Tag #18 – Mortal

There it was.

Daniel cursed the dead weight of his all-but-useless legs, clawing at the floor with his good hand, propelling himself to the base of the golden sarcophagus. For a moment he just sat there, gathering his strength before raising his arm up to grasp the edge of the box.

His fingers nearly slipped, but inch by inch he managed to haul his torso over the edge. The lid was closed, and he stretched out towards the gem that would open it.

Just a little farther…

Bloodied fingertips brushed the edge of the gem, and slid off. Darkness edging in on his vision, Daniel swatted weakly at it, straining to push just a little closer to his salvation. As his sight faded, he felt the gem under his hand and gave it a twist, then fell into the embrace of the dark.

"Hello again, Daniel."

He blinked as the world around him shimmered, and an oddly-familiar robed woman stepped from the mist. Daniel cocked his head to the side, wracking his memories for where he'd seen her before. "Hello," he said cautiously, latching onto a thread of memory. "I'm dead again, aren't I?"

"I'm afraid so," the blue-eyed woman replied, but she was smiling. "Don't worry, Daniel. The sarcophagus is healing you as we speak, and within moments you will awaken."

"Wait," he protested, taking a step forward and yet going nowhere. "I have to know – will my friends be okay?"

"They are making their way to the glider bays," she told him, without any dancing around the subject. "They will escape the explosion. You, however, cannot take the same path."

For a long moment, he just stared at her. "So all this was for nothing?" he asked, a hint of despair creeping into his voice.

His companion shook her head. "Hardly." She smiled enigmatically, as if she knew something he didn't. "Stargate Command has established their own beta site under a different name, but the address remains identical to the one you already know."

Understanding hit, and then the world gave way to golden light.

Daniel opened his eyes, feeling a bit disoriented. Where was he? Slowly, he reached out and grasped the short walls and pulled himself upright. He took in the hieroglyph-covered walls, and the gleaming surface of the sarcophagus. His shoulder and chest still ached a bit, but he hauled himself out of the sarcophagus and ran over to check the timer on the C4 under the pel'tak control panel.

00:01:14.

Was it enough time? He had to…do what?

"Get to the Stargate."

Not pausing to wonder where the voice was coming from, he turned and bolted down the corridor, praying he wouldn't run into any Jaffa. "Beta site, beta site," he chanted to himself as he hurtled down the golden hallways, every passing second driving his hurry up another notch.

Turning a corner, he dashed into the Stargate chamber, tossing his MP5 to the side. "Beta site, beta site," he said breathlessly, punching the chevrons as quickly as he could. He slammed his hand down on the red jewel in the center of the DHD, then ran for the shimmering event horizon.

Daniel was violently ejected from the wormhole on the other side, tumbling straight into a group of people in SGC uniforms at the base of the Gate platform, knocking several of them over. A blast of superheated air followed his ungraceful exit from the event horizon, which then deactivated, cutting off the wave of destruction.

He simply lay there for several moments to catch his breath, barely feeling the various aches in his body from impact. A shadow fell across his face and he opened his eyes, squinting up at the man leaning over him. "Are you okay, Jackson?"

"Ferretti?" Daniel accepted the hand reached out to him, and let the Major pull him to his feet. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just a little bit of a bumpy ride, that's all. Listen, I've gotta get back to the SGC – we destroyed Apophis' ships." Without waiting for an answer, he stepped over to the DHD.

"Wait, what?" Ferretti sputtered. "Where's the rest of your team?"

Daniel paused, looking over to the other man. "Don't worry, they found…alternate means of transport." He pushed down on the center crystal and sent his GDO code. "I'll explain everything later."