Disclaimer: I really don't own anything but my plot and my OC's... but if you're selling...


I'm so, so, SO sorry this took me so long! Been going through a rough patch with RL. It'll be over soon, I hope, but until it is I'll probably be able to post only one chapter a week, if that. I apologize again, and I promise I'm not going to abandon this story! It's just getting warmed up! I was hoping to move the action forward a bit more in this chapter but I ran out of time to write. When I have more time you'll get longer chapters - another promise!

Thanks to Ne'ith5, Roeskva, and SerenityLago for reviewing the last chapter! You guys are awesome!

Akaylah


The fugitives had finally moved above the airmen, who were still firing from the door below them. Their rate of fire had slowed again, mainly because they were beginning to run out of ammunition. One of their number had been dispatched to the nearest armory but had not yet returned.

The girl refused to think of all the ground she had covered thus far, or how completely drained she felt, for she knew if she focused on her fatigue they would never make it out of the tunnel. Sam was bleeding dangerously, in spite of the half-conscious symbiote's efforts, which alarmed their companion to no end.

Her foot slipped on the ladder, startling her hazy mind out of its wandering. "Stop that!" she muttered to herself. "Focus! You're almost there!"

It was true. She had run up multiple stories without a break while already fatigued - a feat of endurance beyond even the Tok'ra - and was now drawing near to the escape hatch. Her sensors showed no life on the surface around it. She sighed with relief; in her severely weakened state there was no way she could've fought off a contingent of determined Earth soldiers while protecting Sam and Jolinar. But why hadn't anyone thought to put people up there?

Her foot slipped again. "Focus!" she growled to herself. "You're gonna drop them!"

Even as she reached the escape hatch and began struggling one-handed with the great big wheel lock, her mind wandered yet again. "I really should quit talking to myself."


O'Neill woke sluggishly, fighting his way up from the abyss of unconsciousness, only to find that his eyes were already open and his body was moving without his will to command it. Next, he realized with a feeling of indescribable horror that a foreign entity was riffling through his memories like he would riffle through his collection of DVDs. And, furthermore, the foreign entity was doing this to figure out the best way to kill Sam. Outrage quickly replaced horror. [What the hell do you think you're doing?] he yelled mentally.

The other entity jerked, mildly surprised by the outburst. ~Silence, Tau'ri,~ it snapped, continuing its invasion of his mind.

[Get outta my head, you snake bastard!] he screamed in return.

The Goa'uld barely spared him enough notice to be annoyed. ~I will deal with you later.~

Jack struggled, roaring with rage, but the snake paid his efforts no attention at all. It knew its strength and did not have time to punish its new slave's impertinence.

It grinned in self-satisfied pleasure at his choice of host; this one held a position of power within their pitiful hierarchy. This one had even been the one to kill Ra! Amazing. The High System Lord must have been slipping in his old age, for such a group of animals to even get close to besting him. There were rumors that the ones on this planet might be slightly more advanced, but the ashrak could see nothing unusual about his current place of residence.

"O'Neill!"

Jack automatically supplied the speaker's name and background before he could stop himself - and then he hated himself for doing it, even though he was very aware of every human's inability to control their own thoughts. The ashrak smirked as he took a step up towards the traitor Jaffa. O'Neill unleashed a torrent of extraordinarily foul language.

Teal'c, squinting through the gloom, did not miss the way the Colonel's zat'ni'katel moved casually to point in his direction, but he could not yet sense the Goa'uld. However, he could easily tell that his friend was... what did the Tau'ri say?... 'off'. "Are you injured, O'Neill?" he inquired. There had been a large number of stray bullets bouncing around, but he had thought them relatively harmless; after all, one had hit his jacket a moment ago and had not even broken through the fabric. It was as if the propelling force had been sucked out of them and they had simply fallen. He had yet to detect any offensive action from their target, which was a puzzle he set aside for later.

O'Neill took another step up the ladder, and suddenly Teal'c's eyes widened as he sensed the alien presence. He expertly twirled the staff in his hands to point down instead of up, but the Goa'uld had fired off two shots from his zat'ni'katel before he had a chance. Jack watched in horror as his friend's body slowly went limp, slowly slipped away from the lifesaving ladder, and slowly crumpled to fall headfirst down the long shaft. However, he was not allowed to watch Teal'c's horrific descent because the Goa'uld looked upward instead, intent on killing yet another of his team. And as the nightmare continued, Jack spared a tiny instant to thank whatever true deity guided their destinies that Daniel was nowhere around.


Her arm shook uncontrollably as she gave the final pull, and she knew very well that she was using up her very last reserves of strength. That was bad. She did still have to get them through the perimeter, after all. Sam's blood loss had finally slowed; Jolinar, though weak from changing hosts, must have at last mustered enough strength to deal with it. Well, if the Tok'ra could do it, so could she.

With one last heave, the hatch yielded and flipped back, allowing sunlight to flood the tunnel. The girl allowed herself a tired smile as she stepped out of the murderous tunnel and into the strong light of sunny Colorado.

As she resealed the tunnel and looked about, however, the smile morphed back into a frown.

Of course the shaft had dumped her out into the middle of a large, flat field within sight of one of the mountain's many entrances. As if on cue, the small cloaking unit she had given Sam flickered red and then went dark. Some higher power really had it in for her today.


The ashrak cursed violently when he saw the stream of light quickly cut off by his escaping quarry. The airmen began pouring up the ladder, seeking to reopen the hatch, but it refused to budge.

Carefully suppressing his voice modulation, the Goa'uld dug around for the proper phrase. It took almost no time at all. "Report, Lieutenant," he barked, imitating his host's memories.

"The hatch won't open, sir," said the young man apologetically. "It must have been tampered with somehow."

The assassin barely suppressed a flanged growl of rage as he made for the open door a few stories below. His only thought was finding another way out as quickly as possible so he could kill the troublesome orak. Since he was also completely ignoring his host at the moment, he missed the brief thought that would have told him his mistake.

"Sir? What are your orders, sir?" called the lieutenant to the now-empty shaft. He frowned. It wasn't like the Colonel to just abandon his subordinates without instructions.


orak = 'unspeakable', according to Daniel.

Review, review! Any thoughts you have will be eagerly read and re-read! No kidding! Hit counts are a somewhat reliable measure of about how many people read, but reviews are my only way to find out what you guys actually think about aspects of the story. Even if it's scathing, I won't really mind! I know I could improve.

Thank you all for reading!

XD