~Otakai~

"They think you're a what?"

Daniel grimaced and flicked his gaze to the two small, but highly armed aliens guarding his cell. Scrubbing a hand down his face in frustration, he leaned in close to Jack and whispered, "A god… they think I'm a god."

"What… again? I thought we sorted this little hero worship problem of theirs out last time we were here, Daniel. Well, I thought you did."

"So did I!" Daniel replied heatedly, before lowering his voice when one of the little aliens turned a weapon in his direction and growled. "I really don't know what's going on here, but it appears there is someone hot-footing it around the galaxy who looks a lot like me. Well, enough to have these guys fooled."

"Daniel, these guys are all five foot nothing. How could—"

"If you're wondering how they overpowered me, then don't bother. Jack, from what little of their language I can understand, they had this planned from the moment the SGC told them SG-1 would be following up on their request for assistance. This was a set up. It's obvious they didn't believe me last time when I explained how impossible it was for me to have been here before."

"Need to work on that cover story."

"Bite me."

"So, they bided their time in the hopes you'd return?"

Daniel shrugged, clearly not totally believing his own explanation of events. "That's the only theory I can come up with," he said, testing the bars by shaking them, and then quickly stepping back when, once again, weapons were trained on him.

"Well," Jack stole a glance over his shoulder, "it does explain why they were so friendly and eager for you to check out their temple… hut."

"And why they didn't want you, Teal'c, or Sam anywhere near the place when they took me down."

Jack eyed Daniel from head to toe and waggled a finger at the gash on his temple. "You okay?"

"I'm fine… it's superficial."

"It's a head wound."

"Yes, so it bleeds a lot more. Really, Jack, I'm fine."

"Carter can look at it when we get you out of here."

"About that…" Daniel drawled. "I don't think a show of fire power is a good idea. Jack, these people base their lives around a very simple belief system that has served them well for longer than their written history. Coming in guns blazing and making off with their god isn't the best way to make allies."

Jack wasn't convinced. "We're way beyond being best buddies with these people, Daniel. How long did you spend trying to convince them you weren't this all-seeing god of theirs last time we were here?"

"Long enough," Daniel conceded wryly.

"There you go!"

"You can't break me out of here!"

Jack raised a finger to his lips for silence, his gaze intense. "Keep it down, will ya?" He looked back over his shoulder at the two guards. Both were staring intently at him, but quickly turned away when Jack offered them a small smile. "Teal'c is out gathering intel on their weaponry and numbers, and Carter is making good with the local chieftain. You… you just need to sit tight until we've worked out our next move."

"It won't work." Daniel turned and sat back down on a tiny bench; the only object in his cell besides a bucket which he assumed was to take care of his personal needs.

"Trust me on this, Daniel. As soon as we're an hour past our scheduled check-in, Hammond will dial in and we can send for reinforcements. We'll have you out of there in no time."

"No, that's not why it won't work." Daniel pushed the right arm of his BDU jacket up and turned his hand over, presenting Jack with a not so neat row of stiches just above his wrist. The skin around the stitches was bruised and red.

"What the hell!" Jack hissed. "I thought you said you were fine?"

Daniel quickly pulled the sleeve back down and over his fingers. "I am… well, I will be if you don't do anything stupid. They've implanted a capsule containing a neurotoxin of some sort. Local juju, I think… I'm not really sure. Anyway, the capsule isn't soluble, but can be ruptured via electronic stimulus."

"A remote device?"

Daniel nodded, eyes downcast.

"I thought you said these people were on a development path similar to Earth during the late seventeen hundreds?"

"They are… or at least they should be. Somehow they've managed to get their hands on technology that isn't theirs, and they've adapted it for their own purposes."

"Heck of a way to treat their god."

"Yes, well… about that. It seems not everyone here is convinced I am who they think I am."

"Surprise, surprise," Jack said mockingly. "So the doubters built in some fail-safe just in case you weren't as all seeing and knowing as they thought?"

"And that's not all."

"It never is."

"This isn't funny."

"Do you see me laughing?"

Knocking the back of his head against the cell wall, Daniel sighed audibly, stress winding itself into a knot in the pit of his stomach. "Because there is some doubt among the clan as to my authenticity, they want to test me."

"Of course they do," Jack groaned. "And what happens if you pass this test of theirs? They marry you off to the chief's daughter? It wouldn't be the first time, you know."

"Jack," Daniel warned by drawing out his name. "Unless the SGC can get a team through the 'gate without the Otakai noticing—which is highly unlikely considering it's location in the village square—I don't believe I've got a whole lot of options but to play along."

"We just need to wait for Hammond to dial in—"

"Think about it logically, Jack. The moment even a single person from the SGC steps through the 'gate unannounced, the chief will release the neurotoxin and it'll be lights out for me. I don't know about you, but I'm about done with dying, and I'm pretty sure there's no Oma around to help me out this time."

It was moments like this Jack wished he carried a silencer for his Beretta. Out of habit, he reach down to the holster strapped to his thigh only to find the casing empty. The Otakai had confiscated his weapons as a condition of entry to Daniel's cell. Groaning in the face of defeat by rational reasoning, he let his chin dip to his chest before raising it to meet Daniel's pinched gaze. "Right, so what do we do now? Can't toss a little C4 around for effect."

"No."

"Strafing fire is out."

"Oh, yeah… that's a given."

"So?"

"So," Daniel shrugged, "we wait and see what this test is and hope to hell I can get it right."

"You are pretty good with cryptic crosswords."

"Somehow, I don't think it's going to be quite that easy."