I do not own any of the following and make absolutely nothing from writing this fic (other than some great on-line friends).
Okay, here's my next fic. I had something completely different in mind but then thought to myself – hey, there are so few 'Jack and Sam trapped on a planet alone fics' that I just had to write one (smile)! The other reason is that I've been living in Boston for the last three months and my husband is still back in Canada and I miss him! So, if this is a little raunchy that's the reason – pure frustration! Oh, that's a warning, by the way. There's nothing too overt but if you don't like Sam and Jack doing the 'deed' don't read (hey, I'm a poet!). Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little flight into fantasy.
Timelines? I never pay too much attention but Sam is a Major and Daniel hasn't ascended so - sometime before season six.
Things had started out well – it was a simple mission to a nice little planet. They were only going for a few hours and then they had two weeks off. Jack was, of course, going to his cabin. Yup, two weeks of fishing and relaxing with nothing to worry about but whether or not he had enough beer!
The rest of the team also had plans. Sam was going to visit her brother in San Diego. Since Jacob had repaired his relationship with his son Sam had found it so much nicer to visit her brother and his family. It wasn't that there had ever been an estrangement between the two of them, it was just that Mark's anger at Jacob had always seemed to come up and spoil their visits together. The last couple of times she'd been out had been great. She was especially enjoying spending more time with her niece and nephew.
Teal'c and Daniel were both going off world. Teal'c was going to show Daniel some old ruins on Chulak – although Jack actually figured that was pretty much of an excuse. He had teased them both about planning some 'wild Jaffa parties' while he wasn't there to watch them. Hey – when the Colonel was away, the Jaffa and geek could play!
So, today's mission was to be short – a simple retrieval of some test equipment that had been left by SG6. That team was actually supposed to have returned to collect the tests and equipment but two of their members had come down with chicken-pox of all things and were in quarantine. So, Hammond had asked SG1 to do one final, easy, quick mission before their vacation.
He should have known, thought O'Neill. Whenever anyone says that a mission is 'easy' and 'quick' he should just accept the fact that it was going to go FUBAR real fast! So, in inimitable SG1 style, here they were, madly running for their lives through an alien forest followed by what seemed like dozens of Jaffa! Every once in a while he'd turn back and let loose a couple of rounds, just to keep them on their toes and hopefully give some extra time for the rest of his team to get back to the gate.
It had all started when he and Teal'c had been doing a simple perimeter search. The two scientists had been collecting SG6's equipment and Jack figured an hour, hour and a half at the most and they'd be able to head back. They'd been at it for just over half an hour when he heard a noise that he was pretty sure he recognized.
Shit! "Teal'c", he spoke softly into his walkie talkie. "I think we have hostiles coming up at 10:00 o'clock. I'm going to get Daniel and Sam and have them head back to the gate. Keep your eyes peeled and meet back at the trail."
"Roger that O'Neill." Jack allowed a quick grin. Teal'c was picking up earth expressions more each day.
"Daniel, Sam, leave everything" he spoke again into his radio. "We're heading out. We have Jaffa heading our way and it sounds like there are a lot of them. I'll meet you at the trail."
"Okay Sir", Sam and Daniel quickly grabbed their weapons and packs and headed towards the rough trail that SG6 had hacked out on their first visit. As soon as the team was together they began to hotfoot it to the gate.
They could tell the moment the Jaffa caught sight of the equipment and supplies they left. As soon as they heard a shout O'Neill ordered them to run. He knew it was going to be a close one.
So here they were again, making another mad dash for the gate. He just hoped to God they could make it before they were caught.
He could hear the gate engaging. He glanced over at Sam and nodded. They both began to run as fast as their legs could carry them, no longer shooting at the Jaffa.
Daniel and Teal'c had run ahead while they'd tried to slow the Jaffa so as to give his team mates time to open the gate. He thought they just might make it.
They arrived at the edge of the field which held the Stargate and could see Daniel and Teal'c waiting near the event horizon. He waved them through, knowing that the Jaffa were on their heels. They could hear the enemy getting closer and suddenly Jack stopped, knowing they didn't have a hope of making it through the clearing to the gate before the Jaffa caught up. They'd be sitting ducks in the open field.
Making a quick decision Jack looked over at Sam and grabbed her arm. Without a word he pulled her off the trail, as quietly as he could. Looking around desperately he found a small, hollowed out dip in the ground covered by dense bush. Pulling her down beside him he arranged the plants over their heads and the two of them remained as quiet as they could. It was only seconds later that the first Jaffa arrived and ran towards the field. Some of them ran by so close that all it would have taken was a quick glance to the side for them to have been discovered.
It was shortly after the last Jaffa had run by that they heard the sound of the gate closing. They could then hear a number of the Jaffa talking. Jack could only hope that they thought all of the Tauri had made it through. It wouldn't take much for them to be discovered!
It quickly became evident that there was no search party being sent out for them. Thank God, he thought. They figured everyone had escaped! Strangely, however, the Jaffa were still moving around the gate and didn't seem to be leaving. Maybe they were waiting for someone? He hoped it wasn't a slimy System Lord! It would make it difficult to escape if the Goa'uld were planning to move in.
Jack could feel himself getting stiff after lying still for so long. He was also getting cold. The ground was damp and the chill was seeping in through his BDU's. He glanced carefully over at Sam and could see she was starting to shiver slightly as well. He was proud of her though – as soon as he looked at her she gave him an encouraging grin. She was one helluva soldier!
He must have dozed off because he found himself startled awake when he heard the sound of an explosion and could feel the ground rumble underneath him. What the hell? What was going on?
The first explosion was quickly followed by another one and then a third. He looked over at Sam and could see she was just as puzzled – and worried – as he was. Neither of them knew what was happening but, whatever it was, it didn't sound good.
Once the explosions had died down they heard the sound of Jaffa again talking and laughing. A couple of minutes later and the alien soldiers were walking back through the forest. For the second time some of them came awfully close to where the two humans were hiding, but they were clearly not expecting anyone to be here so weren't watching carefully.
Jack waited for almost twenty minutes before he figured it was safe to check. He wouldn't put it past these guys to leave someone at the gate just in case.
He motioned for Sam to stay down while he checked. He carefully got to his feet, wanting to groan as his sore muscles were stretched. Once he was on his feet he moved forward towards the clearing, watching to make sure there was no one around. After a couple of minutes he decided it was safe and motioned for Sam to come. She got up much easier than he did (he hated growing old!) but she was stiff too and stretched carefully. Once she was up they both made their way back to the gate. It was time to go home and get that vacation started!
He didn't see it at first – wasn't looking for it in fact. He was more concerned about enemy Jaffa jumping out at him. Carter was the one to see it; he only realized when she stopped. He looked at her, a question on his face, when he saw that she was staring blankly ahead. It was such an unusual expression for his Second that he stared at her for a moment. He then slowly turned and looked and couldn't help the gasp that rose in his throat.
The gate was gone.
"Carter?" he asked after a couple of seconds. "What happened to the gate?"
She didn't answer at first but finally turned to look at him with that peculiar blank expression.
"I think they blew it up Sir." She answered quietly.
Actually, it was obvious they'd blown it up. His question to her had been purely rhetorical. He could clearly see what had happened and it explained the explosions. In actual fact the gate was still there – or at least parts of it were still there. The damage was extensive. There was no way they were getting home that way.
"They must have used explosives with Naquada Sir", she explained. "There's no other way they could have destroyed the gate."
"Frankly Major, I don't really care how they destroyed the damn thing – I'm more concerned with why and I'm most concerned with how the hell are we going to get home?"
She looked at him and started to apologize. One of the ways she had of dealing with stressful situations was by switching into 'science' mode. It helped calm her down to think of technical things. She knew it didn't matter right at this moment though.
"It's okay Carter", he waved off her apology. "Didn't mean to jump on you – I'm just a little bit concerned here."
"I understand Sir. Uh, as to why they would destroy the gate, I assume they came by ship. It seems logical to assume they don't want us coming back here so they must have something going on on this planet that they don't want us to see."
"Yeah, but wouldn't they think we might get a little suspicious of them destroying the gate?"
"Well, how would we know?" When he looked at her in confusion she continued. "As far as they know we all returned through the Stargate. They wouldn't expect us to come back right away, knowing that Jaffa are here. Maybe they're hoping that we'll decide to strike this planet from our list and not come back, at least not for a long time. They also know we don't have ships at our disposal."
"Sounds about right Carter. So, it was just our luck to be here to see them blow the damn thing up! Well, that kinda answers that question, although I still wanna know what's so great about this planet that they want to keep us away! I guess for now that leaves my second question. – how the hell are we gonna get home?"
This time there was no humor or softness in his eyes. He knew, as well as did she, that things were bad, but he needed all the facts. "So, any ideas?" he asked softly.
She bit her lip, thinking seriously about their options. It didn't take her long because, in reality she already knew. With a bleak look she began.
"Well, the SGC will know we're here – or at least they'll hope the Jaffa didn't get us so they'll try and mount a rescue mission. Once they can't dial back in they'll start looking at other options."
"Yes Major, I kinda figured that. So, what other options and how long will they take?" Actually, Jack knew as well as Carter what the options were. It just helped to hear them.
"Well Sir I guess their only options are our allies. As for how long - it depends Colonel. If they can get either the Asgard or the Tokra to help it shouldn't take long. With the Asgard, maybe only a couple of days. The Tokra ships aren't quite as fast so it could be two or three weeks."
"So, not too bad. We just have to figure a way to stay alive that long."
"Yeeesss."
"Spit it out Major." O'Neill already knew what was coming but they might as well face it now.
"Sir, we haven't heard from the Asgard for almost a year and the Tokra – well, we're not on the best terms with them right now. It's been a few months since we've heard from them either."
"Yeah, I know and neither of them are great at answering our calls. We can't even leave a message! I should talk to Thor about arranging for text messaging." He looked around for a few seconds, trying to figure out their chances on this planet, and then he turned back to Carter.
"So, what you're saying is is that we can't count on our allies to save us and it could be awhile. Is that about right?"
"Yes Sir."
"I see. Tell me Major, how long would it take for a ship from earth to get here – if we had one of course?"
"Uh, I'd have to figure it out Sir but I can tell you that it wouldn't be here in time to pick us up – our grandchildren maybe, but not –" her voice faded at the same time she could feel her cheeks grow red. What the hell had she just said? Of course, Jack O'Neill wasn't one to let this one go.
"Our grandkids, eh Carter!" he grinned. "I had no idea you cared." She blushed even more and desperately tried to change the subject.
As much as he'd enjoyed watching his Major put her foot in her mouth he knew they couldn't spend any more time just talking. They had to come up with a plan for survival. They could end up rescued in the next couple of days, or it could be months – so they had to figure out what to do.
"Well, I'm afraid we'll have to wait and talk about the grandkiddies a little later Carter. For now let's figure out what to do."
They spent the next half hour checking their supplies and discussing their best plan of action. Ever since their little Antarctica jaunt of a few years ago it had become standard operating procedure to pack enough supplies for at least four or five days, even if the teams were going on a short recon mission. Although Jack often groused about having to carry such large packs even on small missions like today, he was now very glad the powers that be made them bring extra supplies.
Between the two of them they had enough food to last four days – that could be stretched out if need be. They had sleeping bags, a med kit, a couple of tarps that could be turned into a tent and various tools and odds and ends that would help. Jack had even brought a small fishing set so they could try and catch fish in the stream they'd seen earlier.
Both of them had extra weapons and rounds of ammunition although unfortunately Jack had run through a lot of his when he was being chased by the Jaffa.
Speaking of which ….. "Sam, I think we should go and check out those Jaffa – see if we can figure out what they're doing here. We may even be able to hijack one of their ships!"
Carefully hiding the bulk of their supplies they quietly made their way through the forest, easily following the trail left by the Jaffa. Jack always shook his head at these soldiers. They could be pretty tough and scary but stealth definitely wasn't their forte! I guess they've never needed it, he thought as they walked. They come to conquer and intimidate – guerilla warfare wasn't their modus operandi!
It took them almost an hour before they arrived to where they could see the Jaffa camp. Carter had noticed first and had signaled for a stop. They carefully edged forward and were able to look down at the Jaffa.
Fortunately there was no mother ship. Jack could see two smaller vessels and about 40 Jaffa in total. They appeared to be packing up and getting ready to leave. He still wondered why on earth they were here and why they'd blown the gate.
Just then he felt a small tap on his arm and looked to his Second to see her pointing over to the left. It took him a moment but then he saw what looked like some equipment up against the side of a small hill. He couldn't tell what it was so turned to the Major, his eyebrows raised in inquiry. She leaned towards him and whispered.
"Geological testing. I think they may have discovered something here."
"Naquada?" he asked. That would explain it.
"Probably. It explains why they would have blown the gate. They wouldn't want us to be able to get a hold of it." He nodded. It seemed logical.
"Why are they leaving then?" he asked.
"This is most likely just the survey team. I expect they'll come back at a later time to start mining." Again he agreed with her assessment. Well, he just hoped that he and Sam were rescued before they came back. He expected there'd be a lot more people coming – including even some of his least favorite Goa'uld.
He leaned over again. "Did you recognize the Jaffa?" He wondered which snake head they might have to contend with.
"No Sir, sorry."
"Me either." Well, maybe that was slightly good news for a change! They stayed quietly watching for the rest of the day until the last of the Jaffa and what must have been a small group of scientists and geologists were packed up and ready to go. They continued to watch as the two ships disappeared quickly into space.
With a sigh of relief O'Neill stood up and then reached down to help Carter get to her feet.
"I guess we'd better make camp. It'll be dark before long. We can figure out what to do in the morning."
That night, as he lay in his sleeping bag, trying to sleep, he wondered what the next few days – and possibly weeks, had in store. He refused to believe that rescue wasn't coming soon.
Sam sat, her back to the fire. They had divided up the night into three hour watches. Even though they were pretty sure the Jaffa were gone the Colonel was never one to take chances. As she looked out into the dark of the night she too wondered what was going to happen. The one good thing about this whole adventure (she refused to call it anything else) was that she was stuck with Colonel O'Neill. She couldn't think of anyone she'd rather have at her side in this kind of situation. He was famous for his survival skills and, having worked with him for a number of years she knew his fame was well earned. He not only had a 'sixth sense' about things, she was sure he had a seventh and eight as well!
While she was glad of his presence and knew it increased their chances of survival dramatically, she did have one small worry (okay, not her only one – and certainly not the biggest in their present situation) but she was concerned that it was going to be a teensy bit uncomfortable with only the two of them together for who knew how long. If it had been their entire team everything would have been fine – although for Daniel and Teal'c sake she was glad they'd gotten home. Living with just the Colonel for the next few days or weeks (she refused to think in terms of months) might be a challenge like none she'd ever experienced. She decided, right there and then, that she was going to be nothing more than extremely professional and stick to protocol as much as possible.
As she carefully checked out the perimeter while on her watch she again wondered what was in store for them.