Chapter 2: Rescue and Recruitment
"Ferretti might have seen the gate address before they left. That should tell us where they went." Sam paused in her debrief. "General, Dr. Jackson found an entire cartouche on Abydos with 1,000 possible coordinates, maybe more. That's 1,000 new worlds, General."
"And our stargate can take us to these worlds?" Hammond asked.
"With this new data, as long as we can make the appropriate allowances for alignment in the targeting computer-"
"Yes or no?"
She paused. "I think so, sir. Yes. Requesting permission to upload the symbols into the base supercomputer for analysis."
"And, with your permission sir, I'd like to lead the rescue mission once we find out where these bad guys are," I added.
"We'll discuss that request in a briefing at 0800 hours," the General said as he stood up, with the three of us standing as well and moving over to him. "Captain Carter, the base computer is at your disposal. In the meantime, get this man some clean clothing. He stinks." He then left into his office. Sam left and I clapped him softly on the shoulder. "Don't worry," I said softly before I left as well.
Two hours later I was washed and ready to leave. I popped my head in to see Kawalsky on the verge of going to sleep at Ferretti and Brown's side.
"The doc says he's gonna be fine," I said.
Kawalsky shifted in his seat and turned to me. "Yes, sir."
"You gonna keep the vigil all night?" I asked.
"Yes, sir," he nodded, holding up his cup of coffee.
I left and took the lift up to the halfway point. I was pulling on my leather jacket and about to enter the second lift which would take me to the top, when I saw Daniel standing in the hallway, looking like a lost puppy. I walked over.
"Hey," I said, catching his attention. He was now clothed in a black t-shirt and dark olive green loose pants and shirt. "They don't know what to do with me," he said with a sad smile. "And I don't know what to do with myself."
"Well, you can bunk with me for now. Come on," I said before walking to the lift. I stopped and looked behind me to see him tentatively following. "Come on! Let's go. I'll cook you dinner," I said.
Back at my place I was putting the finishing touches on my omelette. 'Woah… déjà vu,' I thought. "It'll be done soon," I called as I flipped the eggs, bacon, veggie, pepper, salt and garlic mix over.
'Hey Amy?'
"Yes?"
'I've been thinking. Would it be alright to tell Daniel who I am and all the rest as well as who you are? I don't tell him anything about the future. He just looks so sad, I want to cheer him up by telling him that he will see her again,' I asked.
There was a moment of silence. "I suppose so, as long as no specifics are said about the future," she conditioned.
'Really? Can I tell Sam, Teal'c and a few others as well at later points?'
"Very well, you can. But the same restrictions apply," she agreed.
I smiled before I split the omelette three ways and slid the three portions onto three plates. I then doled out some of the leftover spag bog from a couple of nights ago, quickly washed up and took the plates into the living room. I was in time to see Daniel sneeze into a hanky.
"Almost missed that one," I joked.
"Yeah," he replied as I handed him one of the plates. I then set the second plate down next to me on the couch.
"What's the third plate for?" Daniel asked.
"You might want to sit down for this," I suggested.
"What's going on?" he asked as he sat.
"What I'm about to tell you is very important, and very secret. You'll be the first person I've told this to," I began. "I'm not actually from this universe. I'm from a parallel one, where the stargate is just a story told on TV." I looked at him. "Naturally you're thinking I'm crazy, right?"
"Oh, no. Not crazy at all," he replied sarcastically. I just chuckled at him before pulling out my iPhone 3GS. "You know what this is?" I asked.
He peered at it. "Can't say I do," he replied.
"This is an iPhone 3GS. It's a mobile phone that won't be released until 2009. Apple makes them," I explained.
"Macintosh?" he asked.
"That's right. Those guys become the most used computers second only to Microsoft." I pointed the screen at him and turned it on, using my fingertips to navigate the cracked screen. "Back where I lived, this was considered an old model as the iPhone 5 had been released just before I came here." I then turned it off. "Believe me now?"
"Well, I'll admit that tech like that shouldn't even exist now. It looks too advanced. So, let's say I believe you," he said carefully.
"Right. Well, as I was saying, in the Earth that I'm from, a TV series had been made of the Stargate. You were in it, as was Sam, General Hammond and one other, but I'll get to that in a minute. As a result, I know most, if not all of the major, and a few of the minor, events that happen in the next 10 years. Naturally I can't tell you any of them, otherwise the future will change and then things will get worse, a lot worse."
"So, how did you get here?" Daniel asked.
"Not how, but why, actually. Before I came here, there was a man here who committed suicide. If he had not done this, he would have gone on to lead the team through the stargate and eventually blow Ra up. Now he was on constant watch by… let's call them guardian angels for now, and as soon as he died, they made preparations to get someone to fill his place. She found me as I was cooking dinner, explained the situation, and basically recruited me on the spot."
"She?"
"Oh, that's right. Amy?" I said into thin air. There was a moment before a glowing white nimbus appeared in the middle of the room and morphed into a white haired woman with blue eyes.
"This is the… guardian angel who moved me from my Earth to this one to replace the dead guy. For without that pivotal person, Earth is doomed," I said. "Daniel, meet Amaterasu. You'll recognise the name, I'm sure."
"The Amaterasu? Shinto Sun Goddess?" he asked in awe.
"That's right, but just call me Amy," she said as she sat down next to me and started eating dinner. "You might want to eat that before it gets cold," she suggested.
Daniel blinked before he picked up his own dinner and began eating. He blinked. "Wow… this is really good," he said.
"Thanks," I replied. "So anyway, she transported me here to take the guy's place. And to make sure everything goes as it should. For the most part. I'm allowed to make small changes as long as it doesn't change the overall timeline."
"Like what?" Daniel asked.
"For example, remember when I saved Sha're from getting an energy blast in the chest? It was right before the rebellion happened and we blew up Ra," I asked.
"Yeah, I remember. I never did thank you for that," he replied.
"Well in the original timeline she would've taken that hit and be on the verge of dying. Then you would've ringed aboard Ra's ship, taken her to the sarcophagus and healed her. Then you would've run into Ra and he would have started to fry your brains out with that hand thingy, but you would've escaped, taking the pendant with you. I just saved you from doing all that, is all."
"…wow, really?"
"Yep."
"So then, why didn't you tell me that Sha're and Skaara were going to be captured?" he asked, anger beginning to rise up.
I sighed. "Well, there are two reasons to that. The first was that I was having so much fun with all of you that I forgot until we got back to the gate room. And the second is because it needed to happen. It was one of those 'happen at all cost' things. There was nothing I could do…"
Daniel was silent as he looked down at his half eaten food. "But I can tell you that you will see her again," I added. Here he looked up at me, and I saw the anger leaving his eyes.
"Really?"
I nodded. "Yes. You will. I can't say when. You know, cause of the timeline. But believe me when I say that you will see her again."
Daniel was silent once again before he nodded. "Ok, I believe you. But can't you tell me anything else?"
"I think I can tell you about this new aggressor and his part in the galaxy," I said as I looked sideways at Amy, who nodded.
"So was it really Ra?" he asked.
"No, we blew Ra to smithereens," I said and saw Daniel sigh in relief. "However he's Ra's brother."
"You mean Apophis? Really?"
"First you need to know a little backstory about who Ra really was. He was, actually, a small snake like alien that can bury itself into someone and, for all intents and purposes, possess them. They can only live in water, or when they control someone. They're a parasite."
"You said they. So there's more than two?"
"There's a whole race of them. They're known as the Goa'uld. Currently there are a dozen or so high ranking Goa'uld known as the System Lords, though most of the time, the Goa'uld Empire acts like the Sengoku Period of Japan, with the many Lords constantly warring with each other, always trying to rise to the top. Up until a year ago, Ra was the Supreme System Lord. Then we blew his ass up. And now the System Lords are starting to fight amongst themselves again, Ra's brother among them. As you've guessed, his name is Apophis, and you can more or less tell who he is by his golden armour," I explained.
"My god… How many of the Egyptian gods were actually aliens?" he gasped.
"It's not just Egyptian gods, but Greek, Japanese, Celtic and a few others," I replied. "Anyways, I'm gonna change the subject now. What happened to you guys after we left?"
Daniel blinked at the sudden change of pace. "Uhh… well, as soon as you were gone and they realized they were free, I mean, Abydos was their world for the taking," he said.
"Had a fun party?" I asked.
"Yeah. Big, big party. They treated me like their saviour. It was… embarrassing," he replied.
"Oh I bet you loved it," I grinned. "I mean 'Saviour of Abydos' is a nice title."
"I spent most of the past year having to stop everyone I saw from bowing all the time," he muttered.
"Could've been worse. All the ladies could've lined up for you. Poor Sha're would have to beat them off with a long stick," I grinned.
"There was a bit of that, just without the stick," he laughed a bit. "If it wasn't for her, I probably…" he paused.
"It'll help, talking about her," I said.
Daniel nodded. "She was the complete opposite of everyone else. She practically fell on the floor laughing every time I tried to do some chore they all took for granted. Like uh… grinding yaphetta flour. I mean, have you ever tried to grind your own flower?"
"It's not on my bucket list, that's for sure. But then again, neither was being transported to the universe of my all-time favourite TV show," I said.
Daniel laughed. I then yawned. "I think I'm gonna get some sleep now. We've got a busy day tomorrow."
"We do?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah. We're going to go save Sha're and Skaara," I replied.
"Do we actually do that?" he asked.
"You know I can't answer that. Just know that we are going, which is better than not knowing if we were going or not, right?" I asked. Daniel paused before he nodded.
"I'll show him to the guest bedroom," Amy offered.
"Alright. I'm gonna wash up here before crashing for the night," I replied as Amy and Daniel left the room.
-] Third POV [-
Amy led Daniel down the hallway to the spare bedroom. "Here you go. Get a good night's sleep," she said.
"Thanks," Daniel replied as he moved past her to head into the room.
"Daniel?" Amy asked and he turned to look at her.
"Yes?"
"If you're looking to hate someone, hate me. Josh is not at fault. I'm the one who didn't help Sha're or Skaara. It's my fault," she said sadly.
Daniel was silent for a moment. "I'm not going to pretend to fully understand what's going on here with you or him, but I don't hate him, or you," he said with a shy smile Amy looked up in slight surprise. He just continued to smile. "Well, goodnight," he said before he closed the door.
Amy stood there for a moment longer before she smiled herself. "Thanks," she whispered before she walked back to the kitchen.
The next morning we all readied ourselves for the briefing. "People, what is spoken of in this room is classified as SCI, top secret," General Hammond began. "Commander, what do we know about these hostiles we didn't yesterday?"
"Not much at all. The Abydonian boys who survived the attack on the camp thought it was Ra," I began. "But Daniel and I had a chat last night and we think that it's a good bet it's not."
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
"Well Ra's warriors all had Horus helmets on. They were all the same. The people that attacked the base, and then on Abydos, were wearing serpent helmets. So it's more likely we're dealing with someone new here," Daniel explained. "Ra played the Sun god of Egypt. He borrowed the religion and culture of the ancient Egyptians and he used it to enslave the Abydonians."
"If you think about it, Ra seems to have lived for thousands of years. Most likely he invented the Egyptian pantheon and religion," I added.
"Ra wanted the people of Abydos to believe that he was the only god," Daniel said.
"So you and the Commander are saying that, Ra's not the last of his race after all?" Sam asked.
"Maybe he's got a brother, Ray?" Kawalsky joked.
"You have no idea," I murmured very quietly.
"The legend goes that Ra's race was dying. He survived by taking over the body of his human host, an Egyptian boy. But who's to say more of his kind couldn't do the same thing?" Daniel asked. "I mean, this could have happened at anytime, anywhere there's a gate. I mean, this could be happening right now."
"Commander, you've had the most experience in fighting this hostile. Assuming you have to defend yourself in the field, are you up to it?" the General asked.
"Hell yes, we'll whoop ET's ass, sir," I grinned, earning a few laughs from most the room. "AP bullets coupled with MP5s seem to do the trick. 9mm rounds are crap at long range so they're good for close range."
"Very well, Captain Carter, you're confident that the stargate will take us where we want to go with this new information?"
"Well the computer's feeding the revised coordinates into the targeting computer now. It'll take time to calculate, but it should spit out two or three destinations a month," she replied.
"Let's not fool ourselves here, people. This thing is both vast and dangerous, and we are in so far over our heads we can barely see daylight. These hostiles we are up against possess technology so far superior to our own, we don't have the faintest idea how it works. We would all be much better off if the stargate had been left in the ground," Hammond said.
"With respect, sir, we can't just bury our heads in the sand," Sam spoke up. "I mean, think of how much we could learn. Think of what we could bring back."
"What you could bring back is precisely what I'm afraid of, Captain. However, the President of the United States happens to agree with you. In the event your theories pan out, he has ordered the formation of nine teams, whose duties will be to perform reconnaissance, determine threats, and if possible, to make peaceful contact with the peoples of these worlds. Now these teams will operate on a covert, top-secret basis. No-one will know of their existence, except the President and the joint chiefs. Commander Kitsuné?"
"Yes, sir," I replied.
"Your team will be designated SG-1," he began but I interrupted him. "With your permission, sir, can I request the name changed to SG-Fox?"
He blinked and paused for a moment before nodding. "Very well, but why?"
"Because it sounds better than something that sounds like it was spat out of a computer," I replied. "We should choose names that come from Earth."
"Very well, and since you suggested it, it will be your responsibility to come up with the remaining names," he ordered.
I grinned. "Yes, sir!"
"Your team will consist of yourself, Captain Carter-" he started but again, was interrupted.
"And me?" Daniel asked.
The General paused. "Dr. Jackson, we need you to work as a consultant with the other SG teams from here. Your expertise in ancient cultures and languages are far too valuable…"
"I really have to be on their team," he said stubbornly. "My wife is out there, General. I need to go."
"If I may, General," I put in, "Daniel can still train others while off duty so other teams will still have the lingo know-how and knowledge needed to help their teams."
"I'll take that under consideration," he said.
I turned to Daniel and winked at him.
"Major Kawalsky, you will head SG…?" the General began but paused and looked at me.
"Dragon," I immediately said.
"Dragon, huh?" Kawalsky repeated, sounding pleased with the name.
"Very well. You will lead SG-Dragon." At that moment an airman came into the room and handed Samuels a piece of paper. He opened it and his eyes widened. "Ferretti is conscious, sir," he reported to Hammond.
Without waiting I got out of my seat and headed to the medbay.
After getting the coordinates from Ferretti, we suited up and made our way to the gateroom with Kawalsky leading the newly dubbed SG-Dragon. Again I had left my guns back home as I wanted to avoid having to summon them to me when they would be taken from me until Sam and Teal'c had learned who I was really, and who Amy was. I had decided that I wouldn't tell them straight away, but wait for the right time. So, like before, I was packing an M9 pistol and an MP5 submachine gun. I also didn't bother with wearing a helmet, keeping my head clear.
"Commander, I'd like to remind you, in the event that you fail to notify base camp within 24 hours, SG-Dragon will scrub the mission and return without you," Samuels said.
"Got it," I replied.
"Not gonna happen, Commander. Dragon won't leave without you," Kawalsky spoke up.
Samuels looked pointedly at him before continuing. "Alright, let's confirm transmitter codes. Remember, only with the right code will open the iris, and if you lose the transmitter, you cannot get home."
"Understood, sir," Sam confirmed as we entered the gateroom.
"Chevron seven locked," Walter announced over the PA and the stargate activated.
'I wonder if I'll ever get used to seeing that activation vortex,' I mentally wondered. 'Maybe after the first 100 times.'
We looked up to get visual conformation that the mission was still on from the General. He nodded hesitantly. "Let's go people!" I called out, but hung back with Kawalski.
"I kind of wish I was going with you," Major Samuels said almost wistfully to Kawalsky.
"Yeah? I'm kind of glad you're staying behind," he replied.
I snorted softly and continued up the ramp, past the rover that had all our camping stuff attached. Kawalsky and I were the last to go through and we ended up being spat out and thrown two meters through the air before we hit the stone steps and rolled painfully to a stop.
"Stupid damn computer calibrating the wrong damn calibration!" I grunted as I wiped the considerably less frosting from my face.
"At least we're not half frozen this time. Only a little bit," Kawalsky replied as he did the same.
"Not that it matters; this place is freezing!" I complained loudly. "Well, I guess we'd better get started. Grab your gear and let's go."
At that point Daniel sneezed loudly. "Does anybody have a Kleenex?" he asked.
"There was no room for it next to the Mark V nuke!" I replied with a big grin. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at me.
"I'm joking!" I replied.
"That wasn't funny," Daniel said.
"I thought it was hilarious," I chuckled.
After an hour of preparation, we were almost ready to move out. I was next to Daniel, listening to him prattle on about the area.
"It must be some sort of ceremonial place. The gate is, has to be, an integral part of their spiritual culture. This place was built for worshippers," Daniel said.
"Well I'd rather not have a bunch of pissed off fanatics on my ass so let's make this rescue quick, shall we?" I asked. "So, you figure out how to dial home yet?"
"Don't you know already?" he asked in a quiet tone.
"Well, yeah, but I gotta make sure. I never know if something different is gonna pop out at me," I replied.
"Oh… Well, in answer to your question, yeah. The device is the same as on Abydos. This symbol represents-"
"You told this to Dragon yet?"
"Yes, this symbol represents-"
"Nice going Danny," I said before walking away. I was about as interested as Jack was in the TV series about what that symbol was all about.
I walked over to Kawalsky. "We'll need to find a better spot than this," I said.
"Yeah, that's just what I was thinking," he replied.
"Sirs, I found what looks like a trail down the mountain. Looks like its seen traffic in the last couple of days," an SG-Dragon member reported.
"Nice job. With any luck, it'll lead us to a nice spot out of the way to set up base camp," I nodded. I then turned to the female member of my team. "So Sam? What have you been up to?"
"Setting a line of Claymores along the ridge at 10 meter intervals," she reported.
"Well, if we do have a bunch of raving fanatics, frothing at the mouth, on our asses, at least we can give em a friendly explosion to the face," I grinned before we all began to move to the trail, which wound itself up a large hill, with Kawalsky chuckling at my responce.
After half an hour of travel and crossing over the hill, we came across a clearing that overlooked the path on the way down. It was hidden enough so that people traveling the path wouldn't know that the clearing was there, unless they were looking for it.
"Ok, if we're not back in 20 hours-" I began.
"We'll come rescue your sorry asses," Kawalsky grinned.
"I wish, but that's not our orders this time. You'll go back through the gate with the address Daniel told you, as you were ordered," I said firmly.
"Yes, sir," he replied.
"If we don't make it back, it's cause we got owned big time and that we're either captured or dead." I was tempted to throw in a Caboose line from Red vs Blue, but realised that now was not the time, so I settled for thinking it ('Or captured and dead!') making Amy giggle at the humour.
"All right. Stay safe," I said.
"Pick me up a t-shirt," he responded.
I snorted. "Yeah, one that says 'I am your one true god!' See how these assholes like that," I grinned, which was mirrored by him. I then took my team and we moved further down the hill. It wasn't long before someone struck up a conversation.
"So, Dr. Jackson, tell me more about Sha're," she asked. "How did you meet?"
"Sha're? Well, she's-" Daniel began.
"She was a gift to the lucky sod," I interrupted.
"She was, actually, from the elders of Abydos the first night we were there," he confirmed.
"And you accepted?" he asked incredulously.
"Well he didn't really get it at the time until she flashed him her boobs. He got the message pretty quickly at that moment," I grinned.
"Oi!" Daniel squawked in indignation at the private moment I had just disclosed.
"But by then it was too late. They thought he was Ra, or a messenger from Ra, which was the reason for gifting Sha're to Daniel. By the time this was rectified, the two had already fallen in love, so they stayed together," I finished up. But then I spotted movement. "Hold up for a minute!" I whispered loudly.
"What?" Daniel asked as I moved off the track, with Sam pulling him with us.
We spied the group of heavy robed people making their way along the path. "See any weapons?" I asked Sam.
"No, sir," she replied.
"They're worshipers," Daniel said as they came into clearer view. They certainly looked the part with their snake head tipped staffs and their monk like robes. "Ok, here's the plan-" I began, but broke off as I saw that Daniel had already left.
"And here we go again," I sighed. Even though I knew that, as far as I and Amy knew, this was the only way to get Teal'c over to our side, it was still a little annoying that he didn't wait.
The priests continued to walk on until Daniel said hi to them. "Uhh… We just came through the stargate… uhh… the chaapa'ai?"
"Chaapa'ai!" the one in the front cried out and the group fell on their knees.
"No no, please don't… *sigh* do that," Daniel replied to this gesture. I decided to intervene at this point.
"Already making friends with the locals in the hopes of scoring some more alien booty, are we?" I asked with a grin. I didn't have my MP5 ready to shoot and Sam took her cue from me.
"No," Daniel replied heatedly. "Please, you don't have to do this," he said as he pulled the priest who had spoken to his feet. He pulled back his hood, identifying him and his brothers as belonging to Apophis.
"Chula asla," the priest at the front said.
After a moment, Daniel recognised the words. "'Choose.' They want to know if we're here to choose," he said, looking at me. I shrugged.
"Ahh, sure! Sure, choosing is good," he replied. But it was clear the priest had no idea what he just said. "It's a derivation of Arabic, combined with-"
"Not on my list of things to know right now, Daniel. What is, however, is if there's a town nearby and if they can take us there," I replied.
"Ahh… would you take us to… uhh, ahh… would you take us to… Arrish? Arrish?" Daniel asked as he made a house like gesture with his hands.
"Chulak!" he replied. He then beckoned for us to follow him while repeating the word.
"I guess we're off to Chulak then," I said before leading the way for my team.
After another half hour of walking we came across a stone built city on top of a hill. "Chulak!" the priest said as he pointed at the town.
"Chulak. Sounds good," Daniel said as we continued on, our sights fixed on the city.
"Not very Egyptian is it. More like Ancient Greek," I said myself. "It's like these guys don't know which ancient culture to barrack for. We've got Arabic in the lingo and ancient Greek in the architecture."
After we entered the city, with the inhabitants all looking at us, we were led to a grand looking building, the palace, as I remembered from watching the Children of the Gods episode. Inside we were moved to a room full of people in white gowns and dresses. It was like I had stepped into an Ancient Greek documentary.
The priest spoke a line of alien dialogue, probably announcing us. It did the trick as they all looked at us and began chattering away as we sat down.
"A little embarrassing," I murmured as I took in all their faces. I then met the eyes of a few gorgeous women and saw them flush up slightly. "But then again, it's not so bad," I grinned as I stroked my goatee and gazed at a particular raven haired beauty suggestively.
"Why are they treating us like this?" Sam asked me.
"They think we're gods," Daniel answered.
"Well that'll make things easier," I replied.
"Make what easier?" Sam asked.
"Getting a one night stand with that sexy raven over there," I replied, not taking my eyes off her. She responded by lightly licking her lips and giving me a lusty look. 'Hoo boy!' I thought as I began to get hard. I was never this successful at attracting ladies back home. Probably because I didn't look anything like I did now. I was sort of confident in my chat up skills, but my looks held me back from experience as well as getting any action.
"Great," Sam sighed.
"This is a feast of some kind. Apparently, someone's been expected," Daniel noted.
At that point a guy with a massive horn blew a loud, low note that sounded like someone passing gas. "Ok, who farted?" I asked with a grin. But I stopped smiling when I saw that no one else was smiling either. In fact they all bowed down in prostration. Daniel was the first to pick up on it, then Sam. I stayed sitting.
"When in Rome…" Daniel left it hanging. I sighed before moving into a prostrating position myself, but kept my eyes up front, waiting for the inevitable as I heard the sound of many steel boots clanging towards us. Then six serpent guards moved into view, with two as guards at the entrance and the remaining four taking up positions in the corners of the room.
Then I saw Teal'c for the first time. The guy was buff for sure, but he still looked ridiculous in the jaffa metal armour. They all did, with only the helmets having any kind of intimidation. And even then they still looked kinda comical.
He then spoke several words, two of which I recognised; Goa'uld and Apophis. He then walked to the side to make way for a man wearing gold and a woman who wore a white veil.
'Apophis really does look like he's dressed for the Mardi Gra,' I thought in humour with Amy cracking up loudly. This made it very hard for me to control my grins.
"Behold," Apophis began grandly as he turned to the woman and lifted her veil. "your Queen."
'And here we go,' I mentally sighed.
"Sha're?" Daniel murmured before he scrambled to his feel.
'And there he goes,' I finished up.
"Sha're, thank God, I thought we'd never…" Daniel began but Apophis cut him off.
"Kneel before your Queen!" he ordered, seemingly uncurious at Daniel's strange, to him, clothes.
"Sha're, it's me!" Daniel said. However his wife responded with the classic Goa'uld possession stare, the glowy eyes. Then Apophis threw him across the room with his alien Power Glove. He slammed hard into the wall and slid down it, unconscious. I rose from my spot, MP5 in hand, but Sha're stood in front of my target. Not that it would've mattered, since Golden Gayface probably had that annoying shield that was kinetically sensitive. And then a sharp pain spread out from the back of my head for a moment before all went black.
I awoke to the sound of Skaara calling for me to wake up. I knew it was Skaara because 1) I recognised his voice and 2) he was saying my name wrong.
"Ahh, my head!" I groaned as I sat up, and immediately regretted doing so as all the blood in my head moved around and through the sizable bruise on the back of my head.
"Kitune!" Skaara gasped in relief.
"Give me a sec kiddo," I replied before placing my right palm over the bruise and started performing Reiki on it. And I blinked in surprise as the pain quickly ebbed away and the swelling reduced itself until, 20 seconds later, it was all gone.
'Wow! Those Ancient powers you gave me are really something!' I mentally said.
"Glad they could help," she replied.
"Hey Skaara," I grinned as I withdrew my hand from my head and clapped it on the boy's shoulder in a friendly greeting. "Good to see you're still around." I then stood up and took a look around. We were in a dark room made of large stone bricks. On one side there was a short flight of steps leading up to a large cross barred gate that was currently closed. And in the room was perhaps a few dozen men and women.
"Where's Sam? And Daniel?" I asked.
"She is over there with Daniel," Skaara replied, pointing through the crowd. I nodded and walked over to the spot Skaara pointed at. There I saw Sam kneeling next to a prone Daniel.
"Sam," I said as I reached her. She turned around and quickly stood up. "Sir," she greeted.
"How long was I out?" I asked.
"A few hours," she reported. "I wasn't knocked out so I've been awake the whole time. When we got here, I let the boy you knew watch over you while I did the same for Daniel."
"Right. Well, see if you can wake him up. I'm gonna have a look around," I said.
"Yes, sir," she replied before starting to gently shake Daniel awake.
After about 20 minutes of looking around, but already knowing that there was no conventional way out, and explaining what had happened to Sha're without confusing him, I heard Daniel coughing.
'I guess Daniel has just realised how hard those kinetic blasts hurt,' I thought to myself before walking over to where they were with Skaara following me.
"I doubt there's a secret door to the prison cell we're in, so for the moment, we're stuck sitting on our asses," I said to them.
"Daniel! You're okay!" Skaara pushed forward to embrace the archaeologist.
"I think so," he replied shakily and coughed once before drooping in Skaara's arms. We then helped him back to his seat.
"Take it easy for a bit, Danny. You're lucky that kinetic blast didn't kill you when you went slamming into the wall," I said.
"Kitune told me about Sha're," Skaara said.
"Josh, help me. We can find her again…" Daniel started.
"Daniel… I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but she's got one of those things inside of her. If the eyes glow, it's true. And I doubt those things would leave willingly from their hosts. I'm sorry," I replied.
"But…"
"Daniel!" I said forcefully, giving him a look that clearly said that I would fill him in later. He took the hint.
"So, you still got that transmitter?" I asked Sam.
"Yeah."
"We might need to smash it. If we can't get outta here, the mission's a bust anyway, and we don't want Golden Gayface to get his hands on that thing," I said.
"Well, he still wouldn't know the code. There's half a billion permutations," she replied.
I sighed. "I'm not insulting your level of nerdiness, but these guys have spaceships. I'm pretty sure they could figure out the code before it's locked out." She then looked a little sheepish for not think about that beforehand.
"Ok, now let's see if we can find a way outta here on the 14th lap of this place," I muttered before my arm was wrenched up by an armoured hand with an iron grip.
"Owowowowowow!" I cried out and looked at the face of a Serpent guard.
"What is this?" he asked, and I recognised Teal'c's voice from inside.
I looked down to see that it was the Air Force issued LCD digital watch around my wrist.
"It's called a watch. Tells me the time," I replied.
Teal'c then half pushed back his helmet to get a better look at it. He then pulled me closer. "Where are you from?"
"Earth," I replied.
"Your word means nothing. Where are you from?" he repeated.
"I just told you," I deadpanned a reply.
"Ahh, excuse me," Daniel interrupted before drawing the Earth point-of-origin symbol in the sand. "This is where we're from," he said.
Teal'c took a long look before he rubbed the symbol out with the end of his staff. He then stepped back and walked out of the room, flanked by two other Serpent guards.
"Now wasn't he a nice guy," I said sarcastically.
"What do you think that was about?" Daniel asked me. I just shrugged non-committedly.
Daylight streamed through the very small window holes that lined the top of the cell we were all in. The night had been very cold, but I pitied Kawalsky and the others who were outside. At least we had a few fire torches in the cell giving out a small amount of heat.
I was still looking around the place and had hoisted myself up to one of the little windows. Couldn't see much outside; just some grass, stone, gravel, dirt and trees. I lowered myself down, landing next to Skaara.
"Sha're is dead?" he asked.
"Ahh… yes and no… It's a difficult thing to explain kiddo," I replied.
"We will save her," he stated.
"No promises on that. We need a way out first."
"But you are great warrior! Together we defeated Ra!" he protested.
"Yeah, but we caught Ra with his pants down, taking a dump! And we had a lot of help from your people. Here, we're captured and alone. We'll try, but I can't guarantee anything, ok?" I asked. He nodded.
A loud scraping sound alerted us to the gates of our cell opening. I pulled Skaara over to where Daniel and Sam were at as we watched Serpent Guards stream in, followed by Teal'c.
"Shalaha krehomel Goa'uld!" he called out.
"Do you know what he said?" I asked Skaara.
"They're going to choose," he replied, despair creeping into his tone.
"Choose what?" Sam asked.
"Who will be the children of the Gods," he finished.
Behind the line of Serpent guards, a procession of finely dressed people, along with a carriage carried by four strongly built men, filtered in. The carriage was lowered and Golden Gayface stepped out. He took a moment to survey us all before he turned and helped his queen out.
"Sha're… Josh, help me, please!" Daniel urged but Sam and I held him back. "Now is not the time," I replied back and he got the message, relaxing his body. But we still kept a hold of him.
Teal'c spoke at length in Goa'uld as the carriage carriers ran out into the crowd and began pushing us all to the ground. "Kneel before your masters!" Teal'c finished in English.
'Hey Amy, how is it that these guys know English anyways?' I asked.
"They know because we know. What you know as English, in this universe, it's derived from the language we, the Ancients, spoke. That's how. You'll notice that some speak quite formally?" Amy asked.
'Yeah, I did notice that,' I replied.
"That's because for those people, the language hasn't evolved as much as it has for people on Earth. On Earth, the language has evolved a lot more because each new generation brings new slang words to the mix. Not so with others. For some, the language is more traditional," she explained.
'Ahh, I see,' I replied as Sam and Daniel were forced into kneeling on the ground. I glanced at Teal'c and saw him slowly nod at me. I nod back at him before voluntarily kneeling myself. "Skaara," I said to the kid. He looked at me before complying.
We watched as the Goa'ulds began to walk down into the cell, observing us all. The servants occasionally brought out a person to be inspected. Some were rejected, some were accepted. I looked at Teal'c to see him show silent disgust at what was happening.
'Well, at least he still feels the same as he did in the TV series,' I thought.
One of the males walked past and Daniel reached out and grabbed his arm. I rose to pull him off, but was met with two primed staff weapons.
"This one is passionate," the goa'uld said in that deep, weird vocal tone that all goa'uld had.
"How much would I remember if you chose me?" Daniel asked desperately. "Tell me!"
The guy slowly bent down and smirked. "Something of the host must survive," Daniel said, on the verge of crying.
"Nothing!" he replied before he was pushed back. Daniel just sat there, sobbing quietly. Then the guy pointed at Skaara. "Him."
We all froze as the implication of what he said sunk in. Then a servant moved forward and hauled him away, with Skaara crying out in Abydonian the whole time.
"Skaara!" I called to him, but got a swipe over the face from a staff as my answer.
"Kitune! Kitune! Kitune!" Skaara called out to me as he was moved past Apophis and Amunet. It seemed he was the last one to be chosen as the Serpent guards walked up the stairs and stood ready.
"Kill the rest," Apophis smiled and everyone began to scream and cry out in fear. They all scrambled to the back of the cell while Sam, Daniel and I rose but did not panic. We watched the goa'uld leave, along with most of the guards, leaving only 6 along with Teal'c, to kill us all.
'I hope this works,' I thought before I walked forward. "Help me save these people!" I called to Teal'c, who spun around and primed his staff at me. "Please, help me. I know you are as disgusted as I am about what they do here," I said as I looked him dead in the eye, unflinchingly. "Help me free these innocent people."
"Many have said that!" Teal'c replied as I continued to stare him down. He did the same before he swiftly turned his body and blasted the nearest Serpent guard in the chest, sparks shooting off the point of impact.
"But you are the first I believed could do it!" he called out as he tossed his weapon to me. I immediately found the firing button and blasted a nearby guard. The rest quickly open fired on us all. I then fired a second time and a third time, downing two more guards. Teal'c had managed to pick up a staff from a dead guard and quickly finished off the remaining two.
Jaffa warriors swarmed at the cell gate, but a few staff blasts quickly forced them to retreat. I then turned around and pointed at the wall. "Out of the way now!" I ordered and the people in the way scattered, leaving the path open. I fired several precision shots in a square shape to open a large hole for everyone to start leaving the room. Sam and I ran forward to make sure the outside was clear before we ducked back inside.
"Come on, let's move!" I called out as Sam took point, leading the liberated prisoners out of the cell. They quickly began to filter out through the gaping hole. Soon almost all of them were out. Daniel moved over to me.
"You ok?" I asked. He hesitated but nodded, not trusting his voice. "Don't worry, that jackass was lying."
He looked back at me sharply. "Really?" he asked, hope sinking back into his voice.
"Yeah," I nodded with a grin. I then pushed him out of the hole before turning back to see Teal'c, who was discarding pieces of his armour, along with the metal cap over his bald head.
"You coming or what?" I called to him.
He hesitated for a moment before replying. "I have nowhere to go."
"Don't worry, you can bunk with us," I replied with a friendly smile. He then began to slowly walk over to me, picking up speed.
"So what's your name?" I asked as he moved through the hole.
"Teal'c," the ex-First Prime replied.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Commander Josh Kitsuné," I replied as I stuck out my hand. He responded by grasping half my arm strongly in a kind of warrior handshake. "Wasn't what I was expecting, but ok. Now, where will they take the boy I was with, Skaara?"
"To the stargate," he replied as we began to move swiftly with the others. "After they've selected hosts for their children, they will return home."
After we reached a short outcrop of flat land, we were about 15 minutes from the base camp. "We've got less than an hour. How are we doing?" I asked.
"We lost a few when we reached the forest," Sam replied.
"Well that's to be expected, I guess. Though I have doubts they'll survive long," I said.
"They will be hunted down and killed," Teal'c agreed. "Anyone who does not exist to serve the gods is their enemy."
"Yeah, so what does that make you?" I asked.
"I am a Jaffa. Bred to serve, that they may live," he replied.
"I don't understand," Daniel said, confused.
Teal'c stopped and I braced myself for what was coming next. He parted the lower section of his chainmail shirt to show a cross shaped hole in his stomach. And the thing that was poking its way through the hole.
Everyone nearby gave a short scream and I recoiled violently. "Fucking hell, man!" I cursed.
"What the hell is that?" Daniel asked.
"It is an infant Goa'uld, the larval form of the gods," Teal'c explained. "I have carried one since I was a child, as all Jaffa carry one."
"Damn! That's nasty man! Put that thing away!" I said, sickened by the sight. Teal'c complied by allowing the snake to retreat back inside before pulling the chainmail back over the hole.
"This is the twelfth I have carried," he said.
"Well, can't you ditch it or something?" I asked.
He looked at me for a long moment. "In exchange for carrying the infant Goa'uld until maturity, a Jaffa receives perfect health and long life. If I were to remove it, I would eventually die."
"Man, that blows," I replied.
"Why are you helping us?" Sam asked.
"The Goa'uld are conquerors, nothing more. Not worthy of worship or sacrifice. You are the first to come along with powers that approach theirs," Teal'c said.
"We don't have spaceships, you know," I said.
"You are strong, perhaps strong enough to destroy them," Teal'c assured me.
At that point two Death Gliders and an Al'kesh flew over our heads, most likely carrying the Goa'uld kids and Golden Gayface himself.
"All righty, time to step it up, people. Let's go! Move!" I urged loudly. Everyone began to scramble up the hill.
Teal'c walked over to me. "The boy you seek is no longer who he was," he said. I didn't say anything in return, just looked at him before continuing on.
We were coming up to the last ridge before the gate when the fighter escort the Al'kesh had, came back. "Get down!" I called out as the fighters began bombarding the area with energy blasts, sending up dirt and rock every time the shots hit the ground. A few people were downed on the first pass.
By the time the fighters were coming around for their second pass, most of the prisoners had taken cover in the trees. Teal'c and I knelt on the ground and began firing at the ships. I managed to catch one of them right in the face, sending black smoke trailing behind it. The other lined up his shots and began blasting away at us again.
As they passed over, the smoking one smashed into the ground some distance away while the second one prepared for a third pass.
"Commander, we're sitting ducks here!" Sam called over.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" I yelled back. Teal'c and I readied our weapons and began firing at the last, hoping to get another lucky shot. However a new sound reached my ears and I saw a rocket shoot over our heads and explode into the second fighter, knocking out one engine. It then span out of control and hit the ground in a ball of fire.
Everyone began cheering and I looked behind me to see Kawalsky and his team cheering on the ridge. "BOOYAA!" I whooped as I pumped my fist into the air. I then turned to the prisoners. "C'mon everyone! Up the hill!" I called before we jogged over to SG-Dragon.
"Nice shooting Tex," I grinned as we met up with Kawalsky. "How many are there?"
"A dozen, maybe more," he reported. "They're going back through the gate."
"And Skaara?" I asked.
"He's with them," he confirmed.
We then scrambled up the hill with Kawalsky shouting orders to his team. We reached the top of the ridge, only to see the last three Goa'uld about to pass through the gate.
"Skaara!" I called out and he turned around to look at me, only to smirk and glow his eyes before he and the others stepped through the gate.
"Ahh, crap," I sighed before we made our way down the ridge as the stargate powered off. We began to slowly make our way over to the stargate.
"Sir, we got hostiles coming out of the trees!" a member of Dragon reported into his radio before he and his buddy started firing. I could hear the sound of energy blasts whizzing through the air, making that very recognisable sound as they did so.
"Ok people, we're going on a little fieldtrip," Kawalsky advised the refugees.
"Daniel, start dialling us home," I said before turning to Sam. "Get your Claymores ready and give em to Kawalsky." She immediately retrieved the fuse box and passed it to Kawalsky.
"Me and Casey and Warren'll be the last men out," Kawalsky said as he took the charges from Sam.
"Nuh-uh, that's my job," I overruled him before looking back at Sam. "Once Daniel gets that gate open I want you to send the signal and go through with him. Let the General we're bringing in refugees."
"Let's go, move, move, move!" Kawalsky urged the crowd to follow us.
"We can't hold them sir!" Casey said on the radio.
"Get them off that ridge!" I advised Kawalsky.
"Fall back, fall back. Now!" he ordered as he and a few others skidded to a halt behind some rocks.
"Daniel! Hurry the hell up!" I said as I watched him slowly press the correct buttons in. The sound of gunfire alerted me to the ridge and I ran over to some cover and began to use my staff weapon to lay down covering fire. A few more moments of this and the ridge was now swarming with Jaffa.
"Give them a little friendly greeting, would you?" I called over to Kawalsky. In return he zapped the fuse once and the entire ridge erupted into explosions, blasting several Jaffa away. He then zapped a second time and the second line of Claymores went off, sending more enemy soldiers tumbling down the ridge.
"Captain, let's get these people out of here now! Move!" Kawalsky ordered Sam. She nodded as he sprang out of cover to back us up.
"Give me a few seconds then start sending them through," she told Daniel before she bolted through the gate.
After a few seconds went past, the first pair of refugees went through, and it continued like that as Kawalsky, Teal'c and I along with Casey and Warren continued to hold the line. I caught something out of the corner of my eye and turned to see one of the refus hurl rocks at them. I looked in the direction he was throwing and saw one brain a Jaffa, downing him. He threw his hands in the air in triumph.
"Yes, yes, very nice," I replied before I blasted an advancing enemy in the face. "Booya! In the face!" I crowed out before seeking out the next target.
"That's it!" I heard Daniel call to me.
"Get through! We'll be through in a minute!" I called back. I then turned to the front. "Casey, Warren, fall back!" I ordered.
We all moved to our feet and converged onto the stargate, Jaffa quickly surrounding us. An energy blast struck Casey at the ground in front of him, sending him to the ground.
"Casey!" Kawalsky called out and he ran over to his teammate. I went over and helped Kawalsky haul Casey to his feet. "Come on, move your ass!" I growled as energy blasts impacted all around us.
We moved past the DHD, but Casey tripped and fell. In response I turned and put a shot through a Jaffa who was a meter away from me. Warren fired off a few more rounds before he too went through.
Next to go were Teal'c and the stone throwing guy. They made it through without injuries. I then helped Kawalsky with Casey and we charged through the event horizon.
We emerged through the other side and Sam immediately told the techs to lock it up. I turned to see the iris slide into place over the wormhole. After one second of the iris locking in place, there were two loud clangs against the shield before the wormhole disengaged.
I gave a long sigh of relief as the iris slid away back into the stargate. I turned to see two medics move to Casey's side and Kawalsky fussing over his teammate, who looked to just be injured at the legs and a little shaken. I moved away from them, and was immediately swamped by all the refugees hugging me and Sam. I smiled and nodded as we pushed our way through them.
"Commander Kitsuné, care to explain?" Hammond asked as I pushed through the last few people.
"Uh, we can use the stargate to send these people home, sir," Samantha assured the boss.
"What's he doing here?" he asked angrily as he pointed to Teal'c.
I walked over and placed my hand on the Jaffa's shoulder. "General Hammond, this is Teal'c," I introduced formally. "He can help us."
"Do you know what he is?" he almost yelled at me.
"He's the man who saved all of our lives. And if you accept my recommendation, sir, he'll join SG-Fox," I replied.
Hammond looked a lot more placated at this bit of info. "That decision may not be up to you," he cautioned before Samuels ordered everyone to stand away as the medics got Casey onto a stretcher and off the ramp. The refugees also began to walk off the ramp, making some space.
"Commander Kitsuné, Major Kawalsky," the General gained our attention. "The sure-to-be-very-interesting debriefing of SG units Fox and Dragon will be at 0730."
"Yes, sir," both Kawalsky and I said at the same time.
"Alright, let's get these people situated. This way," Samuels ordered as he led the way for the refugees down the corridor outside the gate room.
There was silence between us all. "She's out there somewhere, Josh," Daniel said.
"Yeah, so is Skaara," I replied. "We'll see them again."
"Don't you mean we'll get them back?" he asked.
"You know I can't promise that. But we will see them again," I repeated, silently promising him that we would. "Isn't that better than not knowing?"
Daniel smiled as he remembered the same words I had said before. "Right," he nodded. I clapped him on the shoulder before walking off the ramp with Teal'c, Sam and Daniel following.