Title: Final Goodbye
Stargate SG-1
Rating: Older Kids
Category: Angst (major), Romance
Warnings: Major character death! I'm soooo sorry, please don't hurt me!
Summary: SG-1 is taken hostage on a planet simply because one of them resembles a 'false god'.
As usual, after the briefing in the conference room, the illustrious SG-1 set off on their mission. Simple recon it's supposed to be. 'Yeah right, simple recon.' thought Jack. 'It's never just simple recon.' He squashed those thoughts when his 2IC walked into the gate room. Jack quickly averted his eyes when Sam looked his way. He didn't want to be accused of staring, not professional. Although, he did let his gaze linger just a little longer than it should of.
When the group set foot on to the planet, designated P4Z-773, O'Neill set point and let the team through the grassy plains.
"Teal'c, watch our six. Carter, go about doing your soil samples, or whatever it is you scientific types do. Daniel, go and look at the rocks."
Cater smirked as her commander gave his usual orders. 'Some things will never change.' she thought as she observe Daniel trying to tell Jack that the 'rocks' weren't just rocks.
Time flew by during their mission as the team went about collecting samples, analyzing 'artifacts' and Jack doing the usual 'supervising'. With a quick motion, Teal'c looked around to the shrubs south of him.
"O'Neill." he started, "I believe we are being watched."
Jack turned his gaze to where Teal'c was staring. "I believe you are right T. Let's go check it out. Carter, Daniel, stay put. Keep alert."
With that, off Teal'c and Jack went to inspect the shrubs due south of the group. As they drew nearer to the brush, they could make out what appeared to be a group of the local natives fully embellished with the sharp pointy weapons held in the defensive positions. Walking closer, very slowly as not to set off the natives, O'Neill lowered his weapon while Teal'c kept his raised.
"We come in peace." he started. "Please don't harm us, we are only explorers who come for trade and talk."
Apparently the native folk did not understand the Colonel clearly, for they started to whisper amongst themselves.
"O'Neill, it seems that they speak a derivative of Gou'ald." Teal'c quietly spoke to the Colonel. "Maybe DanielJackson will be able to assist us fully."
"You're right, T. Time to bring the wayward rock collector over to the situation." O'Neill sighed, then shouted, "Hey Danny-boy! We need your lingual expertise over here, it would be greatly appreciated!"
Daniel snapped up, as did Carter. They both trotted over to where Teal'c and Jack were. The two gasped as the found the precarious situation they had been placed in. The natives did not seem to want to negotiate any kind of deal. Daniel tried to reason with the natives, but they were relentless. They kept whispering and pointing towards Carter. Finally, O'Neill had enough of not knowing what was going on.
"Mind clueing me in here, Daniel?!" he snapped. "We're not in one of those 'men ruling over the women' cultures again, are we?"
Daniel let his translating catch up with his thinking. "Ah no, Jack. It appears that Sam kind of reminds them of the Goa'uld that was ruling here, then vanished."
Carter looked stunned. She could not believe what was happening. "So, what do they want?" she dared ask.
"It seems that the 'false goddess' should be put on trial, and if deemed guilty, then sentenced to death." Daniel explained. He cast a long look in Carter's direction, not liking her reaction.
"Hell no! There is no way that Carter will be on trial for anything!" Jack shouted. He would stand up for her no matter what. 'I would certainly die first, then let Sam suffer.' he finished that thought in his head. He then proceeded to subtly step in front of Carter as that instinct to protect her kicked in.
The group put down their weapons as they were outnumbered and if they tried to fight their way out, it would have not been a pretty picture. SG-1 deemed it best to follow the natives to where ever their place of inhabitance was, and try to sort out this technical fluke calmly and quickly. It was about an hour or so walk to the village, Jack stopped tracking time, as he was getting more worried about Carter. He glanced back at her and slowed his pace a little to be beside her. He slowly laced his fingers into hers; quietly reassuring her that it would be all right. She kept her eyes straight ahead, but somehow felt Jack's attempts to cease her rapid thoughts.
The four of them were led into the town square, coming to a halt before what looked like the town official. Among the crowd many fearful gasps and murmuring started. The official raised his staff, signaling everyone to be silent. He began to speak to the people, explaining what has come to pass. Daniel served as translator between the natives and SG-1.
"As the false goddess has returned, so shall she perish. The trial shall begin tomorrow at sunrise, but for now the prisoners will be transported to the holding cells and interrogated for their actions." Daniel explained rapidly to his teammates.
O'Neill didn't even raise a fuss when they were led to what resembled some holding cells with the bare essentials. Teal'c and Daniel were put in one cell, while down the row Sam and Jack were placed in another. They waited until the guards exited the building before calling down to each other. They needed a plan of escape and needed it fast.
"So, Teal'c…any ideas on how to blow this taco stand?" O'Neill shouted.
"This does not appear to resemble a taco stand, O'Neill. But no, I have no ideas as of yet." Teal'c replied.
"Well, sir, this culture does seem fairly limited in their armory and knowledge…we should be able to use that against them if we manage to get out of these cells." Carter suggested.
"Unless you forgot, Major, they took our weapons. We don't even have some good ol' fashioned C4 at this point." he snidely commented. He then saw the flicker of hurt in Carter's eyes then instantly regretted her words. She was just thinking out loud of ways to get them out and he went and snapped at her. "Look, I'm sorry Sam," not realizing he used her first name, "but right now I'm trying to prevent you from being put to death just because you resemble a former Goa'uld."
At that moment the guards decided to return with the head honcho of the prison. 'Kind of reminds me of Head Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.' thought Daniel. They stopped in front of the cell containing Sam and Jack. The guard opened the cell door and entered with the boss and another guard. Roughly, the prisoners were drawn to their feet. Their bonds did not really give them much room to move fluidly. The boss stepped forward and proceeded to introduce himself.
"I am Koshnac, leader of this facility of interrogation. You will now be questioned for your crimes and any involvement on the part of your consort." he said, looking between Sam and Jack.
"Whoa, wait! Consort?! You have your information wrong there buddy." O'Neill objected, but was hushed by Carter. She was trying to keep him from loosing his cool and being beaten by the guards, but was a little off in her timing. The one guard stepped forward and whapped him across the chest with the staff he was carrying. "Ow! Why is the only thing guards know how to do is beat prisoners?!"
Koshnac grinned in amusement. These two were a responsive bunch. He turned to Carter and proceeded to question her. "Why have you, the false goddess Rhiannon, come back? To reclaim your territory perhaps?" When Carter didn't answer quick enough, the guard whapped O'Neill again. The whapping followed with a sharp exclamation by said prisoner.
"No! Stop hitting him!" she shouted. "I am not who you think I am. I am not this Goa'uld Rhiannon or who ever; I am of the Tau'ri…from a planet called Earth. We came through the stargate to explore new lands in search for resources."
Apparently that was not the answer the Interrogator was looking for. He then turned towards O'Neill once more, instructing the guard to punish O'Neill. He was stopped with Carter lunging herself in his direction. Koshnac quickly adverted her while raising the staff to arch it towards her head. There was a resounding crack that followed, and O'Neill shouting curses at Koshnac.
Carter lay there motionless. Koshnac, satisfied that his job was done, exited with the guards. O'Neill rushed over to her side, and held her as much as the restraints allowed. The tears at the corners of his eyes threatened to fall. Not much further down the row, Daniel and Teal'c glanced worriedly at their comrades. Daniel was silently praying that Sam would be okay.
Several hours later, Carter awoke. She groggily opened her eyes; only moving a little bit, for movement was not her friend right now. O'Neill noticed her wake up, and held her a little tightly in his arms. She looked up straight into the eyes of one very flustered Colonel.
"Sam, please don't scare me like that again!" he gasped. "You had me…us worried there for a while." He gazed on to her face, and then let the tears fall. He knew that they would probably not be going home this time…not when one of them was injured this severely.
"Sorry Jack…" she was able to whisper. He caught the use of his first name and smiled on the inside. "That bastard caught me right at the base of my skull, and now I have this terrible headache."
"It's okay baby, we'll get you home." he tried to sound to sound optimistic. "We'll get Doc Frazier to get you all patched up."
Sam shook her head as best she could. "It's too late Jack, there's already too much swelling, even if we found a way out here, we couldn't get back to the 'gate in time." Tears started to fall even though she tried to be brave. "Oh Jack, we were right…there is always that something that comes in the way between 'us'."
Jack started to disagree. "No Sam, there was always an 'us', right in here" he said placing a hand on his heart and on hers. "We've always been with on another, in one shape or form." He leaned down and placed a delicate kiss upon her lips.
Sam was starting to let more and more tears fall. She knew she would not be going home on this mission. "Why Jack? Why do we always wait until the very last minute to tell someone we care about that we love them?"
"I don't know, but I do know that I love you…. always have. You will always be with me, no matter where I go." he whispered to her. "Please hang on, love. We'll get you home. Please," he begged, "I can't live without you."
"I'm so sorry Jack, I should have said something sooner. I should have screwed the regs and told you that I love you!" she said as she drew nearer to his warm embrace. "Now, we'll never get that chance."
Koshnac returned a few hours later. He was shocked to discover that the false god had passed away from the fatal blow. He ordered the guard to open the door. O'Neill was dragged out of the cell, leaving Sam lying on the floor.
"What say you as to why Rihannon died?" he demanded.
Enraged, O'Neill tried to jump the man, but was held back by the guards. "You asshole! You killed her, and then have the nerve to come back and demand what happened?!?!"
"Well," began Koshnac. "Since the false goddess has died, you as her consort can take her place in the sentence."
Daniel and Teal'c shouted in protest from their cells down the row. They could not allow Jack to be sacrificed like this. Daniel was about to argue with Koshnac, but Jack sent him a glare to told him to be quiet. He then looked Koshnac straight in the eye, with a look of pure malice.
"If you killed Sam, you might as well execute me. Life is meaningless without her by my side now." he grunted between his teeth. Daniel shouted at him to stop, Teal'c simply bowed his head, understanding what O'Neill was thinking.
"DanielJackson, O'Neill is giving his life so that MajorCarter's would not have been in vain." he tried to reason with the archeologist.
Koshac turned towards the two. "When the sentence has been carried out, you will be allowed to return freely to where ever you have came from, since you two were only slaves."
The town square was afoot with blustering activity as everyone fought to get a front row seat for the execution. The crowd was slightly disappointed when only O'Neill followed Koshnac on to the platform. Koshnac raised his hand for silence.
"Good people," he began in the native tongue, "It is my pleasure to bring forth to you the consort of the false goddess Rihannon. He will be persecuted for his crimes for unfortunately the all mighty was gravely injured during interrogation. Now, let's begin the execution, shall we?"
He led Jack up to the noose, placing it around his neck. Jack stood there ever stoic as the actions were carried out. His head was held high; he would not let Sam's death be for nothing. If she could not be in life with him, he would follow her in to the next. Koshnac counted down, and then signaled the guard to release the hatch. Jack's body hung loosely, his life slipping away…never struggling against the rope. Teal'c and Daniel could only stare ahead at Jack's body. Their eyes couldn't be torn from their friend. Teal'c bowed his head, eyes closed. Daniel was struggling to choke back tears.
As the last breath escaped from Jack's lips, his last thought was of how he could now be with his other half, his love. 'I'm coming Sam, please wait for me….'
THE END
;; omg, I'm crying right now….
Please, review. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
