Sticks and Stones - Chapter 37 - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)
Aboard the Ha'tak vessel all was suspiciously quiet. Sam and Lou tentatively began to hope that the Jaffa not currently locked in their quarters had given up their search for possible saboteurs. Their now-somewhat-inebriated friends obviously couldn't care less about possible insurgents on board their ship. They were far more interested in feasting the night away and drinking themselves into a gro'nak induced stupor until morning.
Sam wondered once again about the wisdom of the Goa'uld System Lords. Allowing the greatest portion of your armed guard to incapacitate themselves for the night just couldn't be good and Sam was beginning to wonder whether the reports that this ship was ruled by Ba'al were actually correct. She just couldn't see such a ruthless 'God' making such a grave error of judgement. Ba'al was, after all, just about the head honcho among the System Lords at the moment. He surely couldn't have got where he was today if he continually made critical errors such as that one.
Thinking back to the Jaffa she had seen gathered around the table Sam realised that she had seen the insignia of many different System Lords adorning their foreheads. There was no one particular tattoo that stood out as being more prevalent than any other and Sam just couldn't imagine what Ba'al would want with such a mixed bunch of warriors. His Jaffa were always immaculately turned out, as was the System Lord himself, and his vast fleet of ships was always maintained to perfection. This all lead Sam to wonder whether Ba'al had presented this rag-tag group of Jaffa to Osiris, to ensure the low ranking System Lord's continued loyalty.
#
It remained quiet on the ship for several hours, so Sam and Ferretti took the opportunity to do a bit more sabotage. They crawled through the cramped tunnels and placed some more C4, with remote detonators, in hidden spots around the ship. Once they exhausted their supply of explosives, Sam set to work attacking the ships systems internally. This time though she was extremely careful that her handiwork would not be detected and, in time, successfully disabled the ships hyperdrive. Once she was certain that the Ha'tak couldn't suddenly fly off with them on board she fiddled with the power settings on the transport rings until she was pretty certain that the vessel would only need to be just inside the atmosphere for the rings to be able to safely reach the surface of the planet. As an escape route it wasn't ideal but at present it was the best she could do.
#
The problem the two Tau'ri in the tunnels then encountered was what to do next. Sam had done all she could safely do in terms of sabotaging the ship, they had both run out of C4 and to make matters worse they still had no idea of the whereabouts of Jimmy Sands or Mickey Davies.
Before they could make a decision as to where to go next the blaring alarm once again sounded around them. The foul noise continued for almost fifteen minutes until it abruptly ceased.
Once they could hear again and after a muttered discussion, Sam and Lou decided to once again head for the pel'tak of the ship, having been stopped from doing so before by the Jaffa arriving from the planet and the subsequent lifting off of the ship. The pel'tak was the last known destination of their team-mates so it was still the most logical place to start their search for them but they both dreaded what they might find once they got there.
That alarm had sounded for a reason but the ship was safely in orbit and there were no Jaffa running around the corridors as there would have been had the ship been under attack. That only really left two possibilities: one - that Sam's sabotage had been discovered or two - that Sands and/or Davies had been captured. The first possibility would still have caused the Jaffa to be storming the corridors as they had earlier so unfortunately the second option seemed more likely. If the Jaffa thought they had captured all saboteurs from earlier that evening then they would have no reason to search the ship for more.
Sands and Davies were in trouble - Sam and Lou were certain of it and with heavy hearts they set off on the long crawl towards the pel'tak.
#
It took another couple of hours before Sam and Lou finally approached the area at the front of the ship where they knew the pel'tak to be located. Wincing at their sore knees and raw blistered hands they crept slowly forwards until they were finally at the edge of the main control room for the ship. Once there they lay on their bellies and looked carefully through the vent into the room. What they saw made their stomach's drop into their boots.
A squad of six Jaffa were kneeling before the Goa'uld Osiris. Residing in the body of Sarah Gardner the System Lord was currently pacing backwards and forwards in front of the huge window that took up most of the far wall of the ornate control room. It wasn't the sight of the furious expression on Sarah's usually beautiful alabaster face that was upsetting Sam and Lou though, their distress was being caused by the sight of two figures slumped side-by-side together on the floor between the Jaffa and the Goa'uld. Even from the other side of the room they were obviously the two unconscious bodies of Lieutenants Sands and Davies.
#
Sam had trouble holding onto the contents of her stomach and from the look on his face Ferretti was having the same trouble. At this point she was glad that neither her nor Lou had eaten more than a couple of bites of powerbar since they'd ringed up to the ship. Had they consumed anything more then it would have certainly made a reappearance in the ducting above the pel'tak.
Both Sands and Davies had obviously been badly beaten in the hours since they'd been captured. Whether Osiris had observed the interrogation or had just left the two to the mercies of the Jaffa, Sam and Lou just simply didn't know but they theorised that the Jaffa had only recently presented the System Lord with the prisoners. There was barely a patch of visible skin on the two soldiers that wasn't bloodied or bruiser to some extent. The Jaffa had certainly done their job as thoroughly as they could, and pulled out all the stops with their torturous efforts.
As they watched Sands began to stir. The young Lieutenant mumbled incoherently and Osiris halted his relentless pacing and strode towards the stricken man. Grabbing Sands by his short hair, Osiris tilted the young man's head back to an uncomfortable angle and looked him directly in the eye.
"Ah, Tau'ri, you have decided to grace us with your presence at last. I admit I was more than a little surprised when my Jaffa came and informed me they had apprehended two Tau'ri soldiers within the confines of my ship. Carrying out discussions with your kind was not part of my plan while on this planet but a God should never knowingly pass up an opportunity so perfectly presented to him. On this occasion I shall leave my Jaffa to supervise the creation of my base and will take my pleasure with you feeble creatures for a while."
Osiris paused to cast his gaze over the six Jaffa, reminding the captive Sands just how heavily guarded he was. "My warriors inform me that you have been most reluctant to converse with them and that you and your comrade here…" Osiris prodded the motionless form of Davies with the pointed toe of Sarah's diamond encrusted sandals. The young man groaned and curled up into an even tighter ball. "…have been punished for your disobedience in this matter. Well, puny little Tau'ri, believe me when I tell you that as a God I can inflict much greater pain on your person than any Jaffa. You and your people will enter negotiations with me, or you two will be punished further."
To emphasise the point Osiris raised his ribbon device and flexed his fingers menacingly in front of Sand's eyes.
"What…what…" Sands gasped, speaking being almost impossible due to the angle his head was currently being held at. "…what is it that you want?"
"Now you see, that wasn't so hard was it?" Osiris drawled, and ran the tips of his metal clad fingers gentle down the side of Jimmy's face in a parody of a lovers caress. "What I want is simple…What I want is SG-1."