Chapter Twenty-five

"War zone?" Sam repeated. "This changes everything."

"It certainly does."

"We need to leave now."

"Yeah...wait...what?"

"If we're going to make it through a war torn area we need to get there while I can still fend for myself."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"If I am pregnant in a few more months I'm going to have trouble walking, let alone evading enemies, and we'd have just as hard a time once the child was born. Our window is closing, and we can either risk staying here for a few months to make sure I'm not carrying and risk not being able to leave at all or we go now."

"Samantha, this is insane, we can't go to Ketch now."

"Of course we can. Jack, beyond two pretty faces what are we?"

"Completely screwed?"

"Soldiers, Sir, we're soldiers and we are trained for this."

"We're trained to have weapons, and back up, and surveillance, and a plan, and..."

"And since when did either of us depend on any of that." Sam smiled. "Come on, Jack, we practically have a map to the Stargate, we can go home."

"Home..."

"I'll buy you a beer when we get there."

"Deal."

Sam tackled Jack in a bear hug. They laughed together and exchanged and excited kiss. When released Sam reached up onto the desk and grabbed one of the pen like stylus. Taking the book she started to draw the Stargate directly onto the picture. After studying for a while, looking at the way the ground curved and the way the plants in the area grew she started to draw the DHD.

"You think that's where it is?"

"The DHD tends to be on the right hand side when facing the Gate and I think I can see the outline of the buried steps here. Nothing large is growing in the soil in this somewhat circular shape, which could be due to the magnetic field the power crystal gives off disrupting plant growth."

"We'd better bring some shovels."

"If we can pick a DHD out of a solid block of ice with a field knife I'm confident we can dig this up."

"We still need to get to Ketch."

"That's probably going to be the hardest part."

"Harder than hacking our way through a war torn jungle?" Jack asked skeptically.

"Can't be any worse than a Goa'uld mother ship and we've slipped out of a few of those."

"I vaguely recall that life."

"Military training is just like riding a bicycle, it'll all come back."

"There is going to be no back up, no second chances, we screw this one up..."

Sam stopped her drawing of the DHD and looked up at Jack. Putting the book down she moved closer to sit beside him. Jack forced a smile, but she could tell he didn't mean it. She took his hand in hers and looked directly into his eyes.

"Jack, now that I know for a fact that the Stargate is there, that there is a real chance of getting home, I'm ready to risk everything to get back. However if you don't feel the same I will happily make a new life with you here, but I can't live with false dreams of going home. We need to make the decision to try to get to the Stargate or never mention it again and make this our new home. What's it going to be?"

Sam hated to put the weight of this decision on Jack's shoulders, but she couldn't make it on her own. He didn't answer right away. She could see him weighing out the options and the chances. For a moment Sam was afraid that he was going to back out, that he would rather live a prisoner of the house than take the chance. Jack suddenly got an old familiar gleam in his eyes, the one he used to get just before they went ahead with a plan where the line between stupidity and bravery was drawn by success.

"I have your word on that beer?"

"Girl Scout's honour."

"Let's go home."

Sam was excited enough to be dropped in the middle of a battle with little more than a pocket knife and be fully confident of being the one to come out alive. Jack poked at the clumsy device that Sam had been working on putting together.

"What about this thing?"

"I could get it working, but it will be large and heavy. Best to not bother."

"Any chance of making some sort of weapon?"

"Uh, probably, but there are plenty of guns and such already on this planet. We just need to get our hands on some."

"Then let's go talk with Tai."

Sam nodded and got to her feet. Jack gathered up the book and together they went down stairs. Tai and Ser'in were both out on the porch chatting together. When Sam stepped out onto the stone patio the dragons both turned a worried expression towards them.

"Ja'ck, please, no Ketch. Home here."

"I'm sorry, Tai, it just doesn't work that way." Jack said.

"We found the Stargate." Sam informed.

Sitting down in between Tai and Ser'in Sam asked Jack for the book. He handed it to her and she opened it to the last page that she had been scribbling on. Tai seemed exasperated to see another drawing of the Gate. Sam didn't blame him, she'd been obsessing over her drawings of it more and more as time went by.

"Look here, in the tree."

Tai gave her a doubtful look and then took the book away from her. She pointed out the exposed Chevron. He traced his pointed fingernail over the outline of the alien device embedded in the gigantic tree. Sam was ninety-eight percent confident that there was enough damage to the tree to establish a wormhole and the way the tree had encased it shouldn't keep it from spinning.

"I sight it." Tai admitted.

"It can get us home."

"It get you death."

"Samantha and I can take care of ourselves." Jack said firmly. "We are not asking you to come with us, just help us get there."

"No!"

Tai snapped the book shut and stormed inside the house. Sam sighed heavily and soon found Ser'in's hand on her shoulder. Ser'in gave her a sad look. Sam forced a smile to reassure her that she didn't hold Ser'in responsible for any of this.

"Ser'in talk Tai."

"No." Sam shook her head. "Just leave him alone."

"Carter..."

"One more week, if we can't convince Tai to help us in one week we'll strike out on our own. Sound like a plan?"

"No, a plan usually has a well thought out series of events. However, I think it's an excellent start to a plan."

"Good."

Over the next five days Jack and Sam did their best to talk Tai into at the very least to take them to the same continent that Ketch was located on. He remained determined to talk them out of their plans. It took him some time to find the words, but Sam eventually understood that he didn't want to be responsible for sending them to their deaths.

Everyone was sitting down at dinner, but no one was talking. The constant pleas for help were taking their toll on everyone. Jack had even asked Ser'in if she knew of any zoos in or near Ketch that they could be sold to. They'd either try to escape along the way or find a way out once they were there. Either way it would get them closer to the Gate. Sam and Jack weren't particularly hungry and both were just pushing their food around.

"You doing alright, Samantha?"

"I afraid to leave on our own. I don't think we'll make it."

"Honestly I don't think so either."

"If it wasn't for the ocean in the way I'd say we'd have a chance. But I can't think of anyway to cross it without help."

"I think we need to seriously consider waiting. Wars aren't forever, maybe in a few years Ketch will be safe again."

"Maybe." Sam said sadly.

"This is silly, it wasn't long ago that we were having the exact same argument."

"We were just on opposite sides." Sam sighed.

Jack nodded and nudged at her shoulder in an attempt to get her to smile. Sam did force a smile, but her heart still felt heavy. It was starting to gnaw at her that she couldn't decide if she was pregnant or not, something she felt would help make this decision to stay or leave. It was one thing to only risk her own life, another to risk the life of someone who hadn't even had a chance to be born yet. She felt she had gained enough weight back to start cycling normally, but had shown no signs of a monthly bloodletting. It either meant she truly was pregnant or still just not healthy enough for such things.

Tai and Ser'in hadn't eaten much either and were watching the pair. Ser'in turned and started talking to Tai in a soft voice. She wasn't any more thrilled about Sam and Jack leaving, but seemed more open to the idea than Tai. The fire dragon was just about to respond to her when there was a sudden cracking noise that sounded enough like gun fire to get Jack and Sam's attention.

"What was that?"

Before Tai could answer he pushed himself away from the table violently enough to cause several glasses to topple over. He scrambled to his feet and ran over to a large painting. The noise repeated itself, it sounded to be coming from deep in the jungle surrounding the house. Sam noticed with alarm that Tai jerked nervously each time the noise repeated.

Tearing the painting down from the wall Tai revealed a smooth metal panel set in the stucco wall. He passed his hand over it to reveal a colour coded lock which he quickly punched the combination into. The metal slid back and revealed a recess in the wall that contained a single long barreled rifle.

"Tai?" Ser'in asked in concern.

"What's going on?"

"Yersta!" Tai barked. "Stay!"

There was another shot fired off in the jungle and Tai went tearing out the door with the gun in hand. Jack jumped up and went to follow him when Ser'in grabbed on to his arm to stop him. Jack twisted out of Ser'in's grip but she scrambled to block him from going out the door.

"Ser'in, out of the way."

"Kak! Plea'see, stay!"

"What the hell is going on?"

"Not know!" Ser'in cried in distress.

"Ser'in," Sam said calmly "let us go, we can help Tai."

"Tai want stay. Danger?"

"Trust us."

Sam flashed Ser'in a warm smile. The dragon was on the edge of panic and didn't know what to do. The sight of the gun had clearly taken her by surprise. When there was the sound of more gunfire off in the distance she stepped aside. Jack and Sam wasted no time and ran off into the darkened jungle.

Sam had been right and they both slipped right back into their military training. Jack flashed her hand signals she hadn't seen for more time than she cared to count, but she knew exactly what they meant. It took a while to find their way, however, as they came closer to the source of the sound they spread out to flank on either side of the commotion while still keeping each other in sight.

There were six darkly dressed dragons in a small clearing that had surrounded Tai. He seemed to have quickly lost the gun he'd been armed with. Sam spotted it on the ground about five feet away from the cover of the edge of the clearing. There were two other large animals on the ground, both of them dead with three men quickly working to remove their horns and hides.

The three other dragons were concentrating on Tai. Two of them tore his shirt off and tied his wrists behind his back with the tattered cloth. Tai cried out in pain as the third dragon hit him in the face with the handle of his rifle. The blow brought Tai down to his knees. The deep purple dragon with the rifle pressed the muzzle of the gun against Tai's throat.

"Tai, retis mer nakat?" The dragon asked in a casual tone.

"Ire'sta!" Tai spat as an obvious insult.

The dark dragon pulled his lips over his teeth in a snarl of rage and kicked Tai hard in the stomach. With his hands behind his back Tai lost his balance and he fell to the ground. The two dragons that had restrained him began to beat him viscously.

Jack was on the far side from the gun so he made motions for Sam to go for it and get the leader under control. Sam nodded and after quickly taking in everyone's exact position she slunk out into the clearing. She was unsure of how to fire the weapons she'd grabbed, but that didn't stop her from getting the long barreled muzzle against the deep purple dragon's temple before anyone realized she was there.

"Drop it." Sam snarled.

Everyone, including the three that were hacking at the carcasses froze solid. Even with the language barrier it was clear what Sam wanted. The deep purple turned just his eyes to Sam to see who his sudden assaulter was. His eye opened wide at the sight of the human with the gun against his head. He slowly went to put the riffle down, but Jack had snuck up on his other side.

"I'll take that." Jack said as he took the weapon. "Carter, how the hell do you fire these things?"

"I have no idea."

"Okay, bluff it." Jack trained the stolen weapon on the two that were still crouched over Tai. "You two, over there."

Jack made his point clear by motioning with the weapon. The dragons slowly raised their hands, staring at Jack like they were hunters being held at gun point by a deer. The reptiles by the dead animals started to slowly move towards their own guns.

"At-at!" Sam snapped and nudged her captive with the muzzle. "Tell then to stay still."

"At tris u'las." The purple dragon ordered and the others held their positions.

"Tai?" Jack asked. "Tai, get up."

Tai groaned in pain and tried to get to his feet. He had been badly beaten and when he moved he coughed up some blood. Tai got to his knees, but was unable to get any further. Jack circled around so that he could keep an eye on everyone. When he did so one of the two dragons he was keeping his gun trained on nudged the other in the ribs.

"Kak es taka." The dragon whispered.

"Carter, bluff called!" Jack barked, having basically understood the lizard. "Bring them down!"

Sam switched her hold on the gun and used it as a bludgeon. The purple dragon was not expecting to be struck across the temple and was instantly dropped to the dirt by the powerful blow. The two dragons that Jack had been holding off leapt to their feet to attack. Jack did a similar move as Sam and cracked one across the bridge of his wide nose causing him to stumble back with his hands over his face as bright red blood poured from his nose.

The other managed to grab the weapon before Jack could strike him. However the dragon made the fatal mistake of grabbing the weapon between Jack's hands rather than on the outside of them. Because of this Jack was easily able to use the dragon's grip to spin him around and then jerked the riffle up against his throat, pining him to Jack's chest.

The other three had rushed at Sam but after she'd taken one of them down with a jab to the throat the remaining two were now hesitating to attack her. Sam took an aggressive move towards them and they dropped their knives and fled into the dense jungle. The alien that had the broken nose ran after them.

The dragon Jack was holding stopped struggling and peacefully put his hands behind his head. Jack released him and pushed on the back of his knee to let him know what he wanted. The frightened reptile went all the way down and laid face first down in the dirt with his hands still behind his head. The dark purple dragon was coming to and groaned in pain. Sam walked over and put her bare foot down on his chest to keep him from thinking about getting up.

"Not bad, Carter. I'd say we've still got it."

"Three got away."

"I doubt they'll be coming back anytime soon."

Jack risked leaving the dragon on the ground for a moment. He walked over a fallen back pack and rummaged around it until he came across some cord. He used one of the dropped knives to cut it into three pieces and tossed one to Sam. She forced the leader's hands behind his back and tied them there tightly. Jack did the same with the other two before releasing Tai.

"You alright, Tai?"

"Da...da...dak..." Tai stuttered.

Looking around at the carnage Tai didn't seem to understand what had just happened. He gapped his mouth a few times to speak, but never came up with the words. When his eyes fell on the slain animals tears slipped down his face. Pitching forward on his hands and knees he started to retch violently. Sam looked down at the beautiful coats of the dead creatures.

"Poachers?" Sam asked.

"That's my guess."

Tai whimpered pitifully and laid down on his side. Jack noticed the blood on his lips and put down the gun. He carefully gathered the fire dragon into his arms and stood up. Sam came over and ran her hand gently over the swelling on Tai's chest.

"I think he had at least one broken rib." Sam noted.

"We'll get him back to Ser'in."

"What about these guys?"

"Just leave them for now."

Sam nodded and after picking up all of the weapons she could find she followed Jack back towards the house. Ser'in was pacing back and forth in the living room and cried out in alarm when they brought in the bloodied Tai. Jack took the injured dragon upstairs and laid him down on the bed.

"Hang in their, Tai." Jack smiled. "I'm sure Ser'in can fix you up."

"Ja'ck..." Tai said breathlessly. "Gala...thank you."

"Kak nestre, don't worry about it."

Tai moaned as Ser'in came up and pressed a cold rag against the deep cut in his temple. She quickly inspected the damages and hustled off to get the supplies that she would need to stitch him up. She looked as though the matter was urgent, but not an emergency. Sam walked over to the far side of the bed and sat down. Tai looked over at her and flashed her a smile as she took his hand.

"Saman'tha...thank you."

"Re gest, you're welcome." Sam smiled.

Tai looked up at Sam and then over at Jack. He reached out to take Jack's hand. He brought both of their hands up to his chest and over his heart. Struggling to stay awake he once again looked at each them in turn.

"Ja'ck, Saman'tha," Tai panted "Tai take to Ketch, take to home."

"You'll help us?"

"Vivies...promise."