Trail of the Panther by Marianne
Category: Crossover "The Sentinel" and "Stargate SG-1"
Title: Trail of the Panther
Author: Marianneď the insomniac aka I. M. Mueller
WIP: 01?
Genre: Adventure/Action/Slash/Crossover
Rating: Fiction Rated:
Summary: Crossover with The Se
The Sentinel crossover with Stargate: SG1. Will they be able to save the Sentinel?
TS+SG1+TS+SG1+TS+SG1+TS+SG1+TS+SG1+TS+SG1
Trail of the Panther
by Marianne
Prolog
Near Iraq Border
The man huddled in the corner in a dark cell, seemed more dead than alive in the Ranger's opinion. Without preamble, he slid over the slippery rat infested floor to reach the man. The Ranger ghosted his hands over the emaciated looking for any injuries, of which he could feel there were many. The man's bent head moved when he finished and brown eyes observed the blue-eyed ranger and hope shone in them when he finally took in the Ranger's uniform.
"Let's go home, flyboy," murmured the blue-eyed man when he took in the blood-smeared and overall dirty and rotten fatigues of the man in front of him. He took the man in a firefighter's carry over his broad shoulders and started ascending to the waiting helicopters on the Iraqi prison roof.
Time was short, there were only minutes left before the enemy troops would arrive to join the prison soldiers in the fight, which had ensued as they had finally located all the soldiers they were looking for as well as others they found in the rooms that they swept through as quickly as they could. Time others hissed he didn't have when some sound like a heartbeat dragged him further down into the prison, hissing right back at them that there was another one down there, and that he never left anyone behind.
The Ranger ducked the spray of bullets of a machine gun, feeling one impact the man he carried. He took aim and with one bullet got rid of their attacker, and continued his run to the roof, with not a second to spare. Two of the three helicopters had taken off already and one of his men saw him and his charge and shouted, spurring him on. With a leap he got up on the skids which were already a foot in the air and ducked forward so his charge would fall into the hands of his team while he held on with the others help to the door. Slowly turning around, he sat down with a sigh and let the doors close beside him as they flew back to their base, already thinking about their next mission to the jungles of Peru, with an oddly peaceful drumming in his ears.
The Present - March 1999
Blair flung his backpack into the corner beside the door as he stalked into the loft.
He was pissed off at Simon. The captain just didn't want to hear him out when he told him about his dream, brushing it off as mumbo jumbo.
The panther's scream still reverberated within his mind and he was sure that his Sentinel was in danger.
Since Brackett, he had his doubts about his dissertation and was secretly working on a second one about closed societies albeit he still worked diligently on the Sentinel one, but more to try and to figure out ways to help his Sentinel. And since Incacha's death he felt more inclined to do so.
Jim had been out of town two days now at a conference Simon had sent him to, and the Captain had persuaded him to take some more time off or he would lose the accumulated vacation time.
Blair could still see his friend's face as Simon told him about the conference and the forced time off. Suddenly, though, his face had lit up and he had invited Blair to accompany him as usual.
The grad student had begun to bounce excitedly on his feet but then his shoulders slumped down. The dean's last words this same day to him had been more than enough to wreck the rest of his day. Finals were around and the dean had all but forbidden him to get to the station or anywhere else during that time.
Jim had understood.
Jim had also told him he would call the night before, and didn't. Then there was the dream. Simon simply didn't understand.
He had tried again to call Jim over the cell, but still got the same message, of out of reach. The bad feeling was increasing and he prowled around the living room couch to get rid of a bit of his agitation. A dark shadow just out of the corner in his eyes alerted him and he stopped short when he saw the panther at the base of Jim's loft bedroom. The panther growled and went up the stairs and stopped at the top to growl once again urgently.
A wolf out of nowhere nudged him from behind, urging him to follow the panther.
"Geese!" Blair all but shouted and jumped and then finally hurried after the Spirit Guides he got to see for the first time ever, not counting the time when he had drowned. Reaching the top, he saw the panther disappear into Jim's closet. He opened it. The black wild cat was busily trying to reach a metallic box on top and finally succeeded in throwing it to the floor.
The wolf latched onto it and with a paw on it, gave a demanding look to the young Guide as if saying he should open it.
The Guide reached for it and upon closer look saw, it was locked, and there seemed to be no key around. Without hesitation he went down to the kitchen, took the toolbox out, and took a screwdriver out and opened the box after a few tries.
Its contents were a small black notebook, some photographs of a younger Jim in his days as a soldier and Ranger that Blair had never seen before, and deeper down he saw some older photographs of Jim as a little boy, some with Sally and one with him and a woman. He was astounded to see one of himself as well with Jim's arms around his shoulders. He remembered well when it was shot.
He turned to the Spirit Guides and asked: "Now what am I supposed to do with those? Give me a hand here. How does this help me to find Jim?"
The Panther let his right paw fall down on the edge of the box and its contents fell to the ground. The Wolf put his paw on the black notebook while the Panther put his on Jim's Army tags.
Blair took both from them and absently put the tags around his neck after examining them, then opened the small worn notebook. He sat down on the cold kitchen floor and began to read.
Basically there were small sentences which reminded him as being like a diary of some kind. There was even poetry, which was scrawled originally, in a child-like hand and then with a more firm lettering that Blair recognized as being Jim's current handwriting.
The last pages held addresses, he supposed, but so small-written only a Sentinel would have been able to read them, he thought absently. As he began to get up to retrieve a magnifier from his backpack by the door, the Wolf was already wrestling it over the floor to him.
Taking the magnifier, he began to read the addresses aloud one after the other. When he reached one that said Colonel O'Neill with a Chicago address and phone number, both Animal Spirits growled. Looking back at the notebook, he saw two words under the phone number. "Trust him."
Blair stood up and walked to the couch to sit down with the notebook firmly pressed into his hand. He reached for the phone and stopped.
"What am I supposed to tell this guy? Never mind, I've got to do something." He took the phone in his other hand and carefully dialed the number of the Chicago phone.
After three fretful rings, someone finally answered.
"Hello?" It was a woman's voice.
"Hello, this is Blair Sandburg. I'd like to speak with Colonel O'Neill, please!"
"This is no longer his phone number."
"Oh." Blair was at a loss at what else to do. "Do you have by any chance his current phone number?"
"Jack is my ex-husband, but I can give you his current phone number."
"Thank you very much!"
Blair wrote the number on the notebook under the old one as small as possible.
His heart beat like a jackhammer. He still wasn't sure what he could tell Colonel O'Neill. After a minute' s hesitation he dialed the new number. After three rings a nice voice but clear-cut and to the point asked him to state what he wanted as the owner was not home at the moment and if he left his number would call back as soon as possible.
"Hi. Uh. This is Blair Sandburg in Cascade. Well, uh, I, Jim Ellison needs your help. It's urgent. Our phone number is 555-7568. Thanks. I'll be waiting."
Trembling, Blair hung up, sat back, his head on the headrest of the couch, and closed his eyes.
Somehow he fell asleep and the dreams started again while it got darker and darker in the living room. He was running at top speed in a blue jungle. He could hear his own heavy breathing in the otherwise silent path. An eerie sound of the Panther's cry spurred him on until he got to a clearing and ducked through it. There he saw the Panther being attacked by vultures. It was lashing out but there were too many and finally it fell to the ground, still growling fiercely. The vultures had shot it with darts, which were sticking out in three places. A howl of a wolf could be heard from afar. It felt like it was coming from his own soul.
The scene flashed to another one, now in red like blood. There cave-like walls with iron and copper lines striking through the otherwise spotless walls.
Blair strode closer inside with his back to those walls and when he looked down at himself he saw the tribal markings, Chopec like it seemed, as well as his garments or the almost lack of them. Something furry stroked his bare legs and he saw the Wolf. He patted its head, relieved by its nearness.
A growl of pain and defiance could be heard from afar, getting stronger and angrier the closer he got to a reddish gloom. A sign he never saw before over an opening in front made him stop for a moment to get it in his memory. He could feel Jim's army tags hot on his bare skin but reassuring nevertheless when he walked through the opening. The sight before him made him growl with hatred as he saw what was being done to his Sentinel.
The Guide tried to strike away the vultures, which were surrounding his Sentinel, who was strapped to a stone altar with blood flowing down to the cold floor from wounds to his wrists and body in general. Nothing seemed solid to him, but the body of his Sentinel was flickering in and out alternately with that of the Panther. The pained face of the Sentinel looked up at his Guide for a moment, trust in his eyes such as the Guide never had seen before.
Blair awoke to the darkened room, panting as if he had run a marathon. Thunder and lightning had replaced the hot sunny day, reflecting his feelings.
End Part 1
TS+SG1+TS+SG1+TS+SG1+TS+SG1+TS+SG1+TS+SG1