A/N Thanks for your nice reviews . Sorry its been a week been moving house .
Looking for a couple of beta readers .If you fancy a go email me random and many
Disclaimer Dont own anything still seen no dosh
on with it eh?
Chapter 5
The tel'tak exited hyperspace, and a split second later the cloaking device was activated. "The short range scanners have not detected any other ships in orbit of the planet," the Tok'ra flying the cargo ship remarked.
"That's good, very good," stated Jacob Carter smiling with relief at his daughter. With this major obstacle eliminated the mission should proceed with relative ease.
"Colonel," she spoke into her radio, "Dad says the coast is clear, Sir."
"Ok Major, O'Neill out." Her commanding officer's voice sounded slightly strained even through the slight interference produced by the cargo hold.
She sighed, "Yes Sir," towards the yet empty doorway. Sam could feel the tension in her superior officer, keenly. After six years of working together in a small team, they had seen all the facets of one another's personalities. However, following Daniel's 'death', their steady world at the SGC had been turned on its head. The remaining team members had been desperately trying to find a new stride with Jonas. Teal'c and Sam had largely succeeded but Jack, despite his soldiering on speeches, was a creature of habit. It might take him forever to adjust but he was at least mostly making an effort with the younger man.
The Colonel appeared with Teal'c at his shoulder. The heavily muscled Jaffa carried his Staff weapon and bowed his head slightly towards Jacob.
"Ok campers, everyone ready?" Jack enquired.
"Indeed we are, O'Neill," his warrior friend intoned to his left.
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In the evening gloom, on the surface of the planet, a line of torches wends its way through the trees. The Jaffa escorting the tall, blond woman towards the stargate were careful not to catch her eye. The god Osiris had a notorious temper.
The seven-symbol address was dialled and the event horizon formed, with its signature burst of energy. The Goa'uld strode up the steps. Halting at the top, she turned and spoke to two of the group of Jaffa before her. "You will return and deal with any remaining personnel at Baal's scientific facility," she indicated two Jaffa warriors specifically with a slight inclination of her head.
They bowed slightly and said," Yes, my Lord." Osiris began to turn away.
"My Lord," the taller of the two spoke hesitantly dropping to one knee, his eyes cast down.
There was a heavy silence that hovered briefly as though the rest of the assembled men held their breath. When nothing unpleasant occurred immediately, the warrior chanced a look upwards. Finding the expectant gaze of the 'god' upon him, he continued.
"What of the 'specimens' the documents spoke of, and the 'host'? Should we retrieve them for you, My Lord?"
Osiris' eyes flashed in the beautiful face and the Goa'uld glared at the kneeling form as though she were searching his face for signs of treachery.
"Destroy everything," the god ordered with crushing finality.
"Yes, my Lord." The Jaffa spoke in unison and strode away into the encroaching blackness of the night.
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It was evening when the ring transporter deposited Jacob and the team in a neat circle on the dark planet's surface. They slipped into cover of nearby undergrowth and began to reconnoitre the immediate area. Once he had established they were alone, the Colonel broke the arranged radio silence.
"Ok, we're clear here. Teal'c, you and Jonas secure the area and watch our six." He turned and gestured towards the tree line, "We'll head for the outpost. Carter, take point, move out."
"Yes Sir," she replied, and with O'Neill's eyes watching her she headed towards the trees.
He turned to Teal'c and said, "Ok, T, keep your eyes peeled for any sign of trouble."
An expression of confusion spread across the tall Jaffa's face. The corners of his mouth turned down very slightly but as he turned to speak to the colonel, Jack strode away, quickly lengthening his stride to close the distance between him and his second in command.
Teal'c turned, still frowning, towards the younger man, who simply shrugged his shoulders.
Jacob Carter glanced over at his daughter as they moved carefully through the undergrowth. Her eyes moved left and right, scanning the horizon for any possible threat, and she cradled her P-90 in the crook of her arm as though sporting the latest prosthetic attachment. Sam smiled as her superior joined them and began scanning the trees for any signs of movement, in subconscious mimicry of his companion. Jacob noticed that as she and the colonel worked, they mirrored each other's movements with a military precision borne out of years of close combat, but then again their working relationship had long been an enigma to him. True, he liked Jack well enough, but the younger man could be crass and rude, and yet Sam didn't seem to mind. In fact she seemed to enjoy his humour. More than that, Jacob couldn't fail to observe her uncharacteristic deference towards the man; it went way beyond respect, in his opinion.
The Tok'ra was just beginning to consider possibilities that to his mind were highly unpalatable, when Selmak interrupted his thoughts. "Jacob," the symbiote chided gently, "We have a job to do here, and I know you are aware that Samantha has been an adult for many years now. Therefore she does not need or wish our interference in matters pertaining to her personal life."
"Yeah, yeah." Jacob said under his breath.
"What?" The colonel asked turning towards the older man.
"Nothing," he stated a little too vehemently, drawing a suspicious look from his daughter's clear blue eyes.
The awkward moment was broken, by the faint, but unmistakeable sound of boot-clad feet.
The colonel and major dropped into the bracken in one synchronised movement and began to quietly inch forward towards the pathway. Jacob, who had ducked behind a bush, followed suit aiming to arrive slightly further along the path than them.
When they reached the edge of the wood the Jaffa, as the noise of clanking armour had identified them, had vanished around a bend in the walkway.
"Heads up, Teal'c, we got company and they're headed your way." O'Neill spoke quietly into the radio.
"Understood," the tall jaffa replied.
"Major, you sighted two or three?" The Colonel enquired softly.
"Negative on the visuals Sir, sounded like three though," Carter, returned.
"How many?" Jonas asked, as Teal'c indicated with a turn of his head and a finger to his lips that his keen ears had detected signs of the approaching Jaffa.
Teal'c clicked his radio once to indicate the need for silence. He knew it was unnecessary, O'Neill would have already understood their situation as a result of his lack of reply. He motioned to Jonas that they should move to conceal themselves.
From his position behind a clump of long grass, Jonas could see a couple of Jaffa advancing down the path. As they drew level he noticed a child's bare foot amongst the boots of the warriors. When they had passed he chanced a look upwards, and whistled quietly under his breath as he saw they were frogmarching what appeared to be a small girl between them.
He looked over to Teal'c, who had one eyebrow arched upwards in surprise. Teal'c indicated with well-practised hand signals that they should follow quietly. The two team members were ready to move out when the enemy Jaffa stopped in the circular clearing containing the ring transporter and forced the child down to her knees before them.
The moonlight reflected on her white robe, illuminating her long blonde hair and her pale skin.
She was facing away from him and the Jaffa were standing behind her, staff weapons raised and open at the business end. Jonas' heart hammered in his chest, 'Oh god,' he thought,' they're going to kill her.'
In one fluid movement Teal'c rose, and fired his own staff weapon striking the Jaffa square in the back of his head, killing him instantly.
Jonas was already charging towards them, firing at the remaining warrior who had swung around, weapon ready, looking for the source of the attack. He had shouted, "No," as Teal'c had fired, and the child had flung herself headlong instinctively. He'd turned to watch the second man fall and by the time he had returned his attention to her she had fled. As Jonas slowed and stood over the two dead Jaffa he was only in time to catch sight of a shimmer of white vanish into the trees. His eyes searched from the tree line to the immediate foreground, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Teal'c?" O'Neill enquired into the radio. "What's your position?"
"We encountered two jaffa. Upon closer observation it appeared that they were attempting to execute a child," he returned.
"What?" The colonel's voice was incredulous.
"We were able to prevent them, but in the ensuing battle the child was lost." Teal'c reported the facts with a barely tangible a shadow of regret.
"What happened?" Jack's voice sounded empty even over the radio.
"The child escaped into the covering of the trees and we were about to follow."
The colonel exhaled a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding and pursed his lips together, sighing in exasperation at this turn of events.
"O'Neill, should we not conduct a search of the area to locate the child and ascertain if she has sustained any injuries?" Teal'c enquired. There was another pause, during which the silence seemed to grow exponentially.
"Negative, we need to complete the mission, and flush out any further jaffa. Then and only then will we will play hide and go seek with the munchkin." The child's narrow escape had left the colonel feeling a lot more rattled than he cared to admit. As violently as he hated the idea of leaving a child alone in the dark facing a bunch of jaffa with staff weapons, he knew the priority had to be the scientific facility.
"Meet up at this position," Jack turned and indicated to his 2IC with a wave of his hand that they should secure their immediate area.
Jack swept past Jacob with a curt, "Skeleton crew eh, Jake?"
As she stalked away from them, Sam was suddenly glad of the darkness. Her pale face had flushed at her superior officer's rudeness to her father. 'Sometimes,' she thought, 'sometimes I could kick your dumb ass, Sir.' 'God, even her 'thought self' wanted to salute him', she shook off a wave of self-loathing. 'Focus,' she chastised herself, and forced her mind back on to the mission.
Returning from her circuit of the immediate perimeter, Sam found herself the subject of the colonel's intense scrutiny. She could hear the silent, 'Major? Stay focused,' emitted from the within the deep brown eyes. She smiled slightly to assure him she was fully alert. Jack held her gaze for a split second and then turned away satisfied.
"Ok. Teal'c and I have got your six, you three go in get what we need and then we can leave," Jack said in a businesslike tone. He turned slightly towards to Jacob Carter and said in a conciliatory tone, "Jonas has a good grasp of written Goa' uld, he should be able help you."
The tok 'ra nodded and said, "Ok, Jack," mentally accepting the olive branch the younger officer proffered.
With Teal'c and the Colonel keeping a steady watch a few metres from the entrance, they entered the facility, happening upon a scene of devastation. There were staff weapon burns on the walls and the surfaces were littered with smashed equipment. A few dead bodies lay haphazardly in the main lab area, and the smell of burnt flesh permeated the air.
"Holy Crap," Jacob said, his eyes searching the room for any remaining scientists or any evidence of their documents.
Sam strode passed a stone table fitted with metallic medical restraints and remarked, "Looks like they've been undertaking medical experimentation." She walked on into another lab. There appeared to be slightly less damage to this area and as her eyes swept the room she caught a small movement. Behind a console, propped up against a wall, a heavily wounded man, barely conscious was clutching a Goa'uld documentation slab. He gestured for her to come to him.
"Dad, get over here quickly." She knelt down beside the man but recoiled slightly, sensing the presence of a symbiote within him. Sam stood and took a step back, only to find her father's hand upon her back.
"Merrick?" Jacob asked in alarm, stepping past his daughter. He placed his hand against the pulse point on the man's neck. The operative's eyes fluttered open.
"What happened?" Jacob asked. "You reported that there were no Jaffa stationed here."
"Osiris came," the Tok'ra agent's voice rasped, and he began to lapse into unconsciousness.
Jacob gave his shoulder a gentle shake, "What about the Tau'ri genetic material?" He asked swiftly, painfully aware time was short.
The agent grimaced as another wave of pain washed over him. "Worst-case scenario. The Jaffa," he halted, painfully drawing another breath, "Taken, destroyed or captured."
"Merrick, is this the documentation here?" Jacob gestured towards the slab clutched to the tok'ra's chest, but with a faint bubbling in the host's chest the light of the operative's eyes faded and he was dead.
"You knew him." Her words weren't a question but a statement. The deep sorrow in her father's eyes answered any lingering doubt that might have remained in her mind.
"We must leave before those Jaffa are missed." Jacob straightened, holding the 'palm slab' in his hand and glanced at his daughter, all traces of emotion gone, his military past evident in his bearing.
"Major, report." Her radio burst into life, reminding her she had failed to keep the colonel apprised within the allotted five minutes, and that consequently his patience had expired.
She reached the door to the facility and found him already there, "It doesn't look good sir. The Tok'ra operative, Merrick, died but he was able to give us the intel. Dad's making a final sweep of the place now. Merrick said the Jaffa were Osiris' and that they had taken the genetic material."
"Alright Major," The colonel interrupted the rapid flow of information, holding up his hand. "Return to the ring device, and search the Jaffa bodies before you ring up to the ship. You know what you are looking for. Round up the troops and head back. Teal'c and I will search out the kid and meet you back at the ship." The colonel turned and indicated to his Jaffa companion who had been patiently listening that they were heading out.
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The child lay motionless in the dry, leafy bracken of the forest floor. She had waited a long time for her captor's assailants to pursue her but they hadn't. Now, fear clutched at her insides as she considered the possibility that she could be left alone. She rapidly considered her options. She could stay and maybe end up dead at the end of a staff weapon, or find the men who had saved her and hope they would return her to 'The master's' house.
She decided that to seek out the men would be the better option and set out across the clearing back towards the facility. As she walked purposefully across the stone circle set in the earth, the ring transporter activated and she was swept up into the inside of a ship. Immediately the girl took steps to conceal herself behind a pile of metal boxes as she heard a man's voice enquiring who was there. Obviously, she thought, he was a Goa'uld. Her body had reacted as it did when 'The master', or his warriors approached. Behind a nearby pile of discarded equipment she spotted a weapon. She knew it was such, as she had watched in fascinated horror as the blue light belched out of it and felt the corresponding agony within every muscle of her body, when she had displeased her Lord.
The young Tok'ra was mystified. He glanced around the interior of the cargo bay.
A pleasant female voice floated through the doorway, "Kiran, prepare to ring us up."
The man turned and strode out of the room, half jogging to the console at the front of the room; he seated himself there and fiddled with a control. Behind him, spectre like, a small pale shadow slid through the door. As he spun around in his chair towards the sound of the activated transporter, he met a cold, clear pair of blue eyes. Startled he looked down, only to see the first of two shots of the zat'nik'tel clutched within the small pale hand.
I