Author's note: I don't own this ect. I'm almost ready to start writing what happens to Erin and the team in season two. Please review and tell me if you want it in this fan-fic entry on a new one. A big shout out to my faithful reviewers! :). Without a due, it's finally here...
Chapter Thirteen
Within the Serpents Grasp
"Cassie," I called down the hall of my small condo. yeah it was tiny, but it was big enough for the two of us. Yet it seemed that no matter how small it was, Cassandra never heard my wake up calls in the morning. "Cassandra, you're going to be late for school if you don't hurry up."
That last few months the hadn't been easy, but they had become bright spots in the otherwise dreary year this year had become. I smiled as my adopted daughter threw open her door and trudged down the hall carrying her backpack half open and most of the contents spilling out. In the few months we'd been together we had grown so close that now I couldn't imagine my life without her in it.
It had taken her awhile to get used to the earth ways of children. Where on her world she helped her parents in the fields, here she was surprised to learn that she would be going to school.
I laughed at her messy hair. "Hey sleepy head, we need to get going."
"What about Siberia?" She asked slinging her backpack over her shoulder, the little ball of fuzzy puppy that she was referring to barreled past her into the kitchen.
"She has food in her bowl, she'll be fine, but we on the other hand," I said leading her out the door and locking it behind us. "are about to be late, again. You have your breakfast?" She nodded. "Good."
I opened the back door to my gold Ford Focus and helped Cassandra strap herself in. After climbing in the front seat I started the ignition, directing the car down the road towards Cassandra's school.
"Are they really gonna shut the Stargate down?" Cassandra asked from the back seat.
I nearly swerved the car, "Where'd you hear that?" Hardly anyone outside of Stargate Command knew that, and then even fewer knew what the final decision was going to be.
Cassandra sighed before answering. "Janet said something when I spent the night with her on your last mission. She said that you'd had a meeting with some man that had went bad."
She was referring to Senator Kinsey. The abrasive politician had called my team in specifically to participate in what was supposed to be a through review of the merits of the Stargate Program. Instead he had grilled us on every little decision we'd made that last year that he happened to disagree with. It didn't help that Dani was spouting off about a doomsday that he may or may not have seen in an alternate reality. In that regard I didn't know what to believe.
No matter, the Senator's decision had been made up before he'd ever walked into the briefing room.
Briefly I met Cassie's eye in the rear-view mirror. "Yeah sweetie, it looks like the gate will be shut down."
"What are you going to do?"
We pulled up to Cassie's school and I put the car in park. I turned around in my seat so I could see her better. "I don't really know. We can talk some more after school."
She smiled and nodded. She leaned forward and I held out my arms to hug her. "Love you." I said kissing her forehead.
"I love you to." Cassie grabbed her back and climbed out of the car. She started up the side walk to the entrance of the school, then after a brief pause she ran back to my open window. "Bye mom."
I was dumbstruck, and before I could do anything in reply, she had already ran inside.
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I was still thinking about Cassie as I walked into the meeting Jack had called.
"Hammond's given up." Jack announced walking through the short hallway that lead to Hammond's office. "They're going to bury the 'gate day after tomorrow."
Sam, Dani, Teal'c and I sat around the briefing room in chairs, the briefing table had already been packed up. All my team members wore identical masks of defeat.
"I must return through the Stargate as soon as possible." Teal'c said standing.
"Yes, we all should go through the gate as soon as possible." Daniel joined Teal'c on his feet.
"Daniel," I drew out his name and he looked to face me. "where would we go?"
"To the coordinates I got in the other reality." he stated confidently.
Jack had had enough and snapped at him. "Daniel, dammit!"
Daniel persisted. "Jack—it was real."
I wanted to believe Daniel, wanted to believe that he hadn't lost it. He'd never let us down before.
"Even if it was real, how do we know that that address correlates with this reality?" Sam weighed in on the discussion, walking over to where Jack and Daniel were having a glaring contest.
"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Daniel said a little smugly.
Teal'c nodded. "We should enter the coordinates and attempt to open the gate."
"Okay, hold on." Sam wiped her hands over her face and let out a shallow laugh. "Has anyone considered that we would be in gross violation of orders? Sir, we would be court marshaled the second we got back." She went to stand before Jack
"If. If we got back." Jack said.
"Jack, if we don't go through, what I saw in the other reality could happen here. This whole planet could be wiped out." Jack rolled his eyes in exasperation but Daniel continued onward. "Now in the other reality, by the time I left, Sara was dead, Carter your whole family was dead, Erin was dead, hell I was dead. Everyone was dead."
I sat up a little straighter in my seat at this news. Daniel had told us that the reality he had seen had been bad, but not this bad. The idea that I was dead, even in another reality sent shivers down my back.
"Daniel, I got it." Jack snapped.
"Okay, well don't you think we should see if we can stop the same slaughter from happening here? Let me ask you something, Jack. If we don't go through now, and the Goa'uld do attack later, how are you gonna to feel?"
"How are just the five of us going to stop the attack anyway, even if we do go through?" Sam asked.
"She has a point Dani." I agreed.
"Well, we'd have a lot better chance now than we would trying to stop an overwhelming onslaught later. Trust me—I have seen it."
"If the coordinates are for a Goa'uld world which is not on the Abydos cartouche, the Goa'uld will most likely not expect us." Teal'c said. "I believe a medical attack could be successful."
Even given the seriousness of the situation, I had to smile at Teal'c's misuse of the word "medical".
Jack walked to the window, staring down at the gate. "Surgical attack, Teal'c. It's called a surgical attack, and I'd feel like an idiot." He grumbled.
"Sir?" Sam questioned.
"I was answering Daniel's question. If we don't do something now, and they do attack later, I'd feel like an idiot. We go."
"I too will go." Teal'c announced.
Jack turned and looked over at Sam. "It's not an order, Captain."
"I understand that, Colonel. I'm going."
Jack then came over to where I was sitting. "If anyone has a good enough reason to stay, its you Erin."
Without him saying it, I knew he was referring to Cassandra. "That's exactly why I have to go, Jack. I'm in."
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While the rest of my team got ready I quickly wrote a letter to Cassandra and left it on Hammond's desk.
Cassandra,
I'm sorry to have to say goodbye this way and I hope one day you will understand why I had to do this. I fear leaving you alone, but I fear your death more. That is why I have to go on this mission, to give you, and everyone on Earth a chance to live.
But I want you to know that even if I never come home, you will never be alone. There are many people who love you and will take care of you.
I love you now and always. And remember, you are so brave.
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Our team was gathered in the otherwise abandoned control room. We were all dressed in black BDU's and carried nearly half our weight in C4 and ammo each.
As soon as Sam started to input the coordinates an automated voice began blaring throughout the complex. "Attention all personnel: unauthorized Stargate activation."
"Carter, close the blast doors and corridors to Alpha and Charlie. Disable 'em." Jack ordered.
"I need an authorized officer's security code to disable." Sam said without looking up from the computer she was working on.
"Ah, There you go." He typed into the adjacent computer.
The gate finished dialing and the event horizon whooshed out and came back in. The robotic mini car traveled up the ramp and smoothly wheeled its way through the gate.
"All right, MALP's on its way." Sam finished typing in commands. "Should reach its destination in 3…2…1."
The video feed popped up on the computer screen and showed, nothing. "Are we not getting a signal?" I asked sitting down.
"No." Sam shook her head. "We are receiving video. Point of arrival is dark. Switching to infrared."
An image finally blurred together on the screen. Outlined in dark green appeared to be a room full of ornate boxes and shipping crates.
"It looks vaguely ancient Egyptian." I observed.
Teal'c leaned down next to me to get a better look at the monitor. "Possibly Goa'uld."
"No signs of life in the immediate vicinity of the probe." Sam said.
"Security breached." The recorded intercom altered us that SGC personnel had made it through at least one of the barriers around the gate room. It wouldn't be long before they made it into the control room and gate rooms themselves.
Daniel glanced up at the overhead monitors, that from where I was sitting I couldn't see. "They just got corridor C-9 open." He told us.
Jack cocked his gun and slung it over his shoulder. "All right, let's go." He said leading us down the stairs and into the gate room.
The sound of pounding feet behind us only made us run faster. Personnel had made it into the gate room, but none of us looked back as we barreled up the ramp and threw ourselves through the gate.
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Once on the other side I slipped my night vision goggles over my eyes. It was completely pitch black only the faintest outline of objects we able to be seen. Lucky Jack had been smart enough to think ahead and bring some flash lights and he passed them out. The combined light of out five flashlights was enough to illuminate to chamber and we slipped our night vision goggles off.
"Daniel, send back the MALP." Jack ordered and Daniel began dialing the gate back to Earth.
Sam walked around the edges of the room, skimming her flashlight over the walls. "Doesn't look like there are any doors or windows."
Teal'c joined her in scouting out the dimensions of the chamber. "Many Goa'uld facilities disguise doorways within their structure."
I raised my light to the ceiling, which was so high that my flashlight was to weak to illuminate it. I was walking backwards as I did this and jumped when the back of my leg bumped into something. Whirling around I saw it was only a box of some kind. "Hey Teal'c, what are these things?"
He walked over a examined the box."Transport containers. Much like your shipping crates."
"So they're shipping something through the 'gate?" I asked.
"Or receiving."
Jack joined us. "Let's have a look inside, shall we?"
The gate activated and Daniel used a remote to command the malp to travel back trough the gate. At the same time Teal'c felt around the lid of the crate. He found one movable symbol and rotated it. The top of the lid lifted apart into three parts revealing several "s" shaped metal objects.
"Cool." Jack sounded a bit like a kid who just found a new toy. He picked one of the objects up holding it close to his face. "What are these things?" He asked Teal'c.
"This is a Goa'uld zat'nik'tel." Teal'c responded, taking one of the objects for himself. "A weapon using a different form of energy less powerful than that of a staff weapon. Less destructive but still quite deadly."
"Sweet. Pass 'em out." He plucked one up and handed it to me and tossed on to Dani, who was walking back from the disengaged gate. "What'd you call it?" Jack asked Teal'c.
"Zat'nik'tel." Teal'c pronounced the difficult word with ease.
Jack had a harder time with it. "Zat... zater... Right. Let's call it a zat gun, huh? How do you fire it?"
"One need only squeeze it here to fire. The Goa'uld take great pleasure in discharging the weapon only once on a subject, causing him great pain, disabling but not killing him. A second shot will kill most subjects."
So disgusted by this news was I that I nearly missed the subtle whining that had begun to build up around the room.
Sam picked up her zat and looked around the room. "What's that?" She asked.
Before anyone could respond the air around us shimmered. Then without warning the floor jerked violently and all of us, except for Teal'c, went flying across the room.
"Everyone okay?" Jack asked picking himself up.
"Just dandy." I grumbled brushing myself off.
"We should dial home immediately." Teal'c said gravely.
"Do it, Daniel." Jack curtly ordered.
Daniel hurried over to the DHD. The gate dialed normally up until the last chevron, which refused to lock. "Its not working. I dialed home just like I did a minute ago, just like I've done a million times before."
Daniel went to try it again, but was halted by the sound of a door opening. Light streamed in from the growing crack in the wall. We quickly shut off our flash lights and dove for cover.
Sam pulled me behind a crate with her, Jack and Teal'c hid together on the other side of the room. And Dani was barely concealed by the DHD as six jaffa strode into the chamber.
The jaffa approached a crate, that luckily wasn't near any of us, and pulled out a silver orb. Of it's own accord, it floated up from the crate and took up position within the rings of the stargate. Seeing that their job was done satisfactory, the jaffa turned on their hells and marched out of the room.
Jack stood up from his hiding spot after the door closed behind the jaffa. "I always get a happy tingly feeling when I see those guys."
"Teal'c, what is this?" Sam asked, examining the orb as she approached it.
"It is a Goa'uld long-range visual communication device. Somewhat like your television, only much further advanced."
"Think it gets Showtime?" Jack asked and I couldn't help but smile a bit. "Teal'c can you open that door?"
Teal'c bowed slightly and headed towards the general direction that the door had been. "Now that I know its location, I believe I can."
Teal'c found the right symbol and opened the door. Jack and Teal'c took point leading us through the alien corridors.
After a few short tunes we entered a control room of sorts. A console, like one of our computer keyboards only far more advanced, sat at the far end of the room before a display on the wall that glittered with many multicolored lights.
But that wasn't what caught my eye. What was, was the big honking sarcophagus in the center of the room.
Jack walked around it. "Great." He grumbled. "More snakeheads. Teal'c, any idea which one's in here? Teal'c?"
Teal'c wasn't answering him. The rest of us looked to see what he was doing and saw him staring at the display on the wall.
"We're not on a planet, are we?" Sam came up beside him.
Teal'c nodded slightly. "That is correct. It appears we are aboard a Goa'uld transport vessel."
Then it hit me. What I had thought was a computer display, was in fact a window! "So that jolt was..." I trialed off.
"Hyperlaunch." Teal'c answered.
"Teal'c, why didn't you tell us we were on a ship?" There was a slight whine to Jack's voice.
Teal'c raised his eyebrow at Jack's tone. "I was not sure. I have never been aboard a Goa'uld vessel such as this. Most accelerate very differently. Most do not contain Stargates."
Then suddenly something had Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, and Sam diving for cover. It wasn't until a stern voice shouted at me from behind, causing me to jump, that I realized we weren't alone anymore. Slowly I raised my hands and turned to face the jaffa, who was aiming a zat at me.
"Hey, s-up? I seem to have gotten separated from the tour. If you would be so kind as to... WHOA!" I shouted falling to ground as zat blast traveled over my head. It seemed this jaffa had little patience.
Sam and Jack jumped from their hiding places and each shot him with a zat blast. Teal'c emerged to and approached the fallen jaffa, shooting him again. It surprised us all when the jaffa's body wavered and then disappeared altogether.
"Okay, one shot hurts 'em, two shots kill 'em. The third shot…" Jack looked to Teal'c for an answer.
"Disintegrates him." Teal'c filled in.
Jack sighed at him in exasperation. "Oh, great. You didn't feel this was worthy of mention, I take it."
Sam had already moved beyond this bit of news and was currently staring out the window. "This ship must have been in orbit around a planet when we 'gated here. Then it—it launched or left orbit, which would explain why we can't 'gate home."
"The point of origin isn't valid anymore." Daniel said, standing beside her.
"Well, I suggest the two of you figure out how to get us back home." Jack glanced between the two of them.
Sam turned to look at him and threw her hands up at the window. "Sir, the only way to that would be to turn this thing around and go back to where we started."
"Right, I'll just go tell the pilot." Daniel mocked going out the door to do just that.
Jack glared at him, then barked at Teal'c. "Teal'c, you know how to fly one of these things?"
Teal'c shook his head. "Of this I am unsure. It appears to be of a new technology. I am qualified only to pilot the Goa'uld death gliders. I suggest we relocate to another chamber as soon as possible. Royal sarcophagi are rarely left unattended for long."
We started back into the corridor, but had to pull back into the room quickly as at least a dozen jaffa marched past. The jaffa walked into another room further down the hall.
Following them we found ourselves in a hanger like chamber. Hundreds of death gliders were being prepped and checked.
"Jack. It's happening. We're on an attack ship headed to Earth." Daniel said, horrified.
"Teal'c, how fast can this ship go?" Sam asked.
"A Goa'uld ha'tak vessel can travel at ten times the speed of light."
Sam mouthed to herself, doing the calculations in her head. "Okay, so if we are heading to Earth, then we have a long time."
"Based on what?" Ten times the speed of light seemed pretty fast to me.
"Based on the coordinates of the planet we gated to. And this ship had to have been in orbit around or on the surface of a planet in order for those 'gate coordinates to work. So, based on the location of those coordinates, even if we were traveling at ten times the speed of light, it would take at least a year to get to Earth, probably more." Sam explained.
"Mol jaffa. Tim lokeem rel roconnai." A voice called throughout the ship. The jaffa that had beeen reading the gliders stopped their work and headed out of the hanger.
"They're being summoned to some sort of gathering." Daniel translated.
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We followed the jaffa back to the gate room. The sarcophagus from before had been moved and stopped before the orb that hovered within the rings of the stargate.
The jaffa gathered around the sarcophagus and bowed. The silver orb blurred with many colors before they coalesced into the face of Apophis.
I couldn't help the grimace that came to my face, and not for the first time I found myself thinking, if only looks could kill...
"Chel hol, Jaffa." The live feed of Apophis amplified his voice. "The end of a dark moment in Goa'uld history approaches. Soon we will wipe out the scourge that plagues us. I will rejoin you as we come out of the shadows. Until then, you are to follow all orders of my son, as if they were my own."
The sarcophagus creaked open and a man stood up from within. I saw that he had long dark dreds, but he had his back turned to us, so that from where we were hiding I couldn't see his face.
"Bow down now. Show me your reverence for my son. The mighty warrior, Klorel!" Apophis pronounced proudly.
The man in the sarcophagus turned around to face his jaffa, and for the first time I saw his face. But it was not the first time I had seen this face. My heart dropped to the floor and I felt Jack and Daniel's eyes on me as I let out my breath in a hiss.
I had never been this close and yet so far away. What I felt was beyond anger, beyond rage, beyond heartbreak. The man who stood before us wasn't just any man, it was Skaara.
"Tel kol, Jaffa. Kel, Apophis. Re nek Klorel." Skaara spoke with the double reverberated voice of a Goa'uld.
"Re nek, Klorel." Apophis smiled down at him and the orb that held his image faded back to it's original silver.
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My team and I stayed hidden until Skaara had left the room with the rest of the jaffa.
Once they had all filed out and the door closed behind them Jack turned back to us. "He called him his son. That's sick!" He bellowed, sitting his gun by his side from where he had had it aimed at the door.
"Not exactly a chip off the old block." Sam said.
"The Goa'uld inside Skaara is probably the son of the one inside Apophis." Daniel added.
Jack glared at Daniel. "Thank you, Daniel, that's encouraging."
"I'm just trying to help." grumbled Daniel.
Throughout this exchange I hadn't said a word, I was still speechless after seeing Skaara.
"We need a plan of attack." Teal'c said.
Teal'c's words struck a chord in me, spurring me into action. Before I knew I had slung my gun over my shoulder and was heading for the door. "Oh I have a plan. Attack."
"Whoa, easy there." Jack placed himself in my path, putting his hands on each on my shoulders to calm me down. "Lets not just go around shooting things up." I took a deep breath and nodded. He patted my arm and turned to Dani, Sam and Teal'c. "Okay. Here's the plan, we're going to split up. Carter, you and Daniel start planting C4 all over this ship."
"And what are you,Teal'c, and I going to do?" I asked tentatively.
Jack's next words surprised me. "We're going to try and grab Skaara."
"Sir, are you sure? It, it would be like trying to take Apophis." Sam mildly protested.
"They do not know we are aboard. There would be little reason to keep him under heavy guard." Teal'c came to Jack's defense. The way he put it, we might actually make it to Skaara.
"Okay, but with respect, sir, I think you're making an emotional decision here." Sam continued, then she briefly met my eyes before adding. "You and Erin."
Shrugging, Jack answered her. "Maybe, but it's also the best strategic decision."
"Jack has a point. If we can capture him, maybe we can get through to the old Skaara. Kendra said that she could fight past her Goa'uld when it was still inside of her." Daniel recalled the woman he and Sam had met while Jack, Teal'c and I had been imprisoned by Thor's Hammer a few weeks ago.
Kendra had been a host to Goa'uld until she had convinced it to go to Thor's Hammer where it was purged from her. If there was anything that gave me hope for Skaara and Sha're, it was that Kendra had survived and was able to fight back even while being possessed.
"Let's move out." Jack's voice shook me out of my thoughts.
"Sir." Sam called out. "Contingency plan."
"C-4."
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Jack, Teal'c and I crept our way back to the bridge of the ship. Jack took up position on one side of the entrance, and Teal'c and I on the other. Silently he mouthed and counted off on his fingers, "One, two, three."
Whipping around the corner I aimed my zat at a jaffa right on the inside of the room. After I had taken him down I took up a vantage point from behind the sarcophagus in the center of the room. Jack and Teal'c had taken out four each by the time I had taken out a second.
One final jaffa ran around the side of Klorel in an attempt to protect him. With one zat blast from me he was on the ground.
Skaara...Klorel briefly looked down at the fallen jaffa, then dismissing him like one would a fly, he looked in my direction. When he met my eyes I saw hesitation there, like there was a fight going on inside him. His face strained and for a moment I thought I saw Skaara break though. Then just a quickly as Klorel raised his hand to attack me with his ribbon device, his eyes glowing.
So caught up we had been, that neither of had seen Teal'c until he came up behind Klorel, ripping the hand device off him and pinning his arms behind his back.
"Chel nok, makor." Klorel sneered, still acting as if he was in complete control of the situation, which he obviosly was not.
"Rin nok." Teal'c threw right back at Klorel.
Klorel was full on insolence and contempt when he spoke again. "You dare to do this to Klorel? You will die a painful death."
I raised my zat and aimed it at his chest, earning me a death glare from Klorel.
After the last jaffa had fallen Jack had positioned himself by the doors to make sure we didn't have any uninvited visitors. Right now he felt around the walls on either side of the doors looking for a lock. After hearing Klorel's outburst Jack briefly looked back at him. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." He said and went back to the task at hand.
Klorel seemed shocked and enraged to be dismissed so, and he struggled in Teal'c's grasp. Teal'c merely tightened his grip on him.
"O'Neill." Teal'c called to Jack. "There is a raised hieroglyphic on the wall next to the door. It resembles a coiled serpent. Push, then turn it."
Jack found the button Teal'c was talking about and turned it. The door slid shut.
Teal'c freed one of his hands, still holding Klorel just as tightly as before, and aimed his zat at the locking symbol. "Stand aside."
Jack barley had enough time to spin out of the way before Teal'c shot the symbol, leaving a smoking melted metal mass behind.
"They will not be able to access this room for some time." Teal'c announced lowing his zat.
Jack sighed and walked over to where Teal'c held Klorel and looked down at him. "Hey, Skaara. Long time, no see."