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Chapter 16: Major Louis Ferretti
Damn.
This just keeps getting worse and worse..
Damn, damn, damn...
The colonel is going to freak when he finds out about this. It was bad enough they sent Daniel out without back-up, but now we know he's out there somewhere with some kind of time bomb in his head.and the only real difference is whether it's a short fuse or a long one..
I pat the med-pak Fraiser gave me earlier. Just in case we can't get Daniel back right away. Just in case it's the long fuse time bomb.please God, let it be that one..
This can't be happening to Daniel. The poor guy just can't seem to catch a break. I am so sick of seeing him get one raw deal after another. Hell, I've never been a big believer in the fairness of life in general, but damn it all, this just isn't right.
My team is ready to go, we're just waiting for Carter and Teal'c to join us. I can see them up there in the briefing room right now, geared up and getting the bad news from Hammond. Even from down here I can see the both of them look like they've just been run over by a very big, very malicious truck.
I sure do know that feeling.
This whole situation just plain sucks..big time.
Okay, they're moving now. I give my guys the signal and they start their weapons check. I've got a great bunch here, we are the best at what we do..if I do say so myself. Next to SG1, we've got the best record going. Not to mention the fact that we're one of the few teams with all its original members intact.well since I took command, anyway. This is a high risk, high stress business.you've got to be damn good or damn lucky to keep each other in one piece.physically and mentally.in this business for this long. I like to think we're a whole lot of both.
Carter and Teal'c join us. Carter's lips are set in a grim line, she's worried as hell but ready to go get the job done. Teal'c.man..I've never seen the big guy look like this..not even after Amaunet. His whole body is strung as tight as an arrow in a bowstring, ready to be shot through the gate and straight to Daniel.
Those two never stop surprising me.Teal'c and Daniel. They've found something in each other that not even the worst crap can keep down for long. It's pretty amazing really when you think about it. Who'd have ever imagined they could become so close? The geeky idealistic scholar and the rigid warrior whose actions...however well meaning or unintentional.brought an awful lot of grief down on Daniel. I know it's not as simple as all that, I know there's whole lot more to both of them than I'll ever know.but I still think it's pretty incredible.
The gate rings start spinning and we take our positions. It's time to go. The wormhole settles down and we step through.
.into hell.
A goddamn firefight.
There are four.no, five.Jaffa on the ground and it looks like maybe a dozen more trying to find cover among the scruffy trees between us and.
Oh, hell.
O'Neill's head pops up from behind a bunch of brush and takes down another Jaffa with a double zat blast. Where one of them is the other can't be far and sure enough Daniel's head comes out of hiding and fires off two pistol rounds before disappearing again. I point them out to Carter and Teal'c and get ready to deploy my team when I see Skaara and his father break from the trees heading straight for us.
I send Sanders and James to help them while we lay down a cover fire. Carter hunkers down with Skaara for a minute and yells that we have to get Skaara and Kasuf out of here. I give her the thumbs up and signal for James to dial it up. Carter makes her way back to me and explains Kasuf had been taken hostage by Heru'ur to capture our guys. Can't say I've had the displeasure, but I've heard a lot of nasty things about this guy.
I look around in time to see Sanders step through the wormhole with one hand on Kasuf's shoulder. I signal James to go through with Skaara, he hesitates.not wanting to leave us, but I signal again and he starts through. At he very last moment, Skaara jerks out James' grip and pushes him through.breaking for us at a dead run. A staff blast comes close enough to give the kid a sunburn as he dives into the dirt next to me.
This kid always did have more guts than a damn regiment of marines.
"What the hell are you doing, Skaara?" I yell at him, but I can feel the big grin on my face.
Skaara gives me those big worried eyes. "I will not leave Danyer.."
There's not much I can say about that.I know exactly what he means. The trick's going to be getting Daniel and the colonel from over there to over here through a wall of ten...no, nine.Jaffa and a pretty pissed off Goa'uld. Heru'ur's standing there beside his tent looking madder by the minute while he watches his Jaffa drop like flies. I can see his ribbon device activate while his beady little eyes search for a target.
I motion for Teal'c to take his best shot with his staff. I hold my breath as I watch the blast explode against Heru'r's side. He manages to stay on his feet and whirls around to look at us with the kind of glare that could almost kill on its own. The ribbon device focuses on us. I shout a warning and brace against the wall of energy I know is coming.
Carter, Teal'c, Skaara, and I are pushed back to the DHD, a little ruffled but not too badly hurt. Malcolm and Santos were out of range and lay down some lead to cover us until we can get behind the DHD. Heru'ur is royally ticked now and he concentrates his Jaffa on our position. I can see what he's trying to do.force us back until we either run out of places to hide or have to dial back out. I motion for Carter to do just that.we need that option open.
Teal'c taps me on the shoulder and I see the colonel coming around the back of the hillside, holding onto Daniel.who doesn't look too hot, he's barely keeping his feet under himself. We intensify our fire and I recall Santos and Malcolm to help us here.
The colonel and Daniel are forty yards out when the gate starts to fluctuate.it's now or never.
I order my guys through, and we back up to the wormhole still firing.
Thirty yards.
A blast hits the DHD. The wormhole jumps again and I push Carter through.Man, she's going to be ticked at me.
Twenty yards.
C'mon, Colonel..
A blaze of staff fire tears up the ground between us and the colonel has to stop.
He gives us a look.God, I hate that look.and motions for us to get out.
I look at Teal'c and Skaara.
It's a no-brainer really.
We step off the gate platform and run like hell for our friends.