The Trap
Chapter Five – The Great Escape
By Arrietty
What remained of SG-1, plus Jonas and his team moved swiftly through the tunnels. Sam was amazed at the carnage that Jonas and his team had left behind. Sam eyed the five man team, noticing that one of the members that had been injured had already bound his arm and it didn't seem to be bothering him. She recognised a good team here, one that she could rely on in a fight. In fact it was good to be able to relax and share the responsibility of getting them out.
'Colonel O'Neill will get a kick out of seeing Jonas here.' The thought had come unbidden to her mind, making her heart go cold as she remembered that Jack was no longer alive. Suppressing the tears that threatened to fall, she drew in a deep breath, mentally shaking the image of Jack's death from her mind, before asking Jonas why he was here.
Jonas quickly filled Sam and the others in while they moved through the tunnels.
"We heard that Hegron had access to a powerful new weapon, that he was having trouble deciphering how to use it. We couldn't let him get hold of it, or there would be no stopping him."
"How did you find out?" Sam whispered back.
"Our archaeologists found ancient texts that gave us the address and detailed plans of this very old fortress and how to get to the weapon. We did not want it to come into the hands of any Goa'uld's, so we came here to retrieve it."
"Well, I am glad you did. By the way, how much of this underground fortress have you seen?"
"Not much yet, but we did find a sarcophagus. That was when we were caught and had to fight our way out. Unfortunately, the sarcophagus was destroyed in the fire fight."
As soon as Sam heard the word sarcophagus, she looked up hopefully, 'maybe Jack is all right after all'.
"What other prisoners have you seen?"
"We have been to all of the cells, there were two unfortunates in one cell and I believe one of yours in another, but he was quite dead. I think I remember him from the SGC. Dwight, was that his name?"
"Yes, it was," Sam replied simply.
"But there weren't any others, apart from the three in your cell with you." Jonas continued walking along and then stopped in his tracks. Turning around he smiled broadly at Sam. "But there was one person I saw briefly. Your dad, Jacob Carter. I think he is deep undercover here as he seemed to be working for Hegron."
Sam's head shot up and stared intently at Jonas.
"Really?" She found herself smiling in return. This was great news.
Daniel quickly caught up to Sam and Jonas. "Did I hear correctly that Jacob is here?"
"Yes, Daniel you did."
Daniel was pleased to see Sam smiling, even if it was only a sad smile.
Jonas continued with his narrative. "I have a feeling that Jacob is after the same thing that we are. So it looks like we are sharing it after all." Jonas continued walking. He didn't seem bothered by the fact that they were going to share the weapon and in fact he looked quite pleased at the prospect.
Teal'c, who had taken point, quickly stopped in his tracks and looked around him. Doran who was directly behind him, also quickly scanned the area for hostiles. They could just hear the echo of booted feet along one of the tunnels that led into theirs.
Immediately, they motioned the others into hiding. It wasn't hard as there were many stalagmites to hide behind. Some of them were twice the height of a man and twice as wide. Some even reached to the ceiling where they had joined the stalactites in the middle. As they stood quietly behind the stalagmites and calmed their breathing, they could hear the steady plop of the drops of lime. The sound of the Jaffa was getting louder and louder as they drew near to the hidden group.
As the first of the Jaffa came into view, Sam managed to suppress the gasp that she nearly released. Her father, Jacob Carter, was leading the group. He carried a large heavy box in his arms and was flanked by six Jaffa. Keeping very quiet, they crouched down, trusting that they wouldn't be found. Just then, Daniel who was behind a rather skinny stalagmite moved sideways so he couldn't be seen, but slipped on the wet stone. Falling over he crashed to the ground, with a loud oomph.
Immediately, they sprang out from their hiding places shooting down the enemy, before they had a chance to react. Jacob dropped the box he was holding and pulled out a zat and aimed it at the first person he could see. Fortunately, he did not fire, realising his aim was directed at his daughter, Sam.
"Dad." Sam quickly moved towards her dad and squeezed his shoulder, pulling him after her as they started to run down the tunnel.
"Sam . . ." Before he got to finish his sentence, a shot rang out and a bullet ricocheted off the rock beside her head. Jacob slumped to the ground at her feet. Hegron had turned up with more Jaffa.
"Teal'c," she called. "Help me."
Teal'c moved forward and lifted Jacob effortlessly into a fireman's lift. Weapon fire was whistling past their heads as they ran down the tunnels. One of Jonas' team members fell to the ground as Hegron expertly used one of the filched P-90's. Suddenly, Hegron's new-found P-90 ran out of ammunition. Without missing a beat, he threw it aside, picked up the fallen Kelownan's rifle and continued firing it with deadly accuracy, killing another member of Jonas' team.
After running across a small bridge that stretched over a thundering waterfall, they were able to get to safety by ducking down a narrow tunnel that was ill lit at first and then petered out into blackness. They stood quietly trying not to breathe too loud as they heard Hegron and his noisy Jaffa run passed the tunnel entrance. When it was quiet, Jonas and his two remaining team members promptly switched on their flashlights.
Sam moved up behind Teal'c and borrowing Jonas' flashlight, quickly checked to see if her father was still alive. Sam was thankful to see that he was breathing. The wound on his head was only a graze, minor compared to what she first thought. Even so, it had been enough, especially after falling heavily onto the rocky ground, to knock him out.
Daniel had taken the flashlight off Doran to free up his hands, so he could carry the box that Jacob had been carrying. Knowing that they had no time to find out what was in the box now, they continued on down through the twisting tunnels. They were fully aware the only way out was up, but they had no choice, but to go down.
After several hours they stopped to take a break, slumping down onto the rock hard floor. Teal'c gently laid Jacob's still unconscious form down before joining the others. They sat still for a few minutes catching their breaths. Vernon, the field medic from Jonas's team, was the first to move, quickly seeing to any minor injuries they had sustained before checking on Jacob. Sam waved off Vernon as he started to tend to an abrasion on her head.
"Please, see to my Dad first. He should be awake by now."
Vernon nodded and turned to Jacob and found he was still unconscious.
"Looks like he has some broken ribs and arm," Vernon commented. He pulled supplies from his pack and set to work. He splinted his arm and strapped his ribs to give some comfort.
"No wonder he is still out, Selmac must be healing him." Daniel commented.
After the short, but necessary stop, they carried on down through the narrow tunnel. At one stage, Teal'c had to put Jacob down, so he could squeeze through the gap, while Doran fed Jacob carefully through the gap to Teal'c.
Finally, they came to a large cavern. They found a large pool of still water that reflected the light from their flashlights. One lone flaming torch was wedged in a fissure in the rock face. The flame was beginning to go out as it was running out of fuel. On the ground beneath the torch, lay a body. It was clearly dead as a knife protruded from his chest. The sightless eyes of a Jaffa stared up at Daniel as he bent down to see who it was.
Sam leaned over Daniel's shoulder and said quietly, "I wonder who killed him."
The rest of team fanned out, raising their weapons in defence of the unseen foe.
Even though Sam had spoken quietly, her voice echoed around the large cavern, increasing in volume. When the sound stopped, she heard another voice echoing around after hers.
"Sam . . . Sam . . . Sam. . . Sam . . . am . . . am . . . am . . ." until it petered out to quiet.
Looking around at the others, looking shocked, she mouthed her next words.
"Who said that?"
They all in turn shook their heads. Then it came again.
"Sam . . . Sam . . . Sam. . . Sam . . . am . . . am . . . am . . ."
Quickly snatching Daniel's flashlight off him, she walked to the water's edge. She had seen a movement, very slight, but there had been a movement. Someone was there. She knelt down beside a body. The others couldn't see who it was, but Sam knew who it was.
"Jack," she whispered, so it wouldn't echo around the cavern.
She was elated to see him alive, but his injuries were severe. His arm hung at an awkward angle and blood was matted in his hair and ran down the side of his face. She noticed that his T-shirt was in ribbons and the bottoms of his trousers were tattered. And where his boots and socks had gone, she had no idea. His feet were bloody and ragged, his boots long gone.
Twisting around to call Vernon, she found that all of the others were right behind her, peering over her shoulder and she hadn't even heard them come up behind her. Turning back towards Jack, she smiled at him.
"Carter. Is that really you?" He closed his eyes briefly and then opened them again.
"Yes, sir, it is." He let out a sigh of relief. She had called him 'sir', now he knew that he wasn't dreaming anymore. His relief was short lived as he remembered Jacob. How was he going to tell her?
He was relieved of that duty for now as people moved around him, carrying him away from the water and settling him onto blankets. While someone checked over his injuries, he let his mind drift in the comfort of knowing that his team was now safe. The sound of them talking was gently lulling him to sleep. Hissing, Jack jerked his feet away.
"Easy, sir. It's okay. Vernon's just taking care of your feet." Sam spoke calmly, placing her hand reassuringly onto his good shoulder. All semblance of sleep had disappeared now as he felt his feet being bandaged.
"Sir?" Opening his eyes, he looked up at Sam. "We need to set your dislocated shoulder." Nodding faintly at Sam, he prepared himself for the pain that he knew would follow.
Vernon, with Sam's help quickly reduced the joint. The pain was excruciating as the ball slipped into its socket, but the relief afterwards outweighed the initial pain.
Sam talked to Jack quietly while they checked over his injuries, handing the necessary items to Vernon as he worked. Thirty minutes later Vernon was finished and they started to remove the rest of the wet clothes from his shivering body.
Jack felt helpless as they dressed him in some of Jonas' spare clothes, grimacing from the pain as they inadvertently touched his injuries. Afterwards wrapping him tightly in blankets to try and get some warmth back into his body. As the feeling began to come back into his body from the warmth, all the injuries came to life as they started to throb with pain.
He opened his eyes as someone spoke quietly to him.
"Jack, did you kill the Jaffa?" Daniel asked.
Jack quietly nodded his head at Daniel, unwilling to speak.
"How did you get down here?" he asked
Jack drew in a deep breath and promptly wished he hadn't as he went into a fit of coughing. Daniel and Teal'c moved forward helping Jack into an upright position.
"I needed water . . . thirsty." He spoke quietly after the fit subsided.
Leaning back against the hard smooth surface of the limestone walls, he let his eyelids fall shut. Sam had already filled him in on who was there, while fixing him up. He was relieved that Jacob was all right and was really pleased that Jonas was here, even though he wasn't going to let him know that.
Sam shot a look across at her dad, then back at Jack. Earlier, Jacob had woken up, briefly assuring them that he would be up and around shortly and then had promptly fallen back to sleep.
Sam noticed how damp Jack's head and shoulders were as he rested against the water soaked walls. She sat down beside him and gently pulled him across to lean on her, so he would stay dry. She was concerned that he was still shivering slightly, even though he was bundled up in most of the spare blankets and Jonas had heated up some kind of hot drink to give him. It smelt a bit like chocolate. Jack opened his eyes briefly, looked at Sam then shut them again and then fell into a troubled sleep.
It was five hours later and there wasn't much change in Jack. He was now lying right across Sam. She was in a semi-reclining position, basically still trying to keep him warm. She had lost the feeling in one leg and one arm long ago and mildly wondered how severe the pins and needles were going to be when the feeling came back. Sam was more concerned about Jack, his breathing was laboured and he was still restless in his sleep. When Jack had woken briefly a couple of hours ago, he had had trouble speaking clearly. Vernon was concerned at how slow his pulse was and his skin was cool and clammy to the touch.
Sam noticed Vernon was talking heatedly with Jonas in whispers. The sound echoed around the cavern, but she could not make out what they were saying. She then noticed Jonas say something to Vernon and it looked like he was agreeing with something. Turning, Vernon quickly walked over to his pack and pulled out a small vial and came over to where she was sitting. Jonas followed more slowly and he didn't look very happy.
"What's going on?" she asked quietly.
Vernon hesitated for a second before speaking. "We have something that will enable Colonel O'Neill to walk unassisted. In fact he will be able to function normally, just like he would if he was well. Um . . . except he won't be able to use his left arm still."
Sam felt some hope. "Why didn't you mention this bef-" She trailed off as she looked at Jonas' thunderous face. "What are the side affects?" she quickly asked.
Jonas interrupted Vernon as he tried to speak. "The side affects can be severe. The worst one is death. One in a thousand can die if they take this drug." He waited for the information to sink in, before he carried on. "And of course, that is with Kelownan's I have no idea at all what it will do to humans from Earth."
Jacob who was now awake and had been talking quietly with the rest of the group, stopped talking, stood up and walked over to see what was happening.
"How long does it last?" Jacob asked. By now the entire group had risen, followed Jacob and were listening to what Jonas had been saying.
Jonas gave a questioning look at Vernon to answer the question.
"Ten hours give or take an hour."
"What happens when it wears off?" Sam wanted to know.
Jonas drew in a deep breath before replying. "This is why I do not recommend this course of action. Sometimes, well in fact most of the time, they go into cardiac arrest. If we give this to Colonel O'Neill, we have to make sure that we are back at the SGC at least seven or eight hours later. I am not sure that his body can take that amount of punishment."
Sam spoke quietly. "I don't think he will last much longer like this either. Not here anyway."
Just then Jack opened his eyes. "I am here, ya know," he stated quietly. "And I plan to go on for a bit longer, not dead yet."
Sam was sure that she saw Jack's eyes twinkle as he spoke. "Sorry, sir. Yes, sir."
Jack groaned as he moved to sit up, but fell back heavily onto Sam, his strength failing. "So, Jonas, tell me more about this stuff."
Jonas sat down beside Jack telling him more about the drug. Vernon would interrupt and dispute what Jonas had said, mainly because Jonas was not painting a pretty picture about this stimulant. It was apparent to everyone that he did not want Jack to use it at all.
"It is in its very early stages of trials and I would not recommend it unless it was an emergency."
"And this isn't an emergency?" Jack spoke back quite loudly, so it reverberated all around the cavern. "How long will it take to work?"
Jonas looked very displeased at the question. "Well if it doesn't kill you first, within the first half hour after taking it."
"And, how long before it wears off?"
"Anywhere between nine and eleven hours, approximately and it depends on lots of things. Well that is the point, we don't know. Only a few Kelownans' have used it."
"You said that one in a thousand die of it." Daniel accusingly stated.
Jonas shook his head. "Not me that was Vernon." Turning his head he looked pointedly at Vernon to explain.
"Well…800 have used it and one died, but he had a bad heart and was over thirty-five years of age."
"Exactly my point." Jonas stated referring to the age.
Jack ignored Jonas and tried to sit up again, but just didn't have the strength to do it. "Okay, Vernon, give it to me. I'm no use like this and it will help your little experiment too."
"Sir?" Sam couldn't stop herself from speaking as she didn't want to see him die again. Jack looked up at her intently, telling her with his eyes to let this go. She gave a brief nod to him and helped him sit up.
Vernon had scuttled off and was heating something over his little camp stove.
"I hope it's not that excuse for coffee that you gave me earlier." He looked pointedly at Jonas.
Jonas grinned. "That was actually chocolate, well the closest to what we have on Kelowna."
Jack rolled his eyes and gave a brief grin to Sam, who was now rubbing her arm and leg as the blood began to flow painfully back into her limbs. "You all right, Carter?" he asked.
"Yes, thank you, just getting the blood flowing again, sir." All the time she spoke, she was smiling broadly at him and he smiled back in kind.
Just then, Vernon came across with a steaming cup of 'chocolate' as Jonas called it. In front of them all, he poured the vial into the cup and handed it to Jack.
"I have mixed it in with this as it tastes most vile."
"Oh, so the drug will improve the taste of the drink then?" he asked hopefully.
Jonas was still not happy with what Jack was doing and neither was Daniel, but one – Jack O'Neill had out voted them. When Jack wanted his own way, he usually got it.
Once Jack had been handed the cup everyone, apart from Sam and Vernon moved away. They had to come up with a fail safe plan, before Jack was on his feet again. While they waited for the effect of the stimulant to work, they planned out between them the best way to retrieve the weapon and escape Hegron's fortress.
Jack was having trouble getting the stimulant down, gagging on the foul tasting potion. But finally it was all gone and Vernon trotted off with the empty cup.
Teal'c approached Jack and held out his combats boots to him.
"You will need these, O'Neill."
O'Neill stared at the boots for a moment, before replying to Teal'c's offer.
"No offence, Teal'c, but won't you need them?"
"You will need them more than I and he won't be requiring his boots anymore." Turning and looking pointedly at the dead Jaffa lying a little distance from them.
Jack nodded. "Thanks, T."
Teal'c carefully put them down beside Jack and walked over to retrieve the boots for himself.
Sam picked up the combat boots and started to put them on Jack's feet.
"Hey." Shaking his head. "I can do that. Just wait a bit, okay?"
Placing the boots down by his feet, she nodded, smiled and sat up by him, patiently waiting for the stimulant to work. Vernon had said that they wouldn't see any signs of it working for at least fifteen to twenty minutes. The rest were busy packing things up and checking their weapons.
"Carter?"
"Sir."
"When I woke up here earlier, before you came, I saw stars, millions of stars all around me. Was I dreaming?"
Sam smiled. "No, sir you weren't. They were glow-worms. They live in deep dark caverns on Earth too. The light attracts little insects and they have a sticky thread that hangs down below them. So when the insect flies towards the light they are then trapped by the sticky thread. It is a very clever trap really."
"Oh." He was silent for a little while and then spoke again. "How do you know this?"
"I saw them in New Zealand when I was down visiting some friends a long time ago. They have caves very much like this one down there with glow-worms. I recognised them when I saw the threads hanging down. Sound makes them put their lights out. I think it is a defence mechanism. It will take a long time of silence before they switch them on again."
"The lights went out, when the Jaffa arrived earlier. That is how I knew he was coming as it got dark where he walked."
"What happened when he came? Did he injure you further, actually," as she suddenly seemed to realise something, "how did you get these injuries?"
Jack sat silent for a while, then very softly started to speak and related his tale.
"That snakehead, Hegron, revived me in the sarcophagus. Then he decided that he wanted to know everything about Earth etc. etc . . . When he told me that Jacob was dead, I just had to get out of there, I couldn't stay any longer. Hegron led me to believe that you were all dead days ago; Jacob had been my one last hope. So I got away, I jumped into the river. Wow that was one wild ride, next time I want to wear safety gear and have a raft though." He smiled. "Somehow or other I managed to pull myself up onto the bank down there and this Jaffa came in. Boy those guys make a lot of racket don't they?" He asked rhetorically. "Anyway, he saw me and tried to kill me, it was. . ." he stopped speaking for awhile and Sam didn't push him, just let him think about it before he continued.
'Jack grabbed the Jaffa's wrist that held the knife. His left arm useless to defend himself as the Jaffa gripped tightly around his throat slowly choking him. Jack found an inner strength and rolled the Jaffa over onto his back, while he banged the Jaffa's knife welding hand against the rough rock. He could hear the bone crack in the knuckles as he smashed the arm to the ground. Immediately, he began to breathe freely as the Jaffa released the tight grip on his throat.
They then rolled over and over fighting to reach the knife that had fallen away from them. Both men were only able to use one arm as they rained blows upon each other. Finally, Jack managed to reach the knife and he quickly brought it up and plunged it into the chest of the Jaffa, killing him instantly. Jack lay still, gasping for breath, his whole body ached and sharp pains wracked his chest as he gulped in air. After a while, he found he was thirsty, he had to get some water into him. After tumbling down the waterfall and being pummelled in the stream, he never thought he would want to drink water again. He had to crawl to get back to the stream bank. Painfully pulling himself along with one bruised and bloodied hand, dragging his injured shoulder and trying to get a grip with his damaged feet on the rough ground. Finally, he reached the water and drank his fill. Then, the next thing he knew, he could hear Carter's voice echoing around the cavern. At first he welcomed the sound and then a ghastly feeling came over him as he thought he was dreaming again.'
Shaking his head slightly to dispel these thoughts, Jack carried on speaking. "Well the Jaffa was getting something out of the rock face and then saw me and tried to kill me. There was a sort of scuffle and well . . . he lost." He shrugged his one shoulder that wasn't injured and smiled at Sam. "Have you found out what it was?"
"Yes, sir. It was a Goa'uld communication device. We don't know who he was trying to contact yet, but we will soon."
Jack nodded quietly and then started to look around him. Very slowly he started to sit up and began to stretch his back and limbs.
Vernon shot across the cavern when he saw Jack moving around. "No . . . No . . . No . . . No . . .! Colonel O'Neill, you mustn't do that."
"Why?" He looked pointedly at Vernon. "It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Yes . . . yes I know, but you still have muscle and tissue damage and if you use it, it could do irreparable harm." Reaching forward he quickly bound up the arm so Jack couldn't move it. "How does the rest of your body feel?" He asked smiling and nodding at the same time.
"Good," came the reply. "In fact, this is excellent. I haven't felt this good in ages." He slowly stood up, started to sway and then promptly sat down again. "Erm . . . well, maybe not." Then he glared at Sam who was hovering over him like a mother hen. Shooing her away with his good arm, he sat still for while and then stood up again and this time he was successful.