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DISTANT MEMORIES
By Lingren
Previously:
As a group they waited quietly in the shadows and Fraker checked his watch. The place was swarming with guards now all wondering what was going on. From their point of view the guards resembled ants in a disturbed nest, and word soon spread that Ornan was dead. Right on cue, the prisoners burst out of the prison and fled, scattering around the camp to head for the exits. It was just as Fraker had planned and they escaped while the guards now concentrated on giving chase to the escaping prisoners.
Chapter 8
The little band of rescuers had thought they had gotten away with it, until a cry went up as they entered the trees behind the complex. Now they were being chased.
Soary, holding his wounded arm tight against his side, led the way. Daniel and Reynol were next and then came Bronan, carrying the unconscious Colonel, while Fraker and Sam watched their sixes.
There were sporadic bursts of gunfire behind them but Sam and Fraker repelled the advancing troops. With little to hold them up, they made rapid progress and soon the sounds of pursuit died away and all around them was quiet once more.
The sun had risen by now and Fraker considered it too dangerous to go any further in the full daylight; they could be shot at by both sides. So Soary led them into a well hidden cave to rest. It would be easier to hide there during the day and then travel relatively safely by night in the cooler air. The temperature during the day would rise to over 100 degrees, and they had little water to sustain their efforts were they to attempt the journey. It was rising every minute now and even in the cave it was already getting hot and stuffy.
Bronan laid the Colonel down as gently as he could. The shoulder and back of his uniform was soaked with Jack's blood, but he ignored the discomfort and set about dressing the Colonel's bullet wound.
It was a given thing, with Jack's wound, that he had lost a copious amount of blood, seeing as how they didn't have time to stop and see to it earlier, but Sam was still shocked by the amount of it covering Bronan.
"How is he?" Fraker asked, looking down at the pale and inert officer.
"Not so good. He's lost a lot of blood," Bronan replied. "We'll have to keep an eye out for any sign that he's going into shock."
"They were going to put him through that procedure again and it might have finished him off. Said he was no good to them if his reconditioning didn't work," Reynol spat out. "I hate this place. I'm sick of all this useless fighting."
"Yeah, us too!" Fraker muttered, walking back to stand watch over the entrance of the cave.
"That's why we're all getting out of here. You'll take us back with you won't you?" Soary asked, wincing as Daniel pulled his bloodied jacket sleeve away from his arm to take a closer look at the soldier's wound.
Sam nodded and grabbed some clean swabs and stated to clean it for him, leaving Daniel to watch over Jack.
"Of course. We owe you for helping the Colonel. We'd never have managed to free him and escape without your help. Thanks."
"He was worth it. The CO's a good man. He didn't deserve any of this," Fraker growled from his position.
Sam kept an eye on the veteran soldier as he worked to clean the Colonel's wound and gently press home the thick wad of gauze in order to stop the bleeding. Then he slapped a clean dressing over the entry hole on the shoulder urging Daniel to hold it in place. Once he'd done that he strapped it up as best he could. He laid Jack back again and sat on his heels watching as Jack's eyelids began to flutter.
The first person Jack saw was Sgt. Bronan. He tried to scoot away in an effort to escape, but all he could do was gasp for breath and wince in pain until a stubby hand stopped him from making things worse, and besides he really was in too much pain to attempt to move let alone run anywhere.
"It's okay Colonel. Relax. We're not here to turn you in, we're on your side. We want out of here as much as you do. Take it easy now, you've been shot."
Jack nodded slightly in compliance, knowing the pain of a bullet wound so well, but still eying him warily.
Jack still looked a bit confused, he was still muzzy headed, but he allowed his eyes to rove a little to the left, to spy out the lay of the land. It was then that he saw Sam's smiling face. The smile from his previous dreams. Everything else was a total blank, but he recognised her.
"Hi sir. You're doing okay Colonel. These people, your 'team', they're helping us to get back to the Stargate."
"Ssaam?" he asked still a little unsure of his memory, his voice slurring a little.
"Yes sir," she grinned, laying a gentle hand on his cheek; heartened by his recognition of her.
"Wwhaat?" he gasped, breathlessly as another spasm of pain rolled over him.
"Jack. You're gonna be okay," Daniel assured him, "We weren't sure how soon your memory was going to come back. We heard what that General guy said when he cornered you, about your memory returning too quickly. After we saw you get hit, Sam was about to open the lock when Fraker and his men showed up. We sneaked out and that's when we rescued you. I'm sorry you got hurt though. Our attempts almost cost you your life Jack. We didn't realise they were waiting for us. Do you remember anything?"
"Noootthing," he slurred breathlessly through the pain, his speech difficult to articulate through the wool in his brain. "Jus' Ssaamm."
"Just take it easy Jack. Rest up."
Jack nodded his approval before his eyes slid shut again. He was so tired. He hadn't fully recovered from his leg wound yet and it was reminding him of its presence too, along with the fresh pain in his shoulder, and for some reason his head hurt too. Closing his eyes helped a little but not much. After a while he fell into an uneasy sleep, unable to come up with an explanation for his state of health or where he was, let alone who he was.
Sam laid a blanket over him and then settled down to sit beside him, holding onto his hand and watching closely for any signs of a fever. Every now and then, she would run her free hand over his brow. Ostensibly it was to feel for a raised temperature, but she ended up sweeping the wayward hair from his face, loving the feel of being able to touch him and to feel the softness of the short silver strands.
Daniel moved to sit beside her and watched for a moment, wisely ignoring her open display of the true depth of her feelings for her CO and letting it slide. He wasn't going to say anything. She and Jack had been attracted to each other for a long time now and he was perfectly happy for them, hoping that they would find exactly what they wanted in the other, despite the regulations set against such a relationship. They had only been together for such a short while before this. Sam wasn't going to say anything and no-one here was about to tell.
"You okay Sam?" he asked softly after he'd observed her silent tears for a while.
She turned to face Daniel with a small smile that didn't quite make it to her eyes.
"I'm worried Daniel," she admitted. "He needs medical attention and sitting around here all day is making me... I'm just finding it hard to sit back and do nothing while he...deteriorates."
"Yeah, I know how you feel Sam. So how is he?" Daniel asked, although just one look at that pallid skin was enough to tell him it wasn't good news he was expecting to hear.
"I don't know, honestly. He's not really woken enough for me to ask him how he feels, talking is hard for him. His temperature is rising, and he's restless, and it's not a good sign. I know that much!" she sighed emphatically.
"Fraker says it's just too risky to venture out there at this time of the day. There'll be patrols out searching everywhere for us. Plus it's far too hot out there. Must be one of the hottest days we've experienced here so far."
Sam seemed to drift off into her own thoughts and Daniel gave her a moment or two.
"Daniel?" she began, wanting, needing desperately to talk to someone or she'd just burst.
"Yeah Sam?"
"What...what if... What will happen if he doesn't regain all his memory?"
Daniel took a minute to fully comprehend what she was driving at.
"You mean, if he doesn't recall your being...more than friends?"
He could see the slight nod of her head just before she turned away from his scrutiny, but he heard the quiet sob and placed his arm round her shoulder, pulling her towards him.
"Perhaps he won't remember there being an 'us' any more! How will I be able to cope with that?"
"I wish I could say it will be okay Sam, but I'm as much in the dark here as you are. We can only hope that there's no permanent damage, and he'll make a full recovery."
"God, I hate sitting here doing nothing!" she snarled in frustration, banging her fist on her knee in a fit of irritation at the injustice of it all. Hadn't the man suffered enough lately.
Their attention was broken by the sound of gunfire in the distance. Wherever it was, it seemed to the waiting group to be an intense battle. The shooting was non stop.
"Is it me or does the sound of that gunfire seem to be getting closer?" Sam asked no-one in particular, growing worried.
Everyone strained to hear and they all agreed. It was indeed getting louder.
They hastily moved Jack further back into the cave out of harms way. Then they took up their positions to defend their little patch of territory.
The noise of battle grew ever closer, and Sam turned to Daniel , her face cheerful and full of hope.
"Daniel! You hear that?"
"P-90's?" he asked, a hope rising inside like Sam's.
She nodded eagerly, listening with renewed interest, until another familiar noise came to her ears.
"A staff weapon!" she crowed. "Yes! Teal'c!" she cried, punching the air with her fist.
"Then General Hammond must have sent the troops in after all!" Daniel grinned.
"So it's your own people?" Fraker asked. He hadn't known who these people were but he trusted them, or at least Jack.
"Yes, they're from our world. Our very own General sent them to find us," Sam supplied the answer for him.
"So you are a soldier too?" Bronan asked stunned. Women of this world just didn't fight. It was unheard of. It was undignified, even immoral he thought, but then he'd just discovered he couldn't even trust his own people; but these strangers he could.
"Yes, and a brilliant one too!" Daniel said before Sam could answer. "She is 'Major' Carter and Jack's second in command."
"Really?" the three local soldiers gasped in disbelief.
Sam blushed furiously at Daniel's comments and thanked god it was too gloomy inside the cave for her beetroot face to be obvious to everyone else, but she also bristled slightly at their stunned surprise.
"Yes!" she almost spat, daring anyone to pass judgement on her gender.
Nobody did, though they eyed her with new understanding and to some extent a little admiration as well as trepidation at her clipped answer.
Sam swallowed her annoyance and concentrated once more on the progress of the battle raging somewhere down the hillside.
Eventually, the noise died down to just one or two shots and then suddenly someone burst into the entrance of the cave.
To Fraker and his men, the intruder was a giant. He stood there almost filling the entrance. His stance wide, and he clutched a strange looking weapon in his right hand. They all brought their weapons up to bear.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" shouted Sam and Daniel together.
"Teal'c! It's good to see you. Are you okay?" Sam asked, stepping out from behind her sheltering rock. Daniel followed to meet with their friend.
"I am well Major Carter, Daniel Jackson. What of O'Neill? Is he here with you also?"
"Yeah, but he's got a couple of bullet wounds, and he's not doing so good."
"Then I suggest we leave for the SGC immediately."
"What about the government troops and the opposition forces?" Fraker demanded, a little leery of this strange giant.
"They will no longer be a problem," Teal'c stated calmly. "The Opposition have surrendered their arms. The government have been declared the victors, and promise no more bloodshed or memory stamps. Your war is over!" he almost beamed.
"Yes!" came four collective cries as Reynol joined in the excited cheer with Fraker, Soary and Bronan.
"Then we must make haste to return you to your world," Bronan urged. "O'Neill is very weak."
Teal'c turned and yelled to someone they hadn't seen yet, and suddenly the cave was filling up with SGC personnel.
"Ferretti!" Daniel exclaimed when Lou walked in with his men.
"Where is he?" he asked, meaning Jack.
"Down here," Daniel supplied, leading the way.
Ferretti followed with his team's medic and they at once set to work to administer IV lines with fluids and blood, then checked all his bandages.
Sam could feel the heat emanating from Jack even before she actually touched his brow.
"He's burning up guys. Let's get him back to Janet a.s.a.p!"
They loaded the wounded Colonel onto a stretcher and walked out into the fading daylight on the start of their homeward journey.
Sam turned to the local soldiers as they walked, unsure of their intentions.
"What about you guys? Without you we would all be dead by now. We can't thank you enough for what you've done for us!"
"I think we will be needed here now. We have a world to develop and a peace to embrace. There has been much damage done by both sides, and, well, it will be good to start out anew," Fraker said, speaking for the others too.
"What about you Reynol?"
"Thank you, but I think I will stay too. I must try to find my family if I have any, I only hope I have one and that they're still out there somewhere, waiting for me to return. Thank you for your friendship. I hope that your Colonel recovers both from his wounds and from the memory re-conditioning."
"We wish you the best of luck, Reynol my friend. I hope this peace will stay with you always," Daniel said, then offered his hand to Fraker and the others in turn. "Thanks for everything."
"We'll escort you to your Stargate, if that is acceptable?" Fraker stated.
"Of course," Daniel grinned. He liked these guys. They were good honest men caught up in a senseless battle for world domination. They were just pawns in a worthless game of chess. Moving from one side to the other in an endless game that had no significance or meaning.
TBC
