The Tegan Chronicles

Intuition and Lies 5

Janet and Dana stood in the gate room anxiously waiting for the event horizon to activate again. Twenty minutes ago it had activated followed by a radio request for a medical team and surgeon to be on standby. Dr. Warner was paged and was on his way, and a small assembly of medical personal anticipated the coming injuries and awaited orders.

General Hammond stood in the control room wishing he had gotten more information, such as who was injured and what kind of injuries they'd received. He stared at the gate as the inner ring began to spin.

Janet glanced apprehensively at Dana as the event horizon lit up the room. Dana just gave a tiny nod as they both looked up the ramp to see a member of SG9 step through a makeshift stretcher in his hands. A few more steps and they could see the boots and fatigue bottoms with a field pressure dressing to the left leg. A few more seconds and Janet breathed a quiet sigh of relief, it was Daniel and he was still conscious.

"I've got him." Dana waved them down the ramp and out of the way, her set of medics following close behind.

Next Sam stepped through the gate and averted her eyes from Janet's. She stood to the side leaving plenty of room for the rest of SG1 to come through the gate. Jack was the first to step through quickly followed by another set of boots, from the size Janet could only conclude they belonged to Tegan. In just a few seconds her fears were confirmed when Teal'c came through carrying the head of the stretcher.

"What happened?" Janet met them at the foot of the ramp pointing for one of her medics to retrieve a waiting stretcher from the hall.

"Acid," Teal'c responded with one word.

Janet saw the missing limb for the first time. "It looks charred."

"Before she…" Jack swallowed the bile that kept licking his tonsils.

"She used a torch to cauterize the blood vessels." Sam explained, as the smell of burned flesh permeated the room. "I gave her ten of morphine in the field, that was over six hours ago. I tried to get an IV line in…"

Janet nodded and pointed for the medics to wheel Tegan out. "I've got it from here."

"What happened?" Julie asked as Tegan was wheeled in.

"I need a central line kit, and make sure the OR room is ready."

"Yes ma'am."

"And where the hell is Dr. Warner."

"I'm right here." He pulled his coat off, the infirmary doors still swinging behind him.

Warner shook his head. "I've got to take the humerus."

"You can't." Janet argued as Sam looked at Jack in the observation booth.

"If the infection spreads," Warner left the last part unsaid.

"We'll bring her back in."

"She may not survive another surgery."

"If you remove the humerus she'll never be able to wear a prosthetic. So I suggest you remove what you need to, to make a muscle and skin flap and we'll load her up with antibiotics and hope they work."

"I disagree." Dr. Warner looked up into the observation room finding General Hammond with his eyes. "Sir, I think Dr. Fraiser is wrong. She's too close to this case."

"Do you honestly think I would put her life at risk just to save her arm?" She questioned him.

"I don't know what you'd do for her." Warner glanced at her then back to General Hammond.

"You can't take her arm General." Jack spoke.

General Hammond leaned into the microphone. "She is the Chief Medical Officer for a reason, Dr. Warner."

"Of course."

When they moved Tegan to an isolation room Janet found the walking members of SG1 in the hallway. "No one will be seeing Major Kiser until they've shower, eaten, gotten their post mission physicals, and slept for at least six hours. In other words, her room is completely off limits to all members of SG1 for the next eight hours."

Sam shifted her weight and opened her mouth.

"No arguments." Janet turned and walked into the room where Tegan had just been moved.

Dana turned and looked at Janet. "Restless natives?"

Janet nodded. "How's she doing?"

"Blood pressure is ninety-eight over fifty-two, pulse is sixty. Respirations are sixteen and her pulse ox is holding steady at ninety-nine."

"Small favors." Janet mumbled and focused momentarily on the small gold cross that always hung from the thin chain around Dana's neck.

"I can take the first watch."

"No." Janet shook her head. "I've got it, I may need you later. How's Daniel?"

"Friendly fire, through and through wound. I cleaned it up and sutured it. No major vessels were hit. He was pretty lucky. I'll probably discharge him on crutches tomorrow, but for now he's feeling no pain."

Janet nodded. "I could use someone to check out the rest of SG1."

"I'll take care of it."

"Thanks, and then you should probably get some rest."

"Yeah, I'm going to stay on base so if you need me." She walked around the foot of the bed. "Do you want me to send in on of the nurses?"

"No, I'll call for one if I need one."

After Dana had gone Janet checked Tegan's IV line and manually checked her pulse hoping for some indication of consciousness. They'd been unable to induce a pain response earlier, and at present she couldn't bring herself to try it again.