Sticks and Stones - Chapter 42 - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)
Sam and Lou were ushered down one corridor after another in a dizzying fashion. Ultimately they guessed they were heading for the cells in the base of the ship but the bizarre route that the Jaffa were taking to get there left them reeling. Lou caught Sam's eye and she knew he had noticed the odd route their escorts were taking but whether this was intended to disorient the team-mates or for some other purpose neither of them could guess.
As they walked the rumbling noise of the Ha'tak vessel began to change in pitch. From within the low grumbling growl a whining noise became evident. Sam realised the ship was being lowered into the atmosphere, presumably in preparation for depositing Davies and Sands back onto the planet to deliver Osiris's message. She risked another glance at Lou who nodded once to tell her he'd also heard the noise and that he too understood its meaning.
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Both Sam and Lou were stunned when they were eventually halted half way down a long narrow corridor with solid looking doors set at regular intervals along both walls. The leading Jaffa placed a crystal into a small control panel in the wall and the nearest door swung silently open.
Once the door was fully open, the Jaffa with the crystal barked an order of "inside" and the Jaffa behind both Sam and Lou stepped forwards, clearly expecting the two humans to step into the room to get away from them. They didn't, as both team-mates automatically resisted entering the unknown space. The large warriors prodded them with the ever present Zats to force them to enter the room.
Lou stepped warily into the room until he was forced to step quickly forwards to catch Sam as she stumbled past him. Apparently the Jaffa behind her hadn't taken her slight build into account and had been overzealous when he 'encouraged' her into the room. Lou grabbed her around the waist as she fell and neither noticed the door closing behind them until it met the doorframe with a resounding 'thump.'
They spun round and Lou ran at the door, hitting it with his shoulder in an attempt to dislodge it before it finally locked. Unfortunately he hadn't reacted quickly enough and the door was firmly closed before he slammed into it. He hit the door and let out an audible 'oomph' before standing up and kicking it several times with all the force he could muster. Once he'd vented the worst of his anger on the resolutely unforgiving door he turned back to Sam, gasping for breath as he did so.
Sam, in the mean time, had moved out into the middle of the room to survey the area they had been left in. It turned out to be a large bare room with plain graphite coloured walls. The ceiling above them shone with an iridescent golden glow, bathing the room with a soft yellow light and on opposite walls to one another sat two sturdy looking bunks. At the far end of the wall to where they had entered sat another door, this one ajar, covering the entrance to a darkened room.
As Lou approached her Sam turned her head to him, raised her eyebrows and asked, "That make you feel better?"
He had the grace to look sheepish and replied, "Er…no…not really…and my foot hurts now."
Sam rolled her eyes at him and Lou had a feeling he heard her mutter 'tsk…men' under her breath as she turned her head away again.
Pointing at the door he asked, "What's through there?"
"Haven't…haven't got that far yet," Sam replied, shaking her head from side to side as if to clear her mind.
Lou noticed the movement immediately, "Sam. You OK?"
"Just a little dizzy, that's all. You want to check out the door?"
"Sure, I can do that," Lou replied, giving Sam's arm a gentle squeeze as he moved past her. He walked forwards and slowly pushed the door further open. Cautiously he stuck his head through the doorway and momentarily had to close his eyes as the ceiling illuminated above him.
When he opened his eyes it only took a couple of seconds to look over the room and soon Lou was backing out again. Turning away from the door he pulled up short as he found himself nose to nose with his second in command.
"Well?" Sam enquired.
"Bathroom," snorted Lou. "If you can call it that. My closet at home's bigger than the room back there. Where the hell are we anyway? Not that I'm complaining mind, this ain't exactly the Ritz but it's a damn site better than a lot of the places we find ourselves locked up."
"I'm thinking something along the lines of servant's quarters." Sam replied. "Either that, or there's so few Jaffa here that these would usually be the quarters that housed them instead."
Lou nodded, "Yeah, but what I don't get is why they didn't take us to the cells. Why put us in here? I mean, there's a blanket on each bunk and we've even got a toilet and that's far better than the usual Goa'uld hospitality."
"I have an idea why we're up here and not 'down there'," Sam replied, pointing downwards. "If we're here -wherever we are - then we're not in the most obvious place where a rescue party would look for us."
"See what you mean. That'd be the first place anyone'd look," agreed Lou. "Why'd they put us here together though?"
"No idea," said Sam, shrugging. "I'm not complaining about that one though. The thought of being locked in a cell alone while this seemingly random group of Jaffa roam the ship is certainly not an appealing one. Is it me or does Osiris not seem to have total control over them? The fact that we could lock them in their quarters and no-one even noticed - I mean what's that all about? And what happened to Ba'al? Didn't Dad say that he and Osiris were travelling together?"
Lou's forehead scrunched as he thought this over. "I don't know. There's been no sign of him at all. Just a few random Jaffa with his mark, not really any more than were marked with anyone else's symbol though."
"No. I…I don't think he's here you know. I really don't think he's got anything to do with the mining on the planet or…or the base construction either. It's just…just not his style somehow. Ba'al…he seems to be above that sort of thing. Everything he does is organised to perfection and I can't see that we'd've managed to just wander into the camp unawares if Ba'al was truly in charge, let alone actually get onboard the ship and remain undetected for as long as we did. No…no…no, I think this is Osiris through and through. May…maybe he thinks he can set up a base of operations here and gradually build himself enough of an army to do some damage to the p…power base of the Goa'uld System Lords. If Ba'al…uh…if…if Ba'al knows that he's here though then I can't see it ha…happening anyway. Ba'al just wouldn't allow him to gain…gain too much power and be…be…beccome a r…risk to his do…do…domain."
A frown formed on Lou's features as he noticed Sam's speech was being broken by more and more pauses. "Maybe Ba'al's letting Osiris do all the leg work and set everything up then intends to take the base for himself once it's up and running?" he suggested. "Sam, you sure you're alright?"
"I…I…Maybe. Um…that...that does sound much more like some…something he'd d…do." Sam faltered over her words and opened her eyes wide as if trying to keep herself awake. Suddenly her eyes closed and she swayed on her feet. Lou reached out to grab her arm before she could fall to the floor. Carefully he moved her to one of the bunks, rested her back against the wall and squatted on the floor in front of her with a concerned look on his face.
Gently he took hold of her chin and lifted her face until it was level with his. "Sam, look at me," he urged. "Sam, please. Open your eyes and look at me."
Struggling against heavy eyelids Sam barely managed to do as she was told but the dual slits of blue that became visible was enough to tell Lou that Sam was still functioning on some level. "Atta girl, that's it. You with me now? What brought that on?"
Sam opened her mouth to reply and the movement caused a trickle of blood to run down Lou's arm.
"Damn it," Lou shouted. He gently tipped Sam's head back so he could see under her chin and realised that the blood was coming from the wound that Osiris had inflicted with the fingertip of his hand device. It had obviously been dribbling down her front ever since without anyone realising it.
Rifling through his pockets, Lou quickly pulled out a handkerchief and held it firmly over the wound to stop the flow. Looking at the blood trailing down her neck Lou realised he needed to know just how much blood Sam had lost. "Sorry about this, Sammy," he whispered as he pulled aside her tak vest so he could see the front of her T-shirt. He hissed through his teeth as he noted the slick dark streak that ran between the mounds of her breasts and disappeared down into the front of her pants.
"Christ," he muttered. Closing Sam's vest again he moved his gaze back up to her eyes. "You still with me here?" he asked quietly.
Sam just blinked in reply, too drained now to even contemplate trying to speak.
"Good girl," Lou said as he moved his free hand to her neck to take her pulse. "Strong as ever but fast," he told her. "Only to be expected eh?"
Sam blinked in reply, eyes dropping now as she fought to remain conscious.
Brushing his hand over her forehead, Lou frowned at the slight warmth he felt there. Fishing in the pockets of his vest he pulled out his first aid kit and also his emergency water flask. Still holding the handkerchief under Sam's chin he carefully unscrewed the top of the flask with his other hand and held it to her lips. "You gotta have a drink, Sam. You've lost a lot of blood and you need the fluids."
Gradually he tipped the flask until the water flowed slowly into Sam's mouth. When she motioned that she'd had her fill he stoppered the flask and put it to one side then opened up the first aid kit. He set several adhesive butterfly stitches to one side and unwrapped a couple of sterile wipes before lifting Sam's face gently so he could once again look directly into her heavy lidded eyes.
"Sammie," he said gently. "I'm gonna fix you up now, OK? This will probably sting a bit but I've gotta clean the cut before I can put the Steristrips on there."
Sam blinked slowly and her forehead wrinkled in the start of a frown.
Lou smirked, "Yeah, I know. Guess I need to work on my bedside manner. I can't help it, I'm just not old Doc Fraiser!"
Sam let a small chuff escape from her mouth in response to Lou's joking and then closed her eyes and allowed Lou to patch her up.