OC List:
Amaris Gotin: Aged mid-thirties, female, Scientist (think Carter) and team leader, younger sister to Keane and Harvey.
Keane Gotin: Aged late-thirties, Male, in the Aldercian army, older brother to Amaris and twin brother to Harvey.
Harvey Gotin: Deceased, Male, was in Aldercian army, twin to Keane and older brother to Amaris.
Lowell Safran: Same age as Keane, Male, small but agile and in Aldercian army, has known the Gotin's all his life.
Devon Gibson: Early thirties, female (don't let the name fool you), archeologist.
Commander Allard: Total jerk. Male, late forties.
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General Hammond was so used to hearing the sirens, he almost didn't respond when he heard them.
He didn't even know why they bothered to schedule times for teams to return. They always did whatever they wanted, anyways. And the Tok'ra floated in and out with the wind.
The job was wearing George Hammond out. Having officers like Jack O'Neill didn't help, either. Jack was a great guy, one of George's best friends, but he was a hard to control officer. Everyone else had been obedient, but Jack planted this seed of rebellion in each of them. They would follow Hammond to the ends of the universe, but they would still do whatever Jack O'Neill told them too.
"Who is it, Sergeant?" he asked. He then thought that he should consider getting a tape recorder, so his commonly used expressions (open the iris, close the iris, who is it, etc.) were available at the touch of a button. Maybe they should make plush toys.
"It's SG-1. And they're requesting a medical team."
"Then do it," he said, sharply.
"Yes, sir." He turned on the microphone, and all throughout the base, officers heard, "Medical team to the gate room."
George twisted his mouth around. It was one thing for a team to be untimely. Another for them to be hurt.
"Sergeant, why haven't you opened the iris," he asked when he saw the metal barrier was still here.
"You didn't order me too…"
Hammond shook his head and rubbed it. "Open the iris." You'd think that after a while, they'd get the gist of their job…
When SG-1 emerged through the wormhole, they were not alone. Two men, one on the small side, another very muscular, and two women, one carrying the other with Daniel. The woman being carried was in horrible condition; Hammond could tell from the control room. He hurried down to the gate room, now very curious as to what the story was.
The door slid open and General Hammond followed the medical team in. He watched with interest as the injured woman was carried away on a stretcher. He then turned his attention to the men and women standing in front of him, out of breath and looking worried. "What happened?"
"General," Jack started, and pulled off his hat. "It's a long story." The man's face was grim, and Hammond knew for sure it would not be a happy one.
"Very well. You can tell me during the debriefing at 2100. For now, will you at least introduce your friends to us?"
"Ah, yes. Sorry about that. This is Keane, Lowell and Devon." He pointed to each of them as he said their name. "And you guys, this is General Hammond, our CO." The three all nodded briefly, but then stared down the hall through witch Amaris had been taken down moments before.
"The woman on the stretcher's name in Amaris." Daniel spoke. "We found her…being tortured-" Devon let out a squeal of horror "-while we were rigging the explosives."
Hammond nodded, but he noticed the look Sam was giving him. It was telling him that this abbreviated version was very abbreviated. "Save the rest for the briefing. Bring out guests to the VIP room to wait, and then meet me in the briefing room. I have to make a call."
"Wait!" Keane cried as the General was walking out.
"Yes, son?"
"Can't we see Amaris?"
The General exchanged looks with Jack, and said lightly, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to see her until the doctor's have her stabilized." At the look on Keane's face, the general couldn't help but add kindly, "We have the best medical professionals on this base. I promise Amaris will be ok." At that, he left and climbed the stairs into his office.
The three Aldercians looked around, weary. They had figured out that this team- SG-1 –did what they did as a team. They were standing in the Tau'ri- whatever that meant- version of the embarkation room. And they were defiantly on the Tau'ri planet.
"So…VIP room this way." Jack waved his hand and gestured the group through a giant door and down a hallway.
"Sir, I'm going to shower off." Sam had followed them down the hallway, but once they reached the elevator, she stopped.
"Fine, Carter. Don't be late for the debriefing."
"Yes sir." She nodded to the Aldercians and walked down the hallway once more as the doors closed on the remainder of SG-1 and Lowell, Keane and Devon.
The elevator went up and Daniel cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about Amaris." They looked at him. Jack's expression was screaming 'Open mouth, insert foot.'
"Yeah." Lowell said, not daring to look at the archeologist.
"But I promise…on this base, we have the most skilled medical professionals on Earth. They'll…" Daniel was about to continue with his comforting speech, but Devon cut him off.
"We're on Earth? That's what the Tau'ri are?"
Daniel blinked, stunned. All the men were looking at her like she was insane. "Yeah. The Tau'ri are the people from Earth."
Devon nodded in understanding. "You are the origin for all humans."
"That's right," he said enthusiastically. The elevator door chimed and opened. Jack ushered them out and lead them down yet another hall, but Devon and Daniel continued talking.
"On one of the first planets we visited, we came across some picture writing. It was very hard for me to decipher. It took ages." She took a deep breath, and her heart was beating quickly. Wait until Amaris finds out! "But I finally discovered, with Amaris's help, that it was about the transport of humans from Earth to other planets throughout the galaxy. We just didn't ever discover when or why."
Daniel was excited too. He could talk about this subject for hours. "Humans were- and in some places, still are- used as slaves for the Goa'uld. They simply spread them across the galaxy for use everywhere."
Devon chewed on the ends of her hair. "That's terrible."
"Yeah," Daniel agreed softly. "The Goa'uld are pure evil."
Keane snorted, finally having something to input. "You can say that again."
"The Goa'uld are, in fact, pure evil." Teal'c's deep voice came from the rear.
Daniel smiled at him. "Thank you, Teal'c." The Jaffa bowed.
Jack had led them to the VIP room. "Here it is." The three walked into it with interest, which soon died when they saw it was simply a resting place. "It's not much, but it will keep you out of trouble." He nodded briefly to them and shut the door. He gestured to an airman, and the door was guarded.
Daniel watched this occurrence when he realized something. "You don't trust them."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "It's not that I don't trust them, I just don't have reason to trust them. We did find them on a Goa'uld vessel."
"One of them was being tortured!"
"It could have been a set-up made by Ba'al!"
Daniel shook his head disapprovingly. "I don't believe that."
Jack lowered his head, exasperated. "Look, we're running a base. The security of the world depends upon our security measures. We have to be careful. I want them to be trustworthy, but if they don't give me a reason to believe in them, why should I?"
Daniel was about to disagree again when Teal'c spoke up. "Daniel Jackson, we have on many occasions, seen the Goa'uld use innocents to try and destroy Earth. We must eliminate that possibility before we can let them explore. They could be Za'tarcs."
Daniel surrendered, but his quiet mumblings made it clear that he disapproved of this thoroughly. The three men didn't speak as they walked back to the briefing room, each lost in thoughts and worries. This was a delicate situation.
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Dr. Janet Frasier sighed deeply and pushed her hair out of her face. She had saved Amaris, at least for now. The critical stage was over with, but there was sure to be some lasting side effects, horrifying scars, and the emotional damage torture causes. Ba'al sure knows how to do a number.
Hammond had briefed her briefly after SG-1 had filled him in. She had yet to see the other Aldercians, but she knew they would be in the infirmary soon. Janet couldn't imagine being in their position- their leader had almost died. They might never be able to go home.
It showed just how dangerous their line of work was.
A sudden movement in the bed drew Janet's attention. Amaris had tried to lift her hand to rub her head, but instead let out a groan of pain.
"Don't move," Janet told her and propped a pillow under her arm. Amaris's eyes widened fearfully.
"I won't tell you anything!" She screamed, and thrashed in her bed, tossing the pillow on the floor. Tears were streaming down her face, from emotion and the pain that every slight movement caused.
"Calm down, you'll hurt yourself!" Janet tried to calm the woman, stroking her face and using soothing words.
They had no effect, and the woman simply resisted harder. Janet winced at her pain, and had no choice but to sedate her. The woman immediately fell limp against the bed.
"Could you put her in restraints, please," Janet asked the nurses. As they scurried to follow her orders, she looked at the woman lying in bed. When she awoke, she would without a doubt have a negative reaction to the restraints…but her teammates would be there, and maybe they could convince her that she was safe.
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Keane was pacing the room. Lowell was watching him. And Devon was watching out the window. They were being guarded. It was not a happy feeling.
"I don't think we can trust them," Keane said finally. Lowell rolled his eyes.
"Will you just relax? They saved us. They won't turn their backs on us now."
"You put too much trust in strangers, Lowell. It's foolish to do so."
The smaller man stood. "At least I'm not overly negative and cynical."
Devon turned away from the door. "Will you two relax?" she was exasperated and exhausted. She walked towards the small bed and lay down. "I just want this to be over. I don't really care what happens anymore, as long as we end up together."
The men fell silent. They both understood. But they had to fill the silence with something. They were men. Open emotion was unacceptable. Stiffly, they walked around the room, looking for something to do.
"What are these," Lowell asked with curiosity. He had found a small box, and when he opened it, there were many thin pieces of paper. They had two different colors, and four different drawings with numbers, J's, Q's, and K's.
"I don't know." Keane took the papers from him and fingered each one individually. "Maybe it's a code, or something."
Lowell's eyes widened. "What if this is some secret military training trick?"
Devon sat straight up as they continued spouting out strange theories about what the strange papers might be. "You guys are insane." They stopped and gave her a look. She just shook it off. "Show me those."
They handed them to her reluctantly, sad she ruined their fun. "It's a game." She put them back in the box and threw them at Keane.
"Well, if you're so smart, how do you play?"
Devon's eyes glistened playfully. "Figure it out. It'll give you something to do."
The two men scowled at her, and went to work. We'll show her.
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Jack waved his badge to the two airmen at the door and they stepped aside. He had come to fetch their visitors. Janet had wanted them to be present when Amaris woke up, to try and avoid a repeat of the time before.
The colonel opened the door to quite a scene. There were cards all over the place, and the two men had pinned the woman to the bed, tickling her mercilessly. She was screeching with laughter, protests flying. Lowell and Keane weren't holding back the least, it seemed.
Jack stopped to look at this for a moment. It was clear that the Aldercians were very close, probably closer to each other then SG-1 was. They acted like siblings, fighting, loving, and laughing together. Jack wanted that for his team. But things were different for these aliens. There were no rules or regulations keeping them from behaving like that. If he had been seen tickling Sam like that, he would be court marshaled in an instant. They couldn't be close knit friends like that in the workplace, even though he would like to be.
He finally cleared his throat, and the three Aldercians fell apart instantly, and stood. Their faces were red from laughter, and they were breathing heavily, but struggling to look composed. Devon was the first to calm down, which was surprising, since she took the brunt of the torment.
"Is Amaris alright?" She was actually feeling a bit guilty about behaving childishly while Amaris was recovering.
"Well, she woke up once, but we had to sedate her." They game him a puzzled look. "…Give her a drug to make her sleep. She was behaving in a way that ultimately would have caused her more pain, so for her well-being, we made her sleep and she is now in restraints."
Keane's eyebrows furrowed and he asked, "Well, can we at least see her now?"
"Oh yeah. I came to get you guys. Doctor Frasier wants you to be there when she wakes up. It might calm her." He paused here, looking at their eager faces. "But I warn you. What she went through was…upsetting. She won't be herself for a while."
Devon walked up to him and touched his face lightly. He shivered a little, knowing what she was thinking. He had gone through the same thing Amaris had. But he was ok. Key word being ok. Was he himself? Jack wondered for the first time in a long time, Am I still me after all that happened?
"Well," she said softly, withdrawing her hand. "We can wait for her." Her hands fell to her sides, and she smiled sweetly. "So, to the sickbay?"
"Right." Jack tore himself from his reverie. "This way." He led them down the halls to the infirmary and to Amaris.
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Devon was sitting in the chair next to Amaris's bed, resting her chin in her hand. Lowell was standing over her with a supportive hand on her shoulder. Every now and hen he squeezed, reminding her that he was there, and he wasn't leaving anytime soon. Keane, on the other hand, was all over the room. At first he was content to stand next to his sister, much like Devon was, but soon he became restless. He was a ball of nerves, and Devon thought it was best not to talk to him at the risk of being exploded at.
The woman who occasionally came to check Amaris's vitals talked to them kindly. She introduced herself as Dr. Frasier and that if they needed anything she would get it for them. However, none of them ever responded with more than a nod. The easy atmosphere that had been created before had evaporated.
"She should wake up in a few minutes." Dr. Frasier had come back. "Are you guys going to be ok? I mean, she is not herself."
Lowell looked down at Devon's head, and then spoke to the Doctor. "She will be eventually. And she needs to see us if we're ever going to get her back."
The woman nodded, disappeared. She returned shortly with another chair and offered it to Keane, who was walking a hole in the floor. When he refused, she looked over to Lowell. She saw that he was the moral support for Devon, so she took the chair for herself. Devon looked at her, startled.
"I need to be here if we have to administer more sedative."
"You don't think that she'll need it?" Devon asked, earnestly.
Janet sighed. "Unfortunately, I think she will. The first time she fully regained consciousness, she believed that she was still being tortured, and became a danger to herself. You guys being here might help, but if it doesn't, the last thing we want is her hurting herself, or even one of you."
"Amaris would never hurt one of us." Keane told her, passionately.
Janet's eyes were sad. "The sarcophagus-the device that kept bringing her back to life- alters the brain chemistry of a subject over prolonged exposure. A mixture of that and torture is enough to make someone forget their own mother."
Keane still refused to believe her. "It won't bother Amaris like that. She's too strong."
"I don't want you to be disappointed," she tried one more time, but Keane wouldn't hear of it. And Janet had run out of time to convince him otherwise. Amaris was stirring.
"Keane?" She rasped the question, squinting at the figure pacing alongside her bed.
"Amaris!" He flew to her side. "It's me, it's Keane. You're safe now, I promise." He reached out to stroke her hair, but she struggled against the restraints.
"You can't pretend to be him! You're not my brother! Stop trying, because I won't tell you anything. Just kill me!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, and Devon sprung to her side.
"Amaris, it's really him. And I'm me." She reached for Lowell's sleeve. "And Lowell too. See, we're all here together." Her voice begged Amaris to believe in her. It was enough to break Janet's heart, and she began crying.
"No! I don't believe you! You killed them, I know it!" Amaris cried out in pain, physical and the pain of loss.
"Oh, 'maris. You didn't lose us. We're here with you, and we're safe. I promise." Devon tried again.
"I can't trust you. Because you're not Devon. You're Ba'al." Amaris had calmed a little, and was no longer thrashing. Janet took advantage of her stillness and took her vitals. Amaris was exhausted, and stared into space instead of fighting.
"Amaris, it's really us." Lowell said, gently, trying not to rile her up again. The woman lying in bed simply shook her head no, and showed no emotion. All that was there was a blank, vacant face.
Devon looked over at the Doctor. "Dr. Frasier, there must be something…"
Janet shook her head. "Only time will heal her, Devon. I'm sorry I can't do more. Physically, she just needs more time for things in her body to mend. But, in that time, she has to go through withdrawal from the sarcophagus and she has to accept that she's here now. Here and safe. It's going to be a long road. I think you have to accept that before you can do anything for her."
It was hard for them to hear this, but they had been warned. Painfully, they all abandoned their attempts to comfort her and sat again.
No one had seen Jack, but he had been watching from the door. He, at their surrender, walked over. "At the risk of sounding repetitive, it'll be a long road to recovery."
"So we hear." Keane was tired of everyone telling him his sister wasn't ok. He knew. And it was his fault. He should never have let her go. He should be the one lying in that bed, confused and in pain. Not his sister.
At least he got her out of there. And now she might be saved.
"Listen…I know this isn't the best time to…" Jack tried to find the words. "This might anger you, but, we have to do some tests on you to make sure you're not a risk to the base."
"A risk to the base? What do you mean? All we're here for is Amaris." Devon didn't understand the look Jack was giving them.
"What kind of tests?" Keane knew what the Colonel was thinking about, understood his concern.
"Well," Jack started, going through the long list in his head. "We need to do a lie- detector test of sorts…but that will be done later; we need to contact the Tok'ra." He winced, praying their visit would be 'Anise-less.' "And a little thingy to make sure there's no snakes in you're heads. And the doc is tired of poking me with needles…she needs a new toy." He finished, and saw the looks they were giving him. They had no idea what the hell he was talking about. "It'll be quick and painless." They didn't look convinced. "Who's going first?"
The three exchanged looks, and finally Keane nodded and said, "I am."
"Good. Doc?" Dr. Frasier looked up from reading Amaris's vitals. "Keane here is going first for the physicals you'll be performing on these fine folks."
"Eww, fun." Janet smiled warmly. "If you'll just come this way…"
She led Keane away, leaving Devon and Lowell with O'Neill and Amaris. The colonel addressed his companions. "Hungry?" It must have been forever since they last ate.
"Actually…" Devon grabbed her stomach and it audibly growled. "I am."
"Me too." Lowell's eyes had grown wide at the mention of food. "What do you have?"
"Well, lots of stuff that's hard to ruin, but the commissary manages it anyways." He paused thoughtfully. "They have good pie!"
"What is…" Devon wrinkled her nose. "…pie?"
Jack beamed. She had uncovered a topic Jack could easily talk about. "Pie is wonderful." He led his charges to the commissary, missing their wistful glances in their teammate's direction.
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