The Cost of Honor

by Stargate

  "Mayray'ah," Eytan insisted, tugging at her again. He wanted to run.

  "Go," Sam gasped, forcing her legs to move. "Show me."

  "Stand down!" Jack surged to his feet. "Atella, stand down!" A hand grabbed his arm where it was tied behind him, but Jack jerked his head back and felt it impact on something soft. A nose? He stomped down, found a set of toes, and with a howl his guard let go. Jack pitched forward, right into the Commander, knocking him to the ground.

  The man scrambled back to his feet, shaking with outrage. Or was it fear? "Subdue them!"

  More Kinahhi piled through the door, using their weapons like batons. "Atella!" Jack shouted. "Stand down. Stand dow-" A rifle butt smashed into his cheek, jerking his head sideways and knocking him to his knees.

  "Kill them!" the Commander shrieked. "Kill the Mahr'bal, before they murder-"

  An inhuman shriek lanced through the chaos like a blade of ice, silencing everything.

  Oh crap.

  The Kinahhi froze, weapons raised. The Arxanti cast wild looks at each other, full of fear and confusion.

  Another shriek, this time closer. Definitely closer. And more than one.

  "O'Neill!" Teal'c knelt at the opposite side of the room, hands still tied. He recognized the sound too.

  The Kinahhi Commander spun toward the door, panicking. All around a horrified whisper rustled through his men. "Outcast! The Outcast are coming."

  "Get out," Jack ordered. "Everyone get out, they'll slaughter us in here." He yanked at the cuffs that bound his hands, but they wouldn't move. "Untie us!"

  The Commander's gaze darted between the door and his prisoners. "I am no fool, I will not-"

  "You're a damn fool!"

  "Untie us," Teal'c growled, standing up. "Or we all die together."

  Behind him, Jack heard a soft groan. Daniel was pushing himself groggily to his hands and knees, head moving slowly from side to side. "What happened...?"

  Thank God! "Daniel, untie-" Jack stopped. The stench. That horribly familiar stench oozed past his face, chilling him to the core. Breathing hard, Jack turned back to the door. Heart racing, he struggled back to his feet. "Daniel. Get up. Now."

  A scream echoed down the alley, human and terrified, before ending in a sickening gurgle. Then he heard it, the soft slap of flesh on stone, the flutter of tattered clothing. And the stench filled the room with death and degradation.

  Damn it, he refused to die like this. "Someone give me a goddamn weapon!"

  Too late. A face appeared at the door, a devil's face, piteous and terrifying in equal measure. Lank scraps of hair fell over the red-raw acid trails of the sheh fet. Jack could almost feel his own face burning in response, and suddenly the creature's eyes were locked on him.

  He could hardly breathe for the stink and the fear. Someone behind him screamed - one of the Arxanti. So much for their revolution, so much for their glorious battle for freedom. Now they'd know the horror of war, and the futility of death.

  From above came a scrabbling sound, like rats' claws on the floorboards. Teal'c looked up. "They are coming through the windows."

  It was too much for the Kinahhi Commander. "Open fire!" he screamed in desperation. "Open fire!"

  "Get down!" Jack barreled into Daniel, knocking them both to the floor as the room erupted into bloody chaos. The air burned with laser fire, turning red and smoky. Into it poured the demonic creatures, pouncing on the backs of the Kinahhi like wild animals, ripping, shredding, and shrieking.

  "O'Neill," Teal'c crawled toward them. "Daniel Jackson, we must-"

  A white, bony hand seized Jack's shoulder, yanking him around. With a curse, Jack pulled his arm free and scrambled away from the emaciated creature. It squatted before them, head cocked, face convulsing grotesquely.

  "What's it doing?" Jack rasped. Damn, if only he had a weapon.

  "He's watching you," Daniel whispered. Unbelievably, he sounded fascinated. "I think he's trying to communicate."

  "Daniel!"

  "No," his friend insisted, turning his hands palm up in a gesture of friendship. "He's not attacking. See? He's-" Daniel suddenly looked up, eyebrows rising. "Ah. Hello."

  Following his gaze, Jack saw a ring of the creatures forming around them, all sniffing at the air hungrily. "What are they doing?"

  Teal'c edged closer, doing a good job of hiding his repugnance. "Perhaps they know we are not Kinahhi and therefore do not attack us?"

  "Yeah. Or perhaps they're just firing up the barbecue."

  The alley was filled with death. Fallen Kinahhi soldiers lay sprawled on top of each other, and further down - she tried not to look too closely - Sam saw the Outcast huddled together, their backs to her. She didn't care to know what they were doing, and fixed her eyes on the battle-scarred doorway instead.

  Carefully she picked her way through the debris. It was dif ficult on her rubber legs, they barely felt like they belonged to her. Hunger made her clumsy, and she was hugging the wall for support. Outside the door lay one of the Kinahhi, his throat ripped out. She averted her eyes and pulled the weapon from his dead fingers. It was better than nothing, although she'd have preferred the solid weight of a P90.

  Dizzy for a moment, she took a deep breath. Then, cautiously, she eased herself around the corner, weapon leveled. Her eyes took a couple of moments to grow accustomed to the deeper gloom. To her left, crowded around the bottom of a narrow staircase, were a group of skinny young men, staring at her fearfully. One of them started, and half rose to his feet. Sam had no idea who he was or why he should recognize her. She just nodded, and he sat down again, returning to his task of cutting the ties that bound the arms of his comrades.

  Turning away, Sam moved toward the small group of Outcast gathered at the back of the room. "Eytan?"

  He was there, beckoning her closer. And then, as the Outcast made way for her to pass, she saw them. Her team. Battered, bruised and disarmed, they sat backed into a corner with their hands tied. But they were alive. Her legs almost gave out in relief.

  "Carter?" The Colonel was gaping in astonishment, as if she were a ghost or a figment of his imagination.

  "Yes, sir. It's me."

  For a moment he just stared. "I've, um..." And then he shook himself, hiding everything behind an and smile. "We've come to rescue you."

  She laughed, but it sounded dangerously like hysteria, and then Daniel was on his feet and wrapping her in a hug that lifted her off the ground. "Sam! We thought you were dead."

  So did I. She dropped her weapon and just held on to him. So did 1.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  ack rubbed at his chafed wrists, while Teal'c wrapped a makeshift bandage around Daniel's bleeding head. It made him look like the Karate Kid. "Stylish, Daniel-san."

  Daniel lifted an eyebrow, and wriggled his glasses onto his face. "So?" He glanced at Carter - Carter! - who was munching on a piece of dry Arxanti bread like a starving dog. "What next?"

  "We can't stay here," Jack decided, eyeing the strange, snuffling creatures who were still watching them. He swore he could see hunger in their eyes. "We have to get down, to the sheh fet."

  "Sir?" Carter's voice was muffled by a mouthful of bread.

  He met her gaze and held it. "I'm going to blow the thing to hell." No argument.

  "Yes sir. But there's a better way."

  Ten minutes later Jack found himself climbing yet another interminable staircase, surrounded on all sides by Carter's tame monsters. And was it his imagination, or were they growing in number?

  Outcast, she'd called them. But he knew what they really were, and he hadn't missed the telltale scarlet threads that marked her face too. Carter might not be sporting the zombie-look, but she was one of them. He could sense it, see it in the way they looked at her. The way they obeyed her. He wondered if she even realized that she seemed to communicate with them telepathically.

  She was up ahead now, deep in conversation with Daniel. Jack let them talk, happy to hang back. What did he have to say to
her anyway? Not much that was fit for public consumption, and as for the rest... There was a time and a place, and this definitely wasn't it. She was alive; that would have to be enough for now.

  "O'Neill!" Teal'c had been scouting ahead and came loping down the stairs.

  "What's up?"

  "I have seen several Kinahhi transport ships arrive in the last few minutes," Teal'c replied. "I believe the garrison here is being reinforced."

  Great. "Carter!"

  She turned. "Sir?"

  "How far? We've got company on the way."

  "Nearly there, sir." She indicated a walkway that peeled off a hundred yards up to their left, ending at the base of a giant onionshaped dome. "It'll be guarded."

  "Figures." A soft light, one of the few in the city, filtered out through the dome, giving it a deceptively welcoming look. "And what's in there, exactly?"

  Her face hardened. "The Kaw'ree. From there we should be able to use the sheh fet itself to disable the whole system. More specifically, sir, you should."

  He blinked. "I should?"

  "Yes, sir. I think- The Kinahhi are convinced that you can destroy them, that you're what they call Mahr'bal." Her gaze drifted to the Arxanti ranging out behind them. "They're terrified of them."

  "From what I saw in Arxantia," Daniel chimed in, "there's some kind of genetic component to their technology. You have to be genetically compatible to use it." He gave a long-suffering roll of the eyes. "Which, incidentally, is why we had that lightshow back there. Atella picked up the device, and it just activated. Like the light in Arxantia worked for you, Jack, but not me or Teal'c."

  "Even if you're right," Jack said, striding up the stairs and waiting for the rest of them to catch up, "and I'm not saying you are, but if you're right, the ability to turn lights on and off without using my hands is not exactly-"

  "Did not Alvita Candra declare that the sheh fet itself was a device of the Ancients?" Teal'c, as always, cut straight to the point.

  Jack fixed him with a hard stare. "She said that?"

  Daniel rubbed at the bandage around his head, causing his hair to flop all over the place. "Yeah, she said they'd corrupted it."

  "Of course!" Carter had that look in her eye, the one that generally preceded a long explanation. "I should have known. Sir, I'm sure you noticed the design differences between the center of the sheh fet and the supporting technology? The power cables, the...ah...clamps..." Her voice cracked and broke.

  "I'm sure you did," he said brightly, covering her momentary stumble. "And this is significant because...?"

  "Because Daniel's right. This isn't Kinahhi technology. They can't use it properly, and that's why they're afraid of the Mahr'bal. They're afraid they'll take it back, and use it to destroy them."

  Teal'c looked at the Arxanti, who followed them without fatigue or complaint. "Their fear is justified," he said. "The Arxanti are here to reclaim their birthright."

  A holy war. Jack slowed as they reached the walkway, peering over the edge. The city disappeared below, lost in darkness. This high up he could taste the tang of salt in the air, the breeze washing away the stink of the sheh fet - even with Carter's zombie army squatting all the way up the stairs, staring down at them like a flock of tortured, naked vultures.

  The onion-dome was massive up close, towering above them like a giant, glowing... onion. Jack turned away; so much for poetry.

  "Daniel." He glanced uneasily at the wild-haired Alvita Candra, who stood at the head of her ragtag militia. "I'm thinking we should keep the crusaders out of the temple. What do you say?"

  Daniel frowned, the expression slipping into a grimace. "I don't know. This is their war, isn't it?"

  "He's got a point, sir." Carter indicated her own private army with a slight nod. "Perhaps we should just let them loose?"

  Cold. Jack didn't miss the cold rage behind her eyes, the desire for a kind of revenge she'd never be able to exact herself "Carter? Who's in there, exactly?"

  And what the hell did they do to you?

  She shook her head and looked away. "Just an idea, sir."

  "It would be a massacre."

  "I concur with O'Neill," said Teal'c, coming to his rescue. "We require a more disciplined assault if we are to achieve our purpose and return in good time to the SGC." He fixed them all with a firm look. "Do not forget the Kinahhi already have a foothold among the Tauri. The destruction of the sheh fet is not our primary goal."

  "Not ours," Daniel agreed. "But it is for the Arxanti and for the Outcast. We can't stand in their way."

  And for Carter?

  From the corner of his eye Jack saw her studying the dome, so intently you'd think she could see right through it. Then he noticed the scarlet pattern on her face, disfiguring her pallid skin. Perhaps she really could see inside, or into the minds within? "We'll go in together," he decided, "all of us." For some reason, Carter's restrained smile of anticipation made him shiver.

  "Once more unto the breach, huh?" said Daniel.

  Jack shucked the Kinahhi rifle off his shoulder and into his hands. "Just watch your ass, Sundance."

  They exploded into the vaulted room like water breaching a damn. First the Outcast, raving and hooting as they surged through the tall black doors, then the Arxanti, running on strong, sinewy legs with the grace of wildcats. And on their six, SG-1.

  Laser fire felled the first ranks of the Outcast, and through the chaos of battle Daniel glimpsed a terrified line of Kinahhi soldiers. They fired, and fired and fired again. But the Outcast were beyond fear. Within moments the Kinahhi were overwhelmed, buried beneath a wave of unwashed, starving people dehumanized at the most basic level. Reaping the whirlwind. The screams were pitiful, gurgling with terror. He was forced to look away and found himself eye-to-eye with Jack. His friend looked faintly nauseous.

  "I'm not putting this in the report."

  "O'Neill," said Teal'c, pointing beyond the Outcast. "Look."

  It was Sam. She was skirting the mob of creatures, crouched low. Hunting.

  "What the-" Jack bit off the curse. "Damn it." Then he was moving, Teal'c on his heels. Daniel was about to follow when a warm hand took his.

  "Daniel Jackson." It was Alvita Candra, gazing at him with a fervent light in her eyes that was almost disturbing. "Come. It is time for you to change our world."

  He blinked. "For me to... What?"

  "Come," she insisted, tugging him into motion. "Come. Only you can show our enemy the truth."

  "Look, I'm sorry. I'm not him. I'm not one of your ancestors, I'm not here to fulfill your prophesy. I have to help my friends."

  Her hand tightened on his. "You are more than you think, Daniel Jackson. Trust me. I have seen it."

  Do you seek the truth, Daniel Jackson?

  The voice in his head came out of nowhere. "Oma?"

  Alvita Candra smiled. "Come," she said. "End this."

  Shaking his head, disoriented, he let her pull him into motion. Oma? Are you here?

  There was no answer.

  Teal'c kept low as he followed Major Carter, O'Neill at his side. She was approaching a man, he realized. Several men. They were dressed in black robes and sat in several large chairs placed in a semicircle on a dais at the center of the room. The Outcast had gathered around the platform, swaying and flinching, snapping their jaws like wild animals. It was evident that they hungered for the lives of these men, but some force was keeping them at bay.

  "Carter?" O'Neill hissed as they drew closer. "What's going on?"

  "Koash," she replied, eyes fixed on a man who stood on the dais staring down at her. There was anger and fear and horror in his dark eyes, all of it aimed at Major Carter. "The Kaw'ree."

  "Yeah. Right. Wanna try that in English?"

  "They're the ones who control the sheh fet, sir." Her voice was tight, as if speaking were difficult. "Those chairs give them access to all the minds trapped inside it. They control it all."

  O'Neill's face hardened. "Then we take them out."

>   She nodded, breathing quickly. The weapon in her hand began to shake, her face twisting in sudden pain. "Sir..."

  "Major Carter!" Teal'c moved to her side, exchanging a concerned look with O'Neill.

  "I can't," she gasped. The weapon dropped from her hands. "I can't move."

  Teal'c looked up, right into the face of the man she had called Koash. The scarlet veins on his skin stood out like trails of blood, and the murderous look in his eye was mirrored in all the white faces of the Kaw'ree. "They are doing this to you."

  Major Carter moaned and dropped to her knees, her hands pressed hard against her head, fingers cramping to fists in her hair. Teal'c dropped to her side, offering what comfort he could. All around, the Outcast began to shriek and wail, flailing on the floor in agony. "Stop," Major Carter cried. "Oh God, make them stop.'

  O'Neill stalked forward, gun raised and aimed. "Let her go. Right now."

  "Lower your weapon," Koash said coldly, "or she will die this instant."

  O'Neill didn't move an inch. "Then so will you. All of you."

  Alvita Candra led Daniel toward a large chair set at the far side of the room. It seemed identical to those on the dais, apart from the ominous addition of ankle and wrist cuffs.

  "What is it?" Daniel asked, circling the chair curiously. Its design was clearly not Goa'uld, the technology was too sophisticated. He glanced at the young woman. "Is this one of the gifts your ancestors left behind?"

  "Yes." She reached out a hand and touched the chair lovingly. "It was stolen by the Kinahhi when my mother was a child." Her dark eyes met his. "It is the heart of the sheh jet. And you must use it."

  "Me? I can't. Maybe Jack can-"

  "You must use it," she insisted. "Jack O'Neill has a different purpose. You are here to reveal the truth, Daniel Jackson. And, perhaps, to discover it for yourself" She held out her hand for him again. "Come, sit."

  If this machine could truly penetrate his mind, could it perhaps dislodge the hidden memories of his time among the Ascended? He knew what Jack would say: Don't touch it! But Jack didn't have a big gaping hole in his memories, an entire blank year full of mysteries and wonders that were lost in an opaque fog. If this machine could somehow cut through all that...