Coeurata’irs
– Heart-brothers, brothers of the heart
Blood of My Heart, Beloved of My Soul
Chapter 8
The Alliance
Samantha Carter’s eyes popped open and
just as quickly shut. Oh, God, it had
been a dream. A wonderful dream, true, but
only a dream. She wasn’t in bed with
Martouf and Lantash. She cracked one of
her eyes open just to make sure. Two
beautiful blue eyes looked back at her, but they were ocean blue, not the
silvery, gray-blue that was Martouf’s eyes.
She sighed deeply and opened her other eye.
“Um, I don’t suppose you remember how
and why we are both in your bed, do you, Daniel?” Sam asked tentatively.
“Well, let’s
just say that while there are a few missing pieces here and there, I don’t
think I’ve forgotten anything major, Sam.”
He grinned slightly at the unintentional pun. He thought about calling her Samantha, but
decided not to tease her. This situation
was going to take some careful handling.
“God, Daniel, I am so sorry.” Sam’s voice was alive with a mixture of
regret and embarrassment.
“I do remember apologizing in advance,
Sam. And I remember that you did, too,”
Daniel replied gently, wishing he could set her mind at ease quickly and
easily, something that he knew was not going to happen.
Sam winced. “What exactly do you remember, Daniel?”
Daniel smiled. “One of the nicest propositions I’ve ever
had.” Sam cringed inside and briefly
closed her eyes again.
“Daniel, did I ask you to kiss
me?” She whispered.
Knowing he might as well get the details
out in the open all at once, he replied, “Um, yeah, I remember that part. And the part where you asked me to call you
Samantha and speak Goa’uld when I kissed you.”
Sam sat up abruptly, hid her face in her hands, and moaned. “I can’t believe I did that. I mean I believe what you’re telling me,
Daniel, I have a vague recollection of it; I just can’t believe I actually did
it.” She moaned again, as she clasped
her temples.
“What do you remember, Sam?” Daniel asked, softly. He had to get her past the embarrassment, so
she would realize that nothing had really happened between them that couldn’t
be worked through.
“We went out to dinner, watched some
TV, listened to the stereo, drank some more wine, and relaxed. When we opened the last bottle of wine, we
started to talk about Kataya and Lantash and Martouf.” She frowned in concentration. “I started thinking about a conversation
Janet and I had. I kept wondering why I
hadn’t fallen in love with you.” She
sighed deeply. “I was curious about
whether I would react to kissing you. I
guess I finally had enough wine that I found the courage to ask you to kiss me. After that, it gets a little blurrier.” Suddenly, she looked down. “Oh, thank God, we’re still sort of
dressed.”
“Jammies,” Daniel stated
succinctly. He laughed before quickly
stopping, grabbing his head. “Wow, what
a headache. Time for aspirin and coffee.” He looked over at Sam. “That was my first reaction, too, Sam,” he
said with sympathy in his voice, even as he chuckled. “At least neither of us completely lost our
minds.”
Sam grabbed a pillow, and whacked him
with it. “Daniel! This isn’t funny. We could have…We almost…What if we had…” She stopped, and her eyes widened in horror,
“What if they find…How can we explain…What are we going to…?” She finally stopped her disjointed, garbled
attempts at speech and concentrated on a question she might get an answer for,
“Daniel, why were you laughing?”
Daniel's look as he gazed at her was
sincere and open. “I was laughing
because I just woke up to find myself half-dressed and in bed with my best
friend, Sam.” His laughter died as he
took her hand and held it, softly stroking it with his thumb. His voice turned solemn and warm as he
continued, “I needed my friend last night, Sam, and I think she needed me. Not in a sexual way, but in a—” He stopped speaking abruptly, obviously
thinking about the evening before.
Finally, he looked at her and keeping
his voice gentle but earnest, he said, “You know what one of my last thoughts
was before I went to sleep? That I can
remember, I mean? It was that you were
my anchor, a part of my heart.” Pausing
again, he looked at her and the smile he sent her way was sweet and warm.
“Sam, you are a beautiful, warm, caring
woman, and I am so lucky to have you as a friend. I’m not sorry I kissed you last night. We both needed a shoulder to lean on; arms to
hold us, and the warmth, and comfort that only close physical contact can
give. We trust each other enough to be
able to ask for what we need. You had a
reason for asking what you did, Sam, and I had a reason for agreeing. Remember the cave? We can ask anything of each other, Sam. Anything, and not feel like the other one
will think less of us.” Pausing once
more, Daniel chose his words carefully, wanting to reassure Sam, but at the
same time, wanting to let her know that he regretted nothing that had happened
between them. It had felt right.
“Well, you needed to be kissed and
held, and so did I. I don’t think any
less of you for needing that. And, if
you pretended that I was Martouf and Lantash, well, I can accept and understand
that, too. We both needed comfort for
our own reasons, and we gave that to each other. I’m okay with it, Sam, and I hope you are,
too. We felt safe with each other. Nothing happened, but do you know what? Even if it had, we would have worked through
it. We will always be here for each
other. That’s what friends do.”
Daniel finished his monologue and
smiled teasingly at her. “As for all of
the questions that are running around your head like demented squirrels in a
cage, I think I can answer at least some of them. At least the ones I think you were trying to ask, that is,” he added cheekily.
He looked at her and spoke sincerely,
“Sam, we really didn’t do anything terrible or wrong. Yes, we let things go a little far, but the
truth is that we aren’t,” he sighed deeply and looked at the ceiling for a
moment before returning his gaze to her.
“The truth is that they have no more claim on us, than we do on
them. It was a personal moment out of time between friends, Sam,
so stop beating yourself up over it. You
have nothing to feel guilt over, and neither do I,” he stated decisively and
firmly.
“You’re right, Daniel. You know,” tears welled up and threatened to
flow, “you really are a wonderful man, Daniel Jackson, and I am one incredibly
lucky woman to have you for a friend.
You are so very special.”
“Thanks, Sam, that means a lot to me,”
he said quietly.
Then, feeling that things should get on
a more unemotional footing for both their sakes, Daniel suddenly grinned at her
as he swung off the bed, saying, “And you might want to know, you weren’t the
only curious one in this bed last night, Major-Doctor Carter. I remember feeling distinctly disappointed
when you managed to get that t-shirt on.”
With that parting shot, he headed for the kitchen throwing over his
shoulder, “I’ll fix some coffee. You can
have the bathroom first, but we’re going to have to move it if we don’t want to
be late.”
Sam laughed. Daniel would make some very lucky woman a
wonderful husband.
Evidently, Sam thought, I can’t see any
man but Martouf and Lantash. She got up
and headed for the bathroom. Daniel was
right; they were going to have to hurry if they didn’t want to be late.
General Hammond walked into the
briefing room and started the meeting with his usual aplomb. No one could have guessed that he had just been
informed that the newest addition to the SGC could change, if necessary, into
something slightly feline. The news had
actually made him feel slightly better.
This was the SGC. What he’d heard
was bizarre. Therefore, things were back
to normal. It was a relief.
“Good morning, everyone. It looks like we’re all here, so we’ll get
started. Colonel O’Neill, Kataya, and I
had a meeting earlier this morning. One
of the things discussed was that she share a little historical background on
the Alliance of the Four Races and how they relate to one another, so that we
can get a better understanding of our newest friends. Kataya, please, begin whenever you are ready.
Kataya stood, smiled briefly, and began
her part of the briefing.
“As you all know there was once an
alliance of four great races: The Nox, whom you have met. The Asgard, whose friendship you have
won. The Ancients, whose technology,
you, Colonel, have been in intimate contact with, and the Furling, with whom,
up until now, you have had no contact.”
“The Nox and the Ancients are both very
powerful races. The Nox have become a
pacifist society, interfering only in a non-violent way. While they tend to keep to themselves, they
will interact with other races. They use
illusion, as you know.” She stopped,
obviously thinking, and then added, “They have learned to use the forces of
nature to regenerate themselves.”
“The Ancients have ascended to another
plane of existence. Occasionally they
return to this plane and interact with us.
However, they have policies of non-interference, which they usually
adhere too. Because of this, we tend to
class them as pacifist as well. When
they do interfere, their powers are immense.
They are, in my opinion, one of the most powerful of all the races.”
“In many ways the alliance of the four
races is still strong. While the Nox and
the Ancients do not join in the fight against the Goa’uld, they do not
ostracize us because we do.”
The Asgard and the Furling have
remained, in many ways, warrior races.
The Asgard have developed extensive technological abilities. Their intellectual capacity is truly amazing
and their battle fleet is second-to-none.
Both the Asgard and the Furling, consider themselves friends to all and
protectors of all, except the Goa’uld, of course.”
“The Furling’s strongest ties are with the Asgard. Our philosophy is similar. Our goals are the same. When Thor approached my father, it reminded us that the battle against the Goa’uld, while slowly being won in our sector of this vast universe, is not going as well in others. At one time, the Furling had ties to earth, and it has always been my father’s intention to return to the battle here one day, when he was needed. Thor’s request simply brought the day of our return to this part of the Universe forward in time. I am the first to come to fight along side you.”
“My father has also decided to place
some of our agents in System Lord strongholds in this sector. They are extremely well trained and very
adept at what they do. They have, in
fact, had centuries to perfect their abilities.
They are extremely sensitive to others thoughts and have the ability to ‘intercept’ thoughts without being
detected by the Goa’uld. Moreover, of course, what an agent does in the line of duty
is not considered ‘idle’ and
therefore, it is not forbidden. I
expect to begin getting reports from our agents soon. I will, of course, share all information
gathered with the SGC.”
“It is our hope that as our sector becomes
more stable, we will be able to be of more help.”
“The Furlings are a powerful race. However, so are the Goa’uld. We have been at war with them for millennia,
as have the Asgard. It has taken over a
millennium to bring them under control in the Pegacian System, alone, which is
the sector where I was stationed. It is
only in the last fifty or sixty years that we have seen significant progress
throughout our entire sector. In a few
places, the fighting is still fierce and every gain we make is hard won. We, the Katteri-enti Warriors, are few, in
comparison to the Goa’uld.”
“Like the Asgard, we have protected
planets. We call some of them ‘Clans of the Furling’. Wiccadia, my mother’s world, is one of
them. In recent years, we have added
even more planets to those under our protection. By doing so, it stretches our Warriors
thinly. The reason I am telling you
this, is so that you will perhaps understand that while the Furlings are
powerful, we are neither invincible nor infallible. We have made and will make mistakes. We do not believe joining the Tau’ri in this
war is one of them.”
“We have taken a page from the Asgard ‘Book of War’. We use the Goa’uld’s own fears against
them. They are no different from us, in
that they fear that which they do not or cannot understand.” Shrugging she continued, “In other words, we
bluff as well as, if not better than, the Asgard do. We have learned our lessons well. The biggest weaknesses that the Goa’uld have
are their arrogance and their belief in their own infallibility. We use those things against them as much as
possible.”
“General Hammond also expressed a desire for me to explain a little about our abilities, so there would be no misunderstanding of what I can or cannot do.”
“Our abilities, that is, those of the
Katteri-enti Warriors, have finite perimeters.
While they are useful, they are not without their own set of
weaknesses. Energy once used must be
replenished. We use a light meditative
state to do this. The ways we can use
energy are varied.”
“We can, for instance, throw up an
energy field around several people as long as they are fairly close together,
and it does not need to stay in place for a long period of time. We can throw up a barrier to slow the enemy’s
progress. Doing things like this takes
large amounts of energy. We can also throw energy, much the same way as the
Goa’uld, using a ribbon device, our dagger or a sword. It will be helpful for you to know that we
cannot, for example, use a shield and continue to keep multiple telepathic
links open. In other words, the amount
of energy required determines what we can do and for how long.”
“We cannot defend against large numbers
unless there are many of us.” She smiled
somewhat wryly. “And in your case, there
is only one.”
“You are already aware of our
telepathic abilities.”
“The last advantage we have against the
Goa’uld is our natural ability to control and/or kill a symbiote if it attempts
to blend with us.”
Kataya’s gaze seemed to roam
indifferently from the General, to the Colonel to Teal’c as she continued
speaking.
“As for my personal abilities, from my
father I inherited the Katteri-enti spirit, that is, the ability to draw on the
energies of the Universe and channel them for use in energy weapons, telepathy,
and some healing.”
She smiled gently. “From my Wiccadian mother, I inherited the
ability to draw, use, and channel some of the forces of nature. My empathic abilities also come from her. I can use them to heal minor wounds as well
as to take pain away. We can sustain a
person with major injuries with our own life force for a limited period, but
they must be taken to a healer,” she nodded toward Janet, “or Doctor, as soon
as possible before our life force is drained.
Eventually, we must make a choice if there is no healer. We must relinquish the person who is injured,
or both of us will die.”
She hesitated and again, her eyes went
to the three men. “Last night, I
discussed my ability as a Katteri-enti with Colonel O’Neill and Teal’c. The Colonel in turn relayed my information to
the General this morning.” She stopped
speaking, and her gaze settled on Daniel.
Then she continued, “It was not my intention to go into the details of
my abilities with all of you at this time, but this morning, Merdwin convinced
me that it is information you should have.”
“As he pointed out, it is a shocking
thing to see when you are aware that it can happen, how much more so to be
taken unaware? So in the interests of
both the team, and Dr. Fraiser, as she may be called upon to treat me at
sometime, we decided it would be best to induce a complete manifestation of the
Katteri-enti Warrior.”
Colonel O’Neill sat up straight in his
chair, where he had been lounging.
“Complete? As in you didn’t show
us everything last night?”
“I showed you the manifestation as it
affects my physical appearance,” she replied, “I just did it without the light
show.”
With those words, Kataya stepped well
away from the table, drew her sword from its scabbard, swung it in a few
graceful arcs, and proceeded to show the members of the SGC what it was that
really scared the hell out of the Goa’uld.
It wasn’t just her eyes that glowed like a large jungle cat, the inch
long claws that could slice their throats or the incisors that could rip their
necks open. It was the unearthly flashes
of multicolored lights that rippled around her and sprang from the tip of her
sword, like bolts of electricity, only to run down her arm and fly from the tips
of her fingers.
Merdwin had risen and stepped away from
the table and was standing near her. He
caught the pulses of energy and flung them back to her. It was as if the two beings were playing or
dancing with it. She stopped it as
quickly as she had begun. It left a
slightly charged feeling to the room.
She looked around the table at the faces watching her and Merdwin in
silence. Her eyes stopped and dwelt on
Daniel’s face. “Now you know exactly
what we are.”
Daniel looked at her with a wide
startled gaze. Then he smiled at
her. “I’ve always thought it
beautiful. I never grow tired of seeing
the Fire Dance.”
Kataya smiled.
Colonel O’Neill was the first to say
something. He turned to Daniel and
demanded, “What the hell is a Fire Dance?”
Still looking at Kataya, Daniel didn’t
hear the question. Merdwin came to their
rescue. “It is a manifestation of our
energy, Colonel O’Neill. While it can be
amazing to look at and experience, the form Kataya and I used, is
harmless. We would not use a harmful
form in such a confined space with not only all of you, but these delicate
instruments around. When a Katteri-enti
attacks, we manifest as you have just seen, but we use a more harmful form of
our energy. As you can imagine, in a
true battle situation, we have only a limited amount of energy to expend. When we use the energy to wound or kill, it
leaves us and does not come back, unless, of course, we kill as a
Katteri-enti. I believe Kataya explained
that to you.”
“I don’t know what it means,” Samantha
Carter spoke up.
Kataya’s eyes did not leave Daniel’s as
she spoke. “When we kill using our hands
rather than a weapon, Major Carter, we absorb the life force of the one
killed. It helps to replenish our energy,
but we rarely kill in that manner.
Sometimes the Goa’uld refer to it as a ‘ritual killing’. We try to
give the Jaffa the choice of fighting or leaving the planet. If we have to kill in that manner, and we
send the Jaffa back to the System Lord they came from, it is rare that we have
to repeat it. If we are lucky, we only
have to kill one or two in that manner, and the others go back to tell the tale
of the ‘killing power’ they
encountered.” She shrugged. “It is another form of bluffing, except that
there is at least something to back it up.
I am not, of course, speaking of a pitched battle situation. In those, there are no questions asked; we
simply disable or kill our enemies in whatever way we can, just as you
do.”
Major Carter was obviously deep in
thought. “So if you can absorb energy,
then staff weapon blasts don’t affect you?”
She asked.
Kataya shook her head. “Staff blasts are a different form of energy
and can hurt us substantially. We are
able to absorb only a small portion of it.
We can however, heal ourselves of a staff blast that is not fatal in much
the same manner as a
“Katteri-enti translates into Kat
entity. We do not change into cats; we
simply take on some of their attributes.”
Teal’c suddenly spoke up, “I realize
this will be a trivial question, but it has been, as the Tau’ri would say, sprinting through my mind—”
“He means ‘running through my head’, “Jack interjected.
“—since last night. Do you have increased night vision?” Teal’c continued speaking, as if O’Neill had
not said anything.
“Our vision is considerably better than
most at night, but not in the manner, or to the point, of a cat’s. We lack the cellular structure in the eye
that cats have. Our hearing, also, is
much better than average.”
“Are there anymore questions?”
“Yeah, can I get one of those cool
swords?” Colonel O’Neill asked, sending
a somewhat cocky look Merdwin’s way.
“Maybe something with a few extra blue waves?”
“Merdwin laughed at him, and replied,
“I will see what I can do, Colonel. I
see no reason why we could not do that.
The colors emitted, however, will depend on your energy patterns.” As he looked at Janet Fraiser he continued,
“I will deliver it myself.”
“People if I could have your attention,
please,” General Hammond was ready to get his briefing back under control. “I think we’ve all been given enough
information to think about for now.”
“Colonel O’Neill and I both feel that
while Merdwin is available to us, we should concentrate on sessions with the
two of them. He will be helping Kataya
in working with all of you, and other key personnel, to train you in the use of
the telepathic links. We are hoping that
at least some of you will be able to develop the ability to activate the links
for yourselves once Merdwin or Kataya have placed them.”
“SG1 has a routine meet and greet scheduled in two weeks with the Heyerians. Let’s see if we can’t at least have a basic
network up and running by then. Since it’s
a routine mission, it’s a perfect time to try out your new advantage without
being under pressure. I’ll let you work
out your own schedule of when who wants to work with whom. If there is nothing else, dismi…”
“Excuse me, General Hammond.”
“Yes, Major Carter?
“Sir, I’m wondering if we should be
letting our other allies know of the latest development. After all, the Tok’Ra are allies of ours who
have agents already in place with many of the System Lords. If Kataya’s father is sending their people
in, then might it not be a good idea if we could at least let them know what is
going on?”
“An excellent point, Major Carter. Thank you for reminding us of it. We, also, are allied with the Tok’Ra who are
in our sector, so we are very familiar with working with them. Would we need to go to them, or will they
come here?” Merdwin directed his
question to the General.
Jack looked disgusted. “General, do we have too?”
General Hammond sent Jack a warning
look. “I believe they’re right,
Colonel. This could help them, as well
as us, and as allies it is our responsibility to inform them of anything that
might either help or hinder them.”
“I don’t see them going out of their
way to inform us of everything that happens,” Jack grumbled. As far as he was concerned, the only time the
Tok’Ra came to them was when they needed something.
“Perhaps not, Colonel. I’m going to inform them and request that
they send someone to come to meet with us on a matter of mutual interest.” He smiled at the Major. “I don’t think there is any real hurry.”
He then turned to Merdwin and Kataya. “Major Carter’s father is Tok’Ra. He’s the liaison.”
Merdwin nodded
“In that case, we will hope to see him.
It will be a pleasure to meet with Major Carter’s father.”
“All right,
people, if there is nothing else?”
Raising his eyebrows in a silent question, he proceeded, saying,
“Dismissed.”
Daniel stood
and approached Merdwin.
“Hi. I don’t know if you caught my name or not,
but I’m Daniel Jackson.”
“I remember you,
Dr. Jackson,” Merdwin acknowledged. “You
were the one that volunteered to link his mind with Kataya’s.”
“Yes,” Daniel said baldly. “You usually join with Kataya in the Fire Dance. This time you didn’t enter her aura. Why? And an even better question, how do I know that?”
“It is not for me to explain. You must discuss that with Kataya.”
“Then Sam was right, and she is putting
images into my head?” Daniel sounded
angry.
“No, she is not. She is the trigger, nothing more.” Merdwin looked directly into Daniel’s
eyes. There was no evasion there. He was giving an honest answer.
Daniel hesitated, obviously troubled by
some thought. “We’ve been enemies.” Realization came into his eyes, and he stared
at Merdwin. “No,” he said slowly and
bluntly, “we’re more than enemies. We’re
rivals.”
Merdwin nodded, “In the past, we have been coeurata’irs, brothers of the heart, as well as rivals, and we both danced the Fire Dance with her. Why did you not join her today? You wanted to. You knew she would never hurt you.”
“Yes,” Daniel ground out, “I wanted to.” He eyed the other man. “I need to know what’s happening to me.”
“You need to speak with Kataya. She will tell you. Neither of us is hiding anything. I admit I did not realize at first who or what you were.” He gazed levelly at Daniel. “Things change. We will not be rivals this time; we will be Heart-brothers. Now, if you will excuse me, I promised General Hammond and Janet that I would work with them on the link. I do not wish to keep them waiting.” He gave Daniel a short bow, turned, and left.
“Daniel? Are you all right?” Sam asked, as she walked up behind him.
“Yeah, Sam,” Daniel sighed. “I’m great if you consider realizing that you think you’re love with an alien you’ve just met is great.”
“Welcome to the club, Daniel.” Sam smiled crookedly. “Now you know how hard it can be.”
“At least Martouf is human,” Daniel replied somewhat testily.
“So is Kataya, and at least there is only one of her,” Sam shot back.
“Martouf doesn’t have inch long claws that could gut you, or fangs that could snap your neck,” He retorted.
“Kataya can’t crawl inside your head and take control of your body,” Sam snapped.
“Martouf doesn’t play with bolts of energy that could kill you,” He retaliated.
“He does when he uses a hand device,” was Sam’s immediate come back.
“Sam?”
“Yes, Daniel?”
“You want to go out to get something to eat tonight? Maybe have some wine and talk?”
“Yeah, I think I do. But, let’s not waste time by going out to eat. How about we go to my place and order a pizza?
“Sounds good. I’ll pick up some wine.” He looked at her and then suddenly smiled. “I’ll bring my own Jammies. Your sweats might not fit me.”
Sam just shook her head and laughed. She knew that he was right. He’d need his sweats. They’d tested those waters and found them sweet, but not sweet enough for them. They were both looking for that passion that burned and writhed within the Fire Dance.
As they left the briefing room, Sam decided she wanted to see Kataya. After all, she had the perfect excuse, being the only member of SG1 who had not tried a mind link. There was no time like the present.
TBC