Hostile Ground Part 21

"Daniel, you know we don't have time for that. Any delay could cost the colonel his life."

"But -"

"Daniel, it's the only way. Consider it an order." Her expression was resolute and Daniel knew it was useless to say any more. When Sam pulled rank on him, the argument was over. She nodded at his acquiescence. "First light, then. Teal'c and I go back to the s.h.i.+p. Hunter, can you take Teal'c's pack with you? We'll move faster if we travel light."

Hunter nodded, and seemed genuinely torn when he said, "I'm sorry I can't go with you, but I've a wife and a son."

Teal'c bowed his head. He, of all people, understood the decision.

"It's alright, Hunter," said Sam, less fervent now that the decision had been made. "Go back to your family. And thank you for your help. We couldn't have made it this far without you."

Hunter nodded. "I can't go with you, but I can still help you." He picked up a stick and sketched a few lines in the dirt. "Here, on the side of the s.h.i.+p where the light rises, you'll find an access hatch. Ascend two levels and you'll find the cells where the s.n.a.t.c.hers are likely holding O'Neill. Here. And here. The prisoners they hold there are valuable, so you should expect much resistance. It won't be easy." From the way he shook his head, Daniel could tell that he thought it would be nigh on impossible. "If... if you make it out, follow the tree line along the base of the mountain. You'll find the Old Road. It's broken up and hard to see, but it's there alright. At the end of that's the Shacks. You'll be welcome in my home, Major Carter. And Dix'll help if he can. I'll wait for you."

"Our thanks, Hunter," said Teal'c.

"The G.o.ds' grace go with you," he said, but his tone was grim. He obviously doubted there was enough divine grace to cover what luck Sam and Teal'c would need.

Sam knelt down next to the roughly sketched s.h.i.+p schematics, focused and determined. "So, let's go over these plans again," she said, "and this time I have a few questions."

The ceiling of the cell was dark and featureless, cold, just like the rest of this G.o.dforsaken s.h.i.+p. Say what you wanted about the Goa'uld, at least they had some flair when it came to decor. This place felt like it had not so much been designed, but rather it had grown from some gruesome embryo. The cell itself was ordinary, more or less. Not the sticky pods from which he and the others had escaped, but a room enclosed by an intricate mesh of bars. He'd been escorted past a heavy guard presence and could still hear the steady tread of the regular patrols in the hallways. Here, though, he hadn't seen a soul for a couple of hours. At least they didn't put me back in the pantry, he thought grimly.

Although they hadn't fed him either, or given him anything to drink.

He'd made some obligatory attempts to find a way out, but the only thing he could see that even resembled a lock was too far out of reach. The Amam guards who'd brought him here hadn't even appeared to touch anything, the netlike bars simply parting in front of them. Despite the latent talent he'd just discovered for activating alien gadgets, Jack had been thus far unsuccessful in getting the bars to open for him. He thought back to Carter's grimace when she touched the door panel earlier and her comment that it felt almost alive. It was not a pleasant idea.

It seemed that even the Amam had forgotten about him for the time being, which was just fine with him. Crazy hadn't hurt him as such. In fact, the thing had seemed completely ambivalent towards his wellbeing. It had spent what felt like hours forcing Jack to try and activate an array of weird tech. Jack had tried his best to prevent the tests from being successful, but it appeared that the outcome of each one was out of his control: some had worked, some had not. He wasn't sure what it meant. Then he'd been brought to this cell and left alone.

For now, he had no choice but to wait.

Wait for what? For rescue? Who's coming back for you, Jack?

He hated that little voice. It had been his constant companion on Edora too, until eventually he'd answered its persistent questioning.

No one. No one was coming for him.

That was what he'd thought and then his team had gone and proved him wrong. And he'd been angry. He'd been angry. What a truly ungrateful son of a b.i.t.c.h.

There was a time, long ago, when everything in his life was solid and certain. A time before Charlie and the sound of the shot that had cracked his world apart. He'd known his purpose and his duty then, and, yes, there had been times when he'd landed in situations to which h.e.l.l had seemed an attractive alternative, but that was all on him. That was part of serving, part of the choice he'd made. Then everything had changed and he'd ended up with nothing. In those days, he was nothing. Until the Stargate. Only then had he realized that purpose and duty hadn't deserted him after all.

Sometimes, though... Sometimes he woke and felt nothing but old. And it was those times that made him wonder whether this was his game anymore. Did he still have the heart for the fight?

Edora. The place had tested his commitment and he'd come up wanting. Some days he truly wished he was back there, back to the simplicity of farming and fis.h.i.+ng. Some days he wished there had been no rescue, that Carter hadn't been smart enough to find a way home. Some days he thought he could've lived with that.

Yet right here, right now, being on this G.o.dforsaken rock at the a.s.s end of the galaxy made him realize how wrong he'd been. Maybe it was that old school Air Force ego kicking in, but all Jack could think about was how much he was needed elsewhere, and what might be going wrong without him and SG-1. He had a duty, to his people and to his team, to make it through this. He wouldn't forget that again.

This wasn't Edora. And this time there would be no rescue, because he'd ordered it so. Hopefully, Carter, Daniel and Teal'c were already on their way to see Dix, whoever he might be, and hopefully Dix would help them find a way off this miserable world.

If he made it out of this, he'd try and pick up their trail and follow on behind - no, when he made it out of this. Because right now Jack knew that he was the only hope he had.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.

Dawn crept into the sky, a vague brightness through the shroud of mist. Whatever sun stood at the center of this solar system, it brought little light and almost no warmth. Sam thought it would have been almost useless as a guide in most circ.u.mstances, but Hunter had said where the light rises, and that much, at least, was distinguishable.

They packed up their rough camp in silence, but when she suggested they get rid of the debris from the fire to hide their trail, Hunter shrugged and shook his head. "They won't track us here. They don't hunt in places like this."

"Why not?" asked Daniel.

"They have easier ways."

Sam stepped forward and touched his arm. "Hunter," she said, "if we can, we'll take them down for you."

Hunter only smiled, a beaten expression, and said, "You won't defeat them. There are always more." Then he headed into the forest, gesturing for Daniel to follow.

Sam, Daniel and Teal'c spared each other a moment, one that had pa.s.sed between them many times. A look exchanged, a nod, a few brief, meaningless words that didn't - couldn't - capture everything they'd want to say if this was the last time, if one of them, or none of them, were coming back from this. The words couldn't be said out loud so they settled, as they always did, for the nods and the looks, and then they moved out.

The way back to the s.h.i.+p was harder than their escape had been the night before. That had been an all-out run across the open scrubland towards the forest. This time, Sam and Teal'c kept to the tree line when they could, making use of the spa.r.s.e cover it offered, but it meant a harder uphill climb, with fallen branches and twisted roots to bar their path. The ever-present mist didn't help.

"Major Carter, do you believe that Hunter is being truthful in saying that the Amam will not hurt O'Neill?" asked Teal'c, as they hoisted themselves up and over a large rocky mound.

"Why would he lie?" replied Sam, though she'd harbored the same doubts. She focused on her footing, not wanting to consider the possibility of what might be happening to the colonel right now if Hunter was lying.

"I do not know. But his tale of a flying city would make his word seem less than reliable."

"He said himself that he didn't think those stories were true."

"He did."

"And Daniel would say that myths like that tend to be more elaborate versions of something that once was fact."

"He would."

"I don't think we have any reason to doubt Hunter's word."

"Indeed."

She stopped in her climb and turned to face him. "Why would he lie, Teal'c?"

"I am sure he did not." But Sam knew what Teal'c wasn't saying: perhaps Hunter hadn't lied, but perhaps he didn't know the Amam as well as he claimed. She picked up her pace, more eager than ever to get to the s.h.i.+p.

By her watch, it took them a further half hour to reach it and they headed around it counter-clockwise, as per Hunter's instructions. It unnerved her to be so close to the enormous vessel and she fought the p.r.i.c.kly feeling that the thing was somehow alive and watching them. In truth, it probably gave them more cover than if they'd approached their intended point of entry in a direct line from the forest. This route also gave Sam a chance to scrutinize the hull.

"This thing hasn't moved for decades," she said, running her hand along the pitted surface that looked like no metal she'd ever encountered. "Look at how high the moss reaches. I wonder why they'd want to stick around on a planet like this. What's here for them?"

"The vessel may no longer be able to fly."

But Sam was thinking of the dark hints that Hunter had dropped, about the Amam's feeding habits and them having easier options than hunting. She wasn't sure what he meant, but it didn't sound like anything good. The sooner they found a way off this planet the better.

For that, they had to find the colonel first. Up ahead the s.h.i.+p curved around and from Hunter's diagram, she knew they were close. They rounded the hull and found the opening he'd spoken of: a narrow aperture covered by a mesh, about three-feet square, which led into a dark vent. It wouldn't be comfortable, especially not for Teal'c, but it would do the job. Sam pulled out her pocket knife and began to work the mesh free.

Hold on, sir. We're coming for you.

Hunter walked with the steady lope of a man used to crossing large distances by foot and Daniel allowed him to range ahead while he followed more slowly. Out in the daylight, away from the murk of the Amam s.h.i.+p, he could see him better and took the opportunity to study their new ally. Hunter was young, but his skin was weather-beaten and his body lean and wiry. Just like Aedan and his people, Hunter looked hungry, his youth already ravaged by the hard life he lived.

They walked downhill through the scraggy forest, its pine scent intensifying the lower they got and the denser the trees became. Daniel was no expert in forestry, but from the amount of dead wood rotting on the ground and the uniform height of the new growth, he could guess that this whole forest had burned at some point in the past - probably when the Amam s.h.i.+p had landed, back during the war Elspeth Burne had described. He wondered if there were bodies beneath the loamy soil, the bones that Aedan claimed they still found everywhere. The thought made him s.h.i.+ver in the cold morning air and he tugged his boonie lower, sticking his hands into his pockets.

Behind them, the Amam s.h.i.+p crouched against a mountainside that disappeared up into low cloud. The s.h.i.+p seemed to merge with the rock, its weirdly organic hull covered in lichen and clumps of scraggy gra.s.s. It almost looked like an abandoned crash site, except that there didn't seem to be any damage to the s.h.i.+p.

"Hunter," Daniel called, keeping his voice as low as possible.

Hunter turned, stopping and waiting for Daniel to catch up. "You doin' alright?"

"Yeah." He gestured back toward the s.h.i.+p. "Does that thing ever move?"

"Nope. Told you before, it don't fly."

"Because it can't?"

Hunter shrugged. "Just know it don't." He jerked his head in the direction he was walking. "Nearly at the Shacks now. C'mon."

He headed off again and this time Daniel kept pace with him. The descent was steeper here, the ground sometimes rocky, and occasionally Daniel thought he saw patches of some kind of paving. Probably the Old Road that Hunter had mentioned. He'd also spotted what looked like metal girders, twisted and misshapen, and the rough signs of structural foundations. There had been buildings here once.

After a while, Hunter reached out and touched his arm, slowing him as the ground levelled off and then fell away steeply ahead of them. The forest grew spa.r.s.er again, and here and there Daniel noticed stumps where trees had been recently felled, ax marks biting deep into the blond wood. People foraged here, he guessed.

Hunter turned to the right, walking parallel to the trees that ran along the top of a steep escarpment. And through the trees, beneath the mist, Daniel began to see a camp emerge. The sight stopped him dead, stunning him with its sheer size. He'd been expecting something like Aedan's encampment but this was on a whole different scale.

He let out a breath. "Whoa..."

The milky sun was behind them and the mountain cast a long shadow, reaching like a pointing finger across the valley below and the sprawling encampment that stretched out in all directions. It was vast and squalid, the worst kind of human misery, and even from where he stood amid the pine trees, Daniel could smell the rising stench of degradation.

Hunter spat on the ground as if trying to get rid of the foul smell. "They say it was a city once, but there ain't nothing left now. Just people on top of people, hoping they ain't the ones to be s.n.a.t.c.hed."

"How many people?" Daniel said, his heart sinking with a sudden, overwhelming sense of despair. Like the people waiting to die on the Amam s.h.i.+p, there was nothing he could do to help these people, and it left him feeling angry and powerless.

"Dix thinks a hundred thousand."

Daniel shook his head. "I had no idea there were that many people on this planet."

"This ain't the only camp," Hunter said, giving him a sideways look. "Dix says they're all over the world. He can see, from up there." He glanced up at the sky.

"From Hecate's s.h.i.+p?"

Hunter nodded. "Dix says there's hundreds of thousands of people here. He says it's an army, enough to drive off the Amam."

Hundreds of thousands of people in camps like this? It wasn't an army - it was a catastrophe. "We can't let this carry on," Daniel said out loud, although he was talking more to himself than to Hunter.

But Hunter answered anyway. "We ain't gonna let it carry on," he said. "Hecate will help us, Dix will help us."

"And we'll help you too," Daniel added, determinedly ignoring his inner Jack O'Neill warning him against making rash promises. But this was an atrocity on a global scale and Daniel didn't give a d.a.m.n what anyone said - he was going to ensure Earth helped these people if it was the last thing he did.

"Dix takes anyone prepared to fight," Hunter said, then nodded toward a narrow trail ahead. "That there's the way down. Be careful, it's steep."

It was steep, but there were enough trees around to hold onto and the descent was at least fast. Then they were crossing an empty patch of no-man's-land toward the edge of the enormous tent city.

There was no barrier to the camp, no wire fence keeping people in, which surprised Daniel. Contrary to his first impression, it wasn't a prison camp. It was more like a refugee camp, with all the misery and desperation that entailed. Towers rose up at regular intervals around the perimeter, roughly constructed of wood with a large platform at the top - watch towers, Daniel thought at first, but he couldn't see any Amam patrolling them. They seemed abandoned.

"Not watch towers," Hunter corrected, when Daniel asked. "Feeding stations."

He felt his eyebrows climb. "Feeding stations as in... ?" He made a clawing gesture with one hand.

Hunter shook his head. "We're fodder to them, sure enough, but it don't do them no good if we starve to death before they eat."

"Wait..." It took a moment to process the thought. "The Amam feed the people in the camp?"

Hunter nodded. "Twice a week they send s.n.a.t.c.hers to leave rations atop the towers."

Daniel felt his stomach turn with a deep nausea; these people were being kept like animals, like cattle. "Why do they stay?" he wondered aloud. "Why do they live like this?"

Hunter slipped him a look that said he should know better than to ask. "Because they ain't got no choice."

And that was the truth of it, he supposed. No one lived like this if there was an alternative. Across the galaxy, humans clung to life with a tenacity that sometimes defied reason. If it was this or death, they'd choose this - no matter how hopeless their lives had become.

"Now stick close," Hunter said as they approached the edge of the camp. "There's some here who'd stick you as soon as look at you if they think you've got a bite to eat."

Daniel let his hand come to rest on his weapon. "Don't worry about me," he said. "I can take care of myself."

Hunter looked dubious, but didn't argue and together they headed into the sprawling, stinking camp.

The ventilation chute was hot and cramped. Sam lay stretched out on her front, her arms folded beneath her. It was the same position she'd occupied for the past twenty minutes and for five of those she'd tried to ignore the pain that was creeping into her stiffening joints. Teal'c lay behind her, just as cramped, and she didn't want to guess what discomfort the large Jaffa might be suffering.

She watched the corridor, hidden from the patrolling Amam guard by only the thin mesh covering of the vent. She was anxious to make a move, but knew that rash action would mean an end to their plan before it had begun. Stealth was their biggest advantage. For now.

She checked her watch. By her count, a patrol was due to pa.s.s within the next ten seconds, and sure enough she heard heavy footsteps approach.

Wait, wait, wait...

Shadows pa.s.sed over the grill.

Turning as silently as she could in the cramped s.p.a.ce, she gestured to Teal'c, letting him know what was coming next.

Two grunts, heading clockwise, move out in 5... 4... 3... 2...