A/N – Argh! Life takes over! I completely left you on a cliff hanger for far too long. Many thanks for your patience and the kind reviews. Almost done!
Chapter 10
Jack's heart beat thumped in his head. They had no choice but to surrender, which almost certainly meant torture and probably death. Tilgath had not garnered power so quickly by being soft on his prisoners.
"Sir?" Carter asked quietly, staring the Jaffa in the eye awaiting her order.
Before Jack could answer there was a blinding flash and familiar buzz of rings. Shaking off the disorientation he realised they were in the hold of a cargo ship.
"Nice timing" Daniel breathed, noting his surroundings with relief.
Suddenly the doors of the cargo hold hissed open revealing once smug looking Jacob Carter. Jack had to hand it to the man; he'd picked the perfect moment to show up with skill uncharacteristic of a Tok'ra.
"Dad?!" Sam's face lit up with relief and surprise in equal measure.
"Hey Kiddo. You know, I turn my back for five minutes and look at the trouble you go getting yourselves into" Jacob quipped with a self satisfied smile.
"Not that it isn't great to see you, but what are you doing here?" Sam asked, confused
"Disobeying orders. After we spoke I figured you'd try and come back here to get the cloaking device so requested permission from the Tok'ra to assist. They refused. I'm on a little detour on my way to my next mission and if the other Tok'ra find out Selmak and I will be in big trouble. This is the only cargo ship we have with stealth capabilities" Jacob explained
"Selmak was ok with this?" Daniel checked sceptically
Jacob grinned conspiratorially "It was Selmak's idea"
"It's great to catch up with you and all, Jacob, but the mother ship has gone. There's no way we can get the cloaking device now" Jack told him
"Actually, there is" Heading over to the cargo ship controls Jacob brought up a digital display of the valley below "What you saw is a sophisticated upgrade but nothing more than a hologram. The ship is still there" The display highlighted the holographic emitters and outlined the hidden ship below.
Suddenly Jack understood why Jacob was so smug when he pulled their asses out of the fire "So, no Jaffa army?"
"No. Although the ship is well guarded the mass of troupes is just an illusion"
Jack slapped his hands together making Carter and Daniel start "Sweet!"
"The Jaffa we escaped will no doubt inform the others of our presence. We should enact our plan immediately, O'Neill" Teal'c informed them
Before Jack could agree, the floor shook as a volley of blasts struck the hull leaving him staggering to something to hold on too. Taking his position in the pilot seat Jacob motioned for them to go back to the cargo hold.
"Go! I'll fly us into position over the ship so you can ring down. Good luck!"
Standing by the ring controls Carter punched in the sequence except for the last key. "Are you ready, Sir?"
"Do I have a choice?" Jack quipped, his stomach churning like it did on his first special ops jump over enemy lines, the adrenalin pumping hard.
Bright light flooded his vision once more as the rings energised delivering him inside the Hat'ak surrounded by four confused Jaffa. Wasting no time he rushed forward knocking them out with as much force possible before checking the room was clear.
The rings activated again revealing his team and he beckoned them over towards the hallway while he went further inside the ship. Seeing the corridor was empty he beckoned them again, only this time they hesitated.
"Hello?" The three of them turned locking onto the sound of his voice. "Waving you over!"
While invisibility gig certainly had it pros the lack of body language thing was definitely becoming a con. Though for someone who claimed to be unable to see him Carter's glare was surprisingly on target as she ran by leading the way to the engine room.
"Spread out and stay on your toes" Jack ordered before picking up his radio "We're in Jacob; get yourself out of here before you take any damage!"
"I hear you, Jack. I'm bugging out" Jacob replied over the static.
Low booms echoing through the hull from Jacob's battle with the gliders were the only sounds as the ship was mostly empty. Avoiding the few patrols on board, they reached the engine room as the ship fell silent. Six Jaffa stood guard with four at the entrance and two inside. Sticking with Sam's plan, Jack carefully made his way past the guards while the rest of the team stayed out of sight.
Taking care not to make a sound, not even breathe too hard in case they heard him, he worked his way towards the cloaking device. It had reappeared just as Sam has predicted, though significantly light on the C4 he had planted.
No wonder the extra heavies, Jack thought to himself while making mental notes about the way the casing was connected to the main ship controls. He had to describe it exactly to Sam if they were to have a chance of pulling off their heist with seconds to spare. She had shown him the schematics they had stolen from the data crystal but there had been very little information on how it integrated into the panel. The whole mission depended on Jack's ability to remember the finer details and report back, which would be ok if only they had just a little more time. Unlike the complex schematics of a nuclear bomb where he would have several days to learn the circuits, here he risked getting caught every moment he spent by the device.
Satisfied he could remember the controls he swiftly exited the engine room and returned to his team hiding in a nearby storage room. As the doors hissed closed Sam appeared from behind the crates.
"Sir, did you get the extra information"
"Yeah, give me the pad"
Quickly, Jack sketched the cloaking device and the couplings to the control panel and passed the pad back to Sam.
"Ok, I'm pretty certain this is the main coupling but it's hard wired into the controls. We're going to have to cut it out" He told her as Teal'c came to his side.
"The guard will need to be eliminated as quickly as possible" Teal'c stated "If they raise the alarm we will have no means of escape without being captured"
"What about using one of these?" Daniel called over from the opposite side of the room; in front of him laid an open crate containing silver coloured balls. On closer inspection Jack recognised them and understood. Jaffa stun grenades.
Picking up one of the grenades Jack spun it in his fingers "This could work"
"We can do this but once the cloak is disconnected they'll know something is up, we have to move fast to stand a chance" Sam noted, putting the pad inside her tactical vest and taking hold of her P-90.
"Let's go" Jack nodded
The stun grenade rolled toward the engine room guards like a bowling ball, gently touching the foot of one of the Jaffa as it came to rest. Before they had a moment to react searing white light engulfed them with a high pitch squeal bringing them to their knees.
Immediately Sam rushed forward leaping over the bodies of the fallen Jaffa her tools in hand and Jack on her heals. While they worked on opening the console, Teal'c and Daniel kept watch on the entrance, listening intensely for the sound of more patrols.
Burning through the outer casing of the panel using magnesium strips Sam finally gained access to the internal systems, a maze of crystals and conduits. Watching her closely Jack could see the sweat beading on her hairline as she cut each away the colourful fibres holding the device.
They had been at work over three minutes by Jack's reckoning. If the patrol they'd knocked out weren't due to be relieved anytime soon they would be safe until they cut the main line to the ship and severed the cloak. Then they would have only minutes to get to a ring room and make it off the ship. Keeping each step of the plan clear in his mind Jack quietened the thoughts of being captured, or more importantly, his team being captured.
The room plunged into darkness for a moment wrenching Jack into the moment. A second later, lights flickered all around them, the ships klaxon wailing.
"Carter? What the hell is that?!" he yelled
"I don't know, Sir! There must have been some kind of tampering warning" her eyes were wide with panic as she hurried to cut the remaining fibres.
"Can you shut it off?" he pressed
"There isn't time! I'm cutting the main power relay now"
Eyeing the doorway warily Jack bit his tongue, mentally willing Sam to just be finished so they could get out of there. The whole situation was getting hotter by the moment and looking ever likely they would have to shoot their way out.
"O'Neill! Jaffa are approaching!" Teal'c voice bellowed from the corridor where he and Daniel readied themselves to fight
"Carter?!"
"Just a few more seconds, Sir"
The sounds of metallic footsteps grew ever louder, echoing through the ship, his every instinct telling him to get out.
"Carter!" he barked
"Got it!"
Sam had barely pulled out the device and sunk down behind the console as a volley of staff blasts flew between them striking the back wall. Teal'c quickly retaliated knocking the patrol back just enough to buy time while she stuffed the cloaking generator into her modified back pack, with Daniel laying down cover fire from his handgun.
Jack knew they would never get to the ring room with so many Jaffa on their tail. Putting aside his P-90 Jack felt for his hand gun and pushed forward brushing his hand over Teal'c shoulder as he went, telling his plan with a simple touch. Invisible to the patrol Jack dodged through the cross fire to run among them, shooting each one at point blank range, their blood spattering the gold hallway as he went until the last man lunged forward.
Grabbing Jack by the throat he pinned him to the wall and reached for his knife, a double edged dagger sharp enough to cut him in half. Kicking out violently he managed to knock the Jaffa's knife away for a millisecond, but the iron grip holding him was relentless, crushing the air from his lungs. Drawing back the blade for a second time the Jaffa's lips curled away revealing a blood soaked sneer from where Jack had struck him; then he jolted. The sneer turned to a look of horror as smoke rose from a burning staff blast wound in his back, his hand falling away from Jack's throat and following him to the floor.
"O'Neill! Are you injured?" Teal'c called, his staff weapon poised.
Sliding down the wall to his feet Jack rubbed his neck, stunned by the close call.
"No, nice shooting T" he eventually croaked out, his voice horse.
"Sir, we should get out of here, there's a ring room on the level up" Sam urged frantically
Shaking off the bruises and grabbing his P-90 he gave the order "Move out!"
They hadn't made it far along the corridor before the sound of more Jaffa could be heard closing in on their position. They were about to be trapped.
"Is there another way?" Daniel asked
"Maybe, if I can cut power to the doors along this section they'll close and lock automatically by fail safe" Sam knelt by a nearby crystal drawer in the wall "It might be enough to buy us some time"
"Do it" Jack ordered, klaxons still wailing all around them.
As she pulled crystals from the panel doors further along the corridor began to close one at a time, the sound of the patrols fading behind them.
"Quickly, this way!" Sam called, as the final door began to close she lead them through and down the adjacent hall "it's not far from here"
"Colonel O'Neill, this is SG-5. Our position's been compromised! We can't hold the gate much longer!" the radio crackled to life
"Reading you, Harper, we're on our way" Jack responded turning into the empty ring room littered with the bodies of the Jaffa he had knocked out before. "Hit it Carter!"
Daniel and Teal'c took position next to Jack on the ring platform while Sam punched in the sequence, just making it onto the platform herself as the rings activated. Outside once more they could hear the sound of gunfire coming from the clearing by the Stargate where SG-5 were under fire.
"Get to the Gate!" Jack ordered, running alongside Daniel with his P-90 at the ready, Teal'c and Sam just behind.
Breathing hard Jack could taste the acrid tang left in the air by staff blast fire mixed with spent gunpowder; they were close.
"Teal'c, Carter, go round to the right! Daniel, take cover at the tree line. On my signal get to the DHD and dial home" Jack ordered, counting the Jaffa pinning down Harper's team.
Switching his gun to single shot and taking aim he killed the Jaffa leader while Sam and Teal'c rained a hail of bullets and staff blasts on the second patrol in the trees. Taking fire from both teams on both sides the confused Jaffa fell quickly. After picking off the remaining troupes Jack picked up his radio.
"You're on, Daniel, dial us home!"