A/N: Chap 27 review responses are in my forums. And now: Part IV, and with it a time jump. As their empire grows, the POVs will by necessity include other characters. Sometimes the daily life of emperors and empresses is not exciting at all.
Part IV: The Empire of Kheb
Chapter Twenty-Eight: An Open Mind
"Daniel, is something troubling you?"
Sixteen-year-old Daniel Jackson blinked himself out of his distraction and looked into the soft, kind eyes of Professor Omac.
Omac was the only human Daniel had ever seen with hair more red than his mother's. Claire Jackson's hair was more of auburn, but Omac's hair was a bright red. Of course, it was also rapidly receding toward the back of his head and graying at the temple, but his well-trimmed goatee gave mute evidence the odd color was natural.
No one even knew for sure where Professor Omac came from. He just walked through the gate with a resupply train from their outposts on Farber and within a week was teaching at the newly established Finishing School where Daniel and a quarter of the rest of the students age sixteen or older went if their grades in secondary were high enough.
"You're very distracted," Omac spoke again, once more shattering Daniel's train of thought. "I'm not sure you heard anything in class today."
Daniel may have been distracted, but he was smart enough to hide it. Dutifully, he summarized the lesson, which was on the First Convergence of the Five Races, an event that occurred while humanity was still swinging around in trees in the savannahs of Africa and the Goa'uld slithering in a pond somewhere. The fact Omac knew the history was, itself, astonishing and largely why he was now the Professor Emeritus of the Finishing School, teaching sciences and history.
Omac smiled; like everything, it was a knowing smile of wry amusement couched in what Daniel could only describe as wisdom. In some ways, he reminded Daniel of his Auntie Luna. He looked around and realized the small class was empty—there were only twenty students to begin with, but all were already gone. The school day was over, and yet here he sat.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
That was another thing about Omac—he could read Daniel like a book. The fact is the teen did want to talk about it, so bad he was full to bursting with the need. "Mother said I shouldn't," he said. It wasn't an excuse, so much as a plea for understanding. And, perhaps, a plea for permission.
"Dr. Jackson is an extraordinary woman," Omac said. Daniel heard admiration in the voice, but no sign of the desire he sometimes heard from other men. He knew his mother was still a very attractive woman. "Both your parents are. And I have it on good authority that all three of your siblings will be coming to this school after you, given their grades. I've heard it said the best measure of a parent is in the success of their children. By that measure, they are successful parents indeed."
"But…" Daniel included the word he sensed should have finished Omac's statement.
Omac nodded as he calmly stepped around the rows of desks so that he could sit facing Daniel at eye-level. "But, they are human. And by definition, imperfect. I know beyond doubt that they love you and want what is best for you, but there are things they are deeply uncomfortable with here. I know they have discussed a desire to return to their home world."
Daniel blinked, surprised. "They admitted it to you?"
That wise old smile again. "I've been told I am a good listener."
Daniel couldn't help but snort. "I think they're scared of Auntie…I mean, the Imperial Family."
"You were going to say Auntie Hermione?"
Daniel shrugged. "I grew up around them, so sometimes when they're not acting as the Emperor and Empresses, it's easy to forget who they are."
"But not for your parents."
"No," Daniel admitted. "I've heard the legends, about what they did on Erid to the old cult of Anshur. I even interviewed Governor Arda last year for the secondary school newsreel on the Fifth Anniversary. But Dad, he saw it. I mean, he wasn't there during the fight, but he went over as part of the engineering team to help with repairs just days after, and he saw it. He heard the people talking. There were paintings of Auntie Hermione all over and the people there were worshipping her as their patron goddess, and Harry as the One True God, almost like the Christian faith on our home world, and it…it really freaked them out, because Hermione never tried to stop it."
Omac nodded. "What do you think?"
Daniel looked away from the older man and stared out the window toward the woods. On the far side, beyond his sight, he knew his house waited for him, with his brother and two sisters. By now, Mother and Dad would both be home because the next day was a weekend. "I asked Auntie Hermione about it, once. She said the only thing more dangerous than starting a religion is trying to stop it. I think it scared her a little, too." Daniel looked back to Omac. "Do you think they're gods? Divine, I mean?"
Omac shrugged. "I suppose it would depend on the definition you used for divinity. Two of the Five Great races still live and occasionally interacts with the broader galaxy."
"The Nox and Asgard."
"Correct. I have seen Nox let themselves be killed by Goa'uld rather than fight back. And then, after the Goa'uld leave, the dead Nox are revived without issue. They can activate gates with a wave of their hand and move through even the most advanced shielding without effort. As far as I know, they do not die, or at least, I've not heard of one dying in my lifetime. Does this make them gods?"
"The Mal Jaffa or Eridu would think so."
"Then, to the Mal Jaffa and Eridians, the Imperial Family are gods," Omac said. "The question you must ask yourself is whether you believe they are gods."
"I…I think my parents are afraid of that answer." Daniel stared down at his tablet, whose home screen was crowded with digital doodles. "I mean, we've been here almost fourteen years. I can remember sleeping in caves. Our first house had no electricity or appliances or plumbing, and I was ten before we moved out of it. The whole Empire is changing so fast, and it's because of the Imperial Family." He lifted his tablet. "Most of the parents of my friends in school don't even know how to read, much less what a tablet is. And it's because of them. I've seen them do impossible things, and yet they only look a few years older than I am. They're not aging. And they know things that they shouldn't. Auntie Luna knew about that mine cave-in on Kalhu before it even happened. How?"
Omac shrugged, not bothering to hazard a guess. However, he was watching Daniel very carefully. "Daniel, have you…sensed something that hasn't happened yet?"
"What? No! Of course not!" Daniel looked down at his school-issued tablet while Omac simply sat at the desk in front of him. "Well, maybe."
"What?"
"When I was nine, I knew mother was pregnant with my little sister Karen before she did. I told everyone we were going to have another sister, but mother was furious because she hadn't missed her…you know…and didn't know she was pregnant yet. When she found out, she seemed really upset with me for months. And then last year, I had a really bad feeling about one of the new kids in Secondary who immigrated from Aspiracus. Just a feeling like he was dirty or something. Two months later, we found out he was pushing nishta to the other kids and funneling the money back to that big drug gang on Aspiracus that's been giving everyone so much trouble."
Omac nodded as if the revelation did not surprise him. "And most recently?"
Daniel looked up at Professor and felt the dam breaking. "Mother said I shouldn't ever talk about it."
"Because she is human, and therefore imperfect," Omac pointed out. "She fears those things that are beyond her experience. But you were raised around beings who themselves exist beyond that experience, and so what is beyond her ability to understand is fully within your grasp."
It made so much sense. Daniel heard stories from his mother about flying in the air through a big city on Earth, and how she felt like she was being saved by a super hero. But he also knew her perception changed over the years as the people around her viewed Harry and his wives less as superheroes and more as gods. And their power, Daniel knew, now terrified her. He began to suspect she was terrified it might spread to those she loved, as well.
"I've had a really bad feeling the past few days," Daniel finally admitted. "I had a nightmare. Mother was crying for me, reaching for me. But I couldn't get to her, no matter how I tried. She was holding my littlest sister Karen and my brother Michael, but she was screaming for me and I couldn't reach her. Dad was there too, but not my sister Catherine, for some reason. And then everything just turned white. And that's when it ends."
"A dream?"
Daniel wiped his eyes, surprised to find a tear running down his cheek. "No. It happens all the time, now. I'm sorry, I know it sounds crazy, but…"
He stopped when he saw Omac tapping a communicate on the back of his wrist. "Directory," a curt voice said.
"This is Omac. I need to speak to one of the Tripartite. It is urgent."
"What…?" Daniel began.
"Acknowledge, patching through. There will be a brief wait."
"Thank you." He looked back to Daniel. "Divination is a projection of probabilities. Those of great enough intuition can often detect those projections subconsciously. Others, like your Auntie Luna, can actually control her perception consciously. It is a power, to be sure, but one that I have seen before. What you are describing is very similar to what your Auntie experiences."
"Omac?" It was Hermione answering, Daniel could tell. He tried not to think why a professor at his finishing school would have direct contact to one of the three most important people in an empire of three worlds and half a billion people.
"Hermione," the professor said, "I am with young Daniel Jackson. He has been experiencing intense visions involving his family being taken away from him. He has been having them during waking hours."
She didn't question or challenge. Instead: "Someone will be there shortly."
Despite the warning, Daniel jumped when Auntie Luna appeared mere seconds later with a pop. She was dressed casually—loose Byrsa-style dark green pantaloons and a tight yellow bodice. Omac didn't jump at all, the younger man noticed with envy.
Sometimes, when he wasn't careful, Daniel forgot that Luna was almost the same age as his mother. He didn't know for sure how old, but when he saw her he didn't see the Vice Empress or a powerful, divine being. He saw a really pretty girl who only looked a few years older than him that made him tingle in places he didn't want to think about around people who could read his mind and legally kill him.
He stood as she walked over, and thus allowed her to make his confused feelings worse by wrapping him in a hug tight enough that he could feel the shape of her breasts through the multiple layers of clothing that separated their skin.
Sometimes, Daniel thought, it was hard being a boy.
She separated immediately though and, holding his shoulders, studied him at arm's length. "Daniel, I want you to think about your vision, okay? I'm going to view it with you in your mind, but nothing else, I promise."
"Oh…okay." It was easy to bring the vision to the forefront of his mind because that's where it always seemed to be. He could somehow feel her, though, as she slipped lightly into his thoughts. The sensation was difficult to describe—a vague feeling of the feminine, as if he were enveloped in her floral scent and the warmth he felt emanating so powerfully from her body—a warmth that could make the air shimmer in winter.
And then it was over. "Oh, Daniel," she whispered.
The tears in her eyes felt like a punch to his stomach. "What?"
"It's…oh, how I wish Claire would have trusted us with you."
"But…Auntie Luna, what…?"
Suddenly, in the distance, Daniel heard a loud, reverberating thump. The windows suddenly shook in their panes and beyond he could see trees bowing down. Sirens began blaring all across the city of Byrsa, the capital of the planet Kalmah and the Empire of Kheb. Daniel rushed to the window and saw a billow of flame just visible over the trees in the distance. A single Goa'uld al'kesh flew around in circles, dropping plasma charges.
Just as Daniel reached the window, though, he saw a pair of sleek defense fighters swoop in and begin firing on the craft. The Al'kesh was obviously shielded, but the shields collapsed after only a few shots from the smaller craft, and in seconds began spiraling out of the air.
"No," Daniel whispered. "Mother!"
He tore out of the room, not hearing Luna or Omac's cries for him to stop. However, he wasn't even to the entrance of the school when Luna popped in front of him. Rather than try to stop him, though, she merely grabbed him, and a second later the world twisted around them violently. When it untwisted, he stumbled forward and stared in shock at the shattered remnants of his house.
Nor was his house even the worst off. The plasma charge looked as if it actually struck the Chittani house next to them. But the explosion was so powered it obliterated the northern half of the Jackson home as well, leaving only the bedroom side of the house. The kitchen, dining and living rooms and his parent's bedrooms were utterly gone, though.
"Mother!" he screamed. "Mother!"
He started to run toward the building when suddenly Hermione was there, right in front of him. She wrapped him in a tight hug as he struggled to get to the still burning structure. "Mother!"
He couldn't remember everything that happened after that until a sharp, stinging slap broke through the wall of grief. Hermione stood looking at him, her face wracked with grief. "Daniel, stop and listen!" she said, shouting over the sound of approaching sirens. "Listen, Daniel! Was anyone missing from your vision? Who was missing?"
Daniel's brain tried to process her words, but everything felt sluggish, as if he were trying to wade through amber. Who was missing from your vision? Hermione's voice echoed in his head.
"Cathy," he whispered. "Catherine."
Can you hear her, Daniel? She's calling for you. Can you hear her?
Daniel frowned as he pushed past the sluggishness to strain with every sense he had for his sister. And somehow, though he couldn't understand how, he could hear her calling faintly—weakly—for mother to come help her.
"She's hurt," he whispered. This time, Hermione didn't try to stop him as he ran toward the house. In fact, he could hear her and Luna behind him as he ran over burning lumber. Catherine's room was in a far corner—he could see timber from the house blown through the walls like artillery shells. He didn't go through Catherine's door because it wasn't there. The door and the wall that framed it were gone, and the other interior door was most blown inside her room. In fact, all he could see was the broken remnants of the wall covering her room.
But he could hear her, crying for someone to help.
"Where, Daniel?"
He pointed to the broken wall. "There," he said.
Hermione was wearing her kara'kesh. With a wave of her hand and a flare of the jewel's power, the wall disappeared. Sprawled on the floor in a broken heap, covered in blood, ash and soot, lay his eldest sister Catherine. She was not moving at all, much less crying for help.
Luna moved past him until she knelt across from Hermione on either side of the girl. Both began using their magic and the kara'kesh at their wrists to start healing the girl. "Auntie…" Daniel began.
"We couldn't sense her, Daniel," Hermione said absently as she worked. "She was too weak. But you share a sibling bond with her. You saved her, Daniel."
"But…but…"
He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a shaken, pale Catherine Littlefield standing beside him. The woman's hair had gone largely gray, and standing beside him in the ruins of his home, her face looked gray as well. "What happened here?" she said hoarsely, obviously affected by the smoke.
"The drug gang on Farber was looking for revenge for us shutting their network down last year," Hermione explained as she let Luna take over the healing. She stood and stepped to Daniel. "We knew they were going to attack—we had fighters on stand-by. But we didn't know where they would strike first. Not until Daniel's vision revealed it. But it was too late to stop this. I'm so sorry."
"Daniel's vision?" Catherine looked from Hermione to Daniel, but Daniel could only stand in shock, staring down at his eleven-year-old sister as his Auntie Luna fought desperately for her life.
~~Stars Alone~~
~~Stars Alone~~
Daniel, it's time to wake.
Daniel gasped and sat up, looking around desperately for some sign of similarity. However, he found nothing that even reminded him of his room, much less something truly familiar. The walls were made of finely paneled choric wood, stained dark and intricately carved with murals of animals and sunrises over mountains and forests.
The bed was larger than he was used to—he had to scoot over a little to get to the edge, and when he did, he discovered he was wearing only a loose pajama bottom secured with nothing but a string tie. Overhead, a domed ceiling shown with a mural of the galaxy in brilliant detail. He stood on shaky legs and saw the only other furnishings in the room—a simple, padded wooden chair with a set of clothes draped over the back, with fine leather boots on the floor in front of it.
Dressed, Daniel left the room and blinked when he saw Colonel Tel'gat standing right outside of his door, her dark olive uniform perfectly tailored and pressed. "Good morning, Mr. Jackson," she said with a friendly enough nod. "I'm to take you to Parliament."
Daniel blinked. "Er, what? Why?"
For an answer, he received a half-smile. "This way, Daniel."
Tel'gat could be very imposing when she wanted to be. He attributed it to her years in the military. She also walked very fast—he had to jog a little just to keep up with her stride, despite the fact he was almost as tall as she was. "Do you know where my sister is?" he asked.
"She's in the Medical Center," Tel'gat said. "She's expected to make a full recovery and will probably be released in a day or to."
"Released to whom?" Daniel asked. "I mean…" He stopped walking as the full import of the previous day's events hit him with visceral force. Tears welled in his eyes and his stomach clenched so hard he felt sure he would throw up.
He looked up through his tears when he felt an arm around his shoulder, and was surprised when he saw the colonel holding him tenderly. "Breathe," she ordered firmly.
He managed to suck in a ragged breath. "They…my parents…they're…."
"I know," she said simply. She began to guide him forward, arm around his shoulders, until they arrived at a set of stairs. Still holding him, she guided the shaking teen up several narrow flights until they emerged onto a small balcony that overlooked the Parliament of Kheb—the legislative body of the Empire.
The space looked much larger than the needs of the few who occupied it. Daniel knew from his studies that there were two separate houses within the Parliament. The House of Ministers was comprised of one individual of each member world. Since there were only three, they did not have their own chamber, but rather sat with the House of Representatives, whose members were also chosen by their worlds, but whose numbers were dictated by population.
Of the three worlds, Erid had the most representatives at the moment, but Kalmah's numbers were fast rising. Kalhu remained largely a mining world, and so only one Representative served as the voice of its people.
That made a whopping total of twelve men and women to decide the laws of the Empire, debating in a room that appeared made to house hundreds.
At the head of the room, behind a simple wooden table, sat the Akai'kheb and his first wife, Hermione. A third chair for Luna sat empty. Neither said anything as representatives from Erid and Kalmah argued. Daniel sniffed and tried to listen despite his emotional turmoil, because he heard the names "Aspiracus" and "Farber."
He sank weakly into a cushioned chair that Tel'gat showed him and realized that the parliamentarians were discussing invading the two trading worlds. Some wanted to do it to gain control of the trade, while those opposed pointed out that doing so would bring undo attention from the many Goa'uld spies that lived there.
His attention drifted when he felt a familiar warmth nearby. Blinking back tears, he turned and saw Luna sitting beside him, as if she'd been there all along. She studied him with her silver-gray eyes and in her smile he saw sadness and compassion. She took his hand, but didn't say anything. Instead, she simply turned and watched the proceedings.
After a few moments of listening to the debate, she spoke. "The Eridu now comprise almost half our armed forces. They are eager to fight, regardless of the consequences."
Daniel didn't know that, but it suddenly made sense that they would be arguing for invasion. "And the Kalmah representatives?"
"They are Byrsa, all of them, and do not believe in imposing their wills on other people. You're looking at the future of the political landscape of the Empire—passives and militants. It will be an interesting challenge balancing the two."
"What will we do?"
"Invade, of course," Luna said simply. "The drug ring is Goa'uld in origin. The Goa'uld have been trying to locate our base of operations for the past five years and introduced nishta as a means of trying to track how extensive our power is. Unfortunately, a great deal of it made its way to Hebridan. Our intelligence suggests the Goa'uld may consider Hebridan the source of our power, and if that happens they will attack in force."
"Will we fight?"
"We have to; we have a mutual defense treaty with Hebridan," Luna said. She spoke distantly as she watched, as if only half-paying attention. But she continued to hold his hand. "And they have declared the Nishta drug trafficking a planetary threat."
"Auntie…" Daniel swallowed in a suddenly dry throat. "What's going to happen to Catherine and me?"
She turned and studied him with an intensity that made him blush. It felt as if two spotlights were shining on his skin, though he knew it was only her silver-blue eyes. "You and Cathy are old enough to make your own decisions. You have two choices as far as I can see. We've known for some time now that you had potential that no one else in this galaxy has, at least not that we've found yet. We would have started training you earlier, but your mother forbade it. That's why her passing hurt us so badly—if she'd let us train you, she would not have died. You would have been able to predict the attack more precisely than we could, and we could have stopped it sooner."
"I don't understand…"
"One of your choices, Daniel, is to stay with us. With Hermione, Harry and I personally. We would adopt you and name you an heir for the empire. Don't get too excited by that—we're immortal. But you and your sister Catherine are the first people besides ourselves we've encountered who are Force Sensitive, and that is a gift we don't wish to squander. Making you our heirs will give us the freedom to train you, and free both of you from the shackles of public education."
"What about…what's our other choice?"
Her smile dulled as if with sadness. "Catherine and Ernest Littlefield. They've asked to take you and your sister. Hermione and I know that they've become the grandparents you don't have, and they both loved you and your family as their own. I think they would be good guardians for you, and love you very much, but they could not train you to control your growing power."
Daniel felt a headache coming on. "You keep talking about power, but I don't even know what that means."
"Then let me tell you about the Force." She spoke softly while below, a motion was made to vote on military intervention on the two primary trade posts the Empire had dealings with. He was so lost in her story he completely missed the Akai'kheb's nod when the Parliament finally voted to invade.
