The next morning brought bright sunshine through his window and Gallagher got up rather pleased that his legs held him up just fine. He had just finished getting dressed when someone knocked on his door.
"Good morning Colonel," he said when he saw her standing in his doorway.
"Cadet," she said.
Oh great, what'd I do now, Gallagher thought. "Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day, doesn't it?" he said trying to keep the subject light.
"Yes it does," she said. "Feeling better?"
"Ready for whatever you can throw at me ma'am," he replied, "as long as it's not anything sharp, that is." A vision of the dream he had the other night flashed into his mind and he pushed it away. "Can you tell me why Teal'c and I were attacked? What did Toran say was the problem?"
"Apparently everyone knows that we are here to save the population from the plague and these men figured they would get their share by killing us," she said as she turned to walk down the hall.
Gallagher nodded. The memory of last night filled his mind, Treya had left sometime before dawn. She had chosen her own way to save her family.
He and the Colonel walked down the stairs to find Daniel and Teal'c waiting for them by the door to the common room. Gallagher so hoped breakfast was going to be much better than the letchers he had forced himself to eat last night.
It was. They found themselves sitting at the same table they had occupied yesterday afternoon and Gallagher saw bowls of steaming gruel waiting for them when they got there. Now this was something he was familiar with having had his share of this stuff every time he found himself a prisoner on some god forsaken planet. Not bad, he thought as he took a taste.
"Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Teal'c," Froden said to them as they ate, "I wanted to personally apologize for what those men did to you yesterday. There is absolutely no excuse for it and I can only hope you will not take the actions of five men into account as we continue our negotiations."
Gallagher knew this statement was really meant for the Colonel, but he nodded just the same. "They were only trying to save their families," he said.
"We have told the people that there will be plenty to go around, but those men obviously didn't believe us," Froden said. He looked at his food for a few seconds then continued, "It is good that you will not take the actions of those men as a threat to yourselves. Colonel, Dr. Jackson, I assure you that steps are being taken to keep this from happening ever again."
"Thank you, Froden," Carter said. "These negotiations will have to stop if any more of my people are hurt." The underlying anger was apparent in her voice and Gallagher saw that Froden heard it.
"Of course Colonel, I promise you our complete cooperation."
"Mr. Gallagher," Toran butt in, "I hear you had a visitor last night."
Did he have a little bird hanging around him at night just ready to tell everyone his actions, Gallagher thought in surprise. "What? Oh yeah," he said. "Daniel brought me some dinner. Why?" Why was Carter staring at him like that?
"We had posted some guards around you all to ensure that there were no more 'incidents' and one of the guards mentioned seeing someone leave your room at an extremely late hour," Toran said.. "I must say that I am glad that you have not been harmed in any way."
"I'm safe and sound," Gallagher said and went back to his gruel hoping that slimy jerk would take the hint.
"I insist that you tell us what you talked about," the slimy jerk continued. "It would be in everyone's best interest."
"I'm sure it's not necessary," Carter interrupted. "We are entitled to our privacy, are we not?"
"Yes, yes, of course. It's just that there are people out there that can't be trusted and if we are to help keep you safe than we should be kept aware of anything the people of this village are doing," Toran said. "The woman who visited Mr. Gallagher last night is rumored to be a part of a rebellion that has been brewing the last couple of years. It is imperative that we find out what you both talked about. Colonel," he said to Carter, "I insist."
Gallagher just sat there, staring at Toran with an anger so intense, he could feel his face heat up. No way was he going to give in to that jerk, he thought. No damn way.
"Gallagher," Carter said while Gallagher continued to stare at Toran. "Did she say anything to you about a rebellion?"
"Gallagher," she commanded when he didn't respond to her.
Gallagher turned to look at her and tried to calm his anger. "No ma'am," he said after taking a deep breath. "We talked about her children."
"Her children, you say?" Toran said. "What about her children?"
"Oh just that one was dead and two more were dying," Gallagher ground out. "How many children have you lost Toran?"
"Gallagher!" Carter was shocked.
"I beg your pardon?" Toran asked.
"Why don't we all calm down," Daniel interjected. "We won't get anywhere if we continue on like this." He looked at Gallagher with understanding and continued, "Jack, calm down."
"You're right Dr. Jackson," Froden said jumping in to help. "We are just worried for the safety of our guests. Please," he said, "Let's try to talk this through reasonably."
"Nothing to talk about," Gallagher said. "Her children are dying and she was hoping I could help her. I told her I couldn't and she left."
"That's all?" Toran asked with an expression that told everyone he clearly didn't believe a word Gallagher was saying.
"Why won't you help her children?" Gallagher asked.
"Why should we make them an exception?" countered Toran. "There are thousands of people out there who are dying, they aren't the only ones. We want to help them all, but until we get enough of the medicines, our hands are tied."
"We brought some medicine with us," Gallagher said. "They don't have to die."
"I repeat," Toran said glaring at Gallagher, "What makes them so special?"
Gallagher couldn't respond, he didn't have an answer for Toran. He knew the real reason was because he personally knew the pain of losing a child and he had wept silently right along with Treya, but coming from a 19 year old Cadet, he didn't think they would believe him.
"Just as I thought," Toran continued. "You must have had quite a night with the lady. I suppose she had no qualms about coming to you to help her in her cause."
That nasty bastard. Gallagher reacted by jumping up out of his chair, only to be held back by a very irate looking Colonel. "Gallagher!" she cried. "Stand down Cadet. Now!"
Gallagher stood there, his anger red hot but he stayed where he was, clenching his fists. He continued to glare at Toran as he let Carter push him back down in his chair. Back off, Gallagher.
He sat there glaring at what remained of his breakfast, willing himself to not do anything stupid. He could hear the others talking to each other, but he didn't even try to figure out what they were saying. He needed to calm down.
"Hey," Carter said as she put her hand on his arm. "You okay?" He saw the sadness in her eyes and he knew she was sympathizing with him.
"Yeah. I mean yes ma'am," he said.
"Good," she said as she nodded still reaching out to him with her eyes. "I hope you and Teal'c can stay out of trouble today," she said with a grin.
"We'll do our best ma'am," he said as he started to get up.
"Jack," Carter said bringing him back down to look into his eyes once more. "I'll do my best, I promise."
"Thank you ma'am," he said with feeling. He knew she was thinking of his loss and he put his hand on hers and squeezed. She smiled at him and he got up to leave.