~#~ (Chapter 3)

Back at the SGC a MALP stood ready. The plan was to try and reactivate the MALP that was sitting in the trees on P8J-187 but if this proved impossible then the second probe would be sent through the gate.

The gate was being dialled and Cameron Mitchell stood in the control room, impatiently bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Come on, come on," he muttered anxiously.

"Chevron seven locked," announced Chief Master Sergeant Harriman.

A collective sigh of relief was heard in the control room, a sentiment - thought General Landry - that was probably being felt all round the gate room too.

SG-2, three and a contingent of marines stood ready to embark once the MALP showed that it was safe to do so. The remaining half of SG-1 would also be travelling through.

The medical team had been assembled but were to wait until signalled before they travelled.

Carolyn Lam was among the medical staff who were suited up, ready, if it proved necessary, to walk into a combat zone to save their friends.

"Try to activate the MALP, Sergeant." Landry ordered. "Let's see what we're up against."

The crew in the control room clustered around one of the view screens, waiting and hoping that the MALP would begin transmitting.

The screen sprang to life and a lop-sided, black and white picture of a wood was seen. The MALP was sitting at an odd angle and Harriman reported that, despite the fact they had a good connection, it's caterpillar treads would not respond to his commands.

The decision was made to activate the second MALP. It slowly trundled up the ramp and was swallowed up by the wormhole.

A few seconds later it began transmitting and a scene of total carnage came into view. Jaffa bodies lay all over the clearing and there was no sign of life.

"Pan the camera round, Sergeant," the General requested.

Harriman did what he was told. First he panned to the left, where more bodies were seen. Then he directed the camera all the way to the extreme right of the clearing.

A gasp went up as the camera focussed on the plume of smoke rising from the wreckage of a crashed Goa'uld death glider.

"Bet that was the SOB who was shooting at us as we ran for the gate." Mitchell said grimly. "No sign of Sam or Jackson, as far as I can see, Sir. Permission to lead SAR teams through the gate, General."

"Permission granted, Colonel." Landry replied. "Bring 'em home safely, soldier."

"I plan to, Sir. Just as soon as we locate them I'll have 'em delivered back here, ASAP." Mitchell informed him, and waited to be dismissed.

The General acknowledged the young man, "Dismissed, Colonel. God speed, and good luck."

Mitchell gave a crisp salute to his commanding officer, then turned and jogged down the stairs to the gate room. He took his vest and firearms from the armoury attendant, then quickly put on the vest and clipped the P-90 to it.

Once he was fully attired the Colonel hopped up the steps of the ramp and turned to address the waiting military units.

"As you know, two members of my team are missing. The MALP shows no activity on P8J-187 and the Jaffa seem to have done a damn pretty job of wiping each other out. There's no sign of either Colonel Carter or Doctor Jackson, although when I stepped back through earlier they were both at the base of the ramp and approaching fast. Keep your eyes sharp for any clues to their whereabouts. There's a chance that they may be just out of view of the MALP camera although the fact that they've not made contact does not bode well for that possibility. SGs two and 3, you're with Teal'c and myself. Dr. Lam, you and your team will wait for us to carry out a recon on the area. We'll use the MALP signal to keep the wormhole open and will let you know when it's safe to come on through."

The doctor nodded her acknowledgement.

"Right," Mitchell said with an air of finality. "SAR teams, after me."

With that, he held his gun firmly in front of himself and marched into the waiting wormhole.

~#~

When they exited the gate, the SG-teams immediately took up defensive stances and spread out around the clearing. They encountered no resistance, in fact, other than the wind blowing around the smoke from the wrecked glider, there was no movement in the clearing that wasn't caused by a member of the SGC.

"ColonelMitchell," Teal'c called out. "The Dial Home Device appears to have been irreparably damaged. I would surmise that it was struck by airborne weapons fire - most probably from the death glider that sits in flames on the other side of the clearing."

"I agree, Teal'c. It must've happened after I came through. It was fine when Daniel dialled us out and I didn't see it get hit." Mitchell said.

"Agreed, ColonelMitchell," Teal'c replied.

"Colonel Mitchell," a shout came from across the clearing. "Over here, Sir. This Jaffa is alive."

Mitchell quickly looked at Teal'c, "Go, ColonelMitchell. I will inform GeneralHammond of the damage to the dial home device and request a Naquadah generator be sent through for manual dialling."

"Thanks, Teal'c," Mitchell said, turning away. "I'm gonna go and see about this live Jaffa."

Teal'c nodded towards the back of the retreating Colonel as the other man set off across the clearing.

"Sir," Sergeant Carlin, the soldier who had found the living Jaffa, addressed Mitchell. "He's badly hurt, Sir. He was conscious for a moment but not any longer. Shall I call the medical team in to see to him?"

"Stay with him, Sergeant," the Colonel ordered. "There's no obvious hostile force remaining here at present. I'll contact the SGC."

Mitchell stepped away from the soldier and spoke into his radio. "Sierra Golf Charlie, come in please."

"Receiving you, Colonel Mitchell," came the reply. "Sergeant Siler is preparing a Naquadah generator for you now."

"Thank you, Sir," Mitchell acknowledged. "May I request the medical team join us now, as a matter of urgency."

"Certainly, Colonel. Do you have injured personnel?" The General sounded concerned.

"No," Mitchell assured his CO. "…but we have found an injured Jaffa, Sir. He's in a bad way but I'm hoping that, if Doctor Lam can patch him up a bit, he may be able to shed some light on what the heck happened here. It's a mess here, Sir. There's no sign of either Jackson or Carter at present and so far we've only found the one survivor."

"Very well, Colonel. We're sending the medical team through now. Sergeant Siler is ready with the generator so he'll be following them through. We'll cease transmission from the MALP once they have all gone through, then the technical team can get to work hooking everything up. If we don't hear from you before, then I want you to report back in one hour. Sergeant Siler assures me that he'll be done by then. Is that clear, Colonel?"

"Yes, Sir," Mitchell acknowledged. "One hour. Message received and understood. Signing off now, Sir. Mitchell out."

Mitchell moved towards the active Stargate to meet the medics as they travelled through. Carolyn Lam was the first through and Mitchell held out a hand to steady her as she stumbled slightly as she stepped from the vortex.

"Thank you, Colonel. Which way to my patient?" she asked.

"Sergeant Carlin is with him," the Colonel informed her. "He was conscious for a bit but as far as I know he's still out of it at the moment."

"Right, lets see what we can do with him," she said. "We can't leave until Sergeant Siler has finished with the gate so I've got to get him stable and keep him that way until we can get him back to the infirmary."

"We need to speak to him." Mitchell reminded her. "He might be the only person here who knows what happened to Carter and Jackson."

"With all due respect, I know that, Sir...but he's still my patient. Now let me take a look at him." She looked sternly at the Colonel who shrugged and moved aside to let her past.

The doctor dropper to her knees beside the wounded warrior. Sergeant Carlin had covered the large man in a space blanket to preserve as much of his body heat as possible on the damp ground.

"He's not regained consciousness at all, Doctor," he reported. "I've not moved him at all, just covered him up the best I could. He's got a staff blast to his lower back and a nasty looking lump on his head."

Lam nodded, "Very good, Sergeant. Kelly, let's get an IV setup with fluids. I need to examine his symbiote before we do anything else."

Kelly Barnes knelt down and took hold of one of the large man's arms. She started cleaning up the area where the intravenous drip was to be inserted and tried to keep herself out of the other doctor's way as much as possible.

Dr. Lam pulled back the space blanket and peeled away the armour covering the Jaffa's abdomen. When the X shaped opening was fully visible she slowly worked a gloved hand inside.

Mitchell wrinkled his nose in disgust, "I never will get used to that. So can you tell how the littl'un's doing?"

Carolyn gently examined the small creature before answering, "Not well I fear, Colonel. The symbiote is alive but isn't particularly responsive."

She carefully removed her hand and gasped when she discovered that her glove was covered in scarlet coloured blood.

"That can't be a good sign," Mitchell pointed out.

"No, Colonel, it's not," she informed him. "That blood isn't from the symbiote, it's from the Jaffa. I'd say some of the energy from the staff blast must have caused internal damage to his symbiote pouch. I'll give him a massive dose of Tretonin to get his immune system kick-started and start him on IV antibiotics. I'm going to have to remove the symbiote and pack the pouch with wadding to reduce the bleeding. I really don't want to have to open him up here to try and attempt a repair. I'll monitor him and hopefully that will suffice until I can get him to the OR. His chances of survival will be far greater if he's operated on back at the SGC."

"Agreed, keep me updated," Mitchell requested. "…and let me know if he comes round. We still need to know what happened here. I'm going to see how Sergeant Siler is getting along and see if Teal'c has found anything yet."