Chapter 2

Buffy was wondering exactly how she'd let herself be talked into this. She could have been back home, patrolling through cemeteries at 2 a.m. looking for evil undead, fighting against a powerful desire to find a tall building and jump off, being stalked by a bleached vampire with a chip in his head…okay, bad example. The point was, she'd only been off-world for, what, three hours, and already the rest of her team had been captured and she'd chipped a nail climbing a tree to hide from the Jaffa. It had been easy to slip away unnoticed as Jack and the Jaffa faced off, and she'd been following them ever since, looking for a good opportunity to stage a rescue.

"Stupid president," she muttered, tromping over twigs and leaves as she followed the swath the Jaffa had cut through the forest. "Stupid money. Stupid Buffy."

At least they didn't have far to go. The Goa'uld mother ship was about a mile from the town, an enormous pyramid that, in her opinion, really didn't look very aerodynamic. She watched as the rest of her team was shoved into the entrance to the pyramid, then settled against a tree to wait.

In a couple of hours, they'd be overdue to make contact with the SGC, and then she could put into action the plan she was beginning to formulate.

Yes, she thought, watching as two Jaffa patrols—twelve men total—assumed defensive positions around the ship. This is doable.

"Did either of you see what happened to Buffy?" Jack hissed once they'd been escorted to the lavish antechamber of the ship and left with a small contingent of Jaffa to guard them.

"I lost track of her, sir," Carter said, biting her lip in concern for both their errant teammate and their own precarious position.

"Indeed, Buffy Summers disappeared most ably," Teal'c said, with what might have been admiration.

"Let's just hope she convinces Hammond to send reinforcements," Jack said, glancing covertly at one of their guards; the Jaffa glowered back, clearly not about to be caught unawares. "Otherwise, this could be a very, very bad day."

"Silence!" a Jaffa shouted, just as the door slid open and the heavy clunking of Jaffa feet signaled the arrival of another party. "Silence, and bow before your god, Isis!"

If Daniel were here, he could tell them something about this new Goa'uld. Jack couldn't remember ever having heard of Isis before. Daniel was off doing his not-dead-another-plane-of-existence thing, though. At least, Jack hoped he was.

"Listen," Jack said, "I'm not so big on the whole kneeling thing. My knees just aren't what they used to be, and—ow!" He really should have been used to Jaffa whacking him on the back of his legs with staff weapons, but it managed to be just as painful every time.

Isis walked, no, flowed, into the room. She was a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and a face that gleamed. Her brown eyes flashed gold as he watched. Her lips curved into a cruel smile.

"The tau'ri," she drawled, her voice deep and inhuman. "We are pleased."

"How'd you even know we were going to be here?" Jack demanded. He'd been wondering that since the Jaffa had first shown up, worried that there might be some sort of leak in the SGC. He didn't know how Isis could have anticipated their arrival otherwise.

She smirked, flexing her hands to draw his attention to her hand device. "All the Goa'uld are now familiar with the device you call the 'UAV.' It was simply luck that we happened to be on this planet when you sent that device here." Abruptly, she frowned. "But where is your fourth? Where is Daniel Jackson?"

"Well, obviously your information isn't as good as you think," Jack said. "Daniel's dead."

"Nonsense," Isis snarled, her eyes flashing again. "We know that you came with a fourth member. Where…is…Daniel…Jackson?"

He tried to push to his feet and felt himself shoved back down again. "Daniel's dead!" he shouted. He let out a cry of pain as she blasted him in the head with her hand device. His eyes watered as agony swept through his brain, a piercing knife of pain that seemed to go on…and on…forever, and ever…

And then was over. He dropped to his hands, panting, and over the sound of his racing heart and the painful pounding in his head he could hear Carter shouting, "He's telling the truth!"

"Hmmmm. We believe you are telling the truth. That was quite satisfying," Isis smirked, unmoved as he glared up at her. "Though we do not have the grudge against you that so many of our kind do—in fact, we are grateful to you for the deaths of Ra and Setesh—we have heard such stories that we are eager to test your mettle."

"You stinkin', slimy, sonofabitchin' snake—" Jack's unnecessary but oh so satisfying rant was broken off as she used the hand device again, frying his brain like an egg. She kept at it this time until he sank into blessed unconsciousness.

Buffy was kind of bored. Which was ironic, considering where she was. On another planet, stranded, alone, trying to figure out how to rescue her team.

Still, bored. She couldn't leave her position, because she'd decided it was the optimal strategic place to stage her attack. She couldn't hum or listen to music because, well, duh. As far as good places to be bored went, she was starting to think darkened cemeteries were better than an off-world forest. On the other hand, how long had it been since she'd been pleasantly bored? As far as negative emotions went, this one was pretty mellow. Much better than the depression she'd been feeling lately.

Her radio crackled. "SG-1, report. This is Hammond. SG-1, do you copy?"

She lifted it to her face. "Uh, General, this is Buffy. Can you hear me?" Actually, what she really hoped was that the rest of SG-1's radios had been discarded and the Jaffa weren't listening in, because if they were things could go very wrong.

A pause. "Ms. Summers? Where is Colonel O'Neill?"

"Oh, you know how it is, General. Wandered in, met a local, got captured," she quipped. "Some Goa'uld named Isis."

"Captured!"

"Yup. Say, can you take a look around the gate with the Alf? See whether it's guarded?"

"I think you mean the MALP," Hammond said, but there was a pause as he did what she asked. "We're seeing at least five Jaffa," he said heavily. "I'm sorry, Ms. Summers, but I can't authorize a rescue mission as long as the gate's guarded."

"That's okay. I've got a plan."

Another pause. "You have a plan?" She gave him points for only sounding slightly incredulous.

"Yeah. How long can you keep the gate open?"

"38 minutes."

"Should be long enough," she said, crouching behind a tree and examining the Jaffa guards again, taking in their ready postures, the positions of their weapons. "Yeah. Long enough. Here's what I need you to do, sir…"

"Uhhhhhh," Jack groaned.

"Do not try to move, Colonel O'Neill," he heard Teal'c say. "You will experience some discomfort."

"Yeah. You could say that," he said, cracking his eyes open and noting to his surprise that they were still in the antechamber, although Isis had disappeared. "What's goin' on?"

"Um, you passed out, sir," Carter said. "Isis left us alone when you were unconscious. I really don't think you should antagonize her like that, sir."

"Kept her from turning on you or Teal'c, didn't it?" he said, pushing himself slowly to his elbows and resisting the urge to vomit.

Suddenly there was a noisy clamor from outside. "Jaffa!" came Isis' unmistakable voice. She sounded upset, maybe annoyed. Maybe even a little afraid. "Kree!"

Jack felt his hopes lift as the guards in the room hurried away. Carter and Teal'c leapt to their feet, seizing the opportunity to escape, but he had a bit more difficulty. "O'Neill," Teal'c said urgently, grabbing his arm and hauling him upright. "We must—"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence when the Jaffa—plus about twenty more—returned, along with Isis and a small, struggling girl.

"Oh, this is just perfect," Jack muttered.

Buffy stopped struggling—what good, he wondered, did she think she'd be against the two hulking Jaffa who were holding her?—to smile blindingly at the three of them. "Hi, guys," she said cheerfully. "How's it going?"

"Silence!" Isis shouted, backhanding the girl hard enough that Jack was surprised she didn't break something. "How dare you insult us this way!"

Jack blinked. Buffy had managed to insult a Goa'uld? "Buffy."

Buffy coughed, turning her head slowly, looking less dazed than she should from the force of the blow. "Yes, Jack?"

"What'd ya do?"

She shrugged. "Oh, you know. Me and SG-4 took out a bunch of Hissy's Jaffa, and now she's pissed."

"Oh yeah?" Jack said casually. "Nice job."

"Silence!" Isis shouted again. She grabbed Buffy by the throat, indicating for the Jaffa to release the girl. Then, using her symbiote-enhanced strength, she lifted her slowly into the air. "You will tell me where the others you came with have fled."

"I'm not gonna tell you anything," Buffy gasped, her small hands coming up to pry uselessly at Isis' impenetrable grip.

That's right, Jack thought, even as an impossible rage began to course through him, fury at seeing one of his team—even a new member—treated that way. Don't say a word.

Then Isis lifted the hand device, and for the first time, on her first trip off-world, Buffy had the good fortune to experience the torture the Goa'uld could impose.

The sunny blonde from California didn't scream. She didn't make a sound, just sort of twitched as the beam of light connected with her forehead.

"Tell me what I want to know," Isis said slowly, her lovely features twisted into a hideous expression.

"N-no," Buffy gasped. Which only caused Isis to redouble her efforts.

It went on for over a minute, long enough that Jack was amazed that Buffy was still conscious. He could feel Carter and Teal'c on either side of him, the tense, helpless rage in their bodies. They'd been in this position before many times, being forced to watch as one of their team was tortured, and it never got any easier.

When Isis let up again, Buffy was sobbing. "Please," she said. "Please…don't do that again."

"Then tell me where the other team is," Isis said, her eyes glinting with imminent victory.

"I can't," Buffy choked out. "I don't know where they are." Then, seeing Isis raise her hand again, she cried, "But I can find out!" Jack's breath caught in his chest as a sudden tide of betrayal rose at the back of his throat.

Isis tilted her head. "How?"

"My radio," Buffy said brokenly.

"Buffy, no!" Jack shouted. "Don't you tell that Goa'uld anything." A staff weapon to the face sent him reeling again, cursing as he felt his tender nose.

She averted her eyes, and accepted the radio when one of the Jaffa brought it to her. Swallowing heavily, she said, "SG-4, come in."

A pause. "This is SG-4 niner."

"This is Buffy. I just got away. What is your location?"

"We're about three clicks due north of the mother ship. We'll await your arrival."

Now Isis' grin was full-blown. She turned to the Jaffa. "Go," she said. "Bring them back alive."

All but two of the Jaffa obediently trotted off. Jack glared at Buffy as viciously as he could, but she just hung her head as several minutes passed.

He glanced at Carter, who looked defeated, then Teal'c, whose solemn expression conveyed no hint of the disapproval he knew the alien must be feeling. None of them had ever given up information to a Goa'uld, especially not after just one blast with a hand device.

He looked back at Buffy, who was still standing there in that useless hangdog position. He almost got the sense that she was waiting for something.

Then she moved.

One jab of her elbow to one of the Jaffa's symbiote pouches doubled him over; a punch to the face of the other sent him reeling. Her right foot came up to snap into the face of the first Jaffa, knocking him unconscious, and a roundhouse kick dropped the other. It all took about a second, and Buffy wasn't even breathing hard.

It was the single most stunning instance of martial arts Jack had ever seen.

Apparently Isis thought so too. "What—" was all she had the chance to say before Buffy launched herself with a flurry of blows at the Goa'uld, knocking her off balance, then somersaulted over her, reached out, seized her by the back of the neck in her tiny hand, and, with one jerk, pulled out her spine, symbiote attached. Her hand glistened wetly as she dropped the bony, Goa'uldy handful and stomped on it. A moment later Isis' body dropped with a thump to the floor.

Her nose wrinkled as she wiped her hand on Isis' clothes. Then she looked at SG-1. There was something feral in her eyes, something that Jack now realized had been hidden before, just beneath the surface. This was a very dangerous woman.

Jack swallowed. "Well, Summers, that was…disgusting," he said, barely noticing his own switch to calling her by her last name. Somehow, he didn't think someone who was able to do what she'd just done should be made fun of for her name. "And…impressive."

"Indeed," Teal'c said emphatically.

"Doesn't excuse the fact that you just sent a horde of Jaffa after one of our teams though," Jack added, remembering why he'd been angry.

Buffy looked unimpressed by his tone. "I'll explain everything later," she said. "We need to hightail it back to the gate while the Jaffa are gone."

"Are you insane, Summers?" Jack said, taking a zat gun and staff weapon from one of the Jaffa and watching as Teal'c took a staff weapon and Carter another zat. "We're going to rescue SG-4's butt right now."

"They're not out there," she said, hand on her hip and eyes narrowed, as if he was the one being stupid. "It was a trick!"

His fury abated somewhat.

"A trick," he said slowly.

"Yes, to get most of the Jaffa to leave. And it worked, but they're gonna be pissed off when they come back. Can we go now, please!"

She led the way out of the building quickly, the rest of the team lagging somewhat behind. They paused, stunned by the carnage they found just outside the mother ship: twelve Jaffa mostly either dead or unconscious, none with bullet wounds. They'd just been…beaten up. Some of them were even conscious, but made no move to stop SG-1, as they were too busy moaning from the pain from their wounds.

"We're gonna have a long talk when we get back to the SGC, Summers," Jack said. They began to jog back toward the stargate. Jack was keenly aware that he was holding the group back, but the further they went the more his head began to clear and the debilitating pain faded to faint nausea.

"We'll have to get past the Jaffa at the gate first," Buffy pointed out. "Five of them."

"And you didn't think to mention this earlier?"

She shot him a look. "I'm telling you now."

The sun was just beginning to go down when they neared the clearing in the forest where the stargate stood. They crept forward slowly.

"Yup," Jack said. "Five Jaffa, just like we expected. All right. Teal'c, you take the two on the left, Carter take the one in the middle, and I'll get the two on the right."

"Ahem," Buffy said. "What about me?"

"No offense, Summers, but I don't know how good your aim is, and we need to make sure this happens quickly."

"Jack, I could shoot a fly off of your nose from fifty feet away, if I wanted to. I'll take the guy on the far right." Her tone was no nonsense.

He huffed. "Fine." He handed her his zat. "Everyone understand? Let's do it."

The five Jaffa were down before they knew what hit them, Buffy's aim proving to be as good as promised. "Carter, dial it up," Jack ordered as they ran for the gate, keeping an eye out for any extra Jaffa who might be lurking somewhere. Still, he found himself taken off guard as one launched himself out of the forest to land on Jack, seemingly with the intent of pummeling him to death.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c shouted, bringing his staff weapon to bear. Before he could fire, Buffy reached up and snapped the Jaffa's neck with a quick twist of her hands.

The stargate whooshed to life as Jack stared at the tiny woman, the adrenaline pumping through them both. "A long talk, Summers," he said. "Really long."

She grinned, baring teeth. "After you, Jack."

They leapt through the gate.

Buffy was somewhat surprised to be greeted by a team of SFs in the gateroom, although she realized that she shouldn't have been. It was only the sensible thing to do. Also waiting for them was General Hammond, who looked rather surprised to see that SG-1 was in one piece.

"Okay, Summers," were Jack's first words as he glared at their newest addition. "Please tell me we didn't just abandon SG-4 to the tender mercies of Isis's Jaffa."

"SG-4 hasn't gone anywhere, Colonel," Hammond said.

"So that whole radio communiqué…" Carter said, a smile of understanding growing on her face.

"Was all part of Ms. Summers' plan. The details of which I've yet to learn. I'm just glad you're all okay," Hammond said.

"Ah, well, General, about that. I could probably use a quick trip to see the Doc," Jack said reluctantly, hating to volunteer himself for time in the dreaded infirmary. "Just a little encounter with one of those Goa'uld hand device thingies."

"Go ahead, Jack," Hammond said.

"And Summers should come too. She needs to get checked out."

"Both of you, go," Hammond said. "Major Carter, Teal'c, let's debrief now."

Carter and Teal'c exchanged a glance. "Yes, sir."

"After you, Summers," Jack said, gesturing for Buffy to go first.

"I don't know where the infirmary is," she said, slouching and shoving her hands into her BDUs and looking like nothing more than a cheerleader dressed up for Halloween. A cheerleader who, he knew now, could snap a Jaffa's neck with her bare hands.

"Oh, you'll learn, Summers," he said airily, leading the way. "You'll learn."