Disclaimer: I own none of the basic concepts of either Stargate SG1, or anything else. However all original characters do belong to me as does the basic plot for this story.

"The man who is constantly in fear is every day condemned. " - Syrus

Chapter Two - A posteriori *

Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain

"Ah home sweet home!" O'Neill stepped lightly down the ramp followed by Teal'c and Sam Carter and a minute or so later, also by Daniel Jackson.

"Welcome back SG1. I take it that all went well and that there is hopefully one less System Lord to worry about?" General George Hammond, currently in command of Stargate Command stood at the bottom of the stairs. He nodded at the surrounding guard to stand down.

Jack hesitated slightly, a fact which did not go unnoticed by the General who raised one eyebrow in query. "Colonel?"

"Ah yes sir." Jack smiled brightly at the General. " As far as we believe the System Lord known as Cronus is now dead, deceased and defunct. I assume that SG7 brought the remains back with them?"

As usual their Commanding Officer gave nothing away in his expression. "They brought back a body bag Colonel, which I thought was rather unusual, but I am still awaiting their debrief. I thought under the circumstances that I would debrief you and SG7 together. The contents of the body bag are currently being examined by Dr Frasier. Hopefully we will also have her input by the time we hold the debriefing which will be at 1800 hours sharp. I will expect a full explanation then. Until that time you are dismissed to clean up and get something to eat." He included the whole team in his last order, nodded and headed back up to his office near the gate control room.

"Oh for a nice long shower and perhaps some leave to go fishing. There's got to be some reward for a hard day's Goa'uld bashing don't you think?" Jack's blissful tones floated back to them all as he ambled out of the Gateroom and headed along the corridor to the living quarters of the base.

Sam grinned to herself as she followed him out and Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Only Daniel didn't react to Jack's usual fairly mindless repartee.

In fact he hadn't spoken at all since returning, something which had not gone unnoticed by Teal'c who resolved to speak with him later. Usually he was babbling incoherently to anyone who would listen about some item or event of archaeological or linguistic interest that had happened during their mission and this time plenty had happened including teaming up with their android other halves manufactured by Harlan on the planet Altair.

During their mission Daniel Jackson's android double had been executed by Cronus and that act had signalled the end of him as his reaction had been sufficiently shocked enough to convince the fighters of Juna that he was a false god. A real god would be omniscient and would have known that the Daniel Jackson in front of him was just an android. Jackson had been shocked by the fact that his double had been summarily beheaded, Teal'c had seen how quiet and yet how determined he had been to see Cronus fall. Perhaps he was still suffering from some form of shock and needed to speak of it..

For himself Teal'c felt less than satisfied. Deep inside he felt that his rejoicing in the death of his mortal enemy and the avenging of his father's murder was premature, yet he had seen the killing blow. He had seen Cronus fall with two fatal staff weapon blasts in his host's body.

Rationality stated that he must be dead, so why did Teal'c feel so uncertain?

The fact was that almost anything could have happened to a still living symbiote after they carried the body down to be flung in front of the pyramid for the villagers to see that their god was not immortal.

Was it at all possible that Cronus had survived the two blasts? And if so, where was he now?

He wanted to believe that the symbiote was dead and was hopeful that Dr Frasier would be able to confirm this fact. In the meantime he too would shower and then perform Kelno'reem until the debriefing time. That would hopefully calm him and allay some of his fears.

ooOoo

Daniel Jackson also had a shower, but Jack was making so much noise in the shower heads along with members of SG4 who had also just returned from a mission, that he hardly noticed how quiet the young scientist was. Daniel himself was too preoccupied to noticed the Jaffa's penetrating gaze on him as he slowly lathered, rinsed, dried and then dressed himself.

After showering Daniel grabbed a large cup of coffee and headed back to his office cum laboratory. He also needed quiet to try and gather together his scattered thoughts about the last couple of days.

He sat at his desk and brought up his latest research into some tablets that they had found on a planet which had long been abandoned by both the original inhabitants and the Goa'uld, but he found it impossible to concentrate. He nervously kept up a rapid tattoo of rapping on the desk with his pencil and his thoughts kept straying to those last few seconds before he stepped through the Juna gate to return to SGC.

One visual kept intruding constantly however and finally he opened a drawing tablet, took up his pencil and feverishly began to draw.

ooOoo

The Briefing Room, SGC, 1800 hours Zulu

"Let's hear your findings on the remains Dr Frasier." General Hammond poured himself out a cup of coffee from the pot and eased himself in his chair at the head of the large conference table. They had just sat through the in depth reports from both SG1 and SG7.

General Hammond had already received the written reports from both team commanders and had assessed from that information what kind of follow on assistance they could offer to the people of Juna. A team had probably already been briefed and were waiting embarkation even as the formal briefing was being held.

Petite dark haired and sweet faced Dr Janet Frasier smiled and opened a folder which contained the autopsy report on the remains of the Goa'uld System Lord Cronus and his host.

"Certainly sir. As you all know, the Goa'uld and the Tok'ra both secrete Naquadah naturally. It is because of the presence of the mineral in the bloodstream that they can use certain technology and they also secrete it into the bloodstream of their hosts for that reason. Therefore on microscopic examination I would expect to see large amounts of the mineral from the samples took from the remains. This would indicate both that the human form was indeed a host to a Goa'uld and would also indicate the presence of the symbiote which we also know is usually absorbed back into the body of the host upon death."

Janet Frasier stopped for a moment and hid a smile at the sight of the Colonel's eyes glazing over as he ripped little bits from the rim of the Styrofoam cup in front of him and methodically stuffed them down into the remainder of the cup. When it came to scientific things he had the attention span of a goldfish.

She realised from the slightly impatient look on his face that the General also wanted to hear the short version and decided to have mercy on them. "On examination I found sufficient amounts in the remains to indicate that the symbiote most probably was absorbed into the host when they both died and I have concluded that this is why the symbiote wasn't detected. I find it extremely unlikely that the symbiote could have survived those injuries, even protected as it was inside the body." She finished her summary and smiled brightly at everyone around the table.

"So he is dead then." The General persisted.

"That would be my findings were this to go on an official death certificate." Janet confirmed

The General sat back in his seat. "Well then ladies and gentlemen, let me congratulate you on a job well done. Not to mention the fact that we have a System Lord Mothership all of our own now thanks to the efforts of SG1 and the Harlan's androids. All that remains is for me to send a welfare team through with doctors and counsellors to offer some assistance to the people of Juna to help them get back on their feet. I will also strongly advise that once we have given them whatever help they need or want, that they should bury their Stargate. Of course this will not help them if another Goa'uld decides to send a ship in, but it's the best we can do under the circumstances. SG3 are standing by to head through the gate as we speak."

He rose to his feet and went to the large windows that looked out over the Gateroom. The other members of the briefing joined him as they heard the usual grinding noise of the Stargate being dialled out.

"Chevron two encoded....chevron three encoded.....chevron four encoded........." The technician controlling the gate dialling computer's voice echoed monotonously over the tannoy system.

Down below Daniel could see the members of SG3 busily checking the equipment and that of the medical team which also included counsellors. They had a tracked vehicle packed high with supplies and medical equipment.

"Chevron five encoded......"

The gate clunked as the chevron locked into place and lit up before it revolved around to the next Chevron number six. After this the gate would encode chevron seven which would then lock and signal that the wormhole had been established.

"Chevron six encoded...." The gate moved slowly around and the chevron clicked into the seventh symbol, but did not light up. Instead there was a dull clanking sound and the gate remained still. No lighting up of the seventh chevron, no smooth encoding and no whoosh to indicate an open wormhole.

Even from where he was standing Daniel could see the consternation on Walter Harriman's face as he stoically instructed the computer to dial each chevron again. The waiting team were looking up at the control room with confused expressions. The chevrons ground around once more and again refused to lock on the seventh symbol. By this time Walter had been joined by Sam Carter who was now sitting at another computer busy running a gate diagnostic program. The General stood behind her obviously asking what was going on, a question that neither she nor Walter had any answer for judging by their concerned expressions.

"Well now...I guess the briefing is over." Jack got up to his feet. As senior officer present he had decided to formally end the briefing. "Dismissed. Go get some sleep or whatever."

He nodded at the remaining personnel as they left the room with alacrity and headed down to the Gate control room followed by Daniel and Teal'c.

"Have we dialled the right symbols?" Even as he asked the question Hammond knew that it was a futile one.

Carter answered him anyway. "Yes sir, those are the symbols for the Juna gate. I can't understand why we can't get a lock, the gate was fine when we came through from there only six hours ago."

"Is it possible that they've buried the gate themselves?"

"I suppose it's possible, but we did say that we would send supplies and a medical team back before we left. We spoke to the Elders and they were happy to be getting some help. I can't see what could have happened between then and now to change their minds." Carter sighed in frustration. "It's not gate error either, the diagnostic program is saying that the gate is working fine. We can't even send a MALP through to send back telemetry."

Hammond turned to Teal'c. "Teal'c you know the Goa'uld as well, if not better than anyone here, is it possible that Cronus' people sent another ship once they heard he was dead? Did he have a queen? Someone who would want to avenge his death perhaps?"

"I doubt it General Hammond. The consort of Cronus is a Goa'uld queen called Rhea and she is powerful in her own right. From what I know of her it is more likely that she would rejoice in the fact that all of Cronus' territories would now belong to her. Although it is possible that she would go to Juna in an effort to appear to be avenging her Lord, if only for the sake of the other System Lords' support of her annexing his power. However it is much more likely that Cronus' people have been thrown into disarray with his death. Most of his senior Underlords and scientists would have been on his Mothership with him."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Gee, well that was a match made in heaven." He glanced over at the oddly silent Daniel. "Any thoughts Daniel? You've been pretty quiet for the last couple of hours."

Daniel flushed bright pink as everyone turned to look at him. "Well...er...I wasn't sure I should mention it because I'm not sure whether.." His voice trailed away uncertainly.

Jack speared him with an accusing gaze. "Mention what Daniel? Have you been holding out on us?"

"N..not intentionally Jack, it's just that I wasn't exactly sure myself..."

Jack sighed with exasperation. "Sure about what Daniel? This is like pulling teeth."

Hammond looked keenly at the young man. Discomfort was written all over his face. "Perhaps it would be better if we continued this upstairs." He said diplomatically.

Daniel nodded miserably. He still wasn't sure whether to mention what he had seen as he was about to step into the gate to come back home, but in the light of the gate address for Juna not working he couldn't dismiss the niggling feeling that it was relevant. He followed the others back up to the briefing room as General Hammond dismissed the waiting team.

Once the were seated back in the briefing room Hammond settled back. "Okay Dr Jackson, let's have it son."

Daniel gripped his coffee mug between both hands for a moment as if it offered him support, then he searched in his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of drawing paper which he slid over to the General.

Hammond took the paper and unfolded it. He examined it for a minute or so and then passed it onto Jack. Once the paper had been around the table, he turned to Daniel. "Dr Jackson, what does the drawing of what appears to be a knight from the Dark Ages have to do with the Stargate on Juna?"

"Well..that's why I didn't say anything, because I wasn't sure what I was seeing either." Daniel leant forward earnestly. "When we dialled home, Jack and the others went through the gate. I was last to go through and something...I'm not sure what...made me stop and look behind me." He thrust a trembling finger towards the drawing. "He was at the bottom of the steps up to the Gate."

Jack frowned. "Just standing there? Did he say anything?"

"No, but I suddenly had the impression that I knew what he was. I remembered something I had been reading before the mission, from those tablets we found on that deserted planet. A reference made to a..a species or a people who were apparently immortal and lived between dimensions or realities and who rarely involved themselves in the lives of men." Daniel's voice was growing in conviction.

"Between dimensions or realities?" Sam looked skeptical. "Daniel, that's impossible. We know that there are many realities or parallel dimensions. We...you've... even had contact with them yourself. Nobody can exist between the realities, you must mean that they are an alternative reality."

Daniel shook his head. "No, the translation of the tablet was quite clear. These people live outside normal reality and normal dimensions."

"And you think this man, the one standing watching us go through the gate was one of these people?" Jack sounded even more skeptical. "Did you catch his name by any chance?"

Daniel pursed his lips. "Not funny Jack. I said that I got an impression that he was one of these people, not that he introduced himself as one. I wasn't even sure that I had actually seen him which is why I didn't mention it in the first place." He folded and then unfolded the piece of paper absently and bit his lip. "Hell I am still not sure what I saw. It was just an impression and probably not relevant, but it occurred to me that if he had been there, it could have been him who disabled the gate."

"Why the hell didn't you say something?" Jack fumed. "Why do you always keep things to yourself?"

"What good would it have done once we were through the gate?" Daniel shot back angrily. "You had already stomped through the gate rambling on about hot showers and fishing. If he was there and he did disable the gate, he would have done it once we had all passed through. I could hardly reach through and drag you back."

Hammond stared at the young man. "Was he a Goa'uld Dr Jackson? Could he have been a Goa'uld? After all your drawing shows his eyes to be lit up."

"More importantly, could it have been Cronus in another host?" Carter interrupted.

Daniel shook his head. "No, there was a light streaming from his eyes, but it wasn't the same kind of light. It was different, bright and pure, like captured starlight and his face was full of compassion, sympathy and regret as if he knew what we had been through and was sorry about it." He shook his head again. "I'm not making sense, I know."

"Could it have been an Ancient?" Sam queried.

Daniel shook his head again. "He was more than that, older than that. It was only brief, but I had the strangest feeling that he had existed before and beyond time and that was why I didn't want to mention it. I know the whole thing sounds utterly crazy...I sound crazy."

Hammond stood up. "Well crazy or not, it's a better possibility than the others. For now I think it best if we contact the Tok'ra and ask them if they are maybe sending a ship near Juna and if so to stop and assess the situation. If the Goa'uld have retaken the planet we need to know anyway, because we are responsible now for whatever retribution may have been taken against the people there. I suggest you all get some well deserved rest. Tomorrow is another day."

ooOoo

Somewhere at the end of a lost road..

In a large airy room with unglazed windows open to the elements stands a marble table on a large square plinth on which rests a medium sized crystal jar. At each corner of the plinth stands a motionless warrior, each with hands resting on massive shining swords engraved with runes. They wear bright mail covered in white surcoats with the emblem of an eagle imprinted on them. Their bright hair hangs down their back in a long braid. Their faces are fair beyond the normal measure of humans and their expressions are stern and uncompromising.

The symbiote inside the jar is also motionless, but it is awake and it can see. It can see that it is a prisoner in a place filled with light. Its' guardians are humanoid, but not at all human in any sense of the word and all around there is a sense of immense power which the symbiote is both attracted to and repelled away from.

For the first time in its existence the symbiote Cronus feels real fear. He is not dead, but he is beginning to understand that it might have been better for him if he was.

ooOoo

*A posteriori (Latin) relating to or derived by reasoning from observed facts