Here, have this.
Reviews and criticism are welcome.
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate.
What was this? The eleventh, twentieth, thirty first time he had been killed and brought back to life by that damn Sarcophagus. Jack threw no fault of his own, had been captured by Baal. The Tok'ra who had brief control of his body had come back to this wretched outpost to find Baal's lotar and save her. That was how he ended up in this wretched topsy-turvy holding cell. Doomed to be questioned, tortured, killed, and revived over and over until his captor grew tired.
As he was laying down he found he couldn't sleep. Sleep would only fast forward him to the point where he would be tortured by Baal.
"Jack," it was Daniel. Who had ascended to a higher plain of existence or something like that. Whatever happened to him it wasn't all great from the sound of it. Especially if he couldn't use his power to bust a friend out of jail.
"Unless you are here to do what I asked-"
"I can't do that. You just have to hold out a little longer. I found a way to get you out of here." Daniel interrupted, to avoid talking about Jack's request from the last time they spoke.
"Oh, it better be soon. I don't think I can go through that again." Jack found he couldn't. He wanted to keep the Tok'ra's secret despite everything. But the constant deaths and revivals had him at his breaking point.
"Teal'c found a way to free you. The tok'ra leaked a message to Serana. Her forces will arrive soon," It was only a moment later that Jack felt the ground shake. "That was quick." Daniel said. The power in the cell drained. "Looks like you have a fighting chance, Jack. Use it well."
Jack looked at Daniel, "Thank you." Before he charged out of the cell. He came across the Jaffa guards and managed to catch them by surprise. He was able to kill them both, taking out his pent up rage at Baal out on them. He took one of their Zats, and searched the other cells. He found her. The woman, the Tok'ra, Kanan had returned to rescue. He told her to follow him. She was confused but followed his lead.
They managed to get out of the secret base and make for the tree line. They went unnoticed for sometime. Jack found the Stargate and kept his distance.
"We have to wait until they leave. It might take awhile." Jack said and the Lotar nodded.
Jack took stock of the forces attacking the secret base. They wore a far different set of gear. This armor was sleeker and covered the body in interlocking plates with no doubt allowed for full range of movement and protection. It was unlike the bulky gear the Jaffa usually wore. Baal's Jaffa would fire their weapons at them only for the Zat guns to fizzle out over the armor and staff blasts also did squat. They carried weapons that shot smaller, more concentrated staff blasts, around the size of an MP5. The armored forces swept through the place with ease.
As Jack waited there was a loud call. "Surrender your False God Baal has been captured!"
Some Jaffa fought on, but the smart ones lowered their weapons. It was then a figure walked through the Stargate. The armors contours clearly outlined the feminine frame underneath. This had to be Serana if the gold and Naquadah coloring on the armor was any indication. She had an escort of the four guards as well.
Two of the Warriors carried a battered looking Baal, before her. A third who appeared to be the leader of the Assault walked up and gave a crisp salute. They threw the disgraced Goa'uld at her feet. Her helmet folded back off her head. Jack could barely hear what was being said, though he noted her smirk.
"When I got a tip from the Tok'ra I expected a trap. Yet here you are. It seems you are keeping secrets Baal."
Baal spit a glob of blood and spit on the ground before her. "No more you were apparently. I see you have been keeping as many secrets from the rest of us if not more. And yet you were the one of the most vocal in denouncing Nirrti."
"She did try to kill me." Serana seemed to brush it off.
"The others might even ally with Anubis over this." Baal said.
"Only you have seen my elite forces. You should feel honored." Serana said. There was a note of understanding in the looks they gave each other. Baal seemed to realize there was never a chance of him being taken prisoner.
"I hope Anubis grinds your bones to dust." Were his last words.
Serana chuckled lightly before she spoke.
"Shek kree mikta," Serana said.
She held out a gauntleted hand and the hand device built into it sent out a charge and turned Baal's head into a fine pink mist.
"Incinerate the corpse. I don't want any chance of him coming back from the dead." Serana ordered. One of her warriors drew what looked to be a more pistol shaped zat from his holster and fired three times at the body, disintegrating it completely.
"Huh, I forgot they could do that." Serana said. One of the warriors at her side shook their head noticeably in a surprising act of what a normal Goa'uld would take as disrespect.
"Well, we better tear this place apart for anything useful." the System Lord said. Jack cursed under his breath as he realized they might not be gone right away. He was thankful he now knew that the Zat in his hand was useless after seeing Baal's troops use them ineffectively. If he could get one of the Serana's soldiers zats, then he might have an edge.
"Don't move." a voice said from behind both of them.
"Oh, for crying out loud." Jack muttered under his breath.
"C'mon get up!" The jaffa ordered. "And throw the zat."
Jack did as ordered, not wanting to get shot in the back. He would never get to the gate now.
"My Lady, we found some humans. One looks like Baal's Lotar from her outfit." The Jaffa behind him said. "I know not who the other person is."
"You don't pay much attention to the briefings, do you soldier?" The helmet on one of the Jaffa folded back. He had dark hair and a tanned compilation with a little goatee on his strong square chin. The golden fox mark on his forehead denoted him as the First Prime of Serana.
"Apologies Sir, I was stationed on border duty until recently." The young jaffa said.
"I see. Well congratulations soldier, It looks like you captured Jack O'Niell. The greatest warrior of the Tau'ri." The First Prime said.
"It explains why the Tok'ra leaked the information. They wanted Jack to find a way out of here in the confusion. Though why not go to Lord Yu is beyond me." Serana said. She faced Jack and stood before him.
"Your territory is closer to this world, I assume it was a matter of convenience?" the First Prime proposed.
"They could be playing nice. However, to quote a Tau'ri saying, "I won't look a gift horse in the mouth." Baal is dead and his territory is now mine." Serana said.
"Is it wise to stretch ourselves so thin at this time?" The First Prime said.
"No Kor, but I don't need to take all of it. Bastet has the nearest border correct?" Serana asked.
"Yes, but she has stretched herself thin taking a swath of Cronus' former territory." The First Prime said.
"Find one of Baal's underlords and give it to one of them, provided they swear fealty. Wouldn't hurt to have a buffer. That way it is practically Bastet's if she wants it later. She will see the non-aggression offering as it is." Serana turned and looked back at Jack. "What exactly are you doing here Colonel O'Niell?"
"Oh, you know, just visiting. Having tea and crumpets with my old pal Baal." Jack said flippantly.
The System Lord chuckled, "Ah, How unfortunate I didn't leave Baal to your tender mercy then." Serana gestured to the spot where Baal's body once sat.
"That's fine, I had a good view of him losing his head back by the treeline. You wouldn't mind letting us go now would you?" Jack took the chance to ask.
"Well any info you have is most likely outdated anyway and if I need info on the Tau'ri, I'd just get it from the NID." Serana leaned in close. "Is it supposed to be so easy?"
"Of course you do, and no." Jack said. Knowing full well how much a leaky sieve the NID was. It was strange she would just admit her source though. Perhaps it was a lie the SGC would spend hours and manpower chasing their tails with.
"I thought so." Serana said. "I mean you do tend to cause trouble for others so spectacularly. How can I not?"
"So you will let us go? Because I got a lot of Days of Our Lives to catch up on." Jack said. He wondered if he would get a punch from one of her guards if he rushed her along a bit.
"One of the DiMera's no doubt came back from the dead. And someone is having an affair." Serana said dismissively. "You won't have missed much."
"What?" Jack said in confusion. Serana continued before he could really gather his thoughts.
She gave a half nod to herself. "I will, provided you come up to my ship and go through my sarcophagus.
"Not for all the Tea in China." Jack said.
"Shame, the hard way it is then." Serana motioned with her hand.
"What the hell!" Jack shouted as he found his arms locked by the jaffa guards standing beside him. He struggled in vain as the Jaffa's ironclad grip didn't budge.
"Take him to my ship." Serana ordered. Jack found himself being hauled off.
He was placed on a ring platform and was taken up into orbit into the ship. He was then lugged through the halls, still struggling as much as he could.
"Throw him the Sarcophagus." Serana said.
Jack struggled even harder. "Don't you dare put me in that thing!" He shouted.
"It is for your own good." Serana said as she approached. She stood crossing her arms.
"I am going to kick your snakehead ass when I get out of here you-" The Sarcophagus closed before he could finish the spicier curses he had in store for her.
Jack tried desperately to pry the doors apart. He wasn't going through this again, Not if he could help it. However this sarcophagus was different. It felt more subtle and far less brute force like the other one. He found the caress of the healing energies slowly lulling him to sleep.
When he awoke. He was back on the prison planet near the gate with the Lotar he had saved.
"Where are they?" He said. Jack realized he felt rather good. He practically lept on his feet and didn't feel a damn ache or pain.
"They left after scouring the outpost." she said.
"Great. I will have to send her a postcard or something." Jack said sarcastically. It was lost on the former slave, so he just dialed the Alpha site.
"First off, before we get down to proceedings. It is good to have you back, Colonel." Hammond said. They were all sitting at the conference table once again. Luckily the Tok'ra sent Jacob again. Dr. Fraiser would also be sitting in.
"It is good to be back sir." Jack said.
"Jack I just want to say, the Tok'ra are very sorry for what happened." Jacob said. He did sound sincere. "Kanan broke our highest laws by doing what he did."
Jack simply nodded, keeping his mouth shut. He didn't want to dress down the Tok'ra at the moment. That and he was still pissed off.
"So when you were captured by Baal did you learn anything while imprisoned." Hammond asked.
"No, just that Baal was really good at finding ways to kill me. Also let's hope the CIA never gets a hold of a sarcophagus." Jack said.
"A common method of Goa'uld torture." Selmak said.
"It doesn't sound like a good way to get reliable information considering the sarcophaguses tend to cause madness," Jonas said.
"These are the Goa'uld we are talking about. They aren't really known for their subtlety." Sam mentioned.
"Yeah, well, Serana killed Baal." Jack said changing the subject.
"Yes, more so, the part of Xathral's report on the more advanced combat gear is true." Selmak said.
"It sounds like Serana's Isolation has been good for her." Jonas said. "She seems to actually be progressing her technology while the other Goa'uld stagnate."
"This still only confirms part of the information." Sam said. "Sir, did she say anything else?"
"That she was only going to take half of Baal's former territory. She is leaving the rest as a buffer state between her and Bastet's kingdom." Jack said. He was tired. He wanted to sleep in his bed back home.
"She did always have a soft spot for Bastet," Selmak said. "We don't know why, but we suspect Bastet did something for Serana in the past that she feels indebted for. Still it leaves an opportunity to slip one of ours in as a Minor System Lord."
Jonas seemed to scratch his chin before getting up. "I'll be right back."
"Was there anything else worth noting?" Hammond asked.
Jack thought for a moment, wondering if he should mention Daniel.
"No, just that I need to track down some M&Ms." Jack said.
Hammond let out a breath of mild annoyance, and motioned an Airman standing guard to go get some. The man nodded and left.
While they waited for Jonas to return, Dr. Faiser walked in. She spoke in a deep voice indicating the symbiote was in control.
"I heard you returned." X said. She sat down and set down a folder. It had been some time since the symbiote had been "stranded" on the base. There was a tentative unease on the base, especially if the Tok'ra were not able to secure a host. As far as Dr. Fraiser's thoughts on the matter went, it was hard to tell. She seemed to not mind all that much as time went on. In fact Hammond suspected the Symbiote was helping her a lot with her work. Fraiser could stay up longer and work longer hours. Fraiser had no intention of leaving the SGC to join the Tok'ra, not with Cassandra at home. X as everyone called the Symbiote was cordial enough.
"Selmak."
"Xathral."
"Well, it wasn't a spring picnic, I could tell you as much." Jack muttered in answer to her question.
"I can imagine." X looked at Selmak. "Any new hosts. I heard Baal's former Lotar had joined us."
"She already joined with Relan. Her host had been mortally wounded when Anubis attacked her holdings. It was fortunate that she arrived when she did. We may have one, but they are dragging their feet." Selmak said.
X bowed their head and Fraiser spoke, "Tell them to take their time and be prepared for a lot of running. X likes to run very long distances. If I let her, she'd run to the base from my house everyday."
"Glad to know, there are no hard feelings, Doctor." Jacob said.
Fraiser nodded and looked at Jack, "Well, I checked over your vitals and I dare say you seemed to have aged backwards somewhat."
"I do feel a bit more spry than I used to. My joints have stopped aching entirely since then. I am still a bit perturbed by the damn Snakehead throwing me in there, but I suspect she did it to show off," he looked at X and Selmak, "No offense." They both shrugged, not caring about the use of a derogatory word being used to describe their enemy.
"Well, I dare say that Sarcophagus far outstripped the current model." Frasier handed the folder to Hammond.
"She seems to be holding back purposely." Sam said. "You think with a dangerous Goa'uld like Anubis around she would do more to challenge him."
"Not to mention take the slack off us for a bit." Jack said.
"Serana may be in fact waiting for an opportune time for her move. She most likely wants Yu and Anubis to continue their war and weaken each other." Teal'c stated. "Her taking only half of the territory could imply this other enemy Xathral mentioned is in fact not a fabrication."
"She has been offering limited support to Yu." Selmak stated. "Mostly akin to what you humans refer to as lend-lease. With that much material being offered, I doubt this made up enemy is real."
"It's all speculation at this point." Sam spoke up. "I remember in Jackson's report on the System Lord's summit that it was mentioned that Serana and Anubis were siblings. Perhaps not the same brood, but definitely the same Queen."
"She was very vocal in her disallowing Anubis' return." Selmak said.
"Yes and none of the other System Lords would trust her. Especially because of that sibling connection. They would most likely assume her role was to betray them at a crucial moment." Sam suggested.
"Possible. Though doubtful." Selmak said.
"I got it." Jones said, climbing the stairs to the briefing room.
The Airman also arrived and handed Jack a pack of M&Ms. Jack quietly nodded thanks before loudly opening the bag up. Teal'c who sat next to O'Niell held up a hand palm up. Jack rolled his eyes and poured some into the hand. The hand remained. Jack begrudgingly poured a little more before Teal'c took the M&Ms.
"I was looking at Jackson's notes and found this. He slapped down one of Daniel's old books. I believe Bastet is responsible for releasing Serana. That is my theory at least. This book has a translation regarding Bastet. It tells of a battle she had with another long dead Goa'uld. In it, the battle was over the halls of Kel. One of Anubis' bases before being sent to the underworld. Serana was said to have risen from the halls of Kel. It is one of the few mentions of her in Earth's history."
"So Serana owes Bastet one," Jack said. "Could we use that?"
"It does add context, but I doubt she would move in force were anything to happen to Bastet. I don't believe Bastet knows of this debt and if she did, it wouldn't change anything." Selmak said.
"It does add more to the puzzle." Sam said.
"How will the System Lord react to Serana killing Baal?" Hammond said, getting things on track again. "It can't be seen as a good thing at this stage."
"The System Lords will most likely see it as her taking a target of opportunity. She and Baal's rivalry goes back a long way." Selmak said. "They would have all done the same thing in her stead, but it would raise some concern."
"Sounds like quite a story." Jack said. "Well, I for one am just glad to be back."
"I think that is enough for now. Jack, get some R&R. That is an order. Dismissed." Hammond said, knowing full well. Jack would chafe at the idea, but Hammond knew the mental scars needed time to settle down.
"Fine," Jack said.
Hammond watched everyone file out of the room. Jacob stayed.
"What do you think about all this George?" Jacob asked.
"Jacob, I don't know. There are times when all this feels over my head. I can only go on instinct some days." Hammond admitted to his old friend.
"What does that instinct tell you?" Jacob said.
"That while Anubis is the most direct threat, Serana is waiting in the wings to zero in on us and the rest of the Galaxy." He admitted.
"Perhaps this enemy of hers is real and can be another ally much like the Asgard." Jacob said hopefully.
"We can hope."
