Chapter Ten

Stargate Command

Cheyenne Mountain, Earth

General George Hammond broke off the discussion he was having with the recently arrived Jacob Carter/Selmak and Major Davis when the incoming wormhole klaxon sounded.

"Unscheduled off world activation," a technician's voice boomed over the intercom system. George sighed. Now what, he thought standing up from behind his desk and walking around before leaving his office heading for the control room with Jacob and Major Davis closely following him.

They reached the control room in moments just in time to see the iris opening giving them an almost unobstructed view of the shimmering water effect of the wormhole's event horizon. The only thing that blocked a full view of the wormhole was the defence teams that had mustered in the gate room.

For a moment nothing happened, then the event horizon rippled and SG-1 stepped through, the Stargate deactivating behind them.

"Howdy folks," Colonel O'Neill said with a small wave. Inwardly George smiled at the typical behaviour of his second in command even as he leaned forward and spoke into a microphone.

"Welcome back SG-1," he said in greeting. "Unit's stand down."

George stood back up straight and left to go into the gate room accompanied only by Jacob this time since Jacob was anxious to see his daughter. He hated being away but his duties with the Tok'ra meant that it was inevitable.

"You see her now more than you ever did before though Jacob," Selmak pointed out in his head.

"True Selmak. Very true," Jacob mentally agreed with his symbiote, "being away all the time is still hard though. Even though Sam's a grown woman now and more than capable of looking after herself."

"You still worry about her. That is as it should be."

Jacob smiled but broke off his internal chatter to his symbiote as they were entering the gate room just as SG-1 came to the bottom of the embarkation ramp. Jacob smile widened slightly when Samantha immediately broke away from the rest of her team and approached him. Gently he pulled her into a warm, loving hug.

"Sam its good to see you," Jacob said with a smile. Sam smiled back as she pulled away from him.

"It's good to see you to dad," she replied.

"Report SG-1," George Hammond ordered.

"We successfully made contact with the Resolution sir," Sam said.

"I look forward to hearing all about it," Hammond replied. "Briefing room."

Captain's Ready Room

U.S.S Resolution, That Same Time

Captain Darien Parker settled down behind his desk and made himself comfortable while keeping a watchful eye on his ships councillor. He could tell that Dalara was agitated and it didn't take a genius to figure out that it had something to do with there Goa'uld prisoner, he was sure as well that Osiris was the reason why Selt Dalara had asked to speak to both himself and Dr Tarses.

Before he could speak however the door chimed, someone was requesting admittance.

"Come in," Darien called. The doors opened with their normal almost inaudible swish and the Human/Romulan hybrid that served as his chief medical officer came into the room with a puzzled frown on his face. A face that was distinctively human Simon was three quarters human, the only give away that he wasn't a full human were his pointed ears.

"You asked to see me captain," Simon Tarses said.

"Yes doctor I did," Darien replied. "Or rather Councillor Dalara asked to see us both. Please be seated gentlemen." He watched quietly as his medical officer and ships councillor sat down in the two chairs on the other side of his desk. "Now then councillor what is it you wanted to speak with us about?"

"It's about Osiris sir," Dalara said. "Sir we can't let Osiris leave this ship in her current form."

"Explain."

Dalara took a deep, calming breath and then began his explanation. He explained about his mental contact with Sarah Gardner the Human host of Osiris, her plea for them to help her escape her unwilling bondage, the pain Osiris had ruthlessly inflicted upon her in response. He also detailed some of the horrific images of slaughter and torture that he had seen in Osiris' mind when he'd been asked to probe her.

"Sir in good conscience we cannot leave Sarah Gardner to endure any more of the torture she is currently enduring," Dalara concluded. "She has no will of her own Osiris has complete and total control of her body and mind. The closest analogy I can draw is to Borg assimilation. The psychological damage she is suffering alone is serious." Darien leaned back in his chair with a sigh. SG-1 and the Tollan had told him about the fate of Goa'uld hosts - but it was one thing to hear it from them, quiet another to hear it from Councillor Dalara - who was not the excitable kind and above all was unbiased, having no preconceived idea's about the Goa'uld.

"Doctor would it possible to remove Osiris from Sarah Gardner safely before Osiris can kill the host," Darien asked. "According to SG-1 and the Tollan the Goa'uld will kill a host rather than surrender it."

"I have been looking at the bioreadings we've been gathering on the Goa'uld and their Jaffa courtesy of the brigs bioscanners and my scan of Teal'c earlier," Simon Tarses responded. "I believe that it is possible to remove Osiris from her host quickly using the transporters. But she will have to be completely unconscious and immobile else we would risk brain damage to host and symbiote alike."

"Do we have any drugs here that could do that? From what SG-1 and the Tollan were telling me the Goa'uld symbiote's are extremely hardy things."

"Yes sir we do. My analysis of the body chemistry of the immature symbiote's the Jaffa are carrying and of Osiris herself indicates that they are unusually vulnerable to Tricolarine. Once exposed both symbiote and host will be unconscious in seconds."

"Tricolarine is a liquid based sedative is it not?" Darien asked.

"Yes sir it cannot be introduced through the environmental control system. It has to either be ingested or injected directly into the patients blood stream."

"So how are we going to get Osiris to take the drug?" Darien asked.

"Our prisoners are scheduled to have a meal at 1830 hours," Simon pointed out. "I can use my medical security codes to order the replicator to put Tricolarine in Osiris' drinking water."

"Do it. As soon as Osiris is unconscious transport her directly to sickbay. Remove the symbiote and place it in a secure sealed storage container otherwise Osiris will immediately jump into the closest available human host," Darien ordered.

"Yes sir."

Briefing Room

Stargate Command, A Short Time Later

General George Hammond leaned back in his seat completely at a loss for words. SG-1 had completed briefing himself; Major Davis and Jacob Carter/Selmak on the events that had taken place over Tollana. Starting with their arrival aboard the Valkastner, to arrival of Tanneth's fleet and its subsequent quick destruction, to there visit to the Resolution herself and the detection and capturing of Osiris. The Federation starship sounded like an utterly amazing ship and where she had seemed to come from was even more surprising – though it did serve to explain why no one in this galaxy or in the case of the Asgard in neighbouring galaxies had ever heard of the Federation.

"The Resolution sounds like a very impressive warship," Major Davis commented. "Heavily armed and powerful with weapons unlike anything we have ever encountered."

"Oh yes she's powerful," Colonel O'Neill replied. "I think powerful would in fact be an understatement."

"The Resolution seems to have a variety of different weapons systems," Sam added. "She's armed with both somekind of phased particle beam weapons that are much more powerful than anything we've seen this side of Asgard weapons, and she carries at least two kinds of torpedoes. One appears to use antimatter warheads. The other has somekind of zero-point energy warhead. Thor commented to us during the battle that those zero-point torpedoes would damage even Asgard warships. I don't know if the Resolution has any other weapon systems but I would not be surprised if she did."

"And the irony of it all is despite her awesome firepower the Resolution is not primarily designed to be a warship," Daniel said. "On our tour of the Resolution with Travell, Narim and a couple of Travell's bodyguards we saw numerous labs of various kinds. Not what you would expect to see on a warship."

"Apparently the Resolution is designed as a multirole starship," Sam added in agreement with Daniel. "According to Captain Parker her primary mission - as with most vessels in the Federation Starfleet - is to seek out new worlds, civilisations and to generally explore space. As Daniel said they are very well equipped for that role. Apparently the Federation is far more interested in science and exploration than in military conquest. Though as we saw their vessels can function as powerful and lethal warships should conflict arise."

"Though they are not aggressive the Federation peoples have the ability to inflict serious damage upon the Goa'uld. Possibly even defeat the collective forces of the System Lords," Teal'c said. "It is through them that we now know the name of Tanneth and Osiris master." Jacob - who'd been listening with silent attention to the whole discussion, leaned forward interested.

"Who is it?" he asked - the Tok'ra Council had been as stumped by the identity of this mysterious new Goa'uld as everyone else.

"It is a Goa'uld from the distant past," Teal'c replied. "According to Osiris he serves Anubis." Jacob's eyes widened and he went slightly pale at the mention of Anubis. Then his eyes flashed as Selmak took over.

"That cannot be," Selmak said. "Anubis is dead."

"Apparently not," Jack said sarcastically.

"Captain Parker had a telepathic alien scanning Osiris as he spoke," Sam added. "He was telling the truth."

"I take it you know Anubis," Hammond said to Teal'c and Jacob.

"Anubis is a legend. A name infamous among the Goa'uld," Teal'c said.

"Anubis is a demon," Selmak said. "He is far, far more evil than any of the other System Lords. He was banished a thousand years ago because his crimes were unspeakable. Even the System Lords were appalled by his crimes. For them Ra summoned a meeting of the System Lords and Anubis was summoned before them and stripped of all rank and power, his slaves and Jaffa were all taken away, his fleet destroyed. He was allowed to keep one mothership and his personal Jaffa guard and a few loyal retainers, then he was banished from Goa'uld space never to return on pain of death.

"To ensure that he would never bother the System Lords again Ra dispatched an Ashrak to kill him. Though the Ashrak failed to return it was believed by both the System Lords and the Tok'ra that Anubis had perished."

For along few minutes the briefing room was silent as everyone digested what Selmak had just said. Anubis would have had to have been a very evil Goa'uld indeed for his crimes to appal even the System Lords - who were themselves responsible for countless atrocities - and force them to actually take action against him.

"Well now Anubis is back," Jack said.

"And from what we've seen so far with more power than ever before," Sam added.

"The question is what does Anubis want," Daniel pointed out. "Why has he suddenly reappeared now after a thousand years of exile."

"Those are good questions," Jacob agreed. "Which we must all endeavour to find the answer to. One thing is sure the reason cannot be a good one. It is possible that Anubis may want to overthrow the System Lords and establish himself as the new Supreme System Lord - a position only Ra has held in nearly two thousand years."

"Which would be very bad," Jack added. "Who knows what would happen if the Goa'uld got their act together and stopped fighting amid themselves and turned their attention to the rest of the universe."

"A nightmare which we must all devote our resources to stopping. If the galaxy were to fall under the dominion of a single all powerful Goa'uld then all would be lost."

"It could be possible that the Resolution holds the key to stopping Anubis," Teal'c pointed out. "But there may be a problem. Captain Parker's words to Osiris indicate that the Federation has similar rules to the Tollan regarding the transfer of technology to less advanced civilisations. We might have trouble convincing them to assist us in that fashion."

"We will still have to try and convince them to help us against both Anubis and the System Lords," Selmak said. "And possibly the Replicators as well."

"All we can do is try," Daniel agreed. "But we shouldn't yet. They're currently stretching their resources to help the Tollan recover from Tanneth's assault. It would be advisable to wait for a few weeks until the Tollan are at least partially back on their feet."

For a couple of minutes there was silence as everyone considered Daniel's words. It did make sense. Tollana was in a hell of a mess at present - and the Resolutions crew had their hands full assisting the Tollan pick up the pieces, they could ask no more of them. Not yet at any rate.

"Agreed," Hammond said after a moment. "Now then SG-1 on to other matters like your participation in the upcoming trials for the next group of potential SGC personnel."

Brig

U.S.S Resolution

Osiris looked up from his contemplation of the deck plates as he heard the sound of her current cell guard clearing his throat. The bald, blue-skinned humanoid guarding her cell was completely unfamiliar to him. The alien was holding a food tray.

"Your evening meal," the guard said pressing a series of buttons on a pad besides the force field. A circular hole - just big enough for the tray to pass through - appeared in the force field. Even the force fields on this amazing ship were unusual, they were radically different to Goa'uld force fields.

Osiris stood up and took the food tray from the guard when he handed it to him. The alien pressed those buttons again and the field was once more complete. Osiris eyed the food he'd been given. It consisted mainly of dark blue berries that he didn't recognise, runner beans with butter and potatoes. A small glass of water sat in a slot on one side. A plastic knife and fork sat on the other side. The meal definitely wasn't the fine stuff she was used to but it would do - after all he was no position to make any demands of the Federation people. They'd already agreed to let him go - when they could easily kill him or remove him from his host - so he wasn't about to push his luck.

Sitting down on the bed, resting the tray on his knees Osiris retrieved the fork and not very sharp knife from their slots. After a moment he cautiously placed one of the berries in his hosts mouth. Almost instantly in burst releasing a mushy fluid into her mouth - a fluid that was sweet and sour, sharp and soft, bitter and sweet. Swallowing the fluid Osiris glanced at the berries again. Whatever these things were they were nice. Osiris ripped into the rest of the meal with a vengeance. Everything was nice, perfect in fact. Osiris guessed that these people had to have a good chef or did they use their technology to somehow make the food. After a moment she took a long drink of the pleasantly cool water to wash the food down.

The guard came back to the edge of the force field and opened that hole again. Osiris gave the tray back and he resealed the hole before disappearing for a moment.

Osiris in the meantime returned to the bunk. As he sat down a strange wave of tiredness washed through him. They've drugged me, he thought abruptly standing up and immediately dropping to his knees as they abruptly refused to take his weight. Darkness was encroaching upon his awareness and at the back of his thoughts Osiris could feel that Sarah Gardner was already asleep. The guard returned and Osiris looked up eyes glowing as he struggled to overcome to drug that the Federation had given him presumably in the drinking water.

"You have drugged me," Osiris snarled weakly at the guard. "You will suffer for this insol…." Darkness enveloped her before she could finish the sentence.

Ensign Kiras watched their Goa'uld prisoner fall asleep struggling futilely against the effects of Tricolarine. He was surprised by the speed it was acting upon the beautiful female human host and the demon Goa'uld within her. Normally Tricolarine induced sleep slowly. He wasn't surprised by the arrogant symbiote last words as it finally surrendered to unconsciousness - these Goa'uld were arrogant beings indeed. Kiras retrieved a tricorder from his console and scanned the woman - both host and symbiote were deeply unconscious. He tapped his combadge.

"Kiras to sickbay. Osiris is unconscious."

"Already," Simon Tarses commented from sickbay. "The Tricolarine must have been more effective than I thought. No matter were ready anyway. Disengage the force field ensign."

Kiras did as he was told and as soon as the force field went down Osiris was enveloped in a transporter beam and whisked off to sickbay. Kiras smiled then left this cell room to attend to his other duties.

Sickbay

Dr Simon Tarses watched as Osiris appeared on the main biobed. As soon as the transporter beam disengaged a restraining field activated around the body preventing any movement voluntary or otherwise. Walking up to the unconscious woman Simon stood over her for a few moments. She was beautiful. He could see why Osiris had chosen her to be his host.

"Okay let's get to work people," he said to his medical staff and they hurried to set up the medical transporter and a stasis capsule in which to transport the symbiote since it would die without a host. Putting Osiris in stasis would prevent that - and also render the Goa'uld harmless and prevent it from taking a member of the crew as a host.

"We're ready doctor," one of the orderlies called.

"Initiate transport." Light shimmered and the Goa'uld appeared inside the stasis capsule. Simon gasped as he saw the Goa'uld's natural snake-like form. It was disgusting. After a moment he returned his attention to the sleeping host Sarah Gardner.

Quickly he disengaged the restraining field and brought up the diagnostic console. The scanners confirmed what he'd suspected - the woman was addicted to some kind of substance. Fortunately such physical addictions were easy to cure. It would be up to Councillor Dalara to see to the psychological compulsion and to the damage Sarah Gardner had sustained while a host. Simon guessed that Dalara was going to be busy dealing with her problems and he didn't envy Dalara's task.

As Dalara had pointed out earlier being taken over by a Goa'uld was as bad as being assimilated by the Borg. The psychological damage of the experience would be massive; he still remembered what Captain Picard had gone through back on the Enterprise after being rescued from the Borg having been transformed into Locutus by the Borg Queen. He knew because he'd been there, he'd been a medical technician on the Enterprise at the time.

No he did not envy the task Dalara would have with Sarah Gardner. He did not envy him one bit.