by Trish Williams
PROLOGUE
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
So many Goa’uld were gathered there, she
recalled.
In the great hall
where matters of the gods were judged, the members of the great council sat
upon their respective thrones on the black lacquered dais. She mentally checked
them off as her gaze swept past each of them.
Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Heru’ur, Setesh, and of course, Ra, were among
those present for the sentencing. Some
of them had different names given to them by the humans they enslaved, but she
preferred to call them by their given names.
She looked down on the dozens of system lords
milling about the gathering area, seeing the likes of Zipacna, Nefertum and
Sekhmet. To the best of her knowledge,
this was the biggest gathering of goa’uld system lords to date. Except for those members of the council,
none of them had been told of the reason for this gathering. Ra had simply sent a message to all of them,
saying that a judgement in the court of the gods was to be rendered. Little did they know that the reason for
this gathering was that particular doomed Goa’uld and his queen had threatened
the fragile order of the empire. Such
sedition was neither tolerated, nor left unpunished.
“Clear the way for those
who are to be judged!” A deep voice boomed.
The crowd parted obediently, leaving an aisle that
went diagonally from the back of the room to where the council members sat on
the rostrum. A tall, imposing man with
the dark blue head of a jackal strode through first. He was known as Anubis, second in power only to Ra himself. The system lords on each side of him seemed
to stay back a few extra steps as he came by.
They had good reason, for while Ra was the judge, and the great council
was the jury, Anubis, her son, was the executioner.
She watched anxiously from her seat between Geb and
Setesh as her estranged lover and his queen were ushered in by Jackal
Guards. Their hands were bound behind
their backs and their legs were in shackles.
His queen tried to look regal and unfazed, but the weight of her steps
told of her humiliation. Her lover
stared daggers at the member of the great council seated around Ra. If looks could kill, Ra would have been a
smoking heap of ash on the polished floor.
“You will not subdue me!” Osiris ranted, struggling
against the two jackal-headed Jaffa who held him fast. “You will all pay with your lives!”
How she’d loved him once.
She whispered his name in her mind, taking in the
impressive musculature and dusky skin of his current host. There was a time when she had loved
him. Loved him enough to do anything
for him. And when he had spurned her,
it had hurt. Now all she could do was
look at him with contempt. Love had
been lost to rejection, and turned her heart to stone. She felt nothing for him now and could not
even bring herself to pity Isis. She
had repeatedly warned them both about continuing to defy Ra and the edict of
the great council. But they refused to
listen.
Isis and Osiris had done the unconscionable, the
unthinkable. Once they had been able to
get away with it, and she had been blackmailed into helping them. But this time she refused to go along, and
promptly informed Ra of their plot. At
first it had not bothered him. But as
time went on, the result of their act threatened the very existence of the goa’uld,
and he felt the time had come to punish them for their act. It gave her perverse pleasure to know her
son would execute the most horrible sentence ever handed down by the system
lords upon one of their own kind.
Osiris struggled again in a futile effort to
escape. His queen’s regal decorum had
evaporated. Isis just stood there,
sobbing, tears running down her caramel-colored face. They were both doomed and only had themselves to blame for
it. She, Setesh, Osiris and Isis were
connected by blood but divided by deceit and avarice. Mentally, she shook her head as she remembered that even the
circumstances of their birth had caused great conflict among the system
lords. To this day, it was still a bone
of contention between their father and Ra.
Ra nodded towards Anubis from his throne,
indicating now was the time to pronounce sentence. The jackal god watched as his Jaffa forced the two doomed souls
to kneel before him. Isis went without
protest, but Osiris fought all the way.
“By the decree of the system lords,” Anubis
proclaimed, his voice booming through the room. “You are hereby sentenced to
Hakkorr Kra Terak Chee.”
Ra gave both of them a look of disgust. His eyes glowed briefly as he told them they
were a scourge among the goa’uld and how dare they presume to overthrow him and
the system lords by disobeying his edict.
“Take them away!”
Anubis commanded with a wave of his hand.
Isis wailed incessantly, struggling against the
jackal-headed Jaffa that jerked her to her feet. “You will suffer greatly for this, Setesh!” Osiris yelled as he
was pulled to a standing position.
Setesh just smirked, knowing he had finally found a way to defeat his
brother. “And you,” he said looking at
Anubis. “How can you do this to your
own Uncle?”
Anubis was not moved. “I can, and I will,” he hissed before ordering his Jaffa to take
him and his Queen to the two long tables which had been brought into the room.
All of the Goa’uld would be witnesses to this punishment.
She watched intently as they were each strapped
facedown onto the tables. After seeing
the smug look of satisfaction cross Setesh’s face as Osiris was surgically
removed from his host, she could only avert her eyes as his queen was also
taken from her host. The host bodies
died swiftly, while Osiris and his queen screeched in protest until they were
put into canopic jars—silenced for all eternity. Sentenced to a living hell of suspended animation.
Death would have been preferable.
Her lover was now imprisoned forever and, thanks to
her, the bloodshed was over. But then
there was Setesh to deal with. He was
getting closer to the truth about Anubis and she feared his wrath should he
find out. Once her husband told her of
his plans to overthrow Ra, she wasted no time in having him dealt with as well. Setesh’s biggest weakness was his loose
lips, larger than life ego and an insatiable need to be worshipped.
And hers was to be loved.
“Nephthys!” Apophis’ angry voice boomed through the
hallway.
Why
could he not just die, Nephthys thought with disgust.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~
Another mission ended without incident.
After being released from the Infirmary by Doctor
Frasier, Teal’c made his way down to the Research and Development labs like
he’d been doing for the past few months.
His main reason for going was to check in with his Tau’ri lover, Doctor
Kayla Porter. He didn’t know if she
would be in her office or not but he made it a point to always stop by anyway
if the hour was not too late. He laughed
inwardly when he remembered the time he didn’t stop by as usual and she came
looking for him, upset that some misfortune had befallen him. Since then, he
resolved to stop by, and if she was not there, leave a handwritten note that he
was indeed safe.
Teal’c
slowly walked up next to her, noticing how she kept typing, then erasing, then
typing again on one of the three computers in her office. She was obviously working on something of
great importance, as he could tell by how her brow was furrowed. He stooped down to her level, looking
between the screen and her, paying much more attention to the later. He could tell she’d been quite busy, for her
hair was in a quickly manipulated French twist rather than a more elaborate
coif when she had the time. She wore
very little makeup for her dark skin rarely called for it. There was an empty
can of a liquid meal—another indication of how busy things had become. And, as always, the coffeepot was working
overtime.
“You’re trying to break my concentration,” Kayla
jokingly warned, a faint smile crossing her face. She typed in a few more words and tried to concentrate despite
his intent gaze.
“Am I succeeding?” he asked innocently, although
his tone of voice was anything but. The
sultry, soulful sounds in a female voice played through the computer’s
speakers. He was tempted to listen to
the words of the song but his mind was on something else.
She smiled, still looking at her screen. “That’s a
trick question,” she countered, letting him know she wasn’t fooled. “You’re…hindering my progress if that’s what
you would like to know.”
Kayla stopped her work to kiss him briefly. After a brief pause she kissed him again but
this time it was longer, more befitting a reunion of lovers.
“As much as I’d like to do this all day,” she said,
breaking the kiss. “I’ve got a flight
leaving tomorrow afternoon. I don’t have nearly everything I need packed up or
written up, true to my procrastinate nature.”
Kayla saved the work she had just typed in, then reclined back in her
chair. “If I were Major Carter I would
have had this all wrapped up like two days ago.”
“Where are you traveling?”
“Area 51,” she said disdainfully. “It’s the monthly ‘guess what we found at
the SGC and guess what neat uses I’ve come up for it, and guess what you find
out from it too’ meeting. Plus they want
me to consult on the X-301 Intercept project.”
Kayla shook her head then resumed typing. “Considering the damn thing is built I can’t imagine what they
want from me.”
Teal’c let an easy smile cross his lips. He knew her presence at the SGC was more of
a watchdog effort than an official research and development laboratory. The majority of that work was still done at
Area 51. But ever since the whole
debacle with a rogue SG team stealing alien technology, Kayla had been
stationed here to serve as a gatekeeper of sorts. All new alien technology acquired by legitimate means was
initially evaluated by her and her teammates.
According to her, justifying the extra setup at the SGC was a budgeting
nightmare, but somehow someone at the top made sure she never had
problems. Teal’c wondered just who that
someone was.
“I have
spoken with Doctor Frasier,” he said, drawing himself up and folding his hands
behind him.
Kayla didn’t look up from the keyboard. “About what?”
She was at it again, trying to do two things at
once. At times it really got on his
nerves. Times like this, he wanted her
undivided attention, but felt ‘rude’ asking her for it. If she were Jaffa, he wouldn’t have had to
‘ask’. He wondered if he would ever get
used to the social structure of the Tau’ri, especially the interplay between
men and women. This ‘dating’ ritual was
definitely more work than he had thought.
If his fellow Jaffa could see him now, like the Setesh guards, he would
be the source of many jokes among them.
Teal’c paused, deciding whether or not to broach
the subject that had been bothering him for weeks now. He wasn’t sure if now was such a good time
to bring it up, especially with Kayla being so busy, but he decided he could
not let her leave without getting some kind of answer besides the definite
‘maybe’. The Jaffa steeled himself
before speaking.
“About contraceptive alternatives for you,” he said
matter of factly.
Kayla stopped typing and swiveled around in her
chair to face him. She had a look on
her face that was somewhere between amusement and annoyance. “Without me?” she asked. “Don’t you think ‘we’ should discuss this
first?” Kayla pointed between both of
them to make her point.
The whole condom issue was a bone of contention
between them. Teal’c protested
frequently, although this was the first time he’d investigated alternatives on
his own. He fought against having to
use it at every turn, and Kayla shot him down every time. She kept telling him to wait, he kept asking
for how long. He wanted nothing between
them, and that included the infernal piece of latex that made sex so
sanitized. As far as he was concerned,
the act was never supposed to be performed that way. He wished Kayla could see that.
“I believe we have put the conversation off long
enough,” he said, an edge of impatience in his voice.
Kayla folded her arms in front of her and got an
amused look on her face. “Oh you do?
We’ve only been officially dating for a month,” she rationalized. “I hardly know you.”
“You have known me in the biblical sense several
times,” he said with a smirk. Then his
expression turned more serious. “I do
not understand why you wish to...”
“Pump my system full of hormones?” she interrupted
with an air of defensiveness. The look
he gave her said she was taking this the wrong way, so Kayla softened her
expression. “There’s something else
going on, isn’t there?” she asked.
More
than you know, he thought, but decided her office was not the
place for such a discussion. “We should
speak further on this, but not here.
Perhaps this evening,” he suggested.
“Tonight?” Kayla complained. “I really do have to get prepared and…”
“Off-world activation,” Davis’ voice crackled
through the base. “I repeat, we have an
off-world activation.”
The PA had saved her.
“Probably one of the SG teams coming back,” Kayla
surmised. “I wonder…”
“You are avoiding the subject,” Teal’c said,
undaunted by her segue.
“Teal’c, I promise, after I get back from Area 51
we’ll …”
“Mr. Teal’c, please report to the gate room
immediately,” Davis paged. “I repeat,
Mr. Teal’c please report to the gate room.”
Kayla cursed under her breath. This wasn’t the first time one of their
‘deep’ conversations had been interrupted by ‘gate activation. “Let me guess,” she said, clapping her hands
on her thighs. “It’s probably Bra’tac
again.”
Teal’c gave her a
look that said he had to go but really didn’t want to.
“Go! Go!”
she prompted, waving him off.
Teal’c bowed reverently, before making his way with
haste to the gate room. Thoughts
swarmed through his mind as he tried to figure out why Master Bra’tac had
risked another trip through the Chulakan stargate. It didn’t necessarily have to be Bra’tac. Teal’c rationalized that it was probably
some matter that required his expertise.
It wasn’t as if such a thing had not happened before.
He slowed his jog to a walk in order to identify
himself to the SFs guarding the entrance to the gate room before swiping his
pass card. Not that he really needed to
since practically everyone at the SGC knew him on sight but it was a matter of
courtesy. As the doors slid open, he
saw a group of soldiers with their weapons drawn at a lone person in brown
robes standing on the ramp.
When he trained his gaze on the figure’s face, he
couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Shan’auc,” he said, dazed as he slowly walked
towards the gate ramp.
The raven-haired female Jaffa had a gold tattoo on
her forehead, a mark that showed all she held a position of great importance
where she was from. Unlike Teal’c, hers
was pressed upon rather than cut into the skin. Shan’auc’s intense blue-eyed gaze softened to that of loving
recognition when she saw Teal’c.
The emotional sparkage generated at that moment was
beyond intense.
“Friend of yours?” Jack asked as Teal’c walked past
him in a daze. His eyes were still
trained on Shan’auc.
“Indeed,” he said, stepping up to meet her as she
came to him.
Joining him at the foot of the ‘gate ramp, Shan’auc
held her arms slightly out from her body and crossed them in front of her. “Tel
ma’te, Teal’c,” she said, bowing her head slightly.
“Tel ma’te,” he
said, stretching his arms outward and pressing them against hers. The entire act was more formal than
hugging, and somewhat more intimate than kissing. It was obvious to everyone in the room that Teal’c was more than
just friends with this woman.
“Teal’c,” Jack said softly, trying not to tread on
an intimate moment, but hating being out of the loop. “How about a little introduction of some sort?”
As Teal’c lost himself in Shan’auc’s blue eyes for
a few moments longer, a number of memories he couldn’t count flashed before
him. How do you introduce the first
love of your life? A love you thought
you would never experience again? A
love that was so pure, so unadulterated you’ve never experienced anything like
it since? A love lost years ago only to
have magically reappear in your life?
Suddenly, Teal’c realized Jack was talking about
introducing him.
“There is no need,” Shan’auc said, answering Jack’s
question while still looking deeply into Teal’c’s eyes.
Things were about
to get complicated. Very complicated.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Jack was losing his patience.
The last place he wanted to be right now was in the
infirmary, making sure Shan’auc’s symbiote stayed where it was supposed
to. To entertain himself, he replayed
the events of the past hour. Teal’c’s
former girlfriend showed up, claiming she’d found a way to turn her resident
snake away from the Dark Side of the Force.
Casting his eyes toward the ceiling, he silently thanked God Teal’c
didn’t appear to believe her. He
figured if anyone should know it ain’t gonna happen, it would be him.
He couldn’t shake
the feeling that somewhere deep down, Teal’c wanted to believe her. On the outside he appeared to be a staunch
unbeliever, but Jack knew that somewhere in there was a glimmer of hope she was
right. The sparkage between the two of
them when she arrived was unmistakable.
He ought to know—he’d met up again with his share of old
girlfriends. Sometimes those old
feelings came flying back with a vengeance.
Considering how hard Teal’c had worked to develop a relationship with Kayla,
he was confident that wouldn’t happen.
But there was something in the way Teal’c sat at
the foot of Shan’auc’s infirmary bed that bothered him. Well, that and him actually telling the
airmen not to shoot the snake when it decided to make a surprise appearance in
the debriefing room. He couldn’t
believe Teal’c was willing to get that close to the thing, a thing that had
neutralized a sedative meant to give Shan’auc some rest and comfort, a thing
that was Earth’s greatest enemy and an enslaver of his people. The nagging feeling Jack had dissipated when
Teal’c strongly disagreed with his ex-lover about her treating the symbiote she
carried as if it were a child. He had
to side with the Jaffa on this one.
If a goa’uld symbiote was like a child, then it
definitely was a demon seed.
“You have closed your mind, Teal’c,” Shan’auc said
in response to him not believing her.
“I expected more.”
Saying Teal’c was a little miffed would have been
an understatement.
Insult
the Jaffa’s ego, bad move lady, Jack thought. When he looked at Hammond, his expression
said the same thing.
“May we speak privately?” Teal’c sharply
requested. It was more of a polite
demand than a request. They all got the
hint but were reluctant to leave.
“My symbiote has assured me this will not happen
again,” Shan’auc persuaded.
Great. That’s
like the fox saying it won’t raid the henhouse again. “Oh well, if the snake says so…” Jack mumbled sarcastically
as he turned to leave with Hammond.
“Then who are we?”
“We’ll be outside,” Janet told Teal’c and
Shan’auc. She turned to followed Jack
and Hammond out into the hallway.
Jack was pacing around, obviously not very
comfortable leaving a fully adult Goa’uld hanging out on base. “If that snake jumps out and starts
slithering around, I’m shooting it on general principle,” Jack said, pointing a
finger towards the infirmary. “I still
don’t believe her.”
“Neither do I,” Janet concurred as she slid her
petite hands into the pockets of her lab coat.
“I can’t believe she’d risk her life on something that can barely be
proven. If it can be proven at all.”
“There’s more to this,” Jack surmised. “Much more.
I can feel it.”
Hammond and Frasier looked at Jack, not quite sure
what he meant.
“I think we could use another opinion,” Hammond
said, looking up just as Kayla came around the corner. “And here’s the person who could tell us.”
“Tell you what?” Kayla asked as she joined their
huddle. “No more tasks okay?” she
pleaded, holding up a thick stack of papers trying their best to bust loose
from binder clip that confined them.
“I’m busier than a narcotics officer at a Greatful Dead concert.”
Jack and Janet chuckled. “Or a metal detector in a public school?” he joked.
“Watch it,” she warned, pushing her glasses up on
her face. “I went to public
school. Way back in the dark ages when
it was safe and you actually learned something.” Kayla chuckled before turning her attention to Hammond. “So, General, what are you trying to saddle
me with now?”
“Trust me,” Jack told her. “You want
to get in on this one.” The innuendo in
his voice hit like a ton of bricks.
“Why?” she prompted.
Hammond decided to catch her up. “As I’m sure you know, we had an
unauthorized gate activation about an hour ago.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, tapping the report
against her thigh. “Teal’c was in my
office at the time.”
“Turns out Bra’tac sent someone through the gate
who has knowledge of a way to defeat the Goa’uld.”
Kayla got an intrigued look on her face and said,
“I’m listening.” After all, developing
weapons to fight the Goa’uld was her job.
She figured the Area 51 stuff could wait for now.
Janet sighed then added her two cents. “According to her, she is able to
communicate with her symbiote and has turned it.”
Kayla folded her arms across her chest and gave
Hammond a look. “Excuse my French but
that’s making my bullshit detector go off,” she declared.
“See!” Jack exclaimed, raising a hand in Kayla’s
direction. “That’s what I’m
saying.” Janet just shook her head and
smiled. Seems Kayla had a talent for
being quite blunt when she was overworked.
“And knowing what control freaks the Goa’uld are,”
Kayla deduced, “they wouldn’t purposely engineer the Jaffa with that
capability. Nor program their young to
speak with their incubator for lack of a better term.” Kayla had read enough mission and intelligence
reports on the Goa’uld to know turning them would be like trying to part the
Red Sea. And even Moses had needed
God’s help for that.
“Teal’c and the other members of SG-1 pretty much
said the same thing,” Hammond said, running a hand over his smooth head. “Let me ask you something, Doctor
Porter. Do you believe in any way that
this is possible?”
Kayla tapped her foot a few times and tried to find
another way to state what her professional opinion was. “General,” she began, “without getting too
much into my personal life here, if there was a way Teal’c could communicate
with his symbiote, there’s no way I’d let him get as close to me as he
has. Get my drift?”
They all got her drift.
“I do indeed,” he said, blushing a little. “I apologize for getting so personal.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she dismissed with a
wave. “My sex life seems to be on
everyone’s mind—especially the NID but I digress.”
Jack flinched a little. The NID had done some pretty nasty things but as far as Teal’c
and Kayla were concerned it was bordering on invasion of privacy. Things had gotten so bad, Hammond and
someone higher up they didn’t know had to tell them to either keep their noses
out of it or they’d get an executive order from the President. Of course, it also helped that Kayla told
them if they went any further into her personal life, she’d have the ACLU out
there so fast it would make their heads swim.
The NID usually crept back into their corner when they knew they’d lost
the battle, but they were hell-bent on winning the war. He had a feeling they’d be poking their
noses back in sometime in the near future.
“I would like for you to speak with Shan’auc,”
Hammond told Kayla. “Not for too long
though. She’s quite weak. Doctor Frasier doesn’t know how much longer
she has to live.”
“So she came here expecting it to be a one-way
trip?” Kayla shook her head.
“Exactly.”
“I don’t know how much I can learn from her that
the rest of SG-1 hasn’t.”
“Since you’re on the front lines with weapons
development, having an opinion outside of SG-1 would help balance perspective
so to speak.”
“As soon as Teal’c comes out it’ll be okay to talk
with her,” Janet said. “Just don’t make
it too long. She needs her rest.”
“I think she should talk to her now, sir,” Jack pressed.
Janet didn’t agree. “I don’t think…”
“She’s his old girlfriend,” Jack blurted out. Hammond got a look on his face that said he
should have known better.
Kayla blinked her eyes a few times. “I’m not the jealous type, Jack,” she
assured.
No,
you’re just the type to shoot cheating lovers, he thought. “Make sure you check your claws and all
firearms at the door.”
“Are you saying I’m going to cause trouble?” she
asked innocently.
“No,” he said aloud though his expression said
otherwise. “But something tells me
she’ll rub you the wrong way.” One
thing he knew about Kayla, if someone pissed her off she wouldn’t hesitate to
respond in kind. “Promise you won’t
cause trouble,” he joked.
Kayla snorted.
“To paraphrase James Brown, if she doesn’t start any, there won’t be
any.”
All three of them watched as she entered the
Infirmary, wondering just what would happen next.
Nothing
like a lust triangle…
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Never mind her speaking ill of the Tau’ri, Teal’c
didn’t like her attack on his ego.
“The others I can understand,” Shan’auc told
him. “But you’ve known me before I went
to the Temple. How could you doubt me?”
she pleaded, her voice indicating how hurt she was that he did not believe
her. “This is my life’s work.”
Teal’c wasn’t moved. “A life lived in the worship of the Goa’uld,” he condemned.
Shan’auc countered by telling him she now believed
as he did. How she reached out to her
symbiote and it answered not in words, but in pictures and images. That the Goa’uld were false gods and their
worship of them was wrong. When she
told him the way to prove it, his mind told him it was dangerous: a risky way
indeed to prove her theory. He wondered
if Bra’tac had attempted it. There
should have been some truth in this or else he would not have risked sending
Shan’auc through a heavily guarded Chappa’ai.
Which begged the question: Why had Master Bra’tac not come himself?
“Bra’tac is wise,” Teal’c declared. “I do not know why he would send you here
unless…”
“He believes, Teal’c,” she replied, her eyes
pleading for acceptance. “How can I
make you believe too?”
A part of him wanted so much to believe. If she was right, this was a way to turn the
Goa’uld’s manipulation of his people against them; a way to fight back against
ages of oppression. A way for them to
rise up against their enslavers like some of Kayla’s ancestors had done so long
ago. They had managed to win their freedom,
and Teal’c asreasoned his people should
be able to do the same. Freedom was
much more preferable to slavery, and he owed it to himself and his people to
find out if Shan’auc’s claims were true or conjecture.
“There is a way,” he told her.
“Is there?” Kayla stated in a devil’s advocate
voice as she walked in. “I’m Doctor Kayla
Porter, research engineer here at the SGC.”
She dropped her report on a nearby table and it landed with a thud. Folding her arms in front of her, she sized
up the female Jaffa. “It seems you’ve
got quite a story to tell,” she said using her diplomatic voice.
This
is not wise, Teal’c thought.
The look on Shan’auc’s face indicated she did not
take kindly to Kayla’s intrusion for any reason. And considering Shan’auc had confessed to him she’d waited so
long because she thought he wouldn’t believe her, he knew there was another
reason for her coming here. A reason he
didn’t want to contemplate. A reason
that would only cause conflict with something he was trying to build here on
earth.
“It is no story,” she defended, looking the
dark-skinned Tau’ri female up and down.
“Bra’tac has told me of you.”
Kayla smiled and said, “All good I hope.”
“He has told me no Jaffa female would speak as you
do. That you do not show Teal’c the
respect someone of his station commands.”
Inwardly, Teal’c flinched at Shan’auc’s statement.
She looked at Kayla as if she were a slave, and it made Teal’c think of how
Jaffa of his world looked down on them.
Besides Bra’tac, he was the only Jaffa she’d met so she hadn’t truly been
exposed to their caste system. Bra’tac
managed to be more diplomatic in his attitude towards Kayla, while Shan’auc saw
no need for it. He wanted to warn
Shan’auc about Kayla’s penchant for interrogation, but considering how she was
treating her, he saw no need for it.
“Well, nobody’s perfect,” Kayla snorted, biting
back the urge to tell this woman just where she could stick her attitude. If she wanted to stroke his ego to the
extreme, fine. But she wasn’t going to
do it. “General Hammond tells me you know of a way to defeat the Goa’uld?” she
said, her formerly friendly smile now becoming terse.
“Are you… a warrior?” she asked, obviously
extending virtual claws.
“No,” she said flatly. “But I make their weapons and essentially save their collective
butts from time to time.” She looked directly
at Teal’c when she said that.
“I have convinced the symbiote I carry that the
Goa’uld are evil,” Shan’auc declared with an air of victory. “It has foresworn its birthright and wishes
to join the Tok’ra.”
Teal’c watched as Kayla gave him the same skeptical
look he’d given Shan’auc earlier in the debriefing room. Turning her attention to Shan’auc, she
asked, “And how do you know this?”
“By communicating with it.”
“It just … told you?” she asked, not even
attempting to hide the sarcasm as she waved a hand to illustrate her point.
“Yes.”
“That’s not possible,” Kayla alleged as she looked
at Teal’c. “Even you have told me so.”
“It seems you are another Tau’ri who does not see
the wisdom of this,” Shan’auc stated.
Kayla exhaled sharply, panning the room for a brief
moment. “Shan’auc,” she began, “there’s
an old Tau’ri saying. A leopard doesn’t
change its spots.”
Shan’auc looked to Teal’c for an explanation.
“It is not possible for an animal to change its
instinctive behavior,” Teal’c translated.
“But let me tell you what I do know,” Kayla
declared, placing her hands on her hips.
“I know the Goa’uld can not be trusted.
I know that a rogue member of their ranks is hell-bent on destroying my
world. You might have heard of him,”
she said, looking between her tattoo and his.
“His name’s Apophis.”
Shan’auc did not take kindly to Kayla’s words and
it showed on her face. “I would not
expect a Tau’ri to understand,” she shot back.
Meow.
Kayla adjusted her stance, ready for another round of
verbal sparring. “What I understand is
the Goa’uld will do anything to eradicate us and keep your people in slavery,”
she said. “They’re the ones who would
even stoop as low as using children.
The daughter of a friend of mine, Janet, had a naquada bomb put in her
chest.” Then she pointed a finger at
Teal’c. “And your former boss used your
son to transport some kind of biological weapon that would have wiped out all
life on my world. So you’ll see why I’m
skeptical of what you describe.”
Teal’c felt now was a good time to step in. “There is a way to corroborate her story,”
he said, catching Kayla completely off-guard.
She regained her composure quickly.
“And how is that?” she asked, batting her
eyelashes.
“By putting himself in a deep state of Kel No
Reem,” Shan’auc told her. “That state
is forbidden in that the heart barely beats.
It is only at that time communication between Jaffa and symbiote can be
achieved.”
“That could kill him,” Kayla said, obviously more
than a little disgusted. Teal’c watched
as she tapped her foot a few times. In
the time he’d know her, he knew she did that when she was irritated but trying
to figure something out. It was obvious
to him she was trying to decide if Shan’auc was crazy for suggesting such a
thing or if he truly lost his mind by actually contemplating doing it.
She looked at Teal’c and asked, “You would endanger
your life for this? On her word?”
“Yes, he would,” Shan’auc said, not trying to mask
the implication that she commanded more loyalty from her than from Kayla. “He has known me since before I went to the
temple. How long has he known you?”
Kayla got an irritated look on her face that
would’ve made Jack O’Neill proud. “I
was talking to him,” she spat.
This
is not proceeding favorably.
It was obvious Kayla felt threatened, but was
trying to be diplomatic. Shan’auc’s
goading of her was not helping matters and he knew why. One thing Kayla was was graceful. As his eyes pleaded for her patience, her
eyes told him she would, but the matter was far from closed. He was caught in the crossfire and all he
could do was wait until the bullets had finished flying. Years of experience in situations like this
one had taught him that.
“This is my life’s work,” she declared proudly to
Kayla. “Teal’c understands. I do not see why you cannot.”
Kayla smiled devilishly as she picked her report
back up. “A symbiote matures in about
what, six to eight years?” she prompted.
Teal’c groaned inwardly. He had seen that coming a mile away.
“Yes,” Shan’auc said.
Kayla smiled wickedly. “Then how can your life’s work be accomplished in only six to
eight years?” she questioned. “You’re
what? About a hundred in human years?”
Meow.
Shan’auc stared daggers at her. Kayla gave Teal’c a look his eyes briefly
avoided.
Kayla looked at her watch. “I have to go see Hammond really quick and
give him my two cents then get back to my work. Teal’c, I’ll talk to you later.
Shan’auc, I truly hope you’re right.
Because if Teal’c dies in the process …”
“I would like your assistance in achieving this,”
he proposed to her.
Teal’c watched as his current lover let out an
exasperated sigh. “Teal’c, I already
dealt with premature news of your death when Thor’s ship crashed,” she
said. “Please don’t expect me to sit
and watch it actually happen this time.”
When she turned on her heel and walked out, he
immediately reprimanded himself for being so heartless. He didn’t know what would happen, and having
her be witness to taking himself to the brink of death on a former lover’s word
wouldn’t endear himself to her. He
wondered what damage he’d already done.
Surely, they would speak of this further in the near future.
“If she were Jaffa, she would understand,” Shan’auc
said, interrupting his thoughts.
“She is Tau’ri,” he told her. “I could not ask her to be something she is
not.”
Suddenly, Shan’auc got an amused expression on her
face. “She is your La’hira Tai?” she asked.
Teal’c shot her an angry look.
“No, she is not my concubine,” he said, obviously
offended she’d used that term. But then
again, in Jaffa society, the only reason male Jaffa would consort with human
female slaves would be for the purpose of sexual fulfillment without love, or
to produce offspring. “She and I are…dating,” he said. Funny, there was a time when such a thing
wouldn’t have offended him so easily.
“Explain this,” she requested.
“The Tau’ri engage in a such a ritual in order to
choose a bonding partner.”
“You wish to take her as a wife?” she asked, the
intrigue showing in her eyes said he’d made a substandard choice. “You know such a thing would not be looked
upon favorably on Chulak.”
“Right now my concern is for you,” he said, trying
to change the subject.
Her expression turned hopeful. “You will attempt to communicate with your
symbiote?”
“Yes,” he said.
“I will ask the assistance of my friends.”
“You will see that I am right,” she assured,
settling back into the bed. “That my
life’s work is indeed true.”
“For the sake of our people,” he said softly, “I
sincerely hope so.”
He owed it to his people to try.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Teal’c
watched the candlelight dance on the faces of the SG-1 team members as he sat
cross-legged on the floor of his quarters.
He was thankful they had agreed to come here at his request to help him
prove Shan’auc’s theory. Major Carter and Daniel Jackson had gone along with
it, but Teal’c couldn’t help but notice some animosity coming from Jack. He concluded it was a result of Shan’auc
saying she knew of him as his apprentice.
Jack had obviously taken some offense and he couldn’t determine
why. Surely on this world was not Jack
the master and he the student?
Teal’c decided trying to find out the reason for
Jack’s attitude towards him was futile in light of what he’d brought them all
there to accomplish. Turning his
attention to the task at hand, he informed his teammates what was involved in
reaching this particular state of Kel No Reem that would allow him to
communicate with his symbiote. It was
akin to the deep state he put himself in once to save himself from
drowning. Such a state was forbidden
because the heart could stop beating all together. Only at this time would communion is possible.
“Is it dangerous?” Jack asked.
“Jack,” Daniel said, his voice hinting the Colonel
had asked a stupid question. “He’s
stopping his heart.”
Jack cut his eyes at him. “I mean for us,” he corrected in the same tone of voice.
“I am unsure of what will occur if and when communion
with my symbiote is achieved,” Teal’c said.
“It may become necessary to restrain me.”
“Well,” Jack said, not masking his crankiness.
“Knock yourself out.”
Teal’c shut his eyes and began the descent into Kel
No Reem that he had done countless times, where conscious thought gave way to
unconscious communication between his body and the symbiote he depended on to
keep him alive. His heart beat slower,
and slower, until he could barely hear another beat.
Then his symbiote restarted his heart.
Suddenly, he saw a vision appear in his mind’s
eye. A woman, who was obviously the
queen of a system lord, turned around to face him. He then saw the face of Cronus.
His expression was twisted with simmering rage, his hair in
disarray. And then he saw a Jaffa with
the same dusky skin as his own being restrained by two of his own soldiers.
His eyes flew open in revelation upon realizing who
the Jaffa was.
“I believe I saw a vision of my father,” Teal’c
said, his voice choked with emotion.
“It’s working?” Daniel prompted. Jack and Sam also wanted to know.
Searching his mind quickly, Teal’c realized he
couldn’t give a definitive answer just yet.
“I will begin again,” he said.
When he reached that state again, his mind’s eyes
showed his father standing before him.
His head was held high and he stared directly into the eyes of the false
god to whom he’d sworn allegiance.
Cronus looked at him malevolently, and then punched a fist into his
father’s pouch. The vision was so real,
Teal’c felt the pain his father felt as it happened. He even felt the excruciating pain as the system lord he hated
above all others crushed his father’s symbiote.
It was truly an extremely painful way to die.
Carter immediately went to the phone and picked it
up. “Medical emergency, Teal’c’s quarters,” she said urgently.
As he fell to the floor in pain, the events that
followed after his father’s death swam through his mind. He remembered soldiers coming to the house,
telling his mother that they were to take only what they could carry. He remembered being forced to leave
playthings behind that he’d begged his mother to take with them. He remembered he and his mother fleeing
under the cover of night through the stargate to Chulak and it was only then,
in the indignity of the outcast camp that he was told of the death of his
father. He remembered being the best in
his bashaak training class so that one day he would could the forces of Cronus
as the first prime of his enemy, Apophis, and avenge his father’s death a
thousand times over.
“That will not be necessary, Major Carter,” Teal’c
said as he regained his composure.
Sam waited a few moments to ascertain whether
medical help was indeed not necessary.
“Delay that last order and stand by,” she said, watching as Jack went over
to help Teal’c.
“Get up,” Jack told the Jaffa as he pulled him up
to a sitting position. “What happened?”
he asked.
“I received a vision from my symbiote. It was a
memory it chose to share,” Teal’c said, trying to decide how best to put into
words what he’d just experienced. “Its
hatred for me is great.”
“Then it is possible. Shan’auc was telling the truth?” Sam asked.
“Yes,” he rasped.
“Yes.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Jack’s head hurt.
He rubbed his temples as he stepped off the
elevator. He rounded the corner and
headed for the SGC’s research and development lab. The events of the meeting he’d just left swum through his
mind. It seemed Anise had flitted off
to call an emergency session of the Tok’ra high council so they could consider
Shan’auc’s offer. He had to give the
lady credit; she truly had the Tok’ra over a barrel. Unfortunately, until the snake was blended they couldn’t tell if
it would be Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader.
As he strolled through the open area of the lab
towards the back where Kayla’s office was, he tried to push away the suspicion
that something was happening to Teal’c.
That look on his face when he realized Shan’auc was telling the truth
gave him a strange feeling. He didn’t
want to contemplate what it was and that was part of the reason for his visit.
Jack peered around the cracked doorway to see Kayla
typing like a woman possessed. He knew
her well enough to know something was bugging the shit out of her, but she was
ignoring it in order to get done what she had to do. It was probably the same thing bugging him he thought as he
knocked loudly.
“Can’t you see I’m busy!” she snapped without
looking up.
“Whoa!” Jack said, tossing up his hands
defensively. “I think you should switch
to decaf.”
Kayla took off her glasses and rubbed her
eyes. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “It’s my fault for putting stuff off.”
It wasn’t the ‘stuff’ that was bothering her, this
much Jack knew.
“I told you she’d rub you the wrong way,” he
reminded her.
“And right now I’m as pissed off as my cat gets
when someone rubs his fur the wrong way.”
Jack remembered that cat. “You mean the one that can actually flip someone off with its
paw?” he asked, remembering Ramses’ bad attitude. Hell, the cat made a habit of dragging its ass across the carpet
just to piss Kayla off. Jack always
thought it was a hoot how she yelled at him whenever he did it.
“I know,” she said, laughing a little. “I’m a bad influence. Besides, since I had him neutered he’s got
to live vicariously through something.”
“You know,” he began, “anyone who doesn’t know you
wouldn’t think something was wrong. But
I know you better than that.”
“Jack,” she said, narrowing her dark brown eyes at
him. “I want to hit her. Really, really hard. But instead I was quite civil. Even managed to make a little joke.”
“So what was the joke?”
“I basically called her an old hag.”
Jack snickered.
“I thought I told you not to cause trouble?” he jokingly reprimanded,
beyond pleased Kayla had been true to form by annoying the female Jaffa.
“I was most diplomatic,” she said, leaning back in
her chair.
“Then why do I get the impression you let her know
this is your territory?”
“Because it is,” she snorted. “Hell, she let me know in the infirmary that
Teal’c is her territory.” She took a
pen off her desk and began tapping it against the rim of an empty coffee cup,
the tempo mirroring her frustration.
“Jack, she acted as if I was nothing.
A non-issue. As if somehow
Teal’c has cooties for being with me.
She has no idea who she’s dealing with and I let her know that.” She slowed her tirade a bit, seemingly
noticing she was rapidly descending into unladylike territory. “In a diplomatic way of course,” she added.
Jack knew Kayla had probably been diplomatic to the
point of having her toes curl up. And
there wasn’t much toe room in those Italian leather pumps she was wearing.
“Couldn’t keep the claws in after all, huh?” he
asked, ruffling his graying hair.
Kayla threw the pen back into the sea of papers on
her desk. “She started it,” she whined.
“You’ll get no argument from me on that one,” he
said. Jack picked up a ball trimmed in
Velcro and tossed it at the target hanging on an opposite wall. He frowned when the ball landed further from
the center point value than he wanted.
“Damn! I gotta work on my form.”
“You know, she comes in here, claiming to know a
way to fight the Goa’uld,” she said, picking up Velcro ball on her computer and
tossing it up and catching it repeatedly.
“And when I don’t believe her, she says ‘The Tau’ri do not understand’.”
Jack almost fell over in laugher at Kayla’s
imitation of Shan’auc. Instead, he
tossed another ball at the wall and this time he missed it entirely. Kayla gave
him a look that demanded to know what he found so funny. Jack just shrugged.
“What I understand is there are plenty of Goa’uld
out there waiting to wipe us out. And
I’m just supposed to believe these snakes can turn just because someone tells
them?” she retorted. Jack shrugged as
he picked up another ball and threw it.
This time, he was more pleased with where it landed.
“My mom repeated to me over and over in utero that
I wasn’t going to like opera but I do,” she said, tossing the ball she held at
the target. It wound up knocking one of
Jack’s balls off.
“Hey!” he protested. “No fair! That was my
best-scoring throw.”
Kayla feigned innocence. “I don’t see a referee,” she defended. “So quit yer bitchin’.”
Jack stuck a tongue out at her then went to
retrieve his fallen ammo. “Shan’auc
seems to believe she’s been able to turn the snake,” he said, tossing the ball
into the air.
“Yeah right,” Kayla snorted. “And I’ll wake up tomorrow with
naturally-blond hair and Carter’s blue eyes.”
Jack snickered and shook his head. “There’s more to this, isn’t there?” he
asked.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “But I’m not in the mood to talk about it right now.
Jack pulled over a chair and turned it around.
“Talk,” he said, sitting astride it.
She opened and shut her mouth a few times as if
trying to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to say. Those soft, dark brown eyes a few shades
deeper than his own were obviously troubled.
It was as if she could see something coming, but wasn’t sure how to
signal the danger. Jack picked up one
of her hands in his, giving it a comforting squeeze.
“You can tell me anything,” he said softly. “You know that.”
A memory flashed through his mind. He was naked. She was naked. They were groaning,
moaning, sweating, grasping, and crying out in unison as they hit that pinnacle
of pleasure. Shit, he did not need to remember that now. Hell, after having sex with a Jaffa she
probably couldn’t go back to humans even if she wanted to. Besides, he was ‘with’ Sam now. At least he thought he was. Things had been kinda funky lately.
“I just have a feeling, Jack,” she whispered,
smacking him out of his contemplation.
“Call me paranoid but I feel like I’m slowly being pushed to the
side. And I don’t mean on a temporary
basis.”
“She’s dying, Kayla,” he informed her. “And since there aren’t any Jaffa in the
Tok’ra ranks, the chances are pretty slim she’ll get a new symbiote.”
Kayla wasn’t sure whether to believe him or
not. “Would you think me evil if I told
you I’m looking forward to her dying?” she asked. “My mom would say I’d be going to hell for thinking such a
thing. Of course, growing up in a
Baptist environment, anything short of breathing would condemn you to hell,”
she said with a wry laugh.
“Well since I’m headed there myself, I could show
you around the neighborhood,” he said with a reassuring grin. “And no, you’re not a bad person.”
“If she does get a new symbiote, and she doesn’t
die…”
Jack saw the deduction in her eyes. It was the same one he kept ignoring because
it was so outrageous, so out of character, he couldn’t see it happening. The fact was, he didn’t want it to
happen. But wanting it may not be
enough to stop it. Still, he didn’t
want Kayla thinking that.
“His place is here,” Jack assured her. “Besides, considering how long he’s wanted
to go out with you do you really think he’d blow it now?”
Kayla looked away briefly and said, “I guess you’re
right.”
“Hey,” he
prompted, seeing the initial shimmer of tears in her eyes. “I know I’m right.”
“I gotta go,” she said, slipping her hand out of
his. She dabbed at her eyes with the
corner of her white lab jacket. “More
stuff to put together. I’m headed out
to Area 51 tomorrow.”
“Yeah?” Jack asked.
“Yeah.
They’re going to show me the finished X-301 Intercept.”
Jack put the chair back in its proper place.
“Teal’c and I are supposed to test fly that thing soon,” he said. “Why haven’t you worked on it?”
“I only hung out in a death glider,” she
explained. “I wasn’t interested in
developing a new aircraft. Of course,
Dad didn’t take that too well …”
“Dad?” Jack asked, suddenly remembering he didn’t
know much about her family. All he knew
was her father was a military hard-ass, her mom was the long-suffering military
wife, and her three brothers were absolutely useless. As Kayla told him numerous times, her family put the D in
dysfunctional and owned the patent on the definition.
“Nothing,” she quickly dismissed. “I gotta get back to work. I’m not even packed yet. Let me know how things work out, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, giving her a mock salute as he
went to leave. But suddenly he
stopped. “Kayla?” he prompted as he
turned around.
“Yes?” she said, her voice cracking a bit.
“He’s not going anywhere.”
“I hope you’re right, Jack,” she said, biting her
bottom lip gently. “I really do.”
Jack hoped so too.
He’d told Teal’c if he broke Kayla’s heart he’d kick his ass. God help him if he actually had to follow
through with it. Last time he’d needed
an Atanik armband to punch Teal’c out.
And he, Carter and Daniel had left those on Apophis’ mother ship before
it blew to smithereens.
Teal’c,
if you prove me wrong so help me God…
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
He did not want her to die.
With a heavy heart, Teal’c was headed to his
quarters to retire for the evening.
Freya had assured him she would do everything within her power to find a
new symbiote for Shan’auc. But
considering the symbiote his childhood love carried would need to take a host
within a day, two at the most, made the situation look even grimmer. How could she have only been brought to him
just to lose her again?
He’d thought about speaking with Kayla about what
he was feeling, but something stopped him.
She was obviously very busy and he did not want to impede her
progress. Given what had transpired in
the infirmary earlier that day, he got the feeling she wasn’t anxious to talk
to him right now. Teal’c promised himself
that once she returned from Area 51, they would speak about these events.
With a heavy sigh, he opened the door to his
quarters and walked in. Surprisingly,
Shan’auc was there, sitting cross-legged, her palms upward. Slowly she turned her head and opened her
eyes, giving Teal’c a smile. He smiled
back, reveling in the warm feeling of coming to his quarters and having someone
greet him there.
The part of his mind that told him Shan’auc was not
the only woman to surprise him this way was quickly silenced.
“The Tok’ra council is considering your offer,” he
said.
“My symbiote is eager to meet them,” Shan’auc
said. “I hope they can reach their
decision in time.” She inhaled sharply,
her face wincing in agony.
Teal’c’s expression turned to one of concern. “The
pain grows worse?” he asked as he helped her to her feet.
“Yes,” she said.
“For what reason did you wait so long?” he asked,
his tone much warmer now than in the infirmary. Surely she knew carrying a symbiote that was fully adult would
cause her harm.
“I was afraid you would not believe,” she said, a
somewhat embarrassed look on her face.
The embarrassed look quickly changed into one of loving admiration. “Since word came to the temple that you
betrayed Apophis, I have thought of you every day.” She smiled, obviously remembering all they had shared before
parting ways that fateful day so many years ago.
“As a shol’va?” he asked.
“No, Teal’c,” she corrected. “Because of you, my doubts became
certainties. When we were children, you
were always the strongest, the bravest.
That you would one day be First Prime was never doubted. Then you did what no Jaffa before you had
ever done. You challenged the gods
themselves and won.” She touched his
face gently, the contact setting all of his nerve endings on fire. Shan’auc’s stroking of his ego was
definitely having its intended effect.
“Among many
on Chulak you are as revered as the gods once were,” she admired. “And yet you walk away.”
Teal’c just smiled humbly and said, “My place is
here.”
Shan’auc raised an eyebrow at him. “Is it?” she
challenged.
It was like someone tossed a bucket of cold water
over him.
“Bra’tac cannot be expected to carry the burden
alone,” she informed him, smirking a little at his angry expression. “It was you who first began walking this
path. Do not abandon those who have followed
you this far.” Shan’auc turned away
from him.
Teal’c grabbed her arm, turning her back towards
him. “I have abandoned no one,” he
growled. Shan’auc gave him a look that
said to let her go and he did so.
Inwardly, he cursed himself for getting so
angry. But the truth was, it hurt for
any of his people to think of him as a traitor. He had given up so much for his people, how could they think he’d
turned his back on them?
“When I die,” she began, “and you are the only one
capable of teaching others what I have learned, what will you do then?”
“Do not concern yourself with me,” he hissed. This made Shan’auc even angrier.
“I have all but given my life for a cause that you
inspired!”
“Tak shal kree,” he demanded, snapping her out of
her tirade. “I will advise you when
there is news,” he growled as he turned away to leave. Suddenly, he thought going to see Kayla
before she left wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
“When you touched the mind of your symbiote,”
Shan’auc inquired, “what did it show you?”
That halted Teal’c in his tracks.
“The murder of my father,” he said slowly without
turning around. “A most slow and
painful death.”
“At the hand of Cronus.”
“Yes.”
“It wanted you to know fear.”
“Yes,” he said, shivering at the memory.
“You are stronger than that,” she gently
admonished. “Why does it appear to have
succeeded?” Teal’c heard Shan’auc’s
footsteps come closer, but he still did not turn around. “My first communion was the same. It took many days before I tried again. But one day the images it chose to share
with me began to change. They became
sorrowful, as though my kal’ma was awakening to its own shame. In time the images became beautiful, even
caring.”
The empathy in her voice was soothing to his
soul. She understood him without having
to explain himself; knew things about him no one else knew; and could console
him like no other. So many feelings
shot through him that he couldn’t tell if he was coming or going. A part of him said he should leave and
explain himself to Kayla, while another part of him said his place was here
with one of his own kind; the one true love of his life. Surely, Kayla would understand…
“If that is all…” Shan’auc began.
“There is more.”
Teal’c turned back around slowly and looked deeply
into her eyes. There was a saying among
the Tau’ri that Kayla had told him. She
had said that the eyes were the windows of the soul. And Shan’auc knew his soul like no other. “I fear losing you a
second time,” he rasped, the emotion in his voice warming her heart.
“No,” she assured as she moved her lips closer to
his. “Never again.”
Teal’c knew he shouldn’t be doing this, but the
feelings he had buried long ago for Shan’auc came rushing back. He felt powerless to resist them and gave
into the urge to kiss her. The feel of
her lips against his own was the same as he remembered. As he deepened the kiss, he was suddenly
back on Chulak in the Chamka Groves with Shan’auc, kissing her for the first
time in the cool breeze of autumn so many years ago.
Teal’c and Shan’auc were the only ones who knew
what ensued next.
And a video camera perched up in the corner saw it
all.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
[Chapter
One] [Chapter
Two] [Chapter
Three] [Chapter
Four] [Chapter
Five] [Chapter
Six]
~ * ~ * ~ * ~