Bad Day, SG-1, Daniel-Centric Team Fic
This is something I've been working on for a while now. I'm not sure I'm done with it...there may be a re-write in the future, but for now I offer it up for feedback.
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: If you squint real hard you can see some Daniel/Jack at the very end
Rating: PG-13 for violence and torture (more implied than actually shown)
Words: 8,288
Disclaimer: Don't own, wish I did...cause Daniel in bondage does things for me....but I don't...so I'm just playing here
Summary: Daniel takes a vacation, that turns into a bad day for the entire team.
*cross posted to AO3*
Bad Day
12:42am
The chirping of his cell phone pulled Cameron Mitchell from sleep with the kind of dread that only middle of the night phone calls can muster. He swiped stubborn eyes and tried to focus on the little caller id window before flipping the phone open and grumbling, “Jackson?”
“Mitchell, I-“ the rest of his words were lost in a landslide of static.
“Come again?” Mitchell asked when the static had cleared.
“We were attacked. M-dead. I need-“
Mitchell sat up and switched the phone to his left ear, his right hand already reaching for the jeans he had taken off less than two hours before. “Where are you?”
“Mexico.” There was the sound of gunfire and Jackson cursing. “Cant’ talk. Send backup. Sam knows-“ The gunfire was closer and Jackson was yelling, “Run!” The line went dead.
Mitchell dropped his phone and pulled his pants on, then rummaged around for a shirt and shoes. He grabbed the phone and his keys and headed out the door. He had a feeling this was going to be bad day.
12:59am
Daniel Jackson used the tree beside him to keep from toppling over and tried to calm his ragged breathing. Memories surged around him of another time in another rain forest, being chased by mercenaries who had tortured him before his escape.
Only, these weren’t exactly mercenaries, and he hadn’t been tortured, only wounded, and Jack wasn’t coming to rescue him, and…this time the artifact he carried in the backpack slung over his uninjured shoulder wasn’t capable of resurrecting the dead…at least not that he was aware of. Priceless all the same, but-
He shifted on his feet and winced. He needed to focus on the moment, not ramble off into his own head. His left knee was already swollen to the extent that his jeans would allow, stretching the fabric tight. He could feel the eyes on him, but he wasn’t really ready to face them just yet. They had questions he couldn’t answer. They really were just kids, after all, anthropology students on a summer field trip. They knew nothing about Ancients or drones or weapons that shot blue fire and dropped people to the ground.
He took a deep breath and turned from the tree. He had to tell them something. “Here’s what I know.” He exhaled, dragging it out. He didn’t want to say what needed to be said. “Dr. Mills is dead. Dr. Zento is likely dead as well, or will be soon. I don’t know about Dr. Laney. I think I saw her get out, going in the opposite direction.” He hesitated, trying to gauge their reaction so far.
Teri was Dr. Laney’s prodigy, a doctoral student at only 20 years old. She seemed to be at odds between fear and anger, her fingers fidgeting with her jacket, her eyes staring into him from behind her glasses demanding answers.
Beside her stood the golden boy, George Apperton, tall, blond and by all counts as ambitious as his father, a self-made millionaire. He was calmly looking through the only other backpack to survive the insane escape into the trees, taking stock of their supplies. He looked up at Daniel expectantly when the silence had stretched on too long. Daniel licked his lips and flicked his gaze to the third student, Kota Stevens. He was the polar opposite of George, short, stocky, dark hair and skin. He sat beside the others, but seemed to be in shock.
“Dr. Jackson?” Teri touched his hand to get his attention, and he turned to look at her mousy brown pigtails that made her look years younger than she was. “What about the others?”
He didn’t want to answer that question. He had come to the dig at Angela’s request. Her call had surprised him since he hadn’t heard from her since she left the SGC to return to her academic pursuits. She was there overseeing ten students with the aid of another professor. Ten students, and he had been able to save three.
He cleared his throat. “I don’t know.” He lifted his cell phone and checked for a signal. Nothing.
“Who was it you called?”
Daniel pushed at his glasses, wondering if Mitchell had heard enough, if help was coming. “Friends. People who can help.” I hope.
1:45am
Mitchell watched the wormhole swoosh away and turned to find General Landry behind him, looking like he’d rolled out of be and into his uniform.
“Jackson’s in trouble.” Mitchell said without preamble.
Landry groaned, then thumbed toward his office. “Coffee.”
Mitchell followed. “Carter is on her way back from Area 51 and Teal’c will be back within the hour.”
“What do we know?” Landry sat behind his desk after pouring coffee for both of them from a pot someone had delivered from the mess.
“Not a lot. Carter told me that Jackson left for Mexico yesterday after being called in to some dig by a former SGC egghead. Something to do with Ancient symbols in a site where they didn’t belong. Jackson and Mills went to investigate. Next thing we know is the phone call he made to me. He was upset and there was gunfire. He indicated someone was dead. That’s all I got.”
The room to his left shimmered and Carter appeared beside him. “Nice entrance.” Mitchell said and she smiled.
“A little help from Prometheus. I figured we’d be in a hurry, especially after hearing the message.”
“Message?” Landry sat forward and Mitchell raised an eyebrow.
“From Daniel. He must have called while the phone was charging, I wouldn’t have heard it.”
“What’s he say?”
Carter held up her hand and pressed a few buttons on her phone, and in seconds, Jackson’s voice was emanating from the device. “Sam, it’s Daniel. You’ll never believe what I found when we got here. Well, technically, Teri found it, but that’s not the point. There’s definitely Ancient here, glyphs hidden in a mosaic in a room off the main pyramid. That’s not the point either. The glyphs themselves would be meaningless, except for one thing. They spell my name…or rather a transliteration of it…as close as you can get in written Ancient anyway. There’s a room behind it. Sam, there’s a fully charged ZPM, and half a dozen other things. It’s unbelievable. Oh, Angela. Angela says hi. I need to run, but I had to tell you. I’ll be home in a few days, okay?”
Mitchell whistled and leaned back in his seat. “When was this?”
“Around 5 last night.”
“We need to get down there.”
“I agree. Get a team together. Small, but armed well. I’ll see what else can be done.” Landry said. Mitchell rose to his feet and followed Carter from the room, already pulling a list of names in his head.
2:46am
Daniel stopped them to rest beside a swiftly moving stream. He nodded to George, then to the stream. “Fill the canteen. We don’t know when we’ll find water again.”
They were all exhausted, and in the dark Daniel wasn’t sure anymore that they were even moving in a helpful direction. The pain in his knee and shoulder had begun to interfere with his thought process. He sank to a seat on a fallen tree and shifted the backpack onto the log beside him. His left arm was largely useless anymore, the shoulder joint radiating pain down into the arm.
Okay, concentrate. “We need to keep moving east,” he said, squinting up at the night sky.
“Isn’t the village to the south?” Kota asked, his young face eerie in the light of their single flashlight.
“Yes, but they would expect us to go that way.” Daniel grimaced as he felt the wound in his shoulder. It was hot to the touch. “But we should rest here for a few hours. It’s been a while since we heard them behind us. They’ve probably stopped for the night. We should take advantage of it.” He tried not to imagine the other alternatives…or Angela and the rest of the students dead at the hands of the drone or the Jaffa that were with it.
He watched as they settled down together and fished his phone out of his pocket once more. He’d been in the ZPM room when the attack started, calling Jack. He looked down at the phone, trying to wish a signal to appear. The first thing he’d heard was the traditional gunfire, and his first instinct had been to save everything he could. He hadn’t figured out what everything was, or why it was there, or who would have left his name as a calling card on the door. He shoved the ZPM and everything else he could fit into his backpack and left the room, sealing it behind him.
The camp was alive with people running, guns firing and blue lightening arcing into one of the local workers. He’d ducked behind a tent then, his eyes racing around the camp. He saw Angela and at least two of her students and gestured for her to make a run for it. He provided what cover he could, emerging between two tents to draw the fire of the approaching men…Jaffa. He could tell as they got closer, despite the non-descript black they wore and the fading light. He’d seen the drone then, its eyes set on the retreating backs of Dr. Laney and her students. His distraction had cost him, and the bullet slammed into his shoulder from behind, sending him sprawling to the ground.
George had pulled him to relative safety, into the shadows between two tents. The next minutes were chaotic. They would escape one set of Jaffa, only to run into another. He saw Mills take a staff blast to his chest. Zento went down with one of the students under a hail of gunfire. They found Teri and Kota hiding in the mess tent, behind an upended table. That was when he’d heard the sound of a goa’uld. It wasn’t a voice he immediately recognized, but he took it as a sign that he needed to get these students out of the camp.
He sighed. Someone had broken a lot of rules to put these things in a room where Daniel would find them. That could only mean that they would be important in the battle with the Ori. That meant they had to make it safely back to Stargate Command.
4:15am
The bridge of the Prometheus hummed with activity as they beamed aboard. Mitchell stepped neatly out of the way of a bustling crew member and nodded at Colonel Pendergast. “Just a few minutes, Colonel. We’ve got a crew sweeping the area.”
Mitchell nodded again, his hands on his hips. No point in putting down in the middle of a fire fight. “Any sign of him on sensors?”
Pendergast shook his head. “We can’t really be sure what the sensors are telling us. There’s too much interference.”
“From what?” Carter asked, leaning over the nearest console.
“We don’t know that either. That’s why we sent in a team.”
“Prometheus this is Lt. Calvin. We have an all clear, sir.”
“Stand by Lieutenant. SG-1 will be beaming to your location.”
“Yes sir.”
Mitchell exhaled and gestured to his team to retake their positions on the beaming platform. Seconds later they were standing in the jungle, the smell of trampled leaves and burnt flesh curling through the air. A young Lieutenant approached and saluted smartly. “Report.”
“There are no hostiles in the immediate area, sir. There are twelve dead bodies.”
“Any sign of Jackson?”
“No, Sir. Dr. Mills is among the dead though.”
Mitchell cussed to himself. “Show me.”
They picked their way across the destroyed camp by flashlight to where the bodies were being placed neatly side by side. Mitchell swept his light across the faces, startled by the youth in several of them. “These are just kids,” he muttered and he felt Carter touch his elbow.
“The dig was sponsored by some colleges back in the states. There were ten students down here with Angela and her colleague.”
“Well two of these are obviously students. And these two must be Mills and the other doctor.”
“The rest are probably local workers, hired to do the grunt work.”
Mitchell nodded and turned away from the grisly pile to swing his light around the ruined camp. “So what happened here?”
Teal’c joined them. “The staff blasts indicate that there were Jaffa involved.” He held up one hand with a bandana in it. “I believe this belongs to Daniel Jackson.”
Mitchell took it from him. “What makes you say so?”
“It bears his initials.” Teal’c responded. “And a message.”
Mitchell unwadded the fabric and held it up to his light. “What language is this?”
Teal’c smiled. “I believe it is called Navajo. Daniel Jackson has been teaching me this language.”
Mitchell looked at the bigger man with something like surprise. “Can you read it?”
“I believe that it translates as ‘we four go east’.”
“What four?”
“He must have some of the students with him.” Carter said.
“Or Dr. Laney.” Teal’c offered.
Mitchell shook his head. “Lieutenant, get back to Pendergast. Get a team down here to secure this site. I want to know how many we’re dealing with and which way they went by sunrise.”
6:12am
Daniel’s first thought was of pain. He couldn’t open his eyes or move much more than his right hand, which was curled around the backpack. Then he remembered himself and attempted to sit up, groaning as his shoulder screamed its protest. Teri and Kota were still sleeping. George was not in his immediate line of site. His body hurt all over, and he knew that getting himself moving again was going to be difficult.
He tried using his right hand to leverage himself up, and started when large hands steadied him and helped him to sit on the log behind him. George smiled at him as he came around from behind. “Had to pee,” he said in way of explanation and Daniel nodded. “Filled the canteen too. Checked our flanks. We’re okay for now.”
Daniel exhaled and made a decision. “I’m just going to slow you down, get us all caught. My knee is worse now than it was last night. I need you to take the others east. Keep going east. My friends will be looking for you in that direction.”
“Why?”
Daniel smiled. “Because that’s where I told them to go.” Daniel clung to the backpack for a long minute, then handed it over. “Take this. No matter what happens, don’t let anyone get it. Keep it safe.”
“What is it?”
Daniel wasn’t sure how to answer that question. “A gift. If we can get it into the right hands, it could save the planet.” Okay, that was melodramatic, but the bigger man just nodded as if it was an adequate response.
“We aren’t leaving you behind.” Teri said, causing them both to turn to where she and Kota were looking at them.
“You don’t have a choice, Teri.” Daniel said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can’t run anymore. We can’t afford to let who ever is pursuing us get what is in that bag. I can slow them down, throw them off your trail.” Besides, once they have me they’ll probably stop looking for you, he thought to himself dismally. “My friends will be here, soon. Everything will be fine.”
“Fine?” Kota asked, incredulous. “People are dead, Dr. Jackson and you’re talking nonsense, just like your theories.
Daniel hung his head. He certainly couldn’t fault the boy. “Before this day is over, you’ll have an opportunity to rethink that statement, Kota, unfortunately for us all. Now, you three need to get moving. Even if you think you’ve lost them for good, keep moving.”
6:59am
Sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves, casting the camp in a diffused light that made the devastation more intense. Mitchell and Carter waited at the center of the ruin for Teal’c and the rest of the team, but as the Jaffa approached, Mitchell knew he didn’t have good news. “We have found a trail leading to the east. Many men. There is also a trail to the south and west.”
“How many men?”
“The group that went to the east is greater than 10. To the southwest was a smaller group. However, they have a drone with them.”
Mitchell stiffened. “They got one of those things here?”
“Indeed.”
That changed everything. “Okay, Teal’c, go after the drone. Take as many as you need. Carter and I will go after Jackson.”
“You sure that’s wise?” Carter asked after Teal’c had left them.
“What? You don’t think we can handle ten Jaffa?”
She smiled. “It wasn’t us I was worried about. We don’t have the drone weapon. Should we be going after it?”
“You want to just let it roam through the forest?”
She shook her head. “Nevermind. Let’s just go find Daniel.”
“Agreed.” Mitchell checked his weapon one last time and set out with Carter at his side.
7:20am
Daniel heard them long before he saw them. They weren’t trying to be quiet. He had done his best to leave a trail they could follow, away from the students, moving to the north. He coaxed blood from his wound to leave a trail smeared on leaves and trees as he limped along.
It wouldn’t be long before they caught him, of that he was certain. What he wasn’t sure of was where the hell Mitchell was and why he hadn’t shown up yet. His knee gave out and he crashed to the ground. He struggled to get to his feet again, but exhaustion and shock competed to be the first to knock him cold. Both were beaten though, he heard it coming, the whining as the zat fire raced at him and the sting as it wracked through him. Then the silence as unconsciousness claimed him.
8:32am
Mitchell grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled her down into the cover of fallen rock and branches, just as the sounds of men moving swiftly toward them reached them. They waited in silence as three men in black ran past them and then for another few seconds to be sure they were clear.
“Are we still moving in the right direction?”
“We’re still moving east, if that’s what you mean.” Carter checked her compass then looked around her. “We don’t really know how long they were running. They could have a big head start.”
“Or not.” Mitchell bent over, examining the grass in front of a downed tree. “Blood. A fair amount. At least one of them is wounded.” He put a finger in the smear of blood. “Fairly fresh too.”
She hunkered down next to him and examined the blood. “Okay, so we keep moving. Hope we find them before someone else does.”
“Right.” Carter scoped the area once more, then pointed. He nodded and they set off once more. “General O’Neill is going to kill me this time,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing…just, every time Jackson gets into something, General O’Neill comes down on me. I was just thinking that this one could cost me.”
She snickered. “Yeah, he’s like that. Particularly about Daniel. Couldn’t keep Daniel from being Daniel himself though. Daniel is…well, good at this kind of thing. He gets lost, he gets caught, he gets married…” She sighed and stopped to look at him. “Be grateful that hasn’t happened in a while.”
“Married?”
“Yeah. It’s a Daniel thing.” She sighed again and resumed walking. “He’s sensitive, he’s caring, he’s passionate…and curious above all. Can’t resist exploring, even when he knows better.”
“So, the General is protective of him because he’s a natural at getting himself into trouble?”
She nodded. “That’s part of it, I’m sure. General O’Neill takes a lot of stuff personally, and anytime a member of his team gets in trouble, he takes it personally. That, and…well, Daniel’s been through a lot, and he feels responsible for a lot of it.”
Mitchell nodded knowingly. “So, its guilt?” He trudged along beside her, his eyes sweeping the foliage around them. “Not like…a thing?”
“A thing?”
He shook his head. “Nevermind, it’s nothing.”
“What?”
“Something in the way he came after me the last time Daniel got hurt on a mission. Made it seem like maybe there was something more there.”
She looked at him, and he could see her trying to size up everything she knew about the two men, then she shook her head. “No, not Jack O’Neill. Daniel, maybe. But not the General.”
“You know them better than I do.”
“Colonel Mitchell.”
“Go ahead, Teal’c.”
“We have found Dr. Laney. She is injured, but alive. Three of her students are with her.”
“And the drone?”
“It was hunting them, Dr. Laney indicates that it stopped and walked away when it could have easily killed them.”
“Get them back to the camp and catch up with us.”
“Why would a drone behave that way?” Carter asked, indicating a shift in their direction to skirt around a dense bramble.
“Hell if I know.”
“Cam, stop.” Carter bent down and picked up a blood filled cloth from beside the path. She fumbled with it a little, but eventually got it open. Jackson’s handwriting scribbled across it, barely legible under the blood.
“Sent kids east. Drawing off pursuit. Find them first. D.”
“He must have known the Jaffa following him wouldn’t bother to pick up a used bandage, just take it as a sign of which way he’d gone.” Mitchell said, looking over her shoulder.
“Now what?
“You go after the students. I’ll radio Teal’c and we’ll go after Jackson.”
9:13am
Daniel slowly drifted up from the dark depths of unconsciousness and into an equally dark consciousness. He blinked a few times before he realized he was blindfolded. Tried to move, to realize he was restrained. This is not good, he told himself.
He was cold, but not unbearable so. The air was damp, which could indicate that he was underground. He was lying down, or at least it felt like he was lying down, his back against something cold and metal…maybe stone. He felt a touch on his leg, near where the pain lived in his knee. He stilled under it. Held his breath.
“Dr. Jackson. How pleasant to see you again.”
That was a voice he knew. “Ba’al. Wish I could say the same.”
“I suppose I should be surprised to find you here, but sadly, I’m not.”
“I’ll admit I’m a little surprised to find you here.” Daniel responded. “Last I heard you were busy brainwashing Jaffa.”
Daniel heard him moving around him, stopping when he got to his feet. “Perhaps I will have better luck with you.”
“I doubt it.”
Ba’al came back to his side. “Of course, I do prefer more painful methods of extracting information.” His hand closed on Daniel’s shoulder and squeezed until Daniel yelled out in response. “Music to my ears…though, we haven’t a sarcophagus, so I will have to restrain myself from killing you.” He released Daniel’s shoulder and resumed his walking.
“Lucky me.”
Ba’al stopped again and Daniel could almost imagine him looking at him with amusement in his face. “Did you learn this bantering from your friend O’Neill? Or is it a trait of your whole race?”
Daniel could feel his face flush at the mention of Jack. He had little memory of his time Ascended, brief glimpses, mostly to do with his friends…with sitting with Jack between sessions of torture at Ba’al’s hands. “Why don’t you just get on with it?” he said harshly. He’d been through this before. Pain alone wouldn’t break him, not while there was a chance Mitchell could still save the others.
Daniel felt hands at his head, the blindfold being removed. He closed his eyes so the light wouldn’t blind him, then opened them slowly. Ba’al’s smile was dark, sadistic. He nodded to approaching Jaffa who presented a tray filled with ancient implements. “I’m told that the people of this region were a violent sort. They understood how to make a person bleed in all manner of intriguing ways.” Almost idly, he lifted an ancient looking cat’o’ nine tails with bits of bone and stone at the ends of each leather thong, and held it where Daniel could see it. “This for example. I’m told the pain is excruciating.”
11:05am
Carter stopped to catch her breath. What little bit of a trail she had been following had disappeared into a tumble of rocks and trees. She was beginning to wonder if she should retrace her steps and try again when a flash of movement caught her eye.
She dropped to a crouch, her eyes scanning the trees. There, a shock of blue against the natural greens and grays. She moved slowly, deliberately circling around so that she wouldn’t approach from behind. There was no point in spooking them further if she could help it. Climbing a bit of a rise gave her a vantage point to look into the dell where a girl sat in the midst of giant tree roots. Her eyes were closed and for a moment, Sam was afraid she was dead. The slow rise and fall of her chest proved her alive, though it was increasingly obvious she was alone.
Carefully, she stepped into the open and moved closer. The blue denim of the girl’s shirt was torn and dirty, and there was blood on her hands. Sam knelt beside her, one hand snaking out to touch her. She started awake and Sam raised both hands to show she meant no harm, while urging her to be quiet with gentle “sh” noises.
“Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, US Air Force,” she said softly.
The girl swallowed and nodded. “Teri Solaz, UNM.”
Sam smiled encouragingly. “Nice to meet you, Teri. We’ve been looking for you. Are you injured?”
Teri looked down at her hands and wiped them on the ground. “Nothing serious. This isn’t mine. Dr. Jackson…He was shot.”
Sam nodded. “Its okay, Teri. Right now its important that you aren’t hurt. Where are the others?”
She started to shake. “We…got separated. There was a…a…I don’t really know what it was…”
Sam pulled her canteen from her pack and handed it the frightened girl. “Its okay, Teri. I have a pretty good idea what it was. Tell me what happened.”
She swallowed several large gulps of water, then lowered the canteen and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “Dr. Jackson made us leave him. He was hurt, couldn’t keep up. We ran. That thing found us. It caught up with George, ripped the back pack off of him. We kept running. George gave me Dr. Jackson’s backpack and told me to hide. He and Kota waited for it to come back.”
She took another drink from the canteen before handing it back to Sam. “Why would they wait for it?”
“It wanted this.” She moved a little and lifted a dirty black pack from behind her. “It got the one with our supplies.”
Sam took the pack and opened it, smiling as she recognized the ZPM. “You are incredibly brave Teri. Did you see which way George and Kota went?”
She pointed north and Sam nodded, reaching for her radio. “Colonel Mitchell.”
“Go ahead Sam.”
“I found one of the students. Apparently the drone is chasing the other two, according to her.”
“How is she?”
“Shaken, but unhurt.”
“Get her back to camp.”
“What about the other two?”
“You can’t take on a drone by yourself, Sam.”
“Neither can they, sir.”
“Carter.” There was frustration in his voice and she glanced at Teri.
“Right. Back to camp. What about you?”
“We’ll be in touch.”
“Cameron?”
She heard him sigh. “Jackson’s been taken. We found his cell phone and his glasses, more blood. We’re trying to determine where they’ve gone.”
Sam chewed her lip and turned to Teri. “How badly was Dr. Jackson injured?”
Teri hugged herself tightly like she was cold. “Shot in the shoulder. He busted up his knee pretty badly too.”
“Did he say anything about who was behind the attack?”
“No.”
Sam nodded and spoke once more into the radio. “Mitchell, be advised, Daniel took a shot in the shoulder and has a wounded knee. According to Teri he isn’t very mobile.”
“Understood.”
“Okay, you ready to get back to camp?” Sam asked.
Teri nodded, standing. She shouldered the pack and set out behind Sam.
12:15am
Daniel was panting with the exertion it took to keep from screaming. Ba’al had worked his way through half the tray of instruments with a glee that Daniel found disconcerting, even in a goa’uld. He hadn’t even started asking questions until after the second one, a series of wooden slivers he pressed under Daniel’s fingernails.
“Come now, Dr. Jackson. We’re reasonable men.”
“You…call…this…reasonable?” he asked breathlessly.
Ba’al chuckled. “From my perspective, yes.”
Daniel felt the cold steel of the blade slide across his already bloody chest. It felt oddly good, cool against the fire of his flesh. Then it began to dig in, just under the skin.
“Tell me where this power source, this ZPM is.” Ba’al said. “And, all of this ends.”
“Go…to…hell…”
“As you wish, Dr. Jackson.”
The blade bit deeper and Daniel lost the battle against screaming.
1:30pm
Mitchell and Teal’c heard the sound of the drone’s running footsteps, smelled the acrid aroma of its weapon all before they saw the two young men zigzagging through the trees toward them. As one they sprang from cover, grabbing the two men and dragging them to ground, hands over mouths to keep them quiet and still.
Mitchell signaled the need for silence with his free hand and risked lifting his head to try to spot the drone, ducking it nearly immediately as the drone approached them. It stopped little more than ten feet away, searching for its prey. It took forever, but eventually it began moving again, slow, methodical footsteps carrying it away from them.
When he couldn’t hear it anymore, Mitchell exhaled violently and shook his head before lifting himself off of the shorter of the two young men. “Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, US Air Force, and you two had better be Dr. Laney’s missing students.”
The blonde one nodded as Teal’c helped him to his feet. “I’m George. This is Kota. What was that thing?”
“A very, very nasty man with an obsessive compulsive need to kill people.”
“Are you injured?” Teal’c asked Kota who was getting up gingerly.
“No, just a little sore. We’ve been running from that thing for hours.”
Mitchell looked around them. “We should move. It’ll circle back when it realizes its lost the trail.”
“Indeed.”
Mitchell sighed and shook his head. Every ounce of him wanted to keep looking for Jackson, but he knew better than to take civilians into that kind of fight. “We head back to camp. Teal’c, you’re on point.”
3:45pm
Daniel woke with a start. He didn’t remember falling asleep…or more appropriately, passing out. Ba’al must have finally found his threshold for pain. He tried moving the fingers of his uninjured hand, gratified when they responded. His toes seemed to be functioning too. He wasn’t restrained, not that it mattered.
It was obvious that his knee wouldn’t support him, so running was simply out of the question. He sat up slowly. The pain in his shoulder had withdrawn to a dull ache, one that was mirrored in his knee and the wounds across his chest and back. The light sheen of sweat that slicked his head and arms told him he’d developed a fever. That couldn’t be good. He was in some sort of dark room. It felt small, but there was no way to know in the pitch black. He was still shirtless, though it seemed his wounds had stopped bleeding. That could only mean it was time for Ba’al to begin again.
Almost as if on cue, a door opened. Daniel blinked into the sudden rush of light and tried to bite back the fear that rose inside him. It wasn’t like fear was going to benefit him.
“I see that you have awakened, Dr. Jackson. I was beginning to worry I had gone too far.”
“No, no such luck, I’m afraid.” Two Jaffa came into the room, pulling Daniel to his feet and dragging him from the room. Ba’al’s smile as they passed him made Daniel think something had changed since their last conversation. He said nothing though as they passed through a dark corridor and into the room Daniel remembered from before.
It was there that Daniel made out what was different. Two of Dr. Laney’s students knelt on the floor, their clothes torn and bloody. The girl looked as though she had been crying. The Jaffa dumped Daniel to the ground near them, his knee slamming the stone under him. He swallowed the pain and tried to keep from pitching face first into the floor. “David, Kelly, are you two okay?”
She nodded distractedly, her unfocused eyes turning toward Ba’al as he approached. David’s nod was tighter, his eyes snapping to Daniel’s before jumping up to Ba’al.
Ba’al’s hand descended on Daniel’s shoulder. “Now then, Dr. Jackson. Shall we begin again? Your message to Colonel Carter yesterday evening indicated that you had found something I very much want to get my hands on. Where is it?”
“I don’t know.” Daniel said. “Right this moment, I don’t know where it is.”
Daniel watched as Ba’al’s left hand came over his shoulder and the ribbon device began to glow, catching Kelly in it’s beam. David yelled and attempted to assist her, but was restrained by a Jaffa. Daniel closed his eyes. “Stop.”
The device stopped glowing and Kelly slumped against David. “Do you have something to tell me?”
He hung his head. It had to be convincing, give him time to figure out a way to escape, to get the kids out. “I…hid it…in the forest.”
Ba’al’s mouth was near Daniel’s ear. “See, I knew you could be reasonable. Tell me where it is hidden.”
When Daniel hesitated, Ba’al’s hand lifted toward Kelly again. “Not far from where you found me. There’s a hollow tree.”
4:02pm
Mitchell and Carter watched Angela Laney and the students they had collectively found disappeared in a shimmer of light, the backpack filled with ZPM and assorted new toys clutched in Dr. Laney’s hands. At least with it aboard Prometheus they didn’t have to worry about losing it and could concentrate on finding Daniel.
Another shimmer of light produced the drone weapon, which Teal’c scooped up quickly, his frown easing a little. “Colonel Mitchell, we think we have found them.”
Mitchell jogged over to the major who was heading up the tracking teams and providing back up muscle. A map of the area was spread out over a table from the mess tent.
“This is where the drone was last seen, moving in this direction.” As one, Mitchell, Carter, the major and Teal’c looked up and scanned the tree line. “This is where you think Dr. Jackson was taken.” The major pointed to the map. “Dr. Laney was found here. That leaves this area.” He swept his hand around an area north of the camp.
“That’s a lot of area, Major.”
“Yes, sir, but there are only two places with habitable ruins, and aerial surveillance indicates that there are no other camps or villages in the area. This one,” he indicated the site closest to them, “is large enough to contain a small ship, and we are picking up energy readings consistent with a goa’uld vessel.”
The major handed a report to Carter who scanned it, then looked up with a grin. “Strange that a pile of ancient ruins would be showing an energy signature that mirrors a goa’uld hatach, don’t you think?” she asked.
“Indeed.” Teal’c hefted the weapon in his hands. “I believe that is where we will find Daniel Jackson.”
“Okay, Major. Round up your boys. Looks like we’re going site seeing.”
4:42pm
Daniel sat on the floor between Kelly and David, largely ignored now that Ba’al could sense a victory. The goa’uld stood with his back to them, ordering his men out into the surrounding forest. It gave Daniel time to examine the room a little more closely.
He’d assumed they were in some forgotten pyramid, but as he looked closer he could tell it was only made to look that way. The layout had been altered, but there were signs, once he started looking. He smiled. They were in a ship dressed up to look like an ancient temple site. He pressed his hand to the floor. There was no vibration, no sign of engines running. That meant they were on the ground. “I’m going to need your help to get us out of this.” Daniel said as quietly as he could. He saw David nod, and felt Kelly touch his leg. “Good. Do whatever you’re told and be ready to move when I tell you.”
5:18pm
Teams of Jaffa combing the trees frustrated Mitchell’s plan of a silent approach. The first two teams of four went down fairly quietly with zat blasts, but then came the staff weapons exploding again trees and the gunfire, which lead to more Jaffa, and the drone.
Teal’c tried to maneuver to get the shot at the drone, but had to keep moving to avoid the staff blasts. Carter shouted something and Mitchell turned to see her duck a rushing Jaffa. She scrambled away from him just as Mitchell caught him in the chest with three bullets. She nodded her thanks and retrieved her weapon to cover Teal’c. Three more Jaffa went down. He’d lost count, but he figured they had to be doing some damage, how many Jaffa could have come on this little outing anyway?
5:25pm
“My Lord Ba’al, we have lost fifteen men, and the drone,” a Jaffa reported breathlessly after bursting into the room and sketching a hasty bow.
“Lost?”
“The Tauri, they are attacking the men who are searching the trees.”
Ba’al whipped around, fury in his face. “Send out more men. Kill the Tauri and bring me the ZPM.”
“Yes my lord.”
Ba’al’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Daniel. “Your friends I presume?”
Daniel shrugged his good shoulder and smiled. “You know how we get when one of us is in trouble.”
Ba’al gestured to the Jaffa nearest him. “Take Dr. Jackson and his young friends to our guest quarters while I deal with this.”
Two Jaffa dragged Daniel to his feet and prodded David and Kelly to theirs. Daniel did his best to make himself dead weight while keeping from getting wounded further. He caught David’s eye when he thought they were far enough from bringing immediate reinforcements down on them and nodded. He shifted his weight enough to make the Jaffa on his left stumble, then pushed his good foot into the ground and shoved his way, toppling them both to the ground. He fell into the Jaffa, using his right hand to keep from cramming the knee or shoulder into something and incapacitating himself with the pain. His hand closed around the armored arm, just as a big hand crashed into his face. He fell backwards, grabbing for the nearest weapon he could see, the Jaffa’s zat gun.
He raised the weapon from his spot on his back, then yelled as the second Jaffa, grappling with David, kicked the gun away. The Jaffa he had toppled was on top of him, pulling him up off the ground…and dropping him back just as fast. Daniel stifled his yell as his shoulder hit the ground. The sound of the zat sang through the air and both Jaffa fell to the floor. Daniel looked up to find Kelly holding the gun.
She was shaking as Daniel held out his hand for the zat. He touched her hand in what he hoped was a calming gesture, then turned the gun on the unconscious Jaffa. “One to stun, two to kill.” He shot both again. “Three to make them disappear.” He shot again and the bodies were gone. “Think you can handle that?” He looked up at her. She looked shocked, but nodded and took the gun he held out to her. “Don’t hesitate. They wouldn’t.”
5:54pm
Mitchell and Carter lay along the low rise that led down to the pyramid hiding the ship. Carter was scanning the area. “No main engines engaged. It’s bigger than your average cargo ship though.”
“Yet, small enough to hide in there and escape our sensors.” Mitchell moved down to Teal’c and Carter followed. “Any suggestions?”
“If it is indeed Ba’al he will likely continue attempting to find the ZPM.”
“Which makes me wonder how he knew it was here to begin with.” Sam said.
“We must have a leak.” Mitchell said, his face grim. “Only, he attacked before anyone but you and Daniel knew what he’d found. Someone here? Mills?”
“Its hard to say.” Sam looked over her shoulder as the rest of their men assembled. The shadows deepened around them. “Whatever it is were going to do, it should be soon. It’s getting dark.”
6:00pm
Daniel found his way out of the part of the ship Ba’al had dressed up for his benefit and into more familiar surroundings. They had only encountered a single other Jaffa, dispatched quickly by Kelly and the zat gun.
Daniel held to David’s shoulder as they worked their way down a corridor that seemed like it should take them to an exit hatch. Instead it lead them to yet another corridor. “Stop.” Daniel leaned against the wall and breathed slowly. His thoughts were a jumble. It wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t function at all. Beyond that Ba’al would miss them any time now and start the search. He exhaled and stretched his neck, until his eye caught sight of something familiar. “Engine room.”
“What?”
Daniel nodded at the door across the hall. “It’s a ship. Engine room. Help me.” He reached out for David again and hobbled across the hall. “Be ready.” He said to Kelly as he keyed the door open.
The Jaffa charged as the door opened, but fell as Kelly fired. “Get the staff weapon.” Daniel said as it rolled from the limp hands. “We may need it.”
“Now what?” David asked as Daniel moved himself to one of the panels.
Daniel grinned. “Now we give Ba’al a little reminder about messing with Earth.” He pulled open the drawer. “Mix them up. Open the drawers and rearrange all of the crystals.”
“Why?” Kelly asked, though she moved to do as he said.
“If nothing else, we gunk up the engine and they can’t fly away. If we’re really lucky, the ship will blow up.”
Daniel jumbled up his drawer, then moved on to another. A few minutes later, they stole back into the corridor again. “Go that way.” Daniel instructed, though he was fading quickly. Kelly moved to support his other side.
Two corridors and three Jaffa later, Daniel had lost patience with his inability to find a way out. He took the staff weapon from David and pointed it at the nearest wall, hoping he was right that it was an outer wall. Three shots finally penetrated the wall, even as the ship shuddered with what he thought felt like an abortive attempt to start the engines. David helped him through the hole, into the dark, damp of the pyramid.
“That’s better.” Daniel said, even as he slid off David’s shoulder. He could see the ruddy light of the setting sun behind the ship, where Ba’al must have blasted his way into the ruins. “Go, get out.”
Kelly knelt beside him and touched his face. “He’s burning up.”
David stood, biting his lip as Daniel’s eyes closed. “Stay here. Let me get a look.” He climbed over the debris and around the ship, scoping the path that could take them out into the red sunset. “Think we can carry him?”
Beside them the ship rumbled and they looked at each other. “I say we try.” Kelly said. Together, they lifted Daniel’s limp body and inched their way through the increasing dark.
6:28pm
The opening of the pyramid and the back end of the ship hidden inside were painted crimson with the setting sun. A growing rumble began to shake the ground and Carter grabbed Mitchell’s arm as she squinted into the distance. “Cam, look.” She pointed and he followed her finger.
They seemed so small next to the expanse of the pyramid, two black specks…no, two black specks carrying a third. He looked at Carter and Teal’c and together they started toward them.
As they got closer and could make out that one of the three was Daniel Jackson, Mitchell broke into a run. The ground shook violently and a sudden explosion rocked them all, sending debris flying and tossing the two kids and their burden crashing into Mitchell and Carter.
When the dust had settled, Daniel lay in a heap, surrounded by his friends and David and Kelly. He was barely conscious, but laughing. Carter knelt beside him and his eyes opened when she touched him. “Sam.”
“Daniel.”
“Nice of you to come.” He looked up at Mitchell. “What kept you?”
Mitchell chuckled and squatted beside him. “Bad day, Jackson?”
Daniel laughed again until it caused him to cough. “I don’t know. I got to blow up Ba’al’s ship.”
“Is that what that was?”
“Yep.”
“Was he in there?”
Daniel’s smile faded a little. “Think so. Hard to tell. Slimy one.” He was already drifting back toward unconsciousness.
Sam paused in her perusal of his injuries to catch Cameron’s eye. “We need to get him out of here.”
“No arguments from me.” Mitchell said, standing to begin to organize their withdrawal.
Sam made a face as she checked the shoulder wound and jumped as Daniel’s hand grabbed hers. His blue eyes were intense as they found hers. “The ZPM…Teri, George…”
Sam smiled. “Everything’s okay, Daniel. We got them. Dr. Laney, and the others. Their safe. Rest. We’ll have you home in no time.”
11:21pm
Daniel opened his eyes, disoriented at first. The infirmary of the SGC seemed so far removed from his last 24 hours he could almost imagine they hadn’t happened, except for the IV that ran into his hand and the bandages wrapped around his torso and shoulder. Whatever drugs the IV was pumping into him must have been good, he couldn’t feel anything, until a hand slid into his.
He looked up. “Jack?”
Jack O’Neill grinned at him as he perched on the edge of the bed holding his hand in a friendly way. “You scared me,” he said softly.
“Sorry.”
They were quiet for a moment before Jack cleared his throat. “I’m damn proud of you, Danny Boy.” He made show of straightening the blanket covering him. “Time was I wouldn’t have trusted you to find your way out of a paper bag on your own. Now, you go up against goa’uld with no back up and come out in one piece…more or less.”
Daniel tried to smile, but the weight of it was heavy. “It wasn’t all that, Jack.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “No? You were unarmed, injured, up against a goa’uld, Jaffa and a drone with kids to protect and priceless artifacts to keep safe…and you managed to stay alive, keep the goods, and save five kids…not to mention blowing up the goa’uld. That’s pretty good, in my book.”
Daniel closed his eye. “Yes, but I also managed to get shot within the first ten minutes of the whole ordeal, send three of those kids off on a suicide mission, get captured and tortured and-“
“All in a days work.” Mitchell’s voice came from the door way. He smirked as he approached, holding up Daniel’s glasses and cell phone. “You also managed to lose these.” He set them on the table next to the bed. He nodded at Jack, then looked back at Jackson. “I just wanted to make sure you’d have the cell, so you can call the next time you get yourself into a situation.”
Daniel smiled. “Thank you.”
“You did most of the work Jackson, we were just the clean up crew on this one.” Mitchell looked over his shoulder “Lamm’s going to come kick us out, so I’m heading home before she can. Carter and Teal’c will be by in the morning with some of your things. It looks like you’ll be here a while.” He touched Daniel’s arm and Jack’s shoulder as he left.
“Looks like you made an impression on him too.” Jack said, squeezing Daniel’s hand.
“General, we need to let Dr. Jackson rest.” Dr. Lamm said quietly from the doorway.
“Just leaving, Doc.” Jack stood and then leaned in close. “If you ever put me through another bad day like this, I’ll kill you myself,” he whispered. Then he pressed a goofy kiss to Daniel’s forehead. “I mean it, Danny. Bare hands, throat. Dead.” He held up his hands as if it made his threat more real. Daniel smiled before his eyes drifted shut.
It had started as a really bad day, but Ba’al was dead, or at least buried under a ton of rock, they had a working ZPM and who knows what else, possibly a new ally among the Ascended Ancients, and Jack had come back from Washington to see him.
All in all, not a bad day. Not at all.
Fin
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: If you squint real hard you can see some Daniel/Jack at the very end
Rating: PG-13 for violence and torture (more implied than actually shown)
Words: 8,288
Disclaimer: Don't own, wish I did...cause Daniel in bondage does things for me....but I don't...so I'm just playing here
Summary: Daniel takes a vacation, that turns into a bad day for the entire team.
*cross posted to AO3*
Bad Day
12:42am
The chirping of his cell phone pulled Cameron Mitchell from sleep with the kind of dread that only middle of the night phone calls can muster. He swiped stubborn eyes and tried to focus on the little caller id window before flipping the phone open and grumbling, “Jackson?”
“Mitchell, I-“ the rest of his words were lost in a landslide of static.
“Come again?” Mitchell asked when the static had cleared.
“We were attacked. M-dead. I need-“
Mitchell sat up and switched the phone to his left ear, his right hand already reaching for the jeans he had taken off less than two hours before. “Where are you?”
“Mexico.” There was the sound of gunfire and Jackson cursing. “Cant’ talk. Send backup. Sam knows-“ The gunfire was closer and Jackson was yelling, “Run!” The line went dead.
Mitchell dropped his phone and pulled his pants on, then rummaged around for a shirt and shoes. He grabbed the phone and his keys and headed out the door. He had a feeling this was going to be bad day.
12:59am
Daniel Jackson used the tree beside him to keep from toppling over and tried to calm his ragged breathing. Memories surged around him of another time in another rain forest, being chased by mercenaries who had tortured him before his escape.
Only, these weren’t exactly mercenaries, and he hadn’t been tortured, only wounded, and Jack wasn’t coming to rescue him, and…this time the artifact he carried in the backpack slung over his uninjured shoulder wasn’t capable of resurrecting the dead…at least not that he was aware of. Priceless all the same, but-
He shifted on his feet and winced. He needed to focus on the moment, not ramble off into his own head. His left knee was already swollen to the extent that his jeans would allow, stretching the fabric tight. He could feel the eyes on him, but he wasn’t really ready to face them just yet. They had questions he couldn’t answer. They really were just kids, after all, anthropology students on a summer field trip. They knew nothing about Ancients or drones or weapons that shot blue fire and dropped people to the ground.
He took a deep breath and turned from the tree. He had to tell them something. “Here’s what I know.” He exhaled, dragging it out. He didn’t want to say what needed to be said. “Dr. Mills is dead. Dr. Zento is likely dead as well, or will be soon. I don’t know about Dr. Laney. I think I saw her get out, going in the opposite direction.” He hesitated, trying to gauge their reaction so far.
Teri was Dr. Laney’s prodigy, a doctoral student at only 20 years old. She seemed to be at odds between fear and anger, her fingers fidgeting with her jacket, her eyes staring into him from behind her glasses demanding answers.
Beside her stood the golden boy, George Apperton, tall, blond and by all counts as ambitious as his father, a self-made millionaire. He was calmly looking through the only other backpack to survive the insane escape into the trees, taking stock of their supplies. He looked up at Daniel expectantly when the silence had stretched on too long. Daniel licked his lips and flicked his gaze to the third student, Kota Stevens. He was the polar opposite of George, short, stocky, dark hair and skin. He sat beside the others, but seemed to be in shock.
“Dr. Jackson?” Teri touched his hand to get his attention, and he turned to look at her mousy brown pigtails that made her look years younger than she was. “What about the others?”
He didn’t want to answer that question. He had come to the dig at Angela’s request. Her call had surprised him since he hadn’t heard from her since she left the SGC to return to her academic pursuits. She was there overseeing ten students with the aid of another professor. Ten students, and he had been able to save three.
He cleared his throat. “I don’t know.” He lifted his cell phone and checked for a signal. Nothing.
“Who was it you called?”
Daniel pushed at his glasses, wondering if Mitchell had heard enough, if help was coming. “Friends. People who can help.” I hope.
1:45am
Mitchell watched the wormhole swoosh away and turned to find General Landry behind him, looking like he’d rolled out of be and into his uniform.
“Jackson’s in trouble.” Mitchell said without preamble.
Landry groaned, then thumbed toward his office. “Coffee.”
Mitchell followed. “Carter is on her way back from Area 51 and Teal’c will be back within the hour.”
“What do we know?” Landry sat behind his desk after pouring coffee for both of them from a pot someone had delivered from the mess.
“Not a lot. Carter told me that Jackson left for Mexico yesterday after being called in to some dig by a former SGC egghead. Something to do with Ancient symbols in a site where they didn’t belong. Jackson and Mills went to investigate. Next thing we know is the phone call he made to me. He was upset and there was gunfire. He indicated someone was dead. That’s all I got.”
The room to his left shimmered and Carter appeared beside him. “Nice entrance.” Mitchell said and she smiled.
“A little help from Prometheus. I figured we’d be in a hurry, especially after hearing the message.”
“Message?” Landry sat forward and Mitchell raised an eyebrow.
“From Daniel. He must have called while the phone was charging, I wouldn’t have heard it.”
“What’s he say?”
Carter held up her hand and pressed a few buttons on her phone, and in seconds, Jackson’s voice was emanating from the device. “Sam, it’s Daniel. You’ll never believe what I found when we got here. Well, technically, Teri found it, but that’s not the point. There’s definitely Ancient here, glyphs hidden in a mosaic in a room off the main pyramid. That’s not the point either. The glyphs themselves would be meaningless, except for one thing. They spell my name…or rather a transliteration of it…as close as you can get in written Ancient anyway. There’s a room behind it. Sam, there’s a fully charged ZPM, and half a dozen other things. It’s unbelievable. Oh, Angela. Angela says hi. I need to run, but I had to tell you. I’ll be home in a few days, okay?”
Mitchell whistled and leaned back in his seat. “When was this?”
“Around 5 last night.”
“We need to get down there.”
“I agree. Get a team together. Small, but armed well. I’ll see what else can be done.” Landry said. Mitchell rose to his feet and followed Carter from the room, already pulling a list of names in his head.
2:46am
Daniel stopped them to rest beside a swiftly moving stream. He nodded to George, then to the stream. “Fill the canteen. We don’t know when we’ll find water again.”
They were all exhausted, and in the dark Daniel wasn’t sure anymore that they were even moving in a helpful direction. The pain in his knee and shoulder had begun to interfere with his thought process. He sank to a seat on a fallen tree and shifted the backpack onto the log beside him. His left arm was largely useless anymore, the shoulder joint radiating pain down into the arm.
Okay, concentrate. “We need to keep moving east,” he said, squinting up at the night sky.
“Isn’t the village to the south?” Kota asked, his young face eerie in the light of their single flashlight.
“Yes, but they would expect us to go that way.” Daniel grimaced as he felt the wound in his shoulder. It was hot to the touch. “But we should rest here for a few hours. It’s been a while since we heard them behind us. They’ve probably stopped for the night. We should take advantage of it.” He tried not to imagine the other alternatives…or Angela and the rest of the students dead at the hands of the drone or the Jaffa that were with it.
He watched as they settled down together and fished his phone out of his pocket once more. He’d been in the ZPM room when the attack started, calling Jack. He looked down at the phone, trying to wish a signal to appear. The first thing he’d heard was the traditional gunfire, and his first instinct had been to save everything he could. He hadn’t figured out what everything was, or why it was there, or who would have left his name as a calling card on the door. He shoved the ZPM and everything else he could fit into his backpack and left the room, sealing it behind him.
The camp was alive with people running, guns firing and blue lightening arcing into one of the local workers. He’d ducked behind a tent then, his eyes racing around the camp. He saw Angela and at least two of her students and gestured for her to make a run for it. He provided what cover he could, emerging between two tents to draw the fire of the approaching men…Jaffa. He could tell as they got closer, despite the non-descript black they wore and the fading light. He’d seen the drone then, its eyes set on the retreating backs of Dr. Laney and her students. His distraction had cost him, and the bullet slammed into his shoulder from behind, sending him sprawling to the ground.
George had pulled him to relative safety, into the shadows between two tents. The next minutes were chaotic. They would escape one set of Jaffa, only to run into another. He saw Mills take a staff blast to his chest. Zento went down with one of the students under a hail of gunfire. They found Teri and Kota hiding in the mess tent, behind an upended table. That was when he’d heard the sound of a goa’uld. It wasn’t a voice he immediately recognized, but he took it as a sign that he needed to get these students out of the camp.
He sighed. Someone had broken a lot of rules to put these things in a room where Daniel would find them. That could only mean that they would be important in the battle with the Ori. That meant they had to make it safely back to Stargate Command.
4:15am
The bridge of the Prometheus hummed with activity as they beamed aboard. Mitchell stepped neatly out of the way of a bustling crew member and nodded at Colonel Pendergast. “Just a few minutes, Colonel. We’ve got a crew sweeping the area.”
Mitchell nodded again, his hands on his hips. No point in putting down in the middle of a fire fight. “Any sign of him on sensors?”
Pendergast shook his head. “We can’t really be sure what the sensors are telling us. There’s too much interference.”
“From what?” Carter asked, leaning over the nearest console.
“We don’t know that either. That’s why we sent in a team.”
“Prometheus this is Lt. Calvin. We have an all clear, sir.”
“Stand by Lieutenant. SG-1 will be beaming to your location.”
“Yes sir.”
Mitchell exhaled and gestured to his team to retake their positions on the beaming platform. Seconds later they were standing in the jungle, the smell of trampled leaves and burnt flesh curling through the air. A young Lieutenant approached and saluted smartly. “Report.”
“There are no hostiles in the immediate area, sir. There are twelve dead bodies.”
“Any sign of Jackson?”
“No, Sir. Dr. Mills is among the dead though.”
Mitchell cussed to himself. “Show me.”
They picked their way across the destroyed camp by flashlight to where the bodies were being placed neatly side by side. Mitchell swept his light across the faces, startled by the youth in several of them. “These are just kids,” he muttered and he felt Carter touch his elbow.
“The dig was sponsored by some colleges back in the states. There were ten students down here with Angela and her colleague.”
“Well two of these are obviously students. And these two must be Mills and the other doctor.”
“The rest are probably local workers, hired to do the grunt work.”
Mitchell nodded and turned away from the grisly pile to swing his light around the ruined camp. “So what happened here?”
Teal’c joined them. “The staff blasts indicate that there were Jaffa involved.” He held up one hand with a bandana in it. “I believe this belongs to Daniel Jackson.”
Mitchell took it from him. “What makes you say so?”
“It bears his initials.” Teal’c responded. “And a message.”
Mitchell unwadded the fabric and held it up to his light. “What language is this?”
Teal’c smiled. “I believe it is called Navajo. Daniel Jackson has been teaching me this language.”
Mitchell looked at the bigger man with something like surprise. “Can you read it?”
“I believe that it translates as ‘we four go east’.”
“What four?”
“He must have some of the students with him.” Carter said.
“Or Dr. Laney.” Teal’c offered.
Mitchell shook his head. “Lieutenant, get back to Pendergast. Get a team down here to secure this site. I want to know how many we’re dealing with and which way they went by sunrise.”
6:12am
Daniel’s first thought was of pain. He couldn’t open his eyes or move much more than his right hand, which was curled around the backpack. Then he remembered himself and attempted to sit up, groaning as his shoulder screamed its protest. Teri and Kota were still sleeping. George was not in his immediate line of site. His body hurt all over, and he knew that getting himself moving again was going to be difficult.
He tried using his right hand to leverage himself up, and started when large hands steadied him and helped him to sit on the log behind him. George smiled at him as he came around from behind. “Had to pee,” he said in way of explanation and Daniel nodded. “Filled the canteen too. Checked our flanks. We’re okay for now.”
Daniel exhaled and made a decision. “I’m just going to slow you down, get us all caught. My knee is worse now than it was last night. I need you to take the others east. Keep going east. My friends will be looking for you in that direction.”
“Why?”
Daniel smiled. “Because that’s where I told them to go.” Daniel clung to the backpack for a long minute, then handed it over. “Take this. No matter what happens, don’t let anyone get it. Keep it safe.”
“What is it?”
Daniel wasn’t sure how to answer that question. “A gift. If we can get it into the right hands, it could save the planet.” Okay, that was melodramatic, but the bigger man just nodded as if it was an adequate response.
“We aren’t leaving you behind.” Teri said, causing them both to turn to where she and Kota were looking at them.
“You don’t have a choice, Teri.” Daniel said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can’t run anymore. We can’t afford to let who ever is pursuing us get what is in that bag. I can slow them down, throw them off your trail.” Besides, once they have me they’ll probably stop looking for you, he thought to himself dismally. “My friends will be here, soon. Everything will be fine.”
“Fine?” Kota asked, incredulous. “People are dead, Dr. Jackson and you’re talking nonsense, just like your theories.
Daniel hung his head. He certainly couldn’t fault the boy. “Before this day is over, you’ll have an opportunity to rethink that statement, Kota, unfortunately for us all. Now, you three need to get moving. Even if you think you’ve lost them for good, keep moving.”
6:59am
Sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves, casting the camp in a diffused light that made the devastation more intense. Mitchell and Carter waited at the center of the ruin for Teal’c and the rest of the team, but as the Jaffa approached, Mitchell knew he didn’t have good news. “We have found a trail leading to the east. Many men. There is also a trail to the south and west.”
“How many men?”
“The group that went to the east is greater than 10. To the southwest was a smaller group. However, they have a drone with them.”
Mitchell stiffened. “They got one of those things here?”
“Indeed.”
That changed everything. “Okay, Teal’c, go after the drone. Take as many as you need. Carter and I will go after Jackson.”
“You sure that’s wise?” Carter asked after Teal’c had left them.
“What? You don’t think we can handle ten Jaffa?”
She smiled. “It wasn’t us I was worried about. We don’t have the drone weapon. Should we be going after it?”
“You want to just let it roam through the forest?”
She shook her head. “Nevermind. Let’s just go find Daniel.”
“Agreed.” Mitchell checked his weapon one last time and set out with Carter at his side.
7:20am
Daniel heard them long before he saw them. They weren’t trying to be quiet. He had done his best to leave a trail they could follow, away from the students, moving to the north. He coaxed blood from his wound to leave a trail smeared on leaves and trees as he limped along.
It wouldn’t be long before they caught him, of that he was certain. What he wasn’t sure of was where the hell Mitchell was and why he hadn’t shown up yet. His knee gave out and he crashed to the ground. He struggled to get to his feet again, but exhaustion and shock competed to be the first to knock him cold. Both were beaten though, he heard it coming, the whining as the zat fire raced at him and the sting as it wracked through him. Then the silence as unconsciousness claimed him.
8:32am
Mitchell grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled her down into the cover of fallen rock and branches, just as the sounds of men moving swiftly toward them reached them. They waited in silence as three men in black ran past them and then for another few seconds to be sure they were clear.
“Are we still moving in the right direction?”
“We’re still moving east, if that’s what you mean.” Carter checked her compass then looked around her. “We don’t really know how long they were running. They could have a big head start.”
“Or not.” Mitchell bent over, examining the grass in front of a downed tree. “Blood. A fair amount. At least one of them is wounded.” He put a finger in the smear of blood. “Fairly fresh too.”
She hunkered down next to him and examined the blood. “Okay, so we keep moving. Hope we find them before someone else does.”
“Right.” Carter scoped the area once more, then pointed. He nodded and they set off once more. “General O’Neill is going to kill me this time,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing…just, every time Jackson gets into something, General O’Neill comes down on me. I was just thinking that this one could cost me.”
She snickered. “Yeah, he’s like that. Particularly about Daniel. Couldn’t keep Daniel from being Daniel himself though. Daniel is…well, good at this kind of thing. He gets lost, he gets caught, he gets married…” She sighed and stopped to look at him. “Be grateful that hasn’t happened in a while.”
“Married?”
“Yeah. It’s a Daniel thing.” She sighed again and resumed walking. “He’s sensitive, he’s caring, he’s passionate…and curious above all. Can’t resist exploring, even when he knows better.”
“So, the General is protective of him because he’s a natural at getting himself into trouble?”
She nodded. “That’s part of it, I’m sure. General O’Neill takes a lot of stuff personally, and anytime a member of his team gets in trouble, he takes it personally. That, and…well, Daniel’s been through a lot, and he feels responsible for a lot of it.”
Mitchell nodded knowingly. “So, its guilt?” He trudged along beside her, his eyes sweeping the foliage around them. “Not like…a thing?”
“A thing?”
He shook his head. “Nevermind, it’s nothing.”
“What?”
“Something in the way he came after me the last time Daniel got hurt on a mission. Made it seem like maybe there was something more there.”
She looked at him, and he could see her trying to size up everything she knew about the two men, then she shook her head. “No, not Jack O’Neill. Daniel, maybe. But not the General.”
“You know them better than I do.”
“Colonel Mitchell.”
“Go ahead, Teal’c.”
“We have found Dr. Laney. She is injured, but alive. Three of her students are with her.”
“And the drone?”
“It was hunting them, Dr. Laney indicates that it stopped and walked away when it could have easily killed them.”
“Get them back to the camp and catch up with us.”
“Why would a drone behave that way?” Carter asked, indicating a shift in their direction to skirt around a dense bramble.
“Hell if I know.”
“Cam, stop.” Carter bent down and picked up a blood filled cloth from beside the path. She fumbled with it a little, but eventually got it open. Jackson’s handwriting scribbled across it, barely legible under the blood.
“Sent kids east. Drawing off pursuit. Find them first. D.”
“He must have known the Jaffa following him wouldn’t bother to pick up a used bandage, just take it as a sign of which way he’d gone.” Mitchell said, looking over her shoulder.
“Now what?
“You go after the students. I’ll radio Teal’c and we’ll go after Jackson.”
9:13am
Daniel slowly drifted up from the dark depths of unconsciousness and into an equally dark consciousness. He blinked a few times before he realized he was blindfolded. Tried to move, to realize he was restrained. This is not good, he told himself.
He was cold, but not unbearable so. The air was damp, which could indicate that he was underground. He was lying down, or at least it felt like he was lying down, his back against something cold and metal…maybe stone. He felt a touch on his leg, near where the pain lived in his knee. He stilled under it. Held his breath.
“Dr. Jackson. How pleasant to see you again.”
That was a voice he knew. “Ba’al. Wish I could say the same.”
“I suppose I should be surprised to find you here, but sadly, I’m not.”
“I’ll admit I’m a little surprised to find you here.” Daniel responded. “Last I heard you were busy brainwashing Jaffa.”
Daniel heard him moving around him, stopping when he got to his feet. “Perhaps I will have better luck with you.”
“I doubt it.”
Ba’al came back to his side. “Of course, I do prefer more painful methods of extracting information.” His hand closed on Daniel’s shoulder and squeezed until Daniel yelled out in response. “Music to my ears…though, we haven’t a sarcophagus, so I will have to restrain myself from killing you.” He released Daniel’s shoulder and resumed his walking.
“Lucky me.”
Ba’al stopped again and Daniel could almost imagine him looking at him with amusement in his face. “Did you learn this bantering from your friend O’Neill? Or is it a trait of your whole race?”
Daniel could feel his face flush at the mention of Jack. He had little memory of his time Ascended, brief glimpses, mostly to do with his friends…with sitting with Jack between sessions of torture at Ba’al’s hands. “Why don’t you just get on with it?” he said harshly. He’d been through this before. Pain alone wouldn’t break him, not while there was a chance Mitchell could still save the others.
Daniel felt hands at his head, the blindfold being removed. He closed his eyes so the light wouldn’t blind him, then opened them slowly. Ba’al’s smile was dark, sadistic. He nodded to approaching Jaffa who presented a tray filled with ancient implements. “I’m told that the people of this region were a violent sort. They understood how to make a person bleed in all manner of intriguing ways.” Almost idly, he lifted an ancient looking cat’o’ nine tails with bits of bone and stone at the ends of each leather thong, and held it where Daniel could see it. “This for example. I’m told the pain is excruciating.”
11:05am
Carter stopped to catch her breath. What little bit of a trail she had been following had disappeared into a tumble of rocks and trees. She was beginning to wonder if she should retrace her steps and try again when a flash of movement caught her eye.
She dropped to a crouch, her eyes scanning the trees. There, a shock of blue against the natural greens and grays. She moved slowly, deliberately circling around so that she wouldn’t approach from behind. There was no point in spooking them further if she could help it. Climbing a bit of a rise gave her a vantage point to look into the dell where a girl sat in the midst of giant tree roots. Her eyes were closed and for a moment, Sam was afraid she was dead. The slow rise and fall of her chest proved her alive, though it was increasingly obvious she was alone.
Carefully, she stepped into the open and moved closer. The blue denim of the girl’s shirt was torn and dirty, and there was blood on her hands. Sam knelt beside her, one hand snaking out to touch her. She started awake and Sam raised both hands to show she meant no harm, while urging her to be quiet with gentle “sh” noises.
“Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, US Air Force,” she said softly.
The girl swallowed and nodded. “Teri Solaz, UNM.”
Sam smiled encouragingly. “Nice to meet you, Teri. We’ve been looking for you. Are you injured?”
Teri looked down at her hands and wiped them on the ground. “Nothing serious. This isn’t mine. Dr. Jackson…He was shot.”
Sam nodded. “Its okay, Teri. Right now its important that you aren’t hurt. Where are the others?”
She started to shake. “We…got separated. There was a…a…I don’t really know what it was…”
Sam pulled her canteen from her pack and handed it the frightened girl. “Its okay, Teri. I have a pretty good idea what it was. Tell me what happened.”
She swallowed several large gulps of water, then lowered the canteen and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “Dr. Jackson made us leave him. He was hurt, couldn’t keep up. We ran. That thing found us. It caught up with George, ripped the back pack off of him. We kept running. George gave me Dr. Jackson’s backpack and told me to hide. He and Kota waited for it to come back.”
She took another drink from the canteen before handing it back to Sam. “Why would they wait for it?”
“It wanted this.” She moved a little and lifted a dirty black pack from behind her. “It got the one with our supplies.”
Sam took the pack and opened it, smiling as she recognized the ZPM. “You are incredibly brave Teri. Did you see which way George and Kota went?”
She pointed north and Sam nodded, reaching for her radio. “Colonel Mitchell.”
“Go ahead Sam.”
“I found one of the students. Apparently the drone is chasing the other two, according to her.”
“How is she?”
“Shaken, but unhurt.”
“Get her back to camp.”
“What about the other two?”
“You can’t take on a drone by yourself, Sam.”
“Neither can they, sir.”
“Carter.” There was frustration in his voice and she glanced at Teri.
“Right. Back to camp. What about you?”
“We’ll be in touch.”
“Cameron?”
She heard him sigh. “Jackson’s been taken. We found his cell phone and his glasses, more blood. We’re trying to determine where they’ve gone.”
Sam chewed her lip and turned to Teri. “How badly was Dr. Jackson injured?”
Teri hugged herself tightly like she was cold. “Shot in the shoulder. He busted up his knee pretty badly too.”
“Did he say anything about who was behind the attack?”
“No.”
Sam nodded and spoke once more into the radio. “Mitchell, be advised, Daniel took a shot in the shoulder and has a wounded knee. According to Teri he isn’t very mobile.”
“Understood.”
“Okay, you ready to get back to camp?” Sam asked.
Teri nodded, standing. She shouldered the pack and set out behind Sam.
12:15am
Daniel was panting with the exertion it took to keep from screaming. Ba’al had worked his way through half the tray of instruments with a glee that Daniel found disconcerting, even in a goa’uld. He hadn’t even started asking questions until after the second one, a series of wooden slivers he pressed under Daniel’s fingernails.
“Come now, Dr. Jackson. We’re reasonable men.”
“You…call…this…reasonable?” he asked breathlessly.
Ba’al chuckled. “From my perspective, yes.”
Daniel felt the cold steel of the blade slide across his already bloody chest. It felt oddly good, cool against the fire of his flesh. Then it began to dig in, just under the skin.
“Tell me where this power source, this ZPM is.” Ba’al said. “And, all of this ends.”
“Go…to…hell…”
“As you wish, Dr. Jackson.”
The blade bit deeper and Daniel lost the battle against screaming.
1:30pm
Mitchell and Teal’c heard the sound of the drone’s running footsteps, smelled the acrid aroma of its weapon all before they saw the two young men zigzagging through the trees toward them. As one they sprang from cover, grabbing the two men and dragging them to ground, hands over mouths to keep them quiet and still.
Mitchell signaled the need for silence with his free hand and risked lifting his head to try to spot the drone, ducking it nearly immediately as the drone approached them. It stopped little more than ten feet away, searching for its prey. It took forever, but eventually it began moving again, slow, methodical footsteps carrying it away from them.
When he couldn’t hear it anymore, Mitchell exhaled violently and shook his head before lifting himself off of the shorter of the two young men. “Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, US Air Force, and you two had better be Dr. Laney’s missing students.”
The blonde one nodded as Teal’c helped him to his feet. “I’m George. This is Kota. What was that thing?”
“A very, very nasty man with an obsessive compulsive need to kill people.”
“Are you injured?” Teal’c asked Kota who was getting up gingerly.
“No, just a little sore. We’ve been running from that thing for hours.”
Mitchell looked around them. “We should move. It’ll circle back when it realizes its lost the trail.”
“Indeed.”
Mitchell sighed and shook his head. Every ounce of him wanted to keep looking for Jackson, but he knew better than to take civilians into that kind of fight. “We head back to camp. Teal’c, you’re on point.”
3:45pm
Daniel woke with a start. He didn’t remember falling asleep…or more appropriately, passing out. Ba’al must have finally found his threshold for pain. He tried moving the fingers of his uninjured hand, gratified when they responded. His toes seemed to be functioning too. He wasn’t restrained, not that it mattered.
It was obvious that his knee wouldn’t support him, so running was simply out of the question. He sat up slowly. The pain in his shoulder had withdrawn to a dull ache, one that was mirrored in his knee and the wounds across his chest and back. The light sheen of sweat that slicked his head and arms told him he’d developed a fever. That couldn’t be good. He was in some sort of dark room. It felt small, but there was no way to know in the pitch black. He was still shirtless, though it seemed his wounds had stopped bleeding. That could only mean it was time for Ba’al to begin again.
Almost as if on cue, a door opened. Daniel blinked into the sudden rush of light and tried to bite back the fear that rose inside him. It wasn’t like fear was going to benefit him.
“I see that you have awakened, Dr. Jackson. I was beginning to worry I had gone too far.”
“No, no such luck, I’m afraid.” Two Jaffa came into the room, pulling Daniel to his feet and dragging him from the room. Ba’al’s smile as they passed him made Daniel think something had changed since their last conversation. He said nothing though as they passed through a dark corridor and into the room Daniel remembered from before.
It was there that Daniel made out what was different. Two of Dr. Laney’s students knelt on the floor, their clothes torn and bloody. The girl looked as though she had been crying. The Jaffa dumped Daniel to the ground near them, his knee slamming the stone under him. He swallowed the pain and tried to keep from pitching face first into the floor. “David, Kelly, are you two okay?”
She nodded distractedly, her unfocused eyes turning toward Ba’al as he approached. David’s nod was tighter, his eyes snapping to Daniel’s before jumping up to Ba’al.
Ba’al’s hand descended on Daniel’s shoulder. “Now then, Dr. Jackson. Shall we begin again? Your message to Colonel Carter yesterday evening indicated that you had found something I very much want to get my hands on. Where is it?”
“I don’t know.” Daniel said. “Right this moment, I don’t know where it is.”
Daniel watched as Ba’al’s left hand came over his shoulder and the ribbon device began to glow, catching Kelly in it’s beam. David yelled and attempted to assist her, but was restrained by a Jaffa. Daniel closed his eyes. “Stop.”
The device stopped glowing and Kelly slumped against David. “Do you have something to tell me?”
He hung his head. It had to be convincing, give him time to figure out a way to escape, to get the kids out. “I…hid it…in the forest.”
Ba’al’s mouth was near Daniel’s ear. “See, I knew you could be reasonable. Tell me where it is hidden.”
When Daniel hesitated, Ba’al’s hand lifted toward Kelly again. “Not far from where you found me. There’s a hollow tree.”
4:02pm
Mitchell and Carter watched Angela Laney and the students they had collectively found disappeared in a shimmer of light, the backpack filled with ZPM and assorted new toys clutched in Dr. Laney’s hands. At least with it aboard Prometheus they didn’t have to worry about losing it and could concentrate on finding Daniel.
Another shimmer of light produced the drone weapon, which Teal’c scooped up quickly, his frown easing a little. “Colonel Mitchell, we think we have found them.”
Mitchell jogged over to the major who was heading up the tracking teams and providing back up muscle. A map of the area was spread out over a table from the mess tent.
“This is where the drone was last seen, moving in this direction.” As one, Mitchell, Carter, the major and Teal’c looked up and scanned the tree line. “This is where you think Dr. Jackson was taken.” The major pointed to the map. “Dr. Laney was found here. That leaves this area.” He swept his hand around an area north of the camp.
“That’s a lot of area, Major.”
“Yes, sir, but there are only two places with habitable ruins, and aerial surveillance indicates that there are no other camps or villages in the area. This one,” he indicated the site closest to them, “is large enough to contain a small ship, and we are picking up energy readings consistent with a goa’uld vessel.”
The major handed a report to Carter who scanned it, then looked up with a grin. “Strange that a pile of ancient ruins would be showing an energy signature that mirrors a goa’uld hatach, don’t you think?” she asked.
“Indeed.” Teal’c hefted the weapon in his hands. “I believe that is where we will find Daniel Jackson.”
“Okay, Major. Round up your boys. Looks like we’re going site seeing.”
4:42pm
Daniel sat on the floor between Kelly and David, largely ignored now that Ba’al could sense a victory. The goa’uld stood with his back to them, ordering his men out into the surrounding forest. It gave Daniel time to examine the room a little more closely.
He’d assumed they were in some forgotten pyramid, but as he looked closer he could tell it was only made to look that way. The layout had been altered, but there were signs, once he started looking. He smiled. They were in a ship dressed up to look like an ancient temple site. He pressed his hand to the floor. There was no vibration, no sign of engines running. That meant they were on the ground. “I’m going to need your help to get us out of this.” Daniel said as quietly as he could. He saw David nod, and felt Kelly touch his leg. “Good. Do whatever you’re told and be ready to move when I tell you.”
5:18pm
Teams of Jaffa combing the trees frustrated Mitchell’s plan of a silent approach. The first two teams of four went down fairly quietly with zat blasts, but then came the staff weapons exploding again trees and the gunfire, which lead to more Jaffa, and the drone.
Teal’c tried to maneuver to get the shot at the drone, but had to keep moving to avoid the staff blasts. Carter shouted something and Mitchell turned to see her duck a rushing Jaffa. She scrambled away from him just as Mitchell caught him in the chest with three bullets. She nodded her thanks and retrieved her weapon to cover Teal’c. Three more Jaffa went down. He’d lost count, but he figured they had to be doing some damage, how many Jaffa could have come on this little outing anyway?
5:25pm
“My Lord Ba’al, we have lost fifteen men, and the drone,” a Jaffa reported breathlessly after bursting into the room and sketching a hasty bow.
“Lost?”
“The Tauri, they are attacking the men who are searching the trees.”
Ba’al whipped around, fury in his face. “Send out more men. Kill the Tauri and bring me the ZPM.”
“Yes my lord.”
Ba’al’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Daniel. “Your friends I presume?”
Daniel shrugged his good shoulder and smiled. “You know how we get when one of us is in trouble.”
Ba’al gestured to the Jaffa nearest him. “Take Dr. Jackson and his young friends to our guest quarters while I deal with this.”
Two Jaffa dragged Daniel to his feet and prodded David and Kelly to theirs. Daniel did his best to make himself dead weight while keeping from getting wounded further. He caught David’s eye when he thought they were far enough from bringing immediate reinforcements down on them and nodded. He shifted his weight enough to make the Jaffa on his left stumble, then pushed his good foot into the ground and shoved his way, toppling them both to the ground. He fell into the Jaffa, using his right hand to keep from cramming the knee or shoulder into something and incapacitating himself with the pain. His hand closed around the armored arm, just as a big hand crashed into his face. He fell backwards, grabbing for the nearest weapon he could see, the Jaffa’s zat gun.
He raised the weapon from his spot on his back, then yelled as the second Jaffa, grappling with David, kicked the gun away. The Jaffa he had toppled was on top of him, pulling him up off the ground…and dropping him back just as fast. Daniel stifled his yell as his shoulder hit the ground. The sound of the zat sang through the air and both Jaffa fell to the floor. Daniel looked up to find Kelly holding the gun.
She was shaking as Daniel held out his hand for the zat. He touched her hand in what he hoped was a calming gesture, then turned the gun on the unconscious Jaffa. “One to stun, two to kill.” He shot both again. “Three to make them disappear.” He shot again and the bodies were gone. “Think you can handle that?” He looked up at her. She looked shocked, but nodded and took the gun he held out to her. “Don’t hesitate. They wouldn’t.”
5:54pm
Mitchell and Carter lay along the low rise that led down to the pyramid hiding the ship. Carter was scanning the area. “No main engines engaged. It’s bigger than your average cargo ship though.”
“Yet, small enough to hide in there and escape our sensors.” Mitchell moved down to Teal’c and Carter followed. “Any suggestions?”
“If it is indeed Ba’al he will likely continue attempting to find the ZPM.”
“Which makes me wonder how he knew it was here to begin with.” Sam said.
“We must have a leak.” Mitchell said, his face grim. “Only, he attacked before anyone but you and Daniel knew what he’d found. Someone here? Mills?”
“Its hard to say.” Sam looked over her shoulder as the rest of their men assembled. The shadows deepened around them. “Whatever it is were going to do, it should be soon. It’s getting dark.”
6:00pm
Daniel found his way out of the part of the ship Ba’al had dressed up for his benefit and into more familiar surroundings. They had only encountered a single other Jaffa, dispatched quickly by Kelly and the zat gun.
Daniel held to David’s shoulder as they worked their way down a corridor that seemed like it should take them to an exit hatch. Instead it lead them to yet another corridor. “Stop.” Daniel leaned against the wall and breathed slowly. His thoughts were a jumble. It wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t function at all. Beyond that Ba’al would miss them any time now and start the search. He exhaled and stretched his neck, until his eye caught sight of something familiar. “Engine room.”
“What?”
Daniel nodded at the door across the hall. “It’s a ship. Engine room. Help me.” He reached out for David again and hobbled across the hall. “Be ready.” He said to Kelly as he keyed the door open.
The Jaffa charged as the door opened, but fell as Kelly fired. “Get the staff weapon.” Daniel said as it rolled from the limp hands. “We may need it.”
“Now what?” David asked as Daniel moved himself to one of the panels.
Daniel grinned. “Now we give Ba’al a little reminder about messing with Earth.” He pulled open the drawer. “Mix them up. Open the drawers and rearrange all of the crystals.”
“Why?” Kelly asked, though she moved to do as he said.
“If nothing else, we gunk up the engine and they can’t fly away. If we’re really lucky, the ship will blow up.”
Daniel jumbled up his drawer, then moved on to another. A few minutes later, they stole back into the corridor again. “Go that way.” Daniel instructed, though he was fading quickly. Kelly moved to support his other side.
Two corridors and three Jaffa later, Daniel had lost patience with his inability to find a way out. He took the staff weapon from David and pointed it at the nearest wall, hoping he was right that it was an outer wall. Three shots finally penetrated the wall, even as the ship shuddered with what he thought felt like an abortive attempt to start the engines. David helped him through the hole, into the dark, damp of the pyramid.
“That’s better.” Daniel said, even as he slid off David’s shoulder. He could see the ruddy light of the setting sun behind the ship, where Ba’al must have blasted his way into the ruins. “Go, get out.”
Kelly knelt beside him and touched his face. “He’s burning up.”
David stood, biting his lip as Daniel’s eyes closed. “Stay here. Let me get a look.” He climbed over the debris and around the ship, scoping the path that could take them out into the red sunset. “Think we can carry him?”
Beside them the ship rumbled and they looked at each other. “I say we try.” Kelly said. Together, they lifted Daniel’s limp body and inched their way through the increasing dark.
6:28pm
The opening of the pyramid and the back end of the ship hidden inside were painted crimson with the setting sun. A growing rumble began to shake the ground and Carter grabbed Mitchell’s arm as she squinted into the distance. “Cam, look.” She pointed and he followed her finger.
They seemed so small next to the expanse of the pyramid, two black specks…no, two black specks carrying a third. He looked at Carter and Teal’c and together they started toward them.
As they got closer and could make out that one of the three was Daniel Jackson, Mitchell broke into a run. The ground shook violently and a sudden explosion rocked them all, sending debris flying and tossing the two kids and their burden crashing into Mitchell and Carter.
When the dust had settled, Daniel lay in a heap, surrounded by his friends and David and Kelly. He was barely conscious, but laughing. Carter knelt beside him and his eyes opened when she touched him. “Sam.”
“Daniel.”
“Nice of you to come.” He looked up at Mitchell. “What kept you?”
Mitchell chuckled and squatted beside him. “Bad day, Jackson?”
Daniel laughed again until it caused him to cough. “I don’t know. I got to blow up Ba’al’s ship.”
“Is that what that was?”
“Yep.”
“Was he in there?”
Daniel’s smile faded a little. “Think so. Hard to tell. Slimy one.” He was already drifting back toward unconsciousness.
Sam paused in her perusal of his injuries to catch Cameron’s eye. “We need to get him out of here.”
“No arguments from me.” Mitchell said, standing to begin to organize their withdrawal.
Sam made a face as she checked the shoulder wound and jumped as Daniel’s hand grabbed hers. His blue eyes were intense as they found hers. “The ZPM…Teri, George…”
Sam smiled. “Everything’s okay, Daniel. We got them. Dr. Laney, and the others. Their safe. Rest. We’ll have you home in no time.”
11:21pm
Daniel opened his eyes, disoriented at first. The infirmary of the SGC seemed so far removed from his last 24 hours he could almost imagine they hadn’t happened, except for the IV that ran into his hand and the bandages wrapped around his torso and shoulder. Whatever drugs the IV was pumping into him must have been good, he couldn’t feel anything, until a hand slid into his.
He looked up. “Jack?”
Jack O’Neill grinned at him as he perched on the edge of the bed holding his hand in a friendly way. “You scared me,” he said softly.
“Sorry.”
They were quiet for a moment before Jack cleared his throat. “I’m damn proud of you, Danny Boy.” He made show of straightening the blanket covering him. “Time was I wouldn’t have trusted you to find your way out of a paper bag on your own. Now, you go up against goa’uld with no back up and come out in one piece…more or less.”
Daniel tried to smile, but the weight of it was heavy. “It wasn’t all that, Jack.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “No? You were unarmed, injured, up against a goa’uld, Jaffa and a drone with kids to protect and priceless artifacts to keep safe…and you managed to stay alive, keep the goods, and save five kids…not to mention blowing up the goa’uld. That’s pretty good, in my book.”
Daniel closed his eye. “Yes, but I also managed to get shot within the first ten minutes of the whole ordeal, send three of those kids off on a suicide mission, get captured and tortured and-“
“All in a days work.” Mitchell’s voice came from the door way. He smirked as he approached, holding up Daniel’s glasses and cell phone. “You also managed to lose these.” He set them on the table next to the bed. He nodded at Jack, then looked back at Jackson. “I just wanted to make sure you’d have the cell, so you can call the next time you get yourself into a situation.”
Daniel smiled. “Thank you.”
“You did most of the work Jackson, we were just the clean up crew on this one.” Mitchell looked over his shoulder “Lamm’s going to come kick us out, so I’m heading home before she can. Carter and Teal’c will be by in the morning with some of your things. It looks like you’ll be here a while.” He touched Daniel’s arm and Jack’s shoulder as he left.
“Looks like you made an impression on him too.” Jack said, squeezing Daniel’s hand.
“General, we need to let Dr. Jackson rest.” Dr. Lamm said quietly from the doorway.
“Just leaving, Doc.” Jack stood and then leaned in close. “If you ever put me through another bad day like this, I’ll kill you myself,” he whispered. Then he pressed a goofy kiss to Daniel’s forehead. “I mean it, Danny. Bare hands, throat. Dead.” He held up his hands as if it made his threat more real. Daniel smiled before his eyes drifted shut.
It had started as a really bad day, but Ba’al was dead, or at least buried under a ton of rock, they had a working ZPM and who knows what else, possibly a new ally among the Ascended Ancients, and Jack had come back from Washington to see him.
All in all, not a bad day. Not at all.
Fin