Here it is! Finally the guys back at the SGC taking some action...but of course there can't be a rescue without twists. This chapter and the next two are three are very important chapters to the story, so please read and enjoy and please review so I know how I'm doing on this part. I really need to know. Anyway, thanks to all those who have been reading and reviewing so far, and please continue to regulary do so as you have been! It's been very helpful! Now, on to the action:)

Chapter 21

Danny slumped back against the wall in relief as the cool water slipped down his parched throat. Finally their captors had given them something to drink. The three small containers weren't a whole lot, and still no food, but at least what they had been given would keep them alive for now. It had been almost three days since he and Sam had been captured, and they wouldn't have been able to go without water for much longer.

Beside him, Carter leaned over to wake his counter part, but when she touched his shoulder and whispered his name he didn't move. Afraid to shake him, she moved her hand to his forehead. Danny saw her frown at how his skin felt. Sam glanced toward her water container and back at the older Daniel, then pulled one arm out of her jacket and started to tug at the end of the sleeve of the black shirt underneath. When Danny realized what she was doing, he put out a hand to stop her, wincing in pain from the sudden movement.

"Sam, wait."

"What?" Carter asked, looking back at him.

"Let me," he answered, unzipping his own jacket and pulling at the bottom of his own t-shirt. "This thing already has holes in it anyway…"

Sam smiled at that. "Thanks," she said gratefully as he tore away a piece of cloth and handed it to her.

"No problem," Danny replied. He zipped his jacket back up, watching with concern as Carter dipped the cloth in water, rung it out and gently pressed it to the unconscious Jackson's forehead.

"He's not doing any better, is he?" Danny asked hesitantly.

Sam sighed and shook her head. "No; I'm afraid he's getting worse," she gulped. "Danny, if they don't find us soon, we're going to have to do something. We can't just sit around here any more."

"Like what, Sam? Every possible plan has been somehow ruled out. What are we supposed to do?"

"Anything!" Carter cried in frustration. "Amaunet probably knows by now that she's not going to get anything from either of you; she might just let him die this time. We can't let that happen. It would…" She trailed off, but the pained look on her face prompted Jackson to ask what was wrong.

"It would what, Sam? What is it?" he prodded gently.

Sam swallowed hard. "I know it's different, sort of, but…but if he dies…it would be just as bad as losing you," she whispered, blinking back tears. "I don't want you to die, Daniel--either of you. I don't know what I'd do…what SG-1 would do without you."

Now Danny swallowed. "Sam…"

He was almost relieved when he was interrupted by a soft moan from behind Carter, because he hadn't known what to say that. On the other side of Carter, the older Daniel was starting to come to, and Sam quickly turned back to him and continued to hold the damp cloth to his forehead.

"Daniel?" she said quietly as his eyes fluttered.

"W-what…?" he said faintly, now looking up at her from where he rested. "Oh…Sam." Daniel grimaced as he tried to pull in a deep breath now that he was awake. A moment later his hand went to his forehead and felt the cloth there, with Carter's hand still pressed firmly over it, and his eyes questioned her.

"Does it help any?" she asked.

"A little," he rasped. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, but thank your self over there for the cloth itself," Sam answered, smiling as she inclined her head towards Danny.

The younger Jackson shrugged when his counterpart glanced over at him. "Don't mention it; my shirt was torn up already."

"Yeah…I remember that part…" Daniel smiled.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked.

Daniel groaned. "I'm not even going to try to answer that question."

Carter winced. "That bad, huh?"

He nodded weakly, and she sighed. "Here; maybe drinking something will do you some good," she suggested, picking up his container of water. Gently Sam moved her hand from his forehead to behind his head and picked it up enough so that he could drink. She started to bring the container to his lips herself, but was relieved when he was able to reach up, take it from her and do it himself, even if his arms were rather shaky.

When Daniel finished, he handed the container back to Carter and she set it down out of the way and lowered his head back to the bench. He thanked her again, and she nodded in return.

"You know," Daniel began after a moment, "it's kind of…frustrating…"

"What is?" Carter asked in confusion as Danny raised an eyebrow, wanting to know what he was talking about.

Daniel would have shrugged, but deemed it wiser to remain still and simply turned his head to look at Sam and his younger self. "Well," he said, a half smile pulling at his lips. "The first time I was here they had to take me three or four times before it got anywhere near this bad for me, but this time it only took once to put me out of commission. And it's just…well…depressing." Something that sounded like a choked off chuckle escaped before he gave a muffled cry of pain, and Sam put a hand on his shoulder.

Danny crossed his arms over his chest. "There's no need to feel bad about that; it's not your fault…or at least I don't think so."

Daniel resisted the urge to sigh, already hurting more from his weak attempt to laugh. "I know it's not…but that doesn't make me feel any less helpless."

Another silent moment passed, and then Danny sat up. "He's right."

"I am? About what?"

"What are you talking about, Danny?"

"About feeling helpless," he frowned. "I've had enough of it. You were right Sam; we have to do something. We need to get out of here, get him back to his own time, get Sha're out of here-"

A sudden pained grunt from the older Jackson brought Danny to a halt. "You okay?" he asked.

Daniel blinked. "Yeah…s-sorry…" he fumbled, hoping that his face wasn't revealing what he was feeling now. Oh how he wished they really could free Sha're now, but…

"Look," Daniel said, as Sam and Danny continued to look at him. "We'll get out of here, I promise. I'm not sure exactly how or when anymore, but…just trust me okay? Don't do anything rash."

"That's easy for you to say," Danny scowled. "You at least have some idea of how much longer we're going to be stuck here; we don't have ay idea whatsoever."

"I'm sorry; you know I can't…"

"We know," Sam answered quickly. "Danny, he's right. Maybe we should just be patient a little longer."

The younger Jackson shifted uncomfortably, wincing. Finally he nodded. "Fine," he conceded. Before he had a chance to say anything else though, a faint, distant and yet somehow familiar sound interrupted him.

"What was that?" Daniel asked, grimacing as he tried to lift his upper body enough to look out into the hallway.

Carter gently pushed him back down and stood. "I'm not sure, but…"

Danny grunted as he started to stand as well. "Ya think…?"

Sam nodded slowly, her eyes wide. "Yeah. I think so."

"Queen Amaunet! There is trouble!"

Amaunet turned at the sound of her name being called to see an alarmed young jaffa hurrying approach her. "What is it?" she demanded.

The man bowed hurriedly, then straightened again and made his report. "My Lady, the compound is being infiltrated-"

"What!" she growled, her eyes flaring. "Again? That is impossible!"

"N-no, My Lady. It is true, but this time the invasion comes through the Chappa'ai."

The Goa'uld's eyes narrowed. "The Tau'ri?"

The jaffa nodded. "Yes, My Queen. It is the Tau'ri. It appears to be the remaining members of SG-1, another human team, and a few Tok'ra. They came through only a moment ago, and we have not yet alerted them that we know they are here. They are still in the main chamber. What would you have us do, My Lady?"

"Do not engage them yet. Let them believe we are still ignorant of their presence. There is something I must do before they are fought back."

"What is that, My Lady? If you require assistance to do this thing, than I and my fellow jaffa are of course always at your service," the young man said, bowing low.

Amaunet smiled; she liked this one. "Yes, I do require you and several more. I cannot take the risk of Daniel Jackson's comrades finding him and escaping with him; not after all the trouble I have gone to to bring him here so I could kill him. I had hoped to keep him alive a few days longer, to gain information from him, both of them, but if that cannot happen, then so be it. He must die now, before this chance to rid myself of the nuisance of his existence disappears."

"Are you certain, My Queen? We could learn of the future from the older one…"

"Yes, and it is regrettable that that chance will be lost, but at least he will be gone, and we will still have the woman to question about what the Tau'ri are up to in this time."

The jaffa bowed his head again. "Yes, Lady Amaunet."

Jack O'Neill looked around cautiously as the last members of the rescue mission stepped through the gate and it deactivated behind them, though he didn't relax even when he saw no jaffa in the immediate vicinity. They were here somewhere, and the teams probably didn't have much more time before they were discovered.

O'Neill nodded to Teal'c, who continued to scan the room and check the exits with the others as he, Jacob Carter, and Doctor Fraiser approached the open crate they had spotted on the M.A.L.P. telemetry that had caught their interest. Once next to it, he poked through its contents with the barrel of his gun.

"It's their things all right," Janet confirmed quietly, picking up the GDO that lay on top.

"Which means they're here," Jack agreed. He was at the same time relieved that they knew for sure where they were now and worried for they're safety because where they were was a Goa'uld facility.

"It also means that we'd better find them fast," Jacob added. "They could be hurt."

"That's why we brought the doc along."

"I thought we brought her along because she insisted," Jacob smiled, glancing at Fraiser, who smiled back at him.

"There's that," O'Neill granted.

"All right, enough talking about why I'm here," Janet intervened. "Shouldn't we be rescuing Sam and Daniel?"

"Right," Jack said. "Okay…we shouldn't leave the Goa'uld with this," he said, sticking the GDO into his vest. Then he continued to look through the box. The only other items in it were Carter and Jackson's vests, and their guns--Carter's, which was identical to his, and Daniel's much smaller handheld. He handed Carter's gun to her father and put Daniel's in his own belt. "They might need those once we find them," he commented briefly. "Their zats are gone, but I guess I should have expected that."

Jacob nodded. "The Goa'uld can use zats, but would have had no use for your primitive projectile weapons."

Jack shot the older man a look. "Hey, you used to use our 'primitive projectile weapons' too Mr. Air-Force-Guy-gone-alien."

The Tok'ra shrugged. "Sorry, Jack; I've got a new perspective now, remember?"

O'Neill rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's just get going." Then he looked toward the edge of the room. "Teal'c, everything still clear?"

The jaffa nodded. "It is, O'Neill, but I would not expect it to be so for much longer. I suggest we move out."

"Good idea."

"Anything yet?" Sam asked.

Danny shook his head from where he leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the door from her. "No. Nothing from your direction?" Carter confirmed. "Good," Jackson said. Sam was on one side of the door, facing deeper into the compound, watching for jaffa, and he was on the other side facing the direction of the 'gate room, the direction they hoped to see Jack and Teal'c coming from.

No one had appeared yet, however, and though disappointment was beginning to set in, at least no jaffa had shown up for any reason. Danny was almost starting to feel relief for that when Carter's eyebrows went up.

"Uh-oh," she said simply.

"Uh-oh what?" Danny asked, wincing as he moved away from the wall and turned to looked in the direction she was. That was when he heard the approaching footsteps.

"Jaffa," Daniel stated in bland annoyance from where he lay. Sure enough, a moment later several rounded the corner, Amaunet in their midst.

"Darn it," Danny hissed as he saw that his older counterpart was right. "What do they want?"

Carter sighed. "Maybe it really wasn't our people who came through the 'gate."

"Great. Now what?"

"They'll come," Daniel said confidently. "I just…hope they'll be in time for all of us."

"You and me both," Danny sighed, lowering himself onto the nearest section of the bench to the door. "Though I'm not really sure you and me qualify as both…"

Daniel smiled, but suddenly grimaced again when he felt his body automatically try to laugh. Instead of a laugh a strangled cry of pain issued, and Sam whirled to face him in alarm.

"Daniel?"

"I'm…o-okay," he gulped. He closed his eyes for a moment to catch his breath, and then glanced back toward Danny, who's eyes were now wide.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly before his older self could say anything.

"It's okay; just…try not to make me laugh anymore, okay?"

Danny flinched. "Yeah. Sorry, didn't mean to…" He trailed off when he saw that the door had begun to open. A moment later it was out of the way and several jaffa had flooded the holding room. Carter stiffened as two of them took her arms, and Danny yelped in pain as two more jerked him back to his feet.

From there, everything happened quickly. Amaunet nodded to the remaining three jaffa, who headed for Daniel and started to pull him up off the bench to his shouts of pain.

"What are you doing! Leave him alone; he's in no condition for you to be doing that!" Sam cried in alarm. She glared at Amaunet as she stopped in front of her. "What do you want? What's going on?"

A sudden scream from near the back of the room brought Sam attention back to Daniel before she could get answer. As she turned her head, she caught a glimpse of a satisfactory smile from Amaunet, and when she had turned she say why. Two of the three jaffa who had pulled the older Daniel up were holding him up as the other started to pummel him again--not a good idea at all in his present condition, but then again they certainly didn't have the prisoner's best interests in mind.

"No! Don't! You'll kill him!" Sam shouted, struggling against the two guards who had hold of her.

"Exactly the point," Amaunet smiled.

"What!" Carter and Danny said together.

"Of course," Amaunet supplied. "You see, it seems that your friends have found there way to this planet. Therefore, I must fulfill my original aim of killing Daniel Jackson before they can find you. Not that I will allow them to, but I cannot afford to take chances."

"You're kidding," Danny gulped.

"No; I am not," she replied coldly.

"Please-!" Sam begged as the jaffa dropped Daniel and resorted to kicking him. She felt tears in her eyes as both she and Danny continued to protest, but a moment later when his screams faded to nothing the lump in that had formed in her throat stuck, rendering the major unable to breath for a few seconds.

"N-no…" she finally stammered. The jaffa backed away and exited the cell, leaving Daniel's un-moving body on the floor. Sam stared silently for a moment, gulping back tears, but they still blurred her vision, and she couldn't focus enough to see if his chest was still moving. She couldn't tell if he was alive; not that there was much need to. There was little hope he could have survived a beating like that in the condition he'd been in.

Carter whirled back toward Amaunet, fury mounting over the sadness, but before she could open her mouth she found the Goa'uld's ribbon device activating in her face.

Danny tore his eyes away from the still form of his future self when he heard his friend shout in pain. "Sam!" he cried as she dropped to her knees. "Stop it!" he demanded as the beam of the had device continued to bare down on Sam. "You've done enough; leave her alone!" he begged when Amaunet ignored him. Another moment and she still had not listened. "Sha're, please-!"

At that the ribbon device snapped off and Sam slumped, unconscious. As the two jaffa who had held her dropped Carter to the ground and also exited the room, Amaunet turned to Danny, her eyes briefly flaring yellow-white as she scowled at him. She took a step in his direction, bringing her near to the center of the room.

"Bring him to me," she ordered the jaffa who gripped Jackson's arms.

Danny struggled, but the two guards effortlessly pulled him forward to stop just in front of her, and it only left him breathing heavily in pain from his sore middle. Amaunet smiled at him; an expression that sent a shiver of fear down his spine. As he looked at her, in his mind's eye he again saw the un-moving forms of Samantha Carter and his older self, whom he wasn't even sure was alive, and remembered what the Goa'uld had said a few minutes before--that she was here to kill him for good this time.

Suddenly Danny realized that it didn't matter if Daniel was alive or not; if Amaunet killed him, his future self would cease to exist. He gulped hard.

Oh…'crap'.