A/N: Thank you to everyone reading and reviewing my story… makes me grin.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG1 or it's wonderful characters.
4 - Gretel
Jennifer walked through the woods with Raimy beside her and their captor behind them, urging them onward. She was trying to move as slowly as possible causing as much damage to their path as she could. She'd told Captain Baker she'd leave a trail, but the deeper they traversed the more worried she became that her trail wouldn't be discernable.
Jenn stopped walking and turned, "I need to check Hansel's vitals." She knew she had to humanize herself and Raimy to their captor. Give them names, remind the perpetrators that you were more than a means to an end.
"Keep moving," the stocky man commanded, waving the knife at her to remind her who was in control.
"Do you want him to have an episode before we reach the others?" Jennifer asked him sarcastically.
The man shook his head in irritation, but stopped none the less. "Make it quick."
Jennifer dug through her bag and pulled out a few items to help make her exam look authentic. She also used the time to inventory the contents of her bag. She needed something to help mark the trail they were taking beyond the broken branches and matted down foliage.
The contents though were limited to medical instruments and common medicines that she might need in the field. She also had a lot of crayons, a couple of coloring books, a change of clothes and a dozen or more lollipops. She took out some lollipops and put them in her pockets, along with a handful of crayons before doing a quick, although fake exam.
"Keep causing as much damage as possible as you walk," Jennifer whispered to Raimy as she bent over him to peer in one of his ears. "We need the others to be able to track us." Raimy gave her a timid nod and she smiled back hoping to reassure him.
Once she felt done with the exam she packed her equipment away and handed a lollipop to Raimy. She nodded at him to take it and despite his confused look, he did.
"Would you like a lollipop?" Jennifer asked their captor innocently, as she pulled the wrapper off the one she was holding up in front of herself. She threw the wrapper on the ground and popped the sucker into her mouth.
The man looked at her doubtfully for a moment, but then hesitantly agreed. He took the lollipop she fished out of her pocket and smelled it a few times before it eventually made its way into his mouth. A moment of surprise registered on his face before he quickly recovered and urged them to get moving again.
Jennifer watched Raimy throw his wrapper to the ground as they walked. They hadn't gone but a few more steps when her radio crackled to life. "Colonel Reynolds, we have a problem here."
"Go ahead Captain."
Jennifer never got the chance to hear what Captain Baker was going to say. The captor grabbed at her radio - in his panic he had a tough time separating it from her clothing, but he quickly overcame that and pulled the radio from her. He threw it to the ground and smashed it to bits first with his booted foot, then with a rock for good measure.
"You will not contact them in any way," he ground out in anger before shoving them forward on the path.
Jennifer felt a little bit of her hope diminish with the loss of her radio, but she also had faith in the teams at the SGC. Her confidence in the Atlantis teams was great, but her time with the SGC teams had shown her their similarities in skills and luck. She was also fully aware that Cameron would be leading the SGC teams and wouldn't rest until he found her. Please let it be soon, Cam, she thought, closing her eyes briefly and picturing him in her head, drawing strength and hope from the quick image.
Shit, shit, shit, Colonel Reynolds ground out to himself as he paced in front of the Stargate waiting for Lt. Mooney to dial the gate. Not far from where he paced he could hear Lady Adeya crying and her husband trying to comfort her.
It had taken forty-five minutes to get his men and the ruling family to the gate. He'd wanted to go after the doctor and boy immediately, but with civilians with them as well as three injured men, he knew that getting everyone to safety and getting additional teams to help in the search and rescue was a priority.
Captain Baker had his stitched knife wound to the upper arm, but it wasn't serious and he knew that he wouldn't be able to talk the Captain out of returning. Lt. Bosco had been shot in the leg, while they'd been scouting ahead. At least it was a through and through Reynolds thought with a shake of his head at the luck they were having on this mission. Then there was the still unconscious Darsam security officer who'd been hit pretty hard in the head with a sharp rock. Baker had done a pretty good job dressing the wound, but the bandage was in need of changing again.
If it wasn't Keller missing out there he wouldn't be as worried, hell, if it'd been one of his men out there he'd even feel some relief and be glad that they'd made the move to protect the boy and not leave Raimor alone with the enemy. But it wasn't one of his men - a soldier, instead it was the soft-hearted doctor they'd all grown so protective of.
Then there was also the dread he had once he reached the other side of the gate. The dread of having to look Colonel Mitchell in the eye and tell him Keller wasn't with them… that she was still on that planet somewhere and they had no idea where.
The whoosh of the gate pulled Reynolds out of his agitated thoughts. "Lt. Mooney, Captain Baker, guard the gate. No one leaves this planet, absolutely no one. Keep trying to raise Dr. Keller on the radio every five minutes till we get back."
"Sir," they both replied in unison.
"Captain Baker?" Reynolds demanded.
"I'm good, Sir," Baker replied, knowing his CO was concerned with his stitches.
Reynolds nodded before bending to help Bosco to his feet. Reynolds and Jaron each gabbed a side of the make-shift stretcher they'd constructed to carry Garod. Bosco waited till they were ready, then slipped his arm around his CO's shoulders for support as they limped their way through the Stargate with Lady Adeya and her son following behind.
Colonel Mitchell took a seat behind his desk and motioned for Captain Jacobs to take a seat too. Cameron wasn't fond of evaluations, but these last few with Major Lorne's team had merely been a procedural exercise… a governmental paperwork must for all personnel.
"So," Cameron began, "you realize this is just a formality. Your record is exemplary and I've read the mission reports, your performance is commendable, soldier."
"I'd heard you read all the mission reports, sir," Jacobs said with a grin.
"I wouldn't say all the reports," Mitchell shot back with a touch of defensiveness. His own team had given him a lot of ribbing about his mental consumption of all the past SG-1 mission reports. "I mean… the botany teams and the geology teams can be a bit dry most of them time," Mitchell defended himself. "And the cultural teams… well let's just say I have Dr. Jackson to brighten every one of my missions and the need for additional cultural reading is not high on my list of must reads." Cam shook his head as he finished his short rant.
"Feel that way myself when escorting those very teams, sir," Jacobs readily agreed.
"I think the fact that you're on Lorne's team actually about sums up your competence and dependability. Making an art of rescuing Sheppard's team and handling the… um… unusual circumstances that arise when escorting Dr. Keller has spotlighted you and your team mates' ability to improvise and think quickly in tough situations."
"Thank you, sir," Jacobs grinned, unable to hold back his laughter or pride at hearing a commanding officer praise his duty, "although we all thought of Keller-duty as an honor and challenge."
Mitchell had to chuckle at Capt. Jacobs choice of words, "She is that," he grinned to himself as he closed the file in front of him. "When are you due back on Atlantis?" Cam asked as he looked across his desk at the younger man.
"I'm scheduled to report back in…," Jacobs began, only to be interrupted by the unscheduled off-world activation warning.
Cameron and Jacobs took a moment to stare at each other, waiting for the warning sound to quiet down so they could continue. When the sound died down Jacobs began to open his mouth to continue speaking only to be interrupted again, this time by Walter's voice calling for Colonel Mitchell to report to the control room.
Mitchell felt the dread begin to engulf him as he tried not to allow his mind to wander to Jennifer and her mission with SG-3.
He and Jacobs were already jogging toward the control tower when he heard the additional call for a medical team to the gate room. His heart skipped a beat as he picked up his pace.
Mitchell rounded the corner into the gate room to see Colonel Reynolds already halfway down the ramp with a hobbling Lieutenant Bosco on one side and dragging a stretcher with the help of an unknown man on the other side. When they made it to the end of the ramp the medical team helped situate the Lieutenant as well as another unknown unconscious man on the waiting gurneys before whisking them both away.
Cameron continued to watch the event horizon where a woman and child had emerged a moment before and were making their way down the ramp. When they reached the end of the ramp Cam's eyes shot back to the gate awaiting more of the team and missed Reynolds' signal to Walter to cut the gate.
Mitchell swung his gaze to Reynolds after the event horizon shut down, while in the background he heard a woman begin to cry in earnest, her wails becoming louder and louder, making Cam even more fearful.
"Colonel Reynolds, report," General Landry ordered loudly, trying to be heard over the crying as he approached.
Reynolds gave Cameron a look of regret before turning to his commanding officer. "Sir, Dr. Keller and the ruling family's son were taken during an ambush on our way back to the gate. I left Lt. Mooney and Captain Baker in control of the gate until our return."
General Landry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the woman's cries hadn't subsided. "Briefing in ten minutes, Colonel Reynolds. SG-1, that includes you."
"Yes, sir," they all replied, Mitchell caught slightly off-guard having not noticed the arrival of the rest of his team.
"Walter," the General yelled up to the control room, "have teams nine and fourteen in the briefing room in ten minutes."
"Yes, sir," came a brisk reply over the speakers in the gate room.
Reynolds gave Mitchell one last nod before making his way over to Jaron and his family, gesturing for a Marine in the room to follow him. Mitchell shadowed Reynolds, needing to hear anything that might include information about Jennifer.
Reynolds hunkered down in front of the woman kneeling on the floor rocking back and forth unable to contain her sobs. "Lady Adeya," he called gently. "Addy," he tried again when she didn't respond.
Mitchell watched the woman slowly lift her head and meet Reynolds' gaze.
"Addy, I need you and your family to go with this soldier to our infirmary. They'll look over your injuries quickly and then get you settled comfortably while we go find your son." Reynolds watched the woman shake her head no even as he was explaining what was needed.
"I will wait here for my Raimor," she stated firmly.
"Addy," Reynolds tried to soothe, yet remained firm, "Healer Keller is watching over your Raimy. She'll not allow any harm to come to him. These men," he said pointing blindly behind him, knowing that SG-1 would be standing there, "she is family to them, and we'll be leaving shortly to go back to Darsam and find them. We'll bring them both back safely."
Reynolds held Adeya's gaze waiting for his words to sink in and be processed. He watched her nod her head and allow Jaron to lift her to her feet. As they began to walk towards the doorway, Lady Adeya took a step away from Jaron and placed herself in front of Mitchell. She took a moment, looking directly into his eyes.
Cameron didn't know how or why, but he knew Lady Adeya was asking him a personal question. He nodded his head, a silent promise to bring the ones they loved back quickly and safely.