Sticks and Stones - Chapter 48 - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)
The General frowned at the grisly image on the screen and after a moment he leant forwards and pressed the comms button. "Colonel O'Neill, could you please join me in the control room a moment. Majors Griff and Pierce would you please follow him."
Worried now, Jack quickly jogged up the cold metal stairs that lead from the gate room to the control room, his feet making loud clanging sounds as he hurried to follow his commanding officer's request. He was aware that he was being followed by not only Griff and Pierce but Colonel Reynolds as well. 'That man certainly knew how to get around', Jack thought quietly. 'You would have thought after the few day's he's had that he'd be needing a nice warm bed rather than…well…this.'
As the men rounded the corner and stepped through the door, Jack caught a glimpse of the MALP transmission and grimaced. "Just what we want," he commented, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I don't like the look of this one bit, Colonel," the General told him with a worried look on his face. "This whole rescue mission has screamed 'trap' from the get go. Quite frankly the fact that the first image we receive upon revisiting P4M-776 is that of a mutilated Jaffa warrior does not inspire confidence."
"Me neither," admitted Jack. "But still, we have to try, Sir."
"Of course we do, Colonel," the General assured him. "Of course we do."
"I have a theory, Sir." Jack said after thinking for a moment.
George raised his eyebrows at the other man. "I thought you might come up with something," he replied. "Let's hear it then, Colonel."
Jack straightened his posture before answering. "I think he's a message, Sir. At least I'm hoping so anyway."
"A message?" the General queried.
"Yes, Sir. I'm hoping the fact that he was one of Osiris's Jaffa is telling us that this Dal'nar person was telling the truth - that the Jaffa onboard the ship are really on our side…well at least not on Osiris's side anyway."
Hammond pursed his lips and thought for a moment, "I see your point, Colonel. How would you like to proceed with this?"
Jack paused and looked once again at the screen. Turning to the Sergeant standing to his right he asked, "Siler, can we get a look at his arms with that thing?"
"Should be able to," Siler replied. "Just give me a moment, Sir and I'll see what I can do."
The technician stepped slightly away from Jack and moved until he was directly in front of the screen. With careful movements on the hand held MALP control he instructed the large machine to back away from the fallen warrior. As the camera panned downwards once again it became evident that the Jaffa had both his forearms tucked underneath his body and that neither were visible.
"Sergeant," Jack made his request with just one word, knowing full-well that Sergeant Siler would know what he was asking.
"Yes, Sir." Siler replied. "I'm on it."
Once again Siler delicately adjusted the controls in his hand. As the people in the control room watched they saw the grabbing arm come slowly downwards from the top of the MALP. Gradually it dropped towards the nearest shoulder of the unfortunate Jaffa until it was in the required position. With an audible whir, the jaws of the mechanical pincers opened and Siler lowered the arm a small amount more. Once there was a large bunch of the Jaffa's clothing inside the jaws Siler depressed the button to clamp them shut.
Siler looked up at Jack for permission to proceed. The Colonel said nothing but nodded his head slightly to give the Sergeant the go-ahead he required.
The Sergeant turned back to the screen and warily manoeuvred the joy-stick that controlled the reach of the arm on the MALP. He gently moved the stick forwards and as he did so the MALP rolled the Jaffa onto his back and then released it's grip on the dead man's clothes. As he rolled both the Jaffa's arms came into view and both Siler and Hammond heard Jack mutter a quiet 'thank Christ for that' under his breath.
Hammond turned to his second-in-command. "I assume by that, that you saw what you wanted to see then, Colonel?"
Jack looked sheepishly around the room, wondering just how loudly he'd uttered his thankful little prayer. Noting that, other than Hammond, no one else met his eye he realised it couldn't have been that loud after all.
The silver haired Colonel cleared his throat before speaking. "Er, yes, Sir. I certainly did."
"I'm pretty sure I know what that thing was," General Hammond said. "…but for the benefit of the others present here, would you like to divulge your findings, Colonel."
"Certainly, Sir." Jack replied. "Griff, Pierce…Reynolds," he turned and addressed the men who had been standing behind him in the cramped control room. "This Jaffa is our ticket onto that ship. After seeing what we've seen here just now I'm also more optimistic that the Jaffa, Dal'nar, was telling the truth. He's not only sent us the key to get onboard but a message that Osiris's Jaffa are in the process of being removed from duty."
"Colonel O'Neill," Major Pierce piped up. "Don't you think that's a rather risky leap of faith to be taking? Yes that poor fellow was one of Osiris's Jaffa but it's a bit of a jump from there to him being our ticket onto the ship…isn't it?"
Hammond looked at Jack, wondering just how his second-in-command was going to react to being questioned. In the 'good old days' he could more-or-less predict Jack's reactions without even consciously thinking about it…more recently however…
Jack looked at the Major and raised a finger towards the other man. "Aah, Pierce. I can see how you would think that. However there's one crucial piece of information on that screen that you have clearly not taken onboard as yet. Would you like to take another look?"
"Certainly, Sir." Pierce replied before stepping nearer to the screen. He looked at the image for a few moments but became all too aware of Jack impatiently waiting for his reply.
Pierce turned so he was once again facing Jack. "I'm sorry, Sir. I don't know what you want me to tell you," he admitted quietly.
"I'll give you a clue, Major," Jack said. "Left arm…"
Pierce took yet another look at the gruesome image on the screen. A furrow appeared on his forehead as slightly panicked thoughts ran through his mind.
"Oh," he exclaimed suddenly. "Transporter controls."
"Transporter controls," Jack repeated. "Our…entrance ticket, if you will."
"Excellent," Griff mumbled quietly from his spot by the door.
"Indeed," came a rumbling reply from just outside the door.
No one had noticed that Teal'c had quietly followed Reynolds when he had trailed after Griff and Pierce just a few minutes before. The large man had remained in the corridor outside the control room, due to fact 1: that he hadn't been invited inside, and fact 2: there was already an uncomfortable number of people in the room. The extra bulk of the massive Jaffa would have made the already cramped room just about unbearable.
Teal'c stepped forwards slightly so he was fully visible to the people in the room. "GeneralHammond, I apologise. I was concerned when you called O'Neill to join yourself. I only wished to offer my services if required but I see now that the situation is under control."
"That's quite alright, Teal'c. I understand," the General said graciously. "I would like to hear your opinion on this matter."
"I concur with O'Neill." Teal'c replied immediately, the warrior had obviously given this a great deal of thought before revealing himself to the room. "However, if the warrior Dal'nar is untrustworthy then he - or possibly one of his brothers - has unwittingly given us a way to board the Ha'tak vessel of Osiris. A great deal of caution will have to be engaged until we can ascertain the nature of the situation onboard the ship. I would recommend leaving a contingent of soldiers to safeguard the security of the Stargate until such time as we can determine on which side the Jaffa are fighting."
Hammond was left reeling slightly from this surprisingly long speech from the usually reticent Jaffa.
"In other words, be careful and trust no one." Jack said.
"Indeed, O'Neill." Teal'c inclined his head towards his former team-mate. "It is refreshing to know that we are still 'on the same wavelength' after all this time."
"Absolutely, Big Guy. Absolutely," agreed Jack. He turned to Hammond, "We good to go, General?"
"As you wish, Colonel. Get everyone back down there and we'll redial the gate. I'd rather send you all on your way on a fresh wormhole. That one's about out of it's thirty eight minutes."
Jack turned towards the door and made sweeping motions with his arms in an attempt to get everyone moving downstairs in front of him. Once they were all moving Jack turned one last time to Hammond and waited to be dismissed himself.
"Stay safe, Jack," the older man requested. "And bring 'em back."
"I'll do my best, Sir." Jack replied.
"That's all I can ask for, Colonel," the General told him. "We'll all be waiting for news. Dismissed."
"Thank you, Sir." Jack said and he turned and walked through the door and down the stairs to wait for the new wormhole to be formed.
~#~
The connection to the current wormhole was cut and very shortly afterwards the gate began to spin as Chamaka was once again dialled. As Walter Harriman announced each lock of the giant rotating wheel the tension level in the room elevated. Each and every person currently standing in the gate room and also those in the control room above them was wondering just what was going to be discovered once the rescue team got to their distant destination.
Walter gave his usual triumphant cry of "Chevron seven locked" and the vortex of the wormhole whooshed forwards into the room. Just a few seconds later it had formed into it's usual shiny flat surface and was ready to accept it's latest batch of travellers.
Jack, who was standing at the base of the ramp, turned and faced the control room window.
Hammond nodded his head to acknowledge him and depressed the button to the comms system. "Rescue Team, you have a go. Good luck and God Speed."
Jack issued Hammond with a quick salute before spinning around to face the gate. He pulled his ball-cap from a pocket in his BDUs and firmly pulled the headgear down to cover his silver hair. He shrugged his pack once to ensure it was definitely comfortable, and then lead the men up the gate and into the event horizon without looking back.