NOTE: This bit's a little telling instead of showing but it's Jas'ak. I do like Jas'ak.

Chapter 13 – Jas'ak

"Jas'ak?" Sam said. "The same Jaffa that wrote the letters?"

"I think so." said Daniel. "He was taken prisoner and eventually killed – according to this – for his service to the goa'uld Giya who was killed in the storming of her base on a planet named Aberon."

"Well from what I've seen," said Cam, "she is very much alive."

"Yes, that's just one of the things about this that doesn't make sense." Daniel wasn't anywhere near done yet. "This is a great source of information because it's a list of crimes and sort of a life story of Jas'ak according to Yu – don't even think it – as well as his final testament.

"Jas'ak was originally a Jaffa high up in the ranks of another goa'uld by the name of Mordel who wound like he was a very minor playing in everything. For some reason Jas'ak left his home, his wife and daughter, in the middle of the night for what seems like no reason whatsoever.

"At that point he was sentenced to death in his absence. Al goa'uld would have been more than willing to kill him. They didn't want their own armies to get any ideas of desertion."

"So he was sort of like the original Teal'c." said Cam.

"Sort of," replied Daniel, "there were no ideas of Jaffa freedom attached to his name, he was just said to be a coward.

"However, about a year later he resurfaced along with a new face in all of this. He had become the first prime of a particularly power hungry goa'uld named Giya. Giya quickly associated herself with Anubis, becoming one of his most trusted lieutenants. Naturally Giya seems to not have been particularly liked among goa'uld."

"Well good for her." put in Cam sarcastically.

"The testament says she had 'a handful of Jaffa, all stolen by her from many others, but the majority of her armies were human.'. Jaffa are a bit of a status symbol among minor goa'uld."

"So," said Sam, "they didn't like one of the commoners rising up to such a high position." She watched Daniel nod. "And I guess that a lot of the lower goa'uld weren't happy that she was stealing their Jaffa armies."

"That's right." said Daniel. "Now, to the System Lords and their associates the amount that she had wouldn't have mattered much but to others every single one counts. Giya would have had around a battalion of fifty."

"That doesn't sound like many." Cam said frowning. "I can't believe I'm discussing this but how would she get to be a System Lord's lieutenant with only fifty Jaffa?"

"Well it says here that her armies were supplemented by humans, which seems to have happened a lot among minor goa'uld with few Jaffa. It would mean that her army wasn't particularly powerful. Anubis would have probably supplied her with some of his Jaffa if she needed them for missions but that's just the thing. It's another thing that doesn't make sense. What use would Anubis have with her when his own Jaffa would be doing a lot of the work?

"All indications show that her territory never extended beyond a single system with only on inhabitable planet, the one that you visited, Aberon. What did she have that Anubis needed?"

Sam shrugged, "Maybe she had some sort of knowledge that interested him. The display that we saw down in the isolation room could have been enough for him to want to keep an eye on her."

Daniel screwed up his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I hadn't thought of that one."

Sam made a slight movement in Daniel's direction. "Are you okay Daniel?"

"No, I'm fine." said Daniel very unconvincingly.

"Level with me here Jackson." said Cam seriously. "You still got those headaches?"

"No," Daniel shook his head and stood upright. "I'm just really exhausted."

Cam nodded once. "I tell ya this: Giya has a lot of questions to answer."

"I could have told you that." said Daniel.

There was a tense silence before Sam had the sense to say something. "So, do you know what happened to her next?"

"Well we know that the System Lords kicked Anubis out for 'unspeakable crimes'." said Daniel with air quotes and all. "It seems that Giya stuck with him up until the point he was thought to have been killed but of course…"

Sam nodded, "He ascended…"

"…and started off all that mess." Daniel finished. "Well, for what we're dealing with now he was dead, gone. There was a massive power vacuum, everything that Anubis had was up for the taking."

"Let me guess," said Cam, "all those nasty goa'ulds that didn't like Giya saw this as a great opportunity to nock her off now that she wasn't being protected by Anubis."

"Bingo." Daniel pointed at Cam. "Though a technicality she was eligible to take Anubis' place as a System Lord. Lord Yu wasn't very happy about that. Being an avid opponent of Anubis he saw this as the perfect time to take her out of the picture. Her army was diminished from fending off all of those snapping at her heals so Lord Yu simply sent his Jaffa through to Aberon. According to this everyone there was massacred, Giya was killed and Jas'ak was taken as a prize to be tortured and killed."

Sam grimaced a little, "That's horrible."

'They're goa'uld. What did you expect?" said Cam bitterly.

"There's one more thing about this that doesn't make sense." said Daniel. "In his last words Jas'ak seems very devoted towards Giya. He goes on about her even though she is gone now. He says…'she hasn't died so there is still hope for those blinded by the goa'uld'."

Cam shrugged, "Sounds just like any first prime raving about his god."

"But that's the thing." said Daniel. "The last line contradicts that completely. From how this goes it sounds like he worked himself up a bit before…" his voice trailed off not stating that Jas'ak's shouting had probably been ended by a rather bloody death.

Sam coughed uncomfortably. "So, um, what did he say?"

Daniel took a second to find the right place among the confusion of elaborate symbols and embellishments, all recording the demise of the Jaffa Jas'ak. "Here." He pointed to the spot and lent forward to read it. "'You say that she is dead and gone'," he said, the voice of the person reading not quite matching the words. "'but I know her. I know the power that she has and you have no idea as to what she is. She will return and she will stop you and your kind. I am Jas'ak, I have fought long and hard for what I believe and I will forever serve the false god, Giya.'"

There was another strained quiet as the dying man's words echoed through the room.

"False god? He said that?" said Cam, confused.

"Yeah." said Daniel. "Doesn't make sense does it."

NOTE: More and more questions. Please review, what do you think of Jas'ak?