Location: A lonely road near Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado
Year: 1996
POV: Marina Karssen
Marina stared down the stretch of road, the headlights of her vehicle creating an almost eerie glow in the dead of night. She hadn't seen another car for miles. She hardly even knew how long she'd been driving. Her attention was fixed almost entirely on the voice emanating from the flip phone pressed against her ear.
They sounded weary, as though they wished for nothing more than to be done with the conversation, done with her.
"Please don't hang up, Alex," she pleaded, struggling to hold back tears.
"I'm sorry," said the woman on the phone, hardly sounding sorry at all, "I just can't deal with this."
"Don't say that." Marina choked back a sob. "Look, I'm on my way, just wait for me, please wait."
"Rina, don't come here. I don't want to see you. I'm serious."
Tears clouded Rina's vision. She unconsciously let her foot off the gas.
"You don't mean that. Just tell me what it is. Please, I'll—"
"It's everything, Rina!" Alex screamed, "I can't be around someone who hates themselves! It's exhausting!"
Rina couldn't fight the tears anymore. They poured down her cheeks, her breathing reduced to ragged gasping. On the other end of the line, Alex sighed.
"We're done."
"No, no, no. Alex? Alex!"
There was silence. Marina tromped on the brakes, slamming her hand against the steering wheel.
"No. No! Fuck!"
Reaching for the handle, she kicked open the door of her car, wandering into the surrounding grassy fields and screaming at the top of her lungs into the darkness.
She'd screwed up. She'd screwed up the one good thing in her life. It wasn't fair. Her life wasn't fucking fair!
I don't know how to fix it...
She looked at the phone in her hands. She contemplated tossing it, cutting herself off from the world.
I thought I was okay. I thought I was finally okay. I was so wrong...
Something caught her ear and she spun around, eyes searching her darkened surroundings. A twinge of fear crept into her stomach. After all, she was a woman alone at night in the middle of nowhere. The thought pushed her back toward her car.
Then, a mere foot away, the grass rustled as though someone else were moving through it. Rina nearly jumped out of her skin. She couldn't see anything, but she hadn't hallucinated. The grass was moving, bending, giving way to some unseen thing.
Rina barely had time to scream before the thing grabbed her and she was plunged into unconsciousness.
Location: SGC Gate Room
Year: 1998
POV: Daniel Jackson
There was a notable pause.
"That's not possible," Carter said.
Marina pursed her lips, a hint of dryness in her voice as she spoke, "Clearly it is."
"But—"
"I'm glad you all made it back," Hammond's voice cut in, everyone turning to face the General as he made his entry, "Hopefully, Lieutenant Brooks will pull through."
"I hope so, sir," Barnes said.
Hammond mounted the ramp, fixing his attention on Marina.
"Welcome to Earth. I'm General Hammond."
"Actually, it's 'welcome back'."
"I'm...not sure I understand your meaning."
Daniel cleared his throat lightly, "Sir—"
"Apparently, our guest is from Earth," Jack interrupted, cutting straight to the point.
His voice was positively dripping with skepticism.
Hammond stared slack-jawed, his gaze shifting between Marina and SG-1.
"Then I hope you don't mind my asking for a full account of how you ended up on an alien planet with no one in this base ever knowing a thing about it," he said once he'd recomposed himself.
"I'd love to know that myself," Marina said, "I was kidnapped and knocked unconscious by something invisible. When I woke up, I was in Apophis'...care."
She delivered the last part through gritted teeth, casting a dark glance at Teal'c.
"Invisible?" Sam echoed, "Teal'c, isn't it true that Ashraks are usually equipped with cloaking technology?"
"Indeed."
"Even with a cloaking device, I find it hard to believe an Ashrak could come and go from this facility with a hostage in tow and somehow avoid every level of security we have," Hammond said incredulously.
Something clicked in Daniel's mind.
"Maybe it happened at a time when the SGC wasn't as heavily staffed by military personnel," he said slowly, "A time when the SGC wasn't the SGC yet." He turned to Marina. "What year were you taken from Earth?"
She thought a moment.
"1996."
"Are you certain?" Hammond pressed.
"Well, it was the same year I met my girlfriend and then got dumped, so it was a pretty memorable year," Marina sighed.
"Girlfriend?" Jack echoed.
"Yes." Marina paused, narrowing her eyes at him. "What?"
"Nothing."
"1996," Daniel repeated, ignoring Jack's unsubtle interjection, "That was the same year Catherine Langford introduced me to the program, the first time Jack and I travelled through the gate." As the memories came rushing back to him, his mouth began moving a mile a minute. "I'd forgotten all about it but after she showed me the gate, Catherine mentioned something to me about it having activated on its own at one point. Twice within one night, both activations within hours of each other, she said."
"I remember that," Jack seconded, "It was part of the reason they brought me in."
"Right, to assess whether or not the stargate or wherever it led to was a potential threat," Daniel recounted, "But Catherine said nothing went in or out of the stargate that night that they could see." He spread his hands, looking from Hammond to the rest of his team and wondering if they'd already determined the conclusion he was heading toward. "It could've been the Ashrak."
"But we don't have a DHD so how did they dial out?" Carter questioned.
"Obviously, they found a way."
Marina scoffed, her face a picture of disbelief.
"Was this facility a ghost town at the time? How did no one here see me? I wasn't invisible!"
"Maybe you were," Carter suggested, "It's possible the Ashrak found a way to extend their cloaking technology to you, or perhaps they had a backup device."
Marina ran a hand agitatedly through her tangled hair, a pained expression on her face.
"Well, never mind," Hammond said, extending a helping hand to Marina and guiding her slowly down the ramp, "We'll have our guest quarters prepared for you, Miss Karssen. In the meantime, I'll ask that you see our resident doctor for some standardized tests—"
"Tests?"
Fear flashed in Marina's eyes. She jerked her hand free of Hammond's.
"I assure you, they're purely precautionary. All personnel here undergo them. Speaking of which, SG-1, SG-6, be sure to report to the infirmary straightaway."
"Yes, sir," Jack said.
"Yes, sir," Barnes echoed.
"At some point, if you don't mind," Hammond added, turning his attention back to Marina, "I'd like to ask you a few questions, see if you have any intel that might prove useful for our operation here."
"Intel? I'm sorry, what kind of intel exactly?" Marina pressed, a strain of uneasiness in her voice.
"Well, you spent a substantial amount of time in the 'care' as you put it of two system lords. There must've been something you learned in that time."
Karssen pursed her lips once more.
"Look, I may have been viewed as an asset to them, but they weren't exactly handing out their tactical secrets," she explained.
"Well, if it's all the same to you, I'd like to ask anyway, just in case. Now, if you'll follow SG-1 to our medical facilities," Hammond said, gesturing them on.
"Yeah, it's this way," Daniel said, stepping up and pointing the way to Marina.
She didn't appear terribly thrilled with the situation, but she followed anyway, casting glances back at Teal'c every so often. Daniel followed her gaze, noting how Teal'c hung back as much as possible.
"You know," he said quietly, leaning toward Karssen as they entered the hall on the right, "He feels horrible about what he did to you."
Marina kept her gaze pinned ahead.
"Whatever he feels," she said, her hatred almost palpable, "It's not horrible enough."
It was evident the subject wasn't worth pursuing at that point. So Daniel stayed silent till they reached the infirmary, gesturing Marina toward the far corner where it was quiet and secluded. She seated herself on the edge of the bed there, glancing about at her surroundings.
"Hopefully, Dr. Fraiser will come around soon," Daniel said, "Do you want someone to wait with you or...?"
He trailed off, noting the gentle smile on Marina's face.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
"Thank you," she said suddenly.
"For what?"
"You seem to actually care," she answered quietly.
Trust me, Teal'c cares just as much if not more than I do.
"I'm not the only one," Daniel replied instead.
Marina stared off at nothing, her smile disappearing. Daniel wondered if perhaps she'd sensed his true meaning.
Evidently, she had.
"Did he tell you what he did to me?" she asked.
"Yes, he did."
"Really?" She looked up quickly, forcing a pained smile. "Did he tell how he ignored my screams for help? Did he tell you how he just looked on while Apophis—"
She cut off, her lower lip trembling. Her gaze broke away from Daniel's, her hand rising to shield the sign of distress in her face.
She tried to continue, "Did he tell you how he helped hold me down while—"
She broke off again, a quiet sob escaping her, tears gleaming in her eyes. Daniel tried to reach for her, to offer what little comfort he could.
"Don't fucking touch me!"
Daniel jerked his hand away, taken aback by the sudden switch to anger. Marina blinked away the tears, making it seem like they'd never been there at all. Her eyes burned coldly as she fixed them back on Daniel.
"What did he have to sacrifice to convince you all to come rescue me?"
Daniel stared at her in confusion, unspeaking.
She pressed on, "What did he have to lose by taking two Jaffa by surprise? Tell me, does it sound fair to you that he should give up absolutely nothing to save me and I'm expected to just forgive him?"
Still, Daniel said nothing. At that moment, his most prominent urge was to kick himself for being so stupid.
"He destroyed my life," Marina said almost matter-of-factly, though her tone retained its edge, "Saving it is the absolute least he could've done. And in answer to your question, I'd rather wait alone."
For a moment, Daniel didn't respond.
"Okay," he managed finally, reaching up to draw the privacy curtain hanging next to the bed.
Then he silently rejoined SG-1, ignoring Jack and Sam's inquisitive stares as he still fought the urge to kick himself.
He felt uneasy, terrified even, that when he finally found a way save Sha're, this is what her life would look like: one defined by her pain and her loss. He'd told himself a thousand times that he'd be there for her, that together they'd find away to overcome the horror of what she'd been through.
Now he wondered if he was even up to the task...
POV: Marina Karssen
Marina clamped a hand over her mouth, fighting back the sobs trying to climb out of her throat.
Those memories...the ones she had kept buried for so long, the ones she'd dared to hope had lost their devastating power over her...they were still so vivid, so paralyzing, so inescapable.
She couldn't talk about it, couldn't deal with it, couldn't move on.
Especially now that one of the perpetrators had appeared out of nowhere to stare her directly in the face, after Apophis had sent his hoards to capture her, no less.
Whether he was truly working against Apophis or this was all some ruse didn't matter. She couldn't kill him, no matter how much she wanted to. Even if she believed herself capable of such a thing—which she didn't—the reality was she needed to conserve energy as much as possible. After all, who knew how long it would be till she had access to a sarcophagus again?
If ever...
She pushed the thought away, forcing down the panic that rose with it.
Either way, she couldn't risk turning a virtual army of Air Force personnel against herself, even if they did strike her as rather incompetent.
An entire military complex completely blind to an alien waltzing in and out and then taking off with a kidnapped woman. It's unbelievable.
She didn't care if they'd been invisible. She didn't care if the facility had been understaffed. She'd been right there.
And no had seen or cared.
Anyway, who knows how long their show of hospitality will last...
A raised voice grabbed her attention, announcing that Lieutenant Brooks—the injured man from earlier—was going to make a full recovery. Marina felt relieved; she didn't want anyone dying for her, regardless of what their true intentions were concerning her, or the weapon inside her.
Pulling back the curtain a little, she peeked around it, seeing a woman in a white coat talking quietly with Daniel. Suddenly, their heads both turned in her direction, prompting her to duck back behind the curtain. She half expected the doctor—Fraiser, was it?—to head straight over, so she hurriedly brushed her hands across her face in case any sign of tears remained.
But no one came.
Instead, Marina listened as Fraiser attended firstly to the military teams, striking up friendly conversation with each one of them.
Rina was glad. She needed the respite. Stretching out on the bed, she stared up at the ceiling, trying to quell the incessant question of: What now?
She never would've guessed that someone from Earth would show up to sweep her back to the world she had finally decided she didn't want to go back to. She didn't know how to deal with it.
Why couldn't things just stay how they were?
Or perhaps a better question was: how could she so naively ignore the fact that what Ba'al did to Apophis, Apophis could and would inevitably do back to him?
Apophis wasn't supposed to know about the stronghold. That's what I thought. That's what I was told...
She felt so angry; she hardly knew who to direct it at.
Thankfully, she was spared from having to answer impossible questions when Fraiser arrived.
"Okay, I'm coming in," she said, drawing back the curtain and wheeling over a table of medical tools. "Hi there. I'm Dr. Fraiser. And you're Marina, right?"
"Yeah, that's me," Rina answered quietly, sitting up and swinging her legs back over the side of the bed.
The doctor was pretty, not so dissimilar to Rina herself in appearance, though her hair was a shade or so lighter and cut short.
"Daniel mentioned you had some bruises and scrapes on your arms and feet?"
Fraiser's brown eyes settled on her patient's arms, brows furrowing in confusion.
"When did you get these?" she asked, gently lifting Rina's arm to get a closer look at the fading marks.
"Maybe an hour ago or less," Marina shrugged.
Fraiser looked astonished. Kneeling down, she lifted one of Rina's feet, appearing equally puzzled by it.
"I heal quickly," Marina said.
"That's..." Fraiser straightened. "That's impressive. Tell you what, Marina," she added, turning to her table of instruments, "I'd like to take a blood test, if you don't mind."
She turned back, a needle clasped in one gloved hand. The cold white light caught the steel point, making it glint.
For a split second, Rina didn't see the infirmary, didn't see Fraiser, and didn't see the needle. Instead, she heard Apophis' voice, saw his face, saw the gleam of his knife before it cut into her again.
She froze, every muscle in her body tensing. Her chest tightened, making it hard to breath.
"Get away from me," she hissed.
"I beg your pardon?"
Fraiser's voice sounded a thousand miles away. A cold sweat formed on Rina's skin, her mouth gone dry. Her hands started to tremble, then her arms, then her entire body.
"Marina?" Fraiser said, reaching out tentatively with her free hand.
As soon as Rina felt those gloved fingertips brush her skin, she snapped. Blind terror seized her and she kicked out, catching Fraiser in the hip and spinning her straight into the table with her medical tools. The resulting crash drove Rina deeper into her frenzy. She launched herself to the floor, screaming as she curled in on herself, arms shielding her face, doing whatever she could to protect herself from the perceived threat. Fraiser shouted at someone to stay back, then she was at Rina's side, telling her to breath, that she was safe.
I'm not safe.
She couldn't get enough air into her lungs.
I'll never be safe.
She gasped like a stranded fish, her head spinning.
The place I'd hoped I might be safe was stormed by Apophis' men hardly an hour ago. And I should've known. I SHOULD'VE FUCKING KNOWN!
POV: Daniel Jackson
Daniel heard the crash clear as day across the room, followed by a gut-wrenching scream. Everyone instinctively rushed toward the two women as they saw Fraiser and Karssen go down, but Fraiser was up again in a heartbeat, shouting at them to stay back.
"Marina," she said, keeping her voice as controlled as possible, "I need you to breathe, okay? You're safe, Marina, I promise, I just need you to breath."
A strange shimmer caught Daniel's eye. Fraiser suddenly jerked back. The shimmer grew, its coppery orange glow bending around Marina to form an incomplete bubble.
"You seeing this?" Jack asked quietly, as though he couldn't believe his eyes.
"It's a shield," Sam said, sounding awe-struck, "The weapon must be reacting to Marina's emotional state and trying to defend its host."
"Dr. Fraiser?" one assisting doctor called worriedly.
Fraiser waved for them to stay back, trying again to deescalate the situation.
"Marina, I need you to focus on my voice and listen to what I'm saying," she said clearly, "I'm gonna take some deep breaths and I want you to try to breath with me. Can you do that?"
There was no response, only the sound of Karssen's frantic gasping. Fraiser pressed on regardless, coaching Marina through the first breath, then the second. Daniel could hear Karssen trying to match her breathing to Fraiser's, failing, then trying again. Slowly, they started to sync, the bubble surrounding Marina gradually dissipating. Daniel caught himself unconsciously breathing along with their rhythm, his tension having partially eased as a result.
It took Fraiser a few minutes to coax Marina off the floor and back onto the bed, but she managed, sharing a few quiet words with her patient before drawing the curtain and retreating to where SG-1 stood.
"Will she be all right?" Samantha asked quickly.
"I hope so," Fraiser said a little breathlessly, "I'm gonna give her something to help calm her down but I have to ask—" She jerked a thumb back in Marina's direction. "Did you see it?"
"Yeah, it was some sort of defense shield—" Carter began.
Fraiser held up both hands, cutting her off.
"It wasn't just that," she said, "I saw her eyes glow."
"Glow?" Worry gripped Daniel. "What, like a Goa'uld's?"
"No, no, it was different. Her eyes changed color, they were a bright orange. I don't know what it means and I can't run any tests with her in this condition."
Fraiser rubbed a hand against her forehead, clearly agitated. Then she pushed past SG-1 with a muttered 'excuse me', leaving them all in a confused and troubled silence. Daniel looked over at the rest of his team, noticing for the first time that one of them was missing.
"Where's Teal'c?"
Jack looked around, offering a shrug.
"I think he might've stepped outside," Sam answered.
Daniel could guess why. He moved toward the exit, poking his head into the hallway. Sure enough, Teal'c was there, standing unmoving just outside the infirmary.
"Hey." Daniel stepped into the corridor. "What are you doing?"
"I could not risk my presence further upsetting Miss Karssen," Teal'c said, keeping his eyes dead ahead.
"Oh." Daniel sighed, resting one shoulder against the wall. "To be honest, I think I might've pushed her too hard myself. I just...don't like seeing you like this."
Teal'c abruptly turned his sharp eyes on Daniel.
"You must not trouble Miss Karssen on my behalf." He paused, setting his gaze straight once more. "If this is what I must do to help ease her suffering, I will gladly do it."
"Wait, so that's it?" Daniel pushed away from the wall, brows furrowing. "I know you're probably already aware of this but...she may never forgive you. And choosing to hide yourself away just isn't sustainable, Teal'c." He sighed. "Hating yourself as much as she hates you isn't going to make things better."
Teal'c didn't answer. Daniel felt his spirits plummet further.
In this case, it seemed clear he wasn't equipped to help anyone...
Location: SGC Briefing Room
POV: Marina Karssen
"Have a seat, Miss Karssen," Hammond said, pulling out one of the comfortable-looking rolling chairs from the table.
Rina moved toward it, fidgeting with the new clothes she'd been given. While they were a little big on her, she couldn't help but admit how much she'd missed being able to wear casual clothes, as opposed to the elaborate dresses she'd been sporting for the last year or thereabouts.
"I heard about the incident in the infirmary," Hammond said, souring Rina's mood instantly, "I'm glad to see you're doing better."
Rina didn't bother to answer, simply taking the offered seat in silence. Hammond took the chair at the nearest end of the table, folding his hands in front of him.
"The first thing I'd like to address is your claim of American citizenship. If possible, I'd like to confirm that, so some basic personal information like where you were born and where your family lives would help me do that."
"I was born July 12th, 1971 in St. Catherine Hospital in Dodge City, Kansas," Marina replied readily, "My parents—Bram and Hester Karssen—live in Tatanka Village on Sunrise Court, just off Route 50. Or at least they did when they threw me out ten years ago. They immigrated to the U.S. in 1963, if that helps."
Hammond kept an impressively straight face. "I'll have someone look into that."
"Oh, General, if you do find them and they don't immediately confirm my relation to them, tell your men to lean on them a little," Rina suggested, offering a bitter smile, "They disowned me, see, so they probably won't be too ready to acknowledge my existence again."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Hammond paused a moment before continuing, "The other thing I'd like to discuss, Miss Karssen, is the two years you spent off-world. I'd like to hear a full account your experience in that time, as detailed as you can manage. If you need a break, just say so, and I can have you returned to your quarters."
Rina pressed her lips together, managing a nonchalant shrug in spite of the dread chewing at her insides.
"Like I said, there's not much to tell."
"Well, let's start with what you remember from right after you were kidnapped from Earth," Hammond prompted.
The memory was sharp as a knife, cutting to the forefront of Rina's mind in a heartbeat. She remembered opening her eyes, finding herself in that accursed room, the room that became her hell. It'd been spacious, near elegant, yet it had remained a horrifying cage, one where she'd sat, month after month, awaiting either pain or death.
Sometimes death had felt preferable.
She remembered sitting by the door of her prison, listening to the conversations of those who passed by, trying to pick out common words so she could perhaps learn the language of her captors in hopes of finally understanding why this was happening to her.
She suppressed a scoffing noise. It felt ridiculous now. After all, since when had the universe ever needed a reason to inflict misery on her?
"Miss Karssen?"
Rina shook herself back to the present.
"Apophis kept me imprisoned in a single room," she said, "The only times he ever brought me out was when he first implanted me with the weapon and when he wanted to determine its level of growth."
"And how would he determine its level of growth?"
Rina didn't answer, her face settling into a mask.
"Can we be frank?" she asked.
"Of course."
"When you rolled your funny little machine through the gate and saw me, did you see an innocent woman in need of help? Or did you see a weapon you could use for...whatever operation it is you have going on here?"
"Well, quite frankly, it was both."
Rina's lips stretched into a cold smile.
"I don't believe that. It can't be both. Either I'm a person or I'm a tool. Now if I'm being honest, I'd rather not be here at all." She gestured broadly to their surroundings. "But the unfortunate reality is that I have nowhere else I can go and I highly doubt you'd let me if I did. Am I correct?"
Hammond stayed silent, his face visibly tightening.
Rina leaned back in her chair, donning a mask-like expression once more.
"So I'm a prisoner."
"I hope you can appreciate my position," Hammond answered firmly, "As the person tasked with overseeing all travel between this world and those beyond, I'm required to act in the best interest of Earth. And allowing a weapon rumored to be more powerful than the combined forces of the Goa'uld outside the reach of our own or at the very least someone we can trust would be a clear violation of my responsibilities. Now if you would allow us to run some tests, perhaps we could find a way to—"
Rina snapped, both hands crashing onto the table with a force that surprised even her.
"You're not touching the weapon," she hissed, "And you're not touching me. Understood, General?"
She could see Hammond's jaw grinding.
"Very well," he said, sounding surprisingly calm, "I'll have you escorted back to your quarters."
"You mean my cell," Rina spat.
Hammond simply sighed, "I hope you change your mind."
"I won't."