Author's note: I don't own Stargate or do any of this for profit.
Chapter Nineteen
"Thanks for coming so quickly." Janet said leading us down the hallway towards her office.
We stopped at the door to her office and I tried the door nob, but it was locked. "Cassandra, it's me honey. I've got Jack with me to."
Through the blurred glass I saw her stand and approach the door and unlock it, then retreat quickly. Slowly I pushed the door open and saw her sitting against the far wall with her knees drawn up to her chest.
"What's wrong Cassie?" I asked sitting beside her and pulling her close. She buried her face in my shoulder but wouldn't say anything. I looked up at Jack for help.
He let out a sigh and slid down to the floor so he was sitting in front of us "Janet says you've been a little upset since Carter was here."
"What happened?" I asked gently squeezing her shoulders.
She rose her eyes to my face and slightly shook her head. "She said she'd kill me if I told."
Jack glanced at me sharply before turning back to Cassie "Well, you don't mean kill you, kill you?" Cassie nodded. "No, I doubt that."
"She said she would." Cassie said cringing into my side a little more.
Kissing the top of head I took one of hands in mine. " You know she'd never do anything to hurt you."
She glanced up at me briefly before putting her head on my shoulder again. "She would now."
"Why?" None of this seemed like anything Sam would do.
This time Cassie held my gaze when she looked up at me. "She's a Goa'uld."
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Janet and I waited in the control room with Hammond while Jack got ready to carry out his plan. "What if we're wrong?" I whispered to Janet standing beside me.
Sam was pacing back and forth across the ramp leading to the gate. Almost as if she had heard me she turned to glare up at us in the control room.
"Let's just hope we are." Janet whispered back as Jack walked through one of the blast doors into the gate room.
"Stand down, campers. We're on a hold." Jack announced walking to Sam, careful to keep the syringe in his hand hidden behind his back.
Sam came down the ramp to meet him, pinning Jack with another glare that was so unlike her. "Why?" She demanded.
"I dunno," He sighed, brushing his free hand across his forehead. "Some computer glitch." As soon as Sam glanced up at the control room Jack raised his fist and jabbed the end of the syringe into her right upper arm.
Sam jerked away from him, clutching at where he had gotten her. "What the hell was that?" She shouted angrily.
Janet looked at Hammond and I in disbelief. "That was enough to take down an elephant!"
Sam lunged for a rifle at the end of the ramp and swung it to aim it at Jack. Jack jumped back with his hands held at his sides and backed towards Daniel and Teal'c who looked like they didn't know what to make of the situation.
When Sam opened her mouth and spoke her voice was accompanied with a familiar deep reverberation. "Open the Stargate!"
Daniel stared at Sam wide eyed. "Jack, what the hell is going on?!"
"Open the Gate now!" Sam repeated. She rose her eyes to those of us in the control room, flashing them. "I command you."
One of the airmen ran forward and shot Sam in the left leg with a tranquilizer dart, but if anything it made her more angry. Quickly ripping it out she raised her rifle to shoot the man. But jack was faster, her knocked the rifle out of her hand and tried to get her into a head lock. Sam grabbed Jack's wrist and twisted it, causing Jack to loose his grip, and tossed him to the ground at the feet of Teal'c. Teal'c activated his staff weapon and steadied it at Sam's chest.
Seeing that her options were limited, Sam grabbed a grenade from her vest. "Open the Gate now…" She pulled the pin of the grenade. "…or we will all die!"
Teal'c prepared to blast Sam. "Hold your fire! Teal'c…" Jack shouted to him as he stood. He waved for the rest of the airmen to lower their weapons.
"I have the shot, sir." One of them protested.
"And if she drops that grenade, what?" Jacked started towards Sam, judging before he took each step whether she would drop the grenade. "Nobody's gonna open that gate." He pointed at the Stargate. "We're all gonna live, or we're all gonna die, right here."
Sam shook her head. Her eyes began to droop from all the drugs taking hold of her system. "Let me go! I must go!"
Jack was firm. "Not gonna happen."
She shook her head once more before her eyes closed and she crumpled to the ground. Jack ran the rest of the way to her and grabbed the grenade before it hit the ground.
Janet turned and rushed out of the room, and I followed suit. By the time we reached the gate room a med team had placed Sam on a gurney and were carting her out of the room. Jack leaned down and picked up the pin from the grenade and pushed it back in, deactivating it.
There we all stood, watching yet another teammate turned prisoner being taken away.
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"How did you know?" Hammond asked as he took his seat at the head o the briefing table.
Jack remained standing behind his chair, resting his elbow on the back of it. "I didn't know. I wasn't sure until I saw her lose it down there. Cassie was the one who suspected."
Janet, who had taken her seat next to the General, turned to Hammond to explain. "Cassandra still has traces of naquadah in her blood. I think there may be some connection, a reaction that made her sense the Goa'uld."
"How in the world did it get into Captain Carter?" Hammond asked.
Janet shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "Sir, I don't know what to say. I examined Captain Carter myself. There were no visible signs of entry." She pounded her fingers in to the table for emphasis. "I mean, she had a small abrasion on the back of her throat, but it could have been anything."
Hammond's eyebrows shot up. "Are you saying it entered through her mouth?"
Nodding Janet touched her throat. "The parasite's goal is to attach itself to the brain stem. The soft tissue at the back of the throat is as good a place as any to start."
I was sitting silent though all of this, mulling over the last couple of missions when it hit me. "Hold it, hold it." I said banging my head on my folded hands resting on the table. Everyone one at the briefing turned to me for an explanation. "When we were on the Nasyan home-world she had been giving a guy mouth to mouth! There was some blood, but she said he had a seizure and bit his tongue."
"If a Goa'uld can infest a human with no detectable physical signs, then we're gonna have to start giving all personnel who go through the Gate an ultrasound or an MRI." Janet said.
Hammond nodded. "For now, let's make sure we haven't let any more Goa'ulds through the Gate this time."
"What would a Goa'uld be doing in a Nasyan man in the first place?" Daniel spoke up. "We certainly didn't notice any of them acting…Goa'uld-ish."
He was right, they had all been very welcoming, even going a little overboard in offering us food and places to sleep. None of this sounded like a typical Goa'uld.
"Maybe it was a setup, trying to get a spy into one of us." Jack put forth.
We were all thinking it, but it was Teal'c who said it. "It is possible the Goa'uld within Captain Carter has already placed a device of destruction on this base."
Hammond was looking more pissed by the second. "If there's any tampering here, I want it found! Teal'c, I'd like you to help. You know better than anyone what to look for."
Teal'c bowed in agreement.
"Um, in the mean-time, what are we going to do about Sam?" I asked.
"We're gonna get that damn thing out of her is what we're gonna do!" Jack raised his voice. When he didn't get an immediate response he turned to Hammond. "Right General?"
"Agreed. I'm not giving up on Captain Carter, either." Hammond said standing and walking around the table to Jack. "But until someone presents me with a viable option, I'm putting you in charge of interrogating the prisoner."
"Due respect, Sir, I don't think that thing in her head's going to tell me anything."
"Colonel, we need to know what that Goa'uld's doing here." Hammond said striding out of the briefing room.
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While Jack had bee charged with interrogating the Goa'uld in Sam, Daniel and I had been put in charge of talking with the Nasyans. Hopefully they could shed some light on everything that was happening. While Daniel stayed at the base to speak with the Nasyans there, I went to the hospital to find some answers.
The first few I talked two were only able to confirm the identity of the man Sam had been doing mouth to mouth on, none recalled any strange behavior from him.
As I walked to the next room I looked at the patient's record, it was a woman named Talia. She and her husband had let Daniel and I stay at their home while we were on the mission. She was among the kindest people I've ever met, which made what I had to do next all the more upsetting. The other patients as well as my own eyes had confirmed it. The man in picture, the one who had the goa'uld was her husband. I didn't see how it was possible but maybe she could shed some light on how it could have happened.
When I came to her door I saw her standing by the window looking out on the hospital's garden.
"Hello." I said knocking as softly as I could, but she still jumped.
After she had gotten over that small shock she crossed her arms over her chest and sat on her cot. "Your world is an amazing place." She said turning her head to look out the window again.
"Sometimes it can be." I pushed a chair next to where she was sitting on the cot and perched on the arm of it. "Sometimes we get so caught up in everything that we loose sight of what's important. When I visit places like your planet I'm reminded how peaceful life can be." I put my hand on her shoulder. "I very sorry you lost your home."
She brushed at a few stray tears that escaped her eyes. "You and your people saved us, we owe you great thanks."
I nodded and tried to put on my most comforting smile. "Talia, I need to talk to you about something very important. And I'm afraid it wont be very easy for you." I held out the photograph of her husband.
Her eyes widened as she took the picture from me. "My husband? Why do you...?" She chocked up and didn't finish.
There was no easy way to say this. "This is a picture of the man the Goa'uld came from. Daniel, myself, and some of the other Nasyans recognized him, and we found this in our video archive."
When Talia spoke again her voice was shaking. "You're saying something was inside him?!"
Taking a deep breath, I stood and laid a comforting hand on her back. " I'm sorry. I understand how difficult this is for you," I paused o steady myself before continuing, "I lost my fiance to the goa'uld."
Talia squeezed her eyes shut and began rocking slowly back and forth on the bed.
"Talia." I said walking around the bed so we were face to face. Taking both her shoulders I tried to get her to look at me. "Please I need you to think. It's important that you tell me if you noticed anything different about your husband lately. " She was minutely shaking her head, 'no'. " Any new injury, scars... maybe a..."
Her head shot up. "Wait. There was something here," She reached up and pressed her fingers to the back of my neck, right where a goa'uld would enter. "but it was months ago."
That was surprising, and something I did not expect. Could a goa'uld really suppress it's nature and fool everyone, even its host's wife? "You never noticed anything since then?" She shook her head. "Thank you for your help, Talia. I'll let you rest now." I said walking to the door, then before I left I turned back to her. "If you need anything just let me know."
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I had a quick lunch in the hospital cafe after calling the SG-C with the information I'd uncovered. Hammond had called a meeting later today to discuss new developments. Maybe Jack had turned up something in his interrogations.
On my way out I decided to stop by Talia one last time before I left. She had been pretty upset when I had left earlier.
When I came to her room there was a doctor there that I didn't recognize examining her. "I'm sorry doctor." I said stopping at the door. "I just wanted to check on Talia. How is she?"
The doctor backed away from the bed and brushed past me. "She's good."
"Um, okay?" I turned watching him leave, that was a little weird.
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SG-1 was sitting around the briefing table with Hammond at the head. It was almost like normal, except for one blaring exception, Sam was gone.
" Doc Fraiser just called, one of the Nasyans is missing" Jack began the meeting.
"It is an Ashrak. A Goa'uld assassin sent by the System Lords to eliminate Jolinar." Teal'c said.
"Jolinar? That's the name of the Goa'uld in Sam?" Daniel asked.
Teal'c bowed his head slightly. "It is. Jolinar once tried to overthrow one of the System Lords but was defeated when Apophis joined the battle. He escaped during the slaughter of his armies."
"It seems this Jolinar is wanted in Goa'uld town." Jack added with a humorless laugh. Not only did we have a goa'uld in one of our teammates, but now there's other goa'ulds who want to kill it.
Teal'c quirked his eyebrow before turning to address Hammond. "He claims to be part of the Tok'ra."
I furrowed my eyebrows at this. "Resistance."
Teal'c looked across the table to me. "Indeed. The Tok'ra is a small alliance of Goa'uld who oppose the System Lords. It was my teacher Bra'tac who first spoke to me of them."
Hammond wasn't convinced. "Well, this Goa'uld inside Carter could be lying…Spinning a tale to gain our trust."
"It's quite a spin." Jack said.
Hammond paused, glancing around the table at each of us before continuing. "The sweep of the base has turned up no evidence. There's been no tampering with the base computer. We can't find a single sign of sabotage."
"Maybe that's why Jolinar didn't reveal himself." I said. "Everyone I've spoken to said they never suspected that the Nasyan man was a goa'uld. He was hiding out in him."
"Until he was hunted down by the Ashrak." Teal'c said. "When he realized we may have helped him escape through the Stargate…"
"He improvised." Hammond interjected. "So where does this leave us?"
jack clenched his jaw and looked up at the General. "Bottom line, Sir? We may have a Goa'uld out there who's on a mission to kill Carter. And we don't even know what he looks like."
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After the briefing was over I followed Daniel down to where Sam was being held. When we reached the door he knocked once and a guard from inside opened it and let us in.
Seeing us Sam, Jolinar, whoever, stood from her bunk and approached the bars that had red lasers running horizontally across the length of the cell. "Daniel Jackson. Erin Clark." She still spoke in that unnerving reverberation.
"Yes." Daniel answered.
"You care about Samantha Carter as much as O'Neill and Teal'c?"
"Yes, I do." Daniel answered again and sat on the bench while I remained standing behind him.
"Yet, this is the first time you two have come to see me." Jolinar stated accusingly.
Daniel sighed and took out his pen and notebook. "I came to see if you could give us a description of the Ashrak."
Jolinar narrowed her eyes at us. "I will know his face only in the moments before he tortures me to death…killing your friend along with me."
"There is no way he's getting in here." I spoke up.
"You are not stupid, Erin, nor am I."
"How could he know your on this planet, let alone this base?" I asked.
"He is Goa'uld, he will find me. It's what he does. Letting me go, trusting me, is the only chance of saving your friend Samantha." Jolinar reasoned.
I shook me head. "Then I'm sorry." Then taking a step forward I looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Sam."
"Alive, I can be a powerful ally! Dead, I am useless to you!"
Daniel stood and approached the cage. "Then you're gonna have to give us more than empty promises."
"I can give her back to you."
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. "We can't let you go."
Jolinar raised her chin and stared back at us. "I'm not talking about Samantha."
Letting out a sigh, this was going nowhere, I turned and headed for the door.
"I'm talking about Sha're." Jolinar said loudly, freezing me in my steps. "I know where she is," Then she met my eyes, "and Skaara."
That was it, I opened the door and walked out.
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"Daniel, its a ploy!" I shouted at him again. "He's just playing on our greatest weaknesses."
Daniel shrugged. "Well, that may be so, but this many be the only chance we have to see Carter again."
"I believe Jolinar speaks the truth." Teal'c agreed.
"Just listen." Daniel tugged on my arm to get me to sit down at the briefing table. He was probably hopping to calm me down, it wasn't working. "He told me about this resistance. Now, they have a totally different way of life from the Goa'uld we know. They don't believe in taking hosts against their will."
" Right." I said sarcastically. "Like Carter and this Nasyan guy?"
It was upsetting how quick Daniel was to defend the goa'uld. "No, he had no choice. He wants to leave Carter."
"But if they don't believe in taking hosts, how do they survive?" Hammond questioned.
"They take humans who are about to die. Who choose to continue to live and co-exist with the Goa'uld. Now according to Jolinar this can be a rewarding relationship."
Jack put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Daniel, I'm sorry, I know what this means to you." Then Jack's face turned into a scowl. "But I will never, never trust a Goa'uld."
"Dani." I hadn't used that name for him in a while and it caught his attention. "After everything we've been through, how can you not feel the same way?" The goa'uld took everything, now he was trusting one.
A phone ringed across the room and Hammond stood to answer it. "Hammond." He listened, nodded, and hung up. The first group of Nasyans from the hospital have arrived."
With looking at Daniel I stood and headed down. "I'll see them to the gate, sir."
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It was a good thing I left the meeting when I did. Everything used to be so easy, black and white. The goa'uld were bad, we were good. Nothing they've shown us so far has proved me wrong. If this Jolinar, these Tok'ra were different I didn't see it. And I sure as hell didn't know how to handle it.
Luckily the Nasyans coming down the corridor broke me out of my confused thoughts for the time being.
"Talia." I shouted to her when I saw her familiar face. While leading them into the gate room I called over my shoulder to reassure them. 'Now there's no reason to worry. There will be a team waiting for you on the other side."
"Chevron one encoded." A tech named Walter began his routine calling out of the the coordinates as each were locked in. "Chevron seven is…locked."
The illusion of blue water whooshed out and spiraled back inwards. Most of the Nasyans went on through while I hung back with Talia, walking with her up the ramp. We paused right before the event horizon.
Talia gazed up at the gate and let out a sigh. "Thank you, for everything your people have done for us."
"You're welcome. It's the least we could do." I said giving her a hug.
"I hope your friend will also be well." She smiled as she pulled back. Then she turned and walked through the gate.
Everything thing peaceful for a moment as I stared up at the rippling blue water of the gate. Then suddenly alarms went off all around the gate room and control room. Six airmen ran in, one of which started up the ramp, only to stop when it shut down.
Wait a minute. That airmen seem familiar. "I know you." I said pointing at him.
The airmen grabbed my arm and twisted it around my back with one arm, while with the other he pressed the barrel of his hand gun to the side of my head. "Do not try and stop me or I will kill her!" The airmen spoke with a deep reverberation.
Through the glass of the control room I saw Hammond and Teal'c run down the steps from the briefing room. Hammond took a second to take in the situation before leading over and speaking into the loud speaker. "Release her, and no harm will come to you."
"Turn it back on!" The airmen, who I now realized was the ashrak, shouted.
Hammond glared back at him. "We can't do that. Let her go."
I tired to wrench myself out of his grip by throwing my weight to the side, but he easily caught it and dug the barrel of his gun harder into my head. "Turn the Gate back on now, or she dies!"
"There're not gonna..." I growled at him.
"Silence! Open the Stargate!" The ashrak swung the gun away from my head briefly and fired at the control room. Hammond and Teal'c ducked out of sight for a moment, then Hammond stood up. Teal'c disappeared.
To the left of the gate room there was a metallic grinding as the blast door opened and out Teal'c walked with a zat gun. "I am sorry Erin Clark." and he fired.
The white energy struck us like a fright train. The ashrak immediately loosened his grip on me. My knees buckled and I fell to my hands, gasping for breath. Somehow the ashrak remained standing. He glared at Teal's and raised his gun to fire at him. Teal'c let loose with another blast and the ashrak fell to the ramp, dead.
"Are you injured?" Teal'c asked while offering my his arm to help me stand.
"Nothing permanent." I said as he pulled me up. I swayed for a second on shaky legs, but he steadied me before I kissed the ground. "Thanks, I think. Please don't ever do that again."
His lips quirked into a small smile and he bowed his head.
I looked back at the ashrak lying on the ramp. "If that's the askrak..." A horrible realization hit me. "What about Sam?"
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The rest of waited outside the Sam's room in the infirmary while Daniel waled in with and arm load of flowers. We all had tried one by one to get a reaction from her, and each of had failed.
"Hey Sam, how's it going tonight?" Daniel called to her awkwardly, and got no response. He walked of the room. "She's still the same."
Cassandra, who saw sitting on my lap, looked up at Daniel. "Janet said the Goa'uld left after it died?"
Daniel knelt down so he was level with her. "Well, that's right. Um, it died and her body's absorbing it. She's the same old Samantha Carter. Same person we've always known."
"Cassie, she's just a little sad right now." I said rubbing her arm. "But I'll bet she cheers up when she sees you. Come on." I kissed the top of her head and lifted her off my lap.
Cassie held my hand as we walked in. Sam lay with her back facing us. She was curled in on herself, like she had lost something. It was hard to believe when I heard it, that the goa'uld had saved her life by sacrificing itself. Everything was changing.
"Sam, it's me." Cassie said climbing up on the cot with Sam. Still no response. Cassie reached out and carefully turned Sam towards her, it was obvious that Sam had been crying. Seeing Cassandra seemed to bring even closer to tears. "You're going to be okay." Cassandra said pulling her into a hug.
Author's note: Big plans coming up. I'd love to hear and review, questions, comments, :).