One month later.
Jack waited impatiently for Daniel to arrive at the gate. He's always late and this is going to be a babysitting mission! Just sitting around while Daniel tries to get those people to agree to mine the naquadah. Did I pack my GameBoy? Yeah, it's in my pack. Ah, there he is!
"Ready, Daniel?"
"Um, yeah, Jack."
"Move out, people!"
Daniel opened his eyes as the gate dumped him out on the planet. After all this time he still hated keeping his eyes opened in the wormhole – felt like he was in the tumble cycle of a clothes dryer. He was aware of Jack tensing up next to him and heard Sam draw in a quick breath. He raised his eyes to scan the field surrounding the gate, expecting to find Aluph waiting.
"Heads up! Teal'c you're with me. Carter with Daniel." Jack scanned the area, alert for whomever had slaughtered Aluph and his people. The ground surrounding the gate was littered with bodies. Jack knelt next to the nearest victim, checking for a pulse. "He's been dead for hours."
The team spread out looking for survivors and those who had done this to the peaceful people.
"Jack! I found someone alive!" Daniel began scanning the woman for injuries without moving her. Sam dropped down by his side to assist while Teal'c and the colonel continued their search.
"Oh, my god! It's Raphaella, Aluph's daughter!" Sam dived into her pack for the first aide kit while Daniel continued to pat down her limbs looking for broken arms or legs. The only obvious injury was a large knot above her eyebrow oozing blood which Sam quickly cleaned and bandaged. Holding her neck and spine straight the two rolled her onto her back. Sam snapped open a vial of smelling salts and held it under her nose.
Raphaella jerked her head to the side to avoid the smell assaulting her senses. Groaning she lifted her hand to her aching head and found the bandage. She froze as she remembered the attack and opened her eyes to find Sam above her. "Sam… They're dead aren't they? I can no longer feel their presence." Her anxious voice was faint with pain, both physical and emotional.
"We still checking, but so far you're the only one we've found still alive." Sam tried to remain professional, but her concern for her new friend was heard in her voice.
"Sam, you go help Jack and Teal'c search. I'll stay with her." Daniel knew that Sam was better trained to face any enemy who might still be around, although it was deadly quite out there.
Sam nodded, gave Raphaella a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and rose to join the search for any survivors.
Daniel reached down and took Raphaella's hand for comfort. He gave her a light squeeze and asked, "Do you remember what happened?"
Her pain filled eyes met Daniel's sympathetic blue ones. She gave a tiny nod of her head and then groaned, snapping her eyes shut once again.
"Uh, try not to move. It won't hurt as much. Trust me, I know."
With her eyes still closed she began to recount the events she had seen. "My father, several other of the village elders, and I were walking to meet you at the gate. We were very early, but we weren't sure exactly when you were coming, so we thought we should be there. We were happy, thinking about the dinner we had planned for tonight in celebration of your return. We had just arrived in the area of the stargate when I heard explosions, saw flashes of brilliant light. There was screaming. Blood everywhere. Oh, god, Daniel! My family…my people…gone." From behind her closed eyes tears began to trace a trail down her dirty cheeks.
Daniel lifted her gently until she was half sitting on his lap and enfolded her in his arms. The rest of the team returned to find Daniel rocking her softly while she sobbed in on his shoulder. Jack cleared his throat to get Daniel's attention. "You get her back to the SGC and have Frasier check her out. We're going to check the village and see what happened there."
Teal'c lifted Raphaella from Daniel and carried her to the gate while Sam dialed. Daniel gathered his things and followed the Jaffa. He took Raphaella back from Teal'c and stepped through the wormhole.
Back on Earth, Daniel was met by the waiting doctor and her entourage. Raphaella was rushed off to the infirmary while Janet barked out orders overseeing her safety.
General Hammond met Daniel as he reached the end of the ramp and gestured for Dr. Jackson to follow him to the briefing room. Once there, Daniel gave him a quick overview of what they had found. Hammond nodded, then dismissed Daniel to go to the infirmary and get his post mission check-up.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Down in the infirmary Dr. Frasier had just finished examining her alien patient. She sighed in frustration. It really annoyed her when she couldn't find answers to problems and this patient was a mystery to her.
Walking back to Raphaella's bed she watched as Raphaella turned her head to meet her eyes. Janet straightened her shoulders a bit and put on her "doctor smile."
"Well, I won't know for sure until all the tests are back, but it looks like you're recovering very quickly from a serious concussion and skull fracture. The cut on your head has healed and it looks as if the bruise is already fading away. Is this rapid healing normal for your people?"
"Yes. Minor injuries from accidents heal within a day, although major trauma can take longer and we have the ability to help others heal by transferring some of our energy to the injured or sick person. Sometimes several of us at a time can help. However, we do eventually die of old age, at about 120 years. My mother died at 42 years of age; caught in a rockslide when no one else was around to help her heal. It took my father several days to locate her body."
"OK. Well, I'd like to keep you overnight for observation, just for my own peace of mind."
"Fine. I have no place else to go anyway."
Daniel entered, headed toward Janet and Raphaella, smiling at the young woman lying in the bed. "How are you doing? Janet subdue you with her giant needles yet?"
Raphaella grinned slightly and shook her head no, while Janet placed one fist on her hip, glared at Daniel and snorted. "Come on, rock-boy, you're next."
"Artifacts. They're artifacts!" Daniel threw his hands up in the air and followed Janet to the next bed while Raphaella shut her eyes and tried to sleep.
A few hours later after Daniel had returned to his lab, the klaxon sounded notifying everyone of wormhole activation. Daniel sprinted to the gate room and arrived in time to see the rest of his team coming down the ramp. They had no apparent survivors with them but Sam was carrying a bundle of blankets that seemed to be emitting a wailing noise. As Sam descended the ramp General Hammond told her to go immediately to the infirmary with the "bundle." Daniel turned and followed Sam.
Hammond indicated that O'Neill and Teal'c should follow him to the briefing room. "Colonel."
"General, when we got there we found 15 dead and one survivor at the gate. After we sent Daniel back with her we headed to the village where we found another 180 people, all dead. We found the baby hidden behind a trunk where a woman was draped across the trunk, dead. It appears that they were all killed by an energy blast, probably a Jaffa staff weapon. I believe that Aluph had said that there were 205 residents in the village, so we seem to be missing about eight people. We found no evidence that the Jaffa had taken anything, other than the missing people."
"Teal'c, anything to add?" Hammond turned toward the other man.
"No. I believe O'Neill has delivered an accurate accounting of our mission."
"OK. You two get down to the infirmary for a post mission check-up. SG1 is on stand-down for the next 72 hours."
Jack and Teal'c entered Dr. Frasier's realm of torture to see Raphaella sitting up holding the now quiet baby. Daniel was seating next to her chucking the baby under the chin and making obnoxious noises.
"Nothing like a baby to turn an intelligent adult into a blithering idiot, eh, Daniel?" Jack grinned in amusement.
"Hey! I've seen you with children and you're just as bad! 'Earth children need a dog. Earth children need a Playstation.' I know Janet appreciates everything you do for Cassie." Daniel retort was an imitation of Jack O'Neill at his sarcastic best.
Raphaella watched the friendly banter between the two friends, smiled to herself and began weeping quietly as she realized that she'd never again have that easy relationship with her family and friends. Her gaze drifted down to the baby.
"His name is Baram. He is the son of my cousin, Elidad. He is four months old and loved to laugh at the faces his father made at him." She raised her tear stained face from the sleeping child to look into Daniel's eyes. He raised his hand, wiped the tears from her face with his thumb in sympathy.
Janet took the infant from Raphaella and placed him in the portable crib next to her bed. She turned back to the weeping woman and gently maneuvered her into a lying position. Raphaella reached through the crib slats to take the baby's hand and closed her eyes, the sedative Janet had given her earlier finally took effect. Turning back to Jack and Teal'c Janet pushed them toward the examination area to complete their post missions exams.
Daniel turned to Sam. "Why don't you go shower and change and I'll stay here with Raphaella. After what she's been through I don't want her to wake up alone." Daniel knew what it was to lose everyone; his parents, Sha're, Skaara, and all the people on Abydos, everyone who had been his family.
Sam reached over, gave Daniel a hug, and turned to head for the showers. Daniel settled into a chair to watch over both orphaned aliens.
TBC