"Welcome aboard, Daniel Jackson." Ba'al masked his surprise with a mocking greeting. "So nice of you to drop in."

Oh, everyone's a comedian today. It took every ounce of his willpower not to try to cover his nakedness as Daniel turned to the Goa'uld. "The pleasure's all yours. Take me to my wife."

Ba'al bristled at being given an order on his own ship. He may be working with the Tau'ri through necessity, however it was only a temporary alliance. Best to remind the archaeologist of that fact. "All in good time. Adjust your tone, Jackson. One word from me and the shield that is protecting your precious wife comes down, leaving Anubis free to once again attack her fragile mind."

For a second Daniel stared at the Goa'uld, then his gaze almost casually flittered to the surrounding Jaffa who had raised their staff weapons at him. There was a wariness in their stance, sensing something not quite right about him; something that Ba'al in his arrogance had missed. Ignoring Ba'al's threat Daniel gave a jeering chuckle. "Aw, Ba'al, it seems that your Jaffa are scared of a naked unarmed man."

The Goa'uld stiffened and was about to order the Jaffa to stand down, when Daniel's laugh cut off, his expression turning hard.

"They should be." Daniel raised his hand in a shooing motion and the Jaffa were suddenly propelled by an invisible force through the air to crash into the back wall. His other hand waved down at himself and his body was clothed in his regular uniform. Plucking a pair of glasses from his top pocket he perched them on his nose. "You're assuming we still need your shield. Now, take me to Annika."

"But how...?" The confused exclamation fell from Ba'al's lips before he could stop it.

"The gift of Ascension is a powerful thing," Daniel shrugged. Hoping that Ba'al was still off balance enough not to wonder why he didn't simply translocate himself to Annika, he motioned impatiently for Ba'al to lead the way. "We don't have a lot of time. We only have a few minutes to activate the weapon before Anubis becomes aware of my absence from the Ascended plane."

"I'll send for Carter and the shol'va." He strode from the room, not looking back to see if Jackson was following. As much as it riled him that the human had taken control, Ba'al had the sense to know that for now there was no time to challenge him. There'd be time enough for that once Anubis had been destroyed. After all, Jackson and the rest of SG-1 were on his ship, effectively trapped.

"Won't be necessary." Daniel concentrated on his friends' position two levels below.

On the science level, Teal'c and Sam had been gathering the pieces of the weapon in the desperate hope that they could get the machine to work without the fifth member, when abruptly they found themselves standing outside the shielded cell. A second later the weapon appeared.

"Helloooo." Jack blinked from inside the cell at their unexpected appearance. "Neat trick."

"What happened?" Sam asked stunned.

Before anyone could reply, Annika gave an excited squeal. "He's coming! He's coming!"

"Who, Casper?"

"Me."

All attention was drawn to the quiet, slightly amused voice.

"Daniel!" Sam broke out into a relieved smile that was mirrored by the rest of the team.

"Told you he'd be here," Jack smirked at Sam then switched the smirk to Daniel. "Not an all powerful jellyfish anymore?" His hand had automatically grabbed Annika by the shirttails to keep her from trying to get to Daniel.

Annika didn't appear to mind, she was eagerly hopping from one foot to the other on the spot, her face lit up in childish glee. "You're here! You're here!"

Daniel's eyes flickered with concern, his heart wrenching at the sight of his wife's mental state, then he addressed Jack's remark with a tight smile. "I wouldn't quite say that." Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward, walking straight into the cell's shield. The energy field sparked and crackled and for a moment he paused with an intense frown of concentration marring his face. Then he emerged inside the room.

His grip on Annika loosened in shock, as it crashed home for Jack what that little display meant as far as Daniel's situation was concerned. He tried to convince himself that Daniel had found himself a nifty piece of technology that allowed him to walk through walls, like what the Tollans had. His desperate hope lasted all of a second as he realized that his best friend had a soft light surrounding him. Crap. Seen that glowy look before. It was a perverse sense of symmetry that it was again while he was in Ba'al's custody.

Annika didn't seem to notice Daniel's new 'lighting'. The redhead bounced the distance between them, throwing her arms around Daniel's neck. "You were gone such a long time! Did you get lost?"

"No." He held her tightly. "I had to make a detour first."

She buried her face in his neck, her words a pained whisper. "It hurts, Daniel."

"Where do you hurt, My Angel?" He placed a kiss to the top of her head.

Annika gave him a tight squeeze before pulling away. "Here." She tapped at her forehead. "And here. But this one's different." Her hand rubbed at her solar plexus. "Something's gone."

"I can help with one," he said softly.

Her hand immediately tapped at her stomach indicating what her preference was.

Daniel shook his head sadly. "Not that one."

"But that's the important one." Her eyes welled. "I need that one."

"It's not a choice. I can't heal our bond." Daniel's voice choked with emotion. He didn't give her a chance to protest. Holding her around the waist with one hand, he placed the other palm down against her forehead.

The others had been silently watching the exchange. They didn't allow themselves to think too much, because of the conclusions they'd draw, the worst of which was that Daniel's appearance was just a temporary visit like he'd done for Jack and Teal'c when they were in psychological need. They saw Annika go limp for a second, then stiffen. The fuzzy glow around Daniel grew stronger, encasing Annika as well. Daniel's hand shifted, his fingers going from splayed out to drawing in, then they slowly moved back as though he was pulling something out.

A whimper escaped from Annika's throat as a black mist started to ooze out from the lilac star on her brow. Daniel's hand continued to draw steadily back, taking the blackness with it. When the last of the mist passed from Annika, Daniel scrunched his hand into a fist and the black condensed into a small ball, no bigger than a quarter, hovering in the air.

Annika slumped against her husband in a faint and he struggled to support her and balance the dark essence. "Jack, have you got a container of some sort?"

Daniel nodded and began directing the black into the bottle. Jack gingerly kept it still, but once it was inside, he quickly screwed the cap on and tossed it to the bed. Unconsciously he rubbed his hands against his BDUs. "Will that hold whatever that is?"

"Not for long." Daniel wrapped his now free arm around Annika, supporting her properly. "But long enough for our purposes." Very slowly he began transferring some of his ethereal energy through to his wife. Too much and he could inadvertently harm her more than Anubis had. He sent just enough to revitalize her body into consciousness. While he did this, he could practically feel the questions ready to burst from the others. "No time for twenty questions. Let's just say this is a temporary situation."

Jack, Sam and Teal'c exchanged worried glances. The carefully worded comment could be taken two very different ways. Either Daniel's Ascension was temporary or his presence was.

"You've only been a jellyfish for half a day and already you're talking in riddles," Jack groused.

Daniel couldn't help himself. "Life is a riddle to be unraveled." He grinned when the colonel looked like he was going to throttle him.

"Stop that!" Jack demanded though a smile tweaked at his lips. Ascended or not, temporary or not, it was good to have Daniel with them.

Daniel was about to respond when he felt Annika stir in his embrace and he stopped channeling his strength into her. When her eyes flickered opened he smiled warmly down at her, concern tingeing his blue depths. He'd followed Oma's instructions on how to remove the tendril of Anubis trapped in her mind and repaired the physical damage, but there was no certainty her mind itself would recover. "Hello, My Angel."

It took a few moments for Annika to be able to focus on him. But he could see as her mind kicked into gear, with full awareness making her smile sadly. Gently she reached up to caress his cheek, indicating the glow still surrounding him. "Who's the angel now?"

Her quiet words, as heart wrenching as they were, set four hearts to pounding with relief. Gone was the childlike lilt, Annika was back in their world.

Daniel kissed away the single tear that rolled down her cheek. "No time for tears." His arms tightened around her, not willing to let her go just yet.

"Good to have you back, Casper," Jack said gruffly, speaking for all of them.

"Good to be back." Annika put on a brave face. She was clutching at the small stuff. Daniel was here, for now. And while there was still a gaping hole where their bond had been, at least her head was no longer pounding.

Daniel cleared his throat. "We need to use the device now. Sam's earlier theory was correct, it will partly Ascend you to the same level that Anubis is at right now."

"What about you?" Sam asked.

Daniel gave a wry grin. "I get downgraded to the same level."

"So what? We come to blows with Anubis, kick his ass?" Jack was so looking forward to that.

"We could but we can't."

"Daniel, stop with the riddles already!"

"That wasn't a riddle," Daniel hastily went on to explain. "If we fight him we will be locked into a battle that could take centuries, and that's an optimistic timeframe. If we kill an Ascended being, even a half-Ascended one, it will disrupt the balance of the Ascended plane, possibly even ripple beyond to the other levels."

"There are other levels?" Annika butted in. She was doing her best to ignore the tumult of emotions writhing within her, focusing on the immediate situation at hand was helping with that.

"Apparently."

"How could the battle last centuries?" Teal'c frowned. "It would be five against one, we would have a distinct advantage."

"Doesn't work that way," Daniel shook his head. "We would be like a...a..." he struggled to find a comparison. "...a five headed dragon or a five armed being. One force that has five parts, equally matched to Anubis."

"Then what's the point of this damned thing?" Jack let his frustration show.

"Our advantage comes from the list. Besides ensuring it was a kind of general overall consensus to wipe a being out from existence, it also ensured we have the varied knowledge and skills from those jobs and attributes, something Anubis doesn't have on his own. I have the basics of a plan..."

"Anubis attacks." Ba'al's assumption was a safe one, for besides the fact that he had the seer whom the half-Ascended Goa'uld desperately wanted, he knew no other Goa'uld was in a position to openly attack his mothership right now. He managed to remain standing even though two more impacts quaked the ship. Didn't bother issuing the order to return fire, knowing his Jaffa would already be responding. He snapped his fingers at his First Prime. "Take us into hyper-speed. Sporadic jumps."

"Guess he knows I'm not in the diner anymore," Daniel grimaced, giving a shrug at the raised eyebrows. "Long story. But we're out of time, he may be able to track me even through hyper-speed."

"You've deciphered the weapon?" Ba'al asked. He'd been keeping tabs on both levels with hidden monitoring devices placed strategically in the walls, however in coordinating the battle plans of his holdings, he had missed parts of their conversations and revelations.

"Between us, yes, pretty much," Sam answered.

"I'll hold off Anubis's forces as long as I can." He turned to the Jaffa who had been on guard all day. "Assist them." Then he spun on his heel heading for the bridge.

"Your plan?" Jack caught himself against the bed as the ship rocked again.

"Easier to explain once the device is on." Daniel wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to protect both Jack and Annika to walk through the force field to get to the others and the device. He may be Ascended, but even he had his limits. There was no way he was going to risk losing concentration for even a moment leaving Annika's mind vulnerable to Anubis. He looked to the Jaffa. "Lower the shield."

The Jaffa hesitated.

"The five off us need to have contact with the device," Daniel explained impatiently. "We can't do that with the shield up."

"Jaffa," Teal'c barked. "Your god gave an order to assist us. Drop the shield immediately."

The warrior responded to the former First Prime's tone, barely stopped himself from giving the customary bow before starting to type in the sequence.

Daniel felt Annika cringe into him. He tightened his hold around her, murmuring into her hair. "Anubis can't hurt you while I've got you."

"Sure?" she asked, hating the tremble to her voice.

"Positive," he assured. "Jack, we'll need the bottle."

Sam had already guessed what they'd be doing with the black essence and was opening the compartment where the void was located. Teal'c twisted the diamond until there was an audible click of it locking in place. As all the members of SG-1 began to draw closer to the device, it seemed to recognize them, the dull metal beginning to glow softly, calling to them, welcoming them.

Daniel, Annika and Jack had to wait a few long seconds as the Jaffa, who had accidentally entered the wrong sequence, tried a second time.

"Take ya' time," Jack drawled. "It's not like the fate of the galaxy is hanging in the balance."

Annika felt a smile touch her lips, grateful to hear the 'normal' response of sarcasm from Jack, and to see the others getting down to business. It helped calm the hard knot forming in her stomach. Which lasted all of a second until the slight buzz of the shield deactivating. Despite Daniel's promise Annika braced herself for another mental attack. She could feel Daniel's energy surrounding her, protecting her. Absently noted the complete role reversal compared to other missions. In the past her tampered abilities, specifically the mental shield and the trick of invisibility, had let her protect the others, now she was the one who needed protection. She didn't like how vulnerable it made her feel. She clung tighter to her husband when she felt a hard pressure bounce off the light surrounding them, knowing it was Anubis trying to break through.

The device grew brighter and the five were literally being compelled towards it like magnets.

"So...ah, Daniel...this whole dying Ascended business with this doohickey..." Taking his place next to Sam, Jack was surprised that he wasn't concerned about the strange magnetism of the alien technology. "It is a temporary thing, right?"

"If it were not, O'Neill," Teal'c raised an eyebrow, also not fighting the compulsion to reach out to the device, "would it change our course of action?"

"Well, no. Just curious." Jack's hand hovered over the closest stylized hand imprint on the device, balanced next to Sam's.

"Actually," Daniel blinked, his hand poised, Annika's just a fraction slower beside him. "I have no idea. Didn't think to ask."

It was without conscious thought that all five lowered their hands in sync, so much so, that they didn't even pause in their conversation.

"For cryin' out loud, Daniel..."

Their hands came to rest on the device.

"SINCE WHEN DO THE TINY DETAILS ELUDE YOU?"

All of them including Jack, cringed, taking a step back, clutching their heads.

"JESUS, JACK, THERE'S NO NEED TO SHOUT!...WELL, MY HEADACHE'S BACK, THANK YOU VERY MUCH...WHO TURNED UP THE VOLUME?...WHY HAVE WE ALL RAISED OUR TONE?"

The words were tumbled all over each other, like each of them was yelling into a megaphone.

Jack was about to issue an order for quiet then doubted his eardrums could take it. He held up his hand. The immediate silence was a blessing, although after a second he realized it wasn't total silence. He could hear murmurings and whispers that he suspiciously recognized as his team. What was truly bizarre was that not one of them were actually moving their mouths. "This is..."

"Weird." Four voices joined Jack's in finishing his sentence, though they were thankfully quieter than a few seconds ago.

Annika was distracted by the Jaffa standing off to the side. "WHAT'S..." she instantly lowered her voice when the others winced, though she was certain she hadn't been yelling, "your problem, tin cup?"

The others swung around to see the Jaffa with his mouth dropped open in shock.

"Nice impression of a stunned mullet," Jack complimented.

The warrior's wide eyes flickered to the colonel then dropped down to the side of Jack's waist.

Before Jack could follow the man’s gaze to discover the reason for his stupefied expression, he was distracted by a literal wave of puzzlement from four sides. Glanced back at his team who were looking at him quizzically. "Is it catching?"

"Stunned mullet?"

The question came simultaneously from Daniel and Sam, in an odd echoing which the colonel heard both aurally and in his mind. Despite himself, Jack grinned. It wasn’t often he could surpass the knowledge of those two geniuses. "It’s an expression."

"Jack, how can a god awful eighties haircut be stunned?" Annika asked equally bewildered.

"I will never understand Tau’ri colloquialisms," Teal’c informed, giving his head a small shake.

"A ‘mullet’ is a fish. It’s just an expression, describing his gaping maw." He flapped his hand at the still dumbstruck Jaffa. His eyes finally landed on what was so shocking. "Um, bigger issues here."

It was only then that the members of SG-1 realized two things at once. The Jaffa wasn't at their eye level as he should have been. In fact he was now a good two feet below them. Following the man's line of sight they looked down to see a luminous light radiating from themselves and the device. But that they were floating towards the ceiling and were glowing wasn't the most shocking thing. That was reserved for the sight of their physical bodies standing like statues with their hands still on the Ancient device.

Their individual surprise was heard by each of them, though not a word passed their lips.

"We're Ascended?" Sam quietly asked. "Half-Ascended...whatever?"

All heads turned to Daniel, who nodded. When he spoke he remembered to control his tone. "I expected a bit of warning. A countdown or something."

"Yet we did not sense any part of our transition." Teal'c was as bemused as any of them had ever heard him.

Annika, accustomed to 'floating' in her astral state was the first to gain control of her spiritual body, and drifted closer to her physical one. Daniel was only a little slower, needing to alter the knack slightly from being fully Ascended to only partway, like learning how to drive in a new car.

"Share with the class," Jack pleaded, as he continued to float higher. He tried to grab onto the closest solid thing, which happened to be his physical arm, to pull himself back down, but his hand swiped right through it. Sam and Teal'c were having the same problem.

"Oh, um..." the redhead frowned, trying to think of how to explain how she moved. As the thought formed in her mind the floating trio tilted their heads in concentration, hearing her.

"Thank you." Teal'c mastered the technique first and he floated down to the floor.

Sam practiced a little by circling the room. "This is...exhilarating. Annika, is this what it's like when you astral travel?"

"For the most part," Annika nodded. Hearing the thoughts of her teammates was very much like her visions, and as such she was the first to separate and make sense of the white noise echoing in their heads. One of the first things she honed in on was Daniel and as one little snippet resounded in her mind, the grief and trauma she'd been feeling evaporated. With an ecstatic grin at Sam, who'd just landed beside her she beamed, "Fun, isn't it?" Like a shot she flew into her husband's arms.

Daniel swung her around before hugging her close, knowing what she had picked up on as well as why he'd been so cryptic while Ba'al was in earshot. He knew that even now they had to be careful of anything said out loud, and before Annika could verbally ask for the confirmation her heart needed, his lips closed over hers. For a second he was distracted by how real the kiss felt against his lips, considering that they were technically now just bundles of energy and not solid matter. He indulged in the kiss for a few sweet moments then put his theory to the test. Not breaking off the kiss, he thought the question, "Jaffa, can you hear me?"

The warrior made no response, though it was difficult to tell if the man was simply still in shock.

"Your god is nothing more than a parasite and you are the worst kind of fool to worship him."

When that still elicited no reaction he was convinced that all of their thoughts were private, except from amongst his team. He reluctantly drew back, his blue eyes locking onto dancing violet ones. "Think it, don't say it."

Annika nodded, catching on to what his 'experiment' during their kiss had been. "Temporary?"

"Yes, my Ascension has a time limit from when Oma dropped me back into this plane. I struck a bargain, won't even lose my memory."

The wave of happiness and relief that bombarded him wasn't just from Annika, but from the others as well as they heard the exchange. Of course his return was contingent upon them surviving the oncoming battle. A touch of unrelated frustration made Daniel look up. "Um...Jack?" He called up to the colonel who clearly hadn't grasped the concept of spirit walking for he was now partway through the golden ceiling. "Try it this way..." In his mind he reworded Annika's explanation.

A moment later they all heard Jack's "Sweet!" and he joined them on their level. "Hey, bucket of bolts, try to poke me."

The Jaffa very warily stepped closer, a slight tremble in his hand as he reached out.

"Not me." The colonel flapped the hand away, pointing to his body. "That me."

Even more cautious, the Jaffa changed his direction. He braced himself, positive that there would be some sort of negative effect. However, when his index finger touched the colonel's sleeve, nothing happened, not even a movement of the material. Hesitantly he tapped at the arm, and they all heard the distinct knocking sound. Ran his finger over the material. "It...you...are solid, like crystal."

With the privacy of their thoughts from the openly curious Jaffa established, they all decided they'd use that method of communication rather than speaking aloud.

"Must be some sort of stasis," Sam speculated totally fascinated. She was itching to figure out how it worked. The Ascension had been so instantaneous that Jack's mouth had frozen mid word.

"No, Carter, don't even think about it." Jack nipped that idea in the bud. Hearing his team's thoughts definitely had an upside.

Sam shot him a sheepish grin, then waved at his openmouthed body. "Careful, you'll catch flies like that, sir."

"Very funny." Jack reconsidered, maybe it wasn't such a good idea, then a stream of figures and equations tickled the back of his mind. "Hey, I understand all that technobabble you spout off about gizmos!"

"And yet, I'm still not understanding your obsession with Mary Steenburgen," the major teased.

While the military couple was conducting their test, the other three were listening to a sixth voice that had a robotic edge that was strangely melodious at the same time. It was informing them that this was an intermediate stage where they could become accustomed to their transformation in safety.

Teal'c frowned. "We hear each other's thought, but can still think independently. Our movements are also our own..." He concentrated for a second to experiment. He put out the thought that he'd prefer them all to be on the other side of the corridor. In the blink of an eye the five of them disappeared and then reappeared in the designated spot. "But we can be moved by one."

"This sharing of thoughts thing, is it an Ascended thing or a weapon thing?" Annika wondered.

"They communicate telepathically, but private thoughts are their own," Daniel replied. He grinned at the banter between Jack and Sam. "Which doesn't seem to be the case with us."

"Daniel Jackson, do you know what other abilities we have gained?" Teal'c figured that given the archaeologist had spent time on the Ascended plane he would have more knowledge regarding their enemy than they previously had.

"Basically Ascended powers are energy based," Daniel explained what he knew. "So things like lightning, energy bolts, creating light itself, weather related things, restoring mortal life, making things grow, making them stop growing..."

"Basically anything," Annika interrupted drolly.

"And they let Anubis keep all these powers?" Annika was horrified by the idea.

"It's complicated." Daniel grimaced. How many times had he heard that phrase today? "What powers he has, he's been banned from using. I don't know what threat the Others have been using against him, but it's kept him in check until now. As for the extent of his abilities, I don't know. I don't think the Others know themselves, they've never let him use them."

"Daniel, I can hear you leading up to something," Jack said, having heard all of the preceding conversation despite his talking to Sam and the Jaffa. Conducting two conversations at once was bizarrely easy.

The archaeologist nodded. "Well, the only way to know what abilities Anubis has, and thus us, have, is to make him use them."

"Don't tell me, this is part of your plan," the colonel concluded.

"Part of it," Daniel admitted then outlined the rest of the idea he'd come up with in the diner.

"And the Others aren't going to stop us or Anubis?" Sam asked. "Won't that be breaking their rules?"

"A different set of rules apply to this device. They won't interfere, not to stop us, not to help us. Oh, and if we get vaporized doing this, it's game over. No waking up," Daniel gestured to their bodies. "No true Ascension. Nothing."

The team individually mulled that statement over for a few seconds then shrugged.

The ship rocked again as another volley of explosives impacted the shields. Not that they felt it in their current state, but they saw the golden room shudder around them.

"Well, let's get this party started." Jack was about to give the order to flitter out, but Daniel tilted his head, making them all pause.

He'd just done a search for the half-Ascended being in the near vicinity of Ba'al's vessel. What he sensed was barely bigger than what he'd pulled from Annika. "He's not on his ship. At least most of him isn't there."

"You're sure?" Sam asked as the room around them shook again.

"I've just spent the last few hours with him. I'm sensing there's not enough of him there to be 'wholly' in his ship. He must have left just enough of himself behind for communication purposes with his warriors," he speculated.

"Can you find the rest of him?" Annika asked.

Daniel nodded and clasped his wife's hand in his. "With your help."

Annika agreed, and carefully the couple began spiraling out a search pattern from Anubis's ship. It took a few minutes but eventually Daniel gave another nod. "Okay." He transferred the image and coordinates to the other's minds.

They gave a curt nod.

"Okay, campers, on three. One, two, three..."

The five souls of SG-1 vanished.

He felt the ship come out of hyper-speed and a second later a harder lurch of impact against the shields. Anubis was tracking them down sooner with every jump. Remembered the archaeologist's words to his god from earlier and wondered if it was the man's physical body that was acting like a beacon or the spiritual body. He had an idea, and beckoned to the Jaffa stationed at the end of the corridor who had witnessed the last few minutes with open yet wary curiosity. "Assist me to move them into the cell."

The warriors came quick enough, just to get a closer look at the rock solid team.

"What is this magic?" the younger of the two asked, reaching out to touch the closest body to him.

"Our Lord provided the weapon for the Tau'ri to use, it is not our place to question the magic of the gods," he replied brusquely. "And if I were you, I would choose another besides Our Lord's Beloved to satisfy your curiosity."

The rather inexperienced man hastily snatched his hand back from the crystalline red hair.

The other rapped his knuckles against the bald head of Teal'c, feeling a spurt of petty pleasure in the act. "If we fired our staffs into them now, they would shatter into a million pieces. Surely Our Lord would reward us for ridding him of these foes."

The comments only highlighted to the main guard just how naive both these men were. The consequences of such rash acts had not even been considered. "If any of them are damaged or injured before they have completed the task Lord Ba'al set, then the only reward you will receive is death. Now help me move them."

The pair paled remarkably then very gingerly, making sure they made contact with the device base rather than the statuesque people, they pushed. It took quite a bit of effort, for despite the Jaffa's enhanced strength the five bodies and device were a ton weight, much heavier than what they had weighed before the activation.

Puffing a little from the exertion, the ranking guard was about to reactivate the shield to block whatever energy the bodies and device were emitting, but paused just before he hit the last glyph. Reactivating the shield could stop Anubis from tracking both the archaeologist and seer, but could it also block the device's resonance from the souls using it? Undecided he activated the communication unit to the bridge. He spoke to the First Prime, who commended him on his initiative and foresight, before relaying the dilemma to Ba'al.

The Goa'uld considered that the risk of the shield disrupting the Ancient device too high. "Leave the shield down. Have the Jaffa assigned to your level maintain a constant vigilance for any sign of movement. None of you are to leave your post at any time. The moment it is clear the device has completed its usage immediately reactivate the shield. If at that point SG-1 recover and try to escape, stop them with whatever force is necessary."

The Jaffa gave a short bow out of habit. "Yes, My Lord." He motioned for the pair of Jaffa stationed at the end of the opposite corridor to join them.

The five guards began their vigil, almost as motionless as the team they were watching.

"How's it coming, Doc?" Dodger didn't know why he was whispering. Given the close proximity of the Kull, if it were conscious it would hear them regardless of how low they spoke.

"Slowly." Janet gave a low grunt as she dislodged a small rock packed into the hard clay.

"Just don't cut yourself."

"Thanks for the tip," she replied dryly.

For what seemed like hours they had been digging, using the knives issued as standard with their tac kits. They had left the rock and rubble that encased them alone, the risk too high that they would cause another cave in. Instead they were digging into the ground. Janet was carefully scooping out the clay directly beneath her trapped leg, making a trench so she could hopefully eventually just slide her foot out. Rather than focusing on his trapped appendage, Dodger was scraping away at a point approximately a foot away. He'd found the barrel of his slug gun peeking out from the rubble and was trying to dig it out. By his reasoning, he'd prefer be pinned down and armed, than 'free' and unarmed, if the Kull woke up.

"Its breathing is getting stronger," Janet said quietly.

"Can't you just slip the knife in between the armor plates and finish it off?" Dodger increased his efforts.

Janet was tempted by the idea, but then had a nasty thought. "Right now the armor is acting like a sealed can. Do we really want to create an easy opening for the symbiote to slither out?"

The captain grimaced. "On second thought, let's leave sleeping snakes lie."

The doctor also picked up her pace with the digging, keeping an eye on the steady rise and fall of the Kull's chest. Purposefully she kept her mind only on the task, not letting her thoughts stray to beyond what was happening outside their stone tomb. The silence from outside had been deafening. They hadn't heard a single voice of the combat engineers arriving to dig them out nor of any of the soldiers at all; hadn't heard even a peep to indicate the battle was still waging on. The radio had remained worryingly silent, not even a crackle emitting other than when Dodger made his periodic mayday calls. The only sound beside their own breathing and voices had been the occasional groan of the rock shifting above them, which only served to remind them how precarious their current position was.

She loosened another rock from the sticky clay and tested the maneuverability of her trapped foot. She could almost move it. A few minutes later she gave a crow of triumph. "Got it!" It was a tight squeeze, but using her left leg to brace herself against the rock wall she pulled, and with a sucking sound her right foot was out. "I'm free!"

For the next few moments time seemed to slow down.

"Good stuff, Doc!" Dodger grinned buoyed by the success. His smile dropped instantly as he saw the Kull's arm jerkily lift, the light of the energy weapon on its wrist flicking on as it powered up. "Doc! Look out!" Frantically he dug at the slug gun that was almost free, tugging on it with his free hand with all his might.

Janet scrambled closer to him intending to assist him. That is, until she realized that the drunkenly flailing arm was waving directly at them. She was pretty sure the Kull's reaction was more an automatic reaction like a person convulsing, than the Kull being aware enough to actually be aiming at them, but aware or not, it didn't really matter. If it discharged now there would be no way it would miss them. And if by some miracle it did, the blast would hit the rock and undoubtedly cause another cave in. Without thought she lunged at the arm, trying to force it down so it pointed to the ground. She heard the high-pitched whine of the wrist weapon reaching full capacity. A split second later it fired point blank into her chest.

"Doc!" Dodger's panicked yell was muffled by Janet's body as she was thrown back into him. With a horse cry he reefed the gun free and amidst the tangle of arms and legs from the now deathly still body on top of him, he fired at the Kull whose arm was continuing to wave erratically.

A moment before Dodger's energy pulse hit the Kull's bicep rendering the arm useless, the wrist weapon shot off another blind shot.

With mounting horror, Dodger could only watch as the blast impacted the rock above their heads. Awkwardly he twisted his body, protecting Janet as best he could. A pointless act of chivalry, his mind screamed at him as the first chunks of the crumbling rock rained down on them.