CHAPTER FOUR
Sam looked at Daniel worriedly. He was half-lying against a huge fallen tree, his eyes closed. He looked awful. His face was very pale, and she could tell that he was in a lot of pain. She was also concerned that he might be going into shock, though he kept insisting that he wasn't.
They had found a little brush-covered hollow that would hide them from the view of anyone going by. There was enough undergrowth in the area that they'd be able to hear the drone coming from quite a distance away. Sam hoped that they'd be able to stay there and rest for at least an hour, though she knew that would put them in greater danger of being found by the supersoldier. But if they didn't get some rest, their exhaustion would seriously hinder their ability to think clearly and act quickly.
Daniel had told her what he did at the base, how he destroyed the two Al'Kesh and detonated the bombs. Coupled with what he did to the drones and his physical injury, it was no wonder that he was as bad off as he was. Janet was going to kill him when she found out. Yet the truth was that, if it hadn't been for him, a whole lot more people wouldn't have made it out. Sitting there, Sam finally faced the fact that, if it hadn't been for her, she, Daniel and her dad would have made it out, too.
"I'm sorry, Daniel," Sam said quietly.
Daniel's eyes opened, and he looked at her. "For what?"
"For getting us into this mess. I should have listened to you. If I had just gone ahead and uploaded the unfinished weapon design into the matrix crystal instead of insisting on finishing the upgrade first, we would have made it out before the drone took out the DHD."
"Maybe, maybe not. We don't know that for sure. One thing I'm pretty sure about, though, is that, if we had made it to the gate in time, there's a good chance that I'd be dead now."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I wouldn't have stopped fighting, Sam, not until everyone else was safe. I could not have gone through that gate as long as someone was still there, not when I knew that they'd have had no hope of holding off those drones without me. So, when that self-destruct went off, I might still have been right there at ground zero, fighting those drones."
Daniel's words hit Sam in more ways than one, and one of those ways was adjusting her mental image of him. She had always known that he was courageous and self-sacrificing. She had known that he wasn't afraid to fight and would give his life to protect others. But she had never quite pictured Daniel as the brave warrior standing alone against impossible odds, courageously continuing to fight the enemy while everyone around him fled to safety. It was an image that seemed so contrary to that of the archeologist sitting at his desk, gently examining some artifact and expounding on the history behind it.
"You look surprised."
Daniel's voice brought Sam's thoughts back to the here and now. "Um . . . no. I mean, I'm not surprised that you'd keep fighting. It's just that . . . well, I never really pictured you like that before."
Daniel smiled slightly. "Ah, you mean in the role of the brave captain going down with his ship?"
"Sort of, although, when we went to destroy Apophis' ships, we knew there was a good chance that we'd all be going down with the ship, so to speak."
"Yes, but that was different since it was all of us."
"Daniel, don't get me wrong. I know how brave you are. I know that you'd give your life for others, even for people you don't know." Her words made Sam recall that she'd said the same thing to him on Vis Uban when she was trying to convince him to come back to Earth. "In fact, you've already done that very thing. I guess it's just the image of you standing there alone, fighting those drones, as the rest of the personnel escaped through the Stargate that's taking some time for me to absorb."
Daniel nodded. "I can understand that. With someone like Jack or Teal'c, it's easy to picture it because that's just the kind of thing they'd do. But I'm not really the Rambo type, despite the fact that I got tagged with that name. Not that Jack and Teal'c are as bad as Rambo, mind you . . . at least not usually." Daniel's eyes drifted away from hers. "If this had happened before I gained these abilities and we had made it to the gate in time, I'd have escaped through it when you and Jacob did. I'd have known that staying would have accomplished nothing except get me killed." His eyes returned to her. "But everything's different now, Sam. Peter Parker's uncle was right when he said that with great power comes great responsibility. It's more than just the responsibility to use it wisely; it's also having the responsibility of using it whenever it's needed. That's something the Ascended just don't seem to understand. So, knowing that I was the only person who could hold off those drones, how could I have left before everyone else had gotten out?"
Sam gave him a smile of understanding. "You couldn't, any more than I could have in that situation, or the colonel, or Teal'c."
Daniel's eyes dropped to his lap. "But, in the end, I did leave, didn't I."
"You had no choice, Daniel, we had no choice. The Stargate was down, and those drones were targeting us. Staying would have just gotten you killed. As soon as you took care of the drone that was shooting the people at the gate, everyone there ran for the trees, just as you told them to. There's nothing more you could have accomplished there."
Daniel said nothing, thinking about the seven Jaffa who sacrificed themselves for him.
"Daniel, I don't know if you've realized this, but that drone isn't after us just because we're survivors."
The archeologist looked at her. "It's because of the weapon."
Sam nodded. "That drone went straight to our lab, didn't it?"
Daniel gave a nod of confirmation.
"Why did it do that?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "And why is it so determined to kill us as opposed to anyone else?"
"Because the weapon was the reason for the attack," Daniel replied, stating what Sam already knew. "Anubis found out about it."
"Yes."
Daniel's gaze had fallen to the ground between his feet. Sam could tell by his expression that something was really bothering him.
"What is it, Daniel?" she asked after a few seconds of silence.
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Daniel, look at me," Sam requested gently.
Reluctantly, the archeologist lifted his eyes to hers.
"We're friends, right?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Then please don't hide something from me that's bothering you."
Daniel broke eye contact, casting his gaze off into the trees. "I was just thinking that, if you want to place responsibility for our situation on someone, you should place it on me."
Sam's forehead puckered in bafflement. "What? What are you talking about?"
"When I got to the Alpha Site, the feeling that something was wrong got stronger. When that happened, I should have immediately tried again to see what was going on. If I had, I would have seen the impending attack in plenty of time for everyone to get off the planet."
"Daniel, there is no guarantee that you'd have been able to see anything if you'd tried earlier. You've said yourself that this ability of yours to see the future isn't a hundred percent reliable."
Daniel looked at her. "But I could have tried, Sam."
"Yes, you could have, but, at the time, you were focused on what was going on with the Jaffa. Didn't you say that you thought your premonition might have something to do with them? You had no way of knowing at the time that it was warning you of an attack from Anubis. None of us thought that could happen. We thought that we were safe here. You can't expect to psychically divine every danger that we're going to face. That's too much to ask of yourself. What you need to think about is that you saved lives today. If it hadn't been for your warning and what you did to those ships, a whole lot less people would have made it through the gate." Sam laid her hand on his arm. "And there's something I want you to know." She caught his gaze and held onto it. "I am proud of you."
Daniel's eyes searched hers deeply, silently telling her how much those words meant to him. His hand took hers and held onto it tightly. "Thank you," he whispered.
Sam nodded and smiled. "You should get some rest."
"So should you."
The two friends laid down and closed their eyes, knowing that, no matter what came in the future, they would face it together.
Jacob tapped on the open door of General Hammond's office and walked in, part of his weight resting on the cane he held. Selmak was doing a speedy job of healing his leg, but it would still be a while before he was completely well.
"Jacob," Hammond greeted.
"Any news on Sam and Daniel?"
"Not yet, but we have a UAV airborne, and all available SG teams are searching. I don't know anyone tougher or more resourceful than those two, and, with Daniel's abilities, I'd say the odds are pretty good that they'll make it out of this."
Jacob nodded. He had to believe that Daniel and his daughter were going to be fine. Thinking anything else was not an option. "How's the investigation going?"
"I have been meaning to talk to you about that. Do you know anything about a Tok'ra operative within Olokun's ranks?"
"Well, there would have been one placed there when this stuff about Daniel got so hot."
"No, I'm talking about before then. According to the Jaffa, you have a spy in Olokun's inner circle."
"They're mistaken."
The klaxons began to sound, followed by the warning of an unscheduled off-world activation. The general and the Tok'ra went to the gate room to see M'zel arrive.
"Did you learn anything at the Beta Site?" Hammond asked.
"Of the Jaffa sent to recruit rebels from Olokun's army, only one has returned," the Jaffa replied. "The fate of the others is unknown. Anubis has won a major victory. Thousands of Jaffa have been killed, and many of Olokun's commanders captured, the Tok'ra spy among them."
"That's impossible," Jacob insisted. "If we had someone on the inside, I would have known about it."
"Are you sure?" Hammond asked him.
Jacob wanted to say yes, but he was beginning to have doubts himself.
A short while later, the general met with the Tok'ra Delek to find out once and for all if there had been an operative within Olokun's inner circle, but, when questioned, Delek became confrontational and uncooperative, refusing to answer the question. The fact that the man wouldn't say either way convinced the general that the Jaffa were right about the spy.
Hammond could not believe the Tok'ra's attitude. The terms of the Earth/Tok'ra alliance dictated full disclosure in matters of joint concern, but Delek was claiming that the disposition of their operatives was of no concern to Earth, which was ridiculous, as far as the general was concerned.
"Let me ask you something," Hammond finally said. "How many Tok'ra from the Alpha Site are still unaccounted for?"
"None. We know the fate of all Tok'ra who were at the Alpha Site."
"Well, you're very fortunate since I'm still missing fifteen of my people, including Doctor Jackson and Major Carter. And if it hadn't been for the actions of Doctor Jackson, I have no doubt that that number would have been quadrupled and that among the missing would have been some of your Tok'ra. So, believe me when I say that I'm going to get to the bottom of this with or without your help."
Daniel and Sam had gotten around forty-five minutes of rest when the archeologist insisted that they needed to get moving. They were both feeling a little better, though they desperately needed more rest than that. They were also in desperate need of water. Sam knew that, according to the UAV footage, there was a small lake further up into the hills, but it was too far away to do them any good. They were working their way back down to the Stargate, and to divert to the lake would cost them hours of time, not to mention the fact that neither one of them had the energy to travel that many extra miles.
They had seen no sign of the supersoldier since Daniel's last attack on it, and Sam was hoping that meant that it had suffered enough damage to put it out of commission for a few hours. If they were really lucky, the thing broke its neck when it landed. Even a broken leg would keep it from going anywhere for a while.
"Sam, I hear running water," Daniel said.
Picking up the pace a little, they soon came upon a small river, where they quenched their thirst, wishing they had canteens they could fill.
Sam sat down for a moment to ease the strain on her leg. She looked at Daniel, who was now also sitting. "While we're here, we should do something about cleaning our wounds. We'll take care of yours first." When the archeologist showed signs of objecting, Sam added, "That's an order, Daniel."
The archeologist's face lightened with humor. "An order, huh? Sam, do you realize that's the first time you've ever actually given me an order? You've suggested, asked, instructed, and pleaded, but never ordered."
Sam tried to maintain a firm expression. "Well, I am second in command of SG-1, Daniel, and you're a member of my team."
Daniel just looked at her, eyes twinkling, a smile teasing at his lips.
"So . . . are you going to follow my orders any better than you do the colonel's?"
Daniel's smile finally broke through. "I doubt it."
"Daniel—"
"But if you ask me, that's a different story."
Sam stared at Daniel for a moment, then laughed softly. "No wonder the colonel calls you a pain in the ass."
Daniel chuckled. "Am I a pain in the ass for you, too, Sam?"
"No, not usually."
Daniel's hand came out and caressed her cheek, his eyes full of love. "That's good." His voice had gone soft and deep.
Sam closed her eyes at the touch, feeling the pleasure of it. She was disappointed when the touch ended. She opened her eyes to see that Daniel was now frowning down at the ground.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"Sorry?"
"I promised you that I'd be just a friend to you, that I wouldn't . . . you know."
"Daniel, it's okay. You did absolutely nothing wrong. Do you think that I don't want you to touch me anymore?"
"No, I just—"
Daniel's voice broke off abruptly as his sixth sense sent a warning screaming through him. A second later, the drone appeared a few yards away on the opposite side of the river. It began firing. Daniel and Sam rolled away, seeking cover, but one of the energy bolts hit Sam. Her cry of pain filled Daniel with fear and rage.
Turning his eyes upon the drone, he reached for the power inside him. With killing force, Daniel turned his power not upon the virtually indestructible armored supersoldier standing before him, but upon the very mortal creature of flesh and bone that was within the armor.
The drone halted, pausing as if in puzzlement . . . and then it screamed, screamed as flames burst from the seams of the armor and leapt about it like some terrifying aura, screamed as it was consumed from within by the raging heat. Before it even had time to start thrashing, the supersoldier collapsed to its knees, then fell over. Within the space of ten seconds from the time Daniel struck, it was dead.
Daniel stared at the corpse, horror over what he'd just done rising to overwhelm him. He scrambled to his feet and staggered away a couple of yards before falling to his hands and knees and violently throwing up. As the retching stopped, a black wave rolled over the top of him, and he pitched headlong into the darkness.
Sam stared at the dead drone, shocked beyond words by what had just happened. Daniel had burned the thing right inside its armor! Holy Hannah!
A choking sound made Sam look at Daniel. There was an expression of absolute horror on his face. He abruptly got to his feet and hurried away. He didn't make it far, though, before crashing back to the ground and vomiting.
Pushing aside the pain of both her new wound and the one in her leg, Sam went to Daniel. But, just as she reached him, he keeled over into a crumpled heap and lay still.
"Daniel!"
Sam went down beside him. His pulse was fast and thready, his face bone-white.
Sam pulled him into her arms. "Daniel? Come on, Daniel. Don't you do this to me," she said in a scared little voice. "You won. You beat it. You can't give up on me now."
Closing her eyes tightly, Sam held onto Daniel, praying that, in saving her life, he hadn't sacrificed his own.
Jacob was mad. No, make that furious. The other members of the Tok'ra High Council had gone behind his back and placed an operative inside Olokun's ranks several months ago. They had kept him and Selmak out of the loop because they had questions over Selmak's true loyalties, thinking that he was being influenced too much by Jacob in regards to Earth and the SGC. Selmak was furious as well, and Jacob had been listening to his ranting ever since their talk with Delek.
'Selmak, is there any truth at all to their claims?' Jacob asked.
'No, of course not,' his symbiote immediately answered.
'Are you sure? When you and I were first blended, you didn't feel that the people of Earth were mature enough to have advanced technology. Now, you support their efforts to gain technology to fight the Goa'uld.'
'Before you became my host, Jacob, I did not know the Tau'ri. In the years since our blending, I have come to see that the people of Earth, specifically the people of the Stargate Program, are not as immature as my fellow Tok'ra believe them to be. This has nothing to do with you personally or any influence you have had on me. It is because being blended with you has given me the opportunity to get to know your people and because I can look beyond the preconceived notions of the other Tok'ra and see the truth. In that way, you being my host has affected my viewpoint, but not in the way the rest of the High Council thinks.'
Jacob went to General Hammond's office and filled him in on what he had learned. When he said that he had helped with the investigation as much as he could and wanted to get back to the Alpha Site to join the search for Sam and Daniel, he was surprised and a little irritated when Hammond said he was needed at the SGC.
"George, I already told you, I'm out of the loop," Jacob said in response. "They don't trust me anymore. They think my emotions are clouding my judgment, which is a little ironic considering that I'm wasting all this time while my own daughter and a man I care about like a son are out there being hunted by that thing."
"We have our best people on this, Jacob. They will find them."
"What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"
"I just got a report from the Beta Site. The Jaffa are blaming the Tok'ra for what happened. There have already been several altercations. If I can't get the situation under control, I have orders to expel them all. Our alliance is falling apart. I need someone to bridge the gap, someone to be the voice of reason. I need you."
Jacob shook his head. "No, George. The person you need is Daniel Jackson."
