Which begged the question again. Daniel studied Yu’s sickly dull face for anything that might give him a clue as to what was going on. Hooded eyes stared back.
“Is there some reason you tracked me down? Something I’ve done or you need?”
“Drink.” Yu raised a saffron silk robed arm and pointed to a small cup on the table, similar to the one found on P3Y-702. “No questions.”
“Thanks, but no.”
“It is water. Nothing more.”
If cooperation meant survival, Daniel knew he’d better comply. Jack had drilled that into him years ago.
First survive. Then find a way out
, Jack had said.
There’s always a way out.
Yeah, well… Jack wasn’t always right. Case in point.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to consider options. From behind the raised cup, Daniel scanned what appeared to be the System Lord’s throne room. It’d been two years since he’d been in Yu’s fortress, but at the time, he’d been undercover as Yu’s
lotar
and had never made it past the Goa’uld’s personal quarters.
The room was far less extravagant than Daniel would expect from a race of egomaniacal beings like the Goa’uld. A plain dark wood throne stood at the far end, but Yu instead sat on a short wooden couch across from him. Slatted wood screens lined each wall, barely letting in the pinkish glimmer of what he had to assume was sunrise. By the far wall, the twisted limbs of a miniature cherry tree blossomed above a small jade statue of a woman. To either side, narrow tapestries depicting Chinese warriors in battle hung from slats on the screens. And to the far right, the ubiquitous sarcophagus.
Daniel set down his cup and coughed, though not from the water. Smokey incense filled the air, no doubt left to burn on the open braziers that ran down the middle of the room. The scent reminded him of wet soil, wood shavings, and a musky odor he was pretty sure was
agarwood
. It smelled like mushrooms… and carrots. Kevin had burned it in their Chicago apartment all the time, claiming it helped him to ‘think’ like the ancient Chinese.
“Be seated,” Yu said with a tilt of his head. His bearded imperial tuft stuck outward like a finger, indicating a matching chair across the table. “There is no escape, Dr. Jackson. Accept that and you will live to see tomorrow.”
Daniel complied, happy to get off his knees. On top of the low table made of the same dark wood as Yu’s throne sat an empty stone board about two feet square, covered in a series of parallel vertical and horizontal lines. As Daniel settled into the thinly cushioned chair, Yu bent down and picked up two glazed bowls from the floor. Daniel noticed the silver ribbon device on the Goa’uld’s left hand.
Yu handed one bowl to Daniel. It was filled with white lens-shaped polished stones. “You will be white.”
“Excuse me?” Daniel knew Yu had become a bit senile — no longer able to take a new host and increasingly immune to the regenerative powers of the sarcophagus — but, still, the System Lord wanted Daniel to play a game? Really?
Something wasn’t quite right here.
“Perhaps I was misinformed,” Yu said, sticking his long fingers into his bowl of black stones. “You do not recognize
Wéiqí
?”
“Not really. I mean… it looks sort of familiar.” Daniel picked up a stone. If anyone had told him that he’d be playing a board game with a Goa’uld, he’d have thought they were in need of seeing Dr. Mackenzie.
The reminder of home made Daniel realize he’d need to play along… at least until he could either figure out what Yu wanted or, better yet, find a way out.
He reached out to set the stone on a random cross intersection of lines, but was stopped when Yu grabbed his arm.
“Remove your stone, human. I am black and go first.”
Daniel retrieved the offending stone and sat back, waiting. Yu took up a stone from his bowl and held it firmly in his left hand, between his pointer and middle finger. He dropped it down on the board’s center point, the sound a surprisingly loud plunk.
“Now, you go.”
“Not until you explain what this is about,” Daniel demanded.
Yu’s eyes flashed. “Or what? Will you disappear as you did last time you visited?”
Daniel raised an eyebrow, confused. “I’ve never been here before. Well… kind of never — ”
The Goa’uld cut him off with wave of his hand. “I am well aware of your deception during the System Lords’ summit. I speak of your last visit here in my throne room. Only months ago. You assured me the System Lords could easily destroy Anubis when he arrived at Abydos.”
A few months ago, Daniel hadn’t even been alive. Though, according to Jack and Sam’s reports on the Abydos disaster, as an ascended being, Daniel had told SG-1 he’d warned the System Lords.
Did he visit Yu? “It wasn’t me.”
“You lie. The fleet suffered heavy losses.”
“Honestly, I don’t remember.” Even if he did, Daniel knew that revealing he’d once been an Ascendant was absolutely not a good idea. Considering Anubis’ powers, Daniel knew one half-ascended Goa’uld was bad enough.
“Then play the game!” Yu’s eyes flashed again.
Daniel struggled to keep his face neutral, not wanting to show fear. Outright confrontation wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He’d have to play along — both literally and figuratively. The question was what would happen if he lost… or won?
Pushing past that thought, he plunked down a stone on the far left corner of his side of the board. He wasn’t quite clear what the rules of this game were, but if it kept him alive longer, fine. He’d do whatever it took.
“You cannot win with such a tactic,” Yu said calmly, as if his momentary outburst had never happened. He placed another black stone next to his first.
“Why not?” Daniel replied with a shrug, striving for as much nonchalance as he could muster. The Goa’uld’s mood swings were going to be tough to predict, though that might give him an advantage. “Won’t the old ‘surround your enemies’ tactic work in this game?”
“Only if you have more stones on the board. Which you do not. Place your stone next to one of mine.”
Daniel bided his time, slowly picking up the white stone from the board as he considered possible exit strategies. If Jack didn’t believe Daniel could ‘think before doing,’ he was sorely wrong. Getting out of here would take more, much more than just running for the gate. He’d need to get the lay of the land beyond Yu’s throne room.
And there was only one way to make that happen.
“Not that one. This is not chess. Once a stone is played, you cannot move it. Place another, like so.” Yu took one of Daniel’s stones and placed it to the right of his two. He then dropped one of his own on the other side. “Placing stones close together helps them support each other and avoid capture.”
“Maybe,” Daniel said. “But why not place the stones further apart? Wouldn’t that create more influence over the board’s territory?” To prove his point, he dropped another stone on his far right corner. As he sat back, Daniel stole another glance around the room.
Only way out’s going to be the way I came in
.
Yu grunted. “As I said, only when one’s forces sufficiently outnumber the opponent.” The Goa’uld plunked down another stone, effectively cutting off three sides of Daniel’s center piece. “Go ahead. Place one on yet another corner and observe.”
The trick will be figuring out what triggers the old Goa’uld’s worst mood
.
Daniel dropped another piece as Yu advised. He was immediately cut off by another of the Goa’uld’s black stones. Yu then plucked Daniel’s white from the center and dropped it into an empty dish on the side.
“Now I’m confused,” Daniel admitted.
“In effect, my chain of stones became a single larger stone. By surrounding your stone, I removed its liberties.”
“Liberties,” repeated Daniel, hoping he’d found a trigger point. “That’s an odd term coming from a race of beings bent on enslaving millions of innocent people.”
“This is not about slaves,” Yu said, lowering his voice.
The Goa’uld paused for a moment, his eyes cast downward.
Which wasn’t the response Daniel had hoped for.
Finally, Yu whispered, “This is about the game.”
Game, set, and match.
“In other words, don’t let my stones get surrounded.”
“Correct,” Yu said, smiling as if he’d taught his prize pupil the secrets of the galaxy.
And that’s when Daniel realized his captor’s weakness.
Pride.
“You’re sure this is a Chinese game?”
Yu folded his arms, burying his hands within his robe. “I created
Wéiqí
to train human warriors on Earth many eons ago.”
Time to push, Danny.
“You did? That’s funny. I mean, I recognize the game. At least a little. But on Earth, it goes by the name of
Go
. The Japanese invented it.”
The eyes flashed. “Lies. The game belongs to China!”
Perfect. Daniel tensed, ready for the next stage. “Nope. I’m pretty sure it was the Japanese. At least, that’s what everyone on Earth believes.”
Yu leapt to his feet, furious. “Jaffa,
kree
!”
Bingo.
As a Jaffa smashed open the door, Daniel bolted toward it…
And was hit immediately in the chest by a pain stick. The three-pronged metal-rod shot unbearable heat through his veins, worse than any zat gun could ever do. His mouth breathed fire. Twin flames burned his eyes. His skull felt like it would crumble.
Then… nothing. The pain stopped. Gasping for air, Daniel slid down and embraced the cool marble floor in relief… until two massive hands yanked him up by his shoulders and dragged him away.
Somewhere deep inside, Daniel laughed just a little at the success of his plan.
See, Jack? You were wrong. I really can think first.
STARGATE COMMAND
STATUS: STANDBY/PERSONNEL MIA
1 JUL 03/2340 HRS BASE TIME
“How can we be sure he has not already been killed by Lord Yu?” asked Bra’tac.
Jack kept his eyes on the plans laid out on Carter’s lab table, knowing he’d regret any response he gave Bra’tac. If the Jaffa Master wanted to be the pessimist, let him. Jack wasn’t interested in playing that game.
“I do not think Yu would do so,” said Teal’c. “During my recent encounter with him — when we attempted to forge an alliance in order to ambush Anubis at Vis Uban — I was never harmed by him or his First Prime.”
“And that worked out so well,” Jack quipped, unable to help himself.
He turned back to the floor plans, wanting to focus only on facts, not suppositions or theories. The truth was they had no way of knowing why Yu grabbed Daniel… or if Daniel was even still alive. What they did know was that the old snakehead was unpredictable. Hell, he was senile.
Too much time inside a gold box will do that.
Nuts or not, from what Jack could tell, Yu’s base of operations was a fortress. There were too many levels, too many nooks and crannies. Getting Daniel out wouldn’t be a walk in the park. “Jacob, how many Jaffa are we talking about and where are they usually positioned?”
“Five, maybe six hundred, and they’re all over the place,” Jacob said. “It’s not just his standard Jaffa you need to worry about, Jack. He has a personal guard, too. A Royal Guard, actually. There are four of them, including his First Prime.”
“Five or six hundred Jaffa, you say?” Jack didn’t care for those odds, but what other choice did they have? “All right. If this SAR mission is going to fly — ”
“SAR?” Bra’tac asked.
“Search and Rescue,” Jack explained. “As I was saying, we’ll need a couple of pounds of C-4, some M60s. And forget the zats; we don’t have time for niceties. P90s with plenty of magazines all around. I also wouldn’t be opposed to taking along a grenade launcher or two.”
He picked up one of the jade pendants and turned it over in his hand. The less he saw of Yu’s dumbass symbol, the calmer he’d stay. “Carter, any way you could manufacture more of these? I’d like to bring some backup, maybe SG units three and five.”
Carter took the pendant from his hands. “Already thought about that, sir.”
“And?”
“We’d need to melt one of these down in order to examine its properties,” Carter replied. “I’m not even sure our refinery could process this fine a grade of naquadah. More importantly, I’m pretty sure this is Nephrite jade, which consists of a microcrystalline interlocking fibrous matrix of the calcium. The jade’s pretty dark, too, which might mean a higher iron content than we have on Earth. Really, sir, this is a remarkable feat in geological engineering.”
Jack sipped his coffee and tried very hard to listen attentively to his second-in-command gush on about the pendants. It was the least he owed her after being such an ass in the briefing room. Eight years ago, Daniel helped him regain his desire to live. Teal’c covered his back better than anyone ever had or ever would. But Carter? Her sense of wonder was downright infectious at times. Couple that with sharpshooting skills that put his own to shame, and Jack knew he was damn lucky to have her. Always had been. Always would be.
Still, enough was enough.
“Major, cut to the part where you tell me how long it would take.”
Carter stuck out her chin defensively and Jack knew they were in trouble. “Weeks, sir. At best. Matching the right composite of jade and naquadah — ”
“Okay, I get it.” Jack turned to Teal’c. “What about the gate?” At least a Marine unit could cover their sixes once they’d extracted Daniel.
“Heavily guarded,” Teal’c said flatly. “We would be immediately captured.”
“A
tel’tak
may be our only means of approach,” added Bra’tac.
“I can help with that,” Jacob offered. “You’ll want one with stealth capabilities. Give me an hour to — ”
“I’m afraid not, Jacob.” This from Hammond who’d just entered the room. Jack noticed how the general’s shoulders hung low, as if he’d lost his best friend.
Jack knew exactly how he felt.
“General?”
Hammond looked from Jack to the plans on Carter’s table and then back again. “I just got off the phone with the president.”