Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG1 or Stargate the movie, or anything else you lawyers can think of! But I do, however, own the heroine of this story, Aster! Yay!
"…Speech…"
'…Thought…'
'…Quote…'
''…Foreign language…''
oOoOoOo
"Morning," the guard greeted vaguely, checking Aster's ID card as she walked past him, headed for the elevator. The girl looked to be the last thing expected to walk into the military instalment, from the bright yellow designer t-shirt she wore to her torn, rugged jeans and sandals. She had her flaming red hair tied up in a loose ponytail, the occasional stray lock tucked neatly behind an ear as she went.
Aster hoisted the large stone tablet a little higher on her hip to free a hand to operate the elevator door. The translated material Daniel had set for her to work on had been crammed into the backpack slung haphazardly on one shoulder.
She hoped she wasn't all that late, she knew how close she was coming to being fired from her lack of dedication to her job. Her ears picked up the sound of the Stargate activating in the distance, 'Guess I'm not too late after all, Danny should be coming through on this one,' Aster mused, checking her watch for confirmation.
Aster deposited the stone tablet and the translated scripts on Daniel's desk before jogging off to see if she could find the galaxy-renowned linguist. Medical staff rushed past her in a flurry to get to the gate room and Aster felt a lump rise in her throat.
Not a good sign.
'I hope Danny's okay…' Aster felt guilty about yelling at him yesterday. He had come to help her out with her problems and she had practically bitten his head off.
'Bitten his head off?' a rogue image of a nasty-looking alien devouring Daniel's head flashed unbidden in her mind, "Oh Gawd…" Aster groaned, rubbing her weary eyes. 'No more late nights and watching scary alien movies!' a voice inside her head chided.
Aster's ears perked up when she heard Dr Fraiser's voice drifting up from around the corner, "…Let him start on two IV's and I wanna run ringer's lactate wide open…"
"What the…?" Aster moved to the side of the corridor to make room upon hearing the rattling of wheels of a gurney being pushed along the corridor. Janet and the medical team came bustling into view, Aster hoped dearly that it wasn't Daniel on the approaching stretcher.
Apophis' beaten and bloody body came rolling into view.
Aster grinned, not able to resist, "Hey! Welcome to Earth, enjoy your stay!" she smirked in her best bimbo-voice, waving to Apophis as he was sped past her to the medical wing.
''Deceitful whore of my son!'' Apophis snarled in the Goa'uld language from the stretcher he was secured to.
Aster scowled, 'Why that little…' she drew in a deep breath and yelled out the crudest, harshest insult she knew in the Goa'uld language, which caused an immediate reaction of yelling and cursing and from Apophis. Aster smirked.
The girl turned to continue her path to the gate room but jumped when she saw the SG1 team already standing behind her. Teal'c's face was set in a shocked and repulsed look, Daniel's face pale as he stared at her in shock and Sam and O'Neill were just looking between the three hoping for an explanation.
"Aster!" Daniel huffed angrily.
"…What was that?" O'Neill asked.
"You… don't want to know," Daniel answered when Teal'c only gave O'Neill a raised eyebrow.
All eyes turned on Aster, the girl blushed, "Hey, he called me a—"
"Please don't tell me he started it," O'Neill interrupted. Aster groaned in frustration.
"Why is he here, anyway?" Aster asked, suddenly uncomfortable.
"There was another Goa'uld kicking his ass on P3X…something, something, and he demanded sanctuary."
"So he's here so you can torture the information out of him?" Aster scoffed idly, "And you call yourselves the good-guys…"
"Aster—" Daniel began heatedly.
"I know, I know, greater good for mankind, yadda-yadda," Aster threw her hands in the air in mock surrender, "I'll be in the cafeteria, call me when visiting hours start."
The team watched Aster flounce off in the direction of the cafeteria. Daniel exhaled slowly, massaging his temples.
"Three guesses on what she's going to talk with Pops about?" O'Neill offered.
"…Klorel?"
"Bingo."
oOoOoOo
"Wow, that looks comfortable," Aster sniggered, walking into the medical room that Apophis was held prisoner a short while after O'Neill had.
"You enjoy my suffering," Apophis spat.
"Hmm… just a bit. I see this as more or less payback for what you did to me on Chulak," the teen replied lightly. She waltzed over to the monitors, pretending to check the readings.
Apophis snorted indignantly, "My son deserved better…"
"Does not, the spoilt brat…" Aster muttered, 'I hope they let me stay to watch him flat-line.'
"And why did you deceive him? Information? Power? Or were you just seducing him for the mere pleasure of it?" the Goa'uld hissed, looking repulsed.
Aster glowered, "At no point did I try to seduce that idiot. I lied to him to try to save his host."
"Oh yes, I remember… you tried to save him," Apophis sneered.
"He was my friend, my best friend…" Aster stared off into space, "He told me he was betrothed, just before you guys came and took him away… I knew her; she was one of the village elder's daughters… I can't remember her name, though…" Aster frowned thoughtfully.
Apophis didn't get the change to fire a retort. Aster trotted silently out of the room, still deep in thought, 'Maybe Danny ran into her when he went back to Abydos… Dammit, I should have told him to tell her… Tell her what? Skaara didn't even get to finish his message…'
Aster subconsciously walked herself to her little office in the SGC. It wasn't that big, but she had to use it to store things that Hammond wouldn't allow to leave the base. She kept the outfit she had been wearing when she came back from betraying Klorel here, along with some ancient artefacts she kept in the office for safekeeping.
With nothing else to do, she looked around her office, searching her desk drawers for anything remotely interesting. Books, half-translated papers she was working on… She found the key for her filing cabinet and opened it, rummaging through the contents. She found a little puzzle toy that Ra had given her on Abydos and sat down at her desk to have another crack at it.
oOoOoOo
Daniel strode down the corridor behind Carter, still angry from his brief interview with Apophis. The archaeologist stopped when he heard a mumbled curse followed by, "You, dear puzzle, make the Rubik's cube look like a cheap joke." Floating up from an open office door near by.
"Aster? You're still here?" Daniel asked, poking his head into her tiny office.
"I can't just go home with Apophis being stuck in infirmary you know," Aster replied, not looking up from her task.
"…What's that?" Daniel's eyes sparkled in wonder at the toy just screaming archaeological splendour.
"Puzzle. Ra gave it to me to shut me up when we were on Abydos… don't give me that look. It's completely harmless, naquadah free… and damn unsolvable."
"Hmm, maybe you should try turning it the other way…"
"You wanna have a go?"
"Oh, sure!" Daniel accepted the gift happily, looking like a little kid given the keys to a candy store and continued after Sam, fidgeting with the puzzle as he walked.
"Wait! Danny?" Aster ran after him, "You didn't happen to run into, um…" Aster racked her brain for the girl's name, "…That girl Skaara knew… 'Wia' or something, when you went back to Abydos?"
"I think so, yes," Daniel nodded distantly, "Why?"
Aster sighed, looking crestfallen, "I was supposed to pass on a message to her, from Skaara…"
"Oh. What message?"
"He couldn't tell me in time, Klorel took control of him again."
"Ah…"
"…I should go. I need to see if there's anything else I can beat out of Apophis," Aster grimaced.
"Okay, see you later," Daniel replied, looking a bit spaced out. Aster cringed, hoping she hadn't brought any painful memories up for him. 'Sorry Danny…'
Aster jogged back to the infirmary. Apophis was still strapped down to the bed with all sorts of wires running out of him. She froze, "What the…? How come you're aging so fast?"
Apophis looked up, scowling, "Why would a Tau'ri like your self care?"
Aster shrugged, "There's nothing much else to do around here. I heard Klorel's got a new baby brother, what's up with that?" the girl asked, keeping her face set.
"The boy was intended to be my future host…" Apophis muttered sourly, he lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, "Ammonet…" he murmured to himself in despair.
Aster felt a twinge of sympathy; "You miss her, huh?"
"I do not expect a simple creature like yourself to understand. You know nothing. You have corrupted my son!" Apophis barked.
"Corrupted?" Aster scowled, "How so?"
Apophis growled sitting up again, "You have wrecked him. He speaks of nothing but his anger towards you for what you have done to him. He no longer respects me as his father; he spends months at a time away from Chulak for no reason at all. He will not listen to anyone…" Apophis continued with frustration. He had no idea what the Tau'ri girl before him had done to break his son like she had. She didn't look that capable of any great damage.
"You know nothing," Apophis repeated. The Goa'uld went back to staring at the ceiling.
Aster could feel her face burning, she looked at the ground, "I didn't mean to wreck him… I just wanted to save Skaara, I wasn't thinking…" she swallowed the lump forming in her throat, "I'm sorry."
Apophis leaned up to see the teenage redhead leaning against the doorframe of the room. He looked both confused and surprised, not able to pull together a response. The pain was getting worse…
"And just so you know; I do understand how you miss Ammonet," Aster told the Goa'uld firmly. Her eyes stung with emotion.
"You miss your friend, the host." Apophis stated neutrally.
"…I miss Klorel," Aster sniffed. She left the room without looking at Apophis, she didn't need a Goa'uld seeing her blubber away at this point. She sniffed slightly.
"Aster? Are you okay?" Janet asked, seeing Aster walking out of the room Apophis was being held prisoner almost in tears, "What did he say to you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Aster replied quietly, shaking the doctor off and continuing down the corridor.
Meanwhile, Daniel was still fiddling with the puzzle Aster had let him borrow under the table while the others talked about Sokar with the Tok'ra. O'Neill noticed Daniel looking under the table as his hands worked busily away at something.
"Danny… whatchya doin'?"
"Huh? Oh, just playing with this little puzzle-thing, sorry," Daniel blushed, getting a hard look from Hammond as he held the puzzle-toy up.
"Wow, where did you get that?" Sam asked in awe, "That's not real gold, is it?"
"Probably. And I'm positive all of the jewels decorating it are real too. Aster let me borrow it."
"…Did she steal it?"
"No, it was a gift from—" Daniel was interrupted by a harsh intake of breath from Martouf.
"That toy once belonged to Ra, it bears his emblem on it," the Tok'ra murmured, his tone tinged with worry.
"Yeah, he gave it to Aster to… um, shut her up."
"…Did it work?" O'Neill asked with some interest.
"Who is 'Aster'?" Martouf frowned, slightly worried that one of the Tau'ri had been in such good terms with Ra.
"Short kid, red hair, …won't shut up," O'Neill began.
"She was with us on our first mission to Abydos. Aster was kidnapped by Apophis and was made to be a slave to Klorel, but we got her back when Apophis and Klorel tried to attack Earth a while ago. She mainly does translation work for us now," Daniel explained, half of his attention still focused on the puzzle-toy. All he had done so far was to have gotten it into a more tangled mess.
"It's one of those brain puzzles, isn't it? May I?"
Daniel passed the toy to Sam, who observed it with fascination, "Wow…" was all she could say, marvelling at the craftsmanship and complexity of the toy
"Can I have a go when you're done?" O'Neill asked, sitting up straighter.
"In a minute, sir," Carter replied, trying her hand at solving it first.
oOoOoOo
"He's my patient… and a grumpy one at that," Janet huffed, "Aster ran out of here earlier almost in tears. I asked him what he said to her but he wouldn't talk to me."
"Apophis was not the reason that Miss Aster was upset over," Teal'c reported while Martouf tried to talk to Apophis, having seen most of the event from the observation room, "She was upset because she missed someone—"
"Skaara?" Sam, Janet and O'Neill all said at once. Teal'c paused, concerned at what he had to say next.
"…Klorel?" Daniel guessed meekly.
Teal'c let out a breath, "Indeed."
"Ew." O'Neill made a face.
oOoOoOo
Aster heard a knock on her office door, 'Must be Danny and the Ra-bik's cube,' the teen giggled at the new nickname for the puzzle-toy, "Come in!"
The door opened and Daniel and Jack walked into the small office, Martouf following them. Aster looked at the Tok'ra in confusion, "Who're you?"
"My name is Martouf," he introduced himself. Aster smiled politely and introduced herself warmly in return.
"And he's a Tok'ra," O'Neill smiled, curious to see Aster's response.
Aster's face fell, "Oh. Great."
Martouf bristled at the unenthusiastic comment, "I have been told Ra gave you this," he said, holding up the puzzle-toy, still unsolved even with the help of half the SGC each having a try.
"Ah, thanks for that, I was beginning to think I'd never see it again," Aster grinned, taking the puzzle from him and wrapping it in a velvet cloth she had bought to keep it in, "Neat little thing, isn't it?"
"What else did he give you?" Martouf asked tersely.
"Nothing, really. I only met the guy for a couple of days. He was nice, to me at least. Pity you two had to go and blow him up like that," Aster sighed reminiscently.
"Don't worry, we've been through this argument and it's all settled," Daniel assured Martouf quickly.
"Aster, we'd like a little word with you about Klorel," O'Neill interrupted, not wanting to beat around the bush, "Teal'c said he heard you saying you missed him and then Janet saw you run out of Apophis' room crying."
"…First of all, I wasn't crying. Second of all, tell Teal'c never to go anywhere near me again," Aster took in a deep breath and huffed it out, "And as for Klorel—" 'I do miss him…' "My personal life is none of your business."
"But its Apophis'?" Daniel inquired.
"He is his father. And he was accusing me of not knowing how it felt to miss someone. My friend Skaara, I miss. But I also miss—" 'my boyfriend? my lover? my master? Gawd damn treacherous mind…' "—Klorel."
Aster bit her lip; "I want to go back…"
"Out of the question," O'Neill told her point blank.
"I know."
"Yeah, the wormhole is currently busy," Daniel smiled.
"Danny," O'Neill quipped, "You know what Hammond, Kingsley and the President said about this matter. 'No'."
Aster gave Martouf a stern look, "If you came here to discuss personal matters and my love-life, why did you bring him?"
"I was interested to see if you had any information from Ra we could use against the Goa'uld," Martouf replied dryly.
"Sorry, I'm Tok'tok'ra," Aster winked, "So you can just go and—"
"Aster…" Daniel warned quietly.
" 'Love-life'? You actually like-like a Goa'uld?" O'Neill made a face at her.
"Oh great, that's you and Apophis against me," Aster scoffed, " 'Two species, both alike in dignity.' "
" 'In fair SGC were we lay our scene', " Daniel grinned. Martouf didn't get it. It had to be explained to him that it was an 'Earth thing'.
"Um, Aster? There's something else… because of the attack from Sokar and all… we're going to have to ask you to leave," Daniel told her uncomfortably.
"Oh… no problem, I'll just say goodbye to Pops on the way out. You guys had better get back, the 38 minutes you were talking about are almost up," Aster smiled vaguely, showing them all out of her tiny office. She watched them go down the corridor and instead headed for Apophis' room.
"She took that well," O'Neill pointed out, impressed with the teen's sudden bout of maturity.
"Hmm… what do you think about Aster wanting to go back through the gate?" Daniel murmured quietly so Martouf wouldn't overhear.
"Not worth putting our asses on the line, too inevitable. Let's just hope she doesn't quit before her boyfriend comes to pick her up," O'Neill drawled.
Daniel chuckled, "Hope so."
oOoOoOo
Aster visibly winced at the sight of Apophis' deteriorating health. It was as clear on his face as it was on the monitoring equipment's read-outs.
"I need a host," Apophis wheezed, not even knowing who it was that had entered, his gaze on the ceiling falling in and out of focus, "Please, I am dying…"
"Even if we did get you a new host, you wouldn't survive the transfer… only a sarcophagus would save you at this point," Aster told him softly.
"Sokar has a sarcophagus. Even if your people let me die, he will bring me to life again, and I will be tortured once more…"
"You'll make it out," Aster smirked in a reassuring way. Apophis smirked back weakly in gratitude.
"…He has forgiven you." Aster looked up at Apophis in surprise. The Goa'uld kept staring at the ceiling, "My son, Klorel. Sometimes he is angry with you, but he has forgiven you. I heard him once, alone in his room, crying for you to come back, pleading and saying he had forgiven you. Your absence saddens him…"
Aster could feel her eyes beginning to tear-up again…
"I regret what I said earlier," Apophis told her, finally looking at the girl.
"Yeah, me too," Aster smiled, blinking the moisture out of her eyes, "I've got to go now, they're kicking me out for the night… because of Sokar attacking and everything…" she walked over and touched his shoulder briefly, "Good luck."
"Thank you," Apophis replied weakly, but with gratitude.
"Bye," Aster smiled, waving once as she left the room, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
No one asked her as she left the SGC for home why she was crying.
oOoOoOo
Hi all! Sorry for the delay, I hope I can make it up to you with a little something I constructed over my little holiday! :) http: www. anime4/ demonllama/ images/ aster.jpg
Except I haven't drawn the emblem on her forehead.
And I've given up on putting songs in chapters. I've got bad taste and I always forget the songs I hear that could be good for a chapter, unfortunately. Still, for the last chapter I would have liked Dido's 'Sand in my shoes' but I didn't have enough time to find the lyrics :) my bad.
Lol, this was all written in one day, one full day of writing. There's not much Klorel in this one, but the next will have plenty :D promise!
Non-interactiveness:
Blanc: :) Yes, I plan to have the next two chapters set to Pretence, but wether or not I change the ending is a secret, hehe. I'm flattered that you would check every day, it's so nice to hear that grin And may the little fishes rest in peace.
Kat: If I do screw with the universe, it will only be in a very small way smirks but I'm not telling how. is evil
Isha: You're German? COOL! celebrates I know someone who sprecken die Deutsche! (forgive my terrible spelling, lol, I only learn Japanese) Alle für Deutschland! :D Thank you for all the kind words, they mean so much to me! And thanks again, the holidays were good!
Apocalyptic Muse: ;D don't worry, I have the plot all unfolding and churning around in my head, tee-hee. I'll try and write as quick as I can before school starts again!
Tasi: grins Thank you for the support passed on by Muse, I'm so honoured by how much you like this story! waves
Wishing you all much happiness and sunshine! :)
