~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

Chapter 1: Deceit

Part 3

~x~x~x~x~x~

Present Day
Cheyenne Mountain, US Military Base

Anna wandered aimlessly around her office, unable to sit still since Daniel's return. They were currently on stand down while General Yoshi made his calls to the White House.

Teal'c had walked her to her office as soon as the briefing had broken up. She had refused to stay in the room any longer, she couldn't stay in the room any longer. All that she could think of was that day. The day that General Hammond, a man that she had loved and respected with all that she could, had told her that the love of her life was dead. He had lied to her, they all lied to her.

Ignoring the tears that had started to form in her eyes, she noted that she had stopped walking and had begun to absentmindedly play with the mahogany frame of the photograph on her bookcase. Her wedding day. The day that he had promised to be with her through the good times and the bad and she had promised him the same. And yet, now she discovered that it had all been a lie. She had been left in the dark to grieve for him, unable to help him through her ignorance of the situation.

Slamming the photograph face down, she quickly wiped her eyes and moved to the computer, the symbols on her keyboard somehow comforting to her. She had almost left then. Almost moved back to the comfort of her home country, to the safe desk job offered to her by her own military. She was by no means unintelligent, but the idea of a desk job, however safe, did not hold any excitement for her. And so she had stayed, fought on against her grief, honouring her husband's memory, honouring a lie.

She opened up a new email and began to type.

~x~x~x~x~x~

"Come in." Yoshi sighed softly, rubbing his eyes. Hearing the door click shut, he looked up at the young woman before him, standing stock still, her eyes staring vacantly at a point above his head. "At ease, Lieutenant. Please sit down."

He breathed a sigh of relief as Anna nodded and took her seat, still noting that she was tense. She obviously knew why she was here.

"Would you mind telling me why I received a recall from the Russian government about ten minutes ago? By your request?"

"Sir, I believe that it would be best if I were to return home. I can be of no use on d'is mission, I am far too close to it."

"Under normal circumstances, I'd agree, however, you are the best God damn shot we have in this base and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you walk out of here due to personal problems."

"I can not function properly on d'is mission, Sir."

Yoshi sighed and stared at her. Her eyes remained fixed on some point that he couldn't see. He had been in charge of the base for only eleven months, and yet he felt close to the people in it, especially to SG1. The Colonel, he was still a little unsure about, she was one of the most intelligent people that he had ever met, and he understood why Hammond had the utmost confidence in her ability, as it was something he felt himself. He held Teal'c, Anna and Graham in the same esteem, although for completely different purposes.

Since he had arrived on the base, it had taken a lot of getting used to, as Hammond was well loved among his personnel, and until he had the respect of SG1, no other team would follow. There had been many changes in the running up to his being hired, and he was very aware of them. When he had been informed of the secret mission that Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson had been sent on, he had not understood why Hammond had made it out to be such a big deal. That was, of course, until he had met Sam and Anna. He had never known them as General Hammond had, but felt that what little was left of their former personalities should be preserved, and had, therefore, taken without delay, Hammond's suggestion to move Anna from SG9 to SG1 as soon as SG1 was to be recalled. Also, it seemed that Simmons had been suggested by Colonel O'Neill as the fourth member, and not one to disregard the thoughts of such a highly esteemed Colonel, he had done just that.

He sighed aloud, knowing that if - no - when the Colonel returned, he would be moved straight back to the pentagon, and however much he disliked the idea, he knew that he had to do all that was in his power to return Colonel O'Neill and the others home. And his best shot at this, was SG1.

"Lieutenant, I want you to listen to me, and listen well. I think we both know that if General Hammond were here, he'd say the same thing. I'm not saying this to get you on my side, I'm saying it because it was the truth. You all visited him constantly after his stroke and I know that you were there when he died, Anna. Don't pretend to me that that means nothing to you, because I know otherwise. I liked the man, a lot, we grew up together and I consider him one of the best friends I ever had. That's why I made sure that I got all the particulars of this base from him personally." Yoshi sighed. Apart from a slight start at the mention of Hammond, her countenance remained the same.

"We need you on this one, Lieutenant. We need SG1 working at it's best. You say this is too personal for you, fine. But let me say this to you. It's been personal to you for a long time now, and you still continue to do it. If you didn't do it for that reason, then why do you still wear that ring?" That had her attention. Anna looked down at her left hand, unknowing that she had been absentmindedly fingering her wedding bands.

"Colonel O'Neill is out there, somewhere. Could you live with yourself if you did nothing. Regardless of how much the lies hurt you, I'm sure they hurt him as well. Are you really willing to let that stand in the way of his living or not?"

With this he knew he had her, and so did she. Shaking her head, she let her tears fall as she continued to stare at her rings, lost in thoughts of a happier time.

"No," she said hoarsely, "no, I could not."

~x~x~x~x~x~

A Week Later
Goa'uld holding cell on the planet Jho'Kla

Jack groaned, his vision focussing with a sharp, painful throbbing in his temples. He was having difficulty breathing without coughing, and speaking was out of the question, his throat so dry and raw he could have been eating fire...for all he knew, he had been.

Memories were patchy at best, scattered and disjointed at most. It wasn't that he didn't know who he was, Colonel Johnathon O'Neill, he had a family, he had friends. This wasn't new to him...their faces, however, were a mystery. Faint echoes of laughter, teasing, friendship and hurt all flashed through his mind in a cacophony of sound. Occasionally they were accompanied by a blurred picture, as if the image had been submerged in water before it had fully developed.

A clang in the distance made him jerk his head up, instantly causing him to hiss in pain. His neck was bruised and bleeding, as was most of his body. If he hadn't already done it, he'd be sure he'd been to hell and back again...what made him think he had been there? The faint recollection of a kind man with glowing eyes came to mind...Jacob...Selmac. He had been to hell with this man, eh woman...

A groan to his left caused Jack to come out of his reverie and check out his surroundings more thoroughly. Turning cautiously, partly due to his neck, partly because he didn't want to be noticed by passing guards and tortured again, just for the hell of it, Jack noticed that he wasn't alone in his cell.

"Feretti?" He coughed. His voice was a hoarse whisper, croaky as if he hadn't used it for a while. How long had he been here? Was he missed anywhere? Why did he have the feeling that people would think he was already dead?

"Colonel?"

Forcing all thoughts but the present from his mind, Jack pulled himself painfully across the room until he was seated next to the shivering man. Placing a hand onto Feretti's forehead, he noted that the younger man's condition was, without doubt, far worse than his own. Feretti's head had a large gash almost stretching the entire width of his skull, the short hair on top was so stained with blood that anyone could have mistaken the man for having red hair. Jack winced in sympathy as Feretti coughed, the act causing him to jerk his head and hit it off the ground, causing more blood to spill from the wound.

Both men were suddenly shivering as their barely clothed body's felt a hiss of cold air circulating the draughty room, as if the elements had somehow penetrated the thick stone walls. Then began a constant thudding of steel on stone, carefully, steadily, angrily, continuing towards them from the halls.

"Wh-what's going on Colonel?"

"I have no idea."

"Do you remember anything?" Feretti asked, attempting to curl up into a ball as best he could, trying to block out the thudding that was slowly getting quicker and louder.

"Bits and pieces." Jack surveyed the room, disheartened by the lack of...well, anything. There was no window, in fact, there was nothing to signify a door either. "We have to get out of here." He said raising himself from the floor.

Clutching his sides, he hobbled across the room, moving from wall to wall, his hands feeling the rough stone surface for any sign of something that might open, or be the method of opening something. In vain he reached the same spot he had started at, dropping down next to Feretti, having only succeeded in pissing himself off and wearing himself out.

The thumping was now so close and so loud that neither man was sure where the actual noise began, where the echo was and what was simply the migraine in their own heads. The entire room was shaking now, each part of their bodies quivering in such a sensation as to make them feel they could sense each and every molecule vibrating on its own.

The tension in the room was raising, and had indeed escalated exponentially on noticing three dead bodies in the centre of the room. The Thorian scientists. The fact that the smell hadn't presented the problem simply proved to both that they had been here longer than they cared to remember, even if they could. The Thorians had, in more than one way, annoyed Jack, but he still felt remorse at their death. Even if only due to the fact that he felt a little guilt at their bodies being less capable of withstanding pain, although, their minds were far more difficult, and it pained Jack to know that. In knowing that, he had no doubt that they had been tortured to death, unwilling to betray the secrets their minds held about the weapon.

The noise was now inconceivable, echoing through the room with an ear-splitting clang. The pitch had changed and was continuing to do so, higher and higher, until the pain was worse than the noise, having reached a pitch beyond their hearing. Suddenly, the floor beneath them gave way, causing them to fall and Jack frowned momentarily when he noticed one of the Scientists looking straight at him, almost cringing in fear for Jack as he disappeared from view.

They were sliding down a slicked stone tunnel, smooth to the touch, but rough enough to cause their injuries further pain. Jack was so engrossed in his thoughts, however, that he barely noticed. The scientist was obviously feigning death. Lying in a pile of his dead friends was, to him, better than whatever had been the cause of the fear Jack had seen in the man's eyes. That was not a happy thought for Jack.

He stared straight up, noting that the light from the hole they had fallen through was getting further and further away. The clanging had stopped a moment or two after they had fallen through the floor and Jack could have sworn that he heard a door opening, although, where it could have opened was quite the mystery. It was then that he heard her voice, echoing around him, just a simple curse, and Jack wondered just how out of it he was to be hearing his 2IC's voice on such a distant and desolate place. Especially when he now remembered that she had thought him dead.

They landed in a heap a few moments later, how far under ground they now were, Jack was unsure of. In fact, he was so unsure of where they had begun, that they could, indeed, still be above ground. The weight of Feretti's prone form on top of him was causing his breathing to become more difficult, and so, careful to not injure the man further, Jack pulled himself out from under.

"So, the infamous Colonel O'Neill. I believe we have an acquaintance in common."

Looking up, Jack's eyes rested on the only other person present in the room. A tall woman with curly blonde hair was smirking down at him with yellow eyes.

"Osiris, I presume." Jack said, although it was more of a statement than a question.

"You presume correctly. From what I have heard since my release from your world, you are quite the catch."

"Yeah, I used to tell all the women that. Still single. That should tell you something. Now why don't you let us go." Jack pulled himself up, staggering slightly as his head, still woozy from their trip, caused the room to spin.

"I don't think so, Colonel. Besides, I'm sure your wife would disagree with the previous statement."

"You seem to know a lot about me." Jack stated, his eyes narrowing.

Osiris smirked, "You would be surprised by exactly how much I know. I was surprised myself. But you were so willing to tell me." At his look she gave a small laugh. "You don't believe me, Colonel? Well, we shall see. Perhaps this time, I will allow you to remember our session. Then when your friends and family are all dead and you world destroyed, you can know that it is all thanks to you."

Jack watched as she smirked and advanced, the evil glint in her yellow eyes sending a shiver down his spine, and he knew it was true. He had betrayed his wife, his family, his friends, his entire planet. He had failed her again. And there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

~x~x~x~x~x~

END DECEIT: PART 3

Okay there's only one more part to go…so lets just hope I can finish Protocol soon, eh? ;)