When All Else Fails
Chapter Twenty
Disclaimer: Well- we all know that the show and SG-1 are not my property. But, the small roles that appear every now and then are. Moreover, Lieutenant Matthew Fehr (figured he deserved a first name by now) is my character, and he's basically the only major player in this story who does belong to me.
A/N: Ok... so the actual action will come into play during this chapter- so I'm extremely nervous about how it's going to turn out. I hope it isn't a disappointment to anybody. Also, as I mentioned up in my disclaimer Fehr is pretty much a main character now, and I had originally planned on having him lay low for awhile, but now I'm not so sure. Of course he cannot go off-world, but I think that from now on (at least while Jack and SG-1 are off-world) the view from the SGC will come from him. Which, there's not going to be a lot of that anyway... but it's nice to have a character to call your own :)
XXXX
Daniel sat in the quiet dark, glancing around the room. His best estimate was that it was almost 2000 hours now, so Jack had no doubt already sent a rescue team through the 'gate after the missing teams. It was also quite possible that Jack himself had ventured through the Stargate, especially since Sam was among the missing.
Daniel scowled. Speaking of Sam... It seemed to him that the new leader of SG-1 was becoming more and more like her predecessor every day, which wasn't exactly a good thing in and of itself. Before Daniel could prattle on about anything for hours and Sam would have no problem with it, either she was truly interested and listened to what he had to say or she did a hell of a job at pretending to be intrigued. He wasn't stupid of course, he knew that more times than none she had only been acting as if she wanted to know about the cultures they came across, but most of the time she genuinely wanted to know. So why then the fuss here?
Well, they were stranded in a Goa'uld prison- so that could have been part of the reason. Actually, that was probably the one and only reason. Sighing he leaned against the stone wall behind him, a small thud sounding as his head connected to the rock. It was getting darker, and he could barely see anything. Outlined forms were the only thing that he had to assure him he was not alone in the cell, quite the contrary. He was more than alone- and considering the cramped space they were in he was starting to wish that wasn't the case.
And, then he could talk about Thoth without getting fussed at for it... of course he would be talking to himself, but who needed to focus on semantics, really? He certainly didn't. He was in prison, none of that mattered.
Truth was, he had only been talking of the Egyptian god to get his mind off of the Goa'uld who had personified him. In Egyptian times Thoth had judged the dead, weighing their hearts against an ordinary feather, which was a no-win situation. Daniel could tell that he wasn't the only one wondering whether this Goa'uld had taken on all the roles of the ancient god. And he couldn't but wondering... alive or dead- would they be judged?
XXXX
O'Neill trudged up a particularly steep hill, brooding over how vulnerable the incline was making him and his team. Walking at such a rate blinded them to whatever lay behind the hill, they were susceptible to an attack of any kind. Which was why he and Colonel Jennings (SG-5's CO) were a good distance ahead of the others. If there was going to be any hostiles to greet them the others would have plenty of time to be forewarned.
Not much had been said since they had come through the 'gate. Not much needed saying. Everybody among the group understood that this mission was of the up-most importance and speaking would only distract them from what needed to be done. Distractions were never good when on an alien planet, least of all one with over-zealous Jaffa. Which, from experience Jack knew that basically all Jaffa were egotistical, just like the Goa'uld.
From what he could tell they had only traveled a click so for, maybe a bit more than so. It was hard to tell since they had been going uphill for more than fifteen minutes. Glancing behind him to check on the rest of his team he pushed himself further, knowing that it wasn't doing his knee any good to strain like he was. But, at the same time, he wasn't doing his captured teams any good by worrying about himself. So, he quit- worrying, that was.
The sun had just gone down and dusk had passed, it was pitch black, which added to the chance of an attack greatly. Though as far as he could tell they had yet to be discovered. For some reason unknown to him there were no Jaffa out. Something important must have been going on- not that he cared. Whatever it was, if it kept the Jaffa away it was fine by him. Unless, of course, it had something to do with Sam, SG-1, and the other teams with them. Which was something he doubted highly. It was way too soon for anything like that. Jack winced at the thought.
When they came to the top of the hill he noticed ruins in the distance, and immediately thought of Daniel. If the circumstances of SG-1's mission to P9D-785 had been different Daniel would probably have been engrossed in those ruins at the very moment. He smiled faintly thinking of it.
As he was thinking about Daniel studying whatever the ruins had to say movement caught his attention- there was something off to his left. Immediately he was facing that very direction, his
90 aimed and ready. Colonel Jennings noticed the sudden movement from his CO and he too raised his weapon, on high alert.
It wasn't an ambush- at least not on their part. Four Jaffa were weaving through the trees, presumably hunting. From what he could tell they had yet to notice them in the darkness. A smirk passed over his lips for a fleeting second before he replaced it with a straight face, signaling to those closest to him. They weren't far off, in fact it was quiet the opposite, it would be no problem to take them out without an ensuing battle. Within seconds SG-5 had made their way to Jennings and Jack, and the general quickly explained their situation with a simple gesture of the hand. The Marines nodded, ever ready for a battle, and along with their CO and his CO they inched closer to the tree-line, hiding behind several large rocks that littered the ground.
It wasn't very long before all four Jaffa were in clear-range and they were done before they knew what hit them. The Tau'ri laid low until Jack was confident they were alone again and then the Marines went to retrieve any weapons the Jaffa had with them.
Jack wasn't an idiot, he knew that they would meet up with situations a bit more on the dangerous side on their journey to the city, that had just been a chance occurrence. Luck, maybe... if he had believed in that sort of thing. Making sure to be extra cautious they once again started towards the city, with any luck they would be there within three hours.
XXXX
Lieutenant Fehr felt horrible, to put things lightly. When he woke he didn't even have the strength to open his eyes- at first. Once he realized where he was and why he was there things were different. The first thing that occurred to him when he finally did open his eyes was the level of brightness in the room. Once he got over the blinding light he attempted to sit up in the infirmary bed he was in, and although he had to fight off nausea from the sudden movement he had no problem staying that way.
A faint beeping from his right caught his attention, so he was on machines. Most likely from dehydration, he assumed- he hadn't had anything to drink since the beginning of his first day on 785 and he had been on the planet for more than three.
That was the least of his worries though. He wasn't concerned with himself at that point in time, he wanted to know what was going on off-world. Had they left already to rescue SG-1? Had any contact been made since then? Hell, for all he knew he had been out for a week or longer and they were already home safe.
A nurse entered the room and looked over at him with a smile, "Oh... you're up."
He nodded, "Is General O'Neill on base?"
She shook her head, "No, he left through the Stargate over an hour ago. You haven't been asleep for long, you should probably get some more rest. Lord knows you need it."
"I'm fine," he told her, shaking his head. "Do you know if there's been any word from them since he left?"
"Not that I've heard," she told him. "Lay back down, get some sleep... by the time you wake up there might be some news."
Matthew Fehr was never one to listen to doctors, or nurses- but he had to admit he was exhausted. More so than he had originally thought. Maybe just a few hours...
And, just as he had before, he laid back and let blissful, drug-educed oblivion swallow him whole.
XXXX
The sound of heavy, Jaffa footfall stirred Sam from the light sleep she had been managing for the lighter part of ten minutes. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and she glanced around the room worriedly- but from what she counted everybody was still there. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, though premature. As soon as it filled the air the doors to the prison opened and the same Jaffa came striding through. A light came on.
Ah, and let there be light.
With a sickening grin the Jaffa hoovered in front of the cell door, his eyes darting from person to person. Not a word came from his mouth.
"Something we can do for you?" Sam spat bitterly, she was way too irritated to deal with Jaffa antics.
He looked at her with a scowl, "Thoth has arrived... Prepare for your judgement."
Sam glanced over at Daniel who's eyes held that which she had been thinking. Jack better get there... and soon.
XXXX
They had come across a few other hunting parties on their journey to the city. The groups never consisted of over five Jaffa and were always taken out before they knew the Tau'ri were there. Jack was surprised by their accuracy, and the lack of resistence, and knew better to believe it was luck. Something was going on, something big enough to require nearly all of the Goa'uld's Jaffa. Jack didn't like to entertain the idea but it was quite possible that even had something to do with his captured men and women.
The worst thing about the situation was that he had no idea which building was the prison. When they came across the city it was cluttered with small huts that he assumed the houses of the poor and medium sized homes, as well as large ones. There was one large building in the middle of the city, with two smaller ones beside it. Any of them could be where Sam was being held.
It was dark, which was their best advantage, and with their training they could easily move throughout the city without being detected. Figuring their best bet was to split up, he divided them into three groups; himself with SG-5 as Rescue 1, SG-8 as Rescue 2, and SG-10 as Rescue 3. Rescue One was to investigate the largest building and the other two would take the smaller ones.
He glanced at his watch with a sigh, "Report back to me at 2345." It was almost 2330 at the moment and it wouldn't take long to check out the buildings. "If you find them before then radio in."
Yeah, as if they needed to actually be told to do so.
"Ok," he whispered in the darkness. "Let's split up."
They moved in the darkness, eyes open and guns ready. If the Jaffa were going to throw anything their way then they would be prepared.
He wouldn't return home without his missing teams.
None of them would.
XXXX
A/N: Ok, so maybe the action in this story is to a bare minimum. I guess I'm going a bit slower than I had imagined I would. The next chapter most definitely will, however. So, I think there's two or three left- but who knows, maybe more. Like I said, they're gonna probably be coming at this rate from now on so It'll be done soon. Let me know what you think :)
