Chapter 6:
"So, um, are you ready to go up?" Daniel asked hesitantly to O'Neill who sat silently with his back to Daniel still rooted in the chair staring at the blank screen.
"Do I really have a choice?" He asked dejectedly.
"No."
"We failed her, Daniel. I'm not sure…"
"Jack..."
"Not today, Daniel, I'm not in the mood. Just give me a few minutes."
O'Neill was not sure how Teal'c did it, but he led them to the Midgren base or what was left of it. The Volostrians had succeeded, death and destruction abound. The facility was pockmarked with blasts from the pulse cannon. Some sections of the building were totally destroyed, others looked untouched. Smoke billowed from various fires. Bodies lay strewn about.
With a sense of foreboding, they split up and began searching amongst the dead and wounded. There was no sign of Carter.
"Teal'c, come in." O'Neill radioed after he was satisfied and relieved that Carter was not among the casualties.
"O'Neill."
"Any sign of Carter?"
"None."
"Meet me around front in five minutes and we'll head inside."
They entered the building through a collapsed section of wall. The base was like a labyrinth with corridors seeming to branch off every few feet. Their decision where to search, however, was simple. Many of the corridors were impassable from fallen debris. O'Neill halted his progress gazing down one of the blocked corridors; his stomach knotted at the thought of Carter trapped somewhere is the building.
Teal'c immediately recognized the change in O'Neill's demeanor seeing the worry and fear creep into his features. "O'Neill." He stated trying to refocus his friend. "Would it not be wise to search the facility separately for Major Carter?"
O'Neill barely registered Teal'c's words. "What?" He asked looking at Teal'c still distracted. "Oh, yeah. Split up."
"I will proceed down this corridor," Teal'c said pointing his staff weapon toward a clear corridor on his right.
"Right. No left. I'll take the left," O'Neill stated diverting his attention back to the search. "Stay in radio contact."
Teal'c bowed his head in acknowledgement and started down the corridor.
"Teal'c," O'Neill called out. Teal'c stopped and turned toward him. "Be careful."
Teal'c bowed his head again.
"Teal'c," O'Neill called out once more. "Radio me immediately if you find any sign of Carter. I mean any sign."
"Indeed."
He was frustrated. He wanted to punch something, anything, anyone. He and Teal'c searched the building, door after door, empty room after empty room, nothing. No sign of Carter. Had the intel they obtained been wrong? Had the Volostrians destroyed the wrong building? Killed the wrong innocent people?
O'Neill opened the next door he came to. Weapon ready. Senses on alert. It was a darkened stairwell leading down. A cliché but promising.
"Teal'c," he quickly radioed his discovery.
"O'Neill."
"I've found some stairs leading down to another level."
"Do you require my assistance?"
"Not right now. I'll radio if I need you."
"Acknowledged."
O'Neill entered the stairwell and headed down. He knew what he would find in the bowels of the facility. The prison area, because the bad guys always put the dungeons in the basement, greeted him as he exited the stairwell.
"Teal'c," he radioed again.
"O'Neill."
"I've found something."
"I am on my way."
He started walking slowly, cautiously down the darkened corridor lined on both sides by heavy metal doors. It was unnaturally quiet. His breathing seemed as though it echoed through the empty passageway. He tightened his grip on his weapon in anticipation.
"O'Neill," Teal'c's voice boomed behind him.
Startled, O'Neill turned around quickly weapon aimed at Teal'c. "Teal'c," he said relaxing at the sight of his friend. "Next time try to be a little quieter when you sneak up on someone."
"I did not attempt to sneak up on you, O'Neill."
"It was a joke."
Teal'c raised his eyebrow in reply.
"Never mind." O'Neill raised his arms motioning to both sides of the hallway. "Welcome to the dungeon."
The search of lower level revealed vastly different results than the upper level. Door after door opened to dead prisoners, torture chambers, interrogation rooms. Dead guards lined the corridors from fallen debris. O'Neill became more desperate with each grisly scene a new room revealed.
Imagining what Carter might have gone through consumed his thoughts so much so that he almost did not notice the bloody handprints on the wall in front of him. He stared at the prints which seemed to start at the door facing him and proceed down the corridor. He then noticed the bloody foot prints following the same path. He pointed the beam of his flash light into the dark room, another torture chamber. A large beam stretched across the room where a rope hung. More rope lay on the floor beside a pool of blood. He focused his light on the floor and followed a trail of blood to the wall. Bloody prints lined the wall and floor and lead out of the room.
O'Neill's heart rate increased. Someone had recently made it out of this room. He began following the prints as if they were a trail of breadcrumbs. Each door he came to was ajar with a blood smeared handprint on the handle as if the person was looking for something. He followed the seemingly endless hallway. Room after room, the memories of the last time he saw Carter flooded his thoughts. She was so excited to have the chance to study the pulse cannon, he was happy for her.
"Yes, well, off you go to do what ever it is that you do while we guys have all the fun."
At the end of the corridor, the trail abruptly ended, much like the last communication he had with her.
"Colonel O'Neill, come in. The weapons facility is under attack. I repeat we are under attack."
"Carter, this is O'Neill, respond."
"Carter, come in. What the hell is happening?"
"Dammit, Major, report!"
His heart rate was now racing, his breathing heavy with anticipation. The handle to the door in front of him was bloodied but closed. O'Neill inhaled deeply and slowly opened the door. The room was dark like the others. He moved his light around the room. It was a storage area filled with clothes, shoes, bags, remnants of the dead. He aimed the light on the floor and tracked the blood to the rear of the room which ended near a group of wooden crates. Sitting on top of a smaller crate positioned in front the larger group was a camcorder. O'Neill knew he had found Carter.
He ran toward the crates calling out her name. "Carter." She was leaning slumped against the wall her head resting on one of the crates. He pushed the crate nearest him out of the way and dropped to his knees. "Carter," he said again with more urgency while feeling for a pulse.
"Come on, Carter." He waited for her to respond, to open her eyes, waited to hear her say, 'sir.' "Don't you give up on me, Major." He said in his best Colonel voice. "Please don't give up on me, Sam." he said again barely louder than a whisper.
Without taking his eyes off of Carter, he fumbled for his radio. "Teal'c, respond."
"O'Neill."
"I found Carter."
When Janet and Daniel arrived on Volostra, Daniel somehow managed to procure a military vehicle to transport them to the Midgren base. "Minister Hvas only needed some gentle persuasion." Daniel had told her. Truth, he held his 9mm to the minister's head and threatened the SGC would retaliate against Volostra for what had been done to the Midgren. She was convinced General Hammond would have actually done it if he had known what Daniel promised.
"Do I really want to know how you managed to get a military escort to this base after the Volostrians purportedly destroyed it overnight?" Janet asked Daniel suspiciously.
"Probably not."
"Do you know if they've found Sam?"
"No. I fell out of radio contact sometime during the night. Jack and Teal'c were still trying to locate the base."
"So we don't know if they've found it or Sam?"
"No," he responded sadly. "But on the bright side, our helpful escorts definitely know where the base is. It won't be long now," he said flashing a smile.
Two hours later the speeding transport slammed to a jarring halt in the middle of the road throwing Daniel and Janet unexpectedly to the back of the vehicle.
"Déjà vu," Daniel mumbled as he picked himself off the floor. He jumped out of the transport and ran to the front. "What the hell…" He shouted but stopped when he saw Jack and Teal'c on the side of the road hovering over a form he knew was Sam.
"Jack!" He shouted.
"Where's Frasier?" O'Neill replied to Daniel's greeting.
"In the transport."
"Get her out here, now!" Jack demanded.
"Doc!"
"Janet!" They both started yelling at the same time.
Janet heard the frantic shouts of Daniel and unexpectedly, Colonel O'Neill, and knew they had found Sam. She jumped out of the transport and headed toward the shouting. All three men were standing protectively around the still form on the ground but parted when she arrived. She dropped to her knees and immediately began an assessment.
"Colonel," Janet asked without looking up from her task. "What can you tell me about Major Carter's condition?" She was Major Carter now, not her friend, Sam.
"Unconscious since we found her. She has stab wounds to the left shoulder, right leg, and abdomen." O'Neill replied solider like. "I tried to stop the bleeding. She's lost a lot of blood, Doc." He continued, his tough solider exterior beginning to crumble. "I, I…I wrapped her leg, but her arm. It's dislocated plus the stab wound. I didn't won't to aggravate the injury so I just secured it to her…
She cut him off. "You did fine, Colonel, what about her abdomen."
"It's bad."
It was bad, worse than she could have imagined. Major Carter had lost an extremely large amount of blood. She was covered in sweat; her skin was pale and cool to the touch. Her pulse was weak, respiration rapid. She was in hemorrhagic shock.
"We need to get her into the transport and back to the gate ASAP." She ordered.
The transport raced back toward Volostra and the gate while Janet worked to stabilize Major Carter but she feared it would all be for naught, Major Carter, her friend, was dying. The three men of SG-1 looked on helplessly while Frasier worked tirelessly to save Carter.
"Colonel O'Neill?" Janet looked up from her patient. "Are we in radio contact with SG-3 yet?"
"Yes."
"Radio ahead and have the gate open when we arrive. Also have SG-3 contact the SGC. I want the OR prepped, six units of A positive blood, and 6 units of fresh frozen plasma ready when we arrive."
O'Neill began relaying the information when he heard and exasperated explicative from behind him. "Shit."
O'Neill turned around and saw Janet leaning over Carter. "Fight, dammit!" She yelled at her friend between breaths as she performed CPR. "One and two and three and four and five" She said out loud, pushing on Sam's chest willing her heart to beat, breathing air into Sam's lungs willing her to breathe. "Come on, Sam. One and two and three and four and five." The scene continued for five unbearable minutes. Finally Janet removed her hands from Carter's chest and leaned back.
"Doc?" O'Neill asked hesitantly when he noticed Frasier had stopped performing CPR.
After Daniel left, O'Neill continued to stare at the blank screen lost in his own thoughts and memories. He tried to remember the fragmented events of the previous twenty four hours. Finding Carter in the storage room of the destroyed Midgren base. Calling her name, waiting for her to respond. Blood. Carrying her, refusing to let Teal'c help until he collapsed on the ground. Daniel arriving with Janet. The worried looks. The somber words. The gentle prodding to eat, sleep. Willing her to live. The unrelenting feeling of hopelessness. Guilt
He exhaled heavily and pushed himself to his feet. It was time.
O'Neill entered the room. He immediately recognized the group surrounding the bed Daniel, Teal'c, Janet, even General Hammond, Carter's family. He did not approach, instead, choosing to stay in the shadows until…until he could be alone with her. Minutes passed. The room slowly cleared except for Daniel who remained. O'Neill appeared from the shadows and positioned himself at the end of the bed.
"I was afraid you wouldn't come," Daniel said, sensing his friend's presence. "She really looks at peace compared to…" The words drifted away.
"Any word from the Tok'ra?" he asked ignoring Daniel's comments.
"They're attempting to retrieve Jacob, but it might be a few days before he arrives."
Sensing Jack really wanted to be alone with her, Daniel offered an excuse to leave. "I'm going to go grab some coffee. Can I get you anything?"
"The last six months back." he replied softly.
Daniel nodded and quietly left the room leaving O'Neill alone. He did not move from his spot at the foot of the bed. He watched her, studied the features he had missed seeing since she was taken. The blood was gone, the signs of the beatings and torture she sustained remained, but Daniel was right, she did look at peace.
After a few more moments, he moved hesitantly around the bed and sat down. He did not speak. He did not touch her although he wished he could. He sat blaming himself for what she went through.
He did not know how long he sat by her side when he finally spoke. "Sam," he whispered. "You made it. I know you're tired, but I need you to fight a little longer. Don't give up. We need you." He paused and lightly touched her hand. "I need you."