The Soul Stalkers: Chapter 2
"Daniel Jackson? Colonel O'Neill?" Teal'C spoke softly.
Jack and Daniel looked back momentarily at Teal'C, who was standing shakily by the rocky wall of the chamber, looking very disoriented, obviously coming out from under the mind control of the now dead alien.
Teal'C looked upon the scene before him, dismay and self-blame in his dark eyes.
Daniel felt Sam's neck for a pulse. After a moment, he looked up at Jack, his eyes moist and bright.
"She's not dead, Jack."
Jack finally dared to feel her pulse for himself, exhaling heavily as he too detected her heartbeat.
"Teal'C?" Jack addressed the Jaffa in a husky voice. "You okay now?"
"I am, O'Neill."
"Good. Let's get out of here."
Daniel untied Teal'C's arms, which he had bound up as a precaution just in case the Jaffa had awoken still under the telepath's power, and slapped him on the back.
Teal'C put Carter on his shoulders again, this time to rescue her instead of betray her, and they headed once again for the hidden escape tunnel.
Just as they stepped through the escape tunnel doorway, however, another alien spotted them and swiftly made its wispy way towards them, running on impossibly thin legs.
As it neared them, Teal'C began to buckle at the knees, once again feeling the alien's power, but Jack efficiently dispatched the alien with a few rounds before Teal'C could succumb to its mind control again. Daniel supported Teal'C as he held onto Sam.
"Let's go, I just rang the fire alarm," Jack said as they wedged the door closed behind them and ran in the direction of the outside.
Jack called Matson on the com as they went swiftly along the underground passage.
"Matson," the other Colonel responded immediately.
"What's your situation?"
"Alien activity around the mine has picked up a lot in the past few minutes, a whole lot," Matson responded. "We've fallen back to the treeline. The entrance is no longer secure."
"Roger that, Matson. We're coming out the back way, we'll meet you back at the city. Get your tails out of there."
"Will do. Matson out."
By this time they had reached the surface, and after a quick recon to make sure the hidden access route had not been detected, they set out through the woods towards the city.
Sam was still unconscious when they arrived back at the diplomatic building, now deserted after the rest of the delegates had returned to Earth.
Jack went to secure all the rooms while Teal'C carefully laid Sam down on a cot near the back wall. Teal'C sat down, his back supported by the wall behind him, worn out.
Daniel sat down beside him.
"Teal'C, how do you feel?"
"I will be fine after Kel-Nor-Reem," Teal'C admitted.
"Go ahead, I'll watch over Sam," Daniel offered.
Teal'C nodded and left to find a quiet place.
Jack returned, satisfied that the house was still secure. Matson and his men arrived soon after Jack pulled up a stool and sat down next to Sam's cot.
Matson stood by Jack, still breathing heavily from their rapid march back from the mine.
"What happened to her?" Matson asked, pointing to Carter.
One of those aliens zapped her mind somehow," Jack explained.
"She gonna be okay?"
"I don't know. We're not sure what happened to her. Report?"
"We saw around 40 native people walking out of the mine back into the forest, with 3 or 4 of those ugly aliens. They were carrying naquadah ore in carts or in their hands. I don't know where they could be going. Did you say you and Carter saw evidence of a cloaked ship somewhere out there?"
"We did, and that's probably where they're going. We need to stop them from leaving the planet with these people."
"We're going to need backup, Jack."
"Yeah. See to it that we get some, and real soon, Matson."
"Will do."
Matson left to walk back to the Stargate to establish an outgoing wormhole and call for help.
Jack turned his attention to Sam, still unnaturally still on the cot, frighteningly pale and barely breathing, and felt tension redouble in his body as he watched her face for some sign that she was coming to.
His love and concern for her overrode his military training for the moment and he slowly reached out to rub his hand gently over her forehead, back and forth, like he was soothing a sick child.
It was unthinkable that he could lose her.
She'd been invaluable to him from the first mission that he'd taken with her on his team, but now, after so many years, there was so much more between them, whether they would admit it or not.
He had shot the alien without even thinking; it had been pure reflex. Now the guilt lurking to overtake him if the alien's threat against Sam came true was suffocating.
He leaned closer to her face, listening to her breathe. His heart constricted in misdirected remorse as he heard her faint, shallow breaths.
"I'm so sorry, Sam," he choked out in a whisper. "Please be okay?"
She had to be okay.
She just had to.
Within the hour, three SG teams were geared up and on the planet, ready for their marching orders.
Matson was temporarily calling the shots, taking Jack's place until he returned from the SGC.
Jack had made the decision a few minutes before that Sam's condition was not improving and that she needed to be taken to the infirmary.
He was there now, waiting impatiently for the infirmary doctor to give him a report on Sam's condition before he went back to the planet.
He jumped to his feet as the doctor came over to him.
"Doc?"
"Her vital signs are good, very strong. There's no evidence of any physical trauma. Frankly, I'm at a loss as to why she remains unconscious."
Jack stared at his feet, torn between staying until she woke up and getting back to the men he knew needed him right now.
"Can I see her for a minute?"
"Sure, if you want."
Jack walked over to Sam's bedside and rolled a stool over so he could sit right next to her.
He leaned down so they were face to face, deeply thankful to be able to stare at the familiar features that he was so used to seeing every day.
After a few quiet minutes of simply being in her presence, he reluctantly got up. He knew he needed to meet with the General and get back to the planet as soon as possible.
Hammond had already sent the back up teams on to P2X-400 ahead of O'Neill, suspecting that Jack might need a little more time because of Sam.
So O'Neill was now in the General's office, kitted out and ready to leave.
George stood up and walked with Jack as they went down the stairs to the embarkation area.
"Report back to me in 12 hours, Colonel. We need to know how big a problem this new threat has the potential to be."
"Yes, sir," Jack agreed.
He began walking up the ramp.
"Colonel O'Neill!"
A nurse from the infirmary was standing in the doorway.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, General, sir, but I thought Colonel O'Neill would like to know that Major Carter is awake."
Jack looked at George as he swiveled around, unclipped his pack and left it lying where it hit the floor.
"I'll be right back, I swear, sir," Jack promised, running towards the infirmary.
"Go, go." Hammond smiled widely, glad to hear the news about Carter and tickled to see the light spring into Jack's eyes again.
Those two were going to get him into big trouble one day.
"Hey," Jack breathed as he slid onto the same stool he had occupied earlier that day.
He grabbed her hand.
"Hey. Is Teal'C okay?"
Her voice was rough and her eyes were barely open, but she was already going through the mission in her mind.
"He's fine. What about you? More importantly, is your brain okay?"
"Cute, sir. I have a headache but nothing important seems to be missing up there," Sam joked.
"The Air Force will be relieved to hear that, Carter. Hey, you sure you're okay?"
"Sure. Are you going back?" Sam had just noticed his gear.
"I'm leaving in a few minutes, yeah. We have some alien butt to kick."
"Sir, I saw those aliens and they definitely do not have butts."
They both chuckled quietly, heads together, then Jack's face grew earnest.
"I should have got you back here sooner, as soon as we realized you were susceptible," Jack said regretfully.
He quickly scanned the room for witnesses, then tentatively combed his fingers through her hair, unable to resist the need to touch her after believing he'd lost her.
"You had me scared there for a while, Sam," he confessed, continuing to lightly stroke her hair and forehead.
"I think it might be worth it to scare you more often," Sam smiled, clearly enjoying his touch, as for this one shining moment they disregarded military protocol.
"Look, the next time you want some attention, just drag me into the supply closet," O'Neill whispered playfully. "You don't need to use the scare tactics."
Sam grinned wickedly at the supply closet suggestion. It was almost as good as being invited to go fishing.
"I'll, uh, remember that, sir."
"You'd better."
Jack pushed the stool back, stood up and bounced on his toes a little.
"I've got to go back to the planet. You take care of yourself."
"You be careful too, sir. We don't know what we're dealing with yet."
"I'll be fine. I'll be in touch soon."
Jack stopped, wanting to tell her so much more but aware that their moment was over.
It was time for the Major and the Colonel to reassume command.
At least for now.
a week later
The briefing room was about as full as it had ever been as the four SGC teams and as many civilian diplomats that could fit were sitting at the long table or standing along the walls.
The last few days on the planet had been grueling, but the SGC had learned that people from Earth were not only immune to the new aliens, but the aliens seemed to actually be afraid of them. These facts were the subject of much speculation among the scientists in the briefing.
The ship was never found, and the lack of an alien presence as they scoured the mines and surrounding countryside led them to believe that the ship had indeed at some point escaped.
Sadly, there were many villagers missing, but many more were soon restored to their full mental capacity or had returned to the city after weeks of hiding in the highlands to the east.
It was decided during the briefing that an Earth outpost would maintain a presence on the planet for the foreseeable future in the event that the aliens returned for more naquadah or slaves.
Daniel and Sam had formulated and mapped out a plan for researching all they could find out about this sinister new race of beings. Earth couldn't afford to sit back and wait for the next appearance of these things, Hammond communicated. The best defense was a good offense.
The scientists would be working round the clock, within the SGC and without, to uncover all they could learn about the Telepaths. The urgency of their quest could not be denied.
Sam yawned involuntarily as she and Daniel scanned yet another Ancient text that made reference to a mysterious race that sounded suspiciously familiar.
It wasn't that she was bored, far from it; she just had been keeping herself awake every night until she literally fell down, and was up early again every morning, desperately jumpstarting her brain with hot coffee.
Jack popped into the lab and hung his head so closely over the Ancient text she was poring over that she couldn't see it.
Okay, she got the message; O'Neill was here to make her take yet another mandatory break.
"I come bearing gifts," Jack announced grandly, with a piece of pie for Daniel and a blue jello with cool whip for Sam.
"Yum."
"Goody."
"So anything new?"
"We've learned a lot, actually," Sam responded cautiously, never quite sure how much detailed information the Colonel really wanted.
"Like what?"
"Daniel has deciphered a good bit of these Ancient writings recovered from the Antarctica site last year, mostly from information you gave him on the language of the Ancients a few years ago when you-"
"I remember," Jack interrupted, cutting her off from replaying one of his less fond memories.
"Right, sir. Well anyway, these texts talk about an evil race, like the Goa'uld- "
"Or it may mean, related to the Goa'uld," Daniel interjected.
"Right. A race whom the Ancients drove out of our galaxy back before the Ancients evolved to a different, higher, plane of existence."
"That's what we learned from this first set of writings," Daniel continued.
"Now, this text here, also from the Antarctic site where we found the frozen Ancient woman,"
"Ahhh... another memory we try not to think about too often," Jack reminded them.
"Sorry, sir ...this text repeats what the Asgard first told you when you visited their home planet to have the knowledge of the Ancients removed from your head. They said there were once four great races in an alliance: the Asgard, the Ancients, the Nox, and the Furlings. What this passage here goes on todiscuss is about the Furlings."
Daniel picked up an orb, curiously glowing, and twisted it delicately.
Like a projection, a section of Ancient text appeared to hover between them.
"From what I have been able to learn, the Furlings and the Ancients were once close allies, both of great power and intellect, but over many thousands of years the Furlings became evil, bent on ruling all other races, with no regard for any but themselves.
They began by enslaving other worlds, but eventually they went a step further and they possessed their minds as well.
The Ancients became their bitter enemies. As the only beings that the Furlings were unable to conquer, it appears the Ancients eventually succeeded in driving them out of this galaxy."
"Now this is very interesting," Sam broke in.
"The text here is in Goa'uld but an extremely obscure form of the language. We have had some help from Teal'C, but not even he understands all of it. This artifact was found on the Goa'uld home word, where we first encountered Chak'a."
"And?" Jack prompted.
"It talks about the 'Mother' of the Goa'uld, a race of beings who could possess the souls of their subjects."
There was silence while O'Neill digested this unexpected piece of information.
"So you think the Goa'uld are actually descended from these soul sucker guys?"
"Well, there's some evidence that that is the case. And think about it- if we're descended from the Ancients, it seems logical that the other great races left descendants as well." Daniel postulated.
"And that got me thinking, sir. Why were Earthlings immune to the effects of these aliens?"
"The Furlings?"
"Furlings, yes, I think we can call them that. We already know you have some of the Ancient genes, Colonel, and the evidence we now have has shown that Earth is probably the Ancients' planet of origin. Maybe Earthlings are immune because we are directly descended from the Ancients? Maybe we have some way to defend ourselves against these Furlings that we're not even aware of?"
"We're not immune to possession by the Goa'uld," Jack pointed out.
"I know, but that could be because the Furlings that eventually became the Goa'uld stayed in this galaxy and developed into physical parasites, able to possess other beings in a different way from their ancestors."
"So, now what?"
Jack looked blown away by their findings.
"I'd like to contact the Tok'Ra and the Asgard, sir. I'm betting these Furlings are here in our galaxy again to attack as many worlds as they can. We need to get enough information to take the offensive against them as quickly as possible."
"I agree, Carter. Good work, you guys. Let's go brief Hammond."
The three headed off for the General's office, eager to take this fight to the next level.
A/N:
For those of you who wanted the Furlings to be cute, furry guys, my heartfelt apologies.