Flames from the braziers licked the air. He smiled, watching the shadows play against the light, giving the room a sense of pageantry worthy of his status. It was a subtle silent reminder that he was to be as feared as he was loved. Thousands of years of ruling, of being a god, entitled him to this. It was more than simply declaring yourself to be so, it required strategies and a flair for dramatics. Being a god wasn't about subjugating the humans. He took care of them. Protected them. Ensured that they were given what they needed in order to provide him with what he needed in return. If they felt a sense of worship in return, it was only natural.
His eyes opened as he heard his Jaffa guards approach in the hallway, the scraping sound accompanying them alerting him that they brought the prisoner as requested.
Requested? Demanded. He did not need to make requests of his own guards.
The trio approached and the face of his prisoner was awash in the light of the flames. Apophis. Shadows made the lines etched on his face deeper. He looked broken. Used. Empty. "Please have mercy," the prisoner pleaded, his resonating voice that once commanded countless troops as unsteady as his legs. "I beg you."
The prisoner knew nothing of begging. He knew nothing of pain. He did not deserve mercy.
He raised his hand, a ribbon device activating. A glowing beam shot forth, gold and white boring into Apophis' forehead, rendering him unable to even scream out.
It wasn't good enough. There wasn't enough pain. His enemy deserved worse, far worse, for the destruction and heartbreak he'd left in his path. He pushed for more, taxing the device to maximum output.
As Daniel felt the power flow through him and seep the life away from his enemy, he felt unfulfilled. He felt old wounds rip back open just as he ripped them open into his target.
And then he awoke.
Some nights like this one he would dream of Apophis. Of extracting revenge on him. Of feeling his life slip away, listening to him beg for mercy he never showed and did not deserve. He would feel a sense of power, knowing he could easily take his place among the System Lords and undermine them from within.
But...
Some nights he would dream of Sha're. He would remember the quiet, simple life he lived on Abydos. It was a harder life in many ways, lacking any sort of convenience, but there was an earnest honesty to it that he found himself longing for, especially after the past year of politics and contracts and project management. But the thing he missed the most of those days on Abydos was that he never had to wake up alone. A glance at the empty side of the bed, sheets cool from lack of use, and he felt a lurch in his heart.
He had been doing this the past year to keep anyone else from ever having to feel this pain, this loneliness. Even his own former team didn't understand. Sam had pulled away months ago, not just from him but from Shifu as well. As eager as she was to be an aunt to Cassie, it seemed two alien children were too taxing on her. Not that it mattered. Soon the system would be online and he could devote his attention and time to Shifu as he had intended all along. He would raise the boy to be strong and merciless- no. Strong and caring. Like his mother had been. Like his beautiful Sha're.
Jack was long gone. Daniel stopped trying to reach out. He'd officially retired once again. It really was up to Daniel alone to carry on the drive and determination and mission of SG-1. He resorted to his old tactics of pulling an invisible cloak of steel around himself to keep him from being hurt again by those around him. The past few years had been a nice respite and it had felt good to have a family, but he didn't need one. Not anymore. He'd do everything in his power to protect them, but he didn't need them.
As he padded barefoot across the room to head downstairs to get coffee, he heard something outside. A glance out the window showed it was one Major Samantha Carter at the gate's security checkpoint. She pulled out her credentials and was waved through. He frowned to himself. She'd been gone for months, ever since their last argument over the project. Her showing up again as they were doing the final tests of the system couldn't be mere coincidence. He shoved his feet into slippers, tugged on his robe and swept into the hall where he was greeted by his assistant.
"Good morning, Doctor Jackson," she chirped in that annoyingly perky way only morning people and the young could pull off. She handed him his daily agenda. "The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is already waiting for your 0900 briefing. You also have a message from Carl Smith at NASA regarding the AG's disbursement mechanism."
He flipped open the folder and scanned the overview page. "Are they on schedule yet?" He'd had to allocate seventeen percent more resources to the launch than originally planned as NASA's engineers found themselves less than capable of adapting their existing tech to the Goa'uld design. The network was built and ready to go once a final test was signed off on, but they still had no valid way to get it into space. It was irritating being so close to feeling safe yet being unable to achieve it. He frowned deeper as she responded in the negative. "Unbelievable."
Staff hurried around them as the descended to the main floor, everyone doing their best to look busier than normal upon spotting Daniel. His mere presence caused them to double-time. "And," his assistant continued uncertainly, "Major Carter is here to see you." She hadn't been there when it happened, but she had heard all too many times about the fight between her new boss and the Major. She wasn't sure if the tale had grown with retellings or if it was based in fact. She had yet to see him lose his temper, but he carried himself like someone who wasn't used to being denied anything and would be rather determined to get his way.
He was a genius, that was easy to see. The way he slipped effortlessly from one language to the next on conference calls, the diagrams she'd seen of the security network he had designed and just the wording he used all pointed to the mind of a genius. She'd looked into him when she accepted the job several weeks prior. Aside from the fact that he'd disappeared around six years prior after being professionally ruined, he had an impressive track record. To have one Ph.D. after your name by his age was impressive, let alone more than one. And if he'd been working on this ultra-classified network for years, it's no wonder he'd dropped off the face of academia. Now he tore his attention between completion of this project and the strange young boy he'd taken in from some monastery or other. It was amazing to her that he'd had as much time as he had previously for friendships, professional or otherwise. But by all accounts, he and Major Carter had been incredibly close. Some even suspected them of being more than friends, though she had never gotten that feeling. Maybe because she had seen him in the aftermath of a dream about his murdered wife that he clearly still mourned. She wouldn't even know that much if she hadn't been clued in by other staff. Information on Daniel Jackson or his life was preciously hard to come by even on the dark web. One of the techs had run a full scan, finding bits of information that he passed on in a whisper over lunch. He was gone the next day. She still had no idea where he'd been sent.
"Send her away," Daniel mumbled, voice still heavy with sleep and regret. He paused at the bottom of the stairs before adding, "And find out why she still has a valid security pass."
She nodded and may have spoken, but Daniel was already turning down the hallway, as oblivious to her as he was to the others who greeted him.
Absently he moved a finger to push up the thin metal frame of his glasses out of habit, but found nothing there. Then he remembered, he hadn't worn glasses in months. He was in better physical shape than ever, even though he only slept a few hours a night and hardly ate. Apparently most habits died hard.
He swept into the kitchen, single mindedly focused on how to bypass the mechanism that NASA was having such a hard time figuring out. Noticing Shifu already at the table and engrossed in a bowl of colorful cereal, he waved the housekeeper off. "I'm not hungry," he mumbled to her.
Shifu put down his spoon and smiled brightly at him. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," he recited chipperly.
"Oma teach you that?" Daniel asked, glancing up and realizing that Shifu was, yet again, in his robes. He thought he'd told them to find more appropriate clothing in the kid's size. After a year, he should have adapted better to life on Earth.
Or maybe in some ways he'd adapted too well. "Television!" he responded with a large grin.
Daniel finished pouring his coffee. "Glad I've been such a positive influence."
He'd barely put the carafe back down when a shout of his name echoed through the hallway, followed by the sound of running feet. Sam lurched into the room, yanked back by the pair of security guards that had caught up to her. His assistant trailed along behind. "I'm sorry, she insisted."
Daniel waved off the worried girl. "It's okay," he said, willing to let this slide. He knew Sam and how resolute she could be, how determined in getting her way. He wasn't surprised she'd slipped through security and had half expected it to happen.
The security guards lowered their weapons and she jerked herself free of their grip. "You can't seriously think you're going to get away with this," she hissed.
"What are you talking about, Sam?"
"What you're doing. What you've got planned!" Sam watched him as he looked away, unsure if he wasn't willing to meet her eyes because he was ashamed or because he was lying.
Once she wouldn't have had to wonder. Once he never would have kept anything from her, even if he had been ashamed. But this was long past those days. "That's why you had me removed from the project," she continued. "You knew I'd figure it out eventually."
Daniel frowned, his expression sad. "I relieved you of your responsibilities because you were starting to crack under the pressure. You seem to have lost all perspective." She choked back a laugh. "Quite frankly, I think your jealousy finally got the best of you."
Sam stared at him. "Jealousy?! I'll tell you why it's hard to maintain perspective, Daniel," she spit out. "Strategic division of labor. All in an effort to stop anyone from seeing the big picture."
Well of course. That was the whole idea of strategic division of labor. Sam had known that from the first moment when he broke it down in the SGC briefing room. It was stupid to think he had to sit here and waste his time being barked at by a former coworker that he'd already fired. It would be so easy to, with merely a wave of his hand, have her dragged out.
An image flashed in his mind of her mouth and eyes burning with the overflow of power from a pain stick applied to the back of her neck. He could hear the throaty cry, feel the crackle of power as it pulsed through her and lit her nerves on fire.
She had no idea how lucky she was that he kept a firm grasp on his control, mostly out of respect for their former friendship.
He quickly looked away, feeling a surge of bile in the back of his throat as he looked at her face. She did love to tax his patience.
"What exactly do you think you've figured out, Sam?"
Her blue eyes were icy as they locked onto his face. "You know damn well what I'm talking about," she spit at him before turning to Shifu. "What have you done to him?"
Daniel felt a surge of anger rise in him as she accused Shifu. "You leave him out of this."
Who did she think she was, bursting in and accusing him of who knows what, then accusing his own son of changing him? Of course he'd changed. He was a father now. He had spent the past year weighed down with not just the need to protect one child but the entire planet. At one point he would have thought Sam of all people would have understood.
"Can't you see what you've become?"
He let out a slightly ragged breath. He was sorry it had come to this. "I didn't change, Sam. You did."
She jerked forward and the two members of his security detail grabbed onto her. "You can't stop me from telling people what's really going on! They'll listen!" she said, voice getting louder as she was dragged away. "You'll never get away with this!"
His assistant watched as Sam was pulled out. There couldn't be any truth to the Major's ramblings. Right? Everyone knew that Daniel Jackson worked harder and longer than anyone to ensure they'd all be safe.
"Is she insane?" she asked to which Daniel responded with a slight nod.
As Shifu glanced at him, Daniel had the strange sensation that the boy was judging him.
