Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide. Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of MGM, Gekko, Double Secret Productions.
Although they had planned not to enter the village that Vin and Teal'c had discovered, there did not seem to be any choice when they had no idea where the fortress of Isis was situated in this land. With Goa'uld technology, the structure could be located anywhere on this planet and the SG1 team understood more than their friends from the past that time was against them. Jack gambled they were close by because Daniel was insistent in his belief that Isis had been trapped for some time on PX 250 until they had unwittingly released her. The civilisation that had deserted the planet was hundreds of years old and thus assumed that the Goddess of All had been confined for that long. Judging by what they knew of the Goa'uld, it was likely that much of her forces had either disbanded, taking with them the precious technology that made the Goa'uld seem so god like. It did seem sensible that Isis would return to the place that would have suffered least from that plunder.
As they approached the village, Chris Larabee found himself walking in stride with Jack O'Neill, questioning the prudence of this act. It was never wise to let the enemy know that you were around and walking into a village where they would stick out like sore thumbs would undoubtedly give away what meagre advantage they had. Still, Chris had agreed to let Jack take the reins since the colonel knew the lay of the land and the Goa'uld better than he ever would. Besides, Jack seemed to be the cautious type and Chris had to believe the man knew what he was doing.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Chris asked as he and Vin fell into stride with Jack and Daniel. The village appeared before them, a cluster of homes made of mud and brick, hardly the stuff to inspire confidence in anyone that there was information here that might be useful.
"You mean going into the village?" Jack remarked easily, harbouring no ill feeling regarding the gunslinger's question. "Yeah, its alright."
"Ain't we going to be giving ourselves away?" Vin probed, feeling the same concern as Chris regarding their continued approach towards the village. "They seemed might afraid of the guards we saw earlier. They might give us away."
"I don't think so," Daniel responded before Jack could. "Most cultures that are under Goa'uld domination tend to view strangers through the gate with the same reverence they view their Gods. Remember, to them it's a gateway to heaven or something. They're most likely to think we're the same."
"Jesus." Chris found himself reeling with disgust at the ignorance generated by such belief and worse yet, felt a singular hatred for the Goa'uld who had manipulated it. "How many of these cultures exist?"
"Lots of them," Jack answered, not wishing to go into too much detail which was what Daniel would do if given the opportunity to speak. "They're scattered across the galaxy, most of them don't even know they come from Earth because the Goa'uld have them convinced that their gods created them."
"You got to all these places?" Vin inquired, fascinated with the idea of exploring the stars in the manner these men must do on a regular basis. The idea of travelling to undiscovered place was always one that appealed to the tracker, who fancied himself as something of a free spirit.
"Most of them." Daniel answered eagerly, seeing the interest in Vin's manner. "We visit the people, talk to them and try to learn a little bit about their culture. We look out for things we can use against the Goa'uld and lots of times, we try setting people straight about their Gods."
"Does it always work?" The tracker returned his gaze.
"Sometimes and other times, we're the ones who end up looking like primitives." Daniel found himself chucking, thinking of those times when the SG1 team were handed their hats and shown the door.
"Like the Nox." Jack said with a faint smile. He had a deep affection for the race of people who were probably one of the most ancient races in the galaxy, commanding at their fingertips formidable technology that even surpassed that of the Goa'uld but were more dedicated to their spiritual belief in peace rather than conquest.
"And you guys are like cowboys." Daniel inquired.
Chris immediately stiffened and threw the young man a dark look that froze the linguist in his tracks. Through gritted teeth, he reminded himself that this was not meant as an offensive remark even though Chris had shot a man for saying less in the past. He had a deep aversion to being referred to as a 'cowboy'. He did not handle cows and it had been a very long time since he had been remotely anything one might call a boy.
Jack tried to hide the amusement he found at Chris and even Vin's annoyance and found that he ought to intervene to save Daniel's neck. During this entire mission, they had hardly time to discuss the fact that both groups were from different points in history, united by a very unusual set of circumstances and a common enemy. "He didn't mean anything by it," Jack said to Chris. "Back where we come from, we call all you guys in the West, cowboys."
"We ain't cowboys." Chris insisted on clarifying that. "I ain't no cattle hand."
"Sorry," Daniel apologised. "Too much television. Next thing I know, you're going to be telling me that one of you is a gambler, the other a sharpshooter and someone is a doctor."
Vin and Chris looked at each other and then back at Daniel. "What's your point?" Both men asked in unison.
Daniel looked at Jack on the verge of making an extremely confused statement, when the leader of SG1 merely shook his head in response. "Let it go." He replied, deciding that this conversation had just gone far enough.
The village surrounded them as they penetrated its outskirts. As observed earlier, it was little more than a collection of mud huts. There was something like a town square where a well stood in attendance over the population's needs. The gate travellers could see evidence of domesticated animals and the beginnings of arable farming. This place was even more backward than Chulak and Jack realised that these people had never known an existence without Goa'uld domination.
Faces began appearing out of windows and doorways of mud huts. At first, Jack expected fear and a lot of bowing and worshipping, because that was normally the way things went in Goa'uld controlled population. However, the deeper they went into the village, one very obvious difference became apparent as they were surrounded by the locals who stared at them all with the exception of one, as if the new arrivals were as mythical as their gods.
They were all women.
Whether old or young, healthy or crippled, the entire population of the village seemed to female only and they viewed the arrival of the travellers with some thing akin to fascination and unease. Some peered through doors and windows as if it were sacrilege to cast their eyes upon the men who appeared to look like nothing of the gender that was produced locally. Others pointed and muttered in the strange language that was spoken word on this world until finally, a woman in her late forties approached them.
A small crowd had gathered around them and made both Chris and Jack nervous by the attention. This was not normally the reception received when the SG team arrived among such primitives. Normally, it required some convincing to make the natives believe they were not a pantheon of gods coming for a visit. Some of the bolder inhabitants, particularly the young women in the village swarmed around them, staring as if they were the most astonishing thing ever seen.
"What's going on?" Chris asked as he found himself surrounded. The women were staring at him with that unfathomable expression, talking excitedly amongst them as they regarded him.
Daniel and Vin in particular seemed to be attracting the most attention. The women surrounding them were unsatisfied with mere observation, caution giving away to fascination as theirs hands ran over the two men's bodies until both were starting to feel more than a little uncomfortable by the uninvited probings.
"I don't think they've seen men in awhile." Sam answered, trying to keep herself from laughing at the expression on her male companion's faces. She remembered the humiliation when they had visited a world where women were traded in barter like property and felt somewhat vindicated that SG1 team in particular, had a taste of what it was like to be treated with such demeaning regard. "At least not ones like you boys." It was hard to keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she made her statement and noticed the scowl being flashed in her direction by the Colonel.
"Well Buck, you're in heaven." JD quipped while trying to fend off the affections of a particularly fetching beauty who was clad in very little and was taking delight in running her hands across his youthful face. "Please ma'am," he swallowed. "I'm just passing through."
"That's just great," Buck grumbled, being similarly assessed by the females gathered around him. "I finally get to a place where the women have never even seen a man and I'm can't do a damn thing about it."
"There is a god." Josiah laughed while politely tipping his hat to one of the natives, unable to answer any of attempts to communicate with him. The preacher did not see himself in any kind of danger physically or morally, thinking himself to be a missionary in a strange land and merely needed to thread lightly to no offend.
"Hey!" Jack exclaimed with outrage when he felt a set of hands going some place they had no business being. "Daniel, talk to them please?"
"Uh yeah," Daniel replied, unperturbed by the attention of the natives because he was too busy trying to comprehend their language by listening closely to what they were saying. Words were starting to familiarise themselves in his mind as he searched for the common denominator that might give him a clue to which language they might be speaking.
Suddenly, a woman in her forties appeared before Sam. She appeared to be a village elder of some kind because she seemed to silence the others who held her in some esteemed as she addressed the strangers. As she spoke, her gaze shifted to Vin in particular.
"I can't understand what she's saying." Sam looked questioningly at Daniel.
Daniel swallowed, understanding most of what the woman was attempting to convey to Sam and feeling a certain reluctance to bring it up because of the nature of the request. However, with Jack waiting impatiently for him to translate and the others appearing to be no less tolerant, except for Teal'c whose imposing manner, seemed to have saved him from the ladies' ministrations, prompted Daniel to reveal what had been said. "Its sort of embarrassing really." He said after a moment.
"More embarrassing then this?" Jack retorted sarcastically pushing probing hands away from him as he frowned at Daniel to get on with it.
"Sam, she wants to know what you want for your harem." Daniel finally revealed.
"My harem!" Sam exclaimed, looking at the woman and realising that was exactly what it must have appeared to these people, considering her entourage was a group of no less than nine men. "She thinks you guys are my harem?"
"Yeah," Daniel went red with embarrassment while Sam fought the urge to laugh. "She says she willing to pay you ten goats for each of us." He further added reluctantly, unable to meet her gaze as he passed on that pearl of information.
"We're worth ten goats a piece?" Buck said feeling some measure of insult. "Well I know I'm worth more than that."
"Daniel," Jack looked at the woman unimpressed and seemed to agree with Buck's assessment that his value was definitely more than ten goats. "Tell them that we are not Carter's... harem," the colonel could not even bring himself to say it. "We just want directions to the Goa'uld."
"Well I don't know Colonel," Sam could not resist saying. "I mean ten goats is pretty tempting... "
He silenced her for a look.
Daniel stepped forward and responded because the language here was not all that was not that different from what was spoken on Abydos. There were slight variations of course but these were slight and he was able to communicate their intentions quite clearly while at the same time making some general inquiries about the way this culture functioned and the lack of men in the community. She considered his questions odd by the expression in her eyes and was further confused that he could speak their tongue while the only woman in the group could not. Men were not meant to be learned, the woman called Ajia had been kind enough to explain Still, Daniel did not think that men were considered lowly because Ajia did not like looking at him directly.
"She says she'll offer twenty goats for Vin." Daniel replied after a moment, getting Ajia's more pressing request out of the way first since the woman was adamant that he make the offer to Sam. It was the only way he had been able to prise any further information about the Netjer, as Ajia called herself and her people about the Goa'uld control of her community.
"She wants twenty goats for me?" Vin said mortified, turning red where he stood.
"Yes, apparently you are very fair in face." Daniel added, feeling just as uncomfortable passing on such information to another man, without the benefits of headgear. Vin was likely to punch his lights out. "You look capable of producing many fine children." He remarked after a moment.
"I always thoughts so." Buck started laughing as Vin glared at the man with a stormy expression on his face before appearing as if he was harbouring a secret hope that the ground would swallow him up at this point. Despite the urgency to retrieve their friends, no one could deny the humour in the situation even if Vin's esteem was enduring some severe bruising.
Jack however, was in no mood for levity. "Daniel... " he stared at the linguist, waiting for more useful information so that they could concentrated at the mission at hand. He wanted to repair the damage to the time line by Isis and Sekhmet and returned these people back to their places on time so that SG1 could concentrate on the task of getting home to their world.
"It appears," Daniel explained after a few minutes of conversing with the woman. "That breeding is made very selectively. The males are kept in Isis's fortress and there are only a handful of them. Apparently a very select culling process was made when the village was first established. Only healthy males were brought through the gate and the ratio sounds something in the area of 1 to every twenty women. The purpose is to create a perpetual stock of breeding males while at the same time, keeping numbers down. No children are born here without the Goa'ulds selecting the female in question."
"Christ." Chris found himself reeling with disgust. "You mean there are no children born in this place unless these Goa'ulds give them permission?"
"The Goa'uld want perfect bodies Chris Larabee," Teal'c explained. "By severing access to propagate naturally, the Goa'uld ensure that perfects hosts are created while at the same time, ensuring that numbers do not rise enough to be a threat to them. With the absence of Isis for so long, it may not have been possible for the Jaffa to replenish their ranks and thus had to conserve the larvae Goa'uld as much as possible."
"So that's where Ezra is?" Nathan inquired, feeling Chris distaste just as prolifically as his own. The reaction of the women around him no longer seemed humorous, in fact it seemed downright monstrous and not unlike the type of life he had endured when he was still a slave in the plantation. It appeared that the village was being managed as deftly as the plantation owners used to administer their slave population. The whole thing made his stomach turn.
"If he was taken for breeding," Daniel nodded. "That's probably where he'd be."
"All right," Jack replied. "Daniel find out where this fortress is." He said quickly, an idea having formed in his head now that he had some idea of the social politics that existed in this place. "As soon as it gets dark, we'll make for it."
"She also says that the gods have taken a large number of their strongest daughters." Daniel replied, leaving no misconception as to what that might mean. "She's probably already reproducing."
"Damn," Jack swore under his breath, hoping to have arrived here before that took place. If the Goa'uld queen was already nesting, then very soon they would be up to their necks in new Jaffa troops.
"If she's making more of these," Chris suggested. "We can wait until nightfall."
Jack could not disagree with Chris on that assertion. As it was, it might be already too late but he knew from experience that newborn Goa'uld larvae needed time to gain strength before they were inserted in their host bodies. They still had time to avert disaster but not if they waited until tonight. They had to move now.
"Jack," Chris spoke up after considering their options and suddenly realised that there was one way they could get into the place and it made all the sense in the world, especially in view of where they now found themselves. "I've got a plan."
Isis was pleased.
The new larvae were thriving and would soon be ready for implantation into their new hosts. She had checked on the progress of her new children and saw that the hours passing were making them strong. It gave her great satisfaction to know that soon she would have her army again and then she would be able to shape this world into the spearhead that would begin the re-establishment of her power among the System Lords. A thousand years of confinement had wetted her appetite for conquest once again and she needed it to live as vitally as she needed this host body to survive.
Isis did not like to think of her time, trapped in a living death in the prison fashioned by the Nerfetum. While she and Sekhmet had spent much of the time in stasis, she hated being asleep for so long. It felt like an entire lifetime had passed her by even though by Goa'uld standards, millennia was not at all lengthy although time passed no slowly for them than it did for the unseeded hosts. Of course, Sekhmet had suffered for it and Isis was beginning to suspect the long confinement might have affected her more than she should have. There was a time when she and Sekhmet disagreed on nothing and the younger goddess had adhered to her decisions without question. The exchange between them earlier would have been unimaginable a thousand years ago and yet now, Sekhmet seemed unstable and bore watching closely.
The Goddess of All made a mental note to examine Sekhmet when time allowed it. After all, she was the patron goddess of healing according to the hosts and there was a great deal of knowledge at her disposal. Inwardly, she could hear the host's mind screaming that Sekhmet was mad, that a thousand years of confinement had made her insane. Isis crushed the voice mercilessly into submission, refusing to believe that Sekhmet, her proudest achievement, her greatest pupil could succumb to anything. Sekhmet had been her closely ally, unlike Hathor, also one of her children who had become a queen on her own and taken her place at Ra's side when Isis had chosen to withdraw from the realm of the Tau'Ri.
Always escorted by her personal guards, Isis who never make the mistaken of being unguarded as she had been when the Nerfertum had defeated her, she made her way to the cells of he fortress where her future Pharoah was currently in residence. Although the dungeon was hardly the placed to keep her Chosen One and her beloved, at the time it had been necessary. With so few Jaffa left in the fortress, she could not waste them guarding him when they were required to secure more host bodies to fill their ranks when her children were ready for implantation. Now that she had the time, she could attend to him and perhaps indulge in a little more of mating ritual he had made so pleasurable for her to enjoy.
Arriving at the dungeon, she noticed the two guards who had taken position after the hosts had been found, looking rather apprehensive at her approach. Isis ignored it, seldom caring about what her Jaffa thought because it was not a skill she required of them. Still, as she instructed them to open the door to the Chosen One's cell, the fear lingered until even Isis began to wonder what had motivated it.
"Jaffa." She said in her commanding tone. "You appear fearful, tell your Goddess why?"
The older of the two, a seasoned veteran with Isis' gold signet emblazoning her brow spoke, her eyes at Isis's feet as she replied to her Goddess's request.
"Forgive me for speaking out of turn Goddess of All," she said quietly. "We were led to believe that he is to be your Chosen One."
"That is correct," Isis found her gaze shifting to the door and a terrible feeling starting to permeate even her ancient soul. "We have chosen him for our consort and our Pharoah. Explain to us Jaffa why this gives you fear?."
"We were merely following our instruction as given to us by the Eye of Ra. We could not question her my lady, since she speaks in your name." The Jaffa continued rather uneasily until Isis felt her patience with the whole matter draining.
"Isis, Goddess of All demands that you explain yourself, now." Isis repeated herself, tolerating no more delay in this Jaffa's stilted effort to tell her what was the matter.
"Forgive me my lady," the Jaffa nodded humbly. "He has been injured. We do not believe he can survive without your healing. If he is to be your Chosen One and your Beloved, he must tended to now."
Isis did not let the Jaffa continue and swept past her, realising what it was her servant had been trying to tell her with so little success. Raising her hand and not even bothering with a key, the ribbon device came to life on her hand and tore the door away from its lock, causing to slam loudly against the wall as she came through it. It was dark inside but she needed no lamp to see, the ribbon device began to illuminate brightly enough for her to find him, lying against the wall. She could hear sounds strained sounds of agony and whimpering as it became to hard to control and succumbing to it was the only way to endure.
Isis strode towards him, dropping to her knees upon approach. She rolled him over and heard him cry out in pain as her hand made contact with his skin and he flinched at her touch. His shirt was gone, torn shred of material on the ground and the bruising to his skin was considerable. That did not appear to be any part of his torso that was not discoloured and then there was the stench of burning, followed by the sight of what she knew to be a staff weapon held against the skin at low power. At low power, it would not kill but it would burn and cause enough pain to be quite an effective tool of torture.
She placed her hand on his face and found that it was covered in blood. Both eyes were swollen so badly, she doubted he could see out of it. There were deep cuts across his chest, his face and his back and the slick wetness against the stone floor was his blood, pooling steadily from the wounds of a dozen injuries. He was nearly unrecognisable from the human who given her such ecstasy the night before. Isis caressed his cheeks and saw him react once again in pain before she realised his jaw was broken for his face was twisted from the swelling.
"Jaffa!" Isis fairly roared, her voice feeling up the cell and her eyes glowed so brightly that even her guards had reason to fear. All four guards, including the two who had guarded the cell entrance stepped forward ready to take their orders. Isis stroked his feverish brow, feeling the heat under his skin that signalled the burning of infection. She placed the ribbon gem over his palm and filled the room with an amber glow as the stone flared with energy. "Sleep now my Pharoah," she whispered softly. "When you wake, your pain will be no more."
In the same breath, she turned to her guards and spoke in a voice that lacked none of its earlier tenderness. "I want him placed in the sarcophagus immediately."
"My lady," the Jaffa who had spoken earlier found herself in the unenviable position of producing more unhappy news to her goddess. "Our sarcophagus is no more. Before your return, the gods who matured in your wake plundered much of your temple's treasures, believing that you were no more. We of the Jaffa had managed to replace many items lost but not the sarcophagi."
Isis swore, realising the plan that had inspired this cruelty. "You take how many you need with you and go to the Chappaii. The world of the Tau'Ri from which we emerged with this body has a sarcophagus there, you will bring it to us so that we may use it to restore our Beloved. If you fail us in this, we will have your skin torn from your body to make his death shroud, do we make ourselves understood!"
The Jaffa swallowed visibly, mistaking nothing. "As you will Goddess of All." She nodded and motioned to the others with her to follow. Only two of Isis' personal bodyguards remain and would continue to do so until death. When the others were gone, Isis rose to her feet and regarded them. "You will take him to our quarters and guard him with your lives. No harm is to come to our Chosen One? We make the same threat to you as we did to those who allowed this to happen to our Beloved, to our new Pharoah."
"Great goddess, we would wish nothing more." The guard quickly returned. "But if we are met with the Lady Sekhmet, what then shall we do?"
"You need not worry about that," Isis said as she stormed past them. "We need to teach the Eye of Ra, what it is to defy us."
"It's a good plan." Jack agreed having heard the outline of Chris Larabee's strategy and deciding that it would not have been too indifferent to the plan he had been formulating on his own. Of course, Chris was extremely motivated towards its success, considering that what was at stake here was the life of his wife.
"I don't know Sir," Sam found herself doubtful about the plan considering that there were some elements of it that would be relying on chance when it was clear that a surgical strike was needed here. "We're depending on a lot here. If Isis had reinforcements on the way, getting into her fortress is not going to be easy."
"Sam, it's the only plan we got and Isis won't be expecting us to have come through the gate after her." Daniel spoke up in defence of Chris' plan because like Jack, he believed it was the best chance of getting inside the formidable defences of the Goa'uld enclave.
"Come on Samantha," Buck looked at her with an encouraging smile, convinced she could pull this off since he had seen her accomplish some very capable things already. It did not take a genius for every member of the seven present to know that the lady had a great deal of knowledge as well as courage to be wearing the uniform of a soldier. Sam reminded Buck of Inez, possessing that same hidden strength that did not exert itself until required and remained dormant under a veneer of feminine warmth. He had no doubt that she had disarmed many enemies with her understated manner. "You can do this."
Buck's confidence gave Sam a boost she found quite unexpected and she found herself liking the man more than she should. "I hope you guys are right about this."
"It can't work without you ma'am." Vin added his voice to Buck's. He had heard from JD that it was she who had placed him in the device back at the cavern that had healed his serious injuries. Vin appreciated that Sam was capable of more than she appeared because he was used to dealing with women who proved quite often that the only hurdles before them were the ones imposed by men by underestimating them.
"Sure," Sam rolled her eyes. "Sweeten me up."
Of course there was never any question of her not carrying out her duties. She was a United States Air Force Major and while the Colonel had not made it an order, they both knew she had little choice in the matter. Besides, they had to go in this way. Teal'c believed that time was against them. They had to reach the fortress before new Jaffa were created. As it was, the abandoned fortress back on Earth had been filled with Goa'uld weaponry. There was no reason to assume it would be any different here. While the Netjer had told Daniel there had been no signs of flying machines or huge pyramids in the sky, that did not mean that the new Jaffa would not have a formidable arsenal at their disposal after they were implanted. If there was any chance of retrieving Mary Travis Larabee, Alexandra Styles and Ezra Standish, they had to do it now.
After Ajia had given Daniel directions where Isis's temple was situated, the group set off amidst desperate pleas by the women of the village against doing so. Men were not the favoured of Isis and those that would not serve her would be killed. To prove their story, they were shown the graves of male children who had been put to the death for being lest than perfect hosts. The horror of the field of small graves struck at the core of both Jack and Chris who unknowingly shared the same grief of having lost a son to violence. Neither spoke as they viewed what Ajia had shown them although each member of the seven and SG1 felt a fierce desire to remove the Goa'uld threat from Netjer.
Until Isis and Sekhmet were destroyed, the Netjer would never have a chance to be free.
Once they had put suitable distance between themselves and the village, Jack noticed a more pressing issue that had to be raised and dealt with before they encountered the Goa'uld. They had returned to the cover of thick woods that lay between them and the fortress, following the directions that Daniel had extracted from Ajia and the trail that Vin and Teal'c were finding through the dense jungle. However, before they proceeded any further, Jack called the entire party to a halt.
"What is it Colonel?" Sam asked being second senior ranking officer.
"We have a little problem." Jack remarked as he glanced at the arsenal being carried by the men accompanying them on this mission. While they might have been formidable ordinance in its time, they were less than adequate in dealing with an enemy carrying zat guns and staff weapons, not to mention that the firepower in the antiquated guns may not even penetrate Jaffa armour. In a close quarter's combat, the liability could cost them dearly.
"What kind of problem?" Chris looked at him, not liking this delay now that they were so close to finding Mary.
"Who is your best shooter?" Jack asked, ignoring the question.
Instinctively, all eyes shifted to Vin who looked back at the colonel, wondering what this had to do with anything.
"I'm guessing that's you." Jack said to him and then turned to Daniel. "Daniel, give him your gun and all spare magazines."
Daniel did so without question, understanding what Jack was getting at now. He knew he was an average shot but someone with the skill, could make better use of the weapon then he could. "Sure."
"There's 80 rounds in that gun." Jack explained, giving the tracker a quick run down of how to use the weapon. "You're not used to an automatic so keep it off rapid fire. If you can make every bullet count, that will be a good thing."
Vin examined the exotic looking weapon with its sight and experimentally took aim, getting a feel for the trigger and the rest of its futuristic accessories. He was more accustomed to his Winchester but he understood Jack's reasoning. "Its light." He commented. There was not a weapon that Vin Tanner could not master and this was no different as long as it worked when he aimed and fired.
"Carter, Teal'c pass your side arms out, same drill." He ordered and gave Chris his own 45-calibre weapon, that was capable of putting a very big hole through a steel drum and should have the same effect on Jaffa armour. He gave Chris his spare cartridges before addressing them again. "When you meet the Jaffa, don't aim for the helmets. It's armoured and even our bullets don't seem to penetrate them. Fortunately, their armour is mostly limited to the head and neck area. If you shoot them, aim for chest."
"Will they be women?" JD had to ask because he had once had the unfortunately luck to be responsible for shooting a woman and the experience left him anxious about doing so intentionally now.
"The Jaffa of Isis will be female." Teal'c answered for Jack because he saw the colonel appearing somewhat uncomfortable himself about the question. "Do not make the mistake of thinking them less dangerous for their gender. They will die before allowing you to harm Isis. You must purge yourself of any hesitation over firing upon them. If you do not, then they will kill you."
JD nodded, unable to ignore the warning in the big man's words. "I'll do what I got to."
"Is there any way we can reason with them?" Nathan asked, hating to believe that killing was the only way to reach them.
"No," Teal'c replied. "Jaffa are the sworn protectors of the gods. They do not see it as a duty but a privilege to serve their master and they will die before allowing anyone to harm their gods. There is no reasoning with them." Suddenly, Teal'c fell silent and his eyes met Vin's who also heard what the other's had not sensed the quiet shift in the air.
"Someone's coming." Vin hissed.
"Take cover!" Jack ordered and the group immediately scattered, seeking cover in the thick growth. While vegetation that relied upon sunlight was scarce, there was a lot of vines and thick creepers that provided them the concealment they needed. Within seconds, they had disappeared from view, taking refuge in the flora as the trio of Jaffa made their appearance. The visitors from the past watched with a mixture of fear and fascination at their first sight of Isis' sworn protectors.
They were dressed as Jack had said, wearing fearsome looking helmets with a faceplate shaped in the form of a lion. No part of their head could be seen and the armour sat firmly on their shoulders and protected their necks. Their bodies were covered in some kind of chain mail which Jack had been correct in believing could be penetrated by bullets. They carried staff weapons and zat guns were tucked in the belts around their waists. They were dressed very much like the Jaffa guards belonging to Ra, with short skirts that provided little cover for their legs. Their hands looked like claws mostly because the gauntlets they were wearing only covered the upper portion of their fingers and looked more like ribbon device then actual gloves. They appeared as frightening as they had been described and it was no wonder that the natives were so afraid of them.
The trio made their way effortlessly through the foliage, seeming unhampered by the dense jungle and apparently oblivious to their presence. The off world travellers watched with bated breath as they moved past, with Jack trying to decide when the best way to overpower them. Chris' plan for infiltrating the fortress relied heavily upon acquiring a Jaffa uniform for Sam. Until now, they had expected to reach the fortress first and then decide how that would happen, but with three Jaffa warriors in the vicinity, the opportunity was too good to pass.
Suddenly, one of them paused.
The lion's head helmet pivoted from left to right as she studied the surrounding area, trying to see past the dense growth to find them. The eyes of the lion's head flashed with eerie blue light as she cocked her head and then brandished her staff weapon. Those with her did the same, activating the barrel of the weapon, which cackled with unearthly light. They could easily lay waste to the entire area if Jack did not think of something soon. No sooner than the thought flashed through his mind, he saw Sam standing up from where she was hidden.
"What the hell is she doing?" He hissed at Teal'c who was next to him.
Teal'c did not answer because he did not know.
Neither did Sam but an idea came to her and she knew that if she did not act, this was going to break into a firefight and for all their weapons, the Jaffa were expecting them. The Jaffa swung immediately in her direction to fire until the guard saw what she was wearing on her hand and hesitated for a moment, just long enough for Sam to do what was required.
"Jaffa, kree!" Sam shouted and threw the others into disarray as the ribbon weapon came to life and flung the Jaffa into the trees as the amber light struck her chest. Sam heard the terrible snapping of bone as the guard smashed against the trunk of a tree and tumbled to the ground unmoving. The light glowing from the mask having dimmed. In the meantime, the distraction was all that Jack and the other's needed to emerge from their hiding places and start shooting. Sam dropped under cover once again as bullets tore through the air from Jack and Teal'c's weapon. The two remaining Jaffa guard swung in their direction to fire when the hail of artillery from SG1's weapons made short work of them.
Bullets impacted visibly off the helmets as Jack had predicted but the unarmoured part of their bodies proved to be their weakness as the projectiles tore through their chest and felled them quickly. They were dead before they even hit the ground. The travellers from the past had not fired, perhaps because it was a hurdle to wide for them to gulf at the spur of the moment. Chris emerged at the same time as Jack, knowing that eventually he and his friends who have to shoot.
"Nice work, little lady." Josiah tipped his hat at Sam when the group began to emerge from their hiding places to examine the bodies.
"Thanks," Sam said blushing slightly; feeling strange being called that. It reminded her of something said to her when she was so much younger than she was now.
"Carter, what was that?" Jack asked annoyed, unwilling to let her off even though she had probably saved all their necks.
"Well Sir, I took a chance." She offered meekly because she could not articulate into words the compulsion that had made her take such a gamble.
"Big chance." He retorted. "She could have just shot you."
"Hey," Buck immediately came to her defence. "She did save our asses." He pointed out, glaring at Jack because things could have been worse, a lot worse.
Jack exchanged glances with Daniel and noted that the linguist had the same expression on his face and decided that Buck was probably and right and so was Carter. A small smile stole across his lips as he regarded her again, feeling no real anger but more concern because Sam was not just a member of SG1, she was his friend and he did not want her endangering her life necessary. "She's good at doing that." Jack said throwing a sidelong glance at Buck to show him that he was not really mad at her. "Good work Major."
"Thank you Sir." Sam grinned.
"Now let's get a uniform and all their ordinance." Jack ordered. He kneeled over the form of the dead Jaffa and retrieved the zat gun tucked in her belt. Sam was already searching the trio to see which one of them she was going to be relieving of their uniform.
"Chris," Jack motioned the gunslinger to him. "When we run into Mary, this is what you need to use on her."
Chris took the odd shaped weapon in his hands and looked at Jack in question, "how?"
"Wait a minute," Nathan looked closely at the weapon that Chris was examining with deep scrutiny. "I think that's what she used on you when they were going through the gate. She shot you and Ezra once with that."
Chris remembered and had all questions answered when he realised just how devastating its effects were upon the body. Even now, he felt the slight aching in his limbs from the weapon's discharge and could well understand why Jack wanted him to have this. If he intended retrieving Mary, this was the best chance of doing so. It would immobilise her with one shot without permanently harming her. "I remember," he nodded at Nathan. "It hurts like hell."
"Its meant to." Jack replied. "Its primarily used for that purpose but you only get one shot at her. Two shots will kill her and three will turn her to dust."
"What about Alex?" Vin asked. "What do we use on her?"
"We will never get close enough to Isis to be able to use such a weapon on her." Teal'c replied automatically. "Sekhmet is an ally of Isis but she is not the Goddess of All, while the Jaffa would protect her if she were endangered, they would likely forsake her if they believed Isis is in danger. These weapons," he picked up a staff weapon while Daniel handed Jack and Buck the remaining zat guns. "Will be of little use against her. Samantha Carter is the only one who can stop her."
Vin shrugged uncomfortably, trying hard to remember that Isis was not his Alex but could not disassociate himself with the fact that any harm done to Isis would make it more impossible for him to ever get Alex back.
Sekhmet lay among the silken pillows, gazing into the ceiling, feeling satisfaction coursing through her body as she savoured the scent of blood against her skin and the soft whimpers of those dying around her. She was tired now and could think of nothing more pleasurable than falling a sleep amongst the efforts of a very satisfying day. She could see her Jaffa Guards at their posts at the entrance of the door, trying to hide their fear and not doing very well about it. She wondered if they had any feelings on what she had done. After all, they had guarded the individuals in this room for a very long time and might have something to say about the fact that she had butchered their charges in a day.
They lay strewn across the floor, beautiful bodies now broken and bleeding. There were probably some alive but she did not really concern herself with that, relishing only the tortured cries of one and feeling her heart hardened by the fact that he had not submitted to her no matter how much she had tortured him. She could have taken him of course but she had given her oath to Isis that she would not interfere with the decision to make him the Beloved of the Goddess to All. In his defence, he had endured all the tortures stoically, tolerating more than she would have given him credit. It was strange, she had not pictured him terribly formidable and yet he had managed to resist, until her frustration had driven her to hurt him with even more intensity than she had originally intended.
Let Isis have him now when he was not pretty and when there was no sarcophagus to miraculously mend his beautiful skin now that it was beautiful no more. She rested her head on her pillow and started to giggle, feeling the delicious warmth of hearing him scream, replaying the sound over and over again in her head until its delight bordered on arousal. He had been engaging but she was certain the pleasure she had derived from him paled in comparison to the specimen she truly wanted and that was her hosts' husband. The one in black whom Isis claimed she would kill before breaking. Sekhmet was almost tempted to return to the land of the Tau'Ri and retrieve him for just that purpose. Perhaps she would do just that when thew new Jaffa were created.
Besides, it was probably a wise idea for them to retrieve the sarcophagus from the abandon fortress anyway, especially when there was none here. Eventually, these bodies would need the maintenance they always seemed to require and Sekhmet liked this new host. She liked hearing the disjointed whimpers of her host mind, making itself heard particularly after every drop of blood she shed. It gave Sekhmet pleasure to know that she was causing it as much pain as she was forcing her victims to endure. She stood up from the bed she was lying on and looked around her at the men who had inhabited this room for so long.
Most of them were dead.
She had used her hands and she had used staff weapons and anything else that might inflict pain and amuse her. Wearing the same dress she had used when she had used the human's weapon earlier, the white fabric was smeared in blood and fluid as she glided across the marble floor, examining her handy work and seeing if there was still anyone left alive to entertain herself with. There were sounds emanating form a few of them, tortured groans of pains because of broken bones, torn flesh and burnt skin. It was almost music to her ears.
The guards suddenly stepped aside as Isis, Goddess of All walked into the large room. She paused at the door way, the sentries quickly falling into stride with her, playing the part of body guards now, instead of custodians to the dead males who had been their charges for so long. They felt no sorrow for the deaths but rather confusion as to what the males' purpose had been? For so long, they had been the progenitor of new Jaffa hosts and now they were discarded and killed.
Isis let her eyes survey the room and saw the dead lying in pools of blood, insects starting to buzz over their dead bodies as the heat of the day continue to rise. Eventually, their stink would make permeate throughout the fortress. There were some alive but without the sarcophagus, their use was limited and they would die, just as her Beloved would die if it was not brought back from the world of Tau'Ri.
"What have you done?" Isis found herself demanding. Her eyes glowing with rage and a slight measure of horror.
"I played." Sekhmet smiled, unrepentant.
"Come to us." Isis ordered, taking a step forward and noticing that her guards were remaining close as if they feared for her. After seeing what insanity had taken place in this room at Sekhmet's hands, it was forgiven that they should believe her in danger from the Eye of Ra. "You are not well daughter," Isis said honestly believing that their imprisonment had driven Sekhmet mad. "We wish to cure this sickness that has infected your mind."
"I am the Eye of Ra and I am as well as I have ever been!" Sekhmet roared, incensed by the suggestion.
"You have openly defied us Sekhmet and in two millennia, this is unprecedented." Isis said approaching her cautiously, watching Sekhmet whose eyes were starting to burn with as much hatred as the violence her body was poised to inflict upon Isis herself. "The long confinement in the Nefertum has harmed you, you will come to us so that we can correct your injury."
"The confinement did nothing to harm me!" Sekhmet screeched, almost maniacal in her determination to convince Isis, only serving to prove to the Goddess of All that she was correct in her original assertion of Sekhmet's state of mind. "It strengthened me! I am more powerful than I have ever been and I will not give up the play or the suffering."
"You have threatened our existence here by this elimination of hosts. Without these humans as breeding stock, from where do you think new Jaffa of the future will come? We will be forced to scavenge other worlds to replenish them! We must replace them all because of what you have done here!" The death of the men before her concerned Isis little but the reason that had been absent in Sekhmet's mind when she had done this was of great concerned to the Gao'uld queen. It was symptomatic of a larger problem. A Goa'uld could always be counted upon to satisfy its own predilections but not at the cost of bringing harm to itself and Sekhmet's actions was clearly doing this.
"They are men!" Sekhmet returned viciously. "Use them for your pleasure! Abuse them at your leisure! Is that not what you taught me!"
"We taught you that but not like this. Our position is weak. None of the System Lords are aware of our existence so we must move quietly until we gain our strength. We have no ships, no death gliders, nothing to protect us if Ra and the others chose to attack. We would have birthed new larvae and watch a new crop of hosts grow before we would be ready to move to acquire that which we have lost. Now not only must we return to the Tau'Ri and retrieve the sarcophagi but we must also bring back more males. They are not what they used to be, they are powerful now. You saw them as well as we did. Neither can we go to worlds other than the Tau'Ri because the System Lords will discover us."
The idea of returning to the Tau'Ri and retrieving males pleased Sekhmet. "I will go and bring the sarcophagi back."
"No," Isis shook her head. "You will remain here. We have already despatched Jaffa to the Chappaii, they will do what needs to be done. You will stay with us until we have determined if you are fit to make any judgement of your own."
"You will not hold me here like a child!" Sekhmet's eyes flashed with insane fury.
"We will do whatever we wish because we are the Goddess of All. You have already shown poor judgement in your actions in this room and to your inability to comprehend our orders regarding the new Pharoah. You cannot be trusted to make your own decisions." Isis said also preparing to fend off any attack should it come to that.
Suddenly, a smile stole across Sekhmet's face as her anger slipped away from her readiness to attack and instead, a look of cruelty entered her eyes as she approached Isis. "You are the one who has been making ill judgements. You have allowed your host to infect your mind. In two millennia, you say that it is unprecedented that I defy you? I put to you that in two millennia, you have not chosen any man to be your Pharoah and now you have. Why is that? Is it perhaps you liked this human male? Perhaps the host has a memory of affection for him that has clouded your mind?"
Isis responded by capturing her a blast of energy from the ribbon device in her hand. The ray of amber light ejected from the gemstone, flinging Sekhmet across the room like a rag doll. Her body slammed into a nearby table, crushing it with the force of her impact. Sekhmet landed hard but recovered quickly with the agility of a hunter, rolling across the broken fragments, hardly noticing the cuts on her back as she landed on her knees and then stood up, unperturbed by the attack. "Are we going to fight over this human?" She asked, her voice becoming course and hard, the Goa'uld menace exuding through her glowing eyes.
"No, we do not fight." Isis shook her head and lashed out again, sweeping Sekhmet off her feet in another blast of power, slamming into a wall and dislodging whatever was hung there. Object clattered around her ears as blood began to ooze out of Sekhmet's mouth. "We merely wish to remind you of who you are and who we are in the great design. You are the Eye of Ra, Warrior Goddess and ally to us, your queen. We forgive you your insolence for we know that it is a result of your illness and we will try to heal you but our lessons are neither quick or painless for one such as you."
She scrambled to her feet and glared at Isis with a smile on her bloody lips. "I enjoy pain," she stood up with great dignity. "Inflict it upon me at your will goddess and when you are done, I will kill you."
There was no mistaking Isis' bastion of power on Netjer when the off worlders finally came upon it. It appeared exactly the same as the fortress that SG1 had seen on PX250. This one was partially underground but in better condition than its counter part on that other doomed world. As they neared it, they could see the structure partially jutting out of the earth, like something attempting to reach the light of day and not quite succeeding. Although there were no signs of visible activity outside, Jack did not expect there to be a heavy complement of guards. If the Jaffa ranks were as depleted as they were considered to be, Isis may not be consider the Netjer much of a threat to post guards nor did she expect there to be visitors through the gate.
There was still plenty of daylight and while it would have been prudent to attempt their infiltration by night, they did not have that choice. The fortress was surrounded by a buffer zone of cleared trees and would provide no concealment when they attempted to cross it to reach the fortress. As they stood on the boundary where the trees ended and the clearing began, Jack looked over his shoulder at Sam who was fixing the helmet into position over her head.
"You ready Carter?" He asked.
"As I'll ever be." She stepped forward, feeling decidedly uncomfortable wearing the Jaffa uniform, especially when it left so much of her exposed. Even though the lawmen were trying not to notice her bare skin, Sam could still feel their eyes moving across her legs, probably since the woman of their time languished under layers and layers of skirts. Still, she could not help feeling a bit embarassed and was glad no one could see her blush under the helmet.
"Well you look creepy." Daniel remarked, never liking these uniforms very much. Teal'c serpent guard uniforms did not inspire so much of the fear that Ra's Jaffa guards did. For centuries, they had held the people of Abydos under the complete domination because they looked so terrifying. He hated to admit it but Isis' lion guards provoked the same kind of anxiety in him as the first time he stared into the face of Ra's first prime, Anubis.
"That's a good thing, right?" JD inquired, having to admit he did not like the way her eyes were glowed or the fearsome visage of the mask she wore. The whole concept frightened him that something could just steal a person's body as it had done to Mary and Alex, not to mention what Ezra was enduring at this point.
"I guess so." Sam said uncertainly.
"All right," Jack spoke up. "You guys know the drill, hang back until we give the signal." Gesturing to Chris and Vin to do the same, he hid his zat gun under his clothes and relinquished his rifle to Sam, expecting the two man to follow suit. Once Sam had all their artillery tucked away and they looked seemingly harmless, Jack decided it was time to move out. "Okay, let's get going."
"Good luck." Buck sang out quietly as the three men emerged first with Sam following closely behind them. Her staff weapon aimed firmly at their backs as she supposedly marched them to the steps that led inside the massive stone bunker. The huge steps leading into the bunker were flanked by enormous statues of lions that appeared to have almost sentry like positions at the head of the wide stone stairs that culminated at a set of very large doors. The architecture of the fortress was almost definitely Egyptian in design although Jack could not for the life of him be more precise than that. This was Daniel's field. However, he did take note that they appeared to look a lot like Ra's fortress on Abydos and the memory that Isis might be closely affiliated to him, made him nervous.
Although they had not realised Ra's importance in the Goa'uld hierarchy until after their encounter with Apothesis and the other System Lords, Jack knew one thing. Ra was by all rights their Supreme Leader. The one ship that Jack had seen in Abydos was almost nothing like the others SG1 would encounter later. It appeared far more formidable and had it been one of these that had been sent to invade Earth some time ago, Jack was not so certain how they would have prevailed against it. In the future he knew, Jack had no doubt that much of Ra's arsenal was still out there somewhere, unclaimed. It further frightened him to the core that if Isis was that closely aligned with Ra, as Daniel believed, then she might actually call on the System Lord who was still alive at this point in history.
That was not an encounter, Jack would like to make again.
"Where is everybody?" Sam asked quietly as they continued up the stairs and noticed that there were no guards posted at the entrance to the fortress.
"Something is up." Jack tensed, wondering if they should abort because this felt too easy, almost like a trap. He told himself immediately that was impossible. No one knew they were here and the village could not have gotten word back to the fortress fast enough to anticipate this invasion by them. However, if this was not a trap then the chance to get inside was too good to resist.
"No guards?" Chris guessed accurately what was causing the colonel so much concern.
"Yeah." Jack nodded as they continued up the steps towards the huge stone doors. As they closed they distance; they began to hear sounds of some sort of commotion taking place. It took him a moment to familiarise himself with the noise to realise that he was familiar with what he was hearing. Instinctively, he turned to Sam even though he knew he shouldn't. "Does that sound to you like a ribbon device?" He asked. The weapon made a very distinct hum of discharging power. In the years that they had encounter the Goa'uld, it could not be mistaken for anything else.
"Yes it does," Sam nodded but unable to understand what was happening.
"It sounds like hell is breaking loose in there." Vin retorted as they hastened their pace.
"Sir," Sam looked at Jack. "All the Jaffa might be engaged in dealing with whatever is causing that." She declared as the commotion grew louder and did not show any signs of abating.
"Then we better get the others before they work out we're here too." Chris suggested and immediately broke away from the group before Jack could offer any words to stop him, which he did not because Chris was right about this. There would never be a better opportunity.
Chris hurried down the steps and reached enough distance to ensure that the others would see him form their hiding place in the woods. Waving his hat about, he waited for them to emerge from the tree line, now that he had given them the signal to proceed. It took no more than a few seconds before he saw Buck appear, followed by the rest of his friends and the SG1 team. Crossing the buffer zone with the greatest of speed, they made it to the steps uaccosted and further convinced Chris that something dire was happening inside the fortress that required their intention immediately.
"What's happening?" Daniel asked the minute he reached Chris who had already receded up the stairs the way he came.
"Don't know," Chris replied abruptly, eager to join Vin, Jack and the woman who had continued through the doorway while he had gone for reinforcements. "But it sounds pretty bad. Lots of noise and no guards."
It did not take the group long to find other members of their party and as they advanced deeper through the wide hallways, it was not difficult to be led to the source of all the chaos. Sam took the lead because she was the least in danger should they be discovered. Fortunately, whatever was taking place inside the fortress was occupying most of the Jaffa's attention and they were allowed to roam its halls unimpeded. They could fear footsteps and excited voices amidst the booming noise of breaking objects, the roar of staff weapons being fired, not to mention that damnable humming that could only come from a ribbon device, emanating from further down the halls.
"Okay, we need to split up." Jack decided as they came to a pause at a juncture. Their numbers were large and not easy to conceal in such close quarters if they were discovered. No, he shook the thought of his head, not if, when. "Daniel, you come with me, Sam, Chris and Vin." The colonel ordered before explaining. "This is the plan. We're going to go after Isis and Sekhmet." Without missing a beat and aware that questions were pending, Jack quickly addressed Teal'c directly. "The rest of your will go find your friend."
"And when we find him? Do we wait for you?" Teal'c asked.
"No," Jack shook his head in answer. "When you find him, you get out of here and take him through the gate. We will meet you back on Earth."
"Wait a minute," Buck protested immediately. "We ain't leaving you here."
"Buck's right," Nathan added almost as vehemently. "We've seen the odds, you can't take this on alone."
"Do it." Chris said sharply, knowing that while they might have difficult accepting such an order for Jack O'Neill, he was another matter entirely. "You find Ezra and get him through the gate. No arguments, you hear?"
"Chris, this ain't wise." Josiah said reluctantly, never one to argue with Chris but these were hardly normal circumstances and it did not sit right with him that they should just leave.
"It ain't wise," Vin agreed meeting Chris' gaze. "But it's right thing to do."
"Fine," Buck conceded the point, seeing that Chris was adamant about this and the gunslinger seldom made requests like this lightly. "We'll find Ezra and get out of here."
"Good," Chris offered a slight nod of thanks to Buck's who consent who prompt the others to kerb their disagreement with his choice, besides this was hardly the time for it.
"Get going Teal'c." Jack ordered and the Jaffa bowed his head slightly in obedience before withdrawing up the way with the others following closely as they began the search for Ezra Standish. When they could not longer be seen in the corridor, Jack turned his gaze back to Chris.
"Now, let's go get your wife."