A/N: To anyone who's reading this far, either having just started the whole story or having read the other chapters ages ago - this has been written for a while but my life is INSANE and so getting time even to update is an issue. I promise the next part is written and ready to go (it's just on a different computer so I can't post now). And I know exactly where the story is going so you won't all be forgotten! Please read and review!
Containment cell, main militia base, Pamplona
Daniel looked to O'Neill with hope; there was a genuine disturbance outside their prison hut, which seemed to suggest that the first part of their escape plan had begun. He couldn't fathom the risk that Antonio had taken to ensure their release. It was evident that he held a lot of esteem for Élodie, otherwise there's no way he would trust strangers like SG1. There was a crash outside the hut, and a general distress announcement resonated from one of the soldiers – the Spanish Republican forces had found the insurgents' camp and were attacking. Again he was amazed that Antonio would endanger the lives of those under his commands, but that didn't stop him being grateful.
O'Neill returned Daniel's gaze, nodding with approval. He got up from the floor and moved towards the door, motioning for the others to follow. The door to the hut opened abruptly, a soldier appearing before them, declaring in Spanish that they had been freed from the clutches of Franco's fascist army. No-one in the prison cell understood what the man had just said, but nodded in thanks anyway, exiting the building. Skirting around the edge of the hut, O'Neill stopped briefly, taking in the scene before him: he knew his team was the cause of this violent outbreak, and that made his stomach churn. He looked to Teal'c and saw even the Jaffa was distressed by the scene; although he remained focussed on the task at hand.
"We should continue moving while these people are distracted." He announced in an almost nonchalant tone of voice. "We cannot afford to let this opportunity go to waste; otherwise their sacrifices will hold no worth"
"Teal'c's right sir," Carter winced slightly as she moved, her bruised muscles complaining. "The truck Antonio's organised for us isn't exactly close-by – it'll take us a couple of hours to get there."
O'Neill looked towards Carter, concerned at her expression of pain as she moved. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the guys who had transported them to Pamplona, fighting against some loyal Republican fighters. Motioning for the rest of his team to continue, he turned towards the fighting men and prepared himself to give them a well-deserved lesson.
"Jack, don't!"He whirled around quickly at Carter's touch, looking into her anguished eyes. "It's not worth it, they really don't matter."
"Jeez Carter,"he raised his hands in frustration, "you don't know how much it PISSES ME OFF that someone would even THINK of taking advantage of you!"
Sam looked at her commanding officer, her pain subsiding at the sight of him trying to help, even if it was slightly patronising of him to do so.
"I can take care of myself – and I did, ok?" She pulled him towards the trees where Teal'c and Daniel had disappeared. "Let's just go."
The two of them ran to catch up to the others, just as the two men responsible for transporting them the previous day fell to the ground, shot by the Republican forces. O'Neill turned his head just before disappearing into the trees. A satisfied smile crept onto his lips despite himself as he saw the two men fall.
Forest, outside Pamplona
"We've got it Jack – over here!"Daniel motioned to the others to follow him through yet another line of trees.
A 'couple of hours' had become a somewhat longer due to the difficult terrain in the area; they were at the foot of the Pyrenean Mountains, after all. Daniel watched the three of them come out into the clearing that was slightly shielded from the road. There was a somewhat dilapidated army truck sitting there, waiting for them.
"This vehicle will not be adequate to transport the stargate, O'Neill." Teal'c looked concerned at the prospect of driving such a primitive-looking truck.
"Yeah well it'll have to do Teal'c."O'Neill rubbed his hand along his chin, considering their options. "It'll at least get us to San-whatever-the-town-is. Then we can figure out what to do."
He looked towards Carter, who appeared more and more exhausted. She always underplayed the extent of any injury she sustained and he knew it.
"Ok."O'Neill puffed his chest up slightly and looked around before announcing the next move to the others. "Teal'c you're with me – I'm driving. Carter, you need to rest."He cut her off before she could object. "That's an order Major; you're in the back with Daniel."
With those words he climbed into the truck and started the engine. Once everyone else was in, and with some difficulty (the stick-shift of a 1930s truck is no easy task), he set off in what he hoped was the direction of San Sebastiàn.
Between Pamplona and San Sebastiàn
Daniel sat against the wall of the truck, trying his best to brace himself – and Sam – against the unpredictable jolts that Jack's driving entailed. Every now and then he heard a "Sorry!" coming from the front of the truck, accompanied by a particularly large jump, only possibly caused by an actual pothole. Each time he giggled to himself, he'd been in the Colonel's truck back home and knew from experience that it was never the smoothest of rides with Jack O'Neill at the helm.
Sam began to wake up, her body stiffening as she realised she was not in a familiar environment. Reassuring her quickly he felt her relax, although she did lift herself up so she was facing him.
"Feeling better?"His eyes were full of concern
"Mmm… yeah."She rubbed her eyes unconsciously. "I didn't realise I was so exhausted."
She looked to Daniel who remained silent, a strange expression on his face. She looked at him quizzically, wondering what was going on. Raising her eyebrows at him she silently demanded that he spit it out.
"So… what's going on with Jack?" he asked timidly, almost afraid to look at her. "You know you can always talk to me, right?"
Sam breathed in sharply and slowly let the air escape. What had happened between them was becoming more and more of a bad idea in her mind. Her sense of duty to the Air Force had returned, the idea of flouting regulations in such a way distressed her – the idea of being court martial-ed and prevented from doing her work at the SGC made her feel physically ill.
"God I don't know Daniel."Sam angrily fought back tears, annoyed with herself for letting her feelings get to her so easily. "Before we left the SGC Élodie took me aside and told me not to let love pass me by… and then back in that hut – it was all because I'd been told he was dead… and then he was there in front of me-"she stopped, not knowing what to say.
"Sam,"Daniel reached out to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "the way you guys have been looking at each other for the past couple of years… you're just short-changing yourself by denying your feelings."
Sam punched the wall next to her in frustration, eliciting a concerned shout from the front of the truck. Shouting a hurried "It's ok! Sorry!", she looked at Daniel and let a small giggle escape. Recovering her composure, she sighed and spoke again, looking decidedly dejected.
"I can't compromise my position at the SGC – we have that many enemies as it is. And I don't want to go against regulations – there are good reasons for their existence."She looked to him, hoping that somehow he would have the magic answer.
"You know that regulation's kinda funny."Daniel tried to find the words to express himself. "Theoretically, if I were a woman, and I were in a relationship with Jack–"He paused seeing the look on Sam's face; paralysed in silent laughter at the concept of himself as a woman. "I swear what I'm about to say has a purpose."His face had turned completely red at the ridiculous phrase he just said. "Anyways, if that were the case – as ridiculous as it would be – we wouldn't be going against any regulations – I'm not military."
Sam considered what Daniel had said, although going by her expression it still appeared that her reaction was somewhere between shock and hysteria. What he said was theoretically sound – were she a civilian member of SG1 and not a military member, Jack wouldn't technically be her commanding officer anymore and they would be free to have a meaningful relationship outside of their work.
She looked into Daniel's eyes, smiling, thankful he was there – even if he had the annoying ability to make her talk about her feelings. She didn't even know if it was worth risking what she had by taking it further with Jack – the idea of losing him or jeopardising their team was inconceivable. She let her head drop into her hands, unable to think clearly, let alone formulate a response to Daniel. She felt his hand squeeze hers reassuringly and looked up, smiling feebly.
"Don't worry too much about it now,"he sat back, settling into the side of the truck. "We're in the 1930s… SGC regulations could be seen as somewhat irrelevant here."
Sam smiled at him, grateful for his support.
Outskirts, San Sebastiàn
O'Neill looked from the road in front of him to the large man sitting next to him. It had been a long, tense drive; each of them expecting resistance – or at least a farm truck along the way. There had been nothing, apart from the odd noise from the back of the truck which made him wonder what the hell Carter and Daniel were doing; he was driving very carefully, as far as he knew. His eyes flitted to Teal'c again to be greeted by a raised eyebrow.
"What?" He demanded. "You've been looking at me like that for the last 2 hours!"
"I am not aware of looking at you in a particular fashion, O'Neill."The Jaffa's eyebrow remained high on his forehead. "However I am curious."
"Yeah?" O'Neill growled. "What are you curious about?"
The decorated Air Force Colonel looked towards his team member, slightly apprehensive of what would come out of the normally quiet man.
"I was under the impression that regulations forbade the existence of an intimate relationship between yourself and Major Carter."He looked straight ahead, speaking calmly – as if he were talking about the weather.
O'Neill nearly swerved the truck off the road – this line of questioning did not fall under what he considered a 'curiosity'.
"Jeez Teal'c," he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "If I'd known you were going to come out with that, I'd have taken my chances and put Daniel in the seat next to me."
"I am sorry O'Neill."Teal'c bowed his head slightly. "I will speak of it no further."
Jack looked across to his friend and winced. He knew the guy never revealed his feelings in an obvious way – but after a couple of years it wasn't hard to guess when he was put out.
"Nah don't worry 'bout it T."He sighed deeply, astonished that he was about to talk about this. "Regulations do forbid me and Sam – Carter – from having a relationship. Problem is, I really care about her… and I don't know what I'd do without her… and I want to be with her all the time."He paused, trying to express himself."I mean, you've seen me pretend to listen to all that science mumbo-jumbo she comes up with! I have NO IDEA what she's talking about but I stand there and watch her say it anyway."
"Indeed it appears that you both harbour deep feelings for each other."Teal'c smiled slightly, in one of those rare occasions where his face actually formed an expression. "Should you not explore these while we are sufficiently removed from the regulations?"
O'Neill let his jaw drop open, not daring to look at Teal'c. The straight-laced Jaffa only ever went against the rules if he believed in the cause – otherwise his allegiance to the SGC was impenetrable. He didn't reply to this advice, choosing to return the front of the truck into a tense silence.
Insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn
O'Neill blinked in the late afternoon sunlight, reaching for his trademark sunglasses. He looked all around him, yawning with the fatigue of the last couple of days. He diverted his gaze systematically to each of his team.
"It is just me, or should there actually be people here."The sarcasm was dripping from his voice.
Predictably enough, it was Daniel who answered.
"Well if word got out of the conflict at Pamplona, I guess they'd be elsewhere…"he scratched his head in puzzlement. "But then I guess we would have seen them."
"Sir!"Carter's voice cut into the silence. "Someone coming, 3 o'clock."
All four of them swung around, weapons gathered from the truck fixed on the skinny man approaching. He put his hands above his head in a gesture of surrender, eyes wide with apprehension.
"Don't shoot,"she said in faltering French. "I am Juan; I am here to help you." He glanced nervously at the four of them as their guns remained fixed on him. "Élodie is alive!"He blurted out. "I was charged with killing her but instead took her a distance into the mountains and then directed her to cross the French border via the mountains."
At this statement Carter lowered her gun, motioning to the others to follow suit. O'Neill was the last to do so, reluctant to let his guard down in the face of yet another strange encounter with a Spaniard.
"He says he's Juan, sir."Carter explained quickly. "Apparently Élodie's alive. I don't think we exactly have anything better to do here but to listen to him – he's not armed."
O'Neill looked to the swarthy man, scepticism still at a high level. He sighed and sat down on a rock near the back of one of many warehouses.
"You know what, Carter?"His voice was tired. "I don't really care who this guy is. I wanna know how we're going to proceed next. We need to find the stargate, we need to find Élodie, and we need to transport the stargate."He looked up and directed his eyes into hers. "But most of all – I'm hungry!"He stood up again. "So please, all of you, suggestions?"
Daniel couldn't suppress a grin at this last comment that came from their leader. He had always been a simple man, direct in his motives, and it was well known that his stomach commonly dictated his actions. He looked back to the Spanish man, feeling the hope rise within him at the idea that Élodie may in fact be alright. Apart from her necessity to the mission, he felt a certain rapport with her, and was eager to learn more about the druids of Brittany and their connection to the stargate.
It was Teal'c who spoke, addressing the silence. "I believe we should interrogate this man, O'Neill," he looked to Carter for confirmation. "To ascertain the validity of his claims and, if you wish, find sustenance."
"Ok." He moved in concert with Teal'c to restrain Juan, while Carter reassured the alarmed Spaniard that they only wanted to verify his true intentions. "Carter, please ask the man to take us to our weapons, and then to get some food."
Mess hall, insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn
Carter looked from her superior officer to Juan nervously. O'Neill refused to let his guard down and, in the process, was making the poor Spaniard increasingly ill at ease. Fearing an overreaction on the part of their prisoner, she reached her hand out to touch O'Neill's arm.
"Sir, I think he's got the idea." She said softly. "He looks petrified; no need to give him the evil eye while you eat."
O'Neill looked to his second in command with an amused look on his face.
"The 'evil-eye', Carter? I'm just keeping an eye on him is all." He looked towards Teal'c who was on the point of asking just what an 'evil-eye' was. "Don't worry T, it's just an expression."
Daniel had been ignoring this exchange, concentration more on the best way to proceed with Juan. He didn't want to alarm the man, but they needed information – and quickly – about the situation at hand. He cleared his throat, causing all 4 pairs of eyes to shift towards him.
"So, Juan," he began, "Antonio informed us that you would be here, however we somewhat expected there to be a small army here as well – we thought we'd have to hide out, not be able to sit in the dining room eating couscous."
The Spanish man seemed relieved at the prospect of conversation, an indication that they would at last begin treating the situation with the gravity it deserved.
"You are correct in thinking there should be others present," he began, "however when Antonio sent word of your imminent arrival, I leaked information of a republican organisation in a nearby town which had been plotting against this facility. Everyone is currently on mission." He paused, looking around nervously. "We actually do not have a lot of time to do whatever it is you wish to do, they are due to be back at dawn."
"What happened to Élodie, exactly?" Carter was now in charge of the interrogation.
"I told you before," Juan sat back, somewhat discouraged. "I took her to the mountains and told her to proceed into France." He paused, remembering a detail, "I gave her back the strange gadgets she had with her, like the ones I just returned to you"
O'Neill leaned forward following the adept translation from Daniel.
"She had her radio?" the excitement was creeping into his voice. "This is good." Retrieving his radio from the table he was about to speak into it before Daniel grabbed it from his hands. "What the-?" he was interrupted by Carter.
"Sir, it should probably be me or Daniel that makes contact, considering her English isn't exactly fluent." She held her hand out to Daniel and spoke into the radio. "Élodie? Can you hear me? It's Samantha. We are safe, our weapons have been returned to us by the same man that helped you"
All members of SG1 seemed to hold their breaths while waiting for a response, quiet static weighed more and more heavily on the room. Just as O'Neill looked like he was about to attack Juan for having lied to them, a frightened voice came through the radio.
"Hello? Samantha? Oh thank goodness you're alright!" They could hear the relief even through the static. "Where are you? I am near the base where we were captured – it is very strange, there are no people there, although I see a light in one of the buildings."
"It's ok Élodie, that's us." Daniel had taken the radio and was now laughed lightly, almost giddy with the relief of the situation. "They'll all be gone until dawn. Come on in and get something to eat" He had moved to the door and was now looking into the bleak forest surrounding them, searching for a sign of life.
Suddenly he saw the bushes move and a dirty, hungry, Élodie emerge. Rushing towards he saw she was crying with happiness at seeing they were all ok; she clutched at him, holding him in a tight hug for a good 30 seconds before she would let him go. He led her back inside with the others.
The six of them had been sitting around the table for about half an hour eating, happy to let the conversation that would follow wait, at least until they were all feeling refreshed. Sam had treated a couple of abrasions sustained by Élodie during her short time in hiding, as well as properly taking care of her own injuries and those of her team mates.
Daniel had spent most of his time talking to Élodie, updating her on the events passed during their ordeal in captivity. Upon hearing of their encounter with Antonio she gasped, so audibly that the others stopped talking and turned towards her.
"Donc c'est là qu'Antoine s'est caché pendant ce temps! So that's where Antonio's been hiding all this time!" She looked to Juan as if only now first seeing him in the room. "You ARE Juan," she continued in French, "now that I think about it I recognise you from Antonio's descriptions!" She turned to Daniel. "I'm pretty sure he is who he says he is, but if you want to be sure, he should have a substantial scar on his left leg from a training accident."
Daniel repeated this to the others and O'Neill was on his feet, approaching the other side of the table before anyone could say anything. Upon checking Juan's leg, O'Neill and especially Teal'c were finally convinced they could trust the man before them, more or less. Their attention turned to the task at hand.
"Carter," O'Neill turned to his colleague, "since I can't understand a word of what these guys are saying, I want you to find out how we're going to move the stargate – and I need you to give some thought as to where, we're slightly off our mission plan considering we're in Spain and not France."
"Actually sir," it was obvious Carter had been thinking about this during the past 24 hours, "I think moving the stargate shouldn't be too difficult – they must have moved it here somehow. As for where we're going to go, I think it's agreed that we have to get back into France. We can probably drive it back in ourselves, but we need a faster way of getting to the north-east of the country – otherwise we'll risk getting caught at too many points along the way"
O'Neill sat back in his chair as he listened to Sam speak. It wasn't that he was bored by what she was saying; it wasn't even that he couldn't follow what she was saying. He realised with a pang of guilt that he couldn't pay attention to her speech because he was paying way too much attention to: the cute way her nose crinkles up when she's solving a problem; the way her hair seems to shine when any light, no matter how feeble, is directed on it; the way she still exudes a refined sense of femininity, even when in ill-fitting 1930s apparel. Shaking himself out of this reverie he realised she had stopped talking and was now looking at him, waiting for his answer.
"Sir?" she was starting to look concerned. "Sir, did you hear what I said?"
"Wha- oh yeah Carter sorry, I guess I'm just tired." He shrugged slightly, trying to hide his eyes from her. "Um, I heard up to the part where you said we should drive back into France but then we need to find a faster way of getting up north." He looked at her hopefully; perhaps she hadn't said anything else that was particularly important.
Sam smiled, she knew he hadn't been listening – the look on his face had been the same one that came over him whenever she talked physics. She decided to let him off easy this time.
"That was about it sir. Shall I talk to Élodie and Juan to see exactly how we're going to pull this off?" She was smiling slightly deviously, letting him know that in fact he had missed something.
"You're the boss," O'Neill sighed, giving up yet again – he knew she was the real brains behind the success of their team anyway. "Just keep translating for me, I promise I'll pay attention."
Sam smiled and looked over to Daniel, blushing slightly as she saw he had been watching them rather closely. Regaining her composure quickly, her voice recovered the briskness required of the situation.
"So Juan," she was speaking in slow French, so as to avoid any misunderstandings. "It's imperative that we get the great ring back into France." She cut him off as he was about to speak. "I can't tell you why exactly, but I need to know how you got it here in the first place – our truck won't support its weight."
"I knew it!" Juan was nearly bubbling over with excitement. "The great ring is a weapon, isn't it? But why are you to take it into France, can't it be of more use here in Spain? Our battle with Franco's forces is not going well; they are receiving more and more reinforcements from Hitler and Mussolini by the day."
Sam sighed, sharing a silent conversation with Daniel. It would be best to maybe play to the belief that the great ring was a weapon. Its true function, and fate, would not exactly be what Juan was hoping for.
"The true nature of the great ring is not important; it would be dangerous for you to know too much about it." She cut him off as he began to protest. "It isn't ready to be used yet, it doesn't work properly. We need to transport it back to the lab, along with the device that has all the strange buttons, so that it may be completed."
"Ah yes I see," Juan was creating his own explanation for the events surrounding him. "That's why Élodie was taken with the device; they couldn't get it to work."
"Ah yeah, exactly." Daniel took over, before anyone else could interject. "That's right isn't it Élodie?" His eyes transmitted all she needed to know: nod and agree.
O'Neill was becoming increasingly agitated with the barrage of French that was flowing between them. He looked over to Teal'c, who appeared to be studying their exchanges.
"T? You getting any intel over there?"
"Negative, O'Neill. However I do believe that the Spanish man speaks in earnest. His gestures are not evasive"
"Well that's something." O'Neill whispered to himself, leaning back into his chair and leaning his head against his hands. "Carter, can we move this along a bit, I want a chance for us all to rest before we leave."
Sam turned from Juan to look at the Colonel, who seemed thoroughly bored. Ignoring his comment she turned back to Juan and re-asked her question regarding transport of the stargate.
"We have a special truck," he began. "It took us many weeks to build it; we designed a trolley capable of balancing the great ring and a track that would guide it into the truck."
O'Neill's eyes snapped open as soon as Daniel translated that last sentence.
"Great! Let's get this truck and be on our merry way!" he stood up, yet again ready to jump straight into action. Seeing the look on Carter's face, however, he sat down again. "What's the catch?"
"Juan," Sam was ignoring O'Neill for the moment. "Where is this truck?"
"Alas, it was taken by the forces and won't be back until dawn at the earliest – if it has not been destroyed." He looked to his captors, almost afraid of the reaction they would have to this news.
Sam looked to Daniel and Élodie, breathing out slowly. Apparently they weren't going to avoid some sort of confrontation after all.
"The Cagoule." She whispered the words, leading to curious looks from the rest of SG1, and shocked gasps from Élodie and Juan. She turned to those who didn't understand the reference. "I think I know how we can get both the truck and the gate without any trouble; they'll probably even help us if they buy the story." She paused, looking to Élodie, who seemed to be catching on to the idea and gave her a smile of approval, before addressing her team once more. "The Cagoule was a network of right-wing organisations that had definite extremist tendencies. The word actually means hood/shroud, a reference to the fact that the protagonists should have no faces or names. In fact, they're about to be exposed as having a cache of weapons in France, I think. If we can persuade the insurgents that we're from the Cagoule and have been charged with a mission involving the gate, they'll just give it to us."
"Nice one Carter!" O'Neill seemed energised by this latest bit of information. "When we get back home, you're DEFINITELY going to get a pay rise!"
She smiled at her commanding officer, enjoying the praise before reality returned and she fully considered the tenuous nature of this plan.
"It's not completely certain, sir." She began, humbly. "We don't know that they'll buy it; we'll need to be ready to try and take the truck and gate by force if necessary." She paused before turning back to Juan. "What about the device that was with the stargate? Where is that?"
"Alas I know not of what you speak. Only the gate arrived here from Biarritz." He shrugged at them, his words spreading a sense of dread into those who could understand.
O'Neill considered this momentarily. Apparently they only had half of what they needed at this site, and only an extremely risky plan to get it. Leaning forward, he spoke; certain of what needed to be done.
"Ok. Here's how it's going to work." All eyes turned to his commanding voice. "We've probably got about 10 hours before the welcoming committee comes back and asks what the hell we're doing here. We all need a bit of rest, but we need to try and find out as much as we can about the whereabouts of the DHD." He paused, waiting for Daniel to translate for the French speakers. "So Teal'c, you're with me looking on watch and recon for the first shift, Daniel and Carter, you guys rest. We'll wake you in four hours. You two," he motioned to Élodie and Juan, "should both rest until we call you – there's no sense in you losing sleep unnecessarily."
"Would you not prefer to rest at first O'Neill," Teal'c spoke out, somewhat surprising O'Neill. "You have been more injured than either Daniel Jackson or myself, and were driving for many hours today."
"Yeah Jack, I feel fine, and anyway it would be useful to have someone who speaks French at all times, just in case we're surprised." Daniel was catching on to the underlying drift of Teal'c's suggestion. "You and Sam should find some beds and get some sleep."
Sam forced herself not to go red at the suggestion dripping in both Teal'c and Daniel's voices. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the fact that they were attempting to give her and Jack some time to themselves, it was just that she was having a hard enough time wrestling with her feelings and conscience. Adding an opportunity to be in close proximity to O'Neill with no one else around was not what she needed to think clearly. Looking to the object of her thoughts, she saw a similar play of emotions wash over his face. However, Daniel didn't allow her the opportunity to object. Before she could say anything, he had instructed Élodie and Juan to take them to sleeping quarters and left the room with Teal'c.
Warehouse, insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn
Teal'c looked around the warehouse the gate was resting in. Happily enough, it was still on the coaster-trolley designed to make its manoeuvre easier. Strong as he was, he was well aware that a stargate was no small thing to move from one place to another. As he recalled, it had taken many jaffa pulling on long ropes to move when he had been first prime of Apophis. He looked over to Daniel Jackson's position, looking in any corner for the elusive DHD. He was about to turn to examine the other end of the warehouse when a small scrap of paper caught his eye.
Moving over to the base of the stargate, he picked it up, recognising it as being from the SGC (there was a sort of cryptic letterhead). The words on the scrap of paper were unfamiliar to him, suggesting it was in French. Although he assumed the note was of no importance – it must have fallen out of one of their pockets upon crossing the event horizon, he signalled to Daniel to approach.
"I am not capable of reading this language," he said sternly. "It is probably of no importance; however I found it adjacent to the stargate."
Daniel looked at the piece of paper and gasped.
"It… it appears to be from Madame Chabrol – I guess the older one," he began. "It says that the DHD was never transferred from Biarritz; that Front Populaire forces managed to retrieve it, while failing to recapture the gate from the clutches of the insurgents'." He looked to Teal'c, "Apparently they've taken it to some air force base near Paris. If this is genuine, then we'll need to go find it."
Daniel smiled slightly, his facial muscles relaxing with the possibility that they may be able to redeem their mission, despite its disastrous start. As long as he got confirmation from Élodie that it was indeed her handwriting, their concern tonight would fall to standing guard only.
Sleeping quarters, insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn
Sam had only managed to sleep half the time allocated. For most of the other two hours, she lay perfectly still in the cot, listening to the man lying down just a metre away. She could tell from the lack of snoring that he wasn't asleep either, but was frozen in her position. Normally, they would be talking, planning their next move, even helping Daniel and Teal'c. But not this time; this time she needed to think. She could hear the even breathing of Juan and Élodie, indicating that they were asleep. It would be alright to talk to O'Neill now – they probably wouldn't wake the others in the room. She expelled an audible sigh in exasperation – what would she say? She cut her breath quickly, realising how loud her last breath had been. She heard her commanding officer shift in his position, but remained perfectly still – willing him to let it go.
"Carter?" he whispered, despite his brain telling him to let her alone. "You ok?"
He was facing her and could see the outline of her body in the cot next to his. He could see through the rigidity of her body she was tense. He longed to reach out and fast forward to a time when they would no longer be uncomfortable with each other – a time where their collective minds wouldn't resist what their hearts wanted. Trying to keep in 'soldier-mode', he lifted himself up slightly so he was leaning on his elbow.
"Wanna get some coffee?" he cringed at the words. Jack O'Neill presents: unoriginal pick-up lines of the century. Forcing himself to get a grip, he added, "I can't sleep, figure we're going to need a hell of a lot of caffeine in us to get through the next day." He paused, watching for a reaction on her part, but there was none. "You need to tell me more about this ruse we're going to attempt… this 'Cagoo' thingy."
At his trademark mispronunciation of yet another foreign concept, he finally elicited a response out of Carter, who couldn't suppress a small giggle. She turned her head towards him to see him concentrating on her, searching for reassurance that she was ok.
"Yeah, sure, sir." She slowly rose out of the cot. "I don't think I'm going to sleep anymore."
Before she could walk out of the room, O'Neill grabbed her hand, the sensible part of his mind vacating the building for the moment. He sat up, pulling her down onto the bed so they were sitting side by side.
"You sure you're ok?" His voice was tender, serious.
She could see the vague outline of his jaw in the gloomy light; she resisted the temptation to run her hand down along the crevices formed by his ever-growing population of wrinkles. She couldn't stop her face from portraying her uncertainty though. She tried to lie anyway.
"Yeah sure… I'm fine." She averted her eyes, hoping he would buy it.
Yet again, he wouldn't let it go. He lifted his hand to caress her cheek, before hugging her tightly.
"Sure you are Carter," his voice was muffled in her shoulder. "Just know we're in the same boat here, k?"
She disentangled herself from his embrace and looked at him, wondering if he really could feel as she did. She smiled weakly and got to her feet.
"Yeah, well right now this boat has a mission." With that she walked out of the room.
Outside, insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn
All four members of SG1 were sitting outside the sleeping quarters, fast cooling coffee in their hands. It was one of the rare moments where they could sit and talk, albeit while retaining a sense of alertness in case someone should surprise them. Not for the first time, all eyes were on Carter as she explained the knowledge she had that would help them in their mission.
"The Cagoule," she continued, "is actually called the Comité Secret d'Action Révolutionnaire, the Secret Committee of Revolutionary Action. Its mission statement was – is – to take power either by conspiracy and force to fight against what they considered an international communist plot, and install a military regime in France."
"Well that's… ambitious." O'Neill looked somewhat amused at such a pompous-sounding organisation. "They failed, right?"
"Yes sir they did," Carter smiled. "Actually, they're in the process of all being arrested as we speak. That's going to be our main problem – if this is November 1937, then we've got less than a month to work with before the network is shut down altogether. In any case, it's not nearly as strong now as it was in June."
Silence descended on the four of them as this information was processed. A floundering right-wing terrorist organisation was not the safest of bets for a mission of such importance. In addition to that, there was now the possibility that they could be arrested should the wrong people hear about their 'mission' for the Cagoule. Teal'c was the first to speak.
"Are you sure there is no other way to proceed, Major Carter?" his face seemed to betray concern.
"I really don't know Teal'c," she shook her head, somewhat dolefully, "but if tensions really are as fraught as they were described to me in history classes, then this is the fastest way to get the mission done – especially considering we've now got to go and get the DHD from Paris." She looked to Daniel, hoping he at least understood. "In any case, they should be desperate by now – so much of their organisation has been exposed they should jump at the chance to revitalise it and complete their mission statement."
"So basically we're going to give a bunch of Hitler wannabees some hope? Isn't that nice of us." A sarcastic grimace was planted firmly on O'Neill's face. "If you say it can work Carter, that's good enough for me."
She nodded appreciatively before turning to Daniel.
"We're going to need to pretend that we're all actually French, which means that probably only me and Élodie should speak." She cut him off before he could object. "I'm sorry Daniel, but you do have a pronounced accent – it's obvious that English is your native tongue; and nothing would be worse than for them to realise we're American."
"What if we said Canadian?" he stopped, seeing from Sam's expression that there was to be no negotiation on the matter. "Okay, it's you and Élodie." Daniel turned to O'Neill. "So how are we going to convince them of our story exactly?"
At that moment, Élodie and Juan exited from one of the buildings in the camp, holding a stack of papers and some clothes.
"I think we have that response," Élodie said in English, before continuing in French. "There is a commander's office back there," she gestured to the papers in her hand, "I typed up these orders and Juan forged the Bib's signature."
"I'm sorry, 'the Bib'?" O'Neill turned to Carter, as did the other member's of SG1
"That was the nickname employed to describe one of the leaders of the Cagoule, Félix Martin. It is his escape to Italy in early December that spells the official end to Cagoule activities in France." She motioned for Élodie to continue.
"As I was saying," she handed the pages to Carter, "we have orders now to transfer the great ring to Toulouse for a mission that we've just described as being top secret and imperative for the triumph over Communism." She looked hopefully to Carter. "I don't know the future; do you think this will work? We've also got some uniforms we should change into, so as not to appear too strange, and your large friend here should wear some sort of hat"
Carter read the typed orders while Élodie handed the uniforms out. It certainly appeared genuine, although they wouldn't be able to gauge the reaction of the rebels until it would be too late to change their plan. Remembering that Élodie was known to them as a Socialist, she looked to her quickly.
"What are you going to do? They'll shoot us all on the spot if they see you alive and well."
Élodie nodded in recognition of this fact, but instead of responding, merely motioned to Juan.
"I believe when we are in France it won't be a problem, but here we'll have to sneak her onto the truck, perhaps in a crate." He paused, considering the logistics. "It would be best of only you and me spoke, as your French is passable and the men clearly already know me. Most of them don't even speak French so we can just pass everyone off as French." He stopped as he saw Carter nodding.
"We'd already discussed that, the others are fine with it." She followed his gaze to Daniel. "Daniel as well."
Taking charge of the situation, O'Neill stepped into the middle of the small circle of people.
"Dawn is approaching. Daniel, go with Élodie and get her hidden and ready for transport. Remember; don't say a word to anyone." He gave the last instruction more to the French woman than to Daniel. "Teal'c, you're with me keeping watch. Carter, you and Juan organise your speech for their arrival. We need to get out of here as fast as possible, before they smell a rat."
With that, the small group dispersed, ready for action.
Warehouse, Insurgents' camp, San Sebastiàn
Daniel crouched down slightly lower behind the large crate. He inched towards it, hiding his body in the shadow. He could hear the uneven breathing of an afraid Élodie inside, and whispered a few words of reassurance, as quietly as he could. The group of men surrounding Sam and Juan hadn't moved for some time now, it was all Daniel could do to stay put. Out of the corner of his eye he could see O'Neill and Teal'c, both in cover positions at opposite sides of the clearing. Even from this distance he could see the tension in them; especially Jack, who looked like he was ready to pounce should anyone even breathe inappropriately in Sam's direction. It didn't exactly look like the situation was going badly, but it certainly wasn't proceeding as fast as it should. What was most worrying was that some of the soldiers were beginning to look around them, maybe feeling that they were being watched. If they clocked any of those watching from afar before Juan or Sam had convinced them they really were from the Cagoule, it wouldn't be good.
A shout from behind the tree line bordering the camp snapped Daniel's attention from his study of the situation unfolding in front of him. He didn't understand the words but what he saw wasn't at all ambiguous, there was a group of men closing in on O'Neill's position. All at once noise exploded in the pre-dawn light at the camp as everyone started shooting. Teal'c was picking off the insurgents surrounding Carter and Juan one by one, while Sam concentrated on getting towards O'Neill's position. Daniel saw her moving, almost as if it were slow motion. There were four men coming down the hill, fast. Daniel saw O'Neill fall to the ground, kicked in the head by a soldier, just seconds before a heavy blow to the back of his neck forced him to the ground. The last thing he heard before it all went black was the angry roar of Teal'c and the frightened screams coming from Élodie next to him.
To be continued…