Jack kept his eyes focused squarely on the far wall. He concentrated on not showing his worry or discomfort. As far as torture went, this wasn't that bad. SG-1 had gotten out of worse scrapes with their hands literally tied behind their backs.
What had started as a routine recon mission had, as was becoming alarmingly common, gone FUBAR and the team had gotten separated. Sam and Teal'c had gone to find a good spot to take some sort of sciencey weather and atmospheric readings while Jack stayed with Daniel, picking through the ruins of what the archeologist theorized was either a communal dwelling or meeting place. With no writing to translate, he contented himself by digging in the dirt looking for all the world like a little kid playing in a sandbox.
So, Jack was a good toddler parent and sat down on a nearby wall to watch over his charge. He looked out over the horizon, watching for signs of the rest of the team returning from the top of the hill. He could see the tiny figure of Carter fiddling with her instruments, and the still hulking at a distance form of Teal'c dutifully standing at her side holding some gadget or gizmo to help her. When the initial readings from the MALP indicated two moons and a sun of some sort of (Jack had stopped listening) amazing proximity to the planet Carter had lost her ever-science-loving mind over getting to go. Daniel saw a hunk of collapsed wall on the video feed and immediately jumped on the we-have-to-go bandwagon.
That was how Jack O'Neill, decorated Air Force Colonel, multi-war veteran, inter-galactic ambassador of Earth, roguish space bachelor, found himself working on his tan, watching a grown man play in the dirt for hours on end. He unclipped his P-90 from its holster, shed his vest- piling it on top of Daniel's, and leaned back in the sun, trying to convince himself he was on a beach vacation. Daniel's thoughtful grunt brought him back to reality.
"Buried treasure, I hope," Jack hopped off the wall and walked over to get a closer look.
"Looks like a ring transporter," Daniel said, carefully brushing away lose dirt with one of his brushes.
"Alright, hands and feet outside the vehicle at all times." Standing in the middle of these things made Jack nervous. No good would come of it.
"There's no evidence of recent Goa'uld activity on this planet, Jack. We haven't seen any signs of life. It's fine." Daniel continued to play in the dirt. Jack grabbed him by the back of his shirt, pulling him to his feet.
"No touching," he ordered.
"Jack," Daniel whined, not helping his little kid in the sandbox image. "The controls are long gone. Noth-" he cut himself off as the familiar woosh surrounded him.
They found themselves on a Goa'uld mothership surrounded by five armed Jaffa
"This my fault because I was going to say 'nothing is going to happen,'" Daniel admitted.
"No one should ever say that," Jack reminded him. "Especially when one finds oneself standing in a set of rings."
Daniel nodded thoughtfully. "I always forget that rule."
"So, weapons?" Jack looked around for inventory, carefully ignoring the frowning Jaffa that surrounded them. He cursed himself for becoming comfortable enough to put his P-90 down. It was an amateur move.
"I have…"Daniel patted his pockets. "A trowel, a pick, and a set of brushes," he spotted his tool kit on the ground at his feet. "You?"
"A pistol with no extra rounds." Jack waved the basically useless 9mm around.
"So, hands up?" Daniel asked. It was a careful act. Ignoring the obvious danger, in order to throw off the bad guys and waste a bit of time taking in their surrounding before admitting they had been caught and surrendering.
Jack shrugged. "May as well." They knew they were screwed as soon as the rings activated. Not surrendering hadn't been an option. But, at least they could pretend it was on their terms. They each put up their hands and Jack allowed a jaffa to take his weapon.
Daniel felt a tug at the back of his hips as something was removed. "Aw, I had a field knife," he groaned, looking at Jack. "Still, though, hands up."
"Yeah, probably."
"Silence!" The first prime ordered them.
"Yeah, we're not very good at that," Daniel warned him.
"To be honest, we're flat out bad at it," Jack admitted.
"We really are."
"You will not be so bold when you face your god," the first prime sneered.
"We'll probably be worse," Jack looked to Daniel for confirmation.
"We really will," he agreed. "Plus, whoever you work for isn't really a god."
"Just a snakehead."
"If he were a real god I'd have some questions for him," Daniel continued.
"Kegalo!" The first prime lashed out with his staff weapon, hitting Daniel in the jaw with the end, knocking his glasses off. "Tal'bet!"
"Guess we found where the line is," Daniel mumbled, spitting blood onto the floor.
"Jaffa, kree!" The first prime called to his soldiers before starting to give orders.
"Oh, yay. They're going to kree something," Jack said, helping Daniel stand up-right. "What are they saying?"
"He told me to shut up and surrender and he's telling them to separate us."
"Can't say we didn't bring that on ourselves," Jack admitted.
And that was how Jack found himself alone with Aten, a minor system lord vying for power, restrained by the wrists and ankles to some alien electric chair being interrogated.
"Your people are so foolish they thought I would not see what you were doing?" Aten demanded.
"We weren't doing anything," Jack told him. "Your moons looked neat, we came to have a picnic."
"I have heard tales of the Tau'ri and your insistence of meddling in affairs you do not understand."
"Funny, no one's mentioned you."
The Goa'uld gave the signal and Jack's body seized as volts of electricity coursed through them.
"What weapons do you poses?" Aten demanded, suspiciously standing a safe distance away from his prisoner. Jack didn't take the Goa'uld's reluctance to get too close to him for granted, but it did fuel his rebellion. Snake-heads loved to show off their power and gloat. When they felt confident they got in your face, did their best to make you feel hopeless. This joke of a system lord wouldn't come within four feet of Jack, even with him restrained. There was hesitance. That was all Jack needed to find his in. "What weapons do you poses?" Aten repeated.
"A trowel and some brushes, but your minions already took those off us."
The signal was given, and Jack's body went rigid.
"What defenses does your home world poses?"
"The insanity defense is pretty popular."
Again the signal was given.
"Tell me what I wish to know, and the pain will stop," Aten told him, trying to hide his annoyance.
"Eh," Jack shrugged despite the protest from every muscle in his body. Even those muscles not needed to move his shoulders protested in sympathy. "My chiropractor has something like this. I'm used to it."
Frowning, Aten turned to the jaffa guard at the door. "Shal'ta," he ordered. The jaffa bowed before leaving the room.
Jack kept his eyes focused squarely on the far wall. He concentrated on not showing his worry or discomfort. As far as torture went, this wasn't that bad. SG-1 had gotten out of worse scrapes with their hands literally tied behind their backs. Sam and Teal'c were still out there, which meant it was only a matter of time before they showed up to save the day. All he and Daniel had to do was hold on until help arrived.
He concentrated on regulating his breathing and keeping his face passive. Torture 101: don't show any weakness, keep your breathing under control and your mind occupied- Jack liked to recite baseball stats. He was reviewing the current roster of the Colorado Rockies and calculating how many games they had to win to take the National League title when a commotion in the hallway caught his attention.
Daniel was dragged, under great protest, into the room by the first prime and a jaffa solider. His wrists were bound, his face bruised, lip split, and nose bleeding. Jack couldn't help but be a little proud; the kid sure could take a beating. Daniel was pushed to his knees, facing away from Jack, forced to bow to Aten. The Goa'uld grabbed a fist full of his hair, pulling his head back. Daniel grit his teeth and set his jaw as Aten leaned into his face until they were nose to nose. Jack kept quiet, Aten was much more confident around Daniel. If Jack stepped in now it would confirm that the archeologist was the weak link of the pair.
"Who do you serve?" Aten asked.
"I'm not much of a follower," Daniel said in a low tone, trying to sound tough. "You're Aten, right?"
"I am your god and you will address me as such."
"Where I come from, Aten is just a lesser known form of Ra," Daniel continued. "You're not even your own god. Just a has been created by Amenhotep IV in an attempt to create his own religion."
"Insolence!" Aten grabbed Daniel by the throat. Instinctually, Daniel grabbed at Aten's wrist trying to pull him off but with the restriction of the cord binding his wrists together he couldn't get a good grip or do much more than annoy the god.
"You should know," Daniel rasped out. "Horemheb came around and basically snuffed you out of history. No one remembers you."
Enraged, Aten pushed Daniel to the floor and kicked him for good measure.
"Give 'em hell, Dannyboy," Jack encouraged him.
Daniel turned to face Jack, he had been so set on fighting the jaffa he hadn't noticed Jack was there. It felt good to have support. He knew better than to attempt to stand up, so he stayed kneeling, but chose to face Jack defiantly keeping his back to the supposed god. Aten said something to his first prime who had been interrogating Daniel, apparently with as much success as Aten was having with Jack.
Surreptitiously, Daniel tilted his head to hear better, glancing at Jack from the corner of his eye as he translated the conversation. Jack watched him anxiously, looking for any communication Daniel may attempt, but the only give was the rapidly increasingly breathing and color draining from his face. Daniel swallowed hard and looked at Jack.
Crap. Scared civilians didn't make for good soldiers.
"This is the best the Tau'ri have to offer," Aten sneered addressing his captives again. "An old man and a boy."
"Last I checked you hadn't gotten anything you wanted," Jack reminded him, trying to distract Aten so Daniel could compose himself.
Aten kicked Daniel in the ribs. "I will have my answers," he assured Jack.
"You've got your answers," Jack said, dismissively. "It's not our fault you don't like them."
Aten kicked Daniel again. "Your words do not match your disposition," he said, confident. "You will tell me what I wish to know." He stepped on Daniel's ankle, making him yell out in pain before he could stop himself.
Jack sat up, alert. His eyes flicked back and forth between Aten and Daniel. He realized what had the archeologist on edge. They were going to use him to get Jack to talk. Another kick to the ribs sent Daniel to the floor, curling into himself, protecting his chest from further attack.
"Do what you want with him," Jack said with all the bravado he could muster. "This is what we signed up for; I'm not telling you shit."
"Then your friend will wish for death."
"Danny," Jack turned his attention to the battered young man on the ground. "You got this." It wasn't a question, it was an order. "You keep quiet and let me handle it."
Aten barked out laughing. "He will be silent, I assure you that." He turned to his first prime and started speaking again. Two jaffa bowed and left the room.
Daniel's eyes snapped open, pleading with Jack from the floor. He did not have this. A few bumps and bruises he could handle. Broken bones weren't a problem. Death wasn't even that much of a bother. But what was in store was something he could not handle.
'Please' he mouthed to Jack.
Jack frowned. Great. They hadn't even started and already Daniel was ready to break. What had they said? He really needed to learn the damn language.
The two jaffa returned and Daniel pulled tighter into himself forming an impressively small ball. One of the jaffa was holding some sort of a necklace. Sure it as gaudy, but what about it had Daniel so scared?
"Zuse!" Jack reminded Daniel as the first prime forced him back up onto his knees. "Hera, Poseidon, Hercules, Xena!" Jack liked baseball stats, Daniel had been taught to recite the pantheons of gods to distract himself from torture. It had never been put to the test in the field. In training he did well.
The jaffa stripped Daniel of his shirts, leaving him bare chested in the cold air. Jack took in a breath, the kid had bruises on his torso and shoulders. He had taken one hell of a beating before being brought to Aten. He was shaking from cold and fear as they approached him with the necklace.
"Zuse," Jack repeated urgently, hoping the Goa'uld would assume it was a code.
"Jupiter," Daniel answered, his voice caught in his throat.
"Poseidon."
"Mercury."
"Aries."
Daniel took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut, preparing himself. "Mars."
"Aphrodite."
They draped the necklace over Daniel's head. It sat wide on his shoulders, falling down his chest and several inches down his back. Daniel winced as it made contact with his skin.
"Venu-" the word cut off, though Daniel's mouth finished forming it. 'Venus' he mouthed, eyes opening.
Jack tried to make eye contact, but Daniel stared wide-eyed and unfocused at nothing.
'Jack?' his mouth formed the word, but nothing came out. 'Jack?' he tried again, grabbing at the golden weight on his chest. There was a spark and a pop which he couldn't see or hear, but he felt his muscles contract simultaneously. Jack watched in horror as Daniel's face contorted in pain and a scream formed escaping his lungs but not his lips.
Aten smirked as the electricity stopped and Daniel went limp, falling uncontrolled to the floor.
"Now that we've come to an understanding," he said directing his smug words to Jack. "Tell me of the Tau'ri."