DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/ Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the authors. Not to be archived without permission of the authors.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story is based on Pettygrew's 'The Bounty' plot bunny that I picked up (I hope she doesn't mind G!). Thanks to my beta, Katherine, for getting the story edited so quickly and for being her usual, wonderful self!

Part I: Lost

"Carter, are you done yet?"

Jack O'Neill looked towards his second in command, who was currently kneeling in front of a big, blue, mushroom-like plant. She raised her head and gave him a patient look.

"No, sir. I still have one more test to run on this specimen."

"What's so interesting about it, Major? It looks like a giant mushroom to me," Jack asked as he made his way towards her.

"It's giving off energy, Colonel. I'm trying to figure out what type of energy and if it could be beneficial to us. I just need a half hour to finish this up, sir."

Jack nodded. "Okay, Carter. I have to go and find Daniel anyway. With any luck, it'll take me that entire half hour to drag him out of that temple he's rooted himself to." He noticed Carter's smile and gave her one of his own. "Teal'c, stay with Carter. We'll leave when I get back with Daniel."

Jack made his way towards the temple with a slight spring to his step. This had been an unusually uneventful mission to a fairly decent planet. The weather had been mild and lovely, and the terrain was easy to navigate. They'd gotten to PFC-889 a mere 40 hours ago. Carter had done her thing, Daniel had done his thing, and everyone was happy. Their two days of exploration were just about up, and Jack decided that it was time to go home.

The temple he was currently heading towards was big and mostly buried under debris. However, it was still distinguishable as a once teeming center of activity. Daniel had said that the architecture itself signified that the local population had held their religious beliefs above all else, which had made him think that the local deity had been a Goa'uld. Daniel had been very interested in finding out what Goa'uld had served here and for how long, which Jack had to admit, interested him as well.

Of course, Jack would never tell the archaeologist that he'd actually been paying attention to the lecture. Daniel would never let him live it down, and Jack wasn't quite ready to let Daniel get the better of him in that instance.

"Daniel, it's time to go!" Jack called out as he reached the entrance to the temple. "You've had your fun digging in the rocks for two days, now be a good sport and come willingly."

Jack grinned mischievously, knowing that Daniel was going to have a million and one reasons for wanting to stay on the planet for a little while longer. He had to admit that he liked the banter that usually resulted from his dragging Daniel away from what ever he'd chosen to submerge himself in, which made him do it even more.

"Daniel?" Jack called again when there was no answer from the archaeologist.

He walked fully into the temple only to find it deserted. He looked around the spacious room and found nothing more than the portable lamp Daniel had set up to help him see the writings on the walls. Jack made his way over to the area Daniel had designated as his, a frown forming on his face with every step he took. He looked around the room again, hoping to find a door or passage he'd missed upon his earlier inspection, but found nothing more than the four walls of the chamber and the door he'd used to enter the temple.

"Daniel, this isn't funny," Jack said loudly, his voice tinged with concern.

Daniel wasn't one to hide from him, not even as a joke and especially not on a mission. However, the archaeologist did have a habit of getting so caught up in his work that he lost track of everyone and everything around him. If Daniel had found some writing outside of the temple that he'd found interesting, he was likely to have walked off to check it out without telling the rest of his team. Jack sighed.

Carter's going to get more than her half hour at this rate, Jack muttered to himself.

He reached a small rock where Daniel's field notes and journal were located, the notebook open as if waiting for Daniel to write something on it. Daniel's pen and tape recorder were on the floor beside the rock.

"Okay. what's wrong with this picture? Daniel's things are still here, but there's no Daniel. Why would he run off without taking his field notes?

Jack keyed his radio. "Teal'c, has Daniel made it back to base camp?"

There was a moment's pause, before the Jaffa's voice came back over the radio.

"Negative, O'Neill. Daniel Jackson is not here."

"Well, he's not in the temple either. Wasn't there a smaller temple just a few meters north of this one?"

"Yes, O'Neill. Do you think Daniel Jackson is there?"

"You never know with Daniel. Why don't you walk over there and check it out. I'll look around the perimeter of this temple. Let me know immediately if you find anything. O'Neill out."

Jack turned back around and faced the front of the temple. The illumination from the planet's sun streamed in through a skylight at the front of the temple, illuminating the place where the altar once stood. On the back wall, a statue made of what appeared to be gold shimmered in the sunlight, giving the whole temple an eerie appearance. The two side walls didn't receive as much of the sun's illumination and were therefore shrouded in semi-darkness, drawing that much more attention to the altar. He could see why Daniel had had to put up a lamp to read the inscriptions.

"Damnit Daniel," Jack said as he bent down to retrieve Daniel's things. He gathered the various reference books along with Daniel's notebook and journal and put them in Daniel's pack, which he had abandoned next to the wall. "When I find you, I'm going to wring your neck."

His task finished, Jack packed up the portable lamp and made his way out of the temple. He was about to head back towards base camp when Teal'c's voice stopped him.

"O'Neill, I have found something in this temple that you should see."

"Is it Daniel?" Jack asked into his radio, dread already settling in the pit of his stomach.

"Come, O'Neill."

Jack didn't have to be told twice. He picked up the discarded lamp and quickly made his way towards the other temple. Once he reached it, he found Teal'c squatting next to one of the walls.

"Teal'c, what did you find?"

Teal'c didn't reply. He simply beckoned for Jack to make his way towards him, and then pointed to a stain on the floor.

Jack squinted at the stain, knowing what it was, yet trying to tell himself that it couldn't be what he thought it was. The sun's rays streaming through the open roof of the temple didn't help, as they illuminated what he was trying not to see.

"That could be anything, Teal'c."

"I also found this," Teal'c said and held something out to Jack. Jack took it from the Jaffa and gasped as he saw Daniel's glasses, one lens broken and stained with blood.

"Damn."

Jack glanced back down at the blood stain on the floor, grimacing at the size of it.

"This planet is supposed to be uninhabited."

"Indeed. It seems we were mistaking in assuming it was so."

"There's not enough blood for Daniel to be seriously hurt or dead," Jack said, the last word leaving a nasty taste in his mouth. "But there's no body, so whoever attacked him took him somewhere else."

"I concur, O'Neill. I walked the perimeter of the temple and found no trace of Daniel Jackson or his assailant," Teal'c offered. "We do not know how long it has been since Daniel Jackson was taken, therefore we do not know how much of a head start the assailant had."

"We aren't going to properly cover the surrounding area on foot, so we need something else." Jack broke off and keyed his radio. "Carter, contact General Hammond and tell him that we need a UAV ASAP."

"Sir, what's wrong?" Carter replied, concerned.

"Daniel's missing, Major."

"Could he have wondered off?"

"Not with a blow to the head. This uninhabited planet is not as uninhabited as we thought. Get the UAV, Carter. Teal'c and I are going to start searching the area around the second temple. Contact me when the UAV arrives."

"Yes, sir."

**~~**

Sam Carter stood by the DHD, waiting for whoever was coming thought the gate to arrive.

She'd contacted General Hammond immediately after she'd spoken to the colonel. It had been hard to explain what was going without knowing all of the details herself, but she managed to convince the general to send the UAV, along with an SG team. The general had told her that he would send the UAV's controls to her, so that she could monitor and control it without leaving the planet.

The first person came out of the gate and immediately made eye contact. As soon as she saw Louis Feretti, she knew that SG-2 was right behind him.

"Major Carter, General Hammond didn't tell us much, only that Daniel is missing and you needed the UAV. What's going on?"

Sam shook her head and glanced behind Feretti as the rest of his team came out of the gate. "I'm not exactly sure, Major. All I know is that Daniel is missing and Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c are out looking for him. They said he'd been injured, but I'm not sure how they know that."

"Lieutenant Rodriguez has the UAV controls. It's ready to launch back at the base as soon as you're ready. I'm going to take Lieutenant Moser and Captain Sams with me and join the colonel and Teal'c on their search."

Sam nodded her agreement and could hear Feretti talking into his radio, informing Colonel O'Neill of his presence and asking for their position. She left the major to do his thing while she met up with the young Lieutenant.

"Set that stuff up over there," Sam pointed to an area besides the MALP. "We need to get this up in the air as soon as we can."

The Lieutenant gave her a nod and proceeded to set up the equipment.

"Colonel O'Neill, I have the UAV ready to launch. Is there anything specific I need to look for?" Sam said into her radio.

A few moments later, the colonel's voice came through. "We're looking for dwellings or sings of civilization that the UAV missed the first time. If someone attacked Daniel, he or she had to have been on the planet. We need to find out where they are now, because it's very likely that Daniel will also be there."

"Yes, sir. I'll get in touch again when I find something."

Sam terminated the connection and took the UAV's controls. She launched the device, glancing up as it cleared the Stargate. She immediately turned her attention to the monitor in front of her and did a gentle and through sweep of the area around both temples, along with the area several dozen miles beyond that.

Again, as the UAV reported the first time it made a sweep of the planet, no dwellings or evidence of civilization was found. No structures outside of the two temples were found, nor were there any caves or other places where natives could be hidden.

"Nothing, there's nothing," Sam whispered to herself.

Lieutenant Rodriguez leaned closer to the monitor and sighed as she confirmed Sam's findings.

On the second run through, Sam found something. She leaned closer to the monitor, for a moment unsure of what she'd found. She double checked the readings and gasped at what they confirmed.

"What does this look like to you, Lieutenant?"

Rodriguez leaned closer and studied the readings. "That looks like an ion trail, Major. But that's impossible. There are no ships on this planet."

"There aren't supposed to be, at least," Sam agreed. She concentrated the sweep of the UAV on that area and switched to a view of the area instead of the sensor readings that had been displayed. She found herself looking at a clearing, about 100 feet across, surrounded by tall trees. She'd seen the clearing in the original UAV transmission and it had been as empty then as it was now. Now, however, there was something new. a large indentation of the trees to the right of the clearing.

"Whoever was flying the ship didn't do a good enough job," Sam commented, pointing at the screen. "Look, they hit those trees."

"It could have been on the way out too, Major. Maybe whoever was flying the ship wanted to get off the planet before you all realized that Dr. Jackson was missing," Rodriguez added.

"Whoever that was must have been watching us the whole time." She put down the UAV controls and keyed her radio. "Colonel, what's your current position?"

"Were three miles northwest of the second temple, Carter. Have you found something?"

"I think so, sir." She checked the monitor again. "Two miles southwest of your current position, there's a clearing. The UAV found evidence that a ship landed there recently. It took off only a short time ago, because the ion trail from its engines is still detectible."

"Are you sure, Carter?"

"Yes, sir, I'm afraid I am."

**~~**

"Great, just great. that's all we need."

Jack turned to the rest of the men, noting how each and every one of them was looking at him. They'd all heard Carter's message, so he didn't have to say anything. He started walking towards the area Carter had specified, knowing that they would follow him.

He set a quick pace, eager to get to the clearing and do something other than worry for his missing team mate. It hadn't escaped him that Carter said the ship had taken off a short while ago. If whoever was flying the ship had Daniel, then there was no way they were going to find him on their own, not on this planet. That thought sent spirals of cold fear down to Jack's heart. What had Daniel seen or done to merit getting clocked on the head and taken against his will? Better yet, why hadn't Daniel done something to get their attention? He was within walking distance or base camp, so if he'd yelled, they would have heard him. Why hadn't he, unless he'd been taken completely by surprise? But even if that was the case, Daniel was no dummy. He was a civilian with very good training and great instincts. Something should have alerted him, and the rest of them, that they were not alone on the planet.

"Blaming yourself isn't going to do Daniel and good, Colonel," Feretti said as he walked next to him.

"We should have known that someone else was here, Feretti. What the hell do we train for, if some sleaze ball can waltz in here and take a member of my team? We don't know if it's a Goa'uld we're dealing with. God knows Daniel has plenty of enemies among the System Lords and he could be on his way to one right now.

"Jack, if a System Lord had been on this planet the whole time SG-1 was here, Daniel wouldn't have been the only victim. More than likely, your whole team would have been attacked."

"Major Feretti is correct, O'Neill," Teal'c added from Jack's other side, "It is unlikely that a Goa'uld was on this planet."

"Then who was it?"

"I do not know."

"Yeah, and that's the problem."

Jack walked ahead of his two companions, not wanting to have any sort of conversation with anyone at that moment. He should have been paying more attention. After all, as team leader, it's his responsibility to look out for all of members of his team, especially those that were civilians. He knew that Daniel resented that attitude from time to time, which is why Jack let Daniel do things on his own. He should have known better.

Directly in front of him, Jack spotted a black lump. He jogged to it and kneeled down beside it. Tentatively, he reached out and grabbed the cloth, only to have his heart seize in apprehension when he realized that he was holding Daniel's vest. Underneath the vest, a watch could be seen, along with a standard issue Bowie knife and Daniel's Beretta.

"Major Feretti, the clearing is directly ahead," Captain Sams said.

Jack glanced up for a moment and saw the break in the trees ahead of him. He didn't really care what was in the clearing anymore. As far as he was concerned, they had found their proof that Daniel was no longer on the planet. He got up, Daniel's vest still clutched in his hands.

"He's gone. We're not going to find him on the planet anymore."

**~~**

Darkness called to him on one side, endless noise on the other.

He didn't really know where he was or what he was doing. All he knew was that he was in pain and the darkness was soothing and comforting. It offered an escape from the unbearable pain he felt. The noise, however, was insistent. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't drown it out. It was as if it was purposely trying to get him to climb out of the darkness.

He tried to clutch to the dark one last time, but the noise won out and he slowly opened his eyes, only to be assaulted by piercing pain in his head as the light invaded his eyes. He immediately closed them again, and then opened them, this time slower than the last. His eyes slowly accustomed to the low lighting of the room he found himself in. The pounding in his head receded slightly, but didn't disappear.

He sat up to find himself lying on a cot in the center of a spacious room. The walls were decorated in what looked like gold, with a few strange looking symbols dotting them at regular intervals. He didn't recognize what the symbols were, so he figured it was just decoration. He couldn't really be sure, however, because his vision was blurry. The symbols might make sense to him if he could see them clearly. Around him, he could hear a soft hum. He didn't know where it was coming from and didn't really care. All he wanted was to know where he was. He didn't remember where he'd been before, but he was sure that it wasn't in this place.

He raised his hand and touched his forehead, which was throbbing more than the back of his head. He must have gotten hit on both sides, which would explain the pain and nausea he was experiencing. He frowned when his hand came away bloody. He didn't remember being hurt, but it might explain why he couldn't remember getting where he was. He touched the back of his head with his other hand and it, too, came back bloody.

He managed to get to his feet after a few failed attempts and headed for what looked to be a door. It had a panel beside it with funny looking symbols like the ones on the wall. He leaned close to them to get a better look and they still didn't make sense to him. He pushed several of them, but had no luck in opening the door. Finally, he settled on knocking on the door.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?"

He heard movement on the other side of the door and took a few steps back. After a few moments the door opened, revealing a tall man with dark hair and a beard. He was dressed in a leather outfit that covered him from neck to toes; a nasty looking knife at the man's hip and a strange looking gun in a shoulder holster finished the ensemble.

"Who are you?" he asked the man.

The man stepped into the room slowly and regarded him with a look of contempt.

"Who I am is of no concern to you, Colonel O'Neill. All you need to know is that we're on our way to see an old friend of yours."

He frowned. "An old friend of mine?

His mind was fuzzy. He couldn't remember seeing the man before. He supposed that didn't make much of a difference, since he couldn't remember much of anything else either. But the man had called him by name, so he supposed that he was Colonel O'Neill. He had no memory of being O'Neill, but he didn't have any memories of not being him either. It was better than nothing.

"Oh, yes, O'Neill. We're going to see an old friend of yours, one who is going to pay me a lot of money to hand you over to him."

O'Neill frowned as something clicked in his mind. "You're a bounty hunter, aren't you?"

The man smiled brightly. "Very good, O'Neill. I'd heard that you were rather dull. I'm glad to know that the reports were mistaken," the man said as he approached O'Neill. "Yes, I am a bounty hunter. I couldn't believe it when I saw you by yourself on Venitas, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab you. I know it'll be worth it."

"Where are we now?" O'Neill asked, looking around and forgetting, for a moment, the fact that he was to be sold to someone else.

"This is my pride and joy, my vessel the Liberty. It's a junked Tel'tak that I found and refurbished. Nice, isn't it?"

O'Neill didn't say anything. He made his way towards the door but halted when the bounty hunter stepped in front of him.

"I don't think so. You're going to stay in this room until we reach our destination."

"Where would that be?" O'Neill asked.

"We're going to see your old friend Apophis."