A Source of Power - Chapter 3
Title: A Source of Power - Chapter 3
Author: SG_Betty
Word count: 4,790
Genre: Gen, Action/Adventure, Team
Rating/Warning :PG-13, Violence
Spoilers: spoilers up to and including early Season 7
Disclaimer: While the situations and dialogue in this story are my own, all characters are wholly owned by Gekko Productions and MGM.
Thanks: It is impossible for me to thank Lokei enough for the enormous time and effort that she put into beta reading, advice, and encouragement. There simply aren't fine enough words. All I can say is thank you, Lokei, this story simply wouldn't exist without you!
“Daniel, what can we expect to happen in this little journey with Ra-Barbie?” Jack waved a thumb at the stature on the raised platform of the boat.
“I’m not sure, Jack. This is all very odd. The Goa’uld know none of the legends were true. Sometimes they took on the characteristics of existing gods. Sometimes they created rituals for their glorification. Some legends were developed after Ra left the Earth to explain events.” Daniel scowled out over the water.
“Am-Heh has to know that there was no underworld, no journey of Ra to bring the new day. So why does he have us acting it out?” Daniel paused and thought for a moment. “There are references in ancient Egyptian texts to snakes with eyes of fire, which has obvious implications. We know that Apophis was an enemy of Ra. We know that many of the gods from our mythologies were actually Goa’uld, but there’s not much of a connection between the Egyptian myths of the afterlife and the practices of the Goa’uld. The only clear connection is the concept of rising from the dead when placed in a sarcophagus and the need for judgment, or godhood, before being found worthy of such immortality. This just doesn’t make sense. There is no way to predict what Am-Heh intends or why.”
He gave Teal’c a questioning look as he stood by the mooring rope, waiting to cast off. “Nothing about this place is as expected. I have never seen such methods.”
“I’m thinking that Amy’s just wacko. So, we should get ready for bad and crazy. Let’s secure these flashlights to the boat. We need hands free.” Jack unzipped a pocket on the side of his pack and pulled out a roll of tape.
“Sir? You bring duct tape?” Sam tried to hide a smile.
“Of course, Carter. It fixes anything. The space station would have fallen apart years ago if it wasn’t for duct tape! It’s the greatest achievement of western civilization.” He grinned at Sam and Daniel, daring them to comment.
Sam just rolled her eyes. Daniel’s eyebrows looked like they might leave his forehead altogether. “I’m not going to rise to the bait that easily.”
“Since when?” Jack was still smiling as he pulled off a strip and threw the roll to Sam. He attached the flashlight to the front of the platform, illuminating the front of the boat with pale light.
Sam did the same at one side of the platform, then took Daniel’s flashlight and repeated the task on the other side. Now the interior of the small boat was lit, as well as a few feet in front and to the sides of the craft. The light wasn’t very strong and the beams were fairly narrow, but they would need the extra light. The tactical tights on the side rail of the P-90’s only lit what you were aiming at.
Daniel noticed a small bundle in the prow, lit by the forward light. He knelt down and opened it, revealing a pile of long knives in leather sheaths. “They stabbed at him with sharp knives…”
“Who was stabbed, Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c asked from the platform.
Daniel was staring at one of the knives, lost in thought. “Hmm?” The question finally got through Daniel’s abstraction and he looked up from the bundle. “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking. In the legend of Ra’s journey through the underworld, the other gods defend him from Apophis, as well as demons and monsters, with sharp knives. And we seem to have a number of very sharp knives here…”
“Knives, huh? Well, pass out the knives then, Daniel. Although I’m betting guns will do the job.” Jack took a knife from Daniel, who had a worried look on his face, and examined it. “That’s a real big knife.” He stuck the sheath through his belt. “Cast us off and come aboard, Teal’c.” Jack was glad to be moving again. He hated the feeling of being trapped. They might not know where they were going, but they were going somewhere! A small improvement was better than no improvement.
Daniel gave a knife to Sam and one to Teal’c, who untied the rope and jumped on board, pushing the barque into the waterway as he went. He was very concerned about the implication of these knives. He got one for himself. Daniel felt uncomfortably like a pirate with his Beretta in one hand and the knife in the other. He quickly followed Jack’s lead and put it in his belt.
Rowing might have been a problem since would have been impossible to row and fight at the same time, but an unseen current propelled the barque forward into the darkness at a slow, but steady, pace.
Sam looked over the side of the barque. Something was moving near the surface. “Sir, there is something moving in the water. I can’t get a clear look, but there’s more than one. They’re swimming around the boat.”
“Let me know if it becomes a threat, Carter.” Jack was intent on the shoreline, P-90 in hand. It was probably some kind of fish, but he couldn’t imagine what kind of weird ass fish could live down here. This was one time he wasn’t wishing for his fishing pole.
As they pulled further away from the platform, the jagged rock walls gave way to dark stony plains. They could see very little of the banks. The waterway that they followed twisted through the dark landscape until it was impossible to tell how much ground had been covered.
The movement around the boat increased. As Sam watched, one of the creatures briefly broke the surface. “They’re larval goa’uld, sir! But…I’m not sensing any naquadah in their bodies. I think these are the primordial Goa’uld from P3X-888.”
Daniel’s head jerked toward Sam, his eyes wide with alarm “Be careful! They can really jump and they’re fast! If it hadn’t have been for Chaka, one of them would have got me.”
Teal’c aimed his staff weapon toward the side of the boat. “Can they sense our presence, Daniel Jackson?”
“I’m not really sure. They didn’t come after me until I went in the water, but if the movement of the barque prompts an attack…”
The movement in the water became frenzied. Some of the symbiotes began to leap toward the boat, hitting the sides and falling back into the water. They began to jump higher. One launched itself into the air, toward Jack, only to be torn apart by a burst of shells from his P-90. Suddenly, the air was filled with them. Jack and Sam sprayed ammunition over the sides, while Teal’c fired his staff weapon repeatedly, immolating all within the blast radius.
Daniel fervently wished for a P-90. He shot at individual symbiotes with his Beretta as they left the water. The automatic clicked; empty. He had to reload, frantically pushing the clip into place. One got past the hail of fire in the air and came straight for his neck with the lightning speed he had seen on P3X-888. Daniel swung the Beretta up and fired. The head of the symbiote exploded and its body fell to the water. Then, as suddenly as the attack had started, it was over.
Sam let out a huff of air and kept her eyes on the water. She didn’t know what she had expected, but primitive Goa’uld larva hadn’t been it.
Jack lifted his eyebrows as he looked toward Daniel and said, “Mighty fancy shootin' there, Tex.” Daniel could shoot the head off a matchstick if there was a Goa’uld behind it. Jack thought he might start drawing symbiotes on the targets at the firing range then making bets with SG-3. He could smell the money. He grinned at Daniel.
Daniel rubbed his forehead, eyes closed. “Terror is an excellent motivator.” He took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and looked out at their position.
The barque had passed into a new landscape. Small pits of flame and molten rock appeared in the stony ground, sending fumes and smoke into the air. The temperature had risen noticeably.
Sam stared out at the landscape and grimaced. “Netu.” They had almost died on Sokar’s hellish planet. The heat, the smells, the dark, it was all bringing back unwanted memories.
“A whole lot like it. Can’t say I felt the need to revisit the experience. Of course, this is a whole lot more spacious.” Jack waved an arm toward the shore. “And there’s all this totally undrinkable water. That’s new.”
The waterway widened as the boat moved onward. It was now more difficult to see the shore. Eventually, two shapes appeared just above the surface of the water, dimly visible ahead of the barque.
“Pylons.” Daniel strained to see the objects in the darkness. There was just enough room for the barque to pass between them.
Jack looked at Daniel, an eyebrow raised. “Pylons? I know pylons. Aren’t they small and orange? And don’t most folks call them cones?”
“Cones, pylons, that’s a regional linguistic variation. This is a different kind of pylon, Jack. In this context, it’s a gate. Pylons are two towers that appear on either side of an entrance, or form a gateway. The various areas of the Egyptian underworld were thought to be separated by guarded pylons. There will probably be something pretty nasty at that gate.” The towers were sunk into the depths of the waterway, only flat roofs with low walls rising above it.
Teal’c pointed at the pylons as they drew closer. “O’Neill!
Jack squinted into the dark. Something was on top of the pylons. Something very large and… Unas. There was an Unas on each pylon; huge even at a distance. They dwarfed Chaka. They were larger than the Unas on Cimmeria. The barque drew them ever closer, on a path to pass between the two pylons. They were within thirty feet when the eyes of each Unas lit with an ominous, familiar glow. “Oh, great! Not just the biggest damn Unas ever, but Goa’uld Unas”
Jack shot a look at Teal’c; they raised their weapons as one and fired at the Goa’uld. Their fire bounced off their targets, deflected uselessly into the water. “And they have personal shields.” Jack said, bitterly.
“I guess this is why we have the knives. That’s not good.” Daniel looked at the figures on the pylons with a deep frown.
Sam remembered an encounter from their first days as a team. “Daniel’s right, sir. The knives will penetrate the shields for the same reason that arrows would have breached the shield that Apophis wore on the Nox’s planet. It’s a matter of velocity. The shields are designed to protect against high velocity attack, like staff weapons.”
Teal’c examined his knife. “Indeed. There must have been a reason to provide us with these knives.”
They were drawing very near to the gate. Jack gestured to the right pylon. “Okay, knives. Teal’c, you and Carter take the one on the left. Daniel and I will take the other. This is going to be ugly, kids.” They had no time to think about what had to be done or make a plan. The boat pulled between the two pylons and stopped abruptly, without warning.
Teal’c leapt to the pylon and climbed over the waist high wall. He drove his knife toward the throat of the immense Unas. The knife passed through the shield, but was knocked aside by a huge arm as the Unas reached for him. It ripped through his TAC vest with clawed fingers that tore across his chest.
Sam approached from behind, while it was distracted, and stabbed into its neck. She had aimed for the location of the parasite, but the knife was wrenched aside as the Unas shook her off, eyes flaring bright. There was a wound in its neck, but not the crippling blow that she had hoped to inflict. It grabbed her from the wall, where she had fallen, and swung her into the stone roof, claws biting into her arm. Sam grunted loudly as the air was driven from her lungs. Her head hit stone and her vision darkened; she struggled to hold onto consciousness.
The second Goa’uld had not given Jack and Daniel time to attack, but had jumped into the boat. The small craft rocked wildly as the two men struggled to reach the enormous Unas, hampered by the motion and cramped space.
Jack was knocked to the deck, but managed to bring his knife up. He drove it into the Unas’s knee. It roared with anger and tore into his arm. Jack gave a yell as it grabbed the wounded arm, ripping into it again and threw him across the boat. He hit the side and fell to the deck in a heap. The Unas slashed its claws into his leg then heard Daniel’s approach. It leapt toward him.
Daniel brought his knife up, as it reached for him, and drove it underneath the Unas’s arm and into its chest. It screamed and, digging its clawed fingers into his arms, bit down hard on his shoulder, teeth ripping deep into muscle. Daniel’s anguished howl brought Jack to his feet.
On top of the pylon, Teal’c drove his long knife into the back of the Unas. It let out a cry of pain and swung around to face him. The Unas ripped the knife from his hands. It sliced its claws into his arm then ripped at his chest again, rending his flesh. Teal’c grimaced and drew a panting breath. He faced the Goa’uld weaponless.
Sam wiped blood from her eyes and grasped her knife. From her position on the ground, she slashed the blade across the hamstring of the nearest leg. The Unas fell to one knee. She pulled herself up and tossed her knife to Teal’c, then wrenched his knife from the Unas’s back. It struggled to pull itself upright, teetering on one leg. Teal’c gave another great blow to its chest. The Unas, knife still embedded to the hilt, toppled from the pylon and into the water. It floated there, face down, and unmoving.
Sam bent over, hands on her knees as she gasped for breath. As she did, she saw a small plate set into the roof. Sam looked to the boat and saw the Unas there staggering, the Colonel and Daniel closing in on either side. Why hadn’t this one come after them before they’d climbed the pylon? The two Goa’uld would have been much more formidable together. A reason dawned on her. “Teal’c, look at this. I think it was guarding something.”
The Unas in the barque was bleeding badly now, bloody froth on its mouth. Daniel had struck a fatal blow. Its eyes flashed weakly. Jack lunged for it, blood running down his left arm, the knife gripped in his right. Daniel staggered to his feet. It managed to bring up the one arm and rake its claws across Jack’s neck, but lost its balance when it put its weight on its wounded knee. Daniel knocked into it with his right shoulder, powered only by adrenalin and will. Blood was pouring from the wounded left at a terrifying rate, soaking his sleeve and pooling on the deck. The Unas fell over the side into the water, struggled feebly, and was still. Wavering, Daniel reached for his bleeding shoulder then crumpled to the deck.
They were moving painfully, but Sam and Teal’c managed to pry up the metal plate with Sam’s knife blade and Teal’c’s strength. There was a cavity below. It held a statue of the same size as the Ra figure, standing upright in the hole. Sam pulled the heavy object up and rose, griping it tightly.
Teal’c stood to check the wellbeing of his companions on the barque. He saw the Goa’uld go into the water; the boat started to move immediately. “Major Carter! We must return to the barque now!” They flung themselves, along with their prize, over the wall and into the craft.
“Carter! Get the med kit and give me some help!” There was a note in the Colonel’s voice that was as close to panic as she’d ever heard. Daniel was propped up against the side of the boat as the Colonel tried to stem the flow of blood from a terrible wound. He’d managed to pull the shoulder of Daniel’s jacket away from the injury and was trying to work as the blood running down his arm joined Daniel’s on the deck.
Sam dropped the statue next to her pack and grabbed the med kit. She rushed back and threw the lid open, pulling out antiseptic and pressure bandages. As she attempted to clean Daniel’s wound and stop the bleeding, Sam fought back panic of her own. There was a lot of blood... a bite wound that went deep into muscle. “You’re going to be okay, Daniel. Hang in there!” No arteries were severed. Relief made her hands shake as she dressed the wound tightly. She had never been more grateful for her field medical training.
Jack allowed himself to fall against one of the rowing benches. Much good he’d been. Daniel had pretty much taken out the big stinky monster by himself. “Way to go, Daniel,” he said quietly. He grabbed one of the pressure bandages, pulled off his jacket and vest, and held it to the worst of the wounds on his arm. Jack watched Sam and Daniel for a moment, but pain and regret got the better of him and he closed his eyes.
Sam checked Daniel’s condition as she wrapped the lesser, but still deep, wounds on his arms. He was pale and sweating, more than the heat could justify and his breathing was shallower than she liked. His eye lids were half closed. “You stay awake, Daniel! I have a nice new statue for you to see.” She taped a bandage in place and put a hand on his arm; he was smiling at her a little.
His eyebrows twitched upwards and he murmured “Statue? What’s it look like?” Daniel’s eyes were almost closed, now.
“You’ll have to stay awake and find out.” She pulled his shredded jacket back into place as gently as she could. “The Colonel and Teal’c are both wounded; you’re going to have to wait a bit while I help them. I need you to stay awake, okay? I think you’re in shock. Do you think you can hold down some fruit drink? You lost a lot of blood - we need to raise your blood sugar and get some liquid in you. I’ll give you a couple of painkillers, too - that should take the edge off. I’ll leave you a canteen; drink as much fluid as you can.” She needed to give Daniel something to focus on. It would help him stay awake. There was nothing Sam could do about the loss of blood pressure caused by the bleeding. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she pushed it away. Daniel was going to be fine. He was going to be fine… He nodded woozily and tried gamely to keep his eyes open.
Sam ripped open an MRE and took out a packet of drink crystals. She mixed it for Daniel and handed it to him along with her canteen, a couple of painkillers, and a broad spectrum antibiotic. Sam took out meds for herself, as well, swallowing them dry. She had a nasty headache and her arm was aching.
“I’m okay, Sam. Check on Jack.” Actually, he didn’t feel very okay at all. He was pretty sure he wasn’t fooling Sam, but she couldn’t heal him by watching with that unnerving expression. Daniel brought the pills to his mouth, swallowing them with the grape drink, and then applied himself to consuming the liquid as instructed. “See?” Sam nodded reluctantly. She dragged herself to her feet and turned to the Colonel. Daniel gritted his teeth against the pain, leaning his head back against the side of the barque.
Jack was still propped up by a bench as Sam approached. His eyes closed and there was a frown on his face. Teal’c was sitting on the bench next to him, having moved the oars, and speaking quietly. He kept his eyes on the dark shore. “That was indeed a great battle, O’Neill. We have prevailed over mighty enemies. We shall certainly prevail against the Goa’uld, Am-Heh. We then shall return in triumph to tell of his defeat.”
Sam smiled at Teal’c, who nodded in his dignified way. She was grateful for his calm presence. Sam crouched beside the Colonel. “Sir? I need to check your wounds.”
He opened his eyes and looked at her, the frown deepening. “Daniel?”
“He’s stable, sir. We’ll have to keep an eye on him for a bit, but I think he’s going to be okay.”
Jack let out a huge sigh. “Good. That’s good.”
The Colonel wasn’t in as bad a way as Daniel, but his face was drawn with pain. She reached out to examine the wounds on his arm and saw that his breathing was rapid. Some shock here too, and a lot of discomfort, but without such serious blood loss or muscle damage. “How are you doing, Sir? Do you have any wounds besides the ones on your extremities and neck?”
“I’m doing just swell, Carter. And, no, Daniel got beat up for both of us.” He looked away from her.
“Sir -”
“Sorry, Carter. I’ll just shut up now.”
The wounds on his arm and thigh were ugly, but shouldn’t be life threatening, unless infection set in. They would be back at the SGC before that became a problem. They would… She applied the antiseptic and dressed the wounds, starting with the deepest, on his leg.
“Sir, Teal’c and I found another statue in the pylon. We think that’s why it stayed there instead of jumping into the boat, where it could have fought more efficiently. It was hampered by the lack of space to maneuver.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better, Carter?”
“No, Sir! I mean, I’m just telling you what happened.” The claw marks on his neck were shallow, but disturbing. If the Goa’uld had been able to attack with more strength, he would have died almost immediately. Sam didn’t mention that. She cleaned the cuts with the antiseptic. They were shallow enough not to need bandaging. Finally, she handed him some of the painkiller and antibiotics.
Jack summoned a smile for his second. “Thanks, Flo… And Carter - don’t forget to take care of yourself.”
“I won’t, sir.” She rose and turned to the Jaffa. “Okay, Teal’c, let’s have a look at you.”
Teal’c had deep claw marks across his chest and on his arm. The ones on his arm were the worst; she treated those first. The others were bleeding but were relatively shallow. Rather than being localized as the wounds on Daniel and the Colonel had been, they were spread out across his body. Sam knew he must be in considerable pain, but he didn’t let it show. “How are you doing, Teal’c? Are you in much pain?”
“My wounds are minor, Major Carter. I have no need of assistance. I believe that it is Daniel Jackson who most requires your aid.”
“Daniel is fine for now, Teal’c. There’s no reason not to clean these cuts. Some of them are pretty deep.” Sam cleaned the wounds and applied bandages. He refused her offer of painkillers as she knew he would. Teal’c kept up his watch over the boat and its occupants the entire time.
Sam knew that she and Teal’c had been fortunate to come through the battle without more severe injuries like the Colonel and Daniel. Of course, having Teal’c on your side was like having two men with you; maybe three. And the Goa’uld on the pylon had been hampered in ways the other had not. She hoped that made the Colonel feel less… responsible for what happened to Daniel, but she knew it wouldn’t. If both had come into the boat at once, the Unas may have prevailed, or some of them might have died. That didn’t bear thinking about. She reached into the med kit and took out another bandage, poured some antiseptic on her arm, and covered the wound.
The barque had continued to move forward while she had been patching up the team. The number and size of the areas of fire had increased, as has the ambient light. The heat increased steadily, adding to her discomfort. The after effects of the desperate fight and the strain of caring for everyone suddenly hit her and she had to sit down. Sam dropped stiffly onto one of the benches and put her head in her hands, momentarily overcome with exhaustion.
“Sam?”
She swung her head around, with a worried look. She should have checked on Daniel as soon as she finished with Teal’c. “Daniel?” She moved over to the side of the boat where Daniel lay and knelt beside him.
He watched her carefully, peering over his splattered glasses, half-closed eyes concerned. “Are you alright, Sam? Your head looks pretty gory, you know. How’s your vision?” He noticed that her movements were stiff and slow.
She reached up and touched the side of her head where the impact with the stone had opened her scalp. Her hair was crusty with dried blood. She remembered smearing it across her face in an effort to clear her eyes. “I kind of forgot about that. It’s not bleeding anymore, so… I’m okay, I just look disgusting. No blurred vision or anything to indicate a concussion. It got me in the arm a little, but it’s not too bad. I put a bandage on it.” She didn’t say anything about the headache. Daniel’s color was better and he seemed more alert; he was very pale, but improving. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. It must have been the magic grape drink. You did good, Sam.” Daniel gave her a smile and shifted, knocking his shoulder against the barque. “Ow! Uh, okay, so it still hurts -a lot, actually… It’s my left arm though, that’s lucky.” He leaned his head back and regarded her wearily, picking up the canteen.
“Lucky, huh?” Sam was afraid of what she might say to that, so she just smiled in return and leaned against the side of the boat next to him.
Jack carefully pulled on his jacket and vest took stock of his team. This needed to end soon. He watched Daniel drinking water like it was going to fix him right up. Tiny doubts crossed his mind: about his capability with a P-90, or to walk the distances they might have to walk, about Daniel’s ability to fight off the effects of blood loss. Jack crushed those doubts. They were exhausted and covered in blood; their own, each other’s and Unas. But they won. They were all alive. Messed up, but alive. He felt an intense wave of relief that Daniel was conscious and talking quietly with Carter. Who knew where this boat was taking them now? It was time to take advantage of the momentary calm.
“Okay, campers. Let’s get some rest. I’ll take the first watch, Teal’c; you take the second and Carter, the third. We’ll switch off every 20 minutes - the boat ride probably won’t be a long one.” Although there was no obvious destination in sight and no immediate threat. Jack wondered if Am-Heh expected the boat to be full of bodies or primitive Goa’uld at this point. It felt odd that there had been no new attack. He knocked on a wooden bench, sorry for the thought.
Daniel raised his good arm slightly, from his prone position against the side of the barque. “I’m feeling better now, Jack. I can take a watch.”
Jack had a feeling that was the drugs talking and would last until Daniel moved, or tried to stand up. He raised a hand. “Next time, Daniel. Not every archeologist can say that they dispatched a Goa’uld Unas with a nothing but a big knife. You just rest on your laurels this time. We need you in reasonable working order when this boat reaches whatever comes next.”
Daniel accepted that with a small smile and a nod. He settled himself against the side of the barque with a slight wince. “Sam! I almost forgot. What was that about a statue?”
Jack answered for her. “Rest now, Daniel. Crazy Goa’uld toys later.”
Sam slid down the wall until she was lying on the deck and closed her eyes.
Go to Chapter 4
Back to Chapter 2
Author: SG_Betty
Word count: 4,790
Genre: Gen, Action/Adventure, Team
Rating/Warning :PG-13, Violence
Spoilers: spoilers up to and including early Season 7
Disclaimer: While the situations and dialogue in this story are my own, all characters are wholly owned by Gekko Productions and MGM.
Thanks: It is impossible for me to thank Lokei enough for the enormous time and effort that she put into beta reading, advice, and encouragement. There simply aren't fine enough words. All I can say is thank you, Lokei, this story simply wouldn't exist without you!
“Daniel, what can we expect to happen in this little journey with Ra-Barbie?” Jack waved a thumb at the stature on the raised platform of the boat.
“I’m not sure, Jack. This is all very odd. The Goa’uld know none of the legends were true. Sometimes they took on the characteristics of existing gods. Sometimes they created rituals for their glorification. Some legends were developed after Ra left the Earth to explain events.” Daniel scowled out over the water.
“Am-Heh has to know that there was no underworld, no journey of Ra to bring the new day. So why does he have us acting it out?” Daniel paused and thought for a moment. “There are references in ancient Egyptian texts to snakes with eyes of fire, which has obvious implications. We know that Apophis was an enemy of Ra. We know that many of the gods from our mythologies were actually Goa’uld, but there’s not much of a connection between the Egyptian myths of the afterlife and the practices of the Goa’uld. The only clear connection is the concept of rising from the dead when placed in a sarcophagus and the need for judgment, or godhood, before being found worthy of such immortality. This just doesn’t make sense. There is no way to predict what Am-Heh intends or why.”
He gave Teal’c a questioning look as he stood by the mooring rope, waiting to cast off. “Nothing about this place is as expected. I have never seen such methods.”
“I’m thinking that Amy’s just wacko. So, we should get ready for bad and crazy. Let’s secure these flashlights to the boat. We need hands free.” Jack unzipped a pocket on the side of his pack and pulled out a roll of tape.
“Sir? You bring duct tape?” Sam tried to hide a smile.
“Of course, Carter. It fixes anything. The space station would have fallen apart years ago if it wasn’t for duct tape! It’s the greatest achievement of western civilization.” He grinned at Sam and Daniel, daring them to comment.
Sam just rolled her eyes. Daniel’s eyebrows looked like they might leave his forehead altogether. “I’m not going to rise to the bait that easily.”
“Since when?” Jack was still smiling as he pulled off a strip and threw the roll to Sam. He attached the flashlight to the front of the platform, illuminating the front of the boat with pale light.
Sam did the same at one side of the platform, then took Daniel’s flashlight and repeated the task on the other side. Now the interior of the small boat was lit, as well as a few feet in front and to the sides of the craft. The light wasn’t very strong and the beams were fairly narrow, but they would need the extra light. The tactical tights on the side rail of the P-90’s only lit what you were aiming at.
Daniel noticed a small bundle in the prow, lit by the forward light. He knelt down and opened it, revealing a pile of long knives in leather sheaths. “They stabbed at him with sharp knives…”
“Who was stabbed, Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c asked from the platform.
Daniel was staring at one of the knives, lost in thought. “Hmm?” The question finally got through Daniel’s abstraction and he looked up from the bundle. “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking. In the legend of Ra’s journey through the underworld, the other gods defend him from Apophis, as well as demons and monsters, with sharp knives. And we seem to have a number of very sharp knives here…”
“Knives, huh? Well, pass out the knives then, Daniel. Although I’m betting guns will do the job.” Jack took a knife from Daniel, who had a worried look on his face, and examined it. “That’s a real big knife.” He stuck the sheath through his belt. “Cast us off and come aboard, Teal’c.” Jack was glad to be moving again. He hated the feeling of being trapped. They might not know where they were going, but they were going somewhere! A small improvement was better than no improvement.
Daniel gave a knife to Sam and one to Teal’c, who untied the rope and jumped on board, pushing the barque into the waterway as he went. He was very concerned about the implication of these knives. He got one for himself. Daniel felt uncomfortably like a pirate with his Beretta in one hand and the knife in the other. He quickly followed Jack’s lead and put it in his belt.
Rowing might have been a problem since would have been impossible to row and fight at the same time, but an unseen current propelled the barque forward into the darkness at a slow, but steady, pace.
Sam looked over the side of the barque. Something was moving near the surface. “Sir, there is something moving in the water. I can’t get a clear look, but there’s more than one. They’re swimming around the boat.”
“Let me know if it becomes a threat, Carter.” Jack was intent on the shoreline, P-90 in hand. It was probably some kind of fish, but he couldn’t imagine what kind of weird ass fish could live down here. This was one time he wasn’t wishing for his fishing pole.
As they pulled further away from the platform, the jagged rock walls gave way to dark stony plains. They could see very little of the banks. The waterway that they followed twisted through the dark landscape until it was impossible to tell how much ground had been covered.
The movement around the boat increased. As Sam watched, one of the creatures briefly broke the surface. “They’re larval goa’uld, sir! But…I’m not sensing any naquadah in their bodies. I think these are the primordial Goa’uld from P3X-888.”
Daniel’s head jerked toward Sam, his eyes wide with alarm “Be careful! They can really jump and they’re fast! If it hadn’t have been for Chaka, one of them would have got me.”
Teal’c aimed his staff weapon toward the side of the boat. “Can they sense our presence, Daniel Jackson?”
“I’m not really sure. They didn’t come after me until I went in the water, but if the movement of the barque prompts an attack…”
The movement in the water became frenzied. Some of the symbiotes began to leap toward the boat, hitting the sides and falling back into the water. They began to jump higher. One launched itself into the air, toward Jack, only to be torn apart by a burst of shells from his P-90. Suddenly, the air was filled with them. Jack and Sam sprayed ammunition over the sides, while Teal’c fired his staff weapon repeatedly, immolating all within the blast radius.
Daniel fervently wished for a P-90. He shot at individual symbiotes with his Beretta as they left the water. The automatic clicked; empty. He had to reload, frantically pushing the clip into place. One got past the hail of fire in the air and came straight for his neck with the lightning speed he had seen on P3X-888. Daniel swung the Beretta up and fired. The head of the symbiote exploded and its body fell to the water. Then, as suddenly as the attack had started, it was over.
Sam let out a huff of air and kept her eyes on the water. She didn’t know what she had expected, but primitive Goa’uld larva hadn’t been it.
Jack lifted his eyebrows as he looked toward Daniel and said, “Mighty fancy shootin' there, Tex.” Daniel could shoot the head off a matchstick if there was a Goa’uld behind it. Jack thought he might start drawing symbiotes on the targets at the firing range then making bets with SG-3. He could smell the money. He grinned at Daniel.
Daniel rubbed his forehead, eyes closed. “Terror is an excellent motivator.” He took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and looked out at their position.
The barque had passed into a new landscape. Small pits of flame and molten rock appeared in the stony ground, sending fumes and smoke into the air. The temperature had risen noticeably.
Sam stared out at the landscape and grimaced. “Netu.” They had almost died on Sokar’s hellish planet. The heat, the smells, the dark, it was all bringing back unwanted memories.
“A whole lot like it. Can’t say I felt the need to revisit the experience. Of course, this is a whole lot more spacious.” Jack waved an arm toward the shore. “And there’s all this totally undrinkable water. That’s new.”
The waterway widened as the boat moved onward. It was now more difficult to see the shore. Eventually, two shapes appeared just above the surface of the water, dimly visible ahead of the barque.
“Pylons.” Daniel strained to see the objects in the darkness. There was just enough room for the barque to pass between them.
Jack looked at Daniel, an eyebrow raised. “Pylons? I know pylons. Aren’t they small and orange? And don’t most folks call them cones?”
“Cones, pylons, that’s a regional linguistic variation. This is a different kind of pylon, Jack. In this context, it’s a gate. Pylons are two towers that appear on either side of an entrance, or form a gateway. The various areas of the Egyptian underworld were thought to be separated by guarded pylons. There will probably be something pretty nasty at that gate.” The towers were sunk into the depths of the waterway, only flat roofs with low walls rising above it.
Teal’c pointed at the pylons as they drew closer. “O’Neill!
Jack squinted into the dark. Something was on top of the pylons. Something very large and… Unas. There was an Unas on each pylon; huge even at a distance. They dwarfed Chaka. They were larger than the Unas on Cimmeria. The barque drew them ever closer, on a path to pass between the two pylons. They were within thirty feet when the eyes of each Unas lit with an ominous, familiar glow. “Oh, great! Not just the biggest damn Unas ever, but Goa’uld Unas”
Jack shot a look at Teal’c; they raised their weapons as one and fired at the Goa’uld. Their fire bounced off their targets, deflected uselessly into the water. “And they have personal shields.” Jack said, bitterly.
“I guess this is why we have the knives. That’s not good.” Daniel looked at the figures on the pylons with a deep frown.
Sam remembered an encounter from their first days as a team. “Daniel’s right, sir. The knives will penetrate the shields for the same reason that arrows would have breached the shield that Apophis wore on the Nox’s planet. It’s a matter of velocity. The shields are designed to protect against high velocity attack, like staff weapons.”
Teal’c examined his knife. “Indeed. There must have been a reason to provide us with these knives.”
They were drawing very near to the gate. Jack gestured to the right pylon. “Okay, knives. Teal’c, you and Carter take the one on the left. Daniel and I will take the other. This is going to be ugly, kids.” They had no time to think about what had to be done or make a plan. The boat pulled between the two pylons and stopped abruptly, without warning.
Teal’c leapt to the pylon and climbed over the waist high wall. He drove his knife toward the throat of the immense Unas. The knife passed through the shield, but was knocked aside by a huge arm as the Unas reached for him. It ripped through his TAC vest with clawed fingers that tore across his chest.
Sam approached from behind, while it was distracted, and stabbed into its neck. She had aimed for the location of the parasite, but the knife was wrenched aside as the Unas shook her off, eyes flaring bright. There was a wound in its neck, but not the crippling blow that she had hoped to inflict. It grabbed her from the wall, where she had fallen, and swung her into the stone roof, claws biting into her arm. Sam grunted loudly as the air was driven from her lungs. Her head hit stone and her vision darkened; she struggled to hold onto consciousness.
The second Goa’uld had not given Jack and Daniel time to attack, but had jumped into the boat. The small craft rocked wildly as the two men struggled to reach the enormous Unas, hampered by the motion and cramped space.
Jack was knocked to the deck, but managed to bring his knife up. He drove it into the Unas’s knee. It roared with anger and tore into his arm. Jack gave a yell as it grabbed the wounded arm, ripping into it again and threw him across the boat. He hit the side and fell to the deck in a heap. The Unas slashed its claws into his leg then heard Daniel’s approach. It leapt toward him.
Daniel brought his knife up, as it reached for him, and drove it underneath the Unas’s arm and into its chest. It screamed and, digging its clawed fingers into his arms, bit down hard on his shoulder, teeth ripping deep into muscle. Daniel’s anguished howl brought Jack to his feet.
On top of the pylon, Teal’c drove his long knife into the back of the Unas. It let out a cry of pain and swung around to face him. The Unas ripped the knife from his hands. It sliced its claws into his arm then ripped at his chest again, rending his flesh. Teal’c grimaced and drew a panting breath. He faced the Goa’uld weaponless.
Sam wiped blood from her eyes and grasped her knife. From her position on the ground, she slashed the blade across the hamstring of the nearest leg. The Unas fell to one knee. She pulled herself up and tossed her knife to Teal’c, then wrenched his knife from the Unas’s back. It struggled to pull itself upright, teetering on one leg. Teal’c gave another great blow to its chest. The Unas, knife still embedded to the hilt, toppled from the pylon and into the water. It floated there, face down, and unmoving.
Sam bent over, hands on her knees as she gasped for breath. As she did, she saw a small plate set into the roof. Sam looked to the boat and saw the Unas there staggering, the Colonel and Daniel closing in on either side. Why hadn’t this one come after them before they’d climbed the pylon? The two Goa’uld would have been much more formidable together. A reason dawned on her. “Teal’c, look at this. I think it was guarding something.”
The Unas in the barque was bleeding badly now, bloody froth on its mouth. Daniel had struck a fatal blow. Its eyes flashed weakly. Jack lunged for it, blood running down his left arm, the knife gripped in his right. Daniel staggered to his feet. It managed to bring up the one arm and rake its claws across Jack’s neck, but lost its balance when it put its weight on its wounded knee. Daniel knocked into it with his right shoulder, powered only by adrenalin and will. Blood was pouring from the wounded left at a terrifying rate, soaking his sleeve and pooling on the deck. The Unas fell over the side into the water, struggled feebly, and was still. Wavering, Daniel reached for his bleeding shoulder then crumpled to the deck.
They were moving painfully, but Sam and Teal’c managed to pry up the metal plate with Sam’s knife blade and Teal’c’s strength. There was a cavity below. It held a statue of the same size as the Ra figure, standing upright in the hole. Sam pulled the heavy object up and rose, griping it tightly.
Teal’c stood to check the wellbeing of his companions on the barque. He saw the Goa’uld go into the water; the boat started to move immediately. “Major Carter! We must return to the barque now!” They flung themselves, along with their prize, over the wall and into the craft.
“Carter! Get the med kit and give me some help!” There was a note in the Colonel’s voice that was as close to panic as she’d ever heard. Daniel was propped up against the side of the boat as the Colonel tried to stem the flow of blood from a terrible wound. He’d managed to pull the shoulder of Daniel’s jacket away from the injury and was trying to work as the blood running down his arm joined Daniel’s on the deck.
Sam dropped the statue next to her pack and grabbed the med kit. She rushed back and threw the lid open, pulling out antiseptic and pressure bandages. As she attempted to clean Daniel’s wound and stop the bleeding, Sam fought back panic of her own. There was a lot of blood... a bite wound that went deep into muscle. “You’re going to be okay, Daniel. Hang in there!” No arteries were severed. Relief made her hands shake as she dressed the wound tightly. She had never been more grateful for her field medical training.
Jack allowed himself to fall against one of the rowing benches. Much good he’d been. Daniel had pretty much taken out the big stinky monster by himself. “Way to go, Daniel,” he said quietly. He grabbed one of the pressure bandages, pulled off his jacket and vest, and held it to the worst of the wounds on his arm. Jack watched Sam and Daniel for a moment, but pain and regret got the better of him and he closed his eyes.
Sam checked Daniel’s condition as she wrapped the lesser, but still deep, wounds on his arms. He was pale and sweating, more than the heat could justify and his breathing was shallower than she liked. His eye lids were half closed. “You stay awake, Daniel! I have a nice new statue for you to see.” She taped a bandage in place and put a hand on his arm; he was smiling at her a little.
His eyebrows twitched upwards and he murmured “Statue? What’s it look like?” Daniel’s eyes were almost closed, now.
“You’ll have to stay awake and find out.” She pulled his shredded jacket back into place as gently as she could. “The Colonel and Teal’c are both wounded; you’re going to have to wait a bit while I help them. I need you to stay awake, okay? I think you’re in shock. Do you think you can hold down some fruit drink? You lost a lot of blood - we need to raise your blood sugar and get some liquid in you. I’ll give you a couple of painkillers, too - that should take the edge off. I’ll leave you a canteen; drink as much fluid as you can.” She needed to give Daniel something to focus on. It would help him stay awake. There was nothing Sam could do about the loss of blood pressure caused by the bleeding. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she pushed it away. Daniel was going to be fine. He was going to be fine… He nodded woozily and tried gamely to keep his eyes open.
Sam ripped open an MRE and took out a packet of drink crystals. She mixed it for Daniel and handed it to him along with her canteen, a couple of painkillers, and a broad spectrum antibiotic. Sam took out meds for herself, as well, swallowing them dry. She had a nasty headache and her arm was aching.
“I’m okay, Sam. Check on Jack.” Actually, he didn’t feel very okay at all. He was pretty sure he wasn’t fooling Sam, but she couldn’t heal him by watching with that unnerving expression. Daniel brought the pills to his mouth, swallowing them with the grape drink, and then applied himself to consuming the liquid as instructed. “See?” Sam nodded reluctantly. She dragged herself to her feet and turned to the Colonel. Daniel gritted his teeth against the pain, leaning his head back against the side of the barque.
Jack was still propped up by a bench as Sam approached. His eyes closed and there was a frown on his face. Teal’c was sitting on the bench next to him, having moved the oars, and speaking quietly. He kept his eyes on the dark shore. “That was indeed a great battle, O’Neill. We have prevailed over mighty enemies. We shall certainly prevail against the Goa’uld, Am-Heh. We then shall return in triumph to tell of his defeat.”
Sam smiled at Teal’c, who nodded in his dignified way. She was grateful for his calm presence. Sam crouched beside the Colonel. “Sir? I need to check your wounds.”
He opened his eyes and looked at her, the frown deepening. “Daniel?”
“He’s stable, sir. We’ll have to keep an eye on him for a bit, but I think he’s going to be okay.”
Jack let out a huge sigh. “Good. That’s good.”
The Colonel wasn’t in as bad a way as Daniel, but his face was drawn with pain. She reached out to examine the wounds on his arm and saw that his breathing was rapid. Some shock here too, and a lot of discomfort, but without such serious blood loss or muscle damage. “How are you doing, Sir? Do you have any wounds besides the ones on your extremities and neck?”
“I’m doing just swell, Carter. And, no, Daniel got beat up for both of us.” He looked away from her.
“Sir -”
“Sorry, Carter. I’ll just shut up now.”
The wounds on his arm and thigh were ugly, but shouldn’t be life threatening, unless infection set in. They would be back at the SGC before that became a problem. They would… She applied the antiseptic and dressed the wounds, starting with the deepest, on his leg.
“Sir, Teal’c and I found another statue in the pylon. We think that’s why it stayed there instead of jumping into the boat, where it could have fought more efficiently. It was hampered by the lack of space to maneuver.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better, Carter?”
“No, Sir! I mean, I’m just telling you what happened.” The claw marks on his neck were shallow, but disturbing. If the Goa’uld had been able to attack with more strength, he would have died almost immediately. Sam didn’t mention that. She cleaned the cuts with the antiseptic. They were shallow enough not to need bandaging. Finally, she handed him some of the painkiller and antibiotics.
Jack summoned a smile for his second. “Thanks, Flo… And Carter - don’t forget to take care of yourself.”
“I won’t, sir.” She rose and turned to the Jaffa. “Okay, Teal’c, let’s have a look at you.”
Teal’c had deep claw marks across his chest and on his arm. The ones on his arm were the worst; she treated those first. The others were bleeding but were relatively shallow. Rather than being localized as the wounds on Daniel and the Colonel had been, they were spread out across his body. Sam knew he must be in considerable pain, but he didn’t let it show. “How are you doing, Teal’c? Are you in much pain?”
“My wounds are minor, Major Carter. I have no need of assistance. I believe that it is Daniel Jackson who most requires your aid.”
“Daniel is fine for now, Teal’c. There’s no reason not to clean these cuts. Some of them are pretty deep.” Sam cleaned the wounds and applied bandages. He refused her offer of painkillers as she knew he would. Teal’c kept up his watch over the boat and its occupants the entire time.
Sam knew that she and Teal’c had been fortunate to come through the battle without more severe injuries like the Colonel and Daniel. Of course, having Teal’c on your side was like having two men with you; maybe three. And the Goa’uld on the pylon had been hampered in ways the other had not. She hoped that made the Colonel feel less… responsible for what happened to Daniel, but she knew it wouldn’t. If both had come into the boat at once, the Unas may have prevailed, or some of them might have died. That didn’t bear thinking about. She reached into the med kit and took out another bandage, poured some antiseptic on her arm, and covered the wound.
The barque had continued to move forward while she had been patching up the team. The number and size of the areas of fire had increased, as has the ambient light. The heat increased steadily, adding to her discomfort. The after effects of the desperate fight and the strain of caring for everyone suddenly hit her and she had to sit down. Sam dropped stiffly onto one of the benches and put her head in her hands, momentarily overcome with exhaustion.
“Sam?”
She swung her head around, with a worried look. She should have checked on Daniel as soon as she finished with Teal’c. “Daniel?” She moved over to the side of the boat where Daniel lay and knelt beside him.
He watched her carefully, peering over his splattered glasses, half-closed eyes concerned. “Are you alright, Sam? Your head looks pretty gory, you know. How’s your vision?” He noticed that her movements were stiff and slow.
She reached up and touched the side of her head where the impact with the stone had opened her scalp. Her hair was crusty with dried blood. She remembered smearing it across her face in an effort to clear her eyes. “I kind of forgot about that. It’s not bleeding anymore, so… I’m okay, I just look disgusting. No blurred vision or anything to indicate a concussion. It got me in the arm a little, but it’s not too bad. I put a bandage on it.” She didn’t say anything about the headache. Daniel’s color was better and he seemed more alert; he was very pale, but improving. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. It must have been the magic grape drink. You did good, Sam.” Daniel gave her a smile and shifted, knocking his shoulder against the barque. “Ow! Uh, okay, so it still hurts -a lot, actually… It’s my left arm though, that’s lucky.” He leaned his head back and regarded her wearily, picking up the canteen.
“Lucky, huh?” Sam was afraid of what she might say to that, so she just smiled in return and leaned against the side of the boat next to him.
Jack carefully pulled on his jacket and vest took stock of his team. This needed to end soon. He watched Daniel drinking water like it was going to fix him right up. Tiny doubts crossed his mind: about his capability with a P-90, or to walk the distances they might have to walk, about Daniel’s ability to fight off the effects of blood loss. Jack crushed those doubts. They were exhausted and covered in blood; their own, each other’s and Unas. But they won. They were all alive. Messed up, but alive. He felt an intense wave of relief that Daniel was conscious and talking quietly with Carter. Who knew where this boat was taking them now? It was time to take advantage of the momentary calm.
“Okay, campers. Let’s get some rest. I’ll take the first watch, Teal’c; you take the second and Carter, the third. We’ll switch off every 20 minutes - the boat ride probably won’t be a long one.” Although there was no obvious destination in sight and no immediate threat. Jack wondered if Am-Heh expected the boat to be full of bodies or primitive Goa’uld at this point. It felt odd that there had been no new attack. He knocked on a wooden bench, sorry for the thought.
Daniel raised his good arm slightly, from his prone position against the side of the barque. “I’m feeling better now, Jack. I can take a watch.”
Jack had a feeling that was the drugs talking and would last until Daniel moved, or tried to stand up. He raised a hand. “Next time, Daniel. Not every archeologist can say that they dispatched a Goa’uld Unas with a nothing but a big knife. You just rest on your laurels this time. We need you in reasonable working order when this boat reaches whatever comes next.”
Daniel accepted that with a small smile and a nod. He settled himself against the side of the barque with a slight wince. “Sam! I almost forgot. What was that about a statue?”
Jack answered for her. “Rest now, Daniel. Crazy Goa’uld toys later.”
Sam slid down the wall until she was lying on the deck and closed her eyes.
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