Liberation
"Describe the weapons you were seeking."
"We weren't looking for any weapons. We were just exploring," Daniel replied, folding his arms across his chest. He was standing in the center of the interrogation room, held in place by a short chain that connected a bracket in the floor to a manacle on his right ankle. As before, a team of three men sat at a table across from him, taking turns asking questions.
"We've gotten tired of your lies. You're going to have to give us something the next time that you lie to us."
"I don't have anything to give you."
"Yes, you do. Now, describe the weapons."
"We were just exploring . . . ." Daniel didn't know exactly what was contained in the Ancient's "infinite treasure," assuming it even existed. But he wasn't going take a chance on giving these people the ability to destroy all life on their planet. He felt a sudden kinship with the alien races that had refused to give Earth advanced weapons in the past.
One of the men got up and walked slowly towards him, pulling out a very large knife. The man stopped when he got close to Daniel; then just stood there watching him for several long moments.
"Care to change your answer?"
Daniel swallowed. "Uh . . . no," he said, looking up to meet the man's eyes.
"Then you'll have to give me something. Take off your shirt."
"What?"
"Take it off, or I'll cut it off you."
Daniel complied, slowly unbuttoning the BDU shirt. He handed it to the man with just a touch of confusion. He was glad to still have his black t-shirt, because the room suddenly seemed to have gotten colder.
"Thank you," said the man, and turned as if to walk away. Daniel felt momentarily relieved that he'd just lost his shirt, though he suspected where things might be headed. Then the interrogator turned and looked back at Daniel with a cruel smile.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Now we're going to give you something." He gestured towards the door. It opened, and a soldier walked in, carrying a large bucket. He walked over to Daniel, and then threw the contents of the bucket at him. Daniel flinched, but since he was chained to the floor, he couldn't get out of the way.
It was ice water. Daniel gasped involuntarily in shock as it hit him. He'd had no idea that plain water could be that painful. Almost immediately, he began shivering.
"All right, Jackson. Now we're going to ask you again. And if you lie to us, you're going pay for it by giving something to us. And, of course, we'll give something to you. Are you ready?"
No, not really...
Hours later, Daniel shivered in the darkness of his new cell. The interrogators had taken all of his clothes: t-shirt, belt, pants, shoes, and socks – even his glasses. Blood dribbled from a shallow scratch on his right leg where he'd been caught by the knife as they cut off his pants. He'd been unable to pull them off with one foot chained to the floor. He did still have his boxers, which were still soaking wet. You just stay here for a while, and think about your answers, they'd said before they left him. You only have one thing left. You don't want to find out what will happen if you lie again, and have nothing to give us.
His new cell was cold enough that he could have seen his breath – if he could have seen anything. Despite his exhaustion, he feared what might happen if he allowed himself to fall asleep. Hypothermia could be fatal. Since the new cell didn't have a bed, there was no place to rest other than the cold, bare floor -- not a good idea in his current state of dress. Instead, he forced himself to stay on his feet and keep moving. I'll keep going at least until I dry off a bit, he thought. But the cell seemed damp, and he wasn't drying very quickly.
Suddenly, he heard a massive explosion. The entire building seemed to shake right down to its foundation. Daniel fell to the floor, hard, and felt a wrenching pain in his left shoulder. Using his right hand, he pushed himself off the floor, and then struggled the rest of the way to his feet. Then a second explosion rocked the building, followed quickly by a third. He staggered to a wall for support. There was a momentary silence that was eerie after all the noise. In the silence, Daniel heard a soft but distinct click.
He felt his way to where he thought the door was, and fumbled for a moment until he found the handle. It turned! He pulled the door open a short ways, and then peered out into the hall. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light.
With shouts of excitement, doors flew open all along the hall. Prisoners began flooding out of their cells, and started running for the single exit to the cell block in an irresistible human wave. Despite his urge to escape, Daniel waited in his doorway for a moment. I'm not sure I'm up to running right now, and I don't want to get trampled. When the human flow ebbed a bit, he moved into the corridor. Not knowing the way out, he decided to follow the crowd.
In another part of the facility, Cam had also joined the rush of prisoners. He struggled to stay on his feet as the mass of bodies pulled him down two sets of stairs and into another corridor. Not far ahead of him, he spotted an imposing figure in a black sleeveless t-shirt, which stood in stark contrast to the white shirt and pants worn by the other prisoners.
He put all his fading strength into his voice. "Teal'c! Teal'c!"
The Jaffa turned and they made eye contact. Teal'c shoved himself against the wall, allowing prisoners to run past him. In a moment, Cam caught up to him.
"It is good to see you Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said, taking hold of Cam's arm and pulling him alongside. "You are freezing! What happened to your clothing?"
Cam glanced down at himself. He was wearing nothing but his boxers. "Traded them for a few buckets of cold water. I don't suppose you have any extra clothes on you?"
"Unfortunately not." The Jaffa scanned the crowd. "Have you seen Daniel Jackson or Vala Mal Doran?"
"No. And I'm wondering where the guards are."
As if that were the signal, there was a sudden crack of gunfire in the distance. The sound grew rapidly louder. In a moment, guards in black riot gear appeared at the top of the stairs, and began shooting indiscriminately. Several prisoners cried out and fell.
"Sorry I asked." Cam looked around for cover.
"In here!" Teal'c pulled Cam into an empty cell. He started to close the door.
"Not all the way . . ." Cam warned, his voice wavering as he shivered.
"I had not planned to trap us in here, Colonel Mitchell." Teal'c said calmly. He left the door slightly ajar.
"'Course not, sorry. Hard to think straight when you're this cold."
Teal'c peered out into the corridor. Then he turned back to Mitchell and spoke softly. "There appear to be several rebels entering the facility. They are returning fire with the guards."
A moment later, there was a burst of gunfire just outside their hiding place. Cam heard bullets ricochet in the corridor and against the door. A man screamed. Then there was a sudden lull in the fighting.
"We have been most fortunate," Teal'c said, as he pulled the door open. The body of a guard was propped against the door. Still clutching a gun, the body fell into the cell right at Cam's feet.
Cam grinned weakly. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Let's hope he's my size!"
"Wearing the clothing of a guard will make you a target for the rebels." Teal'c noted, as Cam pulled on the guard's pants. They were a bit loose, but he was able to tighten the belt enough to keep them from falling down.
"If we found some prisoner clothes to fit me, then I'd be a target for the guards. And I'm a target for everyone in just my boxers," Cam answered. "So, if we run into the rebels, you take the gun and claim that I surrendered. And if we run into the guards, I'll take the gun and claim I captured you."
Teal'c could think of all kinds of problems with that plan. But he said nothing, as he bent down and retrieved the gun.
Cam pulled the guard's shirt on over his shoulders. He decided to ignore the bloody hole in the front. "What? It's a good plan!"
The hall outside their shelter remained quiet as Cam finished dressing. Teal'c turned to him. "I believe the coast to be clear," he said. "We should try to locate Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran."
"You know, Teal'c, I've only seen men in this prison."
"I had noted that. It is possible that Vala was taken to a completely different location."
"That's going to make things harder."
Together they slipped back out into the hall. It was empty except for several motionless bodies. Guards, rebels, and prisoners had all died in the brief firefight outside their temporary shelter.
"If they escaped from their cells, it is most likely they will have made for an exit," Teal'c said. "We should search there first."
They went down the corridor in the direction that the prisoners had been fleeing. Before long, they came to another flight of stairs, and started heading down. At the bottom, they came out into a larger area that might have been a reception or waiting room. There were no obvious exits.
"Basement," Cam suggested. "Back up the stairs." Both men knew that they might only have a few moments in which to escape. They bounded up the stairs to the next higher floor. As they came out of the stairwell, they found the longest corridor they'd yet seen. There, several dozen prisoners were bunched up against the narrow door, shoving and pushing each other in their rush to escape. The struggle increased sharply when Cam stepped out wearing the uniform of a guard.
Cam held his hands outward, palms open, to reassure them. "Don't worry about me! I'm just looking for a friend. I don't suppose any of you have seen a guy, kind of looks like me, dressed like him (here he pointed at Teal'c) or maybe just in his underwear?"
The prisoners ignored his question, more concerned about getting out as quickly as possible.
"There!" Teal'c pointed back down the long corridor. In the distance was Daniel, wearing just his boxers, walking unsteadily. He was holding his left arm as though it were injured.
"He is moving too slowly. Stay here, Colonel Mitchell! I will retrieve him." But Teal'c managed just a couple of steps toward Daniel before he was thrown to the ground as another massive explosion shook the building. A cloud of dust and debris roiled down the corridor. When it settled, they could see that part of the wall and ceiling had collapsed. The corridor was completely blocked. There was no sign of Daniel.
"Crap!" Cam couldn't believe their bad luck. "Maybe if we go back up the stairs, we can find another way to him."
So back into the stairwell they went. But as they were going up, they met a group of rebels coming down. Cam nearly ran face-first into the business end of a gun.
"Whoa, whoa!" Cam called out, raising his hands. "I'm not a guard – just borrowed the clothes." He gestured to the bloody hole on the front of his shirt.
"Who are you?" demanded the leader of the group of rebels.
"Just a couple of prisoners, looking for the way out," Cam replied.
"It's behind you. You're going the wrong direction."
"Well, see, we spotted a friend of ours at the other end of the corridor. He was cut off by the explosion, and we're looking for a way back to help him."
"We don't have time for this," another rebel spoke up.
"These might be the 'special prisoners' we heard about," said a third.
"I thought there were four," said the leader.
"Actually, there were four of us, but we got separated. So if you'll just let us go . . ." Cam began, but the leader cut him off.
"Take them."
"I cannot believe this is happening!" Cam shouted in frustration.
Once again, Teal'c and Cam found themselves disarmed and bound, though instead of putting hoods on them, the rebels used hastily-improvised blindfolds. They were shoved out of the prison and into the back of a waiting truck. As the truck pulled away from the jail, they heard another series of explosions.
"Dammit, Jackson," Cam thought. Even if the archaeologist hadn't been killed by one of the explosions, he was alone and injured. How could he escape? And where was Vala?
A/N: I have a lot of notes - please bear with me!
About the torture -- the premise of this fic is that our team is trapped on a world similar to our own, which means they'd use similar interrogation techniques. So, the "level 2" tactics may not seem all that bad compared to stuff the goa'uld like to dish out, but it actually bothered me more to write because this type of torture really does happen - sensory deprivation, hooding, shackling, cold cells, etc. I decided not to write a simulated drowning (waterboarding) scene in this chapter for three reasons. First, because waterboarding does seem to yield a lot of false information, according to my research. Quartus wants facts, not a forced confession. Second, because I don't want this fic to turn into a political statement, though it easily could. And third, because I couldn't just do that to characters that we all care so much about. Neither could I bring myself to completely remove all of their clothes, though again, that type of humiliation is real-world, modern day torture.
About the escape -- I started plotting this fic months ago. I had already planned to have the rebels break our guys out of the prison along with their own, based on an event that happened early in the Iraq war -- before the Taliban actually staged a similar prison break in Afghanistan in mid June. I had thought the prison break was one of the most unrealistic parts of the fic. I was wrong.
Now for the review responses:
Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed chapter 5. I appreciate your comments and suggestions!
Blessington - hope you liked this chapter!
Livestar - thanks for staying with the story!
Valaeryn - love the name! I'd guess you're a fan of CB. It's good to know you're enjoying the story.
ilna & Killer Mushroom - Chapter 5 has been one of my favorite chapters so far. I wasn't a big fan of the Vala character when she first became a regular part of the show, but she sure is fun to write! And I can't imagine a nicer comment than saying my writing is similar to the show itself. That's my goal!
gioiagg - better than an episode? Wow! Thanks!
Enajnitram - glad you liked it!
Khentkawes - thanks for noticing Vala's reference to "her men." And I wrote that bit about Quartus being up all night just to give him an excuse for showing some poor judgment. About having Vala use a zat on the door -- you raise a great point. Yes, it was convenient, and it could definitely be argued that a zat wouldn't work this way. But the zat has been one of the most "convenient" plot devices in the show, next to everyone in the universe speaking English. When I wrote this I was thinking back to "1969" where they used a zat to get rid of a pile of weapons and other gear. If it would get rid of objects like that, why not a door? I figured that on "Dominion," where they had to cut through the doors on the ship, it was because they'd been shielded against energy blasts. However, on reflection, I wish I'd had her use the ribbon device to just push the door open. I don't think we've ever seen a ribbon device used that way, either, but I think it would have made for a better scene. Of course, that opens up the whole question that acer-sigma raised: could you have a ribbon device and a zat in the same hand? I think the fingers on the ribbon device would get in the way of working the zat. And you couldn't use the ribbon device if you were holding a zat. It would have been impossible for her to stuff the zat into her bra! And yes, the original episode showed numerous staff weapons in the museum, but a staff just didn't seem to be Vala's style. And I am obviously over-analyzing this whole thing :)
acer-sigma - you always make such great comments in your reviews. Thanks for staying with the story!