CHAPTER 6
Sif studied the three men before her. "We are nearing the moon. Thrym's palace is approximately five of your kilometers beyond the village in which you visited. I will be beaming you down right outside of its walls, beside a small courtyard. There is no security outside of this wall, and it should be easy to breach." A virtual display of the palace appeared on a large screen in front of them. "The red dots indicate the presence of a symbiote." She pointed to a room off of the courtyard. "This one is Thrym. The other two red dots inside the room are Jaffa. He has only these two true Jaffa, but, as you can see from all of the gray dots, he has human guards as well." She pointed to a gray dot surrounded by the red ones, "This dot is most likely Major Carter."
Jack looked at Sif, "And tell me again why you can't just zap her out of there."
"As I have already explained, any direct interference could jeopardize all of the protected planets by instigating a war that the Asgard are not equipped to fight at this time. By beaming you outside of the walls, I am protecting you and the humans that you in turn fight to protect." She waited until Jack nodded his acceptance of her explaination, albeit a grudging one. Then she turned to look at Daniel, "Also, I truly wish for the Yotuns to be free of Thrym. It is my hope that after you save Major Carter, that you can somehow help the people of this world."
Jack made an impatient grumble that sounded suspiciously like, "Yeah, right."
Daniel looked from Sif to Jack and back, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll do my best."
Teal'c had been keeping his eye on the screen. "I believe we must beam down as soon as possible."
"Why, Teal'c?" Daniel asked.
"Because the Jaffa and other guards have exited the room leaving Major Carter alone with Thrym"
"And that means..." Daniel began.
"It means," Jack said, his face darkening as he fully understood the implications of Teal'c's words, "that we better be down there in less than..."
And the three Tauri soldiers were instantly beamed from the small Asgard craft into a forest next to the wall of a Go'auld palace.
SG1
"Leave us." Thrym ordered. And his Jaffa and guards quickly obeyed, used to similar orders from their god. None of them pitied the woman lying on the floor before him, so used were they to seeing other women in her predicament. Granted, this one had held up under torture much longer than most, but what of that? They were all broken in the end. The Jaffa took up positions outside their master's door.
Thrym approached Sam. "There, there, my sweet bride. Your god sees your need and will have compassion on you." He picked her up, enjoying the feel of her trembling body, and carried her to his bed.
Sam concentrated on keeping her eyes fearful and watery. She must look weak and afraid, she knew. She must play this perfectly. Her insides screamed out in revulsion as her placed her on the bed, as he crawled upon her and started touching her. His left hand, the one wearing the hand device, stoked her chest. Knowing that this was the moment, she grabbed his hand with both of hers and cried out, "Please, no!" Her voice sounded, intentionally like a small whimper.
The Go'auld threw his head back and laughed, "Please, no! My bride, perhaps, you are not so strong after all." But, Sam still held his hand with both of hers. Using the moment of his distraction, she summoned all of her anger and revulsion and pain and frustration and strength and concentrated on that hand device–she could feel the naquada in her blood stirring and mixing with the naquada in the hand device. Then, it was there, the power. With decision, she released it, quickly turning his wrist and sending the force of the hand device on its owner.
SG1
Jack's anger was under control, but just barely. When he thought about what that snakehead could be doing to Carter... He couldn't go there. He needed to keep his head clear to accomplish his objective. He waited impatiently while Teal'c set the C-4. Oh, that Go'auld was going to pay, and Jack was going to enjoy it. Oh, yes.
The wall of the courtyard exploded. SG-1 moved in quickly and efficiently. Teal'c and O'neill disabled the Jaffa flanking the door. Then, Daniel came in pointing a zat and spouting off words of peaceful surrender to the remaining human guards. They were startled and unprepared; they lowered their weapons. Teal'c and Daniel covered them while Jack rushed into the room where he knew he'd find Sam. His own weapon raised.
What he saw stopped him in his tracks. There in the center of the room, lying smashed into the floor, was the Go'auld. Or, what was left of the Go'auld. And standing above him on a hideous bed, nearly naked, and clearly surprised by the destruction at her feet was Carter.
"Carter?" he questioned softly as she met his gaze with dimming eyes. Then, she swooned and Jack, fortunately, had the reflexes to catch her as she fell forward.
She's in shock, he quickly surmised. Her skin was pale and clammy, her pulse erratic. He laid her gently on the floor, and, looking around quickly, he grabbed pillows from the bed to put under her feet. He took off his BDU jacket and carefully, tenderly, wrapped it around her, buttoning her in. "Carter?" He questioned, hoping she was conscious, hoping his voice didn't betray his fear. "You awake?"
Sam opened her eyes, still unfocused, and barely muttered, "Yes, sir."
"That's my girl." He said, and tried to smile, but their was too much concern on his face for the smile to make it to his eyes.
Using his radio, he hailed SG-3 who hoped were still in position near the stargate. "SG-3, this is O'Neill of Sierra Gulf One. Please respond."
He heard a voice crackle back. "Sir, this is SG-3."
"We have infiltrated the Go'auld's palace, the Go'auld is down, and we are attempting to de-escalate the situation with the locals. Our location is approximately nine clicks north, northeast of the Stargate. Dial home and request back-up and a medical team. Major Carter is in shock. I'm sending her towards the gate with Teal'c. Over."
"Copy that, sir. SG-3, out."
Jack gently took Sam's hand in his, surprised by how cold it was. "You're fine, Sam. You're gonna be just fine. I'm going to send Teal'c right in." He felt her squeeze his hand very lightly.
Then, he stood and quickly moved back into the courtyard, zat at the ready. Teal'c, seeing O'Neill emerge, nodded to his friend and entered the chamber. You had to appreciate that level of unspoken communication, Jack thought with mild pride.
Daniel had already lowered his zat and seemed in earnest communication of some sort with the guards and a woman who had emerged from another room off the courtyard. The Jaffa, he saw, had been tied together, and, though they had both recovered consciousness after the zat blasts, they were neither of them struggling to free themselves.
Jack saw Teal'c reenter the courtyard with Sam in his arms. The woman who had been in conversation with Daniel seemed concerned by Sam's condition and offered some sort of help, if her gestures and body language indicated anything
Jack heard Daniel answer, "No. No, thank you. We don't wish to use the sarcophagus. But, again, thank you."
"Teal'c," O'Neill stated.
"Yes, O'Neill?"
"Get her home safe," he said, and Teal'c could her the implied 'for me' at the end of the sentence.
Teal'c smiled at his friend and nodded. "Of that, you can be certain."