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Truth and Revelations
As he stepped out of the Stargate, only partly registering the sound of the wormhole shutting down behind him, Daniel glanced around at where the 'gate was located, and was relieved to see that nothing had changed since the MALP was sent through; there was still no sign of any Death Eaters standing around, waiting to kill whatever 'filthy muggle-borns' decided to follow them to their new home/headquarters/whatever they wanted this new planet to be. They probably suspected that somebody would come through- they couldn't have failed to notice a missing man, given that they'd probably be short on people anyway- but, so long as they weren't ready yet, he and SG-1 still had time to reconnoitre.
In general, the architecture of the planet looked almost like ancient Greek constructs; tall, thick pillars were visible through the door down at one end of the room they were now standing in, which appeared to be inside a replica of an ancient Greek temple constructed to honour a God. The only difference was that the Stargate was located at one end of the temple, in the place where a temple on Earth would have had a statue of the god that the temple was dedicated to.
Fortunately, the only sign of any other construct in the temple was the DHD; there was no sign of a sacrificial altar anywhere in the temple. After a quick glance confirmed the lack of an altar, Daniel breathed a brief sigh of relief; he'd rather not have to deal with a culture that practiced the art of sacrifice to the Stargate. Having people think that the Ori and the Goa'uld were gods was hard enough; he'd really not have to deal with a culture that thought the Stargates were gods…
As the other members of SG-1 split up slightly to examine the rest of the temple (The images taken from the MALP could only give the SG teams so much information about what was on the other side of the Stargate, after all), Daniel stayed near the Stargate, glancing briefly over the DHD as his thoughts turned over the problem that he and his friends may have to deal with on this mission.
Specifically, the possibility of an active Death Eater presence on this planet, years after the group was meant to have collapsed with the death of their leader, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at least several light-years away from their current location…
As much as he was regarded by the rest of the team as SG-1's man of peace- more likely to talk his way out of trouble than shoot his way out, and generally trying to find a means of resolving the problem that didn't feature people ending up dead- a part of Daniel hoped the Death Eaters would already have killed each other while trying to come to an agreement about which of them would be in charge now that their original leader was gone.
If nothing else, it might save him having to tell his friends information about his past that he really wasn't sure he wanted them to know…
"Daniel?" Sam called out from off to one side. "Could you come over here for a minute?"
Bringing his mind back to focus on the present, Daniel walked over to where Sam was standing. As he approached her location, he noticed that she was examining one of the wall carvings they'd seen on the MALP; a quick glance over them, even in the dim illumination caused by the planet's sun through the temple windows, confirmed his earlier theory that they were written in Ancient Greek.
"Is there anything helpful?" Sam asked, as Daniel pulled out his penlight- he didn't need much illumination to study this- and examined the carvings more closely.
"Maybe…" he said, nodding thoughtfully as he studied the writing before him. Ancient Greek wasn't one of his stronger languages- the Goa'uld they'd encountered in the past tended to use variations of Ancient Egyptian if they used any Earth language, so he was a bit out of practice with Greek- but he was pretty sure he could get the essential details accurate in a translation. "It looks like my earlier translations about Hestia were accurate; these carvings talk about her a great deal."
Reaching a few lines near the bottom of the carving, his eyes widened slightly as he realised what was written there. "Oh boy…"
"What?" Mitchell put in; he and Teal'c had noticed Sam and Daniel congregating in one area of the temple and had walked over to investigate. "Something wrong?"
"You could say that…" Daniel replied, continuing to study the writing with his torch as he crouched down to read the writing at the bottom better. "I can't be sure, but I think that, if I'm translating this thing accurately, then this planet was populated by a bunch of people who were snatched from ancient Athens…"
He looked up at his friends as he finished speaking, the better to make sure they got the point he was about to make. "And were apparently taken to this planet by a Goa'uld, who remains in charge to this day."
Mitchell's eyes widened slightly at that, although Daniel wasn't sure whether it was in shock or anticipation. After all, Mitchell was rather inexperienced in dealing with the Goa'uld- a few encounters with the Jaffa and those incidents with Ba'al and Anubis' clones did not make him an expert in tackling SGC's former main adversaries- so he could have been either eager to finally directly face the adversary that had forged SG-1, or afraid at the prospect of facing them.
"The Goa'uld in question being Hestia?" Sam asked, looking inquiringly at Daniel. "Are you sure?"
"As sure as I can be, given that some of the relevant writing's worn away over the years," Daniel nodded, as he turned back to the writing. "Although this Goa'uld seems to be a bit more vicious than the Hestia of Greek myth; Hestia herself was pretty peaceful, content with just tending the fire of Olympus- she gave up her place in the Pantheon to Demeter to devote more time to that task- but something's mentioned here about the 'Fountains of Vengeance', and I think there's reference towards the end to fire- the writing's eroded over the years…"
"So… what does that mean?" Mitchell asked, looking inquiringly at Daniel, his gun already slightly raised; he was evidently already anticipating a need to use the weapon if the worst happened and they were attacked. "Does this Hestia punish the people here by using flamethrowers or something like that?"
"Probably…" Daniel nodded, as he glanced over the carvings once more, frowning slightly as he looked at them. "There's not much about her other abilities, though; she's definitely got at least some Jaffa available to her, but I think, based on the information here, that she's relatively minor by the standards of most of the Goa'uld we've encountered over the years. They don't even make reference to her controlling anything other than this planet, so she's certainly not a System Lord…"
Mitchell frowned in confusion as he studied the temple around them, mulling over Daniel's translation in his head.
"This doesn't make sense…" he said, almost half to himself, as Daniel stood up and turned his penlight off. "Of all the possible Stargate addresses you could dial- and just knowing about the Stargate suggests they might have a few options as to what planet they'd want to go to- why would someone chose to come to a world controlled by a Goa'uld who's just in charge of this planet? If these 'Death Eaters' are as ruthless as they sounded, and they knew about the Stargate, wouldn't they want to go somewhere where they'd have a better chance of finding a Goa'uld with something that they could use to do some serious damage back home?"
"It is equally possible that the Death Eaters chose to come to this planet because it is ruled by a Goa'uld who lacks the resources of the System Lords," Teal'c put in. "If they are as arrogant as Daniel Jackson described them, they may wish to form an alliance with a Goa'uld to aid in their 'work' back on Earth, and, having acquired information about the Goa'uld from an unknown source, they selected Hestia as a possibility for such an alliance because they believe that she, like them, will perceive the possibility of them gaining something from such a joining of forces."
Mitchell nodded thoughtfully at Teal'c's words. "Yeah, I get what you're saying… since Hestia's not that big at the moment, she'd probably be more willing to listen to somebody who wants to work with her than a Goa'uld who's got a lot going for them already?"
"Precisely, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c responded, nodding briefly in confirmation at his new commander's assessment of the situation.
"But what could a racist Earth cult have that they think Hestia would be interested in?" Sam asked, looking over at Daniel, an inquiring expression on her face. "Was there anything about the Death Eaters back when you knew them that might have attracted or be of interest to a Goa'uld?"
"Well…" Daniel began, trying to buy time to make a decision about how best to answer the question. He knew that there was something the Death Eaters had to offer that might interest a Goa'uld in Hestia's limited position- the ability to do magic was probably not something the average Goa'uld had available to them- but if he told them that, he'd have to tell them about his own abilities, and he still wasn't ready to do that…
With Daniel facing a more-than-minor personal dilemma, it was probably a good thing that someone chose that moment to fire an energy weapon- apparently a staff weapon- into the temple, narrowly missing both Mitchell and the DHD before it struck the wall behind the Stargate; if nothing else, it took attention away from him for the moment.
"Jaffa!" Mitchell yelled, as SG-1 quickly dived to the ground, rolling over to the wall to avoid the immediate fire. A quick glance at the door of the temple revealed that there were two Jaffa standing at the entrance holding staff weapons; they were most likely a regular guard to the Stargate, although why they'd taken so long to respond to the 'gate being activated was more than a bit confusing.
As they crouched up against the nearest wall, Mitchell swallowed anxiously as he glanced over at Teal'c. "What's your recommendation for dealing with these guys?" he asked the former First Prime of Apophis. "Do we shoot to kill, or just shoot to wound?"
Teal'c shook his head. "Given the current status of the Goa'uld among the Jaffa in general, the only Jaffa remaining loyal to the Goa'uld are those who have little to no idea about the recent deaths of the likes of Anubis and Osiris," he explained. "With this in mind, unless we can actually injure Hestia herself- as we presume this Goa'uld to be- it is unlikely that these Jaffa regard the Goa'uld as anything other than the gods we were raised to regard them as. However, I would recommend that we merely disable these Jaffa for the present and then see what we can discover about Hestia's command over this world; it would not be wise to kill Jaffa who may prove to be our allies if we can work out a means of revealing the truth."
"Right," Mitchell nodded, as he raised his gun and, having checked the ammunition available, nodded resolutely. "OK, Sam, on my command, you and I both roll over to the other side of this place while firing wildly at the door; Jackson, Teal'c, the two of you see what you can do about getting down to the door and taking them by surprise while they're working on their next move."
Nodding in agreement, Daniel pulled out his Beretta and, after a quick glance at Teal'c, the two of them began to slowly edge their way down towards the wall of the corridor, out of the Jaffa's line of vision, leaving Sam and Mitchell to ready their weapons. As Daniel (Who was in front of Teal'c) reached the halfway mark between where they'd started and the door of the temple, Mitchell yelled out "NOW!" and dived forward, rolling on the ground as he fired his weapon rapidly towards the door. As Sam followed close behind him, her gun firing just as rapidly, the energy burst from two staff weapons launched in her direction, leaving Daniel and Teal'c to run as fast as they could towards the end of the temple.
A quick glance back revealed that Mitchell and Sam were still all right, and the blasts hadn't done anything more serious than grazing the Stargate, which, naturally, had done nothing to the 'gate. Daniel also noted, with a small smile, that the blast in question had struck the Stargate somewhere between the top and upper right chevrons, suggesting that the Jaffa in question had just been firing blindly from around a corner rather than actually looking at what was happening. As the two of them reached the corner of the temple wall and began to edge their way towards the door, Daniel quickly glanced at Teal'c.
"I'll take the one on the opposite side of the door; you handle the one on this side," he whispered.
"Agreed," Teal'c nodded, as they finally reached the door. Daniel paused for a moment to determine whether their estimates as to the number of Jaffa were accurate- it seemed that they were; he could only hear two figures on the other side of the wall- and then nodded an affirmative at Teal'c. Instantly the two men leapt out from behind the wall, Daniel springing towards the Jaffa on the opposite side of the door while Teal'c struck out at the one on the other side of the wall they'd just come from. Thanks to Daniel's advantage of surprise, coupled with Teal'c's own personal strength, the two attacking Jaffa were soon lying unconscious on the ground, one with a bullet-wound to the right side of the head and the other stunned by several rapid punches launched by Teal'c.
"We've got them!" Daniel yelled back at Mitchell and Sam, before glancing back at Teal'c. "What now; do we just leave them where they are?"
Teal'c nodded. "It is likely that the Death Eaters that you told us about were already expecting someone to come after them via the Stargate; once they realised that the last man was missing, they would realise that we would soon follow them. Since they most likely already know we are coming, it only makes sense that we attempt to make as much time as we can before they conclusively realise that we are here; taking time to hide them serves no purpose."
"Yeah, fair enough," Daniel agreed, as he glanced back into the temple where Sam and Mitchell were looking anxiously in his direction. "They're down; let's get moving."
"I'm right behind you on that one, Jackson," Mitchell said, nodding grimly at the archaeologist as he and Sam joined their teammates at the door of the temple. "So, which of these temples is Hestia most likely to be in?" he asked, glancing inquiringly at Daniel.
As Daniel turned to look at their surroundings properly for the first time- he'd been too busy taking down the Jaffa to look when he'd first left the temple- he noted that the planet they were on now did indeed look remarkably like ancient Greece.
The buildings that they could see were all temples constructed in the classic Greek style- white marble with large pillars surrounding the front door. Each temple had a statue outside it that appeared to be connected with fire in some regard or another- a statue of a volcano appeared to be outside one temple, and another had what looked like a blacksmith's forge in front of it, but otherwise, apart from a few temples being on hilltops, they all appeared to be pretty much the same as each other.
As Daniel continued to study the scene before him, however, he noticed that one temple clearly stood out from the others; if nothing else, it was the only temple there that had a human statue in front of it, rather than a statue of an artefact of some kind. True, the statue appeared to be standing in something that could be a fire, but that only added to Daniel's certainty that it was the temple they sought.
"There," he said, indicating the temple in question. "From here, I'd estimate that's the one we're looking for."
"OK," Mitchell said, nodding in understanding as he looked around at his team once more. "Let's go; we've got a deranged cult to track down and a Goa'uld to expose as a very false god."
At that moment, inside the temple, the leader of the 'deranged cult' in question was looking at a select group of his various followers, consisting of only six men, staring harshly at them as though he wished to make sure that they understood what he was telling them.
"Is everyone clear on my orders?" he asked, looking particularly closely at one of the men; a small man with very little hair, the few hairs that remained being colourless, and a pointed nose and watery eyes. Despite the man's rather pitiful appearance, his silver right hand, coupled with the manner in which he held himself, made it clear to all that he was in a position of some authority in this group, and was evidently keenly aware of this fact. "Aim to wound or stun your opponents only; they must all remain alive until I have had the chance to plan a suitable revenge against our… friend."
"Yes, My Lord," the man with the silver hand said, nodding briefly at the leader before a curious expression crossed his face. "But, my Lord, why must I remain at the back? Surely I would be best-suited at the front, to shock our foe into making a mistake-"
"He and his allies must have some small 'victories' first; otherwise, the 'mistake' he makes upon seeing you here will be of little consequence to them," the leader replied, glaring critically at the man with the silver hand under his mask, his red eyes flashing slightly in contempt as he stared at his servant. "You shall have your chance to attack him; all you must remember is that you must not allow him to actually kill any of you yet. When we have managed to establish a greater presence, then you may do as you will, but at present, I require you all to avoid serious injury; there are too few of you at present."
The group nodded once in confirmation and then turned to leave the main chamber of the temple, leaving their leader to sit in his new throne and smile slightly, prompting a curious glance from the room's remaining inhabitant.
"Why do you toy with your foe?" the woman sitting in the other throne asked, critically glaring over at the man in black sitting beside her as though she thought he was making a mistake. "Why not simply kill him?"
"Because, my dear," the man replied, as he grinned over at the figure sitting on the throne next to his own, "if he just dies straight away, then I would not have the pleasure of forcing him to endure something akin to what he put me through back when he and I had our first encounter."
Clenching his fist, the man growled low in his throat. "No… he must suffer for what he did to me…"
As they advanced towards the temple at as fast a pace as they could go, Daniel was already going over possible strategies for dealing with whatever they might find waiting for them. Jaffa were pretty straightforward- they all knew how to deal with them- but going up against Death Eaters armed only with a few guns was not a position he'd ever faced in the past, and he was desperately wishing he didn't have to face it now…
Still, so far everything seemed to be going well. The hill with the temple they were aiming for had only been a few minutes away from them, and they were already near the top. Soon the temple would be in range, and then…
Someone yelled "Reducto!" from above, and Daniel's eyes widened in horror.
"Get DOWN!" he yelled over at his friends as he dropped towards the ground, Mitchell, Sam and Teal'c following him. A quick glance upwards revealed a beam of energy flying past the area where Teal'c had been standing earlier- it would probably have hit the Jaffa in the arm if he'd still been standing- but a glance to the top of the hill revealed a significant absence of anyone who could have cast the… the spell.
Daniel swallowed anxiously.
It was just as he'd feared; the outfits weren't just a coincidence.
They really were up against Death Eaters…
"Scatter!" Mitchell yelled, raising his G36 so it was ready for action. "Stay low, keep an eye out for a target, and move!"
Daniel had to admit, the plan certainly seemed good. If nothing else, few Death Eaters in his experience had been all that good at non-verbal magic, and even for those who were, he was fairly confident that SG-1 could avoid some magic attacks if they'd so far managed to stay away from Jaffa staff weapons and similar blasts on past missions.
As the four of them dived off in various directions, a quick glance over at his friends confirmed to Daniel that they were all ready to hold their; Mitchell was already laying down covering fire to give Sam and Teal'c a better chance to get a bit of distance between them and the hill top.
Pulling his Beretta out of its holster, Daniel quickly checked it for bullets and then, sensing someone above him, raised the gun and fired a couple of quick shots. He vaguely registered his target clutching his shoulder in pain, but didn't have the time to fully process what he'd hit; if he stayed in one place for too long, he made himself too easy a target. Glancing back, he saw that Sam and Teal'c had also managed to get in a few good shots at their opponents; he was fairly sure that he could see one Death Eater clutching a badly wounded arm at the top of the hill.
So far, it was looking like his earlier concerns about the Death Eaters were proving invalid; indeed, it almost seemed as though SG-1's guns were giving them the advantage over their opponents, rather than proving less efficient than the Death Eater's weapons. If nothing else, even non-verbally it took a little time for the Death Eaters to decide what to do, but SG-1 just had to point and fire without thinking any further about what they were dealing with. Glancing up, Daniel smiled as he saw a particularly ugly Death Eater (A part of him thought it might have been Goyle, but he didn't care; that sucker had been so thick it was doing him credit to say he was ever a danger on his own) fall to the ground, apparently from a bullet from Sam's gun…
Then a glint of silver came from the hand of a Death Eater who was looking in his direction, almost directly above him, and Daniel's blood ran cold with rage.
It was him…
The man who had betrayed his parents, been given a second chance, and then thrown that chance in Daniel's face by murdering the woman he loved.
"Hello there, old friend!" the man called down to Daniel, sounding almost like he was chuckling; evidently his self-confidence had improved over two decades. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Tell me, when did we last see each other?"
Daniel snapped.
"You fucking son of a BITCH!" he roared, forgetting all about being careful and charging up the hill at a rapid rate, swiftly reaching the man. Grabbing the man by the robe, Daniel hauled him off his feet with an expression of pure rage- the kind he hadn't even felt when facing Apophis- and punched the man in the face, hard.
"Well…" the man grinned as he looked bat Daniel's face, twisted in hatred as he glared at the hand held up by his right hand. "That was… unexpected."
"You KILLED her, you piece of SHIT!" Daniel roared in his foe's face; he knew he could normally come up with something more elaborate than basic swear words, but right now, he was just angry. "What did you EXPECT; I'd just say 'Hi' and leave it at that?!"
"No," the man replied, grinning slightly as his eyes flicked to look at something behind Daniel. "But I would have thought you'd remember that you're not fighting alone any more."
Daniel's eyes widened slightly in fear at that comment. Making sure his opponent was presently unarmed, he quickly glanced behind him, and saw, to his horror, that Mitchell, Sam and Teal'c were all lying on the ground, apparently temporarily paralysed- Impediment Jinx, Daniel was prepared to bet; the initial Reducto probably hadn't been meant to hit anyone that badly- but the net result was that they were all, for the moment, out of action.
Daniel swore under his breath; he'd been so enraged by the sight of this… rat… that he'd forgotten that the rest of SG-1 were still there. When he'd yelled out like that earlier, he must have distracted them from the immediate struggle, and the Death Eaters had immobilised them before they could get their attention back on the more immediate matter.
Shit, Daniel thought to himself- once again, nothing better was immediately springing to mind- as he glared at the man he held in one hand.
"Let me guess," he said dryly, "I give myself up, or we all die?"
"Naturally," the man replied, grinning slightly. "So, what's it going to be?"
For a moment, Daniel was tempted just to make an attempt at a last stand, maybe taking at least some of the Death Eaters down with him…
But he saw Sam staring up at him, fear and confusion in her eyes, and he couldn't do it.
He couldn't see her die…
Glaring at the man in his right hand, he lowered his opponent to the ground. Smiling broadly, the man clapped his hands together (The silver hand making a slight 'clank' sound as it hit the flesh hand), and, a few minutes later, all four members of SG-1 were standing, three Death Eaters surrounding each team member and glaring at them as though waiting for the Air Force Colonels, the ex-First Prime and the archaeologist to give them a reason to attack; the jinx had apparently been ended after Daniel surrendered, although their weapons had all been taken away. Daniel briefly noticed Sam looking at him in a confused manner- she was evidently wondering why he'd reacted so violently upon seeing the man he'd attacked- but she was staying quiet for the moment.
The man who Daniel had attacked- he seemed to be the leader of the group- jerked his thumb towards the door of the temple behind him, and the Death Eaters instantly began to force SG-1 towards the temple, two Death Eaters holding their arms while a third stood behind them in case of an escape attempt. As they were forced through the door of the temple, Daniel glanced into the room, and his gaze instantly fell on a woman sitting in a large, ornately decorated throne, directly opposite the main door of the temple.
The woman sitting in the throne in question, who Daniel presumed to be Hestia, certainly looked the part of a fire goddess. She was dressed in a long gown, much like the one Hathor had once worn before she had been thrown into the liquid nitrogen, but this gown covered her shoulders and arms as well. Then again, the difference in attire was hardly surprising; as Hathor had been posing as the goddess of love, it was only natural that she would have attempted to present a more sex-based image to the world, and bare shoulders would certainly have aroused the attention of the Egyptians in the past. The gown was a deep orange in colour, and her hair was a rich, deep red, much like…
Daniel stopped himself from going too far with that train of thought; Hestia wasn't… her… and that was all he needed to worry about right now.
Still, it could be worse…
Then Daniel saw the man sitting on the throne beside Hestia (Less elaborate than hers; it seemed to have been newly installed, a part of his mind noted), and his eyes nearly fell out of his head in shock.
He suddenly had a great deal more to worry about than just his past coming out.
This man, like the Death Eaters who were standing around alongside the Jaffa, was dressed in a long black cloak with a large hood that was evidently intended to cover the head. However, unlike most of the Death Eater's the man's hood was pulled back, exposing skin so pale it seemed as though the man had never been exposed to the sunlight, a hairless head with a nose like a serpent's, and red eyes that gleamed with a hint of a gold.
The clues all added up to one fact; this man had a Goa'uld inside him.
But that wasn't the worst part.
It wasn't even the fact that Daniel knew the host; he'd already been through that experience of facing a Goa'uld in a body he'd known previously with Amonet and Osiris, when they'd stolen the bodies of Sha're and Sarah respectively.
No, the worst part was that the host was supposed to have been dead for almost two decades, and it was the one face from that time that Daniel didn't want to see again…
"No…" Daniel whispered, staring at the man before him in horror, barely even registering the confused looks on Sam, Teal'c and Mitchell's faces at this exchange. "It can't be you… it can't be… you're dead… I killed you…"
"Oh, but it is, my 'old friend'," the man retorted, the same arrogant grin on his face that Daniel had seen there so many times in the past- indeed, were it not for the fact that his voice and eyes clearly indicated the presence of a Goa'uld, Daniel could almost believe that the man before him was still in complete control of his own body. "Death cannot contain me; I have come too far to fall to something as pitiful as that…"
Daniel felt as though he should reply, but at the same time he knew it would have pointless; he could think of nothing to say right now. His brain was stuck in a loop, repeating the same thought over and over again, and he felt as though he still needed a few minutes before he could safely say something else.
He's back… he's back… he's back…"Take them away," the man said, waving a hand dismissively at the Death Eaters surrounding SG-1. "I'll work out what to do with them all later."
As the Death Eaters holding the four SG-1 members began to drag them back to the temple door, Mitchell continued to glare defiantly at the man on the throne; Hestia may have been the one in charge of this rock for the last few centuries, but, right now, it was clear that the new arrival was in command.
And, if that was the case, and they were dealing with someone new (He was prepared to ignore Daniel's apparent recognition of the guy- he must have known the host or something), Mitchell had one thing he wanted to know.
"Hey!" he yelled at the man, smiling slightly as the man glanced up at the voice; Mitchell was still being dragged away by three Death Eaters, but at least his foe registered his presence. "If you're going to lock us up, can you at least tell us who you are?"
The man smiled casually at that.
"But of course, my good sir," he replied, as though he and Mitchell were old friends and Mitchell had just asked him a fairly trivial question about the weather. As Mitchell was finally dragged out of the door, the Goa'uld's voice reached him from the temple, the speaker sounding ridiculously satisfied with himself as he answered Mitchell's question.
"My name is Lord Voldemort."