Chapter 7 - Try
The next morning Samantha went to work as usual preparing the tea for her lord. As she was in Baal's rooms something was different than usual.
His eyes were on her all the time, she felt how he followed every single move she made. Samantha tried not to notice it and went on as she always did it.
But then he was suddenly standing behind her. She turned around lowering her eyes.
"My lord? Is something wrong?" she inquired cautiously.
"I could ask you the same question", he replied, "You are not concentrated today. Why?"
Samantha hesitated: Did he get to know about the last day's happenings? Then she responded him,
"I didn't sleep much at night."
"You had enough time to sleep", Baal stated, "What was holding you off?"
"Thoughts, my lord", she said softly.
"You shouldn't think too much, that's not good for you. Tell me what was on your mind", he demanded.
"The prisoners", Samantha bit her lip. The words had slipped her before she could hold them back. Now Baal had to know what was going on. She prepared herself for the worst, but nothing of that kind happened. Her master was merely eyeing her up and down for a while before he went on talking to her in a way he had never done it before:
"The whole thing must have scared you. You should not have been near as I was dealing with him..." he told her it almost seemed as if he was really regretting it, "How he looked at you, in a way in that none of my decent servants shall ever be looked at. But be unconcerned, he'll never get the chance to harm you like he once did it to others."
"What did he do?" Samantha inquired quietly.
"He took Sha'lan away from me. She was stupid enough to trust him. I hope you won't allow him to do the same to you."
"I won't", all of a sudden she was afraid. Taking her away, was that all it was about? She scold herself for her unfaithful behavior; but her mind still told her to say no and not to trust Baal any longer.
Samantha turned to complete her work, but Baal did not want her to. He dismissed her, allowing her to take another day off.
She wondered about that. This affair was definitely bothering him and it seemed as if a lot of it had to do with her as well.
Baal was angered about the fact that the Tauri had shown up just now. Most of his concerns were about Samantha. She was at a point at which she was not yet completely faithful toward him. If she would get too close to the captives they could possibly poison her mind with their talking. Then she would defy him not knowing what she was actually doing.
He had to be very careful if he wanted to keep her. The time to mold her into a perfectly obedient servant was slowly running out. Something had to happen, now or never.
Jack sat on the floor of the cell playing with his watch. This was the only distraction left to him. He had not slept all night if there had been something like that. Jonas was lying next to him, passed out and motionless for quite a while now, he had obviously taken in a lot the other day.
Also Jack's thoughts were all about Sam. She was here, damn finally he had found her. But was she really herself after all? She did not remember who she was and, hell, worst of all that: she was deliberately serving Baal, the worst snakehead in the galaxy, coming right after Anubis.
These facts, they stirred him. But still there was a chance to save his friend. Maybe she just needed to get of this hellhole and to be brought back home where she could remember everything.
But first of all they had to find a way out which was sort of hopeless at the moment.
That moment two guards came for him. They pulled him up pushing him out into the corridor.
Show time, Jack thought. He looked down collecting his strength. At this moment Sam passed him, he did not remark her this time since she hid herself behind the next corner as she saw him.
It did not take long until they reached the torture chamber. The Jaffa took him to the middle of the room where an invisible anti-gravity field pulled him up.
From that moment on Jack's mind developed its own life. Recalling the happenings of the last time Baal had been torturing him his mind took away Jack's feeling of time and reality.
He knew that he was still conscious and able to see, but nothing more, it all lost its sense.
Jack was well aware that Baal was present now. The Goa'uld was apparently talking to him and he was somehow answering. Consciously he had no control of all that. He felt pain and he knew that he was bleeding, but this all did not really matter to him, it was all sort of flowing around him. Why was this happening did really his mind do all that or was it happening on purpose of Baal?
The thought formed in his head, but he could not clearly grasp it just like all the other things going through his mind.
Suddenly Sam was there. Could this be real or was Jack completely drifting away now? He sensed that he was not yet dead, perhaps this was the beginning of the end...
Samantha walked through the base a bit, she was not feeling like going to her quarters. To cope with all her thoughts she needed to move.
There was one question on her mind which needed to be answered before she could find any kind of rest this day: Who was lying to her, Baal or Jack, Jack or Baal? But perhaps both did? Whom could she trust? The whole thing made her feel so insecure.
That moment she saw two Jaffa coming along the corridor. Jack was with them. He seemed to be sort of desperate looking down to the floor.0.
Where were they taking him? Was it possible that the rumors about torture she had heard were true?
Samantha decided to go to the cells awaiting Jack's return. All of a sudden she did no longer want words to answer her questions, she wanted facts.
After about three hours the guards brought Jack back. He was only semi-conscious and as soon as he was lying on the floor of the cell he broke down.
Samantha jumped up, she needed to be with him. For her look she had seen the code she needed to enter to deactivate the force field.
She went inside the cell kneeling down next to him. "Jack", she whispered gently shaking him.
"Jack", she was calling his name. He felt how she was shaking him. Jack squinted trying to get clarity into his head again. This was real, no wicked wishful dream, reality!
"Sam", he tried to rise. But a tremendous surge of pain threw hi back to the ground. This was the worst he had ever felt, Baal must have been really angry with him.
A scream left his lips. Crap, this was no good.
"You're hurt", Sam stated, "Was it torture?"
He managed to nod, wincing with torment.
At once Sam was pulled up and aside by someone. Jack was too weak to look up so he could merely listen to the heated discussion going on, but he did not understand a single word...
Suddenly somebody took hold of Sam's arm pulling her up. It was Leah.
"What are you doing here?" she yelled.
"Quiet", Samantha returned in a whisper, "I couldn't leave him lying here like that."
"You will be punished for this", Leah replied sharply.
Punished. Samantha's thoughts started to race. The question returned: Who was lying to her? Now she decided for herself. Baal was the goddamned liar. He was stealing her freedom.
For a moment these thoughts did not feel like her own, then she realized that they were defining who she actually was. And that was definitely not a Goa'uld's servant.
"We need to help them, Baal is playing his evil game with them", she then returned.
"Are you crazy?" Leah was roused.
"No and you will help me", Sam grabbed her shoulders.
For a long while the older servant merely stared at her then she sighed, "What do you want me to do?"
"Get me hot, water, bandages and a strong painkiller", Samantha ordered her, "This has to be enough until we escaped."
"We? You are going with them? You don't know how foolish this is..." Leah turned around and left.
Some moments later she returned with the things Samantha had requested. She knelt down again taking care of Jack's worst injuries. She had the feeling that she had done this kind of thing before though she could not recall it, there had to be truth in the things Jack had told her about her past life.
Sam bent down over him again. He felt how she was working on his injuries, cleaning and bandaging them. Jack bit his lip, he tried not to make things more difficult for her; but though tears were in his eyes and he cramped together, cursing silently for several times. Then all of a sudden his pain faded, she had to have given him some kind of painkiller that started to take effect.
Jack sat up slowly and saw that Sam was now taking care of Jonas the same way. After a while the young alien was rising as well, carefully sitting up against the wall slowly regaining full consciousness again.
Now Sam helped Jack up.
"We have to leave here", she told him.
She helped Jonas up to his feet as well. Then the three of them cautiously left the cell having a look around the corridor. It was empty. So they went on to the next junction, but there they bumped into a group of four Jaffa.
Jack had not yet reacted as Sam had already taken out half of them. Now he knocked one of them over, too, with his elbow. The fourth one was Sam's business again.
They took the guards' staffs and zats with them. After some more turns and junctions the group finally reached a secret exit leading right into the woods.
They ran for the Stargate taking out the contingent of Jaffa guarding it.
"Jonas", Jack called, "dial Alpha Site."
Jonas nodded activating the DHD.
That moment Jaffa appeared from all directions, they were trapped with no way out. The three of them had to surrender. They were all snatched and taken back to the base.
Too late. Baal had waited too long. Now there was no way of keeping that woman as his lo'taur anymore She had committed high treason. This defection had to be severely punished...