DISCLAIMER: See Part 1
Champions Gate
By Elizabeth Carter
Chapter Six
Here and Now
"The alliance of the Asgard and the other three of four races will unite with the Tok'ra , the Tau'ri, and our own people to annihilate the Goa'uld. Thus freeing all from their intergalactic terror." Razeal said as the Blue Wing was gathered about the mess hall of the Samantha Carter. "We must consider this fact now. Perhaps the Queen has even contacted Our Liege on this matter."
"Our Primary focus is to strengthen the stronghold." Boudicca commented, "Wavering from this objective will delay our reunion with out Beloved Liege. What we could not make happen on Chimera we will make happen on Grigori. To achieve this objective a new Tau'ri Stargate Base must be established. Then our Liege will return to us."
Turelim's cobalt wings fluttered a bit as she settled; she then looked at the blueprints before her. The world of Grigori was once a training ground for young Knights, but, because of its isolation, the small planet was abandoned for a more equitable location. However with a little restoration the base could be fully functional once more. Of course severe alterations would have to be considered for their wingless allies.
It was impossible not to feel a surge of optimism. The nine had banded together and were more then earnest in their attempts to create a stronghold for their Liege. Here, a new base; a new SGC would be set up, in essence a beta site for the Tau'ri people to use at the Liege Commander's discretion. If Samantha Carter did not wish to lead SG1 any longer then she could take the command of the new base. The winged warriors would be pleased to serve her, as they had sworn their souls to do.
Not only would the Beta SGC be used as a second off world base, but the Blue wing were confident they could utilize it as an academy to train new recruits in the Militia of the SGC Forces. Malakim and rebel Jaffa could form an alliance with the Tau'ri, under Samantha Carter, to fight the Diabolical nemesis. This was the hope of the Blue Wing.
Engaging the slipstream drive of the Samantha Carter they had reached the outpost of this world within moments. In time, perhaps within days, they would have it presentable for their Liege.
"Everything must be perfect." Zephon said.
"It will be young one. We need only to renovate what is already there. Our Stargate is nearing completion. Our Liege will not be disappointed." Pumah commented, her golden wings stretched and then folded about her body comfortably.
"And of their home?" Turel asked. "Our beloved Liege will not be without her lifemate. And the child born between them. You can not conceive to ask that of her."
"Of course we wouldn't even think of asking her to." Malachi said, his deep voice resounding off the walls of the briefing room. "Liege Healer will also be there. From the records there are substantial housings, and there is one befitting our Liege and her family."
The others nodded in agreement with the massive Malachi. Indeed, the Tower was the largest structure on the planet but the bastion was not without its own remarkable qualities.
The fortress in question was as well guarded as the citadel in Elysium, the city capital of Hy-Basil. Of course it lacked the draconian forces but because of its hidden defenses Grigori would be safe from incursion. Indeed it was a far cry from the vulnerability of Chimera. It's prefix code was hidden and not on the Abydos Cartouche so travel to it via Stargate was not going to happen unless one possessed the address.
From its previous function the base already had shield generators and highly advanced aggressive offensive weaponry. The complex was fully able to house a garrison of warriors with ease and comfort.
With the Command Center on Grigori, the Blue Wing were positive that their Liege Commander would rejoin with them. She need only command them and they would comply. Her young nine knew that they would not be the only warriors willing to follow Samantha Carter and her consort.
There were small bands of new recruits who had a strong desire to follow one who had such tremendous presence as their Liege. And they would definitely colonize Grigori in her name. An academy could be re-institutionalized in order to train both Malakim and Mortals to co-exist in a single military force. The Liege Commander's own Stargate Command would be created. Her on going heroic spirit was a mark of pride for the Blue Wing and inspiration for any who fought along side her. Just as the blue wing knew this to be the case, they believed the Tau'ri warriors also knew this to be the case. They truly believed there would be no lack of mortal followers who would wish to join the Grigori Stargate Command
Of course there were other politics to consider, but the Blue Wing were not naive to the treaty with the Asgard or the Tok'ra. Grigori was not in violation of those treaties, and so it was that the Malakim continued their efforts on the new base. This base would not be in the Tau'ri and Asgard systems as it was in the Malakim Empire so any technological advancements generated would not fall into the guidelines of the System-Lord / Asgard treaties. The Tau'ri would be free to advance exponentially.
The nine warriors of the Blue Wing would not be denied in their quest to be reunited with their beloved Liege Commander.
Janet? I can't do this… not now. It's too soon. O'Neill….he expects me….I don't know… to simply brush the dirt of Chimera off me like it was nothing. I want to do something….for them, I do Janet, but what am I supposed to do? I don't have the answers!"
"Sam no one expects you to have the answers. Baby, all we are doing is talking to the Tok'ra and hopefully contacting the Blue Wing. That's all."
"No Jan that isn't all. O'Neill will expect more out of me. He always does. Year after year he expects me to find the answers. I am just me…I shouldn't have to be the one everyone comes running to when things get complicated." Sam nearly snapped as she paced the confines of their quarters. A mounting sense of premonition swirled within her, wavering over her like a vaporous cloud forming in a mirror. Her impossible blue eyes reflected the storm chaining her soul. "God its like no one else can think of things. Carter always has the answers. Well this time I don't. I am not a criminologist….I …don't have the answers."
"Samantha…" Janet used her wife's full name. "Honey…. I …look I'll tell the General you're not medically clear. In all things medical I out rank him and anyone else involved in the SGC. Not even the President can order you on duty if I say you're not fit. Sammy, Honey, believe me…your pain, this fear is very real. The fact you have doubts proves that you're not simply going to dust yourself off from Chimera and no one, not even the General, can expect that of you."
"Jan…. during that time I lost so much of myself. I didn't know what was happening to me. Fragments pass in my mind and sometimes…. I don't know….. I feel like I 'm a machine, then and now. I was just surviving in a none-state…. reliving each day over and over. The tests they ran on me; the things they made me do, all of it became so commonplace. Oh Janet I lost everything but my feel…my connection to you…. for you. You were my only thread to what was truly real. God at some point I even doubted I was real. I only knew you were real. Something so dark, so terrible…. rose around me…I was gone, there was only pain. I was so far beneath; I had no mind, no thought, no life. Every time I sleep, I dream and it's that feeling all over again. I am not insane Jan. I am lost."
Janet knew she had to allow her beloved wife to speak even if the words she spoke broke her heart. It was more than rare that Samantha Carter revealed so much of herself; only Janet had ever truly seen the blonde so unguarded. Janet had been truly worried that her wife would go catatonic as she had when Jolinar had died within her. This at least was healthier. Sam wasn't blocking herself behind the self-imposed walls she had, in the past, so often retreated behind. There had been times, like now, when Sam clung to the strength of one very powerful Janet Elizabeth Fraiser.
Jolinar had indeed created dissidence in Samantha Marie Carter.
Cassie had finally told her mom why she wouldn't …. couldn't confide in her about Sam being taken over by the Goa'uld, or rather the Tok'ra. Jolinar had threatened to kill Janet as well.
Cassandra had hidden behind the black leather sofa and the coffee table. With no effort at all the being that was Sam picked Cassie up by her black sweater front. Her eyes glowing golden-white as she hissed. "I will kill you if you tell. Not only you but also Janet, I know what they mean to each other. So do you. You tell Janet and I will kill you both. Understand?"
Cassandra meekly nodded her eyes already filling with tears.
Jolinar dropped the child on the cold tile floor and stormed out of the office. The next thing Cassie had done was to rush the door and lock it. Her small body was curled tightly into herself. She didn't want to believe her beloved friend was gone.
She didn't know how long she sat huddled in the corner of Janet's office; she barely registered the rattling of the locked door. "Cassandra, Honey, open the door."
"NO!" Cassie uttered through a think throat. "I can't."
"Honey why did you lock the door?" The dread was starting to take hold in the young mother.
"Sam. Sam…."
Janet furrowed her auburn brows. "What about Sam?"
"I won't say." Cassie shouted back. Her arms folded tightly about her knees. She couldn't say. She loved Janet as much as she loved Sam and the Goa'uld would kill her and Cassie both. There was not a doubt in the child's mind. But there was one who might make it better. The Goa'uld never said anything about the Colonel.
"I… I want to talk to Uncle Jack."
"Honey…." Janet had her hand pressed against the frosted glass of the double doors. She would have been enraged for this misbehavior had it not been for the fear in the girls' voice. Something had terribly upset her. Something since Sam had left. "You can tell me you know that. What happened Cassandra? What's wrong? Did you see Sam? What happened? Do you want to talk to Sam?"
"NO. Only Jack! Please! I will only talk to Jack."
Janet's blood froze. She had never heard such terror in Cassie before. Reaching into her lab coat Janet did the only thing she had left open to her. She had to call Jack O'Neill. It stung deeply that Cassandra wouldn't talk to her. They were bonding but, it seemed that Cassie was never going to be fully open with her.
When the administration picked up. Janet gave her name and serial number demanding to be connected to Colonel O'Neill on urgent business. She knew it wouldn't take him long to respond. O'Neill adored Cassandra. In fact all she managed to say before he hung up was that something was wrong with Cassandra and she was asking for him.
"Thanks for coming so quickly." Janet said as she and Jack hurriedly walked down the corridor of the Academy Hospital.
O'Neill looked down at the tiny woman and took in a deep breath of hospital ammoniated air. "What's going on with her?"
Janet shook her head. " I'm not sure, she won't talk to me. She said she'd see you and only you." She knocked on the door of her office feeling a little odd doing so. "Cassandra, it's just me Honey, I've got Colonel O'Neill with me."
They could see in the frosted panes Cassandra approaching and unlocking the deadbolt. By the time the two adults were in the room Cassie was sitting down once more with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms folded around them.
Jack grimaced when he saw the tyke trying to make herself small. "Hey." He said, sitting down on the floor next to her. "Janet says you've been a little upset since Sam was here." In the daddy-mode he had taken a few times with his late son Charlie he placed his arm around Cassandra's tiny shoulders. "What happened?"
"She said she'd kill me if I told."
"Well, you don't mean kill you kill you." Jack shook his graying head. Killing in a kids' lexicon meant deep trouble…..grounding….or a time out or…..privileges taken away. When a kid said 'she's gonna kill me.' It meant of course huge trouble, not kill you kill you.
But Cassandra nodded
"No, I doubt that." Jack couldn't believe it. He knew his 2IC. Sam had a lot of love for this little girl. She had wanted to adopt Cassandra, but knew her job was dangerous. She didn't want to be either a half ass solider or a half ass mom and so, Janet took Cassandra in, and Sam saw Cassie as often as she could. They even played chess every other Saturday when Sam was planetside.
"She said she would." There was no mistaking the belief in the solemn voice.
"Cass, Sam loves you, she'd never do anything to hurt you." Jack's voice was soft and soothing.
"She would now." Cassie placed her head on Jack's shoulder and closed her eyes.
Janet frowned. She believed Cassandra but she didn't want to. How could her beloved ever harm this girl, or any child?! Sam loved Cassie deeply as if she had given birth to her. Hell the woman was willing to die for Cassandra. Now...now she had done something to threaten this small child it didn't make sense. Janet knew Sam loved her…. why would she change? There was nothing so vile in Samantha to ever bring harm to a child let alone Cassandra.
"Why?" Jack prodded looking at Janet then to Cassie.
For a long moment Cassandra was silent. Wishing she didn't have to say what she had to say. She wanted her dear friend back. "She's a Goa'uld."
Janet paled. "Oh God."
Jack looked to the small doctor then to Cassandra. "How….how do you know, Honey?"
"I felt it. She said, if I told, she'd kill me and Janet…..I couldn't tell you!" Cassie looked down.
Janet took her adopted daughter into her arms and hugged her tightly.
"Cass." Jack rubbed her head. "I'll do what I can okay. And you don't have to worry she won't kill you or Janet. I'll make sure."
"Uncle Jack?" Blue eyes pierced his great soldier's facade.
"Yeah?"
"I want my Sam back."
Janet was thinking the same thing. She wanted her lover back.
"I know Cass." Jack said sadly. "I do too."
"Don't kill her." Cassie murmured. "Just knock her out. Please? Sam just has to come back. She's my Sam!"
Jack swallowed hard. He still had a hard time believing Sam had gone bad.
"Sir?' Janet said. "I have something that will take her down fast but we have to get it in to her system."
"I'll do it. But Doc what ever you have up your sleeve, it's going to have to be good."
Janet only nodded.
It was a little later that she and Jack returned to the base. Cassandra having been picked up by Jenny who was Cassie's nanny and life long friend to Janet. The doctor now stood beside the large Texan CO watching the drama unfold below in the Gate Room.
"Where's Colonel O'Neill?" Sam demanded, stood at the bottom of the ramp. She was clearly impatient and more then a little angered. Janet never lifted her eyes from the blonde. She tried not to see her lover but the demonic thing that had taken her over. Yes, she believed Cassie, but it was so hard not to see the woman she loved. All she could do now was to wait.
Jack strode purposely in, trying to act all causal, as he spoke " Stand down campers, we're on a hold."
"Why?" Sam hissed.
Jack maintained the casual 'nothing is wrong tone' "I dunno, some computer glitch." He acted as if he was to take Sam by the shoulder and nudge her away from the gate. In his large hand he hid a syringe Janet had given him.
From above in the Control room Janet watched as the body of the woman she loved flinched and scowled as the needle jabbed into her upper shoulder.
"What the hell was that?" Her blue eyes looked accusingly to where she had been stabbed, then back to O'Neill.
Janet opened her mouth in astonishment. " That was enough to take down an elephant!" 'Oh god… my Sammy really is gone!'
General Hammond did a double take, from the doctor to the young woman below in the Gate room, his face awash with concern.
In a flash Sam hefted her MP-5 and leveled the barrel at Jack, blue eyes glowed gold. "Open the Stargate!" This was not Sam! This was the creature…. Jolinar of Malkshur. Janet could only watch. The woman below spoke in the deeper twin voice of the Goa'uld. The doctor was barely paying attention to Daniel as he asked the Colonel what was going on. She only saw Sam raise her rifle.
Jack, what the hell is going on?" Daniel insisted on an explanation of what he was witnessing.
Through clenched teeth the woman who was not Sam growled "Open the 'gate now! I command you!"
One of the SF's fired a tranquilizer dart at her. Jack tried to use the distraction as Sam ripped the red tipped dart from her leg. He managed to wrestle away the gun before Sam forcefully struck him. His body was propelled hard against the floor until his spine hit the bulkhead below the observation room.
Jolinar would not stop. And she knew she was not without weapons. She had all of Sam's knowledge. "Open the 'gate now," she snatched a grenade from her ALICE vest and ripped out the pin allowing it to fall to the cement floor, "or we will all die!"
Immediately the adjacent door swooshed open and four SFs dodged in, each of them raising their side arms and rifles at Carter's blond head. Teal'c raised his staff weapon. Janet couldn't help herself, she moved forward between Tech Sergeant Davis and Hammond, watching in baited breath as Jack tried to defuse the situation.
"Hold your fire!" He barked at the SF's, then to the Jaffa "Teal'c!"
"I have a shot, sir." An Airman said with disdain in his voice, as if he was going to fire regardless of the Colonel's orders. Janet thought she would love to jab him with a really big needle. Who the fuck did he think he was? Idiot. Sam-Jolinar was holding a grenade.
"And if she drops that grenade, what?" Jack roared, putting voice to Janet's thoughts. The Colonel turned his attention back to Jolinar "Nobody's gonna open that Stargate. We're all gonna live, or we're all gonna die, right here." He pointed to the cement floor, his eyes never leaving the blue orbs. "Let me go! I must go!" came a half snarl, half plea. Defiantly desperate.
"Not gonna happen." Jack shook his head. He was stalling all the time hoping that the tranquilizers would soon kick in. Just as he was going to indicate the SF with the Tranqgun to target Carter, she toppled bonelessly to the ramp. Jack was swift enough to capture her hand in both of his saving the grenade from rolling out of her grip
Like vultures to a kill the SFs swarmed in and moved to neutralize the threat. Carter was compromised to them as she was now the enemy. The lead Airman who gruffly manhandled the unconscious blonde was the one who wanted to put a bullet in Sam's skull.
"Take it easy." Jack snapped as he put the pin back in the grenade.
In the observation room Janet watched as they carried the prone form of her lover away to be put in the brig. Hammond turned to her. "Briefing room." He commanded.
Janet merely nodded as she watched the large bay doors close. Praying it wasn't the close of her life with her beloved. She didn't know how she could have missed it. She had given Sam a full check up. She should have realized something was wrong when Sam wasn't flirting with her during the exam, but she passed it off that Sam was concerned over the Nasyians.
Numbly, Janet wandered into the Briefing room and sat down at the table. Her mind trying to work out what she had missed. Indeed she had missed Hammond's question until O'Neill spoke.
" I didn't know. I wasn't sure until I saw her lose it down there. Cassie was the one who suspected."
At the mention of her daughter, Janet looked up from the papers in front of her and said. "Cassandra still has traces of naquaada in her blood. I think there may be some connection - a reaction that made her sense the Goa'uld." Her dark eyes rested upon General Hammond.
Janet saw a flicker of confusion warp past the old man's face. " How in the world did it get into Captain Carter?"
"Sir, I don't know what to say." She was almost defensive but she felt guilty. More then that she felt guilty because she'd lost her lover. Sam was now a prisoner in her own body, and there was nothing Janet could do about it. " I examined Captain Carter myself, there were no visible signs of entry. I mean, she had a small abrasion on the back of her throat, but it could have been anything!"
Hammond blinked. "Are you saying it entered through her mouth?"
"The parasite's goal is to attach itself to the brain stem. The soft tissue at the back of the throat is as good a place as any to start." Janet's mind was now running in circles. A sore throat Sam had claimed. Janet took a swab of it but the results indicated no trace of strep-throat or any other viral infection. Janet mentally kicked herself for being so gullible but then she never had a reason to mistrust her beloved.
Apparently Janet wasn't the only one to kick herself mentally. Jack, who was still standing, his body leaning on the back of the high backed leather chair groaned. "Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. Oh my God, she was giving some guy on that planet mouth to mouth. There was blood but she said the guy just bit his tongue before he died."
Sam hadn't mentioned that when she spoke with Janet. Then of course the woman sitting on the bed hadn't been Sam; it was Jolinar. Of course the Goa'uld had left out the fact she gave CPR to a fallen man and thus allowed for the transference. With all that was going on with the refugees it was understandable that O'Neill had left it out too.
"If a Goa'uld can infest a human with no detectable physical signs, then we're gonna have to start giving all personnel who go through the 'gate an ultrasound or an MRI." Janet said a little shocked. And, she was a little more then worried.
Hammond bristled "Well for now let's make sure we haven't let any more Goa'ulds through the 'gate this time." It was an undeniable command.
For the first time since the conference began, Daniel spoke up. "What would a Goa'uld be doing in a Nasyian man in the first place? I mean, we certainly didn't notice any of them acting Goa'uld-ish."
"Maybe it was a setup, trying to get a spy into one of us." Jack offered.
Once more Janet was lost in her thoughts as she heard Hammond order a sweep of the brace for sabotage. Daniel was ordered to speak with the Nasyians to try and uncover who the man was and what, if anything, the Nasyians knew of him. Jack, of course, was sent to speak with the prisoner. Janet had patients to attend to but she wanted to see Sam for herself; unfortunately she could find no sound medical reason to be there.
Mindlessly the physician made her way back to the infirmary to check up on the patients there. After all it wouldn't be long before the refugees would be sent to a new site. She had to clear all of them. After examining several refugees, she made an excuse and left Warner in charge for a moment ; she went from Level twenty-one to the Brig on sixteen.
She had seen O'Neill coming out of the room and had heard the sound of her lover's voice pleading…..begging. "Oh God, he's telling you the truth! Please, Jack, no Jack, please, don't leave me, please, give me a chance! Don't leave me like this! Please!"
Janet swallowed the acidic bile that rose in her throat. She couldn't stand it. Jack wouldn't even meet Janet's eyes as he moved away from the cell. The expression of regret and worry clearly plastered on his aging face. "I am sorry." Janet didn't know whom he was apologizing too. Sam….himself or Janet
'I want my Sam back.' Janet whispered to whatever deity was listening. She knew the next to speak to Sam would be Teal' but Janet wanted to see what she could find out. Perhaps if something of the host did survive, Janet would be the only one to get it out of her.
Slowing hard Janet moved to enter the Brig. The SF's didn't question the presence of the doctor after all they knew the prisoner was to be interrogated, more often then not sodium penathal was used to urge prisoners to speak. "I need to ask the prisoner a few questions concerning medical reasons." Janet said as she moved into the cells.
Sam, or rather her body, was pacing the lines of the cell when Janet entered.
"I wondered when you'd show." The voice was eerily Sam's and yet not Sam's.
Janet didn't say anything at first. She could only look at the body of her lover. "I have a lot of reasons to be here Goa'uld." The petite physician finally stated. "You threatened the life of my daughter."
"Cassandra ….the artist." The twin voice hissed. "But she isn't your daughter."
"She may not have been born under my heart but she was born in it. Samantha feels the same way." Janet shot back. "Another Goa'uld threatened to use her as a weapon too. She almost succeeded in killing that little girl. A bomb planted in her heart to destroy us. It is an abomination to use a child as a weapon. And you threaten to kill her. Not a good way to hide."
"Cassandra has naquaada in her blood." Jolinar nodded. "I understand now why she was able to detect me. Threatening and carrying out that threat are two different things."
"Not from where a mother stands." Janet hissed.
"It is enough I didn't."
"Samantha loves that little girl with all her heart, threatening to kill Cassandra was something Sam would never have done. You made a serious mistake. What makes you think they will let you leave now?" Janet waited for a moment watching an array of emotions play across the face of the woman she loved.
Rage, fear, acknowledgement, frustration and rage once more. "You want your "friend" back?" Jolinar almost sneered. "Let me go. I have to go."
"I can't." Janet shook her head. "Kowalski was never able to be returned. What makes you think we can trust anything you say?"
"You can. You want your Samantha back; you have to let me go. That is the only way we both will survive. You have no idea what holding me here will do! You have to let me go it's imperative!"
Janet shook her head. "You are a Goa'uld who possesses a very important person. The knowledge you stole from her….they are not going to let you go."
"You care deeply for Samantha."
"Yes I do."
"Then let me go. She will be returned to you. The host…remains intact…" the double voice almost purred the plea and promise.
"I am not stupid, nor are you." Janet countered.
"Janet…. please….. please…." It was Sam's voice. "I don't want be left like this. Oh God Janet…. It's the truth….Jack won't listen …..please, oh God, Jan…." The blue eyes sparkled in unshed tears. The blonde's expression drooped in ungodly pain and fear. Janet lost herself in those hypnotic blue eyes. "Janet don't leave me like this….help me …please Jan…."
"Sam…..if that's you …you're in there…..you know we…can't let you go. We need more to go on. Sam I am so sorry." Janet wiped her eyes.
"No! No! I am here!" There was such deep sadness in those eyes it tore Janet apart to see it.
"You have to tell the truth. You want free then you will have to trust us. Tell us everything. You will have to trust us if you want us to trust you. Oh God Sam ….I am so sorry."
"Janet." Sam's voice whimpered.
The doctor turned away from her lover. " I love you Samantha. You're my always. Whoever you are who took her over, no one is going to hear you out unless you give us something to trust because no one here is going to let you go free, don't be a fool and play with our emotions. You know who we are, who are you? Where are you from? What were you doing there? If you want our help tell them why you were hiding…..what you were doing there. Why were the Nasyians attacked? What was going on there? You want our cooperation, then you are going to have to think hard about those answers." Janet said. "Trust comes at the cost of you trusting us with everything. I am not the only one going to talk to you. When the others come.. .. you are going to have to talk to them. You are going to have to tell everything."
Her dark eyes rose to meet blue. "If you want to know what it will take to get us to listen to you? You answer those questions Goa'uld. You took someone very special away from us. You say we can have Samantha back…. You have yet to give us cause to trust you, or anything you say." Janet swallowed. "Sam…… I am so sorry. If you're there…..fight him….God Sammy hang on ……I don't want to leave you trapped. God I don't….but there isn't a choice. Not yet…..I love you Sam.." Janet took a deep breath. "We can't let the Goa'uld use you as a weapon, or as a bargaining chip… I am sorry. I am so sorry."
Before she lost herself Janet fled the room. Her mind wrapped in an aggressive fog. She prayed she had gotten through to the Goa'uld. If it were true, if Sam could be returned to her, Janet would do what ever it took to get her lover's trust back. If she had to beg, she would. If she had to plead openly for forgiveness for leaving Sam in the coils of her jailer, Janet would. What ever it would take.
Janet had busied herself with the evacuation of the first load of Nasyians, with the aid of Daniel. It would take a few hours but things were progressing in quick succession. She had little time to think of Sam as she had many patients' needs to attend to. She knew that Teal'c had visited her imprisoned lover. Apparently,; the parasite wasn't a Goa'uld but a Tok'ra one of the members of a small group of resistance. And it had a name, Jolinar of Malkshur.
Though the information given to the colossal man was suspect, it was never the less a lead. The base had no sign of tampering or sabotage and it was theorized that Jolinar was hiding out in a Nasyian man. Later Daniel interrogated Jolinar, and was told everything, including the reason she wanted to flee so desperately. She was being hunted down by the System Lords. In fact, there was a heavy price on Jolinar's head, so much so that she was terrified, and yet she was resilient. She had no choice but to enter Carter to escape. It was something, Janet found out from Daniel, that the parasite had not wanted to do. But Sam was still a prisoner. A small amount of trust was building, maybe just maybe Jolinar was speaking the truth and she would set Sam free.
Freedom form Jolinar of Malkshur eventually came in a form of death. The Asherak had used Hara'kash. A very painful way to die for both Goa'uld and host. In moments Jack was on the scene and, seconds later, Carter's body was on a gurney being wheeled hurriedly to the infirmary.
In side the Brig cell the techs gingerly lifted Sam upon a gurney and instantly plugged a Saline IV into her. Janet had climbed upon the gurney using every bit of her medical skills to resuscitate Samantha. Sam's mouth was covered by a resuscitation bag being pumped by a nurse as Janet stimulated her heart, calling out orders at the same time." Let's get her on the table. I want an EKG and an EEG stat!"
They were in the infirmary proper. Janet leapt off the gurney, directing her nurses and technicians to move Sam from the gurney to the bed. "Okay, on my count. Three, two, one, good." The body was easily slid over. Janet turned, looking at one of the nurses. "Whoa, where's my epi?" the nurse handed her a syringe that was given directly into the feed line of the IV "1 milligram epi's in..."
Janet hooked up the monitors as she heard one of her techs tell her Sam 's pulse was erratic. "We're getting feedback from the EEG. What is this?"
"Looks like interference. Two signals." The same med-tech answered.
"Well isolate them!" Fraiser almost growled. "We could be picking up separate brain waves from the parasite."
Doc?" Jack stepped forward, his voice filled with his own deep concern. Both of them were now looking at the separated brainwave patterns.
"I dunno, I've never dealt with this type of situation before. The Goa'uld looks like it's dying and taking Carter with it."
The first Med-Tech voice gathered Janet's attention quickly. "The parasite is still getting weaker." He said and looked at another readout " Parasite energy level is still falling."
"Let's cardio-vert one more time. 30 joules." Janet ordered
"The parasite is dead." A second tech announced.
"Try another milligram of epi. Then prepare for de-fib." Janet would be damned if she was going to lose Sam now. She tuned to take the defibrillator in hand to administer the paddles.
"She's out of de-fib!" Tech One warned, causing Janet to stop what she was doing.
"She's got a pulse!" Med-tech Two claimed as a resuscitation bag was placed over Sam's nose and mouth to stimulate deeper independent breathing.
Med tech One was calling out more information. "Faint but stable." There was hope in the young man's voice
Janet was listening to the glorious sound of Sam's strong beating heart as blue eyes fluttered open.
That pale face tuned looking around her trying to register just where she was. From over Janet's shoulder she heard O'Neill say: " You did it Sam, you won."
Janet wanted to cheer her lover had won over her captor but her smile turned to a frown when the paled blonde shook her head slightly. "It wasn't me." Her voice was a strained dry croak.
A huge boyish grin spread across Jack's face. "Oh yes it was. You hung in there, you beat it."
Sam wasn't complying with the Colonel's words. She licked her parched lips and whispered dully. "The Goa'uld gave it's life for me. It saved me."
Janet turned over her shoulder to look at the others of SG1 who were agog by what Sam had told them. Janet's brown eyes darkened in wonderment. It was a selfless act of a jailer, but at a substantial cost. Sam had gone catatonic.
Sam was curled up fetal position on the bed, not moving, not saying a word, barely blinking. No amount of ribbing from Jack, supportive words of warrior strength from Teal'c, fatherly whispers form General Hammond or brotherly utterances from Daniel would gain Sam's attention. There was no response to anyone, not even Janet herself. Not even when Janet kissed her softly.
Desperation set in.
Janet had gone home and collected the one person she thought might gain her lover's attention.
Cassandra was sitting on a footstool in her bedroom as Janet sat behind her doing her hair. "Cassandra… The Goa'uld in Sam is gone Honey. It died."
"Sam is Sam again?" The girl turned and looked at her adopted mother with hope in her eyes.
"Yes honey she is. But she still needs to heal that's why she is in the infirmary."
"I am going to wear the purple sweater Sam bought me. Do you think she'll like that?" Cassandra asked shyly.
Janet nodded. "I think she might." When Cassie's hair was fixed up using the hair braid Sam had also given the young girl the two Fraisers returned to the SGC.
Jack gave Cassandra a big hug when he saw the child coming down the corridor holding Janet's hand. He patted his knee for her to perch on as they waited for Daniel to come out.
Daniel shrugged, grimacing when the others looked up to him " She's still the same."
Cassandra turned to her uncle "Janet said that the Goa'uld left after it died." How could she be the same if Janet said the Goa'uld was gone? She hadn't understood what her Uncle Daniel had meant by his words.
The gentle man knelt down so he could look her in the eyes. "Well that's right. It died and her body's absorbing it. She's the same old Samantha Carter. Same person we've always known."
'And loved.' Janet added mentally as she watched her daughter absorb what her uncles were telling her. In truth Janet was absorbing the fact for herself.
"Cassie, she's just a little sad right now. But I'll bet she cheers up when she sees you." Jack encouraged softly.
That was Janet's hope. Jack lead her in but Cassie disengaged her hand from his hold and padded up to the bed. She turned over her shoulder as if to silently ask Janet if it was okay she could get onto the bed with Sam.
"Go on." Janet mouthed the words. And flashed a hesitant smile as she saw her daughter climb up to Sam's still body and place a hand on the shoulder. With no effort at all Cassie pulled Sam so that she was looking at her. The soft tender voice of the child called out. "Sam?"
The pallid form of Sam tuned in, hearing the angelic voice, her eyes adjusted to what was around her, to the fact Cassie was there with her. Cassandra…her little girl she loved deeply. The child, Jolinar had threatened was now at her side "Sam it's me. You're going to be okay." Cassie affirmed.
Janet held her breath as Sam registered Cassandra's presence fully. Her normally electric blue eyes dilated with sorrow and a deep sense of loss. Her face was drawn in an expression of lost reality. Cassandra didn't even think as she wiped the tears that were falling.
"I know it wasn't you Sam…. that day. I love you." Cassie placed a kiss on Sam's pale forehead. "Look I am wearing the purple sweater you got me."
Sam barely smiled. Then she frowned, her eyes darkening in sorrow. "You…. were hurt," she murmured.
"Not by you Sam." Cassie feathered back the damp locks of blond hair. "You're going to be okay now. I know it. Janet will make you better. You're very brave." Cassandra kissed her hero once more on the forehead. "Remember?" She smiled as she continued to pet the locks of blonde hair.
Janet watched silently feeling perhaps there was hope left. It would take time for Sam to pull out of the deep depression that Jolinar had left her in. The young captain would be released from the infirmary after a week but Janet insisted care continue in her home. Sam had pulled so far into herself that the walls Janet had started to tear down months ago were erected almost too high and too thick for the tenacious doctor to get through again. Janet knew the last time such walls had been constructed was when Sam's mother had been killed. Now they were back.
But with time, work and, more importantly, love, Sam started to open up once more.
That was the then. This was the here and now.
Sam, once more, was starting to hide behind the walls. Janet wouldn't let it happen. Not again. Sam needed to find her own strength. It would be too easy to borrow the strength she lacked from Janet. And the physician knew too easily she would have given it to her.
But the Lilliputian woman couldn't just give in just as she couldn't bend and comply with Jolinar's manipulation of Sam and their love. Janet couldn't let herself become weak and give into Sam's dire need of strength. Her wife had to find her own strength to stand once more. And, like a physical therapist, Janet would be there to help guide the way but the work had to be Sam's and Sam's alone. The only thing Janet could do was to try to reach the General and plead for more time. She knew what the Colonel's response would be even before she made it. She had gone to the bridge while Sam had finally found some sleep. Here she had requested a private communiqué with General O'Neill.
"You're overstepping yourself Fraiser."
"Since when sir? I've always spoken my mind concerning anything that regards medicine and the people I care for. It's only recently you have objected when I do."
"Fourteen good people died Fraiser. Fourteen wiped out! I need Carter's connections to the Tok'ra and the Malakim. She needs to be the liaison on this. It's not your concern. It isn't medicine, and it isn't going to stress her out."
"On the contrary sir it is very much my concern. I am her physician and I care for her as a person, not just as a tool you seem to view her as." Janet gritted her teeth together. "It is less then three months after she was tortured and you have her on a high stress mission. You're pushing her too hard, too fast. You're going to burn her out, Sir."
"Enough, Fraiser. You know we don't have time to coddle anyone, let alone someone with Carter's connections and her potential. I can't afford the time for weaknesses or for being burned out. If I had Carter's talent, I would proceed without her. As it is, we must each do that which we are best at. She can do what no one else in the SGC can. Therefore she will do it." Jack didn't mean to sound harsh but the grim reality was facing him. He knew that fourteen deaths was only the beginning. They had to find the infiltrator and stop the massacre. Carter was in a unique position, not only did she have DNA that would allow her to use the Goa'uld technology, but she was, according to the reports, the Malakim's Heir apparent. This was exactly what the general needed to stop a Goa'uld assassin.
Steadying his voice he looked the CMO directly into her soulful eyes. "Doctor…. I think you are too close on this one to be objective. For crying out loud you're married to her. The mission stands." He took in a deep breath. "I am sorry Janet, but this is the way this has to go down. I've worked with her in the field for seven plus years. I know I can count on her to put aside her doubts and do what she needs to do. She's a solider Fraiser. You know that. She's career Airforce, as are you. She's a colonel not some raw cadet."
"Sir, have you forgotten what they did to her on Chimera. My god you were a POW in Iraq doesn't that mean anything to you?" Janet bristled.
"Yes it does. It means I know what she's going through. It means I know she can handle this mission because I could. It means she can go on, because I've been there. I know what she's fighting. I know those nightmares and hell I know those doubts. That's why she needs to do this to know she is the solider she was before her capture. To know she can over come this. Trust me Janet, I've been down the road with PTSD…and being prisoner of war. And I know what it takes to pull yourself out of that frigging mud and depression. You want your Sam back, then you, as well as I, have to push her on this mission. And we both know that too."
Maybe he was right. He had been there. He knew the terrors of what Sam was facing. But Janet also knew her wife more intimately then even a die-by-your-side teammate ever could. Janet could feel the love of her life was losing her hold.
"Janet you have to trust me on this." Jack insisted. "Just trust me. Trust Sam."
"Yes sir." The answer was as deflated as her tone. The diminutive doctor didn't want to submit to Jack O'Neill's orders. She had hoped to buy Samantha more time. Hopefully all Sam would have to do was to be a liaison, an easy mission despite the stress. Mostly it was the feeling of impotence as to stop the killer from striking again. Fourteen people had died and they were no closer to finding out who was the slayer then they were two days ago when the Gwihir left the orbit of Hy-Basil in pursuit of the Tok'ra agents.
Janet knew the General was right; only hours earlier she had thought the same thing. It was going to be a hard battle for Samantha to return to the person she was, perhaps this mission was the key to that war.
'Just don't let it break her completely.' Janet murmured softly. O'Neill believed in Sam's strength to overcome this bleakness. Was it true? Was Janet too close to see that her wife had the power to move beyond the pain, beyond the darkness the Calabim and Goa'uld tormenters had left her in? She had overcome Jolinar, the Entity, the numerous beatings and tortures from various System Lords. But at what point does the human spirit shatter and remain unfixable? O'Neill's confidence that Sam was unbreakable was something Janet herself strove to possess. Perhaps it wasn't the general she needed to trust but Samantha's ability to rise above the abyss even when Sam herself doubted it.
Across the galaxy another meeting between junior officer and a CO was commencing.
A swarthy man knelt upon one knee his head bowed as he cringed before Osiris.
"You test me Asmodeus. Only fourteen? It was supposed to number twenty."
"It was enough to shake the foundation of the Tau'ri and their 'SGC'." The man said as he lifted his soulless eyes into the Vokium. "It is true that our efforts to dispose of the Tau'ri of SG1 have not met great success in the past. However, a great change is on the wind my Lord. A new day dawns for the System Lords."
"The Physician, Janet Fraiser? She is dead."
"No." The man gazed at the floor; thanking the heavens he was light-years away from Osiris lest he feel the burning torment of the Ribbon Device.
There was silence.
"She, the child, and Samantha Carter had left their home for the Mountain Complex before I was able to strike."
"Then take her there!" Growled the blonde System Lord.
"I regret to inform you I can not." The swarthy man grimaced. "It is not possible."
"Explain yourself." Burning eyes of gold-white bore into the soul of the kneeling man.
"She is with her wife. SG1 was deployed off-world even as I acted in your name to slay the others. It is said they are on Hy-Basil."
"Kree-Shak Asmodeus!" Osiris screamed. "It is decreed the Fraiser woman and the child are to die by the Hara'kash, then and only then will Samantha Carter be destroyed. She is nothing with out her family and the SGC is nothing without Carter."
Asmodeus lifted his eyes " Then you do not wish me to continue the exterminations?"
"Had you done what I asked, Carter and SG1 would have fallen by now." Osiris snarled. "You give me excuses and platitudes when I ask for results. The child should not prove a difficult target nor should a simple physician."
"Yes my Lord." The swarthy man clapped his fist over his heart. "However, it may take sometime. O'Neill has the SGC on lockdown, no one leaves, no one comes in."
"Irrelevant. There is to be an investigation, no?"
"There is." The swarthy man confirmed the System Lord's question. "Then it may tempt the Colonel to return. Use this as a means to get to Fraiser, however you need to."
"Yes my Lord." Asmodeus dipped his swarthy head and waited until the wavering image of his god left the Vokium. The death of a mere little physician and her spawn would be far far easier than it would be to take down the powerful figure of Samantha Carter. He delighted in the idea of hearing the lamentation of a hero as she watched her beloved family die horribly.
He had heard that Samantha had overcome the tortures of Calabim inquisitors and she had survived the mental anguish visited upon her by the Lambent Reproach. Of the near sacrifice that called for blood, for her heart to summon up power so great that even the System Lords were in fear of it. He had heard the tales told of her struggle for freedom, that it had been her wife that gave her the power to survive. She dragged herself to the Exiles Gate and as the story was told she had even died. But it was the physician who brought Carter back to life.
Samantha Carter was instrumental in the death's of Apophis, Hathor, Nirrti, Sokar and Seth. Of course there were others to be felled by her hand, and potent mind. She blew up a star, stopped a black hole and an asteroid from destroying Earth, rescued the Asgard from the Replicaters, and countless other endeavors were accredited to her name. Her many accomplishments were legendary. The Tau'ri homeworld owed much to this warrior woman. That same woman owed much to her wife. How easy now the solution was: to defeat such a woman you take her power. It was foolish of the young colonel to place her power in the lives of fragile beings like that of a child and a wife.
Arion, being taller, cradled the man in her arms, blissfully unaware that they were being watched. She and her new mate, Jacob Carter, had consummated their relationship nearly two months ago and they were still in the new phases of love. As their relationship grew, there was of course the reawakening of a very old love between Xad and Selmac.
Arion herself was enthralled with the newness, the uniqueness of her bonding with Jacob. It was new to her on so many levels. Never before had she loved another who was not Malakim. Nor had she ever loved a male. All of her prior lovers had been female. A part of the draw to Jacob, the young Malakim had to admit, was that she had harbored a crush upon Samantha.
Another pull was Xad's undeniably potent emotions for Selmac. So when the pull came to be together neither Jacob nor Arion refused its call. Arion didn't think she was in love with Jacob, but she did love him. She knew that Xad was indefinably in love with Selmac and so it was enough. She cared deeply for the man she cuddled up to, and thought her life enriched by his presence in her life.
"Xad." Anise whispered. "Wake Selmac. Garshaw has returned. It is time."
Arion lifted her sleep filled eyes and looked to the blonde standing at the threshold of her and Jacob's chambers.
"Very well. Give us a moment. " The blended Malakim shifted her wings revealing she was unclothed. Anise surmised that Jacob was also unclothed and decided, at that point, to make a hasty retreat before Arion completely moved her wings thus removing all scraps of modesty.
A half an hour later both Jacob and Arion entered the main conference chambers of the Tok'ra high council, each dressed in the khaki leather uniforms. Those present within the chamber were Garshaw, Anise, Perbus, Malek, Aldwin, Khonsu and Renale all of them already stationed around the clear crystal alter.
"Garshaw what's going on?" Jacob commented as he took his normal position near the head of the conference table.
"There is movement within the System lords that will adversely affect our alliance with the Tau'ri homeworld, as well as that of the Malakim Empire. Anubus has held Osiris in contempt for her inattentions to the battle of Chimera. Baal, Zipcana, and their followers suffered heavy losses by the Host of Malakim warriors and of course the Tau'ri of SG1." The dark maned Garshaw explained.
Arion lifted her head a bit more interested in the topic the head of the resistance was bringing up. She cast a glance to Anise who had been there. The young looking Tok'ra was infiltrating amongst Baal's forces in the venue of espionage. Anise had convinced Arion to allow Samantha Carter to remain in the custody of her brutal captures in the hopes to make the Calabim not only reveal what it was they were doing but to stop them.
Yes the 'fiends of hell' had been throttled but at a heavy price. Arion knew, even after a hundred years passing, she would never fully be welcomed back onto the Aeries of Hy-basil. She had brought harm to the Liege Commander.
There was an old song that spoke of the events played out on Chimera.
'Oh for a voice like thunder, and a tongue
to drown the threat of War.'
This was The Liege Healer's call to band the Malakim to war for she would stand against the Queen herself and issue a challenge that warned of the threat of war with the Diabolicals.
'When the senses are shaken and the soul is driven to madness'
This of course prophesied the torment Samantha had been visited upon. Her torture, both physical and physiological. The Calabim had shattered her. She was tortured so badly. Her survival was nothing short of astonishment and wonder.
'When the souls of the oppressed
fight in the troubled air that rages….;
This was the battle of Chimera. Ten thousand Malakim warriors joined the wa,r all in the name of their Liege Commander. Five thousand Draconian warriors flew into the troubled air and raged war upon the Diabolicals in the name of a woman they had never met. They had heard the shift in the World Symphony and rose to the occasion. For they were the next stanzas in the song, as was the queen.
'When the whirlwind of fury comes from the
Thrones of the Virtues when the frowns of
her countenance drive the nations together.'
This Arion knew to be the alliance between the Malakim, Tau'ri, Asgard and the Tok'ra. It seemed odd, how this new alliance was centralized around one person. The Malakim had had their lives disrupted and realigned since that day when Samantha Carter saw the queen fall from the heavens into that lake. Without thought of her own true safety Samantha had stripped herself of her protective armored vest and dived into the frigid depths of the icy ocean, pulling the body of the queen from the jaws of death.
Novalis would have surly died had Samantha not forced the water out of her lungs and breathed life into them. Samantha kept her alive, willing her to life as the blonde mortal waited the talented physician and wife to arrive on site. By following Janet Fraiser's instructions Samantha had been able to bleed off some of the power of a Zatnic'atel and make a defibrillator to start the Queen's second heart once more.
Once Janet had arrived she had preformed battlefield surgery on a species she knew nothing about. Yet she had pulled shrapnel out of the queen, and restored her wings, so that Novalis would once again fly fully healed.
Arion had witnessed it all. The same Deathglider cannon had shot her but her mother had taken the brunt of the weapon's power at the expense of her life. For Novalis had in fact died for 187 seconds. The Great Song had started its Dirge for the fallen Queen but, when Samantha brought back life, the dirge changed drastically. The life that was within Samantha fused with the life of the Queen. Their souls intertwined as Samantha urged the twin hearts to beat. And in that moment the Great Song saw only one life, the blending of Malakim and Mortal. The World Symphony changed harmonics to compensate.
When Samantha pulled away and Novalis had her own life back once more, the World Symphony didn't return to the former opus but had remained in the harmonics of the new aria. As the Blue Wing, accompanied by Novalis, landed they heard this new song and laid themselves prostrate upon the earth as the new song filtered into their souls. Arion knew that the mortal woman was now the key to the Great Song for all Malakim kind. Where once Novalis held that power, Samantha Carter now conducted the World Symphony and all Malakim would follow her. After all, it was by her grace the dissidence caused by Novalis's death and the restoration of her life was saved and healed.
The Malakim would do anything and everything to insure the safety of Samantha Carter. That now meant the Virtues would have to unite against the fiends of hell as they clapped their broad wings over the flood of death and sailed rejoicing over the souls of the torn.
The Malakim would not suffer dissidence to exist and so they warred against the Goa'uld who had brought dissidence to Samantha Carter. Because of her affiliation with the Tok'ra, by first the invaded blending of Jolinar, and then because of her father, the Malakim sought an alliance. Because the Asgard were protectors of Earth and favored SG1, the Malakim sought out an alliance here too.
"From my observations." This was Anise speaking. "I have seen at least seven garrisons of the Malakim warriors guarding Chimera as well as five legions of the dragons."
"That would be a typical military move of the queen." Arion spoke. "Chimera is no longer a viable planet for the Tau'ri's new base because it is still a strategic planet. It will not go unguarded. Novalis will also send in a small fleet of a mere one hundred ships to patrol the sector. The Goa'uld have lost their foothold in that system."
"It was that loss that alienated Zipcana from Baal. Yet Baal also controls the United Alliance of System Lords." Now it was the operative Khonsu who was speaking. He stood with his hands gripping the table in front of him, his eyes never leaving Jacob Carter's. "I have learned that Baal will be working directly with Osiris but, apparently, without Anubis's awareness. Because Osiris has fallen out of favor she was allied for a short time with Baal. From what I heard they are planning a raid upon the Tau'ri that they will never recover from. No longer are they trying to attack the First World they need only to cripple her warriors. They tried to do so on Chimera and almost succeeded."
"Had they killed Samantha on Chimera they would have created a martyr." Anise said calmly. "They would have ensured a full scale riot and might never have recovered from the losses. But Samantha was a rallying point of the battle, so the outcome was the same had Samantha become a martyr."
Jacob glared at the blonde Tok'ra. "That's my daughter you're talking about." Jacob hissed. "More than that if in fact they had raised Achelous as Baal intended we would have lost." Selmac growled. " A System Lord with the power of an Ancient is devastating. A System Lord with the power of a Malakim-Dragonkin would be catastrophic."
Arion opened her mouth as if to say something. But snapped it shut. She had, just now, finally realized Anise wanted Samantha to fall as a Martyr! A fallen hero could become a powerful icon for the Tau'ri and Tok'ra to avenge, add the Malakim to the mix and you have an army of unstoppable power.
"You don't need a martyr to insure a rally of nations, Anise." The winged Xad said. "The fact Samantha has had such an influence over the Malakim Empire will be a coup for our alliance. It was her name that drove the Virtues to seek an alliance with us. Had Samantha died, that outcome would have varied. The Malakim would never have banded with the Tok'ra. In fact they might have practically blamed us for the fall of their Liege Commander." Xad looked over at the ever-manipulative Anise; he knew of her way with words and tactics. "You have no idea how important Samantha is to them. It is not unlike our blending with our hosts. Only it is not one being blended with another it is an entire race of people that have blended. Without a host we will not survive. Without Samantha Carter the same is true for the Malakim. She is their host. That is power to rally behind, not a martyr. The universe is filled with forgotten and unsung heroes. It doesn't need one more to forget in the passages of time."
"That is one of the reasons for the call of council." Garshaw took control of the meeting back. "What Baal attempted on Chimera, he and Osiris may attempt again, if only to insure their positions in the United Alliance of System Lords of Anubis The Queen of the Malakim has indicated she is concerned what this would mean for the Tau'ri…. and their positions within the rebellion against the system Lords. I have received word from the Malakim homeworld they are sending a ship to meet with us. Aboard the vessel is SG1. Jacob, I would like you, Arion, and Anise to meet with them. Perhaps with the resources of the Malakim we may yet be able to strike against the United Alliance of System Lords."
"At least we can further the conflict between them and Anubis." Khonsu commented. "When they were not united it was easy to wage war. Now that they are united it is more then difficult to fight them. They pitted their Jaffa against each other and any one else who chose to rise up and stand against them. Now that they have a united front we must try and incite the old pettiness."
"That will be our agenda." Renale said. "Let the force of the Malakim Empire show themselves on the battlefield."
Goa'uld or Tok'ra, both were always touchy, both always difficult, both rigid and inflexible. At times both immoral. Or maybe amoral was the right word. But then what is the real difference between having no morals and having bad morals? In the end it leaves you doing whatever you want. It didn't come as a surprise to either Arion or Jacob that Renale had offhandedly dismissed the Malakim warriors, or even that Anise was willing to allow Samantha to become a Martyr, if it meant the fall of the System Lord's alliance.
The one thing that festered were the words of Garshaw's warning of the movements of Osiris. Jacob knew his daughter. And he knew something was definitely wrong. He looked to Arion and wondered, for the first time since her arrival and the blending of Xad, what had happened on Chimera. There was something not spoken of, something that Anise and Arion never spoke of. He knew Samantha had played bait but he wondered now if it had been a volunteered agreement as he was led to believe.
Anise assured him that Samantha knew what was to happen, but then she had a talent for twisting words. One could know they might die when facing the Goa'uld hordes or that they might die while a prisoner. So from a certain point of view what Anise and later Arion said was true. But …..just how much did Sam truly know? Even Selmac was now apprehensive as to what had really happened on Chimera. Anise had said there was a plan to force the Remnant Malphas and Baal into premature action. Having forced the Goa'uld to act out, Anise was assured of the outcome of the battle that followed.
In hearing the blonde's words at the meeting Jacob wondered whether Samantha had suffered. His eyes rested upon the woman who had become his lover and couldn't help but assume she knew far more then she spoke of. Selmac knew with out a doubt Anise had a large part in anything that happened to Jacob Carter's little girl. The former Airforce General had a sick feeling Samantha had been brutally tortured.
"What ever assistance we can give the Tau'ri and the Malakim we will give it within reason." Garshaw said drawing Jacob's attention once more. "They have proven to be valuable allies and they need our help."
In sending Jacob, the Councilwoman knew she had given an outlet for any actions Jacob/Selmac would take that the High Council may frown upon. Garshaw had a soft spot in her heart for the young blonde Colonel and would do what she could to assist her.
It had taken her sometime but she finally understood Samantha's first reaction to blending, but in the end Garshaw had related to the young woman. Martouf may have been Jolinar's lover but Garshaw had been one of her closest friends and companions. And so it was a shock to learn just how Goa'uld like her friend had behaved. Mostly because Jolinar was one of the strongest leaders of the resistance and thus the most hated amongst the System lords. So much so they had sent an Asherak after her. Jolinar's death only fueled the Tok'ra movement further.
Jolinar, out of desperation, blended with Samantha in much the same way as a Goa'uld would. More then that, Jolinar had threatened the lives of Samantha's lover and their child. Jolinar's memories had become Samantha's own. Even with preparation of what is to come blending was a very traumatic occurrence. When you are a prisoner in your own body it was worse. Sam had taken time to warm up to the Tok'ra and mostly because of Selmac's tampering. Both Garshaw and Samantha had been taken in hand by the oldest and wisest of the Tok'ra and peace was made between the two.
Garshaw also recognized a familiar sprit that was Samantha Carter's own. That same had once burned in Jolinar. And Samantha Carter was one of the strongest leaders of the rebel forces. And thus the most hated amongst the System Lords. Garshaw couldn't help but wonder if an Asherak had been sent to assassinate the forever-young colonel.