Stargate SG-1: Trial by Fire: SG1-1 (32 page)

"Daniel, are you sure you're alright? You look like hell."

"Gee, thanks." His endeavor to smile did not succeed. "I'm
fine. I just wish I knew what set off Tertius back there. Whatever
it was, his countrymen might have the same allergic -"

"Baal," said Professor Kelly.

"What?'

"Always provided you managed to relay the conversation
accurately, Jackson, your gung-ho friend told you to kill their
supreme deity." The Professor straightened her stance somewhat
and proceeded to lecture. "Mithraism is derived from early
Zoroastrianism, and when that was imported into Mesopotamia,
the Babylonians refined the belief system, which included -"

"Professor!" snapped Major Carter, strangely reminiscent of
O'Neill. "Are you saying that they believe Baal is a god?"

"Well, dearie, that depends on

"Yes or no?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Professor. Nobody mention Baal. Let's go!"

Approximately ten minutes later they reached the bounds of a
sheltered pebble beach. Dim figures were moving purposefully in
the shadows of the trees inland. They had not lit a fire, and that
was as it should be. Teal'c could discern the noises of men getting
ready for battle. Murmured conversation, the muted clink of metal,
the rasp of leather straps on armor. He also heard something else,
much nearer to their position. It was good to know that these
people were wary.

"Major Carter," he whispered. "I recommend we proceed into
the open. Our approach has been detected."

Moonlight briefly gleamed on her hair as she nodded and stepped out onto the beach. "Daniel?"

"Pax vobiscum," he called, following her. "Amici Tertii
sum us."

Peace be with you. We are friends of Tertius, Teal'c translated
silently, pleased that he had not lost his grasp of the language.

Mere yards away, four men emerged from the seam of the
forest. They were dressed in Roman apparel, carried their swords
drawn, and mustered the intruders. Predictably, they noted both
staff weapon and tattoo.

One of them spat. "Jaffa est!"

"Apud Goa'uld non iam servit. Videte!" Daniel Jackson raised
his hand so that the harsh white glow of the moons caught on the
ring. "Flavium quaerimus."

If his assurances that this Jaffa no longer served the Goa'uld
failed to merit the men's belief, the ring and the announcement
that they wished to find Flavius sufficed. Slowly the swords were
lowered, though not yet sheathed. Three of the warriors inspected
Major Carter with considerable curiosity and some amusement; a
fourth hung back in the shadows. A craggy-faced soldier elected
himself spokesman for his compatriots.

"You're not Tyrean, but you don't belong to us either. How do
you know of Flavius?"

"Oh for goodness' sakes! Stop playing cat and mouse!" The
Professor stabbed a plump finger at the man who had remained
half-hidden. "That's him! We've met before!"

"So we have, Domina."

Flavius stepped into a pool of moonlight and bowed graciously.
He was a young man, slight of build; not a warrior but rather
reminiscent of a species of professional the Tauri referred to
as accountant. Professor Kelly stared at him with undisguised
annoyance.

"You might have told me that you speak English!"

"Why bother when you speak Latin?" he asked, a trace of
mirth warming a cool voice. "Besides, feigned ignorance is a
useful tool."

Indeed. O'Neill wielded it with commendable prowess.

Resuming his scrutiny of SG-1, the man observed, "You're the ones Deodatus spoke of, aren't you? His team?"

"Who?" snapped Major Carter.

The Professor produced the horse-like noise she was so fond
of. "Colonel O'Neill. It's what they call him. Deodatus."

"That's the Latin form of his name. I bet he was thrilled." For
the briefest of moments a smile ghosted across Daniel Jackson's
face, then he sobered. "We need to talk."

"Yes, we must. Please come with me."

Over bunches of dried seaweed, driftwood, and crackling
shingle Flavius led them to the stand of cedars that concealed
the troops. These warriors were indeed ready for battle. They sat
quietly, whetting swords and daggers already sharp, tightening
bow strings, waiting for marching orders to come. The sense of
anticipation hanging over them was so strong that they barely
acknowledged the newcomers. Only two rose at their approach.
These two, the Jaffa assumed, were leaders of other Phrygian
settlements.

The introductions were complicated and assumed a now
familiar pattern. Assurances were given, the ring was produced,
and Flavius added what he had learned; Deodatus held himself
honored to call this Jaffa his friend. A secret surge of joy
notwithstanding, Teal'c yearned for the simple faith the Tyreans
had shown. It might have hastened matters.

No sooner than everyone had settled in a circle on the ground,
chary and out of earshot of the troops, a further difficulty arose.
The elder of the two Phrygian commanders voiced his disapproval
at the female presence.

"Illa res naulieres non attingit."

"Thirty-nine," Professor Kelly muttered glumly.

"What?" muttered Major Carter.

"Commodus, perhaps we should make an exception in this
case," Flavius proposed. "She is a tribune and the deputy of
Deodatus."

"She's a woman!" bellowed Commodus. "How can she be a
tribune?"

Before anyone had an opportunity to elucidate or interfere, the
Professor hopped to her feet, a short, rotund figure in ill-fitting robes. Fists propped on hips, she scowled at the Phrygian men.

"Will you be reasonable? We've got more important things to
do than sit here and discuss who can or can't do what. Now, I
may not be much use for anything apart from digging around
ruins, but that girl'll have the lot of you for breakfast if you don't
watch it! Do you know who she is?" Evidently they did not and,
judging from the expression on Professor Kelly's face, neither did
she. Her confusion was short-lived, however. "She's an Amazon
queen! Where I come from, whole armies are afraid of them!"

Among incredulous stares she resumed her seat, still scowling.
The Amazon queen groaned, barely audibly over the hiss of the
surf, and Daniel Jackson shivered with suppressed laughter.
Teal'c was happy to see it. Of their would-be allies, Commodus,
the man who had objected to Major Carter's presence, was the
first to regain his composure.

"An Amazon, old woman? If she is an Amazon, then why does
she still have both breasts? Don't they tear off the one so that they
can draw their bows without impediment?"

Blushing so fiercely that it was discernible even in the stark
moonlight, Major Carter raised her P90. "Because we exchanged
our bows for these. See this?"

She pointed at the broken branch of a cedar, some ninety feet
above their heads. Necks craned obligingly as the men looked for
the target. Silhouetted by the triple moons, the branch swayed
gently in the night wind. She did not bother to rise. In one smooth
motion she unsafed her weapon, took aim, and fired a single round.
Birds exploded from the tree, screeching and fluttering madly, and
the branch snapped into the air. By some strange quirk of physics,
the dry piece of wood tumbled directly into Commodus' lap.

"Any more questions?" Major Carter enquired lightly.

"Yes!" Flavius' face had drained of color. "If you have such
weapons, why did you not stop the attack on our garrison? You
could have prevented a hundred deaths!"

Hostility and suspicion, which had never been wholly
dispersed, condensed like a cloud of thunder waiting to erupt
above the placid beach. Teal'c resisted an impulse to leap up and
clasped his staff weapon a little tighter, realizing even so that they would not stand a chance should any of these men summon
their troops to attack. He recalled his own failure in tracking the
Temple Guards who had been dispatched to cause the avalanche,
and he could relate to Flavius' outrage.

"We didn't have all the facts," Daniel Jackson said quietly.
"Without sufficient information we couldn't become involved,
because we didn't know whether intervention would have been
for the best. Right or wrong, sometimes it seems -" The young
man's voice caught and dwindled to a raw whisper. "Sometimes
it seems necessary not to act."

He scrubbed a hand over his face as though to swipe away
the turmoil of confusion and guilt these incongruous words had
stirred once more. Major Carter glanced at him curiously and then
shook her head, reining in her concern and reminding herself that
queries would have to wait.

"Look," she said. "One thing Daniel neglected to mention just
now was that we didn't really feel all that charitable, seeing that
you'd kidnapped our people. But we're here now. I can't blame
you for not wanting to take us up on it, and I know it won't bring
your people back, but we're here to help. And with or without
you we're gonna try and get Colonel O'Neill... Deodatus... and
Tertius and as many children as possible out of there before it's
too late. With you it'll be easier, and we'll save more lives. We
may even be able to arrange a peace between you and the Tyreans.
It's up to you. So I suggest you drop the attitude, tell me what
you've planned, and then we'll tell you what we know. After that
we put both together and see where it gets us. Agreed?"

The three Phrygians looked at each other, then at her. Finally,
slowly, Flavius nodded.

"Agreed."

An excruciating three hours later, Major Samantha Carter
AKA Queen of the Amazons hauled herself over the edge of the
temple roof, still not knowing if that chauvinist fossil Commodus
would do what he'd consented to do. The plan had largely been
hers, which automatically rendered it suspect. She'd had COs like
that. Oddly enough, past experience didn't make it any easier to stomach.

"Screw him," she muttered.

After all, you could hardly blame the guy. He lived in a society
that actually believed in this kind of crap... Same as she.

Sam grinned and pulled a black watch cap over her hair.

Then she began crawling across the roof and toward the inner
edge. Kelly had told them that she and the Colonel had spotted
the Phrygians up here the night of the raid. A lesson to remember,
especially as two of the moons still stood high enough to make life
difficult. Sam's left elbow slipped in something soft and viscous,
and an acrid stink assaulted her nose. Bird droppings. Great. The
place was a guano farm! Another bit to remember. Should she
develop an urge to run flat-out across the roof, she'd better watch
her step, else she'd land flat on her face. Or the opposite end.

Behind her she could hear muted scrabbling now. A group
of fifteen Phrygian archers and Teal'c. No. No way she'd hear
Teal'c - not unless he wanted her to. As a matter of fact, she'd
have preferred to have him on the ground, but the risk of his being
recognized was far too high. Besides, a staff weapon fired from
an elevated position could work wonders for crowd control.

And they'd need that. Holy cow!

Her head mere inches over the parapet, she peered down into
the courtyard. The place was packed, and more people were still
pushing through the temple gate. Creeping through the forest,
they'd seen the throngs of faithful milling up the road like fans
flocking to a rock concert, but somehow she hadn't expected it
to be that bad. Once the show got underway, collateral damage
would be preprogrammed. But the alternative was abandoning
the kids and Colonel O'Neill. Wonderful choice!

She swore under her breath and kept watching, hoping she'd
be able to spot Daniel, who was down there with Flavius and the
slightly less antediluvian Phrygian commander, all of them kitted
out in Tyrean robes. Currently they were escorting Kelly, who'd
volunteered to find Ayzebel. Hamilqart's wife had promised to
mobilize a group of women who also had lost sons and to create
as much chaos as possible once the curtain went up. Sam figured
that the good Professor was ideally posted with them; Kelly on her own could create more chaos than a whole regiment of angry
mothers. For the moment, however, she remained invisible, hidden
under a veil they'd forced on her and blending in with a few
hundred people also wearing cloaks and veils and headscarves.

From the corner of her eye Sam noticed the archers fanning
out along the parapet. Good. Then a presence, sleek and silent
like a large jungle cat, settled next to her. She really hadn't heard
him coming.

"Hi, Teal'c," she whispered, smiling. "Everything okay?"

"So far everything is proceeding as planned. Even the rogue
elements." He pointed across the yawning gap of the courtyard
and to the opposite roof.

Barely visible against the dark wall of the forest, you could
see shadows moving left and right of the tower. Commodus, with
another thirty archers. Well, at least he was in position.

"Have you seen O'Neill yet?" her friend asked next.

If she didn't know him so well, she would have missed the
distress in his voice. It mirrored her own, and she couldn't afford
to dwell on it. The Colonel couldn't afford to have her dwell on
it.

"No. But it won't be long now."

It couldn't be, provided her assumptions and the information
she'd based them on were correct. Unlike the Purification, the
children's `initiation' wasn't for public consumption, and for
good reason. The populace might object to watching their kids
die. In other words, the temple had to be cleared by sunrise, which
was when the sacrifice was supposed to begin. Sunrise was in
approximately two-and-a-half hours. They were cutting it fine...
Or maybe Baal was stuck in a traffic jam...

Commotion erupted below, and for a second Sam feared that
Kelly had snapped into action without waiting for the starter's
gun. In actual fact it was a gang of forty-odd acolytes, armed with
torches, who formed a cordon and none too gently drove the crowd
back from the front of the tower. The giant gates stood open, and
Sam could see the statue inside, golden and malignant. In front
of the steps an area of some fifty meters square had been cleared
now, acolytes posted along the perimeter to prevent another invasion. She absently registered an oddity in the geometry of the
pavement. The court was paved with honeycombed flagstones.
The only exception were two round tiles, hardly more than a foot
across and at about twelve meters distance from each other. Both
were enclosed by a much wider, seamless ring of stone. It looked
like a pair of pale eyes staring up at her. Kandaulo's eyes...