Author's Notes: To Brenda for the late night beta... I owe you one, more than one actually!
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).
"Dammit..."
Jack couldn't hold back the curse as he moved to Daniel's side. Teal'c and Carter flanked him, sweeping the room with their weapons as they went.
From the referred pain they had experienced on their way here, Jack hadn't expected Daniel to be in the best of condition, but this....
Daniel's jacket, vest and uniform shirt were missing and the black T-shirt had been sliced open down the front revealing what looked like claw marks running jaggedly from his left shoulder across to just above the beltline on the opposite side. Green-black bruising spread from Daniel's left ear to disappear beneath what was left of his shirt and blood was seeping lazily into the younger man's eyes from a gash across his forehead.
"Sir?" Carter was pointing at Daniel's wrist, swollen and red with striated lines running outward from a bite wound almost directly over the one that had nearly healed. It was an all too familiar sight...
Jack put out a hand and felt the fever burning once again in Daniel's body and for a moment gave free rein to the raging anger that burned inside him just as intently as the fever that raged inside Daniel.
"We've got to get him out of here," Jack knew he was stating the obvious, but at this point he had to say something...anything...before he could explode. There were no easy quips, no gentle teasing, no derisive comments that would ease the white-hot rage burning through his mind...
Teal'c moved forward to carry the limp form of their friend while Jack looked around warily. He was beginning to get a bad feeling about this. It had been too easy.
If they were lucky, Nirrti was off doing the sarcophagus thing. Jack wasn't feeling particularly lucky....
"Did you think I would forget about you so soon?"
They turned toward the source of the vaguely feminine, dual-tone voice...that inflection so unique to the Goa'uld.
Nirrti hadn't changed much; dark hair, flashing eyes...striking, but not really beautiful in any way that Jack appreciated the quality. The cold face reflected the cruelty at the core of the 'Goddess of Darkness', robbing her of all pretense of beauty.
"I really had hoped you would..." Jack was stalling, trying to think...
Nirrti smiled, not pleasantly.
"No, indeed. I have not forgotten you."
With a regal wave of her bejewelled hand, Nirrti indicated ten Jaffa lining the walls, staff weapons at the ready. Jack knew they had been there all along, hidden in the darkness beyond the torchlight.
"You will dispose of your weapons now." Nirrti ordered.
Jack was torn...
Teal'c was hampered by the necessity of carrying Daniel. Jack knew he and Carter could probably take out several of Nirrti's Jaffa, but the door seemed impossibly far away...
'Jack...fight...'
It was Daniel, barely there, but urgent.
Jack didn't know if Carter had heard it or not, but he did know that she would be watching for his signal. With the slightest of nods, he gripped his weapon tighter...smiling thinly in satisfaction as he saw Carter follow suit.
"I...really don't think we want to..."
Teal'c broke for the door then as Jack and Carter laid down a covering fire, backing out behind them. Several of Nirrti's Jaffa fell as bullets sprayed across the room.
'Just a few more feet...' Jack thought.
Jack felt a sudden scorching sensation across his shoulder and heard Daniel cry out at the same time. Jack realized at that moment that Daniel's mind was wide open to everything going on around him; feeling the pain, the death...
As he looked back toward the door, Jack saw more Jaffa streaming into the room and knew they weren't going to make it.
Nirrti called for her Jaffa to stop firing.
In the sudden stillness, Jack could hear, and feel, Daniel's pain. The young man was moaning softly; his mind reeling from the bombardment of sensations all around him.
It wasn't worth it...
Jack knew that whatever Nirrti had in mind, she wanted them alive. Jack was more than a little familiar with a Jaffa's deadly aim; if Nirrti had wanted them dead, they would already be so.
If they could stay alive, and together, they had a chance...
With a resigned sigh, Jack lowered his weapon.
The Jaffa quickly stripped them of their weapons and outer garments. Daniel was roughly pulled away from them and dropped back into the center of the stone slab. The rest of the team was led to three posts arranged in a semi-circled around the stone slab and chained to them with their hands above their heads, effectively keeping them on their feet.
Nirrti watched the process with a dark smile that chilled Jack to his bones. He had come to expect cruelty from the Goa'uld; he and his team had personally ticked off more Goa'ulds than he could count. But this...
Nirrti didn't just want them dead....she wanted to grind them up into small pieces and burn what was left...
Jack understood now why the normally diplomatic-minded Daniel had urged them to fight their way out of here...
Daniel knew that the Goddess of Darkness intended to live up to her name.