Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 150

Chapter 150 - Measures of a Man

Eventus had been more than happy to take the older Jaffa up on his offer of a seat, as he’d long ago learned that when a politician said they would be right with you, what they really tended to mean was that they would be right with you once they finished whatever they had been busy with when you had come in.

“Apologies.” Bra’tac said as he spent a few seconds arranging the various papers on the table in front of him into some sort of general order. “The more I seem to get done, the more it always seems there is left to do.”

“One of the curses of responsibility.” Eventus offered with a nod of commiseration.

Bra'tac shot them a wry grin that slowly transitioned into a tired grimace. “It is good you are finally able to meet with us, the honeyed words of the Ori have begun to take root in our people far more quickly than I could have imagined.”

Not exactly unexpected given what Eventus remembered of how the Ori's priors liked to operate. Though he wished he could recall if this was faster or slower than it had originally been.

“Is that why we're meeting here instead of with the rest of your high council?”

“We are meeting here because it is early and I wished to get a proper measure of you as a man before publicly taking your side.” Bra'tac corrected with a small smile.

Eventus considered that for several seconds before glancing over to the silently observing Teal'c who raised a single expectant eyebrow at him in response.

“I don't really mind, though I'm sorry to say my life story is long enough that even a somewhat abridged version would likely take several weeks to tell. And unfortunately I don't think either of us has the available free time for that sort of thing.”

“Unfortunately not.” Bra'tac agreed as a look of regret briefly flashed across his features. “It should be enough however if you can tell me why you wish these Ori driven away.”

“Because they're true monsters.” Eventus said simply. “Those who refuse to serve them will be killed. Those who agree to serve them will die a slow unknowing death as their life force is drained away to enhance the Ori's power. And eventually they will have enough of it to wipe out the rest of the Ascended. At which point they will kill off all life in the rest of the universe to end any possibility of others arising to challenge them.”

“So you would fight them to the end?” Bra'tac pressed with an odd intensity.

Eventus gave a severe nod. “Until the other Ascended act, or a way is discovered for those in the lower planes to destroy Ascended beings, our only real option to fight the Ori is to reject Origin and kill any follower of it that steps foot in our galaxy.”

Which was more than a little depressing given many of those followers would be brainwashed innocents. But his people didn't have the manpower any longer to handle reversing the damage for more than the occasional handful.

“You believe the Ascended can be killed?” Teal'c asked, sounding almost intrigued at the idea.

“I can't say that with a hundred percent certainty." Eventus lied. “But in the past we had some minor amounts of success in affecting Ascended beings via certain specific technologies that leads me to believe it's at least theoretically possible.”

The corner of his lips twitched. “And of course there's the fact that the Ori themselves certainly seem to believe it's possible given their whole plan revolves around gaining enough power to kill all the other Ascended beings.”

Bra'tac stared into Eventus's eyes for several seconds before leaning back in this chair. “You truly believe there is no option other than death with the Ori.”

“That surprises you?” Eventus asked.

“It is somewhat different from the stories that have been recovered about your people.” Bra’tac confessed, shooting him a considering look. “And it is part of why so much doubt has been placed on your warnings.”

Taking a breath, Eventus let out a deep sigh, almost unsurprised that he was once more being screwed over by his people’s obsession with acting like they were above it all. 

“Those you’ve read stories about were likely walking a very specific path to Ascension. I on the other hand was in the middle of a war less than three subjective months ago against a foe where blowing up supply ships meant tens of thousands of innocent deaths.”

Which was why it had taken until the tail end of the war for his people to even consider targeting Wraith supply ships as an option. Something the Wraith had been more than happy to take advantage of by using supply ships as living shields.

“And while those who walked that path have my respect, they did basically abandon you all to the Goa’uld. Something I personally consider a particularly egregious act given many of the Goa’uld’s megalomaniacal extremes can be traced back to their abuse of our healing technology.”

“So you would claim responsibility for the atrocities of the Goa’uld?” Bra’tac inquired with a frown.

“Some of it.” Eventus nodded. “Putting aside Oma Desala’s obvious fault in the whole Anubis situation. Much of the Goa’uld’s rise as a technologically dominant species can be directly traced back to their recovery of our carelessly abandoned technology.”

“Indeed.” Teal’c agreed curtly.

“Realistically speaking we should have at least attempted to deal with the Goa’uld upon our return to this galaxy.” Eventus continued, glancing over to one of the flickering braziers before letting out a tired sigh. “But I’ve yet to find evidence of more than a few scant attempts to help isolated worlds overthrow singular Goa’uld.”

All of which seem to have been either Janus or Moros at work on their own personal projects.

“I see.” Bra’tac mused, studying Eventus’s face for a few moments before giving a firm nod. “You remind me much of O’Neill.”

“We might be distantly related.” Eventus admitted truthfully. “I had an older sister that returned to Earth in the evacuation and haven’t had the opportunity to run a proper genetic comparison yet.”

It was a small chance all things considered, but the universe could be overly fond of coincidences at times so he wasn’t going to rule it out entirely until he actually checked.

Bra’tac turned to Teal’c. “I have heard what I need, you can take him to the council chambers to wait for our gathering.” The corner of his lips twitched slightly. “Be warned though old friend, I have been warned that Ishta is coming in person for this meeting, and word is that she is quite annoyed at your lack of contact these past weeks.”

A slight grimace graced the younger Jaffa’s features before he bowed his head and rose to his feet. “I will be ready.”

Standing, Eventus inclined his head to Bra’tac before turning to Teal’c. “We probably have time for you to stop and get her flowers or something?”

 “A weapon may be more appropriate.” Bra’tac put forward in a slightly teasing tone as Teal’c silently turned and began walking out.

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Author’s Notes: Given the way Chris Judge liked to give himself romance scenes in episodes he directed, I couldn’t really resist. And well, unlikely the show I'm not limited by guest star avilability.