Abyss 606

Kanan

Kanan, free from stasis, stretched his body out, sending tendrils into this human's nervous system. He searched his mind to become acquainted with this new host and to share the vital information about Ba'al's fortress.

Although the host was severely ill, Kanan assessed the host's values to see if they were compatible. This host was a warrior whereas Kanan excelled in subterfuge. The host was loyal to those with whom he worked; Kanan was loyal for the most part to his people, the Tok'ra, all others were expendable. To accomplish a mission, in fact, all were deemed expendable.

Kanan didn't know why he was bothering with this host, he sensed his hostility. However hosts were hard to come by.

The more Kanan learned of his host the more Kanan thought of the lovely Shayla. Kanan felt weak and foolish for yearning for her. She had risked so much for him and he couldn't manage to save her. Kanan's host, this weak human, didn't believe in can't. He would put his body, his flesh, between any hazard and those he was loyal to, those he loved. It shamed Kanan, so he planned. He needed first to heal this body, his vehicle. Beside the virus, the host's knees, especially the left one and his back needed repair. This body, although not too old, had suffered a lot of wear and tear. Kanan fixed all the crudely made repairs of the Tauri, he repaired and reinforced tendons, ligaments and joints and renewed the internal organs. All of this was easily done but exhausting for the newly implanted symbiote.

As soon as all the repairs were made Kanan woke up the host, shed all semblances of the host's origin, Earth. He then dressed, eluded all other Tok'ra and left to rescue Shayla.

I barely escaped with my life before and utterly failed Shayla leaving her in Ba'al's hands. I hope this succeeds. The host is confident but I am afraid.

Sam

All of them were thoroughly annoyed when the Tok'ra didn't get back to them about Colonel O'Neill. The Tok'ra didn't let them stay and they didn't let them visit. When they found out he had gone AWOL they thought at first he had found a Tok'ra symbiote he was actually simpatico with - a warrior with unfinished business. And the colonel finding himself with this added strength couldn't resist. That was foolish wishing to mask their worry.

He hated the very thought of them. He didn't much care for any type of parasites. And he had made it quite clear he didn't see much difference between the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld. Then Sam remembered when his friend Major Kawalsky was infested with a Goa'uld and he begged the colonel to kill him. When the Goa'ulded Kawalsky tried to escape the base, with the help of Teal'c, he did. Would Jack want to die? In the back of Sam's mind the thought nagged her 'is he going to hate me?'.

No one knew where O'Neill had wandered off to. Actually, when they thought about it, it wasn't O'Neill who wandered off but Kanan now that he had a vehicle, O'Neill's body. And at first they were not overly concerned but as time wore on they feared something had happened and started to research in order to find him. Perhaps he didn't want to be found, after all he had left behind his Tok'ra clothing and the Colonel's tags.

They hadn't a clue.

Daniel

"I'd do it for you." O'Neill had said and he had. Jack had given Daniel the opportunity to fulfill his desire, a chance to be immortal, to be one of the ascended. He gave his friend a chance to fulfill his destiny. Could Daniel do any less for Jack?

Jack thought he had no choices left. He was falling into despair and looking at death for relief from the endless torture and death, only to be revived and the cycle to repeat. All the while he was trying to protect the woman Kanan loved, trying to protect her from his fate.

Jack would not choose the same path as Daniel and Daniel could not leave his friend to the eventual degradation of his soul or the finality of death. The Others wouldn't like it. Oma had told him there would be consequences for interference. Would there be repercussions? Hadn't Jack suffered repercussions for letting Daniel go? Daniel would find a way and damn the consequences.

Sam

Sam heard the Colonel was back. Hours ago he stumbled through the gate and collapsed on the ramp. Doctor Fraiser was with him and General Hammond was awaiting a report on his condition. As soon as the Colonel was able Hammond himself needed to talk to him. That's all she knew for sure. There was talk however of him arriving at the Tok'ra base with a woman in tow. He was gone almost three weeks and already was bringing a woman home, that grated on Sam. She was relieved to know he left her with the Tok'ra. There was also talk of ripped and bloody clothing. Maybe it was all idle gossip.

Sam was so proud of herself, she held it together when at last the team was allowed to visit the Colonel in the infirmary. She even managed to look cheerful. Bringing in that glass of water was almost too much. She dropped it off on the bedside table and reached out to him but had to leave. He was flat on his back but he was alive and free of the deadly Ancient disease.

Would he have any lasting effects of the sarcophagus? He seemed exhausted but relatively upbeat tonight but when he thought about it later would he hate her? If he suffered residual effect could she forgive herself? What choice did she have?

Jack

After Daniel left, if he was ever really there, Jack wondered if the sarcophagus changed him. He didn't feel the lure of it, remembering Daniel's addiction. Jack's fear of the sarcophagus, beside Daniel's problem, was the knowledge that the Tok'ra didn't use it because of its power to turn one to the darkside. He had enough of that latent in his personality. He was so tired but could not close his eyes. The thought of opening them and seeing Ba'al looming over him sent shivers of terror through him. He was thirsty too, Janet had told him to keep hydrated but couldn't summon up the energy to lift his head from the pillow never mind stretch himself to reach the glass. If it was really there.

Sam

Sam thought about driving home, she was dead tired. Janet scurried them away from the Colonel, insisting he needed rest. Basically, she said, he was fine, exhausted, a little anemic, a bit malnourished and dehydrated, but physically fine. There were no broken bones, no open wounds, no abrasions. Even the recent scar on his knee was gone. That, in fact, worried Janet but she kept that to herself. His physical well being was some comfort to Sam but his mental well being, that was another story.

Meeting Jonas Quinn in the corridor and although she was loathe to, she asked him if he had read the mission report of Daniel and the princess and his addiction to the 'magic box'. Jonas and his eidetic memory tried to assure her that, contradicting what the doc had said, it would probably be different with Jack.

"Daniel Jackson was healthy when he used it. Well, not the first time but after that. And that's why he got addicted. But Colonel O'Neill was dead."

Her face fell and she thought she was going to be ill. How many times, she wondered, oh god, how many times.

Maybe some work would get her mind settled. On the floor of her lab she passed a lab where some scientists and lab techs were discussing the clothing O'Neill had arrived in. They were estimating how many wounds would have been fatal, so many cuts from knives, holes from acid and so much dried blood, his blood.

She turned back.

She crept back to the infirmary. A nurse was cradling his shoulders in the crook of her arm and helping him lift the glass to his lips to drink. As the nurse gently let him down and straightened the sheets he thanked her in a soft voice almost breathless. She left and he was lying there, still, glassy eyed, staring at the ceiling. He left the SGC flat on his back, dying. He came back and again flat on his back. But he was going to live, he was going to be alright, Janet had reassured them.

His eyes would close for a minute then open again. He seemed to need to know he was back at the SGC, not frantic but unsure. Sam pulled a chair beside the bed and remembered the feelings of instability after the death of Jolinar. Wordlessly she begged him to forgive her. She knew this man, this warrior, knew he'd keep on going, knew he'd heal, knew he'd continue the fight. She didn't want this to destroy him in the process.

She reached out to him and his eyes flashed in her direction and a gentle smile graced his lips. He still feared nothing was real and wondered if his hand would find nothing but air.

She held his hand and felt him give a gentle squeeze back. Scrambling for something to say, certainly not her last mission. Sam told him about Cassie and her dog "Dog".

Cassie the teenager stood at the opened back door waiting for Dog to relieve himself in the backyard. Dog sniffed out a squirrel. And the small rodent, instead of running up the nearest tree, it bolted through the open back door, over her feet, and into the house. The dog was right behind it in hot pursuit. They tore through the house with the squirrel winding up high in the living room drapes and Dog barking and howling.

Sam actually made Jack laugh. She thought he was going to be alright.

At last he could close his eyes without fear, drifted off, and gripping her hand he slept.

Jack

Jack was feeling better but having a bitch of a time writing up the report. Hammond was going to think he lost his marbles. Or worst yet think him suicidal and ship him off to McKenzie. Could he tell Hammond or anyone he saw Daniel? At this point he wasn't quite sure himself. Could he tell anyone he asked Daniel to end it?

He had let Daniel go, he let his friend die, so he could ascend. And Daniel wouldn't do it for him, if Daniel was really there. Must have been. They had conversations. Had he been just talking to himself? Daniel was trying to convince Jack to ascend. Daniel was the cerebral type but Jack was a man of action and had no desire to become one with the universe.

Teal'c wandered into Jack's office as he sat staring at his laptop waiting for the words to come. He also was quite curious what the team had done to distract Ba'al so he could escape with Shayla.

"O'Neill."

"Hey, T. What did Yu do?"

"I would have gone. We were not allowed to. I did nothing, O'Neill." It was going to be one of those conversations.

"Yes, you did." Jack said.

"We thought of something."

"And"

"We told Lord Yu."

"You gave information to the enemy!" This went against everything Jack stood for.

"Yes we did, O'Neill. We told Yu of Ba'al's fortress and the need to destroy the power generators first."

"You saved my life."

"Yes, Yu did."

O'Neill smiled at his friend, although he might come to rue the day he showed him that Abbott and Costello's 'Who's on first" routine. Teal'c bowed his head with the glimmer of a smile on his lips. But Jack would be damned if he would ever be grateful to a Goa'uld.