Chapter 24: It's Always a Goa'uld Time
Brennus sat, staring at the opposite wall. The corridor he was in appeared to be made of granite, though it wasn't. At least, he wasn't able to phase through it, so it had to be at least slightly exotic in nature. He had wasted a significant amount of time when he first appeared here trying to shift into another dimension, phase through the walls, floors and ceiling, or use brute force to blow a hole he could pass through. The last had been somewhat humbling, as he couldn't even mark the wall, never mind tear a hole in it. There were no fixtures of any kind for ventilation, lighting or any other purpose on any of the surfaces. Light and air just seemed to exist, even though Brennus could get by without either of them.
He had tried following the corridors, but each path just wound around and around until coming to a four way intersection. Picking any of the four corridors would eventually lead to another, identical intersection. It may have been the same intersection, actually. The winding of the corridors didn't seem to indicate that, but no way he could devise to test that theory had worked. He had tried leaving created markers at an intersection, but they would disappear once he was out of sight. This was true even if he turned around immediately as soon as he rounded a curve in the corridor to look at where he just left it. After wandering for an interminable time, he finally decided to just sit and wait.
Eventually, he felt the presence again. After he first appeared in this prison, he had felt eyes on his back, as if he were being watched. Of course, he couldn't find the location of his watcher no matter how he looked. Eventually, the feeling faded, only to reappear later for a time. He wasn't sure if the periods between observation were the same or not. He just knew they continued to recur. When he felt it again, he spoke aloud for the first time.
"How long do you intend to keep me imprisoned here?" he asked the air.
To his surprise, a voice answered. The voice was deep and primal in a way that made him feel unease. "Until lessons are learned."
"Lessons? What are you trying to teach me?" he asked, a hint of outrage in his voice.
"Not just you," said the voice.
"Release me, or suffer the consequences!" yelled the trapped being.
The air seemed to darken. Brennus' vision was fading, which was odd, given that he didn't actually need visible light in order to see. He also started to feel cold, which was utterly impossible. He had long been beyond such things.
"Your arrogance is the reason you are here," hissed the voice. "You cower out of sight, afraid of of your cousins. You cower, afraid of what you might become. You cower, afraid that your playthings in the mortal realm might learn of you and decide that your time is long past ending."
"You know nothing about our role in the galaxy," said Brennus, though he was distressed to hear the uncertainty in his own voice. The other speaker's voice had seemed to grow quieter as he spoke, forcing him to strain to hear him.
"You need to remember mortality."
With that, Brennus found himself falling. He could not arrest his fall, no matter how much doing so should have been second nature to him. He didn't stop until he splashed into what felt like ice cold water. Long forgotten instinct kicked in, and he swam his way back to the surface, sputtering as he spat the water out of his mouth and forced it from his nose. It was still dark, but there seemed to be a flicker of light in the distance, like a candle in a dark room. He floated there, paddling in place to keep his head above water, as he tried to decide what to do. What was happening should not have been possible, and he wasn't sure how to react. Finally, he started to swim toward the light when he felt something brush against his leg beneath the dark water. The chill that worked down his spine was not just due to the cold.
Gradually, he found that instead of a candle, the light was coming from a campfire. As he drew closer after a long, long swim, he could see it rested on a tiny patch of land just inches above the water line. He kept swimming until he reached the land and pulled himself up onto the dirt. The fire provided him with only a small amount of warmth, but it was nonetheless welcome. As he lay there, resting, he wondered how any of this had happened. He hadn't felt these feelings since he ascended so long ago. He did not like this. Part of him mustered up a portion of his earlier outrage at being treated in such a fashion. Another, more primal part that he had thought long forgotten, was simply wondering what would happen when the fire burned down.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ganos appeared in the cargo hold of the Ship of Fools in the middle of the floor and looked around. Already watching her point of arrival were Daniel Jackson, a tall, thin lizard-girl, and a much larger quadrupedal lizard with jet black scales. As soon as the ascended woman appeared, she spoke. "Wait, let me speak, please!" she quickly yelled.
The lizard-girl smiled with an unpleasantly toothy grin, and replied, "We always let your people speak first, Ganos. It's what they say that gets them into trouble."
Setting aside her surprise at the fact that she was recognized, she inquired, "Where are the others who came before?" When Daniel Jackson had reappeared after mysteriously vanishing, someone had been sent to collect him. When that Ancient had failed to return, another was sent to investigate. Then three more went together. Finally, the collective wisdom decided that they should send somebody with a slightly less antagonistic manner, and Ganos drew the metaphorical short straw.
The black lizard spoke for the first time. "They have been set aside for now. A good friend of ours is watching them, and trying to teach them how to behave in polite society."
"Will you release them?" she asked, not really hopeful for a positive answer. She knew the personalities involved. Teaching them manners was likely to take quite some time, possibly measured in geologic epochs.
"Eventually," replied the smaller lizard. "First, we should discuss Daniel Jackson."
Ganos looked over at Daniel, who was standing rather casually with his hands in his pockets. His lack of concern, combined with the fact that a number of her people had gone missing, suggested a cautious approach would be wise. The usual obfuscation and/or domineering attitude had obviously not worked so far.
"Daniel deliberately violated the rules for non-interference, despite knowing the likely penalty..." she began.
The larger, black lizard interrupted. "Daniel Jackson was working to stop the interference of another ascended."
"Anubis is no longer ascended. He is prohibited from using ascended knowledge," tried Ganos, slightly miffed despite herself at being interrupted.
The smaller lizard raised an eyebrow and replied, "We disagree with your interpretation of the situation."
Ganos looked at the two reptiles. They weren't from any species with which she was familiar. "If I may ask, who are you?"
That earned a respectful nod, at least. "Forgive us for not introducing ourselves earlier. I'm Saurial, and this is my cousin Metis. We represent the Family."
"Daniel Jackson is under our protection," added Metis.
Ganos appeared confused. "I'm not sure I understand?"
"Daniel appeared in our dimension and requested our assistance," explained Saurial. "We investigated his circumstances and decided to intervene."
Having these lizards be from another reality at least explained why none of the ascended host were familiar with them. Some of the Nox had been vague, but then that was typical behavior. Unfortunately, that ignorance had obviously led to her people underestimating their abilities. Despite that, she still had a mission to accomplish. "Many of our people will not accept him escaping punishment." Ganos prepared to defend herself if her statement wasn't taken well.
"Despite the fact that Oma Desala helped Anubis ascend, and your people failed to descend him properly," said Metis sarcastically.
Ganos frowned, but nodded. "Yes, despite that."
"Daniel has already been returned to human form. Taking his memories from his mortal life goes too far. You had no claim to them," said Saurial firmly.
While Ganos could admit they had a point, she couldn't really understand why they took issue with it. "That was simply a temporary side effect of removing his ascended memories. His mortal memories were just a tiny fraction of the total removed. He would have recovered them with time." Admittedly, the time involved might seem more significant if you were mortal.
Daniel spoke for the first time. "What if I agreed to allow the Asgard to remove the scraps of memory left?" They had done something similar for O'Neill without wiping his own memories.
Ganos considered that. Some of the hard-liners might complain, but they couldn't argue that the intent hadn't been satisfied. "That would be acceptable."
"And there won't be any other repercussions?" asked Metis.
There was one other issue she had to address. "Nobody will be allowed to help him ascend again. If he does so, he will have to get there on his own."
"I don't think that will be an issue." Saurial had a smug look on her face as she said that, though Ganos didn't know why.
"We have an agreement, then," said the ascended. "Now, what about our people?"
The lizard girl reached behind her and pulled out a basket. The basket was filled with brightly colored eggs. "Here you go!"
Ganos took the basket out of reflex. "I'm...not sure what to do with this?"
"Each of the Easter eggs contains one of your people," explained Metis.
Ganos stared at them for a solid twenty seconds. "You turned them into baby chickens?"
Saurial laughed out loud. "No, the eggs are simply multidimensional holding cells. I've turned off the effects that are keeping them trapped, so they should free themselves shortly."
"Very well," replied Ganos. She was puzzled, but nevertheless took the basket and left.
"Well, that went well," said Metis with a grin.
"It's better than having amnesia, I guess. Now we just have to hope that the Asgard are willing to help," said Daniel.
"Don't worry, Daniel," said Saurial. "Thor's already agreed to help."
Daniel looked at Saurial in surprise. "You've already spoken to Thor?"
The smug look on Saurial's face was becoming very familiar to Daniel Jackson due to constant exposure.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Carter, why don't you go home and get some sleep?" said O'Neill.
"What about you, sir? You've been here as long as I have," replied the blonde genius. The two were walking through the corridors beneath Cheyenne Mountain.
"Which is why I'm going to go home, watch some Simpsons, and crash." He expected he would have more than a couple of beers before crashing, but that was beside the point.
Sam smiled tiredly. "Just let me shut down the experiment in my lab and I'll leave."
"All right," he agreed. "Just don't..." *vooosh*
Sam looked to where Jack had disappeared in the flash of an Asgard transporter.
"Typical," she said as she headed back to her lab to shut down the naquadah generator.
O'Neill appeared on board an Asgard vessel in orbit. "...stay too long." There was a pause, then O'Neill looked over at the figure standing nearby. "Thor? Is that you?"
"Indeed, O'Neill," replied Thor.
Jack looked at the now much-taller Asgard, who was not only wearing clothes, but appeared to have gained facial features, including a nose and ears. The gray skin and enlarged skull were the same, though. "You look different. Have you been working out?"
"We have managed to resolve the problems we were having with our cloning process, thanks to some new allies referred to us by Daniel Jackson," explained Thor.
O'Neill turned serious. "Have you seen Daniel recently?" He had been missing since the showdown with Anubis.
"Daniel Jackson was well when last we spoke. I expect you will be hearing from him shortly. However, I have a message for your superiors from the Asgard High Council."
Jack was happy to hear that Danny was alive, but a message from the Asgard leadership was a big deal. "What can Earth do to help the Asgard?"
"It is actually we who would like to help you," said Thor. "The High Council has reconsidered certain issues and would like to show its appreciation to Earth for its help in the past."
"Well, I would be lying if I said we couldn't use the help," said O'Neill. Anubis was still a threat, not to mention the rest of the Goa'uld. Maybe he could finally get his big honking space guns?
"The Asgard High Council has decided that the Protected Planets Treaty has outlived its usefulness. We have decided to share our technology with Earth."
That was surprising, to say the least. "Well, thank you. What exactly are we talking about here? Ray guns? Shields? Transporters?"
Thor blinked at him. "We will be providing you with our complete knowledge base, along with advisers to help you understand the underlying science and uplift your society. There is, however, a condition."
O'Neill wasn't sure what kind of condition would apply to receiving all their technology, but he was expecting it to be a doozy. "And that would be...?"
"The High Council is concerned by the fact that the majority of your population is still ignorant of the existence of extraterrestrial life and the Stargate Program. The condition for receiving our aid is full public disclosure," said Thor.
Jack's eyes grew wide. "Oooh, boy..."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Anubis watched as the fifth and last of Moloc's ha'taks exploded. This world would be the third taken from the rival Goa'uld in as many days. It was almost too easy, and Moloc was such a harsh task master that many of his Jaffa were happy to switch sides when captured. Anubis wanted to finish this off quickly so he could refocus his attention on the Tau'ri. The humans of the first world were proving to be far more resourceful than expected, and had already proven to be a thorn in his side -- more so than any of the so-called System Lords. Of course, the Tau'ri had already killed Ra, Sokar, and a number of other potential rivals. This was both convenient and yet another reason why they needed to be exterminated.
"I have to say, despite being partially ascended, you still seem to have the same gaudy taste in decorating as the rest of the Goa'uld," said a voice from behind Anubis's throne.
Anubis spun around to look at the intruder, while the Jaffa on the pel'tak leveled their staff weapons. The being standing there was reptilian, but not Unas, Serrakin, or any of the other known races. It may have had some type of natural stealth like the Re'tu, though, because Anubis hadn't sensed its presence until it had spoken. "Who are you?" he asked in a dark tone.
"My name is Saurial," replied the apparently female lizard. "I'm afraid I'm here because you have been making a nuisance of yourself, and that has to stop." Saurial shook her finger at the System Lord like she was chastising a child.
Anubis was annoyed. "Kill her," he commanded. The Jaffa began firing, bolts of plasma crossing the room from multiple directions. The lizard girl made no effort to dodge or defend herself. As far as the partially-ascended Goa'uld could tell, his Jaffa might as well have been tossing pebbles for all the effect it was having. It didn't really matter whether the shots hit armor or skin, the creature continued to stand there as if bored by the whole thing.
His First Prime must have come to the same conclusion, as he shouted, "Hol mel!" When the other Jaffa stopped firing, he charged in, using his ma'tok as a melee weapon. The lizard girl moved quickly. Anubis's First Prime was soon unconscious. The intruder then quickly and easily disabled the rest of the Jaffa on the bridge before turning back to Anubis with a smirk.
His annoyance turned to rage at this affront. "You WILL kneel before your god!"
Saurial twitched an eyebrow. "Won't."
Anubis began to gather energy to attack, when the lizard dropped a box at his feet. It was painted with black and yellow stripes -- clearly some kind of warning label. The Goa'uld started to ignore the distraction, but suddenly the box began to glow. Anubis suddenly felt an iron grip grab hold of him and start pulling him down.
Saurial watched as the half-ascended monster was sucked down into the trap. She had to admit, the paint was a nice touch. She would have to convey her appreciation to Leet. She activated her communicator. {I'm all done over here. Do you know how to turn on the evacuation alarm?}
{Daniel explained it to me.} Metis walked Saurial through the process via communicator. Luckily, almost every Goa'uld ship used a standard set of controls. That limited the amount of training required of the relatively poorly-educated Jaffa. The alert to evacuate required Anubis's personal authorization, but that wasn't much of an obstacle to somebody with Metis' skills. It helped that Anubis wasn't terribly imaginative.
Saurial beamed back to the Ship of Fools with her new pocket monster. She doubted that she would be choosing Anubis anytime soon. The crew then watched as Jaffa fled the ship in gliders, tel'tak, and al'kesh. Once the massive ship was empty of life signs, a single disintegration torpedo took out Anubis' super-weapon, which in turn caused the rest of the command ship to explode.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ba'al woke up to find himself lying in the dirt. That was his first clue that something was very, very wrong. His last memory was retiring to his quarters on a ha'tak heading toward Tartarus, where Anubis had a lab producing a new super-solider. He examined himself. His host was uninjured, and he still had his hara'kesh, so things weren't dire, yet. He appeared to be in a clearing in the kind of forest common throughout the Stargate network.
"Ba'al!" said a familiar and hated voice. "They got you, too?"
Ba'al looked over toward the voice. The Goa'uld standing there was dressed in disheveled Celtic armor, and appeared to have streaks of blood on his clothes from healed injuries. "Camulus," said Baal, "do I have you to thank for bringing me...wherever we are?" Ba'al readied himself to dodge an attack from his rival.
The former Celtic god laughed quietly but strongly, with more than a twinge of madness. "Heh, you always did have a sense of humor, Ba'al. Too bad you were always such a ha'taaka. I didn't bring you here. I didn't even bring myself here."
Ba'al frowned. If Camulus was telling the truth, then somebody else had stranded them together on this planet. Was the goal to get them to kill each other? That seemed...excessively convoluted, given that he had been unconscious long enough to be kidnapped from his ship and brought here. Why not just kill him while he was at his kidnapper's mercy? "So what do you suggest? Do we declare a temporary truce?"
To Ba'al's discomfort, Camulus actually giggled. "Truce? Sure, why not? It won't matter once the hunters come for you, though. I had a truce with Morrigan, too, and I saw them take her, along with her host's skull and spine."
"Morrigan was here, too?" Morrigan had disappeared two weeks ago, which had caused some chaos in the ranks of Lord Yu's alliance.
"I saw that bastard Moloc, too, though only from a distance." Camulus started darting his eyes back and forth as he spoke. He appeared to be looking for something.
"What's wrong?" asked Baal.
Camulus froze, then looked Baal straight in the eye and said, "Run." Before Ba'al could respond or react, the other Goa'uld took off running from the clearing they were in.
"He must be crazy," Ba'al muttered to himself. Just to be safe, he triggered the personal shield on his hara'kesh. As he was pondering what to do, he was startled when a bolt of plasma flared against his shield. He quickly dove behind one of the thicker trees as a second bolt screamed past, barely missing him.
Ba'al listened carefully for his attacker as he crouched down behind the thick tree. He could hear something heavy moving through the brush on the other side of the clearing. His eyes widened as a figure in the clearing disengaged a personal cloaking field. The being was tall and covered in an advanced-looking set of armor. The helmet was surrounded by what looked to be tentacles, and there was a weapon mount on the creatures shoulder with what appeared to be a plasma cannon. That would explain the shots that hit Ba'al's shield. In his hand, the creature held what appeared to be some type of metal spear. That was a bit of a concern, as the weapon quite likely would be slow enough to go through a Goa'uld personal shield.
The creature stopped moving. It deliberately turned and stared directly at Ba'al. At that moment, the former System Lord decided discretion was the better part of valor and ran off in the same direction as Camulus. If nothing else, maybe he could get the creature to go after the other Goa'uld, instead.
The Yautja gave the new prey a head start, pleased that this one would provide at least a little sport.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"It seems a little harsh, just stranding them to be hunted like animals." Miles was watching the Yautja ship in orbit over one of the species' hunting reserves.
"Most of the Goa'uld have a standing death sentence with both the Tok'ra and the Asgard. They are guilty of human experimentation, genocide, mass murder, kidnapping on a massive scale, literal body snatching, torture...there isn't a crime they haven't committed," countered Saurial. Keeping the Yautja distracted by having them hunt down Goa'uld was just an added benefit. While Varga had come up with the idea, Taylor had approved, and even Danny couldn't argue against it after hearing how monstrous the body-snatching aliens actually were. The TV show presented a highly sanitized view for prime time.
"Ba'al once murdered sixty million of his own subjects in two star systems rather than let them be taken over by a rival named Sokar. He captured my commanding officer and repeatedly tortured him to death, reviving him in a sarcophagus each time so he could do it all over again. He was trying to get information Jack probably didn't even have. And Ba'al was actually one of the nicer Goa'ulds. Moloc, for example, ordered that only male Jaffa children were worthy of living, and had any baby girls burned alive as a sacrifice." Daniel was uncharacteristically bloodthirsty when it came to the Goa'uld, though not without reason.
Miles considered his own daughter, Molly. Then he remembered his experiences at the hands of the Cardassians. "Right then, where are we going now?"
"We need to head to Chulak and let the Free Jaffa know about Ba'al's disappearance," said Saurial. Somebody had to step into the power vacuum left by the vanishing Goa'uld. They were leaving Lord Yu's domain alone for now, as it was pretty much already being run by his Lo'taur and Jaffa. It was up to the Free Jaffa, and to a lesser extent, the Asgard, to fill the power vacuum in other parts of the galaxy, with a few nudges here and there from the Family. Hopefully, Earth would be able to ramp up quickly once they accepted disclosure and all of the scientific and technological benefits promised.
With any luck, if the Ori did eventually show up, then they would find a set of allies willing and able to push them out and take the fight back to the Ori's home galaxy.
