Chapter 9 – Finding A Stargate – S.O.S.

Jack, Aeryn, and Crichton all take their leave of the Moya crew and departed using the tel'tak. The nearest Stargate was only a few systems away. No more than ten minutes by hyperdrive jump. Jack pointed out that Moya would have taken the same trip easily, but it would have taken her several weeks.

As they traveled, Jack spent the time pointing out how easy it was to fly the tel'tak. Crichton explored the navigational side of the view screen as they made their way to the planet with a Stargate. All too soon, they arrived at the planet and came in towards the Stargate.

As they passed over the Stargate, Jack noted that eight Jaffa seemed to be guarding the Stargate. He told the others to arm up, but because of the problems with the Ori, they might not attack. He flew a short distance away from the Stargate before landing, to provide some cover, just in case.

The Jaffa had seen the tel'tak and were approaching it cautiously.

Jack armed up with a couple of zats and went to the door and exited.

"Stay hidden until we know how this will play out," Jack said to Aeryn and Crichton.

"Understood," Aeryn nodded. She took a staff weapon and headed to high ground behind the tel'tak. Crichton just nodded and stayed behind the tel'tak with a zat.

Jack slowly approached the edge of the tel'tak, "Hey, guys," he called around the edge of the tel'tak just before he showed his face.

"Kree," yelled the leader of the group. "You will surrender you vessel now."

Jack peeked out from behind the tel'tak, "Not gonna' happen. Why are you guys attacking innocent folks who want to use the gate? Why aren't you fighting with the Free Jaffa?"

"The Free Jaffa are falling to the new false gods. We will not be enslaved again," the leader responded and then fired on Jack's position. Several more volleys of staff blasts were fired as well.

"Damn cowards," Jack swore under his breath. He turned to Crichton, "Crichton, go around back and see what you can hit." Then he looked up the hill and shouted, "Sun, take 'em out."

Before long, Aeryn was firing at the Jaffa and had scored direct hits on two. Crichton was able to hit two more with the zat before he had to take cover in some rocks. With their forces split, the Jaffa had a hard time concentrating on Jack's position and he was able to take out three with the zat before taking a staff blast in the shoulder. Aeryn took out the last Jaffa as he tried to finish of Jack when he was hit.

The whole fire fight lasted no more than a minute. Jack rolled up to his feet and zatted each Jaffa three times after disarming them.

"Crichton, collect the weapons." He was cradling his injured arm as he stared at the Stargate for a few minutes. Then he headed back to the tel'tak. He came back with a jury-rigged radio. "Alright, kids, let's go call Earth."

Jack walked slowly over to where the Stargate was located. He was getting tired and his injured shoulder was really bothering him. He paused by the DHD for a minute to regain his strength. Then he examined the symbols and found the unique one for the planet they were on. Then he dialed Earth and pressed the dome.

The Stargate began to rotate and lock each chevron in place. Finally, the seventh symbol locked and the Stargate 'kawooshed'. "That just never gets old." He told the other two.

Crichton was fascinated by the Stargate. "It really is a stable wormhole?" he asked.

"Yup," Jack replied off-handed, his focus on the radio. He began to tap out a code. 'Bip-Bip-Bip-Beep-Beep-Beep-Bip-Bip-Bip' then he paused for a count of five and repeated it again, then again.

Crichton had allowed his attention to wander back to Jack, "Did you just send and SOS?"

"I did," Jack replied. "This radio only transmits a break and static. No voice."

The Stargate shut down leaving just the empty ring.

"Wait, I thought we were going to go through?" Crichton asked in confusion.

Jack shook his head. "No way. We know how to protect our Stargate from unwanted visitors. If we just walked through, we would splat on the iris and they would be none the wiser."

"Iris?" Aeryn asked.

"Yes, shield that keeps material from forming on the other side of the wormhole. Since wormholes are one way, the micrometer space is not enough to form matter. Hence, splat. It was a very effective shield from the goa'uld and is effective against the Ori ground troops. They can still come by ship, but that takes resources." Jack was tired and his fatigue was starting to show.

"How long until they respond?" Aeryn asked, her concern for him showing.

"Depends. A few minutes, a few hours," Jack replied, waving his good arm.

"Then you should get some rest," Aeryn stated with authority. "John, bring the ship closer."

"Okay, if it takes more than a few minutes. I could rest my shoulder a bit," Jack replied. He really was exhausted.

By the time Crichton had repositioned the tel'tak closer to the Stargate, Earth had still not responded. Jack cautioned Aeryn and Crichton that more Jaffa may be around and to seal the tel'tak until Earth contacted them.

Aeryn helped Jack settle back into his cot in the storage area of the tel'tak. She gathered supplies and began to clean the wound. Jack passed out when it was halfway clean. She quickly cleaned out the rest of the wound to avoid doing it while he was awake.

Crichton was startled when the Stargate burst to life with an active wormhole.

"Aeryn, they are contacting us," Crichton called back to the cargo area.

"Go talk to them, John. Jack has passed out from the pain. I am going to finish cleaning this wound," Aeryn's voice drifted forward to the flight deck.

"Got'cha," he replied.

Crichton took a zat and immediately went out to the active wormhole. He was surprised to see that it had disgorged a mobile robot. The robot trundled forward a bit and Crichton finally noticed the camera sweeping around the area and stopping on him.

"This is General Landry of the SGC. Are you the one who contacted us?" a disembodied voice asked him.

"I'm John Crichton. I'm actually not the guy who called you, Jack did. But he was hurt. Aeryn is cleaning his wound and he sort of passed out," Crichton rambled. "We were waiting for you to call us back because the radio we have doesn't really work. That's why Jack sent the code," he gestured back to the tel'tak. "We weren't sure if it was going to take hours, so Aeryn went ahead and started cleaning the wound. Sorry about that."

"Alright. Stand by," the voice said.

A few minutes passed while Crichton waited in silence, fidgeting. Finally, the voice came back on, "Looks like you need some medical assistance. Head to the Tok'ra Homeworld. It is three days by tel'tak. We'll have a team meet you there. SGC, out."

The red light faded on the camera and the wormhole blinked out. Crichton felt bereft. He had been so close to going home. He sighed and trudged back to the tel'tak.

Crichton entered just in time to hear Jack grumble at Aeryn to just leave it alone. "I'm back.

"Thank goodness," Aeryn said with a sigh.

"So, where are they?" Jack asked, looking around.

"Um, who?" Crichton asked back.

"The team the SGC sent to verify who we are?"

"Oh," Crichton looked down, "They didn't send anyone, just a robot. They told us to go to the 'Tok'ra Homeworld' and it is three days from here. What is a Tok'ra?"

"Oh fer crying out loud," Jack grumbled as he stood up and walked to the navigational chair. "That is the Tok'ra Homeworld. And it is three days from here. Crap." He looked back at Crichton, "They really only sent a MALP?" Jack set the navigational computer to take them to the Tok'ra Homeworld and then changed seats to the pilot seat.

"The robot? Yeah," Crichton replied.

"They know I hate the damn Tok'ra why would they send us there? Of all the stupid damn things to do. Did you tell them that I sent the damn message?" Jack asked as he distractedly raised the tel'tak and started it on its course.

"Yeah, I said Jack sent the message, not me," Crichton said.

"Just Jack." Jack replied. "Damn. They thought it was a trap. Of all the mother loving…" His voice faded. "Fine. Tok'ra it is."

As Jack flew the tel'tak, Crichton and Aeryn had noticed beads of sweat forming on his brow. Finally, Aeryn had enough and demanded that he lay down and rest his shoulder. He only agreed if they would wake him for a shift to fly the tel'tak. They agreed and he went to lay down. Crichton check on him a few minutes later to see that he had again passed out from the pain.

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