Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Omar Khudikias (Ziggurat)

[Omar]

Omar is led off to a comfortably furnished room, if you ignore the concrete walls and thick steel door. He sits quitely waiting for the inevitable interview. It is not his first time in an undergoing such a process. After some time, General O'neil enters flanked by a pair of guards who station themselves just inside the door. O'neil seats himself on the other side of the table

"I am General Jack O'neil. you are?

"I am Omar Khudikias. Paragon defender of earth" Omar stands as he speaks his name.

O'neil smiles slightly and says, "That's a big title. What is a Paragon defender of Earth?"

"We are..or were a group of people dedicated to the defense of earth and of innocent people. You can think of us as an international police agency..but with superpowers." Omar adds. "Though my entry into this universe finds me drastically weakened."

Oneil looks curious. "Superpowers? Like Superman? You mean to tell me you can fly and bullets bounce off of you?"

Omar shrugs. "Bullets, bombs, lasers...yes. Never could fly though." Omar continues. "I also used to be able to grow to over 100 feet in height and tear off mountaintops to throw at villians." He gives the General a big grin as if he is enjoying the telling.

O'neill looks like he wasn't expecting that response. "Seriously? If I were to pull a gun and shoot you the bullet would bounce off?"

Omar spreads his arms wide. A smile crosses his face. "Fire away General"

Oneil considers it seriously for a moment then frowns. "I think I will pass, bullet might ricochet in here and hurt someone." After a pause, O'neill begins again. "Where do you come from? An alternate EArth?"

"Like Kira, yes, but a different one than hers."

"You have means to travel between alternate Earths?"

"No." Omar replies. "We left her back in the other universe. Perhapse one day she will come look for us."

"Hmm. So you have travelled to our reality and now you are stuck. That doesn't sound much like a plan. What if you don't like it here?"

Omar thinks for a moment. "I can't see how I won't. This earth seems much like my own. And, god willing, I can help make it a better place."

Oneil sat back a bit and thought. "What exactly did you do as a Paragon?"

"Aside from helping areas following natural disasters and eliminating alien threats, I spent a century helping all of humanity achieve peace and prosperity."

Interest peaked, General O'neil continued. "Alien threats? Mind telling me about them?"

"Hrmm. Some of them were so long ago, I can scarcely remember." Omar relates what he remembers of the aliens in his journeys. He speaks of Aliens and asteroid weapons. He tells them of telepathic aliens with technology given to them by other beings. He does not tell them of the Watchers. He left out the watchers because they didn't exist here. There was no reason to frighten the denizens of this earth with tales of beings who can create their own universes.

"Asteroids? Well, that's a new trick. We haven't encountered any alien telepath so far. Sounds like your area of space is a little different than ours."

"It is like that when you travel between universes. Some have one type of alien and others have multiple alien life forms. Some have no life whatsoever, not even humans."

A long pause by O'neil meant that he was processing the information. "Would you be willing to undergo some tests?"

"Do what you must. I have no desire to be uncooperative"

Oneil smiled, "Good. We'll test you and see what you are capable of then we'll give you some more tests to and ask you about a million questions about the things you know. And, then assuming everything looks good, maybe we can find a place for you here with the SGC."

"When do we start?"

"We'll start testing in the morning. I'll check back in on you in a few days."

"Am I to be confined to quarters? I would love to see my beloved Iraq again. It has been a hundred years since I last visited it in my own time."

"Well, once you get settled in and if you prove yourself then we can see about visits to Iraq. It is not a very safe place on this Earth."

"Then maybe they can use my help too?" Omar gives the general an innocent smile. "I guess that would probably not be good at this time though." Omar remembered what Iraq was like back then. Maybe things were worse off without Nova to help keep the peace.

Oneil shook his head, "No, let's get to know you first."

When the General left, Omar called for more food. He noticed his hunger had returned. He wondered what else had changed. Did he have any of his powers? Were they even the same?

[Omar]

The general was a busy man. Omar had to catch him as he was returning from the Dining facility. He hoped they could continue from their initial discussion. Here was a man that Omar liked, and it was impossible to get past his busy scheduling to speak to him.

Omar caught him just outside his office. Both guards at the door came to attention.

"General O'Neil." Omar called out as he ran up to him. "I was hoping we could speak for a few minutes."

[Mr Fox]

O'Neill looked back at the big man and nodded, "Well, come in then." He motioned the two guards to be at ease and he walked the rest of the way into his office and sat behind his desk frowning down at the growing pile of paperwork there. He hated paperwork. As a team leader of SG1 it had been tolerable, barely. As base commander it had multiplied by a factor of 50 or so. Even with an Aide it was practically all he had time for. Though he didn't think of it consciously he welcomed Omar's presence as a nearly legitimate excuse to avoid facing the pile. He pushed the papers to one side of the desk where they wouldn't weigh quite so heavily on his mind and looked the big man in the eye as he sat in the chair opposite.

"I had good reports on your work at the NID facility. I am glad you decided to join us. What's on your mind?"

[Omar]

"I was wondering what your thoughts were about the proto-nova we rescused from NID?"

Omar sat down, his massive body filling out the chair. He clasped his hands together and reiterated his question. "More precisely General, what do you know about something called 'Taint'?"

[Mr Fox]

O'Neill looked curious, "Taint? What is that?"

[Omar]

"I figured that I had better brief you on what it is, because it will become an issue now that we have nova's" Omar said, his face deadly serious. "It can mean the difference between sanity and madness."

"What gives us our power is quantum energies. These are the fundamental blocks that make up the universe." Omar was doing his best to relate what Andrew had told him in the spast abouthese things. "Well quantum is not a good thing for the human body to channel. It can cause mental changes that are undesireable, such as megalomania, uncontrollable rage and lust, if the areas that the quantum changes are in the brain.

"Other chages can be physical or metabolic. Before I arrived, I had several quantum related 'aberrations', at least that is what we called them. I depended on salt to power my abilities, and I was surrounded by a glowing nimbus. These things have disappeared since I arrived, and I can only assume that my taint levels have been reduced to where they do not affect my body."

"I have seen novas with feathers and scales, oddly colored hair and skin, even eyes that glow or just look wrong. These are all minor symptoms of Taint, or Quantum Backlash Syndrome. There are some cases where the human body is so warped that it no longer looks human."

Omar waited to see what the general's reaction would be.

[Mr Fox]

General O'Niell pursed his lips. "That's great, just great. What kind of time frame are we looking about before these side effects build up? And you said that you are over 150 years old but you haven't gone kookoo. So what was your secret?"

[Omar]

"I started much like I was now." Omar said as if it was already common knowledge. "Over 100 years I managed to acquire enough to give me the aura and salt dependence, though I suspected I had picked up some earlier, it never manifested physically."

Omar looks at the general thoughtfully when mulling over his question. "It really depends how much they push themselves. I also am sure that the initial exposure can give some people considerable levels as well. Some of the new arrivals may already have some Taint. You need to look for unusual physical characteristics and mental instability."

"As for a timeframe. I can't give you any. It really depends on the individual." Omar leans back. "As for my secret. While we had discovered a cure for taint, I never too it. When I came here, I was considerably weakened when, as my kind had never existed here before. I suspect the Watcher's had something to do with that."

[Mr Fox]

"These Watchers sound much like the Ascended here. The Taint. I'll have our Doctors keep an eye on that and check for it after each mission. You mentioned a cure that you did not take, do you know how to produce the cure?"

[Omar]

"The watchers create realities...universes if you will. If the Ascended are here, they are here because the Watchers are not. The Watchers were like me except they were novas of extreme power who could manipulate time and space and the fabric of reality. They were a race of who cloned themselves so that they could experience all that time and space had to offer."

"No, I do not have a way to produce a cure." Omar responded. "It took a century of research by a nova who's intellect and medical knowledge exceeded anything we have."

[Mr Fox]

The General looked disappointed at that. "Damn shame you didn't bring any with you, and it's a good thing we only have the small group of you to deal with. If this were widespread I can only imagine the damage that could be done."

General O'Niell looked thoughtful then said, "I've been meaning to speak to you anyway. You have a great deal of experience leading people on dangerous missions. Honestly, I would like to put you in charge of one of the SG teams, the problem is that to lead a team you really have to be part of the military. Would you be willing to sign up? A minimum enlistment period would be for 2 years, but because of your experience I think we could swing a Captain's rank to start with."

[Omar]

"Believe me, Taint was a problem we sought to solve over multiple timelines. I'm not even sure if we really solved it. Homo Sapiens Sapiens and Homo Sapiens Novus came to conflict with one another. Stopping a war between the two was our main goal. Be glad that random people were not eruping all over the planet."

Omar thought about the general's offer. After several seconds he spoke up. "I would need to get back to you on that. I am not exactly a citizen of America, much less of this earth and timeline."

Omar paused. "If I was to become a member of the US Military, what are my duties and responsibilities. I am used to being the head of an organization much like the military, and not held to standards that may be influenced by a poilitical body."

[Mr Fox]

General O'Niell got a pained look on his face, "Well, we are subject to the IOA an international oversight committee that enjoys second guessing what we do. It doesn't matter if you are civilian or military though in terms of being subject to their oversight. It is a fact of life. The only way to avoid it would be to not be a part of the program." He grinned and added quietly, "Believe me, I've been tempted to resign more than once over their interference."

Speaking in a normal tone again he finished, "The work we do here is important enough to me that I put up with it. Without us, the Earth would have been destroyed several times over by now."

[Omar]

"Well then. If joining up means I get to save the earth, then I have no choice, do I." A smile broadened across his face.

Omar stands out of his chair and addresses the General. "General sir, I am ready to take whatever oaths are necessary and sign what is needed."

[Mr Fox]

General O'Neill stood up and offered his own hand keeping the grimace off his face at Omar's powerful grip. Instead he smiled and said, "Good. I'm glad you will join us. The folks in the IOA will be very pleased, they were very uneasy about having someone of your abilities and experience as a free agent so to speak. They've never been happy with the fact that they have no sway over Teal'c, but with him being Jaffa they can't make him join. I think with you though being a citizen of Earth even if not this one, they were feeling more antsy about your position." He smiled a wiry smile. "I think they are going to be getting more than they bargained for in you."