P90-780: Rahad
Colonel O'Neill subtly stretched his legs out from under him, needing to restore the circulation before they went completely numb. Would Daniel just finish up already? The avid archeologist and diplomat had been conversing in a broken form of English with these people for over an hour. What more could they possibly have to talk about?
An unintentionally loud sigh escaped O'Neill's lips. Daniel stopped his conversation for a second and looked at the Colonel with a questioning expression.
"Need a break, Jack?" He knew the older man well.
"Good idea, Daniel." There was just a touch of blame in his reply.
Daniel murmured some more to the three elders sitting around him and stood. The way the younger man stretched, Jack could tell his muscles were complaining too. Daniel walked over to Jack and exited the ornate tent with him, both of them breathing deeply as they went out into the clear sunlight and cool breeze. Rahad really was a beautiful world.
Teal'C stood impassively a few yards away, on watch while Daniel and Jack had conducted the meeting with the locals. He walked over and joined them.
"All is quiet here. What have you learned?" Teal'C reported.
"There's an interesting, but fairly primitive culture on this planet," Daniel answered. "I'd like to talk with the elders some more-"
"Naturally," Jack muttered.
"But I think we will recommend that an archeological research team should follow up here. No reason for us to stay."
"How long, Daniel?" Jack pleaded.
"A few more hours?" Daniel offered. Jack and Teal'C nodded, and Teal'C turned to resume his watch duty.
A commotion just down the road in the sprawling tent village caught their attention before they could go back into the negotiations tent. A group of villagers approached the newcomers. An older woman stepped out from their midst, eyeing them curiously.
"Greetings, travellers," she spoke with a strong voice. "I would speak to you."
Daniel stepped up, being the most familiar with the customs of this people.
"Then speak, friend. What do you wish to tell us?"
The woman broke into a hurried explanation in a broken English dialect that only Daniel seemed to understand with ease. Jack swallowed his frustration and waited. Finally, she finished and Daniel turned to Jack. The archeologist had a strange light of excitement and hope in his eyes.
"She says there is a traveler in this village. A woman. She came through the Stargate many weeks ago and she was dressed the same as we are. She wishes to know if we are this woman's people, but the traveler is not well. She seems to have no memory of her past. She has not been able to tell the villagers who she is or where she is from. They're afraid to turn her over to us for fear of acting against the traveler's wishes."
Jack's heart and mind were suddenly racing. Could they have finally found her?
"Daniel? Do you think?"
"It's certainly possible. But if she doesn't know who she is, she may not recognize us either. And I wouldn't blame them for not letting us take her. For all they know, she came here because she ran away from us."
"First things first. Let's see who the woman is."
Daniel turned back to the group and asked them if they could see this traveler. He soon turned back to O'Neill.
"They are concerned about violating the traveler's trust in them. She will let one of us go, but only to test if the traveler recognizes us. Jack, you should go," they both knew he'd be the one, "but she wants to blindfold you."
"Okay," he agreed readily, but with a sinking heart. How would she recognize him if she didn't know who she was herself? Jack could only hope that, if it was her, she would somehow remember his face and his voice.
The villagers led him down into the heart of their noisy, bustling hamlet and sat him on a wooden stool, where no time was lost in wrapping a strip of cloth around his eyes. Daniel and Teal'C had stationed themselves further back as instructed, but kept wary eyes fastened on the center of the little town.
Like the hush before the first act of a play, Jack knew instantly when the woman approached. It seemed as if the whole village was holding their breath as she drew near the blindfolded officer. Her soft footfalls were only just discernible to his ears. Jack felt frozen in anticipation of the moment. Finally her tentative voice broke the silence.
"Jack?"
"Sam!"
He felt her fingers quickly removing the blindfold, and then they were both staring at each other, feasting on the sight of a treasured friend whom neither one had expected to see again.
"My name is Sam?" She asked uncertainly.
"Yes," Jack said slowly, waiting for her to come closer, watching her tentative, nervous motions as she circled his seated position. Her hair was long now, unkempt but still beautiful. She seemed thinner and her eyes were like hungry saucers as she gazed on him. There was confusion and pain radiating out of their depths. He'd found her at last, but he could see that things were far from normal.
"You remember me?" Jack ventured, trying to get her to talk more.
"I see your face in my dreams. I know your name." She seemed anxious now, as if she wasn't sure if he were friend or foe.
"Well. You're Samantha Carter. Major Samantha Carter. We, aahh, work together, at least we did, before you were lost on a mission. We're friends. Really good friends. You know me and...and I know you..." Jack stumbled to a halt and cleared his throat roughly. Where was Daniel and his gift of gab when he needed him?
"Your voice," she said next, with a tiny smile just beginning to develop. She walked up to him and put her hands on his face, staring at him with unguarded affection until he couldn't stop himself. He stood up and crushed her to him, surprised by the tears suddenly overpowering him and running down his cheeks.
"You do remember me," he cried into her shoulder.
His words could never have bridged the gap that his actions did. She knew now, in spite of the lack of specific memories, that this man knew her, had missed her greatly, and meant her no harm. It was obvious to her woman's heart that he loved her, even though he'd called them friends. Sam pulled back, more confident now, and pointed up the hill.
"Who are they?"
Jack hurriedly wiped a hand over his face and broke into a smile. "C'mon, I'll introduce you. Reintroduce. Whatever. They're your friends too."
Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. The villagers crowded around them now, smiling and murmuring with excitement and happiness for their strange, mysterious companion of the last several weeks. Following them back up the path to where Danel and Teal'C were, the locals waited with joyous anticipation to see the woman greet the others of her world.
She stopped short of actually touching them and looked at Daniel and Teal'C curiously.
"Sam!" Daniel greeted her with a huge grin. He held out his hands to her for a hug, waiting for her to decide whether to respond. She did, in slow motion. Inching her way towards him, she raised her hands and placed them in his, watching his eyes all the while.
"Dan-iel?" She said. "And Teal'C," she added, more confidently, now fixing her gaze on the big soldier at Daniel's side.
"That's right, Sam," Daniel answered. "Can I hug you?"
She nodded, and he did, Teal'C and Jack looking on with happy smiles. She hesitated again before releasing Daniel and hugging Teal'C. To Jack's surprise, she then turned and stepped back to his side, grasping his arm with one hand before turning to face her teammates. She seemed to feel safest with Jack, much to his satisfaction.
"It's strange," she volunteered. "I know you, but I don't know how or why I know you. I'm sorry. I can't remember much of anything."
"You don't know how you got to this planet?" Daniel asked.
"I remember coming through the Stargate from another place, a dark place. I think bad things happened there, but I don't know what. I just know that when I try to think about it, I feel afraid."
Jack pulled her closer. "Do you remember us working together at the SGC?"
"SGC...those letters seem familiar, I know I've heard them before, but..."
"It's okay. The important thing is we've got you back."
Jack couldn't help thinking back to the awful day he'd last seen Sam...
The Goa'uld mothership was the objective. The Tok'Ra, along with some help from their Taur'i allies, were determined to capture it. But the plan had gone to pieces in the first few minutes after they had supposedly boarded the ship 'unseen.' They'd been detected almost immediately.
It was as if the Goa'uld had known they were coming.
"Our only chance is to get to the hangar deck and try to escape in a Tel'Tac," The Tok'ra Aldrin proclaimed. "this way!"
They'd almost made it. But the huge bay doors had begun opening before they had planned on them doing so, and three of their retreating party had quickly jumped into anotherTel'Tac to prevent themselves from being swept out into the void of space.
On board the first ship, the Tok'Ra swept around Colonel O'Neill, Teal'C, and Daniel to access the control console in their zeal to retrieve their missing comrades: two Tok'Ra and Sam. A fierce battle raged around the spaceships.
"The Goa'uld have shot out our engines!" The secondTel'Tac reported.
Jack's heart almost stopped.
"Ring them over to this ship!" Teal'C bellowed.
The Tok'Ra nodded and immediately began attempting to do so. It necessitated the three missing soldiers getting into the escape pods. They could only be ringed to the other ship if they were clear of the first one.
"Pods are clear..."
"Transporting one..."
"Transporting two..."
There was silence, then the ship shuddered under a direct hit from the mothership.
"Giving up retrieval, going to cloak!" The Tok'Ra in charge announced.
"Get that last pod!" Jack screamed.
"Can't risk it, our shields won't hold up for another hit like that one."
The ship went into stealth mode and then almost immediately into hyperspace, under the able ministrations of the navigational officer.
Jack, Daniel, and Teal'C all ran to the two pods and held their breath as the panels hissed open.
The two rescued Tok'Ra got out, alive and unharmed.
Jack fell to his knees in horror.
The Harad people were ecstatic at the happy turn of events and had insisted the team stay for a celebratory feast. Jack had readily agreed. It would be fun. He just needed to go to the Stargate and report the day's amazing events and that they were planning to stay longer. Jack turned to Sam.
"I have to call home," he explained to her, receiving an uncomprehending stare. "Do you want to come with me? There are some people who will be very glad to hear you are okay."
Sam hesitated. "Where must we go?"
"To the Stargate. The stone ring you came through when you arrived here. I can talk to them through the Gate."
She closed her eyes. The stone ring was a feature in her nightmares and she had avoided it at all cost since arriving on this planet.
"I am afraid."
"Sam, there's nothing to be afraid of. It opens a wormhole to other worlds, a way of traveling between worlds."
Jack stopped to listen in amazement to himself. Hecouldn't believe he was explaining this to her, of all people.
"I can control it. You will be safe."
Sam seemed to be considering what she should do.
"You can trust me," Jack urged.
Her face brightened at that. "I know." Her instincts had already told her that.
"Good. Ready to go?"
She nodded and followed the three soldiers, but remained a few steps behind them as they left the village and walked through the hill country that separated the town from the Gate. When Jack got to the DHD, he looked back to see Sam standing quite far behind, watching them fearfully.
"Now I'm gonna push the numbers for our world, Sam, and the stone ring will make a loud noise. Whoooosh," he demonstrated. "There's nothing to be afraid of, I promise."
She didn't look convinced, but she nodded in confirmation that she would stay.
"Daniel, dial Earth," Jack whispered. He didn't completely trust her ability to resist her fears.
As Daniel began punching the glyphs on the DHD panel, Jack made his way back to where Sam stood on the slight incline that overlooked the Stargate. He had just reached her when the Stargate exploded into activity and Sam jumped and began trembling.
"It's okay," he reassured her, careful not to touch her yet. He wanted to let her know that it was her choice to stay. "Now we'll talk to the SGC, remember I told you about them? We'll tell them we found you, okay?" Jack was holding his breath.
"O-okay." Sam steeled herself and took one step towards the Gate before freezing up again. Jack offered his hand to her.
Grabbing it with a surprisingly strong grip, she allowed Jack to lead her down to the DHD where a MALP had since materialized. Jack leaned into the camera.
"Hey, General," he smiled.
"Good to hear from you, O'Neill. How's everything going?" General Hammond's voice was slightly familiar to Sam and she relaxed and stepped forward into view.
"Major Carter!" she heard the General exclaim.
"Yes," she answered.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she replied. There was no 'sir' on the end of her sentences, a fact not yet registering on the elated Hammond on the other end of the wormhole.
"Sir, permission to stay an extra night. The natives are throwing a party for Carter."
"Permission reluctantly granted, Colonel. But then I want you four home to explain to me how this all came about. This is truly cause for celebration. Welcome back, Sam!"
"Thank you," she replied, again uncharacteristically short and emotionless. The wormhole cut off. Jack found himself once again feeling protective towards his newly discovered teammate and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Tonight we'll stay here, but tomorrow, Sam, you're going home."
There was no answer from the blonde woman as he followed her back to the only place that she currently identified as home, the dusty Rahadian village.
TBC
A/N: This is a variation on a favorite theme of mine, ie., one of the team (usually Sam) gets lost during a mission gone south and then reunited with SG1 some time later, but with issues to work out. I hope it's not too overdone for you to enjoy!
