Part 30 (1/2)
The man's eyes scanned each of them in turn and he frowned. Jack guessed they must stand out like a sore thumb in their BDUs when the locals seemed to prefer the grubby rags look. This guy was also sporting a Jaffa tattoo on his forehead, and looked slightly better fed than the folk on the surface. Getting in with a Goa'uld obviously paid well.
The man's gaze came to rest on Jack's MP5. He didn't seem hostile, just suspicious, so Jack decided to take a gamble. ”Look,” he said. ”We're here as friends, and to prove it we'll put our guns down.” He let go of the MP5, letting it hang from the shoulder strap - within easy reach should things go sour. ”Carter? Teal'c?”
”Yes, sir,” replied Carter following his lead. Teal'c took a few more seconds before closing his staff weapon.
”Who are you?” asked the man.
Daniel stepped forward. ”We're from a place called Earth. We came through the Stargate... the Chappa'ai... but there's no dialing device to get us home. We were told that Dix may be able to help us. My name is Daniel and this is Sam, Jack and Teal'c. We really don't mean any harm to you.”
As Daniel had been speaking, the man's expression had grown more and more perplexed. If it hadn't been for his question, Jack would have doubted that he even spoke English. But just when he'd started to think that there was no chance of this guy taking them to Dix, the man gestured with his head and said. ”I think you'd better come with me. Zuri is going to love you.”
The four of them exchanged a glance and then followed the man, who introduced himself as Slade, further into the tunnels.
Eventually, they reached a large hole in one wall, about the size of a double doorway. A huge sheet of rusted metal covered it from the other side. Slade banged out a rhythm on it and after a few seconds it slid back to reveal a large cavern, manmade by the looks of it, and clear of debris. After the cramped tunnels they'd just crawled through, this place felt like Grand Central Station. Soft light came from a series of lanterns, which hung above orderly rows of chairs and tables. The room had a definite military feel, reminding him of, maybe, a mess hall.
He turned to say as much to Carter, but she was frowning again, lost in thought.
”Who the h.e.l.l are these fools?” barked a voice from across the room. A woman, tall and dark skinned, with close cropped hair, had risen from one of the tables and was approaching. ”Slade, no one enters the Inner Circle without Dix's authority. You know this.”
”I didn't think he'd say no to these ones, Zuri,” said Slade. ”Take a look at their sleeves.”
The woman glanced at Daniel's jacket, and then, with a frown, grabbed the sleeve and pulled him closer, her eyes on the SGC badge.
”Um, okay!” said Daniel, and tried to pull his arm back, but Zuri held it fast.
”I was right,” said Zuri. ”You are fools! Why do you come here brazenly wearing this mark?”
”They say they are SG-1,” said Slade.
Jack cursed silently; he should've thought to take off their arm patches. Zuri's reaction, however, wasn't what he'd expected.
She gave a derisive snort of laughter and let go of Daniel's sleeve as if she'd just discovered she was holding used toilet paper. ”You are SG-1? Is this some kind of joke?”
”If it is, the punchline sucks,” said Jack, his patience wearing thin.
”I a.s.sure you, Zuri,” said Teal'c, ”we intend no joke. We are in need of your help and must speak with Dix.”
When Teal'c stepped forward, Zuri's expression turned from scornful to pensive. ”You are true Jaffa,” she said.
Teal'c inclined his head.
Zuri crossed her arms and stood as if in thought for a moment. ”You will wait here,” she said, before marching through another door at the opposite end of the hall.
”I guess we wait then,” said Jack.
As it turned out, they didn't have to wait long and she returned within minutes.
”Will Dix see us?” asked Jack.
”Dix is here,” she replied. It was only then that Jack noticed a figure standing in the shadows of the doorway behind her, watching them.
They stood in silence for a few moments, but, when it seemed clear this guy wasn't going to break the ice, Jack cleared his throat and said, ”Hey there. Dix, I presume? I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill and this is -”
”I know who you are, Colonel O'Neill,” said Dix.
”Well that makes a change...”
Dix walked into the light of the lanterns, revealing a tall, broad-shouldered Jaffa, perhaps just older than Teal'c, with a dusting of gray in his black hair - and the mark of Apophis on his brow.
Jack frowned as a flicker of recognition pa.s.sed through his mind, as if he'd seen this guy somewhere before. ”Do we know each other?” he asked.
But Dix wasn't looking at him. He was watching Teal'c, and to Jack's astonishment he saw a film of tears in the man's eyes. ”I knew you would return,” Dix said. ”I knew you were not dead.”
Teal'c stepped forward, almost stumbling.
Beside him, Jack heard Daniel mutter, ”Oh my G.o.d.”
”Am I missing something here?” said Jack, looking around, but Carter too was staring open-mouthed at the scene unfolding between Teal'c and this strange Jaffa.
”No,” whispered Teal'c. ”No, it cannot be.”
”I always had faith that you would return to us, father.”
And then, of course, Jack understood. But understanding set off a clamor of denial in his head because somehow, impossibly, this man, this soldier, was Rya'c - the young boy he'd last seen only a few months ago in the Land of Light.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT.
It should have been the best and the brightest, Hammond thought as he stood in the gate room and watched the frightened, tearful procession tramping up the ramp and through the event horizon. But instead they could only evacuate those who had reached the base before the attack began: mostly military, some civilians, a few bewildered children. Politicians, inevitably.
There were plenty on the list who'd refused to go, for whom the dual revelations of extra-terrestrial invasions and Stargates were simply too much to process, and there were others who didn't have the d.a.m.n right but were going anyway. Maybourne was top of that list, though the wrongness of it almost choked Hammond. But then, if the colonel hadn't appeared on the base, sniveling and cowed and all too ready to give up the Alpha Site address, it was doubtful that they'd have been able to save even this many. Hammond took a grim satisfaction in the fact that the man's hubris had been knocked from him by whatever he'd witnessed topside. There had been no triumph, no I-told-you-so, just a small man desperate to escape. But the sight had offered little real solace.
As for the rest of the politicians, Hammond reserved judgment. They'd better d.a.m.n well learn to fight or farm, because partisan politicking was the last thing this fragile human outpost would need. It was exactly that kind of scheming that had gotten them here in the first place.
He was still having a hard time accepting that it had been Makepeace all along. The man who had sat in his briefing room and listened to Hammond deliver the bleak sit-rep, knowing the precariousness of their situation in the galaxy and yet saying nothing. He was gone now, a last gasp attempt at redemption perhaps. By Jefferson's account, it was thanks to the colonel's sacrifice that Jaffa weren't swarming through the SGC's corridors already. Makepeace had bought them time to evacuate, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow and Hammond didn't think he was ready to forgive him yet.
Far above, something impacted the mountain and the whole base shook. Frightened faces lifted to the ceiling and the pace of the evacuation picked up a notch.
Stargate Command's power and communications had been knocked out in the first wave; they were operating blind now, limping along on generators. It was barely enough to power the gate. Dust sifted down from the ceiling as the a.s.sault on the mountain continued and the dull rumbles and thuds penetrated even into the gate room.
What the state of the surface was like, he dared not imagine. He just prayed that the enemy were concentrating their a.s.sault on the mountain, because he had one final role of the dice to make if he could find someone brave enough to take a risk on his last gambit.
All around him, the men and women of Stargate Command prepared to leave, dragging as much kit as they could find into the gate room. Dr. Fraiser was marshalling her own people and it looked like she was trying to send every nut and bolt from the infirmary through to the Alpha Site - G.o.d knew, they'd need it all and more. She caught his eye from the opposite side of the gate room and lifted a hand to wave. He nodded, but didn't disrupt her work. Every second counted. Once the gate shut down there would be no guarantee they could redial fast enough to prevent the Goa'uld from dialing in. They'd been lucky twice; he just prayed their luck would hold a little longer.
”Sir?” He turned to find Colonel Dixon standing at his side.
”Colonel?” Dixon's Pentagon Strike Team had been parachuted in to oversee the evacuation, so he was surprised to see the colonel still in the gate room. ”I thought your team had gone through with the President.”