TITLE: Waking to the Obvious
E-MAIL: eli @ popullus.net
RATING: PG-13
POSTED: July 11, 2004
SUMMARY: Of course it's Ba'al.
NOTES: Stuck in the end of the S8 premiere. Basically I figure there's a night between the discussion in Daniel's office and the handover/promotion ceremony the next day. Don't know why it's first person.
DISCLAIMER: Read
Of course it's Ba'al. Hammond could've told them it would be if he hadn't been bumped up into the tangled mess that comes with the president. Hell, I could've told them that if I hadn't been enjoying all the sites the Arctic didn't have to offer. We hadn't come face-to-face...again, but there had been reports a-plenty over the last year. Bastard hadn't exactly been quiet about building a fleet just big enough not to get squashed, had he? In fact, he was lucky Anubis wasn't the brightest tool in the box.
Maybe not so lucky. He's a smart sonofabitch, and we do tend to do this: knock down the obvious big bad system lord only to have the one with nastier teeth start nibbling on our ass.
Of course it's fucking Ba'al. I didn't say that, but I saw the look Daniel gave me while he told me. He had pulled me aside while I was watching Carter distance herself by recounting the tale of Fifth. He hadn't had to pull too hard, that whole humanoid thing still gives me the creeps. But in a room with a window Daniel gave me the news with his head down but eyes up, don't want you to think that I think you're going to go nutso on me here, but you're okay, right? look. I gave him my very best gut-punched smile and tried to ignore the sharp holes that name ripped open by watching the stars go whipping by, or whatever that shiny blur is when you're in hyperspace. Because Thor hadn't had a clue because Teal'c hadn't known, so the ship, in this case? Not much help.
There wasn't much time before Thor pushed a button and Earth was hanging outside that window, and lord knows, even on a ship the size of a small town, there wasn't space, not with all those damn sensors that Carter knows how to work. But if anyone noticed, no one said a thing about me and Daniel holding on hard enough for just long enough that I can still feel him. I can't tell whether that's what kept smooth seals on those holes though the rest of today's surprises. Despite it, I was able to tell them all tonight to get the hell out of my house because it only looked like I was resting, I was suspended, and that's a lot of stress to put on a body, so I'm going to bed, yes, alone.
Now, unless the lightning bugs plan to call me on it, I'm going to ignore everything I just said, take this beer up top, watch the stationary stars for a bit, and not think about what's in them or beyond them or coming out of them and after us. Because of course it's him.
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