Destiny's Child
Chapter Twelve
Royal Palace
Anubis Homeworld
Anubis sat quiet and alone in his inner sanctum. His thoughts completely dominated by his continuing problems with the Federation warship that was still sitting in orbit of Tollana - completely undamaged despite his best efforts. It still seemed impossible to him that one alien warship could cause him so many problems - but it was causing him numerous problems, threatening to derail all of his carefully laid plans. Though he supposed he should be grateful that it was but one warship not an entire fleet of them.
The Resolution was a very impressive ship he would admit that, a treasure throve of technological wonders that would take decades or even centuries to fully exploit. Unfortunately the very thing that made her so impressive also made her a serious threat to him, particularly to his motherships.
A few hours ago the Alkesh he had dispatched under the command of Osiris to follow the progress of Tanneths battle with the Federation ship had returned. With dire, unbelievable news. Tanneths entire battle group five enhanced Shalkra-class motherships had been completely destroyed, three motherships - including the flagship - by the Resolution, two by a previously unseen class of Asgard battlecruiser that had been sitting in orbit of Tollana at the time. Nearly six thousand Jaffa had been wiped out - for any Goa'uld that was a major defeat. And then their was the matter of a now host-less Osiris. According to the two Jaffa the Resolution had detected them monitoring her - but instead of blasting them to dust had shut down all of their Alkesh's power with some kind of energy pulse and transported them aboard. They'd been returned to their Alkesh a couple of hours later - to find Osiris had been removed from the very attractive female host he'd been inhabiting, and that all their sensor logs of the battle and its aftermath had been erased. Captain Parker had allowed them to leave at that point - humiliated on a ship that was completely defenceless, not that the Alkesh would have been a threat even with fully operational weapons.
Finding a new host for Osiris would not be that difficult - Osiris had expressed much interest in one of his lotars. He'd let Osiris have that particular lotar as a new host. But there was still a certain matter of discipline - for the two Jaffa - to consider. They'd done nothing to stop Osiris being removed from the host body and for that he would have to punish them. How he wasn't quiet sure yet.
And then there was the problem of the Resolution herself to consider. He still had the sensor records from Tanneths first encounter with her and he'd been examining them in even more detail and discovered even more about the ship though scanning the interior of the ship was nearly impossible through the armour and the ships - admittedly very impressive - shields. He was surprised by a report from the two Jaffa observers that the armour on the Resolution's hull was actually retractable, disappearing into the ship when inactive. Which made the technology even more impressive.
One of the things about the Resolution that really impressed him - while simultaneously intimidating and frightening him - was the advanced nature of her armaments. They'd finally analysed her beam weapon. It was a kind of phased particle beam similar to the phased energy weapons used on his ships but much more advanced and powerful. The beam also seemed to work in a different way. His phased energy weapons - the Jaffa who'd returned from the observer mission had said that the Federation Humans referred to such weapons as phasers - worked by smashing matter apart on impact, a brutal but reasonably efficient means of destroying a target. The phaser beam fired by the Resolution however was more subtle in its approach to destruction but also a lot more efficient and destructive. Their analysis showed that the beam attacked a target at the atomic level and somehow caused atoms hit by the beam to go out of phase with their neighbours causing molecules to fly apart fatally weakening the material. Its effect on shields was the same by causing the individual energy particles to disintegrate it weakened the overall field strength substantially.
And then there were the torpedo weapons the Resolution fired - of which their now appeared to be at least two separate types. The sensor logs from the first engagement showed that the first kind was a controlled antimatter explosive of some kind. On impact small quantities of matter and antimatter collided resulting in a massive blast of super-energised photons and gamma radiation that could inflict punishing damage even through shields. The second type of torpedo was completely unknown - the only thing Anubis had to go on was the Jaffa's report. They'd reported that this kind of torpedo could penetrate shields as if they weren't there and that they completely vaporised whatever they hit in an explosion that rivalled a star going nova for its sheer power. That sort of destructive power in any weapon was almost unbelievable. And it made Anubis wonder what enemies the Federation had for it to require weapons of such overwhelming power.
Anubis sighed and wondered what he was going to do about the Resolution. Captain Parker had destroyed three of his motherships and crippled another and robbed Osiris of a host. No Goa'uld could let such crimes go unpunished. But how could he punish them when his motherships couldn't get anywhere near the Resolution without being blasted out of space with even less effort than he would expend swatting a fly. I'll find someway eventually, he thought, until then maybe it would be wise to leave Captain Parker and the Resolution alone. So far Captain Parker has only destroyed my motherships when they've attacked him first. If I keep attacking him however he may decide to go on the offensive. And that would be a complete disaster for me. I have nothing that can stand up to that ship's firepower even those five Rashka-class motherships Klorell brought me with the remains of Apophis' Grand Fleet would be destroyed if they challenged him. If he came after me he could potentially destroy my entire fleet and with it the army it has taken me centuries to build. Yes definitely best to leave him alone for now.
*****
U.S.S Resolution
She was on a Goa'uld mothership surrounded by Jaffa egger to do her bidding. A man was brought before her by two Jaffa Daniel Jackson. Her hand covered in a Goa'uld hand device coming up and being activated, Daniel screaming in pain as the ribbon of energy killed him slowly and painfully.
Suddenly standing on the bridge of that same mothership with a planet visible through the view port and several more motherships visible taking up bombardment positions in orbit. Her hand stabbing down on a control that unleashed the combined might of the fleet of motherships down upon the defenceless planet, cracking the crust open. Seeing her face reflected off the polished surface of the console grinning and eyes glowing with evil pleasure.
Sarah awoke with a scream. Sitting up in the luxurious bed she tried desperately to calm her rampant heartbeat. Carefully she eased out of bed and started across the room to the bathroom. Activating the sink and filling it with water. She reached down to scoop up some of the water to splash it upon her face. Only to recoil in horror as a mature Goa'uld symbiote looked at her calmly from beneath the surface of the pool of water then with a muscular flick of its body leaping out of the water and striking her neck and burrowing instantly inside even as she screamed.
A sharp bleep jolted Sarah Gardner awake. Really awake this time. Reflexively she touched the back of her neck. There was no scar old or new Doctor Tarses had completely healed it while she was unconscious earlier. The bleep came again. This time she recognised it as the door chime. Quickly she pulled the bed sheets around herself.
"Come in," she called out. The doors opened with a gentle swish and to her surprise Daniel Jackson stood in the doorway dressed in a Starfleet issue dressing gown and with a freshly replicated pair of slippers on his feet. Other than that he wore nothing save his glasses.
"Are you alright I heard you screaming," Daniel asked in concern though he already knew what had happened. Skaara had gone through the same thing after he'd been liberated from Klorell's control. He'd spent nearly a month on Abydos in the immediate aftermath helping Skaara recover. Himself and Kasuf - Sha're and Skaara's father - had been awoken many times by Skaara having nightmares about what he'd done while a Goa'uld and some of the things the he could have done.
"A nightmare," Sarah admitted still trying to calm her heart. "I was dreaming that…"
"That you were still a host," Daniel finished. At her shocked look he smiled. "Skaara went through the same thing when he was liberated from Klorell."
"Does it stop," Sarah asked her old friend and lover desperately.
"After a while," Daniel assured her coming over and taking a seat beside her. "It will always be with you but in time the memories and the pain will fade but they won't ever completely go away."
"But I don't want to remember," Sarah growled looking down and feeling tears come to her eyes again. "I saw myself do so many horrible things that I don't want to remember them. I just want to rip those memories out."
"That would actually do you more harm than good," Daniel replied softly.
"Why? I committed atrocities Daniel. I don't want to remember. I should have fought Osiris harder I could have beaten him." Daniel rolled his eyes.
"No you couldn't. No Human can beat a mature Goa'uld once it starts blending. Only one race of humanoids ever developed that ability and the Goa'uld destroyed them for it. And Sarah…" Daniel gently reached out a hand and forced her to look at him. "You shouldn't blame yourself for what your body did while you were a host. You couldn't stop Osiris but in the end you beat him. You're free of him now, he can never hurt you again."
Sarah smiled slightly at Daniel's words even as tears started to seep from her eyes again. He was right as usual. Intellectually she knew that but it was her heart that needed convincing.
"I just feel like I…" She couldn't continue beyond that point and once again broke down in tears.
Daniel immediately took notice of this and smiled to himself. He had been expecting it. Gently he reached out and pulled Sarah to him as he had always used to when she'd been upset about something.
Sarah burried her head in Daniels strong shoulder instinctively wrapping her arms around him as he wrapped his own arms around her as he whole body shook with sobs.
They stayed that way for quiet sometime. Until Sarah slipped into a troubled exhausted sleep. Gently Daniel tucked her back into bed and pulled the sheets back over her. Then he gently placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving the room to return to his own quarters. As he left he instructed the computer to inform him immediately if Sarah awoke. He didn't think that it was likely but it was always a possibility and he didn't mind if he lost sleep because of it. What was important right now was that he be here for Sarah as she walked along the long hard road to recovery.