Teal'c came over and studied the three figures stretched across the entryway. He leaned over the middle figure and then walked back to the others who had retreated to the bridge.
"I have seen this once before once I was a young Jaffa. This was done by the Heroties or Heretics. They attack towns ruled by minor Goa'uld kill the inhabitants and display the bodies of the Goa'uld and Jaffa as a warning."
"You're sure this is their work?" Jack asked
"I am O'Neill they do not commit many attacks but they always leave their mark. The removal of the symbiote and the way the bodies are mutilated and displayed leaves no doubt this is their work."
"If that is the case sir we are unlikely to find anything here that will Daniel. We should send a team back here to evaluate the town and talk to Daniel about what happened." Sam said
"Alright, Major Thompson, Captain Neal, Dr. Silver stay here and learn what you can. The rest of us will return to Star Gate Command and send another team to help along with a medical unit." Jack ordered after a minutes thought
SG1 walked out of the haunted town relieved to be escaping its ghosts. As they stepped out on the road and walked to the gate their spirits lightened a little but soon dropped even more weighed down by the knowledge that their gentle, compassionate friend had been involved in something so horrendous and soul crushing. Captain Mark and Lieutenant Bushed had already received a report of the sacked town; Jack ordered them to remain at their posts until the other teams came through. Upon arriving back at earth they were met by a very surprised General Hammond who had not expected to see them again for many hours. They told him what they had learned and within the hour a medical team and SG8 headed back through the gate. After showering and debriefing Sam, Jack, and Teal'c went to go see Daniel. They found him working on translations with Dr. Quinn in the VIP room.
"Daniel how are you?" Sam asked holding a tray of food
"Fine General Hammond has allowed me to work and I have been assisting Dr. Quinn all day."
"That's good, I talked to Dr. Fraiser and she said you hadn't had lunch yet so we brought food."
"Thanks I didn't realize it was so late." Daniel said
Dr. Quinn helped Daniel collect the translations and books then left. Jack, Teal'c and Sam spread the food out and everyone took their usual seats at the table. After they ate Jack spoke
"Daniel I'm sorry about last night I shouldn't have spoken so harshly."
"No Jack you were right I just felt so depressed, ashamed, guilty, I just wanted it to end. I should actually thank you and Teal'c for stopping me and Sam for helping me."
Sam gently took his hand and gripped it tight before releasing it. General Hammond had decided to wait until the next morning before going over the reports on the town. In the hopes of getting Daniel to open up Dr. Fraiser and Dr. Ford had persuade General Hammond to allow Daniel to go outside on the mountain with SG1 and four guards. Jack and Teal'c took the trays down to the cafeteria while Sam waited with Daniel. When they returned Jack nodded at Sam and lifted a bag slightly
"Daniel General Hammond has given permission for you to go outside for a little while. Would you like to go?"
"Of course it seems I spend most of my time nowadays cooped up inside."
"Oh come on Daniel you've spent most your life inside reading, writing obscure papers, and doing other geek things." Jack said with a smile
They went outside and hiked a little ways to a quiet clearing where the four guards were hidden. Jack got out a bottle of scotch, four glasses, and a container full of cookies, brownies, and other baked goods. Teal'c spread out a blanket and the four made themselves comfortable. Daniel took a glass of Scotch and slowly sipped it after it was finished Jack refilled it, they sat outside for an hour enjoying the peace and quiet
"Daniel how are you feeling?" Sam asked
"Peaceful, content, somewhat drunk which I think is against base regulations." Daniel said already on his third glass
"We're off duty, since you can't leave the base Hammond gave us permission to drink while outside."
"That was nice of him, what do guys want." Daniel said standing up and taking a seat on a log a little farther away
"We went to the coordinates you gave us, we saw the town." Jack said reluctantly not wanting to burden Daniel with remembering what had happened
"Did you find any survivors?" Daniel asked slightly hopeful
"I am sorry Daniel Jackson we did not find any one left alive." Teal'c spoke
Daniel sighed and studied and ground a few minutes he finished his glass before speaking "What do you want to know."
"What happened?" Was all Jack said
"I was part of an infiltration team sent to Glouden to allow for the advance of the army. We came through the gate, killed the two men guarding the gate and left behind two of our own. We got to the town and pretended to be a party of merchants looking to trade iron, and gold in exchange for food. We waited two hours and then four of our men split off and took up position around Glower. As soon as we saw the smoke from the burning fields they set off fires of their own. It was instant chaos the town had been peaceful for years; the garrisons with the exception of Lord Hu's personal guard were half trained farmers who rotated shifts during the year. As the garrison left to deal with the possible threat outside the town the townspeople set off to stop the fires in town and prevent them from spreading. Our group immediately left and hurried to the castle hoping to take it before Lord Hu figured out it was an invasion and sealed the castle. We attacked the guards guarding the causeway and were fighting our way across when I noticed Demov was missing." Daniel paused and stared at the ground before continuing "Our host Lo had a beautiful daughter Lia, I had seen Demov staring at her his eyes following her every time she was in the room. I left my comrades and ran to the house I could hear screaming; when I got their I found Lo, his wife and servants dead and their sons missing. I called to Demov he came out of the parent's bedroom I instantly knew what he had been doing. I could have ordered him to resume the fight we needed every man, but instead I ran my sword through his body and left the house without even checking on Lia. I rejoined my men who were still fighting to gain access to the bridge, the main army had finally entered the town and it was a chaos. Smoke filled the air as the fires spread and more were set the smell of blood, the screams of the dying, I kept fighting but every instinct told me to stop and help the innocent townspeople. A few times I actually left my post and tried to help someone and control the bloodshed but it was no use. I was actually glad when I got hit I fell to the ground and passed out, when I woke up I was in the infirmary." Daniel finished his tale and leaned against a tree his eyes closed reliving the past
His team mates got up and walked away a bit to give him privacy. No one spoke; no one knew what to say. After ten minutes they returned to find Daniel still leaning against the tree, Sam went over to him and put a hand on shoulder
"Daniel."
"Sam, I don't know how you can bear to even look at me after knowing what I did."
"Daniel you were brainwashed and you were attacking a Goa'uld I know that under the circumstances you did everything you could to avoid harming innocent people."
"It doesn't matter I should have done more, less, I don't know." Daniel said collapsing in on himself
"Let's go inside, we need to report this information to General Hammond."
Daniel nodded and they went inside, Dr. Ford took charge of Daniel when they got to the VIP room. Teal'c went to Kel No Ream, Jack and Sam to talk to Hammond. The next day the usual group minus Sam who was with Daniel with the additions of Dr. Silver and the leaders of SG3 and SG7 were in the conference room.
"We combed the woods for survivors but found no one, the survivors if there were any fled either farther into the woods or left through the Star Gate." Major Thompson reported
"The people of Glouden died from swords, arrows, knives, or from injuries caused by the numerous fires. The Goa'uld Hu and his two Jaffa were tortured for three hours before they were killed, their symbiotes were removed postmortem and displayed with their corpses." Dr. Fraiser reported
"Teal'c what else can you tell us about the Heretics?" Hammond asked
Before Teal'c could answer the Gate unexpectedly activated.
A/N Please Review let me know what you think of the direction the story has taken, if you have any questions I will be happy to answer them. Or just Follow, Favorite.