AN:
 Rennsteig - Thank you for your review. I've always felt bad for detective Sheppard as well. I hated seeing him die in that episode. So here's how I make up for it!

Chapter 2 - Preparations for the Battle of Antarctica

A Year Later

Waking up with damned headaches became somewhat of a habit, a mostly expected part of his mornings, for John Sheppard as he wormed his way up the Trust Collective since that surreal day back in Afghanistan. It also didn't help that he turned out somewhat talented at being a surly, cynical asshole who lacked morals, but made up for it plenty with ready violence and occasional intelligence to get things done in certain ways.

Yes. He found out the hard way that being actually competent at his rather harsh day job was apparently detrimental to his health. The stress bought real estate inside his brain in bulk and put out signs that came out in the shape of migraines.

Not that being a lying, thieving, murdering thug was his day job, not by a long shot. He was only pretending to be all of that for a damned good reason. Well… he was reasonably confident there was some good somewhere in what he was doing. Otherwise, he wouldn't have talked Colonel O'Neill into letting him jump into this mess, surely.

Sometimes, especially when things went badly out of control - times when he couldn't prevent people from getting hurt for real or worse - he wondered whether it could have been the concussion that made it seem like a grand idea to go down this particular rabbit… snakehole.

Anyhow, despite the stress-related ailments and a fuckton of mental issues a lifetime of therapy would never cure, earning a reputation as the Lone Wolf who got shit done had its benefits.

Athena, the head snake lady, had him convinced - in a rather uncomfortable way he would rather not delve too deep into - that he was practically the human version of a First Prime. He already oversaw numerous 'Trust' operations, acting in her name and speaking with her voice, as she put it. He even ran more than a few missions by himself, the kind that needed special, personal touch when she saw fit to let him out of his proverbial leash. The minor Goa'uld had its greedy flappers on everything under the sun - on the planet, out of the planet, legal, illegal and everything in between. You name it, the snake ran a franchise on it.

Sheppard had a reasonably good undercover mission going if he said so himself: He got to move people around and keep them safe when the Goa'uld thought they had to move permanently out of their lives. He got the chance to steal vital information right under Athena's nose and send it to SGC where the Colonel and his team used that intel to prevent disasters before they happened. He also got to make the lives of certain assholes as miserable as possible when they did shit to deserve it.

He was an agent of the United States - the highest classified asset attached to the SGC operations. His identity was only known to his handler - one eccentric Air Force Colonel named Jack O'Neill - at his request. He risked everything every day to live a double life. He struggled every waking moment not to lose himself to the life he chose to lead in the name of serving his country. It was a hard, lonely life, but he did it, and most of the time than not, he scored points for his team, with no one being none the wiser.

Like all good things in life, his carefully crafted and meticulously maintained farce also came to an end. That was when things went sideways. His reputation among the Goa'uld infestation on Earth led him to be noticed by a henchman of the dreaded head snake, Anubis.

That was also around the same time when those occasional headaches became a daily occurrence in his life. Except, those weren't the stress-induced kind. They were something else. They came accompanied by hunches, or very insistent gut feelings, whispers of memories that led him to be in the right places at the right times.

He also started to get the feeling that this life he had been leading, balanced on a double-edged sword for the past year, was soon coming to its conclusion.

P3X-787

On a planet whose name was an unpronounceable gibberish to Sheppard, Anubis' fleet gathered in masses to launch the attack on Earth.

He had only gotten there two days ago for a face-to-face meeting with Her'ak, the First Prime of the big man himself to share his knowledge on the Earth protocols under threat of invasion. He had the feeling that Jaffa knew everything there was to know about Earth and its paltry defences. If any of the stories he had heard about Anubis had a grain of truth to them, there was just no way the army of Goa'uld was walking - or flying - willy-nilly into an all-out war with his world. More than half of the gossipy fucks, human and Jaffa alike, were convinced that Anubis could tell you what any human had for breakfast in any given country on any given day.

So, no. He was not here to advise anyone on shit. He was here for something else. Most probably a test of some kind.

He knew by experience that the snakes were big on all kinds of tests and games to evaluate the loyalties of their followers, even their most trusted ones. It was fine with Sheppard. He knew how to turn a potential life-threatening test to his advantage and come out swinging. He had been jumping through hoops for a year after all.

He stayed where he was, flat on his back on the hard mattress in the tent he had been directed to upon stepping through the Gate. The planet had mild, rather pleasant weather despite the twin suns that glared down at it for something like twenty hours a day before disappearing for twice as long. The long days gave him plenty of time to walk around and make nice, observe the ground fleet operations and then get back to his tent to alternate between sleeping and thinking.

After about three hours of sleep that had been filled with too many dreams and nightmares, that was what he was doing now.

Thinking.

Whether it was finally time for him to go home.

The purplish hue he could see through the tiny crack between the tent flaps told him that the dawn was breaking. There were no typical sounds of the wildlife, all of them had already been scared away by the spaceship that landed everywhere. With a sigh, he dragged himself out of the bed and shuffled towards the shower. He had to be ready when one of the Jaffa showed up to escort him to his meeting. He had been informed last night it would happen during breakfast.

"John Sheppard," a Jaffa came right in without warning just as he put on his jacket.

He was dressed in business casual, which for him these days meant a pair of combat boots, worn jeans, a t-shirt, shoulder holster and a jacket. The outfit was also complemented by at least three guns, three knives, a set of brass knuckles and other assorted weapons he could hide on his body without looking like a mutant with funny bulges.

The towering giant gave him a once over and sneered as if he hadn't been impressed with what he had seen. Sheppard gave him half a nod and reached for a glass of water, completely at ease with being underestimated and dismissed.

"Follow me." he barked and strode out, not looking back to see if Sheppard obeyed.

He finished his water in three gulps and walked out of the tent to see the giant already about twenty metres ahead, heading in the Northerly direction of the Jaffa encampment. Sheppard took off on a light jog to catch up and slowed down to a leisurely stroll when he closed the distance to his oblivious and largely uncaring guide. While he didn't want to appear like a simpering lap dog vibrating in place for a few scratches, he didn't want to miss the meeting with the Prime either.

The Jaffa entered the largest tent that was erected at the edge of the camp, right next to the landing site that stretched beyond for miles. There were hundreds of Al'kesh-type ships, parked on every available inch of ground for as far as he could see. And he knew that a matching number of Ha'taks were littered all over the space above the planet, hovering around the flagship of the fleet - the Mothership of Anubis which was rumoured to have the ability to kill planets.

Another Jaffa in full armour with closely cropped blond hair and a pair of shrewd brown eyes appraised him from head to toe when he entered the tent behind his escort. His distinct emblem and the headwear of his Jaffa clan belonged to Anubis' special guard, the Jackals.

"Her'ak," his escort bowed and left.

Sheppard inclined his head at the silent Jaffa with a half-hearted grin and cast about the interior of the tent, taking in the weapons, flags and antique-looking maps hung around in a proud display.

"I like what you've done with the place," he muttered when the Jaffa followed his gaze with his own, silently waiting for praise.

That earned him a tiny quirk of lips that broke the hard expressionless mask of the Jaffa to something slightly approachable.

"John Sheppard," he enunciated his name the way most of the Jaffa did, slowly and with purpose like their words were measured and uttered with meaning. "Sit down."

Ah, polite. Must need something from me, then.

"Thanks," he said, stretching himself to sprawl on the nearest chair by the dining table.

"I have heard good things about you," Her'ak said, not bothering to sit. "Athena speaks highly of your skills."

Sheppard flashed another half grin and looked away, trying to look humble. "I get by. Do my job the best I know how."

"Indeed." The Jaffa nodded. "Do you know why I have invited you here?"

"I was told it was to tell you what I know about Earth's defences because of my former military background."

That got him a narrow-eyed glare. "And you do not believe that is so?"

"No," Sheppard said, shrugging. "I mean, come on. You guys have a fleet big enough to take over the entire damn galaxy if you wanted. From what I know, your Lord Anubis is as close to a God as he could get. So, why would you need me to tell you anything?"

Her'ak hummed, studying him for a moment before murmuring, "Maybe Athena's evaluation of you has merit after all."

John stayed silent, letting the Jaffa work up to whatever he had to say to Sheppard.

"You are coming with us on our journey to conquer planet Earth," he declared after a while, having made up his mind.

Sheppard tried not to react outwardly to the news. It had been months since he left Earth to supervise Athena's deals in a few Goa'uld-controlled worlds. It seemed that his gut feeling was right. Again. He really should learn to stop being surprised by that strange talent.

"I have a task for you - a task a human would be in a position to accomplish rather than a Jaffa. A human whose loyalties are more aligned with the Goa'uld than his own people."

"Sounds like me." Sheppard shrugged again, radiating nonchalance.

His supposed life story was well known among the Trust and the Jaffa he worked with on occasion. He was an Air force pilot who was dishonourably discharged from the force with a few months of prison sentence for disobeying orders. His own version insisted that he did no such thing, that he was ordered to specifically raid the mansion of the terrorist leader they bagged and present his rather exotic and rich findings to his Commanding officer. But, like any other idealistic young officer, he got blindsided and was fed to the wolves instead of being awarded his promised share of the loot.

The Goa'uld understood the betrayal and his justifiable anger. She appreciated his practical mindset and his loose morals that swayed and bent towards money. More than that, she valued the fact that he at least had one principle that she could exploit for her own gains. That was, he always, always delivered results when he was paid for it.

For all those reasons and more, John Sheppard and lady Charlotte Mayfield - Athena - had a mutually beneficial understanding.

"We have reason to believe that a group of humans, Stargate command's Flag team to be precise, have come up with a daring plan to try and defend against the invasion–"

"Really?" Sheppard didn't mean to interrupt the First Prime, but his hope came out sounding like disbelief, laced in that one word.

"Indeed. The exact nature of their find is unclear. But we have confirmed intelligence that this team will attempt to fly into a rural area of your world in search of an Ancient facility to implement their plan."

"What do you want me to do?" Sheppard had to work hard to keep his words level and just this side of bored. His mind was already running through a hundred possibilities; of chances he could take, of things he could do to bide time for SG-1 to complete their mission…

"I want you to make contact with them," Her'ak continued, oblivious to his thoughts. "Pretend to be a spy among our ranks and declare that you have valuable intelligence. When they accept your story, I want you to ring into their ship and kill them. They must not be allowed to continue with their plan, whatever that may be."

Fuck around as much as possible, throw chaos into Anubis' fleet wherever he could and ring into Colonel's ship and hope for the best. Maybe SG-1 would pull another impossible rabbit out of their collective ass and save the world. He could finally tell the Colonel, in person, that he was done and possibly beg him to let him return home. Damn right he could do that!

"Alright. I can do that."

"Excellent." Her'ak actually smiled.

"My usual charges apply."

The smile turned into a frown so nasty John almost reached for his weapon. When nobody immediately shot him with a staff weapon, he relaxed a fraction and smirked.

"Oh, don't give me that look," he drawled, keeping up with his persona's reputation. Now was not the time to let the cover he worked so hard to achieve slip and arouse suspicion. "I work for Lady Charlotte, I mean, Athena," he went on. "I've only signed the contract to kill for her. Everyone else has to pay me to do their wet work, as you damn well know." Then he leaned forward, levelling a calm look at the silently staring Jaffa and lowered his voice. "Unless you have another proposal for me regarding a new contract…"

The smile he was hoping and praying for broke out, brightening the Jaffa's face after a long moment. "Succeed in your assigned task, John Sheppard, and you shall earn a much more lucrative contract upon your payment."

John stood, squared his shoulders and stuck out his hand. "You got yourself a deal, Her'ak."

…

The Jaffa named U'tun watched silently as the human departed Her'ak's tent, letting the scowl he had been holding in until now, stretch out on his lip, twisting his face in disgust.

"Can he be trusted, Her'ak?"

"Of course, not," his commander said. "But he can be trusted to complete a task that would earn him riches."

"How disgusting," U'tun sneered in contempt. "Loyalty is such a rare commodity to come by these days. How does one live a life such as this? A life with no meaning, no purpose, therefore no values."

"Tau'ri do not possess the qualities of the Jaffa, my friend," Her'ak patted the back of his young prodigy. "That is why they shall be squashed like the insignificant parasites they are by the might of our Lord. If a parasite makes itself available for us to make our task even easier, who are we to deny it a last chance to redeem itself?"

U'tun understood Her'ak's meaning perfectly without the need for further words. The young Jaffa bared his teeth in a feral snarl. "Indeed, Her'ak. The parasite shall die for a noble cause after it completes its mission," he gave his oath to his commander. "Just not its own cause."

…

They gave him an Al'kesh and three full-armoured Jaffa babysitters to go with it. Sheppard hummed a jaunty tune all the way to the landed ship with the trio following him like puppies. Once again, he was marvelling at the ability of these snake charmers to underestimate him at almost any given opportunity.

Thug One and Two took seats at the controls and engaged in a round of silent staring to figure out who got to pilot and who got to fire the guns. Number Three pushed Sheppard into a chair at the back and took position behind the two seated in the front. The orders came to take off shortly after that, and Sheppard got comfortable on his chair, closing his eyes to take a nap during what he knew was going to be a long flight.

Four hours and some minutes later, he was woken by a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"Wake up, John Sheppard, we are here."