What Hurts the Most
Chapter 3: The Story
" I ascended Jack," Daniel told his friend.
" The hell you did. You died in front of every one. I had to make the priest say a prayer for you before he left," Jack said, ranting on with his anger. " Even Teal'c saw you when he came through the Stargate. The mission had gone so very well. Damn, if we had just been able to hold the ceremony later, or some where else than the Gate room, you might still be alive and leading a great life with Sam."
" No Jack. I did ascend, but when you sent Sam, Teal'c and that other guy to that prior infested planet today, I was doing recon work for the ancients. They have decided to help you all fight them," Daniel informed Jack, and the others about the recon.
" Are swords part of the kit for the ancients these days?" Vala asked as she entered the briefing room.
" No, they just work better to kill them. They can protect themselves from bullets, but swords that were made from the ancients are a different matter," Daniel answered the question. " It is good to see that you are all right, despite all the things that they did to you."
" That was nothing. I am a tough girl, after all," Vala retorted, hands on her hips in a defensive gesture towards the ascended archeologist.
Ignoring the female alien member of the team, Daniel turned back to the window, staring into oblivion. " I know that this is hard for you all right now, but this has been seen by the ancients. They knew one of these days that the Ori would become too power hungry and try to convert as much as the galaxy as possible to Origin. I was sent to that world to meet up with you," he said, head bowed in frustration. " What I don't know is how they want us to help you. They haven't told us anything yet, except to wait on their word. It's what I've been doing; what we all have been doing."
" That doesn't answer the question, Daniel. Why are they helping us now, instead of watching and not participating like they used to in the past?" Sam asked him.
" I think that it is because they have realized that the human race has evolved far and can destroy many powerful civilizations, especially those that threaten the rest of the galaxy, or the universe for that matter," Daniel replied. He turned away from the window, blue eyes darkening in clear despair. " What I don't understand is that they refused to help out in the past, so why start now, barring the Ori threat, of course,"
" Always one to question, young one," an unknown female voice spoke. " A river may be mighty, but it may not be rough."
" Oma. Please stop speaking in riddles and for once talk so no one has to do too much guessing to figure out what you are saying," Daniel said, burying his face in his hand before straightening his posture.
" Why should a human ignore another?" came the older ascended's reply.
" That's a no," Jack said, exasperated. " Listen, lady. We need answers, and we need them now. Why are you helping now, instead of ignoring us little guys?"
" What we have become has been influenced by others. Who should say that we will not help you out in times of need?" Oma answered.
" Never mind. On to happier things. How in hell do we kill these priors?" Jack said, clapping his hands.
" Now I know why I never visited you very much while I was ascended the first time," Daniel whispered to himself before answering the question. " Like I said before. Swords will kill them."
" But we don't have swords, nor do we know how to use them," Vala told him.
" You can all be taught and be given the weapons as you train," Oma told them all, changing into a ball of light as soon as she finished speaking.
" Where is she going?" Jack asked.
" To get you those swords, Jack," Daniel replied before leaving the briefing room and left the base, Sam following him. Together, they made their way to the monument in silence. Daniel remembered the day when he had stood in the shadows and watched as Jack brought Sam back to the base for that chocolate cake. After he had left, he came back a couple of days later and read the epitaph on the stone, smiling when he saw the 'Semper fi' written on it. Always faithful. True, he had always been faithful in this line of work, but never saw him in need of a monument dedicated to himself.
" Damn it Daniel. Why did you have to die? Or ascend? It hurts," Sam said, tears rolling down her cheeks.
" I really don't know. What I do wish is that I was here with you all those years, maybe have a couple of children, nice house, a dog," Daniel told her. " I wish that this didn't happen, but it did have its upside. I found out who wanted me dead."
" Who was it, Daniel?" Sam asked.
" I have a better idea. Why don't we go visit him? Give him a surprise," Daniel said, a gleam in his eye. Taking Sam's hand in his own, Daniel closed his eyes and concentrated hard. Within seconds, they were transported to vice-president Kinsey's office. " Hello, Kinsey."
Sam could only star in surprise. Vice-president Kinsey had wanted Daniel dead all those years? Impossible. Sure, the idiot wanted complete control of Stargate Command, but he had been denied the chance years ago.
" How? You're dead," Kinsey sputtered.
" You don't read our mission files, do you? If you did, you would have learned that had ascended years before. I did it again," Daniel spoke with a hard voice. " You wanted me dead. Tell me why. Tell us all why."
Wondering why Daniel had said 'us', the vice president looked around and found himself in the President's office, surrounded by the secret service agents and the most important personnel of the SGC, including SG-1 and General Jack O'Neil.
" No, I won't tell you anything," the vice-president told them. Silently, Daniel glided over to the seated man and laid a hand on his shoulder.
Images flashed through Daniel's mind. He watched as Kinsey called up a man to kill him, the man who killed him on his wedding day. Digging even deeper, he searched for the reason behind it all. " Found you," he whispered. Eyes opening, he regarded the vice-president angrily. " You wanted me dead to discredit all that I had done for this planet, to take credit. You don't deserve anything."
" Danny-boy, please don't do anything rash. I don't think that if you get mad that the President would like you all that much if you took your revenge right here and now. On such nice carpet, too," Jack reasoned.
" You're right, Jack. Here, deal with him properly, and don't let him out of your sight," Daniel ordered, shoving the vice-president to the secret service guards, who stood dumb-founded. They caught the stumbling vice-president, unsure of what to do, but one look from the ascended archeologist sent them scurrying to deal with Kinsey.
" This is Daniel Jackson? I thought that he was dead," the President asked, confused at the act that surrounded his vice-president.
" Technically, he is dead, Sir, but he actually ascended to a higher plane of existence back then," Sam offered. " It's all in our mission reports, starting back before when Jonas Quinn was a member of SG-1."
" How interesting. Now, is there another reason to why you all popped into my office, unannounced, I might add," the President wanted to know.
" That would be my fault, Sir. I knew that it was vice-president Kinsey who had me killed, but I needed an audience to listen and vouch for all that was said. I'm sorry if I interrupted something of importance, Sir," Daniel said, apologizing for his actions.
" If you do that every time I start doing all this paperwork, I just might start appreciating these little interruptions," the President said, smiling, standing up and offering his hand to the archeologist. " I'm Henry Hayes."
" I don't need to introduce myself," Daniel said, taking the offered hand. " But it is good to meet you."
" I do hope that this wasn't just to tell me of Kinsey's involvement with your death, Daniel, but I would like to know how the missions are going. I would read the reports, but I am so busy doing the paperwork for the Senator elections that I have absolutely no time to read them," the President said, gesturing to the seats in his office.
" Well, we do have a problem with the Ori, Sir. They are becoming more bold than usual, and have threatened Earth and its allies for a while now," Sam explained as she sat down.
" They were planning to use a plague to bring us to our knees and once that had happened, they would have come and seen if we would follow Origin. They had intended to use Sam as the carrier, but I had been sent to scout that planet on the same day. I helped the colonel here rescue Vala, and fought off the prior on that planet and here on Earth," Daniel explained his part of the problem. " No plague had escaped, and there is none located in Sam's body. The ancients have decided to help you all on your fight with the Ori, and hope to stop them before things get any worse and they send ships to earth to destroy us all."
" Ships?"
" Okay, man, I do have a name you know. It's Colonel Cameron Mitchell,"
" How do we know if they aren't sending ships right at this very moment?"
" Okay, yes they have ships. You don't want to be near them when they exit that super gate that they'll build in order to get from their galaxy to ours. They are power by the priors, who channel some of the Ori energy into the drives of the ship, powering them to full capacity. No, they aren't sending ships right now because they are still being built on one of the planets that the Ori control. I haven't even found a way to destroy them yet," Daniel informed them all. " From what I have seen though, they are more powerful than the Asgard, the system lords and all of our ships here on Earth put together. But I think that if we have an ancient on each and every ship, we might stand a chance."
" Okay, so what you are saying is that we get all of our advanced allies, and some enemies, to come and help us out, and then get an ancient or two on each ship in order to defeat these guys," Jack said, rubbing his temple from the stress of it all.
" Simply put, yes, that is what I'm saying. And if it comes down to hand-to-hand combat, at least you'll know how to use a sword," Daniel answered as Oma appeared from thin air. " Come on, guys. It's time you all learn how to use a sword properly."
They were transported to the top of Cheyenne Mountain, where they were given the swords and taught the basic swings. Once that had been mastered by all, they began to learn the finer tips on how to fight an opponent as powerful as Teal'c, or the priors of the Ori. Only Jack and Mitchell complained about how they were being taught.
" Come on, Daniel. Why do we have to fight in the middle of the day?" Jack whined.
" Yeah. It's hot and sweaty, and I get this all," Mitchell said.
" So does that mean that you can unarm an opponent?" Daniel asked, an eyebrow raised. It was a trick that he had learned from Teal'c, using it only since his second ascension.
" Sure can," Mitchell boasted.
" Try me," Daniel encouraged.
They fought, weaving in and out of each other's strikes. With precision movements, Daniel wove in on Mitchell's unguarded right side and disarmed him, sending the sword, spiraling to the ground a few feet away. He placed his own sword at the base of the Colonel's neck, waiting for Mitchell to give up, which he did once he realized that he no longer held a weapon.
" How did you do that?" he asked, running short on breath, eyes on the gleaming weapon trained on his throat.
" Get back in line with your sword and I'll show you," Daniel said, lowering the point away from the exposed neck.
That day, the members of SG-1 learned to become extremely adequate in the process of sword fighting. They were almost ready to face the Ori when the time came.
They didn't have enough time left before the final battle as the technicians in the Gate room contacted all of Earth's allies to rally help in the fight of the Milky Way galaxy.
Hello. People who read this story are obligated to review. I'm feeling a little down without the support. Hey, the next chapter will be longer and it will be about the battle between Earth and its allies and the Ori. Who will win? I might just be mean and have the Ori win if I don't get any more reviews!
Come on; encourage me a little, please? Oh, and thank you Rascal Flatts for providing the song so I could write this story. (Actually, I have the C.D. I don't know them personally)
Disclaimer, I own NOTHING. Shoot.