Archaeology (12b/30)
Title: Archaeology ( 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 Chapter5 Chapter6 Chapter7a-- 7b Chapter8 Chapter9a-- 9b Chapter10 Chapter11 Chapter12a
15 December 2000; P3X-888; 0700 hrs
Chaka spent hours staring at Daniel while Daniel sat under the words he'd scratched on the wall and carefully didn't stare directly back, constantly aware of the scrutiny. And then, Chaka went to sleep.
Daniel had thought, at first, that it was some kind of meditation, maybe even a ritual thing--perhaps one had to meditate before killing one's wok tah--but then he heard a snore and realized his violent friend-murderer was sleeping.
Daniel rubbed his gritty eyes. He was tired. He should sleep, like Chaka. But he really shouldn't--the SGC would tell him not to. He didn't think Chaka would kill him in his sleep, though. Chaka wouldn't do that to him; it would be like cheating.
He'd been left unguarded, and he was pretty sure it was mostly because Chaka liked him, but still, Chaka was an Unas who had marked him for death, and Daniel shouldn't be thinking it was friendly that he'd been left to wander instead of being tied down somewhere for the night.
Jack said he was always supposed to resist. Obligated to resist, especially since he couldn’t pretend anymore that Chaka was planning anything other than to kill him. Shouldn't he try?
The Unas was sleeping. There was a rock at Daniel's feet. It looked heavy. He picked it up. It was heavy. He didn't think he'd be able to kill an Unas, but he might be able to give one a concussion, and Daniel was pretty sure he could outrun a concussed Unas. He raised the rock over his head and stood over his friend--captor, murderer; not friend.
But Chaka would call 'tak' because he'd cheated. Tricky, and not in the good, clever way, because he'd broken the rules and been spared, and now he was about to break the rules again. And Chaka was sleeping.
Daniel wondered if he had parents.
The rock almost slipped out of his grasp. Panicked at the idea that he might kill Chaka after all, by accident, Daniel shifted his grip and then lost it again, so the rock landed with a loud thump a foot from Chaka's head.
Chaka woke with a start, staring straight at the rock, then turned to Daniel and snarled angrily.
Frustrated, out of hope, finally resigned that he was about to be punished and then he would die and was going to let it happen and wasn't going to fight it, Daniel held up his hands and dropped to a seat. "It's okay," he whispered past the tightness in his throat. "Ka keka."
He wasn't even watching anymore, expecting to be disciplined now, so it was a surprise when he heard a whine that sounded like someone was in pain.
Afraid he'd dropped the rock onto Chaka after all, he looked up and saw the Unas cradling the hand that was still oozing a bright green blood. Someone--Loder--had shot Chaka, Daniel remembered vaguely. He looked more closely and thought he saw something in the open wound that might be a bullet, or part of one.
"Ko," Daniel said, then cleared his throat and held out his hands. "Give me. Let me see?"
When Chaka looked suspicious, Daniel held up his bound hands to demonstrate his helplessness, then gestured again, pointing to his own hand. "Maybe I can help you."
In the end, Daniel had to reach his hands out so far that he was practically touching. Chaka hadn't moved, except to blink at him. Daniel tapped the injured hand with a finger, making Chaka jerk away, and then held himself still.
Finally, Chaka crept closer again and held his hand out. Daniel glanced up at intent, wary eyes, then carefully looked at the wounded hand, still without touching.
He winced just looking at it--a piece of the bullet was definitely still lodged inside, almost between two of Chaka's fingers. Daniel slowly drew his hands back toward his pocket to extract his forceps and returned to the same position, waiting for permission. Whether or not having a bullet in the body was dangerous to an Unas, it had to hurt every time Chaka moved his fingers.
"Okay," Daniel said when the injured hand was placed into his. "I'm not a doctor. And my hands are kind of numb and I would really like to go to sleep, so that's not good. And I lost my glasses, but that's probably your fault. But I think I can help."
Chaka's hand tensed when the forceps first touched the open wound. "It's okay," Daniel said, not looking away, because slipping would be bad. His hand was shaking badly enough already. "I can't...it's closed a little, so I have to--wait, hold on. Ka!" he said. "Cha!"
To his relief, Chaka obeyed and stayed still. Daniel dug deeper. Finally, he hit something hard. "Ka," Chaka growled.
Daniel tightened his grip with one hand and searched for a way to get a firm grip on the bullet with the other. "Almost," he said, gritting his teeth in concentration. "Hold on. Okay...okay..."
A piece of lead, covered with green blood, came free. Daniel dropped it on the ground and squinted at Chaka's hand, looking for anything else that might be lodged inside. "Better?" he said, looking up, and it was then that he saw the Unas staring at the bullet, looking astounded.
Then the look transferred itself onto him. "Chakaa," the Unas said.
So it definitely wasn't his real name. Daniel sighed. "What is chakaa?" he asked. "Kel chakaa?"
Chaka looked away, pulling his hand toward himself.
"Are we even now?" Daniel said without much hope. He held up his bound hands and looked back the way he'd come. "Look. Unas ka keka Daniel. Unas ko keka onak. Daniel...wants to...ko keka onak."
"Ka--Dan'el ka keka onak," Chaka scoffed.
"I could ko keka onak," Daniel said, "if you'd untie me." Conversation was difficult when all he could say was some variation on you-no-kill-me and you-kill-Goa'uld and I-kill-Goa'uld. He thought about saying something about I-no-kill-you as a sign of good will and an offer of friendship, but decided he'd just get laughed at.
But then, Chaka stood again.
They were in the caves. This was probably where the Unas lived. That meant they were getting close to the end. When they got to there, he was going to be killed, and no one would ever know unless he showed them where to go. Somehow, he thought being labeled MIA forever would be worse than at least letting people know what happened to him.
Daniel picked up his writing stone from the ground just in time as he was jerked to his feet. He stumbled on the way up until he was leaning against a wall, then drew an arrow before Chaka could turn around to see what he was doing.
XXXXX
15 December 2000; P3X-888; 0800 hrs
"Daniel Jackson was here," Teal'c said.
Jack turned away from the extinguished fire and hurried to see what Teal'c was looking at. As it turned out, he was looking at a cave drawing, with words scratched in above it that said, 'DANIEL JACKSON WAS HERE.'
"You're good," Jack said, though he was distracted by the sight of something red smeared right under Daniel's name. Blood--not much, though, and it looked deliberate. Better than a puddle or a splatter, at least.
"This has to be Daniel's, too," Carter said, bending to pick up what Jack recognized as a tape recorder, a chalked-in arrow pointing down at it.
"Think he left us a message?" he asked her as he and Teal'c continued looking around. She rewound obediently, although how the hell Daniel would have managed to tape record a message while being dragged around by an Unas was beyond him.
"...of morbid," Daniel's tinny voice said, shaking audibly even in the recording, "but...actually, I hope you do, because there's data on Cleopatra and Julius on here, too. Chaka and I are friends. Don't roll your eyes, Jack. He's never seen a human before. I mean, he wants to kill me, but we're working on it. And I ate half a Goa'uld head, and he ate my chocolate--"
"He's delirious," Jack said.
Carter stopped the recorder and pocketed it. "At least we know he was alive, sir," she said.
There were tunnels leading in four directions from here. Jack didn't think they had time to search them all. He returned to the cooling fire and squinted harder at the ground, willing tracks to show up somewhere in the unyielding stone floor.
And then--
"This way," Carter said. Jack directed his flashlight toward where she was looking and saw an arrow drawn on the wall, with another one several meters down.
"Nice," Jack said, then ran down the tunnel, following the arrows.
They'd been stopped at two more forks--at one, they'd had to go down the wrong one until they decided Daniel wouldn't have waited that long to draw another arrow and doubled back to take the other path--before they heard an angry, inhuman growl ahead of them.
Jack picked up the pace. The tunnel narrowed, and then widened and widened until--
There he was.
Daniel stood with his back to them, and in front of him were two Unas, one of which must have been half again as big as Teal'c and a lot nastier. Daniel seemed frozen in place, but the other, smaller Unas was standing in front of him, and if Jack hadn't known better, he'd think that one was trying to protect him.
Their boots must have scuffed against the ground, because Daniel jumped and turned to see them. Jack raised his gun, knowing Daniel would know to get down out of the way, but instead, Daniel raised his hands--tied together at the wrists--and stepped in front of the smaller Unas.
"Don't!" Daniel shouted, his voice hoarse but urgent, firelight casting an odd shadow over his face. "Don't shoot!"
Delirious. No other explanation.
Carter and Teal'c took up defensive positions. Jack dropped to a crouch but didn't lower his gun as he looked quickly around the chamber. There were tunnels leading off in three directions--one back and two forward, and forward meant past the Unas, so back was the best option. He waited for Daniel to do something reasonable, like run away from the scary monsters.
It didn't happen.
The big Unas--the one that looked like he wanted to eat Daniel--threw his head back and roared. The two far tunnels disappeared as escape options as more Unas--geez, how many were there?--scampered out and stood around the back, looking like they wanted to eat Daniel, too, though at least they weren't doing anything aside from general menacing.
Without turning around, the smaller Unas shoved Daniel in the back with one hand, making him stumble two steps away from the Unas and toward SG-1. Even with that push, Daniel held his place and didn't keep going. "Cho'ee'che," the Unas said.
"Daniel..." Jack said when the bigger, uglier Unas didn't look impressed.
"I'm okay," Daniel said, even as he swayed on the spot.
Gritting his teeth, Jack said, "What the hell is going on?"
"Tok," the younger Unas was saying. "Chaka...ka nan!"
"Oh, good," Daniel said faintly before he turned his back to SG-1 and faced the Unas. "He's telling the alpha male not to eat me."
"Why?" Carter said as Jack boggled over the fact that Daniel was actually translating monster-speak for them.
"He likes me," Daniel said, sounding far too pleased about that. "We're friends."
Oh, this...this was unbelievable. "Friends?" Jack repeated.
Movement caught his eye, and he shifted his aim to another Unas approaching with a club.
"Ka!" Daniel's friend yelled at the Unas.
"Don't!" Daniel yelled at SG-1. "I think he...Chaka doesn't want to kill me anymore. He brought me here because he wants me to stay and...and, and be friends, don't you see?"
"And they're buying that?" Jack said, because he wasn't quite buying it.
Daniel swallowed and turned around unsteadily to look at the alpha male. "Uh...maybe not."
The Unas moved closer, looming threateningly. Jack held his position in frustration, knowing he couldn't take a shot without risking Daniel, unless Daniel would move the hell out of the way...
The alpha male swung an arm back, and finally Daniel did something normal and ducked his head, yelling, "Ka! Ka keka!"
Well, this was new.
The Unas seemed to think so, too, and backed off slightly. "Daniel?" Jack repeated.
"I said 'don't kill me,'" Daniel said, but the alpha was already regrouping, and now even Daniel was taking a step back. "Uh--" The younger Unas stepped in front of him, but was swatted away.
"Kree--yahs!" Teal'c barked.
Finally, training overcame whatever idiocy Daniel had simmering in his brainpan, and he dropped to the ground. Jack wasted no time in opening fire on the alpha alongside Carter.
And still, with green blood oozing from a dozen bullet holes in his chest, the Unas was still alive and angrier than ever. Daniel was on his knees on the ground now--he made a move as if to scramble awkwardly backward--
The younger Unas launched itself at the alpha, knocking it away. Jack shifted his aim to the blur of battling Unas and almost pulled the trigger again, because he didn't care if he killed them all, as long as none of his team got eaten. But Daniel was struggling his way back to his feet and in the goddamned way, so Jack eased his finger off the trigger.
There was water splashing, and the distinctive sound of something being pounded hard against something else, and then--
Silence.
Daniel had made it to his feet and was staring at the mess of dead Unas and the victor standing over it. Jack couldn't even tell in the dark who'd won, until Daniel said, "Chaka killed the alpha male. He's their leader, now."
Even as he said it, the young Unas emerged from the shadows to a crowd of silent Unas. It lunged halfway toward one, who backed off, then roared at the rest of them until they retreated again, back down the tunnels and out of sight.
Then the young Unas turned around to face them. Jack didn't even consider letting his gun waver. Until--
"Dan'el," the Unas said.
Only a lifetime of training kept the gun from slipping out of Jack's hands in surprise.
The Unas was pointing toward the back of the chamber, where the tunnels were, and hunching its back in something almost like a bow. Daniel looked that way, and for a moment, Jack thought he was actually going to follow.
And then he said, "Ka. Daniel ka cha." He raised his bound hands to point in the vague direction of Carter and almost overbalanced just doing that. Moving closer, Jack finally found that the shadow he'd seen earlier wasn't a shadow at all, but rather some kind of blue paint swiped messily across Daniel's cheek--some kind of ceremonial thing, maybe?
The Unas growled. Daniel growled back. Carter dropped her aim and her jaw at the same time. Jack thought Daniel sounded like a baby bear with a head cold, and apparently the Unas did, too, because it laughed. And then Daniel snickered, so Jack decided they'd all just gone insane.
"Chakaa," the Unas said, then turned and disappeared behind the rest of its clan.
Jack finally lowered his weapon and reached Daniel in time to stop him from pitching forward by wrapping a hand around his arm. "What was that all about?"
"He likes me, did you see?" Daniel said, and now that Jack was so close, he could feel Daniel shivering. "That's not actually his name, though. I just call him that." He leaned back toward Jack, then winced and straightened.
Jack glanced back to see Carter and Teal'c give each other worried looks. "Uh-huh," he said agreeably, pulling backward and hoping Daniel would pick up one of his feet and move. "What's not his name?"
"Chaka."
"Chaka--that was in your recording," Carter said.
Daniel's eyes widened as Jack steered him away from the cavern, following the arrows backward to make sure they came out in the right place. "You found my tape! Good--Robert would have killed me if I'd lost all our notes from the last couple of days."
Carter's step faltered.
Teal'c's chin rose. He glanced at Jack, who was still holding onto Daniel with one arm, and shook his head very slightly, his eyes flicking back toward where the Unas had just come out. Get out of the monsters' lair first.
"Let's get this off you, huh?" Jack said, pulling his knife and touching the rope around Daniel's wrists, because he was not dragging Daniel outside on a leash.
"It's really good rope, isn't it?" Daniel said vaguely, standing passively as Jack slipped the blade under the rope. He gasped, though, when Jack started to saw through. Jack concentrated and decided on speed rather than trying to be gentle, at least until they were out of these damn caves. By the time he'd cut all the way through and started to pull the rope away, Daniel was gritting his teeth with pain.
"I know, I know," Carter murmured, taking his hands and rubbing them gently between hers as Jack pulled the last bits of rope away from Daniel's wrists, picking a few stray strands away from the abrasions. "Give it a minute--some of that's the blood going back into your hands. We'll look you over and dress whatever we can once we get outside, where it's light."
Even in the dim light of the cave, Jack could see that the rope had broken skin all around Daniel's wrists. He tossed the strands out of the way and wondered how the hell Daniel had decided this was someone with whom he should become friends.
"Jack, you can't litter," Daniel said as they started away again. "Jack..."
"Daniel, leave it," Jack said, quashing anger at the inanity of that statement.
"But I told Chaka he couldn't," Daniel insisted, pulling his hands away from Carter and actually walking away from them. "You can't just break the rules. He'll think you're cheating, and...and...and he hates it when people cheat."
"Look, we have--"
Daniel bared his teeth and snarled at him.
"Daniel!" Jack snapped, a little scared now. He moved so he was standing in Daniel's path and making him look up in surprise. "Listen. Are you listening to me?"
"What?" Daniel said, his eyes wide. "Yes. You found me. Where did you...?" He frowned, looking past them. "I thought you weren't going to--"
"We found you," Jack said, pulling him back so they were eye-to-eye again. "We have to get out of here and go home. Got it?"
Daniel blinked at him with the lethargy of someone on the verge of either falling asleep or passing out. Jack counted back the number of hours--they were going on twenty-four hours since his capture--and thought, fatigue, dehydration, minor injuries... "I want to go home," Daniel said, then repeated, "How are you here?"
"We followed you," Jack said. "Now. Let's go home. The--Chaka said we could go, right?"
"I don't know," Daniel said. "I only learned how to say 'no-eat-Daniel' and 'Unas-kill-Goa'uld.'"
And just like that, Jack remembered the Goa'uld.
He didn't take his gaze from Daniel's but he waited only until he saw Teal'c toss his staff weapon out of reach before he stepped quickly away from Daniel, putting his own gun out of range. Surprised, Daniel stumbled back into Teal'c, who clasped him to his chest with one arm.
"Teal'c," Daniel said, looking down at the arm around his chest. "What are you doing?"
Carter's hands were on her weapon, though she wasn't aiming to shoot. "Doubt it, sir," she said, kicking the frayed rope with a foot. A Goa'uld might have tried to break free. Then again, like Daniel had said, it was good, strong rope, and in a fight between a Goa'ulded human and an Unas...Teal'c was raising the eyebrow that meant he wasn't sure.
There was a cut on Daniel's cheek, though, still fresh. There was at least one bruise on his face, one knee of his trousers was ripped and the skin under it scraped, his wrists were a mess, and if the little flinch before was anything to go by, he was pretty banged up elsewhere, too. Jack didn't think a Goa'uld would still have those. Still, he hadn't thought a Goa'uld would escape Teal'c or Carter's notice, either, and a lake-full of them still had. There was no way to know for sure until they stuck Daniel in an MRI.
"What?" Daniel said, confused. He saw them holding their guns, and said, "Oh. Are you a Goa'uld? Teal'c, are they--uh-oh. You can't sense them, can you."
"Uh-oh?" Jack repeated. "You think we might be Goa'ulds and all you have to say is uh-oh?"
Daniel stilled, his eyes becoming a little more alert (and not glowing, thank god). "Are you?" He looked to Jack, then Sam. "Did you go near the river?"
Daniel was tired, Jack told himself. Dazed, confused, tired, freaked--that was why he wasn't acting quite like his normal self. Except Hawkins had been dazed, too, and confused and tired and freaked--"What would you do if we were Goa'uld?" Jack said.
They were scaring him. He was starting to tense up, his arms twitching ever so slightly in the way the Jack knew from experience was his way of testing someone's hold on him. Then he said, "Stay as close as I could to Teal'c and...do you have a zat? Why don't you have a zat?"
Good question. Jack didn't answer. He wished they'd had a zat, too.
"Okay," Jack said, mostly convinced now. He couldn't trust himself to be objective on this, though, not with Daniel, so he waited for Carter's nod and Teal'c's raise-eyebrow-tilt-head to lower his gun. "We're not Goa'ulds, Daniel. And I don't think you are, either, but you know we're still gonna have to be careful on the way back to the Stargate."
"How do I know you're lying?" Daniel said. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second and blinked them back open. "I mean. Not...lying. How do I know you're--"
"I have tested them, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said.
"You can't," Daniel said. "HSLR shows zero naquadah for all bone sample concentrations up to 500 milligrams per milliliter reagent, Teal'c, there's no naquadah, not even in Cleopatra!"
"Trust in me, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said calmly as Jack shared a look with Carter, because some of that sounded like science stuff Daniel might know and some of it just sounded crazy. "I devised a way to determine whether O'Neill and Major Carter were infested with Goa'uld. They are not."
Jack picked up Teal'c's staff weapon but didn't give it back. This wasn't the time to be taking risks, not when they'd had to kill two of their own men today. If Daniel had a Goa'uld in him, they were not going to find out because he'd gotten at a weapon. It would be fine. Jack was going to tell himself that until they got home and found out how not fine it all was.
"We've gotta go," Jack said. "Daniel, I know you're tired, but Teal'c's going to stick with you if you need help. Carter and I are going to watch your back until we get outside."
The look in Daniel's eyes said he knew they were watching Teal'c's back as much as Daniel's. "Okay," he said quietly, looking more shaken, but more awake, too.
They finally reached the mouth of the cave. Daniel tried to collapse there, right in the open. Teal'c stopped him and moved a little farther away, where there was at least some minimal cover and the caves were out of sight, then let him sit against a tree.
"Teal'c, can you...?" Carter said, unhooking her P90 and holding it out. Teal'c accepted it--and held out his hand until Jack gave him his staff weapon back--and stood guard while Carter was dropping to her knees to check Daniel over.
"Why did you come?" Daniel said again while she pulled a canteen from her waist. "We weren't supposed to check in for--" He stopped, sucking in a sharp breath as she trickled clean water over his wrists and hands.
"Two days, yeah," Jack said, knowing what was next, but it was going to come out, anyway. He waited for the question, but Daniel had closed his eyes and was leaning back against the tree.
"Dr. Rothman returned with news of your capture," Teal'c said. "We came here with SG-2 upon his request for help in finding you."
Daniel's eyes popped open. "Robert? SG-2? What happened to SG-11? They were at the camp when Chaka came, and--"
"SG-2 is okay, Daniel," Jack said. "We should meet up with them on the way to the Stargate. But...Daniel, I'm sorry. The others didn't make it."
"What do you mean?" Daniel said, watching Carter work.
Jack bit back the impulse to yell, 'what the hell do you think I mean?' because there weren’t many ways to interpret that. Instead, he said, "They were killed in action, Daniel."
"You're saying my name a lot," Daniel observed. "That's one of your tactics, Jack."
"Dan--" Jack exhaled sharply. "Did you hear what I said?"
"But we never finished packing up Cleopatra," Daniel said, frowning.
What the hell was that, all this Cleopatra business? "Cleopatra?" Jack repeated.
"She's my queen," Daniel said, rubbing his eyes with a newly-bandaged arm. Teal'c shifted, lifting his staff weapon with one arm. "Robert wanted to call her Cleo, but I found her, so I got to name her."
Jack thought for a horrifying moment that he might have to decide whether or not he could point a gun at Daniel and shoot, but then Carter said, "Oh, Cleopa--you mean the fossils. He means the fossils, sir," she said, glancing back for a second, relieved. "Like Julius. So you found a...a fossilized queen Goa'uld?"
Daniel didn't answer. He closed his eyes, and Jack thought he was avoiding the question until he realized Daniel was slumping over so far his blue-streaked cheek landed on Carter's shoulder.
"Hey," she said, pushing him back up so she could finish checking him for injuries. "Not yet."
"Sam," he mumbled.
"Perhaps we should rest, O'Neill," Teal'c said.
Jack looked at his watch, then up at the sky. They had almost sixteen more hours of daylight, but he really didn’t want to waste that and be stranded again for the night.
"It took us over ten hours, sir," Carter said, gently probing the back of Daniel's head, "not counting the night, and at a fast pace. He's not going to make it there without a break, anyway."
"All right," Jack conceded. "Do we need to get him back to base?"
"Nothing critical that I can see."
"Fine. Boots on," he said, and the familiarity of that order made him look over his shoulder, as if he might see a Goa'uld leap out from behind him. No water nearby. Fine. They were fine. "Three hours. Carter, get him settled, get some water in him; Teal'c, first watch."
Neither Jack nor Carter lay down. Teal'c was watching Daniel; the rest of them would watch for whatever else was planning on jumping out at them. After the last day, Jack wouldn't be surprised at much of anything anymore.
...x...
Jack was on watch last, and he sat down with his leg stretched out against Daniel's back, tucking the emergency blanket tighter around Daniel's still-shivering form.
The movement seemed to wake Daniel, who opened his eyes and whispered, "You said...SG-11."
"Yeah. I'm sorry," Jack whispered back.
"And Robert? He's...he's dead?"
Jack nodded, even though Daniel wasn't looking at him. "Yes."
Daniel stared at his own knees. "Why?"
Teal'c was watching the woods some distance away. Carter was closer, though, and listening, but she looked away when Jack glanced at her. "You said...you know there are Goa'uld in the--"
"Ay," Daniel breathed, squeezing his eyes shut. "No. No, Jack..."
"I'm sorry," Jack repeated. "We don't know when it happened, but by the time we realized, it was too late, and..." ...we shot him? I shot him? There was no choice but to kill him? Sorry, but I pulled the trigger?
"And," Daniel said, then took a breath. "The Goa'uld--they took him? As a--"
"A host. Yes. I'm sorry."
There was a long silence, but Daniel's eyes were still half-open, staring at nothing. Needing something productive to do, something useful instead of platitudes that he maybe didn't have the right to give, Jack said, "You're exhausted. Catch a few minutes of sleep. We've got a long trip back."
"I went to sleep with Chaka," Daniel mumbled, already halfway there. "He was eating and he let me sleep for a few minutes."
Jack still didn't know how any of these things were supposed to be connected but didn't ask; they could worry about that later, when they weren't worried about Goa'uld or Unas or hostages. There was a smear of blue on Daniel's cheek that hadn't gotten wiped off completely--they hadn't wanted to waste too much water on something that didn't look all that important--and, curious, Jack touched a finger to Daniel's face to try to wipe it off.
"What--?" Daniel said, curling away.
"I'm just..." Jack said, pulling back and frowning at a dried, blue flake on his thumb. "What is that?"
"What?" Daniel repeated. He turned around and squinted at Jack's hand. His eyes widened, and he swallowed hard. "Oh. That's...the symbiote...blood--"
He pushed himself halfway out of the blanket and threw up what little was in his stomach.
"Crap," Jack said, then shifted to pull Daniel away once the brief spasm had passed, automatically checking Daniel's temperature, even though he knew it wouldn't be accurate given the physical exertion.
"Colonel," Carter said, hurrying to them to see what was wrong.
"Carter, gun," Jack snapped, and she stopped partway to her knees.
"I'm n-not a Goa'uld," Daniel said, shaking so violently in Jack's grip it felt like he might fall apart.
Teal'c had returned, too. Jack glanced up at him long enough to shake his head, then pulled Daniel farther back, untangling him from the blanket. Daniel kicked feebly in an attempt to help free himself, then stilled and lay his head back against Jack's chest.
"I could have escaped," Daniel whispered. "I didn't even try, and Robert--he was on base and he came back, and he gods he's dead he died to--"
"You tried," Jack said. "You tried, Daniel, we saw the tracks at the river. You kept yourself alive, you didn't piss off the Unas. It's not your fault."
"He saved me," Daniel said, gripping the back of Jack's hand. "I was going to drown, and there was a Goa'uld, and he saved me. He fed me and...and protected me. I couldn't just kill him."
"Okay," Jack said, deciding they could figure out that bizarre loyalty when they got home and suppressing the terror that came with the image of an almost-drowned Daniel. "Okay. It's okay. You can tell us about it when we get home."
"But how can they all be dead--"
"Daniel," he warned, looking uncomfortably at the woods around them and the caves behind, "I'm sorry, but this is not the time. We can't do this right now."
Daniel shut his mouth tight but shook his head and shivered harder, curling his legs into himself, and in his state, the last thing he needed was to drop off into shock or start really panicking.
Bracing himself, Jack ordered, "Get up. Stand up. Jackson, get up, now!"
"Sir!" Carter protested.
"We're getting out of here," Jack said. He stood and dragged Daniel up with him, then moved to face him. "Daniel. We are going to get you home, but you have to listen. Your orders right now are to stay calm, is that understood?"
Daniel swayed when Jack let go and reached out to grab onto an arm again. "Yes, sir," he whispered. "Understood. Stay calm."
Carter's eyes were wide and accusing. Jack just wanted to get off this damn planet, and if he had to use the tone and words that made some conditioned part of Daniel say 'yes, sir' and snap to, he would do that. He'd rather Daniel felt safe, too, but with safety came complacency. Daniel functioned best when they weren't safe, which they weren't now.
Jack reached for his canteen. "Here--water," he said briskly. "Swish. And take another sip--not too much, but you need to stay hydrated."
Daniel obeyed, took a sip, two, three, tried to gulp more. Jack took it away. "Teal'c, take point," Jack ordered. "Carter, watch our six. Daniel, you're with me. Let's go."
A gentle prod on the back was all Daniel needed to start forward. Teal'c picked up Jack's P90 and his own staff weapon, tried to catch Daniel's eye and failed, then led their way off.
...x...
"We met up with Griff and Pierce at the dig site," Major Coburn's voice said over the radio. "We can wait for you here. Sir--we're glad you found him."
"We might need a little longer than we took getting here," Jack answered as they walked. "But we should make it before dark--give us a couple of hours. Stay sharp, Major."
"Yes, sir. SG-2 out."
As soon as the radio quieted, Daniel said, "Were they all taken by Goa'uld?"
There was a moment in which Jack hoped Carter or Teal'c would answer, but being responsible for Rothman's death didn't make him any less responsible for telling about it. "Major Hawkins and Dr. Rothman were," Jack answered. "We don't know about the others. Sergeant Loder probably wasn't; he was killed in the initial attack."
"I saw that," Daniel said. "I never even considered Loder might have been killed, and not just..." He stopped.
"Still think Chaka's your friend?" Jack said.
"No, it's not..." Daniel said, frowning. "Jack--he just didn't understand--"
Fighting off a burst of anger, Jack interrupted, "We can talk about it later." If they talked about it now, Jack wouldn't be able to stop himself from saying something cruel.
"The Goa'uld living here are parasites," Daniel said calmly after a pause, "but, when they don't have hosts available, they're probably still predators, too, probably first and foremost. And I think they're cannibalistic or at least very competitive. Did they kill each other?"
It took a while to sort out who the last they was before Jack said, "We don't know about the other--about Lieutenant Sanchez and Captain Hatley. Hawkins just told us they were dead."
"We all had to make water runs a lot. Major Hawkins and the others might have... I don't know if they'd been Goa'ulded already, but Hawkins might have killed them himself. Not Hawkins," he amended. "The Goa'uld in him."
Jack hadn't thought there was anything worse than being a Goa'uld. Apparently, there was. Being a Goa'uld and watching himself kill his own men would be far, far worse.
"But if Hawkins told you," Daniel said, still piecing it together, "who killed him? And Robert?"
"I fired upon Major Hawkins when he attempted to kill O'Neill," Teal'c said from the front of the line. "He died quickly."
"I had to shoot Dr. Rothman," Jack said. Daniel tripped. Jack caught him, and they kept going.
No excuses. Jack wasn't about to make excuses to absolve his actions, right or wrong. But Daniel needed reasons for everything, and he said, "Why did you have to shoot him?"
"He had Teal'c's staff weapon," Jack said. "He'd shot one man already. I made the call."
That made Daniel halt in his tracks. Jack braced himself, but Daniel's response was, "Shot whom? Did he--is he--"
"Captain Griff was shot in the arm. He's okay, and the rest of his team is with him. Keep moving, Daniel."
Daniel kept moving. "Do you think Robert knew he was fine?"
Probably not, Jack thought. It had been too fast, and Rothman, if he'd been awake in his body at all, would probably have seen that shot and only registered shot. Even someone trained in weapons might not have known, not with the kind of time they'd had. "I think it happened too fast," Jack said.
"It w-was..." Daniel pressed the back of his hand to his mouth.
"It was quick," Jack promised.
"Okay," Daniel breathed, except it wasn't.
...x...
It was dusk when they reached the dig site. "Major Coburn!" Jack called, in the lead this time while Teal'c stayed with Daniel.
Major Coburn and the rest of his team appeared from behind some of the tents SG-11 had set up. "Colonel," he called back. "What's the plan, sir?"
"A few more hours and we'll be at the 'gate," Jack said as they approached. "Let's try to make it all the way--we'll just keep careful watch as we go. Griff," he added when he spotted a man with a sling. "You good?"
"I'm all right, sir," Griff said, looking a little pale but steady enough on his feet. "Nice to see you in one piece, Jackson."
"Is that them?" Daniel said instead of answering. Jack turned and followed his squinting gaze to a line of mounds, visible just beyond the perimeter of their camp. They'd carried the bodies back, then, to be buried together. "Two, three...that's only four. There should be five of them."
Coburn looked questioningly at Jack, who nodded. "We haven't found Captain Hatley," Coburn said. He pulled short lengths of chain out of his pocket--dog tags. "The three of us are willing to stay and continue the search, with your permission, sir."
"You said Major Hawkins said they were dead," Daniel said dazedly. "He'd have no reason to lie about a prey and then wait to be caught."
Jack stepped in front of him to shield him from raised eyebrows and said, "We should go back to the SGC, Major. Whether or not Hatley's still alive, whoever comes back to search is coming back with zat guns."
"Jack--" Daniel started.
"That's final, Daniel."
"I brought a zat'nik'tel to the dig. You signed off on it."
And he had--Daniel's usual full set of weaponry was a pistol, a bayonet, and a zat gun. Jack resisted asking why the hell he hadn't been carrying it at the time and instead said, "Where? Show us."
Jack let Teal'c follow as Daniel led them to one of the tents, then stepped in close to SG-2. "We don't think Daniel was Goa'ulded, but he's been...a little... You saw. And we can't be sure until we get to base. No one get close to him with a weapon he can take from you."
"Yes, sir," Coburn said. "And about Hatley...?"
"If the zat's here, you can stay and look for him. If you don't report back within twenty-four hours from when my team leaves this site, we'll assume something happened to you. Don't go anywhere near water, and watch each other's backs. It's gonna be dark soon."
Without waiting for an answer, Jack hurried to where Daniel was kneeling in front of one of the tents. It was hard to tell if he'd sat down there or if Teal'c was stopping him from going in. When Jack was close enough, he could see a notebook on the ground that he assumed was Rothman's, by dint of the fact that the handwriting wasn't Daniel's. Daniel was staring at it and looking like he wasn't sure whether to pick it up.
"Carter," Jack said, jerking his head toward the tent, and she ducked inside. Before the flap fell closed, he saw two bedrolls and a stack of books inside and decided Daniel and Rothman must have shared this one.
She reemerged moments later, zat gun in hand. "It was at the bottom of Daniel's pack," she said.
Jack nodded, took it from her, and passed it to SG-2. "Good luck," he said. "Twenty-four hours starting now. Griff, you're with us."
"Wait--our... We're coming back, right," Daniel said as they set off again, SG-1 with Griff in tow. "Jack? We're coming back?"
"I don't think so," Jack said, meaning not a chance in hell.
"His things--all of our things are here--" He was clutching Rothman's notebook. "And the--we never got to finish. There's...Cleo is still here, Jack--"
"We can do that later," Carter said. "Someone will bring Cleopatra back."
"Cleo," Daniel said.
From the next chapter ("Archaeologists"):
Daniel looked around the infirmary, then pulled an arm out of his blankets to see the bandage that covered his wrist and part of his palm. "I don't suppose," he said, touching the bandage on his cheek, "that P3X-888 was just a dream, too?"