XOVER: Going Home Again - part 6 of 7
Dawn341@aol.com
Wed, 6 Nov 2002 21:51:25 EST
Going Home Again - part 6 of 7
For disclaimers and warnings, see part 1.
*****************************************
Jack Crichton stalked through Moya's corridors, heading for the cargo
bay. Before he reached it, he spotted MacLeod and Ryan walking toward
their rooms.
"Ryan! I want to talk to you!"
Both of them turned around with startled looks. "What's wrong?" Ryan
asked.
"You tell me. What is this secret of yours that's going to keep my son
from returning to Earth? What are you hiding that could *possibly* be
worth that?" Jack demanded.
"What are you talking about?"
"If you and John go back to Earth, O'Neill plans on arresting both of
you. And it has something to do with the space shuttle and you." Jack
could tell from the look on Ryan's face that the other man knew exactly
what he was talking about. What was even worse, it looked like MacLeod
also knew about it. Obviously, he was the only one besides the SG-1 team
who was being kept in the dark. "What kind of person are you that you'd
let an innocent friend get sent to prison? Or even worse have him
banished from his home for the rest of his life!"
"Jack, I never meant-" Ryan started, but Crichton cut him off.
"Then do something about it!" he said, poking a finger at Ryan's chest.
"Be a man! Take responsibility for your actions and turn yourself in."
"You don't know what you're asking him to do," MacLeod said, placing one
hand on Ryan's shoulder in support.
"Then tell me. Help me understand what is *so* important that it would
keep my son away from his home, and family," Jack almost pleaded.
The two older men stared at each other for the longest time, before
MacLeod finally sighed. "I can't," he said, regret filling his voice.
"Mac, maybe he'd..." Richie stepped closer to MacLeod and pleaded with
his eyes.
"No, Rich." MacLeod's tone was final.
Ryan looked away, stepping back from the other two men.
"I thought you were an honorable man, MacLeod," Jack said. "But I guess
I was wrong. About both of you. Just be warned - I won't rest until I
find out whatever this dirty little secret of yours is!" With those
final words, Jack turned and left.
Richie collapsed against the corridor wall, giving a shaky little sigh.
"Oh, man, I never even thought about the Collaroy still being on Moya.
What am I going to do, Mac?"
"There's not much you can do, Rich." Duncan thought about it for several
moments. "Your best bet would be to let them arrest you, then arrange a
'death'. It would have to be something big to keep you dead long enough
to get you to the morgue. After that, you'd be free."
"That's assuming they take me to a prison. If they lock us up in that
mountain, I'd never be able to get out, even if they thought I was
dead."
Duncan sighed. "That's a possibility. As much as I hate to say this, you
might not be able to come home again." He didn't look too happy about
it.
"Even if I did that, I can't let John go to prison over this. And he
shouldn't have to live out here forever, either." Richie straightened
up, knowing he would have to do something.
"You're not thinking about doing something stupid, are you?" Duncan
asked, worry filling his face.
"Define stupid." With that, Richie walked away.
*****
A sharp shaking jerked Daniel out of a sound sleep, but his startled cry
was muffled by a hand over his mouth. It took a moment before he
realized that Ryan was standing over his bed, and he relaxed slightly.
Almost immediately, the hand was removed, and Ryan whispered, "I want to
show you something." He stepped back, motioning for Daniel to follow.
His curiosity whetted, Daniel reached for his boots and quickly put them
on. He'd been sleeping in his clothes - standard operating procedure
when on alien territory - so there was no need to dress. He followed
Ryan out to the hallway, fully expecting him to wake up the rest of the
SG-1 team. Instead, the man headed in the other direction.
"What about..."
"Shhh!" Ryan cut him off, holding up a finger to his lips. Then he
started back down the hallway.
For a brief moment, Daniel debated going back and waking up someone
else, then decided it wasn't necessary. After all, Ryan just wanted to
show him something. He was led through so many corridors that he lost
track of where he was, which started to bother him, but Ryan finally led
him into a large room where D'Argo was waiting.
"Where are we?" he asked, looking around.
"This is the cargo bay," Ryan replied, before shutting the door behind
them.
"You want to show me some cargo?" Daniel couldn't figure out what would
be so important in cargo that Ryan felt he had to wake him up. He was
starting to get a really bad feeling about this.
"No." Ryan scrubbed at his face with both hands before looking at
Daniel. "Your conversation about arresting me and John was overheard by
Pilot. So, I'm going to show you what really happened on the Collaroy.
That should at least get John off the hook."
"Uh... you should really be showing this to Jack," Daniel said as Ryan
moved over to D'Argo.
"Pilot said you believed John's story about Scorpius. Plus, technically,
you aren't military. That's why I want to show it to you, first." Ryan
took a deep breath. "Go ahead, D'Argo."
The Luxan said something in reply, but Daniel had no clue what it was.
"Yes, do it!" Ryan stated firmly.
It happened so quickly that Daniel had no chance to do anything to stop
it. D'Argo pulled a sword out of a sheath on his back, and shoved it
through Ryan's abdomen. The young man cried out in pain, then raised
shaking hands up to the entry point. He turned toward Daniel and his
mouth moved but nothing came out. Then he shuddered, and, slowly, sank
to the floor, sliding off the blade as he collapsed.
"Oh, my God!" Daniel couldn't believe what had just happened. He hurried
over to Ryan, hoping that he would be able to help him somehow, but the
young man was already dead. He turned shocked eyes to D'Argo. "You
killed him!" Then he noticed that the Luxan was still holding his sword.
Daniel carefully rose to his feet, expecting to be run through at any
moment. D'Argo said something, and pointed to Ryan.
"I don't understand," he said, slowly backing away, and trying to
remember how to open the door so that he could flee.
D'Argo snarled something else, then grabbed Daniel's arm with his free
hand. He dragged him back toward Ryan, even though Daniel tried
frantically to pull away.
"Let him go!"
Daniel looked over his shoulder, and saw O'Neill had joined them, his
gun aimed at D'Argo. "Jack! He killed Ryan."
"Let him go!" O'Neill demanded again.
Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw something fly from D'Argo. Even
though O'Neill was at least six feet away, D'Argo's impossibly long
tongue reached the Colonel, striking him on the neck.
A glazed look crossed O'Neill's face. "Nice tongue," he muttered before
dropping to the deck.
Daniel tried to free himself again to go to O'Neill's side, but D'Argo's
grip was too tight. He was dragged back to Ryan's body, and pushed down
beside it. Certain that he was about to die, as well, Daniel closed his
eyes. D'Argo said something, and shook Daniel's shoulder. He opened his
eyes, and saw the Luxan pointing toward Ryan.
"I don't understand," he said again, shaking his head.
D'Argo reached out and ripped away Ryan's shirt from around the wound.
Then he used it to wipe the blood away. He pointed to the wound again.
Daniel wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to look at - he had no
desire to look at the gaping slash on Ryan's stomach. But when he saw
what looked like a small blue light flickering around the wound, he
looked closer. The wound was closing right before his eyes! A few
moments later, Ryan took a loud rasping breath.
Daniel scrambled back. This wasn't possible! Not unless Ryan was a
Goa'uld. And Carter or Teal'c would have sensed that if he was. But Ryan
was definitely breathing again, where he had been dead before. And the
very large wound was almost healed. He must be dreaming. Soon he'd wake
up in his bunk. Then Ryan opened his eyes, and sat up with a groan.
"Damn! That hurt worse than I thought it would."
Once again, D'Argo replied, then pointed at O'Neill's body. Daniel
scrambled back even further, going over to check on his friend. O'Neill
was still breathing, so hopefully whatever D'Argo had done wasn't
deadly.
"I suppose he saw my dead body," Ryan said as he came over to stand
beside them.
Daniel nodded. "So did I. Is Jack going to be okay?"
"Yeah. He'll come to in a little while."
"You want to explain what that...uh..." he waved toward Ryan's abdomen,
"was all about?"
"I'm immortal. I can't die - at least not permanently," Ryan said.
"How do you know that?" Daniel asked skeptically.
Richie pointed towards his totally healed stomach. "I think that's a
pretty good indication. And that's how I survived after the Collaroy ran
out of oxygen. I died along with the rest of them, but when Crichton
found the shuttle and brought it onto Moya, I revived. There was never a
space battle."
"Then why did you make up that story?"
Ryan pointed at O'Neill. "Can you imagine what the military would do
with people who aren't 'normal'?" he asked cynically. "Think of an army
of soldiers that can't die."
Daniel had to admit that the other man had a point. They'd had a hard
time at first trying to keep Teal'c out of the hands of the wrong people
who wanted to run experiments. He could just imagine what they would do
to someone who couldn't die. "And now you want me to help you."
"To be more precise, I want you to help John. If you help me in the
process, all the better. You've got to convince O'Neill to at least drop
all the charges against John. He hasn't done anything wrong. He deserves
the chance to go home."
"And what about you? Do you want to go home?"
"Yes, but not if it means being locked up and treated like a freak. I'd
rather take my chances against Scorpius."
With a slight moan, O'Neill opened his eyes. Daniel turned his attention
back to his friend.
"Take it easy, Jack. You're going to be okay." He helped O'Neill sit up.
"That's some tongue that D'Argo has," O'Neill muttered. He looked around
the room. "Where did he go?"
"He left," Richie said. "His part in this little demo is over."
"Uh... weren't you..." O'Neill pointed to the floor, "...dead? Or did
D'Argo just..." he used his hand to simulate a tongue lashing out.
"He *was* dead," Daniel said.
"And now?"
"He's *not" dead," Daniel clarified.
"That's... gooood. And how... did he do that?" O'Neill looked around the
room. "I don't see a sarcophagus. And Dr. Frasier checked him out, so
he's not a robot. Maybe he's a Goa'uld?"
"Teal'c or Sam would have sensed it," Daniel replied. "He says he's
immortal."
"*He* is standing right here," Richie pointed out.
O'Neill looked up at the young man, then climbed to his feet. "All
right. Explain."
"I can't die - at least not permanently," Richie started again. "That's
how I survived and the rest of the Collaroy crew didn't. I suffocated
along with the rest of them, but once the shuttle was brought on to
Moya, I came back. I didn't tell you because I don't trust the military.
I don't want to be experimented on. I don't want to be locked up in some
top secret hangar in some top secret area along with the mummified
bodies of aliens, and remnants of alien space craft."
O'Neill waved his hand in dismissal. "We don't lock up the alien space
craft anymore. We're too busy trying to figure out how they work."
"Oh great. You just lock up the aliens now," Richie muttered.
"Soooo, how did you find out about this.... uh.... immortality thing?"
O'Neill asked.
"I was shot by a street punk. Then I woke up, and I was healed. Ever
since then I heal most minor wounds almost immediately. Fatal wounds
take a little longer."
"Were your parents the same as you?" Daniel asked, thinking of all the
possibilities. "And how old are you? How old are they? Will you ever
die? Are there more of you on Earth?"
Richie shrugged. "I don't know who my parents are. I was found abandoned
outside a church in 1974. As to whether I'll ever die..." he shrugged
again. "Who knows?"
"Wait a minute. There's one question that you didn't answer," O'Neill
said with a frown. "Are there more of you on Earth?"
"What difference does that make?"
"Well, that wasn't a denial," Daniel pointed out. "Think about it, Jack.
There could be a lot of people out there who don't die. Think of the
history they've seen. They might have even been around when the Goa'uld
came to Earth. They might even have been around when the Stargates were
built. Think of the knowledge we could obtain."
"Let's take care of the present first, Daniel. We need to figure out
what to do about Ryan and Crichton, then you can start thinking about
historical questions."
"What's there to think about?" Daniel asked. "Ryan has provided an
explanation for why the space shuttle is here. Crichton might have kept
the explanation from us, but that isn't exactly a crime. This Scorpius
character is obviously a problem, and we should concentrate on keeping
him from building a doomsday device."
"And what about this... uh... immortality thing?" O'Neill still looked
skeptical about the whole concept.
"What about it? At best it would make him a great candidate for the
Stargate program. But I can't think of one good reason to tell anyone
else about it."
O'Neill rubbed his chin as he stared at Ryan. "I suppose we could play
it that way."
"Why should I trust you?" Richie asked, somewhat skeptically. "How do I
know that you won't throw me into a cell as soon as I step through the
Stargate?"
"I guess you'll just have to trust us," O'Neill replied with an innocent
look. "Now, I suggest we get some sleep. We can talk about this some
more in the morning."
***** end of part 6