Nesert

1.25

Episode 5.13 "Proving Ground" (bold)

Stargate Command was in a flurry again as they prepared for more training exercises, but Nes didn't venture to those floors too often. Her body still ached, though she was at least able to walk around with her normal gait, though her strut would likely take more time. She saw Hailey a few times, but as the girl was pretending to be just another recruit, she was with her team more than on base. And as Nes was spending most of her time catching up on her studies, it didn't bother her much to be left alone. As long as she could keep herself properly distracted.

While the torture itself had certainly brought Sekhmet forward, the lingering pain diminished her presence. The goa'uld herself had never had to deal with long term pain, always being able to heal quickly, use her technology to hurry it along, or move on to a new body entirely. This type of pain, this long, slow agony was reserved just for humans and with the loss of Sekhmet's power came the first inklings of shame and guilt, though still not nearly as much as there should have been with so many lives taken.

Towards the end of the week was the final exercise, made out to be as real as possible and Nes volunteered her unique skills to the task. While the program had devices to alter the human voice into one that sounded somewhat similar to the goa'uld, the flashing eyes would be unique to her, adding a nice element of reality to the foothold scenario they were creating.

Before the exercise, Nes went through the Stargate to the Alpha Site to wait for her scheduled appearance. Earth dialed in with a quick message that it was time and Nes punched in the proper address and stepped through when they radioed. She appeared in the gate room, looking every bit the goa'uld she had been. She wore the gold dress from her days with Heru'ur along with the kara'kesh ribbon device and had obscured her Tessa James appearance with heavy makeup. Off to the side of the ramp was Hailey lying supposedly dead below a sparking junction box. The story was that SG-3 had escaped a goa'uld who was now attacking the base, sending radiation through the gate. Usually they didn't have someone come through the gate as well, but Nes was enjoying being a new addition.

One of the side doors of the room slid open and a young man entered the room, raising his weapon as he saw her. She flashed her eyes and raised the ribbon device, but slowed down her movements ever so slightly to give him the upper hand. He shot towards her, but she spun her body so it missed striking her. She again raised her hand, this time allowing a low powered blast to graze just past him, but he took advantage of her offensive move and his next shot caught her square in the chest, collapsing her to the metal grating of the ramp.

It hurt like hell, added on top of her other still recovering injuries, and she struggled to maintain consciousness as she let the scenario play out. She could hear the iris close above her and the young man speaking into his radio behind her.

"Hailey's still alive. We need a medical team down here. I say again, Hailey needs help in here!" There was movement and she guessed he was trying to get Hailey out of danger. The gate deactivated, though, and the blast doors began to open, revealing SG-1, General Hammond, and other personnel applauding up in the control room.

The young man took a deep breath. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"You can put me down now, hero," Hailey said quietly, clearly enjoying the surprise.

"You were in on it?"

"How do you think I was able to show you nanobots if they didn't really exist?"

That had been part of the story as well, Nes remembered. Some kind of Goa'uld Trojan horse.

"I'm gonna kill you," he said, but there was a smile in his words.