Chapter Three
Teal’c had a very large bump on his head, but was again completely in command of his faculties. He had been patiently in the infirmary while Dr. Fraiser had fussed over him, demanding that they stay put until she was satisfied that both he and the Colonel were fine. His symbiote, as usual, had been helping him heal rapidly.
O’Neill’s head had been stitched and Doc had assured him that the rest of it was healthy. “Well, healthy for you, that is,” she had teased, eliciting an indignant glare from her patient.
General Hammond had then entered the infirmary, exchanged a few words with the doctor, and then approached the beds where both men were sitting on pins and needles, ready to bolt. “You can come with me now,” he had informed them curtly, and had quickly exited the room with O’Neill and Teal’c on his heels.
They soon had reached the conference room and sat at the briefing table, where Major Ferretti and his team had already been waiting.
“Colonel O’Neill, please tell us what the heck happened over there and where Major Carter and Dr. Jackson are,” General Hammond started, clearly upset. The older man was evidently in no mood for chitchat.
O’Neill looked at Teal’c, who got the message and started to relate what he remembered.
“As you know, General Hammond, Colonel O’Neill was due to contact you at 1400 hours today for an update. O’Neill headed to the Stargate with Commander Sache and his aides, who were eager to discuss their political situation with you. As you also know, the Stargate is located in the middle of the Ancient outpost ruins, which is now an archeological dig. I stayed behind in Huna’s main museum to work with Dr. Jackson on a particularly difficult Ancient passage inscribed on a tablet. This is the tablet Dr. Jackson already informed you about, the one that seems to contain instructions of some kind. Major Carter was also in the museum, but in a different area, inspecting some artifacts that looked like machines, maybe weapons. We had been unsuccessful in translating anything but a few words. Therefore, Dr. Jackson had requested that I contact Dr. Mac Trenis, the archeologist in charge of the Ancient outpost dig. He wanted me to investigate the ruins to see if we could find something that would help us translate the writing on the tablet. I was heading toward the Ancient outpost dig site, where Colonel O’Neill and Commander Sache were waiting until it was time to contact you, when I heard the alarms go off in the city.”
Teal’c briefly paused to bring a hand to his head, his head suddenly throbbing, and O’Neill jumped in. “We were inside a building a few hundred meters from the Gate when I heard the sirens. Sache started yelling orders and then he told me the sirens were warning of an impending air attack by the Segarans. The bombs started falling shortly after that.” His CO had clearly interjected his part of the story trying to give Teal’c a break, and the Jaffa was now ready to continue.
“There were explosions in the city, and I had started to turn back for Dr. Jackson and Major Carter when I realized that they were also bombing the area around the ruins. They must have known that Sache and his aides were there. I started to run toward the building where I expected O’Neill would be, but I was caught by the blast of a detonation. My next memory is of Colonel O’Neill shaking me awake,” he concluded as he closed his eyes in pain. His symbiote seemed displeased with his effort to communicate.
O’Neill, however, quickly picked up where Teal’c left off. “I saw Teal’c fall from where I was. We had left the building as soon as the bombs started falling and I was running toward the city to find the rest of my team. The bombers were careful not to hit the actual ruins, just the Hun buildings around it. I saw lots of bodies, Sir,” Jack told the General, shaking his head with disgust. “Anyway, when I saw Teal’c fall, I grabbed him and dragged him into a trench until he woke up. The bombs were still falling around us, so I decided to break for the Gate instead of trying to reach the city, and here we are.”
Colonel O’Neill was clearly unhappy about leaving the rest of his team behind, just as Teal’c felt. General Hammond then asked, “Can we assume that they would not have hit the museum if they tried to avoid hitting the ruins?” he asked in a hopeful tone.
“That would be a guess, Sir. We don’t know how much the Segarans know about Huna, but I’d bet they have their spies and know enough about the layout of the city. It’s not a coincidence that they decided to attack now. They’ve had a cold war for almost two hundred years. They must have found out that the Gate was finally activated. The conflict between Segara and Huna involves the Stargate and the ruins around it. Segara wants access to them and Huna will not allow it.”
“Why are they fighting over something that, until recently, was nothing but a ruin? They didn’t know that the Gate was still working, did they?” asked Major Ferretti.
“No, they didn’t,” O’Neill responded. “But both countries claim that their people were brought to the planet through the Stargate by an alien race approximately one thousand years ago. Almost two centuries ago, Segara and Huna fought a war over the territory where the Ancient outpost and the Gate are located. The Huns won, and forcibly relocated the Segarans to the only other continent on the planet. There has been no diplomatic relations between the two races since then.”
No one said anything for a few moments, processing the information, but then General Hammond ended the tense silence. “We’ll try not to get involved in this conflict, but we must attempt to contact Major Carter and Dr. Jackson. We’ll dial Huna and hope they are still able to use their radios. Major Ferretti and his team, as well as SG-11 and 13, will be on stand by, ready to go under your command if we determine it is feasible to mount an S&R operation.”
The general had addressed these last few words to the Colonel, but then he briefly glanced at the group and stood to indicate the briefing was over. Now, looking at Ferretti, he instructed, “Major, see that the stand-by teams are ready at a moment’s notice.” Then he turned to his second-in-command and said, “Colonel, let’s try to find the rest of your team.”
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