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Mutants & Masterminds: StarGate Freedom - Prologue: Sharon Knight


Sharon Knight

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October 31, Halloween, High School, Colorado Springs

Like any other 17 year old senior in high school, Sharon got up and headed to school, today was Halloween, so she had chosen to dress up, like most of the rest of the folks at school. She had been planning her outfit for a while, so she had chosen to dress up as an indian, in a theme with some of her friends, as a number of folks were going with a wild west theme. She got up a bit early in order to work on her costume a bit, braiding her hair, putting on the various pieces of her costume, adding a bit of tasteful makeup, and then stopping to look in the mirror.

indiangirl.jpg

Well now, she thought to herself, you look like a rather lovely indian princess now. Then she paused, wishing her father was here so that she could show it off for him, he likely would have had a few words to say about it. She shook her head slightly, her father had explained what he was doing, even though he likely shouldn't have, and it was important work, that needed doing. She just hoped that everything would be fine, and she shivered a moment at the thought of things going wrong.

Shaking off the uneasy feeling she had, she grabbed her purse, and her backpack with her school books, and headed outside, just as one of her friends drove up, she was dressed as a cowgirl. "Hey, Sharon, nice costume, come on, we better get moving, or we'll be late for class."

Sliding into the passenger seat, putting her stuff on the floor, she checked her watch. "We'll be fine, Erica, we still have a bit of time, thanks for picking me up, Aunt Laura is still in bed, she doesn't get up for another 30 minutes, sense she starts work at 9."

"No problem." They drove off, and parked in the school parking lot, heading to class together, shortly joined by a few other friends, talking and chattering about the usual things teens in high school talk about. Sharon fell to the back however, and walked quietly, she wanted to think for a bit.

"Earth to Sharon.. hello?" She looked up blinking, to see Erica snapping her fingers in front of her. "Homeroom Classroom, here?" She pointed.

Sharon blushed. "Sorry, Erica, I'm a bit distracted."

"Missing your dad?"

"Yes."

Erica reached out and hugged her friend. "Ok, we're going to have lots of fun today, so you can distract yourself, go it." Sharon smiled slightly and nodded.

**********

The day went normally, for the most part, until some time in the afternoon, the last class was dismissed, when an announcement came over the radio, one that chilled Julia to the bone, though at first everyone thought it was a hoax. Sharon, however, had reason to know better, her father hadn't told her much, but he'd told her a lot more then he should have, and she knew that what they had found used egyptian imagery. This was either a hoax, or it was something.. much.. much worse.

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Julia walked out to the field with her. They had agreed to help Kevin Dryser set up for his Halloween party; he'd managed to convince the coach to let him use the football field. The season was over, anyway; they wouldn't hurt anything. Of course, it helped that Kevin was the star quarterback, and half the coaching staff thought he was the Second Coming.

Some kids were already out there, piling logs. They had already burnt a circle of grass down so that the fire wouldn't spread. The rest of the kids, mostly girls, were decorating the tiki torches that were going to provide light to the gathering or finishing on the faux graveyard.

A bitter wind blew as the two girls joined them. Sharon felt a shiver as they joined the others. "Hey, Julia, Shar," one of the other girls called, waving them to come to open coffin. "I need help cobwebbing this thing." She waved to the skeleton in the coffin.

"Hey," one of the boys said suddenly, "did you hear that?"

All of the kids stopped what they were doing when listened. Then from the west, they heard the low staccato of distant explosions. "It's just the military again," one guy said, shrugging.

"I've never heard them drill this long," a girl said, looking worried.

"It's nothing," Kevin said. "Let's get back to work."

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  • 2 weeks later...

"It's really odd, Kevin, I'm not so sure it's nothing, there was nothing about drills said to me, and I'd have known about.. anyone got anything from the news or anything?" She was worried, so she took out her cell phone and began to goggle the internet to see if she could find out anything about drills going on over at the base.

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"What, the military have to clear drills through you now?" Kevin asked, almost sneering. "I didn't realize you had rank, Knight."

"Fuck off," Julia snapped, glaring at him. She hovered protectively next to Sharon, who was ignoring Kevin. As the football player snorted and turned back to his work, Sharon caught the breaking headline on CNN: Aliens Claim to be God. The sick feeling in her stomach increased as she read more and more of the articles. The Egyptian god motif seemed to be a huge coincidence after what her father had told her. Had something happened on his mission?

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"Sometimes you can be exceptionally stupid, Kevin, the military schedule's it's drills, and sense my dad is military, I kept an eye on such things." Her tone was downright scathing, as she gave him a glance, then blinked at what she was reading.

"I'd say this was a hoax.. but CNN is reporting an alien invasion, and they are saying they are serious." She paused. "An alien invasion, on Halloween, I'd say it was a hoax, but.. every other news agency I'm pulling up is saying the same thing."

She was very worried now, she wasn't going to say anything about what her father told her, sense that could get him in trouble, but, she was afraid that something terrible had happened to him.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some of the other kids got nervous, too, but Kevin was a football player, and unafraid to be a jerk. "Sometimes, you're exceptionally snotty," Kevin told her, "lording your military dad over us like half of us don't have parents up at Cheyenne. I'm sure that you get briefings daily from Daddy, too, just so that you stay on top of everything."

"Lay off!" Julia shouted, stepping between them.

"Look, given the news, we should go home," another girl said, her tone worried.

"You've heard of hacking, right?" Kevin snapped. He started to say more, but it seemed Kevin's fate to die wrong. A bolt of golden light fell from above and struck the young man, blowing a hole through his chest and burning away most of his hair, clothing and skin.

With horrified screams, the kids scattered, trying to outrace the golden fliers falling out of the sky.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some days, being proved right, was actually worse then being wrong.. for Sharon, today was that day. When Kevin was killed by a beam of golden light, she was horrified, but she didn't let that paralyze her. Instead, she reached out and grabbed Julia and ran to a more defensible and protected spot, the closest here were the lockers and showers. "Run! Follow me!"

At this point, she didn't care if was the boys or girls, she'd get her friends out of the line of fire. Moving with considerable grace and dexterity, as one who as a athlete and martial artist might, she tried to think and plan as she ran. What would her father do in this situation?

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Sharon ran, headed for the building. It was a good run, but her body was fit and she made it fine, even dragging the much less-fit Julia. At the door, she pushed Julia inside, then turned to help the other students. They weren't dawdling, but Sharon could see that many of them weren't prepared for this kind of exertion. She waited impatiently for the last of them to duck into the building, while the golden ship zipped by overhead, its beams narrowly missing another student.

Suddenly, she realized that Kevin and the other girl they'd shot at were wearing camo for Halloween. They thought that the kids were soldiers!

Before she could process that, she heard another noise and looked up. A massive round ship cruised by overhead, then cut back sharply and began to lower itself onto the football field. Sharon had a bad feeling, and she watched long enough to see the forms of the soldiers disembarking.

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As the last few of the teens ran inside the building, some of them panting rather hard, or with panicked looks on their face she positioned herself at the entrance, basically standing guard. "Anyone with weapons, or with any outfit that looks military, I suggest you change it, or at least wash off the paint, I think they thought Kevin was a soldier, he was dressed up a bit like one after all."

She gave that bit of direction just to try and calm folks, knowing that having a clear direction was what most of the teens needed at this point. "If you can find a place to hide, I suggest you use it." She paused, and as she saw the ship landing and folks coming out of it, she blinked a moment.

"Actually, sense they just stopped, if you can, and have the stamina, keep running, hide in the school, or the wilderness, or anywhere, just keep going." She mentally prepared herself, maybe it would get her killed, but she had to help the others, and the only way she could think of to do that, was make herself a target and distraction. "Now, run, or hide, do whatever you can! Go!"

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"Sharon, you can't!" Julie squeaked, her eyes wide with fear. "They'll kill you! Or eat your brains! Or make you have half-alien mutant babies that they lay in your brain! They're aliens! You have to get away from them!"

"Someone has to help the other kids," Sharon said, knowing that this is what her dad would do. "I know I'm the only one with any kind of training for that. Now go!"

"Your dad's going to be mad if you get yourself killed!" Julie shouted, backing up from the door. "And I'll hate you forever if you die! So come on!"

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"I'll do my best not to die, Julia, and make you or my dad mad, no promises though." She pointed out to where the ships were landing, and kids running away, and shook her head slightly. "Non of them are trained to fight, Julie, even you didn't really have any interest in martial arts, though you sometimes came with me when I was training."

She turned and gave Julia a hug. "You've been a true and dear friend Julia, now, run, at the very least, let me know I helped my friend. And if you want to do me a favor, if any resistance forms out there, help them as you can." She turned her friend, and then pushed her away, turning to face the approaching aliens.

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Sharon turned to face the approaching warriors, her heart pounding. Despite Julia's words, she knew that what she was doing was right. She had to stop the invaders, to keep them from hurting more of the students.

But only some of the soldiers were coming toward her; others were moving wide to go around the edge of the gym. They must have seen some of the students who were running from the building.

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She considered the matter carefully, they didn't seem to be using thier strange energy weapons at the moment, which suggested they wanted folks alive, at least at the moment. If she stayed here, she thought she could last longer, holding them back, but if she charged them, then perhaps she could distract them long enough to allow more folks to get away.

However, she thought, she didn't want to give them the oppertunity to use thier weapons, so she would wait until they got close enough first, that she could be in thier midst, before they brought those weapons. Waiting was worrying her, but she could act too soon, this could get her killed, but she would try to avoid that.

The moment the opertunity came, she charged into the approaching soldiers, with one final word. "Run!" She shouted, as she moved to take the nearest of them down, and then was in thier midst.

Click to reveal..

(04:58:16) ChatBot: (Sharon) rolls 1d20 and gets 11.

Initative

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The men laughed. They laughed at her. Sharon felt anger as one of them said something, something clearly mocking as they laughed some more.

Even when leapt into their midst, they just moved into a rough circle, like cats surrounding a mouse. She hoped that she was at least buying the others time to get away.

Click to reveal..
Initiative: 9

Sharon, please put your init in the post above, then we'll start combat.

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Laugh at her, would they? Sharon was furious, so they though she was a joke, or something to play with? She'd teach this bush of aliens, though she wondered a moment, sense they appeared to be human, but brushed the thought off. Using all of her skill and training, she went in directly for a knockout blow, on the closest one, to snatch his staff as he went down, and knock as many of them off their feet in a sweeping attack as she could.

Click to reveal..

(05:34:09) ChatBot: (Sharon) rolls 1d20 and gets 17.

17 + 6 = 23 for the attack.

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Sharon hit the first one hard in the sternum, to take away his breath and leave him on the floor, but her strike felt like the time she'd sparred with her sensei. She knew that feeling; it was what you felt with hitting someone who was all muscle, someone who had been fighting for years.

She tensed for the assault, ready to dodge, but things didn't go exactly to plan. They didn't attack her one at a time; all six of them moved forward, still grinning at her in a really uncomfortable way. One swung the other end of his staff at her torso, connecting with her side and leaving a bruise. The next blow came across her hips, almost like he'd tried to spank her and missed.

The third blow was the rough one; it caught her in the gut and nearly doubled her over. The wind was knocked out of her, and she felt instantly helpless. Because she was half-bent over, the blow aimed for her side hit her head, and she tumbled into the dark, tasting blood. She thought she felt another blow, but she was already gone, sliding away.

Click to reveal..
Sharon's Damage DC is a 16

Jaffa #1's Toughness Save: Success, no damage

(21:25:54) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 13

------------

Sharon's Defense is 16

Jaffa 1's attack vs DC 16: 22 SUCCESS

(20:49:33) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 16.

Jaffa 2's attack vs DC 16: FAILURE

(20:55:32) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 2.

Jaffa 3's attack vs DC 16: SUCCESS

(20:55:51) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 8.

Jaffa 4's attack vs DC 16: SUCCESS

(20:56:11) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 12.

Jaffa 5's attack vs DC 16: SUCCESS

(20:56:30) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 13.

Jaffa 6's attack vs DC 16: SUCCESS

(20:56:54) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 10.

--------

Sharon's Toughness Save is a +6

Toughness vs. Jaffa #1: 20 - FAILURE, +1 Bruised, -1 to rolls

(21:02:17) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 14.

Toughness vs. Jaffa #3: 18 - FAILURE, +1 Bruised, -2 to rolls

(21:02:23) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 13.

Toughness vs. Jaffa #4: 14 - FAILURE, +1 Bruised and Stunned, -3 to rolls

(21:02:26) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 10.

Toughness vs. Jaffa #5: 17 - FAILURE, +1 Bruised and Unconscious, -4 to rolls

(21:02:30) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 14.

Toughness vs. Jaffa #6: 20 - FAILURE, +1 Bruised, Unconscious and Dying, -5 to rolls

(21:09:08) ChatBot: (Servant_of_Ra) rolls 1d20 and gets 1.

She woke up on a flat surface in an ornate room. She expected to hurt, but she felt fine, oddly. Slowly, she sat up, testing her limbs and found they all worked. The next thing to become important to her was the fact that she was wearing different clothes. The white linen was very sheer and see-through where it was draped in one layer. Thankfully, whoever had dressed her had wound it around her torso several times, so she wasn't essentially naked.

Sharon took another look around the room and saw a window above her bunk. Standing on her tiptoes, she peered out. All she saw was a hallway done in a similar Egyptian motif to her room. "Hello?" she whispered.

"'Ello," someone in a thick Irish accent called back. "Been wonderin' if ewe'd wake up. Noh, lass, are ye with them, oar are ye a pris'ner like meh?"

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Not naked, but not very clothed either, this linen was so shear, well, it was almost embarrassing. Still the question in the air was an important one, and she sat up, taking care not to disrupt this odd garment. "I'm not with them, and I hope some of the others got away, I think I surprised them initially, but they are very good warriors."

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"Ya, no fook," the man replied. After a moment, he said, "I helped an SAS - Special Air Specialist - kill one. Ye sound a might young ta be attackin' dose bastards. I'm Devon. Who're you?"

Sharon didn't know much about her fellow prisoner, except that he clearly wasn't American and sounded older than her. Since she couldn't see him, she couldn't be sure that this wasn't an elaborate ploy to gain her trust or something like that.

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"I'm actually only around 17 or so, almost done with high school, and I attacked them so that some of the other's could get away. I didn't expect to win or anything, though I had hoped to do more damage then I did." She considered a moment, before deciding to go ahead and give him her name, after all, it wouldn't hurt anything. "I'm Sharon, you have any idea what they plan to do with us?" There was a slight tremble at the end, she was a brave girl, but she was still a bit scared at this point.

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"Still, pretty darin' for ah, um, schoolgirl," Devon replied, his voice sounding far away. But it was the only link she had at the moment.

He was quiet before adding in a soft voice, "Nae, lass, I have nae idea what they want." She heard him sigh before he clarified, "Ah donna think it'll be anhathing we like."

That dire speculation left them with little more to say. Time passed; how much was uncertain. But eventually, both of them heard noise. "Iffin you getta chance ta run," Devon said hurriedly, "da it."

Sharon tensed, listening, as a door opened. There was the sound of brief fighting; then something clattered to the floor, and Sharon heard Devon groaning.

Her door opened; a handful of Jaffa stood there. The lead was the palest-skinned one that she'd seen yet. He gave her a little smile and extended a plate of food to her. It looked good, including the handful of strawberries on the center plate.

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She considered the matter a moment, assessing the situation, and decided it would not be the best of choices to try and jump them, and move past them. Actually, they had to notice and understand the assessing looks she gave them, before she took the food, then moved back from the door to take a seat and began to eat what they gave her, after all whatever happened next, she would need her strength.

"So, is this where I find out what you have planned for me, or does that come later? And for that matter, do any of you even speak my language?"

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The six of them - she couldn't be sure that it was the same six who jumped her, but their markings looked similar - just looked at her. As she sat and ate, another one stepped in and handed her a clay pot. As she took it, he smiled at her-

Just like Gary Forsyeth had grinned at her when he'd given her that flower in 6th grade. She didn't have time to consider what that meant because he waved her to her feet. He, or rather, they wanted her to come with them. Oddly, they didn't seem to be making her do so.

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She glanced down at the pot when it was given to her, and looked at it a moment, then looked up a bit confused. Having finished her food, she decided to go with them, it didn't make sense to resist them at the moment, she wasn't being hurt, and they hadn't asked her to do anything she was unwilling to do. Of course, she was still a bit worried, and she wondered what the strange pot gift was supposed to mean.

The look that the fellow gave her made her wonder if Julia didn't have some of her crazy suggestions at least partly right. They were human looking enough, perhaps they were looking for.. the thought stopped her a moment.. she really hoped that wasn't what it was, she was not going to be some brood mare.

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The room they led her to was massive. There were dozens of people here, men and women. The men were dressed in armor or Egyptian loincloths; the women in long linen dresses like what she wore. The men were sparring together, while the women watched. They were all about her age or younger, and while the setup should have reminded her of the giggling cheer-idiots watching the dumbass jocks, it seemed much more serious that that.

She was directed over to the women, who looked her over. They seemed to talk amongst themselves and then some took her by the arms and started to lead her away. They were smiling and trying to talk to her. They kept saying one phrase over and over, "Hemet Nekhet."

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She frowned at them as they kept trying to say the same thing to her, and she shook her head slightly. "I don't understand, Hermet Nekhet? What is that supposed to mean?" She looked between the men and women, and looked around a bit. Somehow, she couldn't help but wonder why this setup, and what was going on.

The fact that she was dressed identical to the women had her wondering, did these folks somehow want her to join them? Maybe they had some sort of respect or admiration of her courage intially? She couldn't figure out what was going on here, and that made her nervious.

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Once they had her in the corner of the room, they began to make her up. They drew out brushes and black powder. Smiling at her, they began to paint heavy lines around her eyes. Another had green powder on her brush, and she painted Sharon's eyelids. Yet another girl was brushing something red onto her lips and cheeks. One held a copper mirror so that she could see what they were doing.

Meanwhile, duplicates of what they were using were put in her clay pot. Sharon blinked in surprise as she was gifted with all the cosmetics she could ever need.

Two more started combing her hair, putting copper ornaments in it as they braided and arranged it. The other girls were making her up!

When they were done, they all sat in a circle and pointed to themselves and said a word or two. Sharon quickly figured out that it was their name. Then one pointed at her and said, "Hemet Nekhet."

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"Wait." She looked at the various woman present, her gaze turning from one of them to another. "That's supposed to be my name?" She pointed to herself. "Sharon Knight." She paused a moment, then in with a frown and a making her stance as confused as possible "Hemet Nekhet?" Why were they insisting on a special name for her? Or was that some kind of title?

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Her protests over her name were largely ignored. Instead, she was led back to the sparring men. There the women stood, watching the men. There were occasional whispers, but most of the women were watching the men, their eyes bright.

The men, aware that the women were watching, began to show off. Sharon had already seen too much of their martial prowess, but there was nothing else to do other than look into her pot. At least this way, she could start learning something.

After about an hour, the men stopped, panting. Still flexing and showing off, they left the room, talking and laughing. More than a few men looked at the women as they left.

Only one approached. He was the paler one who had brought her food; smiling, he pulled a small golden disk out of the decorations hanging in his hair. It had a hole in the top so that it could be braided in; with a slightly softer smile, he gave it to her.

As he walked away, she saw the other woman whispering and looking at her speculatively.

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To say she was confused was an understatement, she was completely out of her element, and now she had a golden disk in her hands, together with the bowl, and she turned to look at some of the other woman, a look of confusion and distress on her face. It wasn't that she was lacking in bravery, it was simply that she had nothing to go by to understand what was happening. In her mind, they should have imprisoned her, killed her, or let her go, not give her a bowl and treat her like a princess.. it didn't make any sense. "Please, can't anyone speak my language, or explain what's going on?"

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The moment the last man had cleared the door, the women's mood changed. They began to talk and laugh, moving out into the space that the men had occupied. One of them took Sharon's pot and the disk from her, and set them aside. Then she pulled her out on the floor and directed her toward a waiting woman.

The woman took an unfamiliar fighting stance and then signaled for Sharon to attack her.

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Finally, something she understood, the woman here wanted to spar with her. Why they had waited until the men were gone, she wasn't entirely sure, except that perhaps this was a male dominated alien culture? Or maybe something else?

Nevertheless, relieved to find herself in a situation she finally understood, she took a fighting stance herself. Waiting a moment, watching the other woman carefully, she launched an attack, timing it as best she could.

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The woman was no slouch, martially. She kept Sharon on her toes; she was actually stronger than her, and a little more skilled at using her brute strength to her advantage. Sharon found herself enjoying it; she couldn't understand much of what was being said, but the feeling of camaraderie was enjoyable. Oddly, these women didn't treat her like an outsider, just someone who couldn't speak.

Even that was rectified. The woman keeping watch on the door suddenly hissed a warning, and the sparring stopped. One second, the women were dancing like dangerous vipers; the next they were lined up doing exercises as a man came in. Only Sharon was left standing awkwardly, looking lost.

"You," the man said, pointing at Sharon. "I have come to teach you the tongue of the gods. Come with me." Without waiting to see her response, he walked out of the room.

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  • 2 weeks later...

She was a bit surprised at the way the women all went to from combat to exercise, though she went with it, after all, when in Rome, do as the Romans. Or in this case, the other strange alien women.

When the man simply called her you, and pointed at her, she pushed down the impulse to say anything in response, and simply followed. She was however, watching and listening to everything, as she followed the man out of the room. The more she learned now, the better off she would be later.

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rahotep.jpgThere was another room, but this one was empty save a table. The man took off his helmet, revealing sweat-darkened black hair. It went well with his Middle Eastern features. "I am Rahotep. It means, 'Ra is satisfied.' You are Hemet Nekhet. It means lioness."

"My name is Sharon," Sharon insisted, the words coming out before she could stop herself.

"Your former name is Sharon," Rahotep said, his voice bored. "You will find it unwise to attempt to defy Anubis in this matter. He picked it himself." He looked at her expression and inquired, "You have a question?"

"Yes," she said. "Who is Anubis? I know he's supposed to be one of the gods-"

"Never call one of us a god." Rahotep's voice was harsh. "Ra may have seen fit to grace some of us with the names of a god, but we are Jaffa. We serve the gods."

"Ok, so who is Anubis?" she asked, struggling to maintain her brave face in front of this guy. "And what are Jaffa?"

Rahotep drew a deep breath before starting. His dark eyes bore into her, as if he could force comprehension through his gaze. "Anubis is the greatest of us. He is Lord Ra's favored war leader, called his First Prime. The Jaffa are servants of the gods. We give our life and souls to their edification, that their glory may shine forever, and that we will receive our reward in the afterlife."

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She didn't like being renamed, she thought that she was showing it, perhaps more then was wise to do. "Why do I need a different name?" She asked, trying to keep herself from getting upset with this man, though she found his manner somewhat, irritating. Though he was handsome, and she wondered what on earth she was in for, why they were treating her the way they were. "And why am I here? Besides learning the language I mean."

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"You need a name worthy of your new life," Rahotep said, his voice retaining more patience than most Jaffa would have managed, though Sharon couldn't know that. "Why would you think Sharon is better. Tell me, what does your name mean? Do you know?"

"Yes!" she snapped back, "it means 'a fertile plain.'" She'd seen that on a cheap keychain once; she hated it but was glad she knew it now.

"Oh, does it?" Rahotep asked, clearly bemused. "As charming as that is, how is 'a grassy field' suitable for a woman-warrior such as yourself? No, Hemet Nekhet is a much better name.

"As for your purpose, you will join us, hence needing to learn the language of the gods," Rahotep told her. His fingers drummed on the table lightly. "Anubis has been assured by Ra that Hathor will be found, and our reward for long service will be wives. For those that don't have them yet, naturally."

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She listened to what he was telling her, and paled slightly at the last, she certainly wasn't happy about the idea of being made someone's wife without her permission. "I can't say I don't happen to find it somewhat flattering to be likened to a lioness, but I still don't like being renamed, when my father gave me this name with love, but there are other things about what you said I like less."

She paused a moment, then took a deep breath, before continuing. "But really, I suppose there's no point in fighting you over a name, if it must be, I'll be Hemet Nekhet, at least I can live with it." Among them at least, she would be Hemet Nekhet, but in her own heart and mind, she would be Sharon Knight.

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"But you can't live with being courted?" Rahotep asked. "We are the Jaffa, in a way that the rest of those who bear the name are not. We are Ra's personal bodyguards - we serve him with fidelity and honor. You will do your service to him, of that you can be sure. But how can you be a good mate to a man if you have no say in the matter? You will hate and undermine him - and no warrior can function for long with poison in his bed. So it is your choice... but it is your duty to Lord Ra, as a woman in his warrior caste."

"What if I refuse?" Sharon asked, careful to make it a question.

"Then you will be dealt with," Rahotep said evenly. There was no distaste in his voice as he said it, only casual, factual deliberation. "Lord Ra will not tolerate disobedience."

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Being courted was actually a little better then simply being given to someone as a mate, she silently admitted to herself, even though she might not say it aloud. At least she had some choice in the matter, and if Rahotep was watching her, he would have noted her relaxing slightly at his words about it being her choice.

She was silent for a few moments, saying nothing, simply thinking, unless her teacher chose to speak up again. She also didn't care for Ra, a sentiment she strongly suspected she should keep to herself.

But.. as she thought the matter over, she realized there were some advantages to her position, especially should she ever manage to escape. She would certainly be well posistioned to learn a lot about the invaders this way, and perhaps even learn what happened to her father. The price though, was herself, at least her body, in not her mind, and that was not sitting well with her. She tried to remind herself that there were places on earth even today, that one didn't chose who one married, but it didn't help much.

Or perhaps, as uneasy as the idea made her, persuade her.. potential husband to join her in escaping?

Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke up again. "Thank you for being patient with me, I'll try to come to terms what what your telling me, but it's not easy to go from being free to do as I please, to being told I have no choice about such important matters. Especially after having been attacked and seeing friends and people I knew for years dying." She waited to see how he would respond. "I suppose I have a lot to learn." That at least, wasn't new.

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"You do," he said easily, quirking an eyebrow. "Now are you ready to learn?" At her terse nod, they began. It was a long, tedious process; Sharon had never learned a second language, and the going was slow. Requests for paper to help her remember were met with a blank stare; after she'd explained writing to him, she was told that Rahotep couldn't write and had never needed to do so.

"It explains your terrible memory," he sighed, rubbing his face and blinking at her wearily. "You write everything down and never have to remember." It wasn't long after their talking on writing that he dismissed her, sending her back to where the women were.

They were in the middle of dinner, and she was pulled onto a cushion and handed a plate. The women were all talking and aside from not being able to understand them, it sounded like woman from around the world gathering to talk. Then one word popped out at her; Rahotep had taught her the word for 'sweet'.

"Bunh wie?" Sharon repeated, as the women fell silent, looking at her. Then one grinned and handed her a spoonful of the black tar she'd passed over earlier. "Bunh wie," the woman assured her, and Sharon nervously touched her tongue to it. It was sweet and Sharon nodded and repeated the word. The women cheered her accomplishment, and plied her with sweet drinks and food, just so she could say the word over and over.

It was like they had made her one of them.

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