Major Carter hugged the right hand wall as she advanced down the hallway in a crouch. The aliens had managed to light fires in a series of waist-high alcoves along the hallway. It wasn't bright, but it was brighter than the flares that her team had relied upon for illumination. She gestured to her men to stay low as they passed the first light. Standing tall would have two disadvantages: it would make sure that any guards further down the hall saw them, and it would compromise their own ability to see in the dark.
In reality, she was far more concerned with holding onto the latter advantage, as she was pretty sure any guards would be able to hear their boots on the stone floor. The team moved slowly along the hall, Jones on Carter's flank and Johnson and Harris following them. Carter stopped after every other light, sure that she would hear the soldiers that had taken over the pyramid, but each time she heard only the breathing of her team.
Eventually, they came to the camp room. As they reached the doorway, Carter held up her fist, signaling the team to stop. She held up two fingers and pointed to the left, signaling Jones and Johnson to go in that direction. She pointed to Harris and then to herself, telling the injured airman to follow her. Finally she stepped forward, swept her firearm to the right to check for guards, and then faced forward again as she sidestepped to the right edge of the room. This way she could see down the rows between the room's pillars. Harris followed her, albeit more clumsily, and Jones and Johnson mirrored her actions, moving to the left.
They paused, both relieved to find no combatants and disappointed to see that none of their camp supplies remained. Carter signaled her men to stay put, each looking (and aiming) down and different row, as she turned and advanced, still sidestepping but more slowly this time, checking each perpendicular row for enemies hiding from her men by staying behind the pillars. She reached the fall wall without seeing anything but stone walls, stone floor, and stone pillars.
"Clear," the major whispered loudly enough for her team to hear. She hoped that the echoes were just her imagination. The men advanced, and regrouped in front of the hallway leading to the stargate. This hallway also had lights burning, and the team slinked along with the same procedure.
They encountered nothing until they reached the gateroom, where Carter could make out two animal-headed aliens standing by the dialing-podium. The major signaled her team to stop. Only one of the soldiers was facing the doorway; the other was watching the gate. Neither reacted, and Carter dropped to her belly, inching forward until she was far enough through the door to line up a shot at the soldier facing the doorway. She opened fire for a second, but then her rifle jammed. Jones, fortunately, had already dropped to one knee in the doorway and started firing.
The Jaffa facing the doorway fell under the barrage, but his companion lasted long enough to turn around and fire, hitting Jones in the shoulder. The concussive force of the blast threw the airman back into the wall. Johnson lunged forward, taking Jones' place in the doorway and firing his rifle at the Jaffa. Carter also brought her sidearm to bear, and the second Jaffa finally dropped.
Carter stood and stepped into the room, sweeping her sidearm across it but seeing no other threats. She returned her attention to Jones, who was unconscious. She was glad to see that the wound was high on the man's shoulder: he would hurt and loose mobility, but it shouldn't have hit anything vital. She touched the wound experimentally and jerked her hand back. "The Kevlar's burning!" she told Harris, "Get the buckles." She fumbled for the zipper pull, finding it after a few seconds and jerking it down. She pulled the vest off of Jones' right arm, glad he wasn't awake to feel the pain, while Harris took care of the left arm. Harris lifted Jones' torso a couple inches off of the ground, and Carter jerked the vest out from under him. She let go and allowed momentum to carry the now-useless armor into the gate room.
"Thank you," Carter glanced up at Airman Harris before taking out a pocket knife and using the scissors to cut off Jones' shirt.
"Any time, Ma'am," Harris answered, "Any time"
Jones had burns from the vest over his upper chest and right side, and a more severe burn where the blast had actually hit. There was swelling developing on the back of his head from its impact with the wall. Samantha felt along his neck and found no injuries. "It should be safe to move him," she said, grabbing his ankles, "Be gentle with his right side."
Samantha and Harris carried the airman, who was beginning to groan, into the gateroom and set him down in a better-lit area. Samantha then continued her investigation. The shoulder wound appeared to have cauterized itself, so she didn't have bleeding to worry about. "It would be nice if we had some clean bandages," she remarked to herself, looking at the corner where they had left the F.R.E.D. She wondered if dressing the wound with Jones' shirt would be better than leaving it exposed, but those thoughts were interrupted by a whirring sound from the camp room.
The three conscious people froze for a second before reacting; Carter guessed what the other two remembered, that that sound went along with the arrival of alien soldiers. "Harris," the major pointed at the dialing podium, which would give more cover than anything else in the room. She drug Jones along the wall with the doorway, knowing that anyone attacking wouldn't be able to see that corner until entering the room. Johnson moved to the corner opposite her and pointed his rifle up and towards the doorway. Carter picked up Jones' rifle and did the same. This way, anyone entering would be caught in crossfire, but Carter and Johnson wouldn't actually be shooting at each other. If there were no ricochets, the major figured it would work pretty well. Realistically, she knew that ricochets would happen in an enclosed stone space, but there was no better option.
Someone moved slowly down the hall. At first Carter thought she was imagining a rasp as cloth drug against the stone. She would be sure she heard it, but then she would hear nothing besides Jones' groans as he slowly returned to awareness. Over time, however, the rasping became more pronounced, until Carter was sure it was coming from just outside the doorway. Then there was nothing. Even Jones was quiet, apparently sensing the tension in the room.
Every second drug on in that silence, and Carter fought the impulse to say something just to break the silence. Finally, a figure stepped through the doorway with arms extended down and to each side, pointing weapons at the corners and their occupants. The man glanced to either side, and Carter thought he looked a bit surprised, but she was in turn surprised to see his eyes flash and hear a strangely deep voice say, "Lower your weapons."
"Harris," Carter answered, and the airman popped up from behind the dialing device, pointing his berretta at the man. "Now," the major continued, "Seeing as you'd certainly not survive a shootout, how about you drop your weapons and raise your arms slowly." It wasn't a question.
The man did not answer immediately; instead, he surveyed the room before asking, "Did you kill these Jaffa?"
"The soldiers?" Carter answered, "Yeah, which should assure you of our capabilities and resolve."
"The Jaffa serve my enemies," the deep voice said, "I have no love for them." The man lowered his arms and dropped the weapons, kicking them forward.
The Johnson answered suspiciously, "That's a funny one, seeing as you arrived the same way they did."
"I am Lantash, of the Tok'athor," the man answered, "My mission was to assassinate Ra. I attempted to do this three days ago and failed. When he learned of my true loyalties, he ordered my arrest. I've been evading security patrols since then."
"Major Samantha Carter, United States Air Force," Samantha answered the man's introduction, "Why, exactly, did you want Ra dead?"
The Tok'athor looked at Samantha rather startled and answered, "Ra poses as a god and forces billions of humans and Jaffa to worship him. He, like all the Goa'uld," this word held extra contempt, "take humans hosts against their will. The very purpose of the Tok'athor is to destroy the Goa'uld and end their evil ways."
Further conversation was interrupted by the whirring of the rings. Everyone tensed, and Harris picked up one of Lantash's weapons, offering it to the Tok'athor. "That's all right," Lantash answered, pressing a finger-ring which expanded and glowed.
The group waited for several minutes but heard nothing. Eventually Lantash stuck out his head to look down the hallway. He said, "There is one figure, moving toward the pyramid exit. He is no Jaffa."
Carter accepted this and joined the man. He looked human, but she remembered the one human-headed figure that she had seen leaving the gliders earlier that evening. "I think that we should see who it is," she said. Lantash didn't object, so she continued, "Harris, stay with Jones. Johnson, you're with us."
Carter set out at a jog down the hallway, and Lantash followed with Johnson taking up the rear. She planned to slow to a walk when they neared the figure, who was now rather near the exit end of the passage, but those plans changed when the group again heard the whirring of the rings. The major sprinted the last ten meters into the camp room and saw a stack of floating rings in the middle of the room. She braced herself against one of the pillars, leaning so that only her arm, head, and rifle (well, Jones' rifle) were visible from the center of the room where a light now flashed from the rings. The rings whirred back into the ceiling, leaving four of the animal-headed Jaffa. Carter opened fire and heard Johnson doing the same, but she had to retreat fully behind the pillar when one of the Jaffa realized where she was and fired his staff-weapon at her. Johnson continued to fire for a couple seconds before also retreating, but then Samantha heard a shorter discharge sound and a beam of red light shot out from the center of the room, striking the wall in front of her and showering her with debris.
In the seconds after this blast, one of the Jaffa shouted and a staff discharged several times, but since it wasn't coming toward her, the major figured that she could risk a look around the pillar. She saw that only one of the Jaffa was still standing, and she opened fire on him. He jerked around as the bullets hit him, and then another red beam passed through him and struck the ceiling, again causing a shower of stone pebbles to rain down.
"The Jaffa have been neutralized," Lantash's deep voice said.
"That ray-gun of yours is pretty powerful," Johnson remarked as he joined Lantash in pulling the Jaffa bodies from the ring area. "Do the bad guys have those things?"
"Yes," Lantash answered, "I was working as a covert agent, so any non-Goa'uld technology would compromise my cover."
"If they have those things," Johnson pointed to the ring, "Why do they bother with the staffs?"
"Staves are weapons of intimidation and terror, intended to keep slaves fearful. A single staff will generally last longer than its bearer. The ring device is a weapon of assassination. It is meant not to be noticed until it delivers the fatal shot. Its size limits the space for a power supply, and it is exhausted after only a few dozen shots. Also, there is a risk of accidental overload, which will kill the bearer." Lantash deactivated the ring and picked up something from the forearm of a Jaffa corpse. Samantha recognized it as matching the weapons he'd left with Harris.
"Not prone to overload?" she speculated.
"No," he confirmed, holding up the gun for her to see, "The zat'ni'katel is not." He gestured down the hallway with the weapon, "Shall we continue our pursuit?"
Samantha smiled at the man and answered, "We shall." She walked down the hallway, still briskly but with more caution, wondering if more enemies would appear from the rings. None did, however, and the two Tau'ri and one Tok'athor made it to the exit doorway. The moon was apparently much higher now, as the dunes cast smaller shadows than they had earlier, but the portico roof kept the entryway in darkness.
A figure sat on the stone floor of the portico leaning back against the wall. He had a staff weapon across his knees, but his hands drooped to either side. He did not respond to the arrival of his pursuers, and Samantha wondered if he was asleep. Lantash left little time for wonder: he bent and grabbed the staff, rotating it to face the figure and arming it, causing its foresection to split into four quadrants and fizzle with energy. He prodded the figure under the chin with the weapon and demanded, "Identify yourself!"
The figure's head jerked up, and he answered in a panicked voice, "William Freeman, Lieutenant First-Class, Serial Number 555-43-9819. William Freeman, Lieutenant First Class, Serial Number 555-43-9819. William Freeman—"
Carter cut him off, kneeling in front of him and pushing the business-end of the staff to the side. "Lieutenant, calm down: you're safe."
Freeman's attention snapped to Samantha. "Maj . . . Major Carter?" he stuttered, "Did they get you too?"
Samantha shook her head, "No, it's okay. We killed the alien soldiers." Freeman glanced at Lantash, and the major added, "This is Lantash of the Tok'athor. He's helping us."
"Greetings," Lantash said, and Freeman flinched.
"He sounds like Ra," the lieutenant said, and the Tok'athor bowed his head.
Carter looked up at the alien, wondering if she'd been too quick to trust him. He had killed those Jaffa, though, so she waited for an explanation.
"We were once one people, united under the Empress Hathor," a baritone voice said.
"Wait," Carter interrupted, "Why did your voice just change?"
The Tok'athor sighed: "I am Martouf, the human host to Lantash. Because of William Freeman's reaction to Lantash's voice, we decided that it would be . . . more comfortable . . . for him if I explained this."
"Human host?" Johnson asked, feeling a bit creeped out.
"This will take a long time if I am constantly interrupted," Martouf told the humans, "And my narrative will most likely answer many of the questions." He paused, waiting for Carter and Johnson to nod. Apparently he wasn't worried about Freeman interrupting, and when Carter considered the fear still on her 2IC's face, she supposed that he had little with which to be concerned.
Satisfied that they would save their questions, Martouf continued, "The Goa'uld are naturally a parasitic race who possess a host by tying into the host's central nervous and endocrine systems. They evolved on a planet which had a sentient bipedial race we call the first ones. For centuries conflict was bloody as Goa'uld groups fought free tribes of first ones, and factions of each group fought among one another. Eventually, a Goa'uld discovered the use of the Chappa'ai, an artifact from an even more ancient race. Many Goa'uld left the first world and spread to other planets, establishing rivalries and alliances as they developed. They absorbed technology from other races as well as occasionally making their own advancements, but eventually a plague decimated the first ones' population, including current hosts. One Goa'uld queen, Hathor, discovered a young world with a race of potential hosts unsusceptible to the plague. She used technology to impersonate a deity of that world and enslaved thousands, using many as hosts for her children, who in turn impersonated other deities.
"Hathor kept this world secret from her rivals, allowing them to die of the plague before she brought humans from Earth to worlds such as this one. She also profited from discovering a way to modify humans to serve as incubators for immature Goa'uld. These modified humans are now known as Jaffa, the warrior-slaves of the Goa'uld." Martouf paused and bowed his head for several seconds before continuing, "Lantash thinks I'm going too slowly, so I'll skip ahead a bit. Hathor proclaimed herself Empress over all Goa'uld and established a hierarchy of Goa'uld under her. One of these under-queens, Egeria, grew to sympathize with the human slaves. She felt that impersonating deities was wrong and eventually concluded that taking any sentient host against its will is wrong. She revolted against Hathor and created both our movement and a faction among the humans which desired its own freedom. This faction eventually succeeded in driving the Goa'uld off of the human homeworld. Our movement left with them, learning in the first few centuries of our existence that impersonation and stealth were more effective than direct confrontation."
Martouf bowed his head, and Lantash addressed Freeman in his characteristically deep voice, "William Freeman, I am deeply grieved by your treatment at the hands of Ra. I am," he paused, "more familiar with what you have endured than I would like to be. My mission was in fact the assassination of this false god, and I apologize for failing in this mission and allowing you to fall into his hands."
Freeman smiled weakly and said, "Hey, you got him eventually."
Lantash shook his head: "In fact I fled when my identity was revealed. Eventually another will be sent to complete the mission."
Freeman looked confused. "That was how I escaped," the lieutenant said, "Ra tortured me for a while, and then he handed me over to one of those . . . Jaffa? The Jaffa kept working me over, but then someone came and said that Ra had been betrayed and killed. The Jaffa left shouting; I guess he figured that I was too weak to run away."
"Maybourne said that they'd killed some of the bogies that landed by the mines," Carter offered.
"It will do no good!" Lantash protested, but then he bowed his head and Martouf continued, "We are glad for your escape, William Freeman. What Lantash means is that the Goa'uld possess a device capable of repairing fatal injuries and even reviving the dead. If Ra's body was not destroyed, killing him will not change anything."
"Martouf, if we could get our hands on this technology," Carter said, but the Tok'athor interrupted her.
"No," Lantash said, "The device steals the good out of the person using it. We believe that its habitual use is a major factor in the evil of the Goa'uld."
"We have a bigger problem to worry about," Freeman said, strengthened by his rest, "Ra showed me something he found in the stuff he took from our camp. He was gloating about how he'd send it back to our world. I think it was a nuke, Ma'am." The lieutenant looked at Carter for confirmation, and the other two men looked at her with their own questions.
"You're right," the major sighed, "If I determined that this world posed a risk to Earth, my orders were to detonate the bomb and destroy the stargate."
"What about us?" Johnson asked.
"I'd try to get everyone back to Earth and leave the bomb on a timer, if it were possible."
"Excuse me," Martouf asked, "But what is this 'nuke'?"
"An explosive," Carter answered, "Based on the atomic fission of its contents."
"Ra said he'd made it even more powerful," Freeman added.
"Most likely by adding naquadah ore," Martouf explained. "He could easily have increased the yield of your 'nuke' sufficiently to destroy a continent."
"Like I said," Freeman repeated, "a bigger problem."
"Lieutenant," Carter asked, "Was the nuke armed?"
"Ma'am?" Freeman asked.
"There was a cylinder with a sphere on one side and either a firing charge or a hole where a firing charge could be inserted. Which was it?"
"Firing charge," Freeman said, "I remember it stuck out a little."
"Armed," Carter commented, "It's too bad the remote isn't working."
"Remote?" Lantash asked.
The major opened her vest pocket and showed the small device to the three men, "It sends a radio signal that will run a current through the firing charge, just like if the timer ran out. The explosive in the charge detonates, propelling a heavy uranium slug into a larger uranium ball at the other end of the cylinder. When the slug hits the ball, the uranium reaches critical mass and explodes."
"How do you know that it isn't working, Ma'am?" Johnson asked suspiciously.
"I tried it after I crashed," the major answered reluctantly.
"You would have killed us all!" Johnson's face registered anger and betrayal.
"Airman, if I felt that it was necessary to protect the U.S.," Carter nodded to emphasize her words, "Yes, I would."
"Ma'am, that's . . ." Johnson shook his head, at a loss for words. They lapsed into a tense silence, Johnson staring resentfully at his commanding officer.
It was Martouf who broke the silence. "The transmitter may still be functional," he said.
"Martouf, I tried it," Carter argued, but he put up a hand to forestall her.
"Goa'uld Ha'tak have defensive shields designed to protect the vessels from both projectile and energy weapons. A radio transmission might fall among the wavelengths blocked by these shields."
"What if the transmitter was on the ship?" Carter asked quickly.
"It should succeed," Martouf answered, "The shields are designed only to protect against exterior attack."
"And if the bomb goes off inside of the shields . . ." the major prodded
"The shields would be useless, and the ship itself would be severely damaged or, considering Ra's enhancement of its yield, destroyed entirely," Lantash spoke now, excitedly, "And Ra would leave no corpse to revive."
"What about the others," Johnson said, "Green and O'Brian? They're still up there."
Samantha thought for a minute. The threat to Earth hadn't gone away since she tried to use the bomb earlier that evening, but the decision to let her people die was strangely harder because she wasn't going to die with them.
Freeman hesitated but eventually said, "They aren't up there, Ma'am. I was stunned, but the others were killed with those . . . things." The lieutenant gestured to the staff weapon that Lantash was holding, "I didn't understand it, because they were already dead, but Ra destroyed their bodies. I guess he wanted me to see that they'd never be revived."
Martouf filled in more details for Samantha's benefit: "A single hit by the zat'ni'katel will stun a human, Jaffa, or Goa'uld. A second hit will kill, and a third will disintegrate the corpse. That was how I had intended to ensure Ra would stay dead if I assassinated him."
Samantha smiled, the decision was easy now. "Those ring transporters go both ways, right?" she asked.
"Yes," Lantash answered simply.
"Johnson, stay with Freeman," the major ordered as she and Lantash ran through the door and down the hall. "I'll set the detonator to have a five second delay," she told the Tok'athor as they approached the camp room, "That should give it time to rematerialize before it goes off."
When they reached the center of the camp room, Lantash grabbed the arm of one of the Jaffa corpses and said, "Put the remote in the middle and then get clear."
Carter nodded and started the countdown, tossing the transmitter into the circle and stepping back quickly. Lantash pressed a button on the Jaffa's wrist-armor, and the rings whirred down from the ceiling. They flashed, and then flew up again, leaving nothing where the transmitter had been.
Carter held her breath, hoping the plan would work. She looked at her companion: the five seconds were over. Finally Johnson's voice crackled over the radio, "Ma'am, we have one heck of a fireworks show out here. Over"
"Yes!" Samantha smiled and hugged Martouf tightly, "We did it."
Martouf wrapped his arms around the woman and answered, "Yes, Samantha, we did."
Samantha adjusted her robe to remove a rather uncomfortable fold. She had radioed Maybourne that Ra was neutralized and then slept for an hour before the Abydonians showed up on mastages to bring the slayers of Ra back to the city. She would rather have slept, but the locals were experiencing a euphoria that rapidly caught Carter and the others in its arms. The celebration had gone well past sunrise that night. Then, most people had slept for the following day. Even though Ra had been a 'kind' god, the quotas he set for naquadah mining had strained the society for generations, and the removal of those quotas meant that the populace was now free to do things like have holidays.
That evening, celebrations had begun anew, and they had lasted well into the night but mostly calmed down an hour before sunrise. As others departed to sleep, Martouf had invited the major to go for a walk, and she had agreed. He had used that hour to explain much more of the history of the Goa'uld and Tok'athor, their technology, and their strategies. Finally they had sat down on a dune facing Abydos' east to watch the sunrise.
And so, Major Carter attempted to remove the uncomfortable fold in her robes.
"Something the matter?" Martouf asked.
"Just getting used to the garb," Samantha answered. Neither person spoke for several minutes, content to watch the sun rise. "In Colorado," Carter said, "that's the part of Earth where we have the Stargate, there are plains to the east and mountains to the west. The sunrises are still nice, but the sunsets are amazing. There's one peak that the sun goes down behind just twice a year, in the Spring and in the Fall."
"It sounds beautiful," Martouf put his arm around Samantha's shoulders.
"You would love it," the woman answered.
Martouf laughed: "Your Airman Maybourne suggested that you might try to seduce me."
"He did!" the major turned to Martouf indignantly.
"I don't think he realized how sensitive a host's hearing becomes. He intended the words for Pasteur only."
"Still, that isn't an appropriate thing to say about a superior officer," Samantha said nothing for a while, but then she turned to her companion again and asked, "Is it working?"
"I cannot come to your world, Samantha Carter." Lantash sighed, "As tempting as it is to visit the homeworld of humanity and the birthplace of the Tok'athor, I cannot."
"It wouldn't mean giving up the war against the Goa'uld," Carter argued, "I think my government can be convinced that the technological benefits of a long-term Stargate program outweigh the costs, and an informed guide would make our program far more successful."
"I do hope that the Tau'ri will become allies of the Tok'athor in the war against the Goa'uld," Martouf said, "But if I went with you, then Rosha would be furious about my seduction."
"Rosha?"
"My mate for more than the past century: she has eyes as blue as the oceans of Marloon and hair the color of the sands," Martouf gestured to the desert stretching out before them.
Skaara took the thermometer out of his mouth and argued. Catherine held his wrist and guided the glass stick back into his mouth. She knew that he was easily strong enough to stop her, but he was only putting up a token resistance.
"Something wrong?" Carter asked, coming into the tent from her walk and sitting on one of the circular pillows scattered around the tent floor.
"He says that he isn't sick anymore," Catherine explained, "And shouldn't be coddled."
Samantha smiled at the adolescent and placed one hand under his chin. The swelling in his lymph nodes had disappeared completely, but she wasn't sure if there was a risk of symptoms resurging. Skaara turned his head to the right, away from Carter's hand, but kept his eyes on the woman.
Catherine started to say something in Egyptian, but Samantha interrupted her, "Skaara's going to cooperate now, aren't you."
The boy recognized his name in the English sentence and blushed, taking his eyes off of the major but otherwise holding still. Samantha waited in that position until Catherine looked up from her watch and said, "Time."
Carter took her hand from Skaara's neck and pulled the thermometer from the boy's mouth, showing it to Catherine and saying, "Ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit: within normal limits. Dr. Langford, I'd say he's recovered."
Catherine translated this, and Skaara answered sullenly while leaving the tent. "Roughly translated: I told you so," Catherine told the major.
Carter laughed and checked on Jones. The equipment that Ra's Jaffa had left behind after Kasuf had killed the 'god' included some of the Tau'ri medical supplies, and Samantha had found enough bandages to cover the man's burns. She checked the dressings and decided that they should be good until the afternoon.
Freeman had also been given a bed in the designated infirmary-tent, but his problems were not ones that Carter's first aid training had addressed. He said he wanted to stay away from crowds, and this seemed like a good way to do that.
"You know," Catherine said when Samantha headed toward the exit, "I think that was a bit of overkill."
"What do you mean?" Carter asked.
"Come on, Samantha," the archeologist answered, "You're a beautiful woman; Skaara's a teenage boy. You had him at a major disadvantage."
"The heat's gotten to you. I'm going to bed."
The major left, ignoring any response and turning toward the large tent in which Team Giza was barracking. She was shocked by what she saw inside and wondered briefly if the heat wasn't making her imagine things. Daniel was holding a staff weapon and aiming it at Martouf's sleeping form.
"Doctor Jackson!" she barked, and the man spun to face her. He smiled and his eyes flashed, but his expression changed to shock when blue lightening enveloped him.
"Quickly! Restrain him!" Martouf ordered. Most of the men looked around, confused and sleepy, but Maybourne stood, keeping a zat'ni'katel trained on the archeologist.
Johnson found an extra loop of tent cord and looked to the major for confirmation before following the Tok'athor's order. Carter nodded, and the airman tied Daniel's hands behind his back.
"Major?" Daniel asked, "What's going on?"
"I'm not sure yet, Dr. Jackson," the major answered, looking at Martouf and Maybourne for an explanation.
"When we searched the Jaffa corpses at the mine yesterday, I realized that one of the Jaffa had no symbiote," Martouf said.
"We figured that it had jumped into one of our people," Maybourne elaborated. "I knew it wasn't me, and apparently Tok'athor can sense that sort of thing."
"Because the symbiote is not yet mature, it cannot completely dominate its host," Lantash added, "But at times when the host is less aware, such as during sleep, the Goa'uld would take over."
"Since Marty told us that normal Goa'uld hate his kind so much, I figured that this would be a pretty good way to figure out who the snake-head was," Maybourne finished.
"And you didn't tell me this because . . ."
"Well, Ma'am," Maybourne hemmed.
"Harry's plan depended on secrecy," Martouf explained, "and the best way to preserve a secret is by not telling anyone."
The major kept emotion out of her face and voice. She'd speak with Maybourne about this, but not in front of the whole team. With the casualties they'd suffered, Maybourne was essentially acting as her 2IC. "So what comes next in your plan?" she asked the men, glancing at the tied archeologist.
"The Tok'athor are developing a procedure to remove a Goa'uld without killing the host," Lantash answered, "But so far it has succeeded in only twenty percent of the cases. I could bring Dr. Jackson to one of our bases and we would attempt the procedure. If it succeeded, he would be allowed to return to your world."
"I thought you said that no one could visit your bases," Samantha stated.
"Captured Goa'uld are a special case," Lantash said, "but you are correct, no one could come with him."
"Not going to happen," Carter declared, "besides, I'm not sure that I can even make that decision for Daniel. Twenty percent chance of success: those are terrible odds."
"Is it not better than a lifetime of slavery?" Lantash asked, but then he nodded, and Martouf spoke: "I understand. We do not know all the details of the procedure, but the primary difficulty is that the symbiote can release a toxin which kills the host. You must kill and remove the Goa'uld before it has time to do this. In the meantime, there is a risk that the Goa'uld will try to jump into another host. I recommend that he be kept secluded and that two soldiers guard him from a distance of several paces."
The major nodded. "Mr. Maybourne, who's had the most sleep?"
"That'd be Harris and Johnson, Ma'am."
"Alright, boys, get to. Pasteur and Maybourne will relieve you in four hours."
A/N: I really wanted to finish the fic with this chapter, but I realized that the debrief merits its own entry. I hope to get that written in the next week, but I move back to school tomorrow, so no promises. If anything is unclear/don't make sense, let me know and I'll see about including it in the debrief.