Author's note: Thanks for all your reviews and encouragement! Sorry to keep y'all waiting.
Chapter 6
Oleg Darshkevich paced about angrily in his cell, just as he had for the past hour. Not only was he angry at what had occurred, but at his own helplessness. He had been totally unable to prevent O'Neill's death, nor did he have a clue as to how to prevent whatever might happen next. Gutless Goa'uld, who, with a mere flick of the hand, had ordered the execution of one of the finest, and certainly bravest, leaders he'd ever met.
He knew much more about Jack O'Neill than he had let on. The briefing he received in Russia was quite extensive. He'd been told to expect a certain xenophobia from the man, especially a distaste for Russians (deservedly, he admitted to himself, given what O'Neill had experienced at the hands of his countrymen in his early Black Ops days). However, upon their meeting, he had instantly liked the man. As the training at the SGC progressed, his admiration of him had grown.
Coming to the wall, he kicked out in frustration, slamming his boot into the metal plates. Damn the Goa'uld! If there were no escape, he would still bide his time. At the very least, he would find a way to take as many of them with him as he could.
From a distance, he could hear a sound, growing louder and nearer. He knew what it was - the clanking of Jaffa boots. He backed away from the door. Momentarily, his captors arrived and flung the door open. "Come!" ordered one of them, most likely their leader. Defiantly, Darshkevich flattened himself against the farthest wall. The Jaffa leader made a swift motion with his arm and sent two others in to drag him out. As the first grabbed an arm, he leaned back into him, and kicked out his feet with all his might at the second Jaffa, who was sent stumbling backward. Suddenly, the whole cell seemed to fill with Jaffa, and Oleg was struck across the face. "You will not resist!" the leader informed him, as he was shoved back into the hallway, landing sprawled on the floor. His head was reeling. The Jaffa grabbed him by the arms, half dragging and half stumbling down the hall, Oleg cursing all the way.
Oleg was brought to an overly ornate room that could only be the throne room. He only had a moment to take it in before he was thrust to his knees before the throne.
"Welcome, General Darshkevich," Onuris sneered his name, looking down his nose at the general. Onuris rose and approached Oleg, who was still being held down by the Jaffa. Onuris grabbed him by the chin, painfully turning his face to see the mark left by the Jaffa's blow. "You resisted my invitation? Impoliteness to your god is punishable by death." Onuris jerked Oleg's head around and back toward his shoulder, but then released his grip.
"Fortunately for you, I have use of you still."
Onuris moved across the room to where his first prime activated a communications screen. Onuris stood by, without a word. As they watched, the screen filled with a picture that Oleg recognized as the area around the gate at Tango. There were SGC personnel guarding the gate, and their weapons immediately turned toward them. "Notify Colonel Black!" one of the men yelled, and another fingered his radio. "Hold fire! It's a hologram!"
Onuris interrupted, "I am your god, Onuris. I command you to bring me Dr. Jackson, and Colonel Carter. I have someone here to speak to them." He moved to one side, and the Jaffa shoved Oleg next to him, allowing the soldiers to see the general. As Oleg watched, the soldier on the radio was speaking a bit more animatedly.
"They are coming. It takes a few minutes to get here from the base," the young man nervously informed.
"I do not wait," Onuris stepped back and the transmission ended.
The Tango site briefing room was crowded. Daniel looked around at some very anxious faces. Colonel Black had relinquished his seat at the head of the table to Admiral Phillips, the senior-most officer present. Colonel Reynolds, the senior-most of the SGC personnel, was next to him on one side, and General Takei to the other. Daniel had elbowed in near the center, finding a spot where he could see them all. Sam was across the table, still dressed in her flight suit. Teal'c, likewise attired, was standing behind her.
"It's a trap," Phillips was saying. "That's why General O'Neill ordered you back. It's a trap, and he knew it."
"Yes, sir," Sam nodded, "but we can't just do nothing! We have to go after them!"
"Nobody's saying we won't," General MacMillan rejoined. "But not without better intel and a proper plan."
"We don't know where they will take them," Takei added. "They could be heading for the other side of the galaxy."
"Exactly!" Sam insisted, "Which is why we need to follow them now!"
Suddenly an airman dashed in from the doorway. "Sir! We have contact from the gate guards! A Goa'uld - a holographic image!"
The entire assembly rose as one and rushed into the control room next door. Daniel, seeing the video feed from the gate, exclaimed, "It's Kinsey!"
Sam shushed him, and they watched open-mouthed as Onuris made his pronouncement and disengaged the gate.
"We've got to get out there," Daniel hurried to leave.
"What?" McMillan stopped him. "He's cut communications."
"Perhaps," Teal'c said. "But he will contact us again."
"How do you know?"
"They like to gloat," Daniel finished for Teal'c. "There's no way he will just leave it like that. He will be back."
Daniel, Sam and Teal'c fled the room, the generals in fast pursuit.
Catching their breaths, they came to a halt at the gate and looked around, half-expecting to see spacecraft descending on their position as soon as they arrived.
Sam called out to the Sergeant in charge of the guards as soon as she was within earshot, "Nothing new?"
"No, Ma'am," he replied. "No further gate activity."
They all waited several minutes. After nothing happened, Phillips ordered SG-1 and SG-3 to remain, but the senior officers return to the fortified buildings. Further, they had decided against trying to contact the SGC or anyone on Earth, wanting to keep the gate quiet for further communication with Onuris.
"Orders, Sir?" the Sergeant inquired of Reynolds.
"Just keep doing your jobs, Sergeant," he replied. "Be ready for anything."
Sam pulled a gadget from her pack, switching it on and checking readings.
"What is that?" Reynolds asked her.
"It's something new from the Asgards. If -when," she corrected herself, "Onuris calls again, we can figure out where the transmission originates."
They did not have to wait long. A few minutes later, the gate opened once again, and the holographic image of Onuris stood before them. They could also see Jaffa standing around him, and General Darshkevich on his knees. The general was obviously injured, blood trickling from his lip.
"I have taken your leaders," was the first boast out of Onuris' mouth. "How dare you plot against me! I have already punished the first. So shall I punish the second unless you humor me."
Daniel felt his throat constrict at the pronouncement of punishment. "Where's General O'Neill?"
Darshkevich cried out, "He's killed him!"
"Silence!" Onuris raged, backhanding Darshkevich. "I have not given you permission to speak!"
Daniel felt his knees go weak. He looked to Sam, whose face had blanched and eyes widened. She looked back down at her handheld, hiding her face away. Daniel saw Teal'c move slightly, rage in his eyes.
"What do you want?" Reynolds demanded.
"I want you to pay for your deceit," Onuris rejoined. "I want you to surrender your leaders now, or I shall destroy you all."
Oh, pu-lease! Daniel thought. In shock, he knew it was the voice of his best friend he was hearing in his head, knowing just what Jack would say.
"You should know we won't surrender our people to you."
"You shall! And you shall be ready for my return. If my demands are not met, I shall reduce this planet to ash."
With that, communications ceased and the gate snapped closed. For a moment, they all stood in stunned silence, save for the noises coming from Sam's handheld. Daniel slowly turned to her, realizing she had been strangely silent. "Well?" he asked.
Her face still looked pale, and she did not take her eyes off the Asgard device. Unexpectedly, she smiled. "Got it."
"Got it?" Daniel said, confused.
"The gate address. I know where they are."
Having returned to the briefing room, SG-1 and 3 quickly briefed the leadership on what had transpired.
"As I said before, clearly a trap," said Phillips. Around the room, heads nodded in agreement. "We must not walk into it."
"But we can't leave them in the hands of the Goa'uld!" Sam blurted out. "We have the coordinates. We can mount an attack."
"But is this truly happening?" Chung inquired. "Or is this our training scenario?"
The room turned silent once more. Daniel took a quick glance around the room. "You can't seriously think this is a training scenario. I mean, Jack has pulled a lot of stuff..." Daniel's voice trailed off as he considered. Could it be?
"No, DanielJackson," Teal'c replied. "He would not have done so without informing us of his plans."
"Then General O'Neill is truly dead," MacMillan reasoned, and the room fell silent again.
"There is one certain choice open," Phillips said. "We can deny him his victory. We'll evacuate the base; leave nobody here to destroy. Have all pilots report to the 302's for immediate evacuation. All other personnel to the gate."
"That's it?" asked Daniel incredulously. "We just run? What about Jack and General Darshkevich?"
"There's nothing to be done," Phillips replied softly. "General O'Neill said that he knew as much the moment he ordered the other ships back."
"But we do not leave our people behind," Sam protested.
"He is dead, Colonel."
"Not even in death," Teal'c's voice thundered. He stared at Phillips angrily. "There are worse consequences than death.
"And there is another consideration." Chung spoke again, looking slowly around the room as if challenging each face. "Do you believe either General O'Neill or General Darshkevich would give information to the enemy?"
"Never," Teal'c replied.
"Onuris said we were here plotting against him. How did he know we are even here? Not only of our presence, but of the existence of the Tango site itself?"
Voices murmured softly around the room, looking from one to the other.
"They have intel," Daniel replied. "Somebody told them."
"Yes, a spy," Chung confirmed.
"Then it might not be safe to evacuate," Daniel continued. "Onuris will find out and can act before we have time to leave. Or, worse, follow us to our next destination."
"We must discover the identity of the spy," Takei concluded.
"This spy may be able to give us sufficient intel to plan a rescue mission," Teal'c interjected.
Oh, yeah, Daniel thought, let Teal'c handle the interrogation.
Phillips ordered Carter, Reynolds, and Teal'c to do a sweep of the base to look for communications equipment or other clues what would help identify the spy. In the meantime, he ordered the commander of the SF's to prepare for defense of the site.
Then all they could do was wait.
Awareness was returning slowly. Through barely slitted eyes, he could see a glow. There was something familiar, something sweet about this place. And although something in the back of his mind told him that it should be something he dreaded, instead, to his very being, it felt like something long-missed. Something he craved, needed.
Oh, crap! The sarcophagus.
Oleg Darshkevich was back in his cell again, pacing its length. He both hoped and feared that SG1 would not be coming to his rescue. He knew them well enough to know that they would not come without a good plan. But O'Neill was dead. It would be foolish to expend any more resources to rescue him alone. And if Onuris was foolish enough to announce an attack while giving the Tango site time to plan a counterattack - well, there must be more to it than that.
Once again, Oleg heard the clomping sound of Jaffa boots coming in his direction. Now what? he thought, stepping back against the furthest wall again.
The cell door jerked open. But instead of Jaffa entering, suddenly another person was slammed to the cell's floor.
"Hey! Easy on the uniform! I just had it cleaned!"
The unmistakable voice of Jack O'Neill.
Darshkevich was so stunned he could not move. He stood there, wide-eyed, mouth open.
O'Neill picked himself up, and, staring back at the Jaffa, made a show of dusting himself off. Then he turned around and saw Oleg's face.
"Oleg! How ya been?"
Oleg's mouth moved a couple of times before his speech returned, "But, how?"
O'Neill approached him, but Oleg unconsciously took a couple of steps backward. O'Neill stopped short, seeing his disbelief, giving him some space.
"They have a sarcophagus," he said simply with a shrug.
Oleg took in O'Neill's appearance - the hole in his flight suit where the staff blast had struck him square in the chest, and the weariness in O'Neill's eyes. Relief flooded over him, and he immediately met O'Neill in the middle of the cell, throwing his arms around him in a bear hug.
"But this is good news! You're alive!"
O'Neill backed away from him. "Yeah, good news. Sorta. We are still being held by a Goa'uld, for crying out loud."
"But now there is hope!"
"We're being held by Goa'uld whose host knows all about me, all about the SGC, and both of them carrying a grudge. Doesn't that say something to you?"
Oleg's smile vanished. "He has other business with you."
O'Neill nodded and turned away, moving to examine the cell door, then the walls, looking for a means of escape.
"And there's something else," O'Neill said, not looking at Oleg, seeming to continue his search around the cell. " A few years ago, I was taken prisoner..."
"This I know, Jack," Oleg replied quietly. He could see O'Neill from the side view, and saw him wince. He'd spare him the necessity of the explanation. "The dossier my country has on you is...rather complete."
"Then, perhaps you know. I was in the sarcophagus..."
"Da. You do not have to tell me. I know that you suffered addiction."
O'Neill turned briefly to look at Oleg, and saw his nod, "And Kinsey knows it, too. Onuris will use that against me, to get to me. To get to us."
"I must inform you that he is demanding all the IOA liaison be turned over to him."
"We can't let that happen. It's a trap, all the way around."
TBC
