A little bit of a preview of dialog to come and to let you gents know I'm still alive!
Herakles and Sheppard begin their parley....Yes chapter title is a bit of a pun..I'm terrible
Any way, enjoy..
Parlay
“Still alive huh?” Montez looked bad, his face was a bloodied, purpled mess and his speech sounded slurred enough that Sheperd couldn’t tell if his jaw was broken or if Montez was staying silent to keep from revealing anything. An Abydonian was dragged over and toppled on the floor besides Montez, it seemed that most of the survivors were being tended to by the two remaining Jaffa or allowed to tend to others. Rogers was in a corner with a silver and purple patch on his leg wound that seemed to be doing knitting or something below the surface given that he looked a little less pale as the seconds passed.
“Important artery in leg torn, is fatal to your kind without attention, yes?” The voice came from the female Jaffa that looked like a teen idol. The one who called him a Hass Act or whatever the hell that was. She sauntered between him and Montez and knelt down, showing him her back in an act of pure disrespect that made Shepherd want to laugh, this wasn’t an adult that happened to have a kid’s body. No soldier with even half a decade of experience would ever turn their back on an enemy no matter how incapacitated they were, not without cover. -Even if they’re super strong- John reminded himself. Montez began to jerk away as she reached up with her hands to cup his face. “No flail, stay still
Hassak. Am helping..”
“Thought you hated our language.”
The girl nodded absent mindedly to Shepherd. “No run, or try and grab me, break this one’s neck if you do.” She’d be able to do it too, John realized, and he quickly eyed Montez with a glare, stopping whatever plan he had to spit in her face or headbutt him.
“Aren’t you going to execute us any way?” he asked lazily, his voice at odds with how he felt.
The girl shrugged. “First Prime Herakles, make that call. If up to me, send you back through gate, with warning to other Tau’Ri not meddle in our affairs or we blow up planet. Prince Horus say you terrorist and criminal. Herakles say not sure, Lord Zeus say not care one way or other. Say he not care what Tau’Ri does so long as Tau’Ri not interfere with Imperial affairs or come unwelcomed to his domain.”
-She’s being way too forthcoming, either Herc plans to kill us, or he’s got something else in mind. Interesting though, there’s no talk of law only what they wanna do. We were not put on a wanted list?- He hoped he wasn’t executed so he could run this by the big guy, he knew System Lords were almost countries unto themselves but that they had laws and a central authority (Their Emperor/Empress.) that even they were bound to obey and according to Teal’c the fate of the SGC was tied up in those macro laws which had been silent as they hadn’t known until recently. -Jury’s still out on us I guess-.
“Unwelcomed?” John Shepherd raised an eyebrow. That was also, a rather interesting way of phrasing things. “Are you saying we could be welcomed?”
She ignored him; she was applying some kind of slightly shimmering paste to Montez’s face. “This one, jaw out of place.” Before he could protest, she manually set it in place and the Tejano turned about as white as a ghost in a sheet the moment she pulled her hands away. “Small robots, tiny, in gel, fix injury. You cry like girl, I break legs, then fix.” She sneered, evidently one of the Abydonians howled like a banshee when she set his shoulder and she knocked him out to avoid hearing him bellow when she did the same to his hip. They were an odd people, killing the ones who were beyond saving the same way armies on earth did a thousand years ago, yet going out of their way to render what must have been state of the art aid to anyone who wasn’t on deaths door.
If he was an anthropologist, he would have been fascinated.
Too bad their war Eagle (He still couldn’t believe that existed.) ate his anthropologist. “Cry like girl huh?”
“That one back there, Sahjah or something. He cry like my baby sister.”
“Baby sister?” Shepherd asked, probing for information about her age. The girl rolled her eyes and stood up “I twenty-three of Lotar years, youngest in my post.” She boasted with a sense of pride, one Shepherd didn’t doubt was at least partially earned, still with how defense she was. He smiled “uh huh…Not because parents are Primes or something?”
Her eyes narrowed. “
Hassak Tau’Ri.”
Struck a nerve there!
Laughter, deep and primal echoed behind them and then the sound of a groan of protestation as the massive lion moved into view. Evidently upset that all he was given to eat was a small slab of meat. The girl reflexively pulled a small cookie out of a pouch by her side and popped it into the creature’s enormous mouth while she muttered
spoiled old brute affectionately in space Egyptian, or at least what Shepherd suspected meant that, their dialect was very different from
Abydosi and he was still learning the language. The lion’s rider sat on remains of a series of wooden posts from basecamp. He too was eating what looked like the leg of a pig (If Pig’s had elephant like padded feet.), juices spilled down that odd snout like chin and he wiped them down with some silk before tossing the meat aside and gesturing towards the Abydonian whom Shepherd realized was Korla, the teenaged daughter of one of the City Masters who had been an Abydonian sharpshooter since she was twelve (What the hell was Ferretti doing training child soldiers damnit!). Herakles spoke, his deep basso voice lacked the eerie chorus of voices that signified they were dealing with a System Lord, but it was strong and his eyes glowed a faint blue.
Korla nodded then and looked to Shepherd weakly. The Jaffa girl interjected then “First Prime Herakles say, I speak for him, and she speak for you. Are these acceptable terms?”
“What if I tell her to tell Big Herc something disrespectful, like go screw yourself.”
Korla blanched and the Jaffa translated causing the living Frazetta painting to laugh loudly in a way that made it almost sound like a series of roars. Calming himself, he spoke to the Jaffa who rolled her eyes. “First Prime Herakles say, physically impossible.. Don’t stupid be, in the presence of Herakles son of Zeus out of Bastet may she know eternal peace, of the House of Aether. Of the race of the Peers, First Prime to the house of Aether, brother of Lady Athena, Mithras, Dionysus and Lord Appollo.”
“I am John Shepherd, son of Wayland Shepherd, grandson of William Allan Shepherd, Former Senator and Attorney General of the United States. Son of a founding house of my country.” He did his best to sound pretentious, making it every bit clear that he was mocking their airs by putting on some of his own as if ones pedigree mattered in a situation as absurd as this.
Evidently it did because Herakles nodded respectfully, making a gesture of reciprocity that got a mumbled “rich boy..sir...” Comment from Montez. Korla translated that and explained what an “Attorney General” and Senator was, which surprised Shepherd because he hadn’t expected Jackson to give the Abydonians civic lessons…which prompted to grumble and call himself a fool. Of course, he had, they were probably looking him and Louis for ideas on how to build their new government. To his credit Herakles seemed more impressed about the Attorney General post than he did about the Senator bit (Which revealed a little about how this one operated.). “I read the legend of Herakles growing up. It’s not a normal thing to meet a childhood hero much less get ambushed and attacked by one…” It was a gamble, trying to soften whatever blow that was coming by admitting that. Something suggested it would reach the beast man and that something was one of his hunches that usually were seventy, thirty in favor of being correct.
Please don’t let this be in the thirty percent
When this was translated Herakles sniffed and let out a grunt of incredulity, gazing intently at Shepherd for any falsehood only to find none. He spoke back in confusion and the Jaffa girl translated with a scrunched up look on her baby face. “ Herakles say that impossible, born eleven thousand years after Ra abandon Tau’Ri.” Oh really? Then how the hell did he exist in their stories? The look of bewilderment on Shepherd’s face matched Herakles until something glinted in his eyes and a smile crept over that ape like face before he continued.
“Herakles say, detail for later if there is later for your kind. Say, Prince Horus accuses Colonel Jack O’nyeir of murdering Emperor Ra, of terrorism. You not this O’nyeir but you serve him is it not so?”
Shepherd rolled his eyes, his knees shifting in the green grass as he tried to steady himself. He was tired, the night was long and as the adrenaline began to wear off the Ranger acutely felt every old wound, every battle scar and every ache from the fight that ended moments prior. Teal’c had mentioned they confused O’Neill for the First Prime of Earth’s combined military and Jack had never let them forget it! “He outranks me.” Shepherd grumbled in vexation “But he’s not my direct superior, the man who we both serve is Admiral Hammond of the United State’s Space Force Stellar Navy branch. “
As she translated this, Herakles left eyebrow rose and when the Jaffa touched her fingertips to her skull she asked if this was the Hammond of Texas John Shepherd raised an eyebrow of his own. “How the hell do you people know that?”
“Apophis share…
son's..report.” Shepherd didn’t fail to notice the disgust that hung on that word nor how the response was only a partial truth. He closed his eyes and let out a breath, allowing the cool breeze that was blowing through the valley to steady his focus. Clearly, there was a lot more going on than even the absurdity of this little interrogation suggested. “Then it was Hammond of Texas who order Ra death?”
“No, the man in charge at the time General West of Virginia is dead, he left no such order to kill Ra because we assumed there was no intelligent life on Abydos. We went there, not even knowing about your empire with only the loosest of theories and a small amount of proof connected our two peoples. We didn’t know anything about your kind until Ra parked his starship on the first teams head!” Shepherd bit back, an exasperation in his tone that needed no translation. This was insane, he was on planet nine in another solar system being accused of plotting the assassination of a being he didn’t even know existed with a nuclear weapon?! It was preposterous.
“So, Herakles ask, why bring atomic weapon?”
“I don’t know why they did that, when I read the report, I thought it was stupid.” He paused, cringing at the fact that he just buried a former command officer in that fashion in front of the enemy -Get a hold of yourself John- “No one had any idea what was out there, because of that they wanted to bring an explosive powerful enough to destroy the Gate if all other options were exhausted.”
“If no idea what was out there, why bring one modified to carry Naquadah?”
“We didn’t!” Shepherd responded with vehemence that surprised both translators. “Ra put the damn naquawhatever in there,
he enhanced it to that level, on its own that bomb was barely two kilotons.” Shepherd’s eyes narrowed when Herakles seemed to grunt in astonishment, scrutinizing his ape like face. -He knows this already, or suspects it at least.-, it was a realization that surprised him. There was a harshness to all of this but it had little to do with that happened to Ra and more to do with surprise at them being here at all, as if -We walked in on something that wasn’t supposed to be happening…And confirming this is just icing on the cake.-
Careful Johnny, the next few moments could either save your men or be the last of your life. “Colonel
O’Neill!” Shepherd said emphasizing the last name and glaring daggers at the Jaffa for mispronouncing it. “And Doctor Daniel Jackson returned the bomb to sender because it was tampered with, they couldn’t turn it off. They couldn’t disarm the weapon, so they had two choices.”
“Let the bomb go off on Abydos, or in the vessel.” The Jaffa breathed, answering more for herself than her First Prime. “Shaun’ac was right…King Yu..Princess Isis..” If looks could kill, the gaze Herakles levied at her in that instant would have set her ablaze (And given some of these guys were psychic..). The giant leaned forward, grabbing Shepherd by the collar with one of his meaty hands, hefting him into the air, holding him high above the hero of Greece’s head. Moonlight dancing around him, illuminating the Imperial Champion and revealing a better look than he’d been able to get before. Those eyes, they were old eyes but not ancient, intense but not mindless, the eyes of a killer but not a murderer. “This..heavy..charge..you..lay..at..our liege’s feet.”
Ah, so you
do speak a little American huh big guy? They were both playing dangerous games it seemed and Shepherd decided to go with his gut and push the proverbial buttons of God damn Hercules. “I thought an Emperor could do whatever he wanted?” Shepherd asked with a smirk which remained on his face until he realized Herakles had just released him and dropped him onto the grass as unceremoniously as possible. “Ra, never that kind of ruler..Tau’Ri, within a contested area of space, not ours, not Asgards, not anyones…Preemptive strikes only allowed against those already at war..Not at war are we Tau’Ri?”
“No.” He admitted, straightening himself out. “But you’re being awful truthful.”
Herakles shrugged “Prince Horus come back, either kill you all or let you go. If kill you all, Herakles lose nothing but if let you go?”
Shepherd slowly nodded “Then any…information you give me would be a debt?”
“And you pay Herakles back, Herakles owe you one and pay you back, then perhaps you ask for favor.”
“Careful First Prime, that sounds like the foundations of an alliance.” Shepherd cautioned.
Herakles laughed moving to scratch his lion behind the ears. “Or entertaining conversation before my prince kills you.”
