A/N: Thank you all for such enthusiastic reviews!

CHAPTER TWO – Broken Bones

Hands pulled at her clothes, groped her arms, breasts, body, ripping at her and defiling her. She was naked and cold, surprised that she had taken a moment to silently thank her captors for not raping her… yet. More hands grabbed at her arms, and she was moving now, her feet dragging along a stone floor. Then she was on a cold floor, thrown down like a rag doll, pushed up against a wall. She recoiled as hands ran through her hair. Someone forced her mouth open, and poured hot liquid down her throat. She coughed and spluttered and protested the foul-tasting concoction, the hands hit her across her face, sending her to the ground. Hands and feet kicked and beat her, and all she could do was lay there, praying, hoping… the final blow to her ribs caused her to cry out in pain – she definitely heard something break. Suddenly, she could see. The blackness was lifted as her blindfold was removed. The swirling faces of men came into view, standing over her, expressionless. She began to feel nauseous as the potion started affecting her. The men's faces smiled, swirling and twisting, the room was spinning and she was sure that she was upside down. She tried to stand, found her arms useless and then laughs rang out around the stone room. Her eyelids drooped, she couldn't hold her head anymore, and collapsed to the floor. Unconsciousness came as a relief.

They emerged at the foot of a staircase, ascending to yet another archway. Weapons poised, the trio quickly made for entranceway. They stepped out into a courtyard; hundreds of people packed the small stone square – laughing and jeering at something at its centre. Jack, Daniel and Teal'c pushed their way through the crowd, many of the natives gasping at the site of them. The mob formed a circle around their subject of interest, and as they surfaced from their suffocating heckles, Jack almost fell to his knees at the sight before them.
Tied with her hands above her head, Carter was dangling several feet above the ground, hanging only by her red-raw wrists attached to a wooden suspension beam. They had stripped her of her SGC uniform, now clad only in bra and panties, and there were bruises covering much of her arms, thighs and core. Her head hung limply on her chest, and so visibly weak that she barely even lifted it an inch to register her surprise and relief at the site of her teammates. In fact, the only sign that she had noticed them at all were the few tears falling onto her chest.
Jack wanted to cry, scream, murder every single person laying their eyes on her, and massacre the entire race of inhumane bastards. Fire surged through his veins, and he had to ball his fists to keep his body from exploding with fury. He let his P-90 fall to his side as he rushed to untie her and somehow save her from the trauma of whatever abuse had been inflicted upon his 2IC. The crowd had fallen silent and backed away from the newcomers, more out of curiosity and eagerness than fear.

"Teal'c," Jack choked out, and the Jaffa was at his side immediately. Together they hoisted Carter up, taking the pressure off of her wrists, Jack backed away and raised his weapon, carefully taking aim, and fired one shot at the ropes binding her. She fell in a heap into Teal'c's arms, and he gently lowered her to the ground. Daniel rushed forward, taking off his jacket and covering her. Jack knelt beside her, and whispered urgently.
"Carter, I need to know, SG-11?" He fought back tears as he watched her blue eyes, lifeless and without that sparkle he so loved, blink slowly; he watched her slowly draw her knees up to her chest, drawing Daniel's jacket tightly around her; he wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms – but there would be time for comforting later. "Carter," he pressed, his eyes gentle but serious.
She looked up at him, tears swelling in her eyes, "Dead," she whispered.

Jack stood and looked around at the crowd. It was then he noticed that they were all men – he could not see a single woman. He wondered if they even had women on this planet, and with a sickening realization he looked down at Carter, and back to the crowd's eager faces.

"Who's in charge?" he barked at them. They remained still, leering and trying to get a view of Carter. "Who considers yourself a leader?" he demanded again.
The crowd began to part, and a tall, fat man, dressed in thick, purple robes and decorated in dozens of jewels, rings, and necklaces, emerged. He walked proudly toward them, smug with an air of fury about him. He glared down at Carter, and then said to Jack, "I am Chancellor Rubin. And that is my woman."
Jack grabbed him by the collar, but couldn't hoist him off the ground due to his enormous size, "Who the hell do you think you are?" he spat, his eyes wide and rage coming from every pour in his body. Suddenly, he pulled his sidearm and pushed it into the man's neck.
"Jack!" Daniel rushed to intervene, "Jack, I know. Don't you think we should find out why – "
"I think it's fairly obvious why, Daniel," Jack did not remove his eyes from the belligerent man before him.
"Jack, there's no way we could make it out of here."
At least two-dozen armed men had formed a circle around them. Slowly and reluctantly, Jack released the Chancellor, and took a step back.
"Men," Rubin nodded to the guards. They marched forwards, disarming Jack, Daniel and Teal'c. "Take them away."
Jack shrugged off the hands that grabbed at him, grunting about being capable of walking on his own. He knelt down beside Carter, pulling her arm around his neck, sliding his around her waist - careful to keep her covered with the jacket. He could feel her shivering.

The guards escorted them out of the courtyard, down several flights of stairs – they must have been well below the ocean floor at this point – and led them through a thick, solid door that was bolted several times. Before them lay a long, dark, cold corridor with twelve heavy doors on either side. They were led down to the very last door on the left hand side, and forced inside. The cell was small, a tiny square window several feet above them provided the only light, and there were no seats or benches to speak of. As the guards slammed and bolted the door shut behind them, Jack shouted for information – but they stalked off down the corridor.

Carter was sitting on the floor, leaning against the furthest wall from the door. Jack looked at Teal'c and Daniel, "Find a way out of here," he ordered angrily, and they began studying, prodding and pushing the door to no avail. Jack hesitantly walked over to Carter and sat beside her.
"They gave me something," she said quietly, without looking at him.
Thankful that he didn't have to initiate conversation, and that she was actually able to talk to him, he glanced at her.
"A hot liquid, or something. I was blindfolded," she spoke in a soft monotone, reluctant to recount what exactly had happened, but feeling an intense need to be close to somebody, for somebody to understand what had happened. She felt ashamed, used, dirty, and as though her own body was a mistake. "It made me sick… dizzy, weak," she continued and her voice quietened, "They beat me."

He felt that surge of fury he'd tried to suppress earlier, felt a desperate need to protect and comfort her… making everything go away and undo everything that had happened.

"Women are only used for breeding here… I was supposed to be bought by one of the men out there. They didn't want to breed with me… I was just to be killed for being useless," her voice was so quiet now that Jack had to watch her lips move to be sure that she was really saying the words, "I'm not from here, after all."
Jack didn't know which was more degrading: being paraded around in front of hundreds of men to be sold off for killing-rights, or not even being worth rape and torture. "SG-11?" he asked quietly, keeping the conversation between them as Daniel and Teal'c sat on the opposite wall.
"I guess they thought I was theirs, or something. They were a threat," she hung her head, Jack knew she was blaming herself for their death and their current incarceration.

Not sure what to do, what would be too invasive or uncomfortable for her, Jack placed his hand on hers, curling his fingers into her palm and giving it a light squeeze. The smallest of smiles flashed across her face and she gave a gentle squeeze in return. He let his hand stay there, resting intertwined with hers on her left thigh, for quite a while.

He was suddenly very resentful of her, how she allowed him to look at her and touch her, all the while still with Pete. An ache in his chest pounded, angry that he'd let his thoughts stray away from the situation, and he slowly removed his hand from hers.
He didn't see the disappointment in her eyes.

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading!Reviews are greatly appreciated! =)