Part IV: Friendship Hurts
The commissary was nearly empty when Daniel entered.
It was almost two in the morning, so he hadn't expected to see many people up and about. He was out of luck, however. As soon as he entered, four sets of eyes turned towards him. Daniel immediately recognized Louis Feretti and realized that SG-2 must have just come back from a mission. Feretti had a habit of dragging his team to the commissary after being discharged from the infirmary, which must have been what had happened today. There were a few other people scattered around the commissary, some he recognized and some he didn't. Daniel nodded in acknowledgement towards SG-2 and quickly made his way towards the coffee machine, where he poured himself a cup.
He felt uncomfortable, as if everyone was watching him and judging him. It didn't help that he was the only one in the room dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. He felt as he had when he'd first come to Cheyenne Mountain, like an outsider. Even though he'd worked with the people sitting at the table a few feet from him for years, he felt as if he didn't know them. Daniel fought the urge to walk out of the commissary as fast as he could, instead choosing to sit at one of the empty tables close to the back of the room.
He had been assigned one of the VIP rooms for the night to rest for the early morning mission he and Jack were to go on with SG-3. While he'd tried to get some sleep, he'd been unable to do so. His mind had been on overdrive ever since he'd set foot on the base and nothing Daniel did got it to slow down enough to grant him some peace. When he did manage to relax enough to fall asleep, Daniel ended up having dreams that were disturbing enough to wake him up. He'd decided to come for coffee after several hours of fitful sleep had left him tired and on edge. He didn't want to talk to anyone, but he didn't want to be cooped up alone in the VIP room either.
"Hey, Doc," Feretti said as he took a seat directly in front of Daniel. "How's it going? I didn't expect to see you back."
"Neither did I, Feretti," Daniel replied. "How was the mission?"
Feretti smiled. He seemed at ease with Daniel, as if a year hadn't passed since the last time they'd done this. Daniel returned the smile, feeling a bit better about being there. It seemed like old times, sitting in the commissary, talking to Feretti after staying on the base to finish up some work. He'd often wandered to the commissary for coffee after one of those nights only to find Feretti with his team. The Major would always make it a point to come over and talk to him, and they'd spend the time mostly reminiscing about old times or talking about their various missions. They'd developed a friendship, which Daniel had missed.
"The mission was fine. You know, the kind that we all wish we had all the time. Friendly natives, no Goa'uld. What brings you here?"
Daniel took a sip of his hot coffee and grimaced slightly at the taste. "I'd forgotten how bitter this was."
Feretti laughed. "Civilian coffee is that much better, huh?"
"It is when I buy it for myself," Daniel replied, also laughing.
He relaxed a bit as he usually did when talking to Feretti. Talking to the major wasn't like talking to Jack, because Feretti didn't know everything about him like Jack did. Daniel could evade and avoid subjects knowing that Feretti would never catch it.
"You're avoiding my question, Doc."
Daniel sighed. "I take it you haven't had a chance to talk to either Jack or the general?"
"No. SG-1 is off-world on a mission, or they were when I last checked in a few days ago. What happened? SG-2 has been off-world for two weeks and I haven't had a chance to catch up on everything."
"Jack is actually on base," Daniel corrected. "He's probably sleeping somewhere. The rest of SG-1 is missing," he stated and filled Feretti in on what happened. "That's why I'm here. Jack went to Los Angeles to find me because he thought I could help. We're going to the planet tomorrow with SG- 3."
"I want to go with you," he immediately stated. "I'm not sure if Hammond will approve the mission, since SG-2 just returned, but I'll do my best."
"What about the rest of the team? Will they be okay with it?"
"Are you kidding? SG-1 is legendary. You know that, Daniel. Anyone on the base would do anything for them, and for you," Feretti said. "They'd be happy to help."
****
Jack O'Neill was wandering the halls of the SGC. He had tried to sleep but had been unable to relax enough to do so. Instead of lying in bed, tossing and turning, he'd decided to walk. A good, brisk walk had a way of clearing his head that worked better than anything else he'd ever tried, and at this point, Jack was desperate. The events of the last few days, plus his injuries from his last mission, had left him cranky and irritable. He wasn't going to be any good to anyone tomorrow if he didn't get some sleep and settle down, but he didn't see how he could do that.
It was late at night so he didn't expect to run into anyone and hadn't so far. He walked quickly, hoping to work off some of his excess energy. He stopped suddenly, unaware that he had been heading in any particular direction until he'd reached it. Jack looked up and was surprised to find himself in front of what used to be Daniel's office. He hadn't been in this part of the base since the office had been reassigned about ten months ago and it surprised Jack to realize that just because Daniel was on the base, he'd expected to find the archaeologist in his office. What surprised Jack even more, however, was the fact that he'd immediately headed in this direction when he started feeling restless, automatically assuming that Daniel would be willing to listen to whatever was troubling him as he had done for many years. It was ironic that old habits died hard, no matter how much time passed.
He wanted a friendly ear right now, someone to talk to about the mission and about what could be happening to Sam, Teal'c and Michaels. Daniel always listened, which is probably why Jack had headed to the office in the first place
Jack was worried about his missing team members. For all he knew, they could be dead or in the process of being tortured. The thought of them suffering somewhere below the godforsaken planet frightened Jack, especially because he wasn't there to experience the situation with them. He might not necessarily be able to help them escape or prevent the torture from happening, but he would be where he belonged. Jack was a military man, a man of action, who was intimately familiar with the dark hearts of jailers and torturers. He didn't have to use much of his imagination to imagine what prisoners went through during capture. What made this situation worse was that SG-1 was possibly being kept by Heru'ur, a sadistic and deadly Goa'uld who had no qualms at all about killing for information, or simply for the sheer joy of it.
At the same time, Jack was worried about Daniel, who had never really stopped being a member of his team. Daniel might not have physically been around for the past year, but in Jack's thoughts, he had been. He'd managed to pay attention to the archaeologist enough times and had learned a bit about the things the man held dear. It was hard not to pay attention to Daniel, because the man spent much of his time talking about one thing or another that had caught his fancy. No matter how hard Jack tried to ignore him, some of the things Daniel had told him over the years had made their way into his head and gotten stuck there. But Jack would never tell Daniel that. It would spoil his fun.
Jack smiled and stared at the closed door to what used to be Daniel's office. He didn't know who occupied the space at the moment, nor was that fact important. In a way it was disheartening for him, because if by some chance Daniel decided to stay, his office would be gone. But just as quickly as the thought had come, Jack pushed it away. Daniel probably didn't want to stay at the SGC anymore. Why would he, when he could go back to his quiet life in academia and his attentive students?
"Old habits die hard?"
Jack looked away from the door, startled. He found Daniel standing a few feet away, starting at him.
"I could ask you the same thing."
Daniel shrugged. "I just wanted to see if anyone had occupied the office."
"Why, did you want it back?" Jack asked, the question coming out a bit harsher than he'd intended. His anger at himself for wanting Daniel back at the SGC, even though he was sure Daniel didn't want to stay, tinged his response before Jack could help it. The reply sounded almost accusatory to him and he wished he could take it back, especially after seeing the frown appear on Daniel's face.
"No, I don't think so," Daniel replied quickly, reacting to Jack's tone more than to the question itself. "Besides, I never really belonged here."
"What makes you say that?" Jack asked, his voice a bit softer and less edgier.
"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps it's the military atmosphere." Daniel took a couple of steps closer to Jack and leaned against the wall, watching the older man. "Or maybe it's the fact that I could never quite get myself to follow orders."
"That never stopped you before. As a matter of fact, you seemed quite content to point out to anyone who'd listen, namely me, that you were a civilian and didn't have to follow orders."
"It must be nice to finally have someone who does, then."
The silence that followed was deafening. Both men stood uncomfortably, avoiding each other's eyes. Daniel crossed his arms and sighed.
"It has its moments," Jack finally replied. "I bet you're happy where you are, having people actually listen to you and hang on your every word."
"It has its moments," Daniel stated, deliberately using Jack's own words. "Those kids don't have a choice but to listen to me. If they don't, they fail and won't be getting that doctorate they've been working so hard for."
Jack nodded and decided to just get it over with. He had nothing to lose, so he might as well ask Daniel what he'd been wondering since he'd stepped into the lecture at UCLA. "Are you happy there, Daniel? Is teaching what you want to do?"
Daniel frowned and seemed caught off-guard by the question.
"I was teaching before I joined the SGC, Jack. I started teaching right after getting my doctorates, so yes it's something I love to do."
Jack stared at Daniel, finally hearing the answer he'd been looking for. It hadn't been the one he wanted to hear, but it was the one he'd gotten and he couldn't do much about it, just as he hadn't been able to keep Daniel from leaving in the first place.
"I'm happy for you, Danny. I'm glad that you've found the place where you belong."
****
"Okay, this is strange," Jason Michaels remarked as he poked at the assorted trays in front of him. One particular dish of what looked to be diced beets caught his eye. "What the hell is this stuff?"
"That is called potem'k," Teal'c replied, glancing at the dish the captain was pointing at. "It is the chopped liver of a Tomak beast. It is considered a Goa'uld delicacy."
Michaels made a disgusted face at the dish. "Are we supposed to feel honored at being given this stuff?"
It was night time, or at least he thought it was. His watch read 1900 hours which would be approximately dinner time. He had no way to tell if it was night, because they had no windows. On the upside, the three of them had been moved to what appeared to be a suite, with a central area and three separate bedrooms. He'd been concerned that they'd be separated and had been glad when it hadn't happened. They could better plot their escape if they were together.
"Indeed you are, Captain Michaels. Seshat is behaving in accordance to Goa'uld tradition. Until her lord arrives, she is the ruler of this world and it is her duty to see to her guests."
"So she sees us as her guests?" Sam asked, taking a peek at the dish Michaels was making faces at. "Or are we just prisoners?"
"Unless we give her a reason to mistrust us, she will very likely be courteous and attentive and she will not kill us. However, she will not release us. She must await the arrival of her lord to do so."
Sam nodded, agreeing with what Teal'c had just said. It just seemed strange to be a guest of the Goa'uld. Prisoner would be more like it. At least they didn't have to put up with a cold, damp cell. "So who is her lord and how long until they get here?"
Neither Teal'c nor Michaels said anything and Sam could see that Teal'c had something on his mind. "Teal'c, do you know what is going on?"
Teal'c nodded once in affirmation. "I believe that Seshat is the scribe to Heru'ur."
"What? How can you be so sure?"
"The Jaffa in this complex bear his symbol of the hawk. I did not see it at first, while we were on the surface, but I noticed it when we were taken out of our rooms. It could be no one else."
Sam sighed, trying to stop the panic from climbing up from the pit of her stomach. "This is wonderful, just wonderful. Why couldn't we catch a break just once?"
Michaels looked from one to the other, confused. "Have you had dealings with Heru'ur before?"
"Oh, yes… with him and both of his parents," Sam replied.
Michaels frowned, his confusion growing. He recalled everything he knew about the man to see if he could make sense of what the major had said. As far as he knew, Heru'ur was one of the Egyptian Sky Gods and the God of Revenge. He was the son of Hathor and Ra, two of the most powerful Egyptian deities, who had also been two very powerful and influential Goa'uld System Lords.
"How exactly have you had run-ins with him and his parents?"
Sam narrowed her eyes at the Captain. "You didn't read all the mission reports before joining SG-1, did you Captain?"
"No, Major, I didn't. I was attempting to familiarize myself with Egyptian culture, myths and languages because I knew I'd need that."
She shook her head, radiating disappointment.
"Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson killed Ra on Abydos and freed the Abydonian people from Ra's rule," Sam explained. "Hathor was freed from her sarcophagus on Earth and made her way to the SGC where she drugged all of the males and attempted to procreate," Sam shuddered at the images of Hathor in that vat of water, surrounded by the men of the SGC. She shuddered even more still at the image of Daniel, disheveled and disoriented, in the VIP room.
"She tried to take over?"
"Hathor was later killed by Colonel O'Neill after she implanted him with a Goa'uld. As far as Heru'ur goes, SG-1 ran into him on Cimmeria where he invaded the planet and tried to take over. The people of Cimmeria, and SG- 1, with the help of Thor and the Asgard, managed to get rid of him."
"Those are some dealings," Michaels muttered, in awe of the action his new team had seen in their travels through the Stargate. He would have loved to be with them during that time.
"That is not all, Captain Michaels," Teal'c said. "Daniel Jackson led Apophis to believe that Heru'ur had kidnapped his newborn son when in reality, Daniel Jackson took the boy and left him with Kasuf, the leader of the Abydonian people."
"Why would Dr. Jackson want to do that?"
"He did it because Daniel Jackson's wife, Sha'uri, asked him to take care of her son."
"I thought you said Dr. Jackson took Apophis' son?" Michaels asked, clearly confused.
"It was the child of Apophis and Sha'uri that Daniel Jackson was protecting, at the request of his wife."
"Read the reports, Captain. You'd be surprised at how much you can learn," Sam interrupted. "The point is that Heru'ur knows us. Two members of our team are responsible for the death of both of his parents, which isn't something that he particularly likes. Not because he's mourning their deaths, but because Heru'ur has inherited a lot more power since then. However, the deaths of Hathor and Ra were an attack on a Goa'uld System Lord, something no respectable System Lord would let us get away with. Not to mention that he blames us for not being able to conquer Cimmeria. He is not going to be happy to see us here."
Sam paused momentarily, as if debating whether to say what she wanted to say. After a small pause, she returned her gaze to Michaels. "If you would have taken the time to familiarize yourself with our missions and the enemies we've made, as you should have done before stepping through the Stargate, you'd be a lot better prepared to deal with the situations that arise in the field." She turned away from the man. "Daniel would never have been that unprepared," she muttered under her breath, but loud enough so that both Michaels and Teal'c heard the comment.
Michaels tensed and glared at the back of the major's head, but kept silent.
"That is why we must escape before Heru'ur arrives," Teal'c added, noting the rising tension in the room. "I do not believe that he would undertake a long journey without his scribe, so it is likely that Heru'ur will be returning in a short span of time."
"I agree. First thing tomorrow, we try to get Seshat to show us around the complex. You know, a general tour of the place. From there, we'll be better able to see where we are and how to get out of here. For now, we eat and rest. We won't be any good tomorrow if we're weak and sleep deprived," Sam made her way over to the dinner trays. She picked up some fruit and settled down on one of the comfortable chairs, lost in her own thoughts.
Michaels followed the major's lead and put some of the food on one of the small plates. He walked over to a couch and sat down, turning away from where Major Carter had sat. He could see Teal'c on the floor, meditating and winced a bit at the thought of sitting on the floor in a fixed position for any length of time.
He couldn't help but feel a bit like an outsider. He had only been part of the SGC, known everything there is to know about the enemies of Earth, for only four months. That was hardly ample time to become familiar with it all, much less comfortable. The major's expression while telling him about SG-1's previous missions had been one of impatience, which he resented. He'd tried to do the research, but he'd decided to concentrate on Egypt and the other ancient cultures instead of SG-1, because he figured that SG-1 would fill him in on anything he needed to know. He had heard that SG-1 had undertaken some interesting and dangerous missions, but he'd never thought that they'd gone up against Egyptian Gods. And to think that during every one of those missions, they'd had a civilian archaeologist with them to baby-sit. It had to have gotten irritating for the officers having to put up with the guy. On the other hand, the way SG-1 and several other people on the base defended Dr. Jackson, he must not have been that much of a nuisance.
Not for the first time, Michaels wished that the shadow of Daniel Jackson didn't travel with them wherever they went. He couldn't help but feel that the remaining members of SG-1 couldn't give him a shot at actually fitting into the team because Jackson was always along in their minds. They couldn't look at him as a competent person in his own right, because all they could think of was what he couldn't offer them that Jackson had been able to. He'd already proven them right on this mission, having completely missed the fact that there was even a connection between Seshat and Heru'ur. Not that there was any way he could have realized that there *was* a connection to be made. After all, the Egyptian mythology stuff was *very* new to him. Michaels wondered if Colonel O'Neill would have turned back if he'd told him that on the surface. Would they have gone back to the Stargate instead of exploring the forest? From Major Carter's reaction, he was starting to think that the colonel would never have endangered them and would have ordered them back home.
He sighed and glanced down at the food on his plate. If it was ever appetizing, it wasn't any longer. Michaels took the plate and set it down next to the trays. He was going to retire to his room, but Major Carter's eyes on him stopped him. He didn't know why, but instead of continuing on to his room, he made his way over to her.
"With all due respect, Major, I'm not Dr. Jackson and I never claimed to be. It's not my fault he decided to resign."
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Once they were out, he was shocked at what he'd said.
"I'm sorry, Major, that was out of line," he said quickly and began to make his way towards his room.
"Captain, wait," she called to him and he stopped. Slowly he turned around and saw her motioning for him to sit on one of the chairs beside the couch. "I think we need to talk."
Michaels reluctantly did as he was told and settled down on one of the chairs. He looked up at the major momentarily, before looking away.
"What makes you think that we expect you to be like Daniel?" she asked.
"You never talk about him, but he's always with us. The colonel doesn't say it, but I can tell that he's always impatient with me and I can't help thinking that in his mind, he's saying something like 'Dr. Jackson would have done this faster'. You and Teal'c seem to expect me to know this stuff, but ancient cultures aren't my specialty. I learned the history and the ancient languages so that I could better fit into SG-1, but so far it hasn't done any good."
Sam remained quiet, digesting what the man had said. After a few uncomfortable minutes, she offered a reply.
"We don't talk about Daniel because it's hard for us to. His resignation was a sudden and completely unexpected thing that none of us were ever able to understand. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel a bit betrayed that he left us, but he had his reasons. He was our friend and we'd gone through many hard situations together. That builds trust and a bond that we still have, even if he isn't here. But just because I still think of him and consider him my friend doesn't mean that I can't accept you or your talents and what you bring to the team."
Michaels heard the words and noticed the sadness that underlined them. He'd heard rumors that Major Carter and Dr. Jackson had been dating, but he had never believed them. He didn't believe them now. Whatever Major Carter had felt for the man, it wasn't that kind of love.
"What about the colonel?"
Sam smiled. "He's a unique individual, believe me. Daniel was a very good friend to him and his departure hit him very hard. I've read the mission report from the first Abydos mission, so I know a bit of how they met and how their friendship started. Daniel used to say that the colonel taught of him as 'an allergy ridden geek who was not good for much.'" She smiled as she quoted Daniel's version of Colonel O'Neill's initial impression of him. "The point is that Colonel O'Neill is impatient with you, as he is with any of us who are taking too long or when he gets bored. Trust me, he yelled at Daniel plenty of times for taking too long or for going on and on about subjects he didn't think were interesting or necessary. It's not you; it's the colonel's personality."
Michaels nodded once, hearing and understanding everything she'd said. "I'm a military man, Major. I plan on being one for the rest of my life. Being assigned to SG-1 was an incredible boost to my career and I'm very happy to be here. I want to be an active member of the team, not just a reminder of someone you've lost."
"Daniel Jackson will always be a part of SG-1, Captain Michaels. But that does not mean that you can not be a part of SG-1 as well," Teal'c said from his position on the floor. He'd apparently ended his meditation when he'd heard what they were talking about.
"He's right. Don't misinterpret what we do or how we act, Jason. Give us a couple of years and you'll get used to us," Sam said, smiling slightly.
"Thank you, Major, Teal'c. I understand the situation a bit better now. Have a good night," he said and retreated to his room, leaving a worried Sam Carter behind.
****
"Would you care to tell me what you're doing here?"
Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath when he heard the grating voice. He slowly released the breath but did not get up from the chair he was sitting on, nor did he turn around to face the woman. He waited until she had fully entered the room and was standing in front of him before speaking.
"Half of these books used to be mine, which gives me a right to use them," he said, gesturing with his hands to the bookshelves that lined the walls of the small room.
Daniel had set the room he was in as a mini library for the entire department when he'd first arrived at the SGC and had used a lot of his old books so that everyone would have access to the same research materials. He had rarely had to use it himself, since he had his own research materials in his office. He didn't have his books with him right now, so he had been forced to come to the library to read up on Seshat in particular and Egyptian scribes in general. He hadn't expected to run into Ms. 'Huge Chip On Her Shoulder' at that hour of the morning.
"It's almost seven in the morning, Dr. Lovell. Give it up," Daniel added when the woman's face contorted with barely controlled rage.
"You have some nerve, you know that Dr. Jackson? You come in here as if nothing had happened. Need I remind you that you willingly left your job because you couldn't face the fact that your mistake cost hundreds of people their lives? How dare you just show your face again? Believe me, the pain isn't gone and it will never be," Lovell said, standing in front of Daniel's chair, her hands on her hips.
Hearing the woman standing in front of him remind him of the events leading to his resignation made Daniel's blood boil. He set the book he'd rested on his lap aside and quickly got up from the chair, making Lovell take a step back.
"You have no idea what happened on Aurora, because you weren't there," Daniel began, his voice low and very cold. "Furthermore, you have no idea what I've already put myself through because of the innocent lives that were lost. Believe me, it hasn't been a picnic for me either. Daniel paused and glared at Lovell. "Jack was right; all you did was get lucky on one translation. That doesn't make you any better than me or anyone else for that matter."
Daniel took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and not overreact to Lovell's hurtful words. She wanted to hurt him and was doing an admirable job of it. Daniel didn't want to give her the satisfaction of seeing him lose control.
"I'm not after your job, Dr. Lovell. I'm here because I want to help my friends make it back from whatever hellhole they find themselves in. It's a noble concept you know. But I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that, seeing as how you don't do anything that doesn't suit you."
"Oh, and you expect me to believe that you're some kind of saint? How many times did you manage to talk people into giving you what you wanted while you were here? As I recall, you could do no wrong," Lovell snapped at him. "You ran the department however you wanted and no one ever said anything to you."
"At least I ran the department. All you've managed to do is hire incompetent people who have no clue about what they're supposed to know."
Lovell frowned. "You're insulting my staff now, too? How pathetic."
"I wouldn't be here if Captain Michaels, who had to have been approved by you prior to his assignment to SG-1, had known the first thing about Egyptian scribes," Daniel said. "He made a mistake and Sam and Teal'c are now paying for it."
Lovell actually smirked at the comment. "You would know something about making mistakes, wouldn't you Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel looked at the woman, momentarily speechless. After a few minutes, he began to laugh. It was a bitter, harsh sound that made Lovell wince.
"You're definitely a piece of work, Dr. Lovell. However, you're not worth it, not by a long shot. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a mission to go on," Daniel said and without another word, left the room.
****
"Daniel, you're late!" Daniel heard Jack yell as he entered the embarkation room.
"Sorry, Jack. Too much coffee and too many things on my mind, not to mention a certain pissed off linguist," Daniel absently mumbled as he tried to get the holster properly situated around his thigh, Lovell's words still screaming though his head. He'd always hated the thigh holsters, because they were heavy and tended to come loose. The old fashion waist holsters would have worked much better. He glanced up and saw Jack standing at the end of the ramp facing SG-3 and Louis Feretti of SG-2. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to go, so Daniel made his way to stand next to Feretti.
"I told you I'd be coming along, Doc. Hammond wouldn't allow the rest of my team to tag along, though," Feretti said and clapped Daniel on the back.
"Thanks, Feretti."
"Okay, people. For those of you who don't know, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, SG-1's former archaeologist, now retired," Jack said to the gathered team. "He's come out of retirement to join us on this mission because of his expertise in ancient Egyptian culture. He's already given us some information on who we're going to find on that planet, so I hope you all read your pre-mission reports." Jack rearranged his MP-5, before continuing. "Our orders are simple. We are to infiltrate the underground compound and extract the rest of SG-1. Hopefully, we can do this with as little violence as possible. However, that is usually not the case when dealing with the Goa'uld, so be prepared for the worst. Major Thompson, since your team has already done reconnaissance on the planet, you will take point and lead us to where you saw the Jaffa exit. Are there any questions?"
The Stargate burst to life behind Jack, giving the room and its occupants a bluish glow.
"Good," Jack said when no one spoke up. "Let's move out."
As SG-3 was making their way up the ramp, Daniel caught a bit of a conversation.
"What the hell do we need with a civilian on this mission? He's going to get us all killed," Forester of SG-3 was telling one of his team members.
Daniel, who would have normally let a comment like that go, was not in a good enough mood to put up with it. He'd had practically no sleep the night before and was feeling particularly irritable, especially after the heated conversation with Lovell. Without a word to either Jack or Feretti, who had both heard the comment, Daniel made his way over to the two members of SG- 3.
"Don't worry, guys. I was on SG-1 for four years and either witnessed or participated in the deaths of several Goa'uld System Lords. I don't think you'll have to worry about baby sitting me," Daniel said to the men.
They turned quickly towards him, embarrassed that they'd been overheard. "Sorry, sir," they mumbled.
Daniel shrugged. "I'm a civilian, remember? You don't have to call me 'sir'."
With that, Daniel turned around and went back to stand next to Jack and Feretti.
"Go, Doc Jackson," Feretti commented, grinning as they made their way up the ramp behind SG-3.
"Methinks someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Jack mumbled softly. The look Daniel shot him told him everything he needed to know. "Or maybe he didn't make it all the way to bed in the first place."
"Don't we have a mission to get to?" Daniel stated.
"Yes, we do," Jack replied. "But first, you do remember how to shoot that thing, don't you Daniel?" he asked, pointing to the sidearm strapped to Daniel's thigh.
Daniel raised his eyebrows and leveled Jack with an easy glance. "After all that time you and Teal'c spent teaching me self defense, you think I'd forget?"
"Well, it's not like you need to be armed when you're sitting at your desk in your cozy office. I just want to make sure that you're okay with shooting the gun if you have to."
Daniel nodded and gave his reply in a voice bordering on annoyance. "Yes, Jack, I remember how to shoot the gun. Ill be able to defend myself, don't worry."
Jack nodded. The seriousness of the situation returned quickly, and he straightened his shoulders and confidently led his team of three through the Stargate to the unknown world beyond.
****
"Okay, Thompson, lead the way," Jack called out as he exited the Stargate into the bright, hot morning. He made his way towards the Major so that he could walk next to him. "Daniel, you're with me. Feretti, take the rear. The rest of you, fan out but stay within sight."
"Jack, I'd like to get a look at the writings that Michaels couldn't translate," Daniel said.
Jack turned away from Thompson and narrowed his eyes at Daniel. 'Here we go again. He's only been back for a day and he's already arguing for a change of direction.'
"Why? We already know where the rest of SG-1 is," Jack said.
Daniel shrugged. "Just humor me on this, Jack. You never know what you're going to find. Whatever is on that wall may just give us a history of this planet and how Heru'ur and Seshat came to be here. I'm sure that information like that has some kind of tactical advantage."
'Damn it! Why does he always have to sound so reasonable?' Jack thought. 'And since when has Daniel given a damn about tactical advantage? Then again, he wants me to let him go, so he won't tell me that he simply wants to see those stubborn hieroglyphs that three other linguists couldn't translate.'
"Jack, are you okay?"
Jack blinked, realizing that he'd been staring at Daniel. He sighed, resigned to the fact that Daniel's habit of making him change his orders was still alive and kicking.
"Yes, Daniel, I'm fine," Jack finally said, his voice full of long- suffering impatience. "Okay, fine, we'll go and see the wall so you can gawk at those chicken scratches you love so much. But don't take too long. I happen to have a fully loaded weapon in my hands."
"After all the trouble you went through to bring me here, you'd really shoot me?" Daniel deadpanned.
Jack chuckled. He'd really missed bantering with Daniel. "Don't push your luck, Daniel. You never know what I'm going to be in the mood for. Feretti, cover our six. SG-3, fan out but stay close while I lead the way to the temple. Daniel, you're with me."
Jack led the way to the temple, covering the distance in a shorter amount of time, now that he knew where he was doing. He looked at his watch as he reached the wall in question, and then glanced at Daniel.
"You have exactly thirty minutes, Danny. Get to translating. We'll just hang out here and watch for incoming Jaffa," Jack said, tightening the grip on his weapon.
Daniel ignored him, as Jack knew he would. Instead, the archeologist made his way to the inscriptions and began to run his hands over the weird writing. Jack sighed and found a nice, comfortable rock to sit on.
"You might as well make yourselves comfortable for the next half hour. Daniel will be in la la land until he translates all that stuff," Jack said.
"Do you think he'll be able to read that?" Thompson asked as he settled down beside the colonel.
"Sure. Daniel can translate pretty much everything. Some things take longer than others, but this should be a piece of cake to him."
"But the other three linguists weren't able to," Thompson added.
Jack shrugged. "He's got all these arcane and really old languages in his head that seem to come in handy every once in a while. I trust him."
Thompson nodded and glanced over to where Daniel stood. "I guess we don't have another choice."
****
Exactly thirty minutes later, Jack got up from his rock. He rubbed the sore spot on his backside gingerly, wincing at the discomfort. 'That's all I need,' he thought ruefully, 'as if bad knees aren't enough.'
"Okay, your time is up. Give us the correct answer now, or go home with the consolation prize," Jack said as he walked up to Daniel.
"If the consolation prize is a trip to Hawaii, I'll take it," Daniel replied as he turned away from the wall to face Jack.
"I'm afraid not," Feretti piped up. "The Air Force is too cheap, so we can't afford Hawaii."
"But there is always Minnesota," Jack added.
Both Feretti and Daniel groaned. "Not Minnesota," they both said at the same time, earning them a scowl from Jack.
"So what does it say?" Forrester asked as he and the rest of SG-3 joined them at the temple. "Were you able to translate it?"
"Oh, yeah," Daniel replied, his voice taking on that self-depreciating tone he sometimes used.
Jack couldn't help but wonder if the younger man was thinking back to what had happened with the translation on Aurora, and hoped that Daniel wouldn't let that affect him now.
"It's Old Egyptian, but those aren't actual hieroglyphs. That's what was confusing everyone," Daniel continued, switching into lecture mode automatically. "In ancient Egypt, hieroglyphs were used to adorn the tombs of the kings and other important monuments, and to write formal manuscripts. They were time consuming to write and were practically useless as a form of every day communication. For less formal methods of communication, such as daily notes or reports, the Egyptians of that time adopted Hieratic. Hieratic is the cursive form of hieroglyphs. As you can see," Daniel pointed to a section of the text that was directly under a line of hieroglyphs, "it's much easier to write. Since not many of the everyday documents have survived since the time of Egyptian civilization, Hieratic isn't widely recognized."
"But you know it, of course," Jack muttered.
"As a matter of fact, I do. I specialize in ancient languages, and this is one of them. It's just part of all that crap in my head, right Jack?" Daniel replied.
"So what does it say?"
Daniel took a breath. "Well, it basically depicts the arrival of Heru'ur on this planet. There were no natives on this planet when they arrived, which was why he chose it. Heru'ur came here after a fairly brutal battle with one of his enemies, a Goa'uld by the name of Geb, who is the Egyptian God of the Earth. They were fighting for control of a solar system a few hundred light-years from here, but Heru'ur was not a match for the troops that Geb rallied. Heru'ur caused as much destruction as he could, before fleeing to this place. It says that he went underground to avoid detection and to better plot a counter attack, so I'm guessing that there is not a pyramid on this planet. Landing the mother ship on the surface would be unwise," Daniel trailed off as he glanced at the writings once more. "My guess is that Heru'ur uses the transporter rings to get to and from the underground complex."
"If this planet is uninhabited, who built this temple?" Feretti asked.
"Heru'ur had it built for Seshat. He wanted to give her a place to write the history of this planet. I'm willing to bet that this door leads to Heru'ur's throne room."
"Ah, yes, well we're not going to find that out, are we Daniel? And speaking of Heru'ur and transporter rings, we should get going before he comes back. Thompson, you and SG-3 lead the way towards where you saw the Jaffa. I'll cover our six. Feretti, you and Daniel fan out, but stay close."
Everyone nodded their understanding and quickly made their way back towards the Stargate.
****
After what seemed like a never ending walk in the hot suns, Thompson finally spoke up.
"I believe it's in this area, sir. The small rocks covered the bottom of the door and all we saw was the Jaffa exiting. I'm not sure how we'd find it now, though."
Daniel glanced at where the major was pointing and frowned. The ground appeared to be undisturbed, covered in dirt and various other things native to the forest that surrounded the area. There was nothing to indicate that there had ever been an opening there.
"Daniel, do you have any ideas?" Jack asked.
Daniel walked slowly around in a circle, glancing at the ground as he went. He stopped every now and then and leaned down to see something then straightened up again.
"Daniel!"
Daniel's head jerked up so fast at Jack's voice that his glasses, which had already been halfway down his nose, fell off his face. With quick reflexes, Daniel reached out and caught them before they hit the ground.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly as he put the glasses back on again. "I think Major Thompson is right. The door is here. However, I'm not sure how to get it open without a ribbon device."
"Why a ribbon device?" Feretti asked.
"Goa'uld use the ribbon device to control much of everything they operate. It's convenient, I suppose. It makes it easier for them to have control over their surroundings as well as their people. However, not all Goa'uld carry a ribbon device and Jaffa don't carry one at all," Daniel added, his voice taking on that lecturing quality. Jack and Feretti exchanged knowing glances, while the members of SG-3 looked on. "Which means that there would have to be something here to manually control the door. I just have to find it."
Daniel made his way over to what looked like a small mound of dirt. It was no bigger than an ant hill and it didn't look out of place with the rest of the scenery. To Daniel, it looked like it was too well-placed. He didn't know whether the planet had ants, but he did know that two ant hills weren't likely to be placed directly next to each other, exactly one foot apart. Daniel leaned down to remove some of the dirt, when Jack's voice interrupted him.
"Don't touch it, Daniel. Not until you tell us what you're doing."
Daniel rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. "I doubt this is going to kill me, Jack."
"I've learned not to take any chances with you, Daniel, now spill."
"Do you all see these two mounds?" Daniel looked up and saw everyone nodding. "Does it not strike you that they happen to be perfectly positioned, exactly a foot apart?"
Jack glanced down at where Daniel's foot was and really looked at the things. They did seem to be perfectly positioned.
"What does that mean, Dr. Jackson?" Major Thompson inquired.
"I think they're handles, used to pull the door open when a ribbon device isn't present to do it. If they are handles, then it stands to reason that there is a lock somewhere in the vicinity. I was about to brush away the dirt when Jack stopped me," Daniel said, glaring at Jack.
"I'm not taking any chances with you, Daniel. You're dangerous when you touch things without telling me. A certain alternate reality mirror comes to mind."
"Yeah, Jack, but think of the good that came from that. We saved Earth. I'd say that pardons me from not following your orders to pack up and leave."
"So what was your excuse the other times?" Jack added, a smile on his face. "Go on, open the thing."
Daniel nodded and bent down to disturb the dirt that formed the mounds. Underneath the mounds, he found two narrow strips of metal, each about five inches long and two inches thick. He cleared the area between the two handles and discovered a square plaque covered in Goa'uld writing. After reading and translating the writing, Daniel reached out and touched three of the symbols on the plaque. A low rumbling sound could be heard and Daniel could feel the ground shaking underneath him. He immediately got up and stood off to one side where the ground didn't appear to be shaking. The place he'd just been standing on seemed to retract and disappear, leaving a wide opening in the ground.
"Open sesame?" Daniel muttered, getting a couple of chuckles from the gathered officers. "There's the door."
"Good work, Daniel! I knew I'd brought you along for a reason," Jack stated, moving closer to the opening. As he passed SG-3, who were staring at the opening in admiration, Jack's eyes met Forester's. "You still think you have to baby-sit him?"
Forester, to his credit, had the decency to look apologetic. "No, sir," was all he said.
"Come on, kids, let's go. I'll take point; Feretti, you and Thompson cover the rear. Everyone else, file in between. Daniel, you're up here with me. Let's go see how much trouble we can get into."
****
"This is impressive," Michaels noted as he, Sam and Teal'c wondered down the halls of the complex. Three Jaffa followed their every step but generally stayed out of their way. Seshat walked ahead of them, showing them around the place. "The architecture is exquisite as well as practical. It's also very beautiful."
"Yes, it is impressive, is it not?" Seshat said, turning back to glance at the young man. She gave him a pleased smile as she walked closer to him. "It was built many years ago when my lord Heru'ur first came to this world. We have resided here ever since. These writings tell the history of this palace," she told Michaels, taking his hand and leading him towards the closest wall. "I have written them over the years. If you would like to examine them, I can arrange for you to do so."
"Yeah, I think I'd like that, Seshat," he replied. He wasn't particularly interested in the writings, since he had trouble reading Egyptian hieroglyphs. He was, however, interested in being given a little time away from their room. The more he was out here, the more he could explore for possible ways to escape.
"Would you like to remain and look at them now while I take your companions through the rest of the complex? We will return for you when we are finished."
Out of the corner of his eye, Michaels glanced at Major Carter, who nodded slightly, giving him her okay.
"That would be fine. I'll wait here until you get back," he replied.
"Very well. You stay with him," Seshat said, motioning to the Jaffa closest to Michaels. "We will return when we are finished."
Seshat nodded once towards Michaels, and then motioned for Sam and Teal'c to follow her down the corridor.
Michaels stood in front of the wall and watched Seshat and the other two members of SG-1 as they walked away. When they had rounded the corridor and were out of sight, he turned to glance at the Jaffa who stood a few feet away from him, watching intently.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to try to escape or anything," he told the imposing man. "I'm only going to walk around a little bit so I can figure out where the story starts."
Without another glance at the Jaffa, Michaels made his way a bit further down the hall to the closest doorway and tentatively peeked inside. It was a completely empty room. He shrugged, figuring that since there was nothing inside, the room was not important. He glanced up at the wall, trying to figure out where to start reading. After all, he at least had to appear interested. He was interested, but wanted to think about getting out of the complex more than he wanted to read some ancient story. Michaels concentrated on a hieroglyph that looked familiar and started from there. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept tabs on the Jaffa, who had not followed him but watched him intently. It was going to be difficult to work around the Jaffa, but it could be done. Lucky for him, the writings followed the wall to the other end of the hallway, so Michaels would be able to explore at least that much.
With a sigh, he ignored the Jaffa and began to read.
****
"You said that Heru'ur was your lord. How long have you served him?" Sam asked as they continued down yet another corridor.
So far, they hadn't seen anything that would be of use to them. Seshat had shown them many rooms and corridors, but nothing that seemed to lead back up to the surface. Sam had caught a glimpse of a stairwell off the main corridor that lead upwards, but Seshat had taken them out of the room so quickly that Sam hadn't had much time to really take a look.
"I have served him for hundreds of years, ever since he chose me. We have traveled to many worlds and met many races. I have taken great pleasure in recording his deeds over the years. He is a great and courageous warrior."
"Of course he is," Sam said sarcastically. "Why are we on this tour, Seshat? I thought we were your prisoners?"
Seshat turned her head slightly to regard the major, but did not stop walking. "You trespassed, therefore you have put yourselves in this position. However, you have not given me a reason to confine you, which is why I decided to treat you as my guests and show you the complex. Do you think you should be returned to your quarters instead?"
Sam shook her head, willingly leaving this battle for another time. They needed to look around and this was the best way they were going to get to do so. She took a deep breath and followed the Goa'uld to their next destination.
****
Teal'c walked besides Major Carted and listened to all that was being said. He had known that several system lords kept scribes and had understood their purpose. He had even met Apophis' scribe on one occasion. His opinion of the man had been one of contempt, because the scribe had been small, frail and timid. One glare from Teal'c had been enough to frighten the man away. Apophis had been very fond of him, Teal'c did remember that. He would have sent a Jaffa to kill anyone who had tried to harm the scribe. Teal'c was sure that Heru'ur would do the same for Seshat.
"What are you going to do with us, Seshat? You're not going to let us go, yet you're showing us around as if we were your invited guests," Sam asked. She stopped walking and waited for Seshat to make her way back towards her.
"Are you being mistreated in any way?" Seshat asked, glancing from Teal'c to Sam.
"No we are not," Teal'c replied.
"What is the problem, then? I have not harmed you, I have fed you and entertained you. Why do you insist on leaving?" Her green eyes narrowed in apparent confusion.
"We don't like being confined, without the right to come and go as we please. It makes us uncomfortable and we would very much like to leave," Teal'c intoned.
"You can not leave," Seshat exclaimed. "My lord Heru'ur has to see you before you can leave. Only he can decide what to do with you, not I."
"We mean you no harm," Teal'c added. "All we wanted was to explore the planet."
"Then you shall fear nothing from Heru'ur. He is a forgiving god and will overlook your indiscretion as long as you pose no threat to him."
Sam shook her head and cast Teal'c a look. He understood the situation well. They would not be able to get through to Seshat at the rate they were going and it was still imperative that they leave the compound before Heru'ur returned. Once he arrived and saw them, he was not going to let them go at all. Not alive, at least.
****
"Just how big is this place?" Jack idly wondered as he, Daniel and Feretti made their way through the mostly silent corridors of the underground complex.
The two teams had split up when they'd made it to the bottom of the passageway so that they could cover more ground. He'd instructed Thompson to check in every half hour just to make sure that everyone was still in one piece.
"It has to be big enough for a God, remember?" Daniel quipped. "It probably houses several hundred Jaffa, the Goa'uld, which I'm hoping consists of only Seshat and Heru'ur, and probably a few human slaves."
"Only Seshat and Heru'ur?" Feretti said. "Isn't that more than enough?"
"Yeah, it is. But sometimes other Goa'uld, the lesser system lords, pledge their allegiance to the more powerful ones and reside with them."
"That's Daniel, ever the optimist," Jack stated.
Daniel chuckled, but said nothing more.
Jack led the way through the endless, bland corridors for about an hour. SG- 3 had reported in as scheduled, but they hadn't found a thing. Their first objective was to find the cells, or whatever passed for prisoner rooms in this place, because he figured that's where SG-1 would be. So far, they'd come across nothing but corridors that led into more corridors. The artificial lighting of the place gave the corridors an eerie, golden glow that under other circumstances would probably be regarded as cozy. Right now, however, it was annoying and revealing, making the team's green uniforms stand out in the golden light. They hadn't run into any Jaffa, which was always a good sign. Jack only hoped that the Jaffa were not in wait to ambush them somewhere.
"Major Thompson to Colonel O'Neill, checking in as ordered," came the soft voice from Jack's radio. He'd turned down the volume to avoid accidentally giving their position away and now he took the radio out and held it to his mouth.
"O'Neill. What is your status, Major?"
"Nothing yet, sir. All we've found so far are corridors that don't seem to lead anywhere."
"Same here. Keep looking, Thompson. O'Neill out."
Jack continued to walk forward, until he came to a split in the corridor that contained three branches.
"Hello," he said softly, glancing into each corridor. "I think I'll take door number three."
Daniel smiled. "How about I take door number one? It always has the best prizes."
"I don't think so, Daniel. We're not splitting up."
"Why not, Jack? We have to get to Sam, Teal'c and Captain Michaels before Heru'ur gets here and I'm betting that he won't be gone for much longer. If we split up, we can cover the distance much faster. We can keep checking in like Thompson and SG-3 is doing."
Jack looked from Daniel to Feretti, and then returned his gaze to the archaeologist. Finally he sighed. He hated when Daniel was right.
"Fine, you take door number one. That leaves number two for you, Feretti. Be on alert and have your weapons ready."
Jack glanced at Feretti, who was holding his MP-5 at the ready, then turned to Daniel and saw that he was taking his sidearm out of his holster. Jack suddenly reached into his pack and took out a zat gun. He handed it to Daniel.
"Take this too, Daniel. That sidearm isn't going to do you much good if you're up against more than one attacker."
Daniel took the offered zat gun and held it in his left hand, while the right held the handgun.
"Good. If you find anything, call someone immediately, understood?"
Both Feretti and Daniel nodded and the three men made their separate ways through the corridors.
****
Daniel made his way carefully through the corridor he'd chosen, his gun at the ready. He had pocketed the zat gun, but had it within easy reach in case he needed it. It had been a long time since he'd held a weapon, but he was sure that he hadn't forgotten how to fire it. Some things you learned and never forgot. Self preservation was certainly one of them.
'It's amazing what a person will do to survive,' he thought to himself, suddenly remembering the times he'd been forced to kill to save his life or the lives of his team.
Ten years ago, the thought of knowing how to defend himself in battle had never crossed his mind. Daniel's worries then had amounted to acquiring the funding that he needed for whatever research project he had been working on at the time. Physical fitness and combat training had been things that Daniel only knew about through the stories of the cultures he had learned about in his studies, or through what he knew of the military. It was never something that he'd associated with himself. But here he was right now, walking down a corridor on an alien planet, a gun in one hand and another in an easily accessible pocket. He could shoot them both at once, one in each hand. A feat that had amazed even him when he'd realized that he could do it in the heat of battle.
He wondered what his students would think of him if they could see him now. To them, he was only a mild mannered and quiet linguist who taught them how to recognize different languages. He chuckled, thinking that they'd be surprised to find him going to the gym, much less holding a gun and going into battle. 'Never judge a book by its cover,' he smiled as he remembered the old saying. 'There's truth to that. You never know what a person is capable of, not at all."
He walked a little further, when another, unbidden though popped into his head. 'What would my parents think of me if they could see me now?'
Daniel stopped in the middle of the corridor, frowning at the totally unexpected though. He rarely thought of his parents, mainly because it had been so long since they'd been tragically killed. It wasn't that he didn't love them or still miss them; it was just that he'd grown up used to not having them around. But the question was a valid one. What would they think of him and what he'd accomplished? What would they think of the way he'd gone about it? It saddened Daniel to know that he'd never have an answer to that question. He hoped that his parents would be proud of him regardless of what he had done, or failed to do, in his lifetime. He shook his head, clearing it of the distracting and painful images.
'It would serve me right to get shot right now for not paying attention to my surroundings,' he thought and began to move down the corridor once again.
It had surprised him how easily he'd fit back in to the SGC mold and how at ease he felt to be back on a mission. He was frightened at the possible danger, and yet he felt secure in the fact that Jack, Feretti and SG-3 were with him. It was like old times. Daniel had managed to conduct himself as much like a soldier as he could and do what was required of him, as if a year hadn't gone by. What surprised him even more was how much more familiar this seemed, how involved he felt. He felt as if he belonged once again.
That was probably because of Jack more than anything. After all, he'd spent many years on missions with Jack giving him orders, so it was quite easy to fall back into the pattern. Daniel suddenly realized that he felt more at home here, in the middle of a strange planet ready to face a dangerous enemy, than he had in the halls of UCLA surrounded by his peers and students. Funny how it worked out that way, but he supposed that since he'd chosen the SGC, and SG-1 in particular, as his surrogate family, it should be no surprise that he hadn't fit in anywhere else.
With that feeling of belonging, however, came a feeling of dread that he would more than likely have to leave again. He was the stranger here and the reason for that was his own doing. He'd run away from his work and his team when he had been unable to handle the situation after Aurora. SG-1 had been forced to move on and they'd done what they could with the situation he'd left them with. SG-1 was complete, Jack had his team and Daniel couldn't imagine being at the SGC without being on SG-1. Besides, SG-1 might not even want him back on the team. He'd run away once, what was to stop him from running away again? He could understand why they couldn't, or wouldn't, trust him. He was still the odd man out, even if he desperately didn't want that to be the case.
Suddenly, Daniel noticed that the walls changed. They were no longer the plain, barren ones he'd seen ever since they had descended from the surface. Now, the walls were covered with hieroglyphs. He stopped and raised his head to read the top of the wall. The particular wall he was reading depicted one of the battles that Heru'ur had emerged victorious from. As Daniel read on, he learned more and more about the various enemies Heru'ur had faced thought the years, as well as the story of how they'd come to settle on this planet. Daniel didn't pay much attention to that one, since he'd already read it on the surface.
"He's a bit paranoid now, isn't he?" Daniel whispered to himself as he read on.
A noise to his left immediately caught Daniel's attention and he quickly brought both weapons up. He felt, rather than saw that someone was approaching him and looked around for cover, but there was none. All Daniel could do was move further down the corridor, back the way he had come, until he came to a bend in the corridor. It would provide safety for a few seconds, but hopefully that would be enough for Daniel to disable the newcomer.
As the person approached, Daniel heard the tell tale sound of Jaffa armor hitting the hard surface of the floor. He decided to use the zat gun to draw as little attention to himself and as soon as the Jaffa was within his sight, Daniel fired. The Jaffa fell to the floor, unconscious. A second Jaffa charged towards the fallen Jaffa and Daniel also fired at him, knocking him out. He stayed where he was for a few seconds, waiting for more to come his way. When no more Jaffa appeared, Daniel stepped out of his semi-hiding place and approached the two Jaffa. They were both unconscious. A sudden move ahead of him made him bring up both weapons again.
"Don't shoot, I'm unarmed."
Daniel frowned at the man standing in front of him, but did not fire. Realization dawned on him and he lowered the weapons.
"Captain Michaels, I presume," Daniel said and walked towards the man, scanning the corridor ahead and behind him for more Jaffa.
"Yes, that's me. Who are you?" Michaels asked, examining the man standing in front of him.
Daniel saw the man's expression go from surprise to sudden understanding and suddenly realized that Michaels knew who he was. He decided to introduce himself anyway, just in case.
"I'm Daniel Jackson. I'm here with Jack, Feretti and SG-3."
"It didn't take him long, did it?"
"Excuse me?" Daniel asked, puzzled at the man's behavior.
"You're wearing an SG-1 jacket, so I'm assuming that Colonel O'Neill went and got you when we went missing."
Daniel's frown deepened and he unconsciously clenched his jaw. Was that jealousy he detected in Michael's tone?
"The jacket belongs to Jack, Captain. He let me borrow it because it was the only one available in such short notice. And as for why I'm here, that might have something to do with you. After all, we wouldn't be here if you'd known that Seshat was the scribe to Heru'ur now would we?"
Michaels opened his mouth to reply, but said nothing. As much as he hated to admit it to Dr. Jackson, the man was right.
"I'm not here to take your place, Captain Michaels. I'm just here to help my friends. Where are they, by the way?"
Michaels glanced behind him, before turning back to face Daniel.
"Seshat was giving us a tour of the complex. Major Carter asked her to so that we could see where we were and if there were any escape routes. We came across these walls and I stopped to read them. Seshat wrote this and seemed interested in having me read them, so she let me stay. She left a Jaffa to guard me, and another one came to join him sometime later. Those were the two you just knocked out," the captain explained. "I don't know where they are now, but they were supposed to come back for me when the tour was over."
"Have you read the writings?" Daniel asked, glancing over Michaels' head at the wall.
Michaels shrugged. "Some of them. I'm not very good at Egyptian hieroglyphs. I'm a lot more fluent in the more recent languages. Can you read them?"
Daniel shook his head. "And yet, you were assigned as SG-1's archaeologist. Unbelievable," he muttered. "Yes, I can read them. These depict some of the battles Heru'ur has fought in his life time. That one over there depicts his arrival to this planet and the building of this complex, as does the wall of the temple on the surface. It's very interesting stuff."
"You were able to read that? What language was it?" Michaels asked.
"It was Hieratic, a cursive and less formal form of hieroglyphs. You should have at least been exposed to it before joining the team," Daniel said, his voice showing a trace of impatience.
"Look, I did my best when I was assigned to SG-1. I'm not as good as you are and I never tried to be. But it seems like it was never good enough for Colonel O'Neill."
Daniel looked away from the walls and regarded the captain. "I'm sorry. I don't know you and I didn't mean to insult you. Jack, Sam and Teal'c are like family to me and I hate the thought of them out on the field with insufficient information."
"It seems to me that you're the one responsible for that," Michaels countered.
"We don't have time for this. We need to find Sam and Teal'c and get the hell out of here before Heru'ur decides that he's missing home. Now please come with me and I'll take you to Jack."
Daniel started to walk back the way he'd come when a noise behind him stopped him in his tracks. He immediately whirled around and ran towards the other end of the hallway where the sound had come from. There, he found a door that led into a wide room that probably housed the transporter rings. Michaels followed close behind him and leaned his upper body inside the room to take a quick peek. As the two humans watched, the transporter rings were activated and three people materialized inside.
Daniel didn't wait for the rings to disappear. He didn't have to. He grabbed Michaels' arm and dragged the man to the other end of the corridor. He stopped by the Jaffa and picked up one of the staff weapons, handing it to Michaels.
"I'm assuming you know how to shoot one of those," Daniel said as they continued walking.
"Yes, I know."
"Good, you're going to need it."
Daniel quickly walked towards the branch in the corridor where he, Jack and Feretti had split up. Once there, he took out his radio.
"Jack, its Daniel, come in."
Seconds later, he heard Jack's voice.
"What did you find, Daniel?"
"I found Captain Michaels. He says that Sam and Teal'c are with Seshat, getting a tour of the place."
"Where are you now?" Jack's voice was tense, Daniel could tell even over the radio.
"We're at the branch where we split up."
"Okay, Daniel, you and Michaels stay there. I'll contact Feretti and meet you there."
"Jack you better get here fast, there's something else."
Jack was quiet on the other end. When his voice came back over the radio, both men could hear the edge to it.
"What is it?"
"It's Heru'ur," Daniel said, his voice betraying the anxiousness he felt. "He's returned."
The commissary was nearly empty when Daniel entered.
It was almost two in the morning, so he hadn't expected to see many people up and about. He was out of luck, however. As soon as he entered, four sets of eyes turned towards him. Daniel immediately recognized Louis Feretti and realized that SG-2 must have just come back from a mission. Feretti had a habit of dragging his team to the commissary after being discharged from the infirmary, which must have been what had happened today. There were a few other people scattered around the commissary, some he recognized and some he didn't. Daniel nodded in acknowledgement towards SG-2 and quickly made his way towards the coffee machine, where he poured himself a cup.
He felt uncomfortable, as if everyone was watching him and judging him. It didn't help that he was the only one in the room dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. He felt as he had when he'd first come to Cheyenne Mountain, like an outsider. Even though he'd worked with the people sitting at the table a few feet from him for years, he felt as if he didn't know them. Daniel fought the urge to walk out of the commissary as fast as he could, instead choosing to sit at one of the empty tables close to the back of the room.
He had been assigned one of the VIP rooms for the night to rest for the early morning mission he and Jack were to go on with SG-3. While he'd tried to get some sleep, he'd been unable to do so. His mind had been on overdrive ever since he'd set foot on the base and nothing Daniel did got it to slow down enough to grant him some peace. When he did manage to relax enough to fall asleep, Daniel ended up having dreams that were disturbing enough to wake him up. He'd decided to come for coffee after several hours of fitful sleep had left him tired and on edge. He didn't want to talk to anyone, but he didn't want to be cooped up alone in the VIP room either.
"Hey, Doc," Feretti said as he took a seat directly in front of Daniel. "How's it going? I didn't expect to see you back."
"Neither did I, Feretti," Daniel replied. "How was the mission?"
Feretti smiled. He seemed at ease with Daniel, as if a year hadn't passed since the last time they'd done this. Daniel returned the smile, feeling a bit better about being there. It seemed like old times, sitting in the commissary, talking to Feretti after staying on the base to finish up some work. He'd often wandered to the commissary for coffee after one of those nights only to find Feretti with his team. The Major would always make it a point to come over and talk to him, and they'd spend the time mostly reminiscing about old times or talking about their various missions. They'd developed a friendship, which Daniel had missed.
"The mission was fine. You know, the kind that we all wish we had all the time. Friendly natives, no Goa'uld. What brings you here?"
Daniel took a sip of his hot coffee and grimaced slightly at the taste. "I'd forgotten how bitter this was."
Feretti laughed. "Civilian coffee is that much better, huh?"
"It is when I buy it for myself," Daniel replied, also laughing.
He relaxed a bit as he usually did when talking to Feretti. Talking to the major wasn't like talking to Jack, because Feretti didn't know everything about him like Jack did. Daniel could evade and avoid subjects knowing that Feretti would never catch it.
"You're avoiding my question, Doc."
Daniel sighed. "I take it you haven't had a chance to talk to either Jack or the general?"
"No. SG-1 is off-world on a mission, or they were when I last checked in a few days ago. What happened? SG-2 has been off-world for two weeks and I haven't had a chance to catch up on everything."
"Jack is actually on base," Daniel corrected. "He's probably sleeping somewhere. The rest of SG-1 is missing," he stated and filled Feretti in on what happened. "That's why I'm here. Jack went to Los Angeles to find me because he thought I could help. We're going to the planet tomorrow with SG- 3."
"I want to go with you," he immediately stated. "I'm not sure if Hammond will approve the mission, since SG-2 just returned, but I'll do my best."
"What about the rest of the team? Will they be okay with it?"
"Are you kidding? SG-1 is legendary. You know that, Daniel. Anyone on the base would do anything for them, and for you," Feretti said. "They'd be happy to help."
****
Jack O'Neill was wandering the halls of the SGC. He had tried to sleep but had been unable to relax enough to do so. Instead of lying in bed, tossing and turning, he'd decided to walk. A good, brisk walk had a way of clearing his head that worked better than anything else he'd ever tried, and at this point, Jack was desperate. The events of the last few days, plus his injuries from his last mission, had left him cranky and irritable. He wasn't going to be any good to anyone tomorrow if he didn't get some sleep and settle down, but he didn't see how he could do that.
It was late at night so he didn't expect to run into anyone and hadn't so far. He walked quickly, hoping to work off some of his excess energy. He stopped suddenly, unaware that he had been heading in any particular direction until he'd reached it. Jack looked up and was surprised to find himself in front of what used to be Daniel's office. He hadn't been in this part of the base since the office had been reassigned about ten months ago and it surprised Jack to realize that just because Daniel was on the base, he'd expected to find the archaeologist in his office. What surprised Jack even more, however, was the fact that he'd immediately headed in this direction when he started feeling restless, automatically assuming that Daniel would be willing to listen to whatever was troubling him as he had done for many years. It was ironic that old habits died hard, no matter how much time passed.
He wanted a friendly ear right now, someone to talk to about the mission and about what could be happening to Sam, Teal'c and Michaels. Daniel always listened, which is probably why Jack had headed to the office in the first place
Jack was worried about his missing team members. For all he knew, they could be dead or in the process of being tortured. The thought of them suffering somewhere below the godforsaken planet frightened Jack, especially because he wasn't there to experience the situation with them. He might not necessarily be able to help them escape or prevent the torture from happening, but he would be where he belonged. Jack was a military man, a man of action, who was intimately familiar with the dark hearts of jailers and torturers. He didn't have to use much of his imagination to imagine what prisoners went through during capture. What made this situation worse was that SG-1 was possibly being kept by Heru'ur, a sadistic and deadly Goa'uld who had no qualms at all about killing for information, or simply for the sheer joy of it.
At the same time, Jack was worried about Daniel, who had never really stopped being a member of his team. Daniel might not have physically been around for the past year, but in Jack's thoughts, he had been. He'd managed to pay attention to the archaeologist enough times and had learned a bit about the things the man held dear. It was hard not to pay attention to Daniel, because the man spent much of his time talking about one thing or another that had caught his fancy. No matter how hard Jack tried to ignore him, some of the things Daniel had told him over the years had made their way into his head and gotten stuck there. But Jack would never tell Daniel that. It would spoil his fun.
Jack smiled and stared at the closed door to what used to be Daniel's office. He didn't know who occupied the space at the moment, nor was that fact important. In a way it was disheartening for him, because if by some chance Daniel decided to stay, his office would be gone. But just as quickly as the thought had come, Jack pushed it away. Daniel probably didn't want to stay at the SGC anymore. Why would he, when he could go back to his quiet life in academia and his attentive students?
"Old habits die hard?"
Jack looked away from the door, startled. He found Daniel standing a few feet away, starting at him.
"I could ask you the same thing."
Daniel shrugged. "I just wanted to see if anyone had occupied the office."
"Why, did you want it back?" Jack asked, the question coming out a bit harsher than he'd intended. His anger at himself for wanting Daniel back at the SGC, even though he was sure Daniel didn't want to stay, tinged his response before Jack could help it. The reply sounded almost accusatory to him and he wished he could take it back, especially after seeing the frown appear on Daniel's face.
"No, I don't think so," Daniel replied quickly, reacting to Jack's tone more than to the question itself. "Besides, I never really belonged here."
"What makes you say that?" Jack asked, his voice a bit softer and less edgier.
"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps it's the military atmosphere." Daniel took a couple of steps closer to Jack and leaned against the wall, watching the older man. "Or maybe it's the fact that I could never quite get myself to follow orders."
"That never stopped you before. As a matter of fact, you seemed quite content to point out to anyone who'd listen, namely me, that you were a civilian and didn't have to follow orders."
"It must be nice to finally have someone who does, then."
The silence that followed was deafening. Both men stood uncomfortably, avoiding each other's eyes. Daniel crossed his arms and sighed.
"It has its moments," Jack finally replied. "I bet you're happy where you are, having people actually listen to you and hang on your every word."
"It has its moments," Daniel stated, deliberately using Jack's own words. "Those kids don't have a choice but to listen to me. If they don't, they fail and won't be getting that doctorate they've been working so hard for."
Jack nodded and decided to just get it over with. He had nothing to lose, so he might as well ask Daniel what he'd been wondering since he'd stepped into the lecture at UCLA. "Are you happy there, Daniel? Is teaching what you want to do?"
Daniel frowned and seemed caught off-guard by the question.
"I was teaching before I joined the SGC, Jack. I started teaching right after getting my doctorates, so yes it's something I love to do."
Jack stared at Daniel, finally hearing the answer he'd been looking for. It hadn't been the one he wanted to hear, but it was the one he'd gotten and he couldn't do much about it, just as he hadn't been able to keep Daniel from leaving in the first place.
"I'm happy for you, Danny. I'm glad that you've found the place where you belong."
****
"Okay, this is strange," Jason Michaels remarked as he poked at the assorted trays in front of him. One particular dish of what looked to be diced beets caught his eye. "What the hell is this stuff?"
"That is called potem'k," Teal'c replied, glancing at the dish the captain was pointing at. "It is the chopped liver of a Tomak beast. It is considered a Goa'uld delicacy."
Michaels made a disgusted face at the dish. "Are we supposed to feel honored at being given this stuff?"
It was night time, or at least he thought it was. His watch read 1900 hours which would be approximately dinner time. He had no way to tell if it was night, because they had no windows. On the upside, the three of them had been moved to what appeared to be a suite, with a central area and three separate bedrooms. He'd been concerned that they'd be separated and had been glad when it hadn't happened. They could better plot their escape if they were together.
"Indeed you are, Captain Michaels. Seshat is behaving in accordance to Goa'uld tradition. Until her lord arrives, she is the ruler of this world and it is her duty to see to her guests."
"So she sees us as her guests?" Sam asked, taking a peek at the dish Michaels was making faces at. "Or are we just prisoners?"
"Unless we give her a reason to mistrust us, she will very likely be courteous and attentive and she will not kill us. However, she will not release us. She must await the arrival of her lord to do so."
Sam nodded, agreeing with what Teal'c had just said. It just seemed strange to be a guest of the Goa'uld. Prisoner would be more like it. At least they didn't have to put up with a cold, damp cell. "So who is her lord and how long until they get here?"
Neither Teal'c nor Michaels said anything and Sam could see that Teal'c had something on his mind. "Teal'c, do you know what is going on?"
Teal'c nodded once in affirmation. "I believe that Seshat is the scribe to Heru'ur."
"What? How can you be so sure?"
"The Jaffa in this complex bear his symbol of the hawk. I did not see it at first, while we were on the surface, but I noticed it when we were taken out of our rooms. It could be no one else."
Sam sighed, trying to stop the panic from climbing up from the pit of her stomach. "This is wonderful, just wonderful. Why couldn't we catch a break just once?"
Michaels looked from one to the other, confused. "Have you had dealings with Heru'ur before?"
"Oh, yes… with him and both of his parents," Sam replied.
Michaels frowned, his confusion growing. He recalled everything he knew about the man to see if he could make sense of what the major had said. As far as he knew, Heru'ur was one of the Egyptian Sky Gods and the God of Revenge. He was the son of Hathor and Ra, two of the most powerful Egyptian deities, who had also been two very powerful and influential Goa'uld System Lords.
"How exactly have you had run-ins with him and his parents?"
Sam narrowed her eyes at the Captain. "You didn't read all the mission reports before joining SG-1, did you Captain?"
"No, Major, I didn't. I was attempting to familiarize myself with Egyptian culture, myths and languages because I knew I'd need that."
She shook her head, radiating disappointment.
"Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson killed Ra on Abydos and freed the Abydonian people from Ra's rule," Sam explained. "Hathor was freed from her sarcophagus on Earth and made her way to the SGC where she drugged all of the males and attempted to procreate," Sam shuddered at the images of Hathor in that vat of water, surrounded by the men of the SGC. She shuddered even more still at the image of Daniel, disheveled and disoriented, in the VIP room.
"She tried to take over?"
"Hathor was later killed by Colonel O'Neill after she implanted him with a Goa'uld. As far as Heru'ur goes, SG-1 ran into him on Cimmeria where he invaded the planet and tried to take over. The people of Cimmeria, and SG- 1, with the help of Thor and the Asgard, managed to get rid of him."
"Those are some dealings," Michaels muttered, in awe of the action his new team had seen in their travels through the Stargate. He would have loved to be with them during that time.
"That is not all, Captain Michaels," Teal'c said. "Daniel Jackson led Apophis to believe that Heru'ur had kidnapped his newborn son when in reality, Daniel Jackson took the boy and left him with Kasuf, the leader of the Abydonian people."
"Why would Dr. Jackson want to do that?"
"He did it because Daniel Jackson's wife, Sha'uri, asked him to take care of her son."
"I thought you said Dr. Jackson took Apophis' son?" Michaels asked, clearly confused.
"It was the child of Apophis and Sha'uri that Daniel Jackson was protecting, at the request of his wife."
"Read the reports, Captain. You'd be surprised at how much you can learn," Sam interrupted. "The point is that Heru'ur knows us. Two members of our team are responsible for the death of both of his parents, which isn't something that he particularly likes. Not because he's mourning their deaths, but because Heru'ur has inherited a lot more power since then. However, the deaths of Hathor and Ra were an attack on a Goa'uld System Lord, something no respectable System Lord would let us get away with. Not to mention that he blames us for not being able to conquer Cimmeria. He is not going to be happy to see us here."
Sam paused momentarily, as if debating whether to say what she wanted to say. After a small pause, she returned her gaze to Michaels. "If you would have taken the time to familiarize yourself with our missions and the enemies we've made, as you should have done before stepping through the Stargate, you'd be a lot better prepared to deal with the situations that arise in the field." She turned away from the man. "Daniel would never have been that unprepared," she muttered under her breath, but loud enough so that both Michaels and Teal'c heard the comment.
Michaels tensed and glared at the back of the major's head, but kept silent.
"That is why we must escape before Heru'ur arrives," Teal'c added, noting the rising tension in the room. "I do not believe that he would undertake a long journey without his scribe, so it is likely that Heru'ur will be returning in a short span of time."
"I agree. First thing tomorrow, we try to get Seshat to show us around the complex. You know, a general tour of the place. From there, we'll be better able to see where we are and how to get out of here. For now, we eat and rest. We won't be any good tomorrow if we're weak and sleep deprived," Sam made her way over to the dinner trays. She picked up some fruit and settled down on one of the comfortable chairs, lost in her own thoughts.
Michaels followed the major's lead and put some of the food on one of the small plates. He walked over to a couch and sat down, turning away from where Major Carter had sat. He could see Teal'c on the floor, meditating and winced a bit at the thought of sitting on the floor in a fixed position for any length of time.
He couldn't help but feel a bit like an outsider. He had only been part of the SGC, known everything there is to know about the enemies of Earth, for only four months. That was hardly ample time to become familiar with it all, much less comfortable. The major's expression while telling him about SG-1's previous missions had been one of impatience, which he resented. He'd tried to do the research, but he'd decided to concentrate on Egypt and the other ancient cultures instead of SG-1, because he figured that SG-1 would fill him in on anything he needed to know. He had heard that SG-1 had undertaken some interesting and dangerous missions, but he'd never thought that they'd gone up against Egyptian Gods. And to think that during every one of those missions, they'd had a civilian archaeologist with them to baby-sit. It had to have gotten irritating for the officers having to put up with the guy. On the other hand, the way SG-1 and several other people on the base defended Dr. Jackson, he must not have been that much of a nuisance.
Not for the first time, Michaels wished that the shadow of Daniel Jackson didn't travel with them wherever they went. He couldn't help but feel that the remaining members of SG-1 couldn't give him a shot at actually fitting into the team because Jackson was always along in their minds. They couldn't look at him as a competent person in his own right, because all they could think of was what he couldn't offer them that Jackson had been able to. He'd already proven them right on this mission, having completely missed the fact that there was even a connection between Seshat and Heru'ur. Not that there was any way he could have realized that there *was* a connection to be made. After all, the Egyptian mythology stuff was *very* new to him. Michaels wondered if Colonel O'Neill would have turned back if he'd told him that on the surface. Would they have gone back to the Stargate instead of exploring the forest? From Major Carter's reaction, he was starting to think that the colonel would never have endangered them and would have ordered them back home.
He sighed and glanced down at the food on his plate. If it was ever appetizing, it wasn't any longer. Michaels took the plate and set it down next to the trays. He was going to retire to his room, but Major Carter's eyes on him stopped him. He didn't know why, but instead of continuing on to his room, he made his way over to her.
"With all due respect, Major, I'm not Dr. Jackson and I never claimed to be. It's not my fault he decided to resign."
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Once they were out, he was shocked at what he'd said.
"I'm sorry, Major, that was out of line," he said quickly and began to make his way towards his room.
"Captain, wait," she called to him and he stopped. Slowly he turned around and saw her motioning for him to sit on one of the chairs beside the couch. "I think we need to talk."
Michaels reluctantly did as he was told and settled down on one of the chairs. He looked up at the major momentarily, before looking away.
"What makes you think that we expect you to be like Daniel?" she asked.
"You never talk about him, but he's always with us. The colonel doesn't say it, but I can tell that he's always impatient with me and I can't help thinking that in his mind, he's saying something like 'Dr. Jackson would have done this faster'. You and Teal'c seem to expect me to know this stuff, but ancient cultures aren't my specialty. I learned the history and the ancient languages so that I could better fit into SG-1, but so far it hasn't done any good."
Sam remained quiet, digesting what the man had said. After a few uncomfortable minutes, she offered a reply.
"We don't talk about Daniel because it's hard for us to. His resignation was a sudden and completely unexpected thing that none of us were ever able to understand. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel a bit betrayed that he left us, but he had his reasons. He was our friend and we'd gone through many hard situations together. That builds trust and a bond that we still have, even if he isn't here. But just because I still think of him and consider him my friend doesn't mean that I can't accept you or your talents and what you bring to the team."
Michaels heard the words and noticed the sadness that underlined them. He'd heard rumors that Major Carter and Dr. Jackson had been dating, but he had never believed them. He didn't believe them now. Whatever Major Carter had felt for the man, it wasn't that kind of love.
"What about the colonel?"
Sam smiled. "He's a unique individual, believe me. Daniel was a very good friend to him and his departure hit him very hard. I've read the mission report from the first Abydos mission, so I know a bit of how they met and how their friendship started. Daniel used to say that the colonel taught of him as 'an allergy ridden geek who was not good for much.'" She smiled as she quoted Daniel's version of Colonel O'Neill's initial impression of him. "The point is that Colonel O'Neill is impatient with you, as he is with any of us who are taking too long or when he gets bored. Trust me, he yelled at Daniel plenty of times for taking too long or for going on and on about subjects he didn't think were interesting or necessary. It's not you; it's the colonel's personality."
Michaels nodded once, hearing and understanding everything she'd said. "I'm a military man, Major. I plan on being one for the rest of my life. Being assigned to SG-1 was an incredible boost to my career and I'm very happy to be here. I want to be an active member of the team, not just a reminder of someone you've lost."
"Daniel Jackson will always be a part of SG-1, Captain Michaels. But that does not mean that you can not be a part of SG-1 as well," Teal'c said from his position on the floor. He'd apparently ended his meditation when he'd heard what they were talking about.
"He's right. Don't misinterpret what we do or how we act, Jason. Give us a couple of years and you'll get used to us," Sam said, smiling slightly.
"Thank you, Major, Teal'c. I understand the situation a bit better now. Have a good night," he said and retreated to his room, leaving a worried Sam Carter behind.
****
"Would you care to tell me what you're doing here?"
Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath when he heard the grating voice. He slowly released the breath but did not get up from the chair he was sitting on, nor did he turn around to face the woman. He waited until she had fully entered the room and was standing in front of him before speaking.
"Half of these books used to be mine, which gives me a right to use them," he said, gesturing with his hands to the bookshelves that lined the walls of the small room.
Daniel had set the room he was in as a mini library for the entire department when he'd first arrived at the SGC and had used a lot of his old books so that everyone would have access to the same research materials. He had rarely had to use it himself, since he had his own research materials in his office. He didn't have his books with him right now, so he had been forced to come to the library to read up on Seshat in particular and Egyptian scribes in general. He hadn't expected to run into Ms. 'Huge Chip On Her Shoulder' at that hour of the morning.
"It's almost seven in the morning, Dr. Lovell. Give it up," Daniel added when the woman's face contorted with barely controlled rage.
"You have some nerve, you know that Dr. Jackson? You come in here as if nothing had happened. Need I remind you that you willingly left your job because you couldn't face the fact that your mistake cost hundreds of people their lives? How dare you just show your face again? Believe me, the pain isn't gone and it will never be," Lovell said, standing in front of Daniel's chair, her hands on her hips.
Hearing the woman standing in front of him remind him of the events leading to his resignation made Daniel's blood boil. He set the book he'd rested on his lap aside and quickly got up from the chair, making Lovell take a step back.
"You have no idea what happened on Aurora, because you weren't there," Daniel began, his voice low and very cold. "Furthermore, you have no idea what I've already put myself through because of the innocent lives that were lost. Believe me, it hasn't been a picnic for me either. Daniel paused and glared at Lovell. "Jack was right; all you did was get lucky on one translation. That doesn't make you any better than me or anyone else for that matter."
Daniel took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and not overreact to Lovell's hurtful words. She wanted to hurt him and was doing an admirable job of it. Daniel didn't want to give her the satisfaction of seeing him lose control.
"I'm not after your job, Dr. Lovell. I'm here because I want to help my friends make it back from whatever hellhole they find themselves in. It's a noble concept you know. But I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that, seeing as how you don't do anything that doesn't suit you."
"Oh, and you expect me to believe that you're some kind of saint? How many times did you manage to talk people into giving you what you wanted while you were here? As I recall, you could do no wrong," Lovell snapped at him. "You ran the department however you wanted and no one ever said anything to you."
"At least I ran the department. All you've managed to do is hire incompetent people who have no clue about what they're supposed to know."
Lovell frowned. "You're insulting my staff now, too? How pathetic."
"I wouldn't be here if Captain Michaels, who had to have been approved by you prior to his assignment to SG-1, had known the first thing about Egyptian scribes," Daniel said. "He made a mistake and Sam and Teal'c are now paying for it."
Lovell actually smirked at the comment. "You would know something about making mistakes, wouldn't you Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel looked at the woman, momentarily speechless. After a few minutes, he began to laugh. It was a bitter, harsh sound that made Lovell wince.
"You're definitely a piece of work, Dr. Lovell. However, you're not worth it, not by a long shot. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a mission to go on," Daniel said and without another word, left the room.
****
"Daniel, you're late!" Daniel heard Jack yell as he entered the embarkation room.
"Sorry, Jack. Too much coffee and too many things on my mind, not to mention a certain pissed off linguist," Daniel absently mumbled as he tried to get the holster properly situated around his thigh, Lovell's words still screaming though his head. He'd always hated the thigh holsters, because they were heavy and tended to come loose. The old fashion waist holsters would have worked much better. He glanced up and saw Jack standing at the end of the ramp facing SG-3 and Louis Feretti of SG-2. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to go, so Daniel made his way to stand next to Feretti.
"I told you I'd be coming along, Doc. Hammond wouldn't allow the rest of my team to tag along, though," Feretti said and clapped Daniel on the back.
"Thanks, Feretti."
"Okay, people. For those of you who don't know, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, SG-1's former archaeologist, now retired," Jack said to the gathered team. "He's come out of retirement to join us on this mission because of his expertise in ancient Egyptian culture. He's already given us some information on who we're going to find on that planet, so I hope you all read your pre-mission reports." Jack rearranged his MP-5, before continuing. "Our orders are simple. We are to infiltrate the underground compound and extract the rest of SG-1. Hopefully, we can do this with as little violence as possible. However, that is usually not the case when dealing with the Goa'uld, so be prepared for the worst. Major Thompson, since your team has already done reconnaissance on the planet, you will take point and lead us to where you saw the Jaffa exit. Are there any questions?"
The Stargate burst to life behind Jack, giving the room and its occupants a bluish glow.
"Good," Jack said when no one spoke up. "Let's move out."
As SG-3 was making their way up the ramp, Daniel caught a bit of a conversation.
"What the hell do we need with a civilian on this mission? He's going to get us all killed," Forester of SG-3 was telling one of his team members.
Daniel, who would have normally let a comment like that go, was not in a good enough mood to put up with it. He'd had practically no sleep the night before and was feeling particularly irritable, especially after the heated conversation with Lovell. Without a word to either Jack or Feretti, who had both heard the comment, Daniel made his way over to the two members of SG- 3.
"Don't worry, guys. I was on SG-1 for four years and either witnessed or participated in the deaths of several Goa'uld System Lords. I don't think you'll have to worry about baby sitting me," Daniel said to the men.
They turned quickly towards him, embarrassed that they'd been overheard. "Sorry, sir," they mumbled.
Daniel shrugged. "I'm a civilian, remember? You don't have to call me 'sir'."
With that, Daniel turned around and went back to stand next to Jack and Feretti.
"Go, Doc Jackson," Feretti commented, grinning as they made their way up the ramp behind SG-3.
"Methinks someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Jack mumbled softly. The look Daniel shot him told him everything he needed to know. "Or maybe he didn't make it all the way to bed in the first place."
"Don't we have a mission to get to?" Daniel stated.
"Yes, we do," Jack replied. "But first, you do remember how to shoot that thing, don't you Daniel?" he asked, pointing to the sidearm strapped to Daniel's thigh.
Daniel raised his eyebrows and leveled Jack with an easy glance. "After all that time you and Teal'c spent teaching me self defense, you think I'd forget?"
"Well, it's not like you need to be armed when you're sitting at your desk in your cozy office. I just want to make sure that you're okay with shooting the gun if you have to."
Daniel nodded and gave his reply in a voice bordering on annoyance. "Yes, Jack, I remember how to shoot the gun. Ill be able to defend myself, don't worry."
Jack nodded. The seriousness of the situation returned quickly, and he straightened his shoulders and confidently led his team of three through the Stargate to the unknown world beyond.
****
"Okay, Thompson, lead the way," Jack called out as he exited the Stargate into the bright, hot morning. He made his way towards the Major so that he could walk next to him. "Daniel, you're with me. Feretti, take the rear. The rest of you, fan out but stay within sight."
"Jack, I'd like to get a look at the writings that Michaels couldn't translate," Daniel said.
Jack turned away from Thompson and narrowed his eyes at Daniel. 'Here we go again. He's only been back for a day and he's already arguing for a change of direction.'
"Why? We already know where the rest of SG-1 is," Jack said.
Daniel shrugged. "Just humor me on this, Jack. You never know what you're going to find. Whatever is on that wall may just give us a history of this planet and how Heru'ur and Seshat came to be here. I'm sure that information like that has some kind of tactical advantage."
'Damn it! Why does he always have to sound so reasonable?' Jack thought. 'And since when has Daniel given a damn about tactical advantage? Then again, he wants me to let him go, so he won't tell me that he simply wants to see those stubborn hieroglyphs that three other linguists couldn't translate.'
"Jack, are you okay?"
Jack blinked, realizing that he'd been staring at Daniel. He sighed, resigned to the fact that Daniel's habit of making him change his orders was still alive and kicking.
"Yes, Daniel, I'm fine," Jack finally said, his voice full of long- suffering impatience. "Okay, fine, we'll go and see the wall so you can gawk at those chicken scratches you love so much. But don't take too long. I happen to have a fully loaded weapon in my hands."
"After all the trouble you went through to bring me here, you'd really shoot me?" Daniel deadpanned.
Jack chuckled. He'd really missed bantering with Daniel. "Don't push your luck, Daniel. You never know what I'm going to be in the mood for. Feretti, cover our six. SG-3, fan out but stay close while I lead the way to the temple. Daniel, you're with me."
Jack led the way to the temple, covering the distance in a shorter amount of time, now that he knew where he was doing. He looked at his watch as he reached the wall in question, and then glanced at Daniel.
"You have exactly thirty minutes, Danny. Get to translating. We'll just hang out here and watch for incoming Jaffa," Jack said, tightening the grip on his weapon.
Daniel ignored him, as Jack knew he would. Instead, the archeologist made his way to the inscriptions and began to run his hands over the weird writing. Jack sighed and found a nice, comfortable rock to sit on.
"You might as well make yourselves comfortable for the next half hour. Daniel will be in la la land until he translates all that stuff," Jack said.
"Do you think he'll be able to read that?" Thompson asked as he settled down beside the colonel.
"Sure. Daniel can translate pretty much everything. Some things take longer than others, but this should be a piece of cake to him."
"But the other three linguists weren't able to," Thompson added.
Jack shrugged. "He's got all these arcane and really old languages in his head that seem to come in handy every once in a while. I trust him."
Thompson nodded and glanced over to where Daniel stood. "I guess we don't have another choice."
****
Exactly thirty minutes later, Jack got up from his rock. He rubbed the sore spot on his backside gingerly, wincing at the discomfort. 'That's all I need,' he thought ruefully, 'as if bad knees aren't enough.'
"Okay, your time is up. Give us the correct answer now, or go home with the consolation prize," Jack said as he walked up to Daniel.
"If the consolation prize is a trip to Hawaii, I'll take it," Daniel replied as he turned away from the wall to face Jack.
"I'm afraid not," Feretti piped up. "The Air Force is too cheap, so we can't afford Hawaii."
"But there is always Minnesota," Jack added.
Both Feretti and Daniel groaned. "Not Minnesota," they both said at the same time, earning them a scowl from Jack.
"So what does it say?" Forrester asked as he and the rest of SG-3 joined them at the temple. "Were you able to translate it?"
"Oh, yeah," Daniel replied, his voice taking on that self-depreciating tone he sometimes used.
Jack couldn't help but wonder if the younger man was thinking back to what had happened with the translation on Aurora, and hoped that Daniel wouldn't let that affect him now.
"It's Old Egyptian, but those aren't actual hieroglyphs. That's what was confusing everyone," Daniel continued, switching into lecture mode automatically. "In ancient Egypt, hieroglyphs were used to adorn the tombs of the kings and other important monuments, and to write formal manuscripts. They were time consuming to write and were practically useless as a form of every day communication. For less formal methods of communication, such as daily notes or reports, the Egyptians of that time adopted Hieratic. Hieratic is the cursive form of hieroglyphs. As you can see," Daniel pointed to a section of the text that was directly under a line of hieroglyphs, "it's much easier to write. Since not many of the everyday documents have survived since the time of Egyptian civilization, Hieratic isn't widely recognized."
"But you know it, of course," Jack muttered.
"As a matter of fact, I do. I specialize in ancient languages, and this is one of them. It's just part of all that crap in my head, right Jack?" Daniel replied.
"So what does it say?"
Daniel took a breath. "Well, it basically depicts the arrival of Heru'ur on this planet. There were no natives on this planet when they arrived, which was why he chose it. Heru'ur came here after a fairly brutal battle with one of his enemies, a Goa'uld by the name of Geb, who is the Egyptian God of the Earth. They were fighting for control of a solar system a few hundred light-years from here, but Heru'ur was not a match for the troops that Geb rallied. Heru'ur caused as much destruction as he could, before fleeing to this place. It says that he went underground to avoid detection and to better plot a counter attack, so I'm guessing that there is not a pyramid on this planet. Landing the mother ship on the surface would be unwise," Daniel trailed off as he glanced at the writings once more. "My guess is that Heru'ur uses the transporter rings to get to and from the underground complex."
"If this planet is uninhabited, who built this temple?" Feretti asked.
"Heru'ur had it built for Seshat. He wanted to give her a place to write the history of this planet. I'm willing to bet that this door leads to Heru'ur's throne room."
"Ah, yes, well we're not going to find that out, are we Daniel? And speaking of Heru'ur and transporter rings, we should get going before he comes back. Thompson, you and SG-3 lead the way towards where you saw the Jaffa. I'll cover our six. Feretti, you and Daniel fan out, but stay close."
Everyone nodded their understanding and quickly made their way back towards the Stargate.
****
After what seemed like a never ending walk in the hot suns, Thompson finally spoke up.
"I believe it's in this area, sir. The small rocks covered the bottom of the door and all we saw was the Jaffa exiting. I'm not sure how we'd find it now, though."
Daniel glanced at where the major was pointing and frowned. The ground appeared to be undisturbed, covered in dirt and various other things native to the forest that surrounded the area. There was nothing to indicate that there had ever been an opening there.
"Daniel, do you have any ideas?" Jack asked.
Daniel walked slowly around in a circle, glancing at the ground as he went. He stopped every now and then and leaned down to see something then straightened up again.
"Daniel!"
Daniel's head jerked up so fast at Jack's voice that his glasses, which had already been halfway down his nose, fell off his face. With quick reflexes, Daniel reached out and caught them before they hit the ground.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly as he put the glasses back on again. "I think Major Thompson is right. The door is here. However, I'm not sure how to get it open without a ribbon device."
"Why a ribbon device?" Feretti asked.
"Goa'uld use the ribbon device to control much of everything they operate. It's convenient, I suppose. It makes it easier for them to have control over their surroundings as well as their people. However, not all Goa'uld carry a ribbon device and Jaffa don't carry one at all," Daniel added, his voice taking on that lecturing quality. Jack and Feretti exchanged knowing glances, while the members of SG-3 looked on. "Which means that there would have to be something here to manually control the door. I just have to find it."
Daniel made his way over to what looked like a small mound of dirt. It was no bigger than an ant hill and it didn't look out of place with the rest of the scenery. To Daniel, it looked like it was too well-placed. He didn't know whether the planet had ants, but he did know that two ant hills weren't likely to be placed directly next to each other, exactly one foot apart. Daniel leaned down to remove some of the dirt, when Jack's voice interrupted him.
"Don't touch it, Daniel. Not until you tell us what you're doing."
Daniel rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. "I doubt this is going to kill me, Jack."
"I've learned not to take any chances with you, Daniel, now spill."
"Do you all see these two mounds?" Daniel looked up and saw everyone nodding. "Does it not strike you that they happen to be perfectly positioned, exactly a foot apart?"
Jack glanced down at where Daniel's foot was and really looked at the things. They did seem to be perfectly positioned.
"What does that mean, Dr. Jackson?" Major Thompson inquired.
"I think they're handles, used to pull the door open when a ribbon device isn't present to do it. If they are handles, then it stands to reason that there is a lock somewhere in the vicinity. I was about to brush away the dirt when Jack stopped me," Daniel said, glaring at Jack.
"I'm not taking any chances with you, Daniel. You're dangerous when you touch things without telling me. A certain alternate reality mirror comes to mind."
"Yeah, Jack, but think of the good that came from that. We saved Earth. I'd say that pardons me from not following your orders to pack up and leave."
"So what was your excuse the other times?" Jack added, a smile on his face. "Go on, open the thing."
Daniel nodded and bent down to disturb the dirt that formed the mounds. Underneath the mounds, he found two narrow strips of metal, each about five inches long and two inches thick. He cleared the area between the two handles and discovered a square plaque covered in Goa'uld writing. After reading and translating the writing, Daniel reached out and touched three of the symbols on the plaque. A low rumbling sound could be heard and Daniel could feel the ground shaking underneath him. He immediately got up and stood off to one side where the ground didn't appear to be shaking. The place he'd just been standing on seemed to retract and disappear, leaving a wide opening in the ground.
"Open sesame?" Daniel muttered, getting a couple of chuckles from the gathered officers. "There's the door."
"Good work, Daniel! I knew I'd brought you along for a reason," Jack stated, moving closer to the opening. As he passed SG-3, who were staring at the opening in admiration, Jack's eyes met Forester's. "You still think you have to baby-sit him?"
Forester, to his credit, had the decency to look apologetic. "No, sir," was all he said.
"Come on, kids, let's go. I'll take point; Feretti, you and Thompson cover the rear. Everyone else, file in between. Daniel, you're up here with me. Let's go see how much trouble we can get into."
****
"This is impressive," Michaels noted as he, Sam and Teal'c wondered down the halls of the complex. Three Jaffa followed their every step but generally stayed out of their way. Seshat walked ahead of them, showing them around the place. "The architecture is exquisite as well as practical. It's also very beautiful."
"Yes, it is impressive, is it not?" Seshat said, turning back to glance at the young man. She gave him a pleased smile as she walked closer to him. "It was built many years ago when my lord Heru'ur first came to this world. We have resided here ever since. These writings tell the history of this palace," she told Michaels, taking his hand and leading him towards the closest wall. "I have written them over the years. If you would like to examine them, I can arrange for you to do so."
"Yeah, I think I'd like that, Seshat," he replied. He wasn't particularly interested in the writings, since he had trouble reading Egyptian hieroglyphs. He was, however, interested in being given a little time away from their room. The more he was out here, the more he could explore for possible ways to escape.
"Would you like to remain and look at them now while I take your companions through the rest of the complex? We will return for you when we are finished."
Out of the corner of his eye, Michaels glanced at Major Carter, who nodded slightly, giving him her okay.
"That would be fine. I'll wait here until you get back," he replied.
"Very well. You stay with him," Seshat said, motioning to the Jaffa closest to Michaels. "We will return when we are finished."
Seshat nodded once towards Michaels, and then motioned for Sam and Teal'c to follow her down the corridor.
Michaels stood in front of the wall and watched Seshat and the other two members of SG-1 as they walked away. When they had rounded the corridor and were out of sight, he turned to glance at the Jaffa who stood a few feet away from him, watching intently.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to try to escape or anything," he told the imposing man. "I'm only going to walk around a little bit so I can figure out where the story starts."
Without another glance at the Jaffa, Michaels made his way a bit further down the hall to the closest doorway and tentatively peeked inside. It was a completely empty room. He shrugged, figuring that since there was nothing inside, the room was not important. He glanced up at the wall, trying to figure out where to start reading. After all, he at least had to appear interested. He was interested, but wanted to think about getting out of the complex more than he wanted to read some ancient story. Michaels concentrated on a hieroglyph that looked familiar and started from there. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept tabs on the Jaffa, who had not followed him but watched him intently. It was going to be difficult to work around the Jaffa, but it could be done. Lucky for him, the writings followed the wall to the other end of the hallway, so Michaels would be able to explore at least that much.
With a sigh, he ignored the Jaffa and began to read.
****
"You said that Heru'ur was your lord. How long have you served him?" Sam asked as they continued down yet another corridor.
So far, they hadn't seen anything that would be of use to them. Seshat had shown them many rooms and corridors, but nothing that seemed to lead back up to the surface. Sam had caught a glimpse of a stairwell off the main corridor that lead upwards, but Seshat had taken them out of the room so quickly that Sam hadn't had much time to really take a look.
"I have served him for hundreds of years, ever since he chose me. We have traveled to many worlds and met many races. I have taken great pleasure in recording his deeds over the years. He is a great and courageous warrior."
"Of course he is," Sam said sarcastically. "Why are we on this tour, Seshat? I thought we were your prisoners?"
Seshat turned her head slightly to regard the major, but did not stop walking. "You trespassed, therefore you have put yourselves in this position. However, you have not given me a reason to confine you, which is why I decided to treat you as my guests and show you the complex. Do you think you should be returned to your quarters instead?"
Sam shook her head, willingly leaving this battle for another time. They needed to look around and this was the best way they were going to get to do so. She took a deep breath and followed the Goa'uld to their next destination.
****
Teal'c walked besides Major Carted and listened to all that was being said. He had known that several system lords kept scribes and had understood their purpose. He had even met Apophis' scribe on one occasion. His opinion of the man had been one of contempt, because the scribe had been small, frail and timid. One glare from Teal'c had been enough to frighten the man away. Apophis had been very fond of him, Teal'c did remember that. He would have sent a Jaffa to kill anyone who had tried to harm the scribe. Teal'c was sure that Heru'ur would do the same for Seshat.
"What are you going to do with us, Seshat? You're not going to let us go, yet you're showing us around as if we were your invited guests," Sam asked. She stopped walking and waited for Seshat to make her way back towards her.
"Are you being mistreated in any way?" Seshat asked, glancing from Teal'c to Sam.
"No we are not," Teal'c replied.
"What is the problem, then? I have not harmed you, I have fed you and entertained you. Why do you insist on leaving?" Her green eyes narrowed in apparent confusion.
"We don't like being confined, without the right to come and go as we please. It makes us uncomfortable and we would very much like to leave," Teal'c intoned.
"You can not leave," Seshat exclaimed. "My lord Heru'ur has to see you before you can leave. Only he can decide what to do with you, not I."
"We mean you no harm," Teal'c added. "All we wanted was to explore the planet."
"Then you shall fear nothing from Heru'ur. He is a forgiving god and will overlook your indiscretion as long as you pose no threat to him."
Sam shook her head and cast Teal'c a look. He understood the situation well. They would not be able to get through to Seshat at the rate they were going and it was still imperative that they leave the compound before Heru'ur returned. Once he arrived and saw them, he was not going to let them go at all. Not alive, at least.
****
"Just how big is this place?" Jack idly wondered as he, Daniel and Feretti made their way through the mostly silent corridors of the underground complex.
The two teams had split up when they'd made it to the bottom of the passageway so that they could cover more ground. He'd instructed Thompson to check in every half hour just to make sure that everyone was still in one piece.
"It has to be big enough for a God, remember?" Daniel quipped. "It probably houses several hundred Jaffa, the Goa'uld, which I'm hoping consists of only Seshat and Heru'ur, and probably a few human slaves."
"Only Seshat and Heru'ur?" Feretti said. "Isn't that more than enough?"
"Yeah, it is. But sometimes other Goa'uld, the lesser system lords, pledge their allegiance to the more powerful ones and reside with them."
"That's Daniel, ever the optimist," Jack stated.
Daniel chuckled, but said nothing more.
Jack led the way through the endless, bland corridors for about an hour. SG- 3 had reported in as scheduled, but they hadn't found a thing. Their first objective was to find the cells, or whatever passed for prisoner rooms in this place, because he figured that's where SG-1 would be. So far, they'd come across nothing but corridors that led into more corridors. The artificial lighting of the place gave the corridors an eerie, golden glow that under other circumstances would probably be regarded as cozy. Right now, however, it was annoying and revealing, making the team's green uniforms stand out in the golden light. They hadn't run into any Jaffa, which was always a good sign. Jack only hoped that the Jaffa were not in wait to ambush them somewhere.
"Major Thompson to Colonel O'Neill, checking in as ordered," came the soft voice from Jack's radio. He'd turned down the volume to avoid accidentally giving their position away and now he took the radio out and held it to his mouth.
"O'Neill. What is your status, Major?"
"Nothing yet, sir. All we've found so far are corridors that don't seem to lead anywhere."
"Same here. Keep looking, Thompson. O'Neill out."
Jack continued to walk forward, until he came to a split in the corridor that contained three branches.
"Hello," he said softly, glancing into each corridor. "I think I'll take door number three."
Daniel smiled. "How about I take door number one? It always has the best prizes."
"I don't think so, Daniel. We're not splitting up."
"Why not, Jack? We have to get to Sam, Teal'c and Captain Michaels before Heru'ur gets here and I'm betting that he won't be gone for much longer. If we split up, we can cover the distance much faster. We can keep checking in like Thompson and SG-3 is doing."
Jack looked from Daniel to Feretti, and then returned his gaze to the archaeologist. Finally he sighed. He hated when Daniel was right.
"Fine, you take door number one. That leaves number two for you, Feretti. Be on alert and have your weapons ready."
Jack glanced at Feretti, who was holding his MP-5 at the ready, then turned to Daniel and saw that he was taking his sidearm out of his holster. Jack suddenly reached into his pack and took out a zat gun. He handed it to Daniel.
"Take this too, Daniel. That sidearm isn't going to do you much good if you're up against more than one attacker."
Daniel took the offered zat gun and held it in his left hand, while the right held the handgun.
"Good. If you find anything, call someone immediately, understood?"
Both Feretti and Daniel nodded and the three men made their separate ways through the corridors.
****
Daniel made his way carefully through the corridor he'd chosen, his gun at the ready. He had pocketed the zat gun, but had it within easy reach in case he needed it. It had been a long time since he'd held a weapon, but he was sure that he hadn't forgotten how to fire it. Some things you learned and never forgot. Self preservation was certainly one of them.
'It's amazing what a person will do to survive,' he thought to himself, suddenly remembering the times he'd been forced to kill to save his life or the lives of his team.
Ten years ago, the thought of knowing how to defend himself in battle had never crossed his mind. Daniel's worries then had amounted to acquiring the funding that he needed for whatever research project he had been working on at the time. Physical fitness and combat training had been things that Daniel only knew about through the stories of the cultures he had learned about in his studies, or through what he knew of the military. It was never something that he'd associated with himself. But here he was right now, walking down a corridor on an alien planet, a gun in one hand and another in an easily accessible pocket. He could shoot them both at once, one in each hand. A feat that had amazed even him when he'd realized that he could do it in the heat of battle.
He wondered what his students would think of him if they could see him now. To them, he was only a mild mannered and quiet linguist who taught them how to recognize different languages. He chuckled, thinking that they'd be surprised to find him going to the gym, much less holding a gun and going into battle. 'Never judge a book by its cover,' he smiled as he remembered the old saying. 'There's truth to that. You never know what a person is capable of, not at all."
He walked a little further, when another, unbidden though popped into his head. 'What would my parents think of me if they could see me now?'
Daniel stopped in the middle of the corridor, frowning at the totally unexpected though. He rarely thought of his parents, mainly because it had been so long since they'd been tragically killed. It wasn't that he didn't love them or still miss them; it was just that he'd grown up used to not having them around. But the question was a valid one. What would they think of him and what he'd accomplished? What would they think of the way he'd gone about it? It saddened Daniel to know that he'd never have an answer to that question. He hoped that his parents would be proud of him regardless of what he had done, or failed to do, in his lifetime. He shook his head, clearing it of the distracting and painful images.
'It would serve me right to get shot right now for not paying attention to my surroundings,' he thought and began to move down the corridor once again.
It had surprised him how easily he'd fit back in to the SGC mold and how at ease he felt to be back on a mission. He was frightened at the possible danger, and yet he felt secure in the fact that Jack, Feretti and SG-3 were with him. It was like old times. Daniel had managed to conduct himself as much like a soldier as he could and do what was required of him, as if a year hadn't gone by. What surprised him even more was how much more familiar this seemed, how involved he felt. He felt as if he belonged once again.
That was probably because of Jack more than anything. After all, he'd spent many years on missions with Jack giving him orders, so it was quite easy to fall back into the pattern. Daniel suddenly realized that he felt more at home here, in the middle of a strange planet ready to face a dangerous enemy, than he had in the halls of UCLA surrounded by his peers and students. Funny how it worked out that way, but he supposed that since he'd chosen the SGC, and SG-1 in particular, as his surrogate family, it should be no surprise that he hadn't fit in anywhere else.
With that feeling of belonging, however, came a feeling of dread that he would more than likely have to leave again. He was the stranger here and the reason for that was his own doing. He'd run away from his work and his team when he had been unable to handle the situation after Aurora. SG-1 had been forced to move on and they'd done what they could with the situation he'd left them with. SG-1 was complete, Jack had his team and Daniel couldn't imagine being at the SGC without being on SG-1. Besides, SG-1 might not even want him back on the team. He'd run away once, what was to stop him from running away again? He could understand why they couldn't, or wouldn't, trust him. He was still the odd man out, even if he desperately didn't want that to be the case.
Suddenly, Daniel noticed that the walls changed. They were no longer the plain, barren ones he'd seen ever since they had descended from the surface. Now, the walls were covered with hieroglyphs. He stopped and raised his head to read the top of the wall. The particular wall he was reading depicted one of the battles that Heru'ur had emerged victorious from. As Daniel read on, he learned more and more about the various enemies Heru'ur had faced thought the years, as well as the story of how they'd come to settle on this planet. Daniel didn't pay much attention to that one, since he'd already read it on the surface.
"He's a bit paranoid now, isn't he?" Daniel whispered to himself as he read on.
A noise to his left immediately caught Daniel's attention and he quickly brought both weapons up. He felt, rather than saw that someone was approaching him and looked around for cover, but there was none. All Daniel could do was move further down the corridor, back the way he had come, until he came to a bend in the corridor. It would provide safety for a few seconds, but hopefully that would be enough for Daniel to disable the newcomer.
As the person approached, Daniel heard the tell tale sound of Jaffa armor hitting the hard surface of the floor. He decided to use the zat gun to draw as little attention to himself and as soon as the Jaffa was within his sight, Daniel fired. The Jaffa fell to the floor, unconscious. A second Jaffa charged towards the fallen Jaffa and Daniel also fired at him, knocking him out. He stayed where he was for a few seconds, waiting for more to come his way. When no more Jaffa appeared, Daniel stepped out of his semi-hiding place and approached the two Jaffa. They were both unconscious. A sudden move ahead of him made him bring up both weapons again.
"Don't shoot, I'm unarmed."
Daniel frowned at the man standing in front of him, but did not fire. Realization dawned on him and he lowered the weapons.
"Captain Michaels, I presume," Daniel said and walked towards the man, scanning the corridor ahead and behind him for more Jaffa.
"Yes, that's me. Who are you?" Michaels asked, examining the man standing in front of him.
Daniel saw the man's expression go from surprise to sudden understanding and suddenly realized that Michaels knew who he was. He decided to introduce himself anyway, just in case.
"I'm Daniel Jackson. I'm here with Jack, Feretti and SG-3."
"It didn't take him long, did it?"
"Excuse me?" Daniel asked, puzzled at the man's behavior.
"You're wearing an SG-1 jacket, so I'm assuming that Colonel O'Neill went and got you when we went missing."
Daniel's frown deepened and he unconsciously clenched his jaw. Was that jealousy he detected in Michael's tone?
"The jacket belongs to Jack, Captain. He let me borrow it because it was the only one available in such short notice. And as for why I'm here, that might have something to do with you. After all, we wouldn't be here if you'd known that Seshat was the scribe to Heru'ur now would we?"
Michaels opened his mouth to reply, but said nothing. As much as he hated to admit it to Dr. Jackson, the man was right.
"I'm not here to take your place, Captain Michaels. I'm just here to help my friends. Where are they, by the way?"
Michaels glanced behind him, before turning back to face Daniel.
"Seshat was giving us a tour of the complex. Major Carter asked her to so that we could see where we were and if there were any escape routes. We came across these walls and I stopped to read them. Seshat wrote this and seemed interested in having me read them, so she let me stay. She left a Jaffa to guard me, and another one came to join him sometime later. Those were the two you just knocked out," the captain explained. "I don't know where they are now, but they were supposed to come back for me when the tour was over."
"Have you read the writings?" Daniel asked, glancing over Michaels' head at the wall.
Michaels shrugged. "Some of them. I'm not very good at Egyptian hieroglyphs. I'm a lot more fluent in the more recent languages. Can you read them?"
Daniel shook his head. "And yet, you were assigned as SG-1's archaeologist. Unbelievable," he muttered. "Yes, I can read them. These depict some of the battles Heru'ur has fought in his life time. That one over there depicts his arrival to this planet and the building of this complex, as does the wall of the temple on the surface. It's very interesting stuff."
"You were able to read that? What language was it?" Michaels asked.
"It was Hieratic, a cursive and less formal form of hieroglyphs. You should have at least been exposed to it before joining the team," Daniel said, his voice showing a trace of impatience.
"Look, I did my best when I was assigned to SG-1. I'm not as good as you are and I never tried to be. But it seems like it was never good enough for Colonel O'Neill."
Daniel looked away from the walls and regarded the captain. "I'm sorry. I don't know you and I didn't mean to insult you. Jack, Sam and Teal'c are like family to me and I hate the thought of them out on the field with insufficient information."
"It seems to me that you're the one responsible for that," Michaels countered.
"We don't have time for this. We need to find Sam and Teal'c and get the hell out of here before Heru'ur decides that he's missing home. Now please come with me and I'll take you to Jack."
Daniel started to walk back the way he'd come when a noise behind him stopped him in his tracks. He immediately whirled around and ran towards the other end of the hallway where the sound had come from. There, he found a door that led into a wide room that probably housed the transporter rings. Michaels followed close behind him and leaned his upper body inside the room to take a quick peek. As the two humans watched, the transporter rings were activated and three people materialized inside.
Daniel didn't wait for the rings to disappear. He didn't have to. He grabbed Michaels' arm and dragged the man to the other end of the corridor. He stopped by the Jaffa and picked up one of the staff weapons, handing it to Michaels.
"I'm assuming you know how to shoot one of those," Daniel said as they continued walking.
"Yes, I know."
"Good, you're going to need it."
Daniel quickly walked towards the branch in the corridor where he, Jack and Feretti had split up. Once there, he took out his radio.
"Jack, its Daniel, come in."
Seconds later, he heard Jack's voice.
"What did you find, Daniel?"
"I found Captain Michaels. He says that Sam and Teal'c are with Seshat, getting a tour of the place."
"Where are you now?" Jack's voice was tense, Daniel could tell even over the radio.
"We're at the branch where we split up."
"Okay, Daniel, you and Michaels stay there. I'll contact Feretti and meet you there."
"Jack you better get here fast, there's something else."
Jack was quiet on the other end. When his voice came back over the radio, both men could hear the edge to it.
"What is it?"
"It's Heru'ur," Daniel said, his voice betraying the anxiousness he felt. "He's returned."