Thanks to those of you who are still following this story. Next chapter at last. Enjoy.
Chapter 14 Jail Break!
The cell door swung open slowly.
Daniel eyed the empty air warily. Nobody appeared to be outside. "Um…hello?" he asked, cautiously.
There was a brief pause, then Jack O'Neill appeared. "Hey!" he grinned, looking slightly befuddled. "You know, these cells aren't numbered! How's a guy supposed to break his friends out if he doesn't know which one they're inside?"
"Jack!" Vala gave a delighted whisper and slid over to him, dishing out a one armed hug to the General.
He patted her shoulder in return.
Daniel moved more slowly. He might have been healed by the Gou'ald device but his body still ached as if ten Jaffa had been dancing on it. "Well, if we'd known that you were coming we would have hung out flags," he told his old friend.
"How you doing?" Jack observed the archaeologist carefully, who grinned ruefully.
"I'll live. Thanks to Vala." The smile that he bestowed upon the alien was rare and beautiful.
She blushed and grinned back, goofily.
"Have I missed something?" Jack looked from one to the other, eyes scrunched up.
"Nothing we can't fill you in on later," Daniel had reached the doorway now - glancing up and down he saw that the hallway was empty. "Are we getting out of here?"
"Yup. That would be the plan." Jack scratched his chin. "Where's Mitchell?"
"Not sure." Vala prodded the General. "Have you seen a short young man? Nice face? He was hanging about here."
"You mean Laylun?" Jack tweaked a small grin at her. "Our 'Guy on the Inside'?"
"Yes!" Frowning, Vala watched him. "You didn't hurt him, did you?"
"Now, why would I want to do that? He's the reason we're here! And by here, I mean, actually here. As in, here. In front of you. Inside the palace."
As Jack spoke the adjoining cell door swung open and the surviving members of SG teams 13 and 19 crept stealthily out into the hall, accompanied by Laylun himself.
"Here he is," Jack slapped the young man on his shoulder.
"I must return." Laylun briefly laid his hand on Vala's shoulder. "I will be missed if I am away from my station for too long. We will standby and await your signal." The last sentence was directed at O'Neill, who nodded.
"Be careful," Vala whispered.
"You too, Mother." Laylun swiftly and silently headed away up the corridor. They all watched him go.
"So, what now?" Daniel winced as he rotated his shoulders. "And – how did you actually get here, Jack?"
"Ah! Well now," Jack also began to move along the hallway in the direction of the guards' desk. "I decided that retirement was getting me a little – antsy – so I talked Hank into letting me join the Hammond as an observer. Meant that I could bring a big fat load of kit and caboodle from the SGC with me too, like –oh, I don't know, Naquadah generators and such like."
"You mean, the Hammond is back?" Vala asked excitedly.
"It is." Jack affirmed. "With my good wife at the helm and rather a lot of angry Free jaffa warriors. Well – most of the angry warriors are now down here somewhere – your friend Laylun brought us in undetected by the bad guys. He's quite a whiz with gizmos and gadgets, so it seems."
Vala twisted from side to side, fingers interlocked, beaming proudly. "Well, he has been rather well taught, I like to think," she told him.
Jack deadpanned her, but there was a twinkle in his eye.
"So – what was the crash that we heard?" Daniel asked.
"Ah," the General looked mildly discomfited for a moment. "That would have been me. Slight issues with a couple of interfering guards. They're tied up now in a broom cupboard somewhere. So – shall we?"
"Shall we what?" Vala whispered.
"Shall we go and have some fun?" Jack dropped his voice to a whisper too.
"What about Mitchell?" Daniel ducked his head down to Vala's – the three ex-SG-1 team mates were now in a tight huddle. SG 13 and 19 looked on interestedly.
"Well, where is he? Do we know?" Jack looked from one to the other of his friends'.
"With Athena?" offered Vala, hopefully.
"With Athena. Well, that's a lot of help." Jack blinked under the fierce glare that she sent him. "Hey –it's a big old palace!"
"I know it's a big old palace!" Vala hissed back at him. "I broke in here too remember?!"
"Guys…" Daniel intervened smoothly.
"Okay, okay." Jack let out his breath in a whoosh. "I'll take these guys and meet up with the remaining Jaffa as Carter beams them in. You two go find Mitchell. Then radio us. We'll wait for your signal to begin the assault. Okay?"
Daniel and Vala nodded. "Okay."
"Watch your backs!" Jack reminded them, as they parted company.
"You too." Daniel gave him one of his speaking looks. "Mind your knees!"
Jack and the two SG teams headed away towards the outside of the palace, along the way that Vala had entered.
Daniel and Vala moved slowly towards a narrow flight of stairs at the far end of the corridor. They paused at the bottom.
"Ready?" Daniel asked soberly.
Vala drew her Zat, handing it to him before pulling her long hunting knife out of her boot. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him firmly on the mouth.
"Darling – I was born ready. Let's go."
o – o – o – o – o – o –
Mitchell came around slowly, and found himself lying on the most comfortable bed he thought that he had ever laid on. It was huge, and long – his feet didn't reach the end, and if he extended his arms they weren't touching the sides. Above his head was a lustrous canopy, made of mahogany and gold satin, with drapes which hung in deep folds on either side of the bed, right down to the ground. The covers on which he lay were thick and comfortable – they were also in resplendent shades of bronze, gold and brown. Many pillows were arranged behind him – the extremely sore and battered Colonel rolled onto his side briefly and buried his tired face in them.
Mitchell had no idea where he was – the last thing he remembered was a particularly huge and ugly ex-Jaffa beating the crap out of him. A well-placed smack to the head had rendered him too dizzy to do anything other than pass out cold. He'd woken up here, on this amazing piece of very cosy furniture, in what looked to be a large, pristine bed chamber. Similar draperies to the ones on the bed covered the walls, with several intricately sewn tapestries hanging alongside them. Mitchell eyed the nearest one to himself and wondered hazily how much work it must have taken to make such an amazing looking piece.
Square, mullioned windows ran around the top of the walls, on all four sides of the room, which allowed the room to retain a bright, airy atmosphere in spite of the sombre, regal bed hangings. Several low tables were placed in corners and beside walls – a variety of bowls, jugs and ornaments stood upon them.
Mitchell groaned and sat up slowly, leaning his face onto his hands. After a moment or two he levered himself to the edge of the bed. On a low pedestal close by was a wide, deep bowl and pitcher – he gingerly tipped out some water, testing it suspiciously, before dipping both hands in and sluicing his head and neck liberally. The Colonel gulped down some good deep draughts as well - he hadn't realised how thirsty he was.
Feeling more than a little revived Mitchell eased himself to his feet and strolled carefully around the room. If I didn't know better, he thought, I'd swear that this was her Ladyship's bed chamber! The thought of himself being some kind of tasty morsel, about to be offered up to the Gou'ald for her own delectation, made his heart sink. I gotta get out of here, he thought.
Looking up at the windows he immediately discounted them – too high. Both to climb up to from inside, and doubtless get down from on the other. He rubbed his chin. There were two heavy, dark-wood doors which led out of the bedroom – Mitchell began to move towards one, when he heard sounds from outside of the other. He looked around quickly – the only place to hide appeared to be under the huge bed. Without further ado he dropped to the floor and wriggled beneath it.
Everything went quiet outside for several minutes. Then a door banged further up the hallway, followed by what sounded like a hissed, vehement conversation. Mitchell frowned, puzzled. He recognised those voices, surely? Before he could do anything however, he heard someone at his own door again. The lock moved with a satisfying 'click', then the ornate door swung open.
Two pairs of feet came into the room, and stopped.
Nobody spoke, then a bright, twinkly eyed Vala dropped to her knees in front of him. "Hello," she grinned cheerfully. "We've come to rescue you."
"Now, that's what a man likes to hear," Mitchell answered, groaning slightly as he eased himself out from under the giant bed.
Daniel pulled him to his feet.
"Jackson – how are you feelin'?" Mitchell stretched carefully. "You doin' as good as me?"
"Pretty much," replied his team mate.
Vala was prowling about the room, picking things up and putting them down again.
"Princess, what are you doin'?" Mitchell asked.
"I'm just checking," she lifted resembled a bronze candlestick, looked closely at it's base, then replaced it. "I'm just making sure that Athena doesn't have any of my things here that's she's stolen!" She moved on, grabbing a long slender crystal bottle. It felt heavy in her hands. "I could have sworn this was mine," she added, suspiciously.
"Now's not the time," Daniel remarked, tugging her away from the artifacts. "Come on, we need to meet up with Jack."
"General O'Neill?" Mitchell's eyebrows nearly touched his hairline. "What the heck is he doing here?"
"Helping," Vala told him, performing her famous 'air quote' finger gesture.
"Does Sam know?" Mitchell asked, incredulously, ducking his head around the door as he spoke.
"Oh yeah." Daniel moved to the other door post. "Although how Jack managed to talk her into it is beyond me. Wouldn't surprise me if Sam wasn't as surprised to see him as we were!"
Mitchell snorted. "I'll bet."
The three of them crept silently along the corridor, back towards the main hallway and the narrow stairs which led to the lower level.
Vala paused to pull the door closed behind them. "People never do that on the TV," she told the men, informatively. "I don't understand why. I mean, if you'd escaped from somewhere, you wouldn't want people to know would you? You wouldn't want to advertise the fact that you'd 'done a runner' so to speak? And yet, they never stop to shut the door behind themselves. It's a standard give away, surely – the bad guys come to check up on you, door's open – they know that you've busted out. It's ridiculous, really it is. People on TV are so stupid sometimes."
Daniel put his hand gently over her mouth. "Be. Quiet. Please." He told her, even as his eyes twinkled.
Mitchell had reached the end of the corridor. He paused, listened and waited. No sound from around either corner of the junction. Continuing to hesitate, he glanced back at Daniel and Vala, who were both watching him in readiness. Still no noise from close by. Mitchell took a deep breath and looked around the corner to his left.
The huge, ugly Jaffa who had stamped on him earlier grabbed him around the neck and hauled him forward. Three more honed in on Daniel and Vala, removing both the Zat and the alien's long hunting knife. She glared, but kept silent, hoping that they wouldn't find the other one stuffed down the back of her BDU jacket.
"Our Priestess knew that you would attempt to escape," one of the smaller, younger warrior's told them. He frowned at Daniel and Vala. "She will be interested to find out who let you two free from your cell, no doubt."
"Pffftt!" Vala rolled her eyes and shrugged, folding her arms.
"Can't you see?" Daniel looked from one to the other of the group. "She's just using you! She's using you to protect herself while she gets exactly what she wants!"
"And what is it that you believe our Priestess wants?" the young man asked.
"Power," said Daniel, flatly. "It's what all Gou'ald want. She's told you that your only hope against the Lucian Alliance is to fight with her, right? And if you win against them, if you beat them, then you'll gain freedom, no doubt. Surely you can't believe her? As soon as she's used you to bring down the Alliance she'll revert to being a Goddess again, and you'll be nothing more than her slaves."
"That is not true!" another of their adversaries spoke up. "She has promised that she will not return us to how it was before, when the Gou'ald were in power across the galaxy. She has promised that she will lead us to become a great nation again."
"And you believe her promises?" Vala laughed scornfully. "I mean, really?"
The second young warrior wavered slightly. "We – we do. And it is the only way! The Alliance are gaining control everywhere! They are worse than the Gou'ald!"
"You don't believe that, surely?" Daniel watched the young man's face intently.
"I – I – we, yes we believe it is so!" The first young man answered, but was beginning to sound rather unsure as well. "Athena is our only hope of winning against the Alliance."
"So – how do you feel about her blowing up the Temple on Dakara?" Mitchell asked, conversationally. "You goin' along with that? Those innocent people killed, buildings in ruins? You think that was the right thing to do?"
"We are not all from the Jaffa here," the third man spoke up. "And we understand that sacrifices must be made. The way to ensure that all Jaffa on Athena's side are commited wholly to her cause was to destroy the Temple. It was the best way. Now they only have our Priestess to fight for – there is no other cause which is dear to their hearts."
"My family were on Dakara when the Temple was hit," the huge Jaffa broke in, unexpectedly. His face puckered briefly. "My father and my eldest son were killed." He paused. "It is all for the best! It is all for the cause!"
"You're wrong." Vala said, quietly, as she watched him with sorrowful eyes.
The big Jaffa looked away.
"Y'know anyway, the Temple is still there?" Mitchell said, nonchalantly. "I mean, it's a bit sorry looking, but it'll survive. They're rebuilding as we speak."
"You lie!" The third, most militant Jaffa hit the Colonel in the face.
"Hey!" Daniel caught Mitchell as he staggered back.
"I'm not lying," Mitchell's voice was muffled, through his hands which he held up to his now bleeding nose. "Go to Dakara, check it out."
"He's right," Daniel chimed in. "And Athena is wrong. She'll use you, then rule you. And you'll be left with nothing."
"No!" The angry young man went for Daniel now, but was halted in his tracks by Vala smashing the heavy crystal vial, which she'd had secreted up her sleeve, down onto the back of his head. He plummeted to the floor like a stone. There was silence for a moment.
"Sorry," Vala grinned widely and apologetically. "He really was rather annoying, don't you agree?'
One of the other, shorter warriors went to run, Mitchell grabbed him and they started to struggle.
Daniel stepped back, eyeing the other two soldiers apprehensively. They both watched the fight, neither speaking. Eventually Mitchell gained the other hand, he right hooked the younger man, sending him staggering back into the giant Jaffa.
Silence fell, broken only by Mitchell's heavy breathing as he recovered.
"So…" Daniel watched their adversaries carefully. There was a long beat.
"Put them in the cell that the Tau'ri were in," the shorter man said, hurriedly. "and tie them up."
The giant Jaffa nodded and went to leave, before turning back briefly. "You say that the Temple was not destroyed?" he asked.
Mitchell nodded. "Still there."
"Then perhaps there is also hope for my family." He dragged the other men off in the direction of the cells.
"Can you help us?" Mitchell asked the remaining man.
"I can." Pausing, he took a breath. "You must understand – many of us saw Athena as the only way to help our homeworlds, we thought…."
Daniel laid a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to explain anything," he told him. "Just help us to get out of here. Can you do that?"
The young man smiled. "I can do that."
TBC...