“You need a demonstration?” O’Neill asked, and with no further warning he fired into the ground at the startled Amam’s feet. It jumped back; perhaps it had not seen a Tau’ri weapon before? “Let him go,” O’Neill repeated.
“You are the one?” the Amam said in its strange, guttural speech. “The Lantean?”
“Let the boy go.”
Teal’c was close to the girl now, who stood watching O’Neill with terror and astonishment. The boy was limp with fear, dangling from the Amam’s hands as if he were no more than a toy. The creature’s strength, Teal’c thought, must be significant.
Crouching down, he took a moment to prepare. When O’Neill opened fire on the commander, Teal’c would need to take out the two Amam who stood behind their leader. From this range, it would not prove difficult, but the girl was directly in his and O’Neill’s line of fire.
“Child,” he hissed quietly. “Child, come here!”
She did not hear, too focused on the drama unfolding and on the boy whom he imagined to be her brother. He swallowed a moment of frustration but dared not speak more loudly for fear of alerting the Amam. Surprise was his most valuable weapon.
“Jem!” he whispered, making an assumption about the name, but still there was no response. The shock of the situation had robbed her of her senses.
“I’m telling you,” O’Neill was shouting. “One more step and I’ll blow your brains out.” The Amam stepped closer and still O’Neill resisted opening fire, afraid of hitting the girl, afraid that Teal’c was not in position.
Teal’c had no choice but to act. Moving as quietly as he could, he surged to his feet and grabbed the girl. One hand went over her mouth and nose to stifle any sound and the other wrapped around her thin body. “I mean you no harm,” he hissed into her ear as he dragged her silently into the shadows. “I am a friend, but you must be silent.”
“Hell yeah!” O’Neill yelled, clearly having seen Teal’c move. “You ugly bastard, I am so gonna enjoy this!”
The girl’s weak struggles abated and Teal’c risked loosening his hold on her mouth. “Make no noise,” he cautioned again.
She nodded and he let her go. Turning around, she stared at him with bright eyes, frightened but full of intelligence. When they fell on his mark of Apophis, they widened even further and something like a smile touched her lips. Her mouth opened, but Teal’c put a cautionary finger to her lips to keep her quiet and she nodded, only mouthing the word ‘Dix?’
Teal’c didn’t answer the silent question, just gestured for her to hide herself. With a nod and a backward glance at the boy she moved off, but not far. She was, however, out of the firing line. Lifting his staff, Teal’c took aim and gave O’Neill a slight nod. They were ready.
“Okay,” O’Neill said. “Time’s up. Drop the kid.”
The Amam holding the boy exchanged a look with the commander — and, perhaps, a telepathic communication — then bared its teeth at O’Neill and lifted its feeding hand. The boy screamed, the girl stifled a cry of her own. O’Neill opened fire.
Jerking backward, the Amam commander danced under the impact of gunshots that should have shredded his body. But it did not even knock him from his feet.
“Oh crap,” O’Neill hissed and retreated a step.
Teal’c shared the sentiment. Lifting his staff weapon, he took aim and fired two bolts into the back of the commander and another two into the Amam who held the boy. He was relieved that they proved more effective than O’Neill’s MP5.
The commander fell forward, onto his hands and knees, and the Amam who held the boy staggered hard to the right, losing his grip on the child. The boy hit the ground and scrambled to his feet, looking wildly in all directions.
“Kid, over here!” O’Neill yelled, opening fire again on the commander. But the boy stood between him and the other Amam who was already recovering from the staff blasts. Teal’c fired again, knocking him sideways, and then sent two bolts into the third Amam who was pulling his stunner free of its holster. He got off a shot in Teal’c’s direction before the staff blasts knocked him back, but it went wide and Teal’c did not even need to duck.
Meanwhile, O’Neill was edging his way past the commander toward the boy. “Come here!” he was shouting. “Kid, run!”
His barked order penetrated the child’s fear and he started running toward O’Neill who reached out as soon as he was close enough and dragged the boy behind him. “Stay down,” he snapped, opening fire on the Amam again. This time the bullets put the creature down and Teal’c began to realize that the Amam were not impervious to their weapons, it simply required more firepower to do significant damage.