Broken Mirror

 

Disclaimers: I don’t own Stargate of Andromeda; the only character that is mine is Ate. I don’t own any of the song used in this fic except for the one in Ate’s language.

Guest Starring Kristin Kreuk as Ate Keller

~…~

The main crew of the Andromeda Ascendant had assembled on the bridge. The ships AI had informed them of a power surge in the Observation Deck, but after investigating they had found nothing. Captain Dylan Hunt had brought them all together to discuss precautions that could be taken in case there was an intruder.
Telemachus Rhade, the ships tactical officer, suggested searching the place from stem to stern, finding the intruder, if any, and launching him/her out the airlock. Trance Gemini, the botanist and acting medical officer, wanted to talk to him/her over the internal communications and convince them to show themselves. Dylan agreed with Trance. The pilot and first officer, Beka Valentine, wanted to go with Telemachus’ plan, and their engineer, Seamus Zelazney Harper (Suuuper Genius), well, no one really listened to him anyway.
Finally the Human Relations Avatar for the Andromeda, known as Rommie, interrupted. “I have yet to actually see an intruder on my internal sensors. However, the feed of several cameras are being interrupted for brief periods of time. I have extrapolated that if this person is able to do this, then they are on a direct path to command.”
Dylan cringed. “Thank you, Rommie. Crew, prepare for…”
He was interrupted by a soft, ethereal laugh that came from the open doorway of the bridge. All turned but they could only catch a brief flicker of color as whoever it was fled down the hallway.
Dylan’s order of “Follow him!” was unnecessary, as the entire assembly immediately chased after.
The Andromeda called out to them. “It appears to be returning to the Observation Deck!”
They began to split up, trying to head it off, but they never seemed to be able to get more than a glimpse of flame colored robes and the strange, elfish laugh.
Soon, they found themselves all led to the Obs. Deck. They stopped and stared. There was not a person in sight, but before them stood a shimmering portal. It held itself up in a circle, and it looked almost like rippling blue water.
“What is it?” Dylan asked the Andromeda.
“Unknown, although it appears to have the same properties as the previous energy surge.”
Rommie watched the strange energy with awe. “It must be the way the intruder got here.”
She had started to scan it, and now she had a very confused look on her face. “I can’t figure out where it leads too. It’s not like any portal I’ve ever encountered.”
“Could the Abyss have created it?” Asked Beka.
Rommie shook her head. “I don’t know. It does seem to be somewhat like an artificial wormhole.”
Dylan raised an eyebrow. “Somewhat?”
“The readings I’m getting say that it should be a wormhole, but some of its properties are completely different.”
Suddenly, tendrils of rippling ‘water’ began to form out of the energy. They seemed to reach toward Rhade.
“Captain?” Rhade shouted.
Dylan quickly pulled out his forcelance and shot at the tendril that reached toward his friend. He almost groaned aloud as it was absorbed. The tentacles of water-energy began to wrap around his waist and he was quickly pulled into the rippling power.
Rhade felt relief as he found himself flying out of the portal and landing on hard floor. The feeling was immediately gone as he realized that he was not lying on the metal ground of Obs., but some sort of smooth stone-like substance.
“What the hell!”
He looked up at this exclamation, and he saw that he was not alone. He was surrounded by some thirty humanoids. The one who had spoken was an older man; his gray hair was trimmed close to his head. Every single person there wore some sort of horrifyingly atrocious outfit, either gray or what Rhade remembered Harper calling camouflage. He next noticed that almost every single one of them where pointing a weapon at him.
“Stand aside.”
Rhade felt himself go pale as he heard what sounded like his own voice call from behind the semi-circle of men. He went positively white as a man pushed through them and came to stand in front of him. Whoever he was looked exactly like him, except that his hair was slightly longer, far more slicked back, and he was wearing another one of those despicable one-piece outfits.
The man stared at him for a moment then turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs. “Ate!”
Another figure made it’s way through the crowd, but this time the people made way. Rhade scowled. She was young, maybe in her late teens, and she wore a loose flame colored dress made out of layers of very light materiel.
The man glared at the girl. “Ate. What have you been doing?”
She blushed and looked down. “C’mon Camulus.” Even this simple statement was made unusual by her voice, which Telemachus couldn’t quite figure out in his dazed state.
Camulus’ eyes went wide. His voice seemed to rise in pitch as he screamed, “You did do it! You brought him here! Who is he, Ate?”
Ate frowned. “It’s not that big really. He’s nobody in particular.”
Camulus, who was a good seven inches taller than the small girl leaned down to look into her eyes. “Ate, this man looks exactly like me. You mentioned something about alternate realities once, is he from one?”
She rolled her eyes. “No Camulus, he isn’t your alternate universe counterpart. Can’t you see he’s far more handsome?”
He scowled at the petite girl. His voice became low, precise, and deadly. “How… did… he… get… here?”
Ate only pouted and leaned closer to him. “I’m… not… telling.” She then stuck her tongue out at him and walked off.

~…~

One month, or 31 days before The Incident

The former System Lord Camulus crossed his arms and scowled. It was just like the Tau'ri to drag him to one of the huge outdoor spaces of rock they used to land aircraft on without any explanation. All he got when he asked General Jack O'Neill when he came to get him was a, “You’ll find out. Keep moving.”
He was vaguely surprised to notice about forty other Tau’ri soldiers including the rest of SG-1 aside from Jack. Namely Dr. Daniel Jackson, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, and the Jaffa named Teal’c. Everyone was cortious. Daniel even tried to smile at him, but he only turned away coldly. Unless he was going to tell him why he was here, Camulus didn’t want to have anything to do with him.
Everyone looked up as what Camulus remembered as being a standard Tau’ri military jet. Jack stepped forward as it landed, and several people stepped out.
Camulus’ eyes widened slightly as Jack shook hands with the two men, but then bowed at the waist to the girl with them. The Goa’uld’s expression changed to a frown as they walked over to him. He could now get a good look at them.
The two men where handsome by Tau’ri standards, but nothing special, and Camulus’ gaze passed over them quickly. What caught his attention was the apparently adolescent girl who hung back behind them. She was by no means tall, but her slim figure, accentuated by a loose, flame colored gown, and proud bearing gave the illusion of height.
Another thing that seemed to be emphasized in her was her youth, with a delicate face, large, almond-shaped eyes and full lips. Her coloring was equally as aesthetically pleasing. Long, dark-brown hair fell straight down to her waist, her eyes where an unusual green-hazel, and her skin a soft, natural tan.
Those bewitching eyes fastened on his for a minute, and for that time it seemed to Camulus that she might smile, but then her eyes went cold as ice, and she simply said, “He is Camulus?”
Another surprise was her voice. It wasn’t really one voice, more like two speaking at the same time. If he listened carefully, Camulus could almost make the separate sounds. One was cold and hard, like her gaze, the other warm, and sly, almost flirty. They blended together to make an interesting, and actually pleasant sound. Despite everything, he was still startled by the wholly non-Tau’ri like voice.
“Goa’uld?” He thought. “No. She’s definitely not that. Then what? Could she be…?”
His thoughts where interrupted when Jack replied to the girl. “Yes, he is Camulus.”
Camulus inclined his head to her. “And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
She smirked slightly at his gallantry. “Ate Keller.”
“Ate?” He thought. “The Greek goddess of Irrationality?”
“She is a member of a species that has recently contacted us.” Said Jack. “Miss Keller is here to study the Stargate.”
Camulus raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
Ate smiled slightly. “Why not?”
“Do you not have one of your own you can ‘study’?”
The girl didn’t seem to mind his impertinence. “We don’t have one.”
Daniel jumped forward like a spring. “You don’t have one? Do you mean you haven’t found one? Was it destroyed?”
Ate turned to him and looked him up and down. “Neither, Dr. Jackson. None was ever built on my home planet or any other controlled by my people.”
This greatly confused the linguistic archeologist. “How is that possible?”
She gave him a slightly cocky smile. “Easy. Our planet was formed years after the Stargates where originally built. And no, I’m not going to elaborate. Now…” She looked back at the two men with her. “I think I’ll be able to handle things from now. Go… play a parlor game, or whatever it is you do when I’m not looking.”
She waved her hand toward the jet, and the men returned to it as quickly as they could without running. Camulus watched this with interest, the chance of her being what he thought where getting better with every passing second.
Ate looked back at them. “Now, if you have any questions… keep them to yourselves until I can get a nap. If every species used such means of transportation as you, every species would be in a continuous state of bedridden-with-a-migraine.” She furrowed her brow as if pondering. “Although I must say that I am rather fond of the Aston Martin Vanquish, and Ferrari’s, and Dodge Vipers… but those are cars, so they don’t count.”
Jack looked like he was going to get a headache as she began her ramble. She noticed this and grinned at him. “Sorry. I tend to talk too much. I think the only reason my family agreed to this is so that they could all get a moments peace.”
As they began to file in, Daniel picked up several suitcases that had been brought off with Ate. She thanked him, and began to jabber him about the properties of naquadah. Camulus rolled his eyes and followed, having been given no other instructions. At this rate, the little professor was going to be in love with the girl by the end of the day.

~…~

“Hello?” Camulus looked about the room as he entered. He had to admit, he was curious as to the reason that Ate had asked to see him. He had only gotten a message that she wanted to talk to him in private, and that he was to come to her room as soon as possible.
“Hiyah!” He heard her light, double-voice calling from another door in the suite of rooms she had been given. She came out, running a brush through her hair.
“Glad you could come so quickly. How’ve you been doing?”
Camulus cocked his head at this easygoing manner, but remained polite and unaffected. “I am well. And you?”
She tossed the brush onto a table and sat down in a chair, motioning for him to sit as well. “I’m okay. About as well as can be expected for a Sheighon who just realized that she was going to spend at least a year stuck with a bunch of Humans.”
His eyes widened, and she smirked. “Oh, yes. I’m a Sheighon. House Phoenix to be precise. I know what you’re going to ask, ‘Why tell you?’ The answer is simply; because you’re the only person here I can tell. And my family wanted to make sure that if anything happened to me, which probably won’t, that there would be someone here who would be able to help.”
He leaned back in the easy chair he had taken. “Uh huh, but still, why me? Why not one of the Tar?” With her he noticed he had begun to lapse into using the slang term for the Tau’ri.
Ate leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, her arms extended. “Because, the only thing these… people,” She almost laughed, “Are ready to know is that I am not human, that I am powerful, and that I want to know about the Stargate. Everything else will be revealed as I evaluate their… worth.”
“But you are human, it is just that you are a human with an energy based symbiot that makes you telepathic, raises your physical abilities, senses, and makes you quite intelligent.” Camulus noted.
“So are you.” Ate retorted softly. She stood up and came closer to him. “It’s just that you’re a human with a reptilian symbiot attached to your spine, making you arrogant, narcissistic, and quite stupid really.”
Ate watched him frown at this, gauging his response. “No, I don’t like Goa’ulds.”
He stood up so that she had to look up to look him in the eyes. “Why not? Admittedly, our people are not exactly allies, but we certainly are not enemies.”
She leaned up to whisper in his ear. “One word, mikta.” She stepped back and began to straighten things about the room.
Camulus mulled this over in confusion. He spoke tentatively, “I do not understand.”
Ate gave a low bark of laughter, looking at him from the corner of her eye as she adjusted several pillows. “Mikta. As in, Goa’ulds are. Even my people, who are arrogant I admit, aren’t as big of pains-in-the-donkey as you guys… its.” She corrected herself.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “So you do not like us because we are, as you say, even more arrogant than your people?”
She waved a small vase she had been rearranging in the air. “That’s what I said.”
He smirked. “That certainly makes sense.”
Ate flinched. “Well, I happen to think that everyone is entitled to their opinion, such as yourself. Right now I’m sensing that you are annoyed, interested, and of course, in love with yourself.”
Camulus grabbed her shoulder, turned her around to look at him, and waggled a finger in her face. “That, Ate, is very, very naughty, not to mention a complete breach of morals as I have not given you permission to read my emotions.”
She looked at him for a minute, and then pouted. “Who says I have good morals? Besides, it’s not my fault if you broadcast your feelings all over. So there.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
He looked at her for a minute in astonishment. “Just how old are you?” Camulus asked her suddenly.
Her eyes went wide. Her mouth went tight, and she pointed a trembling finger toward the door. “Out! Out, out, out! Until you learn some manners, out!” And she promptly chased him, bewildered, bemused, and slightly triumphant, out of her room.

~…~

Present time

Camulus marched through the hallways. He had been woken with an alarm showing that the Stargate had been turned on without authorization, and he had the sneaking suspicion he knew who had done it.
He walked right into the room with the Gate. He saw Sam standing in front of the panel, looking confused.
“I don’t know!” She shouted above the panic.
“You do not know what?”
Everyone was too excited to remember to ignore him, and Sam answered him immediately. “It was definitely started here, but it isn’t leading to any known Stargate, and it doesn’t look like the DHD has been set.”
Teal’c remained solemn. “It would be highly unlikely that anyone who was able to access the Stargate would be able to set it manually in the time that it was left alone.”
“That is because it was not someone who would originally have access to it.” He muttered to himself.
Suddenly, there was a shout, and all of the assembled soldiers formed a semi-circle, awaiting whatever was coming through. Camulus could no longer see, but he could hear the distinct sound of someone entering through the Gate, and a loud sound as whoever it was landed on the hard floor.
“What the hell!” Jack shouted.
Camulus sighed. “Stand aside.” He said, and pushed his way through them to the man who was lying on the floor. He looked almost exactly like him.
His hair was much shorter, and stuck out slightly. His clothing was far better than the outfit that Camulus was forced to wear by the SG personnel, and he felt himself getting slightly envious. His eyes where drawn to the new man’s forearms, from which protruded three spikes made out of bone on each.
Camulus felt his jaw clench. He turned around and bellowed at the top of his lungs, “Ate!”
The soldiers slowly moved to the side as the young woman made her way through. She had returned to her original loose gown.
Camulus only glared at her. “Ate. What have you been doing?”
She blushed and looked down. “C’mon Camulus.”
Camulus’ eyes went wide. He heard his voice rise in pitch as he screamed, “You did do it! You brought him here! Who is he, Ate?”
Ate frowned. “It’s not that big really. He’s nobody in particular.”
Camulus was angrier then he had been for a long time. Why in Baal had she suddenly decided to pull over some poor soul from… wherever? “Ate, this man looks exactly like me. You mentioned something about alternate realities once, is he from one?”
She rolled her eyes. “No Camulus, he isn’t your alternate universe counterpart. Can’t you see he’s far more handsome?”
He scowled at the petite girl. Now she was insulting him! She wasn’t really trying to get on his good side was she? He lowered his voice, trying to impress upon her how serious he was. “How… did… he… get… here?”
Ate looked flustered for a second, but only pouted and leaned closer to him. “I’m… not… telling.” She then stuck her tongue out at him and walked off.
Camulus gave a low growl at her retreating back. He turned to the man, and found himself giving him an arm to help him up. He eyed it warily for a moment, but finally accepted it.
“What is your name?” Camulus asked.
“Telemachus Rhade.” He answered promptly, and with almost as much smugness as Camulus himself would have.
He found himself rather surprised, and tried to banish the memories that where being stirred up.
“Very well. I have to apologize for Ate’s behavior, she acted without the knowledge of any of the others here.”
Jack looked at Daniel. “Since Ate just ran off, we are going to have to find her, and get her to tell us how to send this… gentlemen back to where he came from.”
Telemachus quickly explained all that he remembered from just before he had been pulled through the portal.
Sam’s suddenly looked confused. “Wait a minute. How could she have gone through the Stargate? Remember what happened the last time she did that?”
Camulus and Jack looked at each other uneasily. “Yes.” They said at once.
“You are right.” Said Camulus. “She was quite healthy a few minutes ago.”
Telemachus looked at them. “Are you saying it wasn’t her?”
Camulus glanced at him. “By no means. It is still quite possible that Ate found some way to counteract the side-affects that she experienced last time.”
Jack looked at him suspiciously. “You seem to know quite a bit about what’s happened.”
“She was talking about alternate realities several days ago.”
“Apparently she’s been thinking of this for awhile.” Telemachus noted.
Camulus looked at his ‘double’ for a moment, wondering if he was actually being serious, or if the people in his reality where just very fond of stating the blatantly obvious.
“Well, we’re going to have to look for her sometime. How are we going to find her?” Sam asked. “We couldn’t really search the compound from top to bottom.”
“Maybe I can help.” Said Telemachus. Everyone looked at him.
“How?” Asked Jack.
Telemachus took a deep breath and pointed. “That way.”
Jack shook his head. “How do you know that?”
“She is very, very afraid at the moment. Creatures that are afraid give off a certain scent.”
Camulus smiled slightly. So this one was not completely useless after all. Though he had to admit he had never considered the idea of him being a Bloodhound.
They set off in the direction that Telemachus had directed. It was easy for him to follow her trail because of her recent movement, and her very distinct scent. Camulus guessed that it was probably because of her DNA; it being unlike anyone else’s in the compound.
At one point, however, they reached a four-way corridor, and it was difficult for him to tell which way she had gone. They decided that since they where so close, it would be best to do a search of the rooms within a certain area. Sam and Jack went in one direction, Teal’c and Daniel another, and Camulus found himself with Telemachus.
“So, do you have what the Tau’ri call a nickname, or does everyone call you Telemachus all of the time.”
“Does everyone call you Camulus?” He replied with a raised eyebrow.
“No, usually they refer to me as ‘You’, or ‘That Goa’uld’, or some derivative thereof.”
Telemachus smiled. “Point taken. My friends usually call me Rhade so as to simplify things. However, I come from a large family and there are very few of my younger siblings that could pronounce my full name, so they called me Tel. You may if you wish.”
Camulus laughed. “Tel? I am sorry I asked.”
The other glanced at him curiously. “You don’t hold back your opinion very much do you?”
“Do you?”
“No. Not often.”
“Good.” Camulus nodded as he glanced into a small closet, it was empty. “I would hate to think that any alternate versions of myself are complete wastes of life.”
“Complete wastes of life? What do you mean by that?” Telemachus asked, peering down a corridor, but pulling back and shaking his head.
“I am assuming that you do not have the Goa’uld where you are from.” Telemachus shook his head, and Camulus smirked. “There you have it.”
They looked in silence for several minutes, till Camulus broke it. “Tell me, what is the story behind those… well… on your arms.”
Telemachus glanced at him. “I’m assuming you’ve never heard of Nietzscheans here?”
“No. Tell me about them.”
“We where originally human, but we where altered through genetic manipulation to become superior to them.”
Camulus chewed on this for a moment, then nodded. “Very well, you are far from being a complete waste of life.”
The ‘Nietzschean’ looked at him, his mouth hanging open slightly. “I shall try to live up to your expectations.” He replied with a hint of sarcasm.
They looked around another room before Telemachus spoke again. “This Ate, she is not human?”
“No, her species is referred to as Sheighon.”
Telemachus flinched. Camulus studied him. “You have heard of them?”
“In passing.”
Camulus smirked again. “Well, it looks like your entire universe might not be a complete failure.”
Telemachus turned to him with interest. “How so?”
“The Sheighon are the only other species that in any way measures up to the Goa’uld.” He paused a moment. “But… perhaps Nietzscheans are not so bad either.”
He nodded his understanding. As he opened a door, he suddenly held up a hand for Camulus to stop. He motioned that she was inside. Camulus motioned back that he should go in and talk to her. Telemachus nodded, and stepped back.
As Camulus’ eyes quickly adjusted to the dark, he could see that he was in a smaller storage room, and he could hear a soft sound from behind some of the crates.
“Ate?” He said softly. The noise abruptly stopped. Camulus carefully made his way, and peered over one of the stacks.
Wide hazel eyes peered back at him. It was obvious that she had been crying, and Camulus felt his heart soften ever so slightly to her. He held out his hand, but Ate only recoiled from him. He tried a different tactic; he softly sat down beside her on the cement floor.
Ate wiped her eyes with her palms and smiled semi-bravely at him. “Hi.”
“Hello.” A pause. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”
She looked down at her intertwined fingers. “It’s kinda hard to explain.”
“You do realize, Ate, that after living as long as I have, one is not exactly an idiot.”
Ate raised her hands defensively at his sharp tone. “Okay! Okay. Sorry.” She took a deep breath. “I found out what my power is.”
Camulus raised an eyebrow. “Your what?”
She waved her hands wildly, nearly smacking him in the face. “You know! Almost every Sheighon, and every singe Phoenix has some particular Psionic ability that they are particularly good at. I’ve found out what mine is.”
“Causing large amounts of havoc? What a useful power. You should seriously consider speaking with Baal.”
Ate swatted his shoulder. “Do you want me to talk to you or not? No, actually, I have the ability to create wormholes across space, time, and universes.”
Camulus’ eyebrows shot up. “All of them?”
“All or one or two at a time, however I wish it. Bad thing is that I can’t create the wormhole itself, I have to manipulate an existing one.”
Camulus was beginning to put things together. “Hence the Stargate. But Telemachus said that the portal he was pulled into was hanging, as if suspended, in midair.”
Ate grinned. “Y’See, that’s the cool part. I can make them lead anywhere I want! So it doesn’t matter where I am, as long as I have a Stargate of an already existing wormhole, I can go anywhere, anytime.”
She looked at him, eager to share her excitement, but her smile immediately faded as she saw his frown. “What!” She protested, trying to sound unhurt by his lack of enthusiasm.
“You brought Telemachus here against his wishes.”
Ate blushed the deepest crimson he had seen from her yet. “Well, that’s where things get extremely embarrassing. I didn’t mean to bring him over, it just kinda happened.”
“You wrapped a tendril of energy from the wormhole around him and pulled him through! Things like that don’t just happen, Ate!” He snapped.
She winced. “Gee you didn’t even let me finish.” She muttered.
“Then finish.” His reply cold and short.
Ate bit her lip. “I just wanted to see if I could do it, so I used my telekinetic abilities to start a wormhole in the Stargate. As I dialed it, I used my other powers to place the exit-backslash-other entrance on Telemachus’ ship etc. Then I wanted to see if I could go through, I did. Then I wanted to look around a bit, so I did. Then I suddenly had all these guys running after me, and that was kinda fun. I have this thing about running. Ever played tag?” One scowl from Camulus and she was quickly back on track.
“I got back to where my wormhole was, and it was just gone! Collapsed while I was away! Thank goodness it wasn’t the type to cause an explosion or anything. But anyway, I, the cleverness of me, was able to bring it back using the energy left over from when it collapsed. I got through, but then I noticed that everyone had run in, I was just looking at them, when it seemed like everything lost control. I just thought how cool it would be if Telemachus came through with me, then I would get to talk with him. And suddenly, the wormhole is listening to me! It grabs him and starts to pull him through! I guess I got really scared, and ran off then.”
“How…” Camulus searched for a word, “Unusual.”
Ate scrambled up and scowled down at him. “Look, I’m smart, I never said I was particularly wise.”
Camulus stood next to her, so he could frown down at her again. “You could have told someone, I’m sure that the Tau’ri would be more than happy to help you with your little ‘self discovery’.”
The girl’s hazel eyes flashed. “You’re telling me that I should have asked help from a Tau’ri? A Tau’ri, Camulus! They know less about psionic powers than you do, and that’s quite the accomplishment!”
“At least they might have been able to stop you from pulling innocent bystanders into alternate time lines!”
“Uh, excuse me?” They both looked up to see Telemachus standing in the doorway. “Perhaps we should report to the others that she has been found.”
Camulus and Ate looked back at each other, she wordlessly nodded. Camulus raised a finger and wagged it in front of her nose. “We will continue this later.”
He took a firm grip on her arm and led her to the hallway. As she passed by Telemachus, Ate paused, blushed, and mumbled something that sounded remarkably like “Sorry.” but it was difficult to make out. Telemachus only nodded and followed them back down the hallway.
They quickly came upon Jack and Sam, who in turn called Daniel and Teal’c and told them that Ate had been found. Once they where all together again, Camulus turned to Ate, whom he still had in a death-grip.
“Now, Ate, you will explain to these people what exactly happened.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. Camulus restrained himself from comparing her to a fish, knowing it wouldn’t help.
“Preferable sometime this millennium.” He said idly.
Ate immediately scowled at him for what seemed the hundredth time that day, and snatched her arm out of his hand. She quickly told them about her experiment-gone-wrong, and they where surprisingly gentle about their reprimands.
Sam smiled reassuringly. “Just as long as we can send him back, there shouldn’t be any lasting damage.”
Ate cowered. “That’s the biggest problem. Creating a wormhole like that out of my own psionic energy is very difficult and draining. By now if I tried to do it a second time, my brain would cease to function and I would immediately die.”
Camulus crossed his arms. “How long until you’ve regained your strength?”
She bit her lip. “I’m not sure, psionic energy is different from physical energy, though you could tap into the latter to strengthen the former. I would say that if I exercised a lot, and took in a lot of nutritious meals etcetera, no more than a month.”
“A month!” Telemachus shouted.
Ate shrugged. “I’m really sorry! I could just set the ‘hole to send you back to a couple after you where pulled through.”
“No offense, but I have little desire to be away from my ship and friends for an entire month.” He huffed.
“Eh… I guess ‘sorry’ has kinda been worn out?” Ate mumbled sadly. Telemachus raised an eyebrow, his mouth taking on a sort of ‘pouty’ shape, and he shook his head ‘yes’.
Ate whimpered softly and buried her face in her hands. “I promise I’ll be good and eat all of my vegetables and not use my telepathy to make Jack burst out laughing in the middle of speeches anymore and exercise regularly and get lots of rest and all those other things, just please forgive me, even a little.”
Telemachus sighed. This girl was suffering enough, lightly patted her head. “It’s… all right.”
Her face immediately sprung up, and a grin covered her face. She squealed and turned to Camulus. “If Telemachus forgives me, does that mean you will to?”
He nodded. “Just be a very, very good girl for the next year, and you might even be able to make up for this.”
Ate nearly stuck her tongue out at him, but checked herself. She looked over at the human soldiers, who all smiled their forgiveness.
Jack suddenly got a curious look on his face. “You where the one making me laugh all the time?”

~…~

30 days before The Incident

Ate peeked her head in the door. The one called ‘General Jack O’Neill’ had asked her to come here at a certain time. She looked around. There was a long, long table, and on each side where some of the SG crew. She recognized some of them as people who had come to meet her. One of them, the nice man with glasses, looked up and saw her.
He smiled and said, “Hello, please come in.”
Ate sheepishly went to sit where she was motioned to, across from the General, who also smiled. It was as if everyone was trying to reassure her, like she was some frightened child. All sheepishness was gone.
“So,” She began, “What do you want to know? My headache is quite gone now.”
General-guy leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “Well, why don’t we just get to know one another first? Tell us about yourself.”
Ate leaned back, rolling her eyes to the ceiling in thought. “Uh, let’s see. We, my species, are separated into what we call Houses, but are really something like races. I’m House Phoenix.”
The blonde woman raised her eyebrows. “Sounds important.”
“It is… uh, Colonel Carter is it?”
The woman smiled and raised a hand. “Just call me Sam.”
Ate nodded. “Kay, so, basically my house is descended from a woman called Phoenix. She had about five hundred children, and they are who we’re from.”
Several people started to snicker. “Hey!” Ate retorted indignantly. “We live a very, very long time! Anyway, there’s not much to tell about me specifically.”
The guy with glasses, Daniel, asked her, “Might I ask how old you are?”
“Heh, you’re the second bloke to ask me about that today. Young, even by your standards.”
Sam grinned. “What? You aren’t even going to give us a hint.”
Ate pouted and thought. “Ah, no.” She smiled and batted her eyelashes back at Sam. Then broke into laughter. Ate was now completely at ease, and she began skipping about the room, looking at things, out windows, etc.
“The family of Keller is quite well known among us, although it’s not the most important. I’m the youngest in the entire family,” She stopped to think for a minute. “And probably the most hyper at that.” She then flitted off to look at something else.
Daniel laughed. “I can see that. Is there any way we can get you to sit still?”
She laughed and flicked his nose as she came by him. “Probably not. The only way my family could think of was to strap me down or send me over here.”
Ate really did tend to be childish, but SG-1 could all tell that she was quite a bit smarter than she was letting on. The hyperactivity was mostly because she has so much energy built up, and the only way she kept from exploding was to run about any room she got into. Her exuberance was actually more refreshing than annoying for a team that had lost all innocence a long time ago.
“BTW.” She said, observing the ceiling. “Where’s the Cammy-man?”
“Camulus?” Sam asked, and Ate managed to nod, though it was very difficult at the position her head was in. “Why should he be here?”
“Because, mademoiselle, the Goa’uld know a heck of a lot more about us than you do, and he might actually be useful, though it’s difficult to imagine any reptilian dsvshg could.”
The General, uh… uh… Jack nodded. “I’ll remember that. So, what sort of training have you had?”
Ate finally looked down at him. “Well, in general, pardon the pun, just about everything that humans get, except with a few alterations. Specifically, I’ve had fighting, dancing, uber large amounts of history of various species, including humans. I also got quite a bit of training in archeology, and the study of ancient devices.”
Daniel nodded. “Which explains why you’re here.”
She was now biting her lip and studying a painting. “M hm. Me familia decided that I had to learn about other cultures first hand.”
“Are you a linguist?” Daniel finally asked.
“Why?” Ate replied, looking at him with wide, innocent eyes.
“Because so far you’ve used words from English, French, Spanish, and that one word which I’m assuming is from your own.”
She shrugged. “I just like languages. So, I spent a lot of time learning them. I also know Goa’uld, and about twenty other Earth languages.”
“Impressive.” Jack commented.
“Da.” Ate replied, distracted by a vase in one corner.
Daniel stood up and joined her, watching her face curiously. “Do you know where this is from?”
“Egyptian isn’t it?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “How did you know?”
Ate turned away and looked at him. “I know a lot about Earth.” They had a short stare-down before Daniel returned to his chair.
Sam noticed the girl’s eyes drooping slightly. “Maybe you should get some rest.”
“But we haven’t gotten anything done… no thanks to me!” She protested.
The older woman got up and put an arm around her shoulders. “We can’t do anything if you fall asleep on us. I’ll take you back to your room.”
“Yes, mommy.” She mumbled sarcastically and sleepily.

~…~

Camulus looked about as he entered Ate’s room for the second time. She had asked him to come for a visit. As she said, “She was bored.” He rolled his eyes. She was far more like a child than he had ever imagined. It was shocking that she couldn’t find anything to do after only a week on Earth.
He noticed that she was not in the room, and the door to her bedroom was closed. He walked over to it and softly knocked.
“Just a minute!” Was the reply he got.
When she finally came out, Camulus was surprised to note that she was not wearing the original flame colored gown of her House, instead, her garments where very much like what a Tar teenager would wear. Her long arms and neck where accentuated with a shimmering purple shirt, the sleeves reaching just to her elbows, and the collar dipping to show her collarbones. Her legs where quite visible by the very, very short black skirt she wore that only reached just past her thighs. Camulus couldn’t keep his gaze from drifting over her. He also noticed that she didn’t wear any shoes or socks in her room.
Ate noticed his look, and the Goa’uld smirked as she blushed ever so slightly. “I really, really hate wearing those robes, shoes too.”
She sat herself down on her couch and stretched out her legs, wiggling her toes. “My people are supposed to be the epitome of freedom, and they still force me to hide my pretty feet in those horrendous slippers.”
Camulus observed her in amusement. Now that she was refreshed and out of what he had to agree was an awful gown to have covered… anyway, she was quite nice to be with.
“Anyway, I’ve figured out just about everything that the humans know about the Stargate, though I won’t admit it to ‘em just yet, and I don’t have anything to do!”
“Then why ask me over?” He asked.
“Because neither do you. Besides, at least you understand something about me. Sam seems to have the weird idea that I have to be babied, Daniel thinks I’m a child prodigy, and Jack, well he thinks I have to be kept away from sharp objects in case I can’t handle them.”
Camulus laughed. “So, in other words, everyone thinks you are a child.”
She threw her arms out to the sides. “Exactly! You see what I mean? You’re the only one who gets me! Oh, and Teal’c! He’s scared to death of me!”
Camulus was in fits of laughter now. “Why?” He managed to get out.
“I don’t think he likes exception to rock-solid rules. Sheighon are supposed to be cool, calm, and old from birth. On the other hand, I flirt with Daniel, lead Jack about on a string, stick my tongue out at Sam behind her back, and tease him!”
“I wish I could see this!” Camulus exclaimed, still chocking with mirth. He sighed and looked at her seriously. “How is it you manage to make me laugh like this?”
Ate looked down, blushing again. “Ate is the Goddess of Irrationality, but my Sheighon’s name is Thalia, joyful, blooming. My mother says that no matter how many stupid, impulsive things I do, I always manage to make people laugh in the end. I guess that’s just my gift. I think I shall try to find a way to have the stiff-collars let you follow me a bit. Then you’ll get to see how I treat the others first hand.” She said the last part thoughtfully.
Her eyes sparkled at him. “I think I could make you very joyful.” She said slyly.
Camulus raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so now I get to see how you treat Daniel?”
Ate leaned back; her laughter was most unusual, almost ethereal, made so by her equally unusual voice. Camulus watched her, glad of the chance to look at an attractive female that wouldn’t be quite happy to take his head off.
“Would you stop that?” Her voice was half annoyed, half joking.
“What?” He asked, roused out of his reverie.
“Eyeing me.” Her voice took on a distinct hint of teasing. “It’s making me nervous for my virtue.”
“I’m surprised you have any.” Camulus shot back before thinking, and mentally kicking himself.
Ate’s eyes widened slightly, but then crinkled at the corners with mirth. “You really have to learn the little thing we non-deities call ‘manners’.”
Camulus shook his head, getting into the moment. “But war gods do not need manners.”
Ate rolled her eyes. “I’m rather sure that Ares didn’t win Aphrodite by being a drooling caveman. On the other hand, knowing her, he probably did. But that’s not the point, the point is, he most likely didn’t ask her anything about her age, and he certainly didn’t question her maidenhood in such an abrupt manner.”
He hung his head, pretending to be remorseful at this chastisement. “I am sorry, you are quite right.” He paused, thinking. “But wasn’t Aphrodite a god as well?”
Ate tossed a pillow at him. “Who says I’m not?”
Camulus smirked. Ate scowled at him. “Do you always have to do that?”
“Do what? I wasn’t staring.”
“Not staring, smirking at me. It gets really annoying.”
Camulus laughed slightly. “Really? Annoying? Would you like me to do it more often?”
She responded by tossing another pillow at his head and snapping with a blush, “Not that kind of annoying!”
She stuck her lower lip out and huffed. Refusing to look at him. They sat this way for several more minutes. Camulus glanced toward her, she had slumped on the couch, and for the first time since he had met her, she was sitting still, her eyes far away as she thought. He reached a hand toward her, gently brushing his thumb down her cheekbone.
“You do realize they have a camera in here don’t you?” She asked him sarcastically. He instinctively jerked his hand away from her, the scowled.
“You could simply say ‘Do not touch me.’” He snapped in annoyance.
She chuckled. “But it’s true, I found it almost as soon as I entered this room. Probably making sure I’m not plotting their demise. But just in case, you should probably keep your hands to yourself. We don’t want you to lose them now do we?”
Camulus winced. Her voice was unusually cold. He found himself wanting desperately for her to be the carefree girl of before. “I am… sorry if I offended you.”
She only shook her head, signaling that he hadn’t, but her eyes seemed sad. She turned to look at him, his eyes serious. She broke into a grin.
“Who so grim? It’s not like I said ‘I don’t ever want to see you again’.”
He muttered to himself, “You might as well have.”
Ate jumped up and turned to glare at him. “What was that?”
Camulus looked at her with surprise. The serious, melancholy young woman was gone. Her eyes flashed with almost visible fire.
“You seem to have forgotten my sense of hearing, or else you wouldn’t have insulted me in such an inauspicious manner.”
Camulus looked at her, on eye squinted. “Did you really use that word, or is my hearing leaving me in my old age?”
She gave him the evil eye, and with one finger pointed toward the door, gave a glorious shout of “Out varmint!” which did her soul much good.
He only laughed as she pushed him out. Turning around and kissing her throat before she slammed the door in his face, nearly catching his nose in the process. Camulus only laughed again as he returned to his room, grinning with his achievement.

~…~

Present Time

Camulus smiled. In the last month, no matter how many times he annoyed her, which was the end of most, if not all of their visits, Ate had always called him back. She seemed to not be able to resist talking with him. He had to admit that he didn’t fully understand why. While she definitely found him attractive, as most women did, she didn’t seem to be particularly interested in him romantically. The only other reason would be what she had explained it as, he was the only person her who knew everything about her species.
The Tau’ri had decided that Telemachus was going to be staying there for up to a month they should, and had, arranged for him to have the VIP suite next to Ate’s. Camulus felt himself becoming quite jealous of both of them. Thanks to Ate’s infamous big-innocent-eyes that melted the hearts of many a more severe man than Jack O’Neill, he had been moved out of the cell-like room he had been in before, but his new room wasn’t nearly as luxurious as Ate and Telemachus’.
Now he found himself sitting across from the Nietzschean in Ate’s room as she flitted about, telling them for what she proclaimed to be the hundredth time that they weren’t alternate versions of each other.
They exchanged amused glances and Camulus blinked and missed her as she ran by his chair again. “But Ate, if Telemachus is not my alternate universe counterpart, then who is he? One can not deny the rather striking resemblance.” He finished sarcastically.
Ate stopped suddenly and bit her lip. “Does the name Gaheris ring any bells for either of you?”
Telemachus answered immediately. “Yes, that is the name of my ancestor, Gaheris Rhade. I am his genetic duplicate.”
But Camulus’ eyes glazed over, lost in the past. He had always sought to bury the memories from his host, believing that they could not possibly help, but cause unneeded problems if he ever met former friends and family members. But now he could not repress them, he had not heard that name for years, and now it seemed to open a floodgate. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block them out, when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Camulus?” The faraway voice brought him back to the present. He looked up at Ate.
“Gaheris was the name of my host, this body.” He finally said.
Ate sat down next to him on the couch, softly stroking his hair as he regained control of himself. He immediately felt embarrassed, and pushed her hand away.
“So you built a bridge across space, realities, and time?” He asked her.
She nodded. “The reason why Telemachus’ universe is so much more advanced is because of the Vedrans, the first species to develop slipstream. They brought it to the humans. Not only that, but some universes have even progressed technologically faster than others, as in the case of ours and… uh… T’s.”
Camulus almost smiled. She appeared to have given up trying to say ‘Telemachus’ every other word.
“Wait.” He mentally scolded himself. “It is not every other word… just every other sentence.” He rethought this and cringed. What was with the sudden exaggerating?
“Well.” Said Telemachus. Camulus looked up. Telemachus and Ate where staring at him, and he realized that he had been frowning in thought for the past couple of minutes.
He cleared his throat and sat up. Telemachus, now sure that he was still alive, continued, “That certainly clears things up.”
Camulus stood up. “I should be going now. Good night, Ate, Telemachus.” He nodded to each and left, he had a lot to think about.

Ate smiled at Camulus as he left. She understood that he would want to be alone right now. There had been quite a few times in her young life that she had needed time to think. The only problem was that where she came from, alone time was a rare commodity.
She heard T, as she had started to call him, chuckling. She looked over to him. He had a small smile. “What?” She asked.
“You like him.”
This statement confused Ate. Of course she liked him. He was the only person remotely close to a friend her first month here.
“Yeah, sure.” She said. “He can actually be pretty friendly if he has a mind to.”
Telemachus shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”
Ate puzzled over this for a minute, and then realized what he was talking about. “Oh! Liking him!”
Telemachus nodded and almost grinned. Ate laughed uneasily. “No, nothing like that. For one thing he’s probably about several centuries older than me.”
“He doesn’t look it.” He retorted.
“And…” Ate said, scowling. “He is basically a human body wrapped around a reptile. At least Sheighon have the decency to be attractive when in normal form!”
She knew before she said it that she was pulling at whatever she could get. Come to think of it, his being so different from her own symbiot, yet being so much like her, interested her, almost fascinated. Telemachus, of course, noticed her half-hearted protestations, but also her reluctance to talk about it further, and let it go with a final smirk in her direction.
“I suppose I will be getting some rest as well.” He said, standing up and nodding to her ‘good night’.
Ate watched him go. She had the distinct feeling that those two men where going to find some way to out-annoy even her.

~…~

20 days before The Incident

“You think I can’t take care of myself?” Ate snapped at Jack.
“I’m just trying to make sure that you’re alright.” He replied, trying to calm her.
“Oh really!” She threw up her arms. “Then leave me alone! I haven’t spent twelve years being taught to fight for nothing! If Camulus where bothering me, I would know what to do!”
Jack sighed. He had asked her if everything was all right with Camulus, and she had blown up in front of him in true teenager-who-thinks-your-just-being-overprotective form. He had been spending the last fifteen minutes trying to convince both of them he wasn’t.
“Of course, I was just making sure…”
Ate interrupted him. “Why exactly where you watching us anyway? You really have to rethink any choice you may have made to not be a spy, or a Peeping Tom!”
He flinched. She really had to put a sheath on that tongue of hers. “You knew there was a camera.”
“And why exactly was there a camera?”
“To make sure that people like Camulus kept their hands to themselves. At least we didn’t put one in your bedroom, or bathroom.”
“Oh yeah, and I do thank you for that but, what the hell makes you think I don’t actually like Camulus? It would make a lot more sense than me liking a human.”
Jack’s eyes widened. “But you pushed him away. You said…”
“I said, and I quote, ‘Just in case, you should probably keep your hands to yourself.’ and after that, ‘It’s not like I said I never want to see you again.’”
“But Daniel…”
She raised her hands to the side again. “Hello! I’m usually nice and friendly, which is not to be mistaken for falling over in love. I am friendly to Daniel because I like him. In fact, I am friendly to Camulus because, believe it or not, I tweilmng like him! He is fun!”
Jack and Ate stared at each other for several minutes, Ate suddenly looked very confused. “Wow, that’s probably the first time I’ve used that word without having the skin smacked off my face.”
“What does it mean?”
“It’s… not appropriate. But hey, if you don’t know what it means, it couldn’t possible bother anyone!” She grinned and marched off, head high.
Jack sighed and rolled his eyes. And he had thought he liked kids. The only reason she was still here is that she only very rarely caused this sort of problem, and this outburst was to be expected from someone of her years, whatever they where.

~…~

Present Time

The Tau’ri had started betting on how old Ate really was. Daniel said she was twenty to twenty-three. Sam and Jack thought she was eighteen or nineteen. Even Telemachus started to make mysterious comments. Only Camulus never spoke of it, but it was obvious to those who spent a lot of time with him that he did think about it. The truth was, he had no idea. Most of the time she seemed like a normal, hyperactive, Tau’ri teenager. But every once in awhile, she would do something or say something that made her seem even older than him. It was distracting to say the least.
‘The Three Musketeers’, Camulus, Telemachus, and Ate, had gotten off pretty well. Ate had even done some ceremonial butt kissing to get Jack to let her take them on ‘expeditions’ into the wild. These where quite enjoyable for all of them, none of them being very fond of being cooped up with a bunch of humans all the time.
One day, Sam decided to take Ate on a surprise picnic with the rest of the SG team, Camulus, and Telemachus. So the next day, she knocked on the young woman’s door, and was received enthusiastically.
“Hey! Sam! What a great surprise!”
Sam smiled and lightly hugged the smaller girl. Ate had started to use only her own voice, and the Tau’ri where quite lost as to how she did it. “Hi, Ate. I came by to see if you wanted to go on a little drive with me.”
Ate grinned. “Sure. It’ll be nice to drive with someone who isn’t used to piloting small spacecrafts. I made the mistake of teaching Tel, and making him designated driver. He’s worse than Evel Knievel.”
Sam laughed as Ate ran to get a light sweater before heading out. She had seen the size of Camulus’ eyes after one of their ‘drives’. It was really priceless to see the former Systems Lord so humbled.
They both piled into the Aston Martin Vanquish that Ate couldn’t resist buying. Sam couldn’t help but wonder where the hell she got all this money, but decided to refrain, fearing yet another “If you knew, you’d hate me forever” sobbing fest. Not that she minded being Ate’s shoulder-to-cry-on every once in awhile; she just liked to avoid tears from anyone as much as possible.
They got to the place that Sam had arranged to meet everyone at in record time. Ate looked about curiously.
“Why are we stopping here?”
“I want to show you something.” Sam said, grinning with anticipation. This was going to be so much fun.
She led Ate along a path to a large clearing. Here there was a small brook that twisted it’s way through and into the woods, wildflowers everywhere, and the entire SG-1 team, as well as ‘The Twins’.
Ate’s face lighted up. She almost fell down laughing with surprise and joy as everyone shouted “Surprise!” Even Teal’c smiled slightly.
Ate ran over to where everyone was seated on the grass. “What’s the occasion?”
Camulus smiled happily as she sat down next to him. “Well, I just happened to remember that today is the day of one of the Sheighon festivals. So Samantha thought that you might be a bit homesick, and it would be nice to have our own little celebration.”
She grinned. “In other words, you just wanted an excuse to shock me out of my wits.”
Telemachus raised his eyebrows, and said quite seriously, “It doesn’t happen nearly enough.”
Ate laughed again and reached over to slap him. She sat back and sighed. “But it is really nice of you guys to do this. Today is the festival of Eileithyia, Ienfho Protector of Children. I remember when I was little, my cousins and I would always be at the head of the parades, because we where some of the highest ranking children.”
She smiled at them shyly, and more then a little uncomfortably. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled.
Sam only smiled back at her and rested and hand on hers. “No, we want you to talk to us. We care. All of us do.”
Ate looked up, and blinked back several tears. Camulus shifted slightly, and glanced at Telemachus, who nodded back at him. He stood up.
“Ate, Telemachus and I have something we want to show you.”
She stood up and followed the two to another pathway off of the clearing. Before she went any further, Telemachus softly put his hands over her eyes. Ate only grinned; she loves surprises as much as the next kid.
“Trust me.” She heard Camulus say sarcastically. “This was completely Telemachus’ idea.”
Ate suddenly heard a great roaring in her ears, and her stomach clenched. Telemachus pulled his hands away from her eyes, and she looked down, and down, and down. She was standing at the top of a waterfall. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Memories hit her like a brick. The wind whipped her hair back from her neck, and she suddenly felt two strong hands grab her and pull her away.
Ate turned into the arms that held her. A gentle hand stroked her hair away from her throat to expose the scar that covered the right side and part of the back of her neck, the scar that the wind had only just now revealed. She took a deep, shaky breath. She was away from it now. She couldn’t fall now. Her green-hazel eyes drifted up into the brown-hazel ones that where fixed on her throat. Camulus didn’t look very happy.
“How did this happen?” He hissed.
“Th… th… the waterfall.” She stammered. He looked at her in shock. Ate managed to continue between sobs. “When I was a baby, my nursemaid tried to throw me off the top of a waterfall. When my guards managed to get there before she could, she dropped me onto the rocks instead. I fell on my back, and my neck was literally torn open. The scar has never faded, only gotten bigger as I did.”
Camulus’ eyes suddenly filled with sympathy. His arms tightened around her, holding her close. He whispered softly in her ear, his exact words lost in the sound of the water, but his voice still calmed her, and she found herself able to stand on her own again. She stepped away from him, and looked at her feet in shame.
“As it is, I’m now afraid of heights and water, and waterfalls are the worst. People think I don’t remember, but I do. I can barely look down stairs without getting dizzy, and I never learned to swim. I’ve always taken baths too, the falling water in showers nearly makes me throw up.”
Ate felt Telemachus lay a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Ate. I had no idea.”
“You couldn’t have. It’s not something I like people to know about. I’m supposed to be the strongest, but I get scared easier by half the situations I encounter in my life then most people do by corpses.”
Telemachus put his arm around her waist. “Come on. Let’s get you back to the others.”
Ate smiled at him gratefully. “Thanks. You’re both real sweeties when you want to be.”
Both looked at each other liked they where going to be sick, but Telemachus punctuated his gaze with a wink, and promptly turned back to the path. Camulus suddenly remembered something, and looked down at Ate.
“Ate? Is that why you reacted the way you did to going through the chaapa'ai?”
She looked down. “Yeah. It wasn’t so bad looking at it, but actually walking into it, and through it, twice. I couldn’t take it. I think I threw up about twenty times in the space of an hour after that.”
Camulus winced. “I remember.”
“But when I went through it to go to Tel’s ship, I didn’t feel like that. I knew that I had created it, and it couldn’t hurt me.”
Camulus smiled, remembering something. “So have you found out what you where meant to do?”
Ate laughed. “Not quite. But I’m pretty sure it has something to do with my ‘power’.”
Telemachus shook his head. “Could you possibly explain to me what you two are talking about?”
The Goa’uld turned to look at the trees they passed, and remembered those two events that seemed to be branded into his memory.

~…~

14 days before The Incident

Camulus watched as Samantha Carter showed Ate more of the Stargate. The girl had, amazingly enough, convinced them that she was more at ease with someone who was better known to her species, especially when looking at the Stargate. They had almost completely explained it’s mechanisms to her, and she would soon go through it for the first time. Camulus had spent the last day reassuring her that it was completely harmless, and wouldn’t cause any sort of discomfort.
He had been quite surprised that she had kept to her idea to “Show him how she treated everyone else.” after he had behaved in such a manner to get him kicked out of her room… again.
Camulus jerked with surprise as a small crate suddenly began to fall towards the two women. Ate looked up quickly enough to shout out a warning to Sam, and dive out of the way. The Tau’ri wasn’t as lucky. She didn’t move fast enough, and it landed on her ankle. Camulus ran towards them, mostly to make sure that Ate was unharmed. She was, and she instead moved to lift the crate off of Sam’s foot. The Sheighon lifted it with relative ease, not really needing Camulus to help her.
She knelt down to examine it. “Thank the Ienfho it’s not broken, the crate wasn’t very heavy.”
Sam smiled painfully. “Thank you, Doctor Ate. Will I be able to walk?”
“Heck no!” She exclaimed. “I said it’s not broken, but it is twisted. You should get to the doctor as soon as possible.”
Camulus got an idea. He gently knelt down and placing one arm around the woman’s knees, and another around her shoulders, began to carry her toward the infirmary. Ate followed behind.
Sam smiled at the Goa’uld, and unusual thing for her. “Wow, Camulus. You’re quite a bit stronger than I had thought.”
“I am a Goa’uld.” He reminded her coolly.
He dropped her off at the doctor, who said that with rest, she would be on her feet again in about a week, and the door closed behind him and Ate. She immediately began to fall backwards, and Camulus instinctively held his arms out to catch her.
Ate’s voice seemed to suddenly raise several octaves in pitch. “Oh, Camulus!” She cooed. “You’re ever so strong!”
He smirked and set her on her feet. “What? Jealous?”
“Bosh.” She snapped at him. They walked along for a while, not going in any particular direction.
“Hey, Cammy.” Ate said suddenly.
“Cammy?” He thought, but only looked at her.
“Have you ever heard of alternate universes?”
He watched her curiously. “Yes. Why do you ask?”
“You know, everyone does, has, or will have a counterpart in almost every single alternate universe. But not Sheighon, at best, they’ll have three counterparts in select universes.”
“And?” Prodded Camulus.
“I don’t.”
He stopped and turned to look her in the eyes. “What do you mean?”
She sighed. “I mean I’m the only Ate Keller in existence. I’m the only one in any universe.”
“So?”
“Aargh!” Ate suddenly shouted. “You aren’t getting it!” She began to stomp off, but he put a hand on her shoulder.
“Then what are you trying to tell me? I cannot read your mind, Ate. Unlike you, I am not telepathic.”
She rolled her eyes, and turned back to him. “Part of the whole point of having alternate counterparts is that if there is something important that you have to do, and you die, there will always be another one of you there to fill your place. Whatever I have to do, I have to do on my own. I don’t have anyone covering my back in case I mess up.”
Camulus frowned. “What are you supposed to do?”
Ate sighed again and looked away. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure that if I do screw up, it’ll be very bad for more than one person.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh.”
She looked at him for a moment, and then scowling, threw up her hands. “Oh tweil you! What do you know about destiny and alternate dimensions?” And she stormed off in a cloud of huffiness. Camulus just smirked and shook his head. That girl was going to give him a headache one of these days.

7 days before The Incident

Jack watched as Ate ran back and forth across the room. The Stargate was set for an uninhabited world, and soon she would experience going through it for the first time. He could still remember how excited he was the first time he had. Only he hadn’t been quite so hyper at the time.
She stopped and gasped in amazement while the watery energy appeared to form the wormhole of the Stargate. She gulped and glanced toward Camulus, who smiled slightly and pushed her back softly.
“I will be right here when you come back. Do not worry, chmng.”
“Hey!” She said, and softly punched his arm. “I’m not that young!”
Camulus only laughed and ruffled her hair. She swatted his hand away and walked over to the portal.
“Okay, I’m ready. Has Sam finished arranging her hair?” Ate joked as Sam looked up from brushing several strands of short hair into place with her fingers. The older woman laughed slightly, acknowledging the humor before moving to join Daniel, Jack, and Ate in front of the Gate.
Jack could hear Ate take a deep breath before they stepped through, and emerged into a jungle like area. He quickly looked over to her. Her face registered something like shock for a split second, and then crumpled. She gave a low moan, and went down to her knees. Daniel rushed to her side.
“Ate! Are you alright?”
“I think I’m going to throw up.” The girl groaned.
Daniel looked toward Jack. “We should get her back as soon as possible.”
He shook his head. “It might make her worse.”
“I couldn’t possibly feel worse than I already do! Now get me back ASAP!” Ate managed to snap out.
“Always so polite.” He muttered as he and Daniel carefully supported her arms and brought her through the portal that Sam had quickly prepared for them.
Camulus looked at them anxiously as they came through, and then almost freaked out as he saw them supporting her.
“What have you done to her?” He shouted.
“S’Okay, Cammy. It wasn’t them.” She murmured before collapsing onto him. He quickly swept her up into his arms.
“What happened?” He asked, scowling at them as if they where personally responsible for causing his obsessions illness.
“She got sick as soon as she came through. She said she was feeling really nauseous.”
Camulus rolled his eyes. “So you brought her back through?”
“She said it was all right!” Daniel protested. “She said she couldn’t feel any worse.”
“Guess I was wrong.” She moaned into his chest sheepishly.
“Hush.” He scolded her, and began to carry her toward medical.

~…~

Present Time

“You carried Colonel Carter?” Telemachus asked in disbelief.
Camulus smirked. “She’s not that heavy.”
Telemachus pouted. “I was simply expressing disbelief that she didn’t bite your hands off.”
“I think she told me she’d thought about it.” Ate joked. Camulus quickly put his hands where they couldn’t be harmed, knowing Ate’s love of ‘demonstrating’.
They got back to the group, keeping their experience to themselves, which Ate silently thanked them for throughout the rest of the day. There where still many joyful occurrences that day to offset the slight trauma Ate had gone through. There was the expression on Teal’c’s face when Telemachus ‘accidentally’ dropped a water balloon on him, the water fight that ensued, greatly fueled by the brook. They had so much fun, that Ate only remembered her experience when Sam was driving her back. She blushed painfully with embarrassment. Of all the people to see her lose it like that, why did it have to be those two? Maybe she could find some sand to bury her head in…
“What’re you thinking about?” Sam asked.
“Nothing.” Ate replied sighing heavily.
Sam glanced at her, slightly worried. “Did something happen back there? Anything you want to tell me about?”
Ate shook her head. “No, nothing happened. I was just a little surprised when they took me right to the top of a waterfall.”
“Ah.” Sam nodded. Ate was relieved that she seemed to accept this explanation.
She looked back out the window, resting her elbow on the windowsill and her chin on her hand. She began to absent-mindedly drum her fingers on her jaw and hum.
Sam smiled. “What’s that song?”
“Just a song. I think it’s human.”
“What’s it called?”
“I dunno. But it’s a good song.”
Sam began to tap her fingers on the steering wheel to the beat. “Yeah, it is. It sounds a bit like ‘Eye of the Tiger’.”
Ate snapped her fingers. “That’s it.” She began to sing softly.

It’s the eye of the tiger
It’s the thrill of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival.
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watching us all

Sam suddenly joined her on the last line.

With the eye of the tiger

“Wow.” Sam said finally. “You have a great voice.”
Ate smiled politely. “Thank you.”
Sam glanced at her again and laughed. “You don’t believe me?”
“A lot of people have a lot better singing voices than me.”
“Yeah, but there are a lot more people with a hell of a lot worse than you.”
Ate giggled. “You have a point there. I used to sing all of the time.”
“What songs?”
Ate bit her lip and looked up at the night sky. “Mm, songs from my home, songs that my mother would sing to me, songs from here, Earth.” She began to sing softly in a crooning voice, drawing each word out.

M umaa few
Awch amubno keshga
Fov thof uosh ae uwch ve uo

Sam smiled. “Don’t stop. That’s a pretty tune.”
Ate chuckled dryly. “It’s one of the simplest tunes I know. It’s about a woman whose lover left her, and she misses him.”
“It still sounds nice in your language. At least, I’m assuming that’s your language.” Sam objected.
Ate nodded. “Yes, my language. It sounds nicer because we aren’t quite so fond of ‘r’ as you are, and are a little obsessed with ‘S H’.”
Sam laughed. “It’s still nice, and nothing you say will change my mind.”
Ate smiled in that resigned-yet-still-not-believing-you way. She began to hum again, and continued until they reached the base.

~…~

Camulus had long ago given up knocking. Ate didn’t seem to mind people just letting themselves in, and he had gotten used to finding her doing all sorts of interesting things. There was the time he found her beating the crap out of her punching bag, he had quickly absconded after that. Now when he entered, he found her sitting in front of her table, staring at her reflection in its mirror.
He smiled and moved to rest his hands on the back of her chair, leaning down to rest his head lightly in her hair.
“Well Ate, I am surprised. I have never known you to be vain before.”
She sighed. “I was just thinking.”
He paused sniffing her hair and blinked a bit, but decided to refrain from any sarcastic comments. Instead he asked her, “Oh, about what?”
Ate sighed again. “Sometimes I worry that no Sheighon men will like me enough to marry me. Marriage has always been really important to me.”
Camulus smiled a bit. “Well I like you.”
The girl rolled her eyes at his face in the mirror. “Yes, Camulus, that is such a comfort, that when the entire male populations of Euokeshng is completely wiped out, you will still be there.”
Camulus jumped slightly. He opened and closed his mouth before finally answering, “I have the distinct feeling I have just been insulted.”
She laughed merrily, and he scowled at her. “I suppose you think you are very clever.”
The little hussy only laughed harder. Camulus scowled. Ate looked at him and doubled over with laughter.
“You want to know something that you and Telemachus both have? The singular ability to have the exact same facial expression more than once.”
“Lucky us.” Camulus said, his voice almost cracking with dryness.
Ate brought herself back under control, and turned in her chair to lay a hand on Camulus’ shoulder. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed at you like that. But you looked so funny!”
Camulus sniffed disdainfully and tried not to look hurt. Ate smiled at him with an expression of pure remorse. “I said I was sorry! So, did you want something?”
He considered not telling her for her previous insults, but decided that he liked his heart where it was, and preferably non-consumed. “You have a message from your home. O’Neill seemed to think it would be amusing if I delivered it to you.”
Ate nodded, fastening an ear-cuff on the side of her ear. “Who’s it from?”
“Someone named ‘Bellona’. Tell me, is there a reason she is named after the Roman Goddess of War?”
Ate choked on nothing. She managed to gasp out. “That’s because, she’s the Leader of the warriors of House Phoenix. What the heck could she want with me?”
“I imagine you are about to find out.” Camulus said, holding out a small, apparently plastic chip.
Ate looked at it as if she was worried it might bite her, but slowly took it. Camulus said goodbye quickly, but Ate stopped him.
“Don’t go.” She cried. “I couldn’t possibly listen to this by myself. I’d faint!”
Camulus decided to patronize the girl, and pulled a chair up next to hers. Ate took a hand-sized object that looked like one of the Tau’ri PDA’s, and slipped the chip into one side. An image of a handsome, obviously powerful woman appeared on the screen. She smiled, and began to speak.
“Hello, Ate. I hope, in fact I suspect that Camulus has been keeping you in check. I imagine that you are quite a bit calmer then when you first came. From what I hear, he doesn’t put up with hysterics as much as your family. But I digress. I am sending this message because we have all sensed your… transportation of Telemachus Rhade from his universe to yours. I’m sorry Ate, but I have to inform you that in this matter, you are on your own. We cannot help you in sending him back. You will have to figure it out for yourself. I wish I could help, but the Royal Baby Machine a.k.a. Queen Vespira has decreed that you have to ‘grow up’, her words. I hope this rather short message finds you in relatively good health considering that you are now having to put up with two of those guys. Oh, and Ate? Tell Camulus to get his hand off of your back.”
Ate and Camulus both jumped at this last part, and looked to where he had rested his hand on the small of her back. They looked at each other, and Ate frowned. “Now why do I have the strange feeling you two have met before?”
Camulus cleared his throat. “It was a long time ago.”
Ate looked at him suspiciously, her eyes squinty. “Uh huh. Right. I’m going to assume that she is only a good judge of character, and would have no idea about any habits of yours.”
He quickly snatched his hand away from her, and managed to look offended. “Are you suggesting something?”
“I’m suggesting that the Leader of one of the most powerful armies ever, and the Celtic God of War would get along just fine.”
“In fact, we did.” He replied, smirking at the memory. Ate promptly slapped him and kicked him out of her room, pausing only to toss the message-chip at his head before slamming the door. That was until she wrenched the door open and came storming out after him.
“Why did you have to go say that? Why do you always have to say something?” She snapped at him.
Camulus blinked several times. “I am afraid I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.”
Ate threw up her hands. “Never mind!”
She turned to go back to her room, turned back, turned to her room, turned back. Camulus finally rolled his eyes and asked, “Is there something you want to say?”
Ate put her hands on her hips and looked to the side, finally she snapped, “How could you be so calm about that message? Basically, she just told me that my people don’t want to have anything to do with me anymore. It’s as if they’re ashamed of me!”
Camulus stepped closer. “That hurt your feelings?”
“Yes! And believe it or not I do have them!” She rubbed the back of one hand across her eyes rapidly. Camulus felt himself move closer and put an arm around her. He could feel how shaky her breath was from the effort to not cry, and he softly brushed a knuckle down her cheekbone.
“Do not cry. Whatever happens, I will always be here to help you.”
She shook her head. “No you won’t. Everyone says that, and then they leave.”
His fingers suddenly gripped her chin sharply, tilting her face to look at his. “I will never leave you, not if you do not want me to. Do you? Do you wish for me to go?”
Ate shook her head as much as she could in his grip, and he released her chin, putting his other arm around her. Instead of hugging him or leaning her head on his shoulder, as he expected her to do, she stared up into his eyes, and then stood on her toes to brush her lips across his.
Camulus could feel her hesitation, so he didn’t press her, letting her lean in and kiss him harder, but still innocently. He was actually doing pretty well with the self-control, until he felt her tongue brush against his lips. He moaned softly and opened his mouth as her tongue began to systematically map every molecule of his mouth.
He suddenly felt her tense, and they both whipped their heads to the side to see Jack O’Neill staring at them with his jaw hanging open. Jack clamped his mouth shut so quickly his teeth clicked, and marched off in the opposite direction. Ate groaned and covered her face with her hands.
“And the clouds rolled back and God proceeded to say, ‘I hate you, Ate Keller.’”
Camulus laughed softly and patted her head. “It will be alright. I doubt he will do anything more than throw a tantrum.”
She mumbled something into her hands that he couldn’t quite make out. “What was that?” He asked.
Ate suddenly jerked her hands away and scowled up at him. “I said ‘I hope nothing like this ever happens again.’” She pushed him back. As she walked back to her room, he heard her mutter, “And it won’t.” before her door slammed behind her.

~…~ End of Part 1 ~…~

....to be continued

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