MEMOIRS OF
BRIGADIER GENERAL JACK O’NEILL
(Retired)
Part VI
Chapter Four
By Arrietty
2007
As I traveled from planet to planet, everywhere I went I never saw any technology that would help Earth. It took me two months to realize that I missed my friends, but I still wasn’t ready to return to the SGC. So I punched in the co-ordinates to what I understood to be Teal’c’s last destination.
As soon as my worn leather boot touched the stone steps on the other side of the Stargate, I felt the short hairs spring up along the back of my neck.
I released the safety catch on my P-90 and ran smoothly into the cover of the trees. I crouched down among the undergrowth and quickly looked for the source of my unease. Apart from some churned up earth at the base of the Stargate, where grass had started to grow, I could see nothing to alarm me, so why this warning? It had never let me down before. With this thought in mind, I made my way cautiously towards Ishta’s camp, keeping myself hidden along the way.
I started to climb up the hills that surrounded the valley. It was a long slog up the steep grade, but finally I made it to the top. I carefully circled around the ridge, keeping myself concealed behind shrubs and small trees until I found a perfect vantage point. I dropped to the ground, slowly crawling on my elbows, pushing with my knees and feet until I had a good view of the valley below.
At first sight I could see a normal deserted camp, no life signs at all. There were piles of clothing littering the ground in small clumps here and there. I could see an animal, most probably a horse or cow lying on its side in one of the corrals. I dragged my monocular out of my top pocket and quickly scanned the area. I couldn’t see any sign of marauding Jaffa, but what I did see made my heart go cold and a dread began to build up in the pit of my stomach. With one final search of in the surrounding hills, I quickly began my descent, trying my hardest not to get tangled in the thick bracken in my haste to find out if my fears were confirmed.
Silently, I moved from the cover of the trees and ran up behind one of the tents; it was old and tattered and uncared for. A thick layer of dust and dirt covered the sagging skins. I worked my way around the tent and peeked into one of the tears in the side. The smell told me what I wanted to know and confirmed my fears. The next few hours I knew were not going to be pleasant, but I had to be sure that Teal’c had escaped.
I’m not a medical examiner, but I had experienced enough death and decay to know that the bodies had been here for several weeks. Fortunately, not so long that I couldn’t determine who they were, but long enough to make my task gruesome while I searched for my friends. After what seemed many hours, but only forty-five minutes later, I was relieved to find out that the only male bodies were those of the attacking Jaffa. The piles of clothing littered across the campsite that I had seen from my elevated vantage point, had turned out to be bodies. I recognized some of the faces, but none were my friends. It was a blessing that there were no children among the dead. I don’t think I could handle finding children left to rot in the sun.
There were too many bodies for me to bury. The helplessness I could feel saddened me. I wandered over to the corral. The animal carcass was a horse; only one, I know there had been many more. They must have gone through the Stargate to safety with the others. There is no way Ishta’s people would have left the dead to lie out here exposed to the elements if they were still on the planet. Incongruously, a large pile of hay, flattened by the rain was beside the dead horse. Something was poking out the side of the hay. Leaning down I tugged at a black web strap. I recognized this material, and my heart began to beat erratically as I pulled harder on the strap.
I fell back on my butt with a thump as the strap followed by the pack, released from what was holding it down. Dumping the pack onto the ground, I quickly pushed the dank hay apart and could see a large body – fully kitted out with Jaffa amour. Even though I was sure Teal’c would not be wearing his amour here, my heart increased its staccato beats and I found myself breathing heavily. With effort, as the body was heavy, I turned him over. The bright gold marking was stark against the blackened forehead. The sun glinted off the bright gold horns and moon of Baal’s First Prime. My heart returned to its steady thump inside my chest and I let out a puff of breath as I sat back onto my heels. I knew this guy, he had been the cause of so much pain and strife in my life and now he was dead. I didn’t feel anything but relief – relief that it wasn’t Teal’c.
I slowly stood up, still clutching the back packs strap. This was Teal’c’s pack, standard SGC issue. It was heavy in my hand; I quickly opened it wondering what I would find. Apart from some clothing, the personal CD player that I had seen Teal’c packing into his bag so long ago was sitting on the top. Its silver metal brightly contrasted against the dark material.
I lifted out the player and started to push some of the buttons. My curiosity overcame the ludicrousness of the situation, of me in the middle of nowhere, wondering if the player still worked after so long.
The lid popped open and nestled inside was a CD with writing printed across it in Teal’c’s neat handwriting. It was a message for me. ‘You were right, it ran out of batteries.’ Underneath was a word that didn’t make any sense. It consisted of seven letters. KOHREDS. I knew this was a message to me, but as for what it meant, I had no idea. A feeling of comfort and trust came over me as I realized that Teal’c had known that one day I would come. He had left this for me to find so I would know where he had gone to. Now all I needed was Carter to help decipher the code. My sad memories of Sam dashed all pleasure of finding this sign from Teal’c. Shutting down the painful memory, I looked at the letters again. Did it say a name of a planet? I asked myself. No that would be too obvious. He had to be careful that no one else would find it and work it out.
I tucked the CD player into my pack and started walking back towards the gate. It was much quicker and easier going this way. Even so, I didn’t relax my guard as I made my way back to the Stargate.
~*~
It was dark and the moon highlighted the Stargate against the dark forest. The moon wasn’t bright enough to show the glyphs clearly. Immediately, I realized what I had been missing. “Doh!” I hit the heel of my hand on my forehead – of course, it isn’t a name of a planet, it’s the address. I quickly released my pack, pulled out the CD and some paper and looked at the letters again. Okay so each letter represented a glyph. But where would I start? This planet or Earth? The last letter in the address had to be this planets point of origin and I knew what that was, so I could work backwards.
The last letter on the CD corresponded with this planet’s point of origin. The rest was easy. He had used Earth’s symbol as A and worked his way around the glyphs clockwise. One hour later I had the address. Well – I hoped I had the address. Carter would’ve been proud of me. This time instead of sharp stabs of painful memories, just sadness and regret filled my heart.
Even though I was tired and in need of sleep, staying here would not be a good choice, I shouldered my pack and punched in the address.
~*~
I knew as soon as I walked through the Stargate I had arrived on the right planet. The prickling of hairs was still there, but the three fierce Amazon women pointing staff weapons at me assured me that these were Ishta’s people.
“Hi ladies.” I waved my hand reassuringly and smiled my best smile at them.
“General O’Neill. Please follow.”
I was welcomed into their village like a long lost brother, uncle, grandfather… Those kids really did like to make fun of my hair. At least I had some, not like some people I won’t mention.
It was really good to see Brat’ac. He strode proudly out of one of the tents. “Greetings, O’Neill. It has been a long time since we have seen you.” He clasped my arm with his hand and slapped me on my shoulder with the other. I couldn’t help grinning. Feelings of loneliness washed from me as he led me into his tent.
“Where’s Teal’c?” I asked, just before pushing my way through the tent flap.
“He is not far, word has been sent to him. He will be here soon.”
“Rya’c?” I questioned.
“It is he that has gone to inform Teal’c of your arrival.” Brat’ac carefully sat down and poured some wine into a large metal tankard from a flagon near by. “Here, O’Neill, you look like you are parched.”
I grinned, and took the tankard from him; this should have my insides sloshing for a week. The tankard was enormous. “Thank you, Master Brat’ac.”
He smiled, and then continued to talk. “You have arrived at an opportune moment as I believe Teal’c wishes to speak with you.”
“Oh?” I queried.
Brat’ac answered with a noncommittal smile and took a long draught from his tankard.
I couldn’t understand why everyone seemed so calm and at ease. I had seen the destruction of their last camp.
“Brat’ac, what happened?” I asked quietly.
He looked up at me then gazed into the fire. His eyes reflected pain and sorrow. I waited patiently for his answer. After a few silent moments, he started to speak, his voice quiet and reedy at first.
“They came without warning. Fortunately, word reached them in time and they were able to get the children to safety. Some stayed behind to lure the attacking force into the camp, but there were too many. They weren’t victorious.” His voice gained strength as the anger overcame the sadness. “Teal’c, Ishta, Rya’c, myself, along with many of the warriors had left to meet with a small group of rebels on another planet at the time. We arrived to find the carnage left by Baal’s Jaffa.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “We were too late. Many brave warriors died that day.”
“What made you choose here?” I asked.
“We found this planet last year and we made plans to move here if ever we needed to, you have one, you call it the Alpha site?”
I nodded.
“We wanted to stay and mourn the dead, but a mother ship was in orbit and more forces were on the way. We haven’t been back since.” He looked up at me again, a small smile played around his mouth. “We grow strong in number as more free Jaffa join us every day.” He reached up with his arm and clapped me heavily on the shoulder with the palm of his hand. “And now, you join us, O’Neill, we will be stronger than ever.”
The smile I had displayed fell at his words. “Brat’ac, I’m only h-“
“O’Neill!”
I turned and swiftly stood and greeted Teal’c as he pulled me into a bear hug. It was good to see him.
After being squashed to a pulp, he finally let me go. I gestured towards Brat’ac. “Brat’ac here has been filling me in on what has been happening around here. So how’s the rebellion coming along?”
He smiled before sitting down beside the blazing fire, which Brat’ac had built up. “It is going well, O’Neill. We have many Jaffa infiltrated into the System Lords armies. It is only a matter of time before we can overthrow Baal.”
“Now that you mention Baal, I bumped into two of his super soldiers recently. They have a new battery, they last longer. And talking of batteries, “I rummaged in my pack, “I believe this is yours.” I grinned as I pulled out his personal CD player. Teal’c raised one eyebrow and took it from me.
“Do you have new batteries on you, O’Neill?” he asked.
“No, sorry.” I watched amazed as his shoulders slumped slightly. This man liked his music.
~*~
Several hours later, after we had eaten, everyone had retired to bed. Teal’c and I were quietly talking. We had exhausted the Goa’uld discussion, I had skirted around my adventures rather unsuccessfully and now Teal’c was giving me that look.
“Have you found what you are looking for yet, O’Neill?”
I tried to ignore the question, but the look was too strong. “I’m not looking for anything, Teal’c,” I answered.
“This is true, O’Neill. You are running away,” he stated.
Anger coursed through me bringing me to my feet. I quickly turned my back to him and poked the embers with my booted foot.
“O’Neill.” His voice was full of understanding. “I am returning to the Tau’ri for a while, will you accompany me? I am sure they will be pleased to see you again.”
I turned and faced him. “I need more time.” It hurt my pride to admit this to my friend, but I could see he understood. “Is Earth in danger?” I asked.
He smiled softly. “Not that I am aware of.”
I sat back down; the anger fled as quickly as it had come.
~*~
The following day, my bag packed with fresh supplies, I took my leave. My chat with Teal’c the previous evening had reminded me that I was not ready to return to the SGC and all the memories it contained just yet, but maybe in a couple of months I would return for a visit.
We were standing at the base of the Stargate, I had punched in one of the addresses on my list and the bright blue oscillating surface reflected onto Teal’c’s face.
“O’Neill it can be cold on these planets. Please take this. You may need it.”
Folded carefully in his outstretched hands was a black leather coat. I remember seeing it for the first time after I returned from my stint with Baal. Teal’c had worn it many times in the winter on Earth. I nodded to him as I took it from his hands. The coat was long and looked way too big for me. But as I pulled it on, it fitted snugly over my jacket and vest, successfully hiding my P-90 under its soft leather.
“Thank you, Teal’c.”
I picked up my pack and slung it over one shoulder. It was heavy with ammunition which Teal’c had generously replenished my diminishing supplies. “Say hi to the others for me,” I said, before turning towards the blue surface.
Hating goodbyes, I quickly waved and walked through the Stargate.
~*~
The next three months were filled with traveling from planet to planet. Sometimes I came across technological doohickeys that looked useful, but mostly there was nothing of interest. These planets seemed to be devoid of anything remotely goa’uld. How they had kept free of the evil snakes, I had no idea. I suppose they were just plain lucky.
I stood on a crowded planet, jostled by passers-by while I contemplated my list which Eimon had thrust into my hands many months ago. I crossed off number seventeen. I was about three quarters of the way down the list. I had to admit I was enjoying myself. The wanderer in me was strong and if I found the people too overbearing, I had a safe haven to stay. My quiet planet, no one lived there at all. I looked at number eighteen, and then reached over and pushed the glyphs on the DHD. With a quick glance back at the bustling town, I walked up the stone steps and stepped through the portal.
~*~
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