Chapter 22

It was a simple plan and it worked with simple beauty. Since the invasion alert all the SG teams currently off world had either been recalled or ordered to stay put. With only a skeleton crew left in operations they were easily rendered unconscious by the colorless, odorless ether Jack had managed to procure. Now they waited anxiously, ignoring the alarms as Teal'c activated the gate.

Methos opened the case and removed the bulla, closing his eyes as he slipped the deadly device around his neck.

"Now you're sure that thing will get us through?" O'Neill asked as the gateway finally opened.

"Reasonably sure," Methos grinned as he stepped up to the wormhole.

"Reasonably?!" Jack growled. "You said it would!"

Methos shrugged. "Well, there's always plan B."

"Which is?"

"We walk in the door and I shout, 'Hi, Mom! I'm home!'"

At that, Methos stepped through, leaving Jack to stare after him in horror. "Jesus!" he hissed. He hadn't even guessed, though he should have known. Methos had all but told them truth. She was Tok'ra's wife and he the man's mortal student. And Immortals couldn't have children. Which meant... Jack suddenly felt ill. Methos had known all along and still he'd chosen to do this. Jack shuddered at the thought of being forced to make such a choice. A choice that took more than simple courage. The moral implications alone would have left most individuals unable to function. O'Neill looked back at Teal'c and saluted then stepped through the gate, vowing silently that no matter what happened, no one else would ever know.


"Looks like it worked," Methos grinned as Jack exited the wormhole.

The colonel glanced around the rather plain reception area, noting the lack of guards then stared calmly at Methos, who wordlessly accepted the other man's regard. He knew what O'Neill was thinking which was why he hadn't said anything before. But morality aside, Inanna had killed him once and would do it again if she believed for an instant that he was a threat. The trick was to make her certain he wasn't.

Jack nodded once and stepped up beside him. "Let's move out," he ordered. "And remember, I want that thing off your neck as soon as you can manage it."

"I assure you, that's at the top of my list. And you remember, too," he added. "We set it off when we're back at the gate. Not before."

O'Neill shrugged, obviously not understanding. "Sure. Not before we're clear. Got it."

"First things first," Methos grimaced as he turned toward the door. "The throne room is this way."

"You've been here before," Jack surmised as Methos easily led them through corridor after nearly identical corridor.

"No," the Immortal responded. "But Tok'ra's memories record Inanna as being a creature of habit. Disorder is uncertainty to someone like her. She'll have copied the old ways as closely as possible and Tok'ra knew the layout of her palace."

"So, what are you going to tell her about me? I mean, isn't she going to wonder why you didn't come alone?"

"Well, I'd planned on saying you were my servant, but I don't think that will fly anymore," he looked pointedly at Jack's gun, though he'd deliberately come lightly armed with only a dagger for show. The point was to appear harmless and naive. Just a boy and his mom. "How about your bodyguard?"

"Why would I need one?" Methos grinned. "No," he sighed regretfully. "You'll just have to be my lover."

O'Neill glared at him then shook his head in disgust. "Fine. But if we have to spend the night, no stealing the covers."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Methos laughed, then his face went still as he sensed her.

They rounded another corner and came face to face with Inanna's guards. Methos lifted his chin and said something in a guttural language and they parted, allowing both men to pass. A moment later they were through the antechamber and into the throne room proper. At the far end, Inanna waited, seated on a mound of giant pillows surrounded by her retinue.

"Remain here," Methos murmured. "And no matter what I do don't react." With that he moved away, giving O'Neill no chance to argue.

He approached Inanna's throne with his eyes respectfully downcast. At the foot of the dais he knelt, leaning forward in the crouch to lightly kiss the hem of her dress.

"Welcome, Methos."

A cool response, but he'd expected as much. This should warm things up. "Greetings, my lady mother."

"My son." A hand reached down and rested gently on his head, indicating that he had permission to look at her.

"It is good to see you, Mother," he smiled, noting that she was just as beautiful as he recalled. Pale and slim with hair the color of midnight. "I feared you were dead. Killed in the final attack which the Goa'uld launched against my father's forces."

There, Methos thought smugly, that should give her something to think about.

"And I you, my beloved son." She reached out a hand and he took it, allowing himself to be drawn up to kneel beside Inanna. "But how did you find me, little one? And after so long? Could you not have come sooner?"

"The gate was lost and when I awoke from my long sleep of the first death I could not find it. Recently, I discovered the humans had not only recovered it, but learned how to open it. I came as soon as I could, Mother."

"But how did you know where to find me?" she asked again, squeezing his fingers a little too hard in her eagerness for a response.

She was so predictable, Methos thought with disgust. "I did only as my father bid me," he gave a tentative smile. "He spoke of this place as one you and he had found during your wanderings, long before I was fortunate enough to receive the generosity of your home. He said that if all were lost it would be to here, the place where you were once happiest, that you would come."

Tok'ra had never said anything of the sort, but his memories held this place to be located close to the fleet she'd amassed and it seemed a logical conclusion. In any case, the death grip on his fingers loosened and Inanna relaxed, laying back against her pillows.

"Who is the human?" she asked casually, signaling for Jack to come forward.

Methos nodded imperceptibly for O'Neill to do so. "This is my friend, mother."

She laughed at his delicate use of the term friend in her language, which might mean either playmate or lover.

"Greetings," she said in perfect English, startling both men into stunned silence. Still, it confirmed something Methos had only suspected. Inanna did not just have spies among the Tok'ra, but doubtless had the ability to move among them at will. Or, at least to send her symbiot into their midst with no one the wiser. "And does the friend of my son have a name?"

"Jim Dandy," O'Neill announced, bowing more gracefully than Methos would ever have given him credit for. "A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

"It pleases me also," she smiled sweetly, but Methos could see the calculation in her eyes. She might never have seen a gun, but she knew a warrior when she laid eyes on one. But then, what else would the son of a warrior choose as his companion?

"Come, let us dine together. Then we shall make plans for our future."

"I'm afraid we can't, Mother," Methos announced sadly. "We must return to Earth. The Goa'uld are about to launch their forces against our friends there." The expression on her face was priceless. "I came only to see that you were well and to let you know that I lived, maintaining our fight against the common foe."

"Of course you are, dearest. I only wish I were able to help. But my ships are scattered and not very powerful."

Methos gently touched her hand. "I have missed you, Mother," he said, suddenly feeling the weight of the bulla against his throat. "Would you...?" He rested the fingers of his other hand against the pendant.

Inanna smiled. It was an ancient custom among her people, done only before battle. Which was how she had managed to overcome Tok'ra.

"Yes," she agreed as she removed her own. "I will keep your name safe. And if you should fall, I shall open my throat and speak it daily."

Methos carefully removed the bulla, stilling the trembling in his hands by force of will as he held it out and she lowered her neck to receive the gift. He did the same, trying desperately not to telegraph his sudden fear. Once the chain was firmly clasped he rose.

"I will return soon. I promise, Mother. And then we will visit for longer."

She nodded, fingering the pretty filigree. It was not customary to decorate the bulla, but Inanna seemed pleased. "I shall look forward to your return then, my son. Go," she added as Methos turned to leave. "Bring back memories to me of your father."

He nodded, his throat suddenly closing up and he needed Jack's arm around his shoulder to guide him from the room. As soon as they were out of sight of the guards, O'Neill suddenly yanked the chain from his throat.

"No!" Methos screamed, even as Jack set off the detonator, tossing Inanna's bulla back toward the throne room. The double explosion knocked them off their feet, but Methos desperately scrambled up. "Run!"

"What!" O'Neill yelled as he chased after the terrified Immortal. "She's dead!"

But Methos didn't dare look back. "We're too close, damn you! I don't want her inside me! Now run!"

"Oh fuck!" he heard Jack shout, but still he wouldn't stop. He didn't know how far away he needed to be, but he knew he was still too damn close. Her memories, her life. He didn't want any of it. But they were nearly at the gate, maybe there would be time enough. Maybe...

"Oh god!" he whispered as he felt the first tiny tendrils of power seeking him out as the hot wind of her Quickening howled up the corridor. "Hurry, Jack! Hurry!" Methos cried as O'Neill reached the DHD and started punching in the address home.

But it was too late, and Methos knew it even as the gate opened and the first bolt of energy raced along the walls and surged into the gate room. He flung out his arms to steady himself and in the instant it struck felt his own Quickening arise within him and burst outward in response. It flowed through him and toward Inanna, burning his senses as it passed, leaving him lying in a heap at the base of the DHD with O'Neill crouched above.

"What the hell?" Methos asked, shielding his eyes the whirling maelstrom overhead.

"You're asking me?!" Jack exclaimed, hauling him to his feet and dragging him toward the gate as the ground shook with the energies exploding around the room. "Let's just get the hell out!" They practically fell through the gate, breathlessly tumbling down the ramp to the floor as they emerged on the other side. Behind them, the iris sealed itself and General Hammond stalked forward. Around the room a dozen armed soldiers stood at the ready, the klaxon still blaring an alert.

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