……..
Jailhouse Rock.
Bakhu
“Feels like that time I got stuck in the centrifuge” Carter murmured, rising from what she assumed was a cold floor given how much her muscles ached and how stiff she felt. Her sand-colored hair fell about a her face, obscuring a particularly nasty bruise on her cheek. She was coming too, slowly and she felt a pair of hands touch her cheek and for a second. Given the warmth emanating from the fingers she relaxed, until her eyes beheld a squat face with heavy brows and a large nose with the bushiest, greenest whiskers she’d ever seen. Carter wanted to jump back but she was overcome with a wave of dizziness and fell back into the hands of the..Person? Blinking she tried to focus and what she saw looked like a troll from a Nordic epic.
“Jackson says the troll guy says you have a concussion.” The voice of Colonel O’Neill put in. “But he’s healing you, something about the warmth in his skin being bioelectric something or other.”
Jackson, oh, right. Jackson, oh Jesus, Jackson! “Sir! What the hell happened?!” She wanted to jerk away but she could feel the dizziness failing as the weird alien ape thing chanted. Later she would find out his name was Benin, and he came from a species of aliens the System lords subjugated before they found the Tau’Ri. Evidently, they were immune to being taken over by a Goa’uld but rather than exterminate them Ra and Hathor raised them up as healers and scribes. But for now, she just mentally referred to him as Troll medic, an O’Neillism if ever there was one.
“One of those aliens..the Goold? Took over Jackson’s wife.” O’Neill replied with a hint of sadness in his voice. For such a chiseled face, the colonel could be remarkably expressive and right now it looked like someone had ripped his heart out. “How do we know Sir?”. There O’Neill laughed bitterly “Well, I doubt Shau’re would make out with another man, especially the guy who shot up her friends and killed Ferretti.”
“Oh God…” Carter murmured, bits and piece coming back to her as the troll continued to mend her. “I remember…” Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the ornate wall behind the troll medic and tried to gather her thoughts. “Jackson managed to wound her in the shoulder and a shield was up when we got in.”
“Yeah, they have freaky powers.” Jack remarked, recalling Ra and shuddering at the memory of his psychic howl. Freaky was an understatement though with that bitch, because he remembered the lights flickering in the room and then an arc of purple lightning that smashed into Daniel and sent him barreling into Carter. The two hit a wall and the rest of the crew opened fire and that was when? O’Neill laughed “After you and Jackson got Jedi’d”
“Sith”
“Nerd”
Sam smiled, grateful for the levity. “Right sir..so after we got Sith’d”
“Ol’Thulsa Doom just threw Shau’re off his crotch like she was nothing but a cheap thrill and reared on us. She didn’t appreciate that too much and sent another arc of lightning mumbo jumbo at us that killed Ardef and burned one of our guys pretty badly. We lost him to a heart attack an hour ago…” It was disturbing the state of the Space Force, they were going to have to beef up their people soon. “Snake king ran at us and him and I got into a fist fight and then I got knocked out. Woke up here, to Skara trying to clean some of the burns on Capaldi’s calf from the lightning thing..And Jackson crying in the corner.” The last part was uttered without any sarcasm, he looked back to find Jackson in a corner, one of the reservists called up, a woman in her early forties who had a background as a shrink was talking to him, with Skara listening intently. The two looked like they had their guts ripped out, their eyes filled with a pain that Colonel O’Neill understood all too well.
“I got knocked out by that big guy with the bling on his head.” O’Neill muttered gesturing to the tall, grim figure in armor with the shiny serpent symbol carved into his forehead. O’Neill and the silent giant had stared each other down several times over the last hour and Jack was certain he understood English and from the look in his eyes, he was not happy with any of this. They were in a room surrounded by some two dozen people, from all over the place by the looks of them. Some were straight out of a Frazzetta painting, looking like beast men that were more ape than human. Others were the mixed heritage that was common on Abydos, different eye, and hair colors and then there was a pair of freaky ladies with crimson skin and hair that was a dark green with a sort of metallic sheen that made it look more like decorative bird feathers than anything else. “They’ve conquered everyone.” O’Neill said in a voice that he hoped did a good job of containing his wonder.
“I did not even know there were that many different peoples in the stars, O’Neill.” Skara’s voice shook him out of his thoughts, and he turned to espy the youth, who didn’t look so young anymore. Grief was strong in his eyes and he looked alarmingly haggard, the cold weather and humidity must have been harder on him than he thought, or the loss of his sister is eating him alive. “Kid…”
“I will endure O’Neill.” Skara said in a voice that was partly optimistic, partly full of doubt. “I must, Kadra cannot continue our line on her own, its unfair. And, you taught me how a man handles grief.” That last bit came out resolved and O’Neill laughed slightly. “That’s funny, because I wasn’t handling it well at all when we came to Abydos back then…Part of me wanted to die out there, to cut Charlie’s death out with a nuke.” The usually sarcastic or stoic colonel let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and mock punched Skara on the chin. “It was you two, that reminded me what a father’s duty is, what a man’s duty is.”
“Then, together.”
“Together” O’Neill nodded and he realized he’d committed himself to a blood oath in that moment, to save Shau’re or avenge her. “Right Jackson?” O’Neill asked, looking back at the man who was positively haunted. “Right?”
“Jack I shot at her..god..I shot at Shau’re!”
“No, you shot at that
thing inside of her.”
“Is there a difference?!” Jackson asked and his eyes widened, and he slumped back, the marine slash shrink giving O’Neill a look that seemed to be a mix of gratitude and warning. -Don’t push the kid too far-.
“Together.” Jackson finally relented, in a tone that sounded hoarse, as if he was trying not to cry. “We should have brought Cadmen with us as well when we made the call.” Carter mused, her gray eyes seemed lost in thought, though what thoughts O’Neill could only guess at. Cadmen though? Hell no! The older blond was as crazy as Carter and wilder to boot. He knew she’d reenlisted in the Space Force not because she needed the money Cadmen designed some of the rockets Carter flew in earlier in her life and her husband was a member of the Shepherd family. So that meant she showed up for the party she expected to find.
“Oh yeah, that’s what the universe needs, you two lunatics on an alien world plotting to blow up the universe together.” O’Neill rolled his eyes, which caused Carter to laugh wickedly. “Come on sir! we’d behave ourselves!”
“If I end up having to write “And we blew up a sun” in my after action report because of you two..”
Something malevolent sparked in Carter’s eyes and O’Neill regretted bringing it up immediately. He turned back to Jackson who was eying the silent giant with the bling on his head, glaring at him murderously. His hands were clenched, knuckles ivory white as he finally spoke up “Hey! Does anything of the Host survive?!”. Most of the armored warriors sneered, metallic laughter and scorn filtering through their serpent helms. It was clear they didn’t understand a word he was saying and when he tried again in Imperial standard, they must have said something to the effect of “How the hell are we supposed to know? Shut up scum”, O’Neill heard Skara tell him the Serpent guard were calling him terrorist and they seemed to move forward until the tall bald man in the silver tapped the floor with his staff and they all froze to attention almost on instinct. They revered him, he was the only one not wearing a helm but he could tell by the velocity of their shift. -He’s like Hammond- O’Neill realized, someone with a very high rank, probably the equivalent of a General or Admiral, maybe higher and his presence in these common cells must have made their day.
The man also looked like he wanted to jump off a building, there was so much shame and anger in those eyes, guilt. Yeah, Jack realized, this was an incredibly high-ranking man being asked to perform menial duties and it was a total insult to his pride as a warrior and a soldier, he could read it, he didn’t need to be a remind reader. The giant moved from the wall and walked over to the group and again Daniel asked, this time rising and running to the giant who gripped his shoulder and forced him down with a shake of his head. “Do not look to save her Tau’Ri, stronger men then you have gone mad trying to reclaim a lost love from a peer.” Or at least, so the stories said. Teal’c didn’t know of anyone who had done what Amunet did, not thousands of years.
“Peer? What?! And Tau’Ri! You keep using that word…you know English, why don’t you call us Terrans? Or Americans?”
Damnit Jackson!
The man’s eyes flickered for a moment. Did they not know their own history? Or had they made a terrible mistake? Teal’c upon his meeting with Apophis had used his connections to consult certain, unofficial archives of Gate Addresses and they had confirmed the coordinates of that world were a match for the coordinates of Tau’Ri, had they forgotten everything? -My lord believes this was deliberate on their part, that they are coming for vengeance but this one seems clueless?- Teal’c was no mind reader, but experience was a harsh teacher and he could detect no falsehood in the broken hearted youth. Horror filled him at the realization that they had made an enemy of the people who killed Ra in what may very well have been an accident. “Honor your woman by surviving as long as you can, that is all you can do.”
That told O’Neill all he needed to know about the man and he turned and regarded the Serpent man in the eye. A look in his own that said it all, that he knew how Teal’c felt, that he had lived the crisis of faith and collapse of pride, the loss of ethos and that he had found it again. “They go bad…We don’t have too.”
The sullen giant rounded on the colonel, his eyes narrowed at O’Neill scrutinizing, questioning, seeking. Then he tossed Jackson down and turned to walk towards the great doors that sealed the room where he sat on a chair his eyes dark and contemplative, his proud posture hunched forward, staff in hand. To Jack, he couldn’t have looked more like a king and part of him felt a pang of sympathy for the monster that commanded him, because it was clear as day to Jack this was a good man, a noble man, a leader and a damn fine soldier and not someone who would ever take orders from that…
Thing.
-What you must have been at one point huh snake dude?- O’Neill thought as Jackson grabbed his arm and gave him an indignant glare. “Why are you trying to be nice to him?!”
“Think about it for a second Jackson and then remember what the lore lady said.” O’Neill responded, his tone far more patient than Jack had expected himself. Even grieving, the question was so absurd. They needed help, hell unless the planet had some kind of benefactor or protector there was a chance they’d be rolled up and smoked like a cheap blunt before the end of the year. When Jackson began to relent, O’Neill nodded, glad to see even in this much pain the boy could still keep himself. “They’re huge Jackson, everything about this place screams wealth. Not just high tech but the industry required for something like this? They built a castle out of a mountain and all the soldiers everywhere? We’re in the heart of their military she said, and their version of the Pentagon has farms and factories? We need help.”
“And you think he’ll help us?” Jackson asked, desolate. “I don’t know” O’Neill answered.
….
It was preposterous Teal’c thought. That these people could have killed Ra the way Amunet and Klorel believed. That it was an intentional return to the stars by a vengeful Tau’Ri out for blood but what we saw were a bunch of soldiers who guarding a scribe and a woman who must have been a technologist for she babbled endlessly about light and yields and had the eyes of a pyromaniac. -Perhaps she is their version of an Weapons smith?- Teal’c thought, the engineers who worked for the decadent Tok’Ra Nerus who Apophis had secured service from in exchange for a resurrection chamber, an endless supply of food and the right to periodically blow things up. Nerus was frightfully mad but he’d revolutionized Jaffa body armor and weaponry over the last five thousand years or so Teal’c had been told. Thoth was still the greatest technologist in history, everyone knew that but Thoth lacked the madness that he saw in the eyes of Nerus and in the eyes of this blond.
-They could not be a threat to Ra, not unless Ra made them so-. Teal’c eyes narrowed at the man with the square jaw and short hair, the man who was clearly their leader and he brooded in thought. There was no malice in this leader, he’d hunted down terrorists before during the final days of the Titans rebellion. Those renegade Jaffa were filled with resentment and fanatical fury, but this man? All he saw was conviction and a sense of honor no matter how different than his own. -They go bad, we don’t have too-.
Klorel.
Amunet.
They had most certainly gone bad or had been born rotten. His hand clenched against the staff and he rose, feeling the twitch of instincts that warned him that something mad was looming behind him. Doors opened and Teal’c wanted to wail in despair when he realized his threat response was activated by the Lord he once saw as a second father. Apophis was adorned with a black tunic and a long flowing cape, a golden coronet rested on his head, pink, blue and crimson diamonds sparkling in the light. Beside him, Amunet in her host, wearing barely anything at all. The soft fabric armor of Jaffa woven into her pants, she wore armor over her breasts and moved as though her shoulder had finished healing yet was still somewhat stuff. The Scribe had put a bullet into her chest, close to the collar bone and she had been enraged by it.
“Ahh Teal’c!” Apophis walked over and clasped the man on his shoulder, speaking in the tongue of his domain. “How fares this batch of rabble.” He asked gesturing to the Jaffa who had all dropped to bended knee. “I know these low ranked children are not ones you have trained but how fares my army?”
“Exceedingly well majesty.” Teal’c bowed and he felt something touch his cheek and suppressed a shudder when he realized it was Amunet’s hand. “My divine lord adores you War Master Teal’c, I will look to you to ensure his safety in the coming days.” She turned before Teal’c could say anything and began to walk towards the group of Tau’Ri. With a gesture Teal’c ordered Jaffa to intercept in case she was attacked again but Apophis called her back before she could approach the Tau’Ri Scribe and the others. The scribe called out to her, begging er to free Shau’re and take him in her place. Something wavered slightly in her eyes, Teal’c wondered if it was a remnant of the host whose destruction he was forced to
feel as much as witness. Then he saw the feral glint in her eyes and his head shifted downwards. “Come my divine lord, does your son not need a new host?” Amunet’s voice was smooth, gentle but there was something cruel when she referred to Klorel, a flair of jealousy perhaps. “Perhaps that Tau’Ri leader would do?”
Apophis shook his head. “No, Klorel will tell me when he must switch forms.” There was an odd amount of pain in the Serpent Lord’s voice and the worry of a father. “My little Klorel, I hope he fixes himself so that he may not need it.”
Teal’c felt a pang of guilt for the thought that was going through his mind, that he should shoot the Tau’Ri commander to spare him the horrors that would await him should Klorel approve. And Teal’c knew he would, the Tau’Ri commander like Teal’c and the youth’s father was a warrior and he ever wished to impress his father.
And you, he ever wishes to impress you and your wife as well. The attachment Klorel and Apophis had for his family would never be a thing he would understand, and he feared it as much as he had once valued it. Another thought affixed him, to join with the Tau’Ri.
It was a moment of despair and fury, a frantic hope. But it was a hope that died instantly because of the implications. His goal was to deal a political blow to Apophis, to hurt his rise to power and force him to lose faith with his lords, governors, and his legions but to join with the men who killed Ra even if it was done during a prison break would make it appear as though the House of Tartarus had something to do with Ra’s murder. -He would end up humiliated and then move for war and worse…Or perhaps he would be slowed by his lords, perhaps. -
“Teal’c” Apophis regarded his First Prime with amused eyes “Are we boring you?”
“No master, but I’ve been thinking on what is to come.”
“Ah, you see Amunet, were he not a Jaffa I would adopt him as an honorary member of the House of Tartarus! See how he thirsts for battle just as we do my love?” Apophis asked, his eyes beaming with pride even though the insult was back handed. The Jaffa were the champions of the System Lords, socially above even some Goa’uld races. Though Ra had always discouraged too much familiarity and open affection was seen as scandalous, that always less to do with Jaffa being seen as inferior and more as a disrespectful breach of protocol for both.
“I do, my divine love.” She whispered, a glint of malice in her eyes as she uttered the divine part. She clearly resented the fact that she would never be made allowed the rank of System Lord, nor even attend court though one of those facts might change should Apophis ascend the throne. -She would still never be anything more than a consort, her children would never rise to the rank of System lord-.
Neith and Hrakar were in danger, Teal’c realized, the only two “offspring” of Apophis who were born of peers and descended from System Lords. Neith who served in Dakkara as an aid and herald of Hathor, the female Bra’tac incubated and Hraka, the name his “second son” had chosen for himself. -Only they would be able to rule in Apophis stead as he ruled from Dakkara-. It was compounded, the danger because Apophis had forgotten both existed entirely. -What can I do? I must deal him a blow but the Tau’Ri?-
“He is right to be impatient!” Apophis turned to Teal’c and gestured to the huddle masses. “It is done, there will be no more raids. My darling Amunet has her eternal host, and we have great deeds to plan! And these? Well, seeing as he pillaged worlds of several System Lords. Well, we cannot allow them to return home and report any of this. Kill them all, the children too, I’ve allowed Lotar to infest the purity of Chulak long enough.” Apophis turned leaving a stunned Teal’c, only to stop and rest a hand on the crestfallen Jaffa’s shoulder “When this is done, I will find a way to properly reward you, I know this cannot have been easy. But I love her Jaffa and you know what I would do for those who I consider family.” They left, with Amunet turning to regard Daniel Jackson one last time with an imperious and dismissive sneer before departing with her husband.
Who I consider family.
Not a year ago that would have been enough for Teal’c to destroy a planet for his lord. It was the closest a System Lord could come to acknowledging a Jaffa as a foster without violating so many taboos as to lose all legitimacy and disgrace both and yet, Teal’c remembered the casual scorn Apophis displayed before the battle with the Tau’Ri from Brooklyn. It was all false, or it was true depending on his mood and Teal’c had just been ordered to massacre a bunch of innocent peasants whose only crime was bad luck. Even the Tau’Ri did not deserve this and when he waited in stunned silence one of the men nudged his elbow. “Lord” he called. “War Master should we not..”
The youth himself who spoke in a voice that hadn’t even begun to break looked horrified, he didn’t want to do this, nor did he wish to disobey his great lord. Others though began to advance on the corralled crowd who began to scream.
Teal’c walked forward, no matter what, he was done after today.
He couldn’t do this, yet if he turned on his own Jaffa, what could he do? -perhaps my death will shock Apophis-, who was he kidding. Apophis would just blame the Tau’Ri and continue down his path of ruin.
Tau’Ri, Tau’Ri.
….
“Take me!” Daniel had called as she began to depart “Let my wife go! Take me!” It was a desperate, lonely cry and he felt both Shau’re and he could feel Skara, and Carter tackle him and pull him down, pinning him to the cold floor. -Damnit let me go, if I can just reach her-.
A voice whispered in his head, soft, whiny, mean. ‘She’s gone Jackson and I don’t think my lover would enjoy fucking a man’. ‘I’ll kill you! I swear it!’ Jackson’s face contorted in a mix of rage and despair and he struggled against them only escaping the rage that possessed him when Apophis addressed the warrior who had told him to survive. He couldn’t fully hear what was being said over the rush of blood thrumming in his ears, but he made out “
Alashy’beh” and “
Fakuskaska Kree” which sounded like gibberish, guttural Arabic, Berber and who knew what else until he played with the words in his mind a bit, matching them as best he could to classical Arabic, Berber and Sumerian and he realized the man likely had ordered everyone in the cell massacred.
Or he was ordering a pizza, the truth was the language on this planet was incredibly different from anything Jackson ever had to tackle on Abydos that trying to match the words in a tense situation was as dangerous as rushing Apophis himself. There was hesitation after the command, so Jackson assumed it wasn’t anything nice and then as soon as their lord left the room a group began to advance.
“We’re dead” Jackson murmured, and an ocean of shame washed over him as he realized how hopeful he’d sounded in that moment.
“Like hell we are.” O’Neill hissed, a look of understanding mixed with indignant rage in his eyes. You didn’t get to talk momma O’Neill’s baby boy off a ledge only to walk right up on that ledge yourself. Not without an ass whoop’n! O’Neill jerked forward, watching the warriors advance, watching their sullen commander and the other. Staffs were raised, energy sparked, one pointed his staff directly at a family. Again, O’Neill was amazed at how non-ceremonial they were and how they almost looked like ancient rifles, a reminder that he was dealing with soldiers and not militia or rentacops. Would they listen? Army men wouldn’t, neither would marines but then again O’Neill hadn’t heard of something this fucked up since Oh’five and only a few of those marines obeyed. “That is up to your powers of persuasion” the woman had said, their survival depended on friends they could make. -Screw it- O’Neill thought, finally rising to his feet and rushing out in front of the crowd, standing between staff guns, the titans that wielded them and the terrified. “I CAN SAVE THESE PEOPLE!” O’Neill roared, but there was no pleading in his voice, only the stoic conviction of a marine who’d faced down one champion of a god and came through it to send that God to hell. Colonel Jack O’Neill wasn’t asking Teal’c of Chulak for help, he was telling him to help out or get the hell out of the way.
And when the giant rounded on him, staff raised like a rifle eyes dark, O’Neill thought he’d failed.
“I’ve heard this before.” The giant remarked, his tone grim. And then he turned and fired a blast right into the armored helm of the serpent guard not four feet from him, followed by another almost instantly. “But you’re the only one I believe could do it!” the youth beside him to his credit didn’t turn on his commander and rather opened fire and killed one of the others before two blasts slammed into his torso, his staff went sliding across the floor. Teal’c grabbed the boys body muttered an apology and used it as a shield to absorb the blasts roaring towards him as he felled another.
O’Neill was up and firing, Skara had bolted towards the giant and grabbed his side arm and bolts of lightning roared into three more at speeds that the Jaffa War Master had to admit was impressive for the Abydonian -even the Abydonians are well trained- He thought. None flinched and when the blond female rose, she was retrieving weapons from the fallen, rushing through the fray of battle like a maniac possessed. -The technologist is mad- Teal’c thought. She joined the fray and the shock mixed with the abruptness resulted in a bunch of dead prison guards and a room acrid with the stench of burnt plastics seared flesh and a bunch of bewildered prisoners.
“Alright then.” Jackson murmured rising, a look of surprise in his eyes “So she meant you.”
“I’ve no idea of whom you speak.” Teal’c remarked gruffly “I had no desire to allow another massacre within these halls. Jaffa are more than common criminals, we are warriors, soldiers…Guardians. Apophis understood this once, if he understands it no longer then he is not worthy of our fealty.”
Jackson nodded, glad for an explanation that would allow him to think academically and lose himself in his study of history rather than focus on the pain. “I see…so…This is a feudal contract then? You swear to your lord.”
“We are servants of the empire.” Teal’c corrected. “Our oath is to the code of
Sodan, the ten-virtues laid down by Anubis at the dawn of our race. Our loyalty is to the throne and whoever sits upon it. But yes, I am a Jaffa of Apophis, Lord of this realm and master of the imperial military. He who was one of our fathers, he who faces all enemies of the empire.”
“I see!” Daniel said, fascinated while both Skara and O’Neill were ready to slap the man. “So you aren’t defecting from your service so much as, joining us to continue that service?”
The giant quirked his head and then looked at O’Neill who had to stifle a laugh. “Yeah, he’s always like this, even when he’s a mess.”
“Then he will be fine.”
Both men were surprised at how reassuring that felt even though he was an enemy. Though Carter interrupted their attempts to further engage. “Look the geopolitics of why you helped us is fascinating and all, but I bet they’ll figure out what’s happened soon right?”
The man nodded and began to walk towards a wall, a wave of his hand caused a series of projected consoles to appear out of thin air. He pressed several yellow buttons and suddenly the whole palace erupted in alarms.
“The hell!?” Jack asked.
The giant shrugged. “I have told them you fired upon me and have slipped through the
ventilation system and that allies of yours have breached the power plant below. They will not come here and if we are fortunate, they will seal off a hundred levels below this room, the plant itself is massive. It should take the technologists time to discover the false alarm it will buy you time.” Diagnostics, he thought. He has never been so grateful for them before.
“How much?” O’Neill asked.
“An hour, perhaps two. When I open the doors, lead these people down the hall towards a door with holden arches, there you.”
O’Neill shook his head, unreal! This dude wanted to stay here? Wait to be executed? “pffffuuuck that. You’re coming with us. I know that look pal, this wasn’t the big play you intended to make, its something way worse right? Well tough shit, I’m not about to let a man who saved my life to die pointlessly.”
“By aiding you I’ve dealt a blow to my lord that was far more incriminating than I intended, he shall not be able to ignore it. If I remain at least I can prevent a larger war.”
O’Neill looked him dead in the eye. Great man, but naïve if he thought there was anything he could do to stop what was coming. “Buddy, I saw the look in your snake king’s eyes. There ain’t no stopp’n what he’s fixing to unleash. Seems to me, the best way for you to serve is to do what you told Jackson back there and survive. Come with us, stand with us. Help us.”
“I’ve nowhere to go.”
O’Neill rolled his eyes at the weak ass protest. “Stay at my place.”. He could see the giant’s stoic features relent , a look of relief as if he felt that was sufficient and the group bolted.
Years from now, O’Neill would look back on this as the moment he gained not just a valued asset but a brother in arms. For now, he could only hope his instincts continued to be correct about him.
“What’s your name Jaffa?” O’Neill asked; a calm voice cutting through the screeching of alarms.
“Teal’c son of Ray’nar, of Chulak. And you? I would know the Tau’Ri who slew the Emperor of all the stars.”
“Jack O’Neill, Colonel, United States Space Force Marine division.”
“You are not as I imagined you would be O’Neill.”
“Good.”
