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The Exam - Part 5 of 'An Education'
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
"Uncle Jack?"
The voice drew him from a vagueness that had slipped up upon him unawares. His
head ached, his body ached. Yet there was something.....
"Uncle Jack? Please wake up." The voice was sobbing, urgent, there was
something.....
Oh, god.
His head came up abruptly and he gasped. His eyesight blurred and rotated as if his
brain had been shoved down a kaleidoscope. "Cassie?"
"Uncle Jack!" A hand touched his shoulder and he flinched. "What do you want me
to do?"
His eyes finally focused revealing Cassie Fraiser, her school bag still strapped to her
back, tears running down her face. "R-Ring General Ham-mond." His voice was
little more than a whisper, and the effort left him gasping.
"I have. First thing I did when I saw you were hurt. Sam's coming, they're all
coming. They'll be here soon." There was a silence, and he frowned almost knowing
the next question. "Where's Mom?" The tremor in her voice illustrated her fears.
He managed to raise a hand and grabbed her arm. "C-Cassie, I want you to leave. Go
to a friend's house, somewhere safe, away from here."
"Where's Mom?"
"Cassie, please, hurry, for me, please." He attempted to push her away from him.
She resisted.
"Uncle Jack, you're hurt. Mom has first aid supplies, at least I can help you."
"Cassie, go NOW!" He put everything he had into the strongest command tone he
could pull off. She flinched, but stood up and turned to leave.
She was too late.
Someone came up the stairs behind him. And it could only be one person.
"Mom?" Cassie's eyes widened, worry flickering in their depths only to be replaced
by utter terror. Jack couldn't see the Goa'uld, but could imagine its appearance,
blood coating half its face - a benign face twisted into malevolence. He knew the
moment Janet's eyes flashed their parasitic announcement, he could see it reflected in
Cassie's.
She turned and ran.
She was too late.
Everything was too late.
A bolt of orange brilliance lit up the hallway as Cassie's body was picked up and
thrown the length of it, falling in a crumpled broken heap, its silence a portent of her
injury.
"You bastard!" The scream was forced from him, the wave of pain it caused, ignored
in his emotional agony. He couldn't let it at Cassie.
No!
It moved, making its way past him. He caught a leg and wrenched. The Goa'uld fell.
He desperately grappled with it, attempting to knock it out, subdue it, stall it, prevent
it from reaching the girl who called him Uncle.
He failed.
He was just too weak, too disorientated to be effective. Something hard hit his head
and the world spun, the parasite slipped from his grasp, and by the time his vision
cleared, it was standing over Cassie.
Its posture was stiff, its voice silent. Indecision hovered in the air.
For a moment he could see the internal struggle being fought inside Janet. Her
daughter was at her feet, a monster forcing her to cause harm.
It looked back at him, smiling, its eyes solid white in declaration of the parasite's
victory.
No. No.
It raised Janet's hand, the metal device sparkling in the sunshine reflected through a
window.
God, no.
"Your death may not persuade her, but perhaps her daughter's will."
"NO!!"
It ignored him, turning its back in contempt. Orange light threw its form into
silhouette.
He struggled to move, to do something to prevent....
The knife.
He still had the knife.
He reached under his useless body, catching the sticky handle in his fingers, and took
one last look at his antagonist.
No decision needed. Janet wouldn't hesitate.
It was awkward, but necessity and desperation spurred on what little strength he had
left. He raised his arm from the floor, ignoring pain, ignoring everything, and threw
the weapon, willing it to reach its target on his faith alone.
The knife embedded itself between shoulder blades, and the Goa'uld spun in surprise,
orange light vanishing. It stared at him, momentarily speechless, white flaring and
then fading from its eyes.
Two words whispered past her lips, as those eyes hung onto his. "Th-Thank you."
And Janet Fraiser dropped like a stone.
Jack let loose the breath he didn't know he had been holding, and it came out as a sob.
He dropped his head onto his arm and wished the world away.
It went.
**********
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