(no subject)
Title: Egeria's Legacy
Author: Annerb
Summary: Tok'ra trouble is brewing and Sam gets caught in the middle.
Rating/Warnings: Older Teens (torture and death)
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J
Season: 7 (AU, post Death Knell)
Disclaimer: Stargate isn't mine. Woe.
Part 2: Combustion
Janet stood by Anise’s bed adjusting the various monitors and lines crisscrossing her patient. “She’s suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition and there is some evidence of a recently healed injury,” she reported.
“Is she going to be alright?” Daniel asked as all of SG-1 and Hammond crowded into the infirmary while trying, rather unsuccessfully, not to get in the way.
Janet glanced up at Daniel and shrugged. “I’ve put her on fluids, but in the end she just needs rest. Both of them do.”
“When do you think we will be able to speak with her, Doctor?” Hammond asked from behind Daniel.
“I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know as soon as she wakes, sir.”
“Good, because we need some answers. Meanwhile, what have you got, Major?” Hammond demanded, turning to Sam who was leaning inconspicuously near the door.
Sam fumbled with the folders she was holding. “Umm…From what I can determine, sir, the crystal seems to contain the formula for the symbiote poison.”
“The symbiote poison?” Jack asked in surprise. “Why would she bring that here?”
“She obviously thinks it needs to be protected from someone,” Daniel supplied, remembering her desperate words on the ramp before she collapsed.
“Any guesses who that might be?” asked Hammond.
“Or, god forbid, what?” added Jack.
Jack automatically looked to Sam, but she just shook her head and said, “No, sir.”
They all waited for her to qualify her statement, but it seemed there was no more information forthcoming.
Daniel cleared his throat awkwardly looking from Sam to Hammond. “Then I guess we’ll just have to wait until Anise can tell us.”
“I agree,” concurred Hammond, giving Sam a long, measured glance before turning back to Janet. “Let me know when she is awake, Doctor.”
Before Hammond left the infirmary, though, he turned to Jack. “Colonel? Wasn’t there something you wanted to talk to me about?”
Daniel didn’t think he imagined the way the atmosphere in the room rapidly changed.
But no one said anything. Jack just nodded stiffly once while studiously not looking at Sam before following the General out the door.
Daniel tried to catch Sam’s eye but she just mumbled something about doing some work in her lab before disappearing out the door.
* * *
SG-1 and General Hammond all piled back into the infirmary less than two hours later. Anise was still hooked up to a plethora of monitors, but her bed was slightly raised and her eyes were open.
“Anise, Freya,” Hammond said in greeting. “We’re glad to see you looking better.”
Anise nodded weakly, her head barely lifting from her pillow. Her eyes traveled around the room, finally resting on Sam and staring hard at her.
“It’s safe,” Sam said, perhaps reading Anise’s concern. “And we’ve had no off-world contact since you arrived.”
Anise visibly relaxed back into the bed. “Thank you,” she rasped.
“We need you to tell us what’s happened,” Hammond said. “Who are you trying to keep the formula from?”
“It is a long story…that you would already be privy to if we had been wise enough to heed Selmak’s council.” Anise sighed and closed her eyes. “All of this could have been avoided…”
“Just start at the beginning,” Daniel said, offering her a drink from a glass of water.
Anise nodded her thanks and took a deep breath. “You have been aware of the growing tension between Selmak and the council, and, of course, the Tok’ra and the Tau’ri. What you do not know is that this is simply symptomatic of a larger void growing between two groups within the Tok’ra. The elder Tok’ra and the younger generation have been at odds lately how to proceed in our war against the Goa’uld. Selmak was being systematically pushed out of her position of influence. They claimed it was because she was being unduly influenced by her weak, Tau’ri host…but looking back, they must have seen Selmak and Jacob as a threat.”
“Wait a minute,” Daniel interrupted, “What do you mean by ‘younger generation’? I was under the impression that besides the rare convert, there hasn’t been a ‘new’ Tok’ra born in nearly two thousand years, ever since Egeria was captured by Ra.”
Anise nodded slightly. “It is true that our numbers are severely limited and that the Tok’ra have long been a dying race. The loss of Egeria last year seemed to be a death knell for our people. But it instead offered us a new, undreamed of chance. Before Kelmaa, Egeria’s last host, died, she revealed to us that in Egeria’s mind she discovered that there was another Tok’ra Queen, the daughter of Egeria. Her name was Petra and she was our last hope for survival as a people.”
“Okay, hold on,” Jack said, holding out his hands. “I’ve never really gotten this whole ‘Queen’ thing.”
“Symbiotes are inherently sexless, sir, and incapable of reproduction,” Sam supplied, giving Anise a moment to rest. “Only a Queen can produce offspring, so without Egeria, the Tok’ra had reached a critical population that could never be replenished.”
“So where does a Queen come from?” Jack asked, trying not to look disturbed by the discussion of snake reproduction.
Daniel, as the guy most aware of the process, stood nearby with a pinched look to his face. This was not a memory lane he cherished skipping down again.
Sam shook her head. “I have no idea.”
Jack raised one eyebrow at Sam’s blasé response and then turned to look at Anise.
“The production of a Queen is rare and takes the concentrated, full attention of a Queen to create her replacement. Each Queen can only generate one in her lifetime. It was precisely because of Egeria’s decision to produce a successor that ultimately led to her capture, we believe. She was vulnerable and weak during the process, but she knew that the Tok’ra would never really have a chance without another Queen to spread our ideals and carry on the fight.”
“So there is a second Tok’ra Queen out there,” Daniel deduced.
“Yes,” Anise said with a faint smile. “She had been placed in a similar state of stasis as Egeria on one of Ra’s planets. We rushed to find her and a year ago, we did just that.”
“Wow, that’s…amazing,” Daniel said with awe.
“Yeah, amazing,” Jack mimicked sarcastically. “Now what exactly does this have to do with why you stumbled through our gate half-dead?”
Daniel rolled his eyes at Jack’s impatience, but Anise just smiled wanly and leaned back into her bed for a moment, exhaustion clearly etched into her features.
Janet stepped in at this point. “I think that’s enough. We should let her rest, sir.”
But Anise shook her head. “No…you need to know. We bred Petra as soon as we found her, producing dozens and dozens of new symbiotes, all born with the understanding of the Tok’ra cause. There was such hope among us. We rushed to find willing hosts, but as always, it was difficult. So over the next six months we slowly managed to find hosts for the new children.”
“What about the incubation period?” Sam asked. “Symbiotes take years to mature to the point where they can take hosts.”
“Yes,” Anise nodded. “That was probably our first mistake. In our impatience, we devised a way to help mature the symbiote more quickly, using nanocyte technologies. But even if the symbiotes were strong enough to take a host, there was still a high incident of rejection. Only around half of the blendings are successful.” She briefly looked around at the shocked expressions surrounding her. “You must understand how desperate our plight has become. We could think of no other way to survive as a people.”
“What happened?” Daniel asked.
“The young ones had very different ideas about how we should approach our war with the Goa’uld. They were impatient, impetuous and they didn’t think we were doing enough. At first it was just a philosophical debate, but as their numbers grew… They believed we should do anything to ensure hosts for Petra’s children, but that is not the Tok’ra way.”
“Are you saying that they wanted to…forcibly take hosts?”
Anise nodded her head sadly. “It shames me to admit it, but yes. They also did not believe that uncover observation and subversion of the Goa’uld enough, they wanted us to engage in open war.” She paused a moment, rubbing absently at her temple. “They are so young…they seem to have adopted the cause of the Tok’ra but understand nothing of wisdom.”
“I can’t believe that the others would agree to this,” Sam said in a horrified voice.
“It was debated at great length by the Council, though the debates primarily consisted of the elders explaining that no outcome could possibly excuse such actions. Apparently the younger Tok’ra finally ran out of patience and decided to take matters into their own hands. They must have staged a hostile take over of some kind. I am still not completely sure what happened, only that many Tok’ra were killed and others taken prisoner. None of us ever thought they could go so far. I managed to sabotage the computer systems and wipe all information dealing with my research. I took one copy of the symbiote poison with me and fled into the desert. I could not begin to imagine what they might do with such a weapon! The uses they had already proposed…” By the end of her long-winded and disturbing speech, Anise was breathing heavily and the monitor at her side was beeping erratically.
Janet unceremoniously shoved SG-1 out of the way and lowered the head of Anise’s bed back down. “Shhh…it’s alright. Just breathe deeply.” She placed an oxygen mask over Anise’s face and injected something into her IV. Anise began to visibly calm, her eyes sliding shut.
“Okay,” Janet said in her no-nonsense voice, “everybody out. There will be no more talking until she has had a lot more rest. I’m going to administer drugs to keep her in a slumbering state for at least a day. That should give both Anise and Freya some time to recover.”
They all nodded obediently and moved to leave the room when Anise weakly pulled the mask from her face. “Major…,” she said.
Sam stepped up to the bed and leaned close to Anise.
“Your father…He and Selmak were away on a mission. I do not know what has happened to them. I’m sorry….”
Sam mumbled something indecipherable and patted the woman’s shoulder. Anise’s eyes slid back shut.
* * *
“You wanted to see me, sir?” Sam asked in a cool, professional tone as she poked her head in Jack’s office an hour later.
Jack looked up and waved her in, noting the way she stood in front of his desk in parade rest, her eyes not quite meeting his. Jack bit back a sigh and looked back down at the folder in front of him. Hammond had recommended exactly what he knew he would, but how did he tell Sam?
He must have let the silence stretch too long, because Sam said, “I assume you informed General Hammond of the incident on Pangar, sir.”
“Yes,” Jack replied, not particularly liking her blasé tone.
“And?” Sam prompted.
Jack snapped the folder back shut. Fine, if she wanted to get straight to the point, he could do that too. “You have been removed from active duty until such time as you are given the all clear from both Doctors Mackenzie and Fraiser.”
“Janet?” Sam asked, as if she found that the only interesting part of what he had said.
“Yes. Your leg still seemed to be bothering you on the planet.”
She met his eyes fleetingly before nodding and stiffening her posture even more, which Jack hadn’t been sure was even possible.
“I understand, sir. May I work in my lab?”
Jack shook his head. “Hammond wants you to take some extended leave to figure this out, Carter. No burying yourself under work.”
He expected her to protest, to complain about that much forced down time, especially since they were in the middle of a Tok’ra crisis at the moment. But instead, he could have sworn she looked…relieved.
“You understand that I’m relieving you of duty, right?” Jack finally asked, failing to keep his exasperation out of his voice.
Sam shifted uncomfortably at his tone, but nodded nonetheless. “It’s probably for the best, sir,” she answered.
Jack could do nothing more than stare at her for long moments. Probably for the best? What the hell was that supposed to mean? For someone who supposedly loved their job, who gave everything she had for it, she was taking this all a little too calmly. And it was pissing Jack off. He was still mildly surprised, though, when he snapped at her.
“Bullshit,” he exclaimed, bringing the palm of his hand down hard on the desk.
Sam flinched and dropped her head, but said nothing.
Dropped her head? What the hell? The Sam Carter Jack knew would have taken him to task for daring to speak to her in that manner. He may be her superior officer, but she didn’t take crap from anyone.
But here was evidence contrary to that, standing placidly in front of him, staring at her toes.
Jack knew he should feel worried or compassionate, but clawing anger was all there was. What the hell was wrong with her? He leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. Willing her to just look up at him, for crying out loud.
“So, what? That’s it?” Jack asked flippantly. “You’re just giving up?”
Sam didn’t respond, just kept staring at her boots as if they were the most interesting things in the Galaxy.
“You’re quitting,” he finally accused, realizing that he was looking at someone who had all the symptoms of someone about to walk away from a fight she just couldn’t handle anymore. She just needed someone to provide an excuse, a way out.
Deep down, he’s expected anger in response to the allegation. He was still so sure that she would look up at him with eyes flashing and tell him not so politely to go screw himself for even suggesting it. Instead, when she finally met his eyes, an unnerving sort of resignation flashed across her face that made Jack feel ill.
“Is that all, sir?” was all Sam said in response.
They stared at each other for long moments, before Jack had to look away. He knew that they had never really been friends, there had always been too much between them to ever have the casual intimacy that she enjoyed with Daniel or Janet. But he had really hoped that in a situation like this that she would actually talk to him. But she still stood nearly at attention, waiting to be dismissed by her superior officer. And it hurt more than it should.
“Fine,” he said, biting back a sigh. “Dismissed.”
Sam instantly spun on her heel and started towards the door. Surprisingly, though, she paused for a moment with her back to him, her hand on the doorknob, looking like she wanted to say something to him. But then she was moving again.
It was enough to cause Jack to call out to her. “Carter,” he said. “If you ever want to talk….”
It was a big offer from him and even though he knew he was about to be rebuffed, he’d said it anyway. It was Carter, after all.
Just when he was sure she would step out the door, her body sagged like a sail loosing its wind.
“I can’t seem to forget…,” she confessed in a miniscule voice.
She didn’t say anything else, but it was enough. It opened the door to Jack. “Alpha site?” Jack asked.
She inclined her head slightly in answer and Jack couldn’t help but remember the sight of her sitting at the feet of a super soldier, waiting for death, looking almost as if she was welcoming it. He shoved the thought aside with difficulty and focused back on the woman in front of him.
“Nightmares?” he asked.
Sam just shrugged. Nightmares were nothing new to any of them. They both knew that.
“Flashbacks?” Even as the word left his lips, he finally realized what exactly had happened in that dark tunnel. She had thought she was back on that damn planet being hunted. And he’d walked right into it.
Sam’s head made a soft thump as she leaned forward into the door, her back still to Jack as if she couldn’t look at him. “I could have killed you,” she said. “And next time it could be Daniel or Teal’c or some innocent bystander.”
Jack had nothing to say to that, because he knew it was true. Flashbacks from trauma made a soldier too much of a risk. She couldn’t go back into the field like that. He silently berated himself. He should have known she wasn’t ready, she should have never gone to Pangar in the first place. But he, like everyone, had been convinced that Sam Carter could do anything. She was unshakable. Nothing got to her. And now he was forced to realize that she was just a woman who had seen more than anyone should ever have to. He should have known that the moment he saw her give up at the foot of the super soldier. But he honestly had just wanted to forget the entire harrowing event.
Sam’s voice penetrated his musings. She finally turned around and looked at him, her eyes pleading for understanding. “Have you ever thought that maybe you just couldn’t do this anymore?”
It was a vague statement, but Jack knew exactly what she meant. The last seven years had been a nonstop stretch of running on pure adrenaline. Constantly wondering if you would die, or worse, if you would have to watch one of your friends die. Never knowing if this was the time that you couldn’t stop whatever new threat was currently plaguing Earth. It was a heavy load, a huge burden. And he’d be lying if he’d said there weren’t mornings were he’d woken up and contemplated chucking it all. And not just because of her.
But it wasn’t Sam’s question as much as her tone that bothered him. She just seemed…defeated. And it scared the hell out of him.
Even consciously knowing it was a bad idea, Jack still found himself reaching out for her, her name tumbling from his lips. “Sam…”
But before either of them could react, though, a blaring page rang throughout the PA system. “SG-1 to the control room, SG-1 to the control room.”
Jack allowed himself a moment to sigh before dashing into the halls, knowing Sam would be close on his heels.
* * *
Hammond was waiting for them in the control room with Daniel and Teal’c.
“Colonel,” Hammond said. “Prometheus has just picked up a Goa’uld cargo ship nearing Earth.”
Jack glanced quickly at Sam. Now what? Just what they needed on top of everything else. Goa’uld. “Any clue as to what it might be up to, sir?” Jack asked.
But before Hammond could answer, Walter interrupted. “Receiving transmission from the Goa’uld vessel, sir.”
The familiar face of Jacob Carter filled the screens. “This is Jacob Carter, requesting permission to approach Earth.”
There was a short pause before another voice answered him. “This is Colonel Pendergast of the Earth vessel Prometheus. You have permission to dock, General.”
Jacob seemed to visibly relax, weariness flickering across his face, before the transmission cut off.
Less than twenty minutes later a bright flash of light filled the gate room and Jacob materialized out of thin air.
Sam was the first to reach him. “Dad,” she said, immediately stepping into his arms. “We were so worried.”
Jacob squeezed her briefly and then stepped away, shaking Hammond’s hand. “I guess you’ve already heard, then.”
“About the little Tok’ra insurrection?” Jack asked. “Yeah, we’ve heard.”
Jacob smiled weakly.
“Anise told us,” Daniel supplied. “She came through earlier today.”
“Really?” Jacob said, sounding surprised. He looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, “I’m glad she managed to get away safely.”
“She’s still very weak, but Janet expects that she’ll make a full recovery,” Sam said.
“Good, good,” Jacob said.
“What about you, Dad?” Sam asked, casting a critical eye over his sunken face.
“We’re fine, just exhausted. I was on a mission when this all went down and they tried to ambush me when I arrived at the extraction point, but I managed to steal their ship instead and come here.” He shrugged tiredly. “Honestly, I didn’t know where else to go. They seem to have won before I even knew there was a fight.”
Hammond stepped up to his old friend and lay a hand on his shoulder “Well, you know you are always welcome here. Why don’t we debrief and then Major Carter can take you home for some rest. Maybe in time a solution will present itself.”
Jacob gave him a wan smile. “Sounds good.”
Jacob started walking out of the gate room, but Jack put a hand on his arm to stop him. Giving him a bemused smile, Jack gestured back over his shoulder in the opposite direction. “Briefing room’s this way, Jake.”
Jacob chuckled and ran a hand over his face. “Man…I’m more exhausted than I thought.”
Jack smiled. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, steering him in the proper direction.
“What, no snide remarks about my age, Jack?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, sir,” Jack said with mock sincerity. Then, more seriously, he said, “It’s just good to have you back.”
And looking at the way Sam was smiling at them both, Jack knew he really meant it.
* * *
The debrief only lasted thirty minutes and most of that time was spent filling Jacob in on everything they had learned from Anise. Sam did a mildly better job of paying attention than she had at the last couple of briefings, but mostly she just watched her father and was thankful that he was safe. She tried not to think about how she would explain to him why she wasn’t working anymore.
Maybe he wouldn’t notice. Yeah right, Sam.
When the meeting finally drew to a close, she pulled her father aside. “I just have to go shut down my lab and then I can take you home.”
“Okay. Maybe I’ll just go hit the commissary for some coffee,” Jacob said.
“So much for giving it up, huh? Selmak won’t mind?” Sam said with amusement, remembering how grumpy he had been when he’d stopped drinking it because Selmak didn’t like it.
“Oh, yeah,” Jacob said distractedly. “I think she’ll let me get away with it just this once. It’s been a long week.”
Sam nodded, “Yeah…it has.” Risking getting sucked into a train of thought she would rather avoid, Sam started for the door. “I’ll meet you in my lab in twenty minutes or so?”
“Sure,” Jacob said with a small smile. “Sounds good.”
As Sam stalked down the hall, though, she couldn’t help but think that the last thing she should be doing was going home and ‘resting.’ What was happening to the Tok’ra affected everyone involved in the fight against the Goa’uld. And even though neither Jacob nor Anise seemed to think there was anything to be done right now, Sam just thought they should be doing *something*.
Sam jabbed the button for her floor in her elevator, barely even remembering how she got there. Before the doors could slide closed, though, Jack stepped between them, slipping into the elevator.
He must have followed her out of the meeting, but she hadn’t even been aware of him. Sam finally looked up to find him watching her closely. After about three floors, he finally spoke.
“There will always be something, Carter. You can’t wait for a calm moment when the Galaxy happens to not be under threat to work this out, because it will never come. You know that.”
Sam didn’t even bother to be unnerved that he somehow knew her inner thoughts. He was right, she knew he was right. Because even if she felt okay, not great, but okay in these familiar halls, she only had to think of her embarrassing freak-out on Pangar to know that she couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t risk him. She would have to go home and come to terms with everything and decide if she was really ready to walk away from all this. There was more on the line that just a job she loved.
The elevator chimed, letting Sam know she had reached her floor. She stepped out and when Jack made no move to follow, she turned back.
“Thanks,” she said, still oddly feeling like it wasn’t enough for all the understanding he’d shown her, but it was all she had to offer.
But maybe it was enough, because Jack smiled and said, “Anytime, Carter,” as the doors slowly slid back shut.
* * *
“Jack,” Daniel said, poking his head into Jack’s office. “I’m going to check on Anise, wanna come?”
“You feeling the need for backup?” Jack half-heartedly teased. Neither of the men had forgotten Anise and Freya’s propensity for backward propositions at the strangest times.
“Well, safety in numbers, you know,” Daniel replied unabashedly, “and Sam’s already left with Jacob.”
It was a testament to how much Jack disliked paperwork that he shrugged and said, “Sure, why not?”
Jack could feel Daniel sending sideways glances his way as they made their way to the infirmary. Normally Jack would just ignore such behavior, not wanting to encourage it, but his patience was already thin today. “Spit it out, Daniel,” he said with a sigh.
“You really relieved Sam of duty?”
Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes and just nodded stiffly instead.
“And you think that was absolutely necessary?”
Jack stopped walking and turned to Daniel. “Look, Daniel, I’m only going to say this once. Something’s going on with her and she’s let it put us all in danger. There was nothing else for me to do. She knows that, too.”
Daniel was quiet for a moment, his eyebrows drawing together as he processed what Jack said. “What happened in that tunnel, Jack?”
Jack pushed off the nearest wall and started back down the hall, not bothering to answer.
Daniel sighed and slowly started after him, accepting that he’d gotten as much from him as he was likely to. By the time he reached the infirmary, Jack was standing awkwardly by Anise’s bed.
“I thought Doc said she should be getting better by now,” Jack noted.
Daniel stepped up to the bed and saw what Jack meant. She actually looked worse, if possible, than she had yesterday. In fact, Daniel thought as he leaned closer, it seemed like she was barely breathing. On instinct, he reached out a hand to feel the pulse at the base of her throat. It took much longer than it should have for him to register a weak, impossibly slow beat.
“Janet!” he called out.
Janet rounded the corner, took one look at her patient and began calling out orders. Soon the small bed was surrounded by nurses.
“Why are these monitors turned off?” Janet demanded.
The nurses all looked at each other and Janet sighed with impatience and began rapidly taking control of the situation. They put Anise on oxygen and Janet was still shaking her head. “Her reps are way too low.”
Wailing from the monitors announced that Anise’s heart was beginning to fail. “Paddles!” Janet demanded. After two shocks, steady but slow beeps filled the room.
Jack and Daniel still stood motionless by the wall, watching the unfolding drama. Janet was frowning at Anise’s chart, mumbling to herself.
“What’s going on, Janet?” Daniel finally managed to ask.
Janet shook her head. “She was doing so well, I can’t explain why her stats would fall so suddenly. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but if you hadn’t noticed her when you had…”
“She could have died?” Daniel asked in surprise.
Janet just nodded and went back to flipping through the chart. “It’s almost like someone administered the wrong drug or something.”
Jack meanwhile, had moved quickly out of the way of a darting nurse, only to trip over a small trashcan. Swearing softly, he leaned over to pick up the mess. Before he could even right the can, however, two things caught his eye. “Doc,” he said loudly.
Janet kneeled beside him and peered down at a syringe and an empty bottle that were visible among the debris. “No nurse would throw those out in the trash,” she noted, picking up the bottle in one gloved hand. Jack barely got a glance at the word ‘Lidocaine’ on the bottle before Janet dashed back off, an impressive expletive falling from her lips.
“Doc?” Jack asked as he watched her efficiently intubate her patient.
“I’m protecting her airway. Someone has introduced a huge dose of Lidocaine. If she was human she’d have died instantly, as it is it’s still touch and go.”
“Are you telling me that someone tried to kill her?”
“Frankly, I can’t imagine it, sir, but I have no other explanation. No one could be this grossly negligent. It couldn’t have been an accident. And it must have been recent, too, within the last forty minutes at least.”
“Who would want to hurt her?” Daniel asked quietly, not believing that anyone on the base was capable of this.
Jack turned to the dark-haired nurse helping Janet. “You were here when I arrived. Who has been in here to visit in the last forty minutes?”
The nurse seemed to shrink slightly under Jack’s brusque tone and hard glare. “No one, sir,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “Before you, it was empty.”
“No, Katie,” said another nurse. “There was one visitor here right before you got in.”
“Who?” Jack demanded.
“General Carter.”
Next
Author: Annerb
Summary: Tok'ra trouble is brewing and Sam gets caught in the middle.
Rating/Warnings: Older Teens (torture and death)
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J
Season: 7 (AU, post Death Knell)
Disclaimer: Stargate isn't mine. Woe.
Part 2: Combustion
Janet stood by Anise’s bed adjusting the various monitors and lines crisscrossing her patient. “She’s suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition and there is some evidence of a recently healed injury,” she reported.
“Is she going to be alright?” Daniel asked as all of SG-1 and Hammond crowded into the infirmary while trying, rather unsuccessfully, not to get in the way.
Janet glanced up at Daniel and shrugged. “I’ve put her on fluids, but in the end she just needs rest. Both of them do.”
“When do you think we will be able to speak with her, Doctor?” Hammond asked from behind Daniel.
“I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know as soon as she wakes, sir.”
“Good, because we need some answers. Meanwhile, what have you got, Major?” Hammond demanded, turning to Sam who was leaning inconspicuously near the door.
Sam fumbled with the folders she was holding. “Umm…From what I can determine, sir, the crystal seems to contain the formula for the symbiote poison.”
“The symbiote poison?” Jack asked in surprise. “Why would she bring that here?”
“She obviously thinks it needs to be protected from someone,” Daniel supplied, remembering her desperate words on the ramp before she collapsed.
“Any guesses who that might be?” asked Hammond.
“Or, god forbid, what?” added Jack.
Jack automatically looked to Sam, but she just shook her head and said, “No, sir.”
They all waited for her to qualify her statement, but it seemed there was no more information forthcoming.
Daniel cleared his throat awkwardly looking from Sam to Hammond. “Then I guess we’ll just have to wait until Anise can tell us.”
“I agree,” concurred Hammond, giving Sam a long, measured glance before turning back to Janet. “Let me know when she is awake, Doctor.”
Before Hammond left the infirmary, though, he turned to Jack. “Colonel? Wasn’t there something you wanted to talk to me about?”
Daniel didn’t think he imagined the way the atmosphere in the room rapidly changed.
But no one said anything. Jack just nodded stiffly once while studiously not looking at Sam before following the General out the door.
Daniel tried to catch Sam’s eye but she just mumbled something about doing some work in her lab before disappearing out the door.
* * *
SG-1 and General Hammond all piled back into the infirmary less than two hours later. Anise was still hooked up to a plethora of monitors, but her bed was slightly raised and her eyes were open.
“Anise, Freya,” Hammond said in greeting. “We’re glad to see you looking better.”
Anise nodded weakly, her head barely lifting from her pillow. Her eyes traveled around the room, finally resting on Sam and staring hard at her.
“It’s safe,” Sam said, perhaps reading Anise’s concern. “And we’ve had no off-world contact since you arrived.”
Anise visibly relaxed back into the bed. “Thank you,” she rasped.
“We need you to tell us what’s happened,” Hammond said. “Who are you trying to keep the formula from?”
“It is a long story…that you would already be privy to if we had been wise enough to heed Selmak’s council.” Anise sighed and closed her eyes. “All of this could have been avoided…”
“Just start at the beginning,” Daniel said, offering her a drink from a glass of water.
Anise nodded her thanks and took a deep breath. “You have been aware of the growing tension between Selmak and the council, and, of course, the Tok’ra and the Tau’ri. What you do not know is that this is simply symptomatic of a larger void growing between two groups within the Tok’ra. The elder Tok’ra and the younger generation have been at odds lately how to proceed in our war against the Goa’uld. Selmak was being systematically pushed out of her position of influence. They claimed it was because she was being unduly influenced by her weak, Tau’ri host…but looking back, they must have seen Selmak and Jacob as a threat.”
“Wait a minute,” Daniel interrupted, “What do you mean by ‘younger generation’? I was under the impression that besides the rare convert, there hasn’t been a ‘new’ Tok’ra born in nearly two thousand years, ever since Egeria was captured by Ra.”
Anise nodded slightly. “It is true that our numbers are severely limited and that the Tok’ra have long been a dying race. The loss of Egeria last year seemed to be a death knell for our people. But it instead offered us a new, undreamed of chance. Before Kelmaa, Egeria’s last host, died, she revealed to us that in Egeria’s mind she discovered that there was another Tok’ra Queen, the daughter of Egeria. Her name was Petra and she was our last hope for survival as a people.”
“Okay, hold on,” Jack said, holding out his hands. “I’ve never really gotten this whole ‘Queen’ thing.”
“Symbiotes are inherently sexless, sir, and incapable of reproduction,” Sam supplied, giving Anise a moment to rest. “Only a Queen can produce offspring, so without Egeria, the Tok’ra had reached a critical population that could never be replenished.”
“So where does a Queen come from?” Jack asked, trying not to look disturbed by the discussion of snake reproduction.
Daniel, as the guy most aware of the process, stood nearby with a pinched look to his face. This was not a memory lane he cherished skipping down again.
Sam shook her head. “I have no idea.”
Jack raised one eyebrow at Sam’s blasé response and then turned to look at Anise.
“The production of a Queen is rare and takes the concentrated, full attention of a Queen to create her replacement. Each Queen can only generate one in her lifetime. It was precisely because of Egeria’s decision to produce a successor that ultimately led to her capture, we believe. She was vulnerable and weak during the process, but she knew that the Tok’ra would never really have a chance without another Queen to spread our ideals and carry on the fight.”
“So there is a second Tok’ra Queen out there,” Daniel deduced.
“Yes,” Anise said with a faint smile. “She had been placed in a similar state of stasis as Egeria on one of Ra’s planets. We rushed to find her and a year ago, we did just that.”
“Wow, that’s…amazing,” Daniel said with awe.
“Yeah, amazing,” Jack mimicked sarcastically. “Now what exactly does this have to do with why you stumbled through our gate half-dead?”
Daniel rolled his eyes at Jack’s impatience, but Anise just smiled wanly and leaned back into her bed for a moment, exhaustion clearly etched into her features.
Janet stepped in at this point. “I think that’s enough. We should let her rest, sir.”
But Anise shook her head. “No…you need to know. We bred Petra as soon as we found her, producing dozens and dozens of new symbiotes, all born with the understanding of the Tok’ra cause. There was such hope among us. We rushed to find willing hosts, but as always, it was difficult. So over the next six months we slowly managed to find hosts for the new children.”
“What about the incubation period?” Sam asked. “Symbiotes take years to mature to the point where they can take hosts.”
“Yes,” Anise nodded. “That was probably our first mistake. In our impatience, we devised a way to help mature the symbiote more quickly, using nanocyte technologies. But even if the symbiotes were strong enough to take a host, there was still a high incident of rejection. Only around half of the blendings are successful.” She briefly looked around at the shocked expressions surrounding her. “You must understand how desperate our plight has become. We could think of no other way to survive as a people.”
“What happened?” Daniel asked.
“The young ones had very different ideas about how we should approach our war with the Goa’uld. They were impatient, impetuous and they didn’t think we were doing enough. At first it was just a philosophical debate, but as their numbers grew… They believed we should do anything to ensure hosts for Petra’s children, but that is not the Tok’ra way.”
“Are you saying that they wanted to…forcibly take hosts?”
Anise nodded her head sadly. “It shames me to admit it, but yes. They also did not believe that uncover observation and subversion of the Goa’uld enough, they wanted us to engage in open war.” She paused a moment, rubbing absently at her temple. “They are so young…they seem to have adopted the cause of the Tok’ra but understand nothing of wisdom.”
“I can’t believe that the others would agree to this,” Sam said in a horrified voice.
“It was debated at great length by the Council, though the debates primarily consisted of the elders explaining that no outcome could possibly excuse such actions. Apparently the younger Tok’ra finally ran out of patience and decided to take matters into their own hands. They must have staged a hostile take over of some kind. I am still not completely sure what happened, only that many Tok’ra were killed and others taken prisoner. None of us ever thought they could go so far. I managed to sabotage the computer systems and wipe all information dealing with my research. I took one copy of the symbiote poison with me and fled into the desert. I could not begin to imagine what they might do with such a weapon! The uses they had already proposed…” By the end of her long-winded and disturbing speech, Anise was breathing heavily and the monitor at her side was beeping erratically.
Janet unceremoniously shoved SG-1 out of the way and lowered the head of Anise’s bed back down. “Shhh…it’s alright. Just breathe deeply.” She placed an oxygen mask over Anise’s face and injected something into her IV. Anise began to visibly calm, her eyes sliding shut.
“Okay,” Janet said in her no-nonsense voice, “everybody out. There will be no more talking until she has had a lot more rest. I’m going to administer drugs to keep her in a slumbering state for at least a day. That should give both Anise and Freya some time to recover.”
They all nodded obediently and moved to leave the room when Anise weakly pulled the mask from her face. “Major…,” she said.
Sam stepped up to the bed and leaned close to Anise.
“Your father…He and Selmak were away on a mission. I do not know what has happened to them. I’m sorry….”
Sam mumbled something indecipherable and patted the woman’s shoulder. Anise’s eyes slid back shut.
* * *
“You wanted to see me, sir?” Sam asked in a cool, professional tone as she poked her head in Jack’s office an hour later.
Jack looked up and waved her in, noting the way she stood in front of his desk in parade rest, her eyes not quite meeting his. Jack bit back a sigh and looked back down at the folder in front of him. Hammond had recommended exactly what he knew he would, but how did he tell Sam?
He must have let the silence stretch too long, because Sam said, “I assume you informed General Hammond of the incident on Pangar, sir.”
“Yes,” Jack replied, not particularly liking her blasé tone.
“And?” Sam prompted.
Jack snapped the folder back shut. Fine, if she wanted to get straight to the point, he could do that too. “You have been removed from active duty until such time as you are given the all clear from both Doctors Mackenzie and Fraiser.”
“Janet?” Sam asked, as if she found that the only interesting part of what he had said.
“Yes. Your leg still seemed to be bothering you on the planet.”
She met his eyes fleetingly before nodding and stiffening her posture even more, which Jack hadn’t been sure was even possible.
“I understand, sir. May I work in my lab?”
Jack shook his head. “Hammond wants you to take some extended leave to figure this out, Carter. No burying yourself under work.”
He expected her to protest, to complain about that much forced down time, especially since they were in the middle of a Tok’ra crisis at the moment. But instead, he could have sworn she looked…relieved.
“You understand that I’m relieving you of duty, right?” Jack finally asked, failing to keep his exasperation out of his voice.
Sam shifted uncomfortably at his tone, but nodded nonetheless. “It’s probably for the best, sir,” she answered.
Jack could do nothing more than stare at her for long moments. Probably for the best? What the hell was that supposed to mean? For someone who supposedly loved their job, who gave everything she had for it, she was taking this all a little too calmly. And it was pissing Jack off. He was still mildly surprised, though, when he snapped at her.
“Bullshit,” he exclaimed, bringing the palm of his hand down hard on the desk.
Sam flinched and dropped her head, but said nothing.
Dropped her head? What the hell? The Sam Carter Jack knew would have taken him to task for daring to speak to her in that manner. He may be her superior officer, but she didn’t take crap from anyone.
But here was evidence contrary to that, standing placidly in front of him, staring at her toes.
Jack knew he should feel worried or compassionate, but clawing anger was all there was. What the hell was wrong with her? He leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. Willing her to just look up at him, for crying out loud.
“So, what? That’s it?” Jack asked flippantly. “You’re just giving up?”
Sam didn’t respond, just kept staring at her boots as if they were the most interesting things in the Galaxy.
“You’re quitting,” he finally accused, realizing that he was looking at someone who had all the symptoms of someone about to walk away from a fight she just couldn’t handle anymore. She just needed someone to provide an excuse, a way out.
Deep down, he’s expected anger in response to the allegation. He was still so sure that she would look up at him with eyes flashing and tell him not so politely to go screw himself for even suggesting it. Instead, when she finally met his eyes, an unnerving sort of resignation flashed across her face that made Jack feel ill.
“Is that all, sir?” was all Sam said in response.
They stared at each other for long moments, before Jack had to look away. He knew that they had never really been friends, there had always been too much between them to ever have the casual intimacy that she enjoyed with Daniel or Janet. But he had really hoped that in a situation like this that she would actually talk to him. But she still stood nearly at attention, waiting to be dismissed by her superior officer. And it hurt more than it should.
“Fine,” he said, biting back a sigh. “Dismissed.”
Sam instantly spun on her heel and started towards the door. Surprisingly, though, she paused for a moment with her back to him, her hand on the doorknob, looking like she wanted to say something to him. But then she was moving again.
It was enough to cause Jack to call out to her. “Carter,” he said. “If you ever want to talk….”
It was a big offer from him and even though he knew he was about to be rebuffed, he’d said it anyway. It was Carter, after all.
Just when he was sure she would step out the door, her body sagged like a sail loosing its wind.
“I can’t seem to forget…,” she confessed in a miniscule voice.
She didn’t say anything else, but it was enough. It opened the door to Jack. “Alpha site?” Jack asked.
She inclined her head slightly in answer and Jack couldn’t help but remember the sight of her sitting at the feet of a super soldier, waiting for death, looking almost as if she was welcoming it. He shoved the thought aside with difficulty and focused back on the woman in front of him.
“Nightmares?” he asked.
Sam just shrugged. Nightmares were nothing new to any of them. They both knew that.
“Flashbacks?” Even as the word left his lips, he finally realized what exactly had happened in that dark tunnel. She had thought she was back on that damn planet being hunted. And he’d walked right into it.
Sam’s head made a soft thump as she leaned forward into the door, her back still to Jack as if she couldn’t look at him. “I could have killed you,” she said. “And next time it could be Daniel or Teal’c or some innocent bystander.”
Jack had nothing to say to that, because he knew it was true. Flashbacks from trauma made a soldier too much of a risk. She couldn’t go back into the field like that. He silently berated himself. He should have known she wasn’t ready, she should have never gone to Pangar in the first place. But he, like everyone, had been convinced that Sam Carter could do anything. She was unshakable. Nothing got to her. And now he was forced to realize that she was just a woman who had seen more than anyone should ever have to. He should have known that the moment he saw her give up at the foot of the super soldier. But he honestly had just wanted to forget the entire harrowing event.
Sam’s voice penetrated his musings. She finally turned around and looked at him, her eyes pleading for understanding. “Have you ever thought that maybe you just couldn’t do this anymore?”
It was a vague statement, but Jack knew exactly what she meant. The last seven years had been a nonstop stretch of running on pure adrenaline. Constantly wondering if you would die, or worse, if you would have to watch one of your friends die. Never knowing if this was the time that you couldn’t stop whatever new threat was currently plaguing Earth. It was a heavy load, a huge burden. And he’d be lying if he’d said there weren’t mornings were he’d woken up and contemplated chucking it all. And not just because of her.
But it wasn’t Sam’s question as much as her tone that bothered him. She just seemed…defeated. And it scared the hell out of him.
Even consciously knowing it was a bad idea, Jack still found himself reaching out for her, her name tumbling from his lips. “Sam…”
But before either of them could react, though, a blaring page rang throughout the PA system. “SG-1 to the control room, SG-1 to the control room.”
Jack allowed himself a moment to sigh before dashing into the halls, knowing Sam would be close on his heels.
* * *
Hammond was waiting for them in the control room with Daniel and Teal’c.
“Colonel,” Hammond said. “Prometheus has just picked up a Goa’uld cargo ship nearing Earth.”
Jack glanced quickly at Sam. Now what? Just what they needed on top of everything else. Goa’uld. “Any clue as to what it might be up to, sir?” Jack asked.
But before Hammond could answer, Walter interrupted. “Receiving transmission from the Goa’uld vessel, sir.”
The familiar face of Jacob Carter filled the screens. “This is Jacob Carter, requesting permission to approach Earth.”
There was a short pause before another voice answered him. “This is Colonel Pendergast of the Earth vessel Prometheus. You have permission to dock, General.”
Jacob seemed to visibly relax, weariness flickering across his face, before the transmission cut off.
Less than twenty minutes later a bright flash of light filled the gate room and Jacob materialized out of thin air.
Sam was the first to reach him. “Dad,” she said, immediately stepping into his arms. “We were so worried.”
Jacob squeezed her briefly and then stepped away, shaking Hammond’s hand. “I guess you’ve already heard, then.”
“About the little Tok’ra insurrection?” Jack asked. “Yeah, we’ve heard.”
Jacob smiled weakly.
“Anise told us,” Daniel supplied. “She came through earlier today.”
“Really?” Jacob said, sounding surprised. He looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, “I’m glad she managed to get away safely.”
“She’s still very weak, but Janet expects that she’ll make a full recovery,” Sam said.
“Good, good,” Jacob said.
“What about you, Dad?” Sam asked, casting a critical eye over his sunken face.
“We’re fine, just exhausted. I was on a mission when this all went down and they tried to ambush me when I arrived at the extraction point, but I managed to steal their ship instead and come here.” He shrugged tiredly. “Honestly, I didn’t know where else to go. They seem to have won before I even knew there was a fight.”
Hammond stepped up to his old friend and lay a hand on his shoulder “Well, you know you are always welcome here. Why don’t we debrief and then Major Carter can take you home for some rest. Maybe in time a solution will present itself.”
Jacob gave him a wan smile. “Sounds good.”
Jacob started walking out of the gate room, but Jack put a hand on his arm to stop him. Giving him a bemused smile, Jack gestured back over his shoulder in the opposite direction. “Briefing room’s this way, Jake.”
Jacob chuckled and ran a hand over his face. “Man…I’m more exhausted than I thought.”
Jack smiled. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, steering him in the proper direction.
“What, no snide remarks about my age, Jack?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, sir,” Jack said with mock sincerity. Then, more seriously, he said, “It’s just good to have you back.”
And looking at the way Sam was smiling at them both, Jack knew he really meant it.
* * *
The debrief only lasted thirty minutes and most of that time was spent filling Jacob in on everything they had learned from Anise. Sam did a mildly better job of paying attention than she had at the last couple of briefings, but mostly she just watched her father and was thankful that he was safe. She tried not to think about how she would explain to him why she wasn’t working anymore.
Maybe he wouldn’t notice. Yeah right, Sam.
When the meeting finally drew to a close, she pulled her father aside. “I just have to go shut down my lab and then I can take you home.”
“Okay. Maybe I’ll just go hit the commissary for some coffee,” Jacob said.
“So much for giving it up, huh? Selmak won’t mind?” Sam said with amusement, remembering how grumpy he had been when he’d stopped drinking it because Selmak didn’t like it.
“Oh, yeah,” Jacob said distractedly. “I think she’ll let me get away with it just this once. It’s been a long week.”
Sam nodded, “Yeah…it has.” Risking getting sucked into a train of thought she would rather avoid, Sam started for the door. “I’ll meet you in my lab in twenty minutes or so?”
“Sure,” Jacob said with a small smile. “Sounds good.”
As Sam stalked down the hall, though, she couldn’t help but think that the last thing she should be doing was going home and ‘resting.’ What was happening to the Tok’ra affected everyone involved in the fight against the Goa’uld. And even though neither Jacob nor Anise seemed to think there was anything to be done right now, Sam just thought they should be doing *something*.
Sam jabbed the button for her floor in her elevator, barely even remembering how she got there. Before the doors could slide closed, though, Jack stepped between them, slipping into the elevator.
He must have followed her out of the meeting, but she hadn’t even been aware of him. Sam finally looked up to find him watching her closely. After about three floors, he finally spoke.
“There will always be something, Carter. You can’t wait for a calm moment when the Galaxy happens to not be under threat to work this out, because it will never come. You know that.”
Sam didn’t even bother to be unnerved that he somehow knew her inner thoughts. He was right, she knew he was right. Because even if she felt okay, not great, but okay in these familiar halls, she only had to think of her embarrassing freak-out on Pangar to know that she couldn’t risk it. Couldn’t risk him. She would have to go home and come to terms with everything and decide if she was really ready to walk away from all this. There was more on the line that just a job she loved.
The elevator chimed, letting Sam know she had reached her floor. She stepped out and when Jack made no move to follow, she turned back.
“Thanks,” she said, still oddly feeling like it wasn’t enough for all the understanding he’d shown her, but it was all she had to offer.
But maybe it was enough, because Jack smiled and said, “Anytime, Carter,” as the doors slowly slid back shut.
* * *
“Jack,” Daniel said, poking his head into Jack’s office. “I’m going to check on Anise, wanna come?”
“You feeling the need for backup?” Jack half-heartedly teased. Neither of the men had forgotten Anise and Freya’s propensity for backward propositions at the strangest times.
“Well, safety in numbers, you know,” Daniel replied unabashedly, “and Sam’s already left with Jacob.”
It was a testament to how much Jack disliked paperwork that he shrugged and said, “Sure, why not?”
Jack could feel Daniel sending sideways glances his way as they made their way to the infirmary. Normally Jack would just ignore such behavior, not wanting to encourage it, but his patience was already thin today. “Spit it out, Daniel,” he said with a sigh.
“You really relieved Sam of duty?”
Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes and just nodded stiffly instead.
“And you think that was absolutely necessary?”
Jack stopped walking and turned to Daniel. “Look, Daniel, I’m only going to say this once. Something’s going on with her and she’s let it put us all in danger. There was nothing else for me to do. She knows that, too.”
Daniel was quiet for a moment, his eyebrows drawing together as he processed what Jack said. “What happened in that tunnel, Jack?”
Jack pushed off the nearest wall and started back down the hall, not bothering to answer.
Daniel sighed and slowly started after him, accepting that he’d gotten as much from him as he was likely to. By the time he reached the infirmary, Jack was standing awkwardly by Anise’s bed.
“I thought Doc said she should be getting better by now,” Jack noted.
Daniel stepped up to the bed and saw what Jack meant. She actually looked worse, if possible, than she had yesterday. In fact, Daniel thought as he leaned closer, it seemed like she was barely breathing. On instinct, he reached out a hand to feel the pulse at the base of her throat. It took much longer than it should have for him to register a weak, impossibly slow beat.
“Janet!” he called out.
Janet rounded the corner, took one look at her patient and began calling out orders. Soon the small bed was surrounded by nurses.
“Why are these monitors turned off?” Janet demanded.
The nurses all looked at each other and Janet sighed with impatience and began rapidly taking control of the situation. They put Anise on oxygen and Janet was still shaking her head. “Her reps are way too low.”
Wailing from the monitors announced that Anise’s heart was beginning to fail. “Paddles!” Janet demanded. After two shocks, steady but slow beeps filled the room.
Jack and Daniel still stood motionless by the wall, watching the unfolding drama. Janet was frowning at Anise’s chart, mumbling to herself.
“What’s going on, Janet?” Daniel finally managed to ask.
Janet shook her head. “She was doing so well, I can’t explain why her stats would fall so suddenly. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but if you hadn’t noticed her when you had…”
“She could have died?” Daniel asked in surprise.
Janet just nodded and went back to flipping through the chart. “It’s almost like someone administered the wrong drug or something.”
Jack meanwhile, had moved quickly out of the way of a darting nurse, only to trip over a small trashcan. Swearing softly, he leaned over to pick up the mess. Before he could even right the can, however, two things caught his eye. “Doc,” he said loudly.
Janet kneeled beside him and peered down at a syringe and an empty bottle that were visible among the debris. “No nurse would throw those out in the trash,” she noted, picking up the bottle in one gloved hand. Jack barely got a glance at the word ‘Lidocaine’ on the bottle before Janet dashed back off, an impressive expletive falling from her lips.
“Doc?” Jack asked as he watched her efficiently intubate her patient.
“I’m protecting her airway. Someone has introduced a huge dose of Lidocaine. If she was human she’d have died instantly, as it is it’s still touch and go.”
“Are you telling me that someone tried to kill her?”
“Frankly, I can’t imagine it, sir, but I have no other explanation. No one could be this grossly negligent. It couldn’t have been an accident. And it must have been recent, too, within the last forty minutes at least.”
“Who would want to hurt her?” Daniel asked quietly, not believing that anyone on the base was capable of this.
Jack turned to the dark-haired nurse helping Janet. “You were here when I arrived. Who has been in here to visit in the last forty minutes?”
The nurse seemed to shrink slightly under Jack’s brusque tone and hard glare. “No one, sir,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “Before you, it was empty.”
“No, Katie,” said another nurse. “There was one visitor here right before you got in.”
“Who?” Jack demanded.
“General Carter.”
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