Disclaimer - as before
Part 2
=======
Jacob Carter looked toward the assembled members of SG1 and General Hammond, to his right sat a solid, steel-eyed Jaffa who had been introduced as S'hang.
Jacob focused on Jonas but it was Selmak's deep rasp that led the conversation, "we've pulled as much intelligence from our operatives as was safe to do so but, at this time, we are no closer to establishing the identity of the Goa'uld on Kelowna." He paused for a moment while Jacob took control, "Jonas are you quite sure that Anubis is dead?"
"Quite sure," the Kelownan answered, without looking up from his notebook.
Jacob looked around the table again, but it was O'Neill who directed a concern at the young alien, "it's just that we've had this thing before with Apophis, you think you've killed him and killed him good, I might add, then he pops up all bright eyed and slightly disfigured in a place that resembles hell."
Jonas looked up at O'Neill, a petulant frown forming on his brow, "Jonas," Sam interjected, hesitating slightly, "Anubis successfully cloned himself once, who's to say that he didn't try again, maybe just cloning the symbiote?"
The young man rubbed the back of his head and gave Sam a small smile, "he's dead, Sam," he said softly, he then looked confidently across at General Hammond, "I know that for a fact."
The General nodded, "okay any other ideas? Could this Herak be acting on his own, to further his dead master's agenda?"
"It is most unlikely, General Hammond, Jaffa are trained from infancy to serve the Goa'uld as Gods," Teal'c reasoned.
"But you rebelled, Teal'c," Daniel prompted.
"That is correct, Daniel Jackson, but Herak is the type of Jaffa who will not question the way of things. As Anubis' First Prime, I believe he would have taken his master's technical knowledge to serve another System Lord, one who was close to or allied with his master, to insure his own survival and usefulness."
Daniel looked up, the hairs on the back of his neck tingling, "Osiris?"
"That would be a logical guess," the Jaffa replied, taking the weight of his friend's stare.
"Jacob?" O'Neill asked.
The Tok'ra General sighed, "since Anubis' advancement and defeat there has been a reorganization in the System Lords hierarchy. Several lower ranking Goa'ulds have taken the opportunity to broaden their territories, while those of a higher rank, who bore the full force of Anubis' attacks and survived, have dropped off our intelligent radar."
"Gone into hiding?" Daniel asked.
Jacob nodded uneasily.
"And is Osiris one of these to have just 'disappeared' off the radar?" O'Neill enquired, expanding his eyebrows at Sam.
There was a slight pause, "yes Jack."
"General Carter could not this System Lord be using the Kelownan situation to build a new army? By what Jonas Quinn has told us, they would have no shortage of Andari and Tiranian slaves to create a sizeable and powerful force."
"That's our main concern Teal'c." Jacob looked towards O'Neill, "whoever it is, we have to believe that they also have Anubis' knowledge of the Ancients, from his First Prime and that's why we need to send an operative into Kelowna to gather what intelligence we can."
Jonas looked up, "when do you want me to go back?" He asked without hesitation.
General Hammond returned the young man's gaze, "son, we need someone who can infiltrate the Jaffa ranks, someone who is trained for this type of assignment, that's why General Carter has brought S'hang to this briefing."
S'hang bowed his head slightly.
Jonas shifted his weight in his chair, "but General, I know the customs, the towns, the people."
"And they know you, Jonas," O'Neill cut in with authority, "you're the poster boy for Kelownan traitors. I bet ya every City Guard and Jaffa knows your face and probably has orders to shoot on sight. You would just hinder any mission."
The reality of Jack's words cut through him; making his shoulders fall slightly and concede their truth. Sam touched his arm and looked towards her father.
Jacob gave her a slight smile, "we still need you to brief S'hang on as much as you can, Jonas, obviously your knowledge would be valuable to the success of this mission."
"I would also like a map of the underground passageways you used to reach the stargate," S'hang asked, his voice deep and Shakespearian, matching the broadness of his chest.
Jonas let his forehead crease, "why?"
Jacob looked towards General Hammond to pick up the young man's question, "Jonas," Hammond began, almost fatherly, "this pact between Kelowna's new government and the Goa'uld is a potentially dangerous alliance, not only in regards to building an army but the threat it would impose to other worlds as well as Earth. It maybe necessary for S'hang to destroy the Kelownan gate."
"Necessary?" Jonas bit back, reading the General far to clearly.
Hammond moved uneasily in his chair, "son, I've had my orders from the President."
Jonas' eyes darted round the table, despairingly, but his words were calm, "General you're asking me to betray my planet's potential, to prevent future generations from experiencing the wonders and advancements that gate exploration can bring."
Daniel understood the dilemma, after all, Jonas was still a scientist at heart, "couldn't we just disable the gate," he offered.
"No, Daniel," Jack exclaimed, "we can't just disable the gate because the Goa'uld will just mend it again."
"Jonas Quinn," Teal'c said gently, "destroying the gate will help save countless lives and protect many planets, if you believe you are betraying your planet's future you would be doing it for the right reasons."
Jonas gave a small surrendering smile and looked at his friend, then beyond them all, "it's, it's just sometimes the wrong things are done for all the right reasons," he said quietly, thinking of the Andari massacre.
He sighed and removed the ring from his finger turning it in his hand, "what about the resistance, Chufa and General Wolf?" He looked up.
"S'hang will try to contact them," Jacob began, "to see if we could aid them, technically, in their fight against the Goa'uld."
"But not military?"
"It may come to that," Hammond replied, "but we need to see how the land lies first."
Jonas spun the ring with his mind, mesmerised by the whole circle it became on rotation. He then pushed it along to the table to S'hang, "you'll need this, it bears the symbol of The Coll, Wolf will recognise it."
The Jaffa picked it up and tried to fit it on one of his large fingers, "it would be best to keep it out of sight," Jonas explained, "it's probably an outlawed symbol on my planet now."
S'hang nodded an put it in his robe, "and a map of the passageways?" He asked.
Jonas looked past the Jaffa, his eyes narrowing in thought, "Jonas?" General Hammond asked, seeing the alien deliberate and hoping he wouldn't have to make the request an order.
Jonas rubbed his temples then looked around the table nervously, "the, the map's the easy part, General," he said with a tense laugh, his eyes resting on Daniel momentarily. "There are other dangers, in the catacombs," he continued, wiping his brow with jumpy fingertips, "secrets that the darkness buries."
"It would help if you tell us, Jonas," Daniel prompted, watching the young man falter, trying to help him take the next step.
The Kelownan looked uncomfortable and Jack gave him an encouraging smile, he'd never known Jonas to be so restrained when it came to offering information.
"There are rats in the catacombs," he whispered, "lots of rats.."
S'hang gave an arrogant snort, "a warrior is not afraid of such things."
Teal'c touched his arm in caution, noticing the Kelownan's blank gaze and then looked toward O'Neill. Jack shrugged.
Jonas continued, his voice shaky, "they're feeding off the bodies down there, a, a mountain of decaying carcasses of those slain during the coupe. I guess it saved digging a mass grave, putting them to rest in those dark, water filled tunnels," it was a rhetorical question but he looked around the table anyway.
"Son," Hammond began but the young man was lost again in a flood of memory.
"The mound was almost to the roof, body on body, but they didn't look real, even the bloated faces that looked familiar, people I'd spoken to that same day or passed in the corridors of the Parliamentary building, they looked, looked like grotesque, dispirited, manikins, disjointed and surplus to requirements," he gave a wry laugh.
"Jonas, in times of conflict." O'Neill began, reaching back to his own experience.
The young man turned to greet his gaze, "I know sir, people get killed, it happens every twenty years or so on my planet you'd of thought, we'd, I, be use to it by now," he turned away.
"You never get use to it," Jack stated, "you just learn how to deal with it."
They was a pause for a moment, then Jonas looked up, "that's, that's not the only horror that lurks in the shadows down there."
S'hang, grey, eyes fixed on the Kelownan's conveying stare, watching them change to a milky white and feeling a coldness creep into the strength of his body.
"There are apparitions that hide in the gloom, souls of those sent mad by Naquadria and left to perish in the lonely darkness of the catacombs. They are lost, between the spheres of existence and death and they feed off your fear by letting you experience the nightmare of their insanity. They will take over your body, your senses and plunge you into the night of their mind, reaping hungrily the fear you emit."
Distorted voices filled S'hang psyche, looping around his inner being in an assault of frenzied images and thoughts. He leapt from his chair, burying his fingertips into the roots of his short, brown hair, trying to expel the terror and madness that was pushing its way through his rationality.
Sam looked between the Jaffa and Kelownan, "Jonas, stop this!" She yelled, the concern evident in her voice as she noticed the trickle of blood oozing from the younger man's nose.
O'Neill scrapped his chair back and pulled Jonas from his, shaking him as he did. S'hang fell to his knees as the lunacy that had haunted him dissolved into the gentle heartbeat of his own blood. Teal'c and Jacob went to his aid, "what the hell?" General Carter began, looking fiercely towards the Kelownan but it was S'hang who answered.
"General please," the deep voice declared, "do not blame Jonas Quinn, it is I who should be reproached, he was just demonstrating the ignorance in my own overconfidence."
He looked over to Jonas, whom Jack still had by the collar and bowed his head, "thank you for illustrating the danger to me," he bowed his head, "I will prepare myself."
Jonas nodded and Jack let him go, straighten the younger man's collar with a Colonel sized glare.
+++++++++++
Part 2
=======
Jacob Carter looked toward the assembled members of SG1 and General Hammond, to his right sat a solid, steel-eyed Jaffa who had been introduced as S'hang.
Jacob focused on Jonas but it was Selmak's deep rasp that led the conversation, "we've pulled as much intelligence from our operatives as was safe to do so but, at this time, we are no closer to establishing the identity of the Goa'uld on Kelowna." He paused for a moment while Jacob took control, "Jonas are you quite sure that Anubis is dead?"
"Quite sure," the Kelownan answered, without looking up from his notebook.
Jacob looked around the table again, but it was O'Neill who directed a concern at the young alien, "it's just that we've had this thing before with Apophis, you think you've killed him and killed him good, I might add, then he pops up all bright eyed and slightly disfigured in a place that resembles hell."
Jonas looked up at O'Neill, a petulant frown forming on his brow, "Jonas," Sam interjected, hesitating slightly, "Anubis successfully cloned himself once, who's to say that he didn't try again, maybe just cloning the symbiote?"
The young man rubbed the back of his head and gave Sam a small smile, "he's dead, Sam," he said softly, he then looked confidently across at General Hammond, "I know that for a fact."
The General nodded, "okay any other ideas? Could this Herak be acting on his own, to further his dead master's agenda?"
"It is most unlikely, General Hammond, Jaffa are trained from infancy to serve the Goa'uld as Gods," Teal'c reasoned.
"But you rebelled, Teal'c," Daniel prompted.
"That is correct, Daniel Jackson, but Herak is the type of Jaffa who will not question the way of things. As Anubis' First Prime, I believe he would have taken his master's technical knowledge to serve another System Lord, one who was close to or allied with his master, to insure his own survival and usefulness."
Daniel looked up, the hairs on the back of his neck tingling, "Osiris?"
"That would be a logical guess," the Jaffa replied, taking the weight of his friend's stare.
"Jacob?" O'Neill asked.
The Tok'ra General sighed, "since Anubis' advancement and defeat there has been a reorganization in the System Lords hierarchy. Several lower ranking Goa'ulds have taken the opportunity to broaden their territories, while those of a higher rank, who bore the full force of Anubis' attacks and survived, have dropped off our intelligent radar."
"Gone into hiding?" Daniel asked.
Jacob nodded uneasily.
"And is Osiris one of these to have just 'disappeared' off the radar?" O'Neill enquired, expanding his eyebrows at Sam.
There was a slight pause, "yes Jack."
"General Carter could not this System Lord be using the Kelownan situation to build a new army? By what Jonas Quinn has told us, they would have no shortage of Andari and Tiranian slaves to create a sizeable and powerful force."
"That's our main concern Teal'c." Jacob looked towards O'Neill, "whoever it is, we have to believe that they also have Anubis' knowledge of the Ancients, from his First Prime and that's why we need to send an operative into Kelowna to gather what intelligence we can."
Jonas looked up, "when do you want me to go back?" He asked without hesitation.
General Hammond returned the young man's gaze, "son, we need someone who can infiltrate the Jaffa ranks, someone who is trained for this type of assignment, that's why General Carter has brought S'hang to this briefing."
S'hang bowed his head slightly.
Jonas shifted his weight in his chair, "but General, I know the customs, the towns, the people."
"And they know you, Jonas," O'Neill cut in with authority, "you're the poster boy for Kelownan traitors. I bet ya every City Guard and Jaffa knows your face and probably has orders to shoot on sight. You would just hinder any mission."
The reality of Jack's words cut through him; making his shoulders fall slightly and concede their truth. Sam touched his arm and looked towards her father.
Jacob gave her a slight smile, "we still need you to brief S'hang on as much as you can, Jonas, obviously your knowledge would be valuable to the success of this mission."
"I would also like a map of the underground passageways you used to reach the stargate," S'hang asked, his voice deep and Shakespearian, matching the broadness of his chest.
Jonas let his forehead crease, "why?"
Jacob looked towards General Hammond to pick up the young man's question, "Jonas," Hammond began, almost fatherly, "this pact between Kelowna's new government and the Goa'uld is a potentially dangerous alliance, not only in regards to building an army but the threat it would impose to other worlds as well as Earth. It maybe necessary for S'hang to destroy the Kelownan gate."
"Necessary?" Jonas bit back, reading the General far to clearly.
Hammond moved uneasily in his chair, "son, I've had my orders from the President."
Jonas' eyes darted round the table, despairingly, but his words were calm, "General you're asking me to betray my planet's potential, to prevent future generations from experiencing the wonders and advancements that gate exploration can bring."
Daniel understood the dilemma, after all, Jonas was still a scientist at heart, "couldn't we just disable the gate," he offered.
"No, Daniel," Jack exclaimed, "we can't just disable the gate because the Goa'uld will just mend it again."
"Jonas Quinn," Teal'c said gently, "destroying the gate will help save countless lives and protect many planets, if you believe you are betraying your planet's future you would be doing it for the right reasons."
Jonas gave a small surrendering smile and looked at his friend, then beyond them all, "it's, it's just sometimes the wrong things are done for all the right reasons," he said quietly, thinking of the Andari massacre.
He sighed and removed the ring from his finger turning it in his hand, "what about the resistance, Chufa and General Wolf?" He looked up.
"S'hang will try to contact them," Jacob began, "to see if we could aid them, technically, in their fight against the Goa'uld."
"But not military?"
"It may come to that," Hammond replied, "but we need to see how the land lies first."
Jonas spun the ring with his mind, mesmerised by the whole circle it became on rotation. He then pushed it along to the table to S'hang, "you'll need this, it bears the symbol of The Coll, Wolf will recognise it."
The Jaffa picked it up and tried to fit it on one of his large fingers, "it would be best to keep it out of sight," Jonas explained, "it's probably an outlawed symbol on my planet now."
S'hang nodded an put it in his robe, "and a map of the passageways?" He asked.
Jonas looked past the Jaffa, his eyes narrowing in thought, "Jonas?" General Hammond asked, seeing the alien deliberate and hoping he wouldn't have to make the request an order.
Jonas rubbed his temples then looked around the table nervously, "the, the map's the easy part, General," he said with a tense laugh, his eyes resting on Daniel momentarily. "There are other dangers, in the catacombs," he continued, wiping his brow with jumpy fingertips, "secrets that the darkness buries."
"It would help if you tell us, Jonas," Daniel prompted, watching the young man falter, trying to help him take the next step.
The Kelownan looked uncomfortable and Jack gave him an encouraging smile, he'd never known Jonas to be so restrained when it came to offering information.
"There are rats in the catacombs," he whispered, "lots of rats.."
S'hang gave an arrogant snort, "a warrior is not afraid of such things."
Teal'c touched his arm in caution, noticing the Kelownan's blank gaze and then looked toward O'Neill. Jack shrugged.
Jonas continued, his voice shaky, "they're feeding off the bodies down there, a, a mountain of decaying carcasses of those slain during the coupe. I guess it saved digging a mass grave, putting them to rest in those dark, water filled tunnels," it was a rhetorical question but he looked around the table anyway.
"Son," Hammond began but the young man was lost again in a flood of memory.
"The mound was almost to the roof, body on body, but they didn't look real, even the bloated faces that looked familiar, people I'd spoken to that same day or passed in the corridors of the Parliamentary building, they looked, looked like grotesque, dispirited, manikins, disjointed and surplus to requirements," he gave a wry laugh.
"Jonas, in times of conflict." O'Neill began, reaching back to his own experience.
The young man turned to greet his gaze, "I know sir, people get killed, it happens every twenty years or so on my planet you'd of thought, we'd, I, be use to it by now," he turned away.
"You never get use to it," Jack stated, "you just learn how to deal with it."
They was a pause for a moment, then Jonas looked up, "that's, that's not the only horror that lurks in the shadows down there."
S'hang, grey, eyes fixed on the Kelownan's conveying stare, watching them change to a milky white and feeling a coldness creep into the strength of his body.
"There are apparitions that hide in the gloom, souls of those sent mad by Naquadria and left to perish in the lonely darkness of the catacombs. They are lost, between the spheres of existence and death and they feed off your fear by letting you experience the nightmare of their insanity. They will take over your body, your senses and plunge you into the night of their mind, reaping hungrily the fear you emit."
Distorted voices filled S'hang psyche, looping around his inner being in an assault of frenzied images and thoughts. He leapt from his chair, burying his fingertips into the roots of his short, brown hair, trying to expel the terror and madness that was pushing its way through his rationality.
Sam looked between the Jaffa and Kelownan, "Jonas, stop this!" She yelled, the concern evident in her voice as she noticed the trickle of blood oozing from the younger man's nose.
O'Neill scrapped his chair back and pulled Jonas from his, shaking him as he did. S'hang fell to his knees as the lunacy that had haunted him dissolved into the gentle heartbeat of his own blood. Teal'c and Jacob went to his aid, "what the hell?" General Carter began, looking fiercely towards the Kelownan but it was S'hang who answered.
"General please," the deep voice declared, "do not blame Jonas Quinn, it is I who should be reproached, he was just demonstrating the ignorance in my own overconfidence."
He looked over to Jonas, whom Jack still had by the collar and bowed his head, "thank you for illustrating the danger to me," he bowed his head, "I will prepare myself."
Jonas nodded and Jack let him go, straighten the younger man's collar with a Colonel sized glare.
+++++++++++