Pure of Heart by PhoenixE                     Part 17
Slash:  Jack and Daniel involved in a loving and committed relationship, which usually involves sex.
Rating: NC-17
Category: Established Relationship.  AU A/A Drama, Angst, H/C
Season/Spoilers: Pretty much the entire third season.
Synopsis: There is no such thing as absolute evil - or good.  Somewhere between the extremes lies the truth.
Warnings: This story contains scenes of non-consentual sex.  It is also a work in progress.
Length: oh, who knows.  I'll get back to you.

Pure of Heart by PhoenixE                       Part 17
 
 


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"Our experts have been unable to find any form of tampering on any of the cannons," Lord High Muckity Muck Chief Big Whoop Dee Whoop or whatever Trevel loftily stated with a self-satisfied smug expression Jack wanted to wipe right off her face.

With a steamroller.

Yeah, it wasn't like he hadn't been expecting her to take this sort of  'we're so much better and smarter than you' high road with the dumb primitives when they'd taken on the thankless task of beating their heads against the brick wall of Tollan arrogance in an effort to alert the them to their very probably imminent Goa'uld ass kicking – an ass kicking becoming even more probable by the second because the dumb asses wouldn't listen – but still being so roundly condescended to and actively sneered at by this snooty bitch…

Jack was heartily mentally reneging on the friendly impulse moving him to get mixed up in this mess in the first place almost wishing they'd kept their mouths shut and just let the Tollan get what was soon to be coming to them.  If he didn't need so desperately to be here for Daniel's sake he'd already have told Trevel to stuff it and been taking his kids back to the Tok'ra before the snakes hit the fan.

Arrogant assholes, the whole lot of them.  They were laughing now, but he was willing to wager a year's pay they wouldn't be laughing quite so hard at the dumb Tau'ri's misguided attempt to warn them their smug asses were in peril after the Goa'uld creamed all their fancy popguns and they were left defenceless with snake all over their faces.  Yeah, he'd pay money to see THAT one, all right.

But no, as much as they had it coming he couldn't let it happen.  Jack couldn't honestly say he gave a toss about the Tollan or their whole snotty planet but the place still had to be standing for Daniel so he'd save their damned world in spite of them so Daniel would have somewhere to escape to.   For Daniel's sake Jack reluctantly abandoned his pleasant fantasies of leaving the Tollan to some Instant Hubric Karma and nudged the woman at his side to have a go at making Trevel eat her words.

"Carter?" he prompted with the nudge.  Go, girl.

As usual, the major did not disappoint.

"Maybe they were painting them, Sir," she quickly responded with a very credible explanation for what she and Teal'c had observed.

That is – credible to anyone who wasn't too damned full of themselves to be able to see beyond the end of their stuck up nose.

"I see no paint," Travel witheringly replied, her lips forming into an extremely unflattering moue of disapproval.

"Sorry," Carter came back with a slight shrug, not daunted by the either the face or the contemptuous attitude behind it.  "It's an Earth military expression," she explained.   "It means marking them as targets."

Dumb-ass, Jack grumbled to himself.  Quit sneering and listen!

"Nor do I see any markings," Trevel airily announced with a condescending eyebrow arch.  Jack narrowed his eyes and glared back at her, only just resisting the impulse to punch her in the face for her last piece of outrageous pedantry.

And Trevel was claiming they were the dumb ones….

Sam's eyes briefly darted toward him.  Yeah, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard either.  But if the so-called advanced being in front of her needed to be brought up to speed, she was definitely still game.

"Well there are ways they can target the weapons without actually leaving a mark," Sam patiently elaborated, not entirely able to conceal her surprise at having to do so.

Not that her lah di dah ness caught it.  She was still too busy discounting scenarios her arrogance would not allow her to entertain.  And having a great time doing it too. Jack suppressed the urge to spit the word 'Titanic' in her face.  Waste of time, he knew that, she wouldn't get the reference but for some strange reason the supposedly unsinkable was springing to mind with a vengeance at the moment.

"If so, the instant one of these canons is attacked the rest will automatically locate the position of the attacker and destroy it."

Well, she just had an answer for everything didn't she?  That leaving them to their just comeuppance option was starting to look better and better but Jack manfully refrained from telling her where she could stick her ion canons and settled for   pointing out the obvious flaw in her argument.

"Unless they're all taken out simultaneously," he said meaningfully, letting his attitude bleed out in a nasty smile.

Trevel flipped him one right back.

"If that were possible why then did the Goa'uld Heru'ur not do so when he pursued Klorel?"

Oh, she was asking for it, she was so asking for it, maybe it wasn't on to hit a woman but what other way was he going to knock some frigging SENSE into her…

"Maybe because he didn't have a contingent on the planet's surface targeting the weapons in advance," Carter helpfully suggested, but she didn't believe Trevel would listen any more than he did.

After all it would seem you could lead a Tollan to water but you couldn't make them see they needed to drink.

Trevel didn't disappoint, she was ready with yet another prideful pronouncement. 

"He didn't do it because it is impossible," she gloated.  "It would take but one of these devices to protect this planet from a Goa'uld mothership and we have many more than that.  Our technology is superior in every way to theirs," she paused, her dark eyes glittering with satisfied triumph as she delivered the coup de grace.

Wait for it, wait for it…

"And to yours."

Ka-blam.  That last sound you heard was that of a mind slamming firmly shut.

Knowing at this point he had nothing left to lose Jack decided to throw diplomacy out the window.  Doing this the polite way wasn't getting them anywhere and there was no way he was going to let the Queen of the Tollan get away with letting the Goa'uld mess things up for him and Daniel.

"Excuse me, your Tollan-ness," Jack barged forward, waving away the beginnings of Trevel's latest dismissive remark. "Not meaning to be disrespectful even though I'm sure as hell gonna sound that way, but would you get your head out of your ass and take a look at what's going on around here?  Unless you're saying Major Carter and Teal'c were lying – and I hope you're not because that's something I'd have to take strenuous objection to – then whether or not you believe anything was done to them doesn’t change the fact my people observed Zippy's Jaffa skulking around your popguns here and call me crazy, but I don't think they were taking holiday snaps to send home to the kiddies!  Now, no matter how low your opinion is of either our technology or the Goa'ulds, if I were you, I'd be asking myself if there's even a chance, I don't care how small, they could have done anything at all to compromise those guns – excuse me Ma'am, but is the fate of your entire world more important to you than your determination to be just damned stupid?"

"Chancellor Trevel," Teal'c abruptly interjected, stepping in front of Jack.  "I was once in service to the System Lord Apophis," he continued in a smoothly soothing voice, his solid sincerity, formally respectful stance and earnest gravitas instantly drawing Trevel's attention and mollifying her indignation to Jack's remarks.

"During my years as First Prime to Apophis it was my duty to serve the false god in many different capacities and to undertake many covert missions and acts of sabotage against his enemies," Teal'c informed her, his dark eyes grave and deeply compelling.  "I have some experience of this particular strategy, and know not only how and by what means it was probably accomplished, but can also be of assistance in enabling you to detect the tampering.  If you would permit me, I can provide your scanning devices with the energy signature of the targeting monitor the Jaffa of Zipacna would have used on the canons.  It would be my pleasure to be of service to you in this regard, and to provide you with whatever information you require to ascertain the truth."

"Please, Your Grace," Sam added her entreaty to Teal'c's.  "We're only trying to help. They were doing something to them.  What could it hurt to check?"

"What they said," Jack grumbled, warily meeting Trevel's glittering gaze.

Trevel's imperious eyes raked over all of them, her expression stiff and unreadable.  Jack held his breath while the silence stretched, unable to tell from her poker face whether he'd finally crossed the line and she was about to give the lot of them the boot, or if something, anything any of them had said had finally – actually made an impression.

The helpful one, the one they wanted, not the more probable one that was gonna get them evicted from the planet.

"I'm sorry about the 'head up your butt' – thing, " he blurted, realising as soon as the words left his mouth saying anything more at this juncture was probably not only much too late but was also likely only going to serve to dig him in deeper.

"Your passion is to your credit," Trevel responded, immediately and unexpectedly.  "Even if the manner in which you express it leaves something to be desired.  Still, your concern is – noted," she finished, her tight lips softening ever so slightly.  Wasn't quite a smile, but it was something.   

"Yeah well, I got this job on the strength of my good looks, not my diplomatic skills," Jack said with a shrug.

This time she did smile.  "How fortunate for the universe," she murmured before turning towards the ion canon behind them, and the technician standing beside it.  "Scan the canon," she crisply ordered.  "The Jaffa will assist you."


'So, that's it then," Jack exclaimed as he threw himself on the elegant couch in the common area of the suite the Tollan had assigned to them.  "Guess what, we were right, yippee, we've saved the whole damned planet, blew Zippy's plan out of the water, we're heroes, the Goa'ulds are skunked, tragedy averted, basically the coast is clear so there's nothing to worry about," he finished, scowling darkly at his team mates.

"I am unconvinced we should relax our vigilance," Teal'c flatly declaimed.

"Yeah, I'm not buyin' it either," Sam agreed as she settled herself in the armchair across from the couch.  "You ask me the whole thing was too damned easy."

"There was nothing easy about getting her highness there to go with the program and do the damned scans," Jack snorted.  "But unlike her I'm thinking it's highly unlikely now he's been supposedly caught with his dick in the cookie jar Zippy is gonna keep his promise to be good from now on."

"But the Tollan are satisfied the Goa'uld plot against them has been uncovered, the threat has been neutralized and we need have no further security concerns for the duration of the Triad," Teal'c added, inclining his sombre face toward SG-1's team leader.

"You have to wonder if that was the whole point of the exercise," Sam mused.

"Don'tcha, though?" Jack grinned at her.

"Zipacna had to know we wouldn't trust him, and were watching and waiting for them to do something," Sam continued. "So they gave us exactly what we were looking for.  They made a move.  They never wanted or even expected this action to succeed, and it was never supposed to.  But what they did want was for us to catch them at it, and turn them in, so it would look like they'd tried to pull a fast one, just like we figured they would  -  "

"And therefore, reassured we had discovered and eliminated the threat, both we and the Tollan would consequently relax our vigilance," Teal'c finished, nodding gravely.  "Thereby allowing them the freedom to execute their real strategy unsuspected and unopposed."

"Have I told you kids lately how danged proud I am of you?"  Jack beamed at both of them.  "Trust no one, especially a snake.  I've taught you well.  Makes my heart proud.  Getting all misty-eyed, here."

"Thank you, Sir," Sam said, shaking her head and grinning.  "I guess this means we'll be putting off the sight-seeing tour for a little while yet."

"You got that right, Major," Jack growled.  "I don't know what those snakes are up to but I'll eat my hat if nuking this place was their one and only game plan.  Hell, if they're not after Daniel and don't try and make some sort of a move on him when he gets here I'll eat your hat too."

"They will not succeed," Teal'c rumbled, his low voice reeking menace. 

"Damned straight they won't," Jack vowed, his own determination echoed in the firm set of Carter's jaw and her flashing eyes.  "As soon as Daniel gets here – "

Jack? 

"Wow!"  Jack roared, his eyes widening with surprise and delight.  "Daniel!  He roared again, gaping joyously at his team mates.  "It's Daniel!  He's – he's – " Jack sputtered, jabbing his temple with his index finger.  "Ah crap, everyone, dummy up, gotta concentrate here."

DANIEL!  Daniel, omigawd, where the HELL have you been, are you all right?

I'm okay, I'm okay, I've just been – oh Jack, I've been trying but I could never seem – I've missed you so much!

Hey, backatcha babe!  Listen – I -

Jack, all of you, are you on Tollana?

Yeah – we are – how do you know - 

Never mind about that now, that's not important, are you – has anything happened? 

What's going on, Danny?

I had a visit from an old friend.  He gave me a friendly warning.  All of you – watch your backs, there. Please, be careful!  I'll try and see what I can find out on this end, from Apophis – ah – dammit, he's here!  Jack – I - 

Daniel?  Daniel, what the hell are you talking about?  Apophis?  What about Apophis? DANIEL?

'Sir?" Sam said worriedly. 

Startled, Jack opened his eyes, stunned to find himself on his feet.  He didn't remember jumping up off the couch but obviously he must have because here he was, standing in the middle of the room and bellowing Daniel's name like a wild-eyed wild man.

"He's gone again," he cried, turning panicked eyes on the two people staring at him, their faces sombre with concern.  "He only had time to give us a warning, then said 'he' was there – and now he's gone again."

"Presumably 'he' is Chronos," Teal'c very nearly spat out the System Lord's name.

"That would be my guess," Jack agreed, letting himself fall back down on the couch as he expelled a weary sigh and angrily scrubbed his hands over his face.  He then dropped them clenched to his lap and stared at them trying to control the anger and panic clamouring to surge out of him and all over the suite.  This was nothing to worry about.  Daniel was going to be okay.  He had to be.  They were close, so damned close, just a little while longer and they'd be together and Daniel would finally be free of that snakey bastard and it was just – it was just - everything was going to work out, it was, it just was, he wasn't going to believe in any other outcome.

"He'll be okay, Sir," Sam murmured.  "We'll get him back this time.  We will." 

"God, Carter, I hope you're right," Jack choked and dropped his head in his hands.


Omac glowered hatefully at the large and sumptuous room where Chronos had sequestered him since their first and only interview.   He'd been here for hours, waiting, growing more and more impatient and frankly bristling at the promise he'd made constraining him to remain in this place.  Every instinct in his body screamed at him to cast aside his vow and use his phasing unit to scour the ship, find Daniel and quickly remove him from the monster's clutches.  Now, without waiting for the System Lord to decide whether or not he actually intended to hold to his own agreement to release Daniel into his custody.

But he could not, should not, and as much as it galled him to be in any way controlled, especially by such as Chronos, he would not break his word.  Chronos might not understand the meaning of honour, but he did.  One's principles could not lightly be set aside, especially during the times when it was the most important they be upheld.  And the most difficult to do so.

"You are troubled, my Lord.  Please, let me serve you.  Tell me what I might do to make you happy."

Omac heaved a weary sigh as he levelled a disapproving stare at the young woman standing by the doorway, her beautiful face pale and anxious.  The 'servant' he'd been saddled with, he was hoping not, but very likely for the duration of his stay here.  She was very young, very pretty, the long white gown she was wearing elegant in its simplicity lending a surprising aura of dignity to her small but shapely frame.  She sported no other adornments but her elaborate coif – an extraordinary quantity of gleaming blonde hair clustered about her head in a fantastically complex arrangement of coils, curls and plaits that had undoubtedly taken a great deal of time and effort to accomplish. 

She was exquisite. Such a fetching little jewel, to be trapped in this terrible setting… 

"Please do not call me that," Omac grumbled at her, rousing himself from the distracting and somewhat distressing tangent his thoughts had been proceeding along.  He was a rational man, not given to such fanciful or philosophical musings.  Nor did he allow himself to be moved towards pointless sentimentality by a stranger.

No, he did not permit others to touch him, to influence him, to distract him from his carefully cultivated detachment, and the order and stark serenity of his life.  No, he did not allow the disturbing passions and vagaries of less disciplined beings to intrude.  And yet, he could not help but wryly wonder as he looked deeply into the large, anxious blue eyes begging for his understanding as desperately as they looked for ways to please him if this was indeed so, then he should not even be here.

The child continued to anxiously regard him while she wrestled with her fear-inspired demons. What would it be like, to live with such never-ending uncertainty, such omnipresent terror?  To know the one constant of your reality was your very ability to draw your next breath was entirely dependent upon the whim of heartless creatures who utterly controlled your fate?

He couldn't begin to imagine and suddenly, did not want to.

She blinked rapidly, heroically schooling the alarm his unthinking rebuke had engendered as she quickly sought to correct her error.  "My apologies – it – it was not my intention to offend," she hastily offered.

"You did not," Omac was as quick to reassure her as he was to take himself to task for upsetting her.  "My name is Omac. I require you call me nothing else."

"Omac," she smiled slightly, with sweet shyness as she pronounced the unfamiliar name.  "As you command.  How may I serve you – Omac?"

Omac resisted the impulse to simply dismiss her, even though her presence was an annoyance he desperately wished to dispense with as quickly as possible.  He did not know how his rejection of her would be perceived, and didn't want to risk her incurring any sort of punishment because of him.

"I do not wish – " he started to say, and then stopped, uncertain of what to tell her.

She took a step toward him, her entire body thrilling with a sudden audacity he could see sparking in her eyes.  "You've come for Daniel, haven't you?" she whispered, glancing about her as if she feared being overheard, even though they were quite alone in the room.

"Yes," he admitted before he could stop himself.

"Please hurry," she whispered again, the urgency of her plea clutching at his heart. 

"What is Daniel to you?" he demanded.

She drew herself up, her blue eyes proudly meeting his without flinching.  She might be a slave, but not in spirit.  There was fire here, and great courage.   Omac approved.

"He is my friend," She proudly informed him.  "He has been most kind to us, often at great cost to himself.  Though there is little hope of freedom for us, it should not be so for him.  I would see him restored to those he loves, and happy once more.  Can you do this for him?  Will you?" she implored, taking another step toward him, casting aside all thoughts of personal consequences as she finished her impassioned plea.

"I will try, child," he assured her with a heavy sigh.  "I will do everything within my power to make it so."

Her brilliant, almost blinding smile of gratitude warmed him.  "What is your name, child?" he asked, giving her what he hoped was a warm and reassuring smile.

"Ariana.  My name is Ariana."

"Ariana," Omac echoed, smiling at her once more as he patted the  spot on the couch beside him.  "Come, sit with me.  Tell me about Daniel."

To be continued...

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PhoenixE, 2003.
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Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. These stories are for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. These stories may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author. Copyright on images remains with the above named rightsholders.
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