Ketchup - 1

These pages are added specially at the behest of my friend, Liz Moth.
They are a collection of summaries for those who've forgotten 'The Story So Far'
on account of my not writing new episodes quickly enough. This is so you can 'play catch-up.'

N.B. This constitutes a major SPOILER ZONE for any prelude or 'episode' you haven't already read.

Prelude - I: Maxine

Maxine Pepperday was a student at Harrington University, Denver CO. November 21st 2101 was her eighteenth birthday. She went to visit her parents, Kim and Rufus, arriving at the end of one of their frequent rows. She went on to visit her great-aunt Dr. Claire Pepperday. Claire had retired from Harrington but was kept on a retainer as an advisor in Anth. and Arch. to both the university and the S.G.C.

Claire took Maxine into her secret cellar which held a library of non-regulation books. There she gave her her eighteenth birthday present/inheritance. This was a large wooden trunk which contained Daniel's entire collection journals dating from his tenth birthday to the day he "died." One journal recounted 'Operation Retirement Party,' in which SG-1 created the impression that Jack had been killed off-world, so that he could live in peace on Edora with his twin sons, Adam and Brendan.

Maxine cycled back to Harrington where Pete Chappell, a young Civil Guard officer on duty at the gate, tried to grope her. Maxine used the street-fighting skills her father had taught her to bring the guard to his knees, making an enemy for herself.

Prelude - II: Theo (Flashback)

In May, '94, Maxine, ten and a half, went missing. She'd walked half-way across Denver on her own to Aunt Claire's house to escape a violent parental row. That evening, Maxine stayed with Aunt Claire who told her the dangerous secret of the Stargate, Grandfather Daniel and Colonel O'Neill. She also warned her to beware of The Warriors of Christ who were much worse than the Civil Guard. The latter had arrested Rufus a number of times but had failed to pin anything on him. Thereafter, Maxine spent her weekends with Aunt Claire who taught her about Anth., and Arch., and linguistics.

In April '97, Claire threw a birthday party for her other living nephew, Waldo Hunter. Among the guests were Waldo's disapproving wife, Martha-Bethany, and their two children, the sanctimonious Marya and her younger brother, Theodore. Also present were their cousins Zachary and Dominic Ward.

In the hayloft over Claire's stable-cum-garage, Theo told her that Marya had prophesied eternal hellfires for him if he wouldn't join the Young Warriors as it would delay The Rapture if he didn't. Martha-Bethany's side of the family was riddled with Warriors of Christ. He also told Maxine that Zak and Dom had been talking about a truck driver who'd been 'disappeared' along with his family for prying into the weirdness in Cheyenne Mountain.

Worried for her three cousins, she took Zak and Dom to the hayloft. There, with Aunt Claire's permission she told them about the Stargate and Grandfather Daniel, adding that Aunt Claire's brother Jonathan was M.I.A. on another planet. Maxine suddenly realized that her father, a mechanic who maintained Claire's vehicles, could keep secrets too, as the cars had naquadah engines.

Prelude - III: Coming Together

During Aunt Claire's parties, Maxine and her three cousins gathered in the hayloft where she passed on her favorite tales about Grandfather Daniel and SG-1. She and Theo were already contemplating following in their great-great-grandfather's footsteps through the Stargate. They pursued their studies assiduously, Maxine graduating in cryptology and linguistics and Theo in earth sciences and engineering. Both planned to go on for doctorates but Maxine's plans were changed when a small grey woman came to Harrington to coerce her into working as a cryptologist at the Office of National Security in Colorado Springs. The 'Grey Grue' left Maxine with a dozen documents to decrypt or translate. Several were very suspicious, including one in Linear-A, a.k.a. goa'uld, from a Persian 'god' Azi Dahaka, and mentioning his enemy, Baal.

Maxine persuaded the ONS to let her work part-time there and study part-time at Harrington. As Maxine was settling into her office, Theo's friend and computer wizard, Asher Kirkwood came in to set up her computer. Later, he took her to the Sunny Side Up for lunch. Theo joined them and Maxine was alarmed by the look of love that passed between the two. Walking back to the ONS with Theo, Maxine warned her cousin that they should take much more care in hiding their feelings.

Maxine and Theo went to Ash's pad to watch his MacGyver DVDs. Two other tall young men were there when they arrived. Giancarlo 'Luc' Lucarelli of the Latin good looks and martial artist Jefferson 'J'Mitchell were at the Air Force Academy. The four soon discovered they were all fifth generation descendants of people who'd worked in Cheyenne Mountain a hundred years earlier - Colonel Lou Ferretti in the case of Luc.

Ash put a name to The Big Round Thing - the Stargate. He confounded them further by telling them he'd already been through the Stargate three times to fix computers at the new Alpha Site, a.k.a. Washington PX. Ash's account of life off-world suggested that the Tau'ri had become the Bad Guys of the Universe. Maxine could only "do good by stealth." If her decryptions revealed someone local who was potentially in danger, she passed the names on to Zak and Dom, who would post warning notes to them. Zak and Dom had gone into the family firm, the Hunter-Ward Trucking Company. Maxine also occasionally stayed overnight at Ash's to give the impression that he had a girlfriend.

The following April, Maxine's younger brother, Rusty revealed that he'd joined the Young Warriors. Maxine could no longer trust him.

SG-24: part 1

Five years later, Major Jefferson Mitchell, now of SG-17, had been on a disastrous mission to Tyogya which had resulted in injury to his C.O., Lt. Col. Bachmann, and the death of 2IC, Major McLeroy whose body had been left behind. Bachmann tried to blame J, but the SGC's CO, Major General Bradfield wanted to hear J's account. With McLeroy dead, and Bachmann in surgery, the rest of the team backed up his account.

At the debriefing, J counselled against a further mission to retrieve the body - not from cowardice as Bachmann claimed, but common sense. The briefing was interrupted by an announcement of incoming friendlies and a call for medical teams. Bradfield hoped that J was wrong, as he'd already sent three teams of marines out to retrieve McLeroy's body. J was not wrong, but had under-estimated the magnitude of the disaster. In the following courts-martial, Lt. Colonel Bachmann was reduced to Captain, while J was commended for bringing the living members of SG-17 back safely.

Two days later, Bradfield told J he was setting up a new team, SG-24, to look for new worlds, and offered J the position of commanding officer. J accepted if he could pick his own team. Bradfield agreed, subject to his and President Warren's approval. At Ash's pad, J put the gang in the picture and asked Luc, Theo and Maxine to be in his team, which he hoped to keep to just the four of them. They all agreed. Ash's skills were too valuable to be put in danger in the field, but he was happy to be their 'Homeworld Security.'

SG-24: part 2

J made a good case for his team of four and Bradfield approved it but warned that J was too honest for President Warren and should pretend to be less so - as Bradfield apparently did. Warren also approved but imposed a couple of marines, Beck and Kern, on his team. The two civilians were to have four weeks military training, followed by a survival weekend. At the first team briefing, Captain Beck was put out at not being 2IC.

Maxine was not happy about the military training. J gave her Sun Tsu's Ping Fa to read. She was disturbed by weapons training and the possibility of killing someone and had a hissy fit. J overheard and threatened to throw her off the team if she didn't co-operate. Near despair, Maxine visited Aunt Claire who told her that she had once killed a man. If she hadn't, the assassin would have killed her brother Jonathan. He was left with a scar on his neck from the assassin's dagger.

The survival training went much better, ending in a weekend competition which pitted Theo and Maxine against Beck and Kern. The marines were confident in their ability to take out the rookies in short order. With no holds barred, except 'no killing,' the marines rapidly found they'd underestimated their opponents' guile when it came to unfair tactics. Zak and Dom helped out and 'psycho-bitch' Maxine broke the 'no killing' rule temporarily with her 'dim mok.'

Crown of Steel - Crown of Night: part 1

At SG-24's first mission briefing, General Bradfield prepped the team for their reconn. visit to P5R-772. Beck thought they were going to take what they wanted. J and Maxine stressed that trading was better. The day before the mission, Maxine was summoned to Washington PX. There, she met the President who was charming and approved her unfair tactics in winning the survival challenge. He also asked her to relocate to Washington PX during working hours and had provided her with an office suite in the Arlington Building.

Maxine found Ash in her old office, preparing to transfer her computer to WPX. He was very formal. On their way to lunch at the Sunny Side Up, he noticed they were being followed by Josiah Fischer. On the way back, having evaded Fischer, Ash explained that he thought someone had planted an audio bug inside her computer. This proved to be true, but it had to be left there.

As Maxine was closing up her old office, she was visited by Rachel King, the 'Grey Grue' who'd recruited her. Nervously, she asked Maxine to look out for her father, Major Toby King who had served under Col. Jonathan Pepperday and went MIA during the Great Disaster. The following morning, SG-24 set off for P5R-772. There, J left Beck and Kern on guard duty by the 'Gate. They were to hide and contact J if anyone came through the 'Gate, but on no account to make contact/reveal SG-24's presence. On their way to the town that was their goal, they found dog-tags of two men who'd gone missing in the Great Disaster.

Crown of Steel - Crown of Night: part 2

SG-24 minus Beck and Kern, walked to the town of Noucincu, principal town of P5R-777 a.k.a. Cersc-tsara. Maxine wished she had a zat gun so she could shoot people without killing them. J realized this had caused her hissy fit at weapons training. At the town gate, the guards told Maxine, a woman, to shut up. Theo and Luc went into bull-shit mode announcing the Lady Esther as a very important person. Maxine was intrigued that the guards spoke fluent English and with an American accent. Outside the king's residence, Maxine was again scorned and joined in the bull-shitting, threatening to return with her army and weapon on mass destruction. The guard then sent a boy, Stefan, to the residence to announce the ambassadors' arrival.

In the palatial house, they were met by Ionascu, High Chamberlain to King Tobias. He provided the visitors with food as the king was unavailable. The food was served by liveried youths. One kept urging them to try the cakes until reprimanded by a senior youth. Maxine recognized the language - Romanian - and could follow the conversation roughly. As a result, she agreed that they would have a cake each if the first boy would show them the garden as they ate the cakes. Outside, she compelled the youth, Radu, to tell them in English, what the cakes would do if eaten. He was reluctant to betray his masters as it would be very bad for his younger brother, Stefan. Their parents had already been sold at the slave market through the Ring of Despair, following an unsuccessful rebellion led by Jimmy and Dorek (the names on the dog-tags) and the Inima de Nuca, or heart of a nut which puzzled Maxine.

With Radu's information, they had a plan, lying down as if drugged, near the exterior door to the cellar. When the guards had carried them into the cellar and gone, the team recovered their weapons and found a trunk containing sixteen zats which they took. When King Tobias and his guards arrived to check on the new slaves-to-be, J and Luc zatted the two guards. J identified his team with their lordly titles. The king, who was wearing a strange dark crown, was shocked by the name, Lady Esther Pepperday. Maxine suddenly realized that the 'heart of a nut' meant kernel or colonel, probably Col. Jonathan Pepperday. King Tobias denied being Major Toby King. In the name of trade, J made demands and threats, concluding with the Lady Esther's wish to own the two slaves, Radu and Stefan. Maxine grabbed the crown to make sure the king kept to the bargain. The crown made her sneeze.

On the way back to the 'Gate, Beck called in with news that a slaving party had just come through . J set Luc and Maxine, with Radu as linguistic back-up, to meet the party and gather intell. while the rest hid behind a hedge. The slavers, who spoke Romanian, were from Dakya, of the Bruxan Empire. Using her zat and the crown, Maxine got the leader to provide the address for the D.H.D. Meanwhile J and Theo had decided they couldn't keep all the zats in case they got into the wrong hands, like Bachmann's.

Once the slavers had gone, they took one zat each, plus one for Ash and a spare, piled up all the rest and zatted them into oblivion. The blue flash brought Beck and Kern on a rescue mission. J joined the BSC, or Bull-Shitters Club, explaining away the blue flash as ball-lightning and Radu as a Romanian language coach. Maxine decided they needed to learn another language plus finger-spelling for secret communication. On arrival back at the S.G.C., Maxine took the crown to Dr. Feyman for him to investigate. At the end of their debriefing, Bradfield gave Maxine a message which was another summons to WPX.