The Price to Pay

Zine
Title:	The Price to Pay
Publisher:	Waveney Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Judith Proctor
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	July 2002
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Stargate: SG-1
Language:	English
External Links:	Online here and here
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The Price to Pay is a gen 67-page novel by Judith Proctor which premiered at Eclecticon 2002.

Its sequel is Truth and Consequences.

Summary

From a distributor, "Complex plot featuring Harry Maybourne, the Asgard, a parallel reality, the goa'uld, the tok'ra and O'Neill's four-year-old daughter. When Sunlight on Water came through the Stargate looking for her father, Jack O'Neill thought his dreams had come true. Within days, he was fighting against hopeless odds to save an entire world."

Excerpt

Colonel O'Neill," Hammond said, "You've committed two breaches of security regulations in one day. You leave me with no option other than a court martial.

Within days, O'Neill and his team were fighting for the safety not just of the SGC, but of a whole world. Millions were dying of plague. Was there anything that could be done to save them?

Cassandra rubbed her eyes, screwed them up and rubbed them again. "We're still losing people. Feretti died last night. I can't..." Her face crumpled and she buried it in her hands.

The bangles on her bare arms chimed together as Nirrti laughed. "There is no treaty, Colonel. The Asgard withdrew their protection from Earth long ago."

It was a fight that necessitated the most unlikely of allies: "How come you're the one occupying the moral high ground here?" O'Neill demanded. Harry spread his hands in a 'who, me?' gesture. "It provides entertainment."

But how far can Harry Maybourne really be trusted? Maybourne," O'Neill said dangerously, "we had a deal." "And you believed me?"

It's the tale of a tok'ra, Kantele, and his love for his host and his host's family.

It's a tale of laughter: O'Neill negotiated most of the minefield successfully, but died on the borders of known space when hit by a section of egg-box. In death, he was avenged by Hammond who got into the spirit of things and returned fire with an assorted selection of paper death-gliders.

And a tale of friendship and love in the most unlikely of places. There are times and places when love is difficult and there are times when you know it's impossible. Just because you know it can't work, doesn't mean the feelings go away...

But above all, it's a novel that requires the characters to ask themselves the question: What matters most to you, and what price are you prepared to pay for it?

Reactions and Reviews

One-story zine by Judith Proctor 68 pages, A4, perfect bound. The only picture is on the cover.

"When the past catches up with you and what seemed like a right decision at the time seems like a very bad one in retrospect, what price are you willing to pay?"

Judith Proctor has done it again. She has written a novel with a strong theme, with nifty ideas, strong characterisation, and unexpected twists. It just happens to be a Stargate story rather than a Blake's 7 one. But she has the characters right; though it is interesting that, besides Jack, the key characters here are minor ones: Maybourne (which one would already know by looking at the cover) and, unexpectedly, Cassandra. She gives us plausible insight into both of them, making them more than just cyphers for "convenient bad guy" or "convenient sufferer". I like the original characters too.

Note that, besides liking Maybourne, the other thing that Judith likes is Sam and Jack romance -- but if that kind of thing makes you run screaming, don't worry, it's only a very minor part of the story, mainly just adding to the angst. And there is surely angst here. No, they don't live happily ever after, just hopefully. There are loose ends, which is presumably why the author intends to write a sequel. Now I just have to wait for it.