<First time in months we’ve gotten leave, and how do I spend it? Driving around the middle of nowhere. Babysitting.> Dr. Daniel Jackson knew even as he thought it that that was unfair; he had volunteered to do a favor for a friend and drive her two teenagers around the country while she was off doing Important Things in…somewhere out of the country. Come to think of it, she hadn’t said where she was going. And it wasn’t exactly babysitting; at 17 and 20, the two kids were quite able to look after themselves for two weeks, they’d just…rather not. <Kids these days…> he began. <Great, I can’t be that old; but back in my day, I know I wouldn’t have needed someone to drive me through…what is it, Montana?>
His mind was jerked back to the current situation as the car’s engine began making odd noises—briefly; a few seconds later, it stopped entirely.
And of course, his cell phone’s battery had died and he hadn’t been able to recharge it yet. This could get difficult…
"The car stopped."
"Brilliant observation, Mike," Shana told her younger brother. "Something no one else would have noticed had you not pointed it out." This would have been the perfect vacation if their destination had been less than five hours from the airport and if she hadn’t had to bring her kid brother along. Just her and a nice view and a few books on theoretical physics…not that she understood more than one word in three of the things, yet. She was working on that part.
"Either of you know anything about fixing cars?" Daniel asked.
"Don’t look at me, I’ve never even been behind the wheel."
"Shana? You’re twenty, aren’t you? You’ve never driven?"
"We’re from Boston. Can’t get out of the driveway without three years or so of driving experience. Not the most encouraging learning environment."
"You’ve got your learner’s permit though, right?"
"It expired last year."
"Mike? Any help?"
"Nope." He didn’t even look up from the comic book he was reading.
Reluctantly, Daniel opened the door and got out to look at the engine. Shana could hear him muttering as he did: "Cars so aren’t my strong suit…not even my preferred mode of transportation, these days…if your own two feet and a wormhole aren’t enough, just give me a good Abydonian yak and I’ll have you across the desert before you can say ‘Kree’…" <Abydonian yak? What’s this guy talking about? Where’d Mom find him, anyway?> Sure that there would be quite a wait before the car got moving again, she dug through her backpack for a book.
"Well, nothing’s smoking, but other than that, I have no idea," Daniel called back. "Either of you have a cell phone?"
"No. Don’t you?"
"Battery died this morning and I couldn’t get it charged before I had to come get you two."
"And of course, we’re in the middle of nowhere so no one’s going to drive by, let alone stop and help."
"We’ve got a few hours to dark…if no one shows up, I can teach you two how to set up a camp with minimal supplies."
<How does he even know how to do that? I thought Mom said he had some geeky desk job.>
"Someone’s coming," Mike reported. Daniel looked up; someone was indeed driving down the road towards them. The other car pulled up behind them.
"Need a hand?" said a familiar voice. Daniel, hidden behind the raised hood of the car, couldn’t see who it was, but…
"Jack?"
"Daniel? What are you doing broken down in Montana?"
"Why aren’t you in Minnesota?"
"Hammond sent a team to drag me away from the pond. Seems he didn’t even bother trying my cell phone, since I’d left it back home…bit of a Situation came up.
"And he sent you to Montana without calling me? He knew I was already here."
"He said something about not being able to get a hold of you…"
"Right…dead battery. Forgot about that. Anyway, I don’t suppose you have time to get this junkheap moving again?"
"Forget it, I’ll send someone out to get it. We’ve got room for three more."
"Jack? You sure you want civilian kids in the middle of your Situation?"
"With your luck, they’d end up in the middle of it anyway. Besides, I need your help."
"Fine…we can worry about the security risk later, I assume?"
"Yeah. T, give the kids a hand getting their bags in our car, I don’t think we’ll be back here anytime soon." Shana was startled by the sight of the other man getting out of the car…he was MASSIVE. And wearing a rather out-of-place straw hat.
The three of them squeezed into the back seat of Jack’s car—a rental, Daniel guessed, and, as always, too small for the five people it was supposed to be able to hold. Daniel found himself shoved in the middle between Shana and Mike, who still hadn’t put down the comic book.
"So what’s going on, Jack?"
"Snake in Montana. Crash landed about seven years ago, don’t know why we just found out about it now. Carter’s out of reach, something about her phone not getting reception in Russia and they don’t know exactly where she is."
"Snake? You know a name, or not?"
"How much do we want the kids knowing?"
<Okay, this is sounding a little odd…> Shana thought. <Do I want to be here?>
"Do we have a choice? We’ll need to deal with this one way or another, and they seem to be along for the ride."
"Name’s Bastet—another Egyptian deity, I’m sure you know more than I do, don’t get into it now. Seems she found another one of those Ancient head-grabby-things and got one of her slaves to use it, then brought him here to hide while she figured out how to use the knowledge. We think she crashed, but it might’ve been a controlled landing. No idea what technology she’s managed to build, or why she hasn’t tried taking over the world yet."
"Backup?"
"SG-5 is due back in a few hours; they should be along at some point. The other teams are offworld. Hammond’s trying to get more, but…it’s tough. Security, you know; can’t just send anyone…we’re on our own, for now."
<Okay, definitely not liking the sound of this, though I have no idea what any of it means…> Shana decided it would be for the best if she ignored the conversation and stuck to her book.
"How long until we’re there?" Daniel asked.
"Oh, it’ll be a while. Settle back, enjoy the ride."
Daniel turned to look out the window; Mike shifted his book, keeping the contents out of Daniel’s line of sight. If he wasn’t mistaken, there was another book tucked behind the comic book…rather a reversal of the old ploy; usually it was the other way around, tuck a comic book inside something you’re supposed to be reading.
"What’cha reading there?"
"Nothing," Mike said. It wasn’t hard for Daniel to see, though, in the cramped car.
"The Book of the Dead? You’re reading Budge?" Daniel somehow managed to pile a world of disdain on the last word.
"Hey, I think this stuff’s interesting, don’t insult it ‘till you’ve read it." Jack laughed from the front seat. Shana wondered why, briefly.
"Oh, I’ve read it—and I agree, it’s fascinating, but Budge is an idiot. You see, he…" Jack rolled his eyes as Daniel launched into a lecture on Budge’s shortcomings and, specifically, the flaws in this particular book.
"So Shana, what’re you reading?" Jack asked, ignoring his friend.
"Wormhole physics."
Shana wasn’t sure, but she thought he might have muttered, "You’ve gotta be kidding me."
"I know, not the stuff you’d expect someone my age to be reading, but it’s interesting once I can figure out what she’s talking about…she makes it all sound like proven fact, too."
"She? Who?" Jack asked. It couldn’t be…
"Dr. Samantha Carter," Shana replied.
"When’d she have time to write a book?" Jack asked. Somehow, Shana doubted he was talking to her.
"What? Sam?" Daniel asked, stopping his lecture momentarily. "During that whole…experiment…you know, with Freya and Anise." They might be temporarily suspending confidentiality, but some things the kids didn’t need to know.
"Ah."
"You know her?" Shana asked.
"We work with her," Daniel replied.
"So, you’re—what, an Egyptologist?" Mike asked. "Working with an astrophysicist. And your other friends are—military?"
"Jack is. T isn’t. And yes, I have Ph.D.’s in Egyptology and Linguistics."
"So Daniel, who’re the kids?" Jack asked before he could start tearing Budge to pieces again.
"Oh—Shana and Mike Mallory. Their mom had to go on a trip for work, but she didn’t want them to miss their vacation in Montana so she asked me to take them."
"And you know their mother how?"
"We met at—at a…convention. Last time we had leave."
"And that was when?"
"Last year. It was—um, well, it was when you were trapped offworld for three months and Sam was so busy trying to—yeah, then."
"What sort of convention?"
"What is this, interrogate the archeologist? Please, I get enough of that from the Goa’uld!"
"No, then it’s usually ‘injure the archeologist’. What sort of convention?"
"You’re right, they never do seem to want to ask me questions—you’re the one with all the answers, of course."
"You’re stalling. What sort of convention?"
"What?"
"Oh fer cryin’ out loud, don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten what we were talking about, Danny-boy! You met their mother at a convention. What convention?"
"Oh—um, a—a…" Jack wasn’t watching, seeing as he needed to keep his eyes on the road, but he knew Daniel was shrinking down against the seat. "Star Trek convention."
"You watch Star Trek?!" Jack exclaimed.
"Yes, Jack, I do, please don’t mention it again."
"Kirk, or one of those new ones?"
"I said don’t mention it. Kirk was an idiot, though. Scottie was the only character worth salvaging from that wreck."
"Excuse me? I happen to have been a big fan of Kirk in my younger days!"
"Well, I wasn’t, so as usual we’ll just have to disagree on that. Picard had much more style."
"I believe Captain Sisco possesses superior…style," Teal’c added unexpectedly.
"Sisco? Not bad. Deep Space Nine at least had a decent ending, as opposed to that train wreck of a finale in Voyager."
"Can I put in a vote for Janeway?" Shana asked.
<Almost forgot she was here for a moment,> Jack thought. He’d gotten caught up in arguing with Daniel, as usual.
"Of course, seeing as there’s not much riding on the outcome and we’ll probably never reach an agreement anyway," Daniel said.
"Archer is so cooler," Mike added.
"Well. Five-way tie, then. Can’t even agree on a loser," Jack summarized. "So, you in college, Shana?"
"Um, no…actually, I graduated. I’m working on my master’s now."
"What field?" Daniel asked. Jack gladly left the conversation to his rather chatty archeologist and saved his attention for driving.
"Astrophysics. I’ve been hoping to go into all this theory stuff I’ve been reading—you know, the stuff no one’ll be able to prove for a few hundred more years." Jack laughed, softly enough that no one else would hear. Daniel looked at him, though. He could tell that without even looking in the rearview mirror.
"How about you, Mike?" Daniel asked. "High school? College?"
"I just graduated from high school—I’ll be starting college in the fall."
"Picked a major yet?"
"Um…no. I mean, I’d love to study history or Egyptology or something, but…"
"But what?" Daniel prompted.
"Well, I…people would think I was some sort of…geek, or something."
"There’s nothing wrong with that—the geeks get to save the world about three times more often than the soldier-types."
"Got facts to back that up, Danny?" Jack asked.
"Yes, actually, I do, but we don’t need to get into that here."
"Just talk to Danny here, Mike," Jack suggested. "Earth’s most famous geek. Just ask anyone, they’ve even heard of him in the next galaxy."
"Jack?" Daniel asked.
"Daniel?" Jack replied.
"Should we really be telling them that?"
"They won’t tell anyone. Who’d believe them, anyway? Like it or not, they’re in this with us for the time being…and I’ve got a feeling that once Hammond hears about them, they’ll be ending up with us in the long term, too."
<Okay, this is definitely getting weird,> Shana thought, wondering if perhaps it would have been better after all to have stayed in Boston.
"So…Bastet. Any more intel?" Daniel asked.
<Intel. Military terminology? So much for mom’s "geeky desk job"…he obviously knows what he’s talking about, here.>
"Based on observations at the time, she probably landed in a small cargo ship; she was coming in fast, but not so fast that she wouldn’t have survived. We got the news from the Tok’ra, who had a spy in Bastet’s upper ranks who apparently had been presumed dead but just turned up to report after a fifteen-year absence. Those folks are almost as punctual as you. Anyway, it seems the spy heard that Bastet had found a receptacle of the knowledge of the ancients and discovered that it wouldn’t work on a Goa’uld, so she brought a single human slave with her to carry the knowledge for her. Her ship was observed leaving on a course headed towards Earth; the scientists dug through the records a bit and matched it up with an object that apparently landed in Montana around that time. Which is where we come in. No idea if she’s alive, if she’s still in Montana, if she has Ancient weapons, anything."
"And we’re supposed to…what?" Daniel asked.
"Check out the crash site, work from there. Play it by ear. The usual, just a bit closer to home…and no natives to deal with."
"There may however be Tau’ri in the area," Teal’c warned. "We must proceed with caution."
"Thank you, Teal’c. So…feel free to chat, take a nap, whatever; it’ll be a while before we’re there."
"Take a nap? Jack, have you seen how much space I have back here?"
"Okay, so no nap…tell the kid about Egypt. He might as well be learning from an expert, not from Budge."
"Jack?" The single word said clearly, ‘Have you lost your mind? You want me to start talking about Egypt without a serious reason?’
"Go on, I’m sure he’s dying to hear your opinion on all those rocks they’ve found over there."
"Artifacts, Jack," Daniel corrected, absently.
"Almost too bad Carter isn’t here…"
"She wouldn’t fit, Jack!"
"C’mon, you’re young! You could fit another person back there, easily!"
"I’m not that young. And I’m sure Sam would be the first to explain that the sum of the volume contained can’t exceed the volume of the container."
"Yeah, she’d also be the first to say people can’t walk through walls, and look where that got us with the Tollan."
"That was different. They had advanced technology. We don’t."
"There is indeed insufficient space, O’Neill," Teal’c added. "This vehicle is most miniscule."
Several long hours later, Jack pulled the car over to the side of a dirt path in the mountains of Montana. "Could the suspension on this thing be any worse?" he grumbled as he stepped out of the car. "It’s about three miles that way. Simple recon first—Daniel, you stay here with the kids. Teal’c, with me." The straw hat stayed in the car, replaced by a black knit cap.
As soon as they were out of sight, Daniel slid gratefully up to the front seat.
"Now what?" Mike asked.
"Now we wait for them to get back, and hope nothing’s following them because I left my gun back at the base."
"How long’s that likely to take?" Shana asked.
"Oh, probably a few hours."
"So what’s going on here?"
"I can’t answer that."
"What can you tell us?"
"Not much. Probably less than you’ve already heard. Just—if you see someone with glow-in-the-dark eyes, keep your head down."
Shana muttered something; Daniel wasn’t sure, but he thought it might have been, "Geek with a desk job, huh?"
"So what’s your mom up to?"
"Something in Russia. She’s a diplomat—does all sorts of international negotiation stuff. Probably working on a new treaty or something."
<New treaty? I know for a fact the only thing we’ve got on the table with the Russians right now is the second Stargate…> Daniel thought. "She didn’t tell you?"
"She said she couldn’t, this time. Some sort of big secret."
<Yep, it’s the Stargate.>
"So why can’t you tell us what we’ve gotten stuck in the middle of?" Mike asked.
"Um…classified."
"You’ll pardon us for asking, though—the facts don’t make much sense. You, archeologist and linguist, are working with a theoretical astrophysicist and the military on something involving snakes, crash landings and weapons. What does the military need with a linguist? How many languages do you speak, anyway?"
"Umm…twenty-six last I counted?"
"And something about people walking through walls and something that’ll work on humans but not on…Egyptian gods."
"They’re not gods."
"Excuse me?" Shana was rather startled that he’d answered at all.
"They’re not gods. They’re parasites. They’re pure evil. There’s nothing divine or all-powerful about them, they just use superior technology which isn’t even theirs to scare their followers into submission."
"…Remind me never to get on your bad side," Shana said, slightly scared by the tone of his voice.
"Sorry, I…I’ve just had…a few run-ins with them in the past."
"Yeah, and the Moon’s a bit further from here than Canada," Mike muttered.
"What? It’s not even a light-minute away!" Daniel said.
"It’s still a bit of a leap from Canada."
"Yeah…yeah, I guess." <Pitiful…we can cross the galaxy in seconds now, but we can still barely reach the moon with years of preparation and a few weeks of travel.>
Daniel dug around in his bag, finally finding his notes on the inscriptions they’d found on the latest planet. Conversation didn’t seem to be going too far, so he might as well get some work done…both of the kids seemed to have gone back to their books, anyway. Wormhole physics and Budge. Who’d have guessed?
He was muttering again. Shana looked up from her book and glared at the back of Daniel’s head. He didn’t stop. She couldn’t concentrate on her book enough to figure any of it out with him muttering… "the day is aware. No, that can’t be it, be aware of the day? No, await the day. And—no, the day of…returning? The day of the return, of…there’s a pronoun in there somewhere."
"Could you think a little quieter?" Shana asked, seeing that glares had no effect.
"Sorry, I’m just trying to get this translated. It’s a rather obscure dialect, and I need to have it figured out by next week."
"What’s the rush?"
"It…it could be important."
"Let me guess, Anubis will attack Earth if you don’t get it figured out?" Shana asked. <We’re hunting an Egyptian goddess who crash-landed. Where did this vacation go wrong?>
"Anubis! Yes! I was wondering where I’d seen that symbol before!" And the muttering was back. "The first line makes so much more sense now…Anubis is mighty indeed, his hand reaches into the depths of time; await the day of his return…would have been nice if they’d given me a bit more context, not just the inscription…"
"So Anubis is coming back some day. Could you stop muttering and let me read?"
"No, no, Anubis is dead. He can’t come back. And if he did, he’d have a hard time returning to power."
"Returning to power? You talk like he actually existed."
"He did."
"He—what? Next you’ll be telling me you’ve met Ra!" <Where did Mom find him? A nuthouse? Oh, right—Star Trek convention. Same thing.>
"I did. I killed him."
"You killed Ra? An Egyptologist met an actual Egyptian deity and killed him?"
"Like I said, they’re not gods. I helped kill Hathor, too. And Seth. And Apophis, but he came back."
"So…is this just Egyptian gods, or what?" Mike asked.
"They’re not all Egyptian. The Norse gods are different, though, they’re nice. They’ve helped us a few times. Anyway…all of this is classified, I really shouldn’t be telling you this."
"Then why are you?" Mike asked.
"Well, as you’ve probably picked up, you’re stuck in the middle of something you’re not supposed to know exists at the moment. I have no idea what could happen, and I think it’s only fair to fill you in a bit."
"Yeah, about that…what exactly are we stuck in the middle of?" Shana asked.
"A…potential…alien invasion," Daniel replied, slowly. "One of our allies just told us that an alien had landed here with knowledge of how to build weapons that could be…dangerous."
"Dangerous? Isn’t that the definition of a weapon? Something that can cause harm?" Mike wanted to know.
"Well, yes, but there are degrees of harm…this could potentially end life as we know it."
"Our allies. That would be us, America?" Shana asked.
"Um…no, us, Earth. Although so far their treaties are only with America. That’s…changing."
"Other countries are getting involved?"
"Other…country. Unintentionally, at least on our part, but now that they’re in the loop, they won’t let us block them out again."
"What country?"
"Russia. I think your mother may be working on the negotiations, actually."
"So Mom knows that the Russians know that the Americans are hanging out with UFO’s?" Mike asked.
"Well…aliens, not UFO’s specifically, we’ve actually gotten to be fairly good at identifying their spaceships."
"What’s an Abydonian yak?" Shana asked, catching Daniel completely by surprise.
"What?"
"You were muttering when you got out to look at the engine earlier. Something about deserts and Abydonian yaks."
"They’re…animals. From Abydos. I lived there for a while. Actually, the first extraterrestrial I ever met was an Abydonian yak…" <Not exactly an experience I’d care to repeat, though; you’ve been dragged across one desert, you’ve been dragged across them all, there’s no difference. Of course, being dragged through a forest isn’t much better—worse actually, because there’re branches everywhere.>
"So you’ve been to other planets, then?" Shana asked. <Definitely a mental case. Should I be worried about being stuck in the middle of Montana with him?>
"Um, I know this is probably a lot to ask you to believe, but…yeah, yeah I have." He turned to look at her as he said that, and for the first time Shana noticed a healing cut on the left side of his face.
"How’d you get that?"
"What? Oh, that…an Unas attacked a dig a few days ago. Dragged me halfway through a forest before I convinced him that I was a friend, not dinner."
"Convinced him? Another alien?"
"Yeah."
"Daniel!" He heard his name shouted from the woods. "Get the car in gear!" Daniel swung around into the driver’s seat. He wasn’t used to having cars available in combat situations…this could get interesting. Jack slid into the seat beside him as the engine roared to life; Daniel barely heard the back door slam behind Teal’c as Jack told him to get them out of there.
"What happened?"
"She’s there, she saw us, she has some sort of Ancient device rigged…several of them, from what I saw. She sent her slave after us."
"He’s still alive?"
"She had a sarcophagus, too. I imagine she’s just been keeping him alive until she had the information she needed, which she apparently does, now; I think she was getting ready to kill him when we showed up."
"He’s human, though, right?"
"At this stage? The Ancient device will have taken over his mind within weeks; he probably has to use the sarcophagus at least daily to survive."
"Ah."
"Is that bad?" Shana asked. <If I’m going to be taken on a high-speed car chase with a bunch of loonies…>
"It could be. On the other hand, it might not—he won’t be able to follow us for more than a day or so," Daniel explained.
"After this long of pretty much unlimited access to the sarcophagus? You of all people know how those things are…"
"Right. So he’s probably been using it more often than he needs to, and as a result has temporary superhuman strength."
"If we can find some place where we can see him coming, we can zat him," Jack said.
<Zat? What kind of word is that?> Shana wondered.
"Got a spare weapon I could borrow?"
"Yeah." Jack reached into the glove compartment. Glancing over, Daniel saw three zats and a handgun inside. Jack handed him a zat.
"What’s that?" Mike asked.
"A zat’nicotel," Teal’c replied.
"A which?" Shana asked.
"We just call ‘em zats," Jack replied.
"They’re basically ray guns," Daniel added.
<Nuts. All three of them. I wonder if I could somehow get to a phone and call the psych ward they escaped from?>
"Stop here," Jack said, as Daniel pulled into a clearing. "Kids, keep your heads down in here. Daniel, T, with me." They took up positions in a circle facing out in the middle of the clearing; there was indeed a good view all around.
"I told the kids a bit about the Goa’uld, but I don’t think they believe me," Daniel said as they waited, zats at the ready.
"No kidding."
"Someone approaches," Teal’c warned. Now that T had mentioned it, Daniel could hear branches rustling in the distance…
"That’s him," Jack confirmed as a human came into view. Daniel wasn’t entirely sure which of them shot him first, but with three shots in quick succession, he was instantly vaporized.
"Let’s get somewhere secure, call Hammond and ask for backup to deal with…her." Jack drove this time; Daniel found himself scrunched into the back seat again.
"I don’t fit back here, Jack," he complained, as they started off across bumpy mountain roads that the rental car was never built to handle.
"Deal with it. You’re the smallest of the three of us. Oh, and call Hammond." Jack tossed his cell phone into the back seat.
Shana was beginning to rethink her skepticism, after having seen the effect of the "ray guns". <So…they were right about that part; they can’t be completely nuts. Still…aliens as Egyptian gods attacking Earth?>
"He says we’re on our own; SG-5 came back with some sort of plague, and the SGC’s in lockdown," Daniel reported, closing the cell phone.
"Okay. So we set up a base, think this through; we’ve taken out snakes without backup before," Jack said.
"Yeah, when?" Daniel asked.
"Ra. We weren’t even in contact with Earth."
"But we had a much larger team and the people of Abydos behind us."
"Hathor, then."
"The first time, Sam led the women of the base against her; we didn’t have much of a part in it. The second time, we had several other SG teams and a Tok’ra operative."
"Seth."
"We had backup, they just didn’t all know what they were involved in."
"Umm. Apophis?"
"Which time?"
"Pick one. The ships in orbit, the backup plan had already failed…the time he died in our infirmary…well, that doesn’t count, he surrendered for shelter from Sokar…"
"Okay, so we’ve defeated one snake without backup."
"Ah, but twice, Danny-boy. And the first time, it was two snakes, Apophis and Klorel."
"Still, what do we have? Five of us, three zats and a few guns against a Goa’uld with Ancient technology. Weapons, ships…for all we know she’s built herself a new Stargate!" Daniel replied.
"Um…what’s a Stargate?" Mike asked.
"It’s, um, an ancient artifact, it, well, we found it in Egypt, it’s…basically a big ring with a bunch of symbols on it that…opens wormholes to other planets."
"Big ring with…Giza, 1929, right?"
"Ye-how did you know that?" Daniel asked.
"I was reading this book on ‘vanished artifacts’…you know, stuff that was discovered and then mysteriously disappeared…"
"Yeah, the American government sure does know how to make things disappear."
"You speaking from experience there?" Shana asked.
"Well…more or less, yeah, but I’ve had more practice reappearing after I’d disappeared on my own. Do you have any idea how much paperwork it takes to come back from the dead?"
"Um…come…back from the dead? You do that often?" Mike wondered.
"More often than I’d like, trust me. Although a few of those times I wasn’t actually dead, just everyone though I was."
"Wait a minute—wormholes to other planets?" Shana asked, going back to Daniel’s earlier comment.
"Umm…yeah. That’s what we do, we…travel to other planets. And deal with anyone who comes here," Jack explained.
"Cool," Mike said.
"So, what are the other planets like?" Shana wanted to know.
"Mostly, a lot like Earth. We really don’t have time for Twenty Questions now, though, there’s a Goa’uld on the loose."
"How ‘bout we get rooms at a motel, spend some time planning and wait for tomorrow to move against her?" Jack suggested.
"You’re the Colonel," Daniel replied.
"And if Sam were here, that would mean something, but I also happen to be surrounded by civilians."
"Your plan is however most wise," Teal’c said.
"Motel it is, then."
They ended up with two rooms, one for the kids, one for the three-quarters of SG-1 present. "I don’t suppose you two have a way of contacting your mom? ‘Cause that’s probably our best hope of getting Carter involved…"
"Sorry, she didn’t leave a number," Shana said, hauling her suitcase into the room. "You want us listening in on your plans, or should we stay in our room?"
"Why don’t you just stay there; we’ll try to keep you as far out of the way as possible. Keep the door locked, though, and if you hear gunfire, zats or a voice that sounds computer-generated, duck under the beds or something." Shana didn’t bother with questions, knowing that they likely wouldn’t be answered…at least, she didn’t bother out loud.
<Computer-generated voice? Yeah, like I’d know what that sounds like?> The door closed behind the not-quite-lunatics, though, leaving her alone with her brother.
"Might as well get settled in, Mike—sounds like this could take a while."
"So where’s she holed up?" Daniel asked, once they were safely in their room.
"Little valley, probably created by her landing. It was definitely a crash, the front end of the ship’s buried in the ground, the back’s all banged up and it didn’t look like she’s even tried to fix it. Shelter built out of salvaged pieces, sort of pavilion-type thing; she had a bunch of gadgets spread out under it. Sarcophagus, too. She’s been here long enough to have built a better shelter, I don’t know why she hasn’t. Probably goes along with why she hasn’t tried conquering us yet."
"Probably too busy building technology based on the information from her slave," Daniel hypothesized. "Now that she’s done with him, the way I see it there are three scenarios; she repairs the ship, she goes after our Stargate (or tries to conquer Earth then goes after our Stargate), or she’s got other technology she can use to get out of here."
"Such as another Stargate," Jack supplied unnecessarily.
"So…as far as she’s concerned, our appearance has thrown a monkey wrench into the works, meaning that she’ll either wait and gather more information on the new developments, or step up her plans so we don’t have a chance to mess them up," Daniel observed.
"Or she does something else entirely to buy herself more time," Jack added.
"So, yeah. We’ve got three possible plans, and three possible implementation schedules. I don’t think we need Carter to calculate the possibilities there."
"So Teal’c, what do you know about this Bastet? What’s she most likely to do?"
"Bastet has for many millennia attempted to reach the rank of System Lord with little success; she has at times been powerful among the Goa’uld, but I have heard little of her within my lifetime."
"So—ambitious snake fallen on hard times?" Jack asked.
"Indeed."
Daniel laughed humorlessly. "Not as hard as Ra, Sokar, Seth, Hathor…Amaunet…"
"We can change that. Daniel, what’s the mythology give us?"
"Bastet, or Bast, was the daughter of Ra; she’s often connected with the Greek goddess Artemis, associated with the moon, though Bast was originally a sun-goddess. She’s also the protector of cats, and was among the most widely worshipped deities of ancient Egypt."
"So…popular, but not a System Lord even then?"
"Indeed," Teal’c confirmed. "Bastet was near System Lord when the Tau’ri gate was sealed; she lost much of her power at that time, as did Ra. He recovered; she did not."
"So she’s probably holding a grudge because her father’s so much more powerful than she is…and she doesn’t know he’s dead unless she’s got a way of keeping up with the outside world."
"Evidence is that she came here intentionally; she had to know she’d be out of touch, which would put her in a position of weakness when she returned. Either she’s got an outside contact, or she’s got enough Ancient technology to offset the disadvantage." Jack’s conclusion was, as always, concise.
"Bast tends toward caution; she would not risk what position she has without certainty of further gain, and she could not have been certain of attaining sufficient technology to advance her position," Teal’c said.
"Meaning that she’s probably been in touch with someone," Daniel concluded. "Any ideas who? One of her servants or Jaffa, or another Goa’uld?"
"Upon her disappearance seven years ago, the territories of Bastet were divided between Sobek and Kali the Destroyer. It was a bloodless takeover, to the surprise of all who knew both Sobek and Kali."
"So…you think they’re in this together, then?"
"Indeed it seems most likely."
"Oh. That—that would be bad…" Daniel said.
"Daniel? Something you’d like to add?"
"Kali is the Hindu goddess of destruction. She’s frequently worshipped at cremation grounds. That should give you the general idea, even if I’m not a specialist in Hindu deities."
"Kali is feared even among the Goa’uld," Teal’c said, inclining his head towards Daniel in agreement.
"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Jack asked of no one in particular.
"We need more information, and we need backup," Daniel said. "One Goa’uld stranded on Earth we could take on our own, but two with full support troops is a bit much."
"Call Hammond, tell him what we know. Maybe he’ll find someone to send us."
Shana woke up, vaguely remembering having fallen asleep still dressed on top of the covers. Expecting to be in an unknown hotel room, she gave herself a few minutes to become aware of her surroundings.
Which weren’t a hotel room. Or any sort of room, for that matter. And her wrists were tied behind her. This wasn’t good.
She heard sounds of motion from somewhere ahead of her, so she kept her eyes closed, hoping whoever it was would think she was still asleep.
No such luck, though; she was hauled to her feet and dropped into what may have been a chair. Her eyes flew open as she moved.
It was like something straight out of a scifi film; a scrap-metal pavilion covered ground spread with the contents of a mad scientist’s laboratory, wires running everywhere, various pieces of mismatched, futuristic equipment sparking and flashing around her. Off to one side, she could see what may have been the wreckage of a spaceship of some kind.
"You will tell me how to access the Tau’ri Chapa’ai from my homeworld."
<Okay, computer-generated voice, check. I am in way over my head here…and what’s a ‘tory choppa eye’?>
"’Fraid not…" she mumbled, still not fully awake.
"I have heard of the legendary Tau’ri insolence…you will however answer me, or watch your brother suffer."
<Mike—oh no, she’s got Mike—I’m sunk…> Her response was somewhat mumbled; it took her sleep-fogged brain a few minutes to realize she’d answered in Russian, as well. <Well, at least I know Mom’s language lessons sunk in…>
"You will speak to me in English. Repeat your last statement."
"Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you." Foolish, she knew, but what else could she say? She certainly didn’t know the answer to the question…or even what the question was.
"The codes for your iris, insolent wretch! What are they?"
"Je ne sais pas…"
"English, Tau’ri scum!"
"I don’t know." She wondered idly how many languages she knew that particular phrase in. Klingon, for sure…it was odd, growing up with a linguist/diplomat mother who was also a Trekkie.
The woman questioning her turned away, apparently tired of this tactic.
"You, then. What is the secret of your people’s success against the Goa’uld?" she asked Mike.
"You really want to know?" Mike asked.
"Yes, fool!"
<And glowing eyes, check. Freakish…I always thought ‘her eyes lit up’ was just an expression…>
"Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…" Her brother took a deep breath, then burst into song. "This is the song that has no end, yes it goes on and on my friend…"
<Mike, for Pete’s sake don’t antagonize her!> she thought frantically, hoping he picked up on it.
Amazingly the…goddess…listened through three and a half repetitions of the song. "This grows wearying." Mike didn’t stop. "You will cease, and answer my question." The kid still didn’t stop! "Silence, slave!"
"You asked for the secret of our success—he’s showing you our secret weapon," Shana explained, seized by a mischievous impulse guaranteed to get them into even more trouble than they were in now. <Although, seeing as we’re being held prisoner by an evil alien with who knows what technologically advanced gizmos, I don’t see how it could get much worse…> In a clichéd response to her thought, the slightly overcast skies opened up and it started pouring rain. <Oops.>
"You will speak when spoken to!" The eyes flashed again, and the woman turned back to Mike. "And YOU will CEASE!" He stopped this time, though he still met her unnatural eyes defiantly. The sudden silence was, despite the cliché, almost deafening. Or maybe that was just the rain on the roof echoing unnaturally in the semi-enclosed space…
"How did my father Ra come to be destroyed?" Bast asked Shana. She answered as best she could…
<Oops, German this time…>
"In English, Tau’ri scum!"
"I don’t know."
"It must have been a great victory for your people…surely it was widely celebrated; and it would do no harm to tell me of it, I already know he died at the hands of the Tau’ri…"
"Who’re the Tory?" Mike mumbled.
"Silence, wretch! You will answer my questions, not ask more of your own! ANSWER ME!"
"You can’t hold us prisoner, we don’t have clearance, we’re not supposed to know you exist." Shana was sure there was a flaw in that logic somewhere, but she was beginning to think it was more than sleep muffling her thoughts…perhaps the alien had drugged her?
The woman looked confused by her response. Was that good or bad? Her still-hazy thoughts couldn’t answer that question.
"Kree hasshak! I grow weary of your insolence!"
"Huh?" Mike said, blinking a few times.
"How are you able to resist Var’kin?"
"Jack, we’ve got a problem!" Daniel warned, running back into the room, soaking wet. Jack tossed him a towel. It had started raining after he’d left five minutes ago, but was already coming down in buckets.
"What?"
"The kids are gone. Door was wide open, suitcases still on the floor. Beds didn’t look slept in."
"Bastet?" Jack asked.
"Probably, yeah. If they’d left on their own, they’d have taken the suitcases and closed the door."
"Let’s go. We’ll call Hammond on the way, let him know that we need all available backup ASAP." He was running for the car even as he said it.
Shana watched as rain dripped off the edge of the canopy. The alien was ignoring her and Mike for now, packing technology onto some sort of small hovercraft. Roughly half the contents of the pavilion were loaded onto it; the other half didn’t look like they’d move easily. There was a metal ring about seven feet tall, fed by wires linked to the rest of the devices in a complicated circuit. Their captor did something to one of the other devices, and the ring began spinning, creaking loudly.
She appeared content to let the device work on its own, though; she returned to Shana, slipping something gold-and-red onto her hand.
"If chemicals were not enough to weaken your mind, perhaps this will be," she said, raising the hand above Shana’s forehead. "You will tell me the location of the Tok’ra base."
Jack took the car as close as he could to Bastet’s camp, pausing to make sure everyone was armed before leading the run through the forest. As he got close, he heard the familiar whoosh of a wormhole forming…and, once that sound had faded, the hum of a ribbon device in use.
Teal’c was first out of the surrounding bushes, shooting as soon as he had a clear line of sight. Bastet ducked out of the way, though, and ran towards a miniature Stargate. Shana lay crumpled on the ground, knocked out by Teal’c’s zat; Mike was sprawled on top of a hovercraft loaded with alien technology being pulled through the Stargate after Bastet. The three members of SG-1 tried to follow, only to have the wormhole shut down in front of them.
"Mike?" Shana asked, trying to sit up. Daniel helped to steady her.
"We’ll get him back."
"Any idea where she went?"
Shana shook her head. Daniel looked equally uncertain.
"Perhaps her stronghold Bubastis?" Teal’c suggested.
"You know the coordinates?"
"Indeed."
"SGC’s still in lockdown," Daniel reminded them. "We can’t get out that way."
"Russian gate?"
"Too many political problems, by the time we got to use the ‘gate the SGC’ll be clear anyway."
"What about her Stargate?" Shana asked.
"We’d need to figure out how to use it first since it’s not built like the normal ones," Jack said. "And that might be a problem without Carter."
"She used that device over there to turn it on."
Daniel studied the device in question.
"It looks like a basic on/off switch to me. I think the coordinates are built into the ‘gate itself, sort of a single-destination type thing."
"Power source?" Jack asked. Teal’c, after a moment’s study, indicated a small red sphere near the switch.
"It is inoperative," he added.
"But if we had a power source, we could theoretically…" Daniel began.
Shana shook her head. "It might not be that easy, however the coordinates were stored in that thing probably needed power to maintain. She would have made sure it was plugged in until she needed to get out of here, but now that the power’s drained, you’ll probably need to reset the coordinates."
"Peachy," Jack replied.
"And you’ll need a power source, on top of that."
"How much power?" Daniel asked.
"We managed to run the ‘gate on car engines in ’69," Jack said.
"And on other occasions, we’ve used lightning and cold fusion," Daniel added. "The former may be an option here, but I doubt we could manage cold fusion on our own."
"And we only have the one car, so not much help there."
"What else can power a Stargate?" Shana asked.
"Umm. A sufficient supply of electricity, like back at the SGC. Whatever the DHDs use. A black hole…though that wasn’t so much a matter of powering the ‘gate as of distorting time so that it thought it hadn’t been on longer than was possible. I imagine a small nuclear reactor would have enough power, too," Daniel replied.
"This would be so much easier if Carter were here," Jack grumbled.
"We could always try fixing the ship. Although I’d imagine there’s not much left of it."
"Perhaps the vessel’s power source is intact?" Teal’c suggested.
"Yeah, perhaps, but I for one wouldn’t know the power source from the kitchen stove," Daniel added helpfully.
"Since when does ignorance stop us?" Jack asked.
"Good question. Lead on, Dorothy," Daniel said, sweeping one arm towards the remains of the ship.
"Dorothy? Why me?"
"Well, Teal’c’s the brave one so obviously he’s the lion, Shana’s probably the brains in Carter’s absence making her the scarecrow, and I’m not Dorothy, which would make me the Tin Man, leaving you as Dorothy," Daniel explained.
"Why compare ourselves to The Wizard of Oz at all?" Shana asked.
"It’s a team thing. Keeps the snakes off balance," Jack answered.
"Except that, more often than not, you use it to confuse our allies and save the plain sarcasm for the snakes."
"Snakes?" Shana asked.
"The Goa’uld. Bastet’s race."
"And no, Teal’c, she doesn’t need to see one anytime soon," Jack told the Jaffa.
The four headed into the ship itself, Shana amazing herself with how calm she was. Aftereffects of whatever she’d been drugged with, probably. Her head was finally clearing, though; amazingly, being zapped by the ray gun had helped that.
"I hope you know what we’re looking for, T?" Jack asked.
"I do. This way."
"Assuming we manage to power her ‘gate, what then?" Daniel asked. "I mean, we can’t just go charging practically unarmed into a Goa’uld stronghold and demand that she turn over Mike and her new tech."
"But neither can we leave her to become the most powerful snakehead in the history of snakeheads, with the kid stuck in a dungeon somewhere."
"I wasn’t saying we should, but we need a plan and we can’t count on the SGC for backup."
"And how will we survey the conditions prior to our arrival?"
"Teal’c’s right, we don’t even have a MALP," Daniel agreed.
"And we don’t even know for sure that she’s gone to this…Bubastis," Shana added.
"Where’s a teltac when you need one?" Jack muttered.
"No GDO’s, either," Daniel stated.
"And that means?" Shana asked.
"We wouldn’t be able to get back," Daniel explained.
"We dial the alpha site. They’ve got MALP’s and weapons," Jack suggested.
"Great. Now we just need a power source and we need to program the ‘gate…if it can be programmed," Daniel summarized.
Teal’c stopped; Daniel at least knew enough to recognize the engine room, though many parts seemed to be missing.
"The hyperspace generator appears to be intact," the Jaffa reported. "However it cannot be removed from the ship."
"Can we wire it to the ‘gate from here?" Jack asked.
"We need Sam," Daniel complained.
"Or MacGyver," Shana added. The other three turned to look at her. "What? He can fix anything!"
"With wires of sufficient length it should be possible," Teal’c said, returning to the question.
"Great! Split up, see what you can find."
Three hours of searching, however, yielded nowhere near the length of wire they would need. They met back in the engine room for a conference.
"Okay…what’s plan B?"
"Don’t look at me," Daniel said.
"This thing’s a hyperspace generator?" Shana asked.
"Yeah," Daniel replied, not entirely sure where she was going.
"Would it be able to power a small hyperspace window and the ‘gate at the same time?"
"How small?" Teal’c asked.
"Just big enough to feed these wires through to the ‘gate."
"Indeed." Daniel wasn’t sure, but he’d swear Teal’c almost smiled.
"Get it set up, then. Daniel, Shana, head out, try programming the Stargate as soon as it’s wired."
"Okay, this is…odd," Daniel said. The wires were in place, and the memory bank was once more powered.
"Odd?" Jack inquired.
"Well, this is really Sam’s field, not mine, but…I don’t think it wants the six-symbol coordinates. I think…direction and distance, maybe?"
"Simple vector in relation to the starting point rather than absolute destination…" Shana said.
"Yeah, what she said," Daniel agreed.
"Okay, I’ll call Hammond, get the data."
It was remarkably simple, once they had the necessary information. Working together, Shana and Daniel managed to input the location of the alpha site, and the ‘gate opened.
"Let’s go," Jack ordered, stepping through. Teal’c followed. Shana hesitated in front of the strange shimmering surface.
"Just step through?" she asked, amazed that it could be so simple.
"Stepping through’s the easy part. It’s a bit of a rough ride if you’re not used to it…but don’t worry about it." He took her hand and stepped through with her.
On the other side, Jack was already ordering people around, sending for a MALP, GDO’s, weapons and supplies.
"That wasn’t so bad," Shana said, trying to catch her breath.
"I don’t suppose leaving you here is an option?" Jack asked her.
"Not while she’s got my brother."
"Can you handle any kind of weapon?"
"Umm…not really…"
"Zat, then, they’re simple enough." He handed her his. "Press here to arm it, here to fire. One shot disables, two kills, three disintegrates."
In the supply room they all changed into clothes more suitable for a covert operation, and the other three picked their weapons. Teal’c chose a staff almost as tall as he was, test-firing it at a treestump. It exploded in a ball of orange fire, and he nodded, satisfied with the result.
Once they were fully supplied, they met back at the ‘gate, to find the Base commander already sending a MALP through.
"This’ll be quick, in and out," Jack said. "If we’re not back in five hours, send a team after us."
The second trip through the Stargate was more or less the same as the first, except that she knew what to expect this time. <But how did my nice, simple vacation to Montana end up as a covert invasion of another planet?>
The ‘gate was unguarded, fortunately. Shana noticed two suns, both setting, and three moons, one of them nearly five times the apparent size of Earth’s.
<Nope, we’re not in Kansas anymore…> Okay, so she’d picked up the team’s random references, apparently.
"You know where we’re going, T?" Jack asked, quietly.
"I once raided this stronghold under Apophis," Teal’c replied. "There is a secret entrance to her fortress. This way."
Shana was extremely glad that the trek to the fortress was uneventful. <How exactly did I end up in the middle of this? Ah, right, Mom met a geek with a desk job at a Star Trek conference.>
The small door Teal’c led them to slid open easily; Jack ducked inside, quickly firing his zat three times before motioning for the others to follow.
"The dungeons are nearby," Teal’c reported.
"Lead on."
They encountered amazingly few guards along the way; two patrolling the halls, one guarding Mike’s cell. All three were quickly taken care of, and Jack had the cell door open shortly.
"Well, that was easy," he commented, helping Mike to his feet.
"They’re having some sort of party," Mike reported. "That’s why there’s no one down here. Bastet, Kali and Sobek are celebrating their alliance. Or something like that."
"The technology Bastet brought with her. Do you know where that is?" Daniel asked.
"It’s all in a storage room for now, I think. I was listening to the guards—it’s two levels up."
The room proved to be guarded by two Jaffa, but they were no match for SG-1. They entered the room, left Teal’c guarding the door, and began setting C4 on the devices.
"We can’t risk leaving it on a timer, but once this goes, she’ll have the ‘gate guarded," Jack pointed out.
"Sobek and Kali came by ship. They’re parked in a clearing not too far from here. Will that help?" Mike asked.
"Yes, it most likely will. Thank you."
Done with the charges, they hurried out of the room, following Teal’c back to the exit. Getting out wasn’t so easy as in, though, as they met a large group of Jaffa. The fight, while quick, was still noisier than they would have liked. Teal’c paused only to identify one of the dead as Sobek himself before they hurried on.
As they reached the ships, Jack set off the charges. The few Jaffa who had been left to guard the vessels were no problem, and the five boarded Sobek’s teltac. Daniel took the helm.
"You do realize we’ve just made Bastet and Kali into System Lords," Daniel said once they were clear of the system. "Even without the Ancient technology, they just took out Sobek, who was quite powerful. Or at least, they’ll get credit for taking out Sobek even though it was really us."
"Better to have them among the System Lords than to let them have enough weaponry to take over the Goa’uld entirely," Jack replied.
They left the ship at the alpha site, and returned to the SGC through the ‘gate. SG-5’s plague had finally been cured, and they were free to go home.
Mike and Shana were included in the debriefing before being shown to VIP quarters. Hammond signaled for Jack to stay behind for a moment.
"What are we going to do about them?"
"Well, sir, with your permission, I’d like to work with them a bit, give them some basic training, give them a place at the SGC eventually. They’re both extremely intelligent and dealt with the crisis well. I imagine Daniel and Sam could even train them as their eventual replacements…we could be looking at the beginnings of SG-1—The Next Generation."
© January 2005 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.