"The Goa'uld are parasites. Their civilization is parasitical. Their culture is parasitical. The Goa'uld have nothing that originates within themselves, except their lust for power."
"That's really not so different from us," responded Daniel.
Hon'Teck startled Skaara when he pulled an armor plate away from his abdomen revealing his sliced belly, and a snake similar to the one Skaara had seen in the palace. "This is a larval Goa'uld. We are Jaffa, and the larvae are given to us until they mature. Then they are placed in a more permanent host, like a human. then we receive a new larvae."
"So it's more like a bug," said Scarlett, carrying on a cumbersome conversation through Skaara with Hon'Teck.
"The Goa'uld larva gives us health and extra-long life in exchange for our service," spoke Teal'c in a matter of fact tone.
"And you provide them with the means to enslave," answered Daniel promptly.
"Do not judge us too harshly. They have enslaved us for this purpose. Without the Goa'uld symbiote I and my people would die an agonizing death. Our entire race would become extinct. It is a terrible price we pay. By joining you, I have ensured that when my larva reaches maturity, I will die because I will not be trusted with another."
"So then why did you join us?" asked Scarlett.
"Because I want my people to be free. I have heard of races with the technology to free my people, but you are the first I have seen with my own eyes."
"So these mature Goa'uld, no one has ever escaped their control?" asked a desperate Daniel.
"I have never seen such a thing, and this One Who Sees the Goa'uld would have been right to try to kill Amonet, both for her sake, and ours."
"I want my sister to be free."
"The Goa'uld will use the sarcophagus to keep her body healthy and youthful. When she is finished with it, Daniel Jackson, Amonet will move into another body, and your wife's body will die," lamented Teal'c.
"What makes her your sister, young Skaara, is already dead."
Scarlett looked at both Hon'Teck and Skaara, and then at Snakeyes. "I can't promise anything, but if we can, we'll take her back to earth with us and have our best people look her over." Snakeyes seemed to motion approval, though only Scarlett was sure of this.
The ship flying to the fort, and then the explosion finally jarred Shooter back into the present. Most of the enemy troops were off the field and into the forest across from her position. They were now headed to the north of the gate. The forest would provide cover for an attack on the position of the Joes at the gate. She called this in to Hawk.
She watched as the seeming leader of this small force, now known to her and the Joes as Jaffa, marched directly through the open field toward the gate. He was separate from the bulk of his unit. A few followed him. Some of the Jaffa were still lying on the ground, unmovable, even by the iron will of this incredible warrior.
She shot once. She hit a Jaffa in the back of the knee and he went down violently.
Shot two: she missed one now closer to the forest.
Shot three: she hit another Jaffa in the leg.
Shot four: she knew she had missed wildly.
Shot five: another Jaffa went down, alive.
Shot six never fired. Through her scope she now saw the one Jaffa, noble and brave enemy that he was. He turned and saw the three wounded Jaffa off to his right and walked over to them and bent down. He moved with compassion, briefly touching each of the injured soldiers. She put the crosshairs of her scope right on his head. Then he got up, turned around, and stared right at her. His eyes pierced her heart and soul. She froze again. She could not escape his gaze.
In reality, he could not see her. She could not shoot him. But then somehow she knew he would not harm her. After a few terrifying moments of his glare, he finally turned. He continued to walk his chosen path, out in the open: unmoved, unshaken and undeterred. He moved with purpose. She did not move at all.
They heard the ship before they saw it. Before they spread out into positions, Scarlett got close to Snakeyes. He gently reached his right hand to the back of her neck. She held his left hand in her right hand. They tenderly put their foreheads together.
The moment did not last long, but Skaara turned to Hon'Teck and quietly said in the ancient language, "I thought I had found the woman of my dreams."
Hon'Teck nodded and sighed. He too, was enamored with red-haired warrior. Seeing Scarlett took him back to a time when Apophis brought in the forces of Moloc to join him in subduing a lesser system lord. Among Moloc's warriors was his high priestess, Ishta, and many other beautiful women and skilled warriors. Hon'Teck looked back to this time with fondness and sadness. Moloc forbid Hon'Teck union with any of his warriors. Instead, Apophis arranged a marriage for Hon'Teck with a priestess of Baal from Dakara. Hon'Teck's wife was a spoiled brat with no interest in such rugged activity, or in Hon'Teck. He believed she actually was more interested in Baal, and so he has not had contact with her in many years.
Hon'Teck returned to the present, looking at Skaara. "He is a warrior worthy of her. Come, let us fight together. Perhaps we will find your sister." Inside Hon'Teck wondered if finding Amonet meant finding his god Apophis, and what that might mean. Would his god smite them, or would one of them bear the name similar to O'Neill, Slayer of Ra? Hon'Teck wondered of Apophis' mortality. Apophis had lost his hand, and now would they have the chance to end it all?
Scarlett, Snakeyes, Skaara, and Hon'Teck spread out. Skaara had come up with the plan. The only change to his plan to take the ship was for Snakeyes, instead of Skaara, to join Hon'Teck in boarding it.
Hon'Teck could not communicate directly with Scarlett, but communicating with Snakeyes required that he communicate with Scarlett, and then through Skaara. Snakeyes and Scarlett had an almost seamless communication. It was not audible, though the man in black could hear. It was almost intuitive.
Before the cargo ship came into sight, one of the guards curiously stepped out of the perimeter surrounding the ring sight and into the tree-line. He quickly came back.
As the cargo ship came into position, four of the guards moved into a smaller circle below the ship. Scarlett watched from her hiding place as a light began to shine from the belly of the cargo ship.
At this moment two guards stepped into the light and turned back to back. They fired on the other Jaffa.
When the two Jaffa began to shoot the others, Scarlett eyed another Jaffa through the scope in her crossbow and fired. She watched the soldier go down. Then she looked to see rings from the ship encircle Hon'Teck and Snakeyes, the two Jaffa who had fired on the others. She targeted and hit another Jaffa who went down. She watched as Snakeyes and Hon'Teck disappeared. Apophis and Sha'uri now appeared where Snakeyes and Hon'Teck had stood moments before.
Skaara began shooting his MP-5 at troops near his location. Scarlett kept track. Of the original dozen or so guards, Snakeyes and Hon'Teck and knocked out four, Scarlett had already hit two. Skaara had taken out two, leaving about four-no-a fifth Jaffa. Scarlett targeted her crossbow, and then hit another Jaffa. Skaara continued to shoot in the general direction of the guards, careful not to shoot near Sha'uri.
Apophis recognized the danger immediately. Amonet touched her wrist bracelet and activated the rings again. This time, Apophis and Amonet disappeared from sight.
Apophis and Amonet materialized within the rings on the cargo ship. Apophis noticed the guards on the floor and one in the pilot's seat smiling at him. "Shova!"
This was turning into a bad day. Where could he go? Amonet stepped in between Apophis and the pilot. Apophis dove for a staff weapon on the ground. He reached out on his belly lying on the ground with his head toward the rear of the compartment, hoping that would buy him a few moments. It did not.
A Jaffa hit him over the head with a staff weapon. The pilot, in turn, hit Amonet over the head. Amonet was unconscious. Apophis was dazed, but aware enough to know that to save his life he needed to stay still. He could not reach the rings, and if he did, he could not activate them.
Back on the ground below the ship, another guard went down. The guards turned their attention on Skaara, who was forced to retreat further into the forest. Scarlett's choice of the silent crossbow left her untargeted. The last three guards moved to the edge of the forest. She slung her crossbow around her shoulder, and grabbed her laser-rifle.
Scarlett silently snuck up behind the three Jaffa hunters. She opened fire on them, taking out one in the first burst. Skaara had been watching and created a cross-fire, taking out the last two. He has done this before, Scarlett thought.
They both ran to the point where the rings had taken Snakeyes and Hon'Teck first, and then Apophis and Amonet. Scarlett fired her laser into the sky in front of the cargo ship.
Aboard the ship Hon'Teck saw the signal and activated the rings, bringing Skaara and Scarlett aboard. Hon'Teck turned the ship, and flew it toward the gate.
Skaara finally saw his sister, unconscious. He ran toward her, only to be stopped by a Jaffa. Skaara knew it was Snakeyes. She was lying next to Apophis, still appearing to be unconscious. Snakeyes took the barrel of Skaara's weapon and pointed it at the two Goa'uld.
Snakeyes disappeared for a moment, and returned in his all black costume. As the ship flew, they both stood silently with their weapons trained on their captures.
Grunt led the refugees down the path to the edge of the forest. Just as they arrived there, staff weapon blasts came in from the forest on the north of the field surrounding the gate.
The Joes returned fire. Steeler fired the MoBat's main gun into the forest, as well as its .50 cal machine gun. Grandslam fired the Hal into the forest. Trees splintered and fell. Several other Joes fired a variety of weapons into the woods.
Grunt decided to lead the refugees around the edge of the field from where they were on the south edge, over to the position held by Zap and SG-2 on the eastern ridge above the gate. It was closer to the gate, and would allow him to get into the firefight while still providing cover for the refugees.
It did not take long for the Jaffa to the north to fall back and hold their fire. These Jaffa had been in the fort when Hawk slammed it with the MMS. They had faced Flak fire in the open field, and now they had seen what looked to them like a rolling fortress and something like a large staff weapon blast and shattered trees right in front of them. These were no longer the bold armies of the god Apophis, but petrified men, exposed to elements they had never seen or expected, not to mention the noise of the armored fortress. Few Jaffa were physical casualties of the barrage, many more were emotional casualties, traumatized right out of the rest of the fight.
But they had affected their enemies, though they did not know this. Hawk and Breaker saw the shrapnel fly off the DHD. They ran to the control device. The Jaffa had hit the DHD in such a way as to damage several of the keys, as well as one of the conduits that ran from the keyboard to what they were calling the cpu. Flash began checking to see if conduit was missing between the control device and the gate.
"Can you fix it?" Hawk asked.
"Maybe, but I'm going to need help," replied the communications expert. Hawk looked around and realized he could not pull Grand Slam from the Hal, or Flash from his weapon. He looked up to the ridge and saw Grunt.
"Is Captain Carter with you? We need to fix this DHD," asked Hawk via radio to his infantry specialist.
"Yeah, I'll do you one better. May I suggest our new Jaffa friend as well," Grunt responded. And with that, Carter, Jackson and Teal'c ran down the hill toward the DHD.
Meanwhile, Stalker, at the back of the group of refugees, saw movement. "Jaffa coming from the rear!" he called out.
O'Neill, and Grunt ran to join him on one side of the path, while Rock'n'Roll had established a position on the other side. As the six Jaffa approached, the Joes created a cross-fire, taking down two enemy combatants in short order. The other four Jaffa found cover, and fired their staff weapons wildly back at the Joes and O'Neill.
The battle was far enough away not to threaten Carter, Breaker, and the others working on the gate. That did not satisfy Hawk. "Grunt, coordinates for those Jaffa."
Grunt relayed, "Twenty-five yards southeast of our position." And then he went into more detail.
"Shortfuze, the honors," Hawk ordered as Shortfuze unloaded three Flak rounds on the given position. Again the combat ceased.
Stalker shouted to O'Neill and Grunt, "We need to keep them from flanking us. Grunt, you hold this position and keep the road in a cross-fire with Rock-n-Roll. Colonel, you and I need to move to a position away from the path so that these Jaffa don't flank us and get clean shots at the refugees, and then the ridge."
O'Neill was still getting used to having NCO's give orders. He had seen Stalker and Scarlett display their intelligence in the briefing. Scarlett was beyond competent, having rescued him and his teammates. Now he was with Stalker who was a take charge sergeant in the field.
A little more than a year ago, O'Neill had brought a team of eight men through the gate. He had not hand-picked this team, they were picked for him. Only four survived. He retired shortly after that.
Before his first trip through the gate, he had taken time off from his son's accidental death. He was not ready for command. O'Neill had not been in a combat situation, or training for that matter, for almost four years. He went back to those days in Special Tactics. NCO's had behaved in much the same way, only he had forgotten his relationship with his CSM's, and other sergeants. He had no further issue with taking orders from Stalker, and relished that these Joes knew what they were doing.
Stalker and O'Neill ran in a semi-circle to the northeast, trying to keep distance from the ridge where the refugees hid for cover. Stalker stopped O'Neill, and pointed for him to set a position. Stalker was going to continue on. "How far are you going?" O'Neill asked.
"Not sure, I'll know it when I feel it. Don't worry, we'll stay in line of sight," O'Neill watched as Stalker moved off about forty yards to his north. The forest was thinner in this spot and allowed them both to see each other, and any Jaffa trying to sneak behind them.
During the night, Grandslam, Flash, and Breaker made Hawk nervous because they had taken some time to look the gate and its DHD over.
Breaker had looked at the keys. He saw it as a computer with letters shaped like constellations.
Flash and Breaker had removed one panel at the bottom of the DHD in an attempt to learn about the gate. Breaker's curiosity led him to examine the connections between the individual keys and the larger DHD computer, wondering aloud if it worked with systems similar to the standard binary code. He videotaped the system.
Flash was looking over the general wiring of the DHD, from what looked like a central processor into cables that ran directly to the gate. He did not recognize some of the materials used, but thought that they still functioned with positive and negative current, as well as grounding cable. Some of the hardware was made from the same quartz as the gate itself.
Grand Slam, always examining the latest in fanciful FTL theories, examined the cables, how they attached to the gate, and the gate itself. The three compared notes. They all knew that if there was a problem, Breaker would have to be the default gate expert because Grandslam and Flash would have important combat responsibilities.
Hawk had some concern they might break the DHD, but they had only removed a panel and it had worked when they checked in with the SGC. He knew they were the best at what they did which is why they were on his team, but none of them ever expected to be doing their jobs light-years from earth. Now Hawk hoped that this tinkering would pay off.
Breaker pulled out his video camera, "I have a recording of the where the keys go. You can push the missing keys like a keyboard that's missing the letter once we make sure the switches are all connected to the cpu."
"I really haven't had a chance to examine a DHD, but it looks like there is no power," said Carter, who quickly added, looking inside the panel, "It looks like the power is generated by this crystal. A surge from the shot must have burned it out." She held it up for the others to see it.
Carter was surprised to see Breaker pull out a soldering torch. Breaker ducked inside the panel and began to work on the keys, welding cable to the back side of the keyboard from inside the DHD. In the meantime, Flash came over to Carter, "What do we need to get this working?"
"We need a power source, you don't suppose one of these laser-rifles can do it?" asked Carter.
"Too bad it doesn't work on double-A batteries, I think my laser would do more harm than good," Flash answered.
Carter and Flash could not get to the power source while Breaker was reconnecting the keys. There was only one panel that led to both the keys and the power source, so only one person could have access at a time. But even if they did have access, what could they do?
As they pondered this question, Hawk shouted, "Movement in the forest. West!" Hawk and Flash took up positions using ceremonial stones as cover. Grand Slam turned the Hal toward the west. Teal'c, and Daniel, both using the DHD for cover tuned their staff weapons also in that direction.
Then it hit Carter as she aimed her staff weapon. She called out to Daniel, stunning Breaker who, like a mechanic working on a car, jumped and bumped his head when she yelled. "Ask Teal'c about the power source for these staff weapons. It's crystalline. I've examined one back on earth. Will it work with the DHD."
Daniel asked Teal'c. After they had spoken, Daniel told her that Teal'c did not know.
Breaker also responded, "I don't know, but it looks like the keys are connected to the cpu." He got up and took a firing position as Carter ducked her head into the panel.
The forest to the west erupted in a firefight.
Shortfuze spoke to Grand Slam, "I thought you said they were an hour off, it's only been half that."
Hawk responded, "Must be a scouting party that was under the forest. Probably not very many troops, yet. Grand Slam, fire the Hal into those trees."
Teal'c watched as the laser cannon turned on its axis and fired into the forest, again shattering trees. Clutch followed suit in his Vamp by turning the vehicles twin .50 caliber machine guns into the forest. Teal'c had seen these Tauri in battle before, but only with small arms that surrounded the gate in the gateroom on their home world. He recognized that their artillery rivaled anything the Goa'uld could field in terms of ground forces.
Hawk turned over to the DHD to see Carter come out from the open panel. "Daniel, give it a try." Dr. Jackson began pressing buttons, finishing with the big red one in the center. They all could see the DHD had power, but the gate did nothing.
After the brief firefight, Flash shouted to Breaker, "I didn't finish checking the conduits between the DHD and the gate."
Breaker checked the wiring and saw it had been shot up. "The wire's split. Unplug the power." Carter got back into the panel and pulled the crystal. Breaker did not want to get fried by an alien version of electricity.
He tried to splice the wires, but they weren't long enough. Captain Carter came to his side with her staff weapon and pulled out wiring. "My guess is that if we get it working, it will only be good for one dial-up. I don't think the wires from this staff weapon can handle this much power."
Breaker looked at Dr. Jackson. "Bring your staff weapon over here." Once again Breaker set to soldering wires. Dr. Jackson went back to the DHD, impatiently waiting there, ready to dial. Carter went back to the panel.
"I think we've got it," shouted Breaker. Captain Carter responded by ducking her head back into the panel. The crystal from one staff weapon could power the DHD, but there had been no real way to test if the crystal could power the gate unless everything else worked.
"Go!" shouted Captain Carter, and Daniel once again set about dialing the gate.
As Daniel pushed the first button the gate lit up and it spun. Carter jumped out of the panel as sparks flew from inside the panel. Daniel continued pressing keys. "The crystal blew!" announced Carter.
Jackson looked at the gate and saw that every time he touched a key, the gate lit up and went around in the usual circle. Breaker shouted, "Keep going, it might work like a car!" Daniel pressed the central red globe, and the gate swirled into the pool of water they were all hoping for.
Hawk questioned Captain Carter, "How long will it stay open?"
"We've never tried to find out. An alternator does not need a battery to run, just to start."
"Let's get going then. Breaker, tell the SGC were coming through hot, and with the refugees."
"Roger wilco, boss," responded Breaker to the order.
"Carter, I want you, Jackson and Teal'c to go first! You three are most critical to the program."
"Yes sir!" saluted Carter without question, though she did not know if she believed the colonel.
Jackson was not so quick to comply. "I came here for my wife. I don't want to leave here without her."
"Jackson! We came here with twenty men and women. We are going home with seventeen. I don't want to leave without anyone else, now go!"
Teal'c stood next to Jackson as Daniel dropped his head, knowing Hawk was right. He watched as refugees came down from their spot on the ridge and moved past him toward the gate. He slowly moved toward the gate with Teal'c when they heard a loud noise and then an explosion.
"Glider!" someone shouted, Daniel did not know who. Some refugees continued to the gate. Some stopped where they were and fell to the ground. Others remained on the ridge with Kowalski, Casey and Zap.
"Go!" Hawk yelled at Jackson, and Jackson followed the refugees through the gate. Fourteen to go, thought Hawk. He would keep track of all of them until the last one went through the gate. Fourteen, he did not have the luxury of assuming Scarlett, Snakeyes and Shooter would make it. He would be happy to count them if they came, but for now they were on their own.
As the glider attacked, reinforcements from the city arrived. They renewed the attack on the path to the south of the gate. Emboldened by the new arrivals, the Jaffa in both the forest to the north and west renewed their attack.
"Get these people going, he yelled into his radio. Grand Slam, focus on the western front. Steeler on the north. Shortfuze on the southwest. Clutch you fire into the west as well." He looked up to see Casey loading another AA rocket into his launcher.
Then something else caught Hawk's eye. Teal'c had not gone through the gate. Teal'c stood calmly firing his staff weapon into the sky as the glider made another run. Hawk and Flash joined him with their laser rifles. Surrounded by the enemy, with air power pressing in, the three fired at the glider. Once again the pilot escaped with his craft in tact.
The suppressive artillery was working. The glider flew off into the distance. Once again, splintered trees, explosions, and presumably, casualties slowed the Jaffa barrage. Stray shots fired from various locations, only to be met by artillery. The Joes were not taking any chances. They wanted to go home, and it was only a few feet away.
Kowalski ran down the sandy ridge with the last of the refugees. Along the way they got the frightened refugees going. They pulled, poked, prodded and carried everyone they could.
The last of the refugees went through the gate. Hawk noticed as Teal'c stood staring at the hills to the east. One man stood on the ridge above them, with a staff weapon raised over his head. Hawk turned to Teal'c and watched as he too, took his staff weapon in his hand and raised it over his head in response to the man in the distance.
Hawk knew what he had to do. He radioed O'Neill and the rest of the Joes. "All the refugees are through the gate. Pull back to the gate now. O'Neill, take charge. There are thirteen of you left."
Hawk did not like the position he was in, but one Jaffa was more valuable than the whole expedition. He did not like that this would be his job, and that it meant taking himself out of the firefight. He lowered his shoulder and with all his might he charged the giant Jaffa and tackled him into the pool, feeling a pain in his shoulder as his face got wet.
Flash watched Hawk disappear into the pool. Flash now radioed Clutch in his Vamp, "Your turn, just like the plan." Clutch drove his jeep onto the ramp and made the sharp turn necessary to drive his jeep and the Flak it was pulling through the gate. Shortfuze jumped off the Flack to help provide small arms cover for the rest of the expedition still retreating. While Clutch and the Vamp disappeared, Shortfuze and Flash took up positions on either side of the gate while Breaker took cover behind the DHD.
Flash ran to Breaker and tapped him on the shoulder, "Next to Captain Carter, you know more about these DHD's than any of us, your next."
Kowalski had taken a position next to Breaker and added, "He's right, and if I say it, that makes it an order." So Breaker complied with the major and the laser rifleman and dove for the vertical pool, and disappeared.
Stalker and O'Neill moved slowly back to the ridge near to the same location as Zap and Casey. Grunt moved to the edge of the forest along the path opposite of Rock'n'Roll's position. Steeler began to drive the MoBaT into position to enter the gate hauling the Hal.
Stalker watched from the ridge as Steeler drove the tank up the ramp, and then listened as again the alien fighter made another run at them. "Let's go!" he shouted. Zap, Casey, Stalker, O'Neill and Grunt all made a run for it while Rock'n'Roll remained at the path to provide cover.
As the glider dove in on the gate, this time Grand Slam poured laser fire into the ship, causing it to smoke. It veered and got off one more round before it fell in the forest with an explosion.
The Joes and the remaining SGC personnel hit the ground as this time the glider found its mark, hitting the Hal and causing shrapnel from the cannon to fly. Shortfuze picked himself up and ran to the Hal and yelled to Steeler, "Get going!"
Shortfuze saw Grand Slam slump over. He propped him in his seat and held him there as Steeler took the tank through the gate. He noticed blood pouring from Grand Slam's uniform and kept him in place. The tank and all three Joes disappeared into the pool with the Hal.
Without the big cannons, the Jaffa got bold one last time and fired from all three positions. Flash fired into the western front. Kowalski shot to the north. Zap and Casey made it to the base of the gate without trouble.
Grunt went down. One of the staff weapon blasts the ground in front of him, flinging dirt into his eyes.
Stalker noticed it and ran to help as O'Neill continued to the gate. He got Grunt up. Rock'n'Roll roared to them on the Ram. Stalker helped Grunt onto the seat behind Rock'n'Roll while he climbed on the machine gun sidecar. It was not really a seat, but it would do.
Then, with another loud roar, the Joes looked up into the sky to see one more alien ship coming. This one was not like the gliders that had been harassing them, but like the larger ship that fled and disappeared earlier.
Rock'n'Roll shouted out, "Let's not wait around for more reinforcements." He revved the motor and took off on the last ride toward the gate.
The Jaffa continued firing on the gate. Several Jaffa approached the ridge above the gate to the east.
O'Neill turned to Zap, "Get ready to give them our surprise."
Zap pulled out a box with a switch, and held it ready for O'Neill's order. Just then a random shot hit Casey. Kowalski and Zap moved to assist Casey.
The alien ship flew toward the gate. It lowered itself to the west between the gate and the western forest with its rear facing the gate.
Stalker got off the sidecar, grabbing Rock'n'Roll's M-60 Machine gun. Then Rock'n'Roll drove his motorcycle right into the gate with Grunt hanging on.
O'Neill, Flash and Stalker moved to cover the others, aiming their weapons at the alien aircraft. As a hatch on the ship opened up O'Neill heard the word he longed to hear, "O'Neir."
Stalker yelled, "Snakeyes!" Skaara and Snakeyes were carrying Sha'uri, each with an arm around their necks.
More fire erupted, this time from within the cargo ship. The ship lurched into air and came down hard to the ground. O'Neill heard a woman scream.
Stalker yelled to Snakeyes, "Get these two through the gate. Flash and I will provide cover."
Kowalski and Zap reached the gate first with Casey. Kowalski spoke to Zap, "You got him?"
"Yeah," he responded.
"Then go, I'll stay and help the Joes provide cover." Zap tossed the detonator to Kowalski and took Casey through the gate. Snakeyes followed closely with Skaara and Sha'uri, who had begun to fight the them.
Scarlett felt the pain. It shouldn't hurt this much. Her mind went foggy. Smoke, but no trouble breathing. Explosions, but no heat from the fire. So much pain, but she clawed her way forward, dragging herself. She saw someone enter the burning wreckage. She saw her own bloody fingers.
While on the floor she felt death. It was unnatural, like something evil was clinging to life, only fighting the inevitable. Then it changed, like in a dream she heard the words, I die free. She felt sad, pitiful, like watching a child die.
She felt a man pick her up. He carried her in front as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked at the collar and saw a bird. Hawk. This is not how it's supposed to happen.
They exited the ship.
Now! she seemed to hear, but she should not hear anyone. Her eyes hurt from the sunlight. She saw that they were moving toward water. She had the sensation of a clumsy fall toward the pool. This is supposed to graceful, powerful, gentle. It was not. It was harsh, uncouth, almost bumbling compared to her expectation- -compared to her experience. It was just as courageous. She held on tight to the man's neck.
She heard the cascading explosions.
She looked at the water. She could not wait for the cooling sensation to ease her pain. She hurt in too many places, and then-Splash.