Field Trip
By
Denise
Jack leaned forward, massaging his leg through his pants. A thorough scrubbing and half a bottle of lotion had settled down a lot of the itch, but he knew nothing but time would cure the ache of a knitting bone.
He glared balefully at the stack of paperwork lying in his inbox. This was the downside of 'light duty'. Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork.
He could be home. He certainly had the sick leave. But, and he'd be damned before he'd admit it, he was getting kinda bored just sitting around the house.
Resigning himself to his fate and aware that the hours would pass more quickly if he worked, Jack pulled the reports out of his mailbox and started reading them over. Mission report after mission report blurred and he soon found himself skimming. That was all he really had to do, anyway. His task was to read the mission reports and see if events necessitated them maybe tweaking off world procedures.
Their little run in with the Mongols being a prime example. It was now mission protocol that no member of the team, male or female, be left alone.
The names on one report caught his attention and Jack read it closely. He knew that the other members of his team had been going out with other teams. It was silly and inefficient to let archaeological finds just sit there for weeks while Jack healed enough to be fit for duty. And, given the...unique natures of his team, both he and Hammond thought it'd do the other members of the command good to learn to deal with them.
A couple of lines in the report caused Jack to frown and he picked up the phone. "Carter, you got a minute?" She answered affirmative and he hung up the phone, taking the few minutes to finish reading Major Reynolds report.
"Sir?" She knocked on the door frame.
Jack waved her in and motioned for her to sit. "You guys went out with Reynolds last week?"
She nodded. While Jack may have been laid up for the better part of two months with his injuries, he knew that hers had been much less severe. A couple weeks of rest was all she'd needed before being cleared for duty. "P45G4X," she said. "They found a couple of sites, abandoned goa'uld temples. We went out with SG-5 to try and figure out whose they were."
Jack nodded. "It seems there was a little excitement." He pointed at the line in the report. "Daniel got lost?"
She squirmed a bit. "Not as much lost as...temporarily misdirected." Jack stared at her. "Daniel was going from Site One to Site Two; he took a left instead of a right and ended up in the middle of the woods. Once he realized he was lost, he knew enough to stop, sit down and wait for us to find him."
Jack nodded. "Radios?"
She shook her head. "There was something interfering with them. We never did figure out just what in the environment or atmosphere was doing it, but the radios weren't dependable."
"Why was he going from one site to the other alone?" Jack asked. "There were six other people there."
"Yes, sir. We didn't need seven people at each site, there wasn't enough work. And there was a concern about the weather, so we split up. Each site had a guard, one cataloguing and one documenting. That way we could do twice the work in half the time. Daniel was summoned from one site to the other, and since we'd seen no signs of humans, Major Reynolds didn't have a problem with him walking between them. It was maybe a half mile. You could almost yell at each other and be heard."
"And yet mister 'I've been on digs since I could walk' got lost," he said.
She nodded. "Yes, sir. I think it had a lot to do with the environment, sir. Trees, scrub, uneven terrain, it's easy to get twisted around. Especially when you're also dealing with purple skies and orange grass."
"Still, he's got to be able to navigate and, worst case, find his own way back to the gate." She nodded after a second and Jack picked up on the pause. "Carter?"
"With all due respect, sir, I feel like I'm tattling to teacher."
"The day may come when you, me and Teal'c are pinned down or covering our asses and Daniel needs to go get backup," Jack said.
"Or we all get killed and he needs to get back to the gate on his own," she said.
"Cheery," Jack chided.
"Sorry, sir," she shrugged.
"Regardless, I'm thinking him, and any other civilians we end up with, could benefit from some basic survival classes."
She nodded. "Along with location to gate orientation and the addresses to any safe harbors we end up finding."
"What do you think about you taking Daniel out and teaching him Survival 101?" he asked.
"Me? Sir, there's instructors at the academy that are probably a lot better than I am."
"And they'll wonder why we're teaching a civilian archaeologist survival skills, not to mention the fact that their training definitely won't cover the gate orientation thing," he said.
"Sir—"
"Carter, my thought is, we're eventually going to need our own training program. There is nothing in any academy anywhere that covers other worldly travels."
"And me teaching Daniel would be the basis for it?" she asked.
"Look at it this way, if there's a curriculum that can teach Daniel basic survival and how to get back to the gate on their own, it can work for anyone."
"I agree, sir but-"
"You don't want to do it?"
"No. Umm, well, sir..."
"Carter, as oddball as this is, you're the second in command of this team. You're ranking officer under me. Now you may be the only officer but...if the crap hits the fan, it will be your job to get everyone else home. Now I'm not too worried about Teal'c taking care of himself, but wouldn't it be easier to get Daniel back to Earth if you knew that he knew what to do?"
"It would be," she agreed.
"Good. Let me talk to Hammond and get you two taken out of rotation. You can take him on a little field trip. I think we have some good weather coming for the next couple of weeks."
"What do you want me to teach him?" she asked.
Jack shrugged. "Take him out into the state park, get him lost and teach him how to get unlost," Jack said. "Elude and evade, stealthy movement...anything you think will give him a fighting chance if he ends up on his own. I'll authorize any gear you need."
"Yes, sir," she said, getting to her feet.
"Carter? There is nothing wrong with enjoying yourself while you do it. Chill out, catch a few rays, relax." He said. "Think of it as a 'work from home' pass for a couple of days."
::::::::
"So, now that we're here, can you tell me why?" Daniel asked, getting out of the motor pool jeep.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked, also getting out.
"Come on." He joined her at the back of the vehicle. "Wasn't it just last week that you were telling me how much you didn't mind being earth side? Sleeping in a real bed, plenty of hot water…"
"I changed my mind," she said, shrugging. She pulled her pack out of the back and set it on the ground.
"Aahah." He reached out and stopped her when she reached in for the second one. "Are you going to tell me the truth or make me play along until we set up camp tonight?"
"Okay." She turned to him. "P45G4X."
He frowned. "Major Reynolds was really that upset?"
"Not him."
"Jack? Really? All I did was get a little turned around and—"
"No," Sam interrupted. "Not like that. Look, Daniel, it's not as much that you got twisted around. It brought up a bigger issue. If the SGC does what we think it's going to do, a year or two from now there will probably be more teams and more civilians."
"Civilians that'll get lost?"
"Civilians that will need to be trained in basic survival skills," she said.
"Don't you have classes for that?"
"Yeah, and if you want to spend a week eating bugs and self-caught sushi, I'm sure the colonel can get you in." She looked around, more out of habit than need; they were alone at the trail head. "One big thing the class won't teach you is how to find your way back to the gate when the sky is green, the grass blue and there are a dozen Jaffa on your ass." He stared at her and she sighed. "Daniel, look at it this way. The colonel is thinking ahead. He sees a need for a training course. You and I are his two easiest resources in this whole thing. And," She held up her hand. "This is our chance to get rid of some bad habits and make good ones. I mean, who knows, we could end up training people or helping to decide who does/doesn't get assigned here. Given what we run into out there and the stakes, wouldn't you like to have a say?"
"And you get all this from teaching me how not to get lost?"
"Reading between the lines is an art form," she said. "So, are you going to come with me or do we go back and the colonel can find someone else?"
"We'll go," Daniel said, reaching for his pack. "But I want you to help me convince Jack that part of survival out there is knowing the difference between Horace and Ra."
She nodded and the two of them made short work of pulling the last of the supplies from the Jeep. Within fifteen minutes they were done and headed off into the wilderness.
::::::::::::::::::::::
"So, what am I supposed to be learning?" Daniel asked, sitting down on a rock. Sam sat beside him and they both reached for their canteens, taking a drink. It was a warm day, but not hot. Sam was wearing a t-shirt and long lightweight pants tucked into hiking boots. Daniel's attire was similar. They both had jackets as a defense against the evening chill, but, barring any weather, t-shirts should be all they needed.
She gestured down through the trees, where the jeep was just visible. "We have two main ways of notating direction from the gate. One is the clock method, the other is degrees."
"Lemme guess, the gate is the center of a clock."
Sam nodded. "You walk out of the gate facing twelve o'clock, behind you is six—"
"To the left nine, the right three," he interrupted. "I get it."
"With the degree method, it's similar to what you'd use with a compass, except we can't reliably use compasses off world. Not every planet has a magnetic north. So we use the gate again as the center. Zero or three sixty is straight ahead, one eighty behind, etc." She turned to look at him. "It doesn't really matter which method you use, or even if you come up with one of your own. The key is that you never lose track of where you are in relation to the gate."
"Okay. I can see where that would be good. How do you do it?"
"It takes some practice at first. But you basically just pay attention to where you're going. You know, when we get the UAV surveys of a planet, they denote the location of where the site is. Your focus is usually what they show, not where it is. Maybe it's as simple as you start paying attention to where it is and how far from the gate it is. Landmarks come in handy too. Distinctive trees or rock formations. Guideposts that can help you get where you need to be. Every briefing has a series of UAV photos. Memorize more than your dig site."
He sighed. "So, basically pay attention."
"Pretty much," she smiled. "Daniel, most of the time, we'll have your back. But the day may come that we can't. You gotta be able to take care of yourself."
He nodded. "Now what?"
"There's a camp site a couple of miles up. We'll get up there, rest for the night. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to take you off the trail…and you're gonna get me back on it, preferably by the end of the day."
He chuckled. "Something tells me it's not going to be that easy."
She grinned and tucked her canteen away as she got to her feet. "Would I do that?" she teased.
"Yes, yes you would," Daniel said as she walked away. "And you'd enjoy it too."
He trotted after her, oddly looking forward to whatever challenge she was going to lay out for him in the morning.
:::::::::::
Daniel sat back on the log, watching as Sam returned from her trip into the trees. She was still wearing her long pants and t-shirt but had exchanged her boots for a pair of sandals – to let her feet breathe she said.
They'd made it to the campsite a couple of hours before sunset. Plenty of time to set up their small camp. A fire burned merrily in the pit they'd dug, flanked by two 'tents'. Which was really a generous term for a small tarp/mosquito net draped over a sleeping bag and air mattress.
Sam sat beside him and stretched her feet towards the fire, despite the fact that it really wasn't cold.
"Dessert?" Daniel asked, holding up a small bag of marshmallows.
"How can you have room after all those hot dogs?" she asked.
"All that walking made me hungry I guess," he shrugged. He shook the bag and Sam nodded, getting to her feet. She picked up a couple of large sticks to serve as toasting rods. Daniel tore open the bag and swapped her a couple of marshmallows for a stick. They hung their treats over the fire, turning the sticks to get the confections toasted just right. Daniel dipped his into the flames, setting the marshmallow ablaze.
"Ah, you burn them?" she complained, working to keep hers evenly browned.
"They're best when they're burned."
"Only if you like eating charcoal," she said as he blew on his to extinguish the flames.
She pulled hers from the fire and carefully pulled the outer toasted layer off and ate it before returning the marshmallow to the fire.
"What happened in Antarctica?" he asked, even as he cringed at just tossing the question out there.
"What?" Sam coughed, nearly choking on her bite of marshmallow.
"You guys have been different since you got back," he said.
"Well, the colonel spent four weeks in the hospital."
"And you spent a week in the infirmary after you tried to catch pneumonia," he said. "I'm not talking about that."
"Then what are you talking about?"
"I don't know. I just…you're different."
She shrugged, remaining silent for a few moments before she sighed, dipping her marshmallow into the flames to burn up. "We need to secure the food," she said, setting her toasting stick down.
"Sam—"
She pulled a thin rope out of her pack and walked over to a tall tree. She tossed one end over a high branch and ran the other through the straps on her pack. "You done with yours?"
"Yeah," Daniel said, realizing that he'd pushed too hard, too fast. "What time do you want to start in the morning?" he asked as she pulled the packs up several yards, then tied the rope to another branch.
"We're not going to go stumbling around in the dark," she said. "But not too late either. Eightish maybe. First one up makes the coffee."
"Sounds good. I'll be right back," he said. Daniel retreated into the bushes and took care of his own business. As he returned, she was finishing banking the fire.
"See you in the morning," she said. A few minutes later Daniel crawled into his own sleeping bag, the combination of a long hike and fresh air sending him to sleep in just a few minutes.
:::::::::
Sam opened her eyes, frowning when she realized that it wasn't even dawn yet. There were times when she hated her body clock. She contemplated getting up and starting the coffee, then abandoned the thought. She was on 'vacation', so to speak, she could veg out a bit.
She indulged herself in a fit of pique at her situation. Yes, she was in the military. Yes, that meant that you did what you were told to do, even if you didn't like it. But what the hell gave him the right to send her out here in the woods, giving up two days of her life to teach something to Daniel that he could teach him himself.
She wanted to blame her short temper and her mood last night on simple resentment, but she knew there was more to it than that. There was more than just pique that ate at her. More than just frustration or ire. It was hard to describe, the unease that had haunted her for weeks.
She knew that she'd brought back more from Antarctica than just a cold and a distinct aversion to ice. But it wasn't something she was ready to discuss with herself yet, much less someone else. Even someone like Daniel, who may mean well, but really had no idea what it was and what it meant. That was maybe the hardest thing. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. It was something that you had to experience to know. And the only person that could possibly know or understand was the one person that would never talk about it.
Later. She'd deal with it later. Right now she was going to sleep for a bit more and since she couldn't take it out on the colonel, she'd find ways annoy Daniel.
An hour or so she rolled over in her sleeping bag, a smile creasing her face at the welcome smell of coffee. She opened her eyes and stretched, not surprised to see that it was just barely getting light outside. She knew, although she'd told Daniel they could sleep in, that neither of them really would. She got out of her sleeping bag, waving to Daniel as she put her socks back on, taking care to give her hiking boots a precautionary shake to evict any squatters before she put them on and got to her feet.
"You're not going to view this as sucking up to teacher, are you?" he asked, handing her a mug of instant coffee.
"I think I'd classify it as self preservation," she replied. "I don't think either of us wants to be around the other without our caffeine." She took a sip and relished the stimulant coursing through her system. "Sleep okay?"
He nodded. "About as good as I ever do." He dug in his pack and handed her some granola bars. "Hardly the breakfast of champions."
"But far better than breakfast MRE's." She took one and slowly ate the crunchy bar. "Had we been hiding last night, we wouldn't have had a fire, or used our tents," she said.
Daniel nodded. "Didn't Jack call it 'going to ground'?"
"Yeah. Basically, and I can show you when we break camp and hit the trail, you find a place that's sheltered and hard to notice and pretty much hide. Caves are cliché but work. Maybe under a heavy bush, under a rock overhang, in a crevice…anywhere where you can blend yourself into the surroundings." She finished with her granola bar and shoved the wrapper into her pocket. "No fire. No food, even uncooked. You'd be surprised how far a smell can carry. You also don't make your hiding place as much as you find one. You don't break off branches or disturb the leaves."
"But we did that once," he said. "Jack and Teal'c broke off some branches and used them as camouflage."
She nodded. "But they didn't take them off bushes close to where we were hiding. That's the key. You don't do anything that draws any sort of attention to where you are. And to an experienced tracker, broken branches are a dead giveaway."
"Okay," he nodded, finishing his coffee. Sam drank hers and took a few minutes in the trees before she returned to the campsite and helped him roll up the sleeping bags and tarps. In less than half an hour they were on their way.
She led him up the trail a bit further and paused in a large clearing. She pointed at the moon hanging low in the western sky. "This works on Earth and should also work off world. You can use the sun to navigate, but you can use the moon as well. As long as it's not full, if it rises before midnight, the illuminated side will be towards the east. After midnight, the west."
"Really?"
She nodded. "Yep. And you know all about the sun." She stopped and picked up a stick, shoving it into the ground and stepping back. She picked up a rock and put it on the ground where the tip of the shadow of the stick hit it.
"Rises in the east, sets in the west," he said while she worked.
"Except in the summer it's more northeast and northwest and southeast and southwest in the winter," she said. "As far as the sun is concerned, east and west are relative. But south isn't." She pointed towards the sun. "At noon, local time, in the northern hemisphere, it will be due south."
"So if I need to go west, I just have to keep the sun to my left," he said.
"Or on your right, right now," she corrected. "The further north you are, the more true the 'keeping it to your left' is. But when we're off world, we don't have months to track a planet's orbital path, so we presume due east for sunrise, due west for sunset."
She looked down at the stick. "See how the shadow has moved?" She pointed it out and it had moved just a bit. The tip of the shadow was now off the rock and on the ground. "The longer you wait, the more accurate it is. You put another rock where the shadow is later, draw a line between them and that line is running east to west."
"Cool. What if we're marooned there for months?"
She shrugged. "Then you better figure your way around," she said. She sighed. "It's an imperfect science. And yes, we're applying Earth norms to another planet. When we deal with a planet with multiple moons—"
"Or multiple suns."
"Or multiple suns," she agreed. "We'll have to adapt. That's why there's no one singular way to figure out where you are. You just need to know enough to find and use the one that works best for the planet you're on."
"Okay," he nodded.
"Ready to go off the trail?" she said, gesturing towards the undergrowth. "I'll lead us in, you lead us out."
"Let's do it."
She led him into the coolness of the shadows and Daniel's attention was torn. He tried to follow her and not fall back, but at the same time he tried to keep track of where he was going and how he was going to get out. "Navigation is harder in the trees," she said. "Then again, if you need to be discreet, you got cover here that you don't have anywhere else."
"And so do the bad guys."
"Right." She shrugged. "It's a tradeoff. If we're on a planet that's populated, there will probably be trails through the trees. Then again, even if people aren't there, there will also be game trails. Sometimes the only way to tell the difference is how wide they are or if you see footprints."
"How do you keep from getting lost in here?" he asked. The trees up on the mountain weren't massively thick, but they were numerous. And, like any forest, many were the same species. The ground was covered with discarded leaves from previous years and a scattered variety of small plants and bushes.
"There are a lot of tricks. If the tree cover is thin enough, you can use the sun to keep your direction straight."
"Game trails are a bad idea, aren't they?"
"Yeah," she said. "They tend to follow the lay of the land. They might get you where you want to go, but probably not. Most game trails go from food sources to water and cover, or some combination like that. If you need to move fast and need a break from the brush, they can be a good refuge. Of if you're trying to move and maybe leave less of a trail, but they're not a good throughway." She stopped to look at him, moving closer so she could speak softer. "If we're on an inhabited planet and they have a good knowledge or use of the gate, then there will be trails between it and the village or city or whatever. Problem is, the Jaffa will probably be using those very same trails. So you can move faster, but it's also riskier. One trick the colonel has used is to move parallel to the trail but in the bush. Which can be a bit trickier because you have to keep track of your own movement, and anyone using the trail AND not lose track of something you really can't see. There are some tricks you can use undercover. For example, the moss on the trees."
"Grows on the north side, right?"
Sam shook her head. "Not usually. Normally, with plants, any growth will be more vibrant on the side with the most sun."
"So it grows thicker on the south side?"
"Yes and no. Yes, it grows better, but the south side is potentially more exposed to the warmth of the sun, so it will grow better south, but might look better on the north side. Using that same premise, snow will be thicker on the north side of a tree or rock formation, thinner on the south side. The north side is also where you will find things being wetter and cooler, and if you need to warm up, the south side will be warmer."
"Okay," Daniel said.
"A lot of this is common sense," she said. "And, if we get in trouble off world, and you have to get back to the gate, you just need to know how to get there, and get there in one piece. Your first instinct will be to run like hell. And that might work for a bit, especially if we're under fire. You need to get out of range, and get out of range fast. But you'll reach a point where you need to slow down, pay attention and concentrate more on getting there unnoticed and without conflict than running pell mell and getting noticed by a Jaffa."
Daniel nodded. "And, if the stuff hits the fan and I have to do this, I'm going to have to figure out which method to use, won't I?"
"Probably," Sam nodded. "If you want, once the colonel is back on duty status, we can practice when we're off world."
"That'd be good," he agreed.
Sam smiled. "Let's get lost. And if you can't get us out of it…you buy dinner."
He followed her into the brush, doing his best to keep on her heels as she twisted and turned her way through the trees. They followed and crossed several game trails, pausing now and then to identify the tracks. Over an hour later, she stopped, turning to him as she pulled her water bottle out of her pack.
"Are you lost yet?" she asked, taking a drink.
Daniel turned, frowning as he struggled to remember every twist and turn. "Umm…" Sunlight glinted through the trees and he grinned, turning back to face her. "I don't have to retrace our path," he said. "I just have to get us that way." He pointed towards the north east. "The camp and trail is that way."'
"Bingo," she grinned. "You were making it too difficult. You were obsessing over trying to retrace my steps when what you really needed to do was just keep track of which way we were going and which way led back to the gate, or in this case, the trail."
"Dinner is on you," he said, walking towards the north. "I'm thinking steak." He walked a few yards then stopped.
"What's wrong?"
"That." He pointed down in a small gulley and frowned at the sight of a large pile of debris. "That's just wrong. Litterbugs."
She frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. We're way too far off the trail for anyone to do any dumping." She climbed down into the gulley.
"Sam—"
She picked up one of the discarded bottles and turned it over so she could read the label. "Ah hell," she muttered.
"What?" She tossed the bottle back down and climbed up, taking the hand Daniel held out. She pushed past him. "Sam, what are you looking for?"
"Confirmation that this is what I think it is." She slowly walked forward and Daniel followed her. She was studying the plants as they walked and he followed suit.
"Is this what we're looking for?" he asked, pulling a stem off a familiar looking plant.
"Yeah," she said. She looked around. "From the number of those bottles, I'm willing to bet that we're surrounded by it."
"Marijuana? The park service is growing marijuana?" he asked, holding up the stem.
"No. But where better to hide a massive illegal crop than on public land?" She nodded towards the plant he held. "One of my instructors talked about it once. It's not uncommon for the bad guys to plant acres and acres up here. They bring in fertilizer and pesticide. Some of them even go so far as to bring in piping to rig irrigation systems."
"What do we do?"
She pulled the stem from his hand and tossed it away. "We report this when we get back. They'll come up here and tear it up."
An ominous clatter and click filled the air and Daniel felt his heart jump. He looked at Sam and saw confirmation in her eyes. They turned and raised their hands in the face of four men, their rifles aimed unerringly at the duo. "We have worked too hard to allow that to happen," one of them said.
::::::::::::::::
Sam glanced at Daniel and then turned her attention to their captors. All four looked distinctly rough around the edges. They were dressed in dirty worn jeans and stained shirts. Only one wore boots, the rest filthy tennis shoes.
He noted that two of them held their weapons with some degree of proficiency but the other two looked ill at ease, almost as if they had never held a weapon before.
"Hey look, forest rangers!" Daniel said, smiling broadly. "Told ya there'd be some here."
"Right, of course you did, Sam said, trying to play along while she seemed to struggle to figure out what he was doing." He got me lost. Can you tell me which way the trail is? I have a map—"
She reached towards her pack and sensed the men tensing their grip on their weapons.
Daniel moved between them and her. "I don't know what her problem is. We're not lost. The trail is right over there. It's all her fault we left it in the first place. Her and her silly bird watching!"
"You're the one that left the trail. Don't blame me!" Sam yelled.
She pulled out the map and unfolded it. "See! This is where we should be!" she yelled. She threw the map into the air, using it as a distraction. Two of the men followed it with their eyes and she pulled her pistol. She fired twice, striking two of the men while Daniel punched the third. "RUN!" Sam yelled, pushing Daniel in front of her.
The two of them dashed into the trees, instinctively ducking from the hail of bullets fired by the fourth grower. They slid down the embankment, the need for cover overriding any concern about the empty fertilizer and pesticide bags and bottles in their way. Bullets ricocheted around them, tossing dirt and small chips of rock into the air.
They zigged and zagged and finally dove into a small stand of bushes. "This way." Sam grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the right. Trusting in her instincts, Daniel followed her as she led him down one arm of the gulley and up out of it.
"Ssh," she urged, slowing to a walk. Daniel could still hear sounds of their pursuers as he followed Sam, trying to be as quiet as possible. She tugged his arm and he followed her into another clutch of bushes. She held up her finger to her lips and he nodded. They both squatted down, trying to blend in as much as possible. Daniel struggled to control his breathing and saw that Sam was doing the same.
He heard a sound and they both tensed. Daniel fought the urge to peer out and see what was making the noise. Sam had them inside a large evergreen bush and Daniel could only hope that they'd left no outward sign in their frantic dash into cover.
His eyes worthless, Daniel closed them and listened intently, trying to pick out any sound that didn't belong. Leaves rustled and suddenly the most benign noise seemed threatening. His heart pounded in his chest and Daniel was sure that they were found. He heard a soft clicking and opened his eyes. "They're gone," Sam breathed.
"Will they come back?" he breathed, his voice less than a whisper.
She nodded. "Probably checking on their friends. We should move now." Daniel almost had to read her lips to understand her.
He nodded his agreement and she eased her way out of the bush. They slowly made their way away from the grow, Sam walking as quietly as she could and sticking to the trees, almost moving from one to another. He realized that she wasn't totally headed towards the trail, but almost away from it. Daniel caught up with her and touched her arm, getting her attention. "The trail?" he whispered.
"That's where they'll expect us to go," she said. "It runs north, and then turns east, we're aiming for the north part. We'll stick to cover as long as we can." He nodded, unable to refute her logic. "If we're lucky someone's heard the gunshots and reported them."
"And if we're not?" he asked. "We hiked all day and didn't see anyone."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, taking a moment to turn it on. Daniel did the same. "No signal," she reported.
He waited for his to start up and shook his head. "Me neither."
"Okay. Trail head or cell signal, whichever comes first. We literally call in the troops." She turned her phone off. "Just be careful. If you leave it on and it searches for a signal, it'll drain the battery faster."
Daniel shut his phone back down and shoved it into his pocket. "Should we dump some of this stuff and see if we can move faster?" he asked. Both he and Sam still had their packs, largely because they hadn't had time to take them off.
The sharp crack of a gunshot echoed through the trees and Sam cried out, falling down.
::::::::
Sam looked past Daniel and saw two pursuers through the trees. One of them was lowering his rifle and the other seemed to confront him. If she had to guess she thought that one was criticizing the other for taking the shot while they were so far away.
"Sam!" He reached down and pulled her up, yanking her to her feet.
They ran even as she struggled to keep up with a searing pain in her right leg. They made it a hundred yards or so before she stopped. "I can't," she said.
Daniel pushed her down on a rock and reached for her leg. "How bad?" he asked, reaching for his pack and the first aid kit.
"Bad enough." She tried to ignore him as he ripped open the fabric of her pants. She held her pistol at the ready, her eyes scanning the trees. She hissed through her teeth when he explored the wound.
"There's no exit wound," he said.
"Just dress it, you need to get out of here," she said.
"No."
"Daniel, I can't run. You can. I have enough bullets to hold them off for a while. If you move fast, you can get to the trail in less than an hour."
She scanned her immediate surroundings, searching for a more defensible position. Somewhere with rocks to her back. High ground would be better.
"It took us all day to get to the camp site," he said, wrapping her leg with gauze.
"We walked slow. If I keep them occupied, you won't need to," she said.
"No."
"Look, Daniel, like you said, the bullet is still in there. Every step I take, it moves around and it'll do more damage. I'll hide. Chances are they won't even find me." Daniel shook his head. "Daniel, if they find us, they'll kill us both. All I have to do is hide or hold them off for a couple of hours. You can go and get help."
"Sam—"
"Daniel, just do it," she said, staring him in the eyes. "The longer you wait the closer they'll get. If they've chased us this far, they're not going to give up. They'll kill both of us and then harvest their drugs and chances are no one will ever find our bodies. Go. Now."
He stared at her for a second and then sighed. "This better not be part of the training. Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Go."
He patted her shoulder and then got to his feet, heading off into the bush. With him gone, Sam relaxed a bit. Now that he was – relatively – safe, she was free to take care of herself and do whatever she needed to do.
She levered herself to her feet and searched for better cover. She had almost two full clips for her weapon. Not nearly enough for a firefight, but maybe enough to hold them off for a little bit.
She needed to hide, to go to ground.
First, she needed to buy Daniel some time.
She walked through the bush, deliberately breaking off some small branches and dragging her foot. She did all she could do to make her trail obvious. After laying a false trail for a few yards, she abandoned it, doubling back to find a hiding spot. Along the way she picked up a few small deadfall branches, a couple still with leaves on them.
A massive fallen log lay upon the ground and she sought it out. She found a spot near one end where the ground was open under the log. She eased herself into the small space, pulling the black mosquito netting from her pack to serve as primitive camouflage. She dragged it along the ground a bit, picking up dirt and bits of discarded pine needles and leaves and then she laid the netting over her, hoping that, from a distance, it would look like she was nothing more than a dark spot under the log. Reaching out, she laid the small branches around, hoping that they would break up her shape.
She pulled the netting over her head and tried to calm herself. Slowly, she pulled her weapon into her lap, along with the spare clip. Now that she had time to be calm and think, she realized just how much her leg hurt. The wound on the outside of her thigh burned and ached and she shifted her position just a bit to ease the strain on the muscles.
If she was lucky she would just have to hide here for a few hours at the most. Either Daniel would get help or the drug growers would give up the chase and spend their time harvesting their illicit goods. As bizarre as it felt, she worked on calming herself, slowing her breathing and heartbeat so that she could listen better.
Around her, the sounds of the forest came back. The wind whispered through the leaves and the dappled sunlight danced over the rocks and dirt. Distant bird song echoed and she could almost think that she was alone.
It was possible that they'd turned back. They had to know, even as sparsely used as this part of the park was, that every gunshot could potentially draw unwanted attention to their grow. If she had wounded or maybe killed two of their group then they'd be short on manpower. The reason the grows often went undetected for years is because they were off the trail and in hard to reach places. Of course, that also meant that supplies had to be carried in and the drugs packed out. So losing two people hurt how much they could carry out. If they had a quota, maybe they'd abandon tracking down her and Daniel and turn their attention to getting their product out.
Then again, if they caught her and Daniel, they could use them to replace the two she'd shot…probably before they killed them. "Oh stop," she breathed to herself. She needed to stop thinking. She leaned back in her hidey hole and tried to think herself nondescript. It was about half an hour later when she heard the first sounds of her pursuers. The two drug growers melted out of the undergrowth, both moving slowly and carefully.
She tensed, her grip tightening on her weapon. One of them whistled and she knew that they'd seen her false trail. If she was lucky, they'd keep right on going. If she was really, really lucky they'd be a mile or so away before they realized they were following a trail to nowhere.
It was quiet for a few more minutes and Sam started to relax, a feeling that faded in an instant with the crack of a twig. She fought the urge to snap her head around and instead slowly shifted her gaze to the left. The second of the growers was walking towards her and she looked at him. A chill went down her spine when she met his eyes and she quickly broke the contact, giving into the irrational fear that if she looked him in the eyes, he'd somehow know where she was.
"Come out, come out, come out wherever you are," he taunted. Sam ignored him and kept her eye on him, watching as his feet moved closer and then away, and then closer. "We have your friend, you know. He wants you to come out." She rolled her eyes at his thin ploy and didn't even think about rising to the bait. "Those two men you killed, they were my friends," he said, his mocking tone fading.
Her instincts screamed the same instant she heard the ominous crack of his rifle and the bullet striking just beside her head. She instantly raised her weapon and squeezed off two shots, both of which struck him and he fell backwards.
She threw back the netting and lurched out of her hiding place. Now that her cover was blown she needed to find a new place and she needed to find it now. Her leg had stiffened a bit while she'd hid and she stumbled, limping heavily. She heard a shout and she threw herself towards a tree, taking what little shelter she could. Bullets zinged around her and she indulged herself in a moment of sheer disbelief. A fire fight? Seriously? A genuine cops and robbers shoot out in the middle of a forest?
She fired back a single shot, keenly aware that she had only a finite amount of bullets. Backup seemed to be extremely unlikely so she now gave thought to her survival. He outgunned her and very likely had far more ammunition than she did. So she needed to get him to waste it. Maybe, and it was a huge maybe, if things got down to hand to hand she might stand a chance. Or dark. She held the very, very slim hope that he'd hold off until dark and maybe she could slip away then.
He moved closer and she fired off another shot, her goal to either disable him or at least keep him at a distance. She glanced around the tree and sought out his position. Ironically, he was sheltering behind her log and she knew that he had almost every advantage. Better weapon, more ammunition, better cover and time.
She looked around, searching for something to help her out. She saw a small bunch of rocks within reach and she pulled them close. She threw them off into the distance and was rewarded by him responding, firing towards the disturbance. While he was responding, she did the same in the other direction, hoping that he'd fall for it again.
Instead he leapt from behind the log, steadily firing in her direction. She realized that while he had all the advantages, he didn't have the patience to wait them out. She fired in his direction, her aim hampered by his fire.
She emptied her clip and quickly changed it, reaching around the tree and exposing herself a bit more in the hopes of getting a good shot. One hit him and he fell to his knees. She took advantage of his pause to push herself away from the tree and to try and get away. He wasn't down for long and bullets again began to fly around her. Her leg gave way and she fell to the ground. She immediately rolled to her back and fired in his direction. Her clip clicked and she growled, wishing futilely for her MP5 and combat knife.
Refusing to die on her back, she got to her feet as he stopped shooting, clearly confident in his mastery of the situation. "You have cost me thousands," he said, stalking towards her.
"Oops," she said, stepping backwards awkwardly.
"I am going to enjoy this." He raised his weapon in the same instant that she saw four little red dots appear on his chest.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said, unable to hide the relief she felt.
He frowned. "Your gun is empty, you are alone."
"Yes, and no," she said, nodding towards his chest. He looked down in the same instant she caught movement in her peripheral vision. She stopped moving and half a dozen green clad figures moved beside and slightly in front of her. She recognized a couple of them, but the others wore park services uniforms and she knew that Daniel had succeeded.
"Put your weapon down!" the ranger ordered. The drug grower glared, his eyes scanning as he seemed to consider the odds. Inexplicably, Sam saw his finger tense on the trigger and she knew he wasn't going to surrender. Just as she opened her mouth to shout a warning, a single shot cracked the air and the drug grower fell back, a spray of blood coloring the air.
The men hurried forward, covering each other as the ranger checked the man, a silent shake of his head testifying to the grower's fate. Sam felt a presence at her side and turned to see the familiar face of Major Reynolds. "Major Reynolds? What?"
"Why don't you have a seat, Captain?" He pushed her towards a nearby rock and she gratefully sat down, barely registering when one of his men removed her empty pistol from her hand. "Jackson got a good cell signal and called the general. Turns out him and the head ranger are fishing buddies. Once the ranger found out what he was up against, he and Hammond cooked up a little 'live fire training exercise' and here we are."
She nodded. "Daniel?"
"He's fine." He waved one of his men forward. "You?"
"I'm okay, sir."
"Jackson said you were shot."
"There is that," she quipped. He raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, sir."
He shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry about it. Let me deal with these yahoos and we'll get you back to the base."
One of Reynolds' men handed her a bottle of water and she took it, taking a long drink. Reynolds returned the other park ranger in tow. "If you have a couple of minutes, Captain, I need some information," he said. "I'm Ranger Snyder by the way."
"Sam Carter," she said.
"Your companion, Doctor Jackson, he said that you shot two others?"
Sam nodded. "We stumbled upon their crop. We were just going to hike out and turn it in, but they saw us. We tried to bluff our way out but…"
He jerked his thumb towards the grower. "Obviously he's not going to tell us much. Do you think you can show us where his grow is?"
"Do you have a map?"
He pulled a topographical map out of his pocket and spread it out. She found their camp and then traced her finger over the paper, mentally retracing the trek she'd taken Daniel on. "Here," she said. "There's a gully full of trash and empty bottles. That's the start of it."
Ranger Snyder pulled a pen out and circled the area. "We'll go and take a look. My boss might have some more questions. He'll call your general if he does."
"There's not going to be any trouble, is there?" Reynolds asked.
"Technically, no one is supposed to have a fire arm in the park, unless it's hunting season and they have a permit. That said…I'm not a big one for technicalities." He grinned. "And I'm hopefully going to be too busy shutting down his grow to worry about little things like that. I'm glad you're okay, Captain."
He walked away and Sam turned her attention back to Major Reynolds, unsure what they needed to do now. There was the most obvious question, how was she getting out of here? She figured that they were a couple of miles up the trail, and she dreaded the prospect of walking out…almost as much as she dreaded the humiliation of being carried.
A sound like a motorcycle cut through the air and Reynolds looked up. "So that's what he was up to," he said. Sam followed his gaze and saw Daniel on the back of an ATV, come to a stop on the trail, just a few dozen yards away. "Something tells me your ride is here."
Daniel got off the ATV and said something to the driver, then hurried down towards her. "Sam. You're okay."
"Yeah," she said.
"Go on back, Captain," Reynolds said. "We'll see if they need some more help and go back later."
"Yes, sir."
With Daniel's help Sam was quickly situated on the back of the ATV and bouncing her way down the trail and towards the SGC infirmary.
::::::::
Daniel reached out to steady Sam as the ATV came to an abrupt halt. "Hey!"
"Sorry," the driver said. "I thought your friends were supposed to be here."
They were at the trail head and Daniel could see their borrowed jeep, still parked where they'd left it. "I thought they were too," Daniel said.
"Who are we waiting for?" Sam asked. Daniel could hear exhaustion and pain in her voice. While he knew that he ATV ride had been better than walking out, he'd also heard her gasp and groan with every bump they'd hit.
"General Hammond said he'd send someone," Daniel said as Sam edged her way off the ATV.
"Why don't we meet him half way," she said.
Daniel hopped off the ATV and helped her make her way to the jeep. She pulled the keys out of her pocket and tossed them towards him. He unlocked the door and helped her in before he turned back to the ATV driver, thanking the man for his help.
In just a minute he was putting the vehicle in gear and winding his way out of the park. She was slumped in the seat, her eyes closed and he wondered if she was still conscious. He slowed down a bit, trying not to jostle her too much. "We thought we were dead," she said softly, not opening her eyes.
"What?" Daniel slowed to a crawl on the dirt road.
"The colonel and I." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "We were both dead. He was going to die first and he was delirious and thought I was his wife, and I let him. And I knew once he died I would too…and I was okay with that."
"Sam—"
"Daniel. I don't know how much he remembers. And he'll probably never tell me, and if he does he'll probably lie. We were dead; our bodies just hadn't figured it out yet. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I still wake up and wonder how come I'm not dead." He reached out and squeezed her hand, offering what comfort he could.
"Let's get you back before Jack sends out the Marines," Daniel half joked.
:::::::::::::
Jack walked into the infirmary, making his way over to Doctor Frasier's desk. "Doc?"
"She's fine, sir. The bullet wasn't that deep and really didn't do that much damage."
"A literal flesh wound?"
"Pretty much," she answered. "She's still a little loopy from the sedation and I'm keeping her overnight, but she should be able to go home tomorrow and be back on duty by next week."
"Thanks," Jack said. "I'm gonna…"
"Don't be too long, sir," she said.
Jack walked out of her office and towards the bed Sam was lying in. She had her eyes closed and, for a moment, he thought she was asleep. Perhaps hearing his approach, she opened her eyes and looked around. When she saw him, she tried to sit up in the bed, stopping when Jack raised his hand and waved her down. "Brought you something," he joked, holding up his crutches. "Just slightly used."
"Thanks," she said.
He pulled up a chair and sat down. "Frasier says you can probably go home tomorrow."
She nodded. "Yeah."
"They found the grow," he said. "That ranger dude was telling Hammond it probably encompasses a few square miles. Hundreds of thousands of dollar's worth of marijuana is going to get cut down and destroyed."
"That's good."
"They also found the bodies of the two you shot. No surprise, both of them also had warrants out for their arrests, one of them on suspicion of murder," he said.
"So bad guys."
"Very bad guys," Jack confirmed. "Chances are even their mothers are glad they're gone. There's going to be no fall out. And the head ranger has agreed to keep your and Daniel's names out of it. As far as the public is concerned, those four got in a fight and started shooting each other. A hiker heard the gunshots, called it in and the rangers just stumbled on the grow."
"It's that easy," she said, shaking her head.
"Carter?"
"Colonel, I killed three people today—"
"No," he interrupted. "You and Daniel stumbled across a massive illegal drug operation. They attacked you and would have killed you both and you defended yourself," he corrected.
"Colonel—"
"Seriously, Carter, they did this to themselves." She sighed and he let it go, aware that it didn't matter much what he said, she had to realize for herself that her actions were justified. "So," he lightly clapped his hands together, signaling a change of topic. "Daniel. He says you owe him dinner."
She grinned. "He passed," she said shortly.
"Ya think?"
"I know," she said.
Jack shrugged. "Okay, he passed." He looked past her and towards Frasier's office. "Doc will have my head if I stay too long. I'll let you rest and—"
"Colonel," she interrupted. "One thing…with all due respect sir, the next time you get bored and come up with some training idea…can you pick on Teal'c?"
"I'll do better than that," Jack chuckled, not in the least offended. "I'll pick on Daniel." He got to his feet. "You did good, Captain. And one day, you'll actually believe me."
::::::
He left and Sam settled back down in the bed the buzz from the sedatives making her decidedly drowsy. She felt better after talking to Daniel. Almost as if a burden had been lifted and it didn't matter anymore. Maybe she and the colonel didn't need to talk or commiserate. Maybe they didn't need words to understand each other. Maybe they just needed to be.
~Fin~