Doctor Daniel Jackson, world-class archaeologist and linguist, ducked behind a tree to avoid a blue-tinged blast of energy. How exactly did I get into this mess? he wondered.
Not that this was the first time he had run from enemy fire. In the nearly five years since he had become a member of SG-1, Daniel had been involved in more firefights and battles than he could count. Yet, every time, he had wondered how he had gone from calm dig sites in Egypt to a planet known only by the designation P3X-564, being chased by aliens. Aliens with very powerful guns.
Several feet to his left, he heard the all-too-familiar sound of machine gun fire. Jack. Another energy blast zapped into a bush a few feet away, and Daniel scrambled for better cover.
The mission had started out innocently enough. In the briefing, General Hammond had informed them that the initial data on 564 led them to believe that the inhabitants had a slightly higher level of technology than Earth, although all attempts at radio communication had been unsuccessful. SG-1 had arrived through the Stargate without incident and started toward what appeared to be a city. But, before they got there, they had been ambushed by an armed patrol and escorted to a military base of some sort. A powerfully built man wearing a black-and-grey uniform asked them half an hour’s worth of questions about Earth and SG-1’s mission, most of which they had answered. Finally, the man had ordered them to come with him for further questioning. Frustrated about a lack of response to their (more or less) friendly overtures, Jack had refused. The man had laughed and informed the four teammates that, willing or no, they were going to be the instrument that conquered their planet.
That was the wrong thing to say to Colonel Jack O’Neill. He had lunged at the man while Sam and Teal’c took out the two guards inside the tent. SG-1 had quickly rearmed themselves and made a break for it.
The running and shooting on the rough, hilly, wooded terrain had separated the four, but, by Daniel’s best estimation, Jack was off to his left, Sam was someplace to his right, and Teal’c was a bit ahead on his right, past Sam.
Two more blue bolts flew past Daniel, and he fired a few shots from his handgun in return. With all these rocks and trees, I don’t have the proverbial snowball’s chance of hitting anyone, he thought. His only hope was to make it to the Stargate.
As he ducked around yet another tree, a blast of pain struck his trailing left arm. Daniel staggered, but kept moving. After a moment, he glanced down, fully expecting to see a burned stump where his arm had been. He was shocked to see his arm still there, his green jacket sleeve not even burned. He tried to move his fingers, but the hand would not respond.
They aren’t shooting to kill, he realized, a sick feeling coming up in his gut. They’re using some kind of stun weapon. They want us alive.
Pain exploded through him again, this time from his head, and the world suddenly went black.
A few yards away, Jack saw the second blast catch Daniel in the back of the head, and he watched his friend collapse, twitching. Something about the fall reminded Jack of zat fire, and he stopped running, dropped to one knee, and strafed the area above Daniel’s still form with bullets. One of the alien pursuers fell, but the rest fired back. Jack wished desperately for some cover fire, but he couldn’t see Carter or Teal’c. And that better be ‘cause they’re running, not because they’re… He refused to finish that line of thought. Taking a deep breath, he ran toward his fallen teammate, sweeping his P-90 back and forth as he ran. He was only two feet away when a blue energy blast hit him in the chest.
* * * * *
Consciousness leaked slowly into Jack’s mind, and he lay perfectly still, waiting for memory to return before moving. Once he was as awake as he was going to get, he opened his eyes and eased himself into a sitting position. He was in what looked like a jail cell, maybe eight feet square. The walls on both sides and in front of him were made up of a grid of metal bars; the wall behind him was smooth stone. Looking around, he noted that identical cells lined both sides of the long room, twelve in all. Most of them were empty, but he quickly identified the still figure lying in the cage to his right.
“Daniel? Daniel!”
Daniel didn’t move, so Jack figured he was still out from the stun weapon the aliens had used. Climbing to his feet, Jack paced the perimeter of his cell, then reached out to test the strength of the bars on the door. The resulting shock nearly knocked him onto his back. Tentatively, Jack tried the bars on either side, but felt only metal.
His attention was averted as Daniel began to stir. The archaeologist’s bright blue eyes fluttered open. “Jack?”
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Jack replied glibly. “How ya feeling?”
Daniel stood gingerly and blinked several times before replying. “Not bad, all things considered. But they took my glasses.”
“They took everything,” Jack pointed out. Even their uniform jackets were missing, leaving both men dressed in their loose camouflage pants and black t-shirts. And, from how loosely his boots were tied on, Jack suspected that they had been removed and checked for weapons before being returned to his feet.
“Don’t touch the front bars,” Jack warned right before Daniel did just that. “They’re rigged with some kind of shock.”
“Oh.” Daniel examined the door to his cell for a moment, then nodded to Jack. “Thanks. Any idea how long we’ve been out?”
Jack shook his head. “They took my watch.”
“Do you think Sam and –“
“Shh!” Jack cut him off. “Just because there aren’t any guards doesn’t mean nobody’s listening. They probably have security cameras in here.”
“Right.” Daniel thought for a moment, then added, “But if any of the guys who were chasing us reported to the guys who are keeping us here, then they know how many of us there are.”
“True.” Jack ran one hand through his hair, then answered the earlier question. “They aren’t here, so they weren’t captured. I’m hoping they made it to the ‘gate.”
At that moment, however, the door at the end of the room burst open and two men wearing a familiar back-and-grey uniform entered, dragging a limp form between them. A sharp pain stabbed Jack in the chest as he recognized the spiky blonde hair. Carter.
The two men flipped a switch on a pole in the aisle, then opened the door to the cell on Jack’s left and shoved Sam’s unconscious form inside. Jack couldn’t hide a wince as she hit the hard floor.
Wordlessly, the two men left, one of them flipping the switch again on the way out.
Daniel gestured toward the pole. “That must control the shock in the bars,” he commented.
Jack nodded, but said nothing. His mind was now split between a desperate hope that Teal’c had somehow made it to the ‘gate and a painful concern for the woman sprawled gracelessly in the cell next to him. His rational mind told him that Carter was probably fine; she was a tough woman. However, the gnawing concern in his chest usually didn’t listen to his rational mind.
It had been almost a year since the Tok’ra’s testing for Zatarc mind control had forced Jack to admit his true feelings for Major Samantha Carter; a year in which he had stuffed those feelings as far down as possible. But every time SG-1 had gotten themselves in trouble (and there had been plenty), that pain in his chest had reminded him that he truly cared about this woman, a good deal more than a commander should care about one of his subordinates. But Carter was too valuable a member of SG-1 for him to lose her over his romantic interests. So, he continued to shove his riled emotions back down where they belonged.
But seeing her lying unconscious in a jail cell made the emotions harder to shove.
“Jack?”
Jack forced his mind back to reality and turned to Daniel. “Sorry. What?”
Daniel gave him a rueful smile. “Nothing. You just looked like you might be having one of those crazy Jack O’Neill ideas.”
“Sorry. I’ve got nothing.” Carter was the brilliant one. Carter would get them out of here.
A sound from his left sent Jack to the side of his cell. “Carter?”
Sam sat up slowly and looked around, blue eyes blinking rapidly as she made her own assessment of the situation. Finally, her eyes met his. “Colonel.” She looked past him and nodded. “Daniel.” She glanced over her shoulder, then looked back at Jack, questioning.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Jack replied to her unspoken question.
Sam shook her head. “I think he was ahead of me. I don’t think he saw me go down.” She let out a breath. “I thought I was dead.”
“They were using some kind of stun weapon,” Daniel said. “Before they knocked me out, one hit me in the arm, and my whole arm went numb.”
“Doesn’t sound like any technology we’ve seen,” Sam commented, pushing herself upright. “Zats will knock you out no matter – ow!”
“Carter?” Unconsciously, Jack gripped the bars that separated them.
Sam shook her head and stood the rest of the way. “I’m fine, sir. Feels like I may have pulled a back muscle or something.” She stretched gingerly. “I’m fine.”
Jack nodded and returned to the center of his cell.
Sam stepped toward the door. “Any idea how –“
“Stop!”
“Don’t!”
Jack and Daniel yelled at the same time, causing Sam to freeze with her hands inches away from her cell door. She shot them both an incredulous look, but didn’t move.
Jack quickly explained about the shock.
“Ah. Thank you.” Sam stepped back.
“So…now what?” Daniel asked after a few minutes of silence.
Jack sighed. “Now we wait.”
A few minutes later, the door creaked open, and three men entered. The center man’s uniform had more decorations, and it was he who spoke.
“Which of you is your leader?”
“I am,” Jack replied immediately, not seeing any benefit in hiding that piece of information.
“Colonel Jack O’Neill,” the man said. “Or so you told my men.”
“That’s my name.”
“And you are Major Samantha Carter.”
Sam nodded.
“And Doctor Daniel Jackson.”
“Yes.”
The man turned his attention back to Jack. “There was another man with you, a dark man with a symbol on his forehead – Tilk.”
“Teal’c.” Jack corrected his pronunciation.
“Yes. You seem to…respect those under your command, Colonel Jack O’Neill.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t sure where this was going.
The man continued. “I suppose, then, it will grieve you to know that this ‘Teal’c’ is dead.”
A physical pain shot through Jack’s chest at that, and he couldn’t force his mouth to form words.
Apparently, Sam did not share his difficulty. “You’re lying. Your men weren’t shooting to kill, or we’d all be dead.”
“My instructions were to capture you alive, if possible,” the man replied, “But your friend refused to be reasonable.”
“Prove it,” Jack demanded, having regained the ability to speak. “I want to see his body.”
“You are my prisoner, and five of my men are dead because of you,” the man said. “You are in no position to demand anything.”
Jack nodded in reply, but hope burned in his heart. Teal’c was really hard to kill. Until he saw proof, he refused to believe that the Jaffa was dead.
“My technicians are studying your technology,” the man went on. “I am sure some of it will be quite useful to us.” He looked at each of them in turn, but none of them reacted. “Tomorrow, we will begin questioning, and you will tell us everything we want to know.”
Jack scoffed. “I doubt it.”
The man smiled coldly at him. “Oh, you will.” He spun on his heel and marched out, the two silent guards behind him.
“Do you think he was telling the truth? About Teal’c, I mean,” Daniel asked after the doors closed.
“Nah,” Jack said with more confidence than he felt. “He just wants us to think there’s no hope for a rescue.”
The lights in the room suddenly dimmed.
“I think that’s a hint,” Sam said wryly.
“Let’s take it,” Jack responded. “Try and get some rest. We may need it.”
Obediently, Sam and Daniel lay down, and Jack followed suit. It was impossible to get comfortable on the bare floor, but, eventually, the rigors of the day sent all three to sleep.