Stargate Horizons

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Daniel ran across the huge courtyard, Jack and Sam beside him.  All around them, Jaffa were also running, some to places where they could take cover, others to waiting scout and cargo ships that would take them up to the orbiting Jaffa fleet.  Teal'c and Bra'tac were already onboard their mothership, getting ready to face the approaching enemy ships.

"General O'Neill, this is Reynolds," said a voice over the radio.

"O'Neill here," Jack responded without stopping.

"We're at the nuke, sir, but the number of Jaffa guarding the temple has quadrupled.  Are they going to let us pass?"

"Well, if they don't, they'll have to face Daniel."

At that moment, Daniel came to a sudden halt.  He spun around, eyes on the sky.

"Jack!  He's here!" he yelled.

Two seconds later, Teal'c called over the radio that Anubis' fleet had just arrived.

"Dammit!" Jack cursed.  He got on the radio.  "Reynolds, try to get that nuke as close to the temple as you can."

"Jack!" Daniel yelled again.  The general turned to see him looking at the Stargate.  In the next second, it burst to life.  In the second after that, supersoldiers began pouring through by the dozens.

"Take cover!" Jack yelled as he began firing.

Daniel struck at the emerging Kull Warriors, throwing several of them right back into the wormhole they'd emerged from.  He then ran with Sam and Jack to the closest structure, dodging weapons fire the whole way.

The Kull Warriors kept coming, the dozens becoming scores, the scores growing into hundreds.  Daniel kept flinging them back into the active wormhole, but he couldn't get them all.  There were far too many, and they were coming too fast.  The air was crackling with the energy from the Telchak weapons and the destructive beams from the supersoldier weapons.

High in the sky about the planet, ships battled over the fate of the galaxy.  Ironically, it was the legacy the Replicators had left behind that proved to be one of the greatest assets of the Jaffa.  The ships that once held Replicators had been modified by them, the weapons more powerful, the shields stronger, the engines quicker and more responsive.  But even with those ships, the battle was not going well, the numbers they faced more numerous than the Jaffa had anticipated.

It was in the midst of all of this that a new vision came to Daniel's mind, a vision so horrifying that it froze the breath in his lungs.

"Oh, God," he whispered.  He looked at Sam and Jack.  "Anubis is going to use the weapon.  He's going to wipe out everything, every life in the galaxy."

"Dear God," Sam gasped.

"He's going to wipe it all out, then start over, make things the way he wants them to be.  I should have seen this before.  I should have known."

Jack got on the radio.  "Teal'c!  You need to take out Anubis' ship at all costs!  Anubis plans on firing the weapon and killing every living thing in this galaxy!"

Up on their ship, Teal'c, Bra'tac and Aron shared a look of horror.

"We hear you, O'Neill," Teal'c said into the radio.  "Tell the others," he then told Aron.  "Tell them to target Anubis' ship.  It must be stopped."

Just then, their ship was struck a devastating blow by the weapons of the very ship they were intent upon destroying.

"Shields have dropped to forty-eight percent," Aron said.  "We have lost some of our weapons."

Teal'c's expression hardened.  "Set the engines to overload and aim the ship directly at Anubis' ship.  We will fly it right into her."

"Anubis' ship still has its shields," Bra'tac pointed out.  "It might not be destroyed."

"No, but it will surely be greatly damaged, perhaps enough that the other ships can finish it off."

Bra'tac nodded, approving of the plan.  He turned to Aron.  "Do it.  We will drop shields just before impact.  And warn our brothers to keep their distance."

Aron set about the task.

Bra'tac laid a hand on Teal'c's shoulder.  "We die free, my friend."

Teal'c smiled slightly.  "I do not intend to die quite yet, old man."


The neck of another Kull Warrior snapped in two at the same time as one beside it was felled by a Telchak weapon.  Not pausing, Daniel turned his attention to three more, killing two with his mind as he killed the other with his weapon.  So far, he'd killed around two dozen this way, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to the numbers still alive.  If it had been Jaffa he was fighting, he could have wiped out dozens at once with his power, but to strike hard enough to do the same thing with the supersoldiers would have quickly overtaxed Daniel.  So, he was forced to kill them just a few at a time.  It wasn't enough.  There had to be something more he could do.  All at once, he realized that maybe there was.

"Jack, we have to get to higher ground," he called out.  "I need to see the whole courtyard."

Not questioning him, Jack got on the radio to SG-5, who were in the next building over.

"Harper, we're heading up top.  Cover us."

"Yes, sir."

Breaking cover, Daniel, Jack and Sam headed for a building that Daniel knew had a staircase leading to the top of the artificial canyon.  They were covered by SG-5, who kept up a steady barrage of weapons fire.

It seemed to take forever, but they finally made it to their target.  Ka'ter was there, firing nonstop at the Kull Warriors.  Daniel quickly explained where they were going, and he decided to join them.  They started up the stairs, SG-5 remaining below to cover the entrance.

As they came out the top, Daniel's senses warned him that at least twenty death gliders were on their way.

"Gliders coming!" he yelled.

"Crap," Jack cursed.  "As if those damn zombies weren't enough to deal with."

The death gliders came into view, heading straight toward the temple.  Two of them never made it.  Gathering his power, Daniel simultaneously blew up their engines.

"Yes!" Jack shouted, shooting Daniel a grin.

"Yeah, well, I can do that only so many times," the archeologist responded, "and there's a lot more than nine this time."

The remaining gliders began firing with no regard for whom they hit.  It did not matter if they hit Kull Warriors since the armor of the soldiers would protect them.

Daniel attacked another glider that was now beyond the temple, bringing it down.  Unlike the pilots, he could not attack indiscriminately, having to take care that he did not harm any of the many Jaffa that battled below.

"Daniel!" Sam yelled.  He looked up to see one of the gliders heading right for them.  Deciding to try something new, he telekinetically struck at one of the wings, forcing it suddenly and violently upward.  Thrown into a spin, the pilot could not recover, and the ship crashed into the ground just a couple hundred yards away.

For a brief moment, there was a break in the glider attack, and Daniel focused his attention on carrying through with the plan he'd had when he chose to come up here.

Down below, two dozen supersoldiers received quite a shock when they abruptly found themselves floating a good hundred feet above the ground.  That was followed by them being hurled swiftly through the air.  Unfortunately for three of them, there happened to be an oncoming death glider in their flight path.  It was pretty unfortunate for the occupants of the glider as well.

"Wahoo!" Jack cried.  "Daniel, that was beautiful!  God, what I wouldn't have given to see the looks on the faces of those supersoldiers."

Daniel smiled grimly.  The headache had begun.  It was only mild right now, but it would grow.

They were all startled by transport rings suddenly appearing a few yards away.  Jack and Sam aimed their weapons, but lowered them when the identities of the new arrivals were revealed.

"Hey, nice of you to drop by," Jack told Teal'c, Bra'tac and Aron, "but aren't you supposed to be flying a—"

A bright explosion in the sky above them halted Jack's words.

"Never mind," the general said, figuring that had been their ship that just went boom.

"Our ship was greatly damaged," Teal'c said.  "We set the engines to overload and aimed it at Anubis' ship.  We left shortly before the impact."

Daniel focused his mind on Anubis' ship.  "It's not there."

Bra'tac smiled.  "Then we have succeeded in destroying it!"

Daniel's head shook.  "No.  No, you didn't.  It managed to jump into hyperspace before your ship blew up."  There was a pause.  "It's back now."

"We failed," Aron said.  "Nothing will stop Anubis now."

Daniel's sixth sense sent him a warning just before the Stargate opened again.  The seven people on the bluff were horrified to see more Kull Warriors come flowing through.

In that moment, Daniel knew that they were going to lose.  They did not have the power to stop so many.  Anubis would seize the weapon, and then everything, all corporeal life in the entire galaxy, would die.

The archeologist thought of the nuclear device that sat below.  If he could detonate it, they would all die, but the rest of the galaxy might be saved.

"I'm going to blow up the nuke," he said.

Jack stared at him.  "Can you do it from here?"

"I think so."

Jack gave a single nod.  "Then do it."

Daniel's psychic vision went to the device.  His breath caught when he saw it.

"Oh, no.  It's been damaged.  It looks like it was hit by a barrage of supersoldier weapons fire."

"Daniel, was the core breeched?" Sam asked.

Daniel examined it.  "No, but the detonator is history.  I don't know how I can set it off now."

"Then we have failed," said Bra'tac.  "Anubis has won."

Feeling utterly helpless, Daniel stared at the battle that waged below, the death gliders that rained down destruction.  He did not have the power to stop this.

Or did he?

Daniel's mind went back to that moment in the forest fire, when he had somehow tapped into a much greater power.  Could he do that again?

Closing his eyes, Daniel sought to find the place that power came from, to repeat what he had done that day.  For long seconds, nothing happened, and then something . . . changed.  In the midst of the fire, Daniel had not understood what was happening to him, had not realized the truth of what he'd done.  Now, all at once, he did.  With that knowledge, all the pieces fell into place, pieces that he hadn't even realized he possessed.  Deep inside, he had always known this, all this time since he descended.

Daniel turned to look at his teammates and friends.  "I understand now what Oma was trying to tell me, what she could not teach me because it was something I already knew."

"Daniel, what are you talking about?" Jack asked, getting a feeling that something big was about to happen.

Not answering, Daniel backed away from them several steps.  Eyes sliding shut once again, he tilted his face toward the sky, an expression of utter peace on his features as he drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out.  A soft glow began emanating from his body.  Blue and gold, violet and blazing white, it spread across his form like a living thing, filling every part of him with a warm, glorious current of energy that penetrated down to the very core of him, alighting the atoms of his physical being and transforming them into something more.

Awestruck, the others witnessed Daniel's body become almost too bright to look upon.  And then it was gone, only the light remaining as Daniel reached ascension.  But what was before them was not the familiar form of one of the Ascended.  It was rainbow-hued mist, and white fire, and the corona of a sun, beautiful beyond words.

The light that was Daniel rose above them as storm clouds boiled into existence in the sky, the deep rumble of thunder announcing what was to come.  And then hell descended upon Anubis' army below.  Massive lightning bolts streaked downward, incinerating everything they touched.  The air was charged with electricity, tingling against the skin of the humans and Jaffa who stood witness to the destruction of the Kull Warriors.  By the hundreds the drones fell, their virtually indestructible armor unable to protect them from the awesome power being wielded against them.  The attacking ships were blasted out of the sky two and three at a time, their burning remains falling to the earth.

The power within Daniel was like a fire in his mind, filling him with its unquenchable light.  As he destroyed Anubis' army, he felt something tugging at him, attempting to pull him away.  With a thought, he brushed it aside.  He would not let them stop him this time.

In less than a minute, there was nothing left of Anubis' forces on the planet.  No sooner was that destruction over then a crackling sphere of electrical energy began to form high above.  It grew to an enormous size, then streaked upward, leaving Dakara's atmosphere and aiming straight for one of Anubis' motherships above.  It struck the shield of the ship and passed through effortlessly, ripping through the hull with a cataclysmic explosion.  The ship blew apart.  Moments later, a second ship met the same fate.  And then a third and a fourth.

Upon his ship, Anubis watched the destruction of his fleet with a power that he knew could come from only one source.  Knowing that he was defeated, he gave the order to retreat.  But, even as he did so, he knew that it was far too late.

On Dakara, Daniel's senses, expanded far beyond the boundaries of the planet, told him that Anubis' was trying to escape.  As the ship made the jump, Daniel's mind pursued it through the depths of hyperspace and destroyed the hyperdrive, throwing the ship back into normal space.

Daniel willed himself to be elsewhere.  In the blink of an eye, he covered the distance Anubis' ship had traveled.  He passed through its hull, heading unerringly to where he knew that Anubis was.

The half-ascended Goa'uld gazed upon Daniel as his form took on the semblance of its former appearance.  Clothed in a white robe, the glow of his true self like an aura around him, Daniel stepped toward the creature who had intended to destroy all life in the galaxy, the being that had destroyed Abydos.  Two Kull Warriors began firing upon him, their weapons doing no more harm than they could to a ray of sunlight.  He waved his hand at them, and they fell dead to the floor.

"Your army is gone, Anubis," Daniel said.  "You will not take Dakara."

"You may have stopped my plans this day, Daniel Jackson, but you cannot stop me.  In the end, I will be victorious, for you do not have the power to kill me."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, if I were you."

"No single Ascended Being can destroy another.  Though I am not fully ascended, you still cannot destroy me, and the Others will take no action against me."

"You are right that, under normal circumstances, one Ascended cannot destroy another, and it may very well be that I could not destroy you as you are now, but you're failing to see something that I can do, what the other Ascended were unable to all those years ago."

As Daniel took another step toward Anubis, the Goa'uld realized what the man was saying.  "No!" he yelled.  Out of desperation, he wielded the power of the Ascended that he still possessed and hurled it at Daniel.  The man brushed it aside like it was no more than cobwebs.  Again, Anubis struck at him, with all the power he possessed.  It was like the bite of a mosquito to an elephant.

In the next instant, Anubis was seized in an invisible grip he could not break.  He was wrested from the human body he had possessed, which fell by the wayside.  The incorporeal essence of his being was held in place as it began to transform.  He fought the transformation, but, no matter how hard he fought, it was no use.  The power of the man before him was too great, a power that he had sensed all those months ago when he attempted to take possession of Daniel Jackson's body.  That power was now doing what the other Ascended had failed to.

In seconds it was over.  Corporeal and mortal once again, Anubis lifted his head from where he lay on the floor and looked up at Daniel with the eyes of the host he had inhabited when he ascended all those years ago.

Daniel gazed at the naked form of the newly descended Goa'uld.  He could sense only one mind within it.  The mind of the host was completely gone.  Whether it had been lost during Anubis' ascension, sometime after that, or during what just happened, Daniel did not know.  What mattered was that, in all the ways that truly mattered, the host was dead, only his physical body remaining alive.

"I could kill you now," Daniel said, "but I'm not going to.  There's someone else whose right to do that precedes mine."  He lifted his head and spoke to the air.  "I know you're watching, and I know the truth about everything.  It's time to end this.  It's gone on far too long."

A glowing figure appeared a few feet away and coalesced into the form of Oma Desala.

"Hello, Oma."

"Hello, Daniel.  You have finally learned what you have known all along."

"Yes, I have.  I also know the truth about Anubis, how he ascended.  And I know that, for all these years, the Others have refused to do anything about him because they were punishing you."  Daniel looked at Anubis.  "It's time for the punishment to end."

Oma also looked at the Goa'uld.  "Yes, it is."

"No.  You cannot kill me," Anubis said.  "They will not let you."

"Oh, but you are wrong," Oma said, her voice cold and hard.

Before the Goa'uld could cry a denial, he was engulfed in flames, the heat so great that only a single scream of torment escaped his lips before he was consumed.  His body blackened and charred, turning to ash in a matter of moments.

Daniel looked down upon what was left of Anubis, then he turned to Oma.

"It's over, Oma, but you and I both know that it should have been over a long time ago."

"You are right, Daniel, but I cannot change the past or the mistakes that were made."

"So, what now?"

"It's time for you to speak with the Others."

"Yes, I guess it is.  But, before I do, there's something else I have to do."

Daniel walked toward the man who had been possessed by the half-ascended Anubis.  The terrible sores that had covered so much of Colonel Vaselov's body had begun to appear on this man's face.  The archeologist could sense the damage that had been wrought within.  Kneeling beside him, Daniel held his hand above the man's unconscious body and healed him.

The man stirred, his eyes blinking open.  Upon seeing Daniel, he gasped and drew back in fear.

"Don't be afraid," Daniel told him gently.  "No one will harm you."

"Who are you?  What is this place?"

"Do you remember anything about what happened?"

"Two soldiers in black armor came to my village.  Some of us tried to fight them but were killed.  They grabbed me, then, suddenly, I was here.  They brought me before a man whose face was . . . was covered in terrible sores.  That is all that I can remember."

"It's all right now.  The ones who took you are dead.  Do you know where your planet is?"

"My planet?  I-I am no longer on my world?"

"No, you're on a spaceship, most likely very far away from your world."  Daniel could see the man's mind grasping that concept.

"Can you take me home?" he asked.

Daniel smiled at him.  "Yes, I can."

Closing his eyes, Daniel focused the ability that allowed him to look into the future.  But, instead of the future, he gazed into the past.  With a control and accuracy he could not have achieved in his human body, Daniel found the moment in time before this man was taken from his world.  He saw Anubis' ship come to a halt above a planet whose inhabitants knew nothing of the Goa'uld or the threat to the galaxy.  It took only a moment for Daniel to learn the location of that planet.

Opening his eyes, he smiled at the man.  "It's all right.  I can take you home now."


Though a couple of minutes had passed since Daniel's ascension and his destruction of Anubis' entire fighting force, Sam, Jack and Teal'c were still in shock over what had just happened.  It was no surprise, then, that it was Bra'tac who first spoke.

"Though I witnessed it with my own eyes, I still find it hard to believe."

"Daniel Jackson has again ascended, and, this time, the Others did not stop him from striking at Anubis," Teal'c said in wonder.

"And, unless I've got things totally wrong, Daniel ascended all by himself."  Jack looked skyward.  "Way to go, Daniel!" he shouted, hoping his friend could hear him.

The numbness of shock was beginning to fade from Sam.  "But . . . but that's not possible.  Once someone has descended, they can't ascend again without help."

"Well, Daniel must have figured out a way.  Doesn't surprise me any."

"Will he return?" Ka'ter asked in a hushed voice.  What he had just witnessed was still reeling in his mind.  If there truly were gods, then Daniel Jackson had become as close to being like one as it was possible to be.

Ka'ter's question sobered the others.  Would they ever see Daniel again?

"He'll come back," Jack stated, determined to believe so.  "He's just busy taking care of old Anubis."

A frightening thought came to Sam.  "But what if he tried to destroy Anubis again, and the Others stopped him like Oma did last time?  There's no telling what they will do to him."

"Uh uh.  Don't think like that, Carter.  Daniel's going to be fine.  You'll see."

"In the meantime, there is much to be done," Bra'tac stated.

They descended into the canyon.  As they headed across the battlefield, their eyes looked about at all the bodies.  Many Jaffa had died this day, but they had not died in vain.  The galaxy had been saved.  All Jaffa had reason to feel proud of this great victory that they had helped to achieve.

A Jaffa came up to them.  "Master Bra'tac, we have received a report from our ships.  All of Anubis' fleet has been destroyed.  Only Anubis himself managed to escape."  The man paused.  "Master Bra'tac, what caused the lightning to fall from the sky?  What force created that mighty power that destroyed Anubis' fleet?"

The Master Jaffa smiled.  "Tell all our brothers and sisters that it was Dan'yar himself who did those things.  He has become one of the great ones, ascended and immortal, with the power of the universe at his command.  And tell them that Anubis will not escape Dan'yar's wrath.  Even now, Dan'yar pursues him and will bring about his destruction."

His face filled with awe, the Jaffa bowed and hurried off to pass on the news.

The group made their way to the Stargate.  Sam dialed Earth, and Jack briefly filled them in on what happened, not telling them about Daniel, just that they'd won the battle.  He ordered them to pass on the news to General Hammond.

Toloc came striding up to them.

"Is it true?" he asked.  "Was it Dan'yar who did those things we witnessed?"

Teal'c smiled.  "It is true, my brother.  We witnessed his ascension with our own eyes."

"Then it appears that he may have succeeded in stopping Anubis as well.  I have just been told that a small fleet of rebel ships on their way here have found a lone mothership only a few light-years away.  Its engines have been damaged, its shields down."

Jack grinned.  "Hah.  Daniel caught the bastard."

Toloc frowned.  "Daniel?"

"The one you know as Dan'yar is, in truth, Daniel Jackson of SG-1," Bra'tac explained, figuring that there was no need to keep the secret any longer.

Toloc wasn't the only one surprised by the revelation.  Aron's eyes widened.  "Daniel Jackson?  The Tau'ri who opened Earth's Stargate and helped destroy Ra?"

Jack grinned even more broadly.  "The very one."

"But how can that be?" Toloc asked.  "Did he always possess this power?"

"No.  If he had, we'd have taken care of the Goa'uld a long time ago.  It's a really long story.  This isn't the first time Daniel's ascended."

"When he was made human again, he was left with a great power that he eventually discovered and began using," Teal'c said.  "It is then that he became Dan'yar, that name protecting his true identity from all who would seek to kill him.  Only a few knew the truth, and every one of them swore to die before revealing it."

Ka'ter nodded, a small smile on his face.  "I am among those who made that oath.  But now that there is no need to keep it, I will reveal to all the true name of the man that we owe our lives to."

Toloc nodded.  "As will we all.  Shall I tell our brothers to destroy Anubis' ship?"

"No," Bra'tac replied.  "We must learn of Anubis' fate."

Jack agreed with the plan.  "We need to get over there."

As they made arrangements to be picked up by one of the ships, Sam noticed the look on Jack's face.

"What's wrong, sir?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about how we're going to keep Daniel from killing us all when he comes back and finds out we blabbed to the Jaffa about who Dan'yar really is."

Despite her worry for Daniel, that comment made Sam smile.  Jack was right.  Daniel was definitely not going to be happy about that.

A while later, she, Jack, Teal'c and SG-3 were on one of the surviving rebel ships, along with Bra'tac, Ka'ter Aron and a force of thirty other Jaffa, all armed with energy weapons.  But there was no need to use the weapons.  When they boarded Anubis' ship, they discovered that the supersoldiers onboard paid no attention to them.  The Kull Warriors wandered about aimlessly, without purpose or direction.

"What's wrong with them?" Jack asked.

"They are like ships without a pilot," Bra'tac observed.

Jack suddenly began to smile.  "Yes," he said in triumph.  "He did it."

Sam looked at him.  "You think that Daniel killed Anubis."

"It seems that there could be no other explanation for this," Teal'c stated.  "If Anubis was alive and able to control them, they would be attacking us."

As the other Jaffa fanned out to check the rest of the ship, the group from Earth went with Bra'tac, Ka'ter and Aron to the bridge, where they found two dead drones and what appeared to be a pile of ash.

"Another drone?" Jack wondered, poking at the ash with the toe of his boot.

"No, it couldn't be," Sam replied.  "Their armor wouldn't burn to ash."

"Perhaps it was one of Anubis' Jaffa," Aron suggested.

"I do not believe that there are any Jaffa on this ship," Bra'tac responded, "and, if there were, Daniel Jackson would have shown them some measure of mercy."  He waved at the ash.  "He would not have done this."

"You are right, old friend," Teal'c agreed.

Positive that either Anubis was dead or had been rendered harmless, the thirteen people left the ship, leaving the task of killing the Kull Warriors to the other Jaffa.  The ship would then be secured and the engines examined to see if they could be repaired.

Three hours later, Jack and all of the SG teams stood at the Stargate.  It was time to go home and await news of what had become of Daniel.


Jack, Sam and Teal'c were in the briefing room.  Bra'tac had not accompanied them back to Earth, wanting to help with things on Dakara, including the preparations for funeral ceremonies for the Jaffa who fell in battle.  Teal'c would be returning to be a part of that tomorrow.

General Hammond sat down in the chair at the head of the table, Jack having happily surrendered it to him.  When Hammond learned about the battle on Dakara, he had immediately headed straight to the SGC to get the whole story in person.

"All right, please explain what happened and where Doctor Jackson is," the general requested.

The others began recounting the meeting and the sudden arrival of Anubis' forces.

"Daniel discovered that Anubis intended to use the weapon, sir," Sam said.  "He was going to destroy all life in the galaxy and then reseed it to his liking."

"We put up a good fight, General, but there were too many of them," Jack told the major general.

"As a last resort, Daniel was going to detonate the nuke, but it had been severely damaged and couldn't be set off."

"We believed that all was lost," Teal'c stated.

Hammond looked about at all of them.  "What happened?"

"Daniel happened," Jack replied.  "He did the impossible."

"Daniel Jackson ascended again," Teal'c told the major general.

Stunned, Hammond just stared at them.  "Doctor Jackson ascended?"

"Yep," Jack confirmed.  "And then he proceeded to wipe out Anubis' entire army.  It was a sight that I'll never forget.  I thought that Oma packed quite a punch, but it was nothing compared to what Daniel did."

"He destroyed Anubis' fleet in orbit, too, and disabled Anubis' ship," Sam told the leader of Homeworld Security.

Hammond absorbed all of this with a feeling of amazement.  "And Anubis?"

"We're pretty sure he's dead," Jack replied.  "Those supersoldiers of his, the ones that were still alive, were just wandering around like lost puppies."

"I think that, without someone to control them, they no longer had the capacity to reason out what to do," Sam surmised.

"And what of Doctor Jackson?" Hammond asked.

"We don't know, sir.  There was no sign of him.  I really don't know how it is that he could have ascended again without help.  Orlin very clearly said that, once an Ascended Being retook human form, they could not ascend again without help from one of the Others."

"Are you certain that Doctor Jackson didn't have help?"

"Based on what Daniel said before he went all glowy again, I'm pretty positive that he did it all by himself," Jack replied.  "He also didn't look like the usual, run-of-the-mill member of the Ascended Club.  He looked . . . different.  Don't know what that means, but he was definitely different."

"The thing is that I don't know what the other Ascended would do to him because of his actions," Sam said.  "They didn't stop him from attacking Anubis' forces, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't punish him for it."

"He has broken the rules of the Ancients," Teal'c stated.

"Big time," Jack added.

Hammond frowned in concern.  "Do you think that they would do what Oma Desala did last time?"

"If they did, there's a good chance that he will never recover his memories," Sam replied.  "And we may never find him.  The only reason why he regained his memories last time is because Oma cheated, not removing them permanently.  And we're pretty sure that she also led us to Daniel by guiding us to Vis Uban.  If it was the Others who descended Daniel this time. . . ."  Sam's voice faded.  She did not want to think that she might never see her best friend again.  She was so afraid that, if he was punished, it was in a way far worse than what Oma had done.  Could Daniel be dead?  Could the other Ascended have killed him for what he did?

"The fact is that we have no way of knowing what's happened to Daniel," Jack said.  He, too, was getting worried.  If Daniel was all right, he'd have come back to them.  Jack refused to believe that his friend was dead.  That simply could not be.  In some form or another, Daniel was alive.  Jack's greatest fear was that, wherever he was, they'd never see him again.


The chamber was still and quiet, the light muted.  The room did not really exist, but was an illusion created by the Ascended for what was to take place.  Daniel stood at the center of a circle made up of several dozen of the Ascended.  Oma was nearby, lending her silent support.

A man stepped forward.  "What you have done violates the rules of the Ascended.  You did not have the right to interfere in the lives of lowers."

"You're wrong, Senavah," Daniel responded, instantly knowing the man's name.  "I had the right to protect my home and my people.  You call them lowers, but they are not that to me.  They are living beings whose lives are equally as important as any of yours, people who, unlike you, know that allowing evil to triumph when you have the power to stop it is wrong."

"Our laws—"

"Your laws are wrong," Daniel interrupted firmly.  "I know how sacred they are to you, and I have no doubt that they were created with good intentions, but, because of them, billions have died that could have been saved."  He looked about at the people about him.  "You look at things in black and white.  Either someone is Ascended or they are a 'lower'.  Either someone is subject to your laws or they are allowed to do anything they please, no matter how horrific.  Instead of creating rules that simply put a limit on what you are allowed to do, you created ones that forbid you to do anything at all unless you all decide as one that something needs to be fixed."  Daniel's eyes went to Oma.  "And when one of your own breaks the rules, you punish them, sometimes in ways that harm not only them but also millions of innocents."

He turned back to the others.  "Oma once told me that the universe is vast and we are small, but the truth is that each and every life in the universe plays a role in it, and you do not have the right to judge whose lives are more valuable.  Some of you already know this and want things to be different, but you're afraid to act because you know what will happen to you.  And then there are the others among you, those who would stand up and fight but are being prevented from doing so.  How many of the ascended Abydonians are being prevented from taking action?  I know that Kasuf, Skaara and many of the others would not have stood by and allowed Anubis to destroy all life in the galaxy, if they could do anything at all to stop it, not even if it meant that you would punish them."

"Our laws have been in place for tens of thousands of years," Senavah said.  "What right have you to judge them and us?"

"The right that any living, thinking being has to question a society that has the power to stop evil, yet deliberately turns their back on it."

"You are ignorant of the facts.  You do not have the knowledge of why we have established our laws."

"Then tell me!  Tell me why you stand back and do nothing, why this law of yours is so sacrosanct to you."

Senavah remained silent.

"All right, then keep your secret.  I have already done what you failed to, and, now, I intend to do what I swore I would if I ever had the power."

"We will stop you."

Daniel stared at him.  "No, you won't.  You can't, no more than you could stop me from destroying Anubis' forces.  Oh, I know you tried.  I felt it.  But you didn't have the power.  The only way you could stop me is if every one of you worked together, and you know that you'd have one hell of a fight on your hands.  But that's not going to happen because many of you realize that you do not have the right to stop me.  I am not subject to your laws."

"You are ascended."

"Yes, I am ascended, but I am not one of you.  You have no dominion over me."  Daniel's eyes pierced into the Ancient.  "Do not try to stop me, Senavah.  I don't want to harm you.  What I did to Anubis, I could do to any one of you as well."

With those parting words, Daniel left, and there was nothing that any of the Ascended could do to stop him.

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