Chapter 17 - The Arrival of the Messengers
Planet P3X-421
Milky Way Galaxy
Mitchell and SG-12 exited the wormhole to find the crowd of the small village gathered around a sickly-looking guy, hanging onto his every word with varying expressions of curiosity and reverence.
The guy in the hooded robe was exactly like John had described; pale, scarred and dead-eyed. He carried a staff topped with a bluish crystal that looked a little like the one affixed to the Ancient device they had back in the infirmary.
Prior was reading a book, which Mtichell assumed was 'The Book of the Ori.'
"…as he lay there, dying in the sun, the sands of the desert all around him, Petrus spoke to the rock, not with his lips, but with his mind. And the rock wept tears of fresh water, and his thirst was quenched," then he looked up to face the gathering and closed the book in his hand. "Fear not the Ori. Fear the darkness that would conceal the knowledge of the universe. Believe in the truth of all things, and you too may find the path to enlightenment."
Mitchell decided it was as good a time as any to introduce his own brand of charm to the intruder. "'And a man has no greater thing under the sun than to eat, drink and be merry.' Ecclesiastes. My favourite."
The Prior turned to him with no discernible expression on his face.
"My grandma was a bit of a bible thumper," Mitchell continued, laying in his southern drawl a little thick, as they closed the distance. "Weekends at Grandma's meant long, long Sundays at St. Hilda's Church of the Grand Epiphany." Then he introduced himself. "Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell. How you doing?"
"I am a Prior of the Ori." the man declared, lifting his chin up a little. Then he glanced at the Stargate before turning back to Mitchell and the team. "Your arrival here was foreseen."
"No kidding," Mitchell upped the wattage of his smile. "So, you see the future, do you?"
"Lessons of days gone by teach us what will come to pass."
"I'm a bit of a history buff myself," Mitchell said. "Doesn't help me pick the lotto numbers, though. So, where you from?"
"Where we come from and where we are going are all the same."
Yeah. No. John hadn't been kidding. Talking to these people was an exercise in patience and endurance.
"Oh, I get you," Mitchell said cheerily. "Wherever you go, there you are." Noting the confused look on the good doctor Lindsay's face, he explained, "Think that's Buckaroo Banzai."
"We are from Earth," He said to the Prior.
"The home of Daniel Jackson."
Fucking finally. Thank you very much. Now we are going somewhere.
"He never mentioned that before," Lindsay muttered nervously.
Intergalactic, instant communication: check.
"You know Doctor Jackson, do you?" Mitchell asked the Prior.
"From him did we learn of your need."
Mitchell frowned. "Our need for what?"
"The revelation of your destiny." Sounded decidedly ominous.
Doci's Chamber
Plains of Celestis
"'The Book of Origin says: 'those who seek the path to enlightenment must not be led astray.'" Doci said.
"Right. See that can be interpreted in a number of different ways. I think maybe I know what the Ori are—uh—who they are, um, and I'm not denying they are very powerful beings, but if I'm right, they're not gods. If they're like the ascended beings I know, they simply have a greater understanding of the knowledge of the universe."
Sheppard was getting tired of the theological debate. But Jackson was persistent, and so was the Ori robot.
"What is a god, but a being that is worshipped by those beneath? Is great knowledge, power, and understanding not enough for you to revere the Ori?"
"Respect, yes, certainly. But that doesn't mean I would murder innocent people in their name," Jackson pointed out. "I guess what I'm trying to understand is whether the Ori have spoken to you directly and told you to worship them, or whether you've…misinterpreted some evidence you've found along the way and developed this religion on your own."
The man had a point there. It wasn't like they hadn't heard of this exact version of religion spreading ever before. This was hardly an original approach.
"I can't speak for everyone in my galaxy, but in my humble opinion, I don't believe that any individual or society can achieve enlightenment through fear-mongering and forced servitude, no matter what power is presented as evidence," Jackson went on. "That's something the ascended beings I know very clearly seem to understand."
There was a moment of silence. Sheppard thought he glimpsed a slight twitching of the left eyelid of the drone. That barely-there moment of hesitation encouraged Jackson to drive his point home.
"Don't get me wrong, I mean, we should all be trying to better ourselves. I mean if-if ascension is the ultimate end we're trying to achieve, then so be it, but we should all be allowed to get there or not of our own free will. You can kill me for saying that, but that is what I believe and nothing you say or do will EVER change my mind."
Jackson, so involved in his passionate argument, only realised what came out of his mouth when it was already a little too late. He clamped his jaw shut and stared at the Doci defiantly, not willing to back down.
The Doci blinked, deliberately, once. Then he issued a one-word order. "Come."
He went next to the iron gate and opened it. Jackson followed him to the balcony. The wall of fire extended beyond miles. While Jackson and Sheppard were distracted by that wholly unimaginable sight, the Doci spread his arm wide.
A white brightness appeared in front of him as if summoned. Jackson took a step back in alarm. The white light dissolved into streaks of individual flames that danced around inside the chamber before swooping down to enter the Doci.
The light show reminded Sheppard of Orlin. He had a feeling Jackson had seen something similar at a point as well, judging by the way he took in the show without any outward surprise.
When the possessed Doci spoke, however, it was not an ascended being Sheppard was reminded of. The echoing, thundering voice that came out of the Doci was more similar to that of a Goa'uld.
"We do not require blind faith. Only that you believe what you see and know to be true. We are Ori."
Sheppard crossed his metaphorical fingers and hoped they wouldn't notice his presence.
Jackson cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "And you instruct these people to worship you?"
"We are their creators," Except for the irritating double echoes, the preaching was not that different from the drones. "All who follow the path will join us in enlightenment."
While Sheppard took a second to relax a fraction when he wasn't discovered, Jackson, the gutsy fucker, went for the throat. "Do you know who the Alterans are?"
The Ori were not impressed, or happy. In fact, they sounded downright offended. "Those who abandon the path are evil." they spat.
"Evil? Why?" Jackson pressed.
"They shielded you." Now the Ori were offended on their behalf.
"Really?" Jackson said flatly, not falling into that crap. "I didn't really think they did much of anything for us, but I guess I was wrong."
"The truth of the universe has been obstructed," they insisted, starting to sound like a child on the verge of throwing a tantrum. "All will know the power of the Ori."
Jackson stood his ground, although worried. He had noticed the change of mood of the Ori just as Sheppard had. But, before anything drastic could happen, the white fire left the Doci as unannounced as it had arrived, to everyone's relief.
Doci returned to his usual levels of insanity and intoned, "Hallowed are the Ori."
Landry's Office
Level 27
SGC
"...the Origin guides you on the path, those who jump on our bandwagon get the good toys… I have come to spread the words of gods in this place where you poor little things have been sheltered and raised by evil, yada yada yada…" Mitchell continued, knowing it was not the best verbal report he had delivered to a superior officer throughout his career. But there was only so much a man could retain after listening to a sermon that had gone on and on for about three lifetimes. There was also just him and Landry in the office. So there was no need to stand at ceremony just for a mission update.
"I'm paraphrasing, of course," he said, ending his summary of the meeting he had endured with the rest of SG-12. "The guy had no idea how much he sounded like my grandma, sir."
"Of course."
Landry actually seemed relieved that Mitchell hadn't gone into too much detail. If he wanted to read the chapter/verse account, he had the book. Mitchell's entire team had been gifted with the first editions before they had left the planet.
"There's also the fact that he knew about Jackson," Mitchell pointed out. "This guy had been in and out of the planet for about two days now, and we know Jackson and Vala met a Prior only yesterday. That means they've been under observation probably since the moment they plugged into the people on that side."
"Then made their point in the cruellest way possible before showing up to save the day," Landry picked up his line of thought, nodding. "Shock and awe tactics. Effective not only on the people who're subjected to the display of power but also on the spectators."
"Yeah. They're still in the 'carrot' phase, here, with all the healings and blessings, according to Lindsay," Mitchell added. "They haven't taken out the 'stick' just yet. Apart from all that, they have instant intergalactic comms, intergalactic Gate travel–"
"So, Sheppard is right about his feelings about these Priors, then?"
"I'd say," Mitchell nodded. "There's something wrong with them, sir. They say all the right things, but you can feel the threat underneath, 'Do as we say, or else…"
They had no reason to believe that the Priors would choose a different, more reasonable approach to their teachings just because this was a different galaxy.
"Anyway, Gerak, he's the Jaffa with the most power over their council these days, wants to meet one of these Priors," Landry said.
"Sir?"
"To take their measure so to speak," Landry elaborated. "We know they are bad news. And now, they are migrating here. After so many years they spent being ruled by one race of false gods, this news is starting to stick in everyone's craw."
"Well, since they are on a religion-spreading crusade, we can safely assume that we'll be getting frequent visits. It's just a matter of time."
"Let's hope the three in the infirmary can find more answers for us."
"Any change there, sir?"
"Nothing," Landry shook his head. "None of them have woken up just yet."
"If there's nothing else, sir–"
"Go," Landry said, waving a hand to dismiss him. "I'll call Dakara. I promised to keep Gerak and Teal'c updated."
