Diplomacy (7/27)
Title: Diplomacy ( Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen.
Chapter1a-- 1b Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter4 Chapter5a-- 5b Chapter6 Chapter7 Chapter8 Chapter9 Chapter10 Chapter11a-- 11b Chapter12 Chapter13a-- 13b Chapter14a-- 14b Chapter15a-- 15b Chapter16 Chapter17a-- 17b Chapter18 Chapter19 Chapter20 Chapter21 Chapter22 Chapter23 Chapter24 Chapter25 Chapter26 Epilogue
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Thor's Might, Part II
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17 August 1998; Cimmeria; 1700 hrs
"And so...that's what happened to the Hammer," Jack finished, wondering how a little grey man who stood about as high as his navel could make him want to fidget like a guilty cadet. "That's why we were really hoping you had some weapons. Or something that could help us out."
"There are no weapons hidden here," Thor told him, somehow managing to make his alien stare look surprised. "The tests were designed to tell us when the Cimmerians were advanced enough to see us as we really are. We did not anticipate outside interference."
Jack couldn't tell if he was more displeased about the Hammer or about the 'outside influence' thing. He actually couldn't tell the alien was displeased, since his voice changed tone as much as Teal'c's and betrayed his thoughts even less, but he thought 'displeased' was a good guess. "We weren't trying to interfere," Jack said, "but there's a Goa'uld on your world, and someone had to do something about it since you weren't around."
Of course, there wouldn't have been a Goa'uld there without their interference. Jack had a feeling the little grey Asgard knew that perfectly well, too.
"We know you know of us," Daniel added earnestly. "You said you've visited Earth before, and I know you've been to a planet called Hanka and probably many others"--Jack traded a startled look with Carter at that but didn't comment--"so wherever we're from, doesn't it please you to know that humans have--"
Thor disappeared.
"No, wait!" Daniel said again, and then they were beamed back into the forest.
There were Horus Guards waiting when they landed.
"Hey," Jack blurted.
Several helmeted heads swung toward him, and he immediately took the first down with a few quick bullets at point-blank range. "Cover!" he ordered without looking around, dropping one more while Teal'c's zat and Carter's gun sounded around him without hesitation.
Then it was silent.
Six Jaffa, he counted with a thrill of relief. If they hadn't had surprise on their side...
Carter turned to scan the forest around them, and Teal'c moved to shadow her. Daniel had crouched behind the stone leading to the Hall of Might to stay out of their way, and Gairwyn...
Where was she, anyway?
"Clear, sir," Carter said when they found no one else around.
"Yeah, but it looks like they're crawling around everywhere now," Jack said, remembering her warning before that they'd have company soon. Their little break was over, and they didn't even have anything from Almighty Thor to show for it.
"Where's Gairwyn?" Carter asked.
"No idea. Maybe Thor thought she was worthier than we were."
"I can't believe Thor just left," Daniel said, lowering his hand from where he'd been pressing the red stone on the pillar, as if hoping Thor would answer them again.
"O'Neill," Teal'c called softly.
Jack followed the Jaffa's gaze into the distance and saw what had caught the man's attention.
Heru-ur's ship had arrived and landed while they were gone. Somewhere on this planet, Heru-ur, Sha'uri, Amaunet, and the Harsesis kid...they were all here.
Quietly, Carter asked, "What now?"
Jack rubbed the back of his neck, then let out a breath. "Okay. We've got three objectives: evacuate the Cimmerians, try to get the Harsesis away from Heru-ur, and pick up Sha'uri and Amaunet. In that order." Daniel looked away but nodded and didn't try to argue. "Gairwyn said they don't leave the Stargate unguarded too often, so we're not gonna be able to waltz through there. We're not gonna be able to waltz anywhere at all," he added with a pointed look at the Horus Guards' still bodies.
"A distraction?" Carter suggested.
"Needs to be something big enough to leave the 'gate more or less open long enough for us to get all the Cimmerians through," Jack said.
"A challenge to Heru-ur's most recent prize," Teal'c said. "If his attention can be diverted to a threat to Sha'uri and her child, the Horus Guards at the Stargate may be called away."
Jack looked to him warily, thinking that this was perhaps almost as personal to Teal'c--Sha'uri's first captor looking for redemption--as it was to Daniel. "By 'divert,'" he guessed, "you mean trying to steal them back from under Heru-ur's nose."
"We can at least try, Jack," Daniel spoke up. "If we're successful, we can...can complete all the objectives. Even if Amaunet is in control, she might be willing to help us if it would get her away from Heru-ur. And if we're not successful, we'll still have a diversion and a chance to save the Cimmerians."
"Teal'c," Jack said, not taking his gaze from Daniel, "tell me this isn't an emotional decision."
"Indeed it is, O'Neill," the Jaffa said, making a flash of panic dart across Daniel's face. "It is also the best tactical decision that can be made with the information we possess."
Hoping it was the right choice--and knowing they had to act, now, before someone else stumbled on them--Jack nodded.
"Daniel," he said, hardening his voice, because they couldn't afford for this rebellious streak to get any wider, "listen to me, and listen good. We screw up, a lot of people could die. You will follow orders and not go off and do your own thing. Is that understood?"
Daniel's defiance had almost washed away by now, abandoned as they were by Thor and on the brink of losing this world, Sha'uri, and the Harsesis for good. Jack could see the moment the last traces faded away into a focus sharpened by fear. "Yes," he said, quiet but firm.
"Okay." Jack took another look at the pyramids in the distance. "So. Plan." He ran an eye over the Jaffa they'd just taken out. Some of them had no obvious marks on them, dropped by zat fire. "Teal'c, help me get the armor off two of these guys. Carter, you still have some explosives?"
"Yes, sir, but--"
"Not enough, I know. All we want is to make some noise." The armor was uncomfortably heavy--they wouldn't be winning any races wearing it, but all they needed was to get in without being stopped. And out, preferably, but he was a little doubtful about that part, anyway; if they had Amaunet and the baby with them, they wouldn't get far before someone realized they weren't who they pretended they were. "Start putting this gear on, Teal'c. Carter, you take Daniel back to the caves and leave some mines behind you as you go. Then get the Cimmerians ready to leave and start bringing them toward the Stargate."
Finished first with his armor, Teal'c straightened to his full, imposing height. "The Guards must not see our faces or hear the Tau'ri language, or they will know we are not who we claim to be. If we are questioned, O'Neill, do not speak."
Jack let out a breath. "Yeah. Teal'c and I'll bluff our way past the Guards, get Sha'uri and the Harsesis, and rendezvous at the Stargate. Anything starts to go pear-shaped, we're out of there. Our first priority is to cause a little confusion so we can get to the Cimmerians. The Harsesis and Sha'uri are a bonus."
"What if you meet Heru-ur, sir?" Carter said, rummaging through her own pack and grabbing Teal'c's to split her claymores and C-4 between them. Daniel watched, tense, and stayed out of the way as they worked. "You can't pretend your orders are his if he's physically there."
"Furthermore, he was using a personal shield on Abydos," Teal'c added. "It cannot be breached by Jaffa weapons. The stronger the energy weapon, the more impenetrable the shield becomes."
Well. That was a new one. "How does that...?" she started, frowning, then shook her head. "Later. What about projectiles?"
"Ferretti's gun didn't work," Daniel said.
"A question of energy, then, maybe," she suggested. "If that's it, then try something with less kinetic energy. A knife, maybe."
"Yeah, let's try to avoid that step altogether," Jack said, but he made sure to keep his knife on him anyway. "We'll just avoid him, that's all."
"It won't take long for the Jaffa to figure out that you were lying, sir," Carter said as she finished and handed one bag of bomb to Jack and shouldered the other.
"No, it won't, especially since I'm gonna set some of these to go off wherever Heru-ur's keeping the prisoners, once we get them out of there," he said, holding up a block of C-4. "That's what we're counting on to call their attention away from the Stargate. We'll blow everything when we're out of sight, make them nervous, and try to keep them occupied a little longer so we can meet everyone at the Stargate. Carter, as soon as the 'gate's clear, start sending people through to Earth."
"Yes, sir," she said.
"Daniel, you give her a hand where you can, then get yourself back to the SGC."
"Yes, sir," Daniel echoed.
Jack gave them each a hard stare. "Everyone clear?"
Teal'c hefted his weapon. "Indeed."
"Act fast while their guard is down, before they realize anyone's here. Carter, go." She pulled Daniel with her, and the two of them disappeared running into the woods.
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17 August 1998; Cimmeria; 1730 hrs
From their vantage point at the edge of the woods, Jack and Teal'c could see several hastily constructed shelters, huts, and tents that seemed to serve as temporary living and working spaces while Heru-ur's stronghold on this planet was being built by human slaves. Judging by the range of complexions and clothing, the slaves seemed to be a mix of Cimmerians and humans that Heru-ur had brought from other planets.
From the numbers, the Jaffa must be spread pretty thinly over the rest of planet as well as here at what was apparently a base of operations. Still, it was way too many Jaffa for them to take on by themselves if it came to that.
Jack really hoped sweet-talking was one of Teal'c's hidden talents.
"After we get in and get the kid, we blow everything at once," Jack said in a low voice, gesturing back toward where they'd set the charges. "Give us time to get out and call their attention away from the Stargate." Hopefully. He checked once more to make sure his detonator was well-hidden as he watched the one shelter that was surrounded by a standing guard of Jaffa warriors--it had to be the one they were looking for. It was either where the Harsesis was being kept or Heru-ur's personal space, which Teal'c said was unlikely, given its otherwise unremarkable placement and appearance. Whether or not Heru-ur would be there, however, was a different story.
"You must follow my steps closely to know what transpires," Teal'c said. "I will speak only in Goa'uld once we are within shot of the Horus Guards' ears."
Jack automatically opened his mouth to correct the expression, then closed it, nodded, and snapped his helmet shut when Teal'c looked at him and frowned before closing his own helmet. Even though they'd done something like this once before on Chulak, Jack reflected that temporarily dressing like a priest until a few 'gate guards were taken out wasn't such a big deal; he couldn't say the same about walking up boldly to Jaffa warriors at the perimeter of a well-guarded enemy camp.
Still, they should look like they belonged here as long as they didn't screw anything up. Or have to talk very much. Or have to open their visors. Or meet Heru-ur. Or have to give a password. Or have to know anything...
This was a bad idea waiting to go wrong. But it was too late to turn back, and there were no other options left.
Before they could leave their cover and step out of the woods, there was a commotion behind them in the form of the clanking of heavy, Jaffa armor. There was a loud rustling and the sound of snapping twigs, followed by a sneeze and a muffled cry.
Crap. Bad plan.
Jack swung back around to see Daniel stumbling to his knees and a Jaffa pulling his foot back as if to kick him, and Jack didn't realize he'd started to move forward until he felt the shaft of Teal'c's staff weapon against his chest holding him back.
"Jaffa!" Teal'c snapped, making the Horus Guard withdraw his foot and look up in surprise. Teal'c whipped his staff around and fired immediately, and Daniel lurched halfway up to his feet and scrambled away from his captor's smoking body.
"Teal'c?" he said, his back against a tree now and edging away. "Are you...?" Jack retracted his helmet, and Daniel slumped back to his knees in relief. "Ay, dewa'naturu."
"Daniel, are you hurt?" Jack whispered urgently.
"No," Daniel whispered back, eyes still wide. "I think. No, I'm...I'm good."
Jack lowered himself to one knee to check him for injuries anyway. A layer or five of dirt, a few scrapes and bruises, maybe a few more hidden by cloth, but he was moving well enough. That would have to do. Jack glanced over his shoulder at Teal'c, still masked and standing guard. "Where's Carter? What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
Daniel pulled away and shook his head. "We got caught while we were trying to get to the Cimmerians. There are Jaffa everywhere now, Jack, they're all over, around the caves and near the Stargate, and there's no way to get through; we never even saw the ones that got us. But one of the Cimmerians tried to attack them at the same time, and Sam got away."
"She left? Where?" There was no way Carter would leave Daniel in enemy hands, which meant...damn. She was alone, possibly unarmed, and either trying to get to the caves by herself to gather reinforcements or sneaking toward them for a rescue attempt as they spoke.
"I couldn't...I don't, I don't know, Jack, I'm sorry. I lost sight of her, and I couldn't...they--they were..."
"All right, it's okay," Jack said absently, starting to pull him back up to his feet, which actually ended up with Daniel standing on his own and helping Jack up because the armor was ridiculously heavy for someone without a Goa'uld in his stomach. "Crap," he realized, "I can't leave you sitting here on your own."
Teal'c turned to them suddenly. "There are no healers among the Jaffa. The Goa'uld use human slaves for that purpose on the rare occasion that it is necessary."
"What?" Jack said blankly, but Daniel understood and gulped.
"They'll need a human to care for a human baby," Daniel said. "If there's not one with Sha'uri already, they'll be expecting one to be sent to her soon."
"Shit," Jack said.
"O'Neill," Teal'c said, "we must act."
"Yeah." Jack took in Daniel's increasingly ragged clothes and was almost thankful now that Daniel had been stupid enough not to wear anything weapon-like and that the Horus Guards here had never met Tau'ri before and would be unlikely to recognize him as who and what he was. "Shit," he said again. "Teal'c, can we pull this off?"
"Indeed."
"Daniel? You understand what we're gonna do? You think you can do this?"
Daniel swallowed hard again. "Yes, sir."
"No talking except Teal'c," he said, closing his helmet again. "All right. Our story is: Heru-ur wants someone to take care of the Harsesis until Amaunet recovers, so we snagged a healer on his orders. If they just landed, they probably didn't have time to find their own yet. If we get in, Daniel, you grab the baby and stay the hell out of the line of fire, you understand?"
"Understand."
"Then we make a run for it, blow things up, and hope it keeps them occupied long enough for us to escape."
Teal'c nodded and pulled Daniel toward himself by the arm to lead them toward the camp. "Ar'ee, chal'ti," he said quietly. "Rel'tor'key."
"Kel sha," Daniel answered with a nod, visibly steeling himself, and then they were off.
One of the Guards at the perimeter of the camp said something as they approached, but Teal'c seemed relaxed as he answered, still holding Daniel in place by the arm. When the other Jaffa turned toward Daniel and chuckled behind his mask, Jack realized with a bit of a chill just how used to this kind of thing Teal'c was--talking, maybe even joking with other Jaffa about using, kidnapping, killing humans in order to keep his cover. Teal'c gave a short laugh in answer and prodded Daniel past the Horus Guard and into the camp. Jack wished this hadn't been the first time he'd heard Teal'c laugh.
Security was tighter around the large shelter they were headed for. Jack quickly took in the makeshift door made of a flap of heavy cloth. It was also the only structure with what appeared to be stationed guards and with all flap-doors closed.
Sha'uri and the Harsesis had to be in here. Jack's pulse started to speed with anticipation.
"Obi tan," a man in a warrior's armor ordered when they reached the entrance.
Then there were words flying back and forth between him and Teal'c, until the Guard reached out and grabbed Daniel by the chin to jerk his face up, eliciting a gasp of fear that Jack was sure hadn't been faked, because no one could fake the way Daniel was actually shivering in terror without the kind of training Jack hoped he never got.
Beyond them came the sound of a baby's whimpering. Daniel froze, his eyes turning to the closed doorway. Teal'c took a step closer to the Guard and brought his own helmeted face close enough to be threatening, growling something while jabbing his staff weapon toward the doorway. The Horus Guard waited another minute, considering, then let go and stepped aside.
Even braced for it, Jack still winced behind his helmet when Teal'c roughly shoved Daniel toward Jack, pointing toward the entrance with a barked order.
He caught Daniel as the kid staggered into him. Hoping he'd interpreted the order correctly, Jack tried to seem nonchalantly confident as he pulled open the flap and stepped inside with Daniel. Teal'c's voice said something else outside, and then the flap was pulled back once more as Teal'c stepped in.
"Kel nok?" a Goa'uld voice said. The baby had fallen silent again.
There was a makeshift bed in the dim interior of the tent, and it was big enough that it would have seemed comfortable if it hadn't so obviously been a prison of sorts. It wasn't hard to figure out that the woman sitting up in the bed was Sha'uri. Which meant, of course, that the infant, wrapped haphazardly in someone's robe that doubled as a blanket and lying in her arms, must be the Harsesis.
Except that it wasn't Sha'uri, not exactly--it was Amaunet now. "Jaffa!" Amaunet demanded again. "Kel nok?"
Teal'c primed his staff weapon and aimed it at the Goa'uld. "Do not speak," he warned. "You and your child will be dead before anyone answers your calls."
Amaunet froze. Perhaps recognizing that she was relatively helpless, in enemy territory already, and surrounded by armed assailants, she didn't try to struggle.
Then again, maybe that wasn't why. The woman grimaced, then whispered, in a human voice, "Dan'yel?"
Daniel's eyes widened, and he pushed himself away from Jack. "Sha'uri," he breathed.
Relief flitted over Sha'uri's features, then fear. "Dan'yel, you cannot be here...the demon begins to grow strong again, and I cannot hold her very--"
Then her eyes flashed, and a pained expression crossed her face.
With no time for an apology to the host, Jack slapped a gloved hand roughly over her mouth and motioned to Teal'c to watch the entrance to the tent. "Daniel, get the baby." No response. "Jackson! Baby. Now." Daniel jumped and edged past his sister to steal her child. "Now you listen, Goa'uld," Jack went on, his voice low. "We're getting you and the baby out of here, but there's a lot at stake and a camp full of Jaffa between us and home. We can't take the time to drag you with us if you stir up trouble, so you make a fuss, and we will leave you behind."
Amaunet's (Sha'uri's?) eyes flicked to Daniel, who was picking up the Harsesis awkwardly, as if he'd never held a baby before, which, Jack remembered belatedly, maybe he never had.
When Jack removed his hand, it was Sha'uri who answered softly, "I will try to hold the demon at bay while she is still weak. We must be quick while Heru-ur is still within his hatak."
"You sure that's where he is?" Jack asked suspiciously, because Heru-ur had had enough time by now that he should have no reason to still be in there. Amaunet also had no reason to like them.
"I damaged some of the controls in the peltak during the journey from Abydos," Sha'uri said, so proudly that, if it really was still the host talking, Jack was certain the damage there hadn't been an accident. With only a little help--symbiotes did come in handy, sometimes--Sha'uri rose to her feet, whispering, "If I cannot hold Amaunet, you must leave me and save my son. There is a place where no Goa'uld will find him, where he can be helped. You must bring him there."
"We'll do our best to get you both somewhere safe," Jack told her, trying to hurry her up. "We'll get the kid back to your father, and..."
Sha'uri shook her head vigorously. "No, you must not! They will find him there; he would be their downfall. You must bring him to--"
She staggered, and Amaunet's eyes pieced into his as the Goa'uld surged forward again. "Where is my lord Apophis?" she demanded.
"Bringing you away from your lord Heru-ur is the problem now," Jack snapped, covering her mouth again and repeating, "Don't make a fuss."
"O'Neill, we must hurry," Teal'c called quietly, letting go of the flap he'd been spying through.
"Yeah, I--"
"Heru-ur has called a gathering directly outside his hatak."
Jack kept his hand over Amaunet's mouth, caught Daniel's eye and gestured for him to stay out of sight, then carefully peered outside as well.
The human slaves were still working throughout the camp, but Horus Guards were gathering at the far end in front of Heru-ur--even the ones surrounding their tent had left their posts. The Goa'uld was yelling something to them. It sounded like angry scolding, though as far as Jack was concerned, the Goa'uld language managed to sound pretty angry without trying, so he couldn't be sure. "Can you hear them?"
"They seek intruders," Teal'c said. "They were captured but escaped."
"Damn. Carter?"
"He speaks of more than one human."
Wondering whether that was Carter and Daniel's run-in with Jaffa, or Carter and someone else, or several someone elses altogether, Jack observed, "Well, not us, then, or they'd be all over us now." This might be the distraction they needed to get out, though, since stealth would be pretty useless if they were taking a couple of prisoners with them. Daniel shifted awkwardly with the infant in his arms. "All right, anyone out the back, T?"
"There is not."
"Then--"
A tent on the other side of the camp exploded.
"Ay!" Daniel blurted as cloth and wood went up in flames, but it went unheard as cries sounded all over the camp. About half the Jaffa headed toward the explosion while the rest tried futilely to make the slaves stop panicking and running around. "Jack, was that...?"
"Not me," Jack said, dropping the cloth back over the doorway.
"Captain Carter," Teal'c suggested.
"Probably. That's our cue to leave. This way--out and around the back while they're still confused. Teal'c, take them straight toward the Stargate and don't wait up. I'll look for Carter and meet you."
Teal'c pulled Sha'uri out, Daniel on his heels with the baby. Jack bent and pressed a final block of C-4 under the bed, readied his detonator, and followed, only barely avoiding two slaves who zipped by him, apparently looking to escape in the mass chaos beginning to break out.
The Harsesis was most definitely awake, Jack saw as they tried to blend in with the Jaffa and the excitedly panicking slaves. The baby's dark eyes were already open and staring, but, incredibly, it--he; Sha'uri had called it her son--was completely silent. Jack took a second to check whether the baby was even alive, but eerily calm infant eyes shifted toward him, and he backed off. Amaunet was quiet, too, though it was hard to say whether it was because Sha'uri was in control or because Amaunet understood the need to escape Heru-ur. It might also have had something to do with Teal'c's staff weapon pointed at her. Jack didn't care, either way, because they were almost out...
He sensed more than heard the other presence. Spinning quickly, he raised his staff weapon toward the figure coming toward them--
"Sir!" Carter whispered frantically, stepping out slightly from where she'd been hiding with another man. "It's us."
"Who's 'us'?" Jack hissed through the mask.
"Sons of Midgard!" Olaf whispered, coming partway to his feet. "I come to help in your fight."
"They're looking for you two. No, stay down!"
The Cimmerian warrior followed them and all of them ducked into the woods. "When the Ettin's chariot arrived," Olaf said quietly, "and you had not yet returned, I thought to divert his attention to allow you enough time to find Thor."
"Thoughtful of you, but change of plans," Jack told him. "That your fireball back there, Captain?"
"Yes, sir."
"We've got another distraction ready, but we've gotta get out of here first. Carter, d'you get to the Cimmerians?"
"Olaf and I looked for a way through, but there were Jaffa patrols everywhere. We couldn't get to the caves without compromising their position," she said, sweeping her gaze over all of them to take in who was there. "Daniel, thank God! You okay?"
"Fine, Sam," Daniel whispered.
"I'm sorry I--"
"Later!" Jack hissed at them.
Olaf frowned at Sha'uri as Teal'c pulled off his zat gun and gave it to an empty-handed Carter. "Who is the prisoner?"
"No time to explain now," Jack said. "The point is, Heru-ur's pissed off, and he's gonna be a lot more pissed off soon when he finds out these two are gone. While they're organizing, we need to bring the rest of your people to the Stargate and evacuate them to somewhere safe."
"Leave our home?" the man asked, sounding shocked.
"Or you all stay in your cave for the rest of your lives," Jack snapped back as quietly as he could. "And I bet that won't be very long."
After a pause, the man hefted his axe. "As you say."
"Hold," Teal'c said. "A patrol approaches."
Jack peeked around the side of the cart and saw five Horus Guards clanking toward them. Other groups were moving off in other directions. "Wait 'til they pass," he whispered. "Then set off the charges and run, along the edge. Stay off the main roads. Carter, point; Teal'c, take Sha'uri, then Daniel and Olaf follow. I'll cover you." He hesitated, then lifted his borrowed helmet off and started to pull off his armor as quietly as he could, handing the detonator to Carter. Stealth would be useless if anyone saw them now, and he needed to keep pace with Carter, who was usually faster than he was on a sprint even when he wasn't wearing a heavy metal suit. Teal'c eased off his helmet, too, for visibility, though he left his metal breastplate on--he might need to act as a shield for any of the civilians if the Horus Guards opened fire.
As the sound of metallic stomping came closer, Jack motioned at them for quiet, then took a minute to look down at the Harsesis and make sure the kid was breathing. Quiet was a good thing, for the moment, but what newborn didn't make a sound while strangers carted him around? Sha'uri was eyeing the baby longingly. Teal'c readjusted his grip on his staff weapon so that it pointed directly at the woman. Daniel watched both of them and hugged the infant to his chest.
"Can you run like that?" Jack asked him quietly. Daniel nodded jerkily, pulling the baby even closer. "Keep his head steady, and don't let him bounce around. Hold him tight--if you're squeezing too tight, he'll let you know. Run fast, stay low, and leave the rest to us. You just worry about yourself and the baby." Daniel nodded again, sliding one hand over to cup around the baby's head.
"Kheb," Sha'uri whispered suddenly, making Daniel look up at her in confusion. She was staring at Daniel with an intensity that made Jack wonder who was in control, despite the distinctly human voice; the Goa'uld could control that, too, after all. "You must take my son to Kheb, Dan'yel."
"Kheb? But...but why? Where? What is--"
"There is no time!" she said urgently. "You will find answers there."
Daniel opened his mouth, but Jack cut him off with a "Shh!" before any more conversation could pass between them.
Almost as one, they shrank back against their meager cover as the Horus Guards moved past them. Not for the first time, Jack thanked the Goa'uld for their custom of intimidation by letting their Jaffa wear and use nothing that wasn't big and loud. He caught Carter's eye as the sound of boots faded and held up three fingers. She nodded, fingered the detonator, and rose a little higher from her crouch, the others doing the same. Teal'c's hand gripped Sha'uri's arm, ready to pull her up and along with him.
Three...two...one...
The explosion was echoed by yells all over the camp as several of the Horus Guards veered off their course toward the now-flaming shelter where Amaunet used to be and the others went to seek out the other source of the noise. "Go!" Jack said, and Carter led the way with Teal'c half-holding, half-dragging Sha'uri along. Olaf followed, and Daniel tucked the silent Harsesis against his chest and raced after them. Jack wasted no time in weaving through the crowd of bewildered human slaves to chase after his team.
The main road to the Stargate was in view when a shout reached them, not from behind, but from the surrounding forest. Horus Guards were beginning to appear from both sides, staff weapons rising. "Keep running!" Jack yelled, then, "Carter, left!"
Without stopping, he turned to his right and fired his staff weapon toward the Jaffa coming their way, Carter's zat shooting in the other direction as Teal'c growled at Daniel and Sha'uri to run faster, faster. The fire slowed their pursuers, but not nearly enough. Any minute now, they'd be taking blasts...
Except none of the Horus Guards was priming a weapon. The Jaffa were closing in fast on their group, yelling to each other, but not actually shooting back.
"My lord will come for me!" Amaunet cried suddenly, mingled with Teal'c's, "O'Neill, they seek the child!"
Which would explain why no one wanted to shoot and risk hitting the baby.
"Teal'c, Daniel, go! Olaf, get to the caves, get your people! Carter, drop back with me--we'll cover 'em!"
Before she could, however, Amaunet began to fight against Teal'c and shrieked, "Kree kal shak, shol'va! Kal kek m'al!"
One of the Horus Guards took advantage of the momentary struggle and primed his weapon, firing directly at the two of them. Amaunet took the blast in the shoulder and dropped to the ground with a cry. Jack cursed. Of course they wouldn't mind hitting the queen--they just wanted her kid.
"Sha'uri!" Daniel shouted, catching up to his sister.
"No, don't stop, run to the 'gate, Daniel!" Jack said, letting go of his weapon with one hand to push Daniel forward, but the woman rose partially and her good hand shot up to grab Daniel's leg.
"I will heal," Sha'uri's pained voice said. "Save my son. Take him to Kheb, Dan'yel--remember!"
And then Jack shoved Daniel away and watched just long enough to see him duck into the woods and disappear in the direction of the Stargate. A few of the Horus Guards pulled Amaunet away, back toward Heru-ur and his camp, but the rest pursued them, hampered by their heavier armor but aided by the enhanced strength from their symbiotes. As Jack turned started firing, he heard Carter prime her zat gun again beside him and Teal'c shooting from the other side.
A loud, rumbling sound met their ears, and Jack looked up to see storm clouds moving in.
Great. Just what they needed to cap off the day. Hopefully, at least it would slow the Jaffa down as much as it slowed the rest of them.
"Go," he ordered tersely as the first line of Guards fell, and they turned and took to the forest path to close the distance between them and their companions before turning again to fire on...
No one. What the hell?
"Sir?" Carter asked.
"They flee," Teal'c observed. Not only were they no longer being followed, but they could see the Horus Guards falling back to camp, yelling frantically at each other. Teal'c tilted his head. "The First Prime is ordering them to return to the hatak. The queen has already been taken there."
"You think they'll attack from the air?"
"I don't care," Jack said. "Get to Daniel at the 'gate."
When they emerged from the woods, another ominous rumbling sounded, but this time, it wasn't thunder. "The hatak has been launched," Teal'c said, not pausing his run. Jack looked back through the darkening sky to see something that looked vaguely like a pyramid rising into the air. "Others may soon follow."
"Carter, what are you doing?" Jack barked when she slowed.
"It's moving away, sir," she told him. "It's not following us--"
A flash of lightning split the sky, followed by a deafening boom of thunder. Jack flinched despite himself and tracked the mothership's progress as it rose higher and higher, moving inexplicably away from them. Suddenly, it accelerated and disappeared from sight, almost as if it were entering--
"Hyperspace," Teal'c said.
"What, they ran away?" Jack said incredulously. "We're not that scary."
"No, sir," Carter said, "but that is." She pointed at another ship, so dark in contrast to the gleaming Goa'uld ships that it was almost hidden against the storm-darkened sky. It was easy to see, however, that it was even bigger--much bigger--than the Goa'uld mothership and seemed to content to remain hovering over Heru-ur's encampment.
"The hell is that?" Jack asked. None of them had time to answer, however, before a bright beam of light shot down from it and scanned over the camp. A few final Jaffa who had continued pursuing them and hadn't made it back to camp were engulfed in the beam and disappeared.
"Thor," Carter said, her face lighting up. "That beam looks just like what took us into the Hall of Might, sir. It must be Thor, or the Asgard."
"Looks like the same sort of tech, but a lot bigger," Jack agreed, giving Teal'c a worried glance as he remembered Thor's Hammer. "C'mon, keep moving."
The Stargate was in sight when the sky suddenly cleared. Jack glanced back reflexively just in time to see the dark Asgard ship zooming away before it disappeared into hyperspace as well.
Daniel was crouching alone by the DHD when they got there, his body curled around the baby as if that would protect it against any serious attack. As they approached, he jumped and started to look for better cover, then sighed in relief when he realized who they were.
And then the relief disappeared, because the Harsesis chose that moment to start to cry.
Daniel's terrified eyes met Jack's, even as he rose to his feet and bent close to the infant, whispering, "Shh, sinu'ket. Jack, I didn't do anything to him, I swear I didn't. I don't know what...what do I...?"
So. Yeah. That talk he'd had planned for when they got home... This complicated things.
"Carter, dial home," Jack ordered, still not quite convinced they were in the clear. He moved to Daniel's side, running his eyes over his crying baby to make sure nothing was wrong with him before scanning the horizon for any stray Jaffa. "You're fine, Daniel, you're both fine, but let go a little or you'll smother him."
"What if I drop him?" Daniel said, sounding panicked, though he eased his grip around the newborn very slightly and murmured, "Sinu'ket, sa'djiri."
Before Carter could finish, however, Jack caught a bright light out of the corner of his eye, and all three of them whirled to see Gairwyn appear--appear, just like that--in the middle of the road. Jack glanced upward, but there was nothing--no ship or device of any sort--that he could see that could have done it. The Harsesis's cries subsided to soft, hiccupping whimpers, and if it hadn't been a newborn infant, Jack would have sworn the expression in its face was curiosity.
"The Ettins are gone," Gairwyn told them calmly. "Thor sends his thanks. It was your help that made this possible; Thor was very far from here, and you held off their forces until he could arrive to save us."
"But they escaped," Daniel spoke up. "Both of the Ettins escaped, into the hatak."
Misunderstanding his hope for fear, Gairwyn smiled kindly at him. "One of the ships fled before Thor came in his chariot, it is true, but it is no matter. Cimmeria is safe now. We have much to rebuild, but Thor will send an Asgard teacher to us to help us and ensure that the Ettins can never come to our world again."
Finally reassured, Jack let his weapon snap shut. "That's very nice, but I'd still like to meet the old guy."
"Well," Gairwyn said, her smile becoming wry, "he said that, like us, you are still much too young. But he told me to give you a message to satisfy your curiosity. Thor is a member of a species who have visited your world often. They are a friend to all, protector to all--except the Goa'uld, with whom they are at war."
"Then Cimmeria will be a safe world again," Teal'c said, looking satisfied. "That is good."
"Yes, it is. And I'm to tell you that Thor was impressed by the bravery shown by the one called Teal'c, during the tests and after, in defense of this world. The new Hammer will make an exception for you, and you are welcome here at any time. He says..." She hesitated, her eyes cutting toward the baby. "He says that you are all welcome, excepting the Ettin-born child."
Daniel looked up sharply. The Harsesis wailed loudly, bawling so furiously that it began to choke on its own cries, and Daniel's attention was once again redirected to the baby.
Well. If they'd had any doubts about whether or not Harsesis kids were normal...
"Right," Jack said, torn between the two sources vying for his attention. "Gairwyn--thanks for your help."
"No," she protested, reaching into a pouch that hung at her waist. "You and your people are the ones who have saved us."
Jack accepted the pebble she was holding out, with what looked like another rune carved into it. "Ah...right. I'll just give this to..." For once, Daniel was too occupied to be curious about a rock with writing on it, his hands full trying awkwardly to readjust the robe wrapped around the infant before it slipped off and left them with a butt-naked newborn who was also trying to scream their ears off, so Jack pocketed the pebble instead and nodded at Carter to finish dialing. "It's very...nice."
"It is only a small token of our thanks," Gairwyn said.
After almost getting your world taken over, he thought, but decided not to push his luck. "Well, Olaf will be here soon with the others who were in hiding. We've gotta go now, but we'll try to keep in touch. C'mon, kids," he called as the kawhoosh shot outward and settled. Sending the IDC himself, he reached across Daniel's arms to tuck the robe more tightly around the whimpering Harsesis, then walked back home with his team.
From the next chapter (" Team"):
"The child of two Goa'uld," he interrupted resentfully. "Right?"
"I was about to say that he's an unknown variable in a lot of ways, that's all. Daniel--"
"He's a baby, Sam!" Daniel burst out, thumping a fist uselessly on the wall. "A baby. Without a...without...not even his mother to..." He stopped suddenly and rubbed his forehead, exhaling shakily.