Jack walked through the dense forest followed by Ferretti, Carter and Teal'c. He found difficult to walk with that large robe, above all because he was wearing two robes, one for Daniel when they found him. When the guards of the gate noticed that there was an extra-monk, they would find a way out. Now only finding Daniel before Apophis found his brain really mattered.
"So, what's the plan, Sir?" asked Ferretti.
"Go inside the palace, pick Daniel up, leave ASAP" answered Jack.
"Oh, that's all!" replied Ferretti with irony. He knew how much O'Neill worried about his team, specially his problem-magnet archeologist, but getting themselves killed was not a good plan. "Piece of cake" he mumbled. A sudden stare of Jack made him silence at once.
"Sir, we'll arrive to Chulak in less than half an hour." Said Carter pointing at the town that was extended in their sight.
"Happy memories" mumbled Jack. "Okay. We don't know how many Jaffa patrols we'll find, but the lesser we find the better. We will go to Chulak by the forest, not by the path. Be alert but don't shoot at anything if possible. That would bluff our covert."
"Understood" came the Sam and Ferretti's reply. Teal'c just nodded.
Martouf motioned to Rosh'na to follow him. After Hathor and her beloved had killed the two guards, the two Tok'ra had eliminated all the other guards that threatened to stop the Goa'uld Queen, so she and her beloved could do to outside the palace. Now they were leaving Chulak, heading towards the forest. Of course Hathor wasn't stupid. She knew pretty well that going through the Stargate by the path that connected Chulak and the ring would lead her to many Jaffa patrols.
"Once we've got her in the forest we'll act" said Martouf.
"We'll try to save her host?" replied Rosh'na.
"It wouldn't be wise. She has been possessed by Hathor for so many years that she would actually die anyway. She'll be a ... casualty"
"If only we could manage to get Hathor to our planet..." considered Rosh'na
"Hathor cannot give us important information. She's been in ecstasy for so many centuries in Tau'ri." Lantesh replied taking control over Martouf. "Jolinar, do you have the healing device? The young Tau'ri will need it"
"Yes. I just hope we'll be able to rescue him" Jolinar replied.
Daniel was finding more and more difficult to concentrate on keeping one foot in front of another. His leg was hurting so badly it hardly did bother if Apophis captured him again. Hathor looked at him. Her beloved was not doing well at all. He walked with his eyes completely closed, breathing in short gasps and she could notice the heat that he was emanating.
She regretted leaving the healing device on the planet. Then she placed a hand in her waist. Yes, the little tubular urn was still there. She looked at Daniel again. Sweat was all over his face, plastering his long hair to it. She made a decision. Searching for a sage halt, he gently lowered him and let him rest with his back and head resting in a big trunk and tied his hands behind his back. He noticed that they were not moving anymore, so he made the effort to open his eyes.
"Are you going to use that thing on me again?" he asked with hope that the pain would disappear a little like before.
"No. But we will give you something better" she said searching under her robes and taking the urn in her hands. Daniel looked at her with curiosity until she opened the urn and extracted a Goa'uld from inside of it. Daniel's face went pale when he saw what was going to happen.
"No..." he started "I..."
"You'll die if you don't become our Pharaoh now. Moreover, it will assure us that you will remain with us and honor and cherish us forever" she said approaching with the large snake in her hand. "If you don't try to fight it will be less painful. Once our Pharaoh has taken control of your body functions, you'll become part of the Lords of the System. Now... join the blending" she said leaving the Goa'uld on Daniel's stomach. Daniel watched with horror as the snaky creature dragged onto his stomach and was directing to his neck. He sensed how tears were starting forming in his eyes and knew that those were is very last moments of freedom...
Sam looked at her CO with worry. She also had grew fond of Daniel. After all, he was much more like her. And she had been happy to have someone who could actually follow her when she was in full-speed reasoning. She knew that they would go on well the first time she had seen him talking in the Abydos chamber where he explained all about the Stargate map. She thought he was a genius in his field of translations and old history until he had asked her that question.
'Couldn't the planets change? I mean, just to drift this map apart?'
Then she had known it. That man had gained her respect since that moment and she was going to safe him. She had saw is face in the prison of Chulak, when he was willing to accept becoming a host to be with his wife. Now it seemed a second chance was given to him. No matter. He was not going to benefit it neither. Her chariot of thoughts was abruptly broken by a shout not far from where they were.
"Jack! Sam! Teal'c!"
Daniel closed his eyes. He preferred not seeing the moment when the Goa'uld finally jumped to the back of his neck, to control him forever. He waited, and waited, and waited. He could still sense the Goa'uld on him, laying flat on his chest now, but it seemed that the creature had stopped advancing. Anyway, he didn't dare open his eyes. What if the Goa'uld wanted to see the fear reflected on them just before doing his final assault?
Suddenly he heard a shout. Surely it hadn't been his, so he forced his eyes open. What he saw shocked him to the point of making him get to his feet despite of his wounded leg. When he did it he found that the Goa'uld fell to the ground, dead. A small large kind of knife was stuck in its neck. He looked forwards to see Hathor lying unconscious on the floor and a man and a woman approaching to him.
"Ow, you've done that?" he asked at the couple and added before waiting for any answer "thank you, thank you very much...I... I was going to... Oh, thanks" he repeated again.
"You don't need to thank us nothing" replied the man in a clearly Goa'uld voice. That made Daniel jump backward grabbing pressing himself to the trunk of the tree.
"You don't have to be afraid of us" said the woman in a Goa'uld voice too. "I'm Jolinar de Malkshuar and he is Lantesh, my husband" she said pointing towards the man.
"You... you are Goa'uld" hissed Daniel. Were they there to recapture him again? That nightmare was never going to finish, he thought bitterly.
The man's eyes glowed briefly. "We're not Goa'uld. We are Tok'ra" he stated in a harsh voice.
"Tok'ra?" Daniel echoed. 'Tok'ra'. He searched a meaning for that word. He separated his parts. 'Tok'. That was Egyptian. It meant 'against'. And 'Ra'... well, Ra was Ra. The solution hit him.
"Against Ra!" he exclaimed.
"We are the resistance." The man continued. "we fight against the Lords of the System like Ra, Apophis, Hathor and many others"
"How do you do that?" asked Daniel. "I mean, you are goa..."
"As Lantesh has said before, we're not Goa'uld. We don't force nobody to become a host. We share the body with the host, and we live with him or her in harmony for many years."
"I see... it's like a treat, right? You get a body and the host get a long life" Daniel said. Jolinar nodded and Lantesh vowed his head. When he spoke again he did it in a normal human voice.
"You are correct. I'm Martouf, Lantesh's host and I can speak and act freely whenever I want to" he said.
"And I'm Rosh'na" said the woman, also in a normal voice. "We came here because we thought that we could kill Apophis once he was going to change his host. We've failed, but at least we've captured Hathor. One day we'll be able to kill Apophis and the other System Lords and the galaxy will be free"
"Ow... that's... that's great" Daniel said. Then, remembering he hadn't introduced himself "I'm Daniel Jackson. Huh, the thing you've used on Hathor..."
"A zat'ni'ce'tel. Just fired once." Said Lantesh gaining the control again. "Time for a second shot I guess" he added and turned towards the Queen had fallen. He gasped when he saw the empty space where she was supposed to be.
"No!" shouted Jolinar. "She has escaped!"
"We must go after her" said Martouf. "Daniel. Let Jolinar healed you the wounded leg. I'm afraid we don't have enough time to heal it completely, but at least you'll be in less pain" he said. "Once we're gone, call for your friends. This forest is full of our comrades and they had seen them. Once they find you, go to the chappa'ai and return to your world as soon as possible. Staying here is extremely dangerous. Our comrades will help you arrive healthy to the chappa'ai, but don't expect to see them." He concluded while Jolinar had placed the healing device on Daniel's wound for a minute. Then she replaced it.
Daniel felt pain, but it was much more less intense than before. He smiled at the couple that now where standing in front of him. "Thanks." He said. Then, gesturing to the dead Goa'uld on the ground "Again. I guess an alliance between you and the Tau'ri would be interesting if we have a common goal."
"Daniel, you've demonstrated yourself to be a wise man" Lantesh said looking at him "May be in the future our paths will cross again. When this happens, we'll talk about an alliance. For now, good luck" he said and started walking to the deep forest followed by Jolinar who saluted Daniel and smiled at him before he lost sight of them. He was left alone in the clearness of the forest. Suddenly he realized that Hathor could still be near. He had to leave that place.
"Jack! Sam! Teal'c" he screamed from the top of his lungs.
Jack was on autopilot since he had heard the scream. It was Daniel's voice and that was all that mattered. He headed towards the shout had come.
"Daniel" he shouted, his heart pounding faster. Finally he arrived at a clearness in the middle of the forest. He found Daniel standing up but resting his back on the trunk of a very big tree. Jack sighed in relief as he approached the young man.
"Daniel, you're OK?" he asked.
"Unless my leg, yeah, think so" Daniel replied. Jack looked at his friend's leg and grimaced. "Maybe Carter will be able to fix it..."
"No, we don't have time for this. I'll explain all to you once we are safely back at the SGC. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll made to the Stargate without problems."
"Daniel! How are you?" Sam said, gasping for air after the run they had done.
"I'll be fine" Daniel simply replied "Huh, Sam, would you like to take that Goa'uld to the SGC? It's dead, but maybe we'll discover something..."
"Goa'uld? Daniel?" Jack asked
"Later Jack... later, now let's go home" Daniel said, accepting the shoulder Jack offered him as support and started walking his way down to the Stargate.
FIN