The following day, Sam informed the rest of SG-1 and General Hammond of Jack's warning and what had happened. She still wanted to go, but thought they had better know what could be in store for them. It didn't seem to make much difference, as they all still wanted to go with her. They would have to be extra cautious, that was all.
^^^^^^
They had decided that only SG-1 would go. As they didn't want to be seen, they needed a small team to go in. The idea was to sneak in, release Jack and sneak out again. Hopefully, without anyone knowing that they had ever been there. Teal'c had an acetylene torch and a large hacksaw in his pack. Jonas had an extra set of clothes, as they weren't quite sure what state Jack would be in when they found him. Sam and Grogan had spare ammo and emergency supplies, if needed. They weren't surprised that the Stargate was unguarded. Tolgarth for some reason had never had a guard posted at the Stargate. For all Tolgarth's recent success, he was still a very stupid Goa'uld. He was arrogant and so full of himself, that he made a lot of mistakes. Not guarding the Stargate was one of them.
Cautiously, they moved through the night towards the large castle. Sam remembered the tunnels that she and Jack had used to escape before. That would be how they would go in.
They had only gone down a short way, when Teal'c had come across the first trip wire. It was made out of material that made it virtually invisible, but not totally, as the light from their flashlights glinted off the surface. These trip wires were placed irregularly along the tunnels, all at varying heights. When Sam had been leading, she completely missed one, as it went right over her head. Fortunately, Jonas saw it before he blundered into it.
They came to a fork in the tunnel. One corridor was large, with a metal floor and the walls were decorated with silver inlay. The other was a smaller tunnel leading to the torturous depths below. The floor of this tunnel was made up of hard packed earth and there were only a few lit torches placed along the walls. Sam took point, with Teal'c watching their six. They decided to follow the dirt floor passageway, as that is what Sam had seen in her dream. Sam had only gone a little way when she noticed a patterned row set on each side of the wall about six inches above the ground. She wondered if this was the beginning of the decoration that would soon adorn the tunnel, like in the corridor adjacent to this one. Suddenly Sam heard a familiar rumble. Crying out a warning, she spun around and started back up the passageway. But they were too late. A large solid metal door had come crashing down behind them. Turning back they tried to go forward again, only to find their way blocked there too. The naked flames from the torches were extinguished and it went dark. Sam switched on her flashlight and, shining it around, she could see a red gas being pumped into the small space. The gas was lighting up the invisible laser lines running across the passageway from the pattern along the base of the walls. They started to cough and then one by one sank slowly to the ground unconscious.
As soon as Teal'c had heard Sam shout out her warning, he had ducked back out of the tunnel. He could hear the tramp of booted feet coming down the tunnel they had just come from, so he quickly shot up the other corridor. Finding a place to hide, he waited.
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Sam slowly returned to consciousness. She felt groggy. Her head felt thick and her stomach nauseous. Slowly, she opened her eyes and found herself in a small room. It was well lit and very similar to the room that she and Jack had been tortured in. Thankfully, there was no sign of the death gun. Jonas and Grogan were still unconscious. They were manacled to one large ring set in the ceiling and were hanging by their wrists with their arms above their heads. Their heads hung low down over their chests. With some difficulty Sam got to her feet. She was surprised, because there were no restraints on her at all. She quickly went over to the other two and started to wake them up. Jonas groaned, slowly opened his eyes and glared at Sam. He obviously didn't relish being slapped on the face, even if she was being gentle. Moving quickly over to Grogan she started to wake him. "Where's the truck?" He muttered, as he came round. "I'm sure I've been hit by a truck." Sam took one look at his face and stepped back quickly. If he felt anything like she did when she had woken up, she didn't want to risk wearing Grogen's breakfast. Fortunately for everyone, he was OK.
"Where's Teal'c?" She asked them.
"Ma'am, he ducked down the other tunnel before the gate closed." Grogan replied.
Sam let out a sigh. "That's good. Maybe he can find Colonel O'Neill and get us out of here."
Sam moved over to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. She started to search through her pockets, hoping to find any tool that she could unpick their shackles with. But they had taken everything; they hadn't even left her with a handkerchief. She started searching the guy's pockets, just in case something was missed, when they heard the stamp of booted feet outside their door. The door was unlocked and Tolgarth stalked in.
Sam took an involuntary step back. Her heart began to pound and the palms of her hands started to sweat. The unpleasant memory of what this Goa'uld had done to her and Jack came flooding back. Just before his eyes glowed, she glimpsed the black steel colour of his eyes in the shadow of his mask. She realised that Tolgarth had already taken another host.
"Ah. Major Carter, we meet again. Did you miss me?" He asked with a sniggering laugh.
Sam began to feel the rise of bile coming up from her stomach. \'That's all she needed, throw up over the feet of a Goa'uld. Jack would've liked that though.'// Swallowing hard and in a deceptively strong voice she answered.
"Yes, like a plague."
Tolgarth laughed again. \'Yes,'// she thought, \'his laugh is annoying, Jack was right'.//
Tolgarth moved over to Jonas and Grogan. "Hello, Lieutenant Grogan and Jonas Quinn, isn't it? We haven't met before, have we?"
Both Jonas and Grogan glared at him but did not answer.
"What do you want, Tolgarth?" Sam demanded rudely.
Tolgarth spun around and with his right hand fired his hand device at her. Sam was slammed back into the wall and slowly slid down to land on the floor. She lay there trying desperately to get a full breath. Fortunately, it hadn't been too strong a force and nothing felt broken. Sam slowly stood up and took a defiant stance.
"You know, Major." Tolgarth waggled his left hand at her as he spoke. Sam seemed mesmerised by the hand as he waved it in front of her face. "That was most rude of you. You didn't say please."
Sam took a step forward, her face full of horror. Reaching up her hand, she grabbed hold of the lower edge of Tolgarth's mask and ripped it off his head taking the fitted hood with it. Revealing the face of Colonel Jack O'Neill beneath it.
Tolgarth let out a roar and then stepped back, he was angry and his eyes glowed. He lifted up his hand with the device and backhanded Sam across the face, knocking her to the ground. Sam lay there motionless. Tolgarth looked down at her with distain and then started to walk away. He stopped, turned and looked directly at her as an evil smile crossed his face.
He turned to Jonas. "Thank you, by the way, for bringing me some spare clothes. Just what I needed." He bent down and picked up his mask. Then with an exaggerated swagger, left the room.
Sam lay there motionless, totally unconscious. Jonas and Grogan tried to revive her by calling her name, but without any success. Now, they fully understood how Tolgarth had managed to know all he knew. They realised that no planet that had ever been visited by SG- 1 in the past was safe. He would also know all the secrets of the SGC.
After a while Sam came to. Her cheekbone hurt and she could feel blood trickling down the side of her face. Groaning, she slowly stood up. She felt terrible. She couldn't believe what had happened. No wonder Tolgarth had known that they were coming, she had told him by telling Jack. Feelings of despair washed over her, as she thought of Jack trapped in his own body for such a long time. How were they ever going to get Jack free now? It had been better, when she thought Jack was dead.
Sam staggered over to Lt. Grogan and Jonas. She didn't know what to say to them and they didn't know what to say either. She sat down beside them on the floor and waited to see what was going to happen next.
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After Teal'c had seen the Jaffa take his teammates away, he started to follow them to see where they were taken. He realised that everything had fallen apart. Sam had been right, there had been a trap and they had fallen right into it. He watched quietly as he saw his teammates taken into a room. After the Jaffa had left, he carefully tried the door, but it was locked. Realising that he was going to be no help to them for now, he decided to go and find O'Neill. After two hours of unsuccessful searching, he made his way back to where Sam and the others were held. As Teal'c came down the corridor, he heard some guards coming towards him. Quickly, trying the first door he came to, he slipped inside out of sight.
The room was a small chamber. There were a few comfortable chairs and a low table. In the corner, piled up against the wall, were the weapons and packs that belonged to the others. The packs had obviously been gone through as the contents were strewn over the floor. Teal'c quickly knelt down and checked to see if the GDO's were there amongst the weapons, but they had been taken. This was not good. Standing up, he looked around the rest of the room. He noticed that there was a pile of black and grey clothes sitting on one of the chairs. Teal'c went over, picked them up and looked at them. Seeing what they were, he quickly rolled them up in a bundle and put them into his pack. As he was going to leave he noticed an object over by the far wall. The strange shaped object had a cloth covering it. Teal'c quickly lifted the cloth. He realised that from Sam's description that this was the death gun they had talked about. Teal'c swiftly lifted the panel on the side and taking some C-4 from the packs he fitted it under the panel. Punching in some numbers on the detonator, he carefully refitted the panel back in place and covered the death gun with the cloth. This had taken him only a few minutes. After he had done this, he left the room moving very quietly. Now he needed to see if he could free the others.
^^^^^^
When Tolgarth came back into the room, he was wearing BDU's. Apart from the cold, steel black colour of his eyes and that his hair was a little longer he looked just like Jack. Sam quickly stood up. She cautiously watched to see if his Jaffa would bring in the death gun. She was slightly relieved to see the Jaffa leave Tolgarth alone in the room with them.
"So. Major Carter, you will now tell me the new code, so I can get past the iris. You will also tell me where Teal'c is. He must be somewhere skulking around here."
"I have no idea where Teal'c is now a-days and you know what my answer will be about the code."
"See. I found out something new today. After all this time, he managed to keep it from me."
"Whom are you talking about?"
"My host. He has been most generous with his information. It took a while, but I got it in the end."
Sam's body began to shake. It was hard to hear this evil voice come out of Jack's body.
Jonas shifted in his restraints, his arms had gone numb a long time ago and his shoulders were beginning to hurt. "What information?"
Turning around to speak to Jonas. "This has nothing to do with you, Jonas Quinn."
With a malicious smile, he turned back to face Sam, stepping up close to her. "It is to do with you. I think I can kill two birds with one stone." He reached a hand up towards Sam and then stopped. He laughed. "Oh, this host does know some unusual words. I don't think I will repeat them in front of a lady." Reaching up quickly with both hands, he grasped Sam around the neck and started to squeeze. Sam was pushed against the wall and she started to black out from the lack of oxygen.
Sam's vision was going black and the edges were tinged with red. He was slowly killing her and she couldn't fight back as her body seemed to have lost all of its strength. Her heart was not in the fight anymore, she found herself giving up. Suddenly, she felt the pressure lift off her throat and she was able to breath. With great gasps she drew air into her starved lungs. Her vision cleared to see Tolgarth sitting on the floor. He was clutching his head in his hands and groaning. She saw a flash of gold as his eyes glowed and he pulled out a knife from his boot. Bringing it up in both his hands he started towards her. Sam was still weak from what he had done to her, so she closed her eyes and waited for the blow.
"Sam! Help me."
It was Jack's voice. She quickly opened her eyes. Looking at Tolgarth, she could see him holding the knifepoint towards himself and he was looking directly at her.
"Sam! Help me. He's too strong."
Jack's frightened brown eyes were looking straight at her, pleading with her to help him kill this Goa'uld.
Sam couldn't kill Jack. She started to shake her head from side to side.
"Please, Sam. I can't hold on much longer. You have to kill me. Please!" As he spoke the last word his voice broke.
Sam abruptly launched herself at Jack. Grabbing hold of his hands, she plunged the knife into him. Just as the knife reached his chest, light shone up into Jack's eyes. Tolgarth was back in control. He threw Sam clear across the room hitting her head against the wall, once again knocking her unconscious. Just in the split second that Tolgarth had taken control he had been able to deflect the knife into his shoulder, missing his heart. Swearing, Tolgarth stood up and pulled the knife out and with disgust threw it on the ground. Turning to the two men.
"I don't need your information, I have enough in here." Pointing to his head. He looked at Sam. "You can wait until I get back." Tolgarth stormed out of the room in a rage.
Teal'c had watched O'Neill leave the cell from his hiding place. As soon as he heard O'Neill speak with the Goa'uld voice. He realised the seriousness of the situation. //'No wonder I have been unable to find O'Neill anywhere.'// He thought.
As soon as Tolgarth and his Jaffa had left, Teal'c wasted no time in moving towards the door where the others were trapped. Teal'c tried the door again. Surprisingly, it opened. Moving quickly through the door, he went over to Sam and checked to see if she was all right. Then using his staff weapon, he fired at the chains that held Jonas and Grogan setting them free.
"Boy, are we glad to see you, Teal'c. Tolgarth is using Colonel O'Neill as a host." Jonas said.
"Yes, I am aware of this. What has happened to Colonel Carter? She does not look well."
"It was amazing. Tolgarth tried to kill her, but the Colonel took control and stopped him. He even managed to stab himself in the shoulder."
Teal'c looked up. He was surprised, because there had not been many hosts who had been able to overpower the Goa'uld, even for a short time.
Lt. Grogan pulled Sam up and supported her on one side, while Jonas supported her on the other. Sam started to come around, so they set her down again on the ground. After they had checked her over and given her something to drink, she tried to get up to walk on her own. The world was spinning a little, but after a few moments she was able to stand unassisted.
"Sam?" Jonas queried. "How did you know it was Colonel O'Neill behind the mask?"
Sam answered; her voice was shaky as it rasped in her swollen throat. "I recognised his hands and the one without the device on it had the faint scar from when he sliced it on the ducting. I also knew Tolgarth had a new host, as his eyes were a different colour. We must get out of here and stop Tolgarth. I think he's trying to get into the SGC." She finished off tiredly.
While Teal'c had been searching for Jack, he had found a safe way to leave the Castle. Leading the way, they quietly moved along the corridors.
The Stargate was still unguarded. They couldn't understand the thinking behind this oversight. Fortunately, Teal'c still had his GDO, so they were able to dial Earth. When it was clear to go they stepped through the Stargate. As soon as they arrived in the gate room at the SGC, Sam with a still very husky voice spoke to General Hammond.
"Has Colonel O'Neill arrived?"
"Colonel Carter, yes he has. What happened to you? He said that you were all dead."
"Lock down the base immediately. Tolgarth is using him as a host."
Just as she finished speaking, warning klaxons started up through the base. SG-1 quickly moved towards the infirmary where Tolgarth had gone. As they travelled down the corridor, they could hear weapon fire ahead. Then, suddenly, the weapon fire ceased. They rounded the corner and they could see that Tolgarth had raised a force field up around him.
Sam cautiously looked round the corner. She hadn't been able to keep up with the others because she was still feeling groggy. Moving slowly forward behind the others, so that Tolgarth could not see her, she came up behind Teal'c. Sam bent down and lifted the knife that he kept in his boot and with a quick flick of her wrist sent it spinning into Tolgarth's thigh straight through the force field. With a yell he collapsed to the ground and the force field dissolved. Moving quickly, Teal'c went forward and removed the device and weapons from Tolgarth's possession.
^^^^^^
Two hours later, Sam, Teal'c and General Hammond were in a room. One side was divided off with large vertical solid metal bars and behind the bars was Tolgarth. A very unhappy Tolgarth, who wasn't being very polite to his captors.
"Tolgarth, we wish to speak with Colonel O'Neill."
Tolgarth sneered and turned his back on them.
With a quick glance at the others, Hammond left the room, closely followed by Teal'c and Sam. When they got to Hammond's office, they sat down to discuss the situation.
"Colonel, we contacted the Tok'ra as soon as we could, but they are still in turmoil. They don't hold out much hope of getting here soon. They can't contact Jacob either, because he's on a mission. But they did say that they would come as soon as they were able. I'm sorry, Sam, this is all we can do."
"What about the Asgard, can they help?"
"They are too busy fighting the system lords and I don't think they can help us with this."
Sam felt awful. Her throat felt bruised and sore, her head hurt and she had trouble speaking. She just didn't know what they could do and she found it hard to think clearly. The only option open to them would be to have to wait and hope the Tok'ra would get here soon. Until then, they would have to be on full alert. It wouldn't be good if Tolgarth escaped. With Jack's knowledge he could do untold damage.
Sam desperately needed sleep so she wandered down to her sleeping quarters. Maybe she could think of something when she had rested.
^^^^^^
~Sam was standing at the edge of the blackened meadow. She was looking up at the large solid steel door that had come down before. The door was impenetrable. In despair, Sam sank down amongst the ashes and she leant up against the door and waited. ~
^^^^^^
Four days later, they were no closer at separating Tolgarth from O'Neill. Jonas and Grogan had been looking after him, making sure that he was fed. They had also tried to talk to him along with Sam and Teal'c, but to no avail.
Sam met General Hammond outside the holding cell door. They were going to try and talk to Tolgarth again and maybe manage to get him to let them talk to Jack. They didn't hold out much hope. Tolgarth had been totally uncooperative. The guard outside let them into the room. Hammond started asking questions.
"What did you think you would achieve by coming here by yourself? You must have known you would eventually get caught."
Tolgarth turned around and his eyes glowed. "I will not reveal my plans to you."
"Well let us talk to Colonel O'Neill then."
"Oh, you want to speak to O'Neill? I'll let you speak to O'Neill, but he won't be speaking back though. And before I let you see him, you must realise the longer you keep me here the longer it will last."
Not knowing to what he was referring to, they watched as Tolgarth lowered his head. Immediately he fell to the floor writhing in agony. O'Neill was crying out in pain, clutching his head. Sam stepped forward, but Hammond pulled her back, she had got too close to the bars. Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Tolgarth stood up from the floor and smiled evilly at Hammond and Sam and then let out a laugh. He promptly turned his back on them, showing them that he was not going to talk to them anymore.
As soon as they were outside, Sam and Hammond quickly discussed what had happened.
"He must be torturing the Colonel all the time."
"I'm not so sure Colonel Carter. He may have put that on as a show. He does specialise in messing with people's minds."
Just then Jonas came walking up with a tray of food. On it was some kind of casserole and a desert bowl of apple pie. Sam looked at it in surprise. "You are feeding him that?"
"Well, I thought maybe Colonel O'Neill might get to taste it."
Sam nodded and gave him a sad smile. "I wouldn't bet on it somehow."
"Anyway, Tolgarth might not even like it. If you want to find out, you'll have to ask Grogan, he will be collecting the tray."
Jonas was let into the room while General Hammond and Colonel Carter walked off down the corridor.
Just over an hour later, Sam was in her office when she heard the alarm bells. Grabbing a Zatnik'atel she rushed out the door. It was quite a distance from her office to where the holding cells were situated. She could hear rapid weapon fire and it didn't sound good. The scene that awaited Sam when she arrived, filled her with horror. Lt. Grogan and some SF's were lying on the ground and they were obviously dead. People were milling around. She overheard a Major inform General Hammond that, unfortunately, they had no choice, as they had to kill Tolgarth. Sam felt herself begin to shake. She didn't notice Teal'c come up behind her, until he quickly reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulders to keep her steady.
"Sam?"
Sam turned around and saw Jack standing in the doorway of the holding cell. He was leaning weakly against the doorframe. His face was a white ashen colour and blood was trickling down the side of his mouth. Moving quickly forward, Sam went up to him, closely followed by Teal'c. With relief, Sam could feel no presence of Goa'uld within Jack. Without a thought to anyone in the corridor, she put her arms around him, partly to stop him from falling, partly for comfort. She felt his arms come round her shoulders tightly. Moving his head up beside her head, he whispered into her ear.
"Don't ever let go of me, Sam, don't ever let go."
"No. I won't, Jack, I promise." Sam whispered back.
To be continued - Part 9 - The Inner Battle
Feedback: Would be great. arrietty39@hotmail.com Yes please.
Story Notes: Authors note: This is the eighth part of a nine part series. You need to read the first seven parts first, the order is Tolgarth - The Beginning, Tolgarth - Despair, Tolgarth - Hope, Tolgarth - Blue Light, Tolgarth - Mystery, Tolgarth - Loss, Tolgarth - Moving On. Wow! What can I say, but heaps of thanks to my beta readers, DJ, Vicky and Tricia. :)
FEEDBACK: Yes Please. Thank you to all the wonderful people who have given me feedback.
FEEDBACK: Yes Please. Thank you to all the wonderful people who have given me feedback.
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 ]