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None but the Brave Deserve the Fair.
By Lingren.
Previously:
It was slow going and after slipping from the rocks and getting dunked under the water a few times he finally reached the other side. He shivered in the cold wind that seemed to blow straight through his soaking clothes. He was cold, tired, hungry, bedraggled and he hurt everywhere, his knees in particular had taken a beating every time he had slipped or fallen. But he resolutely pushed his own selfish thoughts away and scrambled up the steepest part of the path. The rain had made it slick and treacherous, and after slipping backwards for the umpteenth time he finally made it to the top. Now he could just make out the caves in the gathering darkness, and hurried on over the last part of his outward journey, desperate to find the kids safe and dry.
Chapter 6
"What have we got Sergeant?" Hammond asked as soon as his feet had carried him down the metal staircase to the control room.
"Audio and visual signal sir. It's Major Carter sir, from the Alpha site."
Hammond looked up at the overhead monitor. Seeing Sam's pale face there, he wondered what had happened to the Colonel.
"Major Carter. Where's Colonel O'Neill?"
"He's still on the planet sir. Some of the boys were missing and he went off to locate them. He ordered me to get everyone to the Alpha site and not to wait around for him General."
Hammond wasn't happy that Jack had gone off on his own, but he knew Jack well enough by now to understand why he'd send his team home. He'd risk nobody but himself in such an endeavour.
"How stable is that lake Major?" he asked reignedly.
"Not very sir. It could go any time, that's if it hasn't already gone by now."
Hammond sighed. It was just like Jack to take off and try to rescue some kids. Children were than man's one weakness. Of course it went without saying that Jack wouldn't be able to stand by and let anything happen to a single child let alone several of them.
"Have you been in radio contact with him?"
"No sir. There's nothing but static due I believe to the atmospheric conditions on the planet sir. I'd like permission to go back and try again General?"
"Negative Major. I can't risk another officer getting into a potentially dangerous situation just yet. We'll send another probe through and try to contact him that way. In the meantime make yourself and the rest of your team available for a possible rescue mission should the need arise. We'll be in touch. Hammond out!"
"Yes sir!" she said, signing off and closing her eyes to quell the feelings of impotent frustration.
Sam visibly sagged and turned towards Daniel and Teal'c who had come up behind her after the transmission ended. She shrugged her shoulders.
"I tried guys, sorry, but the General's not buying it. We have orders to stand by in case the Colonel needs help, but we're not going anywhere yet. He's going to send a probe through and see if they have any luck communicating with him."
"So we have to sit by and wait?" Daniel growled in frustration. He wanted to be out there looking for Jack despite the confidence he had in his friend's ability to get himself out of sticky situations. He just hated to sit around and do nothing.
"General Hammond is a capable leader Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated calmly. "Do you not trust him to know what is best for those under his command?"
"Of course I do Teal'c, but we're talking about Jack out there," he sighed.
"Indeed. And there is none better suited for the task ahead."
"We know you're right Teal'c. But, well, it's just... it's all this hanging around waiting and feeling useless that doesn't help any," Sam sighed and Daniel nodded his agreement.
OoOoOoOoO
His feeble torchlight barely illuminated the path now, but Jack trudged on wearily. As he grew nearer he called out to the boys, wondering if it was possible they would hear him over the noise of the storm as it raged around him.
Unfortunately there was no answer to his calls and he grew concerned that perhaps he was too late. The boys had to be here, he argued, it was the only shelter for miles. He continued to yell as he grew nearer, until eventually a small figure appeared and launched itself at him, knocking him down under the sudden onslaught.
"Jack!" the boy screamed, hoarse with delight.
Jack ignored all his aches and pains, and the sheer wretchedness he felt after his dramatic journey, and laughed and cried with sheer relief. He clung onto the small body of Nemo as the boy buried his head into Jack's shoulder and wrapped his arms around his friend as far as they would reach. Jack knelt there on the ground hugging the boy in the pouring rain. Gradually the other boys joined in until they were one big jumble of limbs. It was raining so hard no-one could discern the tears of relief that fell from Jack's eyes or from those the children shed at being found at last.
They hauled Jack upright and he went with them back into the cave to rest for a moment out of the weather, and to regain his breath. The children were delighted to see him and talked about their adventures and concerns non stop, until they remembered they were hungry.
Delving into his back pack he pulled out six energy bars and gave one to each of the boys and began munching on one himself as he watched them devour theirs ravenously. He was hungry too, but he'd only brought limited supplies with him. He snapped his bar into several pieces and gave them to the older boys, seeing how hungry they were. He could do without for now, and would make up for its loss when he got home.
Nemo was having trouble eating his food, and more or less turned his head away from it, so Jack wrapped it up again, saving it for later if the child should need it.
Later his concern grew though when Nemo who was sitting curled up on his lap started coughing. The child coughed hard and long, eventually retching up the few mouthfuls of food he had eaten earlier. Jack knew it wasn't a good sign. He had to get Nemo to the SGC as soon as possible, so that Janet could check him over.
He laid his hand on the boy's forehead and could already feel the heat as it radiated beneath his fingers. He looked across at Merus.
"How long has he been sick?" Jack asked, pulling a survival blanket from his pack to wrap around the boy.
"Since yesterday. He's hardly eaten anything, and besides we ran out of food this morning. We have a little water and I tried to made him drink often, but he refused even that."
"Well, we should get him back to the Stargate A.S.A.P, but we can't go just yet, it's too dark and dangerous right now, so at first light we're outta here. Okay kids?"
The boys nodded solemnly and Jack made a quick check on all of them. Apart from Nemo, the others appeared to be fairly healthy if not hungry, cold, wet and very tired. He encouraged them to go to sleep, while he sat with his back against the cave wall, cradling Nemo in his arms and managing to snatch a few minutes sleep in between Nemo's coughing fits. He drifted off to sleep whenever he could despite the shivers wracking his own body from the cold and wet clothing he himself was wearing.
All too soon, morning came and he woke the boys from their deep slumber when the first tendrils of daylight crept into the cave. They were still tired and a little cranky but when they remembered that Jack was taking them back to his world with all its associated wonders, they hurried to pack their things away so they could start on the homeward trek.
It was tough going. The overnight rain had stopped but the ground was even more treacherous than before, and many times they all slipped. Jack landed either on his sore knees or on his aching butt, but he never complained. His whole concentration centred on getting the boys to safety and carefully holding on to the child clinging tightly to his back.
They were about halfway to the waterfall when the first rumblings of the earth hit them. They squatted on the ground in the open, away from most dangers, but even as the ground quietened beneath them they could hear a deep rumble again. Jack looked up in time to see half the hillside begin to give way and the waters of the lake were starting to tumble down towards them. He yelled to the boys to get back to the caves.
They slithered as they ran and Jack helped them each to reach up to the top of a small ridge that they had previously jumped down, he held Nemo up to them and they clasped on tightly to him, dragging him to safety and scrambling away from the edge just as Jack was swept away when the muddy deluge hit the area. The lake had broken through, sweeping all in its path, down the hillside.
Jack lost his footing as the restless churning torrent snatched at him. He was thankful that he'd managed to save Nemo and the others from this at least. He tumbled helplessly in the raging flood until he was swept into a sturdy tree that had been uprooted and washed away too. He couldn't stop himself from being smashed into it, hitting it chest firstwith all the force of a sledgehammer. It drove what little air he had managed to gulp down from his lungs and he flailed his arms towards it. Despite the pain shooting through his body from the impact, he clung onto it for dear life. Several times the muddy waters swallowed him up but by some miracle he managed to come up coughing and still breathing, though the agony as he did so threatened to deprive him of his consciousness.
The boys were frantic, they'd stood well back and watched with horror and disbelief as Jack was swept away from them. They were all screaming his name as their one hope disappeared. Merus quickly herded them all back towards the cave again where they could shelter and then, who knew what would happen. They felt desperate. What were they to do now? They had no idea if Jack would survive or not. The outlook now was even bleaker than before. They had been so close.
What seemed like hours later, the last of the waters had flowed past the cave and they sat huddled all together bereft of any feelings. They were numb with the cold and numb with the realisation that they were well and truly on their own now. Merus, the older of the boys decided they should wait a while longer and rest. It would be best to let the waters subside before attempting to move away from their safe haven. He wrapped the sobbing Nemus in his arms to warm the shivering boy, who was now crying softly in between his bouts of coughing for the loss of his friend. Nemus settled eventually and dozed off, but his sleep was disturbed with nightmare images of Jack being swept away.
TBC