AN: set not long after Summit in season 5
Seven Years ago …..
Daniel looked around the new surroundings. He was happy that Jack had let him make a case for coming here. It was a city full of wonderful libraries and possible information of a litany of Goa'uld history along with many other cultures. Daniel smiled at Sam. She smirked; it was nice to spend some time on a mission where they weren't constantly looking over their shoulders. Teal'c led the way and Jack came up on their six, the standing order had changed for today. They were met by Harenklia and Aclandar the main leaders of the ruling council. Alcander was tall and had sandy hair with steel grey eyes. Harenklia have corn coloured hair and green eyes with a slim petite figure that strikingly attractive. Jack walked out in front trying to appear nonchalant. "Howdy folks. We come in peace and so on! Ah Daniel….?"
Daniel just smiled. "Hi, I'm Daniel Jackson, we spoke earlier via the machine we sent through the gate. This is Colonel O'Neill (Jack nodded his head) Major Samantha Carter (sam just smiled) and Teal'c." Teal'c bowed regally and smiled tightly.
"Hail and welcome! We greet you. " said Alcandar. He introduced his wife and they began to take SG-1 around the city. The mission was simple. Go to P4X-545 and find any intel about the newest Goa'uld on the block, Anubis. Daniel was perfect to find this information and since Daniel was going – Jack and SG-1 would certainly not be far behind. With the new threat being apparent Daniel felt that this vast world of knowledge would be of use.
"You said Doctor Jackson that you wish to be shown to our extensive library" said Harenklia
"Yes our spacemonkey loves a good library. Lots of books that's what pops his cork!" chirruped Jack. He was already bored and Daniel could tell. Alcander looked at Jack. "your words are strange Colonel but I think I can understand the emphasis. Doctor Jackson is a keen scholar then."
"Yes I am. I study the past and languages and use it to help my friends and others" Daniels hands spread as if to encompass his team. "Sam too is also a scholar but her interests lie in sciences." Sam smiled and nodded. Sam spoke "My interest is in astrophysics – or the study of stellar bodies and technology".
Jack coughed. He smiled. His idea of stellar bodies did not include stars but movie stars such as Uma Thurman. This had come to mind due to a conversation between himself and Daniel they had earlier in the mess about their favourite movies and he had to cover his laugh quickly. Daniel remembered too and smirked. Sam noticed this and shook her head. On a good day the Colonel could be pretty off the wall in his thinking and this could sometimes be a hindrance as much as a help during these kinds of situations. Sam spoke up again. "We hear however that you have an amazing computer system capable of handling huge amounts of memory in very small areas and I was wondering if could look at it?"
Harenklia answered her "Of course Major. I will show you to the central tower were our central computer network is and I would be happy to show you how we store, catalogue all our information. Wwill follow me please?" Sam's eyes were silently pleading with Jacks.
"Okay, Teal'c you go with Carter and I'll go with Daniel." Jacks eyes rolled slightly. He was such a pushover sometimes especially when Carter and Daniel gave him their own brand of puppy eyes. Some days it was better to let them have at it and get some peace later on when they came back to the SGC and 'geeked' out together in either Daniel or Sam's lab. Occasionally Jack and Teal'c joined them but only when they brought in pizza from one of the local takeaways and always usually about 2 hours after they got back so as to let the enthusiasm to boil away to plain English from technobabble.
Alcander watched the interaction between the team with great interest. They were a strange mix of scholars and warriors. He had noticed that the tall quiet one called Teal'c darted his eyes everywhere as if looking for danger along with the colonel. The young doctor seemed to do the same but with a measure of curiosity. As they were walking he noticed 2 children seemed to be following him. He suppressed a measure of a sigh. He had expected this. "All right you two. Out you come!" He noticed the Colonel swing his gun around and put a hand up to reassure the Colonel. "It's alright Colonel, it is my children. Vagelis and Karis. They had heard about your arrival from my wife and they were keen to learn about you." Daniel smiled and reached into his utility vest. He managed to locate a bar of chocolate that he kept with him. He opened the bar and split it in half and gave each bit to the children. Karis seemed to be about 10 years old and Vagelis was about 12 years old. He said hello to both and held out his hand.
Present Day
Daniel looked at the scene in front of him. It felt familiar but he could not remember it at all. What he never really told anyone was that his memory never really returned after the second time he came back after ascension. There were small gaps. Some of which he thought he would never be able put together again. These children in the street in front of him looked so happy, so normal. Jack seemed so relaxed and he had that trademark grin on his face that he reserved for children. "I don't remember this" His voice was quiet, strained.
Vagelis shook his head "Convenient Doctor Jackson – shall fast forward this a bit and see if we can jog your memory further? Karis can you assist the good Doctor with his memory." Karis nodded and the scene changed again. It was night time …..
Seven years ago
Harenklia had spent the full day at the computer network with the Major and had been happy to demonstrate the computer system to the Major. Teal'c had been quietly observiong from the corner only asking a question here and there for clarification. She had sent a message to her husband to bring the visitors to the classrooms. She felt that the two scholars should see the technology behind it and hopefully they could learn something about their visitors. When they had all arrived Harenklia was not surprised to see her two children trailing behind their father and the two men. Karis had appeared to have struck up a friendship with the young doctor and he had been entertaining her with a story about a princess and kinghts of the round table. The colonel seemed to be smiling indulgently as the tale was being told. Vagelis seemed more interested in the Knights than the actual princess and was examining a piece of equipment that looked like a compass. There was a measure of peace amongst the small party and it made Harenklia happy to see such easy conversation flowing between their visitors and their children.
"Hail and welcome again." Harenklia was obviously in charge of this presentation. "I would like to show you our classroom. Major – do you know what your own personal learning style is?"
Sam looked confused "I'm sorry that is not a question I get asked every day."
"How do you learn? Is it by visually looking at something, listening to how something is done or by practical experience?" Alcander was the one to answer the query.
Sam shrugged. "I guess by looking at things and reading about them."
Harenklia brought out a gold wrist band with a blue knotted crystal. She turned to Karis and Vagelis. "It's time for you to leave the room now. You know that this is harmful to both of you." The children simply nodded and left the room obediently. It was Daniel who asked the question "Why is this room harmful to them?" "
"It is simply that Karis is not our natural daughter. She was once a child of the Goa'uld that was found on our sister planet 10 years ago. We don't know how she came to be there. Only that once in this machine her mind throws up images which are clearly Goa'uld" Stated Alcander. At this the whole team was on edge. They knew of Harcessis and the genetic information they held. They said nothing. Carter looked at the Colonel and shook her head. She'd felt no presence since their arrival and when Jack looked at Teal'c.
Alcander had noticed this strange tense atmosphere between his guests and noticed that the young doctor was trying to cover some sort of pain in his eyes. Daniel spoke "I'm sorry. You must think us rude. We have had some experience of the Goa'uld and their practices. We are just cautious. So what is this place and what makes it so fascinating." Alcander noticed the change in topic but decided to let it rest, for now. It was Harenklia who spoke. "This is one of our classrooms. We use this armband to experience and learn about experiences of our people. When we die, our armbands are removed and the information recorded from our memories are stored on the computer system so that others may learn from our experiences and pass them onto the next generation using their own unique learning style." Harenklia pushed the crystals in her armband and Sam suddenly could see the technical specifications for the computer systems. She was learning them at great speed and it was easy for her to grasp the understanding of them. "Now that" crowed Jack "is so very cool! Not quite a honkin' space gun but very cool." Daniel and Teal'c agreed. It was at this point the room began to shake hard. There were cries from all around. Jack's head whipped around. "Uh oh! Did someone call for a party cos I sure as heck don't remember being invited." The team ran from the room and the two parents grabbed their children. Once out on the streets the team saw a number of Alkesh bombers fly over the city. "Honestly, you can't go anywhere anymore without a Goa'uld sticking their nose in!" cried Jack again. "I know what you mean Jack. They don't call, they don't write for months on end and suddenly we're in the middle of their very busy visiting schedule" quipped Daniel "Jack I think we need to get out of here and fast." There was no argument as they began to run through the streets to the stargate. They encouraged Harenklia and Alcander to follow them each of them carrying a child in their arms. As the Jaffa started to ring down into the streets and the gliders started to shoot into buildings things got more and more chaotic. Daniel was falling behind the team as the pace got faster and more frantic.
Harenklia was the first to fall. Daniel had been firing his baretta at the Jaffa following them. The staff blast had caught her in the side and one of Daniels bullets had ricocheted into her heart. The second staff blast had caught Alcander in his stomach. As both parents fell, the children were injured under their parent's bodies. It was hard to tell if they were still alive or not. Daniel stood in shock. He needed to move his legs but they refused to move. He felt something tug at him - insistent and demanding. He was dragged back into the fray by jack and Teal'c and they kept him moving until he saw nothing but the concrete walls of the SGC.
Present Day
It was Karis who spoke. Her voice was low and deadly. "You killed our mother. Then you left our father and us behind to die. We hid under their bodies until the Jaffa found us and took us in front of the Anubis where we were pressed into service. We were beaten frequently. After Anubis was defeated we were taken to Lord Ba'al. We eventually made it into Athena's service where she sent us over to her foster sister. She treated us with respect. We were never beaten and we were well fed. Pallas brought us here and gave Vagelis and gave us a chance to see what happened. She arranged this so that we could have justice."
Daniel was stunned. He felt frozen in place. The last scene where he had killed Harenklia was being replayed in front of his eyes. "I don't remember this" his voice was soft, pleading. "Your mother's death looks to be an accident. Any fight, any battle is pure chaos. It is not always easy to determine what is happening in any given second and this is why this happened." Vagelis sneered. "that is very convenient lie to tell yourself. You have been shown the facts and still you deny it! Well, let's add your own guilt to this and see if you can deny that." Vagelis reached into his pocket and brought out a memory recall device. He punched Daniel again. Daniel fell on the floor and he felt the device hammer into his head. "We have found that this is very effective with this machine. It has a detrimental effect on whoever wears the device. I want you to remember Doctor Jackson. Start back to who you have lost and how you have lost them. I want you to remember every time you have been hurt, every time you have lost someone and I hope it doesn't stop!" The venom poured from Vagelis. As he spoke each sentence Daniel remembered everything. It was like watching his life in 3D. He saw his parents die again, watched every time he died and felt the pain of losing Shar'e, Sarah, Vala, Anna. Every friend, every bullet and the fear were all consuming. He heard a hiss of the door and a click. The two children had left him there to watch his guilt and he had a feeling they weren't coming back.
