Chapter 21

After a long moment of silent respect for their lost friend, one of the female scientists spoke up nervously, suggesting the renovus cuvicum. Even though Daniel had forbidden anyone from tampering with the device, she had found the broken machine presented a challenge she was unwilling to let pass. Along with another of the facility's experts, she had scavenged two parts from a pile of assorted junk and managed to get the device active again. They hadn't had a means to fully test its function, though, but as she pointed out: what did they have to lose?

Recalling the zombie-like rebel who'd pursued Daniel through the Honduran jungle, Jack thought they still had a lot to lose. Still, Oma Desala hadn't "glowed" him yet and he hadn't miraculously revived on his own, which left them with Daniel's old stand-by for staving off death: a sarcophagus. Madness and addiction were dangers, but they couldn't be sure that particular slate hadn't been wiped clean by Daniel's first ascension, and it wasn't as though there were many other options other than returning Daniel to Earth for burial.

Which clearly was an absolute last option.

Reluctantly, Jack allowed Teal'c to lift the limp body into his massive arms, cradling Daniel's muscular bulk carefully as he rose. Carter scrambled to her own feet, offering a hand to Jack to help his protesting knees uncurl from their cramped position on the floor. While the Maidieran security team returned to the transport to relay the turn of events to the planet, the scientific expedition trouped back to the laboratories, staring straight ahead to avoid acknowledging the steady dark drips marking the trail behind them.

After what seemed an eternity, they reached the room where the renovus cuvicum had been built, the scientists, Jack, and Sam stepping into the main portion of the lab. Teal'c proceeded to the isolation chamber and carefully laid Daniel on the "bed" of the device. Jack had long given up on trying to fight tears of anguish, but let them roll their way down his cheeks as he pressed blood-covered fingers against the glass partition. Once Teal'c was safely out of the isolation room, the nervous scientist activated the controls.

The pale, slackened face soon disappeared behind the closing top half of the clamshell, brilliant light emanating around the seams. The imagery only furthered the peculiar similarity between this device's appearance and that of the tanning bed Jack had first likened it, and he found himself pressing closer to the glass in breathless anticipation. He was only peripherally aware of Teal'c and Carter clustered closely behind him.

When the woman announced the sensors were detecting brain activity and a slow sinus rhythm, it was all Jack could do to keep from leaping for joy. His elation was shattered a moment later when--through the barrier separating him from the isolation room--he heard Daniel screaming.

-----

Teal'c glanced at O'Neill again, watching as his human friend drummed the fingers of his free hand against the dashboard of the SUV. His other hand held his cell phone firmly to his ear, listening intently for any change in Sara O'Neill's and Daniel Jackson's conditions. He understood his friend's restlessness perfectly, as he himself was anxious to find the kidnappers and teach them why stealing a child under a Jaffa's protection was a bad idea.

He hadn't spent nearly as much time with the younger version of Daniel Jackson as O'Neill had, but nothing would ever replace the memory of discovering his dearest, wisest friend lying near-death, the victim of a brutal attack by a cowardly Goa'uld who had fled the scene of his betrayal. Nothing would ever erase the weight of the lifeless body of the kindest, most selfless man he'd ever known, holding the empty shell to his chest as one would clutch the most precious of treasures.

Another stolen glimpse of O'Neill revealed more of the same, clenched-jaw determination as before. Teal'c returned his gaze to the evening traffic on the interstate, gunning the engine again and passing a minivan he decided wasn't going nearly fast enough. He was grateful for the assigned task of driving, as he was certain forced inaction would be unbearable at this point.

O'Neill muttered an expletive. "They're getting ready to turn off the interstate. Danny thinks the guy calling all the shots is a Goa'uld."

Teal'c did not question how O'Neill had interpreted what was likely a very cryptic statement, as he had often witnessed O'Neill's and Daniel Jackson's shared ability to communicate with one another without any words at all. Instead, he gripped the steering wheel more tightly and nodded solemnly. "He will pay for his actions."

"Stand in line, Teal'c," O'Neill answered, lifting his two-way radio to his mouth. "Pete, give me a new location on the cell trace."

There was a moment before the radio crackled. "North of Monument now, General."

"So the next exit would be... what? Greenland Road?"

"Should be."

"That's where they're getting off the interstate then. Give Carter a holler, let her know to get that chopper over there."

"Sam's got it. They're lifting off from Fort Carson now."

"Thanks, Pete. I can only imagine what a mess we'd be having with the police without you."

The detective's reply was warm. "Hey, Daniel's my friend, too. It's the least I could do."

Daniel Jackson's ability to make friends with almost anyone, anywhere was perhaps one of his most endearing traits. Despite the discomfort between Pete Shanahan and Colonel Carter over the dissolution of their engagement, the two were working well enough together in coordinating the military and civilian efforts to recover the missing archaeologist and O'Neill's wife. Although Teal'c had initially had misgivings when Colonel Carter was given permission to tell Pet Shanahan about the Stargate program, his security clearance was now paying off well.

O'Neill glared at the phone in his hand. "Crap, they've stopped wherever it is they were going to pull over. I think I heard one of the guys say something about 'friends', but it's too muffled. We have got to get there now. While they're stopped."

"We are still fifteen miles from that exit, O'Neill." That was Teal'c's not-so-subtle way of informing the general that they were already traveling as fast as was safely possible in this land-based form of transportation.

"Daniel says they've been made to get out of the van. I bet they're going to transfer them to another vehicle. Somebody's talking but I can't hear what they're saying, it's too quiet." O'Neill grabbed his radio again, switching channels. "Carter, you in the air yet?"

"Just clearing the Academy air space now, sir. We'll be over you shortly."

"Get past us and get on up to exit 167. Daniel and Sara have been forced out of the van and are probably about to change vehicles."

"We're moving as quickly as we can, sir."

Teal'c grimaced, accelerating just a little more, now considerably over the legal speed limit. Just as he'd switched lanes to avoid a line of semis, a loud popping noise sounded from the cell phone, sounding suspiciously like gunfire. Horrified, he turned his head to look at O'Neill.

The general had yanked the phone away from his ear, staring at it with widened eyes. Then a noise began which no one on SG-1 had ever hoped to hear again: Daniel Jackson screaming.

There was a final bang, then silence.

Original Author's Notes:
Ha! And you thought I was going to be nice to you today.