It had been under General Hammond's order that Sgt Siler had sent the M.A.L.P. through the Stargate to P3X-378. It showed no activity so they thought it was safe enough to send SG-1. Daniel was excited about investigating the ruins they had seen in the camera so Hammond gave them a go.
The four members of SG-1 got themselves geared up and they went through the gate as they've done so many times before. On the other side they didn't see any activity so they picked a route and started down the path. Teal'c on point with Major Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Colonel O'Neill covering their six.
Once they were about 2 clicks down the path, Teal'c stopped and made the hand gesture for all to take cover so they all darted into the woods behind trees. Carter and O'Neill took the safety off their P-90's and Jackson took out his Beretta in case he needed it. Not a moment later, the sounds of staff blasts hitting the trees on all sides were engulfing the team. They began firing back in the direction the shots were coming from as O'Neill ran to Jackson to be sure he was covered. He hated the fact that the Air Force sent civilians out into the field with virtually no tactical training. It reminded him that when they got back he was going to bring Jackson to the range and start him on the path to certification to carry an automatic or at least semiautomatic to protect himself. Being on a front line team really made it necessary.
When the shots finally began ending, O'Neill, Jackson and Teal'c stood and gathered to be sure everyone was ok. O'Neill looked around, "Where's Carter?" Thoughts started running through O'Neill's mind: Shit, she must be down somewhere!
The two men followed O'Neill when he ran to her last known location, "Carter!? Carter!?" The men all yelled out and O'Neill got on his radio, "Carter come in! Carter!?" He waited but no response came and the three continued to search the area. "SHIT! Where could she be?" Daniel didn't know what to say but Teal'c thought for a moment. "It appears as if Major Carter has been taken prisoner."
O'Neill shot Teal'c a look of anger, "Who, who are these people? What would they want with Carter?" Teal'c and Jackson had no answer so they remained quiet. Teal'c began walking towards the natives which they had shot so O'Neill and Jackson followed. "They do not look familiar to me O'Neill and do not appear to be Gou'ld or Jaffa," Teal'c finally spoke up. Jackson was looking closely and although it was obvious to O'Neill due to their hair and garb, Jackson spoke up. "They appear to be primitive by the way they look. I wonder how they came upon staff weapons." Teal'c raised an eyebrow at Jackson's question as he could only think they were either given to them or they killed the Jaffa who were holding them.
O'Neill was thinking about his next move, he wanted Carter back. "Ok, let's see if we can get back to the gate and get a radio transmission back to the SGC. They arrived without incident which O'Neill thought was odd. Why wouldn't these obviously aggressive natives protect their gate? They let us in and out, it wasn't until we walked a few clicks that they attacked us.
Finally General Hammond was on the other end of the radio and O'Neill explained that Carter was missing and that he wanted at least SG's 3 and 5. "These are heavily armed people and we need to find where they are and then figure out how if they have Carter and if they do, we need to extract her. Sir, I don't even know if she's still alive." A lump the size of a golf ball clogged his throat just saying it but he had to stay positive and keep his emotions in check.
Hammond said he would deploy the teams within the hour and asked SG-1 to hold the gate for them so they didn't get ambushed when they came through which of course they agreed to do and they all signed off.
O'Neill leaned against a nearby tree with his palms to his eyes, "Dammit! Why did I let her out of my site!?" Daniel knew why and he felt awful. "Jack, it's not your fault, it's mine. If you didn't have to cover me you would have been on her side of the trail and would've at least seen them coming." Jack looked into Daniels eyes and saw the hurt, so he put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "No, not your fault either Daniel. Shit happens. What we need to do now is find Carter and get her back safe. But we do need to talk about getting you some range time on the P-90 or something other than the Beretta and Zat Gun." Daniel nodded his head and understood what Jack was trying to get to. They had come such a long way from Jack not wanting an archeologist on the team to Jack finally trusting him although they did not always see eye to eye. But still, one of the other members usually had to cover him in an aggressive firefight and Jack was right, it wasn't fair to them.
Teal'c remained on constant guard until he heard the swoosh of the gate. He was happy they finally had reinforcements. He feared what these people could be doing to Sam. He knew she wouldn't have gone without a fight and wouldn't have let her radio go unless they forced her. He just had a feeling in his stomach that was uneasy about the whole thing.
When the other SG teams arrived, Jack was impressed Hammond had sent more than he expected. Not only SG's 3 & 5 as requested, but also SG-6. Jack filled them in on what had happened and what he wanted them to do. They all knew Jack and Sam had a special bond and how hard it would be for Jack to be missing her of all people.
Jack instructed SG-6 to stay near the gate and the other three teams decided to split up but stay close enough to cover each other if needed. As the teams were moving Teal'c took point again with Jack and Daniel behind him. They got a bit further than the last time and could actually see the ruins where they believed Carter may be held. It was decided to wait until night fall before attempting to move any closer.
Jack was still beating himself up for allowing it to happen so it took Daniel some fancy talking to keep Jack on task and not blaming himself. As night fell, Colonel Makepeace felt it was a good time to try to make their way in closer to look around and hopefully find and extract Carter if she was there. Jack agreed and gave SG-3 the permission to take point, then SG-1 and SG-5 could cover their six. It wasn't a position Jack gave up readily but he knew his mind wasn't functioning at its best.
As they got closer to the ruins, they were again ambushed but this time they were ready for it and were able to exterminate all the people firing on them which opened a window of opportunity for SG-1 to enter the ruins from a back entrance while the other teams covered the outside.
The first two buildings were just empty buildings although there appeared to be some bedding type areas, there were no people inside and Daniel found nothing of interest which was good because there was no way Jack was going to stop and let him explore any archeological findings. Jack just wanted to find Carter and get out of there.
In the third building there was a long table which appeared to be where everyone ate, there were torches for light and some rooms off the larger main room. Jack and Teal'c cleared the first few rooms which appeared to be bedrooms but found nothing until finally a room hidden in the back showed a dark form of a person bent into a fetal position. Jack took a deep breath and shined the light of his P-90 onto the form and there she was, the naked backside of his missing team mate.
Jack shut his eyes for a moment taking another deep breath. She hadn't moved or responded to their presence which sent a cold chill through his body. He asked Teal'c to step out of the room with Daniel while he checked it out. He knew Daniel would never be able to handle it if Carter were dead, hell, he didn't know if he could handle it.
He slowly made his way to the still form and whispered to her "Carter? You ok? It's me, O'Neill." Still no response, so he kneeled down to her and took her pulse, there was one, that was good. When he touched her shoulder to roll her to him she jumped and moved further away. He bit the inside of his lip before trying again, "Carter? It's me, Jack. Come on, let me help you." He didn't normally use his first name but in this case he felt it was appropriate.
This time she allowed him to roll her over to face him and she started crying hysterically. What he saw was a severely bruised face with bleeding wounds, bruising on her arms and neck, and her hands tied in front of her. "Oh my god! Carter, what did they do to you." He quickly cut the ropes on her wrists which had left rope burn marks on her soft skin. She didn't respond other than her crying but rather tried to roll back from him so he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to him. "Shhh…. C'Mere, it's me, it's me. I won't hurt you." She was still crying so he sat back against the wall with his feet out, removed his jacket, moved her between his knees to hold her back against his torso, blanketed her with his oversized jacket and just held her. He just held her against him, rocking "Shhh…. shhh… it'll be ok."
He knew something more than just being beaten had happened, she was too jumpy. Carter was a strong woman and just being punched around was only enough to make her challenge her attacker more. He held her tight and rested his chin on the top of her head just thinking about why these people would do this to her. He radioed the other SG teams to let them know he had her and was working on getting her ready to be brought back. He called and told Teal'c and Daniel to give them about ten more minutes and then they could come in and they could get moving.
Jack held her tighter and tiptoed around but finally asked if she had been raped and he heard a faint yes through the tears. His heart sunk and it took all he had to hold back his own tears and anger. She was crying so hard now she was almost convulsing. He took a deep breath and reached over to pull out the solar blanket he carried in his pack. He also took out the medical kit and started to clean the wounds on her face. "Come on baby, we have to stand up. Let's get you back so you can be checked out by Doc Frasier." The two stood in unison and he knew the entire situation was embarrassing for the woman he cared so much for. She was blaming herself for being weak enough to allow herself to be attacked and he kept trying to tell her it wasn't her fault.
When they were up, Jack saw she also had a lot of bruises on her legs and he cringed at the thought of the bastards hurting her the way they did. He took out some gauze pads, soaked them in peroxide and asked her if she could clean herself, which she said she could. He held the blanket between them and looked away to give her some privacy and when she was done he took the blanket and wrapped it around her torso holding it up with his belt making the blanket like a skirt and zipped her into his oversized coat.
"Can you walk back to the gate?" She nodded her head. "You sure? You know Teal'c or I could carry you." She shook her head, "no, I'll be fine, really." The shyness washed over her again when she saw Teal'c and Daniel. She wouldn't make eye contact and she clung to Jack making him take another deep breath.
Daniel tried to walk over to her but she shied into Jacks arm like a frightened child. Jack made a head movement telling Daniel to back away. Jack kissed the top of her head and she held his arm, "Come on baby, let's get outta here, ok."
He sent Daniel and Teal'c out first to tell the others to move ahead and not to stop to talk to Carter. He wanted there to be decent space between the other teams and have Daniel ahead of he and Carter and Teal'c covering their six.
By the time Jack & Carter walked out of the building it was just Daniel with Colonel Makepeace up on the hill watching to be sure they were ok. As soon as Jack gave him the thumbs up, Daniel and Makepeace caught up with the others and they made sure the path was clear.
SG's 3 & 5 went through the gate, leaving SG-6 to stay behind until SG-1 made it through. Col Makepeace had come through the gate telling everyone to "make a hole, no SF's or other personnel between the gate and the Infirmary" so SG-1 could get Carter to the Doctor without any interruptions or unnecessary eyes on them. He said the only person allowed in the Gate Room was Doctor Frasier, per order of Colonel O'Neill.
Hammond made it happen and all staff had been moved while the SF's cleared the corridors and held the entries on each end. He was afraid of what he was going to see when the woosh of two more people came through, Teal'c in the lead with Daniel following to be sure Makepeace got Jacks orders accomplished. Then Jack & Carter, with his arm around her waist and her holding him tightly. Doctor Frasier met them at the bottom of the ramp wanting to talk to Carter but she shied away so Jack swept his hand making her understand she needed to back off and he kept walking her to the infirmary. SG-6 finally came through the gate and it shut itself down.
