Hello all. I am so sorry for the delay but this chapter has a lot of exposition and I had to make sure it was not boring! Sasha, thank you for you lovely emails. This might answer one of your questions, though maybe not in the way you were hoping. Let me know what you all think!
Thanks.
Previously: The doorway beckoned, as dark as a fresh grave. Ella stole a look down the hallway. She glimpsed her husband's face, but then his eyes glowed. Here there be monsters. In a choice between the monster and the grave, Ella chose the grave. Previously: The doorway beckoned, as dark as a fresh grave. Ella stole a look down the hallway. She glimpsed her husband's face, but then his eyes glowed. In a choice between the monster and the grave, Ella chose the grave.
The door slid shut behind her.
Sam was still shaking with anger as she heard Ella be dragged down the hallway. She tried to school her features so that no emotion showed on her face but it was difficult. Despair over what was happening to Ella's husband was warring with fury over what the Goa'uld was doing to Ella. She had no idea what time it was or when they had been brought to this ship, but Sam suspected that someone would have noticed her and Ella missing by now. Sam knew that Jack and SG1would move heaven and Earth to find her, but how would they know where to start looking?
She had recognized the creature as a Goa'uld the moment she had entered the room. The naquadah in her system had triggered a warning. Even though she tried to warn Ella of the danger, the other woman had not heard her, and instead walked right into the arms of the man she though was her husband. And when Loki's words revealed that the woman he was abusing and degrading was not just an innocent victim but also a pregnant innocent victim, Sam wanted to grab a club and start beating people.
And now as the monster looked at her, Sam tried to see through to the man trapped within. It seemed hopeless. If the consciousness of Alex Portmanoy remained intact, it was buried deep.
"So, Samantha Carter," Loki leaned close to her and breathed deep, smelling her, "you know what I am, don't you?" He voice was low, almost seductive. "And I know you. You have been taken by a Goa'uld before."
"It was a Tok'ra, not a Goa'uld," Sam spit back at him.
"Really? A Tok'ra? And here I always thought they were a myth," he replied with a scornful smirk.
"And I though gods were omniscient," she said.
He laughed. "Well, I have been out of the loop for a few thousand years. I have much catching up to do."
Loki circled Sam, assessing her from every angle. "The men who serve me had so much information on you and your team. Including the one and only Daniel Jackson." Sam met his eyes impassively. "So, this is Daniel Jackson's mystery job. Traveling through galaxies, fighting Goa'uld. And you think you know a guy."
Sam remained silent. Loki had her very unnerved. He was different than any other Goa'uld she had dealt with before. His body language, his manner of talking; it all seemed very modern. And there was an intimacy to his violence that was deeply disturbing. Sam had seen System Lords torture and even kill humans, but Loki's treatment of Ella was more reminiscent of spousal abuse than anything else. He wanted Ella to see it was her husband hurting her. And he wanted Ella to know that he knew everything Alex had known. Sam feared that Loki had the ability to destroy Ella a piece at a time.
Loki continued to talk. "But, as interesting as Daniel's file was, it was you that I just had to meet." His eyes held a delighted satisfaction. "Beauty, bravery, and brains. Truly a woman with everything. And you are exactly what I will be needing."
"…for what?" Sam finally had to ask.
Now answering her, Loki walked toward the large, throne-like chair that dominated the center of the room. Halfway there, he bent over and picked something off of the floor. When he righted himself, Sam saw that he was holding Ella's glasses.
"Ella must have dropped these," he speculated benignly, examining the plastic frames. "It surprises me that as far as humans have come since my time, you still cannot correct something as simple as eyesight. If I just slipped my wife a Goa'uld, it would fix her eyes right up. Correct her vision, improve her health. I bet she'd even loose some weight. That can't be a bad thing." Loki was not smiling now.
Knowing she was being baited, Sam ignored his implied threat. "What – do you – want?" she ground out from gritted teeth.
"Not much. Simply your total unswerving obedience, for starters. And I want my child." Loki leaned back in his chair. Despite his jeans and bare feet, Loki radiated a powerful menace.
"Ella is not carrying your child," Sam corrected him.
"In what way is it not mine? It is made of the same genetic materials that my host is. It is my child."
"What could you possibly want with a human child? This will not be a Harcesis. It is just a baby."
"Do not speak to me like I am a fool, Sam. I know this. However, remember that I am a scientist. There are thing that I would still like to learn about human development."
"What do you mean?"
He smiled, brightly. "Have you ever seen a Goa'uld who was less than a full grown adult. I have always wondered what would happen if a human child, a baby even, was implanted. Now I will get my chance."
Sam felt faint. The idea of a baby…Ella's baby…being taken as a host… "No. I won't let you. Ella would kill you before she let you near her child!"
"Ella is mine, as surely as her child is. As you have already seen, she has no say in what I do. And as for you," his eyes began to glow faintly, "I have other needs for you. There is a weapon. I created it many years ago and it needs repairing. You will fix it for me. I have decided to claim your sorry little planet as my own."
The staggering arrogance of the Goa'uld never ceased to impress Sam, but she instantly knew what weapon he was referring to. It just made sense. She had studied Alex's schematics thoroughly last night. "Why would I help you with that?"
"Because it will be fun?" She did not respond at his attempt at humor. "All right, if that won't make you agree I know what will. Either you do what I say or I will hurt her."
"You won't get a chance. My team - "
"Your team doesn't know where you are!" He cut off her words and climbed out of his throne, advancing on her, smirking. "They don't even know who I am. Remember this, Samantha Carter, you are alone here. All alone. And it is only my mercy and your obedience that will keep you and that stupid little mouse of a woman alive and unharmed."
Sam stood her ground. "Anything you do to hurt Ella could hurt the baby."
"Please," he gave a slight laugh. "Don't underestimate me, Samantha. Do you have any idea how miserable I could make her without laying a finger on her? I could leave her in the small dark place for the next seven and a half months, chained to the floor, fed through a tube. Or I could make her watch while I tortured her husband from within. Oh, so much pain I could cause her," he finished with a vicious satisfaction.
Sam watched his eyes glow. It felt as though a noose was tightening around her neck. Her priority was to protect Ella and keep them both alive until SG1 found them. And they would find them. She knew that they would. She just had to get though this. "If I agree to help you, to do what you want, will you let Ella go? Leave her somewhere, send her back to Earth, just don't hurt her. Please."
A smile played around his lips. "Are you agreeing?"
"Will you let her go?"
Loki touched Sam's hair. She forced her self not to pull away. "Oh Samantha. Look what I have got you to consider doing just by threatening to hurt her. Imagine what you'll agree to once you've seen me do it."
Sam's hands, still tied behind her back, fisted. She badly wanted to hurt this creature. "Ella has nothing to do with any of this. She can't help you with a weapon. She knows nothing of the Goa'uld. She doesn't know anything!"
"Maybe not, but she has my child. And she will serve me by keeping you in line. And she amuses me." He reached forward and placed his hand around Sam's neck, lightly rubbing her throat with his thumb. "My touch disgusts her, horrifies her. Imagine how she would react if I drag her off to my bed every night."
The pressure on Sam's neck increased as Loki started to force her to her knees. Tears of pain sprang to her eyes as her lungs strained for air. "Hear this, Samantha, and remember it well. Ella McPherson means nothing to me. She is just a tool for me to use as I see fit. And if I have to make her bleed to make you behave, I'll do it." The last thing Sam saw before she passed out was the Goa'uld looking down at her, studying her as thought she were nothing more than a lab rat.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
She heard her heart. And the sound of air rushing into her lungs. All else was silent and dark. And then…
"Sam?"
Sam? Who's Sam…wait…"Jack? Jack…help…" Words were hard. Breathing hurt.
"Samantha, it's Ella. Sam, please wake up."
Who…what is…Sam tried to think through the fog of her brain. Glowing eyes pierced the murk. A dark laughter. A hand around her neck.
She gasped for air as her memories returned. Sam's eyes popped open. An almost unrelieved darkness greeted her. She was on a ship, Loki's ship. She was with Daniel's friend Ella. The Goa'uld had taken Ella's husband as a host and now he wanted Ella's baby for experiments. And he wanted Sam to make him a bomb.
She groaned. A part of her wanted to slip back into the warm unconsciousness that lingered on the edges of her vision, but she couldn't. Instead she tried to wriggle herself into an upright position. Only to find that her arms were still painfully bound.
"Great," she muttered.
"Sam, are you alright?"
"Yes – and no," she replied.
"They just dumped you on the floor," Ella spoke in the darkness again. "At first, I didn't know if you were alive or dead. I'm sorry, they didn't untie either of us."
Fully cognizant now, Sam heard in Ella's voice the flat tired tone of panic that had faded to numbness. Sam maneuvered herself into a sitting position and then scooted to the wall that Ella was leaning against.
"How are you doing Ella?"
"Um – hmm…how are you Sam?"
Sam's head was pounding and her throat hurt. But she was alive so none of it seemed important. "I'll be okay." She didn't think that now was the time to share everything about her time with the Goa'uld. "Ella, can you turn yourself so I can see if I can undo whatever's holding us?"
Ella turned her back to Sam without responding. Sam ran her fingers over the other woman's wrists. As she had suspected, simple plastic straps like police officers used held them both. However simple, though, they were almost impossible to break out of without something to cut with.
Ella spoke again. "Sam, I think it is time you tell me exactly what you and Daniel and Teal'c and Jack O'Neill and probably this Cameron Mitchell do for a living."
With a deep sigh, Sam slumped against Ella's back. Yes, it was time to share the truth. But, where did this story begin?
"Many years ago, Daniel discovered a way to make and ancient…gateway work. It's called the Stargate. Jack led a team through the Gate and it took them to another planet. The planet Abydos. That is when we first met the Goa'uld." Ella made no sound so Sam continued. "The Goa'uld are snake-like parasites that live in human hosts. They are worshipped as gods by thousands of human civilizations in many galaxies. We have been at war with them for almost nine years."
Ella listened to what Sam was saying. Daniel Jackson, friend, foster brother, former lover, intergalactic space soldier. She should be having a harder time believing this. But as crazy as Sam's words were, they actually explained a lot. The random bruises, broken bones. The darkening of his spirit. All of his secrets. It just made sense.
Ella had no idea how long she had been in the dark alone. Her fear of what might be hiding in the room had lessened now that she had seen a glimpse of what was living in her husband. Illogically, Sam's words were calming her down even more. Words and labels had considerable power in Ella's world. The evil that had stolen her love and humiliated her had a name and a history. And it could be fought. Somehow, that made things better.
"Okay, so, you travel through galaxies, fighting alien parasites with God complexes."
"Yes."
"Are they all like him, um, Loki?"
"In some ways, yes. Without exception, Goa'uld are cruel, sadistic and power-mad. But, Loki – the thing is, I know Loki. He's not a Goa'uld. He's an Asgard. I don't know how there can be two Lokis."
"What's an Asgard?"
"An alien. Think Roswell gray."
"Oh, wow." So there really were little gray men out there. "Have you been with the program the whole time?"
"No. I didn't join until we had to go back and get Daniel."
"What do you mean?"
"Daniel stayed on Abydos with his wife."
"Daniel's wife was an alien!"
"No, she was a human. She just lived on another planet."
Another thought popped into Ella's mind. "Can you tell me, how did Ella's wife die?"
"Sha're was taken as a host," Sam revealed reluctantly. "Daniel searched for her for three years. In the end she was killed when the Goa'uld inside her tried to kill Daniel."
"Oh my god," Ella said softly.
There was a long period of silence. After awhile, Sam began to wonder if the exhausted woman had simply fallen asleep when Ella spoke again.
"You know, Daniel and I met as kids. We lived together for two years."
"I've heard some of the stories," Sam replied.
"He was my first crush, my first love. As we grew up, we lost track of each other. But then I moved out to Colorado Springs. I turned around in the grocery store one night and there he was. Poof."
Samantha has heard some of this from Daniel, but she recognized Ella's need to talk, to put everything from the past few days into perspective.
"Out here, our relationship was different. Daniel was different and he couldn't tell me why. It took him a long time just to tell me he was married. It hurt him so bad to talk about it that I couldn't press him for more." Ella's mind cast back. "There was so much that he wouldn't tell me but I knew the trade-off was respect his limits or lose him again. I wasn't willing to let him go. A few years past and we fell in love. Nobody was more surprised than I was. But even then, I knew that there was a part of Daniel that I could never touch. And then I lost him and I didn't know why or what had happened. He was just dead. That's when I met Jack." Ella would never forget her first encounter with the tall Air Force officer. "He was so nice and kind to me. Even though I must have come off like a lunatic." She laughed a little.
Sam had her own memories of Jack's meeting with Ella. For several months, her CO had stomped around like a bear with a sore tooth. But one day Sam had found Jack standing in the conference room staring down at the Gate. He looked bereft and so sad that Sam went to him and touched his arm.
"You know, I don't think I ever thanked him" Jack said.
"For what, sir?" she asked. She didn't have to ask whom Jack was talking about.
"For opening this up. For doing what he did. I know he's not dead, but…I just really miss him." The whole time Jack stared out the glass. His voice had faded to a whisper. And then he told Sam about this bold and out-spoken friend of Daniel's who had contacted him. Daniel's former foster sister in the offensive tee-shirt who was grieving so hard for the man she loved that it gave Jack permission to explore his own pain. Jack had really liked her.
"Jack gave me some peace about Daniel's death. And his life. And that opened me up… to Alex. And then, when Daniel came back, entirely not dead…" She paused, trying to control her emotions. "What Daniel and I had was great and wonderful but I don't think it ever would have become more than what it was. But Alex…despite everything I learned last night…Alex is my everything." A sob escaped her. "Sam, please tell me the truth. Is my husband dead?"
"No Ella," Sam gripped Ella's hands, squeezing them to give support. "Alex is trapped. He's a prisoner inside his body."
"Can you get that thing out?"
"Yes, we've done it before." Sam mentally ran over her list of people that she knew who had been taken at one time or another. "I was taken as a host, once, many years ago."
"Really? What happened?"
"Well, it was a Tok'ra, which is an enemy of the Goa'uld, but we didn't know that then." Even after all of these years, Sam had a hard time talking about her time as a host. It had changed her forever and she was not always sure they were good changes. "And Daniel's friend, Sarah, was host to Osiris for years and we got her back."
"Sarah." Ella remembered that name. Another one of Daniel's mysteries came clearer. "Is she okay, now?"
"She is doing well. She had a long rehabilitation but now she is back to teaching." Then Sam made a promise to Ella. "We will get Alex back, Ella. The guys are going to be looking for us. We just have to stay alive until they get here."
"Sounds like a plan," Ella's laugh was weak, but she tried to sound strong.
Both women turned and leaned against the wall. "How are you feeling, Ella?" Sam asked.
She gave a slight, snorting laugh. "Hungry, nauseous. Very, very, tired. Just another day in pregnancy, I suppose. I hope whatever that Loki thing is; it remembers that pregnant women have to eat. A lot."
It was time to tell her. "Ella, he's after your child. He wants the baby."
"Of course he does," she surprised Sam by responding. "What else would an evil alien want from a pregnant human?" She was quiet for a few minutes. "But I'll tell you right now, Samantha, I'll kill him myself before I let him touch my baby."
The way she said it left Sam no room for doubting her. "Ella, would lying down help your stomach?"
"Maybe."
"Then lie down. You can rest your head on my legs. We both need some sleep."
Ella rested her head in Sam's lap. It was little colder with her whole body on the floor, but her stomach stopped churning so much. As she drifted off to sleep, a memory surfaced.
"I guess Daniel's grandfather was right," she muttered.
"What?" Sam asked.
"I told Daniel not to look in its eyes…" she fell sleep.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Loki looked out at the blurred star field his view screen displayed. Hyperdrive speeds would get him to his destination in two days but…he called one of his men over.
"Patrick," he addressed the human. "Col. Carter tells me her team will be looking for her. We have a detour to make."
TBC