A little more action in this chapter and the next few I hope ;) Keep reviewing. And a huge thanks to those who already have!

"No!"

Jack heard the yell as it echoed back to him down the cave. Gritting his teeth he shoved the Unas as hard as he could towards the chasm, though he knew it couldn't be enough. At some distant point in his mind he remembered something a friend once told him. "All you ever wanted was a fighting chance Jack, and now you have it."

He had no chance, but he'd go out fighting.

Teal'c saw O'Neill propel himself into the creature, knocking the Unas backwards. His attack didn't have the momentum it needed though. Gathering up every jolt, stab, and ache in his battered body, he transformed the pain into a fireball of rage, and hurtled towards his foe. The enemy was shoved backwards, and stood on the edge of the precipice, swaying. Teal'c fell forwards, and with a roar of triumph, his adversary grabbed his arm, to pull Teal'c with him into the depths.

Sam was falling. Part of her acknowledged she was falling a lot this mission. If she wasn't about to die and doom her team to death, it would almost be funny. The beam shook beneath her as her feet slipped sideways. She hardly recognized the cry that escaped her, "No!"

At least this time she wouldn't see it coming.

Dropping to a crouch, Daniel held on, just barely. He heard the yell from Sam, and looked up, a feeling of dread settling on him. As if in a dream, she half turned towards him, her feet scrabbling to find purchase on the thin beam. He watched helplessly as she fell sideways, the horror obvious in her sightless eyes. In desperation, he made a half leap forward, darting along the girder. A final hopeless attempt to save his friend, who was probably beyond saving.

"Oh no you don't!" Jack yelled, grabbing the back of his Jaffa friend and holding on with all his remaining strength. A precarious moment, the Unas was over the side, but Teal'c was swaying on the edge. With a titanic effort, Jack pulled, Teal'c leaned back, and the Unas fell into the depths. If it hadn't been for a well placed stone, Teal'c, and probably Jack too would have followed him. The pair collapsed on the floor for a minute, breathing hard. Jack raised his head, meeting the eyes of his almost lost friend, and pulled his face into an exhausted, but triumphant grin.

"Now THAT'S how to lose a bad guy!"

With a grateful smile, Teal'c acknowledged his comrade's relief with a graceful nod. It seemed the uncanny luck of SG1 had held again.

SG1…

"O'Neill, should we not follow Daniel Jackson and Major Carter?" He questioned, the faint recollection of a scream filling his mind with many, all too unpleasant possibilities. His leader gave a start,

"Yes, we should." O'Neill muttered, rather slowly standing. "You up for a tightrope walk?"

Recognizing O'Neill's need for the banter, Teal'c inclined his head again, "Indeed."

Trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his abdomen, Teal'c followed O'Neill, out onto the beam.

Slamming hard against the beam as she fell, her already painful ribs knocked the breath out of her with a knife-jab of agony. Her sprained ankle, that only a second ago had caused her to fall, was already forgotten. You don't notice a splinter when you have a sword in your side. Unable to see anything, she clutched at thin air for something, anything to keep her from falling. It was too late though, she had no idea where the beam was, and no air left to scream for help. Game over.

So she was slightly surprised when someone clutched her wrist.

Daniel wasn't sure what had just happened. Sam had been falling, he'd been diving forward, knowing it was too late. Then everything had…stopped. Sam wasn't falling, the beam wasn't shaking, even the air was absolutely still. Not that he'd stopped of course, no time to think about it. He just reached out for Sam, and even as his fingers closed around her wrist, everything began moving again. A painful yank on his arm as his teammate fell made it difficult for him to maintain his balance. Biting his lower lip, he threw one leg over the right side of the girder, so he was sitting bestride the beam. Even so, it was so narrow he was having difficulty staying there. Keeping the hand of his injured arm tightly gripping the beam, he leaned over slightly,

"Sam? You okay down there?"

'Sure Daniel, why wouldn't I be?' Sam thought sourly, 'I'm only hanging over a…something, blind and with no way to pull myself up, I'm great!'

Aloud she contented herself with "I'm fine Daniel. What's happening up there?"

The grip on her wrist adjusted slightly, "Not a lot, I can't hear anything from the other end of the beam but-Ah!"

The hand holding her shook slightly and she took a deep breath trying not to panic, "Daniel?"

A pause, "Sorry Sam, nearly joined you just then. This thing's kinda hard to stay on isn't it"

Sam bit her lip, "Daniel, if you could tell me where the beam is I can pull myself up. You can't hold on much longer."

A sigh, "Sam I don't think that is going to work, this things so slippery, you'll probably fall if you tried to pull yourself up."

"Then what am I meant to do Daniel? I'll pull you over in a minute!"

"Just hang on in there Sam, we'll think of something."

Jack walked along the girder carefully, every nerve on fire. 'Geeze could they make this any narrower?' he complained mentally, eyes locking on the beam. To his relief, he spotted a black blur up ahead. Must be one of his teammates.

One of them. A chill went down his spine, and cautiously he increased his pace slightly. The blur stretched down past the beam and…was that Carter hanging over the edge? Not wanting to startle them, he sat down and with Teal'c speedily shuffled the rest of the way.

"Daniel! I leave you two alone for half an hour and look what you get yourselves into!" Despite the gloom, he could see Daniel roll his eyes.

"We could use a little help here Jack." Came the tight, strained reply. Reaching Daniel, he motioned for Teal'c to stop as he assessed the situation. Carter was hanging about twenty inches below the beam. Obviously too far for Daniel to pull her up single-handed. And a joint effort was going to be tricky. Ideally

Teal'c should be the one to attempt it, but the Jaffa looked in pretty bad shape, and it was unlikely he could work himself round Jack anyway. Time for plan B.

"Okay, first things first, lets get Carter back up here, okay?" Jack suggested calmly, going into 'Colonel' mode. "Daniel, with that injured shoulder you aren't going to be able to help much, so I recommend we do a little swap…"

"Let me fall Sir." Came a quiet voice, scarily calm from below.

Incredulous, "Carter, what the heck are you talking about?"

"If you try and pull me up, you could all overbalance, if you let me fall, you guys can make it to the other side."

"Sam, weren't you listening? You're the one who HAS to make it! Besides, do you really think we'd let you fall?" Beside him, Teal'c winced for some reason.

"Yeah Carter, your dad would kill us." Jack quipped easily, forestalling any further pleas. "Now as I was saying, Teal'c, are you up for a little grunt work?"

"I am O'Neill."

Sparing his friend a brief assessing glance Jack nodded, "Good," he turned back to Daniel who was looking desperate now. Carter couldn't be in great ship herself. "Daniel, I'm going to grab Carter's other arm. When I tell you, let go. Carter, I need you to try and turn around so your back is facing us, then Teal'c can grab your other arm. Hopefully then we can get you up." He barked out in his best CO voice, "Understood?"

"Yes sir".

Teal'c positioned himself carefully on the beam, it would help no one if he plummeted to the depths with his comrade. "I am ready O'Neill."

"Good." His friend gave him a brief glance before turning to their teammates. "Carter, Daniel, You guys ready?"

A gasp, "Just get on with it would you Jack?"

With no further hesitation, O'Neill reached down, Teal'c steeled himself and gathered what remaining strength he had.

"Daniel, Now."