Standard disclaimers apply. Thanks to Chef Erica for the beta. Hopefully this chapter looks a little better off than the last!

XYZ

Hok'taur

Chapter 4

XYZ

Sam's eyebrows arched as the radio went silent. The British voice had broken in with some rather immediate sounding questions—she didn't bother to ask why he was on O'Neill's radio, she'd just answered, being fairly certain there was a good reason.

Hearing Jaffa approaching, she and Teal'c took positions behind the biggest, heaviest metal cargo crates they could find. If they could funnel all of the Jaffa into the space, they could come around them, cut off an escape and take them out that way. Being proactive was so much easier than trying to defend an indefensible position.

Just as the cargo bay doors opened, before she could even train her weapon on the enemy, she heard a series of quick Zat rounds. The Jaffa fell forward, into the cargo bay, revealing Daniel. "Anybody here order two pepperoni pizzas and a large order of backup?"

Teal'c just frowned, but Sam had to grin. "Yeah, but I forgot to tell ya we had a coupon when I called. How'd you get down here?"

Daniel's face contorted. "You don't want to know." But he knew he was going to have to tell her. "Garbage chute. I'd be happy never doing that again. Short version of the catch-up story: found some genetic sequencing equipment, found the Doctor—not too bad of a guy once you get past the xenophobia and a lack of tolerance for mistakes… blew up the genetic sequencing equipment, came to find you guys. Jack and the Doctor shouldn't be too far off our location by now."

Out of immediate danger, Sam went back to the enormous device taking up the entire end of the chamber. "We managed to get to this level from a trap door on the floor above which promptly decided to disappear once we were through. I am not entirely sure Nirrti even knows what she's doing to these people. I think she's just experimenting with new technology." She pointed to the long white cables and tubes running from the main unit to the enormous fluid sacks. "It looks like some kind of crystal optical cable. I think I'm going to try for a sample of that--"

"Don't even think about it!" a voice called out from the corridor. She heard two sets of boots clomping towards them. Turning, she saw Jack and the Doctor enter the space, carefully stepping over the unconscious Jaffa. "We're blowin' it up, and we're doing it right now."

She looked to O'Neill for an explanation. Her CO nodded. "Yeah. Apparently if we don't get all of the Doctor's toys back, the universe will end, and we'll have to blow up the solar system. Do I have that right?" he asked, turning to the tall man with the long, care-worn face.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, holding a hand out for more explosives. "Nirrti has enough raw genetic material to build a host more powerful than her garden-variety super-humans. Command over the fourth and fifth dimensions, that sort of thing. Usually you need an advanced degree before you're allowed to muck with space and time. I'm betting if you give her that kind of power, she'll stir up a paradox in two minutes flat, and then the universe goes kablewy. If it comes to blowing up the solar system and you lot with it, I'm doing it. So helping me's in your best interests right now."

Taking the charges from Jack, he began opening access panels and pulling wires.

Sam turned to her CO. "Doesn't mess around, does he?"

The Doctor looked back at her. "I didn't do the things that I've done to keep reality in one piece just to have it destroyed by an incompetent BITCHY snake with too much time and too many toys that don't belong to her."

Before Sam could challenge him, Jack put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn around and glare at him. He shook his head. "Let him go. Now's not the time."

The Doctor gestured with a finger for Daniel to come over. "You, Rambo, hold this." He held up internal cabling in a variety of pale shades. "Blondie, detach the sacks. Don't slash 'em, and make sure you disconnect them from the regulators. They're the silver--"

"Cylindrical units attached to what I assume to be a manual dampener?" Already on her way to the other end of the bay, Sam nodded, entirely not amused.

Inconspicuously, Jack began wandering towards Sam.

With a maniacal grin, the Doctor shook his head, both hands still yanking on cables and other unidentifiable parts. "Another clever ape. No wonder you want to dissect this old thing. You might actually figure it out, in a hundred years or so." Yanking the already sliced cables out of Daniel's hands, "Clever little apes, the whole lot of you. Traveling together though the gates. Well, except for him." The Doctor gestured with his chin at Teal'c. "Where'd they pick you up, then?"

Attention still focused on the door, to be sure no more Jaffa were coming, Teal'c inclined his head. "There are many Jaffa who no longer worship the false gods. I seek to aid the Tauri in their battle against the Goa'uld."

Kicking the access panel shut, the Doctor rose, handing Daniel some forgotten bit of apparently unnecessary bit of cabling. "Good for you, mate. Give 'em hell."

It was said with an almost mocking bravado, to which Teal'c did not bother responding.

Jack leaned over Carter's shoulder. "Need a little help?" he asked quietly.

She pulled out a wrench that may or may not do the job, contemplating how to get herself high enough to begin detaching the appropriate cables. "Your friend's quite a charmer, sir. I'm guessing he's wanted strictly for his sunshine personality—not anything he's actually done."

Jack dragged a crate over for her to use as a stepping stool. "Just let him go. He's just a little… rough around the edges. Probably a heaping load of PTSD too—case study to end all case studies type stuff."

Carter didn't look the least bit impressed. Climbing up onto the box, she disconnected four of the five cables. Her hand hovered over the last one as she replied quietly, "well, the end of the universe is the end of the universe. But I'm dying to know…what IS he? This technology is so different from anything we've seen from the Asgard or the Ancients…"

"Snuggle time's over," a deep voice announced loudly from behind them. "Get that last one, and lets get a move on. This thing pulls energy out of the Vortex, the particle storm is going to be vicious. We can't even be in the same postcode when it goes."

Disconnecting the last one, Carter hopped down, about to ask exactly WHAT Vortex that happened to be, when there was a familiar rushing surround and a flash of light. Well, they found the rings, it appeared.

The light shrank and the rings fell away. The three were in a large chamber with gilded coffered ceilings, a polished quartz floor and an enormous golden throne. Behind it lay a large glass window, the stark contrast of stars and space lay beyond. In said throne sat Nirrti, shrouded in dark purple robes, her face hidden, looking quite pleased with herself. "It has been…an interesting day."

Before the Doctor could say anything, Jack stepped in front of him, ignoring Nirrti's royal guard and the weapons pointed at him. "Yeah, you're telling me. First I found this really great Christmas tree, then I found the craziest looking sarcophagus in some bushes…"

Nirrti raised her hand, the center of her hand device glowing deep blood red was O'Neill as thrown away from her. He landed about ten feet behind the others, sliding another yard on the polished floor. "Your team will be dealt with in due time. My interest is in you… Doctor."

Keeping an eye on the ten angry Jaffa, Carter helped Jack to his feet.

Stepping away from the rings, the Doctor grinned. "Good to see you, your Evil Snakiness. Just passin' through. I'll just be gathering my stuff, and I'll be on my way."

The Goa'uld's painted eyes narrowed. "You and your interference have plagued me for so long. It is fitting that you should be the key to my final success."

The smile never left the Doctor's lips. It didn't seem like they had much in the way of bargaining chips, but he seemed to be confident—despite being surrounded by a room full of angry warriors. "But only if I help you."

"Good one," Jack whispered. He liked having leverage.

Nirrti rose from her throne, descending two of the steps, pausing. "The lonely god. How terrible it must be for you. Always traveling—always alone. I wonder; do you run towards, or from something?" The smile was evident in her voice, even if her face remained hidden. "I could help you, you know. Just this once."

The Doctor's face was suddenly stony. "I am not a god. And unlike some people, I've never pretended to be. So I let you resurrect my species, then what? What do you get? You get a host with power over time and space? The Goa'uld get an army of hosts? It'd be all of five seconds before another time war erupts. My people won't stand for yours having that kind of power. I won't stand for it."

Hands folded in front of her, Nirrti maintained her composure, though it was evident to both Jack and Sam that this was about to turn ugly. It was a battle among gods, and they were about to be caught in the middle.

Taking another slow step down, Nirrti paused, considering her words. "And yet, your people have had such power for millennia. You withheld it from the other first races and horded that power for yourselves. How does this make you better than the Goa'uld?"

Taking another step towards her, the Doctor quietly slid his hand into his jacket pocket. "Because it's OURS. Let me use very tiny words." He pointed to himself with his free hand. "Lord of Time." He then gestured to her, looking around at the space. O'Neill caught him pulling his hand out of his pocket, and got ready. Something was about to happen, and he wasn't going to be caught off guard. "Parasite on the universe. The only thing the Goa'uld have ever created for themselves were your little fiefdoms spread through this little corner of space. You call yourself gods, but there's so much that's so much bigger than you. And it's coming for you. I'm coming for you. These adorable little apes are coming for you. So no. I won't help you. I will, however, take my blood back. Every last peptide and protein, please."

Nirrti and the Doctor raised their hands at the same time, She, ostensibly to use the hand device, he let rip with that little 'sonic screwdriver' of his. There was an audible buzz, then a silence more forceful than any explosion. If that thing was capable of disabling Goa'uld technology, Jack desperately wanted one.

A couple of Jaffa twitched, and Carter actually fired before O'Neill. See, he wasn't trigger-happy. They both looked around anxiously for cover as the space lit up like a fireworks display on the forth of July. It was so bright and loud with gunfire and pinkish orange staff weapon fire that Jack almost didn't notice the series of hot white flashes.

When his head hit the floor, his brain seemed to back up, replaying the last several seconds in his head. He COMPLETELY hadn't seen THAT one coming. He should have. But he hadn't.

XYZ

Jack woke to spots in his ears and ringing in his eyes. Ok, so that wasn't exactly how the cliché went, but that's exactly how it felt. His senses were scrambled, and they were having trouble grasping on to anything real; he was trapped in an endless tumbling motion as vertigo kept its hold upon him.

A deep, calm voice broke through the tumble through the dryer that his senses were doing. "Take deep breaths. Focus on the breathing. It'll help."

Focusing on the in and out for a moment, Jack slowly felt his body reorienting itself. His head was attached to the rest of him, which happened to be vertical, and his arms were stretched painfully over his head. At this point—pain and strain were good. It meant that he had some point of reference.

Opening his eyes, he slowly looked up at the manacles around his wrists, then the dim light of his surroundings. "Nice accommodations." Dungeon. Sure it was more of a brig, but it was dark and just a bit damp, so really—dungeon was the only thing he could think of. Carter was in similar straights, about ten feet away from him.

And completing the trifecta of captured-ness, the Doctor, wearing a grim smile on his face. "Sorry about that. Disabled the hand device and missed the neural scrambler. I have no idea where she got the toys from, but she got the mother load."

Carter's long, dark lashes batted against her cheeks as she attempted to focus her eyes. Jack looked away.

"What is it with you blondes and the mascara?"

Still not entirely back together, Sam tried to glare at the Doctor, but her arms were in the way. Spinning herself around just a bit, she managed it. "I'm not wearing any makeup."

Jack smirked. "Yeah, she looks that put together after getting the crap kicked out of her all the time!" It was too easy to irritate her sometimes. "Seriously, though. We should worry a little bit less about Carter's skincare habits and a little bit more about getting outta here." Thinking it over, Jack frowned. "And what're we doing here anyway?" They should have been dead by now. He'd have killed them, if he were Nirrti. Ouch. That made the head hurt.

The Doctor looked up at his own hands. "I don't pretend to understand her overly simplistic mind, but if I were her—and thank the universe I'm not—but if we don't get out of here, I just may be—I'd torture you two until I agreed to cooperate in breaking down the Time Lord genetic code." He turned to Carter suddenly, still bothered. "If you worked in a shop, and just suppose that that shop was blown up, and someone said to you 'come with me, we'll go see the universe,' would you go with him—granted he's a complete and total stranger who blew up your job and almost got you killed—or would you report to the unemployment office the next morning?"

If the crease in Carter's brow was any indication, Jack thought that she'd lay into the esteemed Lord of Time, if her hands weren't bound in several inches of metal and chains. "And I'd know the answer to this…why? Because I'm blond?"

Wincing, the Doctor tried to backpedal. "Because you're obviously intelligent for a human, and I'll work under the assumption that you were once a nineteen year old girl, unless the United States Air Force now hatches it's ninja-secret ops-scientists fully grown, and I think it'd give me just a small bit of perspective as to why I'm here."

Jack made a circular motion with his fingers, imitating a philosophy teacher from college. "Why are ANY of us here?" he asked whistfully.

Ignoring the Colonel, the Doctor sighed. "Right. Forget her. Getting out of here." He twisted his hands around in the chains. They were far too tight this time for him to try his little trick again. That and his thumb still smarted. "Her boyfriend was clutching onto her knees like a scared five year old. I guess we can tell who wears the pants in THAT relationship…"

Carter gave up on any further attempts at thinking things through with the Doctor and turned to her CO. "Odds of Daniel and Teal'c finding us?" Considering THEY were the ones about to be tortured and all.

The Doctor's head rolled sarcastically. "Come with me, see the universe. 'Oh no, I'm sorry, I have to take care of my stupid idiot boyfriend. You go on without me, I'll be alright. Nothing to see here, move right along…'"

Jack shrugged. "If they can find us, can they get up here?" They did happen to be in a ship in orbit around the planet, and the rings seemed to be activated only from the mother ship they now found themselves 'guests' upon.

"I wouldn't have been all that heartbroken, had he been killed by the Autons. It would have served him right…"

Scowling, Carter's head snapped toward the Doctor. "Did you ever think of asking her again?" she fired at him. She really needed some quiet to work on the whole 'escaping before we're tortured' problem. The alien's devolving ADD tangent was NOT helping.

The Doctor looked at her like her head had done a 360 and she was spitting nails. "What?"

Carter sighed. "Go off with the unknown variable, stay at home with the sure thing. I'd want to know that the unknown variable thought that I was the sure thing. That I'm worth coming back for."

He blinked at her like she was speaking gibberish. "But she said no--" Blinking, he looked away. "Alright, here's the plan: we get the Jaffa in here--"

Seemingly on queue, the small cell opened. Six Jaffa filed in, Nirrti in their wake. "I think we're all acquainted." Pulling the veil back from her face, she held out a stick that looked rather unfortunately like a cattle prod.

The electrical charge crackling at the tip also helped with that imagery. "And now, Doctor, we see if your duty to the universe outweighs your love for all creatures great and small."

The Doctor shook his head, icy blue eyes narrowed. "I won't play your game, Nirrti. If you harm them, I won't help you."

A taut smile pulled back on her darkly shaded lips. Stopping in front of Major Carter, she looked the Doctor in the eye, raising the crackling stick. "No harm will come to her, if you cooperate. If you deny me, she will die." She grinned like someone looking at a full house. "And before you point out that I will have nothing to bargain with if I kill your friends, remember that not far from here is an entire village full of little potential hostages."

Sam could feel the warmth of the electricity as the stick was moved to a position about an inch from her nose. Nirrti looked at her as though she were no more than a lab animal. "And your decision, Doctor?" Not one to let a proposition linger, was she?"

Her focus shifted from the tip of the device to the Doctor. He looked away, and she knew what he was going to say before he said it. "Kill her then. Kill them all."

TBC