Disclaimer: I still don't own Stargate.
Author's Note: Just in case you forget, intars are the modified training weapons from "Rules of Engagement" and "Proving Ground" that look like the real thing but actually shoot non lethal energy.
Thanks to Zylstra for the review and the correction. I thought I had my loose/lose problems sorted out, but apparently not. Good call.
MuseUrania, Sam had the shortest chapter because I'm running out of ideas. I tried for weeks to come up with more stuff that would give Sam trouble because she didn't have a voice, but none of my ideas were any good.
Chapter 4: Teal'c
SG-1 and SG-3 were sitting across from each other at the table in the briefing room, glaring at each other. Normally, these teams got along very well and had saved each other's butts on numerous occasions, but now they had been issued a challenge.
Most people on base agreed that it was pointless, but the Air Force required that all personnel undergo training missions at least once every six months. It just so happened that SG-1 and SG-3's turns came at the same time, and General Hammond had just informed them that, while they couldn't face any alien enemies with the sore throat virus still floating around the base, they would be fulfilling those regulations by butting heads with each other in a game of capture the flag.
"Are you sure about the capture the flag idea, Sir?" Jack asked carefully. "Doesn't it sound a bit…"
"Juvenile?" supplied Colonel Reynolds, commander of SG-3.
"Yeah," Jack finished.
Hammond smiled. "You will be armed…"
"Armed, Sir?" Jack asked, a look of concern crossing his face. Reynolds caught his eye and sent him a mocking look. "I mean, I'm just worried about taking SG-3 out of commission."
"Armed with intars," Hammond finished.
"Oh," Jack said. "Well, all right then."
"Suit up," General Hammond finished. "You leave for the Alpha Site in half an hour."
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When the two teams reached the Alpha Site, Colonel Riley, commander of the Alpha Site, escorted them to their playing field, explaining that the flags and boundaries had already been set up. They parted company at the red dividing line and SG-1 set off through the hilly and forested terrain in search of their flag.
"Excellent place for a picnic," Jack said when they found their flag in a small clearing at the base of two low hills. "Carter, hide up on one of those hills and shoot anyone who tries to take our flag."
"Yes, sir," Sam replied, still a bit hoarse. She'd only regained her voice that morning. Without another word, she turned and jogged up the nearest hill.
"Daniel, come with us back to the boundary and try to keep Reynolds and his boys from getting across," Jack continued as the three remaining teammates started walking back the way they'd come.
"They're Marines, Jack," Daniel protested.
"So?" Jack said with a shrug.
"So I'll get shot before I even see them coming," Daniel pointed out.
"Hide up in a tree or something," Jack suggested. "Maybe they won't think to look up there."
"Oh, brilliant idea," Daniel muttered.
"Teal'c, you're with me," Jack said, turning to the Jaffa.
Ordinarily, Teal'c might have taken the opportunity to voice his opinion on the subject, perhaps suggest that Major Carter might be better suited to patrolling the border while Daniel Jackson defended the flag, but he was thwarted by the same thing that had prevented him from questioning the purpose of this capture the flag game back in the briefing room: he had no voice to give to his opinion.
Teal' wasn't especially troubled by the disappearance of his voice although it was a bit inconvenient considering the circumstances. He didn't often feel the need to speak he'd correct the problem as soon as he had the time to Kel-no-reem anyway. However, for the time being, Teal'c could only bow his reply.
"Great," Jack said, leaning to his radio and pushing the button. "SG-1 is ready."
"Copy that, stand by for SG-3," Riley replied over the radio.
Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c had reached the boundary before SG-3 pronounced themselves ready.
"Took you long enough!" Jack shouted to the surrounding shrubbery.
"SG-1, please remain on channel one, SG-3, please move to channel five," Riley commanded over the radio. "The game will begin at the flare."
A rocket spiraled up into the air, leaving an orange trail behind it, then exploded above them. Without another word, Jack and Teal'c darted across the boundary and into the underbrush.
They got separated a few seconds later when someone from SG-3 heard them and began firing red bolts of energy in their direction. Jack continued running recklessly forward, but Teal'c hung back and ducked behind the nearest boulder. He paused for a moment, listening to the gunfire and footsteps then lifted his modified staff weapon.
"Teal'c, where are you?" Jack's voice fizzled over the radio.
Teal'c glanced down at his radio then fired his staff weapon a few times, earning a satisfying yelp from the troublesome Marine.
"Never mind," Jack said.
Teal'c continued searching for the flag, aided greatly by a trail of footprints he found leading into the forest.
"Colonel, this is Carter. Be apprised that a member of SG-3 has made an attempt on the flag, but he didn't make it very far."
"Good work, Carter. Teal'c got one, so that leaves us with two. Daniel, what's your status?"
After a few seconds passed with no response Jack tried again. "Daniel?"
Still nothing.
"Marines must have gotten him."
"Should I go check on him, Sir?"
"Negative, hold your position. Teal'c and I are still going after the flag."
Teal' tapped the talk button on his radio show that he had heard and understood and continued tracking his quarry. He didn't have far to go before he caught a glimpse of the flag standing at the top of a high open hill.
Teal'c stood still and listened, trying to determine where a guard might be hiding, but such an obstacle could be neither seen nor heard. Slowly, Teal'c ventured onward, but before long Jack came running forward on the other side of the hill, effectively nullifying all of Teal'c's attempts toward caution.
Without giving it a second thought, Teal'c broke cover and joined Jack's assault. This tactic had one advantage: there was no question now about where the guard was hiding. He stood up from behind a large bush in front of the hill and aimed his gun at Jack. The red bolt of light winged the Colonel and he tripped, but a second later the guard was rendered unconscious by a far larger bolt from Teal'c's staff.
"Go for the flag!" Jack shouted as he pulled himself painfully to his feet.
Teal'c turned and raced up the hill, warily watching for a second guard, but apparently there was none and he retrieved the flag without incident.
"Carter, have you seen the fourth man?" Jack yelled into his radio as he met Teal'c at the bottom of the hill, limping slightly on a numb leg.
"Negative, Sir, no activity here."
"He must be back here somewhere," Jack muttered. "I'm not keeping up with you like this, Teal'c. Go for the boundary, I'll watch your back."
Teal'c nodded and sprinted away, but before he'd gotten very far a red bolt of light overtook him, striking him in the arm. He nearly dropped the flag but managed to hold on to it and awkwardly shifted it and his staff weapon so they were both in the same hand.
"I'll handle him," Jack shouted. "Keep going!"
Teal'c continued running, but aimed a shot at where the opposing fire had come from anyway. Thirty seconds later the red boundary line was in sight and he bounded across it.
"SG-1 wins," said Colonel Riley said over the radio.
Jack ran up behind Teal'c and patted his shoulder. "Nice work."
Teal'c bowed his thanks.
"I wonder what happened to Daniel," Jack said, looking around.
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SG-1 and SG-3 were forced to endure several hours of critique in the briefing room back at the SGC. SG-3 wasted no time demanding a rematch and Jack was only too happy to challenge them "any where, any time."
SG-1 had hardly been able to contain their smug looks, all except Daniel, who had been discovered after half an hour of searching, unconscious and draped over a low tree branch near the boundary. He still had a red welt in the middle of his forehead.
When they were finally released, Jack dragged Teal'c into the nearest hallway.
"You couldn't talk for that entire time, could you?" he demanded.
"Indeed I could not," Teal'c replied.
Jack jumped, apparently not expecting Teal'c to have regained his voice already. In fact he looked a bit annoyed.
"You are disappointed that you did not get the opportunity to taunt me," Teal'c inferred.
"Well, yeah," Jack admitted.
"My symbiote has healed me," Teal'c explained as he bowed and turned to continue down the hallway.
"Well good for it," Jack yelled after him.