2-04-4
In the infirmary, Opani was looking over the unconscious Teal'c and running another medical scan to make sure his brain wasn't damaged.
"I'm not sure that will do any good," Doctor Fraiser said to her. "His condition hasn't changed that much in the last ten minutes."
"I know." Opani put her medical scanner back into its place on her wrist-mounted multidevice. "But it is something. Your people are facing a terrible threat and Teal'c may hold the key to helping you. And I would rather be active than passively sit aside while other beings are enslaved." Opani's fists clenched. "My people knew slavery once before. We stand against it now."
"We just have to hope the others find a way," Fraiser said. "Sometimes it's all you can do around here. Hope."
Opani answered her with a nod. Hope, indeed, was something she was familiar with, and it had fulfilled its promise to her.
She went back to work checking on Teal'c's vitals.
Amaunet walked silently through the once-sealed blast doors without immediate resistance. A primitive transport lift brought her up to ground level, where she faced a checkpoint for the first time. Armed Tau'ri did not challenge her with raised weapons but did call out to her on why she had come up. "I am on an urgent assignment," she said to them, mimicking her host's tone accurately. She felt her host resist. It was troublesome, but ultimately futile. In time the host, this Meridina, would submit as all hosts did. As all hosts should.
"Do you have a pass from General Hammond, ma'am? Otherwise I have to ask you to go back down and see him," one insisted.
A surge of impatience made Amaunet think of the ways she could kill this little meek Tau'ri. But she was not going to risk her purpose on a fight. Instead she would put her host's raw powers to use. She raised a blank piece of their paper. As the guard took it she gathered her will and impose her mind, or rather Meridina's under her control, to give the illusion of a signed order from General Hammond. She did not think of the order itself, but rather used the powers given to her now to make the soldiers think they saw what they expected. "Good day, ma'am," the lead guard said, opening the checkpoint for her and handing her back the empty sheet.
With great satisfaction, Amaunet walked on, making her way toward the exit.
Lucy stepped into one of the labs in the SGC, where she found Samantha Carter looking over the Goa'uld healing device. Sam turned her head towarad Lucy. "Lieutenant?", she asked.
"Sorry, ma'am, I'm just looking for Meridina," Lucy answered. She took another step in and looked around. "So this is where you work when you're not off-world?"
"Usually," Sam said. "Sometimes we pick up technology that needs to be examined and catalogued."
Lucy looked over one item in the lab, a squat box-like thing. "You're trying to build a working naqia reactor?"
"Naqia? You mean naquadah?"
"That's what you call it." Lucy nodded. She looked over the prototype unit. "You might want to add another capacitor, with the amount of material you might blow out the ones you've put in."
Sam looked to her again. A smile faintly crossed her face. "Thanks. But isn't that a violation of the treaty?"
"What the Goa'uld don't know can't hurt them," Lucy remarked. "Much. Besides, I didn't build you a reactor, I made a suggestion."
"Still…" Samantha walked up beside her and looked over the prototype unit. "So your people use naquadah power generation?"
"We do," Lucy confirmed. "The Aurora is powered by several banks of reactors. It allows for more stable and less volatile power generation than matter/anti-matter reactors."
"Anti-matter? Wouldn't that be extremely dangerous?", Samantha asked. "I mean, just one containment failure and…"
"...and your ship goes out in a big boom, yeah." Lucy nodded. "It's why the races and nations we've met who do use that power source are starting to change over to naqia reactors."
Sam nodded. After a moment she asked, "You didn't come to talk about this, did you?"
"I was hoping Meridina was here," Lucy said. "She's not in her quarters, so I imagined she might be moving around, trying to help out. But I can't find her."
"Hrm. Well, I could ask base security to see if she's been on camera anywhere," Sam said.
"I'd appreciate that, Major. A lot," answered Lucy.
Sam picked up her phone and connected to base security. Lucy couldn't make out the voice on the other end, but she could tell they were speaking with some intensity. And all she could think was that something else had gone wrong.
"Thank you," Sam said. "Has General Hammond been informed?... He has?... No... No, I don't think telling one of the staff officers is good enough, I know you're busy trying to fix everything, but he needs to know now. Make the call."
"Trouble?", Lucy asked.
"Our camera systems have gone down," Samantha said.
Lucy frowned. Another occurrence that made her consider there was something else going on here. "I think we need to talk to the people in charge. Together. Because there is something seriously bugging me about this entire situation and…."
The door swung open. Jack stepped in and looked at them. "Hey," he said. "The infirmary just called. Teal'c's awake."
There was relief plain on Samantha's face. Lucy let her take the lead in following Jack back out.
Teal'c looked weak and tired when they got to his bed. Opani was monitoring his vitals for Doctor Fraiser, making full use of her medical-role multidevice. The other members of SG-1 joined Secretary Simms and General Hammond at the other side and foot of the bed; Robert and Lucy were with Opani on her side. "Your injuries have healed and there is no sign of brain damage, Mister Teal'c," the Dorei doctor said. "You are going to have a full life yet."
"About as long as we will, anyway," Jack muttered. He frowned at Teal'c. "What happened?"
"I was summoned to Cronus' room," Teal'c said. "When I arrived, he denied sending for me. Before I could inquire further, we were attacked."
"Who?", Jack asked.
"I could not see the attacker."
Daniel asked, "You couldn't see the attacker because you were knocked out or because…?"
"I did not see one at all," Teal'c stated. "And I was not made unconscious on the first blow."
"A personal cloaking device," Lucy murmured. She looked to Robert. "That's what it sounds like."
"Do the Goa'uld have any technology like that?", Robert asked.
"Not that we've seen," Sam replied. She furrowed her brow. "I mean, I suppose it's possible a Goa'uld could have developed one. If it's meant for phase-shifting, they might have made something to fight against the Reetou."
"I suspect accusing an invisible attacker won't work very well." Hammond looked to Simms. "Not unless we find proof. And we can't do that if we let the Goa'uld go."
Clearly the two men had been in discussion on the point. Simms finally nodded slightly, as if in acquiescence. Hammond stepped away to make the necessary calls.
"Is there anything else you can remember, Teal'c?", Jack asked.
"Nothing."
"So we don't have anything to show the Goa'uld," Lucy sighed. "Maybe if I scan the room again.. but no, I'd need stronger sensors than I've got. I'd need the Aurora."
"I doubt the Goa'uld would let me call her in," Robert muttered.
Simms walked away by now, leaving the others alone. Opani finished injecting Teal'c with a hypospray. "That should help with the bruising," she said to him.
"The pain is nothing."
As this discussion continued, Robert felt bothered by something. Teal'c's explanation didn't sound wrong, but he seemed to have left out a thought, or at least something Robert felt he really should have considered. So he leaned in. "Teal'c, why didn't you ask Meridina to accompany you?"
Teal'c looked at him in bewilderment. "I did."
Robert and Lucy stared at him.
"I do not see Commander Meridina," Teal'c continued, looking around the infirmary ward. "Was she seriously harmed?"
"She's okay," Robert said, although now he was wondering about that. "Took a blow to the head."
"Wait." Daniel shook his head. "Meridina said she walked in on you and Cronus fighting."
Teal'c frowned at that. "She has said such?"
"Yeah," Jack said. "So now you're giving us a different story. I bet the Goa'uld will just love that."
"Are you sure Teal'c?", Lucy asked. "Completely sure you were with her?"
"I was with her," Teal'c stated. "Do you not have her gifts? Do you sense deception from me?"
Lucy swallowed. She looked to Robert in intense worry and confusion on her face. "No," she finally said. "And that's what worries me."
"So she lied?", Sam said. "Meridina lied to you?"
"She wouldn't do that," Robert said. "Not intentionally. It doesn't make sense…"
"Maybe the blow to her head muddled her memories of the attack?", Lucy suggested.
"A possibility," said Opani. "I would have to examine her again."
"Well, she's not in her quarters," Lucy said. "And the cameras across the base are down."
The looks on everyone made it clear how suspicious that was.
"Let's go find her." Robert looked to Jack and the others. "You know this place better than we do."
Jack answered with a nod. "Let's find out what's going on here."
"Not just Meridina," Lucy said. Seeing everyone looking her way, she continued. "I wasn't sure, but now I'm starting to think that Nirrti wasn't really trying to save Cronus. She just put in an appearance of trying."
"At this point, I'm up for trying out anything," Jack said. He looked to Sam.
She nodded. "I'll see if it will work for me."
Robert's brow crinkled. He looked at Sam with some confusion. "I thought Goa'uld technology could only be used by Goa'uld?"
"Normally, yes," Samantha said. "But when someone's been a host to one, it leaves markers for the technology to identify. The former host can use the Goa'uld technology."
"Oh." Lucy's look toward Samantha was now one of disbelief and compassion. "You… you were taken as a host for one?"
"I was a host to a Tok'ra for a short while," she explained. "Jolinar."
"The Tok'ra being the good Goa'uld off-shoot, right?'
"Something like that, yes," said Daniel.
"If you're going to do this, Sam, you'd better hurry," Dr. Fraiser said. "Cronus is fading fast."
"I'm going to let Secretary Onaram know about what's going on," Robert said. "And then I'll join the rest of you in looking for Meridina."
Jack nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
The primitive motor vehicles of the Tau'ri annoyed Amaunet. She accessed her host's memories for such conveyances and found them lacking, at least for how Humans used them. She had lost time in getting a firm grasp of driving while working her way off the base.
But now, after some time driving, she had arrived at her destination.
Finding it had been easier. Her host's mental abilities allowed her to view into the minds of the other drivers and query where to go. It led her to a series of "apartment homes". The numbering system was easily followed. She stopped the vehicle in place, shut the machine down, and stepped out of it. She approached the door, colored lightly and with the right number on it. Her host sensed the two minds within and Amaunet grinned.
No, you mustn't!
Amaunet scowled. This host was strong-willed, enough that she still resisted. The symbiote sent a surge of pain into her host's brain to quiet her.
Her host's memories of how Tau'ri interacted prompted Amaunet to knock on the door. There was the faint sound of footsteps inside of the domicile. Each one drove Amaunet's anticipation to new, unexpected heights.
She had planned to enter the home before revealing herself, but her impatience got the better of her. The moment the door opened and her host appeared, she took her host's power and lashed out with it.
Sha're only had time to barely recognize Meridina before invisible force sent her flying back into the home. She crashed into the table behind her, sending items flying to cause more crashing sounds to fill the air.
Amaunet advanced into the house and reached out again with the power, this time to grip Sha're by the throat and hold her up. Sha're's hands went to her neck, trying to find the invisible hand that was starting to choke the life out of her. Her eyes widened with shock and terror.
"Where is the child?!", demanded Amaunet. "Where?! Answer me, slave, or I will rip the life from you as I was ripped from you!"
A cold sensation began to fill Amaunet and her host. It was frightening, and then exhilarating, a voice that told her to avenge herself upon her treacherous former host. To kill Sha're here and now, the first of many she would kill in revenge for the indignity she had suffered.
Let her go!
Her host interfered again. This time with far more power than Amaunet had thought possible for a host to resist with. The power she was using to choke the life from Sha're cut off, causing the woman to drop to her hands and knees on the floor. Amaunet scowled and sent another jolt of pain into her host to make her behave.
"Demon," Sha're gasped. "I won't let you…"
"You have no choice in the matter," Amaunet retorted.
She had intended to resume the killing of her former host. But she held back when she heard the crying coming from deeper within the home. She walked through the domicile, not recognizing half of what she saw, and entered a room with a large comfortable bed - fit for Goa'uld, not slaves - and a smaller bed beside it. The crying led her to the smaller bed. The harcesis was there, screaming, frightened by the sounds of conflict that had awoken him from a sleep.
Amaunet picked up the wailing child. A sharp mental command put the child back into a sleeping state. Amaunet looked to one side and saw what appeared to be a bag, large enough to carry the child with suffocating him. She secured the sleeping baby into the pack and walked back toward the door.
A scream of rage filled the air. Sha're had gotten back to her feet. In her hand she held a sharp steak knife, with which she lunged at Amaunet.
The cold power she'd felt before was still there. Amaunet gave it form, gave it function, and called upon it through her protesting host. She was delighted to see the unnatural lightning rip from her free hand and envelop her former host. Sha're screamed in agony and fell to her knees. Her cries fueled Amaunet's hatred, her need for revenge, and she wanted to run the lightning through her prior host until she was a blackened char.
But she couldn't. They had already caused a commotion, and would be running out of time. She needed to get back to Nirrti with the child so they could escape the SGC.
With more will than it should have taken, Amaunet cut off the attack. Sha're twisted on the ground, groaning in agony, and unable to resist as Amaunet walked on toward the door. The child was still peacefully asleep in the bag slung over her shoulder.
With no sign of Meridina yet, everyone returned to the infirmary in time to see Samantha using the healing device on Cronus. Again golden light reached out from the device and bathed his wounded body with its power.
"It's working," Opani said, watching Cronus' state with her medical scanner. "His vitals are stabilizing."
Several tense seconds passed before Cronus' eyes opened. The Goa'uld appraised his surroundings before focusing on Samantha. "You have saved me," he rumbled.
"Yeah," Samantha replied.
A smirk curled on his face. "I suspect you only did so in order to spare your world."
"Did you see who attacked you?", Jack asked. "It's sort of a big question around here right now."
Cronus snarled at that. "I did not," he announced.
"Well, that's swell," Jack sighed.
"But it wasn't Teal'c, was it?", Robert asked.
"The shol'va may have been in league with the attacker even if he was not responsible," Cronus said. "You must prove who was behind the attack if you wish these negotiations to be completed."
"That leaves one person," Robert said. "We need to find out what's going on with Meridina." He directed his attention to Cronus. "When Teal'c came in, did you see Commander Meridina? Was she with him?"
Cronus considered the question. "I do not recall. She may have been just outside the door when the first blow was struck. I did not see afterward."
The phone in the infirmary rang. Doctor Fraiser was the first to answer it. She turned and looked to them. "Doctor Jackson." She held up the phone. "It's for you."
Daniel was the center of attention as he walked over and took the phone. "Hello?"
Everyone watched his face pale.
When Daniel resumed speaking it was not in English. Abydonian, Robert thought. He could feel Daniel's worry and fear and sheer anger.
When the conversation ended Daniel turned to face them. "Meridina just attacked my home," he said in a grim tone. "She hurt Sha're and took our son."
The idea caught Robert and Lucy entirely by surprise. "...but why would she do that?", Lucy finally asked. "She…"
"I'm sorry." Daniel shook his head. "Your friend isn't herself now. She's been taken by a Goa'uld. Amaunet, actually."
There was a moment of stunned, quiet silence in the infirmary. "Name of the Supreme One, no," Opani swore.
"Amaunet took over Meridina?" Robert shook his head. He remembered that name, the name of the Goa'uld who had been removed from Sha're. "That… how? How could the Goa'uld sneak up on her like that?"
"If she was distracted, maybe," Lucy pointed out.
As she spoke, Robert thought he knew what she was meaning. "The attack on Teal'c and Cronus," he said. "If the attacker was invisible, and got in the first blow on Meridina, she wouldn't have had time to recover."
"Well, finding out the 'how' is nice and all," Jack said. "But right now we've gotten nothing to help finish this case."
"We should probably go," Opani said. She noted where Cronus was starting to sleep. "He'll need his rest."
General Hammond and the two government secretaries present reacted to the news with understandable concern. "Is this not a violation of the protocols by which these negotiations are held?', Onaram asked. Robert could feel the fury radiating from him.
"I'd have to ask Thor," Jack answered. "I'm sure it's got to violate something. I don't know if there's anything the Asgard can do about it, though."
"We can be reasonably certain that it's a Goa'uld behind this," said Hammond. "We need to figure out which one."
"And we need to get my son back," Daniel added.
"Any idea where she would be taking him?", Hammond asked. "She can't think that she can get back in here."
"Maybe she is," Lucy remarked. "She has an invisible conspirator, and on top of that, given what Daniel said about her attack on Sha're, Amaunet is using Meridina's powers as well as her body."
"Yeah, about the powers thing." Jack gestured with his hand. "What is up with that?"
Robert and Lucy looked at each other as they considered what kind of explanation to give. "Well, in the short version without any of the underlying philosophy the Gersallians have built up…", Lucy began.
"...it's basically a method of mind over matter, of a connection to the wider universe," Robert continued. "And it lets you do interesting things. Lift things with your mind."
"Throw bolts of invisible force."
"Win gunfights with swords."
That won them a bunch of quizzical looks from the native Earthers.
"The point is that Amaunet might use Meridina's power to fight her way through your security, if she wants to use the Stargate." Lucy looked at Robert. "I'll go up and face her."
"I'm coming too," Daniel said.
"We have to assume the invisible attacker will strike again as well," Samantha said. "I can bring out the gear we used for finding the Reetou. It might help."
"There's still the matter of finding out which Goa'uld is our guy. Or girl. The only way we save these negotiations is if we have a better suspect for the deed. And fighting invisible saboteurs doesn't lend itself to that.""
Secretary Simms nodded. "Which we're running out of time for, Captain."
Robert didn't need reminding of that. He looked at Jack. "Maybe if you got the Asgard involved again? I mean, one of them took Meridina as a host, that's got to count for something. Direct Asgard intervention…"
Jack shook his head. "Not happening."
"Yeah, the Asgard have that little problem of a threat bigger than the Goa'uld," Daniel noted. "They won't be able to really push their weight."
"Hence the whole bluff…"
The way Jack cut that line off made Robert curious. He turned his head and faced the SG-1 commander. He sensed the shift in Jack's emotions, from bewilderment and frustration to at least a measure of accomplishment.
"Colonel O'Neill?" Hammond gave Jack a slight look.
"Well, if it works for the Asgard," Jack began, "why not let it work for us."
"You mean a bluff," Samantha said.
"Yeah." Jack motioned to the door. "Carter, mind coming with me? I need you to get that gear out of the box and issued to everyone on the level."
"And me?", Robert asked.
"We're going back to the table," said Jack. "Time to bluff with the bad hand."
Amaunet returned to find the base locked down. Armed men at the main gate held up rifles as she brought the motor vehicle to a stop. Amaunet stood from the car with the duffel bag carrying the harcesis to one side.
"Hands on your head, now!", shouted one of the soldiers. Behind them the gate slid to a close.
Amaunet smirked. "I am your god," she declared to them. "Let me pass or suffer my wrath."
"On the ground now! We will open fire!"
Amaunet lashed out with the power of her new host. Energy crackled in the air as lightning erupted from her right hand. Her foes were caught by it before they could attack.her. They screamed, they writhed, and most importantly, they went down.
Amaunet reached deeper into that ever-enveloping dark power and with it she gripped the car she had been driving. A mighty heave with every bit of power she could muster flew through the car and sent it flying into - and through - the gatehouse, which came apart from the force. So did the gate.
Amaunet picked the bag with her sleeping child up and started walking briskly toward the entrance to Cheyenne Mountain.
The two Goa'uld were not happy when escorted back into the conference room. Robert sat near Jack, who welcomed them back in.
"We demand to be released immediately," Nirrti said.
"Of course you do. After all, one of you is responsible for the attack on Cronus." Jack gestured to Robert. "And for putting Amaunet into Captain Dale's security chief."
And that was what did it. For Robert, at least, the sensations he picked up from the two Goa'uld made it clear whom the enemy was. From Yu he felt bewilderment, disbelief, and frustration. From Nirrti it was all of those as well… but with a smidgen of worry as well. A worry she was trying to suppress.
He made sure to add, "The Alliance is issuing a protest with the Asgard, I can assure you. And since this is not Goa'uld territory, and this was done while we were negotiating in good faith, I want to make it clear that I will have her removed from Meridina as soon as it can be arranged."
"These are severe accusations," Nirrti said. "I will have you punished for these lies and threats."
"Oh, they're not lies. But you would be the one to say that, wouldn't you Nirrti?" Jack put his hands on the table. "After all, you're the only one here who has the technology to make someone invisible."
Yu looked at her with surprise. Nirrti snarled. "That is a lie," she declared.
"We talked with the Tok'ra," Jack said. "We know about your program to find ways to fight the Reetou."
"You know nothing!", Nirrti hissed.
Yu slammed his hands on the table. "You dare?!"
Yu saying such might have been worrisome… if he had not been directing that at Nirrti. "You would develop such technology and not share it with the rest of the System Lords?"
"You cannot believe them!", Nirrti shouted.
"You opposed the treaty," Yu said. "You have long coveted Cronus' territories."
"They are…"
"You dare defile our summit with the Asgard!", Yu continued. Clearly he believed her guilty on the weight of the accusation alone. "And to take a host from those we are in negotiation with?"
Before Jack or Robert couldd intercede, the enraged Goa'uld grabbed Nirrti by the throat and began to choke her. She struggled against him for several seconds, trying to force his hands off.
Then her hands went toward her waist. There was a shimmer in the air and Nirrti disappeared in a ripple of air. Yu was thrown away from her, not able to see where the blow was coming from.
The SGC guard in the room readied his weapon, but he had nowhere to fire. An invisible force slammed into him and wrenched the gun from him, strap and all.
Robert focused on that area and raised his hand. Pure power flowed from within, coming from an inner part of him that was always warm and gentle. It came out through his hand in a broad wave of invisible power. There was an audible pair of thumps, one from the guard who had, by necessity, been caught in the wave, the other by the invisible Nirrti.
Within moments it was clear she had rolled with it, however. Robert felt the danger of what was coming surge through him. The gun Nirrti had taken briefly appeared from outside of whatever cloaking device she was using.
"Crap!", Jack called out, jumping on Yu just as she opened fire. Robert dropped to the floor. "You okay?", Jack asked him.
"Fine. You?"
"I am unharmed," the Goa'uld answered.
Jack flashed a small grin Robert's way. He knew that had been intended for him.
They scrambled back to their feet. "Carter's already waiting for her," Jack said. "She'll have our gear for stopping Reetous, Nirrti isn't going anywhere."
Robert nodded. He reached out with his power at the moment to sense for Nirrti. He could feel frustration, fear, and a deep tingle of anger winding through it.
"She won't get far," Jack promised.
Robert was about to answer when he felt something cold and dark brush against his being. It was not a familiar sensation personally, but he had listened to Lucy describe her experiences and could guess what it was; darkness. Pure darkness.
"She's not our biggest problem now," Robert told Jack. "Amaunet is."
"Oh?"
"I can feel her," Robert continued. "The way she's using Meridina's power, it's… it's wrong. It's dark. She's killing your people with it."
Jack frowned at that. "Anything we can do about it?"
"I don't know. Meridina's… well… she's powerful."
"You mean that whole 'win gunfights with a sword' thing?"
"Yeah." Robert nodded. "I think Lucy and I are the only ones who can take her down. If you guys can get Nirrti, we'll get Amaunet."
"Sounds like a plan," Jack agreed.
WIth the arrival of another guard team for Yu, they went their separate ways.
The lift doors opened and Amaunet stepped out from amidst the bodies and unconscious forms of the SGC personnel who had been in the lift. The harcesis, still in a state of sedation, remained thankfully quiet.
She had intended to begin sabotaging everything she could find before linking up with Nirrti and leaving. Now she wanted to destroy everything here, to send a signal of defiance and rage to her enemies by slaughtering as many as she could before leaving.
Two figures stepped out forward out of the nearby corridor. Amaunet snarled at the sight of them.
Daniel was glaring harshly at Amaunet. He glanced over to see where Lucy was looking at her teacher and friend with a neutral, yet determined, expression. "You shouldn't be here," she said to Daniel. "This isn't a fight you can help with."
"She's got my son. She hurt Sha're."
Amaunet snickered, a sinister sound that was so unnatural to Meridina that it further clarified the horror of what was being done to her. "The child is mine. Meant for a purpose far beyond anything you could imagine." Amaunet raised Meridina's arm and looked at it. Lucy noted with horror the power crackling around her hand. When she looked at them, Meridina's blue eyes had become yellow.
Just like mine did…
It wasn't electricity that shot from her hand, though, but force. Force that grabbed them both by the throat and lifted them in the air. Daniel began to choke at the pressure crushing his windpipe.
Lucy, meanwhile, was focusing on countering with her own power. Meridina had taught her how to focus like that, how to save herself from such a grip. Through the pain and the labored breathing of her own gasping lungs, Lucy forced her focus onto the power gripping her and challenged it with her own.
The gripping force faded. Lucy and Daniel dropped back to the floor, gasping for air. Daniel was barely moving; Lucy forced herself back to her feet while breathing hard. Her hand went to her waist and pulled her lakesh from its clipped place on her belt. Her finger slipped over the activation key.
No sooner did the memory metal blade finish forming than Amaunet's hand stretched out. Lightning erupted from it, crackling at them. Lucy put her lakesh in the way, intercepting the lightning. She could feel the unnatural energies snapping at her, wanting to drain the very life from her, but she held on against them to keep Daniel safe as he recovered.
"You are strong, I see," Amaunet said, giving Meridina's voice an unnatural bass distortion. "But this host is stronger. She knows all of your failures and mistakes. Even now I feel all of the times you have frustrated and disappointed her. You are no match for her power, for my power."
Lucy kept her weapon ready. "Whatever," she said. "You might be controlling Meridina's body, but you're not her. You don't know how to use the power right. You don't know what it can do."
Amaunet snarled at her and reached for her belt. She had recovered Meridina's lakesh after the base lockdown had ended. The blade flowed into existence with the snap of a switch.
For several seconds neither did anything.
And then, in a single moment, their blades clashed. The duel was on.
Robert was running toward the sense of darkness he was feeling from Amaunet when he felt the attack start to come. He rolled to one side in time to avoid the bullets, which instead sent sparks flying from hitting the wall behind him. He scrambled up to all fours and crawled along, focusing to see if he could feel where the attack was coming from.
Once he was generally sure of it, he turned slightly and sent a wave of energy toward that direction. He heard a distant thump. That caused him to scramble to his feet. His power molded at his will to form a shield of invisible energy in front of him.
Fire came down on him again and he nearly lost his protection from the power he was being hit with. If not for Meridina's strenuous training, he likely would have had his field pop like a bubble. And then he would have been shot. Repeatedly.
Just as it was becoming too much Robert slammed into something. There was a distorted cry and a thump. He gripped into nothingness until, as he expected, he felt the hot metal of an assault rifle recently fired. He wrapped his fingers around it and pulled to yank it free.
An unseen fist slammed into his shoulder with enough force that Robert thought it might have been broken. He lost his grip on the weapon. A second blow hit him in the side of the head. Stars and colors exploded in his vision. There were more gunshots and, with his head spinning, he couldn't tell if it was aimed at him or not.
By the time he recovered he looked up to see a large hand lower toward him. He reached for it and found he was looking into Teal'c's face as he was brought to his feet. His head still spun a little from the blow. "Thanks," he said, only now noticing Jack was with Teal'c.
"You are welcome," Teal'c stated stoically. He motioned toward the next hall. "I believe the Goa'uld went this way."
"Before we go further." Jack took Robert's hand. Robert felt the weight of something settle into his palm. He realized it was a pulse pistol. "From the goodies you left us last year," Jack explained. "Figured you'd like a weapon."
"You figured right," Robert said. He concentrated for a moment, not just to clear his head but to get a feel for what was going on. He could feel Lucy now, carefully confident and determined, and the dark power he'd sensed before. "I believe Lucy got to Amaunet first. We need to take out Nirrti before those two link up."
"Teal'c?"
The Jaffa nodded to Jack. And with him in the lead, they went after Nirrti.
"I'm not sure that will do any good," Doctor Fraiser said to her. "His condition hasn't changed that much in the last ten minutes."
"I know." Opani put her medical scanner back into its place on her wrist-mounted multidevice. "But it is something. Your people are facing a terrible threat and Teal'c may hold the key to helping you. And I would rather be active than passively sit aside while other beings are enslaved." Opani's fists clenched. "My people knew slavery once before. We stand against it now."
"We just have to hope the others find a way," Fraiser said. "Sometimes it's all you can do around here. Hope."
Opani answered her with a nod. Hope, indeed, was something she was familiar with, and it had fulfilled its promise to her.
She went back to work checking on Teal'c's vitals.
Amaunet walked silently through the once-sealed blast doors without immediate resistance. A primitive transport lift brought her up to ground level, where she faced a checkpoint for the first time. Armed Tau'ri did not challenge her with raised weapons but did call out to her on why she had come up. "I am on an urgent assignment," she said to them, mimicking her host's tone accurately. She felt her host resist. It was troublesome, but ultimately futile. In time the host, this Meridina, would submit as all hosts did. As all hosts should.
"Do you have a pass from General Hammond, ma'am? Otherwise I have to ask you to go back down and see him," one insisted.
A surge of impatience made Amaunet think of the ways she could kill this little meek Tau'ri. But she was not going to risk her purpose on a fight. Instead she would put her host's raw powers to use. She raised a blank piece of their paper. As the guard took it she gathered her will and impose her mind, or rather Meridina's under her control, to give the illusion of a signed order from General Hammond. She did not think of the order itself, but rather used the powers given to her now to make the soldiers think they saw what they expected. "Good day, ma'am," the lead guard said, opening the checkpoint for her and handing her back the empty sheet.
With great satisfaction, Amaunet walked on, making her way toward the exit.
Lucy stepped into one of the labs in the SGC, where she found Samantha Carter looking over the Goa'uld healing device. Sam turned her head towarad Lucy. "Lieutenant?", she asked.
"Sorry, ma'am, I'm just looking for Meridina," Lucy answered. She took another step in and looked around. "So this is where you work when you're not off-world?"
"Usually," Sam said. "Sometimes we pick up technology that needs to be examined and catalogued."
Lucy looked over one item in the lab, a squat box-like thing. "You're trying to build a working naqia reactor?"
"Naqia? You mean naquadah?"
"That's what you call it." Lucy nodded. She looked over the prototype unit. "You might want to add another capacitor, with the amount of material you might blow out the ones you've put in."
Sam looked to her again. A smile faintly crossed her face. "Thanks. But isn't that a violation of the treaty?"
"What the Goa'uld don't know can't hurt them," Lucy remarked. "Much. Besides, I didn't build you a reactor, I made a suggestion."
"Still…" Samantha walked up beside her and looked over the prototype unit. "So your people use naquadah power generation?"
"We do," Lucy confirmed. "The Aurora is powered by several banks of reactors. It allows for more stable and less volatile power generation than matter/anti-matter reactors."
"Anti-matter? Wouldn't that be extremely dangerous?", Samantha asked. "I mean, just one containment failure and…"
"...and your ship goes out in a big boom, yeah." Lucy nodded. "It's why the races and nations we've met who do use that power source are starting to change over to naqia reactors."
Sam nodded. After a moment she asked, "You didn't come to talk about this, did you?"
"I was hoping Meridina was here," Lucy said. "She's not in her quarters, so I imagined she might be moving around, trying to help out. But I can't find her."
"Hrm. Well, I could ask base security to see if she's been on camera anywhere," Sam said.
"I'd appreciate that, Major. A lot," answered Lucy.
Sam picked up her phone and connected to base security. Lucy couldn't make out the voice on the other end, but she could tell they were speaking with some intensity. And all she could think was that something else had gone wrong.
"Thank you," Sam said. "Has General Hammond been informed?... He has?... No... No, I don't think telling one of the staff officers is good enough, I know you're busy trying to fix everything, but he needs to know now. Make the call."
"Trouble?", Lucy asked.
"Our camera systems have gone down," Samantha said.
Lucy frowned. Another occurrence that made her consider there was something else going on here. "I think we need to talk to the people in charge. Together. Because there is something seriously bugging me about this entire situation and…."
The door swung open. Jack stepped in and looked at them. "Hey," he said. "The infirmary just called. Teal'c's awake."
There was relief plain on Samantha's face. Lucy let her take the lead in following Jack back out.
Teal'c looked weak and tired when they got to his bed. Opani was monitoring his vitals for Doctor Fraiser, making full use of her medical-role multidevice. The other members of SG-1 joined Secretary Simms and General Hammond at the other side and foot of the bed; Robert and Lucy were with Opani on her side. "Your injuries have healed and there is no sign of brain damage, Mister Teal'c," the Dorei doctor said. "You are going to have a full life yet."
"About as long as we will, anyway," Jack muttered. He frowned at Teal'c. "What happened?"
"I was summoned to Cronus' room," Teal'c said. "When I arrived, he denied sending for me. Before I could inquire further, we were attacked."
"Who?", Jack asked.
"I could not see the attacker."
Daniel asked, "You couldn't see the attacker because you were knocked out or because…?"
"I did not see one at all," Teal'c stated. "And I was not made unconscious on the first blow."
"A personal cloaking device," Lucy murmured. She looked to Robert. "That's what it sounds like."
"Do the Goa'uld have any technology like that?", Robert asked.
"Not that we've seen," Sam replied. She furrowed her brow. "I mean, I suppose it's possible a Goa'uld could have developed one. If it's meant for phase-shifting, they might have made something to fight against the Reetou."
"I suspect accusing an invisible attacker won't work very well." Hammond looked to Simms. "Not unless we find proof. And we can't do that if we let the Goa'uld go."
Clearly the two men had been in discussion on the point. Simms finally nodded slightly, as if in acquiescence. Hammond stepped away to make the necessary calls.
"Is there anything else you can remember, Teal'c?", Jack asked.
"Nothing."
"So we don't have anything to show the Goa'uld," Lucy sighed. "Maybe if I scan the room again.. but no, I'd need stronger sensors than I've got. I'd need the Aurora."
"I doubt the Goa'uld would let me call her in," Robert muttered.
Simms walked away by now, leaving the others alone. Opani finished injecting Teal'c with a hypospray. "That should help with the bruising," she said to him.
"The pain is nothing."
As this discussion continued, Robert felt bothered by something. Teal'c's explanation didn't sound wrong, but he seemed to have left out a thought, or at least something Robert felt he really should have considered. So he leaned in. "Teal'c, why didn't you ask Meridina to accompany you?"
Teal'c looked at him in bewilderment. "I did."
Robert and Lucy stared at him.
"I do not see Commander Meridina," Teal'c continued, looking around the infirmary ward. "Was she seriously harmed?"
"She's okay," Robert said, although now he was wondering about that. "Took a blow to the head."
"Wait." Daniel shook his head. "Meridina said she walked in on you and Cronus fighting."
Teal'c frowned at that. "She has said such?"
"Yeah," Jack said. "So now you're giving us a different story. I bet the Goa'uld will just love that."
"Are you sure Teal'c?", Lucy asked. "Completely sure you were with her?"
"I was with her," Teal'c stated. "Do you not have her gifts? Do you sense deception from me?"
Lucy swallowed. She looked to Robert in intense worry and confusion on her face. "No," she finally said. "And that's what worries me."
"So she lied?", Sam said. "Meridina lied to you?"
"She wouldn't do that," Robert said. "Not intentionally. It doesn't make sense…"
"Maybe the blow to her head muddled her memories of the attack?", Lucy suggested.
"A possibility," said Opani. "I would have to examine her again."
"Well, she's not in her quarters," Lucy said. "And the cameras across the base are down."
The looks on everyone made it clear how suspicious that was.
"Let's go find her." Robert looked to Jack and the others. "You know this place better than we do."
Jack answered with a nod. "Let's find out what's going on here."
"Not just Meridina," Lucy said. Seeing everyone looking her way, she continued. "I wasn't sure, but now I'm starting to think that Nirrti wasn't really trying to save Cronus. She just put in an appearance of trying."
"At this point, I'm up for trying out anything," Jack said. He looked to Sam.
She nodded. "I'll see if it will work for me."
Robert's brow crinkled. He looked at Sam with some confusion. "I thought Goa'uld technology could only be used by Goa'uld?"
"Normally, yes," Samantha said. "But when someone's been a host to one, it leaves markers for the technology to identify. The former host can use the Goa'uld technology."
"Oh." Lucy's look toward Samantha was now one of disbelief and compassion. "You… you were taken as a host for one?"
"I was a host to a Tok'ra for a short while," she explained. "Jolinar."
"The Tok'ra being the good Goa'uld off-shoot, right?'
"Something like that, yes," said Daniel.
"If you're going to do this, Sam, you'd better hurry," Dr. Fraiser said. "Cronus is fading fast."
"I'm going to let Secretary Onaram know about what's going on," Robert said. "And then I'll join the rest of you in looking for Meridina."
Jack nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
The primitive motor vehicles of the Tau'ri annoyed Amaunet. She accessed her host's memories for such conveyances and found them lacking, at least for how Humans used them. She had lost time in getting a firm grasp of driving while working her way off the base.
But now, after some time driving, she had arrived at her destination.
Finding it had been easier. Her host's mental abilities allowed her to view into the minds of the other drivers and query where to go. It led her to a series of "apartment homes". The numbering system was easily followed. She stopped the vehicle in place, shut the machine down, and stepped out of it. She approached the door, colored lightly and with the right number on it. Her host sensed the two minds within and Amaunet grinned.
No, you mustn't!
Amaunet scowled. This host was strong-willed, enough that she still resisted. The symbiote sent a surge of pain into her host's brain to quiet her.
Her host's memories of how Tau'ri interacted prompted Amaunet to knock on the door. There was the faint sound of footsteps inside of the domicile. Each one drove Amaunet's anticipation to new, unexpected heights.
She had planned to enter the home before revealing herself, but her impatience got the better of her. The moment the door opened and her host appeared, she took her host's power and lashed out with it.
Sha're only had time to barely recognize Meridina before invisible force sent her flying back into the home. She crashed into the table behind her, sending items flying to cause more crashing sounds to fill the air.
Amaunet advanced into the house and reached out again with the power, this time to grip Sha're by the throat and hold her up. Sha're's hands went to her neck, trying to find the invisible hand that was starting to choke the life out of her. Her eyes widened with shock and terror.
"Where is the child?!", demanded Amaunet. "Where?! Answer me, slave, or I will rip the life from you as I was ripped from you!"
A cold sensation began to fill Amaunet and her host. It was frightening, and then exhilarating, a voice that told her to avenge herself upon her treacherous former host. To kill Sha're here and now, the first of many she would kill in revenge for the indignity she had suffered.
Let her go!
Her host interfered again. This time with far more power than Amaunet had thought possible for a host to resist with. The power she was using to choke the life from Sha're cut off, causing the woman to drop to her hands and knees on the floor. Amaunet scowled and sent another jolt of pain into her host to make her behave.
"Demon," Sha're gasped. "I won't let you…"
"You have no choice in the matter," Amaunet retorted.
She had intended to resume the killing of her former host. But she held back when she heard the crying coming from deeper within the home. She walked through the domicile, not recognizing half of what she saw, and entered a room with a large comfortable bed - fit for Goa'uld, not slaves - and a smaller bed beside it. The crying led her to the smaller bed. The harcesis was there, screaming, frightened by the sounds of conflict that had awoken him from a sleep.
Amaunet picked up the wailing child. A sharp mental command put the child back into a sleeping state. Amaunet looked to one side and saw what appeared to be a bag, large enough to carry the child with suffocating him. She secured the sleeping baby into the pack and walked back toward the door.
A scream of rage filled the air. Sha're had gotten back to her feet. In her hand she held a sharp steak knife, with which she lunged at Amaunet.
The cold power she'd felt before was still there. Amaunet gave it form, gave it function, and called upon it through her protesting host. She was delighted to see the unnatural lightning rip from her free hand and envelop her former host. Sha're screamed in agony and fell to her knees. Her cries fueled Amaunet's hatred, her need for revenge, and she wanted to run the lightning through her prior host until she was a blackened char.
But she couldn't. They had already caused a commotion, and would be running out of time. She needed to get back to Nirrti with the child so they could escape the SGC.
With more will than it should have taken, Amaunet cut off the attack. Sha're twisted on the ground, groaning in agony, and unable to resist as Amaunet walked on toward the door. The child was still peacefully asleep in the bag slung over her shoulder.
With no sign of Meridina yet, everyone returned to the infirmary in time to see Samantha using the healing device on Cronus. Again golden light reached out from the device and bathed his wounded body with its power.
"It's working," Opani said, watching Cronus' state with her medical scanner. "His vitals are stabilizing."
Several tense seconds passed before Cronus' eyes opened. The Goa'uld appraised his surroundings before focusing on Samantha. "You have saved me," he rumbled.
"Yeah," Samantha replied.
A smirk curled on his face. "I suspect you only did so in order to spare your world."
"Did you see who attacked you?", Jack asked. "It's sort of a big question around here right now."
Cronus snarled at that. "I did not," he announced.
"Well, that's swell," Jack sighed.
"But it wasn't Teal'c, was it?", Robert asked.
"The shol'va may have been in league with the attacker even if he was not responsible," Cronus said. "You must prove who was behind the attack if you wish these negotiations to be completed."
"That leaves one person," Robert said. "We need to find out what's going on with Meridina." He directed his attention to Cronus. "When Teal'c came in, did you see Commander Meridina? Was she with him?"
Cronus considered the question. "I do not recall. She may have been just outside the door when the first blow was struck. I did not see afterward."
The phone in the infirmary rang. Doctor Fraiser was the first to answer it. She turned and looked to them. "Doctor Jackson." She held up the phone. "It's for you."
Daniel was the center of attention as he walked over and took the phone. "Hello?"
Everyone watched his face pale.
When Daniel resumed speaking it was not in English. Abydonian, Robert thought. He could feel Daniel's worry and fear and sheer anger.
When the conversation ended Daniel turned to face them. "Meridina just attacked my home," he said in a grim tone. "She hurt Sha're and took our son."
The idea caught Robert and Lucy entirely by surprise. "...but why would she do that?", Lucy finally asked. "She…"
"I'm sorry." Daniel shook his head. "Your friend isn't herself now. She's been taken by a Goa'uld. Amaunet, actually."
There was a moment of stunned, quiet silence in the infirmary. "Name of the Supreme One, no," Opani swore.
"Amaunet took over Meridina?" Robert shook his head. He remembered that name, the name of the Goa'uld who had been removed from Sha're. "That… how? How could the Goa'uld sneak up on her like that?"
"If she was distracted, maybe," Lucy pointed out.
As she spoke, Robert thought he knew what she was meaning. "The attack on Teal'c and Cronus," he said. "If the attacker was invisible, and got in the first blow on Meridina, she wouldn't have had time to recover."
"Well, finding out the 'how' is nice and all," Jack said. "But right now we've gotten nothing to help finish this case."
"We should probably go," Opani said. She noted where Cronus was starting to sleep. "He'll need his rest."
General Hammond and the two government secretaries present reacted to the news with understandable concern. "Is this not a violation of the protocols by which these negotiations are held?', Onaram asked. Robert could feel the fury radiating from him.
"I'd have to ask Thor," Jack answered. "I'm sure it's got to violate something. I don't know if there's anything the Asgard can do about it, though."
"We can be reasonably certain that it's a Goa'uld behind this," said Hammond. "We need to figure out which one."
"And we need to get my son back," Daniel added.
"Any idea where she would be taking him?", Hammond asked. "She can't think that she can get back in here."
"Maybe she is," Lucy remarked. "She has an invisible conspirator, and on top of that, given what Daniel said about her attack on Sha're, Amaunet is using Meridina's powers as well as her body."
"Yeah, about the powers thing." Jack gestured with his hand. "What is up with that?"
Robert and Lucy looked at each other as they considered what kind of explanation to give. "Well, in the short version without any of the underlying philosophy the Gersallians have built up…", Lucy began.
"...it's basically a method of mind over matter, of a connection to the wider universe," Robert continued. "And it lets you do interesting things. Lift things with your mind."
"Throw bolts of invisible force."
"Win gunfights with swords."
That won them a bunch of quizzical looks from the native Earthers.
"The point is that Amaunet might use Meridina's power to fight her way through your security, if she wants to use the Stargate." Lucy looked at Robert. "I'll go up and face her."
"I'm coming too," Daniel said.
"We have to assume the invisible attacker will strike again as well," Samantha said. "I can bring out the gear we used for finding the Reetou. It might help."
"There's still the matter of finding out which Goa'uld is our guy. Or girl. The only way we save these negotiations is if we have a better suspect for the deed. And fighting invisible saboteurs doesn't lend itself to that.""
Secretary Simms nodded. "Which we're running out of time for, Captain."
Robert didn't need reminding of that. He looked at Jack. "Maybe if you got the Asgard involved again? I mean, one of them took Meridina as a host, that's got to count for something. Direct Asgard intervention…"
Jack shook his head. "Not happening."
"Yeah, the Asgard have that little problem of a threat bigger than the Goa'uld," Daniel noted. "They won't be able to really push their weight."
"Hence the whole bluff…"
The way Jack cut that line off made Robert curious. He turned his head and faced the SG-1 commander. He sensed the shift in Jack's emotions, from bewilderment and frustration to at least a measure of accomplishment.
"Colonel O'Neill?" Hammond gave Jack a slight look.
"Well, if it works for the Asgard," Jack began, "why not let it work for us."
"You mean a bluff," Samantha said.
"Yeah." Jack motioned to the door. "Carter, mind coming with me? I need you to get that gear out of the box and issued to everyone on the level."
"And me?", Robert asked.
"We're going back to the table," said Jack. "Time to bluff with the bad hand."
Amaunet returned to find the base locked down. Armed men at the main gate held up rifles as she brought the motor vehicle to a stop. Amaunet stood from the car with the duffel bag carrying the harcesis to one side.
"Hands on your head, now!", shouted one of the soldiers. Behind them the gate slid to a close.
Amaunet smirked. "I am your god," she declared to them. "Let me pass or suffer my wrath."
"On the ground now! We will open fire!"
Amaunet lashed out with the power of her new host. Energy crackled in the air as lightning erupted from her right hand. Her foes were caught by it before they could attack.her. They screamed, they writhed, and most importantly, they went down.
Amaunet reached deeper into that ever-enveloping dark power and with it she gripped the car she had been driving. A mighty heave with every bit of power she could muster flew through the car and sent it flying into - and through - the gatehouse, which came apart from the force. So did the gate.
Amaunet picked the bag with her sleeping child up and started walking briskly toward the entrance to Cheyenne Mountain.
The two Goa'uld were not happy when escorted back into the conference room. Robert sat near Jack, who welcomed them back in.
"We demand to be released immediately," Nirrti said.
"Of course you do. After all, one of you is responsible for the attack on Cronus." Jack gestured to Robert. "And for putting Amaunet into Captain Dale's security chief."
And that was what did it. For Robert, at least, the sensations he picked up from the two Goa'uld made it clear whom the enemy was. From Yu he felt bewilderment, disbelief, and frustration. From Nirrti it was all of those as well… but with a smidgen of worry as well. A worry she was trying to suppress.
He made sure to add, "The Alliance is issuing a protest with the Asgard, I can assure you. And since this is not Goa'uld territory, and this was done while we were negotiating in good faith, I want to make it clear that I will have her removed from Meridina as soon as it can be arranged."
"These are severe accusations," Nirrti said. "I will have you punished for these lies and threats."
"Oh, they're not lies. But you would be the one to say that, wouldn't you Nirrti?" Jack put his hands on the table. "After all, you're the only one here who has the technology to make someone invisible."
Yu looked at her with surprise. Nirrti snarled. "That is a lie," she declared.
"We talked with the Tok'ra," Jack said. "We know about your program to find ways to fight the Reetou."
"You know nothing!", Nirrti hissed.
Yu slammed his hands on the table. "You dare?!"
Yu saying such might have been worrisome… if he had not been directing that at Nirrti. "You would develop such technology and not share it with the rest of the System Lords?"
"You cannot believe them!", Nirrti shouted.
"You opposed the treaty," Yu said. "You have long coveted Cronus' territories."
"They are…"
"You dare defile our summit with the Asgard!", Yu continued. Clearly he believed her guilty on the weight of the accusation alone. "And to take a host from those we are in negotiation with?"
Before Jack or Robert couldd intercede, the enraged Goa'uld grabbed Nirrti by the throat and began to choke her. She struggled against him for several seconds, trying to force his hands off.
Then her hands went toward her waist. There was a shimmer in the air and Nirrti disappeared in a ripple of air. Yu was thrown away from her, not able to see where the blow was coming from.
The SGC guard in the room readied his weapon, but he had nowhere to fire. An invisible force slammed into him and wrenched the gun from him, strap and all.
Robert focused on that area and raised his hand. Pure power flowed from within, coming from an inner part of him that was always warm and gentle. It came out through his hand in a broad wave of invisible power. There was an audible pair of thumps, one from the guard who had, by necessity, been caught in the wave, the other by the invisible Nirrti.
Within moments it was clear she had rolled with it, however. Robert felt the danger of what was coming surge through him. The gun Nirrti had taken briefly appeared from outside of whatever cloaking device she was using.
"Crap!", Jack called out, jumping on Yu just as she opened fire. Robert dropped to the floor. "You okay?", Jack asked him.
"Fine. You?"
"I am unharmed," the Goa'uld answered.
Jack flashed a small grin Robert's way. He knew that had been intended for him.
They scrambled back to their feet. "Carter's already waiting for her," Jack said. "She'll have our gear for stopping Reetous, Nirrti isn't going anywhere."
Robert nodded. He reached out with his power at the moment to sense for Nirrti. He could feel frustration, fear, and a deep tingle of anger winding through it.
"She won't get far," Jack promised.
Robert was about to answer when he felt something cold and dark brush against his being. It was not a familiar sensation personally, but he had listened to Lucy describe her experiences and could guess what it was; darkness. Pure darkness.
"She's not our biggest problem now," Robert told Jack. "Amaunet is."
"Oh?"
"I can feel her," Robert continued. "The way she's using Meridina's power, it's… it's wrong. It's dark. She's killing your people with it."
Jack frowned at that. "Anything we can do about it?"
"I don't know. Meridina's… well… she's powerful."
"You mean that whole 'win gunfights with a sword' thing?"
"Yeah." Robert nodded. "I think Lucy and I are the only ones who can take her down. If you guys can get Nirrti, we'll get Amaunet."
"Sounds like a plan," Jack agreed.
WIth the arrival of another guard team for Yu, they went their separate ways.
The lift doors opened and Amaunet stepped out from amidst the bodies and unconscious forms of the SGC personnel who had been in the lift. The harcesis, still in a state of sedation, remained thankfully quiet.
She had intended to begin sabotaging everything she could find before linking up with Nirrti and leaving. Now she wanted to destroy everything here, to send a signal of defiance and rage to her enemies by slaughtering as many as she could before leaving.
Two figures stepped out forward out of the nearby corridor. Amaunet snarled at the sight of them.
Daniel was glaring harshly at Amaunet. He glanced over to see where Lucy was looking at her teacher and friend with a neutral, yet determined, expression. "You shouldn't be here," she said to Daniel. "This isn't a fight you can help with."
"She's got my son. She hurt Sha're."
Amaunet snickered, a sinister sound that was so unnatural to Meridina that it further clarified the horror of what was being done to her. "The child is mine. Meant for a purpose far beyond anything you could imagine." Amaunet raised Meridina's arm and looked at it. Lucy noted with horror the power crackling around her hand. When she looked at them, Meridina's blue eyes had become yellow.
Just like mine did…
It wasn't electricity that shot from her hand, though, but force. Force that grabbed them both by the throat and lifted them in the air. Daniel began to choke at the pressure crushing his windpipe.
Lucy, meanwhile, was focusing on countering with her own power. Meridina had taught her how to focus like that, how to save herself from such a grip. Through the pain and the labored breathing of her own gasping lungs, Lucy forced her focus onto the power gripping her and challenged it with her own.
The gripping force faded. Lucy and Daniel dropped back to the floor, gasping for air. Daniel was barely moving; Lucy forced herself back to her feet while breathing hard. Her hand went to her waist and pulled her lakesh from its clipped place on her belt. Her finger slipped over the activation key.
No sooner did the memory metal blade finish forming than Amaunet's hand stretched out. Lightning erupted from it, crackling at them. Lucy put her lakesh in the way, intercepting the lightning. She could feel the unnatural energies snapping at her, wanting to drain the very life from her, but she held on against them to keep Daniel safe as he recovered.
"You are strong, I see," Amaunet said, giving Meridina's voice an unnatural bass distortion. "But this host is stronger. She knows all of your failures and mistakes. Even now I feel all of the times you have frustrated and disappointed her. You are no match for her power, for my power."
Lucy kept her weapon ready. "Whatever," she said. "You might be controlling Meridina's body, but you're not her. You don't know how to use the power right. You don't know what it can do."
Amaunet snarled at her and reached for her belt. She had recovered Meridina's lakesh after the base lockdown had ended. The blade flowed into existence with the snap of a switch.
For several seconds neither did anything.
And then, in a single moment, their blades clashed. The duel was on.
Robert was running toward the sense of darkness he was feeling from Amaunet when he felt the attack start to come. He rolled to one side in time to avoid the bullets, which instead sent sparks flying from hitting the wall behind him. He scrambled up to all fours and crawled along, focusing to see if he could feel where the attack was coming from.
Once he was generally sure of it, he turned slightly and sent a wave of energy toward that direction. He heard a distant thump. That caused him to scramble to his feet. His power molded at his will to form a shield of invisible energy in front of him.
Fire came down on him again and he nearly lost his protection from the power he was being hit with. If not for Meridina's strenuous training, he likely would have had his field pop like a bubble. And then he would have been shot. Repeatedly.
Just as it was becoming too much Robert slammed into something. There was a distorted cry and a thump. He gripped into nothingness until, as he expected, he felt the hot metal of an assault rifle recently fired. He wrapped his fingers around it and pulled to yank it free.
An unseen fist slammed into his shoulder with enough force that Robert thought it might have been broken. He lost his grip on the weapon. A second blow hit him in the side of the head. Stars and colors exploded in his vision. There were more gunshots and, with his head spinning, he couldn't tell if it was aimed at him or not.
By the time he recovered he looked up to see a large hand lower toward him. He reached for it and found he was looking into Teal'c's face as he was brought to his feet. His head still spun a little from the blow. "Thanks," he said, only now noticing Jack was with Teal'c.
"You are welcome," Teal'c stated stoically. He motioned toward the next hall. "I believe the Goa'uld went this way."
"Before we go further." Jack took Robert's hand. Robert felt the weight of something settle into his palm. He realized it was a pulse pistol. "From the goodies you left us last year," Jack explained. "Figured you'd like a weapon."
"You figured right," Robert said. He concentrated for a moment, not just to clear his head but to get a feel for what was going on. He could feel Lucy now, carefully confident and determined, and the dark power he'd sensed before. "I believe Lucy got to Amaunet first. We need to take out Nirrti before those two link up."
"Teal'c?"
The Jaffa nodded to Jack. And with him in the lead, they went after Nirrti.