Sam and the rest of SG-1 crept silently toward one of the side entrances of the Goa’uld base on Tzabek. Selmak had landed as close as he dared to the complex, and SG-1 had hiked in from there, carefully avoiding several Jaffa patrols. The frequency of those patrols had convinced Sam’s father and Selmak that it wouldn’t be safe to leave the ship where it was, cloaked or not. So, reluctantly, her father had stayed aboard and taken the ship up into orbit around the planet.
Sam was more than grateful to have finally arrived at their destination. She loved her father and her teammates, but three days cooped up with them in a cargo ship had been more than enough. She’d had a nice long chat with her dad, both of them catching up on recent news and events. It was her team that had driven her nuts.
They’d spent most of the first day devising their game plan, checking and rechecking their equipment, and going over the schematics of Zipacna’s confusing base until they could get around it in their sleep. Then the Colonel had become bored, and the rest of them had suffered for it.
Teal’c had spent most of his remaining time either piloting the ship or escaping into Kel’no’reem, although he did join the others for meals and the occasional philosophical discussion with Daniel and Selmak. His response to Colonel O’Neill’s attempts at ‘fun’ diversions was to ignore him. And it had worked, to the detriment of everyone else.
Sam had succeeded in making the Colonel’s eyes glaze over with technical theories about the shield she was hoping to study. Her father had entertained him for awhile before finally pulling rank and ordering the Colonel to go away. Which left poor Daniel.
Daniel’s attempts to bore Colonel O’Neill into submission with Maya legends of Zipacna clearly hadn’t worked. The resulting banter and mutual annoyance had amused her at first, but it eventually became grating and tedious for everyone involved.
Curiously, it was Selmak that had come to the rescue, distracting the Colonel for a while with questions about the strategy they’d be using. The Tok’ra had glanced at Sam over the Colonel’s shoulder and nodded towards Daniel.
Sam had helped Daniel calm down from the irrational level of crankiness that only Colonel O’Neill seemed able to generate in him. She was proud of the fact that she’d managed to make him laugh twice as they again went over the base schematics, though of course it couldn’t last. The Colonel had returned, and soon enough he and Daniel were back to hurling sarcasm at each other.
Oh, yeah. Sam was glad they’d arrived.
Teal’c held a hand up in warning, and Sam and the others stopped abruptly. They silently waited in the underbrush for four Jaffa to go by. Then Sam and the Colonel darted into the doorway, him covering her as she manipulated the electronic lock into co-operation. Teal’c and Daniel were still in the underbrush, ensuring they wouldn’t be ambushed as she worked.
Soon enough, the door slid open, and she tucked her tools back into her vest. The Colonel patted her on the shoulder and swung through the entrance, weapon ready. A moment later, he came back out and motioned for Teal’c and Daniel to join them.
Inside, Sam took point, leading them up the long hallway to the first intersection, a good hundred yards in. This was where they’d be splitting up. Teal’c and Daniel would be heading left, towards the queen and the tanks holding the immature Goa’uld larvae. Sam and Colonel O’Neill would head in the opposite direction to get a look at the gate shield and then set the charges to blow up the base’s power station.
Sam peered around the corner of the cross-hallway and confirmed it was empty. She motioned for the others to join her. The Colonel took a quick look himself and then turned to Teal’c and Daniel. He tapped his watch, signalling that they’d all meet back here in one hour. They’d already discussed the need for radio silence except in the case of an emergency.
Daniel and Teal’c nodded their comprehension and took off down the left-hand hallway with Teal’c in the lead and Daniel covering his six. Sam let her gaze drop for a second to admire Daniel’s six, before shaking herself out of such inappropriate thoughts.
She looked up and saw Colonel O’Neill’s eyes on her. She fought back a blush. He couldn’t possibly know what she’d just been thinking about, could he? He turned away without saying anything, but the smug-looking half-smile on his face answered her question. Okay, that was embarrassing.
She followed the Colonel down the hallway towards the gate room. She’d have to deal with both her embarrassment and attraction to Daniel later. Right now there was a job to do.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
“You just about done over there, Teal’c?” Daniel Jackson asked quietly.
Teal’c set the last of his C4 under the edge of the Goa’uld queen’s tank. “Indeed, I am.”
“Good. Me too.” Daniel Jackson stood up from behind the machinery on which he had planted the last of his own explosive charges. He checked his watch, walking over to join Teal’c by the tank. “We have ten minutes to get back to meet Jack and Sam.”
Teal’c pointed to the strange glyphs on the wall above. “Can you read these symbols?”
Daniel Jackson looked up and frowned. “It’s Yucatec Maya. It’s not one of my stronger languages, but I think it refers to the goddess Ixchel. She’s probably the queen.” He paused and observed the fattened Goa’uld in the tank for several seconds before shuddering. “Ugh. These things are even uglier than you described.”
“I had not remembered that this is your first experience with a Goa’uld queen.” Teal’c heard Daniel Jackson’s breath catch and cursed himself for his poor choice of wording. His friend most certainly had experienced a queen in the past, when Hathor had compromised Stargate Command. It was a time Teal’c knew Daniel Jackson would as soon forget. “I apologize. I meant a queen without a host.”
“It’s fine, Teal’c. I know what—” Daniel Jackson’s words were cut off by the angry shout of an enemy Jaffa. Teal’c shot the warrior, and then he and Daniel Jackson ran past the body into the corridor which would lead back to the team’s rendezvous point. Unfortunately, there were now more Jaffa down it, likely responding to the sound of Teal’c’s weapon.
“Jack! Teal’c and I will have to find an alternate route. Our exit’s cut off!” Daniel Jackson managed to report before a staff blast forced him to let go of the radio and concentrate on dodging further attacks.
Teal’c returned fire, bringing down several enemy Jaffa, which allowed them to retreat down the corridor from which they’d come. He could hear Daniel Jackson’s weapon firing as he too fought their attackers. O’Neill’s voice issued from the radio on Teal’c’s shoulder, but he had neither the time nor a hand available to respond. Indeed, he did not even hear what had been said. He assumed Daniel Jackson did not either.
After several sharp turns, they lost sight of the Jaffa pursuing them. They continued around another corner into a storage room and were suddenly faced with Zipacna himself entering from another hallway, along with two Jaffa warriors.
Teal’c fired at the Goa’uld, but the blast was absorbed harmlessly by a personal shield. Zipacna raised his hand, revealing a glowing ribbon device, and Teal’c threw himself sharply to the right. Daniel Jackson’s reflexes were an instant slower, and Teal’c winced as his friend was slammed into a wall. Zipacna strode towards the fallen man.
Teal’c readied his staff weapon, anxious to protect Daniel Jackson, but instead found himself in battle with the two Jaffa. He realized he would not last long without seeking cover and regrettably retreated around the closest corner. He quickly dispatched the two, only to find that those following them had caught up to their location. Teal’c ducked back into the room.
To his relief, he saw that Daniel Jackson had recovered from his impact with the wall and had thrown his knife at his attacker. Zipacna was clutching at the large blade imbedded in his shoulder, cursing the human in Goa’uld. Daniel Jackson began climbing to his feet, no doubt to press his advantage.
Teal’c’s attention was forcefully brought back to his own battle by a staff blast impacting with the wall not three inches from his face. He turned and spent several moments engaging the remaining Jaffa. Though he regretted having to kill his Jaffa brothers, he did take pride in the skill with which he defeated those who outnumbered him. Soon his enemies were dead, and he once more turned back to Daniel Jackson and Zipacna.
Daniel Jackson’s attempts to defeat the Goa’uld quickly had failed. He was on his knees before Zipacna, caught in the beam of the hand device. The scene instantly transported Teal’c back to the tent four years earlier when he’d been forced to destroy Amonet, and with her, Sha’re Jackson. This time, Daniel Jackson had not dropped his sidearm, unable to kill his beloved wife. Indeed, Teal’c could see that Daniel Jackson was attempting to extricate his weapon from its holster, but was clearly hampered by the agonizing pain inflicted by Zipacna’s hand device. Teal’c did not hesitate. He brought his staff weapon around and blasted a hole in the chest of Zipacna, scoring directly on the hilt of Daniel Jackson’s thrown knife.
The stream of light from the hand device ended abruptly, and Daniel Jackson slumped to the floor. A brief flicker indicated that Zipacna had raised his personal shield, but it was far too late. The Goa’uld looked down at himself, no doubt in shock as he took in the new hole in his black armour, the molten metal of the knife blade running down his chest. He looked up at Teal’c, his eyes flashing his denial, before falling forward, sprawled across the floor.
Teal’c was momentarily distracted by another Jaffa, but dispatched him as quickly as he had the false god. Then he strode forward to ensure that Daniel Jackson would be what he referred to as ‘fine’. Teal’c was relieved to have saved his friend again, this time without the guilt of having destroyed someone that Daniel Jackson loved.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jack and Carter had been remarkably successful in finding, scanning and planting explosives all around the gate room shield device as well as the base’s power generators. They’d also searched the empty prison section as they’d passed it, hoping to find the Tok’ra operative. If she’d ever been there, she wasn’t now. Wherever she was, they’d have to leave her. Jack wasn’t fond of the idea, but this was a Tok’ra mission, not an SGC one. It was Jacob’s call, and he’d called for them to destroy the base as quickly as possible.
All the charges were set. The remote detonator was in Jack’s hand. Now they just needed to reunite with their teammates and blow this popsicle stand.
It wasn’t to be, not that that was surprising. The distant sound of staff blasts mixed with the retorts of a P90 told him that the jig was up, even before Daniel’s voice called to them through their radios.
“Crap,” Carter muttered under her breath.
Jack spared an amused glance at her; apparently he was a bad influence on his team’s vocabulary. He thumbed his radio. “We’re on our way. What’s your situation?” There was no answer. “Daniel? Teal’c?”
Judging by the intensity of the weapons fire he could make out, he guessed neither one had even heard him. Great. Jack just loved going in blind. This day was getting better and better. He closed the safety on the detonator and stuffed it into the front pocket of his vest.
Quickly but cautiously, they made their way towards the sounds of fighting. Soon enough, the sound of the P90 halted, although the continuing staff blasts told Jack that Teal’c was still fighting. So, Daniel was down, was he? He shared a worried look with Carter, and they picked up their pace. And came to a dead end.
Jack stared stupidly at the wall in front of him for a few seconds before turning on his heel and backtracking. Carter was beside him, her face flushing a dark red at her apparent mistake. Jack brought the image of the base schematic back up in his mind and recognized where they’d taken the bad turn. He’d been leading at that point. His fault, not hers. He shook his head. Damned Goa’uld and their inefficient architecture. The fact that the base had intentionally been designed to be confusing didn’t impact Jack’s mental condemnation in the slightest.
Jack’s worry at the delay was not lessened by the fact that he could no longer hear weapons fire. It might be a good thing, but somehow he doubted it. Especially when the next thing he heard was a single staff blast, which sent images of Teal’c or Daniel being dispatched execution style flooding through his mind. He shied away from the thought. They were fine. They were both more than capable; they’d be fine.
The staff blast had sounded so close, but due to the ridiculous layout of the base there was actually a significant amount of corridor between them. And now the Jaffa were crawling out of the woodwork. Carter took one out before Jack even registered the presence behind them, but he quickly returned the favour by killing the next two.
And then there were no more live Jaffa in their way, however as Jack and Carter cautiously rounded the corner they were confronted by several dead ones as well as the Goa’uld queen undulating in her tank. Jack ignored the bloated snake and turned his attention to the fallen Jaffa. Carter knelt down beside one, reached for a pulse and shook her head. Excellent. A good enemy was a dead enemy. Three had succumbed to staff blast wounds, and further down near the far doorway were two more who’d apparently met the business end of Daniel’s P90.
Jack and Carter continued, now following Jaffa bodies like a map. Jack grinned briefly at the image of Teal’c skipping merrily down the corridor, leaving a trail of Jaffa crumbs for his teammates to follow. Carter gave him a strange look and he swallowed the smile. He’d tell her later, when she could appreciate the joke.
A group of five Jaffa lay sprawled in the entranceway of another room, which Jack figured was probably storage, based on his memory of the schematics.
Jack peeked into the room, quickly determining that it was empty apart from the figure curled up in the middle of the floor and several very dead looking Jaffa. He motioned for Carter to scout up the corridor a bit farther. She hesitated briefly, looking at the man in the room before them. Her eyes flicked back to Jack, and he clearly received her implied threat. Take care of him, or else. Then she was heading down the hall to cover their six. Hopefully she’d also be able to find Teal’c. Jack turned his attention back to the man huddled in the centre of the room.
“Daniel?”
There was a brief pause, then, “Yeah.”
“You okay?”
“Uh, not really. Got ribboned.” Daniel rolled over onto his back. “Really hate that.”
“Yeah, I know you do.” Jack entered the room and knelt beside his friend. Oh, yeah. Big nasty hand device burns. For someone so smart, Daniel managed to get his brain fried, erased, subjugated, bruised or otherwise screwed over with alarming frequency. “Where’s Teal’c?”
“Not sure,” Daniel said. “Should be around here somewhere. He shot Zipacna. Saved my life. He wasn’t quite dead. Maybe Teal'c went to finish the job?”
Jack wasn’t particularly reassured by Daniel’s uncharacteristically short sentences, but he just nodded and helped him to his feet. Daniel swayed slightly and leaned against him for a long moment. Jack held him up, one hand on his weapon, one on his friend’s shoulder. He looked into Daniel’s face to see if he would be okay. Jack didn’t think so, not judging by how pale and distracted he suddenly seemed to be. However, Jack soon realized that Daniel wasn’t distracted by pain; he was staring at something behind Jack. Something or, more likely, someone. Jack froze and squeezed his eyes shut in a futile attempt at denial.
“Tau’ri kree!”
Great. He still had one hand on his P90 and one on Daniel’s shoulder. He wouldn’t be able to get either hand into a position where he could set off the explosives without the Jaffa blowing his head off. Daniel had torn his eyes away from the Jaffa and was looking at Jack, nodding almost imperceptibly. Years of practice at unspoken communication between them told Jack what Daniel wanted to do. The archaeologist’s hands were hidden from the Jaffa by Jack’s body. Jack flicked his eyes towards the pocket of his vest holding the remote detonator. Daniel extracted the device, carefully ensuring that the movement wasn’t visible to enemy eyes. Jack slowly turned to face the Jaffa, making sure that he was still blocking their view of Daniel’s hands. Several seconds passed with Jack tensed to move the moment the Jaffa were distracted.
But instead of a big honking explosion, there was only the sound of a distant zat blast. Probably Carter getting herself captured. Yup. This day was getting better and better.
And still there were no explosions. What the hell? Why hadn’t Daniel used the detonator? Was it defective? He risked turning his head to look at Daniel and was confused to see that the detonator hadn’t even been activated. Instead, Daniel tossed it to one of the nearby Jaffa, not seeming the least bit surprised when the guard bowed to him in response. His lips curled into a lopsided sneer.
Jack had a very bad feeling about this. “Daniel?”
“Not exactly.” Daniel’s eyes flashed with an inner light and his voice took on the deep flanged tones Jack hated so much. He uttered an all too familiar phrase, “Nothing of the host survives.”