Chapter Twenty Eight: Damage Limitation
Glory's teleportation took her to her room in a private safe house on the outskirts of the town. She arrived kneeling down with her hand on Daniel's shoulder. Daniel was still lying down in the sleeping position he was in when Glory had teleported.
"OK, you can get up now," said Glory standing up. "You can stop pretending. We're no longer in the castle."
Daniel opened his eyes and stood up. Glory went over to a wall cabinet and took out two glasses. "Drink?" she asked.
"Of what?" asked Daniel.
"Wine, red wine," said Glory taking hold of a bottle from the same cabinet and looking at the label. "Quite a nice wine actually."
"Thanks," replied Daniel. "So do you think my companions are prisoners then?"
"No, I now know they're not," said Glory.
"What exactly do you know," asked Daniel, "and how?"
"I find I'm getting better and better at telling truth from lies and picking up impressions from other people," said Glory. "The Goa'uld don't have any witch prisoners, I'm pretty sure of that. They probably don't want any witch prisoners. What they want to do is kill as many witches as they can."
"So where are my friends now?" asked Daniel. "You don't think they're dead do you?"
"No I don't. I expect they're doing what they came here to do," replied Glory. "Observing what's going on without taking part themselves."
"So I should join them," said Daniel. "Because that's exactly what I should be doing as well."
"All in good time," said Glory. "You're not a witch or a slayer. You're safest with me."
Daniel wasn't satisfied with this reply but decided not to press the point. He didn't know how far he could trust Glory but she obviously had no intention of letting him go, not at present anyway. He wasn't sure he should try to get away from her anyway. He was in what was probably the best place to observe exactly what went on. If only he could be sure he wasn't under the influence of some of Glory's magic or in danger of changing things just by being there.
Daniel decided to change the subject. "So do you trust Ninurta?" he asked. "Do you think he'll really help you?"
"I thought you knew about the Goa'uld," said Glory as she poured the drinks. "Anybody who trusts a Goa'uld is a fool. Anyway I think he plans to betray me. He's still working for Mitra. He knows Mitra's got spies amongst the witches but he wasn't bothered that they might have told Mitra about him. That must be because Mitra already knows about what Ninurta's up to."
"And should I trust you?" asked Daniel. "Can I trust you not to sell me to the Goa'uld?"
"I'd be an even bigger fool if I let the Goa'uld get their hands on you," said Glory walking over and handing a glass of wine to Daniel. "Good acting by the way. I'm sure he really thought I'd sent you to sleep."
"So who is this Lissie?" asked Daniel. "A relative of yours? Your daughter?"
Glory laughed. "My daughter?" she said. "Oh no, I've never met her, although Ninurta thinks she's my sister and that's the reason I want her back. Lissie is the Keeper of the Key. It's an inherited position. It's somewhat honorary these days but legend has it the old Keepers had a special affinity with the Key and could use it to perform wonders."
"Wonders?" queried Daniel. "What wonders?" There wasn't any mention of a keeper in that old book he thought.
Glory shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine," she said. "Nobody knows. Anyway we want the Keeper back to take care of the Key once we've finished with it. She should be able to shut it down after we've used it to get rid of the Goa'uld. It could cause a lot of trouble if it stays active."
"Can't you do that?" asked Daniel. "You'll be the one using it."
"I don't know. I might have to try," replied Glory. "But what I'll be doing is risky, very risky. I might not be around when this is all over."
"Do you think the Goa'uld know what you're going to do?" asked Daniel. "Is that why they seized the Keeper?" And why won't you give me any details he wondered. Is it because anything you tell me might become known to the Goa'uld? Are you still planning to exchange me? Are you feeding me information that you want the Goa'uld to find out about?
Glory laughed again. "Oh no, that's the funny thing," she said "She was included in a round up of a lot of what they thought were pagan priestesses. They've been imprisoning anybody they think has got any authority and killing any witches they can catch. But it's only because they grabbed the Keeper that anybody thought about using the Key."
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Tara couldn't have orbed them into the Control Center even if she had wanted to because she had never been there before. But she certainly wasn't staying behind. If Willow was going to get into even more trouble then Tara was determined to be there to keep an eye on her. Anyway she thought, at the moment there were no more casualties to treat. There was a lull in the fighting as each side concentrated on defending what it held.
Using another yellow portal might have been possible but the idea was rejected by Willow. It would probably be impossible to put a portal anywhere near the Control Centre without making it obvious and it would simply give the enemy too much warning. Willow therefore combined with Phoebe and Giles to do a spell to teleport them all directly into the Control Centre. As well as Tara they took Teal'c with them.
The first sight that faced them was expected. Everything was still upside down. Willow had successfully prevented Marduk's people from turning things the right way up again. Moving about in a ship with everything upside down was proving to be as much a handicap for the defending Jaffa as it was for the attackers. The familiarity of the defenders with the ship was in large part negated because everybody was operating in an unfamiliar environment.
A continuing problem for the Jaffa and the others supporting Marduk was the practical difficulty of operating the controls of the ship when everything was upside down. However they had nobody else to blame but themselves since the gravity flip had not been part of the attackers' original plan.
It was also no surprise to Willow and the others that there were a group of witches in the control room, working on behalf of Marduk. The prime purpose of these witches was presumed to be the protection of Marduk himself from magical attacks as well as their work in trying to block Willow from trying to take control of the ship's computer and controls.
Willow had put up a magical shield of her own before teleporting. A wise precaution as it turned out because magical attacks in the form of energy bursts directed at the new arrivals by the enemy witches started immediately Willow and the others arrived.
Marduk was sat in a control chair surrounded by seven witches sat cross-legged on the floor around him. It was from these witches that the attacks began, in the form of power discharges which were successfully absorbed by Willow's shield. There were no Jaffa or other crew members present. They were all busy battling the other teams in the next room.
Meanwhile Marduk aimed his own hand held weapon in an effort to kill the attackers. This weapon, which was the same size and approximate shape as a rifle, proved to be ineffective because the spell preventing the discharge of weapons was still in force. In an absolute rage Marduk rushed forward, weapon in hand, intent on using it as a club to kill the witches attacking him.
Teal'c stepped forward to confront the Goa'uld. After an exchange of blows they grasped each other and fell to the floor, each struggling to get the better of his opponent. Meanwhile the battle between the witches continued.
With Willow occupied in fending off the attacks of the other witches, Phoebe and Giles looked around the Control Center in an effort to stop the disaster that Phoebe had been warned against. There was a self-destruct mechanism on the ship and in her vision Phoebe had seen Marduk activate it before having his witches teleport him to safety. If Marduk wasn't stopped then everybody on board would be killed.
Jack and Sam now entered the room and tried to help Teal'c in his struggle with Marduk. Teal'c had so far managed to hold off Marduk but had not been able to do any damage to him. His protections were still working even if his weapons were not and he was enormously strong, partly thanks to the equipment he was wearing.
Jack hammered his rifle butt into Marduk who fell back from where he had been trying to throttle Teal'c. The blow was shrugged of by the Goa'uld who rolled back to his feet. For the first time Marduk appeared to realise how many people had arrived to attack him and he jumped back within the protection of his circle of witches.
Jack and Sam rushed after Marduk but were repulsed and thrown back by the magic shield being maintained by the witches, a shield that Willow had not yet been able to penetrate.
"The controls must be in there with him," said Giles. "We've got to stop him."
"Stop him doing what?" asked Sam.
"Stop me from destroying this ship and everybody in it," said Marduk holding up a control pad. "As soon as I input the command you all have ten seconds before the whole ship explodes."
"That'll kill you and your people along with everybody else," said Sam.
The Goa'uld smiled. "Will it?" he said.
"He plans to have his witches teleport him away," said Phoebe.
"I might be able to stop that," said Willow staring directly at Marduk. "You might be stuck here with us. You might die along with everybody else."
"And I might not," said Marduk. "I'll take my chances. But first I'll give you and your troops a chance to get off my ship. Leave and you can live. Stay and you all die."
"And let you keep the ship to use against us?" said Jack. "No thanks. You've got to come up with a better deal than that. How about you surrender and we let you live?"
"I'm not the one in danger of dying," said Marduk.
At that moment the armoured warrior came through the door and it came fast.
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The transport shuttle landed on the field outside the castle. A group of armed Jaffa surrounding a man and a teenage girl left the shuttle and entered the castle over the causeway which led through the main gate. On the battlements above they were watched by four women, the three witch sisters and Faith.
The women had discovered that the castle was not after all used as a base by the Goa'uld. It was undefended and most of it was empty although various rooms were used by the locals for special events and as meeting halls. It had simply been selected by Glory and Ninurta as a convenient meeting point.
It seemed that the original spell to take the time travellers to the most appropriate time and place, to find out what had happened in the past was the reason why they had ended up outside the castle. Otherwise it would have been an enormous coincidence for them to have arrived just as the meeting between Glory and Ninurta was taking place.
As the new arrivals entered the castle forecourt Paige orbed the group of four down into the shadows of a nearby walkway where Ninurta and his party could not see them and they could carry out their plan. The first order of business was to create a diversion.
Ninurta's party had stopped out in the open in the middle of the courtyard. "Search the dungeon basement," he ordered, addressing his command to the senior Jaffa present. "Make sure it's safe and secure down there." The Jaffa leader and three colleagues entered the main castle keep while the remaining Jaffa waited on guard surrounding Ninurta and the young girl.
Ninurta and his party watched the Jaffa disappear inside the keep. Suddenly a scream rang out from behind them. They turned to see a woman run out of a room on the other side of the courtyard. A second woman came out of the room and dragged the first woman back inside.
One of the Jaffa started towards the room. "I'll find out what's going on my lord," he said to the Goa'uld.
"Stay here," ordered Ninurta. "Probably nothing for us to worry about. We'll know soon enough if it's important."
What the Goa'uld did not realise what that the incident was a planned distraction and part of the plan of the Earthwomen. It had succeeded in drawing the attention of the Goa'uld and all of the Jaffa for the vital few seconds necessary for Paige to orb close enough to the waiting group to be able to get a good sight of the young girl.
Paige orbed back to join her sisters. Prue and Piper in disguise had played the parts of the two women providing the distraction and Faith had been on standby to deal with any Jaffa who tried to follow the sisters or who got in the way. The plan was that once Paige had had a good look at the girl she would magically disguise herself as the captive. Once inside the castle the plan was to switch the girl for Paige.
Paige, disguised as Lissie, would then be delivered to Glory, who hopefully would not be able to tell the difference. At a suitable moment Paige would grab Daniel and orb away. The Goa'uld would not get Daniel and Glory would not get Lissie back so hopefully the timeline would not be changed.
Apart from the possibility that Glory had enough power to recognise what was going on and stop it the main risk was that this plan would disrupt the alliance between Glory and Ninurta, an alliance that might have been important in getting rid of the Goa'uld. The problem was that doing nothing might be worse than doing something and they simply couldn't risk Daniel falling into the hands of the Goa'uld.
"The main thing seems to be using the Key to put up some sort of barrier rather than the alliance with Ninurta," Prue had pointed out when the plan had been discussed.
"I hope you're right," had been Piper's response.
"All OK?" asked Faith quietly as she arrived back with Paige..
"Yes and no," replied Paige.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Faith.
Prue and Piper now also arrived back from the diversion and Prue asked the same question as Faith.
"That girl," said Paige. "I know her. We all know her. It's Dawn Summers."
"That's impossible," said Faith. "How did she get here? She's meant to be back in Sunnydale."
"Well it's not her exactly," replied Paige. "This girl's too young for that. But she looks like Dawn Summers, exactly like Dawn Summers."
"It must be something to do with the Key," suggested Prue. "It can't be a coincidence."
"But does it change the plan?" asked Piper. "We can figure all that out later."
"It changes it alright," said Faith. "You can't let Glory see Dawn, or Lissie whoever she is. You can't even let her see Paige looking like Dawn. When Glory came to Sunnydale, I don't think she knew Dawn at all. It'll change things big time if she recognises her later."
"Well if we need a new plan we'd better come up with it quick," said Paige looking at Ninurta and his party. "They're going inside now."
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"OK, I'll see you then," said Lilah before putting the phone down. "We've got her," she said to Maybourne. "She'll be here with us in a few hours."
"How exactly?" asked Maybourne. "If that's not another one of your endless secrets"
Following release from the Sunnydale Police Station Lilah had informed Maybourne that she had another way to get things done. He had agreed to let her try. Let her try? He was in no doubt that Miss Lilah Morgan would do just what she intended to do anyway, just like she always did.
Lilah and Maybourne had gone back to LA and were now in Lilah's office. To Maybourne the office looked like any other office building and Wolfram and Hart looked like any other legal firm. More security than most perhaps but in recent years everybody had beefed up their security. His main impression was that he had only seen the tip of the iceberg. He had only been shown what the regular visitors got to see. He hadn't expected anything else.
"She went to the local club with some friends," explained Lilah. "A couple of my people picked her up there."
"And all her special friends just looked the other way?" asked Maybourne. "I don't think so. Tell me more."
"Let's just say that not all witches are working against us," said Lilah. "Magic, in the right hands, can be very useful."
"So what's so special about Dawn Summers?" asked Maybourne. "And how will she help stop the Goa'uld from ever coming back to our world?"
"Well a couple of years ago a woman called Glory came to this world, well more than a woman really but let's leave it at that," began Lilah.
"You mean a Goa'uld?" asked Maybourne.
"Oh no, not a Goa'uld," said Lilah, "Glory's very different to a Goa'uld. Anyway she didn't want to be here and tried to track down a mystic Key which she needed to return to her home world. We know she found it because it opened up a major portal to other worlds. But we also know that things didn't go the way she planned because the portal wasn't open for very long before it was shut again."
"And all this matters to us because..." said Maybourne.
"We've now found out that the same mystic Key was used by the Kallistians many years ago to protect their world from the Goa'uld," said Lilah. "We think it's still on Earth. If we can find it, I have people who should be able to use it to protect Earth from the Goa'uld and at the same time stop anybody coming back to Earth from Kallistien."
"So why do we need Dawn Summers?" asked Maybourne.
"Well we know she was with Glory when the portal was opened," said Lilah. "In fact Glory took her captive a day or two before she opened the portal."
"So this girl might know what happened to the Key," said Maybourne.
"More than that," replied Lilah. "There was always somebody on Kallistien who looked after the Key. Somebody with an affinity for it, a Keeper. Dawn Summers might be just such a person. That's probably why Glory grabbed her. Having her might be essential to making the Key work properly. She might be looking after it herself or know where it is."
"Maybe the Key coming here from Kallistian is what lost them their protection against the Goa'uld," said Maybourne.
"Probably not," said Lilah. "We think it's been on Earth for a very long time. Something else must have happened to it in the past two or three years. We know that the people looking after it tried to hide if from Glory. We think they did something to it. We might have to reverse whatever it was they did before it'll work for us."
And just how do you know all of this thought Maybourne. How much of what you're telling me is true? And what more do you know that you're not telling me? And most important of all, why are you involving me in all this? Wolfram and Hart seem to have the resources to play this game without a partner so why are they working with the NID?