Planet P5-67X
They had been on the planet for the better part of the day, and still they had quite a ways to go on the translation of the temple SG-4 had found. Alexia's first experience off-world was wonderful. The planet was beautiful and seemed uninhabited, which put everyone's mind at ease.
Daniel walked over to where Alexia was working. Being off-world seemed to agree with her, he had noticed, "So, what have you got so far?" he asked, gesturing to the wall she was attempting to translate.
Alexia frowned, "Well, it seems to be talking about an object. Some kind of defense mechanism that can be used on an entire planet. But some of this is odd, though," she said.
"Like what," Daniel said, looking from the wall to her.
"Well, like this here," she said, pointing to a word, "if I'm translating this correctly, it says Cheyenne Mountain." She pointed to another word, "And this says Washington, D.C. And they also mention Earth."
"What?" he asked, "Are you sure?"
Alexia nodded, "I'm pretty sure. If I can translate the rest of it, maybe that'll help."
"Ok, work on it," Daniel said, as Jack poked his head into the room where they were, "Hey Daniel, come here a sec," he said.
"I'll be right back, Alex," Daniel said, and followed Jack outside.
Jack walked away from the building, where Sam appeared to be waiting, "Teal'c says that there's something we need to see," he said, once they had caught up with her, and they walked down to where Teal'c was.
"It appears that we are not alone, O'Neill," Teal'c said as they got close to him. Teal'c handed Jack some binoculars, and Jack looked through them to see several Jaffa making camp in the valley below where they were. "Great," he muttered, "Ok, people, we've gotta get out of here before they see us. We'll have to go the long way back to the gate and hope they aren't there."
"It is not the Jaffa that concern me, O'Neill," Teal'c said, "It is who they have with them."
Jack shot him a look, and then looked again through the binoculars. Scanning the Jaffa, he too, saw what Teal'c had seen. "Great," he muttered, turning to Carter, "Dad seems to have gotten himself caught."
"What?" Sam said, taking the binoculars from him. Looking through them, she, too, saw her father tied up in the middle of the Jaffa, "I see him, but sir, how do we know he's not on a mission and that this was part of the plan. I mean, we've done it before."
"She's right, Jack," Daniel said, "how are you going to find out if he needs rescuing."
"I don't know, but I do know that leaving him here without finding out is not an option," Jack said, getting up, "come on, it's time to think of a plan."
The rest of them followed Jack back to the camp, where they met up with the rest of SG-4. "Ok, people, we may have a captured ally. We need to find out if he indeed needs rescuing, and if he does, find out how. Major Adams, Lt. Jakes, and Capt. Ligeres, you'll be helping out Carter, Teal'c, and I," he said.
"Perhaps it would be best if we got AlexiaMiller back to Earth," Teal'c said.
Sam turned to him, "You know, Sir, he's right."
"My thoughts exactly," Jack said, and turned to Daniel, "Your job is to get Alex back home. She's not trained for this. If the gate is guarded, make your way back here, and contact us on the radio. Go home, tell General Hammond what's going on and stay there. Give us 24 hours and then try and come find us. Now, go, and if we don't hear from you in about 5 hours, we'll assume that you made it home," he said, knowing that Daniel would not argue.
Daniel nodded, and soon he and Jack were left alone. He looked at Jack, "Are you sure it's wise to separate right now?"
Jack looked at him, surprised. He had fully expected Daniel to jump at the chance at getting Alexia safely home. "You mean, you want to leave her here?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.
"No, of course not, but I also don't want to leave everyone else behind." Daniel said, and trailed off.
"It's ok Daniel, we've done this before. Concentrate on her," he said, "I don't want to see her hurt any more than you do. Now, take some P90s and some Zats and get her home," he said, walking toward where everyone else was gathered. He turned back around to face Daniel once more, "Oh, and for heaven's sake, avoid the Jaffa will you?"
Daniel smiled, part of him still not liking that they were separating, but also wanting to make sure that Alexia got home safely. Sighing, he walked into the room where she was still busy translating, "Hey, Alex," he said, and she turned around.
Alexia grinned, turning around. Wait until he heard what she had found out, but her smile vanished at the sight of his face, "What's wrong?" she asked.
"We're leaving," he said, watching her face fall.
"Leaving?" Alexia asked, "Why?" Alexia liked being off-world, and the planet was beautiful. She didn't want to leave.
"I have been told to take you home. Jack and everyone have to take care of something. Something that could be very dangerous, so he's ordered me to take you home."
Alexia nodded, "I understand. I don't like it, but I understand," she said, beginning to pack her stuff up.
Daniel knelt beside her and helped her gather everything, "You know he's doing what's best for you, right? Jack looks at you as a daughter, Alex. He doesn't want anything to happen to you. And for that matter, neither do Sam or Teal'c," he paused, "and neither do I."
Alexia looked into his eyes, "I know. I'm just so used to being independent and taking care of myself. I've been this way for so long that it's hard to get used to someone else looking out for me. I'm just not used to someone else caring enough to make sure I do the right thing," she said.
Daniel smiled, "Well, it's high time you got used to it. Now, come on, we're moving out."
An hour later, they were overlooking the ridge that would lead them to the Stargate. "Great," Daniel muttered, upon seeing it overrun with Jaffa. He motioned for Alexia to follow him away, and picked up his radio, "Jack, Jack, come in."
"Yeah, Daniel, what is it," Jack's voice came back.
"The gate is totally blocked. Even if you can get Sam's dad, we still don't have a way off this planet. I'd say we're outnumbered at least 10 to one," he said, as they picked their way back to the temple SG-4 had found.
"Great, just great. Well, in that case, let's meet back at the temple. We'll decide what to do from there," Jack said.
"Roger," Daniel said, turning back to Alexia, "We're headed back to the temple."
Alexia nodded, keeping silent.
They were almost to the temple when a voice from behind called out to them, "Stay where you are," it said.
Alexia and Daniel froze, turning toward the voice. Daniel was unsurprised to see 2 Jaffa standing with their staff weapons leveled at him and Alexia.
"Drop your weapons," the same one who had spoken before said.
Alexia looked at Daniel and saw him nod, so she dropped the gun she was carrying, but kept the Zat that was in her backpack. Daniel did the same.
"Move," the Jaffa said, shoving Daniel in the back with his staff weapon.
Daniel rolled his eyes, and began walking, still in the direction of the temple. He made sure that he was between Alexia and the Jaffa, though. She was behaving well given that it was only her first time off-world and she had already been captured.
When they reached the temple, Daniel scanned the area, and noticing that they still appeared to be alone, wondered if that was because the others, too, had been captured, or because they had seen that he and Alexia had been captured and were hiding. He hoped it was the latter.
The Jaffa led them into the room they had been in earlier and pointed to the wall, "Tell me, what does it say," he asked Daniel.
Daniel was bewildered, "What?"
The other Jaffa grabbed Alexia by the neck and held her, nearly choking her. Daniel could see the fear in her eyes, but she kept silent.
"Tell us what it says, or we will kill her" the first Jaffa said. Daniel saw Alexia's eyes get big and fill with tears, but still she kept silent.
Daniel didn't know what to do, and decided to tell the truth, "I don't know what it says, we didn't finish translating it," he said, watching as the second Jaffa tightened his grip on Alexia's neck, "I'm telling the truth, I don't know." He was really beginning to get worried now, and really didn't want them to hurt Alexia. If the others hadn't been captured, now would be a really good time for them to save them.
"Then we will have to kill her. Perhaps then, you will be willing to negotiate," the first Jaffa said.
"What! I'm telling the truth! All we know is that it talks about an object, that it mentions Earth and some of its cities. I swear, that's all we know so far," Daniel pleaded, terrified that they were going to carry out their threat. He didn't know what else to do.
Alexia knew that they wouldn't hesitate to kill her, so she did what she thought was best, "I can tell you what it says," she said.
The first Jaffa turned from Daniel to her, and the one holding her loosened his hold. The first Jaffa came over to her, "Then tell me what it says," he said.
"It says that an ancient object can be found on a planet with a Stargate. This object is a defense mechanism that can protect an entire planet from outer space attack from anything. Kind of like a deflector shield. It mentions that 8 humans are needed to make it work, and that they will come from cities of Earth: Washington, D.C., and Cheyenne Mountain. And it's dated. April 14th 2004, which is part of Earth's calendar. That's all it says," she said.
Daniel looked over at her, wondering if she was telling the truth or merely bluffing, and was scared for her. She didn't appear afraid anymore, but he believed that he was scared enough for the both of them. He glanced out the door and saw that Jack, Sam, and Teal'c could hear what was going on. Relaxing a little, he turned his attention back to the Jaffa and Alexia. The first Jaffa didn't look very convinced that Alexia had told him the truth, and the second one had again tightened his hold, "I don't believe you are telling me the whole truth, girl. Where is this object located? Who are the people needed to run it? Perhaps you will be more willing to talk to our Lord."
"That's all it says, I swear. If you weren't going to believe us anyway, then why did you ask?" Alexia asked, becoming very angry.
The Jaffa didn't like her response and the one holding her turned and threw her into the wall, which gave Jack, Sam, and Teal'c the entrance that they needed to kill the two while they were both facing away from the door.
Daniel stepped over the now dead Jaffa and knelt down beside Alexia, who had fallen to the ground, "Hey, you ok," he asked, helping her up, and looking her over, to assure himself with his own eyes that she was ok.
Alexia nodded, holding her head, "I'm fine."
Jack came up to them, "So, you ok," he asked. Alexia nodded again.
"Is that really what that says," Daniel asked.
"Yeah. I finished translating it before you came and said we were leaving. And that's also really all that it says," Alexia said, rubbing her head where it had hit the wall.
Daniel nodded and turned to Jack, "So, what's the news on Sam's dad?" he asked.
Jack smiled, "He does not need rescuing. He's on a mission from the Tok'ra and the Asgard to find out about, well, something or the other," he said, waving his hand dismissively.
"And how did you figure that out?" Daniel asked.
"Well, Lt. Jakes actually thought of it. We used Morse code. Got as close as we could and used, of all things, some kind of instrument that sounds like a bird. And then, Jacob starts answering in sign language. Overheard him tell his guards that he has arthritis and needs to move his hands. So, Carter recognizes what he's doing since for some reason, he made her learn sign language, and he tells us that we do not need to rescue him because he's on a mission," Jack said, "Kinda cool, huh?"
"Yeah, but that still leaves one problem, how do we get home," Daniel asked.
"Well, good 'ole Jacob told us that, too. Said that he and the Jaffa should be leaving in the morning, so if we hole up somewhere tonight, then we should be able to leave after they do.
Daniel nodded, "Where are we going to stay?"
"Capt. Ligeres found some caves about a mile from here. We should be able to keep an eye on the Jaffa from there," Sam said.
Daniel nodded, and they set out.