The(questionable) burdens of leadership of a troll Emperor by Noodlehammer

Chapter 18

Teal'c was calm as he was led to the briefing room once again, reflecting on how much his life had changed recently. A mere few days ago, he had been the First Prime of Apophis, a position of great honor and prestige for a Jaffa.

He had hated every moment of it. Ever since Master Bra'tac had opened his eyes to the truth of the Goa'uld, he had despised the monster that he had to serve. Many times he had been sorely tempted to wrap his hands around Apophis' neck and wring the life out of him. If he had not been certain that Apophis would be revived and he himself tortured and executed for it, he might have even done it. The only reason he continued to keep up the charade was to save as many people as he could from the System Lord, though it was always far too few.

So it was that when a man who was obviously a warrior had called out to him and claimed with certainty that he could save the people he had been ordered to execute, he had taken the chance and betrayed Apophis, leaving behind his family in exchange for the chance of bringing down the Goa'uld. There was a bitter irony in the fact that he had abducted the wife of one of the men he would now fight alongside, another point of shame and regret to what was already a mountain of them.

Daniel Jackson was a man of great wisdom and understanding and had forgiven him for his role in the loss of his wife, realizining that Teal'c had had no choice in the matter, something that he did not believe he would be able to do if the situation was reversed.

He certainly would never forgive himself.

Apophis may have ordered it, but it had been Teal'c who had selected her. It had made little difference at the time, she had been a captive like any other. He had chosen her because of her beauty and he had thought that if she were chosen as Amaunet's host that Apophis would perhaps spare the others.

What cruel twists the hand of fate could give a man. Sha're had indeed been chosen as the host, but Apophis had not been feeling merciful. Teal'c had long since given up on thinking about 'what ifs', but he sorely wished that he had chosen another woman then. Perhaps Daniel Jackson would have been able to save his wife if he had done so.

They might still be able to do it, but Teal'c knew how difficult the task was even if they by some miracle located her, the failed attempt to remove the Goa'uld from the man known as Kawalsky attested to it. And that was not even mentioning how much damage the Goa'uld possession would have done to Sha're if they ever managed to save her.

It didn't matter though, he would do everything in his power to help with that goal, as well as in the defense of this world from the Goa'uld. He had already sworn it on his honor and would fulfill that vow to the best of his ability.

To begin with, that seemed to include a long series of interrogations on everything he knew about the parasites, which he provided freely. It was clearly not as much as they had hoped for, but they did not hold that against him, which was shockingly reasonable in comparison to the Goa'uld.

Soon, he was once again seated on the rather comfortable chair and facing the people asking questions of him.

Three of them were the team that he would now be part of, which they were calling SG-1.

Colonel Jack O'Neill was to lead the team, as well as being the man who had convinced him that it was time to turn traitor. He had already shown himself both skilled and cunning...as well as having mannerisms that seemed decidedly odd to Teal'c. Regardless, he had already proven himself a stalwart comrade in the short time that they had known each other.

Another thing that seemed odd to Teal'c was the next member of the team. Captain Samantha 'Sam' Carter. Very competent, very smart and very female. Even if Teal'c was a great deal more open minded than most Jaffa, a female warrior still threw him a bit. He made no mention of it though and buried his ingrained misgivings. If the Tau'ri allowed their women to fight, then that was their right and he would not insult them by insinuating there was something wrong with it. Indeed, with the way that the Celestial Empire was soundly beating the Goa'uld at every turn and they also had female warriors, he was more inclined to re-examine his own views on the subject.