Author's Note: I'm borrowing my Said the Joker story for a setting again, in this one. You don't have to read StJ in order to understand this. Just know that Cody and Barriss are alive and helping the early Rebellion in the post-Order 66 galaxy.
Smile
Crossover 3 . A Commonality
"What's it mean?"
"Slavery. To false gods."
Cody managed not to wince; he couldn't have known, and the man would know that. It was the entire reason for asking. He'd been from one side of the galaxy to the other, and never before had he seen any race that burned crests of liquid gold into their foreheads. The man's was oval in shape, a pair of concentric golden rings, with a sinuous design in the center that Cody supposed could represent a serpent of some kind. Below the crest was a highly arched brow and expression of what could only be described as complete unamusement. After a moment, the brow descended back down, and the man named Teal'c returned his attention to the ruins spread out before them.
The sky was dominated by the baleful brown-yellow-red streaks of the gas giant above, and a collection of vague ivory moons in the distance. The moon they were currently standing on was the only one with a breathable atmosphere, and the air was close with humidity and overgrown vegetation. Vines dripped down palisades, and wild grasses sprouted through cracks in streets that once were smoothly paved. Some species of local bug was filling the air with a noise halfway between a rattle and a screech. He didn't know what caused the Gree to abandon it a millennia ago, but Cody supposed it had something to do with the atmosphere; there was too much oxygen in it for the Gree, but for a few humans, it made a great place to stow away contraband medical supplies for Rebel groups.
Built into a mountain, the ruins swept upward towards higher peaks in the distance. Mist rose up from the valleys, and from where Cody stood, he could see the focal point the entire complex was built around.
An upright, stone circle stood at the end of what was once a processional walkway.
The walkway itself was bordered by sloping, relief-covered stone walls that led up into rows of auditorium seating; the whole area had a theatrical feel to it. When they first found the place six months ago, he and Barriss guessed it was where they held some kind of religious rites. The circle certainly seemed symbolic of something important, and there was some kind of altar in front of it, though it was circular in shape and tilted, with stylized constellations patterned all over it. The same patterns were carved into the stone circle, as well.
They left it alone. The Gree were long gone, and it seemed disrespectful to fiddle with their things.
Then, yesterday, while they were moving several fresh crates of bacta into their cache in the lower ring of the complex, the giant stone circle…turned on. Energy coalesced in the center of it, burst out like water and light, and then settled into luminescent pool.
And out stepped four humans.
Well, three humans, and Teal'c. He said he was something called a Jaffa, but as far as Barriss could figure, that meant human with some sort of parasite infesting his abdominal region. He had two Force signatures, and she described the creature in his belly as potently and disturbingly imbued with the Dark Side.
Teal'c seemed completely in control of whatever it was in his belly, but Cody was keeping an eye on the large man, just in case. The entire situation was bizarre.
They called themselves peaceful explorers, from a planet called Earth, and they really weren't sure how they got this far from their homeworld. Apparently the stone circle – the Stargate – didn't normally do intergalactic travel. Just interstellar.
The one named Carter was running around trying to find any remaining Gree technology, while attempting to determine what went wrong with the device. The one named Jackson was simply running around and taking holos of the entire complex, raving about Ancients and new, undiscovered races. O'Neill, like Teal'c and Cody, seemed to have decided the best thing to do, in an unquantifiable situation, was to keep an eye on the other guy, just to be safe. He was pacing around not far from the Stargate, occasionally helping Carter with her work.
At the moment, Jackson was snapping holos of the processional way and talking to Barriss, who was likely informing him of what she knew of the Gree species, judging by the animated gesturing. The group seemed honest enough, and other than the bizarre thing in Teal'c abdomen, Barriss sensed they had no ill-intent, and seemed to genuinely just want to go home – apparently after Jackson holographed the entire place from top to bottom.
Of course, the travelers had no idea Barriss was a Jedi, or that the medical supplies they were transporting were contraband; Cody knew that they suspected something off with their cover story, which was another reason why he was keeping an eye on them.
Still, they'd passed a peaceful night together, and in an attempt at being friendly, he and Barriss shared some of their meals with fresh vegetables from Alderaan, as well as a pot of caf with the quartet. That seemed to help smooth relations, as the travelers only had dried field rations. Though the conversation last night was cordial, it was not warm.
"I didn't mean to offend," Cody said, looking again at the large man beside him.
Teal'c looked at him again, with another lift of his eyebrow. "Your curiosity is understandable."
That sounded like Teal'c wasn't angry for him asking. Cody nodded once, folding his arms over his chest and looking out over the complex; it was an impressive sight, now that he took the time to pay attention to it. The gas giant was directly overhead, looming over everything, and the yellow sun was bright in the distance. Jackson was dragging Barriss by the elbow farther along the processional, and Cody gave a wry grin at the sight. He'd almost be jealous if it weren't so blatantly obvious Jackson was only interested in the reliefs.
The team – SG-1, they called themselves – was learning a great deal about this moon, and a bit about their galaxy in general. Last night during dinner, he and Barriss had found themselves warily answering questions about the state of their home galaxy.
It seemed only fair SG-1 answer a few questions as well.
Carefully, and hoping he wasn't making some kind of insult, Cody asked, "You were a slave?"
Teal'c answered, with the same deep, mild tone, "I am a Jaffa."
Cody resisted the urge to sigh. He'd said that already, and it meant nothing to him. "Which means what, exactly?"
Teal'c shifted slightly, his grip adjusting slightly on the length of his rather peculiar looking staff-blaster. "The Jaffa are the foundation on which the Goa'uld built their empires in our home galaxy." He paused, eyes skimming across the complex laying before them, then continued. "The Goa'uld are a parasitic race that has enslaved much of the galaxy, calling themselves gods. The Jaffa are trained since birth to serve them and do battle for them."
Cody looked at Teal'c, then towards the Stargate, O'Neill, and Carter. He didn't have any details, but that simple explanation provided an outline he could follow - the Goa'uld, a parasitic race that enslaved much of the galaxy. He didn't know what, precisely, that thing was Teal'c that was carrying inside him, but a race prone towards building empires and enslaving galaxies would certainly be steeped in the Dark Side. It fit Barriss' description of the second Force signature concentrated in his abdomen.
Jaffa are trained since birth to serve them and do battle for them. Cody grimaced, unfolding his arms from across his chest. It was too warm to shove his hands into the pockets of his bantha leather jacket, but he wished he could find a way of more comfortably hiding the sudden clenching of his fists. Trained since birth to do battle. That sounded entirely too familiar. His expression darkened into scowl, and he tried to ease it; Teal'c would not know of clones, of the GAR, of stormtroopers, and this was a complicated enough subject to discuss; he didn't need Teal'c misinterpreting his responses.
Teal'c clearly was no longer working for these Goa'uld anymore. His staff-blaster was of a very different technology than the strange, primitive looking kinetic powder-and-bullet based blasters the rest of SG-1 carried; Goa'uld technology, most likely. It didn't take a clone Commander like Cody to tell that Teal'c knew very well how to use his weapon. Every motion the man made outlined his training. The man was a soldier, and if he'd been raised to serve the Goa'uld, that meant he had, at some time, deserted.
He snorted once, unable to suppress a dry laugh. Teal'c turned to him, that eyebrow flexing upward again. For a man so stone-faced, he had amazingly expressive eyebrows. "You're a deserter," Cody said.
The eyebrow remained raised, and Teal'c tilted his head in what Cody recognized as acknowledgement, and perhaps curiosity. Cody knew he wasn't speaking scornfully, but with amusement. That wasn't the usual reaction someone gave if they told you they were a traitor and deserter.
The Dark Side seemed to exist everywhere. Goa'uld in one galaxy, Sith in another, and they all wanted armies to fight for them. "The Republic used to be something amazing," Cody started, a vague smile on his lips as he looked up at the gas giant hanging overhead. "Until it became so corrupt it couldn't stand, and a Sith took over. He played two sides off each other, and stuck an army of clones in the middle of it all." His face hardened. "An army trained since birth to serve and do battle."
Hearing his own words echoed back at him, Teal'c straightened and turned so that his full attention was now on Cody. Cody turned enough so he could more easily meet the Jaffa's dark eyes. He knew he shouldn't be saying so much, but if what this man said were true, and he had no reason to lie, they were very much the same.
"You deserted as well," Teal'c surmised.
Cody nodded once. "Why did you leave?"
"I had a mentor who taught me the wisdom of doubt, and to question that which I was taught to believe infallible." He then turned and looked at the rest of SG-1. "And then I met those who could defy gods and live." He returned his gaze to Cody, and this time, the arch of his brow seemed to be a querying one.
"I was ordered to kill the man I respected most, and learned to question needless slaughter on my own." He looked down towards Barriss, but thought of Rex and of Ahsoka. "And I had a couple friends who were a few steps ahead of me." He smiled, and looked again at Teal'c. The large man was still unsmiling, but there was a softness in his eyes that was not there a few minutes ago, and he lacked some of the wariness he had exhibited since their meeting. They had an understanding.
A burst of light and energy erupted from the Stargate, and the two men looked across the auditorium seating to see O'Neill clap Carter on the shoulder.
"Seems your friend has your Stargate back on," Cody said.
"Indeed."
The two men paused for a moment before turning towards each other, looking out across the ruins of what was once, so many millennia ago, a great civilization. The grey ring of the Stargate stood starkly against the bright sky, once again tying two places, so very far apart, together.
The clone and the Jaffa turned and descended the steps they stood on, so that they could join their friends.
I really wanted to write a mini-crossover using Teal'c and one of the clones. The situation of the clones in Star Wars has always reminded me of the situation of the Jaffa in Stargate SG-1, being trained since birth to serve as soldiers in wars that were not their own. Initially I wanted to use Rex here, but was having a hard time picturing it. Eventually I switched to Cody, since Cody's reason for staying with the Empire so long in Said the Joker is very similar to Teal'c's reason for staying First Prime of Apophis as long as he did. I thought it'd be neat to make them have a little chat.
Also, for anyone wondering, this is definitely non-canon in regards to my Said the Joker-verse and exists in its own little bubble.
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Hugs to you all, for simply being awesome. Thank you for taking a moment to let me know you enjoyed the story. It always means a lot to me, knowing you've enjoyed my little ramblings in here.
Additionally, there's some updates on my profile page, about Smile and the new fic I've been working on, if you're interested.
~Queen