Chapter Four: Stars
A/N: Thank you to everyone who is reading and an even bigger one to everyone reading and taking the time to review! Your feedback is always appreciated and answered! (As long as PMing is turned on!) Here is a longer chapter, just like I promised!
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Night closed in around her as the fire started to dwindle. It had been hours since dinner, but there were still a few more until dawn. And only one more until her watch was over and Teal'c's started. Arching her back, she reached her arms toward the star strewn sky, pausing for a second just to look. Every mission, every planet, she tried to take a minute to really study the sky. After so many years, gate travel sometimes lost its magic for her. The constant instability in her life, in her job…sometimes it was nice to look up and remember that it was that very sky that had inspired an ancient culture to make her job—her life—possible.
A muffled pop echoed off the creaking trees, sending a small family of birds high into the night sky. Sam whipped around, the sound seemingly having come from directly behind her. 'Daniel and Teal'c's tent.' Crouching low behind her log, Sam raised her weapon and aimed it at the front of the tent, where she could see the barest shadow of someone moving around. 'That was a silenced shot. That was a gun. Someone has been shot.'
But no one had approached the camp, at least, no one that she had seen. She swallowed hard and replanted her feet. The zipper was moving.
Steadying herself for whatever was going to come out of that tent, be it a giant hulking planet-monster opening its jaws to devour her or a madman, her stomach bottomed out when she only saw Daniel. He was shuffling sleepily from his tent, only one boot on. "Daniel." She called softly, not moving from her crouched position.
"Sam?" Daniel frowned, narrowed eyes trying to locate her shadowed form.
"Everything okay?" Still unmoving.
"Yeah?" His voice went up at the end and sleep was dropping away, replaced with concern.
"That sound, Daniel." Had it really been a gunshot? Was she paranoid?
"What—oh. The kind of crash?" He yawned, and scratched the back of his head.
'Was it a crash?' Sam replayed the sound in her mind and suddenly she wasn't so sure. Out of context, it had sounded like a gunshot, but Daniel was standing right in front of her, totally fine.
"I was having a nightmare, I think I knocked over my lamp and pack when I woke up." He yawned again, and Sam felt the tension drain from her muscles.
"Jesus, you startled me." Moving back into her seated position, she glared at Daniel. "Don't keep that stuff so close to you when you're sleeping. I could've shot you."
Despite the returning sleepiness, he rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks, mom." Sam laughed quietly and Daniel waved his thumb over his shoulder. "Bathroom." And then he proceeded to half-stumble into the treeline.
Sam turned back around, glancing at the silver stars one last time. Soon, their black velvet background would be replaced by gold laced pinks and purples, and the bright constellations would fade away into the morning light.
…..
"General! General Hammond!" Walter yelled, wide eyes fixed on the accelerating chevrons. The klaxons had already started to blare, no doubt alerting the general to the unscheduled incoming wormhole before Walter had ever opened his mouth.
But it made him feel better to call out.
"Sergeant!" Hammond was almost to the bottom of the staircase, his knuckles white from gripping the railing. Behind him, Daniel took the steps two at a time, his eyes blazing as he glared out at the gate.
"Chevron seven is locked, sir." Walter turned from his computer and the gate room, the reflection of the stabilizing wormhole flashing off of Daniel's spare glasses. "No IDC, sir."
"The radio." Daniel said flatly, just before a burst of static caused everyone to jump and reflexively look at the screen suspended above Walter. There was still a MALP on that planet. Jack and Teal'c were still unaccounted for.
Was one of them trying to get through?
A collective gasp raced through the room as a volley of gunfire erupted through the MALPs intercom. "Teal'c!" Hammond yelled, palm slamming the com button.
A breath.
"General Hammond, sir!" A yell and then more gunfire. "Sir, you need to let us through, we're taking heavy fire!"
Hammond felt like the ground had fallen out beneath him and, for a minute, he was sure he would plummet straight through the Earth. And then everything came rushing back, the open wormhole, the firefight…SG-7's plea for help.
"Major Jennings, we have not received IDC confirmation." Hammond swallowed the frog that seemed to be lodged in his throat.
"You won't, sir." Jennings sounded out of breath. "Simms was the only one left with a working GDO and I saw her fall a few clicks back."
"What happened to the GDOs, major?"
"Sir, with all due respect, I can't answer that question right now." Panic had entered the man's tone. "We're two men down and under heavy fire, sir!" Static. "Cameron's down, Cameron's down!" Another voice could be heard in the background, shouting.
"Sir, open the iris!"
"Negative, major! Gate to the beta site!" Hammond felt the all too familiar chest constriction. These men could die because of that order, but he didn't have a choice.
"Negative, sir!" More static. "Bring out the damn MRIs, tranq guns, I don't care! Lock us up until you're sure!"
"Major, reroute!"
"General Hammond, sir, we are coming through! I repeat, we are coming through!"
The radio went dead.
"Major! Dammit." Hammond growled, heart screaming against his ribs. He may have already lost two invaluable members today. Was he willing to lose three more? Was he willing to risk everyone on base? "Open the iris!" He yelled to Walter before pushing the gate room com. "Use of tranquilizers is authorized! Shoot whoever comes through that gate on sight!"
….
Dumping the dregs of her coffee into the dirt next to her feet, Sam stood, marveling at the sheer amount of popping that came from her joints as she stood. "Ugh, I'm getting old." She groaned, shaking out her hips and shoulders.
"You can't be." His voice didn't startle her. "Because that would mean I'm already old."
"Then my statement still stands." She let the grin slide over her lips before she turned to face him.
He was standing near the mouth of the tent, boots tied tight and cap securely on his head. His expression was shadowy in the dying firelight, but she could see humor dancing in his eyes. Just like always. "Why are you awake?" She asked, rolling her head from shoulder to shoulder, stretching her taut muscles.
"Couldn't sleep." He shrugged, but didn't step forward into the firelight.
"Feeling guilty about something?" She had meant for it to be light…teasing. Instead, there was an uncomfortable edge in her voice. Maybe he should feel guilty.
He paused, a reaction she hadn't expected. He was actually considering the question. A question she really had no right to ask. "A little, I guess." Another pause, but she knew better than to interrupt. It was rare enough for him to open up like this. 'Maybe it's the fire. Or the stars.' She mused. "What I said earlier, about…her," He put an odd stress on the title, like he didn't want to bring up her name. Like he was afraid even saying it would somehow make it all worse.
"It's okay." She headed him off, not wanting them to go any further. There were lines that couldn't be crossed and they both knew it. Not if they wanted their…relationship…to remain unchanged. "I should be getting to bed though. Long day tomorrow."
He looked like he wanted to say more, but merely nodded, stepping to the side as she passed. "G'night." He gave her a small smile and she felt her heart skip a beat with relief. Of course, nothing had changed. She smiled back and ducked into the tent.
…..
Daniel pressed his head against the cold leather of his chair, hair prickling uncomfortably. "Sir, a rescue mission has to be put together." It felt like he'd been saying the same thing over and over again for the last hour.
And it felt like he'd been hearing the same response for just as long. "I can't risk it, Doctor Jackson."
"This is Teal'c we're talking about, general."
"I know that you're close with Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill-,"
"No." Daniel shot forward, eyes blazing again. "Not Jack."
"You haven't actually told me what happened yet, doctor." Hammond leaned forward as well and fixed the younger man with a sympathetic stare. "I know that whatever you saw didn't make any sense. I know that you're worried about Major Carter, but I need to know."
Daniel stared at the general for another moment before letting his eyes drift to the stairs leading to the control room. He'd been glancing at them every few minutes, nervous. And that emergency with SG-7 hadn't helped his frayed nerves.
"I already told you, I don't know why it happened." He paused, the briefing room slowly melting into the dark terrain of the planet as he recalled what he knew. "I woke up to go to the bathroom and Sam was fine. A little jumpy, but fine. I came back and she was fine, happy that her watch was almost up. I offered to wake up Teal'c for her since he had next watch, but she said no, that she was fine. I went back to sleep. I knew Teal'c would wake up when it was time." Daniel drifted into silence, the smallest frown creasing his features.
"Doctor?"
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, trying to recall more than the paltry details he had already recounted. "I woke up when I heard Sam crying. I was worried something had happened, but I was scared more than anything. Sam doesn't cry. And she doesn't cry like that." He pressed his lips together as her small, terrified sobs echoed in his mind. "I unzipped the tent as quickly as I could and looked around. The fire was almost out and I couldn't see Sam anywhere. So I ran to her tent, pushed back the already unzipped flap and I-," He broke off here as he had done every time.
"Take your time, son." Truth be told, Hammond felt like he was going to be sick. He'd heard it so many times and still he did not believe it.
"I saw Jack. And I saw Sam. Barely though, I was blocking most of the light coming from the fire. Not that there was much to block in the first place." Daniel swallowed and raised his eyes to meet the general's. "She was curled up against the side of the tent, her sleeping bag twisted around her knees and feet. She was trapped. Jack was standing there, just staring. I thought maybe he'd told her that-," He stopped talking, knowing that old habits die hard. He still wanted to protect them, still wanted to protect their not so subtle secret.
"I thought maybe it was just something he said. Then she looked at me, her eyes red and scared. Terrified. And Jack just laughed. Then, before I could do anything, before I could even shout, he…he pulled the trigger." He felt like he was going to throw up, the sound of that single shot still bouncing off the inside of his skull.
"You can't remember anything else? Any sound or object that seemed out of place?" The story was just so outrageous; Jack was the last person on Earth, hell, this universe that Hammond thought would snap. It just didn't make sense.
"No!" Daniel slammed his hands flat on the table, the sound startling both men. "No." He repeated, quieter. "I don't remember anythi-," And then Daniel felt like someone had punched him. No, like someone had run him over with a semi. Eyes wide and confused he looked at the General. "I don't remember where Teal'c was."
"Teal'c?" Hammond sat up straighter, trying to guess where Daniel was going.
"Sam's watch was over, that's why she was in her tent. Teal'c should have taken over. General, Teal'c should have been out there."
Then, the klaxons began to blare.
TBC
A/N: Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Please R and R!