SOP Stranded Out in Pegasus - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)

~#~ (Chapter 1)

"Now's our chance," Cameron Mitchell yelled to his team. "Jackson, you need to get dialling before that ship comes back and fries our asses. We'll cover you."

Daniel Jackson cautiously peered out of the tree line where SG-1 were holed up. The young man warily looked around to get an idea where the Jaffa were positioned before he announced, "Ready, Mitchell."

With that, the team moved out of the trees as a single unit. Sam, Teal'c and Mitchell each firing in different directions to cover the archaeologist as he headed straight for the DHD.

The Jaffa were returning fire mercilessly as they realised that the Tau'ri were on the verge of escape. The three soldiers spread out around the clearing to give Daniel a chance to correctly enter the address home.

Daniel pressed the final glyph on the address back to Earth and, moments after he whacked the red crystal in the centre of the DHD, the wormhole burst into life in front of him. He sent the code through with his GDO and shouted, "Mitchell, all clear."

Mitchell chanced a glance in the direction of the gate and swore loudly. "Damn it, the ship's coming back. Jackson, go - now."

Daniel started to move out from where he was crouched behind the DHD, but a sudden volley of staff weapon fire sent him scurrying back for cover. He pressed his back up against the DHD and began firing at the Jaffa who had him trapped there.

"Teal'c," Mitchell shouted. "Get moving before we lose the wormhole."

For someone so large, Teal'c moved with surprising speed. He ran towards the waiting wormhole, dispatching Jaffa warriors as he did so.

With a backwards glance he dived through the vortex, back to the SGC to request urgent activation of the MALP that they'd left parked deep in the trees on the planet. This would hold the wormhole open, ready for the other team members to come through.

~#~

Back on the planet, Mitchell shouted towards his final team-mate. "Sam, time to go. Jackson, you too."

He started moving towards the gate himself once he saw Sam start her run. He beat her to the gate and turned his back on it, keeping up his covering fire for both Daniel and Sam.

Daniel finally got free of the DHD and started making his way towards Mitchell, running and firing his Beretta behind him at the same time.

Daniel and Mitchell were horrified when suddenly Sam cried out and crashed to the floor. "Sam," they both cried out as she fell.

Daniel changed direction and headed for his fallen team-mate, firing random shots into the tree line as he did so. Mitchell offered covering fire with his P-90 and showered the area behind his two youngest team members with bullets.

When Daniel reached Sam he grabbed her arm and threw it over his shoulder, hoisting her to her feet as he did so.

"Sam, we've got to move," he urged.

With a pained nod of her head she said, "I know." She looked towards the gate, in the direction they were about to run and her gaze fixed on a point in the sky. Her eyes opened wide, and she shouted, "Cam, look out."

She tried to point at the death glider which was nearly at the gate. She was worried that Mitchell couldn't see it from where he was standing as it was approaching from the area behind the active wormhole.

Sam and Daniel started moving rapidly towards the gate as the ship started to strafe at the ground behind it.

"Mitchell, go," shouted Daniel. "We'll be right behind you."

Waiting until the last possible moment, Mitchell continued to fire into the trees. Once Sam and Daniel were at the base of the ramp he stepped backwards into the vortex. As he did so he could see weapons fire from the ship coming past the sides of the gate.

Daniel and Sam ducked momentarily before Daniel dragged the young woman to her feet and flung the pair of them towards the gateway back to Earth.

Unfortunately as he did so the weapons fire from the ship hit the DHD, destroying it in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics.

The gate chevrons lit up like a Christmas tree and the wormhole rippled and spluttered before returning to normal.

Committed as they were to their headlong plunge into the event horizon, there was nothing that either Sam nor Daniel could have done about it - even if they had noticed the wormhole acting abnormally.

They entered the vortex clinging to one another for support. The one thought between them - to get off the planet and back home, to the SGC.

~#~

Mitchell quickly stepped backwards down the ramp, expecting Sam and Daniel to come charging through the gate straight after him. He glanced over his shoulder and was pleased to see Carolyn Lam waiting near the base of the ramp with Teal'c at her side.

He nodded his acknowledgement to the large Jaffa and then turned his attention back to the active wormhole.

At that moment every chevron on the gate lit up and the wormhole collapsed and disappeared.

"No," shouted Mitchell.

Turning and looking up at the control room he shouted, "What happened. Dial it back, we've got to go back and get 'em."

"Delay that order, Sergeant." Hank Landry said sternly to the technician. He paged the comms system and barked, "Colonel, my office - now. SG's two and 3, get geared up for possible search and rescue in one hour."

"But…" Mitchell started to object.

"My office, Colonel…now," the General repeated his order. He then added, "You too, Teal'c."

Mitchell stormed out of the gate room with Teal'c on his heels, frustration evident in his every move.

Carolyn watched him go, knowing that Mitchell would do everything in his power to return to the planet as soon as he was physically able.

With a sigh she followed the two members of SG-1 towards the General's office. She had a feeling that her father would call her in before too long. Teal'c had informed the SGC that the team were coming in under heavy fire and to stand ready for possible casualties.

She'd been relieved to see that Colonel Mitchell appeared to be uninjured, but it was obvious that he was extremely worried about his two - now missing - team-mates.

~#~

Upon entering General Landry's office, Colonel Mitchell briefly explained that upon arrival on P8J-187 the team had heard staff weapons fire in the distance. It had been coming from the direction of the seemingly abandoned settlement that had shown up on the UAV footage. They had parked the MALP in the trees in a hope that their presence would remain undetected for as long as possible and had then set out to see if they could offer assistance to any previously unidentified natives.

After journeying a fair distance through the trees it became clear that they were walking into a conflict between two warring groups of Jaffa. It was initially assumed that this was a group of Free Jaffa attempting to subdue a platoon of Jaffa that mistakenly thought they were still fighting for the Goa'uld.

Teal'c identified that the opposing sides were in fact Jaffa from the minor System Lords, Ma'at and Ptah, and neither side seemed to be winning.

As they tried to retreat back towards the gate, the small group of Tau'ri were spotted by a group of Ma'at's Jaffa. The Jaffa recognised the uniforms of the SGC and set out to try and eliminate the team in the name of their God. Ptah's Jaffa saw what was happening and they too struck out against the Tau'ri, as well as keeping up their assault on the Ma'at warriors.

Therefore SG-1 had found themselves trapped in the middle of a war where both sides were also trying to eliminate them. They'd fought their way back to the gate only to realise that the death glider was waiting to block access to the clearing.

Mitchell knew it would take a short while for the pilot to get the small craft turned around and headed back towards them. They'd waited for the glider to pass over the open space before sending Daniel out to dial the gate. Sam had been hit and Daniel had got her to the base of the ramp before Mitchell stepped through.

There was no more that either Mitchell or Teal'c could add to the briefing so Landry dismissed the pair of them while he made arrangements with the search and rescue teams.