Author: Jackie W.
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PART 5 – To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...
Sam Carter was cursing up a storm. Two freaking hours more and she and the General would have made a clean escape. Instead, she was going to most likely have to walk into Ba'al's Mothership and pluck the man directly out from under the nose of his royal snakeyness. But first she needed to get her backup onto the planet. She drew in a deep breath and silently moved to the middle of the clearing and taking out a small aerosol canister she proceeded to spray while she turned in a big circle.
Within two minutes all of the Jaffa around the gate were dead or dying. Sam verified once more that Teal'c was not bringing through any rebel Jaffa that would be harmed by the residue of the poison and then gave him the go ahead. As the four figures stepped through the gate and looked around she turned off her cloaking device. She quickly greeted Teal'c, Bray'tac, Ishta and Maybourne and pointed them in the direction of the pathway.
"Let's move out. We may still be able to get back to the General before Ba'al's men find him," Sam said.
"Samantha, how long will the area around the gate remain dangerous for anyone with a symbiote?" Ishta inquired as they made their way through the woods.
"Four to six hours," Sam told her.
"Then it would be best if we had the rescue completed by then to insure our ability to easily get back ," Ishta stated practically.
"Indeed it would," Sam replied with determination.
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They paused at the edge of the trees when they reached the mine. Off to the distance in the bright moonlight they could now see the Mothership perched on the top of the pyramid it was using as a landing pad. Sam was just about to turn to the others and suggest that they wait while she entered the mine to find Jack when there was a commotion ahead of them. Sam's heart dropped as she watched an unconscious Jack O'Neill being dragged towards the ship by a squadron of Jaffa.
Giving a couple of quick signals she moved the group along the edge of tree line paralleling the path the Jaffa were taking with the General in tow. Quickly she began to formulate a plan and she halted for a split second to hiss out the basics to Teal'c
"If I can I'm going to ride up in the rings with them and see where they take him. Be ready. As soon as I can I will ring you all up," she ordered even as she was activating her cloaking device. Then she raced on ahead to catch up with the General.
Luck was with her and only two of the Jaffa ringed up with Jack leaving plenty of room for her to tag along. Once inside the ship the Jaffa dragged Jack directly to Ba'al, who was disappointed to find his prize unconscious. He ordered him locked up and brought back to him as soon as he'd woken up. Sam followed then to the cells and then hurried back to the ring room. Moments later her four compatriots had joined her and she was able to further explain her plan.
"I'm using the opportunity to rid the galaxy of this maniac forever. But to do that we will need help. Bray'tac, if you could track down the rebel Jaffa and get them to seek out any Tok'ra on board, I'll need the group of you to wait outside Ba'al's quarters and clear our escape route. Teal'c I want you and Ishta to plant C4 at the Sarcophagus and then go disable the hyperdrive and the glider bay doors so that there is no way for Ba'al to escape or come back from the dead. Set the timer on the C4 for an hour and have a remote so we can blow it at will. You know which crystals to pull to shut down the engines. Harry, you keep this ring room clear at all costs," she quickly commanded. "Zats only if at all possible. I don't want to tip off Ba'al that I'm here until it's too late."
"You are going to take him on by yourself?" Bray'tac asked.
"Yes I am, Sam told them as she pulled out the ribbon device and fit it on her hand, activating the shield momentarily to ensure it was working. "He thinks he has the power of a God? He hasn't seen anything," she warned.
And with that she cloaked herself and headed back to find the General.
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An hour later Jack O'Neill was up and taunting his captors. Several minutes earlier, Sam's radio had clicked twice signaling an update and she had ducked into a storage room. Teal'c had planted the C4 and the timer had 45 minutes remaining on it. He and Ishta had just pulled the crystals to disable the drive and were working on the controls for the bay doors. Bray'tac had rounded up two To'kra and several rebel Jaffa. She ordered them to take positions outside of Ba'al's quarters and wait for the General to be brought in. Then to zat any guards in the hallway outside clearing the beginning of the escape route. Maybourne reported in that all was quiet in the ring room.
Now as the Jaffa led Jack off to be questioned by Ba'al she sent up a silent prayer that everything would go as planned. 'Just this once, please,' she thought as she mentally crossed her fingers. Then she squared her shoulders and prepared herself for the battle that she knew was ahead.
Jack for his part was at least kept from thinking about his upcoming torture by his worry over what had happened to Sam. He hoped she hadn't been captured and that she's had enough sense to leave and go get backup when she saw that Ba'al had arrived. Little did he know that she was following him right into the lion's den.
He couldn't help the small shudder that ran through his body at the sight of the arrogant System Lord, or the sarcastic comments that immediately sprang to his lips to mask the fear.
"Ba'al old buddy ol' pal! What have you been up to? You don't write, and you don't call, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten all about me!" he complained. "But I suppose you've been busy since I killed off that scumbag Anubis. My thank you note for that one must have gotten lost, by the way."
"Silence!" Ba'al ordered and Jack felt a small bit of satisfaction at the annoyed tone even as he was hauled over to the wall that he knew would pin him like an insect to a specimen board.
"So I hope you have come up with some new toys since the last time we met. The knives and acid were getting a bit old," Jack wheezed as the gravity field smashed him flat.
"I'm sorry to say we will have to make do with the old methods," Ba'al stated picking up a knife.
As he let it go Jack prepared himself for the searing pain he knew was to come only to watch in shock as the knife suddenly veered off and then fell to the ground.
"Well that was new," Jack commented.
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Sam had been waiting for the blue flashes out in the hallway she could see from her vantage point to let her know when Ba'al's Jaffa were taken out and he was without backup. By the time she knew it was safe the System Lord was already pointing a knife at Jack and her only option was to kick it out of the air. Then she made her move.
Simultaneously she turned off the cloaking device and raised her right hand to blast Ba'al back against the wall.
"I believe you have something of mine," she complained as she moved forward keeping him pinned by the beam coming from her that only strengthened as she thought of the torture he had been about to inflict on the General once again. "Now you will have to pay for that."
Ba'al made one final effort to raise his own hand against her so she sent a final surge directly at his head and he slumped with finality to the floor. With a shudder she deactivated the weapon and took a couple of shaky steps over to the controls and released the General from the gravity field.
Jack walked over near the body of the System Lord and asked "Is he dead?"
Sam wordlessly took out her zat and fired it two times, then looked at Jack with a question in her eyes. When he answered with a grim nod she fired once more causing the body to disappear. "He is now."
Her knees threatened to give out at that point. The energy she had used to bring down Ba'al on top of using the healing device twice in the last several hours had seriously drained the last of her reserves. And seeing Jack standing safe and sound in front of her after all these weeks was taking an emotional toll. But they weren't safe yet. So she slowly took in a big breath to clear her head, and grabbed Jack's hand.
"We need to get out of here," she said, and then called out to Teal'c that Ba'al was dead and they were coming out.
As they moved into the corridor and headed towards the ring room Sam filled him in on the C4 that had been planted. When they arrived Jack was shocked to see who was waiting for them there but there was no time to comment. Sam ordered the others to stay put while she ringed down and cleared the area, then she activated her cloaking device and was off. The ten waited the ordered three minutes and then followed in three groups.
They were in the woods a good distance from the ship when the C4 blew, and they finally stopped to get their bearings. That was when Jack finally spoke up.
"Would someone like to tell me how Harry got to be in my rescue party?" he demanded with a raised eyebrow.
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Sam couldn't help a small smile. "I'll fill you in on the way to the gate. Harry and Teal'c you are with us," she ordered. Then turning to the Jaffa and Tok'ra she reminded them to stay away from the gate area for at least another four hours. "Those Jaffa that are not interested in joining you will have no choice but to try to gate out of here," she pointed out. "I recommend that you are as persuasive as possible."
Then the four started out towards the gate and Sam recounted for the General how she had met up with Harry Maybourne, and using his contacts they had tracked Aris Boch and made him talk. She never said a word about the mission not being authorized, so when they reached the clearing which was now littered with even more Jaffa bodies, he was surprised to find that Teal'c would be escorting him back.
"I'll wait here for the SGC teams and get them organized helping the people in the mines. Make sure you send a medical team through, Sir," she told him.
Then as the wormhole formed and Teal'c sent his code through, Sam once again shocked him by putting her hand on his arm and turning him towards her.
"I'm so glad to have you back safe and sound, Sir," she told him, and then just like the night before in the mines she kissed him.
Then she did the hardest thing she'd ever done and sent him back home without her.
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She and Harry said their goodbyes minutes later and to Sam's surprise Harry left her a list of trading planets that he regularly visited. "If you can't go home, you are always welcome to join me," he told her.
"Thanks, Harry. For everything," she said giving him a hug. "I might just take you up on that offer."
Then he dialed out and she was alone.
With a sigh she dialed P3R-591and headed back to her base camp, knowing Teal'c or Ishta would make contact in the next several days to let her know what was going on. Once she got there she moved on autopilot to change clothes, get a fire going and make herself something to eat. It wasn't until she was curled up in her sleeping bag that she let reaction set in and the tears started to flow.
Jack O'Neill was alive and well.
And currently just about as far out of reach as he'd ever been.
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TBC