Part 1 (1/2)
Hostile Ground.
SALLY MALCOLM & LAURA HARPER.
To my mum and dad, Tommy and Janie Harper a L.H.
For Jess and Ben a S.M.
Historical note:.
This story is set in season three of STARGATE SG-1, between the episodes One Hundred Days and Shades of Gray.
”Vigil strange I kept on the field one night, When you, my son and my comrade, dropt at my side that day.”
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night.
a Walt Whitman.
CHAPTER ONE.
”Teal'c, how far?”
The colonel's words were clipped, each one bitten off like a curse as he knelt next to Daniel in the mud. Sam couldn't see what he was doing, didn't dare take her eyes off the rain-sodden tree line, but she could smell the antiseptic and heard Daniel hiss in a sharp breath.
”We are now less than a kilometer from the Stargate,” Teal'c said. He crouched next to her, staff weapon raised and his arm brus.h.i.+ng against hers, making the most of the scant cover they shared - a fallen tree, rotting in the incessant rain. It wouldn't do much against a staff blast but it was better than nothing. She glanced up at the heavy sky, the clouds hiding a mult.i.tude of dangers. If those gliders came back...
Breathing hard, breathing through pain, Daniel said, ”I'm okay. I can make it.”
”d.a.m.n right you can.” The colonel's growl made it an order as he ripped open another field dressing. Sam heard Daniel's shout of pain as the colonel pressed the bandage onto the wound. She didn't know how badly he was injured, but it had to be serious for the colonel to risk stopping their breakneck flight to the Stargate.
Movement - a fleeting shadow back in the tree line. She wiped rain from her face and eyes, squinting through the curtain of water that slanted across the open ground between SG-1 and the edge of the forest. Yes, there it was again, a glint of gold amid the trees. ”Sir,” she said, finger itchy on the trigger, ”you might want to hurry that up.”
”What do you think I'm doing, Carter?”
She ignored his sharp tone. ”Teal'c, do you see them? Two o'clock.”
”I do.” He s.h.i.+fted his position, taking aim.
”Sir?” she risked a glance over her shoulder. Daniel was ashen, his jacket torn and dark with blood where the staff blast had hit, just above the hip and below his tac vest. She glimpsed a white compression bandage through the torn fabric. He grimaced as he moved, trying to stand.
The colonel put a restraining hand on his shoulder and looked over at Sam. She knew that look, the flat uncompromising expression that shut everything down. It meant they were in trouble. ”Daniel and I are gonna head for the gate,” he said, starting to pack away the med-kit with quick, efficient movements. ”You and Teal'c hold them here as long as you can, then come after us.” He stuffed his gear back into his vest and tugged the bill of his cap lower. ”Don't leave it too long, Major.”
She understood. If they were too slow getting back to the gate, there was a real danger they'd be outflanked. ”Yes sir. Good luck.”
His only reply was a curt nod before he turned to Daniel. ”Ready?”
”Sure,” Daniel said, teeth gritted. ”How hard can it be?”
”Attaboy,” the colonel said as he helped Daniel to his feet. ”We might have to run.”
Daniel nodded, turning from ashen to milky, but determined as ever. ”Let's go.”
Sam looked away, back to the enemy hiding in the trees, but not before she'd seen the bloom of scarlet on Daniel's dressing. She swallowed a hard knot of anxiety. It would be difficult enough to make it to the gate carrying a wound like that, let alone with a platoon of Jaffa on their heels.
”The enemy is moving,” Teal'c murmured as several Jaffa emerged from the trees, keeping low as they scanned the scrubby clearing. Sam ducked behind their cover, not wanting to give away their position. ”Go now, O'Neill,” Teal'c said softly. ”We will cover your retreat and hold this position as long as possible.”
”Counting on it,” the colonel said.
With Daniel's arm looped over his shoulder, he headed out into the spa.r.s.e woodland that ran all the way back to the Stargate. Sam winced at their slow, awkward pace. At that rate, they'd never reach the gate before the Jaffa.
A squall of rain blew into her face and she had to turn away, squeezing her eyes shut. When she looked back, Daniel and the colonel were gone, the rain at least helping to hide them from the advancing Jaffa, even if it did make the muddy ground slick and treacherous under foot. Wiping her face on her sleeve, she squirmed around and s.h.i.+vered as a trickle of rain slid down her neck and under her collar. ”Daniel's moving pretty slow,” she whispered, taking a bead on one of the Jaffa and switching her weapon to single shot. ”Do you think they'll make it in time?” Even through the rain, she knew she'd hit her target. But not yet, let them come out a little further from the cover of the trees.
”It is possible,” Teal'c said, ”that one of us will need to precede them to the Stargate and hold it against the Jaffa.”
”Yeah,” Sam said, a beat of fear kicking in her chest, ”that's what I figured.”
Daniel was heavier than he looked and his feet kept slipping in the mud, threatening to send them both sprawling. He was doing his best, Jack knew that, but he was carrying a serious wound and he wasn't moving fast enough. He just couldn't.
From behind them came the rattle of an MP5 - Carter's precise bursts of weapons fire. But there were too many staff-blasts and, worse, they were getting closer. Teal'c and Carter were falling back faster than he and Daniel were staggering forward.
”Jack...” The grim whisper cut through the sounds of battle. ”Need to stop... moment...”
One look at Daniel's ghostly face told him he didn't have a choice; Daniel was halfway to unconsciousness already. Lowering him to the ground, Jack braced him up against a tree, gleaning what little shelter he could from the thin canopy above, and considered the situation. It stunk. Still, they'd survived worse. Probably. He toggled his radio. ”Carter, what's your position?”
He didn't get an answer right away, but he could hear her weapon discharging, so he figured she was busy. Couple of seconds later, her voice crackled over the radio. ”We're falling back, sir. There's too many.”
d.a.m.n it. He considered his choices for a moment, then made the decision and hit the talk b.u.t.ton again. ”Carter, you need to make a run for the gate, dial it up and hold it for us. Teal'c, I'm gonna need your help with Daniel.”
”On our way, sir,” was Carter's immediate response, which probably meant she'd already reached the same conclusion. ”Carter out.”
Daniel had a hand over his eyes, his bloodless lips pressed into a tight line of pain. ”You should leave me here,” he said, hand dropping into his lap as he peered up at Jack through rain-covered gla.s.ses. There was no bravado, no self-pity; he was just stating the obvious. ”It would be the logical thing to do.”
”Yeah, well,” Jack said, reaching down and hauling him upright. ”You know how I feel about logic.”
”I mean it,” Daniel said, swaying on his feet. ”No point in us all dying here.”
”No one's dying here,” Jack said, as they staggered back into an ungainly hobble. ”But maybe, just maybe, next time someone suggests a mission to study a bunch of ancient rocks instead finding of something useful, my objections won't get shut down.”
Daniel didn't comment, but he didn't need to. Even semi-conscious, he managed to radiate indignation. Jack grimaced, but reminded himself that indignation was exactly what he needed from his team right now.
Sam darted through the trees, keeping as low and quiet as possible. She had to sacrifice most of her stealth for speed, but there was no point in advertising her presence if she could help it and so she breathed quietly and kept her ears open for sounds of pursuit.
She was traversing a hill, heading back to the Stargate, through a spa.r.s.ely wooded landscape. The rain had started last night and hadn't stopped since, transforming the valley below into marshland and the hillside into a mudslide. Not to mention soaking them all to the skin and turning what was meant to be a light mission into a grueling test of endurance. And that was before the Jaffa had shown up.
Behind her, but growing more distant, she could still hear the sounds of battle. Only staff weapons so far, which meant they hadn't caught up with Daniel and the colonel. Yet. Teal'c was doing a h.e.l.l of a job holding the Jaffa back on his own.
Suddenly, the ground s.h.i.+fted and she stumbled, feet tangling and slip-sliding over tree roots washed bare by water streaming down the hill. Stifling a curse, she grabbed at a branch and caught it with one hand, but the weight of her pack swung her backward, slamming her shoulder into the tree, and she barely kept from face-planting into the mud. ”d.a.m.n it,” she growled, as she reached up to get both hands onto the branch. She scrambled back to more stable ground, getting her feet under her again. The dull throb in her shoulder promised it was going to hurt in the morning.