Chapter Thirteen: As the Days Go By
Author's Note: Hey, I actually met a deadline! It's even early… scary. Also, thanks to the ppl who wrote the wonderful reviews! :) Chapter 14 is well on the way. The goal is to get it done by the end of the week (me and my goal setting ways). Here's to hoping that 13's a lucky number…
-S
***
Of course, she just had to have the insolence to die on him.
"Jaffa, kree!" demanded Nephthys, pointing towards Sam's broken body. "Put her into the sarcophagus and revive her," commanded the false-god, "Make sure that she lasts a bit longer next time."
How was he suppose to get any information out of her if she died so quickly!
'Tau'ri. They have such weak bodies,' thought the false-god.
Nephthys watched indifferently as they carried the body away. Soon he'd break her and then her male companion. Maybe he'd make Runihura watch…
***
It had been ages since the Jaffa guards had shown up and dragged Sam away. Jack had been taken completely by surprise and hadn't been quick enough to react. Guilt ate at him as the years went by.
Okay, maybe not years. Maybe a few hours? They just had to take my watch, didn't they? thought Jack. The number of watches he'd lost on missions…
The whole point was that Sam had been away too long. She'd been in no condition to tell that snake-head anything and Jack couldn't let himself believe that she might be getting medical attention. Even if they were pretty valuable prisoners, Nephthys might not think the same.
Jack didn't know what to do. So he waited. And waited. And waited. Naturally, it wasn't too long before the Colonel started fidgeting, which was followed by sighing. Eventually he grabbed the rescue plan from under the bed. He wondered again who had been nice enough to give them a means of escape. Maybe Jacob had another Tok'ra spy in this hellhole? He wouldn't put it past him.
The Colonel picked up the "gizmo" whose purpose had earlier deluded him. It was a small black box, roughly the size of the palm of his hand. He started fiddling with it, with little concern of breaking it. It must serve some useful purpose… Maybe he could use it to MacGyver a way to open the cell door? Jack opened the "lid" of the device and found a flashing number pad. Of course, the numbers had to be in Goa'uld! And with no care for logic, Jack started pushing buttons at random. The machine let out a shrill beeping noise; the sound was similar to what the Colonel's computer made time and again.
Frustrated, Jack pushed different buttons with the same flawed technique. Until miraculously, something happened. The box started emitting a small beam of light.
"Woah!" said Jack in surprise. The light had formed a strangely patterned flat surface; Jack inspected it carefully. If he didn't know any better, he'd say… yep, he was sure, it was a map.
"This is cool," he said to himself. A map could definitely come in handy.
Jack stared at the projection and relying heavily on his hazy memory, tried to figure out where he was in this mess.
I'm here, he thought, eyes looking at a small underground room (at least, what he thought was suppose to be a room). Inside the "room" was a blue dot that was moving back and forth. Wonder what that is? Jack stopped his pacing and watched as the blue dot stopped moving, as if it were mimicking his movements.
Wait a second, maybe that blue dot was him? Testing his theory, Jack started walking in circles and was not surprised to see the blue dot moving exactly like he was.
There were several red dots on the map as well; some were moving, some not. If there were all Jaffa or whatever… Well, this would be very useful information. And maybe, it would be enough for him to find Carter with.
So, it was time for Operation: Save Sam (he so had to figure out a better name for that!). But, deciding to break out of jail was one thing though. Getting out would be harder.
Jack glanced at the zat-gun next to him. Well, maybe not.
***
It had been two days. Two long days of sitting around, waiting and twiddling their thumbs (well, not actually twiddling, who does that? But you get the idea). Finally Daniel, Teal'c and Jacob were able to go back to Abayomous and mount a rescue mission. They'd save Jack and Sam… if they weren't already dead (an idea that Daniel had to stop thinking about).
Well, they weren't actually at Abayomous yet. They were currently boarding Jacob's ship. Then they'd be at Abayomous. In another day. But hey, twiddling their thumbs (metaphorically speaking of course) on a ship, heading towards rescue… well, that was much better.
They even had a good plan for the actually rescuing part.
"Daniel Jackson," said Teal'c. Where did he come from? "You should get some rest." Sleep?
"Yes, sleep. I do not believe you have had any of it," Teal'c informed him.
"Oh," replied Daniel.
Teal'c lead his friend to the cots at the back of the ship and Daniel promptly collapsed.
Good, thought Teal'c, Perhaps if he sleeps for twenty-four hours, he will be ready for the upcoming battle.
***
Sam's body was thrown into the sarcophagus with little care. After they bound her arms and legs, they closed the lid of the ancient coffin. While the sarcophagus healed a broken body, it also healed a broken mind.
It was when Sam was alive, but still not healthy, that her subconscious awoke. And instead of the typical nonsense that dreams usually provide, Sam dreamt strange mixtures of thought and memories…
'Nephthys is a Goa'uld. A snake-head. He is evil and he has to be stopped. I can't let him hurt innocent civilians, my family, or my friends…'
They were running through a hallway. No, not a hallway, an underground passageway. They were chasing after the Goa'uld Seth who was running a cult right in their own backyard. Sam saw her father get shot. He gave her the ribbon device, and she listened as he told her that she had the power to use it. She had to stop Seth. Seth had to die. With that thought, the ribbon device on her hand came to life.
"You killed him," said a shocked voice (was his name Daniel?).
"Hail Dorothy," muttered Jack.
'My father is a Goa'uld though, is he?' thought Sam. She recalled an old memory…
An ancient woman, the Tok'ra Selmak, was dying. So was her father. And so a solution had come up…
A man spoke, "Selmak is a wonderful Tok'ra. She is selfless and caring; she is good company; she has a wonderful sense of humour."
"Well, that's good, Dad. You can sit around for hours cracking yourself up," Sam told her father at another place, another time.
"That's funny," was Jacob's sarcastic reply.
'A Tok'ra? Those are the good Goa'uld's, right?' thought the major, 'Although good is in the eye of the beholder…'
"Let me go. Let me go through the Stargate. I will find another host and send your friend back to you," said Sam on the verge of begging.
"You can do that? Leave a host without killing them?" asked a man they had sent to interrogate her.
"Yes. It is possible but not easy. I could die, but I promise I will try." Sam had to convince him…
"The Nassian man died when you left him," accused the man.
"The Nassian man died first that is why I left him. He was beyond my natural abilities to heal," protested Sam.
"What were you doing in him in the first place?"
"Carter's mind would be intact. She would return to you as you knew her before," replied Sam, dogging Jack's question, her voice terrible, and eyes glowing…
'This isn't me… this isn't my memory,' Sam remembered. "This" was Jolinar. Sam had been a hostage of the Tok'ra like her father, like so many others. 'Okay, maybe not a hostage…'
"You did it, Sam. You won," Jack told her. She was in a hospital…
"Wasn't me," Sam told him; he didn't understand.
"Oh yes it was. You hung in there, you beat it."
She had to explain, "The Goa'uld gave its life for me. It saved me."
The pieces were falling into place. They were working with the Tok'ra to bring down the Goa'uld. 'But, who are they…'
"So, ah, what do you expect to get for us?" asked Daniel.
"Daniel…" said Jack in a 'what the hell do you think your doing' tone. They had been captured by a Goa'uld bounty hunter.
"Just curious," Daniel told Jack.
The bounty hunter, Aris, answered, "Well, ah, Teal'c is worth the most. The System Lords would love to make a good example of him. And Carter here, well, she has the memories of the Tok'ra, Jolinar. And you, O'Neill, you're considered, well, you're a pain in the mik-da."
"Neck?" said Jack, looking at Teal'c.
"No," replied the Jaffa in a flat tone, devoid of emotion.
'Yeah, but who is Sam Carter?' Sam asked herself.
"Ah, here we go. Not another scientist, please," Jack told the General.
"Theoretical astrophysicist," said Sam, correcting him.
"Which means what exactly?" He was such a typical airforce male!
"Which means she's smarter than you are Colonel," General Hammond said before Sam could answer, "Especially in matters relating to the Stargate."
"Colonel, I was studying Gate technology for two years before Daniel Jackson made it work and before you both went through. I should have gone through then. Sir, you and your men might as well accept that I am going through this time." She'd dealt with officers like him before. She'd deal with them again.
"With all due respect, Doctor…"
Sam interrupted the Colonel; "It is proper to refer to a person by their rank, not their title. You should call me Captain, not Doctor."
That was a long time ago, back when she'd just joined the SGC and SG-1. So much had happened since then. She could remember it all.
***
The major woke up to darkness. She was alive? Tentatively, she wiggled her toes; they seemed to be in one piece. Her hands also were moving, although she couldn't lift them up. Her feet wouldn't budge more then an inch either. It was a familiar sensation. Her hands and legs were bound; she was trapped.
Even with her current situation, she felt better than ever. Sam knew who she was. If only she knew where… Her last memories were of being tortured by Nephthys and being in more pain than Sam had ever experienced (well, maybe not… never mind, that was one of Jolinar's memories). Before that, Colonel O'Neill had been with her in the cell. She could remember…
"Never regretted any of it. It's been an honour serving under you, sir."
"No, no, Carter… don't you start with that "honour serving with you" crap. You can't give up on me. Besides, I don't want to have to break in a new second-in-command. Do you know how hard it is to find someone who can break the laws of physics on a regular basis?"
"Colonel," her voice was raspy and broken, "I know when I've been beat." She continued before he could start to object. "Don't…" she took a few more breaths, "Blame yourself." Her eyes were fluttering, and she struggled with her last words, "Love you, sir."
Oh, this wasn't good.
***
'How come all Goa'uld hallways look the same?' wondered Jack O'Neill. He'd been searching for Sam for a while now and if he hadn't had the black box thingie, he'd probably be lost. Then again, if the black box thingie ended up not being a map…
No, no, no, it had to be a map.
Getting out of the prison had been remarkably easy. Apparently the cell door wasn't zat-proof. And, fortunately, neither were the two Jaffa guards.
So, Jack been wandering around, looking (no, searching) for Sam. He didn't have much planned for after he found her. And when he did find her, what if she was being tortured? What if she was in worst shape (if that was even possible) then before? There were too many scenarios, none of them good.
Jack O'Neill was preoccupied; he'd been able to avoid the Jaffa (they were the red dots on his "map", plus they made a hell of a lot of noise), but he wasn't paying enough attention for someone who was sneaking around in the enemy's household.
So the quiet footsteps of someone who had been trained to be unnoticed were unexpected.
"Colonel O'Neill." The voice came from behind him. Stupid, stupid, stupid…
He spun around; zat raised.
***
TBC
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Teaser for Chapter 14:
"Maybe, just maybe, this woman was for real. If that was true, the only thing Jack could think was 'score one for the good guys…'"