Warning: This chapter is one of the reasons this fic is rated T. There's a bit of pretty intense violence toward the end. That said, if you read normal T-rated stories you'll be fine.


Hey guys! So, you're getting your longest chapter yet by far! Hooray! It took me FOREVER to write, because I had to rework it several times. I hope you enjoy the finished product! You're getting the big turning point of this story in this chapter, as promised!

PLEASE review! This chapter took me literally hours of difficult work - I really want to know what you think!

Special thanks to Roeskva for reviewing the last chapter, and thanks to everyone for reading!

Akaylah

PS: If you've PM'd me recently, I haven't gotten it because my Inbox has apparently decided to quit working. I'm really, really sorry if you've messaged me and I haven't responded! I just figured out that this was happening a few minutes ago. Again, I'm really, really sorry!


Jack looked up into the yawning black hole above him, and then into the abyss below. He heard nothing except for the soft grunts of his detachment as they followed him into the ladder shaft. After a few moments, the tunnel was once again quiet.

"Teal'c," he whispered to the blackness between his boots.

A small light flicked on just under him, held by a familiar hand.

"You hear anything?"

Teal'c froze for a moment, then shook his head. "I cannot, O'Neill," he replied softly. Jack grunted and prepared to move up, when he felt it.

The ladder was vibrating.

He stopped and looked back down at Teal'c, who now had his ear pressed to the cold metal. Just to be sure, he craned his neck to make certain none of his people were moving. They weren't. He looked back at Teal'c.

The Jaffa met his eyes., speaking in a barely audible murmur. "There are two on the ladder above us. They are close."

Jack looked up again, focusing on the regular rhythm shuddering through his hands. Carter was probably up there.

He stopped himself. She's not your Carter anymore.

Gritting his teeth in silent anger, he forced his mind to work.

"Lieutenant, take the boys back out of the tunnel. Get on an elevator, go up to Level 3, and reenter this shaft. Stay quiet. Teal'c, you're with me, take point."

"Yes, sir," the young officer whispered back as he pushed the steel door open again. Teal'c merely nodded and fell in step with Jack as the two began to climb.


Step. Climb. Keep going.

Up and up and up.

Jolinar had deliberately calmed her swirling emotions and forced herself to focus solely on climbing up the ladder quietly, steadily, and swiftly. The physical exertion bothered her little - which felt very strange to Sam after about the seventh floor - but the constant care necessary to keep her booted footfalls quiet was mentally wearing. The Tok'ra was worried about their companion below, who had recently complained of fatigue, but the girl had held her own and even increased the pace. Jolinar knew very well that they were being followed, because she could dimly sense Teal'c's symbiote. Even though Teal'c himself probably couldn't sense her presence, because his Goa'uld was only a larva, he had to know that she was there.

Suddenly a foreign voice echoed within her skull.

Jolinar! Sam!

[What the hell!] exclaimed Carter, startled out of her depressed silence.

They're coming from the side! We gotta move, now!

Jolinar realized that the voice was similar to their companion's speaking voice, though not quite the same.

Go, go, go!

At the same moment, Jolinar and Sam also heard the grinding echo of a large bolt unscrewing. The sound was coming from the door to the floor above them. Jolinar threw stealth to the wind and began to run up the ladder. The girl below them gritted her teeth and forced herself to do the same.

They were in a race. If the airmen got the door unbolted before they could climb above it, they would be surrounded.

In the next few seconds, many things happened.

The airmen jerked the door open just as Jolinar was even with it. One of them raised his weapon and fired blindly at the shuddering ladder. A grunt escaped Jolinar's tightly clenched teeth as she struggled to keep going through the pain of a gunshot.

Their companion below looked up in horror as fine blood spatter appeared on her eye protection. Just then, O'Neill yelled something unintelligible and fired a volley of zat'ni'katel blasts past Teal'c, who continued climbing. She barely had time to activate her shields before the blue energy reached her. She herself was partially immune to zat'ni'katels, but without the shield the energy would be conducted across her armor and straight into Jolinar. The energy shield was already weak and began to fail quickly.

Jolinar, temporarily unable to continue up the ladder, clenched her teeth harder and swung a foot out at the door. Her own cry of bitter pain mingled with that of the owner of the offending weapon. He fell backward into his surprised comrades, but they quickly brought their own weapons up.

Their companion saw what was happening and growled like an animal. She had to get up there. If she could force herself into the opening of the door, her armor would protect the already injured Tok'ra from the impending spray of bullets. Breathing heavily, she leapt up the ladder three rungs at a time.

Jolinar, struggling desperately to control the pain and blood loss, thrust Sam into control. She automatically opened her mouth to yell a command to the airmen, but the ominous clicks of guns being readied to fire made her close it again and struggle to pull herself up the ladder.

Their companion was jumping up the ladder like a cat, swinging to the side to get between Sam and the door. The airmen's fingers tightened around the triggers, searching for a likely target. She was almost there.

It was at this precise instant that the ashrak snapped awake with an ill-tempered roar. He wrenched his host's body savagely in an attempt to throw his captor off balance, just as she made her final jump. With a cry of anger and frustration, she twisted in the air and caught hold of the door frame at the bottom.

Flailing desperately, the ashrak managed to entangle his foot in the ladder before he fell very far. Muscles bulging, he jerked his arms hard and managed to snap the metal wire binding his wrists together. With a practiced spring, he righted himself and began to run back up the ladder. He could sense his prey above him, and his keen nose scented its blood. He put on his spare hara'kesh.

Jolinar's companion gathered her strength and launched herself from the bottom lip of the door to the side of the ladder rung even with its top jamb, mostly covering Sam's now-quivering body. Carter was now barely conscious and holding on desperately. Another zat'ni'katel blast zinged past her ear, though their frequency had slowed.

The airmen, seeing that the ladder's movement now seemed to be centered just below the door, poured bullets straight into the hunting ashrak. He let out another sound of animal rage as he lost control of his host's shattered body and began to fall. His invisibility device, damaged by a bullet, flickered and failed.

The armored girl was twisting about, struggling to keep the bullets aimed her way from ricocheting back into the airmen in the doorway. Though her reflexes were extraordinarily fast, she was unable to block one bullet that hit Sam's calf near the ankle. Hastily, the girl shifted her already precarious hold, freeing one hand to clamp it over Sam's mouth. Sam jerked automatically but the girl held on, stifling Sam's yelp of pain. Abruptly, Carter's eyes rolled back in her head as she succumbed to the wounds. Her companion grabbed her by her far shoulder, suspecting that the one nearest the door had been shot, and held on for dear life as the one hundred ten-pound captain slipped free of the rungs and hung like a rag doll. She wrapped her legs around the ladder, struggling to pull Sam back up and out of the airmen's line of fire.

But they were not firing; they were watching the ashrak's fall with morbid fascination. Their fingers twitched on the triggers but they dared not fire for fear of hitting the Colonel or Teal'c two stories below.

The ashrak hurtled downward, still struggling to regain control of his host's body. Teal'c was forced to lean to the side to avoid a full-on collision; he grabbed at the falling mass but was unable to hold on.

"O'Neill! Look out!" he shouted over his shoulder. By now, Jack was nearly twenty feet below him, since the Colonel had stopped to fire while Teal'c continued climbing. He looked up and wrapped one arm around the ladder, prepared to catch the ashrak as he fell past.

Jolinar and Sam's companion finished hauling their limp body up even with her own, and awkwardly pulled them into a fireman's hold with one hand. The unavoidable rustling and bumping attracted the airmen's attention. The young lieutenant in charge shouted a warning as the guns came to bear again. Teal'c looked up at the renewed commotion even as Jack reached out and grabbed the ashrak by the shirt.

He hadn't been able to clearly see all that was going on; since the Goa'uld was dressed in military fatigues, he thought it might have been one of the airmen. So when the limp man suddenly stiffened and grabbed the arm holding him up, he merely tightened his grip and pulled him closer to the ladder. "Easy there. You'll be all right."

The ashrak suddenly lurched up and grabbed the back of Jack's neck, squeezing savagely on a pressure point, simultaneously pushing himself up the ladder. He quickly activated the hara'kesh on his other hand, enjoying the human's faint groan as he sent just enough energy to stun. He always wanted his new hosts to be fully conscious for their subjugation.

He reached out and ripped O'Neill's uniform, exposing his shoulder and upper chest. He looked on the paralyzed body of his next host with appreciation. This one would be much stronger than his last. He took off the hara'kesh and placed it in the new human's pocket.

The glow from his dead host's eyes faintly illuminated the human's terrified face in the tiny instant before the parasite jumped from his old host's mouth to gleefully bury itself in the soft flesh between his new host's prominent collarbones. He took his time, enjoying the faint shudders he could feel all around him.

The pain was unlike anything Jack had ever known. He longed to scream, but he could only shake. He managed to open his mouth, but no sound came out. He could feel every centimeter of the parasite's progress through his neck. The shouting above him faded as his entire world shrank down to the excruciating invasion of his body. Now, it had reached his spine and began to travel upward toward his brain. The pain and the panic increased exponentially. He was shaking violently, nearly convulsing, but he could not move. Then the pain reached its pinnacle as the Goa'uld forced him to give up his body. Every inch of his being felt like it was on fire.

Then, it was over. He saw the alien glow from his own eyes reflecting off the ladder. Terror choked him, drowned him. He passed out.


[Cue Beethoven's Fifth] Ah, yes, the big plot turner! We are out of the setup phase, people! Get excited! Lots more action to come!

(I'm really excited - can you tell?)

I especially want to know what you think of this chapter! How did you like the pacing and the description? I deliberately kept it a little edgy and jumpy until the end bit. Even if you hate where it went at the end, just tell me! Reviews, even unfavorable ones, keep me going through the tough spots! Thanks guys!

Thank you all again SO much for reading!

XD