"IMPERIUM"

Too hot for the Replicators…

Just a short note this time! Please see the previous chapter for notes on… how to speak my version of Goa'uld.

And does anyone else agree with me that Sam had the best hair of all time in Season 4?


"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"


Sam blinked groggily several times as a bright white light assailed her eyes. The last thing she could remember was saving those people and… Teal'c! Teal'c had hit her from behind with a staff.

Well, that explains the headache, she thought ruefully.

She made a move to sit up, slowly, to aid her throbbing head. Her back only made it a few inches off the ground, however, before she hit a colossal resistance. Startled, she dropped back onto the bed and noted with annoyance that several thick leather straps were restraining her. She strained her arms once against them, and quickly came to the conclusion that it was useless, so she relaxed.

The door to the room opened, and General O'Neill and the doctor walked in.

"Good morning, Carter," Jack said, unusually harshly.

"Good morning, sir," she answered, as the doctor began checking her out and writing down his findings on the chart.

Jack took a seat opposite her, so they had a clear view of each other. He sat in silence for a few minutes as the doctor completed his work, then motioned for the other man to leave.

"Well, Carter, you know I'm not one to beat around the bush, so let's get straight to it. What the hell happened on your last mission?"

"We saw some villagers in trouble, sir," she said evenly. "I used the ribbon device, as authorised…"

"I didn't authorise you to use the double ribbon device, Carter! That was a direct violation of my orders!"

"But sir…" she began angrily. Jack noted that from her calm beginning, she was rapidly working out of control, like when they had fought each other…

"No buts, Carter. You stole it from supply," he said, his voice level. "I want to know why. Especially considering the lack of control you have shown in the past concerning…"

Sam glared at him with a look of pure malevolence, that he had rarely seen on a creature that wasn't controlled by a Goa'uld. Her eyes were filthy with rage.

"I was fine! I could control it! I saved those people! I can use it! I have the power!" she screamed at him.

"Woah!" Jack cried, taken aback by her exponential rise in rage. He was suddenly very glad for the restraints that held the angry woman in check. All of a sudden, in a moment, she was transformed from a mildly annoyed Colonel into a snarling beast of a woman.

"You don't understand," she spat bitterly. "You don't know what its like. I had the power to stop that Goa'uld and I did!"

Jack shook his head, and began walking towards the door. "I'm sorry, Carter, but I can't talk to you when you're like this."

"Like what?" she hollered.

"Like this! You're so… angry, Carter," he said, looking back at her with a pained look in his eyes as he rapped once on the door. An airman opened it from the other side.

Sam seemed to be fighting a colossal battle inside of herself to keep calm.

"Where are you going, sir?" she demanded.

"To talk to the doctor. Something's not right with you, Carter. You just… stay here," he ordered, eyeing the restraints and feverishly hoping they would be strong enough.

"It's not like I can go anywhere!" she cried, her voice echoing after him as he left the room.


"What is wrong with her, Doc?" Jack asked quietly. Teal'c, Daniel, and the doctor were all seated around the briefing room table, awaiting the results of the doctor's tests.

"Well," he began, "I got her blood work back this afternoon, and it's, well, to put it to lightly, it's all over the place. Her adrenaline is through the roof, the hormones that control aggression are working overtime, the hormones that regulate moods no longer appear to be working… she's a mess, sir."

"So what you're saying is that she's got tons of adrenaline pumping around, and she's aggressive and her moods tend to swing at the drop of hat?"

"Yes, sir, though they tend to go towards the more temperamental end of the spectrum."

"You think?" said Jack exasperatedly.

"I also did a study of her brainwaves, and everything there is mixed up too. It seems that the most primitive, unused regions of the brain – those areas that give territorial, bellicose or survival tendencies to an individual are working much harder than usual. It seems she's reverted to an almost… animal-like state," the doctor shuffled his papers around a bit. "The protein markers left in her blood by Jolinar are acting unusual, too. Usually they are just there… dormant markers in her system. But now… now they're… they've become active. They are actively participating in her system."

"Participating in what, exactly?"

"I'm not sure," answered the doctor, "But they're definitely up to something?"

"You think this is connected to the device, Jack?" asked Daniel.

"Definitely," Jack answered. "We've seen Goa'uld devices do strange things to human physiology before… your own experience with the sarcophagus stands as a prime example."

Daniel pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Yeah… only Sam seems… more advanced… than I do. I mean… she's only used the device, what, twice?"

"Uh…" Jack said grimly, "I think she's used it a little more than that. After her accident, when she left base for four days? I think she took it with her."

"What?" asked Daniel, startled.

"I got a call from Pete Shanahan, saying he'd seen her with using an alien device. That's what made me recall her."

"Quite rightly, O'Neill," interjected Teal'c.

"So she could have used it…" began Daniel.

"God knows how many times," Jack finished. "Exactly."

"I still have some further test results coming in," the doctor informed them. "Until then I suggest you keep her restrained and confined, and away from that device. If our experience here has taught us anything, it is that the decay in her mental stability seems to be happening almost exponentially."

"Agreed," Jack said. "You'd better get back to those tests. I want to know what is going on!"

The doctor gathered his papers and exited the briefing room as Jack rounded on Teal'c and Daniel.

"Alright…" he said, "One more time… what happened?"


Sam sat alone in her room, glaring at the ceiling. She was so angry with Jack, she wanted to wring his neck, make him understand that she had saved these people, she had done the right thing.

She was powerful.

It had begun as only a slight feeling, only when she used the device, but now she could feel it in every waking moment.

She was powerful and getting more so every minute.

But the device…

They had taken it away from her, but she needed it, and soon. However, this separation didn't bother her overly, she knew she could get the device back.

After all, they were connected now.


"So that… is what happened," Daniel finished.

"What was the Goa'uld screaming at Sam for?" Jack asked. It was a curious part of the story. In all his experience, he had never heard of a Goa'uld so frightened, so openly begging for mercy.

"I'm not sure… I was trying to translate what she said…it's from a very obscure form of Goa'uld… I wrote it down…" he fumbled the pages of a notebook in typical Daniel fashion. "Ah, here it is… she said 'Goa'uld keso adsu'tedo ma'kina', and then the word 'mal'fakta'."

"Teal'c?" Jack asked, "Do you recognise any of this?"

"I do not, O'Neill. Like Doctor Jackson said, there are many different Goa'uld dialects. I am unfamiliar with this one."

"Daniel?" Jack asked.

"Well… the first bit seems to translate as…" he flicked through the book again, "Something like, 'The Goa'uld do not use the device.'"

"'The Goa'uld do not use the device'? Earth to Daniel, the device is Goa'uld."

"I know!" Daniel said, "Which is why it's so odd… I think maybe… the way she was saying it, that the Goa'uld can't even really control it."

"The Goa'uld would actually admit to not being able to use their own technology?" Jack asked.

"Apparently…" said Daniel.

"But why? Why wouldn't they use it? They're already nuts!"

"Maybe it has something to do with the other word, O'Neill," suggested Teal'c.

Jack looked at Teal'c sceptically.

"No, Jack…" said Daniel, suddenly looking very far away, "Teal'c's right. She does explain herself… it's been bugging me all day… I couldn't… but now… it's so…"

"What does it mean, Daniel?" Jack snapped. "What was she saying?"

"'Evil'," Daniel said, very quietly. "She was saying, 'evil'."