~#~ (Chapter 55)

It was a little disconcerting travelling towards the ring transporter without knowing the outcome of SR-2's rescue mission but all the members of SR-1 knew they couldn't risk breaking radio silence as the fallout could be disastrous for their friends.

Teal'c followed Griff closely, constantly aware that he had no-one 'covering his six' but knowing that the presence of Osiris in his arms would be enough to curtail any resistance that they may encounter in their journey. No matter how disconcerted Osiris and Ba'al's Jaffa were about the incursion into their ship, they would not risk harming their 'God' by firing upon Teal'c while he was cradling the unconscious body of Osiris.

~#~

They had been making good time and had made it almost half way to the transporter room before encountering a Jaffa of any description.

When finally they met one it was at an intersection between four corridors and was due to a collision between a young Jaffa warrior and Major Templeton who was leading the group and was a fair distance in front of the others.

Templeton had just rounded a corner in the corridor when the young warrior careered out of a side passage and collided with the Major. Templeton immediately noted that the Jaffa was unarmed and instinctively reached out to stop the young man crashing to the ground. As soon as he was back on his feet the young Jaffa wrenched himself from Templeton's grasp, crashed backwards into the wall and slid down it until he sat, panting, his butt in contact with the cold, grey floor.

Templeton realised the youngster was terrified and the Major quickly raised one hand in front of himself in a non threatening gesture while murmuring, "Hey, hey, it's OK. I'm not going to hurt you." Carefully he held his other arm out behind himself to halt the progress of his team-mates, realising that the appearance of more 'enemy soldiers' might be enough to tip the frightened man over the edge into total panic.

The young Jaffa's eyes flicked frantically back and forth from the Air Force Major, the corridor he had just exited and the third passageway joining from the opposite direction. On one glance down the last passageway he obviously saw something or someone he recognised and relief became clearly evident on his face. "Dal'nar," he cried as he jumped up and scurried away from Templeton.

Templeton was slightly confused by the turn of events, but recognised the name 'Dal'nar' from the mission briefing. He stepped back around the corner and found the others waiting for him. Quickly he briefed them as to what had gone on and, as one, the team walked around the corner and towards the intersection in the corridors.

The young Jaffa and the one he had called Dal'nar stepped out of the corridor as the team-mates came to a halt. The youngster baulked slightly at the sight of Osiris cradled in Teal'c arms but Dal'nar moved forwards, clapped his arm to his chest and bowed his head to Teal'c. In clear but heavily accented English he said, "I am Dal'nar of Joulad. It is an honour to finally meet you, Teal'c of Chulak."

Teal'c, with his arms full of unconscious System Lord, was unable to return the bow merely inclined his head in reply.

"Dal'nar of Joulad, I am most pleased to finally make your acquaintance. From our intel we have been led to believe that you may be responsible for the lack of hostility aboard this vessel. Is this correct? May I enquire how you performed a successful uprising in such a short space of time?"

Dal'nar shook his head, "I fear you have been misinformed, it is not of only my doing. It is something that has been looming for some time and was only able to happen due to the timing and circumstances of certain…unfortunate events. The capture and subsequent molestation of your unfortunate comrades turned out to be a catalytic event." Dal'nar paused and looked earnestly at Teal'c, "I trust the young one made it safely back to the planet of the Tau'ri?"

"Indeed he did," Teal'c nodded. "Sergeant Davies is unwell and under medical supervision but it is due to him that we are aware of your part in the coup."

"I am glad he is being taken care of, I admit to being more than a little worried for his well-being when I placed him in the ring transporter. Like this one…" he waved an arm in the direction of the young warrior who had previously crashed into Templeton. "…he was only a youngling although he bore the burden of his comrade well."

Teal'c simply nodded again.

"As you have no doubt seen there are many Jaffa on board this ship who were once allied to a great number of different System Lords. A lot of those System Lords, including my own, have been destroyed by the Tau'ri and many of us had returned home in the hopes that we would be allowed to die free as our indentureship had passed with the death of our Gods." Dal'nar shook his head in disbelief and then continued, "There is talk that the Gods are not as strong as they once were and that eventually the Tau'ri will wipe them out entirely. The fact that such a great number have fallen to the humans of Earth would seem to add validity to the claim."

The huge warrior paused and thought for a moment before adding, "Many of us have been ill-at-ease since we were taken from our homes by the lord Ba'al and gifted to 'the great God Osiris.'" He looked with distain at the motionless form in Teal'c arms. "The great God Osiris' indeed. Not so great…as I now see."

Teal'c nodded his agreement, "Indeed. Osiris is currently incapacitated within his host's body. We shall be delivering both him and SarahGardner to the Tok'ra as soon as it is possible to do so."

"The Tok'ra?" Dal'nar's eyebrows rose at this. "Is this true? They are real? I had thought them to be a myth."

"Believe me they are not only real, they are also in alliance with the Tau'ri. Although they are a dying race and their numbers are steadily decreasing they have much intelligence on the Goa'uld and have developed a successful way of extracting a Goa'uld symbiote from it's chosen host without damage to either party. This is why Osiris, must be sent to them."

Dal'nar opened his mouth to speak again but the young Jaffa beside him beat him to it and quickly rattled off a volley of words in Goa'uld. Teal'c understood the meaning immediately but the rest of SR-1 were left wondering what had been said.

As he saw their blank expressions and before Teal'c got the chance to speak, Dal'nar explained. "This is Liang Quon. He has seen your comrades and they have reached the Jaffa quarters where your people are being held. It is unfortunate that we were not able to free them but Osiris had three of his personal guard assigned to the task, Liang Quon was put in place to be the fourth. The Tau'ri eliminated the three other warriors but thankfully left Liang Quon unharmed. My young comrade here made contact with the 'angry one with hair of wood and stone' but unfortunately was only able to communicate using sign language. He is certain the soldier understood where your people were but is unsure as to whether he understood that there is someone that requires rescuing as well as your soldier and your female."

"You got another prisoner?" Griff asked quickly. "Why didn't we know about this before?"

Dal'nar sighed. "Did your SergeantDavies not explain to you about Lord An? I explained the situation to him and I believed that he understood."

"Sergeant Davies was in no fit state to tell anyone anything." Griff replied. "We're lucky he managed to tell us as much as he did. What you people did to him was sick and he'll more than likely never go out in the field again."

Teal'c stepped forwards to head off Griff before his mouth got him into serious trouble. "Dal'nar, you mention Lord An, who is this? I do not recognise the name as one of the System Lords. Is he perhaps a minor Goa'uld?"

Dal'nar stiffened and looked disdainfully past Teal'c at Griff, "You do not understand the ways of the Jaffa. My people were carrying out the orders of those they believe to be a God. If those orders are not carried out then the Jaffa in question are almost certain to be sentenced to death. Lord An is neither a System Lord nor a God and he is not a prisoner as you understand it either. He is no longer supposed to be onboard the ship. He should have been sent down to the planet but he would have undoubtedly died within a very short space of time. Every moment he is still here his life is in great peril and even more so now that you have overthrown Osiris. On behalf of Lord An I request asylum."

Teal'c growled. He knew the Tau'ri took all asylum requests very seriously although he was as confused as anyone as to why a potential minor Goa'uld would require asylum - especially with the Tau'ri.

Before Teal'c could stop him Griff was off again. "We don't offer asylum to no Goa'uld, whether their life's in danger or not," he said brusquely. "If they want to wipe each other out then we ain't gonna stop 'em. He can go to the Tok'ra with this one," Griff pointed to Osiris/Sarah. "…if you want, but he'll never be allowed to stay on Earth."

Liang Quon was watching the by-play going on between the three men with confusion in his eyes. He couldn't understand the actual words but was clearly following the context of the conversation. With a desperate expression on his face he turned and addressed Teal'c directly.

Teal'c's eyebrows lifted and his forehead furrowed as the meaning of Liang Quon's words hit home.

"Dal'nar, would you escort Sergeants Nicholson and Peters and ensure their safe delivery to the ring transporter. MajorGriff, you, MajorTempleton and myself must meet up with Colonel O'Neill. Lord An will be travelling with us to Earth…and there will be no arguments."

Griff had opened his mouth to object but closed it with a snap upon seeing the look on Teal'c's face.

Teal'c made to wave Griff and Templeton off down the corridor until he suddenly realised he was still cradling Osiris/Sarah. Templeton saw his dilemma and immediately stepped forwards, "Give her here, I'll take her."

Teal'c looked at him and frowned again, "MajorTempleton, will the transportation of this young woman not cause additional damage to your wounded shoulder?"

"I'll be alright," the Major replied bravely. "I only need to carry her until we get to the gate. One of Pierce's team can take her from there."

Teal'c nodded, "Agreed." Carefully he passed the still unconscious Sarah Gardner over to Major Templeton, noticing, but not commenting on, the wince that the Major tried to hide as he took her full weight.

Once he was convinced that Templeton wasn't going to either drop Sarah, keel over in pain, or maybe both, Teal'c stepped back away from him. "Go now. We do not know how long Osiris will remain unresponsive and will require more suitable restraints once the sedation wears off. Please inform GeneralHammond that we shall be bringing back one last refugee when we return."

Templeton nodded and turned towards where Dal'nar and Liang Quon were waiting with Nicholson and Peters. Without another word the Major, System Lord, both Jaffa and the pair of Sergeants set off down the corridor.

With a grim look on his face Teal'c turned to Major Griff. "Have you made contact with ColonelO'Neill?" he asked.

"Er, no," the Major replied. "I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be tellin' him. No offence but why the hell are we takin' another Goa'uld home? We've got the one we came for, why can't we just leave this 'Lord An' for Ba'al to sort out. It's his ship after all said and done, surely it's his problem?"

Teal'c, in an unusual show of emotion, ran both his hands over his bald head and scrubbed his eyes…hard. Once his hands were back by his sides he looked Griff straight in the eyes and firmly told him, "MajorGriff, am I right in thinking that both listening to and absorbing information are covered in the United States Air Force training program and also independent thinking?"

"Yeaah," Griff said slowly. "Kinda. Why?"

Teal'c looked seriously at the smaller man. "When we return I am going to advise GeneralHammond that maybe you need to revisit the training ground. Dal'nar clearly told us that Lord An is not a Goa'uld…System Lord or otherwise."

"Riight, didn't get that. He said he's not a God, nor a System Lord. That don't mean he ain't one of the minor Goa'ulds though, does it?"

"I hold opposing views to you on this one, it does in fact mean exactly that," Teal'c replied. "Dal'nar and Liang Quon have both verified to me that Lord An does not have a symbiote inside of his body. If we are successful in removing him from the Jaffa quarters and taking him back to Earth then I am certain that General Hammond will grant the asylum that has been requested."

"I'm sorry but how can you say that?" Griff asked. "You can't guarantee what the General's going to say. What's so special about this guy that makes you so certain the General will take him in?"

Teal'c sighed quietly. "MajorGriff. Please believe me when I say that GeneralHammond will grant Lord An asylum when we get back to Earth. Of this I have no doubt."

Griff just couldn't leave it. "But…"

"Enough," Teal'c barked, exasperated by the constant arguments from the Air Force Major. "GeneralHammond will grant asylum to Lord An because Lord An is a child. One described as having hair like the sun and eyes like a cloudy sky. Now we need to contact ColonelO'Neill before he moves away from the location of the Jaffa quarters. A Ha'tak vessel is no place for a child."