Flatout
"Colonel, behind you!"
Before his mind fully processed the yelled warning from his 2IC, Colonel Jack O'Neill was spinning, firing off a quick round as more Jaffa surrounded them.
"Jack, we can't keep this up!" This time it was Daniel, throwing the comment over his shoulder without interrupting the constant rattle of his P90.
Absently, Jack was amazed at Dr. Jackson's proficiency with the weapon, considering that not many years ago the young archaeologist hadn't known one end of a gun from the other. But Daniel was right; they were running out of ammunition.
Switching to single shot mode, Jack took down three more Jaffa, making sure that each bullet counted. But they just kept coming, and it didn't look good for the members of SG-1.
"Sir, if we don't make a break for it soon-" Major Carter ventured, swiftly ducking as a staff blast broiled over her head. She shifted to a better vantage point behind the crumbling ruins and quickly took down the Jaffa who had fired the burst, her attention diverted.
Jack didn't need her to finish the sentence to know what she meant. Sooner or later – and at the rate the Jaffa reinforcements were arriving, most likely the former – his team would be out of options. Their best bet was to run for the 'gate… and hope that this was their lucky day, however doubtful that was. But they had to act now.
Jack skidded his last remaining clip of ammo across the ground to Carter, who put it to immediate use as the Colonel dug into a pocket of his tack vest for the grenades. They'd do some damage, and hopefully give SG-1 time to get out of there.
He pulled the pins and flung the grenades into the Jaffa ranks, at the same time ordering his team to run. They didn't hesitate, sprinting toward the trees at the edge of the clearing.
"Teal'c, take point!" Jack called, knowing that the staff weapon he carried would soon be their only working weapon, and would be needed to take out the Jaffa at the gate. Close behind Daniel, Jack watched their six, hoping to hinder the progress of the pursuing Jaffa.
All too quickly his P90 ran out of bullets, and Jack switched to his Beretta. "After this," he muttered, "I'll be reduced to hurling insults."
Daniel's dry laugh didn't last long, replaced by the sound of heavy breathing as he tried to suck in more air and keep his legs pumping.
Despite Jack's best efforts, the Jaffa had spread out and were coming up beside them. The density of the forest made targeting more difficult, but the Jaffa seemed to have a pretty fair idea of SG-1's location. Dodging staff blasts and trying to keep his footing at a dead sprint was quickly wearing Daniel down.
The click of Jack's sidearm indicated that it was out of bullets, and when Daniel briefly glanced behind him, he saw Jack hastily discard it.
"Pick up the pace!" Jack hollered, impossibly running even faster than before. Special Ops training, Daniel supposed, briefly envious. His own lungs were burning with the effort, and steady breathing reverted to desperate gasps as Daniel stumbled forward.
"Daniel, look out!" Jack shouted in warning.
Daniel turned and spotted the Jaffa in time to witness the release of a blast aimed directly at him. Before he could react, someone slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. Daniel knew the blast had only just missed him.
His movement never ceasing, Jack rolled off Daniel and yanked him to his feet, shoving him forward to a momentary position of safety behind a tree.
"Keep running!" Jack rasped.
Sucking in a deep breath, Daniel almost obeyed, when all of a sudden something registered, and he spun around. Shocked to the core, Daniel watched Jack collapse; a staff burn smoking from his chest.
It was meant for me, Daniel realized, immediately grateful, horrified and concerned all at once. He grabbed Jack's arm and attempted to drag him further into the undergrowth, but he was utterly exhausted, and Jack was too heavy.
Clinging onto consciousness by fingernails, Jack tried to knock Daniel's hands away. When that failed, he fixed Daniel with a look. "Keep running," Jack ordered in between laboured breaths, before his eyes lolled back.
Jack had risked his life to save him, and Daniel was not likely to leave the Colonel behind. It went against everything SG-1 stood for, anyway. But alone, Daniel couldn't move him an inch.
"Teal'c!" he yelled, hoping his Jaffa friend wasn't too far away to hear.
At Daniel's near desperate shout, Teal'c did a swift 180, taking down all the enemy Jaffa in sight as he sprinted back through the trees. Major Carter appeared startled when he passed her, but Teal'c merely waved her on. He had no explanation, and the urgency in Daniel Jackson's voice did not allow time for one.
"Teal'c, thank God," Daniel breathed in relief.
For a moment Teal'c concentrated on eliminating any nearby Jaffa, and then returned his attention to the fatigued archaeologist. "Daniel Jackson, what-" he began.
"Jack's injured," Daniel interrupted. "He, uh, took a staff blast for me."
Teal'c's gaze dropped to O'Neill, and his face shifted to alarm. "This injury appears severe, Daniel Jackson."
Daniel's expression portrayed the guilt he felt. "I know," he replied quietly. "I can't move him, but we have to get out of here-"
"Daniel, I gave you an order," O'Neill muttered angrily, his eyes snapping open abruptly.
Teal'c passed his staff weapon to Daniel and dropped to a crouch beside the Colonel. "This may be painful, O'Neill," Teal'c informed him.
Staff blasts once again started to destroy the forest around them, and Jack's grimace was stubbornly transformed to a glare. "I'm slowing you down."
"We will not leave without you, O'Neill," Teal'c insisted.
A tree branch exploded above them, showering the three with wooden shards. Biting back a pained yelp as the splinters lodged within his wound, Jack spat out, "Dammit, just go!"
Without reply, Teal'c hooked an arm under Jack's body and lifted him into his arms, before smoothly coming out of his crouch. O'Neill promptly slipped into unconsciousness.
Teal'c inclined his head in the direction of the Stargate, and received a tight nod in return.
They broke into a run at the same instant, keeping close to each other despite creating a larger target. Teal'c was acutely aware of their vulnerability, but was confident that Daniel could keep the Jaffa at bay. He had given the young man various lessons involving staff weapon combat, and it seemed to have paid off, even with Daniel at such an evident point of exhaustion.
At the Stargate clearing, Daniel quickly took down the six Jaffa standing guard and dashed toward the DHD. Major Carter was one step ahead of him and already dialing the address for Earth.
The sight of the event horizon blossoming out from the Stargate eased some of the tension in Teal'c's shoulders as he came up beside his teammates. Major Carter punched in the last numbers of their IDC and together they sprinted for the open wormhole.
Staff blasts followed them through, forcing Major Carter to drop to her stomach to avoid getting hit, and the iris closed automatically behind them. Daniel's sigh of relief was audible as he collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the ramp.
"Colonel O'Neill requires medical attention!" Teal'c boomed.
"Medical team to the gateroom," ordered General Hammond over the intercom.
By the time Doctor Janet Fraiser and the other medics arrived, Teal'c's legs were trembling, but stubborn Jaffa pride kept him on his feet until O'Neill was laid out on the gurney and whisked to the infirmary. Then he sank down beside his friends on the ramp and closed his eyes.
"Major, what happened?"
Samantha looked up at the General who had entered the gateroom, and struggled to push back the fatigue in order to reply. "It was a Goa'uld occupied world, sir." It was hard to keep her eyes open. "The – it was an army. We were surrounded…" Her words trailed off, and when she tried to collect her thoughts they seemed to scatter away. She pressed the palms of her hands against her forehead and sucked in a deep breath. "Sorry, sir..."
General Hammond nodded in understanding. "Report to the infirmary. We'll debrief in a few hours."
A tired smile quirking her lips, Sam shakily got to her feet and helped Daniel up. "Thank you, sir."
As Jack regained consciousness, the feeling of probing fingers caused him to jerk upright, his immediate thought after so many years in the Special Ops that it was the enemy. Pain instantly flooded his body, waking him fully, and he realized where he was.
"Ah, God…" he sighed, easing himself back down onto the hospital bed. Janet cautiously approached him again, apology in her eyes.
"You took quite a hit, Colonel." She gently touched the blood seeped bandages around his chest. "You're lucky to be alive, sir."
"Yeah, I'm blessed," Jack agreed breathlessly, still trying to adjust to the pain. He tried to conceal the flinches as Janet carefully changed the bandages, successfully for the most part, but by the end he was covered in a sheen of sweat and trembling slightly.
"Finished, sir," the doctor informed him, smiling sympathetically. "You should get some rest."
His head rolled to the side and for a moment he stared blindly. Gradually he noticed that Carter was sitting on the bed beside him, legs drawn up and her head resting on her knees. She was breathing deeply, fast asleep. Jack blinked, as if to confirm what he was seeing, and then turned a questioning eye to Janet.
She laughed softly. "They've been alternating watches to make sure you're okay, sir. One of them has been constantly by your side since you came back from P74-392." Jack raised an eyebrow in unconscious imitation of his Jaffa friend, invoking another gentle laugh from Janet. She glanced over to Carter, and remarked, "The adrenaline wore off pretty fast. She was having trouble staying awake."
"You should've told her to get some R&R," Jack reprimanded Fraiser, countering it with a smile.
"She wouldn't leave," Janet said matter-of-factly, as if the thought must have already occurred to him, which, of course, it had. "And Daniel has made frequent visits."
As if on cue, Daniel appeared in the doorway of the infirmary, and Jack snorted in amusement.
Daniel's eyes widened and his face broke into a wide smile. "Nice to see you back in the land of the living, Jack."
"Yeah." Jack shifted, and the waves of pain caused him to wince. "Hurts like hell, though."
A shadow passed over Daniel's face – guilt, Jack realized. "About that… I'm sorry. If you hadn't decided to save my life-"
"Daniel…"
"Jack." Daniel met his eyes, conveying a deep thanks that could not be expressed through words.
Jack nodded, and then allowed the red-tinged darkness to creep over him again.
"Doctor Fraiser assures me that the Colonel will make a full recovery."
General Hammond sat at the head of the briefing room table, facing the remaining three members of SG-1. They looked significantly more rested than they had been, but still showed minute traces of fatigue. From what he could tell, it had been a long and flat out dash for the gate.
"What happened?" he asked eventually.
In Colonel O'Neill's absence, Major Carter took it upon herself to answer. "The MALP initially showed no signs of Goa'uld activity on the planet, sir, however it did pick up a distant energy reading. Our intention was to find its source and ascertain its purpose – if at all possible, bring it back for further study. We got sidetracked."
General Hammond leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on the polished surface. "How so?"
"We came across the ruins of an ancient civilization," Dr. Jackson replied, a smile flitting over his features. "It appeared to be of Celtic origin, but I didn't get much time to study it closer, because-"
"We were attacked," Teal'c finished for him.
"Yes, sir," Carter confirmed. "Apparently the planet was being used for the massing of a Goa'uld army. They saw us come through the gate, and subsequently surrounded us when we paused at the ruins."
"And Colonel O'Neill was caught in the cross-fire?" General Hammond guessed, although he suspected there was more to it.
"Actually, sir…" Daniel faltered.
"We were running low on ammunition, sir, so Colonel O'Neill used grenades to give us an opportunity for escape. We were able to distract the Jaffa for just long enough for us to break away," Major Carter filled in, before looking to Daniel. "Teal'c and I were up front…" It was more of a question.
Daniel looked down at the table. "I couldn't keep up with the speed we were running at," he confessed. "A Jaffa caught up and I couldn't get out of the line of fire in time."
"That doesn't explain-" General Hammond started, but Daniel continued over him, lost in the memory.
"Jack knocked me out of the way, and took the staff blast himself." Daniel swallowed. "He saved my life."
There was silence for a long moment, until, unusual as it was for him, Teal'c interrupted it.
"Daniel Jackson acquired my assistance, and we made it back to the Stargate." Teal'c found and held Daniel's gaze. "O'Neill will recover."
It was an assurance, Hammond realized, customary of SG-1. The words were merely a cover for the silent communication passing between them, which generally baffled everyone else.
Daniel sighed. "Yeah."
"SG-1 will be taken off active duty until Colonel O'Neill is given the okay from Doctor Fraiser," General Hammond informed them. "Until then, I suggest you all get some well deserved rest." God knew how much they needed it. SG-1 had been through a lot lately. Hammond nodded. "Dismissed."
The three stood and offered their respective nods of acknowledgment before leaving the room. Hammond knew that they would first stop off at the infirmary to check on the Colonel. The level of care and respect they had for each other was what made them so unique. They were more than just a team; they were SG-1.