Rising from the Ashes of Ascension

Chapter 26

Disclaimer: As much as I might wish, I do not own Stargate: SG1, Highlander: the Series, or any recognizable characters from either show. If I did, I wouldn't be working in the public schools system. However, any characters that are not from either show are mine and I will use and abuse them as I see fit. Everyone else will be returned eventually, for I am only borrowing for awhile, but they might end up a bit scuffed.

Warnings: Potty language, violence, and occasional sexual references

The next few months for SG1 passed by in a blur. There were missions to be had, disasters to be adverted, and a whole lot of pain, sweat and tears to be had.

It seemed as if most of the pain and sweat belonged to Daniel.

On one of the missions SG1 had undertaken his body had been hijacked by a dozen different personalities, each with their own issues. His own personality had been pushed to the back of his mind, not allowing him any sort of control. Every action, from a simple hand gesture to lunging at Janet at one point, was beyond his control. When asked later what it had been like, Daniel admitted that it had been terrifying and maddening at the same time. He hated the fact that he was forced to watch his actions from afar and not be able to do a damn thing about any of it. By the time Daniel had regained control of his mind, he was mentally exhausted from the ordeal.

Soon after his experience as being a pack horse for a bunch of dead aliens, he had been captured, tortured, and chased through the jungles of Central America. It had started off as a quick jaunt down to Honduras to look for a device created by the Goa'uld Telchak that would help the SGC in the fight against the Goa'uld. It nearly ended up a total disaster.

Originally, they had started out to find the source of the mythical "Fountain of Youth." Nicholas Ballard, an old friend from a previous life, had been obsessed with the myth and had traced the legends to Chac, the Mayan god of rain. Using a journal of Nick's in Daniel's possession, Selmac had been able to piece together where the device could be located.

Daniel and Dr. Bill Lee were sent down to retrieve the device, the root technology of a sarcophagus, and hopefully avoid any entanglements that would upset the local government. The idea was that as civilians, their presence would not ruffle too many feathers and they would be able to go places that an official representative of the U.S. government, much less a member of the military, would not be able to go. Unfortunately, things quickly spiraled out of control. They were kidnapped, after they found the device, by rebels and forced to march through miles of the jungle.

Once they reached the camp, the rebels wanted to know more about the device that the Americans were after. Daniel was first up. He and Bill had to endure being denied food and water. When that didn't work, Rafael decided that the men from the SGC need more direct persuasion. While being hooked up to a car battery, like something from a scene in Rambo, was far from being pleasant, was nowhere near as bad as being fried to death on a giant skillet. Daniel did his best to scream at the right moments, but would not break.

These guys, in Daniel's opinion, were merely children playing with a magnifying glass and ants on a cloudy day. What they were attempting was a joke.

I guess when one has been set on fire, cooked to death, scourged, zatted, shot, mind probed by false gods, and experienced a Quickening, electrocution with a car battery is to be considered small time torture. I mean this is maybe an F1 at the most, Daniel thought to himself as Rafael turned up the juice. How in the hell did I get to a point where I developed my personal Fujita Scale for torture? Oh wait, have to remember to scream now.

He could feel the currents run through his body, the cables attached to his chest and near his groin. It hurt, but not as bad as it could have been. He screamed on cue, but refused to break.

Daniel bid his time, looking for the right opportunity to grab the device and escape with Dr. Lee. Right now was not the right time for action, but he was sure it would present itself eventually. If it had been just him or even if he had been captured with another member of SG1, he would have made a break for it but he was responsible for the safety of another, someone that did not have his training or stamina to survive in an unfamiliar jungle. That option needed to be reserved for when it was the only option available to him.

Eventually that did become their only option. The rebels took Bill and worked him over. It wasn't his fault really. The man was a scientist, not a member of a field team. He wasn't used to harsh treatment and hadn't built up a tolerance to pain. The poor man was reduced to tears and told the rebels all about the device. It didn't help that by the time they had finished with him, that Rafael and the others had been driven mad by being exposed to the device for an extended period of time.

They ran as far as they could, Daniel forcing Bill to go further than he would have been able to on his own. Eventually, Bill couldn't go on despite his best efforts. Daniel hid him and ran on, hoping to lead their captors to a spot that was advantageous towards him. Unfortunately, he got shot in the process and was cornered. The only weapon that was available to him at the time was a rock while facing down men armed with AK-47s and machetes.

While Daniel was expecting to get shot and beheaded, mentally bemoaning that finally after everything, his Quickening and life would be wasted because of the greed and insanity of a bunch of rebels, Jack and his old buddy Burke showed up to save the day. Soon after that, they were able to locate Bill, retrieve the device, and turned it off. They were on their way home.

Bill had remarked how amazing it was that Daniel's bullet wound had healed so quickly. Daniel and Jack managed to convince the scientist that since Daniel had been exposed to the Telchak device, but not long enough to be driven crazy; his healing factor had been temporarily boosted.

Janet, once they were back, insisted on digging the bullet out of his leg, re-bandaged the wound, and put him on crutches. She insisted that his medical file needed a bit of creative writing, least someone start to question his excellent health. Janet said that having concrete evidence, the bullet, would throw off any suspicion that he was anything less than one hundred percent normal. She also wanted him to take it easy on himself, to quit pushing himself. With that, she restricted him to light duty, not allowing him to go off-world.

While he resented not being allowed to resume his normal duties, though he would not have been able to go off world with the team since Sam had been hurt on the Super Soldiers world, he was able to get plenty of work done.

He busied himself by going through paperwork that he was behind on, translated artifacts that were piling up, and worked on a few projects that had been kept on the backburner for awhile.

One of those projects was a task he had set for himself and his staff as a result of the events on Kali's world and the events that led to Osirus' possession of his ex-girlfriend, Sarah. He and the others, when they were able to, were going through databases of museums across the country looking for possible artifacts that were of Goa'uld origin. It was a daunting task considering how many museums existed in the United States, not to mention the number of artifacts that they held. The nice thing was that many museums were immediately crossed off the list; it was very unlikely that they were going to find something in the Super Museum (a museum in Metropolis, Illinois dedicated to anything and everything Superman), the Ax Murder House in Villisca, Iowa, or the Sing Sing Museum in Ossining, New York related to the Goa'uld.

As daunting as the task was, it had been divided up among the staff members. When they had something they thought was worth looking at they had been directed to bring it to Daniel and then he would take a look at it.

Currently, Daniel was sitting in his office, busy translating a tablet brought back from PX1-930. It was a slow-going, tedious task, translating from an ancient Germanic dialect that had only been used by a tiny sect of the population of what would eventually become the northeast part of Bayern, into English.

"So, you find out anything good?" Jack asked from his spot on the couch, his fingers tapping out an undecipherable rhythm that only he could understand. He had previously been kicked out of Carter's lab after he accidently knocked over an upgraded version of the UAV that she had been working on for several weeks. To say that Sam was pissed was an understatement, hence he hiding.

"SG-5 managed to bring back a tablet that tells the story of a man who beat a cow to death in a field with two porcelain figurines," Daniel said tiredly, looking at the artifact with disgust.

"It was a knick-knack paddy whack," Jack said brightly, earning a groan from Daniel.

"That was bad," he told his friend, shaking his head slowly. "I just wasted an hour of my life that I will never get back and you make terrible jokes. Thanks a million."

Jack rolled his eyes. "It's not like you don't have time to spare."

Daniel was about to retort with something witty, but was interrupted by the familiar sensory wash that announced the presence of another Immortal in the near vicinity.

"Daniel, Colonel," Adam said in way of greeting the pair as he breezed into the dimly lit office. "Did the tablet that SG-5 brought back have any worth?" he asked, nodding at the artifact sitting on Daniel's desk.

"No," Daniel said sullenly as he picked up the item in question and tossed it on to a near-by bookshelf, not caring if the thing made it or not. He was tired, irritated at having wasted his time and effort over a stupid story, about five seconds away from committing homicide if Jack didn't stop that incessant tapping, and out of coffee; that alone made him see red.

"Maybe this will perk you up," Adam said as he inserted a thumb drive into a port on Daniel's computer. With a few quick taps on the keyboard and jostling of the mouse, he brought up a picture of a statue.

"Looks like it was made from Magnesium Schist, from India. It's a naga, isn't it?" Daniel asked, peering at the screen. "So?"

"Look at the base," Adam suggested calmly.

"What? Oh," he said, his voice trailing off as he made out the carvings that lined the base.

Goa'uld.

The statue, roughly two feet tall, was a figure where the upper half was a man and the lower half was of a snake. The figure also had a cobra hood, showing that he was a naga, a serpent, in human form. The writing, spoke of a being referred to as Parshvanatha who had been captured and imprisoned by Kali during battle. It said that the Goa'uld had tried to overthrow Kali at one point, but was defeated and was to be held prisoner for all time as a reminder of what happens to those that oppose Kali.

"This is awfully similar to one of the statues we found back on Kali's planet," Daniel said. "Where can we find it?"

Adam smiled brightly. "You'll love this. It's on display in a museum here in the US."

"Okay. Where?" Daniel asked, looking expectantly at the Old Man.

"It's in Kansas City in the Nelson-Atkins Museum," he replied.

"Oh no," Daniel said, dismay clearly written across his face.

"What's wrong? Worried about someone touching it? It's in a museum, probably under glass, safe from the general population," Jack said, looking at his friend, noticing the pained expression on Daniel's face.

"There's that," Daniel said dismissively. "However, I know the curator there. More important, he knows me."

"Oh," Jack said, understanding flooding him. "He thinks you're a wack-job."

Daniel laughed without humor. "Yep. Dr. Reardon is one of many that think I'm nuts and as a bonus, he was even there for my ill-fated lecture. There is no way he would let me examine the statue. He'd most-likely toss me out of the museum before I could even get a word in."

"Do you have any pull with this Reardon guy," Jack asked Adam.

"I don't know him," Adam said, looking a bit let down. He had found something of interest and now it was looking like a bit of a downer.

"Okay, so it's in a museum in some cow-town. I am sure the SGC can find a reason to separate the statue from the museum. It shouldn't be a big deal," Jack said, shrugging his shoulders, refusing to let the other's pessimism infect him too.

"Jack, Kansas City is not something from out of Bonanza. They aren't a bunch of ignorant hicks. The museum is a large, modern, world-renown facility. They aren't going to accept the government swooping in, taking a fairly obscure statue. Questions will be asked that we won't be able to answer to their satisfaction. I think the last thing Hammond and everyone else in the know wants is the Stargate program being revealed to the world because of some statue," Daniel said.

"Why not steal it?" Jack asked casually.

"Because," Daniel said patiently, "the Nelson is a modern museum, complete with a very modern and high tech security system that I doubt Sam could crack without assistance and not get caught while doing it."

"There's an idea," Adam said, a wicked gleam glowing in his eyes.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"We could steal it," he said as if this was obvious to everyone.

"How? In what incarnation of your life did you live as a thief?" Jack asked.

"No! Absolutely not, not a chance in hell," Daniel said suddenly, understanding what Methos was saying.

"Why not?" Adam asked, amused.

"I don't know," Daniel said, ticking off the reasons on his fingers, "maybe because Hammond would have all of our heads on a platter if we told him. And then there is the issue of security, we could never get her cleared. Not in a million years would that happen."

"We don't have to tell Hammond and she would do it without a full background. She'd look at it as a challenge," Adam said deviously.

"What makes you think that? When was the last time she ever did something blindly?"

"She owes me one, and I am sure she owes you."

Daniel thought back over the years. There was that time she got him killed when she thought it would be a lark to try and steal the jewels of Anna Gonzaga, also known as Princess Palatine and confidant of Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, back in the 1600s.

"She does owe me," Daniel agreed slowly. "Do you know where she is these days? Is she still hanging out with the Boy Scout these days, because if I have to go to Seacouver heads might roll?" Daniel couldn't believe that he was even entertaining the thought of stealing the statue and dragging Amanda into the mix. Did I hit my head or take a Dark Quickening and nobody bothered to inform me, he wondered to himself. Have I finally snapped?

"Nope, she's in Paris, hanging out with her boyfriend, Nick something or the other. Apparently they had a big falling out a few years ago over the fact that she shot him to insure he'd come back after being poisoned, as a, well, you know," Methos caught himself before he revealed too much. There were eyes and ears everywhere on the base. "That said they eventually patched things up. According to my friend in the Watchers, when I talked to him last, he's working in private security."

"Is this one of those conversations where I need to hear the details at another time or just not at all?" Jack exploded, irritated that the two were having a detail-less conversation in front of him.

"Probably," Daniel conceded.

"Who are you talking about?" Jack sighed.

"Amanda is an old friend with certain talents that lurk in the area of illegal, but she's actually a decent person despite her sticky fingers and she is really good at what she does," Adam supplied.

"What she does?" Jack asked, wary of the answer.

"She's a jewel thief, Jack. High end B and E is something she is very good at," Daniel explained.

"So what do we do now?" Adam asked Daniel.

"I've got a few days off next week. I'll make a quick visit to the museum, check out the statue. It could be nothing after all. I don't want to rush into anything. In the meantime, contact your buddy the Watcher and find out where Amanda is these days. After my trip, we'll decide what to do next," Daniel said firmly.

Adam nodded. "I'll call Joe tonight from home. Now if you don't mind. My boss," he said with extra sarcasm, "has left a pile of work for me to do on my desk and actually has the audacity to expect me to get it done yesterday."

Daniel waved his hand, dismissing his old friend, laughing as he did so. "I am so glad that my staff is up-beat and has a great positive attitude," he quipped to Jack.

Adam gave him a dirty look and quickly left the office, but not before he gave Daniel the finger.

"And I am glad that your staff understands decorum and proper protocol," Jack added, laughing.

A/N: Well, what do you think? Crap or not? Hit the shiny review button and let me know what you think. Feed the plot bunny!

First, the statue mentioned is loosely based upon a statue found at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. It's in my hometown and I am more familiar with it than the British Museum or the Louvre. I hope people aren't going to think that this is too Mary Sue/insert self. I figured that I should use a location more familiar to myself, rather than locations that I have only been to once in my life – especially if I want to go into detail about the place and what I plan to have take place there. The Nelson, despite being located in the middle of the country, is a world class museum and is home to tons of priceless artifacts and works of art.

Secondly, I know that this is late. Work, family, and sheer exhaustion got in the way of everything that wasn't work and family. However, those things had to come first and this story, as much as I love it, was far down on my list of priorities. Now that things are a bit more settled (as of right this minute, but I am sure things will be different tomorrow), I am back at it. So, thank you for sticking with me and the story in the meantime. Your reviews (and even just reading the thing) mean a lot to me.

Third, thank you to Lorilei for her great thoughts and suggestions. It was a blast having you in town! You are a wonderful friend to have. And just remember, a tie is better than a loss! We'll have to do this again!

Lastly, yes, this part of the story is going somewhere. Amanda will soon be making an appearance and disaster will soon follow, though it won't be her fault. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I will.

Cheers!