AUTHOR: Demon Faith
EMAIL: rosabeth@hotmail.com
CATEGORY: Sam/Daniel est., Challenge
responses, Series, Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst
SPOILERS: Minor for Prodigy, COTG, Fair
Game, Hathor, Learning Curve, Politics, Watergate, Into the Fire and Within the
Serpent’s Grasp. Slight reference to historical figures.
SEASON/SEQUEL: After Season 4. Sequel
to come.
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNINGS: Graphic injury,
language and implications
SUMMARY: Love, Honour and Obey:
perhaps, the strongest emotions of them all
DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Stargate,
Stargate owns me.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Hmm…this is what you
get for trying to make a dent in the ever-growing list of challenges. This is a
dedication to Tk: if I call her an angel, she’ll blush; so, I’ll save her the
embarrassment.
CHALLENGES:
Challenge
#293
Ok, so I've seen about everyone under the sun save Danny's poor whumped hide
over and over and over and... well you get the idea so lets let Danny be the
hero!
Ok
here goes... Something comes through the gate (I don't know, that's what your
creative little brains are for) and ends up putting the SGC in danger. Danny
has to save the day...but the catch! No one's there to help him! Suspended
animation? Virus? Teletubbies? Well scratch that last one but you get the
idea...remember Danny whumping and angst and don't make him a ditzy dork--he's
come a long way!
Challenge
#954
The four members of SG-1 step into the gate. Only three step out on the other
side. The rest is up to you.
Challenge
#962
Would someone please write a story with the topic being 'honor'...please?
Love
n. a) Deep affection and warm feeling
for another b) A beloved person.
v.
To feel love (for).
[From Old English]
Honour
n.
High respect; esteem
v. a)
To esteem b) To show respect for
[From Latin]
Obey
v. a) To carry out the command of
b) To comply with (a
command)
[From Latin]
Another day, another
mission, another opportunity to save the world. Sometimes, Daniel wondered what
it was all about.
He sighed to himself and pulled his
far-too-heavy pack onto his shoulder and made his way to the Gate room. A
routine mission: what was routine about having your body torn into mere
molecules, and thrown across the galaxy by a giant super-conductor? Nothing at
all. SG-1: two letters and a number that wouldn’t mean much to anyone else. But
to him, they meant to world. They meant a family.
“Daniel! Wait up!”
Daniel stopped and
turned, to see Sam waving at him. He smiled. Yes, definitely a family.
She caught up with
him, and they resumed their walk, but, this time, together.
“So, how you doing? I
see Janet let you out.”
“Yeah, out on good
behavior. However, ‘no jumping off cliffs, falling into chasms or being buried
under tons of rock.’ I think those were her words.”
Sam laughed and took
his arm, not caring who saw her. Four months ago, she had made a decision. She
would tell him everything, and hope that he would listen.
And he had. They had
been together these four months, and had somehow kept it from the world. He
responded to her touch, smiling at her.
“A little
conspicuous?”
“I really don’t care.”
They reached the Gate
room, and Sam released his arm with a sigh. Life was unfair. Oh well, perhaps
Jack would send them off together. She could only hope.
“Chevron 7 locked!”
The wormhole gushed
out, as they walked through the door.
“Glad you could make
it,” Jack said, sarcastically. Teal’c gave a rare smile. He knew what most
didn’t: Jaffa were very observant.
“SG-1, you have a go!”
They moved towards the
shimmering circle. Jack motioned for Sam to step through first, and then
followed her. Teal’c glanced back at Daniel, before going through himself.
Daniel paused again to wonder at the Stargate, before stepping through.
There was minimal
sensation in the Gate, but Daniel definitely felt something. Then, a sharp pain
hit him and he felt himself being flung backwards and he fell through the Gate,
rolling in such a way as to fall through the gap in the railings.
“Find out who that
was! Get a medic…”
The General didn’t
have time to finish his sentence, as a wave of energy blasted through the Gate,
knocking everyone to the floor and straight into unconsciousness. Daniel was
spared by the metal ramp, fighting to stay conscious through the enormous
sensation of pain coursing through his body.
He felt the ramp
shudder with footsteps, and he was momentarily confused. Wait, matter can
only travel one way…Then, he realized that he had been thrown back out. If
matter only traveled one way…then, someone had reversed the wormhole. The
implications hit him like a shot. If a culture could reverse a wormhole in the
blink of an eye, they could be facing far worse enemies than they had first
thought.
Suddenly, the pain
simply became too much, and Daniel fell into unconsciousness.
~
Fate has got it in for
me, Daniel thought glumly,
as he awoke to the terrible pain. Slowly, and carefully, he pulled himself up
and looked cautiously around. The Embarkation Room was empty. He got to his
feet, and looked around again. The blast doors were closed and it looked as if
the doors were locked. Daniel felt around in his pocket. He knew he had his
door key somewhere – he was too paranoid to leave it on base or at home. Come
on, come on – it has to be somewhere!
Just as he checked the
last pocket, and triumphantly removed the key, the door began to slide open.
Daniel ran to the back of the Stargate and pressed himself to the base. He
didn’t dare to breathe, as someone passed through the room.
#It is no use, Ares.
We cannot conquer these people easily. Our brethren have turned our servants
against us!#
#I told Ra that Egypt
was a mistake. Greece was far more bountiful: but Cronus has turned against us
as well. And now the slaves are rebelling! We shall never find the Chosen now:
Hathor did well to hide him here#
Two voices: one male
and one female, though undeniably Goa’uld. And the male was Ares, Greek god of
war. So, who was the woman?
#Calm yourself, Ares!
We will prevail, even if we have to destroy this planet to do it. Hathor has
hidden him here; now, all we must do is find him#
#You are right,
Aphrodite. You are right#
They seemed to pause,
and Daniel was getting worried. Hathor’s Chosen – that could only mean one
thing. They were after him.
#And when we have
extracted our information…#
#Then, you may play,
my love. Then, you may play#
The words chilled
Daniel’s soul. They were after him, and if they didn’t find him…well, it was
curtains for them all.
The opposite door
grated open and then closed. Daniel dared a glance up and discovered the room
empty once more. As empty as his soul. He couldn’t believe this was happening.
Two False Gods, straight out of Greek mythology, were after him because Hathor
had…no, Daniel was not going there. Or, because of something else? Daniel
really had no idea. He panicked: they wanted information, they wanted him, and
Aphrodite wanted something far worse…I thought I wasn’t going there, he
thought to himself.
Daniel pulled himself
up, thinking about where he could escape. He needed somewhere safe, somewhere
to clear his thoughts, somewhere no one would ever think to look…Sam’s lab. It
was only two levels up and the security camera had burned out last week and
hadn’t been replaced yet. It was the only place to go. Daniel moved towards the
door, and then promptly fell over as pain shot up his leg. Cursing, he looked
down and groaned. Why on earth did Jack make me carry that stupid knife? he
thought angrily, as he saw the handle sticking out of his injured leg.
Quickly, he looked
around the Gate room. There’s got to be something here…yes! Daniel
pulled himself across the floor until he reached the wall. He pulled the long
wooden pole towards him and used it to stand. He admired the ornate design of
the carving, remembering how thrilled Sam was when the priestess of the aptly
named Sunshine Planet had given it to her as a gift for fixing their ‘magic
energy’, a primitive naquadah reactor. When they had come back, she was
immediately drawn into a computer problem and hadn’t even had time to take the
stick back to her quarters. Daniel savoured the memory, and then a horrible thought
struck him. What had happened to SG-1? He had been thrown back, but had
they walked straight into a Goa’uld trap? The thoughts made his blood run cold.
He had to find out, had to make sure…but he had no way of reaching the Control
Room, delivering a message and what about the SGC? Daniel swallowed his guilt,
and slowly, made his way towards Sam’s lab.
~
About an hour later,
he stumbled into Sam’s lab and shut the door. He had discovered about fifty
Jaffa, concentrated around the Control Room and the infirmary. He had heard
them talking about the ‘prisoners’ in the Storage Rooms, he had been that
close, but no one had seen him. Now, in the relative safety of Sam’s lab, he
had no idea what to do. He had made it this far, but what next? Goa’uld had
taken the SGC, SG1 were lost, SG3 and 4 were off world and he had no access to
the outside world, to warn them of the danger they were in. What to do, what to
do?
Daniel moved towards
Sam’s cupboard, slowly and painfully hobbling with the aid of the stick. He
opened it carefully and took in its contents. The usual lab stuff, chemicals,
test tubes, naquadah; Sam’s emergency coffee supply, her favourite mug and jar of
coffee; and her ‘armoury’. Sam was almost as paranoid as he was, constantly worried about safety
and implications. Her little stash contained one M16, a small handgun and a
couple of grenades. Ever since the foothold situation, Jack had ordered every
remote office and lab to have at least one method of defense. Sam was paranoid
enough to have three. So was Daniel.
He took the items out
of the cupboard and using the weapons belt, attached them to his person. He
checked that the guns were loaded and looked to be in reasonable working order.
He would never curse Jack’s military training again.
Daniel soon realized
that to do anything, he would first have to sort himself out. The lab, like all
labs, had a first aid kit but Daniel wasn’t sure he should even be trying this.
He had only seen Janet perform this once, and that was surrounded by nurses and
all the equipment of the infirmary.
The knife had slid across his leg, embedding
itself quite deeply. Daniel had practically no knowledge of medicine, but had
been told by Janet often enough that removing knives was a very bad idea. But
he had no choice. If he was going to help his friends, he needed to move
around. And he kinda needed his legs to do that.
He knew he was trying
to convince himself of this. Okay, so he really had no idea what he was doing:
Sam was the team medic. What he would give to have her here…or not. Was she
safer where she was, or was there a far worse evil haunting her? Daniel blinked
back tears: tears of grief, helplessness and despair. What could he, one man,
do? How could he help his friends, his family?
Pull yourself
together! You have work to do!
Unfortunately, no deity felt like
relieving his duty.
~
Daniel moved carefully through the
silent corridors, suddenly very afraid. He was one man, alone amongst at least
fifty Jaffa and two Goa’uld: they weren’t pretty odds. His ‘family’ were
billions of miles away, probably suffering another Goa’uld’s wrath. And here
was poor little Daniel, having to grow up and play with the big kids. Oh, for a
child’s innocence once more! But that’s all gone now. An echo of a song:
Evita. The story of a woman, who could challenge her country, but lost a battle
with herself. Sam had cried at that film. Daniel had laughed at her, but his
eyes were tear-filled too. There was something very cruel about fate. All the
good died young, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Eva Peron: perhaps, he
would join them.
Smiling sadly to himself, haunting
melodies filling his mind, Daniel crept through the corridors. For some reason,
the lights were out. Perhaps the Goa’uld didn’t fancy our electricity
bill…sorry, been hanging around Jack O’Neill too much. Another good woman: dear
Svetlana. She lost her ‘family’, to a sea of intelligent water. It seems
fate also has a twisted sense of humour.
Daniel was approaching his office,
which had been appropriated by Ares and Aphrodite as their base of operations.
Smart Goa’uld were adopting his tactic: know thy enemy. Luckily for him, and
completely intentionally, there were no clues of his connection to Sam in the
office. It was hard enough to have a secret relationship around gossips like
Janet and nosy Colonels like Jack: you couldn’t leave clues littered around
your office. Daniel could swear Janet went through his office with a fine
toothcomb every time he was off world. Another matter that hadn’t helped them
much was several nurses’ rather obvious attraction to him. Daniel just couldn’t
handle flirtatious nurses, Sam had observed. ‘You just can’t resist a girl in
uniform,’ she had teased. Daniel smiled at that thought, then realised his
concentration was drifting. He had to stay focused: focused on the task, and
not his pain, physical and mental. He could hear voices now, and strained his
ears to listen.
#How is the search progressing?#
Aphrodite’s voice lilted musically down
the corridor, and Daniel grimaced. Goa’uld women are sluts with attitude, he
thought, sarcastically.
“We have found no sign of him, Most
High Goddess. It appears he is not here.”
#A pity. He must have travelled off
through the Stargate with another of their little teams. He was not with the
one we intercepted, and they refuse to speak of his whereabouts. Ares is
returning to try more…persuasive methods#
Daniel shut his eyes in despair. What
was he doing? Why was he so important to them? What did they want? He had to
know, he just had to. And luck was with him…
“Mistress Aphrodite, why this one? Why
is he so important to you?”
#Hathor chose him for a reason, a
reason not even he knows. With her dying breath, Hathor told me of it. For this
reason, he will become Aphrodite’s Chosen. Ares is a fool, he believes this
Daniel holds Hathor’s secrets, but he does not. More wine, Jaffa#
A drunk Goa’uld? If the situation
weren’t so dire, Daniel would laugh. The Jaffa was probably spying for Ares and
would relay this to him. Hopefully, Ares would clear off. Unless Hathor’s
‘reason’ was justification enough. Daniel was absolutely terrified now: for his
friends, the SGC, Earth, and for himself. What was this ‘reason’? What could it
possibly be? He was just an ordinary man, or so he thought. What on earth was
going on? Or, perhaps, that was just it. Nothing particular was happening ‘on
earth’, but perhaps another planet? The planet SG1 had Gated to? There was only
one way to find out. He just needed the right opportunity…
<<All Jaffa report to the Grand
Meeting Hall on level 13 for Standardising>>
Perhaps my luck is changing, thought Daniel. He pressed himself to the wall, as Jaffa filed
past, followed by Ares and Aphrodite. Once he was satisfied everyone had gone,
Daniel headed for the Gate Room. He ran into the Control Room and dialled the
last planet SG1 had visited. Almost without thinking, he ran towards the Gate,
hoping he still had his GDO. Then, he stopped, reached through the railings,
and picked up his pack. He strode through, wondering what would await him on
the other side.
~
Daniel stood out of the wormhole, to be
greeted by raised staff weapons. Oh, shit! I forgot this bit…
“Um…hello?”
“This is the one! The Chosen our Master
seeks!”
“No, no! I am the duplicate, the one
sent to…confuse the captured… Tau’ri.”
Daniel looked at the confused faces,
then decided to really play this. He drew himself up importantly, trying to act
more like Jack. Jack? What brought that up? He wanted to be someone
respected, someone to be obeyed. To him, that was Jack.
“Were you not informed? Did not the
Master tell you?”
His voice was mocking now, and the
Jaffa looked uncomfortable.
“You may proceed. This man will escort
you to the prisoners.”
Daniel nodded haughtily. A young Jaffa
led him to a large tent, and held the flap open for him. Daniel dropped the
assuming manner and turned to the boy.
“So, do I look like a Tau’ri?”
The Jaffa nodded, totally falling for
the deception. Daniel nodded happily, with a ghost of authority.
“Now, you must push me in, as if I have
been captured. You can do this?”
The boy nodded, he was no older than
fifteen, and hesitantly pushed towards the tent.
#Stop, boy! Who is this?#
Oh hell, that’s that then! Daniel was done for.
“Master Ares, this is the duplicate you
sent to confuse the Tau’ri.”
#I sent no duplicate! This is the real
Chosen!#
Time to run, I think. Daniel sprinted away, ignoring the horrific pain in his leg. There
were yells from behind him, but he kept running, fear and adrenaline powering
him forward. He headed for what looked like a mountain range springing out of
the desert. He ran for it, aware that there were Jaffa close behind him.
Suddenly, staff blasts appeared around him. He ran steadily for the mountains,
recalling Sam’s speech about there being hidden caves. ‘You would never know
they were there’ she had said. Daniel was relying on her wisdom. He ran quickly
around the corner of the cliff, just as a staff blast caught him. He yelped,
skidded round the corner and rolled into the scrub. He heard their voices babble
in confusion, but the pain in his shoulder carried him into unconsciousness.
~
It was dark
when Daniel awoke. He dragged his abused body upwards, leaning against the
cliff. He knew he was in the scrub near the caves, and could hear voices
nearby. They were searching for him. He looked around his position, noting the
rather spacious environment. It was a perfect hideout: from the outside, it
looked like dense bush, but inside was a mini-cavern. Then, pain hit him: from
his leg and now his shoulder. Daniel pulled out the roll of bandages from his
belt, then realised his pack was also there. He must’ve held onto it as he ran.
One-handed, he attempted to bandage the wound. At least, staff weapon burns
didn’t bleed – he knew that from experience. He wrapped a loose roll of bandage
around the wound, and then used his spare jacket as a sling. Sam always made
him take a spare jacket, ever since he had lost one to a raging river. Getting
soaked by water was bad enough with a jacket, let alone without. He nearly always
got blood on them anyway, from paper cuts to flint knives to full-scale wounds:
Daniel could never avoid trouble.
It was then
Daniel realised what a stupid situation he had got himself into. The SGC was
still invaded, SG1 were still prisoners and he was still hiding from the
Goa’uld. It’s a crazy universe, he thought to himself.
He could do
nothing for them now, he knew that. He would sleep until morning, when the
Jaffa had stopped searching. He didn’t even consider it: he just fell asleep.
~
“Why the hell
are we here?”
#Silence,
human!#
Daniel awoke
to voices outside his cavern. One belonged to Ares, the other…
“Just tell me
why we’re here!”
#Your friend,
Daniel, is hiding here. He will come when he sees you#
“Don’t bank
on it, snaky!”
Jack! Daniel
was immediately excited but he had heard the words. They wanted him to come
out, it was a trap. However, he had to see them. Daniel slithered on his belly
towards the opening in the bush, ignoring the protests of his leg and shoulder.
He saw Ares walk off, muttering to himself and he just caught his words.
# This will
not work. Aphrodite is flawed. There is no point watching them at all. He is
long gone by now#
The Goa’uld
sighed and walked off, signalling to the ‘hiding’ Jaffa to follow him.
“But,
Master…”
#Do not
question me! They can die from the heat!#
The Jaffa
followed him, and Daniel watched SG1 carefully.
“Daniel’s
here!”
“It seems
that way.”
“We should
warn him away, O’Neill.”
They were
tied in a circle, back-to-back against a central pole. Daniel began to work out
a quick way to free them and thought he had it. He hoped his shooting practice
would pay off…
“Hey Daniel!
If you can hear me, don’t come after us! It’s a trap!”
However,
Daniel wasn’t listening. He took the M16 from his belt and aimed it carefully
at the bonds between Sam and Jack. It was about two metres away, not long at
all, but he wasn’t all that accurate…concentrate, Daniel! You can do this, he
told himself.
He fired the
shot.
“What the
hell…”
He fired at
the bonds between Teal’c and Sam.
“That was a
bullet!”
The three
wasted no time moving away, but kept low, Sam untying the last bond between
Jack and Teal’c. Perfect. Daniel clutched at his radio absently, thinking of a
way to contact them. His hands closed on it and he rolled his eyes. How
stupid am I…
“Lie flat on
the ground and roll towards the bushes.”
They all
looked down at their radios and then glanced across at the bushes. Sam looked
across at Jack, lay down on the floor and rolled into the bush. Daniel caught
her gently, and moved her to one side.
“Daniel,” she
breathed, excitedly.
Jack stared
at the bush for a moment, before lying down and rolling into it. Daniel caught
him too and helped him sit up carefully. Then, Teal’c rolled in. It was quite a
comical sight. Daniel caught him too, before motioning them back towards the
cliff wall. When they had met the security of the wall, Daniel sighed.
“Well, how
are you?”
Sam knelt up
and hugged him tightly. He winced and she let go.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Where’d you
go, Space monkey? We came through the Gate, got captured by the snake-heads and
you weren’t there!”
“It’s long
story.”
“Well, I
think we have time.”
“Um…well, it
seems two Goa’uld called Ares and Aphrodite have got quite advanced. They came
through, somehow reversed the wormhole, and invaded the SGC. I managed to stay
away and then came after you guys…”
“Daniel,
you’re injured!”
Sam pushed
Daniel gently back, looking at his damaged shoulder and leg.
“Danny-boy,
are you okay?”
Jack was all
concern now and Teal’c looked worried too. Daniel was sweating profusely, as
Sam removed the bandages on his leg.
“My goodness,
Daniel, this is a stab wound!”
“My own
fault. I kinda fell on my knife.”
Jack grimaced
at the thought. The wound looked infected. Sam spotted Daniel’s pack and took
out some antiseptic. She applied the cream, apologising when he winced.
“I’m sorry,
Daniel. Just bear with me.”
She
re-dressed the wound with bandages, before looking at his shoulder.
“Don’t tell
me you shot yourself too!”
“Nah, that
privilege was left to the Jaffa. They were chasing me through here…”
Sam frowned,
and just re-dressed the wound.
“There’s
nothing I can do about that, Daniel.”
“I know, Sam,
I know.”
There was
silence for a few moments, before Jack took command.
“Well, I
think we should all get some rest. I think we have a base to re-take.”
Daniel nodded
slowly; glad he had kept the truth from them. They would only worry about him,
and he didn’t want that. If they knew the Goa’uld were after him, they’d panic.
Slowly, Sam and Jack fell asleep and Teal’c fell into Kel’no’reem. Sam was
resting on Daniel’s good shoulder, sleeping peacefully. Jack was laid out on
the ground and Teal’c meditated peacefully. Looks like I’m on watch then, Daniel
thought to himself.
It had made
no sense for him to come here. Yet, he knew why he had. SG1 got through things
as a team, and Daniel needed them. Sam, his beautiful girlfriend; Teal’c, who
had earned Daniel’s respect forever; and Jack, at whose command Daniel would go
through hell.
Love, Honour
and Obey: perhaps, the strongest emotions of all.
TO BE
CONTINUED…