Mission 1: Planet PX93509 (Nariss)
Ven scowled at Jack as he pushed her through the underground caves ahead of him. "It really makes no difference if I go down before or after you" she growled. "You should learn to trust people."
"Well, I'll be trusting you just so long as you're in front of me where..."
Jack broke off in confusion. He'd been about to say "where I can see you", but for some weird reason he suddenly couldn't.
"Well where the heck did your little buddy get to Carter?" he asked angrily, positive they'd just been lead into a trap.
Sam looked equally baffled. "Sir, I'm sure she's not a threat. I mean, how else could she have known our names?"
"O'Neill", Teal'c spoke up. "There is weapon fire." Teal'c pointed in the direction of the StarGate.
"Alright, Danny, you and Isbeth stay here. Carter, Teal'c, with me."
Weapons at the ready, Jack, Sam, and Teal'c cautiously moved back up the valley path towards the Stargate, Jack trying to make his mind ignore the fact that an enclosed valley path with sheer cliff faces equalled danger/ambush whichever way you looked at it.
As they reached the final bend the weapon fire ceased just as suddenly as it had begun. Rounding the bend, the trio found themselves starring at an inactive Stargate, looking much like it had when last they'd seen
it, except that someone had decided to do some landscaping with dead serpent guards, who lay scattered around the valley floor.
"This day just keeps getting better and better!" Jack muttered sarcastically as he took in the dead serpant guards.
"Who do you think killed them?" Sam asked as she ventured forward cautiously, hoping those responsible for the killings weren't still lurking around.
"I am unsure. They appear to have been killed by weapons I have not encounter before." Teal'C bypassed Sam's caution and marched towards a dead serpant guard, examining the blooded corpse.
"Okay, I think we better get the hell out of here. Danny, wanna open this thing and get us home? This place is really beginning to..." Jack's speech came to a sudden halt a loud shot echoed over the clearing and Jack's face filled with complete surpise and horror. He looked down at his uniform and laid his hand gently upon the blood stained wound, which had suddenly appeared. "Oh brother." Jack whispered before collapsing into a heap onto the floor, trickles of blood already making their way down his chest.
Daniel was just moving to join them and open the gate as Jack had asked when he froze where he stood. He heard Jack stop in mid sentence, making a strangled noise deep in his throat and keel over. It seemed to cause an almost dominoe-like reaction as Sam, then Teal'c both followed suit, falling to the ground, clutching wounds that appeared out of nowhere.
He sprinted across the remaining distance between them before Isbeth could make a move to stop him, falling to his knees beside Jack's still form. Blood mared the surface of his chest. Daniel reached a shaking hand beneath his jawline to check for a pulse,
relieved to find it strong and steady, despite appearances.
Trying to ignore the gruesome appearance of the wound for the time being, he instead focused on the rise and fall of Jack's chest, once again surprised to find Jack taking deep, regualr breaths. It was almost as if he was asleep rather than lying injured on the
ground of some alien planet.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Isbeth looking at Sam a few feet away, but he continued in his examination of Jack. Doing his best to control the shaking in his hands, he unbuttoned the colonel's shirt, pushing the material aside to get a clear view of the wound itself.
Several long lines streaked his chest, cutting through the covering of hair there. Blood oozed slowly, drawing tiny rivers down the paths of muscle. Daniel doubted Jack was in any danger of bleeding to death just yet. The wounds were much less severe than he would have expected to make a man such as the colonel fall so easily.
That thought disturbed him more than anything else. Jack easily outweighed him and Daniel doubted that he himself would have fallen so quickly from these wounds. There had to be more to this than it seemed.
Ignoring the disgust the action caused, Daniel dipped his fingers lightly into the pools of blood that had collected in Jack's wounds. He brought his hand up, rubbing his fingers together and peering at them in the sunlight. He had had enough personal
experience with bleeding to know what blood looked like on your hand. He had seen that sight many times when he felt pain, touched the source, and brought up a blood-covered hand.
This sight was different, however. The blood on his fingers had an almost reflective sheen to it as the sunlight hit it. He brought the fingers to his nose, sniffing lightly. He could detect the normal, coppery smell that he associated with blood, but there
was the smell of something else beneath it. He sniffed again. It smelled like the infirmary after a mission, chemicals filling the air.
Is'beth watched Daniel stagger uncertainly for a moment, before he slumped to the ground like his friends, on his back.
"Daniel!" Is'beth shrieked in fright.
She rushed to his side, almost tripping in her haste, and kneeled beside his still form. Laying her head on his chest gently, she felt the rise and fall of his breast. Placing her hand a few inches above his open mouth, she felt warm air hit her fingers.
"He still breathes," she whispered, relief momentarily flowing through her body.
However, her present situation seemed to dawn on her and a look of very real fear captured her face, mirroring the building panic she was feeling inside. Her wild eyes darted around her surroundings, attempting to catch a glimpse of who, or what, had done this. She skittered over to O'Neill's unmoving body and began gently slapping his face, urging him to wake up. His eyes would not open and her hope began to fade. Then she heard a cough. Her head swinging around, she observed the jaffa known as Teal'c waking up. Rushing over to his side, she held his head up, pleading with him to open his eyes.
Teal'c groggily opened his lids to Is'beth, a worried smile shaping her face. He swallowed slowly and motioned that he should sit up. Is'beth assisted him, glad that she was now not alone.
Teal'c looked at the surrounding area - all of his team mates were on the ground, asleep... or dead. He stood up slowly, swaying, before he regained his equilibrium. He strode, somewhat shakily, over to O'Neill's side and placed his hand on his friend's bloodied chest – his heartbeat was strong and constant.
"You're companions are still alive, but it would seem they are asleep," Is'beth supplied. "However, I do not fully understand why you..."
"The infant goa'uld that I carry would have combatted the drug or poison we were given much faster than the immune system of the Tau'ri," he answered, anticipating her question. "Already, I feel my strength returning. It seems to be a drug that rapidly incapacitates the victim, a drug whose effects fade equally as fast."
Walking slowly over to Sam's side, he carefully put his hands underneath her knees and her back. He lifted her into his arms as he stood and turned to Is'beth.
"There is no hope of being concealed here - my friends must be moved. Please stay whilst I take Captain Carter to a less obvious area."
Is'beth stood fearfully. "You're leaving?"
"For no longer than is necessary. I will return."
And with that, he left.
He was gone no more than 5 minutes, and returned with the valley floor just as he had left it - with one difference.
"Where is Is'beth?" he muttered.
She was gone.
Anyway, meanwhile on Chulak.
"They are interesting, although I don't believe your Tau'ri friends are very evolved. They make very little sense when they speak." Ven complained to Bra'tac.
"I had noticed they often say what they do not mean. But we must put that matter to the side. They are, after all, allies against the system lords."
"What do you know of a goa'uld called Isbeth?"
"That would be the host Isbeth you refer to. She is safe then?"
"I was going to kill her until the Tau'ri intervened."
"Thank the gods. She can be trusted. I had intended asking you to seek her and aid her in escaping the system lords."
"Then perhaps we should return to Nariss and assist her and the Tau'ri. I dispatched several jaffa there before returning to ask your opinion on whether or not to kill her."
Bra'tac face looked alarmed at the mention of jaffa on Nariss.
"Instantly", he affirmed. "There can be no time lost. They may be in grave danger."
Is'beth, made her way through the undergrowth, looking for her campsite but with all the moving with the Tau'ri around she had lost her bearings and was lost. She intended to go back to the camp and retrieve her things. She thought that saving the Gou'auld healing device would come in handy.
She finally found the trail to her makeshift home, but it had taken allot longer then she had expected, Teal'c would most certinly have returned by this time and found her missing. She quickened her pace.
As she reached her home she was horrified to find that it had been ransacked. She ducked down in the bushes and listened for any sounds of movement, when she heard none she ran over to her tent and was suprised to find her bag untouched under a blanket. She grabed it and headed back towards Teal'c and Daniel.
Teal'c had managed to take his unconscious team mates into the forest where they would be more protected. He was beginning to worry about O'Neill as his breathing had shallowed and he was very pale. He was also worried about Is'beth, he hadn't seen any sign of her since she had disappeared and that had been over an hour ago.
To his left Teal'c heard a noise in the bushes and stood up, prepared to defend his friends.
Is'beth made her way through the forest and into a small clearing and saw Teal'c holding his staff weapon and Daniel and his other friends unconscious on the ground. She was glad she had gotten there when she did as their leader, O'Neill was in very bad shape.
"Where have you been!" Teal'c demanded.
"I went back to my camp to fetch some things that might be of some use" Is'beth replied as she knelt over O'Neill. She placed the circular healing devise on her hand and held it over O'Neills chest. The wound started healing and soon the only thing remaining was his ripped and bloodstained shirt. She looked down at O'Neill as his eyes fluttered open.
He looked at her for a moment, confused as to who she was and then Teal'c walked over to him and helped him up.
"Teal'c, what the hell happened" Jack demaned as he examined his healed chest. "You were shot" Teal'c replied. Trust Teal'c to say the obvious, Jack thought. Is'beth, who had walked the short distance to the clearing where the stargate was, came running back, "The hunter has returned, with a jaffa!" she said, out of breath. ...
Teal'c and Jack momentarily stiffened before Jack asked,
"This warrior... did he look kinda old?"
Is'beth nodded, uncertainty appearing in her eyes. Teal'c turned to Jack, lowering his voice so as not to be heard by the girl.
"You are thinking this may be Master Bra'tac, are you not?"
Jack gave a slight nod, accompanied by a shrug.
"Could be possible. But I say we go and check it out anyway."
Teal'c lowered his head in acquiescence. To Is'beth, Jack said,
"Is'beth. Teal'c and I are going to go and find the... hunter and the Jaffa with her. Can I trust you to stay here, revive our friends like you did me, and fill them in?"
The girl nodded and picked up the healing device, holding it above Daniel's unconscious form. When Jack and Teal'c saw the golden beam emanating from the device in her hand, they took off through the bushes, the staff weapon gripped tightly in Teal'c's hand.
They had no idea who it was Ven had brought back, but they hoped it would be Teal'c's mentor and their friend.
Jack drew in a breath as he saw the stargate and the two figures standing in front of it...
The elderly jaffa walked over to Jack, slapping him across the shoulder in what he had come to believe was a ritual form of greeting amongst the Tau'ri. Jack stumbled back slightly - Bra'tac sure was strong for a guy well over 100!
Bra'tac looked at Jack and frowned.
"Are you having trouble breathing?"
Jack released the breath he had been unconsciously holding.
"Bad day" he replied. "Very bad."