Here is another chapter of my Stargate/Lilo & Stitch crossover. I hope you're still enjoying it. In this chapter, explanations are made.
"You're who?" the nervous sergeant asked, peering owlishly at the man before him.
"You can read, soldier," he said, retrieving his ID. "I'm here to see General Landry." He had gotten the same reaction at every checkpoint leading into the mountain, from every soldier that had examined his Agency credentials. Some days he wondered why he kept the name. Repressing a sigh, he reminded the soldier of his duties and was immediately ushered into the conference room and the presence of General Hank Landry.
His old friend looked up and grinned. "Bubbles!"
"Long time, no see, Hank," Bubbles offered with the first genuine smile he'd had that day.
"I can't tell you how surprised I was to learn that you were involved. Thought you'd retired?"
"Called back. Special circumstances. I still live in Hawaii, though."
"Yeah? How's the mosquito population in Kawai?"
"Thriving," Bubbles answered, deadpan. It was a standing joke between them.
"Bubbles?" the man to Landry's right asked, raising an eyebrow behind his glasses.
"Mosquitoes?" a blonde woman in BDUs asked.
"Long story," Landry answered. Then glanced at the others in the room. "Allow me to make the introductions." He gestured at each in turn. "This is the SGC's flagship team, SG1, and this is Thor, Supreme commander of the Asgard fleet. I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine. This is Bubbles."
Each of them nodded in turn, but to his surprise, it was the small gray alien who asked the question. "Is Bubbles not an atypical name?"
"It is," Bubbles responded, as usual, offering no explanation and neither inviting nor discouraging further comment.
"I understand you can help clear up our little problem?"Landry asked, settling back in his chair, and putting the meeting back on track.
"Indeed," Thor asked. "Perhaps you know something of the odd ship orbiting your planet?"
"Ship?" Bubbles asked.
"There are two aliens aboard. Jumba Jookiba and... I believe the other is-"
"Pleakley. I wondered where they had gotten to."
"They told me a highly suspect story and attempted to convince me to remove an alien from the SGC using my ship's transporter." He recounted the conversation he had had with Jumba.
"Hmm. Well, he didn't tell any outright lies. It's all true, up to a point."
"A point?" Landry asked, having already decided that he didn't like the alien 'evil genius.' "Maybe we should bring them in. If they-"
"That will not be necessary," Thor assured him. "I was able to gain control of his ship's computer. He isn't going anywhere, and he will not be causing trouble."
/Good/, Bubbles suppressed a sigh of relief. Well intentioned though he might be, Jumba could only make matters worse by attempting a rescue. An annoyed Asgard commander was quite enough to overcome as it was. "You don't need to worry. Jumba is not what he used to be. He just wants his family back."
"I should begin at the beginning," Bubbles raised a hand to forestall further questions. "Jumba was convicted of performing illegal genetic experiments, and his creation," he nodded toward the monitor where Stitch could be seen dozing in the isolation room, "was due to be imprisoned somewhere unpleasant. Stitch escaped and made his way to Earth in a damaged ship. That's where things started getting strange."
"Started?" the man with the glasses asked in the same tone in which he had said 'Bubbles?'
"Stitch was designed to be a monster, but he was captured while still in the lab. Jumba didn't know how badly he'd miscalculated. When Stitch arrived on Earth, a family looking for a dog took him in. I know," he cut off the objection of a man with a bandaged hand. "But he was taken in nonetheless, and he started to learn what it meant to belong somewhere."
It was an overly sentimental statement, and he saw the astonishment on Landry's face. The others, for reasons he couldn't fathom, looked thoughtful instead of incredulous. "It was rough going at first, but Lilo was having some luck in taming him. He might have settled in there eventually, but the Federation wasn't prepared to let matters stand. All they knew was that a dangerous creature had been set loose on an unsuspecting planet. With the best of intentions, they sent Jumba and Pleakley to retrieve the experiment. Jumba being the only one who knew enough about Stitch's capabilities to even attempt a quiet capture."
"Things didn't go as planned," SG1's leader surmised.
"No. Stitch evaded him time and again, because Pleakley refused to risk them being seen by locals. He kept Jumba on a tight leash. The Council got impatient, dismissed both of them from service and sent someone else, a Federation captain named Gantu. He wasn't at all concerned about the sensibilities of the local populace and made something of amess. To make matters worse, his first attempt to capture Stitch got him Lilo instead. Stitch and Nani convinced Jumba to help rescue her." Bubbles snorted derisively. "Before Stitch was through with him, Gantu had lost his ship, his rank, and most of his dignity. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that he tipped you off to the situation on Kauai."
"You sound like you admire that thing," Mitchell scowled. "'Stitch' gave us a lot of trouble."
"Unnecessary trouble," Bubbles assured him. "Whatever he was designed to be, Stitch is agenuinely good person. He reacted as he did because of the perceived threat to his family."
"Overreacted," Jackson commented. "We didn't go there to harm the Pelekai family. We thought they were the ones in danger. I'm not convinced we were wrong."
"Tell me about it," Mitchell shuddered. "Twice last night I relived the last few minutes of that fight in my dreams." He glanced at the others. "You remember, right before Carter got it with the 'zat?"
"Yes," Jackson answered, adjusting his glasses. "I vaguely recall a little girl uttering what I now consider to be the most frightening words in the English language."
"'My dog found the chainsaw,'" both men chorused.
It was not, Bubbles reflected, repressing a sigh, apromising start. Fortunately, he had atrump card to play if the rest of the story failed to sway them.
NEXT: WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
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