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Oh and I just stumbled upon this the other day. A shipper manifesto. Can I get an amen?
Btw, Nos? I think I love you. :)
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 9- Echoes from the Past
Sam was sitting quietly by the cool waters of the billabong when Aroona came to her with a brown packet held carefully in front of her.
"This came through the Great Eye, duruninang."
Sam took the packet from the woman's hands, smiling slightly at her new title of 'daughter' among the Binghi. Since she had emerged from the cave at the heart of the great mountain she was considered one of these people, a daughter to be looked out for. Day by day, she found it easier to appreciate Saroosh's love for the Binghi.
Aroona unobtrusively slipped away, leaving Sam alone with the bulging envelope covered with Daniel's scrawled writing. Something made Sam loathe to open it and she sat silently for a few moments, listening to the cackling calls of birds that no longer seemed quite as foreign as they once had.
'Samantha,' Selmak prompted gently.
Being an ostrich had never been more appealing than at this moment. There were answers here, heavy against her lap. Answers that would lead her to Egeria's Legacy. To Jacob.
But also back to Keren.
Sam took a deep breath and ripped open the missive, spilling photographs and papers onto the soft sand. A long letter from Daniel explained what he had found.
'So Keren got there first,' Selmak noted solemnly.
'But only a few days ago,' Sam said with surprise. 'Shouldn't he be weeks ahead of us?'
'It would have taken him weeks to analyze the massive amount of information he stole from your mind. Add to that his need to find a translator...'
'So there is still a slight chance we can beat him there,' Sam surmised.
'Perhaps.'
Sam picked up the image of the back of the pendant. '17, 4, 28, 33, 9, 21,' she read out from Daniel's notes, noting immediately that there were six numbers. A Stargate address. 'Is it a Tok'ra code?' she asked Selmak hopefully.
'No,' Selmak said slowly, confusion clear in her voice. 'It's not a code, just simply a very old short hand way of relaying gate coordinates. Just like the Stargate, you begin counting at the top position. It is...amazingly simple.'
'Isn't that a good thing?' Sam asked.
Selmak gave a mental shrug. 'It's just strange. As if she made no attempt to hide this address.'
'Like she wanted someone to find it and wasn't too picky as to who that would be,' Sam said in understanding.
'Perhaps, though she did at least use the precaution of not using Goa'uld, instead using the language of her last host, if Dr. Jackson is correct.'
Sam ran her fingers over the photograph. Using a human dialect was hardly an unbreakable code, but it had more than likely kept Ra from understanding what he'd had in his hands all those centuries ago. Sam was beginning to realize that the casual dismissal of 'primitive' cultures by supposedly superior races was simply an arrogant failing. The power to be found in these cultures was undeniable. Like the Binghi's ability to access the subconscious and the suppressed. Or the simple power of a common dialect to hide a potent secret for millennia. Not to mention a long forgotten mythical race standing up to a seemingly immortal enemy. Sam was beginning to see the Galaxy from an entirely new perspective.
Sam picked up a picture of the pendant. 'If this does lead to some sort of super weapon, you'd think she would have been more careful.'
'One would think,' Selmak commented dryly.
Sam sighed. 'Only one way to find out.' She gathered the papers together and pushed to her feet. Somewhere nearby something escaped into the water with a splash. Ripples cascaded across the smooth surface, lapping gently at the sand. 'Thank you for bringing me here, Selmak,' Sam said softly, knowing she would miss this beautiful space most of all.
Warmth and affection welled up inside Sam's mind. 'You are most welcome, duruninang.'
Sam couldn't help but smile at the endearment.
* * *
A few hours later, Sam carefully entered the supplied gate address and stepped through the wormhole to find a desolate, dead world. It was nothing like the starkly beautiful desert they had just left behind them. This was not simply a harsh environment, but a decimated land.
Sam's chest burned with the horror of it.
A few steps from the gate a severe black sculpture stood in the charred earth.
Selmak propelled them a few steps towards the object. 'It is the mark of obliteration,' she explained, 'left behind by the Goa'uld as warning. This planet has been made uninhabitable as punishment to those who once lived here.'
Selmak ran one hand down the edge. She pointed to a bank of writing down the middle. 'This was left by Ra: For harboring traitors.'
'Oh my god,' Sam swore softly. 'Do you think...did he do this because of Egeria's host? To punish her?'
'It is likely,' Selmak observed, releasing control once more. As horrible as it was, it was at least a sign that they were on the right planet. 'This world is probably radioactive, incapable of sustaining life.'
'Are we in danger?' Sam asked.
'No, I can ward off the effects for at least a few days, but not much longer.'
Sam slowly turned in a full circle, taking in the age old destruction around her. What once might have been a sprawling city to the east was nothing more than rubble and even though many millennia had passed, not a single overgrown weed had taken purchase to soften the starkness.
It was hard to reconcile this charred, lifeless landscape with the lush green world in her mind. Just another black mark of death left in the wake of the Goa'uld. Sam tried not to think of the host, what torments she must have suffered those last days, torn from her symbiote, left at the mercy of Ra.
'There is no time for mourning. We can grieve later,' Selmak reminded her firmly.
But Sam wasn't offended. She knew Selmak was affected deeply as she was, but she also understood the need for focus.
"Right," Sam said out loud, getting her emotions under control. She turned to the east where the remains of a city were just visible on the horizon. "So where do we start looking?"
Sam heard the metallic sound of zat opening behind her just a second too late.
* * *
Sam groaned softly as she came to some time later. As much as being zatted was preferable to being shot, she still really hated the nerve-frying sensation produced by the blue energy field. No matter how many times she had been hit, it always seemed to hurt more each time.
In the back of her mind Sam also registered Selmak slowly rousing with a particularly surprising swear word. Sam didn't know what language that was in, but she found she didn't really need a translation.
Pushing aside her amusement at Semak's vast and colorful vocabulary, Sam tried to sit up, only to find her hands bound tightly behind her. Again. This was really beginning to get old.
Before Sam could survey her surroundings a pair of hands came out of nowhere and gently helped her into a sitting position.
Sam looked up and right into her father's face. For the merest moment with the lingering effects of the zat, she could have believed she was looking at her father, his face soft with a gentle look of concern.
The illusion faded quickly and Sam leaned back with a jerk.
"Samantha," Keren said softly. "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you again. I thought I had you lost in that last attack..." He trailed off, shaking his head as if pained by the memory.
"I bet you did," Sam said in a hard voice.
Keren ignored her interruption. "But I see you are not alone," he said, tapping one finger on a device in his hand. He titled his head to one side. "Who do you have in there?"
Sam just stared back at him, her jaw clenched tightly.
Keren sighed at her reticence. "I'd put my money on Selmak," he said with a shrug as if it didn't matter much either way. "I have to say, Samantha, that I am surprised you would have done that...no matter how dire the situation. I know how you feel about blending."
Sam jerked her eyes away from Keren, anger burning in her chest. "You don't know anything about me or how I feel," she said lowly.
Keren smiled sadly. "You forget...I know you better than anyone. I've seen what's inside there," he said, tapping gently on her forehead. "There are very few reasons that would drive you to risk blending. I imagine revenge is one of those."
Sam looked at Keren in surprise and felt the last of her patience with this man's mind games fall away. She was done playing. In the background, Selmak was advising restraint, but Sam pushed her away. "Hate to burst that little bubble of self-importance you've got going there, but I'm not here for revenge. And I couldn't care less about this Holy Grail you are hell bent on finding," Sam said roughly. "I just want my father back."
Keren's eyes widened in surprise. "And how did you plan on accomplishing that?"
Sam lifted her eyes to Keren's, steadily meeting his gaze. If he knew her half as well as he claimed, he should be able to guess. There was a gasp of horrified understanding from Selmak somewhere in the back of her mind. This was something Sam had hid so deeply in herself that the Tok'ra hadn't even been aware of it. Sam's last ditch plan.
"You wouldn't," Keren eventually said in awe.
"A fair trade," Sam shot back. "My father for me."
Keren stepped back from Sam, his face betraying confusion and something more. Was that admiration for how far Sam was willing to go? He studied her for what seemed like an eternity, Sam's heart in her throat as she waited.
"That's very...tempting, Samantha," Keren said carefully. "But you needn't make such a sacrifice. This is all almost over. And then we can all move forward into a better galaxy, free of the Goa'uld."
Sam was surprised by the enormous wave of relief that crashed over her at his words. She felt her fingers trembling behind her back and she reminded herself that she still needed to find a way to save her father.
'I would have done it,' Sam said quickly, needing Selmak to understand that.
'I know,' Selmak assured her.
Keren had moved a few steps away from them and Sam took a moment to look around. They were in what once had been a town square of sorts. Sam was propped up against a stone bench to one side. At the center of the plaza was a monumental statue. The large human figure was missing it head and arms, but a large stone base was intact at the bottom and Keren had it surrounded with all sorts of equipment.
Keren followed Sam's gaze up to the statue. "Impressive, isn't it? I think it may be a representation of Diancecht. Ancient god of healing who was most notably known for killing giant serpents. Seems fitting, somehow, doesn't it?"
His wry smile turned serious. "It took me quite a while of searching to find it, the radiation on this planet interfered with my equipment. But I eventually detected a weak power reading. Of course, once I figured it out, the power had mostly been drained." He shrugged congenially. "Too bad you didn't get here earlier. You could have helped me with the power drain." He looked at her thoughtfully. "Or maybe you wouldn't have."
Sam just raised a sardonic eyebrow at him in confirmation.
He sighed rather wistfully at Sam. "I know you probably don't believe me, but I am very relieved that you survived and that Selmak was able to repair any injury you suffered. I am glad that you, of all people, are here to share this with me. The beginning of a new age."
Sam couldn't help but notice that the man sounded positively lonely. But Sam squashed down any soft feelings. If he was lonely, he had no one to blame but himself.
Keren kept chatting almost absently at her, filling her in on all his theories about what the monument might hold and the meaning of the pendant.
Sam listened with half an ear as she tugged at her restraints and watched Keren fiddle with various machines. Two hours later, Sam wasn't any closer to freedom, but the statue in front of her did suddenly fill the square with a low humming sound as it powered up.
Keren glanced over at her, excitement lighting up his face.
But Sam felt nothing but trepidation.
With a grinding sound the front of the pedestal slowly folded open, revealing an incongruously complex interface.
'This appears to be technology beyond the inhabitants of this planet,' Selmak noted.
'Do you think this is really it?' Sam asked breathlessly, hating that she had to just sit here helplessly as events unfolded around her. 'Egeria's Legacy?'
'Perhaps,' Selmak replied, excitement and anxiety mingling in her voice.
Keren gingerly approached the interface. He pressed an unseen button and a projected screen appeared. Sam craned her neck, trying to see what he was doing, but it was just out of her line of sight.
"It looks like a data storage unit," Keren remarked absently, poking out a few more commands. "Many of the files are in the same language as the pendant." He ran his hands over the monument, his face creased in concentration. "But there is a small recess here...it looks like..."
Keren trailed off and for once Sam wished he would keep talking. "What?" she demanded, unable to stop herself.
Keren just shook his head and began digging through a bag at the base of the statue. After a minute or so he made a sound of triumph and pulled out his hand. Dangling from his fingers was Egeria's pendant.
"I knew the necklace had to have more to it than just a location!" he exclaimed. The next thing Sam knew, he had pulled out a knife and was attempting to pry the stone out of the necklace.
'It's a memory crystal?' Sam said incredulously.
But Semak didn't answer, she was too intent on the developing situation and her own wonder that she might be sitting on a site that Egeria had once stood upon.
Keren successfully removed the stone and carefully placed it on the interface. The crystal clicked into place and he stepped back expectantly.
The soft humming grew louder and an image of a woman slowly appeared projected a few feet above the platform. The woman was slightly obscured by static, but there was no mistaking the ginger hair and youthful face from Sam's vision.
"Egeria," Keren breathed in awe, also recognizing the figure.
The image began to speak, but the words were those of the host, spoken in a lilting language. Judging by the confused look on Keren's face, he didn't understand it any more than Sam.
After a few minutes, the floating figure dropped her head and when she raised it once more, her voice was low and symphonic and she spoke in Goa'uld.
Selmak quietly translated for Sam, her voice shaky with awe and wonder at hearing her Queen's words.
"I am Egeria, a Goa'uld Queen. I have great hope that whoever finds this will have never heard of the Goa'uld, that we have finally been obliterated from this Galaxy and are now little more than tales told to frighten children. But I fear that this may not be so.
"The Goa'uld are a violent scourge, destined to enslave and torture for the sake of power and greed. This is the legacy into which I was born. An existence of false godhood and misplaced faith. Of horror and death.
"I know in my heart that one day they will fall, but I have come to accept that I will not live to see this day. My enemies move ever closer. And so I have spent my last days on the planet Danu, home to my host, my partner, Derdriu. I have left with her people my final work. My own legacy.
"For my children, if they should survive. For the enslaved of this galaxy, so they might have hope. For others like me, who may find the same light of truth that has guided my path. I leave, as my legacy, the greatest, most powerful gift I can offer:
"My story.
"Let it be known that though I was born to violence and greed, I have rejected them. Let it be remembered that a Goa'uld can be more than master, but partner, that the greatest joy and fulfillment may be found in symbiosis, in blending rather than dominating.
"I offer in these annals my story, so that it may remind others to always live with compassion and respect for all other beings. For it is in this *idea* that lies the ultimate power to destroy the Goa'uld.
"Let that never be forgotten."
Egeria's image hovered for one more moment before dissolving, shrouding the plaza in silence once more.
Sam's mind was flooded, Selmak's raw emotions battling with Sam's own amazement. Egeria's legacy was not a weapon. It was an assumption they all had made, but they couldn't have been more wrong. Sam could feel Selmak's desire to hear Egeria's story. It could answer so many questions. What had changed her? How, exactly, had she seeded the rebellion now know as the Tok'ra? Such a gift could surely breathe new life into the depleted race. Into a war they seemed doomed to lose.
Sudden movement brought Sam's wandering attention back to Keren and the threat at hand. He was pacing back and forth like a caged animal, the crackling energy of his disbelief radiating off of him.
It isn't what it seems.
Part of Sam reveled in his discomfort, wanted to shout that he was a disgrace to the name Tok'ra. To point out that Egeria would be appalled by what he had done in her name. Wanted to ask if his means had really justified this prize.
But Sam also knew, somewhere deep inside, that Egeria would have had the capacity to forgive.
Compassion.
It was easier to hate. But Sam imagined that was kind of the point.
Sam looked at Keren and tried to forgive him his shortsightedness, his careless embracing of the easy path. Tried to see him as someone to pity.
But she couldn't. She hated him for hurting people simply because he'd honestly thought the ends would justify the means. He was a coward, searching for a quick solution to this endless fight with the Goa'uld. And that wasn't something she could excuse.
So maybe she had about as much to learn about compassion as Keren did.
'It's time to forgive, Samantha,' Selmak softly observed, her own emotions boiling dangerously close to the surface.
'After what he's done?' Sam exclaimed. 'You've got to be kidding!'
'I'm not talking about him,' Selmak responded gently.
Selmak's words instantly doused the fury in Sam's chest, sending cold fingers of awareness crawling down her spine. Images flooded her brain. Blood on her tongue, close impact of bullets, gravel under her palms.
'It's time to forgive yourself.'
Sam shook her head, forcing her concentration on Keren who had finally stopped pacing and dropped to the ground on his knees.
'Let it go, Samantha, just let it go....'
Sam stared hard at the floor, feeling something undeniable welling up in her chest. She desperately wished to have her mind to herself once more. To be left alone. But Selmak was there, making her face things that were better off ignored. 'Please, Selmak,' she plead desperately.
But Selmak would not relent. 'It's time to stop running.'
Something broke inside Sam at that moment and she felt her head lift to face Keren. She took a deep breath and forced herself to really look at him.
His face, so achingly familiar, was unnaturally pale. He swayed slightly as if in complete shock. And in that moment, for the merest second, Sam could no longer see her tormentor or her enslaved father. All she could see was a man whose whole world had crumbled around him as each damning word left Egeria's lips.
Keren had been a man who believed. And now he drifted perilously. Sam knew there was nothing she could say or do to him to punish him any more than he was already suffering.
Sam began to speak, not even knowing the words until they tripped off her tongue
"I wanted to die," Sam said without preamble.
Keren's head whipped up and he looked at her in confusion, as if he had forgotten she was even there.
"It was one of Anubis' super soldiers," she expanded slowly. "He'd chased me for an eternity. But when he finally caught up with me, when there was no more room for escape...I was glad. Actually *glad* that he was there to end it. I was so tired. Tired of near-deaths and close shaves and pulling a solution out at the last minute. So I wanted to die. Because it would be easier."
Keren blinked slowly at her and breathed heavily as if he was having trouble getting enough air, but she knew he was listening, his eyes intent on her as if she was his lifeline.
"Of course," Sam continued, "my friends saved me last minute and for the merest moment, I almost hated them for it. So I tried to quit. Because this war is hard and endless and requires so much sacrifice. And I didn't want to do it anymore. I convinced myself I was protecting people by leaving, but I was just running away.
"And I would be still, if it weren't for you. I'd be sitting in my house right now, trying to pretend that it didn't matter that I had quit, that I had walked away from people who needed me. Trying to ignore that I'd put my own selfish fears above everything else. Because it was easier to believe the lies.
"But out here I've learned that there are no magic shortcuts. No easy paths that can be justified with empty words and mindless beliefs."
Sam dropped her head for a moment, trying to hold back the wild tide of emotions running through her. She looked back up into Keren's hungry eyes and forced herself to continue.
"We've both done so many stupid and harmful things, Keren. But we both still have the chance to change that. To do what's right, not because it's easy or quick, but because it's hard and painful and maybe even endless, but it is right. And that's reason enough."
Sam registered the feel of tears on her cheeks, but she didn't try to hide them, because they were honest. And somehow it seemed long past time for honesty.
Keren pushed back to his feet, tearing his eyes away from her and began pacing once more, but now he seemed resigned where he was once angry. He stopped in front of the monument and ran his fingers carefully over the inscription.
With his back still to her, he said lowly, "He's very proud of you."
He turned to her, his own eyes sparkling with tears, the uncertainly beginning to clear. He tapped his head. "Your father," he clarified.
Sam felt fresh tears welling up in her eyes. She nodded slowly. "Yeah...I'm pretty proud of him, too."
Keren smiled briefly, but it was a hauntingly empty gesture. "He also wonders when you got to be so wise."
Sam shook her head and tried to ignore the deadness of her father's eyes. "I'm not all that wise. But I'm trying."
Keren observed Sam for long moments. "I know it doesn't count for much anymore, but I *am* sorry. I was so sure...," he broke off, his voice faltering. "I only intended good. To be worthy of her gift." He shook his head. "But none of that matters anymore, does it? Because in the end...I became what she despised."
"Keren," Sam said uneasily, fear beginning to blossom in her chest, sensing that he was now at his most dangerous. A believer with nothing left to believe.
Keren ignored Sam. He carefully pulled the blue stone out of the monument and placed it lovingly back in the pendant. Leaning over Sam, he gently placed the necklace around her neck, kissing her softly on the cheek before backing away.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked sharply, trying not to think of the feel of his lips on her skin.
He smiled softly at her. "Don't worry. There's only one more thing left to do." He leaned down and picked up a zat. "Goodbye, Samantha. Selmak."
And then he fired.
* * *
The blinding pain coursing through her synapses was enough to tell Sam that she probably wasn't dead, even if she might have wished it.
There was rough, uneven stone under her cheek and Sam slowly pushed up off the ground, one hand rubbing at her face. Her head cleared slowly as she tried to take stock of her situation. As her sight focused, however, the looming statue of Diancecht swam into view.
Sam's breath caught in her throat and she pushed recklessly to her feet. Selmak hurriedly helped regain their equilibrium. Sam barely had time to register that her hands were no longer bound before she was spinning around, desperately searching for any sign of Keren.
"Keren!" she shouted.
Only the deathly silence of the planet answered her.
'He can't have gotten far,' Selmak offered urgently, pressuring Sam to head for the Stargate.
Sam pushed into motion, her feet pounding the ancient stones and the pendant flapping against her chest, a constant reminder of what had brought them all to this moment.
When Sam finally broke out of the ruins into the open land, the first thing she saw was a body sprawled face down in the mud. Sam stumbled to a stop at its side, falling to her knees and carefully turning over the body.
Blood dribbled down Jacob's chin and Sam desperately pressed her fingers against his throat, almost crying in relief when she felt a steady pulse. She carefully checked his body for injury. It was only after she was thoroughly satisfied that he was fine that her eye was caught by an object less than ten feet away.
There, in the mud, lay the still body of a symbiote.
Sam felt bile rising her throat at the pathetic sight. 'Is he-?' Sam asked incoherently.
'He is dead,' Selmak steadily responded, her own ambivalent feelings securely suppressed.
'Why?' Sam asked unbelievingly, her hand still pressed to her father's steadily beating heart. 'Why would he do that?'
Selmak was quiet for a long time as they stared at the lifeless form. 'Perhaps he lacked the strength to live in the face of his mistakes.'
Sam felt her heart beat painfully in her chest and her entire being focused on the way the mud and gravity sucked at her knees. She imagined being pulled in and drowning in it.
When she thought of him now, all she could remember was his agony and his broken eyes. 'I hope he finds peace,' Sam eventually said, startled to find that she really meant it.
Sam carefully ran one hand over her father's forehead. Then she pushed to her feet, lifted her father's body carefully in her arms and turned away from Keren. With sure, even strides, she walked away from the city and towards the Stargate.
It was time to go home.
Next
Btw, Nos? I think I love you. :)
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 9- Echoes from the Past
Sam was sitting quietly by the cool waters of the billabong when Aroona came to her with a brown packet held carefully in front of her.
"This came through the Great Eye, duruninang."
Sam took the packet from the woman's hands, smiling slightly at her new title of 'daughter' among the Binghi. Since she had emerged from the cave at the heart of the great mountain she was considered one of these people, a daughter to be looked out for. Day by day, she found it easier to appreciate Saroosh's love for the Binghi.
Aroona unobtrusively slipped away, leaving Sam alone with the bulging envelope covered with Daniel's scrawled writing. Something made Sam loathe to open it and she sat silently for a few moments, listening to the cackling calls of birds that no longer seemed quite as foreign as they once had.
'Samantha,' Selmak prompted gently.
Being an ostrich had never been more appealing than at this moment. There were answers here, heavy against her lap. Answers that would lead her to Egeria's Legacy. To Jacob.
But also back to Keren.
Sam took a deep breath and ripped open the missive, spilling photographs and papers onto the soft sand. A long letter from Daniel explained what he had found.
'So Keren got there first,' Selmak noted solemnly.
'But only a few days ago,' Sam said with surprise. 'Shouldn't he be weeks ahead of us?'
'It would have taken him weeks to analyze the massive amount of information he stole from your mind. Add to that his need to find a translator...'
'So there is still a slight chance we can beat him there,' Sam surmised.
'Perhaps.'
Sam picked up the image of the back of the pendant. '17, 4, 28, 33, 9, 21,' she read out from Daniel's notes, noting immediately that there were six numbers. A Stargate address. 'Is it a Tok'ra code?' she asked Selmak hopefully.
'No,' Selmak said slowly, confusion clear in her voice. 'It's not a code, just simply a very old short hand way of relaying gate coordinates. Just like the Stargate, you begin counting at the top position. It is...amazingly simple.'
'Isn't that a good thing?' Sam asked.
Selmak gave a mental shrug. 'It's just strange. As if she made no attempt to hide this address.'
'Like she wanted someone to find it and wasn't too picky as to who that would be,' Sam said in understanding.
'Perhaps, though she did at least use the precaution of not using Goa'uld, instead using the language of her last host, if Dr. Jackson is correct.'
Sam ran her fingers over the photograph. Using a human dialect was hardly an unbreakable code, but it had more than likely kept Ra from understanding what he'd had in his hands all those centuries ago. Sam was beginning to realize that the casual dismissal of 'primitive' cultures by supposedly superior races was simply an arrogant failing. The power to be found in these cultures was undeniable. Like the Binghi's ability to access the subconscious and the suppressed. Or the simple power of a common dialect to hide a potent secret for millennia. Not to mention a long forgotten mythical race standing up to a seemingly immortal enemy. Sam was beginning to see the Galaxy from an entirely new perspective.
Sam picked up a picture of the pendant. 'If this does lead to some sort of super weapon, you'd think she would have been more careful.'
'One would think,' Selmak commented dryly.
Sam sighed. 'Only one way to find out.' She gathered the papers together and pushed to her feet. Somewhere nearby something escaped into the water with a splash. Ripples cascaded across the smooth surface, lapping gently at the sand. 'Thank you for bringing me here, Selmak,' Sam said softly, knowing she would miss this beautiful space most of all.
Warmth and affection welled up inside Sam's mind. 'You are most welcome, duruninang.'
Sam couldn't help but smile at the endearment.
* * *
A few hours later, Sam carefully entered the supplied gate address and stepped through the wormhole to find a desolate, dead world. It was nothing like the starkly beautiful desert they had just left behind them. This was not simply a harsh environment, but a decimated land.
Sam's chest burned with the horror of it.
A few steps from the gate a severe black sculpture stood in the charred earth.
Selmak propelled them a few steps towards the object. 'It is the mark of obliteration,' she explained, 'left behind by the Goa'uld as warning. This planet has been made uninhabitable as punishment to those who once lived here.'
Selmak ran one hand down the edge. She pointed to a bank of writing down the middle. 'This was left by Ra: For harboring traitors.'
'Oh my god,' Sam swore softly. 'Do you think...did he do this because of Egeria's host? To punish her?'
'It is likely,' Selmak observed, releasing control once more. As horrible as it was, it was at least a sign that they were on the right planet. 'This world is probably radioactive, incapable of sustaining life.'
'Are we in danger?' Sam asked.
'No, I can ward off the effects for at least a few days, but not much longer.'
Sam slowly turned in a full circle, taking in the age old destruction around her. What once might have been a sprawling city to the east was nothing more than rubble and even though many millennia had passed, not a single overgrown weed had taken purchase to soften the starkness.
It was hard to reconcile this charred, lifeless landscape with the lush green world in her mind. Just another black mark of death left in the wake of the Goa'uld. Sam tried not to think of the host, what torments she must have suffered those last days, torn from her symbiote, left at the mercy of Ra.
'There is no time for mourning. We can grieve later,' Selmak reminded her firmly.
But Sam wasn't offended. She knew Selmak was affected deeply as she was, but she also understood the need for focus.
"Right," Sam said out loud, getting her emotions under control. She turned to the east where the remains of a city were just visible on the horizon. "So where do we start looking?"
Sam heard the metallic sound of zat opening behind her just a second too late.
* * *
Sam groaned softly as she came to some time later. As much as being zatted was preferable to being shot, she still really hated the nerve-frying sensation produced by the blue energy field. No matter how many times she had been hit, it always seemed to hurt more each time.
In the back of her mind Sam also registered Selmak slowly rousing with a particularly surprising swear word. Sam didn't know what language that was in, but she found she didn't really need a translation.
Pushing aside her amusement at Semak's vast and colorful vocabulary, Sam tried to sit up, only to find her hands bound tightly behind her. Again. This was really beginning to get old.
Before Sam could survey her surroundings a pair of hands came out of nowhere and gently helped her into a sitting position.
Sam looked up and right into her father's face. For the merest moment with the lingering effects of the zat, she could have believed she was looking at her father, his face soft with a gentle look of concern.
The illusion faded quickly and Sam leaned back with a jerk.
"Samantha," Keren said softly. "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you again. I thought I had you lost in that last attack..." He trailed off, shaking his head as if pained by the memory.
"I bet you did," Sam said in a hard voice.
Keren ignored her interruption. "But I see you are not alone," he said, tapping one finger on a device in his hand. He titled his head to one side. "Who do you have in there?"
Sam just stared back at him, her jaw clenched tightly.
Keren sighed at her reticence. "I'd put my money on Selmak," he said with a shrug as if it didn't matter much either way. "I have to say, Samantha, that I am surprised you would have done that...no matter how dire the situation. I know how you feel about blending."
Sam jerked her eyes away from Keren, anger burning in her chest. "You don't know anything about me or how I feel," she said lowly.
Keren smiled sadly. "You forget...I know you better than anyone. I've seen what's inside there," he said, tapping gently on her forehead. "There are very few reasons that would drive you to risk blending. I imagine revenge is one of those."
Sam looked at Keren in surprise and felt the last of her patience with this man's mind games fall away. She was done playing. In the background, Selmak was advising restraint, but Sam pushed her away. "Hate to burst that little bubble of self-importance you've got going there, but I'm not here for revenge. And I couldn't care less about this Holy Grail you are hell bent on finding," Sam said roughly. "I just want my father back."
Keren's eyes widened in surprise. "And how did you plan on accomplishing that?"
Sam lifted her eyes to Keren's, steadily meeting his gaze. If he knew her half as well as he claimed, he should be able to guess. There was a gasp of horrified understanding from Selmak somewhere in the back of her mind. This was something Sam had hid so deeply in herself that the Tok'ra hadn't even been aware of it. Sam's last ditch plan.
"You wouldn't," Keren eventually said in awe.
"A fair trade," Sam shot back. "My father for me."
Keren stepped back from Sam, his face betraying confusion and something more. Was that admiration for how far Sam was willing to go? He studied her for what seemed like an eternity, Sam's heart in her throat as she waited.
"That's very...tempting, Samantha," Keren said carefully. "But you needn't make such a sacrifice. This is all almost over. And then we can all move forward into a better galaxy, free of the Goa'uld."
Sam was surprised by the enormous wave of relief that crashed over her at his words. She felt her fingers trembling behind her back and she reminded herself that she still needed to find a way to save her father.
'I would have done it,' Sam said quickly, needing Selmak to understand that.
'I know,' Selmak assured her.
Keren had moved a few steps away from them and Sam took a moment to look around. They were in what once had been a town square of sorts. Sam was propped up against a stone bench to one side. At the center of the plaza was a monumental statue. The large human figure was missing it head and arms, but a large stone base was intact at the bottom and Keren had it surrounded with all sorts of equipment.
Keren followed Sam's gaze up to the statue. "Impressive, isn't it? I think it may be a representation of Diancecht. Ancient god of healing who was most notably known for killing giant serpents. Seems fitting, somehow, doesn't it?"
His wry smile turned serious. "It took me quite a while of searching to find it, the radiation on this planet interfered with my equipment. But I eventually detected a weak power reading. Of course, once I figured it out, the power had mostly been drained." He shrugged congenially. "Too bad you didn't get here earlier. You could have helped me with the power drain." He looked at her thoughtfully. "Or maybe you wouldn't have."
Sam just raised a sardonic eyebrow at him in confirmation.
He sighed rather wistfully at Sam. "I know you probably don't believe me, but I am very relieved that you survived and that Selmak was able to repair any injury you suffered. I am glad that you, of all people, are here to share this with me. The beginning of a new age."
Sam couldn't help but notice that the man sounded positively lonely. But Sam squashed down any soft feelings. If he was lonely, he had no one to blame but himself.
Keren kept chatting almost absently at her, filling her in on all his theories about what the monument might hold and the meaning of the pendant.
Sam listened with half an ear as she tugged at her restraints and watched Keren fiddle with various machines. Two hours later, Sam wasn't any closer to freedom, but the statue in front of her did suddenly fill the square with a low humming sound as it powered up.
Keren glanced over at her, excitement lighting up his face.
But Sam felt nothing but trepidation.
With a grinding sound the front of the pedestal slowly folded open, revealing an incongruously complex interface.
'This appears to be technology beyond the inhabitants of this planet,' Selmak noted.
'Do you think this is really it?' Sam asked breathlessly, hating that she had to just sit here helplessly as events unfolded around her. 'Egeria's Legacy?'
'Perhaps,' Selmak replied, excitement and anxiety mingling in her voice.
Keren gingerly approached the interface. He pressed an unseen button and a projected screen appeared. Sam craned her neck, trying to see what he was doing, but it was just out of her line of sight.
"It looks like a data storage unit," Keren remarked absently, poking out a few more commands. "Many of the files are in the same language as the pendant." He ran his hands over the monument, his face creased in concentration. "But there is a small recess here...it looks like..."
Keren trailed off and for once Sam wished he would keep talking. "What?" she demanded, unable to stop herself.
Keren just shook his head and began digging through a bag at the base of the statue. After a minute or so he made a sound of triumph and pulled out his hand. Dangling from his fingers was Egeria's pendant.
"I knew the necklace had to have more to it than just a location!" he exclaimed. The next thing Sam knew, he had pulled out a knife and was attempting to pry the stone out of the necklace.
'It's a memory crystal?' Sam said incredulously.
But Semak didn't answer, she was too intent on the developing situation and her own wonder that she might be sitting on a site that Egeria had once stood upon.
Keren successfully removed the stone and carefully placed it on the interface. The crystal clicked into place and he stepped back expectantly.
The soft humming grew louder and an image of a woman slowly appeared projected a few feet above the platform. The woman was slightly obscured by static, but there was no mistaking the ginger hair and youthful face from Sam's vision.
"Egeria," Keren breathed in awe, also recognizing the figure.
The image began to speak, but the words were those of the host, spoken in a lilting language. Judging by the confused look on Keren's face, he didn't understand it any more than Sam.
After a few minutes, the floating figure dropped her head and when she raised it once more, her voice was low and symphonic and she spoke in Goa'uld.
Selmak quietly translated for Sam, her voice shaky with awe and wonder at hearing her Queen's words.
"I am Egeria, a Goa'uld Queen. I have great hope that whoever finds this will have never heard of the Goa'uld, that we have finally been obliterated from this Galaxy and are now little more than tales told to frighten children. But I fear that this may not be so.
"The Goa'uld are a violent scourge, destined to enslave and torture for the sake of power and greed. This is the legacy into which I was born. An existence of false godhood and misplaced faith. Of horror and death.
"I know in my heart that one day they will fall, but I have come to accept that I will not live to see this day. My enemies move ever closer. And so I have spent my last days on the planet Danu, home to my host, my partner, Derdriu. I have left with her people my final work. My own legacy.
"For my children, if they should survive. For the enslaved of this galaxy, so they might have hope. For others like me, who may find the same light of truth that has guided my path. I leave, as my legacy, the greatest, most powerful gift I can offer:
"My story.
"Let it be known that though I was born to violence and greed, I have rejected them. Let it be remembered that a Goa'uld can be more than master, but partner, that the greatest joy and fulfillment may be found in symbiosis, in blending rather than dominating.
"I offer in these annals my story, so that it may remind others to always live with compassion and respect for all other beings. For it is in this *idea* that lies the ultimate power to destroy the Goa'uld.
"Let that never be forgotten."
Egeria's image hovered for one more moment before dissolving, shrouding the plaza in silence once more.
Sam's mind was flooded, Selmak's raw emotions battling with Sam's own amazement. Egeria's legacy was not a weapon. It was an assumption they all had made, but they couldn't have been more wrong. Sam could feel Selmak's desire to hear Egeria's story. It could answer so many questions. What had changed her? How, exactly, had she seeded the rebellion now know as the Tok'ra? Such a gift could surely breathe new life into the depleted race. Into a war they seemed doomed to lose.
Sudden movement brought Sam's wandering attention back to Keren and the threat at hand. He was pacing back and forth like a caged animal, the crackling energy of his disbelief radiating off of him.
It isn't what it seems.
Part of Sam reveled in his discomfort, wanted to shout that he was a disgrace to the name Tok'ra. To point out that Egeria would be appalled by what he had done in her name. Wanted to ask if his means had really justified this prize.
But Sam also knew, somewhere deep inside, that Egeria would have had the capacity to forgive.
Compassion.
It was easier to hate. But Sam imagined that was kind of the point.
Sam looked at Keren and tried to forgive him his shortsightedness, his careless embracing of the easy path. Tried to see him as someone to pity.
But she couldn't. She hated him for hurting people simply because he'd honestly thought the ends would justify the means. He was a coward, searching for a quick solution to this endless fight with the Goa'uld. And that wasn't something she could excuse.
So maybe she had about as much to learn about compassion as Keren did.
'It's time to forgive, Samantha,' Selmak softly observed, her own emotions boiling dangerously close to the surface.
'After what he's done?' Sam exclaimed. 'You've got to be kidding!'
'I'm not talking about him,' Selmak responded gently.
Selmak's words instantly doused the fury in Sam's chest, sending cold fingers of awareness crawling down her spine. Images flooded her brain. Blood on her tongue, close impact of bullets, gravel under her palms.
'It's time to forgive yourself.'
Sam shook her head, forcing her concentration on Keren who had finally stopped pacing and dropped to the ground on his knees.
'Let it go, Samantha, just let it go....'
Sam stared hard at the floor, feeling something undeniable welling up in her chest. She desperately wished to have her mind to herself once more. To be left alone. But Selmak was there, making her face things that were better off ignored. 'Please, Selmak,' she plead desperately.
But Selmak would not relent. 'It's time to stop running.'
Something broke inside Sam at that moment and she felt her head lift to face Keren. She took a deep breath and forced herself to really look at him.
His face, so achingly familiar, was unnaturally pale. He swayed slightly as if in complete shock. And in that moment, for the merest second, Sam could no longer see her tormentor or her enslaved father. All she could see was a man whose whole world had crumbled around him as each damning word left Egeria's lips.
Keren had been a man who believed. And now he drifted perilously. Sam knew there was nothing she could say or do to him to punish him any more than he was already suffering.
Sam began to speak, not even knowing the words until they tripped off her tongue
"I wanted to die," Sam said without preamble.
Keren's head whipped up and he looked at her in confusion, as if he had forgotten she was even there.
"It was one of Anubis' super soldiers," she expanded slowly. "He'd chased me for an eternity. But when he finally caught up with me, when there was no more room for escape...I was glad. Actually *glad* that he was there to end it. I was so tired. Tired of near-deaths and close shaves and pulling a solution out at the last minute. So I wanted to die. Because it would be easier."
Keren blinked slowly at her and breathed heavily as if he was having trouble getting enough air, but she knew he was listening, his eyes intent on her as if she was his lifeline.
"Of course," Sam continued, "my friends saved me last minute and for the merest moment, I almost hated them for it. So I tried to quit. Because this war is hard and endless and requires so much sacrifice. And I didn't want to do it anymore. I convinced myself I was protecting people by leaving, but I was just running away.
"And I would be still, if it weren't for you. I'd be sitting in my house right now, trying to pretend that it didn't matter that I had quit, that I had walked away from people who needed me. Trying to ignore that I'd put my own selfish fears above everything else. Because it was easier to believe the lies.
"But out here I've learned that there are no magic shortcuts. No easy paths that can be justified with empty words and mindless beliefs."
Sam dropped her head for a moment, trying to hold back the wild tide of emotions running through her. She looked back up into Keren's hungry eyes and forced herself to continue.
"We've both done so many stupid and harmful things, Keren. But we both still have the chance to change that. To do what's right, not because it's easy or quick, but because it's hard and painful and maybe even endless, but it is right. And that's reason enough."
Sam registered the feel of tears on her cheeks, but she didn't try to hide them, because they were honest. And somehow it seemed long past time for honesty.
Keren pushed back to his feet, tearing his eyes away from her and began pacing once more, but now he seemed resigned where he was once angry. He stopped in front of the monument and ran his fingers carefully over the inscription.
With his back still to her, he said lowly, "He's very proud of you."
He turned to her, his own eyes sparkling with tears, the uncertainly beginning to clear. He tapped his head. "Your father," he clarified.
Sam felt fresh tears welling up in her eyes. She nodded slowly. "Yeah...I'm pretty proud of him, too."
Keren smiled briefly, but it was a hauntingly empty gesture. "He also wonders when you got to be so wise."
Sam shook her head and tried to ignore the deadness of her father's eyes. "I'm not all that wise. But I'm trying."
Keren observed Sam for long moments. "I know it doesn't count for much anymore, but I *am* sorry. I was so sure...," he broke off, his voice faltering. "I only intended good. To be worthy of her gift." He shook his head. "But none of that matters anymore, does it? Because in the end...I became what she despised."
"Keren," Sam said uneasily, fear beginning to blossom in her chest, sensing that he was now at his most dangerous. A believer with nothing left to believe.
Keren ignored Sam. He carefully pulled the blue stone out of the monument and placed it lovingly back in the pendant. Leaning over Sam, he gently placed the necklace around her neck, kissing her softly on the cheek before backing away.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked sharply, trying not to think of the feel of his lips on her skin.
He smiled softly at her. "Don't worry. There's only one more thing left to do." He leaned down and picked up a zat. "Goodbye, Samantha. Selmak."
And then he fired.
* * *
The blinding pain coursing through her synapses was enough to tell Sam that she probably wasn't dead, even if she might have wished it.
There was rough, uneven stone under her cheek and Sam slowly pushed up off the ground, one hand rubbing at her face. Her head cleared slowly as she tried to take stock of her situation. As her sight focused, however, the looming statue of Diancecht swam into view.
Sam's breath caught in her throat and she pushed recklessly to her feet. Selmak hurriedly helped regain their equilibrium. Sam barely had time to register that her hands were no longer bound before she was spinning around, desperately searching for any sign of Keren.
"Keren!" she shouted.
Only the deathly silence of the planet answered her.
'He can't have gotten far,' Selmak offered urgently, pressuring Sam to head for the Stargate.
Sam pushed into motion, her feet pounding the ancient stones and the pendant flapping against her chest, a constant reminder of what had brought them all to this moment.
When Sam finally broke out of the ruins into the open land, the first thing she saw was a body sprawled face down in the mud. Sam stumbled to a stop at its side, falling to her knees and carefully turning over the body.
Blood dribbled down Jacob's chin and Sam desperately pressed her fingers against his throat, almost crying in relief when she felt a steady pulse. She carefully checked his body for injury. It was only after she was thoroughly satisfied that he was fine that her eye was caught by an object less than ten feet away.
There, in the mud, lay the still body of a symbiote.
Sam felt bile rising her throat at the pathetic sight. 'Is he-?' Sam asked incoherently.
'He is dead,' Selmak steadily responded, her own ambivalent feelings securely suppressed.
'Why?' Sam asked unbelievingly, her hand still pressed to her father's steadily beating heart. 'Why would he do that?'
Selmak was quiet for a long time as they stared at the lifeless form. 'Perhaps he lacked the strength to live in the face of his mistakes.'
Sam felt her heart beat painfully in her chest and her entire being focused on the way the mud and gravity sucked at her knees. She imagined being pulled in and drowning in it.
When she thought of him now, all she could remember was his agony and his broken eyes. 'I hope he finds peace,' Sam eventually said, startled to find that she really meant it.
Sam carefully ran one hand over her father's forehead. Then she pushed to her feet, lifted her father's body carefully in her arms and turned away from Keren. With sure, even strides, she walked away from the city and towards the Stargate.
It was time to go home.
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