STARGATE SG-1-19-23-Ouroboros-s08

by Melissa Scott

  Ford would have missed them hours ago, had probably searched the forest until it started getting dark, and then headed back to the city to warn Sumner. At least, that was what Jack would have done, and he didn’t think Ford was stupid. Sumner… Well, it all depended on what Ford told Sumner, and what Sumner believed. If Dr. Wu was right, and the anti-Wraith drug was making him increasingly paranoid… No, Jack thought, I don’t really want to go there. Not if I don’t have to.

  He pushed himself to his feet, strolled as casually as he could toward the mouth of the cave. The nearest guard leveled his rifle, and Jack spread his hands.

  “Hey, I’m harmless. Not causing any trouble at all. Is there any chance I could talk to Major Sheppard?”

  The Athosian considered him for a moment, then shrugged one shoulder. “I’ll see if he wants to talk to you.”

  “Thanks.” For a moment, Jack thought he was going to carry the message himself, and out of the corner of his eye saw Teal’c’s attention focus, but then the Athosian beckoned to one of the kids hanging around the central fire.

  “Go find Major Sheppard, tell him General O’Neill wants to talk to him.”

  “He’s gone down to the lower caves with Teyla,” the kid answered.

  “So go get him,” the guard said, and looked at Jack. “He’ll come or he won’t. Now, step back, please.”

  Jack retreated, newly aware that the sun was down and the air inside the cave was getting distinctly cooler. More kids, younger ones now, ten or eleven or twelve, appeared in the cave mouth, carrying bundles of brush and wood, and an older woman began to build up the central fire. The same man who had been tending the tea began to scrape embers together around the base of an enormous iron kettle, while a younger woman brought baskets from somewhere out of Jack’s line of sight. A couple of people in Atlantis’s civilian uniforms ducked into the cave together, talking animatedly, but vanished into a side cavern before Jack could decide whether they’d seen him.

  “I am concerned about Colonel Carter,” Teal’c said. “And Daniel Jackson. I am not entirely sure Colonel Sumner will believe that we are captives.”

  “Yeah, I thought of that.” Jack jammed his hands in his pockets, wishing it was just the cold that made his skin crawl.

  “I do not see any good way to break out of here,” Teal’c said. “And yet —”

  A familiar figure appeared in the cave mouth, and Jack looked up sharply. Yes, it was Sheppard, and alone for once. He drew breath to shout, but the major was already coming toward them, and Jack made himself relax.

  “Firrel said you wanted to talk to me,” Sheppard said.

  “Yeah.” Jack eyed him thoughtfully, wondering if there was any chance of using him as a hostage. Behind him, Teal’c rose to his feet, visibly contemplating the same question. “I’d like a little privacy.”

  “Sorry, sir.” Sheppard shook his head. “But if you keep your voice down, no one can overhear you.”

  The guard was too close to try to jump him, and, anyway, it was more than possible that the Athosians wouldn’t care all that much about Sheppard’s continued health. Jack said, “I’m worried about the rest of my people. Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson. They’re still in the city, and I’m concerned that Colonel Sumner will blame them for our absence.”

  Sheppard bit his lip. “I’ve passed word to — friends in the city — to find out what’s happened to them. But that’s all I can do.”

  “You’re not exactly saying they’re not in danger,” Jack pointed out.

  “No, sir.” Sheppard’s voice was steady. “I don’t know either way. I’ll let you know what I find out, though.”

  “Great.” Jack broke off as he spotted Teyla Emmagan hurrying through the gathering crowd, and Sheppard turned to see what he was looking at.

  “Ah, John, there you are,” she said. “I would like a word with you.”

  There was a tension in her stance that Jack didn’t like, a suggestion of some new threat, and Jack narrowed his eyes. “If this has anything to do with my people —”

  She hesitated for the merest fraction of a second, and then inclined her head. “It has to do with you, General O’Neill. But I tell you now, it can change nothing.”

  “What’s happened?” Jack clenched his fists, then forced himself to relax.

  Teyla looked from him to John and back again. “We have been monitoring the radios we took from you. Colonel Sumner has been trying to contact you. Needless to say, we have not answered, but — He has been acting as though he is sure you are listening, and also as though he is sure you have joined us willingly. As I have said, I do not believe he is acting entirely from rational consideration.”

  “I have two people left in the city,” Jack said, his voice tight. “They’re at risk. Let me talk to Sumner.”

  “No.” Teyla’s voice was flat.

  “We came to you in good faith, you’re the one who broke the deal,” Jack snapped. “You owe me the chance to protect them.”

  “I’ve already asked our people in the city to find out what — if anything — has happened to them,” Sheppard said. “We don’t know there’s anything wrong.”

  Teyla grimaced. “But I believe there will be. General O’Neill, I will bring the radios to you, but I will not, I cannot, let you speak.”

  “He’s arrested them, hasn’t he?” Jack asked, but the Athosian woman had already turned away. “Damn it! If anything happens to them, Sheppard —”

  He broke off, shaking his head. Carter and Daniel were good, he told himself. The best. They’d be all right. Teal’c came to stand beside him, frowning slightly.

  “They’ll be fine,” Jack said, and Teal’c nodded.

  “Of course they will.”

  It didn’t take long for Teyla to reappear, a radio concealed in a woven basket, crackling with static and half-intelligible words. She brought it into the cavern, careful not to block the guards’ field of fire, and lifted the basket’s lid. Sheppard moved in behind her, though Jack couldn’t tell if it was to hear better or to protect her.

  “O’Neill! I know you can hear me.” Sumner’s voice was tinny and small, distorted by the speakers, but the words were clear. “I know you’re there.” There was a pause, static singing on the open channel. “O’Neill!”

  “Let me talk to him,” Jack said.

  Teyla shook her head. “That would be unwise.”

  “How long has he been calling like this?” Teal’c asked.

  “Some hours,” Teyla said. “Since sunset.”

  The radio was silent in the basket. Jack looked from Teyla to Sheppard, who wouldn’t meet his eyes, and back again. “My people are in danger —”

  “And so are mine.” Teyla’s face was grave.

  “O’Neill!” Sumner’s voice cracked from the radio. “O’Neill, I know you’re out there. Carter and Jackson are under arrest and, if you don’t respond, I will have them shot. Do you hear me?” There was another pause, as though Sumner was getting himself under control. “You have twenty-four hours, O’Neill. If you don’t give yourself up, you and Teal’c, I will have them shot.”

  Jack grabbed for the radio, but Teyla jerked it out of his reach. The guards took a step forward, bolts clicking as they readied their weapons.

  “Whoa, hold it!” Sheppard put himself between the first guard and O’Neill, his eyes on Teyla. “This changes things.”

  “It does not.” Teyla’s voice was less certain than her words, and Jack took a deep breath, struggling for the right words.

  “He will do it,” he said. “Sumner will shoot them.”

  “I am sorry, General,” Teyla said, “but they are not my people. I will not risk lives for them.”

  “And if we don’t stop him now, this is just the beginning,” Jack answered. “That’s what everybody’s been telling me about this drug he’s taking, that they’re all taking. He’ll kill my team, and, yeah, ok, that’s not your problem. But next he’s going to decide that your people are the threat, and he’ll come
after you. Again, maybe he won’t be good enough to hunt you out, I’ll give you that, but he’s going to do his best, and some of your people are going to die. If you guess wrong, lots of your people are going to die. And maybe he’ll take himself out of the running before he hunts you down, but that’s not a gamble I’d like to take. Are you sure you want to?”

  There was a long pause, the silence stretching out between them. If only Daniel was there, Jack thought, or even Carter. One of them would have the words that would tip the balance. Sheppard shifted his weight from one foot to the other, but said nothing. At last Teyla said, “Granting that this is true, still I do not see a useful alternative. We cannot defeat your Marines in a firefight — as you know well.”

  “That’s true,” Jack said. God, he wanted Daniel there to do the talking. “But if we stop them now, while there are still people in the city who don’t agree with him — and you know there are people, you’re in contact with them — then there’s a better chance. A much better chance.”

  “And still the Wraith will come,” Teyla said.

  “But maybe fewer innocent people will be dead.” Jack glared at her, wishing he had the right words, something that would get through.

  Sheppard cleared his throat. “I think General O’Neill’s right.”

  “Oh?” Teyla lifted her eyebrows. “And what exactly are you proposing, either of you, that stands the slightest chance of saving any of our peoples?”

  “We start by breaking out Carter and Daniel,” Jack said. He was making it up on the fly, and hoped she couldn’t tell. “That buys us time. Then we get as many other people out as we can.”

  “Then we leave Sumner and anyone who’s stayed with him to the Wraith,” Sheppard said. His face was grim. “I don’t like it, but — two birds with one stone. It gets rid of Sumner and with any luck the Wraith think they’ve killed off their problem humans. We all lie low for a while, and then we start looking for another way back to Atlantis.”

  “You’re going to leave your own people to the Wraith?” Jack said, and this time Sheppard did meet his eyes.

  “Yes, sir, if we have to. And I think we’ll have to, I don’t think he’s going to back down.”

  Jack nodded slowly. Yeah, there were times when you had to make those choices, when somebody stepped over the line — they’d hit that at the very beginning of the program, and he’d never regretted what had happened to Hanson.

  Teyla said, “Do you have a plan for rescuing your friends?”

  “Not yet.” Jack heard Teal’c stir beside him and added quickly, “But we will.”

  “We do not know where they are held or how they are guarded,” Teal’c pointed out. “We cannot make plans until we know those things.”

  “Teyla,” Sheppard said.

  She gave him a harried look. “This is not a decision I can make on my own. As you know. General O’Neill, you have been given a full day’s grace, and I must beg some of that from you. I must speak with the others who hold authority among our people. I will have an answer for you in the morning.” She turned away without waiting for an answer.

  “Can you at least see if you can find out where our people are being held?” Jack called after her, but it was Sheppard who responded.

  “I’ll see what we can do.”

  Jack watched them walk away, and shook his head. “We need plan B.”

  “I believe that Teyla Emmagan wishes to cooperate with us,” Teal’c said. “Major Sheppard certainly does.”

  “Yeah, but how many other people does she have to convince?”

  “It is her job to be persuasive, O’Neill.”

  “Yeah.” Jack shook his head again. “I’m just saying, if she doesn’t persuade them, we’re going to need an alternative.”

  “We will find one.” Teal’c’s voice was serenely certain, but Jack had known him long enough to recognize the concern beneath the grave tones.

  “We’d better,” he said, and this time Teal’c did not contradict him.

  The central fire had been allowed to die to embers, and the rest of the main cavern was in semi-darkness, lit only by a mix of oil lamps and a handful of lanterns brought by the Atlantis expedition. Teal’c lay on his side on the narrow cot, aware that their single lamp did as much to conceal his movements as to reveal them, but he could see no way to turn that to an advantage. Even if they could rush the closest guards, there were three more on watch at the cavern’s entrance, and certainly more out of sight elsewhere in the system of caves. There was nothing sensible to do but wait, though it took all his willpower to lie motionless, waiting for sleep to come. He could hear O’Neill’s breathing, and guessed he was also awake in the dark.

  “Hey, Teal’c.” O’Neill’s voice was pitched low, barely above a whisper.

  “O’Neill?”

  “How’re you doing?”

  For a moment, Teal’c didn’t know what he meant, but then realized. “I am well. My supply of tretonin will last some weeks yet.”

  “Good. Though I hope we don’t need that much of it.”

  “As do I, O’Neill.” In spite of himself, Teal’c shifted so that he could slip his hand into his pocket, curl his fingers around the cylinder of the injector. That was his secret nightmare, the thing he could not bring himself to say even to O’Neill. If they were trapped here forever in the Pegasus Galaxy — in a Pegasus Galaxy that was not his own — eventually he would run out of tretonin. And without tretonin he would die, slowly, painfully, and pointlessly.

  He made himself release his grip, take his hand out of his pocket and rest his forearm over his eyes. It would not come to that. In the first place, they would find a way back to their own galaxy. Colonel Carter was unquestionably the most brilliant practical physicist he had ever known, and she would solve the riddle of Janus’s ouroboros device. And, if by some incredible misfortune, it took more than a month to solve the problem, it wasn’t as though they were completely cut off from the SGC’s technology, even if they couldn’t reach the SGC. It was remotely possible that the Atlantis expedition had brought some tretonin with them, and, even if they hadn’t, the medical staff would know how to make it. They had created this monstrous enzyme drug; certainly they could make tretonin for him. He would not be left to die of some opportunistic infection or a wound that even an ordinary human’s biology should have healed. Bra’tac would scold him for his concern.

  And that was a good thing to bear in mind, his old teacher’s lifted eyebrows, the tart reminder that there were things far more important than one Jaffa’s life. Even now that they were free, it was still true, though he trusted O’Neill and the rest of SG-1 to save him if it was at all possible. And, most important of all, he had time to spare. In a month, entire solar systems could be won and lost: surely they would find their way home.

  And, at the very worst, he would die free.

  He did not know how long he had slept, but the sound of hushed voices from the cavern entrance brought him instantly awake, lying still in the dark as he assessed the situation. Not an immediate threat, he thought, the voices were too quiet for that, but definitely something unexpected, and he turned his head to see. A young woman in a hooded coat stood beside the remains of the fire, stripping off her gloves and holding out her hands as another Athosian stirred up the embers, releasing a spray of sparks. Teyla came hurrying from some other cavern, dressed but not entirely tidy, and a few moments later Sheppard appeared as well, unshaven and with his hair sticking out in wild directions. Two more Athosians joined them, and a man in a mix of expedition gear and Athosian dress, and the group conferred by the rebuilt fire, the young woman tracing patterns in the air as she spoke.

  The guards were watching, too, aware but not afraid, and Teal’c rolled slowly out of his bed. One looked back instantly, but did not cock his weapon. Teal’c moved closer, careful not to seem alarming. “What is wrong?”

  The first guard hesitated, but the other shrugged. “The Wraith. They’ve attacked again. Through the Ring of the
Ancestors and again in the city.”

  “Crap.” O’Neill had risen so quietly that Teal’c hadn’t heard him approach. “How bad is it?”

  “I don’t know,” the guard began, but Sheppard had seen them and turned away from the group by the fire.

  “What’s going on?” O’Neill asked.

  “Looks like the Wraith came through the gate again,” Sheppard answered. “They dropped drones in the field by the Stargate, but they also sent Darts over Emege. That’s all I know right now.”

  O’Neill grimaced. “Look, Sheppard, this is exactly why we have to act now.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sheppard said. “But, with respect — it’s not going to help to push.”

  It wouldn’t, Teal’c thought, and laid a careful hand on O’Neill’s shoulder. “We will wait patiently,” he said, and O’Neill gave him an unhappy look.

  “Yeah, fine.”

  “Thanks,” Sheppard said, and turned back to the group around the fire.

  “I don’t like it,” O’Neill said, but he kept his voice down.

  No more do I. Teal’c swallowed the words as unproductive, said instead, “If Colonel Sumner is holding Colonel Carter and Daniel Jackson in a secure place, then they are more than likely safe. And after this, it will be easier to persuade the Athosians and Major Sheppard to help us.”

  O’Neill’s expression eased a little. “Yeah. I hope you’re right.”

  Teal’c dipped his head. “Indeed.”

  Zelenka had said it would take about an hour to get from Sumner’s improvised jail to the place where they would rendezvous with the Athosians, but at this rate, Sam thought, it was going to be more like three hours. She pressed herself back into the shelter of the Ancient building as flashlight beams swung past, and heard Zelenka swear in Czech under his breath.

  “They must have spotted we were gone,” Daniel said softly behind her.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Zelenka said. “They would have raised the alarm, and I do mean there would have been an alarm. Something else has gotten the colonel upset enough to turn out his men.”