Chapter Seventeen

  Lilly wasn’t asleep for the night. She was up and crying, Annie tried to feed her but Colleen hadn’t left any bottles. She changed Lilly and that seemed to help. Still the baby kept crying and Colleen wasn’t anywhere to be found. They’d be gone almost half an hour and for something that should have taken all of five minutes. “What’s your mother doing?” She huffed aloud and rocked Lilly in her arms. “What’s your uncle doing?” Annie said down on the bed.

Offworld activation! Offworld activation! The computer voice alerted the base. The lights went off and the sirens with it, Lilly jumped and started to wail. “Shhh, it’s ok, Lilly it’s all right.” Annie soothed and wished the alarms would stop.

Offworld activation! Offworld activation!

Sam and Teal’c ran to the Control Room. “What’s going on?” She shouted to the Lieutent at the controls.

“I don’t know ma’am but I can’t stop it. Whoever it is, is dialing in with great precision.”

“How’s the iris’ integrity?”

“Look for yourself, ma’am.” The Lieutenant invited.

Sam looked down at the control panel the numbers there told her the iris was not holding up. Whoever was hacking in found a way to open the iris as well as the gate. “Security to the gate room!” She shouted through the phone and her voice resounded throughout the station. Covering the transmitter with her hand she shouted at the Lieutenant. “Close it!’

“I CAN’T!” he shouted back in exasperation while he punched buttons and did everything he could to avert the coming disaster.

“This is not a drill! This is Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, I need all security personnel to the Gate Room immediately!” Sam ordered into the phone. But it was all just a few seconds too late.

The seventh chevron locked into place as men and women armed to the hilt stormed into the Gate Room poised and ready at the bottom of the ramp to shoot at whatever came through. What came through once the iris opened were dozens upon dozens the ugliest most rag-tag group of well-armed bandits anyone had ever seen. They flooded through the open gate like rats with guns blazing and laid waste to the good men and women of the SGC defending the Stargate.

“Close the blast shields!” Sam yelled. “Shut the Gate Room doors!”

It was all for naught. They just kept coming and coming through the Stagate, they pushed their way through the security doors and then blasted through into the control room with their Xerinium powered weapons. The metal doors just about melted from the blasts which seared huge holes through human flesh. Taking Sam, Teal’c and the other control room personnel prisoner they moved out and swarmed all over the base.

On their knees with their hands behind their heads in the Control Room Sam and the others were introduced to the woman running this show. Aphrodite who’d found her way onto the base earlier in the day strolled in to say hello. “Since Ares saw fit to destroy the Stargate I was using, I figured, what the hell, I’ll just use yours. You don’t mind, do you, deary?” She asked Sam. “Is this the one?” She asked turned her head to look behind her. From her place on her knees on the ground, Samantha saw Eros step into her line of sight. “You must be,” she said as she stared at Sam’s face. So much like her own face it was as though she were gazing in a mirror. Aphrodite didn’t know if she should be flattered or insulted. Either way, it seemed Ares had yet to forget her And part of him, her most favorite part, still longed for her. “As with Enya he went out of his way to find a duplicate, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” he said in a slithering voice. “How nice to see you again Samantha, tell me, is Father still fucking you?”

“Shut up!” Sam shot back taken off guard looking at the woman staring back at her “At least he was honest about what he wanted, he didn’t disguise himself as someone else and rap…” Sam didn’t finish the word. Eros’ closed fist put a stop to her talking as it slammed her hard across the jaw.

“Where’s the girl?” Aphrodite, the Dual Goddess asked with a menacing lilt in her voice.

“What girl?” Teal’c spoke up from his place on the floor in front of them.

“The one my Grandson loves to take,” she replied as she knelt before him, “the one with the blonde hair and the perky tits. My Son fancies her, he’s going to break her in properly.”

Sam didn’t know why they would want Annie and Lilly but she wasn’t going to be the one to divulge their location. “I don’t know who…”

SMACK! This time her head didn’t just roll back on her shoulders, Samantha’s body did a half twist from the force of Eros’ blow before coming to rest a few feet away. “I’ll find them myself.”

Watching his friend lay bleeding on the floor, Teal’c rose up on his haunches to charge at Eros but he was no match for the Olympian. Wthout even looking back Eros hit Teal’c in the chest with a massive energy ball. “Kill the Jaffa. Do what you want with the bitch, Ares has been all over it, I don’t want it.” He walked out of the Control Room in search of his prey.

“The base is ours, keep bringing them in.” The Dual Goddess ordered to her guards. “We’ll have this planet in no time.” She said to Sam. “I hope they take you slow and long,” she spat and grabbed a hold of Sam’s lower jaw. “You don’t deserve to be in Ares’ bed, mortal whore what would a God ever want with you other than the most primal of acts?”

“I satisfied him. Jealous you rotten bitch?” Sam asked with venom and managed to hock a wad of salvia into the woman’s face.

“Whatever you want boys,” The Dual Goddess said darkly as she wiped the spit from her cheek and rose to her feet. “Like he said, she’s all yours. Ravage this wench and the whole of this installation. Take whatever you want wherever you find it just make sure they keep coming through that Gate.” Before taking off in search of Eros she looked back through the glass at the army which was pouring in through the Stargate in a great tidal wave of bodies and weapons. “Very good.” Callestah was off with Nicholas to the Norselands. Colleen was with her Father though why Daniel didn’t use the gifts he’d been given and transport himself was beyond her comprehension. Ares, Achilles, MacLeod and the one called O’Neill were bound for Olympus. Annie and Lillie and the base were no longer sufficiently guarded. This was as good a place to start as any.

In Colleen’s quarters Annie sat huddled on the bed with Lilly in her arms listened to the sounds of heavy boots as they thundered by outside and the loud sirens overhead. Lilly wailed in fear and Annie held her closer telling the baby not to be afraid. She wished Nick was here to hold her like that and tell her the same things but he wasn’t. Everything fell to shit about five minutes after they all left. The sirens and alarms wouldn’t stop and the cold prickle of danger ignited the pumped in air.

BANG BANG BANG on the door. “Open the door, Annie, it’s me, Nicholas.”

“Oh! Nicky!” She cried and dashed to the door still holding the baby. She threw open the lock at the sound of his voice anticipating seeing his handsome face when she looked…..

“Hello, Annie.” Eros said and pushed his way into the room. “I’ve been wanting to…get to know you…for such a long time now.” With a swift hand he belted Lilly out of her aunt’s arms and to the hard concrete floor.

“Lilly!” Annie screamed and tried to scramble for the screaming baby. Lilly had been wrapped up in an aqua blanket that Calla knitted now that pretty light color was stained with blood. “Lilly!”

Eros grabbed her about the waist, heaved her from the floor and threw her onto the bed while the baby’s cries quieted and the pool of blood widened. “Be a good girl, Annie and this won’t hurt long.”

Annie knew who the man with the gold skin and bronze wings was, she knew about Greek mythology and she even knew that Eros was her mother in-law’s brother and that he was supposed to be good and kind. He looked everything and anything but good and kind as he loomed over her. “The baby,” she stuttered, “please, let me get Lilly, she’s hurt.”

“She’s dying.” Eros corrected and ripped the sweater from Annie’s torso exposing her pretty young breasts with their pert pink nipples. “There’s no place for her in the New World.” Throwing one long golden thigh over her and looking down at Nicholas’ young wife with lustful golden eyes he sucked in a breath while he reached out to caress her quivering body. “No place for you either I’m afraid. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun first, does it?”

“Nicky will kill you.” Annie threatened. “Do whatever you want to me but he’ll come after you and he’ll kill you!”

“I’m so hoping you’re right.” Eros cooed. “I’m sure Nicholas is going to miss you but don’t despair my love, Aphrodite will soothe his heart.”

“No! Get off of me!” Annie started to fight. Wrestling her hands free of his grasp she lashed out with those short but sharp nails of hers opening wide patches of flesh on Eros’ face. “Lilly! Lilly! Let me go!” Pushing at the athletic God on top of her and no longer being able to take in the sight of his gleaming eyes, Annie looked away and beheld a sight too horrible for words. Little baby Lilly wrapped up in her soft bloody blanket, her little hand reaching out for someone to comfort her while she cried in pain upon the cold concrete floor. She wailed for her Mother, for anyone to come to her aid but all Annie could do was to helplessly watch while the sweet little baby on the cold cold floor, the one bleeding so profusely from her head, slowly topped squirming and the light faded out of her pretty blue eyes. Her pudgy little cheeks turned white as the blood drained from them, the little hand reaching out so desperately for anyone to come to her relaxed and lay down on the floor. Finally the Lilly, sweet little baby Lilly, was quiet and still. Never would she cry for her Mother again. “OH NO! LILLY!” Annie screamed while she reached out for the baby. “Lilly! Nicky help me!”

There was nothing Nicholas could do for his pretty fair haired wife. Eros slammed her head against the wall but not with as much force as he’d slapped Lilly out of her arms. He wanted her awake and alive until he was ready to do her in. “Shut up and take it!” Eros shouted down at her and ripped the khakis away from her. Annie was naked below him. Shoving her legs apart he drew his hips back with a cold grin and entered her in one thrust. That little cunt was tight and that was good with him he’d give it a good stretching before he killed her. “Come on bitch, tell me how much you like it.” He demanded and sunk in deeper into her. Dragging her down to the corner of the bed Eros slung her thighs over his forearms and sunk his finger tips into her hips while he stood up jamming it hard as he could between those soft young legs. Nicholas was lucky, not many miles on this one. Thrusting in and out of her with expert precision Eros started to cum and when he did he wrapped one hand around Annie’s slender throat and choked the life out of her as he dumped a hot load of spew into her tender box.

In the doorway the Dual Goddess stood watching Eros put it to Nicholas’ wife, he always was so good at that. She was crying and screaming, pushing at him in a futile attempt to get away as her life entered its last few brutal moments.

Uh-ah, Uh-ah, Uh-ah…

Breath hitching in Annie’s throat as she tried to take in oxygen but the merciless hand around her windpipe would not allow any such grace to pass. Uh-ah, Uh-ah, Annie’s body twitched and convulsed below him. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be, they were supposed to go to college, move into their new little house and start their life together. Tears spilling freely from her fading blue eyes as she gazed up at Eros, and thought how ironic it was that a God of Love knew nothing of the kind. But I did, I did. Annie was grateful for that while her eyes closed and she no longer stared into Eros’ golden orbs but saw the deep dark eyes of her husband. I love you Nicky, no matter what I’ll always love you.

Uh----uh----haaaaa

Annie stopped fighting, she stopped breathing and she lay on the bed with her bloodshot eyes bulging open, her face frozen in a look of horrific pain for all time.

On the Scandinavian isle Nicholas let out a howl of anguish and sank to his knees grasping at his Mother for dear life. Calla sank to the cold woodland path with him in her arms while Thor looked on.

In the Jackson home Colleen dropped the tea kettle full of boiling water and let out a scream. Daniel came rushing into the kitchen to find her sobbing in the puddle of boiling water. Scooping his sobbing daughter up in his arms, Daniel realized he didn’t have to ask because he already knew, they’d stayed too long, they didn’t get back to the base fast enough and what Calla said came true; with no one to guard them Annie and Lilly were dead.

“Daddy, Daddy,” Coley cried in his arms, “Daddy, he killed my baby. Why?” She sobbed. “She was just a baby, just a little baby, she didn’t do anything.”

Holding her tight and feeling the disbelieving emptiness in his heart. “Who pumpkin? Who did this?”

Colleen couldn’t get it out, all she could do was crying, her empty arms reaching for a baby she’d never hold again. “Lilly,” she wept, “my littlest angel, Lilly. She never hurt anyone, Daddy.”

“I know she didn’t, pumpkin.” Daniel couldn’t believe he was sitting in a puddle of hot water on his kitchen floor holding his sobbing daughter in his arms and knowing that his new Granddaughter, not even two months old, was dead. Worse, she’d been murdered. What kind of animal would do something like that to a baby? “Cole, did you see who did it?”

“I don’t know but he killed Annie too.”

On some cold distant island, a similar scene was playing itself out as Nicholas and Calla sank to their knees wailing over their loss.

“He killed her! He killed her! He killed my wife!” Nicholas cried over and over as he curled up into a ball on the forest floor. “Oh Annie, my Annie, my pretty little Annie.”

“Callestah?” Thor said in a deeply worried voice and watched while she nodded that it was true. “Who has done this?”

“Did you see him, Nicholas?”

From over the top of his knees and under a mass of curly black hair he looked at out his Mother with shining onyx eyes and nodded. “Yep, I’m gonna kill him.”

“We will kill him…we will make him pay.” Calla assured her Son and held him tight. “Who was it Nicholas? Do you know his name?” Nicholas cringed and pulled away from his Mother. “Nicholas, what is it?”

The man who attacked Annie. The one who raped her and so ruthlessly batted little Lilly out of her arms had gold skin and bronze wings. “Eros,” Nicholas whispered.

“No,” Calla backed away from him. “What did you say?” She gasped. If Aphrodite came back then perhaps she’d convinced Hades to let Eros join her. “It can’t be….he’s dead.”

Yes, dead, that’s what Mom said all their lives. Eros wasn’t like the other Olympians, sometimes when Dad was away and she was tipsy she’d talk about little things in her past. Nick always liked those times, those little glimpses into who his Mother really was. Sitting here with his bleeding he remembered her telling him and Cole how Eros used to play with her when she was little. How Eros would take Mom up in his arms and they would fly over the islands and do barrel-rolls and loop-the-loops high in the sky. “So what? Your Mother’s dead tew, ain’t she?” Nick shot. “I’m tellin’ yew, he’s alive, he killed them. He’s with her. Your Brother killed my wife.”

“And my Granddaughter.” Without sound tears fell ceaselessly down her alabaster cheeks. “Lilly,” she lamented the baby’s name. “Nicholas I’m so sorry. Annie.” Were Ares here he would back her up on what she was about to say, Calla was sure of it. “We can’t stop Nicholas. I know it hurts but we have to get up now and go forward.”

“I can’t, I can’t do anything, Mom, I can’t….” Nicholas wept. “My Annie, I’ll never hold her again.”

“No, you won’t, you’ll never feel her warm body in your arms again. Don’t be sad, don’t sit there sniveling like a baby, be her husband, Nicholas, get angry.”

“Christ! Do ya th-ank ya culd show a little sym’athy?” Nicholas complained bitterly.

Calla ignored him and stood up. “Get up!” She shouted kicking his feet. “My Brother took something from you that can never be replaced, hate him for it. Vow that you will get your vengeance but do not sit here. I know your heart is broken but there will be time to mourn later. When we’re together again we all mourn and remember what we’ve lost. Right now you must get up!”

“Cole,” Nick moaned and pushed back the last of his tears while her words sank in. There was time to be sad later but right now they had work to do and in the process he might get to kick a little ass, that’d be good. “She’s devastated, Ma.”

“I know, your Father is with her and he is taking care of her. I will take care of you, come with me.” Calla helped Nicholas to his feet.

“They overran the whole SGC we can’t go back.” He said as he got up on unsteady legs swiping the tears from his face. “They’re waiting for us. For you.”

“Then we must warn the others,” Thor interjected.

“Father knows, no doubt he is telling the men with him as we speak.” Calla said. “He is very upset Nicholas, you can feel him I know you can. He loved Lilly and he adored Annie.”

Nick didn’t want to debate his Grandfather’s emotions or lack thereof at the moment. In his heart he felt she was right, Umpa did love to bounce Lilly on his knee and he always had a kind word for Annie which was very unusual for him. “We gotta tell Dad not to go back to the base.”

“Fiona, Nicholas, can you tell if she’s still alive?” Calla asked as they began stumbling down the overgrown path once more.

“If she is it’s not for long,” Nick returned. “I think they’re out to kill everyone on the base, she’s pissed that Umpa busted her Stargate…so she killed my wife. This is my Grandmother, right? What kind of fucked up family do you come from, Ma?”

It wasn’t that his question wasn’t valid or even thoughtful, it was on both counts. Perhaps it was that it cut a little close to the bone that Calla chose to ignore it.

“Ma, I’m talkin’ ta yew.” He said sternly and stopped walking. “Don’t ignore me anymore, what the fuck kinda family dew yew cum frum?”

Calla’s mouth dropped open in a large ‘O’ and she stumbled back from him at the sound, the tone and the accent in his voice.

“Master Nicholas!” Thor admonished. “I do not believe this a proper tone for you to take with your Mother, I know that your grief is fresh and deep but I’m afraid I must ask you to stop.”

“I’ll tell you everything once we’re all together again.” Calla promised before she could stop herself. She spent her life hiding these facts from her children, while doing that had she deprived them of the weapons they would need to defend those they loved? Was it her fault Annie and Lilly were dead? Of course it was, Eros and Mother were coming for her and killing anyone in their way was the order of the day, especially if that someone were near and dear to her. How he could do that to Lilly? How could Eros just throw her little body across the room like that? Watch her fall to the ground listen to her cries and be unaffected by it all? What kind of monster had he become or perhaps he’d always been?

On the trail before them appeared a familiar figure wielding a sword. “Duncan MacLeod?” Thor asked.

“None other,” Duncan said coming out of the shadows. “Ares sent me, what’s going on?”

“You’ll have to stay with us, Duncan, the situation is very grim.” Calla said sadly. “You’re right, Nicholas, I have to get in touch with Daniel and tell him not to go to the base.”

Sitting on the floor in his kitchen weeping like a little boy Daniel Jackson heard the annoying high pitch of an old-fashioned telephone ringing in his head. Cal? Kitty, is that you, honey, oh please, Kitty.

“Is that Mom? Are you talking to Mom?” Colleen asked as she took in the drawn expression on his face.

“Yeah, can we do a three-way call?” Daniel asked not knowing what else to say. Before he knew it Colleen was on the other line telling her Mother what happened to Lilly and she was crying again. Suddenly there was a fourth person on the line and in his head Daniel could actually see Nicholas join the conversation and take his sister into his arms. It was as if there were no distance at all between them. Their bodies may be have been thousands of miles apart but on the Astral Plane strange things happened, it was possible to fully be in two places at once. Somewhere between the island and Colorado the Jackson family stood in an open meadow.

”Yes.” She insisted. “They probably don’t know about that house, you and Colleen will be safe there. We’ll join you there soon and we will figure out what to do.”

“We’re going to the SGC and see what we can do to help but I’ll try to stay out of Eros’ way, OK, Mom?” Coley asked. There was something so desperately genuine about her Mother’s last statement that Colleen couldn’t help but wonder if out there somewhere she and Nicholas had siblings. Some deep dark something in Calla’s eyes told Colleen that she knew exactly how it felt to bury a child or worse, children.

The four way Astral phone call clicked off. When it was over Daniel, Colleen and Nicholas all sat on the kitchen floor of 1 North Cemetery Drive while Calla was left with Duncan and Thor on the misty Scandinavian island. “Let’s hurry shall we?” She said to her companions.

“Where did Master Nicholas go?” Thor inquired.

“He’s gone to guard his sister, they will deal their loss best if they are together.”

“And you?” Duncan asked. “How will you deal with this loss once this is over?” There was no mistaking the innuendo in his voice. Duncan MacLeod wanted to know if Calla thought there was any chance she would return to Riding the Horse.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Let us get this done and then we will find out.” She walked further down the wooded path.

A little ways down the path and Duncan asked the question she was dreading. “Any word on my Mother?” Duncan didn’t know what he would do or how he would feel if Fiona were dead. She was just as Immortal as he was so chances were good that she was alive but even so, even alive, that didn’t mean she was all right.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled without looking up at him. There was so much between Duncan and Fiona which was unfinished her death would leave a scar upon his heart that might never mend. “I wish I had news for you one way or the other but I don’t, Stan.” Now she did stop walking and she did look at up him. “We’ll get there very soon and we’ll sort everything out, I promise. I don’t want to give you any false hopes but I don’t want you to lose hope either.” She smiled a sad grin, kissed the back of his hand and began walking once more. “It’s just over the ridge, do you remember now, Lord Thor?”

In the back of his ancient mind Thor found he did remember this place and that, yes, she was correct. Just past the ridge was a large hillside with a hidden door carved into it and it lead to the place known as Valhalla where Odin once hid away thousands of warriors both Valkyrie and Einherjar all waiting for Ragnarok. The Norse Apocalypse. (What he’d really left them here for was if the Goa’uld should return in large numbers then they would be freed and defend the planet.) As far as Thor or Duncan or Calla or any of them could tell, it certainly looked like the End of the World was at hand. So many years passed Thor could only hope that some were still alive in there.

Now here they were in front of a hill which was evergreen even during the most frigid of winters, Thor reached out his skeletal hand and pushed aside a large lump of white colesis flowers covering the ancient stone doorway. Calla brought Nicholas along on this trip because she wanted his strength to open the door but now he was gone and she had to do it on her own. “Lord Thor,” she said in a strained voice, “now that we are here and you see that I was telling the truth, do you not remember how to open this door?” Searching for some strand of hope she bent down to look him in the eye. “I know it has been eons since you worked any magick, part of you must remember how it is done.”

“Ollie, you want to sit down and rest for a while?” Duncan suggested coming up behind her. “We’re here, it’s not going anywhere, why don’t we just have a little breather, hey?”

“My children need me.” Calla said in a distant voice. “This is the only thing which stands between them and me. I am tired, please, Lord Thor, help me open this door.”

“Once upon a time, in my human body, I could push this door open without thinking about it.” Thor said thoughtfully, “But as you know, that was a long time ago, this body is too frail to open that door and my magick left me long ago.”

“Abandoned for technology and machines,” she admonished. “So be it then, I will open this door.”

“Why don’t you let me help?” Duncan suggested. “We’ll do it together, all right?”

“All right,” Calla agreed, “but the energy may burn, your hands may be damaged, Duncan.”

“I’ll risk it.” He said putting his hands on the door and preparing to put his back into the task at hand. “Ready?”

Calla called forth what magickal strength she had left roaming about in her and laid her hands next to Duncan’s.

The frail little alien settled in between them with his own skinny digits on the stone.

“Push!” She shouted. Finding the part of her which could tap into the strength of her Father, Calla’s hands glowed red and the rock heated instantly. Like a hinge that’s been rusted shut the door did not want to give, it stayed steadfast in its place but the three refused to give up. Slowly the rusty hinge remembered its proper place in the world and with a great groaning moan it bent backward. The boulder slid along the ground making a space wide enough for the three of them to enter.

End of Chapter Seventeen
The Cradle Will Fall
Continue to
Chapter Eighteen