Title: Kur
Author: JayBee-Bug
Chapter 29 - All Good Things
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The next few weeks were pretty busy for Daniel Jackson. Just about everyone in the SGC was incredibly suspicious of his claim that the horses of 3PX-4Y1 were sentient beings capable of actual communication that was more than simply the natives' imagination. Eventually he got through to them, though. Celesal and her horse Sojourn worked with him until he had a rough understanding of horsespeak, and that helped things enormously. It was a curious sight to see everyone crowded around the meeting table, including the horses of Kur, calmly debating the fate of their world. Eventually, though, the group reached a census on what was to be done.
When SG-1 returned to the planet Kur, the K'laul confronted them immediately. It hadn't taken the elites long to discover the smoldering remains of Webwalker and arouse their suspicions, and not long after that to conclude there was a native of the village smuggled back through the Stargate, the troublemaking Celesal and her Chaperones. Suffice it to say, the K'laul weren't pleased at this turn of events. The SGC had skilled diplomats, however, and they explained their terms. They were quite honest and open, explaining SG-1's accidental run-in with the poisonous rodent, and their emergency trip to the nearby village. The request of the villagers to receive adequate representation and consideration before the SGC made its decision was something they could not ignore, of course. So they simply wished the peons to be involved in the litigations, and request they be brought to the next meeting. The K'laul were reluctant and indignant, but eventually agreed. It was a calculated move on their part in order to prove the charges made by the peons as false, and expose the true nature of their pheasants as weak, fearful and superstitious. The SGC knew this. They were in for a complex game of diplomacy.
The SGC made a genuine offer to give the K'laul knowledge of 'Gate travel, but there were conditions attached to this trade. Fanning all their cards on the table, the Earthlings told the K'laul the truth about the Goa'uld, the terrible danger the race of aliens posed to the universe. The K'laul could have 'Gate travel, but they had to promise not to ally with the Goa'uld if they did, because it would mean certain disaster for their world, and for many others if they did. They also had to resolve their grievances with their people. The simple fact was that large portions of the peon population were very unhappy with how the K'laul were running things and the SGC wasn't going to tip the balance of power any further until the K'laul made some agreements and compromises with its people.
The Eight Apexes on the Governing Board were divided over the issues, and the Earthling's offer effectively splintered the people of Betluh into differing factions. Some of the Apexes were very cooperative and wanted to work with the SGC on their terms. A few Apexes had been harboring a deep reverence for the Goa'uld Founders that they could not let go of, and became furious at the claims made by the Earthlings. They became convinced that Earth was simply a rivaling planet trying to snuff out Kur's brilliant achievements and attempts to reach their Founders with their impressive technology and advancements. They wouldn't let Earth trick them like that and willingly allow the Earthlings to nullify their competition! Other Apexes were simply undecided, sitting on the fence.
Events took place at a rapid pace soon afterwards. It all happened so suddenly. The K'laul could not rectify the divide in their Board and their city, and further attempts at debate only impassioned the members further and served to split them more completely. A group loyal to the concept of the Goa'uld Founders took up arms and threatened to start killing the peons if their demands were not met. Those who cooperated with the Earthlings tried to control the rogue faction, but failed-- the fence-sitters didn't do much of anything. The situation rapidly escalated into a very dangerous and confused melee.
That was when SG-1 approached the second Apex, Kiara, and explained a possibility for resolving the mess. The idea was difficult to swallow, even for someone sympathetic to the needs of the poor pheasants and the hazards of the Goa'uld. What they were asking her to do was literally salt her own fields and destroy all traces of the Jerr plant and its Rixi counterpart. Cutting off the energy supply would render the rogues helpless, putting everyone in the same boat. No blood had to be spilled. But the desert would be destroyed. The precious jerra that SG-1 had spent all this time pursuing, eradicated, and while that may have made Kur safer in that the Goa'uld would never be able to get their hands on it, it removed any possibility of using the material for protection technology either. It was not a popular notion to the members of the SGC or most of the scientists of Kur. The pheasants however largely applauded this idea, which wasn't too terribly surprising considering they were frightened from threats of murder and mayhem and held strong beliefs that the desert was inherently evil.
In the end, they had to act quickly when Quarlen and her rouges made a move and it was clear they were intent on making good on their threat. The fields were salted with the HTQ mixture and the short-term stores of jerra were infiltrated. It was only possible when they were able to convince Talsur, who had been a fence-sitter, that it was necessary to make such a move. She gave up in a sort of weary way. Celesal and her other followers were the ones in the end that managed to convince the Governing Board Apex of her choice.
Daniel didn't have a typical job. At the end of the day, it was hard to know when it was time to clock out. On half the missions he had been on, he wasn't certain whether the SGC was doing more harm than good during their explorations of the galaxy. Should they call it a good day when everyone came back in one piece? Or did a good day require something more substantial-- if so, than what? New enemies were made just as quickly as new friends, and what was an enemy one day could just as easily become a friend tomorrow, or visa versa, depending on the fluctuating motivations and goals of various races across the galaxy. New technology was discovered and destroyed; progress was made three steps forward and two steps back. Being so close to things, Daniel had a hard time seeing the larger picture, whether what he doing . . . really mattered. What did it all add up to in the end? He couldn't always tell, and that was rather unsettling at times.
In this case, what could they count as a gain and what did they count as a loss? They lost the jerra and its naquadria. Yet they gained a whole planet with a huge deposit of naquadah they could mine. While a few pieces of the precious orange seeds did survive, and work was being made to study them and perhaps one day be able to grow the jerra plants under controlled conditions, it seemed unlikely the plant would ever live again. The Rixi were gone, eventually extinct, and without them, could the Jerr survive? Without the precise conditions of the soil and atmosphere, would the plant grow? Perhaps the jerra could be studied and used in a different way without growing the plants. Maybe some day they could produce naquadria in the lab, like the K'laul had been trying to do. It remained a mystery for now, another conundrum to send to Area 51 for study and research, to add to their shelves.
And what about the human aspect of it all? What was a loss and what was a gain? SG-1 interfered with the planet's culture the moment they stepped through the gate into their world and made the first footsteps in the orange sand. Was it for better or worse? They tipped the balance of power first in the K'laul's favor, and then swung the other way, stripping a whole population of scientists of their tools and inventions. It must have felt like an enormous kickback into the dark ages for many of them. Yet for others it was enlightenment and SG-1 was their messiah, who ended the cruel wrath of the K'laul. While much of the K'laul's technology was rendered permanently worthless by the eradication of naquadria-- it was hopelessly dependant on that fuel source and could not function practically without it-- not all of it was lost. The Earthling scientists were able to adapt some K'laul technology.
Generally speaking there was much confusion and friction as the various factions of people attempted to recombine in their world-- as the scientists of Kur tried to come home. There were mixed reactions, of course. Sometimes they were welcomed with open arms. Other times they were marginalized and ostracized. The scientists either isolated themselves from what they considered heathen peons or they assimilated back into the culture and offered their skills to do what they could. It wasn't easy, or clear-cut, but the SGC continued to try and offer what help they could in smoothing things along. Overall, however, they re-assimilated better than Daniel had ever expected or hoped. He had been entirely convinced it would remain a social problem for generations to come, considering Earth history. Yet it would seem the Kurvians and their situation was different. The new generation of youngsters appeared to offer a lot of hope for the drastically altered culture. At least it appeared so, as only time would tell how things would develop and end up.
Daniel Jackson let out a long, slow sigh as he trumped through his apartment door and dropped his keys in the basket near the door. He tossed his jacket on the couch and grumbled as he checked the time on his watch. He had been coming home far too late these days for his liking. It had been a long day at work. Heck, it had been more than that. It had been a long week-- a long month-- a long freakin' year. It just all compiled, like a trash compactor, adding more and more to the pile, weighing him down. God, did he look forward to getting into bed right now, it was flat out ridiculous.
Not quite time for bed yet though. Daniel kicked off his shoes and walked into the dim kitchen. He rummaged through the fridge and the cabinets searching for stuff to snack on, munching along the way through various random food items-- Ritz crackers, a slice of cheese, a pickle, a glass of milk, some M&M's, a couple slices of bell-pepper, so on . . . his 'dinner' in the Commissary was at 4:00 and wasn't very filling but it was too late to have a proper meal now. Oh. There was some leftover pizza. He reached in the card-board box hopefully and snatched a small piece, eating it cold.
"Mmmfl," he murmured through the pizza slice as his eye caught the blinking red light next to the phone. He pressed the button to play the message.
Beeeep . . . Hi, guys. Ah, I've been trying to reach you at your home phone, Daniel, and thought I'd probably have better luck here. I just wanted to double-check and make sure we're still on for next weekend, the overly ambitious hiking excursion?
Daniel smirked and chewed on the pizza crust and drank some water out of the tap.
Right. That one. You can drag the Colonel along too, I guess, if you're at all able to convince him of such a thing. [laughing] I wasn't able to, but I know you're a very compelling argumentist when you want to be.
"That's not a word, Sam," Daniel murmured as he gazed through the remains of the fridge, as if still looking for one more thing he wanted to eat.
Especially with him. [chuckle] Anyway, I better go, and hey, don't worry about coming in tomorrow, okay? I know we've been a little short-handed lately but that does NOT mean you have to take time off of your rightfully earned weekend to catch up. I'm serious, Daniel. That's my job, okay?
Daniel laughed out loud.
Seriously. I see you here tomorrow I'm gonna kick your ass, that's a promise . . . all right, I'll see you later, Daniel. You two boys have fuuuun.
Carter's voice laughed a little more and hung up. Daniel rolled his eyes and grabbed a rather mooshy banana. As he sat on the counter and ate it he pondered a separate dilemma than one from work, one that involved telling his friends about him and Jack. It was readily apparent that Sam was a smart woman and she was at least aware of something going on. It was fairly obvious when Daniel spent more of his time off at Jack's place than his own. Daniel just didn't know how deep or complex of a thing Sam suspected. As for Teal'c, well, to be honest Daniel didn't know Teal'c very well, the Jaffa was a bit of a mystery to him, so he had no idea about Teal'c. He always had planned on Jack talking to Teal'c, anyway, while he got stuck with Sam. It really probably wouldn't be that dramatic when they told them, and it almost seemed silly to keep putting it off. They really should just get it over with.
He'd brought this up with Jack before. The man agreed that it should be done but then he changed subjects. He wasn't quite sure why Jack felt so reluctant-- he'd always been a very private man, of course, but . . . but . . . this was different.
Daniel tossed the banana peel away and hopped off the counter. God, his back hurt. He had to get a better chair for his office. He headed off into the hallway in the direction of 'his' bedroom. It was the guest-bedroom at Jack's place that had become rather permanently infested with Daniel's things. Of course, they liked to play musical beds, so that he wasn't always sleeping here, and he certainly wasn't always alone. But Daniel had come back pretty late . . . Jack had left work hours ago and was probably already in bed by now. He didn't want to wake him or anything.
"Ughn. Where is it?" he murmured as he switched on a lamp on the nightstand. It had been a while since he'd done laundry so his clean clothing stores were wearing a little thin. After a few minutes of hunting he came up triumphant with something semi-clean to wear, found squished at the foot of the bed. He crossed the room into the adjoining half-bath and flicked on the lights.
Blinking in the brightness, he reached across and grabbed his red toothbrush. After a moment he noticed the tell-tale sound of plumbing hissing through the bathroom walls. It was the other bathroom, the shower to be exact. Huh. Jack wasn't in bed quite yet. Daniel squeezed a huge blob of toothpaste on and pondered this as he began brushing. A wicked smile crossed his face during midbrush as he recalled an unfinished scheme of his. But no, it was . . . so late at night, he was tired, and, and . . .
Hmm. He had no good reason not to.
He finished brushing his teeth and then stripped down to nothing. After using the facilities he opened up the bathroom door and paused to listen to the plumbing. Yup, still going. He wandered out of the guest bedroom and crept down the dark hall.
Moonlight spilled through the living-room windows, bathing the room in pale silver light, a few small shafts creeping down the dark hallway of the single-story house. Daniel held his ear flat against the bathroom door and listened carefully for a moment, watching the moonlight shaft that crept along the carpet and crawled up his bare leg. Then he turned the door handle with practiced care, and silently opened the door.
The room was thick with warm steam, Jack had already been in there a while. He could see him through the clear shower curtain, sloshing around carelessly, murmuring some random tune. Slowly he snuck on bare feet across the tile floor, watching the fuzzy figure through foggy plastic, ensuring it did not turn and see him.
"Dappa, doo doo doo . . . . bum bum bum . . . . dum daa dum . . . hmm hmm hmm . . ."
Daniel crouched near the plastic curtain. Jack was standing with the shower-head beating water against his chest while he scrubbed shampoo into his scalp like there was no tomorrow. This was the hard part. He pushed the end of the curtain forward slightly, one centimeter at a time, the metal rings sliding along the shower-curtain rod. Too much and Jack would see out of the corner of his eye for sure. Just enough for Daniel to slip in from behind . . .
With painstaking, obnoxious precision, Daniel lifted one leg and stepped into the shower, and then slowly brought his other leg in. He quietly, casually slid the curtain back into place from behind him with one hand. Jack was rubbing the shampoo into the fur on his chest, lathering it up, and Daniel smiled slowly at having gotten this far. He considered his options for his next move, mind flickering over several possibilities. He opted to just lean in slightly and shout,
"Jack!"
The reaction was priceless-- the poor man let out a strangled, horrified yell and tried to spin around, slipping on the shower floor and crashing backwards, barely catching himself against the opposing shower wall. Shocked brown eyes blinked through the shower stream and the fog until recognition washed over them.
"Fuck, Daniel! What the Hell was that?! You trying to get me killed?!"
Daniel couldn't help but break out laughing. Jack scowled at him and pushed off the wall to stand back up.
"Haa-haa-hee-hee. I could have slipped and broke my neck, you know."
"I would've broken your fall," Daniel offered.
"And broken your neck instead? That's not much better. Get over here," Jack commanded, tugging the man's wrist and pulling him forward, so that he bumped into him and joined him under the spray of the shower.
"I thought you had some stuff to catch up on at work," Jack gazed down at him seriously.
"Yeah. I caught it up already."
"You're fast."
"Maybe I was just motivated," Daniel grinned.
Jack spoke slowly,
"Hrrrmm . . . I'll have to keep this in mind for later dates."
His hands slid down a little and pulled Daniel forward as he leaned down for a casual kiss.
"Mmph," Daniel commented in mid-kiss,
"Missed you. I didn't even realize it while I was working."
Jack trailed lazy kisses on his face and down his neck.
"You're a workaholic. You need to relax more. Have more fun."
Daniel returned the kisses, trying to get Jack's face while his partner was involved with his neck, and ended up landing somewhere near his ear. Oh, that was good enough, actually. He kissed the lobe.
"Yeah. I've been taking lessons on that," Daniel said in a low voice in Jack's ear. He pulled the lobe in between his lips to suckle. Jack's body gave a surprised little jerk in response, and Daniel smiled, Oh, you liked that, huh?
He pulled it in a little deeper to give his full attention. Jack groaned,
"God, Daniel, knock it off. Not the ear."
Daniel released it with a parting nip, to look at Jack's face and ask,
"Why not?"
The water from the shower rolling down Jack's body, his dark eyes so totally infatuated, and his member clearly engorged and rising to the occasion, it was difficult for Daniel to wait for a response. He raised his blond brows expectantly, and with a bit of surprise at the strong reaction.
"Because," Jack growled,
"Last time we had one of our little games in the shower, my knees hurt for a week."
Daniel exhaled in humor.
"Ah, well. It wasn't my fault. I never told you to get in that position."
Jack wrapped a hand firmly around Daniel's jaw and kissed him roughly.
"Just hold off on being adorable for a while, if such a thing's possible. I want to treat you right. With minimal casualties."
Daniel smiled goofily at him.
"What? I'm sorry, Jack, I didn't catch that part."
Jack gave him a little shove.
"Very much in the not funny. Come on, you're in the way of the soap."
Daniel sighed. "Okayyyy . . . . ."
He grabbed the bar of soap and handed it to Jack.
"Nfff," Daniel muttered as his eyes blinked open, his nose squished against the mattress. He twitched and squirmed a little, trying to bring his focus back on reality after the dream world dissolved. A warm body moved and sighed, pulling him deeper into a tight, warm embrace against familiar-smelling flesh. Ah, ok, yeah. Daniel had his bearings back. His mind had been on earlier that night. He had no idea what time it was now. They were in Jack's bedroom with the curtains shut tight.
"Jack, you 'wake?"
Jack mumbled but Daniel wasn't sure what sort of answer it was. Daniel adjusted his position so that he had his head against one of the squishy feather pillows, gazing straight up at the ceiling. Jack's breathing was pretty shallow and steady, he sounded still asleep. It startled Daniel when the man spoke about ten minutes later in a low, sleep-sunken voice.
"What're you thinking 'bout."
Daniel glanced over to make sure Jack was actually semi-conscious and not just sleep-talking. Jack's faint smile told him he was in fact somewhat lucid.
"Mm. I dunno. Just everything that's gone on in the past few weeks."
Jack made a satisfied mumble.
"Yeah, my mind's turned it all into this really nice blur . . ."
Daniel chuckled.
"Yeah, I was thinking of our stuff. But I was also thinking of the other stuff. Kur."
"Oh." Jack gave a big yawn and shuffled a little so he could sit up just slightly and see Daniel better.
"What about them?"
Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. Just . . . what good we did. If any."
He paused to think more, and sighed. "It's hard to tell sometimes."
The bedroom was quiet, soft shadows in dimness and gentle voices in an insulated room.
"Well I've got a way of telling. If you wanna hear it."
Daniel leaned up a little in bed.
"Yeah, yeah, I do."
Jack exhaled and went quiet for a few minutes. Daniel started to wonder if he had dozed off, but then he finally spoke.
"I stopped keeping score years ago. Earth, ten, enemies, four, or whatever. It started to become impossible to make those kinds of measurements. I used to be able to. All my time on Earth, it was a very clear distinction, us vs. them, wins and losses, yadda yadda. It made sense to keep score. But with the Stargate . . ."
He made a helpless gesture.
"All that went out the window, y'know. We bring one bad-guy down and it only made other bad-guys stronger. We try to make friends and we only end up pissing a whole lot of people off. The lines get blurred in the details."
Daniel nodded. "That's exactly what I mean. So how did you deal with that?"
"I stopped counting." He turned and looked at Daniel, and leaned in a little.
"I just focus on the choices as they're made. Did I do what I thought was best at the time. Did my team make it out all right. Did I piss anybody off, and if so, did I try and fix things. Did we get any new toys at all for the scientists to play with back on Earth?"
Daniel smirked a little at this. He thought a while and asked,
"But isn't that ignoring the bigger picture?"
"Not really. It's just looking at it from a different point of view. I guess it's just . . . okay, don't punch me for this . . ."
"What?"
Jack frowned.
"It's just . . . understanding the trees before trying to understand the forest. Instead of trying to figure things out the other way around."
Daniel contemplated this.
"I don't know if that makes any sense at all to you," Jack added.
"No, I think I understand what you're saying."
The two of them were quiet a while.
"I guess I just feel like I especially owe it to that place," Daniel confessed to the ceiling.
Jack sighed and sunk deeper into the pillow. He murmured,
"Yeah, she did save your life. I tried explaining to her how much in debt I was for that, but she didn't understand . . ."
"Actually. . . I wasn't referring to that. But I guess that does add even more to it."
Jack gave him a curious look.
"Then what did you mean?"
Daniel hesitated. "Well. I meant the first time we were there. That planet, it, uh . . . it brought you further into my life."
Jack gave him a soft, ambiguous smile.
"That's true. And I guess it kept you from leaving mine too soon."
"Yeah." Daniel thought for a beat.
"Though if you think about it. It also put me in the danger in the first place, so, from a technical standpoint . . ."
"Daniel?" Jack interrupted.
"Yeah."
"Shut up."
Jack leaned forward and gave him a slow, sweet kiss. Daniel blinked slowly and murmured,
"Yeah, sure . . . um . . . what were we talking about?"
Jack tapped his nose against Daniel's and suddenly commented cheerfully,
"I wanna go on that hiking trip with you and Carter n' Teal'c, the one she mentioned? When did she say it was?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Uh . . . next weekend, yeah. Why?"
"I think it's about time we make some sort of formal announcement. Before Carter goes and does it for us, because she's been getting pretty impatient."
Daniel smiled a little. "Really?"
"Mm-hm."
"So you've figured out what you'll say?"
Jack sunk back down into bed, still wrapped around Daniel as he appeared to be fading back asleep. He murmured,
"Yep."
Daniel prodded, "So. What is it?"
From the pile of blankets and pillows, Jack replied.
"It's not complicated. I'm just going to tell her this is the man I love."
Daniel felt a pleasant chill sweep across his skin and up his back. He settled back into bed as well, moving to fit perfectly in Jack's embrace. He gave a small sigh and closed his eyes.
"I love you too, Jack."
