Chapter 8
A few weeks had passed, and the community was beginning to fully settle in. The caves provided a great deal of protection and room, and each family was awarded their own space. There was plenty of food and water, and though the wildlife was beginning to be a bit more cautious of the people walking around, they were plentiful enough that everyone always had enough to eat.
Jack sat cleaning out his P-90 as Rya'c watched. "Tell me of your world," Rya'c asked eagerly.
Jack grinned at Teal'c's son and said, "What exactly do you want to know?"
"I'd like to hear about the engines that crawl along the ground going faster than the fastest man can walk again!" Rya'c said enthusiastically.
"They're called cars, Ry," Jack said, "and I find it remarkable that you guys have interstellar flight, but you can't figure out how to make an automobile."
Jack was staying in his own little cave. Teal'c had rejoined his family in the one that they had originally discovered, so Jack, to give them privacy, had gone in search of his own. Klorel was staying with Jack. He was bound in chains that they had retrieved from Chulak, and had a guard 24 hours a day. For the first couple weeks he had ranted and threatened until he had been gagged, and now he was a much more humble Goa'uld, if there was such a thing. However, he watched Jack with a hatred that would have unnerved a less secure man.
As far as the Jaffa went, Jack was fitting in rather well. In fact, all the families seemed to be settling nicely. Bra'tac continued to train the older Jaffa, and Jack and Teal'c sparred with the warriors. Jack was very pleased to find that although he could never match Teal'c for brute strength, these other fellows weren't quite at his friend's level. He was able to defeat many of them, mostly using moves he had learned in Special Ops, and they had grown to respect the human in their midst. They almost seemed to view him in a hero-worshiping way at times. They attributed the success of their mission against Apophis to him, and though he tried to share the credit, they would have none of it. Their lives seemed perfect.
However, there was a problem arising: Jack was beginning to grow bored. He and Teal'c had not gone on any missions since they had returned from Chulak and he was getting restless. He played with the children and had taught them baseball using sticks and rocks, but he hungered to continue the fight against the Goa'uld.
He could tell Teal'c was beginning to feel the same, though he and Drey'auc had spent nearly every moment together making up for lost time.
So, as Jack began explaining cars to Rya'c, he was thinking about the laptop in the corner of his cave and the list of planets that had yet to be explored.
After the two Goa'uld ships had appeared in the sky, the current President had drastically changed his view on the Stargate policy. Having his friend General Hammond positive that they would have been destroyed without the mysterious circumstances surrounding the destruction of the two ships, the President issued an order that the program be resumed immediately. Within a week, operations were nearly back to normal, with the exception of one thing. Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c were still missing and presumed dead.
Captain Carter and Daniel had been reassigned to a new guy named Colonel Makepeace. He was the leader of the 'new' SG-1. He was stern and rarely listened to Daniel's advice, as they had already discovered on their first mission. Sam accepted him, but Daniel was becoming more and more depressed. With the betrayal he felt when Jack left, he had closed in on himself and distanced himself even from Sam. They both missed the comforting presence of Teal'c and the devil-may-care attitude of the Colonel. The team dynamics were off and Daniel began to lose interest in his work. Another man was assigned to their team, but as far as either Sam or Daniel could tell, he had about as much personality as a piece of cardboard. His name was Lieutenant Felix Renolds, and he was built for muscle. Sam figured General Hammond was attempting to replace Teal'c as best as he could.
They were on a mission to M3X-292 when they finally heard something that lightened Daniel's mood. They were talking to the local leaders and trying to convince them that the creature called Bastete was not a Goddess when Daniel overheard a group of them discussing the downfall of Apophis.
"Excuse me?" Daniel interrupted. "What was that?"
The man turned to Daniel and looked at him suspiciously. Then he relaxed slightly and answered, "One of Bastete's Jaffa was speaking of it the other day. He was telling the other Jaffa how Apophis is in disgrace. His new motherships and most of his Jaffa were destroyed by a human named Colonel Jack O'Neill and his band of traitorous Jaffa. Apophis managed to escape, but he is in disgrace and his forces are in ruins. The System Lords have placed a large bounty on the head of O'Neill. They wish for him to be taken alive so they can make an example of him."
"You mean Colonel O'Neill's not dead?" Daniel asked eagerly, a little light coming back into eyes that had nearly been dead.
"According to the Jaffa," the man said, warming up to Daniel as he told the tale, "the human and his Jaffa escaped through the same Stargate Apophis did before the motherships exploded."
"That's great!" Daniel said, turning to Sam. "Did you hear that Sam? He's alive! He and Teal'c both!"
Sam couldn't help the answering grin on her own face as she nodded in excitement.
"We need to report this immediately," Colonel Makepeace said. After bidding a quick farewell to the villagers and promising to return soon, they quickly established a worm-hole with Earth.
"When does SG-1 return?" Hammond asked Walter as he entered the control room.
"Not for another 48 hours, sir. They said that the moon appeared to be habitable and the people welcoming, but that the Goa'uld Bastete ruled there and occasionally had Jaffa visit the planet. They were going to try to set up peaceful negotiations and to convince the people that Bastete wasn't a Goddess."
"Thank you, Walter," General Hammond said, and then computer began to beep and sirens went off.
"Unscheduled offworld activation, sir! Incoming wormhole!" Walter hollered.
"Any transmissions?" Hammond asked.
"Yes, sir," Walter replied, "it's...SG-1." Hammond noted the pause when Walter said the designation and he understood. SG-1 just didn't feel like SG-1 without the Colonel and Teal'c. Walter continued, "There is no code attached, they seem to simply be returning early."
"Open the iris," he commanded. Walter did just that. Hammond went to the base of the ramp as Colonel Makepeace, Captain Carter, and Daniel Jackson exited the wormhole.
Both Captain Carter and Daniel were grinning, something General Hammond couldn't remember the last time he'd seen them do.
"What's the problem, Colonel?" Hammond asked.
"No problem, sir," Makepeace said, "but we've come across some information we felt should be delivered to you immediately."
General Hammond looked at the beaming faces of Captain Carter and Dr. Jackson, the pleased face of Colonel Makepeace, and the stagnant face of Lieutenant Reynolds and said, "Briefing room, now."
Jack finished putting on his gear and smiled happily as he readjusted the gun by his side and attached his zat to its holster. After they had left Chulak, he had kept the zat holster that had been part of his Jaffa wardrobe and had incorporated it to his regular uniform. He had found a certain fondness for the weapon.
He looked over at Teal'c and the two young warrior who were to accompany them. At that moment, he missed Carter and Daniel something fierce. Both warriors were young and strong, but they certainly didn't have either Daniel or Carter's brains. Jack had selected a random designation from the Abydos cartouche after he briefly turned on his laptop, conserving batteries, and had warned the two young warriors that they may be walking into their deaths, but both young warriors said they trusted in his instincts. He decided at that point to NOT tell them that he had picked the number by flipping a coin and instincts had nothing to do with it.
Teal'c looked at him steadily and raised an eye. He was against selecting planets this way, but Jack figured it was a fifty-fifty chance, and what could go wrong? His luck hadn't failed him yet. Teal'c had refused to be left behind once he had realized Jack was absolutely going, and though Jack had asked him to reconsider for the sake of his family, Teal'c had been adamant.
"Well," Jack said, readjusting the hat on his head, "off to P3R-272 we go."
Teal'c nodded, and Jack dialed in the gate coordinates. The gate sprang to life and the few Jaffa that had come to see them off waved good-bye. Jack was about to step through first, when the young warrior next to him seized his arm.
"You must not go through first, O'Neill," the Jaffa Ik'tan protested. "I will go through first and use this communication device you gave me to tell you if I survived the journey."
"Now wait a minute," Jack said, "I'm not having anyone do what I'm not willing to do. I'm going first, then I'll radio you!"
The warrior shook his head. "No, O'Neill. You are our liberator. We would gladly die for you. Allow me to show you my gratitude."
Teal'c laid his hand on Jack's shoulder, "Allow it, O'Neill. It would shame him for you to do otherwise."
Jack sighed and shook his head, and waved his hand toward the gate. "Fine," he said, "go on."
The man beamed at him and charged through the gate. For a breathless minute, Jack waited, then the Jaffa's voice came over the radio.
"It is safe, O'Neill, you may follow. It is a small room with no sign of any threat."
"It would seem that your luck is still holding, O'Neill," Teal'c said, his face its usual stoic mask.
Jack shook his head and answered keyed the radio, "Thank you. We'll be right there." Jack, Teal'c, and the other warrior Har'ut stepped through.
As Jack stepped from the other side of the Stargate, he looked at Ik'tan and said, "This is not going to be a regular thing. We're going to figure out a way to find out what's through the gate before we send people through. Got that?"
"Agreed," Ik'tan said.
"Now," Jack said, turning his attention to the room around them, "what is this place?" It was a small grayish-green room with no exit or entrance besides the Stargate. There was a round circle on the floor, but other than that there was just the DHD.
"It appears to have no purpose," Teal'c commented.
Jack walked around the edge of the room and then turned and looked at the circle in the center of the floor. "Well," he said, "Daniel would probably get all excited about the circle and claim the block-like shapes were some sort of writing, probably some ancient dialect that very few people could read, but he happened to be one of them."
Teal'c looked at Jack and his brow crinkled in amusement. He also missed their friends.
"So," Jack said, "though we didn't die, this seems to have been a 'dead-end' anyway as it were."
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.
Jack nodded and began to walk toward the gate. "Thus, why don't we just head on back..." as Jack spoke, he walked through the circle in the center of the floor and with a strange sound the wall behind him seemed to spew forth a circular shape. Both Ik'tan and Har'ut jumped back in alarm, pointing their staff weapons at it.
"I am not familiar with that object," Teal'c said, approaching it warily.
"Be careful, Teal'c," Jack said, as Teal'c stepped up to it and looked in. Jack cocked his head and added, "it looks like the mouth off one of those creatures from Aliens."
"It does appear to be alien, O'Neill," Ik'tan said, "but I do not think it is the mouth of a creature."
Jack rolled his eyes and approached Teal'c who was still staring into the opening.
"So, what's up, big guy?" Jack asked.
"There is nothing above, O'Neill," Teal'c said, "but I see blackness and colored lights."
"Let me see," Jack said, and Teal'c stepped aside to allow him room. Jack peered in and seemed to see a bright light in the distance. He was mesmerized by it and was unprepared when suddenly the wall jutted out toward his face.
"Whoa," he said, and before he could do more, the circle opened further and seized his head with hand-like appendages, knocking his hat off.
Jack exclaimed in surprise as the bright light increased in his vision and then he remembered no more.
As the appendages released O'Neill and he collapsed to the floor, Teal'c was instantly at his side. "O'Neill!" he said, sounding very alarmed.
"Will he be alright?" Ik'tan said, "Is he alive?"
Teal'c checked his pulse and sighed in relief, "Yes, though he is unconscious." Teal'c then turned to Har'ut. "Dial our world's sequence immediately."
"But I am unaware of the address," Har'ut said, sounding very young and worried.
"Indeed," Teal'c said, loathe to leave O'Neill's side. "Very well, Ik'tan. You attend to O'Neill while I open the Stargate."
"Of course," Ik'tan said, hastily hurrying toward O'Neill. Teal'c kept an eye on him and then quickly ran and dialed the gate. Then he came back to O'Neill and slung the unconscious man over his shoulders.
"Let us return," Teal'c said, and glared at the device that had harmed O'Neill as they left. He only hoped his friend would be alright. As they left, he didn't notice the hat they left behind on the ground.
Hammond sat back and looked at the new SG-1 as they sat around the table. After being told the information about Jack, he had called the President to inform him of the new development. The President and the Joint Chiefs had met to consider this new piece of information and then had issued Hammond new orders. Hammond couldn't say that he disagreed with these orders. After he hung up, he had walked back out to the briefing room where SG-1 was awaiting the decision. He had decided to recap and make sure he had not left anything out.
"So, now we have confirmation that Colonel O'Neill was on board those ships and that he did survive. We also know that he has a bounty on his head and has infuriated the System Lords. Anything else?" Hammond asked.
"We also know that he is leading a group of rebel Jaffa against the Goa'uld. We didn't hear Teal'c mentioned specifically, but I would assume that he was one of those Jaffa."
"Here's what I don't understand," said Colonel Makepeace, "why would the System Lords put a bounty on his head? You'd think they'd be glad he got rid of some of the competition."
"The System Lords don't really think that way," Daniel said, his eyes alight in a way they hadn't been previously, "I think instead, they see a possible enemy. If one human stands against them and leads their own forces against them, what's to stop it from happening again? The Jaffa are their strength and Jack seems to be stealing that strength away. Of course they would see him as a threat. I mean, if he convinced the First Prime of Apophis to switch sides, who wouldn't follow him?"
"I think I see your point, Dr. Jackson," General Hammond said, "and I have been instructed to issue this command to all SG teams. You are, as a lesser mission to our standing orders, to search for and retrieve Colonel Jack O'Neill. Some members of the government are concerned that his independent actions might bring the ill-intentions of the Goa'uld or other powerful races upon Earth, even though he is no longer living here. Is this understood?"
"Yes, sir," Sam and Colonel Makepeace said.
"General," Daniel said, "if I may, what will happen to Jack if we do find him? I mean, he did save the planet after all. It seems like he should be given some leniency for that."
"I agree with you, son," Hammond said, looking weary, "but he did disobey a direct order, and is running around the galaxy doing heaven knows what. As far as the President and his staff are concerned, the Colonel is an uncontrolled variable that needs to be either contained or neutralized."
"Sir, with respect," Sam said, "I don't believe he is a threat, or he wouldn't have gone up against the Goa'uld to save us. He probably just doesn't believe that he can come home. He has no GDO and he thinks that our Stargate is buried."
"Of course, Captain," Hammond said, "and I will advise the board along those lines. So, SG-1," he said leaning forward and staring at them with intensity, "bring him home, alive and well."
"Yes, sir," they echoed, but this time Daniel looked less happy.