Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 62

Chapter 62 - Enemies

Massaging his forehead, Eventus desperately fought back the urge to break out into giggles at the body swapped and extraordinarily stressed looking Daniel Jackson currently being displayed on the projected display in his apartment living room.

“And you tried taking the Kor Mok bracelets off?”

“It was the first thing we tried.” Daniel confirmed with a nod. “Removing them didn't undo the switch, and what's worse, we're still passing out when we get more than a hundred feet from each other.”

“Did you try anything else?” Eventus asked just to be absolutely sure.

Daniel grimaced. "We were going to try a mind switching device we recovered a few years back, but Sam suggested that might be a bad idea given we had no idea how it might interact with what happened.”

“It very likely would have been a bad idea.” Eventus confirmed, his mind going over the various possibilities for how this might have come about. “The worst case scenario with using such a device under your current circumstances would be erasing one or both of your minds.”

Though that was only really a risk if they were somehow being projected into each other's bodies instead of actually having been transferred out right.

“Of course.” He continued, rubbing his chin in thought as another possibility hit. “It might not even have been cross function contamination from the bracelets at fault. You said the person whose body you're currently in died?”

“Yes.” Daniel confirmed, visibly tensing in a way that suggested at least a little trauma about the issue. “She was burned alive.”

Suggesting events had proceeded more or less how Eventus remembered.

“Then it's also possible degradation occurred in the imprint so when the first stone was pulled the system got your patterns mixed up forcing you back into the wrong bodies”

“And if that's the case?” Daniel inquired with an almost desperate hope in his current body's eyes.

“Then it would be significantly faster for me to fix.” Eventus said simply.

“So you can fix it!?” Daniel said, desperate relief all but oozing off his voice.

“Reversing body swaps is relatively simple in most cases.” Eventus confirmed with a nod as he thought back over the times he'd had to do so in the past. “Especially since it sounds like both of you are willing.”

“Oh thank god.” Daniel muttered in relief.

The man in a woman's body looked so happy Eventus almost felt bad about what he was about to say. “It will probably be a couple weeks before I can start on that though since even though I'll be there tomorrow my time is going to be taken up by keeping you all from dying horribly.”

“What!?” Jack O'Neill demanded as he leaned into camera view.

“Hey Jack.” Eventus greeted the man with a wave, not particularly surprised given the number of people he'd heard breathing across the connection. “How's it going?”

Daniel glared at the Jack with a look that was likely trying for reproachful but in his current body just came off as somewhere between pouty and disappointed. “Jack.”

“He said we're going to die horribly, Daniel.” O'Neill retorted tiredly. “You know that trumps you spending a few more nights dealing with little miss grabby hands.”

There had to be a story behind that nickname, and Eventus dearly wished he could ask to hear it, because it sounded like it would be absolutely hilarious from an outside perspective.

“Of course I know that.” Daniel retorted as he motioned to the camera with a hand. “I'm not actually Vala you know, and unlike her I know how to prioritize things other than my own well being.”

Rolling his eyes, O'Neill motioned to the camera himself. “Allright, go ahead then.”

“Thank you.” Daniel returned primly, nodding to O'Neill before focusing back on the camera. “So this horrible death, I assume it has something to do with the Ori?”

“I believe you're aware of the metagenic virus that wiped out all humanoid life in the galaxy?” Eventus put forward expectantly, since there was really no real question in his mind that at least two of the people watching did.

“Oh no.” Daniel muttered in sudden dread. “Please don't tell me that you mean the Ori were responsible for it?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Eventus confirmed with a wan smile. “And if they're coming to Avalon that will be one of a number of things they use against the people currently living there.”

Which would be a lot more worrying to him if his people hadn't spent several million years absolutely perfecting a vaccine to prevent a potential reuse of that particular weapon.

“I'd head over there today, but you're going to need vaccines, nullifiers, and certain experimental weapons. All of which are going to take me time to put together even with the Atlantis expedition helping out.”

For all the Ori's purported divinity, Eventus distinctly recalled that their armies had been lacking several distinctive technologies like cloaking, drones, and ringless translocation. All things which, if they were properly utilized, could have made their whole ‘we are gods’ act even more convincing. So their lack suggested several very interesting possibilities, the most likely of which in Eventus's mind was that like Anubis, they too could only use what knowledge they could have figured out as their original selves.

Daniel stared at him with an odd look in his eyes. “It sounds like you want us to fight them?”

“Everyone in your galaxy to be more precise.” Eventus said, pulling himself to his feet so he could pace off some of the nervous energy that was suddenly hitting him. “Or at least everyone who doesn’t fall under the sway of their poisonous promises.”

That was the real problem when you got down to it, the Goa’uld had primed a significant portion of those in the Avalon galaxy for the type of religious control the Ori specialized in. And he had limited options at best for putting a stop to that, most of which revolved around causing their Priors to end up varying degrees of dead.

“I’m going to step in here.” O’Neill finally said, literally stepping into frame as he did and wheeling Daniel’s chair off to the side. “Because it’s sounding suspiciously like you want us to fight a war for you.”

“You’re already fighting a war.” Eventus offered grimly, well aware the Ori wouldn’t, maybe even couldn’t, stop until either they or his people were gone from the universe. “I’m just going to help you win it.”

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Author’s Notes: Eventus has always known the Ori would be where the real fight is, because as bad as the Wraith are, there are solutions for them other than complete destruction. The Ori on the other hand are Zealots that need to die.