Forged Steel
Part Four
Daniel stared at the planet before him.
It was most definitely not Abydos.
Instead of the sandstone blocks of the temple interior, gently illuminated by the reflection of the blinding sun on the desert sands, the scene before them was a rocky waste. Like the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, black basalt steppes stretched out before them for miles upon miles and scrubby hills were visible in the distance.
Behind him, the event horizon glopped as his team-mates emerged and stared at the unfamiliar landscape.
"What the hell...?" Jack exclaimed, "Carter?"
"Sir, I have no idea."
"O'Neill, where are Kasuf and San y'kel?"
Daniel spun on his heel, turning three hundred and sixty degrees.
There was no sign of either his father-in-law, or the Returned One.
Only SG-1 and the Stargate.
"Carter?"
Sam's voice had a thread of uncertainty in her voice as she pulled out one of her instruments. "I don't know, sir. The co-ordinates were Abydos – and even if they weren't, Kasuf and the old man should be with us..."
"Is there any chance they were...lost, en-route?" Daniel voiced the concern. "Or sent to a different gate?"
Adjusting dials on the meter, Sam bit her lip. "If there was a power surge as we stepped into the gate, then they might have ended up on Abydos, while we ended up..." she glanced around, "...here."
"Which is...where?" Jack had that expression on his face where he knew he was shouting into the wind for answers but was going to ask anyway.
"I don't know..." Sam's voice trailed off as a light shone down and the transporter rings materialised around them.
When the light faded, they already had their weapons upright and ready for action. But a quick glance around them confirmed that the wall of the room was lined with more Jaffa than they could take out with two P-90s, a Beretta semi-automatic handgun and a staff-weapon.
A quick glance also showed the face of the Goa'uld who held them.
Zipacna.
"Lay down your weapons," grinned the Goa'uld, "Or your friends will die."
He waved a hand at the door and three prisoners were dragged in.
Three familiar prisoners.
"Father!" Rya'c cried from where the Jaffa held him in a firm grip.
Teal'c took one step forward, then stopped as another Jaffa prepped the zat gun aimed at the spine of his son. "You have tainted your son, shol'va," he spat, "And doomed his life."
Sam didn't cry out as Rya'c had, but her knuckles were white against the black metal of her P-90 as she looked towards her father. In return, Jacob looked back at his daughter with love, regret and an acceptance of his fate which terrified Daniel. What Selmak and Jacob had seen during their time in captivity had been enough to douse the spark of hope in both. There would be no easy way out of this place.
But Daniel's breath caught as the third captive stumbled to her knees, spitting blood as her breath echoed in her throat.
"Daniel?" There was a husky tone to her voice, but none of the sonorous echo indicating Goa'uld possession. "Daniel!" The man behind her took a fistful of gold curls and yanked Sarah Gardiner's head up so she could see the four standing in the centre of the room.
"This host was useful in getting me off Earth," said the man holding Sarah's hair, the Goa'uld overtones chiming unpleasantly in their ears. "Her usefulness has ended: she lacks the qualities I require in my host." The Goa'uld smiled, an unpleasant sneer on the human face. "We are learning, you see. As Anubis has shown us, it is possible even for the Goa'uld to change their spots..."
Daniel suddenly remembered that Sarah had always been fond of Kipling.
"Place your weapons at your feet," Zipacna instructed them and Jack nodded once in confirmation to his team, his mouth set in a line of bitter defeat as he and the others did so. "I am pleased indeed to see you."
"Pity I can't say the same," Jack replied shortly.
"Ah, yes... The infamous O'Neill humour." The Goa'uld spoke lazily, as if there were no urgency to the situation. "We shall find it most entertaining, I am sure..." He signalled to the Jaffa.
"We aim to please," came the sour reply a moment before zat'nik'atel blasts hit the four travellers one by one.
Daniel felt the tendrils of electricity lock his muscles, sending spasms through his body as it interfered with his nervous system. Then he slipped into blessed unconsciousness.
He was slapped out of insensibility by a slim hand pummelling him with determined intensity. The touch of those fingers was familiar. They'd once been beloved. "Daniel! Daniel, wake up!"
His vision returned slowly, "Sarah..." Then comprehension took hold of him and shook him hard. "Sarah!" Sitting up so fast he nearly knocked heads with her, Daniel found himself looking into her eyes.
Lucent blue eyes stared back at him, watching his reaction hesitantly. "Daniel? It's me...Sarah..." She waited as he studied her face, looking for signs of the Goa'uld possessing her, although he knew from first-hand experience how expertly the Goa'uld could deceive. He'd never even guessed Sarah was a Goa'uld until the moment he'd seen her in the pyramid. Then the pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place and Daniel had realised how much he'd revealed – and who he'd revealed it to.
There was no way for him to tell – not like Sam or Teal'c who would sense the presence of the Goa'uld. He'd have to make do with trust. "Sarah," he touched her cheek. "What happened?"
"They shot you with the...the zat'nik'atel ..." She stumbled over the word, both familiar and unfamiliar with the terminology. "You and your friends..." Her hand reached for his, seeking contact and comfort as she broke down, "Daniel, I...I have these memories...I did...horrible things."
"It wasn't you." He let his fingers close around hers, closed his arms around her, trying to give her the comfort she needed. Goa'uld host or not, the woman that was Sarah needed the reassurance that while Daniel hated the creature which had reduced her to this – reminding him so poignantly of Sha'ure's three year imprisonment – he didn't hate her. "It wasn't you doing that, Sarah, it was the Goa'uld. Osiris did those things..."
"Using my body," she said, huskily. "Using me."
He captured both her hands in his and tipped her face up to look at him. "Listen to me, Sarah," he told her, letting his gaze flicker over the delicacy of her features, "When a Goa'uld takes your body it feels like you performing those actions but it's not. It's not you doing those things." He'd spent some time on Tollana with Ska'ara before his brother-by-law had gone with the Tok'ra to tell them what he could of Apophis and the Goa'uld. Ska'ara had also been feeling the weight of Klorel's actions and it had taken long talks by everyone from Daniel to Teal'c to get Ska'ara to understand that his friends didn't hold him responsible for Klorel's actions. "I know you, remember? You'd never do what Osiris did – and it was not you..." He watched her face as the crystal eyes searched him for much-needed belief. "Trust me, Sarah. I know."
And Daniel did know. He had witnessed not only Ska'ara's struggle to accept what Klorel had done through him, but also Sha'ure's grief at what Ammonet had done in her. She had shared her grief and shame with him during their brief reunion on Abydos before Shifu was born and through the message she had sent him through the ribbon device – the voice he still sometimes heard in his dreams: Hear me, my Dan'yel.
Daniel had never been possessed by a Goa'uld, but he'd seen how the host was helpless to stop the creature. They could influence the Goa'uld as Kendra had influenced her Goa'uld to go to Cimmeria and Sha'ure had blinded Ammonet to Daniel and the others on Abydos, but not control or stop the actions. What the creature chose to do it did.
Sarah looked as if she would have liked to believe it, but the doubt remained in her expression as she began, "Daniel..."
A grinding sound interrupted her and their heads turned to the opening door of their cell.
Daniel hadn't yet glanced at the cell they'd been put in. Now he did. Nine feet by nine feet it was one of several in a row, separated by thin silvery bars, but the cells on each side were empty. There was no sign of his team, Jacob, or Rya'c.
He wondered where they were. He hoped they were okay. He trusted that they were trying to find a way out of the clutches of the Goa'uld.
And he didn't know what to make of the situation.
They'd stepped into the wormhole bound for Abydos, only to find themselves on a strange planet. Two of their number had disappeared in transit while SG-1 found themselves captured by Anubis' forces.
A moment later the new host of Osiris walked in and situational analysis became secondary to other concerns. Such as exactly what the Goa'uld wanted from them. He stifled a bitter laugh. What didn't the Goa'uld want from them? Sarah shifted closer to him, her slim form shivering a little as two Jaffa followed the Goa'uld in. One grabbed Daniel while the other grabbed Sarah. Both humans tried to fight, Daniel with a little more success than Sarah; but even as he struggled, he knew his attempts to be futile. Overpowered and brutally handled, they were dragged into another room where manacles hung down from the walls and one pair dangled from the ceiling.
He was chained to the wall as Sarah was chained to the ceiling. Osiris lifted the metal rod in one hand and the trident end of the pain stick gleamed in the dim light sending cold chills down his spine.
Daniel knew exactly what came next.
He wasn't disappointed.
Sarah screamed as the pain stick was pressed against her abdomen, a shriek of agony that tore through Daniel like claws in his gut.
"Stop it!" The cry was helpless and hopeless and Daniel knew it.
But Osiris jerked the pain stick back and the hoarse sound of Sarah's breathing echoed in the silence. "It fascinates us how you will endure much for your own sake – and yet will endure even more for the sake of others." Again, the instrument was jabbed at Sarah; again, she screamed in pain. "For your own sake you would withhold the information we desire of you." He continued talking over his victim's cries. "Will you hold back the information when it is her life which hangs in the balance?"
Daniel swallowed with a mouth that was suddenly dry.
Would he?
----
Rya'c is here.
The thought brought Teal'c to full consciousness in a moment and he scanned the room into which he'd been thrown. Cold metal floor, long thin bars spaced closely together, an opaque door and over in the corner...
He clambered over to his son's prostrate body with more speed than elegance and checked Rya'c's pulse. Just as his senses registered the pulse of blood steady and strong, his hand was flung away as the boy scrambled to his feet and spun to face the person he thought was attacking him.
"Rya'c!" Teal'c watched the fluid movements of his son, the lankiness of arm and leg and knew his child was nearly a man.
With his back in the corner, legs braced to defend himself if the need arose, Rya'c blinked once. "Father?" He took one incredulous look, then propelled himself out of the corner and into his father's arms. The Jaffa boy might have been growing into a man, but he still had a some of a child's need for protection and reassurance. "They came from the sky, Father. They killed Bra'tac. I ran for the Chappa'ai to call for help, but they caught me..." The husky voice cracked a little, "I think Mother and the others..."
Teal'c let his son's hands grip his fatigue jacket and felt the angry and frustrated tears of his son seep into his shirt. Within him a growing rage smouldered as he thought of the Land of Light and its people slaughtered or enslaved by the Goa'uld. All to gain one boy whose value was solely in the man who would do anything to keep him safe.
"How long have you been in the hands of the Goa'uld, Rya'c?"
The boy lifted his head from his father's chest, "I do not know, Father. At least several days. When I realised who held me, I have learned all I can about them." He faltered, uncertain of the usefulness of his information. "It is not much."
In spite of the dire nature of their situation, Teal'c felt his heart warm a little. Indeed his son was growing to become a mighty warrior – a son to be proud of. Fate willing, Rya'c would indeed grow to become a mighty Jaffa warrior who fought for the freedom of his people.
Fate willing.
"You have done well, Rya'c." Teal'c looked around the cell. "You have done more than a father could hope or expect of his son." Rya'c straightened with the pride in his father's voice and Teal'c let him go. "We shall find a way out of this place. I swear it."
Even as he spoke, the doors opened and five Jaffa entered, one in the lead while the others flanked him. "Shol'va!" The leader spat, meeting Teal'c's eyes. "You have betrayed your god and led others to apostasy. Corrupted the young and the innocent..."
"It is not I who am corrupted by what I do!" Teal'c responded, fiercely. "What kind of god requires you to do such things that bring no honour to a man? Teaching my son to believe as I do is no corruption. To kill innocents in the name of a creature who is no god but merely a parasite..." He heard the sickening crackle of zat-fire as it coruscated around him, into him, paralysing his limbs and numbing his mind.
"Father!" Rya'c knelt beside Teal'c and glared at the Jaffa leader. A younger boy might have tried to attack the stronger man, but it was with relief that Teal'c saw his son knew to wait for the opportunity to strike.
"You speak blasphemy, shol'va," the lead Jaffa snarled.
Unable to move, Teal'c watched as Rya'c turned to regard the Jaffa with hatred in his eyes, "My father speaks the truth! The Goa'uld have no power without us! They are weak and puny things..."
Teal'c saw the butt end of a staff weapon descending towards his son and lunged for it, ignoring the agony of his muscles in an attempt to intercept it before it cracked his son's head. Grabbing the end of the weapon, his momentum yanked the staff weapon from his hand and as he slid along the floor he twisted, activating it and aiming it at the Jaffa in the doorway.
The leader and the three remaining Jaffa had their weapons pointed at him.
"You could not kill us all before we killed you, shol'va," sneered the Jaffa leader. Rya'c took one step forward, in preparation for launching himself at the first of the guards, but the zat swivelled to aim at him. "Do not think to fight, child." The appellation was contemptuous. "We could kill you where you stand – and we shall unless your father lays down the weapon and passes it across the floor." The square-jawed face tilted and there was mockery in his expression. "What shall it be, shol'va?"
There was a moment when Teal'c contemplated shooting the leader anyway, before his instincts kicked in and he shut down the weapon and shoved it towards the guards. He would not do anything to endanger his son. Cautiously, the guard picked up his weapon and pointed it at Teal'c and the leader of the Jaffa continued.
"Teal'c, son of shol'va Ronac who failed his god, you have been apostate for six years and your rebellion has drawn others into blasphemy and apostasy. We give you this opportunity to repent and return to the service of the gods – with your son as witness as you recant."
With a snort, Teal'c recalled another time and place when he'd been told to recant his 'apostasy' and hadn't. "The Goa'uld torturer Terok once thought as you do. He thought I valued my life over my beliefs – and he learned otherwise, as you well know." The recording of that torture-session had been grabbed by Rak'nor as he rescued Teal'c from Heru'ur's ship. Placed in the hands of Jaffa who also believed in freedom it had been a powerful tool. Teal'c the shol'va believed so strongly in the freedom of his people that he allowed himself to be tortured to the point of death – and the power of his belief touched the heart of one of his jailers. The recording had been shown to many Jaffa, had swayed many who would otherwise have been indifferent to the hope of freedom.
But Teal'c watched as the leader grinned maliciously. "Yes, Terok indeed learned otherwise." He spoke with a leisurely amusement. "There are many things a man will take upon himself, shol'va, which he will not allow others to bear." The muzzles of the weapons pointed at Teal'c shifted their focus.
Teal'c froze.
"Your son is but a child, shol'va. The seed of your loins. Will you condemn not only yourself, but him also?"
There was no doubt in Teal'c's mind that these warriors would kill his son to reach him. The legends of Anubis and his followers, even before the Goa'uld's exile, were of a frightening viciousness and a pleasure in the destruction and pain of others.
His eyes travelled from the mocking expression of the Jaffa leader to the steady, earnest gaze of his son. Rya'c believed his father could do anything – he had seen nothing to indicate otherwise. Although Teal'c had been hunted by the System Lords and their followers for many years, still he came to see Rya'c when his time permitted. He had been careful to make sure Rya'c understood the cause for which Teal'c was fighting – the freedom of their people. Sometimes personal sacrifices had to be made in the name of your cause and Teal'c had never let Rya'c doubt how much his father loved him.
But what price freedom?
Teal'c fought for freedom for himself and his people. Included in that was his son – his son whom he had tried to stop being implanted with a Goa'uld larvae, that Rya'c might be completely free of the taint of the Goa'uld. He had failed in that.
Others had succeeded.
During his time on Kel Mar with the Jaffa rebellion, Teal'c had been approached by several warriors who spoke to him about their children: daughters picked to be priestesses, sons accepted to become Jaffa warriors. Once it had been a great honour for a child to receive a primta – but many among the Jaffa now thought otherwise. Some had fought their wives and families to avoid their children being taken by the priests, some had killed the priests themselves, earning them the title of shol'va. They, too, believed in the freedom of the Jaffa people so powerfully that they wished their children to live without the influence of the Goa'uld.
"So, shol'va? What will it be?"
What parent would not wish their child to live? To see them survive and grow, laugh and run and play; to live with honour and passion?
But Teal'c could not renounce his belief in the freedom of his people. The Goa'uld were not gods and never had been. They had enslaved his people for thousands of years, inflicted their rule on hundreds of worlds, slaughtered innocents in the name of their self-worship and destroyed cultures which could have challenged their rule but which they could not dominate.
Teal'c could not give up his beliefs. Not even for his son. What kind of a life could he promise his son in slavery? The hope that he would become the First Prime of a god whose whim could have you killed in a moment of anger? The knowledge that he would be forced to shed blood for the glory of his master – and that no failure would be brooked? The guilt and frustration of serving a master who cared nothing for the foot soldiers that built him his empire?
If he took back his words, what would happen to his people? What would happen to the warriors whom he had stood beside on Kel Mar? What would become of the men he had given a cause worth fighting for – a dream of freedom instead of the fear of a god's punishment for failure?
Symbols are powerful things, buddy. O'Neill had told him on the way home from the incident on Heru'ur's ship with Rak'nor. You've become a symbol to both the Jaffa serving the Goa'uld and the guys who want to be free. One group see you as the enemy of everything they stand for – and the fanatics will do anything to take you out – preferably with your signed confession that you were wrong. O'Neill had waved a hand at the recording device that Major Carter was studying with Daniel Jackson. Which I guess was what that was all about. The others see you and figure that if a big guy like you can doubt and rebel then it must be okay. Under the snake-head you had the best a Jaffa can have and you still thought that freedom was better. That says a lot.
"I love my son," Teal'c said quietly, tearing his eyes from Rya'c's frightened but steady gaze. "But my son loves freedom – as do I. I choose freedom." He lifted his chin, "We choose freedom."
He knew what he was pronouncing – a death knell on both himself and his son. But more hinged on this than just their lives: the lives and freedom of so many other warriors, the fight for the freedom of the Jaffa people.
The lip of the Jaffa leader curled and he shot Rya'c once with the zat making the adolescent crumple to the floor. "So it shall be, shol'va." Teal'c launched himself at the leader, but the second shot of zat-fire struck Rya'c square in the chest and the boy's struggles ceased as Teal'c slammed the body of the warrior on the floor. An ominous cracking sound indicated that bone had been broken and the abruptly vacant stare of the leader indicated the bone had been important
The zat clattered across the floor and one of the Jaffa lunged for it, but the long staff weapon hindered him and Teal'c had no difficulty in breaking his jaw with a well-aimed blow. The zat he thus gripped was swiftly aimed and shot at the two remaining Jaffa. One went down immediately, while the other got a shot off at him, but Teal'c had rolled and the blast missed him by mere inches, the cold floor made colder by the brief glimpse of his son's limp body a few feet away. The second blast took out the last guard and with fierce fury, Teal'c pumped a second shot into both of them, then dropped to his knees beside Rya'c.
No pulse. No breath. No flutter of the eyelids or twitch of the cheek.
Rya'c was dead.
Grief flooded through him, snapping every nerve to maximum sensitivity, stinging his eyes and constricting his chest. His son was dead.
Memories flooded him, a poignant ache. The large-eyed infant Teal'c had held in his arms, trembling when the midwife presented his son to him mere moments after birth. The toddler who had squealed as his father threw him up in the air, and demanded, "More play!" The boy who had demanded a bedtime story from the parent usually absent – the tale of Fareki and the mivvkas. The young man who had faced his father the last time Teal'c went to visit him in the Land of Light, proud and determined to show his father that he was a son worthy of his father and a warrior worthy of freedom.
Ah yes, Teal'c understood O'Neill's grief now. The years might sand back the sharp edges of grief and guilt, but the loss would always be refracted through a lens of pain. It would ease with the passing of time, but it would never fully go – the faintest of pangs at the heart when the thoughts turned to the dead child.
Aware that there was more here at stake, even in his son's death, Teal'c glanced at the still-open door. He knew he had to leave here and find his friends before he was recaptured. His heart was heavy in his breast, but he could do nothing for Rya'c. Although there might be a sarcophagus on the ship somewhere – Teal'c presumed they were on a ship – it would be heavily guarded. Anubis might be a Goa'uld, but he was a dangerous one – more so than all the System Lords combined.
Pressing a kiss to his son's forehead and saluting the child for the warrior he'd never become, Teal'c went to pick up the zat. As he did so, he realised that Apophis had somehow revived him – turned him against his friends. If Apophis could do such a thing was it unreasonable to think that Anubis could do that to Rya'c?
There was a solution, much as he hated to do it. Taking the zat, he aimed it at Rya'c's body, then fired once, twice, three times.
The slim body vanished and Teal'c stood watching the spot where his son had lain with a leaden weight in his chest. He would feel the full extent of his guilt later, he knew. But the man that Rya'c would have grown into would have understood the choice his father had made. Freedom for all the Jaffa – whatever the cost.
Teal'c would have to trust in that.
Turning on his heel, ignoring the grief which threatened to choke him, Teal'c coolly dematerialised the bodies of Anubis' dead Jaffa and began the search for his friends.
----
"Wake up, Jack!"
He nearly broke the wrist of the hand slapping him awake.
That was before he realised the hand doing the slapping and the voice doing the yelling were familiar
Jack blinked once, trying to work out when Carter's Dad had arrived here. Then he remembered where here was.
Damn.
He sat up and groaned as his muscles reminded him that sleeping on a cold floor was never a good idea after being hit by zat-fire. Then, too, being hit by zat-fire was never a good idea either.
"Nice to have you back with us, Colonel," Jacob said dryly. "I was worried I'd have to carry you out over my shoulder."
Jack squinted at the Tok'ra, his vision still not one-hundred percent. "There's a way out of here?" Given that he'd seen a lot of Jaffa before they shot him, he doubted they'd found themselves right next to a Stargate all ready to get home.
"Sam's looking into it."
"Carter?"
"Sir?"
"Found anything?"
"Not yet." He heard footsteps coming back towards him, "Looks like a standard prison cell on a Goa'uld ship."
Jack gripped his skull as the mother of all headaches struck him. "Damn, I'm getting too old for this."
Jacob sat back on his heels, amused, "Remember who you're talking to, Jack."
"Hey, I don't have a snake in the head, Jacob! No offence to Selmak, of course." Personally, Jack couldn't think of anything worse than having a symbiote – someone else in your head, seeing your thoughts. He'd come that close to it after the thing on Hathor's ship and he never wanted to feel anything like it again. "Where's Daniel and Teal'c?"
"We don't know sir," Carter crouched down beside him, using her fingertips to steady herself. "There were three hostages – Sarah Gardiner – I think they took the Goa'uld out of her…"
"They did," Jacob said.
"…Rya'c and Dad. One for Daniel, one for Teal'c and one for me. Since I'm in here with Dad, it makes sense to assume Daniel's with Sarah and Teal'c's with Rya'c."
"Why don't they have anyone for me?" Jack demanded, just talking in an attempt to work out what levels he could speak at without his brain resonating painfully inside his skull.
"They do," Jacob said bluntly. "They have three of them."
Jack caught Carter's eye and his mouth twisted a little in wry and bitter acknowledgement. The older man had hit the nail on the head. There was no-one in the galaxy Jack cared about as much as his team.
Looking back at the 'retired' General, Jack noted the faint fading bruises on Jacob's cheek. "How long have they had you, Jacob?"
Carter seemed calm enough, which meant that she'd probably already done the catch-up with her Dad while Jack was still out of it.
"A week." The Tok'ra grimaced. "They haven't done much – I've had worse in cadet training. Selmak's a life-saver." The grimace turned into a wry smile of affection for his symbiote.
Jack shook his head. Not in a million years. "So what options do we have?"
Father and daughter looked at each other, then Jacob's head dropped and when it rose again, Selmak spoke. "It is a considerable coup for Zipacna and Osiris. The System Lords have been hunting me for many thousands of years and then to gain the infamous SG-1…"
"Guess they don't accept bail," Jack quipped and watched Carter's mouth twitch.
Suddenly, Selmak lifted one hand. "Someone comes."
A moment later, the faint clank of armoured footsteps could be heard and all three scrambled to their feet. Jack quickly went to stand beside the door of the cell, ready to take on the intruders. Jacob took the other side of the doorway – although whether it was Jacob or Selmak presently in control, Jack had no way of telling. Frankly, he didn't care. He'd never been fond of the Tok'ra, although for Jacob he'd make an exception – but an ally was an ally.
The door rose into the ceiling, but as the person entered, Jack felt the unwelcome frisson of zat-fire coruscate through his body. Collapsing against the wall, he saw Jacob hauled up by one of the burly Jaffa following Zipacna into the room. A moment later, he, too, was hauled up before being flung facedown on the floor.
Carter took a step forward towards them – and rebounded back. The electric blue shimmer of a force-field crackled between her and both her captors and the men they held prisoner.
Crap.
"Major Carter…" Zipacna ignored the two prostrate men before him, smiling broadly. "I offer you an exchange of prisoners."
"Sam, don't!"
"If you will agree to serve the Goa'uld freely, giving up your knowledge both as Samantha Carter and Jolinar of Malkshur, we will release your friends and the people we hold as hostage." Although Jack couldn't see the Goa'uld's expression, he could see the uncertainty flicker across his team-mate's face.
"Carter…" Now was not the time for heroic sacrifices!
For what seemed like ages, she didn't say a thing. Behind Jack, the Jaffa shifted restlessly, but Carter remained silent, her mind ticking over the implications of the offer.
She wouldn't accept it. Carter had more brains than that. Hell, she had more brains than just about anyone Jack had ever met – well, maybe with the exception of Daniel.
But the silence was making him nervous.
Don't take it, Carter. Don't accept. They'll just screw you over. You know exactly what the Goa'uld are and how they think… Carter was a smart cookie, she knew that.
But for her team…
Jack knew how far he'd go for his team, he just hoped Carter wouldn't go as far.
"How do I know you'll really let them go?"
"You have my word."
"The word of a Goa'uld?" Jack could actually hear Carter's raised eyebrows in her tone of voice.
"Yes."
"What's to stop you from making me a host and getting my knowledge that way?" She sounded more belligerent than she usually was when speaking to Jack – not that he had a problem with that.
Zipacna's smile was audible in his voice. "Because we know our own kind, Major Carter. Any Goa'uld with your knowledge would be a dangerously ambitious ally. It would be less difficult for my master to acquire your knowledge through you than another Goa'uld."
"I see." Another thoughtful pause followed, before she spoke with a steely determination in her voice. "I would never allow myself to make that kind of bargain." Jack felt like cheering in spite of what her decision meant. You go, Major! "And you would never keep your end of it."
That was the woman he commanded! Cool, competent and ballsy as any man he'd known.
The silence behind Jack had a slightly astonished quality, as if Carter's change of heart had surprised Zipacna. Perhaps it had.
"Very well, Major Carter. Your choice. Your loss."
And with that Zipacna gave a quick signal to one of the Jaffa who fired two shots into Jacob.
The Tok'ra jerked once and the eyes glowed gold before fading into unseeing dark irises. Jack cried out in protest at the same time as Carter lunged forward – straight into the force field. She bounced back, falling to the floor and cursing softly as she landed. He glimpsed the tears in her eyes a moment before the Jaffa holding him ground his heel into his kidneys, sending his midriff into an explosion of pain.
Then Zipacna turned on his heel and the door hissed shut behind him, leaving the two officers with the dead Tok'ra.
End of Part Four