Title: Old Debts 6: Light
Author: MajelB
E-Mail: majelitab@lycos.com
Status: Complete
Category:
action/adventure, h/c, angst, drama
Spoilers: Fair Game,
Tok’ra
Season: 3, after FIAD, but
before A Hundred Days
Series: Old Debts
Rating: R
Content Warnings: lots of
language, lots of violence, gratuitous Sam-whumping
Summary: Are you kidding?
This is the finale! I can’t give anything away…
Author’s Notes: Phew!
Wow, it’s finally finished! Honestly, I’ve never done anything this big
before without getting a paycheck or a grade in return, though positive feedback
is just as good. I want to thank all of those kind souls who have taken the time
to drop me a line and tell me what they think. Your words have made all the
difference in the world! I also want to say a special thanks to my friend Devra,
who has unwaveringly given me her support and encouragement, for having the
sweetest nagging voice I have ever heard. Finally, a huge thanks to Annie, my
beta, for her patience and kind words all along the way.
Now, without further
adieu, the story. I really hope the finale is everything you’ve been waiting
for.
Sam braced herself
subconsciously for the sudden drop in the crawlspace she had hit the last time
she was there, but she didn't have the presence of mind to notify her teammates about
it until she had managed to get all the way through. She brushed herself off
and, as an afterthought, turned back toward the small opening.
“Hey, guys? Be careful,
that last step is a-,”
And Daniel came rolling
out, knocking them both into a tangled heap on the ground. Sam couldn’t help
but let out a small whimper at Daniel’s weight on her skewed limbs.
“Ow… ugh. Sorry,
Sam,” he mumbled, trying to move off of her.
“A doozy? Yeah, got
that,” the Colonel said as he emerged from the opening, P-90 in hand and
followed closely by Teal’c. The Colonel jumped down and moved to help Daniel
up while Teal’c reached a hand down to Sam. She took it, gratefully, and
stood, relieving Daniel of the rifle that he was now holding out to her.
By silent consent, the
group sat down on the ground for a moment, to catch their breath. Sam leaned her
head back against the wall and closed her eyes, just for a second,
sighing deeply…
*
*
*
*
“Jack,” said Daniel,
very quietly, breaking Jack away from his attempt to clear his mind of all the shit
that had been running through it since they first set foot on this
God-forsaken ball of snake-ridden…
“What, Daniel?” Jack
replied in a tired, breathy tone as he kneaded his eyes with the heels of both
hands. His adrenaline high was fading fast. So much for clearing my mind.
“She must be tired.”
Jack looked up just in
time to see Daniel gesture in Sam’s direction. He shifted his gaze to Carter,
who was slumped bonelessly against the wall. Her eyes were closed, the lids
barely discernible from the rest of her face. Her usually fair skin was still
lightly coated in a layer of brown dust- remnant of the mud she had earlier
smudged all over herself for camouflage. The same dust was still giving her hair
a light brownish color, complimenting the rogue clumps of mud still clinging to
a few unruly strands.
His eyes moved down her
motionless body, taking it all in. The black tee-shirt bandage on her upper left
arm had grown blacker since the last time he looked. Her wound must have
reopened at some point. Her tee-shirt itself was practically in shreds… small
tears all over it denoted close calls with tree branches and thorns. The bottom,
while still falling well below her waistline, was frayed, and he tried not to
imagine the burnt-away hole in the shirt’s back. Her olive drab cargo pants
were beyond salvageable, even for the skilled laundry staff of the SGC. They
were thickly coated with mud and blood… probably belonging to more people than
just Carter.
At that moment, just
sitting there watching her sleep, Jack had never respected her more.
*
*
*
*
“Sam! Hey, wake up.
Let’s go.” The haze in Sam’s head dissipated instantly and she jerked
forward, tense and reaching out for Daniel.
“Hey, take it easy,”
he told her, gripping her good arm. Bless him.
“Sorry. Sorry, I just…
I didn’t think I was that tired. Surprised me a little,” she replied, a tad
breathless. “How long?”
“Not long. Couple of
minutes. You just dozed off, I think.” They stood up.
“Teal’c and the
Colonel?”
“Oh, they just left.
Won’t take long to catch up.”
“They left us?” she
snapped, voice laced with the slightest twinge of panic. Sam didn’t like the
sound of that at all. She didn’t think they should be separating, and she
thought the Colonel would have agreed.
“Just for a second.
They’re scouting the tunnel ahead. Relax,” he replied, smiling gently.
“Easier said than done,
Daniel,” she said, smiling a little back.
“Didn’t seem that way
a few minutes ago.”
Sam laughed lightly at the
obviousness of her friend’s statement as the pair started to walk down the
tunnel. “Yeah. When we get home, I’m gonna sleep for a week.”
Daniel remained silent.
She looked over at him only to see that his eyes were glued to the ground. Her
smile faded. “What?” she asked. He looks so tired…
“I just… uh… it’s
been a long couple of days, you know?” Sam nodded. Daniel dropped his head
again and they continued on in silence for another minute.
“We thought we lost you,
Sam,” Daniel finally whispered, so softly she could barely hear him.
“Yeah, I know,” she
whispered back.
“And then you show up
tonight, looking like death warmed over-,”
Sam didn’t want to
interrupt his train of thought, hoping that talking to her a little would help
him to feel better, so she remained silent. She knew how she would feel if the
roles were reversed.
“And then, when
Jack…” He stopped, unable to complete the thought.
“Long couple of days,
huh?” she supplied. He nodded.
“Yeah. Long couple of
days. Sleeping for a week really does sound like a great idea,” Daniel
said, a glint of humor returning to his eyes. Sam chuckled.
“Yeah, it really does,
doesn’t it?” They continued on, silently enjoying each others’ company and
the first moments of real peace they had had in what seemed like an eternity.
Sam was about to strike up
another round of idle conversation with her friend, when her stomach started
doing funny little unnatural twists, accompanied by the slightest of twinges in
the back of her mind.
As her exhausted brain
began to wrap itself around the sensation, Sam noticed that they were fast
approaching a sharp turn in the tunnel. She couldn’t see what lay beyond, but
she could feel it, she realized, as her brain finally got back to her
with the results of its analysis. Goa’uld. And in the perfect position to
mount an ambush. Dammit! If the Colonel and Teal’c had gone off ahead of
them…
Shit. God-damn son of a
bitch! Please, God. Not now. Please not now! Not after we’ve come so far. God,
we’re so close! Almost there! For Christ’s sake, can’t you ever just give
us a break? Sam reached out and
grabbed Daniel’s arm, halting him with a jerk. He just gave her a questioning
look, having the good sense to keep his mouth shut this time. She hefted her
P-90 into a more comfortable firing position and he got the hint. They both
moved so that their backs were against the wall near the corner.
Sam could hear them now.
The breathing of the Jaffa. The occasional clank of armor. Maybe they don’t
know we’re here. Maybe we still have a chance to take them by surprise—
“I can feel you,
Samantha.”
Sam visibly paled,
fighting tooth and nail, the urge to fall to her knees, sobbing. She just wanted
all of this to end. Was that really too much to ask? Would it really be so
hard for that psychopathic snakehead to just smile, say ‘It’s been
fun,’ and let them all just go the hell home?
“You are responsible for
the deaths of two of my most skilled Jaffa, Samantha. You did not really believe
that I would allow you to leave without reimbursing me for their loss? Life for
life, Samantha. Your debt to me needs to be repaid.”
Sam could almost hear
Cronos smiling in self-satisfaction, overtly pleased with himself and the
results of the clearly orchestrated course of recent events. Why else would
their escape have been so easy? The fucking snakehead had been planning this all
along, playing with their heads and waiting for them to walk right into his
hands. Huh. Easy. Yeah, right.
Sam was seething, her
emotions all muddled up into an unidentifiable mass of hate and anger, of
frustration and fear and exhaustion. A cold shiver ran down her spine and she
nearly jumped when Daniel laid a steadying hand on her shoulder. God, how she
wished this was all just a bad dream…
*
*
*
*
When Sam startled and
looked up at him, Daniel was taken aback by what he saw. Sam… strong, stable,
unwavering Sam… was lost. Undeniably. Inextricably. Her face clearly showed
him, without question, the tumult of emotion raging in her head and heart. It
scared him, and he fervently wished that he could wave his hand and make all of
her troubles disappear, but unfortunately, he had left his magic wand sitting on
his desk in his office.
“I am not an
unreasonable being, Samantha,” Cronos continued. “Nor am I without honor. As
such, I must respect you Tau’ri for your near worthiness as an
adversary. So, I present you with a proposition. Since you are
responsible for my Jaffa, I will be satisfied with taking your life, alone.
Otherwise, I shall be forced to find other means of recompense. Two lives for
two lives, Samantha. Colonel O’Neill? Please say hello to Major Carter.”
Silence.
“Shol’va? No? Well,
Samantha, your friends seem to be rather out of tongue, but rest assured, they are
here. On their knees, before me, in fact. All except that archaeologist of
yours. Is he with you now, Samantha? Is he telling you to walk away? Either way,
I will gain retribution. Decide quickly, Samantha. I may be a
reasonable being, but I am not patient.”
Sam’s shoulder shuddered
again beneath Daniel’s hand, but when he looked back down at her face, he saw
that all the uncertainty of the moment before had melted away. Now, she was
resolute. Somehow, Daniel found this new expression more frightening than the one
before. It meant she had made her decision already.
Daniel clamped his fingers
down hard around her shoulder, shaking his head no. Don’t go, Sam. He’ll
kill you, you know that! There’s got to be another way! There’s another way,
Sam, we just have to find it! Daniel hoped his eyes were able to convey all
of the words floating around in his head. He hoped his silent shouts were
somehow reaching her ears. They were. Sam’s eyes pleaded with him for
understanding.
Her shoulder fell away
from his hand as she turned to round the corner. As Daniel dropped his arm back
to his side, his hand brushed something he had forgotten about entirely.
Daniel stepped forward and
grabbed Sam’s arm again, twisting her around violently. She tried to pull
away, but stopped when she saw what he was holding in front of her face. Her
knife. Not the foul, golden-handled dagger of the Jaffa she had killed, but her
own, trusty, leather-bound field knife. Daniel had found it with the other
weapons and equipment in the armory and thought it might come in handy.
Sam’s eyes widened as
she silently took the weapon from his hand and gave him her P-90 in return. She
moved her hands behind her, tucking the weapon into her waistband at the small
of her back, and Daniel nodded to her, trying to tell her that everything would
be okay. He didn’t think she quite believed him, but she gave him a small, sad
smile as she turned again, lifting her arms in surrender as she disappeared
around the bend. Be careful, Sam.
*
*
*
*
Jack’s heart sank when
Carter came into view, hands high in the air, slowly walking toward her death.
He had hoped she would have had enough sense in her to backtrack, to leave them
and find another way out. He had hoped, but deep down he’d known she wasn’t
capable of it. No one gets left behind…
Jack felt, rather than
saw, Cronos stride between he and Teal’c, both of whom were kneeling on the ground,
staff weapons aimed at their heads. The Goa’uld was in front of them, now, his
back toward them, facing Carter.
Cronos stopped. Carter
stopped.
“Kneel before your
God.” Jesus, Carter, don’t do it. God, Sam, don’t do it! I can’t
watch you die again! She was staring straight at him. He knew she
could see the pained look on his face, the pleading in his eyes.
She knelt.
God, where the hell is Daniel? Why didn’t he stop this? What the hell was he thinking?!
Carter slowly drew her
hands behind her back. In his mind’s eye, Jack could see Cronos smiling with
delight at the complacent gesture. He extended his ribbon device-clad hand
toward Carter’s forehead.
“Have you anything to
say, Tau’ri?” Carter closed her eyes for a split second and took a deep
breath. Jack barely noticed that he did the same.
“Yes, I do.”
Carter’s left arm flew
out from behind her and she effectively knocked away Cronos’ outstretched
hand. He was so surprised, that he didn’t even notice Carter’s right hand as
it quickly pulled a piece of glinting metal into Jack’s view.
Cronos doubled over in
pain as Carter thrust the knife into his stomach. At the same moment, Daniel
rounded the corner of the tunnel, bringing Carter’s P-90 to bear on the
nearest Jaffa. Jack and Teal’c, warriors that they were, took immediate
advantage of the distraction, turning and knocking away the staff weapons
formerly held at their heads as the Jaffa began to fire. The guards were
knocked off balance, and their trajectories skewed, causing the bolts to hit
nothing but wall or ceiling.
Jack wrestled with his
guard adamantly, battling for control of the staff weapon they both gripped.
Jack jerked the staff toward him with a surprisingly powerful yank on his
opponent’s arms, causing him to loosen his grip slightly. That gave Jack the
opportunity he needed to deftly twist the weapon away from the Jaffa. At first,
he wielded it like a bow staff, ramming the shaft up and into his enemy’s jaw,
then he crouched and spun, knocking the Jaffa’s legs from under him. He fell
to the ground, unconscious. He spun the weapon in his grip, fingering the
trigger so he could fire it. He turned to dispatch the guard that Teal’c was
still struggling with.
“Jack!” Shit,
Daniel! Jack suddenly noticed the conspicuous lack of flying bullets as he
turned toward Daniel’s voice. All of the Jaffa, except Teal’c’s, were on
the ground. Danny and his gun had seen to that. Daniel’s face was ashen, but
he was still poised to fire his weapon at—
Jesus Christ! Carter
was still kneeling on the ground, leaning awkwardly toward Cronos, her hand
still stubbornly gripping the knife embedded in his gut. But Cronos was a
Goa’uld, not to be stopped by a mere stab wound. His ribbon device was aimed
at her head again, and it was most definitely active.
Carter’s face contorted
in agony as Cronos let loose on her all of his own frustration and pain in the
form of slow
torture through the ribbon device. They were killing each other, and Jack
honestly couldn’t see how Carter, strong as she was, could possibly win this
battle of wills… Daniel, why the hell aren’t you firing?
“Jack! God, do
something! I don’t want to hit Sam!” Christ, O’Neill! Wake up! The kid
doesn’t have a shot. You do!
Jack activated his staff
weapon and fired.
Cronos and Carter both
fell to the ground as the ribbon device darkened abruptly, Carter's hand still hanging onto
her knife for all she was worth.
*
*
*
*
Through the throbbing pain
in her head, she was aware of two things. Well, one, if you didn’t count the
throbbing pain in her head.
Voices. She could hear
voices, floating toward her from what seemed like miles and miles away. Wait…
no… it was one voice, but it just kept on yelling to her like it
didn’t know how much the sound made her head hurt. If she had had
anything at all in her stomach, she was quite sure she would have been throwing
up just then.
“Carter? Carter, come
on, Sam. I know it hurts, but you have to wake up for us. They’re coming,
Carter. We gotta go!” She wanted to answer him. Really she did, but she just
couldn’t seem to make her mouth move the way she wanted it to. Instead, she
did what she thought was a pretty good impression of a fish out of water.
“Teal’c? Here, help
me, will ‘ya?”
Just a few seconds later,
she felt herself being lifted away from her relatively comfortable prone
position on the ground. She groaned quietly in protest. Aww, Colonel…
Can’t you just let me stay here and sleep?
“Sorry, Carter. Sorry. I
know it hurts, I know. Just stay with us okay? Just a little longer.”
Teal’c was on one side
of her, the Colonel on the other, as they practically carried her at a brisk
pace through what was left of the tunnel. Her head bobbed helplessly as she
waged a mental war to stay at least semi-conscious.
What really woke her up
was the thunderous sounds of Jaffa marching behind them, coming closer and
closer.
*
*
*
*
Teal’c shifted his grip
on Major Carter as she stirred, sparing a glance toward O’Neill as he
readjusted his own hold on her.
“S’okay, Sir.
I‘c’n wa’k” Major Carter slurred weakly. Teal’c and O’Neill both
looked at her face. Her eyes were wide open, though not entirely focused, and
she seemed more or less alert.
“You sure?” asked
O’Neill, uncertainly, as he looked back over his shoulder. Daniel Jackson
nodded his head toward his friend, assuring him that he was capable of watching
their backs.
“Yessir,” came the
weak reply. O’Neill loosened his grip slightly and Teal’c followed suit.
“Okay, Carter, but we
gotta make time, here.”
Major Carter stumbled a
bit, and Teal’c and O’Neill both kept their hands on her arms to make sure
she didn’t fall, but she managed to keep pace and it wasn’t long before
Teal’c saw it.
Light. A brilliant,
bright, beautiful circle of light just ahead of them. He actually allowed
himself a sigh of relief.
He sighed too soon.
The Jaffa pursuing them
had almost caught up. They were now close enough to fire and have a good chance
of hitting someone. A staff blast flew past Teal’c’s head, leaving the foul
stench of ozone in its wake.
Major Carter spun her head
around to see what was going on when O’Neill let go of her arm, leaving her in
Teal’c’s care alone. He did not intend to fail again.
Daniel Jackson and
O’Neill had both crouched, seeking the relative safety of the walls of the
tunnel, firing their respective weapons. The noise of the battle was intense,
and Major Carter’s head began to lull uselessly to one side as she fought to
remain conscious.
Teal’c was torn. He had
a staff weapon in one hand. He could go to O’Neill and Daniel Jackson, assist
them in firing upon their opponents and hopefully eradicate them, allowing the
team access to the Stargate. In his other arm, he held Major Carter, who could
barely even stand on her own.
Within seconds, his
dilemma was resolved for him.
“Teal’c! Get outta
here and dial up the ‘Gate! We’ll be right behind you!” O’Neill shouted
over the melee. Without hesitation, Teal’c turned and moved quickly toward the
small opening in the ground above. He hastily pushed Major Carter through the
hole, before hoisting himself onto the surface.
*
*
*
*
As Jack pulled himself up
and out of the tunnel and looked toward the clearing and the Stargate, he had
the strangest sense of déjà vu. It got even stronger when he became aware of
staff blasts emanating not only from the tunnel, now, but from the forest as
well.
Teal’c and Carter were
still okay, and making respectable time, actually. But Daniel, who Jack had told
to sprint to the DHD as soon as he hit the surface, was running his little heart
out and had quickly overtaken them.
Jack himself was running
now, too, legs pumping in harmony with adrenaline. A staff blast whizzed past
his head.
Daniel had reached the DHD.
Thank-you God! He was dialing, and Jack savored the sounds of each
chevron locking. It was music to his ears, climaxing as the wormhole wooshed
into existence.
He waved his team on,
gesturing them to go through, but stubborn as they were, they ignored him and
proceeded to take up defensive positions around the ‘Gate. Teal’c had laid
Carter down by the ‘Gate and had begun firing his staff as Daniel crouched by
the DHD, peppering the trees with bullets from his P-90.
Jack was almost there. Homestretch,
Jack. Just a little further…
His thoughts were
interrupted by a wrenching pain in his knee as he tripped over some unseen
little obstacle in the grass. As he hit the ground, he caught a glimpse of a
staff blast shattering the air above him, right where his chest had been. He
rolled over to get a better look at the object that had just saved his life.
Well, I’ll be damned!
He picked it up and quickly crawled
to his knees and then to his feet, staying as low as he could. The Jaffa were
even closer, now, their staff blasts hitting the ground all around them.
When Jack reached Carter and
Teal’c, he nodded to Teal’c to keep firing as he reached down to pull
Carter to her feet, half carrying her in one arm. He turned to look over at the
DHD and Daniel.
“Daniel! Let’s go!”
he shouted. Daniel spared him a glance, making sure he was okay, then fired a
couple more shots for good measure. He stood, turned, and sprinted at the
‘Gate. Jack breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him disappear through the
event horizon.
“C’mon, Major. Let’s
blow this pop stand.”
“Yessir,” she managed
to croak in response, as they hastily made their way onto the dais and through
the Stargate.
A few dizzying, but very
welcome seconds later, Jack and Carter stumbled through the wormhole, too tired
to really focus on much other than Daniel, who had sat himself down at the
bottom of the ramp. Jack readjusted his grip on his 21C and led them both to
follow Daniel’s example. They plopped down breathlessly beside him as Jack
heard a familiar tenor voice behind him order the iris to be closed. Teal’c.
Jack heard his footfalls
on the ramp and wasn’t at all surprised when his friend sat down unsteadily
beside him as the iris slid shut.
“Hey, Carter. Look what
I found,” he said softly, leaning toward her ear. He was holding a small
olive-drab bag- the object he had tripped over in the clearing.
“Hmmm?” she replied,
sleepily.
He held the bag out to
her, flipping open the lid to reveal a mess of sample bags and vials full of
soil and plants… All of the samples she had gathered before they realized the
danger they had been in… the reason why they had gone to that stupid planet in
the first place. The irony was not lost on even the sleepy Carter still in his
arms and he smiled as she let out a slight chuckle.
“Hey, Carter? Good
job,” Jack said into her ear. She barely heard it and only nodded minutely in
reply. ‘Night, Carter, he thought as the EMT’s rushed through the
blast door.
The End
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