Oh My Gosh… what a hectic three weeks it has been! Cannot delay this for you guys any longer! Thanks for all the kind reviews and thanks to those who have this story on their alerts.
This next chapter took me a while to get how I wanted it, specifically the back story on Ilithyia… suffice to say – it's still not perfect… may be a little confusing to you guys, but I will help you understand more of it in later chapters.
Previously on Ilithyia-
*~*~*~*~*
"And how would you know that Ba'al would make that kind of deal." Daniel started. "I mean… assuming Grace... Is a Hok'tau, why would he make that kind of deal? Who's to say he won't kill you and keep her?"
The three looked at Sam, Waiting patiently and expectantly for an answer. They each though they had her beat when none was forthcoming.
She stood up, Shaking. Knowing what she was about to reveal would break everything they stood for, everything they knew. This was the ultimate betrayal.
"Because, I am more valuable to him alive." she said simply, and as she met the eyes of her former commanding officer, her own flashed gold.
*~*~*~*~
Instantly, the Colonel had drawn his hand gun and had it pointed at her temple. Teal'c had reacted just as quickly and had grabbed his zat.
Daniel simply stood there, shock running through his features.
Sam, who had known this would be their reactions, held her hands up in a gesture of surrender. Her eyes wide and searching, she attempted to glance back at Bayra and was met with the Colonels 9mm just inches away from her face.
"Colonel, please... Don't shoot!" Sam's voice begged. But Jack knew it was a ploy. The creature inside of her was using her voice to appeal to his better nature. Not that he had a better nature. When he spoke, his voice was cold and dark, causing a tremor of fear run through Sam.
"You have until the count of five to get out of my friends body or I put this bullet through you both." Jacks furious tone bargained. To imagine that after the sheer joy of finding Sam alive after all this time, turns out she was a Goa'uld.
She had had a snake inside her all along.
The thought that he had held her so lovingly, so tenderly brought a wash of bitter anger to his throat. She had played on his emotions for her, the emotions they shared, and for what? Some twisted game? A little thrill? Just because she could?
Sam simply stood there calmly. Taking in the plains of Jacks features; she tried to search his eyes with her own, begging silently for a chance to explain. She saw the look hurt flash past his fathomless dark eyes and knew he would not be persuaded so easily.
"Jack!" Daniel cried in outrage, finally breaking out of his speechless stupor.
"Don't shoot." Daniel attempted to place his hand over the barrel of Jack's gun, trying to push it down and away from Sam's head, but he was too strong, to set in his determination.
Daniel saw the steely look in Jack's eyes and knew that this was pushing the man beyond his limits. Jack had not told them what had transpired outside of the cave when Sam had told him of her child, but the look on his face had said it all.
"Daniel, Stay outta my way, or so help me…" Jack started.
"Jack, Listen. We can take her to the Tok'ra and they can remove the symbiote." he tried to placate the irate colonel, clearly distressed and fully knowing what Jack was capable of.
"She's not gonna let us take her to the Tok'ra. We'd be better off shooting her!" Jack argued, not taking his eyes off Sam.
"I will go willingly Colonel; in fact I had hoped you would take me to the Tok'ra the moment I found out you were here. But Samantha urged me to stay quiet." The disembodied voice of what was obviously the Goa'uld spoke.
"What false god do you serve?" Teal'c asked forcefully, not lowering his zat. He too knew that the only good Goa'uld was a dead one, but he hesitated slightly at the thought of loosing Samantha Carter once more due to the Colonels possible hasty actions.
"I do not serve a false God. I am a child of the great queen Egeria." the disembodied voice stated, remaining calmer than any of them would expect considering she had two weapons pointed at her.
"Never heard of her." Jack spat petulantly, not even pausing to think about it.
"Actually Jack..." Daniel began but Jack cut him off before he could go any further.
"Daniel, so help me this had better not be the beginning of some god damn history lesson or I will shoot you myself." He shook as he gestured with the gun in his hand, exasperated with the Archaeologists antics. He knew better than most that once Daniel got a hold of a new name or deity or false god or whatever it may be, he could prattle on for hours simply listing their habits and the way they rule right down to the manner of dress and what they eat for breakfast.
"It's just that we have heard of Egeria, we are actually in a form of alliance with her." Daniel began hesitantly. But he knew the ramifications of what the Goa'uld within Sam was telling them. If it were true, then they might just be okay.
"Daniel..." he stated warningly. "This better not be another one of your philosophical cryptic..."
"No Jack, it's not. While we have not come across Egeria specifically, we have come across more of her offspring." Daniel began. He hesitantly looked up and on Jack's motion, he continued.
"Egeria was the origin of the Tok'ra."
~* FLASHBACK *~
She felt the walls closing in on her. The knowledge that she had been discovered was enough to terrify the young woman.
'It is okay, Nar'esh. We will be okay'
The voice within her that was usually a comfort to her warring heart was suddenly not so consoling.
She had known all along the dangers of the mission she was asked to carry out. She had accepted them with pride and honor, duty bound to the kind and benevolent woman who had confided in her, her dream. And what would become Nar'esh's role in the dream becoming a reality.
She had accepted the Primtah within, knowing its true allegiances from the very beginning. She had been a young Jaffa in the court of Ra, hand maiden to his concubine Egeria. She had come to love and trust the woman who was so unlike her awful counterparts.
'It is the power of the Sarcophagus. Tel'chaks device was not trialed properly before it was put into use with our own technology. It works, well enough, I am sure. But it leaves the users soul in fragments, eating slowly away at the mind.'
She had been entrusted with the woman's offspring, seeing to it that each larval form of the gods was treated with respect and traded amongst the vast empire, ensuring the survival of at least half.
She still remembers the day she was asked to perform one last duty for her mistress.
Egeria had been discovered. It was all over the empire. Ra was searching for the shol'va Egeria and she would be put to death once captured. Ra knew of her deceit, her betrayal. Her offspring that she had so proudly labelled Tok'ra.
Against Ra.
Perhaps her actions would not have been seen as such a betrayal if Ra knew the truth. Egeria was not doing this for her own gain. She would not be swayed by a piece of the empire for her own. She was doing it for the survival of her species. She knew that soon all the Goa'uld would be corrupt by the effects of the sarcophagus. She knew that she had to pass on her knowledge of the dangerous device to her offspring, warn them of the dangers the device carried with it.
In time, she had learned to despise the device for what it had done to her siblings. And with that hatred, she had fought back, knowing that the only way to stop the madness was to take matters into her own hands.
She passed on the knowledge that would one day be the downfall of her race.
Nar'esh continued her silent journey down the narrow hallway. She knew the price she would eventually have to pay. How long she had before she was found was anyone's guess.
Her heart was pounding furiously in her chest ad she made her way to the main chamber. The golden symbol of the serpent stared back at her ominously.
The temple of Apophis had provided the young Jaffa with brief respite after fleeing from Ra's. Her forehead now brandished the sign of the serpent god to dissuade anyone from knowing her origins.
Her stay on Chulak had provided her with time. Time she had so desperately needed for the young life inside of her. Her instincts knew what was to happen once the life within matured.
Relax child. Do not be afraid. Our transition will be swift and painless.
She listened to the wise voice within that had been her companion for many years. Ilithyia was a wise and kind being and she had been instrumental to Nar'esh lasting as long as she had.
Her assignment from the great queen Egeria was one that she had taken with a heavy heart. Heavy because it meant she had to leave the woman who had raised and mentored her to the age of Primtah. Her own mother had perished soon after her birth and Egeria, benevolent and kind as she was took her under her wing and taught her the ways of the temple.
She had been the tender age of thirteen when Egeria had asked her to perform a favour for her. Egeria had been secretly producing an heir, a queen who would one day become the future of the Tok'ra.
After fifteen years of housing the larval form, Nar'esh made a decision that would now cost her own life. But she was not afraid.
Once the symbiote had matured within her it was either find a new host, willing to join the Tok'ra alliance, or become host herself. She chose the latter.
The blending of a mature symbiote from within her Jaffa pouch was a surreal and unnerving experience, yet the wise voice within had never wavered in her complete and total confidence in the young Jaffa's ability to become her new host.
The young woman's heart leapt as she was motioned forward by the temple mistress. Knowing it was all coming to an end.
Ilithyia would be stripped from her and tortured for her betrayal. She herself would most likely be put to death for aligning herself with the rogue.
She would not be afraid.
~*~*~*~*~
"You're Tok'ra?" Jack looked sceptically at Sam, knowing that he was not speaking to the woman, but the snake inside her.
"I am." she stated.
"How can we be sure? You snakes are notorious for making up stories. One minute you're swimming in a swamp the next you're great and powerful gods." he added snidely.
"The Tok'ra has ways of detecting deception, do they not?" Samantha's metallic voice rang out, displaying more confidence than she would have believed herself having.
"The Zay'tarc Detector." Daniel put in, still watching Teal'cs zat pointed precariously at Samantha's head.
"That could just be what she wants Daniel. Take her to the Tok'ra so she can escape and tell whoever she's working for where they are." Jack countered.
"Jack, I really think we should talk to Jacob. She's not going anywhere while you and Teal'c are around." Daniel put in.
"I understand your hesitations…" Sam's voice had lost its metallic drawl and was now back to normal. "But do I need to remind you that my three week old baby has been kidnapped by a Goa'uld, or would you just like to fight amongst yourselves a little more." She snapped.
"Yeah… about that..." Daniel started, he had so many questions about Sam's child he did not know where to start.
"Daniel- you know where the Tok'ra are stationed?" Jack cut him off.
"Yeah, I remember." Daniel answered distractedly still trying to fathom the fact that Sam was not the Sam they all knew and loved.
"Why has Ba'al taken her? Is it because she is Harceasis?" Teal'c spoke up for the first time in this conversation. He wanted answers, and he would not be fooled by a Goa'uld who was masquerading as his friend.
"No, she's not. Her father was not Heru-ur. She is not the product of two Goa'uld hosts." she answered, her voice not wavering.
"Then who was her father? And what did Heru-ur have to gain by creating her?" Teal'c continued to question her, his eyes boring into her scull, as if he were trying to see her thoughts. She was reprieved, however briefly by Daniel's own suggestion.
"Maybe he wanted to eventually use the child as a host. Sam's protein marker left over from Jolinar allowed her to accept the blending with Ilithyia, perhaps he had another queen he wanted to eventually use." He stated emphatically.
"Or maybe he wanted her to have an excuse to find us and ask us for help so we could lead her to the Tok'ra base." Jack was still not convinced that she wasn't a spy for the Goa'uld. Why else would she willingly want to seek out the Tok'ra?
"But Heru-ur is dead. What connection would she have to Ba'al?" Daniel continued to question his male teammates, trying to help prove that Sam was indeed who she said she was.
Sam had finally had enough of the two men raising their voices and suddenly found her own.
"I don't know his motivations; quite frankly I don't really care at the moment. All I want is to get my daughter back, now will you take me to the damn Tok'ra!" Sam spoke forcefully, feeling the mild irritation course through her veins as her emotions caused the symbiote to make her eyes flash.
The guys jumped slightly, as if only just remembering that she had a guest sharing her body and looked at one another for guidance. She watched as the Colonel scrubbed a hand over his face, rubbing at his temples and ending with his fingers running through his wayward hair. She recognised the gesture as one that she had seen him do thousands of times in frustration or indecision. She knew she was asking a lot. She knew that she had a long way to go to get them to trust that she really was who she said she was.
~*~*~*~*~
Okay, that's all for now guys… I know this chapter was a little boring – but there is still much more to go in this story!