Categories > TV > Stargate: SG-1 > Ancients' trail
Thanks for Babsca, my BETA for all her help. Without her help this chapter wouldn't be so enjoyable.
Chapter 5
Dreams.
Someone once said the dreams could show us our deepest wishes and fears. They can guide us to our past or to our possible future.
But to Jack dreams were never more than a waste of time, time he could have spent more usefully. Only his body craved sleep, not his mind.
Even when he was a small boy he could never went to sleep easily, he'd rather be playing outside instead. But as soon as he had fallen asleep, dreams visited him every night and they became an extra adventure with time. His dreams varied, sometimes he replayed his favourite TV show or book in his mind, only this time he was the hero of the stories, he was the pirate who sailed on the see, the cowboy who lived on the prairie or the sheriff who hunted the bad guys. As he grew older, his own memories slowly began to take over his dreams, replacing the earlier, innocent fantasies.
With the passing years, due to his training and service as a solder, his memories and with them his dreams became darker, more shadowed. Only a rare glimpse here and there remained of his childhood fantasies, and O'Neill only went to sleep when his body protested from the lack.
He would not say he exactly feared his dreams, rather he simply did not want to see Kawalsky's painfilled death, Daniel dying in his arms yet again, Share's and Skara's flashing eyes, Charlie's pale face and glassy eyes as he called out for his dad for the last time. Both friends and enemies dead or dying had become persistent images in his dreams, and with waking there always came the pain. Pain so intense, nearly as fresh as when it was first experienced, it haunted him in his first waking moments. No, Jack did not fear his dreams, they were a part of him, part of the experiences that shaped him into the man who he was now. But it did not mean he liked to see them over again every night. So he'd learned how to repress them. Nowadays he rarely dreamed, at least not so he remembered.
But this time, this time the dream was strange. As soon as he'd fallen asleep in the cave, he'd started to dream. He dreamed, but not about his past. This dream made him feel warm, comforted, soothed, like something or someone was protecting him, caring for him. The buzzing sound in the back of his mind became louder as it lulled him deeper into sleep. Images flashed of places where he'd never walked, and people who he'd never seen, and despite their strange, unfamiliar nature they felt close to him, maybe even closer then his friends. As if Jack had always known them, like he was one of them. A word came to him that suddenly made sense of the calling he'd sensed, that strange tingle he'd felt when he first touched the Ancient's device: Belonging. But what he could see so clearly in his dream became shadowed and hazy as he started to wake.
Jack noticed as he slowly woke up that he felt rested, warm and strangely numb. His dark eyes fluttered open for a brief moment before they closed again of their own accord. It seemed to simply take too much energy to open them again, so he decided the next best thing to do was simply lay still and listen
.As he listened to his surroundings, Jack could hear a low muttering, and the scratching of a pen on the paper, not far for him to his right. He concentrated more on what was being said, and although the language sounded familiar, the meaning of the words evaded him. But the voice, he knew that voice; it was Daniel.
A faint clatter to his left caught his attention ,and he remembered seeing Carter over that way before he had fallen asleep. Jack suspected she was still deeply engrossed with one of the crystal generator's heating module thingies.
He listened carefully to try and catch any other sound, but he didn't hear anyone else in close proximity. As he opened his eyes once again, every nerve in his body screamed at him to stay still, but he wouldn't be Jack O'Neill, hard-ass Air Force colonel if he'd yielded to that, would he? If opening his eye had been hard work, it took even more energy for Jack to keep them open.
O'Neill now felt hot and sweaty, his throat was dry, and he suspected an infection had set in. He knew he needed to take care of his wound soon, but not right away. No surely that could wait, at least until his world had stopped spinning. Any further move would have to wait for his dizziness to pass. He tiredly let his head fall back to the cool smooth wall behind him. It felt so good against his feverish skin.
Jack had two other reasons why he opted against moving. One, it would be embarrassing if he threw up or fell on his face in front of the others, while he attempted to stand up. Two was that his wound would be obvious now when he moved, as any small movement caused pain-waves to wash over him, leaving him even more dizzy and nauseated.
While he struggled to control his wounded body, Jack's vision slowly started to clear and he focused on the wall on the other side of the room. He noticed that the symbols vibrated in harmony with the humming in his head. He concentrated more closely onto the symbols, they briefly flickered before his blurry eyes and he could swear he heard whispers.
Indicium (date
Recondo (store
Locus (location
Navis (ship
Occido (fall down
Each word was strange and yet familiar at the same time. he almost felt their meaning, although he could not put words to them. Still, the answers while so close, were just beyond his reach.
"Jack, would you move?!" Daniel's question was not really a question, more an angry order. Jack turned his eyes away from the symbols towards the sudden harsh voice from next to him, before looking back to the symbols, which once again appeared simply to be strange, alien forms. Jack sighed sorrowfully, not sure which caused him more sorrow: the need to move which would cause further pain, the loss of the connection to strange symbols and their meaning, or Daniel's harsh attitude toward him.
"Sure, Daniel, since you asked ,me so nicely." Jack muttered sarcastically. He tried to ignore the searing pain in his side as he climbed at his feet, and was about to say something nice to Daniel again when Jacob climbed down into the cave, a determined look on his face. Jack knew that look, he'd seen its like more times than he wanted to recall. It was a 'the game's over, and now it's time to talk' look. His father had the same look every time he demanded answers for one of Jack's reckless stunts and later, his COs' faces usually had gotten the same look for the very same reason.
"Jack, you're with me , we need to talk." The stern words just confirmed the look's meaning.
"But Jacob, what about the light..." Jack was not one to give up easily, not just yet.
"Now!!" How could a man say no to that?!
Jack opened his mouth to say something more, but he was too weary to fight and try to win this argument anyway. So he just mumbled, "Sure" before he began walking up to the cave's entrance.
"Sam, Daniel we will be outside." Jacob informed the two researchers.
Sam turned to her father with a smile,"Sure Dad, I think I've found the circuits to keep the lights on for a time without the Colonel's presence ."
"Good."
Jack could not decide that if the wall had gotten higher or he was in that bad a shape, but it was now much harder to climb outside than before. Teal'c stood not far form the cave's entrance, and Jacob was following closely behind him and Jack started to feel like he was being guarded like some convicted criminal. Both older men were clearly watching his every move. He started to ask "what now?", but Jacob grabbed his hand and guided him toward one of the three stumps not far from the tents. Jack resigned himself to his fate and let himself be guided there with a heavy sight he sat on the trunk. He suddenly felt like a small boy who was just sent to the School Principal for fighting, as he looked up the two other men.
"O'Neill, we know you are injured, there is no reason to hide it from us." Well, Jack thought, T did not talk much but always to the point.
"Ah T." Jack tried one last time to cover. " It's nothing. Just a little scratch."
"I do not believe you O'Neill." The big guy was adamant.
"We've known you long enough to know that what you call scratch is most likely a serious , if not life treating wound." Added Jacob while he glared at Jack. Jack tried the blank mask with confused expression, but it didn't fooled his companion.
"Alright. Yes it is a small wound, maybe even bleeding a bit after you ordered me to climb out from there. But that's all, there's really nothing to see." An excellent diversion tactic Jack thought. Turning their concern into guilt for making him climb out so they would leave him alone. It was beautifully delivered, and most likely with anyone else it would even have worked, but not with an ex-two star General, a few hundred year old Tok'ra, and the warrior Teal'c. Looking up at their unrelenting faces, Jack knew he was busted. He rolled his eyes at them and shifted uneasy in his seat.
"O'Neill show us the wound." Selmac demanded stepping closer to help him to undress if Jack would not start soon.
"Oh for crying out loud." Jack huffed, knowing he sounded like he was whining , and he was. He reluctantly rolled up his pullover, his dark T-shirt was now pasted to his side by dried blood, and he slowly pried that off as well. This revealed the blood soaked bandage, and he could see a tiny part of his wound poking out from underneath the gaze. The wound now looked red, swollen and inflected. It was not a good thing. Jack grimaced; if the Doc ever got wind of this he was a dead man. The Tok'ra's deep voice brought him back to his present situation, as he looked up and saw the two older men's faces, he knew that Janet would be the least of his problems for now.
-------------------------------
Jacob watched as Jack slowly pulled up his black T-shirt, and saw the first time the bloodied bandage, he was tempted to shake some sense into Jack, but the younger man pale complexion and shaking hands stopped him from doing anything too harsh. Selmac, however, had no problem lecturing Jack, on his stupidity in letting the wound become so infected.
"Selmac, it's nothing." Jack tried to intercept Selmac when the Tok'ra reached out to loosen his bandage, only to be his hand batted away.
"Hush, child." said Selmac on her no nonsense voice.
"I am not a child." Came Jack's petulant reply. He even pouted when Selmac didn't bother to look up at him.
The wound was not life threatening both Selmac and Jacob observed. Jacob saw signs of early healing, and the infection was just beginning to set in. He was momentarily startled when a first aid kit was placed in his hand; he hadn't noticed when the dark Jaffa left to fetch it. Jacob was now back in full control, being better at healing than Selmac, who was master of lot of things but first aid wasn't one of them. As Jacob pulled out the alcohol and fresh gauze, his gaze moved to Jack's face, warning,"This will hurt."
Jack did not reply just took a deep breath before nodding to Jacob that he should go ahead. Jacob concentrated on the wound, as he started to clean it, he heard a hiss of pain coming from Jack but didn't take his eyes away from the wound before finishing the job. When he was done, Jacob looked up to see how Jack was fairing. The younger man's features reflected pain. Jack's face shone with sweat and was paler than Jacob had ever seen it before. His eyes were closed, and Jack's breathing sounded shallow.
Jacob gaze flickered to his right where Teal'c stood stoically beside him , a new set of bandages in his hands, but his deep brown eyes betrayed his concern for his friend. The Jaffa noticed his studying gaze and turned toward him.
"I think Jacob Carter it would be the best to finish up quickly."
"Yes Teal'c. I think too" Jacob replied as he reached for the bandages and redressed the wound. When he'd finished, he patted Jack's shoulder to get his attention. Pain filled brown eyes slowly opened.
Teal'c brought over some pain pills and a flask of water to O'Neill, who accepted them quietly. The fact that he'd taken the pills without further argument in and of itself showed how bad he must be feeling.
"I will assist O'Neill to his tent." Teal'c announced, as he helped to steady Jack's lanky frame when he attempted to stand up. Jacob nodded his agreement. The sky had already started to darken, in no time it would be pitch black.
"Sounds good, Teal'c." Jacob replied. "I'll just go and get Sam and Daniel to come up, before it gets too dark."
Selmac could have sworn he'd heard O'Neill muttering "Good luck", as he and Jacob headed to call up the two youngest member of their group. He could not fathom why would they need luck. Well, at least not yet.
Chapter 5
Dreams.
Someone once said the dreams could show us our deepest wishes and fears. They can guide us to our past or to our possible future.
But to Jack dreams were never more than a waste of time, time he could have spent more usefully. Only his body craved sleep, not his mind.
Even when he was a small boy he could never went to sleep easily, he'd rather be playing outside instead. But as soon as he had fallen asleep, dreams visited him every night and they became an extra adventure with time. His dreams varied, sometimes he replayed his favourite TV show or book in his mind, only this time he was the hero of the stories, he was the pirate who sailed on the see, the cowboy who lived on the prairie or the sheriff who hunted the bad guys. As he grew older, his own memories slowly began to take over his dreams, replacing the earlier, innocent fantasies.
With the passing years, due to his training and service as a solder, his memories and with them his dreams became darker, more shadowed. Only a rare glimpse here and there remained of his childhood fantasies, and O'Neill only went to sleep when his body protested from the lack.
He would not say he exactly feared his dreams, rather he simply did not want to see Kawalsky's painfilled death, Daniel dying in his arms yet again, Share's and Skara's flashing eyes, Charlie's pale face and glassy eyes as he called out for his dad for the last time. Both friends and enemies dead or dying had become persistent images in his dreams, and with waking there always came the pain. Pain so intense, nearly as fresh as when it was first experienced, it haunted him in his first waking moments. No, Jack did not fear his dreams, they were a part of him, part of the experiences that shaped him into the man who he was now. But it did not mean he liked to see them over again every night. So he'd learned how to repress them. Nowadays he rarely dreamed, at least not so he remembered.
But this time, this time the dream was strange. As soon as he'd fallen asleep in the cave, he'd started to dream. He dreamed, but not about his past. This dream made him feel warm, comforted, soothed, like something or someone was protecting him, caring for him. The buzzing sound in the back of his mind became louder as it lulled him deeper into sleep. Images flashed of places where he'd never walked, and people who he'd never seen, and despite their strange, unfamiliar nature they felt close to him, maybe even closer then his friends. As if Jack had always known them, like he was one of them. A word came to him that suddenly made sense of the calling he'd sensed, that strange tingle he'd felt when he first touched the Ancient's device: Belonging. But what he could see so clearly in his dream became shadowed and hazy as he started to wake.
Jack noticed as he slowly woke up that he felt rested, warm and strangely numb. His dark eyes fluttered open for a brief moment before they closed again of their own accord. It seemed to simply take too much energy to open them again, so he decided the next best thing to do was simply lay still and listen
.As he listened to his surroundings, Jack could hear a low muttering, and the scratching of a pen on the paper, not far for him to his right. He concentrated more on what was being said, and although the language sounded familiar, the meaning of the words evaded him. But the voice, he knew that voice; it was Daniel.
A faint clatter to his left caught his attention ,and he remembered seeing Carter over that way before he had fallen asleep. Jack suspected she was still deeply engrossed with one of the crystal generator's heating module thingies.
He listened carefully to try and catch any other sound, but he didn't hear anyone else in close proximity. As he opened his eyes once again, every nerve in his body screamed at him to stay still, but he wouldn't be Jack O'Neill, hard-ass Air Force colonel if he'd yielded to that, would he? If opening his eye had been hard work, it took even more energy for Jack to keep them open.
O'Neill now felt hot and sweaty, his throat was dry, and he suspected an infection had set in. He knew he needed to take care of his wound soon, but not right away. No surely that could wait, at least until his world had stopped spinning. Any further move would have to wait for his dizziness to pass. He tiredly let his head fall back to the cool smooth wall behind him. It felt so good against his feverish skin.
Jack had two other reasons why he opted against moving. One, it would be embarrassing if he threw up or fell on his face in front of the others, while he attempted to stand up. Two was that his wound would be obvious now when he moved, as any small movement caused pain-waves to wash over him, leaving him even more dizzy and nauseated.
While he struggled to control his wounded body, Jack's vision slowly started to clear and he focused on the wall on the other side of the room. He noticed that the symbols vibrated in harmony with the humming in his head. He concentrated more closely onto the symbols, they briefly flickered before his blurry eyes and he could swear he heard whispers.
Indicium (date
Recondo (store
Locus (location
Navis (ship
Occido (fall down
Each word was strange and yet familiar at the same time. he almost felt their meaning, although he could not put words to them. Still, the answers while so close, were just beyond his reach.
"Jack, would you move?!" Daniel's question was not really a question, more an angry order. Jack turned his eyes away from the symbols towards the sudden harsh voice from next to him, before looking back to the symbols, which once again appeared simply to be strange, alien forms. Jack sighed sorrowfully, not sure which caused him more sorrow: the need to move which would cause further pain, the loss of the connection to strange symbols and their meaning, or Daniel's harsh attitude toward him.
"Sure, Daniel, since you asked ,me so nicely." Jack muttered sarcastically. He tried to ignore the searing pain in his side as he climbed at his feet, and was about to say something nice to Daniel again when Jacob climbed down into the cave, a determined look on his face. Jack knew that look, he'd seen its like more times than he wanted to recall. It was a 'the game's over, and now it's time to talk' look. His father had the same look every time he demanded answers for one of Jack's reckless stunts and later, his COs' faces usually had gotten the same look for the very same reason.
"Jack, you're with me , we need to talk." The stern words just confirmed the look's meaning.
"But Jacob, what about the light..." Jack was not one to give up easily, not just yet.
"Now!!" How could a man say no to that?!
Jack opened his mouth to say something more, but he was too weary to fight and try to win this argument anyway. So he just mumbled, "Sure" before he began walking up to the cave's entrance.
"Sam, Daniel we will be outside." Jacob informed the two researchers.
Sam turned to her father with a smile,"Sure Dad, I think I've found the circuits to keep the lights on for a time without the Colonel's presence ."
"Good."
Jack could not decide that if the wall had gotten higher or he was in that bad a shape, but it was now much harder to climb outside than before. Teal'c stood not far form the cave's entrance, and Jacob was following closely behind him and Jack started to feel like he was being guarded like some convicted criminal. Both older men were clearly watching his every move. He started to ask "what now?", but Jacob grabbed his hand and guided him toward one of the three stumps not far from the tents. Jack resigned himself to his fate and let himself be guided there with a heavy sight he sat on the trunk. He suddenly felt like a small boy who was just sent to the School Principal for fighting, as he looked up the two other men.
"O'Neill, we know you are injured, there is no reason to hide it from us." Well, Jack thought, T did not talk much but always to the point.
"Ah T." Jack tried one last time to cover. " It's nothing. Just a little scratch."
"I do not believe you O'Neill." The big guy was adamant.
"We've known you long enough to know that what you call scratch is most likely a serious , if not life treating wound." Added Jacob while he glared at Jack. Jack tried the blank mask with confused expression, but it didn't fooled his companion.
"Alright. Yes it is a small wound, maybe even bleeding a bit after you ordered me to climb out from there. But that's all, there's really nothing to see." An excellent diversion tactic Jack thought. Turning their concern into guilt for making him climb out so they would leave him alone. It was beautifully delivered, and most likely with anyone else it would even have worked, but not with an ex-two star General, a few hundred year old Tok'ra, and the warrior Teal'c. Looking up at their unrelenting faces, Jack knew he was busted. He rolled his eyes at them and shifted uneasy in his seat.
"O'Neill show us the wound." Selmac demanded stepping closer to help him to undress if Jack would not start soon.
"Oh for crying out loud." Jack huffed, knowing he sounded like he was whining , and he was. He reluctantly rolled up his pullover, his dark T-shirt was now pasted to his side by dried blood, and he slowly pried that off as well. This revealed the blood soaked bandage, and he could see a tiny part of his wound poking out from underneath the gaze. The wound now looked red, swollen and inflected. It was not a good thing. Jack grimaced; if the Doc ever got wind of this he was a dead man. The Tok'ra's deep voice brought him back to his present situation, as he looked up and saw the two older men's faces, he knew that Janet would be the least of his problems for now.
-------------------------------
Jacob watched as Jack slowly pulled up his black T-shirt, and saw the first time the bloodied bandage, he was tempted to shake some sense into Jack, but the younger man pale complexion and shaking hands stopped him from doing anything too harsh. Selmac, however, had no problem lecturing Jack, on his stupidity in letting the wound become so infected.
"Selmac, it's nothing." Jack tried to intercept Selmac when the Tok'ra reached out to loosen his bandage, only to be his hand batted away.
"Hush, child." said Selmac on her no nonsense voice.
"I am not a child." Came Jack's petulant reply. He even pouted when Selmac didn't bother to look up at him.
The wound was not life threatening both Selmac and Jacob observed. Jacob saw signs of early healing, and the infection was just beginning to set in. He was momentarily startled when a first aid kit was placed in his hand; he hadn't noticed when the dark Jaffa left to fetch it. Jacob was now back in full control, being better at healing than Selmac, who was master of lot of things but first aid wasn't one of them. As Jacob pulled out the alcohol and fresh gauze, his gaze moved to Jack's face, warning,"This will hurt."
Jack did not reply just took a deep breath before nodding to Jacob that he should go ahead. Jacob concentrated on the wound, as he started to clean it, he heard a hiss of pain coming from Jack but didn't take his eyes away from the wound before finishing the job. When he was done, Jacob looked up to see how Jack was fairing. The younger man's features reflected pain. Jack's face shone with sweat and was paler than Jacob had ever seen it before. His eyes were closed, and Jack's breathing sounded shallow.
Jacob gaze flickered to his right where Teal'c stood stoically beside him , a new set of bandages in his hands, but his deep brown eyes betrayed his concern for his friend. The Jaffa noticed his studying gaze and turned toward him.
"I think Jacob Carter it would be the best to finish up quickly."
"Yes Teal'c. I think too" Jacob replied as he reached for the bandages and redressed the wound. When he'd finished, he patted Jack's shoulder to get his attention. Pain filled brown eyes slowly opened.
Teal'c brought over some pain pills and a flask of water to O'Neill, who accepted them quietly. The fact that he'd taken the pills without further argument in and of itself showed how bad he must be feeling.
"I will assist O'Neill to his tent." Teal'c announced, as he helped to steady Jack's lanky frame when he attempted to stand up. Jacob nodded his agreement. The sky had already started to darken, in no time it would be pitch black.
"Sounds good, Teal'c." Jacob replied. "I'll just go and get Sam and Daniel to come up, before it gets too dark."
Selmac could have sworn he'd heard O'Neill muttering "Good luck", as he and Jacob headed to call up the two youngest member of their group. He could not fathom why would they need luck. Well, at least not yet.
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