Content Warning: Violence
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Captain Glenn Sharp and all other SGC personnel based off of "Stargate: The Next Generation" role play game. This is my first fanfic, so critiques and criticism are welcome. It's the only way I'll learn. For more background information, read "In Training" by innocent choir girl and Sarge
DESOLATION, PT. 1
****P9T-573 (September 27, 2002)****
Captain Glenn Sharp looked up into the tormented and dark sky. His team, Captain Riley Fox, Dr. Chrislyn Star, Lt. Danika Scott and Lt. Chandra Sanders came through the gate right behind him.
"Such a happy planet," Riley said sarcastically as she looked up.
"Yeah.... Lovely," Sharp chimed in. Just then, a large bolt of lightning struck the gate.
"Ummmm, scary lightning," exclaimed Chrislyn.
"Maybe we should move," offered Sharp.
"Good idea," agreed Chandra.
"This way," Sharp pointed. "The readings we got from the MALP were due east."
"Sir, I'm going to begin taking some samples," Danika offered as excitedly as any botonist would be about the local plant life. Sharp never did understand what was so interesting about simple plants. But then he did have his interests that no one else understood. For instance, as a direct consequence of his recent promotion to Captain, he was able to request to lead this mission. The briefing had caught his eye for some reason. A large energy field that seemed to have no source. Most likely it was natural, but you can never take chances by assuming such things and it never hurt to check things out.
"Have at it, Lieutanent," Sharp replied to the eager Scott.
"By the way," Riley interjected. "the storms are due to all the electromagnetic particles in the atmosphere... if anyone cares.
"I care, just as long as you don't get sciency on me," Sharp said as seriously as he could.
"Sciency is not a word," Riley giggled.
Sharp just glared at her. Yes, she was smart. It one of the things Sharp loved about her, but sometimes it was damned annoying.
"Well, it COULD be," Chrislyn defended him. That was something that still managed to catch Sharp off guard despite them being on good terms for a little while now. Sure there was tension between them still, but they had one thing in common now, they both cared about Riley and the was the basis for putting aside any differences they might have had.
"But alas, it is not," Riley shot back. Sharp could only shake his head and continue east toward the increasingly strange readings.
"You'll just have to write a dictionary, Glenn," Chrislyn continued.
"Maybe I should," Sharp smiled. The electromagnetics now were strong enough to make their hair stand on end... literally. "I knew I should have used more hairspray!"
"I feel all tinglely," Danika observed.
"The electromagnetic readings are getting stronger," Riley said, looking at her scanner.
"Reading a source?" Sharp asked.
"No they're all over the place."
"We need to find out if this is natural or camoflauge for something else. Any theories?"
"I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with the gate."
"What about the gate?"
"Well, this is just a theory, but it seems like the electromagnetic particles that are emitted from the gate everytime it's activated are storing up in the atmosphere."
"How would something like that happen?" Sharp asked, not even sure he would understand the answer.
"It wouldn't happen...well, at least not on Earth. This planet could have some strange properties in it's atmosphere that causes all the particles to gather. Like I said, it's only a theory."
"Well, theories are all..." but Sharp was cut off by a sudden, large bolt of lightning striking several hundred feet away. All of them watched intently as the bolt produced an unusual wave of some sort. "Ok, what the hell is that?"
"I don't know," Riley said concerned.
"Can we go home now?" Chrislyn asked.
"I'm with Chris!" Chandra agreed.
"I'm gonna take a look. Stay here." Sharp began to move toward the wave with his scanner.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Riley warned.
"Why look? Let's just go home!" Chrislyn added.
"Its our mission," Sharp said as he moved closer.
"But Glenn..." Riley called after him.
"There's some sort of field around it," Sharp said ignoring everything else.
"Yeah I see it," Riley said, looking at her scanner. Glenn continued until he was inside the field surrounding the wave. In an instant, he was surrounded by images he recognized from three years ago. At first he was just confused, but what he saw next he could not believe. "Jenn?" It couldn't be her. She died three years ago. "Jennifer?" Completely absorbed by the images, Sharp moved closer to the wave. He vaguly heard a commotion behind him and yelled back to reassure them. "Its Jennifer! I can help her!" Then in horror, he watched as she events of her death began to unfold before his eyes. "Jennifer! Wait!!!" Out of blind fear, Sharp ran headlong toward her. "JENNIFER! NO!!" Unaware of what he was doing, Sharp ran right into the wave. Pain surged through his body as the wave felt like it was ripping him apart. Blinding pain now engulf his mind as well and then the light faded.
****P9T-573 (Date Unknown)****
"Jennifer......"
Slowly Sharp regained consciousness, his mind and body still reeling from his experience. The images of his deceased fiance had faded but their effect would last for some time. The storms seemed distant now and the wave was gone. Carefully coming to his feet, he attempted to get his bearings and looked around for the rest of his team. Seeing no one, he tried his radio.
"Captain Fox, this is Sharp, come in." No response. "This is Captain Sharp, come in, Captain Fox." Still nothing. "Lt. Scott, Lt. Sanders, come in." But all Sharp heard was static. "They better not have left without me," Sharp said not amused. Good thing he remembered his GDO.
Investigating the area, he say no sign of footprints or any indication of where they might be. "Okay guys, very funny. You can come out now. You've had you're fun!" No answer. Okay now Sharp was worried. It wasn't like them to out of contact for so long. With a renewed sense of urgency, he scoured the area looking of any trace of his lost comrades. After over an hour of searching, Sharp saw a tower of smoke in the distance. "That got to be them," Sharp thought. "This planet is supposed to be uninhabited." He came upon the outskirts of a camp several minutes later, but instead of his team, he found what looked like a small militia. Sharp started to approach the camp when one of the young men saw him.
"SGC! SGC! Come quick! The SGC has come!" the man yelled. The entire camp, men, women and children, swarmed like locusts around Sharp, all staring in awe. After a few moments, an older man approached Sharp.
"You wear the uniform of the SGC. Are you one of them, or do I have to kill you where you stand?" the older man asked.
Sharp, still not quite sure what was going on, stumbled over his words. "Uh... yes... I'm uh... with the SGC." Sharp finally got over the initial shock. "Now wait a minute? How do you know about the SGC?"
"I ask the questions here," the older man answered. "Who are you and where have you come from?"
"Captain Glenn Sharp, SG-12, Stargate Command. I'm from the planet earth. And just who the hell are you?"
The older man motioned for some of his men to take Sharp's weapons. Sharp resisted but several others, including the older man drew guns of their own.
"You're a liar!" the older man continued, ignoring Sharp's question. The man stepped up and into Sharp's face, pointing the gun underneath his chin. "Now, try again. And this time, the right answer or I put you in the ground."
Sharp carefully reaches to his neck and rips off his dog tags. And offers them to the older man. The man takes them and looks them over. "Where did you get these? You take 'em off some corpse you found?"
"No they're mine. Now, are you gonna start answering my questions or do I have to put YOU in the ground?" Sharp answered defiantly.
The older man just laughed. "I seem to be the one holding the gun," he said with a snug smile and chuckle. In a flash, Sharp disarmed the man and in a single motion took him as a shield and pointed the gun at this head.
"Tell them to drop their weapons," Sharp demanded.
The older man smiled. "They would shoot us both and not think twice about it. Those are my orders. You impress me, Sharp. Put down the gun and we'll talk."
"Not a chance. You tell them to put down their guns, then we talk."
"Look, Sharp, you have two choices. First, you can shoot me and then they will most definitely shoot you, or you can drop the weapon and take your chances that I'm telling the truth. Your decision."
Sharp looked around the crowd and realized that the older man was right. Slowly, Sharp dropped the gun and tossed it to the ground. The older man slipped from Sharp's grasp and backed away.
"You know, Sharp," he started, "I might have bought that whole SGC charade if you hadn't tried to feed me that line about earth."
"What the hell are you talking about? And for the last time, who the hell are you people?" Sharp demanded.
"The name is Harris. Robert Harris. We're human resistors to the Maldorian occupation of our galaxy. And as ever human knows, the earth has been a dead world for more than a decade."
For a while, all Sharp could do was laugh. "Try telling that to the six billion people living there!"
Harris' face turned angry. "Is this some kind of sick joke to you??! My wife and kids were on earth when we lost contact! And no one who's been to earth since has returned. Now you better tell me who you really are or I am through talking to you!" Harris raised he gun to Sharp again and the rest of the crowd that was armed did the same.
Sharp stopped laughing. "Alright, Harris. You win. You want me to take you to earth? I was headed back there anyway to organize a search party for my team."
"You mean there are more of you here?" Harris asked, more than a little concerned.
"Yes, I came here with a team of five and now they are missing."
Harris motioned to four of the younger men in the crowd. "Luke, Tim, Samuel, John. I want you find this guy's friends and bring them here. I don't want them giving away our position."
"You can't be serious," Sharp smirked. "Like that fire over there DOSEN'T give away your position? How do you think I found you?"
"You're lucky I don't send you and your friends to the afterlife," Harris retorted. "I still might. Sarah, show our guest where he'll stay and get him something to eat." A young girl no older than 16 moved toward Sharp and took his hand.
"I don't have time for this! I have to find my team!" argued Sharp.
Harris lowered the gun and glared at Sharp, "You don't have a choice! Now my men will find your team and then we'll decide what to do with you."
Once again, Sharp realized Harris was right. He didn't have a choice. If had any hope of finding Riley and the others, he had to do as Harris said. Sarah led Sharp further into the camp and finally to an empty tent. "You can stay here," she said timidly. "I will bring you something to eat."
"Wait!" Sharp called as turned to leave. Sarah stopped and slowly turned around with a shy look on her face. "Your name is Sarah right?" Sarah nodded. "Come here, I won't hurt you. I just want to ask you some questions." Sarah lowered her head and looked away from Sharp. "Sarah, honest, I just want to talk to you."
"But Robert said...." she started, looking back up at Sharp.
"Don't worry about him. Besides, I'm not hungry anyway. Come on. Its okay." Sharp motions for Sarah to sit across from him. Sarah reluctantly complies and sits as does Sharp.
"What do you want to know?" she asked, still not comfortable.
"First of all, how long have you been on this planet? We thought this planet was uninhabited."
"I don't remember coming here. I'm told Robert brought us here when I was very young after our colony was destroyed by the Maldorians."
"Okay, again with these Maldorians. Who are these guys?" Sarah didn't quite know what to say. Everyone knew about the Maldorians. "Is there something wrong, Sarah?"
"No, it justs that, if you do not know about the Maldorians.... I do not see how that is possible for someone who is human."
"Well I'm definitely human, at least last time I checked," trying to crack a joke. Sarah looked away again, becoming even more uncomfortable. "Hey, I'm sorry, Sarah. I shouldn't be cracking jokes about that."
Sarah looked at him again with curiosity in her eyes. "Are you really from earth?"
"Yes I really am. And I promise you, when I get back, I'll talk to my superiors about helping your people against these Maldorians."
Sarah smiled. "Joseph said you would come to help us.... well not you exactly but the SGC," Sarah said with a glow.
"Who's Joseph? Your boyfriend?" Sharp asked with a smile.
Sarah's smile and glow quickly faded. "He was my husband. He was killed fighting the Maldorians over 3 months ago."
"Husband?!" Sharp blurted out, quite surprised. "But you're like 16."
"I was married a bit older than some of the other women in our camp. I fear now I am too old to marry again."
"Older??!! How young were you when you were married?"
"I was married last year on my fifteenth birthday. How old were you when you were married?"
"I'm twenty-eight and I've never married."
Now it was Sarah's turn to be shocked. "You're twenty-eight!!?? People who live that long are eligible to become elders in our camp."
"Hold on a second here! I found two grey hairs! That's it!" Sharp joked. Sarah smiled. "Now there, that's what I like to see. You should do more of that. I bet spirits would be a lot higher if you did." Now Sarah was blushing.
"So why didn't you marry anyone?" she asked trying to change the subject.
"I almost did once.... but she died," he responded soberly. Sharp had thought he was over Jennifer's death, but after the afternoon's events, it was obvious he wasn't. He wondered how Riley felt about him chasing Jenn's image so recklessly. It was stupid he knew and he never wanted to hurt Riley. He had to find her and make things right.
"And you could find no one else?" Sarah asked, trying to shift the focus sensing Sharp did not want to continue.
"For a long time I was so angry, I didn't want to. I felt it would be betraying my first love, but one day I met this girl," Sharp smiled widely. "I thought for the longest time we were just friends, but one day we realized, we loved each other."
"But you have not married her?"
"I don't think we're ready for that yet. There is still a lot we don't know about each other and right now we're enjoying discovering some of those things."
"You are lucky, Captain Sharp."
"Please, call me Glenn. And I'm sure, a girl as pretty as you will find someone." Sarah blushed again.
The moment was abruptly ended when Harris entered the tent. "Sarah! What are you doing here? Christine has been looking for you all over the place! Go help her clean up dinner."
"Yes, Robert." Sarah quickly exited the tent, leaving Sharp with Harris.
"I'm not sure what to make of you, Sharp. We can't find any trace of your 'team' anywhere, which leads me to believe you were lying about them too. Now I want some answers!"
"They must have gone back to earth. Or they were taken somewhere. Either way I don't like it. I have to get back to earth."
"You're not going anywhere. I don't trust you and I'm not about to let you out of my sight!"
"Harris, I am tired of you dictating terms to me. Now my team is missing and I'm going to find them."
"You try to leave this camp and you're a dead man."
"Then you're looking at a dead man walking." And with that, Sharp walked out of the tent defiantly, daring Harris to stop him.
Harris had been prepared to kill Sharp, but something inside him convinced him to give Sharp this one chance. He saw something in Sharp he hadn't seen in a long time. Maybe it was a determination that he had lost so many years ago, and maybe it was naivety. Either way, Harris felt the urge to take a chance with this stranger. "Alright, Sharp. But some of my men and I are coming with you."
Sharp stopped a few feet past Harris. "Be ready with your men ready in 10 minutes. I'll wait for you by the gate." Sharp then continued to the gate in silence. He walked for close to an hour, giving him plenty of time to think about his actions. Maybe too much time. By the time he reached the gate, all he could think about was how stupid he had been and how he had lost track of his entire team. Luckily for Sharp, Harris and four of his men broke up the pity party five minutes later.
"These are four of my best men," Harris started and pointed to each as he introduced them. "Luke Corra, John Davenport, Paul Grissom and Chris Stewert." Sharp curtly nodded and turned to the DHD, hoping that when he stepped onto that ramp, Riley, Chrislyn and the rest of his team would be laughing over a practical joke. He dialed earth and watched the gate explode to life. He turned to see the awe in the eyes of Harris' 'men' and it managed to bring a small smile. He then stepped up to transmit the IDC.
"What's that you're doing?" Harris asked.
"We have a defensive device on our gate called an iris. Only authorized personnel can open it with one of these. Its called a GDO." Sharp finished punching in the code and stepped up to the gate. Harris and his men didn't move. "You coming or not?" And with that, Sharp stepped through. Moments later, Harris led his men through the gate, still a bit apprehensive about what awaited them on the other side.
But it was Sharp who should have been afraid.
Immediately upon exiting the gate, Sharp looked for General Oberon and his team, but the images that would burned in his mind would be vastly different. Instead of his friends, he was met with bleached bones. The sounds of computers and military hustle and bustle was replaced by an overwhelming silence.
And for the next few moments like several of the years before those moments, silence ruled the SGC.
****To Be Continued in Desolation Pt. 2****
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Captain Glenn Sharp and all other SGC personnel based off of "Stargate: The Next Generation" role play game. This is my first fanfic, so critiques and criticism are welcome. It's the only way I'll learn. For more background information, read "In Training" by innocent choir girl and Sarge
DESOLATION, PT. 1
****P9T-573 (September 27, 2002)****
Captain Glenn Sharp looked up into the tormented and dark sky. His team, Captain Riley Fox, Dr. Chrislyn Star, Lt. Danika Scott and Lt. Chandra Sanders came through the gate right behind him.
"Such a happy planet," Riley said sarcastically as she looked up.
"Yeah.... Lovely," Sharp chimed in. Just then, a large bolt of lightning struck the gate.
"Ummmm, scary lightning," exclaimed Chrislyn.
"Maybe we should move," offered Sharp.
"Good idea," agreed Chandra.
"This way," Sharp pointed. "The readings we got from the MALP were due east."
"Sir, I'm going to begin taking some samples," Danika offered as excitedly as any botonist would be about the local plant life. Sharp never did understand what was so interesting about simple plants. But then he did have his interests that no one else understood. For instance, as a direct consequence of his recent promotion to Captain, he was able to request to lead this mission. The briefing had caught his eye for some reason. A large energy field that seemed to have no source. Most likely it was natural, but you can never take chances by assuming such things and it never hurt to check things out.
"Have at it, Lieutanent," Sharp replied to the eager Scott.
"By the way," Riley interjected. "the storms are due to all the electromagnetic particles in the atmosphere... if anyone cares.
"I care, just as long as you don't get sciency on me," Sharp said as seriously as he could.
"Sciency is not a word," Riley giggled.
Sharp just glared at her. Yes, she was smart. It one of the things Sharp loved about her, but sometimes it was damned annoying.
"Well, it COULD be," Chrislyn defended him. That was something that still managed to catch Sharp off guard despite them being on good terms for a little while now. Sure there was tension between them still, but they had one thing in common now, they both cared about Riley and the was the basis for putting aside any differences they might have had.
"But alas, it is not," Riley shot back. Sharp could only shake his head and continue east toward the increasingly strange readings.
"You'll just have to write a dictionary, Glenn," Chrislyn continued.
"Maybe I should," Sharp smiled. The electromagnetics now were strong enough to make their hair stand on end... literally. "I knew I should have used more hairspray!"
"I feel all tinglely," Danika observed.
"The electromagnetic readings are getting stronger," Riley said, looking at her scanner.
"Reading a source?" Sharp asked.
"No they're all over the place."
"We need to find out if this is natural or camoflauge for something else. Any theories?"
"I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with the gate."
"What about the gate?"
"Well, this is just a theory, but it seems like the electromagnetic particles that are emitted from the gate everytime it's activated are storing up in the atmosphere."
"How would something like that happen?" Sharp asked, not even sure he would understand the answer.
"It wouldn't happen...well, at least not on Earth. This planet could have some strange properties in it's atmosphere that causes all the particles to gather. Like I said, it's only a theory."
"Well, theories are all..." but Sharp was cut off by a sudden, large bolt of lightning striking several hundred feet away. All of them watched intently as the bolt produced an unusual wave of some sort. "Ok, what the hell is that?"
"I don't know," Riley said concerned.
"Can we go home now?" Chrislyn asked.
"I'm with Chris!" Chandra agreed.
"I'm gonna take a look. Stay here." Sharp began to move toward the wave with his scanner.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Riley warned.
"Why look? Let's just go home!" Chrislyn added.
"Its our mission," Sharp said as he moved closer.
"But Glenn..." Riley called after him.
"There's some sort of field around it," Sharp said ignoring everything else.
"Yeah I see it," Riley said, looking at her scanner. Glenn continued until he was inside the field surrounding the wave. In an instant, he was surrounded by images he recognized from three years ago. At first he was just confused, but what he saw next he could not believe. "Jenn?" It couldn't be her. She died three years ago. "Jennifer?" Completely absorbed by the images, Sharp moved closer to the wave. He vaguly heard a commotion behind him and yelled back to reassure them. "Its Jennifer! I can help her!" Then in horror, he watched as she events of her death began to unfold before his eyes. "Jennifer! Wait!!!" Out of blind fear, Sharp ran headlong toward her. "JENNIFER! NO!!" Unaware of what he was doing, Sharp ran right into the wave. Pain surged through his body as the wave felt like it was ripping him apart. Blinding pain now engulf his mind as well and then the light faded.
****P9T-573 (Date Unknown)****
"Jennifer......"
Slowly Sharp regained consciousness, his mind and body still reeling from his experience. The images of his deceased fiance had faded but their effect would last for some time. The storms seemed distant now and the wave was gone. Carefully coming to his feet, he attempted to get his bearings and looked around for the rest of his team. Seeing no one, he tried his radio.
"Captain Fox, this is Sharp, come in." No response. "This is Captain Sharp, come in, Captain Fox." Still nothing. "Lt. Scott, Lt. Sanders, come in." But all Sharp heard was static. "They better not have left without me," Sharp said not amused. Good thing he remembered his GDO.
Investigating the area, he say no sign of footprints or any indication of where they might be. "Okay guys, very funny. You can come out now. You've had you're fun!" No answer. Okay now Sharp was worried. It wasn't like them to out of contact for so long. With a renewed sense of urgency, he scoured the area looking of any trace of his lost comrades. After over an hour of searching, Sharp saw a tower of smoke in the distance. "That got to be them," Sharp thought. "This planet is supposed to be uninhabited." He came upon the outskirts of a camp several minutes later, but instead of his team, he found what looked like a small militia. Sharp started to approach the camp when one of the young men saw him.
"SGC! SGC! Come quick! The SGC has come!" the man yelled. The entire camp, men, women and children, swarmed like locusts around Sharp, all staring in awe. After a few moments, an older man approached Sharp.
"You wear the uniform of the SGC. Are you one of them, or do I have to kill you where you stand?" the older man asked.
Sharp, still not quite sure what was going on, stumbled over his words. "Uh... yes... I'm uh... with the SGC." Sharp finally got over the initial shock. "Now wait a minute? How do you know about the SGC?"
"I ask the questions here," the older man answered. "Who are you and where have you come from?"
"Captain Glenn Sharp, SG-12, Stargate Command. I'm from the planet earth. And just who the hell are you?"
The older man motioned for some of his men to take Sharp's weapons. Sharp resisted but several others, including the older man drew guns of their own.
"You're a liar!" the older man continued, ignoring Sharp's question. The man stepped up and into Sharp's face, pointing the gun underneath his chin. "Now, try again. And this time, the right answer or I put you in the ground."
Sharp carefully reaches to his neck and rips off his dog tags. And offers them to the older man. The man takes them and looks them over. "Where did you get these? You take 'em off some corpse you found?"
"No they're mine. Now, are you gonna start answering my questions or do I have to put YOU in the ground?" Sharp answered defiantly.
The older man just laughed. "I seem to be the one holding the gun," he said with a snug smile and chuckle. In a flash, Sharp disarmed the man and in a single motion took him as a shield and pointed the gun at this head.
"Tell them to drop their weapons," Sharp demanded.
The older man smiled. "They would shoot us both and not think twice about it. Those are my orders. You impress me, Sharp. Put down the gun and we'll talk."
"Not a chance. You tell them to put down their guns, then we talk."
"Look, Sharp, you have two choices. First, you can shoot me and then they will most definitely shoot you, or you can drop the weapon and take your chances that I'm telling the truth. Your decision."
Sharp looked around the crowd and realized that the older man was right. Slowly, Sharp dropped the gun and tossed it to the ground. The older man slipped from Sharp's grasp and backed away.
"You know, Sharp," he started, "I might have bought that whole SGC charade if you hadn't tried to feed me that line about earth."
"What the hell are you talking about? And for the last time, who the hell are you people?" Sharp demanded.
"The name is Harris. Robert Harris. We're human resistors to the Maldorian occupation of our galaxy. And as ever human knows, the earth has been a dead world for more than a decade."
For a while, all Sharp could do was laugh. "Try telling that to the six billion people living there!"
Harris' face turned angry. "Is this some kind of sick joke to you??! My wife and kids were on earth when we lost contact! And no one who's been to earth since has returned. Now you better tell me who you really are or I am through talking to you!" Harris raised he gun to Sharp again and the rest of the crowd that was armed did the same.
Sharp stopped laughing. "Alright, Harris. You win. You want me to take you to earth? I was headed back there anyway to organize a search party for my team."
"You mean there are more of you here?" Harris asked, more than a little concerned.
"Yes, I came here with a team of five and now they are missing."
Harris motioned to four of the younger men in the crowd. "Luke, Tim, Samuel, John. I want you find this guy's friends and bring them here. I don't want them giving away our position."
"You can't be serious," Sharp smirked. "Like that fire over there DOSEN'T give away your position? How do you think I found you?"
"You're lucky I don't send you and your friends to the afterlife," Harris retorted. "I still might. Sarah, show our guest where he'll stay and get him something to eat." A young girl no older than 16 moved toward Sharp and took his hand.
"I don't have time for this! I have to find my team!" argued Sharp.
Harris lowered the gun and glared at Sharp, "You don't have a choice! Now my men will find your team and then we'll decide what to do with you."
Once again, Sharp realized Harris was right. He didn't have a choice. If had any hope of finding Riley and the others, he had to do as Harris said. Sarah led Sharp further into the camp and finally to an empty tent. "You can stay here," she said timidly. "I will bring you something to eat."
"Wait!" Sharp called as turned to leave. Sarah stopped and slowly turned around with a shy look on her face. "Your name is Sarah right?" Sarah nodded. "Come here, I won't hurt you. I just want to ask you some questions." Sarah lowered her head and looked away from Sharp. "Sarah, honest, I just want to talk to you."
"But Robert said...." she started, looking back up at Sharp.
"Don't worry about him. Besides, I'm not hungry anyway. Come on. Its okay." Sharp motions for Sarah to sit across from him. Sarah reluctantly complies and sits as does Sharp.
"What do you want to know?" she asked, still not comfortable.
"First of all, how long have you been on this planet? We thought this planet was uninhabited."
"I don't remember coming here. I'm told Robert brought us here when I was very young after our colony was destroyed by the Maldorians."
"Okay, again with these Maldorians. Who are these guys?" Sarah didn't quite know what to say. Everyone knew about the Maldorians. "Is there something wrong, Sarah?"
"No, it justs that, if you do not know about the Maldorians.... I do not see how that is possible for someone who is human."
"Well I'm definitely human, at least last time I checked," trying to crack a joke. Sarah looked away again, becoming even more uncomfortable. "Hey, I'm sorry, Sarah. I shouldn't be cracking jokes about that."
Sarah looked at him again with curiosity in her eyes. "Are you really from earth?"
"Yes I really am. And I promise you, when I get back, I'll talk to my superiors about helping your people against these Maldorians."
Sarah smiled. "Joseph said you would come to help us.... well not you exactly but the SGC," Sarah said with a glow.
"Who's Joseph? Your boyfriend?" Sharp asked with a smile.
Sarah's smile and glow quickly faded. "He was my husband. He was killed fighting the Maldorians over 3 months ago."
"Husband?!" Sharp blurted out, quite surprised. "But you're like 16."
"I was married a bit older than some of the other women in our camp. I fear now I am too old to marry again."
"Older??!! How young were you when you were married?"
"I was married last year on my fifteenth birthday. How old were you when you were married?"
"I'm twenty-eight and I've never married."
Now it was Sarah's turn to be shocked. "You're twenty-eight!!?? People who live that long are eligible to become elders in our camp."
"Hold on a second here! I found two grey hairs! That's it!" Sharp joked. Sarah smiled. "Now there, that's what I like to see. You should do more of that. I bet spirits would be a lot higher if you did." Now Sarah was blushing.
"So why didn't you marry anyone?" she asked trying to change the subject.
"I almost did once.... but she died," he responded soberly. Sharp had thought he was over Jennifer's death, but after the afternoon's events, it was obvious he wasn't. He wondered how Riley felt about him chasing Jenn's image so recklessly. It was stupid he knew and he never wanted to hurt Riley. He had to find her and make things right.
"And you could find no one else?" Sarah asked, trying to shift the focus sensing Sharp did not want to continue.
"For a long time I was so angry, I didn't want to. I felt it would be betraying my first love, but one day I met this girl," Sharp smiled widely. "I thought for the longest time we were just friends, but one day we realized, we loved each other."
"But you have not married her?"
"I don't think we're ready for that yet. There is still a lot we don't know about each other and right now we're enjoying discovering some of those things."
"You are lucky, Captain Sharp."
"Please, call me Glenn. And I'm sure, a girl as pretty as you will find someone." Sarah blushed again.
The moment was abruptly ended when Harris entered the tent. "Sarah! What are you doing here? Christine has been looking for you all over the place! Go help her clean up dinner."
"Yes, Robert." Sarah quickly exited the tent, leaving Sharp with Harris.
"I'm not sure what to make of you, Sharp. We can't find any trace of your 'team' anywhere, which leads me to believe you were lying about them too. Now I want some answers!"
"They must have gone back to earth. Or they were taken somewhere. Either way I don't like it. I have to get back to earth."
"You're not going anywhere. I don't trust you and I'm not about to let you out of my sight!"
"Harris, I am tired of you dictating terms to me. Now my team is missing and I'm going to find them."
"You try to leave this camp and you're a dead man."
"Then you're looking at a dead man walking." And with that, Sharp walked out of the tent defiantly, daring Harris to stop him.
Harris had been prepared to kill Sharp, but something inside him convinced him to give Sharp this one chance. He saw something in Sharp he hadn't seen in a long time. Maybe it was a determination that he had lost so many years ago, and maybe it was naivety. Either way, Harris felt the urge to take a chance with this stranger. "Alright, Sharp. But some of my men and I are coming with you."
Sharp stopped a few feet past Harris. "Be ready with your men ready in 10 minutes. I'll wait for you by the gate." Sharp then continued to the gate in silence. He walked for close to an hour, giving him plenty of time to think about his actions. Maybe too much time. By the time he reached the gate, all he could think about was how stupid he had been and how he had lost track of his entire team. Luckily for Sharp, Harris and four of his men broke up the pity party five minutes later.
"These are four of my best men," Harris started and pointed to each as he introduced them. "Luke Corra, John Davenport, Paul Grissom and Chris Stewert." Sharp curtly nodded and turned to the DHD, hoping that when he stepped onto that ramp, Riley, Chrislyn and the rest of his team would be laughing over a practical joke. He dialed earth and watched the gate explode to life. He turned to see the awe in the eyes of Harris' 'men' and it managed to bring a small smile. He then stepped up to transmit the IDC.
"What's that you're doing?" Harris asked.
"We have a defensive device on our gate called an iris. Only authorized personnel can open it with one of these. Its called a GDO." Sharp finished punching in the code and stepped up to the gate. Harris and his men didn't move. "You coming or not?" And with that, Sharp stepped through. Moments later, Harris led his men through the gate, still a bit apprehensive about what awaited them on the other side.
But it was Sharp who should have been afraid.
Immediately upon exiting the gate, Sharp looked for General Oberon and his team, but the images that would burned in his mind would be vastly different. Instead of his friends, he was met with bleached bones. The sounds of computers and military hustle and bustle was replaced by an overwhelming silence.
And for the next few moments like several of the years before those moments, silence ruled the SGC.
****To Be Continued in Desolation Pt. 2****