Chapter 9
General George Hammond was waiting in the gate room; he hated waiting. He replayed the conversation in his head.
"We've run into some trouble with the locals, and there is a Jaffa presence; also have one team member injured. The gate is being guarded by two Jaffa and five natives. The indigenous people here have inferior weapons, we didn't want to cause a blood bath, but I'm beginning to change my mind Sir."
"Sir, give us forty-five minutes, then check in again; better have three teams waiting as back-up sir."
"Also have one team member injured." "We didn't want to cause a blood bath."
This was going to be the longest forty-five minutes of his life. He watched as SG teams 2, 3, and 4 gathered in the gate room, equipped for war.
"Excuse me Sir. Dr. Fraiser reporting as ordered." She said as she saluted.
Hammond returned the salute, and took an appraising look at the new CMO of the base. "Dr. Fraiser, it seems you're going to have one hell of a first day on the job."
"Do you know any specifics Sir?"
"I'm afraid not doctor, our premier team SG1, informed us they may be coming in under fire, and that one of them is wounded."
"Any idea which one Sir?"
"No idea, however I was on the radio with Colonel O'Neill; he sounded fine, my best guess would be Dr. Jackson; he's the civilian of the group, and hasn't had much training. Then again it could be any of them." The worry was showing on his face. He hated putting people in these situations; but it came with the stars on his shoulders.
"Well Sir, my staff will be ready, for whatever situation presents itself."
Hammond looked at the clock; "Dial it up son." He told the airman at the computer.
"Chevron 1, engaged chevron 2, engaged…."
'This is going to take forever.' Hammond thought to himself.
"Chevron 7 locked, wormhole engaged."
"SG1 this is the SGC, what's the situation?"
"We have one hostile Jaffa hiding behind the DHD; we're unable to get him."
"Do you recommend sending forces through?"
"Not just yet Sir, just hold on a while."
"Will be waiting for your word Colonel"
A few moments later Hammond heard O'Neill yell. "Now! Now!"
Hammond grabbed the microphone and yelled to the waiting teams "Go! Go!" He watched as the teams disappeared through the wormhole, and kept listening for the talk over the radio, hoping to find out what was going on. A few moments later the wormhole disengaged, and he was back to waiting. It seemed like an eternity, and then the klaxons went off.
"Off world activation!"
"Are you receiving any I.D. code?"
"No code yet Sir." A few more moments passed. "Receiving SG1's code Sir." the technician said smiling.
"Open the iris." Hammond ordered and then went down to the gate room. He waved for the medical team to stay put. He waited in the room behind the soldiers guarding the gate. Then he saw the event horizon shimmer, as four bodies stepped through. Hammond saw O'Neill and Teal'c supporting Carter. 'Oh God, she looked terrible' he thought.
"All clear Sir, hostiles no longer a problem." O'Neill informed the general, saluting with his left hand. "Could we have a medic over here?"
Hammond motioned for the medical team to come forward. O'Neill watched as a petite woman wearing a white coat ran into the room followed by two tall medics pushing a gurney.
"Get her on the gurney!" she ordered.
Teal'c did not let the two medics near Carter; he picked her up as gently as possible and put her on the gurney, only to have her gasp with pain with the movement.
"What can you tell me?" Fraiser asked to no one in particular, as she noticed the red mark on Carter's face, and shone a light in her eyes.
By this time, all of SG1 had moved down the ramp and surrounded Carter's gurney. O'Neill took it on himself to speak up. "She's got one broken rib for sure, but may have more from her last encounter with a Jaffa. She sustained two major cuts; one on her right arm here, and the other on her back." O'Neill pointed out the area of the cuts. "She lost a lot of blood from those, that was three days ago; she developed a high fever from the wounds being infected. Today she got knocked unconscious from a blow to the jaw and was out for over a half hour I'd say." Jack looked at Daniel. "Does that cover everything? I didn't leave anything out did I?"
"No I think that covers it Jack." Daniel answered not taking his eyes off Sam.
"Captain, I need to look at your wounds, we have to take the jacket off." Fraiser said gently to Sam. Sam just nodded and gritted her teeth. Daniel helped her into a sitting position as he and Fraiser helped her out of the jacket. Fraiser noticed the jacket was too large for the Captain, and that parts of it were soaked with blood. She looked up at Dr. Jackson, and saw he had bloodstains on his jacket as well. "Dr. Jackson, are you injured too?"
Daniel looked at the doctor puzzled, "What? Oh, oh no, it's Sam's blood." He said looking at the area on his jacket During this, no one noticed that the rest of the teams had returned and were standing on the ramp waiting to hear about the captain.
Fraiser saw the torn shirt over Carter's shoulder and the bandage; it wasn't soaked, but it was tinged in a pink colour. She and Daniel helped Sam lay down.
"Doc, I think you should have a look here." O'Neill said as he moved to lift the shirt above her abdomen, to reveal her left side, which had a motley colour of bruising, and red coloured areas.
Fraiser shook her head at the sight, and felt the area. "Ah shit!" Sam yelled and clenched her teeth.
"Sorry Captain. Okay let's get her to the infirmary. I want her in quarantine." Fraiser ordered as she started to push the gurney towards the medics. "She obviously has an infection, and since it is alien, I want all three of you in quarantine also." Fraiser nodded to the general as she left, following the gurney.
Hammond couldn't believe what he was seeing, this young captain; that he saw grow up from childhood, that used to call him Uncle George, was now a battered and bruised soldier laying on a gurney. He was brought out of his thoughts by the movement of the gurney and the doctor talking. "You heard the doctor SG1, get to the infirmary." He watched as the three men followed the doctor out of the room. "Colonel Makepeace, I want to debrief with you and the remaining teams in an hour."
"Yes Sir" Makepeace said as he and the other members saluted the General as he left. "Alright men we have exactly one hour to shower and change before we debrief. Let's head out." All the remaining SGC team members headed down the ramp and out of the gate room. Makepeace could hear the men talking as they headed for the showers.
"Geez did you see those bruises"
"Yea. I wondered what happened?"
"I don't know, but I wouldn't mind giving first aid to that body." Said one young grinning lieutenant.
"Lt. Richards! Did I hear you correctly? Were you speaking disrespectfully of a superior officer, and to the one who probably saved your sorry ass?" Makepeace was fuming at the young officer.
"I…I'm sorry Sir, I meant no disrespect Sir, it was meant as a…compliment." Richards could feel the sweat start to form on his forehead; 'boy am I in trouble.' he thought to himself.
"Yes you are one sorry excuse for a marine! If I ever hear you speaking that way, again of a fellow member of the SGC you will be cleaning out latrines for the rest of your stay here. Is that understood!" 'Oh yea this kid was learning his lesson.' Makepeace thought.
"Yes Sir! Understood Sir." The very red-faced lieutenant answered.
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When General Hammond arrived in the infirmary, it looked like all hell had broken loose. SG1 were being led to a separate large room used for quarantine. Hammond went to the observation room and took in the commotion. The nurses and doctor had donned caps, gowns, gloves and masks. The three men were moved to the side of the room to give Dr. Fraiser more room to work. He could see an IV. Had already been started, and blood was hanging.
"Okay people we need to get the portable X-ray in here stat. Nurse I want you to draw blood for labs, and get some suture kits in here." Fraiser ordered urgently. Just then, Carter started to cough, a very raspy painful cough. Then to her horror, Fraiser saw blood splatter on the Captain's shirt. "How long has she been coughing up blood?" She asked the team members as she helped Carter to sit up while she coughed.
The three men looked at each other and shrugged. "This is the first time." O'Neill answered with concern.
"Yea, he's right, she hasn't coughed at all." Daniel added.
"Nurse we need to get a sputum sample." Now would be a good time, she thought since Carter was coughing and spitting up blood. The nurse took over helping Sam sit up while Fraiser went to get something to inject into the I.V., moments later Sam stopped coughing, and was eased back down on the gurney. Fraiser could tell she was in a great deal of pain as she was trying to hold her ribs. Fraiser was relieved when she saw the x-ray machine finally arrive. "I want a skull series, chest, abdominal and right shoulder and arm." Janet then turned back to Sam, "I know you're in a lot of pain Captain, but as soon as I get these x-rays back I can give you something for the pain.
Sam just looked at the doctor and gave her a slight nod. She never believed anything could hurt so badly, but when she started coughing that was even worse. She only wished they would hurry up with these damn x-rays so she could get something for the pain.
Fraiser stepped away from Sam while the technicians took the x-rays, and went to talk to the other members of SG1. "So gentlemen did any of you sustain any injuries?"
"No, just some bump and bruises, from running and crawling through the forest." Jack informed her. Then he heard Carter yell out. "Ah Geez!"
"Sorry about that Captain, but we have to move you a bit in order to get the x-ray." The tech told her.
"Hey take it easy over there." Jack called out very annoyed that his 2IC was being jostled about.
"Take it easy Colonel; they're just doing their jobs, however painful it may be." Janet didn't like it either, but knew it had to be done. "Okay Colonel, Dr. Jackson and Mr. Teal'c, someone will get to you three soon, so just stay in this room and out of the way for now. Once I know what kind of infection we're dealing with, you three will be able to go, but until then, you need to stay quarantined from the rest of the base."
"What about the other teams that came to the planet?" Daniel asked.
"Well you three were in contact with the Captain's blood, and have been exposed to the infection. From what I understand the other teams didn't come into physical contact with the Captain, so they wouldn't be exposed." All three men nodded their understanding to the doctor's explanation.
"We're all finished Mam; here are the Captain's dog tags." The tech said as he handed them to Fraiser.
"I'll take those." O'Neill said reaching for the tags. He turned them over to read them. Blood Type B Neg. 'Well that's always handy to know' he thought as he put the tags in his pocket. He watched as Fraiser returned to Carter's side.
When Janet returned to Carter, she saw that the privacy screens surrounded the bed. She went to her bedside and noticed that the nurses had changed her into a hospital gown. She could now see the bruises that had formed on the Captain's arms and legs. 'What the hell happened on that planet' she wondered.
"Here's the x-rays doctor." the tech said as he handed Fraiser an envelope full of pictures.
Janet took the envelope and pulled out the pictures, she put up against the light mounted on the wall and studied them one after the other. She returned to Carter's side and noticed the other members of SG1 had inched their way closer to the bed. "Well the good news is Captain your jaw is not broken, however you do have a slight concussion. The bad news is that you have three broken ribs, one of which has punctured your lung, which is why you're coughing up blood; I don't see any internal bleeding into the abdomen, but I suspect a few organs may be bruised. We're going to have to operate on the lung. So for now we're going to give you some drugs for the operation and while they're taking effect we're going to clean out the wounds and suture them."
"Wow that's a lot of we's, when it's all going to be done on me." Sam said not liking the news, but at least she'd be getting something to make the pain go away.
"I know Captain, it seems like a lot, but all you have to do is relax, and let me do all the work." Fraiser said smiling at the young woman. "Gentlemen if you don't mind, we're going to need a little privacy while I tend to the Captains wounds."
"Yea sure thing doc, but could we have a minute first?" O'Neill asked.
"Okay Sir, but when the drugs take effect, that's your cue to step aside." Fraiser said pointing to the corner of the room, they had previously occupied. "As soon as we move the Captain into surgery, some beds will be brought in for you." She went to get the meds for Carter's I.V. while the team moved closer to the bed.
"So Carter looks like the Doc's going to have you fixed up in no time." O'Neill said trying to lighten up the mood.
"Yea Sam I hear the pain meds they have around here are pretty good, you'll be back in your lab before you know it." Daniel said trying to smile.
"You are in good hands Captain Carter, and I know you will be well again soon." Teal'c said bowing his head slightly.
They watched as Dr. Fraiser injected something into Carter's I.V. line, and saw that in no time she was starting to fall asleep. "Good luck Carter," O'Neill said in a whisper, that no one else could hear, as he patted her arm as he left her bedside. They went back to their corner of the room as they waited while Fraiser attended to Cater from behind the partition. 'At least she was getting the privacy she liked' Jack thought, remembering how nervous she was the first time she realized was she was undressed in front of them.
"What are you smirking at Jack?" Daniel asked, wondering what on earth Jack could be smiling about, at a time like this.
"Oh nothing Daniel."
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Hammond looked at his watch, and realized it was almost time for the briefing, the news hadn't been very good, but it could have been worse. Now he had to drag himself away and find out; at least partially, what happened on that ill-fated mission.
Hammond entered the briefing room, which was filled with the three SG teams; they all stood as Hammond took his seat at the head of the table. "Be seated gentlemen."
"Any word on the Captain's condition General?" Makepeace asked
"Captain Carter is headed into surgery as we speak; she has a punctured lung from one of her three broken ribs." Hammond saw most of the men cringe at the news. "Right now I'd like to know what happened on the planet when you arrived, I'll have to get SG1's report afterwards."
As the highest-ranking officer of the teams, Makepeace took it upon himself to give the report. "Well General, when we arrived there was one Jaffa who was hiding behind the DHD, he was wounded and trying to get his staff weapon, but SG1, I'm assuming it was O'Neill was firing at the weapon, to keep it out of his reach, we quickly subdued him. The area was clear, and O'Neill came out from his position. He then told of us another group of Jaffa and natives had gone after their diversion, we suspected that they would probably be returning in no time, which they did. We sent some of the troupes as cover, and when the Jaffa approached firing more troupes went into the woods after them. Unfortunately, the locals were in front of the Jaffa armed only with swords Sir. My men were firing at their feet to try to keep them back; Sir it would have been like shooting unarmed men if we shot them." Makepeace took a breath and looked down at his hands. "The Jaffa continued firing on my men Sir, then we heard two shots from behind us, and saw two Jaffa fall. Then moments later, there were more shots and the last two Jaffa fell. That's when the villagers gave up and put their weapons down. Sir my men and most of the locals owe their lives to Captain Cater, it was her superior shooting that took out the Jaffa, without any casualties." Makepeace took time out to look at his men, who were all nodding in agreement.
"Is that all of it Colonel?" Hammond asked.
"Other than Dr. Jackson, talking the locals into burying their gate and electing a new leader, yes Sir that about covers it."
"Very well, I'll expect your written reports tomorrow morning." Hammond stood up, and the others stood as well in respect. "Dismissed."
"General Sir?"
"Yes Colonel."
"If you're going to debrief SG1, I would like to be there Sir, and then I can fill my team in."
"That would be fine Colonel; however I think that all three team leaders should be in on the debriefing." Hammond turned and headed out of the room followed by the three team leaders.
The first thing Hammond noticed when entering the observation room, was that Carter was not in the room, and there were now four hospital beds crowded in the makeshift quarantine ward. He reached to speak into the microphone. "Any word Colonel?"
Jack was slightly startled he hadn't noticed the General enter the observation area. "No Sir, they took her to surgery about forty five minutes ago." Jack stood and faced the General.
"Relax Colonel; do you think you and your team, the rest of your team are up for a debriefing?"
"I think so General, we already had our post mission check-ups, now all we can do is sit and wait for word." Jack, Daniel and Teal'c sat on one of the beds facing the general.
"I see you have company Sir." Jack said noticing the other team leaders.
"Yes Colonel they asked to be here for the debriefing." Hammond answered.
"I guess the more the merrier." He said cracking a small grin. "Well Sir, I had a bad feeling from the start…" Jack explained about how they were captured and how Carter and Teal'c had rescued them. "This was when Carter received her first injury, how ever minor it was; it was a blow to the ribs by a guy the size of Teal'c."
"I beg to differ O'Neil; he was slightly larger than myself."
"Oh well I stand corrected, Teal'c."
Just then, the room started to fill up, as Cater was being brought back. The doctor and nurses were still wearing their protective isolation gear. They wheeled her gurney next to the first empty bed and carefully transferred her. Only now, Sam was hooked up to a ventilator and a heart monitor.
Jack and Daniel were in shock, they hadn't expected this. Teal'c just looked puzzled; he had not seen such machines before. "O'Neill, I do not understand what is this thing that Captain Carter is attached to?"
Daniel decided to answer Teal'c. "It's a machine to help Sam breath Teal'c., why don't we wait for Dr. Fraiser to talk to us, she'll have a better explanation."
Hammond watched as they finished getting Carter settled. "Report doctor?"
Janet took one last look at Carter's vitals before facing the general. "Sir. Surgery went well, we repaired the lung, but discovered that the Captain is in the beginning stages of pneumonia, that's why we have her on a respirator, to help give her lung a chance to heal. It will take a while for the ribs to heal, and were trying to get rid of the infection with a number of broad-spectrum antibiotic. She will also need a few more units of blood, before her volume returns to normal. The good news is I think she'll make a full recovery."
"That's good to hear doctor."
"Sir, our infirmary is still being put together, and we don't have enough of her blood type on hand; if you could put a call out for donors, I'm sure this could be fixed in no time?"
"Will do Doctor, what type do you need?" the general queried.
"The Captain needs B negative, but our infirmary could use all types Sir." Janet thought about how much they used on Ferretti, only a few days ago. Then she saw two of the other men in the observation room jump to attention.
"I have B negative." They said in unison.
Janet felt relieved, and noticed the relieved looks on the faces of Carter's team. "Well then, we'll get a nurse to tap you gentlemen in a little while."
"We were just debriefing SG1 doctor, if you'd like to listen in?" The general informed her.
"Yes Sir, I would like to know how my patient sustained these injuries." She couldn't help but look at O'Neill with her statement.
Jack saw the look the doctor's face, and couldn't help but feel guilty about what had happened. "So where was I? Oh yea, so Carter and Teal'c came to break us out of the cell Daniel and I were being held in, that's when she received a powerful blow to the ribs doctor; but there were no breaks at that time. Since Carter planted explosives around the village, she thought it best if she led us out of the village. That's when we…ah she ran into trouble, a man came bounding out of one of the buildings swinging a sword, she tried to get out of the way, but was only able to turn away from a deadly blow. That's how she got the cuts on her arm and back." Jack kept his voice calm and emotionless, not showing how much guilt he was feeling. "She gave me the remote to set off the explosions, and we hightailed it out of there. When we were finally able to stop, we administered first aid." Jacks face paled as recalled the scene. "She'd lost so much blood, she finally passed out. When she came to, we had to move again to evade capture and try to make it to the gate. However, we ran into a Jaffa patrol, and had to retreat back into the forest and try to stay low. We found a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and Teal'c and I went to check it out." Jack couldn't help but snicker thinking about the events.
The General noticed the Colonel's laugh, "Something funny Colonel?"
"Well you could say that sort of; when Teal'c and I finally charged into an empty cabin, Teal'c found himself at the end of staff weapon. This older lady had snuck up on us, and got the drop on Teal'c. Next thing we knew, Carter had her gun on the woman, but couldn't fire, or else Teal'c would have lost his head. She moved to put her weapon down, and before you knew it she had grabbed the staff and the woman pulling them both backwards, landing hard on the ground." Jack saw the others cringe at that news.
"I do indeed owe my life to Captain Carter; the staff weapon did fire and would have killed me had the Captain not pulled it back." Teal'c bowed his head towards Carter; it was a show of respect, even if she wasn't awake to see it.
"We eventually made friends with the woman and she helped us look after Carter, who was now in a lot more pain, and running a high fever. This is when we noticed she had a broken rib…" Jack was interrupted by Daniel.
"I think her broken rib is my fault…if I hadn't spilled that cold water on her and made her jump up…" Daniel was feeling very guilty and it showed on his face.
"Dr. Jackson, it's most likely she broke her rib from the fall, not from moving quickly, that would only cause an already broken rib to hurt." Janet said, thinking "more like hurt like hell', but she didn't want the young man to feel even more guilt.
"Her fever was spiking, and we did all we could do to keep it down, from Teal'c's suggestion I crushed some aspirin and dissolved it in water, and tried to get her to drink it."
"Ah you forgot something Jack. First we settled down to sleep, when Jack was woken by Sam, she was delirious and talking in her sleep, she started thrashing about, and even managed to punch Jack in the face."
"Ah so that's how you got your injury." Makepeace said laughing, as the other two men beside him joined in the laughter.
The general cleared his throat, to hide his laugh, but couldn't hide the smirk. "Shall we get on with it Colonel."
'Thank God, the General got control of the situation, he was never going to live this one down' he thought. "Yes Sir, anyway in order to calm Carter down we had to inject her with a sedative."
"What's the matter O'Neill, was she too tough for you?" Makepeace said, laughing and starting the others off again. They stopped laughing when they heard the general clear his throat again.
O'Neill was now angry, and let it show. "Well I don't about you GUYS, but I thought she was in enough pain as it was, and didn't want her to hurt herself by moving around."
"You did the right thing Colonel." Fraiser said helping him out of the situation.
"Thank you Doctor. Anyway, at Teal'c's suggestion we crushed aspirin into a powder, dissolve it in water, and made Carter drink it. After a while, she finally came around and we were able to get her to take some antibiotics. The next morning we made plans and headed for the gate. We assumed we were out of range since we hadn't heard form the SGC, we hoped you would be trying to make contact which you did." O'Neill said nodding to the General.
"I think I should take over the next part." Daniel said looking troubled. He saw Jack nod his head in agreement. "Well General, when we got closer to the gate, Jack went to check it out and found it was guarded, so it was decided that Jack and Teal'c would go plant some explosions for a diversion, while Sam and I waited for them to return. Ah General she didn't want me to stay behind, because she was worried she couldn't back me up!" Daniel was laughing at himself nervously. "Of all the things to worry about she was worried about me."
"I know this is difficult Dr. Jackson, but if you could carry on, we need to know what happened." Hammond told Daniel, trying to be as compassionate as he could.
"Well General, a little while after Jack and Teal'c left, we saw a group of villagers heading right for us. Sam said she wouldn't be able to make it out, that we would be caught. Hell she knew if we stayed there, we'd be caught. She…ordered me to get out of there so only one of us would be caught and I could report to Jack what happened. Then she took off my jacket she had been wearing and gave it back to me. She knew the white shirt she was wearing would make it easier for them to find her, but I think she figured that if they were busy with her, I would have more time to get away. Then…then they found her, I didn't look back, I just tried to get away like she told me. Then I heard her cry out in pain." Daniel had to stop, he was looking down and his shoulders were shaking.
Jack went over to Daniel and placed his hands on Daniel's shoulders. "You did what you had to Danny; she's going to be alright." O'Neill looked up at the General, "I'll take over from here Sir."
"That will be fine son." Hammond could see that Dr. Jackson was visibly upset, and questioned himself about letting a civilian on a team.
"When we found Daniel, he told us what happened, I also saw that he had Carter's weapons, to her merit, she had the foresight to make sure the villagers didn't get their hands on superior weapons Sir. We followed the group back to the gate, when we saw that Carter was being questioned by one of the Jaffa." O'Neill swallowed hard and to bite back the anger that wanted to take control of him.
"I heard Carter tell the Jaffa she was from another village, when he asked where she was from; even with a staff weapon to her head she wouldn't tell him where she was from. For that, she got the end of the staff weapon to the abdomen. I suspect that's when she got the other broken ribs and other damage. The SOB then ripped her bandages off and was pressing into her wound with his damn fingers. I have to hand it to her Sir, the next thing she did astonished me. She doubled over, and pulled a knife out and stabbed the Jaffa in the leg." O'Neill couldn't help but let a small smile come over his face.
The other men in the observation room also smiled at each other, when they heard that part of the news, but their delight ended quickly.
"Then the Jaffa hit her in the face and knocked her out. They tied her hands behind her back and were dragging her back to the village; that's when we made our plan to rescue her. We easily subdued the villagers, and even made a friend with one Carter vouched for. Then you contacted us Sir."
"I've already debriefed SG2, 3 and 4, so now I just need to know what happened just before they got there." Hammond could see the toll this was taking on the men, even Teal'c looked a little upset, if that was even possible.
"Yes Sir, we saw five more Jaffa headed our way and more villagers going to the gate, so we made our way back to the gate, Carter got into position behind a tree and the rest of us got into position so we were close to the gate but out of sight. About five minutes before you were to contact us, I set off the explosions, which sent four of the Jaffa and about half of the villagers into the forest. Then Carter and I took out two Jaffa, which left the one hiding behind the DHD. He was firing at the tree Carter was hiding behind. We couldn't get a shot at him; he was too well covered. I guess Carter must have gotten a shot off because he went down, that's when I started firing, I couldn't get him, but I could fire at his weapon so he couldn't get it. That's when the reinforcements came through Sir."
The General noticed that O'Neill looked very upset. "Well Colonel that should be good for now. I'll let you and your team get some rest."
"Thank you General that would be appreciated." O'Neill watched as the general and others left the room. He turned to Fraiser, "So Doc how's she doing, really?"
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A/N: I think there will be one more chapter to finish things off. Alas, I feel an ending coming to this.