Author's Note: Contrary to how it probably appeared, I have not abandoned this story! I've slowly but surely been working on it between bouts of procrastination (my specialty). I apologize once again for the long delay in updating. This chapter is a bit longer than the previous ones, so I hope that makes up for it.
Several reviewers have asked whether or not there will be slash in this story. I don't read or write slash, so the answer to that is no. Actually, at this point I don't intend for there to be much romance of any kind, mainly because writing romance is not exactly my strong point. ;) Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Your comments are appreciated.
-
-
-
-
"Well, the place didn't get any cheerier since the last time we were here," O'Neill quipped as the team walked through the Stargate into Fangorn Forest once more. He stepped away from the Gate and squinted into the mass of trees.
"They oughta clear some of these out of here, let a little sunlight in," he said. "Maybe build a nice little apartment complex."
Carter chuckled, while Teal'c raised an eyebrow and decided not to comment.
"All right, let's move out," O'Neill ordered, starting off in the direction they had traveled on their previous visit. "We'll head for the plains, and see if we can meet up with those natives again."
"Their names are Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli," Daniel interjected.
"Yeah, them," O'Neill concluded.
The team walked in silence for several minutes, picking their way through myriad of roots and branches that littered the forest floor.
"I do not find this forest to be pleasant," Teal'c spoke up, breaking the thick silence.
"Yeah," Carter agreed. "It reminds me of the woods at the Land of Light. It's not as dark, but more...closed in. Not a place for claustrophobics."
"Better take some extra allergy medicine just in case, Daniel," O'Neill said with a grin, turning towards the archaeologist, only to find Daniel was not following as expected. "Daniel?"
"Over here, Jack!" came Daniel's voice from several yards away. "You should come take a look at this."
"Oh, here we go," O'Neill muttered, raising his eyes to heaven as though praying for patience. "Another 'rock' he won't be able to tear himself away from, I'll bet."
"You are incorrect, O'Neill," said Teal'c. The Jaffa had already made his way over to Daniel and was looking at something on the ground with a barely concealed expression of distaste.
"Whoa," O'Neill said, catching sight of Daniel's find. "What happened to him?"
Daniel wrinkled his nose. "Is this one of those Uruk-hai Jaffa?"
"Well, all we saw were burned bodies, so it was kind of hard to tell exactly what they look like, but I'd say it's a good guess that this is one of them," Carter said, gingerly kneeling next to the corpse. "It looks like he's been..."
"Smushed?" O'Neill offered.
"Well, yes sir, in so many words," Carter replied. "It's like a boulder fell on him."
O'Neill raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Well, Carter, I don't recall seeing any boulders in this forest."
Carter sat back on her heels. "Well, maybe a big tree branch. Or it could be something happened to him outside the forest and his body was just dumped here."
"Or perhaps this world contains creatures capable of doing such damage," Teal'c said darkly.
Carter and Daniel exchanged an uneasy look while O'Neill scanned the forest with renewed suspicion.
"Let's keep moving," he said after a moment, stepping away from the unfortunate Uruk. "Keep your eyes open."
A wary silence fell once more as the team continued. After several tense but uneventful minutes of walking, the edge of the forest came into view. Teal'c bulldozed through several thick branches, and the four stepped out onto the open plains, blinking in the sudden sunlight.
"Nice to be out of those woods!" Daniel stated, voicing the thoughts of all four of them.
Shielding his eyes with his hand, O'Neill scanned the plains, but saw only dead grass and a bit of smoke still rising from the Uruk pyre. Daniel had pulled out a pair of binoculars and was also surveying the area.
"You see them, Daniel?" O'Neill asked.
Daniel shook his head slowly, still peering through the binoculars. "Not seeing anything except that pile of Jaffa..."
"All right. Well, there's a lot of ground to cover, so let's split up. Carter, you and Daniel head out that way," O'Neill gestured towards the plains, "and Teal'c and I will walk around the edge of the forest, see if those guys are still in there looking for their missing friends. Radio us if you find anything."
"Will do, sir," Carter replied with a nod. "Daniel?"
"Yep," Daniel replied, hanging the binoculars around his neck and falling in step with Carter.
The smoky odor that had hung over the fields earlier had diminished, much to Carter's relief. She turned slowly as she walked to take in the surroundings, eyes skimming over the slightly rolling plains. Most of the grass appeared dry and dead, but patches of green still lingered in several places. Mountains rose in the distance, their peaks disappearing into the clouds, and clusters of trees could be seen dotting the plains and the mountainsides. Overall, if one ignored the pile of Uruk Jaffa corpses, it wasn't an unpleasant country to look upon, but at the moment Carter was more interested in finding its inhabitants than in admiring its geography.
"Uh, Sam?" Daniel's voice broke into her thoughts. "I think we're about to have company."
Carter turned and looked in the direction Daniel was pointing. A large band of Uruk Jaffa was rapidly approaching them. Carter swore under her breath and looked around in vain for hiding places.
"Sam, they're moving at a pretty good clip..." Daniel trailed off, fingering the pistol he often carried but rarely used.
"All right, back to the forest," Carter said quickly, naming their only available option.
As she turned to run, she heard an unearthly-sounding bellow and threw a glance over her shoulder. The Uruk-hai had spotted them.
Colonel O'Neill checked his watch and sighed. They'd been looking for those natives--what was the head guy's name? Ara-something-or-other? Aragorn, that was it--for more than half an hour, with no results.
"Not even any footprints," he muttered.
"Did you say something, O'Neill?" Teal'c inquired.
The Colonel's response was cut off as Carter's voice suddenly burst through his radio.
"Colonel!"
"Go ahead, Major," he answered into the radio.
"We've got a band of Jaffa on our six, sir!" she yelled, sounding breathless. "There's got to be at least twenty-five or thirty of them! We're heading back to the forest--"
The transmission ended abruptly. "Come in, Carter," O'Neill ordered. There was no response.
"Major Carter, please respond," O'Neill tried again. Nothing except static came from the radio, but the distinct sound of rapid-fire gunshots could be heard. Without hesitiation, the colonel and the Jaffa took off running towards the sound.
As Daniel sprinted headlong towards the forest, it occured to him that it was rather ironic how he was now racing back to the forest he'd been so eager to leave earlier.
A sharp cry of pain broke into his thoughts, and with a start he realized Sam was no longer running beside him, yelling into her radio. Whipping around, he saw her lying on the ground, a thick black arrow jutting out of her leg.
The nearest Uruk, holding a crossbow, was close enough now that Daniel could see his malicious grin and the look of smug triumph in his beady yellow eyes. He raised his bow again, arrow aimed at Carter's head.
Rolling on her back as quickly as her injured leg would allow, Carter brought her P-90 up and sent a round of bullets into the Uruk's midsection. He had just enough time to switch his expression from smug to astonished before he fell heavily to the ground.
It was quickly obvious, however, that their superior firepower was not enough of an advantage. Daniel swallowed hard as twenty more Uruks appeared in place of the one Sam had killed. One of them barked out a command in a gutteral, unfamiliar language, and several more came around behind Daniel, forcing him over towards the leader.
O'Neill's jaw was clenched as he watched the Uruks through his binoculars. They were surrounding Carter and Daniel closely enough that there was no way he could fire without risking hitting one of his teammates.
The lead Jaffa had grabbed Carter's gun and was now looking it over with undisguised interest. Shoving it into the hands of another Uruk, he grapsed the major's collar and pulled her up, forcing her to put weight on her wounded leg. Daniel was also being dragged by another Uruk, but the archaeologist appeared to be uninjured.
The lead Uruk pushed Carter away and growled an order. The band began to move out, hauling its prisoners alongside.
"What is our plan of action, O'Neill?" Teal'c spoke up.
Jack shoved his binoculars into his pocket and turned towards the forest. "Head back to the Stargate."
"Unscheduled off-world activation!"
At the sound of alarms and Sergeant Davis' announcement, General Hammond abandoned the ever-present paperwork in his office and strode towards the observation area overlooking the Gateroom.
The Gate burst to life behind the closed iris as he entered. Sergeant Davis was busily tapping away at the keyboard. "Receiving IDC, sir," he spoke up after a moment, glancing up at Hammond. "It's the Tok'ra."
Hammond nodded. "Open the iris."
The protective barrier retracted, and moments later two beige-clad figures appeared. One of them frowned, then spoke to the other in the deep, double-toned voice of a symbiote.
"It would appear that there is no one here to meet us."
The other Tok'ra rolled his eyes and replied, "Patience has never been your strongest point, Lantesh."
As if on cue, General Hammond entered the Gateroom.
"Welcome, Jacob, Martouf," he greeted.
"Good to see you again, George!" Jacob said. His smile dimmed as he glanced around the room. Aside from himself, Martouf, Hammond and a few soldiers, the area was empty. "Sam not here?"
Hammond shook his head. "I'm afraid your timing's a little off. SG-1 went offworld this morning."
Both Tok'ra looked disappointed at this news, although Martouf quickly masked his expression.
Jacob's head dipped briefly, signalling the switch in control from host to symbiote. "We have come to inform you of a new Goa'uld threat," Selmak said, "one whose power is steadily rising. The Tok'ra High Council felt it would be prudent to share this new intelligence with you."
Lines appeared in Hammond's forehead as it creased with concern. "Of course. Right this way."
"Several days ago," Selmak began after they were seated around the briefing room table, "a few of our operatives aboard Cronus' vessel overheard a conversation he had with another System Lord. They were discussing the rise of a new Goa'uld, one who calls himself Sauron.
"Apparently, Sauron has had little power for several millenia, and so the System Lords have not concerned themselves with him. But now, he is beginning to garner attention. The main world currently under his control is technologically insignificant; his focus there is to enslave the population. However, there is another planet under his control that has caused the System Lords to notice him. This second world has several small veins of naquada, and Sauron has slowly been taking this one step further by converting the naquada into naquadria."
"Do the System Lords plan to do anything about this?" Hammond asked.
"Not as far as we know," Martouf spoke up. "Most likely, the System Lords would rather wait until Sauron has built up a sizable amount of naquadria, then destroy him and take the naquadria for themselves."
"I see," Hammond said thoughtfully. "Well---"
Without warning, alarms began to blare, cutting the General off.
"Unscheduled off-world activation!" Sergeant Davis announced over the PA system.
Hammond rose from the table and and looked questioningly at Jacob and Martouf. "Are you expecting visits from any more Tok'ra?"
Jacob and Martouf exchanged a glance. "Don't think so," Jacob said. "Maybe SG-1's coming back?"
"They're not due back for several more days," Hammond stated, striding into the observation room with the Tok'ra close behind.
The seventh chevron locked, and the Gate activated behind the closed iris.
"Receiving IDC, sir. It's SG-1," reported Davis, adjusting his headset.
"Open the iris," Hammond ordered.
"Receiving radio transmission," Davis said after several seconds. He tapped a command on the keyboard, and an image of O'Neill appeared on the screen.
"Colonel, this is General Hammond. What's your status?" Hammond asked.
"Sir, Carter and Daniel have been captured by a band of those Jaffa," O'Neill reported, his voice crackling briefly with static. "Carter was injured as well."
The often-present lines in Hammond's forehead deepened again at this news. Behind him, Jacob stiffened, and a look of alarm crossed Martouf's face.
"How serious is Major Carter's injury?" Hammond asked.
"She took an arrow in the leg--I wasn't close enough to see if it broke any bones or not. It's not life-threatening, but she isn't going to be running anytime soon."
Hammond nodded. "Continue, Colonel."
"The Jaffa presumably took Carter and Daniel to the headquarters of that Saruman character we found out about earlier," O'Neill went on. "We're going to need reinforcements to attempt a rescue. I estimated at least twenty-five Jaffa took Carter and Daniel, and who knows how many more there are at Saruman's fortress." O'Neill's face was expressionless, but Hammond knew SG-1's leader was inwardly seething at having been forced to stand by and watch as his team members were overpowered.
Hammond nodded again, although O'Neill couldn't see him. "Understood, Colonel. I'll see what I can do."
"Yes, sir. O'Neill out." The screen went blank as the transmission was cut, and the Gate disengaged a moment later.
Martouf's eyes flashed as Lantesh emerged. "We must return to Vorash immediately," the symbiote intoned. "We will inform the Council of this news."
"Will they be willing to help?" Hammond asked, a bit of skepticism in his tone.
"They will if I have anything to say about it," growled Jacob, glaring at nothing in particular.
At Hammond's nod, Davis moved aside, allowing Jacob to key in the coordinates to Vorash.
"These are the coordinates to the world SG-1 is on," Davis said, handing Jacob a piece of paper. "We designated it P3X-537."
"Well, it looks like your timing wasn't so bad after all," Hammond remarked as he walked with the Tok'ra to the Gateroom. "We'd appreciate whatever assistance the Tok'ra can offer."
"The final decision will, of course, be up to the Council," Lantesh cautioned, his words slightly drowned out by the characteristic whoosh of the Gate opening.
"Of course," Hammond said. "Good luck."
Both Tok'ra inclined their heads, then turned to face the Stargate. Hammond watched as they walked up the ramp, disappearing through the event horizon.