Because I've been getting lots of lovely reviews, here's the next chapter as promised!!
Another big thank you to Naliza for betaing this for me!!!
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Sam sat nervously in the briefing room, her left arm rested on her leg. She was sitting up straight in the chair, leaning back was too painful with the bruises on her back.
"How are you feeling today Colonel Carter?" Teal'c asked as he entered the room and sat at the table.
"Not too bad thanks Teal'c, you?"
"I am well."
They both turned as General Stone entered the room. Sam made an attempt to stand but Stone quickly motioned for her to remain seated.
"Are you sure you're well enough for this Colonel?"
"Yes Sir," Sam said, trying to make herself sound confident even though inwardly she was trembling.
"Well, if you are absolutely sure. Whenever you're ready Colonel."
"I am, Sir," Sam took a deep breath before continuing. "Everything was going according to plan until the morning of the second day. We had just returned to the ruins. Lieutenant Harris and Teal'c were monitoring the perimeter, I was in the interior of the ruins with Dr Jackson…"
Sam looked around the ruins. According to Daniel they were something special but to her they looked like all the other ruins they had encountered in the past. She had not mentioned anything though because her friend would be sure to bend her ear off about the different cultures.
Daniel was recording a section of carvings on one of the walls. He was so intensely engrossed in the task that Sam was sure a bomb could go off right next to him and he would not even notice.
She was proved wrong as he dropped the camera he was holding and pulled out his weapon at the sound of gunfire in close proximity. Sam recognised it as being from a P-90.
"Harris, report," she spoke into her radio. She received no answer. Daniel looked in her direction, his weapon still in his hand.
"Sam?" he said quickly. She held up a hand to silence him.
"Teal'c, what's happening out there?" She spoke again in an attempt to try and contact her Jaffa companion.
"I am investigating the shots Colonel Carter," Teal'c answered in a whispered tone through the radio.
"Come on Daniel," Sam said quietly. She had no idea what happened. For all she knew there could be hostiles in the area.
Daniel followed her without any arguments. Years of experience have taught him the necessity of leaving behind his equipment in times of emergencies. She led the Archaeologist towards the general direction where the shots had come from. She kept scanning the area for hostiles and noticed that Daniel was doing the same. 'Jack had taught him well,' she thought to herself with a slight smile.
Her smile quickly faded when the radio burst back into life.
"I have found Lieutenant Harris. He is dead," Teal'c announced.
Sam swore under her breath.
"How?" she inquired.
"He has been stabbed in the chest, the blade…"
Sam did not hear the rest of the sentence since the radio offered nothing more than loud static.
Sam and Daniel picked up their pace immediately. As they entered a small clearing in the woods they saw Lieutenant Harris and Teal'c both laying on the floor. Neither of them was moving.
Harris was obviously dead. He was laying on his back facing Sam and Daniel. His mouth was slightly open and his face contorted in shock and pain. The hilt of a blade was visible; it looked as though the weapon had gone right through his heart. A pool of blood had already started to form around the young man and it was rapidly spreading, staining the vivid green grass a deep red.
Teal'c was on his stomach with no visible injuries detectable. Sam thought that she could see him breathing very faintly. Daniel moved forwards to check on Teal'c, but before he could reach him a pulse of blue electricity engulfed him. The zat blast caused him to fell almost immediately to the floor and the same darts of electricity could be seen travelling the length of his body.
Sam raised her P-90. Even though she could not see their attackers she fired a burst into the tree line, towards the general direction she thought the zat blast had come from. She had no idea whether she hit anything or not. She also never saw the blast that came from behind, knocking her into unconsciousness. She fell to the floor, her face turned towards Lieutenant Michael Harris' lifeless eyes.
*~*
Sam grunted and forced her eyes open at the sound of her name being called.
"I really, really hate those things," she groaned.
As she began to take in her current situation she realised that her hands were bound behind her back. She tried to move but quickly realised that her bindings were attached to the wall behind her. Which would explain why she was standing up despite having only just regained consciousness.
"I concur Colonel Carter," Teal'c said in agreement to her earlier statement.
"Daniel. Come on Daniel wake up," Sam called, looking over at the Archaeologist who was still out cold.
"What?" he mumbled as he regained consciousness.
Looking round at the cell Sam wished that she had stayed unconscious. It was a small windowless room. A solid looking wooden door was the only feature breaking up the large stone blocks. A small amount of light was filtering in through a small window in the door. Teal'c and Daniel appeared to be restrained in a similar way to herself.
"You okay Daniel?"
"Peachy," he replied with sarcasm lacing his voice. Sam smiled slightly. If he was able to make sarcastic comments he would surely be all right.
"Did either of you actually see anyone back there?" Sam asked, trying to collect as much information as she could.
"No," Daniel replied.
"I did not," Teal'c concurred.
"And I take it that you're both attached to the wall pretty securely."
"Yes."
Without any visible way out, and with no information about whom had captured them or why, there was nothing to do but wait until their kidnappers decide to show their faces.
They did not have to wait for long. After a while the door creaked open and they could see a man standing in the doorway. His figure was silhouetted by the harsh light outside which now flooded into the dark room. The man entered the room but the door remained opened. From where Sam was she could see other figures standing outside.
The man was probably a couple of inches taller than Teal'c and more heavily built. His face was painted blue and white, which in the dim light made him take on an otherworldly appearance. A large knife hung off the belt around his waist. From what Sam could see it was of a similar design to the one that had been used to kill Lieutenant Harris.
"Which of you is in charge? I assume it to be you," he said as he crossed towards Teal'c, focusing on the one who he perceived to be the strongest warrior and therefore the leader.
"I'm in charge. Lieutenant-Colonel Samantha Carter," Sam said.
The man spun around and looked at Sam, critically evaluating her. Sam stared straight back at the man, her posture exuding confidence.
"You have a woman in charge? No wonder you were so easy to capture," he said with a false smile on his face.
"Colonel Carter is a formidable warrior," Teal'c quickly came to her defence. Sam could not help but smile at his comment.
"Well if you are the leader then you can tell me what you are doing here. You are not inhabitants of Godre'r Mynydd."
"No, we're peaceful explorers from Earth. We came through the Stargate," Daniel tried to explain.
"Stargate?"
"Yeah, big ring - you can't miss it," Sam supplied, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
The man nodded, obviously recognising it from her description.
"So this Star-gate is what?"
"It's a transportation device," The Colonel answered, her patience wearing thin.
"Really, you will show me how it works," he said confidently.
"No, I don't think I will," Sam replied defiantly.
He quickly turned and landed a painful blow to Sam's ribs, she exhaled deeply as the punch landed but recovered quickly. She looked up to see her friends faces etched with concern.
"Are you sure?" he asked again.
"Yeah pretty," she said confidently.
She was rewarded with a small barrage of blows to her body.
"Sam?" Daniel called out once the blows had stopped. Sam could hear the concern in his voice.
"I'm okay," she said as soon as she caught her breath.
The man looked at her, realising that she was not going to give up the information easily. He pulled the knife from his belt and saw Sam's eyes widen slightly. He waved it in front of her face, the polished blade glinting in the light shining though the open door.
Sam gritted her teeth in preparation for what she thought he was going to do. He drew the knife across her cheek; she could feel the blood dripping down her cheek but could not feel any pain at first. A painful burning sensation then suddenly flashed across her face, she closed her eyes but refused to make a sound.
"Not bad for a woman," he said looking at Sam. He put the knife back into his belt after wiping the blood on the blade against her jacket.
"Thanks," Sam spat back.
"Well if you won't tell me about the Stargate, then maybe you can tell me about these," he said. He briefly left the room and returned carrying a P90 and a zat.
"We know that these are weapons. This one in particular seems to have interesting properties," he said holding up the zat. "The effects appear temporary but it is of a strange design and different to your other weapons."
"It's a zat'nikertel. The first shot stuns, the second kills," Daniel supplied, just to make sure that the man was aware just what the consequences of shooting someone were.
"Where did you get this?"
When none of them answered he gestured to the other men standing outside the room. One of them entered, his face was also painted but in green and red. He silently took the zat away.
"This too is interesting and it can cause extensive damage," he said, waiving the gun around.
Sam, Daniel and Teal'c shared looks. They were unsure where this conversation was heading and if they would still be alive at the end of it.
"You were carrying this weapon, not these others. You fired this weapon, did you not?" he said addressing Sam.
Sam simply nodded, watching the man closely. She could see a fire of anger in his eyes which made her nervous.
"You killed my brother," he spat at her, the fury was clearly audible in his voice.
"You killed one of my team and attacked us. I was defending myself," she replied, barely keeping her own anger in check.
"Well, lets see you defend yourself against this."
The man smile sickly before landing another couple of bruising blows to her body. He only stopped momentarily to pull the knife from his belt again and with one slice he cut the thick rope that attached her to the wall. With that done he continued to land one terrifying blow after another on her.
As soon as she was free she started to fight back. Her attacker was too strong and within thirty seconds Sam was on the floor but still the attack did not stop.
"Stop it," Daniel pleaded.
The attack finally stopped. The man stalked out of the room leaving Sam lying on the floor in a foetal position. The man with the green and red face re-entered the room and pulled Sam to her feet. As she was righted she vomited on the floor, which brought her a vicious punch to the face.
She barely reacted to the latest act of violence. Despite the fact that practically every one of the blows had been to her body and not her head she was starting to slide into unconsciousness. The periphery of her vision was beginning to grey out and she was taking a long time to process what was going on around her.
The next thing Sam was able to register again was being attached to the wall once more and that she and her friends were alone in the cell.
"Sam, Sam can you hear me?" Daniel shouted.
"Yeah," Sam said tiredly, trying to shake herself out of the semi-conscious state she found herself in.
"You alright?"
"I've been better Daniel," she replied, spitting in a bid to rid her mouth of the taste of vomit. "Seriously though, I'm okay."
"Daniel, what do you reckon about them?"
"Well, it seems like they have some connection with Wales, the ruins aside the language and the design of the blade seems to point that way."
"You were checking out the design on the blade?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Yes, it was better than watching what he was doing to you," Daniel admitted sheepishly.
"I'm fine Daniel," Sam stressed. "So, what does this actually tell us?"
"Nothing per se," the Archaeologist answered.
"I do not believe that they are willing to release us," Teal'c added.
"I agree, whatever happens, they aren't letting us go," Sam said resignedly.
"So what now?" Daniel asked, coming to terns with what he had just heard.
"We have to find a way out of here," Sam said simply.
*~*~*
I have to warn you that I'm back in university properly now, just had my first lecture of the year and so the time I get to write has decreased significantly!! Saying that though the more feedback I get, the more motivation I will have to write!!!
Oh and just in case you were wondering Godre'r Mynydd mean 'edge of the mountain' in Welsh. I thought I should use my GCSE in Welsh for something, I don't get a lot of use out of in everyday life!!
