Well it's been a gorgeous day today, and I have been working my fingers to the bone.  Some of you were wanting to know a bit more about Jaret, so I'll go into a lil more detail with him, and hopefully it'll clear some things up. And you lot have been raggin for some of Jack, so go grab yourself a coffee, and buckle up, as the ride may get a bit bumpy.

And just remember, the only reason I can write so much is because I have no life!

Thanks again for all your reviews, I love em!

Spoilers: Season 2 until the end of time.

Ratigs: (I never know what to put on this) PG13?

Stargate: I don't own it, but I love it.

Chapter 6 – Past and Present

The sun was beating down on Carter and Jaret; the temperature must have been well into the 90's C.  They had arrived almost 5 hours ago, and their surroundings consisted of nothing but sand and dunes.  Carter had been unconscious for most of that time, and Jaret had found some kind of shelter for the two of them.  With Carter lying with her face towards the dishevelled wall of the man made shack, Jaret was sat crossed legged on the floor, with an open book and amulet to his side.

Jaret heard a murmur to his left, and realised Major Carter was waking, he decided that this was the most opportune time to secure his surroundings, before the Major was fully alert, so got up, and headed towards the outside of the hut.  The first thing she noticed as she tried unsuccessfully to open her eyes was the dry heat, it hit her like an oven, her throat was perched, not only from the humidity, but also due to the fact that Jaret had near killed her.  She catalogued her injuries; bruised larynx, possible internal injuries from the ribs he broke a couple of days ago, dehydration –definitely, and numerous bruises of which she really didn't have the energy to note.  Something was missing though she realised; drugs!  There were no drugs in her system, for the first time in 48 hours her mind was her own; but she didn't and wouldn't know if she was alone until she'd turned herself around to inspect her surroundings.

Carter knew that it was gonna hurt like hell when she finally did move, "Oh Carter, for crying out loud, get your ass moving."  She groaned inwardly, and as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she realised she'd been hanging around with Jack O'Neill for far to long.  Sam, placed one arm on her ribs to cradle them for support, and her other hand she used to shimmy herself until she was in a half sitting, half lying position.  Once she was in a reasonably comfortable position, with her body leaning more to her injured side, she remembered what she had done, and knowing that she could never go back, her mind drifted towards her friends back at the SGC.

Thinking about the last few moment before going through the Stargate, seeing Jonas lying there, his still form strewn across the control room floor, hell she didn't even now if he was alive, and then there was Teal'c, what he must be going through.  Her and Teal'c had grown quite fond of each other, and knew that with him, she didn't have to act like a female version of GI Joe all the time, and she knew that he respected her. Not just for her cunning intellect and proweress, but due to the trust she placed in her friends, trust that was unending.  He had seen her at her worst, when she had been lost and frightened, especially after Daniel was gone, and the Colonel was deathly ill, she had nearly given it all up.  That was until Teal'c found her crying in the locker room, he had given her so much comfort and hope during that time, that she knew now, that no matter how lost she was, be it in herself, or on some god forsaken planet, he would be there.

Then there was the Colonel……… "Oh Jack, where are you when I need you?" she sighed softly.  Of all the things they had been through together, she knew it would be him that she would miss most of all, not just their relationship, "huh that's a good one Sam." She thought "Relationship, sure a professional one, but she wanted more, so much more…damn those regulations, she didn't just want to be his 2IC anymore, she wanted him to hold her in his arms, and tell her that everything would work out all right."  Deep down though, she knew it wouldn't work, there were just too many obstacles standing in their way.

"Snap out of Sam, this won't get you anywhere, sitting here feeling sorry for yourself" she scolded herself. As she looked around, there didn't appear to be anyone nearby. Theb her thoughts turned to Jaret; "where are you, you little cretin, probably skulking under a bush waiting to pounce."

After three unsuccessful attempts to get her butt of the ground without inflicting any more damage, she finally succeeded, and with her voice croaking like a bull frog she quietly shouted, "Yeah, me, I'm standing!"

Her triumph lasted but for a brief moment, as she turned and saw Jaret stood to one side.

Sam's face sunk when she saw him. "Damn, it's you.  There's me thinking I'd got lucky and you'd gone and got yourself killed."

"Ah Sam, cranky after our little nap are we!  Nice to see your back to the land of the living again……….took you long enough!" He replied sarcastically.

"Where are we?"

"In a hut, miles from civilisation. Something you wanna confess Sam? Get a little lost did we?"

"What do you mean miles from civilisation, this is the correct address, I'm positive."

"I hope for your sake you're right.  Now drink this, we need to keep moving.  I'm warning you now Major, you have till the end of daylight to get me to the Tokra, or you die, and so do your friends. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Crystal."

With that he threw a bottle of water in her direction, but unfortunately her reflexes were not what you would call on top form, and subsequently the bottle went rolling across the floor.  Knowing full well that he wouldn't pick it up, she walked over to where it had stopped, and hesitantly lowered herself down to pick it up…… and seriously regretted it.

As she took a swig from the bottle, she asked how far from the Stargate they had travelled.

"We've gone about 8 miles. Believe me Major we would have gone a lot further if you were a little lighter."

Jaret smiled, he loved to bait her, but judging by Sam Carter, she was madder than hell, and once she was outta this mess and feeling better, she was gonna deck him.

Before they left, he stopped her going out the doorway.  "Forgetting something are we?"

"Crap" she thought he had forgotten about the drug.  As the drug hissed into the side of her neck, her thoughts again turned towards her father.  "If there was any justice in this world, her father would come running to her rescue, and kick the crap out this guy for her.  She knew the Tokra couldn't be too far away, especially if they had gone 8 miles already then it should only be a short distance further.  She needed to find out as much from Jaret as possible, before they met up with the Tokra.  For one thing, her father would assume that this man was a friend of hers, "why wouldn't he?" She thought before once again she could feel him in her, burrowing and prying every part of her brain for an answer.

After an hour or so, Carter was near exhaustion, she had already drank the last drops from her water bottle, and got to the stage of sheer thirst, that she contemplated sticking her tongue inside the bottle to secure those last droplets, she was sure the Colonel would to have loved seeing that in action!  They had both remained silent throughout the journey, except for the occasions when Sam would veer off in a new direction; she knew it wouldn't be long know.  Every part of her body ached with tension, the heat radiated all over her, she had sand crystals in places the sunlight never saw, and she was in desperate need of a new body, water - lots of it, and Colonel O'Neill, and not necessarily in that order.

"I must be getting delirious", she thought.

As they neared a large Dune, which would provide them with some protection against the sun, Jaret advised that they would rest here for some time, and Sam though that this was the most opportune time to find out what the grudge was between Selmack and her father.

As she sat down gingerly, Sam observed Jaret taking something out of his pocket; it seemed to be some kind of book and amulet.  Sam was curious.

"Why not just ask me what this is?"

"OK, I'm asking."

"This was passed down from my father to me, it has very special properties to it." Jaret advised.

"Does it have anything to do with you wanting revenge on my father?"

"Samantha, you do take things personally don't you!  I don't have a grudge with your father….only Selmack"

"Why!" Countered Carter boldly.

"You really want to know do you? Well, Samantha, just because it's you, I'll tell you."

Jaret opened the book so that the pages were clearly visible to Sam, it contained reams and reams of hieroglyphics. "My father' name was Toth."  God Sam wished Jonas or Daniel were here, her knowledge of Egyptian mythology barely scratched the surface compared to what she knew about alien devices. Jaret continued,  "He was a great Egyptian god, he created all things mystical, wisdom, magic, writing and…….. Astrology, which is probably why you and I get on so well Samantha." The look that Sam gave him was incredulous, but he took no notice and carried on.

"He was the wisest of all Egyptian gods, his knowledge was revered all over Egypt, this book contains all of his knowledge, spells; he even had the ability to bring people back from the dead.  Ironically enough, he couldn't do bring himself back."

"So where does Selmack fit into things?"

"It was Selmack who killed him; right before my eyes.  You see this book contains valuable secrets, and because of it's value, my father had it cursed.  Those that tried to take the book, were forced to read the text and solve the answers, otherwise it would kill them; the earth swallowing them, and taking them to the underworld to…"

"Anubis" answered Major Carter finishing off his sentence.

"Very Impressive.  Selmack intervened on one occasion after several people lost their lives, and killed my father, which is what takes us here."

"But that was a long time ago wasn't it? Why now?"

"Revenge Samantha, is best served cold."

Sam, sat numb, she didn't know what to say, what could you say to something like that. She hadn't recalled her father mentioning this, but then again why would he. What would he have told her; "Hi Sammie, guess what I found out, Selmack committed a pre-mediated murder." Yeah, that really would have sat well. 

"We must move now." Jaret informed her.

"No matter what happens" she thought, "he's still my father, and I would give my life for him."

Back at the SGC

Colonel O'Neill was now wide-awake and raring to go, he and Teal'c were just reviewing the last tape, before Sam and Jaret had disappeared through the gate.  On two separate occasions, Janet had ordered the Colonel to calm down, as it wasn't doing anything for his blood pressure to get so agitated.

"What do you expect Doc, this is Carter we're watching, and she's in serious trouble, and I just laid here."

"Colonel, you were unconscious." Janet argued, not believing her ears, he was just so caught up with losing Sam, he couldn't see that there would have been nothing he could've done even if he was able.

"That's no excuse Janet." 

Janet rolled her eyes, and walked away, she was not going to get involved with this debate; she was onto a losing battle.  No matter what she said to him, it went in one ear and out the other.  He had been whining to be released for the last few hours, and was severely getting on Janet's last nerve.  It was like he had blinkers on, he had to be the one to save her, no-one else, just him, and what he sometimes forgot is that they were Sam's friends to, but at this stage, there was just no use talking to him.

On resuming the video playback, the Colonel and Teal'c had just watched Sam enter a few command codes into the PC when they saw Jaret grab her by the throat. From this point on, all you could hear was Colonel Jack O'Neill reiterate like a mantra, "I'm gonna kill him!  Then I'm gonna put him in a godamn sarcophagus, and kill him again!

"O'Neill, I believe that you may have suffered brain damage, we do not have a sarcophagus."

Jack gave him a look and said, "Then I'll build one, ok.  If this is you working on your sense of humour Teal'c, then it needs some work."

"It was not meant to be a joke O'Neill, I was merely stating a fact."

"Work with me here Teal'c!" Jack told him, Teal'c simply nodded in understanding.

They returned their attention to the vid screen at the point Jonas walked in, and saw him try and get help for Carter.  Then they saw it…his eyes glowed.

"Son of a.." before he had a chance to finish his sentence the General walked in.

"General, we've found something on the vid tapes.  Jaret's a Gould sir, no doubt about it."

"Well done Colonel, as soon as the gates active, which I have been informed will be in a few hours, you are good to go."

"Thank you Sir."

End of chapter 6

Sorry to leave it there, but hey I gotta have some kind of life outside the realms of fanfic. Sorry Jonas fans, I know I'm making you wait, but bare with me.  For those who don't know much about Egyptian mythology (like me), apparently there was an Egyptian god called Thoth, and he was the Egyptian God, of knowledge, spells, astrology etc, but obviously he didn't have a son called Jaret.  Not very Egyptian I know, but then what's creative literature all about.  Also the book of spells really did exist apparently and is said to bring people back to the dead, for those that understand the script.

Many thanks to Dietcokechic, who has promised me that Imbroglio chapter 8 will be up shortly, yipeeeeee!  Before I sign off though, thanks again for your views, if it wasn't for you lot, I probably would've stopped at Chapter 1!  Thanx again.

l