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Written for Quantum Mirror Alphabet Soup, which will be live through November and still has available letters for claiming (hint hint).
Summary: An alternate perspective on certain scenes from TBFTGOG: Teal'c cares more about his reality than any other. 1,600 words. PG for canonical AU character deaths.
C is for Consequence
Teal'c clawed his way through the enemy's stronghold, level by level, reaching ever downwards. Part of him sneered at the humans as cowards, huddled in convoluted warrens, burrowing like frightened sehket for dubious safety. Another part of him raged in fury at these humans, who had chosen to destroy those who had no choice but to serve instead of trying to attack their true enemy directly. A third part of him – the quiet, hidden depths of his kalach, which seemed so often to speak with Tekma'te Bra'tac's rumbling voice – could not help but admire the helpless, hapless courage of the Tau'ri, as they fired their primitive percussive weapons and refused to abandon their posts in the face of inevitable death. These were still uncowed, unbowed, and he silently cursed Apophis for claiming yet another planet as his own.
They were setting up the cannon for yet another onslaught against yet another stubborn barrier, almost weary from their relentless barrage against the desperate defenders, when an unexpected sound alerted him. He spun, staff weapon leveled, as a man stepped through the opened door.
"Kree shak!" he barked.
"Don't shoot!" the man said. "I'm unarmed." He pulled off his cap, revealing gray hair. His hands remained slightly raised, proof of his vulnerability. "I surrender."
Teal'c eyed him. He could not be sure of the man's age; he was clearly an elder, but what did that mean for humans, who lived short, pain-wracked lives without the benefit and curse of a prim'ta? Despite his vulnerable stance, something of him breathed command and authority.
"And you are?" he asked abruptly, the Tau'ri language uncomfortable on his tongue.
"General Jack O'Neill. Commander of this base."
A leader, indeed. Why would he choose surrender, when his people had fought with such courage?
"You're Teal'c, right?"
Teal'c sought to remain impassive even as he mentally staggered. How could this human address him so?
"Ha'ka'shak," spat Ral'tac, and Teal'c could see his second-in-command bringing his weapon to bear.
"Ha're kree," Teal'c said sharply, and Ral'tac subsided.
"You'll be wondering how I know your name," General Jack O'Neill added, and Teal'c turned his glower on this confusing human. "I have quite a story to tell you."
"Very well," Teal'c said at last. "I shall listen to your… story."
This entailed following the human to a side chamber. The man strode with squared shoulders, apparently unafraid of the deadly weapons leveled directly at his heart. Teal'c suppressed a fleeting wish to have such a courageous warrior as a companion in battle rather than an enemy.
With careful, obvious movements, General Jack O'Neill extracted a small black box from an inner pocket.
"To explain, I'll have to show you this," he said, inserting the box into a larger one.
Teal'c watched as the human manipulated the controls. Tau'ri technology bore little or no resemblance to the Goa'uld artifacts that Teal'c knew so well, but he quickly understood that this was a device to show recordings. And what it showed…
What it showed was beyond comprehension.
The man was babbling now, speaking of a human intruder during the invasion who spun fantasies of other realities where his life had followed other paths. Teal'c tried to ignore the nonsensical words, but how had the Tau'ri so quickly created this mockery of truth?
"How is this possible?" he demanded, watching with sick fascination as the image of himself – himself! – moved on the strange display. "What sort of deception is this?"
" I know it's a little hard to believe," General Jack O'Neill admitted. "But you guys are pretty advanced. You must know this alternate reality thing is possible, right?"
"I do not," Teal'c answered coldly, but he could not tear his gaze away. The sight of himself as a fellow warrior to the Tau'ri, free of the groaning burden of slavery to the hated Goa'uld…
The human commander was still talking, trying to convince him of the selfsame truth for which he longed and knew was forever beyond reach. "Well, then, how did this Daniel guy know your name? He says the guy in this video – you, I guess, in his world – hates being a slave to the Go'aulds."
"Lies," Teal'c denied automatically, even as he reeled under the knowledge that this human somehow understood that the Jaffa were enslaved both to their masters and their own bodies, their biological needs subverted to Goa'uld service.
General Jack O'Neill, perhaps sensing his turmoil, continued to press his case. He, too, seemed to recognize that it was too late for the Tau'ri; instead, he wanted Teal'c to spare this Daniel, the man who taunted Teal'c with visions of a life he could never have.
"Look, I know this sounds insane," the human leader conceded, "but you have a chance to change things in his world. We just need a little time, that's all."
To change things in another world, in a different reality. To grasp with ghostly fingers at a fantasy of cloud wisps and stardust. What purpose could this serve?
"This guy Daniel says the Teal'c in his world is a good man," General Jack O'Neill was saying. "That he betrayed the Goa'uld for a chance to free his people, to free his family."
Of course that would be the reason. Teal'c barely listened. He had abandoned such dreams long ago.
Then the human added, "Your wife. Your son, Ry'ac."
Without warning, fury swept over Teal'c, drowning the whimsy in the harsh and agonized anger of reality. How dare this man try to use the names of his slaughtered victims for his own purposes!
"We received word from my home world," Teal'c informed the Tau'ri commander, his voice rimed with ice. "You sent a weapon of destruction there through your Stargate. My people – my family – are dead."
General Jack O'Neill closed his eyes in resignation, and Teal'c felt a fresh surge of anger at the human's duplicity. So much for honor. The man knew he had killed the citizens of Chulak, and he still mocked him with dreams of their freedom!
Dreams and fantasies served no purpose. All that mattered was reality, and if other realities did indeed exist, they were unimportant. His own reality was the only one of consequence.
And this man – this human commander, who dangled visions of hope even after destroying every vestige of joy that Teal'c might ever have – must pay the consequences for his actions.
It was a pleasure, Teal'c decided, to aim the cannon and fire at his tormentor.
He left the human body behind without a second glance and ordered his warriors to keep moving. They had wasted too much time already.
Level by level, corridor by corridor, they fought their way to the chappa'ai. Few humans remained to resist them. Teal'c ordered groups of Jaffa to secure different pockets of resistance, directing them as needed, until he alone faced the final barrier to the chappa'ai.
A loud, disembodied voice echoed through the corridor, even as he fired the first blast against the last set of doors. He ignored it, focused instead on the rumbling he could hear beyond the doors. The chappa'ai was in motion. Was his quarry about to escape, to slip from his grasp at the last moment?
He could not allow that. He fired at the doors again, and he stepped forward as they shattered.
There was the chappa'ai, turning.
And there stood a single human, wide-eyed, eyes partially hidden by wires and glass.
This was the man that General Jack O'Neill had called Daniel. The one who claimed he came from an alternate reality, where Drey'auc and Ry'ac still lived and he had joined the Tau'ri to battle for their freedom.
"Autodestruct in thirty seconds." The sound of that elusive voice rang out again, an urgent warning.
The man, Daniel, stared at him wordlessly. Teal'c met that frozen gaze with impassive calm.
The chappa'ai erupted in the blue light that bespoke escape, a journey elsewhere. Yet there was nowhere left for Teal'c to go; his people were gone, his enemy defeated, even as he understood that the Tau'ri sought to snatch his victory away by bringing the mountain down about his ears. Even if this Daniel held the key to another reality, it made no difference. What use could that be?
Daniel – a boy, really – ripped his gaze away and ran forwards, seeking sanctuary through the Chappa'ai… perhaps in his other, mythical reality.
Wielding his weapon with carelessly deadly accuracy, Teal'c shifted his aim just enough so that Daniel would be wounded rather than killed. It was not this human's fault that the true reality was one so bleak: his wife and son killed, himself irrevocably chained to Apophis, the Tau'ri world in tattered ruins, his own death only seconds away. He could choose to follow Daniel through the chappa'ai to escape, but one could not truly flee reality. Better to leave the strange human with a bleak reminder of what reality truly is.
That eerie voice called again, counting down the final moments of his life.
"Autodestruct in ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six…"
Teal'c turned away from the taunting shimmer of the chappa'ai, hearing it close down behind him. There was no sanctuary there. He would die, like his wife and son, and hope that Apophis would one day die as well.
"Four. Three. Two."
He wished he could cry, "Dal shakka mel!" but he knew it would be falsehood. He was still enslaved, and only death itself would set him free. In the final instant, he chose to face the truth with a straight back and open eyes.
"One."
The world went white.
*
End notes: "Ours is the only reality of consequence." It was the "real" Teal'c who said that in POV, but it stands to reason that other Teal'cs will feel the same way. So despite Daniel's uncanny ability to get AU Jack to listen to him and his hope that AU Jack could work the same magic on AU Teal'c that his own Jack did on his own Teal'c in COTG, it's no real surprise that AU Teal'c rejected the appeal to save another Teal'c's world from destruction, especially with Chulak gone.
Summary: An alternate perspective on certain scenes from TBFTGOG: Teal'c cares more about his reality than any other. 1,600 words. PG for canonical AU character deaths.
C is for Consequence
Teal'c clawed his way through the enemy's stronghold, level by level, reaching ever downwards. Part of him sneered at the humans as cowards, huddled in convoluted warrens, burrowing like frightened sehket for dubious safety. Another part of him raged in fury at these humans, who had chosen to destroy those who had no choice but to serve instead of trying to attack their true enemy directly. A third part of him – the quiet, hidden depths of his kalach, which seemed so often to speak with Tekma'te Bra'tac's rumbling voice – could not help but admire the helpless, hapless courage of the Tau'ri, as they fired their primitive percussive weapons and refused to abandon their posts in the face of inevitable death. These were still uncowed, unbowed, and he silently cursed Apophis for claiming yet another planet as his own.
They were setting up the cannon for yet another onslaught against yet another stubborn barrier, almost weary from their relentless barrage against the desperate defenders, when an unexpected sound alerted him. He spun, staff weapon leveled, as a man stepped through the opened door.
"Kree shak!" he barked.
"Don't shoot!" the man said. "I'm unarmed." He pulled off his cap, revealing gray hair. His hands remained slightly raised, proof of his vulnerability. "I surrender."
Teal'c eyed him. He could not be sure of the man's age; he was clearly an elder, but what did that mean for humans, who lived short, pain-wracked lives without the benefit and curse of a prim'ta? Despite his vulnerable stance, something of him breathed command and authority.
"And you are?" he asked abruptly, the Tau'ri language uncomfortable on his tongue.
"General Jack O'Neill. Commander of this base."
A leader, indeed. Why would he choose surrender, when his people had fought with such courage?
"You're Teal'c, right?"
Teal'c sought to remain impassive even as he mentally staggered. How could this human address him so?
"Ha'ka'shak," spat Ral'tac, and Teal'c could see his second-in-command bringing his weapon to bear.
"Ha're kree," Teal'c said sharply, and Ral'tac subsided.
"You'll be wondering how I know your name," General Jack O'Neill added, and Teal'c turned his glower on this confusing human. "I have quite a story to tell you."
"Very well," Teal'c said at last. "I shall listen to your… story."
This entailed following the human to a side chamber. The man strode with squared shoulders, apparently unafraid of the deadly weapons leveled directly at his heart. Teal'c suppressed a fleeting wish to have such a courageous warrior as a companion in battle rather than an enemy.
With careful, obvious movements, General Jack O'Neill extracted a small black box from an inner pocket.
"To explain, I'll have to show you this," he said, inserting the box into a larger one.
Teal'c watched as the human manipulated the controls. Tau'ri technology bore little or no resemblance to the Goa'uld artifacts that Teal'c knew so well, but he quickly understood that this was a device to show recordings. And what it showed…
What it showed was beyond comprehension.
The man was babbling now, speaking of a human intruder during the invasion who spun fantasies of other realities where his life had followed other paths. Teal'c tried to ignore the nonsensical words, but how had the Tau'ri so quickly created this mockery of truth?
"How is this possible?" he demanded, watching with sick fascination as the image of himself – himself! – moved on the strange display. "What sort of deception is this?"
" I know it's a little hard to believe," General Jack O'Neill admitted. "But you guys are pretty advanced. You must know this alternate reality thing is possible, right?"
"I do not," Teal'c answered coldly, but he could not tear his gaze away. The sight of himself as a fellow warrior to the Tau'ri, free of the groaning burden of slavery to the hated Goa'uld…
The human commander was still talking, trying to convince him of the selfsame truth for which he longed and knew was forever beyond reach. "Well, then, how did this Daniel guy know your name? He says the guy in this video – you, I guess, in his world – hates being a slave to the Go'aulds."
"Lies," Teal'c denied automatically, even as he reeled under the knowledge that this human somehow understood that the Jaffa were enslaved both to their masters and their own bodies, their biological needs subverted to Goa'uld service.
General Jack O'Neill, perhaps sensing his turmoil, continued to press his case. He, too, seemed to recognize that it was too late for the Tau'ri; instead, he wanted Teal'c to spare this Daniel, the man who taunted Teal'c with visions of a life he could never have.
"Look, I know this sounds insane," the human leader conceded, "but you have a chance to change things in his world. We just need a little time, that's all."
To change things in another world, in a different reality. To grasp with ghostly fingers at a fantasy of cloud wisps and stardust. What purpose could this serve?
"This guy Daniel says the Teal'c in his world is a good man," General Jack O'Neill was saying. "That he betrayed the Goa'uld for a chance to free his people, to free his family."
Of course that would be the reason. Teal'c barely listened. He had abandoned such dreams long ago.
Then the human added, "Your wife. Your son, Ry'ac."
Without warning, fury swept over Teal'c, drowning the whimsy in the harsh and agonized anger of reality. How dare this man try to use the names of his slaughtered victims for his own purposes!
"We received word from my home world," Teal'c informed the Tau'ri commander, his voice rimed with ice. "You sent a weapon of destruction there through your Stargate. My people – my family – are dead."
General Jack O'Neill closed his eyes in resignation, and Teal'c felt a fresh surge of anger at the human's duplicity. So much for honor. The man knew he had killed the citizens of Chulak, and he still mocked him with dreams of their freedom!
Dreams and fantasies served no purpose. All that mattered was reality, and if other realities did indeed exist, they were unimportant. His own reality was the only one of consequence.
And this man – this human commander, who dangled visions of hope even after destroying every vestige of joy that Teal'c might ever have – must pay the consequences for his actions.
It was a pleasure, Teal'c decided, to aim the cannon and fire at his tormentor.
He left the human body behind without a second glance and ordered his warriors to keep moving. They had wasted too much time already.
Level by level, corridor by corridor, they fought their way to the chappa'ai. Few humans remained to resist them. Teal'c ordered groups of Jaffa to secure different pockets of resistance, directing them as needed, until he alone faced the final barrier to the chappa'ai.
A loud, disembodied voice echoed through the corridor, even as he fired the first blast against the last set of doors. He ignored it, focused instead on the rumbling he could hear beyond the doors. The chappa'ai was in motion. Was his quarry about to escape, to slip from his grasp at the last moment?
He could not allow that. He fired at the doors again, and he stepped forward as they shattered.
There was the chappa'ai, turning.
And there stood a single human, wide-eyed, eyes partially hidden by wires and glass.
This was the man that General Jack O'Neill had called Daniel. The one who claimed he came from an alternate reality, where Drey'auc and Ry'ac still lived and he had joined the Tau'ri to battle for their freedom.
"Autodestruct in thirty seconds." The sound of that elusive voice rang out again, an urgent warning.
The man, Daniel, stared at him wordlessly. Teal'c met that frozen gaze with impassive calm.
The chappa'ai erupted in the blue light that bespoke escape, a journey elsewhere. Yet there was nowhere left for Teal'c to go; his people were gone, his enemy defeated, even as he understood that the Tau'ri sought to snatch his victory away by bringing the mountain down about his ears. Even if this Daniel held the key to another reality, it made no difference. What use could that be?
Daniel – a boy, really – ripped his gaze away and ran forwards, seeking sanctuary through the Chappa'ai… perhaps in his other, mythical reality.
Wielding his weapon with carelessly deadly accuracy, Teal'c shifted his aim just enough so that Daniel would be wounded rather than killed. It was not this human's fault that the true reality was one so bleak: his wife and son killed, himself irrevocably chained to Apophis, the Tau'ri world in tattered ruins, his own death only seconds away. He could choose to follow Daniel through the chappa'ai to escape, but one could not truly flee reality. Better to leave the strange human with a bleak reminder of what reality truly is.
That eerie voice called again, counting down the final moments of his life.
"Autodestruct in ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six…"
Teal'c turned away from the taunting shimmer of the chappa'ai, hearing it close down behind him. There was no sanctuary there. He would die, like his wife and son, and hope that Apophis would one day die as well.
"Four. Three. Two."
He wished he could cry, "Dal shakka mel!" but he knew it would be falsehood. He was still enslaved, and only death itself would set him free. In the final instant, he chose to face the truth with a straight back and open eyes.
"One."
The world went white.
*
End notes: "Ours is the only reality of consequence." It was the "real" Teal'c who said that in POV, but it stands to reason that other Teal'cs will feel the same way. So despite Daniel's uncanny ability to get AU Jack to listen to him and his hope that AU Jack could work the same magic on AU Teal'c that his own Jack did on his own Teal'c in COTG, it's no real surprise that AU Teal'c rejected the appeal to save another Teal'c's world from destruction, especially with Chulak gone.
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