ltkatia

Title: Alternate Lines of Duty
Category: Angst, Drama
Characters: Sam, Jolinar, Daniel, Jack, Teal'c
Pairing: None, but possible future. Mention of Jolinar/Martouf/Lantash
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sam finds herself with a more long-term 'guest' than what she had expected.
Notes: This is an AU version of "In the Line of Duty". It took the ashrak just a little longer to get to Sam/Jolinar's cell, and that means Jack and Teal'c arrive just as he starts to use the hara'kesh on Jolinar.
Notes: Written for tokra_kree (round one) on Dreamwidth/Livejournal.
Notes: Bold is symbiote speaking with voice distortion. [] are used to show internal speech.

'Hear this. The days of the Goa'uld System Lords are numbered. Tell them that I died with hope. My death only feeds the fire that burns strong in the Tok'ra,' Jolinar said, proudly, in a loud voice.

The ashrak raised his hand with the active hara'kesh on and a beam sprang from it hitting Sam/Jolinar.

Jack ran into the room, Teal'c following, taking in the scene. 'Hands up! Stop that immediately!'

The ashrak allowed the hara'kesh to turn off and turned to look at the unwelcome intruders. He flashed his eyes. 'You will leave me, this is no business of yours, human. Jolinar has been condemned to death with dishonor by the System Lords. I am here to carry out that order. Explain it to him, Jaffa.' He ignored them, turning back towards Jolinar and activating the hara'kesh again.

'Not so fast, snakey. I may or may not care what you do to one of your own, but right now this Jolinar fellow is inside my second in command, and I assure you, I'm not going to let you harm her!'

'Pathetic human! Protecting Jolinar will cause your downfall! The System Lords will level your planet before they will let her escape.'

'Well they don't know she's here unless you tell her, right? And I'm not gonna give you that option! Surrender now or I will shoot!' Jack hissed, raising his weapon.

'You will regret this!' The ashrak flashed his eyes, then suddenly jumped at Jack, felling him before he had time to react.

Teal'c immediately fired his zat at them both, stunning them. He had the ashrak rolled away from Jack and pinned him down before he could wake up again. He hit him in the back of the head with the zat, rendering him unconscious. He looked at Jack, still down but starting to wake, then at Sam/Jolinar who was leaning against the bars, recovering from the fortunately short exposure to the hara'kesh beam. 'I trust you will not attempt to escape,' he gave her a stern look.

'No, Jaffa. I will not. Though I would suggest you place the ashrak between better lock-up than this place, or he shall be free in little time.'

'Understood and agreed.'

The ashrak had been placed in a much safer, stronger holding cell, with several guards on him. Jolinar was back in a normal holding cell, with only the normal number of guards, as soon as Janet had examined her and deemed that she was not badly injured and already well on her way to be healed.

[Samantha, I apologize for all of this. I wish you to know that I meant what I said to Colonel O'Neill that I would leave you if you want me to. It is dangerous, but possible. I will not remain in an unwilling host.]

[The leave me now!]

[To do so with not other host available, I would die. Still, I would do it, rather than stay in an unwilling host, where it not for two things - first, too short a time has passed since you became my host, and to leave you now I would need assistance from Tok'ra healer or we may both die; second, I have important information to bring to the Tok'ra. However, if your people will let me go, I will report to them, and attempt to find another host, then leave you.]

[They'll never let you go. Never! And I'll never agree to be your host!]

[Then we shall remain prisoners of your people - for a great many years. No, I see we will be handed over to another branch of your military. Someone called the NID. They will torture us for information and use us for medical experiments in an attempt to learn what can be used against the Goa'uld, and what will kill a symbiote but not the host. Unfortunately, they will achieve nothing!]

[You're reading my mind! Goa'uld! Snake! Worm! Parasite!] Sam spat at the unwelcome guest in her mind.

[Your nasty words will change nothing. I am not a Goa'uld, and I would never read your mind unless you agreed to let me, or I had to, in order to save us both. I only read the thoughts you 'yelled' at me. Stop thinking so loudly if you do not want me to know what you are thinking of!]

Sam seethed. [Snake! Yes, the NID will come for us, and it won't be pleasant for either of us, but they will kill you!]

[Then you will die as well. There is nothing your people can do that will kill me, that will not also kill you. The only way for you to live if I do not, would be for me to give me life for you, expend my energy on saving you, healing you - and neutralizing the toxin I carry which would otherwise kill you.]

[Well at least you would be dead too! I'd rather die than live with a Goa'uld in my head! No one would ever trust me again anyway!] Sam was quiet for a moment. [Toxin? What do you mean?]

[My kind has a toxin...or venom, which was originally developed for defense. It would kill a predator, or at least make it let go of it's prey... Of course, it could also be used for hunting food, so it served a dual purpose.]

[And you still have this now?] Sam asked, her scientific curiosity getting the better of her, even in such a situation.

[Yes, just as your kind have a number of traits and vestigial structures from earlier times. I am no biologist, but I believe it is fairly common in nature.] Jolinar sounded smug.

[Yeah, sure. You're right, of course. I know that!] Sam felt like kicking herself for her stupidity.

They fell silent, and Jolinar sat down on the bunk again.

Jack walked into the cell area, followed by Daniel and Teal'c. He was carrying a tray with food.

'Hello, Jolinar. They've decided you should have some food, so here it is.' He opened the small food hatch in the cell and pushed the tray through. 'Thought we'd take the opportunity to see if you've got something to tell us.'

Jolinar glared at him, but took the food, staring at it. She considered throwing it on the floor, but the growling of her stomach and Sam's imploring made her stop. She put it down on the bunk instead, before turning back to look at Jack. 'I will tell you no more than I already have.'

'I take it you don't care if you have to spend the rest of your life in a cell, then? What about Carter? You claimed you would leave her. You won't exactly have a lot of opportunity to do that here.'

'If you hand us over to your authorities for torture, they will learn nothing. I will protect my host for as long as I can, but I will die before I betray my people. I willnever betray the Tok'ra!'

'Now, I can respect that. Absolutely. I'm not telling you to betray them. Don't you trust me?'

Jolinar considered it for a moment. 'My host does. However, neither she, nor you, knows what the Goa'uld will do. Which lengths they will go to in order to capture me and attempt to make me talk. They would not consider destroying your world too high a price...and if they capture one of your kind, the Goa'uld will learn all you know about me and the Tok'ra.'

'I wouldn't tell the Goa'uld!'

'You would not have a choice. They will torture you endlessly, and when you die they will bring you back with the sarcophagus. They can continue until you go mad and no longer care for those you love. That is not all - they can make you a host, and then the Goa'uld will just take your knowledge.'

Jack slowly shook his head. 'What makes you so valuable to them? I mean they hate us too, but not like that. I think. Not yet, anyway.'

'They hate me because I am Tok'ra. We are the Goa'uld resistance. More than that, we are considered heretics. We could be what they are, but we chose not to. We fight them, and we share the body with our hosts. We consider our hosts equals, and we do not take unwilling hosts.' Jolinar looked shameful. 'What I did...goes against our highest law. It was an error, an act of desperation, but the others would not be forgiving.'

Jack snorted. 'So you say, but we've only got your word for it. Why would you be different? I mean, you're a Goa'uld, right?'

'Biologically, yes. There are no physical difference between Goa'uld and Tok'ra. The difference is philosophical. We do not agree with the way the Goa'uld are treating their hosts, as well as other humans and Jaffa in the Galaxy. Why is that so hard to understand? Just because we can do wrong does not mean we haveto do wrong. Surely, that is the same among humans?'

Jack took a deep breath. 'Yes. You're right. So that's why they hunt you?'

Jolinar sighed. 'Yes. Though, they hunt me not just because I am Tok'ra, but for personal reasons as well. I was...in a position to betray a great many of the System Lords, and cause them great losses. They hate me a great deal for that. Most recently, I was undercover, pretending to be Cronus's underling. He discovered my real identity, due to treason, and I had to flee. My host...my host died...' Jolinar's voice wavered for a moment, then she got her feelings under control. 'My host was killed when we were attacked by the ashrak Cronus sent. I wounded the ashrak severely as well, but he obviously got a new host. As did I...I hid for months, until I was discovered again...on Nasya.'

'And you took Carter as your host.'

'Yes. Does this information satisfy you?'

'There's no way for me to check if it's true - and it doesn't really help the SGC, so I doubt it will change anything. Still...I'll tell General Hammond what you said.'

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