1594 A.D.
Life under Morrigan's rule was not easy for the colonists. But at least it was life. Despite the oppression they faced at the hand of Morrigan, they were given some freedoms. They were allowed to rebuild a settlement, and live a life much like the one they had established back on Roanoke.
The differences were quite obvious though. Each day, armed soldiers known as "jaffa" walked thorough the settlement, a constant reminder that Morrigan was always watching. They were also known for random searches of the colonists' home.
And while the Croa'tan disease had been cured among the women of the colony, the threat remained. Morrigan had made it clear to them that she could unleash the plague again – or something even worse – if she so chose.
And then there were the mines. Morrigan had sent them to extract a particular ore from the planet. The problem was the ore was incredibly dangerous. And more than a few colonists had since died due to mining-related incidents.
She often wondered about home. It had been nearly four years since Morrigan had taken them to this place. Governor White had been on his way to Roanoke when they were taken. Did they form another settlement? Did they look for clues about what happened after they found the Roanoke colony abandoned?
Elizabeth reflected on these things as she wrote in her journal. One of the few personal items she had that held any value to her. Her father had given it to her as a gift back in England, but she really hadn't written in it much until her family considered going to Roanoke. Even then, she wrote only snippets of rumors and letters about the colony that she heard. But now, she found herself writing much about the things that had happened to her family and the colony. Writing seemed to give solace to her soul; it helped her deal with the new plight they were facing.
Morrigan had long since banned anyone from speaking or writing about the events that led them to this place, but what did that matter? Elizabeth may not be allowed to say that she believed Morrigan to be a false god, but she would certainly write about it…if only for her sanity's sake.
Well, at least the first journal was for her sanity. The second was kept out of mere defiance. She had managed to get her hands on the second book just before Morrigan outlawed writing. Morrigan wanted the truth to be covered up; she didn't want future generations to know that the one who claimed to be a Goddess had merely forced their ancestors into servitude. Certainly, there was nothing holy about such a creature.
Elizabeth was just about to hide the first of her journals when she heard a loud rumbling sound outside her window. Surprise threw her off balance. Dazedly, Elizabeth tried to regain her composure as she pushed herself off of the floor. Panic pushed any remnants of shock away. She quickly shoved the journals beneath her bed and ran out of her room.
Abe was standing on the porch, looking wide-eyed at the large dust cloud that had not yet settled.
"Was it…" Elizabeth asked, emotion cutting her sentence off.
Abe merely nodded in reply.
"Stay here!" Elizabeth told her brother as she took off towards the cloud of dust in the distance.
Her father was supposed to be working in the mines today.
Elizabeth ran to the entrance of the mines as fast as she could. Many of the other colonists also hurried to see what had happened. The air was still thick with dust when Elizabeth arrived at the mine.
With bated breath, she waited as the air cleared. To her horror, the mouth of the mine had completely caved in. Fighting tears, Elizabeth rushed to where the opening should have been. She quickly dropped to her knees and began hefting rocks out of the way.
"Help me!" she cried to those standing by. "My father is in there!"
But no one moved.
"Quickly! Before they run out of air."
With a frustrated grunt, Elizabeth turned her attention back to clearing the rocks away. She was so intent on what she was doing, that she didn't even notice the jaffa that had appeared beside her. Wordlessly, they grabbed her arms and picked Elizabeth off the ground.
"No, please, no!" She said, struggling against their grip. But they wouldn't release her. So she stopped fighting, hoping they would relax their grip on her. As soon as they did, she managed to elbow away from them.
But she was fighting a losing battle; even as she broke loose from them she could hear the Jaffa arm one of their smaller handheld weapons.
Slowly she raised her arms and turned back around to face them. "Please, there could still be survivors. The faster we can get to them, the more servants of Morrigan we can save."
The two Jaffa seemed to consider this for a second. Finally one of them stepped forward and aimed his long, pole-like weapon at the cave entrance.
"Stand aside," was all he said to the others lingering nearby.
"NO!" Elizabeth shouted realizing what they were about to do. She grabbed hold of the jaffa's arm. "The ore is too dangerous to fire weapons at it!" But the Jaffa merely shook her away and pressed the button that armed the weapon.
Hearing Elizabeth's plea to the Jaffa, the other villagers began to run back towards the village. One of them grabbed Elizabeth by the arm and dragged her away to safety.
The explosion that followed was greater than any of them could ever have imagined, the magnitude of which threw them to the ground. The heat of the flames seared their clothing; smoke engulfed everything around them.
Long minutes past before the smoke and ash finally began to clear. Horror filled the colonists' eyes, as they saw the after-effect of the blast.
There was nothing but fire. And the burnt, charred remains where the mineshaft had once been.
Jack sighed quietly as he looked over at Daniel, who was currently trying to pretend that he was asleep.
A small part of him wanted to shout, 'I'm black-ops trained Daniel! You aren't fooling me!'
The bigger part of him was seriously considering shooting him with Teal'c's zat gun, the sleeping pill of the Goa'uld. At least maybe that would knock him out long enough for Jack to finally go to sleep himself.
After Daniel turned over in his cot for the one-hundred-and-eighth time, Jack had had enough. "Daniel!" Jack whispered loudly.
No response.
"I'm black-ops trained Daniel! You aren't fooling me!" Okay, so the small part of him won.
Daniel sighed and propped himself up on his elbows. "What do you want, Jack?"
"Sleep would be nice. But you seemed bound and determined to keep me awake with all your tossing and turning over there."
"Sorry." Daniel mumbled. Though he hardly sounded apologetic.
"Listen, I know you're worried about Janet and Sam. But if you're going to be of any help to them whatsoever, you need to sleep."
"We had a fight." Daniel said out of nowhere.
"You…uh…what?"
"Janet and I had a fight before we left for this mission."
"Well, all couples fight Daniel. And trust me, making up is the best part of fighting."
"No, you don't understand. We never got the chance to make up before…"
"Before Janet got sick?"
"Yeah…she said she didn't think she was important to me."
"Ouch." Jack said. Noting the hurt look in Daniel's eyes, he continued. "Daniel, she was probably just angry at the time. She'd have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to know how much you care about her." Jack paused for a few seconds before adding. "Now, get some sleep. Doc needs you to be at the top of your game tomorrow."
Daniel nodded and gave his friend an appreciative look. "Thanks, Jack."
Dr. Andrew Carmichael was going over the test results for the umpteenth time when Daniel, Jack, Teal'c, and SG-3 returned the next morning.
"What have you got for us?" Jack asked, getting right down to the business at hand.
"Well, Colonel, not a whole lot, I'm afraid."
"How are they?" Daniel asked.
"Both Elyn Viccars and Major Carter appear to be experience very similar symptoms. High fever, fatigue, and muscle pains."
"And Janet?"
"Well, her case is somewhat different. My best guess is that as the disease spreads throughout the body, the symptoms manifest themselves in different stages."
"What has drawn you to this conclusion?" Teal'c spoke up.
"Well, from what I've been told, yesterday Janet's condition was very similar to what the major and Elyn are experiencing now."
"Then what is Janet's condition now?" Daniel asked, feeling a sense of dread creep up into his stomach.
Dr. Carmichael sighed. "Well, she's progressed into having night sweats, tremors, and full-blown hallucinations. In fact, I had to give her a mild sedative to calm her down."
Daniel blinked, as if trying to process the information the doctor had just told him. "H-how much worse is it going to get?"
"I'm sorry, Dr. Jackson. They've contracted an alien disease. One given to them by a Goa'uld, no less. It's just impossible to tell."
"What can you tell us about the disease?" Jack asked. "Why does it only affect women?"
"Well, I've hardly been able to do any sort of thorough testing…but if I had to make an educated guess, I'd say the disease is somehow eradicated by the male Y chromosome…"
Jack narrowed his eyes and turned to Daniel, "The shiny stuff on my truck?"
Daniel looked at Jack in disbelief and gave a small cough.
"What?" Jack asked, innocently.
"Chromosomes are what carry genes in our DNA strands, Colonel." Dr. Carmichael explained.
"Well, of course they are."
"Genetically, women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X and one Y chromosome. It separates men from women on the most basic level. I'm no geneticist, but I'm willing to bet the male Y chromosome has a specific gene that counteracts this particular disease."
"So, since women don't have the chromosome, they get the disease." Daniel concluded.
"Exactly. Again, in theory."
"Okay, bottom line this for me here, Doc." Jack said, clearly getting frustrated. "Can you fix it?"
Dr. Carmichael sighed sadly. "Honestly, Colonel, I can't even be sure if I'm right about the nature of the disease, let alone find a cure for it. Genetics is an infinitely complicated matter, even for a specialist. This? This goes beyond anything we've encountered…"
"So, I take that as a no?"
The doctor just nodded sadly.
"Well, then. We find another way."