Chapter 2
"I wouldn't leave if I were you. Not if you want Dr. Jackson to live."
Crap, crap and double crap, Jack thought, shifting his weapon in the direction of the arrogant voice. Its owner, dressed in full military uniform, the first they'd seen on the planet, stepped out from behind the six dignitaries who had followed them to the Gate. Four other soldiers pushed through behind him. They all wore black, with red, lightning-bolt insignia, and except for their leader, they all had long, bayonet-like blades attached to some sort of handle. The weapons didn't look like any match for P-90s, but they were no doubt deadly enough.
Jack stared at the man who had spoken. The uniform was alien, but the stance and the manner were not. He might not have been there yet, but there was no doubt where the man was headed. Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Earth's recent history was littered with men like him. And even if Jack hadn't been able to see it himself, the reactions of the dignitaries as he stepped to the front would have clued him in. Except for Gahry, who seemed hard-put to contain his glee, those men—although they tried to hide it—were afraid. They may have been the ministers of the people of the planet, but this was the man in charge.
Nevertheless, it was Gahry who spoke next, his voice filled with satisfaction. "It would save us all time, and Dr. Jackson a distasteful end, if you would heed Marshal Lioss's advice, Colonel."
"It would save us all a lot of time if you would cut the crap and tell us what you want," Jack snarled.
"I believe that is obvious, Colonel," Lioss said, his disdain for Jack's title obvious. "You may have hoped that your patronizing attitude toward the great Polistian regime would go unnoticed, that your refusal to share your military technology and your knowledge of other worlds was not a grave insult to all who tread here and all who came before, but you were wrong. We will take what we need. In return, we will give you back your man's life.
"Go now and refuse our demands, and Dr. Jackson will die an agonizing death within three days. Leave Dr. Jackson here while we negotiate, and we can extend his life indefinitely, and even—" and here the bastard smiled, "—reduce his pain enough that he won't wish to die. Once we have what we require, we will give him the antidote and return him to you. The choice is yours."
Son of a bitch, Jack thought, and it was all he could do to keep from squeezing the trigger and sending the martinet, Gahry and all of them to an early grave. "How about we try this instead," he said. "You give us the antidote now, and we don't come back here and blow your planet into the next galaxy."
Again the man smiled. He gestured to the town around him. "And kill all these innocents? And destroy the only hope of saving your teammate's life? I think I can call that bluff."
Before Jack could answer, he heard Teal'c shout his name and at the same time heard the sound of the staff weapon charging. He turned and saw seven or eight other soldiers approaching from the other side of the Gate. Teal'c was supporting Daniel's weight with one arm as Daniel struggled to keep on his feet, and a low moan escaped the archaeologist as Teal'c raised his staff with his other hand. Carter saw the men coming and stood sideways now, shifting her weapon back and forth between the two threats. Then movement came from either side and more soldiers stepped out from the shadows of the shops to their right and left.
They were surrounded.
"Colonel?" Carter asked, the tension vibrating in her voice.
"Move 'em back, Major," Jack ordered.
Carter nodded, and they both opened fire with short bursts from their P-90s, shooting up the dirt mere inches from the soldiers' feet. Behind him, Jack could hear Teal'c firing his staff. The soldiers jumped back, then held their ground.
Jack turned toward Lioss then and aimed directly for him. He thought he saw the man flinch, but he covered it well. "Call your men off. We're leaving." He had never been so ready to pull the trigger, and he knew the sadistic man in front of him could see it. So could the ministers, and they all, even Gahry, took a step away.
Jack read the silence and acted. Any hesitation would be fatal here. "Take him through, Teal'c," he said, even as dread for Daniel settled in the pit of his stomach. "Carter, you clear the Gate if they don't move."
There was no response, and he turned his head slightly to look in her direction.
"Major?"
"Yes, sir," she finally said, but it came out as more of a gasp. She was pointing her weapon toward the men who blocked the Gate, but she held her other arm to her stomach and looked as if she were having a hell of a time standing upright.
Damn, he thought, a frisson of fear for his 2IC and for them all running through him, but he kept his voice steady. "You going to make it, Carter?" he barked, keeping his weapon trained on Lioss's heart.
"Yes, sir," Carter gasped out again, but then she let out a cry and went to her knees. "Sam?" he heard Daniel's weak voice call out. At the same time he saw Lioss, who was smiling again, give an almost imperceptible nod in the direction of his men at the Gate. He heard an odd scraping sound and turned to see Teal'c pulling Daniel behind him and firing his staff. One man fell, but another had his knife-like weapon in hand and shot it from its handle like a missile, striking Teal'c in the leg. The Jaffa stumbled, almost dropping Daniel, but stayed on his feet, firing again and hitting his mark.
Jack turned his weapon on the other men at the Gate and started to fire as he shouted, "Teal'c! Take Daniel through. Now!" As another of the men at the Gate fell, he watched Sam struggle to raise her P-90 and fire at the soldiers behind him, and he heard a scream as someone was hit. Teal'c started to drag Daniel forward, but more men had moved to take the places of their fallen comrades and another of the knives flew, hitting Teal'c high in the chest below his shoulder. Daniel fell from his arm, and Teal'c, this time, went to his knees. Jack heard more of the scraping sounds of the Polistian weapons being readied and he spun to find two soldiers mere feet away, their knives pointing directly at his head.
"Lower your weapon, Colonel, or you will all die here and now."
No way this was happening, Jack thought. No f***ing way, but he relaxed his death grip on his P-90 and let it hang, putting his hands out to either side. Carter had already dropped her weapon and knelt practically curled over to the ground, gripping her stomach. One of the soldiers near the Gate had managed to grab Teal'c's staff as he went down; Teal'c was still on his knees, and Daniel was lying on his side where he'd fallen.
At Lioss's gesture, a young soldier stepped up and relieved Jack of his weapon.
The arrogant man smiled. "Now this is interesting. Our original plan was to poison you all and hold you for ransom, and I suppose we could still do that, but a much more . . . entertaining plan occurs to me. You evidently care a great deal about what happens to each other—an amazing weakness in a military unit, I must say—so . . . I believe we shall keep just one, and send the rest of you back through the Gate with a living example of what your comrade suffers. That should move our negotiations along splendidly. The question is, which shall we keep? Would you care to choose, Colonel?"
Jack looked behind him at Carter, Teal'c and Daniel and back at Lioss. "Yeah, sure, all right," he said. "I'll stay. Keep me."
Lioss laughed this time, and Jack itched to wipe the smug expression from his face.
"Not acceptable, Colonel. You are a military officer, one of many. It is my understanding, however, that Dr. Jackson and Major Carter are irreplaceable in your program, so it is most convenient that they are the ones who have already ingested our little potion. We will keep one of them, of course."
"Not going to happen," Jack said, with steel in his voice, although he had no clue how to stop it. "We don't leave our people behind."
Lioss sighed. "You are either incredibly stupid or you believe I am. There is nothing you can do to stop us. Very well. If you won't choose, I will. It was Dr. Jackson, I believe, who made it impossible to negotiate civilly in the first place for the weaponry and information we require, and I hear now that it was Dr. Jackson who almost ruined our plan today. I choose him." He nodded toward the men by the Gate, and Jack turned to see two of the four guarding Teal'c and Daniel step forward to grab Daniel.
"You will not!" Teal'c yelled, struggling to his feet. Two of the men "armed" their knives and pointed them at Teal'c's head, but Teal'c continued to rise, grabbing the arm of one of the soldiers reaching for Daniel.
"Kill him!" Lioss ordered.
"No, wait!" Jack shouted, and when Lioss raised his hand, stopping the men from firing, he said more quietly, "Wait. Just wait."
Lioss, his hand still in the air, looked at Jack expectantly.
"Send Teal'c and Major Carter through the Gate. I'll stay here with Dr. Jackson."
"O'Neill!" Teal'c said, his displeasure at Jack's idea sounding in his voice.
Jack didn't react and didn't break eye contact with the man who, he had no doubt, would someday, if he had the means, gladly become a mass murderer.
"Very well," Lioss said after a silence.
Still not turning, Jack said, echoing his orders about Daniel just short minutes before. "Teal'c. Take Carter and go."
"Colonel," Carter gasped. "We can't. . . ."
"That's an order, Major."
Jack didn't have to turn around to know that Teal'c still hadn't moved from Daniel's side. "Teal'c," he said again, and nothing more, but the command was clear.
This time he sensed movement, and he broke eye contact with Lioss to glance back over his shoulder and saw Teal'c, slowed by his injuries, moving to help Sam from the ground. Teal'c wrapped his arm around her waist, and Sam did the same to Teal'c. Then supporting each other, they limped toward the Gate. Just as they reached the event horizon, Sam looked back at him and their eyes locked, and he knew the pain he saw there was not just from the poison coursing through her system. He gave a short nod, and she turned and the two disappeared through the Gate.
Jack had a sudden, brief dread that he'd never see his two teammates again, but he swallowed it and turned, ignoring the weapons still pointed at his head, and started to walk toward Daniel, who was lying on the ground looking at Jack with pain and panic in his eyes. The soldiers surrounding him just watched, the only emotion showing on their faces that of amusement or, maybe, boredom.
Jack had only taken a few steps, though, when he heard Lioss command, "Take him!"
Son of a bitch! Jack thought, as strong hands grabbed his on both sides. He pushed one of the men off, but another grabbed him, and he stilled, waiting. He wouldn't be able to help Daniel if he got himself injured or killed. But then came the next command and he started to struggle in earnest.
"Throw him through," Lioss said.
"What the hell? We had a deal!" Jack shouted back at the man as he dug in his heels and tried to stop his forward motion toward the Gate. He threw himself backward, knocking one of the soldiers off-balance, and broke away, but then an elbow caught him in the stomach and he went down, and again hands grabbed him, dragging him back to his feet and toward the event horizon. Son of a bitch! he thought again, feeling panic for the first time since the whole mission had gone to hell. He was not leaving Daniel behind!
As he started fighting wildly to throw the men off, he looked toward Daniel again and saw that he had somehow pulled himself halfway off the ground and was holding something in his hand pointed toward the Gate. While Jack watched, Daniel dropped his hand and fell back to his side, bringing his knees almost up to his chest. He was close enough to hear his teammate gasp in pain—"God!"—as if in fervent prayer.
"Daniel!" Jack couldn't help himself from shouting, as he kicked out in vain at the legs of one of the soldiers pulling him past his friend. "Daniel!"
But before he could see if Daniel heard him, he felt himself take flight and he was thrown headfirst into the vivid blue of the event horizon.