A/N : Thank you for all the kind reviews ! They are really appreciated! Encouragement helps me write faster!
Thanks to stargate-fan for the beta help you are invaluable (as well you know!)
Chapter 9
The following morning, early when the base was still quiet Colonel O'Neill made his exit quietly from the general's office.
"Thank you Sir, I'll do that, Sir." He closed the door and turned rapidly almost running down his 2IC.
"Well?" She hissed urgently.
Taking her by the arm he steered her off towards the commissary and the hearty breakfast, he knew he could manage now.
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On the other side of the office door General Hammond sighed heavily as he watched it close, and opened his middle desk drawer and placed another resignation letter inside. He already had quite a collection of them; some from personnel who whilst recovering from combat situations gone sour felt temporarily unable to continue and some from those who quickly discovered that the front line off-world was no place for them. He told them all the same, 'take some time, and think about it and I will too, in a week or so, we'll talk again.' It weeded out those choices made in the spur of the moment and those taken following careful consideration.
The resignation he'd received today was from his 2IC, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Hammond had
been expecting it. Still he'd told him the same, but this time he had no intention of accepting it; he had other
ideas tucked up his military sleeve.
He leaned forward in his seat to buzz the intercom on his broad oak desk, when as though summoned by thought alone his aide, Walter Davis knocked on the door.
"Come," He stated with only the trace of a smile. 'How does he do it?' The base commander thought and shook his head slightly in amusement.
"Anything I can do for you, Sir?"
"Er, yes. As a matter of fact sergeant, I want a message sent to the Asgard."
"Yes Sir," Walter beamed, and executing a perfect salute and parade ground turn he left the general alone in his office.
"It's going to be another long day," He sighed.
UNAUTHORISED OFF-WORLD ACTIVATION, UNAUTHORISED OFF-WORLD ACTIVATION!
Sirens blared and a contingent of SFs had automatically begun to deploy, fully armed into the gate room as Hammond moved from his office to the control room with speed that belied his age.
"Receiving the Tok'ra IDC Sir," Sergeant Davis stated looking expectantly at his leader.
"Open the iris," The general cast over his shoulder, already making his way down the spiral staircase on his journey to the gateroom. He had been expecting this visit; in fact he was amazed it had taken as long it had.
The members of his flagship team met him in the hall, and Colonel O'Neill gestured for him to precede them; he entered the gateroom as two figures emerged from the shimmering event horizon.
"Jacob, I was wondering when you would make another appearance." The two generals strode
towards one another, hands outstretched.
"You know me George, can't keep away." The Tok'ra halted at the base of the ramp and warmly grasped his old friend's hand.
Formalities observed he moved past him, and hugged his daughter warmly.
"Sam, how are you?"
"Fine, Dad," she assured him quickly. "But we need to talk, there have been some developments."
"I guessed as much," he stated evenly. "That's why I secured the assistance of Anise, before returning. Selmac believes her expertise may be invaluable in uncovering information regarding your guest." He gestured towards the Tok'ra who had been standing with quiet dignity a pace behind him at the base of the ramp.
"Not to put a fly in the proverbial ointment," The colonel rasped caustically behind his 2IC, "But if she won't even talk to us, you won't be able to tell if she's a zantacor not. And I just know the doc doesn't need the munchkin with any more juice so, no alien bracelets either." His mouth had twisted rapidly into an ugly sneer, as his unconcealed dislike of the Tok'ra operative had begun to assert itself; he finished his statement with a derisive snort and cast a triumphant glance towards Teal'c. The impassive Jaffa had merely raised his eyebrow in such a way as to show surprise, and a good degree of censure at his friend's rude behaviour, not that anyone else would have known the difference.
"Lets take this discussion up to the briefing room people" Hammond stated firmly, he could do without an incident in the gateroom and remembering the audience he barked out, "Stand down, Airmen," as he led the way out of the door, feeling suddenly like a bizarre pied piper.
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In the muted lighting currently employed in 'iso room three' there was currently no movement except for the petite Chief Medical Officer of the SGC. Although she could delegate much of the observational duties of the infirmary to her nurses and orderlies; due in no small part to their high level of training and her confidence in them, there were still some things she liked to do personally. She could almost hear the voice of the Doctor who had been her mentor whilst she trained, 'whilst charts and figures can tell you much about your patients condition, Janet. There is no substitute for going in person and looking with your own eyes and touching with your own hands.' So, had begun the long ingrained habits of 'doing the rounds' and taking a pulse, 'always an excellent indicator of a patients health', the now departed tutor instructed.
The pulse she was taking now, belonged to the newly discovered child of two of her closest friends, and as she counted she gazed on the angelic features of the little girl trying to pinpoint the resemblance.
She was almost the image of Samantha Carter whilst in repose with rosebud lips in a heart shaped face, surrounded by a cloud of golden blonde hair, albeit scruffy and unkempt and pale smooth skin. Janet had spotted the piercing blue eyes; undoubtedly the strongest trait, when the child had come in. Innocent eyes she had thought until she had spotted the fierce intelligence behind them. She was a carbon copy of the major; her friend had surmised, until that is she had seen the girl in action.
The initial tantrum, Janet had put down to trauma and shock but having observed her long into the night after the child's 'escape attempt' the doctor had seen all the colonel's familiar mannerisms played out in his daughter. The little girl had fought them like a wildcat when she had recovered from her faint, and had glared her defiance in a classic O'Neill intimidation strategy since then. Having refused to answer any questions whatsoever nor eat or drink any fluids she had finally succumbed to the sandman's dreams at 05.00 hours, aided and abetted by a shot of Valium and the Doctor rhythmically stroking her hair.
She had responded to the doctor's gentle touch like a tiny kitten, gradually leaning further and further towards her ministrations until the child was almost rubbing her head along Janet's hand. Doctor Frasier had felt her pity and compassion begin the evolution into deep regard and onward towards love for this spunky little warrior.
However, angelic she appeared, Janet knew the child was going to be a major headache. Another case of the patented O'Neill aversion to the infirmary and all things medical, the doctor knew she was going to have to find a way to quell the girl's violent outbursts and begin to lay the foundations of trust. Janet knew it wasn't going to be easy and that she needed both the colonel and Sam's cooperation. Most importantly she needed to suppress the effects of the excessive quantities of naquadah currently in residence within the child's system. Her medical brain in overdrive, Doctor Frasier considered a number of approaches to the problem and eventually decided upon a combination of three.
She would transfuse the girl's blood through a filtration machine in an attempt to screen out some of the metal permanently, and keeping her sedated she would gradually lessen the drugs to a point where the child could function over a period of time. At the same time, she would begin a careful process of aversion therapy; exposing the child to longer and longer sessions in the presence of either her mother or Teal'c.
Filled with a sense of urgency she strode out of the room to galvanise her team into action while the girl was still sedated. The doctor returned a few minutes later, topped up the sedative through the IV and directed the orderly who had followed her to deposit his dialysis machine to the right of her bed. It should take four hours or so, Janet thought as she deftly inserted the needles required for the machines smooth operation. Leaving two nurses to supervise the young patient closely, she bid them good morning instructing them to keep the expected SG-1 vigil down to one visitor at a time thereby ensuring they; her other charges slept and ate.
Stifling yawns of ever-increasing intensity she made her way to her base quarters situated close by on the infirmary level and fell into her bed, surrendering to the bone weary tiredness she had been fighting most of the night. The result was a knockout.
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"I am not going to let that woman near my daughter, whatever you say Sir!" The colonel punctuated his outburst with a fist crashing onto the highly polished surface of the briefing room table.
"Stand down, Colonel!" General Hammond bellowed leaping to his feet.
This sudden and uncharacteristic behaviour from his superior officer cut through the younger man's anger providing enough opportunity for rational thoughts to flow once more in his mind.
He wondered just when exactly the fact that the little monster was his daughter had entered his subconscious and taken root. The colonel was sure he would have made reference ten minutes ago to 'the patient', or 'the child' and now here at the first sign of Anise and her alien devices she was his daughter and he had to protect her. Jack knew that it no longer mattered whether he felt ready or not; he had to be. They needed him and he began to see for the first time in years the possibility of having a real family again.
"Sir," Major Carter looked at the colonel intently, "If I may?" She asked his permission to continue her eyes pleading with him to exercise restraint for the remainder of the briefing, and a little patience.
"Knock yourself out, Carter." O'Neill stated sarcastically and seated himself again still throwing angry glances in the direction of the female tok'ra. The General sighed, seated himself and glared at O'Neill who was in his opinion two comments away from a trip to a holding cell, extenuating circumstances or not.
"Dad, I think that the colonel's reservations are entirely down to the fact that the child has already suffered a severe trauma and we are all unwilling to be the cause of that event occurring again. Right Colonel?" She shot the colonel a quelling look.
"Yes," He nodded in agreement, carefully avoiding looking at her face.
"All our experiences with this technology have been none too positive, so far and we both," She paused looking pointedly at O'Neill. "WE both are unwilling to undermine her trust in us any further by hurting her anymore."
"Sam," her father ventured carefully, "no one is going to hurt her, in fact that is the very reason I have asked Anise to accompany me." He took a deep breath, 'carefully Jacob', Selmak chided internally,' you have their attention now.'
"Anise has been involved in the development of a new and more advanced memory device." He held up his hand to ensure he could continue before the host of immediate refusals graduated from indrawn breaths to raised voices.
"It targets memory according to how strongly it was received, and it accesses it in such a way that the brain experiences it like a dream. The beauty of the system is the individual can be unconscious. As their active participation is not required, we can view the revealed memories on a screen using the old technology and they wake up completely unaware that anything untoward has occurred."
"So, what in essence we are doing is prompting her to dream of her past?" Jonas asked attempting to make sense of Jacob's words.
"And we just sit back and watch it in widescreen?" The colonel asked with a hint of distaste.
"Essentially, yes." Jacob turned towards the younger man who seemed to relax slightly. Jack turned towards his 2IC.
"Carter, whatcha think?"
"I think that our options are limited and I know that Dad wouldn't allow Anise to proceed with this if he wasn't one hundred per cent sure that it was safe. Right Dad?"She turned her piercing blue eyes on the older tok'ra and he nodded and smiled.
"I wouldn't dare."
General Hammond leaned forward in his chair at the head of the table and placed his hands on the smooth wood. The movement was enough to refocus the attention of all those under his command back towards him.
"If I may," He began quietly looking between the colonel and Major Carter carefully. "The child is a guest of this facilities infirmary presently, and as such I feel it will be courteous to extend an invitation to Doctor Frasier to participate in any decision taken regarding her welfare. Furthermore, it has long been my opinion that prudence regarding technology of an alien origin is well worth exercising, so if you will permit me I suggest we wait until I have consulted Dr Frasier before we make any decision, hasty or otherwise."
He shared a congenial smile with everyone around the room, and without waiting for any arguments rose from his chair and called, "Dismissed."
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Some hours later, the group reconvened in isolation room three, where the members of SG-1 had been engaged, one after another in a quiet vigil by the bedside of the sedated child. The girl has slept on, blissfully unaware of the fierce debate which had raged back and forth, the SGC most of the morning and long into the afternoon. Doctor Frasier, when she had awoken had been extremely unhappy about allowing such a procedure performed on a patient in her care and had argued for a delay of some weeks until the girl was feeling stronger and more at peace with her fate.
However, Jacob's persuasive words had prevailed and in the end even Janet had to agree that the benefits that learning the knowledge pertaining to her previous existence would bring would assist them with how to move her treatment forward. So it was with some trepidation that she had agreed to monitor the child's vital signs and maintain her deep sedative state whilst the device was active.
In return, she had wrung assurances from General Hammond that she be allowed to terminate the procedure on medical grounds at any point, should she see that the girl was becoming medically distressed.
Anise had gathered her small case of equipment and followed Jacob to the child's bedside and begun to unpack the things she needed.
"I will first apply the device to the child's forehead," She stated as she placed it next to the girl's right temple.
"She won't feel it, right?" Colonel interjected, breaking the tense silence.
"No, Sir," the doctor replied confidently, "she is very deeply unconscious at present."
"That's good," He stated and winced, reliving his own experience of the memory device as the Tok'ra firmly pushed it into his daughter's head.
"I wish I'd been sedated," he murmured, subconsciously rubbing his own temple as if feeling the wound once more.
"Oh Yeah." Major Carter echoed.
"Now I will inject the drug which stimulates the memories to surface like dreams," Anise stated carefully explaining her actions, anxious not to provoke the colonel any further today.
She carefully placed a trigger device next the child's neck and fired in a quick shot of the drug, then the ariel attached with a snap to the device placed at her temple. The elegant tok'ra stepped back and dipped her head, the softer tones of the host Freya signifying the change in control.
"Now, we must wait for the strongest memories to surface; they will display on the screen in a few moments. Major Carter is the interface you have prepared fully synchronised as yet?"
"Yes, almost there," Carter stated, whilst fiddling with her laptop, "Just a final analysis of the frequencies to perform when the device activates."
"Tell me why we want make this a home movie again, Carter?" O'Neill stated peering at the screen closely over her shoulder.
Carter smiled, sighed inwardly and patiently explained," when we dream images can sometimes come out jumbled or quickly. So in order for us to analyse them appropriately and get the most out of it we need to be able to go back over it again slowly. There may even be information relating to Baal's stronghold which may help us, lying in her memories."
"Ok just wondered." The colonel cut his subordinate off with a wave of his hand.
"Yes Sir." She sighed quietly rolling her eyes at Teal'c while Jack turned away, he raised an eyebrow imperceptibly and turned to his friend.
"O'Neill, All will be well Doctor Frasier has your daughter's welfare as close to her heart as it is your own."
O'Neill nodded, part soothed, part embarrassed at the impassive warrior's intuitive exposure of his fears for his child.
"I know that T, just want to be kept apprised," The colonel stated offering a small smile to the doctor.
The device activated and with a soft hum the visual screen opened, appearing in mid air above the child's head. Swift images strobed on and off the screen in rapid succession and carter worked swiftly to modulate the frequency of the SGC equipment until a picture appeared on her lap top screen and she began to record them digitally on to a disk.
Anise used a hand held device to turn the intensity of the memory device down by small degrees and gradually the images slowed until nothing remained but a soft grey hue on the screen like pale moonlight.
"I will turn the device up one level and images will begin to be displayed. They will undoubtedly be distressing so if I may suggest; could we clear the room of all but the necessary personnel?"
The security detail moved to outside the open doorway, and Janet nodded to the two remaining nurses that they could return to the infirmary. General Hammond signalled to Jonas and Jacob that they accompany him to the observation room, on the next level where they would be able to watch through the one-way glass. That left Jack, Sam, Janet, Anise and Teal'c who had taken up station in the doorway blocking entry to anyone who may have taken it upon themselves to try.
Anise moved the device and from the grey appeared a familiar image, the retreating form of the colonel striding out of the supply room door, the previous day. Over the familiar sounds of the base emerging from the screen came a softly spoken phrase in a goa'uld dialect.
"What did she say?" Carter looked at Anise, astonished that this was the child's strongest memory.
"Literally translated she said, 'I am unwanted.'" The tok'ra stated evenly.
"No, that's not true. That wasn't what she was supposed to think." O'Neill whispered turning saddened eyes towards his 2IC.
She placed her hand gently on top of his, which had clenched into a fist on his thigh, "It's just a new memory that's why it's so strong. It was the last thing of significance that occurred before Janet sedated her again. That's what happens when you are five, everything is a huge deal until the next thing happens."
He nodded still unconvinced that he hadn't blown his chances of fatherhood already.
The screen displayed more images of the SGC, some of the Doctor and her staff, needles, and the infirmary bright lights. Seen from the child's perspective the normal run of the mill base took on sinister and terrifying overtones.
"We need to work on our welcome wagon; I don't think we are hitting quite the right tone." Colonel O'Neill quipped with a wry smile on his face. The truth was that he was shocked at how the child had viewed the grey prison he had come to think of as a home away from home, he resolved to talk to the General about what could be done to minimise the angst for any other alien children they collected on their travels.
He hissed a rapid indrawn breath, as there on the screen was the face of his most hated enemy appeared.
"Baal," He whispered menacingly before he shivered involuntarily the goa'uld's icy tones still having an affect upon him despite the time passed since his escape.
"He is instructing her that she must be prepared to move on to the next stage of development, that she is to guard against those who would steal her away from him. Interestingly he refers to her as 'Honoured Host', from his point of view she would need no other name but that of his mate or offspring; whichever she was to be." Anise continued her commentary of the goa'uld's words.
The scene changed and an empty room came into view devoid of colour, natural light or anything to add stimulation. In the immediate foreground there were bars reminiscent of a cold metallic playpen, the only sound was a low whimpering noise. Periodically as the 'dream' played out a tiny white hand, would extend into view. The palms crisscrossed with welts, of varying depths and degrees of severity.
"Oh, God." Sam's hand flew to her mouth, confronted by the child's suffering on the screen. The colonel's fingers tightened painfully on her other hand and a muscle twitched in his jaw.
The face of a woman appeared, leaning close in to the cage like construction, speaking in a low voice, furtively glancing over her shoulder towards the door.
"She is a slave in Baal's household. She is telling the child that if she does not stop disobeying her 'master' then the rest of the slaves will all be punished because of her."
The whimpering continued until two jaffa marched into the room and the woman her eyes having widened in fear, began to rail at the child in urgent tones and opened the door and reached in to haul her to her feet.
The now familiar sound of their child's insistent sobbing nearly broke their hearts and they watched in horror as through her eyes they were propelled down a hallway with high ceilings, and into a bedchamber of sorts. Sparsely furnished it contained little that anyone could associate with the presence of a child.
The woman began to roughly brush the child's hair eliciting a few muffled yelps and a fresh round of weeping, quickly silenced by the unmistakeable sound of skin connecting sharply with skin in a hard smack.
"Kree'ta!"(Stop that.) The woman stated cruelly, "The master wishes to see you, and you will be grateful, for your honour though I see not why you deserve it. There how presentable you look."
The child was turned roughly, by the shoulders to face a long mirror. The image that those assembled in the SGC saw was of a child of about three, with the same long blond hair but bewildered and frightened. Gone were the hard eyes and tough exterior erected in obvious response to this onslaught of physical violence. Raising her painful hands she valiantly attempted to scrub the treacherous tears still streaking down her pale face
The child stiffened as the silky smooth voice of the goa'uld Baal penetrated the near silence of the room; she flinched and looked at him in horror, her expression still visible in the remainder of the mirror as she turned. Too late she tried to school her features as she sank to her knees, just in time to see his face twist into a sardonic smile, "When will you learn? I wonder … when?" His words still hung in the air as he raised the zat in his hand and fired dispassionately.
Everything faded to black and the only sounds heard in the isolation room were the anguished cries wrenched from the child trapped within the memory, impassioned pleas for mercy as the effects of the energy weapon continued unabated.
Jack stood up suddenly and raked his hand through his hair, "How much longer?" he enquired his voice little more than a whisper. He looked down to Major Carter who had silent tears coursing down her cheeks in the dim light of the room; even Anise looked shocked, her normally proud face shuttered and closed.
"I am uncertain, but several more hours, at least." Her host Freya answered her voice full of compassion.
"O'Neill, you and Major Carter must go and eat to sustain your strength, I will remain with Anise to watch over the youngster, she will come to no harm, whilst Doctor Frasier is in attendance."
The wise Jaffa looked at his friend's furrowed brow and silently urged his brother in arms to take the proffered way out. He meant no disrespect but he could see that both his teammates were rapidly becoming emotionally overwrought; as he would have been had the subject of these atrocities been Rya'c.
"Ok, Carter lets go," He urged the shocked officer to her feet, "we are going to eat. I do it when I'm hungry, you do it when I tell you, remember now?" He quipped lightly trying to distract her over active brain from the images still relentlessly assaulting his own. He knew with some certainty they would both be hearing the child's cries for help in their nightmares for some time to come.
Back in the dimly lit room, Doctor Frasier looked at her watch and was shocked to discover it was already nearly 22.00 hours. Four hours already, more than enough time to complete the nightmares of all the children she knew combined, but still the images played on.
She looked towards the door, at the brighter light outside and wondered how they would even begin to heal this broken kid, she was little more than a baby yet, really. She looked back in time to just catch the remnant of a frown play across the strong jaffa's face.
Taking his duties seriously, Teal'c had been gazing intently at the screen above the motionless girl's head when for a split second he had thought he recognised a face. Out of the jumble of images currently jostling to present themselves in the child's psyche one image had unexpectedly caught his attention. For a split second he had imagined himself staring into the pale blue eyes of Daniel Jackson.
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