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nightspear) wrote2008-10-23 08:54 am
Diplomacy (13/27)
Title: Diplomacy (Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen
XXXXX
Frater, Mater, Pater, Part I
XXXXX
20 November 1998; SGC, Earth; 1000 hrs
Jack moved toward Carter's office and was about to barge in when he heard her voice through the closed door. He stopped with a hand poised over the handle.
"... do you mean, 'why?' I..." There was a long pause, and then, "Okay. I was just calling to...what? No, I just wanted to... Dad. Look, never mind. Sorry to bother you."
Ack. Awkward.
When it seemed certain that the conversation was over, he knocked sharply and called, "Carter, you in there?"
Immediately, there was the sound of a chair scraping on the floor, and the door was pulled open to reveal the captain's ever-professional expression. "Sir."
"Bra'tac's here," he said bluntly. "Let's go."
"Bra'tac, sir?" she repeated, hurrying out of the office to follow him. "I thought he was in the Land of Light, training Teal'c's son."
"He's been going all over. He was on Chulak just now." He glanced over to see her worried expression. "Apophis is back. He's there. Teal'c's family's old home is burned to ground, and apparently there's a mark over it that means 'traitor.' There's a bounty on Teal'c's head."
Carter winced. "Oh. Well, that's...unfortunate, sir, but not unexpected--"
"And on his son's head." Her eyes widened. "Granted, it's probably just another way to try to get to Teal'c, and they're not gonna find Rya'c, but it's making people jumpy. And Apophis is trying to pick up more Jaffa on Chulak. He's been tearing up the planet, executing rebel sympathizers--pretty much everyone Bra'tac had recruited to our side. By the time Bra'tac got there, the fight had already"--been lost--"ended. He just came to give us the news."
"All that, just to look for Rya'c and Teal'c?" Carter asked, shaking her head. "Besides, Apophis can't be having much success recruiting. Turning back his invasion at Earth, destroying two of his motherships and the armies aboard them--"
"--wasn't as much of as setback as we'd hoped for, Captain," he told her grimly. "A lot of Jaffa have gone back over to him, according to Bra'tac, and then they fought their way through the ones who didn't. In fact, the rebels who survived...they're not so sure about the cause anymore, either, and Bra'tac would probably be killed if he were ever seen there again."
"Oh, God. Is he all right?"
Physically... "No injuries." Jack gave her a look. "He managed to escape his former friends' attempts to bring another shol'va to justice."
She sighed. "They still think Apophis is a god even after he failed to destroy the SGC."
"Yeah," Jack said. "Bra'tac's having a hard time swallowing it himself. Anyway, by now, all the warriors on Chulak are either back to following Apophis or were wiped out." He had never seen Bra'tac looking so...tired. Defeated. Lost. Honestly, it was unsettling.
"But why would Apophis be looking for Teal'c and his family on Chulak," Carter was saying, "when he must know they're not there anymore?" She frowned as he pushed the elevator button. "And why are we going up, sir?"
"Bra'tac and Teal'c think Apophis might have been looking for something else besides just Teal'c. Something he's really wanted to find lately."
It only took a moment for the implication to sink in. "The Harsesis."
Jack nodded. "Yep. That's why we're going to talk to Rothman and Daniel."
"Apophis doesn't know we have the baby, then? Heru-ur has to know the Tau'ri attacked him, and he must be looking for allies against us, now that so much of his forces were wiped out by the Asgard. To be honest, sir, I've been expecting a Goa'uld to come looking for Shifu for quite a while now, but here, not on Chulak."
"Bra'tac thinks he saw some Horus Guards on Chulak, so Apophis obviously doesn't still think Heru-ur's got the baby," he said. "Maybe they did team up, since they've both been knocked around recently, or maybe Apophis recruited some of Heru-ur's Jaffa away from him. But either way, whatever intel he's got is pretty shoddy."
"Unless," she suggested, "Heru-ur did tell him we have the Harsesis. Maybe this attack was to get Teal'c's attention and draw us out, since neither of them is in any condition to attack us directly at home."
"Carter, Apophis is insane. If he's willing to kill his way through Chulak, who knows what else he'll do?"
"Maybe even activate those nanocytes," she speculated. "Might make it harder for us to deal with the Harsesis then."
Great. He hadn't even considered that possibility. "The point is, whatever we're gonna do with the Harsesis, we have to do it soon, or more people will be killed, and we might be next on the list."
When they arrived, Rothman was sitting awkwardly to one side. Daniel was perched on the edge of his desk, holding Shifu. While the finger of one hand was clutched in the baby's fist, however, Daniel's complete attention was fixed on the two Jaffa warriors standing before him.
Bra'tac was staring in something like awed disbelief at the Harsesis, who stared back and grinned toothlessly, his free hand jerking in an approximation of a wave. All of them were talking in quiet, urgent Goa'uld except Rothman, who looked like he was focusing too much on trying to follow the conversation to add to it. Suddenly, Daniel perked up visibly and turned to Teal'c, saying, "Kel 'Lok'na Ko?'"
Teal'c noticed Jack and Sam at the entrance, and his answer came in English in deference to them. "The Lok'na Ko is a group of planets whose resources have been depleted by mining."
Daniel looked up and saw them as well, everything about him radiating a barely suppressed excitement. "Oh, good, you're here," he started. "Sam, we think Apophis has been looking for--"
"I heard," she said. "Daniel, we have to figure out what to do with the baby."
"I know. Guys...Tek'ma'tae Bra'tac has heard of Kheb."
Jack took his hands out of his pockets. "Really."
"Yes--it's an old Jaffa legend. Elderly Jaffa used to go there so their kalach...um...ka. Soul. So their soul could pass through to the next life."
"It is more than a place of passage," Bra'tac picked up. "A Jaffa warrior sees much evil and is darkened by the prim'ta he carries within him. Kheb is a place where the kalach may learn the path through such darkness and to the light. It was guarded as a secret from the Goa'uld."
Jack didn't comment. 'Path to the light' sounded a little...hokey to him. Then again, Bra'tac didn't seem like one for baseless stories, and if anyone needed to get rid of a little darkness, a Harsesis would be a good candidate.
Bra'tac was continuing, "When the Goa'uld learned of Kheb and made their way there, they never returned."
Daniel was looking at them expectantly. Jack had to ask, "How do we know Sha'uri was the one who wanted the Harsesis brought to Kheb? How do we know it wasn't Amaunet and this isn't some elaborate Goa'uld trick?"
Teal'c answered for him. "Both Sha'uri and Amaunet wished to hide the boy from other Goa'uld. A planet such as Kheb would be the perfect place to hide anything from others."
"It is forbidden among the Goa'uld to speak of Kheb," Bra'tac added, "and it is a place that they fear above all else."
If this Kheb place was as forbidden as Bra'tac thought, it was crazy to begin with for any Goa'uld to suggest having anything to do with it. That part sounded pretty good to Jack, except that both Amaunet and Apophis were apparently prone to crazy things, what with the whole Harsesis business to begin with. Who was to say that Apophis wouldn't think of Kheb as a possibility, too? What if he'd heard that Heru-ur had Amaunet but not the Harsesis, and he knew that Kheb had been his queen's backup plan? And the knowledge of Kheb had to have come from Amaunet, even if Sha'uri had been the one to voice it; how could they be sure that Amaunet hadn't told Heru-ur about it, whether by choice or under torture?
"This is all very nice," Jack said, even though it really sort of wasn't. "But what's at Kheb, and is it a place that we should also be fearing?"
"I told you, Jack," Daniel said, "that the Ancients said there was light at Kheb."
"And the Jaffa say it brings souls to the light," Carter said thoughtfully. "That can't be a coincidence, sir."
"Well, that could just be a lexical coincidence," Daniel told her. Then, as if realizing he wasn't making his point any stronger, added, "But that other phrase I told you about, Jack, from the Ancient database...I think it means that it's a 'place of exile' or a 'banishing place.' Maybe they banished Goa'uld from there, or banished Goa'uld to there. Either way, if the Goa'uld don't like it, we should take a look."
"Yeah, but we've sent probes to a lot of the new planets entered into the computer by the Ancient database," Jack said, "and we haven't found any sign of...whatever we'd be looking for."
"Well, maybe that's the problem, sir," Carter countered. "We had no idea what we were looking for, and there are so many addresses that we've barely scratched the surface."
"Sam," Daniel said, "that's not all. The Jaffa have a story that says Osiris hid from Setesh on one of the planets of the Lok'na Ko. It's a group of planets they know of."
Jack raised his eyebrows, wondering if that was supposed to mean anything, because it didn't to him, but Carter had her thinking expression on again. "That's one of the legends you told me about Kheb, right?" she said. "You said it had to do with hiding from Setesh."
Rothman nodded. "The Abydonian version of the myth."
"I don't suppose any of you knows which planet?" Jack asked. "Or the Stargate address?" Daniel and Rothman looked to Bra'tac.
The Jaffa master shook his head. "I do not. The Goa'uld do not allow its location to be known among the Jaffa. However, your chal'ti tells me that you have a...map of many Stargates. I can show you the other planets of the Lok'na Ko."
"And, Jack," Daniel put in, "when you were putting in Stargate addresses from the Ancient database, I thought at first you were identifying Kheb. You never did, of course, but I've suspected that one of those might be the right place, since it certainly wouldn't have been listed among the Abydos cartouches."
Jack looked to Carter, who nodded. "It's worth looking into, sir. If we can pinpoint an address from the Ancient database that's in the same place as other planets of this...Lok'na Ko, that might be the place."
Shifu sighed loudly and sucked his thumb and pretended he wasn't the center of a Goa'uld plot of galactic scale. Daniel looked over him at Jack.
"All right," Jack agreed. "Let's see if we get a match."
XXXXX
20 November 1998; SGC, Earth; 1100 hrs
They got a match.
General Hammond looked from Jack and Carter on one side of the briefing room table to Daniel, Rothman, and the two Jaffa on the other. "How do we know what we'll find on this Kheb?"
"The story I have heard says that Kheb is an untouched wilderness," Bra'tac said. "It is said that there are great mountains and a single temple in a valley distant from the Stargate."
"We didn't get much from the MALP, other than some plant growth," Carter said, "but what we did see seems to match that description."
"And this is all based on an old legend told among some of the Jaffa," Hammond clarified.
Bra'tac looked indignant. "I have no reason to doubt its truth, Hammond of Texas. It was this story that convinced me, and many other rebel Jaffa, that the Goa'uld are not true gods."
"You misunderstand me, Bra'tac," Hammond assured him. "It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that, whether or not the Jaffa know of this place, if Amaunet and her host were able to tell SG-1 about it, the Goa'uld obviously aren't ignorant of it, however much they might fear it."
"If Amaunet thought to hide the Harsesis on Kheb, then Apophis will eventually come to that conclusion as well," Teal'c summarized.
"And Apophis is just nuts enough to go," Jack said. "Maybe other Goa'uld, too. Hell, Heru-ur was nuts enough to try Cimmeria; Kheb's not a long shot."
"Exactly," Hammond agreed. "Why shouldn't we just let them go to this place and suffer whatever consequences there are?"
"Because that doesn't solve our problem, sir," Carter said. "We know from experience with Heru-ur that the Goa'uld will be looking for the Harsesis. Heru-ur must know the Tau'ri were the ones who attacked him and took the baby, so anyone he's told might try to hit us here, too. Besides, if anything on that planet can tell us more about the Harsesis and what he knows, that has to be a priority for us."
"The Harsesis child could be the undoing of all Goa'uld," Bra'tac said.
"You know," Jack said, "that's the second or third time I've heard something like that, and I still have no clue what it means."
"Master Bra'tac has heard of a child born of two Goa'uld," Teal'c said, "and he believes that such a child would indeed have all the knowledge of the Goa'uld, as we have suspected. Such knowledge could substantially improve our weapons technology and reveal their secrets to us."
Rothman added, "Or he could be a tool that a Goa'uld can use to seize more power for himself."
"General," Carter said, "the point is, we have very little understanding of someone who could be very important in this war. Even if we can't gain the knowledge that the Harsesis carries by going to Kheb, we need to know more about what we're dealing with."
"Also," Daniel put in, "we know the Goa'uld fear the place, the Ancients didn't, and Jaffa disillusioned with their false gods used to journey there. Sir, even putting Shifu aside, that's something we have to explore."
Hammond looked around at all of them again. "You all agree?"
"The recent activity on Chulak made it clear we need to do something," Jack said, "and this could be a step closer to a solution to the Harsesis issue. It's the best we've got to go on, sir."
Hammond nodded. "Then I need to warn you all that this may very well be your last chance to act." Jack looked up in surprise. "As you know, I've been getting pressure from various sources about the boy. Recently, people have been starting to talk about taking some action."
"Oh, for cryin' out loud--"
"There are people worried about human rights, for now, but it may be only a matter of time before more people are swayed by the potential security risk--and the potential benefits to us."
"The President, sir?" Carter asked.
"He's reluctant to take that step, especially if it will alienate Abydos as an ally," Hammond said, but all of them heard the 'for now' he left unsaid. For all that Abydos was useful as a source of naquadah, there would be those more than willing to sacrifice friendship with an unindustrialized village if it could help them beat the Goa'uld.
"They have no right to do anything to him," Daniel spoke up.
"Maybe not, Mr. Jackson, but that doesn't mean someone won't try."
"The NID?"
"Not officially, I would think," Hammond said, though they all knew 'unofficial' was probably more dangerous than 'official' where the NID was concerned. Officially, no one could do anything to the baby without proof of anything; unofficially, someone had found a Stargate in Antarctica and kept it hidden for over a decade.
"Shifu is not under any command here," Daniel said. "There's nothing to stop me from taking him to his grandfather if anyone tries to do something."
"That's true," Hammond allowed, looking troubled, "but if Apophis or Heru-ur really wants the Harsesis, even weakened, they'll tear Nagada apart for him. There's nothing the SGC could do about that. It wouldn't be safe there, for Shifu or for your village."
"It doesn't look like it's going to be very safe here, either, sir," Jack pointed out. More than that, unless someone was hiding nifty tech they didn't know about, there was no way to interrogate a baby, which meant that the only course of action would be to neutralize the potential threat, not use the intelligence. And when the threat was a human baby, it wasn't difficult to neutralize it. "And what, may I ask, is the Pentagon planning to do with the Harsesis?"
Hammond's expression was grim. "Nothing so drastic as you're probably thinking, Colonel. But there have been...some suggestions about a few things that could be tried. For example, trying to manipulate those nanocytes in his brain ourselves so that we can question him effectively when he's physically old enough."
Right. Because that would end out well.
"Uh, sir," Carter said, her eyes wide, "that could be incredibly dangerous. Even if we're able to do it, we have no idea what those nanocytes are programmed to do: whether they'll make him age, or activate something to make him more vulnerable to the Goa'uld. Or, for all we know, they could act as some sort of beacon to help Apophis or other Goa'uld locate him. The point is, we're completely in the dark."
"I understand that, Captain. If it comes to that, I'll fight it, and I'm hopeful that they can be made to see reason."
"Optimistic of you," Jack had to say. Hammond ignored him.
"But ultimately, people are going to start talking." The general gave each of them in turn a serious look. "If we don't figure out a solution sometime soon, whether it's getting our hands on Goa'uld intel or making damn sure that the Harsesis isn't any sort of threat, someone will eventually try to take action. At that point, our only options will be to comply or let him go back to Abydos, and"--Hammond nodded to Daniel--"I'm honestly not sure which would be more dangerous. For any of us."
"Yes, sir," Jack answered for his team. "Then Kheb's our best shot. Request permission for SG-1 to take the Harsesis to P9C-292. I'd like some backup, too, in case it really is Kheb and a Goa'uld decides to join the party."
"Granted, Colonel. SG-2 will accompany you."
Bra'tac spoke up, his eyes burning with some hint of renewed fire. "As will I."
"And me," Daniel said.
"I don't think so," Rothman scoffed.
"Well, think again," Daniel snapped at his mentor. "If it concerns Shifu, I should be there. And this place came from the Ancient database, possibly peopled by beings who speak Ancient--I have the best chance of any sort of meaningful communication."
Rothman's mouth had opened a little in surprise, but, when no one backed him up, he closed it and stayed silent.
Hammond glanced at Jack, who tried not to let his reluctance show as he nodded slightly.
"Very well, SG-1, Mr. Jackson," the general said. "You'll leave at 1300 hours."
XXXXX
20 November 1998; SGC, Earth; 1245 hrs
When Jack walked into the infirmary, he was just about to tell Daniel to move it and get his gear together, but his civilian consultant (ambassador, Jack supposed; today Daniel was a representative of Abydonian interests in their leader's grandson, who happened to also be the Harsesis) was already dressed, a zat gun fastened at his leg where most people would carry a pistol and his backpack in place. He held what looked like another miniature backpack in his hands, and his expression as he stared at it was dumbfounded. It was one of those sling carrier things you strapped onto your chest, Jack realized, for the baby. The first time he and Sara had bought one like it for Charlie, he remembered getting tangled in the straps.
Daniel's eyes snapped up at his approach, and he mumbled, "Janet gave me... She doesn't like the idea of taking the baby for a trip like this, but she said this would make it easier on both of us. But I'm not sure how..."
"Need help?" Jack asked, gesturing with a hand. Daniel simply nodded and wordlessly held it out. "Ah...let's see...take off your pack and your vest first."
When Jack had strapped the carrier onto him and the pack was shouldered again, Daniel lifted Shifu out of the bed but didn't stick him into the carrier yet.
"Do you have your allergy meds with you?" Jack asked. "The MALP showed a lot of plants. There's probably pollen everywhere."
"Janet gave them to me," he said, opening a pocket on his vest to show the blister pack inside. "I already took some. She said not to take a high dose unless I need it, until I'm used to them. They make me a little...fuzzy."
"More than usual?" Jack said, but it was an automatic response. Everyone involved was humming with muted anticipation, and Daniel didn't roll his eyes or take offense. "All right. Ferretti's men are checking over their supplies. Carter's making a quick phone call--"
"To her father?" Daniel said.
Jack started to say 'no clue,' but remembered the end of the conversation he'd overheard that morning and said instead, "Could be. Why? How do you know?"
"Because...you know."
"No, I don't. Know what?"
"Really?" Daniel frowned and searched his face for a moment, looking indecisive, then shook his head. "Well, I guess... It's not for me to say, then."
Well, that sounded mysterious. Still, there was nothing he could say to that if it was personal, which family business always was, so Jack shrugged and went on, "Teal'c and Bra'tac have been waiting in the embarkation room for a while now."
"I'm not surprised," Daniel said, though his gaze was once again occupied with his baby brother. "Master Bra'tac has been searching for Kheb for over a century. And he had friends on Chulak who died, and...and ideals that died there, you know? I think he's eager to find..."
"What?"
"I don't know. Something. Something to believe in, maybe."
Jack watched Daniel's thumb stroke gently across Shifu's pudgy cheek. "Never really thought of Jaffa as the religious sort."
Daniel gave him a sideways glance. "The Jaffa are indoctrinated to fight in the name of their god, Jack."
"Yeah, but this, with Bra'tac and Kheb..." This felt different. This was a different religion, one that wasn't based on trying to please god who would kill them if they didn't.
Daniel shook his head slowly, but not in contradiction. "The Jaffa of his legends believed in Kheb. Master Bra'tac believes in it. That's all that matters, right? Maybe he just..." He stopped, searching for the words. "Well, what would you do if you were told something your whole life, and...and you discovered they were lying to you, and now you were on the verge of finding something...real? Jack, the SGC fights the Goa'uld because they kill and conquer what they have no right to...but the right to believe in our history, our ancestors, our gods as we choose to--that's what the Goa'uld have taken from us."
"Us?" Jack repeated.
"I meant...'us' in general," Daniel said quickly. "The Jaffa and the people of Abydos. The older generations, obviously. I never lived under the Goa'uld."
"Uh-huh," Jack said, still watching him carefully. "What about you? You believe in this Kheb place, too?"
Shifu squirmed restlessly but remained silent, as if sensing something serious was happening. Daniel pursed his lips and shrugged. When Jack thought he wasn't going to answer, he offered, "I believe in Sha'uri and what she asked me to do for her son."
"Yeah," Jack said, suppressing his lingering doubts and trying to force the change in his mind from 'kid' to 'Jackson,' because brooding on what might be wasn't good for anyone. "All right, stop thinking so hard. In less than fifteen minutes, we're walking through the Stargate. If we're right, this could be a pretty damn important trip, so I need you sharp."
Looking a little apprehensive, Daniel asked, "Why...what do you need me to do?"
"The rest of us are going to be busy making sure no one tries to kill us. We can't watch the surroundings and the baby at the same time. You hold onto your brother, stay safe, and help Bra'tac try to make contact with any friendly beings we meet there. That's your mission this time, understood?"
Daniel looked up at the change in tone and straightened. "Yes, sir."
"Repeat it back to me."
"I keep Shifu safe and communicate with friendlies. Understood."
"Good." Softening his voice again, Jack asked, "Are you ready?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Thought you were excited about Kheb."
"No, I am. I just...wish I knew what would..." He glanced at Shifu.
"You don't have to come with us on this one, Daniel," Jack said.
"Of course I do."
"Then this is it."
Daniel bit his lip, then nodded. "Then I'm ready."
XXXXX
20 November 1998; Kheb; 1305 hrs
'Untouched wilderness' was right. The Stargate on P9C-292 was surrounded on all sides by trees and other growth that apparently hadn't seen human--or Goa'uld--interference in a while. This was clearly a place where nature had been allowed to run wild. It confirmed what Bra'tac had said about the planet, and Daniel was now joining the two Jaffa in looking around the lush greenery in a kind of awe, as if not quite able to believe that they might truly have found the right place.
"Naturu," Daniel breathed in wonder. "Nafi iwe."
"Ti'u," Teal'c answered.
Jack wasn't sure what they were saying, but he suspected it was something similar to Carter's observation of, "It's beautiful."
It was, Jack could admit. It was untouched. It was unsullied. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Everyone make it through?" he said as the wormhole closed behind them.
"SG-2's all here," Ferretti replied.
"So is everyone else, sir," Carter said.
"Any signs of company?"
"No one has passed this way," Teal'c said calmly, turning away from the scenery to face him.
"No tracks on the ground," Bra'tac confirmed. "No one has been here in a long time."
Something in Jack relaxed a tiny bit at that and dared to hope it meant that no one had come or was coming. The rest of him knew they wouldn't be home free until they were home. "Ferretti, you and your men hold the fort. Check in every thirty minutes."
"Yes, sir. Good luck," Ferretti answered with a smart salute. "SG-2, spread out and guard the 'gate." A few guys on SG-2 nodded to Daniel as well, and Griff added, "Luck, kid," before moving away to take up his position. Daniel gave them a tight smile and nodded back.
As Ferretti had predicted from the start, Daniel had been assigned to SG-2 early on for a number research or negotiation trips, but not yet to SG-1, simply because most planets--or at least a plurality--spoke a dialect Teal'c knew. It was odd to realize Daniel wasn't just SG-1's kid brother anymore, and while Jack thought that he should take it as a good thing--that he didn't have to spend his missions being disturbed that a kid was being deployed under his command--part of him thought he'd prefer having that kid under his command instead of someone else's. Nothing against Ferretti, but...well. Their kid brother and all.
"SG-1, Bra'tac, Daniel," Jack said, "let's go. We're looking for a..."
"A temple," Bra'tac filled in.
"Yeah." He paused for a minute. "Ah...anyone know which way, or are we just gonna have to pick a direction?"
"North," Daniel spoke up. "The legends say Osiris passed through Kheb in the north during his youth and hid there." Teal'c raised an eyebrow, but neither he nor the Jaffa master gave any argument. "So, uh...north according to the sun, I suppose. Many cultures orient themselves by the rising and setting of the sun."
Carter seemed amenable to the suggestion as well, so Jack squinted into the horizon, where this planet's sun was perched. "Is that sun rising or setting?"
"Setting," Bra'tac said without looking.
Jack looked at him sideways. "You're sure? We could wait half a minute and--"
Bra'tac scowled back. "I am sure."
"The difference in the planet's temperature and humidity at sunrise and sunset causes the sun's rays to refract in minutely different ways at the beginning and end of a solar cycle," Carter explained, squinting at the sun, "so theoretically, you should be able to tell, but I usually can't by eye alone, especially on a different planet where I know little or nothing about the atmosphere."
Bra'tac looked as blank as Daniel and much more surprised, but Teal'c, used to explanations that none of them understood, didn't have trouble cutting through to the bottom line and telling her, "You have not traveled to as many planets as Master Bra'tac, Captain Carter. I do not doubt that you will learn swiftly as your experience increases." Carter beamed at him.
"North it is, then," Jack said, cutting off the discussion and starting to take point, only to have Bra'tac step in front, Teal'c beside him and Daniel a step behind. Shrugging, he adjusted his grip on his gun and fell in behind the two Jaffa and Daniel.
The conversation in front of Jack was hushed, as if no one was keen to break the stillness that lay over the land like a blanket. The conversation was also in Goa'uld, so the only word he could pick out was something Teal'c said about Rya'c, which Bra'tac answered, his voice as full of pride as Teal'c's was of wistfulness. Daniel dropped back a few steps, as if uncertain about intruding into that subject, but Teal'c said something to him, and he caught up. Bra'tac glanced between them with a look that said he wasn't sure what to make of the Tau'ri chal'ti.
For the first few months at the SGC, Jack had thought of the Goa'uld language as harsh commands and insults and no more. Oddly, however, the rare times when Teal'c's words betrayed what he was feeling in Jack's hearing were those times when he spoke in his native tongue. Most of those times were in the gym, instructing Daniel, which meant it was mostly just scolding, but sometimes, like now...sometimes Jack thought he had a choice of understanding his Jaffa friend's words or knowing what the man actually thought, and he envied Daniel, just a little, for being able to do both at once.
Then again, there were some understandings that didn't need words.
Teal'c stopped abruptly. Jack instinctively spun around, leaving the two Jaffa to watch his back while he and Carter watched theirs, trapping Daniel and the Harsesis in the middle. Without having to look at them to know their movements, Teal'c said, a moment later, "It is only a bird, O'Neill. We may proceed," and Jack didn't need to double check before turning back to follow them again. It wasn't until he passed under a tree several paces later that he saw a vulture perched in the branches.
There were definitely perks to having Jaffa on the team.
"Vulture," Carter said. "Is that a bad omen or something?"
But Daniel turned and said in a hushed voice, "Depends on the culture. The vulture is the symbol of Nekhbet, a patron goddess of Nekheb and Egypt. She's a deity representing...well, feminine protectiveness. Motherhood. She's said to be the Creatrix of the World, the Mother of Mothers, who has existed from the beginning." He smiled down at Shifu as he said it, a finger lifting to tickle the baby's cheek until Shifu gurgled and grabbed it.
"Not a bad sign, then," Jack said, a little impressed by the optimistic interpretation, but only a little, because in Jack's culture, vultures picked on the dead. Also, there was only so far he was willing to stretch the meaning of a bird sitting in a tree. But Daniel transferred his smile to Jack, and he decided not to say anything else for a while.
Carter laughed softly all of a sudden. "Captain?" Jack asked, his voice low, too, though he wasn't quite sure why. It felt odd to disturb the quiet around them.
"Sorry, sir," she said, shaking her head. "This place is just so peaceful. I'm catching myself thinking...I don't know. Deep thoughts." She laughed again, self-consciously, but this time the sound caught a little in her throat. "It's nothing, sir," she added, shaking off whatever it was.
"Right." Jack spent another few minutes listening to the quiet, incomprehensible murmur of voices from in front of him. Then, because being surrounded by smart people didn't mean he wasn't allowed to think thoughts once in a while, too, he turned to his second-in-command. "Ah...Carter..."
And then he didn't know how to go on, so the pause stretched out until she prompted, "Sir?"
"You, ah..." He lifted off his cap to scratch idly at his head, then replaced it. "Is everything okay? With you."
She gave him an odd look. "Um. Sir?" she said again.
"I...heard you on the phone this morning, and I was just wondering if something's wrong."
The expression on her face flitted from surprised to pained and then settled back on the alertness she reserved for missions, tinged with some annoyance. "Daniel told you?" she asked. Daniel half-turned but didn't slow.
"Now, see, now I'm curious," Jack complained, because Daniel hadn't told him much at all--just the word 'father.' "What is this thing, and why does everyone know but me?"
"It's nothing to worry about, sir." Her grip on her weapon tightened until the knuckles turned white, though, so like hell it was nothing to worry about.
Thinking of the way Jacob I-Know-Better-Than-You Carter had been trying to poke holes into their stories the one time Jack had met the man, and considering the little he'd heard about General Carter from Captain Carter, he asked, "Your old man's not still bugging you about NASA, is he? You got the Air Medal for saving the world, for crying out loud--"
"Colonel--"
"Seriously, Hammond could probably make him drop it if he keeps--"
"He has cancer," Carter interrupted tightly. "Of the blood. They want to stop treatment."
Jack shut up.
In front of them, Daniel started to turn, but Teal'c's hand rose to stop him, showing them that the Jaffa had heard, as well. Carter cleared her throat and determinedly continued striding forward, carefully scanning the trees around them and not looking at anyone in particular.
"That's all," she said.
A moment later, Jack said, "You probably already know, Captain, but I have...problems with my brain-to-mouth filter."
"Yes, it's broken," Daniel said over his shoulder, showing that he was still eavesdropping, but Carter smiled slightly anyway.
"You had good intentions, sir."
The road to hell... Well, Jack hated clichés, anyway. "You need anything?"
She was silent for a while. When she finally answered, "No. I'm fine," she was looking at Daniel, who was not-so-subtly glancing back at them. She turned to Jack, finally, nodding firmly. "But thank you, sir."
A couple of hours later, the sun was just finished setting. Jack was starting to think they were going the wrong direction, and they'd end up going all the way to the other side of the planet and hitting the temple on their way back. In the meantime...
"Hold it. Let's take ten," he ordered. Bra'tac looked surprised at the call for rest, but Teal'c, more accustomed to the rate of travel reasonable for humans who weren't slaves being pushed to their limits, inclined his head and took off his backpack to let each of them dig in for MREs. Jack squinted through the encroaching darkness to look at the one he'd pulled out at random, then at the one in Teal'c's hand. He met the Jaffa's eyes over the bags, then swapped wordlessly.
XXXXX
20 November 1998; Kheb; 1600 hrs
Someone took a seat next to where Daniel had flopped down on the ground, not overly tired yet from the trek but glad for the respite before he reached that point. He looked up to see Jack beside him, eating something out of a cup. "You holding up okay?" the man asked.
"Yes." Shifu had been fed during the walk and was now asleep, a warm weight against Daniel's chest. He tentatively tried his own meal, then frowned at the taste. "Huh." He lifted the bag closer to see what the label said.
"What?"
"It tastes like lizard," he said, even though he knew the expression was about chickens, just to see Jack's reaction.
Jack choked. "Ah... is that a good or bad thing?"
"It's supposed to be macaroni and cheese," Daniel replied, wondering why they even called it that when it didn't resemble it at all. Sam smiled at them from over her own meal while Jack rolled his eyes.
"Another two minutes," Jack told them all. "Then we pack it up and keep going."
Daniel bent to finish his meal quickly and then change Shifu, noticing the way Jack and Teal'c sat across from each other, with Sam and Bra'tac between them on either side, so that everything in the surrounding woods would be in someone's line of sight. It was so automatic for them, and he wondered how, even with practice, he could ever hope to fit into the puzzle that was an SG team, not to mention the warriors like Bra'tac who joined them so seamlessly.
Bra'tac was being particularly vigilant--or, well...on second glance, perhaps not. He was staring intently into the distance, but it didn't look like he was seeing very much of anything.
Abruptly, the Jaffa master said to Teal'c, in Goa'uld, "There is not much time left before I can no longer carry a prim'ta."
Daniel turned to them in alarm, reassessing how old Bra'tac must be. The master was older than Teal'c, certainly, but Teal'c was a man in his prime. Bra'tac seemed more fit than almost anyone Daniel could think of; surely he couldn't be that old.
"That time is not yet upon you," Teal'c answered, apparently thinking the same thing as Daniel.
Bra'tac shook his head, but he looked more hopeful than discouraged. "If this truly is Kheb, then that time may be upon us both."
"It is not," Daniel spoke up, as if he could make it so with words alone. "No one will lose his prim'ta today. We will learn about Shifu and return safely."
Jack stood. The two Jaffa and Sam rose immediately, and Daniel followed belatedly. "Everyone ready?" Jack said. "Let's go. Get your flashlights ready, but stay close enough to see each other; I don't want to start shining lights around if we don't have to." Hastily, Daniel shouldered his pack, shushing Shifu when he stirred, and fell in again between Bra'tac and Teal'c.
"We shall see," Bra'tac said, then started off.
Daniel had only met Bra'tac once before, and he remembered spending most of that time on his knees, begging for Bra'tac's help, or grinning like an idiot after being put in the sarcophagus. It was difficult now to look at the Jaffa master without flushing in embarrassment, because he had hardly been a model of composure the last time. It didn't help that the Bra'tac who had stumbled onto Earth this morning had been nothing like the rock of strength and confidence that Daniel associated with Teal'c's tek'ma'tae, or that Bra'tac didn't seem to know what to make of him, either, except that he was Teal'c's student on Earth.
Now, the elder Jaffa asked him, "What bond do you have to the Harsesis child, Daniel Jackson of Tau'ri?"
He hesitated, searching for accusation in the sharp eyes, but there was only curiosity. "My sister was taken to be the host for Amaunet," he said finally, knowing Bra'tac would follow the explanation to its logical conclusion.
Sure enough, Bra'tac turned his head sharply and said, "The queen of Apophis. The Harsesis is her son. Then that is why Hammond of Texas allowed you to accompany us."
Daniel opened his mouth to protest, but Teal'c answered for him. "That is not the sole reason, old friend. Daniel Jackson accompanies us as a scholar."
The closest Goa'uld phrase Daniel knew for 'scholar' translated literally as 'priest of learning.' There was no word that fit exactly, and he didn't need to ask why; he knew how all scholars had been banned from Abydos under Goa'uld rule, and he supposed those values would have been transmitted to the Jaffa warrior classes. Teal'c could write and had learned the phonetic Roman script relatively easily, and Bra'tac could probably read Goa'uld, too, but only because they had both been First Prime. It was as forbidden for most Jaffa warriors as it was for human slaves.
Even Teal'c, who was respectful and even awed at times around Tau'ri scientists, held the barest hint of contempt in his voice when he taught Daniel about the Jaffa priest class. A human scholar was someone who could be highly honored, but, to a Jaffa warrior, a Jaffa who could not fight was weak, and to be weak was to be as good as dead. Teal'c never said that himself, of course, and he'd probably deny thinking it about priests, but Daniel thought he could hear the sentiment between the words.
Perhaps if Teal'c had been a Jaffa priest, Daniel would have learned instead that the warrior classes were too unintelligent to be priests or some such nonsense. The fact was that both held equal power under Goa'uld rule; he suspected everything else was a matter of personal bias. It wasn't so different between warriors and scholars of the SGC.
Sure enough, Bra'tac was frowning at the thought of a scholar who traveled with the warriors.
"Among the humans of the Tau'ri, those who devote their lives to knowledge and learning are highly revered, even above warriors," Teal'c explained. "When we travel through the chaapa'ai with such a person, the warriors may lay down their lives to protect the scholar."
"That is too simple," Daniel countered, because the disdain that some of the civilian researchers held for the military personnel seemed to apply the other way, too. "They have different roles but equal status. From what I have seen, it depends on who and where."
"From what you have seen?" Bra'tac repeated. "You do not know the ways of your own people, Daniel Jackson?"
"It was only a year ago that I first stepped foot onto the Tau'ri planet," Daniel explained, remembering belatedly that he'd allowed the Jaffa master to assume he was from Earth to gain his help in defeating Apophis and Klorel. "I was born of Tau'ri blood, but raised as an Abydon."
"Abydos!" Bra'tac said, surprised and clearly recognizing the name.
"Indeed," Teal'c said, "Colonel O'Neill and the parents of Daniel Jackson were those who brought death to the false god Ra."
"Then you are the son of great warriors," Bra'tac said. The increased interest in his eyes made Daniel start to understand just why Jack hated the convoluted myths of O'Neill, Hero of Abydos.
He shook his head, correcting, "I am the son of great scholars; they wished to end fighting, not continue it. I believe those who study knowledge and those who study battle must work together if we are to defeat the enemy."
Bra'tac cast a thoughtful look at Sam. "And so it is that the Tau'ri choose to do both."
"There are those who are both, like Sam." He pointed back to where Sam and Jack walked. "She is one of our best scholars as well as a proven warrior. I choose to help however I can. For instance, I knew from studying legends that the temple of Kheb lies to the north, and...and I think I was right!" Triumphantly, excitedly, apprehensively, he squinted into the distance. "Is that it, Tek'ma'tae?"
"I cannot believe it," Bra'tac breathed, his Jaffa eyes fixing easily on the structure that Daniel could barely make out through the night and the thick growth around them. "After so many years, I see it at last. We have truly found Kheb."
"Jack," Daniel called. The two Tau'ri pulled even with the rest of the group. "Look--the temple."
"Sweet," Jack said, picking up the pace. "Let's go."
The crackling of the radio on Daniel's shoulder made him jump, and Major Ferretti's voice came through.
"Colonel, this is Ferretti--we've got a problem."
Shifu's eyes opened, and Daniel really, really hoped he wouldn't start crying, even as they turned to watch Jack answer the hail.
"Go ahead, Major."
"We spotted two death gliders passing over our position. It looks like they were going the same direction as you."
"Crap," Jack muttered, then replied, "Were you seen?"
"No, sir, I don't think so, but they're headed your way. If others came from somewhere else, we might not even know it--there could even be some Jaffa on foot that got off those ships. We can start toward you and give you a hand."
"Negative," Jack ordered. "You'll never get here before they do. Hightail it back through the 'gate and request backup."
"Yes, sir. Ferretti out."
"Anyone miss that?" Jack asked, dropping his hand from the radio and raising his gun instead.
"We heard," Bra'tac answered, a light gleaming in his eyes. "We are nearly at the temple--let us proceed quickly and seek sanctuary there."
"You sure that's our best bet?" Jack replied.
A twig snapped.
All five of them shrank back into the dark forest, weapons rising warily. Daniel wrapped his left arm around Shifu, preparing to run if necessary, and pulled out the zat'nik'tel on his leg with his free hand. Jack was crouching on his left, Teal'c on his right, and Sam and Bra'tac flanking them on either side, and all Daniel could think was that one whimper from Shifu was going to give them all away.
In the distance, a deep voice called, "Kree ko, Jaffa!"
Gooseflesh prickled at Daniel's arms as he heard answering six distinct cries of "Kel sha" and leaves rustling from where they had been only a minute ago. Gods, how many were there, and how had they not known?
A stream of orders followed. Jack glanced at him and the two Jaffa, his expression hesitant but frustrated; he needed information and Teal'c was too far away to pass it along, Daniel shifted enough until he was right next to Jack's ear. Remembering from training sessions with SG-2 to take care to muffle his sibilants, he whispered, "They heard us. Search teams."
"What Goa'uld?" Jack said, almost too quietly to hear.
Daniel turned to his other side, where Teal'c and Bra'tac had already heard and were talking with tiny flashes of fingers, the hand signals used by Jaffa warriors on Chulak that Daniel had never bothered to learn. He would learn it, he decided, if--when--they got back home. It didn't matter, though, because then Teal'c touched Daniel's arm to draw his attention, tapped his Serpent brand, shook his head.
"Not Apophis," Daniel relayed in a whisper. "Don't know." Jack nodded and gestured for total silence.
After a moment, the footsteps began moving away. When Bra'tac straightened from his crouch, Daniel took it as a sign that they were out of earshot and said quietly, "Jack, we don't know how many are between us and the Stargate, but we're close to the temple."
"You're asking me to bet our lives on something we hope might be there that might be able to help us and might not try to kill us as soon as we step in?" Jack hissed.
"Yes!" Daniel whispered, filling the word with as much faith as he could, because it was all they had now. "That's what I'm asking."
A mechanical whining sound in the distance made Daniel look up. The udajeet were coming. However many Jaffa were there now, more would land soon. Who knew how many would be coming after them then?
"Temple might be our only option, sir," Sam said quietly.
Jack exhaled hard, his face unreadable in the dark. "On my word, move toward the temple."
"They won't shoot the Harsesis," Daniel said, fear and excitement beginning to pound through him. "If I'm between you and the Jaffa, you might be--"
"Negative," Jack snapped. "They can still shoot you in the back. Stay with Teal'c and Bra'tac and follow their orders until we catch up with you. You two"--his eyes flicked from one Jaffa to the other--"lead the way and--"
"We will protect the child, O'Neill," Bra'tac said, his gaze saying he meant Shifu while Teal'c moved a reassuring step closer to Daniel.
"Carter and I'll be right behind you. Avoid detection unless you're forced to fire, and then stay low and run like hell. Daniel, cover the baby's mouth if you have to, just leave him room to breathe. Ready?"
They quieted again as a glider came into view, passing by their position but sweeping the skies overhead, as if searching.
Ready, ready, ready...
"Go!"
Daniel still started when Teal'c's hand propelled him forward, and he stumbled a little as he tried to keep up with the two Jaffa's stronger, faster bodies, hating the knowledge that they were slowing themselves for him. Shifu finally started to whimper, and, in desperation, Daniel whispered fiercely to him, "Kal shak, shek kree, kal'ma--shashan!"
Shifu obeyed and fell silent again, closing his eyes as if in sleep, because he responded to Goa'uld sometimes, and Daniel had a few, dizzying moments to think that, gods, maybe something in the baby did have Goa'uld knowledge, after all.
Then he was tripping over tree roots (how in the gods' names did the Jaffa keep their balance, on uneven ground and in the dark, no less?), only to be caught by a strong hand that pulled him forward again.
The walls surrounding the temple were in sight before them, but more rustling came from around them on all sides. "Ar'ee! Yahs!" Bra'tac hissed, and Daniel stopped and crouched low, itching to move forward and run to the temple that was almost within reach. Somewhere in front of them, a shadow moved, then paused, as if searching, then continued on. He could make out two more behind the first before the enemy Jaffa blended together and he could no longer tell one shadow apart from the other.
He turned at the sound of rustling from behind, but the way the two approaching figures held their arms meant they were wielding guns (submachine gun, MP5, he mind recited automatically from Jack's lessons) instead of staff weapons. Soon he could hear Jack's prowling steps and Sam's quiet breathing.
"Stay in two groups," Jack said, barely loud enough to hear. They shifted apart, Daniel following Teal'c's movements, with Bra'tac shadowing them both. "Make for the temple. Take cover when you can."
They rose slowly and crept toward the temple's walls. Daniel stared out into the night, moving from tree to tree when Teal'c's shadow moved and wondering how he was supposed to shoot at an enemy when he could barely see even a few meters in front of his own face.
Then the first shot rang out and he understood, because it wasn't the movements they were aiming for; it was the crackle of electricity from a priming staff weapon.
Daniel dropped behind a tree, clutching Shifu, just as Teal'c fired his staff weapon and a Jaffa in the distance dropped to the ground. "Nok," Bra'tac whispered, and they ran ahead again. They froze at a rustling sound to one side, then continued when they saw Jack creep forward and stop, signaling someone behind him--Sam--to go.
"Jaffa!"
They whirled. This time Daniel was the first to fire in the direction of an enemy's staff weapon, his zat'nik'tel discharging almost before he knew he was squeezing the trigger, but it didn't matter if he was aiming, because the second bolt of crackling blue energy lit the Jaffa's armor nonetheless. Then shouts came from around them as well, and he was forced to duck down as blasts were suddenly fired from all sides.
"Move, now!" Jack's voice called. "The temple!"
"We're surrounded!" Sam's said from several meters away. Daniel found himself caught between Teal'c and Bra'tac, firing at every distant burst of light. "They've cut us off! Herding us to--" Daniel missed the rest of the sentence as another shot was fired next to his ear and gunfire drowned out her voice
He followed Teal'c, shuffling backward between bursts of fire, and jumped when his back hit something solid. "Down, stay down," Jack said, then pushed him low again to fire over his head as bullets flew in one direction and staff energy from all others. Daniel stayed close to the ground, hugged Shifu, and raised his eyes. He snaked an arm out from around the large boulder he was using as cover and squeezed his trigger over and over, not truly aiming but not needing to when they were clumped together now and so thoroughly surrounded, until a rumble of thunder sounded and made him stop and look up.
Thor, he thought wildly, but that wasn't right; there was no Asgard ship filling the sky.
"Daniel Jackson, kree!" Bra'tac barked, and Daniel paid attention and raised his zat'nik'tel again, looking for fire and light that might tell him where to shoot...
Lightning ripped through a tree in front of him.
Daniel couldn't hold back a cry as the flash seared into his eyes, momentarily blinding him, and he lowered his weapon in favor of clutching Shifu more tightly to himself. He bent low over his baby brother as a shield, his eyes still watering from the flash, and he could feel the heat, feel the pulsing in the air like nature itself was angry. A frustrated yell came from Sam and a curse from Jack, but all other noise was soon buried in the roar of thunder and sizzling of lightning and Shifu crying and screams and screams and screams from--
--from the enemy Jaffa.
What?
A loud crash! sounded, not like thunder, but like some hard impact that literally shook the ground under their feet. Daniel staggered. His eyes snapped up in surprise.
The screams of the Jaffa were gone, he realized, and there was only the sound of the storm roaring around them and Shifu's distressed wailing next to his ear. A tiny hand clutched at his jacket, and he wrapped one hand more securely around the baby's head.
And there was an udajeet on the ground, its remains blackened and smoking. In the sudden, dazzling light that surrounded them, he could make out a shadow of a falcon. Heru-ur's ships, then. Had he found out from Amaunet where the baby would be taken? Or was this--
Wait. Light? Why was there light?
Something overhead was illuminating the night sky like a midday sun.
Daniel squinted through the whipping wind and the spots of light still dancing in front of his eyes and saw a bright...something hovering above them. No one was firing a weapon anymore, either at or from their tight group, but what had happened to the Jaffa, and that death glider, and what in the name of the gods was that thing floating above them? He tried to make out what was causing it, and...
Ay naturu.
Not 'what,' but 'who.' There was an indistinct face in the midst of the light. Whatever it was, it was some kind of being.
"Daniel!" Jack yelled over the wind, and Daniel looked over and blinked until he could see the blurry forms of his companions still standing their positions, Sam rubbing her eyes on her sleeve and Jack shaking his head dazedly. "Okay?"
"Yes!" Daniel heard himself yell back, pressing close enough to feel the heat of their bodies. "What's going on?"
"You will not be harmed," an unfamiliar, calm voice said.
Daniel had a moment to wonder at the fact that it was English before he felt his companions stiffen simultaneously, and Teal'c and Bra'tac both moved between him and this new arrival whom they hadn't noticed before. He pressed Shifu's body against his chest with one hand and raised his zat'nik'tel again, edging forward so he could see better. The bright life form didn't waver, but there was a man who stood just outside the temple walls. Daniel squinted around Teal'c's shoulder, trying to see and bring the figure into focus but all he could see from here was a blur of red against the white walls, half hidden in shadows and half obscured by the glare emitted by the bright...thing overhead.
The man didn't so much as twitch at the weapons suddenly aimed toward him.
When no one said anything, Daniel called out, trying to sound as friendly as he could while yelling and holding a weapon on the other person, "We are peaceful explorers from Tau'ri. We do not mean to hurt anyone, but..."
"You were not the aggressors here," the man said, his voice somehow carrying clearly even though he didn't seem to be raising it. "Lower your weapons."
Shifu stopped crying.
Daniel had a sudden terrible image that he'd hurt his brother, but a glance downward showed that Shifu was simply lying still against his chest, yawning tiredly. Daniel relaxed slightly.
Jack did not. "Where did you come from!" he demanded, still shouting over the storm. Daniel glanced at him, and, seeing that his gun was still raised, didn't lower his own weapon. The two Jaffa's staff weapons were aimed upward, as if ready to shoot the odd glowing form still hovering over them. "What did you do, and what is that thing? Are you doing that?"
"I have been here for some time," the man said. He must be some sort of temple guardian, Daniel decided; he would know what to do. But they had run to the temple amid gunfire, and they would need to gain his trust. "All that was done here was the work of the Mother. You are in no danger that you do not pose yourself."
There was a pause, and then Jack called, "Excuse me?"
"The Mother has been watching you. She will harm only those who seek to harm."
Sha'uri, Daniel thought when he heard 'mother,' but that wasn't right, for either her or Amaunet. Then, Nekhbet, but no, there was no vulture here, and no false-god Goa'uld who could bring an udajeet out of the sky with a bolt of lightning. Who on this planet could have such power?
He looked up again and saw the face on the light-based life form resolve slightly into what could be a woman's features. "Is that her?" he asked as loudly as he could, shaking windblown strands of hair from his eyes. "Is that the Mother?"
The man swept a hand slowly before his body. "She is everything--everywhere."
The Mother, everywhere... "Nature," Daniel whispered. He found his eyes drawn upward toward the light filling the sky, focusing on the woman's face that seemed to be staring directly at him. More loudly, to make himself heard over the wind, he repeated, "Nature! Jack, almost every culture has a patron matriarch representing nature. This must be some embodiment of Mother Nature!"
"So?" Jack said, not taking his eyes from the serene man before them.
What force was more powerful than nature itself, after all, in a land where nature ran free and wild? He glanced to the side and caught a glimpse of a line of dead Jaffa on the ground.
("...no danger that you do not pose yourself...")
Daniel retracted his zat'nik'tel and lowered it. "Cha'hari," he called to them. "Tal bet."
"Chal'ti..." Teal'c growled in warning as Jack gave him a confused, sideways glare.
"You have to lower your weapons," Daniel insisted.
"The hell I will," Jack retorted.
Daniel steeled himself, then darted forward in front of Jack's weapon and pushed it downward with a free hand, knowing it was dangerous, knowing he was out of line, but knowing they had to put their weapons down or they'd all be dead in a second.
"Jesus!" Jack swore, jerking back with his face completely white. From anger, Daniel assumed, but this was more important than having Jack angry at him for a while. Out of line, yes, but this was about all of their lives this time.
"Jack, you said it yourself--something killed those Horus Guards, and who do you think that was? If that man and the Mother have been watching us, they could have killed us at any time. They're the only ones stopping us from being struck by lightning, too, but they're giving us a chance. We have to show them we're trustworthy." Sam glanced uneasily at Jack and Teal'c at Bra'tac, but no one moved. "Please."
A clap of thunder rang out like a gunshot, sounding so close that Daniel flinched. Jack's eyes flicked upward, where the light pulsed almost angrily and drew closer until it--she?--became painfully bright.
It was Bra'tac, though, who had been waiting his whole life for something real to believe in, and he surrendered first, deactivating his staff weapon and planting it at his side. "You must do it."
Finally, Jack relented and lowered his gun. Sam and Teal'c followed.
The wind stilled. Daniel almost thought he saw the blindingly bright form--the Mother--smile before she pulled back away from them, taking the light with her, and disappeared behind the walls surrounding the temple. The clouds cleared away, revealing stars as pure as Daniel had ever seen them on any planet. His breath caught, and he glanced down to see Shifu staring upward as well, a hand snaking out of the carrier to reach for the heavens.
In the quiet darkness that remained, the monk inclined his head and gestured toward the entrance of the temple courtyard in welcome. "Now, your journey may begin."
From the next chapter ("Frater, Mater, Pater, Part II"):
"I think that was a 'welcome in,'" Jack said.
"You do?" Daniel asked uncertainly. "I thought that was a 'stay out.'"
Jack shrugged. "I say we go in."