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White Lace and Promises

She was dressed in a BDU, like she'd been every day the previous week. Her name was above the pocket. Soon, she thought, the laundry service would have to replace the name patch with a new one. They could just take one from Daniel's fatigues. That thought made her smile. Jack had given her an intar loaded P-90, which would send an electrical pulse, along with a red laser beam, to the 'enemy's' vests, indicating a wound or death.

"Okay, it's you and me. We left Daniel, Carter, and Teal'c back at base camp, we're here to do a little looking around," Jack said. "We've found this…uh…"

"Interesting temple," she said, grinning at him. "And from what I hear, if there are any sort of markings or writing or glyphs, we'll have to zat Daniel to get him out."

The older man chuckled. "You are so ahead of me on this one! Ready?"

"No, but don't let that stop anything," she replied, taking a deep breath.

"Stay close," Jack said softly. "Eyes open."

She followed him carefully into the interior of the 'temple', which was actually Warehouse Two. She pulled her sunglasses off, scanned the large area carefully. There were several 'columns', and she recognized several of the markings as Goa'uld. "Well, it's home to the bad guys," she whispered.

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"Those pillars have Goa'uld markings on them."

Jack stopped and looked at her. He'd been aware that Daniel was teaching her to read and speak the language. "Okay, smartass, what does it say?"

She grinned, shrugged slightly. "I only recognize a few of the symbols."

"Take a guess then," he suggested.

She moved closer, her eyes moving once again over the area, her weapon ready, her finger on the trigger.

Jack nodded approvingly as he watched her. She listens well, he thought.

"If you want to keep an eye on things," she said, stopping near the closest 'column'.

He moved to her side. "Got your back," he replied.

She carefully examined the glyphs, trying desperately to put meaning to them. "Well, this is a temple for Ptah. I have that much. That's all I can figure out. We'll need Daniel's beautiful, brilliant mind to read the rest."

"Okay, we'll give them a call in just-"

"Aray kree!" Four 'Jaffa' in full armor appeared through a doorway on the right side of the room. ["Stay where you are!"]

"How do you say 'oh shit' in Goa'uld?" Casey whispered. "Daniel won't teach me the swear words."

Jack had to bite his lip to keep from laughing out loud.

"Kegalo!" ["Silence!"]

"Okay, boss, now what?"

"Just do what they say for now."

"Kegalo!" This time the command was accompanied by a slap across the face.

Jack narrowed his eyes. Colonel Reynolds would definitely be paying for that little acting improvisation!

Their weapons were taken from them, and their hands were tied behind them. Jack was taken to one room, Casey to another.

"Don't tell them anything!" he shouted as two of the 'Jaffa' forced him down the hallway.

"Like what do I know to tell them in the first place?" she called back. Which earned her a thump across the back. Not hard, but enough to know that silence was golden.

She was tossed rather unceremoniously into the room. "Oh, come on! If you're going to lock me up, aren't the cuffs a bit redundant?"

The 'Jaffa' stared at her, then activated a force field of some sort. As soon as the sound of the armor clanking had disappeared, she moved toward that invisible shield. Turned around and touched it with her fingers.

"Damn!" She shook her hand as best she could. "Okay, my girl, assess the situation. Well, let's see," she muttered to herself, and to the amusement of those watching, "I just got caught by Jaffa. Who designed that armor, anyway, Liberace? I heard he was kinky, but that is ridiculous. Maybe that's what make the Jaffa so bitchy! Who'd want to be seen in that get-up? It's gotta pinch, too."

Two levels below, in the monitoring room, the members of SG-1, General Hammond, and the 'Jaffa' guards were laughing.

She was moving around the room. "Okay, first thing, get my freaking hands free." She knelt down, and tried to reach the pocket on her fatigue pants where she'd put her pocketknife. Couldn't quite reach far enough. "Shit! Okay, where there's a will, there's a way." She walked over to one of the walls. Began to push and twist her hip against it.

"What is she doing?" Jack asked.

"I have no idea," Daniel admitted.

Sam began to giggle. "Smart girl. Keep watching."

Eventually her pants twisted enough that she could pull the pocket closer with her fingers. She was nearly pulling one shoulder out of the socket in her attempt to reach the ever elusive knife. After what seemed like an eternity, but was only about fifteen minutes, Casey had her hands free.

In the monitoring room, SG-1 was busy high-fiving each other.

She stared at the opening, wondering if she could short the force field out. She looked around for some sort of control. Found it. On the wrong side of that electrical boundary. She looked around again, found a small brick that someone had carelessly… or maybe purposely…left behind. She tossed it at the opening. Grinned when it went through.

"Okay, now what is she up to?" Jack muttered.

Casey took off her boots. "Okay, one practice shot, one for real," she mumbled. The microphone hidden in the camera picked up every word. She aimed carefully. Tossed the boot at the control. Managed to hit the bottom of it. "Okay, for all the points, name the capital of Arkansas. Why, Little Rock of course! So let's rock-n-roll!" She tossed the second boot, a bit harder, a bit higher. And managed to hit the control panel with enough force to knock the cover to the floor. She stood with her hands on her hips, let her head drop forward, and shook is slowly. "Another good idea shot to hell!"

Again, her observers were laughing. "That was a pretty good idea," Sam said.

"Yeah, it was," Daniel said proudly.

The young blonde in the cell three levels above them was standing dangerously close to that humming force field. She took her pocketknife, touched the 'wall', jerked back when the current flowed down the blade into her arm. Frowned, paced a bit more. Reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck of playing cards. Touched the barrier with them. No jolt. She grinned. Okay. She unfastened her belt. Moved as close to the control panel as she could get. Swung the buckle at the panel. Missed completely. Took a deep breath, tried again. Hit the panel. Stopped, put her hands on her hips again, cocked her head sideways.

"Oh, hell," Daniel hissed.

"What?" Jack asked.

"She's…uh…picking up something," Daniel replied.

Casey looked up at the 'hidden' camera. "I hate to ruin a perfectly entertaining simulation here, but we need to get back to the mountain. I think something…bad…is about to happen," she said softly. The force field immediately dropped.

"Get your boots on, Case," Jack's voice said, echoing in the large room. "We're on our way up."

She hurried to obey, running to where she'd seen the elevator when she and Jack had first come into building. Grinned when the doors opened. "Okay, just to satisfy my curiosity, how was I doing?"

General Hammond smiled. "You showed ingenuity. I had money on you getting that force field down."

She giggled. "Yeah, well, I was going to give it my best shot."

"Casey, can you 'see' what's happening, or what's going to happen?" Daniel asked gently.

She closed her eyes. "Just…it looks like someone is trying to get through the 'gate…through the iris. Some sort of…energy. I think."

Within minutes they were running through the corridors of the SGC. Klaxons wailed, security lights flashed, and 'gate room security teams raced to set up a defensive perimeter.

"What's going on?" the general demanded to know as soon as he entered the control room, followed closely by SG-1.

"Unknown, sir," Walter Harriman replied. "Wormhole was established two minutes ago. We have no teams due back or for check-in. No IDC received."

"Attention slaves!" a voice echoed around them. "You will prepare for the arrival of your god, Anuket!"

All eyes turned to Daniel. "Just an arrival announcement for the god Anuket," he translated. He closed his eyes, searched his mind frantically. "Anuket…um… goddess of the Nile, was the deification of the river. She always carried a spear as well. By the time of the Ptolomeic era, because her name was 'The Embracer', and she was associated with the fertility of the flood, she also became associated with lust. That's all I can remember off the top of my head," he admitted, with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

Jack grinned. "The top of your head must be full!"

Casey couldn't hold back her giggle.

"All right, people, suggestions," General Hammond said.

"As long as the iris is closed, nothing and no one can get through, sir," Sam replied.

"I agree, General," Jack said. "Let her try to come through. One less snake to worry about."

"Um…I don't know much about wormholes and the iris and…um…energy stuff, but I think something is about to happen," Casey murmured.

"Incoming travelers," Walter announced.

Instead of the expected 'thuds', five Jaffa stepped onto the ramp.

"Open fire!" the General ordered.

The room below echoed with the sound of gunfire. Which seemed to bounce off of the energy shields that surrounded each Jaffa.

Jack grabbed the microphone. "Get out of there!" he ordered. "Close the blast doors!"

The metal cover for the control room window began to lower, but not before the people observing could see the Jaffa open fire on the Marines who were attempting to evacuate the room.

"Okay, those blast doors aren't going to hold them if they can walk through the iris," Jack said.

Sam's fingers were flying over the keyboard. "If I can disrupt the frequency of those shields, we should be able to take them out," she said.

"I think she's coming," Casey whispered.

"Seal this level off," General Hammond ordered.

"I think I have it," Sam said calmly. The team watched the monitor as Sam began to 'broadcast' a low humming sound into the 'gate room. Several loud thumps were heard as more Jaffa attempted to get through the gate.

Jack, Teal'c, and Daniel ran down the stairs, grabbing the weapons of the nearest Marines. "Open it up, Carter!" Jack yelled.

The blonde major opened the blast door. The three men were firing as soon as they could see around it. The Jaffa in the room went down.

"Major, is there a way to make that broadcast permanent whenever a wormhole is engaged from another Stargate?" the general asked.

"Yes, sir. We can write a program that will initiate this frequency whenever the 'gate activates."

"Get on it," the general ordered.

"Yes, sir."

As the blast doors reopened, those in the control room and in the 'gate room watched in shock as the iris began to open. "Close that iris!" the general's voice boomed out.

"It's not us, sir," Sam replied. She and the other technicians on the room were working frantically to re-establish control.

"Colonel, get out of there!"

With a nod, Jack led the Marines, Daniel, and Teal'c back out of the room. Once again the blast doors swung closed.

"Now what?"

"Can we put some sort of force field across the blast doors, that would interrupt their energy shields?" Daniel asked.

"Good idea," Sam nodded. "Have Siler get a couple of generators down here. I have the equipment I need in my office. Send a couple of warm bodies for it."

"Do it," General Hammond said. Sam bolted for the door and disappeared down the corridor.

Casey continued to watch the monitors that showed the 'gate room. The iris was nearly open now, even as the tech's continued to struggled to regain control. "What would happen if we opened the iris and then closed it when there were travelers in the wormhole?"

"I don't know," Walter Harriman replied. "I don't know if it would work, sir," he said, looking over his shoulder.

"They'll have it open in a couple of minutes anyway," Jack said. "If we can take out just a few, it would help, sir."

The general studied Casey for several long seconds. "Try it."

The techs allowed the iris to open. Immediately the wormhole was occupied. Walter typed furiously. The iris closed just nanoseconds before the travelers arrived. Again the 'thud' of bodies, or rather their energy, hitting the iris filled the room.

Daniel reached over and squeezed her shoulder.

"That might have bought us a little bit of time," Jack said, smiling at the young blonde woman.

Once again control of the iris became a tug of war between the unseen enemy and the technicians of the SGC.

"Sergeant, time?"

"Seven minutes, sir."

"If we can hold out for thirty-one minutes, we can dial the 'gate – give them a busy signal," Jack said.

"Somehow I don't think it's going to be that easy," Daniel responded dryly.

"Colonel, get all personnel armed. We'll make our first stand here. Set up fallback positions on levels twenty-seven, twenty-six, and twenty-five," General Hammond ordered.

"Okay, kids, time to earn our pay," Jack said. He lead Teal'c, Daniel, and Casey to the armory, all the while shouting orders to those who waited.

"I'm going to take Casey to the infirmary," Daniel said quietly.

Jack nodded. "Go."

He raced to the elevator, pulling her along. "I want you to stay out of sight," he said softly when the doors closed behind them.

"Daniel, I-"

"No arguments. You find a place and you stay there until it's safe to come out," he insisted.

"How will I know that?"

He smiled grimly. "You'll know."

Sam was standing by the elevator, ready to jump on when the doors opened. She held up a disk. "If we can transmit this through that open wormhole, it just might shut them down," she said breathlessly.

Daniel nodded, punched the number for level twenty-seven. Looked worriedly at Casey. "I'm putting you off at level twenty-one." He put his finger on her lips, to stop the protest she'd taken a breath to make. "You did great this morning, Angel. But you're not quite ready for full battle with Goa'uld."

"I may not have a choice," she replied.

"Remember what I told you."

She nodded.

When the doors opened on the medical level, Daniel kissed her, then pushed her into the corridor. He smiled encouragingly at her as the elevator doors closed once again.

Casey looked around. Was fairly sure she could find the infirmary.

"What is going on?" Janet asked, her eyes full of worry.

"Just a small invasion force," Casey replied. "They have some sort of energy thing that lets them waltz right through the iris."

"Now why don't I like the sound of that?" She glanced around. "Tyler, get up to the armory on level nineteen. Bring down as much as you can. Jill, go with him."

"What can I do?" Casey asked, watching as the medic and nurse raced for the elevator.

"Help me get these tables into the corridor. We'll turn them over, use them as protection to fire from. We'll set them up in front of the elevator," the petite doctor replied.

With a nod, Casey grabbed one end of the long table, tilted it to the same side when Janet signaled, effectively clearing it. She tried to be careful as she stepped over and around the collection of medical supplies that were now on the floor.

Her heart was pounding. Janet had tried twice to contact the control room. If the troops had relocated to the secondary control room, they'd have had to go up to level sixteen. And would have made sure that all of the lower levels had been evacuated. So far, there was no response to any calls. Nor had they picked up any radio 'chatter' that would've given them an idea what was happening. All they could do was wait, and pray.

A   A   A   A   A   A

The teams had fallen back to level twenty-six. At last count at least fifty Jaffa had made it through the 'gate, and were in complete control of levels twenty-seven and twenty-eight. Sam had been unable to get the upload of the program completed before they were forced to evacuate the control room. She'd purposely chosen one of the computers in the corner to do the upload on; hopefully none of the Jaffa had noticed it. As soon as it was finished, the program would automatically take control of the 'gate and begin sending the signal that held the frequency that had stopped the first group of Jaffa. Hope was riding on that hastily written program.

Attention was focused on the elevator. Desperate times called for desperate measures. And they were desperate to find a weapon that would work against these shielded warriors. With seemingly no other options available, Sam suggested using the special Transphase Eradication Rod weapon that Jacob Carter and his symbiote Selmak had left with them three years earlier. She and the other technicians had managed to duplicate the technology used, and more than two dozen of the odd looking guns were available. Armed with TER's, which they hoped would be effective against the shields that protected the Jaffa, they waited.

The familiar clank of Jaffa armor filled the corridor.

"Shit," Jack hissed. "They must be using the ladders." He gave hand signals to the men closest to the cross-corridor where the Jaffa would have to pass. The elevator doors opened, and eight Jaffa emerged, all firing their staff weapons. "Fire!"

The TERs seemed to have the desired effect, knocking out the energy shields, and leaving the Jaffa vulnerable to the armor piercing bullets of the P-90s.

Three simultaneous waves of Jaffa were beaten back. "Let's take the ladders back down, kids." Jack said. "Morris, keep your men here in case any more get off on this level. Hornbeck, take a team and start sweeping the upper levels, just in case."

The men nodded, and proceeded to follow their orders.

"Try the radios again," Jack told Daniel. The young man nodded.

"This is Doctor Jackson, can anyone hear me?" Static was the only response.

"The interference has to be caused by that energy shield," Sam said.

They climbed back down to level twenty-seven, Teal'c leading the way. They slipped down the hallway, toward the conference room.

Pacing from one end of the room to the other was a tall, thin woman with long black hair. Her onyx eyes blazed as she listened to the report being given to her. "Fools! Find them!"

The team managed to situate themselves just outside the door. Before they could move, the sound of staff weapons being charged filled the air behind them.

"Akek ya Daru!" ["Take them!"]

Jerked to their feet, the members of SG-1 were pushed into the room, then forcibly shoved to their knees.

Anuket turned, a predatory smile crossing her face. "Well, the famous SG-1. You must be Colonel O'Neill," she said, standing in front of him. "Hathor said she had chosen you as her First Prime. I can understand why. Where she failed, I will succeed."

Daniel quietly translated.

"Tell her not even if hell freezes over," Jack replied.

The Goa'uld completely ignored Sam and Teal'c, stopping in front of Daniel. "Yes, you are most pleasing." She reached out with one hand to caress his face. Slapped him when he pulled away from her touch. "Do not anger me!"

"Or what?" Daniel asked.

Dark eyes flashed. "Or you will not live to regret it."

Arms bound behind them, the four were yanked to their feet, then escorted to the 'gate room.

"Carter, any idea how long that wormhole has been open?" Jack asked quietly.

"It has to be close to thirty-eight minutes, sir," she replied.

Daniel shook his head. "They dialed from here," he said, nodding at the glowing chevrons. One of which was the symbol for Earth.

"Shit!" Jack swore softly. "Carter, will that program of yours do anything if the wormhole is opened from here?"

"It doesn't matter where the origin of the wormhole is, sir, the computer will take control of the 'gate and start broadcasting."

"Good."

"If they didn't stop it. Sir," she added.

"Take them to the palace, place those three in cells. See that this one is made ready for Lord Anuket," the First Prime ordered.

"Oh, hell," Daniel muttered.

"What?" Jack didn't like the look of anger on Daniel's face.

He quickly translated.

Before Jack could reply, commotion broke out among the Jaffa in the control room. Anuket stormed into the room, gesturing wildly. Slapped one Jaffa, raised her ribbon device at another.

"I'd say Sam's program just kicked in," Daniel grinned.

"Looks like," Jack replied. "Let's just hope the others can get back down here before she decides to go home and takes us as the consolation prizes."

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