"IMPERIUM"

Last seen tattooed on the small of Aphophis' back…

Welcome! To another Thursday update! (For all those in Australia, a special day, as not only have I updated, but Stargate returns tonight on a television device near you!) Pretty much the only summary of this installment I can offer is…

FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!

Oh, wait, something else just occurred to me. This scene has a soundtrack. For the ultimate reading experience, read this chapter while listening to "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison" by My Chemical Romance, from the album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. It fits perfectly with how this fight actually works in my head.

Turn it up loud.


"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"


Jack danced lightly on his toes as he and Sam slowly circled eachother. Each was wearing padding around the head and the body, but both had declined the use of gloves, giving them the mobility to employ other fighting styles than boxing. News had travelled rapidly around the base, even at this early hour, and the audience had swelled to over fifty people.

"Is anyone watching the Stargate?" Jack asked acerbically to the rabid audience.

No-one answered, but a few people shifted uncomfortably.

"Are we going to get this over with, sir?" Sam asked, her face hard and unreadable. She looked tough and fit, and she was eyeing him off with a clinical coldness.

"I guess…" Jack said slowly. He moved further into a fighting stance and stared deep into Sam's eyes. Not for the first time in the past few days, he felt like he didn't know her.

I wonder who will make the first…

His thoughts were abruptly cut off as Sam swung a brutal punch at his jawbone. Caught off balance, it was only a chance reflex that saved him from going down. He managed to snap his head back in time so only the very edges of her knuckles grazed his cheek. He heard the audience gasp as he staggered backwards.

While he knew the punch was probably not the strongest she could have thrown, it did tell him one thing – she was in this to win.

He danced backward, collecting his thoughts and regrouping. Sam went on the offence and charged straight at him in a style that borrowed more from wrestling than boxing. Jack swiftly side-stepped her and with a deft flick of his arm, he yanked her around into a tight headlock. She gasped as the breath was squeezed from her throat.

Alarmed, Jack let go, cursing himself for hurting her. In the next instance, he paid dearly for his compassion as she drove a stunning punch into his gut, winding him.

Oh, that's it! he thought angrily. His blood was up now, and he realised she wouldn't be showing him mercy anytime soon. This was a serious fight.

Sam came at him again, and he blocked her, not in defence, but in a decisive counterattack that caught her hard about the shoulders. She pivoted on her back foot, absorbing the blow. She twisted her hips and aimed a low kick.

Jack grunted as she hit his knee and its cartilage problem square on. The pain was so intense he buckled and fell to one knee.

The audience were staring, slack jawed at the scene. Sam danced back from her opponent, breathing steadily, her hands up defensively. Jack was still on one knee, looking more like he was proposing to her than meeting her in battle. Eventually, Jack managed to push himself to his feet. A part of his brain registered the fact that she had played his weakness, and he wanted to punish her for it.

Lunging, he drove a harsh punch at her face, so hard that even the head protector didn't stop the blow from drawing blood from her lower lip. Jack instantly regretted the move, made in the heat of battle, but to his immense surprise, Sam smiled broadly at him.

"Finally, sir," she said, smirking as they continued their promenade.

"What, Carter?" he snapped harshly.

"You're finally getting into it, sir," she said. The smile was fixed on her face, but there was a slight goading tone behind her voice.

Jack growled slightly, and the audience roared approval as the combatants engaged eachother once again. The epic battle wore on, and Jack knew, that while he had experience far beyond hers, she was younger and doubtlessly more agile. Put simply – he couldn't beat her at long range, with kicks or punches. She was simply too quick.

There was something else, too. Over the course of their fight, she had let loose a series of stunning blows and strikes that would have left any other man down. It was all the General could do to keep up with her blinding speed. A lesser man would have been on the floor long ago. In fact, in his experience, Jack had only experienced two or three fights more taxing and vicious and all of them had been a fight for his life.

A look in her blue eyes confirmed his thoughts. As he desperately blocked another brutal blow, he saw a coldness that frightened him. She was acting as if possessed by some barbarous force that was turning her into one of the best fighters he had ever seen.

He realised his only chance to beat her was to bring her body to body, where her speed would be of no use, and he could use his superior size and weight to take her down.

Crouching lower, he anticipated her next punch and used some of the last reserves of his energy to grab her by the wrists and pull her close into him. His second arm was just as quick, snaking around her other wrist with a deceptive quickness so she was locked into his body. She beat her fits uselessly against his chest. It seemed his assumption was correct – her inferior weight was putting her at a gross disadvantage.

Now he had the upper hand, he began to force her to her knees, much in the way he had been on his own minutes before. Time passed slowly as she struggled against him, the only sounds in the room being her soft grunts and the collective intake of breath made by the crowd.

Slowly, very, very slowy, she began to fall to the floor, her face going red with exertion.

"Give up, Carter?" he panted.

Something hardened further in her features, and suddenly a dangerous, terrible look came into her eyes. For the first time in a long while, Jack felt truly afraid.

"No, sir," she groaned, and with colossal effort, swung her legs upwards to clamp around his ribs in a vice. She wrenched her wrists out of his grasp as her powerful thighs cut off his air supply. Throwing her body backwards, she landed on her hands, while releasing her legs and flipping backward to land firmly on her feet.

So surprised, Jack didn't react in time, as her fist came flying towards his face. He felt his nose explode in a shower of blood as he fell.

Down for the count.

"Give up, sir?" she asked acidly.

"Yeah…" Jack moaned, rolling to cradle his bleeding nose.

The crowd gave a small, stunned round of applause.

Sam broke into a small smile, removed her headgear, and offered a hand to help him up.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to hit you that hard," she said pleasantly. He looked back at her. All traces of the fierce, animal-like Carter he had faced earlier were gone – she was back to being his sweet, smart, caring Colonel.

"It's alright, Carter. I've had worse," he said stoically. "Good match."

"You too, sir," she smiled again, offering a hand for him to shake. He shook it firmly, before she let go and left the gym.


"Tough match!" observed Daniel, who had come up behind the General after the crowd had disappated, talking excitedly.

"Yeah…" Jack said softly. "Did you notice something… different about Carter?"

"She did indeed have a heightened level of aggression, O'Neill," Teal'c observed, joining his comrades.

"You think?" Jack snapped sarcastically. "She was an animal out there."

"I also did not believe she was capable of such skill in combat. Perhaps her aggression was stimulated by the contest?" Teal'c suggested.

"Whatever it was, she seemed back to normal once the fight was over, Jack," Daniel said.

"Yeah…" Jack mused quietly."Listen… can you guys keep a close eye on her on your next mission? Just in case she gets… fierce? She seems to be acting like this a lot lately."

"Certainly, O'Neill," Teal'c inclined his head.

"Sure…" Daniel agreed. "I wouldn't worry too much, Jack. It's Sam. I'm sure this is just a phase, or something. I haven't noticed anything. She'll be fine."

He clapped Jack on the back and offered him a reassuring smile.

"Just fine…" the General repeated softly as they walked away.

He thought back to the two Sams he had seen today. And the day before that. And every damn day since she had had that accident with the ribbon device.

Normal-Sam… and Vicious-Dangerous-Truculent-Sam.

The trouble was, he was finding it harder and harder to distinguish between the two.