Disclaimer: All characters and events in this story are fictitious, and any similarity to a real person, living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintended by the author. I'm just borrowing the characters…so don't sue.

I'm already at chapter 11 of my NCIS story, so I'm fairly certain I can keep up on schedule. I've done 5 chapters on this story and I started procrastinating. I'm bad that way when I don't have readers promising all kinds of torture for not updating. ;-) So I thought I'd start posting and hopefully my muse will play nice on this one too and I can upload a chapter at least once every week or so - depending on user request – my muse likes to be told how well she did. ;-)

Also a huge thanks to Lady Isaiah for playing beta for this story. She made everything sooo much better. And I hope she doesn't kill me for uploading before finishing the story. ;-)

Jack's Redemption

by

Whashaza

My name is …

Somehow he knew that there wasn't supposed to be 2 moons in the sky. It just looked wrong. And the color was way off. It was a mixture of burgundy and red, blood-colored by whatever pollution hung in the air. And more importantly, the stars were aligned wrong. He couldn't find the pole star, couldn't find any way to guide him towards a direction. Not that he had any particular idea of where he was supposed to go or what he actually was doing on this planet.

And it was a crappy planet. The buildings all seemed circa 1940's. Big blocks of industrialized cement coated in grime and something ugly green that he didn't want to think about as being alive. The city streets were narrow and cobblestoned. The alleys were little more than narrow crevices between the buildings.

The government sucked just as bad. An overlord with his own Jaffa guard set up here by Anubis. Mr. Overlord liked terrorizing the population and it was the fact that there was a curfew – which he currently was violating – that had him looking over his shoulder as he silently made his way down the alley to a hiding place he had found the second night out.

He didn't want to think about the object lesson he had been taught the first night he had been found by the Jaffa.

Nope. Definitely not a memory he cherished.

Another headache blinded him momentarily and he closed his eyes, leaning against the wall as he tried to ride the wave of pain as it throbbed right behind his eyes. Nausea assailed his senses and he tried his best not to give in but in the end he couldn't fight against the overwhelming queasiness and he gagged, spitting out nothing more than the little water he had drank not so long ago.

Crap

He wiped his mouth with a dirt crusted hand, leaving behind another brown smear on his face. Pushing himself away from the wall, he stumbled his way further down the alley. A noise had him swung around, his hands raised defensively. A rat or something similar big with a tail scurried over his feet and disappeared down the alley. The sudden movement didn't help the lingering nausea. His knees gave out and he sank down next to the wall and vomited. It felt like a lifetime before the heaving stopped.

He oh so much loved the sour taste of bile in his mouth, he thought darkly, can't wait for the next time.

When he was done he gave himself another minute as he just breathed and concentrated on not throwing up again. Skittish now, he rose and started towards an abandoned building that rose like a broken bird's claw, dark against the star brightened sky.

"Who goes there?"

"It's me, Dean."

His voice sounded raw. He grimaced when a shadow detached itself from the wall. Average height, blond hair, blue eyes. Hollywood material. The screen would just love the guard's good looks.

"You know the rules."

For a moment despair hit him hard before he rallied, straightening his back and returning the glare of the other man.

"I've only managed to get five credits. Pickings at the market were slim today."

Silence met his statement. Placing his hand in his pocket, he felt the hard edges of the coins he had spent mucking the day for. Thinking of the meager food waiting inside had his stomach rumble even while the nausea at the thought of food made him rethink his desperation to find a way inside. But he couldn't stay the night out on the street. There were a lot worse things out there than inside this building.

"Joruus, what's going on?"

Another man stepped from the doorway of the building, his shape large and intimidating next to the guard. He could just make out the weird red glow of the man's eyes. It was focused on him, ignoring the guard stuttering a response that he had failed to find enough coins to pay for protection tonight.

"How much?"

He took out the coins, holding them with an outstretched hand as the other man glanced down briefly before assessing him again. The distant sounds of footsteps threading rhythmically had all of them staring into the darkness, as if they could see through the walls towards where the Jaffa was starting their nightly patrols.

He could see that the guard was frightened, could see it in the way the man was wetting his lips, his eyes big and his breathing shallow and fast.

"Marcus?" The guards whisper was soft, the question and desperation both there, wanting to make the bigger man aware of the impending danger as well as to make the decision about what to do with him.

Marcus nodded at Joruus in acknowledgment before turning his back on him, dismissing him to a night on the streets.

He had promised himself that he would never beg.

But the sounds of the footsteps coming closer threw up memories of pain. Pain and overwhelming loss that had nothing to do with his first night curfew violating lesson he had endured by the guards.

He couldn't deal with those memories again.

"Please."

Marcus paused, his body filling the entrance, his shoulders wide enough to brush the doorway. For a brief moment he thought that he would have to fight his way inside and was already contemplating moves that he'd use on Joruus, moves that would incapacitate the other man and he didn't really give a damn if it ended up with Joruus being dead.

Then Marcus gave a brief nod before disappearing into the darkness of the room beyond the entryway. A moment later both he and Joruus followed Marcus inside as the footsteps started to echo of the surrounding walls.

The muffled sound of a staff weapon followed by a brief distant scream chased them as they moved quietly deeper into the ruins, aware that they were not yet safe.

A moment later they came to a standstill in front of a pockmarked concrete wall. A rat scurried through a hole in the wall, its long tail giving a last twitch before disappearing all together. He could hear its little footsteps as it pat-a-patted along some piping behind the wall. He wondered if it had been the same rat that had passed him in the alley.

The sound of dripping water reminded him of rivers and the sense of peace and tranquility. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to catch the fleeting memory but it flirted away, leaving blankness behind.

All that was left was desperation. And fear, pain and the feeling of emptiness where his heart is supposed to be.

Nausea returned with a vengeance. He stumbled towards a darkened corner where a pile of stinking refuse had been left to rot. The smell added to his senses and he dropped to his knees, temporarily weakened by another emptying of his stomach. He heard the brief scraping as the hidden door was finally opened.

Less than a second later he heard it close.

He scrambled to his feet, taking several steps to the wall, angry that Marcus and Joruus had not waited for him. A voice, distorted and metallic came from the alley. Pressing his lips together, he fought down his panic. His hands moved across the wall, searching the pockmarks for the hidden trigger that would open the door.

"Kel shak?"

"Mel nok tee."

The creak of leather alerted him that one of the Jaffa had probably entered the ruins. Everything inside him went quit. Still.

His mind calculated his options. Fight or flight.

"Sarit."

With sudden clarity he knew what he had to do. Knew too that if his plan failed that there was no way that he'd let them take him alive.

Not after what happened the last time.

**************

Tbc

Reviews much appreciated.