The first thing Jack thought when the bullet tore into his shoulder was Ahhh! followed by a stream of invective that he was pretty sure his mother hadn’t taught him. In fact, he doubted she would have understood half of it.
An instant later, Jack’s mind cleared a bit to allow him to have his second thought, which was Since when is Daniel such a lousy shot?
His third thought came immediately after his back hit the wall behind him, sending a new wave of pain through his damaged shoulder. It was almost identical to his first thought, though this time even he didn’t understand a few of the curses flowing through his mind. Jack made a quick mental note as he slid to the floor: Must stop hanging out with linguists.
Jack blearily watched the offending linguist slump to the deck of the ship. Looked like Teal’c had whacked him over the head with something. Sweet.
“Sir!” Jack lolled his head across the wall until a battered-looking Carter came into focus, leaning over him. She seemed concerned. That was nice.
“Carter?”
“Yes, sir. Dad’s getting his healing device and the med kit.” She pressed her hands to his wound, apparently in an attempt to slow the flow of blood. Jack realized that this time he might have verbalized his reigning opinion of the situation because Carter winced and apologized.
Soon Jacob was there. “Colonel O’Neill, the bullet must be extracted before I can heal you.” Check that. Selmak was there. Jacob was apparently out to lunch. Dual toned vocal wonkiness was just what Jack wanted to hear right now. Although it was probably just as well, since he was already conditioned to expect pain whenever he heard it. He felt the prick of a needle in his arm, and the pain suddenly became much more tolerable.
Then Carter was digging around in his shoulder, and despite her stated attempts at gentleness and whatever she’d just jabbed him with, Jack felt the best thing to do would be to just pass out for a while.
Sometime later, he woke up and felt quite a bit better. He sent a test twitch through his left arm and was relieved to feel only a dull ache in his shoulder. He really loved healing devices. It was too bad no one at the SGC could reliably use one.
Time to open his eyes. Jack looked up to find Carter still sitting beside him. Her hand was resting on his arm in a comforting gesture, but her face was turned away and pulled back in an expression Jack could only describe as disgust. He turned his head to follow her gaze. Ah. That explained it.
Teal’c, or more likely Jacob, had found a stronger set of restraints somewhere and had trussed a glaring Zipacna up in them. Jacob was using the healing device on the nasty looking bump on the side of the Goa’uld’s head. Teal’c was glowering over the procedure, clearly intent on ensuring there would be no further trouble from the prisoner.
“No wonder your kind are so weak, if you show such compassion for your enemies,” Zipacna said.
“Believe me,” the deep tones of Selmak answered, “it is not our enemy we are feeling compassion for. I see no reason for Dr. Jackson to continue suffering from this headache.”
“You believe me, Selmak of the Tok’ra, this headache is the least of my host’s concerns.”
Selmak drew back and deactivated the device. “Stop it. Now.”
Jack frowned. Stop what?
Zipacna smirked. “You cannot force me to stop. My host must be punished for his continued resistance. A necessity you refuse to see, as you insist on letting your host believe he is an equal in your laughable ‘partnership’.”
His host must be punished? Jack didn’t like the sound of that. And neither did Selmak, judging by the way his eyes flashed. Only seriously pissed off Tok’ra pulled that little trick. Selmak reactivated the healing device and jammed it into the back of Zipacna’s neck. The Goa’uld howled in pain and passed out.
Jack sat up. What the hell had just happened?
“Selmak?” Carter exclaimed, rising to her feet. “What did you just do?”
“I have incapacitated Zipacna. He was committing har’kalash. It could not be allowed to continue.”
“Harka what?” Jack stood up, and received Carter’s rather belated help graciously. It couldn’t be a good thing that he could see Teal’c’s jaw clenching from clear across the room. “Teal’c?”
“Har’kalash,” Teal’c said. “Torment of the soul. It is the pain that a symbiote can inflict on its host. It is said to be...excruciating.”
Selmak shuddered. “It is.”
“Have you done it?” Jack winced immediately at the expression on Selmak’s face. “I’m guessing that’s a no.”
Selmak glared for another moment before his head dipped and Jacob took control. “Wow, Jack. You really do know how to endear yourself.”
“What’d I say?”
“Har’kalash is one of the most ingrained taboos the Tok’ra have. You might as well have asked him if he ate children while you were at it.”
“Ah, see, I didn’t know that.”
“I’m sure Selmak will realize that once he’s calmed down.”
“I’m still not sure I understand. What was Zipacna doing?” Carter asked.
Jacob sighed. “A symbiote connects directly into the nervous system of its host. It can control motor function, access memory, monitor sensory input. This is all done through force of will, and a strong host can occasionally keep a symbiote from attaining full control. That’s where some Goa’uld resort to har’kalash. The host, whatever Zipacna argues, maintains their identity, at least until they are driven mad by the sarcophagus. They are also able to receive sensory input. The problem is that a symbiote can create their own input that only the host can feel. Zipacna was directly stimulating Daniel’s pain pathway in an effort to control him. He’d likely have done so each time Daniel resisted him.”
“Oh, God,” Carter whispered, and Jack watched most of the colour drain out of her face. She was looking at Daniel’s still form with horror. She must know how much Daniel would have resisted. Especially when that bastard tried to do what he’d been doing when he ripped Carter’s shirt like— Don’t think about it, Jack!
Instead he took a deep breath. “So that’s what is happening to Daniel? Right now?”
“Sel’s stopped it for now by knocking out both Zipacna and Daniel. But he won’t be able to do it again without risking permanent harm.”
“I don’t care if he does harm Zipacna permanently. We’re just going to kill him taking him out anyway.”
“Selmak doesn’t care about him either, Jack. But he does care about Daniel. He’d be at risk too. I don’t think you want him brain damaged.”
Jack shuddered. As much as he might joke that Daniel could stand to lose a few IQ points, the thought of it actually happening was devastating. “No. We don’t. I assume we’ve turned this crate back towards the protected planet?
Jacob nodded. “Took care of it while you were unconscious. We’ll be there in a few hours. I have to get back to the helm. Try to make sure he doesn’t cause any more trouble? I don’t like watching the bodies of people I care about be used to try to kill my daughter.”
“Yeah, and I really enjoyed being shot by my best friend, Jacob.”
Jacob nodded again and then got up and headed back to the helm. Carter lingered for another moment beside Daniel, tracing her fingers down the side of his healed face where the butt of Teal’c’s zat had laid him flat. Then she got up and crossed to the other side of the room. Reaching into a supply crate, she took a spare T-shirt and headed to the small bathroom.
Jack looked up at Teal’c, whose eyes had watched her go. “Is it just me, or is she taking this harder than might be expected?”
“I am not certain that she could take it ‘harder’ than what it is. This is a most difficult situation. But if you are asking if I believe there are deeper feelings than friendship involved, I do. Both Major Carter and Daniel Jackson have harboured feelings for each other that I believe they consider to be inappropriate for some time. This crisis has brought them to the fore.”
“Both of them? What are you saying, Teal’c? That they’re in love?”
“They are, though I do not believe either of them is aware of the other’s feelings.”
Jack tried to process that for a few minutes. Daniel and Carter. He’d occasionally caught Daniel watching Carter when she wasn’t looking and had immediately recognized it for what it was, since he’d occasionally caught himself looking at her too. Jack had some pretty deep feelings for her, though he had no intention of ever acting on them, even in the brief moments when he let himself acknowledge them. He was surprised to find that the idea of Daniel and Carter didn’t bother him that much.
Jack remembered Carter’s grief after Kelowna, or Langara, or whatever the hell it was called now. He also remembered her joy at Daniel’s return. He’d thought it was just because she’d got her best friend back, but when he added it to catching her checking out Daniel’s ass while on the base, he figured Teal’c was probably right. Clearly, Jack would have to set any feelings he had aside.
Jack patted Teal’c on the shoulder. He stood, grimacing at the throb in his shoulder, and made his way over to Carter, who after changing had sat down against the wall. He sat down beside her. “You okay?”
She nodded slowly, then paused and shook her head. “No. I’m not. I hate this. I hate him. I hate what he’s doing to Daniel. I hate that he almost killed you. I hate everything about this situation.” She thumped her head back against the wall behind her.
“We’ll get even, Carter. Zipacna will die and we’ll have Daniel back.” Jack looked back at the unconscious archaeologist, not believing his next words even as he said them. “Good as new.”
Carter shook her head again. “It’ll never be the same again, sir. Zipacna said Daniel loves me. Daniel didn’t want me to know, and now I do.”
Jack could just guess when the snake had let that tidbit slip. Bastard. “You believe him?’
She laughed harshly. “I wanted to. And I didn’t want to. But I think Daniel confirmed it.” Her hand came up and brushed the bruises on her neck. “I can’t lose him now, Colonel. I need him. I love him. And if he loves me...”
Score one for Teal’c. Very perceptive, that Jaffa. “We’ll get him back. Thor’s doohickey will free him, we’ll gate back to Earth, and then we’ll work together to bring him back to us.”
Carter nodded, though Jack wasn’t convinced that she believed him. He stopped talking and let find her own answers in her thoughts. But he didn’t leave. She needed his support beside her, even if she didn’t know it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Zipacna looked warily around as the rings deposited him and his captors on the protected planet. He tugged once more at his restraints, but again he failed to break them. The Jaffa glowered down at him, and he ceased his struggle for the time being. He’d have to hope for a chance later.
“Uh, Carter? I’m thinking gating back might not be an option,” O’Neill said from behind them. “Unless you can fix that?
Zipacna turned to look at him, and then in the direction he was pointing. That caught his attention. Not only was the Chappa’ai on the ground rather than in its normal upright position, but it was broken into several pieces. The control device was also smashed. Impressive. Zipacna might have been curious as to what power had managed the feat, if he wasn’t so concerned with his imminent destruction.
Carter walked over to the remains of the Chappa’ai. “No, sir. I think we’ll be flying back with Dad.” She shook her head and looked toward the native-looking ruins which lay nearby, crumbled between the Chappa’ai, the rings and what appeared to be some sort Asgard warning device. “I wish we could find out what happened here.”
“More pressing matters, Carter.”
She turned back and rejoined them. “I agree.”
The tall Asgard device stood before the destroyed gate, and the shol’va shoved Zipacna stumbling towards it. He caught himself and attempted to salvage a bit of dignity by walking to the obelisk on his own.
‘It’s not an obelisk,’ said his host.
‘Be silent.’
‘Uh, no. I don’t think so. You’ve spent so much time and effort trying to get me to share information with you, I thought you might appreciate learning something about the device that’s about to send us to your death.’
Zipacna was biting back a snarl of rage at the rather gleeful explanation of the differences between an obelisk and a stele going on in his head when the structure in question started to hum menacingly. The humans and the shol’va stepped closer, all of them grabbing hold of him. A blue light shot out of the top of the device and slowly scanned over Carter, O’Neill and Teal’c. Then the light brushed over him, scanning the length of his body before returning to his head. There was a sharp burning that seemed to emanate from his own symbiote body, spreading along the synapses of his host, and he gritted his teeth against the pain of it. The world faded around him.
Then there was blackness.
Zipacna awoke slowly, aware that he was now in a different location. It was dark and damp and reeked of mould. He opened his eyes and realized that the humans were both lying unconscious next to him. He sat up slowly. If he could just reach them before they awoke—
A firm hand grasped his shoulder and held him in place. “Do not consider it.”
“Or what?” Zipacna snarled at the shol’va. “You’ll kill me? You’re going to do that anyway.”
‘Hope you’re not expecting sympathy. I’m fresh out.’
“O’Neill! Major Carter! You must awaken now,” Teal’c called. O’Neill groaned softly, and the woman sat up. Zipacna felt his last real hope of survival drain away at the looks the two gave him. Still, he had to try.
“This is a mistake. I have valuable information that could protect your world from Anubis and his armies.”
“And you’ll string us along for years without ever disclosing something actually useful,” O’Neill muttered as he stood. “Not worth it.”
“I would be willing to take a new host. You would only have to procure one for me.”
‘Never going to happen.’
“Never gonna happen.” O’Neill gestured with his primitive weapon. “Get up.”
The cavern they were in was roughly cut stone, but there was a wide archway leading to a much more soundly constructed room. The stone panels were straight and flush with a smooth floor and ceiling. It appeared to be empty, but beyond it was an oddly shaped doorway in the shape of a stylized T. There was a corridor beyond that, and Zipacna could see sunlight streaming in from beyond. If he could just make it out of that room and down the hall, he might have a chance of escaping out onto the surface of this world.
Zipacna was tensing his muscles to bolt through the doorway when he caught a stray thought from his host, one the human had immediately tried to suppress. Zipacna sent a flare of pain and dug after the thought, managing to catch it before his host hid it away in that infuriating corner of his. The doorway was the hammer device? He’d been about to try to escape through the very thing that was going to kill him?
‘Maybe I’m trying to trick you out of taking your only chance for escape,’ whispered his host once he’d recovered.
‘And maybe you wish me to voluntarily enter the contraption.’
‘Well, it would save time.’
If he couldn’t run to freedom perhaps he could still talk his way out. They valued the life of their friend above all else, it seemed. He could use that. He’d taken the woman’s weapon before. He could do it again.
‘It’s not going to work.’
But it would work. She was weak, and she was afraid of harming his host’s body. He’d get her weapon and use it to negotiate. He had an ideal hostage in his host. They seemed willing to risk everything to protect the man; they would spare Zipacna to save him.
He lunged for Carter, reaching his bound hands for her weapon and twisting his body to ram her into the nearby wall with his shoulder. That was the plan anyway. What actually happened was a blur, but Zipacna felt himself twisting too far, and then stumbling. He slammed into the wall and then into the floor and felt his breath leave his body with a whoosh.
‘Way to go, Sam!’
Zipacna shook his head slightly to clear it and looked up at the three faces peering down at him. The woman looked a strange combination of apologetic and smug.
“Ouch. That must’ve hurt.” O’Neill glanced at the Major. “Nice moves, Carter.”
“Indeed,” the Jaffa agreed.
There was one more thing to try. Zipacna suppressed the overtones in his voice. He groaned and allowed his head to fall to the side before looking back up at the humans. “Jack?” he called softly.
‘That isn’t going to work either,’ his host muttered.
And it appeared it wouldn’t, judging from the look O’Neill had on his face. “Hello, not-Daniel.”
Zipacna sat up slowly, and brought trembling hands up to his forehead, pressing the heels into his eyes. “I am- I am Daniel.”
“No. You’re not.”
Zipacna pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, I am.”
“Are not.”
“Am too.”
Zipacna caught Major Carter and the Jaffa glancing at each other. It seemed this was working; they were beginning to believe, despite what his host was muttering in his head.
O’Neill, on the other hand, wasn’t. “Are not.”
“Jack, shut up and listen for a minute. Zipacna wants to cut a deal. He’s agreed to let me have control for the majority of the time in exchange for his life. If my continuing to be a host is unacceptable, he’s agreed to move to a new host once we find a volunteer.”
“And you’re okay with that?” O’Neill asked.
‘Hell, no.’
Zipacna glanced at the Hammer and back at O’Neill. “Well, to be honest, it’s looking a bit better than going through that thing.” He noted O’Neill’s disbelieving expression. “From what little he’s shown me, I think Zipacna’s information may be the key to defeating Anubis. He believes that with time he’ll be able to access my memories of ascension. If it’ll save Earth, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
“Yes, well, it’s not one I’m willing to let you make. Assuming that’s even you talking. We’ll beat Anubis some other way.”
“I don’t think we can, Jack.”
Carter knelt down beside him, temptingly close. He could almost reach forward and grab for her already bruised neck, though the ever-alert Jaffa with the Tau’ri weapon dissuaded him from trying it. Instead, he looked deeply into her eyes, willing her to believe. And she did, he could tell, though his host seemed to still read doubt in her gaze. “Why?” she asked. “Why would you doubt we can defeat Anubis after all we’ve been through?”
“We can’t be sure. How can we risk what he would do to Earth? Look what he did to Abydos. My second home, Sam. My family. Skaara, Kasuf. The family of my Amonet.”
To Zipacna’s surprise Carter stood up immediately, her weapon swinging back towards him. His host felt a sudden surge of an emotion Zipacna couldn’t quite identify.
“The family of whom?” O’Neill asked mildly.
Triumph. The emotion his host was feeling was triumph. Zipacna cursed the man, and then cursed himself as he realized the extent of his error. “Of my Sha’re.”
“You said Amonet.”
“Slip of the tongue. You know I meant Sha’re, Jack.”
“Slip of the forked tongue, you mean.” O’Neill gestured to the Jaffa, and both of them grabbed Zipacna’s upper arms, hauling him to his feet. He struggled against them, but despite his strength he couldn’t break their grip. And it wouldn’t matter if he did, as Carter’s weapon was trained on him.
They dragged Zipacna through the Asgard room and over to the archway. He made one more attempt to break free, and succeeded in escaping O’Neill’s grip, but Teal’c was too strong. The Jaffa clasped both of his shoulders.
“Say goodnight, Zippy” O’Neill said with a smirk.
‘Goodnight, Zippy!’ sang his host as the Jaffa shoved them forward into the hammer device.
Red light flared all around him as some sort of energy field sprang up. He tried to step forward out of the light, but there was a force field holding him in. And Teal’c was preventing his escape back into the sealed room. A terrible burning started in the back of his neck, and suddenly Zipacna was no longer aware of the sensations of his human body. The agony of his symbiote form stole all of his attention. He threw back his head and screamed.
The pain seemed to go on and on, and after only a few seconds he wished for the death he’d fought so hard against. It felt like he was simultaneously on fire and being torn into a thousand tiny pieces. It went on for what seemed like forever, never easing, only growing worse with every breath he dragged into his body, only to scream back out again.
Zipacna’s last thought as the device ripped his symbiote body apart was that at least his host was screaming too.