They were waiting in the antechamber of the palace, or at least he supposed that’s what it was, with giant carved columns and lots of Egyptian hieroglyphics, lit here and there by torches and a little more weirdly by Goa’uld portable lights. Dawn was coming outside, but as yet the skylights illuminated nothing. Beside him, Daniel shifted from foot to foot, probably trying to adjust his towel too. One thing you had to say about security in these outfits — there wasn’t any way to conceal a weapon. He and Daniel wore their zats perfectly openly on their belts, and Teal’c had his staff weapon in hand.
It had caused raised eyebrows, but nobody had tried to take it yet, not after Egeria forbade them to in her unmistakably Goa’uld voice. Ra’s Jaffa were pretty confident themselves.
At last the doors opened. “The Lady Egeria,” Teal’c intoned solemnly, preceding her into the hall.
Aset/Egeria stepped forward, her eyes golden. “My Lord Ra,” she said, her voice dropping into its lowest register.
He came forward, a ribbon device on his hand, and Cam saw Daniel tense, though Ra did not so much as glance at them. His eyes were for the lady. Cam had to admit that Aset was beautiful, and with that air of command she captured attention. “Egeria,” he said. “How is it that I do not know you?”
“I was carried in the body of one of your Jaffa,” she said, and held out her hands to rest them lightly on his own. “One who escaped the slaughter of your men. But I was near maturity, and when that time came I took a host who pleased me. Since then I have lived in quiet, hoping that you would return.”
“I am pleased that you have survived,” Ra said. His eyes roved over her face.
“And now I have come to pledge myself to you,” Egeria said, and the beads in her hair rang as she moved her head. “It would be an honor to serve so distinguished a master.”
“And my pleasure to have so beautiful a servant,” Ra said.
Cam saw Teal’c’s fingers tighten on his staff weapon, but otherwise the Jaffa did not move.
“It is good to return to civilization,” Egeria said. “I have spent too long in hovels.” She looked about the palace appreciatively. “I hope that I may come with you when you leave this world?”
“Most assuredly,” Ra said with a smile. “It is only the least part of my domain. My servants will find rooms for you and your entourage aboard my ship. In the meantime, I hope that you will make yourself comfortable in this palace. It is mean, but for a short while…”
“I am sure your hospitality will lack nothing,” Egeria replied. “Come. Let us speak further.”
Danyel had been on the prison levels of a ha’tak before, both as a prisoner and as a rescuer, and he didn’t think it was actually getting any easier with practice. The corridors here were dark, there weren’t too many Jaffa, but they came and went unpredictably, and there was still no sign of Jack. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, the weird conviction that he’d done this before — rescued Jack from a System Lord with the help of Sam and Teal’c, but the third, the alien, wasn’t Vala, but — the ghost of memory was gone, leaving only frustration. It was an Ascended memory, it had that peculiar, unmistakable flavor, the certainty that there were tremendous secrets just beyond his reach. And this was not the time, he didn’t need the distraction, except maybe he did, if it was something about rescue. Whatever it was, though, it dangled just out of reach.
He controlled his thoughts with an effort, took another quick look around the edge of the door: the main corridor was still clear. Behind him, Carter was bent over the console, searching the ship’s database to find where Jack was held. Teal’c dragged the last Jaffa body out of sight behind it, straightening with a grunt, and Vala came to join him, smiling at him over her unfolded zat.
“Isn’t this fun? Just like old times.”
“The old times we shared involved me getting kidnapped and tied up,” Danyel reminded her. “And you nearly getting me killed. Oh, and I still haven’t been to Atlantis.”
“You are still annoyed about that,” Vala said, with an air of discovery, and Danyel nodded.
“Yes. As a matter of fact — yes, I am.”
Vala pouted, and he looked away, peering down the corridor again. Jack a prisoner, Jack tortured, Ba’al with that smug lying smile — he was almost there, and then it slipped away.
“Got it!” That was Carter, turning away from the console. “Three levels down, along the lateral corridor.”
Danyel let her take point, Teal’c at six, kept his own zat cocked and ready. Luckily, the corridors were nearly empty — not only were Ra’s Jaffa busy with the palace, but he was beginning to suspect that Ra hadn’t waited to collect a full complement before he headed to Earth. If so, it was the first stroke of luck they’d had so far.
There was more light ahead, a hum of machinery and the sound of scuffling feet, and then the cry of a man in agony. Jack. Danyel started forward, but Carter caught his arm.
“Wait.”
Danyel froze, all too aware of what he’d almost done, aware, too, that his instinct had as much to do with whatever it was that he couldn’t remember than with the present situation. “Sorry.”
“General O’Neill?” Vala asked softly, and Danyel didn’t bother to correct her. Carter nodded, her expression grim.
Danyel flattened himself against the corridor wall, eased sideways until he could take a quick look into the cell. Jack hung suspended from the back wall, his head down, body slack. There were two Jaffa on guard, eyes front, faces impassive, and a third held a pain stick, his head tipped to one side as he considered his next move. Danyel bit back a curse, and held up three fingers. Carter nodded again, and turned her attention to the locked door. After a quick examination, she pried open a panel, and reached in.
“Teal’c,” she said. “Ready?”
“Yes,” the Jaffa answered, and she did something to the machinery. Sparks flew, and the door slid open. Teal’c fired twice, three times, and there was silence.
“Pretty,” Vala said, and folded her zat.
Danyel ignored her, pushed past the others and the Jaffa bodies to get to Jack. The cuffs that held him were locked, and he turned to look, but Vala tossed him the keys. Teal’c came to help, and together they got Jack down onto the cell floor. He looked terrible, his face pale and drawn, but his eyes opened slowly.
“Ow.”
Danyel closed his eyes in relief, and Carter grinned. Jack dragged himself to a sitting position, wincing.
“About time,” he said. “And you might have left one alive for questioning.”
“We could put you back and try again,” Danyel said, and kept a steadying arm on Jack’s shoulders.
“No, no, just —” Jack accepted Teal’c’s hand, and hauled himself to his feet. “File it for next time.”
“Right.” Danyel stood, carefully just in reach in case Jack stumbled.
“Glad to see you’re all right, sir,” Carter said. “Look, they’re probably monitoring the cell, so we need to get going. And the sooner we’re out of the pyramid, the better.”
Jack was shaking his head. “Sorry, Colonel, we’ve got one more stop. Ra’s got your friend Carolyn Lam.”
The quarters given to Egeria were those of the Queen Mother, Teal’c saw, and he repressed a frown. Of course they were. They were the nicest ones besides Pharaoh’s own, which were no doubt reserved for Ra himself. Egeria would not know that, but Aset did, and for a moment dismay chased across her face before Egeria spoke. “These will do,” she said regally and favored Ra with a smile. “I will send my servants to prepare my bath. I am fatigued from my journey. Also,” she plucked at the fabric of Sam’s best dress disdainfully, “better clothing.”
“It will be as you wish,” Ra said smoothly. After all, what was it to him? A bit of plunder from humans who had defied him. “I will return to my ship, as I have business to attend to.”
“So soon?” Egeria favored him with an intimate glance, and Teal’c tried not to grind his teeth together. �
�I had hoped you would talk with me a little while.”
“Perhaps I could do so,” Ra said, and sank into the finest chair in the room. “While your servants are about their business.”
Daniel Jackson bowed gracefully from the waist. “We will do our best, Lady,” he said, and trotted out of the room followed by Cameron Mitchell. Which was the plan, of course. They were now loose in the palace to do what they could.
Teal’c went and stood behind Egeria’s chair, protective as a First Prime should be. Aset would know he was there and would let no harm come to her.
“Tell me of your realm and of your person,” Egeria said. “I am eager to know you better.”
Cam drew Daniel aside as soon as they were around the corner and out of sight of the two Jaffa who guarded the door to the Queen Mother’s rooms while Ra was in them. “OK,” he said. “Let’s stop and think. Where would Ra keep the Pharaoh?”
Daniel reached up as though he were going to adjust his glasses, but of course he wasn’t wearing them. “He’s probably claimed Pharaoh’s rooms for himself. So he’s being kept somewhere secure. Sam said there wasn’t a prison attached to the palace, so if he hasn’t been taken to the mothership he’s likely in a storeroom somewhere. They’re the only rooms in a palace of this era that aren’t connected to anything and don’t have a skylight.”
“OK,” Cam said. “We’re servants. We can go visit the storerooms, right?”
Daniel nodded. “They’ll be around the back, past the smaller courtyards that have living quarters around them. I don’t see Jaffa widely through the palace. Mostly they’re guarding the entrances. We can probably take out the guards with zats.”
“Good.” Cam unfolded his zat. “Let’s do this thing.”
The third storeroom was the charm. Cam looked around the corner and gestured Daniel back. Two big Jaffa guarded the door, but there didn’t seem to be anything other than a bar across it. After all, it was a pantry, not a high security prison. Cam tucked his zat inside the waistband of his shenti and ambled out, ignoring Daniel’s weird gestures. Daniel knew what the score was and he’d have the surprise.
“Hey guys,” Cam said in a language that was utterly incomprehensible to the Jaffa, his hands empty and visible. “Can you give me a hand with a problem here?”
One of the Jaffa stepped forward shaking his head, saying something that probably universally translated as, “Dude in a towel, go away.”
Cam pointed to the storeroom. “I need to get some stuff out of there. Clean towels. For my master, Ra’s guest.”
Ra’s name seemed to go over at least, as the other Jaffa leaned his staff weapon against the wall, saying something that probably meant, “Dude, this area is restricted.”
“I’ve got a problem,” Cam said with a disarming grin, and drew his zat. Which unfortunately caught on the folds of his skirt, but one swift jerk took care of that just as Daniel fired and the first guy crumpled. “Like that,” Cam said, shooting the other one without raising his hand from his hip. It didn’t matter where you hit someone with a zat. Hitting the guy in the legs dropped him all the same.
Daniel hopped around the corner with an exasperated look. “What was that about?”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Cam picked his skirt up off the floor and tried to rewind it around his waist.
Daniel shook his head. “Is that a zat in your shenti, or are you just glad to see me? Honestly.”
He unbarred the door while Cam fixed his little wardrobe malfunction and opened it, saying something in Egyptian. Presumably it was something along the lines of ‘we’re here to rescue you.’
“Danyel!” The speaker was the young man with a shaved head Mitchell had seen O’Neill talking to earlier, shorter than they were but seriously ripped, and he clutched Daniel’s forearm in a handshake before he stopped, looking at him more carefully.
More Egyptian, presumably explaining that he wasn’t Danyel but the other Daniel.
“OK,” Cam said. “Let’s get out of here. We haven’t got a lot of time.” He handed Hor-Aha the zat. A staff weapon was easier to manage in a shenti anyhow.
Chapter Sixteen
“Carolyn!” Carter’s voice was sharp with relief. “Where is she?”
“In a sarcophagus,” Jack answered. He stretched cautiously, testing his muscles. Everything still hurt, but nothing was actually injured. The pain sticks worked directly on the nerves, and the sensation was out of all proportion to the damage.
“I don’t suppose you know where they are,” Danyel said.
“I knew I forgot to ask Ra something,” Jack exclaimed. “I had it written down somewhere — no, I don’t know where the sarcophagi are. I kind of thought you might have some idea.”
“Yes, sir, we do,” Carter said.
For a second, Jack thought about telling her to stop calling him sir, but it occurred to him that it was a good way to remind him that this wasn’t really Sam. Sam didn’t call him sir except on very special occasions — and that was something else he really didn’t want to think about right now.
“We do?” The dark-haired woman — Vala — gave Carter a quick look. “I mean, yes, we do.” She favored him with a toothy and completely insincere smile.
“Colonel Carter is right,” the other Teal’c said. He looked really odd with hair, Jack thought. “We must hurry. Ra’s men will soon realize you have escaped.”
“This way,” Carter said.
“How far?” That was Danyel, and Jack thought he knew what prompted the question. He would resent it, except that his knees were feeling as though this might be a relevant bit of information.
“Two levels up,” Carter answered. “In the port quadrant.”
Well, it could be worse, Jack thought. It could be all the way on the other side of the ha’tak, and there might be an entire regiment of Jaffa between them and it. Of course, there still might be, so it was probably better not to borrow trouble. Teal’c took point, staff weapon ready — good move, Jack thought; he was the one most likely to confuse the Jaffa — and Carter settled in six. Vala moved slightly ahead and Jack wasn’t surprised to find Danyel at his elbow.
“I’m fine,” he said, and Danyel nodded.
“Uh-huh.”
“Not my first rodeo.”
“I know.”
“Fine.” They had reached a set of narrow stairs, probably for maintenance, and Jack hauled himself up, trying not to flinch as his knees cracked sharply. “You do know the way out, right?”
“Carter does,” Danyel said, far too cheerfully, Jack thought. And that wasn’t fair, because this was Carter — she was Sam with Air Force training, after all, and nobody made colonel on good looks and astrophysics — but he hated having to trust himself to anyone else. And, OK, maybe that tendency was just a little bit worse after the last few hours with Ra and his men, but — He shut that thought away in the box with everything else he couldn’t afford to think about right now, and concentrated on keeping pace with the others.
There were more Jaffa on this level, a lot more. Teal’c cast around for an alternate route, one that didn’t take them through the main corridors, but even the smaller passages were busy. They finally stopped to regroup in a small storeroom on the level below the sarcophagus room.
“What the hell is he thinking?” Jack said. Frustrated as he was, he kept his voice well down. “Why aren’t these guys out subduing the planet?”
“Because he’s spent a little too long in a sarcophagus?” Carter said. If she was as irritated by the situation as he was, she didn’t show it.
“Unless maybe he’s got something he really wants to protect,” Danyel said. “If so —”
Teal’c was shaking his head. “I do not think so, Danyel. This is not a security deployment.” He smiled, and Jack blinked, trying to remember the last time he’d seen their own Teal’c smile like that. “I think Colonel Carter may be correct. He has spent too much time in his sarcophagus.”
“Well, I never thought much of him,” V
ala said. “But how are were going to get past his stupidity?”
Carter and Teal’c exchanged glances. “I think we’re going to need a diversion,” Carter said. “Teal’c, Danyel, and I will draw them off, and Vala, you and General O’Neill will go after Dr. Lam.”
“Split up?” Jack frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Colonel.”
“It’s not what I’d choose,” Carter agreed. “But I don’t see a better alternative. We’re not going to find a way around all these Jaffa.” She grinned then, a sudden, wholly mischievous expression. “Besides, as you’ve repeatedly reminded me, sir — you’re retired.”
Jack felt a momentary flash of anger, but it dissolved immediately into a chuckle. He’d deserved that, and, anyway, she was right. He didn’t see a better option either. “OK, Colonel. We’ll do it your way.”
The Jaffa didn’t know Hor-Aha by sight. In a plain white shenti like theirs the three of them looked the same, three servants bound on an errand. Nobody stopped them in the back corridors of the palace. After all, the attention was on Ra and on the massive mothership hovering. Hor-Aha’s men seemed to have melted away, or at least Daniel hoped that was what had happened to them.
Hor-Aha hesitated, and Daniel stopped beside him. “We have to go.”
“My wife,” Hor-Aha said, looking toward the mothership with an expression Daniel expected he himself knew far too well. “My sons. I don’t know where they’ve been taken.”
Daniel made his voice as confident as he could. “We’ll find them,” he said. “But not this way. You have to lead Egypt, and you can’t do that if you’re taken prisoner again.”
Hor-Aha paused, then nodded gravely. “And you and your friend have risked your life to come for me. I cannot repay your risk with foolishness.” His dark eyes were sharp. “Ra has O’Neill too.”
“We know,” Daniel said. “Colonel Carter has gone after him.”
The pharaoh shook his head. “I am confused by this multiplicity.”
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