Meydum
First rule of dealing with demons: Never let them intimidate you.
From the Harvester's JournalSoralis floated in a luminous gray fog. Nothing hurt. It was a pleasure simply to drift, to be free of pain, of thought. She slept.
Voices woke her. Angry voices and the sounds of scuffling. She opened one eye, and saw the blurred image of a humanoid bending over her, examining her. She couldn't move, couldn't speak. Soralis could feel herself being lifted, shifted onto something flat and hard. She felt tired, weak. Her eyes fluttered closed.
Soralis could smell the scent of hundreds of humans and water. It had rained recently. She could smell flowers and greenery. Then she smelled the acrid scent of antiseptic, a scent she associated with hospitals and…
She struggled, lashing out in panic. She wouldn't go back to Morgan's complex. She wouldn't face…She felt a sharp sting on her arm, warmth and darkness flowed from the puncture, enveloping her, taking away thought and consciousness.
***
Soralis drifted in the darkness, not really aware of anything, just enjoying the fact that she didn't feel much of anything. She couldn't say how long she drifted, or where she drifted to, she didn't really care.
"Are you aware of the kind of potential you posses?" a voice asked from behind her.
Soralis turned around. They were in some sort of courtyard, surrounded by vast gardens. She could hear running water somewhere and smell the scent of night-blooming flowers. Overhead, the star-studded night-sky was dominated by a huge, full moon. The owner of the voice she heard, the only other being in the courtyard, was sitting on the rim of a gurgling fountain.
The man was tall. Standing up, he would be taller than Qui Gon, probably close to seven feet. He had graying, shoulder length black hair, black eyes and a neatly trimmed beard. He was dressed in black robes richly embroidered with silver thread. She frowned. The evil emanating from the man surrounded him like a thick cloud. Yet, she sensed no malice, no threat. Not yet at any rate.
She shrugged. "Never bothered me."
The man smiled, looking at her knowingly. "Really?" he asked as he stood up; walked over to her.
"You are constantly at the beck and call of some god or power greater than yourself, yet…" he shook his head. "Yet in truth, you could be greater than any of them."
Soralis laughed. "Right. And I know this nice little bridge you can buy in San Francisco. There's always gonna be somebody more powerful than you. Always."
The man considered this and dismissed it. "Maybe. You could still be greater than you are now. Yet, you passed up countless chances to reach for that power."
"Who are you?" she demanded. "Why are you here?"
"I think you know. As to your other question. You drew me here." He grinned. "Blood calls to blood. Bone to bone." He quoted.
Soralis' eyes narrowed. "Shinnok. You are Shinnok."
His smile widened. "Yes. You catch on quickly. The mark of a Shadowlord, I presume."
She smirked. "The mark of anyone with half a spoonful of brains."
He scowled. "You are as flippant as your father. And as disrespectful."
"I take that as a compliment, coming from you." She shot back. "What do you want from me?"
Shinnok laughed harshly. "You are Gaia's champion. The only PanWyre to be born in countless millennia. Her mark is upon you and I offer you a choice granddaughter. Kill Rayden; destroy him. Or watch Earth perish in blood and fire."
"Get bent and see if it brings forth enlightenment." Soralis snapped.
Shinnok snarled, whipping his arm up, intending to slap her, to bring her to heel. Soralis blocked him, catching his hand in her fist. "Don't. You won't like the result. I'm not my father. Family ties don't mean anything to me. Fuck with me, threaten my planet and I'll bury you. I'm through being nice grandfather."
He looked at her hard, then smiled, easily wrenching his arm out of her hand. "Well. You certainly have guts. When you finally do turn, I will enjoy having you at my side." Power flared around him and then he was gone.
***
Colonel Jack O'Neil dove behind a pile of rocks as laser fire erupted around him. Ranged around the Stargate chamber was his team consisting of Samantha Carter, the Jaffa Warrior Teal'c and Daniel Jackson. All of were taking cover behind whatever they could find.
"Teal'c, I thought you said Saqqara was a friendly planet!" Jack shouted as he grabbed a fallen Jaffa spear and leveled a barrage of laser fire on the oncoming Jaffa warriors.
"It was! Sethos took it over!" Teal'c shouted back as Daniel located the Stargate control panel.
"Big news flash," O'Neil grumbled. "Daniel, hurry up with that thing!" he screamed.
"On it!" Daniel shouted back.
With a rumble and whoosh, the Stargate activated and the foursome dove through. The Jaffa guards raced into the room, only to be stymied as the 'gate deactivated.
***
He was back, back in the darkness, frozen in a terrifying thread of insanity. Though purged of the drugs and healed of the injuries he had sustained in captivity, his body remembered, his mind could not let go. He was trapped.
Cold. He was cold, freezing. Frost clouded the clear plastisteel walls of the suspension tank, where he floated helpless in the freezing air. Each breath was like a dozen icy shards ripping apart his throat. Colder laughter floated around him.
"Not so brave are we?" Morgan asked, dropping the temperature down another degree. Qui Gon shivered miserably.
"Why do you still resist? The Council won't lift a single finger to save you. They've already abandoned you. No one will rescue you. No one will save you. You are mine Qui Gon."
He shook his head rapidly, each movement sending new waves of pain down his already bruised and battered body. No. Nononono. He thought grimly, refusing to believe her. He opened his eyes. "Never," he whispered, barely opening his mouth.
"Idiot." Morgan hissed. "You damned idiot."
The collar around his throat hummed to life, sending blinding waves of unrelenting agony coursing through his body. He screamed, his cries echoing in the suspension chamber, deafening him. And still, still the agony continued, until blessed unconsciousness claimed him.
***
Qui Gon woke slowly, taking in his surroundings one sense at a time. He was lying on something soft, much softer and more comfortable than the cot in the cell he shared with his mind-mate, Soralis. He was covered in a light, silken sheet. He smelled antiseptic, flowers and free-flowing water.
More welcoming still, he could smell fresh air, not the flat, recycled stuff he had become used to breathing in. He could hear the soft murmur of machinery and the sound of birdsong. He didn't feel any pain, no lingering headaches, nothing. He felt free, freer than he had since his capture. He could….
His eyes flew open. "Obi Wan!" he whispered. The boy was sitting on a chair next to his bed. The boy straightened and smiled.
"Master! You're awake!" he said as he hugged the man tightly.
***
"So, you let them escape. You had them in your grasp and you let them escape." Quan Chi stated calmly.
Xanatos knelt, bowing his head, knowing full well he had failed. "I am sorry my master. I do not know how it happened. One minute they were being pulled in by the Indicator and the next minute it exploded."
Quan Chi smirked. "Soralis." He murmured. "It must be. Only she would have that amount of destructive power in her possession."
Xanatos raised his head, confused. "How my master? She was purposely kept weak, off-balance and near the edge of collapse for the entirety of her captivity."
Quan Chi chuckled dryly as he paced. "The bitch has more tricks up her sleeve than you know boy. We need her and Qui Gon Jinn back alive."
"We don't know where she has gone my lord." Xanatos replied softly.
"But we know where she will be going, apprentice." Quan Chi said.
"Where?" Xanatos asked.
"Her home. Earth. She is very single minded in her purpose. All guardian spirits are."
"I will prepare for our journey my lord," Xanatos replied softly.
***
The white haired woman was tossing and turning, mumbling something in a language the young healer-priest couldn't understand. Her face was ghostly white, her brow beaded with sweat. As she went to check the woman's pulse, a strong hand lashed out from under the covers. The woman was glaring at her, pale gold eyes fixated blindly on her face.
The healer-priest cried out in fear and from behind her another priest helped her pry the woman's hand from her wrist. The healer-priest looked at the older priest who saved her and whitened. She murmured something incoherent and fled.
Soralis' eyes cleared, the nightmare fading to a nasty stain in the back of her mind. She found herself in some sort of medical ward, heavy on ancient Egyptian motifs. She was comfortable, clean and more importantly free from pain.
As her eyes cleared, she saw a woman looking at her. The woman appeared to be in her late twenties and had the classical features of ancient Egyptian royalty. She was dressed in a flowing white robe heavily embroidered with gold thread. To further this image, a bright gold circlet circled her head, etched with the symbols of a falcon, whose claws enclosed a throne and a sun disk.
"You never did like medical wards very much. I see that has never changed." The woman said dryly in ancient Egyptian as she gracefully sat down on a nearby chair.
"Lady Isis?" Soralis said, her mind blurring the past and present in a confusing whirl.
"So you remember, amazing." She cocked her head. "From what the boy told us, I'm amazed you wits are still about you."
"You know about…" Soralis trailed off, shaking her head.
"Yes. You are the Isisethren." Isis smiled slightly. "And my daughter, if you want be literal, though you are no Ga'ould. And I suspect your body would reject any attempt at being made into one." She looked at the dazed Shadowlord. "Now, can you tell me how you came to be in this position?" she asked softly. "Then we can decide what to do."
Soralis nodded and told her.
***
Four Day's Later Cheyenne Mountain Situation Room:Colonel Jack O'Neil flexed his shoulder, wincing as it protested. Somehow during their latest escapade through the Stargate, he had wrenched it rather badly.
"Jack, good you're here," General Hammond said as he filed some papers away in his desk.
O'Neil grinned as he sat down. He knew a lot of those papers were about his team. "So, what's up General?"
"Ever heard of a planet called Meydum?" the General asked.
"It's located somewhere near the third star from the right?" Jack asked flippantly.
The General smiled slightly. "No. It's the home of a Ga'ould queen called Isis. I think that should ring a bell."
Jack leaned back in the chair, thinking. "Isis. Sister-wife to Osiris right? One of the more powerful of the Egyptian deities. So translate that to Ga'ould, she'd be a powerful system lord in of herself. Am I right or am I right?"
"You've been studying." General Hammond replied, impressed.
Jack shrugged it off. "So?"
"She contacted us about three days ago. Since then we've been gathering information about her, both as a "goddess" and as a ruler. For a Ga'ould, she's something of a moderate. Still has slaves, but she takes much better care of her people than most of the other Ga'ould lords we've run across. She also has some fondness for Earth and even sent one of her daughters here to govern it around seven thousand years ago."
This piqued Jack's interest. "What happened to the daughter?" he asked curiously.
"She died. Ra ordered her to be married to a rather unpleasant character called Akethros. She in combination with Isis and her brothers devised a plan to completely erase Earth from Ga'ould memory. Isis and company hid Earth by destroying as much of the data the Ga'ould had on it and the daughter buried the Stargate. During the fire-fight with Akethros' soldiers, she was shot and killed."
Jack raised his eyebrow. "And what does that have to do with us?
The general smiled. "She contacted us and offered to start negotiations. We can't afford to anger her. And she specifically asked for you."
"Should I feel flattered?" Jack asked cautiously.
"No. This smells Jack. But as I said, we can't afford to screw this up. Your team leaves in three hours."
"Yes sir." Jack got up to leave.
"Jack?"
"Yeah?" O'Neil turned around.
"Be very careful." General Hammond said.
"Hey, it's me." He grinned and left.
"That's what I'm afraid of," Hammond told to himself.