INTRODUCTION
What was that? It felt like some sort of strange energy blast. But, it didn’t feel like a zat gun. Was there some sort of ship malfunction? Sam would know. He tried standing up, but realized he couldn’t move. And why was everything so blurry? Oh, his glasses were knocked off when he fell. He could hear some voices in the distance. He couldn’t make out whose voice it was, but he hoped it was someone from his team. Teal’c wasn’t that far away from where he was. Even if he had been affected by the same blast, he usually recovered from things like this faster than everyone else. Teal’c would find him. He would make sure he was safe and no harm had come to him. The voices were getting louder, he saw Teal’c walking toward him, and then someone screamed. It sounded very far away, but close at the same time. Then everything went black.
******
PART 1
He suddenly felt himself moving, standing up and walking. Teal’c was there, helping him along. He could see Sam and Jack. They were unconscious and being carried away on stretchers. Where was he? He was still on that crashed ship they had found. Teal’c was helping him back to the stargate. That made sense. His team was injured. They would need to get back to the infirmary. If Sam and Jack were unconscious, something pretty serious must have happened. They arrived at the gate and went through. It felt strange somehow. It was as if he was outside his body. When they arrived on the other side, Janet and her medical team were there checking everyone out. But, something was wrong.
"Daniel?" Janet asked.
"I have to go back ... I have to go back ... I have to go back! I have to go back!" he can hear himself screaming, but it is as if he has no control over his own voice.
Suddenly, he breaks free of Teal’c’s grasp and runs back to the stargate just as the wormhole disengaged.
"No!" he screamed.
Janet ran up the ramp to where he collapses.
"Daniel?"
"NO!" he screams again, visibly frightened.
"Daniel ... it's okay. Don't be afraid," she said, trying to consol him. "Sergeants!"
Two other medical officers rush over to where she and Daniel sat on the ramp.
"It's okay," she said again to her patient.
His demeanour suddenly changes and he becomes angry, almost violent.
"Who are you? What is this place?" he asks, confused as to his strange surroundings.
Janet, Teal’c and the General all exchange a worried glance. Something was definitely wrong with Dr. Jackson.
******
He can feel himself being lead to the infirmary. Someone was talking, asking questions. Where was he? Why was he here? But he had no control over his body. He began to worry. Had he been taken over by a Goa’uld? No, that didn’t seem right. The planet was abandoned. But then what had happened? He felt like he was drowning in a sea of voices. He tried to scream for help, but they couldn’t hear him. He was tired. So tired. Maybe a little nap would help.
When he awoke, he found himself restrained in one of the medical isolation rooms. Janet was talking to him. Something about consciousness and memory requirements? He then walked over to a pitcher of water and began to pour a glass. He was talking. But what was he saying? Those weren’t his words. He had to reach Janet. Let her know that he was still OK. She had to be worried. He starts to push his way through the sea of noise.
"Can you hear that?" he feels himself ask.
"No, I can't hear anything," Janet responded.
"The others ... their voices, I can hear them. They're getting louder."
"Tryan, I need you to stay with me, all right? We need to work together on this."
Who was Tryan? Was she talking to him? What was going on?
"It's the most incredible feeling ... "
"I doubt the others can help as much as you."
"No one can help."
"D-don't say that," she stammered. She really sounded worried now.
"They're pulling at me now. I don't - I don't know how ... Janet?"
"Daniel?"
He had made it. He was there.
"What's goin' on?" he asked.
"Look, something has happened. I need you to just hang in there."
He wanted to let her know that he was all right. That he trusted her. But he was so tired. There was too much noise. He retreated to the only quiet place in his brain and waited for his team to rescue him.
******
Suddenly, it got very loud again. He could hear people screaming, fighting for control. Someone was crying. He was scared, confused, angry. So many emotions all at once. It was dizzying. He tried to make it out again, but whoever was in control was very powerful. He could hear Janet now. He knew he was close, but something was keeping him back. It felt like he was being pushed down. He tried to stay, to let Janet know that he was OK. But he couldn’t.
"It is my destiny to rule over Ardena!" he was saying.
"No, listen. You don't understand the seriousness of your condition," Janet explained.
"And you still don't realize who you are talking to!" he replied, visibly agitated.
"I don't give a damn! You don't belong in that man's body and I intend to take it back!"
He was glad to hear that. They hadn’t given up. He wanted to hug Janet, but he was getting so tired again. He needed to sleep.
******
"What?" he asked, waking up confused.
"Daniel? Is that you?" Jack asked.
"Jack?"
"How ya doin'?"
"Hmm ... bad headache."
"Nail-in-the-head kinda thing?"
"Yeah ... something like that."
"Yeah."
He was back on board the Stromos. And the voices were gone. They had done it. He knew they would. They wouldn’t do anything less.
"Colonel?" he heard Janet say. "I’d like to get him back to the infirmary. Do some more tests just to make sure everything is back to normal."
"Right. Daniel, can you walk?" Jack asked him.
"Yeah, I think so," he said standing up. Then promptly sat back down again as his knees gave out. "Or, maybe not."
"Let me give you a hand," Jack said, offering his support.
With Jack’s help they were able to make it back to the stargate easily enough. Sam and Teal’c had stayed behind to make sure Pharrin and the other passengers would be OK. He figured they would send another SG team back to help in the relocation process. SG-4 usually handled things like that.
As soon as they were back through the gate, Janet took him directly to the infirmary and had him hooked up to all her machines. She wanted to double check everything. And for once, he didn’t argue. He wanted to make sure everything was all right. He still had one hell of a headache. Janet started pumping some drugs into his IV and he was asleep in no time. He felt like he had been asleep for days, but he was still so tired. He figured it was just his mind’s way of dealing with the trauma. Healing usually happened most while people slept.
*****
For the next three days, he was in and out of consciousness as his mind tried to come to terms with the trauma. Janet explained that this was perfectly normal given the experience he had just had. No one could or should bounce back from having their mind invaded by twelve other personalities so quickly, she said. Given time, he would be back to his old self. He was also able to gather bits and pieces of what had actually happened, but he still had a lot of questions.
During one of his brief moments of wakefulness, he saw Sam sitting by his bed, reading some report. He could always count on someone being there when he woke up. It was an unspoken "rule" among their team – no one would be alone in the infirmary.
******
PART 2
"Why can't I wait with you?" the little boy asked.
"The ship must accelerate to escape the flare's radiation. You'll be safer here. You will dream sweet dreams ... and when you awaken, we'll be in orbit around Ardena, and I will be right here," the man responded.
"Talthus will be gone."
"Hundreds of years will have passed, Keenin, and all of this hardship will be part of our distant history. Do you understand?"
The little boy nodded. The man smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Now, close your eyes," the man said guiding the boy to the chamber. The door clicked shut and the boy fell into a deep slumber.
******
"Daddy!" he yelled awaking with a start.
He looked around, confused as to where he was. It was dark and he was laying in bed. But he wasn’t at home. Where was he? Why was he here? He tried to sit up, but the pain in his head forced him back down. Think, he said to himself, just think. He looked up and saw the familiar ceiling tiles. This was the infirmary. He was back at the SGC, in the infirmary. But why? There was something…a vague memory. Their ship had crashed? No, that wasn’t it. They didn’t travel in ships. They used something else. What was it called? A Chappa’ai? No, that wasn’t quite right. A…stargate? Yes, that was it. But he still didn’t know what happened to land him in the infirmary. But he was so tired. He would go back to sleep and figure it out in the morning. He just couldn’t stay awake any longer.
******
When he awoke the next morning, he saw Jack sitting by his bed, keeping vigil.
"Jack?" he said.
"Yeah, I’m here. How you feeling?" Jack asked.
"Okay. Big headache. What happened?"
"You don’t remember?" The concern was visible on his face.
"No. Not really."
"Let me go get the doc. I’ll be right back."
He closed his eyes and tried to remember what had happened to him. He remembered a ship. And a planet. They weren’t travelling on the ship, but had found it already crashed on the planet. That was good. He hadn’t been on the ship when it crashed. Then, what was he doing there? Voices. He remembered voices. That’s right. Phallin had downloaded several other consciousnesses into his brain. They had been removed a few days ago. He was fine now. So he hoped.
"Hi, Daniel," Janet said entering the infirmary. "How’s my favorite patient doing?"
"All right, I guess. All things considered."
"The colonel said you were a little confused when you woke up. That you didn’t remember what happened."
"Yeah. I remember now. It just took a little while to find it in there," he said pointing to his head.
"OK. Do you want to tell me what you remember?"
"We found a ship on P2A-347. It was the Stromos. We went on board and I had several new consciousnesses downloaded into my brain. I don’t really remember too much from those few days. Then I woke up back on the Stromos a couple days ago."
"Good. Have you had any trouble sleeping?"
"No. I did have a rather vivid dream last night, though. It was more like a memory than a dream."
"OK. We expected that might happen. We’ve never really experienced this kind of occurrence before, but it wouldn’t be unheard of to have some residual memories floating around. Just be sure to let me know if they get any worse, all right?"
"OK."
******
A few days later, he had been released from the infirmary, but ordered to stay on base, should anything happen. He was in his office working on a translation when a thought popped into his head. More of a feeling than a thought, he realized. Someone was in trouble, or was going to be in trouble. But he didn’t know who or when. He checked his watch. 1:00 am. Was it really that late? he thought. How time can fly when you aren’t watching it. He decided he would check and see if Teal’c was still awake. Even though he now required sleep as a result of losing his symbiote, he slept little, and when he did sleep it was light. Perhaps he would be up for a little meditative session.
He knocked on the Jaffa’s door and was greeted with the command to enter. Opening the door, he found the room alight with candles and Teal’c sitting on the floor already in the midst of meditating.
"Daniel Jackson. It is good to see you moving about again."
"Thanks. I was wondering if I might be able to join you for a little meditation. There’s something I seem to be trying to remember, but I can’t get the full information. I just get the feeling that something is wrong."
"Is this something from the time that you were ascended that you are trying to access?"
"I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure."
"Please. Join me. Let us see what our journey will reveal."
He sat down across from Teal’c, enveloped in the glow of the candlelight. Closing his eyes, he emptied his mind, not concentrating on anything. Just letting the thoughts wash over him.
"Martice, you have done well," he heard a voice say. There was something familiar about the low rumbling tone of the disembodied voice.
"Thank you, my lord," Martice replied, bowing low.
"You will be handsomely rewarded for your allegiance. I expect to be notified the moment you reach Ardena.
"Of course, my lord."
"If you should fail me, you shall receive the full force of my wrath."
"Yes, my lord."
He bowed one last time as his master came out of the shadows to face his servant.
"Now, go. Before I tire of your presence and kill you where you stand."
His eyes snapped open as he realized what was happening. Martice was in league with Baal. Something very bad was going to happen to all those people on Ardena. They had to do something.
******
At 0800 the next morning, SG-1 had assembled with General Hammond to discuss his vision. No one was doubting the validity of what he had to say. They merely had to come up with a plan of action. Should they confront Martice about what they knew? Should they find Tryan and let him know what was going on? Should they contact the Tok’ra? They had spies in the service of all the major Goa’uld. If Baal was going to make a move somewhere, they would know about it. They decided that would be their best course of action. It would also provide them with more intelligence as to what exactly Baal was planning.
A few days later Jacob Carter arrived on Earth with as much intel as they had on what Baal was planning. There had been some tension when Martice did not make contact at the predetermined time. Baal was on the brink of attack when his First Prime managed to convince him to wait until Martice’s signal. Without the signal, they could not be sure that everything had been set as ordered. Several weeks later, the signal had been received. Baal was poised to attack in just three days. It would take major military support if they were to defeat him. Luckily, the Tok’ra were going to be around to help on this one. Apparently, Ardena was a very strategically located planet. It was rich in naquadah, and in a relatively isolated area of the galaxy. It would make the perfect base of operation for a Goa’uld trying to gain power. It was a wonder no one had conquered it before.
They went back with Jacob to the Tok’ra base to better organize a plan of attack. Luckily, the base was not too far from Ardena and they would be able to send ships to aid in the attack. They decided the best thing to do would be to send SG-1 through the gate first. It would not be unexpected for them to check up on their new allies, considering what some of them had been through. They would try to approach Tryan about the subject. From what Daniel remembered, they should be able to get the most help that way. When that was done, they would send a signal to the Tok’ra, giving them the all clear.
Twenty-four hours later, SG-1 arrived on Ardena and were greeted by Tryan. They exchanged pleasantries and then went to find somewhere they could talk in private. Being the diplomat that he was, Daniel took the lead and explained the situation to Tryan.
"But, why would he do such a thing? And how could this be done without our knowing?"
"We don’t know," he replied. "But we’ll need your help if we want to defeat Baal."
"Yes, of course. Anything you need. You have done so much for us already. We will gladly stand alongside you in this fight."
With that, Jack took over. Explaining all the military aspects of what to expect and what they would do to fight back. Daniel was always amazed at the amount of military strategy Jack could keep stored in his brain. He put on the pretense of being dumb, sometimes, but Daniel knew Jack was much smarter than he let on. You didn’t get to be an Air Force colonel by being dumb. As the planning session continued, Daniel and Sam went back to the gate to send word to the Tok’ra that everything was going according to plan.
This was too easy, he couldn’t help thinking. Nothing ever went this smoothly or easily for them. He was just waiting for something to happen to throw a wrench in their little plan. Something always went wrong. He wasn’t being pessimistic, just realistic. He could not remember a mission where something had not gone wrong. They just came to accept it as a part of their life. Start off on a simple mission, piss off some Goa’uld, and get in trouble. It’s what they did. But this mission, it was just too easy.
They managed to get a message back to Jacob without any problems, and were half way back to the city when they heard the familiar sounds of gliders approaching.
"Sir!" Sam yelled over the radio. "Two gliders have just entered the atmosphere and are headed towards the city."
"Great! He’s early!" came Jack’s reply. "Can you get back to the gate and let the Tok’ra know what’s going on."
"I think so, colonel. They haven’t spotted us yet."
"Good. Do that and report back here ASAP."
And there it was. The moment when everything went wrong. Baal was two days early. But then, when did the Goa’uld ever really play by the rules? Daniel thought to himself as they ran back to the gate. They didn’t run into any more gliders and were able to get a message to Jacob. It looked like Ba’al was beginning a preliminary survey of the area. The hadn’t heard any gunfire and the gate had yet to be locked out. Jacob said the ships they had should be able to reach Ardena in just over 4 hours. They would also begin sending in as many reinforcements by gate that they could before Ba’al dialed in. The battle was about to begin.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you as always to my wonderful beta, Shelby. This is in response to Stargatefan challenge #6:
- Write a fanfic regarding the Lifeboat episode answering the following 2 questions:
- Some believe Coma patients realize what is going on around them. How did Daniel feel while this was all occurring?
- After the other personalities were uploaded, were there any residual affects? i.e. small parts of the personalities imprinted.
© August 2004 I don’t own any of these characters or the story. All quotes in Part 1 (except the very end where they are walking back to the gate) and the dialogue at the beginning of Part 2 are taken directly from the episode transcript at Gateworld. No copyright infringement was intended.