Beta Readers: Heather Rix
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or Lost. I am making no money off them so don't sue.
Chapter Title: Papers
They'd been on the island for a week now and already Jack thought he was going mad. This island was like nothing he'd ever seen before, this island had secrets.
Everywhere they went they seemed to discover new things about the little island they'd been stranded on. The first was the noise they had heard on the first night they'd been there; it had been like nothing he'd ever heard before. When he'd first heard it, all that went through his mind were those silly Jurassic Park movies. While he knew their island was not inhabited by dinosaurs he couldn't help but wonder what had caused the terrible noise.
He'd spoken to Charlie who had seen whatever it was and he'd simply described the creature as a monster, he said it was invisible and it had killed the pilot leaving him mutilated and hanging from the top of a tree.
Jack himself hadn't seen it but whatever could leave a man in that state in the tree tops was something to be feared and Jack wasn't one to be easily scared.
The only other strange incident so far had been the other day when their group had met up with a polar bear.
Jack had gone with Shannon, Boone, Charlie, Sawyer, Sayid and Kate to find higher ground in the hopes of getting a signal from the transistor radio that the Doc had found with the pilot. The Battery from the radio had been just about dead so they'd gone in search of higher ground hoping to get a signal out. It hadn't worked but they'd picked up the signal of a French woman who'd been stranded on the island some sixteen years ago.
He had only gone on the trip to keep an eye on Sayid. Ever since he'd first laid eyes on him he'd not let the bastard out of his sight. If Sayid went on a trek through the jungle, then so did he. He wasn't about to let him do harm to anyone else on the island and if that meant that he practically had to stalk the man, he'd do it; but eventually when Sayid wasn't expecting it, Jack would have his revenge.
Thinking a few days back to the confrontation between Sayid and Sawyer, Jack had to agree with Sawyer, Sayid probably was a terrorist. The man was as unscrupulous as they came and he wouldn't put it past the Iraqi to have sabotaged the plane they were on, even at the expense of his own life.
"Are you ready to talk yet Major?" Sayid asked his American prisoner. He'd had him tied to the wall of the interrogation room for two weeks now. He made sure the American had gotten no sleep in that time. Every time the man dozed off he'd have one of his men wake him and then beat him. The process would continue until the American Major equated sleep with pain. He'd been given enough food and water to keep him alive but Sayid always ate his own meals in front of him. Having the precious food and water just out of reach would eventually make him crack, when the thirst and hunger became too much.
"Go. To. Hell." Jack spat at his interrogator, speaking each word separately. Jack lifted his swollen face to look at the man who'd become his living hell.
Sayid paced the room in front of his prisoner holding a flask of water in his hands. Jack looked longingly at the flask.
"If you tell me what your mission was I will give you this water. If not...well you will feel more pain" Sayid spoke undoing the lid on the water flask.
"Major O'Neill, Jonathan, United States Air Force. Serial Number 573..." Jack started before he was interrupted by a brutal punch to his chest. Jack felt one of his bruised ribs break with the force of the blow.
"You will learn Major" Sayid said upending the bottle pouring the contents at the American Major's feet.
Jack would get his revenge. He was a very patient man when he wanted to be. He didn't know how Sayid had even gotten to be on a plane from Australia to America. He was probably looking for ways to infiltrate and bring down the American government. As far as Jack was concerned Sayid was a terrorist.
Some of the other survivors had moved inland to a group of caves that ran near a fresh water supply. Jacks military instincts were telling him that he too should move into the caves with the others. Less risk of dying from exposure and with a water supply nearby, it was the best place to be. Even knowing that he should go to the caves, Jack was hesitant to leave the beach. Sayid had wanted to stay there and Jack was unwilling to let the other man leave his sight. So Jack had rigged up a temporary shelter at the edge of the beach.
Jack kept his distance from most of the survivors, most only knew his name and that he was military and none knew he had a past with Sayid. Only the Doc was suspicious but so far he'd kept his distance.
Jack had searched the remains of the plane wreck the day after the crash looking for the lock case that held the classified documentation. Luckily he found it, as well as his carry on bag which he'd given up hope on finding.
He had dug a hole under his shelter and buried it until he figured out a way to open the case, as he had lost the key. Jack had thought it had been in the carry on bag he'd taken on the plane but a thorough search had proven fruitless.
Feeling the heavy weight of eyes watching him Jack looked up to see Sawyer watching him. "Lookin' for something there soldier?" Sawyer asked him.
"What if I am" Jack asked, standing to look the young man in the eye. Jack also noted that Sawyer had called him soldier though Jack had yet to tell anyone he was military. "How did you know I was in the military?" Jack asked the man suddenly growing suspicious.
"Found your ID in your wallet. It's got a photo" Sawyer answered him before turning and walking over to where he'd built himself a small shelter. Jack followed him.
"Give me my wallet then" Jack asked running a hand through his sand laden hair.
"What do I get in return General?" Sawyer asked sitting down under a nearby tree.
"You get to live" Jack threatened the man.
Sawyer eyed Jack trying to see whether he was bluffing or serious, deciding not to take his chances with a fully trained Air Force General, Sawyer threw the wallet at Jack.
Jack caught the wallet before it hit him in the face and walked over to his make shift accommodations. Not that he really needed the wallet anymore, but it had been in his carry on bag and had the key to the Lock case in it. Searching through the wallet Jack located what he was looking for.
Feeling another set of eyes on him Jack saw Sayid eyeing him. Clearly the Iraqi was keeping an eye on Jack as much as Jack was on him. Jack would have to keep his guard up all the more because of it.
Deciding that there were too many people around watching him he placed the key on his dog tags. He'd wait for night fall before burning the contents of the case.
"General, I'm glad you could make it" The young driver greeted him. "I was told to escort you to your motel so you could settle in before your meeting this afternoon at four"
"Thank you Airman" Jack said slipping into the car that had come to collect him from the airport. They could have at least had the decency to wait untill tomorrow to start the meetings. The drive through the streets of Sydney was so relaxing that it was almost enough to put the tired General to sleep.
Pulling to a stop in front of the motel the driver opened his door so Jack could exit the vehicle. Entering the motel Jack went to the counter and asked for his key. Handing over the key the receptionist wished him well before he made his way upstairs for a nap.
The Meeting was originally going to be held in Canberra but some emergency had come up and it had been transferred to Sydney.
Jack awoke from his nap a little before four; he quickly dressed himself in his dress blues and went to meet his driver.
Arriving at Parliament House Jack was escorted into a room with the Prime Minister and several other men who had been given clearance.
"Thank you for having me sirs" Jack said before being seated.
Once everyone was seated Jack began "I'm here to tell you about a project called the Stargate Program..."
It felt like years ago since he'd been at those meetings in the Australian Parliament House. He'd only meant to be gone a week and now he found himself to have been gone for two weeks and was moving towards a third. His team would be frantic with worry if they believed him to still be alive, which he somehow doubted. In all likelihood Jack and everyone else on the plane would have been declared dead.
Jack knew how these things worked and after a week of not finding anything the search would have started dying down by now if they were still even looking for them.
They had at least found a steady food source, even if that meant they were eating wild boar every night, it kept them alive. Tonight was no different. Locke had killed a couple of boars and everyone on the beach was sitting around the fire eating. Jack had mostly kept to himself but he had talked more to Locke than the others. Jack liked Locke, at least he didn't mess around.
Finishing off his meal Jack went back to where he'd built his shelter and built a small fire. Once that was done he dug the lock case back up. Pulling the key from the chain he unlocked the case and pulled the classified papers out. He left the weapons locked in the case and buried in the hole he'd dug. Placing the key back on his dog tags Jack threw all the documents onto the fire and watched them burn.
He just hoped they could find a way off this god forsaken island and soon. Before there was no one left to rescue.
Finis
