By Biltong.

<<Sometimes, paying the ultimate sacrifice is the only payment there is...>>

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" Holy Hannah !"

The planet was even hotter than the MALP had indicated, causing Major Samantha Carter to stop dead at the top of the ramp. She couldn’t breathe, she was sure of it; the actual air seemed to be on fire. She turned to welcome the rest of SG 1, trying vainly to ignore the sweat trickling down her back.

" Well. This is … warm." Daniel as usual had the gift of understatement well in hand. Pushing his slipping glasses back up his nose, he tottered down the ramp and dropped his pack on the sand.

" Hey Danny boy… Just like Abydos."

Daniel turned to glare at the last members of SG 1.

" Like hell Jack. Abydos was temperate compared to this."

He envied both Jack and Teal’c’s attitude. They were dazzling in their almost white desert camouflage uniforms, and didn’t seem to find the heat uncomfortable at all. Teal’c he could understand, but Jack?

He gestured at the sand dunes that surrounded them.

" Remind you of anywhere?" He asked nastily.

Jack wasn’t baited.

" Yep, Sahara Desert." He stomped off of the ramp.

" Been there, done that, wasn’t impressed," he said cryptically, making his team stare at him curiously.

They knew better than to try to draw him out however, Jack O’Neill kept his personal life a closely guarded secret.

" Aah."

Colonel O’Neill deliberately stretched, acting like the heat wasn’t a problem at all, just to annoy them. Actually the sun was beating down so strongly that he felt faint, but he would rather die than divulge that to anyone, especially his bug-eyed team.

" Come campers, the MALP indicated life this a way." He heard the groans as they wearily dragged themselves after him.

Teal’c silently found his way to walk by his side.

"O’Neill. This planet is bad, I can feel it."

Jack nodded, blinking at him through sweat soaked eyes. "And Junior?"

Teal’c looked at him gravely. " My symbiont feels unease too."

"So do I. There is something… really off about this planet."

He sighed, taking in Carter and Daniel struggling along miserably behind them.

"If we don’t find shelter within the next ten minutes, we’re going home. We won’t last much longer than that anyway."

Teal’c nodded satisfied.

As luck would have it, they rose over the next dune to see the sand give way a large stone building built right on the edge of what looked like a deep ravine.

" Oh, thank you Lord, thank you." Jack tried not to smile as both Daniel and Carter happily scrambled down onto the flat path. True, walking in sand was difficult, but it wasn’t that hard.

He made a mental note to give them some pointers on how to strengthen their lower calf muscles when they got back.

He turned to Teal’c. " So, Desert behind us, a strange building perched right on the edge of a cliff in front of us and the stargate in the middle. What does that tell us?"

Teal’c looked around him warily; taking note of the gray building they were walking towards.

" O’Neill. We must be vigilant. The structure looks like a Gua’old temple dedicated to Ra."

Colonel O’Neill raised his glasses slightly to stare at the dark man. "

"If the general population didn’t worship him to his exact standards he had his Jaffa toss them over the side?"

Teal’c frowned unhappily.

" Legend does not tell us this. All I can tell you is what the structure looks like, and it does indeed look like a temple dedicated to him."

Jack turned and did a slow 360, taking note of the desolate landscape.

" Well, if this was dedicated to that particular snake head, then any Jaffa must have cleared out years ago."

Teal’c didn’t look mollified. " One would assume so, O’Neill, but nevertheless…"

Jack nodded. " Nevertheless, we’ll stay on our toes." He swallowed a small smile at Teal’c’s puzzled expression. " Vigilant Teal’c. We’ll stay vigilant."

" It also looks like the side of one of our churches, all it’s missing is the stained glass windows."

Daniel hadn’t been listening to his teammates, concentrating his full attention on the ruined structure ahead of them. Samantha Carter nodded in agreement. The building did indeed look as if you could walk along the side to the front and meet the resident priest. She knew that religion had been exported to quite a few worlds, but here?

" I wonder when this was built sir. It can’t have been recently."

O’Neill nodded in agreement. The closer they came, the more dilapidated the place looked. Stone debris lay all around, like there had been an explosion from within at one point or another. Daniel picked up a stone shard, only to drop it with an oath. " Ow, hot hot hot."

" What didya expect Daniel. This is a hot place." Jack ignored the glare he got from the archaeology member of SG 1. " So? What does the rock tell us?"

" That it’s gray and hot. You want more, bring a geologist next time.

Suddenly Teal’c stiffened, lifting his staff weapon, and Jack immediately shoved Daniel down next to the side of the structure. Daniel mutely stared an enquiry into glittering brown eyes.

" People, stalking us."

Daniel couldn’t hear anybody, but if Jack and Teal’c looked spooked he wasn’t going to argue.

" Where?" Sam’s voice was tight, her eyes everywhere. She, Jack and Teal’c stood back to back, all trying to track multiple movements, their weapons at the ready.

" All around us Major Carter." Teal’c’s voice was deep.

Daniel couldn’t help but voice something from his hidey-hole. " Uh, guys, they might be friendly."

"Or they might be Jaffa."

" Uh, true. But still…" He decided to try to communicate.

" We are peaceful explorers from the planet Earth," he yelled.

For a moment there was no reply, them a faint chant was heard, getting stronger by the second. " Blood. Water. Blood. Water. Blood. Water…"

" Oh shit."

Jack couldn’t understand the language but understood Daniels fear.

" Inside," he snapped, scrambling in through a large opening. Fearing there might be more locals inside, he was the first in, but to his relief the place was empty. He caught a brief glance of the rubble-strewn interior, the ceiling thankfully intact, before concentrating again on the task at hand.

" Move it," he hissed.

His team needed no encouragement. Carter was scrambling through the gap; pulling Daniel behind her when all of a sudden all hell broke loose.

" Oh God." Daniel’s eyes bulged as a steel crossbow bolt tore through his shoulder, impaling Sam’s hand as well.

She completed pulling him inside, her face white before they both collapsed to the ground. Cursing being inside, whilst some of his team was still in danger, Jack O’Neill crawled to the entrance.

" Teal’c!"

A large hand found his and a calm voice answered. " I am here O’Neill." Then Jack was pulling in his semi-responsive friend, two crossbow bolts clearly evident through his chest.

" No dammit" They all clearly heard the snarl in their leaders voice. Clutching his Armorlite he carefully positioned his body behind a convenient boulder to one side of the opening, intent on seeing the people who had hurt his team.

He was rewarded with a crossbow bolt whizzing by his head. Gritting his teeth, he fired a burst of ammunition, soon being rewarded with surprised cries of pain.

"Carter?" He couldn’t spare a glance for her. He was pretty sure that there weren’t too many archers, about three, and he was now managing to keep them pinned down in a hail of bullets.

" Carter?"

" Sir?" Her voice was shaky but at least she was okay. "How is it?"

" Bad sir. Teal’c is bleeding heavily, Daniel’s been shot through the shoulder and I had my hand cut open from the same bolt that hit Daniel."

Yep, there were definitely three archers. He saw a glint of metal as one of them tried to aim at him before being forced back by his hail of bullets. Blindly he reached behind him for more ammunition.

" Is Daniel conscious?"

He heard a painful rustling then felt Daniel crouch next to him.

" What do they want Danny?"

Daniel had to almost yell to be heard over the noise of the Armorlite. He had never seen Jack so upset. In fact he had never seen Jack like this at all. He sat there, blood seeping from his hastily patched shoulder and watched Jack the total soldier in action.

" Danny?"

" Oh yeah. They want our blood."

" What?"

Daniel was raked for a nanosecond by brown eyes before Jack concentrated back on the job at hand.

" Any idea why?"

How the hell could Jack sound so calm?

" For our water content I guess. They were yelling out the words blood and water repetitively."

Sam Carter joined them behind the rock, bringing more ammunition.

" Sir, Teal’c needs urgent medical help." She looked up at the Colonel, seeing his mouth set in a thin line as he weighed up his options. She didn’t envy him his decisions.

" Can you make it back to the stargate?"

" Sir?" But in her heart she knew what his decision was going to be.

" You and Daniel, can you carry Teal’c back to the stargate?"

Daniel was now aware of what Jack intended to do.

" No Jack. No."

Colonel Jack O’Neill didn’t talk to him, still waiting for his 2IC to answer.

" Carter?" His body juddered as he trained a hail of bullets at one of the archer positions.

" Carter dammit, will you answer me. Can you make it back to the stargate?"

Her voice was soft. " If Daniel helps, and you can keep them pinned down, then yes sir, I can make it."

Jacks voice was implacable. " Good, then go."

Her heart sank. God, she never wanted this to happen, ever.

" Sir?"

" Go. That’s a direct order."

Daniel was filled with horror as Sam crawled back to Teal’c.

" Jack. You can’t order us to do this." But Jack O’Neill’s face was serene, at peace with his decision.

" Yes I can, Danny boy."

" But you’ll be killed. Sooner or later the ammunition will run out and they will kill you and then they will drain your blood or something equally horrible like that and I wont allow that to happen. You hear me. You’re my best friend and I won’t allow you to sacrifice your life to save mine."

He was sobbing, his voice raw with emotion, but Jack couldn’t spare but a brief glance.

"This is my decision to make Daniel." He sighed, a sigh from his soul as he tried to make his friend see some sense.

" Danny. You Sam and Teal’c are more important to me than my own life. Your safety is my prime objective. And Teal’c needs you. Junior can heal most things but two arrows through the chest are a bit much even for him. We can’t all make a break for it at the same time because you and Carter will be moving slowly and I won’t be able to keep all three archers pinned down if I’m on the move. I can from here."

He saw a glint of metal from archer number two and sent him a stream of lead.

Danny was sitting immobile as his agile brain searched for loopholes in his plan, but Jack knew that there weren’t any.

" Danny. This is my decision to make. This is my ultimate sacrifice to you. Please."

Daniel eventually nodded and moved slowly out of his vision.

A couple of minutes later he heard Sam Carters voice.

" Sir, we’re ready."

He nodded, heart in mouth, showing no emotion.

" Good. Keep down and to the left. That way I can still get a clean shot at all three of them."

There was a catch in her voice and he desperately wished that he could look into their eyes, just one last time, but that was impossible.

" We’ll be back with help."

He nodded, smiling. " Thanks Sam, I’m counting on it." But they both knew that any help would be too late.

Then they were gone, staggering between the archers whilst he kept them tightly pinned down.

Years, centuries later, he heard the faint whoosh of the stargate open and knew, somehow he knew for certain, that they were safe.

For the next ten minutes he managed to successfully keep the archers pinned down, until his Armorlite was empty.

"Ok, Jack. Time to move." Carefully he reached a hand to his belt, fishing for his handgun. It didn’t have the range that he needed, but still…

Then, with a thwack he felt a crossbow impact his chest, throwing him violently back from his shelter.

The pain was intense.

" Oh shit." Breathing immediately became a problem and he instantly knew what poor Teal’c had gone through.

Then he heard a sound that froze his blood, the same chanting that they’d all heard earlier.

Water. Blood.

He painfully crawled across the floor, wanting a safe place to make his last stand. It took in a couple of moments to realize that the floor he was crawling over was no longer stone.

" What the heck?"

Jack hastily tapped at the floor with the handle of his gun, hearing a hollow booming sound. If there was some space under the floor, them maybe he could hide until reinforcements arrived.

Shutting his eyes he fired a close pattern of shots into the floor, ignoring the shards of flooring that pierced his skin. What was one more pain on top of what he was feeling already?

Then, hands trembling, he widened his makeshift hole to accommodate his body, and jumped into it feet first.

Cave. It took him two seconds to realize that he wasn’t in some sort of small crawl space, but rather freefalling down into some deep pit that the Church had obviously been built over, then with a thud, he impacted feet first with the unforgiving floor. He had a momentary flash of pain, then darkness.

"Oh, brother." Jack awoke to pain. He woke to a lot of pain. But at least he was still alive. At least, he thought that he was still alive. Actually, he had to be still alive. Dead didn’t hurt as much as he was hurting. Once his sluggish brain had figured that one out, sort of, he carefully took stock of his situation. He was lying on his side, thank God for small mercies, because he still had that damn crossbow bolt straight through his middle. Gently his hands explored his back, finding the bolt.

Yep, that arrow had gone straight through. Shit. And somehow he must have hit his head seeing as he saw stars every time he moved.

Then he tried to move his legs. And moaned his way back into unconsciousness.

When he awoke again, he tried carefully to reach for his flashlight, eventually finding its distinctive bulge in one of his vest pockets.

" Please God." Let it work. He became aware that he was crying, the darkness seeming to be trying to crush him, then it was banished by a brilliant beam of light.

" Oh, thank you."

He lay there for a moment, just enjoying the light, trying to rid himself of the very real fear that he would die in darkness. Idly he wondered if the archers were still up there, and whether they had figured out where their prey had gone. If they had, and they were coming down, then he was as good as dead. His gun had spun from his hand on impact and he was pretty sure that both legs were broken. He carefully raised himself on one elbow, trying vainly to ignore his head trying to fall off his shoulders and pointed the flashlight down his body, concentrating the beam on the compound fractures evident on both legs. Oh yeah. He wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Carefully he lay back down, hugging the torch. Ideally he should save the batteries, just in case, but he was already feeling light headed and cold. He knew that he was going into shock, because it wasn’t cold by any means, even down here. Closing his eyes he prayed that Carter and Daniel were sending back help.

Quickly would be nice.

" Jack."

His eyes slowly opened, the voice penetrating his dreams.

" What?" He tried to answer, just in case the voice was real, but could only croak, his voice husky, his tongue big in his mouth.

" Jack, where are you?" The relief washed over him. That was Daniels voice. Daniel, who should be in an infirmary bed, and not here, searching for him.

" Jack?" Suddenly the voice was above him. " Are you down here?"

Weakly he shone his torch up at his friend. " Daniel," he whispered.

Daniel saw him. " He’s here. Help, he’s down there."

Then, " Jack, hold on. Sam and I came back with SG 2 and 8. The bad guys are dead. Everything is going to be OK. Don’t die on me now. Save your ultimate sacrifice for another day. OK? Jack, don’t die, please. Ok? "

For a linguist he sure was repetitive Jack thought sleepily.

Then he heard the distinctive whirr of someone rapidly rappelling down a rope, and all of a sudden Major Lou Ferretti, SG 2’s commanding officer was kneeling next to him. Two medics and a wire basket quickly rappelled after him.

" Hi Colonel."

He wanted to answer, but breathing was getting quite hard to do, and his headache was getting really bad, so he closed his eyes and ignored the compact Major. He felt gentle hands rolling him, then nothing.

Oh man that was annoying. Somewhere there was this steady beeping noise, repetitive as hell.

How could a guy sleep with that racket going on? Mumbling unhappily, he tried to shift in bed, realized he couldn’t and woke up with a start.

" Welcome back Colonel."

Squinting up in the bright light of the infirmary, the familiar features of Dr Frasier soon swam into focus. He tried to talk, and she swiftly placed a straw in his mouth.

" Drink, but slowly."

Closing his eyes, he obeyed her order, feeling the cool liquid wash away the bad taste in his mouth.

" What, where…" he looked up at her helplessly, at a loss to figure out what had happened.

She frowned, concerned. " Do you know where you are?"

Slowly he nodded. " Infirmary. What I don’t know is how I got here."

His voice was weak, husky, annoying him. She smiled, brushing his hair away from his forehead.

" SG 2 bought you home, with Sam and Daniels help. You were a mess. You really had me worried for a while there."

She leaned forward, hiding her fear at the close call from his still slightly glazed eyes.

" Do you remember what happened?"

He thought hard. " I was going to die. Then I found a pit. I fell. I was still going to die because I was in so much pain, then I heard Daniel’s voice."

He knew that he sounded disjointed, confused, but couldn’t help it. The correct sequence of events would come later, he was sure.

" My team?"

She smiled softly. "Teal’c is up already, and Daniel and Sam are outside. Are you strong enough to see them?"

He nodded. " I’m always strong enough for that."

Daniel was in first, followed by Sam and lastly Teal’c. They were horrified to see him looking so broken, but hid it well.

Daniel was the first to speak. " So, no skating for a while, I’m afraid."

Sam chipped in. "But at least we get a break; SG 1 is on stand down until you’re better".

Teal’c was watching his friend closely and correctly interpreted the confusion in his eyes.

" O’Neill. Do you remember what happened?"

Slowly Jack shook his head.

"Not really. I remember the archers, covering your retreat, being shot, which I don’t recommend to anybody by the way, and finding the pit. After that things get a bit hazy."

Dr Frasier walked to the top of his bed, checking his IV.

" Well, you have concussion, which probably explains why you don’t remember your broken legs."

He nodded, agreeing with her, whilst looking ruefully at the mound that covered his legs.

" I think that that may have been a blessing in disguise. I’m sure that it must of hurt at the time. A lot."

He looked up at his team.

" But all in all, I would rather be lying here immobilized for a while than having died and had my blood drained by whatever they were."

He shuddered, noticing the uneasiness on their faces as well.

" Did anybody eventually manage to talk to them?"

Daniel answered. " I would like to have said yes, but they were just too crazed. All they wanted was our blood. They even ignored canteens filled with water."

" Maybe they didn’t know what pure water looked like ", Carter murmured.

They were silent for a moment, thinking about a race of people so starved for water that they would be prepared to kill each another for whatever water content they could get.

"Nevertheless Jack…" Daniel was going to say something else, but Jack yawned sleepily, a gesture that wasn’t lost on Dr Frasier.

" Visiting time is over." She was implacable and no amount of protesting would budge her.

Daniel was the last out, but not without a lingering glance at his battered friend.

" Jack, I’ll come back in a couple of hours, OK?"

But the man in question was already asleep.

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

"Thanks."

The softly whispered words bought him out of his light sleep. He opened his eyes to see Daniel perched on the edge of a chair next to his bed.

" For what?"

Daniel looked startled.

" For almost sacrificing yourself for your friends." He leaned forwards, grave blue eyes staring into sleepy brown ones.

" You came close to doing just that, you know."

Jack frowned at him, confusion evident on his face. Daniel wasn’t sure if it was the result of the drugs, or whether Jack really didn’t realize just how close to death he has so recently come.

"Do you know how horrified I was when I first saw your broken body, after they had winched you out of that pit?"

Jack immediately looked distraught. "I’m sorry that you had to see that."

Daniel shook his head.

" I’m not. I saw a brave man, and a good friend being rescued alive.I was horrified yet ecstatic at the same time."

Jack O’Neill, embarrassed, tried to shift in bed, but the plaster proved too heavy to move. Daniel, seeing his struggle; immediately leapt to his feet.

" What do you want to do?"

"Sit up straighter." He looked up at his friend, deciding that volunteering a little information was quite okay this time.

" My back’s killing me."

Daniel grinned, and helped him sit up straighter in bed, allowing his back some much needed relief. Even breathing was easier, he thought, fingering the tight bandages covering his chest. The activity had also allowed him to think up a reply for his friend.

" Daniel," he said slowly, " let’s reverse the roles we played back there. Say it was me who had been shot in the shoulder, leaving you to pin down the baddies with covering fire. Knowing that Teal’c is seriously injured and that Junior can’t save him without help, what would you have done?"

Jack studied Daniel as he grappled with the question. He could almost hear the brain whirring behind those eyes.

"Danny, be absolutely honest," he said softly.

"Carter can’t help; she’s preoccupied with keeping Teal’c alive. I can’t help; I have a steel crossbow bolt through my shoulder. The only person capable of helping us is you. I’m looking up at you, in pain and waiting for your decision."

Jack hesitated, aware of Daniels intense gaze.

" If it were all up to you, would your decision have been any different?"

Daniel was silent, patiently trying out alternative scenarios. Eventually he concluded defeat.

Jack seeing him relax, gave him a sad smile.

" Danny boy, we are in a dangerous business. One that requires us to make sacrifices all the time. Some sacrifices are so small that we don’t even notice them. We can go through our entire lives without noticing that a sacrifice was even made. And then…" He pinned Daniel with fierce dark eyes, " then there are the biggies. Then we get the really big heart stopping sacrifices. The life-or-death decisions. A sacrifice like that is never taken lightly, nor is it accepted casually.

Jack sighed, shutting his eyes briefly, gathering his cloudy thoughts.

" I was put into a situation where I had to make a decision, and quickly. And I did. Yes, I knew that I was probably going to die, but I weighed my one life against the three lives that I could save, and I knew that I had made the correct decision."

He looked up at his silent friend. " And so do you."

Daniel was silent, almost afraid to meet Jack’s eyes. There had been no other way. He had thought through all the scenarios and knew that Jack had been right. But still.

Had the situations really been reversed he wasn’t sure that he would have been able to make a similar decision. He didn’t think that he would be brave enough to be left on a planet to face death alone.

" You would have," Jack said softly, his eyes luminous.

Daniel stared at him silently. He hadn’t thought he that had spoken his thoughts aloud, in fact, he was sure he hadn’t. Somehow the leader of SG 1 had known what he had been thinking.

" I know you," Jack said tiredly. " I think that I know you better than you even know yourself."

With a sigh he dropped his head back on to the pile of pillows.

With a start Daniel saw just how exhausted his friend was. His face had taken on a gaunt look, startling against the white of the head bandage, and he had dark hollows under his eyes.

" Sleep."

Jack raised his eyebrows. " Are you giving me orders?"

"Uh huh." Daniel was smiling, the tension leaving his frame.

"Okay." Jack wanted to argue, he really did. He wanted to see if Daniel was really all right with what had been said, but his battered body had other ideas. His eyes fluttered shut and he sank into a deep sleep.

And as for Daniel, he was just content to sit there, watching over Colonel Jack O’Neill.

His friend and the bravest man that he had ever known.

*Einde.*

BETA Tested by CiGiK

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