Here's the next chapter! Thank you to all you new reviewers, and those who have been revewing! If all of you keep reviewing every chaptwr, this story will be finished quickly indeed. So please enjoy this chapter, and review!
Chapter 12
Samantha Carter looked up tiredly when she heard the door to the cell open, and relief crossed her face when she saw that they were returning Daniel. When she'd heard the sounds of a firefight, and the yelled reports and realized what was happening, she had been worried for him. Now, she didn't say anything when the jaffa dropped him facedown onto the floor; she only stood, wincing, glad that he didn't seem to be conscious to feel it. As the guards backed out of the cell, she took another step or two toward Daniel, but suddenly stopped and gasped when she saw the nasty staff blast wound on his back.
"Oh my--what happened!" she cried, running to his side and crouching down beside him. She didn't expect an answer, much less from whom she got it from.
"Stray staff blast from the attack," Amaunet answered bluntly. Sam glanced up to see her passing the cell, supported by two jaffa because Sha're's leg was injured as well. It didn't seem life-threatening, but it was bad enough that the Goa'uld could not heal it quickly enough to walk on her own. Her face twisted. "The fault is all his own. He chose to shield me."
Carter almost smiled at that; of course he would have. But then she frowned. "Why are you bringing him back here? He could…he could die. You have to do something…"
As she spoke, Daniel suddenly gasped, coming to, but even once he'd awoke, his breath came in short, pained huffs that he seemed to have to struggle for, and his eyes didn't open. Sam's throat tightened, realizing how much pain he must have been in. She wasn't even sure he was aware of what was happening around him yet. Then her attention was drawn back to the Goa'uld.
Amaunet's eyes flared, and she smirked. "I do not 'have' to do anything. I could simply let him die. But then I would not have the satisfaction of killing him myself. So he will be healed, but not now. I must use the sarcophagus first, and then there are other, more important things that need to be taken care of before attending to wounded prisoners."
Carter gulped. "B-but you can't just leave him like this! He's suffering!"
"Then he will have to suffer until there is time to bring him to the sarcophagus," Amaunet replied coldly. She turned to go, and Sam shouted at her back as she went, horror sticking in her throat and making it hard to speak.
"Wait! You can't do this! Don't!...Don't do this to him, Sha're, come back!"
"Sam…" Daniel's voice gasped from beside her knees.
Gulping again before taking her eyes off the retreating Goa'uld, Sam looked down at her friend, unable to hold back a grimace at the sight of the staff blast wound. "Daniel, are you all right?" It was a stupid question; of course he wasn't all right. His life was in immediate danger at the moment for goodness sakes.
And Daniel shook his head, his eyes still not open, clenched shut in agony as he gasped out his fractured reply. "No…C-can't…breath…help…roll off…stomach."
Carter's eyes widened as she forced her pure worry to slack off a bit in order to allow her to think, and comprehended that the reason he was gasping like fish out of water was because he was laying on his injured ribs. Nodding quickly, she gently rolled him onto his side, careful to avoid the fresh wound. When he had been positioned better, his breathing seemed to slowly be less of a chore, and Sam allowed herself to relax a bit.
"That help some?" she asked, just to make sure.
Daniel nodded weakly. "Some…" he whispered hoarsely.
"So, did you hear..." she inquired carefully.
"Yeah, I heard what she said," Daniel answered quietly. His voice wasn't comprised of strangled gasps anymore, but it was still thin, weak, and scratchy, with an occasional light gasp of pain--not surprising, when he'd just taken a staff blast full in the back. It was a wonder he wasn't dead already. The shot must have somehow missed all of the important things, leaving him crippled and in excruciating pain. Usually he would have tried to, but there was no way that Daniel could have hidden the fact of how much he was hurting at the moment, and it showed fully on his face as he spoke, along with the dread of having to endure it until Amaunet's jaffa returned for him.
Sam grimaced again and rubbed his shoulder. "It's all right. I'll be here."
Daniel only nodded weakly, but she didn't blame him for not feeling like talking anymore. Opening his eyes and glancing up, across the floor, Daniel stopped his jacket still lying on the ground few feet away. He groped for it, but it wasn't close enough, and trying to stretch only hurt more. Sam leaned over, caught the edge of it with her fingers, and pulled it closer to him. Daniel nodded in thanks and took hold of it, pulling it under his head, though when it was it position supporting his head he still gripped balls of the fabric tightly in both hands. His eyes clenched shut again before she'd gotten much of a chance to see them, fighting the pain.
Sam gripped his shoulder again, more firmly this time. "Daniel?"
He gulped. "It's okay, Sam. I can…I can handle it until they come back--provided it doesn't kill me first." The corner of his mouth curled up almost into a momentary half-smile at the last statement, and she wondered how he could do that when he knew he was dying. Even though the Goa'uld had promised Daniel would be put in the sarcophagus later, that still bothered her. What if he couldn't hold on until they returned? What would happen then? But she immediately pushed the though away, not wanting to dwell on it.
"Are you sure?" she asked in concern.
"I don't have a choice, do I?"
"Uhm…no, I…I guess not," Carter sighed.
An uncomfortable moment of silence passed, the only sound Daniel's labored breathing, until Daniel finally looked up at her, opening his red rimmed, tear filled, and exhausted eyes again. The bright blue of his irises only made the deep, dark circles under his eyes stand out more. Sam had to resist the urge to shudder at how much more pain her friend's eyes betrayed then the rest of his face, and not all of it was physical.
"Sam…I saw her," Daniel breathed.
At first she just looked at him, and then her own eyes widened. "Sha're? She-"
Daniel nodded slowly. "After she got hit, I covered her, but…Amaunet was weakened by the wound, I guess, and Sha're broke out…for a minute. But then I got hit, and…" He was blinking rapidly now, pushing back the tears that wanted to fall. "And then she was…she was gone…again." Something between another gasp of pain and a sob escaped his throat, and Sam's heart went out to him. "…again..." he whispered.
The response from the Tok'ra came thankfully quicker than they had expected, and as General Hammond ordered the iris to be opened to let through the Tok'ra representative they were sending, Jack O'Neill found himself thankful they had actually hadn't wasted time, but still hoping that the Tok'ra coming wasn't one of the really annoying ones…
O'Neill's worries halted when Jacob Carter stepped through the Stargate onto the ramp, and he let out a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding. Then he headed from the control room, following Hammond.
"Jacob! It's good to see you," Hammond said, greeting his friend warmly at the door to the 'gate room with a smile and a handshake.
"Good to be home, George," Jacob smiled back. "Jack," he said, nodding toward O'Neill, who nodded in return. "Selmak says hi, too, but you'll probably get to talk to him later anyway," the older man grinned. "Now what's this about, George?" Then he started to look around for his daughter. "And…where's Sam?"
Hammond sighed, Jack frowned, and that was all Jacob need to know something was wrong. His smile faded. "What wrong?"
"I'm afraid that's what this is about, Jacob. Major Carter and Doctor Jackson are missing."
"Sam and Daniel? What happened?" Jacob asked in concern as Hammond started to herd him and O'Neill toward the briefing room.
"We're not entirely sure, but we have a theory. The only problem is that our search plan is taking too long. Did Major Carter ever tell you how we found the second 'gate on Earth in Antarctica?"
Jacob nodded, frowning. "Yes, I remember something about. You don't think the same thing happened again, do you?"
"That's the only feasible answer we have right now. Nothing's come through the second 'gate here, but there any number of planets it could have jumped to between here and P5R-316."
"So basically, we have no idea," O'Neill offered.
Hammond nodded as the three of them sat down. "Can the Tok'ra help us, Jacob?"
Jacob looked thoughtful for a moment more, then bowed his head to look at his hands folded on the table for a moment. When his head lifted, it was the symbiote, Selmak, who spoke.
"Our resources are always stretched somewhat thing, and right now is no exception, but I believe we could spare a ship or two to help your search, though I will have to speak to the council on that matter, and we will certainly relay any intelligence we may come across concerning your missing people."
Hammond nodded again, this time in thanks. "Thank you, Selmak. We'll be glad for all the help we can get locating them." But even as he spoke, a chill that he could never stop ran up his spine at the voice of the Tok'ra, which was identical to that of a Goa'uld. He liked Selmak, and Jacob was one of the best friends he'd ever had, but it still spooked him a bit. He could see it did the same to O'Neill, who shifted uncomfortably even as he looked happy at the news.
Jacob's head bowed again, then lifted and Jacob spoke. "And we'll offer as much as we can, George. We'll find my daughter--we'll find both of them."
Daniel Jackson woke with a start, his head jerking upward, and he found himself staring down at his folded arms, set on top of his desk. His glasses lay a few inches away, on top of an open reference book, and he picked them up, groggily sliding them onto his face. What…? he wondered absently, looking around, and then remembered that he had stayed on base because he hadn't thought he'd be able to sleep before the mission the next day. Not to mention he hadn't really wanted to sleep; he'd known it would bring the kind of terrible dreams he'd been having.
Daniel shuddered at the memories-turned-nightmares, and not for the first time that day. Of all the places to go after he'd finally gotten rid of Vala, why did it have to be there? Having Vala MalDoran around for several weeks and having no choice but to remain near her at all times had been bad enough; now he was being forced to relive an even more potent nightmare from his past.
Sighing heavily, Daniel picked up the text he'd been trying to translate before he'd drifted off at his desk and attempted to continue. But just as before, he didn't have much luck pushing thoughts of Sha're and what had happened on that planet--now designated P5R-322--from his mind. He was almost grateful for the interruption when Cameron Mitchell's voice echoed from the doorway.
"Hey, Jackson, what are you still doing here? It's after midnight."
Daniel glanced at the clock and that it was, in fact, almost two o'clock in the morning, and shrugged. "I could ask you the same question."
"Good point," Mitchell conceded. "Can I come in?"
Now Daniel actually looked in his direction. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." He motioned to another chair that sat beside the table near his desk, and the colonel sauntered into the office and lowered himself into the rolling chair, spinning a couple of times on the mechanism before stopping to face Jackson.
"Couldn't sleep?" At Daniel expression, Cameron shrugged. "Yeah, me either."
Daniel snorted. "You're just excited about what we might find there. I'm just…" He trailed off, grimacing, and Mitchell peered at him.
"You know, Daniel, if this is really bothering you that much, you're welcome to sit this one out."
The archaeologist shook his head. "No, you'll need me to read anything in Goa'uld we come across, and there's likely to be a lot of it, considering it was a Goa'uld base. I'll…I'll be fine."
"You sure? 'Cause I can even ask General Landry to assign this mission to another team if I need to…." Mitchell offered generously. "I mean, I know Carter's having a little trouble with this too…"
"Sam? No, she'll be all right," Daniel said, giving a half smile. But it quickly faded and he looked away, not saying anything else about himself.
Mitchell eyed him. "You know, maybe talking about it would help…"
Daniel shook his head slowly. "No…I don't think so. I'd rather not right now," he said quietly, plucking up a pencil, and twirling it between his fingers, hoping that if he took his attention away from Mitchell that he would just go away…
But Mitchell didn't give up so easily. "I don't mind listening, Daniel, and if something's going to affect the performance of my team, I need to know."
Daniel blew air through his teeth. "It's not going to affect anything, Cameron, okay? I told you, I'll be fine," he said forcefully, the edge in his voice clearly telling the colonel to back off, bordering on the irritated. His grip on the pencil tightened, and it stopped spinning.
"Daniel, I'm your commander. I know we haven't known each other all that long but still… If you can't talk to me, who can you talk to? Come on-"
The pencil in Daniel's hand snapped, and so did his patience, stopping Cameron Mitchell in his proverbial tracks. "Look, colonel, when I say I don't want to talk about something, there's usually a really good reason. I was tortured within an inch of my life on that planet, and the entire time I had to look at my wife's face, sneering down at me under the control of the Goa'uld who had taken control of her body. It was one of the worst experiences of my life, and I just don't want to say any more than that, all right!"
Mitchell gulped, raising his hands in the air as he gave up, suddenly knowing he'd gone too far. "All right, all right. Sorry. I wasn't tryin' to upset anybody…"
Daniel slumped, sighing heavily and resting his forehead in his hands on the desk. "No…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up like that. You're…you're right. I should be able to talk to you. But…" He trailed off and looked at Mitchell. Cameron saw pain reflected in Jackson's eyes that had been under the surface for a long time, that he only allowed to surface for a moment before currying it again. "But I can't," Daniel finished softly. "Not about that."
Mitchell stood slowly. "Yeah…sorry, Daniel."
The scientist flashed him one of his famous smiles, if not one that was a bit smaller than usual, before turning back to his work. "It's okay."
Cameron nodded. "Right. Yeah, I think I'll get going now, see if I can get some sleep. You should too…"
But Daniel didn't even look up, engrossed in his work again--or was it his thoughts?
Mitchell sighed and moved off, mumbling to himself. "Or, you could just stay up all night. Knock yourself out."