Chapter 64

2008

Evan wouldn't beg. He couldn't. Because how would he know that it would do any good?

Woolsey had asked for five minutes to talk things over and a single look from Sheppard told him all he needed to know. They would come. Not only to do what Ba'al asked for the lives of himself and Alex, but to render real assistance.

With a frown, Ba'al stepped closer, as Evan slowly lowered Alex to the ground. For a moment Even felt like jumping up and pushing him away, but he couldn't. He couldn't risk dying and leaving Alex alone in this. The last time it'd taken her over half an hour to come to again.

"A Zat'nik'atel is not supposed to kill. Not straight away." Was Ba'al trying to sound reassuring?

Evan pulled her closer without speaking a word. It wouldn't do any good, but he needed to hold her to be sure she was still with him. She felt heavy in his arms. Heavy, but warm. She was there. She was with him for now.

As Ba'al stretched out his hand, Evan flinched away, but he couldn't jump up quickly enough without risking to drop Alex. A soft golden light erupted from Ba'al's hand and one look told Evan that there was a healing device attached to his left hand. Alex's eyelids flickered after just a few seconds and he felt the tension returning to her muscles.

Evan didn't look up, but he saw Ba'al move away again after just a moment. Back to the console. Alex finally opened her eyes again. She looked downright exhausted and the terror she'd been capable of concealing for most of this ordeal flashed across her face the moment she realized what had happened.

Shaking his head, he put his hand on her belly. To reassure her. To calm her down. Although, of course, he couldn't know if the baby was alright.

She grabbed his lower arm and nodded, her eyes still wide and bloodshot. "Put me down, please," she mumbled hoarsely and only now did he realize that he was grabbing her so tightly, she must be uncomfortable. Slowly, he put her down and brushed the hair out of her face, ignoring the fact that they were surrounded by enemies and the fear tearing a hole through his chest.

Evan looked up to see Ba'al wipe his hand through the area beneath the console again. "The time's up. What is your verdict." Not a question. It was more like an order than anything else.

Sheppard appeared again and after Alex nodded at him once, Evan got up again. He'd meant to inform Sheppard that this ship was completely vulnerable. That they'd have an easy job blowing it out of the sky and maybe even of rescuing them. But he couldn't do that right now. Not with Alex's life on the line. Sheppard looked at him intently, as Woolsey stepped forward and McKay took a seat at the console again. Ronon had appeared in the background while Chuck was talking to someone on the comms.

"Alright," Woolsey said and Sheppard crossed his arms over his chest. "We'll send five Jumpers to assist you, if you release our people as soon as your path is clear."

"Don't be ridiculous. I haven't gone through all this trouble just to give them up now."

Sheppard frowned at Ba'al, the apprehension clearly visible on his face. There was a pause. A pause, during which Evan barely breathed, then Woolsey nodded. "Fine."

They must know that Ba'al was in trouble. They must know he would never ask for assistance if it wasn't necessary. Evan balled his hands into fists as the connection was severed and Ba'al shut down the Gate so Atlantis could dial in again. They'd send Jumpers, yes, but there'd be more than five. One would be cloaked. It wasn't protocol, but it was what Evan would have ordered. And Ba'al must be expecting it.

Within minutes the five Jumpers which Ba'al had requested shot out of the atmosphere and headed straight towards the Wraith cruiser, which opened fire with brilliant blasts of energy. The Jumpers evaded the attacks, but Ba'al didn't wait for the air to be fully clear. The moment the Jumpers started firing at the cruiser, Ba'al fired up the engines and he manoeuvred the ship away from the battle.

Evan swallowed hard. He knew he was being watched, but he desperately wanted to say something. To do anything to get them out of this situation. All he could do, however, was to stay calm if he wanted to protect Alex.

The hyperspace window opened and the black and silver dots transformed into blue swirls as the ship entered subspace. They were lost.

If Sheppard and his team, or anybody else, hadn't managed to somehow attach a Jumper to this ship, then there was no way they could get away now. Ba'al had spent the past year or so building his own domain here. They had no clue on which planets he was hiding and, moreover, he knew his way around DHDs. It was more than likely he'd already set up his own network. In fact, nobody doubted that he had already achieved it.

But he couldn't dwell on that right now. He needed to keep himself, Alex and their child as safe as possible, no matter what. As Ba'al turned around to look at him again, as their eyes met, Evan knew immediately that Ba'al was thinking along the same lines. "Come with me," he said, motioning for them to follow him, "both of you."

Evan bit back a snide remark. What was the use anyway?

Johnson remained where she was, standing right where Alex had been mere seconds ago, her hands clasped behind her back, and not returning his gaze as they followed Ba'al past the massive gold-framed viewscreen and out through the door into another room, which didn't have any windows, but which was reminding Evan all too well of the other Ha'tak vessels he'd been on. Granted, he'd only briefly been on two of them, and stranded ones at that, but the effect had been very similar. Gold, embossed with hieroglyphs, had been attached to the walls around them, fire from ceramic bowls illuminated the precious metal and made it look even more pretentious than it already was. The floor was black and polished up to a point where Evan was almost sure, had the light been better, he would've been able to see is own reflection in it. The table in the centre was of a similar material, but resembled marble more than it did the polished naquadah floor. The five servants, dressed all in sparkly black, were just the last bit of extravagance this room needed. What struck him most about them was how lifeless they looked. Like their faces had never even known what an expression looked like. Even soldiers standing at attention had more presence than these people did.

Evan's remembered that the outside of the ship, its shape, was a mix of an Ancient warship and the Tau'ri Daedalus class ships. Ba'al clearly had attempted to replicate all these styles with this ship. It must be easier to manoeuvre than the Ha'tak vessels which the Goa'uld normally used, must be equipped with better fire power and engines, yet it didn't lack any of the grandeur which these pompous would-be-Gods were so fond of.

"Sit," Ba'al said, waving at the three chairs placed at one end of the table. He strolled over to them casually and one of the three servants jumped into action to pull the chair away from the table for Ba'al.

"What? You really want to have a nice chat?" Evan folded his arms over his chest, wishing he could feel the weight of his P-90. But he had nothing. No P-90, no sidearm, no knife, no chance of killing this monster. He'd willingly sacrificed them all to get Johnson to let Alex go.

"You must eat," Ba'al said, making Alex snort derisively next to Evan.

"Right. Like we'd eat anything you give us."

"I said, sit." Ba'al answered, raising his voice slightly, but it made enough of an impact on Alex. Half a year ago, she wouldn't have flinched, but she did now. Evan gently touched the small of her back as he saw the other three servants stiffen, as though readying themselves. He was sure they'd be ready to take action against him and Alex, should they resist.

She didn't relax, but she moved, following him to the table, but before one of the servants could pull one of the chairs for her, Evan had helped her into her seat.

Ba'al leaned back with a satisfied smile and nodded once Evan had sat down as well. He waved at one of the servants and he hurried off into another adjoining room. "Well, here we are. Finally."

Alex was sitting upright, her hands folded in her lap, as she looked at Ba'al, all the colour drained from her face. "What does that mean?" she asked quietly as the servant returned, carrying three silver plates at once, like a waiter at a fancy restaurant.

He placed the first in front of Ba'al and for a second Evan appreciated the colourful display of red and yellow blossoms draped around various foods he couldn't even begin to identify.

"It means," Ba'al said, as the servant placed the next plate in front of Evan, "that I'd meant to do this with you a few years ago."

"Have dinner with us? How lovely." The sarcasm dripping from her voice would've made Evan grin, if he didn't feel sick just looking at her sitting next to Ba'al. "Maybe you shouldn't have taken our child then."

"You know, I had to," Ba'al said, leaning back in his chair without touching his food.

"Really," Evan spat, arms folded again, so he wouldn't jump up and grab Ba'al by the collar. "Such a relief to hear you say that."

"It caused you distress, I know, but had you remained with me, you would've seen what great things-"

"Shut up!" Alex burst out. "I don't want to hear it, I don't want to-"

"In case you hadn't noticed, I do not care what you want."

"No, we'd noticed," Evan said, a bit more quietly, watching Ba'al pick the flowers off his food and placing them on the side of the plate to reveal what lay beneath. Something that looked a lot like bread with a pinkish sauce spread over it and thin, narrow slices of meat on top.

"I have work for the two of you. Originally I had other plans, but, as we have established already, plans change."

"What other plans?" Evan asked, trying to remember the layout of the Aurora-class ship this vessel must be based on. Must be. There was no way to tell for sure. Could he find a way off this ship? Probably. And then what? If Sheppard hadn't sent a Jumper to their rescue, they were screwed.

Ba'al pushed his food around on the plate, picked up one of the slices, took a bite and chewed like he hadn't had anything this delicious in years.

"Save the act for someone who cares, will you?"

"Astarte," Ba'al finally said, after swallowing and looking intently at Alex. "My consort. You know of her."

"I know your dead clone got the snake on that cargo ship before Evan killed him, yes."

Ba'al's lips twitched into a smile, which made his eyes sparkle dangerously. "So I gather, yes. Of course my loyal servant returned my queen to me."

"That's not exactly news to us," Alex said, ignoring Ba'al's stare and not moving an inch as he shifted closer, leaning on the table.

"No. And unfortunately your condition makes it quite impossible for her to inhabit you, doesn't it?"

Evan jumped to his feet the moment Ba'al stretched out his hand towards Alex, and Evan found a strong hand immediately on his shoulder.

"Like I said, it's a pity, because I cannot wait any longer," Ba'al continued, ignoring Evan and leaning back again when Alex turned her face away from him. "Sit down, Major."

He felt the presence of the man behind him, felt how he stepped closer and the pressure on his shoulder increased. But he didn't need it. He didn't need the man to force him to back off. One look at Alex was enough.

"You didn't hesitate killing our child before this," she said, "why not now?"

Ba'al laughed, the sound making the hair on Evan's neck stand on end. "I never wanted your child dead, you know that. Your daughter has proven herself to be invaluable. The gene therapy I managed to procure from her DNA was important enough, but she's proven most valuable otherwise."

"We know about Johnson," Evan said as calmly as he could, and though he'd been more than sure about Johnson before this, Ba'al appreciative nod managed to twist his gut. "And now? You want to use her as a host?"

Ba'al nodded again. One single movement, and Evan felt like he the floor was being ripped out from under his feet.

"You can't be serious." Alex stared at him her mouth wide open and Evan could see the horror in her eyes.

"Don't worry, you will make your own contributions to my endeavour even if you don't have the honour of being my consort, Doctor Lorne. Now.. eat up:"

A/N: Sorry this is just a short chapter and I'm also sorry for the billion or so mistakes still in this one. I'm lying in bed with a massive cold and a fever, but I wanted to post this anyway, because I'm bored out of my skull. Hope you enjoyed it anyway ;-P