Author's notes: All right, let's get them home... Are you ready?
Teal'c had not wasted any time. He had removed the engine from the jetpack by the time the others were finished with the radio. He moved over to the raft, with a big piece of wood and the leftover rope. He carefully positioned the engine, trying to make sure the flight nozzles would make their turns in the water the right way.
Jack gathered the radio and got up. He gently patted Daniel's shoulder.
"Great idea, Danny. Now let's get the hell out of here."
Together, they rushed after Teal'c, to help him. Daniel held the engine in place, while Teal'c tied it to the raft as tight as he could. The Colonel nodded in approval.
"This should work. It just has to. Let's get it into the water."
The three of them carried the raft to the water and Jack looked back one last time, before climbing on it. "Okay, kids, to infinity, and beyond!"
Daniel sat in front, Jack in the middle and Teal'c in the back, because he had to control the engine. He started the engine. It slowly came to life, and three pairs of eyes were waiting for the flight nozzles to start spinning in the water.
Slowly, they started to move around. And then, when they got a couple of rounds going through the water the raft started drifting.
Daniel looked at Teal'c. The man looked so calm, how did he do that? Daniel was too tense to think about it. As long as Teal'c knew how to navigate the raft, they would be fine and he seemed to be doing that perfectly.
"Hold on. I am increasing power," Teal'c warned them.
Daniel held on tight with two hands to the raft. He lay on his stomach now. He wondered how Jack managed to hold on with that shoulder. The raft bounced on the big waves of the ocean and it took all of Daniel's strength to stay on. The wind and spitting water in his face didn't help either.
Jack was also flat on his stomach. His face was screwed up from the pain, but somehow he managed to hold on too. Forced by the wind, he had his eyes almost closed. His cap was blown off his head, but he didn't care. As long as they made good progress.
Suddenly, Major Carter yelled through the radio. "Colonel! We see you approaching! Can you speed up? The waves are taking away parts of the island! We have not much longer!"
Jack looked back at Teal'c. "Give me all you got, Teal'c!" he yelled. Somehow he managed to switch the radio from receiving to sending. He calculated how fast they were getting closer and closer….
"Dial it up, Major, now!!! Clear the Gateroom!!!" he yelled through the radio.
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Sam and Major Ferreti were watching the raft. Sam didn't even now she was holding her breath. She tried to figure out how long the unstable island would hold and how fast the raft was approaching. When the waves took another big part of the island close to the DHD, she exchanged a look with Major Ferreti. This was it. They had to dial out now.
She yelled her message through the radio, and while Major Ferreti grabbed their things, she ran towards the DHD and started dialling.
She pushed the first symbol, when she heard the Colonel yell at her to dial and clear the Gateroom.
As another piece of land disappeared behind her feet, she frantically hit the second symbol. She looked over her shoulder. The raft was getting closer…
The third chevron was locked. The Stargate was trembling dangerously.
Please, please, hold on a little longer.
Fourth chevron locked. Major Ferreti could now see the three men on the raft. He could also almost see the wind blow through Doctor Jackson's hair. Fifth chevron locked. The Major jumped closer to the Stargate, as the ocean took another piece of land.
Sam looked back one more time after she had hit the sixth symbol. Close. They were so close. It should work…
The seventh chevron was locked. The wormhole established, trembling, unstable, but it was there. Major Ferreti and Sam ran towards the trembling Stargate and in the meantime, Sam signalled SG1's code to open the iris. They jumped through. Sam looked over her shoulder while she jumped and she just saw the DHD being smashed by a huge wave.
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The alarm bells went off in the Gateroom. The General ran to the control room.
"Incoming travellers, incoming travellers!" Lieutenant Graham Simmons called over the intercom.
The airman behind the control panel was desperately trying to detect a signal. There it was. "It is SG1's code, Sir!" he yelled at the General.
"Open the iris!" the General ordered. "And get a medical team to the Gateroom now!"
"Yes, Sir!"
They opened the iris. The General was watching the Gateroom through the glass from the control room. He saw the door slide open and Doctor Fraiser ran through, with two medics of her staff.
They didn't have to wait very long. First, Major Carter jumped through the wormhole, with Major Ferreti on her heels.
"Clear the ramp, clear the ramp!" Major Carter yelled, waving with her arms to signal everybody to get out of the way. The medical team moved over to the other side of the Gateroom. Both Majors jumped off the ramp too, to their right. Once out of the way, they turned around to look back.
What took them so long? Come on, they were moving fast enough, they had to make it. Sam exchanged a desperate look with Major Ferreti. Major Ferreti helplessly shrugged.
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Teal'c had turned up the engine as high as possible. He could barely remain seated, to navigate the raft. To his satisfaction, Daniel Jackson and Colonel O'Neill were holding on. He spotted the wormhole and saw two figures disappearing. Just a couple more yards, they should make it.
The raft was nearly lifted out of the water by the speed of it and the force of the waves. Teal'c was afraid, the ropes wouldn't be able to hold it all together. But somehow, they did.
He saw the DHD disappear under water. There was not much land left in front of the Stargate. Well, he didn't need that at this particular moment. He could also see the trembling of the wormhole. Last yard. Almost there.
Oh, oh.
The Stargate seemed to be falling over, in slow motion. He wasn't sure. He navigated the raft straight into the wormhole..
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Suddenly something came flying through the wormhole. High, above the heads of Major Carter and Major Ferreti. They had already recognised the raft and had spotted the three people on it.
The first one to be thrown off the raft was Teal'c. He fell backwards and landed on his back just at the beginning of the ramp.
The second was Daniel. Just as the raft crashed against the wall to the opposite of the Stargate, he was thrown off a little to the left. He hit the wall hard and was dropped unceremoniously to the floor, near the doors.
Jack crashed with the raft against the wall and ended up underneath it.
For a moment, everybody was too stunned to move. The General muttered, "What the heck…."
Major Ferreti was the first to respond. He rushed over to the raft and turned its engine off. He started to pull the remaining parts of the raft off the Colonel. Major Carter was already by Teal'c's side, checking for a pulse. A medic also kneeled beside the Jaffa.
The second medic ran towards Daniel and Doctor Fraiser tended to the Colonel. Only a couple of minutes later, the three men were being wheeled to the infirmary.
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The infirmary was a busy place. Doctor Fraiser was even busier. They had three patients to tend to, but most of all she was relieved. SG1 was home safe, and none of them was in a life-threatening situation this time.
While working on the Colonel, she overheard Sam explain to the General how close this rescue had been. She shook her head in disbelieve.
Jack was still unconscious. His bad shoulder had been dislocated again during his crash against the wall. Janet was able to relocate it at once. She would have to do a X-ray, to make sure nothing was broken. She was also worried about the shoulder-joint, that it would need surgery later on.
She cleaned the wound on his side and put him on some anti-biotics to fight off the infection. With that, his fever would come down, too.
A MRI-scan showed her no real damage to the head, so all in all, the Colonel was fine. He would probably wake up soon.
She checked the records of Daniel and Teal'c. They were both fine too, all things considered. Daniel would have a major headache for the next couple of days and he would have to be careful with his leg. He had landed on it badly, but at least nothing was broken. And Teal'c was already up, with a little help from his symbiote.
A nurse brought her the results of the X-ray's of the Colonel's shoulder and she was pleased to find nothing broken there, too. Amazing. With a huge smile on her face, she walked over to report to the General. The General was waiting for her along with Major Carter, Major Ferreti and Teal'c in Daniel's room. Daniel was awake. Sam had propped him up in his bed and they all looked questioningly at Janet.
"Well, General," Janet said. "I am pleased to inform you that SG1 is fine. Daniel over here probably has a bad headache, but there is no real damage to worry about. He will have to keep his weight off his right leg for the next 24 hours, but that is about it. Teal'c is up already, his symbiote helping him with his sprained back."
Teal'c nodded at her.
"And the Colonel is fine, too," she continued. "His shoulder was dislocated again, due to the crash, but I have fixed that. Nothing is broken and it will heal in time. The wound on his right side is infected and causing a fever, but we are treating that with anti-biotics. There is no further damage. I expect him to wake up any minute. That's it, Sir." She nodded at the General, finished with her short report.
The General looked pleased. Major Ferreti and Sam were also relieved. "Can we go see him?" Sam asked.
"Yes, of course," Janet responded and she helped Daniel out of bed, knowing that he would not stay behind.
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Jack slowly opened his eyes. It took him a while to recognise the infirmary and after that, he spotted the people waiting for him.
"We made it," he said, glad that he saw Daniel and Teal'c on his side.
"Yes Sir. It was a close call, however," Sam answered, shivering by the memory of the raft coming through the wormhole.
Jack struggled to sit up. Janet rushed to his side and propped him up with some pillows. "Easy, Colonel, don't hurt that shoulder any more."
"What happened? You guys okay?" Jack asked.
"Well, Jack. After having plane crashes, bad parachute-landings and Goa'uld-implants in your medical file, you just couldn't resist adding a rocket-flight to it, now could you?" Daniel quipped.
Jack looked up at him. "That wasn't flying, that was falling with style…."
Everybody grinned, except Teal'c, who was not familiar with Disney-movies. Yet.
The end.
That's it! Hope you all liked it. Thanks for reading, for the favs and alerts and most of all: thanks to those who left a review. You guys are wonderful. Ready for another story?