"I will give you a choice, Tau'ri." Chiron stood next to her stone bed with his muscular arms folded across his chest. Shaboni didn't think she liked being called 'Tau'ri', the way this creature spat the word. He waited as if demanding she ask him to reveal her options. She said nothing. When he realized she was not going to play his game he added, "I know that you are not alone. Your people come through the Chappa'ai in groups. You will tell me where the rest of them are, or I shall take the information from you in a most uncomfortable manner." His tone was amiable, almost friendly. But the sincerity of the promise behind his words belied his quiet tactic.

Strategizing, she knew that there was no reason to anger Chiron at this point. She realized that the little she knew of the Stargate program would be of no use to him, so she responded, "There are no others. I was coming here alone."

Chiron tipped his head sideways, appraising her steely gray eyes in the light he'd lit around the perimeter of the room. He believed her claim that there were no others. If she were, indeed, alone this would prove to be most advantageous. No one would be coming for her any time soon.

She didn't turn away from him the way the women of Dashou did. This strange woman displayed no fear in front of him whatsoever. Typically such insolence would be more than enough provocation to bring swift and painful punishment. But in this woman of the Tau'ri, he'd decided, it was not angering. It was appealing. It was something he could appreciate, and even better, it was something he could take away from her. The notion of painstakingly removing her defenses one at a time until all that remained was the huddled, broken shell of a woman excited him as much as anything he could remember. It had been nearly a lifetime since he'd had a possession so worthy of his ownership. She didn't realize it yet, but he owned her body and mind. And when he was through with her he would own her soul.

His hand reached down and slid the fabric of her skirt up the side of her toned leg. She attempted to pull away from his touch, but her bonds held fast. The little movement she had managed drew an excruciating objection from her shoulders and back; too long frozen in merciless contortion. She couldn't refuse the gasp of air her lungs drew as abused muscles contracted in spasms of protest. The sound of her pain elicited the tiniest lift in the corners of Chiron's mouth. Yes, this would be a task worth relishing. He would have to go very slowly, for there was no way to know when an opportunity such as this would present itself again.

He removed the heavy gloves he wore, tucking them into the belt of his robe. Then, in anticipation of the task before him, his eyes flashed brightly in the long shadows cast by torch fire. Shaboni never took her eyes off Chiron. She would never allow him to see her fear, but she knew it was there. And so did he. He let his hand trace a lazy pattern from her leg, over her hip, up her stomach, to her neck where he drew a single finger across her jaw line. In the low light he could see the shadows of the contours of her face. Her jaw muscles contracted over clenched teeth.

Yes, that's right. No fear in the eyes, but the body betrays.

In a blindingly fast and fluid motion he raised the hand that a moment ago had been touching her almost tenderly and brought his fist down hard, slamming into her mouth. Shaboni's eyes watered as she felt her lips split on teeth. Blood filled her mouth. The tasted of it was sickening. A single pained tear escaped her dark lashes and fell into her hair. But behind the watery proof of the pain he inflicted the steel of her eyes never wavered.

The insistent beeping of his watch alarm roused the sleeping colonel from disjointed dreams of a woman with long brown curls. As the last wisps of sleep drifted from his mind the image of her face drifted with them. It was time to move out. He roused his sleeping teammates, but found Teal'c dressed and ready to go when he peeked into the room where he'd spent the short night.

"O'Neill." Teal'c's shorthand for "we need to have a conversation" was easily understood after nearly four years.

"Teal'c." Jack walked all the way into the room and waited for the Jaffa to continue.

"The Goa'uld in the video."

"Chiron."

"Yes."

"You know him?"

"He is the son of Cronus." That mere fact sent Jack's eyebrows skyward. Teal'c continued, "He is no better than his father."

"Like father, like son, eh?"

"Indeed. If Captain Uziel has been his captive since her disappearance..." Teal'c let his voice trail off as he considered how best to put his words. "Death would be most preferable to remaining a prisoner of Chiron."

Jack raised a finger to disagree with Teal'c, but the logic of those words wormed beneath the emotional reaction he was having to them. He lowered the finger. Instead of arguing he said, "Understood," and turned and walked out of the room.

The four members of SG-1 and Cassic, their guide, gathered in the pre-dawn darkness of the bar. Cassic had traded the gently flowing fabric of her dress for heavy trousers and a dense woolen sweater. They made a last-minute check of their gear and supplies and headed out into the moonless night. As they made their way into the forest no one spoke; footfalls, breathing, the crunch of flora underfoot, and the occasional snap of a twig the only sounds. As they neared the forest the buzz of insects and occasional cry of a bird grew louder. The bobbing of flashlights disappeared as they stepped into the thick shroud of trees.

Once they were far enough away from the sleeping inhabitants of Dashou, Jack asked Cassic to tell him as much about the palace as she could.

She hesitated before answering with, "I do not know what I can tell you that will aid you, but I will try to remember all I can."

Her hesitant response confirmed for the colonel a suspicion that had been growing in him since her reaction to Daniel's questions about her husband. He felt certain that something had happened to her at that palace. The haunted expression she wore whenever the subject of her husband or the palace itself came up was more than just the sadness of his disappearance. Her dark eyes gleamed with fear when Daniel had asked her about her husband. She had expressed no such fear when they were watching the footage of Chiron and his Jaffa attacking her friends; only anger. He decided that to press the matter now wouldn't help, but he knew sooner or later he was going to need to know what she was hiding. Given that they were already on their way to the palace, it would likely be sooner.

She told them of a small contingent of Jaffa that guarded the entrance to the palace, but that there were secret entrances. "I know where one of them is, but I cannot tell you about anything we might encounter once inside. One thing I do know is that there are many inhabitants within the palace walls. It will be exceedingly difficult to make your way to the lower chambers where prisoners are kept without being seen."

They discussed what she knew of the interior of the palace until finally, when Jack asked the right question (or the wrong one), she clammed up.

"What does Chiron want with Dashou's men?"

Her halting chatter about the structure's stone columns and antechambers ceased immediately. She kept walking, but for a very uncomfortable few moments the question hung in the air; refusing to either be answered or to fade away.

Jack reached out and caught Cassic's upper arm, turning her to face him. "Cassic, stop." In the harsh glow of their flashlights she squinted up into the face of the colonel. "We are trying to do more than just rescue our friend here." He paused briefly when she immediately looked at her feet. Softening his tone he continued repeating what Daniel had said to her earlier, "We're going to try and help Dashou. We've done it before on other worlds. But it won't work if you won't help us." She kept her head down.

Seeing that the gentle approach was failing, Jack switched tactics. "We're walking into a Goa'uld-occupied Jaffa stronghold! Now tell me what you're hiding!"

Her head snapped up at the commanding tone of his voice. There were bright tears in her eyes. "He STAYED!" She screamed it at them. The grief in her voice made Daniel's hands shake. He knew the depth of pain that made that sound.

"What do you mean? Who stayed?"

"Nathan. My husband." She was fully crying now: tears running in rivulets down both cheeks. Suddenly the floodgates were opened and all her words came spilling out. "We were both very young when we were captured by Chiron. I was imprisoned for more than three seasons. Nathan was taken to another part of the palace to work as a slave to the Jaffa. Chiron would come to my cell and make me wear dresses. He wanted me to…" she swallowed as the parts that were too hard to say came to the surface, "dance…and sing for him. Nathan became the slave of a Jaffa who seemed to like him very much. Another Jaffa was trying to overtake his position and Nathan caught him. He was able to save the life of the Jaffa he served." The words started to come faster and faster as they tumbled out of her for the very first time. "As a reward for his loyalty the Jaffa brought him to my cell, but…" A sob constricted her throat, but she pressed onward, unable to stem the forcefulness of the flow of memories. "When he arrived he found me…with…" She averted her eyes as she spoke her shame into the world. "He found me with Chiron. And I was already with child."

Sam looked away. She had heard a hundred stories on a hundred worlds where the Goa'uld had ruthlessly ruled. She had even been to hell herself, quite literally, on Netu. But having to force this woman to share the worst moment of her life with a group of strangers who were using her to their own ends as well, seemed to her to be almost as cruel as what the Goa'uld had done to her. She felt sick to her stomach.

Daniel, on the other hand, was still looking for answers. Using the pressing need of their situation to distract him from the sudden power of his own grief over the loss of his wife he pressed her, "Cassic, I'm so sorry that happened to you. I understand what kind of evil you faced. We have seen the evil of the Goa'uld for ourselves." The earnestness in his voice was meant to comfort, but he still didn't understand. "But what did you mean by, 'he stayed'?"

"I escaped," she supplied. "I could not allow Chiron to have the child. When I got out of the lower level, the dungeon, I found Nathan. The Jaffa he had been a slave to had been killed for bringing him to see me, and Chiron had taken him as a personal slave." She paused as if to implicate something particularly horrible by that revelation. "When I saw him I told him I had escaped and come for him so that we could flee together, but he refused to go with me. He told me that he belonged to Chiron now, and that I must leave the palace and never return. He didn't want me anymore." Finally, the strain of revealing all she kept locked in her heart and memory overtook her. Her knees buckled and she sank to the forest floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

Jack bent down and put a hand on her shoulder feeling her shake beneath it. He looked up at his team's faces. In them he saw the vast array of emotions he felt: hot anger at the injustices done to these people, guilt for having pried the intensely personal story from the woman, and compassion for her pain.

They all stood silently and let Cassic cry it out. After a time she came to the end of her tears. She wiped at her face and stood back up. Facing their worried looks she spoke more calmly than anyone would have expected, "I have never revealed these things. I tell you now because I believe that there is every chance your friend is still alive. Chiron…" she paused, "…Chiron believes all that he does is art. He takes great care, time, and measure with all he possesses."

Jack's heart slammed in his chest. Her words had been similar to Teal'c's in meaning, but far more descriptive. He hadn't needed help imagining what an evil bastard like Chiron would be doing to Shaboni, but Cassic's carefully chosen words had conjured images that he'd thus far been able to force away. Movement was needed here: one-foot-in-front-of-the-other kind of movement. He held out his hand indicating that Cassic should take the lead and they got back under way. As he walked he used the rhythm of his steps and his breathing to force aside the persistent thoughts and images, actions smoothing the fraying edges of his skilled composure.

They walked on through the blackness of the night. The cold air felt as thick and hard to breathe as the steamy heat of day.

Chiron had had his fun for the time being. When he left Shaboni alone in her cell he ordered one of his Jaffa to release her from the shackles. She'd briefly toyed with the idea of trying to escape, but had quickly come to the conclusion it was simply not the right time. She was weak from exposure, thirst, and hunger. There would be no overpowering her captors. She would have to find another means of escaping.

When her hands and feet were free and she was again alone she rolled off the high stone table that had been her bed for two days. Her strength failed her and she couldn't catch herself as she crashed to the hard floor. Every inch of her body screamed from the agony of the abusive position she'd been in, but the singing throb of pain in her face was the worst of it. He'd pounded on her mouth repeatedly. She tried to ascertain her injuries, but her fingers were numb from a lack of blood and the cold. Her shoulders ached and spasmed forcefully as she tried to push herself into a more comfortable position. All she could manage was to curl into a fetal ball and try to warm her frozen extremities. She lay curled on the floor until the faint light of day began to fill the air around her from the tiny slice of window at the top of the room. The cold was banished with the darkness and she felt her bones begin to warm. Still too weak to move she prayed silently for sleep. Her mind grew quiet and the peacefulness of approaching darkness began to overtake her. As she surrendered to it the image of a face she knew she should despise flashed in her mind's eye.

Jack. All smiles and warm brown eyes, and despite what he'd done she found herself clinging to that image: hoping against all logic that she would see that face again. The back-and-forth of her emotions regarding him was confusing, but her exhausted mind was at the mercy of instinct.

They trudged through the dense undergrowth of the forest for more than an hour. Sam checked her watch and informed them that sunrise was still nearly an hour away.

"How much further?" the colonel asked Cassic.

"We must approach the palace from the shelter of the cliffs. This route will lead us there. It is not far now." The forward momentum of their journey had worked its calming magic on the lot of them. Cassic felt her strength growing as she walked. She had told these people of her shame and her betrayal of her husband, but they had not turned her away. She had seen the same fierce determination in Shaboni when she had arrived searching for the scientists that had lived in Dashou. The people of the Tau'ri had believed to the last one that Dashou should be free from Chiron's reign. She wondered what it was about them that made their belief so powerful. All of Dashou longed for escape from the evil of oppression, but so few believed it possible.

Her mind wandered to Senna's own passionate hatred of the Goa'uld. Senna had been the first woman to dance in the courtyard of the city. She had pinned an image of her husband to her blouse and begun the nightly ritual alone. Everyone had watched her from the false safety of their homes and businesses. The talk in the tavern raised question that she had gone insane from grief: dancing in the open with her arms holding nothing but the air. But all those who really knew Senna laughed at the notion she had gone mad. It had been Annan who finally joined her in the square. She produced an image of her father and danced alongside her friend. Many seasons had passed and more and more women began to join the dance. Senna had once asked Cassic why she would not dance with them. Cassic had ducked the question. How could she tell this fearless woman of the horrible things she had done? Senna was a wise woman and realized that Cassic would likely never answer her, and she would also never dance with them. She never asked again.

Sensing the renewed strength in their traveling companion, Daniel decided it was time to try again. He stepped quickly to walk beside her, "Cassic, you never told us what it is that Chiron wants with all the men of Dashou."

"He wants them as slaves," she replied.

"I understand that, but why does he need so many? Is it for mining?"

"No, only the older men with great strength are sent to the mines." Daniel considered her response. It didn't make sense. The Goa'uld typically didn't take the very young as personal slaves. In his opinion it was because the impetuousness of youth made for difficult subjects. They had all noticed that there had been no teenage boys in Dashou. They also didn't tend to keep quite so many in close quarters. The more people had a chance to work together and talk with one another the less able their captors were to keep them disillusioned.

Suddenly another question occurred to the young doctor, "Cassic, you said you escaped before the child was born…"

Cassic froze in place again, knowing what he was asking. She forced herself to speak against the panic that rose in her chest, "Sheylun. She is…"

Jack's thoughts flashed to the adorable little girl thrusting her tiny hand into his, swinging his arm as they walked together. His stomach rolled as he realized the violent beginning she'd had. He suddenly very much wanted Daniel to stop asking questions. Not one more. He didn't want to know one more thing about the hell this woman had endured.

But Daniel, being Daniel, continued. "She is Chiron's daughter?"

"She is, but she does not know. Please don't…"

"We would never interfere like that," Daniel reassured her.

"Excuse me," Colonel O'Neill interrupted them, "can we continue?"

The two of them walked on, Daniel pondering the exact implications of this information. Just then they rounded a corner and broke from the tree line. In the darkness they couldn't see beyond the light cast by their flashlights, which they quickly stowed now that they were out in the open.

"We have arrived. You will be able to see the palace from this place once the sun returns, but it is a difficult climb in the dark," Cassic informed them.

The five of them found a secure spot to await the sunrise. Jack dug out his night vision binoculars and searched for any sign of life. Sam followed suit and the two of them crouched prone on their stomachs peering over the ridge.

"I count four Jaffa at the entrance," Sam said.

"Yep. That's not much of a guard." Colonel O'Neill scooted back around and sat with his back against a large boulder. He turned to Cassic, "Is that typical?"

"Yes. There are only four that guard the entrance. But there are many who take quarter inside. If we attempt to enter through the front we will alert the whole palace to our presence. Our only hope is to steal away into one of the tunnels that run along the far side. It will not be guarded on the outside. I do not know if there will be a guard on the inside."

The colonel flipped the lens cap closed on his binoculars and contemplated their situation. This was not going to be easy.