NOTE from the Phoenix: I am going on vacation from this coming Tuesday to next Tuesday and I don't know if I'll have time to write or not. So have no fear if I don't update next week and you all enjoy Thanksgiving all of you who enjoy such things!

Chapter Twenty-eight

"We're lost, aren't we?"

"Well there are two kinds of lost." Jack replied. "There is 'not knowing how to get to where you are going', and then there is the more severe 'not knowing where you are'."

"I think we're suffering from both right now."

"You could be right."

Tai was sitting on a rock with map opened up in his lap and the rifle he'd bought propped up against the rock. He seemed concerned and tapped on the small device in his hands. Jack came over and took a look at the map. They had traveled a long way in a rented vehicle, but when the roads ended Tai insisted on getting them to the true border. He had been showing Jack how to use the device that was much like a GPS, but something didn't seem to be adding up.

"What's going on, Tai."

"No water."

"We have plenty of water."

"No...uh...no move water."

"I think he means that there should be a river here." Sam said.

"Yes, yes, move water, never here." Tai tapped on the screen again as if that would change things.

Jack asked for the device and Tai handed it to him. The screen clearly showed their location as a little black dot. Currently that dot was on the edge of a small river or stream. He looked around at the topography and it didn't even appear that there had once been a river here, so it wasn't likely that it had simply dried up.

"We crossed a small river back when we were still in the car." Jack thought out loud.

"The device doesn't show a road over the river." Sam noted.

"Something's not right."

"We need to find a landmark."

"Keep walking, come to move water." Tai suggested. "Must be Polis to here."

"I'm guessing Polis means South." Jack said.

Sam asked Tai for the map and he handed it to her. She had been studying it on the ship ride over, but without a way to understand scale she still struggled with it. However the Ketch border was not far from the river that they were trying to find. They had been traveling on foot for three days and had transversed a large distance. They were supposed to have reached the border today, but if they weren't near the river they still had a few days ahead of them.

"Sir, if something is wrong with the GPS, then the river we drove over could be the one we are looking for."

"'Sir'?"

"Sorry, Jack, I'm nervous and old habits die hard."

"Understandable. Wait we drove over that river four days ago and kept driving for the rest of that day, plus we've been walking for three days. If the border is close to that river we could be hundreds of miles into Ketch right now."

"Which is why I'm nervous."

"We need to turn back, we can't risk taking Tai further into Ketch looking for a landmark that might not exist."

Tai was already packed up to keep moving in the direction that they were traveling in. When Jack tried to explain that he felt they might already be in Ketch Tai was doubtful. He didn't want to turn around because they would be risking wasting three days of hard travel. Jack and Tai began an argument, something the alien race was quick to begin.

Sam watched the pair try and make their points while patchworking the two languages together. She rubbed at her sour stomach. She had been slightly nauseous for the past five days, but she had refused to give into the sickness and actually vomit. Sam knew the instant she did Jack would jump to certain conclusions and she felt it was because of anxiety and not morning sickness.

There had been a time in her life not so long ago that she would have plowed into any war torn area without hesitation. That seemed almost like a different life time ago. While Jack and Tai continued to debate Sam suddenly felt a dull pain in addition to the general nausea. The added discomfort sent her stomach over the edge.

Sam turned away from the others but only made it a few feet before falling to her knees. Once she started retching she found herself unable to stop. She felt Jack kneel down next to her and put his hand on her lower back. She tensed as he did so because her back had been sore for the past few days from the long hikes.

Bile burned at the back of her throat as she slowly regained control of her rebelling stomach. Jack started to help her to sit back, but she insisted that he help her to her feet. She avoid Jack's eyes for a moment, not wanting to see his worried expression. Sam pulled back in surprise when he put the back of his hand against her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I think you have a fever."

"It's just the heat and humidity of the jungle. I'm fine."

"I believe you, but in any case we have to turn back."

"I agree."

Tai was watching them with concern and instantly agreed to turn back. Sam was grateful that Jack didn't ask her if she thought it was morning sickness. It would just be a question she couldn't answer and do nothing but add to her anxiety. Sam was furious at herself for not being able to decide if she was pregnant or not, she felt it was something that she should just instinctively know.

Of course what she didn't dare admit to even herself was the fact that instinct was screaming at her that she was, but the part of her mind that wanted to just focus on getting home was in denial over it. She was terrified of the thought that she might end up responsible for them missing their one good chance at getting to the Stargate.

"Jack...I think Tai should be the only one to turn back."

"We have no idea where we are, if we turn back we can make it to a landmark."

"That's not why you want to turn around and you know it." Sam accused. "We have just as a good a chance of finding a landmark if we go forward and at least we know we're getting closer to the Gate. We have a copy of the map, we're well trained. We go ahead and Tai goes back to Ser'in and Jac'antha."

"I want to take him half way back." Jack bargained. "That way he won't be in the jungle alone too long and if your fever gets worse we'll be closer to help."

Sam nodded and started to follow Tai as they headed back the way they had come. Tai had given up on the digital mapping device. As they walked along Sam became more aware of the fever that Jack had brought to her attention. Sweat had been dripping off her skin for days, but now it felt cold.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Jack asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Ja'ck?"

Jack held his hand up for silence and cocked his head to the side to hear better. Sam didn't know what he was talking about until she heard the sound as well. It was a heartbreaking weeping. Tai clearly heard it as well and the trio looked to one another about what they were going to do about it. Jack started walking towards the crying.

"We should check it out." Jack announced.

Sam and Tai weren't so sure that they agreed, however they followed him. There was a rise in the earth that they carefully made their way over. Everyone crouched down low as they peeked over the rise. On the other side of the mound was a clearing that held a human female. She had one ankle caught in some sort of snare trap that had half her body lifted up off the ground. Blood ran down her leg where she had been scratching at the rope to escape.

Unable to free herself she had broken down into tears. It was hard to tell how long she'd been trapped, however there were signs that she'd been struggling for at least a few hours. Tai had tensed upon seeing her and automatically went to help her.

"Tai, wait!" Jack hissed.

Tai paid no attention to him and fearlessly walked towards the ensnared woman.

"He really is like Daniel in a scaly coat." Jack grumbled.

Sam chuckled and broke cover as well. Tai was almost upon the woman when he stepped on a branch and it broke with a sharp sound. Alerted the female looked up at him and screamed at the top of her lungs. She jerked at her tangled leg and fought desperately for freedom.

"Tai, cut her down quick." Jack ordered. "Everyone in whole damn jungle is going to hear this."

Tai nodded and pulled out a small knife. Seeing the blade the woman panicked. Jack stepped up and took the knife away from Tai, in hopes that having another human help her might calm the woman down. She did seem less apprehensive about Jack's approach and stopped screaming. Jack reached out and grabbed the rope and cut through it.

Falling to the ground the woman scrambled away from her rescuers. She was wild looking and her dark eyes held a cornered animal look about them. Although she was dressed it was in very simple cloth that she'd wrapped around her chest and waist. After staring at them for a minute she turned and bolted off into the jungle.

"You're welcome." Jack said dryly. "Okay, kids, let's ge..."

Jack was cut off as he stepped into another one of the snare traps. The rope snapped tight around his ankle and ripped him off his feet. He landed hard on his back which knocked the breath out of him. Suddenly staring up at the tree canopy Jack crossed his arms over his chest and sighed.

"It must be true that no good deed goes unpunished." Jack muttered.

"Looks that way." Sam smiled.

Tai had chuckled as well, however now he was searching for the knife that Jack had dropped. The leaf litter was thick and he was having trouble locating the knife. He put the rifle he was carrying down and started looking through the leaves with his hands. When he still couldn't find it Sam got down on her knees and helped.

"As much as it feels good to get off my feet for a while I really don't feel like hanging around here."

"Any idea where the knife went?"

"No...wait...maybe I'm laying on it."

Sam snaked her hands under his shoulders but he turned out to be laying on a sharp stick. She thought she heard Tai make a noise of triumph, but when she looked at him his eyes were wide with terror. Sam's blood flashed to ice as she caught sight of a brown dragon in tattered clothing standing about a hundred feet away with a weapon trained on them. Tai went to retrieve the gun he had put down but the brown dragon fired at them and charred the leaves between Tai and the weapon.

"Carter, what the hell was that?"

"We've been caught."

"Run..."

"It's too late for that."

Sam was right, the brown dragon was not alone and it wasn't long before a dozen of his friends showed themselves. They were all dressed in random clothing, some of them only wearing pants. They all held weapons, but of different kinds and states of repair. They approached cautiously keeping their sights mainly on Tai. Once they were surrounded a blood red dragon stepped up to Tai and glared at him.

"Hol a te?!" He demanded.

"Kak ne, no one." Tai replied forgetting to only reply in his own language.

"A te Indigo?"

"Kak, kak, kak Indigo." Tai denied. "Ne...uh...ne relatis."

Sam's heart was pounding against her rib cage. She knew that 'Indigo' was the name of the military force that was on the other side of this battle, making these the rebels. She felt she recalled that 'relatis' was what Tai had called the poachers. However the leader of this group didn't believe the story for one second and struck Tai across the face hard enough to knock him back.

"Barin da!" The red dragon barked.

"Whoa, wait, can we talk about this?" Jack asked.

No one paid attention to Jack's question. Sam felt one of the aliens come up from behind and throw a quickly made noose around her neck. She realized that if she had bolted at the start they probably wouldn't have bothered to chase her. She was just an animal to them. However it was too late now and she had no intention of leaving Jack and Tai alone.

Tai cried out in fear as they roughly took his wrists and forced them behind his back. As they tied up their captive and worked on getting Jack under control Sam kept her eyes on the rifle that Tai had dropped. Seeing an opportunity Sam started to lean towards the weapon. Tai had shown them how to take the safety off so that it could be easily fired.

When she reached out to take the weapon a sharp pain lanced up her left side. Shocked by the pain she let out a breathless cry. She didn't understand, no one had touched her. One of the dragons took offense to her making noise and there was another crack of pain followed by a flash of light and darkness.

Regaining consciousness was not easy. Several time she came near the surface and sunk back into the murky depths of a dreamless sleep. When she did come to she instantly knew she was laying on the ground with her head in Jack's lap. He was stroking her hair rhythmically. As Sam struggled to get her body to listen to her commands she tried to open her eyes. Jack noticed and covered her eyes with his hand.

"Don't open your eyes." Jack said softly.

"What?"

"There is nothing to see."

Sam couldn't comply with the request and pushed Jack's hand away. Opening her eyes Sam shivered at the sight of bars. Forcing herself to sit up she looked around at the small cage made of a wood that look very similar to bamboo. The cage was narrow. There was just enough room to sit up and only room for one of them to lay down at a time.

They were on the edge of a camp that was hidden in the dense jungle. There wasn't much going on in their immediate area and they were unguarded. Sam twisted around in the tight quarters to look at Jack. The clear sign of a struggle were battered into his body and clothing. His throat had a deep purple bruise around it from fighting the noose. The blood that had dried to his face was unmarked by tears. As Sam looked at him she found his dark eyes were frighteningly unemotional and cold.

"Sir?"

"I'm sorry, Carter, I did everything I could." jack replied vacently.

"You sound like you've given up."

"Things look fairly bleak."

It wasn't like Jack to talk like this and it added to Sam's fear. He saw the effect he was having on her and forced a smile. Jack reached out and brushed the dirt off the side of her face. Sam was just about to ask him what their next move was when a shrill scream sliced through the humid air. Tears brightened Sam's eye as the anguished cry repeated.

"Tai?"

"Yes." Jack nodded solemnly. "They're torturing him until he tells them what they want to hear."

"How long has this being going on?"

"Hours."

Jack's voice held no emotion, but his body language and slightly unfocused eyes spoke of the stress he was under. Sam closed her eyes and let the tears spill down her face. Jack pulled her into a comforting embrace and held her to his chest. His hot breath washed over her as he sighed. Tai cried out again, but this time his voice was far weaker.

It wasn't long after that Tai was dragged into view. Sam almost didn't recognize him since his fire orange skin had turned a pale yellow under the stress of torment. Rather than being placed in a cage the blood red dragon tossed a rope up over an over hanging branch from one of the jungle's large trees. He tied Tai's wrists together and had the rope tied off so that Tai could be on his knees, but he couldn't lay down.

Tai was about fifteen feet from where Jack and Sam were being kept. When the red dragon was gone Tai forced his eyes open. He looked around and when he spotted Jack and Sam he struggled briefly with his tether. Giving in his whole frame relaxed, putting strain on his wrists.

"Dali...sorry."

"Tai..."

Sam stopped, there was no point the dragon had passed out. She could feel every muscle in Jack's body tensing in rage. There was nothing he could do at the moment, he had already explored every possibility to escaping the wooden cage. Sam felt bile rising to the back of her throat again, but managed to keep from dry heaving.

The pain that had kept her from reaching the weapon returned and she jerked spasmodically. Jack just held her closer. The pressure made the pain worse, but she wasn't about to pull away from him. Knowing that tears weren't helping Sam forced herself to stop and started looking around for any means of escape.

An hour later the sun was starting to sink and as far as Sam could tell they were truly helpless. Jack hadn't interrupted her attempts to try all of the things that he'd tried already. He knew she had to see for herself if they were truly trapped or not. It wasn't until she cut herself on the twisted metal that held the bars together that he pulled her away and back into his arms.

Jack was sitting with his back up against the bars and he insisted that Sam sit wither her back leaning against his chest. Exhausted and feeling chilled despite the warm air Sam accept his offer and wrapped her hands over her stomach. She wasn't to the point of despair that she felt Jack had slipped into, but she was close.

A dull green dragon that was slightly overweight came waddling up to the cage with a rolled up piece of canvas under one arm. He poked Jack in the arm and got no response. However when he went to do the same to Sam Jack bared his teeth at him in a defensive snarl and pulled her as far from the dragon as he could.

The olive coloured alien thought about this for a moment before backing up a few feet and sitting down. He placed the canvas down and unrolled it. Sam looked at the assortment of heavy knives that was held in the canvas and shuddered. At first she feared that the dragon was here to torment Tai further. However when he picked up a heavy meat cleaver she had a new thought.

"Jack...are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm thinking we're on the menu."