Chapter 14 – Snatched Away

The event horizon rippled, signalling the change of travel direction. "Power levels are dropping… spiking again… and dropping…" Cynthia shielded her face as the vertical pool of water flickered with energy. "Okay… that was a little disturbing. All readings have returned to normal."

Tammy ran back to her radio communicator. "This is Tammy to the warriors of Ba'al. Wormhole has been re-established and reversed. Please send an object to test stability."

Meanwhile, at the SGC…

"Sir, the power is returning to normal… no it's fluctuating!" Walter reported frantically.

"Shut it down, Walter!

"Yes sir, I… wait, it's stabilised. Power levels are normal."

"That was odd," Sam observed. "What happened on the other end?"

"Alpha Site, please report," Walter called into the radio. He received no reply, just a bunch of staticy skwarking. "Sir, we're getting a signal, but it's not matching our current encryption."

"Hold on, I think it's just scrambled… this should be easy to decode," Sam guessed. She ran the message one of her many decoding programs while Walter tried contacting the Alpha Site through a subspace communicator.

"Sir, the Alpha Site gate shut down at the same time as ours spiked!" he exclaimed.

"That's odd," Jack stated. "If we're not connected to the Alpha Site, then where?"

"I've got it," Sam reported as she played back the recovered message. "This is Tammy to the warriors of Ba'al. Wormhole has been re-established and reversed. Please send an object to test stability."

"Baal!"

"Tammy!"

"Sir?" Walter had no idea what was going on.

"Carter, why is Tammy talking to us, rather than the Alpha Site, and why does she think she's talking to warriors of Baal?"

"Um…"

"I thought you said she couldn't dial out while we were."

"I didn't think so… but I must have been wrong. She says she established a connection and reversed it. Remember what Cynthia said?"

"Remind me, Carter."

"There were two wormholes leading from the same place. They repelled each other, so it drew more energy. Then she reversed their connection, which made them suck together…"

"Like magnets."

"Exactly. They interfered, causing the energy spikes, and then must have crossed over. The Alpha Site connection closed, leaving our 'gate connected to the other one on Earth."

Jack stared at her. "Our gate is connected to the one where Cynthia is?"

"I believe so, Sir."

Jack ran for the stairs. Sam realised his intentions and followed. "Sir, you can't…"

"We have to!" The general burst into the gate room, where SG-16 were still waiting to leave. "SG-16! Though the stargate is a facility belonging to the Trust, who have built their own stargate on Earth and are somehow in league with Baal. SG-2, 3, 5, and the rest of SG-1 are there with some NID agents, but we don't know if they've made it inside yet. They have a civilian hostage. I'm…"

"We'll back you up, Sir," their CO stated before he had a chance to ask.

"It's not safe, Sir!" Sam protested. "The wormhole has been diverted to a completely different path. We have no idea if it's safe."

"Then we'll sent a MALP. No, bad idea. Patch me through to Prometheus, Walter."

Walter nodded. "You're on, Sir."

"Prometheus, this is O'Neill. I'm about to send a beacon to the enemy stargate, where you detected that power burst. If it arrives intact, tell me immediately and beam it out of there before we go through."

"Understood, Sir."

Jack took off his locator beacon and tossed it through the event horizon. "That should give them enough of a shock that they won't expect us coming.

"But you won't be able to beam out if there's a problem!" Sam protested.

Her words were ignored, as Prometheus took that moment to inform, "We have a lock on the beacon. Good luck, Sir."

Jack readied his weapon and ran through. Sam followed a single step behind, and SG-16 stepped through immediately after.

Meanwhile…

Teal'c held up his hand, and the strike force came to halt behind him. "I sense something behind that door." Everyone aimed their weapons, and he kicked the door open and dove out of the way.

A large cluster of Jaffa stood staring at the intruders. They quickly brought up their staff weapons, but the SGC forces had already begun firing.

"Take cover!" yelled Ferretti, just before the staff blasts began flying through the open doorway. Chaos reigned as the opposing forces scrambled through the hallways and up and down stairways, each trying to surprise the other.

"We've got to find a way around them. I think we're getting close to Cynthia," Daniel suggested though the noise."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed beside him. He slipped through a doorway and Daniel followed, turning back to dispatch a Jaffa who had thought to give chase.

"What are Jaffa doing down here?" Daniel asked as the pair ran to the next room.

"I am uncertain. Perhaps the Goa'uld infiltrated the Trust while they were outside your solar system."

"It's possible. They had to get to a planet with a gate on it to deploy the rest of the symbiote poison. Which means this is a plot to attack Earth without needing to go through the SGC or risk losing ships to the Ancient drone weapons."

"That appears to be the case. Silence, we are nearing our destination."

A few rooms away…

Tammy gasped at the intruders. All were heavily armed and wore Air Force uniforms. And two of them she had met. "Doctor Carter? General Jack? How'd you get in here?"

The only answer was gunfire, as the newcomers moved to take down the guards before they could perform their duty. Since they hadn't been expected, the men in black were taken out without much difficulty, apart from one of the SG-16 team being down with a bullet to the shoulder.

"My guards! You shot my guards! What are you doing here?"

"We're here for Cynthia," Sam declared.

"How in the world did you get to Ba'al's Chappa'ai? There were warriors guarding it. Did you kill them too?"

"What does Baal have to do with this?" Jack demanded.

"He is a God and it is my duty to open the gateway for his holy army to sweep the earth and bring peace under his mighty dominion," Tammy explained.

"Baal is an evil ugly snake who has no business on Earth. Now how about you tell us where Cynthia is?"

"I can't do that, general. She was right here, but I'm afraid you just missed her."

"She left?"

"Yes. Ba'al took her away. It is beyond me to know where he has taken her."

"Ba'al took my daughter??" Jack's voice cracked. He shoved his gun into her ribs. "Tell me where or I'll end your pathetic life right now!" He sounded very very serious.

"No, Sir, you can't kill her!"

"Carter?"

"We need her alive. I want to kill her as much as you do, but she's too valuable a witness."

"I tell you, I have no idea where He took her. Killing me won't get her back. I didn't want her to go. I need her to tell me why the radio isn't working."

Jack realised that she truly didn't know, and shooting her wouldn't do any good either way. He also noticed that SG-21 had followed, and was helping SG-16 to fend of the Jaffa and more Trust guards who had begun to attempt an attack on their position. He pulled out his zat and stunned the dark-haired woman. "Lieutenant," he called to the injured SG-16 member. "Get Prometheus to beam you and the prisoner back to the SGC. Have her waiting in a cell for me. And have that arm seen to."

"Yes sir!"

With that issue out of the way, he and Sam joined the fight.

Around the corner…

"Down!" shouted Teal'c as two of Ba'al's Jaffa approached their position firing. Daniel threw himself on the floor, but it was impossible to escape entirely. A singing blast caught him in the arm before Teal'c managed to shoot both of their enemies.

"DanielJackson!"

Daniel hissed in pain.

"You are injured."

"Yeah, I'll – Ahh! – stop complaining about my sore feet now."

"I suggest you retreat for medical assistance."

"No, we slipped past them, which means they're between us and the exit."

"The Prometheus is able to transport you immediately to the SGC."

"Teal'c, I promised Jack I'd get Cynthia. I can still fire a zat, so I'm staying."

"Very well. I believe we should head to the left."

"After you." Daniel followed his friend, moving slowly as to avoid aggravating his wound. They turned the corner and Teal'c found himself in hand-to-hand combat with a Jaffa who'd realised staff weapons didn't work well around corners. As they fought – with Teal'c having a clear upper hand – Daniel slipped past into the next room.

"Daniel! You made it!"

"Jack? Uh, when did you get here?"

"A couple of minutes ago. What's with the arm?"

"Flesh wound. How'd you get in here?"

"Daniel, to be a flesh wound there has to be some flesh left."

"I'll be fine. Any sign of your daughter?"

Jack shook his head and his expression darkened. "Tammy told us Ba'al took her away just before we gated in."

"You came by stargate??"

"Beats walking. Now get out of here, Daniel. I've got Jaffa to kill. You need to have that arm seen to."

"I'm not leaving until we find her, Jack."

"Daniel… at least get it wrapped," Jack conceded.

About ten floors up…

SG-2 had found a successful tactic was to withdraw up the stairs and pick of following Jaffa from above. Unfortunately, many of the warriors had decided they should head for the surface, so the shooters had to continually retreat further up in order to avoid being overrun. Despite that problem, the battle went well… for a while.

Eventually, the Jaffa realised they were not going to receive backup. Since about half of their number had been lost to the Tau'ri, they knew there was little chance of reaching the surface, so they switched to their backup plan.

While a small group of Jaffa held the majority of the SGC's men away from the stairs, the others pushed up as far as they could without losing too many. In the middle of the pack, where he was least likely to receive attention, one warrior held a large round device. As the Jaffa above him were shot down, he gradually became closer to the font line. Eventually his time to act arrived. He activated the device and dashed up the stairs yelling, "For Ba'al!"

As his men shot down the kamikaze Jaffa, Ferretti realised what was about to happen. "Prometheus, beam us all out NOW! There's a bomb!"

Downstairs, the other SG teams were facing an ever-decreasing number of Jaffa. Daniel had clumsily bandaged his arm and was zatting any fallen Jaffa to ensure their symbiotes did not attempt to take a human host. Teal'c was guarding a long hallway with a staff weapon he had appropriated, and Jack and Sam were covering a doorway from two different angles. They were interrupted by Ferretti's urgent message.

Lieutenant Colonel Carter instantly realised what was about to happen and took immediate action. She dropped her weapon and hurled herself Jack. Before he could demand an explanation, he found himself pinned to the ground by the tall blonde woman.

"Carter? Have you lost your mind?"

"No, Sir. Are you alright?"

"Just a little winded. What was that for?" He looked around for an explanation and noticed that he, and the rest of the rescue team, were on the floor of the Prometheus.

"You didn't have your locator beacon, Sir. If I hadn't done that, you would have been left behind."

"Oh. Thanks, Carter. I owe you one."

She smiled. "Yes you do, Sir."

"O'Neill, I am glad you and SamanthaCarter escaped unharmed. However…"

"Where's Daniel?" Jack finished.