“Normally, I am a man of very few words”
- Release Date: 9th July 1999
- Season 3
- Episode 3
- Director: Martin Wood
- Writers: Robert C. Cooper
For their work in killing a Gou’ald thread (properly killing this time, too), SG-1 are being honoured by the secretary of defence. Carter gets promoted to Major and Jack starts to give a speech – then vanishes in a flash of light. He appears on a ship in orbit of Earth – it’s clearly Asgard design – and Thor speaks to him. The Gou’ald are planning a joint invasion of Earth as they’re too much of a threat (especially after defeating Hathor), and the only way to prevent it is getting them to agree to Earth being a protected planet, as the Asgard fleet is busy.
Jack gives the details to Hammond and the Secretary of Defence, saying that the negotiations will take place at SGC with three system lords visiting. Thor pops by to say that three system lords will be visiting in four days’ time, and all weapons will need to be removed from the base. Hammond and Jack aren’t happy, but it’s either that or deal with a massive fleet. Oh, and Jack has to be the one in the meeting for the negotiations.
Daniel briefs them on the three system lords. Cronus was the one that originally banished Sokar, and also the one that hints the Tok’ra the most (his agent killed Jolinar within Carter’s body); Nirrti is the one that wiped out Cassandra’s planet and turned her into a bomb; and Lord Yu is someone they haven’t encountered before, but they make plenty of jokes about his name.
The three system lords arrive and are shown to their quarters by Daniel. They’re appalled by the security cameras, which get removed – although the ones in the hallway are kept in place. They’re also insulted when they see Teal’c. Teal’c confides to Daniel that Cornos killed his father. The first meeting doesn’t go well, either, with Jack somehow managing to insult the system lords, and they storm out of the room. Thor also admits that the treaty is a big bluff – they’re so busy with a threat in their own galaxy that they can’t do much if the Gou’ald decide to break it.
After getting Daniel to write an apology in the Gou’ald language, they agree to meet again. Jack gets some more details about the treaty – that it prevents humans from achieving the level of technology to be a threat to the Gou’ald – and that level is determined by the System Lords. They eventually agree to the treaty under one condition – Earth gives them both of their Stargates. Jack needs to pass this one to his superiors.
They debate the issue. It’s pretty much assured destruction if they don’t, but then they lose their best chance at defending themselves if the Gou’ald changes their mind at some point, or if another threat comes (the treaty does say the Gou’ald have to stop it, but they’d probably pretend to not know). Jack even visits Thor on his ship for advice, but Thor is not only cryptic, but also says he needs to go back to his galaxy. The president eventually agrees to give up the Stargates. However, there’s been an attack in one of the Gou’ald’s quarters – and Cronos and Teal’c are injured.
Teal’c should recover on his own, but Cronos is dying. The camera shows that Teal’c entered the room. While they know that Teal’c would never do something to put Earth in jeopardy, the other System Lords won’t buy it – especially with the history between the two. They let the other system lords go, and give Nirrti a healing device to use on Cronos, but she says he’s too far gone. The deal is off and they demand to go back home. Hammond knows that this will just lead to them starting the assault, so they keep them at SGC to buy some time.
Teal’c wakes up and describes what happened – he was called to speak to Cronos, but Cronos didn’t ask for him. A cloaked figure attacked him, but Teal’c didn’t sense a Reetou. Jack mentions that Hathor had a cloaking device, so perhaps one of the others did. This gives Sam an idea and she attempts to use the healing device on Cronos herself. It eventually works, and Cronos wakes up.
As “she failed to use the healing device” isn’t enough proof, Jack decides to bluff. They accuse Nirrti of using a phase-shifting cloaking device to attack Cronos. Yu is angry that she didn’t share this technology with him. She activates the cloak and shoots at Yu, with Jack saving him. They use the anti-Reetou weapons to get Nirrti to surrender, especially with Sam saying she’s eager to shoot.
Cronos takes Nirrti as a prisoner and, with the circumstances of the deception now clear, agrees to the Protected Planets Treaty and Earth gets to keep their Stargates. In trying to prevent the treaty, Nirrti made it happen in Earth’s favour. Cronos does point out that the treaty only prevents them attacking Earth itself – their people will be targets if spotted on other worlds.
This episode is a good episode as it balances the scales a bit. The Asgard aren’t as much of a “get out of jail free card” as they initially appeared, but he Gou’ald can no longer target Earth directly, keeping the threats offworld. It allows for things to change a bit later on, which is great.
