A/N: I sort of wrote this in one go. I'm drifting away from the storyline I had thought of for this fic, but I hope you don't mind...
Reviews are welcome!
Chapter 30 – The Dream
The conference came to an end after multiple hours of talking. Treaties were spoken and forged, decisions were made and Minos made sure everyone got their part. But after the long negotiations where everybody was bored out of their skulls, the talking was finally over. After everybody had returned to their planets, Minos sensed that Gannos was still there.
"Have you decided to stay?" Minos asked.
"I am only making sure you are doing the right things" Gannos answered.
"You seemed a whole less concerned about that when you sent me to spy on the Ori."
"That was not an assignment coming from me, it came directly from the Others."
"So this is all your will?"
"In a way, yes. But part of it is solely your doing."
"Tell me, how am I doing so far?"
"You acted differently than expected."
"That I'm still able to surprise you with my doings. You have known me for so long that I thought you learned everything about me a long time ago."
"I had learned everything about you, but you have changed. Or you haven't changed at all, depending on your point of view."
"Was it a change for the good of for the worse?"
"That is also a matter of views. From the viewpoint of the Others, your behaviour has certainly changed to something better after the accident with the fire demon, but..."
"It wasn't an accident." Minos interrupted.
"It wasn't?"
"It was a total and complete disaster. We nearly destroyed a whole planet, killing every living thing on it. Yea, certainly, we did save everything we could, but still. That whole thing never should have happened. Whole forests could have lived, animals could have been saved, if only we hadn't been so stupid to build that machine."
"You did everything at that time possible to save the planet, Minos. It is not necessary to hurt yourself by looping around in a maelstrom of your mind, especially not now. When this is over, there will be time."
"'When' should be replaced by 'if'. If this is over, there will be time. If there is anything of the two galaxies left after the war."
"You do not have to fight the war on your own, Minos, even though I cannot help you. There are other allies that will play a major role. The Asgard for example. This will be undoubtedly place a heavy strain on their capabilities, but they will do anything necessary and possible within ethical limits to help you. The Nox may not have any ships, but they will heal any injuries they find and they will teach you their ways."
"Their ways are not compatible with my ways, I found that out long ago."
"And the other allies you have chosen are good of heart. They will help in the war, Minos. Don't forget that."
"I just don't know what is best to do now. I don't like waiting for the Ori to attack."
"You were always impatient, Minos. But there is one thing you could do at this moment that needs to be done. You will need the help of the Goa'uld, Minos, especially now."
"Do I have to?"
"You may not be able to forgive them, but you still can hold a temporary seize-fire with them."
"I still don't like the whole plan of it."
"I know, Minos. I know what happened all those centuries ago between you and the Goa'uld, I know what they did to you, but I also know there are those amongst them that would prove valuable allies against the Ori."
"I especially don't like Anubis." Minos said, seemingly unfazed by Gannos' words.
"There are other Goa'uld besides Anubis that are certainly more ...honourable."
"So you won't mind me kicking his ass halfway through the galaxy then?"
"I you want to say it that bluntly, then no, I won't interfere if not forced by either you or the Others."
"Good. That gives me a few options to kill the time with."
"I have seen how you stole the Ha'taks from Anubis. The Others were not amused by your actions, but I was."
"Hard to picture any of the Others showing emotions."
"Do not underestimate their emotions, Minos. They most certainly have them, but they are locked away deep inside, to prevent them from interfering with their decisions."
"What good is having them then? It's like having a door without a wall in which it is built. Completely pointless, other than to talk about. And I haven't heard any of them talking about their emotions since I was a very little kid."
"It is true that ones Ascension renders their emotions less important, but it does not render them worthless."
"What is your goal here, Gannos?"
"I came here to make sure that everything went as necessary. The alliance must stand to stop the forces of the Ori, otherwise all will be lost."
"I take it you have taken the necessary actions for us to reach a solution against the Ori?"
"You will learn that in time, Minos. Now rest. Today was a long day."
"Don't ...do...that...dammit..." Minos said as Gannos let him fall into a deep sleep. He had hated it every time an Ascended being did that to him. Which was surprisingly often, especially in comparison to normal humans in the galaxy.
"I did what was necessary, Minos. Now sleep well, and dream." Gannos said as she faded away.
Minos looked upwards. The large group of people around him all flocked towards one large building in the city he was in. The people looked like they came straight out of the Middle ages. Ragged clothes, poor men and women from all ages walked slowly, in a zombie-like trance, towards the large building. Minos decided not to stand out by stopping. He took the same zombie-like pace and marched towards the building.
On his way to the building he glanced to the side. Medieval houses, just like the ones often seen in the Milky Way. These ones were almost exactly the same. Almost. Minos couldn't pinpoint what was wrong with the buildings, but something looked ... off, so to speak. He kept looking around. There were guards spread around over certain distances alongside the large street he was walking in.
The guards were all men, quite large in comparison to the other people in the streets. They were from all ages, except for the really young or old. There were no ones of those ages to be found. The guards had silver-grey coloured armour, looking pretty heavy, and they held long staff weapons. The staffs were different from the ones in the Milky Way. These ones were more slender and they ended in a small fork. Minos could only guess that they served the same function as their Milky Way counterparts.
Minos decided he wasn't going to risk being discovered until he knew more about where he was and what his purpose was. Or at least until there was an easy opening for him to move from the parade unnoticed.
When the steady stream of people had reached nearer to the large, black-coloured building in what Minos guessed was the centre of the large city, such an opening appeared. One guard stood around a corner, the other one was busy fixing his armour. Minos grabbed his chance and launched himself with almost superhuman speed into one of the alleyways that bordered the large street. He rendered himself near invisible by staying to the side, in the shadow of the building.
When he'd reached a relatively safe distance from the group, he stopped. He could hear a voice relatively far away, although that could have been because he stood between two tall buildings. He decided to take his chances by climbing on top of them. Using his superior agility, reflexes and power he climbed the pretty large building in under a minute. He was at least ten metres above the street level, on an open space of rooftops. Many buildings in the city had the same height, but there were enough hiding places Minos could use.
Minos wanted to check out from where the voices came, which he could now hear louder. He took a comfortable pace, which was way faster that average humans, over the rooftops towards the source of the sound. After a few minutes of jumping over alleys and streets he reached an enormous open square. He'd dropped himself in a reflex not to be seen by the ones on the square. He peeked over the edge of the rooftop, hiding behind a half-broken chimney.
On the enormous square several metres below Minos, thousands of people were lying, sitting or standing on the ground. On the far end of the square, just in front of the very large black building, was a stage. On the stage were several men, carrying some kind of weird staffs, different than the ones he had seen. They were ugly, their faces riddled with cysts and scars, their skin gray and their eyes blood-red. Minos could only barely see that from his position on the rooftop, even though he had focussed his eyes well beyond the normal human limit.
The middle man of the five on the stage spoke. He spoke in a language Minos could remember all too well. The man spoke in Ancient.
"We are here, today, to pray for our almighty gods, the Ori." The man said.
"We must pray and repent our sins so that our soldiers, our husbands and sons, will return safely from their quest to eradicate the infidels." The man reverted to English.
Minos was surprised by the statement. Not surprised enough to call it totally shocked, but still surprised. He had expected the Ori to come with something bigger than just soldiers. He'd expected weapons of mass destruction deployed on every world, but it seemed like they wouldn't do that.
Suddenly, Minos' still focussed eyes picked up movement near the stage. Four men were crawling slowly underneath the stage. The men on the stage didn't notice it because they couldn't see that low from where they were standing. The guards on duty also did not notice, because they had been distracted by questions from, apparently, a friend of the men underneath the stage.
Minos was wondering where this was going. He had figured this was a dream by now, but he wasn't sure what the purpose of this dream was. Every dream had a purpose, whether to deliver a message, to change ideas or to frighten you. That was, of course, only every dream you could remember having. Other dreams were just sparkles of fantasy, created by their owner's minds.
Minos was about to move from his slightly uncomfortable position on the rooftop when a large explosion rocked the stage. Apparently, the men that had crawled underneath it had positioned explosives on the wooden floorboards that formed the stage.
Suddenly, a large explosion rocked the stage, blasting the five men standing on it away. While the guards were still baffled by the sudden outburst of sound and movement, several figures jumped onto the stage, running towards the men lying flat on the ground, trying to grab their staffs and wrestling them.
"We will never bow for the will of the Ori!" One of the men screamed.
"The Ori are fake gods, not worthy of our beliefs." Another one yelled.
The five men that were on the stage had managed to overpower the people that had jumped them after the explosions. The guards on and around the stage had also intervened, driving spectators away from the stage.
Thirty seconds later, all the men that had tried to stop the servants of the Ori were lying face-down on the stage. Multiple guards were observing them. One of the ugly men spoke.
"These infidels are trying to stop the war. They are doing that by killing our soldiers. These people will kill your husbands and sons if necessary. They must be eliminated, for they are a danger to our cause. Behold now, the power of the Ori!"
All the men that were lying face-down on the stage suddenly erupted in flames. Screaming and crying they tried to douse the flames, but to no avail. Only much too long later the movements stopped and the flames died down, having devoured the men that conspired to overthrow the servants of the Ori.
"Hallowed are the Ori!"