nightspear | Translations (17/19)

Title: Translations (Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen.

Chapter1	Chapter2	Chapter3	Chapter4	Chapter5
Chapter6	Chapter7	Chapter8	Chapter9	Chapter10
Chapter11	Chapter12	Chapter13	Chapter14	Chapter15
Chapter16	Chapter17

XXXXX

Chapter 17: Klorel

XXXXX

13 April 1998; Goa'uld Hatak, 1615 hrs

Jack hurtled through the wormhole and into a pile of bodies scuffling furiously in the dark, illuminated only by the active Stargate.

He rolled away and fumbled for his Maglite. Light spilled forth just as Carter came through at a run, immediately dropping her pack to flick on her own flashlight and scan the rest of the room, priming the staff weapon with her other hand and supporting it one-armed. Teal'c looked up just in time to see Jack take aim. "Teal'c, down!" he whispered as loudly as he dared.

Teal'c moved to cover Daniel's body and pull him away, but the other Jaffa regained a grip on him and--

The ground lurched.

Jack quickly released the trigger as he lost his footing and slammed hard into something nearby that felt like stone, knocking the breath from him. Carter's light jittered away as she spilled from the raised platform where the Stargate stood, and other grunts sounded throughout the suddenly dark room as the wormhole disengaged.

When they stopped moving and he could breathe again, Jack hastily turned on his light to scan the room again. He found the stunned Serpent Guard climbing to his feet barely two yards away, the knife nearby on the floor. Seizing his chance, Jack rolled to his knees, reached for the knife's hilt, and plunged the blade between the plates of the Guard's armor. With a surprised, choking gasp, the Jaffa twitched once, then dropped limp to the floor, dead.

Jack released the knife, breathing hard and tingling from adrenaline. Another light came on somewhere to his right, and he looked over to see Carter sitting up from where she'd fallen. "Report," he said.

"I'm fine, sir," Carter whispered back immediately.

"I am unharmed," Teal'c's voice said.

"Daniel, you good?" Jack said.

To his relief, Daniel's dazed voice answered, "Uh...I think so?" Jack swung his light in that direction. He squinted at the shape of Daniel starting to sit up against the stone box he'd been thrown against. There was a reddening mark on the side of his face from the brawl that would bruise, but he seemed mostly okay until Jack saw--

He sucked in a breath and rushed forward. "You're bleeding!"

Daniel stared at him blankly, then lifted a hand to his throat, where blood was dripping down one side of his neck and onto his shirt. Jack shoved his questing fingers away, probing gently at the wound himself, then sat back with a breath of relief.

"How bad is it?" Carter asked anxiously, coming toward him.

"Not bad. Shallow," Jack said, reaching for a first aid kit she'd brought. "And missed the carotid completely. He'll be fine." He pulled out a piece of gauze, folded it once, and pressed it firmly against the cut, eliciting a small flinch. "Hold that there 'til it stops bleeding, Daniel. You gonna be okay?"

Reaching up to hold the gauze in place, Daniel nodded mutely.

"Teal'c," Jack added fervently, "If I ever complain again about you training with Daniel...ignore me." Talk about close calls. "Okay. Carter, dial up Earth. We need to send him back home, right now."

Teal'c walked toward them, saying, "If we are indeed on a ship, O'Neill, I believe we just entered hyperspace."

Carter stopped with a hand over the DHD. "Hyper--does that mean what I think it means? We're moving away from the coordinates we just 'gated to?"

"That is correct, Captain Carter--at great velocity."

"Sir, Dr. Jackson must have been right--they're moving somewhere, possibly Earth, and if we're moving that fast we don't have a point of origin. We won't be able to dial out until--"

"Try it anyway," Jack snapped. She bit her lip but obeyed.

No lock.

"Yi shay," Daniel said eloquently.

"Crap," Jack agreed, scrubbing a hand through his hair in frustration. Realizing yet another problem, he dug through his pockets, knowing even as he did that the search would be fruitless. "Oy. Did anyone here have time to grab a GDO from one of the techs?"

Carter jumped, reaching automatically toward her boot where she sometimes kept hers. "No, sir."

"Nor I, O'Neill."

"Then we've got no way to get home," Jack said. "If they're worried about an attack, they're not gonna be leaving the iris open for us at the SGC."

"We'd have to 'gate to some other planet first anyway, sir, using Earth's point of origin," Carter said, frowning. "I just don't know what we'll do from there about getting home."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he said bracingly, deciding that, at worst, they could throw things through the Stargate at the iris until someone decided to open it.

The sound of someone moving behind them made them turn. Teal'c was opening one of the boxes that filled this room. "These are transport containers, much like your shipping crates. We must first equip ourselves to make our way to the ring transporter in order to be prepared when we reach Earth's orbit."

"This is turning out to be a really bad day," Jack commented, keeping his tone even as he watched Daniel from the corner of his eye.

"I'll just stay in here until you're finished and ready to 'gate out," Daniel offered, hearing his worry anyway. "I won't get in your way, I promise. Once you find a way out of here, anyway," he added, looking doubtfully at the apparently seamless walls.

"For once, kid, you getting in our way isn't what I'm afraid of." He glanced around, too. "And there has to be a way out. The doors must be hidden." He stood up and walked toward Teal'c and Carter, adding his flashlight beam to theirs. "What are you doing here? Ah," he said when he saw the oddly shaped devices in the box. "What are these things?"

"They are zat'nik'tel," Teal'c said as he picked one up. "It is quite a deadly Goa'uld weapon, though its energy is less destructive than that of a staff weapon."

"Sweet. How do you use them?"

"One need only squeeze it here to fire," the Jaffa said, demonstrating how to prime the weapon and then shoot. "Discharging the zat'nik'tel only once causes great pain and disables but does not kill, while the second shot is fatal to nearly all subjects."

"Nice," Carter said appreciatively, eagerly reaching out to arm herself. "What do you call them again?"

Teal'c opened his mouth to answer, when Jack said, "Let's call them zat guns." Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him. "Just pass 'em out. Ah...is there any sort of recoil when you fire? Does it malfunction easily?" It didn't look like a particularly difficult weapon to use--point and squeeze.

"Very little," Teal'c said.

"And first shot doesn't kill?"

"No."

After a brief hesitation, Jack took one to Daniel, deciding he couldn't sit around on the ship completely unarmed, and that this would be easier to use for someone with zero experience using firearms. At the very least, he'd survive if he accidentally shot himself...

No. That wasn't going to happen.

Daniel was standing now and running his free hand over the hieroglyphs on the walls, apparently forgetting he was on an enemy ship. He paused with his finger poised over one of the glyphs. "This is Apophis' serpent symbol, Jack, and it's raised higher than the other ones. Do you think maybe..." His finger slipped down to press one side.

A panel next to them ground open, making them jump away while Carter and Teal'c hurried toward them, pressing their bodies against the wall next to the opening door. Jack took an experimental look around the edge of the panel into what looked like a thankfully empty corridor.

"Dewa'naturu," Daniel breathed when he saw it was empty.

"Dammit, Daniel!" Jack hissed angrily.

Daniel winced, chagrined. "A way out of the room?"

"First rule: stop touching things!" Jack let his breath out through his teeth, then roughly grabbed Daniel's other hand, lifting the forgotten square of gauze back up to his still-weeping cut. "All right," he whispered. "Carter, you got the bombs?"

She lifted her pack. "Yes, sir."

"Leave one here--no reason to tote two around with us. You, me, and Teal'c are going to find the ring transporter. We don't know where that is, do we?"

"We do not, O'Neill."

"Fine. Avoid engaging the enemy if possible. Teal'c, get that Jaffa's body out of sight. Daniel, did you see Teal'c show us how to fire the zat gun? Do you understand?" A nod. "Are you sure? Good. Stay behind one of the boxes. Use your zat only if absolutely necessary, and don't let anyone see you until we come back for you before we leave. Got it?"

"Yes," Daniel whispered back without argument, accepting the zat gun. He turned it around toward himself to examine it, and Jack had to reach out with a quick lurch of terror, flipping it back around so that it aimed at the ground.

"Never point it toward yourself!" he hissed. "Never." Biting his lips, Daniel nodded, carefully holding it away.

Carter pulled a sealed metal container out of her bag. "Keep this hidden," she told him. "It won't go off on its own unless someone really smashes it around, but be careful with it anyway."

"That's it?" Jack asked, looking dubiously at the object that looked no bigger than some of Carter's bigger textbooks.

"It's not pretty--"

"You're sure that'll do it?"

"It needs to be triggered to start the reaction, but yes. This'll overdo it," she assured him.

An unfamiliar noise from within the room made them whirl around, zats at the ready, but it was only Teal'c zapping the dead Jaffa's body until it...

...disappeared?

"Uh, okay," Jack said quietly, staring in fascination. "Explain this again. First shot stuns, second shot kills, and the third shot...?"

"Disintegrates," Teal'c said. The look on his face as almost gleeful. "Only one Goa'uld engineer knew how to create such technology. Very few of this type of zat'nik'tel were made before he was killed."

"I don't suppose we could disintegrate this ship around us?" Carter said.

"The strength of that function is low," Teal'c told her, "and it is limited in the materials it can affect. No Goa'uld technology of such scale could be destroyed in this way."

Jack shook himself. "Good to know." He took another look around the room before saying, "Okay. Everyone clear on what to do?" They nodded. "Daniel, close the door behind us and hide. I'll take point; Teal'c, watch our six. Carter, you worry about that bomb." He looked back one more time, then placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Hey. You--" He stopped, then patted him once, inadequately. "Don't get yourself killed, kid. Just hide--we'll be back for you."

XXXXX

13 April 1998; Goa'uld Hatak, 1630 hrs

Daniel shifted in the small, pitch black space between the cargo box and the wall, the zat'nik'tel uncomfortable and unfamiliar in his right hand. Though he knew Sam's bomb was beside him on the floor, he reached out to touch the encasing every once in a while to assure himself that he knew where it was. A bomb had killed Ra, which meant it was powerful, and Sam had said this one was even more powerful.

He dropped the hand he'd been holding to his neck and carefully touched the stinging cut, which seemed to have stopped bleeding. His jaw was sore--something hard had hit it sometime between being caught on the ramp and being thrown through the Stargate and then tumbling into a transport container.

Naturu. He'd thought he was dead for sure, that time.

But they were stuck here now, with no GDO and less prepared than they'd hoped to be. They hadn't even had time to send the MALP, and only luck had let them fall into an isolated, unguarded room. And then he'd opened the door--stupid, stupid, right after promising not to get in the way--and they'd been lucky no one was outside in the corridor to see them.

Actually, he wasn't sure if this day should be called 'very lucky' or 'very unlucky.' Or maybe more like 'very lucky considering the very unlucky event that had forced them through the wormhole too early.'

Lights flickered on and the doors began to slide open. Daniel pressed himself against the box, checking to make sure the bomb wasn't in sight from the rest of the room. For the first time in years, he wished he were smaller so he wouldn't have to worry about the top of his head being seen if he didn't scrunch down low enough.

Then he heard the sound that still haunted his nightmares: the rhythmic stomping of approaching Jaffa.

He squeezed his eyes shut briefly, then peeked carefully around the side of his makeshift shelter. They were carrying something that looked like a large box, bigger than the cargo crates, hidden from Daniel's view by their armored forms. Once they'd put it down in the center of the room, they gathered around another container and one leaned down to open it. A large, silvery globe rose out and floated to the center of the Stargate, where it stopped, hovering in place.

As if satisfied, the Jaffa turned to leave. Just before the door closed, though, and locked light out, Daniel caught a glimpse of the box the Jaffa had just carried in.

That one, though--that wasn't a transport container. It was a sarcophagus.

Darkness filled the room again.

There was no way to tell time, but his legs had begun to cramp from staying immobile by the time he next heard the Jaffa coming. He ducked down again, blinking as the lights turned on, and waited until the metallic clanking of their footsteps stopped. Peering around the side to watch again, he flinched back in surprise when Apophis's glowering face appeared in the globe that floated in the Stargate.

"Chel'hol, Jaffa," Apophis's voice greeted them. He spoke in Goa'uld, and though Daniel tried to understand as much as he could, there were a few words he couldn't catch. Despite the blanks, however, it was easy enough to understand the main points. "The end of a dark...of our history approaches. Soon, we will destroy the Tau'ri...who... I will join you as we near their planet. Until then, you are to follow all orders of my son as if they were my own."

His son? Apophis had a...?

Oh. Oh, no...

The sarcophagus in the center of the room began to open. Despite himself, Daniel leaned a little further out, needing to see, needing to know...

Apophis looked down approvingly. "Mai'ya kal'ma ya daru. Bow down and show your reverence to my son: the mighty warrior Klorel!"

Klorel sat up from within the sarcophagus. Even from the back, Daniel knew beyond any doubt who it was.

Skaara's body turned around, and Klorel's eyes flashed as distorted words fell from his lips. Later, Daniel couldn't have told what the Goa'uld in his brother's body was saying, because he'd stopped breathing and couldn't hear much of anything over the buzzing that filled his ears.

XXXXX

13 April 1998; Klorel's Hatak, 1800 hrs

"Let's go!" Jack whispered.

"Where, sir?"

He wormed his knife through a crack between the doors, watching lines of Jaffa marching off. "Wherever everyone else is going."

"O'Neill," Teal'c said, "if we are to find the ring transporter, we should go now, while the Jaffa are occupied in the gathering."

"It looks like they're headed for the 'gate room," Jack observed.

"Sir," Carter said, "Teal'c's right. We should take advantage of the distraction. And more of us are more likely to give away Daniel and the other bomb's location."

"Yeah," he conceded reluctantly. "Okay. So, what, do we check every door?"

"The transporter will be located in the peltak," Teal'c said. "It is what you would refer to as the bridge or control room."

Jack threw an exasperated glance back toward him. "And where would that be?"

"Of that, I am uncertain. This ship seems to be of a new design."

"I'll take that as a yes--we check every door. And I say we go...that way." Pointing down the hall in the opposite direction of the marching Jaffa, Jack stepped out, feeling Carter double-check the hallways behind them before falling in.

It was smooth going for a while, but eventually, it became clear that the meeting must have ended, because they were suddenly ducking behind pillars and walls every few steps or trying to sneak noiselessly past a guard. As they waited for the distinctive footsteps to fade away, Jack impatiently adjusted his grip on his gun. At this rate, stopping more than they were moving, they'd never find the pelty-whatever, much less get to the ring transporter and back in time to stop what these guys were planning.

Finally, Jack peered inside another room and couldn't help a soft, "Whoa." He turned back to the other two. "A bunch of death gliders all docked in here." Looking more carefully through the door, he added, "I think they're...being prepped for launch."

Carter wrinkled her forehead. "Already? But the coordinates we 'gated to were light-years away from Earth. They couldn't possibly get in position in less than ten years, even going at the speed of light."

"I have seen Goa'uld hatak vessels that can travel at ten times that speed," Teal'c said.

"Really? Well, still, that's--"

"Carter," Jack interrupted, "you wanna bet the Sam Carter from the other reality thought that too? And they got from there to Earth in a lot less than ten years." She looked taken aback, then thoughtful. "Teal'c says this ship is the new and improved model. I don't know how fast they go, but they're doing something to those death gliders in here."

"We can do nothing about the gliders," Teal'c said, moving forward to take point. "The peltak is not on this deck. We must continue upward."

Because wandering in circles on one level wasn't enough; of course they'd have an 'upward' to cover, too. "Time?" he whispered to Carter.

"It's been about three hours since we 'gated onboard, sir."

Peachy. "Then--" He stopped and flattened himself against the wall as a Jaffa sentry walked past. "Then we'd better hope this thing doesn't move much faster than you thought."

Just as they reached the next deck, a shout behind him made him turn, opening fire on a single Jaffa standing with his staff weapon at the ready. "Cover!" he ordered as more came around the corner. Carter knelt next to him, her zat gun quickly taking out two guards as he turned to find more coming from the other end of the hall.

Then, Jack heard an unfamiliar rumbling sound around them. "O'Neill, Captain Carter!" Teal'c said. "Brace for--"

The ground suddenly moved under him, and he flew sideways into one of the walls. Carter slammed into a pillar nearby. Some of the Jaffa firing on them stayed upright, but a few of them lost their footing as well.

"--extreme deceleration," Teal'c finished.

"Nice," he manage through what felt like flattened lungs. He struggled to his feet, only to throw himself back down when an energy blast came his way.

A door ground open behind them, and Jack heard Teal'c's staff weapon fire three times in rapid succession. "In here!"

Carter dropped one more Jaffa before fleeing toward Teal'c. Jack followed, not letting go of his gun until Teal'c was inside as well and the door slid shut. "They're gonna get in," Jack warned.

"They will not for some time," Teal'c said, raising his zat. The other two quickly moved away as the energy blast sizzled against the coiled serpent glyph on the wall.

"Cool." Jack stepped over the bodies of the Jaffa who had guarded this room. "All right, so we're safe for the moment. Now..." He looked around the room, seeing no escape route. "They'll be knocking down our door before too long. Take up positions with as much cover as you can find. Hit them as they come in, and then get out."

XXXXX

13 April 1998; Klorel's Hatak, 2000 hrs

Daniel supposed he should be grateful that whatever was lighting this place was staying on now instead of leaving him in the dark whenever no one was in the room. Then he realized that probably meant something was starting, or about to start, and decided that he had liked the dark just fine.

The sarcophagus had been taken somewhere else. He supposed that didn't mean anything, either, since Klorel had already awoken.

Suddenly, the ship lurched again, and he clamped down on a surprised cry as he was tossed to land in a sprawling heap on the other side of the room.

What was that? They were already in hyperspace, weren't they? Did that mean they were stopping?

The door opened again, and Daniel barely had time to lunge for his zat'nik'tel and throw himself behind a container. He dared a look around the box and saw Skaara--no, not Skaara, Klorel--coming into the room with two Serpent Guards.

Daniel's eyes lit upon Sam's bomb, which had slid from its place as well and was now next to another box. He himself had been thrown too far away to reach it, and it was no longer hidden from view, if anyone looked in that direction. He shifted, trying to see if he could move quickly and quietly enough to push it out of sight behind--

Apophis's face appeared in the globe. Daniel pulled back immediately, giving up his efforts and hoping the object would simply go unnoticed.

"Kel shek, Klorel?" Apophis asked.

Klorel answered in Goa'uld. "Father, I have heard reports of gunfire on this vessel. My host remembers the sound as that of Tau'ri weaponry."

Daniel's heart pounded. Gunfire meant someone must have discovered SG-1. And if Klorel's host remembered the sound of guns...

Skaara must still be there, somehow. If he could make Skaara hear him, talk to him, remember him...maybe Daniel would be able to help, and save his brother, too, because they were going to destroy this ship and everyone on it, and that meant Skaara, too.

What if Sha'uri were here, or on the other ship? Apophis was leading the attack, and if his...his child was there, why not his queen? If Daniel could only get through to his brother...

But he'd promised not to get in the way anymore--this time, the results might not be as harmless as accidentally opening a door. This was all of SG-1--all of Earth--at stake. But...

Ay, Skaara, Sha'uri. Forgive me.

"What?" Apophis was snapping. "Where did they come from?"

"We do not know," Klorel said, sounding nervous."We did not know of their presence until we were about to exit into the Tau'ri star system."

Apophis scowled down at Klorel. "Find them, my son."

"Should I keep them here until your arrival?"

"No. They must be executed. You may choose their method of death, but do it soon. It is nearly time."

Klorel bowed. "Yes, father."

"I look forward to seeing you at our destination. Lek tol, Klorel." Apophis inclined his head, and the image flickered out again.

Klorel turned immediately toward the door. Daniel watched him leave, one Serpent Guard ahead of him and the other behind. Just before the door closed, however, the Jaffa at the rear turned for a final check of the room and called a halt. He came back in, priming his staff weapon, making Klorel and the other Jaffa return as well.

"What is this delay?" Klorel demanded.

"My lord," the Jaffa replied, pointing with his staff weapon.

Daniel followed their gazes to Sam's bomb, encased in its iron shell, lying in plain view on the floor, only a few feet from his position. Swallowing hard, he lifted his zat'nik'tel as the two Jaffa came further into the room, angling toward the bomb. Surely, this close, he'd be able to hit them, even if he turned out to be a terrible shot. Hopefully.

And, this close, they would actually have to take a step back to use their long staff weapons effectively; that wasn't a problem Daniel would have with a zat'nik'tel. They were in his range; he wasn't in theirs.

("For such a tactic to be successful, you must either have surprise on your side or be quicker or stronger than your opponent," Teal'c instructed.)

Surprise would have to do.

While one stood guard, the second bent down to pick it up. Daniel squeezed his weapon, feeling it spring up in his hand as he rose to his knees and stunned the first Jaffa from almost point-blank range. The second straightened and reached for his staff weapon as Daniel fired again. This time, he missed--missed, how could he miss?--and had to roll frantically away, huddling behind another container to avoid an energy blast. Peeking out from around his box, he saw the Jaffa still standing without cover, and he fired in that direction again, over and over. Finally, one of his shots hit, and the Jaffa fell, stunned.

Breathing out in relief, Daniel stood--

--and was caught by his arm and spun around to see his brother's face. Terrified, he reflexively raised his zat'nik'tel again, only to have his hand slammed once, twice, three times against the nearest container, until he cried out and let it fall from numb fingers. They were close in size, but Skaara's body had a lifetime of athleticism behind it and the added strength of a symbiote besides.

Struggling in the vice-like grip, he croaked desperately, "Skaara..."

But it was Klorel who sneered at him, amused. "A child?" he said in English. "This is what the Tau'ri have sent to oppose a god?" Then, an odd expression came over his face. "Ah...an Abydon in Tau'ri clothing. What is this?" Laughing, he turned Daniel around so his back was pressed against Klorel, his arms clamped immobile against his body.

Skaara's memories, it had to be--the host was still there. "Skaara, no, listen to me...brother!" Switching to Abydonian, Daniel made his voice as forceful as he could. "Sinu'ai, me mid'cha!"

"Your brother had a feeble mind," Klorel said, tightening his hands painfully around Daniel's arms. "It suffered greatly--and then gave in easily."

"Na nay...Skaara, ya nach Dan'yel, sinu'ka!"

"You waste your breath," Klorel said directly into Daniel's ear. "Nothing of the host survives."

"Liar!" Daniel growled, welcoming the anger that boiled up to take the place of fear. "Kal tek, Goa'uld! Skaara!"

"Where are the others?" Klorel demanded.

"They...they're... We brought an army," he bluffed wildly. "Enough to destroy you! You'll never find them all."

Klorel laughed delightedly. "You cannot deceive me, Tau'ri child from Abydos, and your kind could never destroy a god."

Daniel clamped his jaw shut and renewed his efforts to break free. Abruptly, he was released, falling forward and catching himself on his knees and elbows. He turned around and froze, all defiance melting away into dread. A glowing djera'kesh was aimed toward his head. "Na nay. S-skaara, na nay, " he pleaded, shuffling away, remembering vividly what the hand device felt like.

And then everything disappeared as agony ripped through his head.

He stared helplessly at Klorel, distantly hearing himself scream but unable to move, as excruciating waves battered against his mind, until (naturu, ay naturu!) he couldn't take any more...

Just as his eyes fell closed and he felt himself slump to the ground, he imagined that he heard Skaara's voice, as if from a distance, screaming into his mind, "Dan'yel!"

Then it stopped, suddenly enough to startle him back into awareness and feel the floor under his cheek. Moaning, he peeled his eyes open to see Skaara's horrified face--Skaara, not Klorel--above him. "Skaara," he managed through the residual pain still rippling through him. "S-sinu'ai..."

Klorel's eyes flashed, and he raised his hand again. Daniel could only close his eyes resignedly, waiting...

Footsteps sounded at the doorway. "My lord Klorel!" someone said.

Klorel's distorted voice answered, "Why do you disturb me, Bra'tac?"

Daniel thought the name should mean something to him, but it was all he could do to stay awake. Gathering his strength, he squinted at a blurry figure speaking to Klorel and tried to drag himself away, gritting his teeth and barely hearing bits of their conversation filtering through to his ears.

"...missile from Earth. The shields..."

"Find the other Tau'ri, Bra'tac...stopped..."

"...do as you say, my lord."

Klorel's hand dragged Daniel back to his knees, wrenching a feeble groan from his lips. The Goa'uld now glared angrily at him through Skaara's eyes. "Your friends will pay," Klorel snarled.

Daniel caught a glimpse of a Jaffa watching from the door before the djera'kesh rose again, and his attention was consumed by the glowing light emitting from it. Then the pain exploded again behind his eyes, and he didn't have time to make a sound before the world faded away.

...x...

It was the sound of stone scraping on stone that woke him.

Daniel opened his eyes and found himself lying in a small space surrounded by light, with something that looked like doors opening in front of--no, above him. As soon as the opening was big enough, he sat up, looking down at himself in confusion, and realized he felt...good.

Really good.

He shook his head experimentally, but not even a residual ache remained. He touched dried blood on his neck and shirt, but he couldn't find the cut from the knife. In fact, he felt better than he ever had, more ready, more alive, because he just knew he could do anything at all--

Then he realized he was sitting in a box. And not just a box--a sarcophagus.

Suddenly alarmed, he grabbed the sides of the sarcophagus (coffin, his mind supplied. Flesh-eater) and pulled himself over the edge, landing clumsily on the floor. Only then did he look around the room. The door was closed, and the room was empty...

...except for one Jaffa, holding Sam's bomb and watching him, his staff weapon primed and held under one arm.

With a gasp, Daniel pushed himself to his feet and started to duck behind a column before realizing how ridiculous that was. He was unarmed and the other...wait...

"Did you put me in there?" he asked, despite his legs' telling him to move move move. "Why...?"

"Because I must know who you are. How did you come here?" the Jaffa demanded. Daniel licked his lips nervously, noticing the gold brand shining in the center of the Jaffa's forehead. This was not just any Serpent Guard; this was the First Prime of Apophis. He was clearly even older than Teal'c, though, so perhaps a former First Prime...

Then the memory of meeting Skaara (Klorel) washed over him in a flood, and he blurted, "Tek'ma'tae Bra'tac?"

Bra'tac stiffened. "How do you...?"

An exhilarated laugh bubbled out of him before he could clamp down on it. "I'm a...student of Teal'c's," he said. "He has told me about you." He shook his head again, forcing down the odd feeling of euphoria that threatened to rise within him. It's just nerves. Focus. Calm down.

"You know Teal'c?" Bra'tac said. "Then you must be Tau'ri, no?"

Not wanting to waste time arguing details, he answered excitedly, "Yes! Teal'c is here, with the two Tau'ri you met on Chulak. Master Bra'tac, you have to help th--"

"I am trying to save your planet from this attack, human! Your friends have doomed themselves with their foolishness. I have been ordered to kill all of you. All I can do for you is to stop looking and slow the search for them." Bra'tac made as if to turn around and leave.

"Wait--but, but..." Not knowing what else to do, Daniel dropped to one knee with a fist over his heart in the most formal show of submission and respect that Teal'c had taught him. "Tek'ma'tae, tel nol'tiak ma'waé--keest'ra. We are not your enemies. Please, help us."

Looking astonished, Bra'tac finally said, in Goa'uld, as if as a test, "You say you have learned from Teal'c, Tau'ri child?"

"I have, Master."

"What is this?" Bra'tac asked, switching again to the Tau'ri language and holding up Sam's device.

"An explosive," Daniel explained, not looking up from where he knelt. "We have another one. Each is powerful enough to destroy a hatak vessel. My friends are looking for the ring transporter to send the other bomb to Apophis's ship, and we will set the one in your hands to destroy this ship just before we leave through the chaapa'ai. We didn't know you were here, but help them, please, and then escape with us." He peeked upward.

Bra'tac warily held the bomb a few inches away from himself, then glared distrustfully back at Daniel. "They have been discovered already."

"Yes, I heard Klorel talking, I know. They don't know where the rings are."

The Jaffa Master finally nodded and became business-like. "There was an exchange of weapons fire from above. I believe I know where to find them."

Daniel looked up gratefully. "Te ya daru, Tek'ma'tae. Thank you." He rose and made as if to leave the room behind Bra'tac.

"Do not follow me, child!" Bra'tac snapped.

"I have to go back to the chaapa'ai."

But Bra'tac shook his head. "No, young fool! That room is now guarded. Remain here with your explosive--and keep the zat'nik'tel in your hand, this time, and not on the ground where it does you no good, hm?"

The bomb was pushed into his hands again, and he fumbled with the offered zat'nik'tel before catching it, staring at the wrong end for a second before remembering Jack's instruction and turning it back around. Bra'tac opened the door and strode out confidently without looking back. Daniel watched the door close behind the Jaffa, then put down the bomb and let out a slow breath.

Curious, he peered inside the sarcophagus again, even as it began to swing shut. For a moment, he wished with an absurd, unexplainable intensity that he could go back inside, while he was awake, just to try it and see what it was like. If it could heal him and make him feel so alive when he had been hurt (hurt? Or dead?) to begin with, maybe a healthy person...

He shook himself, the impulse fading away. Stupid thought. He was healed--it was enough.

Daniel considered the door, suddenly, strangely eager to do something, anything. Then, sighing, he adjusted his grip on the zat'nik'tel and crouched impatiently behind the sarcophagus to wait.

XXXXX

13 April 1998; Klorel's Hatak; 2045 hrs

"That door's not going to hold much longer," Carter said in warning, crouching by the entrance, her zat out and ready to fire on anyone who came through. More pounding came against the door, followed by what sounded like staff blasts. Teal'c primed his staff weapon, aiming at the door.

"Just a minute!" Jack shouted at the Jaffa outside from behind the pillar he was using as cover. "C'mon, Teal'c, tell me there's another way out of this room."

The Jaffa didn't look away from the door. "If there had been, O'Neill, I would have told you of it before now."

"Of course," Jack muttered. "I mean, is it possible that we might've missed a--"

Yelling broke out on the other side of the door, and then, all of a sudden, the pounding stopped.

Carter glanced at him. "Colonel? They just stopped."

"There's no cavalry coming for us, Captain," he said. "Be ready."

There was a final blast. The door burst open, and she fired immediately. The Jaffa who entered spun nimbly out of the way, kicking out and knocking her weapon from her hand. Jack raised his gun and was about to squeeze the trigger when Teal'c shouted, "O'Neill, do not!"

Jack ducked back, yelling back, "What! Why?" It wasn't Teal'c who answered, however.

"Humans! It is all I can do to keep you alive!"

That wasn't Goa'uld. And it wasn't just some random Jaffa, either. "Bra'tac?" Jack ventured. He looked more closely and saw a familiar, furious face staring back at him. "Uh..."

"Tek'ma'tae, Bra'tac," Teal'c spoke up.

Bra'tac turned to the other Jaffa, saying much more warmly, "Hello again, old friend. I was beginning to doubt that you were truly here." His face hardened. "But you should not have come. I was preparing to lead my wing against Apophis in Klorel's name."

"Klorel?" Jack asked.

"The son of Apophis, hasshak! He commands this hatak vessel."

Teal'c looked surprised, but then nodded in understanding. "Apophis would assume his son ordered your attack and reciprocate. A bold plan indeed."

"And one you have made impossible by coming here," Bra'tac replied. "I fear they will now band together against their common Tau'ri enemy instead. The Goa'uld know of your presence."

"Yeah," Jack said, glancing at the door. "I'd say that's pretty clear."

Bra'tac scowled at him. "Your Tau'ri chal'ti claimed that you plan to send an explosive to the other ship. Do you have it?"

"Our Tau'ri--you mean Daniel? When did--" When the Jaffa's eyes narrowed impatiently, he answered, "Yeah, we've got the bomb. We're just looking for the control room to find the ring transporter. You wouldn't happen to know where that is, would you?"

"Of course I know. Come." He spun again and stepped out into the hallway, Teal'c falling in comfortably behind him.

With a final look around, Jack followed, stopping to scoop up the dropped zat gun and hand it back to his teammate. "Come, Carter," he parroted. She rolled her eyes but followed.

The corridor outside was littered with bodies. Jack raised his eyebrows, impressed that Bra'tac had managed that alone, even with surprise on his side. Teal'c noticed his gaze and told him, "A Goa'uld shock grenade. It can render many unconscious at once. However, we should not linger--the effects are not permanent. They will recover before long."

Jack stepped hurriedly past the fallen Jaffa.

"Apophis has already reached your sun system," Bra'tac whispered to them as they hid from a patrol of Jaffa who had been sent to search for them. "Once we arrive at the peltak, we must wait until the two hatak are close enough to transport from one to the other."

"How long will that be?"

"No more than one hour."

"One hour?" Jack hissed incredulously. "That's how long we get before we're in Earth's orbit?" So much for ten years.

"We may not have even that long. Your friends on Earth have launched missiles toward these ships."

"But the shields," Carter said. "Our missiles could never get through."

Bra'tac glowered at them. "No, they could not. All they will do is make the Goa'uld accelerate their plans. Timing will now be essential: Apophis will have raised his ship's shields already, but this ship remains unprotected yet. We must allow Klorel to reach the peltak and raise the shields, or we will be killed by your own friends before we can destroy Apophis' ship."

"Can't we just get there first and raise the shields ourselves?" Jack said.

"Are you familiar with the controls on a hatak vessel, human?"

Jack grimaced. "Point taken. And for the record, we did warn them about the shields, so whoever ordered those missiles anyway aren't..."

"Silence!"

They shut up. A line of Jaffa marched past.

Bra'tac opened a door, gesturing for them to slip inside before following. He peered out through a crack, saying, "The Serpent Guards are even now preparing to do battle. They are moving toward the hangar where the udajeet are docked."

"Death gliders," Teal'c clarified before Jack could open his mouth to ask.

"Okay. Captain, your naquadah bomb still okay?" When no answer came, he turned. "Carter, what're you--whoa."

"We're...approaching Earth," she said, sounding awed and staring out a window, where their planet was still small in the distance but steadily growing in size as they sped toward it. "I can't believe we got here so fast."

Bra'tac took a quick glance out the window as well. "I fear we may have less time than I imagined before we are above your planet. Come! The peltak is not far from here." He peeked out the door again, then opened it, motioning them all through.

As they stepped out, the ship shuddered, making them stumble. "What was that?" Carter said.

"Something may have impacted the shields," Teal'c said.

Bra'tac nodded. "The Earth missile. We are close to being in range--I do not doubt Apophis is now near enough for us to reach through the transporter. Clearly our own shields have been raised, so Klorel must be in the peltak already. Be prepared for many Jaffa guarding the--"

Before he could finish his sentence, they ran directly into another group of Serpent Guards.

Bra'tac opened fire immediately with his staff weapon, Jack close behind with his MP5. Carter grunted behind him, and he turned to see Teal'c pulling her away from a staff blast with one arm, both of them landing on the floor. As Teal'c recovered and came to his feet first, she sat up and reached around him to zat their attacker before another blast could follow. "We're surrounded!" she called to him. "They're coming from both sides!"

Jack shot at one more before reaching back for a grenade. Yanking out the pin, he lobbed it toward the end of the hall they'd come from and pulled Bra'tac back, yelling, "Fire in the hole!"

The force of the explosion made them stagger into each other. He looked back to make sure all the Serpent Guards were down before extracting himself from his teammates and turning forward. Two Jaffa still stood in their path, but Bra'tac dove out into the hallway and rolled to one knee, efficiently killing both with his staff.

"They will have heard us," he said to Jack, ordering, "We must run, quickly--this way!"

Finally, Bra'tac raised a hand to stop them. "Klorel, and likely his personal guards, are in here," he whispered. "I will go first and attempt to lead them away. Hopefully they have not yet learned of my betrayal. Can you detonate your explosive once inside?"

"It's on a sixty-second timer once I trigger it," Carter said, taking off her pack and extracting the bomb, tucking it securely under one arm while holding her zat in the other. She hesitated. "Are we sure the other ship is in range?"

"I believe it is," Bra'tac said, "but the only way to be sure is to attempt to use the rings. If we are in range, the explosive will be transported to Apophis's ship."

Jack frowned. "Yeah, and if we're not in range, we'll have sixty seconds before it blows up in our faces. I'll take it through to the other ship myself, trigger it if the rings work, and leave it there while I ring back."

"There may be enemies on the other ship," Teal'c said.

"And I'd have to show you how to set it," Carter added.

"All right, fine!" Jack said. "We all go through. Carter, you worry about the bomb and let us handle the snakeheads. Bra'tac, ready?"

With a nod, the Jaffa straightened his stance and walked boldly into the peltak. Jack leaned closer to listen to the muffled voices through the open door.

"Bra'tac," a Goa'uld said. "I detected an energy blast just now."

"My lord Klorel, the boy's Tau'ri companions have been found and captured using their own concussive weapons. I assume you would like to be present as they are executed. I will escort you to them."

A deep, distorted chuckle answered. "I have already had the pleasure of executing the boy. I will leave the others to you, Bra'tac--I have more important matters to attend to. Come--witness the power of your god."

Shock fell over Jack like ice, stealing his breath. There was only one thing--one person--Klorel could possibly mean by that.

Carter gasped almost soundlessly and looked to him, as if asking for a denial of what they had all heard, while Teal'c's eyes began to smolder with hatred. This, then, must have been how Bra'tac knew Daniel was onboard--how he knew they were onboard, and what they were doing there.

Gritting his teeth, Jack reached into his vest to pull out his zat, letting go of the less maneuverable submachine gun. He readied himself to move and forced himself to keep listening to the conversation.

"My lord," Bra'tac was saying, "You cannot begin the attack."

A pause. "You dare to question me?"

"Your...your presence is required at the docking bay, my lord."

"Kal tek, Jaffa! How dare you deceive your god?"

"Heads up," Jack whispered to his team, edging closer to the entrance as Teal'c and Carter moved around to the other side.

Bra'tac dropped all pretense, his voice carrying proudly through to them. "Because you are not a god. You are a parasite within a child, and I despise you!" A staff weapon primed, followed by several others within the peltak. Then Bra'tac cried out, "Dal shakka mel--I die free!"

"Go!" Jack rounded the door just as Bra'tac dropped to his knees, a ribbon device trained on his forehead. Jack shot the first Jaffa and Teal'c took the second from the other side, Carter behind him with the bomb clutched to her chest with one hand and her zat firing from her other. Taken by surprise, the four guards were quickly eliminated, and Teal'c grabbed Klorel, pulling the Goa'uld's arm away from Bra'tac.

Jack stared for a second, seeing the Goa'uld's face--his Abydonian face--for the first time. "Skaara?"

"Captain Carter, O'Neill, go!" Teal'c called. "I will hold him!"

Sparing a final glance for Skaara's face, Jack stepped toward the ring platform. Carter crouched beside him to fiddle with the edges of the encasing around her bomb while Jack took her zat and stood over her protectively with one in each hand. Bra'tac rose to reach for the control panel, but before the rings could be activated, a blast of energy slammed into the wall next to Teal'c, and he spun around, reaching for his zat gun as two more blasts came from behind. In the distraction, Klorel broke free and fled the room.

"Teal'c, leave him--go to the rings!" Bra'tac ordered, finishing at the controls. He stepped onto the platform as well, placing himself so that Carter was shielded between him and Jack. Three Serpent Guards came around the corner into the room, their staffs raised, and Jack had time to get off one shot before Teal'c reached the platform and the rings descended, engulfing them in a stream of white.

Apophis and his Jaffa were waiting when they rematerialized.

Carter rolled away, and Jack opened fire immediately, shifting to stay poised over her form while Teal'c and Bra'tac broke in opposite directions to fire on the Guards from the other side. "Kree, Jaffa!" Apophis shouted, moving to keep his guards between himself and SG-1.

"Carter, anytime now!" Jack yelled, hearing hurried footsteps approaching from outside the room.

"Done, sir! We've got fifty...six seconds!"

"O'Neill!" Teal'c called, making Jack turn toward the door, where two more Jaffa were coming in. The first one caught him in the chest with the rod of a staff, throwing him to the ground, one of his zats clattering away. Empty-handed, Carter slammed herself bodily into his attacker, allowing Jack to push himself up while she grappled with him.

"Carter, get outta there!"

She landed one more solid kick in the gut, then backed away to take cover behind the peltak, allowing Jack to fire on the entering Jaffa. The rings activated behind him, and he whirled in alarm to see Apophis being transported away. "Dammit, he's going back to the other ship! Bra'tac, get to the controls!"

Teal'c zatted the final Guard in the room, and they retreated to the platform, waiting for the rings to reset themselves while aiming their weapons at the entrances. "Thirty-three seconds!" Carter said anxiously.

The rings fell back into place over their heads. Bra'tac set the control panel and lunged for the platform just as the rings descended on them, bringing them back to--

--an empty peltak.

"Where'd they go?" Jack said, scanning the room.

"They know they are losing. They flee," Bra'tac said as he bent to pick up a stray staff weapon, clearly preferring it to the zat. "It matters not. If we destroy this hatak as well as the other, the attack on your planet will be stopped."

The ship shuddered violently, throwing them all to the floor.

"Now what!" Jack snapped, thinking that it would be just their luck if something catastrophic happened to them now.

But Carter was looking at her watch and grinning triumphantly. "The bomb on Apophis' ship just detonated, sir. Our external shields saved us from the blast, but their ship must have been blown apart for us to have felt that. We just need to get back to the 'gate room and set the other bomb--"

"Crap," Jack said, realizing. "We left the other one with Daniel. Klorel must know where it is. He could've sent it to Earth already for all we know."

They stopped. "Oh, Daniel," Carter said, her smile dying immediately.

Bra'tac turned and snapped at them, "Your friend possesses it still and is awaiting our return. If we do not hurry, he and your bomb will undoubtedly be discovered. Come, now--we must reach the chaapa'ai while the warriors on this ship are still in disarray!"

Confused, Jack ran after him saying, "I thought Klorel said he'd...killed Daniel?"

"Klorel is mistaken. He believes the boy dead, and so no one will be searching for him. He is, in fact, still in a room near the chaapa'ai."

God. Jack shook his head. No time for relief to make his limbs weak. He ran.

"Sir," Carter said as they went, "we still don't have GDOs, and we can't get to Earth anyway using this point of origin. Where do we 'gate to?"

"Which teams are off-world now?" he said, thinking of piggybacking on another team's IDC before quickly answering himself, "Never mind, Hammond recalled them all. For cryin' out loud, I'm not saving the planet just to get squished on the iris..."

"O'Neill," Teal'c said, "General Hammond gave my wife and son a radio communicator."

"Land of Light, sir--P3X-797!" Carter agreed. "We can contact the SGC from there. But I don't know the coordinates for that world off the top of my head."

"I know the symbols," Teal'c said confidently.

"You'll dial, then, T." Jack thought for a moment--the submachine gun was faster than the zats and better for defending a position in a wide open space, so... He unclipped his and handed it to Carter, saying, "Give me your zat, Captain. You're gonna watch Teal'c's back as he's dialing while we go get Daniel. And the bomb."

"The chaapa'ai is just ahead," Bra'tac told them. "Your explosive is in the room beyond--"

Bra'tac was abruptly cut off as Jack pulled him out of the way, letting zat energy sizzle past them both while Teal'c and Carter took care of the offending Jaffa. More Serpent Guards followed from both ends of the corridor, and Bra'tac moved a few paces ahead to flip open a door switch, calling, "To the chaapa'ai--in here!"

They ran in to find the Stargate just as they had left it. "Any more grenades, sir?" Carter suggested breathlessly.

"No," he said shortly, because Dr. Jackson had taken the last of the other grenades back on Earth. "Eyes on the door--that's their bottleneck. Get 'em as they come in." Carter and the two Jaffa took positions within the room, while Jack stood near the door. "Here they come!"

Between the four of them, they felled the first wave of Serpent Guards, and the onslaught paused for the moment. Jack stuffed his zat gun into his vest, leaving his hands free to grab the bomb when they got there, then turned and looked at the Stargate. "Teal'c, start dialing." Teal'c moved to the DHD. "Bra'tac, we need to go get--"

"Colonel!"

Jack whirled to see two more Jaffa rushing through the door, staff weapons at the ready. Bra'tac fired at one, who dodged as Carter fired on him as well. The second swung his staff around to Jack, who reached for his weapon, knowing even then it was too late--

Then, the Serpent Guard twitched and dropped to the ground. Daniel stood in the doorway, a zat gun in his hand and staring as the Jaffa fell at his feet.

"God, Daniel!" Jack said, rushing forward to grab him by the shoulders and look over him quickly. "Are you okay? We were just going to find you."

"There's no need," Daniel said, actually grinning, his face flushed, sounding practically giddy--adrenaline rush, Jack decided, not having the time to spare more than a glance at him now. "I heard the fight as you were coming back, so I thought it must be time to go."

"Daniel, quick, where's the other bomb?" Carter asked.

"Uh..." He shook himself, then said, "Oh, I-I brought it. It's out here." He put down his zat and took several quick steps outside. Teal'c began dialing, and Daniel came back holding the bomb in both hands to give to Sam, who immediately handed her gun back to Jack and set the bomb down behind the Stargate ring to open the encasing and start setting the timer.

Teal'c slammed his hand on the DHD crystal and stepped back to join the rest of the group. The vortex whooshed outward. Carter flinched at the proximity but kept working.

"Almost set. And...sixty seconds," she announced. "The Stargate naquadah will only enhance the blast."

"I heard more Jaffa coming while I was in the hallway," Daniel said almost casually from where he still stood at the door, staring at the event horizon, though he bounced restlessly on the balls of his feet. "They're--"

A Serpent Guard appeared behind him. Jack raised his gun. "Daniel!"

"Kree, chal'ti, yahs!" Teal'c said suddenly. Reacting without question, Daniel dropped flat to the ground, and Jack squeezed the trigger. The Jaffa slumped forward, dead, and Daniel scrambled away just in time to avoid being crushed by the falling body, then reached for his own zat and sprang to his feet, hurrying toward the rest of them.

"Everyone through the Stargate!" Jack called. Carter, the closest, came around from the back and ran through first. Teal'c pulled Daniel the last few steps toward them and hurtled through as well. Bra'tac stopped at the top of the platform that held the ring.

"I will stay and ensure that no one follows," he declared, his zat gun pointed at the door.

"Like hell you will," Jack growled. He fired at one last Jaffa at the entrance, grabbed Bra'tac by his collar, and shoved him through the ring before diving toward the event horizon himself.

Next chapter: "Saved and Lost"

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