A/N: Life and this web site have conspired to prevent me from posting for over a week! Sorry.
Also, about Daniel, his glasses and the sarcophagus: I simply chose to follow what the writers have done. They decided that he still needed glasses - guess it's a "geek" thing. LOL Also, poor eyesight in children it not usually caused by genetics, as one reviewer proposed. I have a BS in human development and a Master's in Education. Children are not developmentally ready to be put into small spaces (classrooms) and made to focus on things that are an arm's length away. Their eyes are not physically developed until about 10-12 years of age. That's why books for young kids have such large print! They cannot focus on something that close. THAT'S why most people who are nearsighted (such as myself) wear glasses. Neither of my parents, none of my aunts or uncles, cousins or 5 siblings wear glasses. Only me. I taught myself to read at 4 years old. My oldest son wears glasses and he also began reading at 4. (Youngest son doesn't wear glasses and didn't read until he was 10 - dyslexic) This is damage we are imposing on our children unnecessarily! (Can you tell I'm passionate about this? LOL)
Back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Daniel was led back outside, through the temple to the stone terrace where Ra sat, surrounded by his protectors. He could tell that thousands of Abydonians was scattered over the dunes. About half way down the ramp, he could see a long, green blur, which he assumed was O'Neill and the remainder of his team.
O'Neill watched apprehensively as a guard handed Daniel a staff weapon. Daniel gave Maggie a hand command to lie down and he strode down the ramp toward his fellow Earthlings.
Unexpectedly, a flash of light crossed Daniel's face, causing him to squint in discomfort. He blinked rapidly and followed the direction of the beam. Through his binoculars Daniel located Sha're, Skaara and his group of friends. Thank god, she's all right.
Daniel stopped in front of O'Neill and aimed the staff weapon at him. He glanced past O'Neill and saw Skaara pull his robe aside, revealing an Earth weapon. He turned back and stared O'Neill in the eye, opening the mouth of the weapon.
Without warning, he pivoted and fired at Ra, missed, but knocked one of the guards off the platform. Skaara and his friends began firing the weapons into the air as Daniel called Maggie and ran toward O'Neill. The soldiers and Daniel sprinted down the ramp as several natives covered their uniforms with native robes.
Ra gave the command for his guards to fire at the fleeing people, killing several with each blast. Confusion ruled the day as the terrified Abydonians didn't know which way to escape safely. O'Neill and Daniel were shoved up on a mastidge. One of the guards spotted them and fired, hitting the sand directly behind the escaping animal. Maggie ran along side the beast, keeping an eye on her Daniel.
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The driving sands forced the two men off the large animal. They tried to use it as a shield against the incessant winds. Daniel finally dropped and couldn't gather the strength to pull himself up again. Maggie and O'Neill left the mastidge and returned to his side.
"Jackson!" Jack looked up and found the mastidge watching over his shoulder. The beast raised his head and roared. Skaara, along with a group of his friends, heard the animal's call and followed the sound. They found O'Neill, Maggie and the mastidge trying to shelter Daniel from the blowing sand. The group hauled Daniel up to his feet and took refuge in a near-by cave bordering the edge of the city, where they found the surviving Earthlings and a dozen or so Abydonians.
Skaara waved the weapon he held at O'Neill, "We recovered your weapons."
Sha're tended to Daniel and Maggie, making sure both of them had enough water to wash down the sand in their throats. Maggie nudged Sha're's hand, giving her thanks to the young woman. If Daniel wanted this woman, then she'd better get used to it. And she was kind to both of them.
O'Neill began snatching the guns from the young men's hands, "Take these guns away, lieutenant, before they hurt themselves."
"Sir?" Kawalsky thought the boys could help in the fight against Ra.
"You heard me. Send them all home."
"Sir, there's no place for these kids to go. Anyway, we could sure use their help right now."
"For what?" O'Neill's calm demeanor finally blew away. "Huh? To do what?"
Daniel had had enough of the colonel's self-righteous, arrogant attitude. "Why don't you just tell them everything? Why don't you tell them about the bomb?"
O'Neill glared at Daniel, then realized the civilian couldn't see his scathing expression.
"What's he talking about?" Kawalsky hadn't been informed about a bomb on this mission.
O'Neill sat shivering in the cold desert night air, trying to decide what to tell his men. "My orders were simple. Track down signs of any possible danger. If I found any, blow up the Stargate. Well, I found some."
"Well, your bomb is his now." Daniel didn't care about secrecy. He cared about the lives of O'Neill's men and the innocent people of this planet. "And tomorrow he's going to send it back to Earth. Along with a shipment of that mineral they mine here. And when that thing goes off, it's going to cause an explosion a hundred times more destructive than that bomb alone is capable of."
"I'll intercept that bomb before it goes through."
Kawalsky was furious. "Why wasn't I told this?"
"There wasn't any reason to tell you about this, Kawalsky. You weren't even supposed to be here. You were all going to go right back through with Daniel."
O'Neill continued to rub his hands together in front of the warming fire. "I was going to stay behind, alone, and blow up the Stargate and that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"It's the gate on Earth that poses a threat. That's the one that we have to shut down." Daniel was determined to save the Abydonians.
"You're absolutely right. But since you don't know how to get us back, we don't have that option, do we?"
Daniel felt himself physically shrinking at O'Neill remark. It is my fault! I should never have been so arrogant and self-centered. All I cared about was saving my damned reputation. Proving that Egyptian culture hadn't evolved, but sprang up, fully developed. Daniel couldn't breath. He buried his head in Maggie's fur and hugged her, seeking some comfort.
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Several hours later, Daniel told Maggie to look for O'Neill. She led him through the cave to a small chamber where he huddled in front of a small fire.
"You had accepted the fact that no matter what happened, you would not be going home."
Jack just sat, fiddling with a piece of rope.
"Don't you have people who care about you? Do you have a family?" Daniel didn't want to see anyone alone, not even tight-assed military officers.
"I had a family." He couldn't face Daniel and didn't turn around. "No one should ever have to outlive their own child."
That explains a lot. Daniel began to understand why O'Neill was so bent on killing himself – and taking anyone in the way with him. He understood loss and the hole it left in a person's soul.
"I don't want to die. Your men don't want to die." Daniel's soft voice caused O'Neill to turn back toward him. "And these people here don't want to die. It's a shame you're in such a hurry to," Daniel whispered.
Daniel turned to leave as Skaara came with some food for O'Neill.
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Daniel knelt next to the large fire, taking some food from the communal clay pot next to it. The native young men began gesturing toward him and laughing.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Husbands don't do this work!" Nabeh teased the stranger.
"Husband?" Daniel looked around in confusion and noticed Sha're's scent as she passed by him to another chamber. He stood up and followed her as she ground flour on a flat stone.
He sat in front of her, as close as he could get so he could see as much of her facial expression as possible. "Married?"
"Don't be angry. I didn't tell them." Sha're was mortified that he didn't want her. An unwanted woman had no status in her tribe. She didn't belong to her father any longer and her husband didn't want her.
"Tell them what?" Daniel didn't understand.
She turned her head away from him and chewed gently on her lip. Finally, she glanced quickly at him and away as she responded. "That you did not want me."
He reached out and turned her face toward his. He pulled her slowly down and lifted his head up to kiss her.
Finally! Some action!
Shut up, or I'll never let you out again.
Yeah, like that'll last more than ten minutes.
You may be right…
Skaara saw the couple kissing and dropped the curtain down to give them some privacy as he pulled Maggie from the room.
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Daniel warmed his hand over the smoldering embers, watching Skaara scratch out symbols with chalk on a wall. "What are you drawing?"
"The day of our victory."
Daniel moved up next to Skaara and examined his drawing. He took up a piece of chalk and began connecting some of the symbols. He gazed closely at it for a moment. "This is it. This is the symbol of origin for this planet."
Kawalsky sauntered up behind them. "What are you doing?"
Daniel jumped up and pointed. "I found it!"
"What are you talking about?"
"The seventh symbol. We're going home."