DISCLAIMER: I don't own Stargate or any of the characters and I'm not getting paid for this, so please don't sue me.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I have finally finished this story! Go me! This isn't the last chapter, there are two more to come. I'll post the other two later on tonight ot tomorrow. Please read and review, let me know what you think. Thankyou so much for the reviews I have had so far, they've really kept me going.
(Anything between ~~ is flashbacks, single quote marks are thoughts, double quotes are speech.)
*************
After passing a long, cold night in the cell, the pair had had little sleep and their escape plan had been discussed down to every conceivable eventuality (plus some inconceivable ones at Jack's insistence.) Now all they could do was wait.
Wait is what they did. And wait and wait and wait. The hours ticked by at such a painfully slow rate that at one point Jack began to wonder if time was even passing at all. Conversation had stopped earlier in the morning. (Or was it evening? He was beginning to lose track). There was really nothing more that could be said and both had lapsed into their roles of weakness, which were becoming easier and easier to play as more time passed.
In the corner, Sam sat contemplating the man lying on his back at the other end of the cell. He looked completely relaxed, with his hands folded behind his head, as if he was taking a nap. The contrast to the man she'd sat up with all night, planning their escape, was remarkable.
She smiled slightly, as she considered all that she had learnt about him in a relatively short space of time. He was obviously a brilliant strategist, carefully planning everything down to the letter, in an attempt to make full use of any advantage they could get. He was also a good leader, commanding respect from her already, despite their earlier disagreements. He genuinely cared for his team, having wondered aloud about Teal'c and Daniel's fate earlier before. Not mention his concern about her earlier when she was injured.
'Good looking too.' She thought absently, before mentally reprimanding herself. 'Sam! He's your CO. You can not think that about your CO!' A small traitorous voice spoke up in her mind. 'But is he really? You can't remember him being your CO. Does that really put you in his chain of command?'
Sam quashed the voice, trying to forget about the memory flashbacks she'd had earlier which suggested that her 'other' self might have had similar thoughts on more than one occasion. In a desperate attempt to prevent her mind from wandering again, she once more ran through the plan in her head.
*****
It was probably early afternoon when the Jaffa returned, throwing the door open and once again flooding the cell with light. The cell occupants shrank back from the light, squinting in order to see properly. The First Prime snorted with scorn at their apparent weakness. He nodded to the guards outside the door who entered the cell and roughly picked up Sam and Jack, dragging them out of the cramped room and along the corridor once more.
As they were manoeuvred along the golden passages, Sam tried to make a mental map of where things were so that when it came to escaping, they would have a greater chance. But after a day of no food or water and little sleep, not to mention her injuries at the hands of Jaffa the day previously, she quickly became disorientated as to where the cell was in relation to where they were being taken. The passages seemed to criss-cross all over the palace like a maze, and they all looked the same so it was no surprise that she had almost lost all sense of direction.
*****
As soon as the door to their torture chamber closed after the other Jaffa, they began putting their plan into action. It seemed that this time, the First Prime was favouring more traditional Goa'uld torture methods. He paused by the table, examining their weaponry before selecting a pain stick.
He turned towards Sam, who shrank back at the sight of it. Her reaction seemed to please the Jaffa and he laughed menacingly as he approached.
"Please. No." Jack croaked, his voice sounding so harsh and laboured that Sam looked up in surprise and concern before she realised that it was all part of the plan. The Jaffa turned to face him, a small glint of triumph present in his eyes.
"Please stop." Jack coughed. "We'll tell you anything. Just no more of this."
"No more?" The Jaffa questioned. He moved towards Jack, the weapon still raised. He looked at it, swinging it slightly. "It's a pity." He murmured, "I was wondering how the Tau'ri would react to the use of some of our own torture devices." With that, and no further warning, he lunged forward, striking Jack under his already damaged ribs with the weapon.
The pain was unbearable. Jack bit down hard on his tongue in an effort to not cry out but failed, a muffled scream still emitting from his lips.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the fiery pain lessened and disappeared. Watching through blurred vision and gasping to catch his breath, Jack saw the first prime keel over sideways, to reveal the stolen knife buried up to the hilt in his back, and Sam standing behind him, a fierce expression on her face.
"Sir! Are you alright?" She knelt at his side in concern.
"Never better." He grimaced and took a couple of deep breaths. "Come on."
Sam helped him up and they moved to the table that still held their weaponry. His vision now clear, Jack quickly scanned the weapons that they had at their disposal.
After a moment of deliberation, he swiftly picked up the two Zat guns and passed one to Sam, securing the other in the waistband of his BDU pants.
At one end of the table, discarded along with their food and medical supplies were several packs of C4 and the detonators that had been stowed in their vests. Judging from the slightly battered look that they had, Jack knew the Jaffa had not been able to figure out their use and had largely ignored them as a result. He divided the explosives up between them.
Meanwhile, Sam was sorting through the rest of the weaponry in order to find what else they could use. Their P90's were gone, taken for further study, leaving behind only Goa'uld weapons and the second knife. She slipped it into her boot for later use. A lone GDO also lay on the table, half hidden under the medical supplies. Thanking their lucky stars that the Goa'uld hadn't realized its significance, Sam fastened it securely to her arm.
After checking that they were done, Jack swept the entire contents off the table with his arm, causing it to crash noisily to the ground. This was to prevent the Jaffa guards outside the door from suspecting anything with the room having being quiet for several minutes.
The pair crept over to the door, taking up position either side, Zats armed and ready to stun the unsuspecting guards. Sam punched in all but one of the symbols required to open the door and stood, poised to press the final one. Jack raised one fist, three fingers raised, counting down silently. His last finger dropped and he mouthed 'Now!'
She punched in the last symbol and the door opened silently. The guards turned around, expecting to see their First Prime. There was only time for surprise to register briefly on their faces before the bolts of electricity hit them and they fell.
"Come on!" Jack rushed forward and grabbed the body of one of the guards, dragging him into the room. Sam followed suit with the other guard.
*****
Moments later, they stood in the corridor armed with the unconscious Jaffa guards' Staff Weapons.
"Okay, so here's the plan." Jack turned to her. "Do you know where we are in relation to the throne room?"
Sam shook her head. "I lost track."
"Don't worry. I'll head for the throne room, and rig the sarcophagus with C4. You rig some of the corridors in this area, so that we cause as much damage as possible. That should keep them occupied." He grinned. "You got that?"
Sam nodded. "Then what?"
"Meet me here in..." He glanced at his watch, tapping it in annoyance when he realised it was broken. "Back here in 15 minutes. Set your watch."
Sam was a step ahead of him, already setting it on a timer. "Got it."
"Good." He turned to make his way to the throne room, but paused and turned back. "If I'm not here after 15 minutes, you go, understood? You get the hell out of here."
Sam frowned slightly and nodded. "Yes sir."
"Good." He smiled at her. "We'll be alright, Carter."
"Yes Sir." She nodded again, feeling slightly better by his encouragement. He nodded at her again, and turned heading off down one of the corridors. Sam stared after him for a few seconds before turning around and heading off in the opposite direction.
*****
13 minutes later, Sam arrived at meeting point, having rigged what seemed to be some of the major supporting walls in the palace with the explosives. She panted slightly, having narrowly missed a couple of Jaffa guards heading to some mysterious destination deeper within the warren of corridors. Glancing around, it was evident that Colonel O'Neill had not returned yet, so she crouched in the doorway of their torture room, awaiting his return and keeping watch for any more Jaffa.
*****
After a further five minutes, she was worried. Their scheduled rendezvous had passed and he still hadn't shown up. She peered down the corridor again. Nothing, not even the sound of footsteps returning. She bit her lip nervously. She should really leave and obey his orders, getting herself the hell out of there, but she couldn't. Something was telling her to stay.
'What if he's been captured?' She thought. 'Or worse….' But that didn't bear thinking about. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind, along with the wave of emotion that had accompanied it. Her stomach clenched with fear. 'I can't just leave him here. I can't leave him behind!' She recalled the words of one of her flashbacks.
~"I'd rather die myself than lose Carter…"~
'Please god, don't let him be dead!'
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I have finally finished this story! Go me! This isn't the last chapter, there are two more to come. I'll post the other two later on tonight ot tomorrow. Please read and review, let me know what you think. Thankyou so much for the reviews I have had so far, they've really kept me going.
(Anything between ~~ is flashbacks, single quote marks are thoughts, double quotes are speech.)
*************
After passing a long, cold night in the cell, the pair had had little sleep and their escape plan had been discussed down to every conceivable eventuality (plus some inconceivable ones at Jack's insistence.) Now all they could do was wait.
Wait is what they did. And wait and wait and wait. The hours ticked by at such a painfully slow rate that at one point Jack began to wonder if time was even passing at all. Conversation had stopped earlier in the morning. (Or was it evening? He was beginning to lose track). There was really nothing more that could be said and both had lapsed into their roles of weakness, which were becoming easier and easier to play as more time passed.
In the corner, Sam sat contemplating the man lying on his back at the other end of the cell. He looked completely relaxed, with his hands folded behind his head, as if he was taking a nap. The contrast to the man she'd sat up with all night, planning their escape, was remarkable.
She smiled slightly, as she considered all that she had learnt about him in a relatively short space of time. He was obviously a brilliant strategist, carefully planning everything down to the letter, in an attempt to make full use of any advantage they could get. He was also a good leader, commanding respect from her already, despite their earlier disagreements. He genuinely cared for his team, having wondered aloud about Teal'c and Daniel's fate earlier before. Not mention his concern about her earlier when she was injured.
'Good looking too.' She thought absently, before mentally reprimanding herself. 'Sam! He's your CO. You can not think that about your CO!' A small traitorous voice spoke up in her mind. 'But is he really? You can't remember him being your CO. Does that really put you in his chain of command?'
Sam quashed the voice, trying to forget about the memory flashbacks she'd had earlier which suggested that her 'other' self might have had similar thoughts on more than one occasion. In a desperate attempt to prevent her mind from wandering again, she once more ran through the plan in her head.
*****
It was probably early afternoon when the Jaffa returned, throwing the door open and once again flooding the cell with light. The cell occupants shrank back from the light, squinting in order to see properly. The First Prime snorted with scorn at their apparent weakness. He nodded to the guards outside the door who entered the cell and roughly picked up Sam and Jack, dragging them out of the cramped room and along the corridor once more.
As they were manoeuvred along the golden passages, Sam tried to make a mental map of where things were so that when it came to escaping, they would have a greater chance. But after a day of no food or water and little sleep, not to mention her injuries at the hands of Jaffa the day previously, she quickly became disorientated as to where the cell was in relation to where they were being taken. The passages seemed to criss-cross all over the palace like a maze, and they all looked the same so it was no surprise that she had almost lost all sense of direction.
*****
As soon as the door to their torture chamber closed after the other Jaffa, they began putting their plan into action. It seemed that this time, the First Prime was favouring more traditional Goa'uld torture methods. He paused by the table, examining their weaponry before selecting a pain stick.
He turned towards Sam, who shrank back at the sight of it. Her reaction seemed to please the Jaffa and he laughed menacingly as he approached.
"Please. No." Jack croaked, his voice sounding so harsh and laboured that Sam looked up in surprise and concern before she realised that it was all part of the plan. The Jaffa turned to face him, a small glint of triumph present in his eyes.
"Please stop." Jack coughed. "We'll tell you anything. Just no more of this."
"No more?" The Jaffa questioned. He moved towards Jack, the weapon still raised. He looked at it, swinging it slightly. "It's a pity." He murmured, "I was wondering how the Tau'ri would react to the use of some of our own torture devices." With that, and no further warning, he lunged forward, striking Jack under his already damaged ribs with the weapon.
The pain was unbearable. Jack bit down hard on his tongue in an effort to not cry out but failed, a muffled scream still emitting from his lips.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the fiery pain lessened and disappeared. Watching through blurred vision and gasping to catch his breath, Jack saw the first prime keel over sideways, to reveal the stolen knife buried up to the hilt in his back, and Sam standing behind him, a fierce expression on her face.
"Sir! Are you alright?" She knelt at his side in concern.
"Never better." He grimaced and took a couple of deep breaths. "Come on."
Sam helped him up and they moved to the table that still held their weaponry. His vision now clear, Jack quickly scanned the weapons that they had at their disposal.
After a moment of deliberation, he swiftly picked up the two Zat guns and passed one to Sam, securing the other in the waistband of his BDU pants.
At one end of the table, discarded along with their food and medical supplies were several packs of C4 and the detonators that had been stowed in their vests. Judging from the slightly battered look that they had, Jack knew the Jaffa had not been able to figure out their use and had largely ignored them as a result. He divided the explosives up between them.
Meanwhile, Sam was sorting through the rest of the weaponry in order to find what else they could use. Their P90's were gone, taken for further study, leaving behind only Goa'uld weapons and the second knife. She slipped it into her boot for later use. A lone GDO also lay on the table, half hidden under the medical supplies. Thanking their lucky stars that the Goa'uld hadn't realized its significance, Sam fastened it securely to her arm.
After checking that they were done, Jack swept the entire contents off the table with his arm, causing it to crash noisily to the ground. This was to prevent the Jaffa guards outside the door from suspecting anything with the room having being quiet for several minutes.
The pair crept over to the door, taking up position either side, Zats armed and ready to stun the unsuspecting guards. Sam punched in all but one of the symbols required to open the door and stood, poised to press the final one. Jack raised one fist, three fingers raised, counting down silently. His last finger dropped and he mouthed 'Now!'
She punched in the last symbol and the door opened silently. The guards turned around, expecting to see their First Prime. There was only time for surprise to register briefly on their faces before the bolts of electricity hit them and they fell.
"Come on!" Jack rushed forward and grabbed the body of one of the guards, dragging him into the room. Sam followed suit with the other guard.
*****
Moments later, they stood in the corridor armed with the unconscious Jaffa guards' Staff Weapons.
"Okay, so here's the plan." Jack turned to her. "Do you know where we are in relation to the throne room?"
Sam shook her head. "I lost track."
"Don't worry. I'll head for the throne room, and rig the sarcophagus with C4. You rig some of the corridors in this area, so that we cause as much damage as possible. That should keep them occupied." He grinned. "You got that?"
Sam nodded. "Then what?"
"Meet me here in..." He glanced at his watch, tapping it in annoyance when he realised it was broken. "Back here in 15 minutes. Set your watch."
Sam was a step ahead of him, already setting it on a timer. "Got it."
"Good." He turned to make his way to the throne room, but paused and turned back. "If I'm not here after 15 minutes, you go, understood? You get the hell out of here."
Sam frowned slightly and nodded. "Yes sir."
"Good." He smiled at her. "We'll be alright, Carter."
"Yes Sir." She nodded again, feeling slightly better by his encouragement. He nodded at her again, and turned heading off down one of the corridors. Sam stared after him for a few seconds before turning around and heading off in the opposite direction.
*****
13 minutes later, Sam arrived at meeting point, having rigged what seemed to be some of the major supporting walls in the palace with the explosives. She panted slightly, having narrowly missed a couple of Jaffa guards heading to some mysterious destination deeper within the warren of corridors. Glancing around, it was evident that Colonel O'Neill had not returned yet, so she crouched in the doorway of their torture room, awaiting his return and keeping watch for any more Jaffa.
*****
After a further five minutes, she was worried. Their scheduled rendezvous had passed and he still hadn't shown up. She peered down the corridor again. Nothing, not even the sound of footsteps returning. She bit her lip nervously. She should really leave and obey his orders, getting herself the hell out of there, but she couldn't. Something was telling her to stay.
'What if he's been captured?' She thought. 'Or worse….' But that didn't bear thinking about. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind, along with the wave of emotion that had accompanied it. Her stomach clenched with fear. 'I can't just leave him here. I can't leave him behind!' She recalled the words of one of her flashbacks.
~"I'd rather die myself than lose Carter…"~
'Please god, don't let him be dead!'