Translations (17a/19)
Title: Translations ( Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen.
Chapter1 Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter4a-- 4b Chapter5 Chapter6 Chapter7 Chapter8 Chapter9 Chapter10 Chapter11 Chapter12 Chapter13 Chapter14 Chapter15 Chapter16a-- 16b Chapter17a-- 17b
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Chapter 17: Klorel
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13 April 1998; Goa'uld Hatak, 1615 hrs
Jack hurtled through the wormhole and into a pile of bodies scuffling furiously in the dark, illuminated only by the active Stargate.
He rolled away and fumbled for his Maglite. Light spilled forth just as Carter came through at a run, immediately dropping her pack to flick on her own flashlight and scan the rest of the room, priming the staff weapon with her other hand and supporting it one-armed. Teal'c looked up just in time to see Jack take aim. "Teal'c, down!" he whispered as loudly as he dared.
Teal'c moved to cover Daniel's body and pull him away, but the other Jaffa regained a grip on him and--
The ground lurched.
Jack quickly released the trigger as he lost his footing and slammed hard into something nearby that felt like stone, knocking the breath from him. Carter's light jittered away as she spilled from the raised platform where the Stargate stood, and other grunts sounded throughout the suddenly dark room as the wormhole disengaged.
When they stopped moving and he could breathe again, Jack hastily turned on his light to scan the room again. He found the stunned Serpent Guard climbing to his feet barely two yards away, the knife nearby on the floor. Seizing his chance, Jack rolled to his knees, reached for the knife's hilt, and plunged the blade between the plates of the Guard's armor. With a surprised, choking gasp, the Jaffa twitched once, then dropped limp to the floor, dead.
Jack released the knife, breathing hard and tingling from adrenaline. Another light came on somewhere to his right, and he looked over to see Carter sitting up from where she'd fallen. "Report," he said.
"I'm fine, sir," Carter whispered back immediately.
"I am unharmed," Teal'c's voice said.
"Daniel, you good?" Jack said.
To his relief, Daniel's dazed voice answered, "Uh...I think so?" Jack swung his light in that direction. He squinted at the shape of Daniel starting to sit up against the stone box he'd been thrown against. There was a reddening mark on the side of his face from the brawl that would bruise, but he seemed mostly okay until Jack saw--
He sucked in a breath and rushed forward. "You're bleeding!"
Daniel stared at him blankly, then lifted a hand to his throat, where blood was dripping down one side of his neck and onto his shirt. Jack shoved his questing fingers away, probing gently at the wound himself, then sat back with a breath of relief.
"How bad is it?" Carter asked anxiously, coming toward him.
"Not bad. Shallow," Jack said, reaching for a first aid kit she'd brought. "And missed the carotid completely. He'll be fine." He pulled out a piece of gauze, folded it once, and pressed it firmly against the cut, eliciting a small flinch. "Hold that there 'til it stops bleeding, Daniel. You gonna be okay?"
Reaching up to hold the gauze in place, Daniel nodded mutely.
"Teal'c," Jack added fervently, "If I ever complain again about you training with Daniel...ignore me." Talk about close calls. "Okay. Carter, dial up Earth. We need to send him back home, right now."
Teal'c walked toward them, saying, "If we are indeed on a ship, O'Neill, I believe we just entered hyperspace."
Carter stopped with a hand over the DHD. "Hyper--does that mean what I think it means? We're moving away from the coordinates we just 'gated to?"
"That is correct, Captain Carter--at great velocity."
"Sir, Dr. Jackson must have been right--they're moving somewhere, possibly Earth, and if we're moving that fast we don't have a point of origin. We won't be able to dial out until--"
"Try it anyway," Jack snapped. She bit her lip but obeyed.
No lock.
"Yi shay," Daniel said eloquently.
"Crap," Jack agreed, scrubbing a hand through his hair in frustration. Realizing yet another problem, he dug through his pockets, knowing even as he did that the search would be fruitless. "Oy. Did anyone here have time to grab a GDO from one of the techs?"
Carter jumped, reaching automatically toward her boot where she sometimes kept hers. "No, sir."
"Nor I, O'Neill."
"Then we've got no way to get home," Jack said. "If they're worried about an attack, they're not gonna be leaving the iris open for us at the SGC."
"We'd have to 'gate to some other planet first anyway, sir, using Earth's point of origin," Carter said, frowning. "I just don't know what we'll do from there about getting home."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he said bracingly, deciding that, at worst, they could throw things through the Stargate at the iris until someone decided to open it.
The sound of someone moving behind them made them turn. Teal'c was opening one of the boxes that filled this room. "These are transport containers, much like your shipping crates. We must first equip ourselves to make our way to the ring transporter in order to be prepared when we reach Earth's orbit."
"This is turning out to be a really bad day," Jack commented, keeping his tone even as he watched Daniel from the corner of his eye.
"I'll just stay in here until you're finished and ready to 'gate out," Daniel offered, hearing his worry anyway. "I won't get in your way, I promise. Once you find a way out of here, anyway," he added, looking doubtfully at the apparently seamless walls.
"For once, kid, you getting in our way isn't what I'm afraid of." He glanced around, too. "And there has to be a way out. The doors must be hidden." He stood up and walked toward Teal'c and Carter, adding his flashlight beam to theirs. "What are you doing here? Ah," he said when he saw the oddly shaped devices in the box. "What are these things?"
"They are zat'nik'tel," Teal'c said as he picked one up. "It is quite a deadly Goa'uld weapon, though its energy is less destructive than that of a staff weapon."
"Sweet. How do you use them?"
"One need only squeeze it here to fire," the Jaffa said, demonstrating how to prime the weapon and then shoot. "Discharging the zat'nik'tel only once causes great pain and disables but does not kill, while the second shot is fatal to nearly all subjects."
"Nice," Carter said appreciatively, eagerly reaching out to arm herself. "What do you call them again?"
Teal'c opened his mouth to answer, when Jack said, "Let's call them zat guns." Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him. "Just pass 'em out. Ah...is there any sort of recoil when you fire? Does it malfunction easily?" It didn't look like a particularly difficult weapon to use--point and squeeze.
"Very little," Teal'c said.
"And first shot doesn't kill?"
"No."
After a brief hesitation, Jack took one to Daniel, deciding he couldn't sit around on the ship completely unarmed, and that this would be easier to use for someone with zero experience using firearms. At the very least, he'd survive if he accidentally shot himself...
No. That wasn't going to happen.
Daniel was standing now and running his free hand over the hieroglyphs on the walls, apparently forgetting he was on an enemy ship. He paused with his finger poised over one of the glyphs. "This is Apophis' serpent symbol, Jack, and it's raised higher than the other ones. Do you think maybe..." His finger slipped down to press one side.
A panel next to them ground open, making them jump away while Carter and Teal'c hurried toward them, pressing their bodies against the wall next to the opening door. Jack took an experimental look around the edge of the panel into what looked like a thankfully empty corridor.
"Dewa'naturu," Daniel breathed when he saw it was empty.
"Dammit, Daniel!" Jack hissed angrily.
Daniel winced, chagrined. "A way out of the room?"
"First rule: stop touching things!" Jack let his breath out through his teeth, then roughly grabbed Daniel's other hand, lifting the forgotten square of gauze back up to his still-weeping cut. "All right," he whispered. "Carter, you got the bombs?"
She lifted her pack. "Yes, sir."
"Leave one here--no reason to tote two around with us. You, me, and Teal'c are going to find the ring transporter. We don't know where that is, do we?"
"We do not, O'Neill."
"Fine. Avoid engaging the enemy if possible. Teal'c, get that Jaffa's body out of sight. Daniel, did you see Teal'c show us how to fire the zat gun? Do you understand?" A nod. "Are you sure? Good. Stay behind one of the boxes. Use your zat only if absolutely necessary, and don't let anyone see you until we come back for you before we leave. Got it?"
"Yes," Daniel whispered back without argument, accepting the zat gun. He turned it around toward himself to examine it, and Jack had to reach out with a quick lurch of terror, flipping it back around so that it aimed at the ground.
"Never point it toward yourself!" he hissed. "Never." Biting his lips, Daniel nodded, carefully holding it away.
Carter pulled a sealed metal container out of her bag. "Keep this hidden," she told him. "It won't go off on its own unless someone really smashes it around, but be careful with it anyway."
"That's it?" Jack asked, looking dubiously at the object that looked no bigger than some of Carter's bigger textbooks.
"It's not pretty--"
"You're sure that'll do it?"
"It needs to be triggered to start the reaction, but yes. This'll overdo it," she assured him.
An unfamiliar noise from within the room made them whirl around, zats at the ready, but it was only Teal'c zapping the dead Jaffa's body until it...
...disappeared?
"Uh, okay," Jack said quietly, staring in fascination. "Explain this again. First shot stuns, second shot kills, and the third shot...?"
"Disintegrates," Teal'c said. The look on his face as almost gleeful. "Only one Goa'uld engineer knew how to create such technology. Very few of this type of zat'nik'tel were made before he was killed."
"I don't suppose we could disintegrate this ship around us?" Carter said.
"The strength of that function is low," Teal'c told her, "and it is limited in the materials it can affect. No Goa'uld technology of such scale could be destroyed in this way."
Jack shook himself. "Good to know." He took another look around the room before saying, "Okay. Everyone clear on what to do?" They nodded. "Daniel, close the door behind us and hide. I'll take point; Teal'c, watch our six. Carter, you worry about that bomb." He looked back one more time, then placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Hey. You--" He stopped, then patted him once, inadequately. "Don't get yourself killed, kid. Just hide--we'll be back for you."
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13 April 1998; Goa'uld Hatak, 1630 hrs
Daniel shifted in the small, pitch black space between the cargo box and the wall, the zat'nik'tel uncomfortable and unfamiliar in his right hand. Though he knew Sam's bomb was beside him on the floor, he reached out to touch the encasing every once in a while to assure himself that he knew where it was. A bomb had killed Ra, which meant it was powerful, and Sam had said this one was even more powerful.
He dropped the hand he'd been holding to his neck and carefully touched the stinging cut, which seemed to have stopped bleeding. His jaw was sore--something hard had hit it sometime between being caught on the ramp and being thrown through the Stargate and then tumbling into a transport container.
Naturu. He'd thought he was dead for sure, that time.
But they were stuck here now, with no GDO and less prepared than they'd hoped to be. They hadn't even had time to send the MALP, and only luck had let them fall into an isolated, unguarded room. And then he'd opened the door--stupid, stupid, right after promising not to get in the way--and they'd been lucky no one was outside in the corridor to see them.
Actually, he wasn't sure if this day should be called 'very lucky' or 'very unlucky.' Or maybe more like 'very lucky considering the very unlucky event that had forced them through the wormhole too early.'
Lights flickered on and the doors began to slide open. Daniel pressed himself against the box, checking to make sure the bomb wasn't in sight from the rest of the room. For the first time in years, he wished he were smaller so he wouldn't have to worry about the top of his head being seen if he didn't scrunch down low enough.
Then he heard the sound that still haunted his nightmares: the rhythmic stomping of approaching Jaffa.
He squeezed his eyes shut briefly, then peeked carefully around the side of his makeshift shelter. They were carrying something that looked like a large box, bigger than the cargo crates, hidden from Daniel's view by their armored forms. Once they'd put it down in the center of the room, they gathered around another container and one leaned down to open it. A large, silvery globe rose out and floated to the center of the Stargate, where it stopped, hovering in place.
As if satisfied, the Jaffa turned to leave. Just before the door closed, though, and locked light out, Daniel caught a glimpse of the box the Jaffa had just carried in.
That one, though--that wasn't a transport container. It was a sarcophagus.
Darkness filled the room again.
There was no way to tell time, but his legs had begun to cramp from staying immobile by the time he next heard the Jaffa coming. He ducked down again, blinking as the lights turned on, and waited until the metallic clanking of their footsteps stopped. Peering around the side to watch again, he flinched back in surprise when Apophis's glowering face appeared in the globe that floated in the Stargate.
"Chel'hol, Jaffa," Apophis's voice greeted them. He spoke in Goa'uld, and though Daniel tried to understand as much as he could, there were a few words he couldn't catch. Despite the blanks, however, it was easy enough to understand the main points. "The end of a dark...of our history approaches. Soon, we will destroy the Tau'ri...who... I will join you as we near their planet. Until then, you are to follow all orders of my son as if they were my own."
His son? Apophis had a...?
Oh. Oh, no...
The sarcophagus in the center of the room began to open. Despite himself, Daniel leaned a little further out, needing to see, needing to know...
Apophis looked down approvingly. "Mai'ya kal'ma ya daru. Bow down and show your reverence to my son: the mighty warrior Klorel!"
Klorel sat up from within the sarcophagus. Even from the back, Daniel knew beyond any doubt who it was.
Skaara's body turned around, and Klorel's eyes flashed as distorted words fell from his lips. Later, Daniel couldn't have told what the Goa'uld in his brother's body was saying, because he'd stopped breathing and couldn't hear much of anything over the buzzing that filled his ears.
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13 April 1998; Klorel's Hatak, 1800 hrs
"Let's go!" Jack whispered.
"Where, sir?"
He wormed his knife through a crack between the doors, watching lines of Jaffa marching off. "Wherever everyone else is going."
"O'Neill," Teal'c said, "if we are to find the ring transporter, we should go now, while the Jaffa are occupied in the gathering."
"It looks like they're headed for the 'gate room," Jack observed.
"Sir," Carter said, "Teal'c's right. We should take advantage of the distraction. And more of us are more likely to give away Daniel and the other bomb's location."
"Yeah," he conceded reluctantly. "Okay. So, what, do we check every door?"
"The transporter will be located in the peltak," Teal'c said. "It is what you would refer to as the bridge or control room."
Jack threw an exasperated glance back toward him. "And where would that be?"
"Of that, I am uncertain. This ship seems to be of a new design."
"I'll take that as a yes--we check every door. And I say we go...that way." Pointing down the hall in the opposite direction of the marching Jaffa, Jack stepped out, feeling Carter double-check the hallways behind them before falling in.
It was smooth going for a while, but eventually, it became clear that the meeting must have ended, because they were suddenly ducking behind pillars and walls every few steps or trying to sneak noiselessly past a guard. As they waited for the distinctive footsteps to fade away, Jack impatiently adjusted his grip on his gun. At this rate, stopping more than they were moving, they'd never find the pelty-whatever, much less get to the ring transporter and back in time to stop what these guys were planning.
Finally, Jack peered inside another room and couldn't help a soft, "Whoa." He turned back to the other two. "A bunch of death gliders all docked in here." Looking more carefully through the door, he added, "I think they're...being prepped for launch."
Carter wrinkled her forehead. "Already? But the coordinates we 'gated to were light-years away from Earth. They couldn't possibly get in position in less than ten years, even going at the speed of light."
"I have seen Goa'uld hatak vessels that can travel at ten times that speed," Teal'c said.
"Really? Well, still, that's--"
"Carter," Jack interrupted, "you wanna bet the Sam Carter from the other reality thought that too? And they got from there to Earth in a lot less than ten years." She looked taken aback, then thoughtful. "Teal'c says this ship is the new and improved model. I don't know how fast they go, but they're doing something to those death gliders in here."
"We can do nothing about the gliders," Teal'c said, moving forward to take point. "The peltak is not on this deck. We must continue upward."
Because wandering in circles on one level wasn't enough; of course they'd have an 'upward' to cover, too. "Time?" he whispered to Carter.
"It's been about three hours since we 'gated onboard, sir."
Peachy. "Then--" He stopped and flattened himself against the wall as a Jaffa sentry walked past. "Then we'd better hope this thing doesn't move much faster than you thought."
Just as they reached the next deck, a shout behind him made him turn, opening fire on a single Jaffa standing with his staff weapon at the ready. "Cover!" he ordered as more came around the corner. Carter knelt next to him, her zat gun quickly taking out two guards as he turned to find more coming from the other end of the hall.
Then, Jack heard an unfamiliar rumbling sound around them. "O'Neill, Captain Carter!" Teal'c said. "Brace for--"
The ground suddenly moved under him, and he flew sideways into one of the walls. Carter slammed into a pillar nearby. Some of the Jaffa firing on them stayed upright, but a few of them lost their footing as well.
"--extreme deceleration," Teal'c finished.
"Nice," he manage through what felt like flattened lungs. He struggled to his feet, only to throw himself back down when an energy blast came his way.
A door ground open behind them, and Jack heard Teal'c's staff weapon fire three times in rapid succession. "In here!"
Carter dropped one more Jaffa before fleeing toward Teal'c. Jack followed, not letting go of his gun until Teal'c was inside as well and the door slid shut. "They're gonna get in," Jack warned.
"They will not for some time," Teal'c said, raising his zat. The other two quickly moved away as the energy blast sizzled against the coiled serpent glyph on the wall.
"Cool." Jack stepped over the bodies of the Jaffa who had guarded this room. "All right, so we're safe for the moment. Now..." He looked around the room, seeing no escape route. "They'll be knocking down our door before too long. Take up positions with as much cover as you can find. Hit them as they come in, and then get out."
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13 April 1998; Klorel's Hatak, 2000 hrs
Daniel supposed he should be grateful that whatever was lighting this place was staying on now instead of leaving him in the dark whenever no one was in the room. Then he realized that probably meant something was starting, or about to start, and decided that he had liked the dark just fine.
The sarcophagus had been taken somewhere else. He supposed that didn't mean anything, either, since Klorel had already awoken.
Suddenly, the ship lurched again, and he clamped down on a surprised cry as he was tossed to land in a sprawling heap on the other side of the room.
What was that? They were already in hyperspace, weren't they? Did that mean they were stopping?
The door opened again, and Daniel barely had time to lunge for his zat'nik'tel and throw himself behind a container. He dared a look around the box and saw Skaara--no, not Skaara, Klorel--coming into the room with two Serpent Guards.
Daniel's eyes lit upon Sam's bomb, which had slid from its place as well and was now next to another box. He himself had been thrown too far away to reach it, and it was no longer hidden from view, if anyone looked in that direction. He shifted, trying to see if he could move quickly and quietly enough to push it out of sight behind--
Apophis's face appeared in the globe. Daniel pulled back immediately, giving up his efforts and hoping the object would simply go unnoticed.
"Kel shek, Klorel?" Apophis asked.
Klorel answered in Goa'uld. "Father, I have heard reports of gunfire on this vessel. My host remembers the sound as that of Tau'ri weaponry."
Daniel's heart pounded. Gunfire meant someone must have discovered SG-1. And if Klorel's host remembered the sound of guns...
Skaara must still be there, somehow. If he could make Skaara hear him, talk to him, remember him...maybe Daniel would be able to help, and save his brother, too, because they were going to destroy this ship and everyone on it, and that meant Skaara, too.
What if Sha'uri were here, or on the other ship? Apophis was leading the attack, and if his...his child was there, why not his queen? If Daniel could only get through to his brother...
But he'd promised not to get in the way anymore--this time, the results might not be as harmless as accidentally opening a door. This was all of SG-1--all of Earth--at stake. But...
Ay, Skaara, Sha'uri. Forgive me.
"What?" Apophis was snapping. "Where did they come from?"
"We do not know," Klorel said, sounding nervous."We did not know of their presence until we were about to exit into the Tau'ri star system."
Apophis scowled down at Klorel. "Find them, my son."
"Should I keep them here until your arrival?"
"No. They must be executed. You may choose their method of death, but do it soon. It is nearly time."
Klorel bowed. "Yes, father."
"I look forward to seeing you at our destination. Lek tol, Klorel." Apophis inclined his head, and the image flickered out again.
Klorel turned immediately toward the door. Daniel watched him leave, one Serpent Guard ahead of him and the other behind. Just before the door closed, however, the Jaffa at the rear turned for a final check of the room and called a halt. He came back in, priming his staff weapon, making Klorel and the other Jaffa return as well.
"What is this delay?" Klorel demanded.
"My lord," the Jaffa replied, pointing with his staff weapon.
Daniel followed their gazes to Sam's bomb, encased in its iron shell, lying in plain view on the floor, only a few feet from his position. Swallowing hard, he lifted his zat'nik'tel as the two Jaffa came further into the room, angling toward the bomb. Surely, this close, he'd be able to hit them, even if he turned out to be a terrible shot. Hopefully.
And, this close, they would actually have to take a step back to use their long staff weapons effectively; that wasn't a problem Daniel would have with a zat'nik'tel. They were in his range; he wasn't in theirs.
("For such a tactic to be successful, you must either have surprise on your side or be quicker or stronger than your opponent," Teal'c instructed.)
Surprise would have to do.
While one stood guard, the second bent down to pick it up. Daniel squeezed his weapon, feeling it spring up in his hand as he rose to his knees and stunned the first Jaffa from almost point-blank range. The second straightened and reached for his staff weapon as Daniel fired again. This time, he missed--missed, how could he miss?--and had to roll frantically away, huddling behind another container to avoid an energy blast. Peeking out from around his box, he saw the Jaffa still standing without cover, and he fired in that direction again, over and over. Finally, one of his shots hit, and the Jaffa fell, stunned.
Breathing out in relief, Daniel stood--
--and was caught by his arm and spun around to see his brother's face. Terrified, he reflexively raised his zat'nik'tel again, only to have his hand slammed once, twice, three times against the nearest container, until he cried out and let it fall from numb fingers. They were close in size, but Skaara's body had a lifetime of athleticism behind it and the added strength of a symbiote besides.
Struggling in the vice-like grip, he croaked desperately, "Skaara..."
But it was Klorel who sneered at him, amused. "A child?" he said in English. "This is what the Tau'ri have sent to oppose a god?" Then, an odd expression came over his face. "Ah...an Abydon in Tau'ri clothing. What is this?" Laughing, he turned Daniel around so his back was pressed against Klorel, his arms clamped immobile against his body.
Skaara's memories, it had to be--the host was still there. "Skaara, no, listen to me...brother!" Switching to Abydonian, Daniel made his voice as forceful as he could. "Sinu'ai, me mid'cha!"
"Your brother had a feeble mind," Klorel said, tightening his hands painfully around Daniel's arms. "It suffered greatly--and then gave in easily."
"Na nay...Skaara, ya nach Dan'yel, sinu'ka!"
"You waste your breath," Klorel said directly into Daniel's ear. "Nothing of the host survives."
"Liar!" Daniel growled, welcoming the anger that boiled up to take the place of fear. "Kal tek, Goa'uld! Skaara!"
"Where are the others?" Klorel demanded.
"They...they're... We brought an army," he bluffed wildly. "Enough to destroy you! You'll never find them all."
Klorel laughed delightedly. "You cannot deceive me, Tau'ri child from Abydos, and your kind could never destroy a god."
Daniel clamped his jaw shut and renewed his efforts to break free. Abruptly, he was released, falling forward and catching himself on his knees and elbows. He turned around and froze, all defiance melting away into dread. A glowing djera'kesh was aimed toward his head. "Na nay. S-skaara, na nay, " he pleaded, shuffling away, remembering vividly what the hand device felt like.
And then everything disappeared as agony ripped through his head.
He stared helplessly at Klorel, distantly hearing himself scream but unable to move, as excruciating waves battered against his mind, until (naturu, ay naturu!) he couldn't take any more...
Just as his eyes fell closed and he felt himself slump to the ground, he imagined that he heard Skaara's voice, as if from a distance, screaming into his mind, "Dan'yel!"
Then it stopped, suddenly enough to startle him back into awareness and feel the floor under his cheek. Moaning, he peeled his eyes open to see Skaara's horrified face--Skaara, not Klorel--above him. "Skaara," he managed through the residual pain still rippling through him. "S-sinu'ai..."
Klorel's eyes flashed, and he raised his hand again. Daniel could only close his eyes resignedly, waiting...
Footsteps sounded at the doorway. "My lord Klorel!" someone said.
Klorel's distorted voice answered, "Why do you disturb me, Bra'tac?"
Daniel thought the name should mean something to him, but it was all he could do to stay awake. Gathering his strength, he squinted at a blurry figure speaking to Klorel and tried to drag himself away, gritting his teeth and barely hearing bits of their conversation filtering through to his ears.
"...missile from Earth. The shields..."
"Find the other Tau'ri, Bra'tac...stopped..."
"...do as you say, my lord."
Klorel's hand dragged Daniel back to his knees, wrenching a feeble groan from his lips. The Goa'uld now glared angrily at him through Skaara's eyes. "Your friends will pay," Klorel snarled.
Daniel caught a glimpse of a Jaffa watching from the door before the djera'kesh rose again, and his attention was consumed by the glowing light emitting from it. Then the pain exploded again behind his eyes, and he didn't have time to make a sound before the world faded away.
Continued in Part b...