Camp Go'auld
Part three
Voices woke Kerry the following morning and for a while she let the sound wash over her, until an eerily familiar voice joined in the discussion causing her to sit upright abruptly, drawing attention to herself.
'Good morning. How are you feeling?' Jonas greeted her with one of his trademark grins.
Kerry smiled nervously at him, 'Much better, thanks. I…uh…I need to use the bathroom…'
'Oh, yes, um, I'll just…' Jonas went up to Major Carter and spoke quietly to her.
'Hi,' Sam greeted her. 'I'll need to come with you, I'm afraid.' The two women walked away from the camp. 'Feeling any better this morning?'
'Much better now I've had some sleep. I couldn't believe how tired I was.' Kerry responded, trying to fight down the feeling of rising panic.
'I'll wait here for you,' Sam stopped by a tree, indicating that Kerry should go a little further away behind some bushes.
Kerry moved to where Sam pointed and made use of the make-shift facilities, feeling a lot more comfortable now she didn't have a full bladder distracting her. She'd just finished up when Sam's voice called out from the other side of the bush.
'Everything all right?' Sam asked, figuring the other woman had had enough time and cautious about leaving her on her own for too long.
'Just coming,' Kerry replied as she moved slowly out from behind the bush. She walked beside Sam back to the camp site, her mind working furiously to try to figure out her next move, what she could do to get to safety and alert the authorities that something was going on in these mountains. Sam noticed her withdrawal and tried to start a conversation but was met with silence.
As they neared the camp, voices drifted towards them.
'So SG3 reckon they've found a way to get in there, then?' Jack was asking.
'Yes, but I think Selmak may have something to say about what they propose,' Jacob was saying. Sam and Kerry approached the camp just as Jacob's head dipped down then up again and began speaking in Selmak's voice. Sam turned to Kerry to introduce her to her father when she realised she was no longer at her side.
Yelling to the others, 'She's getting away,' Sam was after her before the rest of her team could get to their feet. Sam could hear Kerry crashing through the trees and bushes a short distance ahead of her and was soon within sight of her, realising that although Kerry was rested now, she hadn't eaten anything for some time and was stumbling over branches and the uneven ground, slowing her down. A few moments later, Sam saw Kerry go down, her foot twisted awkwardly underneath her but even this didn't stop her, she continued running with a slight limp now slowing her further until Sam was able to grab her by the arm bringing her to a stop.
Kerry wrenched herself free from Sam's hand and backed up against a tree, her eyes looking around at the people closing in on her, preventing her from making another break for freedom.
Jack approached her, waving to the others to stay back but to maintain a close watch on Kerry.
'Care to tell me what that was all about?' Jack said, keeping his voice even and controlled, non-threatening.
Kerry said nothing, her eyes darting behind him then back again, eyes that showed a fear of something.
After a few minutes of this, Jacob spoke up, Selmak still in control.
'Why do you not let Jonas talk to her?'
As soon as Kerry heard this voice she reacted, making a last attempt to get away from the danger but she was not quick enough, finding herself being held securely by strong arms, her own arms pinned to her side.
Struggling, she spoke fiercely as she tried to free herself. 'He's one of them, you're all in this together. Let me go. I won't go back. You can't make me go back there…'
'Kerry.' Jonas spoke her name firmly, watching as she continued to try to break free, tears streaming down her face. 'Kerry. Listen to me. Kerry, I know how this must look, but this is Jacob Carter, General Jacob Carter, he's Major Carter's father and he's on our side.'
Kerry stopped struggling for the moment, allowing the words that Jonas had spoken to sink in but Jack retained his grip on her, feeling how rigidly she was holding herself and remembering what had happened when he had relaxed his guard with her before.
'He speaks like Sar'ash and his eyes glowed in the same way. He's one of them isn't he? He's got you all working for him. You just want to get me back there so I can't tell anyone what's really going on here.' Kerry snapped back at Jonas.
'Kerry, my father isn't one of them. He is something similar, but there are good guys and bad guys. Sar'ash is one of the bad guys and my father is one of the few people who can capture him, to stop him from carrying on.' Sam came forward to stand with Jonas, but not coming too close, not wanting to threaten her in any way.
'It's true Kerry, look at me.' Jonas spoke in a firm voice, surprising the rest of the group by his tone of voice and the way in which he managed to get Kerry to look at him, the fear gradually fading from her eyes. 'We're with the air force. Sar'ash has managed to get hold of some experimental technology and drugs and is testing them. We need to stop him, and General Carter is the best person for the job. Will you help us?' Jonas's forehead creased as he looked Kerry straight in the eye, challenging her to believe him.
Jonas's attempt appeared to be working, Jack could feel Kerry relaxing her guard, but he could still feel her shivering, whether from fear, cold or stress, he didn't know.
'Kerry?' Jack asked quietly, confident that she wasn't going to try to get away again.
Kerry nodded to Jack's unspoken question and Jack released her, allowing Jonas to guide her back to the camp with Teal'c keeping a close watch, just in case.
Jonas could see Kerry's shoulders drooping with weariness, the benefits from the night's sleep used up in her flight from Jacob, and while they were still some distance from camp, he could see her stumbling. Moving closer to her, Jonas took her arm just above the elbow to steer her in the right direction and to steady her. He felt her tense up as she felt his touch, then relaxed when she realised who it was and what he was trying to do.
Before she knew it, Kerry found herself back at the campsite and Jonas was helping her sit down beside the fire that was now burning low. Kerry drew her knees up to her chest, hugging them with her arms while she gazed into the fire, trying to bring her emotions under control. She felt like crying with all she had been through and the fool she had made of herself, but she would not, refused to do that in front of these people.
A few minutes later, she found a bowl of food in her hands, a mug of coffee placed on the ground beside her. Sniffing at the smells coming from the bowl, she wrinkled her nose up, but her stomach decided that no matter what the food might smell like, it wanted feeding so she slowly ate the contents of the bowl, gratefully accepting a second helping when she had finished the first. By the time the food was gone, Kerry was feeling a lot better and ready to face up to what was coming next.
************
'I teach ancient languages but I'm also a volunteer at a homeless shelter in Great Falls. I'd had to go home in the middle of my shift at the shelter as I realised I'd forgotten to bring in some stuff I'd collected earlier from one of the companies that donate to us.' Kerry spoke nervously, casting wary glances in Jacob's direction, then returning to check with Jonas who sat beside her, providing her with the reassurance she needed that these were good guys and were going to help. 'When I got back, everyone from the shelter, including all the volunteers, were being loaded into a mini bus by some official looking men - they looked like soldiers and were carrying funny looking guns.'
'Look anything like this?' Jack held up his zat gun.
'Yeah, that was them.' Kerry confirmed, then continued. 'Anyway, I went up to ask what was going on and the one in charge said there'd been an outbreak of a highly infectious disease, originating from our shelter, and they had to quarantine everyone connected with the place at a secure location. I thought it was strange as none of them were wearing protective clothing, but they were giving out pills to everyone to take, and the next thing I knew, I was in that place back there.' Kerry paused, trying to recall what had happened after that. 'Everything was hazy for a while, I remember they gave us medication three times a day, but then it began to feel all wrong and I decided not to take the pills any more. My head started to clear and I got a good look at what was going on. The people I arrived with and lots of others were wandering around like zombies. They functioned in the tasks given them, but they seemed to have no life in them. The men were taken off to the open area of the compound and trained in some weird kind of combat techniques using long sticks. The women looked after the place, kept it clean and did all the cooking.'
'How many people are there?' Sam asked.
'There's Sar'ash himself and a couple of heavies who seem to be with him - they've got tattoos on their foreheads and they're even weirder than Sar'ash is. There were thirty men and twenty women when I first arrived, but another busload arrived just after I stopped taking my pills and another twenty-five men arrived. They don't seem to need so many women, just enough to take care of the domestics. The men who've been there the longest seem to have more responsibility for training the newcomers and keeping order. It can get quite brutal in there if you don't do as you're told.' Kerry shuddered as she recalled what it had been like the first few days, trying to conceal her growing awareness of what was going on there and looking for a way to escape.
'Thanks Kerry, that's been a big help. Can you tell us anything about the security inside the compound - we've seen what's on the outside but any other help…' Jack asked.
'There is a constant guard all around the compound, they're changed every three hours except at night when the guards are usually on duty from midnight until six o'clock. They've got more of those funny guns and more normal looking guns, like the one you've got.' Kerry pointed at Jack's P-90.
'Ok, so, any suggestions?' Jack asked, looking for input from the rest of his team.
There was silence for a few moments, broken by Jacob.
'It's obvious we can't go in there in a full frontal attack, there's too much danger of innocent people getting hurt, even though they may be the ones firing on us.' Jacob spoke slowly. 'I think our best hope of getting in there is for Kerry to go back.'
'I'm not going back there,' Kerry jumped up before anyone else could say anything, Jonas stood up with her, laying a restraining hand on her arm to prevent her from taking off again. Jack and Teal'c were on their feet as well, watching what was going on.
'Colonel?' Jonas asked, looking to Jack for reassurance, to help him neutralise the situation.
'No-one's going anywhere unless I have a damn' good reason for it, Jacob.' Jack snapped at the Tok'ra. 'Care to share the rest of this brilliant plan? Remember how much I hate surprises.'
'I'm sorry Kerry,' Jacob apologised, trying to win her confidence. 'That didn't come out right. This is what I've got in mind…'
**********
It had taken Jonas a lot of effort to persuade Kerry to listen to Jacob's proposed plan. As soon as she had heard the beginning of Jacob's idea the colour had drained from Kerry's face, causing all four members of SG1 to prepare to give chase again. Kerry, however, was already beginning to trust SG1 and wanted desperately to rescue all the people she knew from that place, as well as all the other poor unfortunates who had been captured.
'I know that a lot of them are homeless,' Kerry had explained, 'But they're still human, most of them still have their dignity and carry out odd jobs around the place in exchange for what we give them.'
Eventually Jonas had convinced her to consider the plan by saying 'It's your choice, Kerry. We're not going to force you to do this, but you are our best hope of getting in there. If you don't think you can do it, we won't think any the worse of you and we'll make sure you get out safely.'
They had left her to herself for a time, busying themselves with formulating alternative plans and waiting for the arrival of the back up teams who had arrived in Whitefish early that morning and were on their way now to meet up with them. Jonas had sat with her a while, not saying anything unless he was asked, until Kerry stood up abruptly causing all eyes in the camp to spring towards her, wondering what was going on. She slowly walked towards the fire that Jacob was feeding with bits of wood, focussing on the flames.
'Any more coffee?' Kerry asked nervously, holding out her empty mug. Jacob glanced at her, took the mug and refilled it for her, expecting her to move back to her previous seat. Instead, she stayed where she was, sitting back on her heels and watched Jacob as he went back to feeding the fire. 'What makes you so different from Sar'ash?' She had asked at last.
'Sar'ash wants to enslave people, to make them do what he wants them to do. I want to stop him doing that because I believe every one has the right to their own lives, to make their own choices and not be forced to do something through fear or slavery.' Jacob looked at Kerry, hoping his words were sinking in.
Kerry remained still for some time after that, watching the flames dancing as Jacob fed them, trying to figure out whether she really could do this or not. At last she stood up and looked towards Jack.
'I'll do it,' She announced.
