Sub-commander Yllac deliberately silenced the alarms before he hurried to Melanby's office. He hadn't expected to hear from his informant quite so soon. In fact, he was surprised that the man had spoken at all. Yllac might have been new to the post but he'd been on enough runs to realise the prisoners had a strange concept of honour. Despite the fact they were all convicted criminals, they tended to band together. He might have thought it was something to do with the fact they had to live the rest of their lives away from civilization, if he didn't know that a high percentage of the prisoners didn't make it past their first year on Irkalla. Something Yllac felt a little uncomfortable about.
He sometimes thought that Commander Melanby wasn't really interested in what was happening outside the four walls of his office. However, his opinion changed as soon as he heard Melanby's yell,
"What on Irkalla is happening here, Yllac?"
"The prisoners have broken containment, Commander," Yllac replied.
"I thought the plan was you had a man in there to stop this happening."
"There was a disturbance … they moved too quickly."
"And I have criminals wandering the halls of my ship!"
"We're on alert, they won't get far."
"They shouldn't have gotten out."
"Yes Commander."
"Anesthetize those that are left and round the others up in corridor fourteen B."
"Commander, that's the armoury."
"I know and if Nez is with them that's the first place they're going to go."
"If they're armed…"
"A few half starved prisoners aren't going to be a match for trained men."
As Commander Melanby strode away, Yllac wondered if he should have told him about those who came from another world.
&&&
It was too quiet. Even though it was technically the middle of the night, Teal'c knew they should have met someone by now but the corridors were empty. There were security monitors lining the walls and, although they were doing their best to avoid the devices, Teal'c knew it was unlikely that they had completely escaped detection. He wished he could have spoken with O'Neill in private, but the opportunity had not arisen. Teal'c couldn't help feeling that this was not the time to carry out the offensive against their captors.
The ship was still shaking at irregular intervals, delaying their progress. In normal circumstances Teal'c knew that the longer they took to reach the armoury, the less chance they had to avoid capture … but this was anything but normal. Yet, he wondered if there was any point in going back. To do so would prove they were afraid, that they were willing to hide amongst the weak. Teal'c realised they were now committed to this path, so he followed O'Neill, as he had done so many times before.
"Are you sure this is right?" O'Neill questioned as Nez stopped before an armoured door.
"Yeah…," but the man didn't seem to be certain. He was looking about himself as if he were searching for something.
"What?"
"Nothing, this is it."
"So any ideas how we open the door?"
Nez bent towards it, seemingly intent on the locking mechanism but Teal'c found his attention diverted elsewhere. He heard something. The scrape of a shoe on the deck? Fabric brushing against the wall of the corridor? Slowly, carefully, he started to move back the way they had come. Even though he was armed, Teal'c did not have much faith in the weapon he carried. He'd had no chance to test its strengths or weaknesses. When he rounded a bend in the corridor, Teal'c realised that whatever his weapon, it would be no match for the force that faced him. As O'Neill might say… this had been a set up from the start.
"O'Neill! We are betrayed!" Teal'c shouted.
"Crap!" O'Neill swore, as the alarms blared out.
Surrender wasn't an option. They had no choice but to run.
&&&
"Where do you think we are?" Daniel asked as he tried to pick sealant out of his hair.
"I have no idea," Sam replied.
They certainly weren't in the engine room. At least Daniel assumed they weren't. The lack of anything vaguely resembling engines kind of gave it away. Sam was busy at the nearest computer terminal, trying to make sense of the readouts. They'd used the pal print of one of the unconscious men to activate the system.
"Could be some kind of environmental control," she speculated.
Daniel found himself leaning over her shoulder, trying to make sense of the text on the screen.
"I'd settle for a map," she grinned up at him.
Taking her place, Daniel did his best to find his way around the system. He could pick out a few words here and there, but this language had evolved since it was last spoken on Earth. What he really needed was a couple of weeks and a good library, but since he wasn't likely to get that any time soon, he settled for emergency translation 101. He managed to find a schematic of the ship. There wasn't a handy 'you are here' sign, but he had counted the number of hatches they'd passed.
"We're not far away," he said, tapping the screen.
"Good," she replied.
"Er … Sam?" Daniel began.
"We might as well finish what we started."
He didn't raise and objection, but he had to wonder how they were going to do this. Unless the ship's personnel changed fairly frequently, he couldn't see how they would be mistaken for crew members. Still, they couldn't stay here for the rest of their lives.
Daniel felt exposed as soon as they walked out of the room. There was no one in the corridor outside but he wondered if there wasn't some kind of video surveillance.
"Which way?" Sam hissed when they reached an intersection.
"Left," he whispered back.
There was another crew member walking towards them. Daniel settled for nodding his head in greeting, but the man barely acknowledged them. So far, so good.
"This is it," he said eventually, tapping on a door.
It slid open upon request. Outside the prisoner's quarters, security didn't seem to be an issue. They stepped inside, letting the door shut behind them.
"Wow!" Sam breathed.
She was staring at the structure before them in something reminiscent of awe. Daniel couldn't quite see the attraction. As far as he was concerned, there wasn't that much to look at. They were standing in a small room, empty apart from a computer terminal. The wall in front of them was transparent, and they were looking down a long chamber.
"This has to be a beam core design," Sam said.
"A what?" Daniel asked.
"Direct one to one annihilation of protons and antiprotons."
"You can tell all that just by looking?"
"The annihilation products travel at close to the speed of light so the ship has to be long. If we could get this back to Earth then…"
"Then?"
"Daniel, this is something we could understand. A lot of what we bring back through the Stargate is so far beyond out understanding that we can't hope to reproduce it… we don't have the raw materials, the necessary manufacturing facilities…"
"But we know about antimatter."
"Yeah… Let's take a look at the specs."
Daniel hadn't even touched the computer when the wail of an alarm practically deafened him.
"I didn't touch anything!" he cried.
"Neither did I!" Sam shouted back.
"Then what….?"
"The Colonel?"
"Crap," Daniel muttered, borrowing one of Jack's favourite phrases.
He didn't know if they should stay of try and make their way back. If Jack had run into trouble, then maybe they would be of more use out here. Sam, it seemed, had the same idea.
"Let's see if we can use this thing to find out what's going on," she said.
&&&
Jack knew there was no place to go. Running was probably a stupid idea, but he needed a little time to get his head together, to try to work out what the hell to do next. Was Teal'c right? Had someone squealed? If that was true then the traitor wasn't Jorb. The big man was stumbling along beside them, trying his best to keep up. He was scared out of his mind and Jack wished he'd been able to leave him back with the others. As it was, Jorb didn't slow them down that much. He didn't get the chance. Whoever had designed the trap had made sure any escape routes were covered.
All four men were brought up sharp as the guards shot first. As Jack hit the ground, he hoped he'd still be around to answer questions later. The stun setting was vicious and far worse than a zat blast. Those, Jack had learnt how to shake off fairly quickly, but they didn't tend to make him sick to his stomach. Vomiting on his captors shoes was damn well embarrassing, but he didn't seem to be able to stop himself. At least he had the satisfaction of seeing the man jump back with a disgusted expression on his face.
Jack rolled onto his back.
"I can see right up your nose," he said to the man who stood above him.
Unfortunately, the man had no sense of humour at all and kicked Jack in the ribs.
"Yllac!" someone barked.
"Commander!"
"Get that one into solitary."
"And the rest?"
"Back where they came from."
Rough hands dragged Jack to his feet and started to haul him back along the corridor. He had no control over his arms and legs. The nearest equivalent he could think of was the last time he got very, very drunk… no… make that the time before that. It had been at the wake, after Daniel had died. Once his guests had departed, Jack had finished all of the spare booze … and the morning after he'd felt exactly like this. He'd really, really screwed up, he realised. This revolution had been doomed to failure from the start. Jack knew he should have just kept his head down and not gotten involved.
The condition Jack was in, he didn't have any other option than to go quietly but the men holding him had other ideas. As soon as they were out of sight of their commanding officer, they dropped him. All he could manage was a grunt of protest, as his face was ground into the floor. When he could raise his head, Jack could see the one called Yllac watching.
"Who was it?" Jack gasped. "Who told you?"
His words were rewarded by another kick in the ribs. They weren't going to kill him. Jack kept on telling himself that. There were no questions. They didn't want to know anything. The beating was for pleasure and nothing else.
"Enough," Yllac barked.
Even though the effects of the stun weapon were now fading, they still found it necessary to manhandle Jack. Apart from the guards, he was alone in the corridor.
"Where are my friends?" he demanded.
Questions really weren't the way to talk to these people, he realised as they slammed his body into a nearby wall. Jack had had enough. He no longer cared what they could do to him. If they killed him, they'd find themselves sentenced, which gave him the upper hand. His strength was returning rapidly as he pushed himself away from the wall. They weren't expecting him to fight back, but Jack would have to be seriously injured before he let it impair his performance. A few bruises weren't going to slow him down.
He was on them before they had the chance to bring their weapons to bear. The first man staggered back, blood flowing from a broken nose after Jack had slammed the heel of his hand into the man's face. Jack scooped up the man's discarded weapon and fired four times.
"Night, night," he grinned at the prostrate figures.
Jack didn't know how long he'd have. If he could just catch up with Teal'c… but all these damn corridors looked the same. He realised he'd made a rooky mistake. Because he'd been with Nez, he hadn't logged the turns in his mind and damn it if he wasn't lost.
Reaching a crossroads, he took a corridor at random, cursing when he found himself at a dead end. He couldn't afford to retrace his footsteps.
"Sir!"
Carter's voice. The most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. She was standing there in the corridor behind him, gesturing towards an open door. Jack didn't ask questions as he followed her lead. The room had little in it apart from Daniel and a computer terminal but Jack was very happy to see both.
"We were monitoring the situation," Carter explained.
"Can we control the ship from here?" Jack asked.
"Yes sir."
"Excellent!"
"Jack?" Daniel questioned, "What are you going to do?"
Jack wasn't planning anything dangerous. That idea had been scrapped once their initial foray had gone so disastrously wrong. Having lost the advantage of inside knowledge, he wasn't about to risk the ship.
"I figure we sit tight here and see if we can spot the Stargate from orbit," Jack said. "Then maybe we can talk them into putting us down someplace close by."
"And if it isn't there?" Daniel asked.
"We spend the rest of our lives in a prison colony."
"What about Teal'c?" Cater asked.
Jack winced. He hadn't forgotten, but he really couldn't think of a way to help his friend right now. Teal'c would either be locked in solitary confinement or back with the other prisoners. There was no way to get to him without jeopardizing their current position. Ultimately, rescuing Teal'c would serve no purpose, unless they had a way home. Without that, then they might as well join him. Jack hoped that Teal'c would understand why they couldn't come for him straight away.
"I have no intention of leaving without him," Jack reassured his friends.
It had been Teal'c who had risked being buried alive to rescue him from Edora and Jack wasn't about to forget that … even though he was sure that both Carter and Daniel would have volunteered in a heart beat, it had been Teal'c's voice that had guided him home.
Jack owed his team so much, he realised. Daniel had saved his soul on Abydos, Teal'c, his body on Edora and Carter … well he wasn't quite sure where she fit into the equation. Or, at least her role in his life wasn't something he cared to admit.
&&&
"We're in an enclosed system. He can't have disappeared," Commander Melanby said slowly and carefully, as if he were explaining the situation to a three year old. Yllac, he noted, didn't even have the wit to look ashamed of himself. The man had become more than a minor annoyance and Melanby had decided to have him transferred as soon as they got home. Until Yllac learned to take responsibility for his actions, there was no place for him on this ship. As far as the Commander was concerned, the facts of the matter were clear. Yllac and his goons had stopped to have a little fun with their prisoner, but it had backfired. Now they had an escaped convict loose on the ship instead of safely locked in solitary confinement.
Melanby would have liked to believe that Yllac would always stop short of actually killing a man, but he also knew what a fine line that could be. The 'accidental' death of a prisoner was the reason that Nez was making this trip.
"It's only a matter of time," Yllac argued.
"And what about the other two?" Melanby asked.
"Commander?"
Yllac blanched. He'd quite clearly been hoping that the Commander hadn't noticed.
"I can count," Melanby said. "We're missing two others as well."
"I … uh … assume they're together."
"Why?"
The younger man's spine snapped straight as he stood at attention, and Melanby realised he wasn't going to like this either.
"They're not Arkkadians."
"What do you mean?"
"They came from somewhere else… another world."
Melanby was silent as he tried to assimilate the information.
"And one of them is still in confinement?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Bring him here."
"Commander?"
But Melanby didn't feel inclined to explain. He'd suddenly realised how he could end this, quickly and easily. If the off-worlders didn't make it… well… no one would blame him.
&&&
"Are we there yet?" the Colonel whined.
Sam did her best to ignore him as she fought back a smile. He had a point though. They didn't have much in the way of food and drink in here.
"Initiating scan," she said in response to his unspoken order.
The Colonel came to stand behind her, close enough that Sam could feel his warm breath on her neck. She also realised that he really needed to clean his teeth. Sine her own personal hygiene was also less than salubrious, she didn't feel she had grounds to complain. It seemed like he was looking for something but Sam couldn't think what it might be.
The Stargate?
Form what she could see, they weren't yet close enough to detect such a small structure on the surface of the planet… or scan for the Naquadah. There was little difference between these and the readouts she'd seen during the Tel'tak's fly-by.
"Sir?" she questioned finding his closeness a little distracting.
"Nothing," he said, moving away.
But Sam's curiosity had been piqued as she remembered that he'd seen something on their trip over here. She'd dismissed it at the time.
"What do you see?" she asked.
"Exactly what you do," he replied.
The Colonel's defensive tone suggested that he wasn't entirely telling the truth.
"Jack?" Daniel prompted.
"I don't know," he admitted. "Everyone's been saying that this is a barren world, right?"
"According to these scans it is," Sam confirmed.
"I see that… but I don't."
"Can you be more specific?" Daniel pushed.
"It's like I know there's something else down there. Something more than we're seeing."
"What exactly?"
But Colonel O'Neill just shrugged. Sam turned her attention back to the computer readout. She still couldn't see anything unusual but the Colonel's instincts had proved accurate before. There had to be another way of looking at this, something more than visual wavelengths and atmospheric compositions.
"Daniel?" she asked, "do any of these symbols indicate an infrared scan?"
"The electromagnetic spectrum wasn't covered in cuneiform 101," he replied.
"I want to scan for heat. It's the one thing a sizeable population centre won't be able to disguise."
"Okay… try… this one."
Sam hit the icon on the touch screen and sure enough, the screen displayed a thermal image of the planet.
"It could be indicative of volcanic activity," she ventured indicating the hotspots.
"Is there anything to suggest that in the atmospheric composition?" Daniel asked.
"What?" the Colonel said.
"The sulphur content doesn't look any higher that I'd expect," Sam continued.
"Excuse me?"
"It could be civilization, sir."
"Excellent!"
"That could be made up of convicts," Daniel reminded them.
He was quite correct. They had no idea how long the Arkkadians had been sending their prisoners here. Enough time might have passed for them to have spread beyond their original colonization site.
"Or it might not," the Colonel argued.
Figuring there was nothing further she could glean from the readouts, Sam turned off the display. There was no way she could solve the dispute until they got closer. They sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Sam couldn't help wondering what it would be like to be stuck on another planet, without immediate hope of rescue. For perhaps the first time, she was starting to appreciate what the Colonel had gone through on Edora.
"I hope Teal'c's okay," she said.
&&&
The gas had reduced the rest of the prisoners to little more than zombies. Teal'c's symbiote, however, offered him a certain degree of protection. It started clearing the poison from his system as soon as it entered his lungs … for all the good it might do.
Separated from O'Neill, he had experienced a moment of indecision and it had been enough to ensure that he ended up back here. He did not know how long he would have to wait, but he knew that O'Neill would be working on a way to free him. Teal'c would not be left behind.
He had just settled to kelnorim when he realised that he wasn't the only one who was still conscious. There was a disturbance in the darkened room. Someone was moving from body to body, pausing for a short time at each. Teal'c would have liked to think it was a medic, checking on the condition of each man and woman, but he knew very well that no such person had entered the room. Biding his time, Teal'c waited until the figure approached. As nimble fingers reached into his pocket, he grabbed the man's wrist, twisting it enough to make the would-be thief shout out in pain.
"Stop!" the man gasped.
It was Tal.
"Traitor!" Teal'c spat.
"I had no choice."
"There is always a choice. You could have chosen to die with honour."
"They said they'd take me home."
"They lied."
Teal'c had carried out several such interviews. He knew only too well that those kind of promises were never kept. This was the man who had betrayed them… and he hadn't even had the courage to admit it. What was worse, he'd allowed another to take the blame. As far as Teal'c was concerned, this man was scum and deserved no mercy.
But before he could take the required action the door to the room slid open. Teal'c looked up to see a squad of guards moving towards him and he dropped Tal. He sensed their disquiet at the face he was still awake, and braced himself for the attack. The stun weapons were unpleasant and he had to grit his teeth against the wave of nausea that threatened to embarrass him. He had seen O'Neill lose the contents of his stomach and Teal'c did not wish to do the same. There was no defence against such a weapon and several of the blasts hit his body. Even his symbiote could offer little protection and Teal'c felt his consciousness flee.
When he awoke he was somewhere else; seated in a chair, his hands and feet were bound. Looking around, Teal'c could see he was on the flight deck of the ship. Behind him, a great expanse of windows looked out upon the stars.
"He's awake," a man's voice said.
Teal'c recognised him. Yllac. The man who had kicked O'Neill.
A second man moved closer. Older. His bearing was one of command and he looked at Teal'c as if he were a laboratory specimen.
"It looks exactly like us," he said.
Teal'c strained against his bonds, trying to find a weakness… any weakness that he could exploit.
"They all do," Yllac added, "If Tal hadn't told us…"
"Commander Melanby," another crewmember interrupted.
"Yes?"
"We've picked up an unauthorised access."
"Where?"
"Drive room."
"Get a team down there ASAP."
Yllac clicked his heels together and left with a grin on his face. Teal'c realised that the man was actually enjoying this.
Straining against his bonds, Teal'c searched for a clear avenue of escape … but perhaps he didn't need one. If he could just find a way to warn his friends …
"Contact me when you're in position," Commander Melanby ordered.
Even though he had no idea how long that would take, Teal'c increased his efforts. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to remain undetected. Sooner than he would have liked, Commander Melanby's gaze returned. The Commander must have known what Teal'c was attempting, but he chose to do nothing about it. If anything, he seemed amused as he watched Teal'c struggle. Complacency would be his downfall.
The cuffs that bound Teal'c's hands were yet another variation on a gravity device. For a man of normal strength, separation would have been impossible but Teal'c's symbiote made him significantly stronger. His strength was legendary even amongst Jaffa. A fact Teal'c often took pride in. Indeed, as he continued to strain, he felt the cuffs start to slip past each other.
"In position," Yllac's voice echoed from a speaker somewhere on the bridge.
"Open a channel to the drive room," Melanby ordered, before raising his voice, "This is Commander Melanby. We are aware of your presence and are willing to take the necessary steps to ensure your capture."
There was silence for a minute, maybe two, before O'Neill's voice replied,
"Yeah? So? The door's locked and those guns of yours aren't powerful enough to punch a hole in toilet tissue."
The term 'toilet tissue' seemed to cause a little confusion, but Melanby continued regardless.
"We have your friend. If you value his life you will surrender immediately"
"Or what? You kill him and you earn yourself a life sentence."
"But he is not Arkkadian… and neither are you."
O'Neill did not reply, and Teal'c realised that his captors had the advantage. He was not about to let his friends sacrifice themselves and the time had come for him to make his move. A distraction might well buy O'Neill valuable time. With a roar, Teal'c pulled the cuffs apart, deactivating them.
The surprise his escape caused was evident in the reactions of the rest of the crew. One screamed, another spilled the drink he was carrying. Teal'c had no clear plan, but the first thing he wanted to do was wipe the smug grin off Melanby's face. This he accomplished in a most satisfactory fashion before the others had time to react. It took six of them to bring him down.
&&&