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Sex, Drugs and Rock-n-Roll
"You show us everything you've got
You keep on dancin' and the room gets hot
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
You say you wanna go for a spin
The party's just begun, we'll let you in
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
You keep on shoutin', you keep on shoutin'
I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day..."
"Rock and Roll All Night"
performed by Kiss
Chapter 1
Casey adjusted her pack, and grinned up at a frowning Daniel. "I’ll see you in a couple of days," she said, putting her palm against his cheek. His hand came up and pressed her fingers against his skin.
"Yeah, okay." He leaned down and kissed her.
"Quit pouting. You should feel privileged," she admonished between two more kisses.
He snorted. "Privileged to go to DC and sit in front of a bunch of politicians who ask ridiculous questions, and haven’t got a clue about what we’re doing here?"
"That’s the whole purpose of the trip. To make those in charge of Homeworld Security understand. They can’t cut our budget, not unless they want the Goa’uld taking over. General Hammond has asked for you and Sam and Teal'c specifically because he knows that the three of you have more of a chance to get through to them than anybody. Hey, the president is depending on you guys. Daniel, you are the person most capable of doing this. You’ve negotiated with hostile aliens successfully. What’s a room full of grumpy human politicians compared to angry Zardossian leaders?"
Daniel grinned at his Wife’s praise. "I’m the politician tamer, huh?"
"That’s you!" she grinned up at him.
"Chevron seven locked," Walter's voice announced.
The event horizon on the Stargate opened, and the members of SG-6 stood on the ramp, waiting for her to join them.
"Kiss him goodbye and let’s move, Jackson," Major Parker called out, grinning at the couple. He headed toward the shimmering circle.
"See you in a couple of days," she whispered, kissing her Husband again.
"Make me proud," he whispered back. "Show ‘em how much you know about those glyphs."
She smiled, nodded, kissed him one last time, and then followed Tony through the ‘gate.
A A A A A A
No matter how many times she went through the Stargate, the trip always left her slightly disoriented, and always the memory of the first time flashed across her mind. Being a Goa’uld slave had left its mark on her soul.
She looked around. Desert. Oh, joy. She pulled her sunglasses from her pocket and put them on her face. Like the rest of the team, she was cautious, every sense alert for danger. All that they could see in any direction was sand. Orange sand. Definitely, undeniably orange sand. She walked over to where F.R.E.D. waited, took several sample bottles, and filled them with the weird looking stuff. She put the samples back into the waiting machine.
"Okay, people," Major Parker said. "UAV recon showed ruins about two hours from here. Let’s move out."
They hadn’t gone more than ten feet when the remote controlled vehicle bogged down in the sand. After a brief discussion, needed supplies were taken from the vehicle, each member of the team adding them to their already heavy packs, and the vehicle was moved back to the gate and left there, to be retrieved upon their return.
Trudging along, Casey began to hum quietly. The others heard her, and began to hum or whistle along. Within minutes the group was doing an admirable job of singing the Temptations hit ‘My Girl’, complete with harmony. Major Parker added his deep base voice, his caramel-colored face wreathed in a grin. He always enjoyed having this vivacious young woman work with his team. She could make even the dullest survey mission fun. She was damned good in a fight as well, and she had sacrificed her life on several occasions to save his team, including himself. Having Immortals in the SGC was the best thing that had happened to them, he thought.
Twin suns beat down on them, and twice they had stopped just to catch their breath. The extra weight in their packs slowed them down, and with the heat, Parker wasn’t going to push his team. He made sure they had applied sunscreen liberally to all exposed parts of their bodies, and that they were drinking enough water. Like every other team CO, the people under his command were more than just subordinates to him. They were friends, family. He cared about each of them on a personal level.
The two-hour hike actually took them three hours, and when they came to the ruins, they all sighed with relief. There was ample shade offered by the few still-standing walls. Casey retrieved the camcorder, and began filming.
"So, Casey, can you tell me anything about this place?" Parker asked, stepping up beside her as she carefully brushed sand away from one of the walls.
"The architecture looks Greek. Early Greek, but that’s just a guess. Daniel will know for sure when he gets here," she replied. "It seems to be a rather small village. Other than that, I can’t tell you anything." She was again filming, trying to capture the mural that was still visible on one section of the wall. It depicted men and women in what looked to her like a party scene. She grinned.
Parker watched her for a moment, then ordered camp set up. Unlike her husband, who would get so excited about ruins that he tried to see and record everything at once, Casey would start in one spot, and meticulously work her way over every inch. He shook his head. He had watched the two work together, it was comedy at its best: Daniel rushing from one spot to another, Casey moving methodically around him. He was looking forward to Doctor Jackson’s arrival, he thought, grinning.
Casey continued to work throughout the afternoon, carefully cataloging each discovery. Tony joined her after helping set up camp, filming everything she was doing and saying.
Near the center of the scattered stones, one building was standing. It was incongruous with the rest of the ruins. The style of the building was much older than what they had found so far, or so she thought. And why it was standing, seemingly undamaged, while the rest of the city lay slowly eroding, she hadn’t a clue. When she was ready to enter the building, a temple of some sort, she thought, the members of SG-6 surrounded her, ready for any trouble they might find within.
Once inside, it took a few minutes for their eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness. The front of the temple was open, the pillars that rose to support the high roof casting long shadows on the marble tile floor. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with frescoes, all of them as bright as if they had just been painted. At the far end of the large open room was a raised area. Almost like a stage, she thought, walking toward it.
One section of the painted walls caught her attention, she shined her flashlight on it, then laughed out loud.
"What is it?" asked the young redhead they all called Texas. His name was actually Marvin Yates, but he hailed from the great Texas Republic, so that’s what his team members called him.
She pointed to the painted male figures. "Look at this. The first guy is definitely drinking…he has a glass in one hand and a jug in the other. The second guy looks like he’s smoking something, that thing in his lap has got to be a bong. The third guy is definitely getting jiggy with it, that almost looks like a guitar in his hands. And this fourth guy, he’s nailing that woman pretty hard, not that she seems to mind."
The young man blushed at the sexually graphic scenes portrayed on the wall.
"Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll?" Tony asked, standing slightly behind them.
Casey laughed. "That’s what it looks like. I’m sure that Daniel will be able to tell what ceremonial rites are depicted here, but to me…yep, sex, drugs and rock-n-roll."
"Speaking of which," Tony said, a grin on his face. "Major, permission to have tunes to work by?"
The major nodded. That was something else he always enjoyed when Casey worked with the team. She never went anywhere without her portable CD player, and the members of his team had learned to carry small speakers to attach to it. Within minutes the sounds of Poison were bouncing off of the stone walls. It wasn’t long before Casey and Tony were standing on the platform, which they had found to be totally devoid of any frescoes or writing of any sort, lip-syncing "Look What the Cat Dragged In", doing a good enough job that anyone watching would have thought they were actually singing the song, and the rest of the team, including the major, was gyrating to the music.
With the sunlight fading, the team left the temple, or what they perceived was a temple, and headed back for camp.
Casey sighed as she zipped up her sleeping bag. She hated sleeping without Daniel. Neither of them slept well without the other on those nights that work kept them apart. In the fifty years they had been together, only one night found them not in each other’s arms as they slept. She pulled Daniel’s tee shirt from her pack and snuggled up to it. He had worn it the day before, his scent was strong in it. She sighed again and slowly drifted off to sleep.
A A A A A A
The next day she ignored the temple, working to draw an accurate layout of the city, theorizing on what the different buildings might be. They dug carefully, finding a few broken pottery shards, and locating what looked like cooking ovens. The team worked efficiently, Casey directing them in their excavation efforts. Always two of the team members remained on guard, their weapons ready to defend if necessary.
By nightfall, they had mapped the ruins. There was very little writing to be found, but artwork seemed to be everywhere. What writing there was seemed to be little more than signs to name particular buildings. No tablets or scrolls had been discovered.
Casey stared at the temple. Party central, she had dubbed it, because of the wall frescoes they had found inside. She took a flashlight and headed towards it. She felt drawn to it, for some reason, the pull irresistible.
"Jackson, where the hell are you going?" Parker asked as she headed away from the fire of their camp.
"Just to take another look, sir," she replied, not stopping.
"Can’t it wait until morning?"
She shrugged. "I guess so. But I’m gonna go ahead and just take a quick look around."
Parker exchanged glances with the rest of the team. "Let’s go, people." He had learned over the years that if a team member displayed odd behavior, there was a reason behind it, and usually not a good one. Casey and her 'feelings' were already well known in the SGC, so if she was acting odd... The men of SG-6 grabbed their P-90’s and followed their resident archaeologist.
She was standing on what they called the stage, giggling. "Yep, definitely party central."
"Uh…Case, you okay?" Tony asked, a worried frown on his face. He held his flashlight on her. Her eyes seemed a bit too bright, her gaze almost unfocused.
"I’m fine, Tony. Let’s have a party," she said, grinning down at him.
Tony turned to look at Major Parker. "Sir?"
"Casey, it’s late. Let’s get some sleep. We’ll party tomorrow," the older man said, a frown creasing his dark forehead.
She remained standing on the dais, staring into the distance. "He wants us to party," she whispered. "He loves a good party."
Now Parker was starting to worry. "He?"
"Atemone," Casey replied breathlessly. She was breathing hard, her breasts rising and falling with each breath.
Parker turned to Tony. "I thought there wasn’t any writing around here?"
Tony shrugged. "There isn’t, sir. She kept saying that it was weird, because there isn’t a clue as to who this temple was dedicated to."
"Let’s get her out of here," Parker said.
Tony bounded up the steps at the side of the platform, and gently took Casey’s arm. "Come on, Case, let’s go get some sleep like the major said. We’ll have a big party tomorrow."
She resisted, not moving. Finally, Tony picked her up and carried her back to camp. They got her into her tent, zipped her into her sleeping bag, and then sat outside, all them tense. Something was affecting her, that much was obvious. Tony placed his own sleeping bag just outside of her tent. If she tried to leave during the night, she would literally have to step over him.
A A A A A A
The twin suns were just peeping over the horizon when Casey tried to leave her tent. "Tony, what the hell are you doing sleeping there?" she asked, frowning down at him.
He looked up into her green eyes. "Didn’t want you to try to go back to the temple."
"Go back? What are you talking about?"
Major Parker’s head came up from where he sat, heating water for coffee. "You don’t remember going to the temple last night?"
Casey frowned, pulling her lower lip between her teeth. "Why would I do that? We’ve already got what we need from there."
Parker’s frown now matched hers. "Casey, last night you went into that temple. Tony had to carry you out of it. You said that he wanted us to party."
"He? He who?" She was confused. That feeling she always got when things were about to go bad began to trickle over her.
"What the hell did she say his name was?" Parker asked the others.
"Ata…Aty…" Tony said, trying to remember.
"Atemone," she whispered, her eyes wide.
"That’s it," Parker nodded.
"How did I know that?" she asked, of no one in particular. "There isn’t anything identifying that temple. That’s what is so weird about this place. Except for a couple of things that can only be signs, there isn’t any writing at all here, just the murals and frescoes. And every one of those are…" She broke off, shivering.
"Look, Doctor Jackson will be getting here sometime today. Let’s just take a little break, stay away from the temple and the ruins, okay?" Parker said.
Everyone nodded. Casey stared at the temple, her teeth pulling at her lower lip.
"Jackson?" Parker asked gruffly. His concern about her filled his dark brown eyes.
"Yes, sir. Away from the temple," she replied.
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