After their three days of leave on Jolsic, the five members of Green Team and two members of Blue Team trudged back to the stargate together suffering from a massive hangover. Their welcome back celebration had been a huge event for the five villages on the planet, made even more joyous by the positive changes they observed within the men. They had become heroes to their people…and as soon as they had the opportunity they did the very unhero-like, yet culturally acceptable, deed of getting drop-dead drunk.
The two members of Blue Team didn't see this as a problem, aside from the pain they were now experiencing. Green Team, however, knew they'd get punished by Ronon upon their return for coming back unfit for duty. Two of them wanted to delay their return until the effects had worn off, but the third reminded them that Ronon would be just as pissed, if not more so, if they didn't return to Yavin on time…and they'd probably never be granted leave again.
One of the Blue Team members clumsily punched in the address for Yavin and misdialed in the process. The stargate didn't activate and the man was pushed aside by Ferris of Green Team.
"Idiot," he muttered as he dialed the correct address. The wormhole activated and the five men walked through.
In a nearby tree, high up in the branches above the gate, a tiny surveillance camera nailed into the wood of the trunk recorded with perfect clarity both the inaccurate address that went nowhere and the correct address for Yavin.
Forty three minutes later the data from the past hour was transmitted in a compressed burst to a nearby receiver that then relayed the intel through subspace to the Daedalus, where Dr. McKay then grumpily queried the gate system for the most recent spatial coordinates of the stargate in question…completely unaware that the coordinates were for another planet and not the city of Atlantis.
Teal'c stood outside the council chambers, mulling over if what he was about to do was wisdom or madness. Belatedly, he recognized his own hesitation and mentally scolded himself for it. Hesitation got one killed. He must act swiftly and with purpose. How long, he wondered, had he been like this? No more.
Teal'c slammed open the council doors and stormed into the meeting that he was late for. All eyes turned toward him, reprimand on their faces…which was quickly replaced by shock as Teal'c punched the nearest council member out of his seat.
"Teal'c!" Herran shouted in protest, to no avail. The former First Prime went on a rampage, attacking any and all council members within reach. Those on the other side of the room moved to restrain him, but he shook them off and slowly added them to his victims list.
Several council members, seeing the ease at which Teal'c defeated the others, bolted towards the open doors but Teal'c got back there first. He punched one in the throat, stunning but not killing him. He kicked aside the falling man and clothes-lined another trying to slip past. Four others stood opposite Teal'c on the other side of the chamber, Herran included.
"What are you doing!" the leader of the Jaffa Nation shouted.
"Releasing my burdens," Teal'c said sarcastically, kicking down one of the men struggling to stand back up. "Your collective greed and incompetence have doomed the Jaffa Nation to failure. I have tolerated your corruption in the hopes that some progress could be made. That was my error. I make it no longer," he said angrily, walking forward toward the remaining conscious council members.
A minute and a half later Teal'c walked out of the ornate doors unopposed by any guards rushing to the council's defense. It galled him even more to see the lack of proper security. The Jaffa were supposed to be a race of warriors…they were becoming a race of sniveling, incompetent bureaucrats.
Teal'c walked out of the capitol building without incident and made it halfway to the stargate before an alarm sounded throughout the city. He glanced back, feeling a fresh rush of adrenaline spike through his veins. He was a rogue once again, and for some inexplicable reason it just felt…right.
He turned and jogged off behind cover, making his way towards the stargate as quickly as possible.
When he arrived near the gate he found it guarded by two sentries. No others were visible in the area, though there were a number of nearby buildings that could have been concealing their presence.
Teal'c walked casually into view towards the dialing device. "Has anyone passed through the Chappa'ai within the last ten minutes?"
"No one," the nearest sentry said, blocking Teal'c's access to the dialing device. "I'm sorry, Master Teal'c. No one is permitted to leave until the 'all clear' sounds."
Teal'c stopped his advance just in front of the guard and bowed. "Very well," he said, raising his head and his fist at the same time. He hit the man under the chin, then pulled the Jaffa's zatnikatel from his grip and shot the other sentry.
Teal'c elbowed the first Jaffa in the head, knocking him a few feet distant, then shot him as well. He quickly dialed the gate, took one last look around for pursuers, then walked into the portal…feeling truly alive for the first time in years.