A/N: So I was diligently working on Chapter 38, and being somewhat unhappy with it, I rewrote it some. Only when I went to save a copy to send to my beta, I realized that chapter 37 was missing. So I've only just now realized that I was spending a lot of time rewriting chapter 38 when I hadn't even posted chapter 37 for you guys. Sorry Of course I needed to tweak 37 a little (having ignored it in pursuit of 38 thinking it were posted), but here it is, hopefully worth the wait. My beta should have the revised chapter 38 so I can't make promises when it will be posted, but hopefully not as long a gap as this last one. Since you guys have been so good I will also tell you there will be a short epilogue, after the next and final chapter.
Chapter 37: A Little Careful Timing
Sam tried to hurry through her water rounds, but she could only move so fast without arousing suspicion. Finally though, the bucket was empty, and she made her tired legs move back to the well. She frowned as she approached. The area seemed quiet, much too quiet.
She carefully scanned the area around the well, but didn't see anyone. Still, she proceeded with caution, quietly setting down her bucket next to the well and checking in all directions. Still detecting nothing out of the ordinary, she decided to locate whatever she needed to find quickly, and get out of the area as soon as possible. Her father would have left a sign, something out of place but not too obvious, something that might appear natural to a casual observer. Her careful scan soon revealed a forked stick poking straight out of the ground near a large rock. Cautiously, she approached and began to check the ground, noting the area had definitely been disturbed, and recently. She pulled up the stick and began using it to poke the ground.
The slightest sound, as if a boot had scuffed a pebble, warned her, and she spun around before a shadow fell over her. Sam looked up into a familiar face, realization sending a chill down her spine despite the heat of the day.
"Looking for this?" Tok'nar asked, holding a bundle of cloth. He shook open the coverings to reveal a zat. "Strange that it is you, who comes looking about in the area I discover a hidden weapon. Tell me, child, who told you to look here? Who were you supposed to bring this to?"
Taking a step back, Sam remained silent as she evaluated her options. Tok'nar was big, bigger even than Teal'c. In a fight, he had the advantage, and knew it. He'd already taken her by surprise and easily overcome her on two prior occasions, her struggles seemingly no more bothersome to him than the buzzing of a gnat, and as easily slapped down. However, given his line of questioning, he was confused when confronted with her just now. He thought she was supposed to deliver the zat to someone inside the camp, an adult, never considering she'd know what to do with the weapon. He thought she was just a child, and she could use that to her advantage. She had little hope to defeat him if he caught her, but if she could level the playing field a little…
"I was looking for rocks," Sam lied, shifting her weight, and taking a single small step to the side, still holding onto the stick. It wasn't very thick, or heavy, but one end was slightly pointed where it had been broken off. As a weapon, it wasn't much, but it was all she had.
Tok'nar narrowed his eyes at her. "I believe you are lying to me, child, and I see you have not yet learned your lessons. Perhaps I should teach them to you again." He took a step forward, and she took another one back, coming up against the boulder. Tok'nar laughed, thinking he had her cornered. He gave her a considering look, and glanced down at the zat he held. With another laugh, he tossed it off into the bushes, and flexed his knuckles. "Come child, if you tell me what I want to know, I will not beat you as much."
"Just try to catch me," Sam challenged, stooping, and in a single motion, rose with a handful of sand which she tossed at Tok'nar's face. The large Jaffa roared, and lunged blindly for her, but she ducked nimbly under his arms, coming up behind him and driving the stick she held point first into the back of the overseer's knee. Tok'nar howled again, half falling, and Sam dodged away. She knew she needed a better weapon, and ran in the direction that Tok'nar had thrown the zat. Unfortunately, Tok'nar recovered faster from her surprise attacks, his fist slamming between her shoulders and knocking her face down before she had managed more than a few yards. Sam scrambled to her hands and knees but Tok'nar's boot caught her cruelly under the ribs, flipping her over onto her back and knocking the air out of her lungs. Gray spots danced in front of her vision as she tried to make her lungs suck in air. Tok'nar reached down, grasping her with one hand under her chin and lifted her easily.
Sam's legs dangled uselessly, too short to do any damage. Ineffectually, she plucked at Tok'nar's fingers, drawing blood with her fingernails while trying to loosen his grip. Tok'nar shook her. "You will tell me what I want to know, and then I will take pleasure in squeezing the life out of you." Sam's vision began to darken dangerously and she tried to choke out a response but couldn't get enough air in to make a sound.
"I would appreciate it if you would take your hands off my daughter," commanded a familiar voice behind her.
Tok'nar laughed. "I will snap this child's neck, and then take you to Seshat as the Tok'ra traitor you are," the Jaffa sneered, squeezing harder.
"Oh, I don't think so," Jacob said, followed by the unmistakable sound of a zat arming. Sam had no time to prepare before she felt the jolt of the zat's discharge wash over her. She came to a few moments later, her father leaning over her, anxiously patting her cheeks.
"Sam, Sam honey, wake up, Sam," he said. Sam gasped, sucking in a lungful of air that turned into a coughing fit. "Hey kid, easy there," Jacob said, easing her into a sitting position. He shifted away briefly, only to turn back, offering her a full dipper of fresh well water. Sam drank gratefully.
"Tok'nar?" she managed to croak out after a few sips.
"Dead," Jacob answered quickly. "I already, um, took care of the body."
Sam nodded, reaching up to take a second ladle of water. "This complicates things."
"A bit," Jacob admitted. "I've moved up the attack plan. We can't take the chance of Seshat finding out about us, and making a run for it like she did on Earth. The Tok'ra want this weapons factory shut down. I sent the signal to the SGC. We need to get your explosives into place in the next hour, or the SGC will be sitting ducks when they storm the gate. I have a plan to draw the guards away from the gate."
"My explosives?" Sam asked with a grin.
"Well, it was your idea, and now that the attack has been moved up, I'm going to need your help to get everything in place. Besides, now that it looks like our cover might be blown, I'm not letting you go back in there."
"By the way, that was good timing Dad, thanks for that. How did you manage it?" Sam asked, returning the second empty dipper, and exploring her neck gingerly with her fingers. She winced as she encountered what were likely some impressive looking bruises. Jacob shared a sympathetic wince, and then stood and offered her a hand.
"I happened to see Tok'nar talking to one of the prisoners. I saw him watching you later, and when you went back to the well, he followed. I thought something was up so I followed him. Sorry about the zat, it was the only way I could get Tok'nar to stop choking you."
""Its ok," Sam said rubbing her neck again. "I'm just glad you were there." She frowned, remembering something. "The prisoner Tok'nar was talking to, he wasn't a dark haired kid, maybe about 12 or so, was he? The kid you had deliver the message about checking around the well."
"No, he was about 16, sandy haired, penetrating look," Jacob answered, "Why?"
"The younger kid is Dustin. He and his sister Laney are in a sort of gang with the older kid, Curtis. Only Dustin isn't really in the gang by choice, Curtis keeps him in line with threats and scare tactics, and Cutis is completely devoted to Seshat."
"Crap, Sam, I didn't know. I saw Dustin alone, and he said he knew you and was able to give you the message. Do you think he or Curtis have told anyone else?"
Sam shrugged, shaking her head. "Dustin looked too scared to tell anyone else. In fact, he begged me to take him with us, I think he may have suspected you were trying to aid us, but I lied to him. Curtis probably bullied the information out of him. I have no idea how much he would have told, or how far Curtis will go, but I think we should assume our cover is blown. It is good you got the signal out. We should probably get moving, It's probably not safe for either of us to be seen in camp, though if possible, we should probably try and get a message to someone I know inside the camp to get the prisoners to a safe place when the shooting starts. I think I know who we can trust."
Jacob nodded. "I think I can get my hands on some of the power modules. Selmak thinks he can make some homemade explosives with them, if we set them to overload. The timing might be a little tricky, but I think if we can get them near the storage areas, the explosion should be all the distraction we need."
"I'll get word to the prisoners to be ready when attack starts, and meet you at the base of the cliffs." Sam said.
"Ok, be careful kid, if Curtis told anyone else, they could be looking for you, and your absence has likely already been noted. I'm fairly certain Mehet has already been reported missing. Take the zat, I have another stashed away."
Sam gave her father a brief, tight hug around the waist, before tucking the zat into her waistband, hiding it under her tunic. Without another word, she slipped into the brush, avoiding the paths she usually travelled. Her father did likewise, taking a different route, presumably one that would take him to the storage area with the power packs.
It took her nearly twice as long as it usually did by her estimation to make it back to the main compound, avoiding the main path and sticking to the brush. When she arrived, it didn't seem that there was any heightened level of security, but Sam wasn't taking any chances. She crept carefully around the perimeter, circling the camp until she arrived at the kitchen area. Ms. Hans was working with a group of women, preparing the flat bread for baking in the outdoor ovens. She was seated at the end of a row, pounding and grinding the flour. Sam searched the ground and picked up a handful of pebbles. Her first throw landed with perfect accuracy into the bowl the woman was working on, and she looked up startled, directly at Sam. Sam quickly held a finger over her lips and motioned for the woman to get away, pointing toward the stack of wheat sacks piled against the outer wall of the building. The women were unguarded, and Sam waited for a moment for Ms. Hans to empty her bowl into a larger one, and carry it toward the grain sacks. Sam wormed her way quietly over to a scrubby bush conveniently located by the stack.
Ms. Hans started to speak, reaching a hand toward Sam's neck, but Sam caught the woman's hand, cutting off her words. "Tok'nar is dead," she whispered without preamble, watching Ms. Hans still at the unexpected words. "Mehet is an ally, and will get us all home. In a little over 30 minutes, friends will arrive, but I need you to get the other prisoners to safety when the shooting starts. Keep working, don't look at me," Sam said.
"Sam, I…" Ms. Hans started to whisper as she scooped grain into the bowl, but Sam interrupted her urgently. "I know it's a lot to take in, but remember what I told you, not everyone is what they appear. This is where I need you to trust me; I need you to get word to the other prisoners. Now I need you to get back to the others before they wonder why you are taking so long."
Ms. Hans's head jerked in a quick nod, and she cast a confused look in her direction, before taking her bowl back to the other women. Sam watched her whisper to the woman next to her, and satisfied that at least Ms. Hans would get the word spread among the women, she slipped back into the cover surrounding the compound. She wished there was a way to get a message to the men, but with Curtis's misguided loyalty to Seshat it was too dangerous. She wished she could trust Dustin, but the boy had shown that he couldn't hold his tongue.
Sam headed back to the rendezvous point, arriving just as her father did. "We're all set kid," he said, pulling out several small devices. "Ready to be used as small bombs according to Selmak. By my estimates, we have about half an hour to get them into place before the SCG storms the gate. The gate room is in the center atrium of the palace. The Alkesh is parked outside, near the storage shed with the power packs, Selmak and I think Seshat has the Jaffa install the power units and then ships the completed weapons right away, keeping them out of the hands of the slaves. We found a way in that isn't well guarded and think we can take out the storage area and the ship in one blow. If you can create a diversion that will draw the guards away from the gate, I think we'll have a chance."
Having spent the last few days imagining just how she'd blow up Seshat's palace, Sam grinned, and held out her hand for some of the converted power units, listening attentively as Selmak took over and explained how to arm them and how much time she'd have to get out of the blast area, as well as how much damage to expect. The information automatically updated the calculations in her head, and she blinked as Selmak shifted control back to her father.
"Sam, I don't know whether I should be frightened, or proud of you right now. When you get that look in your eyes, part of me wants to take cover, and the other part of me is relieved that you are on our side," he said. "Sometimes it's a little scary how much you seem to enjoy this sort of thing."
Sam grinned, and shrugged. "Blowing stuff up, what's not to like?" Jacob laughed, and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, "Like I said kid, I'm glad we're on the same side. I'll meet you back near the gate if I can. Stay safe." With that, he melted into the brush, and Sam quickly evaluated the cliff side, scanning for the best way up that would offer the most concealment. Fortunately, the cliff was not sheer, and offered several promising routes, including one that provided cover out of the direct line of sight from anyone in the main encampment. There did not seem to be any guards at the top, either because Seshat lacked the numbers to post them, or because they didn't think anyone would be bold enough or prepared enough to make an assault from that direction.
She was nearly to the top when she heard shouting from the camp. She didn't need to look to know that the Jaffa had finally noticed that she, Mehet, and or Tok'nar were all missing. From the sounds below, Sam suspected that the Jaffa were rounding up the slaves, and her knowledge of Goa'uld scare tactics said that people would start dying soon.