TITLE: The Lost Ones
AUTHOR: Cyn(di)
EMAIL: custardpringle@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13 for weird evil happenings and general suffering/pain on the parts of all concerned.
CATEGORY: supernatural, drama
SUMMARY: Daniel is having terrible nightmares. And the worst thing is, they're not only in his head . . .
SPOILERS: I'm too lazy to keep track, so let's say anything up through "Evolution Part 2."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks ever so ever so incredibly much for all the reviews. I wasn't expecting so many, but the review alerts have literally doubled the amount of non-spam email I get. It's really amazing-thanks again. Updates may come a bit more slowly for a while-I have midterms to deal with- but don't worry, they will come. And, as always, I like happy reviews; they make excellent self-esteem boosters during the aforementioned midterm season.
FYI: Anything in asterisks is spoken telepathically.
--------------------------------------------------
When the attack came, Daniel wasn't ready for it.
Then again, neither were many of his companions, most of whom had experience fighting the Perii; even as the linked consciousness they were, the Ancients had had barely an instant to notice that, while their energy was growing uniformly, their enemies were channeling a great deal of power into one particular individual. That one then extended his left hand and let it loose all at once, blasting the energy straight across the clearing.
It was almost like a ribbon device, only many times worse and minus the actual device, Daniel reflected-or would have, had he been capable of coherent thought. As it was, he was concentrating almost entirely on the sensation that he was being slowly ripped apart from the inside out. If Daniel was thinking anything at all, it was only that he hoped to pass out very soon.
It certainly never occurred to him that, technically, he already was asleep, although Jack was frantically trying to wake him um with no success. He was very vaguely aware of a tiny tickle at the back of his mind, a miniscule distraction, but it was nothing compared to what the Perii were doing.
For an eternal moment, Daniel knew nothing but pain.
And then another voice came into his head, much stronger than Jack's-not as strong as that of the enemy, but loud enough to be heard. It was the voice of Oma Desala, who had already begun to recover from the initial assault, and it said, *You know what to do, Daniel. It's in you. Remember.*
Daniel concentrated as best he could-which wasn't very well-and at last, when he was just on the verge of succumbing, the answer came: nothing very complicated, something he had learned years ago in basic AF combat training, in fact.
With a little bit more effort yet-it was getting harder and harder to achieve anything-Daniel exerted some force of his own, and the stream of destruction that had been coming right at him now began to part in two. Gradually it split in two and stretched upward to forma shield protecting him from the rest.
The pain, the disintegration-which Daniel now realized might soon have been quite literal, and permanent-stopped.
With his full and proper faculties restored, it took barely a flick of his mind to reverse the rest of the energy flow and send it straight back where it had come from. He wasn't the only one doing so, and it was the Perii in turn who began to falter, and then to actually flicker like candles in a draft. The Ancients kept part of the enemies' energy, though, reinforcing it with some of their own to block the next assault.
This came in a slightly less grandiose form-a series of smaller blasts, like bullets almost-and the Ancients responded in kind, sending back a hail of tiny white pellets, each with a tremendous amount of power despite its size that got it through the Perii's defenses with ease. They answered by stepping up the intensity of their attack as well.
The number of flickering people on both sides was steadily increasing. The Perii, however, had a slight overall advantage in numbers, and, as more time passed in this fashion, things began to look down for the Ancients as more and more of them ceased to exist altogether.
And then, when victory seemed certain, a distraction showed up. Two Tok'ra, probably guards from a nearby base who had seen the enormous flashes of energy from the battle and come to investigate, walked up to the edge of the clearing. Most of the combatants paid them no heed-in a struggle such as this, two relatively weak mortals were of little consequence-but Daniel noticed them, if only out of the corner of his mind's eye.
*Get out!* he screamed at the pair, praying urgently that they could hear him. *You don't know what you're dealing with here. You're defenseless against these people! Get away before it's too late!*
The two guards seemed to get the message, for they jumped slightly and looked around as if expecting to see someone talking from some hiding place. It was too late anyway; a moment later they stepped into the clearing itself to try and get a better idea of what was going on.
*No!* Daniel called out again, and desperately tried t o shield them, but, before he could do so, what seemed to be the leader of the Perii noticed the intruders and casually sent a needle of fire through each one's symbiote pouch. Both fell to the ground, instantly dead.
*There was no need for that,* Daniel said angrily.
*They should not have been here,* the Perius hissed in reply.
Daniel shuddered at the cold touch of its voice on his mind. *They were simply trying to protect themselves.*
*They should not have been here,* the other repeated. *What is more, they were Tok'ra, enemies of my master Anubis, They deserved to die for such treachery.*
*That is irrelevant here. In terms of this quarrel, they were innocents,* Daniel argued, holding both hands out as if in entreaty-but lightning flashed out from his fingertips, and the Perii leader, caught off guard, flickered for several moments and then disappeared entirely.
Within seconds, the other side broke down into chaos. Daniel and his companions were able to get quite a few thanks simply to the confusion; the others departed of their own accord, presumably to regroup somewhere else. In a matter of minutes, what seemed like a certain loss had been won.
When all the Perii were gone, Daniel sat down hard on the ground, wanting nothing more than to get out of wherever they were. "Oma," he asked, knowing he sounded like a petulant child but long past caring, "can I go home now?"
"Certainly,' she agreed. "You need rest; I will return you immediately. But, first, let me congratulate you. You did quite impressively considering that this was your first battle."
-----
An instant later, Daniel found himself being shaken awake. Opening his eyes reluctantly, he was faced with a deathly pale Jack who immediately observed with visible relief, "You've gotta stop doing this to me, Danny. You'll kill me before my time."
AUTHOR: Cyn(di)
EMAIL: custardpringle@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13 for weird evil happenings and general suffering/pain on the parts of all concerned.
CATEGORY: supernatural, drama
SUMMARY: Daniel is having terrible nightmares. And the worst thing is, they're not only in his head . . .
SPOILERS: I'm too lazy to keep track, so let's say anything up through "Evolution Part 2."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks ever so ever so incredibly much for all the reviews. I wasn't expecting so many, but the review alerts have literally doubled the amount of non-spam email I get. It's really amazing-thanks again. Updates may come a bit more slowly for a while-I have midterms to deal with- but don't worry, they will come. And, as always, I like happy reviews; they make excellent self-esteem boosters during the aforementioned midterm season.
FYI: Anything in asterisks is spoken telepathically.
--------------------------------------------------
When the attack came, Daniel wasn't ready for it.
Then again, neither were many of his companions, most of whom had experience fighting the Perii; even as the linked consciousness they were, the Ancients had had barely an instant to notice that, while their energy was growing uniformly, their enemies were channeling a great deal of power into one particular individual. That one then extended his left hand and let it loose all at once, blasting the energy straight across the clearing.
It was almost like a ribbon device, only many times worse and minus the actual device, Daniel reflected-or would have, had he been capable of coherent thought. As it was, he was concentrating almost entirely on the sensation that he was being slowly ripped apart from the inside out. If Daniel was thinking anything at all, it was only that he hoped to pass out very soon.
It certainly never occurred to him that, technically, he already was asleep, although Jack was frantically trying to wake him um with no success. He was very vaguely aware of a tiny tickle at the back of his mind, a miniscule distraction, but it was nothing compared to what the Perii were doing.
For an eternal moment, Daniel knew nothing but pain.
And then another voice came into his head, much stronger than Jack's-not as strong as that of the enemy, but loud enough to be heard. It was the voice of Oma Desala, who had already begun to recover from the initial assault, and it said, *You know what to do, Daniel. It's in you. Remember.*
Daniel concentrated as best he could-which wasn't very well-and at last, when he was just on the verge of succumbing, the answer came: nothing very complicated, something he had learned years ago in basic AF combat training, in fact.
With a little bit more effort yet-it was getting harder and harder to achieve anything-Daniel exerted some force of his own, and the stream of destruction that had been coming right at him now began to part in two. Gradually it split in two and stretched upward to forma shield protecting him from the rest.
The pain, the disintegration-which Daniel now realized might soon have been quite literal, and permanent-stopped.
With his full and proper faculties restored, it took barely a flick of his mind to reverse the rest of the energy flow and send it straight back where it had come from. He wasn't the only one doing so, and it was the Perii in turn who began to falter, and then to actually flicker like candles in a draft. The Ancients kept part of the enemies' energy, though, reinforcing it with some of their own to block the next assault.
This came in a slightly less grandiose form-a series of smaller blasts, like bullets almost-and the Ancients responded in kind, sending back a hail of tiny white pellets, each with a tremendous amount of power despite its size that got it through the Perii's defenses with ease. They answered by stepping up the intensity of their attack as well.
The number of flickering people on both sides was steadily increasing. The Perii, however, had a slight overall advantage in numbers, and, as more time passed in this fashion, things began to look down for the Ancients as more and more of them ceased to exist altogether.
And then, when victory seemed certain, a distraction showed up. Two Tok'ra, probably guards from a nearby base who had seen the enormous flashes of energy from the battle and come to investigate, walked up to the edge of the clearing. Most of the combatants paid them no heed-in a struggle such as this, two relatively weak mortals were of little consequence-but Daniel noticed them, if only out of the corner of his mind's eye.
*Get out!* he screamed at the pair, praying urgently that they could hear him. *You don't know what you're dealing with here. You're defenseless against these people! Get away before it's too late!*
The two guards seemed to get the message, for they jumped slightly and looked around as if expecting to see someone talking from some hiding place. It was too late anyway; a moment later they stepped into the clearing itself to try and get a better idea of what was going on.
*No!* Daniel called out again, and desperately tried t o shield them, but, before he could do so, what seemed to be the leader of the Perii noticed the intruders and casually sent a needle of fire through each one's symbiote pouch. Both fell to the ground, instantly dead.
*There was no need for that,* Daniel said angrily.
*They should not have been here,* the Perius hissed in reply.
Daniel shuddered at the cold touch of its voice on his mind. *They were simply trying to protect themselves.*
*They should not have been here,* the other repeated. *What is more, they were Tok'ra, enemies of my master Anubis, They deserved to die for such treachery.*
*That is irrelevant here. In terms of this quarrel, they were innocents,* Daniel argued, holding both hands out as if in entreaty-but lightning flashed out from his fingertips, and the Perii leader, caught off guard, flickered for several moments and then disappeared entirely.
Within seconds, the other side broke down into chaos. Daniel and his companions were able to get quite a few thanks simply to the confusion; the others departed of their own accord, presumably to regroup somewhere else. In a matter of minutes, what seemed like a certain loss had been won.
When all the Perii were gone, Daniel sat down hard on the ground, wanting nothing more than to get out of wherever they were. "Oma," he asked, knowing he sounded like a petulant child but long past caring, "can I go home now?"
"Certainly,' she agreed. "You need rest; I will return you immediately. But, first, let me congratulate you. You did quite impressively considering that this was your first battle."
-----
An instant later, Daniel found himself being shaken awake. Opening his eyes reluctantly, he was faced with a deathly pale Jack who immediately observed with visible relief, "You've gotta stop doing this to me, Danny. You'll kill me before my time."
