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Chapter 11
- P3X-747
After Sam and Logan woke up, they had broken up camp in a matter of minutes. They'd refilled their water-bottle, and headed east.
The sun was climbing, and got hotter with every hour.
Logan had tied his jacket around his waist, and Sam's bare arms and shoulders were burning.
'Carter,' Logan said, and handed her the water-bottle.
He had started to address her by her last name, and as a result, she had begun calling him 'sir'.
The command-structure was more apparent now that Logan was ranking officer.
'Thanks.' Sam said as she accepted the bottle.
They still weren't as formal as they should be.
'Do you have any idea how far we are from the village?' She asked.
'Not a clue. I don't even know if we're going in the right direction.' Logan answered.
'Alright, come on. We'll take five.' He added and stopped.
They sat down beside the path, against a tree to get some shade.
'You know, actually it's quite beautiful…' Sam said.
The path went along the edge of a steep ravine, and they had a spectacular view of the rivers and forest below them.
'Shame it's so badly accessible.' Logan agreed.
'Alright, Major,' He got up again.
'On your feet. We have a long road ahead.'
'Yes, sir.' Sam said as she too got up.
'By the way…' She said as they started walking.
'When were you about to tell me what that thing was with the President?'
'I was hoping you forgot.' Logan smiled as she caught up with him.
'No way.'
'Alright,' Logan began.
'I was on a mission in Italy. Black Ops. While I was there, the First Daughter happened to cross my path.'
'The daughter of the President of the United States?' Sam asked unbelievingly.
'That one.' Logan confirmed.
'She was there on holiday. Now, by chance, I witnessed a local terrorist-group kidnap her. So, I followed them, rescued her and that's that.'
'You rescued her and that's that.' Sam repeated.
'Somehow, I don't think it was that easy. What about the Secret Service?'
'They weren't there. Apparently, the girl snuck out and got to the airport undetected. She was on a plane before anyone found out.'
'You are kidding. You are so kidding. Why doesn't anyone know about this?'
'No one knows, because I'm not kidding. This information is very classified, Carter; can you imagine if it was public knowledge that the First Daughter could run off to another country without anyone noticing? But anyway, I brought her back to her father, and he said he owed me one. And apparently he thinks the SGC is a good place for me to be, or else I wouldn't have been stationed here.'
'Then that's a good thing, or we would never have met.'
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That afternoon they stopped and rested for the second time. They had managed to refill the water-bottle along the way.
'I'm exhausted.' Sam said, sweat gushing off her forehead. They had been forced to walk the entire day with the sun over their heads.
She took a large gulp of water.
'Has the SGC's labs made you soft, Major?' Logan asked teasingly.
Her skin was gleaming, and her tank-top was soaked. She was breathing heavily.
He wasn't doing any better, beat himself, but too proud to admit it.
He did have a large headache, ever since noon, which he figured was about 5 hours from now.
'This reminds me an awful lot of survival-training.' Sam said.
'But I've faced tougher things then this.'
She passed the bottle to Logan and was about to stand again.
'Sit, Major, we have time.' Logan said.
He took a sip of the water.
Suddenly, they heard movement ahead.
They looked at each other and both took out their pistols.
'Who would be out here?' Logan whispered.
'Maybe we're closer to the village then we think. Maybe they're searching for us. Maybe someone lives out here, who knows.' She answered.
'Alright, come on, let's take a look.'
They both got up and moved cautiously towards the sounds.
Then they heard voices. But it was in a language Logan had never heard before.
He took a look at Sam to see if she knew. The look on her face told him enough.
'Trouble?' He whispered quietly.
'Goa'uld.'
'Damn.' He had heard and read enough about them to be worried.
He signalled that they'd retreat quietly.
Suddenly a voice behind them startled them.
They turned around and saw a Jaffa-warrior standing in front of them, surprised at first.
But he quickly regrouped himself, and raised his staffweapon.
Without hesitating, Logan shot him once in the head.
As the Jaffa fell, he took the staffweapon and followed Sam back to the place where they'd stopped to rest.
'What the hell are they doing here?' Sam said.
'You're asking me? Did you recognize the symbol on their heads?' Logan replied.
'No. I've never seen it before.'
They were standing on the road again.
'It won't be long until they find us.' Sam said.
The moment she said it, a group of six Jaffa was coming down the road.
Sam had her last clip in her Beretta, and loaded the weapon.
'How does this thing work?' Logan asked.
Sam looked as he was fiddling with the staffweapon.
'I don't know, just press the button!'
'What button?'
Suddenly, the weapon activated and fired a bolt, hitting one of the nearing Jaffa in the stomach.
'Oh, that button.' Logan commented.
The Jaffa were now returning fire and drawing closer.
Sam was emptying her gun, and Logan was getting the hang of using the staffweapon.
They dodged blasts from the Jaffa, but managed to overpower all six.
However, they already heard another group coming from the opposite direction.
'Quick!' Sam yelled, and she ran to the dead Jaffa. She crouched down behind them, and took two zat's.
'Here.' She gave Logan, who had followed her, a zat.
'First shot stuns, second shot kills.' She said.
'Alright.' Logan said.
He looked at Sam to see how to fire a zat.
Two Jaffa were coming their way, firing their staffweapons.
Sam fired her zat but missed.
Logan tried to fire his, but the thing didn't do anything.
He tried again, and got it to open, but it still wouldn't shoot.
Meanwhile, Sam was almost hit by an energy-blast.
Frustrated, Logan threw the weapon away, drew his Glock 24, and opened fire.
The two Jaffa fell, but were immediately replaced by two more, who both started firing their zat's and staffweapons.
Sam shot one of them with her zat.
As she tried to get the other one too, Logan saw movement from the corner of his eye. One of the Jaffa from the first group wasn't dead yet, and he was aiming his zat at Sam.
Logan put a bullet in his head, took the zat'nik'tel from his hands and hung it on his belt.
Then he heard Sam yell.
She had been hit by an energy-bolt.
Logan quickly shot two Jaffa with his staffweapon, and went to check on Sam.
Her right upper-leg was one bloody mess. Logan hoped it looked worse then it was.
'Hold on, Sam, there's only one more.'
Logan turned and aimed his pistol, but the Jaffa was quicker. His zat-blast hit Logan on his hip.
He was blown to the ground, and Logan's gun fell out of his reach.
Luckily, the blast had hit most of his jacket, which he still had around his waist, so it didn't hurt as much as it should.
The single Jaffa now came gloatingly towards them.
Logan saw him smiling, standing over Sam who could do noting but crawl away. He teasingly raised his staffweapon.
Logan grabbed the zat from his belt and took aim. The Jaffa looked at him startled, then Logan fired.
This weapon failed as well.
Amused, the Jaffa now aimed the staff in Logan's direction.
With the weapon inches from his face, Logan reacted instinctively and grabbed the head of the staff. He jammed it backwards with all the force he could manage, and threw the damned zat after it.
The surprised warrior went down when his own weapon hit him in the face, and fell next to Sam.
Sam had now reached her own pistol, and when the Jaffa hit the ground, she fired her last bullet into his head.
Logan got to her after making sure there weren't any more Jaffa coming.
'I can't do anything here.' He told her.
'I'm going to carry you into the woods.'
The pain in his side was already fading, and he picked the Major up. She groaned when he lifted her, swung her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him.
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They were in the woods, away from the Jaffa. At least, he thought they were.
Logan had put Sam on the ground, with her back against a tree.
He had also brought their weapons, a zat and the staffweapon.
'Alright, I'm going to take a look.'
Logan drew his knife and began opening up the hole the blast had torn in Sam's pants, cutting the fabric open from her knee to her groin.
Sam took a swig of the scotch he had given her.
Logan took the water-bottle, and cleaned the wound with the little water they had left.
'Alright,' He said.
'The energy-blast did some damage. I'll have to disinfect.'
He took the liquor from her, and poured some over her leg. He felt her shake, but held her leg tightly.
Then he dressed the wound, and bound her cut pants together with two pieces of bandage.
'Major,' He said.
'Do you have any bullets left?'
'None.' Sam replied.
Logan checked his own magazine. It was also empty.
'I have one more clip.' He took the last clip from his pocket, and loaded the pistol.
Then he handed it to Sam.
'Take this. And the zat.'
He took the staffweapon himself, and slid the knife back behind his back.
'What are you going to do?' Sam asked.
'I'm going to find out where those Jaffa came from.'
'You can't do that. It's too dangerous.'
'Sure I can. I have to do something. We are going to be here for a while. You are in no condition to walk. I want you to stay here where it's safe.'
'Safe?' Sam said sceptically.
'You know what I mean. I'll be back as soon as possible.'
He took the jacket from his waist and gave it to Sam.
'Put this on. And stay quiet. It's going to get dark soon. That will help your cover.'
'Just find out where they're from and get back here, Logan.'