The US military and in general the US government as a whole did not like unanswered questions.
Unfortunately, Stargate Command collected them the way other organizations collected paperwork.
Major General George Hammond sat at the head of the briefing table, hands folded in front of him on the massive mahogany briefing table, eyes fixed on the main screen. The image frozen there showed a grainy still frame pulled from the X-301's cockpit camera.
A shuttle.
Sleek. Symmetrical. Silent.
And unmistakably not Goa'uld.
"Let's start from the top," Hammond said calmly. "Colonel O'Neill."
Jack leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, boots hooked casually around the legs of the table. "We took the X-301 up for what was supposed to be a test flight. It wasn't. Apophis apparently installed a recall system after Teal'c jumped ship. We started getting pulled into space."
Hammond's mouth tightened. "And then?"
Jack gestured vaguely at the screen. "Then that showed up."
Major Samantha Carter leaned forward, eyes bright with curiosity. "Sir, the telemetry from the X-301 shows a sudden alteration in trajectory. No thrust signature. No energy spike. Just… a redirection."
Teal'c inclined his head. "It was as if the recall signal ceased to function."
Carter frowned. "That shouldn't be possible. The Goa'uld recall system is hard-coded. You can't just—"
Jack pointed at the screen. "—tell it 'no'? Yeah. That's what I thought too."
Hammond turned to Teal'c. "Your assessment?"
Teal'c studied the image carefully. "The shuttle is not Goa'uld in origin. Its design does not match any known Ha'tak, Death Glider, cargo vessel, bomber or transport vessel."
"That much is obvious," Carter said. "But it's not ours either. No rivets. No exhaust ports. No reaction mass. Whatever propulsion system it uses, it doesn't obey Newton."
Jack smirked. "She didn't either."
Carter blinked. "She?"
Jack sighed. "Kid. Blonde. About fourteen, maybe fifteen. Standing inside the shuttle like gravity was optional. Introduced herself as Luna."
The room went quiet.
Daniel Jackson—who had been scribbling notes until now—slowly looked up. "A human?"
"Looked human," Jack corrected. "Acted human. Talked like she was late for piano lessons instead of floating in orbit."
Teal'c added evenly, "She displayed no fear. Nor hostility. She expressed concern for our safety."
Carter tapped at her tablet, pulling up sensor logs. "Sir… we have nothing. No radar contact. No infrared signature. No subspace disturbance. If Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c hadn't visually confirmed the shuttle, I'd say it never existed."
Hammond exhaled slowly. "Colonel?"
Jack shrugged. "She told us how to reenter safely. Saved our lives. Then left because she had school."
Daniel stared disbelieving. "School."
"Tests," Jack confirmed. "Very important."
Daniel rubbed his face. "Okay. Let's assume—hypothetically—that she's telling the truth. Where does that put us?"
Carter hesitated before addressing her two commanding officers and the rest off her team. "Sir… the shuttle's design philosophy doesn't match Goa'uld scavenging or known human engineering. It's… elegant. Purpose-built. Which means either we've encountered a previously unknown advanced civilization…"
She glanced at the screen again.
"…or something else entirely."
The room went very still.
Hammond's gaze sharpened. "You're saying that was either from a civilization advanced like the Asgard, Told or Nox level technology."
"Or even something like a found ship of the ancients! The must be out there if the Goa'uld ended up finding a few." Daniel interrupted
"I'm saying," Carter replied carefully after acknowledging Daniel, "that it might be derived from the same principles. We've never seen an Ancient or Nox ship before nor does it match Tolan or Asgard. But it is as advanced from what the Colonel and Teal'c mentioned."
Jack snorted. "Well, if that was Ancient, they had a sense of humor."
Daniel frowned thoughtfully. "The girl. Did she mention the Ancients?"
"No," Jack said. "Didn't mention gods, either. Or aliens. Or anything that would've helped this conversation."
Teal'c added, "She spoke of Goa'uld systems with familiarity, but not allegiance."
Hammond brought everyone attention back to him. "Threat assessment?"
Carter spoke first. "Unknown technology. Unknown origin. Unknown capabilities. But non-hostile."
Teal'c nodded. "She chose to save us when she could have fled or stayed hidden."
Daniel added, "And she didn't try to contact us afterward. That suggests she wasn't gathering intelligence."
All eyes turned to Jack.
He shrugged. "She's weird. But she's a good kid."
Silence.
Hammond nodded and closed his eyes while thinking before opening then again..
"Then here's what we're going to do," he said. "We document everything. We don't pursue. And if she shows up again—"
Jack grinned faintly.
"—we say thank you," Hammond finished.
The screen went dark.
Meanwhile on the other side of the planet, far beyond any sensor Stargate Command possessed as magic obscured its location, a girl finished her exams, twirled her wand between her fingers, and smiled faintly—unaware that she had just become one of the most puzzling entries SGC would ever quietly lock away.
Status: Unknown
Intent: Benevolent-Whimsical
Threat Level: Unclear
And, inexplicably—
Recommended Action:Observe.