Daniel reached the cave opening and quickly reached for the packs. He saw the first aid kit in with all their food. Rather than taking the time to dig it out, he simply grabbed the whole pack. He then grabbed some blankets and the canteens and raced back down the cave. As he approached his friends he breathed a sigh of relief. Teal'c was laying Sam down several meters from the landslide. Jack quickly motioned Daniel over.
"Daniel, where's the first aid kit?" Daniel dug in the pack for a moment before handing it over to Jack. They then turned her attention to Sam. She was unconscious again. Daniel could see some blood trickling out from a couple of scratches by her right shoulder. Her right arm was hanging awkwardly, but Daniel didn't know if her arm was broken or if she dislocated her shoulder. Jack, meanwhile, focused his attention on her legs. Her left knee was swelling which meant she had probably sprained it. There was also a pretty deep gash on her upper thigh and another on her lower calf which were bleeding steadily. Thankfully her other leg didn't look as bad. It had a few scrapes, but nothing to life-threatening.
"Teal'c, we'll need some water to clean her up with." Teal'c nodded and went to fetch the water Daniel brought. "Daniel, you take care of her shoulder. I think she's dislocated her shoulder so you'll have to find something to bind it with. You'll also need to bind her ribs. I don't think she could have that much weight on her chest without at least bruising some ribs. I'll take care of her legs. Let's get her washed up, bandaged up, and outta here before the roof collapses on us."
Sam was slowly surfacing from oblivion. The first thing she became aware of was pain. Lots of pain. The second thing she realized was she could move again. She cautiously began to experiment with motion, slightly startled when strong hands began to hold her still. "Major Carter. You must remain still until Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson have tended to your injuries." Sam stopped struggling when the familiar voice penetrated the fog that had covered her mind. She knew that voice. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking in the dull light of the torches. She looked up and saw Teal'c, nodding her head in understanding and immediately regretting it when that small action sent new waves of pain through her body.
Clenching her eyes tightly against the pain, she concentrated on listening. She could hear Teal'c telling her she would be fine and they would be home soon. She could hear the Colonel and Daniel discussing blood loss and shock but she couldn't quite figure out who they were talking about. After what felt like several minutes, the pain had subsided enough and she opened her eyes again. Teal'c was still by her side, but his attention was directed away from her. Curious, she looked in that direction and her heart almost stopped with the sight. Jack and Daniel were on their knees, their hands and faces covered with blood. What had happened! When had they gotten hurt?
Ignoring her own pain, she started to get up, desperate to help her friends. Teal'c again tried to quiet his friend. "Major Carter. You must remain still. You will only hurt yourself if you continue to fight us." Sam heard the words again, but this time they didn't register, her panic filled mind unable to focus on anything other than helping Daniel and Jack. She began to struggle harder against the hands that were restraining her. Why weren't they letting her help? They were her best friends, her family, and someone was trying to keep her from helping them. With a sudden boost of energy she escaped the hands holding her shoulders and kicked out her legs. She immediately felt something in her leg tear as new waves of agony swept over her, sending her back into unconsciousness.
General Hammond was getting worried. SG-1 still hadn't shown up. Colonel Webber reported that there was no sign of anyone being on the planet for at least a few months, since the last time the SGC had a research team here. They had successfully set up the camp, had a duty roster compiled, set up guard shifts, and set up a defensive perimeter, all the while thinking the Stargate would start to spin and SG-1 would come flying out. Now it was night time on the planet, and despite his trust in that team, he was getting worried.
What was keeping them so long? Surely, it couldn't have taken that long for Major Carter and Dr. Jackson to return from those caves they were looking at. At first he hoped that it had taken longer than planned for them to return and every time they tried to dial the planet they got a busy signal, the SGC had been forced to keep the gate open for almost two hours while they moved supplies through. As he stepped through and the gate was shut down, he kept expecting them to dial in at anytime. As more time passed with still no activity from the gate, he started feeling anxious.
He thought back to the last conversation he had with Colonel O'Neill. Jack had said everything was fine. Was he lying? As quickly as he thought that idea, he dismissed it. If there was any danger to his team, Jack would have had them back to the SGC faster than Senator Kinsey could shut down the Stargate program. Maybe they returned to the SGC. No, that wouldn't explain why they still weren't here. Even if they did return to the SGC, the people up in NORAD would have recognized the iris code, opened up the front door for them, explained what happened, and sent them on their way.
Did he give them the right address? Hammond suddenly felt a shiver of dread at that thought. What if they tried to come here but got stuck on some unknown planet? What if they were injured or dead and he told them the wrong address? No, he reasoned with himself, he told them the right address. Even if Colonel O'Neill somehow forgot, Teal'c was there and heard it too. Not to mention Dr. Jackson and Major Carter. No, between the four of them, he had no doubts that they would figure out where they went. He toyed with the idea of sending SG-15 to P4X387 to collect SG-1, but quickly dismissed that option also. They simply didn't have enough people here to send anyone out to look for SG-1. He would just have to hope that his best team could overcome whatever they had managed to get themselves into this time. His thoughts were interrupted when an airman suddenly burst into his 'office.'
"Sir, the Stargate is being activated." Hammond raced outside, arriving at the Stargate as the last chevron locked. Seconds later when four figures walked out of the wormhole, he felt his heart drop again. Instead of the very late SG-1, he saw four aliens walking towards him. They were approximately six feet tall and had very lean bodies. They wore some sort of robe that Hammond immediately associated with some sort of monk. Walking up to greet him, they pulled back their hoods, revealing a slightly bluish face crowned with silver hair. Bowing slightly, they spoke to him, their English somewhat surprising.
"Greetings. Are you here to partake in The Festival?"
Jack was getting nervous. He didn't like being in enclosed spaces, especially when the roof could fall on you. And he didn't like it when a member of his team was hurt. He wanted nothing more than to get out of the cave and into open ground, being tossed around was better than being crushed alive. First, though, they had to take care of Sam, even if it was just a quick fix. Get the bleeding stopped enough so we can move her, we'll deal with the rest outside. He glanced up at Daniel, grateful that it looked like he was almost done with her shoulder and ribs. Teal'c was still by her head, holding her still when she thrashed about. He returned his attention to her leg. He already did what he could for her knee and now he was concentrating on the deep gash in her thigh. "Jack, do you need a hand?" Daniel had already started coming down to where Jack was kneeling.
"Yea Danny. Start putting pressure here." Jack pointed to the laceration on her calf. "I almost have this one taken care of. Then we stop that one from bleeding and get the crap out of here." Daniel put his hand around the wound and pressed down tightly, wincing when he heard her moan. Jack continued as he finished tying her bandage.
"I think she has already lost a lot of blood. We'll have to keep a careful eye on her, make sure she doesn't go into shock. We'll probably have to change some of these bandages before we start back to the Stargate, but I want to leave these blasted caves first." He moved down towards Daniel. As he began to apply a pressure bandage Sam started twitching again.
"Sam, it's going to be okay." Suddenly, she started tossing. Jack was forced to help Daniel hold her still. His first thought was that she was going into convulsions. He glanced at her face and realized that she was conscious, or at least semi-conscious, and that she seemed to be fighting Teal'c. He quickly realized she was panicking, but before he could help Teal'c calm her down, his hands slipped and she burst up and just as quickly slumped down again. Jack, who was almost thrown off her, quickly rejoined Daniel before a red stain caught his attention. She was bleeding again, and from the gash he just barely managed to stop. "Crap!"
Then the thing he most feared happened. The ground started to shake again. "Double crap!" he muttered to himself as the three men threw themselves on top of Sam in a valiant attempt to protect her from any more falling rocks.