No, no - don't worry. I'm not forgetting or stopping updating my other story. I plan to update more regularly now. I just needed a break and a new story popped into my head. This had all the elements I love most: whump, lost on a planet, romance, etc. Hope you enjoy.

"WHERE IS HE? WE HAVE TO GO," shouted Daniel.

Sam looked around frantically in the dim and smoky light. "I DON'T KNOW," she shouted back. "God Colonel, where are you?"

"I will go and look for him," Teal'c called out.

Daniel reached out and grabbed his sleeve. "No Teal'c. There isn't time. We have to dial out now! SAM, WE HAVE TO GO."

Sam took a step towards the doors, but this time it was Teal'c who stopped her. Daniel was quickly dialing the gate and she looked around in despair. This couldn't be happening. Their plan had been simple. They were going to sneak onto the Ha'tak of the system lord Aker, plant explosives and escape.

They had split up, with Sam and Daniel heading towards the computer core and Teal'c and Jack going to the main control room.

Sam and Daniel had had little problem reaching their destination, encountering only a few Jaffa on the way. For O'Neill and Teal'c, it had been a different matter. They'd run into real trouble when a group of Jaffa had kept them pinned down in a corridor close to the control room. Jack had waved Teal'c on, telling him he'd hold them off while Teal'c planted the explosives as close as he could to the controls.

Teal'c quickly accomplished his mission and headed back – but Jack was no longer where he'd left him. Instead there was a pile of dead or unconscious Jaffa but no sign of the Colonel. Teal'c spent some time looking, but eventually was forced to make his way to the rendezvous point, the room which held the stargate.

They had found out about Aker from the Tok'ra and had been given "inside information". Although O'Neill complained they could never trust information from their so-called allies, he agreed that they couldn't pass up the chance to rid the galaxy of another Goa'uld.

Aker was new on the scene, at least to the people from Earth. He had been active in a more distant part of the galaxy, but as the system lords had fallen, one by one, he had made his way back. He saw an opportunity in the void left and had decided to try his chances at seizing control of as much territory as he could.

He'd managed a few victories of some outlying areas but the Tok'ra, and Stargate Command, both felt that he posed a real threat if left unchecked.

"And of course we are the lucky ones to deal with him," O'Neill had complained. In the end, however, they'd taken the mission.

And it was about to go FUBAR.

The gate whooshed open and all three members of Sg1 looked around, as if expecting Jack to appear any moment. Sam looked at her watch.

"Twenty seconds," she called. Each of the three looked at one another in horror. It was Teal'c who finally made the decision.

He reached out and grabbed each of his comrades, his friends, by the arm and pulled them through the event horizon. Both Daniel and Sam resisted, but in the end they had no choice.

The moment they appeared in the gateroom Teal'c shouted. "CLOSE THE IRIS". A second later it closed, although they still felt and heard the sound of some force hitting the iris.

The Goa'uld ship had exploded.

Jack knew that there was no time to make it back to the stargate. He'd managed to stop most of the Jaffa and was about to join Teal'c, when he heard footsteps approaching from behind.

Too many footsteps!

"Oh crap!" he muttered. Taking out the last fighter in front of him, he began to run. He waited just long enough for the Jaffa to see him. He needed to draw them away from the control room, to let Teal'c finish his task.

He ran as fast as he could through the corridors of the Ha'tak, until he'd led them far enough that he could turn and begin firing.

He finally managed to deal with all of them – sparing a moment for a quick thought about how bad Jaffa were at close range fighting. It was only then that he looked at his watch, and realized he'd run out of time.

He grimaced and a quick wave of something – anger, despair, fear – he wasn't quite sure, ran through him.

But his way wasn't to give up. So he only had a couple of minutes before the explosions went off and destroyed the ship. He couldn't make it to the stargate so – think Jack, think!

He looked around quickly and tried to orient himself. Although he often played the fool, he really wasn't and he had studied the layout of Goa'uld ships. Suddenly, with a flash of memory, he realized what he could do.

But he had to move fast.

He began running again, just praying that he was going the right direction. He almost turned left at the end of one corridor, but at the last moment changed direction. A second later he hit a door panel and it flew open, to reveal a hangar full of death gliders!

"Oh yes!" he hissed. He quickly decided on which machine and ran to it and pulled himself up the mounting ladder. He jumped inside and as fast as he could closed the hatch and started the engine – or whatever the hell a death glider used for power.

He took a half second to glance at his watch. 30 seconds!

"Come on!" he murmured. A moment later it started and he was heading toward the exit. It took a few tries before he could open the bay doors but he finally hit the right command.

Time was ticking down rapidly. He knew he only had seconds left. With a quick prayer he hit the gas pedal – or the Goa'uld equivalent – as hard as he could and shot out of the Ha'tak.

He hadn't gone far enough when the ship exploded. His ship was rocked violently, flipped over end-to-end and forced towards a small planet – the only solid body in the vicinity.

He was completely unable to establish any kind of control as the glider careened madly on its coarse. Jack knew that his life was out of his hands. He could only hope that it would eventually slow down and he could regain control.

In the meantime he closed his eyes and thought of his friends. Just let them have gotten off the ship in time. He hoped they hadn't been foolish enough to look for him, or to wait too long for him.

If he died now – he knew they'd never forgive themselves, even though his death wouldn't be their fault. For them, as much as for himself, he prayed that he lived.

A few seconds later the ship began to slow and steady itself. His stomach was feeling as if it was ready to launch itself out of his throat, his head was ringing and his eyesight was completely wonky. Before things steadied down in his pummeled body, he reached out and tried to take back control of the ship.

He managed to steady it – hoping that it hadn't been damaged in the explosion. It seemed to be handling okay. He checked the controls and all looked fine. He then looked out the window and –

"Holy SHIT!" He pulled up and saved himself, at literally the last second, from plastering himself all over the planet's surface. It took him a few seconds to steady the ship again and then to slow down.

He was sweating and his heart was almost launching itself back into outer space. But for now he was okay. He did, however, have to quickly find a place to land the glider. It had started to make strange noises and he worried that it had been damaged. He had no idea how long it was going to be able to fly.

A moment later it started to shake wildly. It was now or never, he realized. Land or become Jack Splat.

He found a small clearing and was able to bring the machine to Earth. It was a pretty spectacular landing – he took out a number of trees and gouged a huge hole in the Earth. The good news was he managed to land relatively unscathed. He had a few bruises from being tossed around and he was pretty sure he'd aged at least ten years but other than that he was in one piece.

In one piece and on an unknown planet with no gate – or people – in sight.

"But you're alive Jack," he told himself. "And you almost weren't so don't start complaining now!"

After allowing himself a few moments to regain his breath, and to allow his heart and stomach to return to their normal places, he finally opened the hatch on the glider.

There was a brief moment of fear, where he held his breath, but then rolled his eyes and opened his mouth. If the air was poisoned there was really nothing he could do. He took a deep breath and …

Nothing. He was fine. The air smelled – well, like air.

"Okay – you're off to a good start Jack. Just keep up the good luck."

He pulled himself up and out of the glider – grimacing when he realized how long a drop it was to earth – or to the alien planet, he guessed.

"No choice," he told himself. He managed to turn and hang on to the cockpit and lower himself down as far as he could. It was still a drop, but one he was pretty sure he'd survive without too much damage.

"Okay, that hurt," he said when he regained his breath after the drop. His ankles and knees hurt from the fall, but he was pretty sure nothing had been broken, or even severely sprained. His luck was holding.

Now of course the bad news was he had limited supplies with him. They had needed to move quickly and quietly through the Ha'tak and certainly hadn't planned on staying anywhere for any length of time. So he basically had his weapon, ammunition – although that was depleted after the firefights on the Ha'tak, a small emergency kit, first aid kit and a few odds and ends that he always travelled with. He also had four energy bars, which wouldn't keep him too long if this planet was short on food.

No point worrying about that now, he decided. First he had to find out whether there was a stargate or life on this planet.

He did a 360 degree turn, but every direction looked about the same. He'd landed in a hilly area that was dotted with trees. It looked semi-arid, which worried him in terms of water. He had one canteen with him, but it was half-full – or half-empty he supposed.

"Well, might as well pick a direction Jack. Maybe your luck will continue to hold."

He looked around one more time and with a quirk of his eyebrow, picked a direction and began to walk. Maybe, just maybe, he'd walk right to the stargate and gate home.

Miracles really do happen, sometime, he kept telling himself.

By nighttime his hope in miracles had begun to wane, although not disappear completely. He'd give it three days – or until he dropped dead from thirst – until he would give up. He kept walking.

He wondered if his teammates would think about checking the planet to see if he had made it. They were notorious for pulling rabbits from their hats at the last minute and he knew his team wouldn't give up on him. They hadn't before, pulling him back from more than one seemingly impossible situation. Surely they would check out neighboring planets and do a double check.

Of course they wouldn't know where to look for him. The planet, even if it was a small one, was a pretty big piece of territory. Even if there was a gate, it could be on the other side of the planet. He hadn't had a chance to study it during his wild ride. He'd only seen a small bit of the planet and had no idea about it's terrain, other than what he could see in front of him, or even whether it was inhabited.

"But there had to be a reason the Ha'tak had been close," he muttered. "So there must be something here."

There could be people, he thought. Maybe they were Aker's subjects and he was coming to be worshipped. Goa'ulds liked to be worshipped.

But no – the Tok'ra had said he was a newby to this part of the galaxy. So maybe he was trying to find a new home world for himself.

And that could mean the planet was deserted. Damn, if that was the case things could get tough.

Suddenly he stopped. He had heard something up ahead. He listened carefully.

"YES!" he shook his fist and started forward. There was water up ahead.

"He can't be dead!" Daniel said for at least the tenth time. "This is Jack we're talking about!"

"What does that mean, Daniel?" Sam asked bitterly. "That he's immortal? That he's impervious to being ripped apart by a bomb?"

"No, of course not. But you and I know how good he is at pulling his ass out of the fire – or ours for that matter – at the last minute. We can't assume that he's gone."

"Teal'c, what are your thoughts?" Hammond asked heavily. The team had told him immediately on returning from their mission what had happened. It was clear that they were all devastated and suffering the pain of loss as well as guilt.

Hammond had sent them all for showers and to be checked out by Frasier. They were only now getting down to the debrief and he hoped with everything in him that Jack had somehow – once again – managed to dodge the bullet.

"O'Neill would have done everything he could to escape, but I fear there was little chance. I believe he drew the Jaffa away to allow me to complete my mission and to save my life. I believe he died a hero."

"You think he's gone too, Teal'c?" Daniel asked with a frown. "I thought you'd have more faith in him."

"I do Daniel Jackson. I have faith that O'Neill died saving others. It is the way he would have wanted to die."

"Well I for one don't think he wanted to die at all. And I don't think he is dead," Daniel said defiantly. "He's still out there and we need to find him!"

"Major Carter, what are your thoughts."

"Well, I don't see how he could have escaped, but Daniel is right Sir. Colonel O'Neill is really good at finding his way out of tight spots. If there is any way that he could have escaped – well, I think we should look into it."

"All right, I agree," Hammond nodded. "So we need to figure out what options he could have had. Teal'c, what other ways are there to escape a Ha'tak?"

Teal'c frowned and then gave one short nod, as if by that he was agreeing that Jack was, indeed still alive.

"Other than the stargate, all Ha'taks come equipped with at least one, and often more ring rooms. I do not believe the ship was close enough to any planet or another ship to enable him to use the rings."

"Okay – so no rings. What else?" Hammond asked.

"The only other option would have been a ship," he told the others. "Just as we escaped from Apophis ship, so too could have O'Neill."

"Of course!" Daniel snapped his fingers. "He could have made it to the hangar and stolen a glider. Teal'c," he turned to his friend, "how far would the death glider hangar be from the control room?"

Teal'c frowned for a moment. "It would be some distance away," he said. "He would have had to move there very quickly, almost immediately after I left him. He could have done it, although it would have been very close."

"And could he steal a vessel?"

"They are left ready to fly at all times," Teal'c told them. "As long as there were no guards, he could have taken one."

"All right," Daniel said, standing up and moving around the room. "We need to find out where the nearest planet is from where the Ha'tak was. Sam, can you find out the exact location of the Ha'tak based on the address?"

"Of course," she replied. "But it will take a little while to map which planets are close by. Sir?" she turned to the General.

"Of course Major – go. And let's all hope that Colonel O'Neill's ability to pull miracles out of his hat has remained."

Colonel O'Neill's miracle quotient had seemingly run out. After finding the water – and drinking as much as he could and then filling his canteen – he hadn't had much luck with anything.

He'd allowed himself to eat one protein bar, which had helped his hunger a bit. But so far he hadn't seen any life except for a few tiny birds – which wouldn't make for a particularly hearty dinner. Other than that he hadn't seen so much as a mouse.

"Of course I'd have to land on a planet with nothing but robins and sparrows! Couldn't there be a deer or an antelope – or hell, even a wild pig?" he said to the skies. He had a sneaking feeling that he was going to get much hungrier before long!

That night he built himself a small lean-to made from branches and twigs. In the end it was pretty snug, although he had no idea how cold it got at night. He was able to pile up some leaves, so the bed wasn't bad. He snuggled down into the small shelter, and tried not to think about his growling stomach – or the possibility that his friends had perished.

"Nope," he finally said to himself. "They made it! This is Daniel, Teal'c and Carter we're talkin' about. They're home, safe and sound, snug in their beds.

And eaten up with guilt over their CO.

Jack sighed and tried to go to sleep. Tomorrow was a big day. Find more water, find food and find a way home.

"Yup – you need your rest O'Neill." He closed his eyes and fell into a restless sleep.