A/N: Hi! Welcome to the first chapter of this long series of stories told from Janet's point of view. These stories will range from missing scenes, to new stories, to just small weird plots that pop into my head randomly sometimes. Anyways, I own nothing at all. Enjoy!
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The Burden of Mysteries part 1
The wormhole blasted open in a blue, shimmering wave. Janet stared it down menacingly, shouldering her medical pack and checking her weapon. She rarely ventured out through the naquada ring that rested in their possession, but when she did it was bound to be interesting. Whether it be an alien virus or disease, or just a random jaunt out with a team that happened to need a medic on it, she always found the experience exhilarating.
But when Sam had run into the infirmary, out of breath and looking desperate, still in her off world gear, yelling that they needed a doctor, she felt no excitement. Only fear. She had jumped up and run over, Sam registering her presence after a moment and running out of the infirmary with her in tow. Janet had quickly gotten changed as Sam explained the situation.
The short version was that the town's only doctor had been wounded in an attack and they needed a medic.
"They want me to heal their doctor?" Janet had stopped Sam's explanation as she laced up her combat boots.
"No. They want you to replace him, at least for now."
The rest of the story made Janet sigh and curse alien civilizations and their manors. Apparently Daniel was being held hostage at gunpoint. If SG-1 brought a doctor, a young doctor, before sunset, which was in about a half hour on the planet, he would not be killed.
"Why didn't you just say you would bring one when they asked? Why did it have to go this far?" Janet had questioned when Sam revealed the information.
Sam had just shaken her head, "They didn't ask."
Janet frowned, "So they just took him hostage without even asking for a doctor nicely first?"
"Yep." Sam shrugged, "Guess they wanted to motivate us."
"And why did they ask for a young doctor?"
Sam looked clueless and lost, "Beats me. I didn't really question them though after the guns came out. Come on, we have to hurry. Questions have to come later."
So there Janet was, walking up the ramp toward the rippling event horizon. Sam nudged her.
"Hey, I would hide your weapon. They'll probably confiscate it if they see it."
"Don't like weapons?" Janet nearly put the gun in her leg holster, but then swiftly tucked it against her back, under her jacket and out of sight.
"They don't like them only on their healers." Sam replied with a shrug, "I suppose they think healers shouldn't have the means to harm… at least with dangerous weapons such as guns."
They paused in front of the event horizon as the speaker crackled to life and the strangely reassuring voice of General Hammond washed over them.
"Godspeed."
Sam smiled almost involuntary and glanced at Janet, "Ready?"
Janet nodded and tried for a grin before being whisked away by the cold stream or the wormhole.
She was spat out under a darkening sky, and Janet could see a small modern looking city perhaps less then a mile away with what looked like a wall or thick fence around it. A quick look around verified Sam's story. A group of men and women stood around, weapons holstered but easily seen, with a row of what Janet could only assume were transport vehicles behind them. Janet recognized the ostentatious but still subtle show of firepower for what it was. An intimidation tactic.
One figure stood out from the others. The man had Daniel by the throat, a nasty looking weapon pressing into his temple. Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c stood, weapons pointed at the pair and their backs to the 'gate.
"Jarin!" Sam stepped off the dais and walked past the DHD, stopping next to Colonel O'Neill, "We have our doctor. Let him go."
Janet stepped forward into plain sight. He looked her up and down and Janet shook off a feeling of dread and uncomfortableness, her eyes boring straight into the man holding Daniel's gaze.
He laughed, a deep, cold, throaty chuckle, "Well, how should we know you are not lying, Sammantha?" His gaze shifted to Janet again, "I am Jarin, my dear."
"Dr. Janet Fraiser." She responded, still holding his stare, "And I assure you, I am every bit the doctor your requested."
"Prove it, my dear Janet."
Janet was too busy trying to figure out a way to prove herself quickly to be insulted by him calling her his 'dear'.
She figured she couldn't list off medical jargon to prove herself. She would have to impress him in some other way. He was military, by the looks of it. Her mouth curled into a small smile as she mentally categorized the weaknesses his body possessed, arteries exposed, vulnerable areas, pressure points, and other weaknesses in his body. She took a step closer.
"I can count 6, no, 7 ways that Daniel could have incapacitated you by now if he wasn't too worried about diplomatic relationships." She raised her arm up and pointed to his neck, "Carotid artery. Punctured with even a small object and you're dead in seconds, perhaps minutes if you're extremely lucky." She pointed to his arm, "Brachial Artery. He could nick it, you'll be dead in, oh," She paused and tipped her head, "Maybe 100 seconds." She took another step forward and pointed to his wrist, "The radial-ulnar. If he pressed on exactly the right point a few inches down from it with just enough pressure, pain would shoot through your nerves and Daniel would definitely be able to get the upper hand." She smiled sweetly, "I could go on or describe these in in-depth medical jargon, but I figure you would probably want to understand me. That enough proof for you?"
Silence reigned for a moment before he began to chuckle, "Oh, my dear, I believe you. You have got quite the spitfire doctor, Sammantha."
Sam tipped her head as Colonel O'Neill took a step forward belligerently, "Ok, so we met your damned request. Now let him go."
For a moment Janet thought he would actually do it.
But Jarin simply smiled, "I do not think so. I will hold Dr. Jackson in custody until Janet here is done treating our people."
Tension ratcheted up a few notches. Weapons were raised into a read-to-fire position. Safeties were clicked off and stances were shifted. Janet put a hand casually behind her back, her palm resting on her gun.
"Janet." The archaeologist on front of them stared at her, "Can you do this?"
Could she heal all their people? Janet wasn't sure, but she nodded with what she hoped was enough confidence to fool even the most observant person, "Yes."
Daniel smiled, "Make sure Jack doesn't do anything stupid like he usually does for me." He was dragged backwards a few steps and he dug his heels in, cringing as Jarin's nails dug into the flesh on his neck, "Be careful, Janet."
She quirked a small smile, "I was just about to say the same thing to you."
"Doctor." He nodded as much as he could with a glint in his eyes.
"Doctor." She smiled and nodded back as he was dragged away.
Jarin's men retreated with him and got into their transports, leaving only two of their people behind to no doubt watch over and be SG-1's tour guide of sorts. So it was just two of Jarin's men, SG-1, and Janet, minus Daniel. She wondered for a second why Colonel O'Neill or Sam didn't just make the aliens resemble swiss cheese with their weapons after they had declared their intent to keep Daniel. She glanced over at them and got her answer. Teal'c had gripped Colonel O'Neill's shoulder lightly, but powerfully all the same.
Janet had always marveled at the connection the members of SG-1 had. She theorized it was because of the fact that they protected each other every single day out of necessity and at some point it had simply become habit, a critical part that the the team had become ever present. It was a survival instinct. There was also the obvious friendship between the four. Teal'c made a simple gesture, putting this hand on Colonel O'Neill's shoulder, communicating his message with sharp clarity to only a person in tune with him. And the colonel was most definitely one of those people.
Janet turned, zeroed in on the friendlier looking alien and looked him over. The boy, or young man, was maybe 17 or 18 years old. He looked timid, and had blonde hair with a light skin pallor. Janet instantly took a liking to him.
"Hello." She said as soothingly as she could, "I'm Doctor Janet Fraiser."
There was a moment of silence as the remaining members of SG-1 moved away slightly to discuss their predicament and the boy did not offer up any information or conversation. Janet decided that he could use some prompting.
"And you are…"
"Oh!" The boy started and shifted uncomfortably, meeting her eyes only for moment before glancing a few inches to the right of her head, "I'm Enid."
"Enid, that's a nice name." Janet smiled softly, "Could you maybe lead me to your wounded?"
He nodded and began to lead her away. The doctor caught Sam's eye and the astrophysicist nodded, casually breaking away from her team and trailing behind them.
Janet could feel her natural curiosity bubbling to the surface despite the circumstances as she viewed their city and suppressed the tiny voice in the back of her mind whispering that, "curiosity killed the cat".
Despite being no anthropologist or archaeologist, she could analyze the society with what she hoped was an accurate description. They had guns that had the appearance of being quite advanced, even more so then the ones she and SG-1 currently carried. She briefly wondered if they shot energy beams or regular projectiles, and made a note to ask Enid about it later, along with any other prominent weapon that may have injured people. Janet would need to know if she was going to treat these people with any sort of success. They were dressed in slightly crude clothing, nothing that suggested a holier-than-thou persona but at the same time not suggesting an underprivileged society. So perhaps this was a society where appearances were deemed secondary, which was confirmed by the fact that their city, as they neared it, looked like it was built only for the barest minimal of what was needed. Most people they met that possessed advanced technology prided in their appearance perhaps even more then their actual technological level. If Janet was right, this community would be a surprising and lovely change of pace. She made a gut decision and decided that she liked these people… if she ignored the parts about kidnapping Daniel and Jarin calling every woman his 'dear'.
The silence soon became almost suffocating and she quickly cleared her throat, "Enid, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
He shook his head concisely and she continued.
"What type of weapons do your people use commonly?"
He glanced up at her, making eye contact for a brief second before dropping his gaze to a point just behind her shoulder, "We have guns and mer'ta knives."
Janet frowned, "Mer'ta knives?"
A nod from him confirmed her pronunciation of the foreign word, and he explained it with a soft voice, "It is a technologically advanced knife. Um… here, let me show you, if that's okay." At her small nod, he reached down and pulled a knife out of his belt… or the hilt of a knife. He held it out to her and she took it gingerly, examining it closely. It was all black and seemed very well constructed. She glanced on the side and noticed a series of three symbols, a simple white circle, a V below that, and then an arc below that. Her forehead creased in concentration for a few moments before she looked to Enid for help.
"To make the actual knife part come out, press your finger against the circle. To retract it you do the same thing. If you want to make the blade serrated, touch the middle symbol. To make it normal, press it again. And if you want it to have an electric charge that will disorient a person then press the arc. Press it again when you don't want it electrified. Oh, and don't worry about accidentally activating the different features when you are gripping it, it is calculated to only register finger tips." His voice was getting stronger and more confident as he spent more time talking to her, and his eyes glittered with excitement at being able to explain his technology to her.
Her jaw twitched slightly in surprise as she brushed her finger against the circle. The silver blade shot out as faster then she could blink, the light from the two suns reflecting off the polished metal. It was a beautiful knife, well sharpened and very well cared for. She brushed her finger almost hesitantly against the V and slices of the blade that she didn't even know were present slid out of view. She watched with fascination as the knife took a mere second or two to shift and become serrated. But then her thoughts were torn away to darker matters.
"Whoa." She breathed quietly, not marveling at the blade itself anymore, but attempting to calculate how much more damage this mer'ta knife could do to the human body compared to a regular combat knife. Janet touched her finger to the V and the circle again, taking a moment to watch the blade disappear before handing it gently back to Enid and continuing her line of questions.
"Enid, I have a question about the guns here." She paused for a quick moment, "What do they shoot?"
He titled his head at her question with confusion.
"Does it shoot energy beams or projectiles?" She clarified.
"Um… Neither Doctor Frasier. It shoots pulses."
"Pulses?"
"Yes." He said as they reached the maybe 9 foot tall wall around the city, him pressing his hand to a square on the wall and walking into the city confines through a section that had slid down to create a doorway for them, "I learned in schooling that we used to use metal projectiles but then we found that pulse guns saved more money because we didn't have to buy the, uh. projectile things… um-"
The previously silent Sam jumped into the conversation suddenly as she stepped over the threshold of the city and the wall sealed behind them, "Bullets?"
He started in surprise at her interjection but recovered surprisingly quickly, "Yes. Thank you, um…"
"Major Sammantha Carter. Call me Sam." She said.
"Okay. I'm, uh, Enid." He said, shifting his gaze between the two women shyly.
Sam took a moment to smile at him as she fell into pace with them and her curiosity got the better of her, "Enid, these pulse weapons. What exactly to they do to a person when they are hit with one?"
"Oh, th- they send a powerful jet of energy that will completely mashes up the internal organs of the person but only in the area it hit. It leaves only a, uh, a big bruise on the outside- er- skin."
Janet's mind swirled with the possible injuries. Obliteration of internal organs via pulse gun? That was something she had most definitely not seen before, and these injuries were bound to soon transform into the bane of her existence. Janet turned her attention to Sam and smiled slightly at the excited way she was sending a barrage of rapid-fire questions at Enid, who simply glanced at her pleadingly for help after adopting a deer-in-the-headlights expression.
"Sam." Janet caught her eye, "Maybe ask more pertinent questions to our situation?"
Her friend's ecstatic and slightly childish expression vanished as she mulled over Daniel's situation.
"Enid," Sam started as they neared a large warehouse-like building, "Do you know why Jarin is keeping one of our people hostage?" She passed and seemed to consider a thought, "Does he want him for something besides making us cooperate?"
The perceptive question was spoken with a kind tone, no trace of any anger or judgement detectable, but Enid did not react as Janet expected him to.
"It- he-" The boy started stuttering over his words, his eyes darting left and right wildly as they stopped inside the doorway of a large building, "You- you are trying to trick me!"
"What?" Janet's eyes widened, "No! Enid, it was just a simple question-"
"No." He backed away from them, "No I can't tell you. You will try to take it from us. We can't tell outsiders. You'll take it. No." He shook his head, "This is where the patients are. I, I have to go." He turned and fled.
Janet blinked at the retreating form of the boy, "Okay." She said slowly, "What just happened?"
Sam's smile was grim, "I think we just figured out that these people are hiding something from us. Something big."
"What?"
"I don't know. All I know is that Daniel's in deep, deep trouble."
Janet resisted adding the words, And so are we.
A/N: Hello! So this is going to be one long continuous series some with one part, some with two, and only a select few with three parts. Anyone with suggestions for future chapters, please tell me and I will do my best to write them. Also, I need a beta for my story, so anyone willing to edit my story please let me know! Next up will be The Burden of Mysteries part 2. Thanks :)