Sam walked slowly up the ramp a few feet behind Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c, who were supporting a very weak and weary Daniel between them. They'd debated whether or not to take him on a stretcher, but as they believed the only way to get the device to transport them where they needed to go was to touch it, they figured it was safest for everyone to group together as closely as possible so no one would be left behind.
Beside Sam walked Janet, her pack crammed so full of medical supplies that it made her seem even smaller in comparison. She hadn't said much since they'd been given permission to embark on this mission, but the lines of worry on her face said it all.
Sam let everyone else pass through the Stargate first, and a few seconds later joined them on the other side. The FRED they had sent through was sitting there waiting for them, so Sam got straight to work.
"Teal'c, could you give me a hand here?" she asked as he and Colonel O'Neill lowered Daniel onto the ground.
He nodded and joined her at the FRED as she took the cover off the device. They each grabbed opposite sides of it and hefted it off the FRED and over to the spot where they'd found it.
Colonel O'Neill had left Daniel in Janet's charge and was clearing stray rocks and clumps of mud from the hole, but he hopped out of the way as Sam and Teal'c approached. It took them a little bit of coaxing to get the device to fit into its former resting place, but soon it was back where it belonged.
Then the race was on. Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c quickly brought Daniel closer to the device, and all five of them sat down in a circle and placed their hands on its surface. They all seemed to hold their breath as they waited for something to happen.
And waited. Colonel O'Neill scowled when a minute passed and nothing happened. "Carter?"
"It didn't take Daniel at first, either, Sir," she said. "The device itself probably scans anything that touches it and sends the information to the ship. I think we just need to wait a few minutes." She removed her hands from the device and sat back on her heels.
"I'd feel better if we all linked hands or something," Janet said nervously. She grabbed one of Sam's hands and then reached out for Colonel O'Neill's.
He grudgingly took her hand, his other arm wrapped around Daniel's waist to keep him from flopping backwards in his sedated state. "I feel like we're either holding a séance or we're about to sing Kumbaya," he said as Teal'c took one of Daniel's limp hands in his.
Sam smiled and took Teal'c's other hand. Trust Colonel O'Neill to find a way to lighten the mood even at a time like this.
Teal'c cocked his head to one side. "What is..."
"Ask me later, Teal'c," Colonel O'Neill cut in before he could voice his question. He shifted position a little and winced when Daniel's head flopped against his shoulder. "You know, now would be a really good time for..."
Sam blinked as a light suddenly flashed from the device in front of her. The next second, everything went black.
"O...kay," Colonel O'Neill said from somewhere close by. "That was fast."
She heard someone moving, and suddenly there was a bright shaft of light shining in her face. "Ow!" she cried, letting go of Teal'c and Janet's hands to cover her eyes.
"Sorry, Carter," Colonel O'Neill said. "Everybody okay?"
Sam opened her eyes and took a quick head count. Colonel O'Neill, Janet, Teal'c, and Daniel. All present and accounted for. Everyone except Daniel nodded and drew out their own flashlights from their vests. Daniel just blinked heavily and seemed to be trying to make sense of what was going on around him.
Janet moved over to Daniel and laid him down with his head in her lap while Colonel O'Neill, Teal'c, and Sam stood up to check things out. They were in a room just like the one Daniel had described to Mackenzie a few days earlier, and sure enough, they could hear the hum of the engines.
They were really doing this. It was really working.
"Think this is the door?" Colonel O'Neill asked, pointing to a section of one of the walls that had what looked like a control pad next to it.
"It appears to be, Sir," Sam said.
"Alright, nobody touch anything," Colonel O'Neill said, clutching his P-90 and indicating for Sam and Teal'c to ready their weapons, too. "The last thing we want is for them to walk in here before we get where we're going and find we're armed. You two stand on the left of the door, I'll take the right."
Sam moved to obey, but just then Daniel seemed to clue in to where he was.
"No!" he cried. "No! No! Not again!"
Sam looked anxiously at Colonel O'Neill, and at his nod she rushed over to Daniel's side. Janet was trying to comfort him, but he was fighting against her, his laboured breathing sounding even worse than ever. "Daniel, it's alright," Sam said. "We told you about this, remember? We've got to find a way to help you, or you'll die. Remember?"
Daniel stifled a sob and turned to press his face into Janet's lap.
The two women exchanged worried glances. "I think he'll be okay," Janet whispered as she stroked his back. "Help me administer another sedative?"
Sam nodded and crawled around Daniel to get the syringe from Janet's pack.
Once Janet had injected Daniel with the sedative, he started to relax a bit and head back into his own little world again. Sam just hoped he'd stay there until all of this was over.
Jack's patience was quickly wearing thin.
It had been over ten minutes since they'd been transported to this ship or whatever the hell it was, and they hadn't heard a peep from whoever was on the other side of that door. The suspense was killing him.
Daniel seemed to have lost consciousness, but the sound he made with every breath hadn't improved. In fact, Jack could have sworn it was getting worse. He was starting to fear that Daniel wouldn't even make it as far as the planet.
He nodded at Fraiser when she looked up and caught his gaze. "He doing okay?" he asked.
Fraiser gave her head an almost unnoticeable shake and looked back down at Daniel. His head was still in her lap, but Jack couldn't help but notice that Fraiser wasn't touching him much. He wasn't sure whether that was because of the shape Daniel's hair and skin were in or because his fever was so high. Either way, it wasn't a good sign.
"Come on, you bastards," Jack muttered to the invisible door. "Come and get us."
As if on cue, the noise of the engines changed pitch, and he could feel the ship slowing down. It shuddered once as it seemed to hit land, and then everything went quiet.
"Okay, people, this is it," Jack said, tightening his grip on his P-90. "Whatever comes through that door gets nowhere near Daniel, understood?"
"Yes, Sir," Carter said as she took her position across from him.
Teal'c didn't say anything, but activated his zat and looked ready for battle.
They stood there waiting for about half a minute before they heard a short beep, and the wall started to move. A second later, Jack came face to face with the ugliest son of a bitch he'd ever seen.
It was more or less humanoid, and the description Jack had read in Mackenzie's report was pretty accurate, but God... no wonder Daniel had been too freaked out to talk about them. One thing that he hadn't described was its mouth. Its lips were white, but its teeth and gums were so red they were almost black. He had to admit that flesh-eating zombies would have been his first guess, too.
"Hold it!" Jack yelled as it held out some kind of weapon. Carter and Teal'c stepped forward, and the three of them aiming their own weapons at the creature seemed to have it shaking in its shoes.
"Chak!" it cried, dropping its weapon and raising its hands. "Chak!"
"Yeah, chak yourself," Jack muttered as he kicked its weapon over to Carter. He motioned with his gun for the alien to enter the room, and no sooner had it stepped inside than two more of them lumbered down the hallway towards them.
Jack fired a warning shot at the floor by their feet, which only served to piss them off. One of them fired its energy weapon at him, and Jack dodged the blast just in time.
Teal'c had a better angle, so he immediately fired his zat, and one of the aliens went down. The third fired a shot just as Teal'c zatted him, too. Just like that, it was over. Jack was almost disappointed that he hadn't had the chance to gun them down himself.
He turned his attentions back onto the first guy then as Teal'c kept an eye on the door. Carter was tying its hands behind its back, grimacing as she did so. Jack didn't blame her. He wouldn't want to touch the thing with a ten-foot pole, and the noise it was making with every breath was even worse than the racket coming from Daniel. "Remember him?" Jack asked the creature, pointing at Daniel with one hand while keeping his gun trained on it with the other.
It looked confused for a second until its red eyes settled on Fraiser and Daniel. "Minal kara," it growled, moving as if to lunge towards him.
"Yeah, I don't think so," Jack said as he cut it off with a hand to its chest. "The only move you're allowed to make right now is taking us to your leader."
"Chak," it said defiantly. The way he said it, Jack figured it must be a pretty dirty word.
"Yeah, backatcha," he said. He got right into its face and said slowly and clearly, "Leader. Take us to him. Now."
"Uh... Sir?"
Jack sent his glare in Carter's direction. "Carter?"
"I... don't think he understands us, Sir."
"Don't be silly, Carter. Every alien understands 'take me to your leader.' If he doesn't, he must be just as stupid as he is ugly."
"Chak!"
"See?" Jack said in triumph. "He understood that just fine." He shoved the alien in the direction of the door and pressed his gun against its back. "Move," he demanded. "Teal'c, help Fraiser with Daniel."
Jack got the feeling as the bunch of them left their little cell and followed the alien through the halls of the ship that the rest of this mission wasn't going to be quite so easy.