Fear
Fear
by Siochan
Summary: A future O'Neill and Carter escape a Gou'ald controled Earth to get help from the past. When SG-1 goes they find themselves fighting to win an impossible war against fear itself.
Category: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Smarm
Episode Related: 218 Holiday, 316 Urgo
Season: any Season
Pairing: Team, Daniel/Janet
Rating: 13+
Warnings: character death, language, violence
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 01/04/06
Chapter One: Meetings
"Almost there Sir." The blonde haired woman panted, helping the exhausted man along the barely visible path through the forest that they had been traveling on for days. He turned weary brown eyes onto her before stumbling again.
"Rest awhile Carter," he muttered. "We have time. We'll find it." Carter sighed but let him lean against a scarred tree. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the rough bark.
She straitened her dirty, black tunic and matching pants and looked around. Towering trees surrounded them, but there were no birds. The only thing she could see besides the trees was a dark column of smoke, a village, or what use to be a village was going up in flames. She closed her eyes. The villagers were all innocent. None of them deserved this.
"How much longer?" O'Neill asked softly as she handed him a small chuck of dried meat.
"Seventeen hours, fifty-three minutes, and twenty-four . . . twenty three seconds." She looked at her cracked and battered watch which she had hidden from them.
"We can make it." He bit into the meat and chewed thoughtfully. "Do you have any idea what this meat is?"
"I didn't ask, but it's probably some kind of lizard or rat." He gave the meat a disgusted look. Carter ate the rest of hers but O'Neill put his ration in the pocket of his tunic.
"I'll save mine for later." Carter smiled and they continued up the path.
~*~
"Five minutes." Carter muttered, tapping her foot and staring anxiously at the stargate. O'Neill twirled an arrow in his fingers. They had taken the weapons when they came, forcing them to make their own.
"All right." O'Neill hopped from foot to foot. He had always had a short intention span. "What happens if the guards come?"
"Well, we'd have to fight them until the exact moment of the solar flare." Carter rubbed her forehead. O'Neill nodded and continued to twirl the arrow.
"Two minutes, we'd better start dialing out." Carter walked over the DHD and began to press the symbols. She felt her hand shake slightly as the symbols began to glow.
"Halt!" O'Neill quickly notched the arrow into his bow and aimed it at the guard that had seen him and had started running toward him. The arrow shot through the air with a loud `twang'.
He was a Phobos guard, wearing a mask that looked like a combination between a rabbit and a jackal. His armor was thinner, and very detailed. The guard crouched down to fire his staff weapon.
The arrow pinned him in the throat causing him to gurgle blood as he slumped to the ground in a heap. Another staff blast missed O'Neill by inches, burning a deep hole in the tree behind him.
"CARTER," O'Neill shouted as he shot the other Jaffa in the eye and ducked another blast. "WE'VE GOT COMPANY"
"Just a few more seconds." Carter mumbled staring intently at her watch. "Sir, now!" They spun around and leapt through the gate.
~*~
"Unscheduled off-world activation." Jack jumped and got up from the briefing table, just glad not to hear Daniel talk about his rocks or Sam about her doo-hickies. He raced down the hallways, the archeologist and major right at his heels.
"Who is it?" He asked as they ran into the control room, nearly avoiding collision with a computer. Daniel skidded to a stop right behind Jack, almost running him over.
"There are no off-world teams now, but the iris won't close. It has SG-1's code." The man sitting at the computer said, she shot the team a strange look.
"That's not possible," Daniel muttered, "We're all here." Teal!c simply raised an eyebrow and stared at the stargate as it sprang to life. The soldiers were running into the room and crouching down, aiming their guns at the shimmering wormhole.
Just then two figures stumbled through, one yelling to close the iris. With a whoosh the iris closed, followed by a loud thunk. The soldiers looked confused, and some were lowering their weapons.
"It can't be." Sam narrowed her eyes and looked at the blonde woman who was now staring back at her.
"It's you." Daniel breathed, staring at Jack and Sam even though they were right beside them.
"Hey," the other O'Neill shouted loudly, "We need SG-1 down here now!" Teal!c frowned down at the two people.
"It could be a Gou'ald trick." Sam said looking down at the two people.
"This is Doctor Daniel Jackson," Daniel moved to the microphone. "Can you prove you are Major Samantha Carter and Colonel Jack O'Neill?"
"Oh for crying out loud! Fine! My ex-wife's name was Sara, we had a child named Charlie, and I don't eat Fruit Loops anymore." The other Jack shouted back, "Now hurry down here."
"That's good enough for me. You heard me, move it!" Jack grinned and moving quickly down to the gate room. Daniel sighed loudly but followed. Jack always found this kind of thing far too much fun.
"Solar flare." Sam said suddenly behind him.
"What?" He turned around quickly but continued walking backwards, every so often turning his head to watch for obstacles.
"Remember when we went to 1969, well, they must have known about a solar flare. There should be one on this day about seven years into the future. They have to be us."
~*~
"We don't have a lot of time to explain what's going on." Carter said, "The next solar flare that will take us to the time we left will happen in ten minutes, and you four have to come through with us."
"And why would we do that?" Jack asked, never taking his eyes off himself. He looked old, Jack decided, very old.
"Because we have to show you something." O'Neill responded simply, "Go get your stuff together and return here as quickly as possible."
~*~
The team arrived back to the gate room in uniform with their packs. Jack looked his future self over again, he was dressed in black and had a bow and quiver of arrows on his back, on his belt was a long knife.
"Where'd you come from?" Jack asked as Carter glanced nervously at her watch and looked back at the stargate.
"Earth." O'Neill sighed, "But, we were taken over by a Gou!ald. Phobos."
"Phobos is the Greek god of fear." Daniel instantly said, his head snapping toward them at the mention of the god's name. Jack rolled his eyes.
"Yup, he's not the nicest person." O'Neill's voice was tight with hatred.
"Start dialing." Carter shouted and the grinding noise started when the gate began to spin.
"Chevron one encoded, locked"
"We won't like what we see on this Earth, will we." Jack asked.
"Chevron two encoded, locked."
"What made you think that?" O'Neill didn't even look at him.
"Chevron three encoded, locked."
"They way you talk about it."
"Chevron four encoded, locked."
"Oh."He looked at the lit up chevrons, avoiding Jack's eyes.
"Chevron five encoded, locked."
"Do you wanna tell me why?" Jack gritted his teeth, annoyed.
"Chevron six encoded, locked."
"Not really, it's kinda hard to explain." O'Neill's gaze locked on the glowing chevrons.
"Chevron seven, locked."
The stargate burst into life.
"I guess I'll find out." Jack said as they stepped into the gate.
~*~
Chapter Two: The City Against Fear
"Where are we?" Sam asked as they stepped out into the forest. Some trees were charred and splintered and some still stood tall and green.
"We, are in Colorado, or what use to be Colorado, and the stargate was moved here awhile ago. It's about a two-mile walk to Phobos's city." Carter shifted her own quiver on her back. "Let's get started."
The first mile they had walked in silence as SG-1 tried to grasp the fact that Earth as they knew it was gone. It was now under some Gou'ald's control.
Suddenly, a device on Carter's pack started beeping softly.
"Guards." She hissed and the other's hurried into the dense underbrush they had just finished pulling the leaves over themselves when the guards walked by.
Jack understood why she needed the device, the Jaffa were silent. The usual clanking of the armor was gone, the armor seemed more like cloth than metal.
"Tromos Guards." Carter explained. "Tromos is Greek for terror. They're wearing armor made of trinium, which if you remember is very lightweight and very strong. Phobos took the Salish Indian's world and forced them to mine it. This device can sense the trinium up to fifty feet away."
"What were their masks?" Sam asked. "It looked like a mix between a rabbit and some kind of dog."
"It makes sense, a rabbit symbolizes fear, and a jackal symbolizes cunningness." Daniel explained, shifting his pack on his shoulder.
They walked for another hour in silence, hoping they wouldn't run into the guards again.
"Here, look at this." O'Neill said and pointed up to where the trees ended.
"Whoa." Daniel said, tall black spikes rose above the trees, looking like large teeth. They were gleaming in the bright sun.
"There is a passage way here." O'Neill moved toward a large rock and lifted it easily, it wasn't real. A hatch glinted in the faint sunlight.
"Down this hatch is the village of Enanti-Fobos. Well, that's at least what the guards call it." Carter explained as she opened it, "Anyone who survived or wasn't made into slaves came down here, or to several other underground cities like it. We've freed several slaves from different cities, and we've tried to start an army. So far we have about three hundred here and in places surrounding us and about two hundred that we have contact with."
"That's good." Jack grinned as they started down the hatch, he gasped as his foot slipped on a wet rung and he fell a few inches before regaining his footing.
"Not really," O'Neill sighed, "Not compared to Phobos's twenty-thousand. And he has armies off-world." The group grew silent as O'Neill, who came down last, closed the hatch, engulfing them in darkness.
After five minutes of climbing Sam's feet touched ground. "I'm at the bottom." She called up and moved away from the ladder.
"Thank God" Jack groaned, his knees were killing him.
Suddenly, green lights flickered on from dirty lamps on the walls. Sam noticed that they lit a long damp concrete tunnel
"Against Fear," Daniel spoke up suddenly after a few moments of walking. "That's the city's name."
"Took you that long to figure out?" O'Neill smiled almost sadly. "You used to be so fast. We thought up the name when someone in the language department thought it would be funny if we named the city "
Daniel shot him a glare but he ignored it and continued walking.
~*~
They had been walking for about half an hour before they saw a huge shadow ahead.
"Teal!c?" O'Neill called out, but lifted an arrow from his quiver anyway.
"O'Neill?" the Jaffa asked after a moment's hesitation. O'Neill grinned and the others followed as he walked up to Teal!c.
He didn't look much different. Teal!c was wearing the black tunic and pants like everyone else and carried his old staff as well, the only differences were the scratches.
"Teal!c is the only one we know of that kept a weapon." Carter explained and led them to what looked like a plain, rock wall. It was a dark grey stone, glistening as small droplets of water dripped down it.
The three older SG-1 members simply walked thought the wall.
"A hologram." Sam said with a smile and the four walked in.
What she saw made Sam stop dead in her tracks. A large concrete cavern had a large orb that lit up the tents. An enormous pot was smoking on a fire in the center of the tents, flames leaping high.
"Wow." Daniel breathed. They watched several dirty children playing near the fire and many exhausted adults sitting around or in front of the tents. A few were cooking.
"Some are slaves," O'Neill said, handing them some metal bowls filled with a watery soup. "They risk a lot running from the slave camps and giving us news. The rest have been down here for almost seven years. Ever since Phobos took over."
The light above them started to dim. The tents cast long shadows across the dirty ground.
"The Tok!ra gave us the lights before most of them were killed, the survivors are hidden on other planets, trying to find more allies." The light was dimming faster now. "You should try and get some sleep. Visitors to Enanti-Fobos sleep near the fire, I hope you don't mind. We have to pitch a tent for you first. There are blankets near the fire."
The four SG-1 members sat around the blazing flames, trying to ward off the chill of the cavern. The cave was like black velvet, the darkness seemed to spread over everything. The only light came from the softly burning fire.
"Has anyone noticed anything different?" Jack suddenly asked, draining the last of his soup. He placed the tin bowl on the ground.
"Besides the fact that we're in the future, Earth is taken over by a Gou'ald, and everyone lives in a big cave. No, not really." Daniel said sarcastically, shooting Jack an irritated look.
"No," Jack glared at him, "That there's no annoying person telling me everything about the Greek culture."
Daniel looked at him blankly for a few moments before catching on and narrowing his eyes, "I'm not here because I'm either off-world getting help or I'm just out at the moment."
"Not really." The two men jumped and spun around to see Carter smiling sadly at them she held two bowls of the soup in her hands, "Daniel isn't with us any more."
"What do you mean?" Jack placed his bowel on the ground.
"When Phobos took over, he came disguised as a Tok!ra. We didn't know at first, until it was too late. He changed hosts and started killing people. Troops started coming through the stargate and those who managed to escape came here."
"So, he was killed in the first attack." Sam stacked the four bowels.
"No," she turned her head away, her voice cracking slightly. "As I said, Phobos needed a host."
There was a shocked silence as all eyes moved to a very pale Daniel. Jack couldn't move, couldn't breathe, he couldn't even think. His friend, his best friend was gone. All that survived was his body. After seven years as the God of Fear Daniel would never be the same.
Sam was thinking the same thing. Hatred consumed the shock. Someone had taken peaceful and caring Daniel and made him do terrible things. She couldn't match Daniel's face with the horrible things that had been done to Earth.
Daniel bit his lip to keep the tears from spilling out. Fear caused him to go numb. He didn't want this for a future. He didn't want to be forced to kill people.
Jack blinked and locked eyes momentarily with the terrified young man.
"Get some sleep Danny." He muttered and handed the archeologist a blanket. He needed the sleep after a shock like that.
~*~
"Morning!" O'Neill shook Jack awake and grinned. "Come on, I've gotta show you the rest of the camp." Jack groaned but kicked Daniel in the back to wake him.
"Wassamatter?" Daniel mumbled raising his head slightly, squinting to see without his glasses. He rolled over on his back and rubbed his eyes.
"It's time to get up." Jack stretched and looked over to the two Teal cs talking to each other.
"Awake?" O'Neill asked handing them some food. "Here's some bread, we've got to leave soon if we're going to go look at Phobos's temple."
"We're seeing his temple?" Daniel asked as he put his glasses on. Jack tried to simply bite into the bread which was as hard as a rock. He grunted and turned it around, trying to bite into the other end which proved to be the same as the other side.
"Yeah, it's a five minute walked from here. If you're ready let's go."
~*~
Jack looked sadly at the slaves stumbling around the rock field hauling heavy stones to the temple. Every so often a guard would randomly beat one and shout at them loudly until they were quaking in fear.
"Bastards." He muttered glaring down at a guard beating a man bloody with his staff weapon.
"Phobos is worse, he came to Earth in disguise and took a host here. He took over the SGC and therefore got every gate address we had been too. He went and destroyed the Tok'ra, he gathered his army and began to overthrow the system lords. Now, he's destroyed all the system lords and has all the armies. He did this all in seven years."
"Wow. He must have been planning this for a long time." Sam winced as one guard shot a man in the stomach because he had dropped a rock.
"Yup, the system lords hated him to begin with, and now he's gotten far too powerful." Carter sighed and glanced at Daniel whose mouth had become a thin, white line.
~*~
It had taken the rest of the day to show SG-1 the long hidden tunnels where they would hide weapons, food, clothing, and other necessities.
"Tonight you four may sleep in an extra tent they set up while we were gone." O'Neill showed them the large white tent. "I bet you all are exhausted." A sleepy nod from Sam made him grin. "Get some sleep."
Daniel nodded slowly and moved toward the large tent set up for them. Four pallets were set up in a circle around a small fire, a few blankets were piled on the pallets and some old bottles of water were piled in the corner.
"Homey." Jack said from behind him. "Get some sleep Danny boy, I know you didn't get much last night."
Daniel cringed, he has noticed. After Carter had told them about what he was going to become he hadn't been able to sleep. He had lain on the blankets, staring at the flickering embers of the dying fire.
"Fine." Daniel sighed and sat on of the pallets. "Happy now?"
"I won't be until you're asleep." Jack grinned and sat on the pallet nearest to his friend. Teal'c handed everyone a water bottle and they laid down to sleep.
~*~
Sam awoke slowly to the sounds of shouts and screams. She then shot up and leapt to her feet. "Sir!" she hissed nudging Jack with her foot. Daniel and Teal'c were waking up as well. Daniel struggled to untangle himself from his blankets and staggered to his feet.
"What's going on?" Jack asked grabbing for his gun and flipping off the safety.
Suddenly, a staff blast ripped through the tent causing it to burst into flames. Swarms of Tromos guards were rushing into the caverns blasting everyone and everything in sight, people fell like rag dolls, large burning holes in their stomachs and chests.
Jack aimed his weapon at one guard who had pointed his staff weapon at Daniel and fired. The guard collapsed in a shower of red.
He then hurried over to Daniel. The archeologist pointed his own gun at two large guards. O'Neill struggled to his left trying to wrench a weapon from a guard.
Next to him Daniel suddenly stiffened and collapsed, electricity coursing through him. Jack tried to help his friend when everything went black.
~*~
Chapter Three: Frightening Images O'Neill woke up slowly and instantly wished he hadn't. His head pounded, he shivered with and the wind rushing through the trees didn't help. Wait, trees? He sat up and noticed Jack lying next to him, still unconscious.
"Hey." He whispered gently nudging him awake. Jack moaned but opened his eyes as well. He slowly sat up with O'Neill's help and looked around.
"Where are we?" he asked.
O'Neill wasn't really sure where they were. They were laying in a dirt path, surrounded on either side by tall dark trees that blocked out any sunlight. A chilly wind swept down the path causing them to shiver.
Suddenly a very strong wind almost knocked them down. A long shadow crept along the path. Jack stared at it, holding his breath. A low growl came from the direction the shadow had stood and another shadow joined it.
"Run!" O'Neill shouted and the two leapt to their feet and began to run down the long path.
It seemed never ending, they kept running and the path continued. The shadows were getting closer, they could hear the thing's pants as it raced behind them.
Fear had begun to course through them, filling their minds making them feel numb with horror.
The things suddenly tackled both of them to the ground. Jack could feel the hot gasping breath on his neck before it went black again.
~*~
Sam and Carter both snapped awake at the same time. The feeling of fear was intense in the small room they were in.
Sam slowly stood up but dizziness overtook her and she staggered backwards into something hard. She spun around and could not suppress a sharp scream.
"What?" Carter turned as well and gasped loudly. Teal'c hung from a rope around his neck, gently rocking back and forth. His eyes were staring blankly ahead. Jack was bound to a pole next to him, his head falling forward onto his chest, his cut throat still bleeding. Daniel lay on the opposite side of the room, his broken glasses still on his face, his chest ripped to pieces by staff blasts.
Sam had been choking back tears when someone suddenly grabbed her and spun her around. The last thing she saw was cold blue eyes before everything went black. ~*~
The Teal'c from the past woke up suddenly to find the future himself already awake. He got to his feet in just a few moments.
"Have you seen anything?" he asked, looking around the small dank cell they had been placed in.
"I have not." The other Teal'c said.
"This is your fault." A sudden voice made them both turn quickly.
Daniel stood directly behind them. He looked completely different, he was very thin, his clothes hung off him in rags. His glasses were missing and his blue eyes were flicking quickly around the room.
"I do not understand Daniel Jackson," the Teal'c from the past said, "Where is Major Carter and O'Neill?"
"This is your fault." Daniel repeated, his voice breaking, "You brought him here. You did this." A haunted laugh escaped him as he grinned insanely.
"I have done no such thing." The future Teal'c said sharply.
"You have. You have. You have." Daniel laughed insanely and slowly slid his back down the wall, grasping his knees and rocking back and forth.
~*~ Daniel moaned softly and opened his eyes. It wouldn't have made a difference as it was just as dark. He tried to push himself up but hit his head on a hard surface above him.
With a grunt of pain he laid back down, suddenly aware of how tired he was. Daniel raised a hand to the surface to where he had hit his head, wood. The floor below him was also wood as well as the four walls around him
The space he was in was so small he couldn't even move his arms. It was like a coffin. A coffin. Instant panic filled Daniel's mind, causing him to thrash in the coffin, desperate to find a way out.
His mind grew even foggier when he realized he was running out of oxygen. Daniel's eyes slid shut, he barely heard soft laughing.
~*~
Phobos smiled coldly at the prisoners. How dare they try to oppose him! This was his world. Now, they would fear him, they would learn to obey their God.
The seven prisoners were laying on simple silver tables, a mechanical device hooked up to them. His eyes traveled over the prisoners.
The one named O'Neill and his past self were panting loudly, their chests heaving. The two females were gasping in sharp panicked breaths. The two shol'va were simply lying still, concern and fear was the only emotion on their face. And the one named Jackson had thrashed desperately before lying still
They would wake soon, and he would punish them personally.
~*~
Chapter Four: The God Of Fear
Sam and Carter snapped awake. Both were gasping and nearly in tears. The rush of panic had begun to dim and they saw they were not in the small cell anymore. They were in a very white laboratory.
"They're still hooked up." Carter said as she yanked off the wires and ran over to O'Neill. Sam also took off the wires and moved over to the still Daniel.
"Daniel?" she gently removed the wires from him, "Daniel can you hear me?" She shook him and jumped as his bright blue eyes snapped open. He took a sudden deep breath and moved to his side, his body shaking with loud coughs.
"Lie still." Sam placed her own jacket on him, "Phobos has caught us, it's all an illusion. None of that was real." Still shivering the young man nodded and sat up.
"Teal'c?" Sam leaned over the Jaffa and removed the device from him as well. His eyes also snapped open and he sat up quickly. "It's okay, relax. It's an illusion." She looked at Carter and saw her talking to Jack, the other Teal'c, and O'Neill. She glanced behind her and saw Daniel still breathing harshly.
The group had somewhat calmed down when a tall man in the Tromos guard armor walked into the room glaring down at them.
"Bathmos! Good to see ya!" O'Neill quipped getting an even colder glare from the guard. He tightened his hand on the staff weapon.
"Phobos's first prime." Carter whispered. Bathmos looked slowly over all of them, his dark eyes shining triumphantly.
"Phobos wishes to speak with you." He growled out in a heavy Greek accent.
"Well," O'Neill tipped his head to the side looking thoughtful, "Sorry Buddy, we're a little busy and don't really want to take our tea and biscuits with Phoby here. Maybe a rain check?"
"It wasn't an option. It was an order." The first prime hissed, snapping his fingers and getting several more guards to put each of them in handcuffs and lead them down the shining black marble halls.
"Nice." Jack said looking at the large black marble statue of Cerberus. The huge three headed dog bared its long fangs and one of the heads had a limp marble body in its jaws.
"Be silent." Bathmos snarled and hit Jack in the back of the head with his staff causing the man to stagger forwards. "You will soon see Phobos." A small smirk lit up the first prime's face. Daniel's eyes flicked toward Jack, a scared expression on his face.
They walked down the long hall with many tall gruesome statues. Daniel would have loved to stop and just look at them but the guards shoved him along until they reached a door. The door was black, like everything else, but had the word `Fear' written in Greek on the door in silver.
"Encouraging." Jack muttered when Daniel told them what it meant.
Bathmos smirked again and pushed open the door reveling a large, windowless room, with nothing but a high backed black marble throne in the middle.
Daniel looked at the only person who could be Phobos. He was dressed in long black robes with golden edges and black pants and a tunic underneath. The dark hood covered his bowed head. Both of his hands rested on the arms of the chair, the ribbon device glinted dangerously. He then realized he was shivering, and it wasn't only because it was cold.
"My lord Phobos." Bathmos and the other guards bowed low. He kicked the past and present members of SG-1 to their knees in front of the Gou'ald.
"You have failed me Bathmos." The Gou'ald's deep metallic voice said coldly causing the first prime to wince. "The spies for the rebels have escaped your watch once again. If this happens one more time, you will be put into the machines and then executed slowly. Do you understand?"
"You are most gracious to give me another chance." Bathmos touched his forehead to the floor, "I will not fail you again. To make it up to my lord would you like me to execute these traitors?"
"No!" A hand shot out from underneath the dark sleeves. Jack stiffened, anger causing him to breathe harshly. "These are not to be killed." He then lifted his head high enough to let his face be seen.
Even though she knew what she was going to see Sam gasped in horror. Daniel. His cold eyes were lined heavily with black kohl and he smiled darkly as his eyes lit up.
The kneeling Daniel felt his insides go suddenly cold as his own eyes glowed. He felt numb and sick. This isn't me, he thought to himself, this can't be me.
"Take them to the holding cells." Phobos commanded and the guards yanked the shocked prisoners to their feet.
They were put into a dirty cell. Water dripped down the walls and the only light came from the four small slits in the door.
"That was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen." Jack said, trying to keep the atmosphere light. "I'll put that right up there with the time we all switched bodies and the time we had Urgo in our brains."
"Jack," Daniel gave him a cold look, "Stop, nothing about this is funny." Jack's strained smile vanished.
"Danny, I'm just trying to help."
"Well stop. Nothing you say is going to help. I have a damn snake in my head! He kills people by my hand. He has enslaved Earth, and nothing you say will change that." He turned on his heel and walked to a corner before sliding down the wall and hugging his knees to his chest.
Jack felt his throat tighten and glanced down. He saw Carter give him a small sympathetic smile. Not wanting to make the stressed out archeologist even more angry he settled down in the opposite corner.
~*~
Chapter Six: Questions
"I will question the prisoners." Phobos hissed at Bathmos who was kneeling in front of the Gou'ald. "I want to know where they came from and what their plans were. Bring them one by one to me." The first prime bowed low and turned to go to the cells.
Phobos sunk back into his throne and sighed. The prisoners were familiar, or at least his host recognized them. Jack O'Neill, he knew the name form the few spies he had caught. The two were Apophis's famous shol'va. Then there the woman, Phobos frowned when he thought of her, she was once a host to a Gou'ald. He could sense this. Then there was Jackson, the past version of his own host.
Phobos was sure he had found a prize when he got his host. After hiding from the system lords for years he came across one of the Tok'ra. He had killed the unfortunate Tok'ra's symbiote and had taken its place among the other Tok'ra. Soon, he was informed he was going to Earth as an ambassador. Greeting him at the gate was SG-1.
Phobos had one goal on this journey, to find a new host.
He had looked over the four people. Closest to him stood the commanding Colonel O'Neill but he was too elderly looking, with his grey hair. The Jaffa Teal'c already had a symbiote. The woman Carter was beautiful but had already been taken by a Gou'ald as well.
But then there was Jackson. The first thing Phobos noticed was how blue his eyes were. He was strong, fit, and tall. He was, in fact, very handsome. Very perfect.
That evening he had called Jackson into his private quarters to work on a translation. He had cornered Jackson and had changed hosts. Once in Jackson's body he killed the host and dissolved with body with a zat gun.
Phobos had then taken over the SGC from the inside out. He smirked as the door opened and O'Neill stumbled in.
~*~
O'Neill narrowed his eyes at the smirking Daniel. No, Phobos. Bathmos forced him to his knees. Phobos tightened his grip on the arm rests making the ribbon device flash. He let his eyes glow brightly.
"You have tried to betray your god." Phobos said coldly. "For this you will suffer." O'Neill gritted his teeth and his bound hands clenched into tight fists.
"You are no god." O'Neill whispered furiously. "You are nothing more than a parasite that possesses innocent people and uses them as slaves."
Phobos stood angrily to his feet. "You will be silent!" he hissed sharply.
"No!" he looked up at Phobos from where he kneeled. That was Daniel's face. Those were his eyes that were glowing viciously. "I will not be silent! You have taken over my friend's body and we want him back!"
Phobos struck him hard across the face, leaving deep gashes into his cheek where the sharpened fingertips of the ribbon device had hit him. O'Neill gasped softly, feeling the warm flow of blood on his neck.
"There is nothing left of the host." Phobos growled into his ear.
"That's where you're wrong." O'Neill muttered. "You're only lying to yourself. We both know he's still there."
Phobos's eyes glowed brightly. "Maybe it is you who is lying to yourself." O'Neill glared back at him.
"Go to Hell." He snarled getting another hard strike across the face.
~*~
O'Neill spat out blood as the guards pulled him down the halls. Phobos had hit him so many times on both sides of the face that it had almost been cut all the way through.
"In there." The guard snarled and shoved him through the cell door. Carter jumped up when she saw him and started fussing and prodding his wounds before he even sat down. He winced as she pressed the broken skin together with her fingers to get it to stop bleeding. His neckline was already damp with the blood.
"It looks deep." Carter mumbled as she soaked her bandana in the bucket of water that sat in the corner of the cell and wiped his face with it to get a better look at the cuts.
"Hurts." O'Neill growled.
"Did Phobos question you O'Neill?" the future Teal'c asked. Jack saw Daniel shudder slightly at the name.
"Not really," he hissed in pain as Carter scrubbed harder. "He just said something about how we'll be punished. I wasn't really listening. Got in a fight with him though. He sharpened the tips of his ribbon device to points." He lifted a finger to his cuts, "Very sharp points."
"So I take it this Phobos isn't very nice?" Jack cocked his head to the side.
"He plays games with your head." Carter said as she washed her own hands. "So, no, not very nice at all." She took a moment to give Daniel a sympathetic smile.
"Do we have any chance of getting out?" Sam asked, standing behind Carter to get a look at O'Neill's cuts.
"From what I saw there are no windows and no doors leading outside from his throne room or from the cells." O'Neill muttered. "However, I did manage to keep this." He raised his wrist so they could see a beaded bracelet.
"What is it?" Jack asked narrowing his eyes, grabbing O'Neill's wrist and looking at the dark beads.
"It's a Tok'ra tracking device. Another gift from our lovely allies. Two bracelets will light up if they get within ten feet of each other."
"So," Daniel spoke up., "All a spy has to do is walk down the hall and they know where we are?"
"Yup," O'Neill grinned, "Nifty huh?"
~*~
Phobos scowled at the servants around him. He couldn't help but smirk as they cowered away. The Gou'ald was seated in his private sitting room, surrounded by cushions and silk blankets.
"Wine." he growled and again smirked as the servants hurried to get his wine. He knew they feared him.
A small boy, no older than eight, ran towards him with the goblet of wine in one hand. The boy tripped over his long robes and fell, the wine flew from his hands spilling on Phobos's robes.
Furious, Phobos flung the screaming boy across the room with his ribbon device. The boy's body was skewered on one of the sharp spikes along the walls. He gave several violent shudders before going still.
"Burn the body." Phobos said emotionlessly. He turned his icy gaze onto the boy's mother, who was also in his service. Her eyes were large and wild, tears running down her cheeks.
With an inhuman scream she flung herself at the Gou'ald. The guards in the room jumped up but froze as Phobos grabbed her throat.
"You, burn the body." He snarled at the terrified mother. "Then I will deal with you." He threw her down on the ground where she collapsed, sobbing.
After the mother was forced to burn her son's body she was returned to him. Phobos's eyes glowed briefly as the guards shackled her to the floor. Her body was shaking with exhaustion, fear, and grief.
"Never," He said cracking her across the back with a whip that had broken glass attached to it. He paused, enjoying her scream of pure agony. "Attack a God."
He snapped the whip on her back again and again until she collapsed, sobbing and shaking like a leaf.
He then took a pitcher of oil and dumped it on her quivering body. She let out a hoarse scream as it hit her wounds.
"You will leave this world the same way your beloved son did." He hissed and dropped a lit candle onto her robes.
"Send for more wine." Phobos ordered a guard as he walked out of the room, ignoring the woman's terrible screams.
~*~
Chapter Seven: Escape
A young man walked down the halls quickly. He was rather short, only five foot seven inches. His shaggy brown hair fell into his large dark grey eyes that flickered from cell to cell. He grinned brightly as the thin bracelet on his wrist began to glow faintly.
~*~
O'Neill jumped from the slight doze accidently kicking Carter as he started awake. He had ordered everyone to get a little sleep.
There it was again A soft tapping on the cell door.
"Sir." Carter breathed, pointing at his wrist. O'Neill laughed when he saw the beads glow.
"Colonel O'Neill?" A soft whisper from outside. Everyone in the cell had woken and had started to edge towards the door.
"Jasper? Is that you?" Carter asked softly.
"Major Carter? Hold on, I'll be right back, I saw a key a little farther down the hall." They waited until the soft thud of footsteps vanished.
"Jasper?" Jack asked.
"Yup, Jasper, Alexander, Alex, Al, Short Stuff. Whatever you wanna call him. He's a spy." O'Neill stood up and stretched. They heard the soft scratching of a key in the lock and the low groaning of the door on it's rusty hinges.
"Shorty!" O'Neill ginned and hugged the man, squeezing the breath out of him.
"Nice to see ya too Colonel." The breathless man laughed, "We'd better head out, I know a way where we hopefully wont be detected."
"I love you Jasper." O'Neill said as he pushed Daniel out the door.
"Thought so." Jasper helped the two Sams out and nodded as the Teal'cs walked by.
"It's over here." he whispered, moving quickly and silently. He led them to a small hatch in the wall. "This is where the dead prisoners are pushed through. Now this might be a little...gross...but it is open so the slaves can see the dead. I can safely say that it doesn't smell too pretty either." He then handed them each a black bandana to wrap around their mouths and noses.
"Ladies first?" Jack grimaced as he looked through the hatch.
"Fine." Carter growled and slowly lowered himself down the hatch and dropped the extra three feet to the damp dirt below.
Even with the bandana she felt his eyes well with tears and almost gagged. Hundreds of corpses laid on the ground. Some were skeletons, some were just skin hanging off yellowed bones, and some stared at her through rotting eyes as maggots crawled over their flesh.
The bile forced its way into her throat again as she heard the others drop one by one besides her.
"Let's get out of here." Jack breathed, pressing the bandana tighter around his face. The group moved quickly to the small patch of pale sunlight.
Jack's heart fell at the sigh. About one mile of Tromos guards, slaves, and tall well armed watch towers until they reached the forest. There was no way they could pass through unseen.
"Hey Danny." Jack looked at him. "They think you're a Gou'ald right?" Daniel nodded, looking confused. "Sweet, let's find the nearest guard outpost. Hey Jasper do you have weapons?"
"No but I can get them out." Jasper muttered as he led them to a small black shack. "Wait here."
"Help!" Jasper suddenly shouted running and slamming his fists on the door, "The slaves are rebelling They've killed the guards in my section." He leapt aside as three guards raced from within the shack. "Please stop this betrayal to our God!"
He then waited until they were out of sight before waving them all inside the shack. Jack pushed aside a overturned wooden chair. He quickly slammed the door shut and locked it.
"Over there are the extra guard uniforms everyone get one on, except you." He grabbed Daniel and pulled him back. He handed the young archeologist a set of long black robes. "We can't have you walking out there in fatigues." he gave him a grin.
Daniel pulled on the robes washed his face in the basin. He pulled on a pair of black gloves after a moment. Thinking they might doubt him if they couldn't see a ribbon device.
"Nice." Jasper came back over in the Tromos guards uniform. "But here. The guards put on the kohl before seeing Phobos himself. If they ever have to." He opened the small jar of black paint and spread it around Daniel's eyes.
"What about my voice." Daniel asked. If he couldn't fake the Gou'ald voice, they would know the difference instantly.
"Phobos wouldn't talk around anyone as low as slaves. Now remember, don't look like you're pitying them, don't try to help. It wont be smart and would get us into a lot more trouble than we are now." Jasper grinned and activated his helmet which slid shut with a whooshing sound.
"Let's go kids, ready Danny?" O'Neill cocked his head to the side. Daniel took a deep breath and nodded.
The group stepped into the light and started to walk towards the forest. The "guards" held their staffs in front of them and Daniel walked in the center of the circle they had formed around him.
"Halt!" one of the guards standing by the slaves called, "You are not to be traveling aimlessly across the fields. If a guard is not with his assigned slaves then he is punished. And you..." the guard was cut off as Teal'c from the future suddenly hit him with his staff.
"Are you blind?" Teal'c growled, "Can you not see we are accompanying our lord and master to the forest. I should kill you now for your stupidity." He looked at Daniel as if for permission.
Daniel froze, he wasn't sure what to do. He had to act like Phobos. Glaring at the guard Daniel gave a nod.
Teal'c fired his staff weapon into the guard's chest and Daniel felt his throat tighten as he stumbled backwards and fell, his chest still smoking.
"Let this be a warning." Teal'c said to the wide-eyed assistant guard who instantly fell to his knees.
"Shall we continue, my lord." Jasper asked, bowing low. Daniel nodded again, shooting the kneeling guard a cold glare making him bow lower.
The next fifteen minutes were torture for Daniel. The sun beat on his back and he was wearing a thick black robe.
"Almost there Danny." Jack muttered from under his helmet. Daniel looked up at the approaching forest. "You're doing good. You kinda freaked me out back there. Ever thought of a career in acting?" Daniel had to resist smiling, any onlooker would find that slightly out of place.
"Alright." Jasper whispered as soon as they got into the thick trees. "Walk until you reach the large boulder over there, we should be out of sight then."
Daniel let out a sigh of relief when they passed the large grey stone. He instantly began to rub his itching eyes, smearing the kohl.
"Alright!" Jack quickly deactivated the mask and took off the helmet quickly. He helped Daniel out of his long robes which had twisted themselves around him completely.
"Were will we stay?" Sam asked, "There can't be any chance of a battle now, half the forces were in Enati-Fobos."
"Most of them might have escaped. One of our plans is we were attacked was to go to the nearest underground rebellion city. There's three we know of here. All of them are started by former SGC personnel." O'Neill said as he looked hard at a tree.
"Are we near Fraiser's camp?" he asked suddenly leaning into the tree and tracing a small circle that had been cut into the bark.
Well, we went straight after leaving the prison, which is on the east side. So, we should be close." Jasper said looking up for the sun.
"It's his job to memorize the palace and the grounds surrounding it." Carter explained. "We should find Janet's camp, maybe the survivors from ours ran there."
"O'Neill!" They all turned to Teal'c from the future's shout. He had lifted a mess of vine to expose a hidden door. "I believe this is Doctor Fraiser's camp."
"Right you are Teal'c!" O'Neill replied happily and almost ran to the door. "Come on now all. In Doc's home." Daniel sighed and stepped into the small opening. This hall was cleaner and brighter than the other city. It didn't have a ladder descending to the room but the floor sloped downhill.
Like the other city it opened into a large hall full of tents. The only difference was the obvious attempt at decoration. Large colored sheet hung from the walls, giving it an odd quilted look.
"DOC FRAISER!" O'Neill shouted. The flap of a large tent with a red cross painted on it and Janet stepped out. She didn't look different except her hair reached the middle of her back and was pulled back into a messy ponytail.
"Colonel. I can..." she stopped when she saw their doubles and Daniel. "Phobos?" she breathed her eyes wide in fear.
"No. Daniel." Carter smiled. "They traveled through during a solar flare. They're from the past. We brought them here to help us." Janet had tears welling up in her eyes.
"I'll check on each of you in the medical tent. There's some food in there." She said with a small smile and followed the exhausted team into the tent.
Jack sat down with a small grunt on one of the hard cots that lined the tent walls. He shrugged out of his jacket, noticing for the first time that the sleeve had a slightly blackened part. Probably from a staff, he thought grimly.
"You should get some sleep." Janet said walking in, "I don't know the last time you had a good rest. I'll check on you later."
~*~
Chapter Eight: Discoveries
Slowly, Daniel opened his eyes. The cloth walls confused him before he remembered what had happened. His body was stiff from sleep and he realized that he had been dressed and cleaned.
"I gave each of you a little bit of sedative." he jumped and turned to see the doctor smiling down at him. "It's one of the things we had a ton of after the first attack. How are you feeling?"
"Alright." his voice cracked from sleep and he winced as she laughed. Daniel smiled slightly and ran a hand through his messy hair.
"It's good to have you back Daniel." she ducked her head a little, pretending that she was checking the few yellowed sheets of paper in her hands. Daniel saw the tear dampen the paper and sat up, concerned.
"Janet." he gently took the papers from her hand and placed them on the small table next to his bed. He then moved back so she could sit in front of him.
Soft sobs shook her body as he slowly rocked her back and forth, gently rubbing her back. She clenched his shirt tightly in her hands, as if scared he would go away.
"I got your shirt all wet." she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
"`Sokay, it wasn't clean anyway. I get to skip out on a load of laundry." Daniel pulled her back and smiled. "You okay?" he wiped her tears and she gave him a watery smile.
"Yeah sorry," she sniffed and wiped at her eyes, "It's just weird to see you as... you." Janet played with his sleeve, not meeting his eyes.
"Before Phobos came, a couple of weeks before actually, we were dating." Daniel raised his eyebrows at that, "Yeah, you finally got the courage to ask me out." Janet chuckled softly squeezing his hand. "We went to a movie and out to dinner for the first date. You kissed me at my door."
"A typical teenager date?" Daniel grinned as she laughed.
"Yeah. It was fun." the light in her eyes faded. "Then Phobos took you, and he caught and killed Cassie. That's when I instantly stopped believing you would ever come back." her voice stopped and she closed her eyes tightly.
Daniel pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it wasn't your fault." she sniffed. He leaned over and gently kissed her on the lips before instantly jerking back.
"Sorry...I didn't mean to do that." Daniel muttered, his face heating up. He opened his mouth to apologize again but Janet kissed him before he could say anything.
Any thought in his mind went instantly blank as he kissed her back, the kiss turning more passionate. He gently touched her lips with his tounge, asking for entrance. Which she granted him.
She pulled back, breathing harshly. Their eyes were locked, his hand still cupped on her cheek.
"I've got to go." She whispered breathlessly. "There's a sick kid in one of the tents." She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes.
"I'll see you later?" Daniel gently took her hand and kissed it.
"Yeah. Soon." She smiled, kissed him once more, and walked out of the tent with a smile.
Daniel flopped back on the bed, a grin spreading on his face and closing his eyes, trying to remember everything about the kiss.
In the bed next to Daniel's, Jack smiled slightly.
~*~
"Doc says we're all fine." O'Neill laid back down on his cot and closed his eyes. "But we need to get the rest of the `army'" he made quotation marks with his fingers. "There are tons of other slave camps. We only have contact with a few and they can get volunteers from camps nearby."
"How do you contact them?" Sam asked as she sipped her watery soup, grimacing at the taste.
"Simply by radio. We always turn our radios at eight every night for half an hour to save batteries. There is also one hidden aircraft in every ten camps. We'll do it tonight."
"But even with the aircrafts it's going to take awhile to get everyone here. What are we going to do while we wait?" Daniel asked.
"Well, we need weapons." O'Neill stretched out on his bed. "We can make them here though, and train the volunteers."
~*~
Sam massaged her cramping hand. For the past few hours they had been shining rusty shields, sharpening swords and knives, and putting together arrows. They knew the whole Gou'ald army would be protected by the automatic shields, so guns and staff weapons were useless.
"Sharpen the edge of the shield." O'Neill said as he rubbed the cleaning cloth across a very dirty sword. "Now it can be a weapon."
"Handy." Sam grinned as she rubbed the stone around the edge until it was sharp. She then tightened the leather straps on the inside and tossed it on the growing pile of shields. "Sir, how did you escape when Phobos took over."
A strange look crossed his face and his whole body stiffened. "Well, I didn't know it was Phobos at the time, until I walked in on him killing someone. I told you and we got as many people we could to help. That's when the Jaffa started coming through the Stargate and we had no way of stopping it. We ran for it."
"Oh." Sam turned her gaze on the rusty shield in her hands. "I'm sorry." She felt guilty for mentioning it.
"Yeah," O'Neill put the sword in the pile. "So am I."
~*~
Chapter Nine: Help Arrives "O'Neill." A young man raced over to the group of people working on the growing pile of weapons. "There are volunteers here. I heard aircrafts landing not far from here." the man grinned brightly.
"Captain Manning, from Texas." a tall man walked up behind he other one. He had a deep southern accent, short black hair and bright green eyes.
"Manning! How's it going, how many did you bring?" O'Neill grinned and walked over to the taller man.
"It's going pretty good, Colonel." Manning nodded and smiled, "I thought ya'll might need some help. We brought about two hundred in the cargo plane, don't worry the cloaking device worked. But I had a continuous signal sent out today. It should contact anyone we haven't."
"Sweet!" Jack joined them. "I'm Jack O'Neill, from the past. I doubt that made any sense." he added at the confused look on the Captain's face. "They came to get us during a solar flare, which sent us to the future."
"The stargate?"
"Yup, this is Major Carter, Teal'c, and Doctor Daniel Jackson. He's not a host yet. And we don't intend for him to be." Jack said looking Daniel right in the eyes.
~*~
Night fell slowly, the camps in Texas were the only ones that had answered so far. Tents had been set up outside, but they had not built fires in fear that Phobos's troops would see them.
Inside the cave the fire was nothing more than glowing embers. O'Neill stood in front of it, the red light cast eerie shadows on his face.
"Hey." Daniel walked up next to him and smiled. "What are you thinking."
"It's not enough." O'Neill sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "Phobos will contact the troops off world. And our troops are already too small."
"What if we took that advantage away?" Daniel muttered, staring at the dying fire.
"What?"
"Gou'ald contact each other through the orbs right? What if we destroy it? We could take away his advantage."
"He had an alarm system." O'Neill opened his eyes. "If anything happens there is a Contact Room that instantly sends it out to every troop out there."
"If we get in there some how, we can possibly dismantle it. Sam's pretty good at that kind of thing." O'Neill looked at the younger man thoughtfully.
"You know, you're not as dumb as you look." He got a glare from Daniel, "Someone call Jasper! Tell him to meet me in the conference tent." he shouted and pulled Daniel into a long tent.
Chairs of all colors and sizes were lined up along the walls of the tent. A large piece of wood had been attached to the rock, a hand drawn map of the palace was nailed to it.
Jasper, the rest of SG-1, Janet, and Manning joined them in the tent.
"Danny here had an idea!" O'Neill grinned. "Shorty, is there some way to get into the Contact Room without going through the halls?"
"Well," Jasper walked over to the map. "T-here are ventilation shafts here and here." he pointed at the map. "They aren't under surveillance. Phobos doesn't know we're out here. He might have the guards doubled."
"Let's send a group through there." O'Neill decided, "Another group can go to the sarcophagus room and destroy it. And I'll head a group to stop Phobos himself. The rest can attack the guards in the slave fields."
"I'll head the group to attack the guards." Manning volunteered lifting his eyes briefly from the map.
"Sweet." O'Neill grinned, "Let's head out in two days, at dusk."
~*~
Chapter Ten: The Attack Begins
Over the next few days, more troops arrived from around Colorado, making their forces about four hundred total. They had decided that each group that went into the palace would have five people.
"Everyone ready?" O'Neill grinned and looked over the ten people who were going into the palace. "Alright, Danny, Teal'cs, and other me are going after Phobos. Jasper, Carters, Anderson, and Davids are going to deactivate the alarms." he looked at the groups.
"Lie low for thirty minutes, that way there's no chance of him activating the alarms." Carter said, "We should be done by then. Manning's troops will attack after forty-five minutes."
"Got it." Jack nodded and fingered his slave robes. He hated them. They were an awful itchy brown cloth that seemed to cling in all the wrong places and was so tight around the neck he could hardly breathe.
The small party gathered around an old wooden cart that stood outside the door.
"Hoods up." O'Neill looked at the distant palace, the tall black tips could be seen over the treetops. He grabbed one handle on the cart and they began to move it to the large clearing.
After twenty minutes of pulling the cart they reached the rocky fields.
"Halt!" A guard snarled from his post and walked over to them, "Who are you and what is your purpose here?"
"We are slaves from another camp. We come with lumber to give to our lord." Jasper spoke up.
"Why do you not look me in the eye?" the guard growled leaning closely to Jasper.
"I am not worthy to look at you." the short man muttered, bowing low. The guard looked pleased with the answer because he just pulled back the tarp, revealing long planks of wood, and waved them on.
Jasper smiled at them and they continued to pull the cart across the field. After fifteen minutes of pulling the heavy cart they made their way to the ventilation ducts.
"Once we get in I'll tell you the way to each of your rooms." Jasper whispered as they opened the planks of wood on their hidden hinges and removed their weapons. Carter and Jasper quickly removed the bars from the vent and crawled through.
"Those going to the sarcophagus room, you have to go right, the rest, this way." Jasper whispered as they reached a fork in the shaft. "Good luck." ~*~
Jack swore his back was going to break if he kept crawling in this long metal tube. His hand and knees were sore and his head would occasionally strike the top causing Daniel to snicker. The colonel shot the younger man his best evil glare but he just rolled his eyes in return.
"Right here." O'Neill whispered when they saw the light from the room come through the duct. "Now we wait." he sat back as Jack set the timer on his watch.
~*~
"So which wire do we cut?" Sam asked looking at her future self. Carter bit her lip, they only had five minutes to shut off the alarms.
"Cut the main speaker system, that's the yellow one." Jasper said from behind them. Sam snipped through the thin wire and breathed a sigh of relief when the small light on the intercom went off.
"Now the alarms should either red or blue. But he put a trick wire in there. If you clip the wrong on the alarms go off."
"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Sam hissed turning to glare at the shorter man.
"If you snip both at the same time it wont matter." Jasper rolled his eyes and handed another wire cutter to Carter.
"Alright. One, two, three!" they both cut the wires. They both let out a breath they didn't know they were holding when nothing happened.
"Let's hope the other group has destroyed the sarcophagus." Sam said with a small smile.
~*~
"Fifteen minutes are up." Jack whispered and O'Neill looked down the grate into the bright room. He hooked his fingers in the bars and lifted the grate up with a soft grinding noise. He placed it gently on the metal. He waved down and lowered himself into the room. The others followed one by one until they were all standing one the marble floor.
The room was black, like everything else in the palace, but had bright torches along the walls that threw shadows across the golden sarcophagus in the center of the room.
"Phobos is not in there O'Neill." the future Teal'c said suddenly. "How shall we destroy it? We have no zat-ni-katel."
"Point, is there anyway to shut it off manually?" Jack walked around it slowly.
"There is an internal wiring system. If we destroy it, the sarcophagus will no longer be operational." Teal'c from the future said.
"Sweet." O'Neill muttered. He unsheathed his short sword and pried a metal plate off the side, revealing about thirty different wires. He narrowed his eyes then quickly stabbed the wires. A low buzzing filled the room and the sarcophagus sparked and smoked. Then suddenly, it stopped.
"I believe it is destroyed." the future Teal'c said with a small kick to the side. "Shall we continue to Phobos's chambers?"
"Yeah," Daniel quickly looked at his watch, "Manning is leading the attack any minute now. Let's hurry."
~*~
Phobos sat up quickly. He had been laying on his large bed when he heard a loud cry from the slave fields. He stood up and brushed down his black robes.
In a few long strides he reached the window and looked out. An army of the Tau'ri ran from the forest. Angrily, he pressed the alarm on his hand device.
The Gou'ald stiffened. Nothing was happening, there were no alarms.
The escaped prisoners, how they would suffer. Phobos thought narrowing his eyes.
"Bathmos! Guards!" He shouted loudly. Bathmos and another guard ran into his room. "Do you see that?" he growled, grabbing the back of Bathmos's neck and activating the ribbon device so he was writhing in pain. "An attack! Go alert the army. No mistakes!"
The two guards ran from the room as the furious Gou'ald turned his gaze back to the window.
~*~
Manning signaled his archers to get their bows ready and with a quick downward thrust of his sword they whistled through the air, striking the guards with deadly accuracy.
He jumped from the tree and shouted for his one hundred men to charge the few confused guards.
"Now!" He shouted and they ran toward the field, letting out a sharp cry. The slaves turned on the guards, using whatever they had. Manning could see one slave slamming a pickax into a guards unprotected legs. He then deactivated the helmet and brought it down hard on his head. Blood sprayed everywhere and the guard's body seized as the slave ran off to attack another guard.
Manning turned his head, watching as the combined forces of the small army and slaves destroyed Phobos's unprepared guards. The Gou'ald's army was also no match for the thousand angry slaves.
Manning let out a shout as a sharp pain shot through his arm. He spun around to see a leering guard, his mask deactivated. Blood ran down the guard's face as he raised the sharp sword.
He dodged the next blow but wasn't prepared for the guard to slice at the back of his knees, bringing him to the ground. He tried to cut the guard but he kicked the blade out of Manning's hands.
Pain exploded in his stomach as the sword slashed it deep. He could feel his insides spilling out as he collapsed sideways. Blood filled his mouth and his eyes began to close but he felt a sudden surge of hope at the sight of Phobos's army being beaten. They would win and Earth would be free.
Chapter Eleven: Death Of A Friend
O'Neill ran down the halls. As he reached the corner he skidded to a halt, the grip on his sword tightening. He froze when he heard the thud of running guard boots.
They waited until the two guards rounded the corner, then the two Teal'cs tackled one to the ground and the other ran quickly around them until he rounded the other corner and disappeared. Bathmos struggled against the two former Jaffa and only froze when O'Neill placed a sword at his neck.
"Is Phobos in his chamber?" he asked coldly.
"I will never betray my god." Bathmos hissed and jumped suddenly at O'Neill. However, O'Neill was quicker and swung the sword quickly, beheading the first prime.
There was a spurt of bright red blood, the bone shone a ghastly white. Reflexes caused his hands to shoot up as he fell limply backwards. The head rolled down the hall like some repulsive ball.
"I'll take that as a yes." Daniel whispered after the stunned silence. O'Neill wiped the blade on the corpse's cloak and placed it back in the sheath.
"Come on kids." O'Neill said and they started back down the hallway.
At the end of the hall there were pair of tall golden double doors. Daniel, again, would have loved just to look at the door for a little longer. The Ancient Greek letters spelled out `Fear Conquers All.' and carved into the gold were several Greek monsters.
"I'm guessing this is it." Jack gave Daniel a small reassuring smile as he grasped the sword in his own hand tighter.
The two Teal'cs kicked the doors open and the group rushed into the room. They saw Phobos standing by the window. He was gripping the windowsill tightly, his blue eyes locked onto the raging battle outside his own palace.
"Phobos." O'Neill growled, his knuckles were white on the handle of his red tinted blade. "We will give you two choices. One, you give up your host. Or two, you die. It's your choice. With number one you will have a very slight chance of winning, but it's larger than number two."
"You will not leave this place alive." Phobos's eyes glowed. "My first prime will kill you."
"Your first prime is dead." Teal'c said from the side, "O'Neill has killed him. You have no protection." Daniel wouldn't have been surprised if Teal'c just killed Phobos with his bare hands. The former Jaffa's eyes were flashing with hate.
Phobos had begun to look worried, his blue eyes were even brighter with the kohl around them. "But...I am a God"
"You wish." Jack snarled. "You are nothing but a parasite. Now give us our friend back."
"Nothing of the host survives" Phobos hissed angrily. He had backed up into the wall and glanced at the door behind them.
"Liar!" O'Neill shouted. "You have nothing! Your sarcophagus is destroyed, your first prime is dead, your army is not anywhere near here, and you have no possible way to escape."
Phobos scowled darkly and quickly extended his hand, using a blast of energy to push the Teal'cs aside as he turned to O'Neill. Both hands shot forward trying to strangle the colonel but O'Neill slammed his sword into Phobos's throat.
His eyes glowed with a dying light and he let out a gurgling cry. He staggered backwards and O'Neill grabbed his robes and lowered him gently to the ground. Blood streamed down his chin and out of his nose.
`Jack.' Daniel mouthed before his glassy eyes went blank and the hand that had moved to his throat fell to the ground, the ribbon device making a soft clicking noise.
O'Neill swallowed and blinked back tears as he closed Daniel's eyes. He turned slightly to see the rest of the group. The future Teal'c lowered his head.
"O'Neill, I will carry Daniel Jackson's body back to the caves." He laid a hand on O'Neill's shoulder. Jack bit his lip, normally he was the one in this kind of situation. He hated being helpless.
"Do you want me to do anything?" he muttered risking a quick glance at the past Daniel. He simply looked blank, like he wasn't sure how he should be feeling.
"Let's go home." O'Neill said with a small smile.
~*~
"Are you sure you can't stay?" Janet asked. The past SG-1 were lined up in front of the stargate. They were facing the future SG-1 and were saying their goodbyes before the solar flare went off.
"Sorry." Sam hugged her and smiled at her future self. "We won't get back to the right time if we don't leave."
"I know." Janet smiled and turned to Daniel. "See ya later."
"Bye." He hugged her tightly, "What's your favorite restaurant?"
"The Imperial Dragon." Janet grinned brightly at the blue-eyed archeologist.
"Good luck." O'Neill looked over the team, pausing for a moment on Daniel, a look of sorrow flashed across his face. Daniel smiled slightly, nodding his head.
At that moment, Carter activated the stargate. SG-1 walked up to the brightly glowing gate. They turned around for one final goodbye before stepping into the gate and vanishing.
~*~
The four exhausted people stumbled through the event horizon and onto the ramp. Their shoes made loud clinking noises as they walked slowly toward General Hammond who waited at the end.
"Was your mission a success?" he asked, looking over the team with concern.
"Yeah." Jack rubbed his hand over his face. He finally felt the grit of the past few weeks on his face and felt dirty. "Sir, may we discuss this in the briefing? I need a shower."
"Yes, go shower and get checked out by Doctor Fraiser." He smiled as the team smiled gratefully and began to walk to the doors.
When Daniel got into the bathroom he gently shrugged out of his jacket while still walking. He then stripped off his shirt. Pausing to unbuckle his belt, he glanced over at the other two members of his team. Jack hopped up and down, trying to untangle himself from his pants and Teal'c just watched him, raising his eyebrow. He gave a small smirk when Jack fell over.
Daniel laughed as he removed his own pants then his boxers, wrapping a towel around his waist.
"Do you have the mint scented shampoo and conditioner?" Daniel asked, using one hand to dig through his locker and the other one to hold his towel closed.
"Here." Jack tossed him the bottle. "Don't know why you use it."
"Because I like the smell, it's refreshing. And besides it's better than your brand. `Mountain Glacier.'" Daniel grinned as he ducked the ball of rolled up socks Jack threw at him and he stepped into the shower.
He turned on the steaming hot water and tipped his head back so it hit his face. He heard Jack sigh in the stall next to him. "Feels good." Jack mumbled. Daniel grinned and massaged the shampoo into his hair.
After fifteen minutes Daniel crossed the bathroom, dressed in sweat pants, an over large sweatshirt, and a pair of black slippers. He toweled his hair dry as he walked toward the door. He tossed the towel into the bin in the corner.
Daniel walked quickly to where he saw Sam walking out of the woman's bathroom.
"Hey." He grinned, getting into step with her.
"Hey yourself." She returned the smile. "You look comfy." Sam raised her eyebrows at his baggy clothes. "Technically you're not in uniform."
"Yeah, but I didn't want to deal with the fatigues today, and Technically I'm not military." He pulled two Fifth Avenues out of his pocket. He had been planing on eating them on the way to the briefing anyway, and handing her one. He took a large bite and closed his eyes, enjoying the peanut butter.
"Hey these are good." Sam said surprised. Daniel's eyes snapped open and he looked at her in shock.
"You've never had one?" his eyes widened even more when she shook her head. "This is how I met Kusaf. I just gave him one and he welcomed us into the city." He smiled and took another bite.
They stepped into the infirmary to find Jack and Teal'c finishing up. Jack shot a dirty look at one of the nurses who also glared at him and put away a very large needle.
Daniel sat on the edge on one of the beds, his legs hanging off the side.
"Hey Daniel." Janet smiled and walked over to him, "How are you feeling?" His heart leapt into his throat and he offered her a small smile.
"Fine." He answered. Then he remembered the conversation with the future Janet.
"Let me just take some blood." She smiled pulling out a needle. She turned around to find the cleaning alcohol and Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
His mind was yelling at him to ask her out but his vocal cords weren't working for some reason.
"All done." He stared at her in disbelief. Already? He hadn't even noticed. Now, he had to do it now.
"Janet." He grabbed her arm before she walked away. "Um . . . would . . . you want . . . er . . . to . . . um . . . gotodinnerwithme?" Her eyes widened.
"What?"
"Well," his confidence quickly returning, "I wanted to know if you wanted to go to the Imperial Dragon with me?"
"That's my favorite restaurant." She grinned brightly. "And that's a yes. How's Saturday, maybe about six?"
"Six sounds good." Daniel smiled. "I've got to go to the debriefing. I'll see ya later." He stood up and started toward the door. Janet suddenly stopped him by kissing him on the cheek and walking away.
Daniel slowly reached up to the place she had kissed and touched it, a silly grin spreading across his face. Maybe he could change his future. But first he wanted to think about his present, he could fix everything.
Still grinning he slowly walked to the briefing room, thinking about a dark-eyed doctor.
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