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Playing Ba'al 

They had been walking for nearly thirty minutes. So far, there weren’t any downed trees that they could see, which was most encouraging.

"So," Casey said softly, the silence of the ancient forest around them seeming to demand reverence, "we crossed that bridge at the beginning of an earthquake?"

"I’m not sure if the earthquake had started, or if the bridge was just telegraphing a sudden change in the lakebed," Sam replied. "Having ground suddenly rise or fall is one of the signs of an impending quake."

"The water seemed calm enough," Daniel pointed out.

"True. But we don’t know how deep the supports for that bridge were. If the lakebed beneath it had shifted, even a little bit, that would have increased the pressure on an already aging and unstable structure," Sam explained. "And, to be honest, I really wasn’t watching the lake water while we were crossing. It might not have been as calm as we all perceived it to be."

"But wouldn’t there have been big waves?" Casey asked.

"Not necessarily, especially if the shift had occurred or was occurring while we were crossing," Sam said.

"Doesn’t really matter now," Jack insisted. "How’s it looking, T-man?"

Teal’c, who was several feet ahead of his companions, looked over his shoulder. " So far there has been nothing unusual."

"That’s good news," Jack said.

"Okay, change of subject," Casey announced. She didn’t notice the grins on the faces of her teammates. "We’ve been here three days, more or less. So, do you think the Ba’als have found each other yet? And how many System Lords do you think have been clued in to the fact that Ba’al made a clone of himself?"

"My guess is they’re still looking for each other," Jack said immediately. "Ba’al isn’t the smartest Goa’uld in the group, and his clone is bound to be dumber. I’m betting that word is getting out, though."

"It’ll be our luck they’re chasing their friggin’ tails, going from one haunt to the other, missing each other each time," Casey groused.

Sam began to laugh. "I can see that happening."

"If Ba’al was half as smart as he thinks he is, he’d go to whatever spot he hides in the most, and just wait there for the clone to show up." The seer frowned. "Of course, the clone could decide that another spot is the most preferred, and he’ll wait there. They’d be dumb enough and inconsiderate enough to do that." Her teammates burst into laughter around her.

"If the other Goa’uld are getting the news about the clone, they’re going to be out looking for either one of the Ba’als," Daniel pointed out.

"Which means keeping our ships out of the way is going to be important to our little plan. It’s one thing to sneak in when a couple of Goa’uld are getting ready to pound each other. It’s another thing…and a problem…if any of those Goa’uld ships happen to find ours out there."

"The Odyssey and the Phoenix are safe at home by now," Sam said.

"Maybe not," Jack replied. "When we disappeared with Tieel, Colonel Ronson attempted to follow. My guess is that Colonel Simpson might have done the same thing."

"That could be a problem," Sam admitted. "A single ship wouldn’t stand a chance against a System Lord’s fleet…even if it was a small one."

Casey stopped, tipped her head sideways. "The Odyssey is still out there," she said quietly, her gaze unfocused. "But it’s not alone. I can’t see which one it is, but one of our other ships is sitting beside it."

"That’s good to know," Jack sighed.

"What about the other two?" Sam asked quietly.

Casey stepped closer to Daniel, wrapped her arms around his neck. "I’m just gonna take a quick look."

"Be careful," Daniel admonished.

"I promise." She closed her eyes.

"Well?" Daniel asked softly, as his wife continued to stare at him.

"Hmm? Oh…two ships are right there above planet Earth," Casey replied. She tore her gaze away from her Husband’s, and tried to ignore the fire that she felt beginning to burn.

"That’s great news, Radar," Jack told her.

Sam frowned slightly. "I wonder what prompted General Hammond to send one of the ships to help the Odyssey?"

"He probably just had the Odyssey send coordinates to the Phoenix," Jack shrugged.

"Let’s hope those two brand new ship’s captains are ready for the real world of System Lords," Daniel said dryly.

"Colonel Johnson is one hell of a military man," Jack said immediately. "He has a way of seeing a situation and having a half a dozen plans that will counter or protect."

"I’ve never heard of him," Sam admitted.

"That’s because there are a couple of generals in the Pentagon who are jealous as hell of his abilities. He should be in the Pentagon, but politics has kept him elsewhere," Jack told her. "General Hammond talked to me about putting him on one of the new ships. I looked up his record. That man is going to be a huge asset to the SGC."

"Nice to know that the SGC is able to scoop up the brightest and the best," Daniel noted.

"Yes, it is," Jack grinned. "Although I imagine right now Colonel Johnson is probably wondering what the hell he’s gotten himself into."

The team chuckled softly.

"Okay, campers, let’s keep moving."

"Daedalus, this is SGC. We have a message for you."

Cam jumped slightly as the words echoed slightly in through the bridge. He motioned at the comms tech, who touched to symbols on the screen in front of her, and then nodded. "This is the Daedalus. Whatcha got, SGC?"

"Time for response, two minutes and forty-one seconds," the comm tech said.

"Let’s hope it’s good news," Cam muttered. He tapped his fingers nervously against the arm of his chair as the seconds ticked by.

"Mission accomplished. Be aware that there may be System Lords on the move. We also have the location of SG-1. Sending spatial location now."

"I have it," the navigator reported, as a message flashed across his screen.

"Well, how about that, some good news for a change," Cam grinned. "Comms, get me the Odyssey."

"Yes, sir." The comm tech again touched the symbols on her screen.

"This is the Odyssey…is everything okay, Daedalus?"

Cam lowered his head slightly. It was obvious that the new commander of the new ship was more than a bit nervous. "Just got some good news from SGC. We have the coordinates for SG-1."

"That’s great news!"

On the Odyssey, Colonel Simpson sat back in her chair. "What’s the plan?"

"We’re sending the info to you now. We’re going to move together. We’re going to have to plan our jumps carefully…apparently SG-1 was successful in their mission. Which means there’s a chance of running into a System Lord or two."

The colonel frowned slightly. "I suggest small jumps then."

"I agree. And we’ll do scans as far as our sensors can reach before jumping again. Might take a bit of time, but it’s better to be cautious."

"Agreed."

"If you don’t mind, I can have my techs work out the details, and send them over."

Colonel Simpson looked at her navigation tech. "Any objections?"

"No ma’am. I’d rather let someone else who’s done this before lead the way."

"Smart man," Simpson grinned. "Daedalus, send those details as soon as you have them. You make the count. You lead, we’ll follow."

"Sounds like a plan, Odyssey."

Cam grinned. Not only did the captain of the Odyssey have a sexy voice, she was smart, too. If anything went to hell on this particular mission, it would be his ass in the sling. "Should have offered to let her do it," he muttered, not quite under his breath.

"That’s okay, sir. We’ve actually done this a couple of times," the young navigator grinned.

"Yeah, and that’s a couple times more than the Odyssey’s crew has done it," Cam admitted. "Okay. I want short jumps…not more than ten minutes. And I want to avoid any areas where we know Goa’uld usually hang out."

The navigator nodded. "This could take me a few minutes to figure out."

"Take your time. I’d rather all of us get there in one piece. We won’t do SG-1 any favors if we get ourselves captured or blown up."

The path was relatively straight. Only twice had there seemed to be any deviation in the layer of barely visible stones…and both times had been near trees so thick and large that it was obvious that the road builders were simply opting to follow the easiest course.

"I wonder why the forest hasn’t encroached on this?" Sam mused as the team trudged along.

"I was just wondering the same thing," Daniel replied. "It’s obvious that grass has grown up between the paving stones. But it’s not very tall, or thick."

"Maybe the road builders put something on it, some sort of weed or grass killer," Casey offered.

"Possibly," Sam said.

"Seems to be fairly well worn," Daniel observed. "I wouldn’t expect a road…or path, in this instance…to still be so worn."

"Please tell me you’re not going to suggest that this path is still being used," Jack said uneasily. He shifted his P90 so that he could wrap his hand around it, his fingers just millimeters from the trigger.

"I don’t think so," Daniel replied. "But, as thick as this forest is, there could be an encampment or village or…hell, even a town…anywhere around us and we’d never know it."

"Unless we run into someone from said encampment or village or town," Jack said.

"If there are any settlements on this planet, the Goa’uld are unaware of their existence. There was no information regarding human occupancy. Only that a Chappa’ai was located on the planet," Teal’c said.

"So, any residents wouldn’t be slaves brought in by Goa’uld," Casey surmised.

"It is possible that at some point in time, a Goa’uld System Lord laid claim to this planet. If so, Ba’al was not aware of it. That would mean that any claim would be so old as to be forgotten," the Jaffa explained.

"So, what you’re saying is that it is possible that we could run into someone," Jack said.

"Possible," Teal’c admitted. "But highly unlikely."

The path began to veer to the right. The team stopped, and looked around them. Nothing but trees, shrubs and grasses as far as they could see, in any direction. Given the density of the forest, that wasn’t very far.

"Might as well keep following it," Jack said. He glanced at Casey. "You said this path leads right to the Stargate?"

"That’s what I saw," she replied, nodding. "I didn’t follow it completely…I saw the Stargate and headed toward it, and the path was leading to it."

"Good enough for me," Jack declared.

"It’s possible there’s a river or something that we’re going to circumvent," Sam suggested.

"Makes sense to me," Jack agreed.

They continued to move on…Casey humming softly. Daniel wasn’t even limping now…between soaking his knee in the cold water of the lake, the fact that the path was level and clear of obstruction…and his Immortality…healing was nearly complete.

After nearly a mile, the path veered back to the left, leaving the team agreeing that for whatever reason, the people who had built the path had located something they didn’t want to have to move or remove in order to keep the path ‘straight’.

The heavy canopy above them prevented the forest floor from being ‘bright’. However, the light above them, peeking through the abundant foliage, was beginning to fade.

"Looks like we should find a place to stop for the night," Jack said, glancing up for the third time.

"I agree," Teal’c said. "Once the sun moves closer to the horizon, it will quickly become dark.’

"I’d rather be able to see to pitch the tent," Casey added.

"I don’t see any reason for moving off the path," Daniel said. "We can find a place to put a fire, and put the tents around it."

Jack began to examine the path. "Doesn’t seem to be any of those stones here," he said pointing to a wide area not far from where the team had stopped. "We could put a fire pit there, fill it back in before we leave."

"Sounds good to me," Daniel replied.

"Okay, campers, let’s set up for the night."

Although fish weren’t on the menu, Casey had enough tomatoes to make even MREs more palatable.

Even though the temperatures dropped at night, with their jackets they were comfortable…added heat wasn’t necessary. Casey always preferred to heat her entrée in the coals of a fire…something her teammates teased her about. And they did need hot water for tea and coffee. Light was the only other benefit to having the fire. But neither warming water nor light necessitated a large fire. A small fire meant that the teammates were able to sit closer together. Whether it was conscious or not, the team always managed to be within reach of one another.

"You know who is going to be absolutely thrilled to be able to pick off one of the Ba’al’s?" Casey asked, when they had all finished their meals.

Jack looked over at the seer. Wondered if she had seen something. "Who?"

"Zippy."

Daniel snickered. "He’s not strong enough to pick off the clone, who only has three ships and three crews not totally loyal to him."

Casey shook her head. "Zippy can’t do it alone, but I’ll bet dollars to donuts he’s already planning to ‘lead’ an attack on Ba’al, then sit back and wait until the others have knocked his ass down to size, and lost a few ships themselves. Then he’ll swoop in, finish off Ba’al, and then declare himself the strongest, and thus leader of the pack."

"What makes you believe this to be true?" Teal’c inquired, watching the young seer closely.

"Well, when I was doing Zippy’s entry in the database, that was his MO. Stir shit up, get the others to fight, and then try to come in and clean up," Casey explained. "I say try, because he’s got to be an absolute idiot. Every time he did that, the others turned on him. This is exactly the sort of set-up he loves. He’s just too damned stupid to realize it will never work."

Jack laughed loudly. "Yeah, he’s an arrogant bastard. So sure of himself, and so smug about absolutely nothing."

"You’d think he’d learn," Daniel chuckled. "Remember how absolutely stunned he was when Lya found in Skaara’s favor during that Triad? He was so certain he’d wowed the Tolan with his prowess…his ‘expertise’ on Tolan law."

"I remember," Jack said, continuing to chortle. "Then he made all those demands and threats."

"The look on his face when he was given that little tank, with Klorel swimming around in it was priceless," Daniel added.

"Ya know, Radar, you just might be right," Jack said. "I think we need to get Ferretti to start a betting pool when we get back…which snake will attack first, and which ones will turn on each other."

Casey gave a very unlady-like snort. "The first one to attack will be the one who finds Ba’al or his clone first. And which snakes will turn on each other? Sign me up for ‘all of the above’."

Jack began to laugh again. "Nailed it in one."

Before anyone could say more, the ground beneath them began to vibrate…a low rumbling sound filled the air.

"Oh, hell!" Jack muttered. "Get that fire out. If we have trees start coming down, we could set the whole damned place on fire. Probably should take the tents down as well. Don’t want them buried beneath any falling trees."

"I’d rather not be buried beneath trees," Casey said, her voice trembling slightly, her hands wrapped around Daniel’s arm.

"We’ll break out the flashlights, keep watch on what’s going on around us," Jack said, gritting his teeth as the movement of the ground beneath his butt became more intense.

When the shaking had stopped, the team quickly doused their fire, then buried it beneath dirt for good measure. Tents that had been erected not more than an hour earlier were taken down. Sleeping bags were rolled and reattached to their packs. They were ready to run, if necessary.

"How’s the knee, Danny?" Jack asked quietly, playing the beam of his flashlight on the giant trees around them. Gratified to see that none of them seemed to be moving, other than the leaves touched by the slight breeze.

"Pretty much healed," Daniel replied. "It’s a bit sore if I put too much pressure on it, but otherwise, it’s fine."

"Told you soaking it in that cold water would help," Jack smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Daniel muttered. "So here’s the question…was the quake earlier today just a prelude, or was this one just an aftershock?"

"Good question," Sam said. She moved closer to Jack, reached for his hand.

"It is possible that both quakes are leading up to a larger earthquake," Teal’c offered.

"Which is not a good thing for us," Jack complained. He looked around again. "Okay, this path is fairly flat and even. Let’s see how far we can get before we have to get some sleep."

No one argued as he led the way down the still visible path. Their thoughts followed the same path as well: that they were closer to the Stargate than they realized, and if they were lucky, would be able to see the Ancient monument when the sun rose.

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