Sorry, motivational issues again. I've taken to watching Lost on tv-links lately and it's taken most of my time. I will be finishing this story up soon, but not yet. Left you with a bit of excitement left yet. Please review, it does make updates come faster. I would beg on my hands and knees, but I don't think you'd care. Everyone can review, tell me what they think, what is good, what is bad, yatta yatta ya. Okay, that's really it. Read on!
Jack felt himself being dragged. Two strong hands pulled him by his arms. A terrible pain ran up his left side. He was on the verge of consciousness. His body was weak and battered.
The group was coming back from its latest torture session. This time Colonel Saven had been added. Everyone had been stabbed, poisoned and had electric charges shot through him or her with the hand device, but Jack was by far the best off of the group. In fact, Jack figured he was the only one semi aware of his surroundings. Maybe Teal'c was, but Jack couldn't tell from where he was. Jack heard the bars of their cell pulled open and each member of the crew unceremoniously tossed in. Kesler was the only one who was missing. He had taken a rough beating, and with the wound he already sported Jack was sure he hadn't made it.
Jack's arm throbbed and ached. He was sure the bone had been pulled from the joint. The continuous pain was making his head hurt. I hope you're in a better place Daniel. Tears came to his eyes. The exhaustion, pain and the thought of what may be happening to his emotional friend were doing him in. Jack fell into an uneasy sleep.
Daniel woke up on the floor in the throne room. He wasn't sure how long he had been out, but he was certain it hadn't been long. Hathor, Sekhmet, Daniel reminded himself, was across the room, speaking with some Jaffa. There was a priestly looking man with a large golden chalice in his hands. He was kneeling and offering it to Sekhmet. She smiled a somewhat cold smile and took the cup, sipping it slowly. The jaffa pulled the priest to his feet and led him away.
Daniel watched as Sekhmet seemed to waver on her feet and swayed. A look of alarm crossed her face as two Jaffa came to assist her. She noticed Daniel watching her from his sprawled position on the floor. Her eyes flashed as she pointed at him. "You," she hissed, "you have done this!" The Jaffa did not seem alarmed at her statement and came towards him. One continued to support his goddess while the other pulled Daniel to his feet. He staggered, head pounding at the effects of the hand device. The Jaffa carried the two through a door behind the throne. Daniel could see that Sekhmet had completely passed out.
What the hell is happening here? Did someone just drug Sekhmet? How didn't the symbiote stop it? Daniel noticed that they had passed into a much more personal set of rooms. The rooms were lavishly decorated and filled with gold and jewels. Daniel was placed upon a large bed, heavily cushioned and fancifully designed. Sekhmet was placed in a chair rivaling her throne. She came to after a few moments. Daniel sat himself up in the bed, the jaffa watching him cautiously out of the corner of their eyes. Daniel watched Sekhmet. Her eyes fell upon him and she smiled. He looked into her eyes. The fire of Sekhmet was gone.
"Welcome, Beloved. We knew you could not bear being separated from us," Hathor's cold two-toned voice laughed. Daniel shivered. What is this? I don't understand! Is Hathor some drugged up dual personality goa'uld? I know in history that Hathor and Sekhmet are the same person, or thing I guess more accurately describes the, but are they the same goa'uld too? Questions raced through Daniel's mind.
"Where are my friends?" Daniel asked, hoping against hope to distract her.
"Do not worry about them. They are nothing now that we are together." Her eyes flashed. She dismissed the jaffa guards and stepped gracefully up to the bed. Daniel pulled himself off the bed, energized from the fear he felt. He didn't want a repeat of last time. He couldn't take it. It would be too much.
"Don't touch me!" He warned her.
She looked at him as though he was a child. "Or what?" she asked mockingly.
"I will blow you to Hell, even if it means I'm going too," Daniel's voice wavered. He had no way to escape her clutches and she knew it.
"Come here, Beloved. We will show you that you can love us just as much as we love you." She slipped off the bed and walked seductively towards him.
"Love?" Daniel scoffed. "Can a goa'uld love? Can you feel anything but hate and anger? Tell me what is going on? What happened to Sekhmet?"
"Sekhmet will rise once again. She is sleeping now. The kind priests make a drug to keep her asleep. Sometimes she will take it, sometimes she will not. When she sleeps, we rise."
"How were you in the SGC and not Sekhmet?"
"Our worshippers leave us this drug for us. While we slept in the sarcophagus, the drug was made many times over and left in hope that we, the most beloved of all Gods, would rise and not the wicked Sekhmet. We drank all that was there in a dreaded thirst, and Sekhmet fell deeply asleep. We then ruled without her and her wicked ways." Hathor seemed to be proud of her doings. "Sometimes we are able to trick her, and she will drink more than normal."
"Trick her how?"
"Make her dreadfully thirsty. She will drink anything that appears as blood. The priests have learned this."
"So Sekhmet is bloodthirsty," Daniel smirked at the joke. Hathor frowned, uncertain of his meaning.
"She kills for pleasure. We have better uses of our time, and it is not this mindless talking." Hathor approached Daniel, backing him into a corner. Her breath toughed Daniel's cheek and found it's way into his mouth.
Suddenly she didn't seem so bad. She was a misunderstood loving goddess. She never wanted to hurt anyone, just rule them as best as she could. Daniel fell into her as she wrapped her arms around him. "Tell us, Beloved. How do we get in through your Stargate?"
Jack had pulled himself up against a wall with his good arm. He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. He was so tired, but he wanted to find a way to escape and save Daniel. Certainly there was something he could do. Sleep took Jack before he could find what he was searching for. He woke to the concerned whispers of someone near him. Jack waited for his body to fully wake up before opening his eyes. Sam was talking to Merker and Teal'c in hushed tones. Teal'c was the first to see Jack awake.
"It is good to see you well again," Teal'c said, bowing his head slightly.
"Thanks, T. Good to see you too."
"Is your shoulder injured badly?" Sam asked, worry in her voice.
"I think it's out of joint. I need some one to pull it back in."
Sam crawled over, light hitting the nasty scrap and bruise across the right side of her face. "I'm going to pull on it really hard, sir, so try to hold still. This will hurt, but your arm will be somewhat operational afterwards." Jack nodded his approval.
Carter wrapped her hands firmly around his wrist and yanked.
Jack gasped. Pain shot through his arm, side and neck. After a few deep breathes, the pain started to ebb. "Are you okay, sir?"
"I am fine, just peachy," Jack smiled sourly, lines around his eyes and mouth showing the true pain he felt.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I had to…" Sam gushed.
"Carter! I know!" Jack snapped Sam out of her apology. "You don't need to apologize."
Merker looked nervously at the two. "I hate to interrupt, but we need to get out of here and find Kesler and Jackson."
Jack looked over Sam's shoulder at the Major. "What do you suppose we should do, Major?"
The conversation was interrupted by Captain Peicewise waking. He grabbed his arm, with out thinking as he drudged from the depth of sleep. He was showing a bloodied gash across his forehead and most likely a broken arm. Elbows weren't supposed to bend that way.
"Peicewise? How are you feeling?" Sam asked, keeping the alarm from her face.
"Aching a bit. Fine otherwise. Why?"
"Your arm is broken."
Peicewise took a glance at his arm and his eyes grew wide. Jack could tell he was about to go into shock. Sam saw it too. She wrapped her and Teal'c jacket around him and talked soothingly to him until he fell asleep again. Merker then put his jacket around Sam. "You need it more than I," he had said with a smile. Sam accepted the gracious offer.
"I think we should try to break out when they take us to the next torture session," Merker suggested.
"Indeed. That is when it would be most probable for our escape to be successful," Teal'c agreed.
"So we are supposed to take out five, six guards, with the four of us who can fight, maybe five if Saven is all right." Jack knew he sounded skeptical. He felt skeptical. He knew it was their best shot, but it wasn't a good one. What if they failed?
"Sir I think it's our only shot. We can't sit and do nothing, getting more and more beaten as the days go by. We can't let Daniel stay in her hands!" Sam sounded so sure. Emotion rose to the brim of her voice.
"I know. That's why I am agreeing with you. We should fight. If we lay in wait here we may be able to get a zat gun from a guard before they even know we are doing anything. This is the narrowest place, making it easier, one guard at a time."
"But at the same time, that means only one person can fight that guard at a time."
"If we can draw the guard far enough into the cell, we should be able attack with three of us. That may allow the next guard to enter, which means we will need someone to be ready to attack him," Jack explained.
Sam nodded, "I think this could work!"
"Okay. Sam, Merker and T, you will attack the first guard. I will help you until the next guard comes, which I will then take on."
"Why you sir? Why not me? I can take a guard on in hand to hand combat."
"Indeed. I am best equipped for an attack as that." Teal'c argument made sense.
Jack thought for a moment, eyes closed. "All right, Teal'c, I agree with you. You will be able to take him out best. He's all yours."
Teal'c smiled, sort of, and lowered his bald shiny head. "I am pleased that you value my assistance, O'Neill."
"All the time, Teal'c. All the time."
Jack could hear the guards coming. It had been almost a full day since the plot hat been hatched and the group was waiting silently in the darkness of the cell for the first guard to enter.
Colonel Saven had awakened, but was injured severely and had died during the night. Sam said it was probably internal bleeding. Merker had not taken it well. Peicewise was asleep now, his arm in a makeshift splint. Sam had taken parts of Saven's shoe to try and keep Peicewise's arm straight with shoelaces to keep the brace up. Merker had protested originally, feeling that they were robbing the dead, but had lightened up after seeing how it may help Peicewise's arm heal somewhat correctly.
One guard came into the room and was immediately bomb barded with people attacking him. Merker used all the negative energy his body was holding to whack the man so hard he fell to the ground unconscious. Teal'c had taken the second guard out just as quickly with a head butt. The other three jaffa drew zat guns and staffs ready before entering. Teal'c took out one. Sam was hit with a zat energy blast, knocking her flat. One was shot with his fellow jaffa's gun that Teal'c had managed to take command of, and the other was overwhelmed by Jack and Merker. Now Jack had to make a decision. Leave Sam and Peicewise here to possible be taken prisoners again while they rescued Daniel, take Peicewise and Sam with them, or leave on conscious person behind to guard them while the other two go for Daniel, and Kesler Jack reminded himself.
Jack knew Kessler was most likely dead, but he also knew Daniel most likely was not.
Jack presented the options to the two other men present. "Which is the best option?" he asked.
Merker thought for a moment before answering. "What about two people taking Carter and Saven and Peicewise out and one person going in for Jackson." Jack noticed how he didn't mention Kesler. Maybe he too had given up hope for his friend and teammate's well being.
"Teal'c and you carry these three out. If it's too much, leave Saven behind." Merker made as if to protest, Jack cut him off. "This is what he'd want. He wouldn't want one of you getting shot down because you were lugging his dead body around. He is at peace now, far from the bastards we have yet to deal with. I will go and find Daniel. He will probably react best to me finding him anyways. I want you two to get through that gate as fast as you can. Do not send help, they will only give us more casualties and prisoners. I will get through as soon as I can with Daniel." Teal'c bowed his head in agreement. It was the best option. Teal'c could carry two people. No one else could. Merker didn't know Daniel well enough to get Daniel. That left Jack.
"Carter should wake up before you get through the gate, so that will make things a little easier. Good luck."
"To you as well, O'Neill." Teal'c heaved Peicewise and Saven up on his shoulders. Jack noticed how he left Merker with the lightest of the bunch. He had to smile. Jack grabbed the weapons from the guards on the floor. He zapped up the bodies, making them disintegrate. Then he handed a weapon to each. Teal'c put his zat between his skin and his pants on his back, seeing as he could not carry both people and a gun. Merker managed the same.
The group left the prison together. Jack followed them to a certain point, then left to find the room that appeared to be a throne room for the ruling goa'uld. Damn that Hathor. If Daniel has a scratch on him, she will pay.
No one was in the throne room except a few lone jaffa guards entering from a room somewhere behind the throne. Jack shot them down easily enough with his zat.
Where would I hide if I were a goa'uld? What do these people do all day anyways, besides torture a few prisoners, eat, sarcophagus themselves and seduce people? Do they actually do any ruling? Jack distracted himself from the seriousness of the situation with the questions. Jack thought of checking out behind the throne, from the darkened doorway the jaffa had come from. There could be something back there.
And if there isn't, I'll feel terrible that I am wasting time when Daniel needs to get out of here. Then another Jaffa came out. Jack shot the jaffa down before he could even notice him. The jaffa looked so thin and wiry compared to the bulk of the others. Never seen a jaffa like that! Then Jack drew close. He looked closely at the jaffa. The sandy hair seemed faintly familiar. Jack rolled the Jaffa over with his foot. Kesler! Jack recognized the man with trepidation. The symbiote had to have come from somewhere and he recalled all to well how they had been made at the SGC. Jack slipped into the corridor behind the throne. Please be back here! Please be all right! Say there is another way, anything. Jack was shaking a bit with anxiety. He feared what he'd find.