Yu raised an eyebrow. “What is it you wait for? Will the same device that allowed you to enter and leave my fortress mere months ago not work for you again?”
Daniel swallowed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“No idea. Or you cannot remember?” Yu rose from his chair. With his hands behind his back, he strode off toward the far eastern side of the throne room. The moon was beginning to rise. With a nod of approval, the Goa’uld moved on. He paced the room’s perimeter.
For a brief moment, Daniel considered making a break for the door. Then he remembered the Jaffa standing guard outside.
“Look, why can’t you just tell me why I’m here?”
“Tell me how you came to be here months ago.”
Daniel shrugged. “I honestly don’t remember ever being here. Not in this room.” Which was the truth. Only a few random memories had returned from his time as an ascended being, the capture of Bra’tac and Rya’c being the most significant.
But whether he remembered anything else or not, telling Lord Yu or any other System Lord about ascendency would be paramount to handing over the iris code to Earth’s Stargate. It was bad enough that Anubis was partly ascended. Humanity could pretty much give up if any more Goa’uld figured it out or worse, found the lost city mentioned in the tablet he’d yet to fully decipher.
Yu had stopped walking when he neared the miniature cherry tree at the rear of the throne room. A hand came to rest on top of the jade statue of the woman and her children. The Goa’uld whispered to the statue, but Daniel couldn’t hear his words.
Giving one final pat to the statue, Yu turned back around and gave Daniel a long, studious look. “When last you were here, you were dressed in long robes. I have seen such garb on the humans of Abydos, when it was once ruled by Ra.”
Daniel flinched at the mention of his former home. His former life. His former love.
Those memories of his life years ago had been the first to come back. They were engrained within him as much as the memory of how to breathe, how to laugh, how to live.
Lifting his glasses with a thumb and forefinger, Daniel rubbed his eyes dry.
Yu returned by his seat, but remained standing. “Your time on Abydos is no mystery to the System Lords.” He stared down at Daniel. “What remains a mystery is how you not only knew of Anubis’ plan to attack Abydos, or how you knew about his plans to use the eyes of Ra. No…”
Yu’s arms lifted to encompass the room. “The real mystery is how you appeared here. And then,” he clapped his hands together, “you were gone. All for nothing. Abydos was destroyed.”
“You don’t think I know that?” Daniel whispered. So much lost. Sha’re. Skaara. Kasuf. A lifetime he’d never get back. The Goa’uld had destroyed that life. Under no circumstances could he allow them to learn what it meant to ascend. Otherwise, they would destroy everyone else’s life. If nothing else, Daniel realized now that he’d descended for that very reason. To contribute what he could to the protection of humanity. No matter the cost.
With a grunt, Yu sat down. “You know far more than you will admit, Daniel Jackson.”
“I really don’t,” Daniel said truthfully. “Asking me the same question in different ways isn’t going to get you an answer, either.”
“You have a choice.” Yu pointed toward Daniel’s bowl of stones on the ground. “Play your next move or remember why you cannot disappear as easily as last time.”
Daniel picked up the bowl of stones.
PLANET DESIGNATION: LORD YU’S
HOMEWORLD (P3X-042)
STATUS: SAR MISSION STANDBY
APPROX 1950 HRS LOCAL TIME
3 JUL 03/910 HRS BASE TIME
Before they completely lost daylight, Jack dragged the dead and dying Jaffa away from base camp with the help of Teal’c and Bra’tac. Some of the warriors had taken hits from his P90, while others were covered in scorch marks, the result of friendly fire staff burns. The sight sickened Jack. Blood was blood, no matter if it was the enemy’s or your own. He could stomach it, sure, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
They’d found the perfect spot fifty yards further east. Dead, broken up trees. Long hanging leaves drooping off bushes. The perfect camouflage. They covered up the dead Jaffa with branches and then zip-tied the injured to a massive tree trunk that even a healthy Jaffa couldn’t lift. No one spoke a word the entire time.
Once finished, Jack picked up his P90 and ordered them back to base camp. Bra’tac led the way, pulling back what branches were in their path. As they hiked back, he mentally kicked himself for not asking Siler to pack a rifle sling.
A sling would have come in handy, especially when Bra’tac let go of a branch too soon and it thwacked Jack in the face.
“Ouch!” He raised a hand to his left eyebrow and pulled it back. Blood. Just great. “You wanna watch what you’re doing?”
Bra’tac ignored him, stomping off toward the clearing. Jack turned to Teal’c. “What’s his problem?”
“He is upset, O’Neill.”
“I can see that.” Exiting the clearing, Jack watched Bra’tac join Carter by the pile of staff weapons she’d collected while they were gone. Overhead, the rising moon provided plenty of light. Too much light in Jack’s opinion. One glider flying by at the wrong moment and they’d be screwed.
Bra’tac flung staff after staff toward the far end of the field. Jack had a hunch what was bothering the old man, and under other circumstances, he’d let it lie, but given their current situation, it needed to be dealt with before they proceeded any further.
He strode past Carter, that damn com ball ensconced on her tact vest, and faced Bra’tac. “You’ve got something to say? Say it.”
Bra’tac raised another staff weapon over his head. “You should have waited.”
“For what?”
The staff weapon sailed past him.
“I might have swayed those Jaffa to our cause.” Bra’tac picked up another one.
“Not from what I could see.” A bit of blood dripped down his cheek. He dashed it away.
“You see only what your eyes will tell you, O’Neill.” He flung the staff further this time.
“My eyes could see plenty. That is, until you thwacked me so nicely with that branch, thank you very much.” Jack snorted. “From where I was, Teal’c and Carter were about to be toast. A whole new bunch of Jaffa were jumping into the party.”
“Our zat’ni’katels would have sufficed.” Bra’tac swept up yet another staff weapon, but Jack yanked it from his hands.
“Zats only work for a few minutes and you know it.” He tossed the staff weapon aside. “Tell me… what would you have done different?”
Bra’tac glanced over at Teal’c and Carter standing off to one side. Carter opened her mouth, but Jack dashed an open palm across his throat, the sign to keep out of the way. As much as Jack respected his teammates’ opinions, this needed to be hashed out between him and Bra’tac without interference.
Finally, Bra’tac looked back at Jack. “Retreat was an option. We could have taken the cargo ship and flown to a new location.”
“You ever hear of the element of surprise? We would’ve lost it if we landed somewhere else. Sooner or later, one of Yu’s little Jaffa would pull it together enough to make for home.”
Bra’tac jutted his chin out. “Warriors had lain down their weapons, O’Neill. Others gave pause upon hearing my words. Their hearts spoke of the desire to join our cause. You should not have shot them with your rifle. That was not our agreement.”
Jack threw up his hands in disgust. “And you think because a couple of Jaffa hesitated, it would’ve been okay if Teal’c or Carter took one in the back.”
“Because you have used your Tau’ri weapon, we will never know the truth.”
“He’s right, sir.”
Jack whirled toward his second-in-command. “Excuse me?
She yanked off the com ball from her vest and held it at eye-level. “General Hamm
ond, are you receiving this?”
“Loud and clear, Major.”
She glanced up toward Jack for a moment and frowned.
“Carter?”
“And Ambassador Huang, sir?”
“The ambassador’s right here beside me.”
Jack clenched his fists. “What the hell, Major?”
Carter popped the com ball back into its webbing. She straightened to attention, her eyes narrowed. “I’m sorry, sir, but by General Hammond’s authority, you are relieved of command.”
Chapter Nine
STARGATE COMMAND
STATUS: GATE OPERATIONS SUSPENDED
03 JUL 03/1000 HRS BASE TIME
“You are relieved of command.”
It was too dark to make out much of Colonel O’Neill’s face on the communications ball though George could easily imagine Jack’s reaction to the Major’s orders.
Sitting beside him at the briefing table, Ambassador Huang practically rubbed his hands together with glee. “You are to be congratulated, General Hammond.”
George mentally counted to three before trusting himself to speak. “Congratulated for what, Ambassador?”
“Your foresight. While it is a terrible thing for our emperor to lose so many of his warriors, who knows what Colonel O’Neill might do once they reach his palace if you had not thought to arrange for Major Carter to replace him.”
“Firstly, Mister Ambassador, Lord Yu isn’t my emperor — ”
“General Hammond, sir,” called out Major Davis from George’s office.
Through the star chart window, a BDU-clad Jacob Carter sat down heavily into one of the visitors’ chairs. Even from this distance, George could tell that his old friend didn’t have good news to share.
He glanced back at the com ball, at the still silent colonel visibly glowering at his second-in-command.
“Go ahead, General.” Huang waved a hand as if in dismissal. “I am sure you’ve other, more critical matters which require your attendance. I shall continue to observe your team’s progress. Return at your convenience.”
If George had any hair left, he would’ve pulled it out there and then. Instead, he nodded curtly to the ambassador, turned on his heels and walked into his office in fewer strides than he thought possible. He gestured to the major to shut the door and then sank down into his chair.
“You’re looking a bit ragged there, George,” said Jacob. “Huang got you all tied up in knots or what?”
George related the events he’d witnessed on the Goa’uld communication device. “Tell me you have something.”
“Selmak does,” Jacob said.
“Let’s hear it.”
Jacob bowed his head, the telltale sign that he was climbing into the back seat so his Tok’ra symbiote could speak. The sight never ceased to amaze George. Nor the distorted sound coming from his old friend’s mouth.
“I have examined Dr. Frasier’s results — ”
The hallway door began to open. As Jacob dropped his head, Major Davis dashed over and stuck his head outside.
“I want to see General Hammond. Now.” The insistent voice had a slight Jamaican lilt.
George should have recognized who it was, but at this particular moment, he had bigger concerns. “Whoever it is, tell them we’re busy, major.”
A dark hand pushed the door all the way open, revealing one of Stargate Command’s new archaeologists. George recognized the man as Dr. Kevin Hopkins, an associate of Dr. Jackson’s.
Major Davis tried to block Hopkins from entering, but Hopkins had a good six inches on him and easily pushed his way through. The archaeologist stormed up to George’s desk and put his hands on his hips.
“Doctor, we’re a little busy here,” George said.
“Looks to me like you’re sitting around, chewing the fat all di’while. In the meantime, my friend is out there, somewhere, having god knows what done to him.”
George shoved down the flare of anger threatening to erupt and stood up, placing his hands on his desk. An effort to look as calm yet as intimidating as he possibly could. He didn’t have time for an argument, but this man needed to understand how things worked.
“We are doing everything we possibly can to find Dr. Jackson,” he assured Hopkins. “I need you to return to your lab and focus on your assignment. As soon as we know anything we can share, we will.”
“There goes that need-to-know business, again.” Hopkins laughed. “I’m not a pickney, General. I’d peg my two PhD’s against your two little stars any day if you’d like to try me on for size.”
“Shall I call in my Special Forces to explain to you the meaning of these stars, Doctor?”
“Wait a moment,” Jacob said. He stood up and approached Hopkins. “You’re the man who hassled Colonel O’Neill in the locker room yesterday.”
“Yeah, man. And I suppose you’re his best friend,” Hopkins sneered at Jacob. “Where the hell is he anyway? Hiding in a corner somewhere, licking his wounds? He should be. It’s his fault Daniel was captured by those monsters. If he hadn’t — ”
“That’s enough,” George bellowed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Major Davis stepped forward. “You need to leave, Doctor.”
Hopkins put up his hands in surrender. “I apologize. I… just…” He dropped his hands to his side as his voice fell to a whisper. “I never imagined something so horrible could happen. Not to anyone. Daniel was my best friend in graduate school. You have to tell me you’ll get him home. That you have the best people working around the clock to rescue him.”
George gestured toward the door. He needed Hopkins out of there, fast. With Colonel O’Neill removed from command, finding out what Selmak had to say could be critical to the next leg of SG-1’s mission. With all the patience he could muster, George said to Hopkins, “I assure you, the rescue of Dr. Jackson has this command’s highest attention.”
Hopkins began walking toward the door. He stopped, staring out through the transparent star chart. “If you don’t mind my asking, why is there a Chinese man sitting in your briefing room?”
George sat back down. “As you may be aware, the president recently disclosed the Stargate’s existence to the UN Security Council. The Chinese man you refer to is Ambassador Huang.”
“Huang?” Hopkins cocked his head sideways. “That’s odd.”
“Odd, how?” Jacob asked.
“P3Y-702 was loaded to the brim with Chinese artifacts,” Hopkins replied. “Is that why he’s here?”
“In a manner of speaking,” George answered. Hopkins had a high level of security clearance, but not high enough to be let in on the details of SG-1’s rescue mission.
“You said his name was Huang?”
George sighed. “Doctor, please.”
“Thanks to your ‘need-to-know’ program, I only got the short sheet but… wasn’t one of those Goa’uld System Lords named Yu after the ancient Chinese Jade emperor?”
Davis grabbed his elbow. “This way, sir.”
“Wait a second,” Jacob said. “What’s your point, doctor?”
“It’s probably nothing,” Hopkins said with a shrug. “Huang’s a common name in China, although, yeh… it’s a rather bizarre coincidence.”
In George’s seven years with the program, he’d learned the hard way that there were no such things as coincidences. “Explain.”
Hopkins looked back at him. “A planet full of Chinese artifacts… plus those four graves we dug up. Correct me if I’m wrong, man, but haven’t the forensic archaeologists determined those bodies were of Chinese descent?”
“Not yet.” George traded glances with Jacob. “Your point?”
“A’right,” said Hopkins as he raised one finger. “Daniel gets taken by some Goa’uld.” He raised a second finger. “There’s a Goa’uld who goes by the name of Lord Yu, after the Jade Emperor.” A third. “And then an ambassador shows up with the name of Huang.” He dropped his hand. “The original Emperor Yu’s full name
was Yu Huang Shang-Ti. I’d consider that an odd coincidence.”
“Thank you, Doctor. Now if you wouldn’t mind…” George gestured toward Davis to show the doctor out.
Hopkins got halfway out the door and then stopped, frowning. “You realize this is all Colonel O’Neill’s fault. If he hadn’t tried to make such a half’ediat out of Daniel, he wouldn’t have been taken.”
“No, sir,” George said with an emphatic shake of his head. “Jack O’Neill has made more sacrifices than anyone else alive to protect you, this world, and particularly Dr. Jackson from the Goa’uld. You may not like the colonel’s tactics, but I can assure you, they’ve worked time and time again.”
“What about this time?”
“I have every faith in Colonel O’Neill and his team. They’ll bring him home. It’s what they do.”
Hopkins left without further resistance and Major Davis closed the door once more. George glanced over at Jacob. “Coincidence? Or is there something going on I need to know about?”
“This information only further confirms Dr. Frasier’s preliminary results,” Selmak said.
“Preliminary,” Major Davis repeated. He cleared his throat. “Sirs, I can’t go to the president with preliminary findings and coincidental names. There’s already enough tension between U.S. and China. If you’re wrong, the Chinese will have a fit. They’ll see any doubt of Huang’s credentials as an insult. I’m sorry, but you have to be sure.”
“We realize that, Major.” George stared at the red phone on his desk, wanting nothing more than to call the president himself. “How much more time does Dr. Frasier need?”
Davis looked at his watch. “Thirty minutes, maybe an hour.”
“An hour may prove too long,” Selmak said. We must relay our suspicions to SG-1 immediately. Their lives may be in more danger than originally anticipated.”
“And then?”
“Then we determine how best to play our part in securing the safe return of Dr. Jackson and SG-1.”
PLANET DESIGNATION: LORD YU’S
HOMEWORLD (P3X-042)
SG1-16 Four Dragons Page 14