My thanks to piecesofyourheart, Barbarossa Rotbart, MiaRose 156 and DJ Scales for their kind words.
Welcome back, piecesofyourheart, hope college is going well for you.
Stargate: SVU
Chapter Seven
'This is not my week,' Casey thought miserably, as she writhed against her bonds. 'Oh, hell, who am I kidding? This just hasn't been my year!'
Casey had been bound to a stone pillar in the private quarters of Mut. She stood with her back up against the pillar, her wrists pulled behind her by a length of rope that was slung around the back of the pillar. She was still gagged.
Casey bent one leg up and pressed her bare foot against the hard marble of the pillar while she once more tried to pull her wrists free. But all her effort seemed to do was to only make her bonds tighter, and so she stopped.
'You crazy bitch,' Casey thought, as she leaned back wearily and watched Mut. Her Lord Empress paced around her private quarters in a constant rage; she ranted, screamed and whined about the horrid fact that several of her beloved Jaffa had turned on her. The very same Jaffa to whom Casey owed her life.
Casey had thought she was a goner earlier, when Mut placed the knife on her neck during the live empire-wide message she had sent out. Yet, just before Mut could slit Casey's throat, one of the Jaffa had called out something in their language. And then he raised his staff weapon up and aimed it right at Mut.
Several things happened all at once. Mut ran screaming from the podium, while the two Jaffa who had held up Casey instantly released her. Casey, who had been bound hand and foot, let out a little whimper as she helplessly fell toward the hard floor--until she was caught by Io'tan, who gently laid her down before diving for cover. Casey then lay timidly on the floor while a wild firefight erupted right over her. It was a miracle that she had not been hit.
When it was over, Elliot/Ke'tesh appeared, barking orders at the Jaffa to remove the bodies of the traitorous Jaffa who had opened fire on them. Then he saw the bound Casey on the floor, and pulled out a knife.
Before he could even threaten Casey with the knife, Elliot/Ke'tesh was stopped by Io'tan, who asked him just what did he think he was doing.
"Who are you to dare to question me, woman?" Elliot/Ke'tesh snarled, his eyes glowing.
"I am the First Prime of Her Lord Empress Mut," Io'tan calmly shot back. "And if you ever presume to order my Jaffa around again, or speak back to me in that tone, I shall have your tongue removed from your mouth--by a thunder lizard. Do you understand me?"
Elliot/Ke'tesh had quickly backed off, placing his knife in a sheath, as he abruptly whirled around and stalked away.
Io'tan had ordered Casey to be brought with her--until Mut had returned. No longer fearful, Mut was now filled with royal rage as she commanded the Jaffa to take Casey to her private quarters, where she had been lashed to one of the pillars like a prized captured beast that had been placed on public display. What made it even worse was that Casey was terribly thirsty, and there was a pitcher of cool water on a table within arm's reach of her.
'Dying of thirst with water so close and yet so far out of reach,' Casey thought miserably. 'So this is what hell is like….'
Casey leaned back against the pillar and carefully watched Mut as she continued to rage on about the sheer nerve of the rebel Jaffa--the very men who, by giving their lives, had saved Casey's--who dared to defy her. Io'tan stood nearby, nodding her head and agreeing with every outlandish statement Mut said in an effort to placate the hysterical Empress.
Casey actually didn't mind listening to Mut's constant screaming and raging. Because, for as long as she ranted like a lunatic, that meant that Mut ignored Casey. And as long as Casey was ignored, the longer she stayed alive--even if it meant being trussed to a pillar like an animal.
But then Elliot/Ke'tesh appeared, and he coolly gazed at Casey as he strode over to Mut. Then he glared with hatred at Io'tan--while making sure that she wasn't looking--and if looks could kill, Io'tan probably would have been obliterated right then and there.
'Io'tan had better watch her back--literally!' Casey thought. Since the woman had tried to help Casey in any way she could on two separate occasions now, she began to see Io'tan as being a possible ally.
"What do you want?!" Mut screamed at Elliot/Ke'tesh.
"I was simply concerned for you, my Lord Empress," Ke'tesh said, with a grand bow. "Your comfort is my sole purpose for living."
'Oh, give me a break!' Casey thought, as she rolled her eyes in disbelief. She was pleased to see that even Io'tan stared scornfully at him.
"For example, my Lord Empress," Elliot/Ke'tesh continued. "It is not wise for you to have a wild animal like that here in your personal quarters. She may get loose and harm you!"
It took a moment for Casey to realize that the 'wild animal' whom Elliot/Ke'tesh had referred to was her. 'You rat bastard!' Casey thought, as she glared indignantly back at him over her gag.
Mut waved her hand at Casey. "That Tauri wench is the least of my problems now. Come, Io'tan! We have sedition running loose in the Netian Empire, and we must find a way to quell it before it gets worse!"
When they left the private quarters, Casey expected Elliot/Ke'tesh to run after them like the butt-kissing lapdog that he was. However, he remained behind--and the way he stared at Casey made her nervous.
'Uh-oh,' Casey thought, as Ke'tesh came over to her.
He stood right next to the bound woman, and the way he glared hatefully at her, it was hard for Casey to remember that this was the body of a man whom she had considered a close friend.
Casey cringed in terror when Elliot/Ke'tesh pulled out his knife. So this was it. He would finish her off here, without any interference from Io'tan. Casey wondered who would find her bound body hanging from this pillar, with her throat slit. Helpless to avoid her doom, she closed her eyes, and hoped that at least it would not be painful.
But when Elliot/Ke'tesh thrust out with his blade, the target was not Casey's throat. Casey opened her eyes, stunned to finally be able to pull her hands from around the sides of the pillar. She stared up at Elliot/Ke'tesh with shock when she discovered that he had cut her wrists loose.
The first thing Casey did was to pull off her gag and run over to the pitcher of water. She poured herself a cup and downed it instantly. The water actually tasted delicious! Elliot/Ke'tesh watched her with a slight smile as she poured herself a second cup and drank that.
'Could Elliot still be in there?' Casey wondered, as she wiped water from her mouth and chin. 'Could he be fighting that thing that controls his body? Is that why he cut me loose?'
"You should run," Elliot/Ke'tesh told her.
"Why?" Casey asked.
"So it will make me look all the more better when I recapture you," Elliot/Ke'tesh replied, his smile now turning into a broad grin. "JAFFA, HOL! THE TAURI SPY HAS ESCAPED!"
"Damn you!" Casey snarled at him. She turned and ran for her life through the opened doorway.
As she ran down the corridor, Casey realized that Elliot/Ke'tesh had merely released her as a means of making himself look better in the eyes of Mut. Once he recaptured the 'evil Tauri spy,' Casey Novak, Mut might start taking the advice of his new lapdog more seriously in the future. He was simply using Casey to worm his way into favor with Mut.
It was the same sort of office politics that Casey had seen played out a million times at work--set up somebody else to make yourself look better--but here, they were playing with people's lives; namely Casey's.
Still, despite the reasons, Casey wasn't going to let this chance to escape slip away. She kept running until she reached a crowded junction. A woman who was clad in an elaborate gold dress let out a scream of horror at the mere sight of her. Other people pointed their fingers at Casey in disgust and fear as she backed away from them, all while looking around her desperately for a way out. One man shouted, "Jaffa, hol! Escaped slave!"
Casey didn't know how they instantly knew she was a slave; perhaps her scant outfit indicated her lowly rank--she'd noted other people in the crowds, both men and women, who were dressed just as skimpily as she was, and who walked behind their more gaudier-dressed masters with the humble gait of a lowly servant. Of course, the fact that she was wildly running for her life may also be another indication to this bunch that Casey might be trouble.
When one of the men reached out to grab her, Casey deftly avoided his grasp and ducked into an empty corridor to her left. She didn't know what was at the end of this corridor, and she didn't care--Casey had to get away from that angry crowd, who were seemingly insulted just by the very sight of her. And so she ran once more.
'On earth, in New York City, I prosecuted those who committed crimes; while here, I'm one of the lowliest of the low,' Casey thought, not without some irony, as she kept running. 'How the mighty have fallen. I should at least be grateful that I have no Jaffa after me.'
A loud hiss from behind her made Casey glance over her bare shoulder, and what she saw caused her eyes to bulge wide in terror.
A golden-armored Jaffa, with a serpent's helmet on his head, rode after her on a hideous monster that looked like one of the dinosaurs out of Jurassic Park. The beast let out another hiss as it bared a mouthful of fangs at Casey.
For her part, Casey whimpered fearfully as she kept wildly running--even though a little panicky voice at the back of her mind told her she would never outrun that monstrosity. She could hear it gaining on her, and even feel its hot breath on her bare back. Panic-driven, she ran through the first doorway she saw--
--only it was not really a doorway.
Casey let out a shriek as the floor abruptly fell away from her feet. And then she was tumbling head over heels in midair. When she saw the pool of water rushing up to greet her, Casey took a deep breath and held it as she dived through the clear water.
Once she broke the surface, Casey swam over to the side of the pool that was the closest. She was grateful that the man-made pool had been deep enough to safely support her fall.
Thankfully, there was nobody around the pool. When Casey heard a roar, she glanced up and saw the Jaffa and his pet dinosaur standing on the edge of the terrance that she had just jumped off of. It appeared to be a built-in diving platform for the pool.
"HAH!" Casey shouted at them with a broad smile. "What's the matter, you guys can't swim?!"
Her smile faded when the Jaffa expertly pulled out his staff weapon and aimed it at her.
'It never ends, does it,' Casey grimly thought, as she dived for cover under a stone bench as the ground around her erupted into explosions from the Jaffa's staff weapon.
SG-1: SVU
When they heard the general alarm sound in the main corridor, Io'tan and Mut started to run back to the private quarters of Her Lord Empress, until they encountered Ke'tesh.
"It is just as I have warned," Ke'tesh gravely said, shaking his head as he strode up to them. "The Tauri spy has escaped."
"Escaped?!" Mut cried, outraged. "How could this be? She was properly lashed to the column!"
"She had some sort of weapon hidden on her person," Ke'tesh replied, "which she used to cut her bonds."
"Really?" a skeptical Io'tan asked. "And where on her person did she have this blade?"
When Ke'tesh shot her an angry glare, Io'tan knew she had caught him in a lie.
Mut abruptly turned to Io'tan and angrily demanded, "Why do you question the word of Ke'tesh?"
"My Lord Empress," Io'tan said, surprised. "I highly doubt that the Novak woman was able to conceal a blade within the folds of her scant outfit."
"You should not blame Ke'tesh for your lackluster service," Mut admonished. "It turns out that he was right after all."
Io'tan was now stunned. "My Lord Empress, I--"
Seizing the moment, Ke'tesh suddenly bowed. "I would be honored to lead the Jaffa who are hunting the Tauri spy, my Lord Empress."
Mut nodded. "Yes, Ke'tesh, you may do so."
"I shall bring her back alive, my Lord Empress!"
Mut waved her hand. "Alive, dead--I do not care. Just so she is no longer running about on the royal grounds."
Ke'tesh bowed once more. "As you wish, my Lord Empress."
Before he left, Ke'tesh shot Io'tan a nasty smile.
'Score one for you,' Io'tan thought, as she watched him eagerly run off.
"You shall no longer question the judgment of Ke'tesh," Mut ordered. "This I now command from you."
"Not even when he is wrong?" Io'tan asked.
"He is a Goa'uld," Mut said, her eyes flashing. "We are never wrong. Mind that fact, Io'tan, if you wish to remain as my First Prime."
Mut abruptly took her leave of Io'tan, who stood and stared thoughtfully after her Lord Empress for a long while. 'And so it comes down to this,' she thought. 'My many years of service, and loyal advice is ignored in favor of a stranger…simply because he is a fellow Goa'uld. Very well.'
Io'tan walked towards her own private quarters, where she summoned Char'el, a Jaffa who was in her personal service. He had been rejected from the warrior caste because his Battlemaster had deemed him to be too emotionally unstable. But Io'tan knew better; she realized that Cha'nel had nearly went mad with grief when he lost his entire family to a plague on his homeworld. The man was still an efficient warrior.
Char'el arrived barely minutes after Io'tan had summoned him. Completely bald, he had a goatee that had gone slightly gray with age and was clad in the golden armour of the Mounted Jaffa.
Io'tan regarded this mountain of a man with a slight smile. 'For him to be punished--and humiliated--just because he showed grief at his family's death was wrong,' she thought. 'Yet it was still fortunate for me, for I wound up with such a fine speciem of a Jaffa as this in my service.'
"Do you know the Tauri woman named Casey Novak?" Io'tan asked him.
Char'el nodded. "I do."
"She has escaped. I want you to find her before the others do, and bring her here, to me--alive, and unharmed," Io'tan told him. "And no one must know of this. Do you understand? You must capture her in total secrecy, Char'el. Understood?"
Char'el nodded once more. "Yes, my mistress."
"Then go, and good hunting to you, Char'el."
When he left, Io'tan stared thoughtfully out the window. 'Mut may well drag this empire down with her stupidity,' she thought. 'Yet her Lord Empress shall not drag everybody down with her. Not if I can help it.'
SG-1: SVU
The teltac ship had been quiet, and comfortable, enough for Olivia to take a very long nap. And she'd needed it. Thanks to the events of the past day, Olivia had been awake for almost 30 hours.
She had gone to sleep all by herself. But when she woke up in her sleeping bag on the floor of the teltac's cargo section, Olivia was amused to see that she was not alone. Grace Satterfield slept in the sleeping bag right next to Olivia, with Jenny Hailey sound asleep beside her. Sam was sleeping directly to Olivia's right, and, across from them, on the other side of the cargo hold, Daniel slept soundly in his sleeping bag while Teal'c sat cross-legged beside him on the floor, deep in his kelno'reem.
Olivia sat up and stretched her arms. She stopped suddenly when she heard Satterfield was rapidly whispering in her sleep.
"No, noooo," Satterfield said softly in her sleep, sounding like a child. "Put the fire out…put it out…."
Olivia watched her with a mixture of fascination and pity. She wondered what the young lieutenant was dreaming about. It looked more like she was having a bad dream--and considering some of the horrifying things that the SG teams have had to deal with on a daily basis, Olivia certainly didn't blame Satterfield for having a nightmare.
"Will they be all right?" Satterfield plaintively asked, still trapped in her dream. "Will they?"
Olivia reached out and gently rubbed the woman's arm. "It'll be all right, Grace," she whispered. "Easy, now. Just take it--"
Olivia was startled when the still-slumbering Satterfield grabbed her hand and pulled it close to her face.
'Oh great,' Olivia thought, as she awkwardly sat with the sleeping Satterfield clutching her hand. "Um, Grace…?"
Satterfield awoke with a start. "Oh my God," Satterfield said, shocked, as she quickly released Olivia's hand. "I-I'm so sorry!"
Olivia shook her head. "It's not a problem, hon. You ok?"
Satterfield nodded as she quickly got to her feet. "Uh, I-I'm gonna go make coffee…."
"Look, it's no big--" Olivia started to say. But Satterfield, still in her stockinged feet, had already run over to where all of the provisions were stored and got busy making the coffee.
"Oh, yeah," Olivia whispered, as she put her head in her hands. "Great going, Liv…."
Sam shifted suddenly in her sleeping bag, and Olivia felt a hand on her arm. "What's wrong?" Sam asked, sounding half-asleep.
"Just sticking my nose in somebody else's business, Sam, as usual," Olivia said despondently.
Sam affectionately rubbed Olivia's arm with her hand. "But, Liv," she said, with her eyes still closed. "That's what you do best!?"
"Oh, har-de-har-har," Olivia sarcastically said right in Sam's face. "Very funny!"
Sam made a disgusted expression as she started fanning air with her hand. "Ugh, morning breath!"
"Oh, for…." Olivia muttered, annoyed, as she got to her feet. "Forget it."
"I'm kidding!" Sam said, laughing. "I'm just kidding, Liv!"
"How do you know if it's even morning, here, anyway?" Olivia asked.
"It's five fifteen a.m.--earth time," Jenny suddenly announced, as she regarded her watch. "Was Grace talking in her sleep again?"
Satterfield looked up from making the coffee with a startled expression. "I'm sorry, all right?" she said defensively. "I am so sorry if my babbling woke everybody up, ok?!"
"Hello!" Daniel said, as he awoke with a start. "What'd I miss?"
O'Neill appeared in the doorway. "Hey, what happened to nap time back here? What did you do now, Liv?"
"Me?!" Olivia said, shocked. "How did it get to be my fault?"
"You bring this slumber party atmosphere with you wherever we go, Liv," O'Neill jokingly said. "It's really got to stop. Now, everybody go back to sleep. Don't you kids make me come back here again!"
Satterfield paused in making the coffee. "Is that an order, sir? Do you want me to stop and go back to sleep?"
"No, you keep making the coffee," he told her. "You have the important job."
Daniel raised his hand. "Um, actually, Jack, I like the slumber party atmosphere…."
"Indeed," Teal'c intoned, with his eyes still closed.
"Are we there, yet, sir?" Sam asked, as she wearily sat up.
"She sounds exactly like she did back when we took that trip to Great Adventure when she was eight!" Jacob called back from the pilot's seat. "All she kept asking from the back seat was 'We there yet, Daddy? Daddy? Are we there yet?!'"
"Ooohhh man," Sam muttered, as she shook her head in humiliation. She glanced at Olivia and miserably said, "Nothing like having your dad along on a special ops mission, reminding everybody what a little brat you were as a kid…."
"Guess what, Sam?" Jacob called back. "You're still a little brat!"
"At least I don't have a snake in my head!" Sam responded, smiling.
"I heard that," Jacob called, "and so did Selmak! He says that, despite that remark, he's still very fond of you."
Olivia couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably at the banter.
"Here's your damned coffee," Satterfield muttered, as she placed a cup on the floor next to Hailey, who still laid in her sleeping bag.
Hailey shot her a puzzled look. "Why are you pissed at me, for?"
"Because you're you, Jenny," Satterfield said sweetly. She bent down and handed Olivia a cup. "For you, Detective Benson."
"Thanks," Olivia said, as she gratefully accepted the cup. "And please, call me Liv."
Satterfield smiled at her. "Call me Grace, then."
"Um, at the risk of being called a little brat," Daniel said, as he finished tying his boots. "Are we there yet, Jack?"
"We're less than an hour out," O'Neill told him. He nodded his thanks as Satterfield handed him a cup of java. "So it's just as well that everybody's getting up now, anyway."
"Oh, Daniel," Olivia called.
He paused on his way to get some coffee. "Yeah?"
"Brat!" Olivia said, just before she took a sip from her cup.
"Yeah, right," Daniel replied, smiling. "Thanks so much for that!"
Sam chuckled as she slipped her boots on. Olivia watched, still sipping her coffee, as Grace offered some coffee to Teal'c, who politely declined. Then Olivia's good mood was shattered when she saw Teal'c somberly put on his combat vest and strap on his weapons. Next to him, Daniel did the same thing.
When Olivia glanced around and saw Jenny and Sam were also putting on their combat gear as well, the silly slumber party atmosphere that she had enjoyed had suddenly drained away from her. In that moment, Olivia was abruptly reminded that they were on their way to a hostile planet--the capital of an interplanetary empire, on the surface which were two of her closest friends, and Olivia didn't even know if Elliot and Casey were even still alive.
'And here I am, laughing and joking around like I'm in frigging summer camp!' Olivia grimly joined the others in getting fully dressed in combat gear. When Grace had returned, after delivering a cup of coffee to Jacob, she also began to suit up in her full combat gear.
"Hey, Liv?"
Olivia, now completely dressed, turned to see that it was O'Neill who had called her. He stood a distance away from her, in the center of the cargo hold. He waved at her to come over to him.
When Olivia did so, she'd noted that they were the only ones left in the cargo hold. Everyone else had went up front to see Jacob. "Yeah?"
"I couldn't help but notice that you got real quiet all of a sudden," O'Neill said. "You ok?"
"Yeah," she replied, with a heavy sigh. "Just getting ready to hit Mount Tanis, y'know?"
"It's just a recon mission," O'Neill assured her. "If we find the Asgard Slayer, and can either take it or destroy it, fine. But if we don't, then we're bugging right out. This mission isn't about us taking on the entire Netian Empire."
"Oh, I realize that," Olivia said.
"But still, if you're nervous about it--"
Olivia shook her head. "It's not that, Jack. Um, I was reminded of Casey and Elliot just now, and--well, I guess I was just feeling a little guilty about goofing off. I mean, here I am clowning around; not knowing if they're even alive…."
O'Neill nodded. "I understand. Keep in mind that we're just under an hour away from Mount Tanis, now. And, while a search and rescue isn't technically a part of our mission, that'll be exactly what we will be doing once we hit the ground. I promise you that we'll do everything humanly possible to find them, Olivia, and bring them back home."
"Thanks, Jack." Olivia appreciated what he said, and while she did feel better--a part of her grimly realized that both Elliot and Casey needed to be still alive in order to be rescued.
And that was the only thing she was truly praying for right now: for Elliot and Casey to be alive and well when they did find them.
SG-1: SVU
Char'el surveyed the damage to the pool that was done by the mounted Jaffa. There were smoldering craters all over the tiled surface--but there was something else, as well. The tiles were damp in places. Upon further inspection, Char'el saw the damp spots were in fact footprints, which led away from the pool and underneath one of the stone benches.
What happened had now become clear to Char'el: after falling into the pool, Casey Novak had gotten out and hid under the stone bench. A glance underneath told Char'el that his quarry was not there. But she had been there; the damp tiles told him that.
The stone bench was pressed up against the edge of a balcony. Char'el peered over the railing and saw more wet footprints on the stone ground below. They ran straight into a storage area that was underneath the pool.
'I have you,' Char'el thought with a smile.
Just as he climbed over the railing, Char'el heard laughter from several of the mounted Jaffa behind him. "Hol! Char'el is off on an important mission," one of them said. "He picks flowers for his mistress, Io'tan!"
"Careful," another Jaffa warned. "Hurt his feelings, and you could cause him to weep like an old woman!"
Although his honor was offended, Char'el ignored the jibes from the other warriors and dropped down to where Casey Novak had gone. In point of fact, he was on a mission from Io'tan. But as he followed the Tauri woman's wet footprints into the storage space, Char'el could not help but reflect on the incident that had brought him dishonor.
It was several years ago, when he had returned to his home planet, after spending a very successful campaign with his Jaffa unit quelling a rebellion on the miner's moon of Relfos, that Char'el had strode into his village, arms loaded with gifts for his mother and sisters. It didn't take him long to see that something was dreadfully wrong in the village; many of the homes had been burnt to the ground, and the village seemed empty of people. Once he saw that his home, where his mother and four sisters lived, had also been burnt to cinders, Char'el was devastated.
A neighbor told him that the village had been ravaged by a plague, and that the homes of the infected were burned down to the ground. Char'el's mother and sisters--the only family he had left--were all gone. He went insane with rage and grief at that moment, and had tried to take his own life with his own knife, until his comrades stopped him. His Jaffa unit leader, disgusted by this display of grief by Char'el, had ordered him to be arrested and executed.
Char'el didn't care; he had wanted to die, anyway, and being executed simply granted his wish. But he had barely spent a day in the dungeon when his order of execution had been overturned by none other than Lord Battlemaster Amun himself. Amun had reassigned Char'el to be a guard for the then-High Priestess Mut. When Char'el walked into the High Priestess' chambers for the first time, he met Io'tan, who introduced him to an army of young High Priestesses in training.
And in that moment, Char'el had realized that, while the gods had taken away his family, they had given him another. He had a new mother in the form of Io'tan, and a slew of little sisters in the form of the High Priestesses. That realization gave Char'el a renewed sense of purpose--especially when many of the High Priestesses began to affectionately refer to him as 'Big Brother Char'el.'
Char'el felt as if he had come home again.
As he stood in the storage space, which had unused chairs and carpeting stashed all over, Char'el smiled when he saw the wet footprints--which were half-faded from having started to dry--lead right behind a column.
"Casey Novak," he called. "I know you are in here. There is no other way out of here. You are trapped."
She had jumped out from behind the column just then, holding a metal pole that she had no doubt found from the pile of rusted railing parts in the corner. Her hair was wet and slicked back against her head, and she stood holding up the pole defiantly, as if it were a weapon.
"You're not taking me back there," she snarled at him.
Char'el marveled at her courage. For although she was clad in a slave's scant garments, her spirit was still indomitable. He thought about shooting her with his zat'nik'tel--but the sound that it made, along with the flashing, might draw the attention of the Mounted Jaffa above them. Char'el could still hear them talking and laughing from down here.
So Char'el went on the attack.
Novak swung the pole at him, but Char'el grabbed it and effortlessly pulled it out of her grasp. Then he grabbed her and tossed the woman face-down on a pile of rolled up carpets. Using strips of leather that he kept handy on his person, Char'el quickly and easily bound the Novak woman's wrists and ankles--for although her spirit was strong, physically, Novak was no match for him.
As he tore a piece of clean cloth for use to gag the woman with, Char'el paused when he saw Novak had started crying.
"I'm not a slave," Novak said. Even through her tears, the woman was still as defiant as ever. "I will never be a slave, no matter what you people do to me!"
After he gagged her, Char'el removed one of the rolled up carpets and unrolled it on the floor. He then placed Novak on the carpet, and then said, "If the rest of your people are as spirited as you, then I have no doubt that the Tauri will one day rule the universe."
Novak stared wide-eyed at him, stunned, as Char'el rolled her up in the carpet. He then lifted the carpet and placed it on his shoulder.
As he carried the rolled up carpet back up to the pool, Char'el strode past the Mounted Jaffa, who had been joined by an infantry group that was led by Ke'tesh, the newly returned Goa'uld.
"You, there!" Ke'tesh said to Char'el. "Have you seen the Tauri woman?"
"I have not, my Lord," Char'el said respectfully. "I was merely getting a new carpet for my mistress, Io'tan."
Once he said that, the gathered Jaffa all burst into derisive laughter at him.
"Io'tan has him playing house!" one of them said, giggling. "What shall you retrieve next for your mistress, Char'el? Drapes?"
"If need be," Char'el calmly replied.
"SILENCE!" Ke'tesh roared at them, his eyes flaring brightly. "The Tauri spy is still on the loose! Fan out from this point and find her, now! Shoot her dead on sight!"
"If you'll excuse me, my Lord," Char'el said, with a slight bow. "But my mistress expects me back soon."
"Yes, yes." Ke'tesh absently waved him off. "Go run along and serve your mistress!"
'Yes, I shall serve my mistress,' Char'el happily thought, as he walked away with Casey Novak safely tucked over his shoulder. 'I shall serve my mistress, Io'tan, with extreme pleasure.'
SG-1: SVU
"Ok," Jacob said, "here we go. Liv, just take a gander and see if anything looks familiar."
Olivia was startled at the sight before her. The main window in front of the pilot's console showed a bird's eye view of Mount Tanis, which they presently hovered over in cloaked mode. The vast complex of temples and buildings seen from this angle appeared to Olivia as an abstract piece of artwork that was filled with square shapes of varying sizes.
"I realize it might be hard to visualize anything this way," Jacob said. "But if you can spot anything familiar from up here, it'll eliminate a lot of the legwork in Mount Tanis itself."
"We don't want to be wandering around too much down there, if we can help it," O'Neill added.
"I understand," Olivia said, as she squinted at a large temple-like structure on the very edge of the city. She thought back to the vision that Neith had inadvertently given her when she attacked Olivia with the ribbon device. Olivia recalled seeing a desert filled with massive pyramid-shaped ships in the vision. She glanced around the periphery of the city, until she saw a similar looking fleet of ships on the ground, just off to the southwest. "There. I remember seeing a fleet of landed ships in the vision. And that's the only area here with them."
"Dad, can we get in closer?" Sam asked.
"Consider it done," Jacob said, as he manipulated the pilot controls.
"I just hope they haven't launched that energy wave," Olivia anxiously muttered. "You know the one you talked about that finds cloaked ships just like this…."
"Believe me, Liv, if they launched that sucker, all of us would know it in an instant," Jacob grimly said.
As they went in closer, Olivia let out a gasp when she saw the flight of stone steps. "I remember, in the vision, Neith walking down those steps, towards those ships out there. There: that broad, open space, right atop of the steps was where she and Mut spoke." She shook her head in disbelief. "Oh God, that light tan building, the one right in front of the open space--that was where I saw the doors being closed on the Asgard Slayer. That's the vault."
"So that's got to be it, then," O'Neill said with a nod. "That light tan building has to be where the Asgard Slayer is."
"Yeah," Olivia replied, as she rubbed the goosebumps on her arms.
Daniel placed a hand on her shoulder. "You ok?"
"It's just so weird to actually be seeing this place, Daniel. My memories of it were so--"
"They weren't your memories," he told her. "What you saw were Neith's memories of this place."
"But that's what makes this all so strange," Olivia said. "Remembering something like I had lived it…but it was actually from somebody else."
"Strange that they would have the vault so close to the edge of the complex," Hailey said. "You'd think it would be in the center of the city."
"It might be easier to offload stuff by having it next to where the ships are parked," Jacob suggested.
"Or the vault was one of the original buildings, the first one to be built," Satterfield said. "And the rest of the city was built later."
Jacob had brought them so they were now hovering right over the vault, and Daniel nodded as he gazed out at the building. "Yeah, the vault certainty looks older than the rest of the complex. I'd say you're right, Grace."
"How do we enter?" Teal'c asked.
"Not through those main doors, that's for sure," O'Neill said as he pointed at the dinosaur-riding Jaffa guarding the mammoth doors in front. "Jacob, can you swing around the place, and let us see if there's a back door?"
"Can do," Jacob said. He abruptly pointed at something. "What's that? A tunnel?"
On the desert floor, right beside the staircase, Olivia saw what looked like an entranceway.
"Yeah," Sam said, nodding. "But where's the tunnel leading to? I mean, does it lead directly into the vault?"
"There's only one way to find out," O'Neill said. "Jacob, you want to drop us off right out here?"
"Uh, not in front of that fleet," Daniel said nervously.
"Those ships look like they're not operational, anyway," Hailey commented. "This must be their main shipyard, where they receive maintenance."
"We can still be spotted by the maintenance crews if we land here," Satterfield pointedly said. "Which would be just as bad, right?"
"Well, duh!" Hailey shot back.
"Children, please," O'Neill said, waving his hand at them. "No fighting while Uncle Jacob is trying to drive."
"All right," Jacob muttered thoughtfully, as he turned the teltac towards the desert. "Looks like I'm going to have to drop you guys off out here. It's the only safe spot to land. You can walk to the city."
"We'll take it," O'Neill replied. "Teal'c, Daniel? You want to hand out the robes? They're in the case right over there."
After he landed the teltac behind a large outcropping of rock, Jacob was about to get out of his seat, until O'Neill said, "Why don't you stay with the ship, Jacob? In case things get hairy, we'll radio you, and you can ring us out."
Jacob sat back down, then nodded in agreement. "You expecting trouble, Jack?"
"I always expect trouble, Jacob. That's my job."
Olivia had taken a robe from Teal'c when O'Neill had come up to her. "You've done your job, Liv. Stay here with Jacob."
Olivia thought about it for five seconds before she said, "No."
O'Neill gave her an incredulous look. "No?!"
"You may need an extra gun," Olivia told him, as she continued to get suited up in the bulky robe. It was large enough to fit over her BDU and various gear. "Just in case things go south."
"She has a point," Daniel said. "I'd feel better having her along."
"Indeed," Teal'c added. "Olivia Benson has proven herself to be a formidable warrior."
"Actually, sir," Sam said, "Liv should come along, if she wants to."
When both Hailey and Satterfield started nodding their heads in agreement with Sam, O'Neill held up his hands. "Ok, ok! Liv, you're with us. I just didn't want you to think that you had to go with us."
"I'm a member of SG-1, right?" Olivia asked. "So I go wherever you guys go."
O'Neill nodded at her with a smile as he finished putting his robe on over his BDU. "Fair enough. Let's get going, then." As he walked past Jacob, O'Neill added, "When did I lose control of this team?"
"Don't kid yourself, Jack," Jacob said, smiling. "You never had control. Good luck, everybody."
As soon as Olivia stepped into the dry desert heat, she immediately had second thoughts about joining Jacob in the nice, cool teltac.
'In for a penny, in for a pound,' Olivia thought, as she pulled her hood up over her head and followed the rest of SG-1 as they trudged towards the city of Mount Tanis.
SG-1: SVU
The walk to the entranceway was shorter than Sam had expected. Which was just as well, because she was nervous about being out in the open, in full view of the shipyard. The entranceway, next to the steps, was unguarded. Once she and the rest of SG-1 entered, everyone removed their hoods and pulled out their weapons. Teal'c took point, with O'Neill right behind him. Daniel was with Sam and Olivia in the center of the group, while Hailey and Satterfield brought up the rear.
The tunnel was spacious, and made of cut stone. There were lights in the ceiling every yard or so. Sam kept anxiously looking around for surveillance equipment of any kind--but unless they were hidden in the lights, she saw none. She also saw no other people down here, and wondered if this tunnel was leading them in the right direction.
"This section definitely looks older than the rest of the city," Daniel whispered, as he ran a hand along the stonework in the walls. "It must have been built first, then used as the keystone section for the rest of the city."
"Are we going in the right direction?" Sam asked, giving voice to her concerns. "For all we know, sir, we could be headed away from the temple."
"The temple was roughly one hundred feet from where we entered," Teal'c said. "We have walked almost that same length now."
When they saw a T-junction in the tunnel ahead of them, O'Neill made a gesture for all of them to be quiet as he and Teal'c warily peered around the corner. Then he gestured 'all clear'.
When the group rounded the corner, they saw another, shorter corridor that led to a massive stone door. There was Goa'uld writing across the top door frame. There was also a stone tray set in the wall that contained what appeared to be wooden blocks which had various letters from the Goa'uld language written on them.
"'Recite the scared name of Tanis, and enter,'" Daniel read from the incription on top.
Satterfield frowned at him. "What scared name do they mean?"
"Tanis was called Zoan in the bible," Daniel said. "That must be what it means."
"Tanis was also known as Avaris," Satterfield reminded him.
"So which one is it?" Hailey asked.
"My money's on Zoan," Daniel replied, as he walked over to the tray that contained the Goa'uld letter blocks. He pointed at a slot in the wall. "This is where you're supposed to place the blocks, spelling out the name. And, see, if you spelled out 'Avaris', it wouldn't fit within this slot. But Zoan will fit perfectly."
Satterfield nodded, satisfied. "Very well, I concede to your point."
"What happens if you put in the wrong name?" Olivia nervously asked.
"The ceiling will probably crush us like a pneumatic press," O'Neill said dismally. He stared hard at Daniel. "You sure about this?"
"Positive," Daniel said, as he picked out the proper letter blocks from the tray. Then he put them into the slot, with the letters facing outwards.
"How do you know which side they should be facing?" Hailey asked.
Everyone flinched when a loud rumbling sound could be heard. Sam fearfully glanced up att he ceiling, expecting it to slam down on them--until she saw that the rumbling came from the door, which slowly opened.
Daniel glanced at Hailey. "You were saying?"
"Never mind," she said, with a shake of her head.
O'Neill gestured for silence once again as he, Teal'c and Sam went through the doorway with their weapons drawn. There was a stone staircase directly ahead of them. They quickly ascended the steps and emerged inside a large, dark space that was chilly. Certain areas were illuminated by lone lights--one of them was a large, platform that was in the center. Sam saw several objects arranged neatly on the platform. She wondered if one of them was the Asgard Slayer.
"It appears to be empty of personnel, O'Neill," Teal'c murmured. "At least for the moment."
"I concur, sir," Sam said in a whisper. "I don't see anybody."
"All right, fan out," O'Neill ordered. "Let's get a peek at the stuff in the yard sale over there."
Sam stared, fascinated, at the various components of alien devices that were on display. She had no idea what they were, or what they did, but she would love to spend some time looking them over in a proper science lab.
"Um, guys," Hailey uneasily said. "Take a look at this…."
Sam rushed over to where Hailey stood, which was in front of what appeared to be one of two stasis tubes. The stasis tube that Hailey stood in front of contained an Asgard. He was in stasis, but appeared to be very sick; his skin was mottled and he was extremely thin, even by the standards of an Asgard.
"The Asgard Slayer," Sam said, almost in awe.
"What?!" O'Neill replied, sounding annoyed. "This thing? It's just an Asgard in stasis."
"It's a sick Asgard in stasis, sir," Sam told him.
"Oh, God," Daniel muttered, as it hit him. "An Asgard plague. That's what the Asgard Slayer is."
Sam nodded in agreement. "Exactly."
O'Neill shook his head. "But the Asgard are too advanced for this kind of stuff--aren't they?"
"That didn't stop this guy from getting sick," Olivia commented, gesturing at the Asgard in the tube.
"Maybe Neith genetically enhanced an existing plague, who knows?" Sam said. "But the fact is, sir. We've found the Asgard Slayer."
"Who's in the second tube behind this guy?" O'Neill asked Teal'c. "Another Asgard?"
When Teal'c walked around and gazed into the second tube, his reaction chilled the blood in Sam's veins. For Teal'c showed an expression that Sam very rarely saw: pure fear.
"Teal'c," she said, concerned. "What is it?"
When they joined Teal'c in front of the second tube, Sam saw a larger figure within who was draped completely in black. The hood over the slumbering figure's head so completely covered its face that Sam couldn't even make out whether it was a man or a woman. Sam saw there was a name written in Goa'uld on a plauqe at the bottom of the tube.
Daniel read it aloud: "Lord Anubis the vanquished."
SG-1: SVU
"Uh-oh," Jacob said, as he watched several squads of Jaffa all converge just outside of the temple that SG-1 were in.
'This does not look very good,' Selmak said grimly.
"As usual, my friend, you state the obvious," Jacob muttered, as he fired up the teltac's engines. "Hang on!"
'I am inside of your head, Jacob,' Selmak stated. 'How can--'
Even Selmak was caught off guard by the sudden thrust of the teltac as Jacob piloted the ship straight towards the temple.
SG-1: SVU
"Neith must have defeated him in battle," Daniel said, as he gazed at the dark countenance of Anubis. "But why not just remove his snake? Why freeze the host body, along with the Goa'uld?"
"Anubis was considered to be the worst among the system lords," Teal'c said, still unsettled. "He was thought to be…unnatural. He delved into scientific research that was most unholy, and committed countless unspeakable acts--most too terrible even for the other system lords to tolerate. They all sought his destruction."
O'Neill looked annoyed. "So this Anubis was a really bad guy--one hated even by the other system lords. Big deal. He's on ice, now. And, once we blow this place with C4, he'll be in millions of little itty bitty pieces, along with the Asgard Slayer."
"Whoa, sir!" Sam said, alarmed.
O'Neill stared at her. "Whoa?"
"It's just that if we blow up the Asgard Slayer, we risk setting the plague loose," Sam told him. "As long as that stasis tube is sealed, the plague is contained."
"We've got bigger problems!" Hailey cried, as a low rumbling could be heard throughout the temple.
Sam turned and saw the massive doors were opening. And as they did, several dinosaur-mounted Jaffa stormed inside.
Teal'c immediately opened fire with his staff weapon, hitting two of the dinosaurs--and she noted that her father was right; they did look like raptors--square in the chest, dropping both them and their riders.
"GET TO THE STEPS!" O'Neill shouted over the combined roar of the charging beasts, the staff weapons and P90 fire.
Sam led the way, firing at the oncoming mounted and infantry Jaffa with her P90 as she ran towards the stairwell. Olivia was behind her, also shooting with her Glock.
"You wish you stayed aboard the ship with my dad now, Liv?" Sam asked with a half smile.
"What, and miss all the fun?" Olivia replied, as she kept shooting. "SAM LOOK OUT!"
Sam saw one of the mounted Jaffa had broken off from the main body and tried to outflank them. Both she and Olivia stopped, turned and fired at the rider and his mount. Sam wasn't sure who got who, but she was pleased to see the raptor's head explode in a bloody mess as it fell to the floor--
--where it's rapid forward motion caused the dead animal and rider to continue sliding right towards them on the slippery surface.
"GET DOWN!" Sam cried, as she and Olivia ducked into the stairwell. The monstrous creature's death slide was finally stopped when it fell into the stairwell. Unfortunately, the dead creature's body also blocked Sam and Olivia from going up the stairs, as well as preventing the rest of SG-1 from coming down the steps.
Sam keyed her radio. "Sir, this is Carter. The stairs are blocked with the dead body of one of the dinos. Liv and I are cut off from you."
"If you can get out the back way, then go!" O'Neill voice, heard amidst heated gunfire, said. "We're making a run for the main gates! We'll meet up outside!"
"Understood, sir," Sam said. She paused when she saw Olivia was ogling the dead raptor.
"These things are supposed to be extinct," Olivia said with awe.
"On earth, they're extinct," Sam told her. "But not here. C'mon, Liv. Let's get back outside."
But when they reached the T-junction, Sam and Olivia were met with staff weapon fire that came from both ends. They fired back, with each woman taking a different direction. But Sam quickly saw that there was no way of punching their way through; the tunnels on both ends were thick with Jaffa troops.
"Fall back, Liv!" Sam grimly shouted.
They fell back into the stairwell, where Sam hoped they could somehow squeeze past the dead raptor--until both she and Olivia were startled to see the dead animal being dragged off the steps. Atop of the steps, another mounted Jaffa was ordering his beast to drag the dead raptor with its teeth.
Yet, no sooner were the stairs clear than a second raptor jumped onto the steps with its Jaffa rider aiming his staff weapon at the women.
"Hol!" the mounted Jaffa shouted. He was clad in gold armor, with a snake head helmet whose eyes glowed red. "Brenna! Ya wan ya duru!"
Sam's heart sunk when she realized that they were cornered. She exchanged a grave look with Olivia, before she reluctantly placed her P90 on the ground. Olivia also placed her Glock on the ground as well.
"He wants us to kneel," Sam said, getting to her knees.
"Guess we'd better do as he says," Olivia said grimly, as she did the same. "For now..."
Just as both women knelt on the ground, they were each shot from behind with a zat.
Sam fell to the floor, with Olivia lying knocked out beside her--and as she slowly lost consciousness, she gazed up at the raptor, who loomed over them.
"I never liked Jurassic Park, anyway," Sam said softly, just as she faded away into the blackness.
To Be Continued...