Hel's Teeth

by The Prophet (prophet@phlegethon.org)

Complete
Action/adventure
Chapter 2 of Æsirhættir, follows Tears of a Clown
Daniel/other UST, other pairing
Season 5
FR-T
Violence (some sexualised)
Spoilers for Singularity, Solitudes, 1969, Nemesis, Absolute Power, Rite of Passage, Summit

Disclaimers:

Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, The SciFi Channel, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is written purely for my own entertainment, and that of anyone else who may happen to read it. No infringement of copyright is intended. It is not intended and should never be used for commercial purposes.

The original characters, situations and ideas contained within this work are the property of the author

Author's Notes:

This is the second part of an epic fan fiction, Æsirhættir, begun in Tears of a Clown and continued in Wolf's Head, The World Serpent and Ragnarok.

Skraeling was the name given by the Norse explorers to the indigenous peoples of northern Greenland and North America.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks as ever to my fanfic beta reader and part-time muse, Sho.

The Prophet, 12th July 2002

Hel's Teeth

Tuesday.

Once Jack, Sam, Teal'c and the others had gone, Daniel headed down through the passageway that had been hidden behind the main chamber, ruminating on what Thor had told him about the woman they were searching for.

"You must be on your guard, Daniel Jackson," the Asgard had warned. "Hel is a dangerous opponent; her powers of deception rivalled only by her father's."

"She's Harcesis, yes?" Daniel asked. "So physically she's only human."

"Biologically she was born human," Thor replied. "But she is no longer bound by human physical limits. Loki made adjustments to her body to increase her strength and stamina from her earliest childhood, and when she was old enough, she did the same to herself. When last the Asgard knew of her whereabouts and status, she was physically the equal of any Goa'uld or Jaffa. She might not be a match for her brothers, but she far exceeds them in cunning and ruthlessness.

"Hel also has the ability to utilise Goa'uld technology, and was known to enhance Goa'uld devices using Asgard methods. Her skill in all fields of science was impressive, even to the Asgard."

Daniel was appalled. "She's a better technologist than the Asgard?"

"I said that her ability impressed us; not that it was superior to our own. There were many among the Council who were quite taken aback when humans began using tools."

"How flattering," Daniel replied.

"I have a great deal of information on Hel," Thor continued. "But I do not know how much would be relevant, and as you have said yourself, we do not have much time. Is there anything which you wish to know to help you in your research?"

Daniel shook his head. "I can't think of anything."

Of course, now that the Asgard had departed, Daniel had a million questions that he wanted to ask about Hel; about her capabilities, her followers, and her last known location. He wished he could have thought of these things earlier, but then his mind was not really working at optimum capacity at the moment.

Daniel was bitterly afraid for Angharad Midhir, held captive by a Goa'uld of noted viciousness, who was possibly not quite right in the head after spending two thousand years in searing agony. Perhaps even more worrying was Loki's mythological reputation as a rapacious womaniser. Angharad was a tough woman, possibly the strongest person Daniel knew outside the SGC, but Daniel knew her secrets, and had seen the paralysing fear in her eyes when Loki grabbed hold of her.

The inner chamber lay some fifty feet beyond, and five below the main. As well as the hidden door, somehow triggered by the same command sequence which transported Daniel, Jack and Angharad to Loki's prison on the far side of the Universe, there was a heavy slab at the far end of the passage, on which was carved an Egyptian-style cartouche, filled with runic symbols. Amy Kawalsky stood before the slab, studying the hieroglyphs by the light of an electric lantern.

"So, what have we got?" Daniel asked, anxiously.

"Standard abandon hope all ye spiel," Amy replied. "The Gate of Hel," she read. "Death to those who cross the threshold. The Goa'uld never were much for positive spin."

"Is there an opening glyph?" Daniel asked.

"Left hand side," Amy said. "Just over there."

Daniel nodded, and worked the mechanism. The slab moved upwards and vanished. The chamber beyond was dark, and only a little smaller than the main space above. Amy held her breath as Daniel passed through the portal, but followed closely on his heels and looked around her. In the middle of the darkened space stood a crude approximation of an Asgard control console, its activating runestones still in place on its surface.

What immediately grabbed Amy's attention however, was the desiccated corpse of a human, resting in a sitting position against the console, dressed in the tattered and fading remnants of a rough tunic and breeches. A talisman hung about it's neck, bearing a full-face image of a horse's head, and a sword and seax were still bound loosely at his waist by the dried and cracking remains of a leather belt and scabbards.

"Who was this poor fellow?" Amy asked, rhetorically.

"Narvi, son of Jof," Daniel told her. "Last loyal priest of the cult of Loki."

"How do you…" Daniel pointed, and she followed his gaze to the wall by the door, where a runic text had been scratched into the stone.

Sure enough, it began: 'Read here the words of Narvi, son of Jof, last loyal priest of Loki…'

"It's a history of this temple," Daniel went on, translating the text almost as fast as Amy would have read English. Watching him struggle with alien languages in alien alphabets, it was sometimes possible to forget just how good a linguist Daniel was. "It was built by a group of Loki worshippers who left the Greenland colony after the return of the Vinland party. They were led here by the Black Goddess; Hel incarnate, given flesh to walk the earth, bringing misery and woe to the sons and daughters of the Æsir. That must have been our girl," he mused.

"She took a group of…can you bring the light over, Amy?" Daniel asked, impatiently.

Amy bit back a retort, and just handed him the lantern.

"Yes; she travelled from Norway to Orkney, Iceland and Greenland, gathering a following of murderers and traitors, all of whom refused to bow to the God of the South - Christianity," he added. "She taught them that the Æsir were weak, but that Loki would lead them to a land free of Christians, bring Ragnarok upon the world and lead them to glory. From Greenland they came to Vinland, and from there to here.

"Hel's power held the Skraelings at bay, and the colonists built a village, and 'raised the earth around it, and a wall of mighty staves'; the palisade. With the fire-spears which Hel gave to them…"

"Staff weapons?" Amy asked.

"I guess. Anyway, they kept their people safe using them, and the colony prospered. After a time however, Hel left the colony, and after a hundred years and still no Ragnarok, the people lost faith in Loki. Many began to speak of peace to the hateful Skraelings, and one night they tore down a section of the palisade, and let the Skraelings in to kill the priests.

"Narvi fled into the temple, past the great shrine of Loki, to this chamber; the shrine of Hel. As his grandfather was instructed by Hel, against such a crisis, he placed the sacred stone in the centre of the altar. He expected the Goddess to come to him, but instead the portal sealed behind him, trapping him inside, and he could not open it again. Narvi waited for the Black Goddess to come to him and smite the unbelievers, but she never did."

"He must have starved down here," Amy said, horrified.

"He hasn't decayed," Daniel remarked. "Just desiccated. With the door sealed, this chamber must have been completely dry. When they were done with the remaining loyalists, and they couldn't get into the shrines, the colonists and the Skraelings must have defaced the murals and sealed the tomb."

Tentatively, Daniel moved one of the runestones on the console. Nothing happened. "This thing is as dead as old Narvi!" He exclaimed, angrily.

"Calm down, Daniel," Amy said, soothingly.

"How can I calm down!" He snapped.

"I said, calm down," Amy repeated. "Not stop caring. And there's no need to bite my head off." She tried to look stern and disapproving, but was not entirely successful in keeping the hurt from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Amy," he said, sincerely. "It's just…"

Amy sighed. "I understand," she assured him. "I'll ask Pearson to have a look at the console; he's our technician."

"I just…I could use some good news about now."

"I got my funding," Amy offered. "I know it's not quite what you had in mind, but…"

Daniel's face broke into a smile, even if the sadness and worry never quite left his brow. "Amy; that's fantastic."

"It means transferring team again; SG-11. I'll miss the guys, but this is what I want to do," she added. As she spoke, she took out a small torch and began examining the walls, circling in the opposite direction to Daniel.

Daniel was continuing to move slowly around the room with the lantern as he asked, with exaggerated nonchalance: "Who's your supervisor?"

"Dr Collister," Amy replied.

Daniel nodded. "She's a good choice," he said. Lauren Collister, the senior field researcher with SG-11, was a superb and open-minded archaeologist, and Daniel had a lot of time for her work. All the same, he could not keep a slight bitterness out of his voice.

Amy turned and smiled at him. "I did think about asking you," she assured Daniel. "But It'd feel wrong being your student and your sexy stalker."

Daniel smiled. "And heaven forbid you'd give up the latter. Did you settle on a title yet?"

Amy shook her head. "I went with 'Language, thought and freedom: A survey of Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts as pro- and anti-establishment propaganda' as a provisional, but I'll come up with something catchier later on. I'm not sure how I'll manage trying to present my work as pure archaeology, instead of theories culled from anthropological studies of living cultures on other planets," she added.

"Just don't choke in the viva - or quote any of my papers - and you'll be fine," Daniel assured her. "I'm very proud of you Amy."

The girl blushed, but she deserved the praise. Daniel knew how hard she had worked preparing her PhD applications, and how difficult it had been for her to make the decision to take a part-time course which would inevitably take her away from the exploration and expeditionary work that she loved so much. He also knew that he was a big part of her decision, and that without his influence she would probably have been content to focus on her career as an Air Force officer, instead of pushing herself to gain a doctorate as well.

"Thanks, Daniel," Amy said. "That means a lot to m…other of mercy!"

"Amy?"

"Look at this!"

Daniel came over, and held up the lantern, putting the beam from Amy's torch to shame. In the bright glare, he saw revealed a great ring, maybe nine feet across, set into the wall. He reached out an touched the surface of the ring, gingerly. It was cool to the touch, but not cold, and strangely slick.

"Is that…?" Amy asked.

Daniel nodded. "Naquadah," he confirmed.

Sudden light flooded the chamber, pouring from light fittings around the top of the walls and causing Daniel and Amy to start violently.

"That wasn't me," Cassandra said, behind them. Daniel turned, slowly, to see Cassie and Llew standing at the console. The runestones on the surface were now lit from within; the console was active.

"What did you do?" Daniel asked.

"Nothing," Cassie insisted. "I just put my hand on the surface, and…"

Daniel hurried around the console to stand at Cassandra's side.

"I didn't touch any controls, honest," Cassie repeated.

"She really didn't," Llew said, supportively.

"I never said you did," Daniel replied. He lifted a runestone from its cradle, and moved it to another position on the console. Nothing happened.

Cassandra reached out to touch the stone Daniel had moved, but snatched her hand away when it glowed for a moment. Then a panel opened in the console surface, and a Goa'uld vo'cume rose into view. Light flowed from the sphere, and a young and beautiful face appeared.

"Greetings to you who have found this place," the woman said, in the tones and language of the Goa'uld. "If you seek us, then the path lies before you, and in our name shall you pave the road. If you seek us not, then go back now, for we have little patience for idle callers."

"The path lies before you," Amy mused, as the vo'cume faded into darkness, then lowered out of sight.

"But the only exit is behind us," Daniel noted.

"Maybe not," Amy said, thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Cassandra asked.

"That's a Stargate," Amy replied, pointing to the ring on the wall.

Daniel looked sceptical. "If that's a Stargate, it's a pretty careless place for it. Even if the opening vortex of the wormhole is proportionately smaller than that of the full-sized Gates, it would engulf anyone standing here, and disintegrate half of the console itself. Also, it's fixed in place; it couldn't rotate. And there are no chevron locks. It couldn't dial."

"Well…" Amy pondered. "What if it only goes to one place? Is there a keypad on the red phone in General Hammond's office? If this is a direct link, it may not need to dial at all. And whenever the Asgard or the Tollan, or any wandering Goa'uld use a speed-dialler to activate the Gate, there's no vortex," she added.

"I don't buy it," Daniel said.

"And if I prove you wrong?"

"I'll buy you dinner to celebrate getting your funding. But if you don't, it's your treat."

Amy beamed. "Done," she said, coming around to the control console.

"Be careful," Daniel said. "You can't eat much dinner if the opening vortex sucks your head off." His words were light, but Daniel's tone betrayed his deep concern for Amy's well-being.

"I'll be careful," she promised, giving him a fond look, before returning her attention to the console. "Okay, so this ring probably represents the Gate," she said. "And there are two cradles. So we're looking for a two stone combination, out of twenty-four runes. Now Hel said that her name would pave the road, so probably we're looking…"

"Hagalaz and Laguz," Llew supplied.

Amy nodded her thanks, and picked up the relevant runes. "You guys might want to step back," she suggested. "Just in case I'm wrong about the no vortex." Daniel led Cassie and Llew over to the side of the chamber. "Here goes nothing," she said. Then she inserted the stones, and threw herself aside.

Nothing happened.

"There went nothing," Cassie agreed. Then the lights went out.

"No," Amy corrected. "I killed the lights. A significant achievement, I think you'll agree."

*

"So," Daniel asked. "Can Sergeant Pearson find anything wrong with the control console?"

"No," Ferretti replied, awkwardly. After a moment, he added: "Actually, Pearson can't find anything with the console, period. No maintenance hatches, no workings; nothing. This is the first time he's had any chance to study Asgard tech, and it's got him stumped."

Daniel was conferring with Ferretti and Amy over dinner in the trailer. Cassie and Llew were there as well, having become the archaeologist's constant shadow, their concern mirroring his own. No-one had much of an appetite, but with military discipline, the two Air Force officers at least forced themselves to eat.

"It's the first time anyone's really had a chance to study Asgard tech," Amy added. "They play it close to the chest, those guys. Besides, it's probably not pure Asgard anymore than Goa'uld."

"So our only lead is a dead end," Daniel muttered, angrily.

"He managed to get the recording sphere out," Ferretti continued. "But he can't make it do anything."

"So how come the lights went on?" Cassandra asked. "And how come the sphere activated when Daniel moved that one stone?"

"I don't know," Daniel replied, impatiently, stabbing aggressively at his chicken.

"When you touched it," Llew noted, offhandedly.

"What?" Daniel asked, sharply.

Llew looked startled. "I was just saying; the stone lit up when Cassie touched it, not when you moved it." Llew shifted uncomfortably under Daniel's suddenly intense gaze. "Stop looking at me like that," he said. "You're making my skin crawl."

"Now you know how everyone else feels," Cassie told him, resting a hand on his arm. Then she looked at Daniel, who, truth to tell, was making her nervous as well. "What is it?" She asked.

"I know how it works," he said.

"You've deciphered the mysteries of Asgard technology through your chicken stew?" Amy asked, sceptically.

Daniel shot Amy a look of amused patience, his black mood broken a little. "Amy," he said. "Imagine you're a Goa'uld."

"Okay," she replied. "Should I torture your friends until you like me?"

"Cute. Now imagine you want to hide where only another Goa'uld could find you. So you build a miniature Stargate, good for only one destination."

"Assuming that a Goa'uld could do that, you so owe me dinner," Amy told him.

"I'm proving myself wrong," Daniel replied. "So technically you owe me dinner. And anyway, we're imagining you're a Goa'uld, and I make a point of never dating the Goa'uld. They're only ever interested in me for my body."

"I'm only interested in you for your body." Amy grinned at Daniel, and he beamed back at her, caught up in the excitement of exposition.

"So, as a Goa'uld in hiding," Daniel continued. "Who can make a Stargate. How do you make sure that no-one but another Goa'uld can use the Gate?"

Amy groaned, and tilted back her head to stare, despairing, at the ceiling. "Of course."

"Okay," Ferretti said. "Now you both get it, care to explain it to us mere mortals?"

"Only a Goa'uld can use most Goa'uld technology," Cassie told him, nodding her head in emphatic understanding. "It's activated by will, channelled through the naquadah in their blood, and I still have naquadah in my blood. Obviously, that gives me the ability to operate the controls."

"Very good," Daniel commended the girl. "But not only that," he added. "The console only activated when you were near to it. It must be built to detect the same signature that the Goa'uld use to sense each other."

Amy snapped her fingers. "And that's why when Teal'c entered the sequence in the tomb, the door opened, instead of the transporter activating."

"Of course!" Daniel agreed, getting into his stride. "The complex where Loki was trapped probably had defences to stop a Goa'uld or Jaffa entering and freeing Loki. Hel probably didn't have time to finish what she was doing at the tomb before she had to go into hiding, so she left the controls as a test, hoping that any human sophisticated enough to solve the code would be able to free her father, and willing when they saw his suffering. But a Goa'uld or Jaffa wouldn't be transported, because they'd fall foul of the defences and maybe give the game away before Hel was ready; instead they would be admitted to the inner sanctum."

"So I should be able to open the Gate," Cassandra said.

"I think so," Daniel agreed. "We should probably wait until the morning," he said, grudgingly. "But then you can open the Gate, and if it works, we'll go through."

"Cool," Cassie said. "Do I get a gun?"

Daniel looked at her, hard. "You're not coming," he said.

Cassandra tried to hide her disappointment, with limited success. "But what if the Gate on the other end of this is powered by the same set up?" She demanded. "I might be the only one who can get you home."

"We'll take the chance," Daniel said. "You're not coming with us, Cassandra. You know your mother would never allow it." Cassie tried to form a protest, but Daniel cut her off. "And don't tell me she's not your mother," he said, firmly. "Because you know as well as I do that it's not true in any way that counts."

"What if you can't get back?" Llew asked. "What about Mam?" Daniel's face darkened, but the boy pressed on. "If you can't get back with that stone, what good are you to her." His words were accusing, but his frail tone revealed only fear and anxiety.

"We'll think of something," Daniel said, in a tight, pained voice. "But I'm not taking either of you through that Gate, and that's final."

*

Wednesday

Daniel stumbled hard as the wormhole spat him out, dropping into a somewhat ungainly roll. He tried to rise, but his muscles were cramped. His breath steamed, and he realised that he was covered in a thin rime of frost. It had been almost five years since he had travelled through an uncorrected wormhole, and he had forgotten just how bad it felt. Ferretti, who had come through in front of him, was fighting the urge to vomit, but managed to keep his weapon raised and his eyes on his surroundings.

"Well," he said, as Daniel got his bearings. "That was bracing."

The Gateroom they had arrived in was decorated very much in the favoured Goa'uld style, and looked like the interior of a mothership. There were no windows in the chamber, and no people either, but he could hear a distant moaning, like a thousand muted cries of pain. The chamber was lit by small lights set into the walls.

Behind Daniel, Amy emerged, managing a slightly more graceful roll than Daniel's, but still stumbling at the end of it. She looked stunned, literally breathless at the shock of sudden cold. The frost on her skin began to melt almost immediately, and, Daniel began to realise that wherever they were, it was very hot.

Lieutenant Fenner and Sergeant Pearson fell hard on re-entry, and like Amy seemed completely disoriented. Of course, none of them had ever experienced anything quite like this before. Ferretti and Daniel had both spent their first few missions ardently wishing someone would come up with a way to stop it happening. Fortunately, Sam had done just that by making the calculations necessary to compensate for the expansion of the universe, but it did leave their younger comrades unprepared for the shocking reality at a time like this.

The sound of the gate rippling announced two more arrivals in quick succession, and Daniel turned angrily.

"I s-slipped," Cassandra stammered, shivering from the cold.

Daniel turned his glower on Llew. "I t-tried to c-c-catch her," the boy offered. "Good gods, that's cold." The Gate snapped closed.

"You'll be missing it in a moment," Daniel assured them, feeling sweat begin to bead on his forehead. "But don't worry, you'll get to feel it all over again when we send you back."

"But, Daniel…" Cassie pleaded.

"No," the archaeologist replied, firmly.

"But we're here now, and…"

"This is not a game!" Daniel snapped. "Don't you understand that? You, of all people, Cassandra. You know what the Goa'uld are capable of, and you know that they're interested in you, and what Nirtti did to you. I won't deliver you to them, so don't ask me. This discussion is over," he added, cutting off Cassie's attempt to speak. "You're going back."

"Um…Daniel," Amy said.

"What?" Daniel asked, warily, hearing the hesitation in her voice.

"I'm not sure we can send them back. There aren't any controls."

"Great," Daniel muttered. "That's just great."

"Well, it's not safe to leave them," Amy told him. "So we'll have to take them with us. I'll keep an eye on them," she promised.

Daniel sighed. "Okay. Fine. You two," he told Cassandra and Llew. "Stay with Amy; don't wander off; don't touch anything without asking me; and get your heads down at the first sign of trouble, and stay down. Understood."

"Yes, Colonel," Cassie replied, cheekily, then when Daniel frowned, she added more soberly: "I understand."

"I understand," Llew agreed. "We'll stay out of trouble. But I need to…" He broke off, looking awkward and afraid.

Daniel's face softened. "I know," he said.

"I found the door," Pearson reported.

As the door slid open, the Gateroom was bathed in bright, vividly-coloured light, which swirled and changed constantly.

"It's like being inside a lava lamp," Daniel noted.

"I feel so retro," Amy agreed.

They stepped into the corridor, and saw that the walls were breached by great windows. The view beyond was distorted by the flickering of the force-fields which sealed the gaps in place of glass, but they could see that the light came from a storm which raged outside. Clouds boiled past, bright green, purple and pink, and lightning flashed, illuminating these iridescent masses of vapour from within.

"Nature's psychedelic light show," Amy noted. "We appear to have stumbled into the pad of a seventies pimp Goa'uld."

"Be careful," Daniel reminded her. "No Goa'uld should be taken lightly; not even one with big flares and a 'fro."

Amy nodded. "I wouldn't like to be out there," she added, gesturing to the windows. "The winds must be hitting at incredible force to disturb a force field."

"It looks like the atmosphere of Venus," Cassandra said. "Well, simulations of it. If it's anything like that, then those clouds could strip the flesh off your bones if they were stationary."

"Okay then," Ferretti said. "Let's not go outside then. Everyone clear on that point?"

"Do you think this is Venus?" Daniel asked Cassandra.

"How the hell should I know?" The girl replied.

"Is that even possible?" Ferretti asked. "I thought the rule was one star system, one Stargate?"

"Well," Daniel said, theorising. "We know you can put more than one Gate on a planet, but that the Gate with the best power source supersedes all others for incoming wormholes. There's no reason that the same couldn't apply to multiple planets."

"But you can't dial another Gate on your own planet," Amy pointed out. "The co-ordinates would be the same as your own Gate, and besides; you can't activate both at the same time."

"But as you pointed out to me, Amy; we didn't dial anything. It's not inconceivable that these small Gates would function as a kind of in-system network."

"Like an internal switchboard?" Llew suggested. "So they could dial between to their hearts content…"

"…but they couldn't dial out," Daniel finished. "Yes."

"I hate to break up the study group," Ferretti interrupted. "But someone's coming."

Instantly alert, the members of SG-7 moved to the sides of the corridor, crouching down to make the most of the limited cover. Daniel drew Cassandra and Llew out of sight behind a projecting stanchion, and readied his own weapon.

The sound of footsteps which had alerted Ferretti was soon apparent to all, coming closer from around a corner at the end of the hall. Daniel signalled urgently to Ferretti: How many.

Up ahead, Ferretti caught the gesture, and returned: Seven. That was an estimate of course, but Ferretti was a professional, so it certainly would not be fewer. That meant that SG-7 were outnumbered - not counting Cassandra and Llew, who were unarmed, and would stay that way - with no path of retreat. Daniel just hoped that whoever was coming would not be hostile, but then he always did. He tightened his grip on the P90 tucked against his arm, nervously, as the footsteps drew closer, and their makers stepped around the corner.

First came two figures, wrapped head-to-foot in bandages. They were probably male, and carried Goa'uld staff weapons. Then came a third wrapped figure, similarly shrouded but apparently female, carrying a small chest. She was followed by a young girl, no more than fifteen in appearance, with a strange, slightly waxen pallor to her skin, and lifeless flaxen hair. She was flanked by two more guards, and followed by three unarmed servants; two female, one male. All save the girl were bandaged.

"Stop!" Ferretti warned. "Identify yourself." The girl simply looked bemused by the scene before her. The guards made no move to bring their staff weapons into firing position.

Daniel slowly stood, lowering his weapon as he did so. "We are the intruders here, Colonel," he reminded Ferretti. "It might be polite to introduce ourselves first."

"Stay down," Ferretti cautioned, but with an obvious understanding of the futility of his warning. Amy Kawalsky might be a handful at times, but he would never trade her for Daniel Jackson. Colonel O'Neill was welcome to that headache.

"It's okay," Daniel assured him. "Hi there," he said, addressing the girl. "We come in peace." She still looked nonplussed, so Daniel switched into the Goa'uld tongue and tried again.

The girl bowed her head. "Greetings, Honoured Father of Hel," she said, in an oddly cadenced voice.

"Ah…no," Daniel corrected. "We're not…"

Amy interrupted with a feigned cough, shielding the words: "Bluff it!"

Daniel looked flustered for a moment, but rallied quickly. "We are not Loki. We are his envoy," he said. "Come to receive tribute from Loki's daughter."

The girl nodded her understanding. "Then we welcome you, honoured emissary." She stepped forward, and gestured for the servant with the casket to follow her. "Please accept this humble offering, as a gift from Hel to her father, in token of her eternal love and devotion." She opened the casket, and lifted out an intricately worked golden pendant, hung on a silver chain. Then she set the jewel back in its casket, and handed the box to Daniel.

"We thank you," Daniel said. "Lo'taur!" He called out, then in English. "Come here, Llew." The boy came forward, and Daniel passed the box to him. "Ditch it somewhere as soon as you get the chance," he cautioned. "Don't be obvious, but there's every chance it could explode if we outstay our welcome."

"Uh…okay," Llew agreed, nervously.

"Also, you just became my personal attendant for the remainder of this trip. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Daniel turned to Ferretti. "Kree!" He ordered, adding: "Get everyone up and looking like a diplomatic escort."

"What kind of escort?" Ferretti asked, as SG-7 fell in behind Daniel. "Parade formal? Honour guard?"

"We're supposedly an envoy from one Goa'uld to another," Amy told him. "So a paranoid but polite one."

"Please, honoured envoy," the girl said. "May we know your name?"

"Daniel; and you are…?" Daniel replied without thinking.

"Ganglot," the girl replied, plainly flattered to be asked. "My mistress will be pleased to welcome you, but at present she is resting. She will be told of your arrival as soon as she wakes."

"Thank you, Ganglot," Daniel said. He knew the name; Ganglot, the handmaiden of Hel. That meant that the girl was probably far older, and more dangerous, than she looked.

"Perhaps in the meantime, you and your servants would care for what humble refreshments Eljudnir can offer?" Ganglot offered.

Daniel was wary of sampling food in the hall of Hel, but equally reluctant to draw Ganglot's suspicions. "We would be delighted," he assured her.

They followed Ganglot to a hall, small but richly decorated, where they were seated on plushly upholstered benches around a long, marble table. It took Daniel a few moments to recognise the room for what it was: The great hall of a Viking longhouse, done in the 'Egyptian decadence' style of the Goa'uld.

Moving with a curious, shambling motion, as though they were very weary, the bandaged servants brought food for the guests: Richly spiced stew for Daniel; bread and broth for the others. The food seemed odd, and Daniel realised that he could not identify any of the vegetables in his stew; nor the meat.

"The vegetables were once such as grow on Earth," Ganglot said, when he asked her what they were. "But they must be grown differently here, and they have changed. But they are still good?" She asked, hopefully; as eager to please as any servant for whom failure meant facing the casual brutality of a Goa'uld master. Cassandra had told Daniel that she did not believe that Ganglot was herself either Goa'uld or Jaffa, but that either she or the servants gave both Cassie and Llew an odd, almost sick feeling. She also added the caveat that the walls of the complex seemed loaded with naquadah, which might possibly interfere with her ability to sense the presence of a symbiote.

"They are good, yes," Daniel replied, although in truth they were somewhat tough; almost chewy.

"The 'meat' is not meat at all, but a kind of curd that we make from beans."

"Soy?" Daniel asked, but Ganglot plainly did not know the name, and she looked nervous to be left without and answer.

"That can't be worse than this slop," Cassandra said, watching Daniel force the stew down with a semblance of delight.

"Be polite," Daniel cautioned, and Cassie nodded.

The girl sat beside Llew, who as Daniel's supposed Lo'taur sat at his right. Their hands were clasped beneath the table, each trying to maintain a pretence of calm for the sake of the other. Daniel knew that they both regretted coming, and despite an attempt to be judgmental, he felt very sorry for them. He shared a concerned glance with Amy, but then turned back to Ganglot.

Daniel smiled at the girl, who blushed and looked away. When her skin coloured, Daniel noted that her veins showed clearly through her skin. Curious, he put out his hand to touch her face. A moment of fear showed in Ganglot's eyes, but she held perfectly still as Daniel ran his fingers down the curve of her jaw. Her skin was incredibly smooth and soft, almost like that of a newborn baby, and it felt extremely fragile, as though it would tear if Daniel pressed too hard.

Daniel filed these observations away for later consideration, and returned to the mission at hand. "After the safety of his daughter, our master, Loki, is most concerned for the safety of a keepsake which he entrusted to her," he said. "A particular runestone."

"I would know nothing of that, master," Ganglot replied, and Daniel felt a queasy knot in his stomach to be so addressed. Despite that distracting sensation however, he got the impression that she was not speaking the entire truth.

"You have never seen such a stone?" Daniel asked, baiting the girl. "That is odd, for we would have expected Loki's daughter to keep her father's gift in a place of high honour."

"I…I am sure that my mistress seeks only to keep such a precious thing safe," Ganglot replied, clearly afraid.

Daniel backed off, uncomfortable being the source of such fear. It made him feel like a Goa'uld, and that did not make him feel good about himself. "Perhaps we might be escorted to your mistress now?" He asked. The pretence would end once he was presented to Hel, of course. She would sense at once that he was not Goa'uld, but he would have to cross that bridge when he came to it, and he was painfully aware that every minute wasted left Annie at the mercy of her captor.

"I'm afraid that my mistress is still resting," Ganglot replied, nervously. She was probably afraid that Daniel would ask her to wake Hel, thus placing her in the awkward position of having to disobey one Goa'uld or the other; her mistress, or an emissary of her more powerful father.

"That's alright," Daniel assured her. "You serve your mistress well, Ganglot. She is fortunate to have such a faithful servant."

Ganglot's cheeks coloured again. To her left, Amy - the only one of his companions who spoke Goa'uld - stifled a laugh. "You dog, Dr Jackson," she said, in English.

Daniel gave her an affectionate glower.

"The woman is your companion, Lord Daniel?" Ganglot asked, warily, unable to follow their conversation.

"Oh, I wish," Amy scoffed.

"She is not," Daniel replied. Ganglot seemed pleased by the response, enough so that Pearson and Fenner hooted wildly at the sight. Amy just shook her head in mock despair, and Ferretti gave Daniel a concerned look, remembering the similar scene which had introduced the young Egyptologist to his future wife.

"A little decorum, please," Daniel reminded them. "I am supposed to be your dread master; some respect would help that illusion along."

Ganglot seemed entirely nonplussed by SG-7's behaviour. "You allow your servants to mock you?" She asked.

"Of course not," Daniel replied. "It is simply their custom to show respect in this way. They are a raucous people," he added, confidentially, but loud enough for Amy to hear. "And not terribly bright."

Amy shook with laughter, much to the consternation of her team-mates, who sensed that they had been disparaged, but had no idea how. Ganglot turned at the sound, and stared at Amy in a kind of baffled awe.

"Are you alright?" Daniel asked.

Again, Ganglot seemed confused. "I am well, Lord," she assured him, and Daniel remembered that the wellbeing of servants was not supposed to be his concern.

Dinner continued with a dessert of fruit and milk. Well, it seemed to be of fruit and milk, and Daniel decided not to ask too many questions of its origins.

"I am sorry that you must wait, but my mistress is still resting," Ganglot said, as the shuffling servants cleared away the dishes. "Perhaps you would care to take your ease until she rises. You and your servants are perhaps weary?"

"That would be…very nice," Daniel replied. "Thank you. Do you know when your mistress might rise?"

"I do not know," Ganglot answered, apologetically. "She requires much rest."

"Of course," Daniel said, scornfully. "How would she not. It must be tiring ordering all those servants around."

Ganglot gave a short, high laugh. Then she cut off, clasping a hand over her mouth in alarm. "I am sorry," she said, baffling Daniel completely. "Let me show you to where you may rest."

As the girl led them from the hall, Daniel walked alongside her, and Amy explained to the others what was going on. Llew was plainly becoming impatient, but no more so than Daniel. The archaeologist was straining to be civil with Ganglot, but Amy could see the tension in his shoulders, and knew that he was champing at the bit.

Ganglot took them to a short corridor, which looked little used. She directed SG-7 to a billet and Daniel's servants - Cassie and Llew - to another room, before leading Daniel himself to a more ornate door, which doubtless led to more opulent quarters.

"You will let me know when your mistress awakes," he said, remembering to make it a demand, and not a request.

"Of course," Ganglot promised. She reached out, and laid her hand flat on Daniel's chest. "Do you desire companionship, Lord?"

Daniel coloured, glad that none of SG-7 were around to witness this, then lifted her hand away. "No. Thank you, but no."

"As you wish," the girl acceded, with an air of disappointment. After a long pause, she withdrew her hand from his. "May your rest be peaceful," she said.

"Thank you," Daniel replied, drawing another curious glance from Ganglot, before she hurried away down the corridor.

As Daniel stepped back and pushed his door closed, he heard Amy's voice drift softly from the direction of the billet: "Daniel, you dog."

*

Amy lay down on one of the six hard slabs in the billet, stuffing her jacket under her head as a pillow, and tried not to let Daniel's latest conquest get to her. If most of the personnel at the SGC thought her flirtation with the archaeologist was a game, well, that was because she worked hard to project that image. But beneath her playful air, Amy Kawalsky held a deep and abiding affection for Daniel, not withstanding that he saw her only as a friend, and it did hurt to see him with other women.

Truth to tell though, it was not so much Ganglot that was bothering her; rather, it was the degree to which Daniel had been affected by the kidnap of Angharad Midhir. While Colonel O'Neill might joke about Daniel having a girl on every planet, very few of the women who developed crushes on him found their attention truly reciprocated. But here was a woman that he plainly cared about, and while Amy could not fault him for wanting to save a friend, she was all but consumed by jealousy. Moreover, while mostly he was still the same old Daniel - the Daniel she had joked with over the strange dinner - he had been unusually snappy and harsh. Again, it was understandable that he should lose patience for trivialities, but it hurt Amy more than she liked to admit when his ire was aimed at her.

Sometimes, she wondered if Daniel realised how much she cared for him, or if he also thought she was just fooling around. And what would he think if he knew? She thought to herself. Does he not respond because he thinks I'm joking? Or would he run a mile if he knew I was serious?

"Hey, Kawalsky!"

"Colonel," Amy replied, standing up beside her bunk.

"I want everyone to get some rest, but not all at once. You okay to take first watch?" He asked, concerned.

"Yes, Sir," she assured him.

"Okay. Keep the door open so you can hear anyone moving in the corridor. If nothing's happened in two hours, wake me up then, and you can get some shut-eye." He moved to his own bunk, but after a step he turned back. "You'd tell me if something was bothering you, right?"

Amy smiled, recognising Jack O'Neill's influence in her CO. "Of course," she lied.

Ferretti sighed and shook his head. "I like him as much as anyone," he said, moving closer to Amy so that their team-mates would not overhear. "But is he worth it?"

"I think so," Amy replied, touched by Ferretti's almost fatherly concern.

"I've told enough good soldiers not to throw their careers away over a girl. Same goes for a guy."

"I know that, Colonel," Amy assured him. "And I won't."

Ferretti shook his head again, and let the subject drop. "Two hours, Kawalsky," he said.

"Okay," Cassandra said, uncertainly. "See, I thought they'd stuck us in the same room because we were the kids. I was all prepared to be angry about it."

Llew just nodded.

"But I guess they are treating us as grown-ups after all."

"I guess," the youth agreed, eyeing the single bed that had been provided for them with the same trepidation as Cassie.

"This feels weird," Cassie said.

"Yep."

"I don't know why though," she admitted. "I mean, we were together all the last couple of nights."

"I think it's the bed," Llew suggested. "Something about a bed, I guess. The symbolism or whatever."

"I could ask Daniel about it, or Sam. They're both pretty wise with the psychology, except that they are never hearing about this."

"This is ridiculous," Llew said. "It's not like we're sleeping together. We're just…going to sleep together."

"Yeah," Cassandra agreed. "I mean, there's enough room for us both. Back to back."

"Back to back. Sounds good to me."

It was only a few hours since they had got up, but with the excitement and the strain of the Gate journey, they both felt immensely sleepy. They lay down on the bed, back to back. Cassie could feel the tension in Llew, and was not sure if it was fear of what Hel might do to them, or concern for his mother, or even her closeness making him tense. She only knew that she felt just as tense, and was just as unsure of the cause of her own disquiet.

Minutes later, they both turned, and held each other gently. Minutes after that, they were both fast asleep.

Daniel stretched out on the bed provided for him, ignoring the decadent furnishings of his quarters. Ordinarily, he would have scoured the room from top to bottom, identifying its cultural sources as best he was able, but he could not summon the interest. All of his mind was preoccupied with the thought of his imprisoned friend.

He lay there, his mind conjuring a hundred dire fates for Angharad, before he finally lapsed into a fitful sleep.

*

Wearily, Angharad picked herself up off the deck, and rose shakily to her feet. Eris glowered at her, angry that she should stand without asking permission.

"Kneel, slave!" The child-woman commanded.

"Bite me," Angharad challenged. By now she should have known better.

Eris lunged forward, snapping at Angharad's hand with her perfect teeth. Reflexively, Angharad struck at her assailant's face.

"Bitch!" Eris snarled, clutching at her nose in pain. She flung out her hand, and her gauntlet put forth its energy wave, knocking Angharad to the ground once more.

This had been going on all day. Or at least, as far as Angharad could tell; her watch was gone, along with her tools. Many times in the last few hours, since Eris had brought her from her cell to this bare chamber, she had wished for a good, sharp, sturdy trowel in her hand. There did not - as yet - seem to be much point to the exercise, beyond a certain sadistic joy that Eris seemed to take in inflicting harm.

Eris' eyes burned as Angharad pulled herself up again, and she held out her hand once more, not bothering with the niceties of issuing a command this time.

"Hold." Both Eris and Angharad turned towards the door at the sound of Loki's commanding voice. Stern and regal, the Trickster had the authority that his cohort clearly aspired to, yet touched with a hint of dangerous rebellion. If he had not abducted her, imprisoned her, threatened her, then sicced his psychotic little strumpet on her, Angharad would probably have found him quite attractive.

"Enough, Eris," Loki said. "Leave us now."

"But, Sire," Eris pleaded, the inhuman tone of her voice making her plaintive appeal sound all the more pathetic. "You said that I could play."

"Now," Loki repeated, with an air of finality.

Eris scowled at Angharad before she skulked away.

"Well," Angharad said, trying to affect a casual tone through the aching pain in her ribs. "She's certainly perky. Not the brightest God in the heavens, though."

Loki smiled, a benign expression, entirely devoid of warmth. "There were…complications," he explained. "When she took her host."

"Of course," Angharad said, although she was still a little vague on the subject of hosts and symbiotes. Eris had been forced to explain after her threat to implant Angharad had fallen rather flat, and her poor attention span had not made for coherent exposition.

"They were both too young;" Loki went on. "Eris and her host; but then she has always lacked patience. She became permanently bonded with that host, and it affected her mind, as you have seen."

"Why do you keep her around?" Angharad asked, fishing for weaknesses in this odd alliance.

Loki laughed, softly. "Her ways amuse us," he said. "And she is pleasing to the eye…and other parts."

Angharad shivered. "You're twisted," she told him.

"You try to hide it, but your fear is growing," Loki said. "We can smell it. Where is your god now?" He asked. "You are so devoted to the worship of that grey-skinned weakling, you might hope that he would show a little concern for you in return."

"He's probably just busy," Angharad replied.

"He is not coming, you fool. He does not care about one insignificant human."

Angharad smiled, a calm certainty filling her heart as she looked into the Trickster's eyes. "Yes he does," she told him.

Loki's eyes flared in rage, and he held out his hand, the gem in his gauntlet almost touching her forehead. Angharad wondered if she could shove past him and make a dash for it, but she had nowhere to go if she did get out, and if Eris were anything to judge by, Loki would be far too strong for her.

The crystal glowed, and Angharad felt her skin tingle as Loki passed his hand up and down the front of her body. The sensation was not exactly unpleasant, and that made it worse. She tried to cringe away, but the wall was at her back.

"Sire!" Eris cried, bursting through the door. Angharad slumped as the gauntlet shut off.

"We told you to leave, Eris," Loki snarled, advancing on the girl. "You know that when you disobey, you force us to hurt you."

Eris gave a dreamy smile. "I know," she assured him. "But that's not why I did it." Immediately she was serious again. "An Asgard scoutship passed close enough to detect us. We pursued it, but we can not intercept before it makes contact with an approaching mothership."

"Which ship?"

"The Biliskner," Eris replied. Angharad felt her heart race. Biliskner was the hall of Thor.

"That relict? The Kalliste can lose her without difficulty."

"The old Biliskner was destroyed," Eris informed him. "The ship which approaches is the third to bear that name since your imprisonment, and is one of the most advanced vessels in the Asgard fleet."

"He won't come for you," Angharad mocked, in a slightly breathless imitation of Loki. "He doesn't care about people."

With a roar, Loki turned and slammed his fist into Angharad's face. She collapsed to the deck, fighting a losing battle for consciousness. She could taste the iron bite of blood in her mouth, and brilliant purple lights exploded before her eyes.

"Take her back to her cell," Loki said, sounding very far away. "I will deal with her after we have lost the Asgard."

*

Daniel awoke to the feeling of someone shaking him gently by the shoulder.

"Lord Daniel?" Ganglot said.

Daniel rolled over to face Hel's handmaiden. "What is it, Ganglot?" He asked, gently.

"My mistress has arisen, and bids the emissary of her father attend her at his pleasure." The young woman stood at Daniel's bedside. She looked nervous, perhaps fearing that 'Lord Daniel' would not take kindly to being disturbed; or perhaps that she would be punished for laying a hand on him without permission.

"Okay. Great," he said. "Take me to her."

Ganglot seemed taken aback. "Now?" She asked. "Dressed like this?"

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Daniel asked. He was still half-asleep, and the words came out sharper than he had intended, causing Ganglot to flinch as if struck. "No," he said, longing to comfort her, but knowing he must not. "I have travelled far, and with few luxuries. Lead me to Hel, now, or I shall be angry."

"Yes, Sire," Ganglot whispered.

Daniel picked up his glasses and put them on, while the girl cowered before him. Daniel felt terrible. It was sickening enough to know that the Goa'uld got off on treating people like this, but Daniel's disgust was heightened by the knowledge Shifu had granted him: That given the power, he would be capable of doing the same things; and enjoying them just as much. He sighed; when he met with Hel, the masquerade would end anyway.

Daniel reached out, and gently cupped Ganglot's fragile cheek with his palm. "Don't be afraid," he said. "I won't hurt you. I'm sorry for snapping at you."

Ganglot looked confused, but somewhat comforted. "I will take you to my mistress," she said.

Daniel hoped to be able to alert SG-7 on his way, but Ganglot led him through a passageway at the back of his chambers, and he felt that he was already pushing his luck too much to protest. If he looked as though he needed his escort's permission to leave his rooms, he would give the game away too soon, and he had to reach Hel if he was to get her part of the stone.

"How many people live here?" Daniel asked Ganglot, as she led him through a knot of passages.

"Very few," Ganglot replied. "My mistress can answer all of your questions," she added, quickly.

After about five minutes, they reached a curtained doorway, and Ganglot motioned for Daniel to go through. He brushed aside the heavy fabric, and stepped into a chamber not unlike the one he had recently left, although larger. As he entered, a young woman rose from her seat at a low table, and approached him. She had dark hair and fair skin, and a simple linen robe covered her form. The arrogant air of command that she wore about her left Daniel in no doubt that she was the ruler of Eljudnir; Hel.

"Leave us, Ganglot," she commanded, her voice gentle, but weighted with authority. It surprised him not to hear the sonorous command tones of a Goa'uld, but of course Hel was Harcesis.

"Yes, Mistress," the servant whispered, clearly terrified. Behind him, Daniel heard the curtain fall.

"Greetings," the woman said, in halting English. "I am Hel."

"Greetings to you. I'm Daniel Jackson. Your English is…impressive."

"I try to keep up with the world," Hel replied.

"You monitor our broadcasts," Daniel realised. "And you speak pretty modern English. This is Venus, isn't it?"

"Congratulations," Hel replied. "You are not Goa'uld," she noted. "Nor are you envoys of my father. Whom do you serve?"

"I am a representative of the Tau'ri," Daniel replied, warily, keeping his distance from the woman. She did not look dangerous, but after five years with the Stargate programme, Daniel knew that such appearances not merely could be, but almost invariably were deceptive.

"Then the Tau'ri have grown much since I left them," she said. "To know of distant planets. But how came you here, Daniel Jackson of the Tau'ri?"

"We found your Stargate in the tomb," he told her.

Hel nodded. "And why come you here?"

"We seek the runestone that was given to you by your father," Daniel told her. "Give it to us and we shall leave in peace," he added, certain that he was not being terribly convincing with the threat.

Hel however looked terrified. "Then my father has escaped," she gasped. "I have feared this for so long."

"Feared it?"

"Of course," she said. "My father did terrible things, and as his blood, the Asgard blame me for them. I have lived in peace and hiding for many centuries, but if he walks free again, they will surely come for me now."

"So you are innocent of wrongdoing?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, yes," she proclaimed. "Save what little things I did in my youth, when I was too young but to be ruled by my father."

"Little things like massacring the population of Niflheim?" Daniel asked, drawing on the little information Thor had been able to give him in the time they had to talk. "Of using their children and their flesh in your experiments?"

"Youthful exuberance?" Hel offered, with a coquettish laugh.

"You're Harcesis," Daniel said. "Born with the memories of the Goa'uld, and their thirst for conquest. You were never an innocent. Moreover, I know how the tomb works; I know you built it with the intention of letting your father find you when he was freed. Now tell me where the stone is."

Hel smiled, suggestively. "Passion, and strength," she said. "I like it."

"If this is the part where you offer me power, wealth and sex, then we can skip it," Daniel told her. "I don't have the time."

"Help me to defeat my father," Hel suggested. "Whatever he has that you want, I will give to you."

"Give me the stone," Daniel repeated, his face set hard. Inside he was in turmoil, wondering if this was really the best way to defeat Loki and save Angharad. He knew though that it was the only way: Maybe Hel could help him, but she could never be trusted.

"This stone?" She asked, drawing a stone out from her bodice on a leather cord. "But it suits my complexion so well. I think I will keep it."

Daniel drew his pistol, cocked it, and held the barrel pointed at Hel's head. "I don't think so," he said, softly.

Hel smiled. "Oh. I do."

And then she moved.

*

Amy woke about half an hour after turning in. Her dreams were troubled, so she got up to stretch her legs, and think a little, ignoring Ferretti's pointed looks. He could have ordered her to turn in, but he did not, contenting himself with an injunction to be careful.

Taking her weapon, Amy went out into the deserted hallway. She paced up and down for a while, wondering what they would do when they came face-to-face with Hel. From what she had heard, the only other Harcesis the SGC had encountered had been a being of awesome power, although that might have been more related to his fostering by the alien Oma Desala than his heritage. Amy hoped that Hel would be no more trouble than a Goa'uld, although that was trouble enough in and of itself for Amy's comfort.

She wracked hr brains, wishing she knew more of Norse mythology from which to form a hypothetical image of the woman, but it was really not her area. After much soul-searching, she decided that she needed to talk to Daniel, however hard it might be right now.

She rapped gently on Daniel's door; then a little harder. "Daniel!" She called out, and still there was no response. Amy pushed open the door and looked in.

"Everything alright, Kawalsky?" Ferretti called.

"He's not there," Amy replied.

"So what's happened to him?" Ferretti asked.

*

Daniel was amazed by Hel's strength, but no more so than by her speed. She had knocked the gun from his hand before he could blink, and then proceeded to hurl him around the room like a rag doll.

"I want you to remember that this was your choice," she told him, holding him pinned by the throat against the wall. "You didn't want the wealth, power and sex."

"If the alternative is listening to you talk," he gasped, choking. "Then I'd rather you just hit me some more."

Hel smiled, turned, and hurled Daniel to the wall above her bed. He fell hard onto the mattress, and Hel was on him, pinning him down with clinical efficiency.

"Actually," she said. "I want to hear you talk. Tell me about the children."

"Never."

Hel punched him in the ribs. "Come now; where's the harm? I know already that they are hak'tar; I have known since they passed through my Gate. Did you think I would take no precautions against intruders beyond the screening mechanisms at the tomb?

"I know that the girl bears the results of Goa'uld engineering," she continued. "Failed engineering, but then she is a work in progress. The boy is more interesting."

"The boy?"

"He was worked on by the Asgard, was he not? It's quite fascinating what they have done to him."

"Asgard?"

"You didn't know," Hel realised. "Well, perhaps you are not the Asgard allies that I took you for. Perhaps they sent the boy to spy on you."

"No!" Daniel replied, angrily.

"Plainly you care for them both. Tell me about them."

"I said never," Daniel repeated.

"No harm shall come to them," Hel assured him. "You and your other friends shall be flayed alive for my father's amusement; unless by chance the woman catches his eye for a plaything." Daniel thrashed helplessly in the Harcesis' grip, and she laughed. "But the children are too valuable. They shall remain here. I believe that when they are bred together, their spawn shall possess great power. The Asgard's gifts will not let that wonderful virus kill those children, you see, and a host possessed of whatever power it grants shall be a gift indeed for my father."

"You'll never see your father," Daniel croaked, fighting for breath. "The Asgard know about the tomb; you'll never get out that way, and Loki will never find his way in to you."

Hel laughed again. "I assure you, Daniel. That will not be a problem."

The Harcesis shifted her weight on top of Daniel, then bent down, and sank her teeth into the side of his neck. Daniel cried out in pain, feeling a row of needlelike points drive into his flesh, and a terrible, burning sensation spread rapidly from the wound.

He screamed, and kept screaming until he blacked out.

*

"Cassandra; Llew!" Amy called out as she pushed open the door.

Cassandra leaped to her feet, stumbling away from the bed. "Nothing happened!" She protested, sleepily.

Amy stood in the doorway, taking in the guilty looks from both teenagers. "You're both fully dressed," she told them. "It may be a while since I last got any, but I more or less remember the routine, so relax." They did so, if a little warily. "Oh, and now panic again; Daniel's missing."

Amy, Cassandra and Llew emerged into the corridor, where a brief conference was taking place.

"We're cut off as it is," Pearson was saying. "We can't lose the route back to the Stargate."

"Agreed," Ferretti replied. "We'll secure the Gateroom and work forward."

"What about Daniel?" Cassie asked.

"That's why we're working forward," Ferretti explained. "We'll stick together, go room by room if we have to until we find either Daniel or someone who can take us to him. Fenner, I want you on point; Pearson bring up the rear. Cassie, you and Lou…" He turned to face the two teenagers. "Where'd they go?" He asked.

"Ah, crap," Amy muttered. "They must've gone to look for Daniel. I should go after them, Colonel. I promised I'd keep an eye on them."

"Okay, Kawalsky," her CO agreed. "But be very careful. We'll meet up with you as we work forward."

"Yes, Sir," Amy replied, and without further hesitation she ran off in the only direction Amy and Cassandra could have taken.

*

Daniel was having some difficulty remembering where he was. All he was really aware of was the fact that he was in immense pain.

Slowly, however, the pain seemed to recede a little, and he began to recognise the presence of pale, humanoid figure, looming above him. He tried to lash out, but his limbs were sluggish, and when the figure pushed his arm away, the pain flared up again.

"Lie still," a voice instructed. "You are in grave danger, and I must tend you quickly."

"Ganglot?" Daniel asked

"Yes Lord," the girl replied. He could feel her hands moving across him, and his skin was peculiarly raw and tender.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked.

"She has…" Ganglot began, then paused. "Lie still," she said again. "I will tell you all when you are out of danger."

*

"I think we're lost," Llew confided.

"I agree," Cassandra replied. "I'm beginning to think that this was a very bad idea."

"The two of us rushing off unarmed to look for Daniel instead of waiting for the soldiers? How could that be a bad idea."

Cassandra gave Llew a smile that she hoped was encouraging, and he squeezed her hand tightly. He was trying to put on a brave face for her - and she was doing the same for him - but Cassie could tell that Llew was just as frightened as she was.

"I meant coming here in the first place," she told him. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this."

"You didn't," he assured her. "Loki did that when he kidnapped my Mam. I had to come here; and it means a lot to me that you came along, Cassie. If anything, I should be apologising to you."

Cassandra waved off his apology. "I wanted to come," she said. "I wanted to be a part of the team; not just…not just a freak with naquadah in my bloodstream and the funny virus."

"It still means a lot that you're here," Llew said. "I mean, I kind of wish you weren't, since…y'know; we're all gonna die here." He turned to face her, and smiled. "And I don't think you're a freak."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," Cassie replied, blushing, but not looking away from him.

"Most of them don't give me a chance," Llew told her. "You're not the only one who got beat with the freaky stick."

"You're not freaky," Cassie said.

"No; I'm just a crazy psychic with weird eyes who prays to the Thunder God."

"Well; freak or not, I like you just fine, Llew."

Cassandra and Llew moved closer together, almost forgetting for a moment that they were in a Goa'uld complex and imminent danger of death. Then the sound of pounding feet snapped them back to the present, and they broke awkwardly apart, as Amy Kawalsky came jogging around the corner.

"Damn, you two move fast," she told them, shaking her head in wonder.

"You're just old," Cassie retorted, distractedly.

"Ouch," Amy said, affably. "But personal abuse aside, you two shouldn't be here on your own. Let's get back to the squad before something bad happens to you."

"Yes. Let's do that."

The three of them turned as one, as a figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Daniel?" Amy asked, uncertainly. He looked terrible; his was skin bruised and blotchy, and he walked with a limp. "What happened to you?"

"Hel," Daniel replied. "She's more dangerous than we realised. We have to go now."

Amy nodded. "Did you get the runestone?"

"What? No," Daniel replied. "It doesn't matter. If we leave now, and barricade Chappa'ai in the tomb, then Hel can't leave this place, and the atmosphere that keeps her hidden from the Asgard will keep her father from ever finding her." There was a cruel twist to Daniel's lips as he anticipated this imprisonment.

Amy looked at Daniel, concerned. "But we came for the stone," she said.

"Forget the stone!" He snapped. "Maybe she never had part of it anyway. It doesn't matter so long as we go back to Earth, now!"

"You feel…strange," Llew said, with a concerned frown.

Cassie gasped in horror. "God, Daniel. What did she do to you?"

"Shut up!" Daniel barked, loud enough to make the teenagers cringe. "This is what an influence like yours does," he accused Amy. "Always speaking out of turn; no wonder this child does not know when to keep her foolish mouth shut."

Cassie gasped, the hurt writ large across her face.

"Daniel…" Amy began, angrily.

"No! Enough. You want to look for the stone, we'll look for the stone. You two," he added, turning to Llew and Cassie. "Go back and wait at the Chappa'ai. Now!" He snapped, as Cassie began to protest.

"Yes, Daniel," Cassandra replied, in a small voice. Clutching at Llew's hand for comfort, she backed away down the corridor, and saw Daniel turn and stalk away, with Amy close on his heels.

Cassandra more or less kept it together until Daniel and Amy were out of sight, but as soon as they were gone, she fell against Llew and burst into tears. Somewhat awkwardly, the boy put his arms around her.

"How…how could he say something like that?" Cassie asked.

"I don't know," Llew replied, shell-shocked. "I mean, I only dimly remember what he was like when I was very small, but…He never shouted at me; or at Mam. Or at anyone," he added. "I only remember him even being angry once."

"He said I was a fool," Cassie said, disbelieving. "I…I mean, I know he's upset about your Mom, but…" She broke off, sniffling.

"I know," Llew said, comfortingly, stroking Cassandra's dark purple hair. "I don't know what's got into him."

"I'd say a Goa'uld," Cassandra said. "Except that I couldn't sense a symbiote in him."

"Nor I," Llew agreed.

"But he was acting so like one," Cassie went on. "Arrogant, cruel…and mean. Mean and spiteful, just for the sake of it. I…" She tailed off.

"What?" Llew asked.

"Hel. Hel is Harcesis; there's no symbiote in her. There'd be naquadah, but not concentrated in the same way; I might not pick it up with the interference from these walls." She nodded, then stopped. "But if she's not a Goa'uld, then she couldn't jump to Daniel's body."

"Maybe she could?" Llew suggested. "She's supposed to be a brilliant technologist. And even if she could not switch bodies, she might be a shifter."

"Shifter?"

"A shape-shifter. Loki was, and didn't Lord Thor say that Hel was a mistress of deception?"

Cassie's face, already pale, blanched. "But what did she do to the real Daniel?"

"And what is she going to do to Miss…Captain Kawalsky?"

"Oh God," Cassie gasped.

They turned, and began to run.

*

The Kalliste rocked violently, as another blast from the Biliskner struck her shields.

"Eris," Loki said, angrily. "As we have no desire to return to that blasted cavern., we would be most appreciative if you would please lose those bastard Asgard!"

"I am trying, Sire," Eris returned, offended.

"We are sure that we remember you being better than this," Loki taunted. "How could you possibly have evaded the Asgard for so many centuries, yet within days of our escape, they find us. We might almost suspect betrayal."

"They were not searching for me!" Eris answered, fearful. "I would never betray you Sire; never."

"We are delighted. But do not fail us, either," Loki cautioned.

"I am trying every trick I know Sire, but their sensors have been refined since your day."

"Why does it grow so hot?" Loki asked.

"Because I'm flying through the corona of a sun to try and lose them," Eris answered.

Loki looked to a screen. "You do not appear to be succeeding," he noted. "Perhaps they know your tricks by now, sweet Eris?"

Eris pursed her lips, angrily. "Very well," she said, hotly. "Then I'll try something new."

With deft hands, she reshuffled the runestones on the Kalliste's main console, and the ship shuddered as she responded to her mistress' demands.

"Eris…" Loki growled.

"Sire?" Eris asked, innocently, as the Kalliste hove about, and ran straight into the teeth of the Biliskner's guns.

A deafening crash sounded throughout the vessel, and Loki was shaken from his feet. Around him, Eris' Jaffa stumbled and fell, only his cohort keeping her feet, grinning madly. Moments later, in response to her command, the ship thrummed as she compensated for a sudden acceleration to trans-relativistic velocities. Eris laughed in delight, like a child.

"Perhaps," Loki said, rising with as much dignity as he could muster. "Our servant would deign to tell us what she finds so very amusing?"

"Something new," Eris told him. "I rammed the Biliskner and crippled her main sensor array. We'll need to stop somewhere soon and repair, but I lost them."

Loki shook his head, giving a low, throaty chuckle. "You never cease to surprise, My Sweet," he said, stepping up behind her and clasping her about the waist.

"My Lord is too kind," she said, leaning back against his chest. "Shall we continue to the world of the Tau'ri?"

"Just to their system," Loki replied. "If you are certain that those who released us hailed from that world."

"I am certain," Eris assured him. I tracked the source of the beam which brought them to you; there is no mistake."

"We are well pleased with you, Eris," Loki said, drawing a shiver of pleasure from his underling. He released her, and pushed her away from him. "We see no need to punish you for your earlier interruption."

Eris shot him a sour look of disappointment.

"We will be with the prisoner," he told her. "Do not interrupt us for trivialities; believe that we can find punishments that even one such as yourself would not enjoy."

"Yes, Lord," Eris replied. "But what is so special about the woman?"

"Nothing at all," Loki replied. "But she has been touched."

"Touched?" Eris asked.

"Touched by Thor," Loki replied. "And as all that is his, we shall make her ours."

*

"Clear!" Lieutenant Fenner called back. Ferretti moved up, and Pearson followed. As the complex was fairly simple in structure they were moving quickly through the corridors, securing them as best they were able.

"Sir!" Fenner called, suddenly. "Hostile; up ahead."

Ferretti looked, and saw one of the bandaged servants moving towards them. She paid no attention to their levelled guns, simply continuing forward as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

"Hold it, Miss," Ferretti instructed, trying to put as much of his meaning into his tone as possible.

The servant stopped, turned and looked at him.

"Where is Daniel Jackson?" Ferretti asked.

The woman made no response.

Ferretti tried again. "Daniel. Jackson."

The woman gave no indication that even the name meant anything to her.

"The man with glasses," Ferretti tried, miming glasses, then in desperation: "Chicken man?"

"Chicken man?" Pearson asked.

"Long story," Ferretti sighed.

The woman, apparently deciding that Ferretti had finished with her, began to move on again.

"Hey!" Ferretti grabbed for the woman's shoulder. He anticipated evasion, and so when the servant instead came to a complete halt and began once more to turn towards him, his hand missed its mark, catching instead in the bandages around her face. As he snatched his hand back, the bandages pulled loose, and the three airmen were able to see underneath.

"Oh, good God," Pearson gasped.

"Mother of Mercy," Fenner agreed.

Underneath the bandages, the face of the servant was black. Not black as in a black person, but black, dried and sunken like the embalmed flesh of a mummy.

"Is there any way I can get this off my fingers quickly without betraying my cool exterior?" Ferretti asked, staring in undisguised horror at the black, sticky substance clinging to his skin. Then he wiped his hand vigorously against his jacket, until it at last began to feel clean.

"Very suave," Fenner assured his CO, a little half-heartedly. With no one drawing her attention, the long-dead servant went on about her business.

"What the hell goes on here, Colonel?" Pearson asked.

"I have absolutely no idea," Ferretti said, gathering his composure. "But I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to. Let's move." As they started off down the passage again, Ferretti unclipped his field radio. "Kawalsky, this is Ferretti. Come in, Kawalsky." The little radio just hissed static at him.

*

Daniel and Amy began their search at the first room they reached. It looked to be the hydroponic farm where the food was grown, or rather one of many. The misshapen harvest from this small collection of tanks would likely not feed much more than two or three people.

There were no runestones, and the two did not speak as they searched.

"Nothing," Daniel said at last. "If you're satisfied, shall we move on?"

"Sure," Amy agreed. "You know, you've got no right to talk to me the way you did." Daniel made no response, so she continued. "I realise that being your sexy stalker entails weathering a certain amount of aggravation on your off days, but you were well out of line."

"Was I?" Daniel said, impatiently. "Please, enlighten me."

"Damnit, Daniel," she said. "That's exactly what I mean. I know you're worried about Angharad; we all are. But that doesn't give you the right to treat people like this."

"Is that all?" Daniel asked. "Because I thought you wanted to search this place."

"No, damnit! That's not all. I'm pretty pissed at the way you treated me back there, but snapping Cassie's head off like that was just plain wrong. I know you didn't want her here, and I know she can be a pain sometimes, but she idolise you. All four of you."

"Four?"

"SG-1," Amy explained, her temper fraying badly. "She looks up to you guys, and you really hurt her."

"I tell you what," Daniel said, pleasantly. "Why don't you, mind your own damn business, and just do your job, instead of questioning me all the time."

"Well why don't you stop acting like an ass!" Amy challenged, hotly.

Daniel rounded on Amy so suddenly that she took a step away in shock. "Isn't it enough that I agreed to this pointless search?" He demanded. "But you feel the need to task me for disciplining my servant's wench?"

"Servant's…" Amy's eyes widened in horror.

"The children would have been in the way, so I sent them back. Why aren't you happy?" He demanded, cruelly. "Isn't this what you wanted? To be alone with me?"

"Daniel…?" Amy asked, her voice quivering.

With sudden violence, he seized her by the shoulders and thrust her against the wall. "Or is this what you really want?" He hissed.

"Damnit, Daniel! Get off me!" She pushed him away as hard as she could, but he bore down on her with terrible strength. "Get off me!" She screamed, and thrust him away from her, heart racing in panic. "God damn you, Daniel…"

Daniel interrupted Amy's curse with a backhanded blow which knocked her reeling to the floor. She lay where she fell, stunned, trying to force her mind into motion. She knew that this was wrong. Daniel was not this cruel, and even if he was, he was not this strong. She knew what was wrong, she knew that she did; but she just could not make her mind divulge the information.

Daniel stalked towards her. Amy lashed out reflexively with her booted foot, and gave a cry of pain as the kick struck home. It was more like kicking stone than flesh.

"If you were a more obedient slave," Daniel told her, coldly. "This would hardly have been necessary." He leaned down, snatching at her wrists.

Amy struggled, striking at his body, and meeting the same painful resistance as had met her kick. He got hold of her wrists, and dragged her up, then flung her hard against the wall. She gave a choking cry as the wind was blasted out of her. Her hands grappled for her weapon, but her strength was ebbing, and Daniel easily wrested it from her grip.

Daniel pressed hard against her. In desperation, Amy clawed at his face, and to her horror, she felt his skin tear under her fingers, pulling away in hideous gashes. Daniel thrust her away from him, screaming obscenities. Amy cast a glance at the flesh caught under her nails, and gagged, fighting the urge to vomit.

"You will suffer for that!" Daniel snarled, slamming Amy back against the wall once more. He pinned her, an arm like an iron beam pressed hard across her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes. Then he grinned at her, a hideous rictus that bared all of his teeth.

"What's got into you, Daniel?" Amy demanded, defiant to the last, although her strength had failed her.

In response, Daniel just grinned wider, and to Amy's horror, a row of jagged metal probes dropped into view behind his upper teeth. Then, he lowered his mouth towards her skin. Amy twisted as far as she could, but try as she might, she could not escape that hideous bite.

Suddenly, with a berserker warcry, Cassandra leaped out of nowhere, grabbing Daniel around the shoulders with one arm, and tugging madly at his hair. "Get the hell off her!" Cassie screamed.

Daniel spasmed wildly as the girl landed on his back, and cried out in pain. As she yelled and grappled however, he shot a vicious little punch over his shoulder. With a cry, Cassandra fell away, and a sweep of Daniel's arm sent her flying, the wall stopping her motion with a sickening crunch.

"No!" Llew ran at Daniel in a blind rage. With brutal calm, Daniel drew the sheath knife from Amy's belt, and met the boy's charge with a quick, brutal thrust. Llew stopped short, a sharp, wheezing breath driving out of his lungs at the force of the blow. Then Daniel shoved him away, and he staggered back, clutching the knife hilt, and fell to the floor, a pool of his own blood spreading around him.

"Oh God," Amy whimpered, as the unbearable truth that Daniel was gone settled over her. Momentarily released, she slid bonelessly down the wall, and Daniel - the thing that had been Daniel - leaned over her.

"Get away from her." Daniel-thing turned at the voice; a voice so familiar to Amy, yet she could not place it.

"No!" Daniel gasped, denying the presence of the figure behind him, before a heavy beam caught him in the face, and sent him staggering backwards. Amy looked up, and was startled to see one of the bandaged servants move to stand protectively over her, makeshift club clutched in his hands.

With a bellow of rage, the servant followed up his first blow with a second, third and fourth; driving Daniel to the ground.

Daniel slumped, and the servant turned to Amy. "Can you walk?" He asked.

Amy nodded, dumbly, and with the servant's help, she pulled herself to her feet. He leaned her against a wall to get her bearings, and as he did so, she saw a movement over his shoulder.

"Look out!" She cried, as Daniel surged to his feet with a bellow of rage. His face was a ruin, and what was left was twisted in an expression of hatred so vile, so un-Daniel, that something in Amy snapped at the sight of it. Quicker than she could think about it, Amy shoved the servant aside, drew her sidearm, and emptied it into the monster that had dared to impersonate Daniel.

Only when the shots had faded, and the gun smoke cleared, did Amy realise that she was crying.

*

Not far away, Ferretti's head snapped up at the familiar sound of gunshots.

"Sir…" Fenner began.

"I hear it," Ferretti confirmed. "Let's move."

*

The pistol dropped from Amy's hand, and she leaned heavily against the wall. "Oh God," she whispered again. "Daniel."

"Amy?" She turned to face the servant, without really seeing him. "Amy; are you alright."

"I…I killed him."

The bandaged man laid his hands gently on Amy's shoulders. "It's okay, Amy," he said, softly.

"I killed Daniel," she repeated. Then she reached down, confirming to herself that the zat'nik'tel still hung opposite the holster for her sidearm. "I didn't…I could have."

"Amy!" Cassie called, her voice groggy, and choked with fear. "I think Llew's dying."

Rousing herself somewhat, Amy pushed away from the wall and stood, shakily, on her own two feet. "Thank you," she told the servant, then moved to kneel by Cassandra.

Llew's face was deathly pale, and he shivered, feverish from shock. "You know; I don't feel that bad," he told them.

"That's a bad sign, right?" Cassie asked.

Amy just nodded. "We need to get him back home," she said, examining the wound in the boy's gut, and immediately realising that it was somewhat beyond her first aid training to mend. "Keep pressure on it," she told Llew. "And Cassie; keep talking to him. Keep him focused and conscious. Okay, Cassandra?"

Cassie looked up, distractedly, from the wound. She looked almost as pale as Llew, and Amy hoped that was from mere psychological shock, rather than internal bleeding.

"Help me carry him back to the Stargate," she told the servant. "And do you have any idea how…" She broke off as, looking back, she saw Hel's pallid handmaiden skulking in the shadows. "You!" She hissed.

"Wait!" The servant said, interposing himself between Amy and Ganglot, and laying his hands on Amy's shoulders again. Amy looked up, and saw the man's eyes peeping through a slit in the wrappings - so familiar, like the voice, like the way he moved - and she froze.

"Kawalsky?" Ferretti stepped around the corner, weapon at the ready, and took in the scene before him. The muzzle of his P90 swung without hesitation to cover the bandaged servant. "Get your damn, dead hands off her," he snarled. Pearson and Fenner stepped out behind him, pointing their weapons at Ganglot as she tried to retreat along the corridor.

"No, wait," Amy said, her mind putting on another valiant surge of effort to catch up with events.

"Kawalsky; what happened?" Ferretti asked. "What happened to Dr Jackson? And I said get your hands off her!"

The servant began to lower his hands and step away, but Amy reached up and caught his wrists. "Colonel," she said. "This is Daniel."

"What?" Ferretti demanded.

"It…It's a long story," the bandaged Daniel replied. "And right now…could you lower your weapons, please?" He asked.

Ferretti, baffled, motioned for his men to do just that.

"Thank you. Right now we need to help Llew, and get the hell out of here."

"I'll buy that," Ferretti accepted. "But who's…?" He pointed to the body on the floor.

"I'll explain…" Daniel broke off. "Ganglot," he said. The servant made no response, staring fixedly at the body. "Ganglot!"

The woman's head snapped up. "Yes, Lord?"

"Don't, call me that," Daniel told her. "And please, could you help Llew. My friend," he explained, pointing to the youth. "If you have any more of these bandages," he suggested.

"Yes," she said, as though only just aware of what had happened. She moved across to Cassandra and Llew.

"Daniel?" Cassie asked, warily.

"It's okay," he promised. "Let her help."

Ganglot stooped beside Llew. She cut the shirt away from his body, then gripped the hilt of the knife, and tugged it from his gut in one, clean motion. Blood spurted, and she drew out a sheet of gauze which she pressed over the wound. The gauze stained crimson, but the bleeding seemed to slow; or maybe Llew was just running out of blood. By gestures, Ganglot indicated that Cassandra should help her to lift Llew into a sitting position, and she began to wrap a length of bandage around his abdomen.

Meanwhile, Daniel bent over his own body, and began searching through its clothes.

"Who is that?" Amy asked.

"Hel," Daniel replied, reclaiming his watch and wallet. "Could you hang on to these?" He asked. "I don't have pockets in my mummy-bindings."

"Uh…sure," Amy agreed.

"I'm not quite sure how," Daniel went on. "But she stole my skin."

"Stole your skin!" Amy exclaimed, horrified.

"I'm not clear on the details, but these bandages are supposed to keep me alive and help me grow a new one."

"So that's your skin on top of…what?"

With evident distaste, Daniel reached up, and dug his fingers into his own face. He pulled, and it slid away, revealing a necrotic visage, skin withered, and blotched black and blue.

"We took the bandages off one of the servants," Ferretti said. "She looked like that underneath."

Daniel nodded. "Mummies," he said. "Embalmed corpses, preserved against the ages. Everyone here."

"Done!" Ganglot called.

"Everyone except for Ganglot," Daniel added. He took a couple of other personal effects from Hel's corpse - including his GDO and, Amy was touched to note, a space pen she had given him for his last birthday - then lifted a cord from around her neck.

"Is that…?" Amy asked.

"The runestone," Daniel confirmed, passing it to Amy. He started to rise, then seemed to think again, and looked back at Hel. "Hello," he said, catching a glint of gold at her wrist. He pushed up the sleeve of his stolen fatigues, to reveal a device of some kind, held in an ornate bracer. He released a catch, and took the device from Hel.

"Is that safe?" Amy asked.

"Trust me," Daniel said, and of course, Amy did. "Alright, Ferretti. I think it's time we left."

"You know how to open the Gate?" Ferretti asked.

"I think so," Daniel admitted.

Ferretti grinned, wryly. "Good enough for me. Fenner, Pearson; get the kid."

The small group moved cautiously along the corridors, but found all of the servants standing in lifeless pose. It was as though - without their mistress - they had simply lost all animation.

"Hel used all kinds of means to increase her power, and preserve her life without dependence on the sarcophagus," Daniel said, continuing to explain matters to Amy as they beat the retreat to the mini-Gate. She was hobbling badly, and Daniel was supporting her as they went, his own pain numbed by the bandages. "Mostly nano-technology. She had some great successes, but eventually, one of her experiments failed in a big way. A batch of disease-combating nanocytes took against her own cells, and killed them."

"She seemed pretty…spry," Amy replied, her voice haunted.

"Basically," Daniel said. "The nanocytes in her body kept her going, even after they stopped her biological functions. The sarcophagus wouldn't work on her, and she had no way to remove these nanocytes, so she used an ancient embalming procedure to keep her flesh form decaying, but she wasn't pretty anymore. Consequently, she devised a means of stealing the flesh of another, and making it into a kind of disguise. When she was forced into hiding up here, she kept using her servants as donors, until accidents and suicide had killed most of them off. She preserved and reanimated them, in much the same way that her own body was preserved, but they weren't much good for supplying fresh meat anymore.

"Ganglot was the last one; her last living servant and her last donor. Periodically, Hel stole her skin, and wrapped her in these bandages. Her skin is like it is because it's only just finished regrowing. When Hel stripped me, Ganglot bound me in the same bandages and saved my life."

"I think Hel might have been trying to do the same thing to me," Amy admitted. "Steal my skin that is. So did Hel tell you to save Daniel's life?" She asked Ganglot, who was tailing after the group.

"She…didn't tell me not to," Ganglot replied, evasively.

Amy switched back to English. "You heartbreaker you," she said to Daniel.

"Actually, she says she did it because she realised how much she had come to despise Hel. I was her ticket out as much as anything."

"Speaking of tickets out," Ferretti said, as they entered the Gateroom. "Let's see if you're right about opening the Gate."

"So where do you think the controls are?" Cassandra asked.

"Right here," Daniel answered, holding up the wrist device. "Give me your wrist."

Cassandra looked dubious. "You're sure about this?" She asked.

"Don't worry," Daniel assured her. "It'll come off again."

"That's what they told you about the Atanik armbands," Cassie reminded him.

"Trust me," Daniel said.

Cassandra held out her arm, and Daniel rolled up her sleeve to clasp the device around her wrist. She gave a small flinch as it locked in place.

"So what do I do with it?" She asked.

"Point it at the Gate," Daniel said. "And push the button."

Cassandra did as she was told, and the Gate burst into life. As when they left, there was no vortex; the event horizon just seethed calmly into existence.

"Hallelujah," Ferretti breathed.

"And this'll take us home?" Cassie asked.

"I've seen the Goa'uld use devices like that before," Daniel said, not adding 'and I saw you use one to send us through a time warp from fifty years in the future'. "They seem to open a wormhole directly to a pre-programmed set of co-ordinates. If these really are just 'intercom' Gates, then where else would they go?"

"And if they're not?" Amy asked.

"Well. It'll be fun finding out," Daniel replied. "Amy; you have my GDO, so if you could do the honours."

"GDO?" Ferretti asked, as Amy pushed back her jacket sleeve, and tapped SG-7's code into the panel.

"Yes," Daniel replied. "While the mini-Gate on Earth brought us to here, the return wormhole should home in on the primary Gate at Cheyenne Mountain."

"Transmission complete," Amy said.

"Move out," Ferretti ordered. "Let's get that kid through, now."

Ferretti led, with Pearson and Fenner following with Llew. Cassandra dogged their heels.

"After you," Amy said.

"No, no; ladies first," Daniel insisted.

"But you forget," Amy reminded him. "I'm no lady." Then she shot a glance at Ganglot, who was hanging back from the Gate as though she expected something to leap out and bite her. "Don't take too long exercising your saviour complex," she told him. "I'll hold the door for you, but I don't know how long this Gate can maintain a wormhole."

As Amy departed, Daniel turned to Ganglot. "Come on," he said, holding out his hand. "It's okay. You can come back with us; we'll look after you. It's what you wanted."

"I have never been away from my mistress before," Ganglot admitted.

"There is no mistress," Daniel reminded her.

After a long moment, Ganglot nodded. She reached out, took Daniel's hand, and they stepped through the Gate.

*

After the Gate closed, the compound was quiet. Hel's body lay where it had fallen, and her servants swayed silently where they stood.

Hel's eyes snapped open.

*

Dr Janet Fraiser ran down the corridor as fast as her legs would carry her. Mere minutes before leaving for Canada, she had been summoned to the Gateroom for a medical emergency. SG-7, she was told; the team that had been in Newfoundland with Daniel and Cassandra.

She burst into the massive chamber to see two members of SG-7 lowering a young man to the ramp, a dark-haired girl crouching by his side. Ferretti was giving a verbal report to General Hammond.

"What happened to him?" Janet asked, kneeling beside the boy.

"He was stabbed in the stomach," the girl replied. "Deep but clean."

"I feel fine, really," the boy said.

"And he's delirious," the girl added.

Janet looked at the girl, and did a small double-take. "Cassandra! What…?"

"Please, Mom.," Cassandra begged. "Llew's gut wound now; lecture later."

Janet gave her best Mom scowl, but turned her attention back to her patient. She cut away the bandages, to reveal a gauze which was covered in a sticky, black substance. "What the hell is this?" Janet asked.

"I don't know," Cassie replied. "Daniel said it was supposed to help. But it was white before, I'm sure of it."

"Daniel?" Janet pulled the gauze aside. "Daniel took you offworld? Oh, there is no limit to how dead that man…" She stopped, utterly lost for words.

"Mom?" Cassie asked, an edge of panic in her voice. "What's wrong? Is he…?"

"He's fine," Janet told her, with some confusion.

"Fine?"

"I told you I'd be okay," Llew said. "Few stitches; a little bedrest…"

"I mean, he's unhurt," Janet clarified.

"What?" Cassie asked.

"What?" Llew echoed.

"Look."

Cassandra looked, and saw that her mother was right. The black residue left a dark patch on Llew's fair skin, but the skin itself was unbroken. "What?" She said again. "How? What?"

Llew tried to stay composed, but his face was a picture of fear. "That's not possible," he said. "I felt…"

The moment of wonder was interrupted by a sharp clang, as Amy tumbled from the Gate, and collapsed onto the ramp. She broke her fall hard, and lay with one foot still within the event horizon. Ferretti bent to help her up, but she waved him away.

"Got to keep it open," she gasped, painfully.

"Are you alright, Captain?" Janet asked.

"Not great, no," Amy replied. "But I have to hold the Gate for Daniel. He can't open it again if it closes."

"Believe me," Janet said, making the best inspection she could of Amy's surface injuries. "He might prefer to stay there."

"Doc…" Amy began.

"Oh no," Janet interrupted. "No excuses. No mitigating circumstances. He took my daughter and another child on a mission."

"I am not a child!" Cassandra insisted, looking up from where she was crouched by Llew's side.

"Don't start with me young lady," Janet warned. "He took you on a mission, risked your lives, and what in God's name happened to your hair?"

"But…"

"No buts, my girl. Words can not describe how very grounded you are, and…"

Once more, the event horizon rippled, disgorging a pallid woman and a cloth-wrapped mummy. Amy pulled her foot over the threshold, and after a moment the Gate closed.

"What about Daniel?" Janet asked.

"Ahh…" The mummy raised a hand, with a sheepishness that Janet would have known anywhere.

"You felt you needed to come back in disguise?" Janet asked. "You might just be right."

"Actually, I got skinned alive," Daniel said.

Janet's fierce words of castigation froze in her throat, as medical instinct and concern for her friend took over. "Oh my God," she said. "Let's get you to the infirmary; you too Kawalsky."

"What about me?" Llew asked, barely holding it together. Cassandra squeezed his hand, tightly.

"Yes; you too," Janet agreed, gently. She was completely mystified by this 'wound' that had left no scar. If it were a mere flesh wound, she might think that he and Cassie had simply over-reacted, but there was nothing; yet that blood had to have come from somewhere.

*

Finding the humans fled and her wrist device and runestone gone, Hel stormed around the compound in fury. She screamed for Ganglot, itching to take out her frustration on the girl, but there was no reply.

"That treacherous little bitch," Hel fumed.

After she had calmed herself, Hel reviewed her situation. The Tau'ri knew of her presence and had control of her mini-Gate. She must therefore presume that if a strike team were not already en route, they soon would be. Either that or they would seal the Gates, preventing her escape. However, she was certain that the Tau'ri would not have come if her father had not been released from his captivity, which meant that Loki would be looking for his children, and the stones that he gave them.

From the Tau'ri planet - Midgard, as she still thought of it - Hel could have safely waited for her father to find her, but he would never track her here; that was the point after all. As she was now cut off from Midgard, she would have to take a risk.

At the centre of the complex was Hel's control room, from which she monitored events on Midgard and beyond, watching for signs of her father's return. Ignoring the huge array of imaging globes and Asgard screens, Hel walked straight from the door to a console which bore clearly the signs of disuse. It was pristine, where every other control in the chamber had been worn in by centuries of use, this had never been touched. When she installed it, and the systems to which it was connected, Hel had never intended them to be used. They existed solely as a contingency plan against just such an eventuality as the one facing her now.

She moved the control stones on the panel into a specific configuration, triggering the receivers which hung in high atmospheric orbit to begin transmitting a coded signal. Her father would instantly know that the signal was from her, and what it meant. The Asgard…well, the Asgard would not be slow to investigate, but her only chance now was that her father would reach her first.

*

Angharad lay on the floor of her cell, gazing up at Loki with untempered loathing. She made no attempt to rise: She was not sure if she even had the strength, and besides, he would just knock her down again.

"You hide your fear well," Loki commended her. "You will be an excellent servant once you learn your place."

"Never," Angharad repeated, or at least she tried to. The word emerged as a gurgling mumble from the ruin of her mouth, blood bubbling on her lips as she forced the breath between them. She hurt, everywhere; her body felt like a single, aching bruise. She had never in her life seen so much blood as she had spilled, and it seemed almost impossible that it really could all have come from her. Loki bore only a light and fading bruise on his jaw, and that from the hardest punch that Angharad could muster after nearly sixteen years of kickboxing lessons.

"What did he do?" Loki asked. "That sanctimonious hypocrite, Thor? What could he possibly have done to engender this kind of faith? You see that he could not catch us. Even if he cares, he can not save you, Angharad. What do you owe him?"

Angharad tried to speak again, but the words were inaudible.

"What was that?" Loki demanded, leaning down near to her face.

Angharad spat blood into the Trickster's eye. "I said go to Hell!" She cried, although the effort made her broken ribs sting and her raw throat burn.

Loki reared back in rage, delivering a sharp, vicious kick to Angharad's stomach. He drew little more than a grunt of discomfort, the shout having left Angharad too weary in her body to scream. Then Loki laughed, as though her action and his had both been part of a friendly joke. "You are an exceptional Tau'ri," he admitted. "Even if we do not see how Thor won your respect, we can see why he thought you worthy of notice."

"Flattered, I'm sure," Angharad gasped, and even that was painful.

"In time, you will answer us, Angharad. And you will worship us as your God."

"Never."

"It is only a matter of time; and that is something that I possess in abundance."

Angharad began to laugh. She could not stop herself, even though each convulsion hurt more than anything in her life. Not even labour had hurt like this.

"What?" Loki demanded.

"You may have time," she said. "But I don't. I'm dying; I can feel it."

Now it was Loki's turn to laugh. "Ah, Angharad," he said. "Our dominion does not end in death. We will draw you back from the edge, as many times as need be to make you bow before us."

Angharad's words of rejection failed, as the pain became too much for her to speak.

The door to the cell burst open. "Sire!" Eris cried.

"Eris, my sweet," Loki answered, in a voice that dripped venom. "We trust that you have remembered what we said to you?"

"Yes, Sire," Eris promised him. "But I thought that you would want to know. As we approached the home of the Tau'ri, we received a signal from your daughter; My Lady, Hel. She is on the second planet, and asks that we retrieve her before the Asgard can find her."

"Excellent," Loki whispered.

"There is more, Sire. We have also received a confirmation on the recall signal."

"The recall…? You mean…?"

"Yes, Sire. The Utgard will join us in orbit around the second planet within the day."

"This is excellent news," Loki said. "We shall make ready to greet our daughter. Take the woman to the sarcophagus," he added. "Then prepare her for transport to the Utgard."

"Yes, Sire."

Eris stepped towards Angharad. She looked up through a growing darkness, dimly aware of Loki receding behind the girl.

"She is dying," Eris said, without the slightest note of concern.

"We care not," Loki replied. "Have her made ready, and join us to honour our daughter when she ar…" The voice faded away, as the world turned black and engulfed Angharad.

With the information from her coded signal, it was easy enough for Loki to isolate Hel's location, and transport his daughter to the Kalliste.

"Father!" She greeted him, with every sign of warmth.

"Daughter. Welcome back. You remember our dear servant, Eris?"

"Of course," Hel replied, coolly. "A pleasure to see you again."

"Likewise," Eris returned, with equal insincerity. "You look…" She paused, unsure how best to describe the withered form before her. She remembered Hel being a beautiful, vibrant creature, never without a dozen lovers competing for her attention.

"Dead?" Hel suggested.

Eris raised a single, exquisite eyebrow. "Well, you look very well for it," she said.

"You shall transfer to the Utgard with us, dear daughter," Loki continued, smiling benignly at the conflict between his underlings. "We have a plaything that you shall find most amusing; a woman of the Tau'ri, touched by Thor himself."

"Indeed? What does she look like?"

"Red hair, brown eyes. Strong."

Hell nodded. "Tau'ri came," she said. "To steal the stone that you gave to us. There was a boy with them, who had been altered by the Asgard. He had red hair."

Loki nodded, thoughtfully. "And were they successful?" He asked.

Hel smiled, and produced a runestone from her robes. "They were not," she assured her father. "However, there is a problem."

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