Sleep was not something that would come easy to Janna tonight, she knew
that. Getting the four back to her place, however, was going to be even harder. Security guards patrolled the streets,
and were usually suspicious of anyone who was out late at night.
"Do you think that any of your people would be
able to help us?" Sam asked as they sat inside of Janna's office, trying to devise a plan to save Shea from
the Goa'uld.
"My people are naturally born skeptics." Jana shook her head. "I doubt that they'll even want to
know who you are."
Jack leaned closer to Sam and they began to talk in hushed whispers. "They aren't very advanced,
why is Anubis so interested in them?" Jack asked.
"I think that the fact that they are `unclaimed' is enough
to warrant interest with him sir." She replied, shrugging.
"We were advanced." Janna told them. "About twenty years ago,
there was an accident. Some of the scientists were trying to make som kind of cure for a deadly disease on our planet
and there was a large explosion. No one was hurt, but it wiped out any form of technology on the planet. All of our
computers, telephones and electricity was gone. We managed to et the electricity back, but the computer technology
is lost, along with so much of our history that was stored on them. We call it the bad time." She explained.
"That
might be why Anubis is so interested." Sam decided, thinking aloud. "If you were able to keep your planet and the society's
together with a limited amount of panic, he'd see your race as a strong one, and they are always looking for strong
hosts."
"Try not to misunderstand what Janna is saying, we weren't always so together after that accident. There
was mass panic for a few years but eventually, our leaders saw that panicking wouldn't bring what we lost back,
so we worked together." Mark answered and Sam nodded thoughtfully.
"Are you going to help us?" Mike, who had remained
silent for most of the evening, asked.
"We are going to try." Teal'c answered.
~*+*~
Chapter 12
~*+*~
It
had been decided, after little debate, that SG-1 would stay at the dig site rather than risk one of the guards seeing
them if they tried to get back to Janna's place. They had set up their sleeping bags behind Janna's desk, out of sight,
while Janna, Mike and Mark kept an eye on the Stargate and the entrance to the dig site.
Teal'c was deep in
Kel'no'reem, Jonas was sound asleep, snoring softly, all of the excitement getting to him, the three Sheans were outside
and Sam and Jack were still wide awake, talking quietly.
"Do you think they really understand what's coming?" Sam asked
quietly, keeping an eye on the entrance to the tent.
"I think that they have some understanding, but they can't really
comprehend what's going to happen to this planet." Jack sighed.
"Do you have a plan, sir?" She asked.
"I
think the best thing we can do is hide out and see what we're up against, and hopefully strike before the killing starts."
He replied.
"Maybe Janna and I should go for a walk through the streets tomorrow." Sam suggested.
"Why?"
Jack asked, concerned for her safety.
"Sir, if there is a Goa'uld hiding out here, we should try and get a heads
up on who it is. Janna and I could go for a walk and see if I can sense anything." She shrugged.
Jack sighed, and,
reluctantly, saw the logic in her suggestion and agreed. "Okay, but aren't you going to stick out like a sore thumb
in your fatigues?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll borrow something off Janna." She shrugged.
Jack thought
back to the long skirt, and tight, midriff baring, top that Janna had been wearing and suddenly he was a whole lot more
keen on the idea.
"We should get some sleep." Jack instructed, and the two closed their eyes, trying to
sleep.
~*+*~
Sam tried once again, in vein, to pull the top down to cover more of her stomach. She worked
out everyday, yes, and she had a reasonable figure, but she didn't feel the need to bare it to the world. She had begged
Janna to find her something a little less…..revealing, but there was a festival or something on at the moment, and
all of the women were dressing like this.
"Sam," Janna smiled brightly, "You look wonderful, blue suits you
perfectly!" She exclaimed happily, proud that she had made the right choice with the outfit.
Sam looked
at Janna's own, red outfit that was identical to hers. "Thank you," She smiled, self-consciously. "You look nice too."
"We
should get going." Janna smiled, holding her hand out to her.
Sam nodded and accepted the hand. Apparently, it was
one of the traditions of the planet, if you were walking with someone, then you were supposed to hold hands. Stepping
out of Janna's office, Sam watched as her teammate's eyes bulged at seeing her.
Jack couldn't help but let out
a low whistle. "The natives certainly like dressing you in blue, don't they?"
Sam felt a blush creep up from
her neck to her face. "Yes sir." She nodded, unable, or unwilling, to contain her smile at his comment.
"You
look most attractive Major Carter." Teal'c bowed, and then busied himself with helping Mike and Mark attempt to translate
some of the symbols on the Stargate that the other archeologists were unable to figure out.
"You look great
Sam." Jonas nodded, and walked over to help the two.
"I'll wait for you outside." Janna smiled, exiting the tent.
Sam
watched her go before turning back to look at her commanding officer, who she found staring at her intently. "Maybe this wasn't
such a good idea after all….." She muttered, feeling her skin burn under the intensity of his gaze.
"No
I think it was a *very* good idea, a very good one indeed." He nodded slowly.
"I feel like I'm wearing nothing
more than a towel." She admitted, grimacing, once again tugging on her rather short shirt.
"You look good Sam."
He told her earnestly.
"You haven't called me Sam since we had Apophis captured on base." She whispered gently.
"You
haven't called me Jack since you were infested with Jolinar." He returned, equally quiet.
Sam chewed on her
bottom lip before replying. "We both know why…..sir." She told him, adding the `sir' as an afterthought.
"I
don't."
"Regulations….." She started, but he cut her off.
"Regulations don't stop me having a friendship
with Teal'c or…..Jonas. They didn't stop me having a friendship with Daniel, or Doc Fraiser…..you
and I seem to be the only ones without a real friendship because of them." He sighed.
Sam echoed his sigh, knowing
that he was right. "We can't have that kind of friendship sir, you know that."
"Why not? You think I'm some
teenager who can't keep it in his pants?" He asked, slightly offended that she might think that way. "Besides,
`Dad' has already told me….." He trailed off when he realised what he was about to say.
"What did he say?"
She demanded, hands on her hips, unaware that it raised the shirt even more.
"He said to keep it in my pants
until you were ready or he'd chop it off." Jack grimaced, remembering that conversation well…..and not with
fondness.
"Oh….." She couldn't help but blush even more. "Remind me to have a friendly little chat with
my father, will you?"
"He's only looking out for his little girl." Jack reminded her gently.
"I know, but
he can't rule my life." She replied.
"But you'll let the regulations rule your life?" He quipped, regretting
it the moment he stopped speaking.
"That's different." She whispered, feeling her eyes well up, and hating herself
even more because of it.
"How?" He asked softly, taking her hand. When she didn't try to pull away, he entangled
his fingers with her own.
She looked down at their hands before speaking. "Dad cant make me stand trial for…..loving
you. The regulations will." She told him, willing him to understand.
"General Hammond knows." He told her quietly.
Sam's
head shot up, eyes wide. "How?"
"When you were…..taken by the Entity, he and I had words." Jack admitted.
"Why
haven't I been transferred then? Surely he wouldn't want us on the same team if he…..knows?"
"He understands.
He knows that we haven't done anything yet, and he trusts us." Jack shrugged.
Sam nodded slowly, gathering her
errant thoughts together before speaking. "Then if we do what we both want, we'll break his trust."
With that,
she dropped his hand and walked out of the tent to join Janna.
~*+*~
"So….." Janna started as the
two walked hand in hand through the masses of people lining the streets for the rising of the moon festival. "Am
I going to be able to…..'feel' this…..person too?" She asked. Janna was tempted to ask if Sam was alright,
her watery eyes as she exited the tent had worried her, but she figured now probably wasn't a good time.
"Maybe.
You can sense Teal'c and I, so you should be able to. But, then again, you've probably been in contact with this person before."
Sam shrugged, unsure.
"I hope not…..it gives me the creeps to think that someone so evil could be
someone I know." She shuddered unconsciously.
"I know, but you get used to it." Sam smiled slightly.
"You do?"
Janna asked, surprised.
"You've read those books, so you know what's inside of Teal'c….." She pointed
out, eyebrow raised.
"I almost forgot about junior!" She exclaimed and the two women couldn't help but laugh,
until they both felt the hairs on their neck stand up on ends. "Do you feel that?" Janna asked, terrified of the
feeling coursing through her.
"Yes. It's somewhere nearby. Keep smiling Janna, look like you're enjoying
the festival." Sam instructed quietly, keeping her own smile plastered on her face.
"How do we know who it is?"
Janna asked, looking around her and Sam, frantically.
"We don't." She shook her head, and bit her bottom lip
in concentration for a moment. "Didn't you say that part of the festival was going up to people and just talking
to them?" Sam asked, formulating a plan.
"Yes, we go and talk to people that we don't know or haven't seen very
often, the coming of the new moon is supposed to mean the coming of a new friend, why do you think we should just…..oh!"
She finished, seeing the point. "Do we just walk up and ask someone if they're evil?" She whispered.
"No,
we talk, and hope the feeling gets more intense. If it does, we've found our Goa'uld." Sam replied, walking in the direction
of a group of women. "Let's go."
~*+*~
Janna and Sam walked away from the last three women they had been
talking to, none of them invoking the feeling that they were looking for. "Is it just me, or are we getting no where?"
Janna asked, as they walked to Ally's.
"Patience is a virtue." Sam reminded her.
"Janna!" Ally cried,
coming up to hug her fondly. "You have brought a friend to the festival?" He asked, looking at Sam.
Sam studied
the man in front of her, he was virtually bald with a thick gray beard covering half of his face, slightly on the pudgy
side…..she couldn't help but be reminded of General Hammond, except for the beard of course. "Hi." She smiled
slightly wary.
"I am Ally, owner of this shop and friend to Janna. Are you a friend of Janna's?" He asked.
"Yes."
Sam nodded.
Ally smiled warmly, "Then I am also a friend of yours!"
Janna stepped in at that point, sensing
Sam's discomfort. "Ally, this is Samantha, she's an old friend who's come to town for the festival." She told him,
winking at Sam to play along.
"Then you may have whatever you please as my gift to you, celebrating the rising
of the new moon!" he announced, moving to return behind the counted.
Sam looked at Janna questioningly. "Ally
is a friend, and he has the best coffee in town. He's just offered us a free meal or beverage." She explained.
"Why
did you tell him my full name thought, why not just Sam?" She asked, genuinely curious.
"Because we don't really
shorten names on this planet. For some reason, we never do." She shrugged.
"But Mike…..? I thought that
his name was short for Michael?"
"No, if his name was Michael then we would call him Michael, not Mike. It's
just the way things are done here." She told her.
"Okay." Sam shrugged, unwilling to doubt Janna about her people.
The two women moved to stand in front of the large menu board that was set up behind the counter. Sam couldn't
help but notice how similar all of the beverages on the board were to Earth. Latte's, cappachino's, coke, sprite…..they
had it all.
"What would you like?" Ally asked, treating them to a large smile.
"I'll have a Latte to go please."
Janna responded, looking at Sam expectantly.
"Um…..I'll have a black coffee to go please." She smiled,
unsure whether or not the similarities in names to earth's beverages would mean that they tasted the same…..or
that they had the same ingredients for that matter.
"Coming right up!" He smiled. "You can wait outside at your
usual table, I will bring them!" He smiled, ushering them out of the door.
The women sat down together and were
relieved to finally be able to drop hands. "So, Ally seems nice." Sam smiled, watching him through the window as
he made their coffee.
"He is, and he's a sweet old soul. Lost his wife in the same accident that killed my mother,
tragic really. To think that someone wanted to kill my mother, and ended up killing over one hundred women with her."
Janna sighed, but resumed her smile as Ally brought their coffee out and hugged both women goodbye, much to Sam's surprise.
"Do
you want to keep walking?" Janna asked.
"Yeah, but we've been at it for hours. We'll keep walking, but head back
to the others." Sam nodded and they picked up their coffee's and grabbed hands again before heading towards the Stargate.
~*+*~
Chapter
13
~*+*~
Janna and Sam walked back into the tent, dropping each other's hand as they did so they noticed
the five men sitting around the Stargate, dressed in the male dress for the festival. Long pants and a simple shirt,
no midriff's showing. Jack, Sam noticed, was wearing the same color that she was.
"Well?" He asked, looking
at her.
"No joy." She shook her head sadly.
"It's okay." He reassured, smiling, "I know that you did your
best." He nodded. "Both of you." He added, feeling the gaze of his teammate's on him.
"I'm sorry Jack." Janna
shook her head. "We felt something, but we couldn't pinpoint it." She admitted.
"Don't worry about it Janna.
At least we know that the Goa'uld is still in this city, that's a bonus."
Janna nodded, but a voice behind her
interrupted anything she may have been about to say. "Who are you?" Turning to see who their intruder was, Janna
sighed when she saw Jeff Alexandria look at SG-1 strangely.
"Jeff." She sighed. "These are some friends from Madera."
She lied, glad that she had done well enough at geography to know the names of some of the foreign neighboring countries.
He
didn't look convinced. "You never told me that you had friends in Madera." He reminded her.
" I didn't have
to tell you everything Jeff, you aren't my father." She shot back, standing in a defensive position.
"I thought
you trusted me Jan." He sighed.
Janna shook her head and desperately fought to withhold a growl. "Don't call me
that. I did trust you, until you went behind my back and tried to get me fired."
"That was for your own good!"
He told her, menace lacing his tone. Suddenly, Sam was reminded of her time with Jonas Hanson, he'd often used
the same tone on her to try and get his own way. More often than not, it had worked.
"Jeff, we are over, we have
been for almost two years now. Will you let it go already? Now, get out of my dig site." She demanded.
"I put
you in charge of this operation Janna, I can have you removed if I see fit." He taunted.
Janna nodded slowly.
"You could. But I could also have you fired for seducing that young brunette that you think I don't know about. How
old is she Jeff? Fifteen, sixteen?" She asked, watching in glee as he paled considerably.
"Don't try to
threaten me." He replied, his voice shaky.
"Then don't threaten me. And, don't make me tell you to leave here again."
She returned.
Jeff, sensing that he was beaten, turned on his heal and left the tent. Janna turned around to see
the eyes of everyone else in the room fixated on her. "What?" She asked, sitting down next to Sam, who had taken
a position next to Jack.
"You were with that guy?" Sam asked, socked. Janna seemed so intelligent, funny, coolheaded
and he seemed so…..not.
"For a while." She admitted. "I broke it off when he got violent."
Sam nodded
and tried to ignore just how similar Janna's situation with Jeff was like the way that things had been between her and
Jonas before he died.
"So….what do we do now?" Jonas asked, looking at each of the other members present.
"I
believe we should hide!" Teal'c ordered, each of them hurrying to move as the Stargate sprang to life, the wormhole
forming. Somehow they managed to grab their BDU's and packs before running into Janna's office and out the back door.
Finding
a large group of trees nearby, they all crouched down behind them and Jack turned to Sam. "Carter, you're with me. The rest
of you, stay here. If they find us, then follow Hammond's orders." He commanded.
Sam nodded as he counted
to three, and they both ran to the back of the tent to look through some of the gaps. They could see the Stargate
from behind and the open wormhole, which had Anubis' guards pouring through it.
The wormhole shut down and Sam
guessed that there had to be at least two hundred guards inside the tent. If the festival hadn't been so loud,
and the Stargate not been so far from the town then someone would have heard their arrival.
"Jaffa! Kree!" One
of them, obviously the leader of this operation shouted. "Our lord Anubis awaits news from us abroad his mothership.
We are to capture the people and repot to him. Hak'nal!" He ordered and they all moved out, staff weapons ready.
Jack moved over to Sam, keeping low to the ground. "Is it just me or does it seem like they aren't here to
kill people?" He asked, whispering.
Sam thought for a moment. "I think so sir. They seem to want to capture
the people. Maybe Anubis is looking to find an army in case he has to fight the system lords, assuming that they reject
his request to re-join them he's going to need a large army to defeat them." She replied, shrugging.
"Let's
hope that you're right and that means that they wont start killing people." He prayed.
Sam smiled, but her smile
quickly faded as they heard staff weapon's firing in the town, and the distinct sound of people screaming could be
heard. Her eye's widened as they realised what was happening, but Jack, knowing that there was little they could do
at this time, gently took her hand in his own. "C'mon, we'd better get back to the others." He murmured, giving
her hand an affectionate squeeze, which she returned, grateful for the gesture.
~*+*~
"What do you thinks
happening?" Mike asked, also hearing the people scream.
"What do you think?" Janna snapped, then sighed. "I'm sorry
Mike, but what does it sound like they're doing?"
"You're right." He murmured. "What are we going to do?" He
asked, looking at the two remaining members of SG-1.
"We shall wait until Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter arrive. Then
we will formulate a plan." Teal'c replied, ushering them to be quiet.
Sam and Jack came back moments later,
both looking grim. "It's not good." Jack told them, unnecessarily.
"We noticed." Jonas nodded. "What do we do
now?"
"We need a place to hide out, get a plan together. Do you know somewhere we can go?" He asked Janna, Mike
and Mark.
"I know of a place." Mark nodded, standing. "Follow me." He instructed, walking in the opposite direction
of the dig sit and the city.
SG-1 and the three occupants of Shea walked towards their hiding place, which
turned out to be a completely camouflaged cabin, where they could elude capture.
~*+*~
Chapter 14.
~*+*~
The
staff fire that they had heard was the sound of the Jaffa firing their staff weapons into the air to control the people.
Prison camps had been set up, and they were holding the population in separate camps. The Shean police officers were
separated throughout the camps so that they couldn't organize a way to overthrow the Jaffa.
The streets were lined
with people who had refused to go quietly and had been executed to show the rest of the people what would happen to the
if they didn't cooperate.
Somehow the quote `resistance is futile' had stuck in Jack's brain.
SG-1 had been
planning their attack for the past two days, trying to cover all of the possible variations of what could happen. Until
they had a plan that they were satisfied with, they had been staying in the cabin. Several Jaffa patrols had gone
past the cabin, but it was well hidden and they hadn't been spotted yet, which they knew wouldn't last forever.
Sam
and Jack had been sharing the main bedroom with Janna and Mike, as there were two large beds in there. The other had take
up various positions in the lounge room. Considering how large the cabin was, Jack was surprised that they hadn't
been spotted earlier, but the river near by would have helped to disguise and noise that they made, and the foliage
would have hidden the building too.
"Sir?" Sam whispered into the darkness. They had been there for three nights
and spent two in the cabin. On the first night, she and Janna had shared a bed but somewhere along the long that changed
and she was now sharing a bed with Jack. Although they never had any physical contact, the close proximity was enough
to bring them both comfort.
"What's up?" He muttered, tired. They had been up late discussing a plan, and they
decided to move sometime the next day.
"Have you decided on a plan?" She asked, folding her hands to rest under
her head.
"I think the best thing to do is get ourselves loaded up with weapons, and go in as a bunch of natives
coming back from a trip or something. When the Jaffa come to investigate us, we Zat them twice and steal their uniforms.
Take them out one by one after that." He replied, having though it over thoroughly in the darkness of the night.
"How
are we going to conceal the weapons?" She asked, trying to cover all of the basics.
"I think that you, me, Teal'c
and Janna should go, pretend to be two happy couples. With our arms around each other, we can hide the Zat's. Yours
and Janna skirts can hide your 9mm's and ammo if we suit up the thong's properly. We could get a couple of knives into
our boots and maybe a P-90 around our shoulders, behind our backs, but we'd have to be careful. Jonas, Mike and Mark
can come in when we give them the signal and bring the rest of the gear." He sighed. "I think that's our best shot."
He admitted.
"I trust our decision." She replied.
"What do you think?" He asked.
"I think that would
be our best shot too. But we'll have to be careful, get Janna to fill us in on how to be a proper native."
"You
weren't spotted when you two went in search of the Goa'uld the other day, why would the native conduct change now?"
"Sometimes
festivals can change the way people act. Walking through the streets was like being at Mardi Gras, they were all carefree,
but now they are being enslaved so I think their attitude may have changed." She pointed out.
Jack nodded,
even though he knew she could barely see the action. "Good point. So, we get up early, have something to eat while
we get lessons on their etiquette and then move out."
"We should get some sleep." She announced, unconsciously moving
closer to him until their legs were resting against each other.
Jack fought to hide the grin that threatened to
split his features in two. "Goodnight Sam." He whispered, on the verge of sleep.
He was almost there when he heard
her equally quiet reply. "Goodnight Jack."
~*+*~
Waking up had never been so hard for Sam in her life.
Wrapped up in Jack's warm embrace, she found herself surprisingly well rested, given the situation.
"Sleep
well?" He asked, his face still buried in the crook of her neck.
"Yes, you?"
"Yes." He smiled, and Sam
felt more than saw the action. "We should get up and go and tell the others what the plan is." He told her and the
two reluctantly untangled themselves and headed to the main room.
"Good morning!" Janna greeted them brightly, obviously pleased
at the position the two slept in last night.
If Sam was honest with herself, Janna's subtle attempt's at matchmaking
her and the Colonel reminded here of Daniel. He would have, no doubt, found this place fascinating……which
made her miss him even more. Despite the fact that it had been well over a year since his ascension.
"Morning."
Sam smiled, and the two women set about making breakfast while Jack told them what the plan was.
"Does anyone
have any questions, comments or feedback on this plan?" Jack asked once he had finished explaining the plan.
"Are
you confident that we will succeed?" Teal'c asked.
"Yes." Jack nodded without missing a beat, his eyes meeting Sam's.
"Then
that is all I need to know." He nodded solemnly.
Jack shared one last, meaningful, look with Sam before standing from
the table, and clasping his hands together. "Let's suit up kids." He announced and the cabin burst to life.
~*+*~
Sam
and Jack walked ahead of Teal'c and Janna, their arms around each other. Zat's had been hooked into the back of the
girl's shirts and the guy's pants, with their arms woven around each other, they were easily accessible.
"You
okay?" Jack asked, giving her waist a tiny squeeze.
"Yeah, just having so much ammo strapped to my legs makes if more
difficult to walk." She smiled.
Jack couldn't help but return her smile. Until, that is, he saw a flash of
silver metal out of the corner of his eyes and realised that the Jaffa were patrolling the area again, looking for anyone
that had managed to elude capture.
"Batter up." He whispered to Sam, who nodded briefly before the four emerged
themselves in conversation about the resort that they had just been to.
"Kree!" One of the Jaffa called.
Sam
took a shaky breath before continuing with the charade. "Hi! Are you part of the parade?" She asked, altering her voice
slightly to suit the barely recognizable native accent. "Wow. These costumes are *so* much better than last
year's." She rolled her eyes, and looked at Jack. "Do you remember what they had last year, honey? It was very bad,
no respect for fashion."
"I know sweetie, but that's only because they didn't have your talent." Jack smiled,
and bent his head to playfully kiss her lips.
The Jaffa, obviously unimpressed by their performance, raised his
staff weapon and armed it, aiming it at Sam and Jack with Janna and Teal'c behind them.
"You will come with
me." The guard ordered.
"Where?" Sam asked, tilting her head to rest on Jack's shoulders.
"You will come
with me." He repeated, ignoring her question.
"I don't think so." Jack grinned, and in one quick motion managed
to pull his Zat from behind Sam's back and shoot the guard twice.
Teal'c worked quickly and quietly to remove the
Jaffa's uniform before putting it one while Jack shot, and disintegrated the dead guard.
"Think you can
get another four of them out here?" Jack asked his friend, handing Teal'c a Zat.
"I will return." He nodded,
his voice echoing around the elaborate head of the Jaffa uniform. He walked back in the direction that the guard
had come from and pretty soon, his friends could no longer see him.
Jack kept his arm around Sam, but turned his
head to face her. "You did good." He told her.
"Thank you sir." She smiled. "Do you think Teal'c will take
long?" She asked.
"Doubt it. Janna, you should probably hide behind that rock until we have a uniform for
you." Jack told her and she nodded, stepping behind a boulder before crouching down behind it.
Sam looked towards
the clearing in front of them and saw Teal'c leading three other Jaffa towards their position.
Jack continued to
look at Carter, his eyes flickering over to the approaching Jaffa. "Sorry about this Carter." He muttered, using the
hand that wasn't concealing his Zat to cup her face and pull her lips to his own.
Annoyed at herself for
not being able to contain the moan that came with the feeling of Jack's tongue slipping past her lips, Sam brought
her own free hand up to thread through his hair. Pretending to be thoroughly enjoying their kiss -which really should
have taken more acting than it did- the two became less and less aware of their surroundings and the Jaffa that had
stopped just short of them, staff weapons armed and pointed in their direction.
Teal'c saw that his friends had
appeared to loose all sense of reality, and decided to speak before their other hands, holding the Zat's, also began
to wander. "Kree!" He ordered in a rough voice.
Sam and Jack pulled apart, looking guilty and only barely managing
to continue hiding their weapons. "More people from the parade!" Sam cried in an excited voice. "What float were
you guys on? Is the parade over yet? Honey, do you think we've missed it?" She asked Jack.
"I don't know." He
shrugged, turning back to the Jaffa. "I'm sorry about this, she loves that parade. We've been down at the resort, kind
of a second honeymoon. We were tying to make it back before the festival of the moon, but we missed the start so we've
been hurrying to see the parade….."
One of the guards behind Teal'c interrupted him. "Silence! We demand
that you worship the God Anubis and live under his rule!" He shouted.
Sam visibly jumped at the harsh tone before
she and Jack started firing at the three guards madly. Teal'c had rolled away from the others when he saw them about
to move and Janna came out from her hiding place to help her friends defeat them.
Jack groaned as he tried to pull
on the metal suit. "How do these guys run in these things?" He asked to no one in particular, trying to walk.
"We
are trained in them O'Neill." Teal'c replied. "But now is not the time to discuss such things."
Jack blew out
a long breath. "You're right T." He nodded and picked up his radio. "Jonas, this is O'Neill, come in."
The radio
crackled before the sound of Jonas' voice could be heard. "Come in Colonel, we read you."
"Is everything alright
back there?" He asked, helping Sam to pull on her heavy, large helmet.
"We're fine colonel, just waiting for
your signal." He replied.
"Consider this your signal. Come down towards the village, we'll meet you here
and go in together. Understood?"
"Roger that, we'll be there in five." Jonas returned and the radio fell silent
once more.
"Well, we'd better stay out of sight until they get here."
~*+*~
To be honest, Jack was surprised
that three more guards had fell for the same trick as the last three. But, fate seemed to be on their side and they
had all managed to get a metal suit to hide in.
They had waited for a moment, following their patrol cover, before
returning to the city and the carnage that came with it.
Bodies were few and far between on the main street, but
the ones that were there were black and charred from the burning of the staff weapon. Sam had almost been tempted
to throw up at the sight of a baby lying in it's mothers arms, burnt to death. Despite having been in the Gulf
war, and countless battles with the Goa'uld, she couldn't help feeling nauseated at the sight of innocent people killed
for no apparent reason.
According to Teal'c, no matter how cooperative the people were when they were taken,
several of them would be killed as an example to the others. He had also said that if once person needs to be taught a
lesson, it was usually the one that he was trying to protect that was killed.
A few bodies were relatively
untouched, obviously killed with a Zat gun, which was less messy, but none the less devastating.
Letting out a
shaking breath, Sam forced herself to stop shaking. She was an officer in the United States Air force and she'd seen worse,
or so she kept telling herself.
"Carter?" Jack asked, standing next to her as she stared at the baby still
cradled in his mother's arms.
"I'm fine sir, just thinking." She replied.
"We better move. I know that it's
upsetting, but keep in mind that we are supposed to be the ones who did this." He reminded her gently.
"I know,
but that baby was no possible threat to them….us." She replied as they joined the others and began to walk to
the prison camp that had been set up for the Shean people.
"The Goa'uld don't see a child like we do. They only
saw a mother who was scared out of her mind and trying to protect her baby. And someone who could be made an example
of."
"That doesn't make it any easier."
Jack sighed quietly. "It never does."
They continued to walk
behind Teal'c, who had been posing as the leader of the patrol, all silent. The only sound in the village was that
of the fire's still crackling in the background and their boots hitting the stone pathway.
"What are we going
to do once we get in there?" Mike asked, trying to concentrate on putting one heavy foot in front of the other. He
was an English teacher, not a soldier!
"Asses the situation and hope for an opening." Jack replied.
Teal'c
stopped, and armed his staff, the others following suit as another Jaffa patrol came around the corner from one of the
buildings that Sam recognized as the Heritage café.
"What are you doing here?" The leader of the group asked.
"We
have returned from our patrol." Teal'c replied.
"State your destination."
"We were ordered to return to the
camps upon completion of our sweep of the area."
"Then why are you heading in the opposite direction of the camps?"
The Jaffa, who Jack instantly named as `cocky', asked.
Teal'c though for a brief moment before replying. "One of
my men heard footsteps coming from your direction. We were inspecting the sounds before returning."
"Continue
on." The guard nodded, a hand across his heart, bowing. Teal'c returned the gesture and the seven friends began to
walk back towards the camps.
Each, in their own way, trying to prepare themselves for what was to come.
~*+*~
Janna
had been scared before. When her mother had died, when her father had left her, she'd been scared that she would remain
an orphan and be sent to the local orphanage. She'd been scared in high school, when everyone was certain of what
field of expertise they wanted to go into, everyone but her.
But this was nothing compared to the true terror she
felt when they walked into the large building that had once been the library, which was now a prison.
She
saw her friends huddled together in groups, petrified. Mike saw his colleges from the university, and his students, all
terrified. Mark saw his wife, neighbors and friends. SG-1 saw innocent people about to die or be enslaved.
Everyone,
excluding the Jaffa, saw something that they didn't like.
Jeff Alexandria was cradling an obviously broken arm.
Janna couldn't help but feel sorry for him, despite the way their relationship had ended. She saw Ally, barely
breathing, Sophia Reed was trying to wipe the continuously wiping the flowing blood from a gash on his forehead.
"We
have come in the name of the God Anubis!" The leader of the Jaffa called, and the seven friends stayed out of sight,
keeping their Zat's aimed at the people on the floor, like the other Jaffa. "He demands that you worship him! For
there is only one god."
"Our God is not evil!" One of the men called. Janna recognized him as the groundskeeper
of the university. His name was Thomas, and as sweet and kind as he was, he had a tendency to say *exactly* what his was
thinking. Many believed that his mouth would get him killed one day, and Janna watched as the Zat was fired at him twice,
realizing how prophetic the petty taunting had been.
Janna felt a large cry forming in the back of her throat,
but managed to contain it to a small whimper, which thankfully no one but Sam noticed.
"It's okay." Sam whispered,
her voice hidden by the sound of women crying for heir lost friend.
"You will worship him, or you will all die!"
The Jaffa called.
The room remained silent, only a few sobs punctuating the air as women clung to each other, shaking
uncontrollably.
"There is one among you, chosen by our lord Anubis many moons ago to rule this planet. Will
this one step forwards now, and show your true face." He called, and everyone, Jaffa included, looked around for the
system lord. Janna understood, that whoever stepped forwards was the one responsible for killing her mother and the
other hundred women in that fire.
She held her breath and saw who stood up, eyes flashing, and walked towards
the Jaffa.
Sophia Reed.
~*+*~
Chapter 15
~*+*~
Janna stared in disbelief, watching as
the woman who had taken her in and cared for her walked towards their enemy, her eyes flashing an evil gold. She showed
no look of fear or contempt towards their captors as she stood before the leader of the Jaffa, looking at him defiantly.
"Lord,
no….." Mark whispered, trying to refrain from the urge to vomit at the sight of his wife, whom he had been married
to for over twenty years, standing in front of their enemy, talking to them in a language he didn't understand.
The
Jaffa leader kneeled before Sophia, his head down. "Rise." She commanded, in an ugly voice. "There are three missing."
"We
were forced to shoot many people in the street while gathering these people together, these three that you speak of
may have been killed." The Jaffa answered.
"The three I speak of were not present at the festival, they have eluded
capture. I know this because I am familiar with the three. Your god Anubis will no be amused when he sees you have failed him!"
She shouted.
"I am sorry." The Jaffa lowered his head again, and didn't look up.
Sophia turned and looked
at the people before her. "I am Rethria, loyal servant to the God Anubis, your god. You will worship him. If you are
faithful to him, he shall reward you with many great things, as he has done for me. But if you disobey his rule, then
you shall all be destroyed and your planet will be left in ruins."
Kerrie, on of Sophia's oldest friends stood
up. "Why are you talking like that Sophia? This is your home too, yet you speak of it as if it were nothing more
than dirt."
"I am Rethria!" She insisted. "This planet is nothing more than a rock drifting through space to
me! I am here to serve my lord Anubis."
"Sophia, you of all people must know that we will never serve nor worship
this person that you speak of." Kerrie protested.
"Anubis is a god and you will all learn to worship him or you will
die!"
"We will fight." She replied adamantly, and sat down again before a trigger-happy Jaffa got the wrong
idea and shot her.
~*+*~
The air was tense, punctuated by a few lone sobs of the women who had lost their
husbands, children, or loved ones. Six villagers had been brought up to the front of the group, all bound and gagged.
Sophia, or Rethria as she was demanding to be called, was standing in front of them, Zat in her hand. Her eyes
were flashing every few moments, as if the Goa'uld was trying desperately to maintain control, but Sam though that
maybe that was just her own wishful thinking.
The Jaffa were watching the villagers in shifts, and Teal'c had
already been sent with the first group to rest. Sam and the Colonel were told that their shift would be over when
the others returned, and they would have three hours to Kel'no'reem and regain their strength.
When the
leader of the Jaffa, Malarek, told them of the plan, Sam had been worried that they would be discovered because they had
to take their helmet's off. However, Rethria had decided it better to leave them on because many of the Jaffa were
turned from other Goa'uld's and they make have come up against each other in battle.
They couldn't have each
other fighting now, could they?
~*+*~
SG-1 had been waiting, and pretending to be loyal Jaffa for three days.
All they needed was the right chance to move, and they could- hopefully-end all of this now.
While most of the people
who were being held in the library were in reasonable condition, a few more had been executed on the whim of Rethria.
She seemed to think that it was making her look more powerful, but in Sam's eyes it was just confirming to the people that
she wasn't the sweet old woman that they had known.
Sam, Janna and Jack were currently resting near each other
in the Jaffa rest camp that had been set up outside of the library.
"We move in four hours Carter, get some sleep."
Jack whispered to her.
"How did you know that I was awake under all of this metal?" She asked, trying to
find a comfortable was to lay in her helmet.
"I know you." He replied simply, and offered no further elaboration.
~*+*~
Chapter
16
~*+*~
Their plan had been a full frontal assault, but the Jaffa from other camps were coming to the library,
bringing their hostages with them. Sam, Teal'c and Jonas had been ordered to help the other Jaffa transfer the Shean's
to the main camp, which had made it easy to smuggle some of the captives away from the Jaffa.
Every one that they
could help get away, were ordered to head for the cabin where SG-1 had taken refuge before coming back to the town. if
the people were discovered then they weren't to mention anything about friendly Jaffa.
Sam knew that they wouldn't
be able to sneak everyone out, and sooner or later Rethria was going to notice the diminishing numbers. She had no
doubt that they would be punished when they were discovered, but the longer they waited to help the people, the longer
Anubis had to plan whatever he was going to do with them.
Grabbing three people, Sam pulled them back slightly
from the others. "Don't scream." She ordered, in the native accent that she had picked up from Janna.
"Please
do not hurt us, we will comply with any orders you give." One of the teenagers, obviously trying to protect his mother
begged.
"I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Sam and I'm a friend of Janna's. Do you know her?" She asked,
continuing to march them forward until they could reach a dark ally.
"I do. I was down at the dig site with
her, writing a paper for my high….."
"That's lovely, but we don't have time." Sam snapped. "Listen,
and listen very carefully. When we reach this ally, I want you to go down it and keep in the shadows, head for a cabin
on the east side of the river. You'll be safe there, and tell the others to stay quiet. If the other Jaffa discover
you on your way there, don't mention that I helped you or I won't be able to get anyone else out."
"Yes ma'am."
He nodded frantically.
As they reached the ally, the three that Sam had pulled back quietly walked down until
she couldn't distinguish them from the shadows. Thus far, she estimated that they had saved about a hundred people, but
there were still thousands being crammed into the library.
The Jaffa hadn't bothered with the other continent's just yet,
and as far as SG-1 knew, they weren't aware that there were any other people on this planet. Sam hoped to keep
it that way.
"Sam." Jonas hissed, coming to fall into step beside her.
"How many did you get away?" She asked
quietly.
"Twenty."
"Why such a big group?" She demanded. They had agreed to take a maximum of five per
group to minimize the chance of being discovered.
"Because they were a religious group of some sort and refused to
leave each other. I didn't have time to argue."
"Understood. I think we'll be taken off duty after this lot are
taken into the library, which means that Colonel O'Neill, Mike, Mark and Janna are going to have to get as many
others off to the cabin as possible."
"Let's hope they have more luck than Teal'c did." Jonas replied, surveying
the area around them.
The leader of the camp had placed Teal'c up the front with him, so sneaking any people away
was virtually impossible. It would set them back a little, but if Jonas just sent twenty people, they weren't that
far behind.
"Sam, are you sure that the other four aren't here?" He asked urgently.
She paused briefly
as one of the other Jaffa passed her on his way to the leader of this group. "Yes, they're back at the library, why?"
"Because
I just saw a Jaffa smuggle seven people down one of the ally's."
~*+*~
Rethria sat on an elaborate throne
that had been assembled, in a position to watch over the entire camp. She had food surrounding her, and enjoyed taunting
the people with it.
The Sheans hadn't exactly been emaciated, but their food and water rations were scarce and
most of them were injured so their water rations went towards cleaning their wounds.
Jack had been waiting by the
door. His job was to signal the return of the newest group of prisoners, and then gather twelve Jaffa together to
take to the next camp. Sixteen different camps had been set up throughout the village, and four had been brought back
to the library thus far.
Minus a hundred or so of course.
Rethria and her loyal Jaffa had yet to notice
the missing people, but as groups were coming back, some of the Sheans were starting to notice that people they thought
were in those groups were now missing.
Thankfully, they hadn't kicked up a stink about it and alerted Rethria to
the fact that she was missing some of her hostages. God only knew what she'd do if she realised.
Jack saw Sam's
group heading back and signaled to the other Jaffa guarding the door with him to go and inform Rethria.
~*+*~
"Which
one was it?" Sam asked as she and Jonas sat near the camp fire.
Most of the Jaffa were deep in Kel'no'reem but some
of them were away from each other, their helmets down as they ate. Sam thought that Rethria was certainly going to
a lot of trouble to ensure that none of the Jaffa knew who each other were, but she wasn't complaining.
Jonas scanned
the camp, looking for the Jaffa that he had seen earlier. "That one over there, with those four Jaffa who seem to have
come from Yu's army."
"I see him. I think I might just go and have a little chat with our friend." She muttered.
"Sam…..are
you sure that's wise? What if he wasn't trying to do what we were and you expose us?"
"I won't. don't worry
so much Jonas, I know what I'm doing." She reassured, walking over to the group of five Jaffa who were discussing
Anubis and his latest victory in battle. "I wish to speak to you." She told them, pointing got the Jaffa hat Jonas
had seen earlier.
"You may speak."
"My words are not for the ears of others." She replied.
The Jaffa
nodded and rose to his feet, following her to the edge of the camp where they wouldn't be overheard. "Of what do you wish
to speak to me about?"
"Who is your God?" She asked.
"Lord Anubis is the one true God."
"And you
worship him?"
"Yes?"
"And Rethria?"
"She is a loyal servant of my God, I worship her also."
"Then
for what purpose were you sending these slaves into ally's?" Sam could hear the other Jaffa swallowing hard as he tried
to think of a plausible answer. When he failed to reply, she continued. "Retract your helmet."
"That is against
Rethria's rule. She has clearly stated that we are to remain anonymous to each other!" He protested.
"Retract
your helmet or I will have you killed for allying yourself with these natives. I will then have your friends killed
for being allied with you."
The Jaffa nodded, and his hand slid to a button on his neck plate, concealed with
more metal. The head retracted and Sam gasped at who she saw.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice returning
to normal.
"You know of me?"
"Of course I do, you are host to the oldest and wisest Tok'ra. And she
has one twisted sense of humor."
"Sam?"
"Yes Dad, it's me." She nodded, and retracted her own helmet to reveal
her face to her father.
"Thank God you found me, we've been looking for you guys everywhere!" He exclaimed,
barely managing to stop himself from hugging her. Jaffa hugging each other generally didn't look to good.
"I'll
ask again, what are you doing here?"
"George called me. He said that you guys didn't check in with him like
you were supposed to, and he asked if I could bring some of the other Tok'ra here in a Teltak and see what was happening."
"But
Jonas saw you sneaking people down the ally?"
"Well, we knew what you were doing, so we decided to help."
Sam
gave him a quizzical look. "Then how did you know where we were sending them?"
"We didn't, so we had to wait
until you gave instructions and we told our groups to follow the people that you sent."
"Thanks." She smiled,
"How many people came with you?" She asked, pushing the same button to slide her helmet back into place, gesturing
for him to do the same.
"Four others, I know that it's not really much, but they were all we could spare. And
getting the uniforms meant that it took us longer to get here than anticipated." He replied, following her lead and sliding
his own helmet back into place.
"How are you keeping track of each other?"
"Bionic Woman." Jacob replied, grinning
inside of his helmet.
"What?"
"You remember the show, Bionic Woman?"
"Vaguely, wasn't the one with Lindsay
Wagner in it?"
"Exactly. Our code is just that. If we aren't sure who our operatives are, we walk up and say
`bionic woman' and if they are who we think they are, then the reply is…..?" He waited for her to figure it
out.
"The six million dollar man!"
"That's right. Tomorrow it will be Star Trek the next generation, with
the reply of either Voyager or Deep space nine."
"Very cleaver." She admitted.
"Selmak says that it was her
idea."
"I'm sure she does." Sam smiled, gesturing for the two to return to Jonas.
~*+*~
Jack wished
that for one moment he could get out of the damn metal suit that he had been living in for the past four days. It was
hot, he was sweating and there was a strange smell coming from the juncture of his feet.
While they had to
remove certain…..parts of the suit when bladders needed to be taken care of, and any more than that was punishable
by death. He couldn't quiet work out why Rethria was so determined to keep the Jaffa anonymous to each other, but
while it was concealing him and the rest of his team, he figured that the stench was worth putting up with.
Almost
two hundred people had now been smuggled out to the cabin, and while Jack hadn't been there since they came to the camps,
he was fairly certain that the cabin would prove to be insufficient in the task of accommodating so many people.
Sooner
or later, the refugees would have to find somewhere else to hide, and Jack wasn't very certain how good at that they would
be.
Sam crawled over to him, joining him on the bank of the river.
His head had been retracted to eat-as had
Sam's-but she was keeping a fair distance away from him to maintain the air of professionalism. If they were spotted-helmet's
down and chatting-then they would be killed.
And that would be a bad thing.
"Hey sir."
"Hey."
"You
okay?"
"Yes…..no." He admitted with a deep sigh.
"What's wrong?"
"I hate sitting around, waiting
for Rethria to execute the next `example' or for Anubis to show up and start implanting the natives."
"I
know how you feel sir. But what else can we do?"
"I think that we may have to re-evaluate our next plan. There are
only three other camps that the Jaffa plan to bring back to the library, and we won't have much of a chance to get
any more out. And besides, I think the cabin will be pretty full as it is."
"Agreed, but what do we do next?"
She asked, taking a reluctant bite of the Jaffa equivalent to an MRE. Sam had been in hospitals that had better
tasting food than the crap that they ate here.
It was no wonder Teal'c loved the commissary food so much.
And
that was really saying something.
"Take the Jaffa out one by one."
"How do we explain that to Rethria when she
notices not only the diminishing numbers of her newly found slaves, but also her Jaffa?"
"Let's just hope that
she doesn't notice until it's too late."
Hope?
Was that their last resort?
~*+*~
Chapter 17
~*+*~
The
Jaffa were slowly falling, and Rethria seemed to be none the wiser.
Thus far, they had smuggle-with the help of
the Tok'ra-about three hundred people out of the camp and killed almost sixty Jaffa. But the lowering numbers of
metal suits were beginning to become noticeable
A little too noticeable for Sam's liking.
After all, there were
only so many people that they could get rid of before it was so obvious that Rethria couldn't not notice.
Jack
sat himself down next to Sam-at least a Jaffa who he assumed, and hoped was his second in command. "You okay?"
"Yeah."
"I
have a new plan."
"What?"
"I want you to sneak off back to the cabin."
"What!? Why?"
"Because
someone needs to check on the natives."
Sam shook her head, confused. "But why me? Why not….."
"I don't
want you here when Rethria finally realizes what's been going on. I don't want anything to happen to you." He paused.
"Your dad would kill me."
She giggled, despite herself. He could never say anything sweet without adding a
joke to cover his vulnerable side. "I don't want to leave you here alone, without back up."
Jack waves a hand at
her. "We have dad and his buddies, and Jonas and Teal'c, plus the natives. We'll be fine." He protested.
She frowned.
"I'll go, with reservations."
"Good."
~*+*~
The outskirts of the town were incredibly quiet, but it was
a nice change for Sam. She had grown used to the sounds of cowering people as they huddled together in fear of their
lives.
If her sense of direction was as good as she hoped, then Sam figured that the cabin wasn't far from where
she was. O'Neill had told her to follow the river, it would give her the best chance of finding the hidden cabin quickly.
Suddenly,
Sam found herself facing the wrong end of a staff weapon. "What are you doing here?" The man demanded
He was dirty,
having jumped up from his hiding place behind a moss covered rock. But he was undoubtedly a Shean.
Sam held her
hands out in front of her and slowly brought one up to retract her helmet. "My name is Samantha Carter, I was sent here
to help your people."
"You are the one who sent my mother and father to this cabin, are you not?"
Truthfully,
Sam couldn't have picked out the people she helped in a line up, but she wasn't about to tell this man that, in case he
became a bit too trigger-happy. "Yes, that would have been me or one of my friends."
"Why are you here?" He
asked, disarming the staff weapon before turning it upright.
"I came here to check on your people, and see if they
were alright." She explained.
"The cabin is most full, but the underground chambers have helped to house many
of my people."
"Underground chambers?"
~*+*~
"Where's Sam?" Jacob asked, as he and Jack escorted the
last group of hostages back to the library.
It was only a small group of about fifty, so there was no way that
they could sneak any more people out. Jack was fairly certain that one of Rethria's loyal Jaffa had counted the number
of people. Maybe she was noticing the ever-decreasing numbers?
"I sent her back to the cabin."
"Why, we
could use her if things turn ugly."
"Someone needed to check on the natives."
Jacob nodded his head briefly.
"Fair enough. Now what's the real reason?"
"I didn't want her to be in any danger."
"Jack-are you in love
with my daughter?"
"Jacob, she's my second in command and you know that I value her as an officer and a friend.
I would never jeopardize her career." He protested.
"I know all of that. And I wasn't asking as a retired General,
I was asking as a concerned father. Are you in love with her."
"Yes." Jack's shoulders slumped with the admission.
The
two men continued to walk in silence for a few moments, both lost in their own thoughts. Until, finally, Jacob spoke again.
"So…..when
should I expect more grandchildren?"
~*+*~
The underground chambers that Graham-the man who'd almost shot Sam
with a staff weapon-had spoken of were huge, and extended for miles around the cabin. There were so many tunnels,
it would be easy to get lost.
Sam estimated that she'd been exploring the tunnels for well over an hour when
she found it. The device was small, and partially hidden by growing weeds from the surface above them, but the technology
was familiar.
Asguard.
It had only been a glint of light that had reflected off the surface from her
torch that had made it visible to her. The round object didn't look like any form of Asguard technology that they'd encountered
before, but the writing told her all she needed to know.
Pressing the small silver button in the center of the device,
Sam was immediately transported to the high council chamber-at least, she assumed it was. Jack's descriptions could
be vague at times.
"Major Carter." One of them bowed his head slightly, and she recognized Thor at the side of
the room.
"What am I doing here?" She asked, looking around, confused.
"You touched a device that was designed
for instantaneous transportation to our chambers. We only leave such devices hidden on our protected planets." Thor
replied.
Suddenly, it clicked. "Is Shea a protected planet?"
"It is."
"When was the last time you checked
it out?"
"We have not been passed that area of space in several months."
"Anubis is attacking."
The Asguard
spoke quickly and quietly to each other for a brief- although it seemed long-moment before turning back to Sam.
"We
will send an Asguard mother ship back with you to rectify this problem."
~*+*~
Jacob wanted to step forward,
raise his hand…..anything to stop her from doing this. But he couldn't risk the mission for the safety of one
man. Even if his daughter would kill him for it later.
"I will ask again." Rethria shouted. "Who has allied themselves
with this traitor."
She pointed to the battered and bruised body of Jack O'Neill, who was being held up by
two guards-one of which, Jacob was sure was a Tok'ra- while she relentlessly used the hand device on him, trying to get
him to talk.
There was a loud noise coming from outside. Jonas suspected that it was coming from the Jaffa
camp, and soon after three Jaffa, Teal'c included, came running into the library.
"State your business here." Rethria
demanded, sending a flash of energy towards Jack's exposed skull on a whim.
"Lord Anubis is being attacked." Teal'c
replied, bowing his head.
"What? Who dares attack the great and powerful Anubis?" Rethria's eyes glowed again,
and even though they had seen it frequently over the past week, most of the natives gasped in horror.
"The Asguard."
~*+*~
The
five mother ships that Anubis had protecting him were gone in seconds. They were given a warning, and when they fired
at them, the Asguard defended themselves and took them out. Although, the ship that supposedly held Anubis wasn't
easily destroyed, it still fell.
The Jaffa were next, easily transported off the planet and into holding cells,
where they would remain until the Asguard found a deserted planet with no Stargate on it to dispose of them.
Sam
had waited on the bridge of the ship with Thor, and watched the Jaffa ship's fall quickly. She was anxious to get back
to the planet and back to her father and her friends.
Back to Jack.
~*+*~
Opening his eyes had never
been so hard to Jack in his life.
There was a deep, throbbing pain in his right knee-damn war wound- and he had
a killer of a headache. Otherwise, he seemed to be in tact. At least, most of his limbs seemed to be in place, not that
he was in much of a position to do a visual inspection.
The last thing that he remembered was being held in the
clutches of Rethria's hand device. He wasn't even sure how she had discovered him. It was probably one of the other
Jaffa, who had seen him helping a native.
"I think he's coming around." Janna told the rest of the group.
Sam
walked away from her father and over to the man laying on the bed. "Hi sir, how are you feeling?"
"Da-andy!" He
replied in a singsong voice.
"Sir?"
"He-ey Carter. How you doing?"
"Janna what did you give him?"
"I
believe that it is similar to a gas that your Earth dentists use." Teal'c replied, taking off the last of his Jaffa uniform.
"Laughing
gas." Jonas nodded, having had an unpleasant visit to a dentist himself a few weeks earlier.
"Are you sure that
you're okay sir?" Sam asked, frowning as he giggled.
"Yes."
Sam nodded slowly, and turned to head over to
Janna when she heard him speak again. "Carter, did I ever tell you how sexy you look in that outfit?"
Slightly
unsure of what to say, Sam looked back over her shoulder at him and a smile slowly spread across her face. "Ah…..thank
you sir."
Janna smiled. "The drug will wear off in a few moments."
"Good." Sam nodded, she wasn't sure that
she like her commanding officer talking like that, at least not in front of her father.
~*+*~
Chapter 18
~*+*~
SG-1
and the Tok'ra stood in front of the engaged Stargate, saying their final good-bye's to the three natives that they had
befriended.
"I wish to thank you for all that you have done to help my people." Janna smiled, and bowed her head
in respect.
"Your welcome." Jack smiled, grasping Sam's hand.
While Jacob had healed the wound on his forehead,
hie knee had been pretty damaged. There was certainly no way he was going into combat again. At least, not unless
Fraiser had some pretty neat tricks up her sleeve.
And he wasn't sure that he wanted her to.
Jack and Hammond
had spoken, months ago when Anubis had first attacked, about what would happen if his knee was ever to give out completely.
It was decided that he would take a job as a civilian on base, over-seeing tactical strategies and training simulations.
Which
suited him fine, especially if he got to be with Sam.
Turning his attention back to Janna, he smiled at them. "We'll
come back in a few days, and make sure everything's okay."
"That would be appreciated." Mark nodded. "We have lost
many people, but we will rebuild our world."
"You should continuously monitor the Stargate, to ensure that your
people are prepared for visitor's. Unfriendly or otherwise." Teal'c advised. "The Asguard have also en-stalled a device
that will prevent any Goa'uld or Jaffa from stepping foot on your world."
"You should be safe, but keep an ear
out." Jacob told them.
"We will." Janna nodded.
"Then we wish you well." Teal'c bowed, which the others mimicked,
before he and Jonas stepped into the Event horizon and headed back to earth, the Tok'ra following them.
"How
does the book end?" Sam asked.
Janna couldn't help but grin. "It ends with the birth of your daughter."
"Daughter?"
Jack repeated, looking down into Sam's shining eyes. "Sweet." He muttered, as they walked back towards the Stargate.
"Look
after yourselves."
Mike nodded. "We shall."
Jack gave her hand a squeeze, which Sam returned and they stepped
into the wormhole, hands grasped.
~*+*~
The end.
"Ah, I see the F%&K-up fairy has visited again."
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