Sam shook was barely supressed anger. She, of course, knew about Anubis from Zeus and scant memories Jolinar left; but she was in no way happy about the possibility he might return to the rank of System Lord. She even more upset that it was Osiris vouching for him.
"Who among us," asked Ba'al, "accepts the return of Anubis to the System Lords?" He himself clasped his hands together and nodded.
Sam clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She knew it was highly likely the others would support his rise through the ranks. Her heart sank as she saw all of the others nod their heads. When their attention reluctantly came to her, she shook her head. She was slightly pleased to see Yu shake his head as well. Slightly. They were out-voted.
"The vote need not be unanimous," Ba'al said. "By count of six to two, Anubis is awarded the status of System Lord and welcomed back among those that lead the Goa'uld. Osiris will be allowed to vote on his behalf."
Naturally, thought Sam angrily. They'll let another Goa'uld in without a question. It's just when I'm supposed to come in and represent a System Lord that they complain.
"You shall not regret this," Osiris smirked.
"May we rule forever," Ba'al concured.
One of the others--Olokun, if Sam remembered correctly--said, "We have much to discuss in that regard."
"But first..." said Bastet.
"Lor lor harek. Sha mel," Ba'al finished.
In response, the lights dimmed and a vat of--to Sam's disgust--symbiotes was ringed in. Everone with the exception of Sam and the Lok'taurs got up. They approached the vat and took a symbiote out. Sam looked away as the System Lords began eating the symbiotes. The squealing and shrieking noises were enough to make her stomach churn. She figured she would never eat a snake if she could help it. This was one of those times she could and she took advantage.
Finally, the squealing stopped and the vat was ringed back up. Sam saw Osiris smirking at her. Daniel, carrying Yu's water jug, left.
The System Lords began discussing their losses in recent battles with each other. Bastet was interrogating Osiris on a recent battle where she lost two motherships. Daniel walked back in, carefully carrying the jug. Sam figured it had either been empty or Yu found some reason to get Daniel out of the room.
"Your strategy was weak," Osiris scoffed.
"Your master has extracted tolls from each of us," Yu added.
Osiris bristled a bit but kept his temper under control. "Yet you all voted to welcome him back into the fold," he retorted.
Not all of us, Sam replied silently. Some of us know better than to welcome a traitor back. She dared not say it aloud or Zeus would probably be Anubis's next target.
"The power he has regained so quickly is worthy of respect," Ba'al grudgingly admitted.
Olokun asked, "What does he offer now to repay the damage he has done in gathering his forces?"
Osiris sneered, "Anubis owes the System Lords nothing. He joins you for the greater good of all Goa'uld."
Sam snorted. Greater good my ass. The others turned to her. She held her composure.
"I'm sorry," she said, adopting a mocking tone. "I just find it hard to believe that a Goa'uld is acting in the interest of his fellows." Her thoughts turned to Zeus. He never acted in the interest of the others, but he was by far one of the most selfless Goa'uld she'd seen. By selfless, she meant slightly less selfish on the behalf of his followers.
"You could not understand," Osiris said in mock sympathy. "In order to understand our motives, you must be one of us."
"The same should go for humans, but for someone with a host from Earth, you certainly don't understand Tau'ri motives very well," Sam said mildly.
"As a traitor, you are one to speak," he retorted.
"Compared to you, I'm as innocent as Sarah," Sam replied cooly. Osiris's eyes glowed.
"It was her own fault. I believe you have a saying: 'Curiousity killed the cat'?"
Sam smirked. "What does curiousity have to do with me not understanding Goa'uld motivation?"
"Anubis may have grown strong," Ba'al interrupted, flashing Sam and Osiris a very unhappy glare; "but he does not outweigh the collective power of the System Lords. What deed does Anubis offer as evidence of the dedication you claim on his behalf?"
"Speak now or leave us," Yu snarled.
Osiris ignored him. "As I have said before, Anubis believes that the greatest threat to the Goa'uld is within."
"Why does he care?" put in Sam. "With the rest of you weak from this enemy within, he could just snatch your power away from you without a fight."
"On the contrary," Osiris said. "As we meet here, that threat is being weakened. Over the years we have all lost a great deal to the infiltrations, subversions, and rebellious acts of the Tok'ra." Sam's stomach clenched. "Today will be henceforth known as the day that the blood of the Tok'ra ran free and their rebellion ended for good." He gazed pointedly at Sam, who kept her expression neutral.
At least Daniel will be able to warn them, Sam thought with some relief.
The official summit ended soon after. Most of it was verbal attacks on Osiris as to why Anubis deserved to ascend to their ranks. The various System Lords dispersed. Sam led her lok'taur back to her quarters. Zeus would be really pissed when he heard about Anubis.
She was a little nervous that she would have to endure the anger he would surely take out on an innocent Jaffa before her. The sight of the colorful ways of torture Zeus could concoct made her stomach churn nearly as badly as hearing the symbiotes devoured.
After learning about Daniel posing at Yu's lok'tuar, she hadn't been too happy to learn that it was Yu's quarters--and as a result, his cargo ship--she had to pass by whenever she wanted to go straight from the summit to her quarters. Naturally, there were other ways but this route was shortest.
They gathered their things and headed to the cargo bay. They passed Yu's and she could hear muffled yelling. She would have ignored it except she recoginized Daniel and Osiris's voices. Hastily, she dropped what she had been carrying and pounded on the door.
Rationality kicked in and Sam punched in a code on the small control pad. The doors opened and she saw Yu and Daniel trying to fight off Osiris. By the look of the situation, Yu had been stabbed and was trying to keep Osiris from killing Daniel. Daniel was trying to get free from Osiris. It appeared that Osiris was winning. Without thinking, Sam threw herself into the din.
She grabbed Osiris's hair and pulled his head back. When he saw Sam, his eyes glowed. He grabbed Sam's other arm, being unable to grab the hand that had his hair. Using a different tactic, she wriggled herself between Osiris and Daniel--she was too hyped up to know exactly how she accomplished that--and pushed. As a result, Osiris was forced to let go of Daniel, who went sprawling, with Sam following. She landed on his arm.
"Are you--?" she gasped.
"Fine," Daniel finished, panting. "I'm fine."
"Go," growled Sam. She checked on Osiris. He was distracted enough by Yu.
"Come with me," Daniel begged. They stood slowly up.
Sam shook her head violently. "There's no time to argue. I'm not going. If you stay, we might be able to subdue Osiris, but I don't know. You're the one he's after, so he might stop fighting once you leave."
"That's a pretty big 'might'," Daniel pointed out.
"I'm also someone who has a sarcophagus at hand," said Sam. "I couldn't guarantee your safety should Zeus bring you back to life if Osiris managed to kill you." She pointed her hand device at him as a last resort. "Don't make me use this," she pleaded.
"You wouldn't," Daniel said, though he looked wary.
The stone on the palm of the device glowed. "If that's what it takes to make you leave," she replied firmly.
Hesitantly, Daniel nodded and hurriedly punched buttons to the escape pods.
"No!" shrieked Osiris. He knocked Yu out and shoved Sam out of the way. She collided with the wall, winded. Luckily, Daniel was already in the pod and floating out of the shield.
Recognizing her compromising situation (the only two who opposed Anubis were fighting violently with Osiris) she hobbled out of the room. Kealyn was waiting, along with the lok'taur.
"My lady," Kaelyn fussed, "what happened?"
"Later," Sam huffed, still recovering. "Right now we need to leave."
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Daniel was incredibly relieved to feel his pod ringed aboard Jacob's ship. "Oof!" he grunted as the pod fell over.
Jacob opened it up. "Daniel, are you okay? You look like hell."
"Osiris attacked me. Yu tried to get him off of me but ended up getting stabbed. Then Sam came in."
"What?" Jacob asked, stunned. "Who's side did she..."
"It's because of her I made it here alive," Daniel commented dryly.
"But if she's sided with the Goa'uld, why did she help you?"
"I don't think she's with the Goa'uld. It's more like she's with Zeus."
"Tell me later, when you're at your briefing. The poison?" Daniel held it up. "Good, now let's get the hell outta here."
Jacob's shoulders slumped as he opperated the controls.
"Even though she's not on our side anymore, she demonstrated something very important today," Daniel said.
"What was that?"
"She still acts like the two of us are friends. Our Sam is still in there somewhere."
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I have no clue how many chapters are going to be let but I do know this is going to probably be my longest SG-1 story at present. I'd like to hear any questions or comments...
R&R
