Title: Blood Connections
Summary: He should have known that sooner or later his idyllic world would collapse into rubble.
A/N: Forgive the blatant plot-taking and quote stealing (guess where from!)… ; ) You'll know once you've read it! Thanks to my beta Christina *hugs and kisses*.
*
"Will you come home and stop this pain tonight?"
Blink 182, I Miss You
*
If it's one thing that she learnt from her father, it was to trust her instincts. He'd told her that since she was young, making sure that she knew enough to defend herself in the big bad world of adults. Yep, she was always supposed to trust her instincts, "cause usually they're right" he'd say, sitting in his favourite chair, departing his wisdom as she looked up at him with the adoration that an enamoured daughter had for her frequently absent, yet exciting father.
But she didn't. She didn't turn to look round when she heard the heavy footsteps on the tarmac behind her. She didn't even glance as the man walked up behind her so close that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. Because Chloe O'Neill wasn't a girl to confront someone, stutter and flush furiously maybe, but confronting someone was her worst nightmare.
Until now. Until she turned round and came face to face with a man she vaguely recognised. That she didn't completely remember until the blue volt of electricity hit her and the whole world faded to black.
*
He should have known that sooner or later his idyllic world would collapse into rubble. To be honest, he was amazed it had lasted this long. Throughout their "dating" period, he'd been petrified that Sam would be ordered to break up with him or that she would decide that a 47-year-old retiree with a sixteen-year-old daughter wasn't the best chance for a happy future. And when Ella was due, he'd fussed over Sam 24/7, and consequently freaked her out by saying that he could feel something was going to go wrong. But he'd forgotten. He'd forgotten all his worries and started living his life.
He'd become the stereotypical over-protective father that Chloe had surprisingly revelled in, and become a husband and a father to a baby girl that he was sure he was going to drop and break into tiny, little pieces. But he'd never suspected this. Not now. Not as Chloe was planning college applications and trying to decide a future career and being supremely annoyed when her test results came back with "Air Force officer."
He'd always known that his refusal to co-operate with the less than legal NID operations would come back and bite him in the ass, but he didn't think even they would stoop that low. Of course, he couldn't outright accuse them of kidnapping his daughter, but he knew. He just had to wait as forensics slowly came back from the school car park where Chloe was last seen walking into, and as detectives asked him whether Chloe was "depressed or considering running away from home?"
He felt like shouting to them that if he'd known she was going to run away then he wouldn't have let her go out. But he didn't. So he sat on his couch with Sam who was rocking herself slowly and becoming paler and paler by the second.
Ella had been escorted to the Fraiser's, Sam hoping that at least one of them was going to have a semblance of a normal life until Chloe was brought home. Sam knew Jack's suspicions on the NID, and she knew them well enough to know that they wouldn't care about a teenager's life, especially that of the troublesome Colonel O'Neill's daughter. But she couldn't help wondering why they'd taken her. Why now? After all this time?
And as she began to question herself more and more, she wondered if it really was the NID. Maybe it was someone far more dangerous than that. Someone who had no motive, who had no reason…someone who would never return her alive.
*
Everything was fuzzy in Chloe's world as she opened her eyes. Clutching her head, she felt herself almost swoon back to the ground. But she made a conscious effort to stay awake, trying to assess exactly where she was. The last thing she could remember was searching for her car keys in her bag and then black.
Sitting up, she pressed herself against a wall as if to make herself less conspicuous. Maybe she passed out, and someone saved her from freezing to death. Knowing she didn't have the effort to stand up, let alone walk, she remained where she was with the faint hope that she'd regain strength but just as she was about to flex her legs, the door swung open letting in some dim moonlight from outside.
A black figure walked in and Chloe offered her hand, "Um, uh, thank you for helping me," but her hand was swatted back down with an intense force. "Ow!" She screamed as her head hit the back of the wall violently as the cloaked figure pushed her repeatedly against the side.
"Don't talk again." The voice said gravely and let Chloe's head go. Cradling it in her hands, she sobbed quietly as she felt her legs being bound together. "Just so you can't go anywhere." The man boasted and pushed her legs aside, reaching for some shackles on the wall where he locked Chloe to the wall.
"Please!" She pleaded desperately, not knowing what to do or how to act, "Please, I'll do whatever you want…."
"Oh, you will." The man replied smugly, and Chloe could almost sense that he was smiling behind his balaclava. "Or I'll kill you. OK?"
*
Maybe days had passed as Chloe came round and back to consciousness, she wasn't sure. But it was day, that was for sure, as light streamed into the derelict warehouse. As far as she could remember, her captor hadn't returned and she smiled to herself as much as she could, knowing that while he was away, she had a better chance of escaping.
But as she pulled her arms fiercely from the wall, desperate to release her hands from the cuffs, she knew she had little hope of being released. So instead, as she drifted in and out of sleep, she could almost imagine being back at home.
Her attention fell when she heard two voices just outside the entrance, laughing together, unaware of her desperation inside.
"Help!" She shouted, "Please, help me!" She continued screaming until the door opened and she breathed a sigh of relief until she noticed the face. "Robert?" She queried, not believing her eyes.
But her captor ignored her questions and turned to his companion, "See Chris? I told you I'd get her."
Chris smiled happily, "You did well dude. Seriously didn't think you had the bottle." He admitted as they neared closer and closer to Chloe, completely ignoring her fearful expression.
"Chris my boy, for a million dollars, I'd kill her!" Robert laughed nudging his grinning friend with his shoulder.
"I wouldn't say no to that." Chris replied and fell silent as they stood directly in front of Chloe. Kneeling down, he had a look of something that even Chloe couldn't decipher. "Now, how's our pretty little captive doing?" He said, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear and cleaned some mud from her grimy face.
Chloe instinctively spat in his face, venom piercing her voice, "I knew you were both assholes, but I didn't know you were *psychotic* assholes!" She spat as Chris rose to face the smiling Robert.
Robert tried his luck this time, trying to placate their victim, "We're not psychotic Chloe. We're just getting some money that's all."
"What do you mean?"
"We were offered a million dollars to kidnap you." Chris said smarmily. "And I wouldn't be surprised if it was your parents that want you kidnapped if you act like this around them."
"You've done this for money?" She screamed at them, "I have Science with you two pieces of crap, and one day you kidnap me to get some money? Do you have any idea who's doing this? What they could do to me?"
"Ya see, I won't care O'Neill." Chris smiled, "Cos I'll be on the other side of the world tanning myself with a few beautiful women at my side. They can do all they like to you."
Chloe refused to look at them, her eyes burning with hatred and anger that she couldn't express. Two jocks decide to kidnap her for money? It sounded like a plot from a bad soap opera…her whole *life* sounded like a plot from a bad soap opera.
"Aw….Is Chloe getting angry with us?" Robert hissed and kicked her in the side causing her to scream, "You deserve this."
"For what?" She spat, "For being a decent person? For not laughing when you decide to bully someone? Yeah, you know what, I really *do* deserve being kidnapped."
"You're a patronising bitch, that's what. Just because daddy's an Air Force Colonel doesn't mean you can treat people like something you stepped in." Robert accused her, "Where's daddy now?" He laughed with Chris, and gave each other high-fives. Waving goodbye to her, they started to walk towards the door before Chloe shouted to them.
"I hope that when you hand me over or whatever you sick freaks are going to do, that they shoot you both!"
*
Jack hadn't slept. For three days. He'd sat stroking Sam's hair as her head lay on his lap, and she drifted into sleep, if somewhat fitful. Neither wanted to be apart from each other, and Jack had an insatiable need to have Ella with him, but he knew seeing his daughter, that Chloe adored, would tear him apart. So he sat watching his wife stir in her sleep, murmuring words that he couldn't hear, and dreaming a nightmare he couldn't begin to cope with.
He'd never felt so despondent as he did at this moment, Charlie's death had pulled him apart and threatened to never put him back together again. But he'd had his shining light, Chloe at eight years old had kept him alive. Now, his perfect life was crumbling and Chloe was the first brick to fall. The pain he felt from Charlie's death re-emerged and the hopelessness that he couldn't remove from his mind taunted him; he couldn't help his daughter, no-one could.
Occasionally he could hear the detectives voices from the kitchen, discussing theories and suspects, but that was no relief. Nothing was. Nothing could stop the desperation and disgust he felt at himself for letting it happen to her. Chloe had been through enough in her seventeen years, she didn't deserve this.
Sam stirred and she gradually opened her eyes, and looked up to Jack's grief-ridden face, "I'd hoped it was a dream."
"So did I." He replied honestly, his eyes darkening with every passing second. Sam rose from the couch and held out her hand to him, tears welling in her eyes.
"Will you come to bed with me?" She asked softly, her voice barely piercing the silent atmosphere surrounding them. Jack knew she was making an effort to help his grieving, and he smiled lightly, thankful for her attempt.
He held her hand in his hand, and they walked the stairs in silence, the stairs creaking and the door closing quietly behind them.
They made love in their dark bedroom, soulfully with quietened expressions of love as they found their release, finding solace from their hellish reality in each other's arms.
*
Chloe sat nervously, biting her lip and salty tears streaming down her face. She rocked her body slowly as if somehow it released her. She knew she was delirious, she'd spent half the night imagining that Sam was sitting in front of her reciting the laws of physics and telling her the best way to put Ella to sleep.
And when she'd awoken from her fantasy land, she'd cried herself to sleep, in her heart knowing that she'd never see them again. It was so painful to see them as clear as day standing in front of her, her perfect family and to then disappear was like someone cutting out her heart and stamping on it repeatedly.
She knew the "hand over" as Chris and Robert joked, was today. Today she would be given to some madman that was even more psychotic than them. She wondered how the hell two people could get so screwed up by society as to get paid a million dollars to kidnap a classmate; but then she realised she shouldn't really have any sympathy for them, seeing as they got her into the situation in the first place.
She could hear a car pull up outside with the engine still running, it didn't sound like the old junky thing that Chris and Robert had bought; she'd come to recognise the sound over the past week, and it definitely wasn't them. And as she heard the boots impact on the gravel loudly outside, she said prayers to any Gods that were listening, praying that her family would be safe, and that they'd live on happily.
The door swung open, exposing her to the harsh daylight outside and she winced; she'd spent the best part of a week inside the darkness and it was hard to adjust. A figure came towards her, she couldn't make out his face, but she knew it was a man; the confident swagger, and the rough voice told her as much.
The light from outside disguised his face and he bent down, unlocking her hands and her legs, and violently bringing her to stand up. He pushed her in front of him and all the way to the white van outside with a masked driver sitting in front wordlessly. The back was open and she was forced inside onto the floor with a few rags to cushion her on the drive to God knows where. Before the van doors closed behind her, she made a desperate plea to her new captor, "Please!" She shouted, "Please let me go!"
"I don't think so." Came the reply. "They won't want you back if they knew."
Chloe frowned, "What? Know what?" She appealed frustratedly, but her questions were not answered and the door slammed and the engine started up.
In her desperation, she threw her body against the side, and let the tears fall freely.
*
"Can you think of anyone who had an unhealthy interest in your daughter?" The detective asked, and Jack gritted his teeth.
"I've told you already. Chloe had never told me or Sam about anything like that." He replied gruffly, "Shouldn't you be out doing something useful? Like, oh, I don't know, looking for her?"
The detective sighed, "Mr O'Neill, we're trying to ascertain who might have been a risk to Chloe."
But Jack didn't hear the long explanation for the questions he was being asked, he was just looking at his wife who was staring out of the window. He knew she was crying, he could see her wipe her eyes and just gaze out of the window as if by looking hard enough, Chloe would come back to them.
Sam sat on the window seat, Ella gurgling happily next to her mother, unaware of the commotion going on around her. Jack could hear Cassie being questioned in the next room, and her occasional sobs as she tried to think of people that Chloe knew, or whether she was secretly dating anyone.
And as time passed, Jack's belief that the NID were behind this faded and even more sinister ideas sprung into his mind.
"Uh, Mr O'Neill?" The detective interrupted.
"What?" Jack replied curtly.
"I asked you whether Chloe was prone to going out late at night? To night clubs or discos?" He repeated. Under normal circumstances, he would have been annoyed with the man's daydreaming, but it was highly likely Mr O'Neill's daughter had been kidnapped, and she'd been missing for a week now; the most possible scenario, and the most horrific, was that she was already dead and this whole investigation was a waste of time. And he suspected that Mr O'Neill already knew that.
"No. She stayed at home. She wasn't exactly a sociable person." He replied, finally dragging his attention away from Sam.
"But she was close friends with former colleagues from your base?" The detective asked.
Jack looked up with an accusing glance, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Could you just answer the question please Mr O'Neill?" Detective Gates persisted.
"Yes, OK? She was close friends with them, they're like brothers to her." He replied tersely. He knew that his love for Chloe was matched only by his team's.
"This would be Daniel Jackson and…who?" Detective Gates asked.
"Murray." Jack said sternly. "He's not from this country. He's worked for the Air Force for six years though, so I'd say he was a pretty trustworthy guy, especially where Chloe is concerned."
"We're going to have to talk to them too, I hope you understand." The detective explained. "And I'd like to ask your wife some questions too."
Jack's eyes flamed, "Can't you see how bad she's taking this?"
"I know it's hard…"
"No!" Jack protested, rising from the couch, "You have no idea *at all* how hard this is! Now, I'd like you to get back to doing your job of finding my daughter, so I can be with my wife, and try and help each other through this."
Jack walked over to Sam who briefly looked round at him. As he approached he placed his hand on her shoulder, and she put her own over his. He sat behind her and they waited for their daughter to come home.
*
The ride was long and hard, and Chloe had no idea how far she'd been driven or where the heck she was. But the drive was a breeze compared to the place she was being held. It reminded her of a psychiatric unit, all white and clinically clean. One bed was in the middle, which she was currently strapped to.
She'd somehow fallen asleep or possibly been drugged and changed into some green scrubs. Chloe refused to think about what might have taken place in the time she was unconscious. Instead, she focused on trying to get herself out, even though she hadn't seen her captors for hours now. The sky was still bright and she could see out of the long windows in the room, but it showed only the top of nameless skyscrapers in an unidentifiable city.
Suddenly, the door at the side creaked open and Chloe craned her neck to see who entered. A stab of familiarity hit her in the stomach as she watched a grey-haired, "suited and booted" man walk towards her. She cowered away as much as she could with the restraints but the man didn't seem fazed at all. "Now, now. You shouldn't be afraid." He said as if talking to a baby.
"You've kidnapped me, and I'm not supposed to be afraid?" She balked and then shrunk away as she wondered about his reaction to her curt comment.
The man smiled slightly, giving Chloe the shivers, "You remind me of your father."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Chloe accused, completely forgetting her situation.
The man neared her, "We've had more than a few scrapes in the past. He seems to disagree with my methods." And as he spoke, Chloe blanched in realisation of who the man standing in front of her was.
"Senator Kinsey." She said simply and Kinsey nodded, touching the lows bars of the bed gently.
"So you do watch the news then." He laughed, as if to have a joke with her, expecting her to chuckle along with him.
"What do you want with me?" She asked him desperately, racking her brains of something that a Senator would need so badly that he would kidnap a clueless teenager for.
"You're more important than you think you are."
Chloe sighed, "Look, I don't know anything about what my dad does, OK? So there's no point in even asking."
The Senator smiled, and sat on the end of the bed, "I know what your father does."
Her eyes widened, "You do?"
Kinsey nodded, "That's right." He leaned further into Chloe, whispering in her ear and she winced, "He fights aliens." The Senator told her, "Every day." Kinsey pulled away and waited for her reaction.
Chloe laughed, despite her precarious situation. "You do realise we don't live in the X-Files don't you?"
But Senator Kinsey wasn't fazed by Chloe's words, but merely looked as if he expected them, "I think it's time for a quick lesson on intergalactic travel, don't you?"
*
Jack furiously flicked channels, the screen bouncing from one picture to the next. How could he watch TV, how could he do anything when his daughter was missing out there, kidnapped, and he couldn't do anything about it?
Sam kept herself occupied with Ella, trying to make everything as normal and un-stressful for their daughter as possible. Under usual circumstances, Jack would have treasured every second he spent with Ella, a miracle that he never thought he would have two years ago; a baby with the woman that he loved, but every time he looked at Ella, he couldn't help thinking about Chloe and what was happening to her.
"Jack?" He turned round as he heard Sam's soft voice from behind him.
"Hey." He greeted her quietly as she walked round the couch and sat next to him, resting her head onto his shoulders and pulling his arm round her waist. "Ella off to sleep?"
Sam nodded, "Yeah…Cassie said she'd take her out for a walk if we wanted some time alone."
"Right," Jack answered swapping channels again, "She's taking it pretty bad, isn't she?"
"She thinks that it's her fault. That she could have prevented it somehow." Sam told him, "And she misses her like crazy."
"We all do." Jack murmured. There was a loud clatter from the kitchen and Jack looked towards Sam with a quizzical expression. "They're still here then?"
"They think the kidnapper's going to ring up, make a ransom demand or something." Sam replied, "And it wouldn't be very good press if they left the house of a teenager that's been kidnapped for a week."
"They think she's not coming back, don't they?" Jack said soberly.
"Jack, I-"
"I read the papers Sam, even I know someone missing more than 48 hours is unlikely to ever come home." Jack replied bitterly.
"Maybe if it's the NID-" Sam suggested, but Jack cut her off.
"Come on Sam, we both know that there's nothing the NID could want with Chloe." Jack reasoned and Sam pulled away.
"So we're supposed to give up?" Sam shouted, "She's your daughter Jack…"
"I know!" Jack bellowed with equal volume, "And I want her back so much that it hurts, but I'm gonna have to get used to the possibility that she's not going to come back. We both do."
Sam walked away from the couch with a furious expression, "Well excuse me for not giving up so quickly." She walked towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"Upstairs. With Ella. I'd rather be around her than you at the moment." She said curtly and stormed upstairs.
*
Chloe sat dumbstruck as she listened to the Senator reel off information about alien races as though it were a shopping list. Her mind was racing with unanswered questions, but as Kinsey continued his explanation, things started to slip into place;
The frankly miraculous return from the dead of her father only a year and a half ago and the fact he was in full health straight away, the frequent "missions" fighting wars that weren't heard on the TV…and she'd always asked herself why an archaeologist would need to work on a programme about astrophysics. And why her father, an admitted "moron" when it came to science, would be working on Deep Space Radar Telemetry.
"So, these Goa'uld…these parasites…" She said uncomfortably, the word rolling awkwardly off her tongue, "…are what my dad fights?"
"Yes." The Senator replied simply.
"And the Asgard or the "little grey aliens" are the powerful allies that made dad better?" She questioned and Kinsey nodded. "And so all these Tok'Ra are fighting them? Even…Jacob?" She said quietly, not willing to believe that her trusted "grandfather" was one of these aliens.
"That's correct. It saved him from cancer apparently." Kinsey informed her.
"How do you know that they're not like pretending? The Goa'uld to be Tok'Ra I mean." She asked.
"You'd have to ask the SGC about that." He replied. Silence took over the large ward as Chloe struggled to take in all the information. It was dark outside now because of the long history of the alien cultures and wars.
"Why have you told me all of this?" Chloe quizzed, "It's nice to know, but I'm not important…why have you told *me* all of this when half the governments of the world don't know?"
"You think that you're a regular girl, don't you?" Senator Kinsey asked, "Normal like everyone else. But you're not. You're different."
"What?" Chloe rasped, "What do you mean?"
"I'm going to tell you where you came from." Kinsey smiled, and then reached for his mobile phone, pressed a few buttons and spoke harshly into it. "Get in here." Suddenly another person walked in the door armed with files and diagrams. "This is Dr Morgan. He's going to explain this much better than I am."
"Uh…" Dr Morgan started uncomfortably as he reached the end of the bed, "Hi, um, well, basically there's an alien legend dating back thousands of years that there's a planet called Osal in a distant part of the universe. Osal is inhabited by millions of what you could call "energy beings" which feed off the unusual chemicals in the air that surround their planet." Dr Morgan paused, "Legend has it that there was one of these "beings" who was dangerous beyond comprehension, records aren't specific as to what that might mean, it suggests some kind of inadvertent chaos would come about, but whatever they thought the "Osalans" were definitely petrified of this one being."
"And?" She whispered.
"Well, they sent this being away from the planet and ejected it from their atmosphere. This is where our friends the Asgard come into the story. They find this "being" on a direct course for Earth, just about ready to destroy us and the whole universe along with it. They analysed the genetics once they had taken it on board and saw that the Osalan was composed of too much "energy". They removed it from orbit around ten years ago without violating the treaty to protect Earth because the Goa'uld did not know of it's significance." Dr Morgan paused, almost unwilling to divulge the rest of the story.
"Go on." Senator Kinsey said forcefully, scaring both Chloe and the doctor.
"Yes, well, um, they kept the being safe in stasis. Four years later, they meet Colonel Jack O'Neill of Earth, with whom they have an unusual bond of trust and friendship especially Thor. After intense discussion, the Asgard make a decision with what to do with the Osalan being they found so that it wouldn't be discovered by the Goa'uld and used against themselves or Earth. They created a human form and gave it to Colonel O'Neill."
"They made you." Senator Kinsey interrupted harshly, "They forged you to look like him so he would look after you. Protect you as if you were his real daughter. But they couldn't change the fact you're not from Earth. You're the Osalan, Chloe. You're an alien with the potential to destroy the universe."
*
Jack sat on the couch, his mind busy with how the hell he could be alienating his wife at a time like this, when the phone rang.
"Hello?" He said almost mechanically into the receiver.
"Jack? It's General Hammond, " came the reply.
"General? Um, what did you want?" He said, his words not sounding like they were intended.
"You need to come to base, you and Major Carter." He said sternly and the tone of his voice was worrying Jack.
"What for? George are you going to tell me what this is about?" He asked.
General Hammond coughed, "We have a visitor…It's Thor and he has some information on Chloe."
*
Chloe's bottom lip trembled and her eyes began to water, "Why are you doing this?" She pleaded, "I believed you about the Stargate…and-and…the Goa'uld…and even those grey aliens, the Asgard…why are you lying to me about this?"
Senator Kinsey leant forward, "I'm not lying Chloe, and in your heart of hearts, you know I'm not lying too."
"No!" She screamed fiercely. "You're telling me I'm an earth destroying, no, a *universe* destroying blob of energy and I'm just supposed to believe you?!"
"I, uh, I know it must be hard to take in, but we're going to pay a visit to the Asgard." Dr Morgan explained.
"Leave me alone!" Chloe protested, "I want to go home! I want my dad!"
"He's not your father…" Senator Kinsey reminded her, "You don't have a father. And your home is thousands of millions of miles away in a distant part of the universe."
"No!"
"Senator, you can see you're upsetting her-" Dr Morgan started but Kinsey interrupted.
"You need to face facts Chloe. You've always known you were different. Always felt like you weren't a part of the rest of the world." He reasoned, "That's because you're not…you're a powerful being but your abilities haven't been unlocked yet."
"I can't believe you…if you say I was only "born" four years ago, then why do I remember everything?" Chloe challenged him.
"They created the memories. Forged them like they forged you." Kinsey explained, "They made you feel everything that you've felt. They made you love people that you'd only known for a day in reality."
"No." Chloe said, her quiet response sounding pathetic. It wasn't real, it couldn't be. The concept of aliens was fanciful enough, let alone her being one of them herself. Her whole life couldn't have been a carefully orchestrated lie…could it?
*
"This…this can't be…it's-it's… *impossible*." Daniel stuttered in the silent room.
"Quite the contrary Dr Jackson. Everything I tell you is true. It was the High Council's decision, and therefore mine too, that we should take the course of action to bring the being to this Earth under the care of Colonel O'Neill." Thor explained.
"But giving her false memories?" Daniel questioned, "That's highly unethical if not completely cruel."
"To her, the memories are not false, but very much real. We decided to implant her with these memories so that she would be open to less manipulation by the Goa'uld." Thor paused to look at Jack, "O'Neill, you do not look well."
Jack stared into the eyes of the Asgard Supreme Commander sitting in front of him, "How could you do this?"
"O'Neill, we-" Thor began.
"No…I'm sorry, OK? But how could you do this to me? To her? To every single person that she loves and loves her?" Jack protested, his eyes darkening. "Her whole life has been a lie, have you any idea how she must feel?"
"We sent her to you because we trust you implicitly, we knew that you would protect her with your life." He explained, anxious at the reaction he was receiving."We were not expecting for Chloe to ever discover the truth about her origins."
"She's not my daughter…she's an alien from millions of miles away," Jack shouted, "And you never expected her to find out?"
"Jack, I think you need to calm down." General Hammond suggested and he glared at his former commanding officer.
"How could you manipulate everything I've ever felt for her? You *made* me love her." He said quietly.
"Why has Senator Kinsey kidnapped Chloe?" Teal'c asked, trying to diffuse attention away from his friend who was obviously hurting intensely.
"We believe that Senator Kinsey has learnt the truth about Chloe and her origins. The High Council have monitored the situation and have theorised that they are planning to disable her."
"What?" Jack fumed, "Disable her? What does that mean?"
"Oh my God, Kinsey's going to transform her back into the being she was before." Sam answered with tears welling in her eyes. "Unlock the energy."
"That is correct Major Carter. I believe they are going to disable her present form and use her as a "bomb" to kill all the Goa'uld possible in one large attack." Thor replied. "They will be using her for a suicide mission."
*
"You want to use me to kill them all…these Goa'uld?" Chloe asked, her mind still confused, and unable to understand whether what she was told about her existence was true.
"Yes Miss O'Neill." Senator Kinsey replied kindly, knowing that the procedure to disable her form was a voluntary one, and he needed her agreement.
"But won't that mean I'm gonna die?" She asked, the reality hitting home.
"Actually, some of my consultants believe that we can transfer your consciousness to another body." Kinsey explained.
"Uh, actually, Senator, Sir, that's not poss-" Dr Morgan started but was cut off with a fierce glare.
"We'll make sure that you're safe." Kinsey assured and his spirit lifted when he saw a small smile.
"I'll still be able to live with dad when you put my in a new body right?" Chloe questioned, knowing that whatever happened, she'd need to sort things out with the man that she thought was a father.
"Of course." Senator Kinsey lied.
"Um, I suppose, yes, then. I'll do it. I'll save the world." She agreed and Senator Kinsey smiled at her and dragged Dr Morgan outside of the deserted ward with Chloe still restrained on the bed.
"Call your team and have them over here immediately for transportation." Senator Kinsey ordered, but Dr Morgan didn't move.
"Senator, you know as well as I do that there's no way we can transfer her consciousness into another body, and even if we could, she'd never be able to live with Colonel O'Neill again; she'd be cooped up in a lab for the rest of her life." Dr Morgan protested.
"I. Don't. Care." Senator Kinsey replied gruffly. "Now do what I say, or you'll be going along with her!"
*
"The Asgard are expecting us." Senator Kinsey announced as they were beamed to a ship millions of light years away. When they arrived, the room was grey and stark, yet Chloe felt a sense of uneasy familiarity.
"This is an alien ship?" She asked, expecting it to be bigger. The three doctors, including Dr Morgan surrounding her, smiled slightly. To her it seemed boring and plain, but the mechanics were intriguing beyond belief.
"Don't be scared." Senator Kinsey patronised, "You're going to save the world…are you ready?" He asked forcefully.
"Yep. Full of that old Kamikaze spirit." She joked and followed the team into another transporter and another until she was actually getting bored. Finally they walked through an enormous door into a black hall with an enormous echo where she was told to just "wait" by a nervous Dr Morgan and his team.
Suddenly ten grey aliens beamed down from the sky to sit in chairs in front of her and she almost fainted. It was her first sight of aliens and she couldn't help murmuring, "This is wa-ay too much like the X-Files."
Standing in front of the ten beings, she felt like the only person in the world as they stared at her and started to talk in a strange language. She turned around to look for Senator Kinsey but there was no-one behind her at all.
"You are Chloe O'Neill, originating from Osal, daughter of Colonel O'Neill." One of the Asgard said with a perfect vocabulary, and she swallowed nervously as she remembered that she was an alien too.
"Uh, yes, that's me." She replied quietly.
"You have come here to have your current form disabled and to transform back into your original visage and reverse your genetic makeup to become a weapon against the enemies of Earth."
"Against the Goa'uld." She corrected with a hesitant tone.
"And you are sure they would use you only against the Goa'uld?"
"Well, I-"
"And you are prepared to sacrifice your life for a procedure that may not work?" The Asgard asked.
"I don't-"
"You understand that your body and consciousness will die, never to be brought back?"
"Wait!" Chloe shouted, "What did you say?"
"You cannot be transferred into another body. We tried it many times when you were in our care but we never succeeded. We then concluded that it was near impossible." Thor explained.
"He said…Senator Kinsey said…he said that I could go back to Earth. Be with my family again." Chloe said, tears slipping down her cheeks.
"You are going to die." Thor said plainly. "There is no debate. Are you still willing to do this?"
"I want to help. Stop people dying." Chloe said, her mind confusing what she really wanted. She knew that killing Goa'uld was a good thing and that she'd save lives…but she didn't want to die more than anyone else.
"You could do more without dying yourself. You could be a valuable aid to the Stargate programme," Thor proposed. "And there are many who would be grieved to see you partake in this mission."
Suddenly a huddle of people were beamed in front of her and she identified them as her parents, Murray, Daniel, Cassie and Janet. Her face crumpled as she saw the people that she loved, and she looked from the Asgard to her family and back again.
"Please…come home." Jack pleaded and Chloe backed away as he stepped forward.
"I can't. I *have* to do this." She protested.
"Don't leave her. Don't leave Ella without her sister." He said, knowing that her loyalty to her sister was unsurpassed.
"That's not fair." She objected tearfully.
"Just think about her, that's all we ask." Sam pleaded desperately, "Think about all of us."
And suddenly the floodgates opened, and emotions were running free. Chloe broke down, unable to hide her fear and sadness anymore and ran towards Jack, "Take me away from here. Please."
*
"All our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling." Blaise Pascal
*
If you enjoyed this story, read the sequel "A Girl From Mars". Feedback and comments at shirleym_@hotmail.com
Summary: He should have known that sooner or later his idyllic world would collapse into rubble.
A/N: Forgive the blatant plot-taking and quote stealing (guess where from!)… ; ) You'll know once you've read it! Thanks to my beta Christina *hugs and kisses*.
*
"Will you come home and stop this pain tonight?"
Blink 182, I Miss You
*
If it's one thing that she learnt from her father, it was to trust her instincts. He'd told her that since she was young, making sure that she knew enough to defend herself in the big bad world of adults. Yep, she was always supposed to trust her instincts, "cause usually they're right" he'd say, sitting in his favourite chair, departing his wisdom as she looked up at him with the adoration that an enamoured daughter had for her frequently absent, yet exciting father.
But she didn't. She didn't turn to look round when she heard the heavy footsteps on the tarmac behind her. She didn't even glance as the man walked up behind her so close that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. Because Chloe O'Neill wasn't a girl to confront someone, stutter and flush furiously maybe, but confronting someone was her worst nightmare.
Until now. Until she turned round and came face to face with a man she vaguely recognised. That she didn't completely remember until the blue volt of electricity hit her and the whole world faded to black.
*
He should have known that sooner or later his idyllic world would collapse into rubble. To be honest, he was amazed it had lasted this long. Throughout their "dating" period, he'd been petrified that Sam would be ordered to break up with him or that she would decide that a 47-year-old retiree with a sixteen-year-old daughter wasn't the best chance for a happy future. And when Ella was due, he'd fussed over Sam 24/7, and consequently freaked her out by saying that he could feel something was going to go wrong. But he'd forgotten. He'd forgotten all his worries and started living his life.
He'd become the stereotypical over-protective father that Chloe had surprisingly revelled in, and become a husband and a father to a baby girl that he was sure he was going to drop and break into tiny, little pieces. But he'd never suspected this. Not now. Not as Chloe was planning college applications and trying to decide a future career and being supremely annoyed when her test results came back with "Air Force officer."
He'd always known that his refusal to co-operate with the less than legal NID operations would come back and bite him in the ass, but he didn't think even they would stoop that low. Of course, he couldn't outright accuse them of kidnapping his daughter, but he knew. He just had to wait as forensics slowly came back from the school car park where Chloe was last seen walking into, and as detectives asked him whether Chloe was "depressed or considering running away from home?"
He felt like shouting to them that if he'd known she was going to run away then he wouldn't have let her go out. But he didn't. So he sat on his couch with Sam who was rocking herself slowly and becoming paler and paler by the second.
Ella had been escorted to the Fraiser's, Sam hoping that at least one of them was going to have a semblance of a normal life until Chloe was brought home. Sam knew Jack's suspicions on the NID, and she knew them well enough to know that they wouldn't care about a teenager's life, especially that of the troublesome Colonel O'Neill's daughter. But she couldn't help wondering why they'd taken her. Why now? After all this time?
And as she began to question herself more and more, she wondered if it really was the NID. Maybe it was someone far more dangerous than that. Someone who had no motive, who had no reason…someone who would never return her alive.
*
Everything was fuzzy in Chloe's world as she opened her eyes. Clutching her head, she felt herself almost swoon back to the ground. But she made a conscious effort to stay awake, trying to assess exactly where she was. The last thing she could remember was searching for her car keys in her bag and then black.
Sitting up, she pressed herself against a wall as if to make herself less conspicuous. Maybe she passed out, and someone saved her from freezing to death. Knowing she didn't have the effort to stand up, let alone walk, she remained where she was with the faint hope that she'd regain strength but just as she was about to flex her legs, the door swung open letting in some dim moonlight from outside.
A black figure walked in and Chloe offered her hand, "Um, uh, thank you for helping me," but her hand was swatted back down with an intense force. "Ow!" She screamed as her head hit the back of the wall violently as the cloaked figure pushed her repeatedly against the side.
"Don't talk again." The voice said gravely and let Chloe's head go. Cradling it in her hands, she sobbed quietly as she felt her legs being bound together. "Just so you can't go anywhere." The man boasted and pushed her legs aside, reaching for some shackles on the wall where he locked Chloe to the wall.
"Please!" She pleaded desperately, not knowing what to do or how to act, "Please, I'll do whatever you want…."
"Oh, you will." The man replied smugly, and Chloe could almost sense that he was smiling behind his balaclava. "Or I'll kill you. OK?"
*
Maybe days had passed as Chloe came round and back to consciousness, she wasn't sure. But it was day, that was for sure, as light streamed into the derelict warehouse. As far as she could remember, her captor hadn't returned and she smiled to herself as much as she could, knowing that while he was away, she had a better chance of escaping.
But as she pulled her arms fiercely from the wall, desperate to release her hands from the cuffs, she knew she had little hope of being released. So instead, as she drifted in and out of sleep, she could almost imagine being back at home.
Her attention fell when she heard two voices just outside the entrance, laughing together, unaware of her desperation inside.
"Help!" She shouted, "Please, help me!" She continued screaming until the door opened and she breathed a sigh of relief until she noticed the face. "Robert?" She queried, not believing her eyes.
But her captor ignored her questions and turned to his companion, "See Chris? I told you I'd get her."
Chris smiled happily, "You did well dude. Seriously didn't think you had the bottle." He admitted as they neared closer and closer to Chloe, completely ignoring her fearful expression.
"Chris my boy, for a million dollars, I'd kill her!" Robert laughed nudging his grinning friend with his shoulder.
"I wouldn't say no to that." Chris replied and fell silent as they stood directly in front of Chloe. Kneeling down, he had a look of something that even Chloe couldn't decipher. "Now, how's our pretty little captive doing?" He said, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear and cleaned some mud from her grimy face.
Chloe instinctively spat in his face, venom piercing her voice, "I knew you were both assholes, but I didn't know you were *psychotic* assholes!" She spat as Chris rose to face the smiling Robert.
Robert tried his luck this time, trying to placate their victim, "We're not psychotic Chloe. We're just getting some money that's all."
"What do you mean?"
"We were offered a million dollars to kidnap you." Chris said smarmily. "And I wouldn't be surprised if it was your parents that want you kidnapped if you act like this around them."
"You've done this for money?" She screamed at them, "I have Science with you two pieces of crap, and one day you kidnap me to get some money? Do you have any idea who's doing this? What they could do to me?"
"Ya see, I won't care O'Neill." Chris smiled, "Cos I'll be on the other side of the world tanning myself with a few beautiful women at my side. They can do all they like to you."
Chloe refused to look at them, her eyes burning with hatred and anger that she couldn't express. Two jocks decide to kidnap her for money? It sounded like a plot from a bad soap opera…her whole *life* sounded like a plot from a bad soap opera.
"Aw….Is Chloe getting angry with us?" Robert hissed and kicked her in the side causing her to scream, "You deserve this."
"For what?" She spat, "For being a decent person? For not laughing when you decide to bully someone? Yeah, you know what, I really *do* deserve being kidnapped."
"You're a patronising bitch, that's what. Just because daddy's an Air Force Colonel doesn't mean you can treat people like something you stepped in." Robert accused her, "Where's daddy now?" He laughed with Chris, and gave each other high-fives. Waving goodbye to her, they started to walk towards the door before Chloe shouted to them.
"I hope that when you hand me over or whatever you sick freaks are going to do, that they shoot you both!"
*
Jack hadn't slept. For three days. He'd sat stroking Sam's hair as her head lay on his lap, and she drifted into sleep, if somewhat fitful. Neither wanted to be apart from each other, and Jack had an insatiable need to have Ella with him, but he knew seeing his daughter, that Chloe adored, would tear him apart. So he sat watching his wife stir in her sleep, murmuring words that he couldn't hear, and dreaming a nightmare he couldn't begin to cope with.
He'd never felt so despondent as he did at this moment, Charlie's death had pulled him apart and threatened to never put him back together again. But he'd had his shining light, Chloe at eight years old had kept him alive. Now, his perfect life was crumbling and Chloe was the first brick to fall. The pain he felt from Charlie's death re-emerged and the hopelessness that he couldn't remove from his mind taunted him; he couldn't help his daughter, no-one could.
Occasionally he could hear the detectives voices from the kitchen, discussing theories and suspects, but that was no relief. Nothing was. Nothing could stop the desperation and disgust he felt at himself for letting it happen to her. Chloe had been through enough in her seventeen years, she didn't deserve this.
Sam stirred and she gradually opened her eyes, and looked up to Jack's grief-ridden face, "I'd hoped it was a dream."
"So did I." He replied honestly, his eyes darkening with every passing second. Sam rose from the couch and held out her hand to him, tears welling in her eyes.
"Will you come to bed with me?" She asked softly, her voice barely piercing the silent atmosphere surrounding them. Jack knew she was making an effort to help his grieving, and he smiled lightly, thankful for her attempt.
He held her hand in his hand, and they walked the stairs in silence, the stairs creaking and the door closing quietly behind them.
They made love in their dark bedroom, soulfully with quietened expressions of love as they found their release, finding solace from their hellish reality in each other's arms.
*
Chloe sat nervously, biting her lip and salty tears streaming down her face. She rocked her body slowly as if somehow it released her. She knew she was delirious, she'd spent half the night imagining that Sam was sitting in front of her reciting the laws of physics and telling her the best way to put Ella to sleep.
And when she'd awoken from her fantasy land, she'd cried herself to sleep, in her heart knowing that she'd never see them again. It was so painful to see them as clear as day standing in front of her, her perfect family and to then disappear was like someone cutting out her heart and stamping on it repeatedly.
She knew the "hand over" as Chris and Robert joked, was today. Today she would be given to some madman that was even more psychotic than them. She wondered how the hell two people could get so screwed up by society as to get paid a million dollars to kidnap a classmate; but then she realised she shouldn't really have any sympathy for them, seeing as they got her into the situation in the first place.
She could hear a car pull up outside with the engine still running, it didn't sound like the old junky thing that Chris and Robert had bought; she'd come to recognise the sound over the past week, and it definitely wasn't them. And as she heard the boots impact on the gravel loudly outside, she said prayers to any Gods that were listening, praying that her family would be safe, and that they'd live on happily.
The door swung open, exposing her to the harsh daylight outside and she winced; she'd spent the best part of a week inside the darkness and it was hard to adjust. A figure came towards her, she couldn't make out his face, but she knew it was a man; the confident swagger, and the rough voice told her as much.
The light from outside disguised his face and he bent down, unlocking her hands and her legs, and violently bringing her to stand up. He pushed her in front of him and all the way to the white van outside with a masked driver sitting in front wordlessly. The back was open and she was forced inside onto the floor with a few rags to cushion her on the drive to God knows where. Before the van doors closed behind her, she made a desperate plea to her new captor, "Please!" She shouted, "Please let me go!"
"I don't think so." Came the reply. "They won't want you back if they knew."
Chloe frowned, "What? Know what?" She appealed frustratedly, but her questions were not answered and the door slammed and the engine started up.
In her desperation, she threw her body against the side, and let the tears fall freely.
*
"Can you think of anyone who had an unhealthy interest in your daughter?" The detective asked, and Jack gritted his teeth.
"I've told you already. Chloe had never told me or Sam about anything like that." He replied gruffly, "Shouldn't you be out doing something useful? Like, oh, I don't know, looking for her?"
The detective sighed, "Mr O'Neill, we're trying to ascertain who might have been a risk to Chloe."
But Jack didn't hear the long explanation for the questions he was being asked, he was just looking at his wife who was staring out of the window. He knew she was crying, he could see her wipe her eyes and just gaze out of the window as if by looking hard enough, Chloe would come back to them.
Sam sat on the window seat, Ella gurgling happily next to her mother, unaware of the commotion going on around her. Jack could hear Cassie being questioned in the next room, and her occasional sobs as she tried to think of people that Chloe knew, or whether she was secretly dating anyone.
And as time passed, Jack's belief that the NID were behind this faded and even more sinister ideas sprung into his mind.
"Uh, Mr O'Neill?" The detective interrupted.
"What?" Jack replied curtly.
"I asked you whether Chloe was prone to going out late at night? To night clubs or discos?" He repeated. Under normal circumstances, he would have been annoyed with the man's daydreaming, but it was highly likely Mr O'Neill's daughter had been kidnapped, and she'd been missing for a week now; the most possible scenario, and the most horrific, was that she was already dead and this whole investigation was a waste of time. And he suspected that Mr O'Neill already knew that.
"No. She stayed at home. She wasn't exactly a sociable person." He replied, finally dragging his attention away from Sam.
"But she was close friends with former colleagues from your base?" The detective asked.
Jack looked up with an accusing glance, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Could you just answer the question please Mr O'Neill?" Detective Gates persisted.
"Yes, OK? She was close friends with them, they're like brothers to her." He replied tersely. He knew that his love for Chloe was matched only by his team's.
"This would be Daniel Jackson and…who?" Detective Gates asked.
"Murray." Jack said sternly. "He's not from this country. He's worked for the Air Force for six years though, so I'd say he was a pretty trustworthy guy, especially where Chloe is concerned."
"We're going to have to talk to them too, I hope you understand." The detective explained. "And I'd like to ask your wife some questions too."
Jack's eyes flamed, "Can't you see how bad she's taking this?"
"I know it's hard…"
"No!" Jack protested, rising from the couch, "You have no idea *at all* how hard this is! Now, I'd like you to get back to doing your job of finding my daughter, so I can be with my wife, and try and help each other through this."
Jack walked over to Sam who briefly looked round at him. As he approached he placed his hand on her shoulder, and she put her own over his. He sat behind her and they waited for their daughter to come home.
*
The ride was long and hard, and Chloe had no idea how far she'd been driven or where the heck she was. But the drive was a breeze compared to the place she was being held. It reminded her of a psychiatric unit, all white and clinically clean. One bed was in the middle, which she was currently strapped to.
She'd somehow fallen asleep or possibly been drugged and changed into some green scrubs. Chloe refused to think about what might have taken place in the time she was unconscious. Instead, she focused on trying to get herself out, even though she hadn't seen her captors for hours now. The sky was still bright and she could see out of the long windows in the room, but it showed only the top of nameless skyscrapers in an unidentifiable city.
Suddenly, the door at the side creaked open and Chloe craned her neck to see who entered. A stab of familiarity hit her in the stomach as she watched a grey-haired, "suited and booted" man walk towards her. She cowered away as much as she could with the restraints but the man didn't seem fazed at all. "Now, now. You shouldn't be afraid." He said as if talking to a baby.
"You've kidnapped me, and I'm not supposed to be afraid?" She balked and then shrunk away as she wondered about his reaction to her curt comment.
The man smiled slightly, giving Chloe the shivers, "You remind me of your father."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Chloe accused, completely forgetting her situation.
The man neared her, "We've had more than a few scrapes in the past. He seems to disagree with my methods." And as he spoke, Chloe blanched in realisation of who the man standing in front of her was.
"Senator Kinsey." She said simply and Kinsey nodded, touching the lows bars of the bed gently.
"So you do watch the news then." He laughed, as if to have a joke with her, expecting her to chuckle along with him.
"What do you want with me?" She asked him desperately, racking her brains of something that a Senator would need so badly that he would kidnap a clueless teenager for.
"You're more important than you think you are."
Chloe sighed, "Look, I don't know anything about what my dad does, OK? So there's no point in even asking."
The Senator smiled, and sat on the end of the bed, "I know what your father does."
Her eyes widened, "You do?"
Kinsey nodded, "That's right." He leaned further into Chloe, whispering in her ear and she winced, "He fights aliens." The Senator told her, "Every day." Kinsey pulled away and waited for her reaction.
Chloe laughed, despite her precarious situation. "You do realise we don't live in the X-Files don't you?"
But Senator Kinsey wasn't fazed by Chloe's words, but merely looked as if he expected them, "I think it's time for a quick lesson on intergalactic travel, don't you?"
*
Jack furiously flicked channels, the screen bouncing from one picture to the next. How could he watch TV, how could he do anything when his daughter was missing out there, kidnapped, and he couldn't do anything about it?
Sam kept herself occupied with Ella, trying to make everything as normal and un-stressful for their daughter as possible. Under usual circumstances, Jack would have treasured every second he spent with Ella, a miracle that he never thought he would have two years ago; a baby with the woman that he loved, but every time he looked at Ella, he couldn't help thinking about Chloe and what was happening to her.
"Jack?" He turned round as he heard Sam's soft voice from behind him.
"Hey." He greeted her quietly as she walked round the couch and sat next to him, resting her head onto his shoulders and pulling his arm round her waist. "Ella off to sleep?"
Sam nodded, "Yeah…Cassie said she'd take her out for a walk if we wanted some time alone."
"Right," Jack answered swapping channels again, "She's taking it pretty bad, isn't she?"
"She thinks that it's her fault. That she could have prevented it somehow." Sam told him, "And she misses her like crazy."
"We all do." Jack murmured. There was a loud clatter from the kitchen and Jack looked towards Sam with a quizzical expression. "They're still here then?"
"They think the kidnapper's going to ring up, make a ransom demand or something." Sam replied, "And it wouldn't be very good press if they left the house of a teenager that's been kidnapped for a week."
"They think she's not coming back, don't they?" Jack said soberly.
"Jack, I-"
"I read the papers Sam, even I know someone missing more than 48 hours is unlikely to ever come home." Jack replied bitterly.
"Maybe if it's the NID-" Sam suggested, but Jack cut her off.
"Come on Sam, we both know that there's nothing the NID could want with Chloe." Jack reasoned and Sam pulled away.
"So we're supposed to give up?" Sam shouted, "She's your daughter Jack…"
"I know!" Jack bellowed with equal volume, "And I want her back so much that it hurts, but I'm gonna have to get used to the possibility that she's not going to come back. We both do."
Sam walked away from the couch with a furious expression, "Well excuse me for not giving up so quickly." She walked towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"Upstairs. With Ella. I'd rather be around her than you at the moment." She said curtly and stormed upstairs.
*
Chloe sat dumbstruck as she listened to the Senator reel off information about alien races as though it were a shopping list. Her mind was racing with unanswered questions, but as Kinsey continued his explanation, things started to slip into place;
The frankly miraculous return from the dead of her father only a year and a half ago and the fact he was in full health straight away, the frequent "missions" fighting wars that weren't heard on the TV…and she'd always asked herself why an archaeologist would need to work on a programme about astrophysics. And why her father, an admitted "moron" when it came to science, would be working on Deep Space Radar Telemetry.
"So, these Goa'uld…these parasites…" She said uncomfortably, the word rolling awkwardly off her tongue, "…are what my dad fights?"
"Yes." The Senator replied simply.
"And the Asgard or the "little grey aliens" are the powerful allies that made dad better?" She questioned and Kinsey nodded. "And so all these Tok'Ra are fighting them? Even…Jacob?" She said quietly, not willing to believe that her trusted "grandfather" was one of these aliens.
"That's correct. It saved him from cancer apparently." Kinsey informed her.
"How do you know that they're not like pretending? The Goa'uld to be Tok'Ra I mean." She asked.
"You'd have to ask the SGC about that." He replied. Silence took over the large ward as Chloe struggled to take in all the information. It was dark outside now because of the long history of the alien cultures and wars.
"Why have you told me all of this?" Chloe quizzed, "It's nice to know, but I'm not important…why have you told *me* all of this when half the governments of the world don't know?"
"You think that you're a regular girl, don't you?" Senator Kinsey asked, "Normal like everyone else. But you're not. You're different."
"What?" Chloe rasped, "What do you mean?"
"I'm going to tell you where you came from." Kinsey smiled, and then reached for his mobile phone, pressed a few buttons and spoke harshly into it. "Get in here." Suddenly another person walked in the door armed with files and diagrams. "This is Dr Morgan. He's going to explain this much better than I am."
"Uh…" Dr Morgan started uncomfortably as he reached the end of the bed, "Hi, um, well, basically there's an alien legend dating back thousands of years that there's a planet called Osal in a distant part of the universe. Osal is inhabited by millions of what you could call "energy beings" which feed off the unusual chemicals in the air that surround their planet." Dr Morgan paused, "Legend has it that there was one of these "beings" who was dangerous beyond comprehension, records aren't specific as to what that might mean, it suggests some kind of inadvertent chaos would come about, but whatever they thought the "Osalans" were definitely petrified of this one being."
"And?" She whispered.
"Well, they sent this being away from the planet and ejected it from their atmosphere. This is where our friends the Asgard come into the story. They find this "being" on a direct course for Earth, just about ready to destroy us and the whole universe along with it. They analysed the genetics once they had taken it on board and saw that the Osalan was composed of too much "energy". They removed it from orbit around ten years ago without violating the treaty to protect Earth because the Goa'uld did not know of it's significance." Dr Morgan paused, almost unwilling to divulge the rest of the story.
"Go on." Senator Kinsey said forcefully, scaring both Chloe and the doctor.
"Yes, well, um, they kept the being safe in stasis. Four years later, they meet Colonel Jack O'Neill of Earth, with whom they have an unusual bond of trust and friendship especially Thor. After intense discussion, the Asgard make a decision with what to do with the Osalan being they found so that it wouldn't be discovered by the Goa'uld and used against themselves or Earth. They created a human form and gave it to Colonel O'Neill."
"They made you." Senator Kinsey interrupted harshly, "They forged you to look like him so he would look after you. Protect you as if you were his real daughter. But they couldn't change the fact you're not from Earth. You're the Osalan, Chloe. You're an alien with the potential to destroy the universe."
*
Jack sat on the couch, his mind busy with how the hell he could be alienating his wife at a time like this, when the phone rang.
"Hello?" He said almost mechanically into the receiver.
"Jack? It's General Hammond, " came the reply.
"General? Um, what did you want?" He said, his words not sounding like they were intended.
"You need to come to base, you and Major Carter." He said sternly and the tone of his voice was worrying Jack.
"What for? George are you going to tell me what this is about?" He asked.
General Hammond coughed, "We have a visitor…It's Thor and he has some information on Chloe."
*
Chloe's bottom lip trembled and her eyes began to water, "Why are you doing this?" She pleaded, "I believed you about the Stargate…and-and…the Goa'uld…and even those grey aliens, the Asgard…why are you lying to me about this?"
Senator Kinsey leant forward, "I'm not lying Chloe, and in your heart of hearts, you know I'm not lying too."
"No!" She screamed fiercely. "You're telling me I'm an earth destroying, no, a *universe* destroying blob of energy and I'm just supposed to believe you?!"
"I, uh, I know it must be hard to take in, but we're going to pay a visit to the Asgard." Dr Morgan explained.
"Leave me alone!" Chloe protested, "I want to go home! I want my dad!"
"He's not your father…" Senator Kinsey reminded her, "You don't have a father. And your home is thousands of millions of miles away in a distant part of the universe."
"No!"
"Senator, you can see you're upsetting her-" Dr Morgan started but Kinsey interrupted.
"You need to face facts Chloe. You've always known you were different. Always felt like you weren't a part of the rest of the world." He reasoned, "That's because you're not…you're a powerful being but your abilities haven't been unlocked yet."
"I can't believe you…if you say I was only "born" four years ago, then why do I remember everything?" Chloe challenged him.
"They created the memories. Forged them like they forged you." Kinsey explained, "They made you feel everything that you've felt. They made you love people that you'd only known for a day in reality."
"No." Chloe said, her quiet response sounding pathetic. It wasn't real, it couldn't be. The concept of aliens was fanciful enough, let alone her being one of them herself. Her whole life couldn't have been a carefully orchestrated lie…could it?
*
"This…this can't be…it's-it's… *impossible*." Daniel stuttered in the silent room.
"Quite the contrary Dr Jackson. Everything I tell you is true. It was the High Council's decision, and therefore mine too, that we should take the course of action to bring the being to this Earth under the care of Colonel O'Neill." Thor explained.
"But giving her false memories?" Daniel questioned, "That's highly unethical if not completely cruel."
"To her, the memories are not false, but very much real. We decided to implant her with these memories so that she would be open to less manipulation by the Goa'uld." Thor paused to look at Jack, "O'Neill, you do not look well."
Jack stared into the eyes of the Asgard Supreme Commander sitting in front of him, "How could you do this?"
"O'Neill, we-" Thor began.
"No…I'm sorry, OK? But how could you do this to me? To her? To every single person that she loves and loves her?" Jack protested, his eyes darkening. "Her whole life has been a lie, have you any idea how she must feel?"
"We sent her to you because we trust you implicitly, we knew that you would protect her with your life." He explained, anxious at the reaction he was receiving."We were not expecting for Chloe to ever discover the truth about her origins."
"She's not my daughter…she's an alien from millions of miles away," Jack shouted, "And you never expected her to find out?"
"Jack, I think you need to calm down." General Hammond suggested and he glared at his former commanding officer.
"How could you manipulate everything I've ever felt for her? You *made* me love her." He said quietly.
"Why has Senator Kinsey kidnapped Chloe?" Teal'c asked, trying to diffuse attention away from his friend who was obviously hurting intensely.
"We believe that Senator Kinsey has learnt the truth about Chloe and her origins. The High Council have monitored the situation and have theorised that they are planning to disable her."
"What?" Jack fumed, "Disable her? What does that mean?"
"Oh my God, Kinsey's going to transform her back into the being she was before." Sam answered with tears welling in her eyes. "Unlock the energy."
"That is correct Major Carter. I believe they are going to disable her present form and use her as a "bomb" to kill all the Goa'uld possible in one large attack." Thor replied. "They will be using her for a suicide mission."
*
"You want to use me to kill them all…these Goa'uld?" Chloe asked, her mind still confused, and unable to understand whether what she was told about her existence was true.
"Yes Miss O'Neill." Senator Kinsey replied kindly, knowing that the procedure to disable her form was a voluntary one, and he needed her agreement.
"But won't that mean I'm gonna die?" She asked, the reality hitting home.
"Actually, some of my consultants believe that we can transfer your consciousness to another body." Kinsey explained.
"Uh, actually, Senator, Sir, that's not poss-" Dr Morgan started but was cut off with a fierce glare.
"We'll make sure that you're safe." Kinsey assured and his spirit lifted when he saw a small smile.
"I'll still be able to live with dad when you put my in a new body right?" Chloe questioned, knowing that whatever happened, she'd need to sort things out with the man that she thought was a father.
"Of course." Senator Kinsey lied.
"Um, I suppose, yes, then. I'll do it. I'll save the world." She agreed and Senator Kinsey smiled at her and dragged Dr Morgan outside of the deserted ward with Chloe still restrained on the bed.
"Call your team and have them over here immediately for transportation." Senator Kinsey ordered, but Dr Morgan didn't move.
"Senator, you know as well as I do that there's no way we can transfer her consciousness into another body, and even if we could, she'd never be able to live with Colonel O'Neill again; she'd be cooped up in a lab for the rest of her life." Dr Morgan protested.
"I. Don't. Care." Senator Kinsey replied gruffly. "Now do what I say, or you'll be going along with her!"
*
"The Asgard are expecting us." Senator Kinsey announced as they were beamed to a ship millions of light years away. When they arrived, the room was grey and stark, yet Chloe felt a sense of uneasy familiarity.
"This is an alien ship?" She asked, expecting it to be bigger. The three doctors, including Dr Morgan surrounding her, smiled slightly. To her it seemed boring and plain, but the mechanics were intriguing beyond belief.
"Don't be scared." Senator Kinsey patronised, "You're going to save the world…are you ready?" He asked forcefully.
"Yep. Full of that old Kamikaze spirit." She joked and followed the team into another transporter and another until she was actually getting bored. Finally they walked through an enormous door into a black hall with an enormous echo where she was told to just "wait" by a nervous Dr Morgan and his team.
Suddenly ten grey aliens beamed down from the sky to sit in chairs in front of her and she almost fainted. It was her first sight of aliens and she couldn't help murmuring, "This is wa-ay too much like the X-Files."
Standing in front of the ten beings, she felt like the only person in the world as they stared at her and started to talk in a strange language. She turned around to look for Senator Kinsey but there was no-one behind her at all.
"You are Chloe O'Neill, originating from Osal, daughter of Colonel O'Neill." One of the Asgard said with a perfect vocabulary, and she swallowed nervously as she remembered that she was an alien too.
"Uh, yes, that's me." She replied quietly.
"You have come here to have your current form disabled and to transform back into your original visage and reverse your genetic makeup to become a weapon against the enemies of Earth."
"Against the Goa'uld." She corrected with a hesitant tone.
"And you are sure they would use you only against the Goa'uld?"
"Well, I-"
"And you are prepared to sacrifice your life for a procedure that may not work?" The Asgard asked.
"I don't-"
"You understand that your body and consciousness will die, never to be brought back?"
"Wait!" Chloe shouted, "What did you say?"
"You cannot be transferred into another body. We tried it many times when you were in our care but we never succeeded. We then concluded that it was near impossible." Thor explained.
"He said…Senator Kinsey said…he said that I could go back to Earth. Be with my family again." Chloe said, tears slipping down her cheeks.
"You are going to die." Thor said plainly. "There is no debate. Are you still willing to do this?"
"I want to help. Stop people dying." Chloe said, her mind confusing what she really wanted. She knew that killing Goa'uld was a good thing and that she'd save lives…but she didn't want to die more than anyone else.
"You could do more without dying yourself. You could be a valuable aid to the Stargate programme," Thor proposed. "And there are many who would be grieved to see you partake in this mission."
Suddenly a huddle of people were beamed in front of her and she identified them as her parents, Murray, Daniel, Cassie and Janet. Her face crumpled as she saw the people that she loved, and she looked from the Asgard to her family and back again.
"Please…come home." Jack pleaded and Chloe backed away as he stepped forward.
"I can't. I *have* to do this." She protested.
"Don't leave her. Don't leave Ella without her sister." He said, knowing that her loyalty to her sister was unsurpassed.
"That's not fair." She objected tearfully.
"Just think about her, that's all we ask." Sam pleaded desperately, "Think about all of us."
And suddenly the floodgates opened, and emotions were running free. Chloe broke down, unable to hide her fear and sadness anymore and ran towards Jack, "Take me away from here. Please."
*
"All our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling." Blaise Pascal
*
If you enjoyed this story, read the sequel "A Girl From Mars". Feedback and comments at shirleym_@hotmail.com