Jack was beyond the sweep of the guards. They had discovered his escape too late, and had begun their perimeter too close to where he had been jailed. Groups of Jaffa headed downward as he moved up, missing him in their haste to get to wherever they thought the action was.
As Jack slipped through corridor after corridor unnoticed, he had to wonder about his luck. How exactly had he gotten out of that prison? It seemed as though someone had been opening those doors for him--but in the firefight it was clear he had no hidden ally.
Finally, he sensed a change in the air ahead of him. He was approaching the place of the execution.
The courtyard was deserted when he reached it.
Jack lingered near the opening of a minor passageway, peering into the space. Now that he was free, he had time to study the area, and to assess its tactical potentials.
The court was open above to a pyramidal space several levels high, which was well lit with a pleasant approximation of earthly sunlight. Within the gilded and ornately incised walls marched a row of relief-surfaced columns. These supported an equally decorated overhang, so that the perimeter of the court gave the impression of an outdoor breezeway. Along one end of the yard was a raised, stage-like area, with doors to the exterior and narrow stairs at each end, and a broad central stairway, beyond which was the wide ceremonial doorway from which Klorel had emerged for Teal'c's execution.
Jack found his eyes drawn to the spot where Teal'c had died, but there was no remnant of the atrocity he had witnessed there.
The gold and red curtains of the sanctum's open doorway billowed softly, distracting his gaze to the stage. The space was otherwise still.
In the corridors, Jack could elude or kill anyone who might have seen him, but here, in this open space, there would be no cover, and possibly no escape. The moment he used a weapon, his position would be revealed to all; though the courtyard appeared unguarded, the Goa'uld themselves would certainly be escorted by Jaffa. If he made his move here, he would have only one shot, or maybe two, to strike his target before he was either killed or captured.
The tomb-like quiet endured for several minutes. Finally satisfied that he was alone, Jack walked beneath the overhang toward one of the flanking stairs of the stage. If there was a guard he had missed, he knew he would be less conspicuous to an inattentive glance if he stepped confidently, than if he moved furtively from column to column. He made good speed.
When he reached the edge of the stage, he had an angled view into the space beyond the ceremonial door. The room seemed filled with more columns. A Jaffa stood guard at the door's edge, facing inward, and Jack had to wonder what Klorel could possibly be afraid of that would be in the sanctum with him.
Nameless.
Judging from what Jack remembered from brokering the Asgard treaty, the Goa'uld probably trusted each other about as much as Jack trusted them.
Can I use that? Jack wondered. Will I have to? He hoped it wouldn't come down to subtle social manipulations, though it might if he were re-captured.
Not going to happen, he thought.
He ducked down behind the edge of the stage, squatting on the bottom step of the side-stair. Walking in plain view to hide from a hypothetical observer was one thing, but now that he knew the position of a potential threat, he would sensibly rely on cover.
He's spread too thin, thought Jack. Between trying to secure me on the prison level and keeping a guard on Nameless, plus whatever he's doing about Daniel and Carter, he's letting me slip through the cracks.
It occurred to Jack that he might get a chance to kill not only Nameless, but Klorel as well. Unfortunately this would mean also killing their hosts, Margaret and Skaara.
Jack had killed Skaara once already. But Brata'c had returned Klorel--and thereby Skaara--to a Goa'uld sarcophagus. Life had been restored to both the boy and the parasite inside him, and the duration of that repair had delayed Apophis' attack on Earth by nearly a day.
Jack remembered the recoil of his pistol, and the blood spattering from Skaara's chest as he died. It wasn't a moment Jack cared to re-live.
But Klorel had to die. He hoped that Skaara understood, and would forgive him.
What did Dr. Coleman understand, after what she'd already been through?
Jack crouched below the height of the stage. And he waited.
They'll be around sooner or later.
With a creak of armor, the Jaffa by the door stood suddenly at full attention. By the sound, Jack could guess that another faced him symmetrically across the doorway, hidden from view by the thickness of the stone wall.
Nameless emerged, and the two Jaffa fell into step crisply behind her. She paused for a moment, eyes scanning the courtyard.
Jack froze.
The Goa'uld didn't see him. She half-glanced over her shoulder, as a trainer might glance at a dog, checking on the Jaffa. Then she stepped briskly, her posture tall and straight, once again giving Jack the impression of a corpse held up by a string. Her dress was gold, ornamented in blue and turquoise, flamboyant, and revealing of Dr. Coleman's athletic form. Her hands were folded in front of her waist, and covered with jeweled armaments. Even at her rapid pace, the Goa'uld conveyed a sense of command.
Two paces behind, at each flank, followed the two Jaffa, tall, wary, and muscular, bristling with aggressive energy. They were fully armed with staff weapons and zat-guns, but went without helmets. Gold glinted from the emblems tattooed on their foreheads, marking them as members of Klorel's Prime Guard--which meant facing them in a fight would be similar to facing a pair of Teal'cs.
The retinue was completed by a hooded slave tagging behind the Jaffa, who was perhaps as tall as the warriors, but whose height was masked by a submissive gait. A slave of the royal court would probably have the devotion of a zealot; Jack suspected even he would be difficult to overcome in a fair fight.
Jack could fire now, and possibly take the Goa'uld--but then he would be swarmed by the two Jaffa and whatever of their fellows remained inside the sanctum. He wasn't ready for suicide.
He would follow them, and make his attempt where there was more chance of his own survival.
The group turned away, proceeding across the stage to a side exit. Jack followed, paralleling their course, hiding below the level of the platform. At the far end, the Goa'uld and Jaffa proceeded into a corridor; Jack cursed as the slave stepped down the narrow side stair to follow the breezeway. He would have to wait to avoid being seen, and with every second's delay, Nameless would move further away.
Jack crouched beside the central stair, pressing himself into the corner nearest the stage to retain his cover. If he fired, or if the slave saw him and raised the alarm, he would be caught.
The slave paused at the corner to the courtyard. Jack held his breath as the tall hooded man looked back over the open space. For a moment, the slave stood straight; Jack wondered what kind of person he might have become if he had been born on a free world. Then, the slave returned to his task. He shrank from the ceremonial space, and disappeared into a side passage.
Jack rose from his hiding place, and trotted brazenly across the stage to follow the path that Nameless had chosen.
He followed close along the passage wall. The Goa'uld had been moving quickly, and with his few seconds' delay, she could already be far ahead, or have turned off the main route.
An intersection--Jack pressed his back against the wall, and peered down each direction. There was no sign of the Goa'uld; in the distance he saw the back of a Jaffa, standing at his post. By his demeanor he was not one of her escorts. Jack moved quickly across the gap, and continued forward.
I hope I didn't just loose the target·
He passed several more junctions. The main passage turned; he could hear footsteps ahead. Jack peeked around the corner, and was startled by the proximity of his prey.
He took a breath. At this distance if he opened the shroud of his staff, his quarry would hear it. If Nameless carried a personal defense shield, as Apophis habitually did, she would have time to activate it before he could fire.
Ra, on the other hand, had relied on the bodies of his child-slaves for protection. Would this Ra-like Goa'uld use Apophis' technology? Would Klorel have given it to her? And if not, would Klorel's Jaffa step into Jack's fire to protect her?
Jack realized the sound of the footsteps had stopped.
He peered carefully around the corner. In the same moment, the Goa'uld turned abruptly, her eyes searching beyond the Jaffa behind her.
She saw him.
Damn it! How did she know I was here?
He saw her eyes dart to the Guards, a command forming on her lips.
Jack activated his staff, and fired.
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