Heart thumping Dodger waited for the heavy ka-thunk of rocks and boulders to crush him and the Doc. It took a good ten seconds for the captain to realize that other than the shower of golf ball sized rocks that had already pelted and bounced off them, there was no massive collapse to send them to a squishy death. Lifting his head, he squinted at the sudden bright light assaulting his eyeballs. Dazedly he blinked around to see a pocket of direct sunlight about two feet wide above them.

"Doc?" His relief at not becoming a human flapjack and gaining an instant escape hole was short lived. The woman lying beneath him on her side looked awfully pale. "Doc, come on, don't you check out now."

She was eerily still.

Carefully Dodger rolled her over, dreading what he'd see. Her tac vest was singed and smoking, no surprise there, but just because there was no blood gushing didn't mean diddly squat when it came to snake weapon blasts hitting a body wrapped in Kevlar. Quickly he started yanking at the straps and Velcro to undo it. To distract himself from thinking about 'what ifs' he started chatting to the unresponsive woman. "Now, Doc, don't get the wrong idea..." He tugged the flap and pulled the vest entirely open. "I'm not getting fresh or nuthin'..." He ran his hands over her ribcage and belly. "'Cause for one I remember those big honkin' needles you got..." Gingerly he pressed the back of his hand, for the gentleman in him decided it would be less of a grope than a damage assessment, to the valley of her breasts and then moved upwards to her shoulders. "...And for two, I'm dating your daughter."

His relief at feeling her body to be of normal temperature was also confused. The Doc should be cooking like a roast dinner, especially after being hit at such close range. Not that he was complaining about that little miracle! But how...? He flipped over the flap of the vest and made a closer examination of the now exposed plating inside. His thumb wiped some soot away. That's not Kevlar...it's the new ceramic polymer stuff the science nerds were working on. He hadn't even known they'd made a working prototype yet. "Yeeeeehaw! There is a God after all!"

A soft groan hissed from Janet's lips. "Aloysius..."

"I thought we agreed using my first name was a cruel and unusual punishment," he quipped.

"So is screaming in my ear," she shot back groggily, her eyes flickering open.

There was a scrabbling noise and a few pebbles fell down from the hole above. "If we're interrupting, we can come back." Brooklyn peeked down at them with a wide grin.

"What the hell took you so long?" Dodger grinned, hastily removing his hands from Janet's shoulders.

"Oh, you know, we've been having fun shooting and blowing things up while you two decided to play hooky."

"How's Lou and Nyan?" Janet asked. "And Sergeant Sparrow?"

Brooklyn shot a look over his shoulder, his smile faltering for the briefest of seconds, then it was back. "SG-2 are now all present and accounted for. Sparrow's back at the SGC getting stitched up."

"Thanks, Captain, we'll take it from here." Major Peters, the commander of the combat engineer team came into view.

Brooklyn dutifully stepped back to where Nyan and Ferretti were standing to the side. They'd been helping with the grunt work once the area had been cleared of the remaining Kull warriors and had only been a few feet away when the rock below had blasted out. Ferretti had actually been closer than Brooklyn had been and had leapt across a boulder towards them as soon as the air had cleared. However, the major had frozen when he'd heard Dodger's panicked voice urging the Doc to stay with them, not able to bring himself to take those final few steps, dreading what he'd find. Right now, Brooklyn couldn't help but see the slight tremble to his commander's hand as he wiped it over his face, intently listening to the blessedly lucid voices of the Doc and Dodger.

"Couldn't wait for us to play hero, huh?" Peters wouldn't mention just how damned lucky Janet and Dodger had been. They had literally only just cleared off the upper layers of rubble and wreckage when the sheet of rock had suddenly exploded. If the Kull weapon had of been discharged a few minutes earlier, that nice little hole would now be full of rocks, with the pair buried underneath.

"Sorry, the slug got a little impatient." Dodger gestured to the still twitching arm of the Kull.

"You know how to make a grand exit." Peters had been making an assessment of not only the couple's responses but of the immediate area, to determine the next move. Carefully he began lowering himself into the hole. "We've been excavating for about four hours and hadn't heard a peep."

Janet sat up, scooting over a bit to make room for Peters, wincing a little at the dull pain that shot through her chest bone. "We didn't hear you either."

"I know one of the reasons this planet was chosen was precisely because the rock absorbs all sound and blocks our scanning equipment, but it makes search and rescue more than a little tricky. We had no life signs. If it wasn't for Major Ferretti, we wouldn't have known precisely where to dig for you." Peters touched ground and did another visual assessment of the small rock cavern to make sure it was stable. Then turned his attention to the people he'd been sent to rescue. "Are you injured?"

"Mostly superficial," Janet replied, slipping automatically into doctor mode. "Probably both have concussions. Dodger's leg is trapped, but doesn't seem to be fractured."

"Okay, let's get you topside, Doc. Then we'll take care of Dodger," Peters said brusquely. He called up to his team above, "Lower the sling."

'Major, are you okay?" she asked concerned.

Ferretti was finding it almost physically impossible not to haul the tiny woman into his arms. He carefully scanned her from top to toe, assuring himself that she really was alright. She was filthy, her clothes and body coated in a film of dust, blood caked at her cheek and spotted her BDUs, and to him she was the best sight he'd seen all day. The tight band across his chest was loosening so for the first time since the cave in he felt like he could breathe normally. "Should be asking you that."

"I'm fine," she assured. "A little battered but nothing a good soak in a tub won't cure." She skidded down the last rock, and was caught by Ferretti and one of her medics.

"Why don't you let us make that assessment, Doctor Fraiser?" The nurse led her towards the stretcher. "You seem to be having a little trouble breathing."

"I'm fine," Janet reiterated. "My chest is just bruised from the impact of the Kull blast." She felt Ferretti's hand tighten around her elbow and before she knew it she found herself sitting, pushed gently but firmly onto the stretcher. She allowed the medics to run a cursory exam, more because she was confused by the demeanor of her usually cocky friend than because she felt she needed it. There was something different about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Their examination was quick but thorough, testing her pupils, heart rate and blood pressure and also her leg that had been pinned. One of the nurses carefully checked the gash on her face. "You'll need a stitch in that." He slid an oxygen mask hooked up to a portable canister over her nose. "Let's get you back to the SGC."

Janet batted the mask away. "I'm fine. I can walk." She started to get to her feet determined to stop all the fussing.

The nurses were hesitant to concede to their boss given the circumstances but they recognized the stubborn glint to her eyes and backed off. Ferretti however, wasn't having a bar of it.

"Doc, plant you ass back down on the stretcher."

"There's nothing wrong with my legs." She proved her point by rotating first one then the other of her ankles.

"Park it, or I will carry you," he warned. "Your choice. Either way you're not walking the two klicks back to the 'gate."

"Major, don't be ridiculous..." She gave a squeak of shock as in a flash Ferretti had stepped close and swung her up in his arms.

Immediately he began striding towards the vicinity of the Stargate, yelling over his shoulder. "Brooklyn, Nyan, you'll stay 'til they free Dodger?"

"You bet, boss!" Brooklyn called back, trying unsuccessfully to wipe the grin off his face.

"Don't let him think he's walking back either," he commanded.

"Yes, sir." The captain gave a formal salute, under his breath he said to his teammate, "But I'll be damned if we're gonna use the same tactics. Dodger weighs a freakin' ton."

"You medics coming?" Ferretti growled. He didn't have to look at their faces to know they were staring at him, gaping like cod fish.

"Y...yes, sir."

"Well, get a hustle on." He shifted his hold on the woman who was indignantly squirming in his arms trying to 'escape'. "Doc, this was your choice."

"Major, what the hell has gotten into you?" she demanded.

"Don't know what you're talking about."

Pressed as she was to him, she could feel the slight tremble in his body, she tried to get a look at his face and saw his grim, determined expression. "Why are you so mad?"

"I'm not." Ferretti almost laughed. He may be mad as in going loopy, but he wasn't angry. He didn't want to admit to half the emotions that was roaring through his body at the moment, would only admit to the need to keep Janet close to him. He needed the physical contact as proof to himself that Janet was really alive and breathing, and that he wasn't going to wake up into the nightmare of her being buried. And he figured that the hike to the 'gate would be enough to convince him of that. "Let's just say that it's been a hell of a day."

"Are you sure you're alright?" She placed a hand to his cheek, tilting his head down a little so she could study him, both as a friend and a doctor.

Not prepared for the intimate gesture, not trusting that he'd be able to stop himself from kissing her, he jerked his head back. "Positive." His voice was a little gruff as he spouted off the lie. When she started to speak again, he cut her off. "Please, Doc....just accept this crazy act of knight-ism and leave it at that."

More than a little confused, Janet was tempted to press the issue, but seeing the stubborn set to his jaw, she didn't. Instead she stopped her wriggling and tried to think of light thoughts, for she guessed correctly that Ferretti wasn't going to let the medics take over no matter how tired he got or how heavy she may become. Resting her head on his shoulder, she had the very strange sensation of being completely safe and at peace. Ferretti was right, this had been a hell of a day. "So, what's been happening while Dodger and I were out of the picture?"

The major seemed relieved to have a normal topic of conversation. "Well, Annika went and got herself snatched by a snake..."

"This isn't where I expected Anubis to be," Jack drawled, taking in the familiar walls of the SGC briefing room.

"Um...sorry." Annika ducked her head. "I think I brought us here." When she and Daniel had searched for Anubis, the brief contact they had made had brought the memory of his agonizing mental torture to the front of her mind, not that it had really been very far away in the first place.

"Why?" Daniel waited for the echo in his head for her answer but strangely there was only silence. Gently he examined the 'static' and discovered a thin veil blocking Annika's thoughts, not only from him but from the others as well.

"Instinct," she replied out loud. "I...I feel safe here."

"Why can't I hear you in stereo?" Jack asked, tapping his head.

Daniel's voice echoed in. "She's blocking."

"I am?" Annika heard the answer and was as surprised as the others that her link had morphed into a one-way receiver.

"Annika, this won't work unless we're completely as one," Daniel gently pointed out, softly probing the veil that was becoming thicker, to discover what was going on.

The redhead visibly flinched at the contact.

"Don't you trust us, Casper?" Jack asked, concerned that his earlier actions were affecting her now despite his apology.

"It's nothing to do with you." She met the colonel's gaze for a second, then looked to the others. "Not any of you." Her eyes landed lastly on Daniel, pleading with him to understand.

Daniel read the mix of emotions, but knew he couldn't be the one to verbalize them. It was something Annika had to do. He reached for her hand giving an encouraging squeeze.

She drew courage from her husband's support and spoke stiltedly. "You didn't have Anubis torturing your mind...stabbing and pounding...burning..."

The heavy veil became a blanket.

"...I can't go through that again."

Despite her mental shield, the rest of SG-1 felt a hard ripple of emotion shoot from Annika and through them. Understanding registered simultaneously in the fully connected souls.

Sam opened her mouth, but a firm order of 'No' from Daniel had her snapping her jaw shut.

"Annika needs to admit it to herself."

"Why?" Annika tried to pull her hand from his grasp. "You know what I'm feeling."

Daniel wouldn't let her withdraw from him, hating to see the torment in his wife's eyes, knowing that this was necessary. "Because you need to acknowledge it, accept it. Otherwise this..." he gestured to himself and the others indicating their non-corporeal state, "will be for nothing."

Annika swallowed, glancing at her team who were studying her with concern, not pushing but encouraging, offering their support. Drew in a ragged breath. "I'm scared, okay? I've never been more terrified in my entire life."

The four silently conversed and in an instant determined who should respond.

"We are all fearful, Annika Jackson."

Her eyes widened at the century old warrior. "But you've fought countless battles."

The Jaffa gave a nod. "And each time I have feared the outcome."

"We all get scared, Casper." Jack was unusually solemn. "Even if we don't show it."

"We use it," Sam added. "Channel it to make us pull the trigger that much quicker or spout off a smartass quip."

"When that fails we do our best to shove it aside," Daniel said quietly. "But it's always there."

"So it doesn't make me...weak?" she asked in a small voice.

"Nope," Jack shook his head. "Just makes you human like the rest of us." The colonel held out his transparent hand. "Come on, fifth wheel, can't travel without ya'."

Looking into the warm eyes of her team, Annika felt the shame that had prompted her to unwittingly isolate herself melt away. With Daniel's hand still tucked snugly in her left hand, she took Jack's with her right. With the contact she allowed her mind to join with the others and they all felt the rush of energy as the device light years away on Ba'al's ship recognized the complete reunion. "Let's go clean up the laundry."

Just as they all nodded in agreement they were interrupted by Hammond jogging into the room. He'd heard the voices of his primary team as he'd approached. His first feeling was one of relief to hear not only Annika speaking lucidly, but to hear Daniel at all. Relief that was short lived. He'd assumed they were using the same holographic technology that Ba'al had used, so seeing them standing in the middle of the table wasn't a shock. However a moment later he realized they weren't projecting the same way. They appeared completely solid despite the evidence to the contrary and there was a luminous quality emanating from them. "Colonel?"

"General, nice to see you."

"You too, Colonel, but am I really seeing you?"

"Ah...you mean the glowy thing?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, well about that," Jack adjusted his cap. "On the upside we're just about...

Teal'c picked up the sentence, "...to use the weapon..."

"...on our favorite dirty laundry..." Annika grinned.

"...Actually, we're using it now, sir, we're..." Sam added to have Daniel carry on.

"... sort of in transit."

"Okay." Hammond accepted the strangeness of SG-1 finishing each other's sentences. He'd always suspected the team of pretty much knowing each other's thoughts, this only proved it. "The downside?"

"We are dead, General Hammond," Teal'c said in his usual calm tone.

"Dead?" Hammond felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach.

"We're hoping it's only a temporary affliction," Jack hastened to add.

"Technically we're partly Ascended," Sam explained.

"And we really can't stop to chat. Anubis just arrived at Dakara," Daniel informed quietly.

Hammond gave a nod. "Godspeed."

"Thank you, sir." Five voices echoed around the room.

The general watched as the expressions of his primary team became vacantly fixed on a point over his shoulder. He surmised they were telepathically conversing with each other. An instant later they were gone.

With the location of Anubis fixed in their entwined minds, they appeared in the abyss of space above Dakara. All around them gliders and alkesh locked into battle zoomed by in complex maneuvers. Unbeknownst to SG-1, they appeared to the fighting Jaffa as a single brightly glowing bobbing ball. Both sides thinking they were some kind of new energy weapon from the opposing enemy, started firing at them. All of the team instinctively flinched as the blasts shot right through them, though in their current state, no weapon from the mortal realm could harm them. After the initial bombardment, they managed to ignore the goings on in the physical plane, turning their attention to searching for the being they had come to destroy.

"Where the hell is he?" Jack asked. He could sense Anubis's presence, the entire area seemed to reek of the snake's evilness but he couldn't pinpoint a specific location.

"I don't know," Daniel frowned. "He's somehow blanketing himself."

A glider let lose another spray of fiery rounds and one bolt shot right through Daniel's torso, distracting him from the search.

"That's just disconcerting," he muttered. As another volley sped towards them, the archaeologist flicked his hand. The projectiles veered away from the team, locking onto the surrounding gliders buzzing by. It was done so nonchalantly that it was obvious Daniel didn't comprehend that he'd done it.

"For our first trick," Jack smirked. With the ensuing explosions, he issued assignments. "Daniel, Annika, concentrate on finding Anubis. Carter, Teal'c, let's keep any distractions away."

As one they nodded, and the three military members formed a triangle around Daniel and Annika.

"Batter up!" Jack rubbed his hands together. With the quip a baseball bat appeared in his grasp. He blinked in astonishment, saw that both Sam and Teal'c had bats as well, then grinned. "Sweet!"

"I guess creating illusions is one of Anubis's powers." Sam gave a couple of practice swings.

"Yeah, whatever." Jack lobbed an energy bolt back at the glider that fired it. "Home run!" The ship exploded into a fireball of shrapnel. The colonel convinced himself that this batting practice was merely an exercise so that they could increase their familiarity with their new bag of tricks and become accustomed to working in the overlapping planes of existence. It had nothing whatsoever to do with how much fun it was.

"That was almost convincing, O'Neill," Teal'c's deadpan thought echoed in, "were it not for our mental link."

Jack grinned innocently. "Can I help it if I love my job?"

"Daniel, I think he's down there." Annika, who had her hand gripped tightly with her husband's, gave his fingers a squeeze.

Daniel drew his attention to where she directed, 'feeling' a slightly stronger mass of the sickly energy. "He's trying to access the weapon."

"For what purpose?" Teal'c asked with a burst of satisfaction at lobbying an energy bolt through the planet's atmosphere to impact an alkesh unloading a troop of Kulls. "If he uses the weapon, will we not be unaffected by the disruption on the mortal plane? We will still be here to destroy him."

In sync the team began flying down towards the temple where Anubis was.

"Not necessarily," Sam speculated, slogging a fireball into a glider. "We're only Ascended because of the device that's in the mortal plane. If that plane is destroyed, then we could well be too."

"Okay, campers, keep your eyes peeled for any tricks, traps, lightning, lasers, voodoo..."

"Shock wave," Annika butted in.

"That too."

"No. Shock wave!" She pointed to the far left of them.

The space seemed to ripple towards them.

Annika guessed Anubis had set it in place before they arrived in hope that they wouldn't notice it until it was too late. The others mentally agreed with her thought. The wave stretched as far as the eye could see both in width and height.

"Crap," Jack grumbled. Was it a warning system letting Anubis know they had arrived? A first strike? Either way, it was clear there was no way they could avoid it. He estimated they had about five seconds. "Suggestions?"

"Hold on?" Daniel smiled tightly.

"We are prepared?" Teal'c would have liked more time to become accustomed to his current state, nevertheless he drew on the newfound power bestowed upon him. As his fingertips began to tingle he knew his teammates were doing the same, getting ready to unleash the first phase of their strategy.

"Too bad if we're not." Annika fought down the rush of panic that threatened to explode in her chest and turned to face the wave head on. She may be quaking in her boots, but she'd be damned if she'd be the weak link.

When Daniel had described the Ascended abilities, he'd also mentally projected the effect as Oma had explained it, of using the powers on another Ascended being. In the mortal plane being hit by lightning or a shock wave, besides being excruciating, more often than not resulted in death. However, in an Ascended's case, being made up of pure energy rather than flesh and blood, there would be no pain, at least not as they knew it. Instead there would be pressure, to varying degrees, dependent on what Anubis used against them. Anything from a puff of wind to making the air so hard and strong it could rip the skin right off a mortal body.

Killing an Ascended, or in this case a partly Ascended, would not involve blood and gore or be as simple as a well aimed bullet, (or whatever the equivalent of a bullet was on the Ascended plane). There'd be no quick strike. It would be a game of grit, determination and cunning. The fight would be a steady build up of pressure, to the point where the Ascended being essentially caved in on himself. Hopefully this would happen before the pressure Anubis would be throwing at them did the same to them. But while that was an immediate danger for those involved, it was the aftermath that would have the cosmic consequences. All that condensed pressure would have to be released, the implosion would reverse into an explosion. Oma had grimly put such an event into a context Daniel could comprehend. A single Ascended being 'implosion' was more powerful than a dozen suns going supernova at once.

The shock wave hit, sending them tumbling towards Dakara. The force, as strong as Niagara Falls, had them struggling to breathe from the heavy weight constricting them. They tried to stay together but the wave turned into five separate currents, sending them each in a different direction. Rather than try to fight it, they rode it out, using their hands and feet to regain some sort of balance.

Annika fought down the panic of having lost her 'physical' hold on Daniel. His touch had been a comfort, helping her to remain calm. When she skidded to a halt she found herself surrounded by darkness. She didn't normally suffer from claustrophobia but the blackness was so absolute, she could feel it pressing down on her. Heart pounding, she gasped for breath but the air was thick and heavy like molasses; she felt like she was suffocating. She called out to the others.

Only silence greeted her.

Where were they? What had happened to the device's link that connected them as one? Oh, god, had the shock wave obliterated them in one fell swoop? Her panic swelled. She couldn't face Anubis alone.

In the blackness a light began to appear.

"Daniel? Is that you?" She scrambled towards it, though her limbs were heavy slowing her down. "Jack? Sam? Teal'c?"

The light grew brighter, but as she drew closer it began to morph into the shape of a skull. Red flames of fire appeared in the black empty eye sockets and a low menacing laugh echoed in her ears. Terror engulfed her as she realized she was looking into the face of pure evil.

"Your friends cannot help you," Anubis's voice boomed around her. "Come to me, seer, and let me finish what I started."

A ghostly hand covered in flames snaked out towards her, its size growing to giant proportions. Annika was powerless to stop it. His hand wrapped around her, his palm burning her thoughts, his fingers slicing through her mind. A whimper escaped from her lips, her vocal chords too paralyzed with fear to let loose the scream of agony that wanted to come out. There wasn't supposed to be pain, was her last coherent thought. She couldn't go through this again...

It felt like an eternity as she struggled against the red hot strangle hold the Goa'uld had on her. She fought with all her might, but his hold didn't waver, just relentlessly continued to brutally attack her consciousness, his taunting and his mocking cackle shredding through her.

Then above the continuous evil laughing she vaguely heard a different voice but it was crackled and disjointed like a radio going out of range.

"Loo....wi...y...min...no...ith...ur...i..."

Annika battled to make sense of the message, doing her best to shove away the pain leeching through her and focus.

"...sper...we...ere...Ann...ook wit...yo...ind...ot...ith...ur...eye..."

There was a brief pause where Annika strained to hear. Anubis's mocking became louder and Annika sensed a hint of desperation, though whether it was coming from Anubis or herself she couldn't say. Irritation started to claw its way out of her mind, overriding her fear and pain. "Hey, shut the fuck up, you slimy dishrag, I'm trying to listen."

Though Anubis's laugh yet again rose in decibel, the 'radio message' came through loud and clear.

"Annika, look with your mind, not with your eyes! Casper, we're here!"

The redhead recognized Daniel's and Jack's voices. Tried to do as they asked, but she couldn't shake the nightmarish image of Anubis before her. She tried to close her eyes but invisible fingers harshly kept them open. In desperation she had a sudden idea. If she couldn't banish his image, she could use it. She focused on one of the flaming eyes, attempting to pretend it was the gentle flame of a candle she sometimes used for meditation rather than the evil window to Anubis's soul that it was.

Slowly the angry red transformed to a gentle yellow flame and with a rush the blackness dropped away. She felt strong solid arms cradling her. She clung to Daniel, blinking dazedly around to see they were in a temple-like structure. Sam and Teal'c were firing very cool looking fireballs from their hands at a black robed figure. Barely could she make out the face hidden within, however she could tell it wasn't the skull that had just terrorized her. Anubis it seemed had chosen a human form. Jack, who was crouched on the other side of her, had one hand resting on her shoulder while the other shot a bolt of lightning.

"What happened?" she silently asked, determined that now that she once again had the mental connection with the others, she wasn't going to let it go.

"Anubis used our memories against us." Daniel tried to hide his relief that his wife was once again lucid.

The wave had indeed been a trap, Anubis extending his will to lock on to what individuality they retained, blocking their thoughts from each other and manipulating their memories. He'd dragged to the forefront all the torture they had experienced. Daniel and Sam had been the first to break free of the memories for they had been subjected to the least amount of brutalization over the years. Shattering the illusion had also smashed the mental block. Before the pair had even started on a strategy to help the others, Teal'c had freed himself. The Jaffa, having had a century enmeshed in Goa'uld tactics had figured out what was happening. Jack had taken longer. The time he'd spent in an Iraq prison had been twisted with the months he'd been in Ba'al's hands, but eventually when he realized the Iraqi guard was using a Goa'uld hand device he'd clued in to the fact that it was an elaborate deception.

"Are you okay?" Daniel held Annika close, feeling her tremble in his arms, worried by the slump in her emotions as the explanation of what had happened filtered in to her mind from all of them.

Jerkily she nodded, subtly hiding what she was really feeling. "Thank you for pulling me out." Sam's speculation that because Annika's worst memory had been so recent and involved Anubis himself, she hadn't been able to distinguish memory from the here and now, didn't really help Annika with the sense of cowardice she was feeling. She'd frozen up, it was as simple as that. She was filled with humiliation and self-loathing. Ignored the little voice in her head that she had tried to fight Anubis off despite her terror, that she had managed to banish the memory eventually. The way she saw it, it had been Daniel and Jack who had rescued her rather than them alerting her to the reality of the situation so she could save herself.

Daniel frowned. "But we didn't-"

"Look out!" Sam's warning cut off the archaeologist's comment before he could finish.

The three of them were suddenly shoved by an unseen force across the room, just as Anubis launched a triple volley of energy balls at Sam, Teal'c and the huddled trio. The push had a 'Teal'c' feel about it.

"Thanks, T," Jack gave a half salute at the Jaffa for shifting them from a direct hit, then spoke to Daniel and Annika. "We can chat later, kids." He let loose with his own retaliation fire.

And so the battle continued. SG-1 using everything from fire bolts to lightning to the more conventional weapons they were accustomed to, at Anubis, and Anubis firing back. Neither side appeared to be making any progress to victory, if anything the deadlock only served to increase their efforts, both looking for an opening to get the upper hand.

While Annika held her own, laying down cover fire for the others as they shifted positions to line up a better shot, she couldn't bring herself to move away from the pillar she was hiding behind. Each time Anubis unleashed another fireball she had to fight down her gut wrenching terror of her teammates not being able to dodge out of the way in time, her fear of the being himself. The fear clawed at her, it wasn't just her fear of Anubis, but her fear that she'd freeze up again, jeopardizing everyone else. She repeated the advice the others had given to cope like a mantra in her head. Use the fear, use the fear, use the fear. She channeled the hated emotion and let loose an impressively big fireball at Anubis.

"Nice shot," Daniel complimented as he skidded behind a chunk of rubble a few meters away from her. He stuck his hand over the top of the jagged stone and directed a lightning bolt at Anubis's feet.

"Is our plan even working?" Annika asked, pushing against the pressure that was building up with every fireball Anubis threw at them regardless of whether or not they made a direct hit. The visual projectiles were also a type of illusion, for the energy that was involved extended out in a radius that was greater than the 'ball' or 'lightning'. If they could have witnessed from the outside the battle they were engaged in, what they would have seen was two bright lights jammed against each other, rolling around the temple, oblivious to the damage they were causing as they smashed into walls and pillars. The fight SG-1 was seeing was how their collective mind interpreted it, like the diner where Daniel had spent the better part of the day.

Daniel nodded. "See for yourself." He gave a barely perceptible tilt of his head behind them.

Careful to make sure Anubis didn't see, she followed where he had indicated. Hidden in an alcove was a small bubble with five slim tubes extending out from it. The tubes were the result of SG-1's initial use of their newfound power. When the shock wave had hit and they had been 'scrambling' to get some balance, they had really been searching for places to attach their 'tubes' onto the wave, connecting them to the being controlling it. The tubes, that were being masked from Anubis's sight by Daniel, had a red mist traveling through them. With every attack Anubis made using his Ascended powers, the tubes sucked some of that power out to be contained in the bubble, which was also hidden from Anubis. The basis behind the plan was that the less power Anubis had by the end of this battle, the less it would affect the Ascended plane. The fight they were having now was merely a distraction until they had drained as much power from Anubis as they could before they stepped up their efforts to induce the final act of implosion. They wouldn't allow themselves to wonder what would happen if Anubis got the upper hand and they were the ones to implode.

For a few seconds only the sound of weapons discharging was heard as they sought a new battle plan.

Sam was the first to speak, throwing another fireball. "Do you feel that?" Her quiet question brushed over to Annika across the temple. "Know what it is?"

The redhead gave a stilted nod. Was Sam kidding? It had been a constant battle to fight that gut wrenching terror down. "Fear."

"But it's not our fear." Sam could have had this conversation with any one of her team, (and technically she was because the others were listening in due to their mental connection,) but given Annika's concerns she'd singled the redhead out.

"Anubis fears us?" The concept was bizarre to her. It had never occurred to her that the Goa'uld could feel such terror. Had thought they were too arrogant to let such a 'weak' emotion reside inside them.

"Everyone feels fear," the blonde reiterated what had been said earlier.

"Anyone who says otherwise is a liar," Jack let loose a series of fireballs at Anubis giving Daniel a chance to get a better position behind a pillar.

Annika could feel the expectation, the hope, emanating from her teammates that she would pick up the train of thought Sam had opened up. With shaky confidence, Annika didn't let them down. "We can use it against him."

There was a sudden spurt of pride that encased Annika from four different directions and the redhead flushed. "If I hear a 'that'a girl' from any one of you..." she warned playfully, trying to downplay the moment.

"That would be such a cliché," Jack grinned. "You got a plan?" Normally any course of action was a group effort, but he wanted, no needed, Casper to regain the confidence in herself that had taken a nosedive since the whole Nox futzing with her abilities thing. She'd only just started to get back to her old self and then Anubis got his snaky mitts on her. He was also very much aware that he hadn't helped the situation this morning. Of course if her plan sucked he'd have to step in...

The redhead's idea began to filter through to all of them.

"A very literal usage of our advice," Teal'c observed. He had changed his 'weapon' of choice to a staff weapon and fired three shots off in quick succession before ducking behind an alter.

"You don't think it will work?" Annika worriedly asked.

"On the contrary, it has great merit."

"We'll create a distraction for you," Daniel gave his stamp of approval quickly followed by Sam's agreement.

"You want me to be the 'front man'?" Annika was surprised. That they were willingly to accept her plan was one thing but with so much riding on its execution...what if she froze again?

"It's your idea." Jack waved a hand, indicating that she should have the honor of putting it into play.

She was a little overwhelmed by their faith in her. Then again, she thought, if she froze, with this whole interconnected Ascension business they could yank her out...

"Stop that," Daniel gently scolded, taking a lesson from his wife's earlier inadvertent action in the briefing room and shielded his thoughts from the others, directing them solely to Annika. "You're not going to freeze up. You've faced down Goa'uld when you were a 'mere mortal', this time we're evenly matched, power for power."

The words finally sunk into Annika's head and she smiled gratefully at her husband. "Thanks." His words also triggered an idea to add a little twist to her original plan.

If the others had noticed the block of Daniel's thoughts, they didn't mention it as they moved to take up positions.

Annika concentrated for a second picturing in her mind what she needed. "Sam, can you help me with the...um...loop?"

Then blonde mentally explained the method, and though it was in computer technobabble, Annika was able to reciprocate it into the 'spiritual' item she was creating.

"This mental link is handy, isn't it?" Sam murmured as she watched Annika make the adaptation.

"Sure is," Annika agreed. In her hands appeared a specially woven rope. Taking a steadying breath she gave the signal to her team, who increased their attack at Anubis ensuring his attention was solely on them. Gripping the rope tightly, Annika skulked in the shadows sneaking up on the half-Ascended Goa'uld.

She'd almost made it, but at the last second Anubis sensed her presence behind him. She immediately ducked behind a pillar.

Still firing energy balls at the SG quartet, his neck rotated impossibly by one hundred and eighty degrees to face her. A malevolent grin contorted his lips. "So the cowardly seer has again come out to play. What a joy it will be to once more terrorize your soul." His hand lashed out and a ball of lightning shattered the pillar she was hiding behind.

Annika cowered behind the rubble.

"See how your fear paralyzes you. It's ambrosia to my lips." The being, drifted towards her, waving off the bombardment of energy balls that were still being thrown towards him by the others like they were as harmless as falling leaves. "You are no match for me. Your powers are nothing more than an artificial reflection of godly power. Prepare to feel what a true god can do!"

Annika scrambled back, trying to keep out of reach of the hand that extended out to her. When the Goa'uld was but two steps from her, she lifted her eyes upwards, her gaze locking with his. "You want to taste my fear?" She gave him a hard smile, the pretense of her 'cowardice' melting away. "It's all yours."

Her hand jerked up and down, causing the rope, the end of which was clutched tightly in her grasp, to ripple like a wave. The rest of the rope had been carefully laid down unobtrusively on the ground as she'd crept up, and the Goa'uld had unknowingly stepped right up to it. The crest of the rippling rope brushed against his robe and that brief contact was all that was needed. The singular ripple became many, as the rope like it was a sentient being curled itself around the Goa'uld boa constrictor style.

Anubis gave a mocking laugh. "Is that the best you can do?" The rope continued to coil around him. "I revel in your fear, it makes me stronger..."

Annika stared defiantly, waiting for the rope to work its true magic. The main strands of the rope were made up of her fearful emotions, but that was merely a red herring. Twisted within was a thread of her ability to siphon off emotions from those around her. As Anubis fed on the fear, he also absorbed that thread, which she had directed to locate only one emotion from one being.

The Goa'uld's mocking cut off as the thread began to bring to the forefront Anubis's own fear; binding the rope stronger to him. He struggled against it, trying to break free, but the more he fought the tighter the rope became, the more pronounced the fear resonated through him. It was a self-feeding motion. The rope tightened enhancing the fear, which in turn made the rope tighten even more. And then the little something extra Annika had added kicked in.

Anubis had used memory projection on them at the beginning of his defense and Annika had just switched the tables. She'd woven in another thread, calling upon the Goa'uld's memory of all the torturous acts he had committed in his lifetime but not as he had seen them. Anubis liked to torment and brutalize his victims face to face. As such he could see his own reflection in the eyes of his victims as they screamed and begged for mercy or death, capturing their agony as well as his perverse enjoyment of what he'd inflicted. It was those memories that now mingled with his exacerbated fear; the memories so powerful, that the remembered pain was as agonizing as actual physical contact.

SG-1 halted their attack, though they remained poised to start it up again at the first sign that Anubis was going to break free. The self-feeding loop of the rope was doing their 'job' for them, building up the pressure against him. As the Goa'uld's focus switched from attacking them to fighting off 'himself', the team felt the compacted weight around themselves ease away. They watched Anubis writhe, his eyes turning wild as he saw images only he could see. His mouth opened in a silent scream of abject horror, his vocal chords seizing up. Then like a switch being flicked his voice unfroze and soul-tearing howl ripped from his throat. It seemed to last forever in one continuous stream. He did eventually suck in laborious breath, but his next howl made the first seem like a whisper. It rocked through the universe, the sonic waves even extending into the overlapping mortal plane, making the nearby mountains and buildings on Dakara shudder as though an earthquake had struck.

SG-1 looked on grimly. This had been their agreed upon plan, but they had underestimated their 'success'. None of them took any pleasure in the agonizing wail, though they supposed it was a case of karma biting Anubis in the ass. The pain he was feeling was miniscule compared to all the atrocities the Goa'uld had committed over thousands of years, for there were many victims he had not had face to face contact with, like the Abydonians whom he had obliterated from his ship. Yet witnessing the torture, even if it was essentially of the Goa'uld's own making, made them sick to their stomachs.

"I didn't know it would be so bad," Annika whispered, guilt tingeing her tone. She was grateful when Daniel, who was equally disturbed by the ferocity of the memories attacking the Goa'uld, laid a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Anyone got the proverbial bullet?" Jack wanted to turn away, but wouldn't take that coward's way out. To look away now would be to deny what they were doing to another living being, no matter how despicable the being may be.

Before anyone could respond, Anubis's howling changed to words. He screamed them out, though Jack didn't catch what was said. For a second the roiling mass in the rope froze, then a white light surrounded him. A blink and the being disappeared.

"What just happened?" Jack demanded. If Anubis had just escaped and they had to go chasing his wailing ass across the galaxy he would not be a happy camper.

"That was unexpected," Daniel murmured.

"What?" Four voices echoed back at him.

"He chose to Descend." Daniel had been the only one to understand the Goa'uld's shriek. He confirmed it by carefully doing a mental search for Anubis, choosing the most likely place that the Goa'uld would return to on the mortal plane if the Others had given him that choice. He sensed the symbiote that was Anubis, brushed against its mind. Felt a flash of annoyance that for whatever reason the Others had left the snake's memory intact. Wondered why the Others had granted that 'concession' to the being who wanted galactic domination yet had removed his own memories for simply asking questions. Had he been such a threat to the Ascended the last time? More of a threat than Anubis? It didn't seem fair to him, and proved that the ways of the Ascended were still very much a mystery to him. He pushed the bitter thought aside. "He's on his mothership."

They digested those comments for a moment.

"So no cosmic boom?" Annika raised a questioning eyebrow.

The archaeologist shook his head. "Leaving the Ascended plane of one's own free will has no galactic consequences."

"That should make your jellyfish friends happy," Jack grinned.

"What shall we do with this?" Teal'c held up the bubble they had been siphoning Anubis's powers into. Free of the Goa'uld's malevolent manipulation of them, the 'mist' had turned from an angry red to a pearly white.

"Oma said she'd take care of it," Daniel said, resisting the sudden tugging he felt, pulling him in the general direction of Ba'al's ship light years away. With a start he realized that they had already 'drifted' into the outer atmosphere of the planet. He saw that the others were also struggling to remain where they were. Guessed correctly that the Ancient device was shutting down now that its task had essentially been completed.

"Wouldn't it be irresponsible of us to just leave it here floating around until whenever she decides to show up?" Sam mused. She began kicking with her legs like a scuba diver swimming against the tide to stay where she was.

"It definitely would, Major Carter," Teal'c agreed sagely, mimicking the blonde's movements. "We should dispose of it."

"Well, the only way to do that would be to use the energy," Daniel breaststroked ahead a few meters, "on say, some inanimate object that hasn't been used for a few eons."

With sly smiles the team looked down at the planet they were floating over.

"You know what they say in Good Housekeeping," Annika grinned. "If you don't use something for a millennia it should be gotten rid of."

Teal'c raised the bubble over his head, ready to throw the energy bubble at the temple where the Ancient weapon was hidden.

"Wait a sec." A comment from earlier in the day nagged at Jack. "Blowing it up won't blow up the galaxy?"

Sam shook her head, dispelling the theory she'd raised when they had first heard of the weapon that morning. Anubis had had extensive knowledge of Dakara's weapon, which she had purposefully gleaned from him during her contact with him in the battle. She'd been thinking ahead, optimistically assuming they'd win this fight, and that the intel would be useful in the future. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the next mission on the SGC agenda would more than likely be to Dakara. Leaving such a powerful weapon effectively in Goa'uld hands, even if it was hidden, just wasn't an option. What she'd learned from Anubis was that the weapon at the moment was nothing more than stone and cogs until the correct code was entered, the power source harmless without the rest of the machine working.

"Bomb's away then!" Jack encouraged with a hand flap.

With a wicked smile tweaking his lips Teal'c threw the bubble with all his might, perfectly aiming for the temple. He did feel a pang of loss, at destroying a monument that held such spiritual value to all Jaffa, however he took solace in the knowledge that no more Jaffa lives would be lost fighting for the Goa'uld's craving for domination of that particular planet.

As the stone building exploded in a spectacular display of white fire, SG-1 finally stopped resisting the ever increasing tidal tug of the device reeling them back in. The five shared smiles of satisfaction.

What started as a slow drift through the galaxy became a super fast zoom, making the stars and planets whiz by in a blur. Though it was unnecessary, for they were all being pulled at the same speed, the team linked hands, uniting together to face whatever lay ahead, whether it be speeding to their permanent deaths, remaining half-Ascended or winding up as prisoners on Ba'al's ship.

Jack let his pride in his team shine through the mental link. They'd whupped Anubis's butt, stopping him from destroying the galaxy, and done it without mucking up the jellyfish plane. And as an added bonus had decimated the weapon that every snakehead had been fighting over for God knew how many lifetimes. So maybe they wouldn't come out of this as alive as they would like, but overall it had turned into a pretty damned successful day. "Campers, we did good."

They picked up even more speed, and they all felt the g-forces pulling against them. The smiles remained plastered on their faces as one by one they lost consciousness, not knowing if they would ever wake again.