Chapter 5

The alarms started to blare throughout the base.

Colonel Dixon was expecting it any minute and was already standing by in the control room when the gate swung into action.

The iris closed and the staff waited anxiously for the IDC to come through.

"It's SG-1's code sir," Walter confirmed.

"Open the iris!" Dixon ordered.

"This is Colonel Carter," the speaker crackled with static as Sam's voice came through. "We're coming in hot! Jaffa on our sixes, be ready to close the iris as soon as we're all through!"

Dixon grabbed the microphone, silently nodding his approval to open the iris.

"We're ready Colonel," he yelled into the mike hoping to be heard above the battle raging on the other side of the wormhole.

He then spoke to the SF's down in the gate room.

"Heads up boys, they're coming in hot. Beware of hostiles. And don't, whatever you do, shoot our people!"

They snapped to, and were ready to open fire should a Jaffa come through behind the SG teams.

Teal'c was the first man through and he had the badly injured Major Banks slung over his shoulders and he ran down the ramp to the nearest gurney on which to lay his inert burden.

He was quickly followed by several other men, some of whom were also injured though not so badly still needed help to walk. Occasionally a staff blast would explode against the back wall of the room and everyone instinctively ducked. Then Sam and Colonel Reynolds hurried through the gate both shouting for the iris to be closed.

One Jaffa made it through but was shot down before he could gather his thoughts together from his trip through the wormhole.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the Iris spun into position and the threat was eliminated when several thumps could clearly be heard from the impacts against the shield.

Sam had expected to see Jack up in the control room waiting for their return, but he wasn't there and she couldn't help but feel a ripple of disappointment run through her. Jack made a point of always being there when she returned from off-world. He'd promised, but she guessed that he had other more important business to attend to.

She stood and watched the frenetic activity going on all around her; medics tending to the wounded; gurneys being loaded with the more seriously wounded. The room filled with the moans and groans of people hurting, but her focus wasn't on them. She had replayed the last time she had seen Jack and now she came to think of him, she could recall that he wasn't himself. She had a flashback to Daniel having to support him when they were in the control room and her heart skipped a beat. Was he as intoxicated as Daniel had been the night before? He'd said Daniel was suffering from a hangover, was he too? She shook her head in denial, he would never have been stupid enough to come onto the base if he had been, let alone drive here. He took his responsibilities as General seriously, and lived by example. In all the years they had known each other she had never known him to get so drunk that he couldn't stand upright the next day. That just wasn't him or his way.

"Colonel Carter!" the voice floated past her brain, but didn't register.

"Are you hurt at all Ma'am?"

This time the gentle voice and the light pressure on her elbow registered and Sam snapped out of her reverie.

"Wha...uh...sorry. No I'm fine, thank you!" she apologised to the medic standing at her elbow. "It's just... Have you seen General O'Neill?"

"Yes Ma'am, he's in the infirmary," she replied before turning away to help one of the other nurses with the injured Pearson.

"Thank you," Sam answered with a sigh of relief.

Her thoughts turned inwards again, thinking perhaps Jack had headed off there as soon as the injured had started coming through. The General would most likely have been worried about Major Banks; as he had personally groomed the Major for his role as CO of SG-14. He took things like any injuries they incurred almost personally.

Teal'c approached her with a worried frown, and he laid one of his huge brown hands on her arm with such gentleness that she was momentarily shaken, forgetting that this formidable warrior was a gentle giant where she and his friends were concerned.

"Colonel Carter are you not feeling well?"

She smiled up at him with reassurance.

"I'm fine Teal'c just thinking that's all. Let's go get showered while the infirmary is overrun with the injured. Then we'll get checked out after the hubbub has died down.

"Colonel Carter! Teal'c!" The voice pulled her thoughts back to Colonel Dixon up in the control room.

"Colonel?" she responded with a worried frown as she and Teal'c looked up at the window.

"I need a word with both of you. Meet me in the briefing room right away!"

"Yes sir," Sam replied wondering what was wrong now. Surely he didn't want to debrief them now, without the General being present?

Her feet led her away, automatically heading for the metal staircase with Teal'c followed behind without so much as a murmur.

The door opened softly and Sam poked her head round it before she and Teal'c entered the observation room quietly.

"What the hell happened Daniel?" Sam challenged as she approached the vacant chair next to her team-mate. Shakily she sat down heavily on it, all the time her eyes riveted to the comatose figure lying so still and ashen against the pale green sheets of the bed in the isolation room below. "How is he?"

"I've no idea what happened Sam," he sighed wearily, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses. "You know Jack as well as I do. He never said a word to me about this. I just thought he had a hang-over, but... " He threw a frustrated hand towards the glass window in a gesture of helplessness. "Doctor Brightman doesn't know what this is," he groaned softly. "She's got the lab boys working on it, but as yet they've not managed to come up with anything. This seems like it's a totally new strain of virus. Colonel Dixon's already had to close the mountain down just in case."

"I know," she sighed. "We've just had a briefing with him."

Sam looked across at her friend and her heart went out to him. He was now sat slumped over the desk, his head in his hands.

"Daniel how long have you been here?" she asked, seeing him so pale and washed out himself. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Sam. I don't have any of Jack's symptoms if that's what you're thinking, and I've been with Jack most the time. Whatever this is, it's fast acting. He...he was fine when we went out for a drink last night...uh...sorry, the night before last." He corrected, checking the time by his watch. He turned to see her face for the first time and could see that her eyes were red and watery. He reached out and pulled her to him. "C'mon Sam. You know what he's like. The stubborn SOB won't let this beat him. He always bounces right back, right? Before you know it, he'll be grouching and grumbling and driving the medical staff up the wall."

Sam snorted with amusement at the mental picture she had of Jack in his usual temper when he was recovering from some injury. It was true, he would be a royal pain in the ass when he was on the mend, but more tears fell anyway at the sight of him at this moment in time. Doctor Brightman had filled them in. Jack was now in a coma, needing the respirator to help him breathe. The virus, or whatever it was, meant his condition was gradually worsening, despite her efforts to control it. Could he beat this? Especially as it was an unknown virus or whatever it was. But where the hell had he picked it up?

She sat in silence watching the nurses working down below, making their regular checks on him, cleaning the tubes and setting up a fresh bag of fluid into the IV.

She didn't know how long she'd sat there silently observing the man in the bed; the man she had loved for what seemed like forever but could never have. And she had Pete now; but a little part of her still loved this man, the General, her CO. To see him like this, so weak and vulnerable was enough to weaken her resolve to put their unofficial feelings behind her. She was perturbed that in his present state, he could still evoke such strong feelings inside her. Would her love for Pete be strong enough to bear if even a little piece of her heart still belonged to this man? She wondered as doubts assailed her.

Dr. Brightman walked into the room, breaking them from their vigil over their friend. Both looked at her expectantly, anxious for some good news.

"Anything?" Daniel asked with hope.

"For what good it will do I don't know. There were traces of a banned chemical in that beer you drank the other night Dr. Jackson."

"There was?" he gasped frowning. "But...I don't understand. I actually drank more than Jack did, and I was fine. Well, okay, a little hung-over but I'm fine."

"That maybe so, but it was brewed in a backwater somewhere abroad and illegally sold as an import Dr. Jackson. Let's just say they weren't as particular about content or cleanliness as we are in this country. There have been other cases of poisoning reported by those who have imbibed it, but nothing as bad as General O'Neill's symptoms. He seems to have had an adverse reaction to it, but that's not the main problem here, because what we also found in his bloodstream didn't come from the beer."

"So it was a combination of factors?" Sam asked, her mind in a whirl or possibilities.

"That's a fair assumption Colonel, yes, that's what we believe."

Daniel snorted with amusement and earned himself reproachful looks from both women. He waved a hand at Jack's inert form and explained his thoughts to them.

"It's just...well..." he laughed, "it's the thought of Jack being allergic to the beer. It's rather ironic really don't you think?"

Sam smirked too, leaving the Doctor wondering if perhaps they were feeling the strain of keeping watch over the General.

TBC