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Playing Ba'al 

On the other side of the galaxy, the transport tech on the Phoenix was doing a scan of the pyramid ship they could see hanging in space, just below them. It seemed that while there was no way to use the transport rings or Asgard beaming devices as long as shields were up, the scanners could still penetrate far enough to give an idea of which corridors were devoid of Jaffa.

"Okay, according to the mission plan, as soon as both ships are in position, we’re supposed to immediately beam over, deliver the message, then get the hell back to our ship," Major Andrews said. He looked at his men. They were ready. "Tell communications to send that Morse code message. One word. ‘Here’."

"Yes, sir," the tech replied, transmitting the message to the bridge.

It had already been determined that there would be at least a seven minute wait for the message to get to the Odyssey. Another seven minutes for their confirmation to be received by the Phoenix.

"Message has been sent," Colonel Johnson informed the team.

Andrews set the timer on his watch for fourteen minutes. And the wait began. He fidgeted with the strap of his holster. First Lieutenant Powers was leaning back against the wall, his chin on his chest…it appeared that he was asleep. The CO knew that he wasn’t. Sergeant Sutter, a rough and tough young man from the Bronx, flipped his pen knife open and closed…never once watching what he was doing. Airman Bowman was doing his best to look calm. Was actually doing a pretty good job of it. Lieutenant Waters was pacing back in and forth in front of the transport console…the tech was doing his best to ignore the nervous young cadet.

He glanced at his watch. Six minutes to go…the Odyssey had received the message by now…Andrews couldn’t help but wonder if the members of SG-1 were as nervous as he felt…as he knew is team was. It sounded like such an easy mission. It was anything but that. The chances of something going wrong were at least seventy percent, he thought. His team had been captured before. It wasn’t something he liked to remember. Or dwell upon. Being a Goa’uld captive was a crapshoot when it came to survival. He closed his eyes. If Miz J had seen just one thing going wrong, she would have said so, and Hammond would have pulled the plug immediately. That little ‘red alert’ in the back of his head was nice and quiet. Yep…this mission was going to be successful.

"Major Andrews, we’ve received word from the Odyssey. The message is, ‘go’."

"Thanks, Colonel." Andrews looked over at the transporter tech. "Okay. Get us over there."

The transport tech nodded. He inserted the data crystal and watched as the program immediately took control of the system. "It’s scanning," he reported.

The men of SG-7 gathered in the center of the rings. Although they wouldn’t be used, standing there gave as much of a sense of ‘normalcy’ as could be had with what they were doing.

"Scanning…hey…they don’t even have shields up!"

Andrews frowned. "That’s not unusual. He sure as hell will after we beam over there. Rest of the mission goes as planned. Beam us over."

In a flash of brilliant white light, five Tau’ri were suddenly standing in a deserted corridor on the ha’tak of the Goa’uld System Lord known as Ba’al. Now things would start to get interesting.

It took a few minutes to learn which level they were on. Luckily, they were on level three, where the Goa’uld had several laboratories and a meeting room or two. Using the shadows created by the support beams, the men began to move up the corridor to the ventilation shaft they would use to access the second level, where the pel’tak was located. The shadows were made all the deeper due to the fact that the lights seemed to have been dimmed.

"Shit," Andrews swore in a whisper. "If this is their ‘night shift’, chances are, the snake won’t be on the pel’tak."

"He’d be in his quarters, one level up," Lieutenant Powers replied.

"Okay, if he’s not on the pel’tak, we just deliver the news to his room."

"What about his personal guard?" Airman Bowman asked nervously.

Andrews frowned. "Does anybody know how many Jaffa this snake would have guarding his bedroom door?"

"According to Casey Jackson, it was usually just two," Bowman informed the CO.

"Good, that’s good. If we can get close enough, we can take them out and not make a scene while we do it."

Sergeant Sutter shook his head. "Well, now I understand," he whispered.

Andrews looked over his shoulder. "Understand what?"

"Remember when we were gearing up at the SGC, and Miz Jackson came running into the room after we’d all been there for what, about five minutes?" 

"That’s about right."

"She gave me these," Sutter said, opening his thigh pocket and pulling out two capped hypodermic needles. "She said I might need them to make the bad guys fall asleep."

Andrews grinned. "Sedatives. Awesome! Okay, let’s get this done…but let’s do it smart. Slow and quiet as hell."

One by one the men slipped into the ventilation shaft. Sutter, being the last, entered feet first, and pulled the vent cover back into place. He’d be able to turn around at the first shaft intersection. A trick SG-7 had learned from the mission reports of SG-1.

Worried by the fact that the ship seemed unusually quiet, Andrews had his team moving at almost a snail’s pace. If they had a couple of hours – and according to Casey, that’s about all the time they had – he’d use every minute if it meant keeping his team safe.

Thirty-seven minutes after entering the shaft, they had located a place to exit…far enough from the Goa’uld’s quarters that they wouldn’t be seen. Once again using the support pillars to hide their movements, they made their way to the door where two Jaffa stood at attention. Andrews nodded at Sutter. Sutter took one of the hypodermic needles, and handed the other to Powers. Moving like shadows against the wall, the men inched toward their targets.

"Let’s give ‘em a distraction," Andrews said. Waiting until he could see his men as close as they could get without the Jaffa seeing them…he, Waters and Bowman stepped out of the shadows.

Before the Jaffa had a chance to raise their weapons, or even speak, Sutter and Powers had jabbed them in the neck and shoved down the plungers. The sedative seemed to work immediately, the two men were forced to grab at the Jaffa before they tumbled to the floor, which would have made enough racket to raise the dead, given the metal armor they were wearing.

The two downed guards were dragged into the shadows. SG-7 stood in front of the door, the only thing between them and a very angry System Lord. Just before Andrews’ fingers came in contact with the control for the door, Sutter grabbed him and jerked him behind a support pillar…the other members of the team already hiding there.

Two Jaffa were making their way warily down the corridor, and it appeared that they were searching…for something. Or someone.

Holding their breath, SG-7 watched…waited. Hearts began to pound with trepidation when the first downed guard was located. What happened next made them want to shout with relief. The two Jaffa looked around, and then very carefully crossed one arm over their chest. Instead of clenching their fists, however, they made a ‘v’ with their index and middle fingers.

"Rebels," Andrews barely whispered. He shifted slightly, just enough that the Jaffa could see him.

While one Jaffa hurried back to the intersecting corridor to keep watch, the other stepped closer.

"Our brothers await word from Ba’al to arrest you," he whispered. "We will be waiting on the detention level. As soon as they have put you in the cell, we will release you."

"We need to get to a computer," Andrews whispered in return.

"Yes, Bra’tac told us. We will get you to the closest terminal," the rebel promised

"Good enough," Andrews nodded.

"Wait until you no longer see us before entering Ba’al’s chambers," the Jaffa said. He turned and hurried back down the corridor.

"Gotta love the rebel Jaffa," Sutter whispered, when the two men were no longer visible.

"Hell, yeah," Bowman replied in kind.

Taking a deep breath to calm rattled nerves, the men again moved to stand in front of the door. Andrews pressed the control, and the door slid open.

The room was dark. Enough light from the corridor filtered in to give them an idea of the layout. And in the bed, directly in front of the door, was Ba’al.

Awakened by the sound of the door being opened, the Goa’uld sat up in the wide bed, silk sheets falling to his waist and exposing his bare chest. Ba’al reached for the lamp beside the bed…turned it on. Tau’ri! There are Tau’ri on my ship! It was only in that moment that he realized there were no alarms…no sounds of Jaffa rushing to his quarters…Inept fools, he raged silently. His eyes glowed in anger. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he demanded indignantly.

"I’m your worst nightmare. If it were up to me, I’d be here to kill you," Andrews drawled. "But since it’s not, I’m just here to deliver a message."

Ba’al’s eyes narrowed. "A message? What message?"

"Well, we located your clone. He’s alive and well and starting to cause trouble," the major said, following the ‘script’ that SG-1 had written.

For a moment Ba’al could only gape at the man. It was impossible for the Tau’ri to know about his clone! He…and the two scientists who had done the actual work…were the only ones who knew about his creation. The Tau’ri had, unfortunately, learned of the clone he had created of Casey. And lost…because of the damned pests. If they knew about his clone…"I have no idea what you’re talking about."

Brown eyes lit with interest. Had his Beloved sent a messenger in an attempt to protect him? "I see. Did she say anything else?"

"Yeah, she did." Andrews pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. "She said, and I’m quoting here, ‘Ba’al if you were half as smart as you think you are, you’d find the farthest galaxy you can find, and hide your sorry ass there. But because you have more ego than brains, I’m starting a betting pool on which System Lord pops your ass out of existence.’" He hadn’t read the note Casey had pressed into his hand. The only thing she’d said was, ‘read it to him’. In spite of the situation, the major burst into laughter.

Ba’al growled with frustration. Once again the seer’s hatred of him burst the bubble of fantasy he created around her. He reached for his ribbon device.

Andrews brought his weapon up. "How about you leave that alone. I’ll just mosey along on my way."

Furious that he’d been taken unaware…that a Tau’ri had walked into his chambers unchallenged…and where is my personal guard?…Ba’al howled with rage. "I will destroy you and your planet!"

"Yeah, you tried that once. How’d that work out for you, anyway?" Andrews jeered.

Before Ba’al could react, the intruder turned to walk away.

A single shot rang out…the major whirled around.

Ba’al was still sitting upright, a look of shock on his face, blood gushing from a wound on his shoulder, the knife he’d been about to throw still clutched in his fingers.

"We gotta go, Major," Sutter insisted.

They could already hear the clanking of Jaffa armor, and it was getting closer. Not knowing if any of the rebel Jaffa would be among the group, SG-7 raced for the ventilation shaft. Powers watched from behind the louvered cover, his teammates motionless behind him. They were all expecting to hear Ba’al screaming orders. The silence worried them.

With a tap against the man next to him, Andrews started to carefully move forward. Level three was where they’d have their best chance to find a computer. That’s where they would head.

The air was shattered as alarms began to wail, creating enough dissonance to cover any inadvertent noise they might make. SG-7 moved more quickly toward their goal. No doubt the Jaffa believed they had used the ring transport to come aboard the ship…and they would have a heavy guard on that level. Probably the immediate levels above and below as well. Which meant that level three should be clear…especially if this had been the ‘middle of the night’ for those on the ha’tak.

Making certain the corridor was empty before leaving the relative safety of the shaft, the men raced toward the first door they could see. Hiding behind the support columns, Powers checked the door. Unlocked. He opened the door, peeked inside. Empty.

Hearts pounding, the men rushed into the room, then carefully locked the door. Sutter glanced around, and located the computer terminal. "Here goes nothin’," he whispered.

Within a matter of seconds, the sergeant had sent the SOS. Not more than twenty seconds after that, all five members of SG-7 were standing in the transport room of the Phoenix.

Andrews drew a deep breath. "Tell Colonel Johnson to get us the hell out of here," he told the tech.

"Yes, sir," the young man replied.

The men stood inside the ring…all of them shaking…and stared at one another. Had they really managed to pull it off?

"You shot Ba’al," Andrews rasped. It was more of a question than a statement of fact.

"I had to shoot him, Major," Sutter said. "He was getting ready to toss that nasty looking knife into your back."

"Thanks, Pete," the major replied, his voice breaking slightly. He reached out and squeezed the young man’s shoulder.

"Any time, sir," the young man responded, giving a nod.

"Well, they’ll just toss his ass into his sarcophagus, and then he’ll be pissier than ever," Bowman complained.

"You can tell Miz J you delivered that message for her, she’ll be happy to hear that," Sutter said.

"That was a really good message, too," Powers said. "Think I’m gonna have to look into putting a bet down with Miz J." He looked at his teammates, grinning from ear-to-ear.

Andrews snorted. Sutter snickered. Bowman chuckled. Waters and Powers began to guffaw, breaking the tension that had filled them during the mission. The team dissolved into fits of laugher…it took a few minutes before they were ready to make their report. When they had all taken a deep breath, they headed out of the room and toward the elevator.

"Let’s have the colonel get a message to General Hammond," Andrews said. With a nod at the transporter tech, he led his team into the corridor.

Exchanging glances in the elevator on their way to the bridge, SG-7 grinned at one another. Sometimes, everything went right. Not always…but sometimes. This was one of those times…something for which they would all be eternally grateful.

Ten minutes later, after hurriedly explaining to Colonel Johnson what had happened on the Goa’uld ship, that message was sent. It was simple and to the point.

Mission accomplished.

SG-1 slipped out of the ventilation vent, directly onto the floor of the hanger bay, delighted to note that not a single Jaffa was in sight. And right where Teal’c had predicted it would be was a tel’tak…a Goa’uld transport ship.

"This is smaller than most tel’taks, isn’t it, Teal’c?" Sam whispered, gauging the size of the craft with her eyes.

"It is. Larger tel’taks are used for transporting Jaffa to a planet’s surface for battle. Those of this size are used to carry supplies for those troops," Teal’c explained.

"Just as long as it’s big enough for us to fit into, I’m happy," Jack said quietly. "You can fly this thing, right Rocko?"

There was only the tiniest of twitches in the Jaffa’s cheek. "Indeed."

"Good. Let’s get the hell out of here before something else goes wrong," Jack commanded.

Daniel agreed wholeheartedly. He was already moving toward the small ship when what they were doing impacted on his brain. He stopped and whirled to face his Wife. "This is the reason you insisted that we carry a full pack, and provisions for a week!"

"I don’t always get all of the details! I told you I saw us hiking!" Casey snapped. "The only other thing I saw…and that was when we were grabbing our weapons, was that we were going to need supplies."

He took a deep breath. "Sorry, Angel."

From habit, when one of his team stopped, Jack stopped. He studied the seer…

He’d worried about being able to retrieve them, but the Jaffa were so busy trying to find SG-1 near the transport rings that they’d completely ignored the holding cells. After all, why would a team trying to escape from the ship go there? While climbing through the ventilation shafts with the damned things had been a struggle, there were enough alarms wailing that any inadvertent noise they made had been covered.

"I take it this is when we’re going to need this gear?" Jack asked.

"You said you saw us hiking…that’s why we need the packs," Daniel said at exactly the same time.

Casey shrugged slightly. "I only saw us hiking. That’s it. But…" She shrugged helplessly.

He glanced around. And was suddenly glad he hadn’t argued with her when she’d insisted that they bring them along. "You picked this up when we were on the Odyssey?"

She nodded, gave a small sigh. "I didn’t pick up any specifics…I didn’t know why we needed the packs, or when…hell, I’m still not sure about that! All I knew…know…is that it was…is…very important that we have them."

It always bothered the young woman when she didn’t see ‘everything’. When she felt as if she couldn’t offer ‘enough’ information. She usually beat the crap out of herself for what she saw as failures, and always where none existed. Jack put his arm around Casey’s shoulders. "Good enough for me. We’re prepared for an extended stay somewhere, and that’s a very good thing."

"Very good," Daniel said softly. He squeezed slightly when he felt the tremors in the fingers she'd wrapped around his hand.

"We must leave now, or we will be discovered," Teal’c insisted quietly. He led the way to the waiting tel’tak. He carefully opened the transport, glanced inside. "It is completely empty."

"That’s good news. Let’s go kids. We gotta get outa here," Jack said. He led the way into the ship.

Sam and Teal’c headed directly for the ship’s control console. They slid into the seats that waited side by side.

"Sealing the outer doors," Teal’c announced, his fingers moving over the controls in front of him. A metallic clang echoed quietly. "Bringing engines online."

"I’m going to try to hack into the main computer of the ship, and open the bay door," Sam said. Hoping she sounded more confident than she was feeling in that moment. She worked furiously for several minutes. Twice she asked Daniel to translate the words she didn't recognize that flashed across her screen. "Okay, here goes nothin’," she said softly.

The team watched with equal measures of delight and trepidation as the hanger doors they could see at the end of the long bay began to move apart. The darkness of space and winking of distant stars beyond the ship was a welcome sight…wherever Ba’al had been going, apparently they had arrived. They wouldn’t be trying to escape a ship in hyperdrive…something the scientist wasn’t even sure was possible. The alarms that suddenly began to blare inside the hanger bay were muted, but audible.

"Way to go, Sam," Casey cheered.

She tossed a grin over her shoulder at her friend. "Thanks."

"Shit, we gotta get out of here!" Jack exclaimed when he heard the new alarms. The bay would be crawling with Jaffa in just a matter of minutes.

"I think some of those fighters are going to be following us," Casey said, pointing to one side of the bay, where half a dozen Jaffa were running toward the Death Gliders that were lined up, waiting to be utilized.

"Prepare yourselves," Teal’c said, then wrapped his hands around the sphere that was used to steer the vessel. The ship rose abruptly, then lurched forward as the Jaffa aimed the tel’tak for the open door.

"Sam, can you close those bay doors?" Jack asked, watching the Jaffa approaching the gliders until the tel’tak had moved forward.

"I got ‘em open," she replied cheekily. She scanned the data on the screen in front of her and recognized three words. "Yep."

"Do it. Just before we get there, start that thing closing again," the team CO ordered.

"On it, sir."

"Tau’ri, do not believe you will escape your god," a disembodied voice echoed from the communication system.

"Yada yada yada," Casey muttered. "How do you respond on this thing?"

"Radar?"

"I’m so gonna let that damned Jaffa…no offense Teal’c-"

"None taken," Teal’c assured the seer, even as he maneuvered the tel’tak through the hanger bay and toward the open door.

"I’m gonna clue that moron in to the truth," Casey finished.

"Got it!" Sam declared excitedly. "Just tell me when."

"Great job, Carter. Teal’c, let Radar speak her mind," Jack said, grinning. No doubt Casey would be quite succinct with her message…and right now, he could use a nice, pleasant, funny distraction.

No one was certain, but it sounded as if the Jaffa had snickered. "Touch this control when you wish to speak," Teal’c instructed the waiting woman.

"Thanks, Teal’c." Casey dropped a kiss on the top of his bald head. She put her finger on the blue button. "Hey, asshole…one…I can believe anything I want…two…he’s not my god…and three…it looks as if we’re doing a very good job of escaping. And by the way, I hope the next few days are really rough for that snake. Because the real Ba’al just got the same message this fake one did. At the same time. No doubt he’s already looking for the clone’s sorry ass. Maybe you can run and hide while the fake Ba’al is in his sarcophagus. Toodles, asshole."

Daniel began to laugh. "Feel better, Case?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," she said primly.

"Close that door, Carter," Jack said calmly, watching carefully as the tel’tak approached the bay doors.

The wide doors stopped moving, then reversed direction. The tel’tak barely made it through the opening. Unfortunately, two gliders were right behind them.

"I don’t suppose this thing has guns or lasers, does it?" Jack inquired hopefully.

"It has short range weapons," Teal’c replied. "However, it seems there is no ammunition for those weapons on board."

"That totally sucks," Jack groaned.

"Now you’ll tell me we can’t use the ammo from our P90s, right?" Casey asked, only half joking.

"Nice idea, but no. Sorry, Radar. We need to find a place where we can ditch this thing. Make the Jaffa in the gliders behind us think we’ve crashed," Jack said, thinking quickly. In that moment, not one of the team members realized that what he was suggesting would result in fulfilling Casey’s visions.

"If we can find a planet close enough, we can make a hot landing. It wouldn’t take much to rig this thing to blow. We get far enough away, let it blow…that should make the pilots of those gliders think we crashed," Sam suggested.

"Can you give us a countdown before it blows?" Jack asked.

"I can try. Might be close," was the response.

"We have to make it look like we crashed, or those Jaffa will track us down," Jack said, his military experience warning him of potential problems.

"Right. Let’s see if we can find a suitable planet." Sam began to scan around them.

"Why aren’t they shooting at us?" Daniel asked, a frown on his face.

With a matching frown, Jack turned to look at the archaeologist. "I hate to say it, but that’s a good question."

Before anyone could say anything further, the ship shook around them.

"They’re shooting at us now," Casey grumbled.

"That was just a warning shot," Jack argued. "If those boys wanted to destroy us, they could have done it by now."

"Rebel Jaffa?" Daniel suggested hopefully.

"That’s as good a guess as any," Jack admitted.

"I think I have something," Sam reported. "Hey, check this out! I’ve found a map!"

Teal’c leaned over to examine the glass screen in control console directly in front of Sam. "It is a map for this sector. All of the habitable planets are marked in green."

"We need to find one with a ‘gate," Casey mumbled.

"What?" Sam asked, turning to look at her.

"We need a Stargate, or we’re not getting home," the seer reiterated.

Teal’c pointed to the screen. "These two planets are marked as having a Chappa'ai."

"Which one is closest?" Jack asked.

"Both are relatively the same distance from us. We must decide now which one we will go to, or we will be too far past them, and we do not dare backtrack," Teal’c replied.

"Just pick one, Big Guy, and get us there," Jack told the Jaffa.

With a nod, Teal’c changed the direction the ship had been heading. He waited until the last moment to make the final adjustment. As he had hoped, the gliders – which had been following closely – were too close to adjust their own course before flying past the tel’tak. At best, the Tau’ri had gained a few seconds.

"How long to get there?"

Teal’c glanced at the console. "Less than ten minutes."

"Okay, Carter, figure out what you have to do to make this thing blow within about five minutes of us getting clear," Jack said.

Sam sighed. "I hope I can do this," she whispered, not intending for anyone to hear. She’d always worked to repair whatever ship they were on, to get it flying or keep it flying…not trying to blow it up.

Jack reached out and caressed his wife’s face. "You’re my gizmo expert, Carter. You can do this. Not a doubt in the world."

With a smile for her husband, Sam slid to the floor, and ripped the cover from the center control unit and examined it carefully. "Daniel, I have to compare these panels. I need you to tell me what these say, while I work on this side."

"Sure. Show me where," Daniel said, dropping to the floor beside his teammate.

"Here."

For several minutes the only sound in the tel’tak was Daniel’s voice softly answering Sam’s equally soft questions about the labels beside each data crystal. Twice she slid closer to her teammate, to double-check the placement of crystals.

"I can do it!" Sam crowed. "When we land, all I have to do is remove this crystal, and switch these two around. The only thing I don’t know is exactly how long we’ll have. Probably not more than three minutes."

Jack pushed one hand through his hair. "It will be long enough," he decided. "We’ll just have to haul our asses."

"I can have the doors open before we land," Teal’c offered.

"Every little bit helps," Jack replied.

"Hey, I can see it!" Casey said excitedly, pointing at the planet that was growing larger through the window in front of the control console with each passing moment. "Lots of green and blue. It’s pretty," she said softly.

"Where’s the Stargate located?" Jack asked, watching the planet grow nearer as well.

Sam studied the map that she’d been able to call up. "There’s a lake…it would make a great place to dump this tel’tak."

"I don’t like the idea of having to swim away from a ship rigged to blow," Jack drawled.

"The Stargate is about 32 kilometers from that lake," Sam informed him.

"Twenty miles? That’s at least four days of walking…if we’re on a road. If we have to do any climbing, it will take longer," Jack pointed out.

"Sir…Jack…there’s nothing but a mountain range on the other side of the Stargate. Starting from that lake is going to be the best we can get," Sam said quietly.

"I’m not trying to be a wise ass here," Daniel started, "but is it possible to fly this thing low enough we can jump, let the ship hit that lake and then blow?"

Teal’c, Sam, and Jack exchanged glances. The idea had merit, they agreed in that silent conversation.

"If I fly the tel’tak in an erratic manner as we approach the planet, it might give the gliders behind us the impression that we are experiencing difficulties," Teal’c suggested.

Once again the ship shuddered around them as they were hit by a weapons blast from the gliders. Alarms began to wail.

"Shit! Fire!" Daniel shouted, pointing to one of the panels in the holding bay of the ship. He was already reading the symbols on the wall, desperate to find any sort of fire extinguisher. Regardless of the culture, there were some things that were just universal.

"We’ve got to get that put out," Jack hollered back, looking around the empty bay, as desperate as Daniel to find something to use that would put out the flames that were starting to lick around the wall. Those flames were producing a lot of smoke, and they were in an enclosed environment…

"Found it!" Daniel forced open a panel, and found the Goa’uld version of a fire extinguisher. It was similar enough to what was used on good old Planet Earth that within seconds of grabbing it, he was spraying foam at the fire. For what seemed an eternity, the foam appeared to be having little affect. Before he could give up, the foam expanded and completely covered the panel, snuffing out the flames.

"Way to go, Danny," Jack hooted, patting the younger man on the back.

Daniel slumped slightly, let the empty canister drop from his hands. "That was too damned close," he groused.

"Yeah, it was," Jack agreed. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I’m fine," Daniel replied, shaking from the sudden lack of the adrenaline that had coursed through his body.

"The good news," Casey said, wrapping her arms around her Husband, letting him lean gratefully against her, "is that there were probably flames visible on the outside of this thing, too."

"Which means the gliders will think we’re in bad shape," Jack said, following her logic. "Teal’c, make us look as crippled as possible. Carter, get ready to do your magic with those crystals. Daniel, Casey grab the packs, make sure the P90s are securely attached –we’ll toss them out just before we jump. We don’t want to land on them."

They were moving through the upper atmosphere of the planet…and the ride wasn’t smooth. Several panels fell from the walls, wires and tubing broke free. The thought in each mind was that any appearance of a struggle to keep the tel’tak airborne might not be for show.

Thick jungle which rapidly changed to grasslands and then just as quickly to forest began to whip by beneath them as they flew with as much speed as possible toward their goal. Teal’c dropped altitude as much as he dared…the tops of the tallest trees were scraping against the bottom of the craft. He began to move the ship back and forth, trying to make it appear as if he had little control.

"Lake is coming up," Sam called out.

"I am opening the door…now!" Teal’c called out. "Prepare yourselves!"

Jack pushed Daniel and Casey toward the open door; the couple began to toss the packs toward the ground. "Teal’c come around, make it look like you’re trying to avoid flying toward those mountains."

"I will circle the lake," the Jaffa said, "and make it appear that I’m trying to avoid crashing into the water."

"Sam, get those crystals moved."

Her fingers trembled slightly as she moved the crystals that would start a feedback loop of energy to blow the tel’tak to pieces.

The ship seemed to drop, then dropped again, until they were mere feet above the ground.

"Let’s go…NOW!" Jack yelled.

Teal’c and Sam dove for the bay of the ship, Jack and Daniel grabbed them and helped them to the open door.

"Jump!" Jack ordered.

The tel’tak began to careen, throwing the teammates away from their only means of escape. Determination and desperation saw them struggling to make it across a floor that was suddenly too slick to walk on. Teal’c made it to the door, locked the fingers of one hand around the edge, held his other out. Sam made it to him first, he literally shoved her out. Daniel pushed Casey, and she followed Sam. Daniel reached for Teal’c, then felt himself flying through the air. Jack was behind him, and Teal’c not even a split second later.

They hit the ground – not as hard as it would have been had the tel’tak been even a few feet higher – winded, bruised, and a still a bit scared…but very much alive.

Sam had landed on her side in deep grass, which was probably the only reason she wouldn’t be covered with bruises. She was grateful the tel’tak hadn’t been more than five feet above the ground when Teal’c tossed her to safety.

Casey landed on her back, not far from Sam. Again, the thick, tall grass had acted as a cushion for her landing. She’d had the wind knocked out of her, but was otherwise just fine.

Daniel grunted as he landed closer to the shore of the lake, finding himself tangled in a mass of thick, green weeds. He had landed on his hands and knees, one knee cracking against a large, not fully buried stone. The pain was intense, but he was certain that he’d be able to walk, or at least limp, until his Immortality dealt with the injury.

Jack landed on the shore itself – which was, he noted, lovely deep sand – on his back as well. He laid for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

Teal’c landed at the edge of the shallow water, again the deep sand and silt offering a softer landing than hard packed dirt or rocks.

Before any of them could make it to their feet, the ship began to skim the surface of the lake… then exploded not more than thirty feet from where they were sprawled. The explosion sent pieces of the tel’tak in all directions.

"Cover your heads!" Jack shouted, curling into a ball, arms over his head. Fragments of the ship landed around them in a hail of metal fragments.

Two fighters flew overhead, then circled the lake twice.

"Everybody okay?" Jack called out. Four voices answered in the affirmative. He closed his eyes for a second, offering a hasty prayer of gratitude to the Glowy Jellyfish and the Tooth Fairy.

"Do you think they saw us?" Daniel asked, still breathing hard.

"If they had done so, they would be flying above us, and relaying our position to any and all gliders following them," Teal’c replied.

"Our best bet is to get into those trees," Jack said, pointing to the forest that seemed to surround the lake.

"We should do so before the gliders make another pass," Teal’c recommended.

"Agreed. Let’s go, campers."

Daniel pushed himself to his feet, cried out with pain as his knee reminded him of his landing.

"Danny?" Jack was beside his friend in two long strides.

"Hit my knee against a rock when I landed," Daniel explained, trying not to put pressure on his leg and remain upright at the same time.

Jack caught Teal’c’s eye, then nodded at the archaeologist. "We’ll get you out of here," he said gently.

Teal’c hurried to his side, then wrapped his arm around Daniel’s waist. "Put your arm around my shoulders, Daniel Jackson. I will assist you to safety."

"Thanks," Daniel murmured.

A slight inclination of his head was all the response that was given…or needed.

"Sam, you and Casey see if you can find our packs," Jack instructed. "Stay low. If those gliders come back around do your best to disappear into all this grass."

Sam nodded. She rolled to her hands and knees, then began to laugh. Two of the packs were not more than a foot away from her. "Found two of them," she announced gleefully.

Casey had made it to her feet, and was scanning the thick grass. There seemed to be a ‘depression’ in one spot not far from her. "I just found another one," she called out. On her way to retrieve the pack, she found another ‘depression’. Gave a loud whoop. "And two more!"

Once again Jack closed his eyes in silent thanks. They were alive, relatively healthy…even considering Daniel’s knee; they had their weapons, and packs…which in turn had food, water, medical kits, and a few other necessities that just might come in handy in the next few days. "Ladies, you are amazing," he said, grinning broadly. When the briefing for this mission was held, he was going to put both women up for medals!

In just minutes the team was armed, packs adjusted on their backs, and they were heading into the dense forest. When the gliders returned to fly over the lake, only a few pieces of the tel’tak that had landed on the sandy shore were still burning.

One of the pilots, a Jaffa who had battled the Tau’ri on several occasions, began to scan the area around the lake. He banked to his left…he was certain he’d seen an impression in the sand…water lapped closely to the odd, dark spot. He circled, and flew over the shore again, a bit lower. If one of the Tau’ri had landed there, and that was certainly what appeared to have happened, that Tau’ri was no longer there. Had all of the Tau’ri escaped the destruction of the tel’tak…or had only one managed to walk away with his…or her…life? "I do not believe all of the Tau’ri are dead," he declared.

In the other glider, a rebel Jaffa grimaced. Of all the Jaffa to have made it to a glider, it had to be one loyal to Ba’al. "What makes you believe this?"

"Follow me," the first pilot replied calmly.

The rebel followed – noted the spot on the shore where the sand was disturbed. Grinned broadly. He had no doubt that SG-1 had once again beaten the odds. He would bet a week’s rations that the entire team was already safe in the forest. "That does not look as if a human made those marks. There could be animals nearby that have done so."

A moment of silence had the rebel fearing that the pilot would insist on landing and looking for survivors. "I suppose you could be correct. It is unlikely that the Tau’ri were able to escape the tel’tak before it exploded. It was obvious that they were attempting to land," the first pilot admitted. "The shol’va who no doubt piloted the tel’tak was not very skilled. He was unable to land safely."

"So it would seem," the rebel agreed, heaving a silent sigh of relief.

"We should let the others know there is no reason to come here," the pilot continued. "We will report to our god that once again his enemies have been destroyed."

The rebel grinned. SG-1 destroyed? Not likely. He could only hope that the dauntless team would be able to find a way home. He took note of the planet’s location. He’d send a message to Bra’tac as soon as he was able. The rebel leader would let the Tau’ri know where SG-1 was hiding, and they would be returned safely to the SGC.

Watching from the cover of a dozen tall pine trees, Jack grinned. The gliders were heading up and out. Their ruse had worked.

Mission accomplished.

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