Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or themes in this story that are affiliated with the television series Stargate Sg-1 or Stargate Atlantis or the movie Stargate. Or any other show…Witness if you will…squat (in reference to owning anything)
Every time the trees rustled, the travelers jumped and raised what weapons they had. Two zats and a sixth sense that could tell when someone was approaching, but otherwise they were sitting, or rather walking, ducks. Jack was having a hard time; the staff blast in his side made it hard to move, so both Martouf and Daniel had to help him along. Three different moons were not enough through the thick fans of leaves hanging above them. But nevertheless, they had made much progress. The fugitives had walked nearly eight clicks when they ran into the jaffa patrol.
"Down!" Martouf whispered when he saw them. They ducked behind a fallen tree and the men held their Zats at the ready. Various shouts in Goa'uld serenaded them, most of them ending in 'Kree', but they died out after a moment and the pounding of their feet slowly disappeared.
"Alright, let's go." Daniel coaxed, his voice lowered.
"Kree! Jaffa-" Jack silenced him with his zat gun. As they had hopped over the log, a jaffa left behind by the patrol called his comrades back. That particular jaffa was downed easily by Martouf's shot, but five staff weapons were already firing in retaliation.
"Run!" They dodged through the trees, avoiding many staff-blasts that instead ended up burrowing holes in the oak.
"Jacob, we need a ride right now!" Jack said as they ran, ducking from another blast.
"Are you ten clicks yet?"
"I don't know, but it's not gonna matter if we die before we get there!" He shot another zat blast over the back of his head.
"Okay, I'm coming, hang tight." Jacob replied shortly.
"Easier said than done!" Jack yelled into the microphone, pulling River out of the way of an enemy Zat-blast.
"There's a clearing a few hundred feet north of you. You have to get there, I can't get the cargo ship through the trees!"
"Can we make it?" River asked, her voice shaking.
"Absolutely!" Jack assured her, though he barely believed it himself. "Lets run for it right… Now!"
Their lungs seemed to burst with every yard they gained, but the clearing was in sight, and Jacob's ship was lowering into it. Daniel pulled River along using all his strength when suddenly she wilted to the ground. He stopped for mere seconds, thinking she had just lost her footing, but he could smell the burning flesh of the staff blast that had hit her in the back. Daniel pulled the girl into his arms and carried her, trying not to touch the wound. In the clearing, he fell to his knees, collapsing under her weight and from pure, unadulterated, exhaustion.