"So we'll split up, search for survivors."
'If there are any' Jack thought to himself 'Carters resourceful, so is Jacob. Hell all these people were, some of them must have gotten to safety.
"Who could have survived this?" asked Reynolds, with an unconvinced look around the bombsite they stood in.
Jack shot him a look, they had to stay positive, and there must be survivors.
"Start with the treeline there" he pointed and gave Reynolds a look of 'don't stop until you find someone' Reynolds read the look perfectly.
"Copy"
"Move out"
As they continued their search Jack's radio crackled.
"O'Neill"
"Go ahead"
"We found twelve survivors but they're not in good shape"
"How bad"
"Some can walk, but most need immediate medical treatment"
'Thank god' thought Jack, pausing with slight relief before his thoughts paused and he asked in concern.
"Major Carter with them?"
Reynolds seemed to take forever in answering, Jack knew the answer before it crackled through to him. He felt his heart sink and avoided eye contact with Tealc and Daniel, knowing he'd read similar faces on them.
"I'm afraid not." Came the reply.
Jack refused to give up hope, even thought they had been searching for hours. They been going round in a search pattern, following the tracks of both what they assumed were Carters and the drones. The fact that there were continuous tracks gave him some peace of mind. He just hoped they got there before anything serious happened.
'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it' thought Jack, they certainly would. The weapon would be effective, Carter would be alive and they would use the prototype she had on her.
They heard the explosion, a loud cracking sound to the east of them, instinct made them run toward it, readying their weapons. Jack was relived Tealc was with him, both determined to take this thing down. Jack could see a shadow starting to emerge from the billowing dust and followed its line of shot to see Carter crouching behind a rock. Taking fire he broke off from Tealc who was trying to keep the drones attention.
Adrenaline pushed all relief at seeing Carter alive and well from his mind as he reached her, he needed to take this thing down or none of them would survive it.
"Carter I need the..."
He paused as Carter; already way ahead of him raised her hand and handed him the new weapons insert. Giving her a rushed thanks, he loaded the weapon and quickly fired taking down the drone and ridding them of the imminent danger. Jack took a breath, exhausted but not as exhausted as Carter who looked barely able to walk. He didn't want to imagine what she'd gone through with this thing chasing her around the planet.
"Is it?"
"Yeah, he's dead...Right Teal'c, he's dead?"
Jack looked from Carter to Tealc; double checking for himself and watching as Tealc gave the soldier a stern kick weapon raised. Jack felt himself holding his breath as tealc did so. When the soldier didn't respond, Jack let the breath out and looked back to Carter
"Yeah, he's dead. You wanna get up?"
Stupid question, Carter looked barely able to stand, but the less time they spent here the better for him. If another soldier was around he didn't want to be the one to welcome it. Still concern overcame him as Carter shook her head wearily.
"I just need to rest for a minute"
Carter looked about to collapse and dropped her eyes, unable to cope with the overwhelming relief of seeing both he and Tealc. Jack watched her taking a breath, watching he emotions of relief and fatigue crossing her face. She needed someone and at that, moment it was him, and he felt compelled to hold her, just hold her and reassure her everything was all right.
"Come here"
Sam looked at him with slight surprise as Jack stretched out an arm and wrapped it around her shoulders pulling her to him to rest, protected. He felt her melt into the space he created, it felt comfortable, right, so right, perfect even in the situation they had been in. Jack knew it was a feeling that couldn't last.