While You Were Sleeping
Authors Notes: I thought that No Regrets needed a sequel, so here it is. I'm still getting the hang of this 'fic writing' thing, so it may have some things that need working out.
*...* indicates thoughts.
The technician turned to General Hammond.
"Incoming traveler, sir. It's Sg-1's transmitter code."
"Open the iris!" A mixed look of worry and anticipation crossed his face as he waited for the teams to emerge from the shimmering surface of the Gate. At a near jog, he descended to the embarkation room. As the last set of boots emerged, the Gate disengaged with a tearing noise. Drawing a deep breath, Hammond spoke, the relief evident in his voice
"Welcome back people." Glancing between the faces, he continued.
"Colonel, Captain, we'll debrief as soon as we get to my office. You two as well." He said, indicating Teal'c and Daniel.
When the reached Hammond's office, he motioned for them to sit. Turning to the Colonel he asked
"Colonel O'Neill, how about you tell me what happened." Jack was silent for a moment while he gathered his thoughts.
*Well, I hope he doesn't mind a little bit of editing, 'cos there's some things that he's NOT gonna know!* Sighing, he began at the beginning.
"We arrived on the planet in the middle of a battle. The MALP showed that it seemed to be a picnic world, but when we stepped out, it wasn't quite so nice. Daniel turned around and started to dial home. Sam and I took up positions on either side " Daniel raised his eyebrows. *That's strange. Jack just used Sam's first name while he's on duty. He NEVER does that! Nobody else seems to have picked up on it, but I wonder...* Jack was still speaking.
" Teal'c crouched down in front. We laid down a cover fire until Daniel had the gate open. Captain Cater sent the signal through, and I told Daniel and Teal'c to go through. As we went to follow, one of the Serpent Guards got a lucky shot in, and it hit Carter in the back. I dove over to help. I looked up, and caught one right in the middle of my chest. After that, the next thing that I knew, I was being thrown on the floor of a cell. I sat up and saw Carter. Apparently, they had healed her first." At this point, General Hammond butted in.
"So they killed you, and then healed you, just to torture you to death?"
"That was about it, sir. Nice people, but their sense of color schemes was awful. That cell could have used some curtains. A definite violation of the Geneva Convention. Sir." The General raised his voice in warning.
"Colonel, why don't you tell us what happened then?" At that point, Daniel thought that he saw a blush flicker over both Jack's and Sam's faces, but he couldn't be sure. Jack continued.
"Well sir, they had our weapons, we were in an escape-proof cell, you know the type, six foot thick stone walls, solid steel doors, that kind of thing, not to mention the whole platoon of Serpent Goons outside the door. I was really flattered that Apophis would take so much trouble for us. All things considered, we didn't have a chance in hell of getting out. Disregarding the cell and Storm Troopers, we didn't know where the gate on that world was. We had no choice but to wait for backup. The next morning, we got dragged out of the cell and taken to those crystals and staked out. That's when I started to get a bit nervous sir, but anyway, we heard some gunfire, and then Teal'c came down the dune and yelled something at Shak'l. They had a bit of a scuffle, and Teal'c got him with a Zat gun. Then we headed to the Gate. That's about all there was to it General." He turned to Sam. Raising his eyebrows, Jack asked her, "Did I miss anything out Captain?" Having had time to prepare her response, Sam never even hesitated.
"Seems to be, Colonel." The General sat in silence for a brief moment while he absorbed all this. Looking at Jack and Sam he said, "Thank you. You have 48 hours down time as of tonight. You'd better report to Doctor Frasier for a checkup before you go. That will be all." As Sg-1 rose and departed, Hammond sent a heartfelt prayer of thanks to whoever might be listening.
When the team got outside, Jack turned to Teal'c and Daniel and said, "I just wanted to say thank you to guys again." Looking at Daniel he punched him lightly in the arm .
"So, Danny-boy, what does it feel like to be a hero?" Looking a bit uncomfortable, Daniel replied, "Um, a bit strange, I think. I mean, aren't you always the one saving me? And me always getting shot, or killed, or something like that?" A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as he continued.
"You'd better get down to the medical bay before Doc Frasier gives you some of that 'shot, killed, or something like that'. I'll catch you guys in the morning." Saying that, he turned and headed off to his quarters, the Jaffa following. Shaking his head slightly, Jack headed off to find the Doctor, with Sam beside him.
***
two days later
***
SG-1 was assembled in front of the Gate, waiting for General Hammond to finish briefing them for their next mission. Glancing at Colonel O'Neill, Hammond added a little extra to what he was going to say.
"As you may or may not know, we have just finished installing a new fail-safe for the iris. If the power cuts out, even for a second, the iris will automatically close. It will only open for a verified signal code, or when we get the mains back on. We can't have this facility in danger because we can't get the gate closed. Once you have gone through, we'll run some tests on the new system, just to be sure. That is all." He gave the signal to the Technician, who started to dial in the coordinates for P6Z-281. With a whoosh, the wormhole engaged. The Tech's voice came over the intercom system.
"Wormhole is stable, you are clear to go, SG-1"
Meanwhile, in one of the quarters, one of the Airmen was doing his dishes and listening to some music, oblivious to the radio sitting precariously on the edge of the shelf above the sink. He only became aware of it when it began it's tumble to the sink after a small bump had tipped it off. Reflexively, the Airman reached out to catch it, but his hands closed over the cord just as it hit the surface of the dish water. His mind got as far as thinking
"Damn!" before the electric shock had fried him into a lifeless husk on the floor, unknowing and uncaring about the power short that flickered throughout he base before the auxiliary power cut in.
As always, Jack stepped through the Gate first. The rest of the team made to follow, but as Daniel stepped forward, the lights flickered and the iris slammed closed in front of them, disengaging the wormhole. Daniel got as far as
"What the.." before Sam's shocked cry of
"JACK!!" cut him off. He turned to see the Captain dive at the iris and try to open it by hand. All the effort got her was some sliced fingers. Spinning quickly around, her eyes wild, she raced to the control room. Arriving there in under twenty seconds, she ignored her bleeding hands and looked at the stunned Technician. Seeing the look in her eyes, he answered as quickly as he could.
"Captain, it seems that we had a power short, I don't know what caused it, and the new fail-safe activated. For some reason, it also de-activated the wormhole. I'm not sure what happened to Colonel O'Neill, but if he was still in the wormhole when it disengaged..." At that point, General Hammond entered the room and finished the sentence, "Then we could have a Colonel spread between here and the next Galaxy. I want engineers down there fixing that thing five minutes ago! A soon as it is open, I want the rest of SG-1 and all of SG-5 down there ready to go." Looking at the Captain who was pacing agitatedly up and down, he continued.
"Captain Carter, I want you to go down to the medical bay and get those hands looked at. What have you been doing? Wrestling razors?" Startled, Cater looked up at the General.
"I'll go right away, sir." As she left the room, Hammond turned his attention once more to the Technician and began asking some serious questions.
The Gate on P6Z-281 began to shake as the wormhole destabilized. As the event horizon began to show tears, Jack was spat out at running speed. His flight ended abruptly as he crashed straight into the DHD. A sickening crunch, and he knew no more.
Gonash led his people, the Eldaak, across the great grass plain to the summer hunting fields. As they passed the Stone Ring, they froze. There were points of light on the Ring, igniting with a loud clank, then a great whoosh of what looked like water came from inside. Staring in awe, the Eldaak visibly jumped when a body flew from the surface and hit the Pedestal in front of it. The water in the Ring disappeared, and the Eldaak ran forward to examining the body. After a few minutes, Gonash raised his head and addressed his people.
"My friends, this man is injured. Without our help will certainly pass the Wheel of Life. We must take him to the summer camp and give him shelter. What say you?" A unanimous collection of head nods settled the issue. Picking up the stranger, they set out once more for the camp at the steady, ground eating jog that all their people could keep up for days on end.
It took the servicemen at Cheyenne Mountain almost an hour to locate the source of the short, and clear the body away. General Hammond was flabbergasted that a front-line facility like his could be brought low by a simple blown fuse. Shaking his head at that piece of news, he headed down to the Gate room. The mains power was back up and running, and the iris was just about to be opened when he entered. The Technician swung around on his chair as the General entered. Looking at his superior, he saluted and began his report.
"General Hammond, we think we've found the cause for the Gate de-activating when the power cut out. The new fail-safe sensed the short, and engaged the iris, but since the mains was down, it had to draw power from the reserve, which is what the Gate was running off as well. That temporary loss of power to the Gate shut the wormhole down. We can stop it happening again sir, if we clamp some heavy-duty capacitors to the iris structure, so that it has a separate power backup if the power goes again." He tapped a few keys on the keyboard, and the iris opened with a clang. Hammond paused for a moment before he spoke.
"So now that's fixed, is it safe to go though?"
"Absolutely sir. Do you want me to start dialing P6Z-281 again?"
"Right away, Sergeant." He picked up the intercom microphone as the Technician initiated the dial-up sequence.
"I need SG-1 and SG-5 in the embarkation room immediately please, if not sooner!" With that, he set off for the Gate.
Two minutes later, Daniel, Teal'c, Sam(with her fingers covered in standard, USAF issue Band-Aids), and SG-5 were present. Hammond addressed the troops.
"Once on the other side, you are to attempt to find Colonel O'Neill. He may be injured, or he may not. You are also to make peaceful contact with the natives, if there are any, but that is your secondary mission. Bring the Colonel back at all costs. Good luck people!" He stepped back as they marched up the ramp and into the Gate. Shaking his head while the teams marched up the ramp and into the event horizon, he thought, *What is it with Jack O'Neill recently? He seems to have taken over Dr. Jackson's role as trouble-magnet for the team. At least HE stands less chance of getting killed than Daniel. That man can get into more trouble than anyone else I know.* With a sigh, General Hammond headed up to his office to get some more paperwork and worrying done.
Sam stepped out of the event horizon first. Immediately, her eyes fell on the red smear at the base of the DHD, and the broken sunglasses laying a few feet away. Diving forward, she picked up the glasses and began to look around. The rest of the teams materialized within seconds. Whipping around, Carter showed the broken lenses to the others. Teal'c looked at the glasses, and then at the DHD. Tilting his head, he said, "It appears that Colonel O'Neill exited the Gate at great speed, and struck the DHD. However, the blood is smeared slightly." Squatting down near the blood, the Jaffa looked at the waving grass for a few seconds. Facing Sam once more, he kept talking.
"There appears to be a trail left by someone in the grass. There are spots of blood along the trail. They obviously saw the Colonel, and are taking him somewhere." Not even bothering to look at her team mates, Sam strode off, following the trail in the grass.
Night fell, and they were still no closer to finding Jack. They had walked all day, setting up camp just as the sun dipped below the horizon. Teal'c came jogging back into the camp. Coming to a halt in front of Captain Carter, he reported his findings.
"It appears that Colonel O'Neill is still with his captors. He is no longer bleeding, but the tracks indicate that one of the people was carrying something heavy. Also, the people we are chasing have extended their lead. They must have been moving at a jog all day, as they have gained about two hours. We cannot track them in the dark. It would be advisable to set out at first light." His eyes clouded with sympathy for Carter as he continued.
"Do not worry Captain Carter, we will find O'Neill. We care for him as much as you do." Sam's head snapped up and she looked Teal'c in the eye, wondering how much he knew. All she received in return was a blank face that said nothing, but his eyes spoke volumes. If Sam was surprised by his knowledge, she said nothing, but merely turned to the tent and went to find her sleeping bag.
Daniel sat bolt upright. Eyes roving the confines of the tent, he searched out what had awoken him. A sharp groan alerted him, and he saw. Sam lay twisted in her sleeping bag, her face contorted in a nightmare. Daniel was just about to wake her, but something stopped him.
"Jack!" Sam's tortured whisper cut through the night. "Oh, God, no! Jack!" Daniel almost choked.
*Jack? OK, this explains some things, but Sam and Jack? They're attracted to each other, sure, but I never expected...I mean Jack and Sam! Who'd have thought?* His thoughts paused. *Maybe it's not Jack O'Neill, maybe it's another Jack. It's a fairly common name.* His latest theory was shattered seconds later as Sam cried out again.
"Johnothan O'Neill, if you leave me now, I swear.. no Jack! Don't go! I love you Jack!" At last Sam fell silent, moving at last into a deeper, more calming sleep, still dreaming of Jack. Daniel spent the rest of the night stunned to say the least. Sam's last words kept playing through his head. *I wonder how Jack would feel if he knew how Sam feels?* He filed that thought away for future consideration.
Dawn came, and saw the camp rising from their bags. Sam yawned and stretched. Seeing Daniel watching her, she was caught off-guard when he asked, "Sam, are you all right?" In response to her puzzled frown, he kept talking.
"You were having some bad dreams last night." Daniel smothered a smile as Sam flinched, a guilty blush staining her cheeks.
"Daniel.." her voice rose in warning. She was cut off by his gentle reply.
"Don't worry Sam, I won't tell the General, I promise." He paused for a second "Or Jack. I won't tell him unless you tell me that I can." Smiling to herself, Sam stood up and pulled her fatigues on.
"Come on Daniel, we'd better get going." Within ten minutes, the camp was packed up, and they had set out, following the now much fainter trail.
Go to Part 2
