The Monument

Part 1 of the Origins Sequence

By Gumnut

Dec 2003

Is death an end to a beginning, or a return to that which we once were?

Jack O'Neill stared into the business end of the staff weapon, and once again faced his mortality.

The sandstone wall behind him was cold on his back, the iciness creeping through the material of his jacket as he borrowed the stone's strength for support. One arm held an unconscious Daniel Jackson upright, and was probably a contributing reason as to why he had been caught in the first place. His other hand held his berretta, but it was pointed in the wrong direction, and the Jaffa's weapon was levelled at his chest.

Okay, tactic number one - good old O'Neill charm.

"Hi, how's it going? Nice place you got here."

The staff weapon found a way to point at him even more aggressively, if that was possible. The face at the other end snarled.

O'Neill tried his best not to look at that face. If he looked at that face he would see how young it was. How much it looked just like another young Jaffa he knew. How much the enemy looked just like Rya'c. And then O'Neill the man wouldn't be able to do what he knew he would have to do.

No, O'Neill the soldier must stay firmly in control.

Tactic number two.

"Look, my friend is sick. Let me put him down so we can talk."

Another snarl. A firm negative.

Damnit! Why did it always have to be tactic number three? Why did they always choose death?

Jack's heart turned to ice as he both dropped Daniel, and, spinning, brought his gun arm up to deflect the staff weapon, firing three precise shots into the chest of the enemy.

He was fast, but not fast enough.

The enemy fell, his eyes engraving themselves into the memory of his executioner, but not before his weapon fired, its bolt of molten light searing across O'Neill's gun arm.

Jack gasped at the sudden heat, his singed nerve endings taking a moment before screaming pain at his brain.

Oh, goddamnit! The length of his arm. Shit!

But there was no time. This Jaffa had not been alone. He had a whole pile of big brothers who had surely heard the weapon's fire.

Grabbing Daniel, he hauled him into as comfortable a position as he could with only one arm, the archaeologist's head lolling limply on his Colonel's shoulder. Darting between ruins of ancient stonework, and some other substance they had yet to identify, Jack avoided as many of the searching Jaffa as possible. They knew he was here, and a couple of close calls had him sliding in the dust behind one monolithic statue after another, silence being sacrificed for speed.

Damnit! This was supposed to be one of Daniel's milk run archaeological expeditions. The blasted Goa'uld had not been invited.

They had turned up anyway.

The initial discovery of the planet had resulted in two over excited members of SG-1 practically jumping up and down all over the control room.

Daniel saw ruins - lots and lots of them - and they were literally screaming the word 'Ancients'. Jack had known exactly what he was going to say before he calmed down enough to say it.

"Jack, I have got to go there." Blue eyes eagerly looked up at him, and Jack briefly wondered if Daniel had been lying about his age all these years. He didn't have a chance to answer before Carter piped up.

"We have to visit, sir."

He glanced at her, and had to ask, just for reputations sake. "Why?"

"Why? Jack, you of all people should be able to see why." Daniel's tone was vehement as he pointed towards the monitor, now displaying an array of Ancient writings as the MALP trundled past some ruin.

Again before he could reply, Carter jumped in with her two cents. "Sir, most of these ruins appear to be made of stone, but according to spectral analysis some are definitely not." At his purposely blank look, she continued. "We can't identify it. It's a previously unknown material."

A quick glance at Daniel had the Colonel realising that the archaeologist was gearing up for another rave. Jack held up his hands. "Okay, okay. I'm convinced." Inwardly he smiled. He had to admit to a little interest himself, but there was no way he was going to let either of them know. "As soon as we've cleared the area of the chance of hostiles, we go." He held up a hand. "Occupational health and safety issue, Daniel, we don't want the Air Force being sued for neglecting to check for Goa'uld, the paperwork would be a nightmare."

Daniel frowned, his brain seemingly too occupied with the discovery to spare a couple of neurons to work out exactly what Jack had said.

Carter simply smiled at him, mumbled a 'Yes, sir." and went to work.

Several hours later the planet had been declared a Goa'uld free zone, so SG-1 geared up, and wandered off down the wormhole.

They had been here a couple of days now - daze being the word for Daniel - he was in seventh heaven. This morning Carter and Teal'c had wandered off to do some sampling, and it was times like these that O'Neill was glad they had one soldier per scientist. Well, Carter is a soldier, too, but as with all scientists, give them something remotely scientific to play with, and off they go into La-La-Land. He had better peace of mind with Teal'c standing solidly at her back.

Jack had stuck with Daniel for two reasons. One, if some scientists visited La-La-Land, then Daniel had purchased property, and was considering applying for citizenship. Jack wouldn't normally let him out of his sight for that exact reason, and Daniel was definitely out there on this trip.

Secondly, he thought, perhaps, he might even be able to help. He did, after all, know some stuff about the Ancients, had even met several in fact, though not as up close and personal as Daniel had. But he did understand the language as well as, if not better than the linguist himself. And after Daniel's outrage at discovering that Jack had taught himself basic Asgard, that Thor had given him the required texts to do just that, and Jack hadn't thought that Daniel might be in the slightest interested in viewing these texts, or perhaps learning himself, he considered that perhaps it was time to cut the archaeologist some slack. After all Daniel still didn't know how many other languages Jack spoke, and Jack wasn't planning on telling him anytime soon - it would provoke too many unwanted questions. It wasn't that he found languages hard to learn, it had just been so much of a necessity in the past to learn certain dialects, and fast, that any interest he may have had was beaten out of the learning process by the reason for learning most of them in the first place. Jack knew that his talents lay in command, strategy, and the physical side of his job. He had had little time to pay attention to academia.

But with his sudden rise to Ambassador-hood, O'Neill had realised that perhaps there might be a future in some of the less physically demanding aspects of his employment. After all, he wasn't getting any younger, as his body reminded him on a regular basis, and there would come a day when he could no longer ignore it.

That day was not today, however, so he had trundled off deep into the ruins with his pet archaeologist and they had spent the day trying to translate the inscription on a central monument that seemed to hold some importance to the former inhabitants of the city.

It had taken them all morning to decipher the purpose of the monument, and by that time, Jack was hot, sweaty, and not a little grumpy. It was a war memorial. A honkin' great big one. The thing stood around fifty foot high and consisted of three main arching supports that met at the top in a shape similar to that of the Eiffel Tower - if the Eiffel tower had been made out of three trees. The supports divided into multiple stems as they rose, the branchlets intertwining with each other to form a delicate latticework that was almost organic in appearance.

Around the base of each of the 'trunks' were inscriptions. Fascinating inscriptions, or so Daniel said. Jack just found them frustratingly confusing.

They were written in Ancient - the Ancient language Jack and Daniel were both familiar with - but of the portions they could decipher, they made little sense.

'Here the great war

Here the great sacrifice

Here the quest for knowledge

Here it was found

Remember them all'

Under that fairly clear inscription was a prominent symbol - a circle underscored by a line balanced on the top point of a triangle. Daniel had never seen it before, Jack certainly hadn't, and they had no idea of its meaning.

The rest of the extensive script seemed to consist of names, none of which were easy to translate. They had no clue at to what 'it' was, but obviously the Ancients had considered it important.

At some point, Jack had cracked, and leaving Daniel to play with his rocks, went out to idly check the perimeter. Not that he expected to find anything, but standard operating procedures were there for a reason.

Half way through his loop, Daniel yelled into his radio.

"Jack! There's Jaf-"

Crackling silence. Shit.

As quickly and as silently as possible, O'Neill weaved his way back to Daniel, eyes darting to and fro, mind cursing in several different dialects. A quick yell to Carter and Teal'c had them on the alert and on their way, but they had been a fair distance off, and he wasn't expecting them anytime soon.

From behind some dilapidated building, he eyed the graceful monument. A body lay between the three supports.

Daniel.

Damn.

There was no-one in sight, but that only spelt the word 'trap'.

Grabbing his binoculars, he made an attempt to assess Daniel's condition. A pool of blood was forming beneath the archaeologist's head. Footprints in the dust the only indication that anyone but the archaeologist had been there.

Shit and damnation.

Hang on, Danny, I'm coming.

If it was a trap, it seemed he had no choice but to spring it, and cross his fingers he was up to the task of surviving it.

First, a distraction and a little recon.

Darting from building to building he located a suitable spot to plant some explosive underneath a particularly large structure on the verge of crumbling. Daniel would probably kill him later, but when it became a choice between a bunch of rocks and a friend, there was no choice.

There were still no Jaffa in sight.

Jamming the detonator into the wad of C4, he hid it behind a rock, before silently moving onto the next suitable structure and doing the same thing. Time was of the essence.

He made his way back to the monument after placing a third and final surprise. Daniel still lay silent.

Time to crash the party.

A flick of a switch and explosion number one tore into the air. Shouts erupted around him, several Jaffa dashing from cover in the direction of the now defunct structure. There was no way that O'Neill believed he had possibly distracted all of them, but now was the time to spring the trap. He made a dash for the monument as his finger hit the second button, and another building exploded into shrapnel. God, Daniel was gonna kill him. He just hoped both of them lived long enough to have the argument.

As if reading his mind, the ground in front of him suddenly spat under a rain of staff weapon fire, the bright orange of their flame burning into his corneas.

He skidded to a halt, darting to the left, and letting loose a rain of his own. A hail of bullets made in the good ol'U.S. of A. returned fire, taking out a couple of those staff wielders. He kept moving, movement being the key to life, as more fire rained down on him. One bolt seared past his ear, curling his hair with its heat. Another tore into the heel of his boot causing him to trip and stumble into the cover of the monument.

"Colonel O'Neill, there is no escape."

A female voice.

A Goa'uld female voice.

Who?

Its owner suddenly made her way out from amongst the buildings, walking calmly and sedately across the clearing between the nearest buildings and the monument. Her hips swaying, her posture arrogant, and, he thought, her boldness, stupid.

Osiris.

What the hell, did she want with him?

Oh, he had wiped Anubis out of this plane of existence, hadn't he? Perhaps she was pissed.

He doubted it.

He didn't bother to answer her, he just fired.

Bullets pummelled her defense field just as he had expected. Now we hear the arrogant, I told you so, speech.

"Colonel, I would have thought you would have learnt the ineffectiveness of that maneuver by now. You must be a slow learner." She raised her hand, preparing to blow him away with her hand device.

Behind the protection of the monument's support, he smiled. Oh, he had learnt - arrogance was always their downfall.

He did two things.

One, a lightning fast and pinpoint accurate throw of his knife penetrated one of her eyesockets. She was dead before her body hit the ground, sending up a little dust cloud on impact.

Two, another flick of a switch and explosion number three tore the air.

He grabbed Daniel, and ran for their lives.

************

Cat and mouse.

Fox and hounds.

Snakes and ladders.

With an unconscious Daniel under one arm, Jack had been slowed, and the young Jaffa had cornered him, after he had accidentally stumbled on Jack's temporary resting place. His death had been inevitable, and O'Neill and Daniel were on the run once again.

His arm screamed at him at every step, and god, he wished Daniel would wake up. The archaeologist's blood was staining Jack's shirt despite the pad and bandage he had quickly applied the moment he had a chance. Daniel needed Janet, and he had a feeling he did too.

His radio gave a quick hiss, and darting into the shadow of a wall, gently leaning Daniel against it for support, he answered with a whisper. "O'Neill."

"Sir, we've made the stargate, however it is heavily guarded. Awaiting your orders."

He paused briefly, possible scenarios flashing through his mind until he latched on to a possibility, his eyes tracking over his unconscious companion. He saw no other choice. He made the decision.

"Stay put. We're almost there. Oh, and Carter, this is Osiris' playground, and I've just put an end to the smile on her face. Stay sharp." The radio gave an affirmative click as he signed off.

Beneath his hand, Daniel groaned.

"Daniel?"

"Uh. Oh, God." The archaeologist didn't even open his eyes before bending over and depositing breakfast on the ground next to Jack's boots.

O'Neill didn't even flinch, his arm supporting the woozy man. "C'mon, Daniel, we've got to go."

"J-Jack?"

"Daniel, I know you're hurting, but we have to get outta here."

The younger man didn't hesitate, and O'Neill was grateful for his trust. Lumbering him into his support they moved out again.

***********

Sam Carter was getting antsy. Both she and Teal'c had stashed themselves in the cover of trees to the south of the stargate where they had an excellent view of the Jaffa guarding the gate.

Colonel O'Neill and Daniel were late. They should have been here fifteen minutes ago, and she was worried sick. The Jaffa were an active bunch, regularly branching out into the forest on patrol, skirting through buildings, their eyes combing every corner. Several times they had nearly been discovered, Teal'c pushing her deeper into cover, his staff weapon moments from taking off the nearest Jaffa's head. They had had to skip hiding places twice now, and they were starting to run out of options.

Suddenly there was a shout and a small party of Jaffa emerged from amongst the crumbling buildings.

Oh, damn!

Both the Colonel and Daniel were pushed roughly into the clearing surrounding the stargate. Both looked injured, Daniel barely on his feet.

The Jaffa holding them captive were jubilant, cocky, pushing their captives around. Both members of SG-1 were injured, stumbling, Daniel almost falling several times and the Colonel didn't look much better. As the party met up with the group guarding the stargate, they gathered around their captives and jeered their superiority. Beside her she could feel Teal'c's anger building.

Skimming through possible plans of action, her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a yell, as the captive Colonel grabbed a staff weapon off one of his guards and started dealing out injury.

The weapon spun in his hands, one minute a club, the next, a flaming lancelet of death. Three Jaffa fell to head injuries before Sam could react. Teal'c was on his feet and firing within seconds. More Jaffa fell.

Carter's P90 was out and firing, sniper, single shot, pinpoint accuracy. Teal'c was in the fray, his actions even more fluid and swift than those of the Colonel. Daniel was stumbling to the DHD, and dialling for his life.

The wormhole gushed into life as SG-1 finally got the upper hand, the Colonel signalling her to make her break from cover.

And then for just a brief moment time froze, Sam's heart freezing solid.

She saw it happen. She moved to prevent it, her finger squeezing the trigger the moment the thought entered her mind. But she wasn't fast enough.

The lone Jaffa emerging from the cover of the dead city, unseen by the other members of SG-1, fired as he moved, a second before he fell to Carter's bullet.

Just not fast enough.

The flame hit the Colonel, spinning him around with its impact, only surprise registering on his face before it buried itself in the dust.

**********

FIN.