Thanks for all of the reviews! I really love them.
Warning: More character deaths.
Italic represents the present. Bold Italics represent Sam's thoughts in the present. Everything else is a flashback.
Previously:
Sam ran...
When Sam hesitated, O'Neill gripped her shoulders, "Major Carter, I am ordering you. The first chance you get you will run to the Gate. Is that clear?"
Major Samantha Carter straightened her shoulders, "Yes, sir. I'll run."
They waited. Sam started and stopped herself from talking several times. She could not think of anything to say that did not sound like defeat.
It was the Colonel who broke the silence. "They took our GDO."
"I'll…gate to another planet and then send an emergency entry code to Earth," Sam replied.
"If they haven't – if the MALP is still there, you should be able to find a spare radio."
"I'll look for it."
O'Neill turned to look at her. "You won't have a lot of time. Dan -" O'Neill grimaced, "Apophis will probably be guarding the gate. We haven't seen that many Jaffa and he probably doesn't have his army back at full strength, but there has to be more somewhere."
"Sir, I'll get back to the SGC. And we will come back for you. Leave no one behind remember?"
O'Neill looked over at Teal'c's body and did not respond.
Sam lost track of how long they crouched in the cage. Her body ached from the Zat gun and the time she had been restrained. She wondered what would happen if she got a chance to run. Would her body be able to move fast enough?
Finally Sam and the Colonel heard Jaffa marching in their direction. The same wall rolled back and the newly healed Apophis was revealed in all of his glory. Sam's grief resurged at the sight of Daniel's body swathed in Goa'uld finery. There was a tall headdress and wide, gold shoulders. The heavily embroidered robe opened over a bare chest. Gold satin pants were tucked snugly into knee-high boots. But it was the face that Sam found the hardest to bear. Daniel's large blue eyes were heavily lined with black and the now wore a look of arrogance and cruelty. It was the look that convinced Sam that the Colonel was right. Daniel would prefer death to this. Sam remembered seeing Apophis's previous host emerge in the infirmary. For thousands of years the man had existed in a vague nightmare realm. Sam could not think of anyone who deserved that punishment. She would not allow it to be Daniel's fate.
The Jaffa roughly pulled the humans from the cage. They were forced to kneel with a little encouragement from a staff blaster to O'Neill's bad knee. Sam found it hard to even look at the grotesque parody of her dear friend.
Apophis was watching his guard clear away the remains of Teal'c. "That one died too soon," Apophis stated flatly, glaring at this First Prime. The First Prime had the sense to look discomfited at his god's displeasure. Apophis turned his glare onto SG1. "An early death is not what awaits you."
O'Neill sneered at him, "Nice outfit."
Apophis barked out a laugh, "Oh good. The famous Jack O'Neill wit. Hmmm, what can I do to prove to you that I am not joking?" A pause and then, "Jack? Sam?" To Sam's horror she realized that Daniel's mind had been pushed out front. Daniel looked around in terrified confusion. Suddenly he grabbed his head and screamed in pain, collapsing to his knees. He raised his pain filled eyes to his friends, "Jack! Please – don't – let -"
"Enough!" The Apophis-mind was back. He stood. "I have your friend. His suffering continues. If you tell me what I want to know, maybe I will stop hurting him. What is the self-destruct code of your Stargate Command?"
Sam could see that the Colonel was thrown by the reappearance of Daniel. But it did not change the fact that Col. Jack O'Neill was a soldier to his core. "Why would I tell you anything?"
Apophis looked as if this was the response he expected. He nodded at a guard and suddenly Sam had her head yanked back by her hair. A knife was pressed to her throat.
"Threatening the major won't help!" O'Neill yelled. "You still want our information and, personally, I'd rather you'd slit both our throats rather than make me wear that dress!"
Apophis was undeterred, "Tell me where I will find the child Shifu."
"You mean you don't know?" Jack laughed. "You're the one in the head. I figured you would just dig around until you got your answers. Or – wait – did Daniel put up more of a fight than you were expecting? Did you underestimate the weak little human? Yep, Danny-boy's a sly one. Sorry, not-so-omnipotent one, I have no idea where Sha're's child is."
With a look from Apophis, the hold on Sam's hair tightened. The knife's blade cut into her skin, raising a sliver of blood. She couldn't suppress her hiss of pain.
O'Neill's jaw tightened. "Oh come on. You think I believe that your just gonna' kill her? You got pissed at your First Prime for taking Teal'c out of the picture too fast. I think you wanna' have some fun first."
Apophis smiled and his eyes glowed. "You are right, Jack." He raised his hand and revealed the ribbon device that was already illuminated. "If the pain of your friends will not make you talk, let us see what you will do when it is your own pain." With that, the energy beam shot from Apophis's hand and started to drill into the Colonel's head.
But something was wrong. The ribbon device was powered by intentions and thoughts. It required the full attention of the user. Sam could see in the large blue eyes that the Goa'uld hid behind that something was distracting him. Even as he bore down harder the beam faltered, splintered, and stopped.
Jack collapsed to the floor. For a second. Then he grabbed for the staff weapon the Jaffa next to him was holding. Sam threw herself into a backwards somersault, knocking over the guard who had been holding her. She grabbed her Zat gun and shot him twice without hesitation. Pivoting, she Zatted two guards who were aiming at the Colonel. O'Neill grabbed a dagger and threw himself at Apophis. At once, three staff weapons fired at him.
"No!" Sam screamed, freezing in the doorframe, forgetting everything. The smoke cleared and she saw Apophis lying halfway down the stairs. A Jaffa dagger was buried to the hilt in his neck. O'Neill was lying next to him; his body burned from multiple staff blasts. Somehow, he was still alive. He looked into Carter's eyes. "Run!" he mouthed.
Sam hesitated a fraction of a second, until a staff blast hit the wall by her face, forcing her into action. The last thing she saw was O'Neill's eyes closing as his life left him.
TBC