RM Chapter 2
Author's note: so now we get to our angst part, and the next few chapters will be the humor part, and I think that just about covers it. Enjoy!
It didn't take Jack very long to get to Jonas. About fifty feet inside the cave, there was no longer a cave, but a gigantic cavern that didn't seem to end. At least not as far as Jack's flashlight was concerned.
"Jonas!?!" O'Neill all but screamed out a lung
From somewhere in the echoing black hole came a weak and muffled reply.
"Colonel? There was a spot near the edge of the cavern that gave way! I have fallen about a hundred meters, and busted my flashlight!
//Busted your ass is more like it!! I hope he's not hurt too badly, or I will regret saying that. //
Jack refrained from asking Jonas what else he had busted.
"Are you hurt? Can you wait until I find Carter and Teal'c? Teal'c and I can pull you out, but I don't have the pack with the rope in it, Carter's got that one!"
O'Neill shined his flashlight at the edge of the cavern by his feet, and saw the spot where Jonas must have gone down. Something wasn't right. The edge was too perfect, too clean. Jonas interrupted Jack's observation.
"Colonel, I think I may have broken both of my legs! I can't feel the right one at all, and I only have feeling in the left one above the knee! When the ground broke away, I came straight down on my feet to this little ledge that I am on now! Colonel? Colonel O'Neill!?"
Jack swallowed the lump in his throat, regretting his earlier transmission to Teal'c about breaking Jonas's legs. Sort of. At least he was still alive and conscious, a lot more could have gone wrong.
//Who am I kidding? This is bad enough, I really hope this is the low point of the day. //
Jack was chuckling at his own pun, when he turned back to belt out a reply to Jonas.
"Okay Jonas, I understand your situation. Just don't move from that ledge, I am going to get Carter and Teal'c!"
//Not like you can MOVE anyway. //
"Sure thing Colonel!" Jonas was trying to conceal his pain as he called back up to the shallow light from above.
Just then, as he was shining his flashlight across the small cave, Jack noticed the inscriptions on the walls of the entrance to the cavern where he was standing. They were everywhere. Just like the inscriptions on a...
"On a Goa'uld ship." He finished the thought out loud.
The alarm bells went off in O'Neill's head just two seconds too late. He heard the click. He felt the ground start to move under his feet. He let go of his P-90 as his butt collided with the edge of the floor. And as he went down, his head collided with the same edge as his butt had a half-second before. He felt nothing but air. He saw nothing but darkness, and he screamed in peril.
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" Major Carter, I have reached the edge of the cliff, in which direction do I turn?"
Teal'c had made incredible time. Never quite knowing what to expect with the human warriors always kept his battle skills sharp. He credited his agility and quickness in part to his symbiote, but mostly to Bra'tac who had trained him for so long. However, here he was now, facing the slightest bit of uncertainty as he overlooked the awesome view before him. The sharp cliffs with their rusty hews of orange and brown, stared right back at him, daring him to take one step further out.
" Glad you made it so quickly Teal'c." Sam responded on her radio. The Colonel's scream still rang through her ears. Even though it seemed to have happened ages ago.
"Head west, down slope, I'm not that far away. Teal'c....I think I just heard the Colonel scream a few minutes ago, it sounded like he was in some kind of trouble. Hurry, okay Teal'c?"
"I will join you shortly Major Carter." Teal'c took off at a dead run as fast as he could to where Sam was not so patiently waiting. O'Neill was a formidable warrior, and Teal'c could scarcely remember more than a few times when he ever cried out in battle. So he hurried on as fast as he could.
Sam stood at the beginning of the snarled path that led the way down to what she presumed was the cave that had gotten Jonas so fired up. She remembered Jonas announcing to everyone that the altar had Goa'uld writing on it, but she zoned out after it was determined that the planet was no longer inhabited. Naquida deposits in the soil were far more interesting to devote her attention to. Sometimes it also hurt seeing Jonas with Daniel's references that he sometimes used for his translations. She didn't care how quick a study Jonas was, the art of the languages was in Daniel's blood, he was born to do his work.
//Funny how the more of Daniel's stuff he reads, the more he is beginning to act like him. Taking off on a wild Goa'uld chase, just like Daniel used to. //
Yup. She was definitely getting to like Jonas more everyday. Even the thought of the Colonel getting wound up over Jonas's little escape brought a smile to her lips. And it did add a little pizzazz to the ROUTINE mission they were supposed to be on.
//Geez, they really need to find another way to define the missions where we are not supposed to get shot
at. //
Sam watched as Teal'c came barreling down the slope of the cliff towards her, glad finally to have some company again.
"Hi Teal'c. It looks like a path here see?"
Teal'c looked down at the twisted trail and saw what Major Carter was pointing at. A fair sized cave, almost three-quarters of the way down the cliff.
"I can see the cave that Jonas Quinn spoke of, is that where you believe he and O'Neill have ventured?"
"Teal'c, I mentioned to you that I found Naquida in the soil right?"
"So you did." The big Jaffa raised his charismatic eyebrow in his all too familiar sideways glance.
"Well," said Sam " If they are in that cave, and the Naquida is preventing them from using their radios due to the interference, we have to check it out to at least make sure that they are okay, right? It's the only shot we have. Besides, they definitely ventured in. It's the NOT venturing out part that I am slightly worried about."
" I will take the lead down the path." said Teal'c, as stoic and Jaffa-like as possible.
Sam very well knew that Teal'c 's way of dealing with the unknown was to charge ahead and keep focused on whatever task was at hand. This time, he literally charged ahead, leaving Sam to pray that she didn't humiliate herself by falling down the steep path.
// Yes, we only play Jaffa bowling when we are taking out the ENEMY Jaffa. //
Sam cringed. She couldn't believe she was making jokes at a time like this. Even if the jokes were to herself. She decided that she'd been around the Colonel a little too much lately, and that made her smile. She loved being around the Colonel, and she couldn't think of very many times when she wasn't smiling around him. Or at least trying not to smile.
The path in front of her suddenly brought Sam back from her trip to O'Neill land, and as she started to go ass over tin cups, Teal'c was there with his strong arms to make sure she didn't fall.
"Thank you Teal'c. I'm sorry about that, I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going." She hoped her charming smile and batting eyelashes were enough to ward off any of his inquiries about where her train of thought had been. Teal'c didn't even seem to notice.
"We have arrived at the cave Major Carter. However we should approach this cave with caution. See there? Inscriptions carved into the entranceway by the Goa'uld. It is faded, worn, and of an ancient Goa'uld dialect. I am uncertain as to its translation. Maybe the markings on the inside of the cave are more in tact as a result of less contact with the weather on this planet."
"Okay Teal'c. Now that we know this is the cave, let's be especially vigilant. Whatever has happened to Colonel O'Neill and Jonas, we don't want the same thing to happen to us. When we get inside, let's see how much of the writing on the walls you can translate. That might give us a clue as to where those guys went. I'll do some silent reconnaissance so as not to alarm any possible hostiles. Agreed?" Sam didn't know why she asked, Teal'c always agreed. On the outside anyway.
Teal'c simply nodded, turned on his flashlight, and entered the cave, with Carter following close behind.
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Should I continue? We haven't even gotten our heroes back to the SGC yet. What do you think? More to come in chapters 3,4, and 5. Let me know if you like it!