:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:
Jack stumbled forward and almost knocked Sam off her feet.
"Aww! For cryin' out loud… THOR! So NOT the moment!" he groaned in frustration. He realized then that this was not an Asgard ship. His instincts on edge immediately, he drew out the small sidearm he always kept at his belt, as Sam did the same.
A deep voice startled them. "This will not be necessary, O'Neill." A Jaffa stepped from behind the console of the Al'kesh and bowed slightly as a means of greeting. "O'Neill, Major Carter…"
"Colonel Carter! Who are you!" she said, her grip on her gun tightening.
"Please accept my apologies for this misinformation, Colonel Carter. I am An'ok, former Jaffa of Anubis."
Jack had slowly stepped sideward and was now directly opposite Sam, pointing his weapon at the other man. Unless there were others hidden somewhere, which he doubted — knowing the Jaffa, they would have all been here to neutralize them if need be — he had no chance to escape their shots if it came to that.
"Anubis is gone, what do you want?" he snarled.
"I know, and please lower your weapons; I will explain everything. You need not fear me."
"We'll be the judges of that," Sam said before Jack could.
An'ok bent his head for a moment, then resumed.
"When the fleet of my former master attacked Earth, I was at the command of an Al'kesh — this one. I barely escaped the glowing weapons before I made the jump to hyperspace. There was nothing to be saved, and he whom I thought a god had been destroyed. There was another Jaffa with me. After drifting through space for some time and going from planet to planet, he suggested we try to join the ranks of the Jaffa rebellion, since it seemed that the Shol'va had chosen more wisely that the rest of us…"
"That's Teal'c to you!" Jack growled.
"Yes, my apologies… My partner and I landed on a planet where we hoped we might find members of the rebellion, and we did. My partner was killed in the battle on Dakara."
"Nice story, but this is an abduction we're talking about!" Jack said unmoved.
"A long time ago, Anubis found an outpost of the Ancients. There was a laboratory there which held a broken machine. Anubis knew its function, and I was among the few Jaffa he trusted enough to reveal its purpose: that machine has the power to accelerate or stop the growth of beings. We had to know because we were in charge of the supervision of the work needed to repair the machine. Anubis had abducted scientists from throughout the galaxy to do so. He killed them one by one, because they could repair the mechanism but could not make it work. Apparently, O'Neill can operate Ancient technology. When there were no more scientists to kill, Anubis rendered the machine useless again and left."
"Why did he need that machine?"
"He needed larvae to mature to a certain degree because he wanted to create an army of super Jaffa…"
"The Kull warriors?" Sam supplied.
"In the end it was them indeed," An'ok confirmed. "When he could not use the machine, he found another way around the difficulty."
"And we're headed to that machine?" she asked.
"You want me to fix it and General O'Neill to operate it? Why?"
"I think that if we can stop the larva's growth, we can free all Jaffa from the dependence to the Goa'uld and keep the benefits without having to bear the terrible consequences."
"There's tretonin for that," Jack said warily.
"Indeed, but how long will the Tok'ra supply us with it? It would just be switching dependencies, even for a while. Besides, the alliance is shattered, and I would not trust my life to them, either. The Free Jaffa Nation wish to find their own way."
"He's right, sir," Sam said, finally lowering her arm.
"And that excuses the fact he's literally abducted us? That he was tracking both you and I? I don't buy that!"
"I did not track you both, O'Neill. I intended to transport you to my ship and then to convince you to allow Colonel Carter to come," An'ok said to O'Neill.
"So you admit it!" Jack pushed, irritated.
"The Asgard device that transported you to my ship has your bio signature. I could know where you were if needed, so in a manner of speaking, yes, I was tracking you, but only with the intention I stated before."
"That doesn't make this any less despicable!"
"Sir!"
"Carter, tell me why I shouldn't kill him right here and now!"
"Because if he's right, this machine could indeed be a huge step forward to free the Jaffa," Sam replied calmly.
Jack's animosity wavered a bit. "How do we know he's telling the truth? How do we know the machine works?"
"I will be the one upon whom you will test it. Soon, my symbiote will be ready to take a host. If the machine does not work, then I shall die anyway."
Jack, who had lowered his aim for a minute, tightened it back.
"If you want, take my zat'ni'katel. You can use it on me if you think I am not trustworthy."
An'ok held the weapon to Jack who carefully took it, still aiming. "That's very generous of you, An'ok, but call it a pathological paranoia — I don't think a zat is enough for me to trust you," Jack snarled.
"This is my only weapon," An'ok replied, still utterly calm.
"Sir, I don't think he's lying," Sam resumed. "What would be the purpose?"
"You forget my old buddy Baal's still on the run; he could be one of his Jaffa," Jack said, still not losing his aim.
"Unlikely, sir. Most of Baal's Jaffa joined the Rebellion. I really don't sense any malice in him."
"We didn't sense any malice in Kitano either," Jack reminded her. "Show me your symbiote!" he asked An'ok.
An'ok bowed his head and raised his tunic, allowing the larva to come out, making both Jack and Sam squirm.
Jack sighed and finally dropped his arm, putting his weapon back in his belt. "I'll trust you, Carter, but you," he said, pointing to An'ok, "I don't." Jack walked up to Sam's side, a silent communication taking place in their eyes.
"I'll set a course to the planet to which we need to go. The resting areas within the ship are not as comfortable as you might wish them to be, I am sorry, but they have all the necessities required," An'ok said.
"How long will the trip be?" O'Neill asked.
"About three of your days," An'ok replied flatly.
"You know our friends down there are gonna send search parties?" Jack asked, annoyed.
"I do, but for the sake of this mission, I would prefer if we kept silent until we know for sure the mission is successful."
"And if it's not?" Jack challenged.
"I will be dead and the Al'kesh will be yours, as well as its communication devices and all the data its memory contains," An'ok said, staring at him.
"Fair deal," Jack murmured then turned to go sit next to a wall.
:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:
Teal'c and Daniel finally turned onto the forest road that led to Jack's cabin.
"So? Any bets on what they've been doing during the day they waited for us?" Daniel asked playfully.
"I am not sure," Teal'c replied. "O'Neill probably taught Colonel Carter the art of fishing," he said in a serious tone.
Daniel snorted. "Yeah, right, the art of fishing…"
They came into view of the truck Jack had rented.
"Looks like they've just come back," Daniel casually remarked as Teal'c came to a full stop. He opened his door and walked up to the truck. "Jack? Sam?" he called.
He turned to Teal'c raising his eyebrows upon hearing no response, and went to the front door of the cabin.
"Daniel Jackson!" Teal'c called as Daniel tried unsuccessfully to open the door.
Teal'c rounded the building and met Daniel with a worried face. "It appears their luggage is still in the vehicle, the engine is cold and…"
"They haven't been to the cabin; the door's closed," Daniel finished. "I'm calling the SGC…"
Teal'c nodded.
:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:
Jack groaned as he sat up from his lying position.
Sam woke up from her daze.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing you can fix unfortunately, unless you've found the secret to everlasting youth," Jack replied, rubbing his backside painfully.
She looked at him with sympathy.
"Back to business," he said, leaning against the wall. "You found anything unusual aboard this ship?"
"No. I tried to conduct as full a survey as I could given the circumstances and the lack of instruments, but so far, An'ok has spoken the truth," she replied.
"I can't shake this gut feeling…" he murmured.
Sam sighed. "I understand, Sir, but like you said on the first day, the risk is manageable, don't you think?"
He grinned at her. "Admit it, you can't wait to put your hands on this thing."
She smiled back, acknowledging his words by a slight nod. "I'm rather excited at the possibilities this might bring, actually. Another Ancient discovery we could put to good use to free the Jaffa nation from the drawbacks of their symbiote."
"See, now that's what I don't get. Why didn't he bring Daniel and Teal'c along? They're as important to this mission as we are. Daniel can read ancient, and Teal'c is on Tretonin…"
"Well Sir, with all due respect, you don't know that you can't read ancient. You retained a bit of it from your previous experience and…"
"That was Latin, Carter," he interrupted, "and it came from the time loop."
"Oh…" she said, wincing, "and Teal'c, like you said, is on Tretonin. He wouldn't be of much help without a larva…"
"I'll concede that point," he nodded.
"I guess we'll know about being able to read the Ancient when we get to it, right?"
"Yep…"
Their conversation was interrupted by An'ok's arrival at the section of the Al'kesh they had elected as their quarters.
"I brought in food supplies if you wish to eat," he announced. "We will be arriving tomorrow. The temple where the machine is located is in the middle of a village. We will set our camp there."
"Nice," Jack smirked.
An'ok bowed his head. "I shall leave you now, and return to the ship's commands. If you require anything, please do not hesitate to ask me."
"How about you bring us back to Earth so we can actually R & R!" Jack said under his breath, making Sam grin.
:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:
"Hey Teal'c," Daniel said tiredly to his friend who was eating breakfast at the commissary.
"Daniel Jackson…" the big man acknowledged.
"Has General Landry managed to contact the Asgard?"
Daniel shook his head. "You made any progress with the Jaffa?"
"Bra'tac is investigating as we speak."
"One thing is for certain, it's not the NID. I managed to contact Barrett. He has no clue as to their whereabouts and has promised to help us the best he could."
"The Trust has been eliminated, has it not?"
"As far as we know, yes," Daniel said, sitting down with a pensive look.
"O'Neill and Colonel Carter's disappearance was abrupt…" Teal'c started.
"Yes; it points to an Asgard beam or something like that," Daniel finished.
"Then we will soon know," Teal'c concluded calmly.
Daniel looked at him quizzically. "The only beings who know how to use that technology are either Asgard or close to Anubis," Teal'c stated simply.
"The only problem is that Bra'tac has not reported in yet, and we have yet to contact Thor or any other Asgard for that matter."
"It is only a matter of time before we do."
:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:¤:
The Al'kesh landed softly in the middle of a wide square in the village. The hatch opened, and An'ok exited, followed by Jack and Sam. An'ok guided them through the streets to a cluster of small buildings in relatively good shape.
"Those were the quarters where Anubis held the scientists. You may take whichever one suits your needs best. You will see that the accommodations are not uniform, for reasons that are unknown. Some of the buildings were in extremely good shape, as if their occupants had just left, while some others looked liked they had sustained heavy damage from bombing," An'ok informed them.
"That often happens with the Ancients… It's as thought their incorporeal presence watches over those ruins," Jack said.
"Despite the lack of comfort, I trust you are able to find one that will suit your needs. Some are equipped with a working well, and there is wood in the forest nearby. As for the food, I shall endeavor to provide you with fresh fruit and meat from hunting. The area is well supplied with rodents and edible herbivores, and I have learned to know which plants are consumable."
"How convenient," Jack mumbled only for Sam to hear, earning himself an aggravated glare.
"We will leave our supplies here. I will show you the temple, and then you can search for a house in which to stay before starting your work," An'ok stated.
"So that's what it is? We're your slaves?" Sam asked with a trace of anger in her voice.
"I am sorry, Colonel Carter, I did not mean it that way," An'ok amended himself.
"Well, if you want us to collaborate, I'd suggest you try and be less authoritative," Jack said. "Remember that we didn't come of our own volition. We will search for a house first."
An'ok bowed his head in apology as Sam and Jack peered around them to check the houses.
"I'll go pick the last of our equipment from the Al'kesh. Take your time," An'ok said before leaving them.
Jack turned to Sam. "What do you think?" he asked.
"About what?"
"An'ok."
Sam sighed. "I must admit I have mixed feelings," she said, observing the Jaffa from afar as he unloaded crates from the ship and laid them next to the ship before going back in to retrieve more.
"Well I don't like him, at all," Jack mumbled. "Teal'c, I knew he was on our side at once; this one…" he shook his head. "We'd better try and search for a place to stay…"
Sam smiled. "One preferably with a king sized bed?" she teased.
Jack turned sharply, his eyebrows almost touching his hairline. "Carter!"
She burst out laughing. "Gotcha!"
Jack rolled his eyes. "Smartass!"
"That was too tempting, Sir…" she joked.
"Ah, see, if you're gonna share a kind sized with me, I think 'Jack' is better suited than 'Sir'," he smirked.
Sam glared at him.
"Gotcha back!" he retorted with a cocky smile.
Sam shook her head and strode past him to the first buildings.
They visited several before settling on a small but functional one.
All were made of a sort of red sandstone brick, but despite their rustic outer appearance, the inside was an intricate mixture of basic and advanced technology. In the one they had selected as theirs, there was a sort of fountain that Sam activated just by brushing past it. Pure water soon flowed into the basin, from there flowing into pipes that led to several sanitary items such as a rudimentary shower and less rudimentary bath.
Upon exploring the building, Sam found what she thought was a fireplace next to a small tank that was slowly filling with the water.
Jack on his part found a large room in a secluded part of the house, where two people could easily lie down. Now the tough part was that there was only the hard rock ground as a mattress, and he just knew his poor bones would make him pay dearly if he submitted them to this torture.
Sam entered the room. "Here's what I suggest… We go find An'ok and see the temple and the machine to assess the situation. Then apparently there's still time before the night comes, so we could go and find some wood for the fireplace," she stated.
"Tired of roughing it in, Carter?" Jack asked, amused.
Once again, she glared.
"Hey, I'm just sayin'!" he raised his hands in surrender. "I'll admit I'll be happy when I can sleep in a good bed and not on the ground like this… We can always smuggle those slim groundsheets from the Al'kesh, but…"
"That could work…" Sam agreed. "Let's hope we're not staying too long… There are showers, by the way…"
"Sweet!" Jack said, wiggling his eyebrows.
Sam shook her head rolling her eyes.
"Hey! What's a man got to do!" Jack defended himself. "Surely after you suggested we share a king sized…"
"You go and find some wood; I'll take care of the sleeping arrangements," Sam interrupted, half laughing.
"Yes, Sir!" Jack snapped to attention, causing Sam to immediately blush in embarrassment.
"Sorry I… I should have…" she stumbled.
Jack stepped into her personal space and put a finger under her chin. "Just kidding, Carter…" he murmured, making her look into his eyes. They stared at one another for a couple of seconds, slowly getting closer.
"O'Neill, Colonel Carter!" An'ok called from outside.
Jack sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'm going to kill him, I swear!" he muttered under his breath.
Sam chuckled. "He probably wants us to take a look… come on," she said, brushing past him towards the entrance.
Jack and Sam exited the 'house' and found An'ok waiting for them outside. "Shall I show you the temple?" he asked politely.
"Lead the way," Jack said in a slightly dejected voice.
"The sooner we manage to make it work, the sooner I will take you back to your friends," An'ok stated calmly.
"What? And not keep us in this exquisite resort!" Jack smirked.
"I do not understand…" An'ok stopped, clearly surprised.
"That was sarcasm. Come on, we still have to go into the woods after that," Jack said, aggravated.
An'ok raised and eyebrow, but Jack waved for him to resume walking, which he did.
An'ok had to admit, these Tau'ri people were most difficult to understand. They were easily offended and often said things which he had trouble understanding.
Soon they came in view of a huge building with Ancient carvings on the pediment. Jack and Sam stopped, taking in the size of it. An'ok stopped too, waiting for them to follow him.
"You say it's a temple?" Sam asked.
"That was our assessment when we discovered it. Its size, and the number of statues inside indicate as much," An'ok replied.
"All right, let's see what's inside," Jack announced, stepping past An'ok.
They entered the building, admiring the walls which were laden with ancient writings carved into the stone, remarkably untouched. An'ok led them to a wide room with several glass-like panels, behind which a large console could be seen, and in the center of the room, a sort of huge chair surmounted by an arch. The arch was terminated with a knob that was directly above the area where the head of one who would sit in the chair would be. In front of that chair, there was a large glass case inside which the subject of the experiment probably stood.
Taking in the sight of the system, Sam's eyes finally settled on the console. She stepped toward it while Jack looked at the walls frowning.
The console showed signs of staff blasts, but surprisingly enough, considering the number of them, it didn't look too much damaged.
"Anubis had a dozen Jaffa fire upon this for several minutes when he left," An'ok explained.
"I can imagine that he wouldn't want to leave such a device in working order…" Sam said pensively, her mind already at work trying to assess if she could repair it or not.
"That is the problem actually," An'ok said. "The device was in working order when we discovered it, but none of the scientists ever managed to make it function."
"Anubis knew it was Ancient," she stated simply. "He just didn't know one has to have a special gene to make it work. That's why General O'Neill can operate Ancient devices."
Jack was coming back to them. She rounded the console to meet him.
"Well this place is definitely not a temple," Jack said. "Yes, there are statues all over the place, but I believe it's more of an homage to dead people or something like that, than anything else."
"How do you know that?" An'ok asked.
"I can understand most of what is written on the walls, and these are not prayers or mantras," Jack said.
"You can?" Sam said, excited.
"I can, yes, but don't ask me to translate it into English. I understand it intrinsically, if you will, but I cannot put into words what I understand."
"But you can explain what you understand?" Sam asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Sir, it's no use to our current problem if you can understand what the machine does but cannot explain it to me…" Sam stated.
"I can tell you nothing on these walls is about the machine itself," Jack said, shaking his head.
"Then what is it about?" An'ok chimed in.
"Oh, the wonders of science and other crap; if you want to find a modus operandi for the machine, I think we'd better search for a sort of library or something," Jack concluded.
"Modus Operandi, Sir?" she asked, with a smile.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, like you pointed out, I remember some of the Latin I learned during that time loop!"
She chuckled.
"Carter…!" he said, a bit exasperated.
"Right," Sam said seriously "in any case, the machine's not going to work given its state at the moment. While I try to fix it, you can search for that library?" she suggested.
"We will do that now, Colonel Carter…" An'ok started.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Jack interrupted, shaking his finger negatively. "This fellow," he said, pointing at himself "is tired and hungry. Why don't we do this tomorrow when we're all fresh and ready, huh?" he finished, raising an eyebrow.
"You don't understand how close my symbiote is to maturing!" An'ok exclaimed, then calmed a little. "I am sorry, but it is only a matter of weeks, maybe even days," he said.
"Well, you've got to understand that we humans don't have a snake powering up our batteries!"
An'ok looked at him with fury in his eyes. "This can be arranged soon!" he said menacingly, the meaning of his sentence very obvious.
"I'd like you to try…" Jack started, his eyes incredibly black.
"Enough!" Sam interrupted forcefully. "There'll be no work done on this today, and that's that! We still have to collect some things from the forest to settle down properly, albeit temporarily, and quite frankly, I don't have the energy to either start wracking my brains over that piece of Ancient technology or see you fight until death do you part!"
An'ok and Jack both looked at her, not knowing what to think.
"We're here now; a few hours is not going to make a huge difference! Sir, I'd like a few words with you in private!" Sam resumed.
Jack stepped toward her, and they both went to a corner of the room while An'ok set forth to the entrance of the building.
"Carter?" Jack asked softly.
"You really needed to set him off like that!" Sam asked, her eyes blazing with anger.
"I don't like his manners!" Jack replied defensively.
"I don't like his manners, either; I'm just not going to give him another excuse!"
Jack looked her in the eyes a moment before raising briefly his eyebrows in agreement. "I may have pushed a little…"
"A little?"
"Okay, a lot, but that's not the point. He's gotta stop doing what he does, and giving us orders. We're NOT his prisoners!"
"Well, technically we are, Sir."
Jack sighed. "Okay, I'll try to be less pushy in the future," he conceded.
"You do that," she said firmly, starting towards the entrance in her turn.
"And Carter!" Jack called with an amused smile.
"What?"
"I won't ever doubt your commanding abilities!" he smirked, making Sam roll her eyes smiling. He always had the ability to diffuse the tension with sarcasm or irony, and turn the situation to his advantage, but… That was Jack…
She shook her head, smiling, and resumed her walk.