Chapter Seven
Standing in front of the Gate with SG-1 as the inner ring spun and the chevrons engaged, Joanna fished out her dogtags from under her t-shirt. Untangling a silver disk from the tag's chain, she crossed herself with it before giving it a brief kiss and tucking it back under her shirt.
"What was that?" Jack asked, having seen the entire ritual.
Puzzled, Joanna pulled the disk out again and showed it to him. "St. Michael's medal. Patron saint of soldiers."
"You heavy into that stuff?" Jack made a very sloppy sign of the cross to get his meaning across.
Joanna shrugged as Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c watched the interchange. "Once the Goa'uld invaded and we found out all the old gods were snakes, there was a mass flocking to the Judeo/Christian God. The only one who hadn't turned out to be an alien. Mom and Dad had never really left the Church though. You aren't…"
"Naw." Jack turned to watch the vortex form, then subside to the event horizon. "I kinda…lapsed…" He gave himself a brief shake. "Okay, kids, let's go!"
Daniel and Sam followed him up to the Gate, as Teal'c joined Joanna at the foot of the ramp.
"You fight the false gods of the Goa'uld, yet you still worship Yahweh?"
Joanna glanced over at him, the blue light of the horizon flickering on their faces. "He's not a Goa'uld."
"And if He is shown to be one?"
"He'll join the rest then." She looked up to where Jack was waiting. "Shall we?"
Teal'c bowed, both conceding the point and agreeing with her. Together they joined Jack.
~~~~~
Stepping through the alpha site's Gate, Joanna looked around at the unfamiliar terrain and the huge moon overhead, and followed SG-1 down the wide stone steps. She glanced at a well-worn path as they passed it to take a smaller, narrow one, but as no one said anything about, she filed it away for future reference.
Jack took point, with Sam behind him, then Daniel and Joanna, Teal'c bringing up a very imposing rear. They had been walking a few minutes when the sound of staff weapon fire cut through the air.
As one the group dropped to the ground, following Jack as he made his way through the underbrush, staying within the tree line as the village came into view. "Jaffa," muttered Jack as he looked through his scope.
Sam grunted in agreement. "Can you make out whose, sir?"
Silent, Joanna watched the action below as SG-1 debated which System Lord was making a raid. Hulking Jaffa herded flinching men and women dressed in homespun clothing into the village center.
"There's no children," she finally said.
Jack and Sam stopped talking and shot each other a glance.
"Ahh, there haven't been any children born here in a while," Daniel answered, thinking fast. "That's one thing we're helping them with. Is it something in the water, or a soil contaminant? Maybe the ozone layer has thinned and radiation is causing the sterilization— "
Jack glared at Sam who elbowed Daniel in the ribs, finally getting him to shut up. Joanna merely gave an abstracted 'Oh' and kept studying the village while Teal'c bit back a smile.
"Okay, kids, here's the plan." Jack jumped in before any more awkward questions could be asked. "We're out-numbered but we've got the element of surprise. So this is what we're gonna do… "
~~~~~
Janet looked up as General Hammond came into the infirmary. "You wanted to see me, Doctor Fraiser?" he asked.
"Yes, sir, it's about the new Colonel O'Neill. I've found something…strange."
"Explain," Hammond barked.
"Something about her exam results were nagging me, so I went back to take another look at them. It's the injuries she supposedly took in the line of fire."
Confused, Hammond crossed his arms and frowned at Janet. "Supposedly?"
"Yes, the Colonel has scars from where she was shot, stabbed, and the like; but there's no evidence of internal damage. It's all superficial. And there's more. I found traces of naquadah and nish'ta in her system. At some point she was host to a Goa'uld and was under someone's mind-control. Taken each on its own that's not much, look at SG-1, but added to the deceptive scarring…I suggest we keep a close eye on this 'Colonel' until we figure out who she really is."
"Thank you, Doctor. Right now the other Colonel O'Neill is at the alpha site with SG-1. They're running her through a proficiency evaluation."
Janet just looked at him in amazement. "I…see, sir."
"We'll see soon enough, Doctor."
~~~~~
Crouched at the back of an overturned cart, Teal'c and Joanna watched as three Jaffa marched by. "Doesn't look like a full battalion," she murmured, thinking of the limited number they had seen so far.
"The remainder may be in another part of the village," answered Teal'c after the three lieutenants in disguise had passed.
"Maybe." Taking aim, she shot them in quick succession.
"I will conceal the bodies while you scout ahead." Running across the street, Teal'c made it to the prone Jaffa soldiers and began dragging them into a small house as Joanna continued their sweep.
As Teal'c brought in the last man, the first began to stir. Kneeling as if to tie him up, Teal'c whispered "Tell Colonel O'Neill that we are on our way to the Great Hall." Lieutenant Williams nodded faintly, still smarting from the intar hit.
Striding out, Teal'c went to catch up with Joanna.
She hid in a recessed doorway as she waited for Teal'c, watching one of the larger thatched buildings, the double-door entrance flanked by two imposing Jaffa. Slipping out three of her knives, she drew her arm back and in a smooth, easy motion threw one knife, then another. Her aim was true, each weapons hitting a Jaffa in the side, just under the ribs. A moment later Teal'c found her and slid into the doorway.
"Didn't think you mind if I went ahead," Joanna said, indicating the Jaffa. "Safe bet the head honcho's in there. Ready?"
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.
As soon as the word left his mouth, Joanna was up and running, Teal'c right behind her; her eyes swept the perimeter, P90 trained on the Jaffa. Flattening herself against the wall outside the door, she kept an eye on the prone bodies at her feet and an ear to what was going on inside the house. Joanna frowned slightly as she looked at the guards.
"Something's not—" She broke off as someone inside screamed. Jerking her head toward the doors, Joanna got an affirmative nod from Teal'c. He stepped in front of one and kicked it down, rushing into the small foyer inside, Joanna following right behind.
"Which way?" she asked, eyes and weapon crisscrossing the room. Another cry came from the left and up, so they passed through a few other rooms, finally finding a stairway. Slowly they climbed it, Joanna's gun trained ahead, Teal'c's staff weapon to the rear until they were at the top of the stairs.
Step by step, they went down the main hallway, voices getting louder as they approached the last, largest room. Once more Teal'c kicked the door in and the two rushed through.
"Don't move or I will blow your brains out," she informed the Jaffa First Prime, the red dot of her laser sight steady in the middle of his golden brand. Teal'c's weapon was trained on the other two surprised guards. An older man in finer clothing than the other villagers cowered in the corner.
The First Prime sneered. "Apophis' shol'val and a woman. You cannot hope to defeat Hura-ur's Jaffa."
The corner of Joanna's mouth quirked as she fought a grin. "Yeah, well, it ain't just me and the big guy here. I got the rest of SG-1 and SG-9 rounding up your vaunted Jaffa— FUCK!"
Letting her weapon drop, Joanna spun and ran out of the room. She ignored Teal'c calling after her and reached for her radio as she took the stairs two at a time.
"Jack! Get Janet and a med team here pronto! I've got two men down and I need help!"
"That's a negative, we're pinned and there ain't no way we can get to the gate." Weapon chatter could be heard behind Jack's voice.
"Cut the line, Jack, I know this is an exercise!" Bursting through the front door, Joanna fell to her knees beside the two men lying in the dirt. "Call off your 'Jaffa' and go get Janet! Now, Colonel!"
Stripping off her tac vest, she ripped open one of the pockets and got out a compression bandage, her fingers probing the area where her knife had entered the soldier's abdomen. Deciding that it probably hadn't punctured anything that would continue bleeding profusely, she swiftly pulled out the blade and pressed the bandage to the wound.
"Teal'c!" Her bellow brought him sprinting out the door to crouch next to her. "Help me get his chest plate off. What the fuck were they thinking, putting me through a blind training exercise, could have gotten someone killed, for cryin' out loud." After the plate was off, they were able to secure the bandage around the boy's chest.
Unfortunately, her bellow also attracted the notice of a wandering 'Jaffa' patrol, and taking aim, they laid fire down around the quartet.
"Dammit!" Joanna crouched over the wounded man as dirt and rocks rained upon them. "Cease fire!" Picking herself up she turned toward the patrol. "The training exercise has been compromised! Go make sure Colonel O'Neill is getting a med team!" The false Jaffa paused, not sure what to make of the twist in the plot.
"The airmen have been injured and need medical attention. Return with a medic after you have seen O'Neill." Teal'c's words convinced the patrol, and with a curt nod they took off to find the Colonel.
Joanna meanwhile had been examining the other fallen soldier. "I don't dare remove this knife. I think it hit something vital." Sitting back on her heels, she shook her head and waited for Janet.
~~~~~
Jack and Joanna were the last ones through the Gate, trailing behind the medical team and the wounded.
General Hammond stood at the floor of the ramp, looking alternately at the two of them. "Would someone mind telling me what the hell happened?"
Joanna spoke up. "While taking the Great Hall I used my throwing knives to subdue two Jaffa guards. Only they weren't Jaffa. Once I realized it was only a training exercise—" Here she broke off and glared at Jack. "–I went back down, radioing to the Colonel to get Janet and proceeded to administer first aid."
Narrowing his eyes, Jack stared at Joanna. "When did you figure out it was just an exercise?"
"I got suspicious after the two airmen went down. They didn't have symbiotes. Then when I realized the First Prime didn't have one either, I knew."
"How?" Jack looked confused.
"She has naquadah in her system," Hammond answered for her.
Joanna threw a puzzled glance at Jack. "Don't you?"
"No!" was his emphatic reply.
Hammond jumped in before the two could start arguing. "Dr. Fraiser has said the airmen should make a full recovery. That, however, callous as it may seem, is the least of our worries." He turned to look up at the conference room window, Jack and Joanna's eyes following to see Thor and Loki watching them.
"Oh, fer cryin' out loud," they said together.