Chapter 15- Holly Hannah

Inside the testing room, Hope sat strapped into the chair and the others stood behind the Za'tarc detector.

"Could we begin soon, please?" Hope asked shifting in the chair, "It's getting a little stuffy in here."

"Jeez Jack, she sounds like you," Jacob says while trying to make it sound like it was a bad thing.

"Thanks dad."

"Don't push it."

"Holly hannah. Hello, I'm right here!" Hope yells trying to get their attention.

"I believe she now sounds like Colonel Carter," Teal'c informed them all.

"Thanks Teal'c," Carter turned to him.

"Hey! That's not a bad thing!" Hope says from her chair.

"Hey," Jack yells to get their attention, then he turns to Hope, "Does that mean you don't want to sound like me now?"

"No dad, I love to sound like both of you, happy?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"All right, all right, let's begin." Jacob then pushed something then the red beam scanned over Hope's head and it was ready for testing.

Anise then started getting to the point, "Are you the key?"

"Yes, and I see we're getting to the point oh so bluntly." Carter cleared her throat at her daughter which made Hope give her mother an apologetic smile.

"Are you the key to the ultimate weapon in the universe?" Jacob asked.

"Yes," there was nothing happening on the detector.

"Were you made in an Ancient machine from General O'Neill and Colonel Carter's DNA only?" Daniel had asked this knowing everyone had wanted to know for sure.

"Yes" This time a small amount of pink surrounded the blue on the screen.

"Hope? Is that a lie?" Carter asks.

"Oh, I forgot, DNA from an Ancient and a Go'uld was also added but only a very small amount." After telling them this, the pink disappears and they give Hope confused looks. "Well I don't know the precise reason why the ancient machine did that but all I know from what Oma told me is that it's for my protection."

"Okay, I guess I'll have to do further research on that when we get back," Daniel said mostly to himself.

"Hope, this has been bothering me for awhile, what happened to all the past keys?" Carter asked.

"Hm," Hope takes a minute to collect her thoughts, "from what I know," she then gets a dreaded look in her eyes, "either their enemies found out the one way to kill them or..."

"Or what Hope?" O'Neill asked not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Or..." she took a deep breath, "they killed themselves."

"Why would they kill themselves?" Carter asked, just wanting this to be over for her daughter sensing her distress.

"It's just a guess but I'm thinking they couldn't handle the stress, the responsibility that comes with being the key. I don't think anyone will ever understand what we have to go through, especially the individual ones. I'm guessing it was too much, knowing everyone out there wanted to kill or use you for some weapon that you've never seen before, so they did the only thing that they could do, but of course with permission from Oma. Maybe some even ascended."

With a new understanding of Hope, Teal'c asks, "What did you intend when you said the individual ones?"

"Well...like me. I mean the ones who know we need protection from family and friends, but we also don't really want it. To a limit, I know I can protect myself, but I also know I will need protection at times."

The questions continued, the outcome the same. It all proved Hope was who she said she was which now gave the Tok'ra a reason to believe her.