A/N: Here we are at chapter three. We hope you enjoy, sorry for the delay. We've been hard at work on chapter six. Kisses and cookies to our reviewers, FreakieDK, KatieMichelleBelle, BigFatBirdWithNoLegs, xandria, and LiRa.
And just in case anyone cares, this story is written in a roleplay format. Quinn writes Jack, Teal'c, Persephone, Martouf. Danielle writes Daniel and Sam. We take turns with Hades.
LiRa, we might consider doing a crossover if ever SAW Hercules or Xena, lol.
D/N: xandria, you said that name! AHH! hides poor Danny from the ebil Hath-whore
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Four gliders came over the hill. Jack waved to them, but instead of passing by as he had expected, they circled around, and returned. Once they were within range, they opened fire. The ground exploded all around the team, sending rocks and dirt flying. The gliders then turned, and disappeared over the horizon. When the dust had settled, Priam was lying motionless beside a large boulder, and Jack appeared to be gnawing on the back of his right hand while his other clutched his left thigh.
"Agh." he said. "Ah, damn. Daniel, you son of a..."
"Sir!" Carter belly-crawled to his side, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah...no, yeah, I'm fine. I think my leg's...where's Daniel?"
"He's...over there. I think he got thrown a few feet in that last explosion, but he's all right. Just got the wind knocked out of him. Let me see your leg."
Jack moved his hand. It appeared that a fragment of rock had been imbedded in his leg in the explosion, but it was not bleeding profusely.
"That bitch. Daniel trusted her."
"Actually, sir, he never said that he did. This may hurt a little," she said, and before he even realized what she was doing, had jerked the sliver of stone out.
"CARTER!" Jack bit down on his hand, then let out another mild expletive from the pain caused by that. "What the hell?"
"Sorry," she pressed a hand down on the wound, carefully, but hard enough to stem the bleeding. "Daniel!"
"Yeah, I'm here. I think," he rolled to a sitting position, one hand on his right ankle.
"Give me your bandana!"
"Right," he pulled it off his head and hobbled over, placing it in Carter's hand. She wrapped it around the colonel's leg, biting her lip in concentration as she struggled to tie it. Her fingers, wet with blood, slipped several times before she managed to knot it securely.
"Daniel, what's wrong with your leg?" Jack asked, in an obvious attempt to ignore the excruciating pain in his leg.
"Oh, it's fine, I just turned an ankle. How's yours?"
"Great, wonderful. Your girlfriend really screwed us over good."
"I do not believe that was her intention." Teal'c announced, solemnly. "Her own first prime is dead." He was kneeling beside Priam's still form.
"We should get back to the stargate," Carter said. "I don't have the supplies to tend to this properly here."
"Maybe Persephone could help?" suggested Daniel. "She might have a healing device. I don't think Jack could make it all the way to the stargate on that leg."
"It's fifty feet away, Daniel." Jack pointed out. Daniel was about to comment that it was more like fifty yards, but at that moment, another group of Jaffa came out of the woods.
"You must return with us!" they ordered. "Make haste! Before the enemy returns!" Two of them hoisted Priam's body onto their shoulders, and another pair carefully helped Jack, wincing, to his feet. "Come with us."
Daniel looked to Jack, questioning him silently. Jack swallowed, and nodded. The Jaffa started back, at a rather rapid rate, towards the palace. Persephone came rushing out to meet them, her guard close on her heels.
"Oh, dear Zeus. What has happened?"
"You tell me!" Jack demanded.
"Gliders, lady," Daniel explained. "Do you know anything about them?"
Persephone paled visibly.
"Priam!" she exclaimed. "Oh, no. Is he..."
"He has passed beyond." said one of the Jaffa who bore him. Persephone's eyes filled with tears again. "Come inside." she told them, then turned and hurried back through the gates. As they all entered the throne room once more, they could see that the Jaffa inside were running to and fro, entering and exiting in a great hurry.
"Lady, can you help my companion? He has been wounded badly."
She glanced from Daniel to Jack, then to one of the Jaffa.
"Take the wounded one to the healers." she directed. They complied, and Jack was lead away, through another door, with Carter close behind him.
"My lady! There is a transmission coming through!" another Jaffa reported.
"Let me see." she ordered. A holographic screen flickered on in the center of the room, and the features of a handsome, imperious man with characteristically glowing eyes appeared on it.
"Persephone." he said. "This is quite a surprise."
"Hades." she acknowledged. "Quite an unpleasant surprise, I agree. What are you doing here?"
"I have come to reclaim what is mine." he said. "You will return with me."
"Turn it off." Persephone said. "I do not need to listen to this coward's dictatorial whims."
The screen was deactivated, and Persephone shed her calm bravado.
"How did he find me?" she muttered. "We have not enough to defend ourselves, there is no hope."
"We will die before we let him take you, milady." said the nearest Jaffa.
"Milady?" Daniel spoke up. "Come with us. We will keep you safe from the Lord Hades."
Persephone gave a grateful glance in the direction of the Jaffa who had spoken, then turned to Daniel with a similar expression.
"Come with you? Through the chapa'ai? But we cannot reach it. His ships have surrounded the palace. We could not escape. He would destroy us. And besides. Even if I could, I would not abandon my people. They trust me, and I will not leave them to the mercy of Hades."
"Surely there is a way we can escape this place without Hades' knowledge."
"That is what disturbs me the most. If we should manage it, he would continue to assault the valley, believing that my people are hiding me. They would suffer greatly for my sake, and I am not willing to let that happen."
"But won't he do the same even if you don't leave?"
"No. Not if..." Persephone stood up. "If I should go with him."
"No! You cannot!"
Persephone raised an eyebrow.
"I cannot? And you will stop me, I suppose?"
He met her eyes evenly.
"Yes. I would."
She appeared mildly amused by this.
"My mother could not keep me safe from him. And you think you could?"
"I would remind you, Daniel Jackson, that interfering in the affairs of system lords without consulting first with Stargate command has proven less than prudent in the past." Teal'c told him.
"Teal'c. This is different. It's an emergency."
"I do not understand precisely what you intend to do."
Persephone sighed.
"Nothing. He's going to do nothing. I'm going to summon my fleet, and we're going to fight. We will lose, of course."
"So your people will die fighting for you."
"Of course not. We will surrender."
"But you just said you were going to fight."
"We are not going to fight with weapons. We are going to do battle with words."
"I don't understand," Daniel said, a bit baffled.
"I will summon my fleet, and attempt to convince Hades that I will die before returning to be with him. He will not believe me, and I will be forced to surrender. But it is all I can do. What would you suggest?" There was a hint of curious hope in her voice, as if she half expected him to come up with a brilliant plan for victory.
He shook his head, "I am not a military man, lady. I would need to speak with Jack O'Neill. He advises me in such matters."
"Your wounded companion? Come with me." She motioned for Daniel and Teal'c to follow, and stepped through the door. They walked through many silver corridors before they came to another large door, which was opened, towards them. The room was dim, though it looked as if it would normally be brightly lit by the sun which should have come in through the full-length window on the other side.
"Daniel, do you have a thing for alien princesses? Is this your third?" asked Jack, from a bed on the left side of the room. There were several Jaffa, dressed in white robes, attending to his leg. Persephone held a hand out towards him.
"It will not be long before he is well. My healers are very skilled. I once suffered a direct blast from a staff weapon, a wound which should have been fatal, but they saved me."
Daniel ignored Jack's sarcastic dry wit and directed the conversation to the matter at hand.
"Jack, we have a little problem."
Jack turned to face him.
"Oh, only a little one?"
"Yeah...anyway, Hades has come for Persephone. I realize you probably have no idea what that means, so suffice to say, a very powerful Goa'uld is in orbit right now with the bulk of his fleet."
"Never heard of Hades." Jack remarked. "New system lord on the block?"
"No." Persephone replied. "He is not interested in controlling the galaxy. All he wants is me. He has pursued me over many years and many miles. To catch me is his only desire. I do not know what he would do if he had me, if he would simply...stop wandering, or if he would look for some other way to release his anger."
"The point is, we have to stop him," Daniel said. "Any ideas?"
"Me?" said both Jack and Persephone in the same instant.
"Jack," he clarified. "I'm sorry, Persephone, but I don't really think your idea is a very good one."
Persephone shrugged her slight shoulders.
"I suppose you expect me to not take offense to that."
"All right, all right." Jack interjected. "Now, here's what I'm getting from this. If we give Persy to Hades..."
Persephone gaped.
"Jack..." Daniel gave him a LOOK. "That was her idea."
"Oh, come on, Daniel. I'm not going to hand your princess over to the evil snake. I'm saying, if he gets his hands on her, he might decide that he needs a new hobby. Like conquest. Like...coming after us. Right?"
Daniel nodded.
"Yes, that was implied."
"Then it would stand to reason that we can't let that happen."
"Did you have a strategy in mind, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.
"Glad ya asked, T." Jack sat up, much to the consternation of the healers, who attempted to follow his leg. "Seems we got a few options. One, which isn't really my personal favorite, make a break for the gate, see if we can get a message through. Two, we could call Thor and his folks, and have 'em come kick his sorry ass. Three, we could..."
"Is there something which does not involve death?" Persephone wanted to know.
"There's always risk involved." Jack pointed out.
"I'm not sure Thor would be able to help us, sir. They're pretty busy right now," Carter put in.
"What's three?" inquired Daniel.
"We give the Tok'ra a ring."
"Doesn't that involve plan one?"
"Nooo. That one had Thor in it." Jack said, defensively.
"That was three." Persephone corrected. Jack gave her a caustic glance. Daniel decided not to mention that they were both wrong, and listened attentively as Teal'c spoke.
"Perhaps Major Carter can contact the Tok'ra using the communication device we witnessed in the throne room." Teal'c suggested.
Carter looked doubtful,"I might could. It's not just like dialing a telephone, but I'll give it a shot."
"Sounds like a plan." Jack agreed. "Can I go now?"
One of the healers, a kindly elderly woman, nodded.
"It may be sore." she warned. Jack got to his feet confidently, and immediately looked quite surprised.
"Not bad." he reported, testing the leg.
"If you'd like." Persephone said. "I will take you to the communications center."
"That would be great," Carter nodded. "If we're going to do this, we'll have to do it quickly. Hades will probably think to block communications before long."
"If he has not already." Persephone agreed. She led them across the hall, into a wide room with a low ceiling. Against most of the walls were various panels, blinking and beeping.
"Catchy tune." Jack remarked. Persephone glanced at him strangely, then pointed Carter to one of the panels.
"This one is for long-range communications." she explained. She proceeded to run through a brief tutorial of sorts. When she had finished, Jack's eyes looked mildly glazed over.
"So. Can you make it...work?" he asked, waving a hand towards the machine.
"I think so," she set to work rearranging crystals. Persephone gave Daniel a sideways glance.
"I thank you." she said, then exited the room quickly.
"Ah...where'd she go?" Jack wanted to know.
Daniel was watching the doorway that she had just disappeared through, "I don't know. I'm gonna go figure that out." He hurried after her. She was across the hall again, staring out the window at the cloud-covered valley below.
"I cannot stay here." she said, half to herself, half to Daniel. "Even if he does not destroy the beauty of the place, he knows now where I am. I will not be able to stay without endangering my people. Where are we to go? We have been here for..decades. I do not know if I could relocate them all without my mother's assistance. She always was the strong one."
Daniel placed a careful hand on her shoulder.
"What if we could help?"
"Help relocate a citadel of two thousand people? With Hades waiting above? I do not see how." Persephone gave him a quick, doubtful look.
"I haven't really explained our plan, have I?"
She shook her head, and pushed a strand of silver hair away from her face.
"I did not know you had completed it. I thought you were still uncertain what course of action you will pursue."
"We're pretty sure. It all depends on whether we can get through to the Tok'Ra, and whether they'll be able to help."
"Who are these? The Tok'ra?"
"Aahhh...they're a group of symbiotes and people who live together peacefully. With their help, we may be able to get you out of here, and, with any luck, destroy Hades."
Persephone's green eyes widened.
"They coexist? In harmony? As I and Lianryn do? Could they then be those whom my mother sought? Whom she found? Could she be among them?"
Daniel looked away, not wanting to tell her the truth about her mother, but knowing he had to. At his silence, Persephone turned, and glanced up to meet his eyes.
"There is something you have not told me." she surmised. "I would know. Is it my mother?"
He nodded slowly.
Persephone turned around the rest of the way.
"What? What happened?"
"We, um, encountered your mother about a year ago. She...took control of Major Carter's body. Without her permission."
"My mother did? That is impossible."
"Apparently not, because she did," Daniel faced her, sympathy written all over him.
"She would not have done that unless...I cannot even think of anything that would cause her to do something so terrible. What happened?"
"Her host body was dying. Major Carter- Sam -was trying to resuscitate him, so she did what she thought she had to do. I guess she thought it was her only option."
Persephone looked rather distraught.
"Did you...did you kill her?"
"WE didn't, no. One of the system lords sent an Ashrak. Once we realized what was happening, it was too late. They would both have died if Jolinar hadn't given her life to save Sam's."
"My mother gave her life to save your comrade?" A small flicker of wistful light came back into Persephone's eyes. "That I can believe."
"I'm sorry," Daniel offered, knowing it wouldn't really help.
"Did she ever mention me? Leave any instruction?"
"Sam would be the only one who might know about that. She still carries some of Jolinar's memories."
"Do you think she would be willing to speak of it?"
"I don't know. She might. She took your mother's death pretty badly when it first happened. She grieved for weeks."
"I can understand. Lianryn and I are one, you see. What she feels, I feel, and what I feel, she experiences as well." Persephone closed her eyes slowly, and though her voice had not held the characteristic distortion of the symbiote's presence before, something was different in her tone. "If I were to lose Persephone, it would destroy me, you see." said Lianryn.
Daniel nodded, "I wish I could say I understood, but I've never been blended."
Lianryn glanced at him.
"I encountered Persephone when I was nineteen. Her host was dying, but she still managed to save my life. I shared mine with her in return."
"Sam's father did the same. He was dying, but a symbiote, Selmak, saved his life. By his choice, of course."
"When...If...we ever get out of here alive...Will you take me to see them? The others like myself?"
"Ah..." Daniel let out a long breath. "We'll try. Once we get out of here."
"I sense hesitation." Lianryn remarked. "Is there something wrong?"
"Well, sometimes, our leaders don't like for us to reveal information about our allies. Not to mention our allies themselves are a little...secretive."
Lianryn lowered her head again, and when she spoke, Daniel could tell that it was Persephone who was talking.
"Do you not trust me?"
"I'm not the one you have to convince."
"I see. What must I do to make them believe that I mean them no harm? I know much of Hades, of his tactics...Of his stronghold."
"Yes, see, that is the kind of thing that the Tok'Ra like to hear."
Persephone smiled.
"Will they-"
"Don't mean to ruin the atmosphere, but Carter's made some progress in here." Jack said from the door, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the room across the hall. "Thought you might like to know."
Daniel looked up and blinked several times, "Oh, good, that's good."
Jack nodded.
"Yeah. It is." There was a brief moment of silence, then Jack waved his hand towards the door. "So...c'mon?"
"Right! Coming," he hurried out. Persephone followed, and they entered the other room just as the holographic screen flickered to life in the center of the room. Anise's familiar features appeared in the center of it.
"Greetings." she said, or rather, Freya said. "How may I help you?"
"We were kinda hoping to talk to your boss." Jack told her.
"SG-1?" Anise turned and spoke to someone they could not see, then stepped aside. Martouf moved into their view.
"Colonel O'Neill." He nodded. "Where are you?"
"Ah...Quaint little planet. You wouldn't know it."
Sam adjusted a crystal and bit her lip, "Colonel? I'm not sure how long I can keep this communication going, so we'd better hurry."
"K', listen Marty, Carter says the communications aren't working so great, so we have to hurry."
"I heard her." Martouf said, somewhat dryly.
"Great, all right, well, here's the story. We've got Perse...Persy here, and Hades is coming for her."
"Hades is dead." Martouf frowned. "His lack of willingness to cooperate with the other system lords brought about his downfall."
"Well, you know, Marty, I'd believe you, but the problem with that little theory is that it's WRONG. He's floatin' up there in his damn mothership, waiting to blow the place to hell if Persy doesn't come along to be his...love slave, or whatever." Jack waved a hand.
"I do not understand how..."
"Carter! Tell the man! He listens to you."
Sam stood and moved into view, "It's true, Martouf. Hades is in orbit, and he's about to start destroying villages. We have to get Persephone out of here. Can you help?"
"I'm not sure where you are, Samantha. If you could transmit coordinates, I could tell you whether or not we currently have any ships nearby."
Sam nodded, "Transmitting now...That should do it."
Martouf appeared to be studying something to one side. He surveyed it intently, then smiled.
"Tesilin is on a scouting mission quite near your current location." he reported. "However, I would like to know exactly what risk is involved in this before..." The transmission died abruptly.
"Dammit!" Sam tried futilely for several to minutes to reestablish the communiqué before sitting back on her heels in defeat. "It's no good, sir. The lines have been cut, so to speak."
"You can't fix it?"
She shook her head, "No sir. Hades has all his bases covered."
"Damn!"
"There is still my plan." Persephone reminded them, from the door.
"Uh, milady, I thought we'd established that that plan was a BAD one," Daniel reminded her.
"And if it is the only course of action?"
"Let's get one thing straight. Okay, maybe two things...three." said Jack. "One. I don't hand women over to sick-ass stalkers. Two. Daniel likes you too much to hand you over to the sick-ass stalker. Three. Guys like him piss me off and I'm sure as hell not going to give him his way. Hades, I mean, not Daniel."
"Thanks Jack, that means a lot," Daniel quipped glibly, although his mind was obviously occupied with escape plans. Jack shrugged.
"Any time." There was suddenly a great rumbling overhead, and they all hurried to the window, peering upwards.
"Oh, shit." said Jack, expressing the general sentiment of everyone present. Above, they could just see the outline of a massive craft of some sort. It looked to be at least three times the size of most mother ships.
"Shit doesn't even begin to cover that," Daniel said in a sort of depressed awe.
"It is the weapon of Hades." Persephone sounded quite despondent. "With it, he has destroyed many who have tried to protect me. I have sworn not to let that happen again." She turned and hurried abruptly from the room.
"Do you think she's going to..." Daniel cut himself off, then began again. "Would she really..."
Jack glanced at him, and shrugged.
"She's your princess, Khartoum."
"Shit," Daniel said, and ran after her. "Persephone! Persephone!"