"IMPERIUM"
Summary
What if there is more to life than being the 'good guy' all the time? With the aid of some startlingly powerful new Goa'uld technology, Sam begins to explore her dark side…
It is said that absolute power corrupts absolutely – but who would have thought that Samantha Carter, stalwart of the SGC, could be the one with the power – and the one to be corrupted? Long story short: Sam gets nasty!
Genre
Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, some Humour (though it will probably be amusing for reasons I didn't intend).
Pairings
Possible Sam/Jack in later chapters… no, I just got an idea, make that definite but elegant and subtle Sam/Jack at a later stage.
Spoilers
This is set in Season Eight, so pretty much everything up till then. This chapter contains specific references to the episodes "Gemini" and "It's Good To Be King", which this story immediately follows.
Rating
PG-13 for some course language and violence.
Disclaimer
Anything you recognize isn't mine, plain and simple. Believe me, if I owned any of the rights to Stargate: SG-1, it would be a radically different show. Like, flamingoes running the base kind of radically different. But that's another story.
Reviews
Absolutely welcome. : -D
"You have untapped greatness inside you, Sam. But you're limited by your own fears. You play by the rules, you do as you're told and you deny yourself your own desires."
"I have no desire to rule the galaxy, believe me."
"All humans desire power. It's just that most of them are never in a position to attain it."
The Repli-Carter and Carter, "Gemini"
Part One
ACTION
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter awoke with a start. Forcing her tightly wound muscles to relax, she exhaled slowly, allowing her dream-addled brain to remember it was safe, sane, and in the SGC. Groaning slightly in frustration, she glanced over at the glowing green diode of her alarm clock. 0545 hours. She groggily recalled that she had a briefing at 0900 hours, so she would have time to kill until then, but it was probably too early for breakfast…
Her thought train was interrupted by a loud growl from the region of her stomach.
"Close enough," Sam murmured, then hefted her body from the bed and began methodically dressing in her BDU's.
It was a little after 0600 hours by the time she made it to the commissary and had sat down to a plate of rather soggy looking French Toast and a steaming mug of de-caf. She idly began slicing her toast into smaller and smaller squares, still thinking about the nightmare that had roused her from sleep this morning, like so many others had done in the past few weeks.
"Why can't I sleep?" she mused out loud.
"Possibly," answered a kind voice from behind her, "Because you know Maybourne's elevated himself to the status of intergalactic ruler?"
Sam scoffed slightly as Brigadier General Jack O'Neill planted himself in the plastic seat beside her.
"Possibly," she answered. "I'm still trying to work that one out myself, sir."
The General offered her a wide grin as he bit down doggishly on a muffin, spraying crums everywhere. Sam had the vague notion that no amount of metal on his shoulders could ever make Jack O'Neill apply to 'decorum' side of being a high up in the military.
"Showa cayew shep?" he asked.
"Excuse me?" Sam asked, staring slightly. "You haven't been playing with Ancient technology again lately, have you, sir?"
Jack rolled his eyes, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.
"I said, 'so why can't you sleep?'"
"Oh," Sam replied. "It's nothing to worry about. I appreciate your concern, but it's unimportant."
Jack fixed her with a stern look. "Carter, while I am concerned as a friend, I have to ask you this as your commanding officer. I can't have the leader of my flagship team making vital survival decisions when she's tired. Especially if it's something within my power to fix."
Sam sighed and started at her toast. Perhaps the sugar and cinnamon granules would suddenly rearrange themselves and spell out a convincing (if rather dishonest) answer. Stranger things had happened at this base.
After about a minute, however, she concluded that it probably wasn't going to happen. Not today, at least.
"Sam?" asked Jack, a slightly acerbic edge coming into his voice.
"It's just…" she trailed off, trying to gather her thoughts.
"Just what?" he asked. He watched his former team mate, and wondered if it was the light that was making her look so drawn, and it suddenly dawned on him that she hadn't been sleeping in ages. Not since…
"Listen," he began, softening his voice, "Is this about that thing that happened with the Replicator version of you? Because she isn't you, you know. In the same way that someone with an evil twin isn't necessarily evil themselves."
Jack regretted his words the instant he said 'evil twin' as he watched the colour drain from Sam's face.
"N…no," she replied composedly, despite the sheer whiteness of her complexion. "I'm over that, it wasn't my fault. I… Pete and I, well, we've been having some arguments lately."
"Really?" Jack asked, perhaps a little to quickly, as he tried to convince himself that the warm feeling spreading in his stomach was relief that she wasn't dwelling on the Repli-Carter thing.
"Yes," she said sternly. "I beg your pardon, sir, but I don't think that falls into your jurisdiction as my commanding officer. I'll see you at the briefing, sir."
She stood up abruptly, leaving Jack sitting alone and rather bewildered at the table. As she walked away, she cringed slightly, knowing her words had hurt him. After all, he had been only trying to help. It wasn't his fault that they had shared a lifetime of experience travelling across the galaxy, learning each other's emotion and thought patterns. It just unnerved her a little that he had hit the nail so damn squarely on the head without any discussion whatsoever.
Is it that obvious? she wondered. Sighing, she placed her tray and plate on the rack for cleaning and left the commissary for her lab.
A few hours later, she lifted her head at a knock to find a shaggy looking Daniel standing at her lab door.
"You coming to the briefing, Sam?" he smiled.
"That's now?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied. "Well, in five minutes, if you want to be exact."
Sam stared at him with one eyebrow raised.
"Er… of course you want to be exact…" he corrected, his eyes twinkling slightly.
"I'm coming, hold on," she waved him out of her office, grabbing a file before following him out the door.
As they walked along the corridors towards the briefing room, they joined up with Teal'c, entering the room in unison to find the General already there, lounging somewhat casually in his chair.
Jack stood up, feeling a slight pang as he watched SG-1 enter the room, all together, a team… without him. He didn't like to admit it, but there was always a part of him that hoped they'd get into trouble on the other side of the gate. Not serious, mind you, but just enough that he would have to come and rescue them, play the knight in shining armour. Of course, Carter's command was far too good for that to happen, but he wasn't above the occasional hope.
It then occurred to him that his team was still standing, waiting for him to sit down. Snapping out of his reverie, he plonked down in the chair and began the briefing.
"Carter," he said gruffly, "What have you got for us?"
"Well, sir, we sent the MALP to what appeared to be a former Goa'uld homeworld. However, the probe indicates that someone… or something wiped them all out. Perhaps over a decade ago, by the looks of the decay on the bodies."
She flicked a button on the remote, and a MALP image came up showing the bodies of two dead Jaffa sprawled near the gate, the skeletons of their symbiotes sticking out grotesquely from beneath their ribs.
"Now, as you would imagine, something that could wipe out an entire Goa'uld homeworld could be of a great advantage to us in our war."
"You think?" Jack said drily.
SG-1 exchanged looks. Shrugging, he waved Sam on.
"Thank you, sir," she said pointedly. "I propose that you send us on a reconnaissance mission to see if we can acquire this weapon. Daniel has already begun translating the writing on these pieces of stonework," she continued, pressing another button to bring up the image of a classically styled Goa'uld temple, with writing all over great gold pillars lining a long hall.
"Yes, yes, I have," Daniel began excitedly. "From the way the symbols progress, it seems like they kept a very good record of happenings on the planet, and I'm hoping they managed to record what happened."
"Before it killed them all?" Jack said dubiously.
"Well… yes," Daniel said, readjusting his glasses. "I mean, I know writing down what is causing your death as your dying probably seems a little weird…"
"You thi…" began Jack.
"But," interrupted Daniel, "The Goa'uld are a little weird, I guess. I mean, well…"
He trailed off, shooting a sidelong look at Teal'c, who as always was sitting perfectly straight and immobile, an unreadable expression on his face.
"I believe Daniel Jackson and Colonel Carter are correct in their wish to visit this world. I believe it may possess technology of great benefit to the Tau'ri."
"Are you sure it's safe? I mean… if this thing was a viral pathogen, you know, couldn't it have lain dormant for years? And maybe it doesn't just kill those with an active symbiote… what if it can target the remains of the symbiote in you and Colonel Carter, like… symbiote residue? I mean, it could still affect you. More than that, it doesn't appear to discriminate between Goa'uld and Jaffa. Maybe it doesn't even discriminate between humans and Goa'uld."
A long silence followed this pronouncement.
"What?" snapped Jack eventually, widening his eyes.
"You said… 'viral pathogen'," Sam spoke up eventually, but very quietly. "Uh, I guess I didn't think of that angle, sir. However, the MALP scan ran checks for… pathogens… in the atmosphere. It appears clean. However, if you like, we could wear gas masks until we can completely discount the presence of a… pathogen."
"Okay," the General relented, rubbing a hand over his chin. "You win, Carter. SG-1, you have a go."
The team rose with their commander, and began to file out of the room. Carter lagged behind, picking up her files.
"'SG-1, you have a go," Jack was repeating softly under his breath.
"Sir?" she asked.
He turned on her with a big grin, their altercation that morning seemingly forgotten. "That has to be the best part of being General… I don't think I'll ever get tired of saying that. Snappy line, don't you think?"
"Er…" Sam began uncertainly. "Yes, sir. Very… snappy. Um…but I best go prepare for the mission, respectfully, sir."
"Ah, right, of course," Jack nodded. He dropped his voice and added an authoritative air. "Colonel Samantha Carter, you have a go."
"Yes, sir," she answered, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips, which she quickly hid as she left the room.
As the wormhole shut behind them, Sam walked slowly down the ramp leading up to the Stargate, her P-90 cautiously raised. Her breathing sounded very loud and raspy through the gas mask.
"Hello?" called Daniel.
"Daniel…" muttered Sam.
"What? There could be survivors."
"Daniel, Goa'uld homeworld, remember?"
"Ah… right…" the young archaeologist said sheepishly. "Can we take these masks off?" he asked, tugging at it. He strongly reminded Sam of a young child trying to remove a troublesome bonnet.
"Sorry, Daniel, but the General says we should keep them on until we can fully ascertain the nature of this weapon."
"Colonel Carter," called Teal'c suddenly. "I believe you should have a look at this."
Sam walked over to the tall Jaffa, who was standing in front of a large, ornate obsidian case full of Goa'uld technology.
"Ribbon devices… healing devices…some things I don't even recognise…"
She extracted a small ring-device from the cupboard and held it up to eye level.
"This was the type of device the Ashrak used to torture Jolinar and I," she remarked flatly.
"O…kay," Daniel said, gently removing it from her fingers and putting it back in the cupboard.
"Colonel Carter is right. Some of this technology is unfamiliar to me, as well," Teal'c said.
"What's that?" Daniel asked, one piece of technology catching his eye.
He extracted it from the case and held it for the others to see. One part resembled a regular ribbon device. Unlike a ribbon device, however, a thin gold cord connected it to another hand piece, again similar to a ribbon device, but instead of slipping ones hand in, it appeared to clamp onto the persons arm, all the way up to above the elbow.
"I am unfamiliar with this piece of technology, Daniel Jackson," answered Teal'c. "As I am unfamiliar with most of this equipment."
"Sam?" Daniel asked.
She was staring intently at the device. "N…no," she answered finally. "Doesn't ring a bell with me, either."
A few moments of silence passed as she gazed fixedly at the burnished gold.
"Well…" she said slowly, "Teal'c, why don't you and Daniel explore the rest of this temple, see if we can get some translations and an idea of what happened. I'm… I'm going to pack some of this stuff up so we can take it home."
With a glance at Teal'c, Daniel shrugged and went off to find a pillar to translate.
Sam went back to the MALP and found a small but heavy carbon box, which she began loading the equipment in. She grabbed a ribbon device, and a healing device, but mainly chose samples of the unidentified technology.
When she was satisfied one of everything had made it into the box, she returned it to the MALP. Then she went back to her pack and slipped the last remaining object inside.
The double-ribbon device she intended to study for herself.
