9 A Raid II

The dart speared into his neck, and he instantly crumpled onto the porch. My hands automatically moved the next second, shifting the gun to the other guard.

He barely had the chance to even turn his head before I pressed the trigger again, shooting a dart right into his neck also.

He stumbled and toppled over the edge of his porch, falling onto the ground with a sharp thud that pierced through the silent night like a knife.

Calmly, I shifted the muzzle to the entrance of the house, expecting the noise to alert someone. No one came. Releasing my breath after sensing no danger, the combat state faded away.

The faint chirps of the insects, the rustle of leaves, and the whistle of the cold wind filtered into my ears as I activated the safety of the gun with a click and dropped it, slipping it into the bushes.

Patting one of the vest pockets to make sure the three remaining darts were in place, I raised my body slightly to a crouch and took slow steps to the wall. Grabbing the edge with my hands, I heaved myself up, climbing over it onto the paved concrete compound.

My eyes immediately scanned the perimeter. The lampposts cast long shadows on the compound, covering the fallen guard who was sprawled on the floor, lying motionless as blood spilled out onto the ground from the side of his head.

Frowning at the sight, I crouched low and carefully stepped to him, using the shadows as cover and placed my index and middle fingers on his neck to check his pulse. He had a weak and faint one.

I let out a soft sigh of relief. He wasn't dead. He was bleeding, but he was alive and unconscious, just as I intended. I didn't plan to kill any of the young men and women here today.

They were just victims, innocent victims of intense brainwashing, and they didn't deserve to die. Not here, not today, and not for someone like Setesh.

The darts I shot them with had just the right dose of etorphine to knock them out for hours without causing any negative side effects. They'd be asleep long enough for me to complete my mission.

The other guard would be safe where he was. This one, on the other hand, needed medical attention and fast; otherwise, he'd bleed to death.

There was no way I'd allow that. The last thing I needed was for more innocent deaths weighing down on my conscience. What I already had was enough.

Sighing helplessly, I extended my left hand to his head and with a thought activated the healing module of my harakesh. A multicolored tri-beam shot out of it with a low hum and formed a bright small white orb which I then directed to the side of his head.

Slowly, the bleeding wound on his head closed up, and the flow of blood halted. I continued the healing process for another minute, just to be sure, and mentally deactivated the device.

He'd be fine now. His life was secure. After I was done, I'd make sure to check up on him again to see if I'd missed something, maybe some internal injuries. For now, this would have to do.

Flashing his bloodied head a final glance, I shifted my eyes downward and without wasting any time, relinquished his Zat'nik'tel from his waist strap, familiarizing myself with its weight and design.

Admiring its familiar serpent-shaped figure, I slid it into one of the inner pockets of my vest and moved away from him to the main white wooden door of the house.

Twisting the knob gently, I pulled it back quietly and stepped into the house. I found myself in a clean narrow corridor with white walls, polished sandalwood flooring, and overhead light fixtures brightly illuminating it.

There were no doors around, just an opening at the end of it that led to another similar corridor. Muscles tense, my breathing shallow, and my mind as clear and sharp as it would ever be and primed for action, I took slow measured steps towards the end of the corridor.

Reaching the end and stepping into the next corridor, my head shifted left and right as I immediately scanned the area.

There were two other narrow corridors on my left and right sides, with doors lined along their white walls. I had no idea where Setesh would be at this time, but there was a way to find out.

As a result of my body once serving as the host of Orion, my bloodstream was laced with Naquadah, an element found within every single Goa'uld who has had the pleasure of stepping into a Sarcophagus.

With Naquadah in their blood, the Goa'uld had the uncanny ability to sense the presence of Naquadah itself. It was a trick, a sixth sense, they used to identify or sense each other and even Stargates when the need arose.

As a former host, I could use this same ability to find or track down Setesh in his own home. I couldn't use it outside the house to immediately find out which part of the building he was in because, as incredible as this sixth sense was, it had a limit in range.

It was effective only in a fifteen-foot radius. The moment I got fifteen feet away from him, I'd immediately feel and know his location. Unfortunately, he'd know mine as well.

So, before that happened, I had something very important to do first. As tough as I was, I couldn't take on an experienced Goa'uld like Setesh and his minions all alone and at the same time and in their home territory.

It'd be suicide, and I didn't plan on dying just yet. So, the guards had to go. They needed to be neutralized. And it had to be done as swiftly and as quietly as possible. Else, it was either I died here today or I'd end up doing something that'd haunt me for the rest of my life.

I heard faint footsteps moving towards this corridor and immediately stepped to the left corridor, planting my back against the wall as I held my breath. Someone was coming.

The footsteps became clear and louder as the person walked into the corridor and started moving straight towards the corridor I just came out from. As he drew closer, I brought out one dart from my vest pocket, holding it in my right hand.

My heart started racing, but my inherited experience and instincts kicked in, causing a deadly calm to envelop me as the person reached my position.

The moment he took a step past my position, his back facing me, I slithered with the grace of a predator to his back and wrapped my right hand around his mouth, stifling an outcry, and precisely jammed the dart into a vein in his neck as he squirmed in my embrace.

He stopped struggling in a second, his head lolling forward and his body slumping. Holding his body steady, I dragged him to one of the doors in the corridor and used my left hand to open it carefully, revealing a small storage room.

My left hand stretched towards the room, and my harakesh primed to attack at the faintest sign of trouble, I grunted and slowly pulled his body into it and laid him flat on the ground, eyes darting all over the place.

There was nothing here, just shelves lined with sealed boxes and metal trunks stacked on top of one another at one corner of the room.

Seeing nothing of importance, I left the room and closed the door with a low click. Plus this guy, I'd incapacitated three guards. Seven remained at large.

"Seven huh?" I sighed, raking my combed hair with my left hand as I stepped to another door in the corridor, sticking close to the walls as I primed my ring weapon for action. "This is going to be a very long night."