“Daniel Jackson,” said Teal’c. “It is good to see you.”
“Uh… you too.” He gestured toward the display of Sam standing in front of the tanagram doors.
Teal’c’s eyes widened.
“Bow before Lord Yu,” Zheng ordered.
Teal’c and Bra’tac threw back their shoulders in defiance. Zheng spun around and kicked the backs of their knees in quick succession.
The two rebel Jaffa crumbled to the ground.
“Hold!” Yu rose from his seat. “Bring them to me.”
The Royal Guard complied, dumping them both on the other side of the game board. Daniel fought the urge to help them, knowing Zheng would snap him in two if he dared try.
Yu grabbed Bra’tac’s collar. “The System Lords have your teachings to thank for all the troubles we have met at the hands of the Tau’ri and your little Jaffa Rebellion.”
Bra’tac lifted his chin. “I do not fear you.”
“No, I do not believe you do. For it is said the soldier’s disposition is to offer resistance when surrounded, to fight hard when he cannot help himself — ”
Just as Daniel recognized that Yu was again quoting The Art of War, Teal’c lunged for the Goa’uld’s throat.
Yu’s ribbon device hand flung upward, blasting both rebels across the room. They hit the far wall with a thud and fell to the floor. Teal’c immediately sat up, but beside him, Bra’tac lay still.
Daniel prayed he was only unconscious.
Before Teal’c could get to his feet, Zheng kicked his back, felling him once more.
With a satisfied grunt, Yu sat down. He picked up his bowl of stones and dropped down another stone onto the board. “Teal’c, your teacher may have taught you much, but know this…”
From the center of the board, Yu snatched up two of Daniel’s dragons. “It is equally important for the warrior to obey promptly when fallen in danger. To do otherwise will gain him nothing.”
The Goa’uld tossed the carved jade pieces into his bowl. Daniel couldn’t care less. Not about the game, not about any of it.
Now that he knew he’d been used by Yu, used as bait to get Jack there — for whatever reason — Daniel felt a pang of guilt. If he’d just allowed Jack to have his moment on P3Y-702, if he hadn’t stormed off like a petty, self-centered idiot, none of this would be happening. Yu never would have captured him and Jack and Sam, Teal’c and Bra’tac… They’d be safe and unharmed.
Watching Jack and Sam on the display, he tried hard to stay hopeful.
It was far from easy, knowing he’d placed his friends in jeopardy.
* * *
Refusing to give Yu’s image on the com ball even a moment’s glance, Jack flipped open his watch cover. Five minutes had passed and Carter still hadn’t figure out the door panels. She just stood there, watching the shapes slide back and forth like a canted kaleidoscope. It was a meaningless exercise as far as he was concerned.
The hell with it. If Carter couldn’t figure it out, no one could.
He climbed to his feet. “Time’s up.”
Keeping her back to the com ball, she gestured for him to join her. Jack did so, raising an eyebrow in her direction. “Carter?”
“Sir,” she whispered. “I think there’s a pattern to how these shapes go together. If it works — ”
“I get it.” He stuck the C4 back in a vest pocket. “Be ready to jump before old Yu realizes we’re on to him.” He raised his rifle. “Ready when you are, Major.”
Raising her left hand, Carter stepped over to the far left panel. A yard-wide blue square slid by. She laid her palm on it. The square froze in place.
He flashed her a smile. “Nice!”
“Just getting started, sir.” A green triangle made its way over. As it bumped against the square, she tapped it.
A shower of sparks erupted.
Jack yanked her back. “You all right?”
Carter rubbed her hand. “I think so, sir.”
He grabbed her palm. It was red where she’d taken a hit. “So much for that idea.”
“I’m fine, sir. Really.” She stepped over to the far left panel again. “There are a couple of other possible permutations I’d like to try. Maybe it’s a case of placing all the same shapes together in the same panel.”
He stepped back. “Permutate away, Major. But no more shocks, ok?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’d say take your time, but at this rate, Yu’s Jaffa will be breathing down our necks any moment.”
With a nod, Carter fixed her eyes on the panel. The blue square was still locked in place. Brow scrunched up, she raised her palm up and waited.
A red square slid over. She put out her hand…
A bolt of electricity shot out from the square, enveloping Carter’s arm in a spidery web of heat.
“Carter!”
* * *
Daniel tore his eyes away from the communications device as Jack yanked Sam away from the panel. She was standing, but Daniel wasn’t sure how much more she could take. There was no way to tell from the display exactly how strong the current was that ran from the tanagrams. Their backs still to the display, they spoke too softly for him to hear them.
Held in place by Zheng and Lao Dan, Teal’c glowered at Yu under hooded eyes. Daniel recognized that look. If his Jaffa friend got free, even for a moment, Yu’s neck would be snapped in two.
And Bra’tac was still unconscious. Even more reason for Teal’c to want to do damage.
Daniel forced himself to look back at the display. Sam was trying a third time with Jack hovering next to her, ready to pull her out.
Next to him, a seemingly disinterested Yu turned away from the com device and plunked down a stone in the bottom quadrant, next to the first dragon Daniel had played. The Goa’uld scooped up the jade piece and tossed it in the enameled bowl with the others.
On the display, Sam raised her hand, reaching for a smaller grey triangle this time. Though Daniel knew tanagrams didn’t work that way, and knew what was to come, watching her get shocked a third time was still hard.
Yu stuck the fourth dragon in Daniel’s hand. “He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation. Such is the art of maneuvering.”
Daniel clutched the dragon, half-tempted to throw it across the room. On the display, Sam took another shock.
He couldn’t let her do it again.
“Please… you’ve got to stop this,” he begged Yu. “Stop hurting my friends. Stop throwing quotes out from a world you can’t possibly care about.”
The Goa’uld’s eyes lit up. “Never question my loyalties.”
“Your loyalties?” Daniel threw the dragon to the floor. “Since when are the Goa’uld loyal to anyone or anything, but themselves?”
“Pick up your dragon, Daniel Jackson. It is your last opportunity.”
“Last opportunity for what?”
“Play,” Yu warned, the boom in his parasitic voice deep and rumbling. “Play or I shall find a better method to motivate you.”
Daniel blew out a shaky breath. “And if I win?”
Yu bowed his head. “The game ends.” He waved a hand over the communications device and the image of Sam standing in front of the tanagram panels fell silent.
Daniel picked up the dragon. If the only way to end this nightmare was to win the game, he’d do it, though with three dragons gone, and half his pieces lost to Yu already, he didn’t have a clue as to how.
* * *
“That’s enough, Carter. Stand back.”
The colonel wouldn’t get any argument from Sam. Both of her hands had suffered enough electrical burns to make her leery of trying any more variations. Stepping back from the panels, she looked at the com ball.
Teal’c was there. With Daniel and Yu.
“Sir,” she whispered, tilting her head toward the image.
He glanced up. “Great. Wonderful. Terrific.”
He turned back toward the panels and ripped open a velcro vest pocket. �
��Where the hell’s Bra’tac?” he whispered.
Sam took another peek. “I don’t see him, sir, though that doesn’t mean he’s not outside of the image’s display.”
Positioning her back to the com ball once again, she watched as Colonel O’Neill jabbed the detonator into the block of C4.
“We’ll take cover up on the next flight of stairs,” he whispered. “Ready on my mark.”
As Sam stepped away, the colonel looked back and forth at the panels. “Where the hell do I put this thing without getting Yu’s idea of shock treatment?”
She pointed at the original blue square still locked into place. “That’s probably your safest bet, sir.”
“You’re sure, Carter? Kentucky Fried Colonel isn’t really in the job description.”
Sam snorted softly, once again thankful for his sense of humor. If nothing else, his ability to make her laugh kept her going when the going got tough, to coin a really bad cliché. “I’m as sure as I can be, sir.”
“That’s good enough for me.” With the C4 in hand, he reached out toward the panel…
And stopped.
“Oh, for crying out loud.”
“Sir?”
“Take this.” He gently handed her the C4, mindful of the burns on her hands. “Step back. No point on both of us becoming extra crispy.”
“Colonel?”
“Give me a second.” He stepped up to the far left panel and waited.
Shapes slid by, green, red, blue… The colonel palmed a grey triangle and fixed it above the blue square.
Nothing happened. No shock. No blast of energy.
A green trapezoid swung close. He tapped the shape and it fell into place below the square. When a larger red triangle floated by, he raised his other hand up and spun the shape upside down. He slid it in beside the grey triangle.
The panel solidified into a solid blue.
“One down, three to go.”
Sam wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or not as Colonel O’Neill whisked the different colored shapes from one door to another in rapid succession. As he completed each panel, it became a solid color. The second one turned green. The third one, blue.
He slid the final shape on the far right panel into place. As it turned grey, the central door swung open.
* * *
Daniel stared at the board, barely able to concentrate. It was hopeless. How could he beat Yu at a game he’d obviously played for centuries?
Worse, for all he knew, Yu had told the truth about creating the game. It was impossible to figure out what was fact and what was fiction with a Goa’uld — especially Yu, who knew far more about ancient Chinese history than Apophis had known about ancient Egypt.
Daniel scanned the board, searching for some opening, some way to turn things around. If Yu told the truth, his friends’ lives, and his own, counted on how he played this next round. The upper left quadrant was empty, occupied by a solitary white he’d placed there days ago. If he put his dragon down next to his original stone, he’d have five spaces covered.
It wasn’t a win, but it was a start.
He looked up from the board, expecting Yu to make some sort of comment.
But the Goa’uld wasn’t paying attention. He’d turned away from the game, his full attention devoted to the communications device.
On the display, Jack — of all people, Jack — had solved the tanagrams.
Daniel snuck a glance at Teal’c. Neither of them dared react visibly. Bra’tac was still knocked out and the four Royal Guards hovered too close by, ready to mete out punishment.
But as that central door swung open for Sam and Jack, Daniel felt a small spark of hope.
He turned back to the board and told the Goa’uld, “It’s your turn.”
* * *
Switching his P90’s flashlight back on, Jack gestured for Carter to follow suit.
“Sir… how did you know?”
“Simple, Major,” he said with a smile. “Ask Siler to buy you a Gameboy when we get back. Best training tool, bar none.”
With Carter at his back, he aimed his rifle’s light into the dark room beyond the open door and entered.
The door slammed shut behind them.
Chapter Fifteen
STARGATE COMMAND
STATUS: GATE OPERATIONS SUSPENDED
4 JUL 03/0130 HRS BASE TIME
George almost welcomed the knock on his door. He’d been doing too much woolgathering while he waited for any word on SG-1’s mission status. That and drinking coffee as fast as Lieutenant Simmons could bring it.
The knock came again and he looked at his watch. ‘Almost’ was definitely the operative word, considering the discussion he was about to have.
He stacked the two folders on his desk. “Enter.”
Simmons cracked the door open, another cup of coffee in hand. “General, I have Dr. Hopkins to see you.”
George waved Simmons in and took the cup with a thanks. “Show him in, Lieutenant.”
“Should I bring him some coffee as well, sir?”
Setting his cup down, George replied, “Somehow I doubt he’ll be staying that long.”
Six-feet-four of bluster stormed in, stopped short of the desk and crossed his arms. “You wanted to see me?” asked Hopkins.
“I did. Have a seat.”
Hopkins threw himself into a visitor’s chair. “Any word on Daniel?”
“Nothing I can share.”
Hopkins narrowed his eyes. “Can’t or won’t?”
George refused to take the bait. He spread the two folders out, but kept them closed. “I have two letters here, Doctor. Two options I want to discuss with you.”
“Because?”
“Doctor Frasier is of the opinion that you could be an invaluable asset to this command.”
“She’s a smart woman.”
George bowed his head. “Yes, she is. As is every other person here under my command. Both civilian and military.”
Hopkins waved a hand at the folders. “Let’s stop the chatty-chatty, yeh? Talk to me about these options.”
George opened the first folder and handed the letter to Hopkins. “Option number one.”
The doctor scanned the letter. “This is a termination letter. Did Colonel O’Neill put you up to this? I know that man hates me. The feeling’s mutual. But this,” he waved the paper in the air, “this is the thanks I get for — ”
“For doing your job.”
The man opened and closed his mouth, clearly irate. George sat back and waited; half hoping he’d never get around to discussing the second letter. He had no patience for arrogance. Not here. Not anywhere.
“Unbelievable,” Hopkins said with a shake of his head.
Before George could stop him, the doctor snatched up the eagle statue from his desk and hefted it in his hand. “You American military folks really love your eagles, don’t you?”
“The eagle is this nation’s bird, Doctor.”
“Yeah, man, but you Air Force types can’t get enough of it. It’s on top of your flag posts.” Hopkins pointed toward George’s shirt. “Bloodfire, you’ve got one pinned to your chest, man! They’re everywhere.”
George fought the urge to throw Hopkins out there and then. “What’s your point?”
“I’m an archaeologist. I study the past because I… me, personally… I need to understand why cultures rise and fall.”
“And you think there’s no place for that in the military.” It was a statement, not a question. George knew how this man’s mind worked.
Hopkins patted the eagle’s head. “You know, the Roman Empire carried these eagles for 1,200 years, and then poof! They collapsed like the insides of a coconut hung on the tree too long. The Americans have used it for what? Two hundred years and I’ll bet you there’s no chance we’ll last half as long as the Romans did. And let’s not forget the Nazis.”
“I’m really not interested in a history lesson.”
Hopkins put the eagle back down on the d
esk. “Oh, but you should be, General. You might learn something.”
Hopkins stood up and walked around the office. George watched as the man took in the medals, the photos, a model of the F-105 Thunderchief he’d flown in the war. What the man was looking for, George hadn’t a clue, but Dr. Frasier asked him to hear Hopkins out and he would. Then he’d throw him out on his ass.
Finally, Hopkins turned back to face him, flashing one of those obnoxious superior grins of his. “You know why I became interested in Chinese history?”
George splayed his hands on the desk, his patience nearly spent. “Look, Doctor, I — ”
“Believe it or not, it’s because of the eagle. As a bird unto itself, it’s a nothing. It’s only when combined with other animals — with the ox, the serpent, the tiger, and so much more — that it becomes legendary. Powerful. The mythical dragon. A creature far more powerful and enduring, like Ancient China. In one form or another, the Chinese Empire prevailed for almost 3,500 years!”
“Are you finished, doctor?”
Hopkins looked down at his hands. “I suppose I am. I’m finished here, at any rate.”
George sat back in his chair for a moment. For all of Hopkins’ intellectual swagger, the man did remind him of another archaeologist’s single-minded passion.
And it was passion. Underneath all that bluster, all that arrogance, there was a fine mind. One that was needed here at the S.G.C. The question was, could Hopkins see past his own nose to use it?
George put the termination letter back in its folder. “I have another option I want you to consider.”
Hopkins’ head shot up. “You’re jesting. After everything I just said?”
“Because of everything you just said.” He opened the second folder and handed over the enclosed letter.
“What is it?” Hopkins grabbed it like a dog grabs a bone.
“It’s a non-disclosure statement. You’ll sign at the bottom.”
Hopkins raised an eyebrow. “I signed one of these already.”
“Not like this, you didn’t. By signing this agreement, your classified level would be heightened to a far greater extent than it is now.”
“No more need-to-know?”
George raised a hand. “There will still be circumstances where you’ll be kept out of the loop, but those will be fewer and further between.”
SG1-16 Four Dragons Page 24