MEMOIRS OF
MAJOR GENERAL JACK O'NEILL
(Re-activated)
2. Foe
Chapter One
By Arrietty
2008
I wanted to take La Haia to a planet where there wouldn't be any nasty slave traders, Kull Warriors or Goa'ulds. I asked around before we left. I wanted to go to a 'safe' planet. Fortunately, I had found one, it was similar to Ellatha, but had a few more technological doohickeys. Hopefully, I'd find some things that would awaken Sam Carter within La Haia's mind.
The farewell on Ellatha wasn't too sad; they were used to my comings and goings and knew we'd be back some day. La Haia kept her feelings about leaving to herself.
We arrived through the Stargate without a hitch. I had to admit travelling without Meadow certainly made life a whole lot easier. Once again, the Stargate was situated in the middle of a market place. Tall grey buildings surrounded a large quadrangle, which was lined with numerous market stalls selling their wares; anything from fruit to doohickeys which should have kept Carter happy for hours. La Haia strolled right past a stall, heavily laden with technology and straight to a clothing stall. I couldn't contain an audible sigh, I'd hoped, just a little that she would want to check out the techno stuff.
"La Haia," I called her back to the tech stall. She turned and walked to where I was standing.
"What are they?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. I was hoping you'd be able to tell me."
She picked up a small gadget and turned it over in her hands. "I've no idea, Tzak; I've never seen anything like this before. Don't you know what it is?" She prodded my coat which concealed the zat. "I'd thought you would." She looked down at her hand.
"Is it a weapon?" I asked her. Her reply was a smile as she placed the weapon/doohickey back onto the table.
"What does it do?" I asked the stall owner. He shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "How much?" I asked him.
As I counted out the necessary coins, I watched La Haia, her interest had waned from the stall and her eyes wandered over to the food stall. My stomach rumbled telling me it was time to eat. The stall owner wrapped the - most probably useless - piece of machinery in a scrap of cloth and handed it over. I tucked it into one of my inside pockets and followed La Haia to where she had wandered. We had plenty of supplies with us, but not freshly baked bread.
The rest of the afternoon was spent working our way around the different stalls. I kept steering La Haia towards tech stalls, but she showed no interest whatsoever.
It was getting late in the afternoon when the Stargate activated. I could hear the familiar clunking of the chevrons as they engaged and the event horizon as it billowed out into the quad. When I heard the screams, I grabbed La Haia's hand and pulled her down into a dim alley. We could still see the quad, but hopefully no one could see us. People fled to their homes, stalls abandoned as two super soldiers loomed into view. A man stood between them; by the look of his pretentious clothes I was pretty sure he was a goa'uld. He bent down and placed a silver ball onto the ground at his feet then took a step back. With a loud voice, he announced.
"Listen to your god, Baal."
A large image of Baal towered up above him, nearly reaching the top of the buildings. I'd come across one of these before on the planet where Apophis had tried to train an army to infiltrate the SGC. It was called a vo'cume. The puffed up self-important goa'uld Baal, spouted off some drivel about how wonderful he was and then said words that made my heart go cold.
This Tau'ri woman, known as Colonel Samantha Carter," A large projected image of Carter was shown in place of Baal. Her clothes were ragged, pock marked with holes. Her eyes were deadened by something I couldn't fathom. . . "Is a fugitive. She must be brought to me. Anyone who knows of her whereabouts will be greatly rewarded." The image abruptly ended.
I turned to look at La Haia. I was shocked to see her huddled down on her haunches, hugging her knees. Pure terror marred her features.
"La Haia." I moved closer to her, but she shrank from my touch. "It's okay, he won't find you," I assured her, hoping that what I said was true. Her terror filled eyes met mine. I reached out again, and took her hand. "Come, we must get out of here. We need to find another alley, further away from the market, but still see what is happening."
Thankfully, no one had approached Baal's emissary. Would the people of this town recognise La Haia as Carter? Even though they barely knew us, would they betray us to this evil snake? I wasn't sure, but I wasn't going to risk it.
The goa'uld asked a few people, but most of them had left quickly as soon as the goa'uld had approached. After what seemed ages, the Kull Warriors and the goa'uld finally left through the Stargate. La Haia was still shivering beside me. All those weeks of finally getting her to talk had just been dashed in an instant by that slimy snake infested goa'uld. The Sam Carter I saw in that projection was not the Sam Carter I had known. I'd always thought Neeron had made Sam the way she was, but now I wasn't so sure. What had Baal done to her to make her like this?
I waited until dark and everyone were in their homes. I then snuck out to the DHD, dragging La Haia with me. I didn't waste time while dialling an address. Once the wormhole was established, I guided La Haia through to the other side.
The last time I'd been to this planet was with the replicator that looked like Carter. Bad memories flooded my mind, but I pushed them to the back. This was the real Sam Carter; not a copy. I turned to La Haia who had crouched down by the DHD and sat shivering.
"Come, La Haia, we have a little way to go yet." I lifted her up by her upper arms, supporting her limp body. "You're safe here, La Haia." Her eyes met mine which shone brightly with unshed tears. I led La Haia towards my cave, supporting her wilting body all the way.
As soon as we arrived, I wrapped the silent shivering La Haia in my sleeping bag and all the blankets. The shivering didn't stop. I built a fire and started to heat some food, but when I took it to her, she wouldn't eat.
I was afraid; I didn't know what to do. Unwanted thoughts and memories flew through my mind. I knew what Baal had done to me, could he have done the same thing to Carter? Is this why she is like this?
After a while, La Haia slipped off to sleep, and I felt my body relax. Without any blankets to keep me warm, I pulled my coat around me more tightly and hunkered down near the fire. Anyway, there was no way I would sleep tonight.
I watched the sun set, filling the sky with brilliant shades of red, orange and purple. Several hours passed before one of the three moons followed the sun below the mountains. La Haia had stopped shivering by then, but she was restless, dreaming most probably. I stood stiffly and walked over to where she lay. Her face was screwed up into a grimace like she was in pain – or remembering pain. This was one dream I didn't think she'd want to remember.
"La Haia." I called her name softly, not sure whether to touch her or not.
She murmured in her sleep. "No, I won't."
"La Haia," I called again. This time more loudly.
She screamed.
Her eyes shot open, they were fixed on space.
"No!" She scrambled back from whatever she was seeing.
"La Haia . . . Sam." Her eyes turned to me, unfocussed, but still stared in my direction.
"Tzak."
"Yes, I'm here."
"Tzak," she sobbed.
I collected her into my arms as she cried into my shoulder. The rest of the night I held her, watching the remaining two moons as they traced a path and disappeared behind the snow capped mountains.
It took three days before La Haia spoke again and another two days before she smiled. We discussed a bit about what had happened, but however much she tried, she couldn't remember what had happened to her.
The real break through came on the sixth day.
"Tzak."
"Yes," I answered, looking up from cleaning the fish I'd just caught. The stream fed into a large lake which was teeming with fish. They were huge.
"When you've finished, can I please see the image."
Puzzled, I asked, "Image?"
"Of you, me and the two men."
"Ah." I smiled, pleased inside. "The photo?"
"Yes, photo." She smiled back
"No need to wait. It's in my coat pocked, inside the left sleeve."
She raised an eyebrow at me in true Teal'c fashion, before turning back to the cave where my coat was.
I found myself humming as I scraped the silver scales from our breakfast.
We stayed on the planet for a month. We had plenty of food, fish in the lake and fruit in the trees, and now, the pods too. La Haia found to her delight, a vine in the forest. We collected them and dried them in the sun. They would make good emergency rations if needed in the future.
Since that first night, La Haia had only dreamt twice. I on the other hand was dreaming every night. It was getting to the stage that I didn't want to sleep. My nights were filled with the same dream. Strange aliens I'd never seen before with talons that reached out towards me, hissing with wide open mouths. The only difference from these, to my earlier ones was the presence of Baal as he laughed throughout my terror.
The morning we moved out, it was raining. A fine cold drizzle that seeped down the back of your neck making the damp rough clothing chaff your skin. I just hoped that the planet we were going to was a dry hot one with lots of dry dusty sand. It wasn't on my list; the SGC had said that if I missed the next rendezvous, I was to meet up with an SG team at this address at about this time. I didn't want to miss the team, so I decided we'd go a day early.
"Tzak, what planet are we going to?"
"I don't really know, La Haia. But we are going to meet up with some of my people from our planet. You know, like me . . . us."
She smiled shyly. "No . . . not like me."
I stopped walking and faced her. "Yes, like you, it is in there somewhere," I said pointing to her head," We've just got to be patient."
She gave me a small nod and smile. I turned back facing the Stargate and we continued walking. I knew it was frustrating for La Haia, but I was delighted with this progress; it meant that she was trying to remember; at least that was a start.
There wasn't any sign of sand on the planet when we arrived. Just thick fog surrounded us with cold fingers of moisture creeping into our clothing working its way onto our skin and making us shiver. It was quiet, no sound from the forest that loomed out of the fog. The sun, pale yellow infused through the fog, giving it a more eerie look.
La Haia took a small step towards me; cold, clammy fingers clutched my left hand. I closed my hand around her small one and squeezed reassuringly. Squinting against the white light, I looked around us for any movement, but nothing, no movement, no sound. Nothing. It was creepy. I cautiously moved down the steps, carefully checking out each one before placing my foot down. For all I knew there could be a gaping hole only a couple of feet away. La Haia followed, still holding my hand tight.
The moist vapour swirled around our feet as we stepped down onto long grass. Beads of moisture flicked from the long grass onto my boots showed dully against the black leather. I didn't fancy waiting for twenty-four hours on this damp planet, but it looked like I didn't have much choice.
Thankfully, there weren't any gaping holes in the vicinity of the Stargate, but I didn't relish the thought of staying near the gate either. This meant we had to venture into the forest that surrounded the clearing.
Still clutching La Haia's hand, we ventured into the dark formidable forest. Finding somewhere dry was the hardest thing, in fact it was impossible. Giving up on the idea, we made camp only about 400 yards into the forest. Far enough away to keep hidden, but close enough to hear what was going on. The emergency blankets being waterproof made an excellent base to our camp. Then with one blanket on top, we hunkered down and heated up some food on the little burner. Maybe some hot food would warm us up a bit. I hoped that the fog cleared as the day progressed, but a little voice in the back of my head told me that was a false hope.
The food long eaten, La Haia spoke my name. "Tzak."
"Yes, La Haia." Our voices muted by the fog.
"What is it like on your planet?"
My heart began to thump.
"What do you want to know?" I turned to her and looked at her face, which was obscured by her lengthening hair.
She lifted her head up and gazed straight at me, our eyes locked. "Everything."
I breathed in a gasp. "Everything? I can't tell you everything without you going."
Her eagerness of knowledge was dimmed by my words. "I don't want to go back to the planet yet." She paused for a moment, hesitant to continue. "I'm afraid." Her voice was small and unsure.
I was undecided, I wanted to reassure her that she would be fine if I went with her, but a stronger part of me didn't want to share her with Earth; with everyone back at the SGC. I wanted her to myself just a little longer. A better man would've told her this, but I wasn't a better man.
"You don't have to go yet. When you're ready we'll go back." I couldn't look at her as I said these words, even though I could feel her gaze on me.
"Hey, I have an idea." I turned and looked at her, pulling both her hands into my own. "I will tell you anything you want to know and when the team comes from Earth, I will ask them to bring a few things with them for you for when we meet up again. You know, things that might help you remember. More photos and things like that."
She nodded and smiled. The smile that always reminded me fully of Carter, the smile I missed everyday I was with La Haia. "Okay, question away, your Jack-apaedia is awaiting."
The night was just as miserable as during the day, in fact it was more so. Basically, the same weather but colder. I suppose I just had to be thankful it wasn't raining as well. We ate breakfast, cleared up some of the campsite, shivered in the chill air some more and that was about it. We were back to asking and answering questions about Earth. Me, trying to explain astrophysics to Carter would be funny, but me trying to explain it to someone who understood it less than me, would be really comical if I didn't find it so distressing. I had grown to care for this woman, she had all the qualities of Carter, but without the memories and the magnificent brain that Carter had. So, this is when I realised that La Haia was just a shell of who she really was. Right here sitting on the soggy ground, surrounded in dank mist. As far as I knew no one else on the planet anywhere, just this excited woman listening as I spouted off about how the SGC was run, what she did for a living, even the food in the commissary 'for crying out loud'.
I was depressed. I needed my Sam back; the woman that prattled on about things that I didn't understand; things that were way beyond me.
"La Haia."
"Yes, Jack." She remembered to use my English name. I smiled at her effort.
"How about we do go back to Earth? We'll be fine, I'll be right there with you." I waited hopeful, not sure whether I wanted her to say yes or no.
She pulled her bottom lip with her teeth while she processed my offer. Her eyes fearful, she looked at me, "I'm not ready, Tzak."
I let out the breath I'd been holding, then smiled. "That's fine, La Haia. We'll only return when you're ready." I pulled her into a hug and held her tight feeling relieved.
At that moment, I heard the kawoosh of the Stargate opening. We'd missed the sound of the chevrons engaging as we'd talked. Without wasting time, we packed up the rest of our gear and moved silently towards the Stargate.
cou
From our vantage point close to the clearing we watched two grey shadows move through the Stargate. The outline of the Stargate made a shadow in the mist. The two men were silhouetted against the sun filtering through the fog. I felt my body tense as the outline of a staff showed beside the larger of the two figures. The two men turned towards each other, one started to speak, but the one with the staff stalled him with an upraised arm. He was good at his job; he knew that someone was watching him. With a fluid movement he ran down the steps and disappeared into the forest just to the left of us. I knew right then he was going to work his way around and come up from behind and trap us between the two of them.
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