As Circumstances Have it, part III
Part 1
Part 2
“Getting old?’” Jack asked. He knew that wasn’t the most important question to be asking but it was the first thing that came to mind.
“We’re getting old, Jack. Maybe we’re slowing down.” Ferreti answered. He was in perfect shape, except for the wound, but he was depressed. Jack recognized the signs of a commander who had left his team behind.
Then Ferreti gasped, his eyes looking beyond Jack’s shoulder. “Johnna?”
“Hey, Uncle Lou,” she said, and walked past her father into the Lt. Colonel’s arms. “You may be old, but you sure look good.”
“You’re here now?” Ferreti asked, with a glance at Jack.
“Yeah,” Jack answered, smiling at his old friend and daughter. Then his eyes narrowed and he asked, very quietly, “Who?”
“Jack, it’s an old enemy, and he wants you for the hostages. The natives appear to have a God named Pepi.”
“Honestly, doesn’t ring a bell. But it sounds like…”
“Don't start. Apparently you killed one of his relatives, Hathor.”
“I didn’t realize Goaulds cared. And wouldn’t he be a Haresius child?”
“Apparently he was some sort of Goauld child too. Implanted at birth.”
“But the snake would be as big as him.”
“Look, ask Daniel and Sam to explain it to you when you see them. Besides, the snake was a larva. Apparently it didn’t need a Jaffa. This was some miracle baby, and a secret for the same reason that the Haresius child was a secret. He wasn’t supposed to expose himself until he became powerful, and his parents died before they could give him their armies. He doesn’t want power now, he just wants revenge.”
By this time they were all in the briefing room. They discussed strategies for some time, but there was only one they could all agree on. Johnna was not allowed in the discussion but her team leader was there. He had originally been on SG5 but SG2 lost Ferreti to SG1 and the second CO retired. Garrello was an intelligent, quiet man, and the identity of his new Lieutenant was not a problem for him. They sat in the room going over the fine details for the rescue and then they separated to brief their teams. Jack had to visit the doctor.
“You’re going to what?”
“Janet, if I don’t they’ll kill my team.”
“They’re not your team anymore, and do you remember why? Let me remind you, sir, that you have cancer. And since you refuse to be implanted, you are dying of it. What is the General thinking of?”
“That the sacrifice of a dying man in worth three healthy lives. And maybe also that I don’t want to spend my last few months on this world mourning the loss of my lover.”
She sighed, knowing that he was right. Moreover, she was already depressed at the thought of losing him; she couldn’t survive the loss of the rest of his old team, all of whom were her best friends.
“By the way, your daughter was here earlier.” Janet’s tone seemed even, but Jack went a little red with guilt.
“Umm, I should have said something… Why was she here? Is something wrong?”
“No, she had to be cleared for her mission. And sir, she was asking about you. If she hadn’t I wouldn’t have known who she was, After all, her name was different and there was no reason for me to look at her personal file to see her father’s name.”
“It’s her mother’s maiden name; I suppose that was the only one she could remember. Her mother has had more husbands than Daniel has had visits to the infirmary. What did you tell her about me?”
“She asked why the Tok’ra couldn’t help, and I told her they could and would, if you let them. Then we came to the Nox, and they said that they could take away the symptoms but not the disease. Same problem with the sarcophagus and the Asguard.”
“She’s gonna give me hell over the Tok’ra.”
“Why not, Sam already does.”
“Janet,” Jack warned. “Just give me the stimulant to get me through the day. And stop looking so pessimistic. I might actually make it.”
“Yes sir,” Janet responded. And when she let him leave, she sent a prayer with him: that the only God he’d meet for the next few weeks would be the snake kind.
*
It was a simple idea; but then those are sometimes the best ones.
Jack walked into a trap, and set one of his own. He walked out of the wormhole to meet the stares of armed Jaffa. Of course he responded with one of his trademark sarcastic remarks.
“Oh, a welcoming committee. You really shouldn’t have.”
“Silence, Tau’ri.” The first Prime replied, thrown off his stride by the glib prisoner.
“No habla español.” Obviously, Spanish was not one of the languages spoken by Pepi.
Completely confused by this time, the Jaffa did what he knew best. He backhanded Jack so that the already weakened General fell down on his back. However, he did not see the small explosive device Jack activated and hid in the grass beneath him. It was a shock grenade they had created after acquiring a prototype on a mission with the Tok’ra, and would ensure that the DHD and Stargate were operational, even when the sentry was taken out. The SGC plan was now set.
Jack stumbled once on his way to the Goauld mother ship, leaving another shock grenade where the rest of the guards were hiding and watching the Stargate. Then he was taken to meet Pepi.
To his surprise, he met a boy who could not have been more than ten when his symbiote had stopped his growth. All at once, Jack wondered if he could kill a Goauld who looked to be barely a few months older than Charlie had been when… Pay attention to the mission at hand, Jack.
But the voice coming out of the child was anything but immature.
“You murdered my parents before I was acknowledged as their son, and heir to their power. Now I must begin an army again.”
“And of course you’re stricken with grief,” Jack added.
“Do you mock me, Tau’ri?”
“Do I look like someone who would do that?”
The Goauld came close to him, and scrutinized him with eyes that could see more than the normal human.
“You are ill, dying in fact. But I do not wish you to be so ill. That would take away from the time I spend torturing you. I will have to cure you first.”
“Hate to say this, but you can’t. The sarcophagus won’t work,” Jack answered, before he realized that becoming a host could cure him.
Pepi guessed what he was thinking. “No, making you a host will be too easy. That is what I have in store for your friends.”
“You promised to spare them!” But Jack wasn’t surprised by the turnaround. He didn’t even trust the Tok’ra; he would never believe a Goauld unless the snake promised death and destruction, so the SGC had planned for this.
“I do apologize for lying to you, O’Neill,” Pepi replied, smiling evilly and stroking the man’s face before grabbing it with his nails, cutting into Jack’s cheeks. “But you will thank me later for sparing your life so that I can hurt you… again and again.”
Then he turned to the only remaining Jaffa guard. “Bring me the Dawaii. (To Jack) It should give you assistance where your primitive medicines fail.”
Jack took that to mean he was getting a temporary cure, or a pick-me-up. He surreptitiously glanced at his watch. The shock grenades were actually hybrids built by Area 51 that worked on timers. They would go off in about ten minutes. He wondered if that was soon enough so that he could attack while the Jaffa was out of the room. But it was already too late. The Jaffa had returned, holding an urn that was unpleasantly reminiscent of Sokar’s blood. He struggled, but in his condition he could not stop the Goauld from pouring the contents of the urn down his throat.
He passed out.
*
He came to when he felt a vibration on the floor. Judging by the activity in the room, it was the second blast, and Jack mentally cursed himself for not staying awake to take advantage of the first detonation. But there was no time to waste.
They had expected Jack to wake up groggy and unable to act immediately, but they didn’t know about his years in Special Ops, where the General had learned to act first and reach full consciousness later. He pulled out the knife he’d hidden in his leg sheath and aimed carefully at the Goauld who had his back to him. With one quick movement, he sent the knife into the bottom of Pepi's neck, severing his spine and killing the snake within. One of the two Jaffa in the room turned and prepared to shoot Jack, but the other killed him first.
“You’re the Tok’ra operative,” Jack realized.
“Without knowing that, your action was foolish. You would have been dead,” the Tok’ra said, obviously confused.
Jack grinned and showed the Tok’ra his tiny gun. It was the size of his palm, but deadly. “Now let’s go get my team.
“Wait,” the Tok’ra ordered. He raised a zat gun and fired it at the dead Goauld thrice. “I wish to ensure his inability to return.”
“Smart man,” Jack complimented. I think I’m gonna like this Tok’ra.
Part 3b
Part 2
“Getting old?’” Jack asked. He knew that wasn’t the most important question to be asking but it was the first thing that came to mind.
“We’re getting old, Jack. Maybe we’re slowing down.” Ferreti answered. He was in perfect shape, except for the wound, but he was depressed. Jack recognized the signs of a commander who had left his team behind.
Then Ferreti gasped, his eyes looking beyond Jack’s shoulder. “Johnna?”
“Hey, Uncle Lou,” she said, and walked past her father into the Lt. Colonel’s arms. “You may be old, but you sure look good.”
“You’re here now?” Ferreti asked, with a glance at Jack.
“Yeah,” Jack answered, smiling at his old friend and daughter. Then his eyes narrowed and he asked, very quietly, “Who?”
“Jack, it’s an old enemy, and he wants you for the hostages. The natives appear to have a God named Pepi.”
“Honestly, doesn’t ring a bell. But it sounds like…”
“Don't start. Apparently you killed one of his relatives, Hathor.”
“I didn’t realize Goaulds cared. And wouldn’t he be a Haresius child?”
“Apparently he was some sort of Goauld child too. Implanted at birth.”
“But the snake would be as big as him.”
“Look, ask Daniel and Sam to explain it to you when you see them. Besides, the snake was a larva. Apparently it didn’t need a Jaffa. This was some miracle baby, and a secret for the same reason that the Haresius child was a secret. He wasn’t supposed to expose himself until he became powerful, and his parents died before they could give him their armies. He doesn’t want power now, he just wants revenge.”
By this time they were all in the briefing room. They discussed strategies for some time, but there was only one they could all agree on. Johnna was not allowed in the discussion but her team leader was there. He had originally been on SG5 but SG2 lost Ferreti to SG1 and the second CO retired. Garrello was an intelligent, quiet man, and the identity of his new Lieutenant was not a problem for him. They sat in the room going over the fine details for the rescue and then they separated to brief their teams. Jack had to visit the doctor.
“You’re going to what?”
“Janet, if I don’t they’ll kill my team.”
“They’re not your team anymore, and do you remember why? Let me remind you, sir, that you have cancer. And since you refuse to be implanted, you are dying of it. What is the General thinking of?”
“That the sacrifice of a dying man in worth three healthy lives. And maybe also that I don’t want to spend my last few months on this world mourning the loss of my lover.”
She sighed, knowing that he was right. Moreover, she was already depressed at the thought of losing him; she couldn’t survive the loss of the rest of his old team, all of whom were her best friends.
“By the way, your daughter was here earlier.” Janet’s tone seemed even, but Jack went a little red with guilt.
“Umm, I should have said something… Why was she here? Is something wrong?”
“No, she had to be cleared for her mission. And sir, she was asking about you. If she hadn’t I wouldn’t have known who she was, After all, her name was different and there was no reason for me to look at her personal file to see her father’s name.”
“It’s her mother’s maiden name; I suppose that was the only one she could remember. Her mother has had more husbands than Daniel has had visits to the infirmary. What did you tell her about me?”
“She asked why the Tok’ra couldn’t help, and I told her they could and would, if you let them. Then we came to the Nox, and they said that they could take away the symptoms but not the disease. Same problem with the sarcophagus and the Asguard.”
“She’s gonna give me hell over the Tok’ra.”
“Why not, Sam already does.”
“Janet,” Jack warned. “Just give me the stimulant to get me through the day. And stop looking so pessimistic. I might actually make it.”
“Yes sir,” Janet responded. And when she let him leave, she sent a prayer with him: that the only God he’d meet for the next few weeks would be the snake kind.
*
It was a simple idea; but then those are sometimes the best ones.
Jack walked into a trap, and set one of his own. He walked out of the wormhole to meet the stares of armed Jaffa. Of course he responded with one of his trademark sarcastic remarks.
“Oh, a welcoming committee. You really shouldn’t have.”
“Silence, Tau’ri.” The first Prime replied, thrown off his stride by the glib prisoner.
“No habla español.” Obviously, Spanish was not one of the languages spoken by Pepi.
Completely confused by this time, the Jaffa did what he knew best. He backhanded Jack so that the already weakened General fell down on his back. However, he did not see the small explosive device Jack activated and hid in the grass beneath him. It was a shock grenade they had created after acquiring a prototype on a mission with the Tok’ra, and would ensure that the DHD and Stargate were operational, even when the sentry was taken out. The SGC plan was now set.
Jack stumbled once on his way to the Goauld mother ship, leaving another shock grenade where the rest of the guards were hiding and watching the Stargate. Then he was taken to meet Pepi.
To his surprise, he met a boy who could not have been more than ten when his symbiote had stopped his growth. All at once, Jack wondered if he could kill a Goauld who looked to be barely a few months older than Charlie had been when… Pay attention to the mission at hand, Jack.
But the voice coming out of the child was anything but immature.
“You murdered my parents before I was acknowledged as their son, and heir to their power. Now I must begin an army again.”
“And of course you’re stricken with grief,” Jack added.
“Do you mock me, Tau’ri?”
“Do I look like someone who would do that?”
The Goauld came close to him, and scrutinized him with eyes that could see more than the normal human.
“You are ill, dying in fact. But I do not wish you to be so ill. That would take away from the time I spend torturing you. I will have to cure you first.”
“Hate to say this, but you can’t. The sarcophagus won’t work,” Jack answered, before he realized that becoming a host could cure him.
Pepi guessed what he was thinking. “No, making you a host will be too easy. That is what I have in store for your friends.”
“You promised to spare them!” But Jack wasn’t surprised by the turnaround. He didn’t even trust the Tok’ra; he would never believe a Goauld unless the snake promised death and destruction, so the SGC had planned for this.
“I do apologize for lying to you, O’Neill,” Pepi replied, smiling evilly and stroking the man’s face before grabbing it with his nails, cutting into Jack’s cheeks. “But you will thank me later for sparing your life so that I can hurt you… again and again.”
Then he turned to the only remaining Jaffa guard. “Bring me the Dawaii. (To Jack) It should give you assistance where your primitive medicines fail.”
Jack took that to mean he was getting a temporary cure, or a pick-me-up. He surreptitiously glanced at his watch. The shock grenades were actually hybrids built by Area 51 that worked on timers. They would go off in about ten minutes. He wondered if that was soon enough so that he could attack while the Jaffa was out of the room. But it was already too late. The Jaffa had returned, holding an urn that was unpleasantly reminiscent of Sokar’s blood. He struggled, but in his condition he could not stop the Goauld from pouring the contents of the urn down his throat.
He passed out.
*
He came to when he felt a vibration on the floor. Judging by the activity in the room, it was the second blast, and Jack mentally cursed himself for not staying awake to take advantage of the first detonation. But there was no time to waste.
They had expected Jack to wake up groggy and unable to act immediately, but they didn’t know about his years in Special Ops, where the General had learned to act first and reach full consciousness later. He pulled out the knife he’d hidden in his leg sheath and aimed carefully at the Goauld who had his back to him. With one quick movement, he sent the knife into the bottom of Pepi's neck, severing his spine and killing the snake within. One of the two Jaffa in the room turned and prepared to shoot Jack, but the other killed him first.
“You’re the Tok’ra operative,” Jack realized.
“Without knowing that, your action was foolish. You would have been dead,” the Tok’ra said, obviously confused.
Jack grinned and showed the Tok’ra his tiny gun. It was the size of his palm, but deadly. “Now let’s go get my team.
“Wait,” the Tok’ra ordered. He raised a zat gun and fired it at the dead Goauld thrice. “I wish to ensure his inability to return.”
“Smart man,” Jack complimented. I think I’m gonna like this Tok’ra.
Part 3b