Weight of the Feather--Scene 29

Like fighting two Teal’cs…

At any moment now he would feel the impact, and then maybe the sear from their staff-blasts before death ended his suffering.

Unless, of course, the Goa’uld resurrected him so he could suffer again.

Nameless had been wearing an energy shield. The close range of his blast transferred enough momentum to throw her against the corridor wall--which hardly did more than irritate her.

One of her Jaffa deflected his staff weapon; Jack somehow managed to blow most of the tip from the staff of his opponent before turning to flee. It was only the Prime Jaffa’s surprise that kept Jack alive in those fractions of seconds.

He had no clue where he was going; his only directive was to out-pace the enemies on his heels.

If I die, if Nameless escapes…I CAN NOT lose this battle…

And then he was skidding face first along the polished-stone faced floor, his staff weapon skating ahead of him fast as a hockey puck.

What was that, a zat blast? It took him an instant to recognize that this particular category of pain resulted from a staff weapon being used as a cattle-prod.

He had been ambushed by a Jaffa who had had the presence of mind to simply wait for Jack to run past his position. With all the effective technology at the Goa’uld’s disposal, it was not the weapon that had felled Jack; it was the fact he had been tripped.

Jack rolled to face his attacker, and immediately wished he had not. The Jaffa struck him across the chest with the energized staff. Jack choked, gasping for breath while resisting the urge to vomit. The Jaffa grinned down at him, and Jack could hear the running approach of the pair who had been on his heels.

The Tau’Ri O’Neill, captured alive. I bet you’ll get a promotion for this…

He heard the sound of a staff-weapon energizing.

Oh crap.

And then he heard the blast.

The Jaffa standing over him suddenly rolled aside, and came up firing in the opposite direction.

One of Jack’s pursuers was already on the floor, with a faint silvery smoke lingering above him. The other had just secreted himself in one of the door-alcoves typical of Goa’uld vessels, and was also turning his weapon to fire on an unseen attacker. Stray blasts sizzled over Jack’s head from a point beyond the Jaffa.

The Jaffa who had tripped him leaned from the wall to grab Jack roughly by the arm, but was abruptly thrown aside, with a nasty blast-wound over his upper back. He had not taken a direct charge, but what had made contact would keep even a Jaffa laid up for weeks.

Jack half-stood, and scuttled to retrieve the nearest staff. He ducked into a side passage.

Peering up the corridor, he couldn’t see who was firing on his pursuers; the way had gone silent, but he could hear the soft moans of the nearby Jaffa, waking to his pain.

The remaining intact soldier leaned carefully from his cover, looking at the menace that had fired on him.

Jack raised his weapon toward the back of the unsuspecting combatant.

"Hunh!" the injured Jaffa shouted. The standing soldier turned; Jack saw his eyes widen at the sight of the Tau’Ri, now an armed threat behind him.

And then, with a sizzling bang, a blast out of nowhere burnt its way through the soldier’s chest.

Something moved in the corner of Jack’s vision–the injured Jaffa somehow heaved himself off the floor, and fled in a stumbling run down the opposite side passage.

Meanwhile, Jack saw a brief silhouette beyond the haze and stink of the carnage.

Carter?

"Colonel?" Carter’s voice came uncertainly.

"Here," he said, lowering his staff.

"Where’s Daniel?" She jogged up to him.

"Don't know. We were," he gulped air," separated before I escaped."

She glanced down the passage taken by the injured Jaffa.

"Too dangerous." Jack panted, "Lets vamoose."

"This way," Carter said, turning around.

Jack followed. He knew the wounded Jaffa would soon send his fellows after them–if Nameless had not beat him to it. But he did not have the heart to shoot a man in the back, who was already wounded, and fleeing unarmed. Even if that man was a Jaffa.

It occurred to Jack that Teal’c would have killed the soldier without hesitation, and the soldier himself probably saw Jack as a fool.

Is it only the Earth we’re defending, or are these the people we are trying to free? Jack wondered.

Then he focused on trying to keep up with Carter.

I feel like an old man.