Author Notes: Thanks for all your feedback - SG-1 are finally back in the action! Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 5
"Dad!" Sam grinned as she hugged her father in the gateroom of the SGC, "How are you?"
"As good as ever." The man smiled, before nodding to the other two men, "Jack, George."
"Social call?" Jack's hands were in his pockets in a typical O'Neill posture.
The Tok'ra gave a half-smile, "I wish."
General Hammond nodded, "Shall we? I'll have Teal'c join us."
They headed straight to the briefing room. The Tok'ra called so rarely nowadays that it usually put them all on edge. When Teal'c had arrived, and they were all seated, Jack gestured at Jacob, "So?"
"We have a serious problem." Jacob's tone was grim.
"When don't we?" Hammond sighed, gesturing for Jacob to explain.
"As we know, Anubis has been taking a back seat of late. His obsession over the Ancients has put him in an increasingly weakening position. With the failure of the super-soldiers, he's been forced to regroup, and in his absence, a new System Lord is growing ever rapidly in power."
"Ba'al?" Teal'c questioned.
"No, Neith."
"Neith?" Jack quirked a very Teal'c-ish eyebrow, "Never heard of him."
Jacob bowed his head, allowing Selmak to the fore, "She has not been active for a very long time, not since before the fall of Ra."
"Oh, I really hate those pre-Ra guys. So damned up themselves."
"Perhaps. Nevertheless, her powerbase has grown incredibly, and unlike some of her predecessors, she is prepared to wait rather than striking without plan. The planets under her command are growing in number, and it seems she has a new weapon, one that the other System Lords do not."
Jack perked up, "What kind of weapon?"
"Six people. We know they are not Jaffa, but they are skilled fighters. Their appearance and presence at her side have instilled incredible fear into many populated planets. They are an unusual tactic, and one we do not like."
Sam frowned, "Just six people?"
Selmak gave back control to Jacob, "The Council is worried. These people have killed five of our operatives already, almost as if they can just tell by looking that they are spies. Not only that, but just the simple unusual nature of these people has thrown the System Lords off kilter."
"What's so scary about six bodyguards?" Jack was having trouble working out why this was so important.
Jacob regarded him calmly, "Because they carry not only Goa'uld weapons, but primitive human ones too. They wear dark cloaks, and no one has heard them speak, or even seen their faces because of the masks they always wear. Like Jaffa, they carry the mark of Neith, their leader has a gold mark on his mask like a First Prime, and yet they are, as far as we can tell, still human. And they have a higher death count on their hands than some of the most seasoned Jaffa."
Jack winced, while Hammond placed his palms on the table, "What do you propose?"
"We know Neith is currently on Sais, her home planet. The Tok'ra Council suggest trying to capture one of them. If we could have a look, we might have a better idea of what we're dealing with, or if she's planning on getting more."
"And you need us because?" Jack waved a hand in a circular motion.
"We're stretched thinly as it is-"
Jack threw up his hands, "Of course you are!"
Jacob cut across him, "To catch one of these people needs a strike team! If you help, you would have full jurisdiction, and cooperation from us in the analysis stage. Our intel has shown that she is not expecting infiltration so close to home. We'd have stealth and surprise on our side."
Jack sighed, "General?"
Hammond sighed, looking at his old friend, "These people are really this much of a threat?" Jacob nodded, "Okay, Jack, I want you and SG-3 to move out as soon as possible. Jacob?"
"We'd like to be a part of this, yes." He spoke on behalf of himself and his symbiote.
"Very well, dismissed."
Jack waited for the Marines to fully check their gear, rolling his eyes theatrically. Reynolds' team were five in number, another subtle hint from Hammond that he thought a three man team was not enough for Jack. He tried not to react as Carter came to stand at his side; it had been over a year now since he had lost two members of his team at the same time, and still he expected one or both of them to come running in late. He had point blank refused to accept another teammate, stating in no uncertain terms that if they needed an anthropologist, negotiator or – god forbid – an archaeologist to join them on a specific mission, then they could, but they would not deploy each and every time with SG-1. It would not happen. Ever again. End of.
Finally, they were all set, and Walter was intoning the chevrons as the Stargate spun. It plumed open, and, after a UAV was deployed to confirm the area around the forest gate as empty, Jack signalled for them to move out.
They moved silently and alert through the forest, Teal'c taking point. Jack was perplexed at the lack of resistance – surely the snake wasn't that confident of the fear it instilled?
He had thought too soon. Zats discharged from nowhere, taking out two of SG-3, and they all hit the ground on instinct, diving for cover. Down went Peterson as a masked figure leapt out of the undergrowth, only to be taken down themselves by Teal'c. Jacob's voice rang through the crisp air, "It's them! We need to fall back!" And then he was felled by another zat charge.
Teal'c was knocked to the ground, but Bosco managed to get in a shot at one of them from his position. A sickening crunch as a metal bolt met flesh, and the Marine fell down dead with the retaliation of their attackers. Jack mentally swore. There may have only been six, but they seemed to have them completely surrounded.
Teal'c was on his feet again, and pushing back another one –or perhaps the same one, with the masks it was hard to tell. And then a new one joined the fray. This one had to be the leader, with his half mask and gold symbol. He took on Jack and Reynolds simultaneously, while Carter lay down cover fire against the rest of the ambushers.
Teal'c was being pushed back again, and Jack took the opportunity to break away from the First Prime human as Reynolds was knocked to the ground and Carter launched an attack. He grabbed a P-90 from the forest floor, knowing it to be empty, and brought it swinging, down on the masked attacker's head. He slumped to the ground out cold.
Success was short lived as the sounds of multiple staff weapons opening filled the air, and Jack turned to find themselves truly surrounded, "Ah, crap." He raised his hands in surrender as Carter followed suit and Teal'c threw his staff to the ground with distain.
And then something happened that Jack had not expected.
As soon as their surrender was realised, the First Prime human had dashed forwards, discarding his weapon carelessly, to kneel by his companion. Jack exchanged a confused look with Carter, noticing how the First Prime Jaffa's neutral expression mutated into a glower. This was just...weird.
A flash of silver, and the man used his knife to cut away the mask so he could check for further injury. Jack very nearly swore, and it was only his shock that prevented him from doing so. Jonas Quinn was lying unconscious on the root-entwined grass. This realisation was quickly followed by another – Jonas had been holding his own against Teal'c? A sick feeling had rested in Jack's stomach. They had found Jonas after over a year of lost hope, but who had they actually found? After what Jacob had said about this group...
Any further thought was cut short by the Jaffa First Prime striding forwards and hauling the human leader to his feet. "You are out of line!" Jack could practically taste the tension as the half-masked leader whipped a knife to rest at the Jaffa's throat and another of the masked team raised their deadly crossbow. Apparently these two groups didn't play well together. The look the Jaffa pulled onto his face unnerved Jack, and he wasn't even the one it was directed at. To his credit, the human did not react, only loosened his hold on the knife as the Jaffa released him, "Fine. Have it your way. She can deal with you. Jaffa, kree!"
Jack could do nothing more other than allow himself to be fully disarmed and led away.
The remaining eight were forced to their knees in the disgusting gold throne room. Both Jaffa and some of the masked humans took up positions behind them. Jack was mildly surprised to see that the hand clenched down on his shoulder was that of a woman. Obviously this Neith was more into equal opportunities than some.
His eyes slid over the scene. The Goa'uld was the typical beauty, covered – or not so covered, depending on how you looked at it – in unnecessarily elaborate clothes, with an expression not uncommon to someone who had just swallowed a lemon. Jonas stood off to the side, looking strangely small as he slumped against a larger masked man; the lack of facial features on the latter making him just seem all that much bigger.
The First Prime human stepped forwards to stand by the First Prime Jaffa. The Goa'uld surveyed the pair from her seat, "Explain."
Jack quirked an eyebrow. No scary voice? Maybe she had a sore throat. The human bowed his head, his hood falling further forwards. The Jaffa had no such problems, "Jonas failed. He allowed himself to be bested by a human." Jack's stomach plummeted. There went any possibilities of a simple look-alike.
"And the mask?"
"Removed." The pleasure in the Jaffa's voice made Jack's skin crawl.
The Goa'uld rose gracefully, gliding down the steps to come face to face with Jonas, "I told you I would not tolerate failure. If you are so incompetent that you are unable to handle Tau'ri without faltering, they you are useless to me." She took Jonas' chin in her manicured nails, "Pity."
She released him, and Jack saw Jonas blink furiously as she moved away. He winced guiltily. One hell of a concussion by the looks of it. Neith turned to the human leader, "Kill him."
Jack jerked as the hand on his shoulder clenched painfully. All masked heads whipped away from their blank staring point on the floor or walls to rest on the snake. Fleetingly, Jack remembered the leader's reaction when they had knocked Jonas down, and couldn't help but think Neith didn't have as much control over the team as she seemed to think.
The leader seemed too much in shock to react, and the Goa'uld glared, her anger seeming to elevate further with the presence of the SG-teams as witnesses, "I'm giving you an order. Failure is not accepted!"
A sharp intake of breath above Jack, and the hand increased in pressure. The fingers of the human leader twitched.
Her eyes glowed in anger, and Jonas visibly jolted. "Kill him!" There was that voice they all knew and loved.
And then the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees, and the hand holding Jack released its hold.
A blur of movement, and the masked human leader had drawn his sword and plunged it into the snake's stomach, severing right through both the host and symbiote's spinal cords. A look of mild surprise crossed her features before she slumped down, dead.
The rest of the Jaffa, including the First Prime, were dead before Jack could even blink.
Jack couldn't know it, but Neith had just revealed once and for all who had killed their brother, and Group 63 had not been about to let her take another. Now, or ever again.
"-Failure is not accepted!" Vala jerked, the words ringing round in her head, so familiar. So hated.
She was not the only one to see the parallels of the words. Daniel's whole body had grown taut, while Renn's head had angled itself slightly lower as he kept a tight hold on Jonas.
When Daniel still did not act on the words, unable to believe what she was ordering him to do, Neith's eyes glowed gold. Vala blinked in shock as Jonas jumped in fright.
Just like the nightmare.
And then, "Kill him!" Two words, and Vala was back in the cell, Drek dying before her eyes.
It had been her.
All along, it had been her. An elaborate process to ensure a set of unique bodyguards that would be loyal to their 'rescuer'. An experiment.
Daniel's reaction spurred her own as she zatted the Jaffa to her left.
Vala was breathing hard, from both the shock and adrenaline of what had happened. Her arm had started bleeding again, blood seeping steadily through Beren's makeshift bandage.
No one knew what to do. Were these people really as much of a threat as Neith had told them, or had that been another lie? Should they kill them too, just to be sure? All eyes turned to Daniel, who still stood over the woman's body. His posture screamed at them to be very careful.
Do not remove your masks.
Do not say a word.
We are not safe.
The grey-haired man twitched slightly, and she saw him exchange a glance with the Tok'ra by his side. He cleared his throat, and all eyes were on him, "I guess you just realised what bastards the Goa'uld really are, huh?" His tone was purposefully light. Daniel's grasp tightened on his blade, an act that did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room. The man grinned disarmingly, "Look, we're not big fans of people like your old boss over there. We can help you. It's either that, or you go and work for someone like Ba'al, and after the way you terminated this employment, I can't see him jumping at the prospect. Let us go, come with us. We can help you."
Daniel wasn't sure how to react to the plea. All he knew was that there was something about this man's voice that seemed oddly trustworthy. But it had been he who had decided they would stay with Neith, and look how that one had turned out. The blonde woman's eyes still hadn't left Jonas, "Some of you need medical attention. We can give you that."
It was true. Daniel was pretty sure the blow to Jonas' head had left him more than just momentarily dazed, and Vala was definitely favouring her left arm.
He glanced at Renn. The man gave a barely perceptible shrug of one shoulder, while Jonas leaned on the other.
After what seemed to be an age, Daniel nodded his consent.
To Be Continued...
Author Notes: So what do you think?
