lordheaven; Starfleet does have a tendency to simply forget about simple solutions… Oh well. Don't want to get too simple or else everything would be too easy. I don't know what to make of weapons in either universe, to be honest. Definitely not when they're together. I basically just pretend like I know what I'm talking about. And… yes… that Goa'uld… wouldn't it be annoying if it got out…? But Furlings are an interesting thought. I always thought that the Furlings ought to have left something more behind, you know? If they were as important enough to be one of the four races and all that, you'd think they'd show up more.

SSJ3Monkey; Thank you for your thoughts! And you are absolutely right: they are essentially the same rank, which I noticed a few months after publishing this initially. I was hoping no one else would. xD I am either too lazy to go rewrite the chapters where it's applicable (which is completely possible because I'm a lazy bum) or currently explaining it to myself by saying that O'Neill didn't give it a second thought once he saw that he wasn't dealing with Air Force ranks (which… would O'Neill admit to himself he was wrong when it didn't actually matter?). Either way, I guess the result is the same.

Chapter 20: Cursed Curiosity

Teal'c was getting antsy. Well, maybe it wasn't Teal'c. Maybe it was that worm in his belly. Jack shuddered at the thought and then mentally corrected himself. The worm's name was Zan. And maybe it was Zan getting antsy. This two entities in one body thing… it could really confuse a person. He knew just as well as Teal'c did the harm that now-fully-grown Junior could do.

"It should be killed, Doctor," Teal'c said. Jack nodded his agreement, but didn't intrude on the conversation. It was beyond him how he'd missed raktajinos all those hours he'd spent in Ten Forward. He inhaled the strong, nearly barbaric aroma—it was a Klingon drink, after all—and then took a gulp.

Doctor Bashir caught Teal'c in a glare—his best attempt at being intimidating—and his bushy eyebrows pressed down over his eyes. Then he softened a bit, and tried a different tactic. "Teal'c, if I kill it, then if you ever find a way to get home, you would have no choice but to take Zan with you."

"Zan understands how dangerous the symbiote is," Teal'c said. "Keeping the symbiote alive poses too great a threat to this universe."

"I simply cannot kill a living thing, no matter how evil it is." Doctor Bashir slammed a PADD he was holding down on the counter in front of him and Jack almost lost his raktajino. "What is so funny, Colonel O'Neill?"

"Nothing!" Jack answered. "I only hope that if Junior gets out, he's as forgiving as you are."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow in Jack's direction. "He will not be."

"I know that." Jack rolled his eyes. Apparently, Zan had done nothing for Teal'c's appreciation of sarcasm. "Well, Teal'c, since that worked so well, do you want to go find out what Sam and Daniel are doing?"

"I do have work to do."

That was new. For all the time Teal'c had spent in here—granted, he was supposed to be in here—and all the time Jack had wandered from one end of the other, partially just to keep an eye on Junior, Julian had never shown them the door. But he was pretty much standing next to it right now, looking very irritated and very nearly pointing outside.

"Lots and lots of work," Jack said with a nod, meandering out to the Promenade. "Think about what we said, Doctor."

"I will." As soon as both Jack and Teal'c were out, he disappeared back behind the wall of the infirmary and was out of sight. Teal'c looked at Jack and Jack looked back. "He'll never toss Junior out an airlock. Their containment protocols are usually pretty good."

Teal'c frowned at that. They had just had a little run-in with a strange baby space-jelly, but Sam figured out what was going on before anything drastic happened… Drastic like the destruction of the space station. It turned out there wasn't enough room on the station for all of them and the embryonic life form. Whatever that meant, Jack wasn't sure. It looked like a jelly manta ray space fish, but "embryonic" was shorter, even if less descriptive.

Anyway, containment protocols hadn't exactly done them any favors then.

But, Jack knew that Doctor Bashir was very responsible about things like that, especially if someone somewhere thought something was dangerous.

"O'Neill," Teal'c said, then. His tone was contemplative—more so than usual, anyway—and he stopped to behold the jumja sticks at the vendor. Jack had a feeling he wasn't just about to comment on their sweet taste. "Doctor Bashir is right."

"About Zan?" Jack nodded and slurped his raktajino. "We've had bigger problems than that before."

"Zan hasn't. Not of such lasting importance, anyhow. I cannot remove him from his universe should a way home be found," Teal'c said.

"Zan won't have to come. Can you imagine how much trouble that would be to explain?" Jack tried to imagine explaining it to the general and Doctor Frasier for a moment, but abandoned that train of thought as soon as the general assumed his requisite frown, that one he always adopted when Jack was trying his level best to sound like an idiot. If things like that weren't so damn fun…

"It's probably pointless to think about anyway," Jack added, and moved off toward the stairs to the second level of the Promenade.

Everyone, in their "spare time" had taken up hobbies here on Deep Space was a little busy helping Chief O'Brien sort out the mess that was Cardassian wiring and sometimes entertaining herself with the doctor's attempts at romance, though, fortunately, not recently. Teal'c spent time with the "other" Trill on the station, Jadzia, not only to help him adjust to the visiting consciousness, but also as a sparring partner. Even Jack had found things to do. The security chief, Odo, had all the sense of a humor of a dying Vulcan, but Jack liked him because he was all business and liked causing trouble for the local shyster. Odo seemed to tolerate him, too, if only because Jack had zero nefarious plans and doubted Odo thought he was smart enough to carry out anything serious anyway.

Needless to say, they were all probably bored. But, home was a strange word with strange definitions these days…

"Yes," Teal'c agreed. "It probably is." He looked back over his shoulder at the infirmary as they climbed the stairs and then at Jack. The wormhole outside the window opened, and then Teal'c sighed. He smiled a slight bit—definitely Zan talking there. "Junior probably misses ruling the unsuspecting masses too much."

Eyes flashed. "Idiots…"

Julian wandered away from the door as soon as Teal'c and Jack had left. Julian. Actually, Julian stilled railed against his captivity within, fighting for all that puny consciousness was worth. Julian was no more, now. Or, at least, he would soon not be. He would tire and fall silent. He understood the importance of keeping a secret, especially now. But, eventually, this universe would be his and, best of all, there would be no other System Lords to argue with him.

He frowned at the utter insistence of this being. Julian had first tried to reason with him—that was laughable. The reason of such a lesser being. Julian couldn't possibly fathom the reason of a god. He'd eventually come about to fighting, what he did now, but there was nothing he could do. His consciousness was weak. Ineffective.

Though, he'd figured out how to make a clone, and that was some trick. He leaned down and peered at the little snake. The little duplicate of himself. The thing that couldn't be allowed to live, as Teal'c and O'Neill had suggested. The only problem was: Julian would never kill the artificially-aged larva. Everyone knew that. Even though he was privy to Julian's thoughts currently, the pang of regret that he hadn't killed him when he might have.

The regret that Julian hadn't listened and let his curiosity get the best of him. He simply wanted to get a closer look. He simply wanted to see if it was all that dangerous. That thought, that regret, that pain; the Goa'uld almost quivered with delight. But he couldn't right now, he couldn't get all he praise and worship he deserved. Now, it was time to hide.

He couldn't exactly stroll out onto the Promenade and declare he was supreme lord of all Starfleet.

He wasn't opposed to hiding, though, and there was even a convenient escape. As soon as this little imposter and competition was killed, he would be on his way. He didn't know how long they'd pursue him in hopes of getting Julian back but they couldn't pursue him for long. It was a big universe, and they had no idea. It was difficult to find only one being in all the stars out there.

He opened the container that held the small Goa'uld clone and pulled it out. It squirmed and slithered, but he held it tightly. It was odd, for a moment, knowing that he held himself in a small way, a copy. It shrieked and thrashed. But only for a short time. The Goa'uld clone fell limp, crushed. He held it up and looked at it as he unclipped his combadge and put it on the computer.

A runabout awaited, and with any luck he'd be able to get through the wormhole and away before anyone noticed he was gone. And, fortunately, the only people in the universe that knew exactly what he was capable of were a little too preoccupied with issues of their own.