Title: Old Debts 2: Standing Tall
Author: MajelB
E-Mail: majelitab@lycos.com
Status: WIP
Category: action/adventure, drama, angst, h/c
Spoilers: Fair Game, FIAD, very minor for ITLOD and Tok'ra 1&2
Season: Three, after FIAD, but before A Hundred Days
Series: Old Debts
Rating: PG-13
Content Warnings: violence, language, angst
Summary: The team comes face to face with their captor, with unpleasant results, of course.
_________________________________________________________________
“Great plan, Jack. Real effective.”
“Shut up, Daniel.”
Teal’c had been right. When the door opened, six Jaffa had their staff weapons aimed into the cell. Now, the three men were sitting in what bore a vague resemblance to a throne room. The Jaffa had forced them to kneel before a very ornate chair opposite the door and Jack, Daniel, and Teal’c each had their own personal guard holding staff weapons inches from their heads, making hand bindings somewhat superfluous.
They all tensed when the huge door slid open. Out of the corners of his eyes, Daniel could see Jack on his left, his hands balled up in clenched fists, jaw set stubbornly in classic O’Neill ‘I’m-gonna-kick-your-snakey-ass-first-chance-I-get’ fashion.
Daniel noted the same set jaw on Teal’c. While his friend was able to maintain his stoic countenance, Daniel knew it must be hell for him, trying to control himself, knowing he might very well come face to face again with his father’s murderer, and now the man responsible for the death of one of his dearest friends as well.
Sure enough, Cronos walked into the chamber, making a point of looking as regal and pompous as possible. He was trying to present himself as a god, after all. He was flanked by a Jaffa honor guard in full ceremonial dress. The three male members of SG-1 looked decidedly unimpressed, which agitated the false god. He began speaking without preamble.
“You were warned. While the System Lords’ treaty with the Asgard forbids me to attack your planet,” Cronos spat with disdain, “We are not on your planet.” His lips curled into a foul smile as he fondled the ribbon device on his left hand.
Okay, now Daniel was starting to enjoy himself less and less. If that was even possible.
“Yeah, well, you got to come and visit us. We all had such a great time, too, so we thought we’d stop by your place. You know, have a look around, see the sights. Great planet you’ve got here. Really. Though the guest accommodations have been less than stellar. You might want to get the front desk to check on the kitchen, too. I ord-.”
Cronos’ eyes glowed bright orange and in a heartbeat, Jack was slamming into the back wall. Daniel flinched as Jack’s unconscious form slid to the ground, cursing his friend’s tendency to try and protect his team even at his own expense. Teal’c was enraged, but only let it show through an exaggerated frown and a tightening of his muscles.
Cronos lowered his hand and returned his attention to the two men still kneeling before him.
“Shol’va. You have been very quiet,” he taunted. Teal’c tensed further, and while Daniel knew how badly Teal’c wanted to take his revenge, he silently begged his friend to keep his cool. Things could still get so much worse.
“I can see it in your eyes, Teal’c. Why do you not attack me and avenge your father? I killed him slowly and caused him great pain. Does this not anger you? Are you a coward, Shol’va?” He paused and hovered over Teal’c for a moment, trying to intimidate him. He did not succeed; nevertheless, Cronos huffed in satisfaction.
“You do not attack me because you know I am a god! What could you do to a god?”
“False god,” Teal’c growled. Cronos smiled.
“Your opinion will change soon enough, and you will embrace my omnipotence, just before you beg me to kill you.”
Stimulating as the exchange he was witnessing was, Daniel was getting anxious. That, and his knees were really starting to hurt. Okay, enough was enough.
“I’m, uh, sorry to interrupt, but was there something you wanted?” Daniel put his best O’Neill sarcastic edge to the question.
“You Tau’ri must be very courageous or very stupid to display such insolence toward your god.”
“False god,” Daniel retorted with the hint of a smirk. Cronos backhanded his face, but Daniel managed to stay upright. Cronos seemed amused.
“You will learn your fate in good time, though when you do, you will wish I had killed you where you now kneel. Get this trash out of my sight!” he directed the guards.
Daniel and Teal’c were then unceremoniously yanked to their feet as Jack was dragged to the door. Once in the corridor, Daniel suddenly realized that Jack was not going with them. He was, in fact, being taken in the opposite direction. Daniel started to struggle.
“Hey! Hey, wait! Where are you taking him?! Jack! Jack, wake up! JACK!” He shouted, hoping that his friend would wake up and help himself. Teal’c joined him with louder shouts of “O’Neill!” in the hopes that he would regain consciousness. It didn’t work. He disappeared around a corner.
* * * *
“Where are the Tok’ra hiding?” Cronos demanded for about the fifteenth time.
Sam didn’t say a word, just glared daggers up at her enemy. Cronos crept toward her, bringing his face to within inches of hers, She could feel his hot breath on her cheek. If her hands hadn’t been bound behind her, she would have decked him in a heartbeat.
“What worlds are the Tau’ri now exploring?” Cronos whispered in her ear. Sam refused to wince, refused to respond in any way. She couldn’t show him how afraid and disgusted he was making her. She’d managed to remain totally stoic for the entire interrogation session so far- she wasn’t about to let down her guard now. She had found that if she could just focus her attention on something, it was a little easier to ignore Cronos and the dull ache throbbing in her head from being fried with the ribbon device a few too many times. She kept her eyes trained unwaveringly on the golden throne.
“Very well,” he sang, strutting over to her. Sam watched the stone in the palm of his ribbon device begin to glow again. She braced herself and kept her eyes on the throne…
“How can I penetrate the barrier on the Tau’ri Stargate?” he asked, the picture of patience. Sam locked her jaw in response and was immediately overcome by the effects of the ribbon device. Her head swam as she fought against the burning pain in her mind to maintain some semblance of coherence. She heard herself cry out as she lost her grip on what little control she had. She dropped to her knees, utterly transfixed on the orange stone, the pain seeping further into her, disorienting and paralyzing. Agony.
Then she felt herself falling again. She landed hard on her left shoulder as Cronos released her. Sam blinked hard, willing the pain to recede.
“Where are the Tok’ra hiding?” Cronos demanded again.
Sam could barely hear him through the ringing in her ears, but managed to rasp out a simple, “Can’t you take a hint?”
He rushed toward her, angered by her insolence and resistance, and pulled her up by the collar. His eyes glowed intensely as he hoisted her above the ground. Sam braced herself, expecting to be thrown across the room or something. Cronos looked ready to kill her. He was angry and tense, so Sam was startled when he merely dropped her.
“Pathetic human,” he spat. “Not worth my time.” Cronos turned briskly on his heel and made his way to the door. He looked back at her writhing form once, huffing in satisfaction, as he motioned the two guards by the door to follow him out. They left her alone.
Apparently, as Sam figured it, he must have thought she was too tired and weak to try anything resembling escape. They left her alone. Stupid snakehead.
Sam rolled onto her back, recognizing the opportunity the second it had presented itself. She looked around the room quickly. She was more lucid now, as her headache started to fade again. She sat up gingerly, but as fast as she dared, knowing that the guards who were no doubt standing just outside the room’s only door could walk in any minute. She stood up and felt compelled to head toward the throne. Why had she chosen this particular object to stare at? There were plenty of other objects in the room that could have held her attention- tapestries, large pots, golden nick-knacks of all sizes and shapes. Why had she been so drawn to this?
There was something about it. There had to be.
She began to examine the large chair, her fingers gliding over the cold, smooth patterns carved into the arm. She looked uneasily at the door- just to check- her heart beating out of her chest in apprehension.
This was a golden opportunity! Why was she staying here looking at a stupid chair? She should be bolting out that door.
It all played out beautifully in her rather scrambled mind- All she had to do was open the door, incapacitate and steal the weapon of the Jaffa standing guard outside, find the guys and a GDO, break them out, get out of the base, find the Stargate, and voila! Home before dinner. Right, Carter. And pigs fly.
There just had to be another way. She turned her attention back to the throne, looking for… something. She didn’t know what exactly, but somehow she knew it was there. It had to be.
“Come on, come on,” she whispered impatiently. She was taking too long. She was about to give up and take her chances with the door, when a little voice in the back of her head directed her attention to the underside of the seat. Lying on her back, she slid under the throne.
She saw it immediately- a small remote. It actually kind of reminded her of a Nintendo game controller or something, except this one was pale blue and crystalline. She grabbed it hastily and pulled herself out from under the throne.
She pressed her thumb down onto one of the ‘buttons’ and sighed in relief as a small panel in the wall behind the throne’s dais slid silently open. She didn’t think twice before crouching down and slipping into the dark tunnel, letting the panel close automatically behind her.
Sam scrambled through the tunnel on her hands and knees with the distinct sense that she’d been in the dark, cramped space before. She was familiar enough with the feeling to know it was Jolinar. This tunnel must have been how she was able to get in and out of the base on her recon mission… and how she finally escaped after she had been captured.
Distracted by her reverie, and the soreness in her abused knees, Sam didn’t see the abrupt and steep downward angle of the floor and when her hand hit nothing but air, she slipped and started sliding down the chute. It didn’t take long for it to deposit her roughly on solid ground.
Slightly dazed, Sam brushed herself off and struggled to her feet, giving her eyes time to adjust to the relative brightness of the cavern she now found herself in. The room was unmistakably Tok’ra in construction and Sam couldn’t help but wonder how it hadn’t yet been discovered by Cronos or his people. The Goa’uld were shrewd beings. How was it that Jolinar’s escape route had managed to elude him?
Sam didn’t ponder the question long, choosing not to look the gift-horse in the mouth. Instead, she started walking, stepping softly as though someone would hear. She needed to find out where these tunnels could take her- and if they would lead her to the guys.
The guys. It suddenly dawned on her as she crept through the blue crystal corridors, all alone, that they probably thought she was dead. Well, it wouldn’t really be that far off the mark. Smiling weakly to herself, she thought that she couldn’t wait to see the look on their faces when they saw her. Her grin faded, though, as another thought crept unbidden into her mind. Would they ever see each other again?
* * * *
Daniel Jackson was not normally a violent man. However, he could hardly categorize his situation as normal. Quite frankly, beating the shit out of the wall was making him feel a little better.
Sam was dead. Whack.
Jack got carted off, out cold, to God knows where. Thwack.
They were sitting in a cell, with no way out, at the beck and call of a particularly nasty snakehead. Whump-thwack.
His wife was dead. Smack.
His phone bill was overdue. Thud.
He lost his favorite book on South American cultural diffusion. Smack.
And…
And Teal’c was just sitting there! Daniel hurled his balled-up jacket past Teal’c’s head. He opened one eye and peered at Daniel, disgruntled over the interruption of his kel-no-reem.
“How can you do that at a time like this?” Daniel practically shouted, throwing his arms into the air in frustration.
“Daniel Jackson, do you not require rest?”
“Of course I do! But how am I supposed to sleep?”
“Perhaps you should try. You will not be effective when we escape if you are deprived of rest.”
Daniel just stood in place for a moment, slack-jawed and blinking.
“I hate it when you’re right,” he finally said, frowning, and plopped, cross-legged, onto the ground.
“Toss me my jacket, will ya’,” Daniel mumbled. Teal’c sighed and sent the garment in Daniel’s direction. He caught it and scrunched it up to serve as a pillow.
“I guess I am kind of tired,” Daniel yawned.
“Indeed.” Teal’c closed his eyes again, clearing his mind of distraction.
Just as Daniel lay down and closed his eyes, getting very used to the idea of being unconscious, the door slid open loudly. Daniel swore under his breath and Teal’c sighed in irritation. Daniel was just starting to stand up when he was knocked down by the flying body of one Jack O’Neill. The door slammed shut.
Jack groaned as he painfully rolled off of a rather stunned Daniel.
“Jack,” Daniel grunted when he was finally able to draw breath again.
“Daniel,” Jack replied, sprawling out on his back on the floor.
“You woke me up, Jack.”
“Terribly sorry, Daniel.”
“You okay?” Daniel rolled over to face him, concerned by his friend’s condition.
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“What do you think? They, ugh, asked me some questions. Didn’t like my answers,” Jack replied.
Daniel took in his haggard appearance and knew immediately that, roughly translated, ‘asked me some questions’ meant ‘interrogated,’ and not in a nice, polite way, either. Daniel chose not to pursue the topic, wanting instead to allow Jack, and himself, some time to rest.
“I’m, uh, gonna finish my nap, okay?” said Daniel, resuming his prone position on the ground. Jack just nodded as Daniel noticed he was practically asleep already. Well, at least they were all back together, again. That was something. Daniel closed his eyes, exhausted.
“Hey Daniel?” Jack asked, breaking the silence, his eyes still closed. Daniel sighed.
“What?”
“Why do you think they would ask me where Carter is?”
Daniel’s eyes flew open.
“What do you mean, they asked you where Carter is? Jack, what exactly happened?” Daniel asked hurriedly, forgetting about sleep entirely. Jack sighed tiredly as Daniel sat up to look at him.
“Well,” he replied. “I woke up, really sore, actually, in a cell just like this one. I banged on the door for a little while, which apparently only pissed people off, and then a couple of hours later, Cronos showed up and started asking me questions…”
Flashback
Jack grimaced, head throbbing, as Cronos
released him from the ribbon device and dropped his hand back down to his side.
“Now, Tau’ri, I will ask you again-
how do I deactivate the barrier protecting your Stargate?”
“And I’ll ask you
again- where’s the rest of my team?” One of the Jaffa swung his staff weapon
hard into Jack’s abdomen, causing him to double over in pain.
“HOW DO I PENETRATE EARTH’S DEFENSES,
HUMAN?” the Goa’uld demanded, eyes glowing fiercely.
“Click your heels together three times
and say, ‘there’s no place like home,’” Jack grunted in reply, earning
him a backhand across the jaw. He swayed a bit on his knees before recovering
and resuming his anger-filled glare at Cronos.
End
Flashback
“Just then, another Jaffa walked in,” Jack continued. “He started whispering something in the snakehead’s ear. Apparently, it wasn’t good news. Cronos got kinda upset.” Daniel winced at the thought of an ‘upset’ Goa’uld.
Flashback
“My lord,” the Jaffa regarded his
master softly.
“What is it?” Cronos hissed,
irritated by the interruption.
“The woman, my lord. She is no longer
in the throne room,” he continued, obviously uncomfortable with his proximity
to Cronos, especially when delivering unwelcome news.
“FIND HER!” he roared, angrily, eyes
blazing. “And when you do, kill her again.”
Jack’s ears perked up. Kill her again?
Cronos turned and stalked back toward Jack. He steeled himself up for
another blow, but it never came. Cronos stopped, paced the room for a moment,
fuming, then turned back to Jack.
“Where is Samantha Carter hiding?” he
asked.
“How the hell should I know?” Jack
replied, trying valiantly to hide his elation at hearing she wasn’t dead. And
even better- she had escaped. He couldn’t help but think that Cronos knew
perfectly well that there was no way Jack would have that information. Not that
he would tell him even if he did know.
“You have one chance to answer this
question, human. If I find your answer to be satisfactory, I will show you
leniency.” Cronos paused to give Jack a second to think it over. As if he
needed to. “What do you know of the Tok’ra Jolinar’s escape from this
fortress?”
“Don’t have a clue what
you’re talking about,” Jack replied, triumphantly.
“Very well,” Cronos said and turned
to the Jaffa who had brought him the message.
“I want this entire facility searched,
leaving no door unopened, not no crevasse ignored. You will find
the wretched woman!” Cronos barked. The Jaffa turned to carry out his orders.
“Wait!” The Jaffa turned to face his
master once more. “Do not search the palace.”
“My lord?” The Jaffa questioned,
confused by Cronos’ change of heart.
“We will wait,” the Goa’uld
snarled, glancing over at Jack, still kneeling on the floor. “I believe,” he
continued, grinning sinisterly. “That she will come to us.”
End
Flashback
“And then a couple of Jaffa picked me up and dragged me back here,” Jack finished. Daniel took a deep breath before responding.
“Well, at least we know that Sam’s alive,” he said, giving Jack a small grin. Jack gave a weak smile himself, but it didn’t keep.
“Yeah, but for how long?”
Go back to Old Debts
1: Worth It
On to Old Debts 3: Search and Rescue