by
TITLE: The Sengo’lians
AUTHOR: Jaclyn Horrod
EMAIL : jaclyn@thefifthrace.net
CATEGORY: Action, Drama
SPOILERS : Prodigy, The Fifth Race, The Nox, Chain
Reaction, etc.
SEASON / SEQUEL : Season 5. This story
forms part of a larger arc – if you have not yet read previous stories in the
arc (starting with Sacrifices, continuing through to Hellion) you might want to
read them first.
RATING: 15 / Mature.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mature subject matter.
SUMMARY: The past catches up to SG1,
and O’Neill’s allegiances to his benefactors become apparent.
STATUS
: Completed
ARCHIVE : Rabelais
DISCLAIMER : Stargate SG-1 and its characters belong to MGM, Gekko Film Corp and Double Secret Productions. This fan
fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money exchanged
hands. No copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to
real persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.
AUTHOR'S NOTES : Without the constant support,
critique, and honesty of my beta reader, Rach, this Fanfic
would never have been written. Meus amicus, ego sum gratus - ad infinitum.
FEEDBACK : Most definitely!
Daniel Jackson was tired, but still he studied. His focus was on the
books he’d brought along for their trip. A pile of maybe six high rested beside
him, and he’d been taking copious notes since they had departed the main
vessel, descending toward the planet below. He had resisted the urge to watch
the descent, choosing instead to continue brushing up on his Latin and Ancients
language skills. Most of the notes were of words he had likened to those he
understood, but O’Neill had clearly told him were far from his deductions. It
was frustrating. There seemed to be two languages; that of the more recent
Ancients, from which Latin was no doubt taken, and that of the ancient
Ancients, which was confusing as hell, since O’Neill seemed to speak all three
fluently and deliberately, at least it seemed that way, and delighted in vexing
him with long conversations aimed at showing him exactly how far behind he’d
gotten in learning the three variations.
He glanced up a couple of times as the remarks going between Hooper and
Coburn became louder and excited; obviously whatever it was they were
witnessing was something neither man had seen before. This time however, Hooper
was smiling at him. It was a curious feeling, more so because he’d felt as if
someone was watching him; to have it confirmed was spooky.
His eyes wandered across to O’Neill; the man’s focus was still fully on
guiding the Tel’tac to the right location, or was it
locus, he mused, considering his Ancients and Latin once more, and attempting
to use the two together in his thought patterns.
O’Neill’s eyes flicked across toward Coburn and Hooper.
Daniel watched him, looking the pair up and down for a moment before
turning his attention back to his books. O’Neill had warned him it was going to
take a while to get to where they were going.
He’d barely lifted a secondary text book when he realised Hooper was
hovering above him. “Doctor Jackson?”
“Major.”
“Do you mind if I ask what you’re studying?” Hooper enquired, now perched
on one knee and looking directly at the archaeologist.
“Languages,” Daniel told him. “It’s a hobby.”
Hooper smiled. “I guess I just wondered what was so interesting… the
planet’s amazing…”
Daniel smiled patiently. He was trying not to be dismissive, but he
really didn’t want to drag his thoughts away from the intense study he’d
decided on, and thus had brought the relevant books for that purpose.
“Major, I’m not really interested in scenery... old buildings, ancient
relics, dialogue, culture… just not scenery,” Daniel told him.
“I’ll let you get on, you seem very…”
“Yes,” Daniel interrupted, sensing he’d made his point and not wanting to
labour it too much. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Hooper responded.
He got back to his feet and turned, and saw O’Neill was watching him. He
lowered his eyes immediately and he made his way back to Coburn.
The colonel smiled, inclining his head and looking at Jackson, who was
back studying.
“Interesting,” he noted, his voice almost a whisper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The cigarette smoke hung heavy in the air, mingling with the more potent
cigar smoke, and adding to the dusky atmosphere in a poorly lit room. Poorly
lit purposefully so as not to reveal the faces of the occupants therein, and
chosen to ensure that surveillance was impossible, this was a room small enough
to make claustrophobics out of the men that met within, reflecting perfectly
those men, crowded closely in their conspiratorial gloom, hidden away from the
society that would scorn such a gathering.
“How can any one being become so powerful as to read the thoughts and
control the minds of those they encounter?” The Texan sounding voice of a man
drawing on a large cigar enquired.
“Not just those they encounter,” Lester Goldman stated, his eyes widening
at the thought. Goldman worked at the Pentagon special intelligence division,
and one of the committees he sat on had access to the files of the secret
organisation known as the SGC, from there, Goldman had made himself an asset to
his powerful friends; with his new knowledge gleaned from the most recent files
he had made himself indispensable. “The influence of the Sengo’lians goes
across galaxies, it’s unbelievable. Nothing has ever come close to this kind of
power.”
“Telepathy is not a new phenomenon, many are capable of it without really
knowing,” the distinctly British sounding voice replied. Leaning forward,
Howard Mitchell revealed himself to the others; it was the first time they’d
had the chance to see him collectively. Here was one of the most important and
powerful men in the corporate world and with that knowledge came
a sense of fear.
“Gentlemen, if these creatures are truly as powerful as we believe, as
Lester states, we must find a way to harness them, to capture what it is they
possess, and find a way to use it to our best advantage.”
“He won’t make it out of the black hole, how do you propose to find a way
to use this untapped phenomenon?” This was a voice that none of the men
recognised. “The law of astrophysics dictates it impossible.”
“General, it’s simple,” Howard Mitchell replied. It was only Mitchell
that knew this character who remained cloaked by the gloom. “We ensured the
deal we made with the Goa’uld guaranteed his capture. This Heru’ur wants rid of
him, the promise of power beyond that he already possesses has been enough of a
carrot. The shield the Asgard provided us with will hold him and these
all-powerful Sengo’lians. The study of the Ancients technology that kept them
on Sengo’lia, which incidentally was a moon of an
Ancients’ home world, has been interspersed with the technology. We can, and we
will hold them, once we do, can you see anyone on Earth stopping us?”
“Then we won’t have long to wait, but I warn you, I’ve had dealings with
O’Neill in the past, he’s determined to keep the power to himself in some
misguided unpatriotic wish to balance the planet’s power structure,” the
general stated. “But he does have one weakness, and we’ll be able to exploit
that once we have him.”
Randall Manz smiled, raising his glass to his
fellow politician and then in turn to the hidden member of their group. “Then
all we have to do is wait, and hope that the deceitful Goa’uld doesn’t decide
to revert to type!”
Mitchell laughed. “He will! I’m counting on it, which is why we have a
very nicely placed insurance policy on his ship.”
Goldman smiled. “It’s a doozie!” he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colonel Richard Dyson checked his stats; the plane had been flying a
little over an hour, but fuel consumption seemed to be lower than it should
have been. He tapped the glass over the gauge, sighing heavily when the needle
didn’t move.
Patrolling the skies for he didn’t know what, since no one was dumb
enough to attempt to slam Washington twice, he checked his watch; definitely
been an hour.
It was a little mind-numbing on occasion, occasions like these where
nothing particular happened, and there was hardly any radio traffic on account
of him being one of only three planes patrolling that area.
The photograph of his wife and twin daughters, pinned on his instrument
panel, gave him a moment’s thought away from the rigours of flying a three
million dollar piece of equipment over the nation’s capital city.
“Oh to be back in
The clouds were at minimum, candy floss floating around him; there were
no real shapes, nothing that caught his imagination. Another heavy sigh; it was
going to be a long three hour stint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hooper excused himself to his colleagues; a toilet break, the third since
they’d left the main ship. O’Neill eyed him cautiously, but there was little
the man could do in the hold, and why would he want to?
“He must have a weak bladder!” Coburn remarked, a smile crossing his
face. “Or…”
“Please!” Jack snapped.
“Sorry, sir.” The major looked
apologetic, not that O’Neill particularly cared. He was far too busy now
channelling his energies toward the ship he knew to be on the planet’s surface
somewhere.
Hooper’s reappearance didn’t go unnoticed however. The man glanced
directly at the colonel as he re-entered the bridge. O’Neill didn’t seem to be
paying attention to him; he seemed distant.
“Doctor Jackson, how goes the studying?” he
enquired, once more squatting directly before the archaeologist.
Daniel pushed his glass back against his cheekbones, they always slid
forward when he was reading, something he’d often resolved to deal with since
it did cause some discomfort.
He found the blue-eyed marine staring directly into his face a little
disconcerting from that proximity. “It’s going,” he remarked, a little
off-hand.
“Sorry, I’m being a pain, aren’t I?” Hooper’s attempt at excusing
himself, without actually moving, didn’t go unnoticed by the colonel.
“Um, no… I’m just a little distracted, actually,” Daniel responded,
attempting to be his usual polite self, even if he was a little put out at the
second interruption.
“It’s just,” Hooper began, getting comfortable, “I’ve always been
fascinated by languages, but never really had the patience to study and learn
them… I mean, I can speak a little Russian, a must, but not much, and Latin,
well that’s the one, isn’t it? That’s the benchmark of languages.”
Daniel’s slightly bemused expression didn’t seem to deter the man. He was
beaming broadly when once again the archaeologist’s attention was on him.
“Actually, the most difficult language to learn, I think, is Mandarin, although
I’m not exactly sure, since there seem to be disagreements on those, and I
haven’t exactly spent much time on Earth lately.”
“I know,” Hooper concurred. “I’ve read the reports, been out here a
while.”
“Er, I don’t want to be rude…”
“Sure,” Hooper acknowledged immediately.
Daniel caught O’Neill’s gaze briefly before returning to his studies. The
colonel’s eyes were a shade lighter but Daniel was not close enough to see
them. His concentration became more focused on the task to hand.
Hooper sat next to Coburn on the right seat of the Tel’tac.
“Amazing having the ability to speak so many languages and stuff,” he remarked.
“Who Daniel? Yeah, he’s pretty amazing
alright, I remember when he couldn’t even hold a gun properly, now he’s one of
the most effective fighters there is,” Coburn replied.
“Doesn’t seem the type,” Hooper noted, his eyes returning to the planet
as they swooped above some hostile looking swamps.
“Yeah, academics never do,” Coburn responded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baal’s eyebrows furrowed and a winsome smile crossed his eyes. “It is
true,” he said. “Hathor has become a prisoner of the Tau’ri. How incredibly
delightful,” he added. “Perhaps they will finally show a ruthless streak and
kill her.”
The device into which he spoke showed the image of a dark haired man. “I
doubt it, they seem to believe they can learn from her, Selmak seems especially
keen to interrogate her,” he replied.
“Selmak is a Tok’ra, I am not surprised,” Baal offered, the words seeming
to stick in his throat. “After all, since we have this fragile understanding,
Damien, I am certain that Selmak’s intention is to
ensure O’Neill cannot rescue her once more.”
“Let’s hope, frankly that alliance is a little too precarious for the
galaxy,” Damien responded. “I will tell the rest of our alliance what I have
learned, I am certain the Asgard will be intrigued.”
The mere mention of the race he deplored so much brought a scowl to the
Goa’uld system lord’s face. “If you must,” he replied. “However, be certain
that your communications are without trace, lest anyone discover your… our alliance,” he cautioned.
Damien nodded. “I shall let you know of the outcome,” he told Baal. His
image faded the instant the last word left his mouth.
“And I shall look forward to that, at some time or other I dare say!” the
Goa’uld mused, a smile crossing his eye-catching features. “Indeed, I shall
look forward to many more tidings of the demise of the other system lords.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
O’Neill set the Tel’tac down on the surface
beside a large lake, its still water reflecting the clear blue skies above; no
clouds shielded the surface from the heat of the Sun.
The blue planet, which from orbit had closely resembled Earth, revealed
itself as far less hospitable.
It became apparent as the vessel descended into the atmosphere that this
was a far younger surface than the one they currently resided on. There were
vast volcanic areas that spat sulphur and molten rock into the air as they flew
over, and the steam that rose from the surrounding bogs and geysers added to
the desolate and eerie emptiness. The vast sea matched, if not surpassed, the
size of the oceans and seas of Earth.
Daniel shuddered, remembering the rescue of the Tollan people so many
years earlier; that atmosphere had almost caused the loss of several SGC
personnel, not to mention his own discomfort and respiratory problems for
several days thereafter.
Further into the journey the surface became almost forest like, and then
suddenly fields of golden coloured plantation, resembling corn, or even flax.
O’Neill and Jackson had left the ship first, leaving behind their
supplies; it seemed as if they were almost anxious to be outside.
The two airmen followed. Coburn, noting the clearing was lined by
regimented lines of trees, checked them with a powerful set of binoculars; the
digital zoom lenses made what used to be a difficult task of aligning lenses
easy and far more accurate.
“Nothing, sir,” he confirmed to O’Neill who watched him.
A smile crossed the colonel’s face. “Yeah, knew that, Major,” he replied.
Coburn regarded Hooper with dismay. The marine grinned.
“Freaks you out doesn’t it?” he remarked, as they collected their kit and
followed
“It does,” Coburn agreed, attempting to look around O’Neill and Jackson.
“I’m also a little concerned with where he’s going?”
“The water’s edge?” Hooper
speculated.
O’Neill could hear them; he’d grown used to the ability to hear and
perceive most of the thoughts and fears of the people around him. It had been
too much initially, the Sengo’lians had taught him to shut it off, just as he’d
learned to cope with Daniel’s constant thought patterns, even if some of those
were a little amusing.
The colonel stopped at the very edge of the lake. The water lapped on the
lightly coloured, yet not quite golden sand.
“Gonna need a while,” he remarked, giving the location of the vessel he
sought his fullest attention.
Daniel gestured for the two men to put down their packs.
Coburn shrugged and did so immediately.
Hooper, however, made his way toward
“I know he’s aware of how urgent things are, does he know where the ship
is or not?” he enquired of the stony faced archaeologist.
“He knows where it is, Major,” Daniel chastised, as if addressing a
child. “Getting it from there is another matter.”
Hooper took a deep breath. He wasn’t accustomed to being dressed down by
a civilian, however well qualified and
“Sorry, I’m just a little anxious to get going, Doctor Jackson,” Hooper
explained.
Daniel’s expression became askance. “Oh really?” he snapped. “I thought
we had time for recreation and some water sports.”
He turned away from the man, and walked back to O’Neill.
“Touchy!” Hooper remarked, shaking his head.
“Protective,” Coburn corrected. “Lot of history there, that’s how come
the Colonel doesn’t exactly belong to the SGC in a military capacity anymore -
lack of trust!”
“Maybe sometime when I care, you can explain it to me,” Hooper retorted.
“Right now, I just want to get these bastards off our backs and through a black
hole where they can’t possibly come back.”
Daniel crouched next to O’Neill, who was now sat on the sand close to the
edge of the lake, looking out across the almost still water that lapped very
gently on the shore.
“What’s the problem?” he enquired, noting a troubled expression on the
colonel’s face and unable, at the moment, to read his mind.
Jack turned leisurely, looking at
“Jack?” Daniel prompted.
The colonel raised his eyes slightly, meeting
“What’s wrong?”
O’Neill sighed heavily, yet it wasn’t an illustration of stress or
tedium. “Difficult,” he said, his voice but a whisper. “So…”
“Shut up?”
“Yeah,” Jack replied, although once again he was far from listening, or
evening answering, he was simply making noises in response to the distant sound
of Jackson’s voice.
His eyes narrowed as he studied the water; the ship wasn’t there, but it
was under something, and something close too - it was too close, beneath him,
where?
His mind was focused as never before, there wasn’t a door, a secret
opening, as there had been on Earth in the desert. It was deep, far beneath the
shoreline of the lake, and somewhere in his mind were the commands to raise it
up.
“Too close,” he said, his hand reaching back and slapping against
“Jack?” he asked.
“Move,” O’Neill cautioned. “It’s here.”
Daniel didn’t need to be told twice; he began to walk toward the two
marines. “We need to get to the trees,” he urged.
Neither man needed to ask why.
O’Neill was standing slowly, the ground beneath him was beginning to
tremble, and the small tremors were becoming a shaking mass of sand and water.
The earth convulsed in a manner that to the three men running for the safety of
the tree line, felt almost forcible enough to be an earthquake.
Daniel turned to see O’Neill standing where he’d left him. He didn’t fear
that the colonel would be harmed; nothing so fanciful would ever enter his mind
when O’Neill summoned the power of the Ancients, amplified by the presence of
the Sengo’lians.
Coburn’s eyes widened. “Incredible,” he gushed, watching the colonel
standing in the mass of convulsing sand and water.
“Finally!” Hooper stated, unable to resist.
Daniel didn’t give him the satisfaction of noting his remark, preferring
instead to pay attention not only to the possibility of assisting O’Neill, but
listening too for anything else that might suddenly alert him to danger, or
perhaps even a chance at saving Iceni. One thing Doctor Daniel Jackson had
learnt being out of touch with the usual reality, it was never to underestimate
anything, or anyone.
The explosion of the ship from beneath the golden sands close to the
shoreline was a spectacular sight. The three men watched transfixed as the
glimmering vessel emerged seemingly without a scratch, reflecting everything
around it, glassy and miraculous.
“Oh man,” Hooper gushed. “That’s incredible, but it looks a bit small!”
Coburn said nothing, acknowledging with a slow but certain nod of the
head.
Jack O’Neill felt the weight of drawing the vessel from beneath the
surface lift slowly from his mind, a smile engendered on his face, calmed at
the knowledge of what he had discovered.
“D, let’s get moving,” he yelled, moving around to the front, if that was
what it was of an otherwise perfect cylindrical vessel. He placed his hand on
the shell which reflected his image, and the shell immediately drew open before
him, an entrance small enough to walk into which revealed a passageway directly
in front of him, lined with incredibly bright lights at waist height. The rest
was opaque, nothing to be seen, no reflection. “Nou ani anquietas,” he said, as he
entered the vessel.
Daniel nodded; he had often had to pinch himself at what O’Neill had
become. He could hear the colonel’s thoughts as clearly as if they were spoken
to him. “Ita, tu incoluntis,” he said. (Yes, you belong)
Hooper looked at Coburn. “What the hell did he just say?”
Coburn laughed. “Hey! I don’t speak English properly, you expect me to
know what Ancients is?”
Daniel offered a smile to Coburn; neither man afraid to speak in the
hearing of the other.
“I’ll teach you, if you want to learn?” he offered.
Coburn nodded, gratitude expressed in his face. “Thank you, I’d like
that,” he responded.
Hooper regarded
“I think we’ll probably have a few days of free time,” Daniel concurred,
greeting the man’s enthusiasm with another broad smile and nod of approval. “I
just hope you’re both more patient than he is!” he added, a further nod
directed toward O’Neill, who was already making his way deeper inside the
vessel.
The colonel stopped, sensing something within the vessel. His mind
immediately attuned to the mechanisms as if it were an extension of him, and he
looked concerned for a moment, then anger replaced that concern; it was
fleeting, brief, yet there.
.“Quare?” he demanded, turning and glaring at
“Quad ego sunt,”
“Sweet!” the colonel sighed, leading them into the ship. The door closed
instantly the last man stepped through.
“Quandoque, brevidas veruus brevidas, tu volantus
cognosco quare ego sum recuso confido.” (Sometime
soon, very soon, you will know why I am unwilling to trust)
Daniel didn’t respond, unsure of what O’Neill was attempting to tell him.
If it was something concerning Coburn, he neither could nor would believe that
the man had betrayed them. He moved forward and stood alongside O’Neill, who
had finally come to a stop after entering a small room to the left of the door
they had originally come through.
“What’s this?” he enquired.
“Atquis, tu saepe interroga meos?” Jack stated his eyes fixed
on
Daniel didn’t need to ask; he knew finally what O’Neill had said, even if
the Ancients and Latin the man mixed very effectively, which
seemed almost designed to confuse any speaker of either, wasn’t making complete
sense to him. There was however, an inflection within what the colonel was
saying, and it was that which suddenly became clear.
“Ita!” Jack
retorted. For the benefit of the other two, he added loudly. “Now, since we’re
done with Ancients 101, for the time being,” added pointedly. “Maybe we can get
back to destroying the cargo ship and get our asses in gear here?”
There was no need of an answer;
“Do we need to destroy the ship?” Hooper challenged. “Doesn’t it make
more sense not to draw attention to ourselves?”
O’Neill turned and regarded the former colonel. “Major, trust me when I
say, no one will know we were here!” he retorted.
‘Jack, is something wrong?’
O’Neill looked across at
‘Someone in our midst isn’t playing well with others.’
‘What was your first clue? Remember the situation on that planet with the
Teyu’peh?’
‘Yes, and I’m, er, amazed you remembered the
name, by the way.’
O’Neill almost smiled, the expression instead a grimace. ‘Technology that
kept the Hyksos in check, this ship comes from that
era, it’s newer than the ship we had before, it reads things, it’s reading
Hooper right now, he’s not with us, Danny, so we’re gonna find out who he is
with… you’re gonna find out.’
‘How?’
‘Use your charm, Daniel, he’s…’
‘What?’
‘Gullible, totally and completely… oh and did I forget to mention he’s
also attracted to you, or didn’t you figure that one out yet, either?’
O’Neill’s smile told
“No!” Daniel snapped.
Jack regarded the archaeologist with disdain. ‘This isn’t a democracy,
he’s not my type, know what I mean? You’re on it, no arguments! Besides, he’s
probably more stupid than most Goa’ulds, and they
bought your whole desire thing!’
‘That wasn’t an act!’
‘It wasn’t?’ The deliberate sarcasm echoed through the retort. O’Neill
couldn’t help the sneaky smirk that crept slowly on his otherwise stern
features.
The colonel flicked his eyes across to the two marines; they were far
enough away not to require him to use his mind to transfer his responses.
“Do I really need to answer that?” Jack retorted. “Just, stop whinging
and get on with it. Subtly, Daniel, don’t flutter your eyelids at him.”
“What? Oh come on, Jack, you can’t possibly be serious?” Daniel
protested.
“I can’t ask Coburn to do it, can I?” O’Neill said. “He’s not exactly
gifted in the brain department, besides, I’m not asking you to date the guy,
just manipulate him. His homosexuality is his weakness, Daniel, exploit the
enemy with their weaknesses, it’s the most effective interrogation strategy,
and it’s the only way to make sure we find out the truth.”
“And again I ask, how?” Daniel contested, looking angry.
“Daniel, how the hell do you think I know? Do I look like I regularly
flirt with men? Do you think I’ve ever considered flirting with a man?”
O’Neill smiled. “Scout’s honour!” he confirmed.
Daniel took a deep breath, scowling heavily at O’Neill. “No jokes, no
remarks, and no fluffy comments!” he added for good measure.
“None,” the colonel agreed.
“When exactly did you notice his attraction?” he asked O’Neill as an
afterthought.
“D, it doesn’t matter, ship’s kinda revealing in the thoughts and
intentions department, let’s just say he’s got the kind of imagination I wish
he’d kept to himself!”
“Then stop asking, Danny, or I’ll let you have full access… second
thoughts, just don’t think about it!” Jack told him. “Maybe I should just
torture him and get the truth out of him?”
The acquiescent stare told O’Neill he didn’t consider that an option. “I
said I’d do it, Jack,” he conceded once more. “Just promise me you won’t ever
share whatever it is you know… I don’t think I could look at him without
wanting to harm him myself!”
Jack nodded. “Love the pacifist in you, Daniel, makes me go all warm
inside!”
As the colonel spoke the ship began to move upward, the panels around him
glowing each time he glanced at them.
“Communication with this is kinda easy!” he remarked.
Hooper and Coburn watched the screen that had automatically come online
the instant the ship began to be operational. The lasers, or whatever it was
the ship used as weapons, destroyed the Tel’tac
without explosion; the vessel just seemed to disintegrate, bringing gasps of
surprise from both men. “Whoa!” Coburn’s gasp became audible. “That’s amazing!”
“More like something out of a Spielberg movie!” Hooper concurred.
“It’s far more potent than that,” Jack O’Neill asserted, a smile crossing
his face that was perhaps deliberately goading. “Depending on the size of the
target, say a planet the size of Earth could be wiped out without any debris,
or maybe just a building! Where the hell do you think the Zat technology came
from?”
“Disintegration. So it’s
the sort of ship that wouldn’t really need to travel through a black hole,
then, Colonel,” Hooper challenged.
“That’s right, Mark, no need… just gotta get the snakeheads through, and
we’re home free!” O’Neill told him.
‘Jack, just how the hell is he betraying us exactly?’
‘He’s got one of them Goa’uld communication ball things, D, and something
else I scanned inside this thing, something Asgard, which is kinda a concern!’
‘What?’
‘Oh yes, our old buddy Thor warned me some of his council were up for
another attempt at harnessing the powers that be, those being the Sengo’lians
and their Ha’dai!’
Daniel shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment. He was aware that
the Asgard feared the Sengo’lians, feared them to the extent that some of the
usually benevolent race had decided to attempt to reveal the secret using
O’Neill as a shield.
It didn’t sit easily though, even knowing what most races were capable of
in the pursuit of power or safety, it felt like O’Neill had said; it felt like
betrayal.
‘You haven’t been entirely honest yourself, have you?’ Daniel charged.
‘Sorry, D, I wasn’t sure enough until now to tell you, or even me!
Heru’ur has no intention of attempting that black hole, even with a ship that
might take him and his merry gaggle of Goa’ulds
through safely. I think we’re being led into a trap, but not sure they figured
we could find a ship that might just give us the edge in this thing for the
first time.’
‘I’ll find out who he’s working for!’ he promised O’Neill, the
determination in his tone matched only with anger.
‘Sweet! Just do me
a favour, hah?’
‘Do I need to ask?’
‘You do! Don’t get caught up in trust and betrayal issues, leave those to
me, Daniel, I do them so much better, you know the game, you know the players.
Let’s play!’
Daniel regarded the colonel with concern. ‘Jack, you’re not telling me
something, and I have this feeling it’s something important.’
O’Neill glanced across toward the two marines who were in conversation
about the plans. ‘Something isn’t right, Daniel, I don’t know exactly what it
is, or where the feelings are coming from, but there’s something more than
betrayal and the usual crap from the NID backers, it’s potent and it’s a little
disconcerting.’
‘Okay, that doesn’t sound like you. Disconcerted, I mean. What exactly,
Jack, where?’
‘Daniel, if I knew I’d tell you, I swear to God, even I need to air
concerns and fears, know what I mean, but it’s just not clear, not yet.’
‘That’s good, I haven’t had a moment of uncertainty in a few minutes,
thanks, Jack, I feel so much better now!’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
Many knew of Teal’c, the Shol’vah, and of the
one the Goa’uld knew only as O’Neill, a master of energy and mind control, they
had been warned of such, even so, they feared him. Only those that believed
completely in the power of their god did not.
The newly attired black and gold emblems blazoned on their chests gave
the
Baal’s appearance before them roused the thousands he had amassed, chests
expanded with pride at the sight of their ‘god’, who rarely appeared before his
army. Only the first prime, Ram, had the honour of addressing his god directly.
Now was a moment for the
“
The collective response was deafening. Baal’s surly smile broadened at
the servitude of his
Ram bowed his head, turning back to the massed ranks of the
The army marched as one toward the waiting Cheops vessels of their god,
through the vast doors that drew back at their approach. The sound of their
armour and boots was thunderous on the ground below.
Ram followed Baal from the raised platform on which he had appeared, back
into the depths of his palace.
“My lord,” he bade. “May I have the honour of leading your
Baal stopped, turning and facing his first prime. “It does you honour
that you request such a task,” he noted. “But for you, Ram, I have an even
greater task, you will lead the elite Tak’ra Guard
into battle against the Asgard,” he informed, watching carefully the response.
Ram did not disappoint his master; the
“You will take the new fleet of Hataks, the
shields are now a match for the Asgard vessels and should ensure your victory,”
Baal stated.
Once more Ram lowered his head in obedience of his master’s wishes, he
did not rise until Baal was out of sight. He took a deep breath and a smile
slowly crossed his face. “Finally, a battle that does honour to the
The Goa’uld system lord retired to his quarters within the salubrious
palace. Built on the crest of a hill, the steep sides acted as a defence that
had yet to be breached by approaching armies.
It had been a long time since he had faced an army on his home planet,
longer still since he himself had taken the planet, a heady time when the
Goa’uld were learning to be one of the dominant forces in the universe, facing
only the Asgard and the Furlings, as a worthy opponent. The Ancients had only
been a minor presence, although their technology had been prized amongst all
others.
Now once again, he faced the final battles that would determine the fate
of the human race and the Goa’uld. It was a fate that he did not expect many to
escape. Earth, the platform for so many embarrassing defeats at the hands of
the lesser beings chosen for hosts, was now the target for Heru’ur’s unknown
allies, allies he had boasted would be a match for the Sengo’lians, and with
them, O’Neill, who he believed would be forced to serve the Goa’uld or risk the
destruction of his own planet, and the eternal damnation of those he cherished.
Heru’ur’s plans to destroy the planet had been clever in their deceit,
the arrogance of those they had dealt with in believing they could somehow
outguess the politics and methods of the Goa’uld laughable.
The image of Heru’ur appeared now on his reac’tar,
the long range communication devices the Goa’uld used, gleaned from a planet
once inhabited by the Ancients.
“Your armies have been deployed?” he enquired.
Baal nodded. “You are certain such a wide battle on so many fronts can be
won, even with these secret weapons you purport to have?” he countered.
“I am confident, they are the enemy of the Sengo’lians, the enemy of
O’Neill and as powerful as both together,” Heru’ur asserted. “Once we have
unleashed them on Earth, O’Neill will have no alternative but to cede, or lose
the precious planet he has fought for so long to protect.”
Baal leant toward the device. “Assuming he still cares enough about this
planet to risk servitude, something he has managed to avoid despite the risks
to those he cares about and that planet.”
“I am certain he remains loyal to Earth and the Tau’ri, even if they do
not remain so to him!” Heru’ur asserted, a smile crossing his surly features.
“Perhaps you and I would be wise to ensure that we have added insurance, such
as Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter and the Shol’vah!”
he added. “He seems to have a great weakness for those he calls friend!”
“Daniel Jackson is never too far from O’Neill’s side, he is a lieutenant
that the colonel seems unwilling to sacrifice. Samantha Carter, she is
presently on Earth, but will soon be joining the ship they took from Hathor,
who remains a prisoner at the Earth base, along with Nirrti,”
Baal replied, his intensely dark eyes narrowing. “Perhaps, in the interests of
a power sharing alliance between our two armies, we should consider a direct
strike on that facility to ensure Hathor does not trouble us in the future, she
is a most resourceful foe!”
Heru’ur nodded. “I agree, let us not waste time
with the more petty details of our plan, destruction of the SGC should be of
paramount importance. I will inform our allies of this decision and hasten
their arrival,” he agreed. “You are indeed a formidable ally, one that will
serve our alliance well!”
Baal bowed his head. “Long journeys have offered a wisdom that many of
our fellow Goa’uld do not reflect,” he remarked. “Let
us learn the lessons and bear the burden of ensuring the survival and the
dominance of the Goa’uld!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jacob Carter regarded General Maybourne; the two men had shared an
elevator and now entered the briefing room where Major Carter sat at the head
of the long briefing table awaiting them.
“I know what Jack said,” he pointed out. “But at this point I think I’d
be more use to Earth here at the SGC.”
Maybourne nodded, seating himself opposite the former USAF General, now
Tok’ra; he wasn’t short of ideas as to why Jacob had chosen to change his post.
“It wouldn’t have anything to do with the sarcophagus in the holding room
on level twenty two, would it?” he enquired.
Jacob nodded slowly. “Hathor and Nirrti,” he
confirmed. “I think I’m far better qualified to deal with them and extract
whatever we can before putting their lives to an end.”
“And I’d agree with you, Jacob, you are,” Maybourne replied. His hands
now clasped together in front of him on the table, he leant forward. “But it’s
not exactly what Jack had planned is it?”
Carter sat quietly listening to the confrontation; since
Not much made sense to her anymore. Former enemies and traitors, now
ensconced as allies and commanders, but then Maybourne had perhaps, more than
anyone she knew, worked hardest to assist O’Neill when everyone else was ready
to doubt him. These were very different times to any she had experienced and
now wasn’t the time to debate her misgivings about those Hammond and his
superiors had charged with command.
“Jack’s judgement is clouded on this, Maybourne, and you know it,” Jacob
charged, furiously. “If Jack had listened to us in the first place…”
“Not what I meant, Jacob,” Maybourne retorted immediately. “There was a
very good reason for placing them in a sarcophagus and sending them through a
Stargate somewhere.”
“Which is?” Jacob queried, intrigued now that Maybourne might know
something he didn’t.
“Which was that who ever is trying to gain control of the Government
right now will attempt to rescue them and make a deal,” Harry Maybourne
informed him. “If we’re not mistaken, some very important shadows have already
been making deals with members of the Goa’uld… maybe even the Asgard in the
pretext that O’Neill needs to be reigned in, poses a danger to his own planet,
you know the line.”
“I’m aware there was supposed to be some covert talks existing between
some Tok’ra and the Asgard. The Tok’ra part, however, was a false lead… so when
exactly did Jack learn about this other ‘covert’ deal?” Jacob enquired his
concern evident.
Maybourne raised his eyebrows. “I’m surprised you’re that much out of the
loop really,” he replied. “But, according to what Jack told me, Thor actually
visited him concerning the High Council’s proposal to leash the Sengo’lians. He
told Jack the Asgard were ready to deal with people they believed to be superiors
to Jack, and who had his best interests at heart, probably these same caring
folks that have no intention of doing anything other than snatching power
however they can. With Jack harnessed by whatever means they can get, maybe
they feel they’d get control…”
Jacob looked to his left, down toward his daughter who still sat quietly
at the end of the long briefing room table.
“Sam?”
“It’s possible, but I doubt whoever the colonel suspects is likely to
attempt to make any kind of move right now,” she responded. “Either way, I
don’t think Hathor or Nirrti should be given an
opportunity to gather allies and pose a threat to Earth, or the SGC.”
“Or Jack O’Neill?” Maybourne
added succinctly, with a knowing smile toward Carter.
“Exactly, sir,” Sam retorted.
“Good, so we’re in agreement then,” Maybourne confirmed, a relieved
expression crossing his face.
“What?”
“Jacob, I’m surprised at you,” Maybourne stated, a glance toward Carter.
“And frankly, with you!” he added. “Even in my former position, doing deals
with Goa’ulds wasn’t ever a consideration,” Maybourne
continued. “I’m of the same opinion as Major Carter; we dispose of the threat
before it becomes lethal. So, I authorise your stay. Major, I authorise your
transfer to the ship with Makepeace, and hereby end this meeting!”
Maybourne began to stand, Jacob ushering for him to remain. “Harry, isn’t
it?”
The former NID man nodded.
“Tell me, Harry, why would Colonel O’Neill confide this information to
you?” he enquired, dubiously.
“Because he knows better than anyone what I’m capable of,” Maybourne
responded, leaning back now, a smile cascading over his bearded face. “Jack
told me purely because I’d established exactly who it was, and then he knew I’d
be capable of dealing with the disposal of both Goa’ulds.”
Carter looked toward her father. “Makes sense, Dad,” she remarked. “I
just wish the colonel had thought to tell us!”
“Jack wouldn’t tell you, Sam,” Maybourne retorted instantly. “For obvious
reasons, and Jacob, well despite knowing that he would have Earth’s best
interests at heart, he doesn’t exactly trust the Tok’ra.”
Jacob had to concede that point immediately. “Okay, so let’s just say
you’re right and these people, the shadow people, are attempting to lure Jack
into a trap, having done a deal with the Goa’uld, how?”
Maybourne shook his head. “You’re asking me?” he remarked, his gaze
turning to Major Carter. “She’s better placed to figure out how to harness a
form of energy that seems to completely go against everything Earth scientists
know.”
“It’s the Sengo’lians,” Carter said. “Whatever they’re planning I think
the colonel’s right to go and ensure their protection. If, and it’s a big if,
they could manage to take them out, Earth would be open to an all out Goa’uld
attack, even the Asgard are not in a position to prevent that. The only thing
that’s kept them at bay is the knowledge that the colonel possesses something
far greater than they could ever imagine possible. Heru’ur knows better than
anyone that the Ancients knowledge and gene were formidable, but the
Sengo’lians, if he believes they are at the heart of his power, he’ll stop at
nothing to destroy, or even try to harness them for his own ends.”
“Okay, so we’re agreed,” Jacob confirmed. “Sam will join Makepeace on the
Goa’uld ship, to patrol this galaxy and offer any protection necessary to the
planet. I’ll remain here with you and work the problem from the inside.”
“We’re uniquely qualified for that,” Maybourne agreed. “But I have
another idea… I wonder how we might use the clone to act as a decoy.”
Carter looked surprised that Maybourne had even made the suggestion. “How
do you mean, sir?” she asked.
“Well, let’s just say these shadow people could be fooled into believing
that the real Jack O’Neill had decided to head back to Earth and use his
expertise to defend our little part of the galaxy, rather than attempt to
protect the Sengo’lians. Maybe they’d make a try for him here, revealing
whatever technology they possess, and thus giving us the ability to trace the
shadows and end their little plot!”
Carter’s features showed her approval. “It might work,” she agreed. “They
have no way of knowing it’s not the real Colonel O’Neill, unless the Asgard
High Council are working that closely with them.”
“I’m prepared to take that chance,” Maybourne stated. “It might just give
us the upper hand and for once find the actual conspirators behind this thing.
All joking aside, these people scare me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aiestrodous regarded his companion with dismay. “It is farther than we
had expected,” he stated. “Are you able to sustain without food or water to
traverse the swamps of Alnanom?”
Martouf took a deep breath; he felt the heat in the air from the swamps
and it reminded him of his brief, but uncomfortable visit to Netu, a moon once orbiting Sokar’s home world which had
been made to resemble hell.
“You are certain there is no other way?” he enquired of the Furling.
“I am certain,” Aiestrodous responded. “If we decided to avoid the swamps
we would face something far more potent than discomfort, the Teyu’peh is a formidable foe.”
Martouf’s eyes widened. “Those creatures reside here?”
The Tok’ra’s eyes were immediately scanned the
trees and bushes about him; he looked back wistfully to the Stargate only a few
hundred feet away.
Aiestrodous nodded, his usually expressionless features seemed to become hollower with a frown. “They have been placed on many
worlds by the Hyksos, long before the Goa’uld and the
Ancients finally overcame them. But not before they had discovered
hibernation,” the Furling cautioned.
“Could this not work in our favour?” Martouf enquired.
“Why do you believe, youthful Tok’ra, I chose this planet to meet our
nemesis?”
Martouf’s eyes lowered for a moment. “What is the other significance of
this planet?” he asked, already suspecting the reply.
“We feed!” Aiestrodous told him bluntly.
The Tok’ra gazed around at Aiestrodous’ kin; their eyes were sullen, yet
from the centre of each, red pinnacles began to glow.
“I see,” he remarked.
Aiestrodous placed his elongated hand on Martouf’s left shoulder. “Fear
not, I will protect your existence with my life against foe and friend alike.
You will not fall victim to the Furling, see that you do not fall victim to the
Unas!”
Martouf checked his weapons; a Zat, a double bladed knife, and a hand gun
given to him by one of the marines at the SGC, a few grenades, all primitive,
but effective, and some C4; a potent explosive that he had learned to use in
his brief time at the SGC.
“I am prepared, let us proceed,” he advised.
Aiestrodous smiled. “Let us!” he agreed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The deep endless darkness of space was nothing unusual to Bra’tac; he had seen many campaigns for his former master,
Apophis. Yet never before had it seemed as desolate as now. So few of his
friends remained; Teal’c, of course, had mercifully survived many of the
conflicts that had taken so many others.
His allegiance to Earth had spared him the foolish wars waged by the
Goa’uld as they battled for minor domains, but now at least the all-powerful
system lord coalition had been smashed, few remained, yet always the fear of
others rising to take their places was a spectre.
This was finally perhaps, a penultimate battle; a battle that would
finally lay the Goa’uld bare of their stolen technology, allowing the
“Teal’c?”
“I am here,” Teal’c’s voice sounded through his headset.
“It is desperately silent,” Bra’tac said. “Has
it ever been so?”
“Indeed, many times before battle we have experienced this solitude even
in the fold of our brethren,” Teal’c responded.
“Never before have we been so close to finishing this.” It was Rak’nor’s voice that now joined them. “Perhaps in our
endeavour for freedom, we have never dared to truly believe it possible.”
“Perhaps,” Bra’tac said. “But we are not there
yet.”
“All the more reason to focus,” Teal’c stated.
Each man left now in that silence, to their thoughts, to fears. Could it
really become possible for the Goa’uld to finally be overthrown as the dominant
species in the galaxy? Perhaps each would like to believe it, but dare they?
Even with the power of O’Neill’s presence and the species he amplified to
challenge these gods, was it really something to aspire to as almost at an end?
Bra’tac breathed out with some effort. He
of all of them had more to fear, his life, all one hundred and forty years of
it, had been in the shadow of a monster that used him and his body to exist,
now there might be a time when that wasn’t so, when the Goa’uld did not figure
in his every thought and consideration; how empty or full would such a life be?
Bra’tac smiled. Of that he had no doubt;
such a life would be full, if not long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack O’Neill’s robotic clone looked doubtful; the image of Harry
Maybourne one he didn’t particularly enjoy seeing, even if this former foe was
now an ally.
“Are you nuts?” he enquired, his brown shorn hair a contrast from the
real O’Neill’s now mostly grey crown.
“It’s not a stretch, Jack, we deal with the hair colour and you’re it!”
Maybourne asserted, a wicked smile crossing his unshaven features. “With less attitude and a more relaxed demeanour?”
“I’m it? I know what I am, I’m not altogether sure you know what you are
though,” the clone goaded, a disdainful sneer toward the monitor that showed
his features to Maybourne as assuredly as he saw the former NID man.
“Jack, we need to deal with this threat,” Jacob urged, his image now
replacing that of Maybourne.
“Look, Jacob, I realise that you’re all Tok’ra snakehead knowledgeable
and stuff, but is this really necessary, I’m supposed to be dealing with
Froth!”
“Thoth,” Jacob corrected. “And yes, Jack, despite the fact you don’t know
me at all well, your flesh and blood counterpart does, and he trusts me.”
The clone’s eyebrows crowded his forehead. “I doubt that,” he retorted.
“But… if you can get someone else on the Froth problem, I’m more than willing
to come and dangle my ass for the other guy’s possible assassins!”
“I’m sure Teal’c and Bra’tac will be more than
happy to deal with that problem!” Jacob asserted. “And I know Jack will
appreciate it… he’s not aware of this particular problem right now.”
“Yeah, cool the fanfare, I’m on my way!” the clone responded, cutting the
connection the instant he’d finished.
Jacob turned and looked at Maybourne. “I remember when he wasn’t that
ornery!” he remarked.
“He’s always like that,” Maybourne retorted. “You’ve just never noticed
before because you’ve been too busy to!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel sat, his legs crossed,
leaning back against the console in the centre of the bridge area, alone. The
three military men on his team had gone to check out the rest of the ‘cool’
ship, except he knew that Hooper would be back long before O’Neill and Coburn.
O’Neill had told him so, and very rarely these days
was Jack O’Neill wrong in his predictions.
He occupied himself reading an Ancients text concerning the history of a
great race that had spent far too long enjoying its own successes; that, he
concluded, had been their downfall as a race in their original state.
“Doctor Jackson,” Hooper’s voice.
Daniel looked up to see the man standing in front of him. His army
combats worn militarily earlier, were now somewhat in disarray, as if the
attitude of the wearer had become less rigid. “Sorry, I was miles away,” he
responded.
This was something he couldn’t prepare himself for; inwardly he had been
dreading the colonel being right. He’d never considered how to manipulate a
man. A woman? Sure, he understood the dynamics and the
inevitable consequences if that went too far, but a man? He could feel himself
shaking inwardly and that wasn’t exactly a good start.
“I was doing a little studying, fascinating…” Daniel’s voice trailed off.
Hooper took that as an invitation and promptly sat next to Jackson, the
archaeologist smiled nervously, realising that he was making himself seem
apparently interested, if, and he was now hoping it was a big if, O’Neill was
right… but there was the beginning of something he felt sure was O’Neill being
right.
Hooper was smiling back quite broadly and he seemed to be considering
becoming intimate; at least his eyes appeared to be.
Daniel attempted to dismiss that immediately, how on earth could he
possibly know what Hooper’s intentions were? O’Neill’s fault, the colonel had
wound him up far too tight, besides, he was just a man! It wasn’t some Goa’uld,
someone that could overpower him and do with him what he wanted.
“So, how’s the ship?” he enquired quickly, his tone a little breathless,
something he quickly tried to deal with by clearing his throat loudly. “Dust,”
he added.
“I think the atmosphere is sterile actually,” Hooper replied. “You seem a
little nervous?”
Daniel felt perplexed. “A lot at stake,” he replied. “Does it have
advanced capacity for travelling faster?”
Hooper shrugged. “I don’t know really, I mean, it’s a ship,” he remarked.
“It is,” Daniel concurred. “So…”
“So,” Hooper echoed, gazing now into Daniel’s eyes.
‘Have I mentioned how much I hate you right now, Jack?’
‘Blow him a kiss from me, Danny.’
‘Ass!’
“Doctor Jackson,” Hooper said, standing now and facing the archaeologist.
“Do you ever get tired of this?”
“Of what?”
“Of dealing with everyone else’s problems,” Hooper said. “Doesn’t it ever
just cross your mind to find a nice planet somewhere and settle down?”
“With whom?” Daniel asked, realising
instantly he was once again sounding far too interested, at least that was his
perception, and he was hating himself for being so fearful of something that he
had control of; even if he didn’t like being in that particular situation, he
knew he could contain, he was, at least, sure of that.
“I don’t know, just with someone, stopping the fight, giving up and just
letting go of everyone else’s concerns.”
The archaeologist sighed heavily; it was something he’d often thought
about. “Sometimes,” he confessed. “I guess.”
Hooper nodded. He moved away from the man and walked across to the
doorway. He leant against the frame and stared out into the corridor, first
left, then right.
He’s seeing if we’re alone. Daniel theorised, dread that had been
harboured in his thoughts since O’Neill had made him aware of Hooper’s
attraction, was beginning to well ever more to the surface. He took at deep
breath, and with it shoved back down his own apprehension. He needed to engage
Hooper whether he liked it or not; he had chosen to fight these battles with
his friends, with O’Neill, there was no shying away at the prospect of
something he found difficult or repugnant. He took another deep breath and
shoved down the feeling of nausea that was slowly ebbing from his throat.
He glanced at Hooper. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I haven’t even begun yet and I’m already tired of it,” Hooper
told him, sauntering back toward him, his gaze intense
and intrusive.
Daniel could feel the panic welling once again; his senses, the ones that
seemed to have come along with the DNA from the Furlings, told him that Hooper
was intending to make a move. How would he deal with it? It wasn’t something he
could deal with as he normally would; a slug in the mouth in answer to Hooper’s
questions wouldn’t exactly prove to be a tease that might lure the man into
revealing his plans. He didn’t have a choice; O’Neill wouldn’t tolerate Hooper
on the ship without knowing what the man was planning, what he was involved in,
and the problem with O’Neill’s methods meant he would likely utilise a nasty
streak his fellow Furlings possessed and deal with Hooper in a way that might
leave the man mutilated or dead.
How could he possibly lead a man on without committing to something he
found nauseating? There was absolutely no chance he could even feign interest
in a way that might become physical, he knew that, somehow, something had to
back the man off, yet still create the illusion that would make Hooper think he
was interested.
He smiled at Hooper and walked across to the door himself now. “Jack and
Coburn going to be a while?” he enquired, once again chastising himself
inwardly for sounding too keen.
“Long enough,” Hooper responded, moving toward him in a determined
fashion. “I want to kiss you,” he stated.
Daniel’s eyes widened. He managed to catch his immediate response, and
turned away from Hooper. “Excuse me?” he exclaimed. “That’s a little
presumptive and… where the heck did that come from?”
Hooper looked slightly embarrassed. “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked.
“What?” Daniel countered, once more keeping the loathing behind the utter
surprise he’d managed to cloak his face in.
“I want you,” Hooper replied. “Please don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed.”
“Okay.” Daniel’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Hooper lowered his eyes from
Daniel couldn’t help a smile crossing his features. “Sexy?” he echoed.
“Sorry, I’ve just never actually, er, seen myself as
being sexy.”
Hooper moved closer. “Can I?” he asked.
“No!” Daniel asserted. “I, er, I can’t… Jack
would kill you.”
There it was; why hadn’t he considered it before? It was so obvious, who
in their right mind would ever want to challenge O’Neill for anything?
“I knew there was something more between you than friendship,” Hooper
groaned. He looked furious for a moment. “It was probably his doing that I got
demoted!”
“You did?”
“Maybourne decided to pull a few strings,” Hooper explained. “I must have
really pissed him off.”
“So, can I ask you something?”
Hooper’s reaction was an immediate nod; he seemed anxious to please
“Why is it you think that Jack and I are a couple, exactly?” Daniel
queried, attempting to keep a conversation going, and thus freeing him of any
approach that Hooper might make in a prolonged silence.
“Too obvious, you’re like a puppy dog with him,” Hooper complained, his
obvious jealousy no longer concealed.
“I’m sorry, a puppy dog?” Daniel echoed, dismay crossing his features. “I
don’t think I’d actually describe myself as a puppy dog.”
Hooper smiled. “I’m being a little unfair. I doubt it’s obvious to
heterosexuals, Daniel, you had to feel more than just friendship,” Hooper
asserted. He walked away from him once more and leant on the console. “But it’s
in the way you look at him, the way he’s so protective of you. To me, I’d say
it was really obvious.”
‘So, you’re a puppy dog, are ya?’
‘Jack, that’s not even remotely funny. Besides… he thinks we’re a
couple!’
‘A couple of what?’
‘Take a guess, and Jack, get out of my head - it’s getting too crowded in
here.’
Daniel sighed heavily. Who else considered that his and O’Neill’s
relationship was anything more than a camaraderie? It was laughable; the more
he thought about it, the more amusing it became.
“Look, Hooper, I realise this is difficult for you, but you can’t let him
know,” Daniel told the clearly besotted major, wanting to ensure that he was
making himself perfectly clear and adding as much distance between them now as
possible. “You can’t let Jack know how you feel, he’d kill you.”
The former colonel shrugged. “As if I’m particularly bothered about what
he thinks! I’d like to kill him!” Hooper admitted without any further
provocation.
Daniel’s brow furrowed, it shouldn’t have been a surprising revelation
and yet it was a consideration he had never taken into account; that those who
sought power and control would unleash someone capable of having a desire to
destroy the one person who had protected Earth above all others.
“You would, why? Because of me?” he probed, keeping his surprise in check
even if he was amazed at how quickly Hooper had owned up to his intentions.
“If I thought you’d even consider spending the rest of your life with me,
maybe that would be reason enough, but no, it’s not my only reason,” Hooper
stated. “He’s bad news, a collaborator, look at how he’s involved himself with
so many alien species against Earth,” he continued. “Look how he’s used you,
manipulated you.”
“Okay, look!” Daniel asserted quickly. “Jack might not be perfect, and whether you want to believe it or not, he’s not
a collaborator, he is though very impulsive, and his DNA alterations make him
far more volatile than he’s ever been. Mark, you have to…”
Jack O’Neill entered the bridge at that moment, his eyes were red and the
pinnacles of his lenses were emanating a blue hue.
Daniel moved in front of Hooper instinctively.
O’Neill wasn’t role playing; something inside him had transmitted the
danger of Hooper’s presence, and without even realising the colonel was
reacting.
“Jack,” Daniel cautioned, his hands raised passively in front of him.
“He’s not a threat to you.”
O’Neill seemed to be staring right through him, past him, he wasn’t
there; he knew it, he felt the rage inside his friend.
Hooper’s fear was audible, the sigh prolonged as it seemed all the air in
his lungs escaped. “Help,” he whispered.
“I’m trying,” Daniel told him. “Jack, look at me…”
O’Neill’s eyes narrowed, his features became less infuriated, the
reddening of his cheeks lessened. “Daniel?”
The archaeologist heaved a huge sigh of relief; he turned to Hooper. “You’d
better get out of here while I calm him down,” he suggested. “Maybe now you
understand why I…”
“Yes, I get it,” Hooper acknowledged, taking Daniel’s suggestion.
The instant he left the door closed, sealing the two men in, and with it
ensured nothing they said could be heard.
“Jack, what the hell was that?” Daniel snapped. “Are you trying to get…”
O’Neill’s blank expression told the archaeologist he most definitely
hadn’t been in control at any time for those few moments.
“What?” he enquired.
“You have no idea what you just did, do you?” Daniel remarked.
“What?”
The archaeologist studied O’Neill’s bemused features for a moment,
realising that he still wasn’t exactly attentive to their conversation. “Er, never mind,” he remarked, waving it off. “But thank you
for totally confirming my cover!”
Jack regarded the man with disdain. “What?” he asked.
“Jack, do you ever have mental blackouts?” the archaeologist asked him.
“The sort of mental black outs that might prove dangerous to say… me?”
Jack’s eyes meandered around the room for a moment. He glanced at the
door, then back towards
“I have no idea,”
O’Neill looked intrigued. “Yeah, that part I remember, Fido.”
Daniel’s features screwed up. “Can we, er, skip
that part please!” he implored. “I’m not exactly comfortable with deceit, Jack,
as you already ready know, and really irritatingly, you were right… he also
mentioned the wanting to kill you issue, which was probably… the ship’s
amplifying,” Jackson exclaimed, his face brightening as if struck by a ray of
light. “It’s… I really need to stop being so scientific.”
“Ya think!” O’Neill’s response; he took a deep breath. “What exactly,
aside from attempting to kill me, did Hooper say?”
“Er, well he was just getting to it when you
decided to appear from nowhere and scare the heck out of him,” Daniel told the
colonel. “And me, by the way!”
“But he’s not right, right?” Jack prompted
“He’s definitely not right,” Daniel agreed. “I, er,
probably should mention that I used you as a cover for why I couldn’t possibly
engage with him.”
“Sweet,” Jack responded. “Just don’t expect flowers anytime in our
future!”
“I’ll bet it’s no more relieved than I am to be saying it,” Jack
remarked. “D, be careful with this guy, I get a sense of really dire
intentions.”
“Which is probably what caused the intrusion,” Daniel confirmed. Seeing
O’Neill’s rather disinterested expression greeting his relapse into scientific
analysis, he added. “But, you know me, I’m not
intending to be a hero any time soon.”
“The whole hero thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be anyway,” Jack told
him. “I’m picking up something else… I really wish this damn ship would get out
of my head, it’s bad enough having you and the ‘we are here’ bunch in there.”
The colonel waved off
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
General Vidrine checked his tie for the third time as he entered the
elevator, his adjutant beside him. “It’s likely that whoever is in charge here
won’t be pleased to see us,” he remarked. “Loyalty is a big feature of this
command.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more, General,” Captain Martin Lewis
commented. “Not many like their commands given to others.”
“Of that you can be sure, and this one in particular, since
“Popular, that’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time,” General Harry
Maybourne remarked, as the two men exited the elevator and came face to face
with the former NID operative.
“Maybourne,” Lewis snarled.
“General Maybourne to you,” Harry retorted. “I was promoted in the
field.”
“Is General Hammond here?” Vidrine enquired. “I have a change of orders.”
“No, sir, he isn’t. I have command of the SGC whilst he’s on sabbatical
with the President,” Maybourne told Vidrine. “It came from a higher authority
than the President,” he added, having heard the comments the two men had been
making since they had arrived at Stargate Command; having listening equipment
installed to elevator, some of the corridors and most of the laboratories had
been a good idea of Carter’s.
“General Maybourne, there is no higher power than the President,”
Vidrine’s tone was disparaging.
“Well, I could debate that, sir, considering God, whatever denomination,
and some of the Goa’uld might also claim to have higher stations in the
cosmos!” Maybourne countered. “But, then again…”
“I have full authority to take command of this facility!” Vidrine
snapped; his dislike of the former NID man obvious.
“General Vidrine, I suggest you talk to Jack O’Neill, since he put me in
command here, and he’s the only one keeping the Goa’uld from knocking on the
front door.” Maybourne’s retort was icy, his eyes
fixed on Vidrine. He’d suspected the man for some time in complicity with
darker characters in the darker places of power. “He’ll be here within the day,
and since I have a sneaking suspicion that this place is going to be a target,
forgive me for not caring who has command.”
“Will he indeed,” Vidrine snapped, obviously
bristling at the mention of a man he had little regard for. “Since former
COLONEL O’Neill doesn’t have executive authority, acting General Maybourne,
I’ll assume control of this facility until our commander in chief tells me
otherwise!”
“As you like,” Maybourne responded. “But I guarantee you this, General,
you’ll wish you hadn’t! I’m sure you know your way around, so if you’ll excuse
me, I was about to go to the commissary and have lunch.”
Maybourne couldn’t help the less than rueful smile that swept his face as
he turned and took his leave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carter checked the scans from the Asgard satellites placed in orbit
around Earth to provide effective communication and early warning systems for
an impending invasion. It hadn’t taken long; once O’Neill had informed the
Asgard of the Goa’ulds’ latest plan, they had
insisted on placing them around the planet for the protection of all human
kind.
“Elaborate speech,” Jacob remarked to his daughter, having sat through
her conversation with the Asgard, Odin.
“They do have a way with them,” she replied.
“Hathor’s asked to see you, she says she has an offer you can’t refuse,”
Jacob told her.
Carter’s expression became a grimace. “Well, I really don’t have time to
worry about her right now, unless she’s planning on revealing Heru’ur’s entire
plan and has a means to communicate that to Colonel O’Neill,” she responded.
“Nothing on these so far,” she added, directing her father’s attention to the
screens in front of her.
“Maybe they decided to call it off,” Jacob remarked, a wry smile crossing
his face.
Carter couldn’t help but smile; her father had such a laconic style, a
dry sense of humour that she had missed so much since he’d been the Tok’ra
liaison. “That’s a possibility; maybe we should discuss their surrender?”
“Perhaps we should,” Jacob stated. “Maybe it’s that simple!”
Carter shook her head. “I doubt anything is ever that simple,” she
replied.
Jacob looked around; there was no one in the control room except them. He
sat down on the seat next to his daughter.
“Sam, there’s something I’ve really been meaning to discuss with you,” he
began, offering a consolation smile the second his
daughter’s concerned face met his. “Jack O’Neill, actually.”
Carter smiled. “Dad, you’re a dollar and a donut short on that one,” she
remarked.
“No, Sam, not your relationship, or even one you or he might have
considered,” Jacob confessed immediately. “Jack’s death.”
Carter’s eyes met her father’s. “He’s not dead,” she replied.
“Not yet, but it’s coming… you know that, right?”
“Why?”
“Because nothing so powerful can be allowed to exist,” Jacob responded.
Carter’s features became askant. “I don’t think I know you’re trying to
tell me that the Tok’ra and all those other alien benevolent forces have made a
decision to kill the colonel, Dad, are you?”
Jacob looked down unable to meet the gaze of his daughter. “It wasn’t my
decision,” he confessed, finally looking up. “But to be honest, it is one I
agree with.”
Carter’s eyes displayed her disappointment and confusion. “Why?”
“Because he’s not Jack anymore, Sam, he’s something, someone controlled
by the Sengo’lians, working toward their end.”
Carter shook her head. “NO!” she snapped.
“Sam, this is beyond you and me,” Jacob told her. “It’s beyond Maybourne,
it’s beyond…”
“You set him up,” Sam snarled, the fury resonating in her face. “My GOD,
he was right, Colonel O’Neill saw this, he saw that the Tok’ra were as
complicit as the Goa’uld in wanting to have control. There is no difference is
there?”
Jacob shook his head. “You don’t understand,” he said.
“I do understand, Dad, I understand that you’re contemplating betraying
the colonel because you’re scared that he’s that powerful,” Sam continued.
“You, the Asgard, Earth, you’re all afraid!”
“Yes,” Jacob admitted. “I am afraid, Sam, I am and so is anyone that
realises how much power Jack has.”
“He’s not a danger, Dad, not to us,” Sam argued.
“Yes he is,” Jacob countered. “You’re not old enough to know the damage
the Sengo’lians caused, Sam, but I am.”
“Jesus, you have no faith at all in Colonel O’Neill, do you?” Sam
charged, her dismay registering across her face. “He’s stronger than you
realise, Dad, and the Sengo’lians aren’t some evil force, they
are a force that’s been misunderstood because the other dominant forces in the
galaxy were afraid of them.”
“Sam,” Jacob began.
“No!” Carter snapped. “You might be a Tok’ra, but he’s not your enemy.”
Her eyes widened for a moment. “Dad, what have you done?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel looked across toward O’Neill; the man smiled before leaving the
bridge of the ship and turning left out of the door.
He wondered just how informed the colonel was by the ship, how much it
amplified thoughts and feelings, how much he should hold himself in check lest
the colonel act on his behalf.
‘Daniel, you think too much!’ Jack responded.
‘Jack, whilst I realise you’ve got the ability to read my mind and scan
my thoughts, it is really irritating when you do it!’
‘You’re welcome.’
The archaeologist continued to study the information on the small
monitor. The ship was far more advanced than either he or O’Neill realised. The
weapons capable, as O’Neill had surmised, of destroying a planet the size of
Earth without much of a problem, and eliminating the debris that might come
with such a devastating event.
The Ancients had apparently been attempting to destroy a foe far more
potent than the Goa’uld; the waves of incredible power were emitted from a
central microwave beam, the heat it generated capable of simply disintegrating
anything it was aimed at. There was also the amplification of thoughts that
appeared to be disturbing O’Neill, these it appeared were a by-product of
technology that had been used to detect and interfere with any sub-space
communications.
Hooper didn’t wait too long before joining Daniel once more.
“Look I’m sorry about that Doctor Jackson, I was way out of line with
that come on, you must have thought… well, God knows what you must have
thought,” Hooper said. “He’s a bit of a surprise, isn’t he?” he added, “I had
no idea how possessive he was about you, it must be suffocating.”
Daniel nodded; there was no other response he could think of that would
be appropriate. “Except, he’s not usually that possessive,” he offered. “At
least not in reality… maybe in the imagination, maybe,” he added.
Hooper looked confident suddenly. “Maybe he’s got reason to worry,” he
remarked, another smile offered to the archaeologist.
Daniel’s eyebrows rose into his forehead. “I, er,
possibly, he’s got other things on his mind right now.” He was deliberate in
his responses.
Hooper got closer again, much to his discomfort. “What are you looking
at?” he enquired.
“Just seeing if there’s anything in here that can help,” Daniel told him.
The man seemed more interested in that suddenly, than in foisting his
attentions on the reluctant archaeologist. “And is there?” he queried.
“I’m not sure,” Daniel replied, appearing even more reluctant to share
information than himself, quite deliberately. “You’re up to something, aren’t
you?” he was suddenly direct, more direct than Hooper appeared to be ready for;
he immediately drew away from him.
“Sorry?” he retorted. His feigned surprise far too feigned to be real.
“I think you know,” Daniel pushed. “I think you’re involved in
something.”
Hooper regarded
“Why?” Daniel retorted instantly, the fear in his face made apparent.
“Because as much as everything out here scares me, nothing scares me more than
the enemy within, that’s why. Jack scares the hell out of me! He must frighten
you to death.”
“Okay, so I’m sceptical about his purpose, so are a lot of people. Do you
think I’m pretending to be interested in you to get information about him?”
Hooper asked, his fingertips tracing across Daniel’s cheek.
Despite how he felt inwardly, Daniel knew he couldn’t react in anyway
that might indicate his abhorrence for Hooper’s attention. “Aren’t you?” he
probed. “Because if there’s a chance we can find a way to win without putting
him in further jeopardy, I’d, well…”
The archaeologist’s voice was laced with desperation again, his eyes
filled with apprehension.
“There are people who know how to win, to stop him from hurting himself,”
Hooper stated, interrupting Daniel, his eyes attempting to instil calm in
Daniel shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,
Major, Jack is far too powerful for anyone, the Sengo’lians have seen to it.
He’s their champion, they give everything, they…”
Hooper’s fingertips pressed against Daniel’s lips. “It’s okay,” he said.
“I can stop him, I swear I will.”
Daniel poured scorn on that, moving away from him. “Stop him?” he
countered. “You can’t, no one can.”
Hooper seemed in no mood to argue. He sensed Daniel’s vulnerability and
wanted to offer some comfort; he moved toward the archaeologist quickly,
forcing him back toward the wall until Daniel’s back was pressed firmly against
it by the force of Hooper’s presence. “If I didn’t find you so attractive, I’d
swear you were being far too compliant with me, Daniel,” he said.
Somewhere in his tone Daniel could hear his desperation.
The archaeologist took a deep breath and pushed him away, his eyes filled
with fury. “Is that all you can think about?” he charged. “You don’t have any
idea what you’re dealing with, do you?” he snapped. “There isn’t anyone out
here to deal with this but Jack! I’ve watched him go through hell, and how do
you think you can save him from that again?”
“They have a plan,” Hooper replied, once again trying to soothe Daniel.
“I’m certain they won’t fail, they can’t fail with their allies.”
“Which allies? What are you talking about?” Daniel probed, still keeping
his distance, hoping that Hooper wouldn’t detect how much he loathed the man’s
closeness.
“General Vidrine, Jacob Carter, the Asgard, and some of the most powerful
men on Earth, they brokered a deal with Heru’ur to trap him, and they will
achieve it, they’ve got technology that will keep him harnessed. He won’t be
able to use his power - not unless they let him!” Hooper explained, the relief
of his confession to
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “Jacob Carter?” he questioned.
“Yes, Jacob and the Tok’ra, they’ve pretended to be on O’Neill’s side
only to keep him from guessing the truth. He agreed with Odin that they needed
to control O’Neill before the Goa’uld did, that’s why he made sure he had
Hathor and Iceni as a bartering chip, that’s why he gave them the location of
the Ancients vessel.”
Daniel’s eyes closed, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing; he knew
O’Neill would be hearing the same thing. “Did Sam know about this?” he asked,
instantly realising he was perhaps showing more than he wanted to. “Did she
know he’d given up Jack’s daughter?”
The moment he said it, he knew it was a stupid thing to ask; Sam would no
sooner give up Jack’s daughter than she would have given up Jacob, he, or Jack
himself.
Hooper drew back, realising a little late the truth of Daniel’s
attentions. “You’re playing me, aren’t you?” he snapped, his face filled with
fury.
Daniel Jackson’s eyes lit up with pleasure at that moment, as much as a
relief to be able to come clean, as of being able to remove himself from the
disgust he felt of the role he had adopted to learn the truth.
“Yes, I’m playing you,” he retorted. “And you know what? I don’t believe
you’d be arrogant enough to think I’d be attracted to you! It’s repulsive,” he
continued. Now able to vent his true feelings, he was unable to prevent the
volley of those feelings from becoming a barrage. “I couldn’t be attracted to
you if you were the last human form on the planet, and I know this might come
as a revelation, but you’re a man. I realise that it’s fashionable to pretend
something’s there for your own convenience… but have you ever considered that
maybe discovering if someone is gay before attempting to come onto them is a
good idea?”
Hooper stared at Daniel in complete disbelief; he didn’t seem to suspect
that the archaeologist might have been pretending. “You find me disgusting?” he
asked, confusion masking his features.
“I find your need to put your desires on others disgusting,” Daniel
retorted, without any hint of apology.
Hooper shook his head. “Maybe you think your relationship with O’Neill is
just a friendship, Daniel, but just because you haven’t come to together yet
means you’re too much of a coward to express your feelings physically.”
Daniel’s expression became flustered. “I’m sorry, maybe your hearing
isn’t perfect, or you don’t want to listen? The point is, Hooper, I don’t want
to express myself in anyway with Jack, or with any man. Despite what you or
anyone else wants to read into it, we don’t harbour secret fantasies. Frankly
the thought of anything physical with any man makes my skin crawl!” he snapped.
“So, please, stop the bedroom fantasy and come back to reality.”
“Daniel, I’m sorry you can’t accept me, accept who I am,” Hooper stated.
“The fact that you’d use my sexuality to play me… that you’d use my emotions
that way…”
Daniel raised his eyebrows again, disbelief crossing his face. “Er, you really are living on a planet far from reality,
aren’t you? And it was Jack’s call. Personally, I found the whole idea
abhorrent, I still find it abhorrent, but at least now I know which side you’re
on.”
Hooper unsheathed his gun, moving toward Daniel. “So, I guess there’s
nothing more to be said, is there, at least I know…”
“Now you know what, Hooper,” O’Neill’s sarcastic tone unmistakeable. “You
know Daniel’s a lot smarter than you realised. Did you really think he’d be
vulnerable to you and your little conspiracy?”
Hooper turned to see O’Neill.
His eyes were not slightly red, they were bright red, blood red, seething
with rage and hatred; hatred that poured from them the scorn he felt for Hooper
and what the man stood for. The betrayal of men who did not understand was one
thing, but Hooper had spent some time in the SGC command, he should have known
the extent of the enemy they faced.
“I’ll kill him,” he snarled at O’Neill, unable to believe that both men
had read his intentions and deployed a plan that completely crushed his
emotions.
“I’ll just bring him back to life, Hooper,” Jack sighed, the
disappointment he felt once more resonating in his tone. “Because that’s how
powerful I am, I’m powerful enough to make you turn that gun on yourself and
shoot, so why don’t you?”
Daniel’s eyes widened. “Jack, you can’t?”
“I can, Daniel, how many times do you need to hear that before you
believe it,” Jack replied, his eyes never leaving the terror that was now
Hooper. “Mark, you’re a little fish in a pond where sharks are swimming, the
kind of sharks that don’t care whether or not you drown, or they eat you alive.
They will eat you, right after they rip chunks of your flesh from your body…
bleeding yet?”
Daniel moved toward O’Neill. “Jack, don’t, you can’t,”
he protested.
“Again with the I CAN, Daniel,” Jack snapped. “I
can because I have to, you don’t get the importance of having to act when maybe
you don’t like the consequences, do you? You have the luxury of that, Danny, I
don’t, or didn’t you get that?”
The colonel’s eyes filled with rage, his eyes closing. “Ego obviam tu,” he snarled. (I oppose
you.)
“I’m gonna kill you,” Hooper growled, moving closer to O’Neill, less
fearful now he could see blood running from the wound in the man’s shoulder.
“Mark, stop!” Coburn yelled as he
entered the bridge. “Colonel!”
Jack turned and looked at Coburn. “What?” he enquired,
his red eyes terrifying in their intensity.
“Oh shit,” Coburn said, looking at the colonel then toward Hooper.
Daniel didn’t wait any longer. His reaction purely instinctive, his hands
closed around Hooper’s throat. “Drop the gun,” he ordered,
his attention on the marine unwavering. “Hooper, drop it.”
O’Neill’s fascination precluded him from doing anything, his shoulder
didn’t hurt, nor could he feel any pain in his mind, which usually followed
when it worked overtime to deal with an injury, instead his focus was altered,
altered because Daniel’s actions were extraordinary to him.
The archaeologist’s grip tightened around Hooper neck as the man refused
to cede his hold on the weapon, still pointing it at O’Neill. He could feel the
grip, feel the flesh collapsing under his hold, and yet he couldn’t stop
himself from squeezing even more.
The life was expelling through Hooper’s lips, his body weakening, then O’Neill was pushing him back, pushing him away from the
man. He couldn’t focus on anything. He could only feel the intent within the
desire to end the existence of something so abhorrent to him it had little
consequence, little reason to exist, and therefore he had to expunge it.
“Daniel,” Jack spoke to him, his voice an echo. “Danny, look at me.”
He could feel how shallow the younger man’s breathing had become. The
lust inside him to do harm to someone he despised, and that anger was eating
him up without a trace of humanity reaching within.
“Daniel!” Jack asserted again. “You’re better than this… you’re better
than me, you’re better than anyone here… you can’t do this.” The colonel’s eyes
were fixed on
‘His mind is infuriated by the lack of compassion, Ha’dai,’
the Sengo’lians attempted to remind O’Neill of what he knew for himself. ‘He
sees only the evil within the human being, he sees only the disgust he feels.’
‘Yeah, well being gay and corrupted doesn’t mean he can just kill him,
this is Daniel, let him go, and let him think for himself.’
‘It is not the Sengo’lians whose pain he reflects, it is his own. It is
your pain, Ha’dai.’
‘Great! Just what I need, more amplification! Back off, let me deal with
this.’
‘As you wish.’
“Daniel, not this way, not like this,” Jack continued, his eyes never
leaving
“Coburn, take him into custody,” Jack ordered, kneeling beside Daniel’s
unconscious body.
‘We are here.’
‘You’re aware of the plans of the Goa’uld, coming through the Sanctuary
and attempting to harness you, to harness me, it cannot be allowed to pass.
Destroy Heru’ur, show them we aren’t playing here.’
‘Ha’dai, if we destroy Heru’ur…’
‘She’s gone, I know what I’m asking, believe me, I know.’
‘Consider it so. We ask that you forgive us for carrying out that which
you ask.’
‘No need to forgive you, no need to forgive her, just a need to end this
before it corrupts everything.’
Coburn moved across to Hooper, the cuffs he had been alerted to carry
earlier by O’Neill, fastened around the man’s wrists.
“You dumb ass,” he growled. “You ever think you were being used?”
Hooper stared back at Coburn. “Not as much as the rest of you are,” he
asserted. “He’s the user. Look at him manipulating everyone and everything to
what he wants. Did it never occur to you or anyone else that this is just how
he likes it? That the war with the Goa’uld would have been over long ago if he
harnessed the true power he possesses? Of course it didn’t, it didn’t because
you want to think he’s good, well he’s not good,” Hooper continued. “He’s a
part of a wider plan by these aliens to take over the damn universe, to
subjugate the wills of all sentient life forms until nothing can resist him.”
Coburn shrugged. “If he’s so powerful what makes you think I’m not
already in his control, dumb ass, save your breath for someone that’s as
gullible as you evidently are, I’ve seen this guy in action, I’ve seen what
he’s suffered so people like you could betray him,” the marine snapped. “You
don’t have a clue where the real evil is, where the real manipulation is, you
just think you do because someone with a star on his shoulder told you so.”
“Jimmy, he has you fooled too?” Hooper gasped. “I don’t believe this.”
“Neither, former Major Hooper, do I.”
Coburn dragged the man to his feet, pushing him toward the door. He took
one final glance back at O’Neill and Jackson before he left.
“D, you’re too stupid for your own good,” Jack whispered, sitting on the
floor beside the archaeologist. “Ever occur to you that this thing could easily
take you to places you might not go? Ever occur to you you’d regret that
afterward?”
Daniel’s eyes opened. “No, actually it didn’t,” he responded. “At least not until now.”
The colonel smiled. “Just when ya thought you were immune, hah?” he said.
“Just when!” Daniel confirmed. “Did you
get everything you needed?”
Jack nodded. “Not sure Hooper did,” he remarked.
“Neither am I, why did you stop me?” Daniel enquired.
“Because as much as you want it to be, that person isn’t you, even when
you’re at your worst, you’re not him,” Jack replied. “Besides, one of us has to
have a little morality and humanity, or maybe we will forget why we’re out
here.”
Daniel’s eyes closed for a moment, a sense of the integrity emanating
from his friend sending a tinge of guilt through his mind. “Maybe I wanted to
be, Jack, maybe I’m tired of believing in humanity.”
“Bullshit!” O’Neill countered. He stood, offering
‘Ha’dai, confirm to us that it is your desire
once more, for we would be beyond consolation if our actions destroyed
something you could not live without.’
‘You know where the vessel is?’
‘We know, she is aboard, she is corrupted but not beyond your salvation.’
‘Don’t tell me that.’
‘Ha’dai, we would be without recourse to your
wisdom if we lied.’
‘Where is the ship?’
‘From the location of your formidable vessel? Within two thousand light years to your shen’ai’cah.’
‘I’m with you. Disable the vessel, disable the Goa’uld in her mind, and
I’ll deal with it from there.’
‘She must do this herself.’
‘She can’t… are you telling me you’re unable to stop that?’
‘Within, if she does not possess the power to overwhelm them, then she
will be overwhelmed. Within did you possess that power hence you were freed and
they were unable to overcome you, Ha’dai. That is why
you are to us, the salvation, your mind is stronger than any other we have ever
encountered, it matches our collective for strength.’
‘Starting to sound like Yoda!’ he cautioned, even if he knew they had no
idea what that meant.
He took a deep breath, alerting his companion to his plight.
Daniel immediately focused on the colonel.
“Jack is there something you’re not telling me?” he asked.
O’Neill almost smiled. “Most of the time, Daniel,” he responded, the
smile gone instantly, he focused on
“She’s a host, Jack, not a Goa’uld,” Daniel corrected, offering his most
encouraging expression, he added. “We can save her, just like we saved Teal’c.”
“Doctor Daniel Jackson, the eternal optimist!” Jack sighed.
“I’m a perfect foil for the eternal pessimist then, right?” Daniel
retorted, looking O’Neill directly in the eyes. “Come on, Jack, you know and I
know that I’m here because you need me. Well guess what, I need you too, I need
you not to give up, because that’s what you’re good at. As much as you need me
to be a humanitarian in case yours is gone. I need you to be a warrior and
pretend you can’t be beaten. It’s a two way street we’re on, Jack, help me
out!”
O’Neill’s concession was slow. “Okay, you’re right, D, I’m not giving up
on her. I’m not giving up on Jake either,” he said.
“Good, because I’m pissed that he’s given up on you!”
“Jesus, is that what you think?” Jack replied. “You think Jake’s given up
on me? He just got fooled, D, he got messed up!”
“Messed up? Jack, he’s plotting with whoever it
is that’s trying to kill you,” Daniel retorted sternly. “I’d say that’s more
than messed up, wouldn’t you?”
“And you think he’s not gonna notice that, hah?” Jack stated, a confident
smile beginning to cross his features.
“What have you done?” Daniel enquired.
“I’ve just made sure he’s gonna be paying
attention for a while,” Jack told him.
“Jack?”
“Daniel, it’s not his fault, it’s the snake, the snake got scared and in
a way I get that, Thor’s only not in that category because he knows me,” Jack
explained. “The way you know me, D, the way Sam knows me, and Teal’c does,
that’s it, that’s all that keeps me from losing my mind out here.”
“We’re starting to sound far too chummy, Jack,” Daniel remarked a look of
reticence on his face.
“Yeah, and you wonder what starts the rumours!” the colonel stated.
“A vivid imagination and a vicarious desire to exist through something
that doesn’t,” Daniel countered. “I’ve seen the headlines, read the stories,
bored now!”
“Buffy!” Jack stated. “Good show.”
“Yeah, I saw a couple of episodes, the redhead’s hot!” Daniel remarked.
“Actually, I prefer the blonde,” Jack replied, winking at the
archaeologist. “I like a girl that can hold her own!”
Daniel tried not to enjoy a rather whimsical and irrelevant exchange, but
it felt good to be throwing comments that meant absolutely nothing in any
scheme of things.
“Okay. We’re not taking this very seriously, are we?” he said finally,
after allowing a quick contemplation of the other females in that particular
show.
“Nope, do we ever?” Jack responded. “Besides, if you take stuff too
seriously it bites you in the ass. Speaking of biting someone in the ass, I
figure we should be taking on H, right about now.”
“I know, I’m on it,” Jack told him. His mind synchronised with the
navigation and engines and his thoughts directed them, sending the vessel
toward Heru’ur’s destination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aiestrodous smiled; his skeletal features fearsome. “We are placed as
close to intercepting her as we can be without revealing our strength,” he
said.
Martouf, who was both tired and thirsty, nodded. “Finally,” he said.
“There is water nearby,” Aiestrodous told him.
Martouf looked surprised. “I thought you were unfamiliar with this
planet,” he probed.
“I can smell it, human!” Aiestrodous growled. “So much of you is human that you have lost your sense of smell!”
Martouf looked toward the area Aiestrodous had indicated would yield
water, and got slowly to his feet. “Why are you suddenly so hostile?” he asked.
The Furling looked at him, his red eyes piercing through to the symbiote.
“Did you not betray O’Neill,” he stated, “along with the others of your race.
Did you not expect him to perish or be driven to slavery by those that desire
his power?”
Martouf’s surprise was not feigned, the Furling could tell that
instantly, in fact the horror of the insinuation seemed offensive to him.
“What do you speak of?” Lantesh demanded, the Tok’ra’s eyes flashing in Martouf’s blue gaze.
“I speak of the betrayal of O’Neill, a pact with the Goa’uld, the High
Council of the Asgard, and some power mongers on his planet,” Aiestrodous replied,
his fury at the revelation barely concealed in the ever intrusive stare.
“I have no dealings with the Goa’uld,” Lantesh
protested. “Nor would I broker deals with those that have attempted too often
to steal power without realising the power they were up against. I have worked
with Colonel O’Neill, whether I have agreed with his methods or not, I know his
intentions, and thus his intent is honourable.”
“Then you are welcome here,” Aiestrodous said. “Had you been complicit I
would not have hesitated to destroy you where you stood!”
Martouf regained control. “How do you know neither of us was complicit?”
he enquired, disturbed by the revelations as much as Lantesh.
“I, human, have not lost my ability to read the thoughts of any living
creature and know whether they speak truly or not. I can see inside your soul,
Martouf, and that of your symbiote, if any impurity of thought or deed existed,
it would reside there.”
The realisation that Aiestrodous spoke confidently of his prowess sent a
chill down the spine of the Tok’ra host, making his symbiote uneasy.
“I am truly glad I have chosen wisely in my allies,” he said.
Aiestrodous offered what passed for a smile from this wiry creature,
turning his back on Martouf as he did so. “Be gone with you, whilst there is
still time for you to nourish yourself of water and food. Maya awaits you, he
was sent on to secure these comforts for you,” he told the man.
Martouf bowed his head; he knew that somehow the Furling would know of
his gratitude, even without seeing it.
Aiestrodous watched the horizon. He knew that Hera and her forces had
landed on the planet, and soon there would be a battle that the Goa’uld would
regret entering; she had never come across a foe as formidable as the Furlings,
nor the Teyu’peh, who resided in the forests where
Hera had been forced to land her fleet. Thousands of the cumbersome Unas would be easily destroyed by these ferocious
creatures; their claws, sharp as talons of the fiercest bird of prey and
mounted on the most muscular of limbs, capable of tearing the arm from an Unas without much effort.
“Soon, they will discover what it is to have true enemies,” Aiestrodous
said. His kin stood around him in a symbolic circle, lowering their heads as if
to pray; yet nothing so divine could ever reside in such soulless creatures, who, had the Goa’uld ever bothered to learn of, would
certainly have been a foe never to be challenged in open combat.
The history of this incredibly resilient being
stretched back before the Goa’uld, before the Ancients and the Asgard. Only one
race could boast the longevity of the Furlings, and they were the Sengo’lians.
These two races had evolved on planets not dissimilar, yet their
achievements in survival and the ability to maintain had been remarkably
different. Where the Sengo’lians had possessed a power that would keep their
foes far away, the Furlings need for the sustenance they lived upon meant their
nourishment required proximity to life, with that proximity had come a culling
of the worst sort; many of the pure bloods had been destroyed by heat and
weapons of mass destruction wielded by the Goa’uld, who had colonised many of
the planets they lived on. Aiestrodous, like many of the true Furlings, had
been forced to create his own colonies. If those could be reunited, perhaps the
Furlings could once again sustain a limited population on planets that O’Neill
had planned to designate for them as home worlds.
Perhaps then, they could once again breed descendants, and the possibility
of hibernation for great periods to promote the re-growth of their cellular
structures would ensure that they were indeed immortal.
Aiestrodous turned to see Martouf returning with Maya.
The Tok’ra smiled. “Thank you for your consideration, Lord Aiestrodous,”
he said.
“Before this battle is ended, you will have cause to remember those
words!” Aiestrodous told him. “Maya, prepare for the arrival of the Unas, and the one that believes she can face us in flesh
and blood and survive.”
Maya bowed his head. “My lord,” he acknowledged. “Come, we prepare.” He
beckoned for the followers of Aiestrodous to follow, leaving the Furling and
the Tok’ra alone.
“If these Unas are so fearful, would it not
have been wise for you to have weapons?” Martouf enquired, clearly disturbed by
the impending battle and what might be the consequences.
“We need no weapons, ours are eternal and lethal, ours
are part of us. We are able to move amongst our enemy without their awareness
of our presence, until we render them mere piles of bones!” Aiestrodous stated.
“Fear not, mortal, for these are true mortals who require technology to sustain
a prolonged life. The Furlings are immortals, true gods in the sense that the
Goa’uld will never be.”
Martouf raised his eyebrows. “Those are bold and notable words,” he said.
“I must again acknowledge my humbleness in such a presence.”
“If O’Neill were here, he would respond thus, Martouf, there is nothing
that can deserve to be so mighty as to be humbling of any other being - only
those that need to be feared and respected.”
“I have a feeling Colonel O’Neill wouldn’t have put it quite so
eloquently, nor politely,” Martouf replied, a smile crossing his face that
seemed to migrate to his companion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colonel Jack O’Neill didn’t look quite as old as the last time Vidrine
had seen him. “So, taking over, hah?” he remarked as he walked through the
Stargate.
“Same Jack O’Neill,” Vidrine observed, making no attempt to hide his
disdain.
“Yeah, well I’ve been elevated to the role of God since you last saw me,
not sure even the President can overrule that one, Samuel,” Jack commented, a
wry smile crossing his sardonic features. “But since you’re keen to try, wanna
tell me why you’re taking an interest in this command suddenly?”
Maybourne nodded his approval at the clone’s ability to assume the role
of his flesh and blood counterpart. Even if he hadn’t been altogether sure what
was going on, the information Major Carter had sent through prior to Vidrine
getting access to the master computer had proved invaluable.
“The President feels the Pentagon needs more control,” Vidrine stated,
ushering the clone towards the exit from the embarkation room. “I didn’t think
you’d object.”
“Oh, I don’t object, Samuel,” Jack patronised. “In fact, take command,
let me know when you want me to blow shit up, until then, do me a favour and
don’t wake me up. I haven’t slept for weeks!”
Vidrine’s surprise at O’Neill’s lack of concern was obvious; he had
expected an argument, at the very least a dozen reasons why he should be in
control.
“Well, you surprise me, Colonel,” he remarked.
“I know, I get that a lot,” O’Neill retorted, a glance toward Maybourne.
“Care to show me where the latest four star facilities are since the changes to
this place?”
“Not at all, Jack, it will be my pleasure, assuming I’m excused, General?” he enquired of Vidrine.
The man nodded, still surprised at O’Neill’s acquiescence.
“Nice,” Maybourne remarked as the two men walked along corridor B7. “I
must confess the blowing up shit even convinced me I was looking at the real
McCoy!”
O’Neill stopped. “Look, I might be a damn android, Maybourne, but I’ve
got everything he had, with the exception of having some hooky, mindbenders in
my head, so quit with the thumbs up and apple pie crap, okay?”
“Quitting!” Maybourne confirmed. “I
think he’s involved with some pretty influential folks in attempting to set up
Jack, he and Jacob Carter!”
“Jacob?” the clone looked surprised. “I thought he was Sam’s dad?”
“He is, doesn’t mean he isn’t also influenced by his snake,” Maybourne
replied, gesturing for O’Neill to enter the elevator before him. “He’s
involved, Carter told me, and I have to tell you, I’m extremely surprised.”
“Hey! He’s got a snake in his head, what’s to be surprised about?”
O’Neill commented.
Maybourne shook his head. “No, I’m not surprised about that, I’m
surprised Sam trusted me enough to tell me her suspicions!”
O’Neill nodded. “Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed. “Shocker!”
“Believe it or not, your other self and I have a degree of trust now,”
Maybourne told the clone. “I’ve come a long way, Jack, I’ve done a lot of
things, but I think by and large I’ve redeemed my former indiscretions!”
“Sweet, because I was beginning to wonder if I should shower or not,” the
clone retorted, a smile briefly lighting up his face.
“Funny,” Maybourne responded, leading the way toward the guest rooms on
level twenty-four.
“What’s the plan?” O’Neill’s clone enquired as the two men entered the
salubrious quarters normally set aside for VIPs.
“We wait, see what they do and who’s involved,” Maybourne told him.
“We’ve got a few reserves standing by that they’re not aware of, even with
their little probes watching from on high, we’re ready for anything that they
might send our way.”
“Sweet, I was beginning to think that we’d be waiting a while,” the clone
responded.
Maybourne tried not to smile, but it was difficult. O’Neill had that
affect on him often, which was a whole lot better than the previous effect of
making him nervous.
“He’s already been down to Hathor and Nirrti,
which makes me suspicious as to what exactly he’s up to on that score,”
Maybourne remarked.
“Oh, she’s here is she?” Jack’s eyes lit up. “Wanna have some fun?”
Maybourne regarded the clone with intrigue. “What did you have in mind?”
he asked, a devilish smile crossing his bearded face.
“I think I can probably find out exactly who’s in bed with whom,” the
clone replied. “Without too much trouble if she thinks I’m the other guy.”
“I’m with you, and since we’re both free to move around as we see fit,
why not!” Maybourne concurred.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The image that flitted across the viewer made Makepeace double take,
unsure if a ship had passed by at sub-light speed, or if he were seeing those
spooky things that often appeared in his eyes yet didn’t seem to exist when his
fingertip probed for it.
Stuart regarded him. “Something up?” he enquired.
“Aside from sleep deprivation?” Makepeace
remarked. “Nope! Although, I could have sworn
something went past that damn window thing.”
Stuart was immediately on his feet. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know,” Makepeace retorted, he felt a little irritated and
couldn’t quite put his finger on why.
“Robert, maybe you should get some sleep,” Stuart suggested. “You’re worse
than my wife at the wrong time of the month!”
“That’s sexist, and bullshit, by the way,” Makepeace snapped. “Women are
far worse.”
“Is there anything on the sensors?” Stuart enquired.
“Nothing,” Makepeace confirmed, studying the console before him. “Damn
Goa’uld technology, we need an interface for our own units.”
“Makepeace, are you receiving, come in?”
“Major Carter, receiving you loud and clear, what’s
the situation with Jacob? Are we waiting, or are we heading
out?” Makepeace enquired.
“Colonel, there’s been a change of plan, we need you to continue to orbit
Earth until further notice,” Carter told him.
“Major, I’m not sure you’re clear what Colonel O’Neill asked us to do
here,” Makepeace asserted, “orbiting Earth wasn’t it!
“Sir, I can’t explain further, possible situation concerning
infiltration, you’re needed here,” Carter replied instantly.
Stuart nodded at Makepeace. “She sounds a little stressed; we ought to
find out what’s going on the covert way!”
“Major, heard and understood, we’re standing by for further
instructions,” Makepeace said, a slow single nod of agreement with Stuart. “We
have anything that can get you down there without anyone seeing?”
“I have no idea, we could check it out,” Makepeace said. “If we can’t
figure it out, we’ll get hold of O’Neill, he’ll know what to do.”
“How are we meant to get hold of O’Neill, exactly?” Stuart enquired, a
rueful expression crossing his face.
“Trust me when I say, right about now he’ll know what’s going on, and
he’s probably finding a way to deal with it,” Makepeace retorted.
Stuart shook his head. “Whilst I share your enthusiasm for Jack’s ability
to deal with shit, I have a feeling he’s busy with the Sengo’lian
issue right now, Robert, so maybe we should find a way to deal with this
problem ourselves.”
Makepeace shook his head. “I thought fighting these fuckers out in space
was bad enough, but having them right on our doorstep? That pisses me off!”
“I heard that!” Stuart agreed. “So, shall we see if we can get a look see
down there, or shall we stay put and rely on Carter?”
“I think we should sit tight, wait until we’re certain we need to deal
and then go deal… if something happens up here, we’re the only ones dealing
with it!”
The two men stared toward Earth. The force shield, window-like in its presence,
allowed them the view that many would have marvelled at, but it wasn’t a time
to marvel. Colonel Robert Makepeace held his breath and prayed; he wasn’t a
god-fearing man, but still, it couldn’t hurt to put a word in with what was
supposed to be the most powerful force in the known universe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heru’ur regarded the daughter of his nemesis, now implanted with Tawaret, his genetically engineered mate. “It is time you
were in control of this host, my love,” he asserted, raising Iceni’s head with
his fingertips, lifting her chin. “Tell me, Tawaret,
how long must I wait to finally realise part of a destiny that has been so long
in the making? How long can she possibly hold your will at bay?”
Iceni’s incredibly immense blue eyes stared at him; the sudden glow of
the Goa’uld within made those eyes irresistible to him. “You are indeed a
master worthy of servitude,” she said. “And yet I sense you do not believe I am
capable of providing you with the children you seek.”
“Did she tell you that?” Heru’ur countered. “Truly, these Ancients are
formidable adversaries, as we speak her long lost father seeks to reunite with
her, and you are incapable of prevailing, you disappoint me, Tawaret.”
“Engineered for your pleasure and subservience, my lord, are you
surprised that I would be disappointed?” Tawaret
stated. “However, I would rather be at your side than under your feet, give me
time to subdue this host fully, and she will betray her kind as you have never
seen before.”
Heru’ur’s arrogant regard offered a smile. “She cannot make him
acquiesce, but she can give him something to think about whilst we plan the
final battles with all that dare to oppose us!”
Tawaret bowed her head. “Take your
pleasure, my lord, there is time enough for battle,” she suggested, fingertips
running tantalisingly up and down the body of her host. “Would it not be a true
victory to bring this body to your pleasure and will, to implant your seed
inside, and with it create a child that would truly possess the knowledge of
both the Ancients and the power to enter the mind of her creator? She will be
your gateway to him, you will offer his services to these men that believe they
are greater than the Goa’uld, greater than Heru’ur, and you will truly have the
power, and when you are ready that power will destroy them all.”
Heru’ur seemed intrigued at that suggestion and a smile crossed his face
once more. “I never intended to breed with this creature,” he snarled. “That
pleasure will belong to the one that can control O’Neill, to the only one that
can truly fool him into bending his will, and when finally I unleash that, he
will blend with this host and they will destroy our enemies without having to
expend energy or even lift a delicate finger. He possesses more power than the
Ancients could ever harness and he will have his revenge!”
Tawaret moved back away from her master.
“What have you done? With whom have you made a pact, my lord?” she demanded,
her eyes filled with fear.
Heru’ur’s surly expression became a victorious glower. “I will unleash a
force more powerful than any other in the universe, the darkest side of the
Sengo’lians. O’Neill has met them in the past, they are the Hyksos,
a foe so feared by the Ancients that they were locked in solitude on three
planets, only one managed to survive and they want to meet their former
nemesis! The nemesis that destroyed their leader, I have to ensure he is
nowhere near to Ancients technology when they meet. It will be like tossing him
into the depths of hell, and when they destroy his planet, he will know that I
will never be trifled with again by the Tau’ri.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The alert that sounded on the ships for proximity woke Darnell with a
start. He checked all the instruments in front of him. “What the heck is going
on?” he demanded, remembering to switch on the communication device and ask a
second time in order to get a response.
“Well, I think it’s probably Baal’s fleet,” Daniel Jackson’s clone
remarked. “They’re a few thousand light years out, so I guess the system
figured a warning was in order. Maybe if you hadn’t been sleeping you’d have
noticed.”
“I need sleep, Daniel, I’m not made of plastic
and circuitry!” Darnell retorted. “We stand a chance in an open fight?”
“Yeah, you lack a sense of humour too!” the clone growled.
“So would you if you felt as damn uncomfortable as I do. How the heck do
I put this thing on autopilot so I can at least shake off the snake?” Darnell
complained.
“Not our job to destroy Baal,” Carter told them. “It’s our job to make
them think we’re launching an assault, engage them, and keep them busy whilst
the Jaffa put paid to their Stargate networks.”
“It makes sense, I guess, so we’re not gonna take out the snake?”
“No, sir,” Carter responded. “We’re here to make sure no one else does!”
Darnell considered this for a moment. “We’re not… and we are?” he echoed.
“Let’s just say, Colonel O’Neill doesn’t want Baal dead just yet, he has
other plans for him,” Daniel’s clone told him. “So, we keep his fleet busy,
like Sam said.”
“Okay, but I have to say, these strategies make no sense to me
whatsoever,” Darnell complained. “In my day we just blasted the shit out of the
enemy and didn’t make deals with them.”
“Maybe that’s why your ‘day’ isn’t exactly covered with glory,” Daniel’s
clone retorted curtly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hathor glared at the two SFs as the door opened
to her cell, which in fact was a secured room on the same level O’Neill’s clone
had been taken to. She couldn’t believe her eyes as O’Neill entered, followed
by the man who had spent some time interrogating her before.
“Our beloved,” she greeted. “You have nerve to come before us after your
betrayal.”
“Ya think?” O’Neill’s clone retorted. “I’d have thought that one went
both ways, right?”
“Perhaps,” Hathor conceded. “What is it you desire from us now, simply to
have pleasure in our captivity?”
The clone shook his head, regarding Maybourne for a moment. “How the hell
does he put up with this?” he enquired, his voice lowered sufficiently to
prevent the Goa’uld queen from hearing him.
“Jack’s amazingly resilient,” Maybourne told him.
“So, let’s do some fast talking on the problems you’ve got, and how what
you know might help you out here,” the clone began, moving to one of the two
chairs that were pushed under a plain wooden table. “Like, why is Heru’ur
pretending he’s going for the Sengo’lians when we both know he doesn’t have the
technology or the know how to negate them, or the black hole?”
Hathor regarded the colonel with disdain. “We are not here to satisfy
your curiosity,” she snapped. “Your lack of knowledge in these matters,
however, does intrigue us.”
The door opened, causing all three occupants to look at the intruder.
Jacob Carter stood there. “We’ve got to get out of here now,” he warned.
“Something’s in space and it isn’t something our defences can repel. They’ve
taken out the Asgard satellites!”
Maybourne looked at O’Neill; the man nodded. “Let’s go,” he ordered.
“What about her?” Jacob asked.
“She’s going with,” Maybourne stated. “Right, Jack?”
The clone looked at the former NID man as if he were nuts. “What?”
Maybourne moved closer to the clone. “Look, we need information from her,
whether you like it or not, your other self wouldn’t just leave her here to
perish!”
“I’m not him!” the clone protested. “But if you insist, bring her!”
“Nirrti?” Maybourne
enquired as the four made their way past her holding room.
“Leave her!” O’Neill snarled. “She’s got it coming!”
Hathor’s disdain was wiped from her face; she could admire such callous
need for revenge, it matched her own lust for destruction. She was wary of the
Tok’ra, even if she knew he had been complicit with Heru’ur and the plans to
restrain her beloved, his desires had been more understandable to her than
those of Heru’ur, who could not possibly have been foolish enough to believe
any force could contain the Sengo’lians. Their ability to overwhelm any foe
with a power of thought and control was unmatched.
Carter waited at the embarkation room, ready to dial the coordinates for
the new Alpha site, where most of the command had already been evacuated. The
defences were already failing, most of NORAD’s upper
levels had been destroyed, half of the
“Has Vidrine already gone through?” Maybourne enquired as they reached
Carter.
“No, sir, he’s in his office,” she replied.
“Good, because if he tries, I’ll have to shoot him,” Maybourne commented.
“Major Davis says it’s all clear on the other
side,” Carter informed them, as they made their way to the gate. She paused for
a moment, looking at Hathor and noting the clone’s dismay at being so close to
the Goa’uld. “Why’s she coming?” she demanded.
“Major, stand down!” O’Neill’s
clone snapped. “Now’s not the time for a catfight.”
Carter looked furious for a second, but restrained herself admirably,
much to the amusement of Maybourne. “It’s finally happening,” he said, as they,
like many other personnel waited to go through the gate. “We’ve finally
destroyed this planet.”
“We didn’t do this,” O’Neill’s clone snapped. “They did this. Whoever the
hell it is behind the power mongers on Earth, and out there, whoever it was
that made a deal with the damn Goa’uld.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Jacob Carter cautioned. “Hopefully they’ll
limit the destruction to the
“And maybe they won’t,” the clone stated. “Kinda late for worrying about
it, don’t ya think?”
The flood of people going through the gate to the Alpha site was
beginning to ease. Maybourne finally had his feet on the ramp leading to the
wormhole. He looked back, a sadness in his eyes that was now resonating
throughout those left.
“I can’t believe this,” Carter said, disgust in her voice.
“Why, my dear? Did you not realise that you had meddled in the affairs of
the gods and what would result?” Hathor challenged.
“Shut up!” O’Neill’s clone snarled. “This has nothing to do with gods,
you’re just a damn snake in a human body, get over yourself!”
Maybourne couldn’t muster a smile, even if he felt like it. He took
another last glance back at the control room, an empty control room, before he
walked through the event horizon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colonel Richard Dyson’s jet spun out of control. Watching the burning
below him, he hadn’t seen the object that he’d collided with, he couldn’t see
anything at all, even when there had been calm just before the Pentagon seemed
to burst into flames, the entire octagonal building simultaneously disappearing
in a ball of white heat. He felt dizzy, unable to get his bearings, he could
hear himself calling the mayday hail, feel the stick in his hands, but he
couldn’t control the plane, and then it stopped, the plane simply stopped
spinning and hung in the air as if held by some invisible force.
Dyson held his breath for a moment, keeping his eyes firmly on his
instrument panel. “Holy Mary, mother of God!” he yelled. The relief of suddenly
returning to some form of control washed over him in an almost euphoric state.
His eyes began readjusting, his mind asserting itself on his thought
process. “Halo 32, come in please?”
Nothing, no response, not even the other jet was in sight now. He took
another deep breath, mindful not to hyperventilate. “Okay, why am I not moving
at all?” he enquired, speaking only to himself and anyone else that might have
been on comms and unable to respond.
He decided on the only course of action he could think of to free himself
of whatever seemed to be holding him; he brought his weapons system online. A
short burst from his guns should do it. Before the weapons could engage, the
plane began to ascend toward the heavens, vertical lift, yet he could see
nothing at all, and now nothing at all on the plane worked.
“Oh shit!” he exclaimed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vidrine stood at the console in the control room of the SGC, a smile
sweeping his features. “We made a deal,” he told his adjutant. “That deal just
got everyone off this base we didn’t want here.”
“Sir, why are they attacking the Pentagon and the White House, they’ve
both been destroyed,” Captain Lewis replied.
“President wasn’t in either facility, Captain, now we have absolute
power, because whilst the President is incommunicado we will make the necessary
decisions to keep the rest of this great nation safe.” Another smile crossed
the man’s face. “A little revolution now and again is a healthy thing, don’t
you agree?”
The captain, although he looked dubious, nodded his agreement. “When does
it begin, sir?” he asked.
“Oh, once we’ve changed all the codes, managed to get all the defence
systems in place, then we begin the restructure of planet Earth in the vision
of the Coalition!” Vidrine told him. “A few months and everything we’ve ever
wanted will be achieved. The Russians will be completely out of the loop, and
our British allies will be thankful we negotiated a truce before the aliens
began their global attack.”
Lewis nodded his approval. “Nice deal, sir, kill all those pigeons with
one stone!”
“With one well aimed stone most things can be brought down,” Vidrine
replied. “Now, let’s get our people in and sort this country out.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Makepeace watched in complete disbelief as many parts of the
“We can’t just sit here and do nothing,” he snapped.
Colonel Stuart lowered his eyes. “Robert, we’d just be part of that
destruction, what good would that do Earth? What good would the sacrifice of
this bit of technology that we might be able to use in the liberation of Earth,
do us exactly?” he asked.
Makepeace knew he was right but still something inside him didn’t want to
watch without at least attempting to aid those millions of people he had sworn
to defend.
It went against every thing inside him to sit by, do nothing, and know
how many people were being sentenced to death and worse.
“We need to get O’Neill now more than ever,” he stated. “How the hell did
they get past us?”
“I know,” Stuart agreed. “I’m not altogether sure how we do that though,
are you?”
“Nope,” Makepeace replied.
“O’Neill’s clone was quite specific about the not interfering, something
else is going on here and I don’t think we’re in any position to deal with it,
I’ve never seen those ships before,” Stuart stated, watching the smaller,
crystal like vessels darting from the main ship and disappearing into Earth’s
atmosphere. The viewing capabilities of the ship they were on was the only way
they could see the destruction these vessels meted out, strictly on US soil; a
thorough scan had revealed that no other country had been targeted. “This is
too well orchestrated,” he added, glancing back at the concerned features of
his colleague. “I say we head for the Alpha site, something’s wrong here,”
Stuart added.
“Alpha site,” Makepeace agreed. He emitted a heavy sigh; the sadness and
concern etched into his weather-beaten features. “There’s gonna be time enough
to kick ass when we get this new ship O’Neill’s gone to find.”
As the two men looked once more at the bleak destruction of their
country, both were drawn to something curious; a fighter jet was ascending into
space, the pilot still in the cockpit. Makepeace trained the visual sensors on
the object and projected the image fifty times larger.
“What the hell?”
“Beam him out or something,” Stuart suggested.
Makepeace looked at the console; the notes
The surprised pilot fell on his backside in the middle of bridge. He
looked up at Stuart and Makepeace who were already moving across. “Lieutenant
Colonel Richard Dyson,” he said quickly.
“There’s no need to identify the rank or the serial number, Colonel,
we’re friendlies,” Makepeace told him. “And, before
we start answering your questions, we’ve gotta get our butts out of here!”
Dyson glanced from one man to the other. “I guess you had to be there,
hah?” he remarked.
Stuart nodded. “And then some.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack sat on the floor by the
console. His shoulder was still bleeding; even with the energy he had used to
dislodge and remove the bullet, he had not been able to prevent the bleed.
There was something curious about the psychic ability to heal; it seemed
less attuned than normal and it seemed to take so much more effort recently.
Another concerted effort to prevent the bleeding failed, causing him to exhale
loudly and petulantly.
“You okay?” Daniel enquired, shaking his head in dismay.
“I’m not sure,” the colonel confided. “I’ve lost contact with Iceni,
she’s silent.”
“She said that about you once, Jack,” Daniel confided. “She believed
you’d deliberately closed off communications with her.”
“I had,” Jack stated.
“Maybe she’s done the same,” Daniel offered.
“Why, so I don’t have to listen to the snake?” Jack retorted bitterly. “If
you ask me, she’s lost the battle, Daniel.”
“You are always such a pessimist,” Daniel charged, shaking his head in
dismay. “Remember the optimistic, warrior ‘I always get us out of this
situation’ Jack O’Neill, where did he go, Jack?”
“He’s sat here, Daniel, he’s just not looking through those rosy tinted
glasses you wear so well!”
“Hurting?”
“Hell yeah, it’s hurting, a bullet hurts, Daniel, like one of those
ribbon devices, only sharper and longer since it breaks the skin, tears the flesh,
rips the muscle and hits the bone, aches like hell and stings in the process,”
Jack explained slowly. “So, on a scale of one to ten, I don’t really feel like
being very optimistic just now, D. To top it all off, Heru’ur’s position
doesn’t lead me to believe he’s even considering a black hole trip, and
something’s very out of whack with the whole cosmic telepathy aspect right now
and that’s a little disconcerting, never known these boys to be so worried.”
O’Neill shrugged, wincing immediately. “I don’t know,” he sighed. “It’s
all getting kinda monotonous, I mean, for crying out loud, how damn many bad
guys can there be out here?”
The archaeologist didn’t respond, biting his bottom lip. He understood
just how frustrating and perplexing the situation was for them both; most were
happy in the knowledge that there was no life out there and nothing to threaten
them aside from the stupidity of other human beings. It would probably destroy
the order of things if the happy existence of everyday humanity found out that
extremists were not the biggest threat. Yet they dealt with it every single
minute of every day, now for almost eight years the SGC had been fighting to
keep the balance.
“It’s getting tedious?” he asked finally.
“No, Daniel, it doesn’t get tedious defending your country or your
planet, it can be a little wearing sometimes, especially when you’re fighting
on all fronts,” Jack replied. “I’m sick of the acceptance of these guys
operating with impunity and screwing things up with their damn conspiracies.”
The archaeologist regarded O’Neill with intrigue. “Something you didn’t
want to tell me?” he asked.
“Just something I wasn’t sure about, Daniel, except there’s a lot of
confusion right now in the Sengo’lians, something’s darker than normal, and
they’re beginning to sense a presence that might be a little more potent than
dealing with the Goa’uld. They think it’s familiar, they think it’s relative, and they think I’m probably in grave danger,”
Jack told him. “Aside from that, nothing I could tell you, Daniel.”
Daniel heaved a heavy sigh. His mood began to darken again. Looking at
the colonel, he could see how easily the man might find the whole scenario
repetitive; both had been here far too often for their own liking.
“So, we pick ourselves up,” he began, standing, offering O’Neill a
helping hand. “And we get going, right?”
Jack took his hand and got to his feet. “We do,” he concurred. “Let’s
deal with these bastards one at a time, starting with H!” A wry smile crossed
the man’s face. “Once more unto the breach!” he added.
Daniel’s eyebrows climbed higher into his forehead. “You’d better be
careful, Jack,” he advised. “You’ll end up speaking in clichés!”
O’Neill shuddered. “Oh yeah, that’s gotta be avoided,” he remarked.
“Right up there with quoting Nixon!”
“What are you planning on doing with Hooper?”
“I figure he’s gonna start whining soon, tell me all about how I’ve
betrayed Earth, and then of course there’s gonna be some diatribe about how the
coalition is right, and then he’ll probably go the other way… er, excuse the pun!”
Daniel’s eyes rolled heavenward. “Excused,” he retorted instantly.
“Anyhow, I figure he is probably gonna be a pain in the ass, and I don’t
think trusting him ever is an option…”
“Why? Just because he’s been misled, doesn’t mean he can’t see…”
“What, the light?” Jack mocked. “Gimme a break, D, there is not a chance
in hell he’s gonna believe that the people, generals, and all that he trusted,
lied to him,” Jack continued. “Just doesn’t happen, and we don’t have time to
hold his hand and show him the error of his ways… besides, who says in his
world he’s wrong?”
“We can’t just dump him off somewhere,” he argued.
“Daniel, will you just… stop!” Jack snapped.
“No, you’re doing that not listening thing you do,” Daniel countered. “He
could be useful.”
“Toilet cleaner?”
“Jack!”
“Oh come on, Daniel, I don’t have the patience or the inclination to
explain myself to him… or you for that matter, so you wanna play ‘mister
reasonable’, go ahead, be my guest, just please don’t ask me to join in!”
Jack watched him leave. “That’s because I don’t trust others!” he
commented, concentrating once more on dealing with the injury that was still
causing a great deal of discomfort to him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maybourne turned quickly, rounding on Jacob Carter, missile-like in his
accuracy. “You did what?” he snarled, the rage barely concealed.
“I thought we were doing the right thing,” Jacob argued.
“Sending a message to Baal is hardly the right thing,” Maybourne
countered furiously.
“I didn’t expect he’d intercept a message I was sending to Thor,” Jacob
retorted, his glance toward his daughter. “Believe me I had no idea Baal could
intercept it!”
“Going on your past record,” O’Neill’s clone responded with dismay. “It
might be a stretch, Jake!”
Jacob Carter lowered his head, his eyes immediately announcing Selmak’s arrival to the verbal conflict. “General
Maybourne, I assure you it was not Jacob’s doing that I agreed a truce with
certain factions in order to gain control of O’Neill’s power, obviously had I
known that there was complicity with the Goa’uld I would not have done so, so
please, believe me when I tell you that Jacob did not intend for that message
to be intercepted, in fact, he need not have mentioned it at all, the Tau’ri’s communications are not exactly secure!”
“Alright, let’s not get into a ‘who’s in the wrong and who’s in the
deeper wrong!’” O’Neill’s clone asserted. “It’s just a shame, Selmak, that you
didn’t give Jacob’s knowledge of the wonder of human nature more consideration,
thus we’re all in deeper shit!”
“I admit in my haste I did set aside Jacob’s concerns, something I will
not do again!” Selmak conceded.
“Thanks, but right about now is it possible we can come up with something
that might get a message to the other guy about the deep shit he’s about to be
in?” the clone enquired, looking from Jacob to Carter, and then to Maybourne. “Anyone?”
Carter regarded O’Neill’s clone. “Maybe we could work something out,
sir,” she suggested.
“I’m not technical, even being a damn clone doesn’t give me the kind of
mind that might have the faintest idea about communications, Carter,” the clone
retorted.
“I’ll help,” Selmak’s
voice rose above the mêlée. “It is my fault, I should rectify
it.”
“I thought you said it was Jake’s fault?”
“I must of course, as a part of this, share some responsibility,” Selmak
argued. “Therefore I will do whatever I can to alert O’Neill without actually
giving away our position to Baal, or Heru’ur for that
matter.”
“Sweet, Sam, you and Jacob can work on that, Maybourne and I will do our
best to make sure there are no more unpleasant surprises in all this!” the
clone stated.
“Colonel O’Neill.”
Jack turned to see Major Davis stood to attention in front of him. “Nope,
but close enough,” he replied. “What can I do for you?”
“Er, not sure who’s in command here,”
“He is,” Maybourne replied, a wry grin crossing his whiskered face.
“What?”
“I am?” the clone enquired. “How’d ya figure?”
“You’re the guy,” Maybourne told him. “Besides, if I start giving orders
over your head, people are going to realise that you’re…”
The clone’s features wore a grimace. “Right, that they are,” he agreed.
“So, Major, the in charge guy, at your service.”
“Nice,” O’Neill’s clone responded. “Good going, Harry, we can always use
those guys! Narim here?”
“Yes, sir, he’s working with the scientists in the bunker, Tollan was
wiped out over four hours ago, nothing left, whatever hit that place had
firepower better than anything we’ve ever seen from the Goa’uld. It took out
their defensive technology in minutes,”
“Major, are you trying to tell me we don’t have the beds, showers, food,
or the beer to go around?” O’Neill probed, showing once again his lack of
patience for dithering.
“We don’t have the facilities, heat, power, food, yes, sir,”
“Okay, first order of business, since Carter’s busy, get Makepeace and
Stuart to go on a little forage for some supplies, until we can contact the
other guy, we’re in a limbo here!” the clone stated. “So, let’s go about this
like we got a purpose.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel regarded Hooper as he entered the cell outside which Coburn sat
vigilantly. The man sat on the floor in the corner of the fully white cell; the
panels convex, yet still this did not deter from the stagnation of the
surroundings.
“What do you want?” Hooper questioned; his bright blue eyes less than
pleased to see the archaeologist.
“I was hoping you’d calmed down actually,” Daniel replied.
“You’re stupid to come in here alone,” Hooper warned, getting to his feet
and wiping his hands against his buttocks as if dusting them off.
“Oh?”
“I’m trained to kill with my bare hands,” the man asserted.
“Really,” Daniel’s reaction was dismissive. Both men knew Hooper wouldn’t
harm him; he couldn’t, no matter how angry he felt. “So, aside from threats,
have you actually had time to contemplate why you’re in here?”
“Because you betrayed me, that’s why I’m in
here,” Hooper snapped.
“Oh, come on,” Daniel countered. “Doesn’t it strike you odd that everyone
that knows Jack is fiercely loyal to him, that most people, and aliens for that
matter, would die rather than let any harm come to him?” His eyebrows danced
into his forehead as if to underline the point.
“Because you’ve all been brainwashed by those aliens that control him,”
Hooper argued. “You can’t see it because you’re brainwashed.”
Daniel’s expression became askant. “I’m going to pretend you have some
level of reasoning,” he said, his tone low and deliberate. “Why hasn’t he
brainwashed you?”
Hooper regarded the man for a moment, shaking his head. “Because I’m
aware of his duplicity with the aliens, I’ve got…”
“If he’s as powerful as you believe, able to control everyone around him,
and those thousands of light years away,” Daniel stated. “Then why is it he
can’t get beyond your incredibly astute brain? Mark, you’ve got to admit that
it doesn’t actually make sense that Jack’s managed to brainwash everyone he
wants to with the exception of whoever it is behind this attempted coup and…”
“They want to kill the President, destroy the Russians, and basically
take over Planet Earth,” Hooper stated, lowering his eyes away from Daniel’s
surprised expression.
“Kill the President?” he echoed.
Hooper took a deep breath. He turned away from the archaeologist and
pounded his fists against the white panels. “I don’t believe it… you’re right,
I’m stupid,” he confessed. “They had me believing the same rhetoric that caused
the cold war. I spent a lifetime getting my damn commission, a lifetime making
something of myself, and I was sold out by the same bullshit that scared half
of
Daniel’s apologetic expression didn’t go unnoticed; Hooper offered him a
less than self assured smile. Reticence seemingly buried in the very fibre of
the man.
“Look, Jack’s not in any mood to trust anyone right now,” he told the
marine.
Hooper shook his head. “I’m surprised he didn’t just kill me and have
done with it,” he remarked, obviously feeling slightly sorry for himself. “Maybe I wouldn’t feel so damn pathetically stupid
right now if he had.”
Daniel tried not to smile. “You wouldn’t be feeling anything at all,
you’d be dead,” he offered.
“Stupid!” Hooper said. “See!”
“You’re not the first one to believe something in defence of his
country,” Daniel told him. “You won’t be the last either.”
“How did he know?” Hooper asked, getting closer to Daniel now, feeling a
little more confident that the archaeologist was beginning to warm to him.
“Jack?”
“Yeah, how’d he know there was something wrong?”
“He has an uncanny ability to utilise senses that most have allowed to
lie dormant for centuries,” Daniel responded. “And you’re not playing me very
well.”
Hooper moved back, shaking his head once more. “I wasn’t playing you, I was trying to ascertain if you were still playing me…
Look I know we totally got off on the wrong foot…”
“You and he won’t be getting off at all,” O’Neill said pointedly. “And
just so we’re clear, Hooper, I can read you like a book on this ship because it
amplifies everything you feel and think. It amplifies it because the ship is
sensitive to human nature on account of the way the controls link to your
mind.”
“Sir, I didn’t mean to call you a traitor,” Hooper said, moving toward
Daniel once more.
Jack’s smile stopped as quickly as he moved across the room and threw
Daniel aside, his hands instantly in position; Hooper’s neck was snapped before
the man’s body hit the ground.
“Ship’s pretty impressive,” he told
“He wasn’t worth it, Doctor Jackson,” he said. “He was going to kill
you.”
“How could you have known that?” Daniel asked Coburn, stopping to regard
the man.
“Because if he wasn’t contemplating it, he’d have stayed where he was, he
wouldn’t have been stalking you around the cell, positioning himself for the kill, even I could see that, if Colonel O’Neill hadn’t
stepped in, I would have.”
The archaeologist nodded at the major; whether to acknowledge an
agreement or simply to thank him, Coburn didn’t know, but he seemed to look a
little more relieved than he had when O’Neill walked out.
Coburn took one last look at the body of his former colleague and
departed, following
Jack barely noticed him, or even acknowledged either man had entered the
bridge.
‘We are here.’
‘They are too, aren’t they?’
‘They have found a way from their prison, it is true, however, they lack
the power to do anything substantive, given, they have ships that are dangerous
and capable of destroying much, they cannot yet control or manipulate the minds
of others.’
‘Moving on you?’
‘They will attempt to do so, once they have destroyed you, your power, Ha’dai, is what prevents any living being from vanquishing
us, or you.’
‘My power?’
‘The knowledge your mind possesses, coupled with the life force of the Furlings,
has given you the ability to eradicate any foe if you so desire, however, that
power is also as dangerous to you, to your universe, and to all biological
creations, as it is benevolent.’
‘Ancients knew how to capture you and destroy you, but they didn’t, they
also didn’t destroy the Hyksos, did they?’
‘No. It is true, Ha’dai, they had no way of
distinguishing between our intentions. Where we strive to understand and exist,
the Hyksos strive to rule and dominate. Their
thoughts are dark, you felt the darker side of our thoughts yourself, when our
inquisitiveness became too great. That is why we are not dangerous to anyone, we have learnt to come back from that precipice. The
Hyksos never did, nor did they wish or desire to.’
“Jack?” Daniel’s voice.
O’Neill held his hand up to indicate for the archaeologist to be patient.
Coburn regarded the man. “Seems to be busy doing something, Doctor
Jackson,” he told Daniel.
“Yes, he is, he’s communicating with the Sengo’lians.”
‘So, how do we deal with them, want them out of the way?’
‘It is like destroying a part of ourselves, Ha’dai,
but then you are our salvation, it is your decision. However, know this, your desires may be tarnished by the desires of the
Ancient ones. They will caution against destruction, you must find your own
mind and reason what is best for you and for them.’
‘Yeah, they do like to preach!’
“Jack?”
O’Neill turned and looked at Daniel. “What?”
“Er, there’s a Goa’uld mothership on the
starboard bow, and I doubt we can scrape it off!”
O’Neill raised his eyebrows. “Was that a Star Trek thing?” he enquired.
“Don’t hardly have the time myself, Doctor Jackson,” Coburn responded.
Jack looked mildly irritated. “I watched Buffy!” he asserted indignantly.
Coburn looked surprised. “You did?”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Oh yes! I’m very fond of small blondes with
attitude, and vampires, love those!” he added mischievously.
Heru’ur’s image appeared on the screen in front of O’Neill and Jackson;
both men regarded that image with disdain.
“Hey, it’s snake boy!” Jack taunted. “Can’t say it’s
nice to see your face, H!”
“O’Neill, you might be surprised to know that I have come to offer you a
chance to save your planet,” Heru’ur said, a smirk covering his surly features.
“Surrender your vessel and your knowledge and I will call off my…”
“Save your breath,” Jack snapped. “There’s not a chance in hell I’m
handing this over to you, and the whole caper about attacking Earth, yeah I’m
aware you’ve destroyed several facilities, but you didn’t knock out the
Stargate, and if I’m not mistaken, your friends in the coalition still think
you’re good for the deal you made with them, right?”
“So,” Heru’ur countered, obvious in his expression that he had hoped to
take O’Neill by surprise and disappointed that the man obviously had some
knowledge of his plan. “You have worked out that we are in league with your
nemesis on Earth, are you also aware that I have your daughter?”
“Yep, getting old, care to tell me something I don’t know?” Jack
enquired.
Heru’ur took a deep breath. “I intend to destroy Hathor, in fact, if I am
not mistaken, she is already dead!”
“Yeah, I figured you’d have that little insurance policy in place,
anything else?”
“The woman that bore your child is dead!” Heru’ur snapped. “She died in
childbirth. The child however lived. It is a very resilient creature.”
Daniel felt O’Neill’s body tense, even standing four feet or more away
from the man he could feel the rage surging through him.
“You might wanna reconsider your allegiances and your threats,” the
colonel snarled. “The Hyksos aren’t controllable, H,
they’ll do whatever it is they want to do to get power, same as you, then
you’ll be feeling the full force of your allies, and I figure, why the hell not
let you just continue on and find out how painful death from within your own
mind can be!”
“You do not know the Hyksos as well as you
think, O’Neill,” Heru’ur retorted, his head held back now in the arrogant
manner he had made all his own, the gleaming golden armour worn proudly across
his broad chest. “They are power mongers, but before they can become all
powerful they need to deal with the one that imprisoned them, they need to draw
the life from their better selves, both of which will take a while. Whilst this
occupies them, I will be readying the weapon that you will give me to destroy
them.”
“Yeah,” Jack sighed. “That part of your plan is kinda flawed, don’t ya
think?”
“How so?” Heru’ur enquired.
“That actually requires me to give you this ship, which, if you go way
back to our first exchanges, is not gonna happen!”
“I think you will change your mind when you see how your children suffer
at my hand,” Heru’ur warned.
“See, we’re playing chess here,” Jack informed the Goa’uld, reflecting
the surly expression on his face. “Problem is, you just don’t realise I’ve
taken all your most important pieces.”
“I do not need to trifle with you further, I am not in any mood to give
you a verbal target, we both know you love the sound
of your own voice.”
“About as much as you do,” Jack replied. “So, I’m kinda bored with this,
do your worst, oh and don’t forget, the enemy of my
enemy is my friend!”
The Goa’uld’s expression altered slightly, before returning to his
arrogant sneer. “I will bring down such force upon you…”
Jack turned to Daniel. “Wasn’t that a line in Star Wars or something?” he
enquired. “Must be a ‘quote the famous movie’ day!”
Daniel looked at the colonel; he, unlike O’Neill wasn’t ready to jest,
even if for the sake of Heru’ur. “I’ve never seen it,”
“Oh yeah!” Jack responded, a smile at
Heru’ur, whose image was beginning to fade. “Very worried!”
“Hyksos?” Daniel
questioned immediately. “Jack, you knew, didn’t you?”
“I told you, I suspected…”
“That was why you mentioned the Teyu’peh,”
Daniel stated. “You had a feeling it was them, there’s nothing else in the
universe that might challenge the Sengo’lians, is there?”
“Daniel, they are the damn Sengo’lians,” Jack told him. “Remember the
dark side, that was where it came from, kinda like the Goa’uld and the Tok’ra,
good and bad, and the Hyksos are the bad… can’t wait
to meet the ugly!”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose slowly into his forehead. “There’s worse isn’t
there?”
Jack nodded. “Oh yes,” he said slowly. “There’s much worse. Hyksos derive their power from one, we kinda buried that
one, anyway, I figure they’re probably pissed at me, which also means they’re
gonna be losing the battle with the ‘we’s.”
“I’m sorry, the ‘we’s?” Daniel parodied.
“The ‘we are here’ mob, the Sengo’lians, Daniel, have they never done
that intrusion? That’s the announcement they make every damn time they want to
speak with me, ‘we are here’ gets on my damn nerves!”
“You’re choosing to share this now, you’re choosing to share that there’s
an attack happening on Earth right now, and mentioning how annoying your
benevolent friends are, why?” Daniel demanded looking slightly bemused with
O’Neill’s reasoning. “Jack I know it’s a little weird out here, but did you have to join it?”
“Daniel, just… don’t concern yourself with my
sanity, if I had any left, I’d have used the self destruct ages ago whilst I
was on the damn ship!” Jack countered, staring at
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aiestrodous rose to his full height, awesome in his stature; the far
smaller frame of Martouf stood to his left. “Are we certain that fighting so
closely is a good idea?” the Tok’ra enquired.
“Many battles have I won at such quarters,” Aiestrodous responded. “Her
beasts are not fearful to us. We will feed upon them just as surely as if they
were served to us. Stay close to me, Tok’ra, for your life depends on my
strength.”
Martouf did not need telling twice. Facing the hundreds of Unas that Hera had brought to the battle he felt
comparatively weak. Aiestrodous and his brethren however were eons old; knowing
how to defend against such brute force with stealth and guile that these
creatures would never match.
It would not be the slaughter Hera had hoped for; he knew this even if
the Goa’uld system lord did not. Soon the fields between them would run rich
with blood from her soldiers, from her dead and dying soldiers. With every
advance would come defeat, with every defeat the Furlings became stronger,
taking from the vanquished the strength and surging forward to once again vanquish. Martouf could not believe his eyes, these Furlings
were formidable foes, matched strength against guile and brutality, the Unas were no foe; they melted in death before him, their
life sucked from their bodies, heads severed from once proud necks. Never
before had the Unas faced a foe that could match their
own lust for carnage.
In their tens they fell before him, their blood covering his clothes as
it spurted from them, the teeth and claws of the Furlings slicing through their
thick hides without any resistance. The incredible and undeniable force of the
awesome in its perfection and cruelty; devastation such as this had not been
witnessed by any human eyes before. As surely as the sun would rise, Hera and
her armies would be slain.
Martouf stood away from Aiestrodous, marvelling at the passion with which
he fought, with the courage he witnessed. Surely the Unas
were mighty enough to withstand the onslaught of the Furlings, there were after
all only fifty or so, against hundreds of Unas, yet
there seemed to be so many more; the illusions they used to disorientate their
enemy incredible in conception.
Only one Furling had fallen and Martouf could see why, these creatures
fed from the very energy of the enemy; it was only when this one Furling had
been cut off from his brethren that he fell, and even then, Martouf could not
be sure he was truly dead. The same could not be said for the hundreds of
bodies that fell from Hera’s ranks.
Her Unas were weakened by the first encounter,
and yet she still believed the battle winnable. Aiestrodous moved through them as
if they did not exist, his lithe and statuesque frame towering over his
opponents, engulfing them in a shroud of illusion before allowing their emptied
shells to fall to the blood-sodden soil.
Hera’s eyes widened when she came face to face with the creature she had
believed she could defeat. His red piercing eyes were terrifying, the shrill
call from the depths of his throat caused her to freeze where she stood, never
had she heard such a shrill death knell as that she witnessed.
“Do you cede?” Aiestrodous asked of her.
Martouf could hear it as if he stood beside him, instead of held in some
form of abeyance above the fray.
“Do you recognise defeat or is it necessary for you to meet it head on?”
Hera lowered her head. She knew she could not defeat this creature; he
moved far too quickly and drank of her army as if they offered their blood to
him. “I cede to your victory,” she responded.
“Then it is done,” Aiestrodous said. His voice carried to every Furling
that fed on their dying enemy, and the bodies were cast aside immediately as
they gathered to his position, spirit-like in their movement, nymphs moving in
a dense mist that seemed to cover them and protect them from the mightier Unas. “Then we are done, you will be spared but you must
give your allegiance to O’Neill.”
“I have heard much of this O’Neill, he is so potent that he possesses
your loyalty?” the Goa’uld queen enquired.
“He is worthy of my loyalty, and far more powerful than you could ever
imagine,” Aiestrodous responded. “Speak now, for I will know if you lie.”
Hera bowed her head once more. “My pledge of allegiance is to you, and
therefore if you bid it, it will be to O’Neill also.”
“Then it is to O’Neill, listen well, for I will speak only once of this.
You are to go back to your ships, there take them to Earth, and protect it from
the oncoming storm. If you fail in this, your life will be forfeited.”
Hera stared into the eyes of this incredible creature. Unknowingly, she
had fallen into a trance induced by the power of his hold; his teeth embedded
into the veins of her host, and she could not feel it, now she would be in need
of him. She would never know that she had no more free will, for she would
never desire it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maybourne checked his watch. “How bad can it be?” he enquired, looking at
the clone. “We get your friends here… the other Sam and Daniel, and we deal
with that the only way we know how!”
“We blow shit up, or we deceive everyone and go sun ourselves on a beach
somewhere why they try and figure it out?” the clone retorted, a wry smile
crossing his face.
“Look, you clones are robots, which means you must have a pretty
impressive matrix of ‘stuff’ in there that could figure out ways and means to
save Earth from whatever the hell it is tearing it apart right now!” Maybourne
argued.
“Except, we can’t exactly get to Earth, Maybourne, we don’t have control
of the gate and even if we did, who’s to say that they’re not waiting for us?”
O’Neill’s clone response was met with disdain from the former NID man.
“So we do nothing?”
“That I didn’t say,” Jack responded. “What I said was, we’re not going to
be sitting ducks for whatever it is that decided to attack Earth, and judging
on what Carter senior said, it seems like someone on Earth instigated that
attack!”
Maybourne frowned. “Then we need to un-instigate
it, don’t we!”
“I agree, any ideas you have will be gladly received, Maybourne.”
The two sat facing each other with little regard for anyone else in the
room. “We use the ship the real O’Neill has and blow the place to hell,”
Maybourne suggested.
“Which place? It’s not like we even know who’s complicit in all this, or
where they got their damn allies from, because I gotta tell you, from what
Carter recorded of the attacks, those were not Goa’uld!”
“Not Goa’uld?” Maybourne echoed; he looked slightly bemused at that
revelation. “Swell, who else did you piss off whilst you and your original self
were out there?”
“Hey, don’t blame me! The other guy did all the pissing off!” the clone
protested, standing and pushing back the chair on which he sat. “I figure we’ve
got two choices here, we sit it out and wait for Colonel Disaster-breaker, or
we go use that ship Makepeace has and cause some trouble.”
Maybourne regarded O’Neill’s mechanical image and shook his head. “We
need to make a dent, Jack, before there’s nothing to dent!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I don’t understand,” Daniel responded. “How can you be sure they can’t
win?”
Colonel Jack O’Neill offered no such reassurances. A smile crossing his features,
he shrugged. “Daniel, you’ve just got to roll with it… Look, the Sengo’lians are billions of years old in many different forms. Ancients
probably got the idea of ascending from them. Look, I can’t tell this any
better than letting you know through me, from them, Daniel… try to keep up,
okay?”
‘Started out before there was anything except particles in the universe,
Earth’s barely formed, lots of mess and chaos and then there’s the Sengo’lians
- small, insignificant but intelligent, theey gathered and became one mind, even
when they were parted. Then nature and the universe decided that it was time
for biological life forms to be developed they survived, the Furlings came
about a little while after, about a thousand years after, and from many shapes
and forms until they ended up as you see them now, as you see Aiestrodous.
Just one problem with the galaxy, it wasn’t run by anyone, there wasn’t a
benevolent force deciding what was good and what was bad… there wasn’t any
order, and from no order came the chaos that slowly began to degrade the
environment the Sengo’lians developed in, so they took it upon their highly
developed senses to move around the galaxy and investigate matters, see if they
could find somewhere better for their race to thrive. Look around, see if there
was anything else out there - anyone else out there. Even though there were
thousands of them, they kinda thought with one mind. One single mind, and that was what made them so powerful, what made
them able to communicate and control over massive distances, they didn’t need
to traverse because their power came from searching within. From within they
found that outside was incredibly vast and undisturbed but for some biological
life forms, okay… I’ll shorten this, I’m beginning to
sound like you…
Ancients came along, didn’t know that anything aside from them, Asgard or
Furlings existed, all of them were kinda different, little grey guys, big scary
looking red-eyed… you get the picture, so, they started getting a little
clever. All the time the Sengo’lians have been
watching these births of different species fascinated with their ways, the
individual thoughts and actions. So, they decided to go introduce themselves.
Let’s just say their thoughts were completely overwhelming, and
unbeknownst to them, they kinda blew the minds of the Asgard, the Ancients …
Furlings didn’t actually interact because they could hear them, see, they’re
derived from the Sengo’lians, just like the Hyksos,
so they’re telepathic, it wasn’t something they shared, it was something they
hid because they knew the Ancients weren’t this all knowing race they pretended
to be - they were very elitist, unable to realise that within the universe many
things existed they couldn’t understand, they couldn’t control, it scared the shit
out of them, same as it scares the shit out of Earthlings now to think there’s
something out there that might be able to kick their asses… whether the out-theres would or not is irrelevant.’
“Jack, are you saying that the Ancients created the problem?” Daniel
enquired, the information spinning around his head, only able to stop as he
snatched parts of it, listening to O’Neill’s words in his head, over and over
until one part made sense; the Ancients were not as wonderfully benevolent as
he’d, as Jack had imagined.
‘Ancients aren’t as clever or as damn noble as they pretended to be. Or
maybe we just thought they were because, hell they knew so much more than we
did. Meeting your hero can always be a huge disappointment. So, anyway, they
decided on hiding these folks away, found out what could hold them and held
them. Knowledge isn’t always power, Daniel, sometimes it is stupidity borne of
arrogance. Sengo’lians only posed a threat because they couldn’t be heard by
the limited perspective of the Ancients. Aliens don’t seem to know their
limitations either. So, Hyksos were born, they
reflected, yes I heard what you said, they mirrored the worst elitist forms of
the Ancients that opposed them and they brought heaven and earth down on them,
Ancients weren’t the first to know how to control the elements, Furlings have
been doing it long before, and from them the Hyksos
learnt to control the wind, the seas, the sand and the soil. They destroyed
three colonies of Ancients before the Ancients found a way to hold them. But in
true Ancient fashion they decided that killing them was wrong, imprisoning
them… that wasn’t half so bad, good Ancients, we don’t kill anyone, we just
condemn them to eternal imprisonment.’
“The Ancients were protectionist,” Daniel echoed.
Jack nodded. He took a deep breath. “Takes quite a bit out of you trying
to get this stuff, doesn’t it?”
Daniel smiled. “Yes, er, actually, how did you
guess,” he enquired.
“Your eyes are glazing over,” Jack replied.
“It’s more the method of communication you’re using, actually, you think
a lot quicker than you talk, so I have to really concentrate,” Daniel
confessed, looking slightly perturbed at that thought, let alone the fact that
he had voiced it.
“Hey, who doesn’t?” Jack jested. “Ready?”
“Ready!”
‘We are here.’
‘Look, you should just connect directly to Daniel and tell him this stuff
instead of…’
‘Ha’dai it is a far easier task to send this
information to you, for you to send it to your familiar.’
O’Neill almost smiled, trying not to freak Daniel out anymore than he’d
already been at the hands of Hooper; he figured allowing the Sengo’lians to
communicate directly with what they considered a familiar might freak the man
out more.
‘Anyways… where was I? So, they kinda sent the old Sengo’lians to this
shielded, reflective shield, incidentally, to prevent communication from off
the planet Sengo’lia. Reflective meaning they stopped
communicating that much because it became really uncomfortable to have their
thoughts amplified back at them. Ancients didn’t actually do them any favours
with their all benevolent behaviour. This was probably the cruellest form of
treatment you could possibly hand these guys. Hyksos
are pissed, so they’re weaker than the pure minded Sengo’lians, D, plus,
Furlings belong too, makes them far more powerful. Hyksos
never realised that, never realised that the kin of their Ancestors were one of
the most physically powerful creatures who possess mesmeric
skills. That’s why I can talk to Aya, that’s why I
know he’s defeated Hera, and he and Marty are on their way to a gate close by,
we can pick them up and then we deal with the rest… then we really deal with
the rest!’
The archaeologist nodded slowly, trying to absorb the information that
O’Neill had given him about the ancestry of the Sengo’lians, and by virtue, the
weaknesses of the Hyksos.
“Let me get this straight, you think you can what? Destroy something that
the Ancients were so terrified of they imprisoned on the furthest planet they
could think of?”
“Daniel, that’s the whole damn point! The Ancients believe they didn’t
have the right to wipe out a species, they thought their superior thinking and
technology gave them the right to just lock it away,” Jack explained. “I don’t
really know what’s worse - being a bad guy, or finding out the only punishment
they can think of for your crimes against other races is to lock you on some
planet where you may…”
“Jack, that sounds like us… I mean, we lock felons away, murderers,
cheats and rapists, isn’t this what these creatures are? Okay, maybe in a
slightly more global sense?” Daniel argued.
“No!” Jack’s tone was far more assertive than he intended. “See, this is
exactly why they had a problem dealing with the Hyksos,
they’re not accidentally destructive, they mean it! As far as they’re concerned
every single living thing in the universe deserves to be destroyed, they’re the
worst kind of purest, Daniel, Hitler would have been horrified, if they manage
somehow to beat the Sengo’lians, the Furlings, which by the way, means me too,
then forget living things, these bastards will wipe out everything, Goa’uld,
Asgard, Furling, Humans, plant life, marine life, mammals, reptiles and
bacteria! Am I making myself clear here?”
The colonel’s obvious distress and anger at
Daniel exhaled loudly. “So, I guess you’d better find a way to kill them,
right?”
A smile formed on the soft features of the archaeologist. “At least I get
the importance of this now.”
“Sweet, so how about we pick up our people, and deal with H? Then I try
and figure out a way to deal with all things omnipotent thereafter?” Jack
suggested.
“Okay, I’ll, er, go along with that,” Daniel
concurred. “About Heru’ur… well Iceni and Hailey…”
Jack’s eyes closed, his features became stern, yet even then, the sorrow
he was feeling inwardly became obvious. “Nothing I can do,” he admitted.
The colonel turned toward the centre console which immediately lit up. He
looked over his shoulder at
“Why?”
“Why? Because at some point we have to make a decision to deal with the
threat without putting anyone else in peril, to end it, and that’s…”
“How do I know that’s you talking and you’ve not been completely taken
over by the wishes of the Sengo’lians, or worse!” Daniel argued. He moved
toward the colonel, looking the man up and down. “Because the Jack O’Neill I
know wouldn’t abandon his children, plural!”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. He turned and faced
“Daniel, somewhere I have to draw the line…”
“NO!”
“Can’t I?” Jack’s features now became slightly bemused, his eyes closing,
head shaking. “Why, Daniel, because you say I’m some kind of all powerful
superhero?”
“Get used to it,” Jack snapped. The door to the bridge opened and the
colonel made his way toward it;
The horror on Daniel’s face was reflected in the clear sheen of the door.
His thoughts raced around; could the colonel hear his thoughts, or read them,
and why the hell did he? It was rude, unconscionable.
‘Is it not prudent to confine his thoughts?’
‘Excuse me?’ Daniel’s obvious surprise at having a different voice in his
mind was reflected in his tone.
‘He can only read your mind because you allow it; you have as much
ability as he does to prevent it…’
‘Who is this?’
‘We are the Sengo’lians, Daniel, we are aware of your fears for Ha’dai, but truly they are unfounded.’
‘And I’m going to believe you because I’m gullible!’
‘You need not believe us, Daniel, you need only
listen to learn how to close your mind to his ability to read your thoughts.’
‘Okay, say I’m buying this… how do I do that?’
‘It is simple, concentrate and you will close him to your thoughts.
Simply wish for him to be silent and he will, you have more control than you
realise.’
‘Yes, if only everything were that simple. Okay, so… we’ve not really
talked much, have we? You prefer to talk to Jack… I get that, you called him
something, Ha’dai, I think?’
‘It means saviour.’
‘How so, and if so, why won’t he save his children?’
‘It is not for us to say, Daniel, he has made a decision and we will not
question him.’
‘Right… well, thanks for the chat.’
Daniel sat on the floor, leaning back against the console that O’Neill
had been stationed at a little earlier when they’d disagreed about his
daughter.
So, I don’t want Jack in my thoughts, think it, it happens. I’ll bet it
doesn’t, it’s not like I concentrate that well. Jack? Silence.
Jack, are you pretending you can’t hear me? Silence.
The archaeologist considered his conversation with O’Neill; it was a
concern that his friend seemed so against the idea of even trying to save
Iceni, or Hailey and her child. Yes, he understood Heru’ur had said she,
Hailey, had died in childbirth, but how could anyone believe the word of a
Goa’uld?
He waited for the inevitable intrusion from O’Neill, but it never came. A
deep breath, time to do what he felt needed to be done. Like the Sengo’lians
said… he had the powers that O’Neill did, just without the overwhelming ability
to call upon the power of destruction, that and the Ancients ability.
He stood up, moving across to the far console, placing his hand over one
of the symbols, a communication device. Thor’s image appeared before him.
“Daniel Jackson,” the supreme Asgard commander said. “What is the meaning
of this intrusion?”
“Intrusion? I think you should
probably check your rear view mirror, Thor, the Goa’uld aren’t
intending to attack you with any force, there’s something else to worry about.”
Thor’s image did not alter. “Then tell me, Daniel Jackson, what else is
there?”
“Thor, I’m concerned about Jack, I think he’s being controlled by these…”
“The Sengo’lians are by nature the kind of force
that O’Neill should never have acquiesced to, however, I am not altogether
certain that he can be controlled,” Thor responded.
“You know about the Hyksos?” Daniel asked.
“The Hyksos are extinct,” Thor countered.
“No, they’re not extinct, we encountered them on a planet not so long
ago, and Jack managed to destroy them, but Heru’ur was obviously looking for a
way to control them… he was on that planet and the more I think about it, the
more I’m convinced he was trying to tap into their ability to focus energy,”
Daniel explained.
Thor did not respond immediately; his huge black, yet expressionless eyes
stared at
“To do what?”
“To put O’Neill in stasis. You are
aboard an Ancients vessel and they are more than capable of isolating and
containing a passenger.”
“Jack’s got the ability to control this thing, Thor, I don’t!” Daniel
argued.
“If you are able to use the control panel to contact me, Daniel Jackson,
then you are capable of finding the abilities within
to control the ship’s systems, your link to O’Neill allows you to channel his
capabilities to your own in many ways. But,” Thor cautioned, “be aware that his
ability means unless you strike without his knowledge, he can and will use the
ship’s capabilities to neutralise your attempts!”
“Oh good!” Daniel sighed, his mind racing
once more with the morality of neutralising O’Neill. He couldn’t be sure he was
right, but then, he couldn’t equally be certain that O’Neill’s behaviour was
solely his own. “Okay,” he conceded. “So I’ll just… here goes!”
O’Neill was oblivious to the scanners ranging over him; their sensory
arrays locked the conveyance beams onto the colonel, sweeping him into the
stasis chamber and into a coma like state.
Daniel’s concentration was completely focused on locating the chamber,
the spread of individual lights showing him the path. He was cautious, cautious
because he knew how difficult it had been to block O’Neill’s intrusions into
his mind. If the colonel had detected, or suspected him of any collusion with
the Asgard, in his current state of mind, which Daniel firmly believed to be
influenced by the Sengo’lians, he would most certainly have been dealt with
harshly.
The long, empty hallways, their glacier like panelling reflecting his
image, made him feel slightly uneasy. Was the colonel toying with him, waiting
for him? Would his image be reflecting his location and making it simple for
retribution?
‘You have successfully isolated him.’
Daniel stopped. The voice in his mind was the same one that had contacted
him earlier. Even so, he was not completely confident that this was the
Sengo’lians, and even if it was, were they truly the benevolent force the
colonel believed?
‘I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your thoughts to yourself.’
‘So it shall be.’
The door to the stasis chambers was different from the others, the panels
were opaque, and nothing could be seen through them. His hand reached out
gingerly, fingertips brushing the sensor pad to his right.
The door drew back instantly, revealing several chambers inside, larger
than he could have imagined. His eyes swept them all before locating O’Neill.
The colonel was inside the farthest one; the low humming sound that the tube
emitted the only indication that the chamber had been employed.
“I hope I’m doing the right thing!” he whispered, as if O’Neill might
wake if he heard his voice. Standing in front of the pod now, he studied the
outer frame, the silver and white embossing on the edges an odd choice and
nothing like any other design on the ship or any other he’d seen for that
matter.
He stared at it for a moment, an attempt to understand the intent of the
design, yet nothing was immediately apparent to him.
“Daniel Jackson?” It was Thor’s voice.
“Wow, how’d you do that?”
“It is not important, you left channels open to us,” Thor explained. “Is
it done?”
“It’s done,” Daniel advised.
“If you send the coordinates I will join you there, the functions of the
ship will not allow you to over ride O’Neill’s previous course,” Thor told the
archaeologist. “This could be a little more difficult than we had first
thought.”
Daniel sighed heavily. “It always is,” he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baal watched on the viewer; the progress of the fleet defending his
territory was beginning to become irksome to him. He had sent his most elite
forces to face the Asgard, as Heru’ur had instructed, yet this now seemed a
fatal error. The forces the rebel
Not for many years had he seen or heard of Pelops,
but here now he faced the full force of the former system lord’s technology.
“
The
“Prepare my ship,” he instructed. “It seems my forces are incapable of
destroying the rebels!”
The
Baal’s eyes rolled in his head. “Really!” he responded, attempting to
inject the right amount of sarcasm into his comment. “Whatever would have given
you such an idea?”
He moved in front of the control console and allowed the incoming hail to
be shown on the screen.
The image was not of a rebel
“Baal, Jack wants to talk to you, privately, he’ll be a while. He’s
currently dealing with Heru’ur!” Daniel informed him.
The Goa’uld raised his dark eyebrows into his forehead. “Is that so,” he
responded. “What makes you believe he will live to see me following that
encounter?”
“Oh, probably because the ship he has is about as advanced as it gets,
added to the fact that transport around the galaxy is about to get a little
harder,” Jackson added.
Baal’s intrigue quickly turned to alarm, but he maintained an outward
calm. “How so?”
“Oh, let’s just say what you think is the
“Why would you tell me this?” Baal enquired. “Does it not offer me a
tactical advantage over you?”
“You tell me?” Daniel responded.
“Then I will, you are completely outnumbered, the bulk of my forces are
returning even as we speak,” the Goa’uld asserted, a hint of a smile forming on
his ample lips. “Is that not reason for me to decline your offer?”
“Well, you can decline, but so far we haven’t destroyed your base there
because Jack told us not to, but shouldn’t be a problem to get his
authorisation if you’re too stupid to…”
“Don’t!” Baal snarled. “You are not O’Neill! I will not take such
insolence from you!”
“Touchy!” Daniel remarked. “You’ve got five minutes to give me an answer,
because that’s about as long at it’s going to take to get a message to Jack.”
“Tell O’Neill I will meet him, provided you withdraw your forces, he may
come here,” Baal acquiesced.
“I dare say he’ll tell you where he wants the meeting to take place,”
Daniel stated. “We’re in a holding pattern until then, call off your forces
before you lose more them!”
Baal’s teeth ground in his jaws; the anger at the insolence of the Tau’ri
never failed to rile him. “
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aiestrodous stopped. Martouf collided with the Furling, making a mumbling
apology before moving away from the creature slightly; being so close made him
ill at ease.
“Something wrong?” he enquired.
“I have lost the ability to communicate with O’Neill, he is…”
Martouf looked mortified, expecting to hear the worst possible news.
“He’s dead?” he prompted.
“Silent,” Aiestrodous told him.
“Something bad has occurred?” Martouf asked.
Martouf suddenly found himself aboard the Ancients vessel. “He is in
orbit,” Aiestrodous confirmed, his gaunt features appearing to hold a smile for
a moment.
Aiestrodous regarded Daniel Jackson as the man entered the bridge, his
eyes beginning to glow a far deeper and more ominous red.
“What have you done?” he demanded.
Daniel, about to retreat, stopped. “He’s infected…”
“Infected with what?” Martouf enquired, attempting to prevent a battle
between the two men, if only on a verbal level. “Transgenic?”
“What? No,” Daniel countered. “Aiestrodous, before we do something you
will most definitely regret… or at least I’m certain that I will. Can we
discuss why?”
Aiestrodous moved closer to the archaeologist. “There is little, human,
you can tell me that I would want to hear!” he asserted, the hissing of his
voice making the retort sound ominous.
“Okay, then I guess you’ll just have to listen whether you want to or
not,” Daniel countered. “I can’t be certain he isn’t compromised in some way he
doesn’t see or understand by the intrusion over such a long period of time from
the Sengo’lians, or even if the Hyksos have found a
way through into his mind.”
“From this you decide?” Aiestrodous challenged.
Daniel looked down; his feet offered him no retort worthy. “Yes,” he replied. “Because right now I’m the only one that’s spent enough time to know how this has affect