The Cost of Honor

by Stargate

  When the platform dropped, the angle had to have changed just enough to allow the anti-gray device to activate. A little luck, at last! The ship lifted, hovering a foot in the air. Alvita Candra was still yelling his name and now she was joined by Teal'c who stretched out his hand toward him. "Jump!" he urged. "Daniel Jackson!"

  But he couldn't. He was still clutching the arm of the terrified Outcast, and five others followed behind. "Take him!" Daniel shouted, pushing the bag of bones toward Teal'c as he turned and grabbed the arm of the next man.

  A moment later Teal'c leaped from the ship, hefting the Out cast one-by-one in his powerful arms and throwing them bodily aboard. Daniel spared him a brief look of thanks, when suddenly Teal'c's eyes widened in shock. "Get on board!"

  A wall of water was roaring down on them, spilling over the lip of the city like Niagara Falls and surging toward them as the entire structure succumbed to the ocean. They were going under!

  With a yell of supreme effort, Daniel flung the last petrified Outcast into the waiting arms of Alvita Candra and threw himself after, up onto the hovering deck of the Kinahhi ship. Teal'c landed beside him with a grunt, as hands grabbed them both and dragged them inside. Sam was yelling, "Seal the doors, seal the doors!"

  And then the tidal wave hit.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  autiously, Daniel opened his eyes. Everything had stopped moving, and he'd finally come to rest in a crumpled heap wedged beneath what had once been an elegant, white Kinahhi seat. It was gray with dirt now, boot prints and sea water all over it. He wiggled, felt a twinge in the shoulder he'd dislocated, but not enough to slow him down as he worked free of the seat.

  Next to him, Atella lay flat on his back. A gash to his head bled freely, but when Daniel put two fingers to the man's neck he felt a strong pulse. Getting to his knees, he cast his eyes over the chaotic scene. Without his glasses, everything was blurred. But he could see enough. People were everywhere, tangled together. Some obviously injured, others dazed. There was no sense of jubilation, nothing but confusion. A few had gathered by the far window, staring out at something below. And among them stood Teal'c, his face stony.

  Daniel pushed himself to his feet, wincing at a pain that shot down his right thigh and calf. But he flexed the leg and it took his weight - probably only a bruise. Picking his way through the silent, shell-shocked refugees toward Teal'c, he considered himself lucky.

  "The city is gone, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said softly.

  Right then he was grateful not to be able to see clearly. But even he could make out the tips of the tallest spires, glittering incongruously in the sunlight while the ocean washed through them with a relentless and destructive violence. Soon, they too would be gone. Occasionally, from far below, a cluster of bubbles breached the surface, an air pocket succumbing to the pressure of the sea flooding the city.

  Daniel knew there had to people trapped down there, mostly the Outcast, but probably some Kinahhi too. Fathers, sons, brothers. But it wasn't their fate that clenched a knot in his chest so tight that he could barely breathe.

  "The tower of the Kaw'ree still stands," Teal'c said in a harsh whisper. It was a desperate hope, but hope nonetheless.

  Daniel found he had no voice. Jack...

  "We'll wait." Sam sounded husky as she came to stand beside them at the window. The hair on the side of her head was matted with blood, her features etched with the grief they all shared. Jack couldn't be gone, not for real. He just couldn't.

  They stood in silence, watching the waves break over the towers of Tsapan, until finally people behind them began to move. Daniel was dimly aware of it, of life returning to the traumatized men and women they'd saved. But it seemed far away, he felt no part of it. He felt no relief, no triumph, he felt nothing but loss. He didn't want to move from between his friends, couldn't bear to lose the fragile comfort their presence offered. And so, when he felt a hand on his arm, he shook it off with an angry, "What?"

  It was Alvita Candra, wild hair tamed by water into thick black spirals. "We cannot linger," she said softly, her eyes meeting his with a sympathy that threatened to break his heart. "Commander Kenna has detected a flight of Kinahhi fighters heading toward us. They mean to destroy this ship."

  "We cannot leave." Teal'c was adamant, not turning from the window. "O'Neill may yet escape."

  There was a long silence. Sam sucked in a breath that cracked in her throat, and she coughed. Her face looked as broken as the domes of Tsapan. "Teal'c, the odds-"

  "The odds are irrelevant," he replied. "We are discussing O'Neill."

  The ghost of a smile touched her face, heavy with misery. "We can't risk these people, Teal'c. The Colonel ordered us not to wait for him."

  Teal'c didn't answer, and Sam turned her eyes to Daniel in appeal. He sighed. "Sam's right," he said roughly, though he hated every word. "We can't stay here, we'd be condemning everyone on board."

  Silence fell between them. It was as if no one else in the room existed, the quiet babble of voices and movement retreating into the white noise of grief. Daniel reached out and took Sam's hand, placing the other on Teal'c's shoulder. "I can't think of anything to say..." Sam squeezed his fingers, her eyes filling. But Teal'c jerked violently away from his touch. "Teal'c, I-"

  "Look." Teal'c moved closer to the window, tense as a hound on the scent. "Look at the dome of the Kaw'ree."

  Heart thundering, Daniel pressed his face against the glass. But everything was just a blur. Frustrated, he said, "What? What do you see?"

  "Something flapping in the wind," said Teal'c. "It appears to be a black cloth."

  Sam sucked in a short breath. "One of their robes. It's one of the Kaw'ree robes."

  Hope and reason were at war in Daniel's heart. "The waves could have washed it out," he said cautiously. Or maybe it's a signal? "The waves could have washed it out, and now it's caught on something." Or maybe it's Jack!

  "The Kinahhi will soon be upon us," Alvita Candra said. "We must leave."

  But her voice was distant, it couldn't invade the silent communication taking place between the remaining members of SG-1. Teal'c's eyes fixed on Sam like burning coal. She nodded slightly and glanced at Daniel, seeking his opinion. When he too nodded, she smiled. It was as bright and ferocious as the sun.

  "Screw the Kinahhi," she said. "We're checking it out."

  Panic fluttered beneath the elegant robes of Councilor Tamar Damaris. Between her elegant fingers she held the latest report, though she hardly knew what it said. She'd gotten as far as, `Tsapan has been sunk' and stopped reading. The Kaw'ree had been murdered, the sheh fet was destroyed, the arches that had guarded their freedom for a generation stood dark and unresponsive, and the enemy was at large.

  How was it possible?

  Someone behind her cleared his throat. She turned and saw Matan Tal waiting; his fear was as evident as her own, scored into every feature. "Councilor, I have more news."

  "Good? Or bad." She could not endure more bad news, she felt as though it might destroy her mind entirely.

  But Tal's face was dark. He shook his head, as if the words he spoke could not be believed. "The Tauri in the gate-room have been reinforced from their own world, Councilor. Their hold on the room has strengthened and..."

  She let the rest of his words drift past. The Tauri in the gateroom? She'd almost forgotten them amid the other devastating news, but of course this had been their plan. The destruction of Kinahhi had been their plan all along, and she had allowed it to happen. She had feted these people, trusted them. And how had they repaid her? With bloody rebellion.

  It took a moment before she realized that her aide had stopped speaking. He probably was awaiting an answer, but she knew not what to say. The presence of the Tauri in the gate-room was nothing compared with the disaster that loomed from the wreckage of Tsapan. If the Mahr'bal landed in the city itself all would be lost. "Have our fighter wings engaged the enemy yet?"

  "They have yet to call in," Tal replied.
>
  Damaris turned away, looking out over the false peace of her city. That she should live to see it fall into chaos was unacceptable. "They must not be allowed to land here," she said. "They must be destroyed at any cost."

  Everything depended upon it.

  The hatch stood wide open as their ship skimmed over the water toward the broken dome of the Kaw'ree tower. Sunlight glittered harshly on the waves, the glare making it hard to see, and the roar of the wind and the ocean deafened Sam to everything but the hammering of her heart.

  Ahead, the dome grew larger, the waves surging in and out of its shattered elegance. The scrap of black cloth flapped and danced in the wind, offering the only hope they had.

  Suddenly Daniel's hand clasped her arm. She turned, and he was squinting up into the sky, the wind whipping his hair in all directions. "Look!" he shouted over the noise, pointing.

  She followed his gaze, her sharp eyes fixing on what could only have been a distant blur to her friend. A wedge of dots bearing down on them; fighters in tight formation. Beneath her feet, Sam felt the ship surge. Teal'c must have seen the enemy too and had opened up the throttle.

  Closer and closer. The black rag became clearer now, definitely one of the Kaw'ree robes. From here she could see that it was high above the water line; there was no way it could have been washed up there. Hope beat painfully in her chest, the wind in her face making her eyes stream. Even if it had been put there deliberately, anyone could have done it. The odds of it being the Colonel...

  "What can you see?" Daniel yelled, frustration evident in his clipped tone.

  "Nothing," she shouted back. "I just see the cloth, and-" Movement. Something moved in the shadows within the dome.

  "What?" Daniel sounded desperate, screwing up his face as he peered out. "Sam!"

  "I don't know, I saw something move. It's gone, it's- No, there it is! There's someone there!" A shadow, shifting behind the painted glass of the dome, backlit by the sunshine.

  Daniel grabbed her wrist, fingers digging deep. "Who?"

  "I can't tell, we're too far. I just saw a shadow."

  The ship was slowing now, turning sideways as it glided in toward the tower. The booming crash of the waves was louder here, echoing through the remains of the massive dome looming above them. Its rainbow colors were still glinting in the sunlight, a final gasp before the sea consumed the delicate structure.

  The shadow moved again, about three meters above the swelling ocean. It looked like it was hiding. "Colonel O'Neill?" Sam called.

  "Jack!" Daniel shouted, his strong voice carrying over the waves.

  The shadow stopped moving, disappeared, and then after a moment, a couple of feet below, a familiar head peered out from behind a splintered edge of glass. He waved. He waved!

  "Colonel!" Sam yelled in triumph. The relief was so intense she almost sagged under its weight. He was alive! Against all the odds, he was alive!

  "Yes!" Daniel was punching the air, almost losing his balance and nose diving into the water. "I knew it! I knew it!"

  Sam ducked her head back inside the ship. "Teal'c!" she shouted toward the cockpit. "He's here! He's okay! Get closer. Get-"

  A barrage of scarlet laser fire hammered into the Kaw'ree tower, shattering the dome in a splintered line across its apex, sending an avalanche of glass down into the water. Then their ship lurched, shuddering under the impact of multiple strikes.

  The Kinahhi had arrived.

  Teal'c banked hard as the first wave of the assault began, turning the Kinahhi ship in a tight circle. But it was large, built for transporting troops, he suspected, not engaging in aerial battle. It was, however, armed.

  At his side, Commander Kenna manned the weapons console, answering the attack with the ship's powerful cannons. But his face was a knot of anxiety; the boy sheltering in the rear of the ship no doubt preoccupying his thoughts. "We must retreat!" he barked, even as he fired the weapons. "We cannot withstand an assault from two entire wings!"

  "We will not abandon O'Neill." The point brooked no further argument.

  "Teal'c!" Major Carter appeared in the cramped cockpit, breathing hard. "You have to come around. They're targeting the dome, we have to get him out. Now."

  "I am endeavoring to do so."

  Commander Kenna fired again, his fist hammering hard on the controls. A Kinahhi ship spun past them, flame blazing from its tail until it drowned in the ocean. "We cannot win this!" The Commander insisted, turning now to Major Carter. "Would you sacrifice us all for the sake of one man?"

  From the corner of his eye, Teal'c saw Major Carter shrink from the question. A moment of self-doubt clouded her features, but soon resolve returned. "We don't leave our people behind, Commander." She put a hand on Teal'c's shoulder. "Bring us around for another pass, and we'll grab the Colonel. Then get us out of here."

  "On your mark, Major Carter."

  As she left, Commander Kenna shot Teal'c a hard look. "The priorities of your people make no sense. The safety of many must come before the life of one man!"

  Another hit shook the hull, sounding alarms throughout. The aft stabilizer was damaged. Teal'c said nothing while he fought to keep the ship level, banking and once more closing in upon the dome and O'Neill. But he could not let Kenna's words pass. "Was not that philosophy at the heart of the sheh fet?" The ship was shaking now, the vibrations jarring Teal'c's arms. "The Tauri believe the life of the individual is sacred, whatever the cost of preserving it."

  To that, it seemed, Kenna knew no answer.

  "What's that?" Daniel asked as Sam dashed back to the open hatch. He was sheltering by the side of the door, peering out toward the shattered dome. "Is it Jack?"

  Sam could see the Colonel moving inside, a shadow among shadows, but Daniel was right. Someone else was with him. "Crawford," she said quietly, chilled by the ice in her voice. "I guess he found him."

  "Of course he did," Daniel said, on the edge of a laugh.

  A new volley strafed toward the tower, and once more the Colonel disappeared from sight. Sam found herself holding her breath, but after a moment he was back. This time, he stood right near the edge, on some kind of platform. Crawford cowered behind him like the gutless creep he'd been from day one. She watched for the Colonel's signal; go left. Left? Then he dragged Crawford to his feet. There was some argument, Crawford seemed to disagree with whatever the Colonel was saying. They were too far away for Sam to make out the words, but she knew Colonel O'Neill well - and she knew when his patience, limited as it was, snapped. In one fluid move, he grabbed Crawford by the shoulders and shoved him roughly into the water. The man's arms windmilled, a thin shriek drifting through the noise of the wind until he hit the water and disappeared.

  The Colonel looked at them, gestured left again, and dived gracefully into the sea after Crawford. Sam dropped to her belly and edged out until she could see the ocean below. "Teal'c!" she yelled. "Move left, twenty meters. And take us down, right down to the water!"

  Overhead, a Kinahhi fighter screeched past, peppering the water with weapons fire. Daniel dropped at her side. "Come on," he murmured, staring down at the choppy sea. "Come on, Jack."

  Their ship descended sharply, the ocean shooting up toward them. "There!" Sam yelled. Just ahead, Crawford bobbed to the surface, spluttering. He was screaming obscenities, floundering in panic. "Swim!" Sam shouted. "Over here!"

  Crawford's head turned, ducking under the waves, then up again. He looked exhausted. As the waves swelled and dropped, his head disappeared and reappeared. Another barrage of gunfire raked the water and Crawford shrieked. He wasn't going to make it. He was freaking out, going under, carried by the surge of the waves toward the underside of the dome. Beyond their reach.

  "Crawford!" Sam barked, making it an order. "This way. Move it!"

  Suddenly, the Colonel breached the surface. He made them immediately and waved, then headed off after Crawford with strong, practiced strokes. He grabbed the flailing man and yelled something, then started hauling him
back toward the ship.

  "Teal'c, bring her down!"

  As the ship edged in, Daniel reached out. The swell was huge this far out, slapping at the underside of the ship. If they got too close, they'd be swamped. "Jack!"

  O'Neill pushed Crawford forward, and Daniel was forced to grab the man's scrawny arm. He pulled, the Colonel shoved, and Crawford scrambled up and out of the water. As soon as he was close enough, Sam yanked him into the ship. He dropped to the floor, heaving. She turned away, back to Daniel who now had hold of the Colonel's wrist. But without a little help, physics were against him.

  "Sir!" Sam shouted, mirroring Daniel and reaching down with one hand, bracing herself with the other. The Colonel seized her arm too, his hand ice cold against her skin.

  "I told you," he grunted as they began to pull, "not to wait!"

  "Shut up!" Daniel growled as another fighter barreled overhead. Their ship took the brunt of the attack, shuddering and shaking with each impact. "And climb!"

  The Colonel was half out of the water when he abruptly let go of Sam's arm and grabbed onto the edge of the deck. She seized a fistful of his shirt, Daniel doing the same, and together they hauled him up into the ship.

  "We've got him!" Sam gasped as the Colonel collapsed onto the deck, blue-lipped with cold and panting for air. "Teal'c, get us back to the gate!

  With a stomach-lurching twist, the ship soared up into the air, the enemy fighters right behind.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  he Stargate rippled invitingly as General Hammond watched Dr. Fraiser shepherd his injured men back home. With the immediate surroundings secured, he'd judged it safe enough to evacuate the wounded. Whatever was going on beyond the Stargate complex, it seemed to have tied up all the Kinahhi military. That it had something to do with SG-l was more than likely, in his estimation. But whether they'd come out of it in one piece was another matter entirely.