Interesting – Chapter 3
PapayaK
oO0Oo
Previously…
The presence spoke in a deep Goa'uld voice, "He is awake. Begin."
He heard the other person behind him flipping switches and pressing buttons.
Then Jack knew nothing but pain for a very long time.
oO0Oo
The second time he regained consciousness, Carter was there. He knew not by her perfume or some perception, but because she was holding him. He was lying on the floor of a cell with his head in her lap. It was nice –except for the cell part.
He opened his eyes and his headache immediately spiked. "Aagh! Oy."
He grabbed his head as if to hold it together. "Sir?" Carter's concerned voice cut through the pain.
"It – will pass" Alberts' weak voice.
"Carter. Augh." One hand moved from his head to her arm and he held onto her with a grip so firm it was painful.
"I'm sorry, Sir, I have nothing to give you."
"No, it's okay, it's okay. Alberts is right, it's fading." He struggled to sit up as the world spun. It wasn't really fading, so much as becoming something he could manage, something he could box up and set aside. He leaned his head back against the cool stone.
"Ohh-kay, what was that?"
"I've been learning as much as I can from Alberts. They have something similar to the Tok'ra memory device…"
"Peachy."
"Only it's been souped up, the power intensified. It now has the ability to 'rip' memories from you." She looked at him closely, "Do you remember anything?"
"Ahh, yeah. Bits and pieces. Memories, yeah." He squinted at her, "Nothing classified…"
"Yet." Alberts added.
Carter spoke softly to Jack, "He's not doing so well. They used the machine on him too."
"I have to tell you – what I can – before," Alberts stopped, then tried again, "The first time is a test – see how the chair works. Then they dig. They found my knowledge of SG-1 mission reports and they," he groaned, "latched onto you, Colonel. Took everything I - know about you and they – want - more. He knew - you would - come for me."
"He?"
"Dagon, - Goa'uld. - He…he…" Alberts slumped, once more unconscious.
Jack watched him for a beat. He wanted to get him home – back to Janet, Alberts was a good man, way too good to lose like this. Plus, if this was what he had to look forward to… well, it didn't look like too much fun.
Carter was having the same thoughts, "Daniel and Teal'c will be here soon."
"Yeah, soon." Jack closed his eyes and tried to regain his energy.
oO0Oo
He couldn't have been asleep long before the Jaffa returned for him. They didn't say a word, just grabbed him and dragged him from the room, stunning Sam with a zat when she tried to stop them.
He was dragged through the halls, thrown into the chair and strapped down.
"Colonel O'Neill. I don't believe we met properly last time. I am your god, Dagon."
"Oh, you are so NOT anyone's god. And we both know it."
Dagon just smiled and nodded to his assistant who turned out to be Khek. She came and inserted the familiar probes from the Tok'ra memory device, one on each side. But the wires she attached were considerably more heavy duty. The holographic screen appeared.
"So, Colonel, I am quite certain you would like to kill me. What weapon, I wonder, would be your first choice?" And he turned to watch the screen.
Khek moved her buttons and levers and it felt like hot spikes were burning into his head. He clenched his teeth against the pain and concentrated.
Dagon was rewarded with the image of a very impolite hand gesture on the screen. "He resists. Turn it higher."
Jack really hadn't thought the pain in his head could get worse, but it did. And suddenly images of different weapons were flashing across the screen.
Dagon laughed.
"You see? You cannot resist me. I will take what I want. This is nothing. The pain you feel now is nothing!" He gloated, "For I have not yet asked you anything you truly wish to hide."
Dagon moved to the controls himself and began to manipulate them. "Tell me your secrets, Colonel."
Different images flashed across the screen almost too quickly to register. All of them scenes from Jack's past. There were scenes of explosions, torture, and prisons; firefights in the desert, in the forest, in the snow. There were glimpses of Charlie, and then Charlie's dead body in his father's arms. The screen showed a young Frank Cromwell moving away toward a waiting chopper, and an older one falling into an open wormhole.
With that image of the Stargate the pain suddenly increased.
Jack grunted. Sweat poured off his face. It felt as if his brain was being ripped to shreds.
Dagon pulled the image of the stargate back and held it. Then he began to dig.
Images of the SGC scrolled across the screen. At first they were just rooms, the details and especially the people, indistinct.
Dagon flashed back and forth between them looking for what he wanted.
Jack moaned through his clenched jaw, his body shaking with the effort to hide the images from Dagon.
Dagon chuckled and shook his head at his struggles. "Hmm, now this looks interesting…" He had an image of SG-1 and General Hammond at the briefing table only he couldn't make out any of the faces. He twisted a knob.
Jack tore so forcefully at his restraints that his wrists began to bleed. But the faces slowly became clear.
Dagon chuckled as he zoomed in on each face, watching his readouts as he did so. "Teal'c – the Shol'vah, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, and General Hammond, I learned of them from the Lieutenant, but his images were not so wonderfully clear."
Dagon walked around and studied Jack's face. He grinned at the raw hatred he saw there. "Turn it off. He's had enough for now." And he left the room.
oO0Oo
Jack was dumped back into the cell.
Carter knelt beside him. "Sir-"
She was appalled at his condition. His face was red as if he had just run a marathon at top speed, but it was deathly pale underneath. His eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot, and blood from his wrists was smeared over his hands. But she held back when he put up a hand to keep her from helping him.
It pained her to watch him struggle to sit up against the wall, but she knew he had to do it. Had to prove to himself and to her that he could.
"Wha's the news Carter?"
She tore a piece off her t-shirt and did her best to clean and bandage his wrists, trying to ignore it when he winced.
"Actually, I have some good news." She spoke cheerfully, hoping to get some small spark from him, but he didn't move or open his eyes. "I heard from Daniel. - I managed to conceal my radio and the General must have opened the gate. Anyway, he said they're mounting a rescue. They'll be here soon."
She didn't tell him that the Gate was so well guarded at the moment that there was no way Hammond could authorize their rescue. Nor did she tell him that Alberts had slipped into a coma while he was gone. Instead she let him drift into what she hoped would be a healing sleep.
After a moment he jerked awake. "If you make contact again, tell them to change the codes."
"Sir?"
"It works, Carter. Can't hide from it. No choice." The defeat in his voice was almost unbearable. Then, as if he remembered something, he shifted position and spoke, forcing his eyes to focus on her, "We'll just gate elsewhere. Start thinking of where you want to escape to…"
The words took her back to Antarctica where she had first learned of his abiding belief that they would always get home. She smiled softly. "How about something with a beach?"
"Mmm" He spoke as if in his sleep. "Beach… sounds good…"
She sat close beside him, reassuring him with her presence.
TBC