The Warrior 518
O'Neill thought of himself as a good judge of character of men and of Jaffa. He could tell if they were indecisive or lacking in conviction in the authority of the Goa'uld. He was aware of the guys just following orders, some so steeped in their traditions they saw no other path. Occasionally they were like Teal'c, smart, well trained and flexible. And worst yet he was wary of the sadistic or perverse. This Kytano was a class apart and he had Jack's teeth on edge.
Jack was losing Teal'c. Mainly because Teal'c wanted so badly to believe. Teal'c had fought for so long and sacrificed so much. Wanting so badly for someone else to shoulder the burden of leading this fight. O'Neill could understand this but not to give it all up to follow Kytano. Jack got an uneasy feeling with this guy - too slick, too ready to be their messiah. Kytano was like a preacher at a religious revival stirring up the crowd with emotional fervor, although he seemed to back this up with amazing successes. Their training was overly violent and Kytano preached they must be willing and ready to die for the cause. If they fell in battle they would go to Keb. And these Jaffa should be flattered to be his followers. O'Neill saw this as Kytano believing himself above them, like a Goa'uld playing god, and his followers were merely expendable.
No, Teal'c was ten times the man this Kytano was. And he was falling for him, hook, line and sinker. Sometimes you grasp at straws, O'Neill thought. Teal'c perhaps was flattered by this mesmerizing character. Could it be Teal'c was feeling insecure at the possibility of being the political leader of all the Jaffa. Teal'c under Apophis was a battle leader, a general. To start this rebellion he had sacrificed so much. So why would he now dump all his hopes on this charismatic leader?
This Jaffa camp of Ketano's needed supplies and were looking to the Tauri to help them. Yet they turned their noses up at the goods they were given.
O'Neill never forgot he was at war.
No matter how many worlds they explored.
No matter how many races they allied themselves to.
No matter how excited Daniel became over his rocks.
No matter how engrossed Carter became over technology.
The Goa'uld were at war with Earth and he and the teams of the SGC were Earth's first line of defense.
O'Neill occasionally appeared as the genial explorer and occasionally he played the affable idiot. But he was always wary, always was aware he was at war, always the consummate warrior. Jack felt a kinship with Teal'c, a fellow warrior. O'Neill loathed Kytano.
In the tent at night as Daniel drifted toward sleep he thought of the last exchange with Jack. Jack complained "They have no problem with dying, I have a problem with that." And Daniel responded "You have a problem with dying, or you've got a problem with the fact that they don't have a problem with it?" O'Neill responded "Both I think."
When Daniel first met O'Neill, Jack was suicidal, he had no problem with dying. He wanted to save his team but would have sacrificed them too in order to save Earth. That mission made him a different man. Daniel felt as though he had aided or witnessed the evolution of the man. Or was it the restoration of the essential being of the man. Daniel still didn't know if Jack valued himself as much as his friends and his team mates did.
Kytano sent a suicide squad off to cover their trail and it disgusted O'Neill.
"And I suppose it makes you feel all powerful to know how eager those boys are to die for you." O'Neill said to him.
Jack just lost a soldier, Elliot, who sacrificed his life to save SG-1 and Jacob. Elliot's sacrifice had humbled O'Neill and drowned him in guilt.
When Teal'c returned, badly beaten, from his supposed mission to Lord Yu, he challenged Kytano. When Bra'tac stayed O'Neill's hand he had a flash of Carter fighting Turgen. There he had a knife to his throat but he did have his finger on the trigger. He did have confidence in Carter then and he did have confidence in Teal'c now. Still his urge to protect was foremost.
Lord Yu attacked the encampment, to crush the rebel movement and perhaps more so to kill the upstart Imhotep, a nobody who would challenge the System Lords.