Moments: Teal'c's Dilemma, a stargate: sg-1 fanfic

Title: Moments Series – Teal'c's Dilemma

Author: Su Freund

Website: www ficwithfins com (insert . instead of spaces in the address)

Category: PoV, Episode Tag

Content Warnings: None

Pairings: None (but a fleeting reference to Jack and Sam)

Season: 8

Spoilers: Threads

Rating: G

Summary: What Teal'c is thinking as his life reaches a pivotal moment of decision

Sequel/Series Info: Drabble series of PoVs based on a moment from an episode

Status: Complete

Archive: My site, Jack and Sam's Pad, Jackfic, SJD

Author's Note: Called a drabble ficlet because each individual paragraph is 100 words long. This series is not necessarily written or appearing in episode order so does not follow a particular sequence - except my whim in writing them.

Teal'c's Dilemma

Bra'tac is correct; my proper place is with my people. I did indeed join the Tauri to free the Jaffa from the yoke of Goa'uld tyranny and that task is all but done. Now we need to unite my people as one. We have fought each other on behalf of false gods for long enough and we must fight each other no more. Bra'tac is wise, and this wisdom is required by our new council, but what of me? I am of my people and yet no longer of them. I have grown accustomed to the Tauri and their ways.

My friends, what of them? They taught me the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and fighting for a just cause. The like has been rare in my long life. There were no just causes, merely the ability to minimise the damage wrought by those who would call themselves gods who, in turn, paid for loyalty with deceit and a life of slavery; demons who took away our option to be free. The bond I have with my Jaffa warrior brothers could not be closer than that which I have forged over these years with my Tauri ones. We are one.

They showed me what it is to be human. My ancestors were bred from these people to act as wombs for the children of evil and to fight and die for an inglorious goal. For all their often petty and peculiar foibles, my Tauri friends are truly honorable and courageous people, willing to fight against impossible odds for their world and freedom, and also that of peoples they barely know. They fight with ingenuity and cunning, obstinacy and daring, ruthlessness and compassion. It is what the Tauri themselves might call a heady mix; an iron fist in a velvet glove.

O'Neill is like kin to me; more than kin. He has forever been on my side as well as by it. It was he above any other who sealed my fate. I saw something in him that made me turn on my masters, and abandon my family. I saw a future of freedom for my people and believed that O'Neill was the key. I have never regretted my actions that day and have been proved right on this day, and many times over. He is a fellow warrior and a man who I am proud to consider a true brother.

But he is more than just a man whose lead is worth following and who is deserving of respect. He has been a friend to me and one I admire and have no wish to either lose or abandon. Right from the start he was there for me, had faith and trust even though I was once his enemy. And since that first day he has stood by me despite both my failings and sins. That is worth a great deal and something I could willingly fight and die for. He taught me to smile, laugh, cry and be human.

Over the years I have come to admire and respect Colonel Carter too. She is not yet the leader that O'Neill is, although maybe one day she will become one, nevertheless I would follow and protect her. He trusts, honors and, I believe, even loves her, as do I, in my own way. O'Neill is rarely wrong about these things and in him I have faith above all. My friend, Colonel Carter, is a woman of great intellect, and a good warrior, who has saved us many times over, so who am I to argue, as O'Neill himself might say?

Then there is Daniel Jackson, whose wife was taken as a host because of me and, ultimately killed by me. Despite that, he has proved himself a true comrade whose capacity for forgiveness seems to know no bounds. He is a man of peace who fights a war from necessity and fights it well, and with goodness in his heart. Although he is not a warrior, he would fight and die for his friends, and has proved this beyond doubt with both actions and words. He persisted, although the original reasons for it were gone, and perhaps I should too.

O'Neill brought together this disparate group of individuals and forged them into a whole. We have worked together and played together, each of them well, and all those moments have made me a better person and the man I am today. I will be forever in their debt. How can I repay that debt by abandoning them now? There will be other enemies to fight, other lessons to learn, and I will be diminished by not fighting and learning right alongside them. They would understand my motives but be hurt and saddened, which would be painful. I would miss them.

My Jaffa brothers also have expectations of me. They too would be distressed by my abandonment of my own people. Bra'tac is also a good friend and I have no wish to disappoint him, and what of Ry'ac? This is indeed a dilemma and one which requires more detailed consideration. Perhaps I should voice these doubts to Bra'tac, and O'Neill, but I am uncertain that I could find the right words. I might wound them deeply. So I will keep these thoughts to myself and cross that bridge when it comes to it, as O'Neill would say. Anything could happen.

The End