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Chapter 2: Control
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They charged into a room labelled 'Gateroom'. Jack had a good guess as to why. There was a huge round portal-like thing in the middle of the room, and a voice was just informing them, "Tok'ra IDC confirmed." Whatever that meant.
A woman ran out of the portal, stumbling on the ramp down from the 'gate'. Her hair was fair, though not as bright as Samantha's, a bit longer, too, and she looked very attractive in that tan robe that seemed designed to fit her perfectly.
She was followed immediately by a man. He looked to be in his mid-forties, with long dark hair and black leather armor. He charged at the woman, knocking her over and pinning her down, as he pulled out a knife. What really creeped Jack out was that both of them had glowing eyes, and when the man spoke his voice echoed unnaturally. "You cannot escape your gods, Tok'ra scum!" he snarled.
She spat in his face and tried to kick him off.
Then a weapons' blast from Colonel O'Neill sent a flash of blue energy at the offending being. Both he and the woman seemed to be rendered unconscious as the energy crackled over them like lightening.
The Doctor ran forward, checking first that the Tok'ra woman was alive, then her would-be killer. He pulled out the sonic screwdriver, and began to use it on the unidentified man's neck.
"Um, what's he doing?" Jack asked.
"Probably trying to extract the symbiote, to save the host." Daniel said, watching intently.
Sure enough, this proved to be about right. A snake-like creature slithered out of the back of the man's neck. But unlike the man it had inhabited, it was fully conscious. It let out an angry hiss and leaped at the Doctor, who didn't even look all that surprised by the action. Even if he didn't have time to react against it.
The creature had gone right for his neck, and disappeared before Jack could even see what had happened. The Doctor now held his hand to the side of his neck, and winced in pain. "That's just rude." he muttered under his breath, Jack only heard because he had rushed to the Doctor's side immediately.
"What happened?" Jack asked. But he backed up a step when he saw the Doctor's eyes flash that same golden color as the other two beings had shown. It only lasted a fraction of a second, but it still scared him.
"He's stronger than Illyria." the Doctor said quietly.
"Who's Illyria?" Jack asked.
"The last Goa'uld to try this on me." the Doctor said, almost laughing. It was a strained laugh with very little genuine humour.
"Illyria was the Goa'uld he defeated on Salaria." Daniel supplied. All weapons in the room were aimed at the Doctor, now, which really annoyed Jack to no end. "But I don't understand... are you implying Illyria tried to possess you?"
"It's a normal reaction for a Goa'uld that suddenly finds itself without a host, go for the nearest being it perceives as compatible." the Doctor said, still holding the side of his neck. He didn't look to be in pain now, just a little disoriented. Slowly, he stood up, and held his hands out to the sides to show he posed no threat. "Unfortunately for Illyria and... Wral'tek, that's this one's name, I have a much stronger mind than a human."
"You're suggesting you're in control of him?" Sam asked in disbelief.
"Yes." the Doctor answered. Jack grinned, even if the rest of this lot didn't believe the Doctor's word, he did.
Just then, the two unconscious beings woke up. The woman scrambled quickly away from the very disoriented man. He looked around him, shocked, "Where am I?" he asked.
"You're safe now." Sam said to him, "It's all right." she turned to the Tok'ra woman, "His symbiote is gone. Well... sort of." she informed the frightened woman, sparing a wary glance at the Doctor.
The Tok'ra nodded, "My thanks." she said, in that strange echoing voice the man had used before. "I am Melora, and my host is named Leann."
"Welcome to the SGC." Sam said brightly, before turning to the man, "Will you be alright?"
"No." he said quietly, "I've been used by that fiend to do so many horrible things." his voice was barely above a whisper.
"None of it was your fault." Sam said gently, kneeling next to him and putting her hand on his shoulder reassuringly, "We know better than to blame a host for a Goa'uld's actions."
"Can you really understand what he's been through?" the Doctor asked quietly, "I know your connection to the Tok'ra, but that's different. The guilt alone has caused many former Goa'uld hosts to commit suicide."
Sam shot him a glare, but said nothing to him, instead she turned back to the man, "It wasn't your fault, we'll do everything we can to help you recover from the ordeal. I promise."
x x x
Much to Jack's protests, though the Doctor willingly complied, the Doctor was taken to a holding cell. Jack stayed with him, just outside the cell. The Doctor just sat there staring at a wall for an hour before Jack finally spoke, "I don't understand this."
"That's because the Goa'uld are extinct in your time." the Doctor answered, "And a relatively minor threat when compared to the likes of the Daleks."
"But what, exactly do they do?"
"They use their superior technology to pretend to be gods." the Doctor answered, "Only it wasn't their technology in the first place, they scavenged and stole it. They're parasites in every sense of the word."
"And that woman, her eyes glowed the same, and she talked about her host."
"She's Tok'ra. A small group of the same species who oppose the Goa'uld and believe in sharing their host's bodies equally and fairly. The parasite needs a human host to survive, but the Tok'ra believe in allowing their host equal rights. While they are capable of dominating the human host, the only time I've heard of a Tok'ra doing so was to save their lives when the human was trying to do something stupid."
"Oh." Jack pondered this for several minutes, before speaking again, "You're unusually quiet."
"I'm arguing with Wral'tek." the Doctor said, a hint of a smile appearing on his face, "He's very unhappy with his current situation."
"I'll bet." Jack said, grinning.
"He's trying to see my memories, and to take control of my body. Neither is going to happen without my permission, and he can't even leave my body as long as I hold him back."
"What's it like, having that thing in your head, then?" Jack asked, a bemused grin appearing on his face. His mind returning to its favourite spot in the gutter.
The Doctor turned to look straight at him, "Not what you'd think." he said flatly. But then he blinked, and his eyes lost focus. "No, don't-" and he closed his eyes, his hands moved to clutch at his head as if in pain.
"Doctor?" Jack asked, moving as close to him as he could get with the bars of the cell in his way.
After a few minutes of tense silence, the Doctor opened his eyes, though they were still unfocused, "That wasn't funny." and his eyes closed again for only a second, before he laughed. A tired laugh, but still. "That shut him up."
"What happened?" Jack asked, warily.
"He showed me some memories that I found very unpleasant. I returned the favour, I don't think he liked the Daleks very much."
Jack laughed weakly, "I was worried, you know."
"I can handle him." the Doctor said calmly.
Just then the doors outside the holding area opened, and Sam, O'Neill and an unidentified man entered the room. The man wore off-white rather plain clothing, and seemed very unhappy to be there. He held a device Jack did not recognise, and was glaring at the Doctor as if he was a monster.
"This is the one?" he asked coldly.
"Yes." Sam said solemnly.
"Wait a second." Jack said, turning to face the three, "What's going on?"
"We're just going to test to see if the Doctor really can control the Goa'uld." Sam said in a placating tone, "This device can determine which being is in control of the body. It's also capable of forcing a symbiote to allow the host to speak, if necessary."
Jack glanced over his shoulder at the Doctor who nodded to tell him to stand down and allow them to do what they had to. Only then did Jack step aside.
Two of those stunner energy-weapons were aimed at the Doctor as the bars of the cage were opened and the unidentified man stepped forward, "This will only hurt for a second." he said, his tone was not intended to calm or soothe, only to state fact. The Doctor nodded and allowed the device to be placed on his chest. He flinched only slightly as it activated and a blue light lit up on the device.
The man stepped back out of the cell quickly.
"See?" the Doctor asked, grinning. It was a half-hearted grin, but it still managed to put Jack at ease.
"We will need to hear the Goa'uld speak to ensure the device is working correctly." the man said, as the bars closed again, locking the Doctor back into the cell.
The Doctor nodded, the light on the device changed to red, and then very suddenly his eyes flashed golden and his voice echoed as he snarled, "You will all suffer the wrath of my master, filthy Tau'ri animals!" the Doctor blinked furiously, and seemed to flinch as he fought the Goa'uld back down. The light on the device turned blue again, and when he spoke, his voice was back to normal, "That's it, he's never getting to speak again."
Jack laughed, "What for, calling your favourite species animals, or using that title?"
"Both." the Doctor said rather coldly.
"This is amazing." the unidentified man said, staring in shock, "No one has ever dominated a Goa'uld symbiote before, without the aid of technology. The device is only set to display who is in control, not to empower the host."
"You're a Tollan, aren't you?" the Doctor asked casually.
"That is correct." the man said warily.
"Well then you should be able to figure this out quickly enough. Supposed to be extinct." the Tollan stared blankly, "Resistant to any poison that could kill a human." still no reaction, the Doctor rolled his eyes and went for the most obvious point, "Two hearts."
Suddenly the Tolan's eyes widened, "You can't be." a moment's hesitation, then he asked, "A Time Lord?"
The Doctor nodded, "The last of my kind."
The Tolan's jaw dropped, "I suppose that explains it then." he muttered.
"What's a Time Lord?" O'Neill asked.
"They're theoretically immortal." the Tollan said still looking a bit stunned, "They can regenerate when they die, and after their third life they become unable to die of natural causes. As the name implies, they are capable of travelling through time, and they are said to be able to see all possibilities, past and future. They are also powerful telepaths, and resistant to most forms of mental intrusion."
"So he's got a Goa'uld in his head, but he's still in control?" O'Neill asked. When the Tollan nodded, O'Neill continued, "You know, we could really use this to our advantage."
x x x
Much to Jack's disgust, the humans decided to try to get the Doctor to infiltrate the base of whichever Goa'uld had sent the assassin after the Tok'ra woman.
What's worse, the Doctor had agreed.
He'd even tried, while still in his holding cell, to channel the dual-tone voice and glowing eyes without allowing the Goa'uld control, and after a few tries he got it right. Noting rather irritably that doing this made it more difficult to control the symbiote, but not impossible.
It took several hours for the Doctor to get any useable information out of Wral'tek. The creature seemed to have a knack for diverting its thoughts away from whom it served, towards things that often led the Doctor to swear in a language even Jack had never heard before.
When Jack had asked what the Goa'uld had done to annoy him, the Doctor's only response was, "Even you don't want to know."
Finally, after almost an entire day, he had a name for Wral'tek's boss, Varrek. Though it seemed that Wral'tek did not actually know the name of the System Lord that Varrek reported to. The Doctor also believed that he had gathered enough information to impersonate Wral'tek's behaviour and attitude accurately. Or so he said, anyway, he refused to give a demonstration.
While Jack still thought of the Goa'uld as an 'it', the Doctor would refer to it as 'him', eventually explaining that they took on the traits of their favourite gender for a host, and Wral'tek was most definitely male. He did not elaborate, though Jack chose to draw his own conclusions as to what that meant.
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"You're sure about this plan?" Daniel asked, as Jack and the Doctor stood in the gateroom, ready to depart. Both had been given SGC uniforms. As far as the Goa'uld they were going to spy on was concerned, Wral'tek had taken a new host when his previous one was killed, and then proceeded to kidnap another SGC soldier for interrogation.
The idea, and it was Jack's suggestion in the first place- though they had not informed SGC of the fact Jack didn't stay dead, therefore they had not explained this part of the plan- was that Jack would get himself killed and then be free to snoop around outside while the Doctor searched for useful information from the inside of the base.
"It's more coherent than most of his plans are at this stage." Jack said brightly, earning himself an amused glare from the Doctor.
"Good luck." O'Neill said, and he was echoed by the rest of those present.
The 'gate'- Jack still thought of it as a portal- then opened, and the Doctor took hold of Jack by the collar of his uniform, and led him through the 'gate'. Jack put on a good show of struggling when they passed through, going so far as to actually kick out at the Doctor, before several armed guards surrounded them.
"Tau'ri!" one yelled, raising his staff as if he believed it could be used to shoot at them. Jack believed it, too, and froze, fear in his eyes. He was afraid for the Doctor, not himself, but he channeled that emotion to improve his acting skills. He'd been a con-man for just over half a decade, and he was very good at playing a part when he needed to.
The Doctor spoke in a language Jack did not recognise, his voice echoing in that dual-tone, and Jack would swear if he could see the Doctor's eyes right now they'd be glowing that eerie golden color.
Suddenly all the armed guards lowered their weapons, and dropped to one knee, "We apologise, Lord Wral'tek. We did not recognise you."
"Of course you didn't." the Doctor said, still in the dual-tone. Jack might have found it funny that the Doctor was talking about changing his face right now, if it weren't for the imminent danger they were both in. "Now are you going to stand around grovelling all day, or are you actually going to be useful? Bring this Tau'ri prisoner to our Lord's fortress for interrogation. I will deal with him personally, after I speak to our Lord."
"As you command, Lord Wral'tek." the leader of the group of guards said, before signalling for three of his fellows to deal with Jack.
Jack found himself dragged along- kicking, and yelling some very creative insults, to put on a good show- behind the Doctor as he marched along a path towards what looked like an ancient city.
About twenty-minutes of walking (or in Jack's case struggling) later, they reached a temple within the city, and Jack was thrown to the ground, forced to bow down by a kick to the ribs and the end of one of those staves pressed to the back of his neck, before a man seated on a throne within the temple.
Jack glared up at him, and saw that he was wearing a strange golden helmet that concealed his face. Something about this being made Jack feel sick, just to be in his presence. He wasn't sure exactly what caused this feeling, Wral'tek and the Tok'ra woman had not instilled this degree of pure disgust in him. But he decided to keep it to himself for now.
The Doctor dropped to one knee and bowed his head, "My Lord, I have failed you." he said, his voice still echoing. "My target fled to the Tau'ri. I followed her, but my host was killed. I barely escaped with a new host and this prisoner. I hope to redeem myself by extracting information on the Tau'ri from him, My Lord."
The man- no, Goa'uld, Jack reminded himself- on the throne regarded the two of them closely. "You have done well to bring this to me." he said, his voice echoing in that inhuman way that the Goa'uld had, "You will not be punished, but you must prove that you have not lost your touch, by eliminating another target. I am sure the Tau'ri will conceal Melora well." in spite of his head already being bowed, the Doctor nodded to show he understood. "You will interrogate this prisoner yourself, and bring me all the information you have gathered from both he and your new host to me tomorrow."
But Jack took that as his cue and lunged at the Doctor. There was a reason the Doctor had allowed weapons to be on his SGC uniform. Jack grabbed the knife from the Doctor's belt, knocking the Doctor down in the process. He found himself the focus of a dozen guards all pointing those staves at him. "I'd rather die than betray the Earth!" Jack shouted, before plunging the knife into his own chest.
"No!" the Doctor shouted. It was probably instinct, his voice didn't echo. But he covered it up quickly, "Cursed Tau'ri!" he snarled. It was the last thing Jack heard before everything went black.
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Author's Note: Reviews make me update faster.