Chapter 6
The previous five days Jack wasted time standing in the ornate audience room Teal'c had been accompanied to the Jaffa quarters. There he was welcomed and treated warily but with respect.
One of those nights when both Daniel and Carter were deeply asleep Jack glanced over to Teal'c. Both without moving looked carefully around the cell. It did not seem that this civilization was advanced enough to have monitoring devices but you couldn't be too careful and you didn't know who might be in the next cell. The two looked at one another and Teal'c gave an almost imperceptible nod to O'Neill and he replied with the same.
That final day, shortly after Jack had been taken by the Jaffa escort, another group of Jaffa came to accompany Teal'c. They marched off to the exercise yard and engaged Teal'c in the various forms of Jaffa martial arts training. The Jaffa training with him are impressed with Teal'c skill and graciousness toward those he bests in their jousts. Off to the side of the field Teal'c noticed Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter being forced toward a treed area.
"What of the slaves that I have gifted to Lord Sop'du?" Teal'c asked.
"The Lord Sop'du has decided their fate." This was the only answer given to Teal'c.
After the morning of training and a hearty meal Teal'c was escorted to the baths and offered Jaffa clothing. He was given a room in the Jaffa barracks and not returned to the cell. He was accepted by the Jaffa as one of them.
For three days Jack was left in the cell completely alone. After that the Jaffa came for him. Jack asked Khon'du where his people were. Khon'du ignored him. Jack raised a fuss and they bound and gagged him.
In the throne room O'Neill was thrown down before the Goa'uld.
Sop'du smirked.
"Who are you and why are you here?" Lord Sop'du asked.
The gag was wrenched from Jack's mouth. "Where are my people, you son of a…"
A pain stick pierced his back.
"I will not repeat myself." Sop'du bellowed.
"We are looking for markets for trade. We'll leave and never come back."
He felt the agony of the pain stick again.
Sop'du dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
Jack was brought back to the cell. And there on the bench, clean and neatly folded, one after the other were their uniforms. Their dog tag on top of each. O'Neill couldn't breathe. Were they dead? They couldn't be dead. He looked carefully at the uniforms and saw no sign of blood, no tears or holes, no burn marks. Khon'du was attempting to play him. He shouldn't react, shouldn't show distress or his confusion.
After the guards left, after lights out he held the tags in his clenched fist.
He had little appetite but knew he had to eat to keep up his strength. He was so angry he could kill. First though, first he would make Khon'du tell him what happened to his team. One thing O'Neill and Khon'du had in common was a seething hatred for one another. There was such a roil of emotions he couldn't concentrate. He had to tamp down his emotions and think.
The one thing he held onto was the thought they were still alive. Khon'du knew they were important to one another and he could use that to control them. He had to hold on to that, any other possibility was unacceptable.
They did not come for him the next day, not the next nor the day after. In the cell it was just Jack and their uniforms. And their tags grasped tightly in his fist.
