"So, how much longer?" Colonel O’Neill asked impatiently, fed up of looking at wet trees and crumbling stone monuments.
"Jack, it’s not as if I’m reading the back of a Fruit Loops packet. This script’s one I’ve never seen before. It’s going to take a little time."
"How little time?"
"I have no idea."
"Carter?"
"Like I said, Sir, the UAV was unable to give us any data on this region. It -"
"Oh, never mind. C’mon, Teal’c. Lets go check this way. It’s gotta be quicker than waiting for Daniel."
The Jaffa raised his eyebrow questioningly. "Is that wise, O’Neill?"
Jack’s answering glare quickly made his features revert to their normal impassive façade and he strode off after O’Neill along the wide forest track.
Ten minutes later they were back.
"Dead end," Jack explained economically.
Teal’c looked confused. "O’Neill, the forest in fact remained very much alive, but the track was terminated by a large mound of rocks."
Daniel broke the ensuing silence. "I got part of the translation; it’s a Goa’uld dialect."
His hand automatically tightening slightly around his P90, Jack double-checked: "Gould?"
"Yes."
"There are snakeheads here?"
"Maybe."
"I hate snakeheads."
There being nothing to say to that, Daniel waved his arm in the direction of the totem. "It says, ‘From the - I assume village or settlement - to the Chaapa’ai, we travel daily for worship’. At least, I think it says that. It might be ‘travel daily to be eaten’ but, well, I hope that’s unlikely."
"And we thought, Sir, that since the Stargate was back that way, the village must lie in this direction." Sam swung round to point along the final, unexplored track.
"Sounds good to me, Carter. Let’s move out, kids." And O’Neill promptly started off, ignoring Daniel’s entreaty to be allowed to translate the remainder of the text.
An hour’s walk later they arrived. "I thought you said village, Daniel!" Jack exclaimed, using the zoom lens on his binoculars to better scan the sprawling city which lay in the valley beneath them. "Well, we’ve got a welcoming committee headed this way. Teal’c, Sam, get off the track and keep out of sight until we’re sure it’s safe. Daniel, you’re with me."
They walked down to meet the single man struggling up the path. "Welcome! Welcome!" he exclaimed breathlessly. "I am Tiblut. You are fortunate indeed to travel to my planet Eidin at such a time as this."
Daniel smiled in greeting. "Hello, Tiblut. I am Dr Daniel Jackson and my friend here is Colonel Jack O’Neill. How did you know we came through the Stargate?"
"You don’t think our clothes give it away?" wise-cracked O’Neill, eyeing Tiblut’s understated farmer’s smock.
"Jack, do you mind?" protested Daniel in an undertone, ducking his head and trying to keep the irritation from his voice.
Tiblut, however, ignored their exchange. "Stargate? My Lord Gephus directed me to meet the Chaapa’ai voyagers. Was I wrong?"
"Oh! No, no, not at all," Daniel soothed. "We came through the Chaapa’ai from a planet called Earth. We are of the Tau’ri."
But as Tiblut plainly didn’t understand the term ‘Tau’ri’, Jack tried to kick start the conversation again: "So, Lord Gephus, huh?"
"Indeed. It is a time of great excitement for my people that he is descended here among us. Are you hungry? Please, you are most welcome to share food with me."
Sam and Teal’c joined them as O’Neill beckoned. All four followed Tiblut down the track to the city, curiously looking about as they went at the Eidin workers painstakingly toiling in countless outlying fields.
His hand still to the radio, Jack drew in a deep breath. "And so, General, Carter wants to find out more about this remote sensing technology that detected our arrival through the Stargate, Teal’c and Daniel are learning about Tiblut’s past. And I’m, umm, well, I’m just plain curious, Sir."
Hammond’s concerned tones came back over the radio. "You say these people are worshipping someone they think is their god?"
"That’s right, General."
"Seems to me we’ve heard that story before."
"Daniel thinks Tiblut’s ancestors banished the Gould who left the monument he translated. From what Carter can work out given Tiblut’s story and her planetary-time adjustment do-dahs, this Lord Gee-Force only pitched up about five years ago and fought his way to power. As far as I can see, he’s got the Eidins pretty much enslaved, but Daniel reckons they seem to like it that way."
"Well, proceed with caution, Colonel."
"When have you ever known me not to?" O’Neill asked rhetorically as the radio link severed.
"Jack, this is incredible!" Daniel exclaimed as O’Neill re-entered the single room of Tiblut’s house. "It sounds like Tiblut’s people not only banished the Goa’uld, but also defeated his attendant Jaffa army."
"So?"
"So, do the Eidins look militant to you? Their society must have completely regressed since that time. Someone built this city, but now the population is entirely agrarian." Jack continued to look blank, so Daniel elaborated, "Carter’s calculated that it’s only about 100 years since they got rid of the Goa’uld. To create the level of civilisation here now, there must have been an industrial society in the past. But when Tiblut’s people were left to rule themselves, they abandoned the city to become farmers."
"Why?"
"Oh, I don’t know… war, perhaps? But it does sound as if Lord Gephus is acting as a catalyst to move the Eidins back to higher civilisation."
Tiblut spoke up. "We should remain here as I am waiting for a messenger, but meanwhile perhaps you might permit me to show you Eidin?"
SG-1 looked round the room, puzzled. It was bare but for the rug on which they sat, Tiblut’s simple kitchen, a pile of straw for bedding and some once-ornate but now drab and faded walls.
Under his breath, O’Neill said, "Any one see the TV?"
Carter smiled, then asked, "Tiblut, how will you show us?"
In answer, Tiblut pulled a small, flat, metallic disc from his clothing. "With this. The stored images interact with your consciousness to form a narrative of your choosing."
"Ah, Tiblut," Daniel queried, suddenly alert, "where did you get that?"
"It has been in my family for generations."
"Jack, uh, that looks like a variant of the Goa’uld memory device."
"I can see that, Daniel."
Tiblut hastened to reassure them. "It is quite harmless. Once you are in the vision, you have control of where you go and the images you see, but you can not influence their outcome."
"You mean you’re like a ghost?" asked Carter, intrigued. When Tiblut nodded gravely she continued, "It wouldn’t hurt to try, Sir."
"Okay," O’Neill sighed. "Fill your boots, Major."
"They’re coming for us!" The grubby and exhausted man hoarsely whispered the warning, urgently shaking the shoulder of his sleeping companion.
Carter peered around the dark, bare room. As in Tiblut’s house, the room had incongruously lavish murals on the walls, although the paint looked newer here. Heavy rain lashed against the roof and gusted in through the empty doorway and a broken window. Shards of glass were visible, glinting in a puddle on the floor. Intermittently, above the sounds of the storm, she could hear a distant Jaffa bugle call. Then, as the first man’s whispers became increasingly frantic, Carter was suddenly startled by a triumphant nearby yell of "KREE!"
"Now. We must move now or it will be too late."
The sleeping man awoke and listened for a few seconds to the screams which had followed the yell. "It is already too late."
"You can not know that! We should at least attempt to -"
"The mission is compromised already if they are here now."
They stopped talking to listen again. The screams had stopped. All Carter could hear was the ongoing pelter of rain.
"Then not like that. I don’t want to die like that." The man waved in the direction from which the screams had come.
"We have no weapons with which to defend ourselves."
The first man looked at the glass on the floor and said softy, "I was not talking of defence, my friend."
When ten minutes or so later the searching Jaffa crossed the threshold, Carter had recovered herself. She watched as the rainwater running off the Jaffa’s sodden clothing mingled freely with the grim puddle on the floor and the Jaffa’s torches - flickering madly as gusts of wind blew in - turned the garish wall paintings into ghoulish spectators of the bloody scene.
One of the Jaffa stooped, momentarily illuminating a dark tattooed mark on one dead man’s forehead. Straightening up, the Jaffa cursed, "Cowardly fools!" then frustratedly hurled what looked like a large wrench towards Carter.
Sam winced involuntarily, but when she felt no impact she recalled her "ghostly" status. Without looking back, she escaped through a wall into the wreckage of a city outside.
"Major?" Jack’s disembodied voice was, as ever, supportive, concerned and yet professional.
Sam latched onto the concern. "I’m okay, Sir," she told the empty street. "But I’d like to continue looking around. Tiblut’s people didn’t defeat the Jaffa army, they’re still here."
Teal’c’s reassuring tones reached her ears, again from nowhere. "Major Carter, that should not be possible. A Jaffa larval symbiote would reach maturity well before now."
"Sam, I think you’re witnessing an historical recreation placed in your brain by the memory device." Daniel’s voice, now conferring quietly and invisibly with Tiblut.
Carter continued to search the abandoned city, idly listening to the buzz of Daniel’s conversation mixing with the splatter of rain against her ears. At least being a ghost she wasn’t getting wet. Eventually, Daniel spoke up again. "Ah - Sam. Try heading for the palace. It should be to the north. Tiblut says there’s some kind of Oracle in the market-place outside."
Sam altered direction slightly. Although she had not been consciously aware of it, the golden domes of the palace had been acting as a magnet for her feet already and she was no more than five minutes walk away. "Teal’c, I’ve just seen two Jaffa with the same emblem markings fighting each other. Is it possible that this is a glorified rite of passage?"
"It is not."
"So…" Sam prompted.
"Major Carter, despite their markings, I believe the Jaffa to have been in the service of a rival System Lord."
Tiblut’s contradicting voice was so quiet Sam struggled to hear it over the rain. Nevertheless, the tone of sorrow was unmistakable. "No. Those Jaffa were not in the service of any Lord."
There was a short silence as SG-1 worked out the implications. Daniel got there first. "You mean, you mean, the Jaffa were free? They banished the Goa’uld? But then why were they still fighting?"
"They were warriors. They fought for power."
How sad, thought Sam, and what a wasted opportunity.
The market-place, when she arrived, was just as deserted as the rest of the city. A few fires still struggled against the rain and there were fresh staff weapon blasts in evidence on several structures, evidence of fierce fighting in the recent past. "There’s no one here," she reported, "least of all an Oracle."
"The Oracle was not living," said Tiblut.
"Then what…? Oh. I see."
"What, Major?" asked Jack’s voice impatiently.
"It’s a painted wall. It’s beautiful. And hardly damaged. But the paintings are changing as I watch."
Tiblut said reverently, "The Oracle, whose art depicted the paths of the future. It was destroyed soon after this time and my people no longer possess the skill to rebuild it."
"This technology is way ahead of us, Sir. I have no idea how it might have been achieved. Perhaps if I took a closer look…?"
"You’re a ghost, Major. You can’t touch anything!"
Sam was silent as she watched the wall for a while. The paintings, while beautiful, were also distressing to look at for the Oracle was predicting a very turbulent future for the planet.
"There’s something I don’t get, Tiblut," she said eventually. "The Oracle is showing that these Jaffa are destined to continue to fight with each other. And some of the murkier images on the borders seem to indicate that the city will be - was - ransacked and…oh god…they’re executing people."
Tiblut’s voice was dull. "The Jaffa removed anyone they perceived to be a threat. Rival Jaffa, Eidin leaders, scientists, anyone found in the wrong place. Most people left the city and hid in the mountains."
"Now they’re burning -. Oh god, I can’t watch this…"
"Sam, you said there was something you didn’t understand," prompted Daniel, trying to give her something else to think about.
"What?" With an effort, Sam closed her eyes and forced herself to think. "Oh. Yes. It was just that I thought we hadn’t seen any evidence of any stasis equipment or hosts and I was wondering what happened to the Jaffa symbiotes once they reached maturity?"
"Jesus!" There were sounds of Jack leaping to his feet as if he half expected to find some of them snaking towards him across the room.
"There is no cause for alarm," she heard Tiblut say. "The Jaffa themselves killed the worms which escaped from their stomachs. Their children were not similarly cursed."
Jack was still tense. "So no snakeheads here, then?"
"No worms remain on Eidin today."
Teal’c voice. "It is a plausible explanation, O’Neill."
Reassured, Sam risked a final look at the wall. But in a poignant finale, it was now foretelling its own demise. Cracks stretched across its surface, clouds of painted dust spread from the bottom right and, finally, the entire scene crumbled away to be replaced by a stormy sky as the Oracle showed its collapse.
"Enough," Sam said. "Please. Take it off."
Tiblut silently removed the device from Carter then spoke softly, yet very intently. "I feared the tribes. Though they fought mostly among themselves, it was a time of great suffering for Eidin. Legend tells that my people were once capable of great things, but I did not believe it until our god arrived. He came in a great sky ship, bringing the Chaapa’ai. He ended the fighting and showed us how to work harmoniously. You saw this for yourselves on your way here. Now we do not fear for our lives from day to day." Tiblut stopped as he saw the promised messenger come shyly into the room.
Daniel said thoughtfully, "This may be why Gephus is being hailed as a saviour, Jack. He’s bought them peace and a faith system."
"Are you trying to tell me this god is the real ish?"
"Not necessarily. But look at Tiblut’s people. They’re content."
"Aw, that’s crap, Daniel, and you know it. They’re probably just as enslaved as they were before kicking out that snakehead."
Tiblut stood. "I am sure you will understand soon. Come. We have been granted an audience."
As they drew near the palace, Sam joined Daniel. "So, what do you think of Tiblut?" she asked.
"Tiblut? Oh, he seems genuine enough. But I’m curious about how this Gephus fits into their culture. I mean, umm, Jack had a point: the Eidins do seem to be enslaved. But it’s almost as if Gephus has enslaved them with their consent."
"So you think there’s something odd about Gephus?"
"Well, yes, Sam. For instance, how did a ‘god’ come by a ‘Chaapa’ai’?"
"And how did he defeat all the Jaffa’s descendants so quickly?"
"Yeah, we haven’t seen any evidence of an army here."
"Daniel, why do I have such a bad feeling about this?"
On arrival at the palace, it didn’t take her long to figure it out. Even before the SG-1 team had been introduced, Lord Gephus gave a start of recognition, pointed to Teal’c and cried, "Shol’va!"
"Lord Gephus appears to be a Goa’uld, O’Neill," Teal’c stated, looking at the ribbon device which adorned the ruler’s arm.
"Ya think?" O’Neill cursed under his breath as their weapons were removed by the significant number of armed attendants. "Remind me, Daniel, why we agreed to meet this guy."
"You’re blaming me?! Sam was the one who wanted to find out about his technology."
"Maybe it’s just for show," ventured Carter. "He hasn’t done the eye flash yet."
They all looked.
"You were saying?" muttered Daniel.
O’Neill stepped forward. "Lord Gee-Force. Greetings from the Tau’ri. I just want to say thanks for the hospitality. Gotta love what you’ve done with this planet; great place you’ve got here. Er, so, we’ll be getting out of your hair now before our rescue troops have to come get us." He turned and jerked his head to the exit, unmistakably meaning follow me.
"sTOP!" Unsurprisingly, the Goa’uld was not willing to let SG-1 simply walk out. "Rescue will not be possible. I wish to know why SG-1 have come here."
O’Neill sighed and motioned Daniel to step forward and respond. Daniel turned his hat over in his hands. "Lord Gephus, we’re just peaceful explorers who have no wish to disturb this planet’s existence; we’ll be more than happy to leave…umm, now…" He became aware his words were having as little effect as O’Neill’s and trailed off miserably, "…if you want."
"On your knees, Dr Jackson." Gephus demanded. "And the rest of your team." A number of the attendants hustled forward and forced the team to the floor. Gephus smiled chillingly. "You are peaceful explorers who in the past have killed countless Goa’uld, including my beloved queen Hathor. Explain."
"Aw, crap," groaned O’Neill. "This just keeps getting better."
"Umm, anything in particular you want me to say here, Jack?"
"Sure. How about you’ll never use the word ‘agrarian’ again?"
"What?"
"Daniel, the snakehead has just lovingly spoken about someone we killed. To me, it’s not looking like one of those times we’re gonna to talk our way out."
"But you’re not…?"
"What would you have me do, Daniel? And don’t even think of asking me to talk nicely to this thing."
"Okay, I won’t ask that then. But we have no right to interfere in this planet’s culture and beliefs." Daniel was vehemently whispering. "The Eidins have benefited from Gephus’ rule."
"I can see that. But he’s still a false god who doesn’t appear to be about to let us go, so I’m not going to hesitate to do whatever it takes to get us out." O’Neill raised his voice, stalling for time. "Nothing worse than a lover scorned, eh, Gee? Well, you got us. What now?"
"Now I intend to trade you for my re-acceptance into Goa’uld ranks."
Daniel looked across at Teal’c. "Re-acceptance?"
"Gephus must have been a minor Goa’uld in the service of a System Lord. It is likely that at some point we disturbed his master’s balance of power, forcing this retreat."
"I suppose that might explain the lack of any Jaffa," Sam said in return. "If Gephus had none of his own Jaffa to take and no queen to create new symbiotes, he must have hoped his goa’uld powers would be enough to convince some of the tribes to fight for him, in the belief that he was their god. It would also explain why the attendants are not armed with staff weapons."
The Goa’uld leant forward. "Give me something to make it worth sparing you. Where is the new Tok’ra base?"
O’Neill shook his head. "We’re not going to tell you."
"Tell me, or I will kill Dr Jackson. You know him to be of the least monetary value to me."
The others looked worriedly at Daniel who complained, "Why always me?"
"Stay cool, Danny-boy," steadied O’Neill, then he directed his attention back to Gephus. "Look, Gee, this is a complete load of crock. We have no intention of telling you anything and everyone - including you - knows Daniel is worth far more to you alive than dead."
"I wish him dead. My beloved loved him!"
Daniel shrugged. "It wasn’t a mutual attraction."
It was the wrong thing to say. Gephus leapt furiously to his feet, raised his arm and blasted Daniel across the room where he lay in a scrumpled heap against the far wall.
Gephus waved at the still kneeling Jack, Teal’c and Sam and commanded his attendants, "Remove them and detain them. Securely."
As the attendants moved forward, O’Neill looked over to Daniel. "Why not…?"
But there was no need to finish asking. The malicious and gloating set to Gephus’ face spelt out all too clearly that painful revenge was about to be exacted.
However, Daniel, oblivious to his singular fate, was only aware of his friends being herded out of the room. "Hey, wait!" he called, loudly enough that the majority of the attendants stopped in their tracks, unsure what to do. Surprised it had worked, Daniel attempted to keep the initiative to prevent the Goa’uld interrupting him. "Umm. Look, you don’t want to do this. Gephus just wants to use us to get off this planet. You heard him, we’re his ticket out of here; he’ll leave you if you don’t let us go…"
Everyone was listening, which was all very well, but the attendants hadn’t moved to help them, so Daniel dropped his voice, stepped backwards a few times and watched as, like moths to a flame, the attendants drew closer to listen, leaving O’Neill, Teal’c and Carter at least partially unguarded.
Of course, Gephus - unlike his attendants - was no fool and immediately recognised the danger. "Get back!" he ordered, striding across the room and extending his hand towards Daniel’s forehead. Daniel stuttered to a halt as the attendants nervously withdrew and - as the ribbon engaged - cried out in agony, once again finding himself collapsing onto the floor.
"Teal’c!" directed O’Neill, meaningfully flapping his hands to the left. Sam went right without needing to be told so he prepared himself to engage the Goa’uld in hand to hand-device combat from the centre.
They attacked simultaneously and swiftly, anxious to maximise the meagre advantage surprise gave them. Ignoring the attendants, Teal’c aimed a blow at Gephus’ head, Jack rugby-tackled the Goa’uld’s legs and Sam wrenched at the hand device, trying to deflect its energy from Daniel.
They were at once both more and less successful than expected. As he unbalanced on top of Jack, Gephus lashed out violently at Teal’c who collapsed unconscious next to the nearly brain-fried Daniel. O’Neill found himself crushed underneath Gephus. And Sam was left open mouthed as she realised she now had possession of one Goa’uld hand device.
The horrified attendants were the first to move, hastening to raise their fallen god. As soon as he was able, Jack rolled to his feet and stood next to Carter, quickly taking in the fact that Gephus was disarmed but still well-protected by his attendants and that the SG team were now down to two men - well, officers - because, despite signs of recovery, Teal’c and Daniel were out of it for sure.
For an infinite, silent second, Gephus and Jack motionlessly faced off, working out who was going to win the fight. Then one side of Gephus’ mouth curled upwards and Jack looked despairingly at Daniel.
"We will try again. Remove them. Securely detain them. And I will have that back." Gephus indicated the hand-device in Carter’s grip as the attendants once more moved to escort the three from the room.
"No. Not this time," Sam replied. Then with a familiar wince, she slipped the spiralled device over her arm and willed that part of her which was forever Jolinar to do its stuff.
It was just as uncontrollable as before, just as devastating. Carter closed her eyes, so she did not know whether it was her second or third blast which kept Gephus from rising to his feet. But she felt O’Neill’s gentle hand on her shoulder, warning her to stop.
"Hail, Dorothy," Sam choked, not wishing to hear Jack say those hateful words again. She opened her eyes.
Teal’c had come round and was now staggering across the room to check on Gephus’ prone body. Daniel was writhing on the floor, hand pressed hard against his forehead. The attendants were standing stock-still in utter shock.
"Are you okay?" asked Jack.
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
"Daniel?"
"Oh, I think so," he gasped. "Like I said before, I think I’m getting used to those ribbon things."
"Gephus is dead," said Teal’c, straightening up.
"Sweet," O’Neill replied.
By the time Daniel was recovered enough for the team to think of assisting him out of the room, the Eidins had been alerted to the incident. Tiblut intercepted them at the doorway.
"You have killed Lord Gephus?" he asked, aghast.
"Yeah." O’Neill looked crossly at Tiblut. "You’d think that’d be impossible, wouldn’t you?"
"Tiblut," Sam said, "I know this is going to be hard to take in, but Gephus was only passing himself off as a god. He was just a parasite with access to advanced technology."
"He was the saviour of my people!"
O’Neill was having none of that and yelled, "He had you all enslaved!"
"We’re sorry about what happened, Tiblut," tried Daniel. "But there was nothing mystical about Gephus."
However, Tiblut sank slowly to the floor and put his head in his hands. "You have doomed my people," he whispered in despair. "What is to become of us?"
In the end, they had to leave the distraught Tiblut fussing over the dead Goa’uld. Sam and Daniel were glad to part company before their CO said something unforgivably tactless. Jack was keen to get past the market-place before the riot he could hear building outside actually happened.
As they exited, Tiblut spoke up. "Despite his persecution at your hands, I am resolved Lord Gephus shall not be forgotten."
Daniel and Jack looked back at him, frowning.
"He was sent to be the saviour of my people."
As they trudged up the hill towards the homeward forest track, Daniel and Jack argued.
"We’ve turned him into a kind of martyr. There’s no way now that the Eidins will ever be able to prove he was false and free themselves from this bogus religion."
"I fail to see how that is our problem, Daniel."
"We caused it."
"Oh for crying out loud! Okay. Let’s say they decide to create a whole religion around Gephus. So what? He’s dead! It can’t hurt them! We’ve been worshipping deities on Earth since creation."
"Jack, from the Crusades through the Holocaust right up to September 11th, all the really nasty wars have been about religious differences. And I saw as well as you did that the market-place was stuffed full of overexcited people just itching for a little genocide."
Teal interrupted. "They were listening to the attendants announce the death of Gephus, Daniel Jackson."
O’Neill shook his head. "No, Daniel’s right. They were watching for a fight. Seeing which way to jump: big guys or religious nuts. Great choice."
"Jack, we can’t leave this world with one half of the population ready to murder the other simply to prove their false god was actually some kind of saviour when - if we’d let them be - they’d probably have found out the truth for themselves given time."
"How can you be sure of that?!"
Sam calmly answered. "They worked it out last time."
"Look, I don’t give a damn if they want to beat themselves up because we accidentally took out their ‘god’ and - incidentally - freed them from slavery. I’m interested in defending the earth and getting new technology. You know: the SGC SOPs."
Sam stood her ground, bringing the rest of them to a halt around her. "With respect, Sir, if we leave now we’re probably violating those SOPs. We should at least try to restore order here so we can get access to their technology at a later date, not bug out and let them claim we assassinated their leader."
Jack sighed heavily, looking unenthusiastically back at Eidin.
"Damn it, Carter."
The market-place was somehow even more packed than before. The crowd was definitely more restless too, small scuffles were evident and the attendants wailing about the death of Gephus were beginning to look rather more desperate.
"Daniel, you’re going to have to be quick," Jack warned. "I’ll give you one go at this, then we’re out of here."
Daniel smiled weakly then followed his team up onto a packed stage overlooking the crowds. He grasped his hat in his hands and stood forward. "People of Eidin," he began. Everyone ignored him.
Jack grabbed his arm. "When you’re ready, give me a nod. I’ll fire one shot and then it’s your go. Okay?"
Daniel nodded, feeling foolish.
"Was that a nod?"
"What…?"
"I just said, ‘Give me a nod’ and you nodded."
"Sir…" Carter interrupted.
"Right, Carter," Jack said, recovering. "Daniel, ready or not, you’re on." And he fired a single shot into the air.
The effect was instantaneous. The Eidins surrounding them fell back with a gasp of surprise, an expectant hush fell over the market-place. Daniel stepped forward. "People of Eidin," he shouted again. Hundreds of eyes turned in his direction. He swallowed nervously. "My name is Daniel Jackson. I travelled through the Chaapa’ai to visit you. I can see that you are upset by your loss and I am sorry for you. But today could be a historic day if you seize the chance." The people continued to listen. Daniel began to hope that this might work. "You need to trust me and trust your leaders. For five years you have lived in peace; you can live in peace still. Go back to the fields. Continue to work for your harvest. We will talk with your leaders, help you set up a self-determining system of govern -"
"LIARS!" The screech came from the palace and the crowd turned as one towards the sound. Tiblut was running down the steps, jabbing his arm at SG-1. "They are the ones who killed our god. They do not wish for peace! They are persecutors!"
"Oh, crap," muttered O’Neill for the second time that day. "Daniel, get back here. No arguments. We gotta go. Now."
Obediently, Daniel backed away from front of the stage. He was glad to do so. A low murmur from the crowd of ‘Persecutors!’ was being taken up quickly and the hundreds of eyes had suddenly become distinctly unfriendly.
Tiblut’s voice carried over the market-place. "They are murderers! Kill them!"
"Kill them!" a few Eidins shouted. A stone hit Daniel in the leg and he staggered, eliciting a cheer. "Kill him!" More people shouting. More stones, bigger. He fell over.
The sound of a shot, audible over the chants of the mob. Then Carter’s voice, alarmingly still far away, "Shoot to kill, Sir?"
O’Neill sounded desperate, "We don’t have enough bullets. We’ll just have to run out and get him." Daniel’s radio crackled to life. "Daniel, stay put and keep your head down. We’ll be there in a sec."
Daniel didn’t need to be told to stay down. He’d already curled up tight and wrapped his arms around his head to protect himself from the incoming projectiles. His nerves jangled as the mob cry of ‘Kill him! Kill him!’ continued. Tiblut’s voice carried over the market-place, "Our god shall be avenged!" Where was Jack?
As if in answer, O’Neill’s voice reached his ears. "Get her under cover!" He risked a backwards glance. Sam was being dragged through a doorway by Jack and Teal’c. So much for the rescue attempt. Daniel began to haul himself towards them.
"Bring him here!" yelled Tiblut.
A hand reached out for Daniel’s ankle. He kicked back at it. More hands. He didn’t know whether to reach for his sidearm or cling to the stage as he was dragged inexorably towards the edge. "Jack!" he yelled desperately as he went over.
And now he was scared. Really scared. Hands pushed, pulled and clawed at him, ripping off his glasses, his radio, his watch, his sidearm. They spat at him, kicked him. Oh god - how much further through this mob? Cries of ‘Gephus! Gephus!’ rang in his ears. Someone kicked his feet from under him. Jeers. A knife glinting. Unheard by anyone, Daniel cried out in alarm.
"Bring him here!"
The knife disappeared and he was hauled to his feet, pushed towards the palace steps. Daniel staggered a few steps closer - anything to get out of this crowd. His head whipped round as he got slapped. Then he choked as someone made a grab for his hat, before the string gave way and he was free again. A few more steps nearer to the edge of the crowd. Eidins were fighting to get his jacket off him. Daniel wriggled out of it. Two more steps. He’d be able to reason with Tiblut, wouldn’t he?
He staggered free of the mob at last. Tiblut looked down at him.
"The murderer is before us! We shall sacrifice him in Gephus’ name!"
Daniel stood unsteadily, straightening his tattered clothes, wiping away streaming blood from his face and trying hard not to think he’d have been better off trying to escape through the hostile mob.
"Carter!" Jack gently slapped the side of Sam’s face.
"Sir?" she replied, groggily. "What happened?"
"A stone with your name on, Major. Can you sit up?"
"Yes…" She did so. They were in an empty room. The market-place must be somewhere just below because she could hear shouts filtering in through the window where Teal’c was keeping watch. "Where’s Daniel?"
Teal’c answered gravely. "You may see for yourself, Major Carter."
She got up and looked carefully outside. "Oh no," she groaned.
Daniel was standing at the back of the palace steps, eyes closed and hands chained above him, flinching every once in a while as something thrown from the crowd connected. "He looks awful," she whispered.
Jack shrugged, belying his concern. "So would you if you’d just been dragged through a rabble. The key thing is he’s still alive. Now all we have to do is get him out of there before Tiblut’s crazy snake-loving pals do anything to change that."
"How do you mean?"
"They were shouting about sacrificing him to Gephus. And now that nothing’s happened for a bit, the crowd’s getting a bit restless. Tiblut’s talked to them a few times, but I don’t think all of the Eidins are totally behind this god-worshipping thing."
"Like we were talking about before, Sir? Some are just going to side with the power-seeking bullies?"
"Exactly so, Major. My plan is to snatch Daniel when they start the fight. Or when Tiblut tries to sacrifice him, whichever is sooner. Teal’c and I should be able to sneak into the palace, dash onto those steps and drag him back in with us, but what we need is a shot in a million to get Daniel free of the chains before we run out to do the grabbing."
Sam looked to the palace steps. "It’s well within the P90’s range, Sir," she said confidently.
Jack clapped her on the back. "’Atta girl!" he said.
It was the fight that came first. Jack didn’t need Carter on the radio telling him that it had started, he could hear the bellows and yells of pain and anger, could hear Tiblut cajoling and berating them to stop.
"On my mark, Carter. Three…two…one…MARK!"
A short burst of gunfire. Two clicks on the radio. "Way to go, Major," breathed Jack, running out with Teal’c onto the palace steps.
As he’d hoped, everyone was too busy joining in or running away from the fight to notice the rescue bid. Daniel was painfully getting up, having just crashed to his knees without warning as the chains gave way. Jack and Teal’c dragged him into the palace between them.
"I can walk you know."
"We need to run, Daniel." Jack hauled in the long length of chain still attached to Daniel’s wrists - why couldn’t Carter have shot just a little bit closer, for crying out loud - and handed it back to him. "Here, hold this. We’ll sort you out at the RV."
Jack and Teal’c looped their arms through Daniel’s and they ran through the palace corridors. As they went, they heard the sounds of the fight escalating around them.
"Tiblut wouldn’t listen," Daniel suddenly said.
"You didn’t really expect him to, did you?" Jack panted back.
"I hoped he might. He’ll be seen as a threat by the tribes."
Teal’c spoke up. "You mean the tribes will kill him, Daniel Jackson."
"Yes, I expect so." Daniel was quiet for as long as it took them to inconspicuously negotiate a brawl in the street outside. "You know, on Earth persecution of the followers of Jesus - such as being thrown to the lions - simply reinforced the belief in God. The image of martyrs, people devout enough to die for their faith, helped spread Christianity." Daniel looked in distress at Jack as they ducked into a hidden alley. "We’ve probably just started a religious war."
"We tried to prevent it, Daniel," Jack replied softly.
"I just don’t see what we could have done differently…"
"We followed procedure and it didn’t work. These things happen." Jack got out his penknife and sat Daniel gently down. "Here, lets get you free of these chains."
Sam arrived as he was finishing. "We’ll have to move out soon, Sir," she reported. "Some of the palace attendants are only a couple of minutes behind me." She took a quick assessing look at Daniel and smiled with relief. "Hey! Daniel! Howyadoin?"
"I’ll be fine, thanks, Sam. But I’d - uh - I’d like to go home."
"Now what?" asked Sam.
O’Neill mussed his hair while he thought. They had finally arrived at their objective and Jack could see what Gephus had meant when questioning them. The Stargate was heavily guarded and, worse, now had what looked suspiciously like an iris fitted to it. He sighed, "So, anyone got a plan B? No? Funny, that always-"
"Actually, Jack, I have a plan B." Everyone stared in astonishment at Daniel. This was something new. "That script you wouldn’t let me finish reading when we arrived directed everyone to the Chaapa’ai, right?"
"Yup."
"And it was written in the time of the first Goa’uld. Correct?"
"Daniel. I’m not in the mood for this. What’s the plan?"
"It’s just that this Stargate is the one that Gephus brought with him. I think there’s another buried under that pile of rocks you discovered before."
O’Neill looked amazed then ruffled Daniel’s hair. "I knew there was a reason we had an archaeologist on our team. Teal’c, take point. Let’s go excavate!"
SG-1 sat in the comfortable chairs of the briefing room and looked sourly at General Hammond who, in turn, looked sombrely back. "Not one of your more successful missions, SG-1. A peaceful civilisation destroyed, no chance of future trade and a society left fighting over the memory of a false god."
"General Hammond. We have learned to exercise caution when granting the Jaffa freedom."
"Thank you, Teal’c. Still -"
"One less snakehead, Sir."
"Yes, thank you, Jack. As I was saying -"
"With respect, Sir, now we know the Goa’uld sometimes use IR warning sensors."
"True, Major. However," the General stopped and looked at Daniel. "Dr Jackson? Aren’t you going to interrupt?"
"Uh, no, I wasn’t planning to. As I pretty much said in my report, I think we should have left things as they were, but unfortunately Gephus forced our hand."
"And for the record, Sir, I said in my report that I didn’t give a damn about keeping that Gould alive."
Hammond looked from Daniel to Jack. "I said in my covering letter to the Pentagon that I have instigated a review of SGC procedures. Major Davis is currently considering how to ensure a peaceful outcome given a set of similar circumstances to those you encountered on Eidin."
Jack muttered something under his breath. The General shot a glance at him. "What was that, Jack?
"Sorry, Sir. Just wishing him luck. Will he need SG-1’s help?"
Giving O’Neill a suspicious look, Hammond shook his head. "No. SG-1 is officially on leave as of now." He looked fondly at the disconsolate team. "What’s done is done, people. I’m going to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Let’s chalk this one up to experience, shall we, and go have ourselves a good vacation?"
And with that, the meeting was closed. Teal’c raised an eyebrow, Sam frowned in distraction, Daniel opened his mouth soundlessly. But Jack got to his feet, mind already floating off to thoughts of fishing. "Ya sure ya betcha, General."
Author's notes: Skip - thank you for the beta. The rest of you - all mistakes are mine!
© June 25, 2002 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.