A/N: Ok! It's been ages! I have had this part written for a good five days now, but didn't want to post until I had the following chapter ready - you'll understand when you get to the end.
Thanks to those who reviewed… BookWorm, Baal's only got a cargo ship up there. Thor has one of his kick-ass Asgard ships. That's all there is going on in orbit. Sorry if it wasn't clear – I always forget that you guys can't actually read my mind!
Thanks also to Natters who wrote a whole series of reviews! And also ArrantSchemata: glad you're back in the land of technology! Thanks for the encouragement as always!
Here goes... the action's on…
Chapter XX – Cut to the chaseJonas sat nervously on the edge of the cleared area on top of Uluru, clasping the Tok'ra communicator device, praying for the best. It had been deactivated from the other side, which worried him slightly.
"Do not be concerned, Jonas Quinn." Teal'c stood stoically to his left. "O'Neill would not embark on this task without adequate communication to the surface."
"But then-?" Jonas began, concern evident in his voice.
"He will reactivate the device." Teal'c restated, looking off into the distance.
As much as Jonas wanted to believe him, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the communicator, willing it to spring to life. His eyes lost their focus as he sat there, and he was startled by the slight pressure of a hand on his arm. Looking sideways, he saw Stacey had sat down next to him, her unruly hair brushing slightly against his shoulder.
"So this is what it's like eh?" She asked nonchalantly, keeping her tone light. "Not exactly a stress-free job…"
"Yeh…" Jonas laughed bitterly, shaking his head. He hadn't been with the people of Earth for long, but already he was learning that nothing they did was ever easy. The curse of fighting the good fight, battling against all odds. "It's worth it though," he added, more to reassure himself than anyone else. He glanced up at her, his hand still clenching at the communicator desperately. "You still think you'd like to be part of it?"
"Well, like you said," Stacey didn't need to think before answering, "it's worth it." She looked ahead, contemplating the possibilities. "All the conflicts and wars here on Earth seem so… fruitless… and all the more horrifying, knowing what's really out there." She pointed to the sky. "We're killing each other, and you guys are trying to save us all from annihilation." She shook her head dolefully. "I love my country, but I'd prefer to be fighting for the people of Earth, not against them." She looked at Jonas with hope, hope that she had thought lost in a world of war and terrorism.
Jonas nodded thoughtfully. He hadn't been on Earth for long, but futile conflict wasn't an unknown phenomenon to him. "Well I'm serious when I say you should come back to the SGC." He smiled at her tentatively. "I don't have that much clout, but I'm sure your government would be keen to have someone in the Stargate Programme – and they could probably persuade the Joint Chiefs to let you in."
"When this is all over." Stacey said, nodding towards the Tok'ra communicator.
"Yeah." Jonas visibly deflated as he redirected his concentration on the ominously silent device. "When this is all over."
"Ok Fodor," Jack's voice wavered as he turned to the alien. His hands were inches away from the orb, inches away from executing a plan that scared him more than he could admit. "How do we go about this?"
Fodor held the communicator up briefly, turning it on when he received a nod of approval from both Sam and Jack. "As you have already experienced," he began slowly, for th ebeneift of everyone listening outside "the orb allows you to control every aspect of this space. You can transport Major Carter to any place in the myriad of caves and tunnels without jeopardising the shield around this cavern. You can guide her to Turramulli's containment area using a visual depiction of the area and the system-wide communication system."
"Ok… a map… let's see." Jack placed his hands on the orb and concentrated on a map. A map of the caves and tunnels linking them. Almost immediately, there was a green mist centred around the orb against the ceiling which swirled in a clockwise direction before settling into a complex image. Jack looked at it helplessly. "Riiiiiight," he murmured, his eyes losing focus in face of the incomprehensible image. "Perhaps something a little simpler, zoomed in to the areas we need."
As soon as he had said the words, the image zoomed in to show first the cavern they were in, with red dots depicting all life forms in an around it, before following the tunnel that Turramulli was in, swerving left and right, until it reached a smaller cave, colour-coded orange. "That's the containment cave?" Jack asked Fodor, not taking his eyes of the image for a moment.
"Yes." Fodor said. "It is some distance from our current position."
"Yeah…" Sam breathed, awestruck by the images floating above their heads. "I'd say about 500 metres." She glanced at Jack, who was concentrated on the map, which was now stuck in a loop depicting the route Sam should take to get to Turramulli's cave. She knew he would have great difficulty in executing the plan. There was no way he'd normally subject any of his team to the danger that she was about to face, but there really wasn't any other way for the moment.
All three of them were now silent, contemplating their plan. Sam finally couldn't stand it any longer – either they were going to do this or she was going to self-combust from anxiety. "Sir," she adopted her most forceful voice. "I'm ready." She squared her stance and poised herself, P-90 firmly attached, for the run of her life. "We have to do this now."
Jack closed his eyes briefly and then opened them to look at Sam. "Sam," he said uncertainly, "I just…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say. He should say something, but 'good luck' didn't quite seem to cover it. Also, he wanted to let her know how he felt, to tell her that he'd do anything for her, that he hated this plan, that it should be him who was risking life and limb… Instead, he just looked at her helplessly.
"I know." Sam nodded at him grimly. "But we have to do this."
Jack looked at her one last time. He mouthed 'good luck' to her before looking straight into the orb and concentrating with all his might on transporting Sam to the end of the tunnel Turramulli was currently in. Once she arrived, she'd have to make sure he'd seen her before tearing off in the other direction. If he caught her… Jack didn't want to think about it. The notion of Sam being caught filled him with such great fear, though, that he felt the power extending out from the orb grow exponentially.
"This is about saving Sam." He murmured to himself, so quietly that no-one else could hear. The realisation that everything he was doing was for her above all, meant that suddenly he was part of Uluru, the orb an extension of his mind. There was no pain like before. The roles were now reversed. He wasn't trying to channel the power of the orb anymore. Instead, every inch of his considerable mental resolve was flowing into it. He opened his eyes just as Sam disappeared in a flash of purple light.
Sam had seen the change in Jack just before she'd found herself outside the main cavern. He'd opened his eyes to reveal a strange presence within – his pupils had turned a dark shade of purple as he concentrated intently. Before she could become concerned however, a bright purple engulfed her, wind roaring in her ears, before she was suddenly relocated to the tunnel outside the cavern, surrounded by silence.
"Ok Carter can you hear me?" Jack's voice boomed around the tunnel, as if emanating from every imperfection in the rock surfaces.
"Yes sir," Sam looked to the end of the tunnel where she could see the unmistakable aqua colour of the shield blocking the path into the main cavern. The colourful barrier was obscured in part by a large figure, a figure she knew to be Turramulli. As soon as she spoke, the monster whirled around on the spot in surprise before moving towards her.
"Wonk, wonk, wonk." Turramulli's movements were heralded by the eerie noise echoing throughout the cave structure.
Sam didn't waste any time waiting for instructions from Jack. She turned and ran, heading in the only direction available to her. She knew the monster was getting closer – the terrifying noise of his loping gait seemed to be closer every second, but she didn't dare look back.
"Ok, take a left and then a right at the next two forks." Jack's voice seemed strangely calm and businesslike as it infused through the tunnels. The sense of control steeled Sam's resolved as she ran, convinced that this was going to work. It didn't matter whether he was chasing her for the pheromones or the fact that she was a moving target – as long as he followed all the way to the cave.
A fork came in the tunnel and Sam took the leftmost branch as Jack had instructed. She heard the strange thud of Turramulli's arm brushing against the wall as he pursued her. Chancing a look back, she saw the expression of hunger on the monster's horrible face and felt the adrenaline running through her system have a stronger affect. The mere sight of him had been enough to propel her faster.
Sam looked back in front of her a fraction of a second too late. She had lingered on the terrifying image of Turramulli too long to realise that she was about to run headlong into the wall separating two tunnels that branched off towards her left. A sharp rock jutting out of the wall hit her directly in the joint of her shoulder under her collarbone. She cried out, blinding momentarily with the pain, but blundered onwards, her arm outstretched to avoid running into any other obstacles.
"NO Sam!" Jack's voice bellowed, now anything but calm. "You had to go down the righthand tunnel!"
Sam stopped short, and whirled around. Turramulli was still about a hundred metres away from the fork, but moving much faster than she. She bit her bottom lip to try and stifle the growing agony emanating from her right shoulder and ran back towards the fork, swinging around to enter the correct tunnel just ahead of Turramulli. She could now feel the shuddering of the ground as he charged behind her. If anything, he seemed to have quickened his pace since her injury, no doubt smelling the blood that was oozing through her clothes.
"Ok. Good. Hurry up though – he's just behind you!" Jack shouted. "Go left at the next one and it's all the way at the end. You're only about 100 metres away!"
Sam propelled herself forwards with renewed force at Jack's words. Only a hundred metres. She hoped it would be enough. Turramulli was now so close she could feel the foul warmth of his ragged breathing against the back of her neck. Once or twice she thought she felt the scraping of his claws against her back, but didn't dare look around to see how close he was.
Finally reaching the tunnel that led to Turramulli's prison, Sam veered to her left and continued her sprint down the tunnel. Her chest now heaving and muscles protesting wildly to the exertion, but they showed no signs of failing her. Feeling the closeness of Turramulli behind her – the wonk, wonk, wonk noise was now booming through her ears – she put on a final burst of energy only to feel herself yanked backwards as a razor sharp claw sliced into her back. Turramulli had finally caught up to her, but Sam didn't slow her pace. She continued trying to run at full speed, ignoring the sensation of tearing flesh as Turramulli hooked his claw into her back and tried to hold her back.
It was an agonising battle of wills. The monster did not want to go back into the cave, but didn't want to let Sam go either. He had a hold of her that would normally make anyone give up and collapse to the ground, but despite the chilling feel of being ripped open from behind, Sam pressed on. She was still moving forward, albeit at a much slower and more painful pace.
"SAM!" Jack's voice came through the cavern, sounding petrified. "I'm getting you outta there!"
"NO sir!" Sam's voice was strangled as she fought the waves of pain that went searing up into her neck, it was is if her back were on fire. "I'm nearly there – just a… few… more… feet." She managed to grunt the last word out as finally she reached the entrance to Turramulli's cave and launched herself into the small space. The monster, still attached to her by the claw that was now firmly embedded in one of her muscles, came crashing down behind her and they both lay sprawled on the cold stone floor.
The weight of Turramulli's body landed with full force on top of Sam, driving his sharp claws further into her back and knocking her head into the hard ground. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she heard an almighty roar that sounded more like Jack than it did the monster. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness entirely was a bright purple light.
A/N: Ok, d'you all see now why I didn't want to leave it here without having written the next part? I couldn't be sure that I'd be able to update quickly (my thesis is now due at the end of THIS WEEK, so my life is a smidge busy at the moment)... so I thought I'd not be mean and give you an indefinite cliffhanger! Instead, I'm goign to post the next chapter mere MINUTES after I've posted this one! Aren't I nice?
Oh and there IS a reason why we had the Jonas/Stacey conversation going on there… you'll just have to wait and see!