Part 10 The deception was easy enough; Shu with prisoners and a Lion Guard were not challenged as they strode towards the gate. Richie walked up to the DHD barely looking at the guards who flanked it. He was met by a priest who bowed to him reverently as he calmly surveyed the podium. "It is time to send the Tau'ri a message," Richie said coldly: his voice reverberating with Goa'uld power. "I will have them recognise the superiority of the Lion Gods. Open the Chaappa'ai onto their world: I have a gift for them." The priest obeyed without question and the Stargate began to spin into life. Richie ignored Shu's minions completely and watched the gate impassively. "Chau'va," he said evenly as the wormhole erupted from the portal, "take the woman through to the other side. Her end will come quickly compared to yours. Remember your Gods when you feel the pain of the traitor's death. Tell the Tau'ri to fear my name." Teal'c simply stared ahead until Sef't poked him in the back with his staff weapon. Richie had to admire the Jaffa: he was a good actor. Slowly the large man stepped up to the Stargate. Sam had been carrying the code generator and it was Teal'c's job to send SG-1's signal. They had planned their exit through the Stargate carefully and Richie waited for the Jaffa to finish his task. As Teal'c calmly stepped through the gate it was time to forget the charade. Richie spun away from the priest towards the two Lion Jaffa guarding the gate. He spared them only a cursory thought as he brought up his hand and sent them flying backwards. Ignoring the helpless priest SG-1 and their companions charged towards the gate and ran through the wormhole just before it shut down. Even though they had given the correct signal the SGC were taking no chances, and as the team materialised on Earth they found themselves surrounded by armed marines. Teal'c was standing very still at the top of the ramp. "We need a medic now!" were the first words out of O'Neill's mouth. One look at Carter's face, covered in green and black lines told Richie that she was going to die. Tefnut had gone too far with the damage, and the Immortal knew, without knowing quite how that modern medicine would not be able to save her. As a medial team arrived and Teal'c deposited his burden onto the gurney they brought with them, something stirred at the back of Richie's mind. It was the first time he had run across one of the blanks he had from his joining with Shu, but he knew he had to act. However, he wasn't on a Goa'uld dominated planet at the moment, and the second he so much as moved a muscle where he stood on the gate ramp, six machine guns focused their attention on him. At danger Richie's eyes flared, but he fought down the need to react. At the sound of guns O'Neill turned from where he had been anxiously watching Dr Frasier with Sam. Richie knew this was his one and only chance to help Carter and he took it. "She's dying," he said evenly, "she'll be dead in ten minutes if they don't let me past." Jack looked slightly undecided, some of Richie's behaviour had been very strange and the Colonel had obviously noticed. He glanced to where Frasier was doing the fastest preliminary examination she had ever managed, and when the doctor's head came up their eyes met. She didn't look hopeful. Jack turned his attention to the higher authority of Hammond standing in the command centre. "He's on our side, sir," O'Neill finally said. "Let him through to Major Carter," Hammond ordered almost immediately. The guns didn't lower, these marines weren't fools, but they did clear a path to the gurney. Richie walked down the ramp slowly trying to seem as unthreatening as possible. This was difficult being in full Goa'uld regalia, but he did his best. "Excuse me," he said with a tone much calmer than the way he felt. Dr Frasier obviously knew a dying patient when she saw one, and knowing she couldn't save Sam she stepped aside with only a slightly worried glance at Richie. Not quite sure what he was doing, but knowing that he had to do it Richie reached up to the circlet on his head. He pulled at one of the feathers and it came away in his fingers. As he saw it in his hand he hesitated slightly, not quite sure what to do, but eventually he placed the ornament on Sam's chest. As he brought up his left hand several of the guns rattled ... all the marines knew what had happened to the technicians, but no one fired. Acting purely on instinct now, Richie let power flow from his hand and onto the feather. At first it glowed mutely, but slowly the golden colour changed to white, making it seem almost molten. As if to prove the point it slowly began to flow and it disappeared through the gaps in Sam's clothes. Richie really wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but it held his entire concentration. With agonising slowness he let the power flow into Carter, and her skin began to glow with the same light as the feather. The Immortal was dimly aware of the rest of the SG-1 team hovering nervously at his back, but he ignored them. Gradually the foul corruption and open sores which dotted Sam's skin began to fade. Richie lost track of time as he watched the damage heal, and it was almost hypnotising. He had no idea how long it had taken, or exactly how he knew, but Richie let the power stop as he felt it was the right time. Carter remained still on the gurney, but her breathing was even and there was no sign of illness anywhere on her. Turning back to the soldiers the one thing that Richie noticed most was the completely astonished look on Sef't's face. The Immortal was feeling a little confused and he realised he was dizzy. He still didn't really understand what he had just done, but it had obviously taken a lot out of him. He wanted to say something to O'Neill, but as he opened his mouth he couldn't remember what it was. The world was suddenly a lot of effort, and with a vaguely surprised expression in the Colonel's direction Richie gave into an overwhelming desire to sleep. ===================================================================== The cover story was that the Goa'ulds had tried an experimental technique on Richie to produce his healing abilities and this technique had caused his defeat of Shu. Dr Frasier went about her examination with this idea in mind, but she was still amazed by what she found. Having an unconscious patient helped with the scans since there was no way Richie could move and screw up the imaging, but it meant Dr Frasier had to be forever vigilant of him waking up. She'd given Sam a thorough examination, and the Major seemed to be well on her way to recovery. Carter was awake and although tired was very interested in everything Janet was doing, and kept asking questions. The two women had swapped hypotheses about some of the results, and at other times just bounced meaningless ideas off each other. Carter had seemed to know to whom she owed her life without being told, and Frasier noted that Sam seemed to be siding with the young man in her sick bay. Janet looked at the computer representation of the scan she had just taken for the sixth time, and she still didn't really know what to make of it. She'd found the Goa'uld larva all right, but it didn't exactly look like it was supposed to. There was alien tissue in Ryan wrapped around the spinal column, but it was no longer the separate parasite Frasier had been expecting. Whatever had happened larva and host were no longer two separate entities that could be parted, they were the same being. The substance of the larva had actually been integrated into the spinal column and the surrounding tissue, fusing human and Goa'uld irreversibly. "This is just incredible," Janet commented to Sam, "it's as if the larva has actually been made part of his system." Carter was perched on a chair close to Frasier's desk, and she nodded as she looked at the scan. "You can barely tell what it used to be," Sam agreed. "This must be why Richie has control," Janet concluded slowly, "the larva is so far broken down that there is no neural activity to take over the host." "But how is he still Goa'uld," Carter asked reasonably, "and how did he know everything about Shu. If the larva has been broken down, why do his eyes still glow and his voice change?" That was a good set of questions; Frasier had to think for a moment. "It possible that the Goa'uld attributes have actually been integrated into Richie's nervous system," she hypothesised. "As for the knowledge of Shu, it may be residual memories. If some structure still exists in the larva then memory could be maintained, but independent function may have been lost. Why they would risk such a dangerous experiment is what I want to know. I'm assuming that it is the strange energy in Richie's system which causes the healing, but why would they risk implantation with one of their highest ranking System commanders?" Sam just ummed at that and Janet assumed she was feeling the strain again. "Why don't you go and lie down," she suggested. "In fact I'll make that an order if you don't accept the friendly advice. You're exhausted, and nothing more interesting is going to happen here, I promise. When something does, I'll wake you." Carter didn't look particularly happy by the suggestion, but eventually the defiant look disappeared from her eyes and her shoulders slumped. "Okay, boss," she said and wearily climbed to her feet, "but remember your promise." Janet just grinned and waved her away. ===================================================================== It seemed as if her guest was going to sleep the day away, as for four hours Frasier checked on her patient at fifteen-minute intervals. He looked so peaceful, and the only thing to remind her that he might actually be a dangerous alien was the guard on the door with his gun slung across his chest. The soldier hadn't moved a muscle in almost as long as her patient, but Janet found it impossible not to notice him. It was about four and a half hours after SG-1 had returned through the Stargate, when, as Frasier lent over Richie to check on something he moved. The doctor took a slight step back just to be on the safe side and waited to see what would happen next. She was rewarded with a squinting gaze settling on her. "Oh man, what hit me?" was the quite surprising question. Janet found herself smiling at the comment. "Welcome back," she greeted, and couldn't help but notice that suddenly there was life in action man in the corner. "Do you remember what happened?" Her patient put his hand to his head and nodded at her. "Yeah, I remember," he told her slowly, "gate room, Major Carter, something to do with a feather." Frasier frowned slightly at the answer. "You seem a little unclear on the details," she prompted. The doctor was actually surprised to see her patient smile at that. "I was a little unclear of the details when I did it," he told her. "I remember doing it I just couldn't explain it. What I don't remember is the guy with the jackhammer in my head trying to get out." "Well I could give you something for that if you like," Janet offered, "but I couldn't swear to what effect it'll have." "S'okay," Richie told her, "I'll just pray it goes away." Frasier made a mental note that her patient's sense of humour seemed to be in place, and wondered if maybe he was hiding behind it. She hadn't exactly expected him to be in such a good mood, being kidnapped by the Goa'uld could really ruin your century. "Other than the head, how are you feeling," the doctor asked. "Fine," was the immediate reply. It came a little fast to have been considered particularly hard, but for now Frasier took it at face value. "Well if you don't mind I'd like to give you the once over now you're awake," she said. "I did some tests whilst you were asleep, but there's nothing like feedback." Richie grinned at that, and Janet couldn't help noticing the fangs. She'd done some x-rays as well as other scans, and from what she could tell the old teeth had been removed and the new ones fused to the jawbone. She put the fangs out of her mind and turned to the task as hand. Pulling out a small light she moved close to her patient. "Just look straight ahead," she told him with a smile, "and tell me if anything is too bright." With practised calm Frasier waved the torch in front of her patients eyes and watched the pupils respond with incredible efficiency. The golden irises almost glowed under the light, and Janet was reminded of a vampire movie she had seen only a few weeks before. She wanted to run some more tests on those eyes, she was almost sure they had been changed more than just for aesthetic value. "Any aches and pains?" Janet enquired as she peered at the little she could glimpse of the retina of Richie's left eye. "Nothing really," the young man replied, "the headache's going now as well." Frasier chalked another one up to the incredible healing powers her patient seemed to have gained. She tried a few more cursory tests, but she had to admit that he seemed to be in perfect health. "Well I'm going to have to give you a clean bill of health," Janet said eventually. Richie was by this time sitting with his legs over the side of the bed. The soldier in the corner had looked very nervous as soon as he'd moved, but Janet had pointedly ignored the marine's unhappy glare. "Mind if I stand up and work out some of the kinks," the young man asked as Frasier wrote some of her findings on one of her charts, "or is he going to shoot me?" "Marine, you're not going to shoot my patient are you?" Janet said and turned to the soldier with a perfectly formed serious expression on her face. The man hesitated for a moment and so the doctor frowned at him. "No, ma'am," he finally replied, but looked even more unhappy. Janet leant closer to Richie. "Just don't make any sudden moves," she said in a conspiratorial whispered, and grinned at him. "Never crossed my mind," he whispered back. End of Part 10