A/N: I am very happy to learn that more than a few of my old readers are still around somewhere, not only excited for an update, but telling me that you reread the entire thing, which I know from experience takes the better part of a day. Its quite a treat to learn that my readers not only enjoy the story the first time around, but will read it over again. I've not heard yet from any new readers, but would love to hear from you too. At any rate, new reader or returning one, here is the latest chapter. Let me know what you think, and perhaps you will provide enough incentive to get that next chapter out a little faster than this update.
Chapter 32: The Homecoming Queen
The rest of the week passed in a blur of preparations, both at school, for the upcoming Homecoming festivities, and at the SGC, for its plan to crash the festivities. Jack spent much of his time devising insane drills and scenarios, sometimes seeking her input on the layout of the school, and the best place to insert the teams. He and Teal'c ran the maneuvers late into the night.
So late into the night in fact, that several times, Sam found herself the next morning in her bed at the safe house she and the Colonel were staying at. She couldn't remember leaving base, and usually would have only a vague recollection of working on something in her lab or elsewhere on base. It had happened before, and Sam was becoming accustomed to the disorientation of waking up always in her bed no matter where she last remembered being. But when she grumbled about it, Jack told her straight faced that she must be teleporting.
She had little time to be embarrassed though, if she wasn't in school, she was at the SGC, working with the science teams on the communication problems, or with any one of her teammates on SG-1, ironing out all the little details of the sting operation. Her smaller body would simply shut down when she grew too tired, and she had little say in the matter. Of course, Jack did manage to scare everyone else in the SGC into keeping anything with any sugar or caffeine content away from her.
She and Teal'c poured over the various blueprints that had alerted them to the large unaccounted area under the school, trying to narrow down the entry, and Teal'c spent the days trying to find out how to gain entrance into the space. Sam spent one evening assisting her Jaffa teammate in an unmarked van packed with surveillance equipment, parked out of sight around the block from the school. The two poured over video tape from the school feeds, and Sam used several sophisticated devices to try and penetrate the EM field clouding the school grounds. She tried to narrow down the location of both the source of the disruption, and the likely entrances for the mysterious underground cavern they suspected existed. Siler helped her add a clever compartment in her backpack so she could hide a few useful items, in case she needed to help break into the area.
Daniel carefully cultivated the friends he'd developed among the staff, trying to find out who Seshat might be. He discovered some interesting things about a wealthy benefactor to the school. A benefactor that despite not having a place on the board, somehow exercised a lot of say in how the school was run via frequent large contributions and clever lawyers, who made sure the money was used as stipulated. Daniel could not find much information about this individual, but he had Sam help do a little computerized digging, and they managed to find a money trail. A trail that could painstakingly (and perhaps using some not quite legal hacking methods) be traced back to a fortune in solid gold bar. The trail of money also led them to a construction firm that, with a further little digging, they determined had built many of the current structures standing on the school grounds; from the building in which Sam attended class, to the upper school building, gymnasium, and library.
In school, Sam spent the week driving her teachers insane. Well, it wasn't her fault, and it hadn't been her intention, but it had all started the first day after the planning session. Sam was walking the attendance records to the main office in the morning when she turned a corner and all but ran into Curtis's cronies, all her careful stalking for naught in the face of sheer chance. She had no choice but to try and distract the group by throwing the papers she was carrying at the bullies and run for it. Unfortunately for her, she'd turned a corner and ran smack dab into the principal, knocking him flat and landing on top. His loud protests warned her chasers, and Sam was the only one to get into trouble. The principal marched her back to her classroom, finding the scattered records on the way. Needless to say, that was the end of her errand days. Without a legitimate reason to leave the classroom, and every reason to keep out of the hands of her increasingly persistent and very much frustrated tormenters, it was the beginning of mayhem.
Everywhere she went, it would seem, Curtis or one of his followers would be lurking around the corner, hoping to lure her away or to torment her when the teachers weren't watching. Her continued ability to elude whatever the boy had in store for her only seemed to drive him towards more daring attempts. With little hope of regaining any sort of freedom before the mission, Sam took the only option left. She chose the safety offered by the protective and watchful eye of a distrusting adult. Ironically though, to gain that eye, she had to act out and call attention to herself. And suddenly, Sam found life in kindergarten a whole lot more exciting.
She cursed, loudly and fluently, as only a member of the US military could. She knocked things over. She refused to sit in her seat when it was time to sit down, or to get up when it was time to get up. She disrupted the line so much anytime they went anywhere that Ms. Hans and Mrs. Guilford took to holding her by the hand themselves. She got caught putting milk in the glue bottle, and sprinkling sand on the teacher's desk. During singing time, she stomped her feet and shouted, plugging her fingers in her ears for good measure. She began to spend more time sitting in time out during those few days than she did in her assigned seat. Her teachers put their heads together in frequent consultation, trying all sorts of behavior modification tricks, but Sam knew them all. Everything was going as she planned. That is, until she drew a picture that really caught everybody's attention. After she stood up in front of the class, and explained what she had drawn, dead silence greeted her.
After several minutes Mrs. Guilford coughed, and then hastily scrawled something on a slip of paper. "Ah yes, thank you for sharing Sam, please give this note to your parent tonight, and take a seat."
Well, maybe she'd gone a tad too far.
That night Jack could only look at the note, and shake his head, before penning a quick response. She'd finally told all the guys what she was up to, after Daniel had caught her spending most of his class in the time out chair.
"Really Sam, you keep this up and they'll kick you out," Jack said. Sam shrugged and looked over his shoulder. Graduating kindergarten once was enough in her mind.
"A meeting?" she asked.
"Yeah, Friday, right after school lets out. Guess we'll be there early for the festival, huh?"
"Frankly, Mr. Lewis, I really don't know what else to do with your daughter. She's become rather unmanageable the past few days. Are you sure there's nothing going on at home?" Mrs. Guilford asked, and then frowned. "Mr. Lewis," she said sharply, reaching out and removing the apple shaped paperweight that Jack was playing with from his hands.
Jack looked startled. "Uh. Sorry. What was the question?"
The woman's eyebrows rose. When she replied, her voice was slightly strained. "I asked if there was anything going on at home."
"No, not at all. Everything is just peachy," he said quickly, shaking his head. Impatiently, he shifted in his seat, fingers beginning to drum on one thigh and his eyes drifted toward the large wall clock hanging above the chalkboard. His mind was on the upcoming mission and not at all on the meeting, but unfortunately, Mrs. Guilford had no idea what was going down that night. All she saw was a disinterested parent.
Mrs. Guilford's jaw clenched. From the depths of some inner reserve, she summoned patience. "The reason I ask is not just Samantha's recent behavior. I'm also concerned about this." She pulled a child's drawing out of her desk, and passed it to Jack. He took the piece of paper, and studied it with a frown, then rotated it, the frown deepening.
"I guess it's not a dog, is it?" he asked, finally giving up.
"Samantha, come here please," Mrs. Guilford called. Sam gave a loud sigh from the corner where she was constructing something from Lego bricks, and joined them. "Samantha, please tell your father about your drawing."
Sam gave her teacher a narrow look, and then looked down at the drawing. She reached out a hand and turned the picture the right way. "It's the apocalypse," she explained, as if it were obvious. Then she lowered her voice dramatically, "Everybody dies."
Mrs. Guilford gave Jack a significant look. Jack coughed weakly. "The things kids say," he said.
"Mr. Lewis, I find this drawing concerning," she said.
Jack laughed. "Oh c'mon, surely you don't expect me to buy into all that psychological bull crap?"
"Mr. Lewis!" Mrs. Guilford protested.
"Crap isn't a bad word," spoke up Sam, pretending innocence as she pushed a pen around on the desk. "It's just the stuff that comes out of your ass."
"Uh, I think we'd better be going," Jack said hastily, suddenly seeming to realize that Carter might just be off her rocker, and his preoccupation was only making things worse. "It was nice meeting you."
Before the teacher could protest, Jack grabbed Sam's backpack, hustling her into it before grabbing her by the hand and all but dragging her from the room, leaving Mrs. Guilford behind, her mouth opening and closing with no sound emerging.
Once they were far enough away, Jack spun Sam, catching her up under the arms. Lifting her, he pressed her against the wall so they were both at eye level. "Carter," he growled quietly, "Do you mind telling me what the hell that was all about?"
She blinked at him, a slight flush creeping up her neck, and gave a helpless shrug. "Sorry sir, I guess I got a little carried away." She bit her lip. "Did you see her face though?"
For a moment, Jack stared at his tiny second, and amusement won out. "Somehow, I never pegged you as your teacher's worst nightmare," he said, lips quirking with a suppressed smile as he set her back down. "Should have realized though, with your talent for lock picking, the motorcycle, and affinity for explosives," he added.
"Well, look at it this way, Sir," she said, leading the way to the front entrance, "After tonight, they'll never have to see me again."
"That's probably good, since you and I may have burned your bridges in Mrs. Guilford's class at least," Jack replied, pushing open the door and heading out.
On the school grounds, the festivities were already beginning, and the recently released students were meeting up with siblings and parents, and making beelines for the games and rides. They exchanged a wordless glance and silently agreed to wander about. Noting the crowds, Jack unconsciously reached down and grabbed Sam's hand to keep her close. Sam gave him an odd look, but didn't protest.
They were half way through their first circuit when Jack noticed Sam stiffen slightly. He looked down, but she shook her head, and pulled him to a nearby game stand that happened to feature a table full of empty fish bowls. He paid for two ping pong balls, and knelt to hand Sam hers, leaning in so she could whisper in his ear. "Those two men we passed, in the suits, they're Jaffa, I'm sure." She frowned slightly, "The two men with them though, they are human." Jack nodded looking grim, and stood to toss his ball. The shot bounced wildly off the rim of one of the glass bowls. Possible vectors appeared as she watched the Colonel's ball ricochet, and without thinking, Sam neatly lofted her own ball, the small sphere landing precisely in a bowl at the center of the table.
"A winner!" cheered the game attendant, as he presented her with a plastic bag half full of water and containing one small goldfish.
"Uh, thanks," Sam flushed, awkwardly taking the bag, having forgotten about the prize when she made her throw. Jack just bounced on his toes, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he fought back a grin and some snarky comment. Her blush deepened, and she grabbed Jack's hand again, pulling him back into the crowds. They passed two men from SG-11, and stopped as if to make small talk, passing along the ID. They merged back onto the crowded midway, and Sam identified several more Jaffa, often appearing with large, brutish, completely human men. Most of the Jaffa and human security were scattered in the crowd as guests, but a few were dressed as security or as booth attendants. Sam found perhaps a dozen Jaffa, and she and the Colonel located at least twice as many more individuals with that certain air exhibited by men trained in the art of deadly force.
Daniel joined them, just as a rather strange entourage passed by, sticking out from the fairgoers. Nearly a dozen grim, heavily muscled men, obviously some sort of security. Sam confirmed the presence of at least two Jaffa, the rest of the guards seemed human but no less intimidating. They formed a pathway through the crowds for the woman at the center of the wedge. The woman stood out even more than the men, draped as she was in gold and jewels and dressed in rich clothes, including a rich leopard fur stole draped about her shoulders, and skin tight leathers emphasizing the host's flawless, athletic body. Jack barely needed Sam's quick nod of confirmation that this was the Goa'uld they sought. The woman practically oozed snakiness. They followed the group discreetly to a tent, where the entire entourage disappeared inside. Jack left Daniel to watch the tent.
On the way to let the other SGC teams know what they had found, They ran into Teal'c, emptying trash cans as he scanned the crowds, and quietly told him what Sam had discovered. Teal'c told them that he believed he had found the concealed entrance to the hidden chamber, but was unable to access it due to clever encryption.
"Sir, I think maybe I should take a look at the control panel, maybe I can get in," Sam said.
"Good idea. Teal'c, I need to let the rest of the SGC know about our snaky friend, you and Carter try to gain access to the chamber and if possible, disable the ship if you find one, and whatever is causing that EM disruption." Jack ordered. Then he reached into his pocket and handed her the Bluetooth mic he'd gotten for her. Sam slipped it into her pocket as Jack continued, "I'll try and send backup. Whatever happens, we can't let Seshat escape Earth."
"Yes sir," Sam answered, frowning as she realized she still carried the goldfish. With a shrug, she passed it to Jack before hefting the straps of her backpack to reassure herself of the weight of the equipment she carried.
"O'Neill," Teal'c nodded, and slipped back into the crowds after removing a tool box from the janitorial cart he'd been pushing. Sam followed, keeping an eye out for Seshat's security forces, though no one seemed to be paying any attention to them. Teal'c led them around to a quiet side entrance, and quickly pulled a key ring from his belt. He let them inside and led the way downstairs to the basement level.
The halls were deserted, everyone having left early to go to the festival, and it felt especially deserted downstairs with the minimal security lighting, their soft footsteps echoing quietly in the eerie dimly lit hallways. Teal'c proceeded with caution nonetheless, stopping to pull two zats out of the toolbox and handing her one.
They arrived at a supply closet and Teal'c motioned her quickly inside, pulling the door shut behind them, before turning on the closet's single light. "Here?" Sam asked curiously. To her, they had reached a dead end.
In response, Teal'c crossed to the back wall. He pointed to the floor, which on closer examination, showed scuff marks and several footprints. "I discovered signs that there has been regular traffic through a hidden entrance." He then pushed aside a shelf along the back wall, exposing the cheap wall paneling, bearing scratches and signs of much handling. Teal'c set the toolbox down and removed from it a short crow bar, which he used to attack the weak looking area in the paneling. After a brief struggle, a Goa'uld control panel was exposed, looking rather incongruous situated inside the supply closet.
"The usual sequence did not open the door," he explained.
Spying a step stool, Sam dragged it over to where she could see the control panel. Wasting little time, she looked to her companion, "Teal'c can you get this access panel off for me?" She asked as she upended her school supplies on the floor, accessing the hidden compartment at the bottom of her bag, and pulling out several cables and devices. Teal'c popped the panel off and Sam climbed up on the step stool to get to work.
"Wow," she said, "I didn't think the Goa'uld used this level of encryption," her eyes intent on the screen of her tablet, which to Teal'c looked like nothing more than pages of nonsensical numbers and letters. "It's like the best of human security meets Goa'uld tech," she explained to his confused look.
"Can you gain entry Major Carter?" Teal'c asked, and Sam realized that the entire team had very quickly reverted to SG-1 designations during the mission.
"Well, it's quite the code," Sam replied, and then flexed her fingers, an impish grin spreading across her features, "but I can crack it."
Teal'c nodded but Sam was already focused on the task at hand. Leaving her to it, Teal'c returned to the entrance and edged the door carefully open, zat at the ready, peering out into the hallway to keep watch.
"Hah, I'm in," he heard her say after several minutes. There was a pause, and then "Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh? What Uh-oh?" asked Teal'c looking away from the deserted hallway long enough to check on his teammate.
"Well, if I'm right, I've accidentally triggered an alert that gives us only a few minutes before it alerts someone that we're trying to get in," Sam said.
"And if you are wrong?" asked Teal'c.
"Then they already know." Sam frowned and entered a command. The door in front of them hissed open, revealing a vast chamber.
Teal'c shut the closet door, moving a shelf in front of it to block any unwanted guests. "Then I suggest we proceed quickly with disabling any ship we find and remove ourselves from this place."
"Agreed," Sam said, hopping down from the step stool and quickly retrieving her tools. She hid the school supplies on the shelf, knowing she might need quick access to her devices. She retrieved her zat and followed Teal'c into the chamber, tossing her bag over one shoulder.
"Holy smokes," she said, as soon as she had a good look.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, already breaking left for a circuit of the large room. Sam went right, to meet him on the other side of the ship, a ship that appeared to be some sort of modified Alkesh. SG-1 of course had seen a lot of varieties of Alkesh, from bombers to transport ships but this one put them all to shame. It was definitely well armed and armored, and appeared somewhat larger than the usual Alkesh.
The chamber also held a number of boxes. Sam popped the lid off one and found shock grenades. Nearby were stacked staff weapons. Another crate held zats. It looked like someone was planning a hostile takeover. What she didn't see was how they had gotten the ship in there. There were no visible doors or openings large enough for the ship, in fact the only door was the one they had entered. It made Sam wonder how they planned to get the ship out again. She quickly helped herself to a couple of the grenades, figuring they might come in useful, stashing them in her backpack.
She met up with Teal'c on the far side of the chamber and together they approached the ship. The ship seemed to hum, and on a hunch, Sam pulled out a quarter and threw it at the ship, barely prepared for the metallic zing as shields flared to life, sending the quarter flying back to them with force. Teal'c's quick action saved them as he flattened them both to the ground, the quarter flying harmlessly over their heads to embed itself in the wall. "I would not do that again, Major Carter," Teal'c cautioned, as he helped her up.
"Um, no. Sorry about that Teal'c. At least we know the ship is shielded though," she said, dusting the front of her pants before approaching the hatch.
Teal'c slowly and cautiously reached toward the door panel on a hunch that the shields were keyed to energy and high speed projectiles. When the shields didn't flare, he attempted to key in a standard door open command, but the door lock beeped and refused to open.
"Give me a boost," Sam requested, dropping her bag, and pulling out her cables and tablet again. Teal'c complied, and she quickly tried to back door the lock. "Yikes," she said, "This thing is even more locked down than the door, this could take a while. And that jammer is definitely coming from the ship, maybe from the shields. We better bring over one of those crates so you can guard the door while I work," Sam suggested. Teal'c nodded and was just setting her back down when they heard a series of thuds and angry shouts from the hall outside the storage closet.
Reacting faster than she, Teal'c pushed her down behind some nearby boxes. Debris erupted into the cavern as the impromptu blockade Teal'c had made was destroyed. A staff blast fired over their heads, striking the ship. There was a buzzing sound and flash of light, and then the staff blast ricocheted off the shields, and flew back into the wall above the door, showering the attackers with even more debris.
"In the name of Seshat," called an angry voice from the doorway, "I command you to show yourselves, traitors."
Teal'c replied by popping up long enough to fire off a few rounds with the zat. Shouts and a thud indicated he had hit at least one target. Teal'c signaled that there were at least three attackers and that he planned to use the boxes to circle around and flank the other Jaffa. Sam nodded, signaling she would provide cover. Holding three fingers, she carefully counted down. On three, she yelled, firing towards the door with her zat as Teal's broke for the nearest cover also firing. Their attackers continued to fire cautiously, seeming to not want to risk hitting the space ship and cause another uncontrolled ricochet, and Sam decided to use that caution to her advantage, hoping to get to her back pack that had been dropped just out of reach.
Teal'c had reached a stack closer to the entrance, and Sam signaled her intention. Teal'c nodded and broke cover again, firing at the aggressors. Sam used the opportunity to make a grab for the bag. The Jaffa fired too far over her head, she being a much smaller target than they had realized, and Sam dove back behind cover unharmed. She quickly dug out one of the grenades and armed the device. She waited for the next lull, and with perfect aim she threw it through the open door where their attackers hid behind the wall. Sam and Teal'c ducked behind the crates as the grenade went off with a screech and bright flash of night. Even prepared as they were, it was a little disorienting still, and Sam was still blinking from the flash when Teal'c grabbed her arm. "Our attackers have been neutralized for now," Teal'c said, "but I believe more will quickly be upon us, we must vacate this area,"
Sam nodded, grabbing her bag and slipping her arms more securely into the straps. They would be unable to disable the ship, at least without backup. That thought made her realize the backup Jack had promised should have been dispatched by now. They should have been drawn to the sounds of the firefight, but were nowhere to be seen, and that could only mean that either they had either been held up, or disabled. They had to hope the other teams would be more successful, even without the EM cloud disabled, and that Seshat would be prevented from escaping.
The supply closet was cluttered with debris from the firefight and the three motionless bodies of their attackers. Now that she was close, Sam realized that only one was Jaffa, the other two were human. The security they had located on the grounds did not seem to be carrying visible weapons. The size of the stockpile they had just found here made her think that if the guards didn't already carry something concealed, they probably had quick access to weapons in hidden caches like this one. There was any number of potential hiding places in a complex as big as this school. If the human security forces Seshat employed were armed with Goa'uld weaponry and completely devoted to their employer as these seemed to be, there might be a problem. They had anticipated only fighting a handful of Jaffa, and had not counted on fighting a large, well-armed, well trained human security force.
She shared her thoughts with Teal'c, who wasted little time in hitting each stunned guard with a zat blast, to keep them unconscious. "We should get this information to O'Neill as soon as possible," he said, and Sam nodded. They would have to do it the hard way since they'd failed to gain entrance to the ship and jammer. Already, they could hear faint shouts in the distance.
They headed out into the hallway, but quickly stopped when they heard running footsteps coming their way. Teal'c pulled her back towards an intersecting corridor, but Sam quickly stopped him when she heard footsteps in the other direction.
There was nowhere for them to go.
Two men in security uniforms appeared from the first direction and three more came from behind them. The men shouted when they saw Sam and Teal'c. Teal'c pressed Sam back behind him into a nearby doorframe and the scant protection it presented. The door was locked, offering them no escape. "I will provide a distraction, Major Carter," he said, speaking over his shoulder as he kept a close eye on the advancing warriors, "you must inform O'Neill of what has transpired here."
Sam wanted to argue, she wanted to stay and fight, but she knew that Teal'c was right. She'd be better off getting away with the information. With luck, she could return with assistance, and they could still capture or disable the Alkesh. Failing that, she hoped that the information she knew would be enough for them to still have a chance at securing Seshat before she could escape. There were still the SGC teams at the perimeters, kept off the school grounds as back up to avoid raising suspicions, but with the failure of their mission to lower the EM cloud, someone would have to go to the them in person. "Okay," she said, "Be careful."
Teal'c inclined his head, and still remaining in front of her, reached down to set his zat on the floor. Slowly, he raised his hands, advancing to the middle of the corridor, allowing the approaching guards to approach to think he was surrendering. Then he spoke quietly, his body tense and ready to spring. "Now Major Carter, run!" With that he attacked the closest Jaffa with a roar, barreling two of them down before they even had a chance to get their weapons up. The others couldn't fire or risk hitting their comrades. With the distraction the tangle of fighting bodies gave, Sam made a break for it, dodging around the fighters, and making for the nearest stairwell.
She'd reached the stairs and was beginning to think she'd left her pursuers behind when she heard shouts and running footsteps behind her down the hall. There were Jaffa on her six, and more than one if the shouting was any indication! Sam had little time to worry if these were different guards or if something had happened to Teal'c. She charged up the stairs, running full out, the dim half lighting giving way to full darkness. Too late, she realized that someone had purposely taken out the remaining lights in the stairwell, and didn't see what she tripped over until she was sprawled across it.
She felt about cautiously, realizing what she laid on top of felt very much like… a body?
The dim light coming in from the windows enabled her to see staring eyes and features she recognized. "Shit," she said, realizing at once that the head was twisted much too far to be natural. Poor Abrams, he must have been the backup that the Colonel had sent.
Shouts below brought her back to herself. Saying a brief prayer for Abrams, Sam scrambled up and ran to door, cursing under her breath when she discovered the door had been chained and padlocked closed sometime after she and Teal'c had entered, probably by the same group that had gotten Abrams. She could hear the Jaffa behind her arriving at the stairwell below, and Sam quickly changed plans, charging up the stairs to the next floor. She jerked open the door, being sure it echoed in the stairwell, but didn't go through. Instead, she quickly pulled out the other shock grenade she'd taken from the chamber, and armed it, leaving it just behind the wall out of sight. She let the door swing closed and crept quietly to the top floor, hoping to buy some time and confuse her pursuers. She was heading for a specific goal, the Chemistry lab.
She darted along the deserted and darkened hallway, hoping her pursuers would think she'd exited the level below. With any luck they would waste some time looking for her downstairs, and with any real luck, the shock grenade would eliminate all or most of her hunters. The Chemistry lab was the last room on the end. The locked door didn't present much trouble, and once she was in she quickly relocked the door and barricaded it with a chair, afraid to do much more and make too much noise.
Sam tucked her zat into the waistband of her pants, and headed for the storage closet. Again, the lock presented no trouble. The lab was fairly well stocked, and everything she didn't find in the lab closet she found in the attached utility room, which contained a variety of cleaning supplies. There were plenty of papers in the desks. She quickly found what she needed, loading the items into her bag, and locked herself into the utility room. If the Jaffa found her, she'd have to make a quick escape, and knew just how to manage that, though it probably wouldn't be pleasant. Unfortunately, they'd left her little choice, by barricading the exits.
Sam set her little trap and was just picking the lock over the garbage chute when she heard her pursuers reach her level and began crashing into the various doors, searching the empty rooms. Desperately, she forced the lock and the metal door opened with a rusty screech. Sam cursed, fumbling for the lighter, just as the utility room door thundered open.
"Halt, in the name of Seshat," the lead guard, a Jaffa, commanded, leveling a zat at her. Another guard stood behind, and Sam recognized both from the corridor below, they must have left Teal'c to their three companions.
"Um, no," Sam answered, finally getting the lighter to produce flame. The two men looked puzzled. "Surprise," she said, and lit the rag sticking out of the beaker full of chemicals. Before either man could react, she tossed her variation on a Molotov cocktail onto the pile of papers and other flammable items that Sam had taken time to douse with more chemicals. The two Jaffa cried out in surprise as the surface they stood on literally burst into instant bright flame. Using the moment Sam jumped in the open chute, but the Jaffa were made of sterner stuff, and one of them managed a shot from a zat. Her momentum caused him to miss, but the discharge hit the metal walls of the chute, causing the blue energy to diffuse over the surface and into whatever parts of her body were in contact with the metal. Sam yelped in pain as she fell helplessly down the chute, landing rather abruptly and with a rather pungent release of odor into the dumpster at the back of the school. She quickly took stock of her injuries. Nothing broken, but everything was sort of numb and tingling from the zat. Well, at least she wasn't unconscious.
Trying to shake feeling back into her nearly unresponsive limbs, Sam realized she'd lost her weapon, which she had tucked into her waist band while raiding the lab upstairs. Feeling around in the darkness with her numbed fingers proved futile, and she reluctantly gave the zat up as a lost cause. She decided to leave her backpack as well. Somehow, she forced her uncooperative limbs into motion and managed to clamor over to side. Using the bags and other refuse as a sort of stepping stone, she slowly gained the top of the dumpster. She pulled herself up with some difficulty. Looking down to gauge the drop, she found herself staring directly into the business end of an armed zat.