new fic (Thunderstones) SG-1/Bones part 1
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crossoverficDisclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and all related or mentioned characters belong to Gekko pictures and its respective producers; they are not mine. 2. Bones is the creation is the creation of Barry Jospehson and Hart Hanson, and does not belong to me.
"The Thunderstones" by Karen
Tourquay, France, present day
The rental car had been left behind at the bottom of the steep embankment leaving the two FBI agents to climb up to the summit on foot. In the background Dr. Temperance Brennan and Agent Seely Booth can overhear the muted conversations of the French guides that are working on the ancient site. Temperance hopes that despite having to work alongside a dispatched team from the United States Airforce, which is a fact of the current mission that she can not quite wrap her mind around, that the reports will bear out.
During her years working on various missions and digs during her years in graduate level anthropology, she had come across articles in scholarly journals that spoke of the caves in France with ancient paintings that dated back almost 5,000 years, supposedly left behind by a nomadic tribe of Celts.
Booth, on the other hand, still fumed from the suspected blow to his authority and when it was announced that the pair would be working alongside Colonel Jack O'Neill from something cod- named Stargate Command.
Seely Booth had made a point of expressing his displeasure. His exact words 'Why in the hell would high muckety-muck military brass want with a bunch of moldy old bones, and why would us, the FBI, have to deal with them?"
She spent several years working missions with Booth now, Temperance knew better than try to either defend or support the assignment and decided to err on the side of caution and let Booth's temper simmer over. Based on practical experience it was better to wait until Booth, if not exactly happy with the situation, at least he would be able to deal with it.
Meanwhile Jack O'Neill and his team met up with the FBI agent, and the forensic scientists at the entrance to the caves.
Daniel, lagging behind the others on his team, stopped to fumble through his equipment and pull out a manila folder containing his notes and observations from their briefing and his own research. Bets were good on the chance that these caves contained remains of an ancient and long since abandoned Gou'ald center of operation thousands of years ago.
"We're looking for objects termed 'thunder stones' according to the notes left behind by the Tok'ra," Daniel said.
"I don't suppose letting our esteemed law folks in on the big secret will make this op go any faster," Jack wondered, shuffling his feet.
"It's a delicate balance sir," Sammantha Carter nodded. "Either we let them in on the Star Gate operation 100 percent, this has its own pros and cons, or we fed them a piece of the truth, one at a time."
"It was a rhetorical question."
"I know that, it's just that they're more than likely more than curious about why the Air Force would take a sudden interest in Western European Anthropology, aside from our having a resident anthropologist and linguist on the staff."
"OH, I guess that's my cue, huh," Daniel fumbled through his folder, shuffling through pages of his spiral-bound notebooks. "
"Did you know Dr. Brennan when you were in graduate school, Daniel?" Carter asked.
"I may have heard of her, but I never knew her personally," Daniel replied.
"What about these stones?" O'Neill prompted.
"These are no ordinary stones, they've be dug up all around the globe in different eras, and each time they've manifested a variety of unusual properties." Daniel replied.
"How so?" Carter asked.
"Well, as you're aware my expertise runs more to the Egyptian and Sumerian histories and mythologies, but from the smattering in Western European myths I did hear of an ancient godlike race known as the Tuath'a de Dannan; they were the gods and goddesses of the ancient Celts. Among those legends were three stone objects, the Spear of Lugh, a weapon that never missed its target, the Cauldron of the Dagda, basically your average Horn of Plenty, and the Stone that would make sure a king's rule was blessed."
"So what you're saying that any weapon or object of power crafted out of this special stone was going to work no matter what?" Sam said.
"Exactly." Daniel nodded. "Dating farther back than the Celts these strangely shaped masses of stone, some rudely chipped, some polished, the larger called objects considered
thunderbolts, the smaller arrows, all of them weapons which had been hurled by gods and other supernatural beings."
"I wouldn't put it bast our snake-headed friends to tap into a legend and use to it their own advantage," Jack remarked, rubbing the stubble on his cheek. "They're very sneaky like that."
"We will soon find discover that for ourselves, O'Neill," Teal'C added.
"The Gou'ald are known for exploiting any and all advantages," Teal' C said.
"They're here," Carter added.
"About time," O'Neill said, shuffling his feet and looking down into the entrance to the cave system, noting that the light in western horizon had begun to fade and despite his own inclination he would have preferred to do his cave spelunking in daylight rather than at twilight.
"You bring our cave exploring equipment?" Booth asked.
"You'll have to excuse my partner, Booth really is not a people person," Dr. Temperance Brennan replied,
"Oh come on, I'm great with people," Booth muttered.
"Let's not go there." Tenperance muttered.
Leaving behind all any necessary equipment that would not be necessary to make their descent into the cave system bulky and difficult. Both teams removed their backpacks, and tied and wrapped around their waists lengths of industrial strength ropes, dispersed flashlights to everyone and passed through the barrier the blocked the entrance.
O'Neill went down first, followed by Sam, then Daniel, with Teal'C bringing up the rear. Booth and Dr. Brown formed their own team of two.
The interior of the caves was very dark, what little light seeped down from above barely adequate to see by and both teams immediately thumbed on their flashlights, waving them around to get a 360-degree view of their surroundings.
It was dry but surprisingly free from a thick coating of dust, the beam from their flashlights playing favorably over the fantastic cave paintings of which the caves in France were justly famous for.
In the back of his mind, O'Neill was glad they had chosen too late at night for this little expedition, and that way they would not be hampered with tourists getting in the way.
The floor was even and only once in a while marred by broken crevices where the movement of the earth and endless drip of water from the overhead hanging stalactites pooled on the floor.
"I hope you find what you're looking for, Colonel O'Neill," Booth remarked.
"I hope so, too," O'Neill nodded. "Otherwise, aside from a fabulous way to spend a long weekend, we might be wasting our time."
"If you were given your preference on how to spend your weekend off, what would it be?"
"You're going to wish you hadn't asked him that," Carter said.
"I'll take my chances," Booth replied.
"I'd rather be fishing," O'Neill smiled.
"You have no idea what's it like to listen to him go on about fishing," Carter smiled.
"I'm still trying to get my team to accompany me on a fishing trip, so far no takers, but I've come close."
"Do you have any stories about the one that got away?" Dr. Brennan smiled.
"Maybe." O'Neill smiled, thinking as he did so that Dr. Brennan had not turned anything at all like he had pictured a FBI agent. She was pretty and smart, and had a good head on her shoulders; not only that she was very attractive. 'Not that we're going to put that in the mission report, are we, Jack?" he thought and shoved the thought to a back corner of his mind.
"Let's go," Dr. Jackson eagerly added.
The air smelled dry and clean, which was most likely the reason the paintings and should they find any, the fossilized human and mammoth remains had been so well preserved.
For about an hour or more both teams were able to traverse the chambers together, only once in a while clearing a low access way into yet another chamber in single file. Booth and Teal'C, among the tallest in the group, forced to duck to avoid banging their heads overhead stone lintels capping doors.
"Watch your heads," Booth said, turning his head and glancing back at other members of the exploration party.
At the very instant that he said it, the line around his waist that bound him to Dr. Brennan went taut and then all forward progress stopped completely. Booth stood in vast cavernous chamber whose walls had been carved right out of the living rock of the cave system.
The walls glittered with a slivery crystalline rock contrasting with the gray granite and brown rock the formed the other parts that they had already come across.
Behind were he stood, Temperance also stood in awe at what she looked at.
When she used to be in the study of ancient civilizations and peoples strictly for the scholarly and informative nature of the discipline, and it is only recently that she can appreciate and understand how important that her work have a practical application. Otherwise she would not be here, now, applying her anthropology knowledge in the interest of foresenic science in the FBI.
However, in the back of her mind, she is still awed by what she can see all around her. In niches and in embedded into the rocks is a veritable cache of ancient stone weapons and tools.
"I don't believe it," she whispered.
"Neither do I and I'm looking right at it," Dr. Jackson murmured as he came up to stand alongside of her. "If I didn't know any better I'd say that that spear is a spitting image of the legendary spear of Lugh."
"Lugh who?" Booth asked, irritable and out of sorts.
"The sun god of the old Celts," Temperance explained, "One of the oldest and most important of all hand weapons. The blade should be about fourteen inches in length and be flame-shaped mounted on an ash pole of about seven feet."
"From the research that I read the Spear of Lugh was so powerful that the last of the Druids that held out against the encroachment of the Romans and the spread of Christianity had it stashed away in some obscure monastery, never to be seen again, supposedly." Daniel shook his head and waved his the beam of his flashlight over the length of the spear. "Amazing."
"Don't get too worked up, Daniel, it could just be an elaborate reproduction, one designed to be part of the tour for visitors to the caves," O'Neill said.
"Possible, but according to the map the guides gave us, we're way off course for the paths marked out for tourists," Carter added.
"Remind me again, what were the other objects of power?" O'Neill asked.
"The Cauldron of Plenty and the Stone of Destiny."
"Right. So we found these 'thunder stones', now what?" We got spears, and swords, all different lengths. We make a catalogue or put these in a museum somewhere."
"And watch them gather dust?" Dr. Brennan replied.
"Seems to me that's all they're doing here," Dr. Jackson said.
Booth stepped forward, crossing the space that separated their huddled group from the mount where the spear stood upright; hilt first embedded in the stone that stretched out his hand to grasp the weapon.
As soon as his fingers so much as brushed the metal, a shock traveled from his toes, up through his legs, into his body, and the resulting shock sent him hurtling full length across the room until he fetched up against the far wall. "Well, it the name is well-earned. He sat up and rubbed his neck.
"You okay?" Dr. Brennan asked.
"When I figure out what just happened I will let you." Booth smiled.
"That was a shock, literally."
"Some kind of security force field?" Carter asked, intrigued.
"Daniel, you did say it that those ancient boys, the Druids, wanted to find a way to protect the Spear, right?" O'Neill asked.
"Yes, but I don't remember exactly how they went about it."
"How do we get these thunderstones out of here, if we can't get our hands on them?" Dr. Brennan wondered.
"Here, let me try," O'Neill offered. "Whether you believe it or not we actually do have some experience in this area." Jack stepped forward ignoring the sidelong glances of the two agents and wrapped his hand around the hilt, wincing in anticipation of an electrical shock. Jack grinned and glanced back at the others waiting on him, and what might happen next. When nothing did, aside from a tingling and the fine dark hairs at the back of his neck stood on end. Jack shrugged his shoulders and took firmer grip on the spear attempting to tug it free from its stone bed.
A buzzing began in his ears and grew gradually louder approaching a level of an entire swarm of bees in frenzy. Jack pulled even harder, grunting from the unexpected weight of the weapon.
It popped free with a definite pop like the sound of a cork popping free from a wine bottle. Jack stumbled backwards and nearly collided with Doctor Jackson, who steadied him. Jack turned around the spear dangling from his right hand; his free hand stuffed into his trousers pockets. "Bingo."
"Bingo, I do not understand," Teal'C said, the fine lines of his brows furrowing into an almost horizontal line.
"You and me both, big guy," Booth muttered under his breath. "It's a damn spear and we're in giant cavern that looks some dead guy's dream of an ancient arsenal."
"It's complicated," Carter began, 'but we're going have to ask what we be allowed to take the spear and any other items back with us to Colorado and Stargate Command."
"I'm not going to like this, but you guys were authorized by the higher-ups," Booth said.
"I would like to take any and all items, including the spear back to the lab for carbon dating and testing, it's a matter of procedure," Dr. Brennan added.
"We understand," Carter replied.
"Good, just so we're on the same page once we leave here," Dr. Brennan nodded.
"Works for me," O'Neill added.
Chapter 2: Dry as Dust
Disclaimer: None of the characters that appear here belong to me, they are only 'borrowed' for the purpose of the story. Stargate SG-1 and Bones belong to their respective creators and producers; they are not mine.
"Dry as Dust" by Karen
Temperance Brown had seen bones, many, many bones throughout her career as first an antrhopologist and later as in the foreseniscs crime lab of the FBI; but she had never seen fozziled remains preserved with this degree of perfection as these.
Embedded into the hilt of the spear as well as used as a design motif for several daggers and long swords was the coiled form of some kind of heavy-bodided snake with a neck that stretehed out like a fan.
Curious and a little disturbing. The weird thing about the bones was the fact that those little snaky desings cropped up in the bones as well.
That definitely should not happen, even to people dead and gone centuries ago.
She had run the carbon dating computer model on them so many times she could recite the data gathered in her sleep.
Which should be more than enough to submit a report and put this case to bed, so to speak, so why then is she is still not satisfied to release the information and the dusty old relics to the dispatched team of Airforce officers. Something does not add up here. Temperance Brennan wished that she could so readily figure out exactly what that something is.
She's worked with Seely Booth long enough to know that he is as anxious as she is to get the answers to their questions, but not to the point where he is breathing down her neck trying to read the data over her shoulder.
It's an annoying habit of his that she told him when they first met that she would not put with, and he did as she asked.
"Anything yet, doc," he interrupted, with that annoying, knowing grin,
"'Cause by my watch inquiring minds want to know' stage went by over an hour ago."
"Actually, yes," she replied. "I was just considering the best way to phrase this. Were you ever a sci-fi fan before going into law enforcment?"
"Yeah, but that's just between me and you."
"Well, have I got an eye-opener for you. I finished running the carbon dating and all the other tests on the bones and artifacts we found in those caves."
"And? Booth prompted, noting the fine lines in furrowing her brow.
"And that spear is giving off a lot more kinetic energy than it should ever since Colonel O'Neill put his hands on it. Weird and puzzling don't even begin to cover it."
"Maybe they know something we don't." Booth suggested it causally before it finally clicked inside of his head what bothered him most about the entire assignment as well as the military officers.
"They're playing it way too cool, withoholding information about bones and the rocks, and I don't like it."
"I assume that means you want to get to the bottom of whatever it is that they're hiding from us?" Brennan said.
"You read my mind." He smiled.
"Well, I don't think the Airforce, no matter what kind of secret project they're running out in Colorado would go to all this trouble for a bunch of Dark Ages Celtic artifacts."
"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't at least one member of the team they sent some kind of Egyptian archaelogist, at least I remmeber reading that in the file they sent over to the main office."
"Yeah, that would be Doctor Daniel Jackson, and he's got credentials in other fields such as lignuists and antrhopology. I knew I recognized that face from somewhere. It's been a while, though."
"What did you mean about the sci-fi part. I don't know much about the Celts, but I do know that they were good at making tools, weapons, and other stuff. But not to the point where it merit the rating of alien tech, right?"
"I would think that, also, if not for the weird energy readings I'm getting off of this stuff. So, folks, your guess is as good as mine right now." Dr. Brennan shook her head, peeled off her white plastic lab gloves and wiped her brow with the back of her hand.
"Those energy readings, are they dangerous?" Booth asked.
"No, no," Brennand muttered, "jus very puzzling."
Meanwhile Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team sat cooling their heels in room dubbed 'the Waiting Place, which was essentially a small staff break currently empty of all occupants except for them.
"For crying out loud," O'Neill muttered, "What is taking them so damn
long?"
"Relax, sir," Major Carter said, "Look on the bright side, at least if anything does go wrong, or they start asking questions, we'll be covered that we followed the procedures that they asked of us."
"Remind me again why Hammond wanted us to find thse artifacts?"
"Because the Tok'ra believed them to be connected to the Gou'ald and they want them retrieved."
"Right..." O'Neill replied, "Much more of this I think I'm going to start breaking out the lyrics to "Somewhere over the rainbow."
"Ah, let's not, Sir," Carter haistly said.
"Why not?" Teal'C asked.
"One, because Jack can't sing, Teal'C," Carter said, "Two, because I've heard that song one two many times that I can recite it in my sleep. And three, giving these Feds the impression that we're crazy is not going to help our chances of getting out of here with the artificats."
"You know, when she's right, she's right." Daniel smiled.
Jack groaned. "Don't have to tell me twice."
"They are our allies, after all, Jack. And looking at from thier perspective it's not such an unreasonable request. I'd like another look at that spear myself," Doctor Jackson added.
"Not now, Daniel," O'Neill said.
At that moment both agents entered the room, the former carrying a printed out sheaf of doucments, the latter carrying a box with a sample of the bones that held the embedded snake design in his arms.
"Well, well, here we are." Booth announced. "Let me get right to the point
there seems to be a failure to communicate between our departments, which is fine, we're in law enforcment and you're in the buisness of protecting our country. "
Seely Booth had just opened his mouth to add a stinging rebuke for keeping him, his partner and department in the dark when he paused and noticed that the big fellow, Teal'c's hat had slipped down on his head to show the top of his forehead. Etched into the skin there was a large golden sigil in a script that he had never seen before. "Okay, that's different'' he thought.
"I fail to see the point," Teal'C interrupted.
"Its his way of getting us to 'fess up and tell him what makes those bones in the box so important," Carter said.
"We must not!" Teal'C lurched to his feet and shoute: "We cannot risk the chance of the weapons might fall into the the wrong hands or gain the knowledge of how to weild them reaching our enemies."
"Dude, you have got to stop doing that," Daniel said.
"Weapons?" Dr. Brennan echoed.
"Uh, Dr. Brennan, he just means the ancient weapons, you having historical and monetary value, you know how it is," Daniel began.
"I don't think I buy that any more than you do, Doctor Jackson. Why don't you try the truth for a chance, hmm?"
"I don't know about this," Daniel whispered.
Look, the truth is we need the stuff more than you do right now, and we need to get out of here as soon as possible," Jack said. "And yeah, they're weapons, and I don't care how old they are. The entire truth behind why and how we learned about them is classfied, and I don't think you'd believe us if we told you everything and we can't."
"Look, if you want your boss to contact our boss, fine and dandy, but like Colonel O'Neill said, we're just not at liberty to reveal everything we know or suspect about the weapons," Carter added.
"I just might." Booth shrgged and set the box down on one of the tables. "I changed my mind, I really don't want to know the full details of what you folks are ut to. Just take the stuff and get the hell out of my sight."
"I don't like it, but I guess I can live with it," Brennan said. "I'd hate to take the fallout if this decision backfires on me, so whatever happens I don't want learn that they're being used for the wrong reasons, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Ma'am." Jack nodded.
continued in chapter 3: First, Do No Harm
chapter 4: By Invitation Only
"The Thunderstones" by Karen
Tourquay, France, present day
The rental car had been left behind at the bottom of the steep embankment leaving the two FBI agents to climb up to the summit on foot. In the background Dr. Temperance Brennan and Agent Seely Booth can overhear the muted conversations of the French guides that are working on the ancient site. Temperance hopes that despite having to work alongside a dispatched team from the United States Airforce, which is a fact of the current mission that she can not quite wrap her mind around, that the reports will bear out.
During her years working on various missions and digs during her years in graduate level anthropology, she had come across articles in scholarly journals that spoke of the caves in France with ancient paintings that dated back almost 5,000 years, supposedly left behind by a nomadic tribe of Celts.
Booth, on the other hand, still fumed from the suspected blow to his authority and when it was announced that the pair would be working alongside Colonel Jack O'Neill from something cod- named Stargate Command.
Seely Booth had made a point of expressing his displeasure. His exact words 'Why in the hell would high muckety-muck military brass want with a bunch of moldy old bones, and why would us, the FBI, have to deal with them?"
She spent several years working missions with Booth now, Temperance knew better than try to either defend or support the assignment and decided to err on the side of caution and let Booth's temper simmer over. Based on practical experience it was better to wait until Booth, if not exactly happy with the situation, at least he would be able to deal with it.
Meanwhile Jack O'Neill and his team met up with the FBI agent, and the forensic scientists at the entrance to the caves.
Daniel, lagging behind the others on his team, stopped to fumble through his equipment and pull out a manila folder containing his notes and observations from their briefing and his own research. Bets were good on the chance that these caves contained remains of an ancient and long since abandoned Gou'ald center of operation thousands of years ago.
"We're looking for objects termed 'thunder stones' according to the notes left behind by the Tok'ra," Daniel said.
"I don't suppose letting our esteemed law folks in on the big secret will make this op go any faster," Jack wondered, shuffling his feet.
"It's a delicate balance sir," Sammantha Carter nodded. "Either we let them in on the Star Gate operation 100 percent, this has its own pros and cons, or we fed them a piece of the truth, one at a time."
"It was a rhetorical question."
"I know that, it's just that they're more than likely more than curious about why the Air Force would take a sudden interest in Western European Anthropology, aside from our having a resident anthropologist and linguist on the staff."
"OH, I guess that's my cue, huh," Daniel fumbled through his folder, shuffling through pages of his spiral-bound notebooks. "
"Did you know Dr. Brennan when you were in graduate school, Daniel?" Carter asked.
"I may have heard of her, but I never knew her personally," Daniel replied.
"What about these stones?" O'Neill prompted.
"These are no ordinary stones, they've be dug up all around the globe in different eras, and each time they've manifested a variety of unusual properties." Daniel replied.
"How so?" Carter asked.
"Well, as you're aware my expertise runs more to the Egyptian and Sumerian histories and mythologies, but from the smattering in Western European myths I did hear of an ancient godlike race known as the Tuath'a de Dannan; they were the gods and goddesses of the ancient Celts. Among those legends were three stone objects, the Spear of Lugh, a weapon that never missed its target, the Cauldron of the Dagda, basically your average Horn of Plenty, and the Stone that would make sure a king's rule was blessed."
"So what you're saying that any weapon or object of power crafted out of this special stone was going to work no matter what?" Sam said.
"Exactly." Daniel nodded. "Dating farther back than the Celts these strangely shaped masses of stone, some rudely chipped, some polished, the larger called objects considered
thunderbolts, the smaller arrows, all of them weapons which had been hurled by gods and other supernatural beings."
"I wouldn't put it bast our snake-headed friends to tap into a legend and use to it their own advantage," Jack remarked, rubbing the stubble on his cheek. "They're very sneaky like that."
"We will soon find discover that for ourselves, O'Neill," Teal'C added.
"The Gou'ald are known for exploiting any and all advantages," Teal' C said.
"They're here," Carter added.
"About time," O'Neill said, shuffling his feet and looking down into the entrance to the cave system, noting that the light in western horizon had begun to fade and despite his own inclination he would have preferred to do his cave spelunking in daylight rather than at twilight.
"You bring our cave exploring equipment?" Booth asked.
"You'll have to excuse my partner, Booth really is not a people person," Dr. Temperance Brennan replied,
"Oh come on, I'm great with people," Booth muttered.
"Let's not go there." Tenperance muttered.
Leaving behind all any necessary equipment that would not be necessary to make their descent into the cave system bulky and difficult. Both teams removed their backpacks, and tied and wrapped around their waists lengths of industrial strength ropes, dispersed flashlights to everyone and passed through the barrier the blocked the entrance.
O'Neill went down first, followed by Sam, then Daniel, with Teal'C bringing up the rear. Booth and Dr. Brown formed their own team of two.
The interior of the caves was very dark, what little light seeped down from above barely adequate to see by and both teams immediately thumbed on their flashlights, waving them around to get a 360-degree view of their surroundings.
It was dry but surprisingly free from a thick coating of dust, the beam from their flashlights playing favorably over the fantastic cave paintings of which the caves in France were justly famous for.
In the back of his mind, O'Neill was glad they had chosen too late at night for this little expedition, and that way they would not be hampered with tourists getting in the way.
The floor was even and only once in a while marred by broken crevices where the movement of the earth and endless drip of water from the overhead hanging stalactites pooled on the floor.
"I hope you find what you're looking for, Colonel O'Neill," Booth remarked.
"I hope so, too," O'Neill nodded. "Otherwise, aside from a fabulous way to spend a long weekend, we might be wasting our time."
"If you were given your preference on how to spend your weekend off, what would it be?"
"You're going to wish you hadn't asked him that," Carter said.
"I'll take my chances," Booth replied.
"I'd rather be fishing," O'Neill smiled.
"You have no idea what's it like to listen to him go on about fishing," Carter smiled.
"I'm still trying to get my team to accompany me on a fishing trip, so far no takers, but I've come close."
"Do you have any stories about the one that got away?" Dr. Brennan smiled.
"Maybe." O'Neill smiled, thinking as he did so that Dr. Brennan had not turned anything at all like he had pictured a FBI agent. She was pretty and smart, and had a good head on her shoulders; not only that she was very attractive. 'Not that we're going to put that in the mission report, are we, Jack?" he thought and shoved the thought to a back corner of his mind.
"Let's go," Dr. Jackson eagerly added.
The air smelled dry and clean, which was most likely the reason the paintings and should they find any, the fossilized human and mammoth remains had been so well preserved.
For about an hour or more both teams were able to traverse the chambers together, only once in a while clearing a low access way into yet another chamber in single file. Booth and Teal'C, among the tallest in the group, forced to duck to avoid banging their heads overhead stone lintels capping doors.
"Watch your heads," Booth said, turning his head and glancing back at other members of the exploration party.
At the very instant that he said it, the line around his waist that bound him to Dr. Brennan went taut and then all forward progress stopped completely. Booth stood in vast cavernous chamber whose walls had been carved right out of the living rock of the cave system.
The walls glittered with a slivery crystalline rock contrasting with the gray granite and brown rock the formed the other parts that they had already come across.
Behind were he stood, Temperance also stood in awe at what she looked at.
When she used to be in the study of ancient civilizations and peoples strictly for the scholarly and informative nature of the discipline, and it is only recently that she can appreciate and understand how important that her work have a practical application. Otherwise she would not be here, now, applying her anthropology knowledge in the interest of foresenic science in the FBI.
However, in the back of her mind, she is still awed by what she can see all around her. In niches and in embedded into the rocks is a veritable cache of ancient stone weapons and tools.
"I don't believe it," she whispered.
"Neither do I and I'm looking right at it," Dr. Jackson murmured as he came up to stand alongside of her. "If I didn't know any better I'd say that that spear is a spitting image of the legendary spear of Lugh."
"Lugh who?" Booth asked, irritable and out of sorts.
"The sun god of the old Celts," Temperance explained, "One of the oldest and most important of all hand weapons. The blade should be about fourteen inches in length and be flame-shaped mounted on an ash pole of about seven feet."
"From the research that I read the Spear of Lugh was so powerful that the last of the Druids that held out against the encroachment of the Romans and the spread of Christianity had it stashed away in some obscure monastery, never to be seen again, supposedly." Daniel shook his head and waved his the beam of his flashlight over the length of the spear. "Amazing."
"Don't get too worked up, Daniel, it could just be an elaborate reproduction, one designed to be part of the tour for visitors to the caves," O'Neill said.
"Possible, but according to the map the guides gave us, we're way off course for the paths marked out for tourists," Carter added.
"Remind me again, what were the other objects of power?" O'Neill asked.
"The Cauldron of Plenty and the Stone of Destiny."
"Right. So we found these 'thunder stones', now what?" We got spears, and swords, all different lengths. We make a catalogue or put these in a museum somewhere."
"And watch them gather dust?" Dr. Brennan replied.
"Seems to me that's all they're doing here," Dr. Jackson said.
Booth stepped forward, crossing the space that separated their huddled group from the mount where the spear stood upright; hilt first embedded in the stone that stretched out his hand to grasp the weapon.
As soon as his fingers so much as brushed the metal, a shock traveled from his toes, up through his legs, into his body, and the resulting shock sent him hurtling full length across the room until he fetched up against the far wall. "Well, it the name is well-earned. He sat up and rubbed his neck.
"You okay?" Dr. Brennan asked.
"When I figure out what just happened I will let you." Booth smiled.
"That was a shock, literally."
"Some kind of security force field?" Carter asked, intrigued.
"Daniel, you did say it that those ancient boys, the Druids, wanted to find a way to protect the Spear, right?" O'Neill asked.
"Yes, but I don't remember exactly how they went about it."
"How do we get these thunderstones out of here, if we can't get our hands on them?" Dr. Brennan wondered.
"Here, let me try," O'Neill offered. "Whether you believe it or not we actually do have some experience in this area." Jack stepped forward ignoring the sidelong glances of the two agents and wrapped his hand around the hilt, wincing in anticipation of an electrical shock. Jack grinned and glanced back at the others waiting on him, and what might happen next. When nothing did, aside from a tingling and the fine dark hairs at the back of his neck stood on end. Jack shrugged his shoulders and took firmer grip on the spear attempting to tug it free from its stone bed.
A buzzing began in his ears and grew gradually louder approaching a level of an entire swarm of bees in frenzy. Jack pulled even harder, grunting from the unexpected weight of the weapon.
It popped free with a definite pop like the sound of a cork popping free from a wine bottle. Jack stumbled backwards and nearly collided with Doctor Jackson, who steadied him. Jack turned around the spear dangling from his right hand; his free hand stuffed into his trousers pockets. "Bingo."
"Bingo, I do not understand," Teal'C said, the fine lines of his brows furrowing into an almost horizontal line.
"You and me both, big guy," Booth muttered under his breath. "It's a damn spear and we're in giant cavern that looks some dead guy's dream of an ancient arsenal."
"It's complicated," Carter began, 'but we're going have to ask what we be allowed to take the spear and any other items back with us to Colorado and Stargate Command."
"I'm not going to like this, but you guys were authorized by the higher-ups," Booth said.
"I would like to take any and all items, including the spear back to the lab for carbon dating and testing, it's a matter of procedure," Dr. Brennan added.
"We understand," Carter replied.
"Good, just so we're on the same page once we leave here," Dr. Brennan nodded.
"Works for me," O'Neill added.
Chapter 2: Dry as Dust
Disclaimer: None of the characters that appear here belong to me, they are only 'borrowed' for the purpose of the story. Stargate SG-1 and Bones belong to their respective creators and producers; they are not mine.
"Dry as Dust" by Karen
Temperance Brown had seen bones, many, many bones throughout her career as first an antrhopologist and later as in the foreseniscs crime lab of the FBI; but she had never seen fozziled remains preserved with this degree of perfection as these.
Embedded into the hilt of the spear as well as used as a design motif for several daggers and long swords was the coiled form of some kind of heavy-bodided snake with a neck that stretehed out like a fan.
Curious and a little disturbing. The weird thing about the bones was the fact that those little snaky desings cropped up in the bones as well.
That definitely should not happen, even to people dead and gone centuries ago.
She had run the carbon dating computer model on them so many times she could recite the data gathered in her sleep.
Which should be more than enough to submit a report and put this case to bed, so to speak, so why then is she is still not satisfied to release the information and the dusty old relics to the dispatched team of Airforce officers. Something does not add up here. Temperance Brennan wished that she could so readily figure out exactly what that something is.
She's worked with Seely Booth long enough to know that he is as anxious as she is to get the answers to their questions, but not to the point where he is breathing down her neck trying to read the data over her shoulder.
It's an annoying habit of his that she told him when they first met that she would not put with, and he did as she asked.
"Anything yet, doc," he interrupted, with that annoying, knowing grin,
"'Cause by my watch inquiring minds want to know' stage went by over an hour ago."
"Actually, yes," she replied. "I was just considering the best way to phrase this. Were you ever a sci-fi fan before going into law enforcment?"
"Yeah, but that's just between me and you."
"Well, have I got an eye-opener for you. I finished running the carbon dating and all the other tests on the bones and artifacts we found in those caves."
"And? Booth prompted, noting the fine lines in furrowing her brow.
"And that spear is giving off a lot more kinetic energy than it should ever since Colonel O'Neill put his hands on it. Weird and puzzling don't even begin to cover it."
"Maybe they know something we don't." Booth suggested it causally before it finally clicked inside of his head what bothered him most about the entire assignment as well as the military officers.
"They're playing it way too cool, withoholding information about bones and the rocks, and I don't like it."
"I assume that means you want to get to the bottom of whatever it is that they're hiding from us?" Brennan said.
"You read my mind." He smiled.
"Well, I don't think the Airforce, no matter what kind of secret project they're running out in Colorado would go to all this trouble for a bunch of Dark Ages Celtic artifacts."
"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't at least one member of the team they sent some kind of Egyptian archaelogist, at least I remmeber reading that in the file they sent over to the main office."
"Yeah, that would be Doctor Daniel Jackson, and he's got credentials in other fields such as lignuists and antrhopology. I knew I recognized that face from somewhere. It's been a while, though."
"What did you mean about the sci-fi part. I don't know much about the Celts, but I do know that they were good at making tools, weapons, and other stuff. But not to the point where it merit the rating of alien tech, right?"
"I would think that, also, if not for the weird energy readings I'm getting off of this stuff. So, folks, your guess is as good as mine right now." Dr. Brennan shook her head, peeled off her white plastic lab gloves and wiped her brow with the back of her hand.
"Those energy readings, are they dangerous?" Booth asked.
"No, no," Brennand muttered, "jus very puzzling."
Meanwhile Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team sat cooling their heels in room dubbed 'the Waiting Place, which was essentially a small staff break currently empty of all occupants except for them.
"For crying out loud," O'Neill muttered, "What is taking them so damn
long?"
"Relax, sir," Major Carter said, "Look on the bright side, at least if anything does go wrong, or they start asking questions, we'll be covered that we followed the procedures that they asked of us."
"Remind me again why Hammond wanted us to find thse artifacts?"
"Because the Tok'ra believed them to be connected to the Gou'ald and they want them retrieved."
"Right..." O'Neill replied, "Much more of this I think I'm going to start breaking out the lyrics to "Somewhere over the rainbow."
"Ah, let's not, Sir," Carter haistly said.
"Why not?" Teal'C asked.
"One, because Jack can't sing, Teal'C," Carter said, "Two, because I've heard that song one two many times that I can recite it in my sleep. And three, giving these Feds the impression that we're crazy is not going to help our chances of getting out of here with the artificats."
"You know, when she's right, she's right." Daniel smiled.
Jack groaned. "Don't have to tell me twice."
"They are our allies, after all, Jack. And looking at from thier perspective it's not such an unreasonable request. I'd like another look at that spear myself," Doctor Jackson added.
"Not now, Daniel," O'Neill said.
At that moment both agents entered the room, the former carrying a printed out sheaf of doucments, the latter carrying a box with a sample of the bones that held the embedded snake design in his arms.
"Well, well, here we are." Booth announced. "Let me get right to the point
there seems to be a failure to communicate between our departments, which is fine, we're in law enforcment and you're in the buisness of protecting our country. "
Seely Booth had just opened his mouth to add a stinging rebuke for keeping him, his partner and department in the dark when he paused and noticed that the big fellow, Teal'c's hat had slipped down on his head to show the top of his forehead. Etched into the skin there was a large golden sigil in a script that he had never seen before. "Okay, that's different'' he thought.
"I fail to see the point," Teal'C interrupted.
"Its his way of getting us to 'fess up and tell him what makes those bones in the box so important," Carter said.
"We must not!" Teal'C lurched to his feet and shoute: "We cannot risk the chance of the weapons might fall into the the wrong hands or gain the knowledge of how to weild them reaching our enemies."
"Dude, you have got to stop doing that," Daniel said.
"Weapons?" Dr. Brennan echoed.
"Uh, Dr. Brennan, he just means the ancient weapons, you having historical and monetary value, you know how it is," Daniel began.
"I don't think I buy that any more than you do, Doctor Jackson. Why don't you try the truth for a chance, hmm?"
"I don't know about this," Daniel whispered.
Look, the truth is we need the stuff more than you do right now, and we need to get out of here as soon as possible," Jack said. "And yeah, they're weapons, and I don't care how old they are. The entire truth behind why and how we learned about them is classfied, and I don't think you'd believe us if we told you everything and we can't."
"Look, if you want your boss to contact our boss, fine and dandy, but like Colonel O'Neill said, we're just not at liberty to reveal everything we know or suspect about the weapons," Carter added.
"I just might." Booth shrgged and set the box down on one of the tables. "I changed my mind, I really don't want to know the full details of what you folks are ut to. Just take the stuff and get the hell out of my sight."
"I don't like it, but I guess I can live with it," Brennan said. "I'd hate to take the fallout if this decision backfires on me, so whatever happens I don't want learn that they're being used for the wrong reasons, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Ma'am." Jack nodded.
continued in chapter 3: First, Do No Harm
chapter 4: By Invitation Only
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