TITLE: Rascals III Review
AUTHOR: Roeskva
CATEGORY: Humour, drama, kidfic
CHARACTERS: Sam, Martouf/Lantash, Freya/Anise, Daniel, Jack O'Neill, Janet, Teal'c, others
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment only and not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
PAIRINGS: This is gen, but there are a few minor mentions of various pairings.
SUMMARY: Sequel to Rascals and Rascals II. The continued adventures of Sam, Martouf, Lantash, Freya, Anise, and Daniel, after they have been turned into children.
SPOILERS: Up to early/mid season 10 of SG-1, or there about.
NOTES: Mostly as canon, except all the Tok'ra are just fine! I got inspired by the Star Trek: TNG episode 'Rascals' to write the first installment, and I just found I had more ideas for the story! Some OOC'ness and a little cracky at times.
NOTES 2: You do NOT need to read Rascals I and II first. All you need to know is that Sam, Martouf, Lantash, Daniel, Freya, and Anise were transformed into little children by an alien device. They now live at Stargate Command, and O'Neill, Teal'c, and sometimes Janet, are looking after them.
STATUS: Complete
January 2005
"Thank you for coming to play with us!" Freya said, happily throwing her arms around Cassandra.
"Yes, thank you so much!" Sam, Daniel, and Martouf exclaimed, running to hug Cassandra as well.
"Yeah, well. I didn't have much else to do," Cassandra said, then smiled fondly at the children. She did like them, and it was not their fault Janet had been called away.
"Oh, and will you make hot cho-colate, Cassandra?" Freya looked up at her, while making her best puppy eyes. "Please?"
Cassandra grinned, not surprised by the request. "I suppose that can be arranged... so, do you guys want to help me make that hot chocolate - and bake a cake? You know, the yummy chocolate cake, which Janet usually makes?"
Janet had been looking after the kids while O'Neill and SG-1 had gone on an important mission. An extremely important mission, to try and rid the Galaxy of the escalating Replicator plague.
Since O'Neill was now a General, and in command of the SGC, a replacement had been found for SG-1. Teal'c was now the only 'original' member left of SG-1, with the other members being the Tok'ra Soltof/Gimbad, Hailey - and currently also Colonel Sanderson. The latter was a recent addition which O'Neill still did not feel sure about, and who was still only in a temporary position.
O'Neill and the others had returned a short time earlier. They had been successful and had managed to kill off the Replicators. Anubis seemed to have disappeared as well, though no one knew where he had gone. They would just have to hope he was gone for good.
Jacob and Selmak had joined the mission some time before, and they, together with the Goa'uld Ba'al - had succeeded in reprogramming an Ancient weapon at Dakara, so it killed all the Replicators.
However, something was not well with Jacob and Selmak, and Janet had been called in to look at him, since she was not only the Chief Medical Officer of the base, but also host to the Tok'ra healer Rhiva. Hopefully, they would be able to figure out what was wrong with Jacob/Selmak, and cure them.
Janet had called Cassandra a short time ago, telling her to come and look after the children, while she went back to the base. She was not to tell the kids anything about what had happened, other than that the mission had been a success.
Cassandra had been on her way out the door, to go out and have fun with some of her friends, whom she went to college with, so she had not been too happy. She had agreed, though. She liked the children, and no longer felt it weird that the Sam and Daniel she had known, were now little kids.
After spending the whole afternoon with the children in Janet's house, Cassandra drove them back to the base. The threat from the Trust was considered minimal right now, but it was still safest for them to stay at the base most of the time.
"Promise you'll come back soon?" Sam pleaded, when they had all eaten dinner in the mess hall, and Cassandra was on her way to leave.
"Sure, honey, I promise," Cassandra said, smiling at her.
"Then maybe we can build a fortress together out of LEGO, and we can show you how fast we can run on roller skates, and, and we have a newcartoon we got from Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, eagerly.
"Oh, and I have drawn a picture for you - and Lantash have made one too!" Martouf told her.
"Are you sure you have to leave already? Perhaps you can stay a little longer?" Anise looked hopeful.
"Sorry." Cassandra smiled, apologetically. "I really have to go. I have something important to do tonight, but I promise to come see you soon. Now, go to your room and play, okay?"
O'Neill sighed as he quietly walked into the room where the children were playing, stopping just inside the door. They all looked so happy, and he did not want to tell them - and Sam in particular - what he had come to say.
He spent a few moments looking at them. They had built some sort of large fortification out of LEGO, and seemed to be completely occupied with setting up a large number of small figures, who appeared to be attacking the fortification. They were so focused on what they were doing, that it took several minutes before any of them noticed he was there.
Martouf looked up, and directly at him, then smiled widely. "O'Neill! You must come see this!" He pointed eagerly at the construction.
Sam, Daniel, and Anise looked up as well, spotting O'Neill. They all smiled happily, and greeted him.
"Wow, that really does look nice. What's it supposed to be?" O'Neill asked.
"It's the attack on Dakara - when the Free Jaffa took it from Ba'al," Anise told him. "We heard about it - but only a little."
"Yes, can you tell us more? How did it go?" Daniel asked, eagerly.
O'Neill sighed deeply. "The Jaffa did take Dakara, but... well, a lot of other stuff happened to."
Teal'c stepped through the door at that point, bowing his head in greeting. "Hello."
"Teal'c!" Sam exclaimed. "You can tell us all that happened, right?"
"Indeed. There is much to tell. It was a great battle - much more so than anticipated." He looked at O'Neill.
"However, there's something you need to know first. Carter, we didn't tell you before, but your dad was there with us - and I don't think we'd have made it without him."
Seeing the change in his mood, Sam became very concerned. "Did something happen to him?"
"Is Jacob all right?" Martouf asked, worried.
"He wasn't wounded, but... Selmak's not feeling so good right now. The doctors are looking at her right now." He saw the children's terrified expressions. "Now, don't worry. You know how good Janet and Rhiva are. I'm sure they'll figure out what's wrong, and then fix it, in no time."
"I didn't think symbiotes could get sick." Daniel looked worried, but sceptical.
"Symbiotes are never sick!" Anise said with conviction.
"I agree," Lantash said, after having gotten control from Martouf. "If Selmak is indeed unwell, she must have been exposed to something horribly poisonous. You must take us to her."
"How is my dad doing? I need to see my dad now!" Sam insisted.
"Listen, sweeties, Jacob and Selmak are in good hands. You know Janet and Rhiva would never let anything bad happen to them." O'Neill tried to reason.
"I want to see my dad! Now!" Sam stomped her foot. "I need to see him... I... what if he's dying, and...and..." she sniffled. "I must go see him, please..." she started crying.
"You made Samantha cry!" Lantash said angrily at O'Neill, throwing his arms around Sam and hugging her.
"Bad Jack!" Daniel insisted, glaring at O'Neill and embracing Sam as well.
Anise hurriedly threw herself at the others, trying to hug them all.
O'Neill sighed and gave Teal'c a long-suffering expression.
Several hours later, Janet and Rhiva agreed to let the children visit Jacob for a short time.
While the children paid a very subdued and teary visit to Jacob, Janet/Rhiva took O'Neill and Teal'c aside and told them what they had learned.
They had made a large number of tests on Selmak, but had been unable to determine what was wrong with her. She was currently in a coma, and according to Jacob, she had been getting weaker for some time.
Rhiva and Janet had discussed what could be wrong with Selmak, as well as ways to try and treat her.
There was a number of treatments that could be used to strengthen a symbiote, temporarily increase its ability to heal, or help it filter out poison. There was also the healing device, but those were the only options usually used when treating symbiotes. They were immune to all known naturally occurring diseases, as well as to most poisons.
Rhiva had both scanned Selmak, and taken a blood sample. She had found no indication Selmak had been poisoned.
While Selmak was the oldest of the Tok'ra, she was not actually old. At just over 2000 years, she was actually still quite young for a symbiote. She was also the smallest adult symbiote Rhiva knew of, but examinations had been made of her previously, and her size meant nothing for her health or ability to heal either herself or her host.
In short, neither Janet, nor Rhiva, could find any reason why Selmak was sick, nor why she was still getting weaker, despite their attempts to strengthen her with Tok'ra drugs. It was a complete mystery, and very worrying.
"How can Selmak be sick?" Sam exclaimed. "Aren't you guys supposed to be able to cure everything?"
"We are," Lantash said. "Well, almost," he admitted.
"There are some poisons that are difficult," Anise agreed.
"Some the Goa'uld have made that way," Lantash added.
"We need to help dad and Selmak. If the adults don't know how, we must fix this!" Sam insisted.
"We will think of something, Samantha," Lantash promised.
"So Jacob and Selmak could've been poisoned by a Goa'uld?" Daniel wondered.
"Maybe." Lantash frowned, trying to think of when it could have happened. "Damn it's difficult to ac-cess some memories!" He looked angry.
"It's the same for all of us." Daniel looked despondent. "They say it will come back when we grow up."
"Yes, but I need to know now!" He pressed his hands together in fists.
"Who'd do it?" Daniel tried.
"Nirrti," Anise said with conviction. "She uses poisons."
"Or Sokar," Lantash suggested. "Netu! Jolinar was poisoned by Sokar."
Sam looked distant for a moment, trying to remember. "Yes... some really bad stuff. Something that made her weak, and heal badly. For months, I think."
Lantash nodded. "I remember. Sokar used it to..." He knitted his brows as he tried to remember. "He used it to make symbiotes have a hard time healing their hosts - and themselves. During... tor-ture. To weaken them... make them talk."
"Like that nasty, uh, blood of Sokar thingie?" Daniel asked.
"No, while bad, that ones not deadly... and it filters out over weeks, at most." Lantash told him. "We exa-mined the effects. After Netu."
"Jolinar had gotten it. The weak... ening drug, I mean. But she got well," Sam said.
"Yes... the effect of the drug, ah, Sha'kek... will slowly dis-appear. Over years. Even after it is no longer de-tec-table, it will affect the symbiote." He frowned. "There's a medicine to ease the effects. Jolinar got it... but so did Selmak. Because she was given the drug too."
Sam nodded slowly. "Yes, but there's something..." She stomped her foot, frustrated. "I can't remember! Jolinar... she knew something. About Selmak."
"Something im-portant?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, duh!" Sam stuck out her tongue at him. "Of course!"
"Jolinar once told me... that Selmak was poisoned as a child," Lantash said, slowly.
"Yes! That's it! Her Jaffa - and the other Jaffa in that unit - they were ex-posed to... to poison gas. Killed them all, except Selmak and her Jaffa." Sam frowned. "They were so sick for such a long time. They lived, but Selmak didn't get much bigger after that, even if she was only a few years at the time it happened."
"It stopped her phy-sical de-velopment?" Anise asked, curious.
"Partially. Didn't affect her otherwise though," Sam said. "But she kept it secret."
"Maybe it made her more sus... sus-ceptible to some drugs. Like the one Sokar used. Sha'kek," Lantash suggested.
"We need to tell Janet. Now!" Sam exclaimed.
They ran off to find Janet and Rhiva.
With the information that Selmak was possibly suffering from an increased reaction to Sha'kek - a drug administered to her by Sokar, several years ago - Janet and Rhiva attempted to treat her by giving her more of the Tok'ra medicine that was used to treat exposure to Sha'kek.
They could not detect the presence of it in her system, but now when they knew what to look for, they could see that the weakening Selmak was experiencing now, was similar - if much more pronounced - to what was seen after a heavy exposure to Sha'kek.
Some hours after treatment began, Selmak stopped deteriorating, and slowly began to recover. It was almost a day later, before she awoke from her coma, very surprised to be alive.
She had not realized her illness could have been caused by an aftereffect to Sha'kek - nor that she would be that much more susceptible to it than other symbiotes, since she had never noticed any difference between herself and other symbiotes, except for her smaller size.
Janet and Rhiva would be continuing to monitor Selmak regularly over the next couple of years, to see if she would need further treatment, but they did not think so.
When almost a week had passed, Janet/Rhiva finally agreed to discharge Jacob/Selmak from the infirmary. At that point they were going stir-crazy, and driving everyone else insane as well. Neither of them did well being locked up like that, especially since they felt they no longer needed to be in the infirmary.
The children were both extremely relieved and very proud they had been able to help, and insisted it was necessary to celebrate Selmak's recovery - with a large chocolate cake and plenty of lemonade.