MEMOIRS OF
BRIGADIER GENERAL JACK O’NEILL
(Retired)
Part V
Chapter Three
By Arrietty
2006
“Jack? It is you, isn’t it?” Sam’s voice sounded desperate as she asked.
“I don’t know, Carter,” I admitted. “I just don’t know.” I could hear the panic in my voice as I spoke. “I know his name, but he never told me and now you can sense him.”
She moved forward and touched the back of my neck and pushed. “Ow!” I yelped. She smiled.
“Lift up your shirt,” she ordered.
At this, I raised my eyebrows in question. Her reply was a roll of her eyes and she nodded towards my shirt.
I gingerly lifted my shirt and she reached across and prodded my bruised ribs. “Ow! Carter? Do you have to?” I squawked.
She leaned back away from me and grinned. It was the first time I had seen her really smile since I arrived.
“Sir, you are not Goa’uld; he would have healed you by now. If not your ribs, he would definitely have healed the entry wound up at the back of your neck.”
I closed my eyes with relief. I was okay. I was thankful that I had not had a haircut in quite a while as it would help conceal the entry wound.
“What happened?” she asked, still standing right in front of me.
Feeling a little uncomfortable with her standing so close, I shooed her back onto the cot with my hand, “You need to rest that foot, Carter.”
Turning, she slowly clomped her way back to the cot. I wasn’t sure if I imagined it or not, but I think I caught a glimpse of disappointment at my dismissal on her face. After she sat down heavily onto the cot, the look I thought had been there was gone.
“So if it’s dead how come you can sense it?” Even with her explanation about the dead Goa’uld, I still needed more convincing.
She shrugged in reply. “It must be just the naquadah left in your system, but I don’t know how long it will last before you end up with just a trace of it, like I have.”
‘Okay, this is confusing.’ “Carter, this is confusing. What happened? Why are you in this predicament? Why aren’t you a Goa’uld? Is Siler a friend or foe? Where’s Ham-“
“Stop!” She didn’t shout, but she wasn’t far off it. “Please, you are the first friend that I have been able to talk to for two years, if not longer.” She stopped talking for a minute, and then added very quietly, “I’ve lost count now.”
This information shocked me; I knew that it must have been a long time, but two years?
I waited for a while, but as nothing was forthcoming, I risked another two questions. “Why did my Goa’uld die? Is it because they are weak?”
She looked up from studying her hands and I was relieved to see some hope in her eyes, hope that hadn’t been there before. “Yes and no,” she replied.
“Okay. What happened?”
“Well I s’pose it all started two years ago, as I said before. I received a phone call from Richard Fleming and he informed me that the experimentation hadn’t stopped but that it was continuing in a town called Steveson. There was an accident; they found his wrecked car, but no body. The whole of the town had been taken over by Goa’ulds, which had been cloned. That is why no one knew, no naquadah.” I sat there totally lost for words. For the first time, I heard Carter ramble; usually she was so precise, but confusing with her words. Now she was just confusing.
I held my hand up to stop her, “Slow down, Carter. I know about Steveson, it happened in my world. When did it go wrong?”
“It was after they put that Goa’uld in me.” Her body gave an involuntary shudder. Mine followed suit as I remembered the slippery wet feel of it on my neck, before the excruciating pain… ‘oh not going there, Jack.’ “I managed to defeat the Goa’uld as it died from the antibiotic that Fleming left, then as I turned my zat onto the Goa’ulds-“ She stopped and looked up at me, her eyes full of distress. “They’d put one into Daniel first, he didn’t have a chance. I didn’t know.” She shook her head and looked back down at her hands as they fiddled with the material on her BDU pants. “I woke up here, and it’s where I’ve been ever since.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Except for a couple of hours a week up top for some sunshine. The only reason they keep me alive is so they can control Colonel O’Neill.”
Choosing to ignore her last remark, I asked, “You’re in shape. How did you manage to keep up this level of fitness?”
“It’s been the only way to stop myself from becoming insane. And I nearly killed him twice.” She lifted her fist and thumped her leg with the broken foot. “But I’m just not fast enough.”
I remembered the speed that she had shown when she nearly killed me, and I must have made a noise as she looked up at me sharply.
“I know he wants to die; he doesn’t want to live like that.” She spoke vehemently as she leaned forward staring at me hard.
I nodded, looking straight back into her eyes, “Yes, he would, but not now; we can get him free,” I assured her, although I still wasn’t sure how – but there had to be a plan.
As if reading my mind, Carter asked, “What’s the plan?”
“Dunno. So you never met Jonas?” I said, still wondering how it had all gone wrong.
“Jonas Hanson?” she asked.
“No. Jonas Quinn, from Kelowna.”
“Oh him. Yes, we did meet him, but he died. He saved all of our lives and those of his people, but they blamed us for his death. They said we sabotaged their experiment. What has he got to do with this?”
I could see Carter’s mind beginning to revolve around what I had been saying. “That will be the difference between our worlds. Daniel died in ours and Jonas lived. He came and joined SG-1 and he was with you… well, our you… but with SG-1 in Steveson.”
“You weren’t there?” she asked.
“No, what about your O’Neill?” I dreaded the answer as I was pretty sure I already knew it.
“He was with the Tok’ra. He was the only one left that-“
“Hadn’t been cured in Antarctica,” I finished for her.
She smiled. “Yes he was to have temporarily joined with a Tok’ra symbiote. It was supposed to heal him and leave. We never thought…” sadness emanated from her. I guessed that had been the last time she had seen him. The real him. The one she’d known before he’d been lost to her.
Horror crawled through me as I realized he would have come back from being tortured by Baal only to be taken over by this Goa’uld.
“We have to free him!” I blurted out with vehemence.
Carter looked up again with surprise, “We have to free them all,” she admonished adding, “Sir.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “But there’s something about O’Neill, something that you don’t know.” I held my hand up. “Later, I will tell you later. I have some more questions, things I need to know, before my time runs out here.” I quickly looked behind me; I knew there was no one there, but I found myself doing it anyway.
“First of all, I know that the Goa’uld in Steveson didn’t have naquadah in their blood, so what’s with that?”
“They added the naquadah to the symbiote clones. They wanted to know who had symbiotes and who didn’t. For some reason they can’t make that weird voice that the Goa’uld use. And most can’t make their eyes glow. It only normally happens once when the symbiote first takes control and then that’s it. The only Goa’ulds that seem to be able to do that are Daniel’s and the Colonel’s Goa’uld and then it is only sometimes.” She let out a tired sigh. “I don’t know how my Dad is or even if he is alive; they made sure that all ties with the Tok’ra were severed.” She looked sad. “They had General Hammond killed near the beginning; they made it look like an accident, but they definitely murdered him.”
I could see she was getting more depressed and desolate as she spoke. “Sam.” She looked up. “I think you… we have an ally.”
“Who?”
“Siler, he brought me a bottle of water when they had me locked up. The cap had been tampered with and I am certain it wasn’t me that killed that Goa’uld. Something in me killed it.”
She nodded. “Could be. I hope so.”
I wasn’t sure that she was convinced; it must have been hard living in here for that length of time, with no friend, only your …
“You and O’Neill, what is it with you two?”
She frowned and looked puzzled.
“You know,” I waved my arms around like a windmill, “Back then, when I came in the first time and you didn’t sense the symbiote, you thought I was him and the Goa’uld was dead.”
A faint blush begun to spread up her neck into her cheeks. “I was so relieved; I couldn’t sense the symbiote anymore and I sort of forgot myself. And the last time I had seen him I had smashed a chair over his head,” she said as though trying to kill him before was an excuse.
I couldn’t help but grin at the thought of Carter smashing a chair over the head of that slimy snake and was thankful that she had realized that I was not a Goa’uld in time.
“Oh.” I felt disappointed. “So the regulations are in force here too?”
She nodded, the colour still quite pink in her cheeks.
“Carter.” She looked at me cautiously, “I won’t tell, if you don’t.” I couldn’t help giving her my best smile, and then waggled my eyebrows. I was pleased to see my attempt at levity work, as she stifled a giggle.
Looking serious again, she asked the question that I had been putting off, “What happened to the colonel?”
I slid off the table and started to wander around the small space, working out the kinks in my already stiffening muscles. “The Tok’ra Kanan healed O’Neill, but he decided to go for a jaunt to retrieve his girlfriend. Unfortunately, his girlfriend was the Lotar of the Goa’uld Baal. Kanan left him when Baal killed him the first time.”
“First time?”
“Yup, Baal, liked to use the sarcophagus a lot. He basically tortured him to find out information until he died, then revived him and started all over again.”
I heard her let out a small gasp behind me, “How did you… he escape?”
“I don’t know how he escaped here, as my Carter had something to do with how I escaped in my world.” I had turned around to face her as I answered her question and saw that tears had started to roll down her now white cheeks.
Swiftly, I moved to her side and sat down beside her, forgetting my resolve to keep my distance. “Carter, I think I can fool them for a while, but I don’t think I can for long. You know the escargot failure?”
She smiled and corrected me, “Entropic Cascade failure. I agree, I don’t think the Goa’uld in the colonel is going to make much difference.”
“I am going to sound out Siler, see if he’s on our side.”
She nodded before burying her head into my neck and putting her arms around me clinging tightly. Forgetting my own feelings, I held her back, knowing this was for my other self. If I wasn’t to have my own Carter, then I was going to make sure that this O’Neill did.
It was time to get back and report to shiny boots. Giving her a quick squeeze I stiffly stood up. I could still feel sharp stabs of pain in my body that had been inflicted by the Neanderthals.
I had stood up not a moment to soon, as the other Goa’ulded me strode into the room, announcing his presence by slamming the door violently against the wall as it crashed open. As soon as he saw Sam’s tear streaked face, his mouth turned into a malicious sneer.
“So, has your host told you anything yet?” he asked me. Not once taking his eyes off Carter.
I shrugged and walked out the room, ignoring Carter, hoping the Goa’uld would follow. I was both gratified and relieved to hear that my plan worked, as I heard the door clang shut behind me and my evil twin.
“Come.” He indicated with his hand to another storeroom. “We mustn’t be seen together.”
As I stepped into the storeroom, I was surprised to see it was empty but for a table and two chairs. Two Neanderthals stood guard by the now closed doorway. Unknowingly, he copied my previous actions as he perched himself onto the table. “So, what information does your host have?” he demanded.
“Not much. My host is most stubborn.”
I could not only sense but see the stirrings of anger in this snake infested replica of me. I knew I had to give him something or he would go to Carter himself.
“The SGC in his world are free of the Goa’uld,” I quickly blurted out.
“What happened in Steveson, in his world?”
Realizing where he was going with this, I had to hide anything that I knew of that situation at all costs. “He doesn’t know much. He was a prisoner of Baal when that happened.”
He nodded in agreement at my information. So it had happened to this O’Neill too.
“You have to be strong; these hosts that we have are pig-headed and stubborn.”
I gave a quick nod in agreement, restraining myself from making the caustic remark that I wanted to reply with.
“Enough for now. I want to see you at,” he glanced at his watch, “1400 hours in my office.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied and promptly opened the door and walked to the elevator, without a backward glance at Carter’s door. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I leaned my sore and tired body against the wall. A dull ache permeated my knees and ribs. I needed sleep, my body needed to heal, but this was not going to happen in a hurry. First I needed to get some food, and then find Siler.
After entering the commissary, I walked straight to the coffee machine. I knew it would give me a quick boost which I needed if I was going to keep up the act. As I reached for the coffee pot, a hand appeared before my eyes, holding a bottle of water.
“Sir. You must be thirsty.”
I swiveled around on one foot and stared straight at Siler, “Why thank you, Siler, just what I needed.” I unscrewed the top and took a large swig of the ice cold water. It was barely perceptible, but I noticed a slight relaxation of his shoulders as I lowered the bottle.
“Sir, I need your help in lab 26,” he stood patiently waiting for my answer.
“Okay, Sparky, see you in ten.” He nodded and walked out of the commissary. Puzzled slightly by the display, I grabbed a couple of sandwiches and followed Siler out the door.
Lab 26 was quiet and the lighting was subdued. Cautiously I peeked around the doorway and spotted Siler lying on the floor underneath one of the benches fiddling with some contraption.
“Siler?”
I carefully bent down to have a look at what he was doing.
“Will you pass me the wrench please, sir?” he asked.
I looked around for a wrench then spotted it just to my right; I quickly picked it up and passed it to him.
~*~
My head hurt and bright lights were flashing in my eyes. I cautiously opened my eyes, wondering if the flashing was going to get worse. The first sight to reach them was Siler crouched in front of me removing some small doohickey from the back of my hand. I was sitting up leaning against the wall, and I noticed the door to the lab was shut.
“Siler?” I used my best Brigadier General warning voice. Not that Siler knew I was a Brigadier General. “What happened here?” I asked, as he hadn’t been forthcoming with anything so far.
“You’re not a Goa’uld,” he stated, then sat back on his heels.
“So?” I tilted my head to the side. “Nor are you, I hope,” I added.
He smiled then stood up with ease. Oh how I envied the effortlessness of pain free knees on this man. “No, you’re right, I’m not a Goa’uld. We don’t have much time, so listen carefully. There are about eight of us that have managed to kill the Goa’uld that was transplanted in us. Nine now, because of you. You must drink three bottles of this water a day as it has naquadah in it, plus a killing agent. Just in case they get wind of what is going on.
General O’Neill does not drink water - only coffee and we can’t just slip him the killing agent as it doesn’t work after being heated. Your arrival has given us the opportunity that we have been waiting for. Now we can take him out and put you in his place then slowly get everyone back to normal.”
I quickly shook my head, “No. You mustn’t kill him; O’Neill is strong. Earlier, I saw him nearly take back control.”
Siler looked surprised at this information. “This is better; he will be able to reclaim control after we have administered the antidote.”
“What do you mean, ‘reclaim control’?”
“The antidote isn’t as strong as Major Carter’s was; it only helps the host to take back control of his or her own body. Eventually the symbiote dies, but only after drinking this.” He held up a full bottle of water.
“So.” I pointed to the small doohickey that had been on my hand. “That tells you that I am in control or that the Goa’uld is dead.” I was feeling rather nervous about this new information.
“No, it is dead. The bottle I gave you before you were implanted.” I winced at the word. Siler ignored me and continued, “It had an extra strong dose in it; I had to make sure that it really did die.”
I slowly stood up, dusted imaginary specks off of my pants and asked my next question. “What now?”
“You wait for my signal. The code name is ‘Thor’. It might not be me; it might be anyone else here that comes to you. You follow that person and we will swap you over with the General and slowly we will take back control of the base.”
I nodded in agreement. “Siler, because of some failure thingy, I can’t be here long or I will go all sideways. You will have to act quickly.”
“Yes, sir. We know of this and we will be working as quickly as we can.”
I left the lab with a bounce in my step. This was great news; with careful planning we should have the SGC back in control soon. Now all I had to wait for was Siler’s message.
~*~
The message did not come until the next day. On the previous day I had gone to shiny boot’s office for my meeting, but he had been called away for something. I was relieved, the last thing I wanted to do was to have to come up with more information about my world.
I was puzzled about how the ‘general’ was running things. As far as I could see, SG teams were going off world like normal. There were no Jaffa, just these rather large SF’s that seemed to have got out of the wrong side of the bed each morning. I was pleased that they now treated me with respect and usually saluted me smartly when I walked down the hallways.
I had just downed my second bottle of ‘water’ for the day, when the message came. One of the said bad tempered SF’s came up to me.
“Thor wishes to see you, sir.” I was surprised, but I still followed him out the commissary door. I was glad to see he wasn’t one of the SF’s that had beaten me up, as I don’t think I would have been able to control my temper when we got inside the elevator.
The SF stood still as stone in the elevator without saying a word. It was obvious that I was not going to get any information out of him in a big hurry. After the doors opened he led me along to Carter’s old lab. He opened the door with a pass card and waited for me to go through. Sitting on the floor in front of me was a very irate snakehead. O’Neill’s hands and feet were tied and I noticed that a gag was firmly tied around his head to stop the tirade that I was sure would be coming out of his mouth. Kneeling on the floor right by his side was Doctor Fraiser, needle held in the air, ready to plunge into his arm. At this spectacle, I stood still and folded my arms and watched, highly amused.
It wasn’t until Doctor Fraiser stood up and put her empty syringe away that I remembered what had happened when I had been captured.
“Doc!” I admonished. “How could you?”
She turned beet red and looked at the floor. “I had to make it convincing.”
“Well it worked. You certainly convinced me.” I could hear the hurt that I was feeling come through in the sound of my voice.
She looked up. “Sorry, sir,” she said and then grinned.
I looked sideways at her and then knelt down in front of shiny boots. Actually they weren’t so shiny now, as they had got scuffed in the struggle and his clothes were all awry. In fact they now looked a lot more comfortable.
“Jack.” I grabbed his head and made him look at me.
His eyes were glazed over, no one was in control. Remembering what Carter had said to me, I repeated the same to him.
“You can fight this, you have to fight it.” Turning to Doctor Fraiser, I asked. “How strong was the dose.”
“As strong as yours was.”
Looking back into Jack’s eyes I saw a flicker of fear in them, and it wasn’t Jack. “Jack, you have to fight this. For Sam’s sake.”
I saw his face grimace at her name. Jack was at home. Not a hundred percent sure why, but I had a fair idea. “She forgives you, Jack. She told me herself, you have to fight it.”
I heard a gasp behind me as I saw a faint glow of yellow in his eyes before they faded into haunted brown ones.
I let out a sigh and leaned back on my heels. “Give him another dose, just to be sure.”
“I can’t; it will knock him out.”
“It won’t matter, Doc. He won’t be able to help for a while. None of the ‘hosts’ will be able to help once we kill the Goa’ulds that possess them; they will be too traumatized.”
Leaning down again, she injected another dose into Jack. As soon as he had passed out, I didn’t lose much time.
“Quick, someone help me with his clothes. Anyone got a shoeshine kit? We can’t have General shiny shoes going around with scuffed boots now can we?”
Twenty-five minutes later I stiffly walked down the corridor with Siler and Doc Fraiser in tow. ‘No wonder this Goa’uld walked so funny; the neck size was too small.’
It took five hours to slowly work our way around most of the personnel on base. Once we had injected the majority of the personnel, we then introduced the antidote into the drinking water. By the end of the day, all personnel were back to normal. Well, as normal as they would ever be. The ones that had been Goa’ulded the longest were the ones that seemed to need Doctor Fraiser’s knockout shots.
We found Paul Davis locked up in a cell not far from Carter. They had discovered that the symbiote had died, but they didn’t know why. It was just as well we acted when we did or they would have found out soon enough when the ‘water’ had worn off and they had reintroduced another symbiote. It had been his voice that I had heard yelling two days ago.
I was concerned because there was no sign of Carter. One of Siler’s undercover operatives had been to fetch her earlier, but she hadn’t materialized. When I saw the operative, I quickly cornered him.
“Where’s Carter?”
“Sorry, sir, she is hurt bad. I had to take her to the infirmary.”
I ran down the hall, around the corner and slap into Daniel. “Daniel,” I puffed. “Carter, she’s hurt; come on.”
Suddenly I felt a vice grip around my throat and was slammed into the wall. Yellow light shone from Daniel’s eyes.
‘Crap.’
“You are not General O’Neill.”
“No kidding,” I retorted.
“Where is he?”
I was greatly disturbed to hear the double echo of his voice as he spoke.
“You’re not from Steveson, are you?” I choked out.
“No kidding,” he replied, then squeezed more tightly.
‘What’s worse than a Goa’uld without a sense of humour? One with a sense of humour.’
I felt myself begin to lose consciousness as I struggled to breathe, but just before everything went black, I heard a whine then pain. Lots of pain, then blackness.
~*~
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