This will be a short 'team-fic' for those of my readers who asked for a 'non-ship' story. So, here you go (however, if I have to give up my ship I refuse to give up my Jack-whump too – so it's full of that – and probably some Danny and/or Sam whump– just general all around whumpiness!). I promise there is no ship nor will there be ship in this story. I would like you all to know, however, that in my mind there is ALWAYS ship – it just won't appear here.
Don't worry – I will faithfully work on my other story The Camping Trip. I'm in Florida for a few days and plan to sit under a palm tree, Margarita in hand and laptop in gear and write many chapters!
So – for all you non-shippers (and hopefully you shippers who like adventure and whump) – here you go. Please know it was very hard for me!
"GO, GO, GO", he yelled to his team as he stepped into the clearing. He watched as they each looked at him to make sure he was safe and then, one by one, they ran through the event horizon. He was almost there – he almost made it before -
It had been a simple mission, or so they'd thought. SG9 had done a simple reconnaissance trip and had found no life on the planet. What they had found were ruins – big, honkin, crumbled ruins – the kind he hated but the kind Jackson loved. When Daniel had seen the pictures he'd practically drooled on them and so had started his campaign to get SG1 to go back and take a look.
Jack had firmly said no, and no, and no, and no. But Daniel had much in comparison with a drip of water – he just kept going until the rock, or in this case the Colonel, wore down. Finally, in desperation Jack had said 'maybe'. Well, as any parent knows, maybe means yes. It's the parent's way of giving in but pretending to not quite be there yet. And, just like kids everywhere, Daniel rejoiced, knowing he'd won.
So, the next day they were dressed and ready to go to PX Pain In The Ass. Jack was grumpy, knowing that this was exactly the kind of mission he hated the most. To top it off it was in a friggin jungle – also his least favorite place to be. Jungles were hot, humid and full of creepy crawlies. He'd spent way too much of his career in jungles and had no desire to return to one.
"All I can say is you'd better find something interesting Jackson, or you're gonna owe me big time."
Daniel just grinned. He could afford to be magnanimous considering that he'd won this round. He'd gotten his way so he went out of his way to be extra nice to Jack. Not that it really mattered, he knew. Jack would hate this trip no matter what. Oh well, he'd just have to buy him a case of cold Guinness and agree to accompany him to the next hockey game. That would make up for it.
Unfortunately, to Daniel's dismay and Jack's disgust, the ruins were a bust. Oh, they were ruins all right, but there was absolutely nothing there but crumbling rocks. It turned out it had been a Goa'uld strong hold of some kind but had been deserted no more than 60 to 80 years before.
"They probably mined around here and when the Naquada ran out they left", Carter theorized. Whatever the reason, they hadn't left anything of interest behind at all.
Daniel spent a few hours looking but even he had to admit it was a wild goose chase. He looked at Jack and Sam who were both sweaty and hot looking. Glancing at Teal'c he was surprised to see that even the Jaffa looked uncomfortable. As he swatted away the millionth little bug he sighed. They might as well head back to the gate. There was nothing here for them.
"Okay", Daniel called to Jack.
"Okay?" the Colonel looked at him in confusion. "Okay what?"
"Let's go."
"Go? You want to go?" Jack was amazed. He was pretty sure this was the first time ever that Jackson had actually suggested leaving rather than being practically forced away from his 'ruins'. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. There's just nothing to see so we might as well head on back."
"You sure you're not sick or possessed by an alien or something?"
"No Jack, I'm fine! I just want to get going. I'm hot and sweaty and you were right, there's nothing to see here."
"Did you hear that Carter?"
"What Sir?" she asked, smiling.
"Daniel just said I was right. Can you please make a note of that Captain? Teal'c, did you hear that?"
"Indeed I did O'Neill. Would you like me to make a note of that as well?"
"Yeah!" He turned to the young archaeologist. "So Daniel, since I'm right that must mean you were wrong, isn't that right!"
Daniel sighed heavily. "Yes Jack, you were right and I was wrong. Now, can we go?"
"All right kids, let's pack her up and get out of this place. I get first dibs on the showers!"
"Hey Sir, I thought it was women first this mission?" she grinned at her commander.
"Yeah, okay Carter, you can go first – but that's only because I was right and Daniel was wrong!" Sam laughed, enjoying the Colonel's good mood. Often he'd return from these missions like a bear with a sore tooth.
It took Daniel another 20 minutes to pack everything up and then they were on their way back. The Gate was about a 2 hour walk which normally wouldn't have been anything but here, on this planet, was a pain. The jungle between the Gate and the ruins was overgrown and dense. There was no clear path so they'd had to hack their way through. Branches kept thwacking them and the insect life was voracious. They were covered in insect repellent but it only worked minimally. Sam spared a thought as to whether they could catch some awful alien disease. She sincerely hoped not.
It was when they were about 15 minutes from the gate that it happened. It started with a strange rustling over to their right. At first Sam thought it was nothing more than the wind but as it continued she realized there was something there. She knew for sure when the Colonel stopped and looked at Teal'c.
"It has been following us for the last 5 minutes O'Neill", Teal'c said quietly. He was their best tracker and his symbiote enhanced hearing was extremely acute. "I cannot identlfy whether it is human."
"Yeah, me either. Let's move it folks. Whatever it is I'd rather not meet it today. I have plans tonight."
Before anyone had a chance to ask the Colonel what his plans were, they heard a terrible scream from the jungle and what sounded like someone crashing through the trees. They heard a painful, gasping breath and another scream. It was at that point that Jack ordered them to run. Whatever made those sounds caused chills to run up and down the spines of all the humans. Even Teal'c appeared worried.
As soon as they began to run it was obvious that whatever it was was following them. Jack could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as it grew ever closer as they ran. He could almost feel the thing breathing down his neck, even though he could see nothing.
Thankfully he could soon hear the sounds of the Gate being dialed. One of his team had made it and had immediately worked to establish a wormhole. He'd fallen behind trying to stop or slow the creature after them. As he ran into the clearing he could see the rest of his team ready on the stairs, waiting for him. It was then he'd shouted,
"GO, GO. GO", wanting to make sure they were safe. He was right behind them, only steps away and they'd all waited until they were sure he'd make it before they stepped through. Unfortunately, they didn't count on the fact that the creature could throw. Just as Jack reached the top step, something came flying out of the jungle and cracked against his skull. He had one brief thought before he fell, unconscious.
"Shit!"
"Where is he? He was right behind us?" Daniel was practically shouting. "I would never have left him if I thought he wasn't going to make it."
"Me either Daniel", Sam said. "He was right behind us General – only a few steps back. There was no one behind him so we all thought we were safe."
"I understand Sg1. Go get yourself checked ou-"
"With all due respect, General Hammond", Teal'c interrupted, "we need to go back and look for O'Neill now. I believe he was in great danger from whatever was following us. I do not believe he has time to wait for another team."
The General looked at them for a few seconds and then nodded. "Just make sure you have what you need and then go. I'll get Sg3 to ready up and send them as backups as soon as possible. Take it easy out there – we don't know what we're dealing with."
They nodded and Sam asked if she could grab a couple of more things from the Armory. After a uick go ahead from the General she hurried down and was back in just a few minutes carrying extra weapons and explosives.
"You're sure you need those Captain?", the General asked.
"I hope not Sir, but we don't know what that creature was. I thought it was better to be safe than sorry."
He nodded and then motioned to Walter to 'dial her up son'. With a quick word to the team he wished them God speed as the Gate dialed. Ten minutes after their arrival they went back through the Gate. On the other side they found nothing.
Jack awoke to a splitting headache and severe nausea. At first he thought he was blind, but then realized that blood had run into his eyes and dried, keeping them glued shut. After he forced them open he tried to look around but it was still hard to see.
After a few minutes he realized he was in a cave. Long before that, however, he'd realized that the place stank. It was so horrible he had to continually tell himself to hold on to his lunch. The smell reminded him of something that had been kept in your fridge for way too long. He really didn't want to identify it any further than that.
The next thing he discovered was that he was tied up. His hands were tied behind his back and his feet were firmly bound together. He tried pulling with both hands and feet but whoever had tied him knew what they were doing.
After that he tried to look around the cave as much as he could with limited motion. There was really not much to see except what looked like piles of branches. He peered more closely at a pile that was a few feet away and then really had to keep from spewing. What he'd thought were branches were actually bones, lots and lots of human looking bones.
That's when he recognized what the smell was. It was the smell of rotting flesh. He remembered it from years ago when he and his unit had come on the mutilated corpses of people who'd been massacred in the Bosnian/Serbian fight. A number of the men, himself included, had thrown up after seeing and smelling the horrible discovery. The smell in the cave brought back those awful memories and also caused his heart to beat faster in fear.
Jack sometimes thought about dying. In his line of work you couldn't help but think about it. He'd always had two dreams about how he'd like to leave this mortal coil. One, he'd like to be a really old man and simply fall asleep on his dock, a fishing rod in one hand and a beer in the other and never wake up – at least not on earth. He'd like to wake up in heaven, or wherever it was, and see Charlie waiting for him. Yeah, that was the best scenario.
If that couldn't happen, then he'd want to go out in a blaze of glory. He'd like to be responsible for saving a bunch of people and sacrifice himself, knowing he'd done good. Yeah, that was another good one.
What he didn't want to happen and, in fact, something he'd never even imagined was being eaten by some creature on a planet light years from earth. No – nope – no way, that was not how he wanted to die.
He continued to try and loosen his wrists and, after a long time, could begin to feel the rope give slightly. At least he thought he felt it. His wrists were so chewed up and numb at this point that he couldn't be sure but he kept on trying anyway.
Sure enough, after another few minutes, he definitely felt hem loosen. Thank God! He might just get out of this before the creature came back.
As fate would have it, the 'creature' came back at the precise moment the ropes fell from Jack's wrists and he'd leaned over to undo the ropes around his ankles.
All Jack heard was a roar and the next thing he knew he'd been violently pushed back to the ground.
"God", he groaned as he caught a whiff of the putrid smell of the animal on top of him. Before another second had passed he finally lost it – or at least lost everything he'd eaten in the last 12 hours. He threw up all over the creature, which probably pleased it no end.
Jack was still vomiting when he was severely cuffed on the head and he was rolled over. Good, he thought, at least this way I won't suffocate in my own puke! Although, as his head was pushed into the ground he had to rethink that as he continued to heave. Soon he was choking as he breathed in the dirt and vomit under his face.
Fortunately, the creature backed off after a minute or so and Jack was able to take a breath of air. He continued to choke and gasp but at least he was in no immediate danger of dying.
At least that's what he thought until his hands were again pulled behind him. This time the creature took even more ropes, and wrapped them tightly around his wrists. By the time he was finished Jack had lost all feeling in his hands. The 'thing' proceeded to wrap more ropes around his ankles and all the way up his legs to his knees. Finally, it pulled his feet back towards his hands and tied another rope attaching ankles to wrists.
"Okay, really, really uncomfortable here." He gasped. His back felt like it was breaking. He heard the – what was it? He'd only gotten a brief glimpse of the thing. He'd have to call it something other than creature. Fred! That was it, he was going to call it Fred.
Well, before anymore time had elapsed 'Fred' walked over and bent down. Jack cringed, unsure of what was happening. Fred grabbed his hair and proceeded to try and pull him to the other side of the cave. The problem with that, of course, was that Jack's hair was pretty short. Fred did manage to move him a few feet – much to Jack's dismay (damn it – that hurt!) but eventually he gave up. Instead, he reached down to the rope attaching his feet and hands and pulled Jack by that.
Jack yelled at him as it really hurt. He was sure the thing had practically pulled his arm out of its socket. At the least he'd taken the skin off one whole side as he'd been dragged across the cave!
Fred left him there and then went and got some things that were on the other side of his 'cozy little home'. As he collected the items Jack got a look at him (it?) for the first time.
Fred was close to 7 feet tall (wonder if he's ever played basketball, thought Jack), and was extremely 'furry' with hair growing all over his body – except, in fact, for his face. It was completely hairless but that definitely didn't improve its' looks. Its eyes were tiny and terribly blood shot. The nose was flattened with extremely wide nostrils that had stuff hanging from them. The lips were thin but the mouth was very wide – maybe twice as wide as a human mouth – and its teeth were razor sharp. Its ears were also small and were not much more than holes in the side of its head.
As for its body – it had human like hands although they were much bigger, much hairier and much dirtier. It was naked and the thick body hair did a good job of keeping things somewhat modest – although when looked at from a certain angle it was clear that Fred was a boy.
So – some kind of primitive humanoid, thought Jack. Wonder if he'd related to the unas? Whoever or whatever it was, he was pretty sure it wasn't nice.
Fred came over to Jack carrying what looked like a primitive knife made of bone. Uh oh!
"Uh hey. I don't suppose it will do any good to tell you I come in peace? Yeah, that's right – I come in peace to meet new people – ur – creatures, and you know, sit and chat, share some food – you know, that kind of thing." He went to continue when Fred reached down and again cuffed him against the side of the head.
"Hey! Ow." He wondered if he'd lost a tooth with that last one. This thing was strong! Jack remained quiet after that, not wanting to irritate the creature any more than he already had. He was desperately trying to figure a way out of this but so far, nothing came to mind.
Fred squatted down beside Jack and reached out and touched his shirt. He didn't seem to know what it was and began pulling and tugging on it which forced Jack's arms back even further. When nothing happened Fred stuck his knife out towards the bound man in front of him.
O'Neill closed his eyes, sure he was about to meet his maker. Instead, he heard cloth ripping. Carefully opening his eyes he realized that the big guy was just cutting his shirt. He breathed a sigh of relief which changed as the monster continued. Soon Jack was sporting knicks and cuts all over his back, arms and chest from where the creature was cutting. Eventually his shirt was shredded and Fred pulled the pieces off of him. Interestingly, he stuck one of them in his mouth but quickly spat it out.
"Not good is it?' Jack asked. "Never liked eating cotton myself."
This time Fred looked at him as he spoke. The Colonel wished he could read what was going on in the creature's mind – if anything – but the look he got seemed pretty lacking in intelligence.
Fred then leaned over and began to sniff him all over. It creeped Jack out – but not nearly as much as when the thing suddenly licked him. The feel of the scratchy tongue (like a huge cat's tongue) sent shivers up his spine. God, he prayed his team would find him soon.
The next thing he knew Fred had started to hack away his pants. "Watch it there!" he practically shouted. "That's a one of a kind pair – I don't want to lose those!"
It took a while but the pants were eventually removed. His boxer shorts remained – although they were ripped – for which Jack was extremely grateful. It was silly, he knew, but he felt much less vulnerable wearing at least some clothes.
The beast returned to his little 'storage area' and rummaged around. He returned with what looked like a gourd which had been hacked open. Inside Jack could just see what looked like dried leaves. He wondered what they were.
He was soon to find out! Fred set the gourd down and picked up his bone knife. Without any more delay he began making shallow cuts across Jack's chest.
"Hey, what are you doing?" He knew they weren't terribly deep, but they were painful. As the beast continued he started to worry. Enough of these and he could bleed to death. What was the Chinese torture – death by a thousand cuts?
By the time Fed had finished with his chest and stomach Jack could feel his body start to react. He was shaking and began to feel cold. He really began to worry when he was pushed over to lie on his front, his face semi-buried in the dirt. His captor started on his back and shoulders and then down the back of the legs.
He knew he must be a bloody mess by now although he thought some of the cuts had stopped bleeding. When he was flipped back on his side – he couldn't go on his back because of the way his arms and legs were tied –Fred finished off his cutting by going down Jack's front legs to where the ropes started.
He was really starting to shake and was feeling faint. He didn't know what his captor was up to but it was looking worse and worse all the time. Thankfully, Fred put the bloody knife down and seemed to be finished with the cuts. Jack watched as he picked up the bowl of dried leaves.
"What?" he tried to jerk back as the beast began rubbing the leaves into the cuts all over his body. It not only started the bleeding again, the rubbing hurt like hell. As time went on, Jack realized that the leaves were beginning to burn. He didn't know what was in them but they were starting to hurt – a lot!
He could feel himself begin to lose awareness of what was going on. He knew he had broken out in a cold sweat and was worried that he was going into shock. The pain was excruciating now and he could hear himself begin to groan. That obviously irritated his captor as the next thing he knew a piece of his ripped shirt was jammed into his mouth.
He was trussed up like a turkey, he thought in his state of semi-consciousness. I wonder if he's going to roast me?
The Colonel was losing touch with reality and couldn't tell what was happening any more. All he knew was that he was being moved back and forth. It suddenly dawned on him that he was being wrapped tightly in something, which was then tied securely around his body.
He laughed deliriously to himself – yup – trussed and ready to roast. With that he lost consciousness.
"Do you see anything Teal'c?" Carter asked. Teal'c was silent as he studied the ground.
"Yes, there are tracks leading away from the Stargate."
"Are they Jack's?" Daniel asked hopefully.
"No. I do not see O'Neill's footprints leading away. These footprints are large and whoever made them was not wearing shoes."
"But what about the Colonel?"
"I believe he must have been carried. The person or animal who made these tracks was large and could possibly have been strong enough to lift O'Neill."
"Well then, let's follow him." Carter waved him on as he was the one who would have to do the tracking.
"It may be dangerous Captain Carter."
"Probably Teal'c. That's why we all have to be careful. You take the lead, Daniel in the middle and I'll take our six. Keep your eyes peeled guys. We don't know what this thing is capable of."
The two men nodded and they started out on their journey. They had to go back through the jungle but in a slightly different direction than the ruins, although they were close. They'd walked for over an hour and still hadn't seen any sign of Colonel O'Neill.
"Do you still see the tracks?", Carter asked softly.
"Yes indeed Captain Carter. The creature came this way recently."
"Any idea what it is? Is it human?"
"I do not know. It certainly stands upright as a human and the foot prints are similar, but it is large. I am sorry I cannot tell you more."
"Heavens, that's more than I'd be able to figure out. Let's keep going."
"I'll shoot myself if Jack's been hurt", Daniel muttered to Sam. "I was the one who made him come and then there was nothing to see. God, what if he's hurt or dead? It'll be all my fault."
"No sense thinking that way Daniel. We had no way of knowing this planet was inhabited and you know these things can happen anywhere. The Colonel won't blame you you know."
"No, I know he won't – at least, not really. He will, however, make me pay dearly."
Sam laughed gently. Yes, that's exactly what the Colonel will do, she thought. He'll never let Daniel forget this even though he wouldn't honestly blame the archaeologist for this.
"Captain Carter", Teal'c whispered voice cut through her thoughts. "There is a cave up ahead. I believe the footprints end there."
"Do you know if the creature is in there now?"
"I do not, but I will find out."
"Okay, but be careful Teal'c. We don't know what we'll find."
"I know Captain Carter. I will be careful."
"We'll cover you." She and Daniel watched as Teal'c slowly and silently inched closer to the cave. When he arrived at the entrance he stood with his body against the rock wall to the side of the cave entrance. He nodded once at Carter and then carefully stuck his head around and looked in.
He was still while his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness of the cave. Sam could tell, from the stiffening of his body, the moment he'd found something. He quickly inched away from the cave towards her.
"I believe there is something in the cave. It may be a body but I cannot tell for certain. The creature does not appear to be there. I would like to enter and see what it is inside."
"Should I come?"
"No, I believe it would be better for you to remain and watch in case it returns." She nodded, agreeing with the logic of that.
"Okay, we'll be watching. You'd better hurry."
With a simple nod Teal'c returned to the cave. He carefully entered, making sure that no one was hiding out of sight. Soon he was no longer visible to his companions.
Teal'c had seen something in the cave but what it was he couldn't quite tell. As he drew nearer he was surprised to recognize that it was a mummy – but a mummy wrapped in what looked to be leaves.
He suddenly started when he realized the head was not wrapped. The next moment he discovered that he knew that head – it was O'Neill. He rushed up to his friend and knelt down. For one brief moment he thought he was dead but he quickly felt the Colonel's neck and was relieved to feel a faint pulse.
It was only then that Teal'c felt the heat. With a soft curse in his native language, Teal'c quickly pulled the wrapped man off the coals on which he's been placed. Someone had been 'cooking' the Colonel. The leaves in which he was wrapped were burnt on the bottom and had begun to smoke. He just prayed that they'd protected O'Neill from being burnt too badly.
Knowing that time was short he reached down and picked O'Neill up and slung him over his shoulder. There was no time for first aid right now. He just prayed his friend would keep going until they could get him back to the Infirmary. By the look of his extremely pale face and shallow breathing he was not doing well.
He walked as quickly as he could out of the cave towards Daniel and Captain Carter. It was only as he got closer that they realized what – or who – it was that Teal'c was carrying.
"Oh my God, It's the Colonel", gasped Carter. "Is he alive?"
"Yes, but we must hurry. He needs medical care and I am afraid his captor may return."
"Okay, let's go." Carter and Daniel both looked worriedly at their commander. "What did it do to him?" Sam asked as they began walking.
"I believe they were cooking him."
"What!" cried Daniel. "You're kidding, right?"
" I am not. He had been placed on hot coals in order to cook him."
"Shit!" Sam muttered. "That's what I smelled. Do you think he's badly burned Teal'c?" She knew if he'd suffered bad burns they'd have to get him back really quickly or he'd go into shock and die. Burns were one of the worst things that could happen.
"I do not know. I hope the leaves will have protected him. There was no fire – just the hot coals."
"In other words, they were roasting him slowly over low heat." Daniel looked sick. What had he done? "Damn it all – I brought us to a planet of cannibals."
"Well, technically the creature probably isn't human, so it can't really be a cannibal."
"Semantics Sam", they continued to speak as they made their way back to the Gate. It was slow going with Teal'c having to carry the Colonel.
Without warning they heard screams and grunts coming from the direction of the cave. It was clearly more than one of the creatures and even more clear that they were being followed.
"We'll never make it to the Gate Sam." Daniel spoke urgently.
"I know. Look, we're close to the ruins – let's head there – there's shelter. " They turned and began to run as fast as they could with their unconscious burden, towards the ruined Goa'uld stronghold. Fortunately they had a head start over their pursuers and managed to make it there quickly.
Teal'c found one of the buildings that was in the best shape. Three walls were standing and a partial wall on the fourth side. They placed Jack on the floor and each of them dropped their packs. Sam and Teal'c took up defensive positions while Daniel began looking at his friend.
"God, what did they do to him?" he wondered. From the twisted position of Jack's body it was obvious that he'd been tied tightly before being wrapped. It was a good thing he was unconscious, thought Daniel, or otherwise he'd been very uncomfortable in this position.
"I'm gonna get rid of these leaves and stuff", he said softly to Sam.
"All right. Just keep the first aid kit close by in case he needs it right away. I'll be over as soon as I can to take a look."
Taking a pair of scissors from the kit he began to cut away the leaves. After a second he realized that was going to take forever so he grabbed his Swiss army knife. He grimaced when he saw it – it had been a present from Jack.
Carefully, so as not to cut the Colonel, he began slicing through the leaves. He pulled them off one by one and was glad to see there were a number of layers. That would have protected the Colonel a bit from the heat of the coals.
He was feeling less happy as he removed more of the covering. He could tell that the leaves were wet – and he was pretty sure it wasn't water. As he pulled the last of them away he gasped. Jack was completely covered in blood.
"Crap!" he exclaimed loudly.
"Shhh Daniel. What is it?" Sam crawled over and gasped as she saw what Daniel had seen. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, knowing that it was imperative she keep her cool. The Colonel's life depended on it.
"Can you tell where the blood is coming from?" She asked. She had to repeat her questions sharply before he snapped out of his horrified paralysis.
"What? Oh, I don't' know." He looked around but couldn't see a major wound. It was then he noticed the cuts. "God Sam, I think he's been cut all over his body."
"Yeah", she nodded, "that's what it looks like." She'd been checking as well and had also seen what looked like plants or leaves covering –and sometimes in – the cuts. "Good, let's get these ropes off of him and see what else there is."
Daniel began cutting the ropes that bound his friend but it took a while. The creature who had done this had really bound him tightly. They could see that his hands were terribly swollen and blue from lack of circulation. Finally, the ropes all came away and the Colonel flopped down at their feet.
"He looks bad Sam." With the ropes off they could see the dozens of cuts as well as the burns all along one side and some of his back, legs and arms".
"I think his shoulder is dislocated as well", she said without emotion. Daniel looked at her sharply, surprised at the seeming coldness of her voice. "I'm going to pull it back in to place. You hold him." It took a while but finally they heard a 'pop' and his arm was back.
"Okay, now for the burns. Open the first aid kit and get me some saline. I'm going to rinse him off and then we'll bandage him lightly over the burns." She worked steadily, with Daniel's help, all the while Teal'c watched to see if they'd be discovered.
By the time they were finished, Jack again looked like a mummy, although this time he was covered in white bandages He still looked extremely pale and sick but he was still with them - although Sam knew he needed serious medical treatment, real soon.
"They are coming Captain Carter", Teal'c said softly. "And I believe there are a great number of them." The three teammates and friends prepared for battle.