Author's note: I don't own stargate. Duh. In know its been a while, but what can I say, college

Chapter Sixteen

"Do you always do as you're told?" I really didn't expect that to work, but, hey I was desperate.

Kalen sighed. "What do you expect to accomplish, even if I let you out of here?"

"How much do you know about this ship?" I asked walking over to where he stood in the center of the room.

"As much as I needed to do my duties until we landed to finish off what our ships could not from the sky."

"Enough to find something to sabotage?"

He hesitated, then with a nod he handed my his zat. "If we run into trouble do not hold back, they will not."

"I know." Taking the zat I activated it as he punched a code into the door.

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We ducked into a small alcove as a third group of jaffa marched down the corridor.

"Why are there so many? My team didn't run into this many when we first boarded." I whispered after they had passed.

Kalen grabbed my arm and led us back out into the corridor, keeping close to the wall in case we needed to duck inside again.

"They are preparing their landing parties for the part of the invasion after the ships have destroyed all the major cities. Its just up here." He said taking a quick left.

"What's up here?"

He began working on a panel on the wall that I assumed controlled an unseen door. "The engine room. You said you wanted to sabotage something, here is where you will have the best chance."

I stood behind him with my zat to cover his back as he worked.

The door slid open. Kalen made his way around one side of the room and I the other, scoping it out to make sure we didn't have any unwanted company.

"It is clear." He called over deactivating his staff.

Now that we was out of immediate danger I finally got a chance to look around the room. Several huge glowing columns shot up from the floor up to a ceiling that I couldn't even see. Perhaps the room went through the entire height of the ship.

"This one is shields." Kalen patted on of the columns as he walked past it on his way to me. "This one is weapons." He pointed to column that I was standing beside. "Propulsion, hyperdrive and lifesupport are housed over there." The columns behind us.

"Let's start with weapons first." I said turning. I ran my hands over the columns smooth surface to find any buttons or controls. "If they can't shoot, that's one problem solved." Then with a whisper only I could hear I added. "One down, a million more to go."

There seemed to be nothing external on the column. "Hand me your staff." I said standing away from the column.

"If we blast it they will know what we've done and they can repair it. If we remove one of the operating crystals it will go undetected." He found the controls that I couldn't and effortlessly opened up a panel full of crystals.

Sigh. I knelt down to see better into the panel. "Which one should we take?" The panel held dozens of crystals of different shapes, sizes, and colors.

"The larger crystals tend to serve more critical systems." Kalen said as he knelt beside me.

The largest crystal I could see was a blue one that rested in the back and I yanked it out. Closing up the panel I placed the crystal on the floor and shot off three rounds from my zat, disintegrating it.

"Shields next?" I asked jumping to my feet.

Kalen's eyes were pinned to the door.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm sorry. The engine room is not left alone for long. A patrol is on its way." Kalen grabbed my arm and took cover behind a column.

Now I could hear the multiple foot steps headed our way. "Take me captive!" I blurted out. "They'll take me captive. But they will kill you, unless they think you're the one who captured me."

Kalen shook his head. "No I will stand with you. I will die free."

He was to stubborn for his own good. "You have honor, I understand that." I said putting my hand on his shoulder. "Sorry about the nose."

"What?" He asked. As he turned his face to look at me I socked him in the face as hard as I could just as the door slid open.

Throwing myself away from Kalen I aimed my zat at the group of jaffa. But they were quicker and one of them shot off a blast from their staff that clipped me in my right arm, causing me to drop my zat.

I collapsed to the ground as pain exploded all across my right side. Gritting my teeth I raised my head to watch the jaffa come to finish me off.

"Jaffa cree!" A familiar voice shouted and Kalen stepped forward with blood dripping down his face. "Lord Klorel will want her alive."

"Well done Jaffa." An older jaffa stepped up to Kalen. "The gods will be pleased."

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Kalen had a hold of my uninjured arm while he led me and the group of jaffa that had found us to the peltac. While he may have seemed rough to an onlooker, I could tell he was trying to be as gentle as possible.

We stopped at a wall, which slid open to reveal a face I hadn't though to see again so soon. Skaara... Klorel whirled around to face us with an enraged expression.

He stalked around the sarcophagus in the center of the room. Once he reached me his hand whipped out and caught me around the throat. "You are cause me a great deal of trouble." He said, his eyes glowing. With a thrust he sent me sprawling to the ground.

I rubbed my bruised neck as I glared up at him. "Glad to be of service."

Kalen grabbed my left arm and helped me up. "My Lord, should I take her back to her cell."

"No, keep her here where I can keep an eye on her." Klorel snarled. Suddenly beeping rang out through the control room. In the dark of space that spread out before the window in the front of the room there was a small light in the distance that was getting bigger by the second. A missile. "So your world wished to test the powers of their gods."

He reached his hand into the control console, then stopped.

"Their weapons approach my Lord." A nervous guard pointed out. "You must activate the shield!"

Again Klorel tried to reach for the control to activate the shields, and again he failed. This could only mean one thing, Skaara was fighting back. If Skaara could hold on for just a little longer, then earth would have one less ship to worry about.

Come on Skaara, you can do this. The missile was almost upon us.

Klorel snapped his head to look at me. There was a fight going on behind his eyes. But Klorel was to smart and he used Skaara's weakness against him, me. The fight died in his eyes as the glowed and Klorel shoved his hand into the consul, activating the shield. The missile exploded harmlessly against the shield rocking the ship.

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For the past hour I sat against the wall, helpless. Klorel and his jaffa went about their business, planning for the invasion, for which city they would burn first.

Facing the destruction of my world my thoughts went back to one thing. Not my team, not Stargate command, but to Cassandra. I had promised her she would be safe. I had promised her she would not grow up alone and that she would be loved. I had promised her she would grow up. My daughter was going to die, along with everyone else down there. I wasn't her birth mother but she was mine and I couldn't help wishing that I could be there with her when the end came.

A tear escaped my eye and slid down my cheek.

Kalen knelt beside me, everyone else was to busy to notice the amount of attention he was paying to their prisoner. "What are you thinking about?"

Shaking my head I brushed away my tears with the back of my hand. "My daughter, she was the reason I came on this mission, to keep her safe. I failed."

Kalen put his hand on my arm. "It will be okay, we wil..."

"Bra'tac!" Klorel boomed as the elderly jaffa enter the room.

Kalen jumped to his feet lest he be seen speaking with me and pulled my to my feet as well.

"My Lord Klorel." Bra'tac bowed his head to Klorel, sparing Kalen and I a quick glance. He didn't look happy.

Klorel was oblivious to this as he swept his had to the window that showed earth beyond it. "Come. Witness the power of your god." He spoke with utter confidence.

"I cannot!" Bra'tac glowered at Klorel.

Klorel stared back at Bra'tac in shock, like he couldn't believe his ears. "Why do you defy me?!"

Bra'tac stepped toward the increasingly nervous Klorel. "Because you are not a god. You are a parasite within a child, and I despise you!"

Klorel raised his hand with the glowing hand device. "Jaffa kree shak! I am your god." A beam shot out of Klorel's hand to Bra'tac's forehead, causing the jaffa to fall to his knees. "You will feel my wrath."

"No stop!" I screamed trying to run to them, jumping over the sarcophagus only to be caught around the waist by a guard. "Stop, you're killing him!" I clawed and kicked at the jaffa, but he refused to let go. My injured arm didn't help much either.

"Master!" Kalen yelled but he was hit in the face with the but of a staff and his knees buckled.

Bra'tac grunted, trying to remain conscious. "I...die...free."

"Now!" A voice shouted from the corridor outside and Jack, Teal'c, Sam, and Dani burst in.

I was impressed to see that Daniel had swapped out his little hand gun for two machine guns, one held in each hand.

Using my teams gunfire as a distraction I latched on the hand of the jaffa still holding me and bit down with my teeth. With a snarl he threw me to the ground, thus opening himself up to be fired on by Jack.

All in all the fight was over pretty quickly and Klorel was again in the trusted care of Teal'c.

"Are you injured Erin Clark?" Teal'c called over the head of Klorel, who he held in a vise like grip.

I gave him a thumbs up. "Never better Teal'c."

Sam looped her gun over her chest and pulled me into a hug. I was shocked still for a moment, she wasn't casually the hugging kind of person. "I'm glad to see you to Sam." I smiled back at her.

"Dammit Daniel!" Jack shouted and we all turned to look back at the entrance of the control room.

Jack was kneeling over an unmoving Daniel, and there was was a smoking hole in his vest.

Author's Note. Cliffhanger! I know, I'm evil. If you remember thus episode then you should remember what's gonna happen. Don't have a heart attack on me just yet. :) Any comments and reviews I would love to hear. Remember, I love to hear from you guys, it is sometimes the high point of my day! :)