Chimera
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember.”
“Now, Ms. Gardner–”
“That’s Dr. Gardner. She held a PhD in Anthropology
before she was kidnapped, and she still holds that title today.”
“Daniel, it’s all right.”
“No, it’s not.” They’re not treating
you as a person.
It was ridiculous. Nearly right from the start, the NID had been
treating Sarah as the enemy.
From Daniel’s point of view, Sarah had already given them
valuable information. In one of their intimate discussions over
tea, she had explained to him how it’s true that the host
survives the intrusion, but the Goa’uld parasite within is
still capable of determining how much it’ll allow its host
to see. A strong Goa’uld has total control over the body and
mind of the one it enslaves, including the host’s long and
short term memory. Simply put, a flick of a switch is all that is
required for those memory banks to be entirely closed off. Without
the connection, nothing that occurs during that time can be remembered
by the host.
They discussed how this trick would be particularly useful if the
parasite was planning to jump from one host to another within a
short time frame, should it still want to use the prior host as
a slave after the transference. It’s an excellent brainwashing
technique, especially if your host came from a world that still
worshipped you or one of your kind as their God. Feed the impressionable
mind only what you wish it to see and you’ll have a faithful
servant till the end of his or her life.
“Dr. Jackson, I must insist that you cease these interruptions.”
“And I must insist that you start treating her as a civilian
of Earth and not as a Goa’uld!”
They were in the basement of Area 51, encased by four bland walls,
with glaring florescent lighting above, and a thick metal door.
In other words, they were sitting in the USAF’s idea of the
ultimate interrogation room. And with the NID involved, they had
this ‘interview’ right, down to the good guy/bad guy
routine. If he wasn’t finding the questions they were throwing
in Sarah’s direction obnoxious at best, he probably would
have found the setup laughable. Both Sarah and Daniel were sitting
together at one corner of a short table, with the two agents on
the opposite side. One was leaning against the wall, with his hands
thoroughly stuffed inside his pockets. The other was standing tall,
so close to the table that his thighs were brushing against it,
most likely in an attempt to look over-bearing. It wasn’t
working though.
The one asking the questions today was Agent Maynard. The man was
six feet tall, somewhat built, with green eyes and medium brown
hair. In some circles, he would probably be even described as handsome.
This was a conspicuous contrast to his partner Agent Thompson, who
was the one leaning against the wall. He was a pug-ish looking man
of five feet and maybe four inches, brown eyes and noticeably greasy,
thinning hair.
It’s been a little over a week since the Tok’ra had
been able to remove Osiris from Sarah’s body. After only two
days of rest in the SGC’s infirmary, the NID were given signed
documents from the President to take her to Area 51 for investigation.
They considered her to be a security threat but also a valuable
tool against the Goa’uld. Osiris was Anubis’ right hand
man – uh, woman, and the military and civilian operations
alike were salivating at the idea of having access to this particular
System Lord’s plans, as well as hoping to gain knowledge of
his available technology.
There was one small problem to their effort of getting one over
Anubis. Sarah didn’t remember much of anything from her time
as Osiris’ host. She remembered when Osiris had first taken
her. She’d been incapable of fighting against the parasite
as it killed her mentor, colleagues, and nearly her friends with
the use of her own hands. She couldn’t stop the alien, the
same being whom she had once studied in great detail and had admired
as the first Pharaoh of Egypt, from accessing her memories, taking
on her personality to fool those she had known and loved, and quickly
absorbing everything that she had learned and understood.
“Agent Maynard, I don’t remember anything that happened
after we escaped Earth. I must admit that I was a little surprised
when Dr. Jackson told me that we’d been in space for nearly
three years now.”
“What’s with the ‘we,’ Doctor?” Maynard
asked leaning over the table. His hands were fisted against the
table top, a slight smile pasted on his face, as he hoped that he
finally caught Gardner in a trap. She wasn’t fully cooperating,
he could tell.
“Osiris and I would make a ‘we’. Or would you
have rather prefer I said, ‘Once I escaped’?”
Daniel had to bend his head and smirk at that question, as Sarah
was never one to be bullied. These agents had nothing over the malevolent
professors and students alike that one could encounter in academia.
In fact, Sarah was one that a good number of colleagues had feared
to face, let alone try to disrespect. It was a quality that Dr.
Jordan had admired in her right from the beginning. It was probably
the very same trait that had him killed. Sarah had to have been
very curious to see what was inside that canopic jar, and Dr. Jordan
would never have been able to sway her from proceeding. And Daniel
wasn't there when they both needed him most.
As one of the very few to be undaunted by Gardner’s attitude,
Maynard tried a different route to find what he was looking for.
“During the first week then, what did you learn from Osiris?”
“I didn’t learn anything. Osiris gave me a few images,
showing me who he really was. But other than that, he ignored me
mostly. Unless he needed an answer that I would know, and even then
he wouldn’t ask. He would just take.”
“Osiris is a ‘he’?” Maynard was grasping
at straws, but he needed to question everything she said. This woman
would trip somehow, he knew it.
“Osiris normally took male hosts. From what little information
Osiris imparted to me, I was the first one he had chosen from the
female gender. You have to understand that I had studied the legends
of Osiris quite thoroughly. The texts always referred to Osiris
as a Pharaoh, a king. The term ‘king’ is generally given
to the appointed head male descendant of a royal lineage, and to
further add to the fact, this king in question also had a queen.
Her name is, Isis.”
“I know who Isis was, Dr. Gardner.” An emotion had flitted
over Sarah’s eyes, but Daniel couldn’t figure out what
it meant exactly. They hadn’t talked about Isis yet, but that
couldn’t explain the quick look of disappointment that shone
for a mere second. He was sure that Maynard didn't miss the look
either as he had told Sarah the fate of Osiris' mate. It had to
have been something else, though. Of course she didn’t know
of Isis’ fate. Osiris must have assumed that his Queen was
locked away in a stasis jar when he had left the planet. But that
couldn’t explain the look, and Daniel had made a note to ask
her… later.
Sarah continued her short lecture as if Maynard hadn’t interrupted
her though, “And since queens are specific for the female
gender, as Isis’ hosts were, I will therefore refer to Osiris
as male. Although from what I understand the Goa’uld are genderless,
but they do seem to have a sexual preference.”
“Fine. According to NORAD, Osiris left Earth by a small space
craft.”
“Yes, it was hiding in a dune near his altar.”
“Are there any other ships buried in the sands of Egypt?”
A team under the guidance of the SGC had scanned the area by air,
with newly equipped Naquadah scanners. They had found nothing, but
that didn’t mean there was nothing to find.
A knock at the door interrupted Sarah's answer. Maynard looked at
his partner, indicating by a curt nod of his head that Thompson
should go answer it. And Thompson did, letting an airman inside
their small room.
“There’s a phone call for Dr. Jackson, sir.” All
eyes fell on Daniel with the news.
“Who is it?” Daniel asked.
“Colonel O’Neill, sir.” Why would he be calling
now? He knew that this was the allotted time for the NID to
interrogate Sarah for the day. It had been the same time everyday,
for the past four days. And he also knew that Daniel had to be there
with her. Daniel had to make sure that they wouldn’t harm
her in any way. He wasn’t there to stop her from opening that
jar in the first place, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t
going to be there for her now.
Looking towards Sarah, her posture not giving anything away of whether
his leaving would affect her somehow, he said, “Tell him that
I’ll give him a call back once we’re finished here.”
“He says it’s urgent, sir. That if you wouldn’t
willingly go that I should drag your… um, y-your butt to the
conference room.” Right. Jack would never say the
word, ‘butt’ unless the words ‘little grey’
were said just before.
He could hear Thompson snort at the Colonel’s command.
Sarah gave him a look, telling him that she was strong, that she
didn’t need him there, “I’ll be fine, Daniel.
It’s okay.”
It wasn’t though. This was the last place that she should
ever be. Daniel sighed, and gave a quick nod to Sarah as he got
up and left the cramped room, following the airman to the conference
room.
Daniel and Airman… Mason, as he had noted the identification
tag read, took an elevator up three floors to where the communication
rooms were held. When the doors opened, Daniel headed out, but Mason
had stayed within. The airman held the door open long enough to
say,
“It’s the third door to your left, Doctor.”
“Thank you,” said Daniel, to a closed elevator door.
He turned around and walked the three doors down, opening the one
that was on his left. He was surprised to find, not a phone placed
on hold, but Jack, Sam, Teal’c and Yar’an, a Tok’ra
scientist, inside the room.
“Jack?”
“She’s not who you think she is, Daniel.”
No pleasantries, Jack? “Oh, come on! Not you too!
Wait, –” he had a feeling that he was going to need
to sit down for this, and thus made his way to the conference table
and sat down.
“What? Why are you saying this now? What changed your mind?
I'm ready, so spill it!”
Jack sat down across from Daniel, the rest of SG-1 and the Tok’ra
following suit. Daniel really felt outnumbered now, with the four
to one odds.
For every night he spent lying in his bed, in some motel room in
Nevada, he would talk to Jack about all the injustices committed
while attempting to get information out of Sarah. And Jack would
give him a few pointers on what to expect next, even though after
six or seven years with the SGC, Daniel already knew a fair deal
about NID interrogation techniques. Jack was supposed to be on his
side. So, what the hell happened?
“Daniel!”
“What?” If Jack thought he was going to take this stab
in the back calmly, he was sorely mistaken.
“Daniel,” Sam tried to speak with reason. It was always
hit or miss with her and her ability to placate him. Sometimes,
what she had to say came out a little condescending, and this turned
out to be one of those times. “Sarah has been gone for years.
You knew she wouldn’t be the same when we got her back.”
“That doesn’t mean that she should be treated no better
than a Goa'uld, Sam.” They’d been through all the scenarios
so many times while sitting by innumerable campfires on their quiet
off-world missions. Sarah’s capture was one of Daniel’s
failures, his team knew that. And they also knew that he would do
anything to make her new life on Earth as comfortable as possible.
“What are you doing here, Yar’an?” The Tok’ra
scientist, the one responsible for removing Osiris, was fidgeting
while he sat there. It never crossed Daniel's mind that a Tok’ra
could actually fidget. It was unnerving to watch.
“The Tok’ra withheld information about the extraction
procedure, DanielJackson.” If nothing else, getting right
to the point was something that Daniel could always rely on Teal’c
for.
“What do you mean? Jack? What are you guys trying to say?”
Jack looked at him straight in the eye, demanding that Daniel would
hear him out and take what he was about to say as the absolute truth
it was supposed to be, “She’s still Osiris, Daniel.”
“The Tok’ra said that they had successfully removed
the Goa’uld.”
“They did.”
“Then she’s not Osiris.”
“No. She still is.”
He blew out a deep breath in exasperation, “Alright, Jack.
Explain to me how Osiris is still there inside Sarah, while the
snake is living on some other planet.”
“It is not.”
What? “What?”
“Teal’c –” Jack had lifted his hand, indicating
to Teal’c that he shouldn’t have mentioned this yet.
“No. Teal’c?” Daniel asked, his attention entirely
focused on his brother, “What do you mean it’s not?
The Tok’ra wouldn’t have brought the symbiote back.
Would they?” But Teal’c wouldn’t answer; instead
he glared at Jack, as he was unwilling to explain his statement
further.
“Yarn over here,” Jack said as he pointed over to the
Tok'ra, “gated to Earth this morning, Daniel. He had more
information about the procedure. Well, you know how they are. Not
once have they been able to give us the full story right away. None
of us should be all that surprised that this time isn’t any
different.”
“What are you talking about, Jack?” He wasn’t
going to like this. All his hard work to get Sarah back into the
life she once knew would be for nothing, he could already feel it.
“Apparently, Osiris died before they extracted her…
him… it… whatever you want to call that snake, from
Dr. Gardner.” Dr. Gardner? Of all things, here was
Jack trying to be objective. Oh, this wasn’t good.
“So what does that mean? The Goa’uld died. Sarah was
already free, so what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that this didn’t turn out to be a normal
extraction procedure.”
Yar’an decided to explain, “I had found the symbiote
linked along the cerebral cortex, which is not something that we
had encountered before. Normally a symbiote would integrate along
the brain stem.” Daniel looked back to Jack for a re-iteration.
Out of the three of his friends… his family, Jack would have
the easiest answer to understand.
“Osiris’ teeth… for lack of a better term, were
lodged around Sarah’s brain. The wounds that it had made were
repairable by a hand device, once Yar'an was in there. The symbiote
was already decomposing when he had tried to take it out. Which
explains why Janet found Naquadah in her blood work, Daniel.”
Jack looked over to the scientist, receiving affirmation that he
did well in explaining what happened.
“So what does all of this mean?” The Tauri had assumed
that Osiris had lived through the procedure. That it would be kept
in stasis till they could figure out a way to interrogate it without
any chance of it escaping. The Tok’ra hadn’t said a
word about this before, and he was anxious to get Sarah back on
track.
“It means that Osiris figured out a way to not only transfer
ideas, but to transfer… its… entire consciousness into
the host. That’s not Dr. Gardner down there. That’s
Osiris.”
No. “No, it’s not possible.” He wouldn’t
believe it. How could that happen? “I've spent the past week
speaking with Sarah, not Osiris.” She couldn't fool me
like that again.
“When Osiris couldn't make his escape from your room, Daniel,
he probably realized that there wasn't a way out for him. He figured
out a way to survive.” Sam wanted him to understand. She wanted
him to know that they were all there for him. That she was there
for him. He smiled slightly, acknowledging that he understood what
her eyes were trying to convey. They were good at relaying their
feelings by simple gestures.
“Is it possible?” He asked Jack. Jack wouldn’t
screw him with this, not unless he was absolutely sure about it
himself.
“It happened, Daniel. I’m sorry.” Jack’s
placating tone shocked him into believing. “They’re
taking her to a lock-up right now. I didn’t want you there.”
He wasn’t surprised at that admission. It hurt, but it wasn’t
surprising at all.
He sat there, staring at his hands. It looked like his absolution
wasn’t nearly within his grasp as he had first thought. Sarah
wasn’t free, and she never would be.
They all sat there, somewhat comfortable in their silence, until
the alarm system started blaring. They were in Area 51. The alarm
could have meant anything, from a fire in the engineering room to
the chance that the little green men had finally tried to make their
escape. But it wasn’t any of those things. Not with SG-1’s
luck. Osiris had found another way out, they all knew it, even Yar’an.
“Alright, kids. Let’s go down there and help out.”
They all stood up, left the room and headed for the stairs.
When they reached the main floor, they could all easily hear the
shouts coming from the other side of the stairway door. Daniel went
to reach for the knob, only to have Jack pull him back.
“Let me check it first, Daniel.”
Not wanting to argue right now, he relented. Daniel moved out of
the way for Jack and Teal’c to take either side of the door,
guns and zats in each respective hand. Jack made a signal, indicating
to Teal’c that he was about to open the door. In mere seconds,
Jack threw the door open wide and Teal’c made his way out
first, his zat held high, checking to see if any threat was within
the vicinity. Teal’c noted that whatever the commotion was,
it had headed outside the entrance door, which was twenty feet away
from their location in the open spaced hall.
“It is safe, O’Neill.” Teal’c said, as he
moved his way to the front entrance.
SG-1 and their companion found their way outside just in time to
see Osiris use a hand device on three SFs. Neither Maynard nor Thompson
were anywhere to be seen. No one needed to ask why, since they all
knew that they would be found in the interrogation room later. The
two agents would never have had a chance against Osiris with a hand
device. They most likely weren't even the personnel who set off
the alarm.
“Now where in the hell did she manage to find one of those?”
asked Jack.
“I don’t know.” He didn’t. Daniel was wracking
his brain trying to figure out when Sar— Osiris would have
managed to find one locked up somewhere in this building. He couldn’t
figure it out.
Osiris placed her hands together and out, her palms were facing
towards Daniel. He couldn’t move though. He knew somehow that
this time, she wasn’t going to try to hurt him.
“I will have you soon, Daniel Jackson.” Osiris had called
out as red and yellow sparks of light transported her to a space
craft that was so high above, no one looking up could see it.
Daniel didn’t try to look up though. He couldn’t see
anything except the destruction his failure had created before him.
~~~~
“It’s late, Daniel.”
“Mhmm.” That was the only sound that Jack could get
out of Daniel for the past three hours. It was the following day,
and they had arrived back in Colorado Springs early that morning.
A long debriefing was held with Hammond as they tried to figure
out how Osiris was able to escape.
Daniel spent the rest of the day working on an interpretation analysis
of some rock that SG-5 had brought back the day before. He even
brought his notes home… to Jack’s home, to continue
his study.
Jack walked up behind Daniel, encircling the chest of the bent over
form of his lover, and after planting a light kiss on the back of
Daniel’s neck, had said “Come with me.”
“Where to?” With Jack’s close proximity, he had
a hard time losing himself in his work.
“To bed. C’mon,” Jack started closing Daniel books,
book marking them along the way, “you need to unwind.”
“I need to get this work done.” Daniel protested, but
didn’t make a move to stop Jack from his disruption.
“And you will, tomorrow. After breakfast, you can get back
to this if you feel the need to.” It was the weekend, and
although they didn’t regularly keep a nine to five, Monday
to Friday schedule, Hammond had given the team Saturday and Sunday
off to regroup. He knew how stricken Daniel was by what had happened
to Sarah.
Jack pulled at Daniel, until he finally got up. He placed his arm
over Daniel’s shoulders, squeezing them from time to time
as they made their way to their bedroom.
Once inside, Daniel maneuvered his way out of Jack’s grasp,
yanking his shirt, pants, and socks off. Leaving his underwear on,
he climbed into bed, pulling the covers up and over his head in
an attempt to fall asleep as quickly as he was capable of.
Jack stripped himself of his clothing and climbed onto the bed,
making his way under the covers as well. Finally, he was able to
position himself behind Daniel, spooning him while they slept.
Ten minutes went by, and from listening to Daniel’s breathing,
Jack knew that the man hadn’t fallen asleep yet, and wasn’t
about to any time soon.
“You wanna talk about it?” he asked the neck beneath
his lips.
“No.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
No reply came.
Jack began to rub Daniel’s right arm in a soothing motion,
shifting his body even more towards Daniel’s till there wasn’t
any space between them. He moved from rubbing the younger man’s
arm to his chest, his thumb brushing back and forth from one nipple
to the other. Jack couldn’t help but notice that Daniel’s
nipples were reacting to the stimuli, which in turn had his own
body reacting. Nestled against Daniel’s clothed ass, his dick
took notice of the comfort that Jack wanted to give. A few more
strokes from his thumb had Daniel turning over to lie on his back,
trying to look at Jack in the dark. Whatever it was that he was
seeing while they were still under the covers was beyond Jack's
comprehension. But he could tell that whatever it was, Daniel had
liked, since he turned even more to face Jack.
He leaned forward and kissed Jack slowly, his tongue licking Jacks
lips every now and then. Jack's lips parted, and Daniel teased him
by flicking his tongue just barely inside his mouth. Daniel’s
left hand began to move in small circles over one of Jack’s
nipples, which helped in making Jack’s cock fully awake and
ready for attention.
His hand trailed down Jack’s body, stroking against his arms
and stomach, moving down, to rub against his outer thigh, and stopping
to massage his balls. Jack couldn’t help but moan as he leaned
into Daniel’s hand, while putting more pressure into their
kiss. His tongue conducted an exploration of Daniel’s lips,
persuading them to let his tongue inside, and catching Daniel’s
moan as their tongues pushed against each other. His hands moved
down their bodies to Daniel's underwear, pushing them down until
his cock was freed.
Daniel’s hand moved to grasp their dicks, pumping them together.
With the synchronized pleasure, they both began to moan and thrust
their hips in unison to the rhythm Daniel's hand had set. Jack held
Daniel closer, each hard thrust into each other sparking more pleasure
in both. Jack felt his balls tighten, and stilled all of his movements
as he concentrated on Daniel's hand pulling on their cocks. He was
first to reach orgasm, with Daniel following closely behind, leaving
them sticky with each other's come.
While trying to catch his breath, Jack turned around and reached
for the clean towel that was left over their bedroom chair. Turning
back, he cleaned both himself and his tired lover up. After attempting
to throw the soiled towel in the direction of the bathroom, he settled
back down and gave Daniel a final goodnight kiss. After only a few
minutes they were both well on their way to sleep.
The End
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