Translations (17b/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
...x...
It was the sound of stone scraping on stone that woke him.
Daniel opened his eyes and found himself lying in a small space surrounded by light, with something that looked like doors opening in front of--no, above him. As soon as the opening was big enough, he sat up, looking down at himself in confusion, and realized he felt...good.
Really good.
He shook his head experimentally, but not even a residual ache remained. He touched dried blood on his neck and shirt, but he couldn't find the cut from the knife. In fact, he felt better than he ever had, more ready, more alive, because he just knew he could do anything at all--
Then he realized he was sitting in a box. And not just a box--a sarcophagus.
Suddenly alarmed, he grabbed the sides of the sarcophagus (coffin, his mind supplied. Flesh-eater) and pulled himself over the edge, landing clumsily on the floor. Only then did he look around the room. The door was closed, and the room was empty...
...except for one Jaffa, holding Sam's bomb and watching him, his staff weapon primed and held under one arm.
With a gasp, Daniel pushed himself to his feet and started to duck behind a column before realizing how ridiculous that was. He was unarmed and the other...wait...
"Did you put me in there?" he asked, despite his legs' telling him to move move move. "Why...?"
"Because I must know who you are. How did you come here?" the Jaffa demanded. Daniel licked his lips nervously, noticing the gold brand shining in the center of the Jaffa's forehead. This was not just any Serpent Guard; this was the First Prime of Apophis. He was clearly even older than Teal'c, though, so perhaps a former First Prime...
Then the memory of meeting Skaara (Klorel) washed over him in a flood, and he blurted, "Tek'ma'tae Bra'tac?"
Bra'tac stiffened. "How do you...?"
An exhilarated laugh bubbled out of him before he could clamp down on it. "I'm a...student of Teal'c's," he said. "He has told me about you." He shook his head again, forcing down the odd feeling of euphoria that threatened to rise within him. It's just nerves. Focus. Calm down.
"You know Teal'c?" Bra'tac said. "Then you must be Tau'ri, no?"
Not wanting to waste time arguing details, he answered excitedly, "Yes! Teal'c is here, with the two Tau'ri you met on Chulak. Master Bra'tac, you have to help th--"
"I am trying to save your planet from this attack, human! Your friends have doomed themselves with their foolishness. I have been ordered to kill all of you. All I can do for you is to stop looking and slow the search for them." Bra'tac made as if to turn around and leave.
"Wait--but, but..." Not knowing what else to do, Daniel dropped to one knee with a fist over his heart in the most formal show of submission and respect that Teal'c had taught him. "Tek'ma'tae, tel nol'tiak ma'waé--keest'ra. We are not your enemies. Please, help us."
Looking astonished, Bra'tac finally said, in Goa'uld, as if as a test, "You say you have learned from Teal'c, Tau'ri child?"
"I have, Master."
"What is this?" Bra'tac asked, switching again to the Tau'ri language and holding up Sam's device.
"An explosive," Daniel explained, not looking up from where he knelt. "We have another one. Each is powerful enough to destroy a hatak vessel. My friends are looking for the ring transporter to send the other bomb to Apophis's ship, and we will set the one in your hands to destroy this ship just before we leave through the chaapa'ai. We didn't know you were here, but help them, please, and then escape with us." He peeked upward.
Bra'tac warily held the bomb a few inches away from himself, then glared distrustfully back at Daniel. "They have been discovered already."
"Yes, I heard Klorel talking, I know. They don't know where the rings are."
The Jaffa Master finally nodded and became business-like. "There was an exchange of weapons fire from above. I believe I know where to find them."
Daniel looked up gratefully. "Te ya daru, Tek'ma'tae. Thank you." He rose and made as if to leave the room behind Bra'tac.
"Do not follow me, child!" Bra'tac snapped.
"I have to go back to the chaapa'ai."
But Bra'tac shook his head. "No, young fool! That room is now guarded. Remain here with your explosive--and keep the zat'nik'tel in your hand, this time, and not on the ground where it does you no good, hm?"
The bomb was pushed into his hands again, and he fumbled with the offered zat'nik'tel before catching it, staring at the wrong end for a second before remembering Jack's instruction and turning it back around. Bra'tac opened the door and strode out confidently without looking back. Daniel watched the door close behind the Jaffa, then put down the bomb and let out a slow breath.
Curious, he peered inside the sarcophagus again, even as it began to swing shut. For a moment, he wished with an absurd, unexplainable intensity that he could go back inside, while he was awake, just to try it and see what it was like. If it could heal him and make him feel so alive when he had been hurt (hurt? Or dead?) to begin with, maybe a healthy person...
He shook himself, the impulse fading away. Stupid thought. He was healed--it was enough.
Daniel considered the door, suddenly, strangely eager to do something, anything. Then, sighing, he adjusted his grip on the zat'nik'tel and crouched impatiently behind the sarcophagus to wait.
XXXXX
13 April 1998; Klorel's Hatak; 2045 hrs
"That door's not going to hold much longer," Carter said in warning, crouching by the entrance, her zat out and ready to fire on anyone who came through. More pounding came against the door, followed by what sounded like staff blasts. Teal'c primed his staff weapon, aiming at the door.
"Just a minute!" Jack shouted at the Jaffa outside from behind the pillar he was using as cover. "C'mon, Teal'c, tell me there's another way out of this room."
The Jaffa didn't look away from the door. "If there had been, O'Neill, I would have told you of it before now."
"Of course," Jack muttered. "I mean, is it possible that we might've missed a--"
Yelling broke out on the other side of the door, and then, all of a sudden, the pounding stopped.
Carter glanced at him. "Colonel? They just stopped."
"There's no cavalry coming for us, Captain," he said. "Be ready."
There was a final blast. The door burst open, and she fired immediately. The Jaffa who entered spun nimbly out of the way, kicking out and knocking her weapon from her hand. Jack raised his gun and was about to squeeze the trigger when Teal'c shouted, "O'Neill, do not!"
Jack ducked back, yelling back, "What! Why?" It wasn't Teal'c who answered, however.
"Humans! It is all I can do to keep you alive!"
That wasn't Goa'uld. And it wasn't just some random Jaffa, either. "Bra'tac?" Jack ventured. He looked more closely and saw a familiar, furious face staring back at him. "Uh..."
"Tek'ma'tae, Bra'tac," Teal'c spoke up.
Bra'tac turned to the other Jaffa, saying much more warmly, "Hello again, old friend. I was beginning to doubt that you were truly here." His face hardened. "But you should not have come. I was preparing to lead my wing against Apophis in Klorel's name."
"Klorel?" Jack asked.
"The son of Apophis, hasshak! He commands this hatak vessel."
Teal'c looked surprised, but then nodded in understanding. "Apophis would assume his son ordered your attack and reciprocate. A bold plan indeed."
"And one you have made impossible by coming here," Bra'tac replied. "I fear they will now band together against their common Tau'ri enemy instead. The Goa'uld know of your presence."
"Yeah," Jack said, glancing at the door. "I'd say that's pretty clear."
Bra'tac scowled at him. "Your Tau'ri chal'ti claimed that you plan to send an explosive to the other ship. Do you have it?"
"Our Tau'ri--you mean Daniel? When did--" When the Jaffa's eyes narrowed impatiently, he answered, "Yeah, we've got the bomb. We're just looking for the control room to find the ring transporter. You wouldn't happen to know where that is, would you?"
"Of course I know. Come." He spun again and stepped out into the hallway, Teal'c falling in comfortably behind him.
With a final look around, Jack followed, stopping to scoop up the dropped zat gun and hand it back to his teammate. "Come, Carter," he parroted. She rolled her eyes but followed.
The corridor outside was littered with bodies. Jack raised his eyebrows, impressed that Bra'tac had managed that alone, even with surprise on his side. Teal'c noticed his gaze and told him, "A Goa'uld shock grenade. It can render many unconscious at once. However, we should not linger--the effects are not permanent. They will recover before long."
Jack stepped hurriedly past the fallen Jaffa.
"Apophis has already reached your sun system," Bra'tac whispered to them as they hid from a patrol of Jaffa who had been sent to search for them. "Once we arrive at the peltak, we must wait until the two hatak are close enough to transport from one to the other."
"How long will that be?"
"No more than one hour."
"One hour?" Jack hissed incredulously. "That's how long we get before we're in Earth's orbit?" So much for ten years.
"We may not have even that long. Your friends on Earth have launched missiles toward these ships."
"But the shields," Carter said. "Our missiles could never get through."
Bra'tac glowered at them. "No, they could not. All they will do is make the Goa'uld accelerate their plans. Timing will now be essential: Apophis will have raised his ship's shields already, but this ship remains unprotected yet. We must allow Klorel to reach the peltak and raise the shields, or we will be killed by your own friends before we can destroy Apophis' ship."
"Can't we just get there first and raise the shields ourselves?" Jack said.
"Are you familiar with the controls on a hatak vessel, human?"
Jack grimaced. "Point taken. And for the record, we did warn them about the shields, so whoever ordered those missiles anyway aren't..."
"Silence!"
They shut up. A line of Jaffa marched past.
Bra'tac opened a door, gesturing for them to slip inside before following. He peered out through a crack, saying, "The Serpent Guards are even now preparing to do battle. They are moving toward the hangar where the udajeet are docked."
"Death gliders," Teal'c clarified before Jack could open his mouth to ask.
"Okay. Captain, your naquadah bomb still okay?" When no answer came, he turned. "Carter, what're you--whoa."
"We're...approaching Earth," she said, sounding awed and staring out a window, where their planet was still small in the distance but steadily growing in size as they sped toward it. "I can't believe we got here so fast."
Bra'tac took a quick glance out the window as well. "I fear we may have less time than I imagined before we are above your planet. Come! The peltak is not far from here." He peeked out the door again, then opened it, motioning them all through.
As they stepped out, the ship shuddered, making them stumble. "What was that?" Carter said.
"Something may have impacted the shields," Teal'c said.
Bra'tac nodded. "The Earth missile. We are close to being in range--I do not doubt Apophis is now near enough for us to reach through the transporter. Clearly our own shields have been raised, so Klorel must be in the peltak already. Be prepared for many Jaffa guarding the--"
Before he could finish his sentence, they ran directly into another group of Serpent Guards.
Bra'tac opened fire immediately with his staff weapon, Jack close behind with his MP5. Carter grunted behind him, and he turned to see Teal'c pulling her away from a staff blast with one arm, both of them landing on the floor. As Teal'c recovered and came to his feet first, she sat up and reached around him to zat their attacker before another blast could follow. "We're surrounded!" she called to him. "They're coming from both sides!"
Jack shot at one more before reaching back for a grenade. Yanking out the pin, he lobbed it toward the end of the hall they'd come from and pulled Bra'tac back, yelling, "Fire in the hole!"
The force of the explosion made them stagger into each other. He looked back to make sure all the Serpent Guards were down before extracting himself from his teammates and turning forward. Two Jaffa still stood in their path, but Bra'tac dove out into the hallway and rolled to one knee, efficiently killing both with his staff.
"They will have heard us," he said to Jack, ordering, "We must run, quickly--this way!"
Finally, Bra'tac raised a hand to stop them. "Klorel, and likely his personal guards, are in here," he whispered. "I will go first and attempt to lead them away. Hopefully they have not yet learned of my betrayal. Can you detonate your explosive once inside?"
"It's on a sixty-second timer once I trigger it," Carter said, taking off her pack and extracting the bomb, tucking it securely under one arm while holding her zat in the other. She hesitated. "Are we sure the other ship is in range?"
"I believe it is," Bra'tac said, "but the only way to be sure is to attempt to use the rings. If we are in range, the explosive will be transported to Apophis's ship."
Jack frowned. "Yeah, and if we're not in range, we'll have sixty seconds before it blows up in our faces. I'll take it through to the other ship myself, trigger it if the rings work, and leave it there while I ring back."
"There may be enemies on the other ship," Teal'c said.
"And I'd have to show you how to set it," Carter added.
"All right, fine!" Jack said. "We all go through. Carter, you worry about the bomb and let us handle the snakeheads. Bra'tac, ready?"
With a nod, the Jaffa straightened his stance and walked boldly into the peltak. Jack leaned closer to listen to the muffled voices through the open door.
"Bra'tac," a Goa'uld said. "I detected an energy blast just now."
"My lord Klorel, the boy's Tau'ri companions have been found and captured using their own concussive weapons. I assume you would like to be present as they are executed. I will escort you to them."
A deep, distorted chuckle answered. "I have already had the pleasure of executing the boy. I will leave the others to you, Bra'tac--I have more important matters to attend to. Come--witness the power of your god."
Shock fell over Jack like ice, stealing his breath. There was only one thing--one person--Klorel could possibly mean by that.
Carter gasped almost soundlessly and looked to him, as if asking for a denial of what they had all heard, while Teal'c's eyes began to smolder with hatred. This, then, must have been how Bra'tac knew Daniel was onboard--how he knew they were onboard, and what they were doing there.
Gritting his teeth, Jack reached into his vest to pull out his zat, letting go of the less maneuverable submachine gun. He readied himself to move and forced himself to keep listening to the conversation.
"My lord," Bra'tac was saying, "You cannot begin the attack."
A pause. "You dare to question me?"
"Your...your presence is required at the docking bay, my lord."
"Kal tek, Jaffa! How dare you deceive your god?"
"Heads up," Jack whispered to his team, edging closer to the entrance as Teal'c and Carter moved around to the other side.
Bra'tac dropped all pretense, his voice carrying proudly through to them. "Because you are not a god. You are a parasite within a child, and I despise you!" A staff weapon primed, followed by several others within the peltak. Then Bra'tac cried out, "Dal shakka mel--I die free!"
"Go!" Jack rounded the door just as Bra'tac dropped to his knees, a ribbon device trained on his forehead. Jack shot the first Jaffa and Teal'c took the second from the other side, Carter behind him with the bomb clutched to her chest with one hand and her zat firing from her other. Taken by surprise, the four guards were quickly eliminated, and Teal'c grabbed Klorel, pulling the Goa'uld's arm away from Bra'tac.
Jack stared for a second, seeing the Goa'uld's face--his Abydonian face--for the first time. "Skaara?"
"Captain Carter, O'Neill, go!" Teal'c called. "I will hold him!"
Sparing a final glance for Skaara's face, Jack stepped toward the ring platform. Carter crouched beside him to fiddle with the edges of the encasing around her bomb while Jack took her zat and stood over her protectively with one in each hand. Bra'tac rose to reach for the control panel, but before the rings could be activated, a blast of energy slammed into the wall next to Teal'c, and he spun around, reaching for his zat gun as two more blasts came from behind. In the distraction, Klorel broke free and fled the room.
"Teal'c, leave him--go to the rings!" Bra'tac ordered, finishing at the controls. He stepped onto the platform as well, placing himself so that Carter was shielded between him and Jack. Three Serpent Guards came around the corner into the room, their staffs raised, and Jack had time to get off one shot before Teal'c reached the platform and the rings descended, engulfing them in a stream of white.
Apophis and his Jaffa were waiting when they rematerialized.
Carter rolled away, and Jack opened fire immediately, shifting to stay poised over her form while Teal'c and Bra'tac broke in opposite directions to fire on the Guards from the other side. "Kree, Jaffa!" Apophis shouted, moving to keep his guards between himself and SG-1.
"Carter, anytime now!" Jack yelled, hearing hurried footsteps approaching from outside the room.
"Done, sir! We've got fifty...six seconds!"
"O'Neill!" Teal'c called, making Jack turn toward the door, where two more Jaffa were coming in. The first one caught him in the chest with the rod of a staff, throwing him to the ground, one of his zats clattering away. Empty-handed, Carter slammed herself bodily into his attacker, allowing Jack to push himself up while she grappled with him.
"Carter, get outta there!"
She landed one more solid kick in the gut, then backed away to take cover behind the peltak, allowing Jack to fire on the entering Jaffa. The rings activated behind him, and he whirled in alarm to see Apophis being transported away. "Dammit, he's going back to the other ship! Bra'tac, get to the controls!"
Teal'c zatted the final Guard in the room, and they retreated to the platform, waiting for the rings to reset themselves while aiming their weapons at the entrances. "Thirty-three seconds!" Carter said anxiously.
The rings fell back into place over their heads. Bra'tac set the control panel and lunged for the platform just as the rings descended on them, bringing them back to--
--an empty peltak.
"Where'd they go?" Jack said, scanning the room.
"They know they are losing. They flee," Bra'tac said as he bent to pick up a stray staff weapon, clearly preferring it to the zat. "It matters not. If we destroy this hatak as well as the other, the attack on your planet will be stopped."
The ship shuddered violently, throwing them all to the floor.
"Now what!" Jack snapped, thinking that it would be just their luck if something catastrophic happened to them now.
But Carter was looking at her watch and grinning triumphantly. "The bomb on Apophis' ship just detonated, sir. Our external shields saved us from the blast, but their ship must have been blown apart for us to have felt that. We just need to get back to the 'gate room and set the other bomb--"
"Crap," Jack said, realizing. "We left the other one with Daniel. Klorel must know where it is. He could've sent it to Earth already for all we know."
They stopped. "Oh, Daniel," Carter said, her smile dying immediately.
Bra'tac turned and snapped at them, "Your friend possesses it still and is awaiting our return. If we do not hurry, he and your bomb will undoubtedly be discovered. Come, now--we must reach the chaapa'ai while the warriors on this ship are still in disarray!"
Confused, Jack ran after him saying, "I thought Klorel said he'd...killed Daniel?"
"Klorel is mistaken. He believes the boy dead, and so no one will be searching for him. He is, in fact, still in a room near the chaapa'ai."
God. Jack shook his head. No time for relief to make his limbs weak. He ran.
"Sir," Carter said as they went, "we still don't have GDOs, and we can't get to Earth anyway using this point of origin. Where do we 'gate to?"
"Which teams are off-world now?" he said, thinking of piggybacking on another team's IDC before quickly answering himself, "Never mind, Hammond recalled them all. For cryin' out loud, I'm not saving the planet just to get squished on the iris..."
"O'Neill," Teal'c said, "General Hammond gave my wife and son a radio communicator."
"Land of Light, sir--P3X-797!" Carter agreed. "We can contact the SGC from there. But I don't know the coordinates for that world off the top of my head."
"I know the symbols," Teal'c said confidently.
"You'll dial, then, T." Jack thought for a moment--the submachine gun was faster than the zats and better for defending a position in a wide open space, so... He unclipped his and handed it to Carter, saying, "Give me your zat, Captain. You're gonna watch Teal'c's back as he's dialing while we go get Daniel. And the bomb."
"The chaapa'ai is just ahead," Bra'tac told them. "Your explosive is in the room beyond--"
Bra'tac was abruptly cut off as Jack pulled him out of the way, letting zat energy sizzle past them both while Teal'c and Carter took care of the offending Jaffa. More Serpent Guards followed from both ends of the corridor, and Bra'tac moved a few paces ahead to flip open a door switch, calling, "To the chaapa'ai--in here!"
They ran in to find the Stargate just as they had left it. "Any more grenades, sir?" Carter suggested breathlessly.
"No," he said shortly, because Dr. Jackson had taken the last of the other grenades back on Earth. "Eyes on the door--that's their bottleneck. Get 'em as they come in." Carter and the two Jaffa took positions within the room, while Jack stood near the door. "Here they come!"
Between the four of them, they felled the first wave of Serpent Guards, and the onslaught paused for the moment. Jack stuffed his zat gun into his vest, leaving his hands free to grab the bomb when they got there, then turned and looked at the Stargate. "Teal'c, start dialing." Teal'c moved to the DHD. "Bra'tac, we need to go get--"
"Colonel!"
Jack whirled to see two more Jaffa rushing through the door, staff weapons at the ready. Bra'tac fired at one, who dodged as Carter fired on him as well. The second swung his staff around to Jack, who reached for his weapon, knowing even then it was too late--
Then, the Serpent Guard twitched and dropped to the ground. Daniel stood in the doorway, a zat gun in his hand and staring as the Jaffa fell at his feet.
"God, Daniel!" Jack said, rushing forward to grab him by the shoulders and look over him quickly. "Are you okay? We were just going to find you."
"There's no need," Daniel said, actually grinning, his face flushed, sounding practically giddy--adrenaline rush, Jack decided, not having the time to spare more than a glance at him now. "I heard the fight as you were coming back, so I thought it must be time to go."
"Daniel, quick, where's the other bomb?" Carter asked.
"Uh..." He shook himself, then said, "Oh, I-I brought it. It's out here." He put down his zat and took several quick steps outside. Teal'c began dialing, and Daniel came back holding the bomb in both hands to give to Sam, who immediately handed her gun back to Jack and set the bomb down behind the Stargate ring to open the encasing and start setting the timer.
Teal'c slammed his hand on the DHD crystal and stepped back to join the rest of the group. The vortex whooshed outward. Carter flinched at the proximity but kept working.
"Almost set. And...sixty seconds," she announced. "The Stargate naquadah will only enhance the blast."
"I heard more Jaffa coming while I was in the hallway," Daniel said almost casually from where he still stood at the door, staring at the event horizon, though he bounced restlessly on the balls of his feet. "They're--"
A Serpent Guard appeared behind him. Jack raised his gun. "Daniel!"
"Kree, chal'ti, yahs!" Teal'c said suddenly. Reacting without question, Daniel dropped flat to the ground, and Jack squeezed the trigger. The Jaffa slumped forward, dead, and Daniel scrambled away just in time to avoid being crushed by the falling body, then reached for his own zat and sprang to his feet, hurrying toward the rest of them.
"Everyone through the Stargate!" Jack called. Carter, the closest, came around from the back and ran through first. Teal'c pulled Daniel the last few steps toward them and hurtled through as well. Bra'tac stopped at the top of the platform that held the ring.
"I will stay and ensure that no one follows," he declared, his zat gun pointed at the door.
"Like hell you will," Jack growled. He fired at one last Jaffa at the entrance, grabbed Bra'tac by his collar, and shoved him through the ring before diving toward the event horizon himself.
Next chapter: "Saved and Lost"