#4 in the Life's Little Problems Series
Color Outside the Lines
A Little!Danny fic by: Maj. Cliffhanger
Want to discuss a correction, make a suggestion or just drop a comment? E-Mail Me
Part 29
It wasn't fair, Jason decided. Danny and Col. Carter had stuff to do. Dr. Lee was doing something. Danny's general uncle, had gone off to help their friends on another planet... Only Jason didn't have anything to do!
He was bored.
He'd given up hitting Dr. Lee. It was no fun if the other guy didn't feel anything. Col. Carter didn't like it when he started wandering around trying to touch other things. Like he could really hurt himself or something! Even the general guy who'd left knew better. He'd said that was one of the reasons he could go to that other planet in the first place; because no matter what happened, he couldn't get hurt.
But Col. Carter still didn't want him wandering around and told him to sit down and just be patient. She said she knew it was hard but that they'd get it figured out as soon as they could.
She didn't know anything!
This was stupid. He plucked at his shoelace, pushing the long end down into the floor and then using his foot to pull it back out. He wondered if it was gravity that caused the resistance he felt? He'd watched a Discovery Channel special a while ago that said everything had 'mass' and that gravity and mass were related somehow, so maybe it was gravity that was holding his shoe string in the floor and not just friction.
He knew all about friction. They were building mini-gravity racers in science and in order to make them fast they had to reduce friction with them.
"Okay, Merlin is talking about the Ancients here," Danny suddenly piped up. "Apparently they wanted to stop him. He was working on something they didn't like but he refused to listen. He says 'they are blind to the danger.'"
"'They're blind'?" Carter repeated with a confused frown.
Jason found himself listening despite the fact that he really didn't want to. It wasn't like they were going to explain anything if he asked something. He kicked his heel into the cement floor and wiggled it around, ignoring the cold chills that passed up his leg. Neither Carter nor Danny were paying any attention to him anyway, and Dr. Lee couldn't see him.
"Are you sure it doesn't say they're the ones who thought he was blind?" Carter asked, "seeing as they're the ones who wanted to stop him?"
"No," Daniel decided firmly. "He's saying they're blind. That they are fools not to recognize the danger." He turned back to her. "I think he's talking about the Ori."
"The Ori are blind?" she asked, confused.
Jason rolled his eyes, already knowing that wasn't what Danny had meant. Why didn't adults ever listen?
"No," Danny answered with an exaggerated sigh. "The Ori are the danger the Ancients are blind to! I think he was working on something to defeat them."
"You mean like a weapon?"
He nodded and reached out to turn the page again. "I think so."
* * *
"What!" Ba'al was less-than-pleased, but the beautiful and cunning woman on the long range viewer managed to offer only a mild wince in the face of his anger.
"According to our mole, they were found and rescued last night," she continued calmly. "The other boy did not handle gate travel well and was sedated. Both children were kept in the infirmary overnight for observation and were released this morning. However, sometime before noon local time, they disappeared. Security is sweeping the base for both, as well as Lt. Col. Samantha Carter. Apparently she was supposed to be watching them."
Ba'al offered the information an irritated scowl. Typical incompetence. He'd practically handed the children back to the Tauri gift wrapped and in less than twenty-four hours they'd managed to lose them again!
Charlotte raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "I take it from your reaction, this wasn't another move on our part I was unaware of?"
He shifted his attention back to the lovely blond who was currently his second in command on Earth. Apparently she was in a bit of a snit because he hadn't told her his plans when he snatched young Daniel Jackson and his little friend. No matter. He wasn't in the habit of keeping his minions informed of all his doings - even one as highly placed as she.
'Trust' was an ironic name for the organization he'd subverted to his own designs.
Actually ... he rather enjoyed her unmistakable ire. It was an obvious weakness to be exploited. He tucked the information away and allowed a small unamused smile in answer. "No," he replied simply.
Her mouth narrowed slightly but she managed to mask her irritation otherwise.
He didn't care if she was irritated or not, as long as she did what she was told.
Her demeanor remained carefully correct as she continued, though he knew perfectly well her mind raced with a scathing comment or two. "Our man is attempting to gain further information, however I've warned him not to endanger his position again the way he did when acquiring Dr. Jackson's medical files."
Ba'al nodded sagely, having recovered from his initial shock and analyzed the situation. "Wise," he decided. "Especially given that the disappearance is an obvious ruse."
Charlotte's eyes snapped in surprise, causing him to smile even more. She, like so many others of her ilk, was hopelessly vain. Such beauty had its price. The smallest trace of emotion was clearly displayed in her clear blue eyes and the smooth porcelain planes of her lovely face for anyone who knew how to see it.
She was an open book to him.
He graced his beautiful, if somewhat slow, assistant with a knowing smile. "I managed to snatch both boys up in broad daylight right from under their noses," he reminded her. "Literally."
His grin grew, imagining O'Neill's shocked reaction as he realized what had happened and just how easily the mighty SGC defenses had been brushed aside. Too bad the situation had precluded his being able to witness it.
He turned his attention back to matters at hand. "I'm quite certain they have the Odyssey monitoring Daniel Jackson's location 24/7. If he's on Earth, they know perfectly well where he is. Or off-world for that matter." He shrugged. "At the moment, his location is ultimately unimportant. Whatever game the SGC seeks to play will dissolve like so much mist in the morning sun once I've proven my ability to reverse the Ori attack on him."
"And have you?" Charlotte asked bluntly. "Proven it, that is."
He chuckled, wondering if she knew how lucky she was to be on Earth and so far out of his reach? She would not have dared such a thinly veiled challenge were they in the same room together.
"Soon, my dear," he answered obliquely. He allowed his eyes to flash in irritation so she might know the line she walked despite his smile. "Soon...."
* * *
Damn his stupid wrist. Cam felt useless. He hated not having anything to do in situations like this, but he hated it even more when he had nothing to do because he'd been injured. Uninjured, he'd have been out there with Teal'c, hunting whomever or whatever had slaughtered these people. Or at least helping MacKenzie patch up Hiakon and Conway. Or been able to help Hadden move the last of the bodies to the caves. But no. He was injured and he couldn't do any of that. Instead, he had to sit here, out on the porch, on guard duty.
Okay, it was needful duty; he knew that. It had been his decision afterall. They still didn't know exactly what had happened here. The bad guys could always come calling again.
None of that made sitting here any easier to accept.
He really hoped Haikon would come around soon. They needed some answers. The idea that one man had done all of this was just too far fetched for his brain to wrap around. Evidence might point to only one attacker, but he knew there had to be something else going on here. And Volnek... Well, he was a bit of a stubborn cuss and Cam would never go so far as to call him a friend, unlike his brother--
Damn. Had Volnek killed Jolan, his own brother? It had been Jolan who taught Cam to fight like the Sodan, who'd patched him up and prepared him for Kel'shakq'lo, the Sodan ritual fight to the death, and then who'd helped him fake his death and escape.... Jolan had loved his brother, and he was pretty sure Volnek felt the same way. For the two to turn on each other was just wrong. So wrong! But Cam knew Jolan would have defended his people, even from his brother.
And he would have been among the first to fall if Volnek really was behind all of this.
"Col. Mitchell?" MacKenzie suddenly called him from inside.
Cam quickly climbed to his feet and, after giving the surrounding countryside and blasted village another scan, made his way back around the corner and into the impromptu infirmary they'd set up. Hadden had returned only a few minutes earlier and stood up as Cam entered. MacKenzie was kneeling beside Conway but nodded toward Haikon. "He's waking up."
Finally! Cam quickly moved to kneel beside the Sodan leader's pallet and rested his hand on the stirring man's shoulder. "Haikon?"
Dark eyes shadowed with pain blinked up at him once again and focused. "You're still here," he sighed, wincing as he tried to sit up.
"Easy!" Cam pushed him gently back down. "We're safe. At least for now. You think you can tell us something more of what happened here maybe? You said something about Volnek before...."
Haikon settled back and shook his head in despair. The story came out in bits and pieces.
Apparently the trouble had started over a week ago when Volnek went to a neighboring world to get supplies. On the way back to the Stargate, he'd been stopped by a Prior.
Damn. Cam had known they had to be involved someway.
The Prior had claimed that the Sodan had committed 'unforgivable treason' against the Ori and had promised 'great ill' would befall them. Then planted his staff.
Yeah, Cam had a good idea what that 'great ill' was...
Haikon then talked about Volnek's return. They'd taken the threat seriously but weren't prepared for the attack when it came. As Haikon had already told them, it came from Volnek. That damn Prior had done something to him.
For a second, Cam's blood had run cold. Haikon was describing something that sounded too damn much like a new Prior plague of some kind: Volnek becoming irrational, incoherent and literally frothing at the mouth. He'd fought them to the point they'd had to restrain him. Then yesterday - though Cam wasn't entirely sure Haikon was fully aware of the true passage of time - he'd broken his bonds and gone crazy.
"Our finest warriors attempted to subdue him, but he killed them all with very little effort. He then turned on everyone in sight," Haikon explained, confirming Cam's worst fears. "His own brother, Jolan, was killed in the carnage that followed. Women and children fled to the woods. Volnek followed them and slaughtered them all without mercy."
The sound of a heavy boot on the porch had Cam and Hadden both spinning in place and bringing their weapons up, and MacKenzie reaching for his.
Haikon was fading again and didn't even notice. "To the best of my knowledge ... I am the only one to have survived," he sighed sadly.
Teal'c suddenly appeared, and paused momentarily to allow those within to sigh in relief and lower their weapons. "Not true, Haikon," he claimed as he moved forward again, coming to kneel at the Sodan leader's side. "I found evidence of several women and children who fled south. One of the group, a young man, succeeded in getting Volnek to follow him away from the others. He attempted an ambush well away from them but failed. I too engaged Volnek and failed, but have managed to draw him yet further away from those who fled. At least for the moment, his attention is focused elsewhere."
Hadden frowned at Teal'c's shoulder. "You're injured."
"It is a light wound," he answered dismissively.
A desperate hand suddenly gripped Teal'c's forearm even as it's owner struggled to stay conscious. "You must go!" the Sodan leader begged them. "Find those who fled and escape while you still can!"
"Escape is impossible," Teal'c advised him. "Volnek has removed one of the control crystals from the Eye of the Gods. We must instead destroy Volnek before he kills again."
Haikon was shaking his head in despair. "Nothing can stop..."
"We have seen this evil before, Haikon," Teal'c told him firmly. "It can be stopped."
"We have?" Cam asked, wracking his brain for a mission report that would fit.
"On Earth," Teal'c answered. "Two years ago. Col. O'Neill, Dr. Jackson and Dr. Lee all described something very similar to what I just saw."
"The Honduras mission!" Cam exclaimed, realizing immediately what Teal'c was talking about. "When Tel'chak's device turned that one guy into a zombie!"
"Zombie?!" Hadden echoed in surprise. Apparently, he hadn't read that mission report.
"Freaky walking-undead guy?" Cam supplied. "Some CIA Agent Burke or something had to shoot him with a grenade round to stop him, but even zombies don't get back up and walk around again after being blown into thousands of tiny red meaty bits."
Hadden winced slightly at the less-than-politically-correct description - even if he knew it was accurate. "So, we got to blow him up?" he asked simply.
"Indeed," Teal'c answered.
"'Cept we don't have any grenade rounds with us," Cam noted.
"Claymores," Hadden replied in verbal short-hand. "Plant two of them facing each other and run a trip wire between them."
Yeah.... A bit over-kill, maybe, but it would get the job done. Cam nodded. "All we got to do then is lure him through the trap."
Hadden chuckled and shook his head. "You make it sound easy!"
Cam answered his chuckle with a smile of his own. "If I'd wanted easy Major, I'd have never joined Stargate Command."