-
Sam found herself just outside the door of the SGC infirmary, when she first had sensation again. \\The SGC infirmary!\\ she thought. \\YES!\\
\\...and why is this suddenly a cause for celebration?\\ a voice asked.
\\Jolinar?\\ Sam asked, incredulously. \\Hello, Jolinar!\\ Sam was extremely surprised at first, but soon realised that she was very happy to host the Tok'ra once again.
\\Yes. My name is Jolinar. I did not think you were listening when I greeted you...all you did was fight me and call me nasty names.\\
\\I'm sorry, really, I am. Fear not. I give myself freely to the Tok'ra...I will not fight you, and I...I would like to stay your host.\\
\\How...how is this possible?\\ Jolinar gasped out in surprise. \\Only moments ago you said you hated me, and wished only that I leave...and now, now you...\\ Jolinar was thoroughly confused.
\\This is not our first time together. Please go over my memories. As I said, I will not fight you, nor will I attempt to deceive you - if that is possible...be warned, however, as I have knowledge of things to come, and some of that is certain to disturb you greatly.\\
Jolinar walked into an empty room, sat down, and quickly went over much of Sam's memories. She didn't know what to say afterwards.
\\Jolinar, I promise you...this time I shall fight to keep you safe. The ashrak will not get you - and together we will work to avert as much as possible of that grief and those deaths you saw. The universe will likely turn out completely different in many things, anyway.\\ Sam gave Jolinar a tentative hug.
\\I believe you.\\ She hugged Sam back. \\We will get through this together - and I will fight to prevent the slaughter of my people; all those unnecessary deaths. The first we will do after letting your and my people meet, and hopefully start a strong alliance, is to find a willing host for Egeria and then go to save her before it is too late. Such an outrage must not be permitted.\\
\\I understand - and agree, but for now we have a more immediate problem, namely to convince Hammond and various others that we indeed have knowledge of the future. The first we should do is go and meet the O'Neill, Daniel, and Teal'c. We are late, so they are likely waiting for us.\\
\\Yes, true. In your lab. Lead the way.\\ Jolinar gave control back to Sam.
-
Shortly after, Sam/Jolinar walked into the lab. O'Neill, Daniel, and Teal'c were there, waiting.
"Finally! We have been waiting forever, Carter. What took you so long?" O'Neill said, impatiently.
"I had something that absolutely needed to be taken care of - something which could not be postponed."
"Sam, do you have any idea when this is?" Daniel said. "All we have been able to determine is that it is sometime before Teal'c lost Junior."
Sam nodded. "I know exactly when we ended up."
"Well, out with it, then!" O'Neill grumbled.
"One other thing...how do we convince Hammond and everyone else that we have knowledge of the future and aren't just mad?" Daniel asked.
"I am not absolutely sure of that yet - perhaps some hockey-results for a start. Sir?" She looked at O'Neill.
"Yeah. Maybe...Carter? When is this?" He looked at Sam. "There is something wrong, something you are not telling us...I'm not going to like it, am I?"
"Ah, well...no, there is nothing wrong..." Sam didn't know what to say. At Jolinar's prompting she decided to just say it straight out. "We have just returned from a mission where we evacuated the survivors from a Goa'uld attack."
"Go us! On what planet?"
"Nasya!"
"Nasya? Wait! Wasn't that where you became host to..."
"Jolinar. Yes, sir, it was..and now it is, again."
"You're not saying, that...that you...that she..."
"Yes, sir. I believe our first task after convincing Hammond is to capture the ashrak. Jolinar will not be killed this time." Sam's head dipped, and when she looked up, her eyes glowed briefly. "Greetings. My name is Jolinar, but you have apparently met me before...under somewhat less favorable circumstances. For that, I apologize."
Sam again assumed control. "You should know that I am no longer angry with Jolinar, haven't been for many years, actually. I have forgiven her, and so should you...and one more thing - I will most likely remain her host."
Her friends reactions were not as bad as she had feared - and half expected, but it still took a little while for their surprised and outraged outbursts to quiet down. Eventually they all sat down together and planned how and what to tell General Hammond - and how they should capture the ashrak.
-
It had taken a lot of arguing to convince Hammond, but fortunately he was already familiar with the concept of precognition, even if the situation was different. He agreed to test their story and see if their predictions came to pass - and he had also agreed to their plan for capturing the ashrak. They had decided not to tell him about Jolinar yet, as the 'time travel' story seemed quite enough for the moment. No need to test their luck and hope he would also believe that Jolinar is a good Goa'uld.
The next day they all went to the hospital were the Nasyan refugees - and the ashrak, where. This time they had the advantage of knowing which Nasyan the ashrak had been hiding out in, so it should not be difficult to capture him. It was decided that Sam should not visit Cassandra, or at the very least find an excuse not to come too close to her, as Cassandra would be able to sense Jolinar, at least when hugging her.
"We know that the ashrak was staying in a severely injured Nasyan man, whom he after some time managed to heal, so that he could get up and continue searching for Jolinar. He first pretended to be a doctor, then a member of the military staff. We believe he wasn't healed enough to leave his bed until after Jolinar and I had visited Cassandra. This means, that if we go to him now, we should be able to capture him while he is still relatively incapacitated."
They walked to room 412 - the room Sam, with Jolinar's help, had been able to remember was where the ashrak had been staying, while he was being treated.
"Get ready," Jolinar said in a low voice, "when I get within 50 feet of him, we will be able to sense each other. If he is awake, he may try to flee or even attack us. I am going to hope that healing the Nasyan man's serious burns will have exhausted the ashrak. Hopefully he will be sound asleep."
They continued to the room, and entered it without incident. The ashrak did not react to their approach. Jolinar quickly took out her zat'nik'tel, and shot him, thrice, making him disappear.
"Hey! I thought we were going to bring him in for questioning! Hammond is not going to like that!" O'Neill didn't look happy.
Jolinar looked at him. "We would have learned nothing. An ashrak would never say anything. They are not like normal Goa'uld - he would rather die than surrender...and he would never have stopped hunting us. He would have continued until either we, or he, were dead."
O'Neill seemed to consider saying something, then thought better of it, accepting what Jolinar said. It was probably for the better that the ashrak was dead anyway. The two he had encountered had been ruthless, and totally concentrated on their mission. "I guess we could tell Hammond that he tried to kill Carter, and that she shot him in self-defence. Unfortunately, Teal'c and I also shot at the same time, and he was hit three times."
"Good plan, O'Neill...we should leave before we are discovered." Teal'c said.
"Yes...we should. OK, come on, guys. Our job here is done." O'Neill turned to leave, and the others soon followed.
They made their way out of the room, and then the hospital, without anyone noticing or stopping them. When they were safely back at the base, they reported the result of their mission to General Hammond. He wasn't happy, but eventually agreed that it was most likely for the best. Because of the information given to him by SG-1, he had just won a bet with Harriman, over a hockey-match, and he was in a friendly mood. This also meant he was starting to seriously consider that what his people had told him about their knowledge of the future, was true.
As agreed upon, SG-1 would continue with their mission to find a new home world for the Nasyans. After that, they would get a months leave, while Hammond waited to see if the next three 'predictions' they had made for the future, would come true. If that were the case, he had decided to believe their story. SG-1 would wait until then before they told him about Jolinar and the Tok'ra.
-
One month later.
Everything had happened as they had said it would - apparently, whatever changes there was to this universe, compared to the one they remembered being in before, had not yet affected Earth. They knew, however, that some changes had already happened; Jolinar was still alive and well, blended with Sam. They had not visited the world where Linea, destroyed of Worlds were imprisoned. That would have some consequences, but probably not of galactic importance. Nor had they visited the World where they had been forced to relive parts of their past - not exactly something they regretted not experiencing again, and also not something which would have any importance in the grand scheme of things.
When they arrived back at the SGC, after their holiday, they had gone directly to Cimmeria, as a 'Sagan Box' had just been sent through the Stargate. After having solved that mission more or less as they did originally, and having met Thor - as they should, they decided it was time to tell Hammond about Jolinar and the Tok'ra.
"So, you mean to tell me, that this...this Tok'ra - which is not the same as a Goa'uld - has been using Captain Carter as a host for more than a month?" Hammond sounded like he didn't know what to believe.
"Yes, sir." O'Neill said.
"...and you knew, all of you, the whole time?"
"Yes, sir."
"...but you just didn't feel this was important enough to tell me?"
"On the contrary, sir. We wanted to tell you, but we didn't feel we should confuse you with that together with all that other stuff...about us having knowledge of the future and all..." O'Neill said.
"I see...you didn't want to tell me because you thought it would all be too much for me too believe..."
"Ehh..."
"It's all right...it probably would have. Hell - I might have taken that as proof that you were all aliens or at least under control of aliens, and have you thrown into a cell..."
"...but not given us to the NID?"
"No, not at first anyway."
"Sir," Sam said. "Please believe me when I say that Jolinar really isn't a Goa'uld. She is Tok'ra, and they can be great allies. You do believe we have experienced future events - potential future events at any rate?"
"Yes..."
"Then please also believe me when I say that we have already met Jolinar before - that we know that her people are good guys, and that they will become our allies..."
Hammond thought for a while. "I think I do believe you, but you do realise that I can't really know for sure if it is Captain Carter or Jolinar I am talking to. The Goa'uld...sorry, symbiotes, have the ability to pretend to be the host. We have heard them speak with a human voice before." He held up a hand to stop Sam from saying anything. "Relax, Captain Carter. I know that the others are not under Goa'uld influence, and they believe you. This means that I also believe you...you are free to ship out tomorrow, to go and meet the Tok'ra."
-
Next day.
O'Neill, Daniel, Teal'c, and Sam/Jolinar had changed to their BDU's and were ready to leave for the current Tok'ra base. They were all a bit apprehensive. Partly because they knew something of what would happen, and partly because not everything would happen like they remembered. This quasi-knowledge of the future - or more correctly of a future constantly divergent from theirs - was both a blessing and a curse. What would happen this time? Would the Tok'ra end up becoming their allies? Would it be easier, since Jolinar was with them?
The Stargate engaged, and they watched the wormhole open. They looked briefly at each other, suddenly certain that everything would turn out all right. The Tok'ra would become their friends and allies - and this time the alliance would endure and stay strong. Confident, they walked up the ramp and through the wormhole - towards their future.
THE END.