Disclaimer: Highlander belongs to Rysher Entertainment, Gaumont Television, and Davis/Panzer Productions. Stargate belongs to Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Products. No copyright infringements were intended. This story uses characters and situations from those shows for entertainment and not for profit.
Spoilers and Timing: For Stargate SG-1, this story takes place sometime after "Entity." In the Highlander universe, this story takes place at least a year or so after Highlander: End Game. I know, the timing's screwed up - late season four of SG-1 was in 2000. End Game was in the theatres in September of 2001, so this story technically takes place in 2002 - but that's the beauty of fanfic; you can screw up all sorts of things and still get away with it.
Summary: Daniel gets pulled back into his past when old friends and foes become a little too interested in his current line of work.
*****
Roughly 500 BCE
Women and men alike watched, helpless, as Horus guards chose people in the crowd at random. They huddled in front of their homes, praying to their gods that they would be spared. The Horus guards ripped the desperate families apart. If they heard any of the Tau'ri praying to their gods, the Jaffa would hit them brutally, and tell them their God was Ra, and that they should worship only him.
The entire village was terrified of these powerful strangers. Only four days ago, Ra's pyramid had fallen as if by magic from the clouds. It now rested in one of the town's prized fields, crushing the vegetables that had grown there for almost an entire season. The town had watched as a door magically opened in one of its sides. Demons with metal heads and evil glowing eyes stepped out of the door. They moved quickly, blocking off any attempt at escape the townspeople made, and putting down any fights the people started when they tried to defend their home.
Several of them were chosen to be Ra's personal slaves. One of the townspeople was a man who had lived for a few hundred years. He was a race of Tau'ri called Immortals. His fair hair and blue eyes made him a desirable subject for Ra's pleasure. He, too, was chosen.
His name was Daniel, and he stood in front of his home with his wife and his three adopted children. Angrily, he watched as the Jaffa took more members of his adopted city. His wife saw his anger rising with every passing moment and knew that she had to stop him from doing the unthinkable.
"No, Daniel!" she said, gripping his sword arm tightly in panic. "You must not. Please do not try anything foolish, my husband. They are stronger than you."
She continued to plead until, at last, he backed down. "You're right, Cassandra. I will stay and protect you."
She kissed him on the cheek, tears rolling down her face. Their children clutched at their feet, afraid of what was coming. They all knew that even Daniel's promise to protect them wouldn't save them in the end. Ra was picking only one member of every household to go on the ship, and he promised to kill the rest afterwards.
As they saw the Horus guards approach them, Daniel and his wife shared one last, passionate kiss. It was broken when the Jaffa pulled them apart. It did not take long for the demons to choose who would come with them.
One of the guards grabbed Daniel's arm and pulled him away. His adopted children and wife screamed at him, pleading with the Jaffa to bring him back to them. His wife pleaded with them to take her in his place.
"Cassandra!" Daniel yelled, crying, tearing at the guards that pulled him away. He managed to get them to release him and made three paces before the same guards grabbed him again. A butt of a staff weapon came down upon his head.
His unconscious form sagged toward the ground in his captors' arms, unaware of the scream Cassandra uttered a second later. Nor was he aware of the other Jaffa guards firing at his mortal family, killing all of them with only four blasts.
*****
"Put it down right there, will you? Careful."
Major Samantha Carter smiled as she watched Daniel direct the two military personnel. They were in the process of setting a very large alien artifact onto the floor in Daniel's lab. The archeologist's concern for the artifact's safety was comical. It wasn't often that one of the SG teams brought back an alien artifact that was small enough to carry through the Stargate. This one was pretty big, however. It looked like a cube that was at least three and a half feet square on all sides and was covered in the writing symbols of a culture long since deceased. SG-10 found it on the planet of PY8-776 and came back through the Stargate a few days before with it in tow. SG-1 had been off-world, and General Hammond had waited until Daniel got back to Earth so that he could make sure the artifact was placed where he wanted it in his office.
The two techs finally put the large object down. Daniel Jackson thanked them before they left, leaving him and Sam alone in the crowded office. Daniel squeezed his way past the stone cube and walked over to his bookshelf. He pulled down a notebook before sitting down at the desk next to the artifact.
"It's pretty big," Sam commented.
Daniel nodded. "It has a combination of Etruscan and Carthaginian writing on the sides. It's an odd combination since they weren't from the same area, although considering that the Goa'uld could have put an Etruscan and Carthaginian group in the same spot after they took them from Earth, I guess it isn't that strange."
"Guess not," Sam agreed. "You still up for lunch?" she asked him, hoping the question would spark a memory in that brain packed with knowledge about ancient cultures.
It did. Daniel's head snapped up, and he turned to Sam with a look of guilt on his face. "Oh, that's right. We were going out with Jack and Teal'c for lunch, weren't we?" Sam nodded, waiting for what she knew was coming. Daniel glanced down at the cube. She could tell he didn't want to leave now that he had something new to study. He looked back up with a pained expression. "I..."
She decided to try to coax him to come with her. "You can look at it when we get back. It'll still be here in a few hours. And you know how good the steaks are at Jason's."
Daniel sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I guess I'm still coming then."
Sam smiled sympathetically at him as she followed the archeologist out of the room, but she wasn't going to back down. She knew Colonel O'Neill was right when he said that both she and Daniel needed to get out more. If she had to do it, she was dragging Daniel along with her.
*****
Jack O'Neill half-listened to one of his best friends, Daniel Jackson, talk about his latest toy as he pulled the car into the parking lot at Jason's Restaurant. Maybe going out for dinner was a bad idea, since the archeologist didn't seem capable of getting away from work for even a few hours. "We're here," he announced, interrupting Daniel and getting a glare from him in the rear-view mirror. Jack ignored him and got out of the car. Teal'c, Carter, and Daniel followed.
Daniel sighed and shook his head at Jack's back. He would never understand why Jack couldn't even bother pretending to listen to his lectures. There was nothing wrong with learning about the past. Not that learning about the past was ever a problem for Daniel.
He smiled sadly, wondering how his friends would react if they knew the truth about him. They probably wouldn't believe him. After all, who would think that he, the young, innocent archeologist known as Dr. Daniel Jackson, was over three thousand and five hundred years old?
Daniel's mind wandered back to the present as they stood in line at the counter. Jack was muttering about how the prices for the buffet were higher than last week. Daniel rolled his eyes. Jack complained about almost everything, or at least it seemed that way.
He could remember a time when food was scarce, and other times when food came in abundance. He wondered if Jack would be complaining about the food at Jason's if the other choice was only bread and moldy cheese. Now that is a picture. Jack dressed up in a knight's full metal armor, waving a huge broadsword at a food seller because the bread tasted terrible.
"-I'm sure Daniel would love to explain it to ya later, Teal'c," Jack said. He looked back at Daniel. "Isn't that right, Danny?"
"Um...sure," Daniel answered, wondering what he just got himself into.
"Is everything all right, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked, concern reflecting in his expression.
"Yeah, why?"
"You have been unusually quiet since we left O'Neill's car."
Daniel shrugged, thinking quickly. "Oh, uh, just thinking about that artifact SG-10 brought back." Off Jack's blank look, he clarified, "You know, the one I was talking about in the car?"
Jack rolled his eyes. "For crying out loud, Daniel, can't you stop thinking about work for one second?"
"Careful, sir. People are staring," Carter said, a smile on her lips.
Daniel also grinned. You don't know the half of it, Jack. It wasn't just work. It was his Immortal life. He was as ancient as many of his artifacts. He enjoyed the opportunity that archeology gave him to re-familiarize himself with the cultures he'd once been apart of.
They moved on to the buffet counter and served themselves some of the food. "What are you getting, Teal'c?" Daniel asked the Jaffa.
Teal'c looked over at the Italian section. "I have heard of something called lasagna. I will try that dish tonight." He walked over there.
Daniel got some pizza, macaroni, a salad and some coffee and went over to the table Sam was already sitting at. A minute or two later, Jack wandered over, followed by Teal'c. Jack's plate was piled high with an assortment of food.
"How can you eat all of that, sir?" Sam asked him, staring at him as he took a huge bite of a piece of French Bread, which he had generously dipped in ketchup of all things.
"How can you eat so little, Carter?" Jack answered, mouth full. Bits of the bread flew out of his mouth, splattering in different directions. Some of it landed on Daniel.
"Jack, could you not talk with your mouth full, please? You're getting French bread in my macaroni."
"I agree with Daniel Jackson, O'Neill," Teal'c said. "Spraying food around the table in that manner is most impolite and offensive."
Jack groaned, but didn't speak until he swallowed. "For crying out loud!"
"Shh…sir," Sam reminded him, looking around at the other patrons as if embarrassed, even though there was a gleam in her eye.
The rest of the evening revolved around light conversation and good food. Later on, however, when Daniel stepped into the public restroom, he felt the Buzz.
Daniel stopped dead in his tracks. He hadn't felt the Buzz in over five years, before Katherine Langford offered him the job of finding the Gate coordinates that took them to the planet of Abydos. It made him uneasy. At least he remembered to bring his sword with him to Jason's Restaurant. Sighing, he faced the occupied stalls and waited.
A toilet flushed and a man stepped out. Daniel had never seen him before, but that didn't mean anything when dealing with another Immortal. The man was around Daniel's height, but he had wild red hair and hard, wary green eyes.
"George Handall," the other man introduced himself. "Are you Daniel Jackson?"
Daniel's eyes widened. How did Handall know him? "Yes."
"I've been looking for you," Handall said. "I've heard that you're an old one."
"I have no quarrel with you," Daniel said, not commenting on that last bit Handall said.
"I'm not trying to start one," He assured Daniel. "I'm willing to make a deal, though."
"Not interested," Daniel said, turning to leave.
Handall took a step toward him and Daniel turned to face him again. "You should be, old man. Because if you walk away now, then I won't be able to stop the papers from printing an article about a huge, metal ring located in Cheyenne Mountain."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Daniel said, while his mind was racing with questions. What did he know about the stargate? How did he learn about it?
Handall smiled knowingly. "Let's meet some place a little more private, hmm?" He handed Daniel a business card. "Meet me at this address in three days at seven o'clock PM. Oh, and you'd better not tell your mortal friends about this. Consider it Immortal business."
He walked past Daniel and out the door. "See you then."
Daniel stared down at the card. An address scribbled on the back was for a restaurant in the middle of town. It would be crowded at 7 PM; a fight would draw too much attention. At least it reassured Daniel that Handall didn't want to fight right away, but any meeting with an enemy, even a potential one, always made him nervous.
Daniel entered a stall and burried his face in his hands. This was definitely one of those times when he wished he wasn't Immortal.
*****
twenty-five hundred years ago
When Daniel regained consciousness, he was lying face down on a hard floor. He could feel no injuries or bruises; all of them would have healed by now.
He sat up and looked around. People he recognized from the town were scattered inside the room. Some of them were still unconscious. The rest were huddled together, crying and afraid, trying to offer each other comfort.
Daniel didn't know where they were. He looked around, trying to spot his children and wife, but couldn't see them. Then he remembered what had happened.
Letting out a cry of anguish, Daniel burried his head in his hands. His family was probably dead by now, and he failed to stop it from happening. Like all of his other mortal families, Daniel would always outlive them all.
*****
Three nights later, Daniel walked into the restaurant where he would meet George Handall. Getting away from the base had been easy. SG-1 had just returned from a long, sixty-five hour mission, and General Hammond wanted them to rest. Escaping Jack's questions when he stopped by Daniel's apartment that afternoon to hang out had been harder. He was sure that Jack was still suspicious, but he didn't think the Colonel had followed him to the restaurant. If he did, Daniel knew he would be in big trouble the next time he saw him, and Jack wouldn't accept a lousy excuse.
As he stepped inside the restaurant, he felt the Buzz. Looking around, he spotted Handall at one of the tables on the right. He made his way over to the table, weaving around crowded booths and tables where families, friends, and associates were busily and noisily chatting over meals. Whatever Handall and Daniel talked about, it wouldn't be overheard easily in the den.
Daniel slid into a seat opposite the other Immortal. Handall gave Daniel a smug smile. "Thank you for coming." He took a puff of a cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray.
Daniel didn't have to wait long for what was coming. Handall began, "I've heard things, Dr. Jackson, about that military base that you work at. Things about the Stargate, and the fact that Earth almost got overrun by a nasty Goa'uld a few years back. Don't try to deny it. I have proof."
"What is it that you want?" Daniel asked, wary. If only Jack could see me now, he thought. Gone was the fumbling, inexperienced young man he pretended to be on base. As far as Handall was concerned, Daniel Jackson looked like a cold brick wall, although that was hardly how he was feeling. Daniel wished he'd told the others about his Immortality, because this whole situation could easily get ugly. Even as old as he was, he could lose a challenge at any time, and they'd never know exactly why his body would be found with the head cut off.
Handall leaned closer. "I want in that base."
Daniel's eyes widened before he was able to regain control. "I can't do that."
"You'd better," Handall said. "If you don't, I guarantee that the whole world will find out about the United States' war against the Goa'uld. You hear me? They will!"
His voice grew louder with every word. People seated at the tables surrounding them were glancing their way. Daniel needed to calm him down, stop him from drawing any more attention. "If you know so much about my workplace, you also know that I don't have that kind of power."
"Yes, but you can get me on that base. You simply have to convince your General Hammond to grant me permission. You've done it before."
As Daniel watched, Handall's smug facade slipped until his features were filled with agitation and barely controlled yearning. What the hell? Daniel wondered. What have I gotten myself into now?
Handall's eyes were frantic and wild as they searched Daniel's puzzled face. "Don't you feel it?"
Thrown for a loop, Daniel asked, "Feel what?"
"A pulling," Handall explained. "Something is pulling on my Quickening. Something inside that base of yours. I have to get in, I have to."
Daniel wondered if this guy had an addiction problem or something. Either way, he had to calm this guy down and find out exactly what proof he had about the Stargate Program's existence. There was no way he was going to allow Handall access to anything at Stargate Command.
He was trying to think of something to say. Handall grew impatient and angry. Daniel inwardly groaned as he watched Handall stand up. "Then I challenge you," the other Immortal told Daniel. "Maybe your Quickening will give me the information I need to get in that base."
Shit, Daniel thought as he stared up at him, alarmed.
You're not getting out of this one, are you? Daniel asked himself as he stood up. Handall followed him out, not allowing the older Immortal to leave his sight for even a second.
They went into the alley. Handall pulled out his sword and tossed his coat aside, and Daniel took out his scimitar. "We don't have to do this," Daniel said.
"Yes we do," Handall said, and swung.
The fight was relatively quick. Not only had Jack and Teal'c taught him a few moves that made him even better than he already was, but Handall was sloppy and way too excited to concentrate on performing properly. It took no effort at all for Daniel to disarm him.
"You can still go," Daniel said, holding his blade to Handall's neck.
Handall just looked at him and said, "Just do it. There's no point if you won't let me into that base."
Sighing, Daniel pulled the blade back, then used all of the strength he still had to swing it down and clean through Handall's neck.
Handall's body fell to the ground and the Quickening started.
