Stargate Sg-1 - Angels Fall First - 1/?
Title: Angels Fall First
Author: Lhinneill, aka Stargatefangurl
Summary: Injured and trapped on a hostile planet, it's all they can do to survive. They never give up hope that rescue is coming, but will it arrive in time?
Genre: Action/Adventure/Angst/General/Hurt/Comfort/Friendship
Length: About 2300 words
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Team, Sam/Jack
A/N: I'm honestly rather nervous about this one. It's the first long project I've started on in...a very long time, and it's also not the kind of story I'd usually write. Not to mention the fact that this basic plot has been used a LOT. But I've been avoiding using any ideas that are popular for so long, I've pretty much been defeating myself. So, despite my doubts, here it is. I'd appreciate any and all feedback (constructive crit is always good).
The title comes from a Nightwish song, if you were wondering.
A Headline of Tragedy
Bullets bit the ground at Sam’s feet as she skidded to a stop and dropped to one knee, bringing her P90 around to return fire. Their attackers scattered among the rocks, making themselves as difficult a target as possible. Sam grit her teeth and held her ground.
Over the sound of gunfire-and Teal’c’s staff weapon-she could hear the chevrons locking as Daniel dialed home. They only had to cover him long enough to dial and sent the IDC.
But as more men scrambled in to provide backup, Sam knew they were almost out of time.
Off to her left, she could hear the colonel shouting for Daniel to hurry up. Daniel shouted back, and then the wormhole engaged behind Sam.
“Teal’c, Daniel, go! We’ve got your backs!” Colonel O’Neill ordered as he edged closer to Sam. Together they returned fire, slowly backing towards the active Stargate. At first they had aimed to frighten the people, but when it became clear that that tactic would do no good, they shot to kill.
“Carter, make for the ‘gate!”
She started to turn, one foot on the bottom step of the dais, when something punched her shoulder. She jerked and went down, sprawling across the steps. Bullets sent a spray of rock into her face as near-misses smacked into the stone steps. She rolled, grinding her teeth against pain stabbing out from her right shoulder.
The aliens approached cautiously, several falling as Colonel O’Neill’s shots found their mark. And then a pair of green-clad legs blocked her view of their attackers as the colonel stepped between them and her, reaching to catch her vest and drag her backwards with him.
She didn’t bother telling him to go; she knew he wouldn’t leave one of his team behind, no matter what that might mean for his own safety. She could only grit her teeth against the pain and let him drag her towards the wormhole.
And they almost made it.
Steps away from the event horizon that would have carried them safely back to the SGC, one of the bullets found its target. The colonel’s hand slipped from her vest and he toppled out of her view. For a moment, she thought he might have fallen back into the wormhole, but a sudden weight across her legs got rid of that hope.
The wormhole disengaged with a whoosh.
Sam let her head fall back to the stone beneath her as the men swarmed over the dais, wrenching her weapons away. As they jerked her to her feet and bound her wrists, she glanced over her shoulder at the inactive ‘gate.
At least they made it through.
Daniel emerged from the wormhole at a run, stumbling down the metal ramp. Teal’c, emerging a second behind Daniel, caught the archeologist’s arm before he fell and helped him to the base of the ramp. Both teammates turned and watched the shimmering event horizon.
Any moment now, Jack and Sam would burst through. Jack would shout for them to shut the iris, and then they’d all hit the showers and get ready for a long debriefing.
Daniel ran a hand across his face, righting his skewed glasses.
A bullet pinged off the railing along the ramp. Daniel ducked, instinctively throwing his arms over his head as more bullets shot from the event horizon.
“Dr. Jackson, Teal’c!”
“We’ve got to give them more time, General!” Daniel shouted.
An SF went down with a cry as one of the stray bullets found him. The other soldiers scattered, dropping into defensive positions along the ramp. Teal’c jerked Daniel down, his own body forming a shield between Daniel and the Stargate.
And then the ‘gate shut off.
Daniel stared at it, disbelieving. “No. They were right there…they were right behind us, Teal’c.”
The Jaffa stood slowly, his eyes locked on the silent Stargate.
“They were…they should have made it through.”
“What the hell happened out there?” General Hammond asked as he entered the ‘gate room, glancing around at the smoking equipment and the wounded man on the floor. Sergeant Harriman’s voice rang out over the intercom as he called for a medical team.
“We were attacked, General. But we’ve got to go back. We…we can’t just leave them.”
“I’m aware of that, Dr. Jackson,” the general answered, turning to look up at Harriman. “Notify Colonel Reynolds that he and his team are to be ready to ‘gate out in half an hour.”
“I will accompany them, GeneralHammond.”
“Me too, General.”
General Hammond nodded. “I would have expected nothing less. Get yourselves cleaned up and join me in the briefing room in twenty minutes.”
She woke to the stench of sweat and animal manure, and to the throbbing pain of a bullet wound in her shoulder. She bit back a moan as she tried to roll off her side, only to discover her arms were still bound. This time she didn’t manage to bite back the cry of pain.
“Looks like this one’s awake,” a voice grunted from the opposite side of the room-Sam was beginning to suspect they were in a barn, due to the smell and the bed of prickly hay beneath her.
Footsteps crackled on the hay and another voice answered, “Better get this over with, then.”
Sam tensed. Her feet were still free, but with her hands bound and her shoulder wounded, there wasn’t much she could do. Especially not while she was on her stomach.
“Just hold still, girl,” rasped the first voice. By the sound of it, this man was older than the second. “We’re not gonna hurt you.”
“Not too much, anyway. If you hold still,” the second chimed in.
Sam heard a thump and a sharp exhalation. “Shut up, Corden. It’s bad enough we got this job; no need in you making it worse.”
Sam’s breath caught in her throat. She would have to act quick, but if she could stun them long enough for her to get on her feet, she could slip out and make for the ‘gate. No, not the ‘gate. I have to find Colonel O’Neill first. Then we’ll both make for the ‘gate.
And then came the sinking realization that, along with the rest of the gear, the men had taken her GDO.
Okay, plan B. I need to think.
The two stepped up to either side of her and crouched, gripping her arms tightly as they pulled the knots out of the rough rope around her wrists. Sam tensed, readying herself for a struggle. But even as she did, she realized she’d never make it. Even if she had been in prime condition, they still would have had the advantage.
Damn it.
One of the men slipped a heavy leather collar around her neck, fastening it somehow in the back. The other kept a firm grip on her wrists until the first was done, and then he took her right arm and pinned it to the floor.
“Sorry, lady, this might sting a bit.”
If she’d had a moment to prepare herself, she might have managed to strangle her scream, but the searing pain in her arm caught her off guard. The men held her still as she struggled, until pain and exhaustion set in and she went limp.
“I hate this part,” muttered the younger man.
“Yeah,” agreed the first. “Tie her again, then bring her on out. I’ll go get the others ready for transport.”
Sam didn’t fight as he tied her again, noticeably gentler than the first time. Then he helped her to her feet and supported her as he walked her outside. There she got her second look at the local’s primitive version of automobiles. Two of them set in the barnyard, trailers in tow. Both of them were loaded with people, tied and marked by the same collar that now rubbed at Sam’s throat.
One of the men jumped out of the front of a vehicle. “Have any trouble with her?”
“No, sir,” Corden answered. “She squirmed a bit when we branded her, but that’s to be expected.”
The man frowned. “Pity. I was hoping she’d have more spirit than that.” He waved a dismissive hand and turned away. “Put her with the others. I have a feeling your people will be in for some more visitors soon. I want our merchandise out of here before then.”
“Wait,” Corden called, his grip on Sam’s arm tightening. “Visitors?We didn’t bargain for a war.”
The other man didn’t turn. “So figure out what you’re going to tell them. Whatever it is, it’s not my business. You’ve got your money, and you should be happy enough with that.”
For a moment, Sam though Corden wasn’t going to let go of her arm. But then he sighed heavily and led her to one of the trailers. He helped her in and walked off. She watched him go, and then looked down to see who he’d sat her by. Colonel O’Neill’s pale face stared back.
It didn’t take much of a tracker to see what had taken place after Daniel and Teal’c had last seen their teammates. Blood stains on the dais showed where the two had fallen; tire tracks and rub marks on the stone told Daniel they’d put up some kind of ramp and driven through the Stargate. And if the locals' word could be trusted, they had taken Sam and Jack with them.
“The winter was long and we lost a lot of our supplies,” an older man was explaining. “Boridan offered us the supplies we needed, in exchange for using our lands as a…”
Another man-who had identified himself as Corden-stepped up. He hadn’t left the older man’s side since Daniel and Teal’c had arrived with SG-3 in tow.
“They needed someplace neutral to store their…merchandise,” he explained, a strange look passing over his face at the last word. “Until they were ready to take ‘em home.”
Daniel raised his brows, glancing at Teal’c. “Merchandise? Okay..."
Teal’c took a step closer to Corden. Like Colonel Reynolds and his team, Teal’c had yet to lower his weapon. The people had been completely peaceful this time around, but they weren’t going to take any chances.
“What is this merchandise you speak of?” the Jaffa asked.
The man swallowed. “People. I guess.”
“They’re…wait-people?” Daniel blinked.
Teal’c took another step closer to the man. “Slave traders.”
Corden swallowed; Daniel could almost see beads of sweat forming on the man’s forehead. “We don’t have anything against your people, understand that.” He glanced from Teal’c to Daniel. “You do understand that…?”
“From what I can tell, you’ve given us no reason to,” Colonel Reynolds stepped forward, hands pointedly tapping his P90. “Even if you didn’t personally attack our people, you did willingly go along with it. That’s a hostile act right there.”
“Indeed,” Teal’c concurred.
Corden wet his lips and shot a look back at the other man. “I’m sorry-we’re…we’re all real sorry. But it was either help them, or die. We’d all have starved without those supplies.”
“Or they’d have killed us themselves,” the older man added. “If we hadn’t allowed them to use our world… Well, they would have taken it anyway. And we would’ve gotten nothing out of it.”
“So you pad your own pockets with a little of the booty, huh?” Colonel Reynolds shot back. “What’s a little human slave trade hurt? As long as it’s not your asses in the fire, then it’s all right. Who’s to say they won’t come back and harvest some of your own people?”
“Colonel,” Daniel interrupted. “I think we’ve done about as much as we can here. Sam and Jack are gone and there’s nothing we can do here to bring them back.”
“Maybe…” Corden stepped forward, holding a hand out towards Teal’c. “Maybe there is…something.”
Teal’c arched a brow.
“I can give you their address-well, part of it. I only saw the first four symbols.”
“Corden!” the older man hissed.
“They aren’t coming back, Gharis. They’ll never know. But even if they do…at least we’ve done…something.”
Daniel nodded. “Thank you.”
Four symbols wasn’t much to go on, but it was a start. A very small start, albeit. Daniel knew all too well how difficult it was to determine a planet from only a partial address, but at least now they had somewhere to start.
We’re coming, guys. I promise, we’ll get you back.
Author: Lhinneill, aka Stargatefangurl
Summary: Injured and trapped on a hostile planet, it's all they can do to survive. They never give up hope that rescue is coming, but will it arrive in time?
Genre: Action/Adventure/Angst/General/Hurt/Comfort/Friendship
Length: About 2300 words
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Team, Sam/Jack
A/N: I'm honestly rather nervous about this one. It's the first long project I've started on in...a very long time, and it's also not the kind of story I'd usually write. Not to mention the fact that this basic plot has been used a LOT. But I've been avoiding using any ideas that are popular for so long, I've pretty much been defeating myself. So, despite my doubts, here it is. I'd appreciate any and all feedback (constructive crit is always good).
The title comes from a Nightwish song, if you were wondering.
A Headline of Tragedy
Bullets bit the ground at Sam’s feet as she skidded to a stop and dropped to one knee, bringing her P90 around to return fire. Their attackers scattered among the rocks, making themselves as difficult a target as possible. Sam grit her teeth and held her ground.
Over the sound of gunfire-and Teal’c’s staff weapon-she could hear the chevrons locking as Daniel dialed home. They only had to cover him long enough to dial and sent the IDC.
But as more men scrambled in to provide backup, Sam knew they were almost out of time.
Off to her left, she could hear the colonel shouting for Daniel to hurry up. Daniel shouted back, and then the wormhole engaged behind Sam.
“Teal’c, Daniel, go! We’ve got your backs!” Colonel O’Neill ordered as he edged closer to Sam. Together they returned fire, slowly backing towards the active Stargate. At first they had aimed to frighten the people, but when it became clear that that tactic would do no good, they shot to kill.
“Carter, make for the ‘gate!”
She started to turn, one foot on the bottom step of the dais, when something punched her shoulder. She jerked and went down, sprawling across the steps. Bullets sent a spray of rock into her face as near-misses smacked into the stone steps. She rolled, grinding her teeth against pain stabbing out from her right shoulder.
The aliens approached cautiously, several falling as Colonel O’Neill’s shots found their mark. And then a pair of green-clad legs blocked her view of their attackers as the colonel stepped between them and her, reaching to catch her vest and drag her backwards with him.
She didn’t bother telling him to go; she knew he wouldn’t leave one of his team behind, no matter what that might mean for his own safety. She could only grit her teeth against the pain and let him drag her towards the wormhole.
And they almost made it.
Steps away from the event horizon that would have carried them safely back to the SGC, one of the bullets found its target. The colonel’s hand slipped from her vest and he toppled out of her view. For a moment, she thought he might have fallen back into the wormhole, but a sudden weight across her legs got rid of that hope.
The wormhole disengaged with a whoosh.
Sam let her head fall back to the stone beneath her as the men swarmed over the dais, wrenching her weapons away. As they jerked her to her feet and bound her wrists, she glanced over her shoulder at the inactive ‘gate.
At least they made it through.
Daniel emerged from the wormhole at a run, stumbling down the metal ramp. Teal’c, emerging a second behind Daniel, caught the archeologist’s arm before he fell and helped him to the base of the ramp. Both teammates turned and watched the shimmering event horizon.
Any moment now, Jack and Sam would burst through. Jack would shout for them to shut the iris, and then they’d all hit the showers and get ready for a long debriefing.
Daniel ran a hand across his face, righting his skewed glasses.
A bullet pinged off the railing along the ramp. Daniel ducked, instinctively throwing his arms over his head as more bullets shot from the event horizon.
“Dr. Jackson, Teal’c!”
“We’ve got to give them more time, General!” Daniel shouted.
An SF went down with a cry as one of the stray bullets found him. The other soldiers scattered, dropping into defensive positions along the ramp. Teal’c jerked Daniel down, his own body forming a shield between Daniel and the Stargate.
And then the ‘gate shut off.
Daniel stared at it, disbelieving. “No. They were right there…they were right behind us, Teal’c.”
The Jaffa stood slowly, his eyes locked on the silent Stargate.
“They were…they should have made it through.”
“What the hell happened out there?” General Hammond asked as he entered the ‘gate room, glancing around at the smoking equipment and the wounded man on the floor. Sergeant Harriman’s voice rang out over the intercom as he called for a medical team.
“We were attacked, General. But we’ve got to go back. We…we can’t just leave them.”
“I’m aware of that, Dr. Jackson,” the general answered, turning to look up at Harriman. “Notify Colonel Reynolds that he and his team are to be ready to ‘gate out in half an hour.”
“I will accompany them, GeneralHammond.”
“Me too, General.”
General Hammond nodded. “I would have expected nothing less. Get yourselves cleaned up and join me in the briefing room in twenty minutes.”
She woke to the stench of sweat and animal manure, and to the throbbing pain of a bullet wound in her shoulder. She bit back a moan as she tried to roll off her side, only to discover her arms were still bound. This time she didn’t manage to bite back the cry of pain.
“Looks like this one’s awake,” a voice grunted from the opposite side of the room-Sam was beginning to suspect they were in a barn, due to the smell and the bed of prickly hay beneath her.
Footsteps crackled on the hay and another voice answered, “Better get this over with, then.”
Sam tensed. Her feet were still free, but with her hands bound and her shoulder wounded, there wasn’t much she could do. Especially not while she was on her stomach.
“Just hold still, girl,” rasped the first voice. By the sound of it, this man was older than the second. “We’re not gonna hurt you.”
“Not too much, anyway. If you hold still,” the second chimed in.
Sam heard a thump and a sharp exhalation. “Shut up, Corden. It’s bad enough we got this job; no need in you making it worse.”
Sam’s breath caught in her throat. She would have to act quick, but if she could stun them long enough for her to get on her feet, she could slip out and make for the ‘gate. No, not the ‘gate. I have to find Colonel O’Neill first. Then we’ll both make for the ‘gate.
And then came the sinking realization that, along with the rest of the gear, the men had taken her GDO.
Okay, plan B. I need to think.
The two stepped up to either side of her and crouched, gripping her arms tightly as they pulled the knots out of the rough rope around her wrists. Sam tensed, readying herself for a struggle. But even as she did, she realized she’d never make it. Even if she had been in prime condition, they still would have had the advantage.
Damn it.
One of the men slipped a heavy leather collar around her neck, fastening it somehow in the back. The other kept a firm grip on her wrists until the first was done, and then he took her right arm and pinned it to the floor.
“Sorry, lady, this might sting a bit.”
If she’d had a moment to prepare herself, she might have managed to strangle her scream, but the searing pain in her arm caught her off guard. The men held her still as she struggled, until pain and exhaustion set in and she went limp.
“I hate this part,” muttered the younger man.
“Yeah,” agreed the first. “Tie her again, then bring her on out. I’ll go get the others ready for transport.”
Sam didn’t fight as he tied her again, noticeably gentler than the first time. Then he helped her to her feet and supported her as he walked her outside. There she got her second look at the local’s primitive version of automobiles. Two of them set in the barnyard, trailers in tow. Both of them were loaded with people, tied and marked by the same collar that now rubbed at Sam’s throat.
One of the men jumped out of the front of a vehicle. “Have any trouble with her?”
“No, sir,” Corden answered. “She squirmed a bit when we branded her, but that’s to be expected.”
The man frowned. “Pity. I was hoping she’d have more spirit than that.” He waved a dismissive hand and turned away. “Put her with the others. I have a feeling your people will be in for some more visitors soon. I want our merchandise out of here before then.”
“Wait,” Corden called, his grip on Sam’s arm tightening. “Visitors?We didn’t bargain for a war.”
The other man didn’t turn. “So figure out what you’re going to tell them. Whatever it is, it’s not my business. You’ve got your money, and you should be happy enough with that.”
For a moment, Sam though Corden wasn’t going to let go of her arm. But then he sighed heavily and led her to one of the trailers. He helped her in and walked off. She watched him go, and then looked down to see who he’d sat her by. Colonel O’Neill’s pale face stared back.
It didn’t take much of a tracker to see what had taken place after Daniel and Teal’c had last seen their teammates. Blood stains on the dais showed where the two had fallen; tire tracks and rub marks on the stone told Daniel they’d put up some kind of ramp and driven through the Stargate. And if the locals' word could be trusted, they had taken Sam and Jack with them.
“The winter was long and we lost a lot of our supplies,” an older man was explaining. “Boridan offered us the supplies we needed, in exchange for using our lands as a…”
Another man-who had identified himself as Corden-stepped up. He hadn’t left the older man’s side since Daniel and Teal’c had arrived with SG-3 in tow.
“They needed someplace neutral to store their…merchandise,” he explained, a strange look passing over his face at the last word. “Until they were ready to take ‘em home.”
Daniel raised his brows, glancing at Teal’c. “Merchandise? Okay..."
Teal’c took a step closer to Corden. Like Colonel Reynolds and his team, Teal’c had yet to lower his weapon. The people had been completely peaceful this time around, but they weren’t going to take any chances.
“What is this merchandise you speak of?” the Jaffa asked.
The man swallowed. “People. I guess.”
“They’re…wait-people?” Daniel blinked.
Teal’c took another step closer to the man. “Slave traders.”
Corden swallowed; Daniel could almost see beads of sweat forming on the man’s forehead. “We don’t have anything against your people, understand that.” He glanced from Teal’c to Daniel. “You do understand that…?”
“From what I can tell, you’ve given us no reason to,” Colonel Reynolds stepped forward, hands pointedly tapping his P90. “Even if you didn’t personally attack our people, you did willingly go along with it. That’s a hostile act right there.”
“Indeed,” Teal’c concurred.
Corden wet his lips and shot a look back at the other man. “I’m sorry-we’re…we’re all real sorry. But it was either help them, or die. We’d all have starved without those supplies.”
“Or they’d have killed us themselves,” the older man added. “If we hadn’t allowed them to use our world… Well, they would have taken it anyway. And we would’ve gotten nothing out of it.”
“So you pad your own pockets with a little of the booty, huh?” Colonel Reynolds shot back. “What’s a little human slave trade hurt? As long as it’s not your asses in the fire, then it’s all right. Who’s to say they won’t come back and harvest some of your own people?”
“Colonel,” Daniel interrupted. “I think we’ve done about as much as we can here. Sam and Jack are gone and there’s nothing we can do here to bring them back.”
“Maybe…” Corden stepped forward, holding a hand out towards Teal’c. “Maybe there is…something.”
Teal’c arched a brow.
“I can give you their address-well, part of it. I only saw the first four symbols.”
“Corden!” the older man hissed.
“They aren’t coming back, Gharis. They’ll never know. But even if they do…at least we’ve done…something.”
Daniel nodded. “Thank you.”
Four symbols wasn’t much to go on, but it was a start. A very small start, albeit. Daniel knew all too well how difficult it was to determine a planet from only a partial address, but at least now they had somewhere to start.
We’re coming, guys. I promise, we’ll get you back.