What Fate Decrees- Part Two
Sam moved the flashlight around and the beam hit a prone figure, ghoulishly falling on a large lance extruding from the Colonel's backpack. She couldn't hold back her cry of shock at the sight.
Daniel's pale face could be seen just on the edge of the light, staring up. "It's bad Sam, it's gone right through. My pack is up there somewhere, near the first plinth. The first aid kit is in the front pocket."
Sam quickly assessed the situation as Teal'c moved to retrieve the pack. Seeing no obvious danger, she lowered herself down the walls before dropping lightly to the floor of the pit. She gestured to Teal'c to throw the pack down and caught it, quickly pulling the medical supplies from it.
"Teal'c, wait up there," she ordered as she knelt down, the beam from Teal'c's flashlight joining hers on the Colonel.
"Colonel, can you hear me?" called Sam, as she gently felt under his body, lightly examining his chest by touch. A low moan was her only response. Sam could feel blood seeping through and a hard point of protruding metal.
"God, this must have hit hard if it went through his pack first as well!" she exclaimed.
"The force of it took us both over the edge into the pit. We were…. he wasn't…. he must have known… he must have seen this coming, he wouldn't have been able to get here in time if he hadn't … oh God, oh shit." Sam looked up to find Daniel's face becoming even paler as he obviously realised exactly what had happened. "He shouted a warning just before, oh …no I must have triggered something when I got too close to the throne."
Sam took a handful of dressings. "Daniel, I'm going to need help turning him, we've got to stop this bleeding."
"Do not move him," shouted Teal'c urgently.
"We have to. He's bleeding badly," responded Sam, already aghast at how much blood was pooling around the Colonel.
"Look around Major Carter, look at the spears," urged Teal'c and he panned his flashlight about the pit, stopping it near them on a heap of bones.
At first Sam only saw the shaft of metal and then her eyes widened in horror "Damn!" she gasped as she realised what Teal'c had seen.
She scrabbled through the bones and picked up a spear. It was only about three feet in length, the metal still sound and free from rust, although stained with old dull blood marks, but about a foot from the point a large collar of blade-like spikes rose outwards.
"Oh God," she choked at the same time as Daniel gave a moan of dismay.
"We do not know if these blades are inside O'Neill and if you move him…" Teal'c's words remained unfinished as Daniel stumbled to his feet away from Jack, retching suddenly.
Heaving, he clasped his head, leaning against the pit walls to steady himself.
"Teal'c," called Sam "you need to go back to the SGC and get Janet. Take this." She stood and passed the spear up to him carefully. "Tell her what you can, but get help back here fast."
Without a word the Jaffa took the spear and disappeared from sight. Seconds later they heard the gate activate.
For a moment the enormity of the Colonel's injury had Sam frozen, before, with a mental shake, she stirred into action. She bundled together the field dressings and as gently as she could, inserted them between the wound and the floor to try and stem the flow of blood.
Daniel straightened himself, wiping at his mouth and came over to where she crouched over the Colonel. "I'm sorry Sam," he whispered.
"Are you okay?" She stood up and moved closer, reaching out towards his head. "Daniel, you're bleeding." As she did so, she saw how bloody her hands were. Daniel flinched and she grimaced at him in sympathy, turning to her pack to use the wet scrubs to clean off what she could.
"I'm fine Sam, it's nothing. You know it should be me lying there. He told me not to touch – again!" Daniel spat the words out, his distress clear.
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Voices. Voices in the blackness, faint but there. Jack tried to open his eyes but they didn't want to respond. Everything felt heavy. Pain seeped in, burning and agonising pain. To just draw breath hurt, hurt so badly. He tried to speak "Daanl" was the hoarse whisper that came from his parched throat. He wanted to move, to get off his chest, away from the pressure on his lungs. The will to try to escape from the pain forced life into his limbs and with a sudden motion from his arms, he fought to right himself.
"Jack! No! Don't …"
"Colonel, don't move."
The pressure hands exerted on his tired limbs held him still and once again he tried to open his eyes. A blurred image of his 2IC wavered in front of him.
"Can't breathe, need… need" was his cracked cry, the words breathless and needing great effort.
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Sam leaned close to the stricken man. "Colonel, you're hurt. You took a spear through the back, and it's gone right through. You need to hold still, we can't move you. Teal'c's gone for help, to get Janet. He won't be long." Gently she started to touch his face as she spoke, trying to reassure him.
"Hurts." His voice was low, barely above a whisper.
His admission, without any sarcastic remark, frightened her badly. "Please, sir, just don't move," she begged him softly. Taking her canteen, she moistened a clean dressing and tried to gently wet his lips and then dabbed the cloth over his face.
"I can't give you anything for the pain, sir, but it won't be long before Janet arrives."
Although it wasn't warm, beads of perspiration bathed the Colonel's forehead and started to trickle down the planes of his face, along the strong line of his jaw. His eyelids were fighting to remain open, but it was a fight he was destined to lose as he groaned in pain. The eyelids slammed down in response.
"God, come on …. Please," whispered Sam, almost to herself.
Taking a fresh handful of dressings she added them to the blood soaked ones already there. She almost sobbed when she saw how much blood was pooling, and another moan of pain escaped from the Colonel.
The sound of the gate being activated brought Daniel to attention again.
"Thank God," he uttered, standing. There was a bustle of activity above them and moments later the diminutive Doctor Fraiser appeared, being gently lowered by Teal'c. She was closely followed by members of her staff carrying the cacophony of medical supplies she might need.
"We need more light," she called. Her people began to set up lights around them, run by portable generators, and soon the bottom of the pit was brightly illuminated.
Sam moved back to let the Doctor in closer, telling her quickly what she knew. Even as she spoke Janet was down and checking the Colonel.
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"Colonel, can you hear me?" O'Neill's eyes flickered open and struggled to focus on Janet's face. "Let's get an IV in, get some blood and fluids going," she called to one of her staff.
"Sir, do you know where you are?" His eyes looked to her, but he didn't answer. "Colonel, I'm going to give you something for the pain, but I need you to stay awake. Stay with me sir," she called urgently to him. His pallor and his erratic, rattled breathing gave an indication of how bad he was, the low blood pressure and unsteady pulse telling her the story well enough to know he was in a great deal of trouble. Janet quickly inserted the IV needles into the Colonel's hand and set up a fluid and blood transfusions before injecting him with the promised painkiller.
"This'll help, Colonel." She saw his eyelids closing and called out to him, "Stay with me, sir," before turning to the people around her. "We need to turn him to his side; I can't do anything like this."
Sam and Daniel exchange glances. "You saw the spear Teal'c had? How it works?" began Sam.
"I had a quick look Sam, but if I don't stop this bleeding it won't matter, I can't pump blood into him fast enough to replace what he's losing now, never mind what he's lost already."
Turning back to O'Neill, she touched him gently on his cheek and his eyes opened again. She knew he was aware of what was going on but said it anyway. "Sir,we're going to turn you onto your side. We'll go easy but it's going to hurt."
Janet and her staff began to sort out the IV lines and equipment and positioned themselves around O'Neill.
"We'll put a body board under now; it'll save time when we come to move him." Her staff worked to follow her orders.
Quickly and efficiently they got ready to lift her patient. "On three. One, two, three, lift," ordered Janet and together they lifted and rolled the Colonel into a recovery position. Janet couldn't help the sharp intake of breath she gave at the Colonel's cry of pain at the movement. "Sorry Sir, hold on."
"It's okay," he slurred, "breathe better." His words came low and gasping.
"We can't remove his pack, but I need to get in at the front. Try and support the pack from underneath so it can't move as much." and again her staff work quickly to follow Janet's instructions. As soon as the Colonel's pack was supported, she began to cut the lace fastening on the side of the vest to pull it forward and away from him, giving her access to cut his jacket and shirt open. Her eyes kept monitoring the Colonel's face noticing with an internal smile that, as usual, he was watching everything she did. Even though he was obviously having trouble focussing, but he was trying to see as much as possible.
Most people look away or focus elsewhere, but the Colonel always watched. Knowing he was watching, she tried to school her features so as to not reveal how bad the injury was, but as she revealed the wound in all its glory, she couldn't help the distress that shook her and knew it must have showed on her face. 'God he must be in terrible pain' kept running through her mind as she worked to try and stem the flow of blood from the raw wound.
"We need to get him back to the SGC. I've no way of knowing how much internal damage has been done. I've stopped the bleeding for the moment but …"
It was Teal'c who spoke, his normal calm features frowning mightily, "If the blades have opened it would be dangerous, but if the blades are inactive inside O'Neill and are activated when he is moved he will surely die."
"The collar may not be that far in."
"Indeed, Daniel Jackson, that may be so."
"Hey." A low voice intruded, weak but clear "Can you guys argue later?" Those few words left the Colonel badly out of breath and his chest heaved to draw oxygen in.
Janet bent to him and put an oxygen mask in place "Keep it on sir, you need it."
Janet saw Sam's face pale as she looked down, and she blinked rapidly clearly trying to keep away threatening tears. Janet's gaze meet the other woman's and Sam visibly pulled herself together, a look of determination on her face as the major replaced the woman.
Daniel replied to the Colonel, his light tone and the smile on his face a contrast to the frown of worry that had been there the last time Janet had looked. "Hey Jack, do you mind butting out while we make a decision." He moved around to kneel down in front of the injured man. "After all it's only your body."
Jack tried to return the smile but failed, his features distorted into tight lines of pain.
Looking down at the Colonel's prone form, the doctor knew that she had to find out just how much of a threat the collar of the weapon posed.
"Sir, I'm going to have to get into the pack to see if I can feel that collar."
"Negative, Doc," he growled through the painkillers, "too dangerous… you need those fingers…"
Janet looked at Sam and Daniel "I need to know," she stated simply.
"I'll do it," offered Daniel; "like Jack said you need your fingers. You can always sew mine back on," he joked and moved around to start to undo the pack, working very slowly and gently. "Jack now is the time to tell me if there's any mice traps, dirty washing, or anything incriminating in your pack, cause I'm going to have to empty it down, its packed so god-damn tight."
A noise came from Jack beneath the mask and Daniel took that as the go ahead, slowly starting to remove the first layer from the pack, handing them to Sam who knelt beside him.
Janet moved closer to Jack's head and began to gently mop at his face with a cold dressing. "How's the pain?" she asked.
"Bad," he admitted, which frightened her, for O'Neill to admit to anything 'bad' would be in anybody else's books 'excruciating' so she quickly gave him another injection into the IV line.
"Hold on Colonel, won't be too long now." She continued to mop his face, trying to not let her eyes stray to where Daniel was working, carefully taking items from the pack, the danger from the blades clear in her mind.
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