Chapter 9

The forest was eerily silent as the three men crept carefully through the undergrowth. O'Neill found it strangely comforting, it meant they were in the right area for locating Jaffa activity. Not that he felt it was necessarily a good thing to be creeping up on a bunch of bad guys that outnumbered them so overwhelmingly but since it had to be done, he wanted nature on his side. Ya hear that, Oma? He thought dryly. How about sending us a little of that light show you used at Kheb? He caught his thoughts before they could run too far away. Thinking of Oma made him think about the Ancients, which made him think about that last confrontation with Anubis' forces that had led to the destruction of Abydos. Inevitably, that led to him to other questions that he couldn't answer.

"Remember that fine line we discussed?"

Why the hell was it that Oma could play games at Kheb but put the fear of God - Ancients... glowy all-powerful beings... whatever - into Daniel to prevent him from helping them? And what had happened to him when he had crossed the line? Orlin had given up Ascension for Carter, but Carter hadn't noticed him suffer any kind of memory loss. Was that because he had willingly given up Ascension for mortality? Did that mean that Daniel had not given up Ascension willingly? If so, did that mean that Daniel would resent being mortal when his memory returned? Would Daniel's memory return?

"Cross it!"

Was Daniel being punished for something that was his fault? O'Neill's brow furrowed. It was the question he had been asking himself ever since they had found Jackson living as a native on a planet they had only just learned the gate address for. At first, they had been stunned to see him there. Breathing. But it had been nothing to the horrible sinking sensation that had set in when they realised he didn't have a clue who they were, that he didn't trust them. That he feared them. It hadn't required a genius to connect Daniel's current predicament with the events that had destroyed Abydos. Dammit, he had forced Daniel down this road; he was responsible for his friend's vulnerability now. Why couldn't he ever leave well enough alone?

Dammit Jack, Daniel came to you. He's the one who told you about the Eye of Ra. He's the one who wouldn't let the subject drop. What was he thinking? He knew the cost. He came anyway. Because Ascension couldn't change who he is. And if death can't change it, neither can memory loss.

So why did he have that sneaking, irrational suspicion that death was somehow easier to recover from than amnesia?

"Jack?" Jacob whispered. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" the Colonel growled back.

The Tok'ra raised both eyebrows. "Right" he said in a tone that indicated he wasn't buying it. Instead he turned to Teal'c. "How close?"

"We have arrived" the Jaffa murmured and cautiously slowed his pace as the trees began thinning.

The Tok'ra and Colonel joined him immediately as they skirted the trees and sank to the earth, sliding their way to the top of the rise to peer through the bushes.

O'Neill's heart sank as he saw the sight. Their ship was gutted, they could see that immediately. Jaffa milled around its remains, obviously patrolling, while three stood in the centre of the clearing discussing their findings. His eyes riveted on the back on the nearest Jaffa. There was something curiously familiar about those shoulders, that easy, arrogant stance, the tone of voice floating across the intervening space...

He glanced at Teal'c who nodded grimly in recognition. O'Neill scanned the area once more then gestured for them to fall back. Once he felt confident they could whisper without being overheard, he stopped.

"I didn't see their faces" Jacob whispered harshly. "We still don't know who they are"

"Oh, I'd recognise Her'ak's magnetic charm anywhere" O'Neill muttered.

"Who?"

"Her'ak. First-Prime-of-Anubis-Her'ak."

"Anubis?" Jacob sighed. "Great" he paused. "Wait, isn't Her'ak the Jaffa who killed Khonsu of Amon Shek?"

"Indeed" Teal'c said grimly.

"Right" Jacob muttered grimly. "Okay, we're certain these are Anubis' Jaffa?"

"Oh yes"

"I concur"

"We need to know how many are here"

"The al'kesh landed over there" O'Neill pointed further into the trees. "Any chance of them having a cargo ship just laying around for us to use?"

"Doubtful. But if you want to look, knock yourself out"

O'Neill gave him a dark look. "You're an inspiration, Jacob."

"You're not so bad yourself" Jacob replied blandly.

"It would be wise for us to remove ourselves from this location" Teal'c interrupted. "Come" he moved off, heading deeper into the forest, moving more silently than expected for a man of his size.

O'Neill's eyebrows lifted then he moved quickly after the Jaffa, Jacob bringing up the rear.

The going was slow and tough as it quickly became clear Jaffa were everywhere in the local vicinity. When they eventually paused, the al'kesh was still in the distance. O'Neill scanned the area through his binoculars and winced. There was no way they were going to get close to that ship. He looked at the others and shook his head. "It's practically an army" he whispered.

"An army of young Jaffa" Teal'c observed thoughtfully. "It would appear this planet is to become a training facility."

"So. Green then?" O'Neill squinted at the al'kesh. "Better news than it could be. But not so great I want to risk us getting caught by trying to get any closer"

"The al'kesh appears to be the only vessel capable of space travel" The Jaffa continued. "Unless we attempt to take control of it, we are trapped on this planet"

"Unless Carter and Jonas can get the Stargate working"

"How will they translate the symbols, Jack?" Jacob asked. "Sam's good, but she tried to translate the Earth gate for two years and didn't succeed" he paused and an odd expression crossed his face. He didn't say anything and O'Neill suspected he was having an argument with Selmak.

"Daniel translated the gate in two weeks" O'Neill retorted.

"Unfortunately, Jack, Daniel can't help us right now"

"How long will it take the Tok'ra to attempt to locate us if we do not initiate contact?" Teal'c asked as O'Neill sighed.

"If they don't hear anything from me in the next few days, they might begin worrying" Jacob looked around thoughtfully. "We could be here a while"

"Great" muttered O'Neill. He rose. "Let's go."

The others weren't any more enthusiastic when they heard the report. "Well, sir, I've stockpiled our supplies and begun to rig the doorways and tunnels just in case. I don't fancy the idea of sealing myself in here, so we've been finding out how big this complex is"

"And?"

"There's a lot of levels" Quinn replied. "This place is big and deep. It's like a maze. Anise took us around so we wouldn't get lost. They haven't even finished exploring the place yet. It could take years."

"The tunnels seem to extend back the way we came from, however. I think some of these caverns extend right underneath the Stargate" Carter continued. "And the other caverns don't seem to have the same amount of decoration this room has"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning we might be able to tunnel up to the surface if we have to, sir"

"Okay, so we don't have to worry about getting trapped down here. What about food and water?"

"The Tok'ra showed us where we can get fresh water. There's a limited supply of forest plants they've discovered are edible. With that to supplement our rations, we should be able to subsist for a couple of weeks. After that, sir, we're going to have leave here and look for food elsewhere."

"Hopefully, we'll have the Stargate working by then, right Carter?"

She exchanged a dubious glance with Quinn.

"Carter?"

"We might have to go back to the Stargate to learn anything useful about it" Quinn said. "I've gone through everything I've brought with me regarding the symbols on the devices, and I'm going through the notes the Tok'ra have taken. It's nothing I've experienced. The Tok'ra don't know what it means either and they've been here longer than we have. Un...."

"Jonas" O'Neill's tone was flat. "In case I didn't make myself clear, we're out of options. An army of Jaffa control the only working ship on this planet. The Stargate is our only way out of here. If you and Carter can't make it work, we're going to be playing cat and mouse with Anubis for the rest of our lives. And I really don't like that option"

Quinn and Carter exchanged a look. "We'll do our best, sir" Carter said, feigning confidence.

"I will help you" Sin offered bringing his equipment over to Carter and Quinn.

"Ilithya and I will continue exploring this complex" Anise explained to Jacob and O'Neill. "We may yet find something of benefit to us"

O'Neill watched Carter, Quinn and the Tok'ra set up near one of the dog statues, then turned to look around the room. Decoding the Stargate was going to take a while, if it was even possible. He nodded to Teal'c and the pair joined Anise and Ilithya. Before he made plans for defending or fleeing this place he wanted to know exactly what kind of terrain he was dealing with. By the sounds of it, this was going to take almost as long as decoding the Stargate.