A/N: I own neither the Stargate universe nor the Highlander universe, nor even the hints of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe. I borrow them merely for my own pleasure.

Summary: Maybe this time someone will listen to Cassandra when she warns them of what will happen.

The Gods of Earth

Jack O'Neill wanted to scream at the woman, "Run away as fast as you can!" She probably wouldn't have listened even if he had been able to speak.

She was beautiful in an ageless fashion, her body like a young woman but her confidence in her movement speaking of experience. She was probably respected in her field, wealthy in her family, and never even considered the fact that this meeting could go as dangerously wrong as it was about to. Jack wondered how long she would last—her personality, her hopes, her dreams—once she was trapped in her own mind, watching as a Goa'uld destroyed everything around her. He wondered how long he would last.

It was ironic that the torture in his past was the only thing that had prepared him for this. If he hadn't experienced so much pain and death already, he would surely have gone insane. Experience had taught him not patience but perseverance. Hope. Some day there would be a chance. Somehow he would escape and gain control over his own body once more.

In the mean time, he cursed his own maverick past.

It had been three weeks since he'd been possessed and so far, no one had noticed anything wrong with him. Or rather, if they thought something was up, they thought it was just one more instance of Mad Jack developing some scheme. None of them realized that the scheme was the invasion of Earth or that it was something other than Mad Jack who was developing it.

The Goa'uld was using Jack's own knowledge of the world's defenses to take them down. Jack just reminded himself that Earth had thrown the Goa'uld out before. They would do so again. Maybe they would lose this war, but they'd survive, at least, enough of them would survive to fight another one.

They had to.

"General O'Neill, thank you for agreeing to meet with me." The woman—a director of the NID maybe?—smiled rather flirty.

"It's my pleasure, Directory Troy," the Goa'uld said using Jack's mouth.

"Please, call me Cassandra."

"Then you must call me, Jack." The Goa'uld smiled.

Cassandra smiled back.

Jack desperately wanted to roll his eyes.

"So, I have some information for you," Cassandra Troy said. And wow, now that Jack was paying attention, that was a rough name to have given a kid. It would add a bit of irony to her eventual fate as a prisoner inside her own body.

And yes, Jack accepted that his humor was a bit dark at this point.

"Before we get to that, I wanted to thank you for all you've done for us," the Goa'uld said. "I have a gift for you."

The Goa'uld offered her a fancy jar. Inside it was a hibernating Goa'uld. It would wake as soon as the jar was opened. It would wake and take possession of whoever had woken it.

She accepted the jar, and smiled as she admired it. "What a lovely piece of work. Thank you. I will treasure it and the possibilities is offers me." There was something odd in that phrasing. And while her smile hadn't really changed, Jack noticed an almost predatory aspect to it. Something about it even made the Goa'uld a bit uneasy. She made no move to take the lid off the jar, even though the weight surely told her there was something inside.

Jack really shouldn't have thought her smile was 'almost predatory'. It was definitely predatory.

This was not going the way the Goa'uld had expected. It hadn't expected to have to actually talk with her. Jack wasn't even sure if it was sexist or racist regarding not even wanting to waste time to hear the woman's information before snaking her. "So, you have information that can only be passed on in person."

"Yes, it's a message. Will you listen to it?"

And that phrasing just set off all the warning bells. Jack wanted to warn someone to be careful but he wasn't entirely sure who he should be warning. Other than himself.

The Goa'uld didn't immediately respond and then the woman spoke again. "Listen to me." There was something odd with her voice. It echoed in a way that was like and yet completely unlike a Goa'uld own duo-tone voice. They would have sensed if she had a Goa'uld already.

"The message is for your kindred as well. So you will listen to me and you will return to your kindred and you will repeat my message. Do you understand?"

"Yes," the agreement was dragged out of the Goa'uld and out of Jack too. A single agreement. They would each return to their people and repeat this message. Her voice echoed in his head at a level not even the Goa'uld had achieved. Any Goa'uld's voice was a poor knock off of this woman's voice and Jack could only be grateful that he had never heard such a voice before. He wished he wasn't hearing it now.

"Very good." Jack still felt drugged and the Goa'uld too. He knew he would abide by the compulsion. The woman continued to speak and Jack noticed that she looked serious now rather than either flirty or predatory; serious and angry. Not angry like a Goa'uld in all its entitlement but angry like a person facing a problem they didn't want to deal with. "This is the message:

"The age of Gods ended, long, long ago.
Some Gods retreated to the Heavens:
Apophis and Ba'al and Ra;
Some Gods retreated to the Stars:
Odin and Loki and Thor;
Some Gods retreated to the Depths:
Illyria, Glorificus and Hart;

"Even in their retreat, new Gods arose,
These are the Gods in the age of Mankind.
Distant and mythical are
Jehovah and G-d and Allah.
Shackled and hidden are
Gilgamesh, Methos, and Sineya.

"And Mankind rules the Earth.
And the Gods are distant and mythical,
Shackled and hidden.

"Beware the end of the age of Mankind,
For the Gods of Earth are jealous creatures.
Beware the funeral games of Mankind
For in the end will be the Gathering,
And the Gods will fight."

The words echoed in his head, dark and foreboding.

"None of us win," Director Troy's voice was back to human, sounding all the more soft in contrast to what it had been, "when the hidden gods reveal themselves. Not even them. I'll see myself out."

She left the office, carrying with her the jar with the hibernating Goa'uld in it.

Neither Jack nor the Goa'uld even thought of trying to stop her. The Goa'uld reached for the phone to schedule a plane to take them back to the Mountain, to the Stargate, to his kindred.

"And that is what happened," Jack finished his report.

He was exhausted and terrified and deeply disturbed, not to mention surrounded by way too many people judging him. But at least he was back at the Mountain, minus one brain snake.

"Cassandra of Troy gave you a prophesy?" Daniel sounded more bemused than disbelieving, which was kind of disturbing in and of itself.

"Director Cassandra Troy with the National Intelligence Department gave the Goa'uld a warning. And was able to compel us both to repeat that warning. A command strong enough to force a Goa'uld to leave me behind when it left through the Stargate."

"The NID say they don't have any director by that name."

"And they're always so truthful," Jack couldn't help but snark back. But more to the point, "I don't know what going on. I can only tell you what I experienced and the message I heard."

"And what do you make of that message?"

"What I think is that we need to stop the upcoming Goa'uld invasion. And not just to stop the Goa'uld but to stop whatever will appear to fight the Goa'uld if we don't succeed."