CHAPTER EIGHT
Three miles away, under cover of darkness, four men and a strange looking giant metallic bug emerged from a glowing circle of water. As the men emerged, two immediately crouched and ran to take flanking positions on either side of the stone ring that supported the water. One followed closely behind the giant bug, turning his head rapidly from side to side and scanning the perimeter, and one just stood and shivered on the steps of the stone circle, but only for a second.
Burke shook his head a tiny bit, realizing his bizarre little trip was over, and he, too, hit the deck. He located O'Neill, the new guy named Reynolds, and the techie Siler within seconds. The travel may have been something right out of an old science-fiction movie, but now this was just another mission, and that he could do. He didn't know these two new men, but Jack seemed to trust them, and that was enough for him. Besides, an occasional insubordination and lack of respect for the wishes of senior officers to the point of disregarding orders and attempting an ill-conceived and likely unsuccessful rescue bumped them up several notches in his book. He was glad to have the help.
The group vacated the area around the Stargate as quickly as possible, and found a heavily wooded area to conceal the MALP and their gear. Reynolds, O'Neill, and Burke geared up with enough ordinance to take out a fortress and prepared to head out on the hike that would take them to the location where it was believed SG-1 was being held.
O'Neill spoke briefly to the others and then turned to the remaining man.
"Siler."
"Sir."
"You stay here. Set up a defensive perimeter with Claymores and C-4. I know it's just you, but you have to hold the gate. Do whatever you have to do. Understand?"
"Yes, sir. I'll be here, sir. Holding the door open for ya."
"Back in a flash, Siler."
"Yes, sir."
As Siler began to unpack what he would need, the other three men began the walk that hopefully would take them to SG-1.
XXX
They marched mostly in silence, only using the briefest of commands when absolutely necessary, and hoping like hell no one had noticed the active wormhole in the darkness. Night was their friend now, and Siler's, too, but if someone had seen the Stargate activate, they were all in trouble. This whole party would be for nothing.
They covered ground quickly, and before long the trio reached their destination: a cluster of single story buildings surrounded by low brush. The place wasn't exactly Fort Knox, but it was functional enough as a prison. Fancy technology wasn't always better in terms of security, and this place had old school safeguards in spades. The buildings were clustered around a wide open courtyard, and tall towers rose from each corner of the yard, presumably to house guards. All of the buildings were far enough apart to minimize dark passageways and tight corners. The brush was cleared away from the compound for at least 30 yards in all directions, thus minimizing the chance of an undetected approach. Anyone coming in was unprotected while crossing that no man's land of bare earth. The first streaks of light were starting to creep up the horizon. Without knowing precisely how long nights were on this planet, Jack had guessed as best he could, and for now, things seemed to be going his way. He had wanted to arrive just before dawn, when activity would be lowest in most prisons in the galaxy. Some things never changed.
As the men crouched in some low bushes at the perimeter of the compound, Burke and Reynolds exchanged worried glances. They might have been strangers to one another a short time ago, but both were seasoned combat veterans, and both didn't like something they were seeing.
O'Neill was nervous. Worried. Jumpy. He didn't look like a man who had done this more times than should ever be allowed in any one lifetime. He looked like a new recruit. New recruits make mistakes. Mistakes get people killed. Both men knew this one was personal to Jack, but neither wanted to broach the subject with him. The two younger officers held each other's gaze for innumerable seconds, then finally Reynolds flicked his eyes and head away and toward Jack's back ever so briefly. Burke shook his head negative ever so slightly, but then his eyes moved from Reynolds to Jack, too. He sighed and bit the metaphorical bullet.
"Jack?" Burke spoke quietly and laid one hand on his friend's shoulder.
As expected, O'Neill jumped and looked suddenly at Burke like he had forgotten he was there.
"Hey, Jack, buddy, calm down. We'll get 'em, ok? We'll get 'em."
Jack shook his head as if to clear it and seemed to come back to his senses from an imaginary world of death and loss. "Yeah. Sure. Ok. Let's do this."
Reynolds and Burke shared one last worried glance and then turned to Jack to decide how they were going to go about actually getting into the son of bitch in front of them.
XXX
The decision was made for them. After slowly working their way around the 'back' of the collection of buildings, it was pretty obvious which one had been used most recently for containment of 'guests'. Most of the buildings seemed to be vacant, like this was a long forgotten camp, but footprints showed in the dirt by the doors of two structures, and one was definitely quarters for the prison personnel. As luck would have it, there was a door on the forested side of the building of interest. It was too good to pass up, and Jack, Burke, and Reynolds sprinted across the gap in cover one at a time, under each other's watchful eyes. Fingers were tight on triggers, waiting to lay down cover fire, but none was needed. Their approach went seemingly undetected. That should have been their first clue that things were not going to go well, but as there appeared to be no other way in, the three men tried the door.
It was locked, of course.
The three men knew it was time to announce their arrival. O'Neill looked at the other two for confirmation and when he received two nods back, he stuck a wad of C-4 on the door and stepped back to blow it wide open. Fifteen seconds later, three men from Earth ran through a fiery hole in the wall and took up cover positions inside.
Good thing, too. All hell broke loose the second they were in. The locals apparently had expected this. Weapons fire broke out all around. There were staff blasts, bullets, and zat discharges flying around all at once. These people were obviously scavengers of technology, using whatever they could steal from their victims.
Suddenly, Reynolds' voice rang out above the cacophony.
"GRENADE!!! FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!"
Burke and O'Neill immediately took cover. Reynolds launched three grenades in rapid succession into the crowd of hostiles.
That much firepower was more than the enemy group could handle, and for just a moment, after the explosion, all was eerily quiet. O'Neill was the first to recover from the nearby blast.
"Alright people, let's move. We don't have much time now that they know we're here."
Reynolds casually stepped over a body and started to follow Jack, but Burke didn't move. After a second, his voice weakly reached the other two men.
"Jack?"
"Yeah?" O'Neill turned to look at his friend, thinking he'd just caused another good man to die.
"I'm hit."
"How bad?" Jack retreated two steps and knelt beside the younger man, while Reynolds kept watch for any more hostiles.
Burke just smiled a sad little grin. "I'll live, but I'm not up to snuff for this. I'll slow you down. You have to leave me."
Jack clenched a fist in frustration. "Dammit, Burke, get up! We can't leave you here."
Burke looked up with murder in his eyes. "You can, and you will. Go! Save your friends. I've got your six. GO!"
Jack looked down at the clean bullet hole in his friend's leg and knew Burke was right. There was no way he could keep up. "I'll be back for you, I promise."
"Just GO, Jack. Go!"
Burke shoved O'Neill backward with one hand as he yelled.
Jack looked sadly at his old comrade for a second, then handled Burke a second sidearm before taking off at a dead run, never looking back. Reynolds followed.
Command decisions are a bitch.