Jack and Joe

By Biltong

* I had no idea how many people wanted me to write more stories on Father Joe until CiGiK put all the letters into the relevant pages.

Please remember, Father Joe belongs to Badgergator, and I only borrow him on occasion. Like his brother, I wish I could keep him, but alas, that is not meant to be...

....................................................................................................................................

"Ah, P38 yaddah yaddah yaddah. Cool."

Jack O'Neill took in a large icy breath, staring at the surrounding countryside with a pleased expression on his face.

"The official designation is P38 9H7, and I agree," Daniel said deliberately misunderstanding him. "Icy, more like it."

He turned to face his friend, taking in Jack's expression with a frown. " I also have no idea why you are looking so pleased with yourself."

"Why wouldn't I be pleased with myself?" Jack asked, genuinely surprised. "This is the first mission I have been on since the land of those super savages on N97 whatever. You remember, those blue painted people who tried to see how many holes they could inflict to my poor defenseless person without killing me."

"Nine," Teal'c said, shouldering his backpack. "You still breathed, barely, after nine spear thrusts."

"I still think it was a really stupid thing to have done sir," Carter said, returning from sending the MALP back to the SGC.

Jack grinned easily. "The arrogant bastard had to go, and I was the one to do it. As it was, they had a large supply of trinium, trinium that we can now trade for."

"Still," Daniel said, "You almost died. Hell, I know that General Hammond was in two minds as to whether to send for Joe or not. Had you not rallied like you did, he would have had no choice."

"I have no need for my brother to give me last rights," Jack muttered. "Besides, he's done that once before in my life already." His smile returned, albeit weakly. "I think that if you do it again, it negates the first time."

That piqued Daniel's interest.

"When? When before did he give you last rites?"

Jack gave him an inscrutable look.

"A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," he said, aware of Teal'c looking at him approvingly.

"I am impressed O'Neill," he said. "I had no idea that my choice of classic intellectual entertainment would affect you as deeply it has apparently done so."

Daniel and Sam watched amused as O'Neill valiantly swallowed the sarcastic retort he was about to make. This was, after all, Teal'c.

Who knew if he was serious or not?

"Move out kids," Jack said eventually, sighing deeply. "I'll take point, Teal'c you take our six."

...

"This reminds me of Wales," Daniel said ten minutes later. "Hills and vales, as far as the eye can see."

"Great," Jack moaned, staring up at yet another green hill that that blocked his progress. "Wales in winter." He gave the linguist a dirty look. "If we're really lucky, it'll snow, just to compound my misery."

Teal'c shook his head. "It is not cold enough, O'Neill", he said garnering himself his own dirty look.

"Besides, I thought you wanted the exercise," Daniel said with a smirk. "After a month in the infirmary...." He allowed his voice to trail off.

"I was ready for fishing," Jack lamented.

"Fishing? Other people do something constructive with their lives," Daniel said, sighing with relief when he reached the top of the especially steep hill.

"Geez, I'm glad you make us work out like you do," he moaned.

"Yep, exercise and fishing," the twin loves of my life," Jack said happily.

"I was meant to believe that ice hockey was the love of your life," a mystified Teal'c asked. "Was I mistaken?"

"Not at all Teal'c," Jack said, walking effortlessly backwards up the next hill and smiling down at the Jaffa. "Ice Hockey is categorized as a sport, which means it is a form of exercise."

Teal'c inclined his head in understanding.

Jack grinned and spun on his heel just before the apex, feeling happier than he had in ages.

This planet had a crisp green spaciousness that he appreciated, and seemed to all intents and purposes to be Goa'uld free, something he really treasured after the last mission.

Not that he would ever admit it, but that last mission had been hell, and had almost but not quite killed him.

On N97 whatever, the local population had been trained by Sokar to be as ruthless as possible, and had been abandoned when he died. When SG1 had arrived through the stargate, they had believed their god had sent them, and consequently had not been happy when told otherwise.

They had objected violently to SG1's overtures of peace, despite having no infrastructure on the planet to sustain them and being half starved. They were hard people, used to harsh words, and finally, when he realized what was needed for them to understand, Jack had been only too happy to comply.

Of course, that meant challenging their leader, a mean bastard that absolutely no one seemed to like.

Before he even knew what was happening, a long spear had been thrust into his hands and he was shoved into a straw arena along with the man. He had barely enough time to listen to Daniel's shouted instructions before the leader had made his first move, almost disemboweling him.

They were very evenly matched at first until superbrick, as he had nicknamed the man, managed to land a heavy fist against his rib cage. He had gone down, hell with a couple of broken ribs he had had no choice, allowing superbrick's supporters to happily stab him a couple of times. Luckily for him, this was against the rules, and the annoyed crowd had swiftly dealt with the supporters - permanently.

A couple of people dying hard caused a commotion, and superbrick, not being the brightest of men, had turned his head to see what was going on.

Jack had only enough strength left for one thrust of his own spear, but that had been all he had needed.

SG1 had wanted him to return to the SGC and Doctor Fraiser's care immediately, but he had refused. He had risked everything to get this treaty and he simply was not going to fold before it had been ratified.

The blue people had thought it was heroism at its best, a fine show of courage that deserved their respect. The rest of SG1 knew different, but had no choice but to prop him up and stay nearby.

Somehow, he had persevered, staying conscious despite his wounds, and a trade deal had finally been struck with their new friends.

He felt the ridge of new scar tissue through his shirt, his smile slipping. Yes, the powers that be had their new deal, but the cost to him had been high, almost too high.

"Colonel, you had better have a look at this."

Jack jerked his head up to look at the fourth member of their little group, Major Samantha Carter, who had climbed on past him. She had spent most of the walk from the stargate with her head down, concentrating on a mysterious handheld doohickey. Now apparently this doohickey had done something.

"Major?" he asked warily. "Please tell me all you want to show me is your high score."

She shook her head, grinning despite herself. Sometimes he could act so dense.

"No sir," she said, beginning to hand the terra-spectroscope to him and changing her mind last minute.

Knowing him, he would only drop it, and knowing the military, they probably cost about a million bucks each.

"Sir," she said. "This scope is calibrated to search out Naquadric deposits beneath the soil, something both the UAV and subsequent MALP said this planet had in abundance."

She forgot herself and thrust the scope under his nose. "Well, as you can see, there is an over 45% concentration of Naquadricium deposits beneath our feet, meaning..."

"Ah!" he took a horrified step back, all but leveling his weapon at her.

"English please."

She hesitated, searching for a simple sentence.

"Naquadah and lead, sir. The hills and valleys of this planet consist of over 45% unrefined Naquadah, mixed in with 25% lead, and as far as I can tell, nobody has ever mined here."

"What does the other 30 percent consist of?" Jack asked warily.

Her expression was clear and innocent, fooling nobody.

"About 10% dirt sir."

"And the other 20%?" Jack asked, feeling like he was pulling teeth.

"Gold sir."

"Holy crap," Daniel wheezed, realizing the enormity of her statement. "You sure?"

She nodded, her eyes shining. "As far as I can tell, yes. Of course, we'll know for definite once we reach that village the UAV spotted."

"Which will be never if we don't start walking again," O'Neill, said putting his moaning team back on track. He was happy for her and her little gizmo, but he too had a job to do, and that was to make first contact.

...

"Well, this is interesting," he said a while later.

They had finally reached the large village the UAV had spotted and had hunkered down behind a convenient tree in order reconnoiter the lie of the land, so to speak.

Daniel crawled until he was lying next to him, staring down into a steep valley to where a bustling village nestled.

"Wow, this seems to be a Judeo-Christian society," he said happily. "Check that massive cathedral out up on that far hill." He raised his head slightly, staring at a building that could have easily have compared favorably against any cathedral on Earth. Light brown in color, with ornate stained glass windows and a large dome that shone in the sunshine; it was easily the most impressive building Daniel had seen for a long time. "That is amazing," Daniel whispered. "Damn, I can't wait to pay them a visit."

"Can we go down and say hello now?" he asked pitifully.

"You know the answer to that one," O'Neill said, slowly quartering the village with his binoculars.

"Crap," Daniel said with a sigh.

"Stop stealing my cusswords," Jack said distractedly. "And stop fidgeting."

Jack O'Neill knew of two occasions where their lives had been saved by simply watching and waiting, just in case. He was pleased to see that even Daniel, the most mercurial of the four of them, was finally beginning to realize the importance of a little patience.

Or not.

"What do you see?" Daniel asked, reaching for the binoculars. Jack relinquished them to Daniel's care and shaded his eyes.

"Look closely," he commanded. "Tell me what you see."

"I see a village of people Jack," he said impatiently. "They are...." his voice faltered incredulously. " What the heck?" He downed the glasses and stared at Jack.

"Twins. The whole village seems to..."

"It's probably something to do with the Naquadah," Carter interrupted, looking as incredulous as the others. "Or maybe the lead. I mean, there have been birth defects attributed to different mineral deposits since the beginning of time, so it's not too unusual to find the same sort of thing happening here."

Jack frowned, looking at his second carefully.

"Are we in any danger?" he asked.

She shook her head, a small frown of her own marring her forehead.

"I don't believe so, sir," she said. "It's not like the ground is irradiated, like Chernobyl or, well, Hiroshima. I believe what we're seeing here is a birth defect caused by long-term effects of Naquadah poisoning, probably via that lake over there."

She nodded to a sparkling area of water behind the cathedral.

"So we aren't in any real danger?"

She shook her head. "I don't believe so sir."

"Well," Jack said, his decision made. "Shall we meet and greet the residents of the town of twinsville?"

...

Their descent into the town immediately garnered them attention.

Jack had gotten used to that over the years, as had they all. A first contact team always had the most difficult job. The natives, or indigenous population of a planet could swing one of four ways.

1. There was, 'I know of travelers through the stargate, and they are not good people, so you consequently are not good people, and deserve to die,' or

2. 'You come through the gate, like the gods, therefore you are a god too,' or

3. 'You are the magnificent Tau'ri, come to rescue us from the false gods,' which very rarely happened - scratch that, never happened, or

4. Absolute ignorant bliss, which seemed to be the case with Twinsville.

"Oh boy," Jack muttered, blinking as his mind grappled with the idea of seeing a double of everyone, "now this is bizarre."

"You're telling me," Daniel muttered, gamely quashing a feeling of unreality. He was seeing double, up close double, and it was more than his brain could handle.

"This reminds me of those twins conventions they have at Disney world," Teal'c muttered.

Jack looked at the big Jaffa, stunned at his observation.

"Where'd you learn that, T?" he asked.

"Jerry Springer," Teal'c said, "He is most informative."

"I'll bet," Carter said darkly.

Daniel came to a halt at the beginnings of the town, and plastered a smile on his face.

"Oh boy," he muttered, swallowing hard, aware of Jack's sympathetic grimace.

Everywhere he looked, there were pairs of identical twins, some pairs male, some female, all of whom seemed to be looking at them incredulously. As he watched, even more people seemed to come boiling out of homes and businesses, until the road leading into town was completely blocked by doubles.

"O'Neill," Teal'c muttered under his breath. "The villagers do not seem too welcoming."

"So I see," Jack said. "Daniel? Do something, and quick."

"They seem to be an agricultural people, probably mid fifteenth century Western Europe," Daniel muttered, listening to the staccato English whispered by the curious onlookers. "They also seem upset to see us."

"No really?" Jack asked sarcastically, staring warily at the various village implements the villagers carried. "We would never have guessed."

"Well, they are," Daniel said, looking hurt.

"So do something," Jack hissed.

Daniel smiled engagingly as two identical rotund people forced their way through the onlookers.

"Oh look, Tweedledum and Tweedledee," Jack said quietly, relaxing slightly. The presence of authority always reduced the threat level.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, lowering his staff weapon, oblivious to the incredulous looks the others were giving him. "Most intriguing."

"Springer again?" Jack asked.

"www.farytale.com" Teal'c said, his face bland. "They are most descriptive."

Daniel was hard pressed not to smile, but their assessment was right on the nail. The twins trotting towards them did indeed look like they had stepped right out of the pages of a classic children's story. They were small, with neat red hair and beards, and had identical golden chains around their necks.

Daniel, recognizing a chain of office, bowed.

"Greetings," he said. "We are travelers from a distant planet called Earth."

Smile on face, he waited for their reaction.

What he got was not what he expected.

"Where is your other?" One of the Mayoral twins exclaimed, looking around, puzzled.

"Other?" Daniel asked, feeling lost.

"Yes," the other man growled unhappily, an emotion rapidly picked up by the crowd behind him. "Your other." He pointed to his brother emphatically. "Your other."

"Oh," Daniel said, realization dawning. "We have no others. We are alone."

The crowd gasped, stepping back as if he had said something offensive, indeed, from the looks on the faces of Tweedledum and Dee, he had.

"Once more you defile our village. Have you no shame?" the one Daniel had privately named Tweedledee said incredulously.

Daniel tried not to let his smile slip. The crowds were now muttering amongst themselves, their faces angry.

'I don't know what you mean," he said, his brain vainly struggling for a way out. "On our...."

A warm hand on his cut him off.

"We would like to apologize," Jack said smoothly. "Our.... others are back on our home planet, where they are safe. We.... ah," his voice failed him as he scrabbled for an excuse they would believe.

"We do not believe in endangering both.... others," Carter said brightly, sighing in relief as both men nodded sagely.

"It is not our custom to speak or interact with unjoined people," the calmer of the twins said. "It was wise that you spoke of the whereabouts of your others before our standing judgment was inflicted onto you.

"And that is?" Jack asked cautiously.

"Stoning until you breathe no more," the other snapped, still plainly upset, jerking his thumb at an area that looked like an abandoned brickyard.

"Maybe this time we would actually succeed." His statement was met with mutters of agreement from the crowd standing behind him.

"Go back to your village, strangers," The other twin interrupted, giving his brother what could only be described as a warning look. "Return with your others, and we will talk again."

"Come Daniel," Jack said gently, backing away, aware that some of the crowd had started towards the brickyard with the obvious intent of gathering ammunition. "We will get our others and...."

"Return. Yeah, right," the linguist said bitterly.

...

"So now what do we do?" Daniel asked some ten minutes later, after Jack was certain that the last pair of the pursuing villagers had been left behind. "Just meekly admit defeat? Go through the stargate like whipped dogs?"

Jack gave him a sideways look. "We may have no choice," he murmured.

"The village elders are hiding something from us," Teal'c said, his face thoughtful. "The one twin, one of the pair, implied that their judgment had not always been successful."

"Like if they had tried to stone a Goa'uld or a Jaffa, perhaps?" Carter asked.

"And had a very pissed off snakehead enslave them for there troubles?" Jack asked.

"Maybe, but I saw no evidence of any Goa'uld activity," Daniel said slowly.

"I'm open to suggestions," Jack said. He looked around at his team. "Anyone?"

"We need to get back into that village," Daniel said. "That goes without saying."

"Got any twins?" Jack asked, making Daniel scowl.

"Airman Gregory has a twin in NORAD, Carter said thoughtfully. They're young, but...."

"If you are talking about the same Airman Gregory I'm thinking of, then he's nineteen," O'Neill said, "and way too young to negotiate for mineral rites with a bunch of xenophobic doubles."

"Well, begging your pardon sir," Carter said exasperatedly, "someone has to. This planet is too good to lose."

"Maybe one of the people on the other SG teams has an identical twin," Daniel said hopefully.

"We need not look any further than ourselves," Teal'c said contentedly, making them all stare at him in puzzlement.

"Pardon?" Major Carter said. "How do you figure that one out? I have a brother, and Daniel is an only child."

"Unless you...." Jack stared at the big Jaffa, his eyebrow raised. "You been holding out on us big guy? You got an identical twin stashed away that we don't know about?"

Teal'c shook his head. "I do not," he said. "You, on the other hand, do."

It took Jack a moment to make all the right connections.

"Now, wait a minute," he blustered, seeing his team break into smiles. "Joe is not my twin, and we are definitely not alike."

"Sez you," Daniel said smugly. "No one at the SGC can tell you apart, and you say you're not identical?"

Jack shook his head stubbornly. "We're not. For starters, he had hazel eyes, whereas mine are brown, he wears glasses, whereas I do not...."

"They're for reading Jack," Daniel burst out exasperatedly.

"And I'm older by 11 months," O'Neill finished.

"Besides your age difference, you are identical, sir, believe me," Carter said. "And I bet that the villagers will welcome you both with open arms."

"And Joe can investigate that cathedral for me whilst you hammer out a trade deal," Daniel said.

"And they all lived happily thereafter," Teal'c said in a deep voice, stopping them dead.

"Remind me to junk his computer," Jack said darkly.

...

"A village of twins?" General Hammond said a couple of hours later. "How unusual."

"It had to happen sooner or later," Sam Carter said thoughtfully. "The law of averages said that we would eventually find a planet where Mother Nature wasn't as effective as she should be, and now we have."

"Any idea as to what's causing it?" Hammond asked.

"The water table is extremely high in the hills surrounding the village," she answered. "I took a sample, and there is an exceptionally high concentration of both Naquadah and lead in the water. Janet is still running tests as we speak, but I believe that is the source of the bizarre birth rate."

"Hmm," Hammond said, deep in thought. "Now we have a problem. According to your report, the villagers won't speak to anybody who has no identical twin, and as far as I can tell, the only twins we have in the SGC are Major Ferretti with his twin sister based in Hawaii, and Airman Gregory and his brother upstairs at NORAD.

Carter perked up. "Airman Gregory is a pupil of mine. Sure, he and his brother are identical, I've seen them together, but I really think they are a bit young to shoulder a mission like this on their own."

"Nor need they," Teal'c said calmly. "We only need O'Neill, and Joe, kin O'Neill."

General Hammond nodded slowly; the beginnings of a broad smile spreading across his face.

"Quite so," he said.

"Do I have a say in this?" an annoyed voice said.

General Hammond leaned back in his chair and regarded his second indulgently. "Sure you do," he said. "After all, he is your twin."

"Joe and I are not identical," O'Neill said emphatically. "But, for arguments sake, say we did gate to Twinsville, we would have no back up, at all." He shook his head slowly. "Allow me to rephrase that. I would have no back up. I can't very well ask Joe to carry a gun."

"You would in all likelihood not need backup," Daniel said optimistically. "There is no real evidence of there ever being any Goa'uld contact with that world."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" he asked sarcastically. "Then who survived the stoning that they were talking about?"

"It doesn't have to be a Goa'uld," Daniel said desperately.

"And how do you figure that?" Jack asked. "Just because that church had a cross above it, and not the eye of Ra, doesn't necessarily mean the place is Goa'uld free."

Daniel nodded. "True," he said. "Nevertheless..."

"Nevertheless, they could be there, just waiting for us."

"Maybe," Daniel conceded reluctantly, seeing his prospects of researching the cathedral diminishing. Joe would know what to look for, and was handy with a camcorder.

"Joe, I might add," O'Neill continued, "has never seen a Goa'uld before, and I'd like to keep it that way, if you please."

"That might not be possible," General Hammond said cautiously. " Hopefully Dr Jackson is right, and there are no Goa'uld within light-years of P38 9H7, but there are no guarantees, you know that."

Colonel O'Neill's eyes met those of his superior's. "Are you determined that we go through with this?" he asked directly.

"I can't make it an order," Hammond replied. "You know that. All I can say is this, that you are our only hope. You and Joe."

"Ah crap," O'Neill said, finally capitulating. Joe was gonna be ecstatic. He had been pressing for an offworld mission for months now.

He leaned forwards again, thinking furiously. "About Lou Ferretti's sister. Can we wait 24 hours and get her in? Lou is a good person to have in a firefight, and Maria is a marine. They'd be good backup to have at the gate, just in case."

"Can't we cut her hair and send her and Ferretti along with you?" Daniel asked.

Jack snorted. "Maria is like Carter here," he nodded at the furiously scribbling Major. "Tough as nails, but with curves in, ah, very feminine places, if you know what I mean." He looked at Carter sheepishly.

"Boobs, you mean sir?" she asked sweetly, relishing the pink flush evident on his cheeks.

"Ah, yes," he said, staring at the table for a moment before raising his eyes to hers again. "This alone would make her stand out. However, if she and Lou stayed and guarded the gate, the villagers would never know."

"I have a better idea," Carter said slowly. "Why don't I dye my hair light brown, like Daniel's? That, along with an identical pair of glasses may just pass me off as his twin." She shrugged, thinking hard. "We don't know for sure that all the twins are identical. I mean, Tweedledee just said we were...unjoined." She shrugged. "Who knows, maybe you can tell them that on our planet we get both types of twin. Hopefully they swallow it, giving you backup."

Daniel was nodding, his face enthusiastic.

"That might work," he said. "Even if it doesn't, we can at least help guard the gate."

General Hammond regarded his second closely. "There's an idea," he said cautiously.

O'Neill brightened. "A very good idea, actually," he said.

...

"Take your protein pills and put your helmet on..." Father Joe O'Neill sang quietly, aware that the old David Bowie song wasn't going down too well with his brother.

Tough.

"Yes Jack," he said in a singsong voice before his brother could speak. "I remember what you told me." He held up his hands in a placatory manner when Jack scowled. "I won't let you down."

"You had better not," Jack growled, patting Joe's helmet for emphasis.

"Oh for Pete's sake, Jack, I'm an O'Neill," Joe said exasperatedly. "With our degrees nobody could ever accuse us of being a thick family, and I am not gonna lose some gray matter now."

"Degrees?" Daniel asked, aware that the others in the gate room were just as interested.

Joe brightened. "Why yes. I have a master's in Divinity and of course, Jack has his doctorates in...

"Brother bashing," Jack growled, spinning Joe around to check his pack.

"Doctorates?" Daniel mouthed at Sam, seeing her shrug.

"Do you need both Bibles?" Jack asked his brother, bringing them back to the matter at hand.

Joe nodded, rolling his eyes at Daniel. "I do."

"I also need the copper crucifix, so leave off."

"Won't a plain cross do?" Jack asked impatiently. "That crucifix weighs a ton."

Joe shook his head. "No," he said sarcastically. "In layman's terms, just for you, it has to have the figure of Jesus on it for it to have any real significance."

"Uh-huh," Jack said, already feeling ragged, and they hadn't even left the gateroom yet.

"Lou?"

One curly head lifted from where it had been in deep discussion with another, a compact female version.

"Sir?"

"You, Maria and the youngsters guard the gate. I'll take point, with Joe behind me." He drew in a deep breath, regarding Carter with critical eyes. She had her hair dyed the exact shade as Daniel's, and with her glasses on, she and Daniel really did look alike.

Eerie.

"I have decided that we are going to risk it, and take Jackson and Carter with us, seeing as she has done such a good job." He nodded, letting her see his approval.

"She would be an exact match for Daniel, if it wasn't for them curves."

Sam was aware of Maria looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Curves?"

"Long story," she muttered as the gate engaged.

...

P38 9H7 was just as cold as the first time they had visited, and just as green, with a thick layer of frost crunching underfoot.

"Well, at least we know that no one used the gate," Joe said, smiling happily. "If they had, we would have seen their footprints."

"We know that no one has used the gate in the past couple of hours, that's all," his brother grunted, watchful brown eyes slowly scanning the horizon. "I scarcely think that the frost has been there all night."

Finally, he pronounced himself satisfied and turned to Joe, Daniel and Carter. "Let's move out, twinnies. If we're really lucky, we'll be just in time for breakfast."

Just under an hour later, they were once more crouched behind their tree, watching as the peaceful looking village went about their early morning chores.

It seemed that there was bread to be baked, and cows to be milked, and children to be taught, and wherever the townspeople went, they went in pairs.

"They don't go to far from each other," Daniel said. "I didn't notice that last time, but look."

He gestured with an arm, one Jack hastily pulled down with a warning growl.

"Where one twin is, so the other is as well," he whispered. "It's as if they are joined at the hip."

"Great," Jack grunted. "So assuming we don't get stoned to death the minute they see us, Joe will have to stick by my side whilst we negotiate for the Naquadah."

"So will Sam," Daniel muttered. "You can't negotiate on your own."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Daniel," Jack muttered.

"And then we can all go and visit that really magnificent cathedral," Joe said, his eyes shining.

"How boring," Jack muttered, getting to his feet. He gestured towards the village. "Shall we?"

...

They were spotted as soon as they crested the hill, creating almost exactly the same furor as they had last time.

"Déjà vu?" Daniel muttered to Sam, watching as the rotund mayors once more trotted up to Jack.

"Indeed," she said, sounding so like Teal'c he almost grinned.

"Greetings," Tweedledum said, nodding at Joe before turning his attention back to Jack. "I see that you have bought your other this time."

Jack inclined his head respectfully. "This time, yes," he said. "And as you may gather, I fiercely protect my other - from any danger."

Tweedledum nodded, the threat received and understood.

"As do we all," he said. He patted his chest. "I am Cogan." He pointed to his twin. "This is Copal."

Copal nodded his own greeting, no longer displaying any of the anger he had at their first meeting.

"Greetings and welcome to our village," he said shortly. The light glinted off of a small stud imbedded in one ear, much to Jack's relief. At least now, he could tell them apart.

"I am Jack," he said, realizing it was his turn. "This is Joe."

Joe merely nodded silently, pleasing Jack immensely.

"And your young friends behind you?" Cogan asked, plainly curious.

Jack's sense of caution kicked into high gear, and he spoke carefully.

"Daniel you met last time we were here." He gestured towards Carter. "This is his twin, Sam."

"But she is a girl," Cogan said, astonished.

"That...happens on our planet," Daniel said slowly. "Our twins are not necessary male-male, female-female."

"How intriguing," Copal said. "Nevertheless, she is your other?"

Daniel nodded, looking relieved. " She is indeed, my other, my other half," he clarified.

"And when you have a female other, your names no longer rhyme?" Copal asked.

Daniel stiffened, a sense of caution stealing over him. There was something in Copal's eyes...

"No, of course our names rhyme," he said testily, as if insulted. "Sam's name is actually Danielle, but she prefers Sam."

"Most women on my planet prefer different names from our male others," Sam said softly. "It gives us a sense of identity."

"How...odd," Copal said, but didn't push it.

Joe decided that he had been quiet for long enough.

"May we enter your village?" he asked politely. "We are visitors from far away, and have much to talk about."

Cogan, rapidly becoming the more lenient of the twins, smiled and made a grand gesture towards the village.

"Of course, forgive our tardiness. Welcome to the village of Kuj."

"Kuj?" Jack said cautiously. "Just Kuj?" He ignored both Daniel and Joe's warning looks.

"Not Kuj-Kuj?"

Cogan turned towards him, looking puzzled. "No, just Kuj," he said, puzzled. "Why do you ask?"

Jack shrugged. "It just seems too short for a place inhabited by doubles."

To everyone's relief, the twinned mayors seemed to find this very funny.

"Do your places have double names?" Copal asked, smiling broadly.

"Oh yes," Jack said looking at his brother innocently.

"Why, we have Bora-Bora."

"Wagga-Wagga," Daniel said helpfully.

"And Dum-Dum," Joe said, staring at his brother pointedly.

"One day I would like come with you and visit this Dum-Dum," Cogan said, still chuckling, "but I do not believe that you have come all this way just to trade village names with us.

"How true," Jack said, abruptly sober. "We have in fact, come here to negotiate for mineral rights."

Cogan led them towards what seemed to be the local city hall.

"Come, let us discuss all this inside, away from prying eyes."

...

The town hall consisted of a large airy room. The light streamed through from high skylights, illuminating a large circular table, whether by design or by accident, they didn't know.

It nevertheless gave the travelers the impression that these people, twins, led a democracy, albeit a small one, which was always a reassuring sight to see.

There would have been no circular table and no democracy if a Goa'uld had been in charge.

"...So, in return for this mineral, we could give you better grain, and help you with other things designed to improve your lives," Daniel said earnestly.

He and Sam had taken turns in speaking with the village elders, Jack quite content to sit back and let SG1's wunderkinds do their job. In a pinch, he could negotiate right alongside them, but, ego aside, he knew that Daniel and Carter could get far more concessions out of their hosts than he ever could.

"So this... Naquadah, is below our feet?" Cogan asked, not for the first time.

"Yes it is," Sam said patiently. "It has a variety of uses, one being defense against the Goa'uld."

For a moment there was dead silence, then Copal spoke.

"Truly?"

There was something in the way he said that word, a kind of desperate plea that immediately sent Jack's antennae twanging.

"Truly," he answered flatly.

"There are no Goa'uld on...where we come from, a place called Earth," Daniel said, watching the twinned mayors carefully.

"Do you have Goa'uld here?" Sam asked gently.

She received no reply.

"They call themselves gods," Joe said, "but are not. We of Earth know who our God really is, and we cast out the false pretenders a long time ago."

The room settled into a kind of stunned silence as the mayors looked at each other, communicating almost telepathically.

Then Copal turned back to them, his shoulders slumped.

"You are but four. You cannot help us."

"Ah, but you'd be surprised what we can do," Jack said briskly before heeding Daniel's upraised hand and settling back into silence.

"May I ask what happened to the village of Kuj?" Daniel asked.

At first, the twins seemed reluctant to speak, and Daniel allowed them the time to reflect on things, praying that the others would remain silent. Thankfully they did.

"They came out of the north," Cogan finally said, stroking his beard agitatedly. "One creature, a man, being carried on a litter by four other pitiful people. Behind him came six other creatures, dressed in leather and hard shiny clothes that shone like silver."

"They all had brands on their foreheads," Copal said, looking ferocious. "They were also unjoined."

"How terrible," Jack muttered, garnering himself a few dirty looks.

"What did you do?" Sam asked quietly.

"We tried to drive them out, of course," Copal said.

"But they would not go," Cogan said sadly. "Instead they lashed out at us with lightning they held in their hands, causing a great many of us to fall to the ground, unconscious."

"Zats," Jack murmured.

"When there was no resistance left," Cogan said, "when even my own other lay on the ground, writhing in pain, then the lead creature spoke."

"What did he want?" Joe asked.

"He wanted all our riches," Copal said angrily. "He noticed our mayoral chains, and his eyes glowed. He called the metal something called..." he looked helplessly at his brother. "Was it the same?"

"Naquadah," Cogan continued. "Yes, he too called this metal Naquadah. He demanded more of the metal, as much as we could find."

"When we said that yellow ice was plentiful, but it would take time to get it from our rivers, he said he would return when the sun has set fifty times."

""He said that if we had not got sufficient yellow ice for him when he returned, he would kill all the other's," Copal said.

"Yellow ice?" whispered Jack.

"It must be their name for Naquadah," Sam whispered back.

Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose, thinking hard.

"Okay," he said, "let me get this straight," he said.

"This Goa'uld..." he looked up quizzically. "He didn't give you a name, did he?"

"Khnum," Cogan said helpfully. "His creatures had the head of a goat branded into their foreheads."

"A ram actually," Daniel said. "A very minor system lord," he muttered when Jack glared at him.

"Nevertheless still dangerous," Sam said.

"Oh yes." Daniel agreed. " So this Khnum came here to Kuj, retaliating when he was stoned by using his lightning weapons, called zats. When you were finally beaten into submission, he demanded all the yellow ice you had."

The twins nodded silently.

"When you protested that you had none, but could get, this Goa'uld gave you fifty days in which to find some."

The twins nodded again.

"Even now we mine for the ice, lest he does even worse things to us when he returns."

"So, how much time do we have left before the Snake...Goa'uld returns?" Jack asked.

"Nowhere near enough time," Cogan said.

Jack merely lifted an eyebrow.

"The Goa'uld returns this evening," Copal said, his words falling into a silent chasm.

...

"Crap," Jack said, marching them back towards the Stargate. "Crap, crap and double crap," he added, knowing that the Gate was at least an hour away.

"And you said there was no sign of any Goa'uld," he snarled at Daniel, his face thunderous.

"Nor was there," Daniel huffed back, aware that Jack was just worried. "How was I to know that this Goa'uld was going to use the stargate like we did?"

"This is how our luck goes," Jack moaned to Joe. "I mean, I bet the stargate hasn't been used in millennia, yet a Goa'uld steps through just before we arrive."

"Fifty days before we arrive," Joe said.

"Forty-nine and a half, actually," Jack said, furiously marching backwards, his eyes constantly scanning the green muddy hills.

"Which brings me to another point," he continued "We can't get here with say, five days to go. Not us. Oh no. The much vaunted SG1 have to arrive right before Lord Klug is due to return, thus seriously endangering the four people left behind to guard the gate."

"We'll make it in time, sir" Carter said soothingly, sighing in relief as Jack spun on his heel, facing forwards again.

"And there we'll wait, taking out Lord Snakiness and his entourage before they know what's happening," she muttered, watching as Jack nodded in agreement.

"You'll do what?" Joe asked, his voice incredulous.

Skidding to a halt, he stared at his colleagues with wide eyes before being yanked into motion again by Jack.

"We will... prevent them from ever reaching the village," Daniel said delicately, aware of Jack's approving look. Unlike SG1, Joe had never seen a Goa'uld and coupled with his priestly pacifist way, could very well take what Jack intended they do rather badly.

No, whom was he kidding? Joe was going to take an ambush badly, no matter what the target was, but as far as Daniel could see, there was no other way.

Now that gave him pause for thought. Since when had he leaned more towards Jack than Joe?

His pacifist side screamed at him hysterically as his military side, honed from years of working with SG1, dispassionately informed him there was no other option. If they wished to mine Naquadah here, they would have to rid Kuj of the Goa'uld and his Jaffa.

Permanently.

"It's not an easy decision to have to make, is it?"

Daniel looked up as Jack dropped back to walk at his side.

"Am I that transparent?" he mused, making Jack grin faintly.

"You are," he said quietly. "As is Joe." His expression sobered. "I didn't want this to happen, for Joe to ever meet a Goa'uld." His eyes looked hard at he watched Carter scramble down the hill in front of them, the blonde Major still setting the bruising pace that Jack had started.

"Unfortunately my wish may not come to pass." The faint grin was back. "In fact, knowing the history of SG1 like I do, I wouldn't be surprised if they are en route as we speak."

"For the Ferretti's sake I hope not," Daniel muttered.

"Believe me, so do I," came the reply.

...

The gate looked quiet in the distance. Too quiet, Jack's paranoid side told him.

Evening was beginning to set in, turning the horizon into a dusky brown color, and Jack grimaced.

They were too late.

"Kiddies..." he whispered, and SG1 melted into the undergrowth, Jack dragging Joe with him.

"What was that all about?" Joe hissed, ineffectively brushing at the sticky mud that now covered his arms and front. "The place looks deserted. Why don't we just collect Lou, his sister, those young kids and go home?"

"Why is it deserted, Joe?" Jack asked almost absently, his eyes constantly scanning the surrounding terrain, P90 at the ready.

"What is this, a pop quiz or something?" Joe snapped from behind him. "How am I to know?"

"Joe," Jack said gently. "We have four people here, two of whom should be guarding the stargate. Instead, we have nothing - no one, just an empty gate that fairly screams out 'trap'."

"Bullshit," Joe breathed, casting a wary eye over the crest of the hill they were hidden behind nonetheless.

"No bullshit, and you know it," Jack said, losing patience. "Now, I intend on springing their trap, but in order to do that, I need you to stay right where you are."

"But, isn't that dangerous?" Joe asked, sounding so like Daniel that Jack blinked.

"Hopefully not," he said, trying a conciliatory tack. "However, I might have to use violence, and if I do, I want to know that you aren't in the line of fire."

"I won't be, I'm not that stupid," Joe muttered, scowling ferociously when Jack raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"I'm not, you know," he petulantly.

Jack sighed. "Joe please, I know you." He patted his brother on his shoulder, emphasizing his point. "Stay - here, okay?"

He didn't wait for Joe's reply, merely vaulting over the crest of the hill and sauntering down to where the stargate was located.

Something was rotten in the state of...Norway, he thought. No Denmark. Damn, he hated the pre action lull.

Everything seemed all too real to his heightened senses. The grass was just a bit too green, the air too icy and if he hitched his breath, he could swear that he could hear the breathing of at least four Jaffa hidden somewhere close by.

At least four, minimum.

He was covered every step of the way to the gate by Carter and Daniel, of course. This he knew, as it wasn't the first time they had used this trick to flush out the Jaffa.

Not that it got any easier with practice.

No friggin way.

"Here kitty-kitty," he muttered half to himself, breath frosting in the icy air. "Here kitty-kitty."

Like last time, and the time before that, he hoped that curiosity won, and he didn't just collect a staff weapon blast for his trouble.

"C'mon kitty," he murmured, feeling the hairs stiffen all over his body. "Come and get it."

Take one dumb Tau'ri, hands in pockets, weapon slung harmlessly at his side, heading towards the gate like nothing in the galaxy was wrong. Add a clumsy fall just before gate, and stir with colorful invectives whilst lying face down on the ground.

Hopefully end up with fried Jaffa.

So far, it had worked without fail.

So far.

The fun part was to make the fall look as natural as possible.

You try making yourself deliberately fall face first into the dirt. It isn't fun.

Of course, lying face down made it easier to grab the P90...

Yelling out loud, he made a graceless swan dive for the mud, ears straining for noise.

Of course, with the ground being so wet, there wasn't any.

The Jaffa's 'Kree' and Carters gunshot came as one, closely followed by Daniel's own shots. He was moving as soon as he heard the first heavy thud of a body falling, scrambling for the gate.

"Ferretti?" he yelled. If those bastards had killed them he'd...

"Here!" a voice shouted and he changed direction, charging over another hill.

The Jaffa guard and he saw one another at the same instant, but Jack was faster - and extremely upset, which could have added at least a tenth of speed to his time.

Suffice it to say, the Jaffa never stood a prayer.

"Nice of you to drop in... sir," Ferretti said, wiping brain matter from his cheek.

"You would rather be a playmate of the month?" Jack asked sarcastically, knowing that Lou would understand. "Or your sister maybe?"

"My ah, curves are wrong, they sag too much," Maria said with a smirk, instantly reaching for a spare P90, her comment making her brother gulp audibly.

Jack just shook his head sadly. That one he wouldn't touch for all the booze in Afghanistan.

"The Gregory's?"

Two blonde heads rose from a slight depression in the earth. "Here sir."

"Stay put," he said, scooping up two zats and throwing it to the young men. He whipped his head back to Ferretti, eyebrows raised.

"No Goa'uld I trust?"

Ferretti shook his head, his face feral in the overcast light. "No just one of those stun sphere thingy's. They tossed it through the open gate and caught Maria and both the Gregory's before I could yell." He shrugged. "After that I thought it prudent to surrender and take my chances."

"Good man," Jack said, patting Ferretti on the back. "Unnecessary bloodshed we don't need."

"Not unless its Goa'uld sir," Ferretti said, eying the dormant gate balefully. "The Jaffa were an advance party for some high and mightly Goa'uld muckety-muck. What say we make this trip his last?"

"You're all so willing and eager to kill," a distressed voice said from behind Jack, and Joe walked into view. "Is there no middle ground you could take?"

"Sure," Ferretti said. "Unfortunately for them, the Goa'uld mined the middle ground years ago. Now there is only the high ground left." He looked thoughtful. "Of course, mining the middle ground could be grounds for a law case, but I don't think that the Goa'uld would pitch somehow, and the whole process would probably grind to a halt..."

"What?" Joe asked, completely lost.

"We stand our ground," Jack said, just to annoy his brother. Even he had to earn a degree in Ferretti speak, not that he would ever tell Joe that.

"And kill them?" Joe asked, trying to appeal to Sam and the silent Daniel who had just joined them. "Don't they get even a sporting chance at life?"

Jack had had enough.

"Joe," he said. "Let me tell you about the Goa'uld." When he was sure he everyone's attention, he continued.

"PG7 872," he said, watching Carter's face drop.

"We went there on a follow up visit, returning to say hi to the friendly villagers that dotted the landscape. Four to a tent, and rather like Red Indians of old, there had been thousands of them dotted all over the place."

"They were all gone when we returned."

"Well, most of them," Carter muttered, her hands tightening on her P90.

"Daniel was on another mission, and he should be so grateful for that," Jack said. "At least he does not carry around the memories of what we found."

The Goa'uld had come through the stargate between our last visit and the next," Carter said. Almost all the men on PG7 872 had been dragged off as slaves," Carter said softly. "Of the people who were left, most were woman."

Her eyes found Joes, luminous with unshed tears.

"All of them had been raped. There had been no exceptions."

"Dear God," Joe muttered, his face pale.

"They needed a harvest, see?" Jack said bitterly. "The Tanmans, the people of PG7 872, were a hardy lot, capable of great strength and courage, and if the Goa'uld took all the men, who would continue the race?"

"So the Goa'uld in charge, a minor system lord called Han' a, ordered his Jaffa to ... seed them, to start a new harvest."

"Oh God," Maria said. Even the toughened marine looked sick.

"Of course, they had nowhere to live, and no crops to eat, all had been burned to the ground," Jack said. "Not that that worried the Jaffa any. Their master said rape and pillage, and rape and pillage they did."

"We came through a week later," Carter said. "In those few seconds it took for the Colonel to take one step through the gate and for them to recognize that he was male he gained no less than three arrows."

"That was not fun," Jack muttered, his face dark with memories. "Not that I blame them. Not at all."

"Once I had managed stabilize the Colonel, I managed to pacify the remaining villagers, and the horrific truth came out," Carter continued. "Of the over ten thousand male Tanmans on their planet, over eight thousand had been herded through the stargate. Of the two thousand left, most were instantly killed as being too weak or old. Only the young were left."

"They were to be the next harvest in ten years or so," Jack said.

"Anyhow," Carter said, her face now ivory white. "We scraped the Colonel up and returned with an all female team and a offer to help." She looked down at her feet. "It was refused."

"For heavens sake why?" Joe asked.

"It seems they were being punished for their kindness," Jack said. "Somehow, Han' a had gotten wind of the fact that the Tanmans had hosted the bold brave Tau'ri, and decided to retaliate."

"The survivors, believing the Goa'uld would return, and frightened out of their minds, literally chased us back through the stargate," Carter said. "We haven't seen them since."

"And on the planet designated PG7 872 a whole lot of little Jaffa are growing," Jack said bitterly.

"But, that's one instance," Joe said huskily, staring at the inert gate with sick eyes. "Surely other Goa'uld have more compassion than that?"

"Amonet, didn't," Daniel said at last, his face drawn.

Joe looked at Daniel curiously.

"Amonet? Who was she?" he asked.

"My wife," he said bitterly. "Well, the Goa'uld that took over Sha're," he amended.

"I didn't know that," Joe said huskily. "Did she, is she...?"

"She died, a while ago."

His eyes met Joe's, and the priest was shocked by the angst seen there.

"Just for a moment, right at the end, Sha're managed to take over, but even then, the Goa'uld inside her was too strong, and if it hadn't been for Teal'c..."

It had taken him a long time to accept Teal'c's role in what had happened, and now that he had, Daniel was upset that the large Jaffa was not around to hear it.

"Sweet," Jack said, breaking up what had become a very serious moment. "Now you know what they are really like, I suggest we set up really good defensive positions before the first chevron's light up, hmm?"

"No problem," Ferretti said with a smile. "We, Maria and I, had just figured the best positions in order to guard the gate when this first lot of Jaffa decided to come through."

"Good. Let's get to it then," he said, grimacing as - if summoned - the first chevron lit up with a thunk.

There wasn't much cover to hide behind, and what there was now consisted of a marshy bog, the ground churned up by their and the Jaffa's feet, but it was all they had, and knowing that, Jack grabbed Joe by the collar and threw him face first into the nearest ditch.

Thankfully, Joes shout of outrage was muffled as Jack fell on top of him.

Brown eyes met furious hazel ones, begging for understanding.

"Joe, please," Jack said, tensing as the second chevron lit up.

Joe frowned. There was something about Jack's posture that was worrisome.

"Are you sure?" he asked, seeking clarification once and for all.

"That they are evil? Yes," Jack said. "That they will kill you soon as look at you? Yes." He hunkered down as the third chevron lit up.

"Pure evil," Joe mused. "I guess it is possible, like there is pure good."

"Great," Jack said. "Now we have that settled, stay down." He patted Joe on the shoulder. "If I should lose you I'd never..." he winced as the fourth chevron lit up and Joe suddenly realized what was wrong with his brother. Jack was terrified. For him.

"Jack," he whispered, hesitating as the fifth chevron activated. "Jack, I'll be okay."

"Just stay down," Jack snapped as the sixth chevron activated. He crawled to the edge of their hole and raised his P90, knowing that the rest of his team was doing the same. He hated this part, the waiting, made worse by his fear for his brother. No matter how hard he tried, he could not shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen, and it was driving him insane.

"Heads up kids," he yelled as the seventh chevron snapped on. "Here they come."

Bracing himself against his silent brother, Jack peered over the edge of his hole and squinted at the stargate, watching as the center ring filled with blue whatchamacallit. Now the crunch time was on them, and it was up to them to stop the Goa'uld and his Jaffa dead.

Focusing his whole attention through the P90 viewfinder, he waited for Jaffa.

What he got was four active stun grenades, thrown through the gate at great force, bouncing and rolling through the mud.

"Watch out!" he yelled, staring at the silver orbs and already knowing that it was too late.

...

"Who are you?"

Jack squinted upright blinking hard as residual flashes of light swam across his vision, wondering where the watery sunshine had gone. One moment they had been at the gate and the next...

Rolling onto his knees, he snuck a look at his watch, shocked to find that he had been unconscious for hours. It was almost morning.

"Oof. God Damn it that hurt," he snarled as the half remembered Jaffa buried his foot in his ribs again.

"Who are you?" the man, obviously the Prime, snarled.

"F'koff," Jack muttered, doing a swift reconnoiter of their new home.

They were in a barn of some sort. That part was easy. The walls were wood, the ground underneath him straw, yep, a barn. What made him even happier was the tousled hair of seven other people surrounding him. So, everyone was alive, and intact. Wonderful.

"What are you doing here, F'koff?" the Jaffa asked, to his faint amusement, taking him literally. He had the head of a ram etched in gold on his forehead.

"Sightseeing?" he asked hopefully.

"Liar," the Jaffa spat, and buried the other chain mailed foot in his side. This time Jack definitely heard a rib crack, and yelled, rolling away from the hurt. Well, Joe had wanted a demonstration on the meanness of the Goa'uld, after all. The problem was, he had no idea whether he had covered their malicious sidekicks, the Jaffa.

"Do not try my patience," the Prime said. "Your weapons are Tau'ri, as are your uniforms." He took a swift step forwards and kicked again, making Jack cry out, despite himself, as another rib snapped. At this rate, he reflected, he would be dead before the Jaffa got anything useful from him.

"Your badges say SG1, and yet there are duplicates of all of you, as there are with everyone else on this accursed planet."

"It's the water," Jack whispered. "Don't drink..."

"Bring him," The Prime said, whirling on a pair of Jaffa stood patiently behind him. "Lord Khnum wishes an audience."

...

The town hall wasn't anywhere near as friendly when there was a Goa'uld in residence. In fact, it was downright spooky, Jack thought, made worse by the hideous red curtains someone had found and hung over the windows, giving the place a stifling feeling. It was made worse by the ten or so Jaffa, guarding every exit. The round table in the middle of the room was gone, replaced by an ornate throne, on which a small dark haired man lounged, a large pendant of a ram around his neck.

"Kneel before your God," the prime hissed.

"No thanks," Jack said, tensed for the pain that was sure to follow. Instead, the Goa'uld waved a negligent ruby ringed hand.

"You have damaged him," he said in a high-pitched voice.

The Prime stiffened.

"My Lord?" he asked carefully.

"Him." The Goa'uld pointed a lacquered finger at Jack. "He gasps for breath." He made a tisking noise and leapt to his feet.

"I have told you before, my sweet Prime, that no one may damage goods before I have seen them."

"He was resisting accompanying us," the Prime said sullenly.

"Was he now?" the Goa'uld, obviously Khnum, asked. "Were you?" he asked Jack directly, making Jack raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"I guess," he said cautiously. "You see, we are peaceful travelers and were on our way back to our village when this..." He etched a huge circle in the air. "This circle exploded into light and..."

"You just naturally had to kill off some of my Jaffa, and lie in wait for me," Khnum said. "Please, give me credit for some intelligence. "You are actually Tau'ri from Earth, here to steal the Naquadah from me."

He looked thoughtful. "The question is, for whom are you working. Yourself, or for the System Lords."

"Who?" Jack asked dumbly.

The Goa'uld made a spitting noise and wandered back to his throne, and when he turned again, he had the ribbon device over one hand.

"Hold him," he commanded, and Jack felt himself grabbed and held tight.

"Do you know what this is?" Khnum asked, walking to stand right in front of Jack. "Yes, I see from your expression that you do."

He reached forwards and lightly caressed Jacks cheek, laughing as Jack hissed and tried to shrink away. "You may have gathered by now that I am an impatient god," he purred. "You are interrupting what has become routine, and this... annoys me." He opened his hand above Jacks head, exposing a large red ruby in the middle of the ribbon device.

"Why are you here?" he asked. "Are you working alone, or do the other System Lords know about the Naquadah?"

Jack merely glared at him, making the Goa'uld smile.

"Tau'ri, I need answers," he said, "and you are going to give them to me, with or without your consent."

Held as he was, by a couple of Jaffa, facing almost certain brain damage if he resisted, Jack thought fast.

"Okay," he said, as if suddenly defeated. "I work for Baal. It was he who...aargh."

Suddenly, exquisitely, Jacks whole world turned to liquid red.

Every thought, every emotion seemed to be sucked upwards, the device slowly removing what the Goa'uld desired, piece-by-piece. The truth was there, along with Jack's fear for his own brother, still lying unconscious on his own patch of straw. Everything was whirling round and around in his head, and he cried out in helpless pain.

"Don't fight it," Khnum whispered, his voice echoing amongst the fragments called Jack O'Neill. "Just let everything go."

However, Jack couldn't do that.

Slowly but surely, he fought back. Not by going up against the Goa'uld himself - that way led to insanity, but by feeding him bits of disinformation. Gritting his teeth, he recalled Baal, how he looked, and how he acted, and made the System Lord speak. He made Baal order him to this planet. No, order them to this planet in order to stop Khnum. Once this was ready, he fed the disinformation to Khnum, bit by reluctant bit.

It hurt, trying to hold onto what he was and the secrets he carried, and he could feel the incredible toll it was placing on his mind, but he had no choice. Deep down he was pleased that he could hold out against a ribbon device as long as he was, and supposed that Baal himself had taught him how. Nothing anyone could ever do could compare to being slowly killed time and again. That agony had been like none he had experienced before, and nothing like he was experiencing now.

"It was Baal," he moaned, his body trembling and jerking under the light. "Please."

Then, finally, his body surrendered to the incredible toll placed on it, and soothing darkness rushed in.

...

"Colonel?"

He could feel a cool hand pressed against his neck, and a feminine snort of relief.

"He's alive."

"Barely," another female voice commented. Maria.

""Dear God, what did they do to him?" a shocked voice asked.

"From the burn mark on his forehead and the bleeding from his ears and nose I would guess a ribbon device," Major Ferretti said.

""A what?" Joe asked.

"A ribbon device," Daniel said sadly. "It's a brutal way of extracting information from a person."

"You mean torture?" Joe squeaked.

"That's what the Goa'uld do," Daniel said patiently. "Jack had information that this Goa'uld wanted, and he took it."

"Maybe at the expense of the Colonel's life," Carter said sadly.

That caused a bit of stunned silence.

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked eventually.

"Well, he's conscious to a certain degree," she said. "The problem is, his pupils are not right, which could indicate a severe head injury." She looked up. "We need to get him back to the SGC, and soon."

"Well, that ain't gonna happen any time quick," Ferretti muttered. He nodded to the six silent Jaffa that were standing close to the barn door. "We move any, and I reckon they'll have us for lunch."

"Well, we most certainly can't stay here," Joe said. He knelt next to the lax form of his brother and studied him closely.

"Jack?"

There was no answer.

"If it's any comfort, I'm pretty sure that he isn't in any pain," Sam said, squeezing his shoulder.

"Now." Ferretti said. "Although I bet at the time there was plenty."

"Why?" Joe asked, looking up pleadingly. "Why torture him?"

He addressed his question to the chief Jaffa that had dragged Jack in, a tall man with a gold emblem on his forehead.

"Why?"

The Jaffa didn't bother replying.

"I guess they knew he was our leader," Ferretti said after a while. "I guess they figured out that he would have more information than most."

Just then, the door rattled and they all whirled around.

"Is he...? Cogan asked, staring at Jack with wide eyes. Receiving a nod from the Prime, he flew to Jack, staring at him with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Joe had an idea. Admittedly, it was a wild one, but drawing on what he had observed so far, a calculated one.

"My other is dying," he said, carefully placing a hand on Sam's thigh when she drew in a breath. For his idea to work, Cogan and his brother would have to believe him.

"They want information we do not possess, and when we cannot answer him satisfactorily, the leader hurts him."

"Is this true?" Cogan asked at the Prime, who merely looked away.

"Is this true?" he asked of the silent Gregory twins, who looked at each other and nodded.

"Then this cannot be allowed to continue," he said.

Finally, the Prime had something to say.

"Begone human, or suffer the wrath of your god."

"My God is all around me," Cogan said, receiving a smile from Joe for his brashness. "He is not in the next room, and he most certainly does no harm to any of his flock."

Cogan held up a placatory hand when the Jaffa took a ferocious step forwards. "Your god has given me permission to tend to these people, which I intend doing. I will leave, however. If for nothing more than to get medical help for this poor man."

"Bless you," Joe said gratefully.

"I am so sorry," Cogan whispered again. "Had we known that the Goa'uld would hunt you down and return you here, we would have said nothing."

It wasn't quite how it happened, but Daniel would accept what he could.

"Had you not said anything, we would have been none the wiser," he said. "At least now, knowing what we do, we can finally face this creature."

"He will not leave without the yellow ice," Cogan said sadly.

"Oh yes he will," a familiar voice croaked. "Especially if he thinks that Baal is onto his little scam."

"Jack," Daniel said, whirling around with a smile. "You're awake."

"I'm not too sure about that," Jack said ruefully. "One can only hope." He struggled to sit up, relaxing with a sigh when Joe gently pushed him back. "Sorry to be such a weakling," he said, his eyelids fluttering shut.

"That's okay," Joe said. "I got used to it over the years."

The expected smile of derision wasn't forthcoming, making Joe lean forwards in alarm. "Jack?"

His brother didn't respond.

"Take it easy Joe," Sam said quietly. "Brief periods of lucidity are quite common with head injuries."

"What is wrong?" Cogan asked.

"I suspect he has bleeding on his brain," Sam answered. "This Goa'uld has a device called a ribbon device that can suck information right from your skull. They used this device on him."

"Why?" Cogan asked, horrified.

"Because he can," Joe said sadly. He reached down and pulled Jack to him, his heart clenching at just how cold his brother felt, as if he was already giving up the fight to live.

"Jack said that he told Khnum that Baal sent us," Daniel said. He looked at Sam, his eyes thoughtful. "Can one do that? Resist the ribbon device to such a degree that one could feed..." he looked at the assembled Jaffa warningly.

"Could Khnum pry from him that Lord Baal sent us?" she said loudly. "Yes he could."

"And now knowing this, knowing that Lord Baal is en route, why are we still prisoners?" Daniel asked aloud.

"Because this Khnum fella wishes a whole lotta hurt?" Ferretti asked. "I mean, if I were him, I would a bugged out a long time ago."

"Maybe he has," his sister said, staring at the Prime belligerently. "I mean if I were Khnum and I knew that Lord Baal was on his way with his entire fleet behind him, I would be hightailing it our through the stargate like the hounds of hell were on my tail." She stood toe to toe with the Jaffa and stared him straight in the eye.

"How about it, big boy? You care to make a wager that your boss is still outside?"

The Jaffa merely curled his lip. "The pathetic human does not work for Lord Baal."

"You sure?" Ferretti said.

The Jaffa merely snorted and wheeled out of the barn, but not before having a few quiet words with his other guards.

"He told them to watch us closely," Daniel said, his heart sinking. He glared at Ferretti. "Mind telling me what that little outburst accomplished?"

"Just trying to divide the ranks," Ferretti said.

"It doesn't seem to be working too well," Daniel muttered, garnering himself a dirty look.

"Who's Baal?" Joe asked softly.

"Bad news," Ferretti said. "Very bad news. Your brother had a run in with him a while back. He almost died."

"He did?" Joe asked, shocked. "How come I don't know about this?"

Daniel shrugged. Jack had needed intensive psychological counseling after that mission before the Air Force would even consider letting him in the gateroom again. After that, it wasn't surprising that Joe knew nothing about it.

"I guess because, well, he's always almost dying," he said carefully. "Like now."

Cogan stirred from his reverie. "I will go and fetch the doctor now," he muttered. "Perhaps there is some herbs..." his voice faded away as he strode outside.

"I dunno about you," Ferretti said, "but I don't think herbs are going to crack it."

"Oh, I dunno," Jack said again. "Weed might."

"Colonel." Carter leaned over him, her face concerned. "How are you holding out?"

"Oh, comes and goes." Jack was never the one for revealing personal feelings, not even to his brother, but he knew from their faces that this time no one was fooled. Even the fine boned Gregory twins were looking at him with worried expressions on their faces.

"Nothing that Janet can't fix," he amended. "It's just a very bad headache 's all."

Carter's touch was cool on his forehead. "I think it's worse than that sir," she said softly.

"That ribbon device got you pretty bad," Daniel said, his eyes dark with his own memories of the sheer agony the device was capable of. "Your whole forehead looks kinda..."

"Crispy?" Jack murmured sleepily. "A small price to pay if this Khnum believes me."

"That Baal is coming?" Daniel asked feeling sick. "We don't think he believed you."

"Crap," Jack moaned, staring upwards with unfocussed eyes. "I was so sure he would."

"Why?" Joe asked.

"It's the only thing I could think of. He -" Jack blinked and grimaced before continuing strongly. "Khnum was determined to suck everything I know out of my brain. I knew I had to do something quick."

"You could have been killed," Joe said huskily.

"So can these villagers," Jack said. "In case you haven't noticed they don't have all the Naq...Naq whatever. "Whole villages have been slaughtered for things less serious than that."

"But to tell him that Baal was coming? Whoever this Baal is," Joe added.

"One nasty piece of work," Jack slurred. "Really nasty. The only Goa'uld that, well let's say I'm not dying to meet him again."

"It's a pity in a way that he isn't actually en-route, if for nothing more than to watch him kick Khnum's butt," Daniel said, but Jack was once more unconscious.

"So now what?" Joe asked, looking helpless.

"Now we wait," Sam said grimly. "The doctor should be here soon."

"You hope," Joe said. Jack's face had taken on a waxy look that he really didn't like.

Sam touched his arm, her face sympathetic. "Joe, Jack and I, we are soldiers," she said softly. "Risk is something we have to accept every day of our lives. Today is no different."

"I'm not a soldier," he said vehemently. "All I am is a priest, and..." He abruptly stooped, and his face took on a calculating look so reminiscent of Colonel O'Neill that Sam inadvertently shivered.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Well," Joe said slowly. "Maybe that can work to our advantage."

"In what way? Daniel asked.

"There's a huge cathedral out on the hill," Joe said thoughtfully. "If this Khnum doesn't let us go, maybe I can convince him to let me visit. Maybe I can ask for their help."

"And have the Goa'uld reduce the entire structure to the general shape and size of toothpicks?" Ferretti asked. "You still don't seem to understand how they work, my man. For them, the rest of the known universe is theirs for the taking." He thumped his chest. "We are nothing to them. Just hosts, that's all." His eyes flashed in anger. "No, if we are gonna get out of here at all, it's gonna have to be by ourselves."

He glared at their Jaffa guards, who glared back.

"Listen," Joe said, "and don't be so negative. Most cathedrals have hidden tunnels. If we can find one..."

"Good idea," Daniel breathed. "If this cathedral is old enough, and I think it is, then it should have hidden tunnels leading God knows where."

"Really? Why?" Maria asked. She returned from staring out a Jaffa and sank cross-legged to the floor. "By the way, I don't think this Goa'uld intends leaving the planet any time soon."

"Nor do I," Carter said grimly.

"And with Jack out of the picture, we're all screwed," Ferretti said.

"Not if we do things my way," Joe said. "Maria asked why the tunnels. The answer is that the clergy centuries ago were scared. It was a time of persecution, maybe even the time of Torquemada, who had this habit of burning anybody who even looked at him cross eyed. Cathedrals back then had a myriad of escape routes, just in case."

"So what's your plan Father?" one of the Gregory's asked timidly.

"We somehow escape, and retreat to the cathedral."

Ferretti's snort was loud in the dusty barn, making them all jump.

"We have no weapons, are guarded by six Jaffa, have a downed man, and you want to escape? And that's via a tunnel that may or may not exist, and probably starts on the far side of town anyway. How are we gonna do that?"

"With Cogan's help," Joe said calmly.

"How can he help?" Sam asked.

"He can get the villagers to rise up against the Goa'uld," Joe said.

"Are you mad?" Ferretti snapped. "He'll kill them."

"Not necessarily," Daniel said thoughtfully. "They tried ridding themselves of Khnum once before and were merely zatted. What, say, we get them to do it again, with the added emphasis of insisting that the planet belongs to Baal?"

"He doesn't believe that, remember?" Maria said.

"So his Prime says," Carter said thoughtfully. "Maybe he's wrong."

"Perhaps that's all the situation needs - people to stand up against him.

"You would have a very pissed off snake, that's all," Ferretti said. "He'd kill everyone."

"Maybe, maybe not," Daniel said thoughtfully, warming to the idea. "Besides, we have an added advantage over the Goa'uld and his Jaffa as well."

"What's that?" Maria asked.

"They are unjoined, whereas we are not. They'll listen to us."

Joe had been silent for a while, his face thoughtful.

"Daniel," he said at last. "A couple of questions."

"Sure," Daniel said, sinking to the ground. "Fire away."

"I'd rather you not use that particular terminology, if you don't mind," Joe said dryly, making them all splutter with laughter.

"Sorry," Daniel said with a grin. "What do you want to know?"

"A bit of history, if you don't mind."

"Like?" Daniel asked.

"Like how well the cathedral can be defended." Joe looked keenly at Daniel. "My history is rusty, but I seem to think that most cathedrals in Europe were built for both durability and defensibility."

"They were, Daniel agreed. "The walls were usually extremely thick with stairs leading into the roof from where the flock could pour vats of boiling tar on their enemies."

"I thought that was only the castles," Maria said, astonished.

"Them too," Daniel said with a smile.

"Do you think this cathedral meets the criteria?" Joe asked.

"Maybe," Daniel said, his smile fading. "It's on a hill, surrounded by nothing but short shrub and a lake. It may be defensible, but..." his voice trailed off and he stared at Joe incredulously.

"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"

Joe shrugged. "Maybe."

"Mind letting us in on your little secret?" Ferretti asked harshly.

Daniel turned to him.

"I think Joe intends to tell Cogan to get all his people up to the cathedral."

Joe nodded. "I am. From there we can defend ourselves."

"How are we gonna get from here to there?" Ferretti asked. He held up a hand as Joe made to answer.

"Another question, say we did get to the cathedral somehow. We couldn't hope to hold it. "The Goa'uld will just lay siege to the cathedral and starve us out, and if you're hoping that the SGC will come and rescue us, then you're mistaken. No one will come near us with Jaffa guarding the gate."

"You would rather stay here and watch Jack slowly die?" Joe asked, watching closely as the stocky Italian American turned pale. "At least with my plan there is some hope."

"A lot of hope," Maria said, crouching next to her brother.

"True," Joe said ruefully. "I'm hoping that there will be a tunnel somewhere in town that leads from here to the cathedral. "

"That's one hell of a distance," Daniel said doubtfully. "I really don't think..."

"All we can do is ask," Joe said desperately.

"If there is, we should have the element of surprise on our side," Carter said.

"And if there isn't?" Ferretti asked. "Which is more likely the case."

"Then we will rely on you and Maria to take them all out," Joe said glumly.

"Your plan may not even be necessary," Ferretti said slowly. "Maybe this Khnum has left already. Maybe..."

"Maybe you need to get your head out of your ass," Joe snapped, shocking them all into silence.

"Despite Jack's valiant effort, he failed. Or maybe he succeeded and Khnum just doesn't give a shit. No matter what, this Goa'uld is gonna be really pissed off when he sees the villagers don't have enough Naquadah, and is either gonna take it out on them, or us. Either way, I intend to be in a defensible position when this happens."

"Woah," Ferretti said, taking an involuntary step back. "Sorry, General Joe."

"Too much Jack lotion," Joe said, reddening.

"Never a bad thing to rub on when your backs to the wall," Ferretti said with a grin. "Now what?"

"As Sam said earlier," Joe sighed. "We wait. Maybe they'll become lax, and we can escape."

"Um, right," Maria said doubtfully.

The next two hours were spent alternately trying to stare out their Goa'uld guards, or worrying about Jack. He had shown no signs of awakening since the last time he had, but Carter insisted that he was no worse.

"I think it's his body's defense system at work," she explained to Joe. "He had been hurt, and as a consequence he is sleeping whilst his body repairs the damage."

"Or he's suffered a massive subdural haemotomia, and is incapable of consciousness at all," Ferretti muttered.

"Oh, you're such an optimist," Daniel muttered sarcastically.

"Goes with the territory," Ferretti muttered back, but Daniel could see that he was just as worried as anybody else.

He and Jack had history way before the SGC was even thought of, and, despite his bravado, Daniel knew that he considered Jack a special friend.

Finally, Cogan returned, sliding carefully through the guards.

...

"How goes it?" Daniel asked softly. He could see from his expression that Cogan was furious.

"Not well," he said. "The Goa'uld is in a bitter mood. He insists that we meet our quota by sun down, or some of us will die."

"And can you?" Joe asked.

"No," Cogan said. "His demands are unrealistic. It's not that we can find the yellow ice lying on the banks of the river. No, it has to be mined, by people deep underground. We need more time."

"He won't give you any," Ferretti said shortly. "When darkness falls again, your people begin to die."

"I'm Ferretti from the gate," he said quickly, noticing Cogan's curious look. He pointed at Maria. "She's my other."

"So I see," Cogan murmured, taking in the identical dark curly hair, his other's hair slightly longer than his, as benefited a female.

"So tell me, Ferretti, what can we do?"

He had unknowingly played right into Joe's hands, and the priest quickly offered up a small prayer of thanks.

"I have a suggestion, if you're interested." he said.

Cogan's eyes flicked to him. "Please."

"Send your people to the cathedral. Do as your ancestors must have done, and repel the enemy from the safest place in town."

"How do I do that?" Cogan asked curiously.

"Slowly," Ferretti said. "And ever so friggin carefully." He nodded unobtrusively to the distant guards. " The Jaffa get complacent after a while, like in here. If you do things unobtrusively, you should get away with it."

"Just remember to surround the Goa'uld with people at all times," Maria the marine said. "From what I can see, the Goa'uld has total control over the Jaffa." She smiled when her brother nodded in agreement. "If that's the case, they won't act without his say so."

"He will be blind to the fact that your villagers are disappearing until hopefully too late," Sam said softly from her position next to the comatose Jack, "but be prepared to fight eventually."

"How do we do that?" Cogan asked.

"Like your forefathers did," Daniel said. "Gather your pitchforks as well as any other item that can be used as a deadly weapon. Take them to the cathedral as well. Sooner or later Khnum will attack, and then you will need all the help you can get."

"What of you?" Cogan asked.

He crouched next to Jack, taking in his pale complexion. "I can come and go as I like, but I scarcely believe this creature would allow me to remove your other from this barn anymore than he will allow the doctors to enter."

Joe's heart plummeted. "They're not coming?" he asked.

Cogan shook his head, looking distraught. "I tried, friend Joe, I really did. But this Khnum says that your other lied to him."

"He had to," Joe said angrily. "The alternative, that he give them all the secrets that he possesses, could doom an entire planet to death."

"You are from this planet?" Cogan asked.

Joe nodded. "It's called Earth."

"Not... Bora-Bora?"

"Bora-Bora exists," Daniel said gently, "as does Wagga-Wagga. They are places on our great planet."

Cogan smiled faintly. "I seem to be getting an education today such as I have not done in years," he said. "If we take this further, I assume that you reached this... here, via the stone circle?"

Daniel nodded. "Yes, as did the Goa'uld."

"Then this circle is dangerous," Cogan said gravely.

"Not always," Daniel said. "If used with care, it can be used to trade food, clothing, whatever you desire."

"The drawback are the Goa'uld," Sam said. "They are here right now, and unless you fight back, they will start by enslaving your people, and eventually your world."

"And they will start with the death of my other," Joe said sadly, milking the situation for all its worth.

"That I will not allow," Cogan said firmly.

"How can you not allow it?" Sam asked. "If the Jaffa won't allow the Doctors in, then I scarcely think that they'll allow the Col... Jack out."

"There is a tunnel," Cogan said slowly. "Somewhere close by I know there is a tunnel, one that leads into the cathedral."

"See?" Joe said excitedly. "I told you so."

"Where?" Daniel said.

"I'm not too sure," Cogan said quietly. He looked up, startled, as one of the Jaffa beckoned to him.

""I'm sorry, but I must leave now," he said softly. "The only reason why they allow me to visit at all is because the leader Jaffa believes that I can pry information from you easier than he can."

"And have you?" Daniel asked feeling cold. After all, what did they know about this particular man?

"That you are from Earth? Yes. That Joe's other has enormous secrets he daren't share? Yes."

"Damn you," Neville Gregory, of all people, hissed. "Jack O'Neill is an inspiration to us all, and I for one do not intend for..."

"Relax youngster," Cogan said with a smile on his face. "I may know things, but no one says that I have to share what I know."

"Bless you," Joe said, feeling faint.

"Tell the Prime that Jack is dying," Sam said hurriedly. "Tell him..."

"Tell him that we are extremely scared," Daniel interrupted. "Tell him..."

"That the women fear being raped," Maria said with a look at Sam.

""I'll remove his balls if he even tried," Sam muttered, and then blushed and looked apologetically at Joe.

"I'd supply the knife," he said darkly, making them both blush.

"Tell him that we are due to report back to the... our base in three hours for a scheduled radio check," Ferretti said, ignoring everyone. "Tell him that if we don't do so, our people will come through in force to rescue us."

Cogan nodded. "This I will tell this prime, but please, explain this radio check."

...

Once Cogan had left, they were once more reduced to staring at their Jaffa guards.

"Why aren't they doing anything?" Maria finally burst out, storming back to stand on front of her brother. "This Goa'uld is seriously weird. I have never heard of keeping people prisoner and not interrogating them."

"He took the Colonel," Ferretti said patiently. "That experience alone may have convinced him that we were pretty tough nuts to crack."

"Or more than likely this Goa'uld is busy gathering up as much Naquadah as he can, and will deal with us later," Daniel said gloomily.

"Maybe," Joe said. He cradled Jack, and stared across at Daniel. "Or perhaps he considers us a valuable commodity, one that can be sold?"

...

"You are quite correct, twin," a voice said, and they all whirled to see the Prime Jaffa walk into the room.

He thumped a chain mailed fist against his chest. "I am K'nac, first Prime to Lord Khnum."

"How exciting," Maria simpered.

"It can be," the Prime said. "Like now. You insist that you work for Lord Baal?"

They all nodded.

"Good," K'nac said with a purr. "Then our master was right in contacting him. Such a powerful System Lord deserves to have his faithful workers returned to him."

He laughed uproariously at their incredulous expressions.

...

"Oh, that worked well," Daniel said ten minutes later.

"Hoisted by our own petard," Ferretti said gloomily. "Whatever a petard is."

"An explosive device," Daniel said absently. "To be hoisted by one means..."

"We blew ourselves up?" Maria asked.

Daniel's eyes cleared and he grinned ruefully. "I guess."

"So now what?" Joe asked.

"We get out of here, and as quickly as possible," Ferretti said. "I wasn't kidding when I said that Baal is bad news. Compared to Baal this Khnum is a tame pussycat."

"Why did he contact him?" Joe wondered aloud.

"Financial gain maybe," Sam said. "There is a price on our heads, after all."

"Or perhaps dear old Baal just wants to renew his acquaintance with the Colonel here."

"That will never happen," Daniel said flatly. "I will not allow that to happen, even if I have to kill him myself."

"That bad?" Joe asked, shocked.

"Worse," Daniel said grimly. "Jack needed a lot of help after that mission."

"I bet he appreciated that," Joe muttered.

"He was too sick to care," Daniel said, making Joe raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"Why didn't he say anything?" he asked. "Or you, for that matter."

"I think he needed to get through what happened without our help," Sam said softly. "None of us were welcome for quite some time. I think it was also because he didn't want us to see his lack of control."

"That I can understand," Joe said. "He has done that before in his life, battened down the hatches and curled into a tight ball. Luckily he always seemed to find his way out again."

"He may not this time," Daniel said grimly, staring down at the man he considered his best friend. Jack looked so vulnerable, lying on his back swaddled in their SGC jackets, and he felt fiercely protective of him.

"I've been thinking," Ferretti said.

"Again?" his sister said.

"I do that occasionally," he said with a snort. " You should try it."

"What Lou?" Sam asked impatiently.

Ferretti scratched his head. "Well, here we are in a barn, with straw under our feet and six Jaffa guarding the only way out, right?"

"There is an idea here?" Daniel asked.

"There is," Ferretti said emphatically. "And that idea is fire."

"You intend for us to set fire to the barn?" Maria asked incredulously. "How are we gonna do that with six pairs of eyes watching our every move?"

"Watching our every move, yes," he said. "But not theirs." He surreptitiously pointed to the Gregory twins. Sure enough, both of them were prowling round the barn without one pair of eyes tracking them.

"They're not considered a threat," Maria said.

"Not surprising," Daniel said. "They may be nineteen, but they look about twelve."

"True," Ferretti smiled. "And that works to our advantage. When the time is right, I intend for one of them to set the barn on fire."

"So, let's get this straight," Maria said. "You intend that one of the kids throw ...what? A cigarette to the floor, hoping that it will catch alight. Right?"

"Well, kinda, yeah," Ferretti said.

"I see only about a million things wrong with that plan, starting with the fact that we aren't fireproof," she said sarcastically. "And, give the Jaffa some credit for brains. The minute they see a tendril of smoke, one of them is gonna come over here and stomp it out. Then, once he's finished, he's gonna stomp on us."

"Give me some credit for brains as well," Ferretti said crossly. "We won't do a thing until Cogan returns with the location of this tunnel. Once we have that, then we make our move. And as to the cigarette?" I wasn't thinking of that at all, or about setting fire to the straw. In fact, I was thinking of my Zippo lighter and that." He nodded at a pile of what looked like small rocks hidden in one corner of the barn.

"What are they?" Sam asked, intrigued.

It was Daniel who caught on first. "Dung," he breathed. "Solid when dry, it's extremely flammable, and can make excellent fire briquettes." He stared around at them, his eyes bright. "We used to use them on Abydos all the time."

"This barn was used to store animals," Ferretti said. "Horses, I think." He gestured to the pile of dung. "Either the farmer was lazy, or perhaps he stored the patties up for when it got cold. Either way, I think I love him, because if we light up that lot we have a fire. And one swift kick once they are lit and we have balls of fire all over the barn."

"God, I didn't get all the brains after all," Maria whispered, impressed.

...

Ten minutes later, they were all set. All they needed was the return of Cogan and his information.

As with all things awaited with great anticipation, it wasn't until evening that Cogan returned. When he did arrive, however, he came with food and news.

"How is he?" he inquired, nodding at Jack.

"His breathing seems easier," Sam said, "which is always a good indication. Unfortunately, he hasn't regained consciousness yet."

"He will," Joe said through a mouthful of something very tasty on bread. "We just have to have faith."

"Ah, I was right," Cogan said with a relieved smile. He clapped his hands together in obvious delight, making their Jaffa guards scowl. They had been on duty for most of the day now, and were slouching with noticeable weariness.

"About what?" Joe asked.

"You being a padre," Cogan said. "Copal was worried that you were not of the cloth, despite my insistence that you were."

"Did that matter?" Joe asked curiously.

"Oh yes," Cogan said emphatically. "Only a padre can walk with impunity through the secret tunnel."

"Then I'm your man," Joe mumbled through his sandwich. "Is there a tunnel anywhere close?"

"According to padre's Wynn, there is indeed a tunnel close to here."

"Where?" Ferretti asked, rapidly losing patience.

"Why, under our feet," Cogan said with a smile.

"What?" Ferretti said. "As in...in this barn somewhere?"

Cogan nodded, his face now beaming. "Peter Wynn says that it hasn't been used for centuries, but the ancient texts are very clear on this. He says that they state that the tunnel from the cathedral terminates in the property of Axel Maxus's barn."

"And this is it?" Joe asked.

"Well, no," Cogan said with a shrug. "Things change, and all records of there ever being an Axel Maxus have long since ceased to exist."

"Then how can you be sure that this is the barn?" Ferretti said with a scowl.

"Because the present owners of this property, before they were unceremoniously evicted, are Bryce and Bruce Maxus," Cogan said.

"Ah," Daniel said, crouching next to Cogan. "So, do the padre's Wynn know as to precisely where this tunnel is?" He pushed his glasses back up his nose and looked at the rotund mayor with a friendly expression. So far, Cogan had been brilliant, and he didn't want to insult the man at this critical stage.

"They have no idea," Cogan said regretfully. "Copal is going through the ancient texts with them - and as our people are joining us, so we have more eyes - but in truth, I believe the text do not say for sure."

"Be careful that Khnum doesn't catch on to your little exodus," Ferretti said seriously. "I warned you what will happen if he does."

"We are being extra careful, Ferretti from the gate," he said with a small smile. "Just like you told us to do."

"Good," Ferretti said, flushing slightly. "Cos you seem like decent people and..."

"Can't we use the Gregory's to search the straw?" Maria interrupted, rescuing her brother.

"Our damn innocent twelve year olds?" Ferretti muttered. "Why not. We can use them, and well." He gestured at them, watching in approval as one of them nonchalantly wandered over.

"Sir?"

"I want you and your...other," he said, with a side glance at Cogan, "to search the ground under the straw. We're looking for an entrance, a trapdoor maybe..."

"It won't be wood," Maria interrupted. "Maybe it's a stone slab, or marble or something. It leads into a tunnel and has to be in this barn somewhere."

"You sure Maam?" the Gregory asked.

"She's sure," Ferretti said firmly.

"I want you and your other to search the ground, but do it carefully. If the Jaffa catch you..."

"I understand," the young man said. "We'll be careful." With that, he slowly sauntered back to his twin.

"Which one was that?" Maria asked. "Neville or Oliver?"

"God knows," Ferretti grunted, making his own twin grin.

Cogan rose to his feet, gathering up the empty supper dishes. "I will leave now, and await your escape from here along with my other and the villagers in the cathedral."

Ferretti bowed slightly, aware of the risk this funny rotund mayor was making.

"We are grateful for your help," he said diplomatically.

"Not as grateful as we are to you," Cogan replied. "If you had not been here, ready to share your knowledge, we, the villagers of Kuj, would have surely have been doomed."

"It's still early days yet," Ferretti cautioned.

"Now we have your help, we will persevere," Cogan said with a smile, and carefully padded past their weary guards

Daniel had been crouched with Joe and Sam whilst the Ferretti's were hatching their great plan, his attention firmly fixed on Jack. He had stirred a while ago, and he had hoped that Jack was going to awaken, but nothing further had happened. He hated seeing Jack unconscious, and hated even more that Joe was around to witness it.

"It is not the first time I have seen my brother unconscious, you know. He was always the one in the most trouble, and consequently, the one they all went for first," Joe said, almost as if he knew what Daniel was thinking.

"This is no different." He took a deep breath and regarded Daniel and Sam through wise hazel eyes.

"Jack was always a wild child. Whenever there was a fight, he was involved somehow. On the flip side, whenever there was a cat that needed rescuing, Jack was the man to call." Joe smiled, his eyes misty. "Jack was always the champion of the underdog, even when we were small. He was always curious, climbing into things he shouldn't have, exploring where he was not allowed, and was continually asking questions, even though he knew he would get into trouble for asking them."

"Why would he get into trouble for asking questions?" Sam asked, but Joe didn't answer.

"Even now, he protects me, and I would have it no other way, even if he does overdo the big brother bit at times."

"He overdoes it with SG1 as well," Daniel said wryly.

"Kinda crimps your style, doesn't it?" Joe said.

"Yeah," Daniel said, "but he's also our C.O. and we can't do anything about it."

"Nor can I," Joe said with a small laugh. "But us O'Neill brothers have always watched out for each other, so I shouldn't complain now."

"You must have led an interesting childhood," Sam said curiously. "The Colonel never..."

She stopped dead as Jack moaned, thrashing his head from side to side and sending his carefully tendered straw pillow flying.

"Colonel?" She leaned forwards, trying to calm the now violently trembling man. "Colonel?"

"I'll ask for some water," Joe said, getting to his feet.

"Joe?" The voice was Jack O'Neill's, but it sounded terrified.

"Joe, don't leave me, please."

"I won't," Joe whispered, sinking back down and staring into glazed brown eyes.

"Joe, I'm sorry. Take me home, please."

That voice, faint and pleading, Joe had heard once before in his life, and to hear it again turned his blood to ice.

"Hey Jack, how you doing?"

He deliberately kept his voice light because it took only the briefest of glances to see that Jack was far from well. His eyes were dark holes in his pale face and were wandering around aimlessly, as if he was incapable of focusing on any one object.

"I wanna go home." Jack whispered. "Take me home, please?"

He reached up towards Joe, but his movements were heavy and uncoordinated, and all he succeeded in doing was falling onto his side.

Keeping his thoughts to himself, Joe leaned forwards and carefully gathered his brother into his arms, making soothing sounds.

"Joe, watch out for his ribs," Carter warned softly.

He ignored Sam, alternately rocking and speaking soothingly to his brother until he was at last silent, the soft whimpering noises finally giving way to the heavier sound of sleep.

Finally, Sam gently pulled Jack free, laying him back on a fresh patch of straw.

The others had gathered around them at the sound of Jack's voice, everyone looking relieved.

Everyone that is, excepting for Sam.

She now had a small frown on her face, and was looking concerned.

"Sir?"

Jack failed to react.

"Sir?" She shook his shoulder.

Jack didn't react at all, and Joe's stomach did a little flop.

"What's wrong?" he whispered.

"I'm not too sure," she said worriedly. "Although Lou's crack about him having a subdural Haemotoma seems more on the mark now."

"Shit," Ferretti whispered. "I was joking."

"But he spoke," Daniel said, watching as Jack's eyes fluttered shut again. "He spoke, I heard him."

"That didn't sound like the Colonel O'Neill I know," Sam said. "That Colonel would have instantly asked for a situation report. This person sounded more like he was hurting, and wanted his brother to take him home."

"He did," Joe said, his voice icy with dread. "He used those exact words on me, thirty two years ago."

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"There isn't much I can do Joe," she said when he looked at her. "All we can do is be here for him, just in case."

Joe nodded. "That feeling I know all too well," he said. "I've been doing that for Jack seemingly all my life."

"What happened?" Sam asked again.

Joe sighed, and his face took on a pensive look.

"When Jack was sixteen he really wanted to investigate a junk yard to the right of our property. He knew that we were forbidden to go, which made it more of a challenge in his eyes. One night when it was cold and pouring with rain he suddenly decided that that was the night. Unbeknownst to even me, he grabbed a raincoat and his torch and climbed out the window."

Joe stopped for a moment, staring down at the adult version sadly before continuing.

"The next morning, when I awoke, it was still raining, and Jack was gone."

He shrugged. "At first I thought that he was out delivering newspapers, but it was Saturday. When he wasn't seen all day I began to worry. When he didn't arrive for supper I knew something was wrong."

"What did you do?" Daniel asked, intrigued.

Joe shrugged. "There was nothing much I could do. The sun had set and it was still raining."

"But your parents?" Sam asked, shocked. "Surely they called the police?"

Joe shook his head. "They were... hard on Jack. They told me to wait until Monday, and if he hadn't returned by then, then they would worry."

"And did you wait until Monday?" Maria asked.

"No," Joe said. "Someone, I believe God himself, told me that he was in dire need of my help. I was guided, I believe, into that junkyard, and there I found Jack."

"What had happened?" Ferretti asked.

Joe hunched over Jack, recalling the mud splattered pale hand he had seen all but hidden under the crushed carcass of what used to be a rather nice Dodge.

He had fallen over it. If he hadn't, Jack would have died that night.

"The continual rain had caused a pile of cars to slide," he said. "As luck would have it, Jack was walking past at the time, and was crushed."

"What did you do?" Daniel asked.

Joe shrugged. "The only thing I could do. I gently pulled him onto a nearby piece of wood and dragged him out of there. I left him lying by the side of the road and dialed 911."

"Why did you move him?" Maria asked, shocked. "You could have killed him."

"I knew that," Joe said roughly. "I also knew that if I had left him where I had found him, my parents would only have added to his injuries."

He spoke through their shocked silence. "I'd rather let them think he was hit by a car, so I dragged Jack outside and as far from the junk yard as I was able. Only once I couldn't go on did I stop. As luck, or divine intervention, would have it, there was an unvandalized phone booth right there."

"You called 911?" Lou asked.

"I did. The lady wanted me to stay on the line, so I gathered Jack into my arms and held him close. You see, I thought he was dying, and although I had just started divinity studies, I knew how to administer last rights, and although I was so young, I didn't think God would mind, somehow."

"He wouldn't have," Maria said, her eyes moist.

"Jack was so scared. He was conscious, and I found out that he had been for hours, and yet hadn't said a word when I had dragged him outside. Now, hurt and cold, the rain beating down on his face, he lay there in the dark and listened to me tell him his life was over."

"Dear God, that must have been tough," Ferretti said.

"For us both," Joe said.

"But he didn't die," Sam said, touching his arm. "Did he?"

"Yes he did," Joe said grimly. "Right after he asked me to take him home, just like he did earlier today."

There was silence in the barn, a silence that only Joe could break.

"I have this theory," he said quietly, his eyes firmly fixed on Jack.

"My theory is this. Archangel Gabriel himself protects the soul of Jack O'Neill. It is he that constantly keeps Jack alive and it is a demanding job - believe you me. Even way back then, at the dawn of our lives, he was on the job. Jack died. I felt him go. Then, something brushed against me - something warm and feather light, and Jack took a breath."

"Then another, and yet another. And so it went until the ambulance arrived."

"Wow."

It was the other Gregory twin, who spoke this time, but he summed everything up in one succulent sentence.

"I guess there is more to life than we can ever put on the back of an average postcard."

"Well said, pipsqueak," Ferretti said, smiling. "Now shut up and keep searching."

The fair haired twin merely smiled. "We don't need to sir. We've found it."

"Wonderful," Ferretti breathed. "Where is it?"

"Looks like a drainhole cover sir, and Oliver's standing on it."

Ferretti traded a look with Maria. "Great. Now listen carefully..."

He was interrupted by the clank of leather and chainmail as their guards snapped to attention.

```````

" Jaffa Kree."

Their Jaffa guards stiffened as the Prime swept past them, his face arrogant in the gloom.

"The Tau'ri are to be moved to the center of town, where there is more light," he said arrogantly. He stared at the unconscious Jack and his face hardened. "If the Tau'ri give any trouble, shoot this one."

"You will do no such thing," Sam said, glaring at the prime. "If you shoot him Baal will not be pleased."

"And why should I care?" he asked. "I serve Lord Khnum."

"He is well known to Baal," she snapped. "If he dies, your master's negotiating power drops drastically."

"He is dying now." He cautiously walked over and crouched next to Jack, peering closely at the angry burn mark on his forehead that the ribbon device had left behind. "Yes, he will die soon anyway."

"Pity, you don't have a sarcophagus," Ferretti growled, part in frustration and part in curiosity. If they did...

He stared at the back the Prime's shaven head, fighting the strong impulse to take him out. Crouched like he was, with his back turned, it would be so easy. Unfortunately, the other Jaffa were watching him closely, as if aware of his thoughts.

"We do not," the Prime said. "And even if we did, we would not use it on him. Not when he has a spare." He looked at Joe appraisingly.

"I am a priest," Joe snapped.

"A temple custodian," Daniel explained hastily. "He is not a warrior."

"No matter," the Prime said, rising to his feet. "I scarcely believe that Lord Baal intends on any of you living anyway."

He walked back to their now far more attentive guards.

"When the leg irons come, I wish them removed," he snapped. "They may not talk. If they do...

The Prime made a throat slashing gesture with one finger.

"As you wish, Prime K'nac," one of the Jaffa said, his smile unpleasant to see.

Ferretti, in the meantime, had wandered back to the Gregory twins.

"Neville," he murmured, praying like hell he had the right twin. "Your job is to light the turds." He surreptitiously handed the young man a Zippo lighter.

"I didn't know you smoked, sir," Neville said, shocked.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Ferretti growled. "Now, on my signal, light 'em, and kick those turds like you're trying out for the Dolphins - okay?"

"Yes sir."

He turned to Oliver, conscious of the fact that they were running rapidly out of time.

"Where is this tunnel?"

"It's under my feet sir, really," the youngster said, his face pale in the gloomy barn.

"Right then," Ferretti said, staring at the straw covered ground dubiously. "When I yell, drop to your feet and open it. You'll have help," he added when the youngster hesitated.

"Yes sir," he said, obviously scared shitless.

He had every right to be, Ferretti mused, making his way back to the others. If this didn't work, then they were all dead.

"When I yell, make your way to Oliver," he murmured to them, aware that they had been watching him closely. "The kid on my left," he hissed when Daniel looked perturbed.

"Oh, okay."

"Sam and I will take Jack," Joe murmured. "You just get the tunnel open."

"No problem Father," Ferretti said, hoping like hell that he wasn't lying.

"Lou, the prime is getting mad," Daniel muttered. "He wants us to move."

"What's that?" Ferretti called, shaking his head when the prime yelled something at him.

"Sorry," he yelled back, having no idea what the prime had said, "but I think not." Deliberately turning his back on him, he stared at Neville. "Now," he yelled.

Louis Ferretti had had some good ideas in his life, but this one took the cake. He didn't know it yet, but he was just about to get a violent taste of how good his idea really was.

"Incoming!"

Ferretti had just a fraction of a second to see what looked like a flaming cannon ball heading for his head, and dived head first into the straw.

In retrospect, that was the best thing he could have done.

"What in the hell?" he yelled, instantly rolling onto his back, but no one answered. They were either tugging on a round steel plate, or diving out of the way of what looked like flaming... wouldyalookatthat, it was flaming rubber turd balls.

Holy crap. He shook his head, stunned, as Oliver joined his twin, hefting a large piece of wood.

"Oliver," he roared, not caring who heard him. The Jaffa were in just as much trouble as he was in, with the added disadvantage of the twins continually kicking these flaming balls at them, balls that returned to them with alacrity.

And everywhere the balls touched, fire grew.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Playing tennis sir," Oliver called.

Ferretti dug himself further into his meager patch of straw, certain that his hearing was going.

"What?"

"They're almost entirely made of rubber sir," Oliver said. He was happily swatting the returning fireballs back at the Jaffa, sending them running for cover, leaving their staff weapons where they lay.

"They're like fiery tennis balls," Neville yelled, looking the happiest he had seen him in hours.

"And I have one mean backhand," he finished.

"Good for you," Ferretti said, feeling faint.

Oliver grinned, looking like a deranged Andre Agassi.

"I dunno what - THWACK -kind of animal they came from sir, but - THWACK - it ain't no kind of horse that - THWACK - I know, that's for sure."

Ferretti eventually managed to crawl out of their way, which was a good thing too, seeing as he was beginning to think that he was the net.

"Turd tennis," Maria remarked, cackling maniacally. "One day you'll be able to live this down." Like Carter, she was hunched protectively over Jack, watching as Joe and Daniel slowly lifted what looked like a heavy metal cover.

"Here let me help," he said faintly, ignoring his sister, and added his strength to theirs. With his help, they soon had the cover off, exposing steep stone steps, thick with dust, Dust that slowly began to rise as the fire raged.

"Well, at least we wont suffocate," Maria yelled, her face orange in the flames. "There must be oxygen down there for the dust to do that."

"You hope," Ferretti yelled back. Maria had never been good at science.

The entire barn was ablaze now, the Jaffa long gone.

She stared at her brother with an amused expression on her face. "Cook, on the other hand, we might do, unless our holy father moves his butt."

"I'm going," Joe yelled, having heard, his voice tinny against the noisy cracks and pops of burning wood. "I believe it's gonna be a tight squeeze, so just remember pull the lid back on after us, okay Lou?"

"Yes boss," Ferretti said, beckoning to his two sports stars and wondering why it was going to be a tight squeeze. It was a tunnel for Chrissakes.

"Let's go."

Nobody needed telling twice. The inferno that used to be a barn was almost too hot to bear now, and thick acrid smoke was beginning to swirl around them as the fire finished with the lighter wood and started on the heavier structure.

The Gregory's dived down the steps with him right on their heels. Two thirds below ground, Ferretti reached out and slid the lid over their heads, using all the strength in his fingers to lift it slightly and settle it back with a thunk.

Finally, they were in stygian darkness with nothing but their harsh breathing.

"Well, that was fun," Maria said.

"We must do that again someday," Carter said, beginning to chuckle.

"I think I have tennis elbow," one of the Gregory's moaned, making them all laugh.

"Thank God momma made us take up tennis," the other brother remarked.

"I must be the only intergalactical tennis player in existence," the first replied, sounding stunned. "Wow."

"Blame my brother and his fabulous bouncing turd," Maria said, laughing hysterically now.

"You should have seen their faces when the...manure bounced off of the Jaffa and right back at them," Sam said, hiccoughing. "Talk about diving for cover."

"And Louis," Maria chortled. "Did you see the look on his face? It was classic."

"Who yelled incoming?" Ferretti asked, amused despite himself.

"I did," Daniel said, his voice sounding muffled.

"Thanks," Ferretti said. "Now, if you don't mind, can we get moving here? It's getting kinda hot." He rapped at the metal above his head, and drew back with a sharp hiss.

"Scratch that. It's getting kinda red hot."

"In a moment," Daniel said. "Joe's working on it."

Joe was indeed working on it, although how he was going to open what felt like a massive stone door blocking his path was debatable.

Daniel had hinted at it, and he kind of thought along similar lines the minute Cogan had asked if he was a padre. Interesting that, it meant that at one point this planet had had a Spanish influence...

"Joe," I've got some writing here," Daniel hissed, and he blindly reached for his shoulder.

"Where?"

"Under my fingers," Daniel said, reaching for his hand. "It looks like..."

With a click, a bright bubble of light erupted from Ferretti's Zippo, the young Gregory holding it illuminating the entire wall.

"Will this help sirs?" he inquired facetiously.

"Like Duh," Joe said, with a sidelong glance at Jack. Sam still held him close.

"Okay, what do we have?" Daniel was muttering. "Ah, Espaniol."

"Spanish?" Joe asked. It was getting very hot in their little cave, and with the lit Zippo two inches from his left ear... "Can you read it?"

"No problem," Daniel said, "although how that is going to help us, I have no idea."

"Maybe these will help," their human torch said, indicating to a row of numbers chiseled into the door itself.

"Maybe they will," Joe said excitedly, having an inkling as to what the Spanish might be now.

"Daniel?"

Daniel cleared his throat.

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy"

For a second, Joe sat stock still, oblivious to the others watching him closely. He knew that it was part of a psalm, but which one...

"Psalm 107," he snapped, leaping to his feet. He turned to the Gregory. "Son, push the numbers 107."

Eyes wide, the youngster did so, and then they all leapt back as the stone door noiselessly slid to one side.

"How did it do that?" Sam asked, reverting to type for a fraction of a second before gathering Colonel O'Neill to her breast and looking for help.

Daniel," I need help here," she called as the archaeologist peered into the darkness.

"We can help, my child," new voices said, and four figures stumbled into view, two of them very tall and carrying a stretcher between them.

The light from the tiny Zippo was overwhelmed by the flaming torch held by a grinning Cogan, or maybe Copal, and was hastily extinguished.

"I am Poul Wynn," one of the stretcher-bearers said. "And I am Peter Wynn," the other said. "And welcome to the Cathedral Saint Fe."

...

"So that's how the barn got toasted," Joe said, a couple of hours later. He was sitting at a small table in the choir section of the cathedral, also called a chancel - or the crossing, because that was where the two lines of the cross actually crossed over each other.

Being a cathedral and not a church, the chancel was a massive area three storied area. The bottom, where Joe sat, was the actual chancel, or ground floor. To Joe's right a rich velvet curtain blocked his view, but from the occasional villager sneaking into the chancel to hear what he had to say, he knew that the altar lay that way, with the main body of the cathedral - called the nave - behind. He had the occasional glimpse of villagers alternately lying on, or breaking up pews and wondered if he had suggested the right plan of action.

God alone knew.

Hoping that God looked kindly on twins, Joe turned his attention back to the chancel.

To his left there was a massive organ, its brass tubes soaring up into the dome itself. He knew that the entrance to the tunnel was there, but with the door now shut he had no idea where. There was a plain wooden door to one side, but Joe was sure that that wasn't it - the tunnel wouldn't be that obvious.

One level up was the choir section, reached by means of a ladder. This consisted of two simple balconies, but Joe could see that it had been deliberately designed that way. With the dome above their heads, magnifying the smallest sound, the choir in full song would sound like they were singing from heaven itself.

Above the balconies there was the most important section of all, in Joe's opinion - a gallery.

This long wooden platform stretched all the way around the church just under the roof. Daniel had informed him that there were two reasons for the gallery.

First off was the need for ventilation. If he looked closely, Joe could see the gallery had long sections where the late evening sky was visible. Daniel had informed him that this was so that the cathedral could maintain a fresh airflow, essential for health.

The other reason for the gallery was for safety.

In times of trouble, of which there were many instances in the fourteenth and fifteen centuries, lookouts could be placed on the gallery, almost unseen by the gathered congregation below. If someone they didn't like began to approach, they could be spotted miles away, and fair warning given. It was this gallery that the people of earth were interested in, and Joe only prayed that such a high vantage point would be enough.

"Wow, you definitely live an exciting life," Copal said, his brother by his side looking equally as impressed.

"We try not to have our lives this exciting," Joe said, thinking of his brother.

Ferretti and his sister had gone with the padres to check out the fortifications being done, both believing that they would be under attack come morning and Jack had been swept away by some caring people Joe assumed were nurses, Daniel and Sam in hot pursuit.

That left just him, and a whole lot of curious villagers.

It was amazing how much difference some fresh water and a cup of what tasted like coffee could do for a person, he reflected, looking around at his gathered audience. Even their tough SGC clothes had been taken from them for a while and an attempt had been made to air out the smoke from them, with limited success, unfortunately.

Not that it mattered. They were clean and out of danger, and that was all that mattered.

Well, most of them were out of danger, he thought with a guilty feeling.

"How's Jack?" he enquired.

"He is resting as comfortably as can be expected," the priest known as Poul said, sweeping back into the chancel like a tall carnivorous bat. Unlike most of the people crammed into the cathedral, and there were many, the priests stood out. First and foremost was the fact they were extremely tall, Joe estimated at least seven feet, and secondly they had an attitude about them, a kind of self confidence that no other villager had, even their rotund mayor's.

"Is there anything you can do?" Joe asked.

"Besides pray, no," his twin Peter said, winding his way effortlessly through the villagers. Like his brother, he was also tall and spare, but had a nasty scar down one side of his face.

"Praying I can do, yes," Joe murmured. "I just wondered..."

"If we had a sarcophagus stashed away somewhere in here?" Peter inquired, smiling when Joe started in surprise.

"No, we aren't Goa'uld," he said mildly.

"However, unlike the villagers of Kuj, we have the advantage of the religious texts at our fingertips," Poul continued. "They had never seen a Goa'uld in their lifetime, but knew of them. We, on the other hand, not only knew of them, but were aware that lord Khnum had been coming here for centuries, going from village to village, mining Naquadah on behalf of someone called Baal."

His brother shrugged. "Now it is our turn."

"He works for Baal?" Joe asked, shocked. No wonder Jack's spiel hadn't worked.

"According to our forefathers, yes," Poul said. "Whoever he is."

"A nasty piece of work," Joe murmured, repeating what he had learnt. "One quite capable of burning this cathedral to the ground, I believe, with us still in it. I wonder why he hasn't arrived yet."

Poul shrugged. "That I cannot answer. Perhaps he does not travel at night."

Joe didn't answer, refraining from mentioning the fact that the planet that Baal was on was most probably on the other side of the galaxy, in daylight.

"More than likely he doesn't wish to arrive here at night," a young voice said, and Joe turned with a start to stare at the other two people sat at the table with him.

"You know, you two are always so quiet that I sometimes forget that you even exist," he murmured to the Gregory's.

"It come in handy Father, believe me," one of them replied.

"There's less hassle that way," the other said.

"You also make less of a mark on the world," Joe replied with a disapproving frown, "which is tragic."

He looked up as Daniel pushed politely through the crowd.

"Danny?"

"Joe," he said, his eyes shining. "You'll never guess what Sam's found."

Joe, like his brother, was not one for guessing riddles.

"What?" he asked.

"A healing device," Daniel said, as if imparting something of momentous importance.

"A sarcophagus?" Joe said blankly, turning to the priests. "I thought that you..."

"We don't," Poul interrupted. "I think the young man is referring to the artifacts mounted in the nave."

Daniel nodded. "I was exploring lower level of the cathedral, whilst the Ferretti's do the upper level," he said, "when I suddenly came across a wall with a whole lot of items mounted on it."

He held out his hand and ticked things off. "There's a staff weapon, fully functional, I think, that I've given to Lou, a zat, which Maria has, and a healing device."

"Does it work?" Joe asked, getting to his feet.

Daniel's face fell. "Sam's trying, but it really needs a Goa'uld to do it properly."

Joe snorted. "Yeah, like we have one of those stashed away."

"Well, she was briefly possessed by a good Goa'uld, a Tok'ra, a couple of years ago," Daniel said optimistically. "This does give her an added advantage over the rest of us."

He led Joe towards the door next to the organ which led to a room situated at the rear of the church, the Gregory's padding along quietly behind them.

"Sam?"

Despite its size, which was huge, the room was quite cheerful, with a fire crackling merrily in a fireplace adding to the charm. Someone had placed a bed against a far wall, and it was in this that Jack lay, his face waxy, like he had already died.

"I haven't tried yet," Sam said, looking at them from under her lashes. "I wanted to wait for you, just in case this doesn't work..." She hung her head.

"You'll do fine," Joe said, staring at the thing in her hand curiously. It was shaped like a thick side plate, with intricate writing etching every inch of its surface.

"What does it do?" he asked.

"I could get technical," she said with a ghost of a smile, but I don't think you'd appreciate it any more than Jack would. Suffice it to say, it somehow uses the remnants of the Naquadah in my blood, amplifies it and uses that power to control the device. Once I have that power, I can control the device and heal Jack.

"Interesting," Joe said.

He turned to the Gregory's, knowing that no matter what happened, his brother wouldn't want to be made a spectacle of.

"The kitchen is next door, I think. I want you and your brother to wait there," he ordered, hardening his heart when they looked at him reproachfully.

"Sir?" Neville asked.

"Please," Joe said, allowing both of them to see just a glimpse of how he was feeling. If this didn't work...

"Yes sir," the youngster said, and pulled his brother out of the room.

Shaking his head, sadly, wondering if he had ever been that young, he turned back to Sam.

"Go ahead."

"O-kay," she said doubtfully.

"You'll be fine," Daniel said, looking tense.

"It's not me I'm worried about," she muttered, but no one answered her.

Taking a deep breath, she stood over Jack's body, her hands outstretched, the golden plate attached to one hand and facing Jack's head. At first, nothing seemed to happen, and then a faint glow started to emanate from it.

"It's working Sam," Daniel breathed.

Joe watched, fascinated as the burns on Jack's forehead slowly healed until the skin was smooth and unblemished again. Then Sam staggered, and the beam snapped off.

"Sam?" Daniel caught her as she collapsed, carrying her to a vacant chair.

"What happened?" Joe asked looking from her to the still unconscious Jack. "Did it work?"

"It worked," Daniel said grimly. "Just how well is another matter."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked, lost.

"What Sam didn't tell you that the healing device also drains the healer's strength," Daniel said. "Sam did what she could, but doesn't have sufficient amounts of Naquadah left in her blood to do more at this time."

"At least he's looking better," he said, trying to cheer Joe up.

"So he is," Joe said, pleased. The waxy look was gone, as was the harsh breathing. "In fact, he almost looks normal."

"Don't insult me," a voice rasped, and he stared into dark brown eyes.

"Bro?" he felt like crying, but offered up a quick prayer instead.

"Jack?" Daniel was by his side in a shot, his face split by the widest smile Joe had seen in days. "How are you doing?"

"Headache," Jack groaned, raising his hand to his head and massaging the temples. "Very bad headache."

"That's not surprising," Daniel said gently. "You had a run in with Khnum, do you remember?"

Jack looked at him with vacant eyes as his brain obviously tried to connect all the dots.

"A little Gould with a brick shithouse of a prime?"

"I guess," Daniel said doubtfully. Sam was beginning to stir now, looking pleased.

"Then I remember him," Jack said. "Bastard tried to fry my brain."

"He came close," Joe said. "Luckily you had Sam."

Jack slowly turned his head and regarded Carter, taking not of the healing device attached to one hand. "I'm aware that I'm lucky to have Sam," he murmured, making her blush.

"Any time sir," she whispered.

He grimaced. "Preferably not," he said making them all grin.

"Help me up," he ordered, and Daniel took his arm, pulling him into a sitting position.

"Strange barn," he said, looking around curiously.

"That's because it's not," Joe said. "It's the cathedral we saw up on that hill, remember? We escaped and retreated here, along with all the villagers."

"Okay," he said, staggering to his feet despite Joe and Daniel's objections. "So, knowing my good buddy Khnum like I do, I suggest you show me around the joint before he comes a knocking on the front door, like he surely will do sooner or later."

The room Jack was in was called a vestry, situated right at the back of the cathedral. Next door to that was a kitchen or maybe a dining area, the combined cooking smells making Jack's stomach growl. Ignoring his hunger, he casually grabbed hold of Carter and started to stumble forwards.

"Where are we?" he asked, stopping in surprise when she led them into a room covered with a massive glass dome.

"The chancel," Daniel, the archaeology graduate said.

"The what?" Jack said impatiently.

"It's where the two arms of the cross... well cross," Joe said with a smile at his brother. "The alter is just ahead and the pews just after that." He led them under the dome, still quite magnificent despite it now being full dark outside. "This is almost made entirely of glass," he said, gesturing up. "I assume everything came through the stargate."

"Not gonna be fun if it implodes," Jack muttered, earning himself horrified looks.

"One hopes that it doesn't come to that," Joe said.

"I'm a pessimist at heart," Jack grunted. "You should know that by now."

'We have the alter before us," Daniel said hurriedly, "and behind those velvet curtains we have the Nave."

"The pews?" Jack said to Joe.

"Uh huh," Joe confirmed. " As you may gather, most of the villagers have now managed to join us. Want to say hello to them all?"

"Sure," Jack said darkly. "I need to see if it can be defended anyway."

Gritting his teeth at Jack's negative attitude, Joe silently led him into the nave.

"Interesting place," Jack said, looking around curiously.

There were people everywhere, all staring at him with differing expressions of fear on their faces, and far in the back of this cadaverous church he could see Louis and his sister leaning over a balcony, disturbed by the commotion.

They saw him the moment he saw them.

"Jack!" Ferretti was down a ladder and climbing over the pews so fast Jack thought he was going to hurt himself. "How you doing, man?"

"Hanging in there," he smiled grasping the smaller mans hand. "Hi Maria."

She smiled and reached up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Glad to see you mobile again sir."

"Not as glad as I am," he said, reddening. "Now, I need two things, and quickly. A bathroom and information."

....

Twenty minutes later found them back in the chancel, all congregated around the same table Joe and the Gregory's had been sat at earlier. Like last time, they still had their curious audience, but fewer people now. The Ferretti's had set up a war committee, a group of villagers who were responsible for the defense of the cathedral, and now most of the villagers were hard at work, fortifying the existing structure in preparation for dawn, and had no time for these strange people with their even stranger others anymore.

Daniel had just finished telling Jack of their headlong flight down the cathedral tunnel, concluding their action filled adventure.

"I still can't believe that this Khnum works for Baal," Jack complained. "Talk about ruining my master plan."

Despite his attention, he was beginning to look pale and shaky, and when he slowly rubbed at his temples, a few looks of concern were exchanged.

"Are you going to be up to a protracted fight tomorrow?" Ferretti asked, taking the bull by the horns.

For a moment, something furious flared in Jack's eyes before he shut them and sighed.

"I'd like to say yes, Lou," he said slowly, "but I can't seem to shake this headache. I can't see too well either," he admitted, making his brother frown.

"Why didn't you say something earlier," he growled.

"There is no miraculous cure," Jack said.

"Major Carter?" Maria asked, eyebrows raised.

"I can't do it again so soon," she answered. "Believe me, I wish I could, but I'm just not strong enough." She looked sadly at the healing device sat on the table in front of her and moved it with a finger. "It's a pity, but there it is."

"I'll be fine," Jack said. "Honestly."

"Just don't be so energetic," Joe warned. "After all, you were at deaths door this morning.

"Courtesy of one Goa'uld that I am going to have so much pleasure taking down," Jack said roughly, aware of Joe's smile fading.

"Before or after Baal arrives?" Ferretti asked.

"Preferably before," Jack said with a grin.

He turned back to his assembled team, his eyes now cold.

"Carter and Daniel. I want you to meet and greet. Find out from the villagers what they know about the lie of the land, etcetera." He turned to Joe and the silent Gregory twins. "You will go exploring. I want to know what's below this church. Any catacombs we can hide in maybe? Ask the Fathers for any information they have."

He looked up at Ferretti. "You I and Maria are going to investigate the dwarf gallery." He stopped when everyone looked at him with stunned expressions on their faces.

"What?" he snapped. "Just because we're flyboys doesn't mean we're badly educated. Right Lou?"

"Right sir," Ferretti said faintly.

"Get going people," Jack said, levering himself to his feet.

Once everyone had gone, he followed Lou back into the nave, grimacing at the idea that they were going to try and defend themselves in what had to be one hell...whoops, one honking big church. No, cathedral.

"Damn, I hope everyone prays good," he muttered, staring upwards.

"So do I," Ferretti said.

"What's a dwarf gallery?" Maria asked.

"It's part of the gallery you were on," he said.

"Where?" Ferretti asked, looking impressed.

"It's the sections where the gallery looks out as well as in." Jack pointed at the glass dome. "That shiny bauble has to be washed occasionally, and someone has to make sure all the tiny glass pieces are still in place, for example. They would need a dwarf gallery for that."

"Hopefully, the gallery stretches all the way around the cathedral, and is solid enough for us to use," Ferretti said. "We were checking this when we saw you."

"We'll be fine," Jack said, smiling slightly. "God looks after flyboys, marines, academics and twins, so we should be okay."

"Amen," Maria added.

"Where is Baal, by the way?" he asked.

Ferretti shrugged. "I have no idea sir. For all I know, he's here already."

"Hm," Jack said, thoughtfully. "Gonna be pissed off when he sees the barn then."

"Yeah," Ferretti agreed, pleased to have someone back who spoke his kind of language.

"Maybe he'll take it out on Khnum."

"Get real," Jack snorted.

"Yeah, wishful thinking. But if you coulda seen how you looked when he had finished playing with you..." He gave Jack a dark look.

"I know it must have been bad," Jack said softly. "And I commend you on getting me out of there, but now we must face the here and now, and concentrate on kicking some major Goa'uld butt."

"Most of the people are here now," Ferretti said, gesturing to the assembled villagers. "As you can see, I've got them nailing pieces of wood over the windows and doors."

"An exercise in futility," Jack grunted. "Well, at least it will contain the low level itty bitty pieces of stained glass."

"True," Ferretti agreed. "We're lucky. So far it seems like Khnum hasn't realized that the villagers are vanishing."

"He's not blind," Jack said, his face hardening. "He knows."

Ferretti nodded in agreement. "Bet you he knows where everyone's gone too."

"He does," Jack said. "Believe me. He also knows that we hold an indefensible piece of real estate, and is biding his time. The sun rises, and he attacks."

...

They spent the next two hours just wondering around the cathedral, Jack getting more despondent with each minute.

"We are never going to be able to hold this place," he said eventually. "Not against a squadron of Jaffa."

"My thoughts exactly sir," Ferretti said. "However, Doctor Jackson believes otherwise."

"Oh really?" Jack said, his eyebrows raised. "Where is he?"

"In the kitchen sir, cooking up vats of oil."

Jack looked at Ferretti incredulously.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding."

Ferretti just grinned and steered Jack towards the back of the cathedral.

...

Daniel had been hard at work. When he realized that Jack and Ferretti expected the cathedral to be attacked come morning, he went into a huddle with Poul and Peter, airing out the idea that he had. On Earth, they protected their places of worship by various means, could not the same be done here?"

At first the twins were dubious, but the more Daniel talked, the more enthusiastic they became, until they were deep in discussion on ways and means to make everything work. Finally, everything was agreed on, and Daniel was left alone in the kitchen.

It was here that Jack found him.

...

"Doing a defensive spell?" he asked.

"Jack," Daniel yelled delightedly. "Come on in." He waved them inside with a huge bronze ladle that he was using to stir a bubbling concoction.

"Thanks, I think," Jack said, peering dubiously at the thick gray mixture that was gradually beginning to bubble.

"What's that - a repulsive spell?

"This isn't a Harry Potter novel," Daniel said. Nevertheless, he was grinning. "If you must know, it's a concoction of whatever fats we can find. What we intend on doing is pouring it all around the outside of the cathedral.

"Why?" Jack asked blankly.

"Have you ever tried to walk on ice?" Daniel asked.

"Sure?" Jack said, looking at his friend like he was mad. "I love winter sports."

"Ever try and do it covered in leather and a tons worth of chainmail?"

"God, you're a genius," Jack breathed, seeing where Daniel was going with his idea.

"Yep," Daniel smirked. "Padre's Wynn now have the villagers tearing up the pews and making long sharp pikes as well. I figure that when the Jaffa begin to slide they will have more of a chance of getting them.

"Ancient warfare 101," Ferretti drawled from the doorway.

"Impressive," Jack said, grabbing an untouched meat sandwich of some kind from a neglected plate. "Scuse me, but I'm starved."

"Now, so much for ancient warfare," he slurred rudely around a mouthful of bread. "How goes it with modern warfare?"

"Well, as you know, we have the staff weapon and the zat..." Ferretti said, confused. "With Maria stationed at one end and Sam stationed at the other, they should be able to get some lucky shots in."

"How about our own weapons?" Jack asked.

"What about them?" Ferretti asked blankly. "They were taken from us at the gate when Khnum used the stun grenades."

"And you have made plans to get them back, I trust?" Jack said silkily.

Ferretti looked at his feet. "Well, no sir," he said. "What with you being ill, and getting the villagers to the cathedral and, well, I just didn't think of it."

Jack sighed.

"Lou," he said gently. "No matter how hard we want things to turn out differently, we all know that we stand a snowballs chance in hell against a Jaffa army. If, however, we had our P90's back..."

"How are you going to achieve that little feat?" Daniel asked.

Jack frowned. "You said that there is a tunnel stretching from here to town?" he asked.

Daniel nodded. "Yes. It's how we escaped the burning barn."

"So we use it again," Jack said. "They think us dead, and hopefully that will mean security isn't as tight as it usually would be. All we have to do is sneak back into town and take what's rightfully ours."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Daniel said naively, earning him twin glares.

"Facing the Jaffa armed with sticks and stones is infinitely far worse," Jack said. "Besides, if we're really lucky, the Jaffa will already be congregating somewhere else in preparation for their assault on here."

"What a lovely thought," Joe said from the shadows, making everyone jump.

"Geez", Ferretti said, his face white. "How in the heck did you manage to sneak up on us?"

"God stealth," Joe said smugly. "Aren't you glad I'm on your side?"

"Hell yeah," he said.

"You heard?" Jack said, his face serious.

"I heard," Joe said, his hazel eyes holding his brother's dark brown ones.

"Can you lead us back?"

Something flickered in Joe's eyes. "Aiding and abetting in a massacre," he said softly.

"To do nothing is suicide," Jack said, aware that the others were watching them closely.

"And suicide is a sin," Joe said with a sigh. "Okay, I'll lead you back."

"Thank you," Jack said, giving his brother a grateful hug. "You'll not regret this."

"That's what you said about Mrs. MacTavish's dog," Joe said wryly. "And I regretted that for months."

...

Jack and Louis Ferretti had worked well together way before they were both recruited into the SGC, and it took but a moment for them to settle into their old routine of 'you watch my back, and I'll watch yours'. Noses flared, primed for the first whiff of danger, they padded along behind Joe as he led them back towards the barn, their very silence unnerving the priest.

Finally, Jack knew they had arrived at their destination, if for nothing more than the faint smell of burnt wood that seemed to permeate the air.

"Be careful," Joe whispered.

"Always," Jack said in almost an ethereal whisper, his eyes dark holes in his face, as if his mind was already ten steps ahead of his body.

The thought made Joe shudder.

"Leave now."

Jack's command was unnecessary - Joe was already retreating, his fingers hard at work on the beads Padre Poul had given him.

...

No words were needed. Not anymore.

Extremely conscious that they were unarmed, Jack watched, hawk like, as Lou carefully levered open the metal cover, both of them wincing as things tinkled and clattered in the still night air. Once Lou had a big enough opening, Jack crawled past Lou and rolled out into the ruins, wriggling deep into the still warm ashes.

Nothing stirred, not even the wind.

A black shape called Ferretti joined him, and they lay there for a while, straining to hear any sound. There was nothing.

Waiting for his C.O's signal, Lou looked around in fascination.

The barn was gone. It was quite incredible that fire could do what he knew to be true, but it had managed it somehow. All that was left was ashes, the selfsame ashes they were hiding in. He stared up at the stars and sent up a brief prayer of thanks. If they hadn't been able to open the tunnel's cover, they would have been incinerated, another unlamented pile of ashes in a heap load of them.

Jack, who knew nothing about this, finally rose to a crouch, confidant that Lou would be right behind him. Using the stars as a guide, he ghosted towards a structure he did know well, the town hall.

He suddenly halted, his ears searching for the origin of what sounded like canvas flapping in the wind. Turning slowly on the balls of his feet, he blindly searched for the source of the noise, finally finding it. A large tent stood in the small clearing opposite the town hall, and from the ornate magnificence about it, he knew who had to be asleep inside.

Nerves shrieking for vengeance, he nevertheless turned his back on it, and led Ferretti into the town hall.

They were immediately assaulted by the metallic smell of blood.

"Fucking Bastards," Ferretti hissed, staring at the walls in shock. There were people nailed to them.

To Jack, Ferretti's expletive was overly loud, but he didn't reprimand him. In fact, he was having a hard time not to mutter his own swearwords.

"Do...are they dead?" Ferretti asked, looking at Jack.

"Dear God, I hope so," he said.

Khnum had obviously not been fooled by the villager's excuses for the slowly dwindling population, and had finally taken his wrath out on those that had bravely remained behind, in a brutal fashion that shocked both men to their core.

Hardened as they both were to all kinds of violence, the sight in front of them was horrifying.

They counted four people against walls, bodies horribly misshapen. Held up off the floor by nails through their hands and feet, they hung there, heads mercifully hanging. Fresh wet blood was still dripping from their hands and feet and looked blackly macabre in the starlight, streaking the walls and pooling on the ground underneath them. Peering closely, Jack could see that they were twins, two men and two women, and from the state of undress, they had all been raped.

"I told the Mayors that this was going to happen, and they considered this an acceptable risk," Lou whispered wretchedly in Jack's ear. "Hell, even I did, but now, seeing them like this..."

"Acceptable losses," Jack whispered back. "It's hard, I know, but rather four people dead than an entire village." He reached out his hand and grabbed Lou's shoulder, trying to give the smaller man strength. "There is nothing we can do for them now, so let's concentrate on the task at hand."

Ignoring the tragic figures, the men started searching the room, softly pulling aside the red and gold curtains that the Goa'uld the universe over seemed to prefer, carefully looking for their equipment.

It was their experience that the Jaffa had no concept of Tau'ri arms and ammunition, and it wouldn't be the first time that their stuff was simply dumped somewhere and forgotten about.

Hoping against hope, they desperately searched the room, both of them aware that they were running out of time. Dawn was beginning to streak the distant clouds with tendrils of light, and if their gear wasn't in the hall, they were more than likely just as doomed as the villagers in the room with them.

"Got it," Ferretti finally hissed, and Jack briefly shut his eyes.

"All of it?" he asked.

Lou merely shoved a P90 in his hands, he looking ferocious with a silver knife stuck between his teeth.

"All if it," he mumbled.

"Good," Jack said reaching for the packs.

"We need it all, especially Joe's. He has a large crucifix in there that I definitely intend shoving up Khnum's..."

The soft moan sent both men spinning to the wall in shock. One of the females was still alive.

"Jack?" Lou said, his voice trembling wildly. "Look." He pointed at one of the misshapen women. "How can that be?"

The female moaned louder, attempting to lift her head.

A feeling of unreality stole over Jack. They had to get back to the cathedral. People were relying on them to do just that, about two hundred of them, give or take a few. In order to do that, they required absolute silence, silence that this woman, in her agony, was breaking.

For a brief shining moment, he thought of cutting her down and taking her with them, before reality came crashing in. They had no means of levering the nails from her hands and feet, and even if they had, she was too far gone to ever remain silent. As if to reinforce his thinking, she moaned even louder, a soft shriek of mindless pain.

"The others are all dead," Lou whispered, returning to crouch next to him. "It's just..." his voice trailed off.

"I won't leave her behind for those bastards to use again," Jack whispered, his voice hard with suppressed fury.

Lou looked sick. "If she wakes up Khnum..." he breathed, "were screwed."

"...And we obviously can't take her with us..." Jack continued.

"No," Lou said firmly. "We can't."

"Then we are left with no other option," Jack said firmly.

Hating himself for what he now knew he had to do, Jack reached for Lou's knife.

"Go," he hissed.

"Not alone," Lou said.

Jack's voice was pure steel.

"Go."

He was aware of Lou's hesitation, and then he was gone, leaving Jack alone with his dark thoughts.

Two hundred souls were relying on him. That didn't make it any easier.

"God forgive me," he whispered, and knowing that he himself never would, he raised the knife.

...

Early dawn found Joe deep in discussion with Padre's Wynn. Up until he had told them of it, they had never even heard of such a thing as a stargate, and now that did know, they had been pouring over the ancient texts, trying to find any reference to it at all.

Missing his brother terribly, Joe and the silent Gregory twins had joined them, all searching for any reference to another tunnel, one that perhaps led them directly there.

"I doubt you'll find anything," Daniel said, looking at the books hungrily even as he directed his volunteers on how to pour his slippery mixture outside the cathedral walls. " The stargate's miles from here." He shrugged.

"I mean, we walked for hours."

"That's because we were going up and down those steep hills," Joe said. "In a straight line, however..."

"It's still one hell of a distance, Joe," Daniel warned.

"They built one that stretched all the way into town, remember?" Joe said optimistically. There is no reason why they couldn't have built one even longer."

"True, Daniel said. "However, even if they had thought it feasible, I doubt anything could have come of it."

"Why do you say that?" Joe asked.

The ground is extremely muddy, remember?"

"So?" Joe asked blankly

"Basic engineering," Daniel said. "You don't dig a tunnel through a marsh."

"So it's all up to Jack," Joe sighed.

"Yes," Daniel said. "Like most times in the history of SG1, it's all up to him."

...

"Jack?"

Jack slowed his progress, aware of Lou's breathing.

"Yes?"

"I don't usually say things like this, but you did the right thing."

Jack looked up at the dark ceiling, watching the flickering shadows chase each other in the torchlight.

"I know," he said after a while. "Not that that makes it easier."

Lou laughed mirthlessly, a soulless bark of sound.

"The day it becomes easy is the day we retire and go to midnight mass."

"Two old dogs like us?" Jack asked. "They'll never let us in the door."

"They will if we beg," Lou said pitifully, aware of the mood lightening.

"Colonel's do not beg," Jack said haughtily.

"Even at midnight?" Lou asked.

"Only at pizza joints that are just about to close."

"Does it work?" Lou asked curiously.

"Never."

"We could have continued on to the Stargate, you know," Lou said, steering the conversation onto a completely different tack.

"We could have," Jack said. "But we didn't."

"Your reason?" Ferretti asked, aware that there had to be one.

"The danger," Jack said. "We are but two people, and no matter how good we may think ourselves to be, we are still no match for a squadron of Jaffa." He stopped and turned, holding his torch high above the little Italian.

"I thought about it," he confessed. "I thought about it really seriously, but two things held me back."

"And they were?" Ferretti asked.

"The unknown." Jack said. "We have no idea as to how many Jaffa Khnum has at the gate, but if Baal is arriving via it, there could be a considerable amount."

He shrugged. "Or the rat bastard's arriving via ship, and if so, there are none." His eyes found Lou's, pinning him in place.

"We just can't take that risk."

"The other reason?" Lou asked.

"General Hammond," Jack said with a grin. "We are now..." he looked at his watch, "One day and...three hours late for supper."

"Reckon he'll be upset with us?" Ferretti asked.

"Furious," Jack said. "In fact, knowing him, he already has the marines lined up and ready to go, and no ickle bitty Jaffa convention is gonna stop him from coming to get us - hell no."

"Flash bangs first, you reckon?" Ferretti asked, referring to a grenade that flashed and let off a loud noise, both blinding and stunning its intended victim.

"Uh huh," Jack said. "Followed by everything he can beg borrow or steal." His smile dropped. "Don't forget we have a civilian here, one who's death would be a major embarrassment to him."

"I can't see that happening," Lou said soothingly.

"We still have dawn to contend with," Jack said gloomily. "Tell me that again at midday."

...

"Daniel, thanks."

Sam Carter had spent a lonely hour tucked up under the dome staring down the hill at the dark village of Kuj, and wondering if there were any villagers left alive there.

Tweedledee, also known as Copal, insisted that there were, and that it was their job to keep up the deception for as long as possible. She privately thought that Khnum already knew something was amiss, that he had a good idea where all the villagers were hiding out, and that he would attack as soon as he was good and ready.

Daniel's clatter as climbed the ladder, combined with the strange yet familiar smell of the villager's version of coffee was a welcome relief from her thoughts.

"Pleasure," he said. He stared down at the tiny houses with a pensive expression on his face.

"Anyone moving?" he asked.

"Not a thing", she replied.

"Did you see Jack and Ferretti?" he asked, making her give him a dirty look.

"Sorry," he said, not looking apologetic at all. "Had to ask, just in case he's losing his touch."

"I'm not," a cool voice said an inch from his left ear, sending him tumbling along the dusty gallery floor with a terrified squeak.

"Jack," he howled. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Jack said, snagging Carter's coffee and taking a deep swig.

"Here," he said to Carter. "Jewelry, just what a modern girl needs."

"Thanks sir," she said, taking her P90 gratefully. "I'll treasure this carefully."

"Don't bother," he said with a grin. "I expect it to have had a lot of use before the day's end."

"You reckon they're coming?" Daniel asked seriously, taking his own P90.

"I know they are," Jack said grimly. "Look."

...

Morning was definitely moving in, and with it came the first of the Jaffa, their first indication of the desperate battle that lay ahead.

"Oh crap," Maria Ferretti whispered, staring down at the village grimly.

Her vantage point was at the far point of the cathedral - at the base of the architectural cross if you will - and about as far from Carter's position as she could get yet still be able to set up a withering cross fire when necessary, assuming that her brother could get to the P90's in time.

And boy, did they need heavy firepower, but quick.

"This is gonna be fun," she muttered.

The bottom of the hill was filling with Jaffa. Hundreds of them. She couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like there was more than one kind massing, making her wonder if Baal had finally arrived and had added his army to that of Khnum's.

Feeling a lead ball settle in her stomach, she tried counting, only to stop when she reached one hundred and ten.

"I take that back," she muttered again. "This is not gonna be fun." She inspected her tiny zat gun sadly. "In fact, it's gonna be decidedly painful."

"Sis!"

Louis's voice had never been more welcome.

"You got something for me?" she rapped.

"Only the best blue steel for my sister," he grinned, and threw her a P90.

"Ever think that people might think we're a bloodthirsty family?" she asked, quickly checking it.

"Nobody's ever said anything to my face," Lou said, sliding back his own weapon. "They know I'd shoot them if they tried."

...

The amplified voice caught everyone by surprise, freezing them in place.

"People of Kuj," it said, the tone light and pleasant. "I know you are in there, as well as some...guests of mine I wish returned to me. Please believe me when I say that you will not be harmed. In fact, I will go so far as to say that if you return the Tau'ri to me, I will leave your quaint village, never to return."

"How does he know we're still alive?" Daniel asked, his face pale.

"He doesn't," Jack said grimly, heading for the ladder. "He's just fishing. Remember, he thinks we're all ashes. He's just confirming that fact."

"Tau'ri," the voice said again. "We are being reasonable. For the villagers sakes, please try to do the same."

"We are being reasonable?" Jack asked, skidding to a halt next to his brother. "Is that perhaps Khnum and his host, or Khnum and Baal?"

"You can see out," Joe said irritably. "You tell me."

"Khnum and Baal," Jack said. He looked around the main area of the church, seeing the frightened villagers with new eyes, taking in their terrified expressions.

"He thinks us dead," he yelled to them. "He is only trying to scare you into coming out to speak to him. Once he has one of you, he will hold that person hostage until you all surrender."

"Maybe it is you that should leave," an angry voice yelled back. "We were doing alright until you showed up."

"No you weren't, Nedd," Cogan said, leaping onto his pew. "The Goa'uld were already in our village long before our guests arrived. We tried to stone them to death, remember?"

"They just got to their feet again," Copal said. "They then stunned us with their weapons. Surely you remember that?" he asked.

Nedd obviously did, subsiding on his ruined pew with a mutter.

"And they had been going from village to village for centuries before that," Padre Peter said. "We are geographically isolated from the other villages, which worked to our advantage for a long time. Sadly I and my other knew that we could not be spared a visit from Lord Khnum forever."

He turned his back on the villagers and looked at Jack and Joe. "They are all frightened and uncertain, and do not know that Poul and I speak the truth," he said quietly. "May I appeal to you to keep out of sight for a while? Just until we can talk some sense into them."

"No problem," Jack said. "I must return upstairs anyway and..."

"I'll take the Gregory's into the crypt," Joe said, looking at the Wynn brothers enquiringly. "I believe you said there were more texts down there?"

Peter nodded. "Be our guests," he said hurriedly before turning back to the unhappy villagers.

The amplified voice boomed again, making some of the villagers scream aloud.

"People," the voice was a new one, smooth and persuasive. "We mean you no harm. All we want are the outsiders, the infidels who have blinded you to the compassion that is Goa'uld."

Joe stared at Jack noticing that he had turned a distressing shade of gray.

"Baal?" he asked, aware that it had to be.

"In person," Jack whispered.

"What the hell did he do to you to get this sort of reaction?" Joe snapped, not really expecting a reply.

In that, he was surprised.

Jack turned to the plainly curious Gregory twins, his lips a thin line. "Go on," he ordered. "Find us an alternate way out of here if you can." When they nodded, he pulled Joe back into the chancel and rounded on him furiously.

"You ask why Baal disturbs me so much?" he snapped. "Well here's why. It's because he isn't human."

"According to you, no Goa'uld is," Joe said, confused.

"He's also the most evil son of a bitch I have ever had the misfortune to come into contact with," Jack said.

"What did he do to deserve this amount of enmity?" Joe asked. He had never in his life seen Jack so upset. Never.

"He tortured me," Jack said, breaking eye contact and staring over his head at the altar. "He tortured me until I died." His eyes filled with tears. "He tortured me until I was so glad to die. And then he bought me back, and did it all over again, and again, and again, and again."

"He had a sarcophagus?" Joe asked. No wonder Jack hated Baal so much.

Jack's eyes found his, ferocious holes in an ivory face. "Yes. Eventually all I craved was the sweet oblivion of permanent death. I would have done anything to have that, and Baal knew it. He denied me even that."

"Dear God," Joe said, shocked.

Jack nodded. "I have never hated a sarcophagus so much before. "What he did was wrong." He hung his head. "I should be dead."

"Yes you should," Joe said, deliberately being harsh. "However, God has plans for you, I guess. Plans that need you amongst the living."

His words had the desired effect.

"Like?" Jack asked.

"Like saving the villagers and getting us home."

"That's a tall order." Jack said, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"You've handled worse things before," Joe said.

"Like?" Jack said, an eyebrow raised.

"Like the six ten kilo sacks of cow manure dad insisted we spread on the lawn in the rain."

"That wasn't rain," Jack said, outraged. "That was the edge of hurricane Helen."

"My point exactly, brother," Joe said smugly." After that this should be easy."

...

"What's he doing now?" Daniel asked, alternately trying to peer out to the village whilst not be seen, a tall order that only Jack seemed to be able to do well.

"I'm not too sure, Sam said from her own perch. She still marveled at the architecture of the place. It was as if the builders had imagined that sometime in the future there would be a need for something akin to a snipers platform. Staring upwards at the glass some, she revised her thinking. No, no one in his or her right mind would place a snipers platform right below something like that.

"This is an amazing place," she said aloud.

"In the olden days they used to use galleries like this to pour burning oil from," Daniel said. "I wonder how Jack knew about this."

"He's catholic," she said. "Maybe he went exploring one day."

"Um," Daniel said conceding the point. "Most cathedrals in history have similar architecture, despite being geographically estranged. I suppose it is possible."

"He probably bought a girl up here one day, just to show her the view," Sam said. "If all cathedrals are almost the same inside, then it's not surprising that he knew about the gallery."

"This cathedral's styled on early fifteenth century architecture," Daniel said. He lowered his P90 and started to wave his hands around, in full lecture mode. "Whoever built this sure knew what they were doing."

"In what way?" Sam asked, watching the Jaffa closely. So far, they hadn't moved, but it was only a matter of time before they did.

"We have a steep hill in front of us and a wide lake right behind us," Daniel said, his voice full of enthusiasm. "This indicates pure inquisition paranoia, when the priests didn't know friend from foe."

"So?" she prompted.

He lowered his P90 and gave her a look. "Torquemada and his henchmen?"

"Ah, she said cautiously.

"The Spanish inquisition," he said, enlightening her. "I think that's why the Wynn brother's are called Padre and not the usual Father."

"Interesting," she murmured. "I wonder how they managed to get here."

"So do I," Daniel said. "If I survive this, I'd like to come back and investigate that very fact. After all, I thought both of our gates went undiscovered for millennia."

"Bet you Torquemada was a Goa'uld," she grunted, sounding very unladylike behind her scope.

"Probably," Daniel agreed. "And talking of Goa'ulds, what the in the hell are they up to?" The distant Jaffa seemed to be milling around, looking like agitated ants.

"I have no idea," she said, grabbing hold of her recently reacquired radio, she spoke softly into it.

"Colonel, I suggest you get up here, something's happening."

...

"You're telling me something's happening," Ferretti muttered, having listened in on her conversation.

"It looks like a mini civil war," Maria said, a grin on her face.

Far in the distance, at the very edge of town, she could see that the two distinctly dressed squads of Jaffa were tussling with each other. It hadn't got to zat's and staff weapons stage yet, but it looked like just a matter of time before it did.

"Frightened, you reckon?" Lou asked Maria.

"No, you numbskull," she said absently, watching as a small man in a heavily brocaded coat, stormed across to a taller and more composed man. "I doubt that whatever this is has anything to do with us."

"Who cares," Ferretti said happily. "Just as long as they all don't all decide that we seem a better target."

...

"What is it? Jack asked, having rushed up the stairs so fast that he was wheezing slightly.

"They attacking?"

"Each other, yes," Carter said, detaching her scope and handing it to him.

"What the hell?" he murmured, and lifted it to his eye. Five minutes later, he was chuckling.

...

"Baal's bugging out."

Jack's tinny radio voice was rich with satisfaction.

"Any idea as to why?" Joe asked.

"Not yet," Jack's said. "I also suggest that no one have a party yet, because although Baal has better things to do, it doesn't look like Khnum does, and he really looks pissed off."

"That's an understatement, if ever I've heard one," Maria murmured from her side of the gallery. "I reckon he's more like livid than pissed off."

The Ferretti's watched as Khnum's ranks were thinned out by the retreating Jaffa belonging to Baal until there were only about fifty Jaffa left.

"That's looking better, Lou said brightly.

"Yeah, eight Tau'ri against fifty instead of eight verses... where are those Gregory twins anyway?"

"Dunno," Lou said. "Hang on while I check, we could do with some more firepower anyways."

He clicked the radio.

"Anybody seen the Gregory's?" he asked, "cos we could really do with some extra guns our side."

Joe immediately came back.

"Padre Poul says that they are following orders and investigating another tunnel."

Maria frowned. "Another tunnel?" she asked.

Lou also frowned. "I guess."

"Interesting," she drawled, and reached for her radio.

...

"Colonel?"

"Yes?" Jack said irritably into his mike. Khnum's Jaffa were on the move, and the time for radio chatter was long past.

"Lou says that the Gregory twins are investigating another tunnel. Can you confirm that?"

"I sent them into the crypts to find one," he said absently before the full import of her words sunk in.

"Yoy. You mean they actually found one?" he asked, his eyes finding those of his team before snapping the radio back on. "Neville or Oliver, this is SG1 niner, come in?"

There was no reply.

"Answer me dammit," he snapped.

Still no reply.

"The Naquadah in the soil blocks out radio signals to a degree," Carter said. "They probably can't hear you."

Jack gave her a glare. "Joe, can you confirm another tunnel?"

Joe was breathing hard. "I can confirm that there has indeed been another tunnel been discovered. Padre's Wynn and the twins are investigating as to where it goes as I speak."

"Make it quick," Jack said, watching as a small figure, obviously Khnum stared up at the cathedral, hands on hips. "We can hold our own for a while but," he grimaced as a group of Jaffa carrying bows passed a lit torch around, "not for long." He watched intently as the bowmen continued their march up the hill, the tips of their arrows now smoking flame.

"I thought that they would do that," Daniel said happily nodding to the buckets of water dotted all over the place. "We're prepared for something like this."

"I'm glad you're so happy," Jack murmured, making Carter grin.

Daniel leaned backwards and yelled down into the chancel. "Everyone take cover, and volunteers?" Get up here."

Two young villagers immediately scrambled up onto the gallery and crouched next to their buckets.

"Thunk." The sound of an arrow hitting wood was shockingly loud, making them all jump. It was followed by a storm of others, turning the front of the cathedral smoky with flame.

"Open fire," Jack snapped, ignoring the points of flame dotted around him. Daniel's volunteers were trained for just an eventuality and would extinguish the flames - he hoped. Lying prone, he carefully peered out and found his first target.

"Watch our rear," he snapped into his radio, watching in approval as Daniel immediately scrabbled down the ladder, ran across the chancel, and climbed to the gallery facing the lake. "Nobody there," he radioed back.

"Good," Jack said, staring out at the Jaffa. "I know that you would rather be facing this side, Danny, but many a battle has been lost because everyone was so busy watching the front door that they forgot they had a rear one too."

"That's okay," Daniel radioed back, stunned at the sheer volume of the noise that Jack and Sam were making with their P90's. Even from the opposite gallery, it was deafening, and he realized that the dome above their heads was magnifying the noise to a painful degree.

He ducked as a flaming arrow traversed the width between Jack and himself and impacted the wall next to his head. "As it is, I'm busy enjoying watching the Jaffa reenact medieval warfare," he said dryly.

"Don't get too comfy," Jack warned. "We can't hold them off forever, we don't have the ammunition, and any minute now these archers are gonna withdraw and allow the rest of their buddies to have a go."

He cast a look up at the glass above their heads. "Then it's gonna get interesting."

"We're surely in no danger up here," Carter exclaimed, also looking up. "I mean, staff weapon fire has a limited range."

"We're in no danger," Jack he confirmed. "Everybody on the lower level, on the other hand, are sitting ducks, and don't forget, a staff weapon blast tends to burn, and this joint is made out of wood." He rolled abruptly to one side and a flaming arrow flew through the spot he had just been.

"These guys are getting good," he said. He spared a second to see one of Daniel's young village volunteers immediately dive across to the new fire, his bucket at the ready.

For a second the faces of the dead villagers he had seen flitted across his mind before he shook the vision off. In the midst of a battle was not the time and place to examine his feelings.

"Carter," he yelled, noticing more Jaffa joining the archers. "Watch yourself and fire at will."

He grimly started to pick off the Jaffa with well-placed shots, stopping them from working their way around the cathedral and perhaps forcing their way in. He was aware that Carter was hard at work at his side, adding her own firepower to his own. She wasn't as good a shot as he was, but she was doing okay, as were the Ferretti's in the distant gallery. His only fear now was their rapidly dwindling supply of ammunition. They hadn't expected to find themselves up against Jaffa when planning for this mission, and consequently were ill prepared to find them selves in a protracted battle. Oh sure, he always took as much ammunition as he could, just to appease his paranoid nature, but in this situation it was not enough.

Nowhere near enough.

Suddenly Carter screamed and spun away, clutching her shoulder.

"Dammit," he yelled, noticing the arrow sticking out of her back.

"Daniel," he radioed, but Daniel was already en route, having heard her cry out.

"I have her," he called minutes later, allowing Jack to concentrate once again on the task of keeping the Jaffa as far away from the cathedral as possible.

He, Carter, and the Ferretti's were a good job. No less then twenty Jaffa lay in crumpled heaps on the green grass, the small shrub offering no shelter at all against the power of their P90's. Unfortunately, that was twenty Jaffa out of an army of at least fifty.

"Danny, get her out of here," he yelled.

"What about you?" Daniel yelled back.

Jack was firing continuously now, the sound of his P90 like thunder, and had no time to spare for Daniel.

"Just go," he yelled, blindly reaching for Carter's remaining ammunition. "And take your volunteers with you."

...

For Daniel it was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. Well, one of them, at any rate.

Clutching a semi conscious Sam to him, he waved the volunteers down towards the ground. Once they had gone, he backed away from Jack, trying not to think that he would never see his friend alive again.

Reaching the chancel and heading for the altar, he felt like he had just deserted his best friend.

Trembling badly, he laid Sam on their discarded table from earlier, knocking coffee cups to the floor. He was pleased to see that she wasn't as badly hurt as he had initially feared. She was semi-conscious yes, but he thought that was due to shock and pain, after all, the arrow had still been alight when it had impacted her shoulder.

"Daniel."

Someone shook his shoulder, making him jump. It was Joe.

"Don't do that," Daniel snapped.

"I have been calling you for ages," Joe snapped back, looking furious.

"Why didn't anyone answer? What's the point of having radios when no one bothers to answer?"

"Have you any idea how loud it is up there?" Daniel answered, jerking a finger upwards.

"That's no excuse," Joe yelled. "Not when we...."

"Sam!" he exclaimed, finally noticing that she was hurt. "What happened?" he asked, yelling into the nave for help before Daniel could reply.

"An arrow," Daniel said bitterly, gratefully stepping aside as two homely women whipped the altar curtain back and came running. "That's what happened."

"Is Jack okay?" Joe asked, looking pale.

"At the moment, yes," Daniel said, suddenly aware that Jack was all alone. "I must go back."

Joe's face suddenly broke into a relieved smile. "Tell him that reinforcements are on their way."

"What?" Daniel looked at Joe like he had just gone insane. "What did you say?"

"SG 2 and 3, 5 and 8," Joe said excitedly. "They came through the gate a half hour ago, but the radio signal wouldn't stretch that far."

"They were out of range," Daniel corrected him, his brain whirring. "Did they say how long they would take to get here?"

"An hour," Joe said. "They had to fight their way past some of Baal's Jaffa first."

"No wonder they were bugging out," Daniel said, the Jaffa's mysterious behavior from earlier finally making sense.

His face fell. "I don't think that we have an hour, Joe."

"Half an hour?" Joe asked.

"How are you gonna manage that?" Daniel asked. He really should get on his radio and call direct. If SG 5 was around, it most probably meant that Colonel Van Ryn was in charge. The fact was, he couldn't be bothered. All he wanted to do was rejoin Jack, just in case.

"The other tunnel we've found?"

"What about it? Where does it go?" Daniel asked. Trying to get information out of Joe seemed especially difficult lately, or maybe it was his desire to get back to watching Jack's back that was making him so edgy.

"From the cathedrals own crypt to one on the far side of town. Young Oliver figured it out and it is he that..."

"That's wonderful Joe," Daniel interrupted. "Clear the villagers out and..."

"We're already doing so," Joe said. "Soon the only people left in the cathedral will be you, Jack, Maria and Louis."

"Great," Daniel said. "Now, if you don't mind, I gotta..."

"Go," Joe smiled. "I'll send through the other SG's as soon as I can."

For Daniel, it was as if everything had changed, although in reality nothing had. Jack was still in his position overlooking the hill, blasting away at anything and everything that moved. Far in the distance, sounding between Jacks own blasts, he could hear other sharp cracks also, and knew that the Ferretti's were still on the job as well.

Jack looked as emotionless as a robot, his hands steady and his face set. The only movement was the recoil juddering his body as he sent bullet after bullet raining down on the Jaffa.

A burning arrow still occasionally whizzed over his head, but now he had another problem to contend with - Staff weapon fire.

"I thought you said they couldn't reach this far," Daniel yelled, making Jack - who thought he was still alone - jump.

"They have one of those cannon thingeys," he snarled. "I'm trying to get it but... dammit."

He ducked as a chunk of wood next to his head disappeared into splinters.

"They're getting rather accurate," he said, rather unnecessarily.

"No shit," Daniel muttered.

"How's Carter doing?" Jack asked.

"We've found another tunnel, leading to the graveyard," Daniel yelled. "Everyone's retreating there, and she has gone with them."

"But how's she doing?" he asked, seeming not to comprehend the information he was getting. On the other hand, maybe he was, but for him, Sam was a higher priority.

"Shot through the shoulder," he said. "Apart from that, she's okay."

"Good," Jack yelled. "How's our rear looking?"

"It's clear," Daniel said, wincing as a second well aimed shot from below blew another hole into the wood next to Jack's head, peppering him with another shower of splinters.

"SG's 2, 3, 5 and 8 are here," he said, seeing Jack freeze for a moment before resume firing.

"Ferretti will be pleased," he said. The fiery Italian usually led SG2. "How long before they... Watch out!"

He rolled violently to his left as the entire loft seemed to lift slightly before settling with a muffled crump.

Daniel, forewarned, had managed to tuck himself into a ball, and had consequently escaped injury.

"What in the hell was that?" he asked, gingerly unfolding himself.

"A Goa'uld concussion grenade, I think," Jack coughed through the dust, his voice faint.

Daniel's heart sank. "You okay?" he asked.

"Just.... Just winded," he panted. "Give me a moment."

Daniel crawled over to him, feeling sick. They couldn't spare a minute, something Jack knew.

"You okay?" he asked again.

Jack was pale, and rubbed at a bloody forehead with a dirty hand.

"That was a bit too close for comfort," he muttered.

That said, he once more crawled to their lookout and lifted his P90.

"Complacent bastards," he yelled. "You are gonna have to do better than that."

Stunned at the ferocity of what had just happened, Daniel just blinked, marveling at his tenacity. He himself felt like he could sleep for a week, but knowing that he couldn't, he did own job, once more wearily climbing down into the chancel, trudging to the other side of the cathedral and checking the sparkling lake at their rear for any unusual activity. Thankfully, there was none.

...

After repeated attempts to contact them, Joe conceded defeat and went to physically tell the Ferretti's what was happening. Like Jack and Daniel, they too were deafened to a degree by their own weaponry, and had to be almost dragged away from their lookout in order for him to tell them what was going on. Once he had, however, they returned to do battle in a far better frame of mind.

That done, he rejoined the Gregory's in the crypt, who were ushering the last of the villagers through the tunnel and towards safety.

"How's it going Neville?" he asked.

The nineteen year old twin seemed to have matured over the past couple of hours, perhaps due to the fact that he and his brother were solely responsible for discovering the tunnel, and were now investigating as to where it went.

Neville gave Joe a feral smile.

"It's going well Father, thanks," he said. "Despite all the bullies and their objections."

He and his brother were now in sole charge of moving the villagers through into the graveyard, most of them objecting vociferously to the idea of being moved to somewhere unknown from a place where they believed they were perfectly safe.

The verbally abused twins had finally decided on a zero-tolerance-for-shit-strategy, the term coined by themselves. This harsh attitude seemed to be finally working.

"You sure?" Joe pressed. "Doubly sure?"

Joe knew first hand that standing up to a bullying braggart was one way of finding backbone fast. He and Jack had to do just that on countless occasions when their father had gotten drunk.

"It's going fine Father - really," Neville said, his eyes sparkling in the light from the crypt. "All the villagers are now that side. The last to go through were the Padre's escorting Major Carter, which just leaves you, me, and the other's this side." He jumped as the ground shook under an intense barrage on something above their heads.

"Begging your pardon Father, but the Colonel better be coming through soon."

"The Colonel won't be coming through," Joe said, knowing that he spoke the truth. "Can we get those SG teams in here instead?"

"Via this tunnel?" Neville asked, surprised. " I don't know. I think that they are still about ten minutes away." He hesitated, obviously still listening to the concussive booms that occasionally shook the cathedral. "Can the Colonel hold out for another ten minutes?"

"I doubt it," Joe said, feeling sick.

"Then we need to protect the villagers," Neville said firmly.

"How?" Joe asked.

"We need to get through to the graveyard and seal this tunnel off," Neville said, looking more like a hard bitten soldier by the second. "We cannot risk the Jaffa finding it and consequently finding us and the villagers before the SG teams do."

Joe shivered. The crypt, being belowground was cold and wet, and he had left his jacket in the chancel.

Neville was still speaking.

"Oliver is on his way to meet Colonel Van Ryn and the rest of the SG teams as we speak. He'll lead them to the hill. The Jaffa are concentrating on the cathedral, and consequently an attack from their rear will come as a complete surprise."

Joe nodded slowly. Neville's suggestion of blowing the tunnel made sense. Terrible sense, true, but good sense nonetheless.

"May I blow the tunnel?" Neville asked, his eyes steady.

"How?" Joe asked. He knew his brother. If Jack had had things that went boom in his backpack, he would have used them already.

"There are ways," Neville said. "Scientific ways."

"Can you do it without having your grenades and whatnots?" Joe asked.

"I can," Neville said. "It won't be easy, but it's feasible."

"Then do it," Joe said.

"Okay." Neville said, frowning mightily.

" We need bleach, or something similar, rust, which we have plenty of, and... well, copper.

"We have bleach in the kitchen," Joe said. "Rust we have all around us and... copper?" He stared at Neville closely. "Where in the blue blazes are we going to find that?"

"We need a good conductor of heat," Neville said grimly. "Think of something whilst I get the bleach."

Joe watched him hare off, his brain whirring, and then clicked his fingers in irritation. He could be so dense sometimes. Besides, he needed his jacket. Five minutes later he was back, his large copper crucifix in his hand.

"Neville?" The youngster still hadn't returned. Setting the crucifix down, he stared at it sadly. It had been a present at his first parish and came with a lot of good memories. He would hate to lose it, especially in order to make a bomb, but if the loss of it could somehow save over two hundred souls, then he would consider it worth it.

Ten minutes later Neville returned, empty handed.

"Didn't you find it?" Joe asked, concerned.

Neville nodded. "Yeah, something called a heavy salt mixture. Yeah, I got it, and am currently boiling it up."

"For heavens sake why?" Joe asked.

"Crystals," Neville said shortly. "Gotta have crystals." He grabbed Joe's crucifix and started to head for the door again. "Copper's a good idea, Father, but you sure you want to lose this?"

"You make a big bang, and I'll consider it worth it," he said.

Ten minutes and a lot of praying later Neville was back, carefully carrying what looked like blocks of delicate white powder on a tray. "Father," he said softly, eyes not leaving the tray for a moment. "What I want you to do now is scrape as much rust as you are able into this mix. Be careful that you do not move the crystals any, just add rust, okay?"

Heart in mouth, Joe obeyed.

The crypt, being so damp, had corroded anything metal, turning everything from exposed pipes to what looked suspiciously like coffin handles into a brown flaky powder. It took Joe only moments to have a quite respectable pyramid resting on top of Neville's crystals. Looking closely, he could see that the base of their science experiment consisted of the twisted remains of his copper crucifix and he swallowed hard.

"Now what?" he asked.

"We go through the tunnel to the graveyard," Neville said.

"How are you going to make the tunnel explode?" Joe asked.

"I still have Major Ferretti's lighter," Neville said. "His Zippo, remember?"

Joe nodded. "I had forgotten about that," he said.

"So had Major Ferretti," Neville said with a chuckle. "I think he's actually given up smoking by now." He shook himself. "Anyway, what I intend doing is lighting the Zippo and leaving it on the tray, it's flame licking the crucifix. My theory is this: The open flame will heat up the copper. This will melt the crystals. This in turn will allow the much heavier iron oxide, or rust to sink into the mixture, diluting it. That mixture will widen as the bleach crystals all melt, finally reaching the zippo flame and... BOOM!" He clapped his hands together, making Joe jump.

"Will it work?" Joe asked.

"Hope so," Neville said, carefully placing the tray just inside the tunnel. "Cos if it doesn't, we're screwed."

...

"SG 5 niner to SG1." The voice was flat and rushed, as if the owner was running.

"SG1 - this is Oliver here," Oliver said, making his careful way into the town. So far, he hadn't seen a soul, and figured that they were all concentrating on the cathedral he could see burning brightly up on the hill. For a second he thought about O'Neill, one of the best commanders he had ever seen, and wondered if he was still okay.

"Where are you Oliver?" Van Ryn snapped.

Oliver looked around for a good landmark, finding one.

"There a town hall sir," he said. "I'm waiting just to it's left."

Five minutes later Colonel Zechariah Van Ryn was striding towards him, his P90 held loosely in one hand.

"Let's go," he snapped, dispensing with the preliminaries.

"Yes sir," Oliver said, turning on his heel. Only to stop dead with an oath.

"What is it Oliver?" Van Ryn asked, melting to the ground, his eyes watchful.

"Ash sir," Oliver said with a smile, kicking at the ground happily. "Barn ash."

...

"This is getting hairy," Maria exclaimed, ducking as yet another fire bolt from a staff weapon almost permed her hair. "I have naturally curly locks," she yelled down at the Jaffa. "I definitely don't need your help." With that, she opened up on full automatic, something they had been trying not to do up until now.

"Maria?" Lou yelled, staring at his twin in confusion.

"They're sliding on Daniel's fat," she said with a smile. "I couldn't resist." Her smile dropped. "Besides, I'm so low on ammo this is really an exercise in futility. Any minute now I'll be out." He P90 stuttered to a halt. "Like now," she said into the silence.

"Where's the staff weapon?" he yelled, cursing as his own weapon fell silent.

"There," Maria said miserably, pointing further down the gallery, to a section that was being rapidly consumed by flames. "I put it there, out of danger."

"Oh great," Lou snapped. "That was a brilliant idea, wasn't it?"

"Like you would have had second sight and placed it close to hand, right?" She glared at him.

"Say yes and die."

Lou Ferretti knew when to retreat honorably. That was why he was still alive.

"Time to go sis," he said sweetly, and crawled to the ladder.

"Right behind you Bro," she said equally as sweetly.

"I wonder how Colonel O'Neill and Jackson are doing?" she mused as they dropped back into the nave.

"Hopefully better than we are," Ferretti said morosely, staring upwards at the now brightly burning gallery.

...

Colonel O'Neill and Jackson weren't doing so well at all.

"Jaffa at the rear," Daniel radioed from the opposite side of the chancel, opening up with his own P90. "Jaffa at the rear." He sprayed the Jaffa, watching as they spun from their boat and it began to sink. He listened in vain for the sound of Ferretti's P90 helping him out, but there was nothing, which worried him greatly.

"Jack," he called, before thinking again. His friend was up to his eyeballs in Jaffa, and worrying him about the loss of Ferretti would only distract him further.

"Aargh."

Jack's yelp of pain and the clatter of his P90 spinning across the floor was more than enough warning for Daniel to know that something really bad had happened.

"Jack?" he radioed.

To his consternation, he received no reply.

"Jack?" Daniel almost fell into the chancel in his haste to get back to Jack's side.

The smell hit him first, even at the base of the ladder. The smell of seared skin. The smell of a staff weapon blast.

"Jack, dammit, no."

Climbing and crawling forwards as fast as he was able, he finally saw what had happened. Somehow, a lucky shot had gotten Jack's arm, searing it from shoulder to elbow. He was conscious, but only just.

"Jack, can you move?" he asked. His heart clenched when all Jack could do was mumble unintelligently.

"Please Jack." He tugged at one boot.

The cathedral was being repeatedly bombarded with cannon fire now no one was retaliating, and Daniel knew that it was only a matter of time before the entire gallery was blown to bits, with them along with it.

Staring at Jack, Daniel thought fast.

"Hold on," he yelled.

Getting a better grip on Jacks foot, he gave an almighty tug, sighing in relief as he managed to pull Jack back a few inches.

"Okay," he said aloud. "This is feasible."

Gritting his teeth against the strain, Daniel slowly dragged Jack towards the ladder, not slacking off until he was almost there. Once he was, Daniel had another dilemma, like how to get down into the chancel without hurting him.

"Ah, screw it," he eventually muttered. It wasn't as if any of them were going to survive anyway.

"Sorry Jack," he muttered, and simply rolled his friend over the edge.

The thump as Jack's body hit the chancel floor made Daniel wince, but he didn't stop. Shimmying down himself, he merely scooped Jack up into a firelift and started running towards the kitchen. He had recently been there, and knew that out of all of the rooms in the cathedral it was most probably the safest, with the added advantage of having knives and things like that with which they could arm themselves.

"We'll make a good last stand there," he called out to Jack.

"General Custer," he yelled when Jack didn't answer. "That's us."

"Let's reverse history then," Ferretti said, seemingly popping straight out of the woodwork.

"Do you mind?" Daniel screamed, promptly sitting on his butt.

"Not at all," Ferretti said calmly, helping him stagger to his feet again, and led them into the large kitchen.

"What happened to the Colonel?" Maria asked, her expression horrified.

"What do you think?" Daniel snarled. "This guy is a pain magnet."

"Well, at least he's still alive," she said, when, despite his feigned anger, Daniel laid him down as gently as a baby.

"For now," Ferretti said, looking over his sister's shoulder. He winced at the staff weapon burn. "He survives this and he's gonna be one pissed off Colonel, that's for sure," he muttered.

"Survive this?" Daniel said incredulously. "How are we going to do that? The last time I checked we we're surrounded by Jaffa with the whole place on fire." He shook his head. "Talk about optimism. You're worse than Jack."

"We rub off each other," Ferretti said with a grin, and snagged Daniel's neglected P90. "What you got left?"

"Half a clip," Daniel said. "Not nearly enough to halt the barbarians.

"To halt the barbarians?" Lou said. "Not bad. I must remember that one."

"We'll share it in the afterlife," Daniel said sourly.

"Geez," Ferretti grunted. "Talk about pessimism."

"Do you know something I don't?" Daniel asked, a faint glimmer of hope suffusing his face. There was something about Lou that just didn't jell. He was too cheerful for a start.

"Yep," Lou said. "The marines are on their way." He gave Daniel a sardonic look. "Don't I just hate to say that."

He studiously ignored the filthy look that his sister, the marine, was giving him.

"Where?" Daniel asked.

"They're in town."

"Great," Daniel said. "Can they make it here before the Jaffa blow out the front door?"

"Doubt it," Ferretti said cheerfully. "Ain't it fun?"

"I don't think this snake ever intends blowing in the front door," Jack said, his voice sounding hollow. Grimacing against the pain, he slowly sat up, staring at his blistering arm sadly.

"Crap," he said, flexing his fingers. "Double crap."

"Agreed," Ferretti said, squatting next to him. "Not to detract from your singed wing, but you were saying?"

"Khnum wants us to burn," Jack said, his mouth twisted. "If he wanted us alive he would have been here already."

"Nice fella," Ferretti said.

"Tell me about it," Jack mumbled groggily.

"I would," Ferretti said with just a hint of a smile on his face, "but I think you would shoot me."

"Talking of ammo," Jack said. "What do..."

"Half a clip," Ferretti said, shaking the P90. "Daniels. No staff weapon no more."

"Crap," Jack said again, he sat upright with a groan, immediately snapping his eyes shut, as if dizzy.

"Damn Jaffa," he said ruefully, rubbing at his temple with his good hand. "They had to make my headache worse." He looked up and smiled at Daniel's concerned face. "I'll be fine Danny, don't worry."

Daniel wasn't convinced.

Suddenly Ferretti's radio crackled, making them all jump.

"Sierra golf five niner to sierra golf one niner. "You still alive? I need a head count."

Jack fished into his pocket and fished the remains of his own radio out. "How in the hell did that happen?" he murmured, before dropping the pieces on the floor.

"Whoops," Daniel said quietly, causing Maria to give him a quick look. Jack's radio had most probably been broken when he had dropped him from the ladder, not that he was ever going to own up to that happening.

"Here," Ferretti said, holding his own out to Jack.

"Zack? Jack," Jack said, holding onto the radio with his good hand. "Bury me well."

"That bad huh?" Zack said, sounding amused.

"That bad," Jack yelled as another crash could be heard. The roar of flames could be heard now as the fire obviously consumed the upper part of the cathedral. A light breeze had started up in the kitchen as well as oxygen was pulled upwards to feed the fire.

"That bad," Jack confirmed. "We are still alive, however. Daniel, Maria, Major Ferretti and obviously myself are all huddled in the kitchen, all of us just waiting for Armageddon to start."

"It's here already," Van Ryn snapped.

"Darn," Jack said, sounding amused. "We're missing it."

"I doubt that," Van Ryn said dryly. His voice changed. "Where 's the kitchen?" he asked.

"It's at the back of the cathedral." Jack yelled back. The fire was taking hold now, and the cracking of flames was loud in the kitchen.

"We're coming through a tunnel," Van Ryn said. "Oliver says that it's the original tunnel, if that makes sense."

"It does," Jack confirmed. "But I suggest you go back. That tunnel ends in the chancel - the cross section, and if I'm wrong, and the Goa'uld does intend on assaulting this place, you could be knee deep in a hell of a lot of Jaffa real quick."

"If it isn't already on fire," Daniel said quietly.

"Good," Van Ryn said, sounding pleased. "SG2 have been agitating for some action for a while now." He hesitated. "Can you get to me?"

"We can try," Jack said, levering himself to his feet. He refrained to tell van Ryn about their lack of ammunition. There was nothing that he could have done about their situation anyway.

He also refrained on telling Van Ryn that he was hurt, Daniel noticed, gritting his teeth in annoyance. Zack Van Ryn was a medical doctor as well as leading SG5, and should have been forewarned that Jack was a walking burn case. He also wasn't too sure that Jack was as recovered from his head injury as he made out either.

Of course, dropping him from the gallery hadn't helped either," he thought guiltily.

"I'm fine Danny," Jack said, feeling Daniels eyes on him. "Really."

Daniel wasn't convinced.

"Jack," he said, broaching the subject even as his friend flattened himself against the wall next to the open door, a long kitchen knife held up against his thigh.

"Not now Daniel," Jack said, raking Daniel with a flash of brown eyes, fear of the unknown turning them almost black. "Please."

"Okay," Daniel sighed, taking his own knife from the rack and flattening himself next to his friend.

"On three," Jack hissed.

"One..."

Daniel hard a loud bang above their heads and the ornate kitchen light crashed to the floor.

"Two..."

Thick black smoke began to pour in through the hole where the light had been, making them all cough.

"Three."

Calmly crossing himself, Lou Ferretti dived out the door, his sister right behind him.

Jack let them go, knowing Lou was the only one of them still armed. Then - making sure Daniel was close behind - he dived out after them.

Thick acrid smoke immediately engulfed him, making seeing impossible.

"Christ on water," Lou Ferretti moaned from somewhere ahead.

"He got any to spare?" Maria coughed.

"Water? No."

"Pity."

Despite their predicament, Jack had to smile. Maria was just like her brother, and he vowed to get her into an SG unit as soon as possible.

That was assuming that anyone survived this, which he doubted.

Eyes closed, hand outstretched, he blindly made his way forwards, feeling for the altar's velvet curtains. If he could find them, then the massive organ had to be nearby, right?

The problem was, he couldn't find anything at all.

Nothing. Nothing but the boiling smoke burning his skin and stealing his breath.

"Crap." The word was said soundlessly, for his owner no longer had any oxygen left with which to make a sound.

Dazed and disorientated, he fell to his knees, damning his stubbornness. He should have told Daniel how dizzy he actually felt.

Now it was too late.

Retching miserably, he began to crawl, watching in fascination as fireflies flew all around him.

...

Daniel knew that he was in a living nightmare. Thick dark smoke pressed against his skin, the searing heat of it causing his skin to crinkle and making him worry that his clothes might actually catch fire, before common sense took over. He would die before his clothes ever ignited.

Holding onto that lovely thought, he slowly staggered deeper into the chancel; blessing the course in medieval architecture he had been forced to suffer in order to get his degree. Slitting his eyes, breathing desperately shallowly, he peered into the darkness. The altar was... there. Only, the curtain was gone and the pews were... Oh God, Dante's inferno bought to life.

Breathing a prayer long thought forgotten, Daniel Jackson stumbled towards the organ, suddenly aware that the secret passage was open. Colonel Van Ryn had arrived.

...

Colonel Doctor Zechariah Van Ryn was not having a good day.

It all started very early in the morning on Earth when his car refused to start, necessitating him calling for a driver and making him late for his meeting at Academy General Hospital.

He hated being late.

When he finally arrived, it was only to be told that the meeting was cancelled and that he was urgently needed at the SGC.

Gritting his teeth, he had called for another driver, and eventually made it into the mountain, only to find out that not only was Jack and most of SG1 missing, but also the leader of SG3, as well as a marine and civilian.

A total clusterfuck. One made worse when he found out who the civilian was.

Joe.

Zack was a Protestant, not a Catholic, but had a deep appreciation for Joe O'Neill. As witty as his brother, who Zack knew well, he had come to like Joe a lot, and the thought that he may be lying hurt, or worse, dead, on another planet filled him with fury.

Besides, who else on the base was a Minnesota Vikings fan?

Jack wasn't into football, despite being a fellow Minnesotan. Joe on the other hand, was a rabid fan - just like Zack.

Muttering to himself almost dementedly, Zack had grabbed whatever SG unit he could find, and raced to P38 9H7.

Now, crouched in a musty wet tunnel connected to a burning cathedral, he was so glad he had.

...

"Major," he barked at his second, aware that the man was almost out into the church. "Stay where you are."

He modulated his voice when Major Kyle looked at him enquiringly.

"They may need all of our skills, and despite your good intentions, you are a medical doctor, first and foremost."

Major Kyle nodded reluctantly. He was a tall African American, quick to anger, in stark contrast to Van Ryn's placid Nordic good looks, but they worked well together.

"They're out there, sir," he said. "I can hear them."

"Or the Jaffa are," Van Ryn said calmly. "Let SG2 go and get them Kyle."

"Yessir," Kyle muttered miserably, and pressed himself hard against the tunnel wall, allowing the heavily armed marines of SG2 by.

...

"Lou!"

Maria had no breath to waste, nevertheless, she shouted, seeing the heavy beam falling towards her brother in almost slow motion.

Despite the roar of the flames, he heard her, and desperately scrabbled out of its path, avoiding a certain death by mere inches. He nodded his thanks at her, and with a jolt of surprise, she realized that she could see him, the thick smoke seeming to dissipate in front of her eyes. Oxygen seemed more plentiful as well, making her suck in a grateful breath.

Then, with a cracking plinking sound she understood why.

The massive dome above their heads was collapsing.

Weakened by the heat and bombarded by the Jaffa, it was amazing that it had stayed intact as long as it had, but now, with the flames licking at its supports, it could no longer maintain its integrity, and was starting to disintegrate.

"Run sis," Ferretti screamed, pushing her towards the open tunnel. She was pleased to see Daniel nearby, filthy looking but alive, and then missed a step.

"Shit Lou. Where's the Colonel?"

A solid man seemed to burst from the tunnel, his features hidden behind goggles.

"Leave him to us maam," he yelled. "And by the way, Semper fi."

"Semper Fidelis to you too Marine," she yelled back, and gave her brother a grin.

...

Gasping and gagging, Daniel was literally yanked inside the tunnel and passed along from body to body until he was far from the heat and the flames. Eventually he was sat down on the wet floor and a full canteen of water was thrust at him.

"Welcome, Doctor Jackson," a familiar voice said, and Major Kyle squatted next to him, opening a most impressive first aid box.

...

Strength gone, Jack lay on his back and watched as the fireflies fell and tinkled all around him. Occasionally one bit him, and just for a second, his hurt brain made all the right connections. They weren't fireflies at all. They were in fact, tiny pieces of stained glass, detaching themselves from the dome above his head and falling to earth. It was dangerous to lie motionless like he was. Sooner or later, the entire dome would implode, and he would die.

The problem was, he had no energy left.

None.

Shutting his eyes, he allowed a tear of frustration to escape, and wondered if dying on consecrated land absolved you from all your sins.

Probably not.

...

"One left sir," Sergeant Tallon of SG2 yelled, dragging Major Ferretti and his sister into the tunnel.

"And that is?" Colonel Van Ryn asked, even though his eyes had already told him who it was.

"O'Neill," Tallon snapped. "Captain Cochrane is looking for him now sir."

"You have five minutes," Van Ryn snapped, staring over the sergeants shoulder at the eerie sight of glass tinkling and smashing as it seemingly fell from heaven itself. Or hell.

The smoke had all gone, whipped away as if it had never been, leaving behind a white smoky haze. Bizarrely, sunbeams streaked through the powdery haze, lighting up the falling glass and giving the whole area a kind of festive air.

Van Ryn wasn't fooled, however. He knew that the cathedral still blazed around them, the fire still as bigger a threat as ever. In fact, the minute the dome fell, the fire would have all the oxygen it needed, and anyone still left alive in the cathedral when that happened would die instantly.

"He needs less," Tallon said, tapping his radio.

"He has him?" Van Ryn asked, relieved.

"He's bringing him in now."

...

Jaffa. There was a Jaffa standing over him. Dressed in khaki with bulging eyes he...

No. Not a Jaffa a...

"Let's go sir."

Jack gave a moan of pain as Cochrane grabbed him by his arms and started to drag him towards the tunnel.

The lieutenant was oblivious of his distress, and even if he had been, he wouldn't have done anything differently. O'Neill needed urgent medical attention, and right now.

Casting a wary eye at the heavens, the goggle eyed Captain dragged his burden back into safety.

...

"Sam?"

Samantha Carter stared up groggily into orange darkness, wondering where in the hell she was.

"Hey, Sam. How are you doing?"

A familiar face stared down at her, shadowed in the flickering flames.

She licked her lips. "Colonel?"

There was a flash of white teeth.

"No, Joe."

"Oh." She struggled to sit up, only to stop with a cry of pain.

He was at her side instantly, supporting her, helping her up.

"Slowly girl."

Anybody else and she would have taken offense, but not with Joe.

"I know this sounds trite, but what happened?" she asked, staring around at what seemed like a large cave filled with people. Someone had started a fire, the flames licking at the ceiling but not smoking them out, which meant adequate ventilation which meant that this couldn't be a cave...

"You were shot with an arrow," he said, regaining her attention.

"I kinda figured that one out for myself," she said wryly. "What I want to know is how I got from there to here, and" - her heart clenched - "what happened to Daniel and the Colonel?"

He shook his head, looking worried.

"I don't know," he said. "The last I heard they were still defending the cathedral."

"Where are we now?" she asked.

"This is the crypt of San Pedro," he said with a small smile, and settled in next to her, hugging her close. "Neville found another tunnel, and we, the padre's and all the villagers are now here."

She stiffened, pushing him away slightly. "How safe are we?"

His chuckle was warm against her ear. "Very. Neville blew the tunnel up after us."

"How?" she asked, snuggling back into his arms.

"Some chewing gum and wax I think," he said, sounding amused. "Whatever it was, it was really spectacular."

"Can you contact anyone?" she murmured. She should really be taking charge, but was feeling safe and warm in his arms...

"Neville has, from the crypt entrance. Zack's here." He said.

"Good," she murmured.

"He ordered us all to stay put. If the Jaffa discover where we are they'll massacre the lot of us."

"Not quite," she said drowsily. "I have a zat in my vest pocket. The cathedral zat. Fire once and you stun. Fire twice and you kill." She made a reach for it, only to hiss in pain.

"Hey," he said, his voice low. "You're a patient, remember?"

"I should be moving," she said guiltily. "I should be doing something."

"You're dong nothing Sam" he said. "You lost a lot of blood from that shoulder wound. Besides, Zack told us to do nothing. In fact, he made it an order, and seeing as he outranks you..." He allowed his voice to trail off, sounding smug.

"So we do nothing but hide out here," she said bitterly, "whilst not that far from us, your brother fights the fight of his life?"

"Yes indeed," he said in a queer voice, and she knew that she had struck a nerve.

"Sorry Joe," she murmured.

"Once more it boils down to four people versus the safety of over two hundred," he said.

He laughed bitterly, a harsh laugh, devoid of warmth. "Somehow, I think you know what my brother would say."

...

The transition from being asleep and awake always came quickly for Jack. He had never managed to experience that period of grumpy awareness before finally opening his eyes that Daniel seemed to excel in. No, for him it was always an instant thing, although in this case he wished it wasn't.

Da....Daniel?"

He felt cold, hot, flushed, and dammit, wide awake.

"Zack?"

A blurred figure crouched next to him, a tall one with short blonde hair.

"Stay put Jack."

"Zack?"

"The last time I checked, yes," the voice said, sounding amused. "How are you doing?"

Jack decided to be honest.

"I can't see you too well."

"We are in a tunnel, you know," Zack said. "It's dark and gloomy."

"I know that," Jack said crossly. "But besides that."

Van Ryn's voice turned serious, doctor like, a tone that Jack O'Neill hated with a passion.

"Follow my finger," he said curtly.

"What finger?" Jack muttered, and fell asleep.

...

"Stay with me Jack, you hear me?"

Someone was talking to him, their voice loud and insistent, demanding he answer them. He wished he could, but found it impossible to do so. He was just so tired...

Something crackled and he was wrapped in warmth, all apart from his arm, which seemed to be numb, like it was immersed in icy water.

"Blood pressure's high, Colonel," someone said, the words reverberating round and around in his head like ricocheting bullets.

"I'm not surprised," Van Ryn said. "He has one hell of a burn."

"And a head injury," another voice said - Daniel. "I bet you he never told you that."

"No he didn't," Van Ryn said after a moment's silence.

He felt someone force open an eyelid and muttered a protest as a tiny light was shone in, blinding him for a moment.

"You fu..." He forgot what else he was going to say, but he was sure that it was some brilliant insult.

"Don't you swear at me Jack," Van Ryn said, "or I'll send you my bill."

"Check's in the mail," Jack slurred, trying to focus his eyes and failing. He could see it was dark and he knew Zack and Daniel were close, but couldn't see them.

Van Ryn snorted derisively. "Like I'd take a check from you," he said.

Jack felt something sharp prick his arm and flinched.

"Do you mind?" he muttered.

"Geez," Van Ryn grumbled fondly. "Face a horde of screaming Jaffa you can do, but a needle?"

"Jaffa." Jack's eyes widened as he remembered what happened and he began to struggle..

"Daniel, Lou and..."

"We're fine," Daniel said. "We're all in the tunnel."

"Daniel?" Jack reached an arm out from his protective cocoon, sighing with relief when Daniel grabbed his hand.

"You okay?" he asked.

"We're fine," Daniel said. "Honest."

"Good," Jack sighed, "cos I feel terrible."

"I'm not surprised," Zack said. "You were running on pure adrenalin, and now it's worn off, it's about time you felt your age."

"But I'm not one hundred and fifty years old," Jack whined.

"You also have some sort of cranial hemorrhage, Van Ryn said "as well as burns to your right arm."

"Remind me to sue Khnum," Jack whispered.

"The Goa'uld?" Zack asked.

"Um," Jack confirmed.

'I don't think you have to worry about him," Zack said gently. "SG2 and 3 are going hunting."

...

Technically speaking, Major Lou Ferretti should be counted amongst the rescued, waiting his turn for the doctors of SG5 to examine him.

Technically speaking.

To hell with technicalities, he thought, getting to his feet. Captain Rousseau was up to something, and he knew his second quite well. When Frenchie smiled, he was up to no good.

"Whatcha up to?"

"Goa'uld huntin' an' Jaffa bashin'," Frenchie answered in his strange French Louisianan accent, hence his nickname. "Along with SG2." He jerked his thumb back at Captain Cochrane, who gave him a toothy grin.

"They hurt O'Neill," Cochrane said in his deep gravelly voice. It wasn't a question.

"Quite badly," Lou said, his face hard. "That's why I'm coming with you." He turned to look at his sister, seeking her consent. "I have to do this sis," he said.

"I know you do," she said, her face soft in the torchlight. "You'd make a good marine."

He snorted as the marines all muttered something that sounded like Hurah, and rapidly loaded Daniel's P90 with purloined ammunition.

"Don't insult me."

...

Lou at the rank of a Major, outranked both the leaders of SG 2 and Frencie, but he wasn't stupid.

They were fresh and rested, whilst he had had no sleep in almost twenty-four hours. Because of this, he lacked that 'edge', that little something that divided the living and the stupid.

Knowing this, he held back.

"Move them out, Frencie," he called, watching as the man nodded gratefully. He learnt how to measure his abilities from O'Neill, and now young Frenchie Rousseau was now leaning how to do it from him.

SG8 were the ruins of the barn, guarding the tunnel, and rose like wraiths to greet them, their camouflaged faces serious.

"Everyone okay?" The words were breathed by a tall man, camouflage unnecessary on his dark skin.

"No sir," Ferretti said, taking Lt. Colonel Grover's question quite literally. "The Colonel caught it good."

"He usually does," Grover muttered dryly. "He still alive?"

"Barely," Ferretti hissed. "I'm gonna take the kiddies to the cathedral and take my revenge."

"Happy hunting," Grover said, taking in the members of SG2 and 3. Ten people in total, they were armed to the teeth and impatient for blood.

"Thank you sir," Ferretti said, and led his men towards the base of the hill.

The closer to the hill they got, so the roar of the flames of what had been a magnificent cathedral became louder. Finally, they were hidden behind the final group of bushes and staring up in awe.

"Now that's a sight you don't see everyday," Cochrane said, and despite being inside at one point Ferretti couldn't help but agree.

The entire cathedral was now on fire, massive tongues of flame reaching for the heavens even as they hungrily consumed what had been an exquisite piece of architecture.

"Now would ya look at that," he muttered.

To his surprise, the cathedrals general outline was still visible amongst the flames, and he could clearly see the nave, and even, if he squinted hard, the gallery where he and Maria had had so much fun.

Then, as he watched, the building folded in on itself in a massive shower of sparks.

"God's gonna be pissed," he said.

"That's for darn sure," someone else agreed.

The heat was intense, even from their vantage point at the base of the hill, but it didn't seem to affect the two dozen Jaffa any, nor their master, Khnum, who was dancing in front of the flames, his face set in an expression of cruel triumph.

"He thinks he's killed over two hundred people," Ferretti said, aghast. "And he's happy about it."

"Merde," Frenchie Rousseau muttered, his eyes like chips of stone. "He won't be for long, that I guarantee."

Lifting his P90, he called out to his men, aware that his voice would be drowned out by the sound of the flames.

"Pick your targets men, and fire at will."

...

He may have been awake for days, but Louis Ferretti had never felt more alive than he did at that moment. P90 shuddering in his hand, set on full automatic, he mowed the Jaffa down, yelling at the top of his voice as he did so.

He exterminated the Jaffa like they were cockroaches, without pity or remorse, because what compassion was there for people who obeyed orders to commit mass murder?

He wasn't stupid. None of the soldiers were. They could see that the Prime, whatever his name was, had deliberately positioned his Jaffa in such a way that if any of the villagers had been inside and had tried to escape, they would have been killed instantly.

There would have been no mercy shown to the villagers, and consequently, Ferretti and his men showed no mercy to the Jaffa either.

The attack was bloody, brutal, and with ten furious men sending curtains of lead at them, for the Jaffa, mercifully short.

It was then, when the last Jaffa fell, that everything went pear shaped.

"The Goa'uld," Ferretti snapped, leaping out from cover. "Get the... Oh God DAMN it!"

In typical Goa'uld fashion, Khnum had survived the fight behind his protective force field, and had reacted instantly once the battle was over.

Lowering his shield long enough for them to hear his laughter, Ferretti was sure; he then disappeared in a dazzling ring transport.

A veteran of many a fight against the Goa'uld, he should have seen it coming. Had he been more awake and aware he would have known it was coming, but as tired as he was, he hadn't had that edge, and could only watch helplessly as Khnum vanished.

...

"What?"

Unaware that he had fallen asleep, Jack jerked awake as a cold hand gently shook him awake.

"We didn't get him."

Jack didn't need to see in order to understand what had happened. He could almost taste the disappointment in Lou's voice.

"Where did he go?" he asked.

Ferretti must have shrugged. "Dunno. Ship maybe."

"Baal's ship?" Jack said, feeling the hairs on his arms raise in reaction.

"Dunno," Ferretti said. "All I know is this. We were just about to fill him fill of holes, thinking he was far from the stargate and had nowhere to go and..."

"If it is Baal, then the villagers are in as much danger as they ever were." Jack said, feeling nauseous.

"God, don't tell me we did all this for nothing."

...

Skittish, jumping at every sound, a wary combined team made their slow way into the cemetery at the edge of town. They met no resistance of any kind, but then, Khnum had to have ringed up to somewhere, right?

And if that somewhere was Baal's ship, they were more or less toast, because the No1 system Lord commanded one of the largest Jaffa army ever seen.

Lt. Colonel Grover was briefing Colonel Van Ryn, the tall men making a strange racial contrast together.

"Can we make it to the stargate okay?" Van Ryn asked, keeping a wary eye on his patient.

Despite Jack's objections, and against his own judgment, he had sedated O'Neill, and now wanted him back in the infirmary as quick as possible.

"If we do it together, yes," Grover said. "There is safety in numbers. If Baal is out there, and is planning to attack it won't help any if we have some of us at the gate and some of us here."

"Okay," Van Ryn agreed, staring at the gravestones with pensive blue eyes. The young Gregory twin was on point, looking tense as he led them towards his brothers position.

"You realize that we have a refugee situation on our hands?" he said sourly.

"Looks like it," Grover said. "Pity as well, cos this place is riddled with Naquadah."

"Ain't nothing we can do sirs, if Baal's on top of us," Ferretti said, loping up to them.

"True," Grover scowled. Well, lets get the villagers out and see what they think before we do anything yet."

Ferretti's eyes widened as a thought occurred.

"They won't talk to you sir," he burst out. "You're unjoined.

Grover frowned, but Van Ryn did not.

"That is why I was so pleased to see you, Ferretti," he said calmly. "And your lovely sister."

...

"Sam?"

Sam groaned. She was so warm and comfortable and....

"Sam?" Her bed moved, making her snap open her eyes, disorientated.

"What, where?"

She looked back to see silver gray hair and her heart lurched. "Sir?"

"You wish," a soft voice said. "As I'm sure does he."

"What?" she said, not quite grasping what he was saying.

The voice was louder, more insistent.

"Sam, it's Joe."

"Joe?" she asked blankly.

"The crypt, the villagers?" he asked helpfully.

She groaned, feeling almost hung over. "I fell asleep?"

"And snored," he said brutally.

"Gee, thanks," she said, gingerly crawling to her knees.

His grin was white in the almost darkness. "Pleasure. As it is, I had to wake you. Oliver says someone is coming."

"Khnum?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, rescuers."

"Thank God," she said in relief.

Just then the entrance to the crypt banged loudly, causing some of the packed villagers to scream.

"Them, I trust?" she asked calmly.

"I guess," Joe said, nevertheless, he reached into her pocket and fished out the zat.

"You keep it," she mumbled as loud chipping could be heard. "I can't shoot worth a damn left handed anyway."

Just then, the door to the crypt opened with a rumble, letting in the sunshine.

"It looks like it's about noon," Joe said, surprised. "Geez, time flies."

"That tends to happen when you get shot at," she said sarcastically, and crawled out of the crypt, him right behind her.

...

"Major, Joe," Van Ryn said, pleased to see his second, Major Kyle, rush forwards and support Carter as she swayed slightly. Like the rest of Jack's team, she looked as if she had been to hell and back - only in her case, hell had bitten her.

"What happened?" he asked, gesturing to her bloody uniform.

"Arrow sir," she said ruefully, leaning into Major Kyle gratefully. "I and the Colonel were..."

She broke off, her eyes wide as she espied the thick plume of smoke that was all that was left of the cathedral.

"Holy Hannah."

"Quite," he said dryly. "We were lucky to get Colonel O'Neill and the others out of that, believe me."

Their expressions of relief were classic.

"Where is he?" Joe snapped, sounding so like Jack that Van Ryn blinked.

"Over there," he said pointing to where Daniel stood. "Make your visit a quick one though. He's heavily sedated, and we have a serious Goa'uld problem on our hands."

He turned away from them whilst they digested this, watching the villagers as they slowly exited the crypt. Despite being forewarned by General Hammond, he was still amazed to see a veritable Noah's ark exiting the crypt, and from the occasional shocked look on their faces, he was glad that he had been warned not to interact with them.

"Ferretti," he growled, noting two men wearing the chain of office. "Go to them and tell them we are gonna have to take everyone with us."

"They aren't gonna like this," Ferretti moaned, reluctantly making his way forwards, only to stop in shock as the distinctive sounds of an incoming ring transport could be heard.

"Everybody down," Cochrane screamed, the marine grasping the danger even as Khnum appeared, a squad of Jaffa surrounding him protectively. They formed an impenetrable shield - six Jaffa, all of them pointing their staff weapons out at them.

"Drop your weapons or they die," an unseen voice snapped, the distinctive dual tone as cold as ice.

"Colonel?" Grover asked, deferring to rank.

"God," Van Ryn whispered, feeling sick. He was in a no win situation and he knew it.

This Goa'uld, either be design or by accident, which he doubted, had ringed down facing the majority of his force. The villagers were slightly to his right, Major Kyle, Daniel, Carter, Jack and his brother to his left, and all were covered by the Jaffa.

...

"You wish people to die?" Khnum snapped.

Van Ryn knew that he was beaten, and the acid of that fact ate at him, and then Carter, brilliant, beautiful, Major Carter lifted her head from Joe's shoulder and took the decision away from him.

...

It was Joe who settled things for her.

"He bluffing," he suddenly said, his voice amazed. "He's alone."

"Why do you say that?" Daniel asked quietly.

"Poker," Joe said. "I'll explain later," he said, as Daniel gave him an odd look. "Suffice it to say, that creature isn't as confident as he looks."

Sam took a long hard look at the expression on the face of the Goa'uld partially hidden by his Jaffa and had to agree.

"You reckon Baal's split?" she asked.

Joe stared down at the unconscious figure of his brother, knowing that his next words were critical. If he was wrong, and Baal was still around somewhere close, he could be condemning Jack to a painful death.

But he had seen the expression on Khnum's face before, on the face of Father Zane when he realized he had nothing to offer but a desperate bluff.

He stared at Khnum and his Jaffa and prayed that he was making the right decision.

"He has," he said firmly. "Khnum's winging it."

Van Ryn was refusing to give the order for them to surrender, his refusal making the Goa'uld furious. The situation was getting worse by the second, and Sam knew that if she was going to do something, now was the time.

"Fire on my signal," she said to Joe, and removed her vest, dropping the khaki webbing at his feet

His face went pale. "Sam, what are you doing?"

Her eyes were almost twinkling in the evening light, and suddenly Joe understood why his brother admired this woman so much.

She was beautiful.

She lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"I'm saving our bacon Joe," she said. "Watch and weep."

...

Sam Carter had rarely been in a tighter spot.

Luckily for her, she liked tight spots.

As the Colonel said, tight spots kept SG1 on their toes. Casting a last worried look at him now, she was pleased to see that Major Kyle was watching him closely. Reassured that the Colonel had the best medical help he could under the circumstances, she took a good slow breath and put her plan into action.

"Hey Snakehead," she called.

One of the Jaffa turned to look at her curiously.

"Hey Jaffa lover."

Bruised and bloody, her shoulder aching like the devil himself was in residence; she nevertheless walked towards Khnum and his guards, her head held high.

She knew that despite their apparent hopeless situation, it wasn't as dire as it seemed. They still had two weapons they hadn't used, two weapons Colonel Van Ryn didn't even know he had.

She and Maria.

Holding onto that fact, she glared at Khnum and his Jaffa and spat out every insult she could think of.

...

"You arrogant prick. How dare you stand here and tell us what to do?"

As she walked towards the Goa'uld, she placed her hands on her hips and thrust her breasts forwards, her still wet blood molding her black shirt to her front, allowing her to use her best assets, her curves, to their best advantage.

"We will surrender, but only to Baal."

"He is a man capable of satisfying us," Maria snapped, and Sam smiled in relief as the small marine joined her, swaying her hips provocatively. "You are nothing to us, merely a flea bitten old fart."

"Your, Jaffa, however," Sam purred, slowly lifting her tee shirt up, exposing creamy flesh, "might do."

Her plan was working. All six Jaffa of Khnum's Jaffa were now staring at her and Maria with varying expressions of hunger on their faces.

To her delight, Khnum reacted just as she had hoped.

"Baal is gone," he screamed, his voice high and girlish. "There is just..." He realized his mistake just as Sam dived for the ground, taking the ignorant Maria with her as she did so.

"Now!" she screamed.

Joe opened up with the zat before the SG teams did with their P90's, but only just.

...

"So we have our Naquadah?" Jack asked two weeks later.

He was in a private room at Academy General hospital, the curtains carefully drawn against the blinding sunshine outside. Luckily, for all concerned, he was still too ill to complain yet.

He was extremely pale, with most of his head covered with a heavy bandage, but Doctor Fraiser had assured Joe and the rest of SG1 that he was getting better.

"We do indeed," Daniel said. He stared at his friend, taking his condition in even as he tried to put the events of the past two weeks into their correct order.

The minute Khnum had fallen, Zack Van Ryn had ordered SG5 and 8 to head for the gate, detailing SG's 2 and 3 - minus Ferretti, to stay onworld, just in case.

After that, things had gotten a bit chaotic.

Daniel recalled medics shouting at each other and Jack being whisked off to the infirmary, and from there being flown to Academy General where he was told, there was a neurosurgeon waiting for him.

After that, it got a bit hazy.

He recalled Sam being led to the infirmary, and the quick post mission briefing that he, Joe, the Ferretti's and the no longer so silent Gregory's had had to give to General Hammond, but not much afterwards.

Two days of battlefield conditions and no sleep had finally caught up with him and the others, and they had more or less collapsed, Daniel on the cot in his office, Ferretti in his, and Joe and Maria in the luxurious VIP rooms upstairs.

There they had stayed for twelve hours straight.

The following week had consisted of briefing the carefully selected twinned teams going to P38 9H7 in order to mine it, and finding out whether the villagers were truly safe from Baal. To everyone's relief, it seemed they apparently were. Reliable information came to light that Baal had had a Tok'ra instigated crisis on another world to attend to, and now it was too late to return. Now the Tau'ri were in charge, and according to General Hammond, they weren't willing to give up on what was proving to be a planet extremely rich in Naquadah without a fight.

"Daniel? Hello? I was the one in a coma, not you."

Daniel's eyes cleared and he grinned at Jack sheepishly.

"We have the Naquadah," he said again.

"So the mission wasn't a bust after all," Jack said happily.

"It almost was," Joe said. "You almost died."

They had all awoken at last only to find out that Jack had been listed as critical.

According to Teal'c, who had not left his side, Jack had had a small amount of bleeding to his brain, hence the headaches he had suffered even after Sam had tried to heal him. In itself, that wasn't so bad, but left unattended for two days, and coupled with the high blood pressure caused by a nasty burn to one arm, it meant that Jack had finally been reduced to holding on to life by a thread when Zack had finally found him.

Zack Van Ryn, medical doctor, had seen what was happening to Jack, but had been helpless to prevent his slow downward spiral towards death. Jack had needed an operation to drain the hemorrhage, and quickly, but the sudden reappearance of Khnum had put paid to that.

Until Sam had used her curves.

Her curves that had caused Jack O'Neill so much embarrassment when first mentioned.

When Joe had understood the significance of the joke, he had laughed himself sick, and had really wanted to tell Jack, but was advised not to. His brother was still extremely ill, and so the joke of the curves would have to wait another couple of weeks.

It was a pity, but it would wait.

Jack snorted derisively. "I'm too ugly to die," he said.

"Sorry," Joe said lightly, "but seeing as we look so alike, and I know that I'm a handsome fella, I know that's a lie." He took on a serious air. "So be careful."

"I'm surrounded by a bunch of Nannies," Jack moaned, absentmindedly picking at the bandage that covered his burnt arm. He meant it as a joke, but no one laughed.

"Yes you are," Joe said firmly, ignoring Teal'c, who was looking at them strangely.

"But if we weren't, you would have died a long time ago. For good," he added softly, remembering Baal.

"Where's Carter?" Jack asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"Starting the twin revolution on P38 9H7," Daniel said wryly. "I think."

"Come again?" Jack asked.

"She's back on the planet," Daniel said with a hint of a smile.

"Without you?" Jack asked, shocked.

"Hence the twin revolution," Daniel said.

"In what way?" Jack asked, looking intrigued.

"Well, up until we arrived, all the twins did everything together, remember?"

Jack did, remembering their observations on that hill overlooking the village a lifetime and a lot of pain ago.

"Where the one twin went, so did the other," he said drowsily. "I remember."

"Well, we kinda shocked them by not exactly following the rules," Daniel said. "We weren't always together, like when you were shooting at Jaffa and Joe was investigating the tunnel, or I was in the cathedral and Sam was in the crypt, but in the midst of danger like they all were, nobody said anything.

"Nice of them," Jack said.

"Well, things had already began to change," Daniel said. "They just hadn't noticed yet."

Jack merely raised an eyebrow.

"Cogan helped us in the barn, yet the Jaffa refused to let Copal near us. Cogan was forced to act independently from his brother, and to his amazement, he found out that he could. That was the beginning of the revolution."

"Revolution?" Jack asked. It seemed like a strong word to use.

"Oh yes," Daniel said "Revolution, as in..."

"Sudden complete and radical change," Jack said drowsily. "I get it."

"Well, yes," Daniel said after a shocked pause.

"And them there was Sam, and Maria."

"What about them?" Jack asked.

"They had different names for a start," Daniel said, "and to make things worse, when the chips were down, they acted completely different from their others."

"Oh the shock," Jack murmured.

"It seems to have been a liberating shock," Daniel said happily. "For the first time in their lives the twins of Kuj realized that just because they look alike, they don't have to be together all the time." He took in a deep happy breath. "I may only have a minor in anthropology, but this is fascinating, and I can't wait to get back there and see first hand how things develop."

"I'm going too," Joe said, watching Jack carefully.

"Why?" Jack immediately asked.

"I'm overseeing the rebuilding of the Santa Fe cathedral," Joe said.

To his relief, Jack didn't object.

"You okay with this?" Joe prodded. "Me being offworld without you?"

Drowsy dark brown eyes opened and stared into mild hazel ones.

"Who said you were going to be off world without me?" he asked.

"I thought I did." Joe said suspiciously. "What are you thinking, brother?"

"Well," Jack murmured, a half smile on his face. "I have to recuperate somewhere, right?

EINDE.