Shandra Jerro had her wrists and ankles tied together with some kind of cloth. The githyanki had come and taken her hostage during the night. After all that effort those adventurers had gone to save her at her home and she was unceremoniously kidnapped from the inn where they had told her she would be safe. The abductors had just walked in and paralyzed her in place with a spell from a wand, then with another spell rendered her invisible for the intruders to carry out.
She did at least have the comfort of knowing that she wasn't alone. One of the adventurers had also been abducted, the one named Samantha whose room she had been sharing. Shandra wasn't surprised they had taken the other girl, too. She and the other girl looked a lot alike, and when all they had on were their smallclothes for sleeping there was really very little difference between them.
"Do you have any idea where they are taking us?" Shandra whispered to her fellow captive when she noticed the other woman was awake.
"I would guess wherever their base is, but I have no idea where that is," Sam replied earnestly. "Quite frankly I have very little understanding of the geography of this world. I'm not from here and didn't have an opportunity to study it before I arrived."
That revelation took Shandra aback. "Not from this world? You mean, you are from another plane of existence? So these githyanki are…"
"Not after me. They're from another plane of existence too, as you call it, but not the same world as my friends and I. Colonel O'Neill, Dr. Jackson, Teal'c and I came to this world accidentally. We are explorers looking for different worlds to learn about and trade with, but something went wrong on our last mission and now we're stuck here." Dr. Samantha Carter waited for Shandra to process what she had just said before continuing.
"We were lucky we ran into Tamil when we entered this world. She helped us adapt and offered to assist us in trying to find a way to get back to our world. The githyanki were already after her when we met her, though."
"Oh gods!" Shandra sympathized, "It must be so awful for you. Stranded on an alien planet and now kidnapped? And I thought that I had it bad."
Sam smiled. "Actually, this isn't my first kidnapping. In fact, every member of our team has been targeted for abduction at least once. I'm sure Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c are on their way to rescue us right now. But we have to stay alert for any chance we can get out of this ourselves. Who knows, maybe they'll get into trouble and need us to come rescue them," Sam joked.
"Well, that would be a nice change. I'm so tired of being rescued by you guys all the time. But I wouldn't mind at least one more time."
A harsh voice called out from nearby. "You can forget about being 'rescued' by your friends. By now they have walked into a trap and are dead. Your only hope is to cooperate when you are brought to Zeeaire and beg for her mercy. But I would not count on that."
"I wouldn't count on that, either," Sam retorted. "Whoever this 'Zeeaire' is, she won't get our cooperation by kidnapping or torture."
"Fool!" the creature spat back. "Five minutes with Zeeaire and you will be begging her to allow you cooperate, if you last that long." Then a sly smile crossed the creature's face. "But perhaps I could spare you that anguish. If you tell me the location of Haven, I could send forces to verify it and Zeeaire need not be burdened with dealing with you. She might leave your fates up to me…"
"Well, if you weren't busy trying to burn down my house, kidnap me, or kill innocent people in an inn, that might have been a tempting offer," Shandra responded with a glare.
The creature cursed in a language neither of the humans understood. "Fools. We will be at the cave and to the portal in an hour. You have wasted your last chance!" With that, the creature roughly tied a cloth sack over their heads leaving the two to walk wearily in darkness.
.
Bishop led the group to an old, abandoned trail winding up a steep hill. The ranger snorted. "Well, seems we didn't manage to overtake them after all. Seems this whole trip was for nothing."
Tamil walked up to Bishop and tossed a small pouch of gold directly at his face. The ranger managed to catch it, but not before the coins hit him on the bridge of his nose. "Here. We can make it back on our own. We'll see you back at the inn when we're done and let Duncan know you guided us where we needed to go."
The ranger took a quick look at the purse of coins in his hands and the party of heroes preparing to move up the mountain without him. He swore to himself. "Forget that, bard. I won't have Duncan claiming I didn't finish the job and holding that against me." The ranger tucked the pouch of coins into his belt, but started scouting out the path.
The path up to the githyanki lair was patrolled regularly by a single scout at a time. That made it all too easy for Jack or Daniel to zat them as they came down. More troublesome were the checkpoints where small camps of githyanki stood with bows ready. The giths' strategy was to light fire to a line of pitch while shooting arrows at approaching enemies. The gith checkpoints were not a serious obstacle, but the trick was incapacitating them all before any could raise an alarm. Fortunately, the checkpoints were spaced out far enough that the next group never heard the explosions or energy discharges from the previous checkpoint.
It took the group little time to work their way up to the githyanki's main lair. The group paused just outside to make preparations. Tamil passed several flasks around to everyone in the group, explaining the use of each: some for healing, some for boosting physical strength or agility, and some that would counter poisons. Daniel cast several spells that would protect him from harm leaving him looking like a shimmering, blurred statue of living rock. Teal'c briefly closed his eyes muttered a short prayer to Tyr, and in response a warm energy spread out from him to bless the entire group.
Then they stepped through mouth of the cave. They were in a very large cavern that widened out considerably and then narrowed again into a smaller passageway at the other end. Just as they were getting their bearings, and telling Bishop to shut up after he made some rude remarks about women, a large group of githyanki emerged from the passageway and fanned out along the back wall. One githyanki with an odd feathered headdress confidently walked to the forefront of the group, an elegant katana that warped the air around the blade held in his hand.
Tamil Farlong tensed up when she saw the gith. She whispered to the rest of the group under her breath, "That's the one who led the attack on my village." Her voice was full of venom. Then with an even lower tone she added, "and killed one of my best friends."
The gith looked directly at Tamil and spoke with imperious self-importance, "Zeeaire has foretold your coming, Kalach-cha. She sent me here to end you."
"So, this 'Zeeaire' is the one who kidnapped our friends?" Jack interjected.
"Your friends, as you call them, will serve Zeeaire's purposes. Their blood will be spilt to open the way for us and—" the gith was cut off by the untimely arrival of a messenger. The messenger was clearly agitated by something, but the lead githyanki brushed him aside and turned his attention back to the group. "As I said, their blood will be spilt for Zeeaire, as will yours. For Zeeaire!"
Jack wasn't waiting for the githyanki to charge. As soon as the githyanki leader said they would spill Sam's blood he was pulling out his 9mm. "Oh hell no!" he swore and put a round directly in the forehead of the lead githyanki swordstalker. Then all the githyanki charged and weapons started being fired on both sides.
.
General Hammond awoke to a very unpleasant feeling in his head. Standing before him was Jonas Quinn with a glassy-eyed expression on his face. The general groaned as he recalled the situation he was in. The situation the world was in.
The Operations Room was now being staffed by members of SG-2, all of whom had fallen prey to some sort of mind control. Back in the Gate Room, the soldiers who had been stunned and not outright killed were being herded together where they knelt down under guard by Jaffa warriors. It appeared as if the gou'ald had a foothold on Earth. Once Cheyenne Mountain was breached, a steady stream of enemy soldiers would come through the Stargate.
Jonas Quinn stared directly into his eyes. "General, we need your security code to deactivate the self-destruct. Major Ferretti has entered his code, but it takes two codes from ranking officers to override the system. I would prefer you give us the code and not force us to take it from your mind."
One of the Jaffa pushed his way to the general's side. "What are we doing talking to this ha'shak instead of forcing him to open the Chaapa'ai? Just give him the serum and he will worship Lord Khonsu." The Jaffa began to grab the general and push the protesting Jonas Quinn aside.
The butt of a staff slammed into the Jaffa's skull. "Di'dak'dida?" came the angry demand of another of the Jaffa. "Her'ak has ordered us to obey Jonas Quinn on this mission as if he were Lord Khonsu himself. We are to prove our worth to our master by our obedience and loyalty."
The brainwashed Langaran straightened himself and turned an angry glare on the Jaffa who had pushed him aside. "The serum would give us what we want, but it needs twenty-four hours to take effect. The self-destruct will happen in five minutes." Jonas turned his attention back to Hammond. "Make that four minutes. In four minutes your base and all your men will die. It is a needless death. Give us the code and you and as many of your men as possible will be spared."
General Hammond stood as straight and tall as he could and looked Jonas in the eye defiantly. "I will never surrender this base. We'll all die, be that as it may, but we will never allow the Earth to fall under the control of a gou'ald. There is nothing to negotiate here."
Jonas sighed, then pushed the general down into a chair. He produced a silver gou'ald ribbon device. "One benefit of living on a planet with stores of naquadria is that trace amounts of it build up in your blood if exposed to it long enough." Then Jonas activated the device, creating a mental link between himself and the helpless general. The general immediately felt an intense pain throughout his psyche.
After a couple of intense minutes, Jonas stopped the device, turned to the computer and punched in the code he had stolen from the general's mind. The Langaran scientist, addressed the other members of SG-2. "The self-destruct has been deactivated. Now, let's get the iris open and send a message back to Her'ak. He will want to know of our progress."
.
Shandra Jerro and Samantha Carter were dragged into a large square room. In the center of the room were several metal spikes inscribed with white glowing runes. The spikes curved up towards a central point, forming a perfect spherical shape. Within that spherical space was a glowing white bubble of light, in the center of which was an ancient armored figure carrying a very large sword.
"Zeeaire, I present you with the descendant of Ammon Jerro." The githyanki who spoke bowed low.
"The descendant of the betrayer?" The voice that spoke was harsh, though matronly, and there was a metallic ring to the words that made them sound distant. "The record from Neverwinter only spoke of one surviving Jerro. How is it that you have brought me two prisoners?"
Sam looked at the woman from where she stood and realized she was looking through a portal to another plane. It was a much larger version of the portal that was destroyed when they fought the bladed construct in Neverwinter. The githyanki were using those portals to move between worlds. Curiosity and outrage at being abducted warred within her.
"Excuse me," Samantha Carter spoke up. "Why have you taken us hostage? We have done nothing to you."
This statement brought the immediate attention of woman within the dimensional portal. Her voice was full of scorn and malice. "Nothing? Daughter of Jerro blood? There is enough guilt and harm running through your blood to deserve a far worse fate than what we will bring to you. It was you who brought a nameless darkness to our realm to slay countless of our people."
"That's ridiculous!" Shandra retorted. "Neither of us have ever gone near your home, much less caused anyone to die. You can't hold us responsible for what one of our ancestors did!" The farmer continued to take her cue from Major Carter. Revealing that Sam was not a Jerro would make it far more likely she would be killed.
"Silence!" Zeeaire screeched the command. Shandra fell silent beside her former rescuer and fellow-captive. "It does not matter if the crime happened before your lifetime! The sin is passed from parent to child, and thus you bear as much responsibility for the actions of the betrayer as the betrayer himself." The githyanki leader made a gesture and the gith guards nearest the humans immediately seized them. "Throw them in the cage until—"
At that moment there were screams from the outside. A githyanki ran into the room with fear evident on her face. "Zeeaire! There are creatures from the lower planes within the cavern! They just appeared and are making their way here now!"
Zeeaire let loose a low, guttural grunt of anger. "Go, then! Fight them off. They must not be allowed into this chamber!"
The humans were thrown together into a tall rectangular cage. The door to the cage clanked shut behind them, locked. Sam took the time to glance around the room. There were carvings and writings all around them. The architecture was clearly that of some long lost civilization. She muttered, "Daniel would love this place. He probably wouldn't mind being kidnapped if he had the chance to study this room." Then she glanced back at her captor standing within a portal to another plane and realized that having the opportunity to examine that portal, she wasn't all too put out by her abduction herself.
Zeeaire directed her minions to guard the door. A few of the creatures chanted strangely and traced invisible symbols on the door. "Hold that portal closed! It must remain shut against the demons until the Kalach-cha arrives! She comes soon, but the demons must not be allowed here before her arrival!"
Sam's attention snapped back to the githyanki leader. Kalach-cha was the name the githyanki had been calling Tamil Farlong. If she were coming, then no doubt the rest of SG-1 would be with her. She had to be ready for when they made a rescue attempt.
"Great, demons outside and ugly gray-green skinned creatures inside. And now there's some Kala something on the way, too," Shandra lamented.
Sam moved closer to Shandra and whispered to her. "Help is on the way, but when they get here things will probably get messy." Samantha Carter walked up to the door of the cage, glancing at the githyanki to see if any were watching. All their attention was on the door to the outside. She quickly whispered the words to a spell she had been practicing and then surreptitiously knocked her hand on the bars. There was a soft click as the door unlocked itself.
Shandra's eyes went wide. "You're a wizard?" Shandra whispered to her incredulously.
"Sort of," Sam reluctantly replied. "I'm really an astrophysicist, but I'm studying magic to try and understand how your portals work..." Sam stopped herself short and silently berated herself for getting off the subject, "But yes, I know a few spells. Not enough to get us out of here, much less overcome this many githyanki, but maybe enough to give us an edge. Something's about to happen, and when it does we have to be ready to move." She looked the farm girl in the eye and asked, "Are you with me?"
Shandra nodded.
.
Tamil picked up the powerfully enchanted katana from the swordstalker Jack had shot at the start of the battle and whistled. It was a fine weapon, the enchantment on the blade causing the air around it to warp with the sonic pulse it was releasing, even more powerfully than the astral blade the bard carried. Mastering the style needed to wield an exotic blade like that would be almost worth the time it would take to learn. If only there weren't so many other things to do. Still, a weapon like this would fetch a fine price from any merchant.
It took little time to loot all the fallen bodies. They had all learned the necessity of searching fallen opponents for needed items, whether merely stunned or dead. In this case, however, none of the githyanki were left alive. The group could not afford to have any return to consciousness and attack them from behind.
The group moved carefully out of the entry chamber with Neeshka scouting ahead. She found a series of traps cleverly concealed in the floors, which she expertly disabled. They were clearly serious about keeping intruders out. This was surprising, since as soon as they rounded the next corner they found they were not the only intruders in the githyanki's base.
Just ahead, Jack saw one of the stranger sights he had seen on his adventures. Up ahead there were a trio of githyanki, but one of them was fighting against the others. There was also a strange winged creature flapping around and shooting off small bolts of magical energy at the two gith who were fighting the third. But most unusual of all was the winged woman who was striking at the gith with clawed hands.
As Jack and the others began to approach, the winged woman turned to face them. Her wings were black which contrasted with her red hair and pale skin. She was beautiful, with a full figure revealed by a very skimpy outfit that looked very impractical for combat. Colonel O'Neill was intrigued by the oddity of such a woman being in the middle of a lair such as this when she started to say something in an odd language and pointed towards him. Then their eyes locked and he knew he would do anything, anything to protect her from harm. Jack turned back and pointed his zat at Daniel Jackson and fired the weapon twice.
Daniel felt an odd tingling feeling as the energy of the gou'ald weapon washed over him. Fortunately, he had protected himself from energy attacks with a spell designed to withstand the force of a small bolt of lightning. "Jack?" he asked quizzically?
"Colonel O'Neill?" Teal'c inquired as well as the colonel turned his weapons towards the rest of the group.
"Quick, ZAT HIM!" screamed Tamil. Then she put her hand up in front of Bishop who was training his bow on SG-1's leader. "He's under a spell!"
Daniel brought out his own zat and fired on Jack, but the soldier rolled away and fired more bursts at Daniel. Tamil directed the group to take out the creature that had charmed Colonel O'Neill, but there was chaos as the group dived for cover to avoid being hit by the paralyzing and deadly weapon. Several of Daniel's mirror copies winked out around him as Jack mistook them for the real person. Meanwhile, Bishop fired arrows into the group of githyanki indiscriminately while Casavir and Neeshka charged them with weapons drawn.
The imp and the githyanki easily fell to combined attack of Bishop, Casavir, and Neeshka. The succubus was a different matter. Before Tamil reached the demoness, the creature curled her clawed hands inwards and enacted an enchantment that rendered her form partially ethereal. Tamil struck at her with her sonic weapon, but the weapon struck insubstantially and the creature was unharmed.
Daniel took several hits from Jack, his false images all having been destroyed by energy discharges. But finally, he was able to hit his friend with a single zat burst. Colonel O'Neill collapsed to the ground, stunned. Daniel let loose a sigh of relief.
Teal'c saw Tamil fighting desperately against an enemy who was unharmed by her attacks. She was humming a tune that aided her attempts to dodge the incoming swipes from the creature, but it was clear she was going to take the worst of the fight as long as the creature had its magical protection. The former Jaffa lowered his staff weapon and fired it directly at the succubus from short range. The creature was knocked backwards with a massive wound blackening her chest.
The creature turned to look at Teal'c with hatred in her glowing eyes. "Foolish male!" it screeched. "You will pay for that!"
"I do not think so," he calmly replied and blasted the demoness again. With that second blast its entire form turned into black smoke and dissolved away.
Jack quickly came to, no longer under the control of the succubus. He had been struck by zat fire so many times in his many run-ins with gou'ald that he was building up a small immunity to the paralytic effects. Where before it might take an hour for him to revive from its paralysis, he was up again now in mere minutes. Still, the effects were disorienting, but the group continued on their way.
The rescue party encountered several more groups of combatants, some larger than others, but without major difficulty. Even a pair of succubi attacking a familiar looking blade golem were easily beaten as the group struck them hard before the demons could enact their magical protections. Their luck changed, though, when they came to a room filled with several demons, githyanki, and what appeared to be a bald man with eerie glowing tattoos on his head giving orders to all the creatures. The man left as soon as the group arrived, but the force of demons and githyanki he left behind quickly turned into a challenge when one of the succubi managed to charm Colonel O'Neill again and Jack immediately turned and shot Casavir with his zat'nik'tel.
"Oh crap," Daniel said as he backpedaled, firing zat bursts at the gith and the demons.
"Shoot him with your lightning weapon, you fool," Bishop cursed at Daniel as he had to duck incoming attacks from githyanki who were suddenly too up close and personal for his tastes.
"A second shot would kill him."
"Better him than us!" Bishop yelled back.
Tamil Farlong realized the danger of the situation and swore to herself. Then she chanted a magical song the likely saved the lives of the group, turning their skin to iron and deflecting most of the harm from the strikes of their opponents. She quickly gulped down a potion and directed everyone to kill the githyanki first.
Teal'c walked directly towards his long time friend purposefully. "Colonel O'Neill. These actions are not yours. They are the actions of evil beings." Jack turned his attention to the tall warrior from Chulak, his arm leveling the zat at him. But Teal'c was faster. Knowing his course to be right, Teal'c called on his god to aid him and he was filled with power which he focused on the charmed colonel. A cleansing light filled the area and Jack blinked his eyes.
"What happened?"
Daniel answered, "Oh, you tried to kill us all again for a demon woman who would take your soul and use your body."
"Again?"
"Again."
"I gotta stop doing that."
"Yeah, I figured you would have learned your lesson after what happened with Hathor," Daniel concluded.
With the githyanki down, the group concentrated on the succubi. Unfortunately, Casavir was unconscious for the fight and Bishop's arrows did no more damage than Tamil's sword. When Jack and Daniel tried to zat one, they found it to be ineffective as well. Fortunately, the succubi had just as difficult a time piercing the ironskin provided by Tamil's chant. If it weren't for Teal'c and the ma'tok staff weapon the battle would have lasted much longer. He destroyed two of the creatures with plasma blasts. The combined attacks of the rest of the group, particularly an impressive onslaught of magical missiles from Daniel, finished the other one.
"What was that, Daniel?" Tamil asked curiously when the battle concluded.
"It's called Issac's Lesser Missile Storm," Daniel replied, "one of the strongest spells I've learned. It's an odd bit of magic when it comes to aiming; it tends to spread out over several targets. But when there's just one enemy, it's pretty powerful."
The group hurried on after Teal'c revived Casavir with a little touch of healing magic from Tyr, eventually going down a flight of stairs. They were immediately greeted by the sight of a trio of succubi tormenting what appeared to be a somewhat elderly man trapped in glowing circle and standing in front of a shimmering wall blocking the way forward. Getting no response from the trapped devil, the demons soon turned their attention to the group adventurers.
"Okay, Jack, remember: don't try and kill your friends," Daniel teased. Jack merely nodded and fired a 9mm shot at one of the winged creatures.
The succubi attempted to charm Teal'c and Daniel, however Teal'c had too strong of a will for their spell to work while Daniel was still protected from any mind altering affects cast by evil beings. One of the creatures was slain before it managed to shield itself. Teal'c destroyed the others with his staff weapon while the rest of the group held them in place.
When the fighting was done, the man in the circle very politely thanked them. As soon as he spoke it became clear that he was not human at all. Nor was he even the well-dressed mortal that he appeared to be. His voice had an ominous depth to it.
Neeshka was immediately on the defensive. She explained her unease to the rest of the group. She had a natural sense about things related to devils and demons, just as she did around holy beings such as Casavir and now, even Teal'c. The being in the circle was giving her an especially strong devilish sense.
Her uncomfortable feeling multiplied when the being addressed her kindly. There was far more to this guy than he was letting on. She said as much to the group.
Despite her misgivings, there was little menace from the being. He very politely explained that he would very much like to help the group as a reward for benefiting him by destroying the demons that had been tormenting him. He pointed to the barrier behind him and explained that he was bound to the circle where he stood to maintain the barrier. In order for the group to continue onward, they would need to bring the barrier down, and the only way to do that would be to banish him from the world.
"Um, Jack, I don't think freeing a devil would be a good idea," Daniel said to the group. "There's no telling what kind of harm a being like that could cause."
"Yeah, I've got a bad feeling about letting this guy go as well."
The devil overheard them. "Very astute of you to consider the long reaching effects of releasing me. Generally speaking, it is terribly unwise of mortals to release devils for any reason at all. However, in this case, it is better on the balance to release me from this plane so that less harm may come. More importantly, there is no choice. Your way lies forward, and I am bound to hold the barrier before you as it is so long as I remain. You must release me or you will not be able to pass this gate."
Tamil was for freeing the devil so they could continue. Casavir was opposed to speaking with the creature at all. Neeshka cautioned them that they could trust the devil to keep his word, but only exactly what he said. The wording of any agreement could be twisted to benefit the devil, and likely would be, no matter how polite he was.
"Jack, remember that boy in the village we passed? He said we would need to master a devil and destroy a demon?" Daniel whispered. "I don't think just letting him go will get us what we want. We need to find a way past that wall there without freeing him. That might give us an edge."
Jack pulled Tamil aside and asked her opinion. When they finished talking, Jack turned his attention back to the devil, who was standing patiently in the middle of the circle. "We've talked it over, and we've decided to pick door number 2."
The devil looked at Jack with puzzlement. "There is but one door."
Jack smiled and waited for Daniel and Teal'c to finish planting the plastic explosives around the wall to the side of the doorway. When they finished, he pulled the detonator from his pocket. "There are two now," he said as he pushed the button.
A small explosion shook the chamber. When the dust and rocks settled, there was a large gap to one side of the barrier to the hallway ahead. It was more than large enough for them all to pass.
"Wait," the devil requested as the group prepared to move forward. The group paused to listen. "You have found a way past the barrier I was commanded to maintain. I commend your cleverness. However, it is still in both our interests if you free me. I cannot say more than this, but my freedom will benefit you."
Teal'c glanced at the group, "I find no deception in his words."
"Okay, tell me who summoned you to create this barrier," Daniel asked.
"The githyanki summoned me," the devil replied. He was about to continue when Teal'c interrupted.
"That is a lie," the favored of Tyr responded. He could sense the wrongness of the words as they were spoken.
"Well, bye then," Jack waved as the group prepared to move on.
"Wait!" the devil protested again. "I cannot tell you the identity of the one who summoned me here. I am forbidden to."
Teal'c nodded to show the devil's words were truth.
"Was it the bald man with glowing tattoos we saw earlier?" Tamil guessed.
The devil smiled. "I cannot confirm it was him, but I need not deny. I can even deny it was anyone other than him."
"I see," Daniel nodded. "So, you can get around your agreements exactly as Neeshka warned us. Thanks for confirming that, though we really had no doubt." The tiefling gave a very happy smile at Daniel's remark. "I don't see any reason we should trust you. Letting you go free could be a terrible mistake."
Again the devil forestalled them from leaving. "Yes, you are right to be skeptical. A devil always makes bargains in their own interests. And you can only trust them as far as you know the bargain you make will benefit them. That is our nature. But it is the truth that my freedom is in your interest as well.
"Since I do not have anything you need and I wish a further benefit from you, there is much that I can offer you. Riches, power, items. All are within my power to grant to you. And I can promise that no harm will come to you if you release me."
The devil explained that any agreement they reached would be binding upon both parties in a way that could not be broken. Daniel checked with Teal'c and Neeshka explained more about it as well, explaining the power of pacts and true names. Devils were bound by any pacts they made as well as forced to obey any command given to them with their true name. It was as much against their nature to break their word as it was in their nature to commit acts of evil.
"Okay, I have one question for you, then," Daniel looked at the being bound in the circle who waited for the terms. "Can you send me and my friends home? And I don't mean home as in the inn in Neverwinter. I mean home as in to Earth, in our own universe."
The devil paused as it was opening its mouth and closed it again. It seemed to ponder what was being asked of it before answering. "What you are asking is complicated. There are laws and older laws involved which I must obey. But yes, I can do as you ask.
"In order to set me free you must speak my name and order me to be banished from this plane. I will then complete my end of the bargain. Before I tell you my true name, you must agree that you will only use my name for the purpose of banishing me from this plane and no other purpose."
Daniel smiled, "I promise. I will only use your true name to banish you from this plane of existence and nothing else."
Daniel moved close to the devil to hear the true name. "My name is Mephasm," the devil said to him. "Now use the name to banish me and the agreement will be sealed."
Daniel turned to the rest of the group. "Tamil, could you banish this devil from the plane? His name is Mephasm. Oh, and make sure he doesn't cause any harm to anyone as a result of us releasing him."
Tamil smirked, realizing Daniel's clever ruse. He had agreed to be bound not to use Mephasm's name for anything but banishing him, but she had not. By asking her to banish Mephasm, Daniel was indirectly fulfilling his part of the bargain—only using it to banish him. Had he attempted to tell her for another reason it most likely would not have worked, being a violation of the agreement.
"Thanks, Daniel. That was brilliant. Mephasm, I command you to return Daniel Jackson, Colonel Jack O'Neal, Teal'c and Major Samantha Carter back safely to where they came to this world from. I further command you that you shall not intentionally cause harm to any mortal being or allow harm to come to them as a result of us releasing you this day. Further, I command that you aid us in any way you can in rescuing Shandra Jerro from her captives., then you are banished from this plane."
Mephasm shook where he stood for a few seconds. "Very clever," he said, but without any hint of anger in his voice. "I must obey these commands. However, I cannot give any assistance here beyond my absence. Another has already commanded me in this regard and I must obey those commands as well." The barrier that had been blocking the way shrunk down to a small circle. The devil gave the circular object to Tamil. "Here, this has been attuned to the lower planes. Use this on the portal you will find beyond the door ahead and it will allow me to open a gateway for your friends back to their home. But I must return to the lower planes to make the necessary preparations for this to work."
Tamil smiled. "Looks like you all will be going home. Mephasm, I command you to be banished from this plane to prepare to send my friends back to their home on Earth."
A burst of crackling fire erupted from the ground where the devil stood. As he departed, he added one final, ominous warning. "Well done, mortals. It shall be as commanded. However, I must warn you, that your return to your home shall be linked to my return to mine. Bear this in mind before thinking to summon me to this plane again."