By Biltong

With a whoosh the stargate filled with the blue liquid, as it had done once before. The watching men withdrew, hiding behind the perfect circle of tall monoliths that looked down on the gate. Unlike the mechanical creature that arrived last time, this time the blasphemers seemed to be as humanoid as they were, causing their turbaned leader to cry out in anguish. Trespassers, blasphemers, they would pay.

Gathering up his light brown robes, he made his way towards these sinners, his brothers trailing silently behind. They stopped at the edge of the sentinels, aware of the slow death that was the punishment for even one step inside the sacred circle.

These people, these ignorant travelers would have to come to him. And face retribution.

"Ok Danny, you're on."

Colonel Jack O'Neill stared hard at the forbidding expressions on the faces of the party that had walked down to greet them and shifted his Armorlite, making just that extra bit certain that he could get to it in a hurry. For some strange reason his antennae were tingling like crazy. Something was definitely off. Maybe it was the bare rock beneath his feet, devoid of even one blade of grass, or maybe it was the tall Stonehenge like formation of rocks that rose silently in a circle, completely surrounding the stargate. What ever it was, he didn't like it, not one bit.

His eyes briefly met Teal'c's and Carter's, noticing the uneasiness reflected in them as well.

They were working on the same wavelength as usual, he thought with relief.

Not so Daniel.

He bounded up to the silent people, talking all the time as he did so.

" Greetings, we are peaceful travelers from Earth."

For a moment the leaders expression didn't change, then he made a slight gesture, and armed men stepped out from behind every monolith, effectively surrounding them.

"Sinners. You will pay for your crime."

.................................

" Oh, for Pete's sake."

The man was speaking pure Iraqi accented Arabic!

Daniel frowned at the interruption by Jack. He was desperately trying to understand the mans language. It was some sort of Arabic, but not the Arabic that he knew. It wasn't quite the language of Abydos, or the Arabic spoken in Egypt, it was close, but not the same. It was then with deep surprise that he heard Jack reply, in exactly the same accent.

"We come in peace."

The religious leader, if that's what he was, was clearly not buying it. Privately Daniel couldn't blame him. Jack was armed to the teeth and his expression was wary.

Ok, it didn't help that they had been called sinners by way of a greeting, but surely Jack could at least loosen up a little... And then he became aware of the armed men surrounding them.

All right, sometimes tense is warranted.

The robed figure was getting himself into a real fury.

" Sinners. You dare walk over the sacred land? You are not of the shining way. He pointed a quivering finger at them." You have no right. The penalty for trespassing is death." His voice ended in a screech.

Daniel became aware of Jack digging a finger into his side.

" Danny, back away, get the others and dial us out. OK?" Daniel was treated to a flash of dark brown eyes that booked no disobedience.

He wasn't going to argue. These people seemed quite insane. Making a mental note to ask Jack just what version of Arabic he was speaking, he slowly backed away, taking Sam and Teal'c with him.

"Who are they and what is the Colonel saying to them?" Sam's voice was soft in the silence as they nervously watched the unmoving warriors. Daniel shook his head, at loath to leave his leader in such an exposed place, but knowing that he didn't have a choice. Jack had a better grasp on the language than he did, and had all of the mullah's attention.

"I haven't a clue who they are and they're not in the mood to introduce themselves." He said shortly, frantically pressing the correct glyphs. With a thankful whoosh, the stargate opened.

Jack was having a rough time. If finding people in the universe who happened to speak the exact dialect of his long ago captors wasn't bad enough, the leader was rapidly proving to be totally insane. He set his expression into a pleasant mask and waited for Daniel. The talk of sanctified ground and sacrifices needed to appease the gods was giving him a headache. When he heard the stargate open he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry, mullah, gotta go." Tipping a finger to his baseball hat, he started to back towards his team, tuning out the hysterical ranting of the mullah for a moment as he spoke to the others.

This proved to be a costly mistake.

"Come kids, lets blow this joint."

His first inkling that anything was seriously wrong was Daniels eyes widening, then he felt something punch into him, spinning him round. Dimly he heard Teal'c roar, then darkness.

She couldn't believe it. One moment the Colonel was backing towards the stargate, the next he was spinning around like a puppet with its strings broken.

" Colonel!"

The rattle of bullets hitting the bare rock next to her feet froze her in place, as it did Daniel and Teal'c. He gave a roar of rage, but kept a cool head. There wasn't a point in moving if it meant instant death. But still...

"O'Neill?"

He was lying peacefully on his back, eyes closed like he was sleeping. The only give away was the thin trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

Daniel was beside himself. Somehow this was all his fault. He should have never allowed Jack to speak to the leader, which was his responsibility. Goodness knows what Jack had said to the mullah. Whatever it was, it had been enough to get him shot.

He took a step towards him, only to freeze as yet enough bullet twanged off of the bare rock.

"Leave." The mullah's voice was dark.

"Not without our leader." Daniels voice was raw.

" He is your sacrifice, your appeasement to the gods. Blood has been spilled. No more is necessary. But if you do not leave, now, you blood will be spilt alongside his."

"If blood has been spilled, why cannot we take his body back home?" Daniel surreptitiously crossed his fingers behind his back, praying that Jack was indeed still alive.

The mullah hugged the monolith he had been leaning on with an insane cackle.

"He will die here. He will die for your sins. And when he is dead his corpse will lie as a testament to other sinners not to trespass in this shining land. But you are free to leave."

Teal'c raised himself up to his full height, a formidable sight.

"O'Neill is a warrior, and as thus deserves to be in a warriors grave."

The insane old man wasn't impressed. "Leave. Or die."

Carter has been slowly inching her way towards Jack whilst the others had the mullah's attention. How she had managed to get so close without getting herself shot she would never know, but she had done it.

He was looking worse by the minute. His chest was rattling as he desperately tried to draw in life giving breath, and he was bleeding from at least three bullet wounds. Slowly, inch-by-inch she bent her body and reached out to him. If she could just snag his jacket, she could physically drag him through the still open stargate...

And then something impacted on her thigh, causing her to spin away.

" Colonel..." Then her breath was knocked out of her as she hit the ground.

But he had heard. Somehow, despite the pain, he stubbornly clung to consciousness.

" Carter..." He drew in a careful deep breath. " Go. Get help." Vaguely she felt Teal'c helping her back onto her one good leg, her eyes were on Jack, seeing the intensity in his dark eyes.

" But you'll be dead by the time we can get help back..." She was horrified by how small her voice seemed.

His smile was hideous." Won't. MALP. Look and listen."

She turned to the forgotten MALP, they all did. And Jack was right; the small red transmission light was indeed glowing brightly.

Hammond and the SGC, having had no people step through an active wormhole, had ordered the MALP activated, and was well aware of what was going on.

Jack was fading fast, he felt cold, and darkness was beginning to eat at the corners of his vision, and as long as the wormhole was from their side to the SGC, no one that side could send through any help for him.

" Go. Now." The voice was soft steel.

With last cautious look at the insane mullah and the silent gunmen, they obeyed.

==================================================================================

The SGC was a hive of activity; the wormhole having shut down immediately she and the others limped through. Painfully she made her way towards Dr Frasier, the wound in her thigh now beginning to hurt in earnest.

Then the gate room was rapidly filled with heavily armed people. She caught a brief glimpse of a serious Major Ferretti from SG2 before Frasier pulled her onto a waiting gurney.

" How is he? " She completely ignored the medic working on her thigh, her attention concentrated solely on the question asked by Doctor Frasier. She slowly shook her head.

" Not good."

Oh God, Jack. Now she was safe back at the SGC she couldn't stop shaking. It helped when she felt a warm arm supporting her and she looked up at Daniel gratefully.

Carefully she schooled her face into the perfect little soldier mask.

" Janet. I hope that they're ready to move now, and right now. He doesn't have much time left." She looked up at her friend, tears beginning to threaten, and whispered, " Janet, he didn't stand a chance."

Frasier nodded sympathetically.

" It's Ok Sam. SG 2 and 3 are ready to go" She smiled, "They have, shall we say, a brilliant plan." She ignored her friends puzzled looks. It wasn't her place to explain General Hammond's idea.

Her peripheral vision saw Teal'c talking earnestly to General Hammond, asking for him to be included in the rescue, and Hammond shake his head negatively. They just didn't have the time to get Teal'c up to speed as to what was going to happen.

Then the wormhole snapped open and with cries from half a dozen or more black clad soldiers throats, they were gone, leaving her, General Hammond and three forlorn members of SG 1 standing alone in a suddenly empty gate room.

Hammond was quick to speak, his eyes warm as he took in O'Neill's disheveled team.

" People, we can see the gate just as well from the briefing room."

Shoulders slumped; they obeyed, Carter leaning heavily on Daniel in order to navigate the steps.

They were soon settled, with large cups of coffee in front of them, all apart from Dr Frasier, who took her leave. For her, things were only now beginning to happen. The SG teams were due back shortly and she had better check up on her medics.

The silence she left behind in the briefing room was full of gloom. Hammond stirred.

"People, what happened?"

Major Carter spoke first.

" Sir we seemed to have come upon a race that considers the ground around the stargate to be holy ground."

" And trespassers are immediately sentenced to death." Daniel chipped in.

" The leaders only Danieljackson, " Teal'c corrected him mildly.

" So they shot Colonel O'Neill, without warning."

She took a deep breath.

"Sir begging your pardon, but how are SG 2 and 3 going to rescue Colonel O'Neill?"

He smiled and sat back. The question had taken longer than expected in coming.

"SG 2 and 3 have what we call flash bangs. These are grenades that explode in mid air, releasing brilliant white light. This should, hopefully, disorientate the gunmen, allowing the safe rescue of Colonel O'Neill. We will know if the plan has been successful in," he looked at his watch, "five minutes."

It was the most stressful five minutes of Daniels life. He had managed to dispatch his coffee somewhere safe in one gulp, so had no option but to just sit still and stare fixedly through the window at the inert gate.

When Simmons announced incoming travelers and confirmed SG 3's code, he was out and in the gate room in seconds. They all were.

A goggled Major Ferretti came first, backing through the gate with O'Neill over his shoulder in a fire lift, closely followed by SG 2. The marines of SG 3 came last, firing as they did so.

Then the wormhole collapsed and the iris slid into place.

There was none of the usual euphoria of men who have successfully completed a dangerous mission. Instead they all watched silently as Ferretti carefully lowered the Colonel onto the waiting gurney.

It didn't take much intelligence to see that he was badly hurt. His face was pale and he was struggling for breath, having long ago given up the fight to stay conscious.

Sam was glad that he indeed wasn't conscious to suffer the indignity the medics then inflicted on his helpless body in their efforts to keep him alive. As they watched, his shirt was roughly removed, exposing three bullet wounds in his chest. The diminutive doctor swore loudly, shocking them all.

" Look sharp people, we have a sucking chest wound here." If it were possible, even more

people seemed to swarm over his inert form, before he was rapidly wheeled to the infirmary.

Daniel, Teal'c, and Carter slowly made there way towards the infirmary. There was no need to hurry, long experience of how Dr Frasier and her team worked told them that they would be refused entrance until she and team were satisfied that their patient was resting comfortably.

Strangely, it didn't cross any of their minds that the Colonel would die; he had been through too much to ever succumb to mere gunshot wounds.

The infirmary was a more muted hive of chaos than it had been earlier by the time they arrived, and they were easily able to see Dr Frasier. She was deep in conversation with one of her nurses, clipboard in hand, but of Colonel O' Neill there was no sign.

"Dr Frasier, where is O'Neill?" Teal'c's deep resonant voice made them all jump, before she turned to face them.

"He's in the operating room with Dr Gold" Her face softened at the mention of her new colleague, who was truly living up to his sir name.

"And..." Daniel took a deep breath. " How is he?"

She smiled, making him sag in relief. " He's still critical, but you know the Colonel. Jerry is stitching him back together as we speak."

Her smile deepened as they all exhibited symptoms of relief, even the usually expressionless

Teal'c. She dearly loved SGC's premier team, but the unbidden thought came to her that sooner or later their luck would run out, and she would be telling three of them that the fourth member of the team had not survived.

She shook that horrible thought away and looked at Carter.

" Now, let's see that leg."

She helped her reluctant patient onto the side of nearest bed, and turned to Daniel and Teal'c.

"Bye guys. Come back in an hour." Still they hesitated.

" Out." For such a petite woman, she had a hard shove. " Eat, sleep, do whatever, just do it elsewhere."

With a last despairing look at Sam, they left.

==================================================================================

The first sensations Colonel O'Neill became aware of was of a tight numbness, centered around his chest. He felt for all the world as if he had a tight chest cold.

This illusion was dispelled the minute he tried to cough.

Pain.

Slowly his hands explored around his person, feeling the tubes surrounding him.

He knew that he had a drip in one arm, and something was feeding into his other arm as well. To be expected. What was distressing him however, was the fact that he seemed to have a tube down his throat helping him breathe. Again. He really hated that. He shut his eyes in resignation. Dr Frasier knew that he hated to be dependant on a machine, so wouldn't have done it if she had any choice.

Shit.

At least he was getting enough oxygen. He would long remember those nightmarish moments of near total panic after his team had left him. Despite his assurances to Carter that the General would have a plan, he was really scared that he wouldn't able to breath for much longer. It had been harder and harder to draw any life giving oxygen into his body, and when Lou Ferretti seemed to walk towards him surrounded by a flash of blinding white light, he thought that he had lost the fight. It was only the flare of pain as he was gently lifted onto Ferretti's shoulder that grounded him in reality. Once he knew that he was going home, and only then, did he give into the surrounding darkness.

And now here he was, surrounded by tubes, and unable to speak. Again.

Sometimes he really wondered if being the leader a first contact team was such a wise career move. And then he remembered the good times. The fun times. The sheer adrenalin do-this-by-the-seat-of-your-pants time, and he knew that he would have things no other way.

And when he slowly moved his head and found his team quietly playing cards on the adjacent bed, he knew that things were OK. Again.

*Einde*

BETA Tested by CIGIK

*****Readers raved like this*****

Another very nice one Bil.....have you a web site? If not, you should.

Jackie
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