Archive of Our Own ^beta

The heat of the sun beat down on Daniel's shoulders as he unscrewed the cap from his canteen and drank. In many ways, this 'holiday' was similar to his day job. With one vital exception -- the sun was familiar, and the desert was in Egypt. Jack had argued that going to a dig site was no vacation, but for Daniel, the familiarity of this desert was more relaxing than any spa resort.

Resealing the canteen, Daniel hoped Jack was having as much fun at his five star hotel as he was in these ruins. But any further comparisons on holiday destinations were cut short by a shout from the beta plot. Pulling his favourite slouch hat lower to shield his eyes from the glare, Daniel joined the flow of archeologists and grad students that were converging on the meticulously mapped area of the ruins. Pushing to the front of the small group, he saw Nadia Kazinsky eagerly outlining the visuals of her latest find for the omnipresent tape deck that was the tool in trade for any serious field researcher.

Moving around to see if he could get a better view of this latest discovery, Daniel couldn't help but smile at Nadia's infectious enthusiasm for her work. A few years older than he, she entered the doctoral program a year after he did, and despite the hectic pace of a grad students' life, and their often conflicting schedules, they had still managed to develop a kind of friendship. Well, if he were perfectly honest, Nadia had decided they were going to be friends, and he had just let himself get taken along for the ride. That was the kind of person she was.

She also wore her heart on her sleeve, and it had been painfully obvious that her invitation for him to join this dig was her attempt to get him 'back in the game,' so to speak. His commitments to the Stargate program didn't leave a lot of spare time to write academic treatise on the nature of pottery-making in the 9th dynasty, or whatever research focus was the flavour of the week with his esteemed colleagues in the archeological community. How could he write for their journals, anyway, when every assumption they based their works on were patently false?

He had accepted her invitation anyway. It was either digging in the sands of Egypt for two weeks, or having Jack pester him into building sandcastles on the beaches of Florida. He watched as the large pottery fragment was gingerly lifted from its sandy grave, to be bagged, tagged and stored for later analysis. Yes, despite that recent debacle with Steven and Osiris, Egypt was still one of his favourite places to be.

On Earth, at least.

~##~

"This site has been incredibly rich in finds, Nadia. I'm surprised the original surveys didn't pick up on the wealth of artifacts here."

Nadia shrugged and rose to return her plate for scrubbing in the camp kitchen. "Well, considering the date of the original expedition, it's not that surprising. After all, we wouldn't have found even half of what we have already if we didn't have the ground penetrating sonar. That noisy little gun has been a godsend." She smiled warmly at the little cliché that encircled her around the table. Nadia and her team had already been onsite for a week when Daniel arrived, but he had been impressed by the scope of their discoveries to date. A quick check of the artifacts to make sure they were post-Goa'uld occupation, and he had settled in to his role of the kooky professor pottering around the site and making himself useful wherever he could.

As he had expected, word of mouth soon enlightened those too young to know of his reputation in the field. But after that scene with Jack at the wake in Los Angeles, he found that the little stares and conspiratorially whispers no longer really bothered him. If that was the price to be paid for being a part of the Stargate, then so be it. He had even found himself teasing the younger members of the dig, playing on expectations.

Jack would be so proud.

Nadia affected the air of one oblivious to the whispers, but Daniel knew she was aware of the rumours. Beneath the bubbly, valley girl exterior was a mind like a steel trap and the observational skills of a trained scientist. She had yet to confess as to her ulterior motive for getting Daniel on the dig, but he was sure that that particular conversation was in his near future.

Around him, the conversation splintered along specialties and interests as the group began discussing the day's finds, and their anticipations for tomorrows discoveries. He sat back with a mug of truly awful coffee and let the different conversations flow over him, enjoying the pursuit of knowledge for knowings sake, not for tactical advantage, or to save a people, or destroy an enemy. He was not in fatigues, there was no gun on his hip, nobody calling him 'sir.' Sighing, he felt muscles relaxing for the first time in years.

Needless to say, everything went straight to hell in a handbasket.

A shout from outside was their only warning, then the tent flaps were wrenched open. Men in worn fatigues with a panopoly of weapons herded the few dig members not already in the mess into the tent. Screams and shouts from the archeologists drowned out the instructions yelled in Arabic.

Daniel put down his coffee cup and tried to stay calm. "SILENCE!" He bellowed in a parade ground voice he had developed after being babysat by the Marine's. Even the gun-toting interlopers shut up for a moment. The stunned silence hung in the air for an uneasy moment. Grabbing the opportunity with both hands, Daniel turned to the uniform that seemed in charge.

"Who are you and what do you want?" He snapped in Arabic, hopefully conveying sufficient disdain to keep the uniform off balance.

The uniform identified himself, naming one of several terrorist militias that were active in the region. He thought that this lot were a bit south of their normal stomping grounds, but then again, he had spent a large proportion of the past half decade off the planet, so it was unsurprising he was out of touch with the local political climate. "We are assuming control of this site. You will cooperate, obeying any orders given to you or your colleagues, and will not hinder our activities in any way. There will be no communications out until further notice. Cooperate and nobody gets hurt." The uniform hitched his weapon in emphasis. Daniel was unfazed. He had fought real bad guys before, and he knew these guys were just playing. Unfortunately, they were probably playing with live ammunition, and would almost certainly have no qualms about hurting a Westerner or seven.

He needed to defuse this situation, and fast, before someone said or did something to antagonize the guys with guns.

Nadia rose and moved to where Daniel was standing. "You can't do this!" She told the leader angrily. Silently, Daniel cursed. Nadia had just inadvertently thrown down the gauntlet to the militia commander.

"We already have, woman." He thrust the muzzle of his weapon into her face. "So shut up and don't cause any trouble." Gesturing with the weapon, he pushed Nadia and Daniel back towards where the rest of the dig team were cowering. "We have orders to recover certain objects which you have illegally tried to remove from Egyptian soil."

"We have papers," Nadia replied hotly in her heavily accented Arabic.

The leader smirked. "Not from my superiors, you don't..." The leader trailed off as a subordinate ducked under the tent flap. A hastily whispered conference and the leader was back. "You are hiding objects. Where are they?"

Nadia's fear was overcoming her anger. "Everything we're recovered has been catalogued and placed in the storage tent..."

The leader backhanded her smartly. Daniel leapt to defend her, but was pushed down at the point of their rifles. "Very well," Leader drawled slowly. "We will kill one of you for every hour you do not tell us what we want to know." Turning his back, Leader snapped off orders to place guards, and to begin searching the campsite.

Daniel waited until Leader was gone. There was one guard on the inside of the tent flap. He had caught sight of another guard outside. Then there was the leader and his lieutenant. At least four, more likely twice that number. Pausing only to check that Nadia was okay, he turned and sought out the few who were outside when the ambush began.

"Chris, Sally, Edo. How many soldiers did you see?"

Sally shook her head, obviously in a state of shock. Chris tried to answer. "Umm, at least six, maybe seven."

"Including the one's that came inside?"

"Yeah."

Okay, seven trained militiamen, armed and on alert, against two dozen scared and unprepared archeologists.

He could do this. He had to. Otherwise people would start dying. "Okay, anyone got any idea what they're talking about?"

Most people just stared at him, a few shaking their heads in the negative. "Damn. Okay, everyone needs to stay quiet, our only chance is to split them up, take them on one at a time. So be quiet, okay?"

Nadia touched her arm, her eyes radiating concern. "Daniel, you're not going to do anything stupid, are you?"

He tried to give her his most reassuring smile. "Just keep everyone quiet, no matter what. Do you all understand? Quiet?" There were a few more nods of understanding this time.

"Stop whispering," the inside guard said as he moved towards the group. The external guard was not in sight. Hoping that he wouldn't suddenly forget five years of hand-to-hand training, Daniel coiled his muscles and locked eyes with the guard. Three feet...two...one....

Daniel sprang, one hand on the soldier's shoulder, one onto the base of the his jaw, just below the ears, and **twisted.** He fought down the acidic combination of bile and adrenaline as the soldier's neck snapped with an audible pop. Focussing purely on the mission at hand, he tried to forget how young the guard appeared, tried to forget that this wasn't some alien world. Snatching up the guard's dropped rifle, Daniel moved fluidly over the corpse, ignoring the smells as the body evacuated. Sliding his hand down the stock, he assessed the rifle's balance and weight. The second guard stepped around the tent flap, responding to the choked gasps and retchings of the other scientists. Swinging cleanly, the stock connected with the soldier's septum, driving the bone behind it deep into the brain.

Daniel swallowed convulsively. Two for two, and the alarm hadn't gone up yet.

Jack would be so proud.

Turning back to the group, he made a gesture with his hand. "Stay here and stay quiet. Hide them under a table or something." He doubted that anyone would have the courage to touch either of the corpses, but leaving the bodies lying there would give the leader cause for immediate retribution if he returned before Daniel did. "I'll be right back."

As he slipped out of the tent and into the shadows, he tried to banish that look from Nadia's eyes. It was the same look he had seen in the mirror the morning after the first time he had killed a man face to face, not in the chaos of some greater battle.

A flicker of movement caught his eye. Melding into the shadows, he watched as Leader and Lieutenant strutted across the main area of the compound, shouting orders. His eyes swept the campsite, looking for -- there, another two were coming out of the storage tent...and another two from the equipment shed. That was one more than Chris counted already. They converged in the middle of the campsite and began comparing notes in hurried whispers. Realising what was likely to happen next, Daniel slipped away and back into the tent.

There was an acid smell in the tight confines of the tent -- at least one person had vomited. He couldn't blame them, but now was not the time to console or explain. "Okay, we need to get out of here. Nadia, Julian, can you make us an exit in the back of the tent? Quickly, we don't have much time." As he spoke, he knelt by first one corpse, then the other, looking for other weapons, spare clips, anything he could carry away that might be useful. He could feel eyes on him, but did not look up. Pocketing the few spare rounds he had been able to find, he then scooped up the second soldier's rifle. "Does anyone else here know how to use these things?"

Edo raised his hand hesitantly. "I did National Service before I left Singapore, but it's been a while..." He swallowed convulsively. "And we only ever fired at paper targets."

Daniel tossed him the rifle. "I understand," he said with a nod. "Hopefully they'll get spooked and just leave." He gestured towards the makeshift exit that Nadia and her assistant Julian had carved into the back of the tent. "We need to go. Stay low and quiet. Head for the entry to the underground cavern."

Daniel put Edo and Julian in the lead. As quickly as he dared, Daniel shooed them out of the tent in single file. He and Nadia were the last out. Running in a near crouch, they made the dig site proper in minutes. Inside the recently unearthed temple, Daniel did a quick headcount. Fear and confusion were the dominant emotions -- and those who knew him from before LA were also staring at him, bewildered at the change that had overcome their mild-mannered, if kooky, colleague.

"Daniel, I..." Nadia began, her eyes on the weapon Daniel carried in standby position.

"Not now, Nadia," he interrupted brusquely. Sighing at her startled reaction, he touched her arm gently, trying not to notice when she flinched. "I promise I'll explain later. But right now we need to stay alive." He looked into her eyes, willing her to understand.

Swallowing with difficulty, Nadia nodded. "I'm holding you to that," she managed.

"Of that I have no doubt." Daniel hoped his pasted on smile seemed sincere. "Okay, first, we need to figure out what they want. Any ideas?"

Surprisingly, it was Sally who answered. "Power."

"How so?"

"They're trying to lay claim to territories, villages and wells to the north of here. They often used a technique of occupation and suppression to take non-military or civilian targets. Taking control of our dig would certainly get the attentions of the Egyptian and American governments." She shrugged off the stares she was now receiving. "Hey, I did my minor in world politics, okay!"

Daniel smiled. "I think you're right. And since they've laid claim to the tents, and our radios, I don't think we'll be able to get help from the outside quickly." The journey to the nearest village was too far to complete on foot. Besides, the village was small, and lay to the north of their location. It may have been overrun already. "And I don't think they're planning to leave, no matter what they say. That story about the artifact was just a cover." Several members of the group were nodding, overcoming their shock to focus on the problem at hand.

"Maybe if we stay hidden, they'll leave? It's hard to oppress people when they can't be found."

Daniel smirked to himself at the naïve analysis of the situation. "It won't take them long to find us. We couldn't have left a clearer trail if we lit it with neon." Daniel's eyes swept the antechamber in which the group had found shelter. "We have no food, no water. We can't wait for them, we need to regain control of the communications tent." Daniel locked eyes with Edo, a plan forming. It was a slim chance, but it was all they had. "Nadia, have you mapped any further in?"

She nodded, arms crossed over her chest, hugging herself. "Yes, we've started mapping locations, but we haven't surveyed any rooms apart from this one yet. Why?"

He turned to face her. "Think you can take everyone and get lost in there?"

She nodded slowly. "Daniel, what are you going to do?"

"Get a message out," he answered shortly, not elaborating on what he may have to do to accomplish this. "Nadia, you take the lead. Edo, you take the rear. I'll signal when I come back in, so please don't shoot me." The attempt at gallows humour fell flat, and Daniel felt compelled to keep talking, to drown out the anxiety in the air. "I'll try and get a message out. It will still take at least two hours for help to arrive anyway, so go deep, Nadia. We've got to stay free for as long as possible." Pausing only to confirm that Nadia understood, he smiled tightly. "I'll try not to be too long." Turning on his heel, he brought his pilfered rifle to bear and started cautiously up the stairs to the desert above.

The stars were bright above the desert sky, the constellations achingly familiar. Moving with practiced silence over the shifting desert sands, he was pleased to feel the first stirrings of a breeze play against his face. The wind would erode their tracks, make them harder to hunt.

Slipping around camp to enter the concentric circles of tents from the far side, Daniel was barely breathing as he tried to establish what was going on with their attackers. Orders barked in Arabic drew his attention towards the mess tent. Daniel's handiwork had been discovered, and the six soldier's he had already counted were crowded into the mess. Another flurry of shouts, and five of the six moved smartly out of the tent, two to the supply tent, one to the communications centre, and the other two to the hole at the back of the mess tent, obviously intending to track the archeologists. Hoping desperately that the wind had blurred the trail enough to slow the trackers down, Daniel moved quickly around the back of the tents, aiming to intercept.

A knock to the back of the head felled the first tracker he came across. The second turned, bringing his weapon down to shoot at Daniel. Diving into the sand, Daniel rolled and rose as if he had been raised a Marine. The explosive noise of the rifle firing split the night. Pausing only to strip the dead man of his weapon, Daniel scrambled across the sands and down into the trench of the beta plot. Ditching the awkward rifle in favour of the new weapon, Daniel checked the clip before scurrying along beneath the lip of the trench to climb up the camp-side end of the excavation. Breathing hard, he tried to keep his panting quiet as he again looped around the camp. The shot had grabbed the attention of the five remaining soldiers, the two from the supply tent obeying orders from Leader to go into the desert and investigate.

Hoping he could complete his self-appointed mission in time, Daniel slipped through the shadows between tents until he came to the communications tent. The one Daniel had dubbed Lieutenant was there, busily working to strip anything of value they could carry away. Daniel suspected that he had orders to destroy anything that could not be taken.

The new weapon was difficult to swing, but it connected with Lieutenant's head with a satisfying thud. Stripping him of his rifle and pistol, Daniel used a handy length of cat5 to tie the Lieutenant up, and one of the militiaman's own socks to gag him. Checking quickly to make sure he hadn't been discovered, Daniel pushed the communications console down under the table as far as it would reach, and raised the alarm. He hoped he wouldn't have to cite his military clearances to scramble professional assistance, but to his surprise they were already aware he was on site. That was either the work of Jack, George, or quite possibly, both. For once, Daniel was grateful for the mother henning.

However, the military base was an hour's flight away. His best bet was to return to the ruins and wait it out for assistance to come. Ignoring the slowly rousing Lieutenant, Daniel slid out of the tent and into the shadows.

Now that he was no longer solely responsible for his friend's lives, Daniel felt the first icy tendrils of fear and anxiety twine in his stomach. Nervously, he took the most convoluted route back to the ruins as he dared, hoping to confuse any trackers he might acquire.

Pausing automatically in front of the temple, he scanned as far as he could see into the gloom. Eyes and ears wide for any sign of a trap or ambush, he descended into the ruins which had become their sanctuary. Moving through the outer chamber, his nerves were twanging as he stood at the top of the steps which lead into the ruins proper. The dust and sand which had accumulated on the floor during the centuries which the structure had lain hidden under the desert had been clearly disturbed, leaving a direct trail which veered across the second room at the base of the steps. Hoping he was the only person to have seen the clear marker, he followed.

He descended slowly for nearly ten minutes, trying to keep his eyes on everything at once. What he wouldn't give to have Jack, Sam, Teal'c or even Janet at his back now.

Anyone, rather than having to do this alone.

A scuffling noise ahead drew his attention. He didn't realise he had moved until he felt the cold stone pressing into his back. Moving side-on, weapon ready, he edged towards the noise.

Listening intently, he closed his eyes for a moment, hoping he wasn't wrong. "Edo? Nadia?"

A sudden pause, as if the roomful of people had at once stopped breathing. "Dr Jackson?"

Satisfied, he slipped around the corner and into the room. "Are you still all okay?" Even as he spoke, he was looking at the room they had chosen. Two entrances, both with people posted at them. They had obviously found -- by accident or design, he had no idea -- some dig tools, and a few of the party were brandishing the small trowels like crude weapons.

Nodding his approval, he turned back to where Nadia and Edo stood by the door he had just entered. "Okay. I got through to the military base, they'll be here in..." he flicked a look at his watch. "About forty minutes. We're just got to sit tight and make sure we're not taken hostage until then."

There were sighs and a few laughs of relief from the party. He ignored them. "Nadia, can we go any deeper?"

"Not safely. To be honest, I have no idea what's below this level, or even if there is anything below this level. The complex is large for this area, but not that large. Why not just stay here?"

He smiled. "You guys have left tracks in the dust on the floors that can't be missed." He looked at the group again. "But since we can't move much further, I guess we'll stay here and dig ourselves in." Setting to work, he began assigning sentries to the two openings into the room. As he was issuing orders, he was hoping he wasn't digging them into a trap.

~##~

At first he thought he was dreaming. Hoped he was dreaming. But then he heard another shout, and knew that they were near and very, very real. Waving a hand to command the others into absolute silence, he listened. Another voice, in Arabic.

Not the reinforcements. Damn it.

The voices were drawing closer. Focussing, he heard one voice say something about a trail. Checking that his weapon was primed and loaded, he turned to the others. Whispering harshly, he gestured to Nadia. "Get everyone against the wall. If you can see out this doorway, you're in the line of fire. Move, and stay silent." A few scuffles, and everyone was in position.

Crouching low, Daniel moved up the corridor to the first turn. Peeking around, he saw a flashlight beam being played around past the next intersection. He knew he'd have one good chance to take them out before they got a clear view down this corridor. Hoping that his night vision was better than theirs, he stretched out as Jack had taught him, half his body behind the corner wall. Resting on his elbows, he steadied his weapon and slowed his breathing, preparing himself to make every bullet count. This wasn't a mission, there wasn't a second cartridge of bullets in his pocket -- if he stuffed up now, then it was more than likely that every one of his friends and colleagues in the room behind him would die.

No pressure.

The light signaled their approach. Four...three...their voices were clear now...two...one...

The first soldier stepped into view, then the second. As Daniel squeezed the trigger, the first soldier played his light over the floor, looking for the trail, hitting Daniel square in the face. Eyes focussed for night vision burned at the sudden beam of intense light even as the weapon in his hands spat bullets with a noise that shook more dust from the roof above.

The torch hit the floor and died.

~##~

Daniel looked up as Nadia peeked around the corner. Daniel sighed and wiped his hands on his trousers as he rose to his full height. "Don't worry, Nadia. They're dead."

Stepping away from the corpses, he leant down to pick up a dropped weapon. "Damn, we don't have any cartridges for this one either." Dropping it down, he instead picked up the torch. He noticed absently that there was a bloody boot print to show where he had stood.

When had he gotten used to this? What had happened to the Daniel Jackson who would have been puking in a corner when faced with such a sight? What had happened to the man who would have tried to negotiate with the Leader back in that mess tent rather than even think about killing other sentient beings to save his own skin?

When had he changed?

Edo had joined Nadia at the turnoff to their sanctuary. Moving over to them, he handed her the torch. "Can you find me a room to put the bodies into? I don't want to leave them there, it just advertises our presence."

She took the torch, turned it on. The shaking of her hands was magnified as the light wavered across the floor. She did not meet his eyes.

"Edo, go back inside." Without a word, the young Asian man did as he was told. Alone in the corridor with the dead, Daniel slumped against the wall.

~##~

He did not ask Nadia to help him in his grisly chore, and she did not offer. She merely watched as Daniel tugged first one corpse, then the other, into the storage room she had found for him. The streaks and stains of their congealing blood blended into invisibility in the shadows, glowing red when the light of the torch passed over them.

Without a word, she led him back towards their chamber. Daniel was in no way disillusioned as to his state. His hands were sticky with blood from his victims. Picking up his weapon at the junction, he checked the chamber. Less than half a dozen bullets remaining.

Nadia had paused on the threshold, waiting.

"Tell Edo to stand guard. The military should be here by now. I'm going to the surface to see what I can see." And to get away from the accusing eyes, he refused to say out loud.

With another silent nod, Nadia slipped from view.

Moving the way he had come, he was soon in the last antechamber before the entrance to the surface. From here, he could see that the entire area had been floodlight to daytime brightness. Unless the rebels had acquired a few portable generators, it was friends who waited above.

Even so, he paused long enough to allow his eyes to adjust to the brilliance before he moved carefully up the steps to the desert.

He smiled humourlessly at the scene before him. The allied base had pulled out all the stops.

A click behind him was all the warning he had. "Identify yourself," ordered a Brooklyn accent.

He smiled. "Doctor Daniel Jackson. Am I glad to see you."

~##~

"Nadia?" He called into the shadows, not wanting to be nailed this late in the game by friendly fire. "Its me, Daniel. The military have come, its safe now."

Waving to his escort to hold back, he slipped forward, calling her name repeatedly.

A flicker of movement at the corner where he had ambushed the two rebel soldiers what seemed like eons ago. "Dr Jackson?"

He smiled. "Edo, its okay, help has arrived."

The grad student stepped clear, looked past Daniel at the fatigues-clad soldiers behind him. "Its okay, Dr K." The relief and fatigue in his voice Daniel could empathize with.

One by one the archeologists filed out, exhausted and dusty from their ordeal. Daniel hung back, content to watch as they delivered themselves into the waiting hands of the field medics and SFs to be returned to the surface and to freedom.

The last one out, unsurprisingly, was Nadia Kazinsky. Instead of going to the soldiers, she sought out Daniel's face in the shadows. "After this, we are going to have that talk," she told him seriously.

"I know." He hoped the shadows were hiding his face. He was never a very good liar.

Nodding once, she turned to follow her team to the surface. Daniel watched her go, certain that this would be the last time he would ever see her again. She had questions which he could not answer.

It was the way it had to be.