"So you know anything about this Goa'uld?" Jack asked as he laid down on the hard seats
Teal'c was using the seats as how they're meant to be, to be sat down on. It was just one large bench like seat that stuck out from the wall. Major Carter sat across from him as Daniel Jackson sat on the floor leaning against the dark gray walls.
"Indeed" Teal'c replied, "He and Apophis often fought each other until Apophis finally won the war and Maahes was forced to flee"
"He?"
"Maahes is a male Goa'uld. This is the first I have seen him in a female host"
"Oh so the guy likes to accessorize" Jack muttered
"He use to be a System Lord" Teal'c added
"So a she/he's a minor snakehead now?"
"Indeed"
"So what's so great about this weapon anyway?" Jack asked his eyes wondering on the tiled ceiling indicating the question to his 2IC.
"I'm not sure" Sam replied, "If the bracelet led to a more powerful weapon then it would help him rise to power"
"I concur. Anubis has grown powerful and now Apophis is dead he sees this chance to restore his name and former rank. If this Ancient's weapon is powerful he may find a way to defeat Anubis"
"So we're talking big right?" Jack asked
"Yes sir" Sam agreed
"We don't have the bracelet... right?"
Sam blinked and shrugged, "No sir. Not as far as I know"
"So we can't let her, I mean him, get this weapon right?"
"Yes sir"
"Great. Daniel?" he asked prompting input on the conversation
Jack shifted his gaze from the ceiling towards the door and tapped his fingers in boredom waiting. He realized Daniel was being very quiet. He didn't give them a history lesson of the imposing god so something had to be wrong. He shifted his gaze towards Daniel who was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall next to the door. His gaze was glazed as he stared out of the lattice on the door.
"Daniel?" he called
Sam and Teal'c followed Jack's gaze towards the fourth member of the team.
"Daniel!" Jack snapped
Daniel was in deep thought. He was thinking about the writings on the wall again. Something bugged him about them. He wished he had his video camera so he could go over them again. Again something about it intrigued him, as if all the answers he needed would be found there... but he didn't even know what the questions were.
"Daniel!"
He snapped out of his thoughts, his eyes fluttered to blink out any daydream that was behind the stare. He registered someone was talking to him. He turned towards the voice and found Jack looking at him. Sam and Teal'c were joining in with the concern looks.
"Wha-- what?" Daniel responded snappily
"What's wrong Daniel?" Sam asked
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong... why?" Daniel frowned
"Well maybe because we were trying to get your attention for the past five minutes" Jack responded sarcastically
"You seem preoccupied" Teal'c gave his input
"Oh"
"We're here to help if something's wrong" Sam supported
"Yeah. We have all the time in the world" Jack gestured the room they were in, "We aren't going anywhere"
Daniel gave a small smile at their support and concern but it disappeared.
"Really nothing's wrong. I was just thinking" Daniel replied telling the truth
"About..." Jack encouraged
"About those writings on the temple walls"
"What about them?"
"I'm not sure myself..."
Daniel turned to Jack to see a frown on his face.
"What I mean is that the wall is full of riddles and they keep talking about a 'great evil'"
"Goa'uld?" Jack suggested
Daniel shook his head, "No. I've thought about that but there is no reference to any Goa'uld or in general. It's probably talking about some other 'evil'"
"Don't worry, Danny-boy, you'll figure it out. Anyway talking about Goa'ulds you know anything about this one?"
"Maahes? Maahes means 'True Before Her'. Um, he's the God of War and Protection, the Leonine Lord of Slaughter. He was thought to be the son of either Bast and Ptah at Per-Bast or the son of Sekhmet and either Ptah or the sun god Ra. In the tale of--"
"Daniel please" Jack pleaded cutting him off, "Short abbreviated version"
Daniel stopped and started again, "Ok then. Maahes, Mahes, Mihos, Miysis or Mysis was known as the 'Lord of the Massacre', 'The Scarlet Lord' referring to his bloody sacrifices and 'Lord of Slaughter',"
"Charming" Jack drawled
"But he was also known as 'Manifester of Will', 'The Initiator', and 'Avenger of Wrongs'. He punished the transgressors of Ma'at and was represented as either a lion or a man with a lion's head and a knife. According to earth history his protection was invoked over the innocent and he was believed to help Ra fight against Apep or Apophis"
"So a friend of Ra, huh?"
"He was thought to be one of Osiris' executioners and he protected the sun god Ra. He also had links to perfumes and oils"
"Explains the incense" Sam commented from their meeting with the Goa'uld
Daniel nodded, "His cult centre was at Leontopolis, its Greek: for Liontown, in Lower Egypt but he was worshiped around Upper Egypt, and in Nubia. His roots were at Leontopolis, in nome eleven of Lower Egypt and he also had a temple in Bubastis. During the Greco-Roman era he was also the god of storms and winds, like Set, and protected all magical rituals. There are suggestions that he might have been an assimilation of the Nubian lion-god Apedemak"
"Sounds like a typical Snakehead to me" Jack replied his mind shifted through the jargon. He got the cult and Set part of the last explanation.
"What are we going to do sir? We don't have the weapon and he/she wont believe us and the Stargate's out of commission"
"I'm working on it Carter" Jack replied
Suddenly marching boots came back as a group of Maahes' Jaffa approached the cell. It was time to visit the god or goddess again.
Again the famous team, SG-1 was brought before the Goa'uld Maahes. This time she was standing, towering over the forcefully kneeled prisoners. Her gold dress was really revealing. Cloth covered the parts that needed to be while showing the lengthy legs, cleavage and curvy waist. No wonder the Goa'uld chose such a host. It was for beauty, too bad it was just skin deep.
"I am willing to try our discussion again" the Goa'uld was crisp and to the point, "Perhaps this time I can have the information I am looking for"
"If you didn't get it the first time, I'll say it again. We don't have it!" Jack replied
The Goa'uld approached Jack. Her cold amber eyes scanned the solder then to the other members. She moved off to her left to slowly walk past Sam and Daniel. Sam noticed Daniel was exhibiting the strange behaviour again. His fists were clenched and what he could get from his bowed head, his expression was anger. She knew now something was defiantly wrong and if they ever got home see if she could talk to him about it, or at least talk to Janet about it.
The Goa'uld noticed his behaviour as well. She stopped in front of Daniel. Daniel stiffened at her presence as her shadow covered him. His muscles tingled with anger and action but kept facing down. Jack saw the Goa'uld frowning at Daniel. Daniel was angry and Jack knew it was odd behaviour. He saw the same sort of anger back at the camp. Those faze outs probably had something to do with it as well... ever since they came to P4X-Y25 this stuff had been happening. Maybe he's remembering something from the land of glowy and shinny people...
"You" the Goa'uld's voice boomed to Daniel, "Face me"
Daniel's posture immediately tensed but didn't move after that.
"You dare defy your god?"
"Don't you mean goddess?" Jack defended, "Looks he's done nothing to you"
"Silence" the Goa'uld snapped and turned back to Daniel, "Face me. It is a simple request, even for you worthless humans"
Daniel still didn't move. His breathing became more puffed which got his friends worried. A bronze arm snaked out and his/her right hand, which held a Ribbion Device, grabbed his face and lifted up. The metal tips were cold against Daniel's warm face. Daniel was forced to see the alien sucm. It was disgustingly beautiful. How dare it touch him! the thought ran through his mind. Suddenly he felt a surge of anger charge through his muscles.
The Goa'uld blinked back a bit as he saw the hatred in his blue eyes. Then a hand grabbed the Goa'uld's wrist and pulled the hand away. The grip was tightened immensely around the wrist and the Goa'uld felt the bones giving in to pressure, it screamed.
The guarding Jaffa came. Jack took the unorthodox chance and knocked out a Jaffa nearest him. Teal'c and Sam joined him, seizing their weapons and zapping any other solders. They turned to see the reversed role. Daniel was standing gripping the Goa'uld and the Goa'uld bowing in pain.
Jack never seen the man's face so angry before. Then to all of their surprise Daniel's hand was suddenly cover in metal strips that covered his whole hand and wrist. The Goa'uld's eyes went wide as sauces as they saw the event.
"The weapon!" it choked
Then the Ribbon Device on that hand powered up and blasted Daniel at the close range. Daniel released the Goa'uld as the invisible force threw him across the room. Jack, upon seeing the attack, he shot the Zat gun at the goddess. But the Goa'uld was quicker and activated her personal shield. The zap blast was absorbed.
Sam ran over to Daniel as he blinked and groaned. He tried to force himself up. She checked if he was ok. Daniel settled for a sitting position after finding getting up was too much of a task at the moment. Daniel's memory came back and he pushed his right hand to his face and saw it covered in metal. Sam got a closer to it.
"What is it?" Daniel asked, his voice in slight panic
Sam pushed his jacket sleeve back to reveal the metal covered his forearm as well as his hand.
"I knew you had the weapon. Give it to me or suffer the consequences!" the Goa'uld growled
Jack and Teal'c moved in front of the two team-mates as a barrier.
"Now, where's your manners" Jack teased bluntly
"I am sick of your insolence!" the Goa'uld shrieked and forced the Ribbon device in front of her and shot a force of energy
He had no time to react and Jack was caught in the full blast and ended up hitting the wall on the other side of the gold room.
"Sir!"
Sam left slightly dazed Daniel and went to check on her C.O. Jack was knocked out from his head hitting the wall. Probably a concussion of some kind but this would put a dent in escaping. Jack didn't move after that.
Teal'c reacted by moving aside to avoid getting caught himself, in the process grabbed a staff weapon off the floor from some fallen Jaffa and charged at the false god.
He, of course, went slower than the bullet or a staff blast allowing him to pass through the frequency of the force field. He caught the Goa'uld off guard. He held the staff weapon between both his hands and shoved it upwards to connect with the Goa'uld's jaw. Teal'c pulled away a then swung the bottom end of the weapon into the goddess's stomach. The Goa'uld doubled over in pain
Daniel crawled to his feet as he heard the familiar sounds of clattering Jaffa armor. He grabbed for a zat gun as the squadron made an appearance. Sam also heard and readied her zap gun. She took her position adjacent to the door, perfect ambush spot.
Teal'c turned to the door with the staff weapon ready as the back up Jaffa stormed in. As soon as the enemy Jaffa came through the door they were bombarded with zat and staff fire.
The first half was knocked out while the back half stopped and took cover behind the door. Teal'c moved out of direct fire and headed towards the Major. Daniel followed also. Once together the Jaffa began firing. Daniel shot a few zat bolts and Teal'c shot some staff blasts himself in retaliation.
"The colonel is out cold. Is there anyway out of here?" Sam asked Teal'c
"The transport rings may be sufficient for our escape" Teal'c turned from his fight and replied, "We must reach the Stargate"
"But the DHD is broken" Sam reasoned
"Even so it is our only option. General Hammond will be contacting us at 1200. It is now 1000. We can request assistance"
Sam knew it was a slim chance but it was the only plan for the moment. Now her C.O was out she was in command. Sam accepted his logic and nodded.
"Teal'c, can you carry the Colonel?"
"Yes"
"Just to the rings" she replied as she readied her zat
Teal'c nodded before shooting some more. Sam took his place in the crossfire as Teal'c refrained from fighting and picked up Jack with ease. The Goa'uld was on her knees still in obvious pain. Her/his wrist, stomach and jaw were sore. The symbiote was quick to heal any fractures that might have occurred.
"Kill them!" the Goa'uld shrieked at her Jaffa
The Jaffa were dropping like flies at the team's fire. Soon the way was clear and Teal'c carried the Colonel between his arms. He would have to rely on his team mates for cover fire. This place was still crawling with enemy Jaffa. They jogged down the halls away from the main chamber, leaving the Goa'uld behind. Checking around corner, hiding from searching Jaffa they ducked and weaved through the maze towards the ring room. Luckily for them the Goa'uld have little imagination so the lay out of Goa'uld Mother ships is similar to each other.
Once disabling the Jaffa in the transport ring room they punched in the code and entered the platform to be transported down to the planet.
In the cargo ship two of Maahes' Jaffa guarded the ship. There was nothing much to guard so they sat on the pilot seats making little conversation, or even none at all. Suddenly the transport rings activated. The Jaffa sprang to their feet with their staff weapons poised for attack. They marched towards the back room to only be zatted to unconsciousness.
"Look our packs are here" Daniel pointed to a corner
"They must of left them here after they stripped us" Sam speculated
Daniel was practically over joyed. He got his notes and video tape of the temple back. Sam grabbed the P-90s, the radios, the GDO and other equipment she could take that might help her fix the DHD, if needed. She'd left everything else that can be spared behind. She checked her watch, it was 1130 hours. She had 30 minutes to get to the gate and make contact with Hammond.
"Can you make it to the 'gate?" Sam asked Teal'c as she handed him a radio
"Indeed"
Sam nodded and turned to Daniel to hand him a radio, "Lets go"
They left the ship and travelled across the terrain as quickly as possible. The fear of enemy Jaffa would chase them down was with them. They made it to the gate within 15 minutes.
"Teal'c, Daniel secure the gate" she ordered as she headed for the DHD
Teal'c put the unconscious Colonel down behind a fallen column, covered well from most line of fire. Daniel handed him a zat gun and they both checked the perimeter of the gate. Sam approached the DHD and the first thing she'd noticed the DHD's Power Crystal was intact but the outer shell was cracked from the ruined column. She opened the DHD at the back to see its inner workings.
"The Stargate is secure Major Carter" Teal'c reported
Sam nodded, "Good"
She inspected the crystals inside and she realised that a few were burned out. Since she had none to replace she switched a few around rerouting the sub-power. The crystals that were burned out were the ones that powered the the DHD directly while the others were to ensure to make it work and recharged every time the DHD was used.
By the look of it, the DHD could only have enough power for one dial out. She fixed the technology the best she could with the resources she had.
"Major Carter!" Teal'c voice yelled, "Enemy Jaffa approaching!"
The major grabbed her P-90 after swearing and gave the Colonel's to Teal'c. It wasn't Teal'c's sort of weapon but he hasn't got the luxury of choosing the weapon. He had to make do what they had and the P-90 proves more effective than the zat gun to a group of Jaffa.
They took positions behind the ruins. Teal'c went back to where he'd left the unconscious Colonel as the Jaffa approached. They were shot on sight. Jaffa returned fire only to hit the ruins or surrounding terrain. To their relief the gate started spinning and the chevrons were locking in place one by one. Sam slowly made her way to the Stargate while keep firing on the enemy.
The last chevron was in place and the blue liquid appeared and blasted out before collapsing back into a stable wormhole. The dormant M.A.L.P came alive at the gate. Carter grabbed the radio.
"SG-1 this is General Hammond, please respond"
"General?" Sam addressed
"Major Carter what is your status?"
"We're under attack by enemy Jaffa and Colonel O'Neill is out cold. The DHD can only make one dial out, requesting back up sir" then she added "We need secure access to get home"
"How many Jaffa?" the Geneal asked
"Just a small squadron. They come through transportation rings about 3 clicks from here. It's slowing down their process for any back up"
The General thought it through. They couldn't dial out since they were under attack and they had one shot at it. But he couldn't go against protocol if the IDC code wasn't secure, when they came through but he didn't want to leave his best team alone. He also can't risk sending another team straight into a war zone that he knew little of. They could get picked off as they come through.
"Denied Major. I cannot risk sending a team straight into a battle. If your IDC code is not secure I suggest dialling the Alpha site and coming back to Earth from there" General Hammond ordered
"Yes sir" the Major's voice replied a little deflated, "Over and out"
The Stargate connection was cut off the the M.A.L.P was once again dormant. Sam turned to face the battle but the the process a orange bolt smacked right into her. She gave a cry of pain before falling to the ground.
To be continued...
Ooooh they're right in the middle of a fight and Sam's out of commission. How are they going to get home with no back up? Stay tuned to find out.
Review...tell me what you think.