bit pushy but I realize that it will never work between us." she looked away, tears glistening in her eyes.

Clark let a breath as some tension released inside. Only in its absence did he realize it's existence. "Maybe in a different life, but no, it would not work between us. Not in the long term, and I think that's what we are both looking for. I just don't understand why you were so aggressive and possessive."

It was Diana's turn to look away. "When I was young, or rather, when I was newly crafted, an Oracle had a vision of my life. As I was born of Earthen clay and not of mother's womb, no man of Earth born would be able to sire a child through me, yet one day a child born from me would rival the power of the Gods. Her sire would be one fallen from the Sky- a Lord born of another world. For a long time I watched the skies until eventually, I moved on. Then Steve's plane crashed and he washed ashore, and for a while I thought he was the Sky Lord. I returned with him to man's world and tried to live as one of them. That didn't work for long and so I set aside the prophecy and returned home.

News reached us of the struggles in man's world and of the emergence of super powered beings both good and evil. My mother decided it was time to rejoin man's world, as a beacon of peace. I tricked her into naming me as Ambassador. Then I met the League during the crisis in Japan. We got to know each other, and I came to care for Bruce. But like you, his heart belonged to another and during the one time I could have won his heart, I was a complete and utter bitch." She turned back to Clark, her tears running silently down her cheeks.

"To my shame, I immediately attempted to refocus my energy. I tried to seduce Arthur, and we shared a short affair. By this time I had forgotten the vision, until I overheard a pair of aides from Themyscara discussing your . . . attributes and origins. I raced to my library in the Embassy and found the Book of Prophecy and sure enough, you fit all the signs of the Sky Lord. And learning through Jjon and others how races referred to Kryptonians, I knew- - I knew that you were the one I'd been waiting for. The one I had longed for and that the Gods feared. But I knew that your heart belonged to another. Yet because of the vision, I also knew that we were destined to be together, That you would be the sire of my child. So I decided that I would watch you. What I learned startled me.

A being with the power to enslave nations and crush planets in your hands and yet you allowed Lois, a common mortal woman, to treat you as little more then a servant, even when she was aware of your love for her. Even your coworkers at the Planet, the field workers on the digs you traveled with, and the soldiers of the SGC all seemed to regards you as little more then a beast of burden, someone they could order about and exploit you abilities for their own ends. Even your enemies mocked you. I decided you needed a strong hand to guide you, to help you become the man you should be by throwing off the mundane shell and embracing your heritage and gifts.

"But that's not who I am. I might have been born Kal El of Krypton, but I am Clark Kent. Clark is who I am, and Kal or Superman is what I can do. Lois is the one who taught me that."

"I've been a real bitch to her, haven't I?" Diana stated rhetorically. "I'll need to find a way to apologize and that is not something that we Amazons do easily. I just could not understand how she could hold your heart and not seem to want what you had so obviously given her."

Clark grinned for the first time since leaving Lois at the hospital. "I'm sure you'll think of something." His grin faded and his head cocked to the side.

Familiar with the look on his face, Diana stood and her own features settled as she blinked away the tears. "What do you hear?"

"Problems with a couple of planes. One is over Glasgow, leaking fuel and with 1 engine running. Another on the way to Tokyo out of LA. One of the passengers is threatening to kill everyone... it seems like his partner left him and he wants him back."

Diana didn't bat and eye, already signaling for her specialized transport. "Which one do you want?"

Clark spun into his suit. "I'll go to Glasgow, there's rumbling in Europe I want to look into anyway." He disappeared faster then even her eyes could track.

"Coward." she stated, knowing he could hear her. Clark wasn't phobic, but had a distinct unease of the attention he drew from his male fans. He had a huge following of men and women who dreamed of him and practically worshiped him. The adulation they showered on him made him squirm, not knowing how much the people he rescued enjoyed feeling him squirm. She had a hard time deciding whether he was more put off by the women or the men. She herself was flattered to be considered an icon for the lesbian and gay community while also being a sex symbol for the heterosexual population. She did not limit herself to such ridiculous labels or ideals in terms of her sexuality. She enjoyed the companionship of both men and women, though given that she'd spent most of her life on an island devoid of men had limited her options drastically until her relationship with Steve.

As the jet angled and sped off, she shook her head to clear it. As she traveled, she began to consider the best way for her to solve the issue of the hostage situation on the plane over the Pacific ocean while part of her mind struggled with ideas for how to apologize to not only Lois but Kal's parents for her presumptive behavior.

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Pete swore as he rolled to avoid the return fire from the squad of Tenekrian soldiers. He and Lajjan, along with Jacob and Selmak had been sent on a recon mission centered on a remote outpost the Tenekrians claimed was a weather and seismological testing station on the edge of the newly claimed Tokra/Jaffa space. The council believed that it was being used as a spy center where Tenekrians gathered information on Jaffa/Tokra troop movements and selling that information to the Goauld and other enemies of the reforming Alliance.

There had been complications right from the start. The moon was supposed to be a dessert planet with several oasis' ranging in size from a few hundred square miles to the larges which was roughly the size of Yosemite on Earth. Instead, they'd Gated into a dense forest that seemed to be a cross between the Florida Everglades and the Canadian arboreal forest. The red sun glared down, filtered by the orange and yellow plant life and warming the skin but too distant for a deeper warmth. Distant sounds indicated wildlife appropriate for the Eco-sphere but again, far different the results from intelligence probes had indicated.

They had immediately turned for the dial sphere but it was not there. Sharing a look they had pulled their chosen weapons. Jacob had a rifle based on the Jaffa staff weapon, while Pete carried the specially redesigned P90. It was a 9mm weapon that the SGC had commissioned to be able to share ammo with the SGC standard 9mm hand guns. It's appearance was that of a P90 but it carried the larger 9mm rounds which caused it to have a slower fire rate and muzzle velocity.

They began a search of the area, finding several marked paths. Not even Selmak recognized the markings on the sign posts. Picking a path at random, they moved forward cautiously. The pair had been partnered for years now, and had developed a pattern and flow between them and had no need for words to be exchanged as they quickly and efficiently explored the area. After 2 klicks down the one path, they returned to the gate. They repeated the search on 2 more of the 7 paths before deciding to set up a temp camp just inside the tree line where they would be insight of the gate but not visible from anyone exiting the Gate. They didn't bother with the camo netting since it was a desert pattern and color design.

"Did we reach the right place?" Pete asked as he prepared portions of dried foodstuff. He would never have imagined it, but he craved a good old MRE spaghetti.

Jacob was fiddling with a new gadget that had been created by his daughter Sam and the science staff at the SGC. It was effectively a Galactic GPS, containing the locations and spatial coordinates of the entire Pan Galactic Stargate network. It, as many of the new techs in the SGC now were, was a amalgamation of various technologies. Designed and programmed for humans, it contained a mix of Kryptonian, Martian, Goauld and Asgard information and hardware. There was even the odd bit here and there from other races the SGC had encountered over the years. "GGPS says right planet, right location. Scanning indicates this forest is only a few years old, yet indications also show it's comparable to Old Growth forests on Earth. It's almost like someone moved the forest into the area. Either that or they have some serious plant grow formula."

Pete finished his meal as they considered their options. With no dial tone they couldn't gate out. Their mission was supposed to be silent, so base wasn't expecting to hear from them on any regular schedule. The moon was on the edge of the galactic network, just shy of extra galactic space. At full speed, their faster ship would take at least three weeks to arrive. So that means about 2 weeks for any one to notice the lack of contact, a week for them to worry and put off any action, then another of planning. 2 weeks to try and retrace their steps (they had taken 3 jumps to get here) before sending ships once they gather a search party and those who gated are also found to be missing. That means about 6 weeks for a ship to be sent and 3 weeks to arrive. They only carried with them a week's worth of food, and less than that of water.

"Wish we'd brought the new comm device too." Pete said.

Jacob chuckled. "I wish we'd brought a comm period."

"So what's the plan? Continue the mission, or try and setup a more stable camp while finding some way to survive until rescue?"

"We'll need to set a more permanent base. Somewhere nearby but out of sight and traffic. No further then 2 klicks from the Gate either. 1st priority is a base site with water and food, then other essentials. Once that's set we can explore, but no more then 10 klicks out from the Gate or Base. We don't know what's out there and I don't want to end up as some things dinner."

"Do not concern yourself with such things, Tokra. Concern yourself with this: You are trespassing on a sacred site and the Goauld will pay dearly for your capture. Normally we would sacrifice you to the Great Lord, but the Goauld have a bounty on the live capture of any Tokra or Tauri that we can not afford to ignore."

The voice came from nowhere and the two reacted instantly, reaching for their weapons,but freezing as a strange hum filled the air.

"Please, continue to arm yourselves. My men are eager for your deaths as punishment for defiling these holy lands. The price for a live capture is greater but the bounty for a dead Tokra is more then adequate."

The two exchanged glances then slowly moved their hands away from their weaponry. A shimmer in the air and they could now see the dozen heavily armed and armored soldiers as they trained their unusual but deadly looking weapons on them.

"Ah, wise choice. I would hate to kill you and loose the larger bounty. Gren Gar Toucha." 2 of the soldiers moved forward and disarmed Pete and Jacob. They placed everything into the captives packs before backing away. The leader, who was denoted by the full face mask and helmet he wore while the regular soldiers wore helmets similar to those worn by the Roman Legions while their armor looked more mid evil in style. Only their weapons indicated the advanced nature of their technology.

"Trek gana Schee." 2 other soldiers approached and bound the pair who were forced to their feet and pushed forward. "Come along peacefully. I want you in good health when our guests arrive."

"How we gonna get out of this?" Pete thought to Lajjan.

'Same way we always do. With style and explosions.'

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story notes-Richard as Tokra or brain dead, possible amnesia?

-Lois next of kin makes choice

-





*Chapter 26*: Chapter 26


Wormholes and Meteor showers

here's another chapter. like my other updates, I had most of this done, but life got in the way.

stats: 104432 hits and 237 reviews.

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There were times when Clark really had trouble understanding his life. It was Hard to even consider any one aspect without thinking how strange it was. Take this moment for instance.

Here he was, on a planet untold millions of miles from his home. He was currently getting his ass kicked by an alien who's face looked like it was carved in stone. he was at least 2 feet taller then him and his body was twice as thick as his own. Clark was not a small man. He was 6foot 4 and looked like a professional fitness guru. Yet next to the blueish gray skinned opponent he felt like a child. He had no doubt that without the strange genetic heritage, he'd have been killed instantly with the 1st punch, never mind the blast of energy the monster had hit him with. Glowing orange-red beams from his red eyes had managed to burn away all of the gear Clark had been carrying, leaving Clark clothed only in the skintight wetsuit like uniform he wore when in the Superman persona.

He shook his head to clear his wandering mind, trying to focus through the unfamiliar pain. It was rare for him to feel pain without the debilitating effects of Kryptonite. He was accessing as much power as he could, his mental dial maxed out. He'd thrown one of the best punches of his life and barely managed to stagger his attacker.

Their battleground was the ruins of an immense city, one that aside from building colors, could have passed for any of Earth's major cities. Clark had already been slammed through a couple of the orange and purple sky scrappers. He had hit the large alien a few times, using some martial arts throws to toss and slam his opponent. Unfortunately none of the attacks had phased the behemoth.

He rose, shrugging off several tons of rubble that had collapsed on him when he'd landed. Blood ran down the side of his face and from various scrapes. His breathing was labored and he was sure he had at least 2 broken ribs. His left arm hung loose and from his experience helping others, he realized it must be dislocated.

"Why did you attack? What happened to the people who lived her?" Clark asked, grunting as he forced his shoulder into place. He didn't even know if the other alien would understand him, but he needed a minute to let the worst of his wounds heal. Thankfully, the planet orbited a binary star, one of which was the power enhancing yellow and the other a blue dwarf.

"You dare question me! I need no reason. I, the Lord of Apokalypse4 have freed this world from the tyranny of choice. Those who survived will live gloriously as bonded servants to Apokalypse."

Clark spat out some of the blood that pooled in his mouth. "Bonded servants? Don't you mean slaves?"

The alien chuckled, taking a stands with arms clasped behind his and feet shoulder width apart. "Were they not already slaves? I freed them, Kryptonian. They lived useless, unfilled lives. Mediocre existence of day to day struggle to avoid facing their reality and the emptiness of their ceaseless drudgery. As my servants they have purpose! They will live by their true merits or be culled for their uselessness. The exceptional will be elevated and the mediocre used for menial tasks. Under my rule they will experience events and times of Galactic importance, playing their roles to bring everlasting peace to all."

Clark clenched his teeth as his ribs set themselves. "Who are you?"

"I am Darkseid, God of Apokalypse. What is your name, Kryptonian? How did you survive the destruction of your people?"

A new sound reached Clark's ears as Darkseid began to move forwarded, slowly closing the 200foot gap between them. His eyes flicked over Darkseid's grim visage, and his knees suddenly buckled in relief as he recognized the ship tearing it's way loudly through the atmosphere. He drew himself together, knowing he had to keep Darkseid focused on him.

"I am Kal-El, son of Jor-El. The last survivor of Krypton." He stated formally, "And your tyranny stops today." He launched himself forward, leading with a stream of heat vision. He fired not at the despot, but using his gaze like a scalpel he cut at the ground below the monster. He'd realized that as strong as he was and as dangerous as the beams were, he wasn't all that fast nor could he fly. A drop of a couple of miles might not kill him but it should buy enough time for backup to arrive and for him to heal even more.

Darkseid laughed s the Kryptonian's attack missed him to harmlessly burn into the earth. "You missed Kryptonian." He reared back his fist, preparing to crush his attacker, but as he started to throw the punch, the bluclad figure changed direction just a few feet from his reach. The ground shook from the impact and it was powerful enough to stagger the massive frame of the confused conqueror.

"Are you fleeing, Kryptonian? You can not escape. Now that you have revealed yourself, I have no choice but to destroy you." The shaking of the ground increased and Darkseid dropped to a knee, his hand now used to steady himself. The rush of wind drew his attention and he noticed that the grounder under his feet was rapidly rising through the air. It was already at a height that could cause even him damage should he try jumping.

"Very clever, Kal-El." he conceded, honoring his opponent by using his name, "But not clever enough." Still on one knee, he drew his arm and slammed it into what was now a flat topped boulder. His powerful arm easily thrust through the weakened boulder, causing it to shatter. He opened his fingers and palmed the Kryptonian's head, exerting enough force to cause the man to cry out in pain.

"I might not survive the fall, but you will be dead long before I am and my loyal retainers should easily repair my body and restore my." Darkseid stated, before crying out in pain as a burning sensation cut into his wrist, severing the nerves and muscle. His hand spasmed open and the newly free Kryptonian spun rapidly in place. A foot slammed out, catching him below the ribs and sending him rocketing away. He roared in frustration as a ship appeared behind the Kryptonian, who smiled grimly at him before a series of rings surrounded him and he vanished.

Snarling in rage, the despot pulled a cube from his belt. "Open boom tube. to Apokalupse. Alert Desaid to have medical waiting for lim reattachment." he turned in the air and a boom tube burst into existence . With a grunt, he ripped off his dangling right hand. He ignored the pain and oozing blood, looking back at the ship as it raced away. "I will find you, Kal-El. I will grind the world that harbored you into dust." He roared. As he passed into the entrance of the tube, he composed himself, not willing to show any weakness to his forces.

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Jack whooped as he watched the screen showing the battle. Clark was holding the stone faced alien about a mile and a half above the surface and was still rising. At about 3 miles the alien's massive fist slammed into the boulder, causing it to fracture and fall into countless pieces.

He swore as a zoomed image caught the huge fist grasping Clark's skull. He let out a quick 'gross, but effective' when Clark dismembered the hand and a 'sweet kick' at Clark's multi-spin thrust kick that sent the monster flying just as they got in range. "Ring him in Sam." he ordered uselessly as his wife was already manning the controls.

"Already got him, Jack." she stated calmly as the rings flashed in and brought Clark aboard.

Clark blinked to clear his eyes. "General, Colonel, great to see you. Thanks for the pick up." aA movement of bright color caught his eye and he turned his head. "Scott? and Barda! Good to see you. IF you don't mind, I'm a bit tired right now." with that his eyes rolled into his head and he collapsed. His head broke a seat and dented the floor as he fell and the flooring shook as his dense cell structure made known the difference in his apparent size and his true weight. By appearance in human terms he appeared about 200-220 lbs, but due to the density of his cell structure and bones, this was only about a third of his actual weight. He unconsciously used his gift to mimic what would be normal weight for a human of his size. In real terms he weighed just shy of 600lbs.

All this passed through Sam's mind as she shook in her seat from the impact of that heavy body slamming into the floor of the shuttle. "Barda, can you put Clark on one of the benches and strap him in place? No offense Jack, Scott, but even together you'd barely lift him and considering his injuries, I'd rather not bounce him around."

"Don't worry, Colonel, Barda and I've been together long enought to thoroughly be disabused of any male superiority." Scott said with a grin. "I'll get the med-kit if you brought one. I've dealt with Dalxians, a splinter colony from Krypton's Empire and am familiar with their biology, Of course the best thing would be to put him in the airlock, open it to space a few dozen million miles from that yellow sun and let him absorb the rays."

Sam shook her head ruefully. "It still amazes me how his body works. Did you know that they actually have a trinary based chromosomal system? At first we thought it was a double DNA set with 96 paired chromosomes, instead of the human norm of 48 pairs. But it's actually 32 sets of trinary bonded sets." She paused as Jack cleared his throat. "Sorry, I tend to get easily exited over most scientific issues and since learning about Clark and truly alien humanoid races, biology and genetics have become hobbies. I'm fascinated by the possibilities of Clark's TNA. Some of it has our experts believing that Kryptonians have been genetically modified to be compatible with almost any other species of similar structure. Even their appearance can be altered due to factors in the genetics that just . . . sorry, doing it again. We should break atmo soon, then we meet the long range transport, and back to Earth in a few days."

Jack hid his grin as he watched their companion's eyes glaze over. "We'll make a pit stop near the big yellow and let Clark soak up some rays. I don't want to drag him around, last time I tried, I nearly ruptured a disc." It had been a humiliating experience. They were on a planet, P9J3T3, and were attacked by a still unknown party using Kryptonite fueled laser weapons. A half dozen blasts took down Clark, and Jack had rushed forward to drag the young man into cover. He'd barely shifted Clark, trying to use the underarm carry favored by rescue workers but as he lifted there had been a pop and he was down. It had felt like a cross between being shot and burned with a hot poker. He still remembered wondering if the sensation was what it would feel like to be hit by phosphorous rounds. Tealc had had to come out and drag them both into cover until help arrived.

"How close do we have to get?" he asked as the ship turned to head towards the yellow sun. "And will we be in any danger?"

"We'll be fine. The force field and airlock door should block any harmful radiation but it is going to get hot. By my calculations, exposing Clark for 10min should fully heal him and partially restore his energy reserves. As long as we are close enough. No closer then 20 million miles."

"Good I don't want to be around long in case that monster survived and comes looking for revenge."

"Darkseid will live. He is of the Gods, and they do not die easily." Seeing Jack spin to argue, Barda raised a hand to stop his protest. Even the reserve JLA members had hear of General ONeill and his rant against aliens claims to be gods. "The name of his . . . our race, General, not a claim such as the Goauld. Once, we had another name, but when the schism caused our people to splinter it was lost. Those keeping to the old ways became known as the Old Gods, and those seeking their own paths became the Young or New gods. Darkseid has seized control and rules the wold of Apokalypse through terror and might. Non are strong enough to oppose him and those who might become threats are recruited and trained to be his willing slaves." Barda Looked down as memories assaulted her. "I was the leader of his team of personal assassins and bodyguards. I did terrible things and savored the praise issued by my master. I even craved his displeasure for any attention from him was to be sought after and the lengths we all sunk to for his entertainment would be beyond your understanding."

Scott took his wife's massive hand in his own. "It's enough Barda. I think they understand." He turned to face the others. "Darkseid is evil in a way no sane, sentient being can understand. To him every one, even his own sons, are only alive to serve his desires. Any who oppose him or refute his will are either destroyed or enslaved. He doesn't kill often, preferring to crush his enemies and leave them as less then a shadow of their former selves. His main body of household menials are former rulers and their families. People who ruled countries, planets or empires now reduced to cleaning waste from Darkseid and his generals."

"So now that we've run into him, we should expect to do so again?" Jack said tiredly. "Yet another enemy."

"I'm pretty sure he's going to be more of a JLA threat then SGC. Though your soldiers would be of great assistance against his general forces."

"Jack grinned. "How would the 2 of you like to be the SGC reps to the JLA? As the experts on Apokalypse and Darkseid, you have information that could become very important soon."

Scott leaned forward. "How would that work? The JLA is still a bit weary about us. My skills only help when trying to break in or out of high security complexes. And Barda a little . . rough around the edges for most of those morally superior bigots."

Jack grinned."We have ways to convince them."

"You're going to convince the Boy Scout and Batman that Barda isn't a homicidal murderer and that sometimes killing is justified. Those two will never go for that. Superman won't even kill Luther and look at all the horrors that bastard has caused the world."

Sam and Jack exchanged glances. "Superman might not like to kill, but Clark understands that sometimes your enemies leave you no choice. Luthor is a special case. You can try talking to Clark about him, but he's almost as stubborn as Daniel."

No clarification was needed. In recent years, as Earth opened up to join the greater Galactic community, SG1 was converted from front line exploration to premier first contact team for aliens looking to move to Earth and races looking to trade for Earth made goods. Dr. Daniel Jackson was famous for his skills that made it easy for all new comers to adapt to Earth and learn to abide by Earth laws. The SGC were sort of the galactic INS, much like the agents in the old MIB movies, without the dark suits and ridiculous names.

A knocking sounded from the airlock door and Jack punched in the sequence to seal the outer door and open the inner. 30 seconds later, Clark entered looking like he'd just finished a workout. "What do we do next?"

Jack frowned. "Next? Next we go home and start preparing for a potential war. I don't think it will take long for Darkseid to find out where Clark was from. We've been showing up everywhere for more then 15 years now and with the recent expansion of Earth into the galaxy, well, it won't take long for him to learn about Superman and Earth." He leaned back in his seat, running a hand through his close cropped gray hair. "I am getting too old to be dealing with this shit."

Clark looked out through the wall of the ship as it made it's way to meet the transport. He zoomed in the planet and the city where they had fought. He mentally tracked back over the battle, frowning as he analyzed his actions. 'Not good enough. not strong enough. For the first time since I was 16, I wasn't strong enough. What's going to happen next time? Will I be able to stop him or will he beat me again.' His mind filled with doubts and fears, Clark kept his gaze fixed in space as they began the journey home.

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AN

a little short but I hope you like it





*Chapter 27*: Chapter 27


Long time waiting, here's another chap of Wormholes and Meteor Showers.

Sorry for the delays on my fic, but real life injuries and lack of time (too much reading) have set me back, with the start of a new year, I'm hoping my hand will hold up to update most if not all of my stories in the next couple of weeks/months.

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"Are you sure about this?" Lois asked as she watched Pete and Jacob Carter carrying the case into the room where Richard was lying in wait.

"Lois, it was your idea and your decision since Richard listed you as his next of kin. You've talked to Pete and Jacob and a dozen others who've been implanted with a Tok'ra. This is Richard's only chance. The doctors all agree that he will never wake on his own. The damage from the accident was too severe. Even should he wake, he'll have no memories and wouldn't be able to walk. True, he won't be able to go back to his old life, but his family will be informed of his new life. He'll be well cared for at one of the SGC's offworld sites. Now that they are going ahead with disclosure, a limited amount of information will be released about his recovery, not like Pete. He's requested that he stays dead to his family. I don't really agree, but it is his decision." Clark was as nervous about this as Lois, but could hide it better. He had less at stake with this implantation then Lois. She was dealing with both saving Richard's life only to have to let him go.

Lois snorted and turned away as Pete opened the container and reached in, pulling out the eel like sentient. "Tell me when it's done."

Clark watched as the strange monstrous being slithered up Richard's prone body, before rising above his head. The head swayed and bobbed as Jacob held open the comatose patient's mouth. With a final hiss and nod, the beast plunged it's finned head into the opening. Within seconds, the last of the tail end wriggled into the man's body, and Jacob closed the mouth.

"The implantation is done, now we just have to wait a few hours for the symbiont to merge fully with Richard's nervous system. Once that is done, it can get to work on healing his injuries." Jacob stated as he looked towards the viewing room. The procedure was taking place on the Asgard command ship, O'Neill 2. The rest of SG1 were there, as were Chloe, the Kent's, several other Tok'ra, Master Bretac and a small group of his Free Jaffa.

Clark was due to be in Antarctica in a few hours, to work at a dig site that could possibly show evidence of civilization frozen miles below the Arctic crust. Scientists had known for a long time that the sub-Arctic continent had once been free of ice and had in fact had a similar habitat as Central America. The possibility that a civilization or multiple civilizations had inhabited the continent was now being discussed in a serious manner. An oil rig at one of the sites had recently unearthed clay shards that showed signs of glazing and painting that could not have occurred naturally. Clark had been hired by the same doctor he'd helped out on the last few sites in South America before he'd graduated his dual majors of archeology and journalism. He was now a traveling corespondent for the Daily Planet, and regular contribution to National Geographic and several other Archaeological publications. He also had minors in several related fields and a few unrelated areas. He was slowly working on a BA for Linguistics and Math.

A beep of his watch drew his attention and he swore, Midwestern farmboy style, drawing a laugh from Lois.

"What did you just say, Smallville?" Lois asked with a bit of mirth in her voice. Her humor and sarcasm had been making a slow return to her attitude over the last few months as she came to accept that her time with Richard was at an end. No matter what happened, she knew that the life she and Richard had been building towards would no longer come to pass. In a real way, the accident had killed their relationship, and regardless of how much Richard recovered, they would never be in the place they had been before.

During this time Clark had been by her side, as much as his multitude of duties permitted. The flame that had lingered since they first met was beginning to grow again, and she knew that if they continued to progress, that this time, there would be no turning back. Both of them had been tempered in the fires of life and come out stronger for it. She with the few ill fated relationships and the one that could likely put out the fire snuffed itself by a drastic situation. She knew Clark was also approaching the same point of reference. He had already told her that he'd made it clear to the Amazon bitch that he had no interest in being her brood stallion.

Lois felt a minor flare as the thought of Diana Prince brought up the thought of her other main competition for Clark's affections: Maxima. For a time she had thought that she and Clark had both moved on as she had Richard and Clark was in a someone unusual but stable relationship with the Alteracian queen. She had been happy for Clark and Maxima when they'd announced the birth of their first child to the JLA, and just as happy when the second child was born. While she knew that on a superficial level Maxima and Diana had a lot in common, she'd always felt that Maxima actually held some real affection for Clark, unlike Diana who only saw him as a prize. Maxima was limited by her peoples culture and their different biological and emotional drives, unlike Diana who had always struck Lois as a self-righteous power whore, someone who would chase constantly to first seduce and then dominate the most powerful males she could find.

She held no affection for men, again as part of her culture, but Diana had been running around what she called 'Man's World' for almost 30 years now. She should have learned that not all men were the same, and that the best men were rarely the most powerful. As men became powerful in the modern world it became easier to corrupt them. This was not to say that all powerful men were corrupt, but the once who remained untainted were few and far between.

Lois stiffened then relaxed as an arm wrapped around her shoulders, offering her silent, solid support. She leaned back against the elder Kent male, savoring the feeling of acceptance she'd always been offered by the kind farmer. In many ways he'd become more of a father to her then the near stranger who'd donated half his genetics towards her birth.

"Are you okay, Lois. This has been a rough few months. How are you doing?"

Lois took a moment. She'd spent enough time with the Kent's that she knew he was asking about her physical health more then her emotional state. She'd broken down dozens of times emotionally while spending most of her time recovering at either the Kent farm or her own place, with Martha taking time off to help her. This had raised Martha's popularity through the roof and she was the front runner for the next election to state assembly. A friend had originally asked Johnathon but he'd decided his health and his duties with SGC would prevent him from being as effective as he otherwise could, so Martha had been recommended in John's place.

"I'm still sore most mornings, but this loosens up as the day passes. Then there's the crash when I get home and start to relax a bit. Perry's still restricting my workload so I'm not running after gunman or sneaking around warehouses hiding from armed guards. I am so tired of going to press conferences and just doing follow ups on various other reports. Research is not my strong suit, that's what Chloe and Jimmy are for. I'm an investigative reporter. I need to be out investigating leads, not writing copy for blurbs on the Mayor's latest project or some scandal with the building code violations."

Johnathon chuckled. "Well you need to give yourself time to heal, You were very lucky to not be in the same situation as Richard. You were less injured then any one else. But that doesn't mean you're injuries weren't as severe. Sure, Major Carter helped you out a bit with a healing device, but those aren't as effective on the head injuries you suffered."

Lois grinned and slowly shook her head. "I know, it's just starting to get to me I guess. Well that and everything else that is going on. Diana's been chasing after Clark like a bitch in heat and despite his repeated denials, she still seems to think he belongs to her. She can't seem to leave him alone. Every time she calls him Kal, I want to punch her in the face, but I know I'd only hurt my hand. She knows he hates that name but insists on calling him by it. She has no respect for what Clark wants. And I heard some rumors that Luthor is going to be running for a Senate seat against Martha."

"I know, he came by the farm to brag about it and make veiled threats about Martha's chances." Johnathon said mildly. "He's been different ever since the situation with his father's death in prison while he was visiting. As much as I warned Clark about Lex, he was starting to become a man I would have been proud for Clark to have as a friend. Then he visits his father in prison and watches as his father dies of a heart attack. Nothing the prison guards or doctors could do, but still to have to watch that... It changed Lex. And not for the better."

"Sometimes when he looks at you, it's almost like there's someone looking through his eyes. Like there are two people living in his head. I'd expect that of a Tok'ra or a Go'auld but not a normal human. I know Lex isn't infected since the SGC installed detectors at the farm, the Talon, and several dozen buildings throughout major cities like Metropolis and Chicago. Places Lex is known to go and some of his hang outs. So what ever is going on, we know it's not alien- or at least not Go'auld in nature." Lois pushed off from Johnathon and moved forward as Pete and Jacob exited the medical chamber. "So everything OK?" she asked, not letting her earlier vulnerability show in her voice.

"Selmak and Lujjan say everything went well. Krytek, the new implant, is busy merging into Richard's nervous system, but was able to communicate for a few minutes. He thinks he might be able to restore most of Richard's memories and heal most of the injuries, but there will be some gaps and a little weakness until he has time to build up the lost muscle and bone strength. Those will take time, but once done Richard will be as mobile and likely even in better health then before."

Lois felt a tension ease inside. Her hidden fears that even with the implantation Richard would remain in a vegetative state had riddled her with an almost debilitating fear. Knowing that he would be okay, even as they would have to deal with the fall out of their ended relationship, was a great relief to her. She could now start looking forward again, and hopefully so could Clark. It was time to see if their simmering immature passion could thrive into a healthy adult relationship. At the very least, it was now a realistic goal for them both to strive towards, though knowing Clark as she did she had no doubt that he would want to take it slow, to make sure they were both fully committed. That they had no lingering doubts regarding any of their previous relationships.

"I have to go, are you going to be okay, Lois?" Clark asked as his watch beeped again.

Lois grinned. "Go, Smallville. I have your parents here if I have problems. I just want to wait to see him when he wakes. We have some things to talk about and I have to explain what happened to him."

Clark nodded and gave her a brief hug, before striding out of the room for the airlock. The ship was parked in low Earth orbit, and was visible to anyone with a decent pair of binoculars. As he moved, he spun into his uniform (military not superhero), knowing that it would be best to appear at the base camp in this suit since there was a rather dedicated team of security personnel guarding the site.

"So any idea of a time frame for Richard and Krytek to wake?"

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Jack swore to himself as he read the latest report. The hostilities were picking up. The Go'auld had learned that there was a Kryptonian living on Earth and were actually forming alliances amongst themselves in what the Tok'ra were saying would be a large scale offensive against Earth and their allies. This was horrible timing as most of their allies were recovering from their own battles and would not be able to do much to assist Earth should the Go'auld target it first. Even with the help of the assorted superheroes both homegrown and foreign, Earth wasn't ready for a full scale invasion just yet. They had to find something to help protect the Earth. Asgard records show that the Ancients had left several powerful defensive platforms scattered around the world, and the various crews were in a race to discover their location. Jack had hopes that the dig site in Antarctica might be one such weapon, and had signed up several of the SGC's top consultants and research teams to the dig crew. He'd been happy to hear that Clark was going in as well, and advised him to go in with his military id.

He almost regretted taking the promotion to general that took him off field duty and into desk job. He only agreed because Hammond was needed to command the 1st of Earths new battle ships, Prometheus. A hybrid of Earth/Go'auld and Asgard technology, it was the first in the line of Earths new space defense fleet. Several other types of vessels were being designed, ranging from short hop cruisers to massive warships and equally advanced exploration vessels. The Prometheus was joined by the x302's the first atmo/spacial fighters. Still, he knew that his time had come. His years and the damage he'd done to his body was causing him to slow down in the field, and he would never do anything that put his people in jeopardy. His and Sam's marriage and the start of their family had been the last straw. He'd taken the 'promotion' even though he'd already been a general but he was now off active rotation so it could be officially recognized. Sam had also taken a promotion even as she'd retired from field duties to head up the R&D of the SGC. Teal'c had been assigned as a liaison with the Jaffa nation and was spending more time with his son and Master Bretac, training a new generation of Free Jaffa.

Daniel was working with the Joint Chiefs and the Senate on the Disclosure agreement. He spent most of his time now traveling to various countries and debriefing governments about the history of the Stargate and introducing their alien allies. He still managed to make it to a few digs both off-world and around the Earth. Once the last of the meet and greets were done, he would be returning to a permanent off-world base to lead the Linguistics and Archeology departments. The decision had been made to base several fields of research at off-world bases in order to spread the knowledge around, since having all the departments centered in the SGC or at any one location made that location a more tempting target for attack. So each of the main departments were being outsourced to various locations. The linguistics and archeology were at the Alpha site, Sam's R&D were actually based on the Asgard cruiser, The Samantha Carter, which Thor had assigned to a semi-permanent patrol in the Earth's solar system, the biomedical research was set up at the former NID, and the agricultural department was based out of the Beta site. Others remained within the SGC (Felder was not allowed off world and rarely off base due to his accident prone and massive allergy lists)

The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts and he gratefully answered, knowing Walter wouldn't let just anyone through. "General O'Neil's office."

"General? This is Major Davis. I'm calling to inquire about the status of Operation Recovery."

Jack frowned into the empty office. He really hated that name and the operation's goal. "Every thing is on track, the first new recruit was added this morning and the progress report I just received from General Carter and Lt Ross indicate that he will make a full recovery. Expectations are if he agrees, he will begin training among the Tok'ra first and then join the Free Jaffa for a period before returning to either the Alpha or Beta sites for training with SGC personnel. Within the year he could be starting field missions, likely joining one of the off world based teams we are putting together."

"Do you have any reservation about his agreeing to join?"

"I don't know the man myself, only through what Lois Lane's told me and what I learned talking to his family. He is patriotic, but he's always avoided outright violence. He did occasionally have to defend himself during his school years, but he's never been in a serious fight. I don't know if he'll want to become a field agent, but I could see him willing to become a field correspondent or possibly a documentarian. He could also make a good archivist from what I've read of his work, maybe as a press agent. No matter what, he's going to be based off-world. We can't risk a potential infiltration."

"The Chiefs and the President agree. Should he prove contrary to implantation, do you believe the Tok'ra symbiont will be capable to implant another volunteer?"

"It's happened before. But with a relatively young symbiont who had to heal so much damage, I'm not sure it would be strong enough to survive or even willing to accept being separated. And how are we going to really know if the host is being allowed a true expression or if it's just the parasite controlling the host body? This is why I am so against this operation. No matter what they say now, there is no way for us to know if sometime in the future, the symbiont doesn't get it in his head to take complete control and enslave the host just like a Go'auld."

"The project has been approved and your concerns were noted, General. We are taking some precautions by not allowing any subjects to have Earth side postings. Any who agree are being based off world at a number of locations so that as few as possible are based together unless they are under the eyes of fully aware superiors. The list of approved watchdogs is short and consists mainly of SG's 1-5 with a couple of allies like Thor and Bretac. Orders are that any suspicious behave means immediate arrest and interrogation under Zatarc device."

"Let's hope that this time there are no faults in the system. Last time we used those, Sam and I were nearly court marshaled." Jack was not happy with the entirety of the new initiative. Bringing in humans to act as host for maturing Tok'ra was no different to him than making those people slaves in their own bodies. He had no trust in the Tok'ra, aside from a few proven allies like Jacob Carter and Pete Ross. Not coincidentally those were the only two current Tok'ra with Earth originated hosts instead of hosts taken from worlds they had groomed to accept the Tok'ra as the dominant partner in the symbiotic relationships. As far as he was concerned there was no difference between the Tok'ra host grooming and the Go'auld slave taking. One host was just brainwashed into accepting the slavery as an honor before the joining instead of utterly sublimated post the usually forceful joining.

"Your wife tested the system and refined it to insure it's proper function, General. We are taking no chances with this project. The first sign of coercion and we pull the plug." Major Davis stated calmly, well used to Jack O'Neil's attitude toward and type of implantation.

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Richard White looked around and saw nothing but a vast field of white with the occasional blob of blackness. He was confused and disoriented as the last thing he clearly recalled was being on his ship with Lois. They had decided to do something... something he couldn't quite recall. It had to do with a friend... someone they were close to... Clark! It had been the anniversary of Clark's arrival on Earth, and he had just finished convincing Lois that they should be there to help their friend. The small gathering Clark had anticipated had been hijacked into an international fundraiser and society gala by Princess Diana of Themyscara. A woman who had been trying for ages to sink her claws into Clark and who Lois absolutely detested.

He remembered that he had convinced her to go back to shore and go to the party and had made his way up to the cockpit of the vessel when he heard the rapidly approaching sound of a massive engine and he turned in time to see the speed boat slam into his ship. He remembered a brief moment as time seemed to slow as the hull of the racer approached him. He could recall thinking that if he died that Clark would be there to comfort Lois and feeling grateful for his friend and rival. Both of them loved Lois Lane and while many would think they should hate each other, he and Clark held a great deal of trust and respect in one another. If he died and Lois survived the crash, he knew that Clark would be there to look after the woman they both loved, and as much as he disliked the thought of someone other then himself sharing Lois' life, he was glad it would be Clark. Clark was the one man aside from himself that he felt would be worthy of having the love of a woman with the spirit and strength of will of Lois Lane.

Blinking his eyes to try and clear his thoughts, he continued to look around the featureless landscape, wondering what was going on.

Richard White. I am Krytek. Have no fear, we are here in your mind. You were injured. Do you remember?

"Yes, we were on the boat and I was heading up to set course for the docks. I had talked Lois into going to Clark's party, then a speed boat hit us, I ... I think it hit me dead on."

Yes. The pilot of the water vessel was vastly intoxicated. He and most of his passengers died in the collision and you were severely injured and have been in a coma for several lunar cycles. She who was with you was also injured and you were both saved from further harm by the Kryptonian.

Clark. His name sprang immediately to Richard's mind. Lois must have called for him when she saw the racer coming at us. "How badly was I hurt, aside from being in a coma?"

Your injuries are killing you. Slowly it is true, but you are being kept alive only by machines.

"Okay, that is one answer. Here's a question though, who exactly are you and how are you talking to me like this? I know that there are telepaths in the JLA and others not attached to the League, but I don't know of any who could just go into a coma patients mind and speak to them like we seem to be speaking."

I am Tok'ra. My race are an ancient breed of symbiont who evolved to be able to join with other life forms. Physically we are limited in several ways and unable to produce the technology most consider essential for intelligent life. At another time I will explain more of the history of my people and the split that fractured us, but for now we have only a limited time. While time is moving for us in here, the outer world is accelerating away from us. I have an offer for you, but I want to make it clear that I will force no decision from you. I will give you the information you need and then offer you several choices. but we must speak quickly.

"Okay, I hope to learn more about you, but let's talk about these choices."

Before the choice, I offer you some knowledge. You're body is gravely injured as I mentioned earlier and without the aid of the machines you would have died the night of the accident. However there is a way to heal most of the damage and for you to live. This is were the choices begin to show. You could choose to be revived and live your life. However the 1st method of healing you would not be able to restore all of your abilities. You would be ...paralyzed from the neck down. Another method could restore some limited mobility to your upper body but you would still no longer be mobile under your own power. My option, and the one that was instituted temporarily in order for your mind to be reawakened from the coma, is that you join with me. My biology being joined physically to your's would allow me to directly stimulate the replacement of the damaged tissues and bones, thus restoring you to full function. In fact by joining with me, you would receive benefits to your health, including increased strength and stamina and extended lifespan, and ties to a greater community of like bonded individuals.

"So whats the catch?" Richard asked, considering what the voice was telling him. His mind might still be a bit muffled from basically taking a months long nap, but he had caught several worrying things in the voice's statement.

Should you choose to join with me, you will not be allowed to remain on Earth. You will need to relocate to another world, of which you have several options as well. One would be to join my people, the Tok'ra and our fight against the splinter group known as the Go'auld. Another would be to relocate to one of the Tauri's offworld bases were they could offer you several positions.

"What about Lois?" Richard asked.

I do not know. I have limited knowledge of your world or customs, only what was passed to me in the birthing pool. Should you choose to join with me, we will need to leave Earth. Should you choose the other options, you could remain on Earth, but your previous life would still be over. You would never be able to resume the life you have been living, due not only to your physical limits, but the mental changes as well. You can feel the blankness and murkiness in your thoughts? That is because of the damage done physically to your brain. It is only due to our temporary joining that your mind is as clear as it is. In time, if we remain joined I will be able to heal most if not all of the damage, and what I can't repair, I can forge new pathways to replace. But should you choose the 1st option, you will likely never truly awake to the outside world, remaining trapped in your mind with your thoughts becoming dimmer as time passed. With the second option you will be awake and there will be some improvement but you will still suffer from memory lapses and severe blockages in your mental faculties.

Richard sighed and paced a bit. Given the information he had, he could see no real option. Choice one would leave him as a vegetable, choice 2 would leave him at best as a paraplegic with mental regression. Only the 3rd choice was a real option for him to live anything like a fulfilling or even relatively normal life. No matter what, it seems like the time had come and he could no longer factor Lois into his life. As much as that hurt, the thought that if he chose either of the 1st or 2nd options she might sacrifice her own happiness to stay with him was worse. At least with the 3rd choice, he could maintain a friendship between equals even if they could never again be what they once wore to each other.

"Well Krytek, it looks like the only real option for me is to join with you. I don't want to be a vegetable and the thought of going back but not being me, not being able to be who and what I was doesn't suit me either." Richard stated as he lowered his head and sighed. "How do we do this?"

The joining will simply take time. I have been implanted in your body and now we will work together to regain our health. The Go'auld would simply take over your body and only allow you to be aware of things that would cause you distress. But the Tok'ra see the melding of our minds and bodies as a merger. We will work together to become a part of each other, with the amalgamation being better then either of us alone. For now we need to work on fixing the worst damage to your body. I would suggest fixing what we can of your brain, as this will allow you to better focus on healing the rest of our body. In your current landscape you have seen the dark blots. These are representations of the damage done to your brain. Now you are aware of me, I will be able to guide you in correcting the damage. You need just to visualize the form you wish the damage and repairs to take.

Richard thought for a moment. He closed his eyes (which was a weird thought since if this was his mindscape he wasn't really seeing with his eyes) and concentrated. Soon he was wearing workman's coveralls and a white tshirt. Around his waist he was wearing a tool belt and at his side a pile of supplies appeared. Included were various power tools and common household repair materials IE. wood, bricks, tiles and glass. He pulled the hammer from his tool belt and flipped it in the air as color seemed to slowly spread from where he was standing. Within a few subjective minutes, the white space had been replaced by a replica of a run down Victorian house with several large and gaping wounds in the walls, floors and ceilings.

"Let's get this place fixed up then, Krytek."

I will return in a moment, Richard. I will inform those who wait of your choice.

Although he hadn't noticed the presence, he did notice a certain absence in the surrounding for a couple of seconds before it was filled by what he now could feel as the separate entity that was now a subletor in his body.

Let us begin with the foundation, and as we work I will tell you the history of the Go'auld and the Tok'ra.

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Well here it is, another chap in wormholes done. Richard made his choice, and Lois and Clark are finally going to move forward.