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First Blood - SG-1 - 1/?
This is a follow on to "Daddy's Little Girl", which can be found in parts: Part the One, Part the Two, Part the Three,Part the Four, Part the Five, Part the Six and Part the Seven
Title: First Blood (working title, may change
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairings/Characters: Original Character, SG-1, various others....gen
Rating: Pg-13 bordering on R for violence (though its mostly implied)
Setting: Somewhere between Arthur's Mantle and Crusade
Summary: Daniel has a daughter (as seen in "Daddy's Little Girl" and she has joined SG-4. When SG-4 goes missing, Daniel fears the worst. His relief when SG-4 is recovered is short lived however when DJ begins to exhibit some strange abilities and behaviors.
All sense of time and place had been lost in the dark. The only sounds for days on end had been the words piped into her head by the Prior, the Ori…whoever it was who held her. The pain had reduced to a constant, dull roar that underlined every movement, every thought. Brief images cut through the fog that had taken residence in her brain, pictures of home, of friends, of family. Inevitably they were cut off by the words or the pain or other randomly firing thoughts.
There was certainty…she would die…though whether that was now or years from now she couldn’t be sure. They would come, those friends, those family…they would find her…them…She had lost her team, didn’t know where they were, but they too were captive…or maybe dead already.
Daniel. Teal’c. She felt them inside her. They would come. They would somehow find her. The pain surged then, the thought of Daniel bringing a torrent of agony that pulled her limbs rigid in their bonds. When the spasm released her, she sagged nearly to her knees, though the position of her arms kept her from actually reaching the floor.
They wanted her, the words told her. The Ori had waited for her to come, were waiting for her even now. The Prior would bring her to them, and she would be cleansed. Pictures accompanied the words, the swirling abyss, the lost, white eyes…the flames of consecration. “No.” she said into the void. She’d said it before. Over and over. She screamed it, never hearing the ragged sound her voice made.
“Unscheduled Offworld Activation.”
Daniel Jackson skidded to a breathless halt beside General Landry as the iris closed over the incoming wormhole. The control room was silent until Walter looked up at his commanding officer. “It’s SG-16 sir.”
Daniel turned away quickly to hide his disappointment, but couldn’t bring himself to leave the control room. “Let them in, Walter.” Landry said. He glanced at Daniel, then shook his head and watched as the bedraggled team lurched through the gate, dripping wet and already tugging at water logged jackets.
“Sorry we’re late, General. The entire gate area was flooded. We had to wait for the water to recede.”
“Understood, Colonel. You and your team get dry. We’ll debrief in an hour.”
Daniel closed his eyes and tried not to worry. They had three teams overdue by at least a day. The fact that one of them was SG-4, the team his daughter had joined less than 4 months before was eating him alive. Of the three, SG-4 was the furthest overdue. Almost 3 days for contact, more than one for return. So far, attempts to contact them had failed. The last attempt couldn’t even establish contact with the gate. They had sent another team, before SG-1 had returned from their most recent mission and they too had been out of contact for more than a day.
The mission had been simple recon, on a planet that appeared to be devoid of civilization, though DJ’s first report had indicated some ruins that looked as though they might be Hindu in origin.
Sirens and the sound of the gate spinning brought him up out of his reverie and back to the window. “Unscheduled Offworld Activation.” Walter’s voice rang through the room. Landry returned from his side conference with an aid to stare out at the gate. The iris closed again and the wormhole engaged. “Receiving IDC. It’s SG-3, sir. Audio.”
“General, there is no sign in the immediate area of SG-4, aside from the mount. We searched a five mile radius around the gate.”
“Any signs of life?”
“No sir, none that we can see.”
“Understood. Head on back. We’ll regroup and decide what to do next.”
Daniel licked his lips and looked at Landry. The general seemed sympathetic, but Daniel wasn’t interested in sympathy. “I’ll be in my office,” he muttered and wandered off, hands in his pockets, eyes downcast.
Light cut through the absolute darkness that held and surrounded her. She squeezed her eyes shut and cringed. How long since she’d been in the light? The restraints at her wrists released and she fell to the floor, laying her face against the coolness. Footsteps, sounds of papers being shuffled, sounds of anything…how long since she had heard anything but the voices in her head.
She nearly fainted as hands touched her, pain rising to a crescendo in her shoulders where they lifted her, in her feet as they dragged along the floor. Sobs racked her body at the relief, at the new torment. She didn’t care where they were going. The blur of light around them slowly solidified and she could tell they were taking her down a long promenade that overlooked a leafy garden.
She tried to remember where she was, how she’d gotten there. There was the gate, and the ruins. There was memory of finding something…but it eluded her. Then, the room, the darkness, the pain. How long ago now? Days? More?
She lifted her head and tried to get her bearings. They emerged from the protection of the covered walkway into the harsh sunlight of a late afternoon. The stimulus was overwhelming and she found herself squeezing her eyes shut again. Her knees hit the dirt as she was dropped by her escort, and she collapsed forward into the dirt. She thought she could hear her name. Breathing slowly, she pushed herself up on aching arms, turning her face toward the sound. Beside her Col. Pierce was similarly kneeling, his eyes both blackened, his jacket and shirt missing, bruises dotting his back and chest. “Are you all right?” he asked almost soundlessly.
DJ shook her head. She was far from all right. She blinked slowly, looking for the rest of her team. Her eyes fell on her arms, the wrists were red and black and purple. She shook her head, trying to clear it. Nothing made sense. Nothing that is until she saw him. One look and she started shaking.
He had come, the voice in her head, the one who knew her and promised her consecration, enlightenment, Ascension. His stride was confident, sure. His staff touched the earth and she could almost feel it. She closed her eyes and huddled into herself, seeing the images of people dying, disease, famine. All by her hand. The sobs wracked through her silently, tearing at stomach muscles already sore until the darkness came again.
“Daniel?” Sam stopped her run in front of Daniel’s door and he looked up. “We think we found her. Them. We just got word from a Tok’ra vessel in the area that they’ve picked up faint sensor readings from two of SG-4’s personal sensors. There’s a lot of interference, so they assume the other two are there, just blocked.”
Daniel was up out of his chair and half way to the door before she finished. “What’s the plan?”
“Get your gear. We’re gating out in 20 minutes. The Tok’ra ship will meet us there.”
The planet looked like so many other planets they had visited over the years. Daniel stepped clear of the gate and joined Sam and Teal’c near the DHD. Mitchell approached with a Tok’ra. “I am Mealu of the Tok’ra,” he said with a slight bow.
“You say you’ve found their sensors?” Daniel asked impatiently.
“Yes, two of them anyway. They are not far from here, but their position is guarded by some shield. We can only track them when they are in the center of the shield, where the effects are the weakest.”
“Can we ring in?”
Mealu shook his head. “It wouldn’t be wise. We’re essentially blind. We wouldn’t know what we were getting into. We’ve been studying it, both from orbit, and here on the ground. We may have pieced together what happened.”
Mealu gestured for them to follow, leading them over the well worn path from the gate to the first standing bits of ruins. Daniel recognized them from the video DJ had sent with her first report. “There’s a device here, it looks like it might control the shield.” Mealu pointed to the pillar. Daniel could almost see DJ squinting up at it, running a finger along the symbols while she scrambled to put it in context.
“You think you know what happened?” he asked, licking his lips.
It was Mitchell who responded. “Yeah, Dr. Moore probably activated a device that alerted the locals to their presence and stunned the team.”
“There’s a residual energy signature.” Mealu explained. “It is consistent with a particular stunning technology we’ve seen before.”
“Ancient technology.” Daniel said, nodding. “That would make sense. If this really was the planet where Saraswarti was holing up to work on the weapon then there would be technology left behind.”
Mealu nodded. “The good news is that the shield isn’t designed to keep people out, just hide whatever is inside it.”
“And the bad news?” Sam asked.
“Well, it’s a pretty long hike to where we think the team is.” Mealu responded. “And it looks like we aren’t the first to come looking for them.”
“The camera SG-3 placed before returning shows a Prior coming through about 4 hours before us.” Mitchell explained.
“Then we best get a move on.” Daniel said.
Mitchell looked like he was going to say something, but shook it off and moved off to round up the men they’d brought along and brief them. Daniel bit his lip while he waited. His stomach was turning in knots and he wanted to be gone already. “Daniel?”
Sam was beside him, her hand on his arm. He shook his head lightly. “Don’t, Sam. Just…don’t…” He exhaled slowly and forced the churning to settle. She nodded and smiled a strained smile.
“Okay.” She patted his arm again and turned to see Mitchell signaling for them to move out.
DJ groaned as the taste of dust and the sound of voices filtered past the darkness. Her eyes opened experimentally. She could see Col. Pierce beside her still. There was relief in his eyes when he spotted her looking at him. They were still in the dirt, on the street in the village that shouldn’t have existed. She shifted, slowly moving to sit up. There were people now, beside the men who had brought her out of her cell and the Prior. There was the Prior too, but she looked past him. She wasn’t ready for him, not yet. Jameson and Drakes were there too, kneeling nearby. Slow, deep breaths burned her lungs but helped her keep the edge off the panic bubbling inside.
There were hands on her now, forcing her to kneel and holding her there as the Prior approached. He smiled, a sickening look. “Dr. Moore, it is a pleasure to meet you.” He spoke in a form of Gaelic, his voice so similar to the one that had spoken in her head. His hand reached out for her and she cringed back. “Come now, I wouldn’t hurt you. Surely you must know that. You are special. The Ori are waiting for you.”
DJ shook with her fear and rage. “No.” she said, shaking her head. “No, I won’t go. I won’t—“
He laughed. “You will.” He gestured and two men pulled Drakes up off his knees and over to stand beside the Prior. “The Ori have seen your future, and the death that will come at your hand. It begins here.”
Drakes was forced to his knees beside the Prior. His eyes sought out DJs, but she couldn’t tell what she saw in them. Strength, a strength she didn’t think she had and trust…that much she could see. She felt something in her hand and looked. It was a blade, curved and silver, reflecting the late afternoon sunlight. She looked at it, then back to the Prior.
“Blessed are the Ori,” the Prior intoned.
As one the gathered people repeated the phrase and dropped to their knees. DJ’s guards pressed her forward, arms to the side. “Hallowed are the Ori.” The sounds rippled around her, and the fog in her head grew thick. Words she couldn’t understand murmured through her. Then she was released.
She sat up slowly, the blade in her hand now cradled to her. She knew. Her eyes met Drakes again. She knew what she was supposed to do. Apparently, so did he. She gripped the knife as the Prior came closer. “Come to the Ori, Dr. Moore. Come to enlightenment,” he whispered to her.
Her eyes moved from Drakes to the Prior’s. In nearly slow motion she moved, her free hand reaching up to grab a handful of the Prior’s robes, the other swinging slowly toward Drakes. She pulled herself upward, half dragging the Prior down toward her as she did. Somewhere between kneeling in the dirt and standing upright, DJ’s hand changed its arc, stuttering across skin, slicing flesh and releasing a torrent of hot blood that instantly covered her face and hands as she and the Prior tumbled to the ground amid a sudden flurry of action.
There was screaming and the sound of gunshots, but it barely registered as she shook. Someone was holding her, covering her…protecting her as the village square erupted in chaos. She stared at her hands, thick and sticky with blood. It caked in her hair with the dirt of the street, ran over her eyes turning everything an odd shade of red. The taste of it in her mouth was wrong. It was copper and tang, but with a sweetness she didn’t expect.
She heard her name again, and turned toward the sound. Col. Pierce held her head and tried to get her to look at him. “He’s dead,” she said dully. He wiped at the blood coating her face but there was so much of it that it didn’t help much. She thought she heard Daniel’s voice, then strong arms were lifting her and she was floating into the black.
“Lt. Dearns, dial the gate. We’re coming in hot. We’re gonna need medics on the other side.” Mitchell yelled into his radio as he covered the retreat of his team and the Tok’ra that had accompanied them. Teal’c carried the unconscious archeologist while the rest of SG-4 limped along beside their rescuers. SG-3 and Mitchell ran interference with the furious locals who were recovering from the shock of both the death of the Prior and the arrival of their armed team.
They had arrived just in time to witness the death of the Prior, or rather, his collapse as he bled out. The shock it had caused in the gathered townspeople had given them the edge to get in and collect their people, but that shock was wearing off.
Mitchell laid down a round of gunfire to keep the advancing locals from getting too close, then followed SG-3 in a dead run for the gate. He dashed through it and tumbled down the ramp on the other end. DJ was already gone from the gate room and the rest of SG-4 was being tended to by medical personnel. Mitchell handed off his weapon and charged down the corridor, aiming for the infirmary. He stopped when he came to Daniel, Sam and Teal’c outside the closed door. Teal’c was covered in blood and Daniel was wearing a fair amount as well.
“She’s with Dr. Lamm.” Daniel said, his voice strained. Mitchell nodded and looked to Teal’c.
“I am unharmed, Col. Mitchell.” Teal’c said. “The blood came from Dr. Moore.”
“She killed that Prior,” a voice said from behind him. They turned to see Col. Pierce escorted by one of the medics. He sagged a little against the supportive shoulder. “She…I don’t know, he was speaking in a language I didn’t understand. But it was pretty clear he expected her to kill Drakes. Instead, she killed him. I wouldn’t have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it.”
“That was all the Prior’s blood?”
Pierce nodded. “When she came out of the cell, she wasn’t bleeding. Bruised and beaten like the rest of us, but not bleeding.”
Pierced stopped in front of Daniel. “I am very sorry, Dr. Jackson. I don’t know what happened. One minute she was rattling on about that pillar and what the symbols might mean, next thing I know I was in the dark.”
“Its not your fault, Colonel.” Daniel said. “There are risks, we all take them.”
“I know. I feel responsible though.”
Daniel sighed. He couldn’t hold the Colonel responsible anymore than he had ever held Jack responsible for any of the insane situations they had gotten into. “So do I, Colonel.”
“If you two are finished, I really need to get my patient in to the infirmary, “ the young medic said and Daniel and Teal’c stepped aside to make room for the two of them to pass. Behind them the others came, bearing similar bruises and expressions of remorse. Daniel tried to ignore them as they moved past, instead peering through the door to glimpse his daughter.
As Drakes and his escort moved into the infirmary, Dr. Lamm spotted Daniel’s worried look and excused herself from the nurse she’d been conferring with. “Dr. Jackson, she’s going to be fine,” she said reassuringly as she emerged from the room and put her hands in her lab coat pockets. “She’s pretty banged up, and she’s got some trauma to her eardrums. We’re cleaning her up right now, but the blood doesn’t appear to be her own.”
“It was the Prior’s.” Daniel said, chewing on his lip. “That’s what Pierce said.”
Lamm nodded. “That’s reassuring, that we were right and there wasn’t something we weren’t finding. She’s very traumatized, and hasn’t spoken since she came to a few minutes ago.”
“She killed the Prior.” Sam said gently, glancing aside at Daniel before looking back at Lamm. “She’s never had to…It would be a first for her, I’m sure. She’s probably still reacting to that, plus the shock of the whole situation.”
“That explains her mental state pretty well then.” She touched Daniel’s arm reassuringly. “She’s going to be fine, but for now I think she needs some quiet time and some rest. I’m going to sedate her, see if I can get her to sleep. You go get cleaned up, and you can come by later.”
Fire. She was drowning in fire. There was no air, no sense of direction, only flames. Blood red and suffocating. DJ flailed about for something to hold onto, but all she could find was a knife and a fistful of white robes. Over and over she watched as her hand shot out of the darkness to connect with something solid, something soft and yielding. His face ghastly white against the backdrop of flames and blackness and the surprise and fear in his fading smile as she cut. The feeling of the blade as it stutter cut across his neck, leaving a long, jagged wound. The rush of blood as it bubbled up and out, covering her face and hands as they fell.
She woke pushing at the blood she could still feel on her face, flailing against the sheets and tubing of an IV until a nurse rushed to her side to restrain her, calling over her shoulder for assistance. “DJ? It’s Dr. Lamm. Can you hear me?”
DJ bucked against them for a minute, then her eyes settled on Lamm’s and she went limp. “You’re back at the SGC, DJ. You’re safe. I need you to calm down.”
She looked from Lamm to the nurse and back again. It was over. A nightmare…but one that was over. She nodded slowly and Lamm smiled. “Good.”
There was quiet for a minute as the two of them adjusted machines and blankets, then the nurse withdrew. Lamm pulled up a stool and sat beside her. “Can you tell me what happened?”
DJ closed her eyes and sighed. No. She could feel it still. The pain of the silence. The pain of the black. The pounding of the air against her skin. It made no sense. None of it made any sense at all. She shook her head.
“Okay. That’s okay. We’ll have time enough for that.”
Her hand was gentle as it touched her arm, but felt like sandpaper rubbing against an open wound. The nurse returned and injected something into the IV. “We’re giving you something to help you sleep.” Lamm said as DJ looked at the IV. “In the morning, you’ll feel better.”
DJ didn’t think that was possible, but the dark was already winking at her, and the pain couldn’t keep her from it.
Daniel shifted uncomfortably in the chair where he had dozed off. Dr. Lamm had moved DJ into a private room as soon as she was stabilized, and given Daniel permission to stay with her, as long as he didn’t get in the way. He stretched and yawned before he noticed he wasn’t alone. “Teal’c?”
The Jaffa opened his eyes slowly and nodded to Daniel. “Daniel Jackson.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Several hours. I found I could not sleep.”
“Me too.”
“Yet we both managed to sleep once in this room.”
“Apparently.” Daniel stood and tried to stretch out stiff muscles before moving to DJ’s side. They’d taken away all of the medical apparatus but the IV, which was working both to keep DJ calm and to re-hydrate her after the long captivity.
They had as much of the story as they were going to get from Pierce and the others. Some combination of sleep and sensory deprivation had been used along with physical assaults that none of them could actually describe to break them. Pierce thought more had been done to DJ, he had whispered his concern that they had tried to brainwash the young doctor to Daniel and Dr. Lamm hours before..
Daniel held her hand and sighed. “I hate this. That I got her into this.”
Teal’c stood up and approached the other side of the bed. “DJ is her own person. I do not think you are responsible for her condition.”
Daniel smiled at his friend. “Maybe not directly.”
“Nor are you responsible for the Ori threat.” Teal’c raised an eyebrow when Daniel turned to look at him. “O’Neill thinks you are too hard on yourself. I concur.”
“Be that as it may, she’s my daughter, and I feel responsible.”
“Often the emotion a parent is not logical.”
Daniel couldn’t argue with that. He hung his head and looked at his hand resting in hers. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“You are doing an admirable job, Daniel Jackson. DJ is lucky to have found a father such as you.”
Daniel looked at Teal’c. “You may just be biased, you know?”
Teal’c’s smile was genuine. “Perhaps. However, I know that she feels the same.”
“You do?”
“Indeed.”
“Daniel?”
Daniel turned to see DJ’s eyes open. “DJ.”
“Hi.” Her free hand fluttered up to her face and she looked confused. “Where am I?”
“The SGC. You’re safe.” He kissed her forehead and perched on the side of the bed.
She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand. “I hurt.”
“You’ve been through an ordeal.” Daniel said softly.
Her eyes opened and turned to Teal’c. She smiled faintly as he touched her hand. “Teal’c.”
“It is good to see you, DJ.”
“I—what happened?”
“Do you not remember?” Teal’c glanced at Daniel and Daniel could see the concern in his eyes.
“Bits and pieces. There was a pillar, and a flash and pain and then….” She swallowed and adjusted her position so that she was a little more upright. Her eyes sought out Daniel’s, panic rising. She pulled her hand from his and raked her fingers through her hair. “I remember a voice in my head.” She pulled the hair tightly away from her face and took a deep breath.
“Shh…its okay. You don’t have to do it all right now.” Daniel said.
“Blood. I remember blood.” Her breathing pattern changed, and Daniel moved a little closer, sensing a meltdown coming. “It was everywhere. I can taste it. There…there was a Prior….and he…wanted…he…Daniel, he was going to make me…he tried to take me…and I—I…”
She was shaking and Daniel gathered her into his arms as the sobbing started. “I killed him…” she said into his shoulder. “Daniel, I didn’t mean…he said I was going to…the Ori would change me…” She clung to him and cried.
Daniel held her and rubbed his nimble fingers over her back to calm her, nodding to Teal’c when he gestured to the call button. A few minutes later, Dr. Lamm was in the room, adding a new medication into the IV and checking DJ’s pulse. Daniel could feel her relaxing in his arms as the medication worked on her. “Shh,” he whispered in her ear as she drifted further and eventually he laid her back against the pillows.
Her hand found his and held to it and he leaned in to wipe at the tears. “Good drugs,” she said in a voice heavy with the medication.
“Only the best for my girl.” Daniel agreed with a smile.
Her eyes fluttered closed and her breathing evened out as she faded into sleep.
Title: First Blood (working title, may change
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairings/Characters: Original Character, SG-1, various others....gen
Rating: Pg-13 bordering on R for violence (though its mostly implied)
Setting: Somewhere between Arthur's Mantle and Crusade
Summary: Daniel has a daughter (as seen in "Daddy's Little Girl" and she has joined SG-4. When SG-4 goes missing, Daniel fears the worst. His relief when SG-4 is recovered is short lived however when DJ begins to exhibit some strange abilities and behaviors.
All sense of time and place had been lost in the dark. The only sounds for days on end had been the words piped into her head by the Prior, the Ori…whoever it was who held her. The pain had reduced to a constant, dull roar that underlined every movement, every thought. Brief images cut through the fog that had taken residence in her brain, pictures of home, of friends, of family. Inevitably they were cut off by the words or the pain or other randomly firing thoughts.
There was certainty…she would die…though whether that was now or years from now she couldn’t be sure. They would come, those friends, those family…they would find her…them…She had lost her team, didn’t know where they were, but they too were captive…or maybe dead already.
Daniel. Teal’c. She felt them inside her. They would come. They would somehow find her. The pain surged then, the thought of Daniel bringing a torrent of agony that pulled her limbs rigid in their bonds. When the spasm released her, she sagged nearly to her knees, though the position of her arms kept her from actually reaching the floor.
They wanted her, the words told her. The Ori had waited for her to come, were waiting for her even now. The Prior would bring her to them, and she would be cleansed. Pictures accompanied the words, the swirling abyss, the lost, white eyes…the flames of consecration. “No.” she said into the void. She’d said it before. Over and over. She screamed it, never hearing the ragged sound her voice made.
“Unscheduled Offworld Activation.”
Daniel Jackson skidded to a breathless halt beside General Landry as the iris closed over the incoming wormhole. The control room was silent until Walter looked up at his commanding officer. “It’s SG-16 sir.”
Daniel turned away quickly to hide his disappointment, but couldn’t bring himself to leave the control room. “Let them in, Walter.” Landry said. He glanced at Daniel, then shook his head and watched as the bedraggled team lurched through the gate, dripping wet and already tugging at water logged jackets.
“Sorry we’re late, General. The entire gate area was flooded. We had to wait for the water to recede.”
“Understood, Colonel. You and your team get dry. We’ll debrief in an hour.”
Daniel closed his eyes and tried not to worry. They had three teams overdue by at least a day. The fact that one of them was SG-4, the team his daughter had joined less than 4 months before was eating him alive. Of the three, SG-4 was the furthest overdue. Almost 3 days for contact, more than one for return. So far, attempts to contact them had failed. The last attempt couldn’t even establish contact with the gate. They had sent another team, before SG-1 had returned from their most recent mission and they too had been out of contact for more than a day.
The mission had been simple recon, on a planet that appeared to be devoid of civilization, though DJ’s first report had indicated some ruins that looked as though they might be Hindu in origin.
Sirens and the sound of the gate spinning brought him up out of his reverie and back to the window. “Unscheduled Offworld Activation.” Walter’s voice rang through the room. Landry returned from his side conference with an aid to stare out at the gate. The iris closed again and the wormhole engaged. “Receiving IDC. It’s SG-3, sir. Audio.”
“General, there is no sign in the immediate area of SG-4, aside from the mount. We searched a five mile radius around the gate.”
“Any signs of life?”
“No sir, none that we can see.”
“Understood. Head on back. We’ll regroup and decide what to do next.”
Daniel licked his lips and looked at Landry. The general seemed sympathetic, but Daniel wasn’t interested in sympathy. “I’ll be in my office,” he muttered and wandered off, hands in his pockets, eyes downcast.
Light cut through the absolute darkness that held and surrounded her. She squeezed her eyes shut and cringed. How long since she’d been in the light? The restraints at her wrists released and she fell to the floor, laying her face against the coolness. Footsteps, sounds of papers being shuffled, sounds of anything…how long since she had heard anything but the voices in her head.
She nearly fainted as hands touched her, pain rising to a crescendo in her shoulders where they lifted her, in her feet as they dragged along the floor. Sobs racked her body at the relief, at the new torment. She didn’t care where they were going. The blur of light around them slowly solidified and she could tell they were taking her down a long promenade that overlooked a leafy garden.
She tried to remember where she was, how she’d gotten there. There was the gate, and the ruins. There was memory of finding something…but it eluded her. Then, the room, the darkness, the pain. How long ago now? Days? More?
She lifted her head and tried to get her bearings. They emerged from the protection of the covered walkway into the harsh sunlight of a late afternoon. The stimulus was overwhelming and she found herself squeezing her eyes shut again. Her knees hit the dirt as she was dropped by her escort, and she collapsed forward into the dirt. She thought she could hear her name. Breathing slowly, she pushed herself up on aching arms, turning her face toward the sound. Beside her Col. Pierce was similarly kneeling, his eyes both blackened, his jacket and shirt missing, bruises dotting his back and chest. “Are you all right?” he asked almost soundlessly.
DJ shook her head. She was far from all right. She blinked slowly, looking for the rest of her team. Her eyes fell on her arms, the wrists were red and black and purple. She shook her head, trying to clear it. Nothing made sense. Nothing that is until she saw him. One look and she started shaking.
He had come, the voice in her head, the one who knew her and promised her consecration, enlightenment, Ascension. His stride was confident, sure. His staff touched the earth and she could almost feel it. She closed her eyes and huddled into herself, seeing the images of people dying, disease, famine. All by her hand. The sobs wracked through her silently, tearing at stomach muscles already sore until the darkness came again.
“Daniel?” Sam stopped her run in front of Daniel’s door and he looked up. “We think we found her. Them. We just got word from a Tok’ra vessel in the area that they’ve picked up faint sensor readings from two of SG-4’s personal sensors. There’s a lot of interference, so they assume the other two are there, just blocked.”
Daniel was up out of his chair and half way to the door before she finished. “What’s the plan?”
“Get your gear. We’re gating out in 20 minutes. The Tok’ra ship will meet us there.”
The planet looked like so many other planets they had visited over the years. Daniel stepped clear of the gate and joined Sam and Teal’c near the DHD. Mitchell approached with a Tok’ra. “I am Mealu of the Tok’ra,” he said with a slight bow.
“You say you’ve found their sensors?” Daniel asked impatiently.
“Yes, two of them anyway. They are not far from here, but their position is guarded by some shield. We can only track them when they are in the center of the shield, where the effects are the weakest.”
“Can we ring in?”
Mealu shook his head. “It wouldn’t be wise. We’re essentially blind. We wouldn’t know what we were getting into. We’ve been studying it, both from orbit, and here on the ground. We may have pieced together what happened.”
Mealu gestured for them to follow, leading them over the well worn path from the gate to the first standing bits of ruins. Daniel recognized them from the video DJ had sent with her first report. “There’s a device here, it looks like it might control the shield.” Mealu pointed to the pillar. Daniel could almost see DJ squinting up at it, running a finger along the symbols while she scrambled to put it in context.
“You think you know what happened?” he asked, licking his lips.
It was Mitchell who responded. “Yeah, Dr. Moore probably activated a device that alerted the locals to their presence and stunned the team.”
“There’s a residual energy signature.” Mealu explained. “It is consistent with a particular stunning technology we’ve seen before.”
“Ancient technology.” Daniel said, nodding. “That would make sense. If this really was the planet where Saraswarti was holing up to work on the weapon then there would be technology left behind.”
Mealu nodded. “The good news is that the shield isn’t designed to keep people out, just hide whatever is inside it.”
“And the bad news?” Sam asked.
“Well, it’s a pretty long hike to where we think the team is.” Mealu responded. “And it looks like we aren’t the first to come looking for them.”
“The camera SG-3 placed before returning shows a Prior coming through about 4 hours before us.” Mitchell explained.
“Then we best get a move on.” Daniel said.
Mitchell looked like he was going to say something, but shook it off and moved off to round up the men they’d brought along and brief them. Daniel bit his lip while he waited. His stomach was turning in knots and he wanted to be gone already. “Daniel?”
Sam was beside him, her hand on his arm. He shook his head lightly. “Don’t, Sam. Just…don’t…” He exhaled slowly and forced the churning to settle. She nodded and smiled a strained smile.
“Okay.” She patted his arm again and turned to see Mitchell signaling for them to move out.
DJ groaned as the taste of dust and the sound of voices filtered past the darkness. Her eyes opened experimentally. She could see Col. Pierce beside her still. There was relief in his eyes when he spotted her looking at him. They were still in the dirt, on the street in the village that shouldn’t have existed. She shifted, slowly moving to sit up. There were people now, beside the men who had brought her out of her cell and the Prior. There was the Prior too, but she looked past him. She wasn’t ready for him, not yet. Jameson and Drakes were there too, kneeling nearby. Slow, deep breaths burned her lungs but helped her keep the edge off the panic bubbling inside.
There were hands on her now, forcing her to kneel and holding her there as the Prior approached. He smiled, a sickening look. “Dr. Moore, it is a pleasure to meet you.” He spoke in a form of Gaelic, his voice so similar to the one that had spoken in her head. His hand reached out for her and she cringed back. “Come now, I wouldn’t hurt you. Surely you must know that. You are special. The Ori are waiting for you.”
DJ shook with her fear and rage. “No.” she said, shaking her head. “No, I won’t go. I won’t—“
He laughed. “You will.” He gestured and two men pulled Drakes up off his knees and over to stand beside the Prior. “The Ori have seen your future, and the death that will come at your hand. It begins here.”
Drakes was forced to his knees beside the Prior. His eyes sought out DJs, but she couldn’t tell what she saw in them. Strength, a strength she didn’t think she had and trust…that much she could see. She felt something in her hand and looked. It was a blade, curved and silver, reflecting the late afternoon sunlight. She looked at it, then back to the Prior.
“Blessed are the Ori,” the Prior intoned.
As one the gathered people repeated the phrase and dropped to their knees. DJ’s guards pressed her forward, arms to the side. “Hallowed are the Ori.” The sounds rippled around her, and the fog in her head grew thick. Words she couldn’t understand murmured through her. Then she was released.
She sat up slowly, the blade in her hand now cradled to her. She knew. Her eyes met Drakes again. She knew what she was supposed to do. Apparently, so did he. She gripped the knife as the Prior came closer. “Come to the Ori, Dr. Moore. Come to enlightenment,” he whispered to her.
Her eyes moved from Drakes to the Prior’s. In nearly slow motion she moved, her free hand reaching up to grab a handful of the Prior’s robes, the other swinging slowly toward Drakes. She pulled herself upward, half dragging the Prior down toward her as she did. Somewhere between kneeling in the dirt and standing upright, DJ’s hand changed its arc, stuttering across skin, slicing flesh and releasing a torrent of hot blood that instantly covered her face and hands as she and the Prior tumbled to the ground amid a sudden flurry of action.
There was screaming and the sound of gunshots, but it barely registered as she shook. Someone was holding her, covering her…protecting her as the village square erupted in chaos. She stared at her hands, thick and sticky with blood. It caked in her hair with the dirt of the street, ran over her eyes turning everything an odd shade of red. The taste of it in her mouth was wrong. It was copper and tang, but with a sweetness she didn’t expect.
She heard her name again, and turned toward the sound. Col. Pierce held her head and tried to get her to look at him. “He’s dead,” she said dully. He wiped at the blood coating her face but there was so much of it that it didn’t help much. She thought she heard Daniel’s voice, then strong arms were lifting her and she was floating into the black.
“Lt. Dearns, dial the gate. We’re coming in hot. We’re gonna need medics on the other side.” Mitchell yelled into his radio as he covered the retreat of his team and the Tok’ra that had accompanied them. Teal’c carried the unconscious archeologist while the rest of SG-4 limped along beside their rescuers. SG-3 and Mitchell ran interference with the furious locals who were recovering from the shock of both the death of the Prior and the arrival of their armed team.
They had arrived just in time to witness the death of the Prior, or rather, his collapse as he bled out. The shock it had caused in the gathered townspeople had given them the edge to get in and collect their people, but that shock was wearing off.
Mitchell laid down a round of gunfire to keep the advancing locals from getting too close, then followed SG-3 in a dead run for the gate. He dashed through it and tumbled down the ramp on the other end. DJ was already gone from the gate room and the rest of SG-4 was being tended to by medical personnel. Mitchell handed off his weapon and charged down the corridor, aiming for the infirmary. He stopped when he came to Daniel, Sam and Teal’c outside the closed door. Teal’c was covered in blood and Daniel was wearing a fair amount as well.
“She’s with Dr. Lamm.” Daniel said, his voice strained. Mitchell nodded and looked to Teal’c.
“I am unharmed, Col. Mitchell.” Teal’c said. “The blood came from Dr. Moore.”
“She killed that Prior,” a voice said from behind him. They turned to see Col. Pierce escorted by one of the medics. He sagged a little against the supportive shoulder. “She…I don’t know, he was speaking in a language I didn’t understand. But it was pretty clear he expected her to kill Drakes. Instead, she killed him. I wouldn’t have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it.”
“That was all the Prior’s blood?”
Pierce nodded. “When she came out of the cell, she wasn’t bleeding. Bruised and beaten like the rest of us, but not bleeding.”
Pierced stopped in front of Daniel. “I am very sorry, Dr. Jackson. I don’t know what happened. One minute she was rattling on about that pillar and what the symbols might mean, next thing I know I was in the dark.”
“Its not your fault, Colonel.” Daniel said. “There are risks, we all take them.”
“I know. I feel responsible though.”
Daniel sighed. He couldn’t hold the Colonel responsible anymore than he had ever held Jack responsible for any of the insane situations they had gotten into. “So do I, Colonel.”
“If you two are finished, I really need to get my patient in to the infirmary, “ the young medic said and Daniel and Teal’c stepped aside to make room for the two of them to pass. Behind them the others came, bearing similar bruises and expressions of remorse. Daniel tried to ignore them as they moved past, instead peering through the door to glimpse his daughter.
As Drakes and his escort moved into the infirmary, Dr. Lamm spotted Daniel’s worried look and excused herself from the nurse she’d been conferring with. “Dr. Jackson, she’s going to be fine,” she said reassuringly as she emerged from the room and put her hands in her lab coat pockets. “She’s pretty banged up, and she’s got some trauma to her eardrums. We’re cleaning her up right now, but the blood doesn’t appear to be her own.”
“It was the Prior’s.” Daniel said, chewing on his lip. “That’s what Pierce said.”
Lamm nodded. “That’s reassuring, that we were right and there wasn’t something we weren’t finding. She’s very traumatized, and hasn’t spoken since she came to a few minutes ago.”
“She killed the Prior.” Sam said gently, glancing aside at Daniel before looking back at Lamm. “She’s never had to…It would be a first for her, I’m sure. She’s probably still reacting to that, plus the shock of the whole situation.”
“That explains her mental state pretty well then.” She touched Daniel’s arm reassuringly. “She’s going to be fine, but for now I think she needs some quiet time and some rest. I’m going to sedate her, see if I can get her to sleep. You go get cleaned up, and you can come by later.”
Fire. She was drowning in fire. There was no air, no sense of direction, only flames. Blood red and suffocating. DJ flailed about for something to hold onto, but all she could find was a knife and a fistful of white robes. Over and over she watched as her hand shot out of the darkness to connect with something solid, something soft and yielding. His face ghastly white against the backdrop of flames and blackness and the surprise and fear in his fading smile as she cut. The feeling of the blade as it stutter cut across his neck, leaving a long, jagged wound. The rush of blood as it bubbled up and out, covering her face and hands as they fell.
She woke pushing at the blood she could still feel on her face, flailing against the sheets and tubing of an IV until a nurse rushed to her side to restrain her, calling over her shoulder for assistance. “DJ? It’s Dr. Lamm. Can you hear me?”
DJ bucked against them for a minute, then her eyes settled on Lamm’s and she went limp. “You’re back at the SGC, DJ. You’re safe. I need you to calm down.”
She looked from Lamm to the nurse and back again. It was over. A nightmare…but one that was over. She nodded slowly and Lamm smiled. “Good.”
There was quiet for a minute as the two of them adjusted machines and blankets, then the nurse withdrew. Lamm pulled up a stool and sat beside her. “Can you tell me what happened?”
DJ closed her eyes and sighed. No. She could feel it still. The pain of the silence. The pain of the black. The pounding of the air against her skin. It made no sense. None of it made any sense at all. She shook her head.
“Okay. That’s okay. We’ll have time enough for that.”
Her hand was gentle as it touched her arm, but felt like sandpaper rubbing against an open wound. The nurse returned and injected something into the IV. “We’re giving you something to help you sleep.” Lamm said as DJ looked at the IV. “In the morning, you’ll feel better.”
DJ didn’t think that was possible, but the dark was already winking at her, and the pain couldn’t keep her from it.
Daniel shifted uncomfortably in the chair where he had dozed off. Dr. Lamm had moved DJ into a private room as soon as she was stabilized, and given Daniel permission to stay with her, as long as he didn’t get in the way. He stretched and yawned before he noticed he wasn’t alone. “Teal’c?”
The Jaffa opened his eyes slowly and nodded to Daniel. “Daniel Jackson.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Several hours. I found I could not sleep.”
“Me too.”
“Yet we both managed to sleep once in this room.”
“Apparently.” Daniel stood and tried to stretch out stiff muscles before moving to DJ’s side. They’d taken away all of the medical apparatus but the IV, which was working both to keep DJ calm and to re-hydrate her after the long captivity.
They had as much of the story as they were going to get from Pierce and the others. Some combination of sleep and sensory deprivation had been used along with physical assaults that none of them could actually describe to break them. Pierce thought more had been done to DJ, he had whispered his concern that they had tried to brainwash the young doctor to Daniel and Dr. Lamm hours before..
Daniel held her hand and sighed. “I hate this. That I got her into this.”
Teal’c stood up and approached the other side of the bed. “DJ is her own person. I do not think you are responsible for her condition.”
Daniel smiled at his friend. “Maybe not directly.”
“Nor are you responsible for the Ori threat.” Teal’c raised an eyebrow when Daniel turned to look at him. “O’Neill thinks you are too hard on yourself. I concur.”
“Be that as it may, she’s my daughter, and I feel responsible.”
“Often the emotion a parent is not logical.”
Daniel couldn’t argue with that. He hung his head and looked at his hand resting in hers. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“You are doing an admirable job, Daniel Jackson. DJ is lucky to have found a father such as you.”
Daniel looked at Teal’c. “You may just be biased, you know?”
Teal’c’s smile was genuine. “Perhaps. However, I know that she feels the same.”
“You do?”
“Indeed.”
“Daniel?”
Daniel turned to see DJ’s eyes open. “DJ.”
“Hi.” Her free hand fluttered up to her face and she looked confused. “Where am I?”
“The SGC. You’re safe.” He kissed her forehead and perched on the side of the bed.
She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand. “I hurt.”
“You’ve been through an ordeal.” Daniel said softly.
Her eyes opened and turned to Teal’c. She smiled faintly as he touched her hand. “Teal’c.”
“It is good to see you, DJ.”
“I—what happened?”
“Do you not remember?” Teal’c glanced at Daniel and Daniel could see the concern in his eyes.
“Bits and pieces. There was a pillar, and a flash and pain and then….” She swallowed and adjusted her position so that she was a little more upright. Her eyes sought out Daniel’s, panic rising. She pulled her hand from his and raked her fingers through her hair. “I remember a voice in my head.” She pulled the hair tightly away from her face and took a deep breath.
“Shh…its okay. You don’t have to do it all right now.” Daniel said.
“Blood. I remember blood.” Her breathing pattern changed, and Daniel moved a little closer, sensing a meltdown coming. “It was everywhere. I can taste it. There…there was a Prior….and he…wanted…he…Daniel, he was going to make me…he tried to take me…and I—I…”
She was shaking and Daniel gathered her into his arms as the sobbing started. “I killed him…” she said into his shoulder. “Daniel, I didn’t mean…he said I was going to…the Ori would change me…” She clung to him and cried.
Daniel held her and rubbed his nimble fingers over her back to calm her, nodding to Teal’c when he gestured to the call button. A few minutes later, Dr. Lamm was in the room, adding a new medication into the IV and checking DJ’s pulse. Daniel could feel her relaxing in his arms as the medication worked on her. “Shh,” he whispered in her ear as she drifted further and eventually he laid her back against the pillows.
Her hand found his and held to it and he leaned in to wipe at the tears. “Good drugs,” she said in a voice heavy with the medication.
“Only the best for my girl.” Daniel agreed with a smile.
Her eyes fluttered closed and her breathing evened out as she faded into sleep.