AN: Three words…well two words and a contraction. I'm so sorry. Je suis tres desole. Gomen nasai. Sosososo so to the power of ten sorry that it has taken me almost two years to update this story. Did I mention I was sorry? Shall I grovel? I can do that. Oddly enough I had never intended to wait this long to update, but it's odd how being submersed in anthropological theory can suck the creative energy right out of you. I also wasn't sure where I wanted to put this scene, here or later on, but I decided to just put it here and hopefully it doesn't seem too abrupt. Once again so sorry for the extremely long wait and thank you to all of those who have reviewed and encouraged me to continue.
Chapter 9
Being the type of facility that it was, the SGC quickly managed to pull itself back together after the shock of Daniel Jackson's true being, and was put back into perfect working order in no time. Or as much of in perfect working order as it could get, also because of the type of the facility it was and the odd occurrences that happened daily.
Everything went back to being ordinary…if anyone at the SGC could be considered ordinary. Peace reigned…for about five minutes.
"I can't believe the General is allowing this!" Jack snarled as he stalked down the hall following a folder and box piled Daniel. The archaeologist was weaving his way to his office, balancing far too much precariously stacked in his arms. Jack wasn't carrying a thing.
"It's not like anything is going to happen. All I have to do is talk to them," Daniel stated, dodging by a person in the hall, his stack of items tottering dangerously. He leaned with it, managed to get the files to tilt back the other way, only to have them tilt too much. Jack quickly reached out and slid the folders back into place in an unconscious move many people on base had acquired over the years of passing by the clumsy archaeologist who carried far too much down the hall.
"I don't trust them," Jack spat into the pause that followed.
"You never have." Daniel remained calm. "If it makes you feel any better, I've never trusted them either and I have known them for far longer. This is just how it has to be. They can't do anything to me while on our base. They'll never know it is me."
"What if they figure it out?" Jack demanded.
"Give me some credit, Jack; I've been doing this for millennia. I think I can fool the Tok'ra well enough." Seeing his Promised Land, Daniel rushed the last few paces down the hall and into his precious office. He set the boxed down on a table and absently set the folders aside. "Shut the door, Jack," Daniel ordered as he began opening the boxes. He pulled out a thick black robe, shaking out the wrinkles and dirt. "I can't believe you made me leave my cloak lying on the floor of my own temple! It's dirty!" he exclaimed with much poutiness and a blue eyed glare.
"That's your own fault. And we don't really have time to wash it now do we. Be thankful that Ferretti was willing to make a side trip for your little costume."
"It's not a costume!" the ancient man nearly shrieked in indignation. He tossed the robe across the back of a chair and started pulling the other objects out of the box. Golden sandals clattered to the floor.
"I can't believe you're going to wear all this," Jack snickered. Daniel growled softly under his breath. He was being mocked.
"Well, I don't really see the most powerful System Lord wearing combat boots and BDUs under his robe. That would be a little suspicious to the High Council, don't you think?" Daniel shoved the remaining content around the box, scowling. "Where are my ribbon devices?"
Jack winced slightly at the thought of Daniel wearing those things.
"Carter is bringing them for you."
Daniel gave a loud sigh, staring at his "costume."
"I wonder if they would notice it I just rolled up my pants"…he mumbled, then shook his head in frustration. "Won't work," he answered his own question. "Won't work. Damned cloak doesn't have a zipper or buttons for that matter. Stapling it shut would look a little suspicious as well. I'll have to wear it all. Turn around will you?"
The colonel gave him a long mocking look, before slowly rocking back on his heels and spinning to face the door. Daniel cringed and bid farewell to his dignity. This would be even worse than walking through the gate at gunpoint in just his kilt. When that happened, no one was focusing on what he was wearing. Daniel huffed in disdain, picking up fabric and flicking it out to remove any stray dirt. Jack smirked to himself, just imagining what Daniel was going to look like. He heard the jangle of metal, the rustling of more fabric and then Daniel was muttering for him to turn around.
Jack did so and immediately blanked his face and clenched his teeth to stop himself from laughing his ass off.
"Don't say it!" Daniel hissed, wrapping his arms around his bare torso in an odd imitation of his fully clothed self-hug. He was wearing a simple pleated black kilt, beads dangled from the gold belt around his hips. Thin golden bangles surrounded his biceps and the golden sandals were secured to his feet. It was interesting to note that there was what seemed to be a small black crystal on the top of each sandal much like the crystals on the ribbon devices. There was a disturbing thought. Daniel growled at his own discomfort, which he shouldn't be feeling at the same time. "You know, Anubis has no qualms about nudity, but I do. This is so annoying."
"Then don't wear it," Jack offered cheekily.
Daniel offered his patented pouting glare, then sighed, shaking his head, and then sighed again in defeat. He was doing a lot of sighing. He picked up his black cloak and shrugged on the heavy material, clasping it at the throat. His jiggled his arms as he raised them until the voluminous sleeves were bunched up at his elbows. He reached back and pulled the large hood over his head, laying it carefully so that it would shadow his face enough for him to be unrecognizable.
A nock at the door announced Sam, as she entered carrying his ribbon devices. Her eyes widened as she peered at Daniel's cloaked form.
"That's very impressive," she told him, frowning slightly. "And somewhat disturbing."
"Why thank you," Daniel griped, smiling never the less, which was made eerie by the fact that the top half of his face was in complete shadow. He held out his hand expectantly. Sam passed him one of the devices and he slipped the cool metal onto his right hand. He held out his left and she obligingly slid the second device onto his offered hand. He smiled, flexing his fingers as the metal warmed against his skin. The black jewels flared slightly, and then were silent. He allowed the naquada carefully contained within his blood to flow through his veins, rising in intensity until Sam gasped and Jack took as step back from him.
"Daniel?" Jack questioned, worried that his fears were true and Daniel was truly and completely Anubis and never had been Daniel at all.
Daniel said nothing for a moment, flexing his fingers before letting them drop to his sides. His flowing sleeves swallowed his arms and hid the ribbon devices.
"I'm fine," Daniel assured them from deep within the shadows of his hood. "Just getting into character."
"Well a little warning would be nice!" Jack snapped. The oppressing feeling emanating from Daniel was disturbing and felt so utterly wrong. Jack growled, hunching his shoulders up slightly. "You can't just go all dark side without warning people, it's not fair."
"Sorry," Daniel murmured.
Jack sighed, his patience wearing thin as it often did with the archaeologist. "We should get going. The snake heads will be here soon. Can't keep them waiting now can we?"
Daniel cringed, not wanting to have the meeting. It was like having another summit meeting, but he couldn't punish these people. It was going to be a long day.
They were an interesting sight, stalking down the hallways. Daniel, completely shrouded in black and known to only some in this guise, walked in the lead with Sam and Jack flanking him on each side. He did not speak. He did not look one way or the other. He just walked straight to the elevator and entered, scaring the officer within. He would surely have been shot if he had not been accompanied by Sam and Jack.
After descending down further into the facility, and nearly giving the accompanying officer a heart attack when Daniel sneezed, the silver doors slid open and the three exited, Daniel taking the lead once again.
When they reached the conference room, Daniel entered with grace and closely drawn power. His eyes flared within the depths of his hood as he watched the Tok'ra Council rise from their seats, clearly alarmed by the force of Daniel's power and the freedom of his movements within the SGC. He couldn't really blame them for demanding a meeting. One of their agents had been at the SGC when the General had announced that Anubis was to be considered an ally. Luckily so few people knew that Daniel was Anubis that they had not had to explain why their innocent little archaeologist was actually a feared System Lord. But, it was safe to say that after the announcement, which had been mentioned to the Tok'ra operative by a confused scientist, the Tok'ra quickly high tailed it back to the High Council and told on poor Anubis and the Tau'ri. It was also safe to assume that because that one scientist and subsequently the Tok'ra had had a big mouth, Daniel was not going to give the High Council an easy discussion.
General Hammond stepped forward, motioning for Daniel to approach the table and take the seat at the opposite end. It was a seat of power, as far as the Council was concerned, representing General Hammond and the SCG at one end of the table and Anubis at the other. The Tok'ra were left to flounder in the center, surrounded and feeling threatened by a seemingly united force of their tentative allies and their presumed greatest enemy.
"Lord Anubis," General Hammond greeted in his Texan drawl. "It's my pleasure to introduce the Tok'ra High Council." He introduced them, but Daniel didn't listen to their names. He didn't care. The only name he kept in his mind was Per'sus the High Councilor. He remembered him well from their last meeting, especially because of the whole zatarc mess. Here he was again, in a different guise, with a different voice, and yet in the very same situation.
"Thank you, my dear General," Daniel spoke quietly in the disturbing dual-toned voice of the Goa'uld; he kept his voice low and sinister, nothing like how the symbiotes of the Tok'ra talked through their hosts.
He sat down, gracefully flaring his robes out and around him in a well practiced motion. He allowed his eyes to flare again, the light lingering far longer than normal, burning to dim embers before finally fading out. The Tok'ra looked uncomfortable and yet did not speak. Anubis was waiting patiently for their belligerence.
"Do you speak or are we to sit in each other's company and ponder the infantile meaning of this useless universe?" Daniel drawled with all the hauteur of Anubis. It was all too easy to fall back into the persona, far too easy to be the villain.
"It's impolite not to show your face among potential allies in a peaceful setting. Hiding does not allow for trust," the High Councilor replied sharply.
Anubis smiled. "I cannot nor will I show myself to you. The face of Anubis is not seen, such a thing is not permitted. None of my System Lords have gazed upon my face and lived, and neither shall you or the Tau'ri. They understand this. Can you not?"
"Very well, Anubis."
"Lord Anubis!" Daniel hissed.
"You are not any lord of ours!" another of the Tok'ra growled, rising slightly from his seat.
Daniel did not move, merely allowed them to feel the weight of his gaze and his power as it burned across their skin. "You will address me with the respect I am due!" His voice was quiet, but the threat was anything but hidden. Sometimes it is the quiet voice that is the most feared. People who yell and spit in anger are predictable. Those who grow silent in their rage are unpredictable and the most dangerous of all. "You owe your existence to me. Show some honor!"
"Since when is a Goa'uld interested in honor?" The hosts were talking anymore.
"So high and mighty you believe yourselves to be," Anubis murmured, slipping his metal encased fingers onto the table and twining them together. The Tok'ras' eyes widened at the sight of the two hand devices. "We are the same species, more alike than you may think. There truly is no distinction."
"We are nothing alike!"
"Your species is far too young to have deviated from the Goa'uld genetic line. You are the same species, just with a different philosophy. Don't lie to yourselves. You are parasites. You will always be parasites, no matter if the host is willing or not."
"You speak as though you are not the same."
"I do not know how long I have lived, but I was old when Egeria was born. I do not have the same genetic memory. I have been experimented on, changed. I am not the same as I used to be."
"What was done to you?" the Per'sus asked, calming slightly.
"I do not fully know. I do not remember all things, only that I am ancient. I was the favored of Ra. I am the favored of all System Lords. I am their bane and their pride. They fear me and love me because I can give them unlimited power or imminent death. I am the Death Dancer."
Hammond cleared his throat, gaining the bickering Council's attention.
"I would like to remind you that this discussion is not the reason you are here. You requested this meeting to discuss politics, not genetics."
"Genetics has everything to do with it," a female councilor replied.
"I do not agree," Anubis announced. He leaned back into his chair, stippling his fingers. He stared out at them silently, waiting.
"You cannot be trusted!" a male councilor hissed.
"Neither can you," Anubis replied casually. He could have been talking about the weather with his tone of voice. It only seemed to enrage the Tok'ra further. "Once again, this is not the reason we are here. Goa'uld and Tok'ra alike agree to disagree. It is the way of things. It will not be changed. We are here for you to discuss my alignment with the Tau'ri. I am not aligned with you; therefore your personal feelings for me are of no consequence."
"General Hammond," High Councilor Per'sus spoke quietly. "I would advise you to dissolve your alliance with Anubis immediately. No good can come of this."
"My government does not agree, sir," Hammond replied forcefully.
"If he turns against you, as he will, the Tok'ra will not come to your aid against him."
"That's not a problem, Councilor."
"Fine, sign your own death warrant. We will have no part in this!"
"We didn't ask you to," Daniel drawled.
The Council looked offended. Anubis hadn't been so amused in ages, but he suppressed his laughter. He stood as the others did and accompanied Hammond and the Council into the Gateroom as they took their leave. He watched them depart with quiet amusement and a smirk touching his lips. The officers in the Gateroom shifted nervously in his presence. Most of these men knew Daniel was Anubis, but in this form, that knowledge was not enough reassurance to settle their fears.
"That resolved nothing," Daniel sighed. "I didn't think it would."
"It was more of a courtesy than anything else," General Hammond replied. "We would not have broken off our alliance with you for any reason, even if they completely withdrew from their alliance with us."
"You honor me." Daniel said graciously.
"That being said, if you would allow it, I would like to have some people examine you temple and what you have collected there."
Daniel groaned, a sound so unlike the haughty, dignified Anubis that it could only be from the archaeologist. Taking a step back so that he was close enough to the back wall of the Gateroom, he proceeded to bang his head against the wall in abject horror.