Jack J.'s adjusted his grip on the pin and as the Goa'uld turned back to his vials, he lunged forward. Baal did not see the attack coming. Youth and intense military training gave Jack J. a velocity of which his duplicate would have been envious. He seized the System Lord mid-torso and swiftly drove the pin into the back of his neck.
The Goa'uld gasped. Jack J. drew the pin out then pushed it back in. Adrenalin was coursing through his veins and he was not entirely sure what he was stabbing at. He met some resistance and doubled his efforts. He could feel the System Lord weakening from the attack but Baal was still struggling and Jack J. had to tighten his grip on the Goa'uld. Finally, his movements became more uncoordinated and slow. Jack J. started letting go but in a sudden desperate attempt, Baal managed to hit an alarm button. Jack J. let him fall to the ground, turned on his heels and ran for the door.
Upon reaching it, it slid open to reveal two men. The element of surprise was for Jack J. and he had no trouble pushing past them. The guards rushed into the room and curiosity caused Jack J. to turn briefly in order to see what they were going to do.
Both guards knelt next to a gurgling Baal, then gently started dragging him to the back of the room and pulled a curtain. Jack J. resumed running,
He had mapped out the area he had been kept in and knew it was a dead end. So he took the opposite direction, hoping he would be able to find the exit. He thought he heard some explosions and wondered idly what it was before swiftly concealing himself behind a pillar as atroop of armed men passed him.
He resumed his course. His feet were starting to hurt as they pounded the rough ground. He rounded a corner and suddenly came face to face with an SGC uniform.
"Jack!" he heard a very recognizable feminine voice exclaim.
"Sam?" he asked, bewildered and surprised to find General Jack O'Neill and Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter surrounded by a whole squadron of Tok'ra in the corridor.
"We've come to rescue you! How did you escape?" General O'Neill asked.
"I disabled Baal, he's in a chamber back there", Jack J. gestured with his thumb, his wrists still bound by the manacles.
Jack turned toward Kael. "Okay, you take care of the base, Carter and I will take Jack J. back to the SGC. You want some re-enforcement?"
"I do not think Baal's disorganized forces will be too much of a problem, as evidenced by the guards next to the entry way but help is always appreciated," Kael nodded.
"I'll ask Reynolds and another team to rendezvous with Malek outside and take his orders from him," Jack said.
The Tok'ra nodded. Turning towards Jack J., he asked: "Where is Baal?"
"I'm not sure, I ran as fast as I could and I turned several times. Behind me, I suppose, next to the cells area, there's a chamber at a crossroads."
"You're sure he's still there?" Sam asked.
"Well considering I stabbed him in the neck with a pin…" Jack J. snickered.
Jack looked at him in surprise.
Jack J. shrugged. "I used whatever means I had. His guards are not Jaffa, they're far less cautious…"
"There probably was a sarcophagus," Kael stated.
Jack J. shook his head, "I can't tell… He had a ribbon device, and a lot of other Goa'uld paraphernalia. He probably had a sarcophagus, too. I saw his guards drag him to the back of the room where there was a curtained area. I think I stabbed him where it hurt the most." He added with a proud smile. "Now somebody please, untie my hands and since you suggested this yourself, let's move the Hell outta here. I'm freezing my butt and socks are not the ideal footwear to run on this type of ground!"
"Right," Jack mumbled. He turned to Kael, "Keep us posted on your progress."
Kael and his team left them behind. Explosions could still be heard throughout the facility as Sam and Jack took Jack J. back in the direction they had come from.
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The wormhole closed behind them and they stepped down the ramp, handing their weapons to the SFs in charge. Since neither Jack nor Sam had been carrying any regulation exploratory pack to the planet, they had no spare items and Jack J. was still in his socks which were starting to show patches of blood from the abrasions of walking on the uneven ground.
"Dr. Lam to the Gate room!" Landry ordered in the microphone.
Jack motioned for Hank to get down to the Gate room as orderlies came to take care of Jack J.
"General, I'd be happier if you'd send Reynolds and a couple of other teams out there to help the Tok'ra. Not that I don't trust them…" he winced as Sam threw him a dark look. "Okay, I don't trust them… It should be easy though, and I don't want the slimy bastard to escape again."
Landry nodded and turned to look up to Walter in the control room, "Call Reynolds and SG Units 7 and 5, I want them down and geared up for action in two!"
"Yes Sir! SG-16, SG-5 and SG-7 in the Gate room immediately!"
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A couple of days resting and debriefing reminded Jack J. of old patterns that he cherished. He had recounted his ordeal and given information on how the Asgard research had leaked. Afterwards, Thor had granted him a little reprieve in order to have time to secure their networks before taking him for experimentation on Orilla.
He was in the commissary eating breakfast when the klaxons blared, announcing SG-1's return. He quickly finished the remainder of his coffee and proceeded to the briefing room even if he knew it would be a while before SG1 made it there. As he exited the elevator, the klaxons blared again. He ran to the control room as the gate dialed. Both generals and Sam arrived at the same time and waited for the wormhole to form itself.
"It's Colonel Reynolds, Sir, radio transmission." Walter supplied.
"General Landry?" the disembodied voice came.
"Yes, Son, sit. rep?"
"The situation is under control, Sir. We had to run a complete check of the base and neutralize a few resistance areas but Baal's forces have been overcome. Malek and his lieutenants are currently down there deciding the fate of the Goa'uld."
Jack turned to General Landry."All right, once SG1 has been debriefed, why don't Jack J. and I go there and see for ourselves before the Tok'ra do whatever they want with him?" he suggested quietly. "As I said before, Malek seems to know how to hold a grudge."
Landry nodded. "Could also be interesting to finally get a grip on Baal…" he replied in the same tone.
"Okay, Reynolds, this is General O'Neill. Jack J. and I are coming through, expect us in two hours at most. Tell Malek we want to see Baal before he does anything with him."
"Yes, Sir. He's been with Baal, who is in the sarcophagus, every since you returned, Sir."
"Don't tell me he wants to revive him?" Jack exclaimed.
"I don't know, Sir but apparently, Baal is not well…"
"Okay, we'll try and come as soon as possible, just tell Malek we're on our way…"
"Yes, Sir. Reynolds out."
Jack looked at Landry frowning. "It's a good thing we sent those SG teams in."
Landry nodded approvingly. A commotion behind them told them SG1 had finished their medical examination.
"I take it your mission has been successful?" Landry asked his flag team upon entering the briefing room.
"As a matter of fact it has," Daniel started out excitedly as he hooked his laptop to the video system. "We got the location of the last planet King Arthur set off to in their quest for the Sangraal. We had already two, Castiana and Sahal, our operation on P2X-511 provided us with a third: Vagonbrei. We visited them all and found nothing of interest, except some empty ruins. Then I put all the coordinates into my laptop and noticed something really intriguing…" he trailed off and grabbed the remote control for the large screen in order to better explain their discoveries.
A chart of the galaxy appeared.
"The bright points you see are the three planets. Now if one measures the distance between them all…" lines appeared between the points, drawing a triangle. "They are perfectly equidistant."
"All right, and that will help us, how?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh wait, General, there's more …." Cameron said.
"The resistance agents on the planet that was most recently conquered by the Ori, reported that Adria kept mentioning an elusive fourth planet…" Teal'c started.
"… And I had an idea!" Vala cut him off excitedly, causing Jack to frown.
"Yes," Daniel resumed. "If you put Camelot's coordinates into the previous scheme you have…" he motioned to the screen once more, "a perfect tetrahedron." he paused. "We have the location of the fourth planet and it is Camelot. Adria still misses one of the four, although I'm not sure which."
Silence descended upon the room until Landry broke it. "This is very interesting, Dr. Jackson, but…"
"That's where we're stuck, General," Cameron replied. "Jackson thinks this is no coincidence, and I'm inclined to think it's not, but we don't know what it means…"
Jack sighed audibly "Carter, maybe you can help them figure this out." he suggested.
Sam nodded. "Yes, Sir."
"All right, Jack J. and I are going back to Baal's base. General, you'll tell us when you got any news from Thor?" Jack asked Landry as he prepared to leave the control room.
Landry nodded "Of course, Jack. So far the attempts at reaching him have been met with nothing. He must still be trying to secure their networks before pursuing the experimentations with your clone…"
"Hey!" Jack J. exclaimed.
Jack frowned.
"With all due respect, General, I may not be the original, I'm flesh and blood like you, and I do have a name, even if it sounds ridiculous!" Jack J. corrected. "I'm not a lab rat!"
"Enough!" Jack interrupted. "Jack J., go get geared up, we're leaving in ten!"
"Yes, Sir," Jack J. rolled his eyes.
"Smartass!" Jack murmured.
Sam chuckled softly, shaking her head and earning a dark look from both Jack and Landry. She quickly schooled her features, coughing discreetly.
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Jack and Jack J. stepped onto Baal's planet and walked from the gate to where they had entered the facility the last time. Several Tok'ra were ushering handcuffed mercenaries to a cargo ship. Kael was among them.
Jack motioned for Jack J. to follow him and stepped toward Kael.
"General O'Neill," the man nodded.
"Reynolds told me you had managed to take control of the base?" Jack raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, Colonel Reynolds is in the base with his teams guarding the last prisoners in the cells before we take them to another location," Kael replied.
"Oh?"
"I'm afraid this needs to remain secret, General, no harm will be done to them if that's what you fear," Kael smiled condescendingly.
Jack narrowed his eyes a minute, then, "I'll go see Reynolds. Where's Malek?"
"Down with Baal."
"You don't see any inconvenience if we interrogate him a little," Jack's smile did not reach his eyes.
"You'll have to discuss this with Malek. Apparently the other O'Neill managed to hurt him pretty badly…" Kael eyed Jack J.
"Yeah well, he was going to torture me; I wasn't going to be nice," Jack J. deadpanned.
"We'll go and try to find out, thanks." Jack said to Kael, grabbing Jack J.'s elbow and directing him to the ring platform inside the abandoned house.
In an instant they were inside the base. A couple of Tok'ra guards were monitoring the ring platform, but other than that, the base seemed deserted. They started walking in silence down the corridors toward where Jack J. thought the cells area were. Same height, same walking patterns, same men save a few genes for one and gray hair for the other.
Jack J. observed his duplicate more closely; there was something about him, that he had not seen the last time they had met two years ago. He stored the information and promised himself to ask about it later. For now, they had reached a crossroads and Jack had stopped.
"Where to?" he asked.
Jack J. smiled. "The cells? That way," he crooked his thumb to the right. "Baal's chamber, this way," he pointed in the other direction.
Jack smiled knowingly. "Great minds think alike…" he muttered before taking the left corridor.
Jack J. rolled his eyes and followed his counterpart.
They arrived in front of the entrance of the chamber where Jack J. had been brought to face his captor. A couple of Tok'ra were barring the way, but after a few words from both men, they let them in with obvious reluctance.
Baal was alive but barely, lying by his sarcophagus on a makeshift bed. Malek, and a few other Tok'ra who were looking puzzled and talking among themselves, were standing by his side. Malek reacted to their entrance by turning and stepping towards them.
"How is he?" Jack asked.
"He's dying," Malek said simply. "The injury you inflicted upon the symbiote was lethal, and the sarcophagus barely kept him from dying right there and then. We kept him there in stasis until recently," he added, looking at Jack J. "You knew there was a sarcophagus, didn't you?"
"Negative. I just saw the guards taking him behind the curtain. I suspected there was something of importance there, but I wasn't particularly keen on going to ask. I was trying to save my butt then…"
"In any case, I'm not gonna cry now that I've seen him…" Jack said changing the subject as the tension rose.
The disfigured man turned to him sharply. "I understand your point of view, O'Neill but Baal had some valuable information that could have helped us in many different fields."
"So, what now?" Jack J. asked.
"We can save the host and try and gain some of Baal's knowledge through him," Malek said.
"So basically you save the host and keep him as a living library of information?" Jack asked. "I hated the guy's guts but not to this point!"
"No!" Malek replied. "We will offer the host the possibility of taking in a Tok'ra symbiote. The Goa'uld was in too long for the procedure we have developed for removing symbiotes to work without risking the life of the host now that he's wounded. If a Tok'ra symbiote takes this host after we remove the Goa'uld, then he will be able to save him and gain knowledge of what Baal knew for the most part. Including the various horrors he has committed in his life…" he concluded in a rush.
"So the Tok'ra has to be strong, huh?" Jack said more as a statement than a question.
"He has to, indeed." Malek acknowledged.
Jack sighed, taking his cap off to rub his forehead before putting it back on. "So? Who's the lucky one?" he asked.
"I am," Malek replied solemnly.
"Excuse me?" Jack J. frowned.
"My host is dying. Baal injected me with a poison that slowly eats at my host's flesh. The mask that you see on my face is not to hide burns, it is to hide the wound that is growing a bit more each day, as do the ones I have all over my body," Malek explained. "My symbiote cannot suppress the pain and heal the body at the same time."
"How ironic," Jack murmured.
"When you came in, we were just talking to him about this possibility. The Goa'uld is too weak to take control, but it is not dead yet and we have only a little time before it releases the toxins inside his host's body. We must hurry," Malek said.
"All right, go, do whatever you have to do, we'll see what Reynolds has to say about the prisoners but the deal is that you tell us anything that could be important to us, too," Jack said, not convinced by his own words.
"I promise you that if it is of some importance for the Tau'ri, then I will gladly share the information with you," Malek said with honesty, surprising them. He looked at Jack J. then, "You provided me with a new body and killed the one who did that to me, this is the least I can do," the Tok'ra concluded, slightly bowing his head.
"Right…. We'll be expecting you at the SGC when you're done," Jack frowned.
"I will come," Malek said, retracing his steps toward the fallen system lord.