Don't worry, I have finished my other story and will be loading the last chapter for you to read real soon. So stay tuned.
SACRIFICES
by LetitiaRichards
Category: Angst...lots of it! AU. With some fluff too, but not much.
Pairings: Sam/Jack
Season: Set between 2000 and the year 2023
Spoilers: None really.
Summary: Daniel is angry and who could blame him, but he just cannot forgive them for leaving him behind.
Warnings: This is a very angsty fic – all doom and gloom, with a sad ending. Character Deaths (one through old age!) Tissues to hand would be advisable.
This is a bit of a dark fic, so I warn you now. It's not a happy story and it is only a short one, but it wouldn't let me go and I had to write it down. Definitely an AU fic and contains a lot of flashbacks. Present day is 2023.
SACRIFICES
By LetitiaRichards.
2010
Jack sat at the table in the briefing room, his hand never still and his thoughts in turmoil as he related the past to the General now in charge of the SGC.
"The mission had gone badly from start to finish..."
The rebel faction had deserted them, leaving SG-1 alone to fight off the advances of the oppressive regime forces. The battle was long and hard, and many sacrifices were made that day.
SG-1 would never be the same again.
---flashback---
2000
"Jack! They've gone! I can't believe they left us!" Daniel yelled.
"They had no choice Daniel. They were losing too many men. Let's get back to the gate. Carter," Jack shouted, breathing hard as he ran, trying to make himself heard above the noise of battle. "Carter! Get to the DHD and dial us outta here! Go! I've got you covered."
Another shell burst near Jack, sending him flying into the dirt. For a moment he wondered where the hell he was, but gradually the sound of battle came back and he picked himself up, only to collapse, crying out in pain. He looked down at his leg to see a long ragged gash the length of his thigh, and it was bleeding profusely.
"Damn!" he cursed, looking back at the advancing enemy. He fired his P-90 at them and gave a satisfied grimace when several fell under his onslaught. He heard the gate burst into life and the next thing he knew Sam was at his side, tugging him to his feet. He managed to stand upright, but could put no weight onto the injured limb. Dizziness assaulted him but with her help, he hobbled drunkenly towards the gate, only recalling his senses when Sam pulled him up the steps.
"Daniel! Where's Daniel?" he cried frantically. He couldn't go through until all his team were accounted for. Ignoring Sam's protests that he should go through for medical aid, he couldn't, and wouldn't leave Daniel or Teal'c behind.
Jack swung round, nearly toppling over in the process, but his dark eyes locked with those of Daniel Jackson, his best friend. He yelled encouragement, ordering Sam to let go of him and give Daniel some covering fire. Jack fell to his knees without the much needed support; if he could've managed it, he would have been the first one to go to Daniel's aid. Teal'c backed him up as he waited for his best friend and took out some of the enemy that had surrounded them.
Daniel zigzagged as best he could but as his steps grew closer, so did the enemy fire and in an all too brief moment of blinding agony, the light behind those bright blue eyes died away. Daniel's world exploded, leaving the younger man falling lifelessly to the ground, his eyes forever captured wide open in surprise.
"Nnnnooooo!" Jack screamed. He couldn't believe it. Daniel couldn't die. Not here! Daniel always came back. Please Oma! he begged, Daniel just had to live.
Teal'c tried to run back for him, but the enemy sensed victory and moved in for the kill. They were under heavy fire, and with the gate open, the personnel back on the base were taking hits too through the wormhole. Jack felt an agonising pain in his shoulder from the onslaught, and the world blackened sickeningly, but he fought against the darkness trying to claim his consciousness. Sam slung her P-90 over her shoulder and grabbed Jack under his arms, pulling the injured officer backwards into the shimmering flux, watching helplessly as Teal'c joined them, taking a bullet to his arm as he stepped into the wormhole.
"Close the Iris!" Sam yelled breathlessly, dropping Jack's now limp form to the ramp.
"Major? Where's Dr. Jackson?" Hammond had asked, watching as the medics assessed the damage to Jack's leg and his shoulder as he lay on the cold metal of the ramp. He roused at the poking and groaned when he heard the General's inquiry.
Jack closed his eyes against the deep grief and regret he felt, but it was Teal'c who answered when he couldn't speak through the lump in his throat, and he knew Sam was struggling to answer too. .
"Daniel Jackson is dead, General Hammond. He was killed not far from the gate." Teal'c's voice sounded hollow, strained, far more than they were used to hearing from the stolid Jaffa.
"Are you certain?" Hammond was stunned at the news.
"Yes sir," Jack whispered softly, still seeing those blue eyes fixed on him in his mind. He swallowed harshly and wouldn't meet anybody's eye. He wanted nothing more than to escape and mourn his friend somewhere private, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. Not with his leg and his shoulder wound. As it was, Janet was going to keep him in the infirmary for at least that night and possibly the rest of the week.
A medic, held a dressing to his head, and he hissed at the stinging pain. He hadn't realised he was bleeding from a cut near his hairline too. And now he did, it began to make its presence known, along with the customary headache and nausea. 'Great,' he sighed, 'just what I need; concussion too.'
They tried to pull him upright to take him to the infirmary, but the world tilted sickeningly, and his legs refused to work. In the end they carried him to a gurney where the flashing of overhead lighting as he was sped away, did nothing to stop the bile rising. He closed his eyes and sank into an uneasy oblivion.
---end of flashback---
"Jack?"
"Jack!"
A warm gentle hand touched his arm, grounding him.
The soft but concerned voice startled him from his memories. After all this time, he could recall every little detail of that day almost ten years ago. He scrubbed a hand over his face, wiping away the traces of moisture that had unconsciously leaked from his eyes every time he thought of that disastrous day.
His best friend in all the world, Daniel Jackson, multiple PhD and major pain in the Mikta, had been left behind. Killed by enemy fire, he fell just 30 metres short of the gate; the stepping stone to the place he called home.
Memories of what happened after that day filled his mind again.
/Jack had watched his best friend die. Daniel's blue eyes locking with Jack's darker ones as the life drained from them, leaving him staring lifelessly at him. It was an experience he'd never forgotten and one he'd dreaded throughout their years of fighting the Goa'uld. Never did he think that the soul of SG-1 would die at the hands of a snakeless human native; and he found it a difficult sacrifice to live with even all this time.
His own words; his unwritten law; the one he instilled in all of his team members, came back to haunt him, as they had done practically every day for the last so many years.
"No-one gets left behind!"
The god awful truth was that he had broken that sacred creed.
He'd left Daniel behind.
He'd left Daniel's body back there on that god-forsaken planet, and he could never forgive himself.
Jack O'Neill had ignored the fact that he himself had been badly injured that day too, and that Sam had to drag his bleeding body into the wormhole, unable to help both of her team-mates. Teal'c had tried to go back but was forced to retreat under heavy fire. He had been lucky to escape with his life.
All three of them were.
Teal'c had easily brushed off the wound in his limb in no time at all.
Sam had escaped more or less scott free.
He on the other hand had almost died. The wounds riddled with bacteria, seriously undermining his health. He'd survived but part of his heart was irreparably damaged from the loss of a good friend.
It had been a distraught team that had arrived back at the SGC without their fourth member back in the year 2000. It was a devastated SGC that mourned the loss of one of their most revered characters for weeks afterwards while his own life hung in the balance.
They'd held a memorial service a few months later, when Jack had recovered sufficiently, just as they had a few years before when they thought they had lost Daniel to Nem; but he'd come back. This time, there was no coming back. Daniel really was dead.
During the service, Jack had, had to close his eyes and ball his fists to stop the echo of Daniel's screams from pounding through his brain. He played his part like a zombie, not wanting this ceremony because it would signify that Daniel had really died this time. It just didn't seem possible; it wasn't real. It couldn't be real.
Yet it was.
Jack insisted in trying to go back.
Once he had recovered, he bullied General Hammond into trying to return to collect Daniel's body, but Hammond had deemed it too dangerous and refused to even contemplate the mission.
Jack grumbled, cursed and came close to goading the General into issuing an overdue court-martial.
But Hammond understood the Colonel's frustrations and made allowances for his bad temper. Sg-1 was a close knit team; they were a family; a family in mourning.
Life had gone on and gradually over the years, the pain of loss had dwindled to a small ache at the back of his heart, and only brought to the surface at the mention of his name.
Until four years had gone by./
---flashback--- 2004
"Receiving Tok'ra IDC sir!"
"Open the gate Walter!" Jack had ordered. He wasn't all that keen on the Tok'ra, never had been, especially not after having Kanan as a room mate.
Jack sauntered down to the gate-room to greet their visitors.
The glowing puddle shimmered and two forms stepped from the event horizon. Jack recognised one of them, but the other, younger one was a stranger to the Tau'ri base.
Jack nodded to them in greeting.
"Sar'an," he said gruffly, not at all pleased with the man's appearance. Sar'an wasn't his favourite character out of all the Tok'ra.
Sar'an stepped forward and waved a hand at his companion.
"This is Jun'ara. He has news of which I am sure you will be gratified to learn of. May we retire to your briefing room General to impart the information I know you will wish to hear?"
Jack stood back. Looking the newcomer up and down, then shrugged.
"Sure. This way gentlemen."
He led the way and sat down at the head of the table, his former team-mates joining him.
"So what is this all fired important news that you think we'll wanna hear?" Jack sighed, trying to hide his boredom in their appearance. The Tok'ra had a penchant for imparting new information to them and sitting back while the SGC lost good men and women so that they didn't get their hands dirty and then taking all the credit for the action and reaped the benefits afterwards.
Jun'ara leaned forward, resting his forearms on the polished table. His dark gaze took in Jack, Sam and Teal'c, making them wonder what he was about to say.
Jack just wished he'd just hurry up and spit it out. Time was a'wastin' and he was busy.
"I have recently received word from my home world. A message from an old friend. He passed some information on to me, unknowing of what would be it's full potential on yourselves. I have heard of the many daring exploits of SG-1, even as a younger man. It was with great sadness I learned of the death of Daniel Jackson," Jun'ara spoke with the voice of his Tok'ra, sending shivers down Jack's spine. He looked genuinely saddened. "However," he continued, "Gerrant has assured me that all was not lost that day. Daniel Jackson is alive if not fit and well."
There were several gasps from around the table and suddenly Jack sat up and took notice.
"What?" he cried, voicing their collective surprise. "He can't be. We all saw him die!" he argued.
"That may be as true, but he is alive, though he is a prisoner. Gerrant has been chosen to serve those that you fought that day. The Randiki are rulers of several worlds, my host's included. They are keeping Dr. Jackson locked in the cells beneath the fortress. Gerrant has seen him several times, but it is not permitted to talk with the prisoners, so cannot ascertain how he is in reality. Suffice it to say he is able to walk, albeit with a slight limp."
"How does he know that this is actually our Daniel?" Sam asked, daring to hope for the first time in a long while.
"As I said, tales of SG-1 had spread far and wide, and Gerrant and I used to listen to them with rapt attention. He knew it was Daniel Jackson without being told."
"How old is this message?" Teal'c asked, being practical to the end.
"A few weeks at most," he replied.
"Sir, we have to go there. We can't..."
"Way ahead of you Colonel," Jack said, his mind already filling up with ideas for putting together a rescue mission. Daniel was alive! He had to go there. This was one mission he could not miss, despite being the Commander of the SGC, he wasn't going to sit behind the glass of the control room and wait for their return; he had to be there; to be a part of Daniel's rescue.
---end of flashback---
TBC