“It’s turned off, sir. I had it in listening mode then thought it might be better to be safe than sorry. I should probably reengage it once we get back under way.”
The colonel sat down heavily and nibbled at his ration.
Sam unzipped the medkit and pulled out a tube of antiseptic and some gauze, she cleansed the blood off the colonel’s hand. “You’re lucky. Most of these cuts are pretty shallow.”
“Good. I like shallow.” He handed the canteen back to Teal’c who stowed it away in his pack.
Sam glanced up at Teal’c. “Take Bra’tac and stand guard by the turnout until I clean up Colonel O’Neill’s hand.”
With a nod of his head, Teal’c gestured silently for Bra’tac to follow. The two rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight.
The colonel grabbed his neglected ration bar and took a bite. “You’re pretty pushy for a commanding officer.”
“Learned from the best, sir.”
Having found a few thorns stuck in his palm, Sam grabbed a pair of tweezers from the kit. The first one slid out easily enough. Only a few centimeters in length, a green bark-like substance coated the thorn. The second one was embedded deeply and she had to dig around a bit to loosen it.
“Ouch, Carter!” He yanked his hand away. “Maybe I taught you how to be a dictator, but there’s no way I’m taking credit for you being such a lousy nurse.”
“Sorry, sir.” She grabbed his hand again and braced it against her knee. “Where’d you learn how to get through a maze?”
“Can we talk about this later, Carter?”
“Sure. I’m just trying to keep your mind off my lousy nursing.” She pressed the tweezers’ head against the thorn in his palm to nudge it loose.
He sighed. “It was something Bra’tac said… about memories.”
“Ah, so you’ve been in a maze before. On purpose?” She continued to push on the skin next to the thorn.
“With Charlie. It was Halloween, and like pretty much every other five-year-old, he wanted Dad to take him to a corn maze. So I did.”
Knowing how difficult it had to be for the colonel to talk about his lost son, Sam kept some levity in her voice as she continued to work on pulling out the thorn. “So you got lost?”
“Oh, you bet.” He paused a moment as if lost in thought. Finally, “Some young teen punk came along and rescued us. The kid taught us the ‘wallflower technique’ for getting through a maze and out the other side by keeping a hand on the wall the entire time.”
“Sounds like a smart kid.” She slid the thorn out and held it up for him to see, but his gaze remained fixed on the sky overhead. She tossed the tweezers back into the kit, and pulled out a roll of gauze. She began wrapping his palm. Though he had a few nicks on his fingers, she left those uncovered.
“Charlie spent the rest of the day babbling on about that teen, as if he was some kind of hero,” he said thickly.
For a brief moment, Sam considered telling him that if Charlie were alive today, he’d have a hero for a father, but she decided against it, not wanting to rub salt in a wound that had never properly healed. Instead, she said, “Whoever that kid was, he saved our sixes today, sir.”
“You got that right, Major.”
Sam sat back on her heels and packed up the kit. She stood up and nodded at the bandaged hand. “How is it?”
The colonel joined her, wiggling his fingers. “Good as new. Thanks for keeping the fingers free.” He offered her a lopsided grin, his earlier mood forgotten. “Can’t hook bait without two sets of fingers.”
“I’d pay good money to see Daniel hook bait without getting squeamish.” Heck, she’d pay good money to see Daniel, period. With that thought in mind, she retrieved the inactive communications ball from her pocket. It was time to get moving.
The colonel’s smile dropped off. He put his good hand on the back of his neck. “Carter, have you felt a breeze… Any sort of wind or anything while we’ve been here?”
She looked up from the ball, surprised by his question. “No, sir. Any particular reason?”
He shook his head. “No reason. Turn that thing back on and let’s get the show on the road.” He backed away and then walked off toward Teal’c and Bra’tac’s position.
Sam began to enable the communication ball, though try as she might, she couldn’t get her mind off the colonel’s parting question. He’d said something about a breeze earlier in the maze, but she dismissed it as unimportant. But the way he had asked that question…
Raising the com ball to eye-level again, Sam pocketed her concerns. For the moment, their worries were far more immediate than phantom breezes.
* * *
Hiding behind the last maze hedge, Jack scanned the area with his scope, searching for trouble. The low thrum had become an outright deafening as they’d neared the compound. He blocked out the sound as best he could, focusing instead on the six-foot-high stone wall blocking entry to a plain lime-washed building lined with a raised iron and brick terrace. Above the building rose the fancy curved walls and copper-topped turrets of Yu’s fortress.
“No Jaffa,” he shouted over the noise. Carter, Teal’c and Bra’tac huddled behind him. It was the only way to hear each other without giving their positions away. “No gliders or any other red flags.”
“Colonel, may I?”
“Hold on a second, Major.” Jack raised the scope higher. Four windows lined the top floor, but they were too damn narrow. Small flames flickered inside the center two windows, but for all he knew, Yu could be up there alone, toasting marshmallows for breakfast.
And Daniel could be dead, gone, off to Oma-ville.
Get it together. Since when did a bit of unexplained breeze on the back of the neck spook you?
Since the last time they’d lost Daniel, that’s when.
Jack shoved the thought aside and handed the scope to Carter. The com ball was back on her vest pocket, Huang’s grubby grin plastered all over the damned thing.
Carter took in the view.
“There is nothing to be seen of this shield?” Bra’tac asked.
“Not that I can make out.” Carter said. “No incandescence, no spectrum shifts. If it was still dark out, maybe, though I don’t think we should wait much longer.” She handed back the scope.
Stowing it back in his vest pocket, Jack caught sight of a small rock on the ground. It was about the size of baseball. Picking it up, he said, “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. That sound’s annoying. Any guess which side of that wall the shield’s sitting on?”
Carter shook her head. “Could be either side, Colonel. There’s no way to know without taking the time to run a scan.”
Teal’c leaned in to be heard over the racket. “Major, Carter, should we not use the jade pendants provided by your father?”
“First things first,” Jack said. “Let’s get an idea of what we’re up against.” He stood up from the group, stepped out from behind the hedge and wound back his arm.
“Sir, wait!”
Too late. He’d pitched the rock. It sailed through the air, heading straight for the wall.
Just a few feet before reaching its target, a high-pitched tone erupted, the kind of sound that made Jack’s teeth ache. And then, the rock disappeared. One second it was there, the next it was gone.
The tone dropped back to its earlier, pesky low vibrato.
Carter pressed her lips together, clearly pissed. He shrugged an apology, but she turned away. Opening a flap on her vest, she ordered, “Pendants on, everyone.”
Jack hung his around his neck. “Out or in?”
“I don’t think that’s going to make a difference, sir.”
Everyone stuffed their pendants under their outer clothing.
Satisfied, Carter pointed to Bra’tac. “You and I will go first while Teal’c and the colonel cover us.”
“What about him?” Jack pointed at the com ball on her vest.
She lifted the webbing, bringing the com ball within inches of her face. Huang’s weasely face stared back. “Ambassador, I know you’ve been waiting for the chance to see Yu’s fortress — ”
Huang raised a finger. “
Emperor Yu
.”
“Whatever,” Jack sniped.
“Sir,” Carter warned. “Mister Ambassador, is my father around?”
Huang shook his head. “
He left only moments ago, after re-engaging our communications… Major Carter, is General Hammond ill
?”
“Not that I know of,” Carter replied, exchanging glances with Jack.
“
And your father
?”
“God, I don’t think anyone’s healthier.”
“
Ah, well… he has gone to see Dr. Frasier about a physical. I trust he’ll be found fit and can return shortly
.”
Huang leaned back, allowing a bit of the S.G.C. briefing room to fill the frame. Jack spotted Sgt. Brooks standing against the wall behind Huang, casually cradling an M16 in his arms. Brooks was Special Forces. He didn’t do anything casually.
Jack schooled his features as he stared back at the ambassador. If Hammond and Jacob were with Doc Frasier, and a Special Forces man was stationed with Huang, something was up.
Hopefully, that something was the end of Huang’s little charade.
“Mister Ambassador,” Carter continued, “I need you to remain absolutely silent, no matter what you see or hear next.”
“
But
— ”
“Otherwise, I’ll have to cut the connection,” Carter explained, too nicely for Jack’s tastes.
“
Remember, Major Carter, you are to follow China’s request
.”
“Single zat shots, stun only.” She said a brief goodbye and dropped the ball back to her vest.
Jack thumbed the safety on his zat. With a metal clink, the gun popped up, ready to use. “Are we going to do this?”
“Yes, we are,” she answered, mirroring him with her own weapon. “Radio silence ‘til I say otherwise.”
“Understood.” Teal’c engaged his own zat as did Bra’tac.
Carter gave the signal. Thumb down, two fingers out. Her hand flat, she gestured toward the maze’s exit. With a nod, Jack raced out from behind the hedge, zat raised.
Still no Jaffa. He lifted his bandaged hand, palm out, and gestured for Teal’c to cover the other end of the hedge. Teal’c dashed over and then nodded back at Carter. She ran to the wall, Bra’tac right behind her. The two climbed over and dropped out of view. When the shield didn’t change pitch, Jack said a silent thanks to Jacob; the pendants worked.
If Earth had a couple of shields like this, Anubis would become a non-threat.
Jack scanned the area once more. Satisfied that they were in the clear, he swung his free arm forward, letting Teal’c know to follow him over. Jack ran ahead a good ten paces, stopped, turned, and covered Teal’c as he surged ahead. Once Teal’c reached the wall, Jack joined him.
As they climbed the wall, heat raced across Jack’s face. He swung his legs over, assuming it was a side effect of the shield. Warmth shimmied up his spine, like an electrical shock, but less painful. Along with Teal’c, he slid down beside the others and crouched beneath the wall’s shadow.
He listened for any sign they’d been made. No stomping boots. No loudmouthed cries of ‘kree!’ Heck, even the village below the fortress was silent, as if it was deserted. It was too damn quiet.
Carter raised two fingers to her eyes. Watch. Pay attention. She tapped her zap, and then pointed at each of their weapons. Holding up one finger, she nodded. Then two fingers, and she shook her head. One shot only, per the rules of engagement. Jack gave the okay. He got it. He didn’t need the reminder, especially with Huang’s smarmy face grinning broadly from her vest.
When Teal’c and Bra’tac nodded, Carter pointed at Jack, signaling him to scout ahead. He gave her — and Huang — another of his finest salutes and headed toward the building. He belly-crawled through the high grass, past potted plants, and up to the lip of the terrace. He poked his head over the short curb. The place was empty.
On the far right side of the building stood a life-sized greenish statue of a woman with a kid in her arms. A door into the building was right behind it. Three enormous limestone columns, carved to look like dragons, held up a tin and clay roof. The columns were set every ten yards, each one large enough to hide several Jaffa. Jack paused, waiting for any telltale shadow to emerge. Nothing happened.
Except for a breeze sweeping across his neck.
Jack darted his eyes back at the others. They crouched by the wall, watching him. No sign that any of them had felt the same thing. Teal’c raised an eyebrow, silently asking if anything was wrong.
The breeze disappeared. But still… Screw it, he’d gone too long without sleep. Knowing he’d never be completely satisfied, Jack doubled back to the team’s position and waited for Carter’s orders.
Carter gestured toward their objective: the door. She then signaled for them to head south, keeping the wall at their backs. Though Jack itched to get this travesty over with, he was more than a little proud at the way she handled the operation. All things considered, he couldn’t have done any better.
Though he certainly could do worse. The zat in his hand was a poor substitute for a real gun, but he’d already screwed up once, so for Hammond’s sake — as well as Carter’s — he’d play by the rules until he was told otherwise.
They crept forward, hugging the wall, keeping as low as they could. As they came up parallel to the door, Carter raised her fist. Freeze. Teal’c and Bra’tac both raised their heads, listening. Jack heard nothing.
Until a horn blew. Jack whipped back toward the terrace. The columns had slid open, vomiting out a dozen Jaffa armed with zats. Carter and Bra’tac opened fire while Teal’c ran back toward the wall. Several Jaffa took direct hits while others raced behind the columns for cover.
Jack ducked when a Jaffa raised a zat in his direction. Dropping flat, he rolled right. He sprung up, took a shot and knocked out the Jaffa. Spinning back toward the terrace, he sighted another Jaffa jump out from behind the statue and take aim at Teal’c’s position by the wall. Before Jack could pull the trigger, the Jaffa fired.
The wall disappeared in a single shot.
Chapter Twelve
The throne room’s doors burst open, tearing a bleary-eyed Daniel’s attention from the
Wéiqí
board. With a nod from Yu, a Jaffa sporting a long beard hurried in. In his arms was a large wooden box covered in brass serpentine emblems. The Jaffa bowed, waiting for the System Lord to complete his turn.
Correction, Daniel realized. This wasn’t just any Jaffa. The Chinese features, the jade brooch and a cloak — this time, blue — signified that this man was yet another of Yu’s Royal Guard.
Yu ignored the guard long enough to sweep up three more stones. With a satisfied grunt, he gestured for the guard to rise. “Speak, Kong Qiu. What is so urgent that you must interrupt?”
Something inside Daniel stirred at the Goa’uld’s mention of the guard’s name. Kong Qiu was the original name of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Was Yu so deranged that he’d named all his Royal Guard after the most notable founders of China?
Or was it possible that these guards… Oshu, whose real name was Sun Tzu, Lao Dan, Kong Qiu… Was it possible they really were who they claimed to be? Could Yu have kept them alive for thousands of years through the sarcophagus or could they be Goa’ulds as well?
As Kong Qiu laid the box at Yu’s feet, Daniel took note of the silver tattoo on the man’s forehead; the classic sign of a Jaffa. No way would a Goa’uld allow themselves to be branded like that. There had to be another reason for the use of such significant names.
But what was that reason?
Kong Qiu whispered in the Goa’uld’s ear. A broad smile appeared on Yu’s face as he listened. Once finished, the Jaffa stepped back and waited.
Daniel dragged his attention back to the game. Other than the puzzle that was Yu, life had boiled down to an all night marathon of playing
Wéiqí
. With a sigh, he picked up one of the jade dragons and reached over to place it in the middle of the board.
The metal fingertips of Yu’s ribbon device gripped his arm. “This game is no longer yours to lose, Daniel Jackson.”
Numb from too many days of sitting, Daniel didn’t even bother to respond. What was the point?
Yu’s grip tightened. “Has your desire to live truly evaporated so soon?”
No, Daniel thought, raising his eyes to meet Yu’s. He wanted to live. He wanted to escape. But arguing with Yu had become pointless, like a Chinese finger puzzle. The further you stuck your finger in, the more impossible it was to get out. Daniel had given up trying, deciding to sit back and wait.
And stay hopeful, though the effort was becoming tenuous at best.
Yu released his grasp and pressed a catch on the side of the box on the floor. The top split in two, gaping open to reveal a foot-wide silvery ball inside.
A long range Goa’uld communications device.
Daniel watched the ball rise from the box. As it settled at eye-level, a mist ran across its shell. Then, a shape took form, or rather, multiple shapes. The view looked out over the backs of a dozen Jaffa firing zats outside in the morning light. A wall of rubble burst behind someone he couldn’t quite make out. Dust and smoke swirled in the air as the person rolled away. More zat fire discharged from the Jaffa toward someone or something right below frame. Then that someone jumped up and shot back at the Jaffa.
It was Jack.
* * *
Impossible. An object shouldn’t disintegrate on the very first shot from a zat.
Sam tried to process this new development when the wall exploded behind Teal’c, but there wasn’t time. The Jaffa kept firing, tearing up the ground with zat fire far more powerful than anything she’d ever seen.
If she could just get to her pack…
Another shot. She dodged right, catching a glimpse of Teal’c rolling away from the rubble. Colonel O’Neill leapt up in front of him and fired toward the terrace, knocking a Jaffa to the ground.
Bra’tac ran up to her side, crouched low and fired. Another Jaffa fell face down on the terrace, but more just kept on coming out of the central column. There had to be at least forty of them. From the looks of things, more were close behind. An electric arc shot right over her head and she ducked.
Glancing up, she saw a young, clean-faced Jaffa, not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age. The boy jumped off the terrace and ran toward her, his zat held high. Sam dodged sideways and headed toward the terrace. She threw herself behind a bush. She heard the zat fire, dropped low, and the next thing she knew, the bush was gone.
Talk about being outmanned and outgunned.
She needed to get in her pack. She shifted her zat to her left hand and reached up with her right to unbuckle the pack from her vest.
Bra’tac ran up. “Toward the terrace, quickly.”
Sam hightailed behind him, dodging fire, returning as best she could. The colonel and Teal’c followed their lead, flanking left as they went right. Zat fire crowded air so thickened by acrid smoke that it became difficult to see.
She leapt on to the terrace with Bra’tac beside her. Both of them kept up a constant stream of fire on the Jaffa exiting from the far right column. One after another, they crumbled to the ground.
A shot zinged over her head again. This time from beyond the terrace. She turned and saw the boy from earlier. He’d raised his weapon again, this time at Bra’tac, but the old Jaffa didn’t see it; he was too busy laying down cover fire as Teal’c and the colonel raced toward the terrace.
The boy squeezed off a shot.
Sam yanked on Bra’tac’s cloak to get him out of the way. He stumbled backwards, his weight throwing them both to the ground as another shot fired overhead. As they hit the hard brick floor, Sam felt more than heard the snaps on her pack break. When they rolled right to dodge more fire, the pack dropped off.
The boy kept on coming, fire from his zat hitting the ground just inches from her head. As pieces of brick spewed upward, Bra’tac grabbed her vest front and jerked her out of the way. He let go and she sprang up to her knees. Twisting sideways, she sighted the boy. She hesitated, not wanting to hurt him. He was only a teenager, for crying out loud.
A direct hit from Bra’tac! The boy toppled over.
“Our zats only stun, Major Carter. He will be fine.”
With a grimace, Sam nodded her thanks and stood up. Suddenly, she realized her vest felt lighter. The com ball must have popped from its webbing when Bra’tac grabbed her. She patted her pockets, checked down at her feet. The distraction almost cost her life when another shot zinged by her left side.
She raised her zat, returned fire, and then saw the com ball.
It had rolled out of reach, heading past the columns toward the statue by the door.
STARGATE COMMAND
STATUS: GATE OPERATIONS SUSPENDED
3 JUL 03/2010 HRS BASE TIME
A whirl of images fluttered across the com ball on the briefing room table. Jacob held his breath, torn between wanting to gate through to Yu’s homeworld to help and wanting to wring Huang’s neck.
A brick floor. Zat fire. A worm’s eye view of Jaffa storming past. The images came fast and faster.
Flashes of Sam. Running, shooting, being shot at by zats with far more destructive force than he’d ever thought possible.
Huang watched passively. No facial expressions, no eye movement, not a sound from him.
This is wrong, Jacob.
Jacob backed away from the table, wanting nothing more than to wrest the truth out of Huang. George stood by the door taking it all in. Lips pressed together, eyes hardened and narrow; the steam was practically coming out of George’s ears.
Selmak had the right of it. Screw the president. Screw diplomatic concerns.
Screw Huang’s little game, whoever he was.
Jacob joined George by the door. Without a blood test, they’d never be certain. They could sit here all day, waiting for Major Davis to call every desk in Washington for answers… or they could help Sam, Jack and the others before it was too late.
“Do something, George, or I will.”
George crossed his arms. “Trust me, Jacob. I already have… thanks to Sgt. Siler’s assistance. Why do you think SG-1 is carrying packs? For rations?”
PLANET DESIGNATION: LORD YU’S
HOMEWORLD (P3X-042)
STATUS: SAR MISSION UNDER ENEMY FIRE
APPROX 0700 HRS LOCAL TIME
3 JUL 03/2020 HRS BASE TIME
As zat fire whizzed by Jack’s head, he silently prayed this was all worth it. He prayed that Daniel was alive. That the damn breeze nagging at him was simply his imagination. That somehow, they’d get past Yu’s hordes of Jaffa with their über powerful zats, and drag Daniel back to civilization.
Just so Jack could kick his ass for getting them into this mess.
Jack zatted two more Jaffa. More kept on coming. To his far left, Teal’c held his own, popping off shots every time another group came spewing from a column opening. While Carter had nailed a bunch in front of one column, the Jaffa didn’t seem to mind stomping all over their buddies as they raced on up and into the action.
As he rolled out of the way of another shot, Jack glanced at the columns, knowing he needed to even up the odds.
Fast.
Zat fire sliced past him, tearing a good chunk off the forward section of the terrace. He whipped around, spraying zat fire. An iron-muscled Jaffa, who could put Teal’c to shame, squeezed off another shot. He missed. When the Jaffa tried a third time, Jack vaulted to his left. The Jaffa kept trying to get in a hit, but Jack had other plans. Thanks to Mr. Beefy’s crappy shooting skills, they were about to have a better chance of getting out of this alive.
He sprang up from his position and sprinted past the left open column. True to form, the Jaffa missed his mark, ripping a new hole in the terrace. Jack doubled back, slid behind the column, and shot out at everything that moved. He stopped, counted to three, and tumbled backwards.
The column burst into rubble.
* * *
Horror, anger, frustration. A deluge of emotions washed over Daniel as the battle unfolded on the communications device. He rapped his fist against his mouth, wondering how his friends would survive Yu’s Jaffa. Or their modified zats.
Why weren’t Teal’c and Bra’tac using staff weapons? Where were Jack and Sam’s P90s?
Kong Qiu grabbed Daniel’s fist and squeezed. “When anger rises, think of the consequences, Daniel Jackson. Self anger serves no one.”
“Really?” Daniel yanked back his hand and glared at the guard and then at Yu. “I’m supposed to sit here and do what? Let you kill my friends while we play out a nice round of Go?”
“
Wéiqí
,” Yu boomed in warning.
“Whatever!” Daniel shouted back. “Why do this? Why capture me? Why kill my friends? If what you say is true, I came to you. Of all the System Lords, I warned you about Anubis and the Eye of Ra. Doesn’t that count for something?”
A shadow passed across Yu’s face and he bowed his head. When he next spoke, it was the host, not the Goa’uld.
“Watch. Learn. All games teach if the student observes.”
* * *
One column down. One to go.
Jack scrambled to his feet and searched the terrace for the best way over to the other side. Carter and Bra’tac were pinned down only yards ahead of his objective. He began to lay down cover fire and then realized someone was at his back. It was Teal’c, peppering the air with zat fire.
The cover gave them the chance they needed to retreat. Carter and Bra’tac fired their zats and dove in opposite directions, taking out several Jaffa along the way.
“O’Neill!” Teal’c pointed at the far end of the terrace. Carter’s pack lay there. He then pointed back toward the statue by the door. The com ball was rolling right toward it.
With a tap on Teal’c’s shoulder, Jack led the way. They got halfway across the terrace when a round of zat fire blew a chunk of terrace floor in front of them. Jack stopped, spun around and shot back at a trio of Jaffa. The three dropped to the ground though not before one of them got off another round.
Fortunately the shot went wide, feet away from Jack and Teal’c’s position. As mortar and brick sprayed across the terrace, they bolted toward the pack. Teal’c turned, fired off another round as he ran beside Jack. They got within ten feet of the pack when three more Jaffa stormed out of the column, zats raised in their direction. Along with Teal’c, he nailed them in seconds.
Jack darted forward and grabbed the pack. A new round of zat fire erupted to his left. Carter and Bra’tac. So far, the two of them had held up, but if they didn’t get a break soon, they’d be toast. With Teal’c at his side, Jack retreated to the statue, pack in hand.
As he tossed the pack to the ground, Teal’c picked up the com ball. Hammond’s wonderful, worried face peered out at him.
“General, nice to see you!”
A hand jerked on his vest and he was pulled down by Teal’c. As Jack kissed the brick terrace, a shot whizzed by over head.
“
Colonel, are you all right?
”
“Peachy, General. You?” Shattered limestone dust fell on his head. Teal’c crouched beside him, the com ball in one hand. Jointly, they squeezed off a few more shots at a Jaffa half-hidden behind the remaining column. The Jaffa shot back at them, taking out more of the building’s wall.
“O’Neill, the statue — ”
“Yep, let’s move.” Jack grabbed the pack and dove behind the statue.
Zat fire kept coming, eating at the walls to either side, though never directly hitting the statue. If the Jaffa had suddenly developed an appreciation of art, that was fine by him.
He grabbed Teal’c’s hand and lifted the com ball to eye-level. “Sir, I hope you and the ambassador are enjoying our little outing. A bit extreme, don’t you think?”
Another shot, this time over the statue’s head. Jack coughed as dust from the walls rained down on top of them.
“
I’d say extreme is putting it mildly, Colonel.
”
Jack waved Carter’s pack at the ball. “Extreme enough to move to plan C, sir?”