Soldiers of Misfortune – part 5
A village appeared in the distance, but no signs of life were visible. After cautiously checking it out, it soon became apparent that the inhabitants had fled.
"Guess the outposts were just buying time," offered Jack to no one in particular.
He kicked at a piece of stray wood in the dusty street.
"What now?" asked Sam, looking around.
Jack shrugged. "We wait. Let's see if we can scare up some food."
Jack sent everyone out on a hunt for provisions. Those that were found SG1 shared out fairly, providing everyone with their first proper meal since they arrived on the planet. After they'd finished eating, Jack called Sam over. "Have a proper look at these collars while we have some time," he ordered.
Sam would have liked nothing better than to just lie down and have a sleep like the others were doing, but she acknowledged they might not get another chance to check out the collars in the near future. Using Jack's boot knife, she fiddled around with his heavy metal collar, trying to access the locking mechanism.
"Hold still. Relax, Sir," she complained, his nearness already made her feel clumsy.
He grinned at her. "You're jiggling around my throat with a knife and you expect me to relax?"
The grin made her stomach lurch and she slipped with the knife. "Damn," she swore softly, sucking at her finger where she'd nicked it.
"Let me see," he said quickly, grabbing at her hand.
"Only a nick," she said as he held it, inspecting the injury. The touch was doing crazy things to her insides. "It's okay, really. Look, stopped bleeding already."
"Try and keep it clean. The infirmary here leaves a lot to be desired," he said softly, his eyes catching hers and holding them.
Sam nervously broke her gaze and resumed fiddling with the collar. She managed to get the cover off the small box where the collar joined.
"Looks like a tiny transmitter and a receiver. It's very small."
"What about power? These things sting like hell."
"I've never seen anything like it before," Sam murmured absently as she explored. "Oh, that looks – OW!" She didn't finish what she was saying as a charge ran through her fingers, hands and up her arms, making her drop the knife with a yelp.
Jack's hands shot up to his throat with a strangled cry, as a charge shot through his body. It stopped a second or two later, and he heaved a sigh of relief.
"Christ … that stung …"
Sam looked distraught. "Oh, God, I'm sorry. I must have activated something."
"Well at least it wasn't the death ray," grinned Jack, taking in Sam's pale face.
She gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry Sir. I shouldn't have touched it really."
"No sweat Major. You were only doing what I told you. Forget it."
Sam nodded. "Would you like me to take another look?" she asked mischievously.
"Nah, put it back together for now – carefully," he added.
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"O'Neill," called Teal'c, "it seems we have company." He inclined his head towards the village outskirts where two Karmine stood.
"Well, it looks like they can track us with them too," commented Jack.
"Question is, do we wait or go to them?" asked Daniel.
Jack shrugged. "I know what I would expect …" He shrugged again, waiting.
The two Karmine stood side by side.
"One looks like that Soolu," said Jack.
"Soolek," corrected Daniel.
"Whatever," said Jack with a shrug. "Oh, I think he expects what I would," he said watching the man pointedly raise a finger towards the device on his wrist.
Jack started a slow walk towards him. "Wonder what their range is," he murmured to Carter.
"Don't think I'd like to hazard a guess Sir."
"Neither would I," said Teal'c solemnly.
The rest of the men stood up, but stayed put, shuffling and murmuring uneasily as they watched.
Jack was nervous, but he gave no outward indication of it. He was wondering if they'd be blasted or saved to fight another day.
Jack stood with his team in front of the two Karmine. One was indeed Soolek.
"Have you any prisoners?" asked Soolek.
"No, those who fought died." Jack spoke, his voice devoid of any emotion, his face giving nothing away.
"A lot of you survived," said the other Karmine.
"There was no resistance from the village. They'd already left when we got here."
"Good, you did well," said Soolek. "Transport will be a while. Hand in your weapons and keep within the village boundaries until it arrives."
Jack nodded and they relinquished the lasers, but not the guns they'd hidden about their person. The other men followed suit and then they all settled down to wait.
After a while, Daniel realized they could make something useful of their free time and suggested a search of the village records might be helpful. "Might we can even find out if there's a Stargate somewhere on the planet," he said hopefully.
They split up in opposite directions to speed up the search. Teal'c went with Daniel, Sam with Jack.
Jack and Sam wandered along, checking out any building that didn't seem to be just a home.
xoxoxoxoxox
Radnor watched them go. He'd been waiting for a chance to get at Jack. He'd stayed out of the fighting as much as he could, well away from any likely danger. He'd seen how good the man was in action and knew he didn't stand a chance against him in a fair fight, but a fair fight wasn't what he had in mind.
He moved away from the others, and once out of sight, he brought out the large knife he'd taken from a dead soldier. He knew that Jack had a hand gun tucked away. He'd been watching carefully and he decided he wasn't going to give the man a chance to use it. He cut around the route Jack and Sam had taken, and hid in a position he knew they would eventually pass by.
Radnor stood grinning to himself, and licking his lips. With Jack out of the way, the woman was his, he promised himself.
Jack and Sam gradually drew nearer. They were split up slightly - all the better for him he realized. He brought the knife up ready to pounce.
Jack moved out from yet another deserted building and unwittingly came close to where Radnor was hiding.
xoxoxoxoxox
Jack stood looking around cautiously. The feeling that they were being watched made his guts tingle with awareness. Those same instincts had kept him alive for so long, he didn't question them …
Radnor stepped from the shadows to grab Jack by the throat from behind as Jack's instinct made him turn.
The knife was thrust into his side, the cold metal twisted in cruelly and Jack fought the agonizing pain coursing through him. He grabbed the assailant in a hold and brought the man round and over his hip, slamming him hard down on the floor. Radnor maintained his grip on the knife, twisting it out as he fell and as he hit the ground he let out a bellow of rage.
It was this that Sam heard and she came running.
Radnor got to his feet quickly, still holding the knife and slashed out with it. As Jack stepped back to parry it, the knife gashed him on the arm. The blood ran copiously, and the fierce burning from the wound vied for attention with the discomfort in his side, which was also bleeding heavily.
Sam got close and raised her gun ready to fire.
"Don't shoot," called Jack.
Radnor turned at the distraction and that was all Jack needed. He stepped in and twisted the blade from the man and with a quick movement snapped the man's neck. Radnor fell to the floor; his eyes wide open with shock, mouth agape as his last breath left his body.
Jack stumbled back as the adrenalin left him; he leaned heavily against the building wall as his breath came in short pants.
Sam hurried to his side, avoiding the body. She grabbed at his arm, attempting to stem the flow of blood.
"You should have let me shoot him," she whispered as she saw his injury.
"They would have heard it and know we'd got guns. We may need them later," he hissed as his free hand went to his left side, just above his hip and came away covered in blood.
"Shit, Colonel, he's stabbed you!" Sam bit down on her lower lip anxiously. She watched as his face paled, she realized he was having a hard time just standing. "Sir, we need to stop the bleeding, there's a house just a little way up the road that looks like it was a doctor's. There might be something there we can use."
Jack nodded and Sam pulled his arm over her shoulder to support him. She grasped him around the waist, holding onto his belt with her other arm to try and take some of his weight.
His vision was graying and tunneling, but somehow he kept upright and allowed Sam to lead him.
"Not far now Sir," grunted Sam. She was thoroughly alarmed by his silence and the fact that she found herself taking more of his weight as they walked.
The door was locked, but Sam heaved a booted foot out and it flew open, banging loudly in the quiet street.
The house had indeed formerly belonged to a doctor, and a quick inspection found a small office, containing an examination table and various cabinets. Sam heaved the practically unconscious officer onto the table and began to rifle through the cabinets for supplies. She ignored the drugs; she didn't dare to use any of them anyway. She found gauze and bandages and quickly stripped Jack's t-shirt up to find the stab wound. It was bleeding heavily and Sam could only press the wads of gauze in place to try and stem the bleeding with pressure. The bloodied sleeve of his jacket caught her eye, but for the moment she was unable to do anything but apply pressure to the wound on his side.
Jack groaned and tried to shift away from her touch.
"Damn," moaned Sam. "Colonel, Sir!" she called out to him, trying to get his attention.
Jack stirred again, turning his head towards her voice, his eyes opened slightly, trying to focus on her.
"Sir, I need to find Teal'c and Daniel. You need to hold this." She pulled his left hand to lie against the pad she was pressing on. "Sir," she called loudly, trying desperately to get him to hold on. She needed him to focus. "You need to hold on. Hold it tight Sir."
His hand pressed down on the pad. It was obvious he could barely see Sam. His eyes staggered over her face unfocussed, but he seemed to get the general idea of what she was saying.
Sam quickly inspected the wounded arm and decided it didn't look too bad at the moment, certainly nothing in comparison to the other wound, but she quickly bound a dressing over it purely as a temporary measure until she could get help. She was beginning to panic slightly, wondering how long it would be before they were missed.
"Sir," she spoke and stroked his face to get his attention. "I won't be long Colonel, you stay still, don't move." She wasn't sure if he'd heard her or not, but she knew she had to get help quickly.
She ran out of the house and raced through the deserted streets shouting for Daniel when she neared the place she'd last seen him. The breath caught in her dry throat and her heart hammered madly as she became more frantic in her search.
xoxoxoxoxox