I know it's been a while since I posted last but real life got in the way a bit, it's annoying that way isn't it!!!
I have to say sorry for the rant in the last chapter, I'm going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment and I was having a bad day when I posted. Thank you so much to everyone who sent some feedback my way, it's really good to know that people are actually enjoying what I'm writing!!
Another big thank you to Naliza for taking up the beta pen (or should that be cursor) and just being an all round great person!! :)
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Jack decided to stay off the path leading through the woods since the chances were good that their escape would have been discovered by then. He figured that their kidnappers would consider the pathway as good a place as any to start looking for them. In order to find their way back to the Stargate though they still kept to the general direction of the path but stayed in the dense undergrowth.
Jack stopped suddenly as his sensitive hearing picked out the sound of twigs breaking in the distance, the unmistakable sound of people approaching. Using hand signals, he ordered Sam and Daniel to stop and take cover.
They all took cover in thick brush close by, not knowing if it would offer enough protection but it was the best they could do under the circumstances. As he heard the figures draw nearer Jack deliberately slowed his breathing in a bid to give his team the best chance of staying hidden.
As the figures came into view, he was surprised to see them dressed in the drab olive green of the SGC rather than the blue and grey clothes of their captors.
Jack stepped out of the hiding place; the weapons of the approaching SG team were immediately raised. As they recognised Colonel O'Neill they relaxed slightly and lowered their weapons.
"Colonel O'Neill?"
"Major Griff," O'Neill replied with a slight nod.
"Is everything alright, Sir?" Griff asked as Sam and Daniel emerged from the undergrowth.
"We don't know where Teal'c is, we need to find him."
"He's back at the SGC; I'm not sure what his condition is though."
"Excuse me, his condition?" Sam asked, looking at Griff with concern.
"He was found unconscious not far from the gate. I'm sorry I don't know more than that. Shouldn't we head back home, Sir?"
"I don't think there's anything keeping us here," Jack agreed. He took Griff's offered 9mm while Carter and Daniel both accepted weapons from two of the other members of SG-2.
The journey back to the Stargate was uneventful; there was no sign of their captors. Daniel could not help but to feel uneasy as they returned to the clearing where the Stargate was located. He almost expected an ambush to occur while he was waiting for Lieutenant Martin to dial the gate but nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Looking around he noticed that Jack and Sam both appeared tense, a lot more than what the situation probably warranted. Relief washed over Daniel as he stepped through the event horizon and rematerialised back at the SGC.
General Hammond stood at the bottom of the ramp; he gave his officers a good look-over as they walked towards him. The relief at having his flagship team back and seemingly in one piece was immense but his jaw was locked in a bid to maintain a professional face.
"Welcome back SG-1," he said, as O'Neill approached him.
"Thank you General. How's Teal'c, Sir?"
"He's fine Colonel, his symbiote is taking care of his injuries. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you."
"Injuries, Sir?" Carter asked. She had assumed that he had been suffering from the after-effects of the weapon and nothing more.
"It seems that the inhabitants of P2X-739 didn't take too kindly to him."
"Sir?" Jack asked, his eyebrows raised to put emphasis on his question.
"They beat him pretty badly. You didn't get the same treatment?" he asked. The only injury he could see was Daniel's rather spectacular black eye.
"Not really. One of them hit me when Sam and I tried to escape," Daniel explained, noticing Hammond's look of concern.
"Okay, get yourself checked out in the infirmary first. We can debrief when you're done."
"Thank you General," Jack said as he led the team out of the gate room, handing his weapon to an SF as he passed.
SG-2 waited in the gate room, Griff knew that Hammond would want to talk to him.
"Any problems, Major?"
"No Sir. SG-1 found us; we saw no sign of any locals, hostile or otherwise."
"They escaped?"
"It would appear so; we didn't really have time to discuss it."
"Okay, thank you Major. Please report to the infirmary."
"Yes Sir."
*~*
Jack, Daniel and Sam walked into the infirmary and noticed that Teal'c was laying on one of the beds in the corner of the room. The look he was wearing would be indiscernible to any outside observer but screamed exasperation and boredom to the rest of SG-1.
As he saw them approach, he immediately tried to stand. Janet seemed to appear from nowhere and practically forced the Jaffa to stay in bed. It was obvious why the Doctor did not want him out of bed. Despite his accelerated healing, his face was covered in bruises and his left arm was in a sling.
Seeing them standing just inside the room, she approached SG-1.
"Is everything alright," she asked, looking closely at each of them in turn.
"Yep, no problems," Jack replied flippantly.
"That's quite a black eye, Daniel. You come with me and Colonel…Sam take a seat, someone will get to you as soon as possible."
"That's great Doc but how's Teal'c doing?"
"Sorry," she apologized for having forgotten that they would obviously be concerned about their friend. "He's going to be just fine. He was quite badly beaten but his symbiote is taking care of the injuries. He'll be out of here by the end of the day."
"Good."
"Daniel, if you're ready," Janet said as she lead him off to one of the bed. Once he was seated she gently ran a finger along the worst of the bruising, assessing for any injury more serious than a bruise.
Daniel gritted his teeth as Janet prodded the swelling but he could not stop the sharp intake of breath as she touched a particularly sore spot.
"Did you lose consciousness?" she asked. Daniel's silence did not go unnoticed. "Daniel?"
"I don't know what happened really. One minute Sam and I were trying to escape, the next I was waking up in a cell."
"So that's a yes."
"I don't know. I honestly don't think it was because of this," he replied gesturing at his eye.
"Well, I want to get an X-ray of that eye and a head CT to start with," Janet stated in a tone that left him no room for any arguments.
"Fine," Daniel sighed.
Leaving Daniel with one of the nurses, Janet went to see Sam who was still sitting on a bed, waiting to be seen.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine," Sam replied with a smile.
"So what happened?"
Sam gave a brief rundown of what happened. Jack, who was sitting on the next bed, interrupted her on a number of occasions, offering his own commentary on events.
After hearing their story and drawing out confessions of memory loss, she insisted on giving both Jack and Sam a CAT scan. With all three of them reluctantly reporting significant gaps in memory, she was concerned. The rest of their examinations showed nothing out of the ordinary and after drawing blood, she sent both of them to CT.
She reported her findings and concerns to General Hammond but was almost immediately called away to treat Captain Rush, who was suffering from a severe allergic reaction to an alien plant he had come into contact with two days before. Janet had thought that the worst was over but the symptoms had flared up again.
His face and neck were swollen, as was his right arm, which was at least twice its usual size. He looked thoroughly fed up at the prospect of an extended stay in the infirmary.
If it was possible, Teal'c had looked even less pleased at being under Doctor's Fraiser care. Once she was free, she returned to the Jaffa's bed.
"Doctor Fraiser. I am well enough to be released," Teal'c implored.
"Well, I'm not so sure. I want to make sure you're really alright before I release you. You should be out for the debriefing though. In the mean time…rest, hat's an order."
Teal'c nodded his agreement. It was very unusual for him to be confined to the infirmary but his symbiote had been injured in the attack and was therefore taking much longer than usual to heal him. He entered a light state of kelno'reem in order to aid his recovery, but it was not easy in the busy environment of the infirmary. With concentration he was finally able to achieve the desired state.
*~*
Janet cleared SG-1, she still had major concerns about their apparent gaps in memories but the CAT scans had shown nothing, neither had the toxicology results, which she had rushed through the laboratory.
After giving them all a stern lecture about further lapses in memory or other unexplained symptoms, she had no other choice but to let them go. Thankfully Daniel's X-ray had shown that his injury was nothing more than a bad bruise and as Teal'c was well on his way to recovery, she released him along with the others.
SG-1 sat around the table in the briefing room, along with Hammond and Major Griff, who was representing SG-2.
Daniel started to explain what had happened when they had arrived on the planet. Sam took over the narrative, starting in the cell and Daniel finished the tale, documenting their escape. Jack stayed quiet most of the time, interjecting sarcastic comments and observations at what he saw to be opportune moments.
"Does anyone have anything else to add?" Hammond asked.
A chorus of "No Sirs" came from around the table.
"Well in that case, you're dismissed. SG-1, I'm giving you three days of down-time and I actually expect all of you to leave. I do not anticipate seeing any of you until Monday," Hammond said seriously, it was not a tone he used often but they all recognised it.
"Yes Sir," Sam sighed.
Jack lead them out of the briefing room, he tried to encourage the rest of the team to come to dinner but Sam and Daniel both headed to their labs to do some work before their enforced vacation.
*~*
The next morning, Hammond was in the control room, checking that everything was running smoothly. Sergeant Davis had just begun to report that everything was fine when the display on the monitors changed. Instead of showing the regular diagnostic screens of the gate, seemingly random characters were being displayed instead. Hammond looked expectantly down at the Sergeant.
"I have no idea, Sir. I'm totally locked out," Davis explained, frantically tapping at the keyboard.
The iris span shut before the monitors flickered and shut off completely, leaving all those in the control room sharing blank looks.
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So there's chapter 4...I'm working on chapter 5 whenever I get the time and I promise that chapter 10 of Against The Wall will appear as soon as I can manage it. Thank you for your patience.
So please let me know what you think of this chapter!! Thanks!! :)