The Star Gate Program (Hetalia/Stargate SG1 X-Over)
Author: Ashynarr
Summary: It was the discovery of the century. A device older than human civilization, capable of transporting people across the galaxy in an instant. But things have a way of quickly becoming complicated, pushing America and others to their limits as they find themselves embroiled in galactic politics and intrigue throughout the stars.
Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine. Stargate isn't mine.
Warning: Alterations of the Stargate timeline/canon and Hetalia canon
[Inspired by Stargate Reopened; I recommend reading it if you have the time.]
[Chapter 1]
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[January 1981]
The first time Alfred encountered the stone ring, it was the height of 1928, and his country was prospering. He'd chosen to take a break from government work to come over to Egypt, wanting to indulge his adventuring urges and stretch his legs a bit. His boss, President Coolidge, allowed him the indulgence as there were few issues to deal with on the home front that could not be handled without him.
The desert was hot, but nothing he wasn't used to with his own southwestern expanse, so he spent time with Gupta while watching over and oftentimes working with the excavators who were digging through the sands looking for ancient relics. When asked how he felt about it, considering they were his mother's legacy, the Egyptian man simply shrugged and stated that at least she was being remembered. Alfred had the lingering sense he wasn't being completely honest, but really, what was his concern if the older man didn't want to part with a few old relics?
This dig in particular hadn't seemed too different from the others at first. A few relics, just enough to entice interest, were dug up early on, then teams assigned to the area with the usual set up. It was a bit odd that this dig was somewhat deeper than the others, but it hardly seemed something to think too long on when there were artifacts to focus on. Alfred, mindful of his strength, handled anything found with the utmost caution, and never for too long. It was a shame really, but he'd rather be able to enjoy them in his museums later than destroy them now through carelessness.
In fact, when the ring was first uncovered, he wasn't even at that dig, instead at another nearby one that had also seen some good progress. When the news made it to his ears, he quickly drove back to see it for himself. Gupta was already there waiting, staring at the ring being held upright with ropes with a distant expression.
"Do you know what that is?" Alfred asked, unable to tear his eyes away from the flawless circle with its intricate designs pulled up from underneath the coverstones. Something in the back of his mind told him this wasn't like the other artifacts being uncovered; it was something truly important, perhaps even life-changing.
Gupta hesitated. "Only from stories. My mother told me once, when she was young, of her own mother kidnapped by the gods, and her people's eventual rebellion against them. She said that the portal was buried, so that they could never return."
Alfred scoffed, but at the same time looked interested. "And this is supposed to be that portal?"
The Egyptian man frowned. "It is only a story." His gaze turned from the American back to the ring. "...still, I would advise caution. I don't believe that ring is anything my mother's people made."
From their position on the cliff, neither of them could see what lay beneath the ring's inner circle.
The stone ring, along with the other artifacts of the dig and of several others, would soon be on a ship back to America, with Alfred returning as well. He'd been feeling off lately, and although he was content to wave it off as a bit of heat stroke at first, the continuing restlessness did not bode well with him. His return coincided with the crash of the stock market and the beginnings of the Great Depression, effectively putting all thoughts of the strange ring out of his mind.
His next encounter with it would only be in passing. The year was 1945 now, and he was going through paperwork like a madman, approving supply and troop movements within the country. Many of the documents he was going through were highly classified, but being who he was he had no issues with clearance or censoring.
He glanced through the page, not seeing much of real interest, other than mention of researching a ring that could potentially be used as a weapon. It brought vague memories of hot desert sands, but he shook it off, signing the sheet granting the program a few million before moving on to the next set of papers. It was hardly a large expenditure by any means, considering how many millions were being siphoned into the Manhattan project, and another weapon would be useful against both the Axis and the Soviets should it be needed.
As it was, the war with the former was winding down, so unless the Germans or Japanese managed to pull out a last minute miracle it probably wouldn't be needed against either of them. No, if it were to be used, it'd be against the Soviets. Speaking of which, he needed to go over his spy reports of the going ons over there soon.
In a few minutes any thoughts of the ring or its familiarity were out of his mind, the war effort too important to allow any dwelling.
(There was a moment, briefly, where he thought he felt one of the millions of threads connecting him to his people suddenly vanish, but not in death. More like… distance, maybe?
The oddity barely lingered in his mind between his soldiers getting killed in the Pacific Theater and his own conflicts with Kiku.)
The third time he'd encounter it, it was 1981, and his new boss had called him in to discuss some old projects. Alfred liked President Reagan so far, but then again he usually liked his new bosses.
After discussing several other projects and getting the President up to date on them, Reagan pulled out another, smaller folder and pushed it forward. "I found this with some of the other abandoned Cold War projects, and was hoping you could tell me more about it."
Well, there were plenty of those, so Alfred thought little of flipping it open. There wasn't much, just a few sheets with data and statistics, and three pictures, one of which took him a minute to recognize as the old Giza ring. The other two, though, he didn't remember except in passing, having barely glanced at the things found within the ring during his time in Egypt.
One was a round tablet with hieroglyphs on it, the most prominent the six in the central frame. He couldn't recognize the glyphs off the top of his head, though, which was odd because he'd recently refreshed his knowledge of the language along with several others when he'd had a free semester.
The other was what appeared to be the fossilized remains of a humanoid with a birdlike head, which made him think of Ra considering the other tablet. A half-remembered warning from someone an ocean away echoed in his head, and he suppressed a shiver.
"Alfred?"
Alfred looked up at his boss, blinking before realizing he had yet to answer. "Sorry, boss. I really don't know much about this program; when it was active I was sort of busy with a lot of other projects, and I just never thought to look into it."
The president frowned. "It's your signature on the document funding it, though. Didn't you at least check to see what it was researching?"
Alfred wilted a bit, scratching at his neck. "It said something about weapons research… it was pretty cheap really, so it seemed like a good deal if anything came out of it…"
After a moment of searching, Reagan reclaimed the papers, flipping to one in particular. "Well, consider this a chance to make up now. I got a request from a Dr Catherine Langford to start research on it again, which is how I found this project even existed."
Now where had he heard that name before? A moment's focus brought the image of an older woman, whom after a bit he realized was the aged child of the head of the archaeology team that had dug up the ring in the first place. No wonder she knew about the ring, then.
"Why all the sudden interest in this old stone ring though? I mean, the first Giza Project had to be shut down for a reason, right?" Alfred wondered out loud, going through the papers slowly to make sure he didn't miss anything.
Reagan sat back. "According to those surviving documents, the people working on the project were able to get massive energy feedback when they applied electricity to it, along with opening some sort of coded lock. Speculation states that inputting the right code will make it fully activate."
Alfred nodded, reading the same thing on the papers. He glanced back to the pictures again, wondering why the central hieroglyphs on the circular tablet seemed so familiar, before setting the pages down and looking back at his boss.
"When do you want me to speak with her?"
"This weekend, preferably. Tell her her request for funds for the project is approved as well." There was a brief pause. "I don't want this next part to go on record, but I have a feeling that there's more to the original project than they mention here. If you can, see if you can find where the rest of the documents went."
Alfred frowned. "Do you want me to get the CIA involved?"
Reagan shook his head. "No, I'd prefer we keep this quiet for now. I don't want anyone to start asking questions we aren't prepared to answer yet, especially the Soviets."
Damn, his boss was serious about this. Then again, Alfred wasn't too fond of the idea of something big being hidden even from unofficial records. He shut the folder, one hand resting on it while he wondered just what had happened back in the forties that required all but the scantest of details to be hidden away.
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AN: Frustrating thing number one about the Stargate timeline: THERE IS NO SET TIMELINE! (or that's how it feels anyways.)
No, seriously, try looking up the timeline for the first Stargate movie and you will literally get seven different answers. I'm just going with the one I think makes the most sense overall, at least in this AU. Which means it's probably miles off of whatever official canon lurks out there in cyberspace, but whatever.
But anyways I do already have a few chapters of this written (as a way to make sure I know what direction I'm going with this), and let's just say it's going to be radically different from what I'd initially planned for. Damn my need for accuracy and sense in a story! Never the less the main characters of Stargate will make their appearances as needed, and other plot events will happen in varied order.
(Alfred's existence really just sort of... breaks the old timeline. A lot. Whoops! Oh well.)
(Also, how do write the President? Ahaha... not gonna pretend I know the answer to that.)