AN: It has been a long time since I've been able to actually write anything. I know I have another story still in progress, and I really want to finish it at some point but so far haven't managed it. This has been in my head off and on for years now. Death's Spawn was the first story I ever published. And over time there's been a lot of pieces of it that in hindsight I would have gone about differently. So, I decided since it's my story, I'm going to go back and rewrite it. I'm just mostly ecstatic that my muse is talking to me again.
I hope it's as enjoyable to read as it was for me to write. Here is Part 1: Taken in all it's glory.
The preliminary scans of P4C-483 had revealed little of note. Remote, and to all appearances uninhabited, there was no rush to go there. Nothing had stood out on the basic mineral survey, which didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't anything of value there, but certainly not around the immediate vicinity of the stargate in any real quantities.
Improved ground penetrating radar and other sensors on the UAV could better detect such things than their systems a few scant years ago. Technology and experience had helped the SGC refine their search methods. Perhaps the new survey would reveal something the old one had not. The address was dialed, and the UAV sent through.
Seargent Davis blinked as the UAV began to transmit video. His partner frowned at the screen. "Color shift?"
There was a distinct yellow tinge to the picture. Diagnostics of the cameras showed them to be working.
"No, I don't think so," he said. "Everything checks out."
Corporal Marks shook his head. "Data's starting to come in. I think it's the damn atmosphere."
"What?"
"There's elevated levels of sulfur, carbon, all sorts of things. Potentially dangerous levels."
Davis opened the file. "That can't be right, nothing at all like that is noted in here."
"Well," Marks indicated the monitors, "It's there now."
Davis gave a small sigh and picked up the phone.
"Major Carter, please report to the control room. There's... something I'd like to show you, ma'am."
Taken
Sam looked at the video that the UAV was still taking, turned to the atmospheric readouts, and then looked at the video again. She pulled up an archive image from the file, showing a very nondescript planet much like any wilderness one would find on Earth. A very healthy one.
Here, she'd almost say the trees looked like they were on their last legs. And considering how polluted the air was, she could understand why.
"What could do this?" Sam said under her breath. Neither technician had any better idea than she, so no one responded.
The UAV passed a stand of trees, revealing an expanse of water miles in diameter. Not water, she realized, as it was almost pitch black. Radar telemetry revealed it to be deceptively shallow, no more than a few feet at most.
Sam went back to the file, scanning through it quickly. "There's no mention of any significant body of water in here."
"That looks pretty significant," Davis replied. She glared at him briefly. All joking aside, something very serious was going on on P4C-483.
"The atmosphere seems to be stabilizing. Toxicity levels have dropped by almost three percent since we started recording," said Marks.
Sam frowned, things were making even less sense.
"Major, the UAV has almost reached the point of no return."
"Ok, take it and land it near the 'gate. Let me know if you find anything else."
Sam sent the data to her lab and continued studying it there. She frowned at it. Whatever had happened to the planet had happened within a few short years. And if the atmospheric pollution indeed was decaying, then there was no real way to say how high it had been at its peak. Easily enough to kill off any animal that had called the planet home.
She had lost track of time when Daniel's greeting made her start. "Hey, Sam. Sorry."
"I didn't hear you come in."
"What are you up to? You seem pretty engrossed there."
Sam nodded as Daniel circled around the desk. She pulled up some of the recent video the UAV had taken. "Trying to make sense of this."
He stared at it for a moment, tilting his head. "It's very yellow."
"That's the sulfur mostly."
"Yum."
"Not really," Sam said. "But that's not the issue. What I can't figure is how so much of all these various elements got pumped into the air, or why."
"Could it be some sort of natural cycle?"
"Possibly..."
"But you don't think so," Daniel said.
"No. It seems we came in at the tail end of this thing, so there's no real way to say when it started or how bad it got."
"What makes you think it's the end?"
"Well, that's just a guess. Levels seemed to be dropping even as we were observing them. But that doesn't mean that we didn't just hit a pocket or normal fluctuations. We need to recheck in a day or so to verify. Before the batteries on the UAV go."
Because who knew if she could convince them to risk yet another multi-millon dollar probe.
Daniel looked at her. "You think someone did this."
"It makes the most sense to me." Sam pulled up an image of the lake. "That wasn't there before, not a trace of it. In fact, I was starting to do some terrain mapping from the previous UAV route and found some intersections. The topography in this area doesn't match up at all. There wasn't water here. There wasn't even a field."
"What is that, stew?"
Sam winced at his description, but it seemed apt enough. "Hard to say without samples."
Daniel shrugged. "Well I'd really like to meet the people with the technology and resources to pull something like this off."
"Yeah," Sam said. The planet itself was worth further study, that much she knew. So she had to put together her findings for the General.
Taken
Jack watched Sam as she brought her tray over to the table. He gave a playful smile. "So Daniel's been telling us you want to go visit a planet with yellow skies and black lakes."
"Well, sir, when you put it that way, wouldn't you?" Sam smiled as she took a bite of her food.
"Beats the pants off of green trees."
"I think the trees are still green," Daniel said. Jack sent him a withering stare.
"Actually, they're probably more brown by now," Sam said.
"Thank you, Carter."
She continued. "And in any case, sir, it's still far too soon to talk about going there. We don't even know if it's safe yet."
"Safe?" Jack said.
Sam gave another smile. "Yellow skies and black lakes."
Jack nearly choked on some fries. "Touche."
"With any luck we'll know more by tomorrow," Sam said.
"I'm on tenterhooks. Bated breath and all that."
"What are tenterhooks, O'Neill?" Teal'c said.
"Hooks... on tenters." Teal'c continued to stare at him, unimpressed. Jack sighed. "Eat your pie."
Taken
Sam stood beside General Hammond and the rest of SG-1 as the Stargate was dialed. Hammond wanted to see things for himself, and Daniel was as curious as she was about the state of the planet. Teal'c was also intrigued, but she knew Jack was mostly trying to avoid paperwork. Or at least that would be his excuse.
They all waited as the last chevron locked and telemetry was received.
"I thought I was promised yellow skies," Jack said. "You can hardly see it."
Hammond frowned. "Is this correct, Major?"
Sam looked at the readouts, compared them to her notes, and checked the signal. "Yes, sir, the UAV's signal is solid. It's showing atmospheric pollution to be about thirty percent of what it was."
"It didn't just... dissipate?" Jack said.
Sam shook her head. "Not by itself. Not this quickly. Sir, request permission to retrieve the UAV."
"Do you think that's wise?"
"These levels aren't dangerous for short periods, and basic HAZMAT will be more than sufficient."
He was silent for several moments. "You have a go. Suit up. Major." Sam stopped to regard him. "Get the probe and come back. That's it."
"Yes, sir."
They passed through the gate fully armed. Only silence and stillness greeted them, not even the wind blew. The eerie setting sent a chill down Sam's spine. A heavy crunching broke the silence as Teal'c was the first to descend the dais.
"The hell?" Jack said. They all looked at the ground. Covered with husks.
"It appears to be the remains of many scarabs," Teal'c said.
"Oh, give or take," Jack said. Looking out, they seemed to cover the ground as far as they could see. Sam quickly scooped some into a bag. "Shoulda brought a bigger broom."
She just rolled her eyes at him. A small tree grew near the gate, and she found that far more interesting. Sam walked over, eyeing it cautiously. Most of the leaves appeared dead and about ready to fall off. A few still retained some color, seeming to shimmer slightly.
"Carter! In and out, remember?"
"Just a second, sir. There's something..." She leaned to look at a different angle, careful not to touch the tree. Not shimmering, she realized, but the leaves were releasing some sort of vapor. Was this the source?
She heard someone crunch towards her, and Daniel's head soon cocked beside her own. "It's smoking."
"Yeah." Deciding it was well worth the risk, and possible reprimand, Sam plucked one of the wisping leaves and sealed it tightly within another bag.
"You know," Jack shouted, "this thing is light as a feather. You two take your time."
"Coming, sir." Sam put away her samples and took a wing. Jack held the other, Teal'c at the tail. They heaved it to the bottom of the stairs and stepped aside as Daniel dialed the gate.
"Welcome back, SG-1. Was there anything of note?" Hammond said as they stepped through.
"Bugs," Jack said. "Lots of bugs. Dead, mind you. Lots of dead bugs. Carter has samples."
Hammond turned to her and Sam shrugged. "They're sealed, sir. And, like the Colonel said, they're dead. I also brought back a leaf. It would appear the trees were generating the toxins."
"I trust you'll take appropriate precautions."
"Yes, sir."
Taken
Standing in the briefing room, Sam looked around at the rest of SG-1 and General Hammond. There really wasn't all that much to say that they didn't already know. Yes, now she believed she understood more of the how, but that was about it. She showed an image of one of the beetle specimines over the projector.
"Analysis of the beetle husks revealed traces of venom left behind. This venom appears to be composed primarily of a retro virus. The genetic code of this retro virus is identical to strands of DNA in the leaf that I also brought back."
"So," Daniel said, "the beetles infected the trees?"
Sam nodded. "Basically. It seems it was the trees that were emitting the atmospheric pollutants. Instead of photosynthesis, it seems they started to draw up various chemicals and elements from the ground and release them into the air. The trees are dying, and in the process the pollutants are somehow being scrubbed out of the atmosphere. I don't know what is causing it, if it were happening naturally it would take years potentially. I'm almost certain that someone did this, but apart from destroying a whole ecosystem, I can't see what was gained from it."
"A weapon?" Hammond said.
"Possibly. Or some sort of terraforming. It wouldn't be the first time," Sam said.
"Terraforming with bugs?" Jack said.
"Why not, sir? If you wanted to go through a biological route, insects or bacteria would make the most sense."
"To do so would take extensive knowledge and skill," Teal'c said.
"Yes," Sam agreed. "This would be genetic engineering way beyond anything we could possibly do. To know how everything will interact with each other... there's a lot of room for failure."
"How do we know this isn't a failure?" Jack said.
"Well, we don't. There's not much more we can learn without going there and seeing for ourselves." The why bugged her. She needed to figure out the why. There was definitely a lot for them to learn there, no matter what the truth of it was. Even if it hadn't gone as planned, it was well worth study.
Hammond was thoughtful. "You say that the pollution levels are still dropping, Major."
"By all accounts, yes, sir."
"How long would you estimate until these levels are within a tolerable threshold?"
"At these rates, no more than a couple days."
"Then in two days we'll send through a MALP. If conditions are acceptable, SG-1 will go to the planet. Terms will be decided when we know what we're looking at."
Taken
The MALP had indicated only traces of any pollution remaining. Teal'c stepped through the stargate with his staff weapon as his only protection. They all had basic HAZMAT packed in case anything changed, and Sam would be monitoring atmospheric conditions.
Just as in their brief visit before, he found the total silence disturbing. No birdsong or any other animals for that matter. All dead, no doubt, but it still didn't settle well with him. As he stepped down, Teal'c glanced at the ground. Fully expecting to crunch through the layer of husks but instead finding nothing but bare ground. Looking more thoroughly, he didn't see any sign of them anywhere.
"The insect husks are no longer here," he said. The others looked around much as he did.
"Wind?" Jack said.
Sam frowned as she stared out towards the horizon. She didn't sound convinced. "Maybe."
"Chalk that up for the creep factor. That, and it's too quiet." Jack adjusted his sunglasses, there weren't even any clouds in the sky.
"Indeed." At least Teal'c wasn't the only one to feel the same way. He didn't care for this unnatural stillness.
"So, are we just going to sit here around the gate all day?" Daniel said.
"Please," Jack gave a sweeping bow and motioned Daniel ahead, "after you."
Daniel's tone as he stepped past was equally flowery. "Thank you."
Teal'c fell in step at the rear. He scanned the surrounding trees for anything of threat or interest. There was a complete lack of either. Just trees with bark that seemed to be fading to a dull gray. They had limbs full of dead leaves that Teal'c imagined would rustle if the air would shift only slightly.
It appeared to have no such intentions.
A couple hours passed in almost total silence. It would take them some time more to reach what the UAV had revealed. Was it the lack of anything around to talk about, Teal'c wondered, or was everyone somehow loathe to break the veil that had descended?
A thundering crack stopped them in their tracks. Whirling around, Teal'c watched a tree fifty feet behind them split at a fork halfway up. The groan of wood splitting apart filled the air. The right side fork snapped free of the tree, falling to the ground as if in slow motion. Branches shattered on impact. What remained of the tree waved back and forth in response to the shift in weight, creaking perilously. It turned out Teal'c had been right, the leaves did rustle.
"What was that?" Jack said.
They all started to approach the tree with caution. It slowly steadied itself. Teal'c noticed black sap oozing from the fresh wound. The sap was also splattered all along the ground, and on nearby trees.
"Oh, God, that's foul," Daniel said. The stench hit them like a wall. They all covered their face with their sleeves, and even Teal'c's nose wrinkled uncomfortably. It was the pungent aroma of rotting decay.
"I've smelled rotting corpses that were more pleasant," Jack said. They stopped a healthy distance away, but Sam continued closer. "Jeeze, Carter, don't touch it!"
She quickly agreed. "No, sir." Sam took out her sample case, and very carefully placed a small sample inside. She seemed to screw the lid on extra tight.
"Make sure you have a few cans of air freshener on hand when you open that up again," Jack said.
Before she got up from her crouch, something caught Sam's eye. Most of the fallen tree was little more than chips, but a few larger pieces remained intact. Sort of.
Daniel grinned lewdly against the stench. "What is it?"
"This piece is hollow," she said. She looked up. "The whole thing must be gutted."
"Peachy," Jack said.
"Can we, maybe, go somewhere else? Like, you know, a place one of these might not fall on our heads at any moment?" Daniel kept looking up into the branches, waiting for another one to come down.
"Can't fault that logic," Jack said.
"No, sir."
No more trees came down. They passed a few shattered remains of ones that already collapsed, but that was it. There was no time wasted, and they reached the edge of the treeline with plenty of daylight to spare. In front of them was bare ground, stretching almost as far as the eye could see. About every thirty feet was a slightly triangular shaped growth about the size of a beach ball, half-buried in the ground. They were a mottled color, reds, blacks, and greens layered through them in random patterns.
Approaching, Jack tapped one with the barrel of his P90. "Feels like rock."
Sam kneeled by one, studying the bands of color. Teal'c came up beside her, studying the object for himself. He saw a couple thick tendrils at the base of the object, buried in the dirt. He frowned.
"Major Carter, are those not roots?"
Sam stood up, looking unsettled. She stared out across the field. "I think so."
"Carter?"
"Sir, these weren't here on the UAV flyover. None of this was here. The trees went all the way to the edge of that lake, bog, swamp, whatever you want to call it."
"You think the lake is receding?" Daniel said.
She shook her head. "We haven't gone far enough."
Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "You think these things 'grew' in the last few days? Who the hell wants to grow rocks?"
"Maybe," Sam took a lengthy pause as she looked around. "Maybe it's some form of mining, drawing the minerals up to the surface."
Daniel quickly stood from where he had been examining one of the rocks, and backed away.
"You mean, the ground could be as hollow as the trees back there?"
They all followed suit. Teal'c eyed the ground with suspicion.
Sam shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. This is way out of my league."
"Ok then," Jack said, "we go around."
Taken
It was a long detour going around rather than through. Sam managed to chip off a piece of one of the rocks. It revealed itself to be more porous on the interior, simliar to pumice. Was it some sort of capillary action that let it draw up such vast amounts of minerals from underground? Did it just suck up anything, or did it just target specific elements? Was that even possible?
"Well, now, there's something for you." Jack's exclamation brought Sam out of her musings. A short distance past the rock field appeared to be clumps of tall grass. Waving gently. There was no wind at all.
As they got closer it became clear that it wasn't grass that they were looking at. The clumps were made up of stalks of various sizes. Anywhere from a couple to nearly a dozen stalks grew out of a central plant. Most of the stalks seemed to be a reddish-orange color. Some were a dull blue or green. Each stalk was from as short as a foot to over four feet long. Some were cylindrical, around two inches thick. Others were flattened like leaves, as much as four inches wide and almost impossibly narrow. But all of them rippled and flexed to some inaudible rhythm.
There was a flash as something at the top of a nearby stalk reflected the sun. Sam wasn't the only one to notice. Daniel stepped forward, eyeing it curiously. "Is that... an eye?"
A sharp hiss pierced the air as Daniel stepped forward. Sam barely had time to start before Teal'c pulled Daniel back roughly by the shoulder. The longer stalks of the nearby bush stabbed into the ground where Daniel would have been. Sam could just make out opened mouths near the glistening eyes. Those that weren't flattened had become so instantly. Dirt flew as they stabbed the ground repeatedly. The smaller stalks spat some sort of fluid that only traveled a few inches.
"Daniel, are you ok?" Sam said.
She could see him shaking slightly from the adrenaline. "Uh, yeah. I'm ok. May need to change my underwear, though."
Sam smiled tightly, not amused.
All of the nearby clusters were hissing now, the stalks seeming to track their movements, stabbing tentatively into the air.
"Not cool!" Jack said sharply. "All right, nobody goes near anything. Got it?"
After the close call, Daniel and Sam could only nod. Teal'c eyed the nearby clusters with his staff weapon held defensively. "It is a most efficient defense mechanism."
"Working great," Daniel said as he made the 'ok' sign. There was still an audible waver in his voice. Sam gave him a sympathetic look, knowing he wouldn't shake that one off anytime soon. She sure as hell wouldn't.
They stayed clear of the aggressive plants. Animals? Sam didn't know how to classify what they were seeing. Whatever they were, they were potentially deadly. Maybe they shouldn't be there after all.
Sam didn't voice her doubts, knowing Jack could latch on any excuse to leave then and there. Despite her uncertainties, she couldn't think to back out now. Even Daniel had a certain determination in his eyes. Hoping to find whoever did this, she imagined. She certainly had a bunch of questions for them herself.
When they finally made it to the lake, the sun was making its way down. Sam wasn't really surprised to see more objects growing out of it. At that point she had thrown out any of the expectations she may have harbored. Plants barely jutted out of the liquid, clusters of dark red orbs sprouting from the ends.
At least, she mused, it didn't reek as bad as the trees had, despite the similar coloring.
"I assume those weren't here, either," Jack said.
Sam shook her head. "No sir."
She made her way to the water's edge. Teal'c remained beside her, and Sam gave him a quick smile. Knowing he was there made her a little less nervous. Who knew what exactly lurked under the murky surface? Her entire focus was on the 'water' before her.
The cap was barely on the container when Jack appeared at Sam's other side. "Anything else trying to kill us?"
"Sir! Jesus!" Sam tried to mask the pounding of her heart, but she did glare at him.
"Sor..." He stopped mid-word.
Orbs of a nearby plant inverted in on themselves. There was a vague shape of a face. The voice, however, was unmistakeably hers.
"Jesus," one said, Sam's voice issuing forth, slightly muted. Another spoke. "Sir."
"Sir, Jesus," another echoed.
The call rippled out from plant to plant, fading into the distance. After speaking, the faces reverted back to unassuming orbs. Sam stared at the nearby plant, stunned.
"Woah," Daniel said, keeping his voice low.
Jack cocked his head curiously. "Hello?"
He was greeted by a rippling chorus of "hellos" in his own voice. He looked at Sam, and she stared back at him.
"That's new," he said to her. Sam could only nod.
"Sounds like they, whatever they are, are just mimicking," said Daniel.
"Well I think they found their niche."
They backed away from the lake. It would be dark soon, and it was as good a place as any to set up camp. When the SGC checked in, they relayed their current status. They would continue to explore in the morning, and if they didn't find anything more significant they would start back to the gate. There was plenty to examine already when they got back to keep them busy for some time.
Taken
Jack felt a hand on his shoulder. He was awake immediately, rising to sit. It was dark save for the small fire.
"T?" Jack said. Kneeling beside him, Teal'c motioned for him to remain silent. Obeying, he listened. He made out a distant murmuring. Coming from the direction of the lake. Jack frowned. "What are they saying?"
"I do not know, it is no language that I recognize."
Grabbing his P90, Jack slid over and woke up Sam. She looked at him, but before she could ask she heard the noise. He got Daniel up before he spoke, whispering.
"Someone's coming." He started stamping out the fire. No point in advertising their location until they knew more.
"What are you doing?" Daniel said, also whispering.
Jack sighed, motioning out into the darkness. There was just enough light from the stars to make out shapes. "Do you know who's coming?"
"Of course I don't."
"Then we might not want to be found until we have a better idea." Sometimes he hated having to keep Daniel in check. But he knew the other man understood. He was just hopeful, not an idiot.
"O'Neill," Teal'c said.
Jack turned and saw the faint glow in the distance. It was too far away to make much out. All he could tell was that there were two figures. Both held some sort of small lantern. They were standing still. The nature of the chatter from the lake had grown more clipped. The light extinguished. Slowly, the plants went silent.
"They know we're here," Sam said.
And Jack had no idea if that was good or bad. "Yeah."
"Maybe we should announce ourselves," Daniel said. "This could get ugly fast from a simple misunderstanding. Hiding like this might seem aggressive."
"Or it might seem prudent." Jack muttered, but he knew there was some truth in what Daniel said.
"A decision must be made quickly," Teal'c said.
"We should try to talk, sir," Sam said. "If we can."
Jack rubbed at his forehead. God, he hoped they were right. "Ok."
He listened to Daniel take a deep breath. He spoke at a medium volume. "Hello? Don't be alarmed. We're peaceful explorers."
Daniel turned on his flashlight. Jack couldn't see them, but he could hear movement. The two had split up, flanking them.
"Hello?" Daniel spoke louder. "Can you understand me? My name is Daniel Jackson. We mean you no harm."
The lake echoed with Daniel's words, as if mocking them.
"Trajo ta!" The harsh yell came from their left. Jack brought his weapon up, aiming towards the sound.
"We don't understand you!"
The plants masked the noise of the other, who had entered the water. It yelled at the top of its lungs, and the plants echoed louder than he had heard them yet. "Kasa ra dore!"
"That's it," Jack said. He turned on the light attached to his gun. Sweeping the surrounding terrain, he saw movement in the water. The creature reached for something, tossing it with a sharp flick of its arm. Something buzzed past Jack's head. It landed in the distance with a heavy thud.
Sam had her own weapon at ready, and even Daniel was poised to act. Jack hissed. "Let's go."
There was another wooded area a few hundred feet from their position. They ran for it, needing some sort of cover. Every other direction was wide open.
"Any others in the viscinity will have heard the call," Teal'c said.
Just what Jack had thought. That one had called for reinforcements. Another reason he wanted to get away from the lake area. That's where they'd all be. The two chasing them shouted. At least now they had their lights back on. Jack spared a backwards glance to gauge the distance. Too close for his liking.
"We need to find a defensive position," Jack said between breaths. Looking back again, he only saw one light. "Damn it, one went missing."
Sam ran slightly ahead of him. He didn't hear the alien approach, only seeing it as it darted into the beam of his flashlight. It tackled Sam with a heavy crack. Jack heard her grunt as the air was forced from her lungs. Both crashed to the ground and rolled with the momentum.
It recovered impossibly fast, kneeling astride her. Even as Jack approached it was raising a knife up to strike. Only a few steps away, he couldn't take the time to shoot, so Jack continued to run and jammed the butt of his gun into the side of the alien's face. It collapsed heavily.
The thing was humanoid. Tall, with long dark hair. The skin was dark, almost the color of coal, and it wore some sort of body armor. It appeared dead. That was all the details he bothered to note.
"Carter!"
She had come to rest on her stomach. The blow snapped the strap that held her P90, and it had clattered into the distance. Teal'c held a covering position as Jack rolled her over. Sam was still gasping for air, unable to speak.
"Can you hear me, Carter?"
She nodded slowly and wheezed a reply. "Yeah."
"We need to keep moving. Can you walk?"
Jack glanced over his shoulder when he heard Teal'c's staff weapon. He saw the other alien duck behind a tree.
"I'm fine," Sam said, bringing his attention back.
"Sure you are." He didn't believe it for a second. The sound of the collision had been brutal. Jack and Daniel helped her to stand. Sam bit back a yelp at the movement. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to be gentle. "Ok?"
She just nodded. They pulled her into a hobbling trot. What they needed was a place to hide. But that was impossible as long as the other alien was breathing down their necks.
"Daniel, you got her?"
The other man nodded quickly. "Yeah, go."
Jack eased her arm from his shoulder. Sam gasped sharply.
"T," Jack said, "let's go get better acquainted with our friend here."
"As you wish."
Teal'c began a wide loop, not bothering with a light of his own. His jaffa senses often came in handy. Frustrated, and now more than a tad angry, Jack muttered as he took cover behind a tree and turned to attack.
"Miss Manners would not approve of this kind of welcome." He watched the alien duck from tree to tree. It tossed another projectile. This one hit the tree Jack stood behind. It blew up a large hole in the tree, but did not penetrate through to the other side. The sudden release of the noxious sap made Jack's eyes water. The stench made him gag.
Jack fired towards the alien and dashed towards another tree. He heard the staff blast and saw the alien pitch to the ground. It stood back up, seemingly unhurt. What the hell was it wearing?
His own bullets made the alien stagger back, but none seemed to pierce the armor it wore. It reached for something wrapped around its bicep, but Teal'c's staff fire hit it in the face before the alien could reach it.
There was no time for relief. As soon as the silence descended, Jack could hear the distant shouts. See the flashes of light in the distance.
"Ah, hell."
Taken
Daniel could hear the pain with each breath Sam took. They didn't even know exactly what injuries she sustained yet. Sam did her best to match his gait, but her movements were stiff. He ushered her onward while looking for some place to stop. The trees were too far spread, and seemed to be thinning. Gunshots and staff blasts kept him moving. Then there was virtual silence. Daniel hoped it was a good sign.
It wasn't long before he heard footsteps approaching. Daniel spun around and leveled his sidearm.
"Easy, tiger," Jack said in a sharp whisper.
Daniel sighed. "Thank God."
"Don't be too happy. We got more on the way."
There was no way they'd be able to outrun their pursuers. And as yet there seemed nowhere to hide in hopes they'd be passed over. Unfortunately, this time, it didn't look like talking was going to help.
Jack once again took one of Sam's arms over his shoulder. Despite her obvious discomfort, she continued on without a word. Daniel wished there was more he could do than simply help keep her upright. Teal'c scouted ahead as they continued.
"How many?" Sam spoke through gritted teeth.
"Enough."
Daniel could start to hear the shouts behind them. It didn't sound like they had been spotted yet, but from the locations he could tell there were several different groups. It took them most of the day to reach their current location, how were they supposed to cover that distance unnoticed?
Daniel didn't know how long they continued on before Teal'c returned. "I have found a place to hide."
They followed him to a large fallen tree. This one remained far more intact than the others they had found, and the smell, though still strong, was starting to fade. Daniel didn't see anything until Teal'c shifted one of the branches, revealing a hollow that ran beneath the extensive root system. It was larger than Daniel thought, wide enough in most places to move side-by-side, and it went on far enough to hold them all.
Daniel entered first with Sam. Teal'c was last, pulling the branch back up behind him. For a moment they all simply crouched there, doing nothing but listening to each other's rapid breathing. Daniel watched the shadows the flashlight played against the dirt.
"Sir, was it really wise to stop?" Sam's tone made it obvious she already knew the answer, and it was also laced with guilt. Daniel almost sighed, it could have been any of them that got injured, and nothing they really could have done to stop it.
Jack replied anyway. "We couldn't have kept ahead of them even if we wanted. Besides, I already think we've gone far enough off track. Getting completely lost in the dark isn't going to help anyone. Now, where does it hurt?"
"Where doesn't it?"
"Sorry, Carter, you know I gotta..."
She nodded slowly, resigned. "Yeah."
Daniel shifted uncomfortably as Jack probed her injures. Sam flinched at every touch, her responses ranging from a hiss to a groan. When he got to her chest, she bit back a sharp yelp.
"I think you've got a couple fractured ribs. Otherwise, it all just feels like bruising."
Sam didn't bother to respond. She was close to tears.
The sound of voices made them all stiffen. Jack quickly shut off the flashlight. Daniel tried to listen, but it was too far away to make anything out. Not that it mattered, whatever they were speaking was like nothing he had heard before. It would have given him something else to focus on than their current predicament, and perhaps the the tone could give them some sort of hint at what was going on. He strained uselessly to hear.
These aliens were armed and armored, so they were ready for a fight. Instead of trying to understand, their first instinct seemed to be to attack. Had they done something to provoke the aliens? Or perhaps it had been unavoidable. He knew absolutely nothing about these creatures, so anything Daniel could think was merely supposition.
Even now Daniel thought they sounded angry, but that idea couldn't be trusted.
It was several minutes before the voices faded into the distance. The rest of the night passed in terse silence. Shafts of light began to filter in to their makeshift shelter. No more of the aliens had approached the area. Maybe, Daniel thought hopefully, they would stop looking. Not that he truly believed that. But he did hope.
"All right, let's blow this popsicle stand," Jack said.
Taken
Being still for so long had made Sam go stiff. Her battered body screamed at her as she finally stood upright. Every beat of her heart sent stabbing pain through her left side. Her right only ached horribly, she with a wry smile. When they got back to Earth she'd promptly curl up in the fetal position and weep. Until then, she just had to keep moving.
They didn't talk, as much to keep a low profile as there was nothing important to say. Sam wasn't even sure the direction they were heading. All she could think about was keeping her legs moving, she trusted the others to guide her.
Sam's world was reduced to her movements. Jack's hissed "damn it" got her attention, though. She scanned the surroundings, saw movement disappear into the distance. Had they been seen? The wooded area they were now in was sparse, but they couldn't have taken their original path anyway, there had been no cover from the edge of the forest to the lake. Just when she thought they might be ok, there was a shout from behind them.
"Kaza!"
She couldn't crane her head around far enough to see, but they were still a few hundred feet away. Distant shouts answered from all directions. They were surrounded with nowhere to go. Sam's heart sank.
"Sir?"
After glancing around, Jack pointed. "There."
They stopped in a small cluster of trees. Still more spread than she liked, Sam couldn't see any better position. She sagged against a tree as Jack readied his P90. Sam wished she still had hers. The sidearm she now clutched was a meager consolation. Each covered a direction. It would be their last act, of that Sam was certain.
The aliens were everywhere. Body armor ranging from deep reds to greens and blues. Weaving through the trees, slowly approaching. Sam held her fire, there was no point wasting ammunition at this distance. Their armor was proven, and from there she'd never be able to make it count.
At about thirty feet, ahead of most of the others, one of the aliens reached into a bandolier. Knowing it must be going for one of the projectiles, she fired. The shots glanced off its shoulder, spinning it around. That was when the attack truly started.
Roars echoed all around. Projectiles flew from all directions. From the distance, many were way off mark. But not all of them. The compromised trees shattered against the assault. Two succumbed, crashing heavily to the ground. Sam dropped to the ground with the others as splinters showered the air around them. Adrenaline masked the throbbing pain.
She got up on one knee. Still shouting, the aliens were charging their position. Several dozen. Sam leveled her gun and fired, nearly deafened by the gunshots filling the air. It took three rounds to drop the first. Four for the second. Her clip emptied before she could get the third. In the precious seconds it took to insert a new clip, they had closed the distance. She managed to deflect the knife meant for her chest. Another wielded some sort of whip, catching it on her other arm and yanking violently. Sam fell to the ground.
"Ana shola tak!" Several of the alien's were positioned to attack, but at the shout they all stopped. Sam was pinned under at least three. She couldn't see Jack, Daniel, or Teal'c. Though she was worried, she didn't dare to call out to them. Sam didn't dare to move for fear of provoking the aliens. Her gun had already been knocked away during the struggle.
The aliens stood and pulled Sam roughly to her feet. Her wrists were held firmly, though she had no intentions of fighting. Each of them was a foot taller than her. Their dark faces were marked with tattoos and scars, vaguely human save the flattened noses. She noticed a prominent scar on each of their foreheads, not unlike a jaffa tattoo. But even of the three around her each one was different. One looked like a backwards Y, another a V with two dots to either side, the third a vertical slash that disappeared into the hairline.
Through their burly frames, she could just make out the others. Bruised and bloodied, but alive. It was a quick moment as rough hands searched her. Pockets were torn open, everything she carried dumped on the ground. Every squeeze and prod of her body made Sam cry out, she had long since passed her limit.
One tore at the watch on her wrist. It didn't give way, but the alien continued to yank at it viciously. Sam screamed.
"Hey!"
"Come on!" Jack and Daniel shouted at the same time, but were held in place. Teal'c made very little progress against his captors. He stared daggers into the ones in her direction.
The alien stopped, spoke briefly.
"I can take the damn thing off," Sam said. As soon as she started to reach a heavy hand slapped her face. Her head snapped back and he fell to her knees. Her arm wrenched further as the other alien never let go of her wrist. And it continued to pull. Sam gritted her teeth, but couldn't hold back the cry. Just when she thought her wrist would shatter, the pin snapped and the band came free. Sam clutched her arm protectively as she glared at the alien. It ignored her, tossing the watch to the ground in a look of disgust. The watch was then pulverized under its heel.
"Preta." The one that spoke stood apart from the rest, clearly some sort of leader. It wore a mask, a dark red hood covered with spikes and swirling patterns in blue. Short tentacles sprouted from the chin line that waved continuously. At the command they were ushered along. Two held Sam's arms and pulled her along. She was hard pressed to keep the pace. The others were similarly dragged.
"Everyone ok?" Jack called out. One of the alien's escorting him snarled. It wasn't hard to interpret the warning. Jack spoke quickly. "We'll talk later."
While no more than a couple hours had elapsed, for Sam it may as well have been an eternity. Her body was a throbbing mass, and they had long since been dragging her along. Her eyes were tightly shut, so she didn't see the cluster of buildings as they approached. Not traditional buildings, but they appeared more like shells for some sort of giant creatures. One towered over the rest, and that was where they were taken. Sam barely looked up in time to see the dull gray exterior.
There was a fleshy texture to the walls as they traversed the circling corridors. A quality to the air that left Sam feeling vaguely nauseous. But all she cared about was stopping. Right there on the questionable floor, that would be just fine with her.
Taken
They were taken into a large, open room. It was lit by some unidentifiable source, light seemed to suffuse the very walls around them. Daniel grunted as he was jerked to a stop in the middle of the room. Sam was dropped to the floor at his side. She barely reacted.
He tried to go to her but was quickly stopped. "Hey!"
"Saat!" the masked alien shouted, slapping Daniel across the face before he had time to react. Daniel tasted blood, but remained silent. Dark green eyes narrowed at him from behind the mask.
"Rana tel, dalak."
Daniel didn't notice the other occupant of the room until then. This one wore armor that was almost obsidian, gleaming spikes raising out of each shoulder. From the spikes draped a red cape that brushed the floor. One hand was missing two fingers, its face heavily scarred with symbols Daniel couldn't hope to understand. Dark hair was pulled back in a severe tail.
The masked alien snapped both fists to its chest, bowing its head slightly. "Beliek tiu, sepo."
"Gosha tizo'na." The caped alien held out a hand, another alien quickly placed something in it with a bow. It looked like a fat grub. Daniel squirmed, pulling a sharp face when it proceded to tilt its head to the side and place the grub into its ear.
"Ew," said Jack.
The alien simply stood there for several long moments, appearing in deep thought. "My servant... offends?"
Heavily accented, it seemed to consider each word carefully.
"You can understand us?" Daniel said in shock. No one else had shown any hint of knowing English. There was hope. If they could truly communicate, maybe Daniel could explain, get them out of there.
"Tizo'na," it stopped, realizing it had slipped back into its language. "Tizo worm teaches."
"There's been a horrible misunderstanding. We came here in peace."
The alien frowned. "Peace? Tizo'na cannot understand."
Daniel wasn't sure how to take the fact that of all words, it didn't understand peace. "We didn't come here to attack you. We came to understand you."
"You fight us. You understand."
"No, we don't. We don't even know who you are."
"We are Yuuzhan Vong."
Jack stepped forward, didn't get far. "Look, we're not your enemy. If you just let us go..."
"Kasoka chel!" Teeth bared. "You are infidel!"
"Infidel?" Daniel said. "Whatever we did wrong, we didn't mean to. You can't expect us to know your culture."
"Enough." The alien looked down at Sam. She watched on the floor through hooded eyes. "This one will stand."
"She's hurt," Jack said quickly.
It was unimpressed. "Prefer dead? Stand!"
Daniel clenched his fists. Sam groaned, hissing as she pushed up on her hands. By the time she stood, her face was deathly pale where the darkening bruises hadn't reached. She wavered ominously.
It turned to Daniel. "You are leader. You give me information."
Jack cleared his throat. "No, I am leader."
"Information."
Jack raised a finger. "Ah, ah. Information, please."
It grabbed Jack by the neck, slamming him into the wall. Its face was bare inches from Jack's. "Information, now."
"Better." Jack wheezed the word through the tight grip. Daniel frowned at him, this was not the time to provoke.
"How do you come here?" It eased back slightly as it spoke.
"I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."
It snarled. "You come to sabotage."
"No, we didn't even know you were here. We don't even know what you're doing. Why would we sabotage you?" Daniel tried to take some of the pressure off of Jack. Tried to give it something to placate it. He kept watch of Sam out of the corner of his eye. She didn't look well.
"Daniel..." Jack's voice was sharp with warning.
"You do not know." The alien seemed pleased, but only for a moment. "Where is your ship? How does it fly unnoticed?"
"Romulan cloak," Jack said. "Top notch technology."
"Technology." The alien spat. "Heresy."
"Heresy? But you have to be very technologically advanced to terraform this planet like you have." Daniel was confused. However, he seemed to have said the wrong thing.
The alien now had a knife to Daniel's throat, its eyes wild.
"Stop! I'm the leader, damn it. Me! Don't you dare touch him!" Jack shouted frantically as two Yuuzhan Vong held him down.
"You dare call our creations technology?"
Daniel could barely find his voice. "I didn't mean to offend you."
The Yuuzhan vong snarled. The knife was slowly sheathed. "Go, consider well the outcome of further deception. Hathik delana to."
The guards took them away.
Taken
As soon as SG-1 failed to respond when check in time came, Hammond ordered the UAV prepped. He knew better than to think it might be some simple equipment malfunction. MALP readings had shown no atmospheric changes, so there was something else at fault. Until they figured out what that something was, he could only frown at the monitors.
The UAV cleared the forest in record time. It was receding, Hammond realized, and in its wake were vast fields of things he couldn't possibly identify. The technicians were equally at a loss, readings showing vital functions even on the rocky masses.
"Sir, we've got movement ahead," Davis said.
Several figures stood below looking up at the UAV. Very obviously not SG-1, especially when they scattered. Hammond didn't like it.
They came upon the lake, now sprouting thousands of plants. In the distance he saw buildings. How did these people make everything so fast? There was no sign of SG-1, but he had little doubt they were in one of those buildings. If they were anywhere at all. He hoped for the former.
Suddenly, the UAV jerked to the left. "What was that?"
Davis looked at the readouts frantically. "I don't know, sir. Controls are responding... but nothing's happening."
It was still midair, pulling sharply left, when everything went black.
"Did it crash?" Hammond said.
"I don't know, sir. We lost all signals. It's... it's as if it just disappeared."
The words left a bitter taste in his mouth. "Shut it down."
Taken
Commander Yanog of domain Typ removed the tizo worm from his ear once more and handed it to a nearby warrior. The creature created a psychic link with its user, able to translate various languages it had learned. He used it now in solitude to strengthen his abilities with his captives' language. The syntax was awkward and completely unintuitive. It disgusted him.
They disgusted him.
At least they had fought, even if their weapons were reprehensible. That much he could respect. But to use technology, machines, he could think of nothing worse. It proved why they had been guided to this galaxy in the first place. They needed to be taught. Or they needed to die.
That they had circumvented detection for so long was an embarrassment to him. One the Prefect in the recently arrived world ship would not take lightly. Yuuzhan Vong presence on the planet had been minimal until production had been established to lower the chances of detection. The scouts had studied the planet extensively before deciding upon it. No one had come there during their study. So why did they come now?
The infidel, the human, had said they didn't know the Yuuzhan Vong were there. It was clearly a lie, the coincidence far too perfect to be just that. Perhaps they had already lost the element of surprise. This was an advance scout, and he had to find their point of ingress before more arrived.
Subaltern Gol of domain Calop rushed into the room, snapping his fists in salute. His mask fluttered anxiously. "Commander, an infidel machine was spotted performing reconnaisance in the sky. Dovin basals were able to bring it down in a singularity, but not before it approached our base."
"What?" How much were they able to learn? Yanog seethed.
"Warriors near the ring report that it was glowing during this time. Another machine was nearby, and has been destroyed. Perhaps this is how they arrive undetected?"
They had considered destroying the object when they arrived, but it was made of an element that was difficult to shatter. Clearly, they should have done something else with it.
"Bury it. Post a watch to ensure it causes no further trouble. I want all patrols doubled, no more interference will be tolerated."
Gol bowed with his salute, backing out as he spoke. "It will be done."
"Bring me the Prefect's villip." A warrior quickly left to retrieve the object. He returned with an orb roughly the size of a head, and placed it on a stand that came to chest level. Yanog bid his guards to leave with a curt nod of his head, he did not wish his shame to be witnessed. He stroked an indent in the top of the fleshy orb, signaling to the corresponding villip on the Prefect's ship. And waited for it to be answered.
The orb inverted on itself from the indent, taking on the shape of a Yuuzhan Vong head. The Prefect eyed him and Yanog bowed his head, knowing the villip on the ship would translate the gesture.
"Speak."
"Prefect, the infidels have recently sent machines to further spy on our contingent. These machines have since been neutralized."
The Prefect's eyes narrowed. "You allowed more to enter our world? You disappoint me, Commander."
"Beliek tiu, Prefect," Yanog said in contrition. "However, I believe we have discovered how they have arrived here. A device. This ring has been buried to prevent further incursions, and is now under guard."
The Prefect considered the words. "And the prisoners, what have they revealed?"
"They claim not to have known of our presence on this world." Yanog narrowed his eyes. "I do not believe this."
"No," he agreed, "it is clearly deception. Learn what you can of them, but leave them intact. Shaper Viliz Tan has want of them."
Yanog couldn't stop his teeth from baring momentarily at the intrusion. What could the shapers want with his prisoners? But it was an order, so he bowed his head. "As you will."
"Do not fail me again." The villip reverted before Yanog could respond.
Taken
Their cell was another fleshy room whose door closed not unlike an organic iris. There were no features, no beds or anything else. The walls curved, the room more oval than square. Teal'c only had to glance to see all there was to see.
Sam had all but passed out, moaning slightly. They moved to the far side of the room in an effort not to disturb her.
"What are we going to do?" Daniel said.
Jack looked at him sternly. "Not give them anymore freebies, for starters."
"Daniel Jackson could not know the import of his information," Teal'c said. Without knowing the motives of their captors, it was impossible to tell what they would find valuable. He also knew that Daniel had spoken out of desperation, the intention noble.
"That's kind of the whole point, T. Don't tell them anything. Especially not the whole how the hell we got here. Then, maybe, we can get the hell back."
Daniel didn't look convinced. Teal'c understood, and knew even Jack doubted his own words. The size of this operation suggested numbers far greater than they had yet encountered, and the SGC had nowhere near the manpower to take that on, even if the General could get permission for such an undertaking. There was virtually no chance for a small strike force to find them, break them out, and escape.
However, it was their only option.
"So what do you think that whole technology thing was all about?" Daniel said, finally breaking the stern silence that fell.
"Obviously not fans," said Jack.
Teal'c had been giving that some thought himself. "As yet, I have noticed no objects or devices of a mechanical nature."
Even their knives appeared somehow... organic.
"Now that you mention it," Daniel said. He frowned. "But, how can possibly everything they have be bioengineered?"
"Whatever the form of their knowledge, they are highly advanced. As well as agressive."
Jack nodded at Teal'c. "We landed ourselves in a base."
"How can you know that?" Daniel said.
"There's this little matter of they're all armed to the frigging teeth. Oh, and hello, adamantium body armor!"
"They are an alien species, it's dangerous to make assumptions based on a human standpoint."
"Whatever their motivations," Teal'c said, "they are dangerous. That they do not wish to be discovered is also unsettling."
Daniel nodded in agreement. "Yeah. This is one time where I certainly wouldn't mind getting the hell out of here."
"You can say that again," Jack said.
It had been no more than a few hours before guards returned to retrieve them. Teal'c aided Sam, his cold gaze apparently enough to keep the Yuuzhan Vong from objecting. He would have carried her had she allowed, but Sam was awake and sticking to her pride. Strength seemed important to these aliens and she also seemed to realize this. Teal'c just wished that she didn't have to, knowing that her pain was substantial.
The Yuuzhan Vong leader watched them enter the room, a smile on his frayed lips. Teal'c stiffened at the gesture.
"Your machines are destroyed. Your attempt at distraction has failed."
His gaze moved between each of them in turn, waiting for a response. No one spoke. He must mean the MALP, or even the stargate, but Teal'c's face betrayed none of his dismay. If they had yet to destroy the stargate, it was only a matter of time before they realized it was significant.
The lack of reaction seemed to bother the leader. "The ring will cause us no more trouble."
"What?" Sam said before she could stop herself.
His eyes widened. "Yes, then it is as we thought."
"Look here, Mr. Vong..." Jack said.
"Yuuzhan Vong," he replied sharply.
"Yuuzy, you got it all wrong. That ain't gonna stop us." Jack sent him a challenging look.
"Tell me of your world."
"Uhhh, don't think so."
"Sva." The leader nodded his head towards Daniel. One of the guards gripped his neck.
"Daniel!" Sam said. The guard held her shoulder tightly.
Teal'c's lip twitched, barely able to restrain himself.
Jack eyed the leader dangerously. "Let him go."
"What military strength can your people martial?"
"Enough to send you packing," Jack said.
The Yuuzhan Vong narrowed his eyes. "This I do not believe."
"Your problem, pal. Not mine."
Teal'c was vibrating as he watched Daniel out of the corner of his eye. His lips had tinged blue and he was barely able to pull at the hand choking him. Just before Teal'c acted, the Yuuzhan Vong signaled and Daniel was let go.
Daniel dropped to his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air.
"Do not try my patience. You will find it lacking."
"Right back at you."
The leader walked forward deliberately. He pulled Daniel's head back by his hair, punching him squarely in the face. Blood gushed from his busted lip.
With a feral yell Teal'c pulled free of his guards. They were an instant too slow to grab him, and Teal'c was across the room with his own fist reared back before any of them could stop him. The leader turned, and most of the blow was deflected, glancing off the side of his face. The creature coiled around the leader's armored bicep began to wind its way down to his hand. Teal'c grabbed it and tossed it away before it could complete its journey. He didn't have the chance to register that it resembled those shifting stalks they had encountered.
The room erupted in chaos.
The leader was capable, returning the assault he was receiving. He also had the advantage of armor, Teal'c had a very limited area of attack. The Yuuzhan Vong had Teal'c's entire body to target. A sharp blow to his symbiote pouch stunned Teal'c for an instant. Guards piled on him, punching and kicking and biting. Soon everything went dark.
Taken
Viliz Tan entered at the end of the fray, just in time to see Commander Yanog jump to his feet, enraged. Blood trickled from his torn ear. She watched the warriors pulling their captives out of the dog pile that had ensued. No one had escaped without some sort of injury. Her lekku, the headdress that all shapers wore made of many tentacles, knotted in contempt.
"Can you not even control a small handful of prisoners?"
Yanog kicked the dark prisoner, who was already unconscious. "It is under control."
"Yes," her voice was full of false sincerity, "I see that now."
"What interest do you have in these infidels? What use are they to you?"
Viliz walked forward, her living robe trailing on the floor. It was dark blue with swirls of purples and reds. She looked at the prisoners. Only the dark one was at all physically imposing. The others left much to be desired.
"Likely none," she said. What she and other shapers had been instructed to find was rare from their information. But master shaper Nen Yim had insisted, and she had the ear of the Supreme Overlord himself.
The humans eyed her curiously. Viliz didn't acknowledge it. "I suppose there is enough blood to sample."
Yanog's mouth twitched at the subtle insult.
Her adept, Kezan Kwaad, stood just behind her, bowing at her tacit command. He moved forward, beginning with the older man, he reached his shaper hand out to collect a sample. The warriors held him more tightly as he started to shrink back.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" the man said.
Viliz spoke their language. "We shall see if your kind have any redeeming qualities."
He flinched as the adept gathered blood from an open wound. The tactile nodes on one of his shaper fingers tasted it, identifying the elements within. His headdress twisted in contemplation before he ran his hand over a textured pad he held, recording his data within the creature. The process was repeated on the brown haired man.
Kezan stopped at the unconscious man. "This one is different. I believe, a jaffa?"
The captives perked at the word jaffa, the only word they were able to understand. The older man pushed at the warriors.
"You leave him alone."
Viliz ignored him. The dark man was rolled on his back. With a nod from her, Kezan raised his shirt. A cross-shaped pouch was revealed on his chest. For their purposes, he would not do.
"Finish," she said, "let us be done here."
After sampling the woman, he studied the pad intently. Then sampled once more. His headdress fluttered.
"Adept," Viliz said. She came forward, taking the pad from his hand. Frowned at it. She sampled for herself to be certain.
This was what they were looking for? This frail creature? It didn't seem worth it. The woman's eyes were wide under her scrutiny. Viliz supposed that it had to be done.
"She is to be broken," Viliz said to Yanog. She then spoke in their language again, not hiding her disgust. "This one is lacking."
Taken
Sam frowned. Lacking? The Yuuzhan Vong that spoke, female by Sam's guess, had already left the room with her assistant. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The leader gave an order, and the guards holding Sam started to pull her towards the exit.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she said. He did not acknowledge her in any way.
Jack fought against his guards, got nowhere. "Where do you think you're taking her."
"She is unworthy," the leader said. "She is nothing."
"Let go of me!" Sam tried to shake free. Wherever they were going she knew didn't want to be. Jack and Daniel's protests faded as she was pulled through the corridors. Taken away from where they had been held before. She was thrown into another room. A very small room.
It was no more than ten feet in diameter. She stared at the walls. What were they doing? What did it mean to be unworthy? Nothing? Was this the last thing she was ever going to see?
Sam's heart pounded in her chest. She was frantic. Pacing the confines of her prison, she tried to think. There was nothing she could do, no way to stop whatever was going to happen. But she had to do something. The need to do something made her vibrate. She couldn't make herself calm down.
When she could take it no more, Sam went to the door and pounded on the opening. All the effort got her were sharp throbs of pain that echoed through her abused body. She kicked it one last time with a loud yell. The sound seemed to absorb into the walls, and the impotence of the action caused her dismay.
Sam backed away from the door, sitting against the far wall. She had long since lost track of time before she fell into an uneasy sleep. And the second she heard the subtle slurp of the door, she was on her feet.
"What's going on?" The two guards ignored her words. Likely didn't even understand. They grabbed her, and Sam struggled out of obligation. The futility of her actions only drove Sam to new heights of desperation. They threw her into yet another room, the entrance sealing shut behind her. Sam immediately turned and slapped the wall with both hands.
"Come on!" Sam shouted to the guards on the other side of the door, if they were even still there. She had had enough of these games.
As she stood there staring at the sealed door, she heard a thudding whisper throughout her body. Felt it. Sam thought it was her heart, but came to realize it was too slow. Too steady. A rhythm that seemed to permeate the very atoms that surrounded her. Squeezing her. Sam froze. She heard breathing.
Long, slow inhalations. Exhaling with a soft rumble.
Turning slowly, ever so slowly, she could only blink at the creature on the far side of the room. Vaguely spherical, its body had a texture not unlike a human brain. It was over twice her height, covered with hundreds of tentacles. Some were short and thick, others extremely long and almost impossibly slender. Obsidian eyes, dozens of them, stared at her lidlessly. The creature was about thirty feet away, but it didn't feel nearly far enough.
Sam didn't dare to move. She watched the tentacles flex slightly. Listened to its breathing. Felt what she could only assume was its heartbeat. Dread filled her. So much that she could barely think. Too much. Yes, she was scared, but this was unnatural. Sam cocked her head, could this thing be affecting her somehow?
A tentacle whipped up, suddenly slapping the floor. Sam jumped.
Unworthy. The word was an ethereal hiss. Not spoken, it filled her head.
"Says who?" Sam tried to sound more certain than she felt.
Weak.
Sam narrowed her eyes. She wanted to say something, to refute, but nothing seemed adequate. Besides, she was weak. No matter what she did, she would never compare to Teal'c or the others. It barely registered to Sam that the creature was manipulating her. Somehow exagerating her responses. "Get out of my head."
Your friends will die for your failings.
"No," Sam said, overwhelmed with guilt. She tried to take a step back and immediately bumped into the wall. The tentacles wormed their way closer but Sam was oblivious to them. This was her fault. All her fault.
A tentacle grazed Sam's neck. An image, just a brief flash, filled her head. She saw the bodies of her teammates. Eviscerated. Awash in a sea of blood. She saw them clearly, Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c, their faces frozen in expressions of agony. The guilt filled her, flooded her. She was drowning in it. Sam struggled to breathe.
"Stop it!" Sam's voice wavered. "Stop it!"
They would be free if not for you.
More images of death filled her mind, as well as dispair. If only she had been more than dead weight. She had slowed them down. They had had to stop because of her. Why couldn't she have been stronger? Hot tears ran down her face. Sam couldn't see the absurdity of her own thoughts. The creature played on the doubts that Sam had harbored most of her life. Needling into the cracks of her own insecurities, emphasizing them. Expanding them. She couldn't fight it, because at her core she believed it all.
You killed them.
It mocked her. It taunted her. Over and over she saw them suffer, saw them die. Saw herself fail. Always failing when they needed her most. Guilt, dispair, and fear were all that existed. Filling her beyond bursting. Sam's head pounded.
Worthless.
Taken
Jacob watched the hyperspace window streak around them, his face drawn tight. Hammond had contacted the Tok'ra, told them of how SG-1 had gone missing while exploring strange occurrances on a planet. Once uninhabited, someone was there now. And to top everything off they could no longer even dial the stargate.
His stomach had been in knots ever since. Not even Selmak was a match for this dread.
Their nearest ship had been severay days travel from the planet. Jacob had insisted on going himself, meeting the cargo ship at a stargate along its course. No way he would stand back while his own daughter was in danger. They had no idea what condition SG-1 was in.
It is best to try to remain objective until we have more information. Selmak was worried just the same, but trying to use her reason to keep it in check.
Jacob wasn't feeling particularly reasonable. But Selmak was right, as she so often had a habit of doing. He nodded to himself, and exhaled sharply.
Pallok, who sat beside Jacob, started only slightly at this outburst. He watched the controls intently as he tried to avoid upsetting the other man. It had been a very long and quiet journey.
"We will be arriving shortly," Pallok said with obvious relief.
Jacob edged forward in his seat. They came out of hyperspace, and he blinked. Arriving as close to the planet as they had dared, the large object orbiting was plainly visible. It looked like rock, as if an asteroid of unprecedented proportions. It hung in front of the planet, forboding.
Looking down, Jacob saw the readout of an energy signature. Rapidly building. "Shit!"
He activated the ship's cloak and changed their trajectory in one frantic motion. Moments later several flashes were seen at the side of the asteroid. Projectiles tore through the space they would have occupied, rapidly cooling hunks of molten slag.
"That's a ship?" Pallok said. They both turned to each other with wide eyes.
"A very big one." Two Goa'uld motherships could have been housed inside, with room to spare.
Smaller objects began to detach from the ship. Fighters, Jacob immediately guessed as they broke off into formations. But they focused on the assumed path of the cargo ship, clearly unable to detect them now. They still had a chance.
"We need to go to the planet," Jacob said. If SG-1 wasn't down there still, then they were already lost.
The thought left him cold.
Taken
Returned to the world ship, Prefect Lan'sho rushed to the yammosk's den. Agitated, the war coordinator's tentacles writhed on the floor. Its eyes immediately locked on Lan'sho and it exhaled sharply. He came forward, stopping to stroke the creature's fleshy mass before gently touching his hand to the prominent blue vein that ran between its two middle eyes.
"Show me."
Lan'sho's consciousness expanded to that of the yammosk. He could see each coralskipper, the manned fighters that now patrolled for this unknown presence. Connected to the yammosk's mind, to its will, they flew in perfect synchronization. The search pattern radiated out from the last known location, focusing on the most likely trajectories. But they found no sign of this object.
"Continue to search," Lan'sho said. He stroked the yammosk once more, attempting to soothe. "We will find it."
Taken
Jack paced their prison. He couldn't keep still. It was impossible to truly keep track of time, but it had been days since they last saw Sam. Every time they were taken to this leader, who had since identified himself as Commander Yanog of domain Typ, Jack always demanded to know what had been done with her. Yanog never said more than that she had been found unworthy. Jack's mind kept running to the same conclusion, she was dead.
Sparing a glance at the others, he knew they both also feared the worst.
Teal'c had awoken shortly after the fray. They had been interrogated several more times since then, coming back each time with more injuries. The Commander was becoming more and more volatile. Jack knew it was just a question of time before he snapped and decided they weren't worth his time. It only made him more angry to know he couldn't do anything for his team. Not even the two he could still see.
Guards returned once more and dragged them back to the room they were all so well acquainted with now. Jack locked eyes with Yanog.
"Carter," he said simply.
The Yuuzhan Vong snarled sharply. "Yun-Yammka will gorge himself on your blood."
Jack didn't so much as blink.
"Who is Yun-Yammka?" Daniel said. Jack didn't understand how he could still care.
"Yun-Yammka is the Slayer, and he shall devour your souls. A small sacrifice, but perhaps he shall find you fitting. I will enjoy seeing you die."
"This Slayer is your deity? Please tell us about him. Let us understand your people." Jack saw it now, Daniel was stalling. Probing.
Either Yanog saw through it too, or he was simply through with them. "The time for talk is over. The priests await your presence."
For the first time since their capture, they were taken outside. Twilight had descended. Jack eyed the display. A large altar had been placed in the open area between the buildings. The altar itself was black, but long slender spikes like bleached bone jutted out towards the sky. Only the outer edges could be stood on, the middle rose up like a pillar.
The four Yuuzhan Vong at the base wore long black kilts that dragged behind them in long trains. Other than that, their bodies were on full display. Even more than Yanog, or any other Yuuzhan Vong they had yet seen, these were covered in scars and tattoos almost entirely. Jack looked at one who had had both ears removed. In their place collections of black spikes had been grafted, fanning out to give the vague impression of ears.
They chanted in their gutteral language. One grabbed an exotic dagger from the altar and spoke louder. He made one clean swipe through his palm, and clenched his fist so the blood dripped to the altar below. Each priest repeated the action, their blood pooling together.
Teal'c's head cocked curiously, and Jack frowned at him. Only a second later he heard it too. A familiar noise. The Yuuzhan Vong gathered looked up at the whining hum of energy. Each held their weapons more tightly at the unexplained noise.
Jack and Teal'c inched closer together, sandwiching Daniel between them.
When the cargo ship suddenly materialized there were shouts of alarm. The warriors threw their projectiles up, but against the hull they were all but useless. It only took moments for the transport rings to descend. One of the nearby guards didn't move, and was vaporized against the matter stream.
The rings had barely receded back into the hull when Jacob spoke. "Where's Sam?"
"I don't know," Jack said. They were already re-cloaked, and climbing out of the atmosphere.
"You don't know?"
Daniel wiped his face with both hands. "They took her away and won't tell us what they did with her. We haven't seen her in days."
Jack was between the two Tok'ra. Desperate, he waved at the console. "Can't you... scan or something?"
Jacob turned to look at Jack, incredulous. "We have been."
"Well, try again."
"Ships are already descending into the atmosphere. If we remain we may well be spotted," the other Tok'ra said.
Jack scowled. "We can't just leave her. Jacob, come on."
"Jack, Pallok's right." Jacob's voice was weary.
"What the hell is that?" Daniel peered out of the cockpit in disbelief. Jack looked up at the imposing object that hung in the distance.
"Their ship," Jacob said.
Jack perked up. "Have you looked there?"
"You are insane," Pallok said. Jack didn't even acknowledge him.
"We'd have to practically crawl up inside that thing to do a proper sensor sweep."
Jack merely cocked his head at Jacob. "And what's the problem?"
"We have no idea what kind of sensors they use, or anything about their technology for that matter. But even Goa'uld sensors could pick us up at that distance if they were looking. These guys know we're here already."
"This is Carter we're talking about." They needed to stay and find her.
"I don't like it, Jack. But this is a far bigger matter than just us now. We need to get what information we have back to Earth and the Tok'ra high council."
Jacob's reasoning didn't sway him. "She's your daughter, for crying out loud!"
Jacob slapped the panel in front of him and stood. He turned and looked Jack dead in the eye. Jack met his gaze. Several moments passed before Jacob's head drooped, and Selmak took control.
"And if she's on that ship, Colonel, what then? We attack?"
"If that's what it takes."
Selmak's eyes widened. "Do you even hear yourself? This ship is unarmed. We have a handful of weapons between us. There is nothing more we can do here at this time."
"Selmak is correct," Teal'c said, trying to diffuse the situation.
Jack didn't care about rationale. "Must be nice not to give a shit."
Selmak's eyes flashed brightly, and Jack found himself shoved against the near bulkhead before he could react. The Tok'ra held him tightly against the wall.
"Don't," Selmak warned sharply, "don't you dare presume that my feelings for Samantha are any less profound than Jacob's own. She is as my own child. All that may be accomplished here now is our own deaths, and that will not help Samantha in any way. If you truly think I am any less pained by this than you are, then you do not know me nearly as well as you suppose."
Selmak stared at him long and hard until Jack had to blink. Furious, he shoved away the Tok'ra, and Selmak let him. Jack stormed away towards the cargo room. When Daniel tried to speak, Jack simply pushed past him. He slapped the control pad heavily, shutting the door, and then screamed.
Taken
The yammosk vibrated in its den. Dozens of slaves massaged its tentacles, desperate to appease the creature. Tending to the beast was an arduous task, as its psychic energy bled into the workers. Sometimes it simply played with them for recreation, manipulating their emotions, or simply instructing them where or how to massage. Now they were simply bombarded by its agitation.
Despite its mental powers, the yammosk was a deceptively simple creature. Bred for a singular purpose, it's only imperative was to protect the dovin basals slaved to it. The dovin basals were able to manipulate gravity, serving as propulsion for the vessels that the Yuuzhan Vong employed. They could latch onto objects, even at great distances, and 'pull' the vessels towards them. Or, their energy could be focused to form micro singularities that could be used for defense, absorbing attacks.
By coordinating their efforts, it could ensure minimum losses to those under its care.
The yammosk was bonded to Lan'sho, an integral process for the effectiveness of a war coordinator. It trusted him completely, his orders and his intuition. Lan'sho had assured the yammosk that this invisible anomaly was a threat to its brood. That every step must be taken to locate and destroy it.
And because its charges were in danger from this unknown entity, the yammosk could not be soothed. The slaves' efforts were futile. It tracked the presence of each dovin basal intently. Devised patrols of maximum efficiency. There were at least a dozen coralskippers in every wing, and none were ever far from another contingent.
One wing picked up an energy trail. Faint. But the yammosk immediately recognized the signature from the previous events. With a keening wail, it reared up on several large tentacles. Slaves were sent flying. Those that could fled to the walls, banging on the closed door to be let out. Tentacles slapped down, the force killing three instantly.
Another wing found the trail again further off. Like a bloodhound, the yammosk clung to the scent. The coralskippers flew in seemingly random patterns. Each time they came across the signature it recalculated trajectories, refined the search. Other wings were worked in sweeping arcs in an attempt to trap the ship once located.
There was a burst of energy, an opening of a hyperspace window, near one of the patrols. The coralskippers fired, but the ship had already disappeared.
The yammosk roared.
Taken
Jacob swore to himself as he entered hyperspace. He and Selmak had barely seen it in time. The Yuuzhan Vong ships were almost on top of them before the flanking maneuver had revealed itself. Somehow their position had been tracked, and the effort masked in the multitude of patrols that passed by. Their coordination was staggering, as if each ship responded to the others intuitively.
After dropping everyone off at the nearest safe stargate, Jacob had returned to try and gather more information. In the wild hope of figuring out what had happened to Sam. As well as what these aliens were really up to. But it had taken less than a day for him to be discovered, and he had seen very little in that time.
All he knew was that they were all in trouble. That much seemed unmistakeable.
Taken
Sam laid on the floor, curled up tightly against the wall. Everything was a blur. She didn't really remember being taken up to the ship. In truth, she barely recalled the further sessions with the creature. She just came out more lost, more defeated. Sleep had been replaced by horrific nightmares, and she always awoke in tears. She could almost swear the thing was still in her head.
Why didn't they just kill her already? God, she wished they would. Hadn't she caused enough suffering? Sam supposed that death was simply too good for her. She deserved this pain in her chest, the guilt that felt like it was rotting away her insides. Why had she ever thought she deserved to be seen as equal?
The door slid open. Sam didn't move, didn't even open her eyes. Let them do what they will. She didn't even consider struggling, there was no point. She killed the ones she held as close as her own family. This was her comeuppance.
Nothing happened for a long time. Finally, curiosity got the best of her and Sam opened her eyes. She saw the woman from the base standing there. Simply looking at her. Sam watched the lazy swaying of her serpentine headdress. She let the movement lull her.
"Why are you doing this?" Sam said.
"To show you why you are unworthy."
"I know why I'm unworthy."
The woman gave the barest of nods. "Good."
"Kill me."
Sam's plea seemed to amuse her. "No."
"Why not? You said yourself that I'm unworthy."
"No, you are not worthy," she said. "Yet. But you will be."