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Death's Stare
By
Jennaya
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The Colonel sat in the dark drinking out of a near empty whiskey bottle. He'd spent the entire day attempting to mount a rescue mission. Two weeks ago, they had gone in under the cover of night on a job, but walked into an ambush. A young Captain on his team went down. There was no way anyone could have survived those injuries, and he had seen the glazed over eyes staring blankly back. Having seen death too many times in his career, he recognized it for what it was. Making the decision to get the rest of his team out of there alive, they left the body. Half his team would have died trying to bring it home. A harsh decision, but the only one he felt he had.
Except today the General informed him, the Captain was still alive and being held prisoner behind enemy lines. There was nothing that could be done, no way to save the young airman. Tears came to the Colonel's eyes as he knew the pain and torture his Captain would endure before being allowed to die. It was almost more than he could bear. Finishing off the whiskey, he knew it was time to tell the family.
Walking up the drive had been hard enough the first time to tell the wife and young son their soldier was never coming home again. But now, he had to tell them their husband and father was alive, but no rescue would be surmounted. He found small comfort in the Chaplain accompanying him on this wretched duty.
"Is your mother home?" He asked through the screen door.
"Hi Uncle Frank," the young boy said quietly as his mother approached the door.
"Hey Frank, what's going on?" She asked as her voice trembled with the look on his face.
"Sara, I…I…I'm sorry," his voice cracked and he couldn't get the words out.
"Mrs. O'Neill, I'm Chaplain Somers, Colonel Cromwell and I have news about your husband, Captain Jack O'Neill. May we come in?"