A/N For those of you who have already started reading this I've separated the original chapter one into two parts. It seemed a little much for the long story I have in mind. The story is the same though not to worry.
This is my very first completed story, I hope you like it.
Courage, Faith and Choices
Excerpt from the official report of Col. Jonathan O'Neill:
The planet was uncharted the first few MALP'S we sent didn't make it to the other side. They were simply lost. After the incident in the gate room I wasn't so sure, Dr Jackson hadn't gone the way of those early probes.
Daniel Jackson stood in front of the open Stargate, even after so long working at the SGC he still marveled at the simple reality of what stood in front of him. A single step would take him across the galaxy in seconds and he would never find that any less than extraordinary.
A few feet from him the MALP trundled up the ramp ready to visit the next planet on the list and when Jackson stepped back to let it pass a small screwdriver rolled off the device unnoticed on to the ramp. Colonel Jack O'Neill came trotting into the 'gate room just as the MALP disappeared through the event horizon.
"Hey Daniel what's going on?" Daniel shrugged and was about to say something but as he began to walk down the ramp he stepped onto the screwdriver and lost his balance. His face contorted as he fell backwards.
"Jack!" his yell of surprise was stifled as he was engulfed by the event horizon. Jack raced up the ramp and was about to dive through after his friend but the wormhole destabilized and was gone. General Hammond came running into the gate room.
"Colonel O'Neill what just happen?"
"Daniel just fell through the gate sir; he has no equipment and no GDO, permission to go after him sir?"
"Granted; have your team ready to go ASAP."
"General Hammond, sir?" The Sgt. in the control room spoke through the microphone; "You should see this."
Jack sat with the rest of his team in the briefing room staring at the MALP footage in disbelief. At first it seemed fine, there was a view of a beautiful seascape, a forest below and mountains in the distance, but after a few seconds it all went horribly wrong. The image tipped forwards and the rocks below began to accelerate towards the camera. The MALP rotated as it fell and just before the feed was cut the image of a man falling out of the Stargate could be seen, the Stargate itself was perched precariously on top of a cliff.
"We have to go after him!" cried Samantha Carter as the video turned to snow. "He's probably badly hurt."
"Or worse," said the Colonel under his breath.
"I concur," said Teal'c "We must pursue Daniel Jackson to this planet to determine his fate."
"I care about Doctor Jackson too, but how are you going to get to him if the gate is on the edge of a cliff?"
"We can repel through the gate sir." said Sam hurriedly, not wanting to waste time as her friend was in danger, or worse. "We can tether ourselves here and throw ropes down the cliff on the other side."
"But how will you get back?"
"We can take a Naquada generator with us and dial the gate manually; once the gate is open we can edge around to go through, the MALP was stable for the first few seconds sir suggesting there is a small ledge on that side of the gate."
"Very well Major, make your preparations you leave in an hour."
Daniel felt everything in slow motion, from the moment he stepped on that screwdriver; it was as if the world slowed, so those seconds it took him to fall felt like hours. He tried to call Jack, as he was falling. The older man's face fell in shock as it was obscured by the brightness of the event horizon. Daniel felt the air as he passed through the other gate, relieved to find it breathable, as this had been their first successful connection with this world. His next thought was as his stomach dropped and so did he, quite surprised not to find land on the other side of the gate only a sharp drop into a raging ocean before a large rock took away his fears of drowning.
Nita was gathering shells on the sea shore, trying to pick out the best ones to make her wedding necklace, but her search was cut short at the sight of the body being battered by the out going surf. The man wore strange clothes she had never seen before and it looked like he'd been in the ocean for some time his lips were blue and he wasn't moving. A gash of red cut across the man's forehead it was quite deep and as Nita put her hand to it a small groan escape his mouth. He was alive!
Carter had three men at the base of the ramp to tether them as they gated down to the cliff. Teal'c, Jack and Sam all stood with their backs to the gate. They wore large backpacks of equipment with weapons strapped on top. With a go from Hammond they carefully backed up into the event horizon. Through the gate Sam felt solid ground, but almost lost her balance when Colonel O'Neill appeared besides her. He held her steady and when the gate disengaged their ropes cut and they were able to walk through the empty ring to solid ground.
They dumped their stuff and Carter began to take readings. Jack walked back to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Large amounts of the cliff had fallen into the depths but what was left; rocks sharp and protruding, held little hope for Daniel's survival if he'd hit them. In the distance Jack could see a small fishing village judging by the pier set-up in the cove nearby.
"Looks like there are locals." said Jack gesturing to the village. Sam came up beside him.
"Maybe they saw Daniel fall." Jack looked doubtful.
"Doesn't look like they come up here too often." Sam shrugged.
"Can't hurt to ask."
"Fine, Hammond is going to send SG-5 through to set up base camp in about ten minutes we'll leave them here and see if we can find a better way down."
Daniel's first thought upon waking was of pain. He opened his eyes slowly but the light just flooded in feeling like a knife in his face, slicing across his vision. He groaned and turned over, shielding his eyes from the light. Then from close by he heard a voice, a woman, whispering.
"He's awake, quickly go tend to him." There was some shuffling of feet and a girl appeared in the doorway. She looked barely sixteen, long blond braids flowed down her shoulders and the ragged clothes she wore did nothing to hide what Daniel could tell was a flawless tan. Her eyes stood out the most though like shimmering pools of molten silver, almost like an open gate.
"Hello," He said groggily.
"You are awake," she said happily.
"So it seems what happened?"
"You do not remember?"
"No I think I hit my head," he raised his hand and for the first time he noticed a poultice on his forehead. She hurried to him.
"Are you in pain? "
"Headache," he said. "But nothing else really…" Daniel paused to consider this; he remembered falling, really falling. "I can't feel much of anything." He said feeling the panic rise in his throat. He felt his head, and his left hand, but everything else was kind of numb, he was aware of his other limbs, but couldn't seem to get them to move under his control. The girl saw his panic and sought to comfort him.
"It is okay, the feeling will come back, you were quite badly hurt, and we had to take the pain so you could sleep. You do not remember coming to the house with me?" Daniel shook his head, but decided that wasn't very helpful to his headache. "I am Kita; I'm helping you get better." As if to demonstrate her intent, she pulled back the covers and showed him his legs. They were, as was his right arm covered and tied with leaves. "You see?" she said, "They will be better in no time." Daniel couldn't think of anything to say as the pounding in his head became worse and he fell unconscious once more.
Jack and Sam scouted the surrounding area while Teal'c waited by the gate for SG-5. Sam had already rigged up the naquada generator and they'd dialed out a report to Hammond. Jack walked up to the furthest most edge and kicked a rock over the side.
"Looks like we're in for the long way down." said Jack watching as his pebble skipped along the side of the cliff.
"It doesn't look like this is a huge tourist spot." Carter cast a wary glance over the edge. "If Daniel's hurt sir we're going to have to rig something to carry him up in."
"We'll figure something out. But first we need find him." Sam nodded and looked over in the direction of the gate.
"Here's Teal'c I vote you be the one to tell him we have to climb down that." Jack grimaced and walked up to meet his friend.
Two hours later, O'Neill looked up at the sheer cliff he'd just descended.
"I'm getting too old for this crap." He sighed collected his gear and began to trek after his team up the beach.
"We should head for the village." Said Sam gesturing up ahead, "If Daniel survived the fall he'll still be injured and we can assume he'd head towards people." Jack nodded it was Daniel's custom to seek out the locals of whatever planet they were on, come to think of it, thought Jack that was half Daniel's problem; he was too trusting.
Daniel lay stiffly in bed, warily taking in his surroundings, most everything in and including the house was made of a kind of bamboo or reed tied and cut to shape. He stared around at the room in which he was trapped. Though all the doors and windows were spread wide, the wounds on his legs and arm kept him where he lay for the moment at least.
In between waking nightmares and the pain that came and went Daniel cast a thought to his future. He had no GDO, no way of sending a message through the iris; these people were barely farmers, they didn't have the technology to help him, he was stuck. Yet hope persisted,
'Jack will come he has to he saw me fall they know I'm here.'
In despair sometimes that little nag of doubt would raise a voice to his mind.
'They saw you fall into unknown territory, they probably figured out it was on a cliff from the MALP telemetry. You fell off a cliff into an ocean, chances of survival are slim they've left you for dead, Danny boy!'
It was Jack's voice in his head now,
"Now don't you wish you'd come fishing with me just once?"
Daniel groaned in his delirium. He had been in and out of consciousness since Kita brought him to the house.
"He grows weaker, mama." said Kita, as she cut more herbs for Daniel's wounds. An old woman sat in what served as their kitchen at a wicker table sewing the holes in Daniel's clothes.
"But his wounds improve." The woman spoke warily.
"Yes." Sadly Kita bowed her head to blink away her tears.
"Then he has the sickness."
"I know mama," said Kita grinding the herbs in a mortar.
"You must take him tomorrow." The old woman snapped the thread resolutely.
It took the remainder of SG-1 two days to reach the small village, but by then Daniel was gone.
"I have seen the stranger." the old woman, Kita's mother, said, when they knocked on the door to her hut. "My daughter took him to the temple so he can prepare for the way beyond."
"Is he alright?" asked Sam not liking the sound of that.
"Kita found him on the beach after the storm, we thought him ship wrecked. His wounds were bad, but Kita did a good job and he is healed." Sam let out a breath at least he was alive. But Jack felt the hairs on his neck stand on end.
"Why does he have to prepare for the here-after; if his wounds are healed?"
"His wounds healed, but he has the sickness."
"Sickness?"
"Yes, the fire within him burns hot and he sees people who are not there, he hears them and speaks to them as though they were."
"That doesn't sound good. Is there a cure?" The old woman shook her head sadly.
"There is not, Kita was most grieved, he would have made her a fine husband had he lived."
"But you just said he's not dead yet!" cried Sam.
"No, but by the rise of the full moon in three nights time he will be." She shook her head again clearly grieved and was about to close the door on them, when Jack put his foot in the jam.
"Wait, where's this temple? We might be able to help him."
"It is in the north a day's hike from here," she pointed up to the forest the village sat on the edge of in the higher elevation it was easy to see a huge structure in the distance. With that she closed the door in their faces.
Daniel felt great. In fact he hadn't felt this good since he was on the up swing of his sarcophagus addiction.
"That turned out so well didn't it Danny boy."
"Don't be an ass Jack," murmured Daniel to the empty chair at his bedside. "I'm not in the mood for your shit. If it weren't for you I wouldn't be here."
"How's that space-monkey?"
"Don't call me that Jack, you know I hate it."
"Hey, don't tell me tell yourself."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You do know I'm not real right?" Daniel sat up and stared at the chair, having lost his glasses in the fall everything around him was rather blurry, but looking over at Jack he noticed he was a perfect image, sharply in focus. "You know I'm just some random image rattling around in that oversized brain of yours."
"Yeah, I know Jack."
"Then why are we or rather you having this conversation with yourself?"
"Because I'm dying Jack."
"How's that? You were just marveling at how great you feel."
"It's the drugs Jack." Daniel held out his arm for the chair to see the lines of needle marks. Jack whistled.
"No wonder you were comparing it to your sarcophagus addiction."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."
"So what makes you so sure you're dying?"
"Look around everyone here is dying." He glanced at the other beds in the makeshift hospital. Cots were lining the long corridor of what might have been a Goa'uld palace. The men in the beds were all in a similar state to Daniel, twitching nervously murmuring in delirium.
"Yeah but you're not as bad as them." Shrugged Jack from his empty chair.
"Oh I know, I've got insomnia, I've got nightmares when I do sleep, and I've got a fever so high you could fry an egg on my forehead. And for the finale I'm hallucinating my best friend." Jack cast his friend a wary look.
"You do look like shit," he said succinctly, "But when haven't you had insomnia and nightmares?"
"Not like this Jack, last night I woke up screaming because I was so sure someone had put a Goa'uld in my bed. You didn't say anything about my hallucinations."
"Well, I hate to tell you this Danny, but I've known you were nuts for a long time. Even before they threw you into that white padded room."
"Hey!" he pushed out at the chair playfully, but fell back exhausted with the effort. A nurse came over to him she patted him gently taking his pulse feeling his forehead. She shook her head and walked over to a doctor. Tending the patient on Daniel's left. They talked for a moment, in hushed tones, but when the doctor glanced over at Daniel and said quite clearly.
"One more day." Daniel knew he was not going to get any better.