06 - Siren Song (2 page)

The voice came from the edge of the woods, to Jack’s left. “I see you’ve
learned nothing since the last time we met. The mighty SG-1, trapped by the
greatest hunter in the galaxy.” A pause, and then, as if he couldn’t resist
pointing it out: “Again.”

With a sigh, Jack turned and faced Aris Boch. It really was déjà vu—same armor, if a bit more battle-scarred than the last time they’d
seen it; same nasty-looking weapon, like the mother of all pistols, heavy,
deadly and looking like it was a part of him as he casually aimed it in their
direction. Cocky bastard. Although he knew it wouldn’t work, Jack leveled his
weapon at Aris, who only smirked at him, hazel eyes sparkling with
self-satisfied amusement in the rugged face. Bad enough to be caught by a bounty
hunter, but twice by the same bounty hunter was… well…

As if Aris could read his thoughts, he smiled broadly and said,
“Embarrassing, isn’t it? Don’t feel too bad, Colonel. I’ve tricked aliens with
brains twice the size of yours.”

“Yes, that makes me feel much better,” Jack said testily. “Where’s Teal’c?”

Aris moved his free hand to his wrist. Teal’c’s suddenly winked into view,
sprawled unconscious in the middle of the path and proving that Aris wasn’t
aiming at the dirt. On instinct, Jack moved toward Teal’c and with a muttered
curse jerked back from the forgotten force field.

Aris looked down at Teal’c and prodded him with the toe of his boot. “He’s
fine. You should already know I’m not in the business of damaging valuable
merchandise,” he said, adding after a beat, “If I don’t have to.” Teal’c
stirred, but didn’t wake. “If I had known he would be this easy, I would have
gone for hand-to-hand.”

Jack sighed. When Teal’c was on his feet, this was going to be ammunition for
weeks’ worth of ribbing. If they lived that long. Jack asked, “How did you find
us? And what the hell do you want?”

“Good questions, Colonel. They’re the questions I would ask, if I were in
your place.” Aris looked over at Daniel, then at Carter, his smile widening in
response to their identical frowns. After a moment, he put his foot squarely on
Teal’c’s chest and pushed. Teal’c’s eyes flew open, and Aris stepped back in a
smooth motion, out of reach of Teal’c’s long arms. “As for how I found you—blame your Relosian friends for that. One of them was only too happy to sell you
out. But I’m afraid you won’t get an answer to the second question yet.”

Jack yanked his cap down, frustrated. Of course the Relosians had sold them out. The planet was too peaceful. Nothing that looked this
peaceful was ever as good beneath the pretty painted surface. He should know by
now not to trust people who wore fancy hats. Jack leveled the P90 at Aris’
chest again—never mind that it wouldn’t do any good; it made him feel better—then asked Teal’c, “You okay?”

“I am uninjured.” Teal’c’s murderous scowl indicated only his pride was
bruised. Aris pointed his weapon directly at Teal’c’s head. Teal’c pushed up off
the ground to stand beside Daniel.

Jack gave Teal’c a long look. Wordless understanding passed between them. His
team was outside the shield, and Jack was inside, effectively cut off from them.

“How touching. Everyone all together again.” Aris smiled his cynical smile.
“Especially you, Dr Jackson. The last anyone heard about you, you were…” He
raised his eyebrows and circled a finger above his head. “A glowing cloud.”

“Your intelligence really isn’t that reliable, is it?” Daniel said mildly.

Carter stepped forward, drawing Aris’ attention. “Look, we should be past
playing games. We know what you do, and how you operate, so -just tell us what
you want.”

“Very bold, Major!” Aris squinted at her, his expression amused. “You’ve been
getting used to taking charge, haven’t you? Getting ready to lead a team of your
own, perhaps?” When Carter didn’t answer, Aris chuckled and went on, “What I
want, Major, is for you and Dr Jackson to come with me. I need your expertise.
And of course, I’ll need the Colonel here and Teal’c as bargaining chips.”

“We won’t go with you,” Daniel said immediately. Jack stepped as close to the
force field as he dared while avoiding another jolt. His fists clenched; he
forced them to relax. Daniel could say the words, but without some way of
breaking through Jack couldn’t stop Aris from taking them and he couldn’t help
Teal’c.

“Now, now. Dr Jackson, haven’t we been through this already? I tell you what
you’re going to do, and you do it.”

“Or… not,” Jack said with more bravado than he could back up.

Aris regarded him pensively. “Colonel, I really don’t have time to play nice.
And I don’t think you want me to force them, do you?”

“What kind of expertise do you need?” Daniel said.- Jack watched him; Daniel
was in full negotiation mode, all sensors on. Good for Daniel. “Because there’s
no reason you need all of us.”

Uh-oh. Wrong turn. “Daniel,” Jack said sharply.

Aris looked over at Jack, a smile twisting his face. There was a new scar on
his forehead, curving angrily down past the corner of his left eye, which
drooped a bit. “That may be true, Doctor. Why don’t we ask the Colonel here how
he feels about that?”

Jack set his jaw. There was no right answer, though it didn’t matter what he
said; Aris wasn’t stupid, and there was no way he’d leave either Jack or Teal’c
behind as long as he held two of their teammates prisoner. He wouldn’t want them
on his trail. “Looks like we’re all taking a ride.”

“Sir,” Carter began, but Jack cut her off with a look.

Aris watched the exchange, then said, “Colonel O’Neill, I’m wounded that you
don’t trust me with the safety of your people.”

“Trust?” Jack echoed. His finger twitched on the trigger of the P90, itching
for a viable target. “You’ve never given us a reason to trust you.”

“How quickly your people forget.” Aris pointed at Teal’c. “I let a Tok’ra go,
and I saved his life.”

“I have not forgotten,” Teal’c said, in a low growl. “But this is a new day.”

A fleeting look of remorse crossed Aris’ face. “Sorry about the knock on the
head, Teal’c. It’s business. Nothing personal.”

Teal’c inclined his head in that stiff way that told Jack he was going to get
his payback, eventually.

“Anyway,” Jack said impatiently, “you didn’t do it for Teal’c. You did it
because you hate the Goa’uld.”

“You know, that’s right,” Aris said as if it had just occurred to him. He
smiled again. “It’s irrelevant, though. Right now, you don’t have a choice. You
are, in fact—say it with me, now—choice-less.”

“I hate that word,” Jack muttered.

“Sorry to cut short the small talk, but now you’re all going to march to my
ship like good, obedient little soldiers,” Aris said. Although he still had his
weapon trained on Teal’c, Jack knew he could as easily point it at any one of
them and ensure compliance. “Drop your gear here—I’ll ring it up later.” A few
feet from Jack’s face, a shimmer of red as the shield dissolved and fell in
front of them. Aris stood patiently by, waiting.

Starting with Daniel and ending with Teal’c, Jack met the eyes of each of his
team in turn as they stripped off their weapons and gear. No way in hell were
they boarding that ship. Once they were inside the hold, there was no guarantee
they’d be able to make it out again before it was too late. Besides, they still
had no idea what the bounty hunter wanted them for, and all of Jack’s instincts
screamed that this was a disaster in the making. He motioned to Carter and
Daniel to move out, then followed with Teal’c at his side. Aris was behind them,
not too close, but close enough.

He couldn’t shoot them both in time.

Jack and Teal’c moved apart a few steps. At Jack’s unspoken signal, they made
their move. A turn and a leap… and Jack found his nerve endings on fire. All
his limbs stopped cooperating; he sprawled on the ground, shaking and twitching.
It was ten times worse than being zatted. He gasped and gritted his teeth,
trying to ride out the pain.

Somewhere nearby rose the muffled thud of a body hitting a personal shield—
that would be Teal’c,
Jack’s brain helpfully supplied—and then Teal’c
was on the ground next to him, flat on his back. Jack’s hands and arms spasmed,
and his spine was melting. After a moment, the white fire racing around his body
died down to intermittent sparking, and he took a deep breath. So much for the
brilliant escape.

“Teal’c. I’m disappointed in you,” Aris said, leaning over him.

“It is, as you say, business,” Teal’c replied. He sat up and reached out to
Jack, who waved away his concern.

“I’m all right,” Jack breathed, though his muscles were still trembling.

Aris leaned in and wagged the point of his blaster at Jack. “Just so you
know, I’m trading you first.”

Jack lay on his back on the floor and looked up at the ceiling. He drummed
his fingers against his chest, tapping out the opening bars of “Smoke on the
Water”. “Slo-ow motion Wa-alter,” he sang under his breath. The ceiling looked
familiar. Just like the ceilings of all the
tel’taks
in his life, swirly
brushed metal and random intersecting arcs. He pretty much hated
tel’taks,
he decided, slapped his hands down on the floor beside him and ended with a
loud, “That fire engine gu-uy!”

Daniel’s head jerked up from his chest. Teal’c raised an eyebrow. Carter
glanced over her shoulder and went back to futzing with the door controls.

After unhooking his glasses from the collar of his shirt, Daniel slipped them
on one-handed and peered at him. “Who?”

“Slow motion Walter,” Jack answered. Lifting his head, he waved a hand. “You
know, the fire engine guy.” When Daniel’s lips pursed and his eyes narrowed,
Jack sighed and let his head fall back against the floor. “Are you telling me
you never listened to Deep Purple?”

“Smoke on the water,” Teal’c said. “Fire in the sky.”

Jack rolled his head to look at Daniel and aimed a finger at Teal’c. “See?
The
alien
knows Deep Purple.”

A self-satisfied expression crept over Teal’c’s features as he closed his
eyes and went back to being a statue.

Carter’s yelp and a shower of sparks cut off whatever Daniel had been about
to say. “Damnit!” she hissed and sucked the ends of her fingers while she walked
in a tight circle, ending up back at the door panel.

“You okay?” Jack craned his neck to look at her.

She took her fingers out of her mouth long enough to say “Yes, sir,” and went
back to glaring at the panel.

Through the door they could hear Aris Boch laughing. The intercom switched on
with a click, and Aris’ laughter was in the aft cargo space with them. “You
break it, you’re going to owe me. These things aren’t cheap, you know.”

“If you open the door and let us hit you on the head with something heavy, we
won’t have to break anything at all,” Jack pointed out reasonably.

“Except his head,” Daniel corrected him.

“Yeah, except that.”

After a pause, Aris gave a rumbling chuckle. “You aren’t going to get through
the door until I let you, and the only other way out of there is the rings.
You’ll want to hold your breath, though, if you go that route.”

“You first,” Carter grumbled as she leaned close to the open panel again and
started pulling out crystals and putting them in her pockets for safe-keeping.

“I heard that,” Aris responded, sounding wounded. “And you’d better put those
crystals back like you found them. Since I
am
going to have to let you
out of there eventually.”

Jack rolled to his feet, looking in the general direction of Aris’ voice.
“And why is that? What the hell do you want with us this time?”

“With you? Nothing. But Dr. Jackson there is going to be useful. As is Major
Carter.”

Jack leaned closer to the com panel and said, “Nobody’s doing
squat
for you, so forget it.”

“Maybe,” Aris conceded. “Or maybe…” This time his pause lasted so long
that, by the time he took up the thought again, they were all looking at the
ceiling and the hidden intercom speaker, waiting. “Maybe I’ll appeal to your
nobility.” Somehow he made the word sound nasty. “You like to be heroes, right?”
When none of them bothered to answer, he snorted, half-amused, half-disgusted.
“Or maybe I’ll shoot off your fingers or something, Colonel, until Dr. Jackson
does his job. Either way, I’m going to get what I need.”

With a frown, Daniel got slowly to his feet. He chewed his lip for a moment,
staring at the floor. His hands found their way into his pockets as he assumed
the casual, thinky pose that invariably made Jack nervous, and said, “What,
exactly, do you need?”

“Daniel,” Jack warned.

“Just tell me,” Daniel said, holding up a hand to silence Jack.

Jack wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard Aris sigh. “Nothing much. Do some
reading. Keep the Goa’uld from killing everybody.”

“Oh,” Daniel said, ducking his head and then looking up at Jack, a little
grin giving him crinkles around his eyes. “That again.”

Carter smiled, not quite showing teeth.

Jack sat down next to Teal’c and laced his fingers over his knees. “You
remember how to do it?” he asked Daniel.

Daniel shrugged. “Like riding a bike, right?”

“A little, only usually with more—”

“Gunfire,” Teal’c said.

“And yelling,” Carter added.

“And insolence,” Jack said. “You remember your insolence?”

Daniel patted his pockets. “I know I’ve got it here somewhere.”

“You are all very amusing.” Aris didn’t sound all that amused. “Sebek is
going to laugh the whole time he’s killing you.”

“Sebek?” Jack looked the question at Daniel, whose face had already lit with
puzzled recognition.

Daniel shook his head. “According to Tok’ra intelligence, Sebek—also known
as Sobek—is dead. Bastet and Kali the Destroyer allied against him and killed
him. Bastet took his head as her trophy.”