And What Did I Do to Deserve This?!
by Starsinger
Uh, you'll see. Don't own Stargate, just borrowing it for a while.
They crossed the barrier into a lush garden planet. Greenery everywhere with multi colored flowers littering the floor. Selmak and Martouf ushered them off to the right. Larry's arm remained around Sarah's shoulders, supporting her as they approached the transport rings. They sighed as they came up around them. As they reached the caves men and women surged around them as they were ushered to the council room. Councilor Garshaw awaited them.
Garshaw cocked an eyebrow, "New friends, Martouf?"
"This is Sarah and Larry, they are willing to consider becoming hosts," he responded.
"Marist and Camund are still where their caves, Martouf," she said, he nodded as they left. "And you are?" she asked politely.
"My name is Chauinaya," she replied. "My host is Dr. Marina Johnson, a psychiatrist. I seek shelter, I am being pursued by Ares who has gone quite mad."
"Do you have any idea why?" Garshaw asked sharply. Marina relayed the events during World War I and Garshaw nodded. "We grant you sanctuary, is there any other Goauld we should expect?"
"My brother, Apollo, is hopefully still alive, he's been trying to find Ares. Athena, I don't know where she is. Marina's brother, Jeremy might come through, he's elderly."
Garshaw nodded, "Would you like to lay down?" she asked politely.
"I just want to see my friends," Garshaw nodded as Jacob ushered her out. They came upon Larry first, he and Camund/Andlund were still talking, and seemed to be coming to some sort of agreement. He lay beside Andlund and opened his mouth, it was over quickly with Larry laying his hand gratefully on his friend's face. He took a deep breath and pushed himself upright.
"Camund is sicker than Marist, as I'm not injured, it was thought best that I blend with Camund," he held up his hand. "He's fine, Jacob, he's just in more need of rest than I am. I want to see Sarah."
They entered the next cavern over and Sam caught up with them, nodding at Larry. They entered as they covered Marist's former host's face. Sarah appeared to be sleeping. Marina slammed her fists into the cushion beside her friend, "Ares must be stopped before anyone else is hurt, or killed."
A younger Tok'ra rushed in, "Our scouts just reported a Mothership has jumped into the system. We have maybe two hours to get out."
"If we're lucky," Selmak muttered, he sat down in a corner watching Sarah sleep. Time dragged on as Garshaw forced everyone to leave, except Jacob, Marina, and Sam, who saw an interesting dynamic happening before her eyes. One that finally broke out into an argument.
"How do we know that this system lord isn't here because they tracked you here!" he shouted, explosions going off over their heads. "Is that Ares up there?"
"How should I know?" Marina asked, at the end of her rope, "I'm not psychic!"
"Neither am I," a new voice joined the fray, "but I do know that it's time to leave," they both stopped, mouths open and looked over at Sarah. "I appreciate your concern, both of you, but it's time to go, and you call yourself the oldest and wisest among us," she muttered.
Amid shipfire and Jaffa staff weapons, they barely made into the Stargate and onto the new homeworld. It took a moment for them to get up and seemed to take Marina longer than most as she remained on her knees. Sarah walked over and touched her shoulder, "You can't hide this from them forever," she said softly. Marina nodded and followed them to their new home.
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The Tok'ra Council decided to ask Marina to be an advisor. Her high intelligence and profession making her an ideal person to keep an eye out on morale, among other things. Jacob insisted that they didn't know where her true loyalty lay, in spite of the glaring differences between her and other Goauld. Garshaw thought that Jacob was going to get laid out.
Today, Jacob was questioning the wisdom of letting her brother, Jeremy, through the Stargate to bring her up-to-date on the search for Ares. That conversation had ended in not only permission being granted, but the good Doctor telling Jacob where he could go and what he could do when he got there. Yep, her relationship with these people was off to a really great start.
Trouble was, Jacob was the only one she was butting heads with. She felt a hand land on her shoulder and she turned around ready to fight, the realized it was just Martouf. "Hey! It's just me! No need to get so defensive!" he exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, Martouf," it was Chauinaya speaking this time, "he just makes me so mad!"
"I know, I know," he said placatingly, steering her toward the rings to take them to the Gate, "Let's go meet Jeremy."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jack was for the hundredth time that week, trying to get a hold of Robert Davidson, Apollo's host. Finally, a man, not a machine, answered the phone, "This is Robert."
"Robert," Jack exclaimed, "this is Jack, you remember, your sister, Chauinaya introduced us. She told us you could be reached at this number."
"Yeah, look Jack, I heard what happened at the institute and hurried back to the States as soon as I could. Tough to get a flight out of Nepal these days, don't ask. I'm at LaGuardia Airport and was about to head back out to Arizona, should I change plans?"
"Yeah, talk to the reservations agent and see if you can book a flight out to Colorado Springs, or Denver. I'll pick you up there." Jack gave him the number to reach him and hung up, one down, two to go...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Honey Grove Texas, is a small town in north Texas of about 1500 people just about spitting distance from the Oklahoma border. Teal'c, Brae'tac, and Daniel Jackson sat at a kitchen table in large blue house just off the town square. An Australian Border Collie named Stormy chewed a rawhide bone happily at their feet. Two women, Kris and her mother Emily, looked across the table at the three men.
"About three weeks ago, my husband sold a large property to the man you were describing to me. Had a large ranch house and plenty of land. As you could probably tell, this is cattle country. Lots of land, most of the neighbors are cows, horses, Alpaca, occasional bison..." Emily trailed off as Daniel looked at Kris.
"There hasn't been a reported sect of Ares in the Hellenic Wicca, Athena, Apollo, Zeus, Hera, Demitr, they're very common, but Ares is considered a cult God. Then last week, several people started following this guy who proclaimed himself the second coming of the 'War God'. While the religion itself is very loosely associated, this was an odd announcement."
"Any indication he's building up for war?" Daniel asked.
"This is Texas, Dr. Jackson, people buying guns isn't an odd occurence," Kris replied with a tight smile. "The only reason this drew any attention at all is that this is the 'Bible Belt'. Worshipping another God is considered wrong here."
Daniel spoke up, "Why don't you take me to this compound, see what's going on."
Teal'c and Brae'tac looked up, "We'll go to Abydos, maybe we can find something on Athena there."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jeremy watched her with concern. The attacks were becoming stronger, more frequent. "You can't put this off much longer."
Marina looked at him, knees pulled up to her chest, "Do you have any suggestions?"
He got up, cane tapping along the floor as he reached the water pitcher, "Tell them. They may be able to help you."
She sighed, "Maybe..."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On Abidos, Teal'c and Brae'tac were leafing through old documents, hoping for some clue to Athena's whereabouts. Earth had ended up being a dead end, as Athena was a fairly common name, espcecially in the Greek community. Using the name Minerva was of no help either. Then they heard a voice behind them, "I hear you're looking for my daughter."
Both men turned, apprehensively, toward the speaker, who held up her hands. She was dressed in the old Grecian style of toga like dress, blue in color. Mid-brown hair was elaborately curled and twisted up with gold bands, she studied the two men intensely.
"Lady Metis?" Brae'tac asked, tentatively. She nodded as two other women, dressed in similar style joined her. They were identified as Artemis and Demitri, Goddesses of the Hunt and the Hearth, respectively.
"Please," Artemis said, "we would like to speak with you, we mean you no harm." They travelled to another part of the temple so they could sit, the two men spreading out their cloaks on the steps so the women could sit comfortably. "Is she alive?" Artemis asked.
"We have reason to believe that she is." Teal'c answered.
Demitri blew out a hard breath, "Ares is not longer on Earth. We received word from one of our agents that he was picked up last week by Ba'al."
"Chauinaya told us..." Brae'tac began.
"Wait a minute," Metis interrupted, "WHO told you?"
Brae'tac looked at the three women and grinned, "If the three of you are willing, I have a plan to catch us a Queen and a mad War God."
"We're listening," Demitr replied.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"A prophecy!" Daniel exclaimed. "All this over a prophecy."
His companion grinned. They sat on a hilltop overlooking a compound near the Texas Oklahoma border. The brunette, Kris, put the binoculars down and looked at him. "I'm not entirely sure I understand it, but the prophecy says that 'The rise and fall of the People rests with her decision.' One group will rise, the other fall."
Daniel shook his head, staring at the large building, "Of all places, why Texas?"
"Well, after Waco it does seem redundant," Kris replied. "My mom, being the neighborly type, came here a few days ago, bearing gifts."
"What did they tell her," Daniel asked, distractedly.
"That they're glorious leader was whisked away by a pyramid shaped spaceship three days ago."
"Your mom..." his voice trailed off as her words hit him.
"Is busier now than when she worked," Kris replied with a grin. "So much for retirement."
"If he's off-planet, he must believe Athena is too," he muttered as he scurried downhill. Kris followed him, unable to understand his hurry.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
Robert emerged from the concourse looking around. He was a handsome man with dark, graying hair. He found who he was looking for and approached the Air Force Officer, "Colonel O'Neil?" the man nodded as he turned to follow him out of the airport. "Any word on Ares?"
"None yet, but General Hammond would like to meet you." They proceeded to the SGC where Hammond greeted them.
"Change of plans, Colonel, the two of you and Dr Jackson are to meet back up with Sam at the Tok'ra base. Teal'c and Brae'tac have hatched some sort of plan, but wouldn't tell me what it is." They nodded and headed off to change.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Marina, wait," Jacob called.
"What do you want, Jacob, to berate me again? What did I do this time?" she asked frustrated.
He stopped, and stared at her, "No, Marina, I actually came here to aplogize. Selmak and I are used to being the oldest and wisest, and now we're not," he paused, considering his next words. "Oh, what the hell, I've got nothing to lose," she remembered hearing him say those words, but nothing else was coherent, he pulled her into his arms and started kissing her. Shocked, she stiffened and then relaxed into the kiss. It was only interrupted by the sudden, sharp pain that lanced through her body. She found herself on the ground, clutching her abdomen, trying to breathe through it. Jacob hovered, unable to understand what was happening.
"Marina, breathe through it," a familiar voice suddenly sounded in her ear. "You've been fighting this for three thousand years, it probably won't be much longer."
"Apollo," she gasped. She looked up and discovered the rest of her cadre had arrived. She pushed herself back to her feet, "Jacob, I'm not who you think I am. I'm..." her words trailed off as transportation rings surrounded them.
They found themselves in the holding cell of a Goauld ship, as a powerfully built man strode towards them, looking directly at one of the women, "So, I've finally caught myself a big fish, haven't I Athena..."
Who is it, aw, you've probably figured it out by now...