Stargate SG1: Beloved (5/5)
All disclaimers, notes, warnings and summary are in the Master post: Beloved
Chapter Nine
The first half of the trek through the forest to Apophis' palace took place in almost absolute silence, which suited Jack just fine. He wasn't much in the mood for conversation.
He couldn't understand it, couldn't even begin to wrap his head around it. Daniel had been scared of those Jaffa in the Gate Room, and he hadn't wanted to go with them. Something had made him think that he had no choice in the matter, and he could actually understand that. Being surrounded by Jaffa wasn't a pleasant experience at the best of times, and that day would definitely never be in Daniel's list of 'best' anything. But Jack hadn't doubted, not even for a second, that Daniel would leave with them the second he got the chance.
So why the hell had he run? Why had he told Jack to take Sam and Teal'c and go back to Earth without him?
"Those Jaffa he was with," he said out loud, only realizing that he'd done so when Bra'tac looked at him.
"What Jaffa?"
"The four Jaffa that came through the gate with him," Jack explained. "The ones that kidnapped him and made him come here."
Bra'tac shook his head. "There were no Jaffa with him."
"What?" Sam asked. She jogged forward just enough to catch up with Jack and Bra'tac. "There has to have been."
"Daniel Jackson is injured," Teal'c added. "He would not have been able to escape from four highly-trained Earth military guards. Even had they not become Jaffa, he would most likely have been unable to evade them."
Bra'tac shrugged and turned his eyes back to the path they were walking on. "I can tell you only that which I saw. And I saw no Jaffa."
"But you knew what he was?" Jack asked, then he shook his head. He didn't like the implications of what he'd just said at all. "You knew what happened to him? You expect us to believe that he told you?"
"It was not necessary that he tell me, human," Bra'tac said. "I have seen many things in my hundred and thirty-two years. He is not the first human male I have encountered who has fallen to the curse of being called as a queen's …" He shot a quick, sidelong glance at Jack. "... beloved."
"Wait, what?" Jack stopped walking and grabbed Bra'tac's arm, pulling him to a halt, too. "This isn't just a Hathor thing? This is common?"
"Common? No." Bra'tac shook his head. "But among queens, it is far from rare. The legend says that the queen requires the Code of Life from the host species in order to reproduce."
Sam stepped forward again. "DNA," she said. Jack shot her a questioning look, and she explained. "They use humans as hosts. I'll bet she needs human DNA so that their bodies don't reject the symbiotes."
Bra'tac nodded. "This is correct."
"Daniel Jackson is being forced to participate in the enslavement of humans by the Goa'uld?" Teal'c asked.
"More than that," Sam said. Her shoulders sank sadly. "He's the one making it possible."
"Against his will, Captain," Jack added hotly. "Let's not forget that part, shall we?"
"Of course not, sir."
"So, what else is involved in this whole … thing?" He tried to make himself say the word, but he just couldn't push it past his lips. "How did you know?"
"The chosen ones are badly abused by their queen, though they are also doted on and given high rank. This creates a paradox in their minds, where their abuser is also their savior. It becomes harder for them to imagine life without such treatment and almost impossible for them to break away from it."
"Sounds like she's going for Stockholm Syndrome, sir," Sam said softly, and Jack nodded in agreement.
"Their minds cease to be their own," Bra'tac continued. "Their every thought, every breath, becomes about serving their queen. Nothing of the young man that was survives."
"That's not gonna happen to Daniel," Jack declared. "We won't let it."
"However, the most noticeable sign, and what I saw that convinced me that Daniel Jackson was … affected …" Jack gave a small smile of appreciation for the language. "… was the flash of his eyes."
"He's a Goa'uld?" Sam asked in horror.
Jack jumped forward. "I was right!" he declared. "His eyes do glow!" Sam and Teal'c both turned toward him in shock, and he shrugged. "I wasn't sure," he said. "Kinda thought that maybe I was, ya know, hallucinating that part."
"He is not Goa'uld," Bra'tac said. "He has simply been given the power to influence those around him, particularly the queen's Jaffa and those whose loyalty lies with him."
"That makes sense," Jack said. "The two times that I saw it, he was trying to convince me to do something."
Sam tilted her head in question.
"In the locker room," he explained. "When we let him leave by himself. And again in the infirmary, when he wanted me to …"
He'd had enough memory flashes in the past twenty-four hours that he was used to them, and he'd learned to just let them come. This one was no different, except that on the surface, it was one he'd already had.
Daniel sitting on the bed in front of him, pleading, desperate … "I can't live like this. Don't make me live like this. Please." … Daniel's eyes flashing … "No." … Another flash, a feeling of calm certainty washing over him … "Promise me, Jack." … Another flash … "I'll do it. I promise."
Jack pulled himself out of the memory with a jerk. Three faces stared at him in concern.
"Three," he said simply. "I've seen it three times."
"O'Neill?"
"Let's just say that I know why I made that damn promise, Teal'c." He knew that Teal'c was the only one who understood what he was talking about, but he felt no compunction to give any further explanation. He tightened his grip on the MP5 that hung from his chest, and turned back down the path.
"We have to get to the damn palace," he said roughly. "Now."
Jack supposed that if you'd seen the inside of one Goa'uld palace, you'd seen them all. In this case, it was particularly true, because they'd already seen the inside of that specific Goa'uld palace. It wasn't as impressive as it had been the first time around. The details that had so captured Daniel's imagination then seemed less awe-inspiring, more foreboding, darker and more evil.
Somewhere in that maze of hallways and enormous rooms, Daniel was being held against his will by a Goa'uld queen intent on harvesting every last drop of DNA she could get from him.
They'd been in the palace for almost an hour, and they'd seen no Jaffa presence to speak of. The few they had encountered had seemed to be wandering around in confusion, which meant that even if Hathor had managed to recruit new soldiers on Chulak, they weren't yet organized. Hiding from them had simply been a matter of Jack and Sam ducking out of sight while Teal'c and Bra'tac blocked the door to whatever room they'd hidden in. Getting back out with Daniel would be simple, once they found him.
Unfortunately, after an hour, there'd still been no sign of him.
They were glancing into every room they passed, declaring them cleared after a quick visual inspection and then moving on. They'd started with the rooms that Teal'c and Bra'tac said were the most likely to be used to house an honored slave, but they'd all been empty. They'd seen a few acolytes in those rooms, human slaves dressed in rags, priests wearing robes, but no Daniel.
Jack was growing frustrated; they all were. He looked into yet another room - a large, ornate bedroom that was dominated by an enormous gold bed - saw yet another slave, and started to turn away. Something about that slave caught his attention, though, and he took another look. He was facing away from the door, dressed in a pair of loose white pants and a white tunic that hung to just below his hips. His feet were bare, and he had a red belt wrapped around his waist. But it was the hair that Jack focused on - the long brown hair that he'd have known anywhere.
"Daniel?" he said uncertainly, stepping into the room.
Daniel's head snapped around, and for the briefest of moments, Jack saw relief in his eyes. Then he closed them and let his head fall forward. "I told you to go home," Daniel growled.
Jack shook his head. "No way. Not without you. Come on."
He grabbed Daniel's arm and started to pull him away from the bed, but Daniel yanked away from him.
"You have to leave! Now!" Jack was looking right at Daniel's eyes when they flashed, and he stopped cold, then he released Daniel's arm and stepped back. He had the sudden urge to leave Chulak, immediately. He had to take Sam and Teal'c and run.
"Hey!" Sam said, snapping her fingers in Jack's face. He shook his head to clear away the fog that had clouded it and watched her as she turned to face Daniel. "You know that's not going to work on me, right?"
She motioned for Teal'c and Bra'tac to each grab one of Daniel's arms. "Don't look him in the eye," she warned them, then turned back to Jack. "Colonel? You with us?"
"Yeah," he said uncertainly. He blinked a few more time and focused on the task at hand. He'd been about to leave Daniel behind, after everything they'd gone through to find him? "Yeah, I'm good." He pointed at Daniel without looking at him. "Whammy me like that again," he said, "I'll knock your ass out and carry you home."
He turned on his heel and crossed the room, heading for the door with Sam right beside him. They checked both directions to make sure that the coast was clear, then he motioned for Bra'tac and Teal'c to lead Daniel out of the room. They never made it through the door.
"Jaffa!"
Jack spun back around, shocked and dismayed that the word had come from Daniel's mouth. "What are you doing?" he demanded. He noticed that Bra'tac was gone, seemingly vanished into midair, but he didn't have time to give his disappearance any more thought than that. Daniel was about to blow their escape out of the water, and he had to stop him.
"Jaffa, kree!"
He covered the distance between himself and Daniel in three steps and put his hand across Daniel's mouth. "Shut up!" he hissed. "Are you trying to get us caught?"
"You will remove your hands from the chosen one," a threatening, yet familiar-sounding, voice said from behind him.
Jack turned slowly. Five Jaffa stood in the doorway, staff weapons trained unwaveringly on his team, obviously having responded to Daniel's summons.
"You will release him," the one who had spoken before said. "Or you will die."
Jack opened his hand and pulled it away from Daniel's mouth, and he motioned for Teal'c to release his arm. Daniel moved away from them and crossed the room rapidly, tugging at the hem of his tunic as he did so. "Bring them," he said to the Jaffa who'd spoken.
"Daniel …?" Sam was distraught, and Jack shared the sentiment. But he was quickly coming to the conclusion that whoever that was in front of them, he wasn't their Daniel anymore.
"Where are you taking us?" he asked.
"Before the queen," Daniel answered as he strode purposefully into the corridor. "She will decide your fate."
None of them resisted when the Jaffa dragged them out of the room, and they followed Daniel down the hallway in silence.
There didn't seem to be a reason to fight anymore.
Jack had never once imagined that he'd see Daniel on his knees at any Goa'uld's feet, but that was exactly where he was.
They'd been taken to the throne room, where they were all shoved to their knees and held there by two Jaffa each. Hathor sat high above them, on the raised throne she'd stolen from Apophis. Daniel had rushed ahead of them once they'd entered, and had fallen to his knees at her feet immediately.
"My queen," he said. "Forgive me."
She ran her fingers through his hair fondly, as though she were stroking a favored pet, but she was looking across the room at Jack as she did it. She narrowed her eyes in hatred at the same time her lips parted in a predatory smile.
"These have attempted to take you from us, our beloved?"
"They did," Daniel answered.
Hathor pushed Daniel aside, and he fell to the floor with an audible thump. Jack winced in sympathy, and even though he knew it was pointless, he couldn't stop the anger that bubbled in his veins at seeing Daniel treated so roughly. He pulled against the Jaffa that held him even as Hathor pushed herself to her feet and walked down the stairs. She was moving straight toward him, ignoring both Sam and Teal'c.
"We had such hope for you, our love," she said. "We would have given you anything. You repay us in this way? You would take from us that which is ours? After everything we have done for you?"
Daniel was still lying on the floor beside the throne, and it looked to Jack like he was having trouble getting up. Janet had been worried about him exacerbating his injuries just standing in the infirmary; how much damage had Hathor done when she shoved him over? How much had she done before they got there?
"He's not yours," he said.
"Is he not?" Hathor bent down in front of him and took his chin in her hand. "Does he not honor us? Does he not worship us? Has he not given us all of himself, freely and repeatedly?"
Jack didn't care about the Jaffa that had his arms wrenched behind his back. He put every ounce of strength he had into lunging for her. If he could just get his hands around her neck …
"You will be punished for this transgression," she announced as she turned away. "Harshly."
Daniel had struggled to his feet and come down the stairs behind her, though his steps were heavy and uneven. He fell to his knees at her feet again, with his shoulders hunched and his head down.
"My queen, I beg of you. The fault was mine." His voice was breathy, raspy, and it sounded to Jack like he was in pain. "I led them here. Any punishment to be given should be mine."
Jack shared confused glances with both Sam and Teal'c. First he did everything he could to get them captured, and now he was offering himself up to be punished in their place? What the hell was going on with him?
Hathor tipped his head back with her hand and caressed his neck with the ribbon device she wore on it. "If we indulge you, beloved …" God, how Jack was starting to hate that word. "What would you suggest that we do with the trespassers who would have stolen you from our side?"
"Send them back," he answered without hesitation. "Let them die with the rest of their pitiful planet."
It was obvious they were going to die, one way or the other, but no matter what, nothing that might happen could possibly hurt any worse than what already had.
Daniel had stabbed them in the back. He may as well have stabbed them in the heart.
"Has to be a reason," Jack mumbled to himself as he paced around the cell that they'd been thrown into while Hathor decided whether or not to act on Daniel's suggestion. "Has to be a reason."
Teal'c looked away from his inspection of the walls of their cell. "If the words Bra'tac spoke are truth, O'Neill, the reason might well simply be that the Daniel Jackson we know no longer exists."
"I refuse to accept that, Teal'c," Jack said. "And speaking of Bra'tac, where the hell did he go, anyway?"
Teal'c shook his head. "I am uncertain. I know only that Daniel Jackson whispered to him, and he departed. It was Bra'tac who spoke to us when we were captured, but I did not have time to question him about his motive."
"Daniel whammied him, too," Jack said. "Betchya."
Sam spoke up from the bunk that she was sitting on. "So, what do we do? Go on the assumption that Daniel's lost, just write him off? Go back to the SGC and lock it down against whatever she's planning to do?"
"That would mean leaving him here, Captain."
"I know, sir, and I don't like it, either. But if he's really lost himself to her … what choice do we have? Can we take him back home, knowing that he might be sympathetic to our enemy? Is that a risk we can take?"
"No." Jack shook his head and turned away, running his fingers through his hair angrily. "It's not."
The door to the cell began to open. Sam stood up from the bunk, and she and Teal'c took positions on either side of Jack. Two Jaffa stepped into the cell and moved to the side. Daniel stepped in between them. He looked at each member of SG1 - first Teal'c, then Sam, then he looked Jack right in the eye. Jack straightened his shoulders and stared back at him.
"Jaffa." Daniel turned toward the guards, snapped his fingers twice, and the Jaffa stepped back into the corridor. The door of the cell slammed shut behind them. Jack watched Daniel's shoulders rise as he took in a deep breath and fall as he let it back out again. Then he turned around and crossed the floor toward them quickly.
"We don't have much time," he said. "We're going to have to hurry."
Jack grabbed him by the shoulders. "Stop," he said. "Right there."
"Jack? What are you ... ow!" Daniel cringed as Jack grasped his forearms tightly. "Jack, that hurts!"
"What the hell are you playing at, Daniel? Waltzing in here after what you said ..."
Daniel's eyes widened in shock. "What ... you mean you believed that?"
"You mean I wasn't supposed to?"
Daniel shook his head in disbelief. "Of course not!" His eyes darted back and forth between the other two members of his team. "Sam? Teal'c? One of you had to know."
Sam shook her head slowly, and Teal'c raised his eyebrow. "It was a most difficult distinction to make."
"Oh, God, you guys!" Daniel turned toward them, grimacing again when Jack's hands tightened on his arms.
"I think you should probably just stay where you are, Daniel."
"Jack, listen to me ..."
"Why should I listen to you? I don't even know who you are."
"It's me. I swear."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Jack said quietly.
Daniel shook his head again. "No, Jack, it's not like that. You have to believe me. It was an act. It was all an act."
"Your performance was indeed believable, Daniel Jackson." Daniel turned to face Teal'c, hope in his eyes. "It was in fact so believable that we cannot be certain that you are not acting now."
Daniel's shoulders slumped in Jack's grasp and he closed his eyes. "She was going to kill you."
Sam stepped forward with her head bowed. She lifted it slowly and looked Daniel in the eye. "So were you."
"What? No!"
"Let them die along with the rest of their pitiful planet." Jack's voice was soft but firm. "That's what you said, Daniel. You weren't talking about killing just us. You were talking about destroying Earth."
"I had to say something! I couldn't just stand there and watch her kill you! If I'd gotten her to send you back ..."
"What?" Jack demanded, tightening his fingers again and shaking Daniel roughly. "If we'd gone back, what? A bomb goes with us?"
Daniel's eyes were clenched tightly shut and his face had turned pale. "No," he gasped. "It's not like ... not like that ..." Pain washed across his face and his knees buckled.
"Daniel!" Jack reacted instantly, pulling Daniel against his chest and wrapping his arms around the other man's back. The response was a choked cry of pain. He grabbed the front of Jack's jacket weakly.
Jack shifted his grip slightly, trying to keep Daniel from crashing to the floor. As he did so, he noticed that the palm of his hand was smeared with blood. He looked up at Sam and Teal'c in horror. "What the hell ...?"
Sam and Teal'c were across the room and standing beside them instantly. While Teal'c reached for Daniel's left arm to relieve Jack of at least part of his burden, Sam carefully pulled the back of Daniel's long white tunic up.
"Oh, God," she whispered. "Daniel ..."
Jack and Teal'c turned their heads in unison and glanced down at Daniel's back. The olive green t-shirt that he was wearing under the tunic was criss-crossed with lines of red that had seeped through the fabric. Sam pulled the shirt up and out of the way, too. The mess of raised and bloody welts made Jack's blood boil.
"Help me get him on that bunk." Jack turned his head away and lowered his voice. "That God damned bitch!" he hissed to the corner of the room.
"Not as bad ... as it looks ..."
Jack turned his head back around quickly. "Yeah, right," he snorted. "It looks pretty damn bad."
Jack and Teal'c slowly lowered Daniel to the bunk and helped him settle himself carefully on his stomach. He crossed his arms and laid his head down on them. "It stopped bleeding ..."
"You're bleeding all over the colonel," Sam pointed out politely as she sat on the bed beside him and reached for his shirts again. Daniel flinched and buried his face in his arms when Sam lifted his shirt past places where the cloth had dried to the open welts. "I'm sorry. I'm being as careful as I can."
Daniel nodded his head slowly. "It's okay, Sam."
Jack and Teal'c stood behind Sam, watching silently. Teal'c crossed his arms across his chest and glowered at the damage that Sam was revealing to them. Jack's arms hung at his sides, his hands clenching into white-knuckled fists over and over again. When Sam had raised Daniel's shirt as far as it would go, he saw the full extent of Hathor's "punishment." Four deep whip marks, at four different angles - one for each of the four members of SG1. Jack closed his eyes and turned away again. "Damn it."
"Some of these are pretty deep, sir." Sam's voice pulled Jack's attention back to Daniel's back. "But he was right - most of them had stopped bleeding before he got here."
Jack nodded wordlessly, and then crouched down beside Daniel's head. "Daniel?" When Daniel didn't respond, Jack reached out with one hand, bringing it to rest on his hair. "Daniel?"
Daniel turned his head slowly and opened his eyes. "Jack?"
"That stuff you said, in the throne room? That wasn't real?"
"No."
"All an act?"
"Every word," Daniel whispered.
"Okay." Jack took a second to let the truth of Daniel's words sink in before going any further. He opened his mouth to ask his next question, but Daniel answered him before he got the words out.
"I can't tell you."
"Can't tell me what?"
"I can't tell you what's going on." Jack started to protest, but Daniel pushed forward. "Just trust me. I know what I'm doing."
"Daniel ..."
"Trust me, Jack. Please."
Jack swallowed hard. "Of course I trust you," he said. "It's that damn drug of hers that I don't trust." He sat back on his heels and studied Daniel's face carefully. "You're not doing that mind-whammy thing of yours on me again, are you?"
Daniel gave him a weak smile. "Why? Are my eyes glowing?"
Sam tapped Daniel on the shoulder, saving Jack from a conversation that he was certain neither he nor Daniel wanted to have, about the inappropriateness of brainwashing friends to kill each other.
"I've got no supplies, Daniel," Sam said. "There's nothing I can do for these."
He shook his head and pushed up on his arms; Jack and Teal'c helped him right himself on the bunk. "You couldn't anyway," Daniel said. "If I came back with bandages on them, she'd know something's up." A wet-sounding cough bubbled up from deep in his chest, and he wiped his mouth quickly.
He wasn't so fast that Jack didn't see the blood on his hand.
"What was that?" he asked as casually as he could.
"Nothing," Daniel answered. "Nothing that matters, anyway." He pushed himself back to his feet and walked slowly and carefully back across the room. Jack had to resist the urge to help him. "I just had to see you. Everything's going to be over soon, and I just …" He took another deep breath. "I have a plan to get you out of here. Be ready for it, okay?"
"Daniel …"
"You'll know it when you see it," he said. "Just … I have to do this."
He pressed the concealed button that controlled the cell door. As it slid open, he took one last look at each member of SG1 in turn. Then he gave one last hesitant smile and walked out the door. It slammed shut behind him with an air of finality.
A few seconds passed as the three of them stared at each other in silence. It was Sam who broke it first.
"Why do I have this feeling that we're never going to see him again?"
Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and scuffed at the floor with the heel of his boot. "Because he just told us goodbye."
"Daniel Jackson does not intend to leave Chulak," Teal'c observed. "At least not while he still lives."
"Yep." Jack turned around, a look of grim determination on his face. "Too bad we're gonna ruin his plan, isn't it?"
Chapter Ten
There was nothing they could do but wait, and they didn't even know what they were waiting for.
Jack wished, not for the first time, that he had at least some small hint of what Daniel's plan was. Being ready would have been easier if he'd known what he was supposed to be preparing for. "You'll know it when you see it," Daniel had said.
All he could do was hope that the trust Daniel had in him wasn't misplaced.
Fifteen minutes later, Daniel's plan walked through the door, and they knew him when they saw him. But knowing he was acting in accordance with Daniel's wishes didn't make Jack any less angry with him.
"Why the hell did you do that?"
Bra'tac bowed his head, though Jack didn't know if it was from deference or shame. "I was given an order by the queen's … by Daniel Jackson. I was powerless to disobey."
"What order are you following now?"
"I am here to escort you to the Chappa'ai," Bra'tac answered. He lifted his head and started handing them back the weapons that had been taken from them after their capture. "We must hurry. The tension between Hathor's new recruits and those loyal to Apophis is escalating. I expect a large scale battle between them soon."
"Here?" Sam asked, stepping forward. "In the palace?"
"Yes," Bra'tac answered.
She turned toward Jack, her eyes wide. "Sir, Daniel …"
"Daniel Jackson is aware of the situation," Bra'tac informed them. "In fact, he is relying on it. He believes that it will create a large enough diversion to camouflage your escape."
"And what of him?" Teal'c asked. "Does he intend to stay in Hathor's service?"
"No," Bra'tac answered slowly. "He intends to kill her."
"And die in the process," Jack said with certainty. "Not happening." He stalked toward the door and motioned for Bra'tac to open it. "Get us out of this cell."
"He was very clear in his order to me, human. I am to take you to the …"
"I don't give a damn what Daniel told you to do, Bra'tac," Jack said. "I'm telling you that you're going to take us to where he is, and you're going to do it now." He raised his MP5 and pointed it directly at Bra'tac's chest. "Maybe I can't mind-whammy you with my glowing eyes, but I can sure as hell shoot you where you stand. Now open this door and take us to Daniel."
Bra'tac sighed and nodded his head. "Very well," he said. "But he is with the queen." He put his hands on Jack's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "You will not enjoy what you are about to see."
"Nothing I haven't seen before." He shrugged Bra'tac's hands off and stepped around him. "Let's go."
Jack strode out the still-opening door, pretending that he didn't see the looks of shock and horror that the three other occupants of the room aimed at his retreating back.
The corridors, which an hour before had been mostly empty and silent, were a swarm of activity, hostility and confusion. Daniel had been right about the escalating disagreement between the Jaffa providing cover for their escape, because they were walking down the hallway completely unnoticed by any of the soldiers they passed. They were too embroiled in their own differences to pay much attention to two humans being led around by two Serpent Guards.
"I will lead you to the second level of her quarters," Bra'tac told them. "It will provide you with both excellent cover and a vantage point from which you can survey the situation."
Jack shook his head quickly. "Not really planning on watching the show," he said. "Planning on stopping it the second we walk through the door."
"We must surveil before we attack, O'Neill," Teal'c insisted.
"I hate it, too, sir," Sam said, "but Teal'c's right. If we go in there shooting, and Daniel's in the way …"
"I know, Captain," Jack snapped angrily. He took a deep breath as they walked up to the door the Bra'tac had led them to. "Just … you two keep your heads down. Do not look down until I tell you to, got it?"
"Colonel …"
"O'Neill …"
"Not up for debate," he insisted. "There's no way Daniel would …" He shook his head. "You don't want to see what she's doing to him. Believe me."
He could see the question in Sam's eyes more than in Teal'c's, but that made sense. He'd told Teal'c that they'd been together, that he hadn't been able to stop Hathor from doing what she wanted. Obviously, he'd just never put the two things together. Sam, though, was hearing all of it for the first time. He raised his finger in the air.
"Don't ask me how I know that, Carter."
She nodded, then crouched down on the floor next to Teal'c. Jack took one last, deep breath and nodded at Bra'tac, who pressed a panel on the wall. The door slid open. Teal'c and Sam crawled in first, Jack gestured for Bra'tac to follow, and then he entered behind them in a low crouch.
They were on a balcony that looked down over what had obviously become Hathor's private quarters. Sam, Teal'c and Bra'tac sat with the wall at their back, their weapons at the ready. Jack closed his eyes, swallowed hard, then raised up on his knees far enough to see into the room below.
Jack took stock of the situation as quickly as he could, knowing that he had to keep himself together long enough to put together a solid plan of attack. He counted six Jaffa standing at various points around the room, and four more - the four Jaffa from NORAD, still dressed in their BDUs - standing at the corners of the bed.
The bed that they were holding Daniel down on.
Jack's heart jumped into his throat.
Daniel, shirtless, barefoot, his glasses lost somewhere in the tangle of sheets …
… his pants low on his hips, his arms pinned above his head, eyes open …
… but not unseeing. Struggling, fighting with everything he had left, not crying, screaming in defiance ...
… Hathor walking around the bed, running her fingers down his arms, enjoying his pain …
"You dare defy us? You belong to us!"
… the sound of a fist striking flesh, Daniel's head jerking to the side, Hathor climbing onto the bed …
"We enjoy watching you struggle, our beloved."
… stop her, stop her, stop her …
"Not as much as I'm going to enjoy watching you die."
That was all it took to separate the past from the present in Jack's mind, and he stood up, took aim at one of the Jaffa holding Daniel's arms, and shot him right between the eyes.
"Get the fuck away from him!"
Sam, Teal'c, and Bra'tac took that as their cue, and came up from the floor with their own weapons raised. Three more shots were fired, three more Jaffa fell, including the two that held Daniel's ankles. Daniel took a deep breath, pulled his knees in to his chest, and planted both feet against Hathor's stomach.
"Get off of me!"
He kicked as hard as he could, and Hathor flew off of the bed, landing in an undignified heap at the base of the stairs that led up to it.
Jack was moving around the balcony, making his way toward the stairs that led down into the room, with Teal'c right behind him. Bra'tac and Sam were moving around the other direction. One of the Jaffa started climbing the stairs; Jack took aim and shot him.
Daniel rolled over and off of the bed, landing on his feet right beside the Jaffa that still held his left wrist. The second of surprise was all that Daniel needed to pull his right arm back and slam the heel of his hand into the Jaffa's face, shattering his nose, spraying them both with blood. The Jaffa released Daniel's arm and stumbled back, blinded.
Bra'tac and Teal'c fired their staff weapons at two of the remaining uninjured Jaffa as they ran down the stairs, and Sam sprayed a third with bullets. All three went down and didn't move again.
Daniel was knelt down beside Hathor's bed, and it looked like he was opening an ornate table. Jack called out a warning to him when he saw Hathor regain her feet and stalk toward him, but Daniel couldn't have heard him over the rising sounds of battle in the room. He reached the bottom of the stairs, taking out another Jaffa as he did so. A sound from across the room caught his attention and he turned.
Jaffa were pouring into the room from every door, but strangely enough, none of them seemed to be paying any attention to the humans or the two Jaffa trying to kill their queen. They'd turned on each other. Jack didn't know if their attack had started it, or if it had started on its own and spilled into the room with them, but he didn't think it made a difference. One way or another, they had their diversion.
All they had to do was grab Daniel and get the hell out.
Hathor reached Daniel before they did, grabbed a handful of his hair, and dragged him to his feet.
"Stupid child!" she spat in his face. "You will pay for this!"
"No!" Jack cried out, jumping forward. But there was no way he could push his way through the sudden mass of swarming Jaffa in time to stop her from throwing Daniel across the room and slamming him into the wall.
"Carter!" he called out. "Teal'c! Bra'tac! On me!" The four of them formed a wedge and forced their way through the battle that raged around them.
Daniel slid down the wall bonelessly until he was sitting on the floor, leaning against it. He was pale as a ghost, and Jack couldn't help but notice the stream of blood that ran from the corner of his mouth and oozed down his chin. His eyes were open, but he was noticeably dazed - so much so that Jack wondered if he even remembered where he was.
Then Hathor was there, standing over him, the ribbon device on her palm glowing as she knelt beside him.
"You brought us such pleasure, our beloved. We would have kept you for eternity. But even our fondness for you will not save you now."
Daniel blinked his eyes, trying to focus on her as he made a half-hearted attempt to back away. She raised her hand to his forehead just as Jack stepped up behind her.
"Hey!" he called out.
Hathor jerked her head up to face him.
"Not yours," he growled. "Ours."
He swung his MP5 like a baseball bat, and he enjoyed both the sound and the feeling of it colliding with her skull before she flew across the room again. She landed in the middle of one of the many scuffles taking place between the rival Jaffa factions, and they seemed to swallow her up. He didn't see her stand up, didn't even see her move, and then she was surrounded, and he couldn't see her anymore. Jack turned his back on her and knelt next to Daniel.
Daniel's eyes were closed, his body slumped against the wall, and he looked half-dead. Jack's heart dropped into his feet, and he patted his cheek lightly. "Hey," he said. "Kinda need you here, Daniel. You can't pass out yet."
Daniel opened his eyes and blinked them slowly. "Hey," he returned with a rather stupid-looking smile. "Jack."
"Need you to focus, Daniel," Jack said urgently.
Daniel blinked again, and looked Jack in the eye. Jack saw it happen, was watching the second the clarity snapped into place, and Daniel's mind caught up with the rest of him. Jack also knew that it wasn't going to last very much longer; Daniel was going under and he was going under fast. Every time he exhaled, the stream of blood coming from his mouth got wider.
"Bomb," Daniel whispered.
"Bomb?" Jack couldn't quite believe it.
Daniel had something in his hand that Jack hadn't noticed before. Jack had no idea how he'd managed to hold on to it when he'd slammed into the wall, but then again, he had no idea how Daniel had managed to do half of what he'd done, considering he should have been in his bed in the infirmary. His thoughts were interrupted when Daniel shoved whatever it was into Jack's hand. "Hold … this," he said. "Don't … don't lose it."
Jack looked down, confused as to why Daniel had just given him a GDO. He had to know that they already had one. But he dismissed it from his thoughts as quickly as he put it in his pocket and focused on the most immediate threat. Daniel eyelids were fluttering closed, and he didn't have much time left. "Daniel, hey. Stay with me for a second. You said bomb?"
"Under … the … bed …" Daniel took one last quivering breath, his eyes rolled back in his head, and his body went limp against the wall.
"Teal'c!" Jack bellowed. "Grab him! We gotta go! Now!"
Teal'c scooped Daniel up and tossed him across his shoulder. Jack led the way into the corridor. He and Sam took point, Bra'tac brought up the rear, and SG1 ran like hell.
They were only stopped once on their way to the Stargate, by a Jaffa that stepped out of the trees.
"Whom do you serve?" he demanded.
Jack stepped in front of him, tightened his grip on his gun, and fixed him with a hard stare. "Who do you think we serve?"
The Jaffa's eyes locked on Daniel's shirtless, limp form draped across Teal'c's shoulders, and he stepped forward. Jack managed to control himself until he started to reach for him.
Jack moved between them as Teal'c took a step back. "You don't touch him," Jack growled. "No one touches him."
The Jaffa lowered his head in deference. "Forgive me. I had heard that the queen had chosen a beloved, but I didn't imagine that he would be so ..."
"We're taking the ... beloved back where he belongs," Jack said. It struck him as odd how easily the word came out of his mouth that time. "Interfere and die."
The Jaffa bowed deeply, and stepped out of their way. As they jogged past him, Bra'tac said to him, "A battle rages at the palace. Go. Defend the honor of your goddess." The Jaffa turned and ran in the direction they'd just come from.
"Next person who tries to touch him or talks about him like he's Hathor's property gets a bullet to the brain," Jack muttered. Almost as an afterthought, he said, "And the first person who tells him that I called him that gets one, too."
They'd just reached the Stargate - the completely abandoned and unguarded Stargate - when the palace exploded behind them. The flames shot into the air, above the trees, and for the briefest of moments, Jack swore he felt the ground beneath them shake.
"What was that?" Sam asked, her voice filled with awe as she looked up from the DHD.
"That," Jack answered, with more than a hint of pride in his voice, "was Daniel's plan."
"A most effective plan, O'Neill," Teal'c said.
"He wanted to kill her," he answered. "I think he just might have done the job."
The Stargate opened behind them, Sam pressed the code sequence on her GDO, and all three ran up the steps quickly. They each took just enough time to wave their goodbyes and thank yous to Bra'tac before they stepped through.
Jack had hoped that the greeting party on the other side of Earth side of the gate would be heavy on medical personnel, and he wasn't disappointed.
Janet was at their side in an instant, helping Teal'c to lay Daniel down on a gurney so she could rush him to the infirmary. Daniel showed no signs of waking, even when the bleeding welts on his back came in contact with the sheet. Jack moved toward him quickly, but before he could reach his side, Janet had ushered him out of the room and to the infirmary.
General Hammond walked up the ramp toward them. "SG1," he said. "Welcome back. Are you all okay?"
Jack nodded as he looked around the Gate Room. He'd half expected Dr. Mackenzie to meet them when they returned, to drag Daniel off to Mental Health for being a danger to himself. He was pleasantly surprised not to see his face among the dozens assembled.
Hammond must have noticed his distraction, and he guessed correctly about what was causing it.
"Dr. Mackenzie might be returning, Colonel," he said. "But not until Dr. Jackson is fully recovered from his physical injuries, and only if the two of you approve it."
Jack cocked his head, surprised.
"I managed to convince him that going through the gate wasn't Dr. Jackson's way of attempting suicide by Jaffa."
Jack wanted to tell him that it had been, but no way was he going to expose Daniel to another threat from Mackenzie, not so soon after they'd gotten rid of the last one.
"How'd you do that, sir?" Sam asked from behind him.
"I told him the truth," Hammond answered. "I told him that I knew why Dr. Jackson went to Chulak."
Jack and Sam stared at him in amazement, and Teal'c tilted his head.
Hammond smiled at them weakly, lowered his voice, and continued his explanation. "I found it while I was reviewing the security tapes," he said. "I … I gave Hathor something before she left. Dr. Jackson was in the room when I did it. He and I were the only ones who knew about it, and I didn't remember until I saw myself."
Sudden understanding dawned on Jack. He reached his hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the GDO that Daniel had given him on Chulak. Something Hammond had said caught his attention, though, and he grew serious.
"You watched the security tapes?" he asked. His voice had a dangerous edge to it that even he could hear. "There are security tapes? Of the VIP room?"
"Were," Hammond said. "I destroyed them after I reviewed them. I only found one potential security breach in them, and it's the one that I'm certain Dr. Jackson went to Chulak to fix. Dr. Fraiser, likewise, reviewed the tapes from the infirmary, around the time of Dr. Jackson's kidnapping," Hammond continued. "You might be interested to know that it was the Jaffa who gave him your uniform, Colonel. That wasn't a decision he made on his own."
Jack smiled and shook his head in mild amusement.
"She told me that Dr. Jackson was talking about stopping Hathor, talking about her coming back, saying that he couldn't let her …"
"What did you give to Hathor?" Teal'c asked.
Hammond opened his mouth to answer, but Jack made it unnecessary. He pulled the GDO out of his pocket and held it out to the General, who accepted it carefully and with a small, shamed smile.
"I'll be damned," Hammond said. "He did it."
"Yep, he did."
Sam shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand. A GDO would be useless without the codes to operate it. Why would Daniel risk his life to get it back?"
"Because this one is special, Captain," Hammond answered. "This was the first GDO we built, the prototype. And the codes that have been preprogrammed into it are accepted by the system without requiring manual confirmation."
"Hathor could have returned to the SGC, and to Earth, whenever she desired," Teal'c said.
"Yes, she could have," Hammond admitted. "So you can see why it was important that we get it back."
"He saved us," Sam said, awe and admiration both clear on her face and in her voice. "He saved the whole planet."
"He was willing to die to do so," Teal'c pointed out.
"Yep," Jack agreed.
"It would have been a worthwhile trade - a warrior's bargain."
"Except he's not a warrior," Jack pointed out. "And he still might have to pay up."
The three other people in the room turned toward him, but it was too much for Jack to deal with at that moment. He shook his head and turned away, walked down the ramp and out the door, and headed for the infirmary.
Epilogue
Chapter Nine
The first half of the trek through the forest to Apophis' palace took place in almost absolute silence, which suited Jack just fine. He wasn't much in the mood for conversation.
He couldn't understand it, couldn't even begin to wrap his head around it. Daniel had been scared of those Jaffa in the Gate Room, and he hadn't wanted to go with them. Something had made him think that he had no choice in the matter, and he could actually understand that. Being surrounded by Jaffa wasn't a pleasant experience at the best of times, and that day would definitely never be in Daniel's list of 'best' anything. But Jack hadn't doubted, not even for a second, that Daniel would leave with them the second he got the chance.
So why the hell had he run? Why had he told Jack to take Sam and Teal'c and go back to Earth without him?
"Those Jaffa he was with," he said out loud, only realizing that he'd done so when Bra'tac looked at him.
"What Jaffa?"
"The four Jaffa that came through the gate with him," Jack explained. "The ones that kidnapped him and made him come here."
Bra'tac shook his head. "There were no Jaffa with him."
"What?" Sam asked. She jogged forward just enough to catch up with Jack and Bra'tac. "There has to have been."
"Daniel Jackson is injured," Teal'c added. "He would not have been able to escape from four highly-trained Earth military guards. Even had they not become Jaffa, he would most likely have been unable to evade them."
Bra'tac shrugged and turned his eyes back to the path they were walking on. "I can tell you only that which I saw. And I saw no Jaffa."
"But you knew what he was?" Jack asked, then he shook his head. He didn't like the implications of what he'd just said at all. "You knew what happened to him? You expect us to believe that he told you?"
"It was not necessary that he tell me, human," Bra'tac said. "I have seen many things in my hundred and thirty-two years. He is not the first human male I have encountered who has fallen to the curse of being called as a queen's …" He shot a quick, sidelong glance at Jack. "... beloved."
"Wait, what?" Jack stopped walking and grabbed Bra'tac's arm, pulling him to a halt, too. "This isn't just a Hathor thing? This is common?"
"Common? No." Bra'tac shook his head. "But among queens, it is far from rare. The legend says that the queen requires the Code of Life from the host species in order to reproduce."
Sam stepped forward again. "DNA," she said. Jack shot her a questioning look, and she explained. "They use humans as hosts. I'll bet she needs human DNA so that their bodies don't reject the symbiotes."
Bra'tac nodded. "This is correct."
"Daniel Jackson is being forced to participate in the enslavement of humans by the Goa'uld?" Teal'c asked.
"More than that," Sam said. Her shoulders sank sadly. "He's the one making it possible."
"Against his will, Captain," Jack added hotly. "Let's not forget that part, shall we?"
"Of course not, sir."
"So, what else is involved in this whole … thing?" He tried to make himself say the word, but he just couldn't push it past his lips. "How did you know?"
"The chosen ones are badly abused by their queen, though they are also doted on and given high rank. This creates a paradox in their minds, where their abuser is also their savior. It becomes harder for them to imagine life without such treatment and almost impossible for them to break away from it."
"Sounds like she's going for Stockholm Syndrome, sir," Sam said softly, and Jack nodded in agreement.
"Their minds cease to be their own," Bra'tac continued. "Their every thought, every breath, becomes about serving their queen. Nothing of the young man that was survives."
"That's not gonna happen to Daniel," Jack declared. "We won't let it."
"However, the most noticeable sign, and what I saw that convinced me that Daniel Jackson was … affected …" Jack gave a small smile of appreciation for the language. "… was the flash of his eyes."
"He's a Goa'uld?" Sam asked in horror.
Jack jumped forward. "I was right!" he declared. "His eyes do glow!" Sam and Teal'c both turned toward him in shock, and he shrugged. "I wasn't sure," he said. "Kinda thought that maybe I was, ya know, hallucinating that part."
"He is not Goa'uld," Bra'tac said. "He has simply been given the power to influence those around him, particularly the queen's Jaffa and those whose loyalty lies with him."
"That makes sense," Jack said. "The two times that I saw it, he was trying to convince me to do something."
Sam tilted her head in question.
"In the locker room," he explained. "When we let him leave by himself. And again in the infirmary, when he wanted me to …"
He'd had enough memory flashes in the past twenty-four hours that he was used to them, and he'd learned to just let them come. This one was no different, except that on the surface, it was one he'd already had.
Daniel sitting on the bed in front of him, pleading, desperate … "I can't live like this. Don't make me live like this. Please." … Daniel's eyes flashing … "No." … Another flash, a feeling of calm certainty washing over him … "Promise me, Jack." … Another flash … "I'll do it. I promise."
Jack pulled himself out of the memory with a jerk. Three faces stared at him in concern.
"Three," he said simply. "I've seen it three times."
"O'Neill?"
"Let's just say that I know why I made that damn promise, Teal'c." He knew that Teal'c was the only one who understood what he was talking about, but he felt no compunction to give any further explanation. He tightened his grip on the MP5 that hung from his chest, and turned back down the path.
"We have to get to the damn palace," he said roughly. "Now."
Jack supposed that if you'd seen the inside of one Goa'uld palace, you'd seen them all. In this case, it was particularly true, because they'd already seen the inside of that specific Goa'uld palace. It wasn't as impressive as it had been the first time around. The details that had so captured Daniel's imagination then seemed less awe-inspiring, more foreboding, darker and more evil.
Somewhere in that maze of hallways and enormous rooms, Daniel was being held against his will by a Goa'uld queen intent on harvesting every last drop of DNA she could get from him.
They'd been in the palace for almost an hour, and they'd seen no Jaffa presence to speak of. The few they had encountered had seemed to be wandering around in confusion, which meant that even if Hathor had managed to recruit new soldiers on Chulak, they weren't yet organized. Hiding from them had simply been a matter of Jack and Sam ducking out of sight while Teal'c and Bra'tac blocked the door to whatever room they'd hidden in. Getting back out with Daniel would be simple, once they found him.
Unfortunately, after an hour, there'd still been no sign of him.
They were glancing into every room they passed, declaring them cleared after a quick visual inspection and then moving on. They'd started with the rooms that Teal'c and Bra'tac said were the most likely to be used to house an honored slave, but they'd all been empty. They'd seen a few acolytes in those rooms, human slaves dressed in rags, priests wearing robes, but no Daniel.
Jack was growing frustrated; they all were. He looked into yet another room - a large, ornate bedroom that was dominated by an enormous gold bed - saw yet another slave, and started to turn away. Something about that slave caught his attention, though, and he took another look. He was facing away from the door, dressed in a pair of loose white pants and a white tunic that hung to just below his hips. His feet were bare, and he had a red belt wrapped around his waist. But it was the hair that Jack focused on - the long brown hair that he'd have known anywhere.
"Daniel?" he said uncertainly, stepping into the room.
Daniel's head snapped around, and for the briefest of moments, Jack saw relief in his eyes. Then he closed them and let his head fall forward. "I told you to go home," Daniel growled.
Jack shook his head. "No way. Not without you. Come on."
He grabbed Daniel's arm and started to pull him away from the bed, but Daniel yanked away from him.
"You have to leave! Now!" Jack was looking right at Daniel's eyes when they flashed, and he stopped cold, then he released Daniel's arm and stepped back. He had the sudden urge to leave Chulak, immediately. He had to take Sam and Teal'c and run.
"Hey!" Sam said, snapping her fingers in Jack's face. He shook his head to clear away the fog that had clouded it and watched her as she turned to face Daniel. "You know that's not going to work on me, right?"
She motioned for Teal'c and Bra'tac to each grab one of Daniel's arms. "Don't look him in the eye," she warned them, then turned back to Jack. "Colonel? You with us?"
"Yeah," he said uncertainly. He blinked a few more time and focused on the task at hand. He'd been about to leave Daniel behind, after everything they'd gone through to find him? "Yeah, I'm good." He pointed at Daniel without looking at him. "Whammy me like that again," he said, "I'll knock your ass out and carry you home."
He turned on his heel and crossed the room, heading for the door with Sam right beside him. They checked both directions to make sure that the coast was clear, then he motioned for Bra'tac and Teal'c to lead Daniel out of the room. They never made it through the door.
"Jaffa!"
Jack spun back around, shocked and dismayed that the word had come from Daniel's mouth. "What are you doing?" he demanded. He noticed that Bra'tac was gone, seemingly vanished into midair, but he didn't have time to give his disappearance any more thought than that. Daniel was about to blow their escape out of the water, and he had to stop him.
"Jaffa, kree!"
He covered the distance between himself and Daniel in three steps and put his hand across Daniel's mouth. "Shut up!" he hissed. "Are you trying to get us caught?"
"You will remove your hands from the chosen one," a threatening, yet familiar-sounding, voice said from behind him.
Jack turned slowly. Five Jaffa stood in the doorway, staff weapons trained unwaveringly on his team, obviously having responded to Daniel's summons.
"You will release him," the one who had spoken before said. "Or you will die."
Jack opened his hand and pulled it away from Daniel's mouth, and he motioned for Teal'c to release his arm. Daniel moved away from them and crossed the room rapidly, tugging at the hem of his tunic as he did so. "Bring them," he said to the Jaffa who'd spoken.
"Daniel …?" Sam was distraught, and Jack shared the sentiment. But he was quickly coming to the conclusion that whoever that was in front of them, he wasn't their Daniel anymore.
"Where are you taking us?" he asked.
"Before the queen," Daniel answered as he strode purposefully into the corridor. "She will decide your fate."
None of them resisted when the Jaffa dragged them out of the room, and they followed Daniel down the hallway in silence.
There didn't seem to be a reason to fight anymore.
Jack had never once imagined that he'd see Daniel on his knees at any Goa'uld's feet, but that was exactly where he was.
They'd been taken to the throne room, where they were all shoved to their knees and held there by two Jaffa each. Hathor sat high above them, on the raised throne she'd stolen from Apophis. Daniel had rushed ahead of them once they'd entered, and had fallen to his knees at her feet immediately.
"My queen," he said. "Forgive me."
She ran her fingers through his hair fondly, as though she were stroking a favored pet, but she was looking across the room at Jack as she did it. She narrowed her eyes in hatred at the same time her lips parted in a predatory smile.
"These have attempted to take you from us, our beloved?"
"They did," Daniel answered.
Hathor pushed Daniel aside, and he fell to the floor with an audible thump. Jack winced in sympathy, and even though he knew it was pointless, he couldn't stop the anger that bubbled in his veins at seeing Daniel treated so roughly. He pulled against the Jaffa that held him even as Hathor pushed herself to her feet and walked down the stairs. She was moving straight toward him, ignoring both Sam and Teal'c.
"We had such hope for you, our love," she said. "We would have given you anything. You repay us in this way? You would take from us that which is ours? After everything we have done for you?"
Daniel was still lying on the floor beside the throne, and it looked to Jack like he was having trouble getting up. Janet had been worried about him exacerbating his injuries just standing in the infirmary; how much damage had Hathor done when she shoved him over? How much had she done before they got there?
"He's not yours," he said.
"Is he not?" Hathor bent down in front of him and took his chin in her hand. "Does he not honor us? Does he not worship us? Has he not given us all of himself, freely and repeatedly?"
Jack didn't care about the Jaffa that had his arms wrenched behind his back. He put every ounce of strength he had into lunging for her. If he could just get his hands around her neck …
"You will be punished for this transgression," she announced as she turned away. "Harshly."
Daniel had struggled to his feet and come down the stairs behind her, though his steps were heavy and uneven. He fell to his knees at her feet again, with his shoulders hunched and his head down.
"My queen, I beg of you. The fault was mine." His voice was breathy, raspy, and it sounded to Jack like he was in pain. "I led them here. Any punishment to be given should be mine."
Jack shared confused glances with both Sam and Teal'c. First he did everything he could to get them captured, and now he was offering himself up to be punished in their place? What the hell was going on with him?
Hathor tipped his head back with her hand and caressed his neck with the ribbon device she wore on it. "If we indulge you, beloved …" God, how Jack was starting to hate that word. "What would you suggest that we do with the trespassers who would have stolen you from our side?"
"Send them back," he answered without hesitation. "Let them die with the rest of their pitiful planet."
It was obvious they were going to die, one way or the other, but no matter what, nothing that might happen could possibly hurt any worse than what already had.
Daniel had stabbed them in the back. He may as well have stabbed them in the heart.
"Has to be a reason," Jack mumbled to himself as he paced around the cell that they'd been thrown into while Hathor decided whether or not to act on Daniel's suggestion. "Has to be a reason."
Teal'c looked away from his inspection of the walls of their cell. "If the words Bra'tac spoke are truth, O'Neill, the reason might well simply be that the Daniel Jackson we know no longer exists."
"I refuse to accept that, Teal'c," Jack said. "And speaking of Bra'tac, where the hell did he go, anyway?"
Teal'c shook his head. "I am uncertain. I know only that Daniel Jackson whispered to him, and he departed. It was Bra'tac who spoke to us when we were captured, but I did not have time to question him about his motive."
"Daniel whammied him, too," Jack said. "Betchya."
Sam spoke up from the bunk that she was sitting on. "So, what do we do? Go on the assumption that Daniel's lost, just write him off? Go back to the SGC and lock it down against whatever she's planning to do?"
"That would mean leaving him here, Captain."
"I know, sir, and I don't like it, either. But if he's really lost himself to her … what choice do we have? Can we take him back home, knowing that he might be sympathetic to our enemy? Is that a risk we can take?"
"No." Jack shook his head and turned away, running his fingers through his hair angrily. "It's not."
The door to the cell began to open. Sam stood up from the bunk, and she and Teal'c took positions on either side of Jack. Two Jaffa stepped into the cell and moved to the side. Daniel stepped in between them. He looked at each member of SG1 - first Teal'c, then Sam, then he looked Jack right in the eye. Jack straightened his shoulders and stared back at him.
"Jaffa." Daniel turned toward the guards, snapped his fingers twice, and the Jaffa stepped back into the corridor. The door of the cell slammed shut behind them. Jack watched Daniel's shoulders rise as he took in a deep breath and fall as he let it back out again. Then he turned around and crossed the floor toward them quickly.
"We don't have much time," he said. "We're going to have to hurry."
Jack grabbed him by the shoulders. "Stop," he said. "Right there."
"Jack? What are you ... ow!" Daniel cringed as Jack grasped his forearms tightly. "Jack, that hurts!"
"What the hell are you playing at, Daniel? Waltzing in here after what you said ..."
Daniel's eyes widened in shock. "What ... you mean you believed that?"
"You mean I wasn't supposed to?"
Daniel shook his head in disbelief. "Of course not!" His eyes darted back and forth between the other two members of his team. "Sam? Teal'c? One of you had to know."
Sam shook her head slowly, and Teal'c raised his eyebrow. "It was a most difficult distinction to make."
"Oh, God, you guys!" Daniel turned toward them, grimacing again when Jack's hands tightened on his arms.
"I think you should probably just stay where you are, Daniel."
"Jack, listen to me ..."
"Why should I listen to you? I don't even know who you are."
"It's me. I swear."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Jack said quietly.
Daniel shook his head again. "No, Jack, it's not like that. You have to believe me. It was an act. It was all an act."
"Your performance was indeed believable, Daniel Jackson." Daniel turned to face Teal'c, hope in his eyes. "It was in fact so believable that we cannot be certain that you are not acting now."
Daniel's shoulders slumped in Jack's grasp and he closed his eyes. "She was going to kill you."
Sam stepped forward with her head bowed. She lifted it slowly and looked Daniel in the eye. "So were you."
"What? No!"
"Let them die along with the rest of their pitiful planet." Jack's voice was soft but firm. "That's what you said, Daniel. You weren't talking about killing just us. You were talking about destroying Earth."
"I had to say something! I couldn't just stand there and watch her kill you! If I'd gotten her to send you back ..."
"What?" Jack demanded, tightening his fingers again and shaking Daniel roughly. "If we'd gone back, what? A bomb goes with us?"
Daniel's eyes were clenched tightly shut and his face had turned pale. "No," he gasped. "It's not like ... not like that ..." Pain washed across his face and his knees buckled.
"Daniel!" Jack reacted instantly, pulling Daniel against his chest and wrapping his arms around the other man's back. The response was a choked cry of pain. He grabbed the front of Jack's jacket weakly.
Jack shifted his grip slightly, trying to keep Daniel from crashing to the floor. As he did so, he noticed that the palm of his hand was smeared with blood. He looked up at Sam and Teal'c in horror. "What the hell ...?"
Sam and Teal'c were across the room and standing beside them instantly. While Teal'c reached for Daniel's left arm to relieve Jack of at least part of his burden, Sam carefully pulled the back of Daniel's long white tunic up.
"Oh, God," she whispered. "Daniel ..."
Jack and Teal'c turned their heads in unison and glanced down at Daniel's back. The olive green t-shirt that he was wearing under the tunic was criss-crossed with lines of red that had seeped through the fabric. Sam pulled the shirt up and out of the way, too. The mess of raised and bloody welts made Jack's blood boil.
"Help me get him on that bunk." Jack turned his head away and lowered his voice. "That God damned bitch!" he hissed to the corner of the room.
"Not as bad ... as it looks ..."
Jack turned his head back around quickly. "Yeah, right," he snorted. "It looks pretty damn bad."
Jack and Teal'c slowly lowered Daniel to the bunk and helped him settle himself carefully on his stomach. He crossed his arms and laid his head down on them. "It stopped bleeding ..."
"You're bleeding all over the colonel," Sam pointed out politely as she sat on the bed beside him and reached for his shirts again. Daniel flinched and buried his face in his arms when Sam lifted his shirt past places where the cloth had dried to the open welts. "I'm sorry. I'm being as careful as I can."
Daniel nodded his head slowly. "It's okay, Sam."
Jack and Teal'c stood behind Sam, watching silently. Teal'c crossed his arms across his chest and glowered at the damage that Sam was revealing to them. Jack's arms hung at his sides, his hands clenching into white-knuckled fists over and over again. When Sam had raised Daniel's shirt as far as it would go, he saw the full extent of Hathor's "punishment." Four deep whip marks, at four different angles - one for each of the four members of SG1. Jack closed his eyes and turned away again. "Damn it."
"Some of these are pretty deep, sir." Sam's voice pulled Jack's attention back to Daniel's back. "But he was right - most of them had stopped bleeding before he got here."
Jack nodded wordlessly, and then crouched down beside Daniel's head. "Daniel?" When Daniel didn't respond, Jack reached out with one hand, bringing it to rest on his hair. "Daniel?"
Daniel turned his head slowly and opened his eyes. "Jack?"
"That stuff you said, in the throne room? That wasn't real?"
"No."
"All an act?"
"Every word," Daniel whispered.
"Okay." Jack took a second to let the truth of Daniel's words sink in before going any further. He opened his mouth to ask his next question, but Daniel answered him before he got the words out.
"I can't tell you."
"Can't tell me what?"
"I can't tell you what's going on." Jack started to protest, but Daniel pushed forward. "Just trust me. I know what I'm doing."
"Daniel ..."
"Trust me, Jack. Please."
Jack swallowed hard. "Of course I trust you," he said. "It's that damn drug of hers that I don't trust." He sat back on his heels and studied Daniel's face carefully. "You're not doing that mind-whammy thing of yours on me again, are you?"
Daniel gave him a weak smile. "Why? Are my eyes glowing?"
Sam tapped Daniel on the shoulder, saving Jack from a conversation that he was certain neither he nor Daniel wanted to have, about the inappropriateness of brainwashing friends to kill each other.
"I've got no supplies, Daniel," Sam said. "There's nothing I can do for these."
He shook his head and pushed up on his arms; Jack and Teal'c helped him right himself on the bunk. "You couldn't anyway," Daniel said. "If I came back with bandages on them, she'd know something's up." A wet-sounding cough bubbled up from deep in his chest, and he wiped his mouth quickly.
He wasn't so fast that Jack didn't see the blood on his hand.
"What was that?" he asked as casually as he could.
"Nothing," Daniel answered. "Nothing that matters, anyway." He pushed himself back to his feet and walked slowly and carefully back across the room. Jack had to resist the urge to help him. "I just had to see you. Everything's going to be over soon, and I just …" He took another deep breath. "I have a plan to get you out of here. Be ready for it, okay?"
"Daniel …"
"You'll know it when you see it," he said. "Just … I have to do this."
He pressed the concealed button that controlled the cell door. As it slid open, he took one last look at each member of SG1 in turn. Then he gave one last hesitant smile and walked out the door. It slammed shut behind him with an air of finality.
A few seconds passed as the three of them stared at each other in silence. It was Sam who broke it first.
"Why do I have this feeling that we're never going to see him again?"
Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and scuffed at the floor with the heel of his boot. "Because he just told us goodbye."
"Daniel Jackson does not intend to leave Chulak," Teal'c observed. "At least not while he still lives."
"Yep." Jack turned around, a look of grim determination on his face. "Too bad we're gonna ruin his plan, isn't it?"
Chapter Ten
There was nothing they could do but wait, and they didn't even know what they were waiting for.
Jack wished, not for the first time, that he had at least some small hint of what Daniel's plan was. Being ready would have been easier if he'd known what he was supposed to be preparing for. "You'll know it when you see it," Daniel had said.
All he could do was hope that the trust Daniel had in him wasn't misplaced.
Fifteen minutes later, Daniel's plan walked through the door, and they knew him when they saw him. But knowing he was acting in accordance with Daniel's wishes didn't make Jack any less angry with him.
"Why the hell did you do that?"
Bra'tac bowed his head, though Jack didn't know if it was from deference or shame. "I was given an order by the queen's … by Daniel Jackson. I was powerless to disobey."
"What order are you following now?"
"I am here to escort you to the Chappa'ai," Bra'tac answered. He lifted his head and started handing them back the weapons that had been taken from them after their capture. "We must hurry. The tension between Hathor's new recruits and those loyal to Apophis is escalating. I expect a large scale battle between them soon."
"Here?" Sam asked, stepping forward. "In the palace?"
"Yes," Bra'tac answered.
She turned toward Jack, her eyes wide. "Sir, Daniel …"
"Daniel Jackson is aware of the situation," Bra'tac informed them. "In fact, he is relying on it. He believes that it will create a large enough diversion to camouflage your escape."
"And what of him?" Teal'c asked. "Does he intend to stay in Hathor's service?"
"No," Bra'tac answered slowly. "He intends to kill her."
"And die in the process," Jack said with certainty. "Not happening." He stalked toward the door and motioned for Bra'tac to open it. "Get us out of this cell."
"He was very clear in his order to me, human. I am to take you to the …"
"I don't give a damn what Daniel told you to do, Bra'tac," Jack said. "I'm telling you that you're going to take us to where he is, and you're going to do it now." He raised his MP5 and pointed it directly at Bra'tac's chest. "Maybe I can't mind-whammy you with my glowing eyes, but I can sure as hell shoot you where you stand. Now open this door and take us to Daniel."
Bra'tac sighed and nodded his head. "Very well," he said. "But he is with the queen." He put his hands on Jack's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "You will not enjoy what you are about to see."
"Nothing I haven't seen before." He shrugged Bra'tac's hands off and stepped around him. "Let's go."
Jack strode out the still-opening door, pretending that he didn't see the looks of shock and horror that the three other occupants of the room aimed at his retreating back.
The corridors, which an hour before had been mostly empty and silent, were a swarm of activity, hostility and confusion. Daniel had been right about the escalating disagreement between the Jaffa providing cover for their escape, because they were walking down the hallway completely unnoticed by any of the soldiers they passed. They were too embroiled in their own differences to pay much attention to two humans being led around by two Serpent Guards.
"I will lead you to the second level of her quarters," Bra'tac told them. "It will provide you with both excellent cover and a vantage point from which you can survey the situation."
Jack shook his head quickly. "Not really planning on watching the show," he said. "Planning on stopping it the second we walk through the door."
"We must surveil before we attack, O'Neill," Teal'c insisted.
"I hate it, too, sir," Sam said, "but Teal'c's right. If we go in there shooting, and Daniel's in the way …"
"I know, Captain," Jack snapped angrily. He took a deep breath as they walked up to the door the Bra'tac had led them to. "Just … you two keep your heads down. Do not look down until I tell you to, got it?"
"Colonel …"
"O'Neill …"
"Not up for debate," he insisted. "There's no way Daniel would …" He shook his head. "You don't want to see what she's doing to him. Believe me."
He could see the question in Sam's eyes more than in Teal'c's, but that made sense. He'd told Teal'c that they'd been together, that he hadn't been able to stop Hathor from doing what she wanted. Obviously, he'd just never put the two things together. Sam, though, was hearing all of it for the first time. He raised his finger in the air.
"Don't ask me how I know that, Carter."
She nodded, then crouched down on the floor next to Teal'c. Jack took one last, deep breath and nodded at Bra'tac, who pressed a panel on the wall. The door slid open. Teal'c and Sam crawled in first, Jack gestured for Bra'tac to follow, and then he entered behind them in a low crouch.
They were on a balcony that looked down over what had obviously become Hathor's private quarters. Sam, Teal'c and Bra'tac sat with the wall at their back, their weapons at the ready. Jack closed his eyes, swallowed hard, then raised up on his knees far enough to see into the room below.
Jack took stock of the situation as quickly as he could, knowing that he had to keep himself together long enough to put together a solid plan of attack. He counted six Jaffa standing at various points around the room, and four more - the four Jaffa from NORAD, still dressed in their BDUs - standing at the corners of the bed.
The bed that they were holding Daniel down on.
Jack's heart jumped into his throat.
Daniel, shirtless, barefoot, his glasses lost somewhere in the tangle of sheets …
… his pants low on his hips, his arms pinned above his head, eyes open …
… but not unseeing. Struggling, fighting with everything he had left, not crying, screaming in defiance ...
… Hathor walking around the bed, running her fingers down his arms, enjoying his pain …
"You dare defy us? You belong to us!"
… the sound of a fist striking flesh, Daniel's head jerking to the side, Hathor climbing onto the bed …
"We enjoy watching you struggle, our beloved."
… stop her, stop her, stop her …
"Not as much as I'm going to enjoy watching you die."
That was all it took to separate the past from the present in Jack's mind, and he stood up, took aim at one of the Jaffa holding Daniel's arms, and shot him right between the eyes.
"Get the fuck away from him!"
Sam, Teal'c, and Bra'tac took that as their cue, and came up from the floor with their own weapons raised. Three more shots were fired, three more Jaffa fell, including the two that held Daniel's ankles. Daniel took a deep breath, pulled his knees in to his chest, and planted both feet against Hathor's stomach.
"Get off of me!"
He kicked as hard as he could, and Hathor flew off of the bed, landing in an undignified heap at the base of the stairs that led up to it.
Jack was moving around the balcony, making his way toward the stairs that led down into the room, with Teal'c right behind him. Bra'tac and Sam were moving around the other direction. One of the Jaffa started climbing the stairs; Jack took aim and shot him.
Daniel rolled over and off of the bed, landing on his feet right beside the Jaffa that still held his left wrist. The second of surprise was all that Daniel needed to pull his right arm back and slam the heel of his hand into the Jaffa's face, shattering his nose, spraying them both with blood. The Jaffa released Daniel's arm and stumbled back, blinded.
Bra'tac and Teal'c fired their staff weapons at two of the remaining uninjured Jaffa as they ran down the stairs, and Sam sprayed a third with bullets. All three went down and didn't move again.
Daniel was knelt down beside Hathor's bed, and it looked like he was opening an ornate table. Jack called out a warning to him when he saw Hathor regain her feet and stalk toward him, but Daniel couldn't have heard him over the rising sounds of battle in the room. He reached the bottom of the stairs, taking out another Jaffa as he did so. A sound from across the room caught his attention and he turned.
Jaffa were pouring into the room from every door, but strangely enough, none of them seemed to be paying any attention to the humans or the two Jaffa trying to kill their queen. They'd turned on each other. Jack didn't know if their attack had started it, or if it had started on its own and spilled into the room with them, but he didn't think it made a difference. One way or another, they had their diversion.
All they had to do was grab Daniel and get the hell out.
Hathor reached Daniel before they did, grabbed a handful of his hair, and dragged him to his feet.
"Stupid child!" she spat in his face. "You will pay for this!"
"No!" Jack cried out, jumping forward. But there was no way he could push his way through the sudden mass of swarming Jaffa in time to stop her from throwing Daniel across the room and slamming him into the wall.
"Carter!" he called out. "Teal'c! Bra'tac! On me!" The four of them formed a wedge and forced their way through the battle that raged around them.
Daniel slid down the wall bonelessly until he was sitting on the floor, leaning against it. He was pale as a ghost, and Jack couldn't help but notice the stream of blood that ran from the corner of his mouth and oozed down his chin. His eyes were open, but he was noticeably dazed - so much so that Jack wondered if he even remembered where he was.
Then Hathor was there, standing over him, the ribbon device on her palm glowing as she knelt beside him.
"You brought us such pleasure, our beloved. We would have kept you for eternity. But even our fondness for you will not save you now."
Daniel blinked his eyes, trying to focus on her as he made a half-hearted attempt to back away. She raised her hand to his forehead just as Jack stepped up behind her.
"Hey!" he called out.
Hathor jerked her head up to face him.
"Not yours," he growled. "Ours."
He swung his MP5 like a baseball bat, and he enjoyed both the sound and the feeling of it colliding with her skull before she flew across the room again. She landed in the middle of one of the many scuffles taking place between the rival Jaffa factions, and they seemed to swallow her up. He didn't see her stand up, didn't even see her move, and then she was surrounded, and he couldn't see her anymore. Jack turned his back on her and knelt next to Daniel.
Daniel's eyes were closed, his body slumped against the wall, and he looked half-dead. Jack's heart dropped into his feet, and he patted his cheek lightly. "Hey," he said. "Kinda need you here, Daniel. You can't pass out yet."
Daniel opened his eyes and blinked them slowly. "Hey," he returned with a rather stupid-looking smile. "Jack."
"Need you to focus, Daniel," Jack said urgently.
Daniel blinked again, and looked Jack in the eye. Jack saw it happen, was watching the second the clarity snapped into place, and Daniel's mind caught up with the rest of him. Jack also knew that it wasn't going to last very much longer; Daniel was going under and he was going under fast. Every time he exhaled, the stream of blood coming from his mouth got wider.
"Bomb," Daniel whispered.
"Bomb?" Jack couldn't quite believe it.
Daniel had something in his hand that Jack hadn't noticed before. Jack had no idea how he'd managed to hold on to it when he'd slammed into the wall, but then again, he had no idea how Daniel had managed to do half of what he'd done, considering he should have been in his bed in the infirmary. His thoughts were interrupted when Daniel shoved whatever it was into Jack's hand. "Hold … this," he said. "Don't … don't lose it."
Jack looked down, confused as to why Daniel had just given him a GDO. He had to know that they already had one. But he dismissed it from his thoughts as quickly as he put it in his pocket and focused on the most immediate threat. Daniel eyelids were fluttering closed, and he didn't have much time left. "Daniel, hey. Stay with me for a second. You said bomb?"
"Under … the … bed …" Daniel took one last quivering breath, his eyes rolled back in his head, and his body went limp against the wall.
"Teal'c!" Jack bellowed. "Grab him! We gotta go! Now!"
Teal'c scooped Daniel up and tossed him across his shoulder. Jack led the way into the corridor. He and Sam took point, Bra'tac brought up the rear, and SG1 ran like hell.
They were only stopped once on their way to the Stargate, by a Jaffa that stepped out of the trees.
"Whom do you serve?" he demanded.
Jack stepped in front of him, tightened his grip on his gun, and fixed him with a hard stare. "Who do you think we serve?"
The Jaffa's eyes locked on Daniel's shirtless, limp form draped across Teal'c's shoulders, and he stepped forward. Jack managed to control himself until he started to reach for him.
Jack moved between them as Teal'c took a step back. "You don't touch him," Jack growled. "No one touches him."
The Jaffa lowered his head in deference. "Forgive me. I had heard that the queen had chosen a beloved, but I didn't imagine that he would be so ..."
"We're taking the ... beloved back where he belongs," Jack said. It struck him as odd how easily the word came out of his mouth that time. "Interfere and die."
The Jaffa bowed deeply, and stepped out of their way. As they jogged past him, Bra'tac said to him, "A battle rages at the palace. Go. Defend the honor of your goddess." The Jaffa turned and ran in the direction they'd just come from.
"Next person who tries to touch him or talks about him like he's Hathor's property gets a bullet to the brain," Jack muttered. Almost as an afterthought, he said, "And the first person who tells him that I called him that gets one, too."
They'd just reached the Stargate - the completely abandoned and unguarded Stargate - when the palace exploded behind them. The flames shot into the air, above the trees, and for the briefest of moments, Jack swore he felt the ground beneath them shake.
"What was that?" Sam asked, her voice filled with awe as she looked up from the DHD.
"That," Jack answered, with more than a hint of pride in his voice, "was Daniel's plan."
"A most effective plan, O'Neill," Teal'c said.
"He wanted to kill her," he answered. "I think he just might have done the job."
The Stargate opened behind them, Sam pressed the code sequence on her GDO, and all three ran up the steps quickly. They each took just enough time to wave their goodbyes and thank yous to Bra'tac before they stepped through.
Jack had hoped that the greeting party on the other side of Earth side of the gate would be heavy on medical personnel, and he wasn't disappointed.
Janet was at their side in an instant, helping Teal'c to lay Daniel down on a gurney so she could rush him to the infirmary. Daniel showed no signs of waking, even when the bleeding welts on his back came in contact with the sheet. Jack moved toward him quickly, but before he could reach his side, Janet had ushered him out of the room and to the infirmary.
General Hammond walked up the ramp toward them. "SG1," he said. "Welcome back. Are you all okay?"
Jack nodded as he looked around the Gate Room. He'd half expected Dr. Mackenzie to meet them when they returned, to drag Daniel off to Mental Health for being a danger to himself. He was pleasantly surprised not to see his face among the dozens assembled.
Hammond must have noticed his distraction, and he guessed correctly about what was causing it.
"Dr. Mackenzie might be returning, Colonel," he said. "But not until Dr. Jackson is fully recovered from his physical injuries, and only if the two of you approve it."
Jack cocked his head, surprised.
"I managed to convince him that going through the gate wasn't Dr. Jackson's way of attempting suicide by Jaffa."
Jack wanted to tell him that it had been, but no way was he going to expose Daniel to another threat from Mackenzie, not so soon after they'd gotten rid of the last one.
"How'd you do that, sir?" Sam asked from behind him.
"I told him the truth," Hammond answered. "I told him that I knew why Dr. Jackson went to Chulak."
Jack and Sam stared at him in amazement, and Teal'c tilted his head.
Hammond smiled at them weakly, lowered his voice, and continued his explanation. "I found it while I was reviewing the security tapes," he said. "I … I gave Hathor something before she left. Dr. Jackson was in the room when I did it. He and I were the only ones who knew about it, and I didn't remember until I saw myself."
Sudden understanding dawned on Jack. He reached his hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the GDO that Daniel had given him on Chulak. Something Hammond had said caught his attention, though, and he grew serious.
"You watched the security tapes?" he asked. His voice had a dangerous edge to it that even he could hear. "There are security tapes? Of the VIP room?"
"Were," Hammond said. "I destroyed them after I reviewed them. I only found one potential security breach in them, and it's the one that I'm certain Dr. Jackson went to Chulak to fix. Dr. Fraiser, likewise, reviewed the tapes from the infirmary, around the time of Dr. Jackson's kidnapping," Hammond continued. "You might be interested to know that it was the Jaffa who gave him your uniform, Colonel. That wasn't a decision he made on his own."
Jack smiled and shook his head in mild amusement.
"She told me that Dr. Jackson was talking about stopping Hathor, talking about her coming back, saying that he couldn't let her …"
"What did you give to Hathor?" Teal'c asked.
Hammond opened his mouth to answer, but Jack made it unnecessary. He pulled the GDO out of his pocket and held it out to the General, who accepted it carefully and with a small, shamed smile.
"I'll be damned," Hammond said. "He did it."
"Yep, he did."
Sam shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand. A GDO would be useless without the codes to operate it. Why would Daniel risk his life to get it back?"
"Because this one is special, Captain," Hammond answered. "This was the first GDO we built, the prototype. And the codes that have been preprogrammed into it are accepted by the system without requiring manual confirmation."
"Hathor could have returned to the SGC, and to Earth, whenever she desired," Teal'c said.
"Yes, she could have," Hammond admitted. "So you can see why it was important that we get it back."
"He saved us," Sam said, awe and admiration both clear on her face and in her voice. "He saved the whole planet."
"He was willing to die to do so," Teal'c pointed out.
"Yep," Jack agreed.
"It would have been a worthwhile trade - a warrior's bargain."
"Except he's not a warrior," Jack pointed out. "And he still might have to pay up."
The three other people in the room turned toward him, but it was too much for Jack to deal with at that moment. He shook his head and turned away, walked down the ramp and out the door, and headed for the infirmary.
Epilogue