CHAPTER SEVEN

The stench of decay filled their nostrils and brought bile to back of their throats as they entered the lair of Camazotz, her grounded Ha'tak. Daniel and Sam fought back the urge to vomit with Herculean willpower. They had to set aside all personal considerations now and keep their minds on their goal, freeing Jack. The Marines were out of sight laying their explosives and planning their diversion. Umbra had melted like a morning mist away from them. She had assured Daniel that she would be with them every step of the way, but Sam had her misgivings. Her fear was the young vampire would turn on them. She was not sure if it was a logical distrust, a continued incredulity as to the woman's nature, quantum physics would not allow for a vampire or creatures from childhood nightmares. What that something else was she fought not to admit but she was jealous of the intimacy that Daniel and the vampire shared. This was witnessed by Daniel's display of affection, which in Sam's mind bordered on obsession.

Daniel nursed the blow to his face, the wound had begun to clot, but his face was smeared with blood. His mind, however, was not on the pain; rather it was trying to focus on Umbra. He was reaching out to her mentally trying desperately to reconnect with her, as they did when she was drinking his blood. There was no more revulsion in the act, but there was an increasing need in wanting to please her and wanting her physically. He could feel her presence, just outside of his touch or embrace. Only the mission, the rescue of Jack was stronger.

The labyrinth of corridors were paved in black stone, which rather than reflecting the light of the simulated torches placed along the walls, seemed to absorb it, sucking it into more darkness. Jaffa guard patrols seemed to only give the new arrivals a quick perusal, until they glazed upon Sam. Even the normally implacable warriors were taken aback. Confused, some bowed their heads nervously.

"Kree!" Teal'c spat out and slapped one of the befuddled with the backend of his staff weapon. "Be about your duties." A not so gentle shove with the weapon sent the Jaffa back into formation. The others nervously continued on their way.

Jabril, in the lead, brought them to a room that only could be described as a hall of atrocities. Along the wall there were several bodies chained in niches, dead, dying or in various states of decay. Sam and Teal'c remembered this scene from the Rusno's planet where Camazotz had first captured Jack. It was no less horrific and there were two empty niches waiting. More footsteps and two Jaffa arrived with four more selections; in all there were six offerings to the blood drinking Goa'uld. Teal'c pushed Sam behind him and half shielded her from the others. Her resemblance to Camazotz could work for or against them, but until Camazotz arrived or a selection was made he would, for now, protect Samantha Carter.

Umbra, still unseen, made herself part of the shadows, she could only cloud so many minds at one time. She continued the effort but the smell of blood called to her suppressed hungers from the ancient days when her people would feed without compunction, deeming any mortal as a meal. Her telepathic connection with Daniel was weak but she reached out, touched his mind, and offered a simple reassurance, "I am here." His response was limited to a brief image of carnal bliss. In some ways it shook her. Daniel's passion for her was deep; she absorbed it and devoured it, savoring the emotions as strength.

Suddenly, the other Jaffa seemed to come to attention. Approaching footsteps announced the arrival of their bloodthirsty g-d; their rigidity betrayed their forced acceptance of her sanguinary ways. Her first prime, dressed in black armor, with a flowing blood red cape stepped into the room. He appraised the offerings silently.

"Kree! Bow to your g-d, Camazotz." He bellowed and the captives were forced to their knees, encouraged by blows from staff weapons on the back of their legs or hands on their shoulders forcing them down. The room grew still, even the occasional moan from the half-dead human wall hangings faded.

Camazotz sauntered into the room. Adorned in a transparent russet silk tunic, her female figure was in full view; the cloth seemed only to enhance every seductive curve of her body. Her corn silk blond hair cascaded down her back and slim hips. From her shoulders a train of black velvet seemed to float like sooty smoke. Her face was a stark contrast to her lasciviousness, a creamy faultless complexion that an innocent maiden would possess, with her bright blue eyes and soft full pink tinted lips. Her eyes glowed white and the smile that broke over her face was anything but comforting as two yellowed long fangs were revealed.

Sam forced herself to steal a glance and was paralyzed with shock, which even robbed her of the ability to think. Her demonic doppelganger stood before her.

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The remains, his meal, had been removed. He had been chained again but this time he was only shackled at the wall and given enough chain to move about. A sudden intense pain hit his stomach with as much force as a staff weapon blast. The gush of blood traveled at light speed from his guts and past his lips. His "meal" was not digesting; his body was rejecting the blood. Given that he had not recalled being provided any food during his entire captivity he felt a renewed hunger, yet, was there revulsion too?

Jack's body was covered in blood; the small white loincloth he had been provided was sodden. He shivered from weakness. There was no going into a sarcophagus for him. The need for more blood, fresh warm blood was greater than the disgust. A memory tried to pierce the bloodthirsty need; he could hear a voice in some foreign language asking him over and over to detail his mission. Somewhere In the crimson colored madness he recognized the language as Farsi. A voice of a prior tormentor from a time lost, devoured by DNA rearranging nanocytes. Yet, it was something, a slender thread perhaps, to his unraveled identity. A new need grew, a need for an identity or the restoration of one. A name would be good, even that seemed to have been stripped from him. Two Jaffa entered his cell. He had come to recognize them.

"Your Queen requires you to be prepared. She is choosing your first victim as we speak." The pronouncement was delivered in a flat tone, there was no betrayal of emotion on any level and that in it's self was the tell. The Jaffa had lost his obedient indifference, a chink in his black armor revealed.

Jack took notice, not in a tactical manner but in way of a feral animal that senses weakness.

They took him by the arms and brought him to another chamber. Here he was washed, his beard shaved, anointed in soothing oils, and dressed in a black linen loincloth in the style of a Pharaoh, with a belt of black onyx and gold with a large buckle in the shape of a bat. Even his manacles were upgraded to a finely hammered trinium. In spite of the finery the abuse to his body was evident in lash marks, the healing scar where his throat had been cut, the ragged flesh at his wrists and ankles from restraints and lastly the look of cold emptiness in his chocolate eyes. He had always been lanky, but now he was gaunt, his weeks without real food had caused his body to devour his fat reserves and when that was consumed it began on muscle. His death was incremental.

A new cell had been prepared for him, this one just off Camazotz's throne room. Manacled to the wall he waited. Jack drifted off to sleep or passed out, it didn't matter which, he was unconscious, but in that darkness he thought he saw a woman of pale skin and hair the color of fire, whose eyes seemed to glow burgundy, for a brief moment he felt peace and no longer empty.

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The Goa'uld Queen surveyed the offerings. Meager pickings, they were slaves and their vitality had been beaten out of them with the backbreaking work of the mines. A fresh infusion of blood was needed. One slave, caught her interest, he was not dressed as the others. He was young with hair the color of a sandy beach and eyes the color of blue gemstones. Young and handsome and would have much fresh blood for her. She pointed to him. Her First Prime grabbed the man by the arm, pulled him to his feet, and presented him to his mistress.

"I am your g-d. Your purpose for living is now to provide me with the sustenance I need, and the pleasure I desire." Her voice curled around each inference. She stepped in front of him, ran a hand over his chest, and touched the bruised cheek. Her fingertip was wet with his blood and she took it to her lips and licked with a pointed pink tongue at the scarlet smear.

"Delightful. He will be first." Camazotz punctuated her sentence by raking her talon-like nails over Daniel's chest tearing the material of his black t-shirt and cutting into his chest. To Daniel's credit he winced, but kept from emitting anything more than a moan that died behind his lips. His bravery was tested again as two guards took him and hung him in the closest empty niche. The guard manacled his arms straight out to each side and his ankles to the floor and with two violent and powerful yanks they pulled Daniel's black t-shirt completely off. Naked to the waist Daniel hung helpless and exposed his wounds bled more profusely from the new insult.

Exposed to the waist Daniel was helpless. This was the first time he had come into contact with Camazotz, well other than Jack there was no one with them who had, and lived to tell of prior encounters. Her resemblance to Sam was cruelly exact, it was as if there were two Sams, one good, one evil and this vision surpassed any horrors they had previously encountered at the hands of a Goa'uld. In her magnificent malevolence she was the embodiment of evil beauty, even Sha're, as Amaunet, would not have surpassed Camazotz's beauty. He now understood why Jack had reacted to Sam as he had after he had escaped the first time. Jack's affection for Sam was always just below the surface, held in check by the cumbersome restraints of military protocol. To have been and to be tortured by someone who bore the face of the one you loved was inconceivable and too barbarous, he knew the feeling and remembered all too painfully how Teal'c had saved his life by killing Amaunet taking what was left of Sha're with her.

All these thoughts and images ran through his mind in milliseconds but long enough for him not to see what happened next. Camazotz was on him. A jeweled dagger was buried in his shoulder. He screamed in agony as she let the blood flow into a goblet, once filled she put it to her lips and drank. When the goblet was empty she licked her lips and placed them against the still flowing wound. Her fangs tore at the flesh. Daniel's knees buckled. Her hand slipped between his legs and squeezed his manhood through the course material of his fatigues. Despite the pain, he was aroused.

"It is a pity I already have a mate, or you might be acceptable. As it is, you will be delicious to devour, I may even eat your flesh and share the delicacy of it with my love." Camazotz kissed Daniel on the lips, her breath fetid with his blood. Thankfully, Daniel passed out.

Sam tried to push past Teal'c, but the Jaffa held her back. Tears of anger and sorrow burned her eyes. Somehow she managed to whisper a few words for the running commentary. Her action drew unwanted attention.

Camazotz handed off the now empty goblet to her first prime. Her eyes found and hooked into Sam's.

"What is this defilement? Am I being mocked?" The rage in her voice was a volcanic rumble, deep and building to eruption. Her eyes glowed like white coals.

Teal'c had no choice but to bring Sam forward. The two stood face to face in a room hushed to a gelid stillness.

"It is you, the woman in his mind." Camazotz whispered for Sam's ears only. "He is mine now and will be my mate. He has already sired another generation within my womb." Her words were cruel and meant to slice through the heart that she could see pined for the silver-haired one.

"Where is he?" Sam hissed.

"You will see him soon enough." There was a pause as a plan formed in Camazotz's mind. This would be his first kill and it would prove to her that her captive was ready to take the final steps and become a host and her mate. "Your blood will taste even more pure as it is flavored with your love and spiced with the realization that you have lost, "Camazotz stroked Sam's cheek and pulled her face down to her and pressed a kiss to her lips. With a hideous laugh the Goa'uld Queen licked her lips and regaled in the revulsion that twisted Sam's face. Then, in a sudden flash she ran her talons over Sam's neck opening four gashes.

Teal'c controlled himself as he had never before. One staff blast and he could kill the Goa'uld before she could do any harm to his companions. But there was no telling which Jaffa would follow him in a revolt. He needed time to gather ranks but it appeared he did not have the luxury. Camazotz motioned to the other captives and was speaking to Jabril. Teal'c had to bring his attention back to the immediate.

"These others will do, chain them and have the carcasses removed. I will start fresh with these three. The woman will be your new g-d's first. Bring him." Camazotz ordered Jabril in his guise as Kela't, as she sat down on her throne in the center of the room. "Jaffa," she was directing her attention at Teal'c. "Stand with the woman but do not interfere. I would see his behavior. "

Daniel was slowing dragging himself back into consciousness. Blood seeped from his wound and the pain seemed to invade his entire body. Yet, there was a touch on his forehead, here in this shadowed niche, and he could feel a body press against his back. "I am with you." He heard the words, but were they spoken or did he just imagine them inside of his mind? The weight of a soft hand and the familiar scent of Umbra reassured him that however the words had been transmitted to him she was there, with him. His wound seemed to begin to heal, or at least the pain lessened as soft lips touched his.

Umbra had indeed touched Daniel and stood nearby him, absorbing the shadows into herself becoming one with them until she too was nothing more than a shadow. The way of her people, powers long unused, revisited. She was the healing woman of her clan, as had been her mother, taught at her mother's knees in the deepest recesses of the caves they had made their homes. This ability to "cloak" herself had been nurtured, developed for protection, yet it drained her. The need for blood, food, nourishment was beginning to manifest itself. She would need to feed. The temptation to drink from Daniel was overwhelming especially now that his blood ran free from a wound. The scent of blood filled her nostrils and awoke the darkness that her people had never been able to overcome. It was taking all of her concentration to prevent being exposed and holding the beast within at bay.

A Jaffa seemed to look in her direction straining to see into the shadow and for a moment he tensed thinking he had perceived a movement or shape, then convincing himself he had not. Umbra had clouded his mind, adding to the drain

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In the antechamber, the two Jaffa that stood guard over Jack were conspiring in low tones. Camazotz's first prime had recruited them when they were young warriors on the losing side. They had both been with Chronos and his death had left them at the mercy of the next g-d. The Goa'ulds were not kind to losers. Yet, had they really made the right decision to ally themselves with this Goa'uld?

They had watched several of their brethren being bleed to death, or tortured for this bloodthirsty queen. She was without mercy; she was without honor. Their continued loyalty was tested and now at a straining point. The legend of the Shol'va, who had defied Apophis, had managed to even infiltrate their ranks. A growing cadre of fellow warriors had sprung up from the overwhelming fear and disgust engendered by their mistress' depraved actions. At any moment Camazotz could chose one of them for her grotesque needs. She held the Jaffa code of honor with distain and laughed at any mention or implication that anyone but herself was to be considered anything but her personal fodder.

A new hope had entered their world when the Jaffa Kela't had joined their ranks. He had garnered favor with the mad queen and her first prime immediately. At first he was feared and it was thought that he was plotting to vie for the position of first prime himself, but that fear was soon allayed when he sought out the disgruntled and began to gather them. His words and actions spoke of a return to honor and the possibility of something they had never known- freedom. Other than the obvious power of Camazotz, their only other impediment was their brethren Jaffa, some of whom had been in her service generation after generation. Many were too blind to her horrors, other in too much fear, all with linked with the common bond of ignorance and inbred servitude

Kela't had spoken of the Tau'ri, those who had come from the first world, whose seeds were sown through the heavens and were their own forebearers. They had witnessed the bravery of the one who was now their prisoner, this one called O'Neill, a Tau'ri, whom they had been led to believe was their enemy. His strength and defiance had not gone unnoticed. His suffering, more heinous than they had witnessed before, was brutal beyond their conception. And yet they had not intervened and guilt had encrusted their souls. Shame weighed heavy on shoulders breed to carry the world. Apprehension gnawed at them for even the great Tau'ri warrior had not defeated the Goa'uld; however, he had not been turned into a g-d yet. Was there hope?

The two came to attention upon hearing approaching footsteps.

Jabril proceeded to the antechamber where Jack had been left chained to the wall. It sickened him to see what the Tau'ri had been reduced to, the 'great Jack O'Neill,' leader of the famous SG-1, sucked dry and tortured by a Goa'uld queen until he had been reduced to this current state, emaciated and standing on the very threshold of insanity and death. He could not allow this to continue. A nod of his head to the two Jaffa who stood guard spoke volumes. Jabril had seen it in their eyes, and could read their hearts. No longer would they submit to this Goa'uld queen for she had made a travesty of their code of honor, she was a beast, an unholy monster that could not be considered a g-d.

Jack was unchained and without struggle taken to the throne room. The once proud warrior had been reduced to an empty shell waiting for a symbiote. His eyes were lifeless and his soul so cowed it took refuge in some remote corner of his mind, no longer able to resist.

Jabril, in the lead with the two Jaffa guards flanking their charge, entered the throne room. In this configuration, full view of Jack was obstructed. Camazotz, who had draped herself over her throne, now stepped down and pushed past Jabril. Jack stood wooden and vacantly stared at her. Leaning into him she pressed her body against his, he sagged but her hands wantonly encircled him, steadying him. She pressed her lips roughly against his, parting them and exploring his mouth. There was moment of hesitation before he began to respond, initially without passion. Camazotz trailed further kisses down his neck and licked the angry red scar before she sank her fangs into him. Jack wavered, impaled on her hideous fangs, infested with nanocytes he moaned in a damning mixture of pain and pleasure. This beautiful creature was touching him, wanting him, arousing him again, as only she could; resistance was futile under her knowing ways. She had befuddled his mind to the point he could no longer measure time or cared too. Her mouth touched his, with his blood and he licked it from her lips. Hunger awoke, but was accompanied by a suggestion of revulsion. Camazotz rubbed her thigh against his growing erection a cruel smile on her wet lips as then she maneuvered him to face her new captives.

"A present for you my beloved, your first kill, take her any way you wish." Camazotz intoned in a molasses snug sweet voice. She stood behind him; hands still wrapped around his waist and urged him forward until he was within arms reach of Sam.

The sight of their friend and comrade-in-arms and the condition that he had deteriorated to, brought gasps to Sam and the newly awakened Daniel. Tears began to flow freely from their eyes. They had seen Jack in many states of injury and illness but what stood before them was nothing less than a living ghost, his appearance harkened back to newsreel images from WWII and the liberation of the death camps.

"My g-d, Jack!" Daniel gasped out. There was no acknowledgement or any indication that he had been heard. The young scientist strained against his restraints causing more damage to himself and reopening his wounds.

"That is correct I am your new g-d as he will soon be." Camazotz chortled from her throne. "Once he has received his symbiote we will return to the system lords and regain our place among them. I will be their queen for I am the child bearer and this one is the father of the next generation."

Daniel gasped audibly, remembering Hathor and how she had been a queen Goa'uld. He had been the donor of the DNA on that occasion, and while his knowledge of the Stargate and the SGC had been important, the knowledge that Jack possessed was critical to the safety of the SGC and more significant, Earth and all of its allies. Jack's collected memories shared with the larval Goa'uld; this has suddenly become more than a rescue mission. Daniel stole a glance towards the helmeted Jaffa he knew to be Teal'c. Over the years he had come to read his slightest body language. Upon hearing Camazotz's announcement there was a slight stiffening to the iron spine of his Jaffa comrade. Teal'c had immediately absorbed the announcement and all of its implications and had not realized his knuckles had whitened with a death grip on his staff weapon.

"O'Neill." Teal'c sighed with the confines of the Jaffa helmet. His Jaffa heart felt as if he it was being constricted by some unseen hand so great was the sorrow for his friend. He felt himself lurch forward but camouflaged the movement by grabbing Sam by the arms. Teal'c felt her tense and then slump at her first sight of her commanding officer. With Camazotz's announcement, if they were unable to rescue O'Neill, his course of actions was clearly delineated; O'Neill and any larva containing his DNA had to be destroyed, utterly.

Sam saw no recognition in those chocolate brown eyes that she used to swim in across the conference table or a campfire on some new world. These were dead eyes. Jack only began to react when his eyes made contact with the blood that oozed from her wounds. At first it was a sniff, then a dry tongue ran across lips that had been split from beatings, lastly it was the eyes, those dead eyes seemed to flicker for a moment as they came to rest on the blood. He took a step towards her.

Before him stood another vision of his lover, captor, and torturer, oddly dressed and with hair short, something about her apparel seemed familiar. He remembered the same clothes, every day, sometimes blue not green, in his own hands, on his body. Even this wisp of a memory could not overcome the scent. It was the smell of blood, fresh blood, fresh clean pure blood, the fluid of life that made him move. There was only the objective of tearing into the alabaster neck of the living woman before him. He had been told over and over that they just existed for him to feed from, like so much cattle. Within his chest he could feel his heart quicken, both from the enticement of nourishment and his own low blood volume. His heart was working incredible hard to keep him alive.

His mouth touched the neck wounds, his lips felt the warm stickiness of blood, and his tongue tasted and savored the first drops. He lapped up the blood, his arms now holding the trembling female against him. Her nipples were hard against his sunken chest even through the material of her t-shirt. One hand dipped to caresses one of the breasts, felt the weight of it. He had wanted this for so long, to touch her this way, he needed her, was ready to give it up for her, just for a taste of her. He wanted to taste of all of her, to feel her sexual pleasure flow onto his tongue as he laved her most exquisite female folds and pressured her tented pleasure button to waves of realized passion. He moved his blood-covered mouth to her lips and pressed, his tongue found another to fence with and his thrusting was answered and accompanied by a tremor through her lithe body.

"Oh Colonel, no please," were the words of supplication mouthed into his. Words that meant nothing to him, that meant everything to him.

"Colonel?" he whispered against her neck between licks and slipping a hand between her legs to begin giving her pleasure. His mouth moved to the wound on her arm and kissed the coagulating blood causing the wound to reopen. It tasted different, not the spiced honey of Camazotz. This was honey and wild grass, clean and untainted. He moved his lips back to the neck wounds. The nanocytes within him urged him on and he sunk his small fangs into the wounds. Blood erupted into his mouth and he drank. His lips suctioned to her neck.

"Jack, please no, it's me Sam, Carter." Sam gasped as he pressed his thumb against the rough material covering her crotch. "Colonel!" She screamed as the fangs tore into her neck.

"Jack, it's Sam, it's Carter!" Daniel screamed and was immediately backhanded into silence.

There was a moment's hesitation, "Carter?" Jack lifted his lips from her throat and looked confusedly into her eyes.

"Carter?" He questioned again in a voice Sahara dry. His brow furrowed with the strain of dragging memories back from the gray limbo they had been stored at.

"Please, sir, we came to save you." Rivers of her tears mingled with the lakes of blood.

"What is this?" Camazotz snarled from her throne. "Finish her my love and then become one with me. Feast of her, prove you are mine."

"Finish it…" Jack mumbled, "Yeah, finish it." He looked over his shoulders at his Goa'uld Queen. "Finish it," he repeated with a newfound strength to his voice.

"We have a rescue…" Sam tried to whisper in his ear.

"Too far gone...finish it here and now," Jack began to crumple in Sam's arms. Even drinking some of her blood had not restored him and he felt it rising up his throat again. Seeing her face, the real face of the love of his life, had brought him back. The thought came to him, his team had not forgotten him, and they had not left him behind.

"OH g-d no sir," Sam sobbed plaintively.

"Kill me! That's an order, can't stop it, changing. Kill me." It was a plea wrapped in an order. Jack raised his eyes and looked at the Jaffa that stood behind Sam. He knew or sensed who it was. "DO IT!" It was a scream. Then he plunged his fangs into Sam's virgin throat again the nanocytes sensing they were losing and tried to grab control. Jack pushed Sam backwards into Teal'c, one hand snaked out and grabbed the double-bladed Jaffa dagger.

"Kree!" Camazotz had been watching and she knew she was losing him, he would never make that final step. The ribbon device was raised. She would kill her lover and perhaps start again with the new one, chained to her wall.

"NO! This will not happen!" It was Umbra; materialized from the shadows, she had placed herself in front of Camazotz. The Jaffa, though startled, did not raise their weapons to the flame-haired intruder. "You are a desecrations and an abomination. You killed my mother!" The voice was low and like thick smoke.

Camazotz engaged the ribbon device directly at Umbra who fell to her knees. Daniel screamed. Sam seemed frozen, Teal'c tried to reach around her, but Jack was surprisingly strong and quick.

It had to be done; there was only a second left of strength, or remembering who he had been and knowing what he was becoming. In his one last moment of lucidity he plunged the knife into his own chest. Jack knew how to kill, and he tried to push the blade up but Sam's hands stopped him. While it was not a clean quick kill he was dying, for the last time and could live with that.

"Blow it all up... snakelets... a pool of them... with my DNA." He moaned as he slipped down Sam's body. Blood covered his face and now gushed from his chest wound, the dagger, buried to the hilt still protruded from his skeletal torso.

Seeing her love taking his own life distracted Camazotz for an instant and gave Umbra the opening she needed. Her actions were too fast; Umbra was on the Goa'uld with vengeance to power her. The two women were entangled.

Umbra's face contorted, no longer the face of a gentle woman but that of an enraged Vampire. Her fangs were long, her eyes glowed coal red. Camazotz continued to try to bring her hand device to bear but Umbra had her pinned against her throne. With the howl of a demon Umbra smashed Camazotz's head against the onyx structure. Stunned, Camazotz went limp and Umbra transformed into a giant wolf. The beast's fangs tore at the white throat, blood gushed over its muzzle as it tore the spine in two. The white glowing eyes faded as both symbiote and host died, the host decapitated.

The head fell out of the mouth of the black wolf as it morphed back into the vampire. Umbra's face, still a visage of horror, picked up Camazotz's head and stood at the top of the dais holding it for all to see like some Nosferatu Perseus who had just slain the Gorgon Medusa. The only sound in the room was the raspy wet breathing of the mortally wounded Jack.

Teal'c, while his first instinct was to go to Jack, had a more immediate priority. He retracted his helmet and revealed himself to the stunned Jaffa.

"My brothers your false g-d is dead, slain at the hands of these humans. Put down your arms and follow me to freedom. No more will you be enslaved and forced to suffer." Teal'c began his oration in a stentorian voice.

"No more will you be victims to this blood-thirsty beast and her ilk. You will no longer have to watch or suffer her evil ways." Jabril joined in with Teal'c to show a united front.

"Regain your honor and taste freedom." Teal'c bellowed. "Free yourself and the slaves." With a nod he turned the rest over to Jabril and now set his attention to Jack.

Sam was cradling Jack in her lap. There was still some life but the blood that stained his lips now was no longer Sam's but his own blood, what precious drops he had left. His eyelids lifted slightly and his eyes glanced to Teal'c and Sam. The dying would be easy now in the company of the two people he loved the most.

"Colonel, hold on, we can ring you out." Sam managed to choke through tears.

"Let me die, have to…" Jack coughed up blood, "Can't fix this Major."

The Jaffa who had guarded Jack shook themselves from their daze and turned their weapons on her first prime. Twin blasts from their staff weapons removed the last obstacle. They turned their attention to the slaves and Kela't who now revealed himself as Jabril of the Tok'ra. He had their full attention.

Umbra, no longer the center of attention, took two tentative steps down from Camazotz's throne and approached Daniel. With each step her visage returned to the beauty that Daniel had first met. She dropped Camazotz's head and let it roll in front of him. She freed him from his shackles and before he could be torn between seeing to her or rushing to Jack's side Umbra collapsed in his arms.

"The blood, it is poison." Were the words that drifted from her lips before she slipped into unconsciousness.

"We will ring him to Jacob Carter and Dr. Fraiser." Teal'c reassured the distraught Sam even as the death rattle began to clatter from Jack's chest. He lifted Jack into his arms and carried him to the ring transporter circle in the floor. Daniel was there carrying Umbra. Sam ignored her wounds and grabbed one of Jack's still warm hands. The ring transporter engaged carrying the undead and the dying to safety.

End part Seven

6/19/2005 6:11 PM

wc 5765 6/26/2005 8:59 PM 1revision

wc 5790 6/30/2005 11:19:49 PM revision 2