A/N: Just a warning, the language gets a bit harsher in a couple places here. Consider yourself warned if you are worried about this; it's not prolific, and it's not over the top, but it is there.

A/N2: There was a very true comment in one of the reviews about how women in Special Forces units are strictly a device of fiction. While this is true, and at the current time women do not serve in SF units, I figured if I'm writing about a gigantic ring made of a super dense metal not found on Earth that sends people to other planets via a controlled wormhole, well putting women in SF units is a minor case of literary license compared to that. And yes, I am aware that SG1 strives to maintain a impressively high degree of accuracy regarding military matters, but then again, it is my story. I would include JAG, and in some ways they also strove to maintain a high degree of accuracy regarding military matters, however the very premise of the show is a plot device (allbeit a wonderful one) with JAG lawyers chasing terrorists, dodging nuclear missles and battling evil doers at every corner.

Speaking of battling evil doers...on with the show!

Chapter 7

Harm scanned the remains of the village through his binoculars, noticing the bodies lined up in what had been the village square. "Any movement since you got here Guns?"

"No, sir," Black said quietly. She may be a Recon Marine, but seeing that many people dead from what was obviously an execution got to even her.

"There's some charring along the buildings and in the dirt Skipper. Blast weapons?" Jacobs asked quietly as he scanned the village beside Harm.

"Looks like it," Harm grunted, remembering the skirmish SG-15 had had. "Whatever happened here was recently done."

"Looks to be; nothing is feeding on the corpses yet."

"Patterson, get closer and get video," Harm ordered quietly. He wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but he and his team were still green when it came to off world ops, and they may miss something. He wanted to have video for someone back at the Mountain to look at when they got back.

Silently the three team members watched Patterson worm his way forward through the trees until he was right at the edge of the forest. Taking a small digital video camera out of his vest, he started filming. After ten minutes the Corporal glanced over his shoulder at Harm with a raised eyebrow. Nodding, Harm gestured for him to return to the rest of the team; they should have enough for someone to figure out what happened if his guess of Jaffa wiping out the village was wrong.

Patterson was halfway back to the rest of the team's location when Harm recognized a sound he'd first heard two weeks before; the sharp snap crack of a staff weapon. Suddenly there were multiple blasts striking the ground around Patterson and before anyone could react the deep bellow of a horn could be heard on the far side of the village.

"Covering fire!" Harm ordered the rest of his team as they were already snapping off the safeties of their P-90s and searching for targets. Levelling his own weapon Harm slipped the selector to full automatic and squeezed off a burst of rounds towards the next staff blast he saw. The sound of bullets striking metal told him he'd hit home. Glancing towards Patterson he saw the Marine rolling away from another staff blast. "Move it Marine! Jacobs, Black, let's give him time to get out of there!"

Suddenly a new sound echoed over the ruined buildings of the village and before Harm could process it, an aircraft cleared the village and laid down blaster fire on Patterson's position. Jack had called them death gliders. Cursing Harm shot up to his knee looking down at Patterson; he wasn't moving. "Shit!" Harm cursed. "Cover me!"

"Skipper!" Jacobs yelled as Harm got up and sprinted towards where Patterson lay. Harm kept moving and didn't look over his shoulder; his team would lay down fire or he would die. But he wasn't going to leave Patterson out there where the Jaffa could pick him off. "Black! Two o'clock!"

"Got him," Linda said tensely, drawing a bead on two Jaffa who had just moved out from the trees to their right. A fluid squeeze of the trigger brought both armoured warriors down.

Harm reached Patterson and dropped to the ground beside him, reaching for the man's neck before he was completely level. Closing his eyes Harm fought the urge to scream when he couldn't find a pulse. Looking up he saw the death glider make a wide banking turn and line up for another strafing run. The staff blasts peppering the ground around him, Harm jumped to his feet and reached down for the man he'd led to his death. With a heave, Harm had Patterson over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and was just about to straighten up when something glinting on the ground caught his eye. Patterson's digital camera, amazingly, had survived when its owner did not. Scooping up the camera Harm jerked fully upright and began to lumber back to his team's position.

Cursing with each step back towards the rest of his team, Harm screamed aloud when a fire erupted along the ribs on his left side. Gritting his teeth and pushing back the pain, Harm moved past Jacobs and Black and snapped out, "Fall back."

As SG-13 began to move back down the game trail they heard another blast of the horn, this time to their right and towards the Gate. Immediately another horn sounded on their left and ahead of them.

"We're surrounded!" Black called out as she moved backwards, firing at any Jaffa that revealed their position to her.

"Stow it Guns!" Jacobs called out as he watched the left side of their retreat. "Skipper! Nine o'clock!"

"I see them," Harm fought down the despair he felt at seeing a large group of Jaffa emerge on their left about five hundred meters ahead their position. Before he could formulate his next order staff blasts cut through the trees and struck all around the Jaffa that they had just seen.

"What the hell?" Jacobs watched the Jaffa fall back and begin to return fire into the trees. "Tok'ra?"

"Don't know, don't care. Get off the trail now!" Harm ordered, leading his team into the trees on an angle away from the body of Jaffa he'd seen, and the group he couldn't see. For the next hour Jacobs and Harm spelled off carrying Patterson's body; the Lieutenant trying to carry the body more often than his CO; Harm couldn't see the staff blast he took, but it hurt like nothing he'd ever felt before and his Lieutenant knew Harm's strength was failing fast.

Suddenly the team was through the forest and could see the Gate in the distance. "Black, dial it up when we get there; Jacobs, take Patterson."

Cautiously, but quickly the team moved towards the Gate, Harm and Black continually scanned for any signs of movement. For the last twenty minutes the sounds of the battle between the Jaffa and their unseen assailants had steadily faded into the distance. Harm wasn't sure, but he was starting to think they'd managed to avoid something nasty. Avoid? Screw that, he'd lost a man his first time out through the Gate, Harm thought viciously. So much for getting his people home alive.

As soon as she was close enough, Linda raced ahead to the DHD and began to slap her hand down on the symbols back to Earth. When the vortex settled and the wormhole stabilized, she pulled out her GDO and began to punch in SG-13's code. Having turned to look back at her CO and XO, she was the first to see a large contingent of Jaffa bound out of the forest with staff weapons levelled. "Incoming!"

Turning, Harm pulled down on the trigger and emptied his magazine at the Jaffa moving towards his team. Without thinking he slapped a new magazine home and proceeded to squeeze off rounds at Jaffa after Jaffa, all the while moving steadily backwards, vaguely aware that Black was also throwing down beside him. "Jacobs! Get Patterson through the Gate, we're right behind you!"

"But Skip," Jacobs started to argue.

"No 'buts' SEAL! Get him home!" Harm snapped out the order. As soon as he heard Jacobs pass through the event horizon he tapped Linda on the shoulder. "You next Guns! Don't argue, go!"

Taking a knee behind a chunk of stone wall at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Gate, Harm dropped another Jaffa. The rest had slowed their approach and began to take cover behind the ruins slowing their rate of fire considerably. With a quick glance over his shoulder Harm saw Black pass through the Gate. His Team was home; down one, but at least he'd get a proper burial. Still firing at the Jaffa position, Harm allowed his mind to remember the last year. This, on top of his getting Patterson killed, caused the little voice in the back of his mind to tell him that perhaps it would be best if he died here valiantly defending his Team while they fell back through the Gate. Savagely he quieted the voice after only a moment's thought. What would it solve if he were to die on this unnamed planet, light years from home, defending a Team that was already through the Gate?

Spraying down another stream of bullets, Harm waited until the Jaffa took cover, then turned and dashed up the steps, and dove through the Gate. He acutely felt the grating of the ramp leading up to the Earth Gate as he landed on his left side causing a sudden wave of pain to shoot out from his staff blast wound. As the blackness closed in around him, he heard the disembodied voice of General O'Neill order, "That's all of them! Shut it down!" just before he completely lost consciousness.