Mother of the Gods
The radio on Colonel Jack O'Neill's chest came to life with a short, static burst.
"Sir, I think we've got something over here!"
This was not an unusual phrase that issued from the radio. There was always something or another on each planet they Gated to that drew Major Carter's attention. Jack, in his usual fashion, rolled his eyes and prepared himself for the barrage of techno-babble that he was certain would follow. He grabbed the small device and pressed the transmit button.
"What is it?" he asked. Silence followed for a few, short moments before Daniel's voice came across.
"It looks like a sarcophagus that's been welded shut somehow," he began. "It' covered in an ancient dialect of Goa'uld. I can't quite make it out, but it seems to be alluding to something- or someone- being trapped in it." Jack grimaced.
"Well, don't open it," he ordered. "I'm on my way. See if you can't figure out what's in there."
"Aye, sir," Carter responded. "Carter, out."
The radio went silent, and Jack turned around to look at Teal'c, who was just behind him. Jack shrugged helplessly and motioned for the big man to follow, which he did wordlessly, brandishing his staff weapon. Meandering through the trees, they slowly made their way towards the site. They walked through the sun- dappled forest until they came upon a small field, in the center of which was a ring of stone pillars that were crumbling. On a pedestal inside the ring was, sure enough, a sarcophagus device. Daniel was hovering about the thing with his nose almost touching the intricate, but faded engravings. Major Carter was studying the lid, her fingers tracing a line up the center.
"So," Jack said, "what's in it, Daniel?" Dr. Jackson's head came up in surprise, and he stared at Jack and Teal'c for a moment before his senses returned.
"Oh, well," he began, "the writing seems to be a curse of some kind, designed to keep whoever is in the sarcophagus…" He began to orbit the box again. "Right here it says, 'The LawBreaker is punished, sentenced to an Eternity away from the Light of Ra.' " Daniel pointed at a set of carvings on the left side of the lid. "The words 'Betrayer' and 'Traitor' appear a lot, as well. But there's no name, save Ra's." He looked up at Jack. "No name to tell us who is trapped inside."
"He thinks it's another Goa'uld," Major Carter interjected. "A Goa'uld who defied Ra and, as punishment, was sealed into the sarcophagus."
"I'd like a little bit more time to translate it, if you don't mind," Daniel interjected. "Maybe whomever is in here could… help us against the Goa'uld." Jack's eye narrowd at the prospect.
"No, Daniel," he stated. "I don't trust anything that's got a snake in its head, I don't care if it killed another Goa'uld! A snake in the head is a snake in the head, no matter how you look at it." Major Carter tilted her head off to the side, questioningly.
"But you trust the Tok'ra," she added. Jack raised a finger and shook his head.
"I do not trust the Tok'ra," he corrected. "I cooperate when necessary, that's it." Daniel walked around the sarcophagus and stood in front of Jack, his arms crossed, an irritated glint in his eye.
"I said I never saw a name, Jack," he told the colonel pointedly. "I didn't say I never found anything that could help us identify who was in it." Caught up in his own thoughts, Daniel turned around and went back to hovering around the device. "There are a couple of references here to 'The Dark Mother' and 'The Lady of the Sky.' Now, the only goddess I can think of that both of those phrases would refer to is Nut, the Egyptian Mother Goddess. She was the wife of Geb, the Earth God. Now according to the legends, Nut was unable to bear children on any day of the year because Ra placed a spell on her. Thoth, taking pity on her, took starlight and spun it into 5 more days. She bore one child on each of those 5 days: Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Seth, and Hathor." Daniel looked around as realization settled in. "Guys, the Goa'uld in this box is the Mother of all Goa'uld. It is from her that all Goa'uld are descended.
Teal'c seemed to be the only one unaffected by the news. "If this is the case, Daniel Jackson," he began. "would it not be prudent to destroy the sarcophagus and prevent such a being from rising?" Jack nodded in agreement.
"What he said," he added. Daniel shook his head.
"Don't you see?" he asked. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime! Ra obviously sealed her in here for a reason. The sarcophagus probably hasn't been functional in centuries, anyways."
"So you're saying she's dead in there?" Carter queried.
"In all likeliness, yes," Daniel answered. "But, if we take her back to the SGC, we could study her. Surely, whatever remains of her body, we can experiment with. We may be able to discover a way to get rid of the Goa'uld for good! There has to be something locked into her remains that could be of some use to us." Carter looked nervously up at Jack.
"I hate to admit it, sir, but Daniel has a point," she conceded. "If anything, we could give her to the Tok'ra. I'm certain they, at least, could discover something useful." Jack, beginning to feel outnumbered, looked towards Teal'c for backup. The big man, however, seemed to have succumbed to the madness that obviously gripped Daniel and Carter.
"Although I have my misgivings," Teal'c stated, inclining his head, "I am forced to agree with Daniel Jackson and Major Carter. There may be some hidden benefit in giving her to the Tok'ra." Jack snorted derisively.
"You guys are all nuts!" he exclaimed. "There is no way we are brining a dead Gao'uld, no matter how useful she may prove to be, though the Stargate! And that's final!"
Jack rolled his eyes and watched as Teal'c and Carter guided the MALP, dragging the huge sarcophagus behind it, down the ramp leading from the Stargate.
"I still think you're all crazy," Jack stated to no one in particular. Everyone, of course, ignored him, concentrating on the task at hand. General Hammond appeared in the gate room moments later, a surprised look on his face.
"What's this?" he asked, bewildered.
"Well, we believe it's the body of the Goa'uld Queen Mother," Daniel explained. "We we're going to give her to the Tok'ra, so they could run some tests on her and see if we can't come up with some useful information to use against the Goa'uld." General Hammond's eyes widened in shock at the news.
"Do you really think its wise to bring the Goa'uld Queen Mother here?" he asked.
"Well, sir," Carter began, "according to the inscriptions on the lid, she was locked in the sarcophagus as punishment for defying Ra. Whatever was powering it failed, and she died."
"Horrible way to go," Jack interjected, looking meaningfully at Hammond.
"Indeed," the General agreed. "We'll call the Tok'ra immediately…"
Suddenly, the MALP, and the sarcophagus, began to shake violently, throwing Daniel and Carter aside like rag dolls.
"What's going on?" Jack shouted.
"I don't know," Daniel replied. Carter stood and pointed at the MALP.
"The sarcophagus! Its reactivating!" she screamed.
All eyes turned to the device on the ramp. Blinding light seared the seals on the lid. The whole room shook as though an earthquake threatened to sink the mountain facility into the ground. Energy crackled across the inactive Stargate and arced in clean lines towards the sarcophagus.
"It's the Stargate!" Carter yelled. "The sarcophagus is somehow drawing the residual power left in the capacitors!"
The sarcophagus begin to glow brightly as the electricity rebounded off of the metal. Slowly, the lid began to open, shedding brilliant light upwards. As the lid parted, however, the room began to stop shaking. By the time the lid was fully ajar, everyone was able to maintain their balance. But no one dared move closer to the Goa'uld healing device.
With a shuddering gasp, a woman sat bolt upright in the sarcophagus, gripping the sides of her prison with jewel-bedecked fingers. The woman was beautiful, with long, flowing black hair that fell in a dark waterfall down her back. Her skin was pale, like marble, and her features flawless. With a look of dread in her vibrant violet eyes, she clawed her way out of the sarcophagus, landing unceremoniously on her hands and knees. She crawled away from it as fast as she could and huddled herself into a corner of the room, looking fearfully at the box, breathing heavily.
"Ki'vah!" she yelled, her voice that odd, double- layered tone of the Goa'uld. "Nos vitras kal mik!"
Daniel looked over at Teal'c, who was staring at the woman with barely veiled curiosity. "What did she say?" Daniel asked. Teal'c regarded him with a level gaze.
"She says that the Betrayer will pay," he answered. Carter looked at Teal'c in confusion.
"But I thought the sarcophagus said that she was the Betrayer," she remarked.
"It did," Daniel stated. "But she was a Betrayer to the Goa'uld. To Ra. Maybe she was the one who was betrayed, and took the fall for someone else." All eyes turned to the dark-haired woman. The Goa'uld woman locked gazes with Teal'c and, finding courage, stood. She stood as tall as Jack, and had an air of regality about her.
"Jaffa!" she yelled in a commanding tone. "Where is the one called Ra? Tell him that the Dark Mother has risen to take her revenge!"
To be continued…