SG1-16 Four Dragons

by Botsford, Diana

  Hopkins put the letter down on his lap. “I don’t get it, man. Why the offer? Is this one of those ‘because my country needs me’ cards?”

  “More like your world needs you. We need your view of the past, just like we’ve needed Dr. Jackson’s.”

  Hopkins frowned. “A lot of good it did Daniel.”

  “You remind me of him.”

  “Of Daniel?” Hopkins shook his head. “I don’t see myself strapping on a gun and playing the brawny, gung-ho type with an SG team, General. I’m sorry.”

  George smiled. “Trust me, that’s about as far from Dr. Jackson’s role as it gets. Sure, he’s taken part in missions where brawn was needed more than brain — ”

  “Now you’re throwing my own words back at me.”

  “Hear me out. When Dr. Jackson first joined the program, a part of him was like you. History, mythology, archaeology, that was his bailiwick and he reveled in it, but more importantly, he saw it as a means to an end.”

  “What is it with you military types? Archaeology doesn’t have an endgame. You’re no different than Colonel O’Neill. All tactics and strategy. Fire the guns and let the past be damned.”

  Hopkins threw the nondisclosure statement onto the desk. “If O’Neill’s your idea of an ‘A-1’ shining representation of the S.G.C., then maybe I shouldn’t sign that letter.”

  “Before you sign anything,” George said, getting up from his desk, “Come with me into the briefing room. I want to show you something.”

  He grabbed his coffee and led Hopkins into the briefing room and over to the windows above the gate-room. Down below, Sergeant Siler and Lieutenant Wood tinkered with a MALP, prepping it for the next mission on the roster. Otherwise, room was empty. Too empty for George’s tastes. He enjoyed the activity, the teams returning with excitement written all over their faces plain as day. With SG-1 still missing, however, he’d felt it prudent to pull back any missions from possible Goa’uld territories, allowing only probes to be sent out to addresses from the Ancient depository.

  He took a sip of his coffee. It was lukewarm. Beside him, Hopkins shuffled his feet impatiently.

  “Uh, General, I’ve seen the Stargate before. I was on the mission where Daniel got captured.”

  “Then you’ve seen firsthand what the Goa’uld are capable of, Doctor, but still, it’s not the same thing as what Dr. Jackson went through.”

  “Thanks to your need-to-know policies, I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. Daniel was pretty tight-lipped about how he started so don’t worry, he didn’t sell you out.”

  George turned to Hopkins. “Dr. Jackson was the one who deciphered the gate addresses. If it wasn’t for him, none of this would be possible. I wasn’t here at the time, although, from what I understand, he was very much like you. Going through the Stargate was purely about exploring history. He couldn’t care less about the rest.”

  “So what changed?”

  “His wife was taken by the Goa’uld.”

  Hopkins eyes widened. “I didn’t know he’s married.”

  “Was, Doctor. She’s dead now.” He stared down into his half-empty cup, the memories of Daniel’s grief a bitter counterpoint to the cold coffee.

  “I didn’t know,” Hopkins said. “I’m sorry.”

  George set down the cup on the window’s edge. “Sha’re’s capture, and eventual death, motivated Dr. Jackson to see the bigger picture. To find ways to relate our world’s history to the twisted mess the Goa’uld stirred up when they took humans from this world thousands of years ago.”

  He pointed toward the gate. “Though we’ve cracked the galaxy wide open, there are a lot of questions out there that still need answers. This is why we need people like you, sifting through the past to protect the future. The answers you find might help save this planet if the Goa’uld ever try and attack again.”

  “Again?” Hopkins whispered. “We were attacked before?”

  “Almost. Sign that non-disclosure agreement and you’ll be able to find out what happened, but in a nutshell, Dr. Jackson’s efforts were critical to stopping Apophis’ invasion fleet because he pushed and prodded until finally, someone paid attention.”

  “I… I had no idea.” Hopkins put a hand to his head. “Who was smart enough to listen?”

  “That would be Colonel O’Neill.”

  PLANET DESIGNATION: LORD YU’S

  HOMEWORLD (P3X-042)

  STATUS: SAR MISSION IN PROGRESS

  APPROX 1240 HRS LOCAL TIME

  4 JUL 03/0200 HRS BASE TIME

  A long, dark tunnel. Check.

  Sweaty walls that stank of musk and grime. Check.

  A Goa’uld com ball with Yu’s big, fat face glaring down at them. Check.

  “What is it with Goa’uld and their secret hidey-holes, Carter?”

  When the major didn’t answer, he swung his light toward her. Carter held her scanner up close, its white glow bouncing off her face as she bit her lower lip.

  That look again. “Any luck?”

  “None, sir.” She flicked the thing off and stuffed it into a vest pocket.

  Raising her rifle light up, she pointed toward the far opposite end of the tunnel. Darkness swallowed up the light’s tail.

  “It’s too damn big,” he said, glancing again at the com ball. Yu stared right back. Daniel, on the other hand, focused on something between him and the Goa’uld, right below frame.

  What the hell was he doing? Playing mahjong?

  Whatever it was, Jack had seen Daniel at it earlier, but not as intensely. Or as pissed off. In the background, Teal’c was trying to wrench himself free of two overdressed Jaffa.

  And here Jack was, playing hide-and-seek in a Goa’uld dungeon. He turned away from the com ball and whispered, “Find that emitter, Carter.”

  “I’ve been thinking, sir.”

  “In this case, I’d say that’s a good thing, right?”

  “Take a look at the floor.” Carter turned her rifle downwards.

  Etched in silver on the black flooring was a serpent’s roiling body. The thing ran the length of the tunnel… or at least as much of it as Jack could make out with his flashlight.

  “Fancy Goa’uld tiling. So?”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s silver, sir. If we follow its path, it might lead us to the emitter.”

  Jack bent down and examined the etching. He rubbed a finger along the snake’s scales. Metal flakes came off. “Gives a whole new meaning to follow the yellow brick road, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s not exactly brick, sir — ”

  “A joke, Carter. Where’s your sense of humor?” When he saw her frown, he stood up, knowing full well that his ability to give pep talks sucked. Badly. So instead, he tapped her on the shoulder, hoping it was enough to see her through whatever came next.

  “Let’s go.”

  Rifles up, they went further into the seemingly never-ending tunnel. Carter took the left, him the right, their flashlights sliding along the walls and floor. After awhile, Jack wondered if the tunnel would ever end.

  Every twenty yards or so, another one of those damn Goa’uld telly balls popped in, emitting a soft brown light from the center of the ceiling, along with another image of Yu. Part of Jack knew that slime-bag was setting them up for something, but there was no other choice. Shutting off that emitter was their only hope, the holy grail, their ticket out of there, and every other damn cliché in the book.

  Shut it down and they could get to Daniel, Teal’c and Bra’tac without being zatted off in a single shot. If they didn’t shut the thing down, they were screwed.

  Not that he’d admit that aloud.

  They’d advanced a good hundred yards when the walls began to bow outward. Another twenty yards, and they came along a row of five red statues on top of a flat pedestal. All teeth and bulging eyes, they looked exactly like the gargoyles on the panels outside. Except bigger. Each one had to be at least seven or eight feet in height.

  “Great.” Jack slid his flashl
ight across their gnarly faces. “More of Daniel’s zen moo shoo critters.”

  “Exactly like the one on P3Y-702,” Carter said. “Sir, I think it’s possible Yu is connected not only to that planet, but to those four graves as well.”

  “Yeah, that’s looking likely. The upside is,” he said, tilting his P90 up toward the ceiling, “that the last of the com balls.”

  As he swung his light down toward their silvery snake trail, a movement over by the statues caught his eye. He turned toward them, aiming the light between the first three and then the last two.

  Nothing.

  Carter stopped just ahead of him. “Sir?”

  He turned back to her. “It’s too damn hot in here. I’m starting to see — ”

  A cool breeze blew across his neck.

  Just like it did in the maze, and then again on Yu’s terrace outside, right before the Jaffa attacked.

  But they weren’t outside, Daniel was alive, and —

  The breeze rushed by again.

  Somehow, something or someone was trying to warn him.

  “Carter, get down!”

  A deep, wet growl erupted from the statues. Before Jack could swing his P90 over, the central figure leapt from the pedestal with lightning speed.

  He shot it once, twice, three times. Used all the ammo he had left.

  The thing kept on coming.

  “Sir!”

  The creature collided with Jack, throwing him face down to the ground, his rifle gouging into his stomach. Wet, sharp claws seized his arms. He tried to twist around, to see what had him pinned, but couldn’t budge. The creature weighed a ton. It jabbed a knee against his back and growled again.

  Hoping to catch it off guard, he went limp. The pressure from the creature’s knee lightened up. Jack rounded his back and pushed up.

  The knee came down again, hard. His rib cage would shatter if the thing put any more weight on him. He gasped for air, squirming to get free, but the creature tightened its grip on his arms. Jack’s skin burned as its claws began to dig in.

  * * *

  “O’Neill!” cried out Teal’c.

  Daniel whipped his head up from the game board. In horror, he stared at the silenced com ball. The creature attacking Jack in front of the statues… Daniel quickly realized it wasn’t a Zhenmushou. Its ears were too low, its skin too mottled.

  It was an Unas. A primeval specimen as far removed from his friend Chaka as modern man was from the Neanderthal. Unlike Chaka’s more pronounced horn ridge, this creature’s horns were abbreviated, shorter, though twice as many in number. Additional ridges ran along its jaw line, its arms, and its chest, emphasizing sheer bulk over any sort of evolved physicality.

  Daniel tore his eyes away to glance at Yu. He saw the glint of expectation on the Goa’uld’s face, and knew.

  Jack didn’t have a chance.

  * * *

  “Shoot the damn thing!”

  “I’m out of ammo and the modified zat could disintegrate you as well as the beast.” Sam scanned the tunnel for something, anything to help fight against the creature as it held Colonel O’Neill to the ground.

  “Shoot it — ”

  With a howl, the Unas back-fisted him across the side of his face.

  “Sir!”

  “Do it, Carter,” he groaned.

  The Unas raised a hand, a paw, whatever. She didn’t care. All she knew was that those claws would eventually rip the colonel’s back to shreds if she didn’t do something and do it fast.

  Her hands fell to her utility belt. She had the modified zat and she had a knife.

  They’d have to do.

  She laid her P90 on the ground, aiming it directly at the Unas. The creature turned toward her, claws still raised. A grazed bullet wound on its forehead oozed green blood onto its horns. The rifle’s light coruscated within its dark primordial eyes.

  Yanking the zat from her holster, Sam mustered up a healthy dose of bravado. “Hey, ugly. Watch this.”

  She zatted the statues. An electric arc enveloped them into oblivion.

  The Unas howled again, but it didn’t budge from the colonel’s back.

  Damn it. “Not impressed, huh?” she yelled.

  Swiping downward, the Unas ripped the back of the colonel’s vest open. He let out a strangled cry of pain.

  “No!” Swallowing down her fear, Sam unsnapped the scabbard on her belt and pulled out her knife. There was no other choice. It was this or let the Unas kill Colonel O’Neill.

  As the Unas raised its arm again, she dashed sideways. “Over here,” she called out, hoping to stop it from attacking the colonel again.

  She got her wish. The creature dropped its arm and began to turn toward her.

  At a dead run, she leapt onto its back and plunged her knife in. A gush of green blood splattered across her neck as the creature shuddered. It flailed its arms, trying to reach behind to knock her off. Dropping her zat to ground, she used both hands to hold on tight.

  The Unas flung itself back and forth, but Sam kept a hold of the knife. As it turned around, she saw the colonel crawling toward the zat.

  The Unas whirled halfway around again, blocking her view.

  “Carter, I’ll get the zat. Jump off!”

  She let go of the knife and, as she dropped, she tucked her legs in to roll out of the way. The Unas spun around and grabbed her right arm.

  “Carter!”

  It lifted her from the ground, sending excruciating pain down her shoulder and into her arm. She tried to kick out, but the Unas held her too far away from its body.

  It jerked her higher and she felt her arm wrench out of its socket. A wave of nausea hit her. She forced herself to stay focused, to push past the pain. She kicked out again, her foot connecting with the creature’s chest. The Unas raised its head back and howled.

  Then it threw her across the tunnel. As Sam’s head connected with the floor, she heard a crack.

  * * *

  The communications device made it abundantly clear that O’Neill could barely stand and Major Carter… She remained motionless, unable to protect even herself.

  Teal’c had seen enough.

  Something had to be done before his friends suffered more.

  With his arms held tightly by the two Jaffa, he knew he’d have only one chance to break free. Lifting his left leg swiftly back, he brought it down to smash on the heel of Zheng’s booted foot. As the Jaffa stumbled forward, his grip on Teal’c’s arm’s loosened.

  Teal’c wrested his arm free. Twisting sideways, he slammed his palm into the other Jaffa’s throat. Lao Dan staggered back, dropping his hold on Teal’c’s arm.

  Zheng shot up and lunged for him, but Teal’c drew back and drove a fist at the Jaffa’s chin. Zheng collapsed where he stood. Finally free, Teal’c lunged forward to attack Lord Yu.

  The telltale sign of an enabled zat’nik’tel froze him in his tracks. He spun around.

  Oshu aimed a zat directly at the still unconscious Bra’tac. For one brief moment, Teal’c found himself wishing his former mentor still carried a symbiote so that he would recover more quickly.

  “You must stop,” said Oshu, his voice a deathly calm. Teal’c met Daniel Jackson’s eyes, silently appealing for help. His friend’s face was dark with pain.

  “Don’t do it, Teal’c. Jack wouldn’t want us to risk our lives.”

  Lord Yu laughed. “Jack. An appropriately crude name for the mighty leader of your team. Should I have more faith in his ability to prevail than either of you?”

  Rough hands shoved Teal’c to his knees. He spit at the Goa’uld. “You know nothing of faith.”

  Oshu whirled toward him, his weapon raised. “Do not speak, Sholvah!”

  Teal’c struggled beneath the weight of his captors, but he would not be silenced. “Or what? Your master is a coward who sends old men and vicious creatures to do his bidding. He has no honor.”

  “Silence!” The Goa’uld’s eyes flashed white, the parasite within no doubt writhing
in fury. As his eyes returned to normal, Lord Yu placed his palms upon his thighs.

  He sighed. “Teal’c, your anger blinds you to the truth. My reasons for bringing all of you here are honorable. Of this you can be sure.”

  Teal’c glanced at the communications device, at the Unas raising a P90 over its head as it loomed over a motionless Major Carter. The zat’nik’tel lay inert by her side. O’Neill threw his own P90, but the beast caught the rifle in its other hand.

  And yet, Teal’c could do nothing. Nothing but speak what might be his last words, the only weapon he had left.

  “You know nothing of honor. Not now, not ever. If you did, you would not have fallen back on your promise to attack Anubis at Vis Uban.”

  The Goa’uld’s eyes flashed again. “Do not pretend to understand the dire nature of Anubis and his armies.”

  “Oh, but I do understand,” Teal’c said with a deliberate smile. With one more thrust he would drive his point home. “I will die free, but you… You are weak and you are old. You will only live long enough for Anubis to find you. When he does, he will tear this fortress down around your ears.”

  * * *

  The Unas stood over Carter, swinging a P90 above its head. The light from the rifle splayed across the ceiling, lighting up the tunnel.

  If the thing hit her, she’d be good as dead.

  As far Jack was concerned, he would be, too.

  Even if he figured out a way to escape.

  Pushing aside the white-hot pain across his back, he pulled out his knife. Repeating Carter’s jump and plunge routine wouldn’t work, he knew that. The Unas was too damn strong. It’d throw him aside like a sack of potatoes. Instead, Jack shifted his weight on to his back leg, raised the knife above his head, and threw the blade at the creature.

  A direct hit to the lower back.

  The Unas dropped its arm, howling in pain. Both P90 flashlights were pointed downward now, lighting up the ground like a disco floor.

  A glint of metal a few yards to Jack’s left got his attention. Carter’s knife.

  He snatched it up and waved it at the Unas. “Get away from her, you bastard.”

  The Unas turned toward him and growled again, the com ball light from above illuminating the two teeth jutting down from its slimy upper lip.