The candles flame flickered slightly as a light breeze blew through the cracks in the walls.
The old Library had been closed earlier in the week, but the majority of the books were never claimed. Some of the ones that had been donated by the general public were repossessed, but the rest were left in their place, free to any man or woman who wished to own them.
A few of the richer people of the state had come in and taken any book that was embedded with gold, a few with silver, but the musty old books that were dust covered and had yellow and brown stained pages were left to sit there until they were claimed, which was unlikely to happen any time soon.
Most of the homeless, scavengers and beggars had already come through the library with a fine toothed comb, searching for the legendary book that held the secrets of the state, and was said to be the most valuable book ever to be written. It held all of the knowledge that had been lost during the `bad time', as it was now referred to as.
Janna had been an almost permanent fixture in the library since she was a child. Her mother had first brought her to the old building when she was four, and showed her the rows and rows of literature that was available to her.
A great majority of the population of the state who knew her, though that she was here just to find the missing book, like the rest, but in truth, she was here for sentimental reasons mostly.
When she was a child, before the bad time, Janna had preferred to come to the library and read a book rather than go home to a virtual game like so many other children that she had attended school with. She was seen as an outcast, someone not to be interacted with by the other children, but her love of knowledge kept the hurtful taunts in the schoolyard from hurting her. Her mother had always said that if other don't like you, then you could always relate to the characters in a book, and be friends with them. Even if it would have been one sided.
The candle flickered again as a few drops of wax fell to the base of the candelabra and she glanced up briefly before returning her eyes to the pages of a fairytale book that her mother had read to her before she died, almost fifteen years ago.
"You're still here." Mark, the librarian, called, walking into the main area of the large building.
"I couldn't leave yet." Janna admitted, placing her finger on the line she was up to so that she didn't loose her place.
"I thought that you would have been down at the dig site, admiring their latest find. Most of the archeological community is pouring over that thing. The head of the archeology department has already been down here and claimed every book that he thought could be useful." Mark told her, coming to sit at the opposite side of the table with her.
"I knew he would come down here eventually. Professor Alexandria likes to be the first at everything." Janna sighed.
"Including you." Mark reminded her.
"Yes," She agreed, "Including me. That's probably why he and I never worked out, he thought that he'd `found me' and therefore owned me."
"I told you that he wasn't the one for you."
"I know, but he never understood me. I just…..I don't know. I just think that there's something more out there, something that everyone is missing. Something huge, beyond our wildest dreams. Something that we can't even comprehend yet. He just thought I was nuts." Janna had that far away look in her eyes that all who knew her had become accustom to.
"Is this going to be another one of those debates over whether or not we're alone in the universe?" Mark asked with a gleam in his eye and mirth lacing his voice.
Janna had some wild ideas about what was out in space beyond their planet, but most didn't agree with her in the slightest. And some even though she was more than a little crazy, and should have been sent to the local nuthouse many years ago.
Janna sighed. "No. But are you really dense enough to believe that we are the only intelligent life in the whole universe? With all we know, I'm surprised that people still think like that."
"Janna, you know that when the bad time happened, everything we `know' became distorted. What we knew then and what we know now probably have huge continuity issues."
"I suppose." She admitted, slightly hesitant. "But don't you ever look at the stars and just…..wonder?"
"What are you reading?" The older man asked, eyeing the book in front of her suspiciously.
"'The tale of the four'."
Mark frowned, creating creases in his forehead. "That explains where all of this wondering comes from then. Janna, you do realise that its just a story right?" He asked.
"I know that it's just a story, but piece of it make sense." She defended, not willing to have her beliefs imposed upon. As far as she was concerned, her opinions were her own and no one had the right to tell her that she was wrong.
"Why do you keep reading that book anyway? You know as well as I do that you've memorized the story anyway. It wouldn't surprise me if you could recite it cover to cover." He pointed out, which was true. She had been reading this book for over twenty years now, and she never tired of getting lost in the story and it's characters.
"I know, but every time I read it, it's like the first time that my mother read it to me. Reading this book makes me feel closer to her, in some strange way. I know it sounds crazy, but it's like one of my strongest memories of my mother is literally this book, within it's pages and the story that it tells." She explained quietly, silently reminiscing.
"Then you should keep it."
Janna's eyes widened. "Mark? How would Lucia feel knowing that her father gave her favorite book away?" She asked.
"She'll understand when I tell her that I gave it to you. And besides, all of these books will be burned unless people claim them." He sighed deeply.
The Government's decision to foreclose the library was just made in the hopes of political gain, with absolutely no consideration for what the general public wanted.
Granted, most of the public blamed the books for the `incident' but there were people who knew that a book can't influence a person, and they didn't want the library to close. Unfortunately, those kinds of people were few and far between, and it was even harder to find someone that wanted to speak up about it.
"They're going to burn the books?" Janna asked in disbelief.
Mark sighed. "I'm afraid so. When really, if you look at it from their point of view, they'd only have to burn the book that gave Tommy Lee the idea in the first place, assuming of course that you blame the book for his actions. Which many people seem to do."
"Do they seriously think that Tommy Lee got the idea to shoot his teacher from a book?" Janna asked, incredulously.
"It would appear that way, yes."
The two friends sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts, until finally Janna spoke again, "Think they'll ever let us open another library?"
Mark shook his head sadly. "No, they'll be too worried that the public will disagree in case we have another episode like last month. The school shooting has created too much fear." He shrugged. "Just makes me glad that I saved money over the years, I'm too old to get another job."
"You'll be fine." She reassured, reaching across the table to lightly squeeze his hand with her own.
"It's getting late, and they've predicted a storm tonight, you should think about getting home."
"I'll come by tomorrow to help you sort out the rest of the books." Janna promised, standing and picking up her latest acquisition and coat. "I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled.
"Don't you have to work?" Mark asked as she pulled on her coat and tied it.
"No, I'm only holidays at the moment. Alexandria thinks that I need some personal time to get over the closure of this place. He always did mock my fascination of books, which is strange, considering the fact that he's an archeologist like me and therefore gets the majority of his knowledge from books." She couldn't help but laugh at the irony.
"Goodnight Janna." Mark called as she headed towards the exit.
"'Night Mark!" She called back, walking to the exit and opening the door to be met with a downpour of rain. "Great." She muttered to herself, pulling the hood out from the back of her Jacket, Janna made sure that her book was well and truly covered from the rain before she began to run home.
~*+*~
Chapter 2.
~*+*~
Janna walked through the halls of the university.
Hurrying her pace so that she wasn't late for her appointment with Jeff Alexandria, she didn't see the man coming and ran straight into one of the teachers. "I'm sorry." She muttered, getting up off the ground and wiping her skirt down, hoping it wasn't dirty.
"It's alright ma'am, I wasn't watching where I was going either." The man admitted, sheepishly. "I'm Mike." He introduced, holding his hand out.
Janna took the proffered hand and shook it. "I'm Janna."
"Are you okay?" He asked, "I didn't hurt you when we collided, did I?"
"No thank you, I'm fine. But I have to get going, It was nice to meet you Mike." She smiled, walking away.
Mike waved goodbye and went to continue onto the next class that he was supposed to be teaching when he noticed a book lying on the ground. He figured that Janna must have dropped it when they'd collided. "Janna!" He called.
Janna stopped when she heard her name being called and turned to see Mike holding up her favorite book. She walked back towards him, as he did the same. "Thanks." She smiled as he handed her the book. "I didn't even realise that I'd dropped it."
"What is it?" he asked, looking at the leather cover that had nothing on it except for a small symbol that was engraved into the letter in silver. An inverted V with a circle on top of it.
"It's a story." She explained, fingering the book that she knew so well. "It's called `the tale of four.'"
"It sound interesting." Mike nodded.
Janna smiled. "I need to get going, my appointment started three minutes ago." She grinned.
"Maybe we could get together sometime, and you can tell me about this book." He suggested, hopeful.
"I'd like that." Janna smiled. "How about we meet here for coffee in three hours?" She offered.
"Sure. See you then." He smiled as she headed for her appointment.
~*+*~
Janna knocked on Alexandria's office and waited until he opened the door. "Janna." He smiled, a tight smile that was obviously forced.
"Jeff." She returned, with an equally forced smile. "I came to see you about me coming back to work." She explained, moving to sit in one of the chairs at his desk.
Jeff took the chair on the opposite side of the desk and studied her for a moment. "I thought that you might like more time to deal with the closure of the library." He smirked.
Janna sighed, and tried to keep her expression neutral. "Jeff, it's a library. I may have loved that place but I love my job and would very much like to get back to work. I'm not going to collapse into tears just because the government are closing one of my favorite places."
"Fine," He conceded. "Why don't you come back on Monday, and you can help out with the new find. They could use an experienced archeologist like you down there, help them translate the symbols they found."
"Thank you Jeff."
"Don't thank me yet, you haven't seen how little progress they're making." He grinned.
She returned the smile, this time a more genuine one, as she stood. "I need to get going, I promised Mark that I'd help him out."
"Have fun!" Jeff called as she left the room.
~*+*~
"Mark!" Janna called as she walked through the labyrinth of the library that she knew so well. "Mark?"
"I'm in geographical maps!" He called back.
Navigating her way past ancient history and English, Janna headed into the geographical map section of the library to find her friend standing on a ladder, throwing books onto a high stand next to him.
"What are you doing?" She asked, holding the slightly shaky ladder as he climbed down.
"I'm donating some of these books to the university. I figure that they can still use them, and the government representative that I spoke to said that it would be okay because all of it would be censored by them before any of the students read them." He explained, pressing a button that made the stand of the shelf retract into itself and come down to their level, a pile of books stacked very carefully onto the top of the stand.
"But, all of the students that attend the university are at least eighteen. Doesn't the government think that they are old enough to make those kind of decisions for themselves?" She asked.
"Apparently not." He sighed, sorting through the pile of books that he'd got down from the shelf.
"But their reason for closing the library was because a fictional book was too impressionable for a young person to read, and that's why Tommy Lee did what he did. But the Uni. students are adults…..do you think that they even know that they're contradicting themselves?"
"I doubt it. But anyone who tells them that may find themselves on the wrong side of steel bars." Mark shook his head, and the two continued to sort through the books that the government had deemed `useful' and the ones that were `corrupting our children.'
~*+*~
"Sorry I'm late." Janna smiled, walking up to Mike. "I was helping out at the library and I lost track of time." She explained.
"I understand." He smiled as the two began to walk to the nearest coffee spot. "So," He started once they'd sat down and ordered their drinks. "Tell me about that book you were carrying."
"The tale of four?"
"Yeah, I've never heard of it before." He admitted, sipping his drink.
Janna mimicked the action. "It's a story about four people who travel the universe and help weaker and less advanced cultures defend themselves against an evil race."
"Are they the most advanced race in the universe?" He asked.
Janna couldn't help but smile at his interest in her passion. "No, not by far, but they try to do what they can to help out. They've even helped out some of the more advanced races of the universe."
"It sounds like quite a story."
"It is. They fight together, they socialize together and they deal with everything together. The moral of the story is that there is strength in unity."
"Where did you first hear about this book?" He asked.
"When I was little, my mother read it to me. When she died, it became one of my memories about her. I've memorized the whole book, but reading it still feels like the first time."
"Is it one of those kids stories, like the ones where the bad guys always win?" He asked.
"No, one of the four actually dies. Well, he doesn't die so much as ascend to another plane of existence."
"But then there are only three of them." Mike pointed out. "Making the title a little out of place."
"I know that, but they gain another to replace the one they lost. He brings something else to the four. The one that they lost brings one thing, but the one that they gain brings another." Janna explained, sipping her drink before continuing. "It's not always a case of good winning against evil, one of their own actually gets possessed by evil and they fight to save her, only to learn that the evil that has possessed her is actually a good form of their enemy, and they ally with them. They ally with many other races and try to fight the evil that would oppress them all."
"They sound like hero's." He commented.
"Not necessarily. Although they try to do the right thing, sometimes their actions aren't very heroic at all. This book tells of their adventures over the course of seven years."
"That's a lot to fit into one book."
"I know. And, my mother believed, and I believe that there is actually another book that is set after this one, it tells of how their journey ends. It should, hopefully, tell of why they eventually stop fighting."
"You said that one of the four who was possessed by the evil was a woman?"
"Yes, there are three men and one woman." Janna nodded.
"Have you ever thought of looking for the second book?" He asked, downing the rest of his drink.
"I'm a big believer in the theory that if you are supposed to have something, or see something, then it will come to you. At least, I hope it will." She sighed. "Unfortunately I can't stay much longer, I'm helping Mark Reed, the local librarian pack up the rest of the library."
"Would you like some help? I love that library, and I hate to think that it's being closed. I'd love to help clean it up, maybe that second book will fall into your lap." He smiled.
"I don't think I'd know that book if it fell on my head and knocked me unconscious, but sure, Mark and I could use all of the help we can get." Janna admitted. "Let's go." She smiled and the two of them paid the bill and headed towards the building that was their beloved library.
~*+*~
Chapter 3
~*+*~
"Mark!" Janna called from her position on the floor.
"Something wrong?" He called back.
"No, I just wanted to know if you wanted to keep the Steve Queen series." She asked, looking at the multitude of books that the famous author had written throughout the past thirty years.
"It was deemed unacceptable!" Mark called back and both Janna and Mike, who was a few feet away from her, could hear the disappointment in her voice.
"Then do you mind if I keep the Blue Mile series? I loved those novels." She asked.
"Any book you want that has been deemed unacceptable you are welcome to my dear!"
"Thank you!" She called back.
Janna and Mike continued to search through all of the books in the fiction section. All of the Steve Queen, Mary Clarke Higgans, Harper Leeanne, and many more talented authors were no longer to be read by the general public. They could still be brought through bookstores, but proof of age would here on in be required, and in some cases, shop owners were allowed to question the mental health of a customer and see if a book could cause another incident like the school shooting.
"Janna, Mike, I'm going to start on the murder mysteries so be careful that no books fall." Mark told them, bringing the ladder to the opposite side of the shelves that they were sorting through.
"Thanks for thew warning." Mike replied, his head in a book.
"What are you looking at?" Janna asked, separating some of the Steve Queen books from the ones that she wanted to the ones that were to be burned.
"It's a novel called `To eat a Mockingbird.' It's not a bad book."
"Then you should keep it for when you want to read it again…..watch out!" She screamed as the shelve in front of them wobbled dangerously.
A few lone books fell from the upper shelve and Mike pushed Janna out of the way as more began to fall to the ground, narrowly missing their heads.
"Mark?" Janna called, looking around frantically for a sign of her elderly friend, who she knew could move as fast as he used to be able to.
"Janna." Came his slightly weakened reply.
A flash of skin told Janna that Mark had been buried under some falling books. "We have to help him!" She whispered frantically to Mike, who was already on his way to the fallen man, dodging tumbling books as some came dangerously close to his head.
Janna held her breath and waited until both men were walking out of the cascade of books. Mark was being supported by Mike, his ankle obviously sprained, but otherwise he appeared to be alright.
The three of them stepped back to avoid any other collisions with flying books. "Is this an ground-quake again?" Janna asked.
"I believe that the shelve was not as stable as predicted and the weight of my ladder shook it to it's foundations." Mark admitted, his head hung in shame.
Janna laid a comforting hand on his arm, "It's alright, we're fine. But I'll go and get the first aid kit so that I can bind your ankle." She smiled, and headed into the office to retrieve the item.
Grabbing the first aid kit, she ran back to where Mark was sitting on the floor, Mike standing behind him. "Got it." She smiled triumphantly.
The last thing Janna heard before slumping to the ground, unconscious, was the voice of both men telling her to look out behind her.
~*+*~
"Janna!" Mike called again, gently shaking her shoulder.
She'd been unconscious for almost an hour after that book had come flying down and hit her in the back of the head. She was going to have one hell of a headache when she woke up, Mike thought to himself.
The book had hit her and then landed on her lap, where it still lay.
Janna groaned and brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the seemingly harsh light of the library. "What happened?" She asked, letting Mike help her into a sitting position.
"A book hit you and you were knocked unconscious." He explained.
"Is Mark alright?" She asked, keeping her eyes closed against the dizziness that threatened to overcome her.
"I'm fine Janna, how are you feeling?" The older man replied.
"Dizzy." She muttered, letting out a shaky breath. "Have the books stopped falling yet?"
"Yeah." Mike replied, keeping a firm grip on her arm. "They stopped just after you were knocked out. I think maybe we should get you to the doctor."
"No, I'm fine now." She protested.
"If you say so. I though you might like to keep this." He told her, handing the book that had hit her on the head and then landed on her lap.
Janna opened her eyes to see what he was holding and couldn't help but grin. "Thank you. What is it?" She asked.
Mike looked at the leather cover with no writing on it. A silver love heart was embedded into the cover, with a funny sort of squiggle in the center of it, but there were no words. He opened the first page and read the title to her. "It's called `the end of the four.' But it doesn't have any authors name."
"Did you say `the end of the four'?" she asked, her green eyes alight.
"Yes." Mike nodded slowly, not understanding what the grin on her face or the twinkle in her eyes was for.
"Oh my god!" She exclaimed, a hand coming to cover her mouth. Janna couldn't help herself and she squealed in delight.
"What?" Mike asked, confused.
"It's the second book!" She exclaimed excitedly. "This book is the sequel for `the tale of the four' It's the book that I've been looking for!"
~*+*~
Chapter 4
~*+*~
"I told you that you'd find it." Mike laughed.
"And I told you that it would be the book to fall and hit me on the head and then knock me unconscious." She returned, studying the book as though it was made of pure crystal. "I don't know what I want to do more, look at it in complete awe or read it." She commented.
"Be thankful that you have found this book Janna, had the bookshelf not been so unstable then this book may never have seen the light of day." Mark reminded her gently.
"I know, its just so overwhelming…..do you want to know what it says?" She asked, looking back and forth between the two men and the book she held so carefully in her arms.
Both me couldn't help but share in her infectious grin. "Why don't you read it first and curb you're curiosity?" Mark replied. Janna nodded and although the other two men didn't share in her enthusiasm, they could appreciate it.
She opened the book to the first page and began to read.
~*+*~
"I could get into a lot of trouble for this." Mike hissed as he and Janna crept through the shadows of the university halls, trying to blend into the surroundings.
"Did I mention that I appreciate you do this for me? And what a big help you are being?" She whispered, following his lead.
"You did, and I hope that you remember what I did for you when they ask you to be a character witness at my trial." He hissed.
"You won't be tried for this Mike, stop being so pessimistic." She returned, sucking in a deep breath as a security guard walked passed, almost seeing them.
"Theft is a pretty solid reason to be thrown in jail." He defended, weaving his way through the pillars that decorated the halls. "How did I let you talk me into this?" He asked again.
"You didn't need much convincing as I recall. Besides, you know that you're as excited to know the answer as I am." She protested.
The two friends had got together each night and taken turns reading `the end of the four' aloud to each other, after Mike had read the first book, naturally. Mark had already read the book during the day while the other two were at work, so occasionally he would join them and the three would compare notes on what they thought of the chapter that they read that night.
Mike couldn't help but groan, knowing that she was right. He was interested in finding the answer to a mystery that they had stumbled upon towards the middle of the fourth chapter. Unfortunately, he didn't think that breaking into the university to steal a history book was how they were going to go about finding that answer.
Had the library not been finally closed once and for all the previous day, they could have gone and researched the book in there. But the government had decided that no matter how many valid arguments Mark, and his supporters, had presented, the threat of another school shooting was too great to `risk' keeping the ancient, and much loved, building open. They hadn't destroyed the building itself, it would be too expensive, and there were talks of plans to turn it into another coffeehouse, and maybe an extension to the university.
"Janna!" Mike hissed.
"What?" she asked, keeping her voice low as yet another security guard walked passed.
"The guards patrol this hall, it's the center of the university, and there's no other way around. We can't get passed. We can't get the book." He shook his head.
Janna sighed heavily. "Follow my lead." She whispered and grabbed his arm, pulling him out into the hall, and into the plain sight of six armed men.
"What are you two doing here?" One of the guards asked, walking up to them with his hand on his holstered weapon, just in case.
"My name is Janna Harron and this is Mike Giles. He's a teacher here and I'm an archeologist. We need to get a book from the history rooms to look up a symbol that we found at the local dig site." She lied, smiling sweetly as Mike nodded.
"I can't let you through ma'am, I'm sorry." He shook his head.
Janna feigned a sigh. "Can you keep a secret?" She asked and the guard nodded slowly, eyeing her suspiciously. "Have you heard the rumors about the dig site? The one that theorizes that the artifact that was found is actually a porthole to hell?"
"I've heard that." The guard nodded, trying, and failing, to seem nonchalant and uninterested.
"Well, unless we find out what the last symbol means, then we could all be in big trouble. Hellish kind of trouble, if you get my meaning….." She raised her eyebrow and the guard looked at her blankly.
Suddenly, as if just realizing what she'd said, the guard nodded. "Is it a porthole to hell?" He asked.
"Honestly…..what's your name?"
"James."
"Right, Honestly James, we aren't sure. And my colleges want to test the artifacts power and unless we know what that last symbol means then we could all be in very big trouble." She bit her bottom lip in mock concentration.
"Why couldn't you come and get the book tomorrow?" James asked.
"Because, the people that I work with want to test it tonight, while everybody else is asleep, and if we waited until tomorrow to translate the symbol than God only knows what could happen. Do you understand?"
He thought about his answer for a moment before replying. "Yes ma'am. You have five minutes to get in, get the book and get out. I could get into a lot of trouble for letting you do this." He sighed as he began to escort them toward the history faculty. "Bobby!" He called to one of the other guards who had been watching the two strangers carefully, ready for any trouble. "I'm escorting these kids out of here, are you right to cover the area?"
"Sure James." He nodded and the three continued walking.
Jana looked at their escort. "James, you do realise that you can't tell a single soul about what we told you?"
"I understand." He nodded.
"Not even the guards out there. As far as they are to be concerned, we are just a couple of kids who broke in here for fun, okay?"
"I don't know anything ma'am, just that a couple of kids broke in here for fun." He repeated.
They stopped outside of the history teacher's lounge and James unlocked the door for them. "Five minuets." He reminded them, stepping back as they entered.
Janna and Mike nodded and stepped into the room, closing the door behind them. Mike switched on the light and looked at the boxes of books lining one wall of the room. "Are they the donations from the library?" he asked, pointing towards the piles.
"Yes." Janna nodded, moving towards the wall in question.
"How are we going to find the required book in five minutes if we have to go through all of that. We don't even know where it is." He reminded her.
"Actually," she started, pulling one of the boxes down so that she could open the one that was underneath it. "We do."
"We do?" He repeated, confused.
"Yes, Mark had to go to the doctors the other morning to get his ankle seen to so I continued to pack the donations. I did history and English while he was gone, so I know exactly where the book is. Unless the teachers here have already gone through them and messed the order up. If so, we're screwed." She shrugged, offering him a smile.
"Janna, watch you're tongue!" Mike scolded, smiling.
"Come here." She asked, motioning for him to come and stand next to her. Mike did as asked. "Hold out your arms please." He did so and let her pile all of the books that she didn't want into his arms.
"Got it." She whispered, smiling.
"Do you think that the history department will notice the missing book?" Mike asked, looking around the room.
"If they've already gone through the boxes, which I doubt, then probably, but if they haven't then I don't think they'll notice." She replied, placing the other books back into the box. "At least, I hope not." She muttered under her breath.
"I heard that." Mike told her, frowning slightly.
They put the rest of the books back and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them and they waited until James had locked the door before continuing to the other exit.
"Did you find it?" James asked, looking straight ahead.
"Yes, thanks to you. I haven't been able to have a good look yet, but I'm fairly certain that we aren't in danger." She lied.
"The dig site is harmless." James concluded, nodding thoughtfully.
"The artifact appears to be harmless, and I doubt that it can be activated without more information. Which I might add, we don't have yet. Our planet is safe." She smiled reassuringly and James nodded in understanding.
The three stepped out of the university grounds and Janna turned to James. "Thank you for all of your help, we couldn't have done it without you." She smiled.
"It was a pleasure ma'am. But I do have to remind you of one thing thought." He started.
"What?" Janna and Mike asked in unison.
"Just because you young kids can't find any fun elsewhere, doesn't mean you can break into places." He told them in a stern voice.
Janna smiled her thanks and Mike shook James' hand in gratitude and the two walked off into the night towards Janna's house.
~*+*~
Chapter 5
~*+*~
"Well?" Mike asked impatiently, pacing around Janna's living room.
"Keep your shirt on Mike, I need time to translate. This has been a dead language for almost three hundred years. I can't solve the mystery in three minuet's." She replied, continuing to look through the history book resting in her lap.
"Maybe we should go and see Mark." He suggested, sagging into one of the armchairs by her bay window.
"At one in the morning?" Janna raised an eyebrow. "I don't think his wife will appreciate us waking her at this hour."
"But you said it yourself, this is important." He protested.
"I know what I said but….." She trailed off as something in the book caught her eye.
"But what?" Mike asked, sitting up to studying her worried expression carefully.
"We have to go and see Mark." She told him, standing and grabbing her coat and placing the two books carefully into her carry bag.
"Now? I thought you said that it was too early? Maybe we should wait until morning."
"We can't." She replied, shaking her head and passing him his coat, which he dutifully put on. "Our planet may be in very big trouble. Hellish kind of trouble."
"Wasn't that the story that you told James?" Mike asked, recognizing her words from earlier in the evening.
Janna sighed. "It was…..but I didn't realize how accurate I was until now. We need to go and see him. If I'm wrong then we can all stop worrying…."
"And if you're right?" Mike asked, opening the front door for her to step out into the cool morning air.
"If I'm right," Janna started, pausing to look up into the night sky and stare at the stars. "Then we are in serious trouble."
~*+*~
Mike rang the doorbell and they both listened as a rather annoying tune played to signal someone was at the door of the Reed household. Waiting for a few moments once the tune had finished it's song, Mike rang the doorbell again, Janna pacing urgently behind him.
"What?" Sophia Reed asked, opening the door in her nightclothes, a dressing gown maintaining her modesty.
"Sophia, we're terribly sorry to wake you at this hour, but we urgently need to speak to Mark." Janna explained, her eyes pleading with the older woman to understand.
Sophia looked into the young eyes of her friend and stepped back, pulling the door open wider to allow them entrance. "Go and put the kettle on Janna, I'll get Mark for you." She told them.
"Thank you." Janna nodded and moved into the kitchen, finding her way with practiced ease.
Mark followed her, taking in as much of his surroundings as he could in the near darkness. "You've been here before." He observed as she put the kettle on and pulled out four mugs from a cupboard.
"When my mother died Sophia helped me out a lot by being a sort of surrogate mother. After my father left, I stayed with her and Mark for a few years until I was old enough to go to university and find my own place." She explained, opening the refrigerator and pulling out the milk.
"They're good people." Mark observed.
"Very." Janna agreed.
"Unless of course, you wake us at one thirty in the morning." Mark smiled from the doorway, entering the kitchen to give Janna a hug and Mike a handshake. "You can put one of those cups away, Sophia went back to bed. She said that by the look on your face whatever you wanted to see me about was something that no one else needed to hear."
Janna nodded, and put the fourth mug back into it's home. "We need your help." She told him, pouring the boiling water into each cup before bringing them over to the table.
Mark stirred his coffee and sipped it. "What with?"
Janna pulled her bag onto the table and fiddled with the clasp that held it shut. "Do you know what our planet was called before the name `Shea' was given to it by our great, great, great grandfathers?"
"Ah…..no, I don't." He shook his head.
"Funny that." Janna muttered, mostly to herself. "Mike, do you know what it was called?" She asked her friend, turning her head to look at him.
"I thought that our planet was always called Shea. You mean that there was another name for it?" He asked, puzzled.
"Yes, a few hundred years ago, our little planet was known under a different name. It was called Virgo at the time." She told them.
"You mean to tell me that you woke me and my wife up at one thirty in the morning to tell me that our planet wasn't always called Shea?" Mark asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"No. I need your help in translating this symbol." She explained, pulling open the front clasp of her bag. Janna reached in and pulled out the history book that she and Mike had retrieved earlier in the evening. Opening the book to the page that she had marked, Janna turned the book towards Mark and pointed to the symbol.
"It looks like a squiggly line to me." Mike murmured, looking at the symbol that Janna had pointed out to them.
"Janna," Mark started, pulling on his glasses to look at the symbol. "Don't you think that you would be better off asking Professor Alexandria what this means. Or one of your friends in the archeological community, surely they would have a better chance at translating this than I would?" He asked.
"Mark, you said it yourself. You've read almost every book in that library twice, if anyone knows, you will." She looked at him, feeling a few tears begin to well in her eyes with emotion. "Please Mark, this is more important that anyone else can realize. Just take a look at the symbol and concentrate."
He nodded, and turned his head back down towards the book to study the picture. His brown creased in concentration, and he squinted his eyes a little. "Mike, can you go out into the hall, first door on you're right is my study. On the wall at the back is a book on coinciding mythology and astrology. Can you get it for me please?" Mark asked.
"Sure." Mike nodded, moving out of the room to retrieve the book.
Mark waited until the younger man was out of earshot before turning back to look at Janna, concern in his eyes. "Have you told him what this means?" He asked, his voice nothing more than a harsh whisper.
Janna shook her head. "No, I wasn't sure. Do you mean that I'm right?" She asked, fear in her voice.
"I think you may be. But I want to double check it first, and pray that our findings are both wrong." He sighed.
"I don't want to be right." She admitted.
"Neither do I Janna, neither do I." He agreed.
Mike returned a moment later with the book in hand. He found the two in a comfortable silence, Janna sipping her coffee while Mark continued to read, or imitate reading, the book on the table in front of him.
"Here you go." He smiled, noticing that the older man didn't smile in return as he accepted the book.
"Thank you." Mark nodded and handed the book to Janna. "You know which page you're looking for?" He assumed.
She nodded and began to flick through the book. Finally finding the page that she was searching for, she lifted the book and turned it to rest in front of mark, next to the history book. Janna stood and walked to stand behind the older man and look over his shoulder.
Both sucked in a sharp breath as they simultaneously realised what they were seeing, and what it meant.
"What?" Mike asked, not bothering to look at the book. He was an English teacher, he knew that he had no chance of understanding what they did.
Janna and Mark looked up at him and, in unison, replied, "We are in serious trouble."
~*+*~
Chapter 6
~*+*~
"Would someone like to tell me what's going on here?" Mike asked, looking back between the two worried faces that were staring at him.
"Do you remember the passage that we read in the new book about one of the four's last battle's?" Janna asked.
"Uh…..vaguely." He nodded.
Janna pulled out the book from her bah and began to read aloud. "The four were to go on a mission, a mission that would be one of their last. Unaware of that fact, the four walked through their Gate, into it's rippling surface to emerge on another planet. A planet that was under going to fall under the enslavement from the evil ones. This planet was known only as Virgo, and most of its people would soon be dead, dying, or hosts to the evil ones. The four vowed to change that. And, with the help of three citizens that had managed to elude capture, and understand what was happening to their world, they set out to destroy the evil ones who had brought so much mayhem to this small and quiet planet." Janna looked up at Mike as she finished reading, and saw the realization dawn on his face.
"Shea is going to be attacked by these evil ones?" He concluded.
"Yes." Janna nodded.
"But, that's just a story…..it's fiction, baring no resemblance to reality. What makes you think that this story is about our planet, and what will happen?" He asked, disbelieving.
Janna shook her head and turned forward several pages in the book and continued to read until she found what she was looking for. "This small planet was technologically inferior to the evil ones. An unfortunate accident, many years earlier, had caused most of their technology to be destroyed. The people of Virgo called this the `bad time' and many refused to speak of it. Although their planet remained in chaos for several years after this time, the population banded together to help each other rebuild their world. They would never return to the level of technology they had been at before this bad time, but they would do their best to revive their civilization." She looked up at him. "You can't possibly tell me that this doesn't sound familiar at all."
"Maybe we aren't the only planet that had a `bad time.' You're the one who is always saying that we can't be the only intelligent life form out there. And do you think that we are the only planet that was known as Virgo. It's not enough evidence Janna, you know that as well as I do." Mike returned.
"Janna, go to page sixty two." He instructed.
"Why?" Janna asked, confused.
"Just do it, and keep reading aloud."
"Okay." She nodded, unsure of his reasoning, but she trusted him. "Among the people of Virgo, there was one woman who would have the knowledge to help defeat the evil ones. She was a direct descendant of a Tok'ra, a race that was the same as the evil ones, only they fought for the good of the galaxy, alongside the four. This one, whose name shall never be known, was born to help her people. Her mother was to pass on all of her knowledge to her daughter, but an evil one who was hiding in secret among the Virgo's killed her when the chosen one was but a small child. The chosen one would then, in turn, witness the downfall of her mother's murderer." Janna looked at Mark, unsure of what she had just read. "There's a chosen one among our people who'll help us when this happens?" She asked.
"If." Mike reminded her. "*If* this happens."
"Oh it will, don't you have any doubts about that. It will happen, and this chosen one will be our savoir." Mark told them, specifically Janna.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"'This one, whose name shall never be known.' That's what the book says." He reminded them.
"So he or she is the only person that knows?" Janna asked.
"Keep reading." Mark instructed.
"The chosen one was supposed to be taught all of the secrets that she would need to defeat the evil ones, but her mother was to die before that could happen. Because of this, the chosen one's knowledge would remain dormant in her dead zone," Janna pause and looked up. "Dead zone?" She asked, confused.
"The part of the brain that remains dormant throughout any normal humans life." Mark explained.
"Oh." She nodded and continued. "Remain dormant in her dead zone until she came into contact with the woman of the four, the one who had been previously blended with a Tok'ra would unlock all of the chosen one's memories."
"So, we know it's a woman." Mike concluded.
"That we do." Mark nodded, "and I think that it may have been a woman that killed the chosen one's mother."
"Why do you say that?" Janna asked.
"Just the context of the story." He shrugged.
"That could be any one of a hundred woman I know." Janna sighed.
"You know that many women whose mother's died when they were young?" Mike asked, shocked.
"My mother died in an explosion at a local warehouse, there were almost a hundred woman there at the time, all of them had children." She explained, shuddering at the memory of her mother's death.
"So…..what do we do?" Mike wondered.
"We wait. If they are going to come, and I think they will, then all we can do is wait." Janna shrugged.
"Can't we warn someone? The police, surely they'd be able to help?" Mike asked.
"Mike," Janna sighed, "mass panic isn't something that we need. I think that they will come, and I hope to God that I'm wrong. But if they don't, we will have created a worldwide paranoia. I think that would be almost as bad as if the evil ones do come."
"I never though of it that way." He admitted.
"I think we should all get some sleep. You two can stay here tonight." Mark told them, standing and placing their empty mugs in the sink.
"What do we do tomorrow?"
"You said it yourself Janna, paranoia and panic aren't going to help us at all. So tomorrow, we get up and we go to work like we're none the wiser. That's all we can do."
~*+*~
Chapter 7
~*+*~
Janna walked along the outskirts of the town, towards the dig site. She had been previously briefed on what was at the site, and she had seen images that had been taken but she had yet to go down there herself.
The previous night's events still lay heavily on her mind. She and Mark were in agreement, that the evil ones would come, but they were unable to completely convince Mike. She understood that he was being skeptic out of caution, and she admired that, but something about those books bothered her, and she couldn't just dismiss them like he could.
After all, many had though that the sixteenth century prophet Nostrodamus was crazy until some of his predictions had started happening.
"Miss Harron, how nice of you to join us." Jeff Alexandria commented sarcastically as she walked into the tent that had been set up to protect the artifact from natural weather conditions.
"Stop being so formal Jeff, we slept together for two years." She threw back, walking past him to get a closer look at the data that had been collected on the artifact.
Jeff was momentarily stunned by her comment, back bounced back quickly. "Why are we so defensive this morning?" He asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Because I am in no mood to put up with your crap this morning. Now, if you'll excuse me. As you pointed out, I was late, and I have over a week's worth of work to catch up on." She told him curtly, picking up several folders before walking over to the artifact.
Janna gasped in awe as she stared at the monstrous ring, still laying in the ground, surrounded by rock. "She's a beauty isn't she." One of the diggers commented, standing next to her.
"She certainly is." Janna replied, bending down to touch the surface of the ring. "Do we know what she's made of?" She asked, already christening the ring female.
"A metal that we've never seen before ma'am. We don't have a name for it, but I'm sure someone will think of something." One of the scientists smiled.
A word suddenly flashed into her mind and she muttered it out loud, unaware that she had even breathed the word until the others who heard her looked at her strangely. "Naqudah."
"Naqudah?" The scientist repeated.
"Yes, that's what the metal's called. Naqudah. Um….Doctor…..I'm sorry I don't know your name." She shook her head.
The scientist grinned. "Peters. Frank Peters."
"Right, Doctor Peters….."
"Please," He interrupted, "Call me Frank."
"Fine then. Frank, do a chemical test and you should fine elements six, thirty nine, eighty one and two hundred and three are the main elements that we know of in this substance." She ordered.
Frank stared at her blankly.
"Now would be nice." She smiled.
"Right, sorry." He apologized sheepishly, and Janna smiled. "How do you know that those are the elements that will be in there?" He asked.
"I read it in a book." She lied, unsure herself where this sudden knowledge had come from.
"I believe that I'd like to see that book." Jeff announced.
"Well, I would be happy to show you but it was burned along with the rest of the books that were `unsuitable for our societies children.'" She deadpanned.
"Why would a science book be burned?" Frank asked, and Janna lightly cursed under her breath.
"Because it had the makings of a Beretta in it." She lied, and turned her attention back to the ring beneath her fingers. "Has anybody translated these markings?" She asked, looking at all of the symbols surrounding the ring.
"There are thirty nine of them!" Someone called out.
"I didn't ask how many symbols there were, I asked had somebody translated them!" She smiled a tight smile at Jeff, who was grinning at her frustration.
"If you order it then someone will do whatever you ask." He told her.
"Excuse me?" She asked, standing.
"You, Janna, have been put in charge of this operation. You're the most experienced archeologist in the field. Whatever you say goes." He told her, still smiling.
"Right, my first order of business, somebody escort the good professor out of here, he'll jus get in the way. You," She pointed at someone who was staring at her. "I want you to try and translate these symbols. You'll be working tonight as well, because I recognize some of these as constellations. That symbol," She pointed too a squiggly line engraved into the ring, "Is to be left alone, I know what that one is, so make the others your priority. What's your name?"
"Samuel, ma'am." The man replied, not bother to pronounce his last name.
"Right, Samuel. Get together a team, you can have five people, whoever you want to help with this translation. I don't care who you bring in, you have one week to find out what they mean. Where is the head of construction?"
"Here ma'am!" A big man replied, moving towards the center of her audience with his hand raised.
"Name?"
"Jason."
"Jason, get your men together today. Has the artifact been removed from the rock or is it still embedded?" She asked.
"Still embedded ma'am." He replied.
"Fine. Thank you. Okay, listen up people, there are a few things that you need to know. First off, anyone calls me ma'am again and I'll have him or her fired. My name is Janna Harron. You can all call me Janna. Secondly, since we're all going to be working together for a while, I don't want to hear you address each other by salutations or last names. This is a first name basis operation. Samuel, I want you to take pictures of the symbols. One picture per symbol, understand?" She looked at the man in question expectantly.
"Yes, Janna, but wouldn't it be easier to just translate directly from the ring?" He asked.
"Okay, thirdly, it's called a Stargate and you will address it as such. Don't ask me how I know that because I will not tell you, just trust me. And no, it would be easier because after you have taken all of your pictures and are sure that they are clear enough to work with, Jason and his boys are going to get the Stargate out of the rock and bring it upright." She told them.
"Upright?" Jason asked, confused.
"See here how part of it is flat?" She asked, pointing to the side of the Stargate. "It is supposed to stand upright. That's you're job. Can you handle that?"
"Sure." Jason shrugged.
"Okay, Frank, you and you're team of scientists are going to take this fragment that chipped off and test it for the elements that I told you. Do you remember them?"
"Yes." Frank nodded.
"Okay, I want three archeologists helping Jason, these are construction workers, people, they aren't used to being gentle with the ground." She saw Jason grin and nod and knew that she'd made an instant friend. "I want two construction workers, one excavator, and three archeologists working over there with a metal detector. There is another artifact that goes with the Stargate and should be near by. It is your job to find it."
There was a murmur of agreement among the crown as they all sorted themselves into the groups that they were required to be in.
"Also, I need someone to run an errand for me."
"I will!" A young and enthusiastic boy cried, coming to stand before her. "I'm here from the high school, writing an article for my newspaper." He announced proudly. "My name is Joseph."
"Okay, Joe. I want you to go down to Mark Reed's house, do you know where he lives?"
"Yes ma'am." He nodded.
Janna groaned. "My name's Janna. Anyway, go down and tell him to come down here and bring the book that we were using last night. Can you do that?"
"Yes." He nodded and took off out of the tent.
"Janelle?" She called to her friend, who she knew would be in the room, no doubt somewhere behind the sea of people.
"Yes Janna?" The short, dark haired woman called, coming to the front of the group.
"Follow Joe and make sure he doesn't get lost. And stop by the Heritage café and tell Ally that we need him down here for a big order." She asked.
"Sure." Janelle smiled and left the room.
Janna turned back to the group. "I need two volunteers." She announced and two people automatically stepped forward. "I need you to go down to the police station and request a permit to shut off the roads that can access this site. We don't need unwanted visitors." They both left quickly and quietly. "Is there anyone here who doesn't have something to be doing?" She asked.
The people looked around at each other for a moment, but nobody stepped forward.
"Then let's get to work." She smiled and everybody scattered in different directions, trying to get organized.
~*+* ~
Samuel walked into the second tent that had been designated Janna's office. "Janna." He smiled, trying not to startle her.
"Something wrong?" She asked, looking up from the notes she was reading about the Stargate.
"No, I just wanted to let you know that the pictures have come out perfectly and I took the liberty of making you a copy."
"Thank you." She replied, accepting the folder that he handed her. "Was there anything else?" She asked.
"I was wondering, what happens if we cant find any meaning for the symbols?" He asked.
"That's why I asked for Joe and Janelle to go and get Mark Reed, he knows more about constellations than most people I know, so he'll be here to help." She replied confidently.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." She nodded.
"What makes you think that the symbols are constellations? How do you know they aren't words or pictograms?" He asked.
"It's a gut feeling." She smiled.
"That's good enough for me." He nodded. "I'd better get back to work. I'll let you know when we make progress." He told her.
"Thank you." She replied as he left her tent just as Joe, Janelle and Mark entered. Janna smiled at the three as they stepped fully into her tent.
"What else would you like us to do?" Joe asked.
"You can go and observe the workers to get some information for your paper. Just don't get in their way." She told the young boy as he bounded out of the room.
"What do you want me to do?" Janelle asked.
"I think Samuel could use your help on the translation." Janna nodded.
Mark waited until they were alone before he came towards the temporary desk and sat down opposite Janna. "How are you doing?" He asked.
Janna smiled slightly. "Okay. Normalcy is easier than I thought. What about you?" She asked.
"Fine, although my mind is still racing about all of this." Janna nodded, understanding what he meant. "I've gone over the book again, and I think that there is a lot of information missing." He told her quietly, aware that there were a lot of people just outside the tent.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, on moment the book is up to the fight against the evil ones, and then it talks about the birth of a daughter. One that belongs to the leader and the female of the four." He explained.
"So…..it doesn't tell us what happens here?" she asked.
"I wish it did." He sighed.
"It could have provided a huge tactical advantage."
"I know." He agreed. "But I guess we'll have to let the chosen on and the four do their work."
Janna thought for a moment. "Do you have any idea who the chosen one is?" She asked.
"None."
~*+*~
Chapter 8
~*+*~
Janna sighed and closed her eyes. They had been working around the clock at the site for almost two weeks now and Samuel and his team were having problems translating the symbols that they though were pictograms, Jason and his team were having troubles removing the Stargate from it's rocky home and Joe seemed to be getting in everybody's way.
"Hey Janna." Jason smiled, bringing her in a cup of coffee. The only benefit for anyone at the moment seemed to be for Ally, who was making a fortune from them. All of the workers seemed to be drinking coffee by the gallon.
"Jason, how are things going?" She asked, the same question she had asked him every morning since they started working here.
"Same as yesterday." He sighed. "They boys with the metal detector thought that they'd had some luck earlier. Turner out to be a coin." He shrugged.
"We'll get there." She smiled, ever the optimist.
"I know we will. I'd better get back to work, just wanted to bring you that coffee." He smiled, exiting her tent.
Mark walked into her tent only moments after Jason exited. "How are you feeling?" He asked, noticing her disheveled appearance.
"I've been better." She admitted. "I'm usually a patient person but our progress here seems to be almost non-existent."
"I know Janna, but you yourself are always saying that patients is a virtue. I found some more information in the first book that I thought might be useful." He told her.
"What is it?" She asked. Janna had read that book from cover to cover more times than she could count. But, then again, she had never been looking for information that could one day save their planet.
Mark opened the book and began to read. "The leader of the four was once trapped on a distant world, with no way to return to his group. The female, fearing her leader may be lost forever, worked herself into the ground trying to get him back. They discovered that their Gate was horizontal, making it impossible for one to travel through it." He stopped reading and looked at her expectantly, her green eyes wide.
"You mean that the Gate can't be useful unless it's upright?" She asked, her mind racing.
"That was the impression that I got." He nodded.
"Do you think I should tell them to stop trying to get it vertical?" She asked, chewing on her bottom lip.
"I think we should continue with the plans. If we try and avoid the evil ones coming, then the ramifications might be more than we can handle."
"And you think that we can handle having our world enslaved by an evil race with only four people and one chosen girl, who has no idea about her destiny, to stop it? I think we should avoid this like the brown plague!" She exclaimed.
"If we continue then at least we know what's coming. If we stop what we would be doing, had you not realised the significance of this book, then we are totally in the dark about what's going to happen. Which would you prefer?" He asked.
Janna sighed, knowing his statement was logical. "I would prefer not to have to make this decision on my own. Why me? I just found the damn book! What does this have to do with me?" She asked, angry.
"You did more than find the book young lady! You picked up on the clues that everyone who had read this, including myself, missed. And what does this have to do with you? Listen." He ordered, flipping to almost the end of the book. "I didn't want to tell you this part, but I think you should hear it now." And as he began to read Janna's mouth, and her world, plummeted down.
"The chose one, protector of the Virgo's people is the one who shall save them al in the end. She, who sees what is coming before others do, and realizes the significance of these findings, will be the savior."
Janna stared, open mouthed at her friend and mentor. "Me?" She stammered, confused, as she began to pace the room.
"Yes Janna, you." He nodded.
"But, why me?"
"Who better?"
Janna stopped her pacing and turned to him, pointing an accusing finer at the older man. "Stop answering my questions with more damn questions!" She screamed.
"Janna Harron, you will lower your voice this instant!" He demanded.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, shaking.
"It's alright." He murmured, pulling her into his arms. "I know that you're confused, but Mike and I are here to help you through this."
"You and Mike…..and me. We're the three that elude capture!" She exclaimed, as more pieces fell into place for her.
"If that is the way it is supposed to be, then that is the way it is." Mark nodded, having already figured out, and accepted his fate.
"And….I'm the…..chosen one." She whispered.
Jason bounded into the room, oblivious to what he had just walked in on. "We got it up!" He exclaimed excitedly. "We got the Stargate vertical!"
Janna's eyes rolled back into her head as she passed out, knowing that their fate was beginning to play out.
~*+*~
Chapter 9
~*+*~
The knocking at the door was tempting to ignore, but he knew that whoever it was wouldn't disturb him without cause, especially when he and Colonel O'Neill were discussing budget cuts. "Come!" He called.
Major Carter opened the door and stepped into Hammond's office. "Sirs," She nodded in greeting, coming to stand in front of his desk.
"Something wrong Major?" He asked.
"We've just received word from the Tok'ra sir, they have news on Anubis. He's begun to expand on the number of planet's he controls. Basically, he's on a search and destroy mission sir. And planet that doesn't want to worship him gets destroyed. All of the others are kept safe, as long as they abide by his laws." She sighed.
"What do the Tok'ra have in mind?" O'Neill asked, twirling a pen in his fingers as he listened intently.
"They know certain things about his way of attacking. He generally sends the majority of his Jaffa by Stargate, and the rest are kept in a mother ship orbiting the planet as backup. But that's only about thirty men or so." She replied.
"What happened to not putting all your Jaffa in one basket…..planet, I meant on one planet?" O'Neill asked.
Sam couldn't hide a small smile at his comment. "Because of the vast number of loyal Jaffa he has, no other system lords particularly want to challenge him. As long as he stays out of their territory, they don't seem too interested in his activities for the moment." She told them.
"What are we supposed to do then?" Hammond asked, hands clasped and resting on his desk.
"The Tok'ra think that they have the co-ordinates for the next planet that he plans to take over. We could be there and hopefully, plan a surgical attack." She shrugged. "It would be a long shot, but we have to try something."
"Agreed Major. Unfortunately, as you know, SG-1 is the only full team left on Earth at the moment. Most of the other teams are at the negotiations with the Quinellians and the two that aren't are in the infirmary. I could recall some of the teams if you think you'll need them." Hammond offered.
"With respect sir, I think that SG-1 should handle this one alone. We work well together, and can anticipate each other's moves. Anyone else could jeopardize the mission." O'Neill replied, smiling at his second in command.
"Very well. Do we know when the attack is planned?" He asked.
"Three days sir." Carter replied without missing a beat.
"I think it would be prudent of your team to go in before then Colonel, hopefully gain the trust of the locals, maybe they could be of assistance." Hammond suggested.
"Probably a good idea sir. Do we know anything about their technological status?" He asked Carter.
Carter shook her head. "No sir. All we know is that they are a relatively peaceful culture that is going to be attacked in three days. The Tok'ra said that they had an ex-operative living on that planet. Apparently she and her host fell in love while on a mission and left to be with a man, they haven't heard from her since."
"When do we leave sir?" O'Neill asked, turning back to Hammond.
Hammond thought for a moment. "Tomorrow morning at eight hundred hours. We'll send a probe through first and make sure that their Stargate is activated. If the probe comes back clear, then you can go through. Colonel, you and Major Carter should go and tell your team all you know about the mission. And make up a list of what you need. Anything not stocked on base we'll need to know about soon, so we can get everything together. I want you to report back to the SGC twenty– four hours after your arrival and let us know what you find. Dismissed." He nodded and the two officers left him alone to think.
He sighed. He hated sending any of the teams under his command into danger, never knowing what they were doing or if they needed back up. He understood O'Neill's reasons for not wanting anyone else to accompany SG-1 on their mission, and apart from the shortage of free teams, he could see the logic, but something didn't sit right with him about this particular mission. Although, he couldn't let a whole civilization fall under Goa'uld rule because he had an unspecific bad feeling.
Sometimes, he thought, sometimes being a General really sucked.
~*+*~
"Sir, do you want to order any fragmentation grenades, claymore mines or nitroglycerine?" Carter asked, looking through the list of available explosives she had been given.
"Nitroglycerine….isn't that a bit over overkill?" He asked.
"Well, we don't really know what were going to be up against as far as numbers go so….."
"Can we order them by the dozen?"
Sam couldn't help but smile. "Sure sir." She nodded.
"Fragmentation grenades could come in handy." O'Neill nodded and Carter wrote it on their list of things that they'd need for the mission.
"What are they?" Jonas asked, looking up from his study of a P90. Teal'c was teaching him to improve his clip changing time.
"Frag. Grenades? They're a hand grenade with a segmented coil inside it and when it goes off, it breaks up into little shards and kills every thing within a thirty-meter radius. Very effective when there are a lot of people you want to kill. Very bad if it goes off in the wrong place." O'Neill replied.
"You know," Sam started, looking over their list briefly. "When I was about fifteen, before my mother died, dad took me and Mark to an air force base explosive display. I remember, they got a surgical glove and filled it with sausage meat. They put a detonator in it and rigged it to detonate by pulling a piece of string. When they were sure that everyone was a safe distance away, the commander turned to us and told us that if we are holding a detonator when it goes off, this is what'll happen to our hand. They pulled the string and sausage mince went everywhere." She smiled at the memory.
Jack was momentarily stunned. Carter never shared things about her past very often and they had all learned to appreciate the extremely rare moments when she did. "That would have been so cool!" He exclaimed.
"For a fifteen year old, it was." She replied, smiling.
"Major Carter, I believe that Jonas Quinn is sufficiently trained in operating his projectile weapon." Teal'c told them.
"Teal'c you've been on Earth for over seven years now and you still can't call it a gun?" O'Neill asked, trying to keep the mood light.
"What he means is thank you Teal'c, you did a good job." Carter told him, effectively `translating' what her CO had said.
"Okay campers, do we have the shopping list?" O'Neill asked, and Carter held up a piece of paper with their `shopping list' on it. "Right then, Carter hand that in to Hammond please and then we all need to catch some Z's before the mission, it's going to be a biggie."
The team stood and headed off to their respective quarters, each preparing in their own way.
~*+*~
Chapter 10
~*+*~
Janna sat in front of the Stargate, studying it.
She had decided that once it was horizontal that there would be someone guarding it at all times. Tonight was her turn. Mark and Mike were going to come by and sit with her for a while later on, but for now she was content to sit on her own and just…..watch the spinning inner circle of the Stargate.
She jumped up, something inside of her warning her of danger. "What the…..?" She muttered, watching as a sea of blue shot out of the center of the Stargate and then folded back in on itself. "My God." She breathed as the surface rippled.
A large mechanical machine rolled out of the surface and she instantly recognized it as a MALP, on of the machines described in the `tale of the four.' Janna wasn't afraid, perhaps she should have been, but there was something insider of her, something she suspected that had to do with her being the chosen one, that told her that she would be safe.
A voice came through the machine. "Hello, my name is Major Samantha Carter of the United States Air Force on the planet Earth."
Janna smiled, that was the name of the female in the four. "Hello." She waved. "My name is Janna Harron. I'm an archeologist from the planet Shea. Are you and your friends coming to my world?" She asked, smiling.
"My friends?" Carter asked, wary.
"Yes, your friends. The other three men of your team." Janna nodded, not understanding why Samantha, as she had taken to referring to her as, didn't seem to know who the other people in her team were.
"How do you know about my team?" She asked.
"That, I'm afraid, is as you say a long story. And you can only keep the Stargate open for thirty eight minutes before it automatically shuts down." Janna smiled as she imagined the stunned expression of the other people who were no doubt watching her through the MALP.
"Would it be alright if my friends and I came and visited you and your people?" Samantha asked.
"I would be honored if you would all come." She grinned, only slightly concerned as to what the other people in her neighborhood would think.
"We'll be there in a few moments." Samantha told her.
"See you soon!" Janna waved and she waited.
~*+*~
The event horizon rippled again as SG-1 stepped through, after Hammond had wished them Godspeed and a prosperous mission.
Janna was waiting by the MALP when they stepped out, looking at it strangely. "You don't have to be afraid of that, it's just a machine." Carter reassured.
"I know." Janna replied. "MALP's don't think for themselves. Except that one time that it was flying. That must have been amazing!" She grinned again as she saw their shocked faces.
"How do you know about that? Do your people travel through the Stargate?" Jonas asked.
"No, we had never seen it activated until you sent the MALP through. My friends, Mark and Mike should be here soon, they can help me explain." She told them and, as if on cue, the two men walked into the tent and stopped dead when they saw the four people with Janna.
"Janna?" Mark asked, walking over to stand next to her.
"Mark and Mike I would like you to meet Major Samantha Carter, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Teal'c and Jonas Quinn. Known more commonly to us as the four." She smiled, pointing to each one as she went along. "SG-1, I'd like you to meet Mark Reed the librarian of our former library and Mike Giles, an English teacher at the local university."
"Hi." Jack waved. "How do you know our names?" He asked.
Mike walked over to them and touched each of them lightly on the shoulder. "They're real?" He asked and all for of them nodded and Janna giggled. "Am I hallucinating? Because it wouldn't be a first."
"No Mike, I told you that the books were real." Janna rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Of what books do you speak of?" Teal'c asked.
"Come thins way." Janna instructed, leading them into her tent/office. Mark brought four more chairs in and they all sat down. Janna pulled out the two books. "These are the books." She replied, holding them up.
"The point of origin." Jonas exclaimed, looking at the first book.
"What?" Janna asked.
"The symbol on the book in your right hand is the symbol for Earth, our planet." Samantha explained. "Although I don't know what the second one is." She muttered, looking at the other symbol.
"Perhaps it is the symbol for this planet." Teal'c offered.
"That's all well and good, but would you mind getting back to how you knew our names please?" Jack asked.
"Wow, you really are as impatient as these books say." Janna smiled. "Okay, this book is the first of the two and it tells of your travels through the Stargate. It has everything in there from the Zaytarc confessions, to the things Jack and Teal'c did during the time loops and it goes all the way back to your first mission. And it even includes what happened on P3X 595." She told them.
"What *did* happen on P3X 595?" Jonas asked.
"Nothing." The three other members of the team replied in unison.
"What *did* you and Teal'c do in those time loops?" Samantha asked.
"Nothing." Teal'c and Jack replied in unison.
Janna smiled. "It tells all of your stories. My mother first read it to me when I was five and I fell in love with the book. It's the only copy known to Shea."
"Four." Jack jumped in, and everyone in the room looked at him, confused. "The word Shea, means four in Japanese. It's spelt `Shea' but it's pronounced `Shee'." He explained.
"How do you know that?" Samantha asked.
"I did a bit of languages when I was younger, some of it must have stuck." He shrugged. "Back to the books."
"The second book tells of why your missions stop. It tells of how you come to a world called Virgo, which is what our planet was known as many centuries ago, and you fight to save us against the evil ones."
"The Goa'uld." Teal'c answered.
"Yes. And it says that among the people of Virgo there is a chosen one. She is a direct descendant of a Tok'ra, and she holds all of the memories of that Tok'ra. She will be the one to help you defend this planet against the…..Gold?"
"Goa'uld." Samantha clarified. "And who is this chosen one?"
Janna looked at her friends, and then back to the four. "I am."
~*+*~
Chapter 11
~*+*~
"So what sort of things have you remembered?" Jack asked.
"I remembered what the Stargate was made of, what it was called. I remembered that I couldn't get caught in it's wave as the wormhole formed otherwise I would be incinerated. Nothing much yet, but I have this funny feeling whenever I look at Samantha or Teal'c." She replied, looking at both of them as she said their names.
Carter winced at the use of her full name. "Please call me Sam." She begged.
Janna nodded. "I think it has something to do with the remnants of Jolinar in Sam and Teal'c's larvae." She shrugged. "Am I right?"
"You are correct." Teal'c replied.
"So, then Janna must be the daughter of the Tok'ra operative that decided to stay here with the man she fell in love with." Sam concluded.
"My father." Janna nodded.
"If you don't mind me asking, where is he now?" Sam asked.
Janna winced. "He ran away and left me when mother died. He said that there were things about her that weren't natural and he couldn't bare to think of them. I guess I reminded him of her." She shrugged, obviously used to it.
"I'm sorry." Sam told her sincerely.
"That's not the worst of it." Janna continued. "It says that my mother, the Tok'ra was killed by a Goa'uld who had been hiding out here waiting until her lord came to take over our world."
"Do you know who it is?" Jonas asked.
"All that we know is that this Goa'uld is the one who killed Janna's mother, and hundreds of other people in the process." Mark told them.
Jack clenched his teeth in an attempt to quell his anger. "Those son's of bitches never do anything small do they?" He asked rhetorically.
"No sir, they don't." Sam replied, shaking her head.
"Are they coming to attack us?" Mike asked, looking at the four strangers intently. He felt like he knew them all personally.
"Yes." Jonas nodded.
"When?" Janna asked.
"Two days."
"Two days?" Janna choked out, staring at the other people in the room. "But…why? What has our planet ever don to anybody?" She asked.
"Your planet needs only to remain unclaimed. That is reason enough for the Goa'uld to attack." Teal'c told her.
~*+*~
Sleep was not something that would come easy to Janna tonight, she knew that. Getting the four back to her place, however, was going to be even harder. Security guards patrolled the streets, and were usually suspicious of anyone who was out late at night.
"Do you think that any of your people would be able to help us?" Sam asked as they sat inside of Janna's office, trying to devise a plan to save Shea from the Goa'uld.
"My people are naturally born skeptics." Jana shook her head. "I doubt that they'll even want to know who you are."
Jack leaned closer to Sam and they began to talk in hushed whispers. "They aren't very advanced, why is Anubis so interested in them?" Jack asked.
"I think that the fact that they are `unclaimed' is enough to warrant interest with him sir." She replied, shrugging.
"We were advanced." Janna told them. "About twenty years ago, there was an accident. Some of the scientists were trying to make som kind of cure for a deadly disease on our planet and there was a large explosion. No one was hurt, but it wiped out any form of technology on the planet. All of our computers, telephones and electricity was gone. We managed to et the electricity back, but the computer technology is lost, along with so much of our history that was stored on them. We call it the bad time." She explained.
"That might be why Anubis is so interested." Sam decided, thinking aloud. "If you were able to keep your planet and the society's together with a limited amount of panic, he'd see your race as a strong one, and they are always looking for strong hosts."
"Try not to misunderstand what Janna is saying, we weren't always so together after that accident. There was mass panic for a few years but eventually, our leaders saw that panicking wouldn't bring what we lost back, so we worked together." Mark answered and Sam nodded thoughtfully.
"Are you going to help us?" Mike, who had remained silent for most of the evening, asked.
"We are going to try." Teal'c answered.
~*+*~
Chapter 12
~*+*~
It had been decided, after little debate, that SG-1 would stay at the dig site rather than risk one of the guards seeing them if they tried to get back to Janna's place. They had set up their sleeping bags behind Janna's desk, out of sight, while Janna, Mike and Mark kept an eye on the Stargate and the entrance to the dig site.
Teal'c was deep in Kel'no'reem, Jonas was sound asleep, snoring softly, all of the excitement getting to him, the three Sheans were outside and Sam and Jack were still wide awake, talking quietly.
"Do you think they really understand what's coming?" Sam asked quietly, keeping an eye on the entrance to the tent.
"I think that they have some understanding, but they can't really comprehend what's going to happen to this planet." Jack sighed.
"Do you have a plan, sir?" She asked.
"I think the best thing we can do is hide out and see what we're up against, and hopefully strike before the killing starts." He replied.
"Maybe Janna and I should go for a walk through the streets tomorrow." Sam suggested.
"Why?" Jack asked, concerned for her safety.
"Sir, if there is a Goa'uld hiding out here, we should try and get a heads up on who it is. Janna and I could go for a walk and see if I can sense anything." She shrugged.
Jack sighed, and, reluctantly, saw the logic in her suggestion and agreed. "Okay, but aren't you going to stick out like a sore thumb in your fatigues?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll borrow something off Janna." She shrugged.
Jack thought back to the long skirt, and tight, midriff baring, top that Janna had been wearing and suddenly he was a whole lot more keen on the idea.
"We should get some sleep." Jack instructed, and the two closed their eyes, trying to sleep.
~*+*~
Sam tried once again, in vein, to pull the top down to cover more of her stomach. She worked out everyday, yes, and she had a reasonable figure, but she didn't feel the need to bare it to the world. She had begged Janna to find her something a little less…..revealing, but there was a festival or something on at the moment, and all of the women were dressing like this.
"Sam," Janna smiled brightly, "You look wonderful, blue suits you perfectly!" She exclaimed happily, proud that she had made the right choice with the outfit.
Sam looked at Janna's own, red outfit that was identical to hers. "Thank you," She smiled, self-consciously. "You look nice too."
"We should get going." Janna smiled, holding her hand out to her.
Sam nodded and accepted the hand. Apparently, it was one of the traditions of the planet, if you were walking with someone, then you were supposed to hold hands. Stepping out of Janna's office, Sam watched as her teammate's eyes bulged at seeing her.
Jack couldn't help but let out a low whistle. "The natives certainly like dressing you in blue, don't they?"
Sam felt a blush creep up from her neck to her face. "Yes sir." She nodded, unable, or unwilling, to contain her smile at his comment.
"You look most attractive Major Carter." Teal'c bowed, and then busied himself with helping Mike and Mark attempt to translate some of the symbols on the Stargate that the other archeologists were unable to figure out.
"You look great Sam." Jonas nodded, and walked over to help the two.
"I'll wait for you outside." Janna smiled, exiting the tent.
Sam watched her go before turning back to look at her commanding officer, who she found staring at her intently. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all….." She muttered, feeling her skin burn under the intensity of his gaze.
"No I think it was a *very* good idea, a very good one indeed." He nodded slowly.
"I feel like I'm wearing nothing more than a towel." She admitted, grimacing, once again tugging on her rather short shirt.
"You look good Sam." He told her earnestly.
"You haven't called me Sam since we had Apophis captured on base." She whispered gently.
"You haven't called me Jack since you were infested with Jolinar." He returned, equally quiet.
Sam chewed on her bottom lip before replying. "We both know why…..sir." She told him, adding the `sir' as an afterthought.
"I don't."
"Regulations….." She started, but he cut her off.
"Regulations don't stop me having a friendship with Teal'c or…..Jonas. They didn't stop me having a friendship with Daniel, or Doc Fraiser…..you and I seem to be the only ones without a real friendship because of them." He sighed.
Sam echoed his sigh, knowing that he was right. "We can't have that kind of friendship sir, you know that."
"Why not? You think I'm some teenager who can't keep it in his pants?" He asked, slightly offended that she might think that way. "Besides, `Dad' has already told me….." He trailed off when he realised what he was about to say.
"What did he say?" She demanded, hands on her hips, unaware that it raised the shirt even more.
"He said to keep it in my pants until you were ready or he'd chop it off." Jack grimaced, remembering that conversation well…..and not with fondness.
"Oh….." She couldn't help but blush even more. "Remind me to have a friendly little chat with my father, will you?"
"He's only looking out for his little girl." Jack reminded her gently.
"I know, but he can't rule my life." She replied.
"But you'll let the regulations rule your life?" He quipped, regretting it the moment he stopped speaking.
"That's different." She whispered, feeling her eyes well up, and hating herself even more because of it.
"How?" He asked softly, taking her hand. When she didn't try to pull away, he entangled his fingers with her own.
She looked down at their hands before speaking. "Dad cant make me stand trial for…..loving you. The regulations will." She told him, willing him to understand.
"General Hammond knows." He told her quietly.
Sam's head shot up, eyes wide. "How?"
"When you were…..taken by the Entity, he and I had words." Jack admitted.
"Why haven't I been transferred then? Surely he wouldn't want us on the same team if he…..knows?"
"He understands. He knows that we haven't done anything yet, and he trusts us." Jack shrugged.
Sam nodded slowly, gathering her errant thoughts together before speaking. "Then if we do what we both want, we'll break his trust."
With that, she dropped his hand and walked out of the tent to join Janna.
~*+*~
"So….." Janna started as the two walked hand in hand through the masses of people lining the streets for the rising of the moon festival. "Am I going to be able to…..'feel' this…..person too?" She asked. Janna was tempted to ask if Sam was alright, her watery eyes as she exited the tent had worried her, but she figured now probably wasn't a good time.
"Maybe. You can sense Teal'c and I, so you should be able to. But, then again, you've probably been in contact with this person before." Sam shrugged, unsure.
"I hope not…..it gives me the creeps to think that someone so evil could be someone I know." She shuddered unconsciously.
"I know, but you get used to it." Sam smiled slightly.
"You do?" Janna asked, surprised.
"You've read those books, so you know what's inside of Teal'c….." She pointed out, eyebrow raised.
"I almost forgot about junior!" She exclaimed and the two women couldn't help but laugh, until they both felt the hairs on their neck stand up on ends. "Do you feel that?" Janna asked, terrified of the feeling coursing through her.
"Yes. It's somewhere nearby. Keep smiling Janna, look like you're enjoying the festival." Sam instructed quietly, keeping her own smile plastered on her face.
"How do we know who it is?" Janna asked, looking around her and Sam, frantically.
"We don't." She shook her head, and bit her bottom lip in concentration for a moment. "Didn't you say that part of the festival was going up to people and just talking to them?" Sam asked, formulating a plan.
"Yes, we go and talk to people that we don't know or haven't seen very often, the coming of the new moon is supposed to mean the coming of a new friend, why do you think we should just…..oh!" She finished, seeing the point. "Do we just walk up and ask someone if they're evil?" She whispered.
"No, we talk, and hope the feeling gets more intense. If it does, we've found our Goa'uld." Sam replied, walking in the direction of a group of women. "Let's go."
~*+*~
Janna and Sam walked away from the last three women they had been talking to, none of them invoking the feeling that they were looking for. "Is it just me, or are we getting no where?" Janna asked, as they walked to Ally's.
"Patience is a virtue." Sam reminded her.
"Janna!" Ally cried, coming up to hug her fondly. "You have brought a friend to the festival?" He asked, looking at Sam.
Sam studied the man in front of her, he was virtually bald with a thick gray beard covering half of his face, slightly on the pudgy side…..she couldn't help but be reminded of General Hammond, except for the beard of course. "Hi." She smiled slightly wary.
"I am Ally, owner of this shop and friend to Janna. Are you a friend of Janna's?" He asked.
"Yes." Sam nodded.
Ally smiled warmly, "Then I am also a friend of yours!"
Janna stepped in at that point, sensing Sam's discomfort. "Ally, this is Samantha, she's an old friend who's come to town for the festival." She told him, winking at Sam to play along.
"Then you may have whatever you please as my gift to you, celebrating the rising of the new moon!" he announced, moving to return behind the counted.
Sam looked at Janna questioningly. "Ally is a friend, and he has the best coffee in town. He's just offered us a free meal or beverage." She explained.
"Why did you tell him my full name thought, why not just Sam?" She asked, genuinely curious.
"Because we don't really shorten names on this planet. For some reason, we never do." She shrugged.
"But Mike…..? I thought that his name was short for Michael?"
"No, if his name was Michael then we would call him Michael, not Mike. It's just the way things are done here." She told her.
"Okay." Sam shrugged, unwilling to doubt Janna about her people.
The two women moved to stand in front of the large menu board that was set up behind the counter. Sam couldn't help but notice how similar all of the beverages on the board were to Earth. Latte's, cappachino's, coke, sprite…..they had it all.
"What would you like?" Ally asked, treating them to a large smile.
"I'll have a Latte to go please." Janna responded, looking at Sam expectantly.
"Um…..I'll have a black coffee to go please." She smiled, unsure whether or not the similarities in names to earth's beverages would mean that they tasted the same…..or that they had the same ingredients for that matter.
"Coming right up!" He smiled. "You can wait outside at your usual table, I will bring them!" He smiled, ushering them out of the door.
The women sat down together and were relieved to finally be able to drop hands. "So, Ally seems nice." Sam smiled, watching him through the window as he made their coffee.
"He is, and he's a sweet old soul. Lost his wife in the same accident that killed my mother, tragic really. To think that someone wanted to kill my mother, and ended up killing over one hundred women with her." Janna sighed, but resumed her smile as Ally brought their coffee out and hugged both women goodbye, much to Sam's surprise.
"Do you want to keep walking?" Janna asked.
"Yeah, but we've been at it for hours. We'll keep walking, but head back to the others." Sam nodded and they picked up their coffee's and grabbed hands again before heading towards the Stargate.
~*+*~
Chapter 13
~*+*~
Janna and Sam walked back into the tent, dropping each other's hand as they did so they noticed the five men sitting around the Stargate, dressed in the male dress for the festival. Long pants and a simple shirt, no midriff's showing. Jack, Sam noticed, was wearing the same color that she was.
"Well?" He asked, looking at her.
"No joy." She shook her head sadly.
"It's okay." He reassured, smiling, "I know that you did your best." He nodded. "Both of you." He added, feeling the gaze of his teammate's on him.
"I'm sorry Jack." Janna shook her head. "We felt something, but we couldn't pinpoint it." She admitted.
"Don't worry about it Janna. At least we know that the Goa'uld is still in this city, that's a bonus."
Janna nodded, but a voice behind her interrupted anything she may have been about to say. "Who are you?" Turning to see who their intruder was, Janna sighed when she saw Jeff Alexandria look at SG-1 strangely.
"Jeff." She sighed. "These are some friends from Madera." She lied, glad that she had done well enough at geography to know the names of some of the foreign neighboring countries.
He didn't look convinced. "You never told me that you had friends in Madera." He reminded her.
" I didn't have to tell you everything Jeff, you aren't my father." She shot back, standing in a defensive position.
"I thought you trusted me Jan." He sighed.
Janna shook her head and desperately fought to withhold a growl. "Don't call me that. I did trust you, until you went behind my back and tried to get me fired."
"That was for your own good!" He told her, menace lacing his tone. Suddenly, Sam was reminded of her time with Jonas Hanson, he'd often used the same tone on her to try and get his own way. More often than not, it had worked.
"Jeff, we are over, we have been for almost two years now. Will you let it go already? Now, get out of my dig site." She demanded.
"I put you in charge of this operation Janna, I can have you removed if I see fit." He taunted.
Janna nodded slowly. "You could. But I could also have you fired for seducing that young brunette that you think I don't know about. How old is she Jeff? Fifteen, sixteen?" She asked, watching in glee as he paled considerably.
"Don't try to threaten me." He replied, his voice shaky.
"Then don't threaten me. And, don't make me tell you to leave here again." She returned.
Jeff, sensing that he was beaten, turned on his heal and left the tent. Janna turned around to see the eyes of everyone else in the room fixated on her. "What?" She asked, sitting down next to Sam, who had taken a position next to Jack.
"You were with that guy?" Sam asked, socked. Janna seemed so intelligent, funny, coolheaded and he seemed so…..not.
"For a while." She admitted. "I broke it off when he got violent."
Sam nodded and tried to ignore just how similar Janna's situation with Jeff was like the way that things had been between her and Jonas before he died.
"So….what do we do now?" Jonas asked, looking at each of the other members present.
"I believe we should hide!" Teal'c ordered, each of them hurrying to move as the Stargate sprang to life, the wormhole forming. Somehow they managed to grab their BDU's and packs before running into Janna's office and out the back door.
Finding a large group of trees nearby, they all crouched down behind them and Jack turned to Sam. "Carter, you're with me. The rest of you, stay here. If they find us, then follow Hammond's orders." He commanded.
Sam nodded as he counted to three, and they both ran to the back of the tent to look through some of the gaps. They could see the Stargate from behind and the open wormhole, which had Anubis' guards pouring through it.
The wormhole shut down and Sam guessed that there had to be at least two hundred guards inside the tent. If the festival hadn't been so loud, and the Stargate not been so far from the town then someone would have heard their arrival.
"Jaffa! Kree!" One of them, obviously the leader of this operation shouted. "Our lord Anubis awaits news from us abroad his mothership. We are to capture the people and repot to him. Hak'nal!" He ordered and they all moved out, staff weapons ready.
Jack moved over to Sam, keeping low to the ground. "Is it just me or does it seem like they aren't here to kill people?" He asked, whispering.
Sam thought for a moment. "I think so sir. They seem to want to capture the people. Maybe Anubis is looking to find an army in case he has to fight the system lords, assuming that they reject his request to re-join them he's going to need a large army to defeat them." She replied, shrugging.
"Let's hope that you're right and that means that they wont start killing people." He prayed.
Sam smiled, but her smile quickly faded as they heard staff weapon's firing in the town, and the distinct sound of people screaming could be heard. Her eye's widened as they realised what was happening, but Jack, knowing that there was little they could do at this time, gently took her hand in his own. "C'mon, we'd better get back to the others." He murmured, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze, which she returned, grateful for the gesture.
~*+*~
"What do you thinks happening?" Mike asked, also hearing the people scream.
"What do you think?" Janna snapped, then sighed. "I'm sorry Mike, but what does it sound like they're doing?"
"You're right." He murmured. "What are we going to do?" He asked, looking at the two remaining members of SG-1.
"We shall wait until Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter arrive. Then we will formulate a plan." Teal'c replied, ushering them to be quiet.
Sam and Jack came back moments later, both looking grim. "It's not good." Jack told them, unnecessarily.
"We noticed." Jonas nodded. "What do we do now?"
"We need a place to hide out, get a plan together. Do you know somewhere we can go?" He asked Janna, Mike and Mark.
"I know of a place." Mark nodded, standing. "Follow me." He instructed, walking in the opposite direction of the dig sit and the city.
SG-1 and the three occupants of Shea walked towards their hiding place, which turned out to be a completely camouflaged cabin, where they could elude capture.
~*+*~
Chapter 14.
~*+*~
The staff fire that they had heard was the sound of the Jaffa firing their staff weapons into the air to control the people. Prison camps had been set up, and they were holding the population in separate camps. The Shean police officers were separated throughout the camps so that they couldn't organize a way to overthrow the Jaffa.
The streets were lined with people who had refused to go quietly and had been executed to show the rest of the people what would happen to the if they didn't cooperate.
Somehow the quote `resistance is futile' had stuck in Jack's brain.
SG-1 had been planning their attack for the past two days, trying to cover all of the possible variations of what could happen. Until they had a plan that they were satisfied with, they had been staying in the cabin. Several Jaffa patrols had gone past the cabin, but it was well hidden and they hadn't been spotted yet, which they knew wouldn't last forever.
Sam and Jack had been sharing the main bedroom with Janna and Mike, as there were two large beds in there. The other had take up various positions in the lounge room. Considering how large the cabin was, Jack was surprised that they hadn't been spotted earlier, but the river near by would have helped to disguise and noise that they made, and the foliage would have hidden the building too.
"Sir?" Sam whispered into the darkness. They had been there for three nights and spent two in the cabin. On the first night, she and Janna had shared a bed but somewhere along the long that changed and she was now sharing a bed with Jack. Although they never had any physical contact, the close proximity was enough to bring them both comfort.
"What's up?" He muttered, tired. They had been up late discussing a plan, and they decided to move sometime the next day.
"Have you decided on a plan?" She asked, folding her hands to rest under her head.
"I think the best thing to do is get ourselves loaded up with weapons, and go in as a bunch of natives coming back from a trip or something. When the Jaffa come to investigate us, we Zat them twice and steal their uniforms. Take them out one by one after that." He replied, having though it over thoroughly in the darkness of the night.
"How are we going to conceal the weapons?" She asked, trying to cover all of the basics.
"I think that you, me, Teal'c and Janna should go, pretend to be two happy couples. With our arms around each other, we can hide the Zat's. Yours and Janna skirts can hide your 9mm's and ammo if we suit up the thong's properly. We could get a couple of knives into our boots and maybe a P-90 around our shoulders, behind our backs, but we'd have to be careful. Jonas, Mike and Mark can come in when we give them the signal and bring the rest of the gear." He sighed. "I think that's our best shot." He admitted.
"I trust our decision." She replied.
"What do you think?" He asked.
"I think that would be our best shot too. But we'll have to be careful, get Janna to fill us in on how to be a proper native."
"You weren't spotted when you two went in search of the Goa'uld the other day, why would the native conduct change now?"
"Sometimes festivals can change the way people act. Walking through the streets was like being at Mardi Gras, they were all carefree, but now they are being enslaved so I think their attitude may have changed." She pointed out.
Jack nodded, even though he knew she could barely see the action. "Good point. So, we get up early, have something to eat while we get lessons on their etiquette and then move out."
"We should get some sleep." She announced, unconsciously moving closer to him until their legs were resting against each other.
Jack fought to hide the grin that threatened to split his features in two. "Goodnight Sam." He whispered, on the verge of sleep.
He was almost there when he heard her equally quiet reply. "Goodnight Jack."
~*+*~
Waking up had never been so hard for Sam in her life. Wrapped up in Jack's warm embrace, she found herself surprisingly well rested, given the situation.
"Sleep well?" He asked, his face still buried in the crook of her neck.
"Yes, you?"
"Yes." He smiled, and Sam felt more than saw the action. "We should get up and go and tell the others what the plan is." He told her and the two reluctantly untangled themselves and headed to the main room.
"Good morning!" Janna greeted them brightly, obviously pleased at the position the two slept in last night.
If Sam was honest with herself, Janna's subtle attempt's at matchmaking her and the Colonel reminded here of Daniel. He would have, no doubt, found this place fascinating……which made her miss him even more. Despite the fact that it had been well over a year since his ascension.
"Morning." Sam smiled, and the two women set about making breakfast while Jack told them what the plan was.
"Does anyone have any questions, comments or feedback on this plan?" Jack asked once he had finished explaining the plan.
"Are you confident that we will succeed?" Teal'c asked.
"Yes." Jack nodded without missing a beat, his eyes meeting Sam's.
"Then that is all I need to know." He nodded solemnly.
Jack shared one last, meaningful, look with Sam before standing from the table, and clasping his hands together. "Let's suit up kids." He announced and the cabin burst to life.
~*+*~
Sam and Jack walked ahead of Teal'c and Janna, their arms around each other. Zat's had been hooked into the back of the girl's shirts and the guy's pants, with their arms woven around each other, they were easily accessible.
"You okay?" Jack asked, giving her waist a tiny squeeze.
"Yeah, just having so much ammo strapped to my legs makes if more difficult to walk." She smiled.
Jack couldn't help but return her smile. Until, that is, he saw a flash of silver metal out of the corner of his eyes and realised that the Jaffa were patrolling the area again, looking for anyone that had managed to elude capture.
"Batter up." He whispered to Sam, who nodded briefly before the four emerged themselves in conversation about the resort that they had just been to.
"Kree!" One of the Jaffa called.
Sam took a shaky breath before continuing with the charade. "Hi! Are you part of the parade?" She asked, altering her voice slightly to suit the barely recognizable native accent. "Wow. These costumes are *so* much better than last year's." She rolled her eyes, and looked at Jack. "Do you remember what they had last year, honey? It was very bad, no respect for fashion."
"I know sweetie, but that's only because they didn't have your talent." Jack smiled, and bent his head to playfully kiss her lips.
The Jaffa, obviously unimpressed by their performance, raised his staff weapon and armed it, aiming it at Sam and Jack with Janna and Teal'c behind them.
"You will come with me." The guard ordered.
"Where?" Sam asked, tilting her head to rest on Jack's shoulders.
"You will come with me." He repeated, ignoring her question.
"I don't think so." Jack grinned, and in one quick motion managed to pull his Zat from behind Sam's back and shoot the guard twice.
Teal'c worked quickly and quietly to remove the Jaffa's uniform before putting it one while Jack shot, and disintegrated the dead guard.
"Think you can get another four of them out here?" Jack asked his friend, handing Teal'c a Zat.
"I will return." He nodded, his voice echoing around the elaborate head of the Jaffa uniform. He walked back in the direction that the guard had come from and pretty soon, his friends could no longer see him.
Jack kept his arm around Sam, but turned his head to face her. "You did good." He told her.
"Thank you sir." She smiled. "Do you think Teal'c will take long?" She asked.
"Doubt it. Janna, you should probably hide behind that rock until we have a uniform for you." Jack told her and she nodded, stepping behind a boulder before crouching down behind it.
Sam looked towards the clearing in front of them and saw Teal'c leading three other Jaffa towards their position.
Jack continued to look at Carter, his eyes flickering over to the approaching Jaffa. "Sorry about this Carter." He muttered, using the hand that wasn't concealing his Zat to cup her face and pull her lips to his own.
Annoyed at herself for not being able to contain the moan that came with the feeling of Jack's tongue slipping past her lips, Sam brought her own free hand up to thread through his hair. Pretending to be thoroughly enjoying their kiss -which really should have taken more acting than it did- the two became less and less aware of their surroundings and the Jaffa that had stopped just short of them, staff weapons armed and pointed in their direction.
Teal'c saw that his friends had appeared to loose all sense of reality, and decided to speak before their other hands, holding the Zat's, also began to wander. "Kree!" He ordered in a rough voice.
Sam and Jack pulled apart, looking guilty and only barely managing to continue hiding their weapons. "More people from the parade!" Sam cried in an excited voice. "What float were you guys on? Is the parade over yet? Honey, do you think we've missed it?" She asked Jack.
"I don't know." He shrugged, turning back to the Jaffa. "I'm sorry about this, she loves that parade. We've been down at the resort, kind of a second honeymoon. We were tying to make it back before the festival of the moon, but we missed the start so we've been hurrying to see the parade….."
One of the guards behind Teal'c interrupted him. "Silence! We demand that you worship the God Anubis and live under his rule!" He shouted.
Sam visibly jumped at the harsh tone before she and Jack started firing at the three guards madly. Teal'c had rolled away from the others when he saw them about to move and Janna came out from her hiding place to help her friends defeat them.
Jack groaned as he tried to pull on the metal suit. "How do these guys run in these things?" He asked to no one in particular, trying to walk.
"We are trained in them O'Neill." Teal'c replied. "But now is not the time to discuss such things."
Jack blew out a long breath. "You're right T." He nodded and picked up his radio. "Jonas, this is O'Neill, come in."
The radio crackled before the sound of Jonas' voice could be heard. "Come in Colonel, we read you."
"Is everything alright back there?" He asked, helping Sam to pull on her heavy, large helmet.
"We're fine colonel, just waiting for your signal." He replied.
"Consider this your signal. Come down towards the village, we'll meet you here and go in together. Understood?"
"Roger that, we'll be there in five." Jonas returned and the radio fell silent once more.
"Well, we'd better stay out of sight until they get here."
~*+*~
To be honest, Jack was surprised that three more guards had fell for the same trick as the last three. But, fate seemed to be on their side and they had all managed to get a metal suit to hide in.
They had waited for a moment, following their patrol cover, before returning to the city and the carnage that came with it.
Bodies were few and far between on the main street, but the ones that were there were black and charred from the burning of the staff weapon. Sam had almost been tempted to throw up at the sight of a baby lying in it's mothers arms, burnt to death. Despite having been in the Gulf war, and countless battles with the Goa'uld, she couldn't help feeling nauseated at the sight of innocent people killed for no apparent reason.
According to Teal'c, no matter how cooperative the people were when they were taken, several of them would be killed as an example to the others. He had also said that if once person needs to be taught a lesson, it was usually the one that he was trying to protect that was killed.
A few bodies were relatively untouched, obviously killed with a Zat gun, which was less messy, but none the less devastating.
Letting out a shaking breath, Sam forced herself to stop shaking. She was an officer in the United States Air force and she'd seen worse, or so she kept telling herself.
"Carter?" Jack asked, standing next to her as she stared at the baby still cradled in his mother's arms.
"I'm fine sir, just thinking." She replied.
"We better move. I know that it's upsetting, but keep in mind that we are supposed to be the ones who did this." He reminded her gently.
"I know, but that baby was no possible threat to them….us." She replied as they joined the others and began to walk to the prison camp that had been set up for the Shean people.
"The Goa'uld don't see a child like we do. They only saw a mother who was scared out of her mind and trying to protect her baby. And someone who could be made an example of."
"That doesn't make it any easier."
Jack sighed quietly. "It never does."
They continued to walk behind Teal'c, who had been posing as the leader of the patrol, all silent. The only sound in the village was that of the fire's still crackling in the background and their boots hitting the stone pathway.
"What are we going to do once we get in there?" Mike asked, trying to concentrate on putting one heavy foot in front of the other. He was an English teacher, not a soldier!
"Asses the situation and hope for an opening." Jack replied.
Teal'c stopped, and armed his staff, the others following suit as another Jaffa patrol came around the corner from one of the buildings that Sam recognized as the Heritage café.
"What are you doing here?" The leader of the group asked.
"We have returned from our patrol." Teal'c replied.
"State your destination."
"We were ordered to return to the camps upon completion of our sweep of the area."
"Then why are you heading in the opposite direction of the camps?" The Jaffa, who Jack instantly named as `cocky', asked.
Teal'c though for a brief moment before replying. "One of my men heard footsteps coming from your direction. We were inspecting the sounds before returning."
"Continue on." The guard nodded, a hand across his heart, bowing. Teal'c returned the gesture and the seven friends began to walk back towards the camps.
Each, in their own way, trying to prepare themselves for what was to come.
~*+*~
Janna had been scared before. When her mother had died, when her father had left her, she'd been scared that she would remain an orphan and be sent to the local orphanage. She'd been scared in high school, when everyone was certain of what field of expertise they wanted to go into, everyone but her.
But this was nothing compared to the true terror she felt when they walked into the large building that had once been the library, which was now a prison.
She saw her friends huddled together in groups, petrified. Mike saw his colleges from the university, and his students, all terrified. Mark saw his wife, neighbors and friends. SG-1 saw innocent people about to die or be enslaved.
Everyone, excluding the Jaffa, saw something that they didn't like.
Jeff Alexandria was cradling an obviously broken arm. Janna couldn't help but feel sorry for him, despite the way their relationship had ended. She saw Ally, barely breathing, Sophia Reed was trying to wipe the continuously wiping the flowing blood from a gash on his forehead.
"We have come in the name of the God Anubis!" The leader of the Jaffa called, and the seven friends stayed out of sight, keeping their Zat's aimed at the people on the floor, like the other Jaffa. "He demands that you worship him! For there is only one god."
"Our God is not evil!" One of the men called. Janna recognized him as the groundskeeper of the university. His name was Thomas, and as sweet and kind as he was, he had a tendency to say *exactly* what his was thinking. Many believed that his mouth would get him killed one day, and Janna watched as the Zat was fired at him twice, realizing how prophetic the petty taunting had been.
Janna felt a large cry forming in the back of her throat, but managed to contain it to a small whimper, which thankfully no one but Sam noticed.
"It's okay." Sam whispered, her voice hidden by the sound of women crying for heir lost friend.
"You will worship him, or you will all die!" The Jaffa called.
The room remained silent, only a few sobs punctuating the air as women clung to each other, shaking uncontrollably.
"There is one among you, chosen by our lord Anubis many moons ago to rule this planet. Will this one step forwards now, and show your true face." He called, and everyone, Jaffa included, looked around for the system lord. Janna understood, that whoever stepped forwards was the one responsible for killing her mother and the other hundred women in that fire.
She held her breath and saw who stood up, eyes flashing, and walked towards the Jaffa.
Sophia Reed.
~*+*~
Chapter 15
~*+*~
Janna stared in disbelief, watching as the woman who had taken her in and cared for her walked towards their enemy, her eyes flashing an evil gold. She showed no look of fear or contempt towards their captors as she stood before the leader of the Jaffa, looking at him defiantly.
"Lord, no….." Mark whispered, trying to refrain from the urge to vomit at the sight of his wife, whom he had been married to for over twenty years, standing in front of their enemy, talking to them in a language he didn't understand.
The Jaffa leader kneeled before Sophia, his head down. "Rise." She commanded, in an ugly voice. "There are three missing."
"We were forced to shoot many people in the street while gathering these people together, these three that you speak of may have been killed." The Jaffa answered.
"The three I speak of were not present at the festival, they have eluded capture. I know this because I am familiar with the three. Your god Anubis will no be amused when he sees you have failed him!" She shouted.
"I am sorry." The Jaffa lowered his head again, and didn't look up.
Sophia turned and looked at the people before her. "I am Rethria, loyal servant to the God Anubis, your god. You will worship him. If you are faithful to him, he shall reward you with many great things, as he has done for me. But if you disobey his rule, then you shall all be destroyed and your planet will be left in ruins."
Kerrie, on of Sophia's oldest friends stood up. "Why are you talking like that Sophia? This is your home too, yet you speak of it as if it were nothing more than dirt."
"I am Rethria!" She insisted. "This planet is nothing more than a rock drifting through space to me! I am here to serve my lord Anubis."
"Sophia, you of all people must know that we will never serve nor worship this person that you speak of." Kerrie protested.
"Anubis is a god and you will all learn to worship him or you will die!"
"We will fight." She replied adamantly, and sat down again before a trigger-happy Jaffa got the wrong idea and shot her.
~*+*~
The air was tense, punctuated by a few lone sobs of the women who had lost their husbands, children, or loved ones. Six villagers had been brought up to the front of the group, all bound and gagged.
Sophia, or Rethria as she was demanding to be called, was standing in front of them, Zat in her hand. Her eyes were flashing every few moments, as if the Goa'uld was trying desperately to maintain control, but Sam though that maybe that was just her own wishful thinking.
The Jaffa were watching the villagers in shifts, and Teal'c had already been sent with the first group to rest. Sam and the Colonel were told that their shift would be over when the others returned, and they would have three hours to Kel'no'reem and regain their strength.
When the leader of the Jaffa, Malarek, told them of the plan, Sam had been worried that they would be discovered because they had to take their helmet's off. However, Rethria had decided it better to leave them on because many of the Jaffa were turned from other Goa'uld's and they make have come up against each other in battle.
They couldn't have each other fighting now, could they?
~*+*~
SG-1 had been waiting, and pretending to be loyal Jaffa for three days. All they needed was the right chance to move, and they could- hopefully-end all of this now.
While most of the people who were being held in the library were in reasonable condition, a few more had been executed on the whim of Rethria. She seemed to think that it was making her look more powerful, but in Sam's eyes it was just confirming to the people that she wasn't the sweet old woman that they had known.
Sam, Janna and Jack were currently resting near each other in the Jaffa rest camp that had been set up outside of the library.
"We move in four hours Carter, get some sleep." Jack whispered to her.
"How did you know that I was awake under all of this metal?" She asked, trying to find a comfortable was to lay in her helmet.
"I know you." He replied simply, and offered no further elaboration.
~*+*~
Chapter 16
~*+*~
Their plan had been a full frontal assault, but the Jaffa from other camps were coming to the library, bringing their hostages with them. Sam, Teal'c and Jonas had been ordered to help the other Jaffa transfer the Shean's to the main camp, which had made it easy to smuggle some of the captives away from the Jaffa.
Every one that they could help get away, were ordered to head for the cabin where SG-1 had taken refuge before coming back to the town. if the people were discovered then they weren't to mention anything about friendly Jaffa.
Sam knew that they wouldn't be able to sneak everyone out, and sooner or later Rethria was going to notice the diminishing numbers. She had no doubt that they would be punished when they were discovered, but the longer they waited to help the people, the longer Anubis had to plan whatever he was going to do with them.
Grabbing three people, Sam pulled them back slightly from the others. "Don't scream." She ordered, in the native accent that she had picked up from Janna.
"Please do not hurt us, we will comply with any orders you give." One of the teenagers, obviously trying to protect his mother begged.
"I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Sam and I'm a friend of Janna's. Do you know her?" She asked, continuing to march them forward until they could reach a dark ally.
"I do. I was down at the dig site with her, writing a paper for my high….."
"That's lovely, but we don't have time." Sam snapped. "Listen, and listen very carefully. When we reach this ally, I want you to go down it and keep in the shadows, head for a cabin on the east side of the river. You'll be safe there, and tell the others to stay quiet. If the other Jaffa discover you on your way there, don't mention that I helped you or I won't be able to get anyone else out."
"Yes ma'am." He nodded frantically.
As they reached the ally, the three that Sam had pulled back quietly walked down until she couldn't distinguish them from the shadows. Thus far, she estimated that they had saved about a hundred people, but there were still thousands being crammed into the library.
The Jaffa hadn't bothered with the other continent's just yet, and as far as SG-1 knew, they weren't aware that there were any other people on this planet. Sam hoped to keep it that way.
"Sam." Jonas hissed, coming to fall into step beside her.
"How many did you get away?" She asked quietly.
"Twenty."
"Why such a big group?" She demanded. They had agreed to take a maximum of five per group to minimize the chance of being discovered.
"Because they were a religious group of some sort and refused to leave each other. I didn't have time to argue."
"Understood. I think we'll be taken off duty after this lot are taken into the library, which means that Colonel O'Neill, Mike, Mark and Janna are going to have to get as many others off to the cabin as possible."
"Let's hope they have more luck than Teal'c did." Jonas replied, surveying the area around them.
The leader of the camp had placed Teal'c up the front with him, so sneaking any people away was virtually impossible. It would set them back a little, but if Jonas just sent twenty people, they weren't that far behind.
"Sam, are you sure that the other four aren't here?" He asked urgently.
She paused briefly as one of the other Jaffa passed her on his way to the leader of this group. "Yes, they're back at the library, why?"
"Because I just saw a Jaffa smuggle seven people down one of the ally's."
~*+*~
Rethria sat on an elaborate throne that had been assembled, in a position to watch over the entire camp. She had food surrounding her, and enjoyed taunting the people with it.
The Sheans hadn't exactly been emaciated, but their food and water rations were scarce and most of them were injured so their water rations went towards cleaning their wounds.
Jack had been waiting by the door. His job was to signal the return of the newest group of prisoners, and then gather twelve Jaffa together to take to the next camp. Sixteen different camps had been set up throughout the village, and four had been brought back to the library thus far.
Minus a hundred or so of course.
Rethria and her loyal Jaffa had yet to notice the missing people, but as groups were coming back, some of the Sheans were starting to notice that people they thought were in those groups were now missing.
Thankfully, they hadn't kicked up a stink about it and alerted Rethria to the fact that she was missing some of her hostages. God only knew what she'd do if she realised.
Jack saw Sam's group heading back and signaled to the other Jaffa guarding the door with him to go and inform Rethria.
~*+*~
"Which one was it?" Sam asked as she and Jonas sat near the camp fire.
Most of the Jaffa were deep in Kel'no'reem but some of them were away from each other, their helmets down as they ate. Sam thought that Rethria was certainly going to a lot of trouble to ensure that none of the Jaffa knew who each other were, but she wasn't complaining.
Jonas scanned the camp, looking for the Jaffa that he had seen earlier. "That one over there, with those four Jaffa who seem to have come from Yu's army."
"I see him. I think I might just go and have a little chat with our friend." She muttered.
"Sam…..are you sure that's wise? What if he wasn't trying to do what we were and you expose us?"
"I won't. don't worry so much Jonas, I know what I'm doing." She reassured, walking over to the group of five Jaffa who were discussing Anubis and his latest victory in battle. "I wish to speak to you." She told them, pointing got the Jaffa hat Jonas had seen earlier.
"You may speak."
"My words are not for the ears of others." She replied.
The Jaffa nodded and rose to his feet, following her to the edge of the camp where they wouldn't be overheard. "Of what do you wish to speak to me about?"
"Who is your God?" She asked.
"Lord Anubis is the one true God."
"And you worship him?"
"Yes?"
"And Rethria?"
"She is a loyal servant of my God, I worship her also."
"Then for what purpose were you sending these slaves into ally's?" Sam could hear the other Jaffa swallowing hard as he tried to think of a plausible answer. When he failed to reply, she continued. "Retract your helmet."
"That is against Rethria's rule. She has clearly stated that we are to remain anonymous to each other!" He protested.
"Retract your helmet or I will have you killed for allying yourself with these natives. I will then have your friends killed for being allied with you."
The Jaffa nodded, and his hand slid to a button on his neck plate, concealed with more metal. The head retracted and Sam gasped at who she saw.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice returning to normal.
"You know of me?"
"Of course I do, you are host to the oldest and wisest Tok'ra. And she has one twisted sense of humor."
"Sam?"
"Yes Dad, it's me." She nodded, and retracted her own helmet to reveal her face to her father.
"Thank God you found me, we've been looking for you guys everywhere!" He exclaimed, barely managing to stop himself from hugging her. Jaffa hugging each other generally didn't look to good.
"I'll ask again, what are you doing here?"
"George called me. He said that you guys didn't check in with him like you were supposed to, and he asked if I could bring some of the other Tok'ra here in a Teltak and see what was happening."
"But Jonas saw you sneaking people down the ally?"
"Well, we knew what you were doing, so we decided to help."
Sam gave him a quizzical look. "Then how did you know where we were sending them?"
"We didn't, so we had to wait until you gave instructions and we told our groups to follow the people that you sent."
"Thanks." She smiled, "How many people came with you?" She asked, pushing the same button to slide her helmet back into place, gesturing for him to do the same.
"Four others, I know that it's not really much, but they were all we could spare. And getting the uniforms meant that it took us longer to get here than anticipated." He replied, following her lead and sliding his own helmet back into place.
"How are you keeping track of each other?"
"Bionic Woman." Jacob replied, grinning inside of his helmet.
"What?"
"You remember the show, Bionic Woman?"
"Vaguely, wasn't the one with Lindsay Wagner in it?"
"Exactly. Our code is just that. If we aren't sure who our operatives are, we walk up and say `bionic woman' and if they are who we think they are, then the reply is…..?" He waited for her to figure it out.
"The six million dollar man!"
"That's right. Tomorrow it will be Star Trek the next generation, with the reply of either Voyager or Deep space nine."
"Very cleaver." She admitted.
"Selmak says that it was her idea."
"I'm sure she does." Sam smiled, gesturing for the two to return to Jonas.
~*+*~
Jack wished that for one moment he could get out of the damn metal suit that he had been living in for the past four days. It was hot, he was sweating and there was a strange smell coming from the juncture of his feet.
While they had to remove certain…..parts of the suit when bladders needed to be taken care of, and any more than that was punishable by death. He couldn't quiet work out why Rethria was so determined to keep the Jaffa anonymous to each other, but while it was concealing him and the rest of his team, he figured that the stench was worth putting up with.
Almost two hundred people had now been smuggled out to the cabin, and while Jack hadn't been there since they came to the camps, he was fairly certain that the cabin would prove to be insufficient in the task of accommodating so many people.
Sooner or later, the refugees would have to find somewhere else to hide, and Jack wasn't very certain how good at that they would be.
Sam crawled over to him, joining him on the bank of the river.
His head had been retracted to eat-as had Sam's-but she was keeping a fair distance away from him to maintain the air of professionalism. If they were spotted-helmet's down and chatting-then they would be killed.
And that would be a bad thing.
"Hey sir."
"Hey."
"You okay?"
"Yes…..no." He admitted with a deep sigh.
"What's wrong?"
"I hate sitting around, waiting for Rethria to execute the next `example' or for Anubis to show up and start implanting the natives."
"I know how you feel sir. But what else can we do?"
"I think that we may have to re-evaluate our next plan. There are only three other camps that the Jaffa plan to bring back to the library, and we won't have much of a chance to get any more out. And besides, I think the cabin will be pretty full as it is."
"Agreed, but what do we do next?" She asked, taking a reluctant bite of the Jaffa equivalent to an MRE. Sam had been in hospitals that had better tasting food than the crap that they ate here.
It was no wonder Teal'c loved the commissary food so much.
And that was really saying something.
"Take the Jaffa out one by one."
"How do we explain that to Rethria when she notices not only the diminishing numbers of her newly found slaves, but also her Jaffa?"
"Let's just hope that she doesn't notice until it's too late."
Hope?
Was that their last resort?
~*+*~
Chapter 17
~*+*~
The Jaffa were slowly falling, and Rethria seemed to be none the wiser.
Thus far, they had smuggle-with the help of the Tok'ra-about three hundred people out of the camp and killed almost sixty Jaffa. But the lowering numbers of metal suits were beginning to become noticeable
A little too noticeable for Sam's liking.
After all, there were only so many people that they could get rid of before it was so obvious that Rethria couldn't not notice.
Jack sat himself down next to Sam-at least a Jaffa who he assumed, and hoped was his second in command. "You okay?"
"Yeah."
"I have a new plan."
"What?"
"I want you to sneak off back to the cabin."
"What!? Why?"
"Because someone needs to check on the natives."
Sam shook her head, confused. "But why me? Why not….."
"I don't want you here when Rethria finally realizes what's been going on. I don't want anything to happen to you." He paused. "Your dad would kill me."
She giggled, despite herself. He could never say anything sweet without adding a joke to cover his vulnerable side. "I don't want to leave you here alone, without back up."
Jack waves a hand at her. "We have dad and his buddies, and Jonas and Teal'c, plus the natives. We'll be fine." He protested.
She frowned. "I'll go, with reservations."
"Good."
~*+*~
The outskirts of the town were incredibly quiet, but it was a nice change for Sam. She had grown used to the sounds of cowering people as they huddled together in fear of their lives.
If her sense of direction was as good as she hoped, then Sam figured that the cabin wasn't far from where she was. O'Neill had told her to follow the river, it would give her the best chance of finding the hidden cabin quickly.
Suddenly, Sam found herself facing the wrong end of a staff weapon. "What are you doing here?" The man demanded
He was dirty, having jumped up from his hiding place behind a moss covered rock. But he was undoubtedly a Shean.
Sam held her hands out in front of her and slowly brought one up to retract her helmet. "My name is Samantha Carter, I was sent here to help your people."
"You are the one who sent my mother and father to this cabin, are you not?"
Truthfully, Sam couldn't have picked out the people she helped in a line up, but she wasn't about to tell this man that, in case he became a bit too trigger-happy. "Yes, that would have been me or one of my friends."
"Why are you here?" He asked, disarming the staff weapon before turning it upright.
"I came here to check on your people, and see if they were alright." She explained.
"The cabin is most full, but the underground chambers have helped to house many of my people."
"Underground chambers?"
~*+*~
"Where's Sam?" Jacob asked, as he and Jack escorted the last group of hostages back to the library.
It was only a small group of about fifty, so there was no way that they could sneak any more people out. Jack was fairly certain that one of Rethria's loyal Jaffa had counted the number of people. Maybe she was noticing the ever-decreasing numbers?
"I sent her back to the cabin."
"Why, we could use her if things turn ugly."
"Someone needed to check on the natives."
Jacob nodded his head briefly. "Fair enough. Now what's the real reason?"
"I didn't want her to be in any danger."
"Jack-are you in love with my daughter?"
"Jacob, she's my second in command and you know that I value her as an officer and a friend. I would never jeopardize her career." He protested.
"I know all of that. And I wasn't asking as a retired General, I was asking as a concerned father. Are you in love with her."
"Yes." Jack's shoulders slumped with the admission.
The two men continued to walk in silence for a few moments, both lost in their own thoughts. Until, finally, Jacob spoke again.
"So…..when should I expect more grandchildren?"
~*+*~
The underground chambers that Graham-the man who'd almost shot Sam with a staff weapon-had spoken of were huge, and extended for miles around the cabin. There were so many tunnels, it would be easy to get lost.
Sam estimated that she'd been exploring the tunnels for well over an hour when she found it. The device was small, and partially hidden by growing weeds from the surface above them, but the technology was familiar.
Asguard.
It had only been a glint of light that had reflected off the surface from her torch that had made it visible to her. The round object didn't look like any form of Asguard technology that they'd encountered before, but the writing told her all she needed to know.
Pressing the small silver button in the center of the device, Sam was immediately transported to the high council chamber-at least, she assumed it was. Jack's descriptions could be vague at times.
"Major Carter." One of them bowed his head slightly, and she recognized Thor at the side of the room.
"What am I doing here?" She asked, looking around, confused.
"You touched a device that was designed for instantaneous transportation to our chambers. We only leave such devices hidden on our protected planets." Thor replied.
Suddenly, it clicked. "Is Shea a protected planet?"
"It is."
"When was the last time you checked it out?"
"We have not been passed that area of space in several months."
"Anubis is attacking."
The Asguard spoke quickly and quietly to each other for a brief- although it seemed long-moment before turning back to Sam.
"We will send an Asguard mother ship back with you to rectify this problem."
~*+*~
Jacob wanted to step forward, raise his hand…..anything to stop her from doing this. But he couldn't risk the mission for the safety of one man. Even if his daughter would kill him for it later.
"I will ask again." Rethria shouted. "Who has allied themselves with this traitor."
She pointed to the battered and bruised body of Jack O'Neill, who was being held up by two guards-one of which, Jacob was sure was a Tok'ra- while she relentlessly used the hand device on him, trying to get him to talk.
There was a loud noise coming from outside. Jonas suspected that it was coming from the Jaffa camp, and soon after three Jaffa, Teal'c included, came running into the library.
"State your business here." Rethria demanded, sending a flash of energy towards Jack's exposed skull on a whim.
"Lord Anubis is being attacked." Teal'c replied, bowing his head.
"What? Who dares attack the great and powerful Anubis?" Rethria's eyes glowed again, and even though they had seen it frequently over the past week, most of the natives gasped in horror.
"The Asguard."
~*+*~
The five mother ships that Anubis had protecting him were gone in seconds. They were given a warning, and when they fired at them, the Asguard defended themselves and took them out. Although, the ship that supposedly held Anubis wasn't easily destroyed, it still fell.
The Jaffa were next, easily transported off the planet and into holding cells, where they would remain until the Asguard found a deserted planet with no Stargate on it to dispose of them.
Sam had waited on the bridge of the ship with Thor, and watched the Jaffa ship's fall quickly. She was anxious to get back to the planet and back to her father and her friends.
Back to Jack.
~*+*~
Opening his eyes had never been so hard to Jack in his life.
There was a deep, throbbing pain in his right knee-damn war wound- and he had a killer of a headache. Otherwise, he seemed to be in tact. At least, most of his limbs seemed to be in place, not that he was in much of a position to do a visual inspection.
The last thing that he remembered was being held in the clutches of Rethria's hand device. He wasn't even sure how she had discovered him. It was probably one of the other Jaffa, who had seen him helping a native.
"I think he's coming around." Janna told the rest of the group.
Sam walked away from her father and over to the man laying on the bed. "Hi sir, how are you feeling?"
"Da-andy!" He replied in a singsong voice.
"Sir?"
"He-ey Carter. How you doing?"
"Janna what did you give him?"
"I believe that it is similar to a gas that your Earth dentists use." Teal'c replied, taking off the last of his Jaffa uniform.
"Laughing gas." Jonas nodded, having had an unpleasant visit to a dentist himself a few weeks earlier.
"Are you sure that you're okay sir?" Sam asked, frowning as he giggled.
"Yes."
Sam nodded slowly, and turned to head over to Janna when she heard him speak again. "Carter, did I ever tell you how sexy you look in that outfit?"
Slightly unsure of what to say, Sam looked back over her shoulder at him and a smile slowly spread across her face. "Ah…..thank you sir."
Janna smiled. "The drug will wear off in a few moments."
"Good." Sam nodded, she wasn't sure that she like her commanding officer talking like that, at least not in front of her father.
~*+*~
Chapter 18
~*+*~
SG-1 and the Tok'ra stood in front of the engaged Stargate, saying their final good-bye's to the three natives that they had befriended.
"I wish to thank you for all that you have done to help my people." Janna smiled, and bowed her head in respect.
"Your welcome." Jack smiled, grasping Sam's hand.
While Jacob had healed the wound on his forehead, hie knee had been pretty damaged. There was certainly no way he was going into combat again. At least, not unless Fraiser had some pretty neat tricks up her sleeve.
And he wasn't sure that he wanted her to.
Jack and Hammond had spoken, months ago when Anubis had first attacked, about what would happen if his knee was ever to give out completely. It was decided that he would take a job as a civilian on base, over-seeing tactical strategies and training simulations.
Which suited him fine, especially if he got to be with Sam.
Turning his attention back to Janna, he smiled at them. "We'll come back in a few days, and make sure everything's okay."
"That would be appreciated." Mark nodded. "We have lost many people, but we will rebuild our world."
"You should continuously monitor the Stargate, to ensure that your people are prepared for visitor's. Unfriendly or otherwise." Teal'c advised. "The Asguard have also en-stalled a device that will prevent any Goa'uld or Jaffa from stepping foot on your world."
"You should be safe, but keep an ear out." Jacob told them.
"We will." Janna nodded.
"Then we wish you well." Teal'c bowed, which the others mimicked, before he and Jonas stepped into the Event horizon and headed back to earth, the Tok'ra following them.
"How does the book end?" Sam asked.
Janna couldn't help but grin. "It ends with the birth of your daughter."
"Daughter?" Jack repeated, looking down into Sam's shining eyes. "Sweet." He muttered, as they walked back towards the Stargate.
"Look after yourselves."
Mike nodded. "We shall."
Jack gave her hand a squeeze, which Sam returned and they stepped into the wormhole, hands grasped.
~*+*~
The end.
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Story Notes: Author's notes: This has taken me far too long to finish. I know that the ending seems a bit too rushed, but I was desperate to get back to two of the other long fic's that have been sitting on my hard drive, patiently waiting to be finished. I hope you all like it!
Feedback: Hell yeah! Don't make me beg. This has taken me a long time to complete, stroke my ego and hit reply, please?
Dedication: As always, for LEW. And for my beautiful Beth, who will never read this, but is special to me none the less. Thank you for everything honey!
Date: 4-3-2003
Feedback: Hell yeah! Don't make me beg. This has taken me a long time to complete, stroke my ego and hit reply, please?
Dedication: As always, for LEW. And for my beautiful Beth, who will never read this, but is special to me none the less. Thank you for everything honey!
Date: 4-3-2003
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]