Title : Murphy's Law
Author : Tels
Fandom : Stargate SG1
Characters : Jack O'Neill
Rating : PG13
Word count : 2681
Prompt : #35 – sixth sense
Summary : Gating out at 13.13 on Friday the 13th was a bad idea but did they listen to him?
Notes: Italics indicate flashback. Orig written Oct 2002. Rewritten Aug 2006
Murphy's Law
By Tels
........ Jack sat bolt upright. “That must be the stupidest suggestion I ever heard!” he said. “Sir,” he finished quickly.
“You have a problem Colonel?” Hammond asked.
“Too right I do,” Jack said. “You want us to gate out today at 1300 hours.”
Hammond nodded. “Just like any other day,” he said.
Jack shook his head. “Only its not. It's Friday the 13 th and you want us to gate out at 1300hrs. Want us to walk under a few ladders while we're at it??”
“Colonel O'Neill the date has nothing to do with it. SG4 promised a return visit to P4C-971 and you are going with them. Now if you don't feel capable of leading SG1 on this occasion then I am sure that Major Carter…”
Jack held up a hand. “It's fine… we'll go. Take a rabbits foot and a four leafed clover as well.” ........
--- ---
Jack gasped in pain. It had to happen didn't it? Of course it did. It was inevitable. In all the six years of gate travel, he had never known a mission like it. Pain shot through him and he groaned again. "Sir?" A voice cut through the pain and he opened his eyes.
"Carter?" he gasped. "Any luck with the repairs to the DHD?"
Sam shook her head. "No Sir. Daniel and Teal'c are still trying, but it doesn't look hopeful. How are you doing?"
"Fine Major. Just fine."
"You're not a very good liar… Sir."
Jack closed his eyes again. He was simply in too much pain to respond to that almost blatant insubordination. At least she'd stuck a Sir on the end of it.
Sam continued. "Kemah says the offer of assistance still stands."
"I'll wait for the rescue."
"Sir, that won't be for hours, maybe days."
"I'll wait." He gasped in pain.
"You don't have that long Sir."
Jack looked at her. "Which part of ‘I'll wait for the rescue' don't you understand Major?” he wondered aloud. “Gahhhh!” he closed his eyes again just wanting the pain to stop but even he had his limits.
--- ---
........ Friday 13th at 1313hrs. What a stupid time to gate out anywhere Jack thought as he and the rest of SG1 plus SG4 waited in the Gateroom. Of course the original time of 1300 had come and gone as the gate had refused to lock the first several times they had tried it. Finally the 7th symbol engaged and the wormhole whooshed into the room.
"At least that works," Daniel said. “I was beginning to believe things were going to go according to Murphy's Law.”
“Murphy's Law?” Teal'c asked.
“Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Especially on Friday 13 th .” Jack intoned slowly.
"I do not see the problem with the date," Teal'c said.
"You will," Jack muttered, somewhat prophetically. "Okay kids. Let's go." He led the way up the ramp and through the gate.
The problems started almost immediately. Daniel tripped coming down the stone steps and gashed his leg badly.
Sam moved over to him. “Don't move,” she said checking his leg. She looked up. “He needs to go back Sir. This needs stitching.”
Jack rolled his eyes and headed over to the DHD.
The DHD was damaged and therefore non-functional. "For crying out loud!" Jack exclaimed. "I thought your team checked this last time." He looked over at Major Osborne.
The CO of SG4 flinched. "Sir it was working when we gated home."
“Well its not now!” He spun round. "So where is the rest of your team? Why aren't they here?"
At this point the whole team came under attack. Weapons fire came from all directions, along with more conventional missiles of stones and arrows. "Take cover!" Jack yelled. He dropped, rolled and came up firing. Several wounded lay around the gate area. Abruptly the firing ceased. Jack waved his arm and his men stopped firing too. Silence descended like a stone. "Okay. Damage report."
The casualty list was all of SG4 - either dead or dying. Jack spun round. "Where's Carter?"
"Haven't seen her since the attack started,” Daniel said pulling himself upright. His leg hurt but he could still walk.
Jack swore. "And Teal'c wanted to know what was wrong with the date!" He thought quickly. "Ok. Standard search pattern beta. Meet back here in an hour.”.............
--- ---
Something touched his shoulder and he struggled to open his eyes. "Carter?" he said.
"I've got Kemah Sir."
Jack flicked his eyes from Sam to the man with her. "I said I would wait for the rescue," he managed.
"Colonel, you are badly injured. Without help and soon you will die. You have to let me help you," Kemah said slowly.
Jack screwed his face up as a wave of agonising pain swept over him. "No," he gasped.
"If I do nothing you will die," Kemah repeated. "Your injuries are repairable. At least for the moment."
Jack shook his head, immediately wishing he hadn't.
Sam frowned at him. "Colonel please. At least let him try. If it hadn't have been for me this would never have happened. I can't let you die. Please"
Kemah explained the procedure. Jack's back, arm and leg wound would be strapped and sewn, albeit not as neatly as Doc Frazier would do it. The head injury was a different proposition and the treatment not what she would sanction at all. It involved several members of the tribe, effectively entering his brain telepathically and healing him from the inside.
Jack looked at Sam.
"Please," she repeated.
"Not giving me a choice huh?"
"No Sir. Even if we worked out how to repair the DHD now, rescue is still 10 hours away. You have six at the most."
"Last time you suggested something like this I got a snake in my head… Go help Teal'c with the DHD. Daniel should rest that leg of his."
Sam nodded. "Yes Sir."
As she left, six other members of the tribe entered the room. Jack closed his eyes. “Just the cuts,” he whispered. “Leave my head alone.”
"We will start with your leg Colonel," Kemah told him.
Jack nodded, withdrawing into his thoughts to take his mind of the pain that encompassed his body.
--- ---
............Jack pushed his way through the trees. "Carter!" he called. "Carter!" He tried the radio but got no response. "When I get my hands on her," he muttered. Sudden movement from his left made him spin round, weapon drawn.
"Don't Shoot!" came a voice.
"Carter!" he responded. "Where have you been!?"
"It's a long story Sir. This is Kemah. He is the medicine man from the village where SG4 are based. I thought maybe he could help Daniel."
"Well while you were having afternoon tea, SG4 got slaughtered in an ambush! The DHD is broken and we have been looking for you!"
Sam cringed under his blistering attack. "The Goa'uld came through the gate after SG4 left last week. The tribes' people broke the DHD hoping it would prevent the gate from opening again. The members of SG4 that were left here, died defending the village.”
Kemah looked at him. “The attack was us. We thought you were Goa'uld."
"Well we're not!"
"I know that now Colonel O'Neill and I am sorry. Maybe if you let me look at your officers..."
"They are dead! And we are now stuck here. I think you have done enough!" He turned and pulled at his radio. "I found her. Everyone back to the gate. We have a DHD to fix."
It was at this point that the day took a deadly turn for the worse. Things happened so fast that even Sam recounting it to the others later wasn't quite sure what happened when. She left Kemah's side and moved up next to Jack. He was walking fast and she wasn't watching where she was going. Suddenly the ground beneath her disappeared. She shrieked and grabbed hold of Jack as she fell. He fell as well and they both fell about six feet into some kind of pit.......
--- ---
Jack screamed as the pain reached a crescendo. Kemah paused in his work. "Colonel I am sorry it hurts you. I am nearly finished repairing the lacerations that cover your body."
"No.... messing with....my...head..." Jack gasped.
"There will be more pain for a while. I am sorry." Kemah resumed his work and Jack tried to concentrate his mind but failed and instead screamed with pain.
--- ---
......Jack pulled himself up to a sitting position. "You okay?"
Sam sat too. "Yes Sir. Sorry."
Jack started to wave a hand at her but a growl distracted him. "What's that?"
Sam turned. "It's coming from the tunnel."
Suddenly a rush of black growling fur flew down the tunnel, making a beeline for Sam. "LOOK OUT!" Jack yelled. He threw himself over Sam, covering her body with his. Pain entered every part of his body as teeth and claws tore into him, ripping first his uniform and then his body to shreds. A shower of arrows came from above, none striking the panther.
Jack then felt a new pain as something struck his head, one of the arrows hitting him instead. He instantly lost all consciousness. There was a shout from above and a zat blast struck the panther. It immediately let go of Jack. Teal'c fired again, killing the panther.
Kemah clambered down into the pit and rolled Jack off of Sam. "Are you hurt Major?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No. He saved me."
Kemah tied the rope around the unconscious Jack. Daniel and Teal'c pulled him to the surface. Sam and Kemah clambered out of the pit and dropped to Jack's side. Daniel shook his head. "He's alive but barely."
"We must get him back to the village. I will do my best."
"Teal'c and I will start trying to repair the DHD. But our best hope is that General Hammond will send a rescue team through when we don't report in on Monday."
"Without help Colonel O'Neill will be dead before sunset tomorrow," Kemah said......
--- ---
The pain subsided slightly and Jack struggled to open his eyes.
Daniel was sitting on the bed next to him. He looked at him and smiled. "Hi. You're doing fine," he told him. "Kemah suggested that I stay for the next part. He thinks you might find it easier with someone here that you know."
Jack tried to speak but couldn't. He used his eyes to convey his message. He didn't want anyone messing with his head. If he died he wanted to die with his mind intact and his alone.
Daniel nodded. "I know Jack. I would be scared too in your shoes."
Kemah approached. "We must begin now." The six members of the tribe stood round the bed. They all held their hands over Jack.
Jack looked at Daniel, fear and pain in his eyes. ‘Don't let them' he tried to say but nothing was working anymore.
"I'm here Jack. I'm not leaving."
Jack suddenly felt the others in the room inside his head, then pain. Lots of pain and he blacked out.
--- ---
......They took Jack back to the village and laid his still motionless body in the med-hut. He was bleeding profusely. Kemah removed the shreds of his uniform and covered the raw wounds with leaves. He also broke off the part of the arrow that was protruding from the side of Jack's head.
"He should be dead," Daniel said.
Teal'c looked at Sam "We should return to the DHD. We must repair it."
As they left, Jack opened his eyes to a sea of pain in every fibre of his body.
"Uh?" he whispered.
Daniel looked at him, amazed he was alive and talking. "It's okay Jack. You saved Sam's life. Now you have to let them save yours."
"No. I have work to do."
He tried to sit up but pain prevented it.
Daniel pushed him back down. He glanced down his body.
"Where's my uniform?" Jack asked.
"Destroyed."
"What happened?"
"You and Sam got attacked by a panther. You stopped Sam from getting hurt."
"The DHD?"
"Sam and Teal'c are working on it. Kemah wants to treat you."
"No way! I'll wait for Doc Frazier when we get home."
Over the course of the night Jack's condition deteriorated dramatically. He was slowly bleeding to death. His head wound was also a matter of grave concern. The neural pathways had been damaged and there was still a piece of the arrow head embedded in his brain. In the moments he was conscious, he refused again and again all offers of medical attention, adamant that rescue would come in time......
--- ---
Over at the Stargate, Sam threw the tool down in a mixture of annoyance and grief. "It's no good!" she said. "I can't fix it. The Colonel is dying and it's my fault."
"It is not your fault," Teal'c said.
Suddenly the Stargate started to move and the chevrons started to lock. "We have incoming. Teal'c we had better take cover." The gate whooshed open and from their cover Teal'c and Sam watched anxiously. A MALP appeared and General Hammond's voice came over the radio. Sam quickly explained their situation. Within minutes a med team, led by Doc Frazier, along with an engineering squad with a generator for the gate were dispatched.
On the way to the village, Janet explained that Hammond had had an odd feeling ever since SG1 had left on Friday. And when they hadn't reported in after twenty four hours like they should have he decided they must be in trouble.
The med team arrived at the med-hut. Kemah looked up as they entered. "I am sorry. We healed some of the neural damage but he was too weak."
Janet looked at Daniel for confirmation.
Sam felt as if she had been thumped in the stomach. "No," she said.
Daniel looked at them. "They did the best they could."
Janet crossed over to the covered body. She pulled the covers back and stifled a gasp as she saw the extent of his injuries. "What killed him?" she asked.
"Head wound," Kemah told her. "The arrow head is embedded inside and we could not remove it."
Janet automatically felt the side of Jack's neck. She checked again. "He's not dead. There is a pulse."
She organised the med team and set up fluids. "We need to get him back to the base stat. Daniel go and get the gate dialled up. I need the OR prepped and ready with a neurosurgeon and plastic surgeon standing by to assist. I want him stabilised before I move him."
--- ---
The following day Jack lay heavily sedated and bandaged in the infirmary. The surgery had worked in so far as they had removed the piece of arrow head and had repaired all the injuries he had received in the panther attack. Sam sat by his bedside. Even though it would be some time before they would let him come round she wanted to be here. All of SG1 took turns to sit with him. The Tok'ra had sent a healer across to help with healing the neural damage, but even then no none knew what the full extent of any brain damage would be until he woke up.
--- ---
It was another week before Janet decided to lighten the sedation so that he could come round. Jack opened his eyes to see Sam sat dozing by the bed. Actually there were three Sam's that gradually turned into one. "Carter?" he whispered.
"Colonel? Janet he's awake. How are you feeling?"
"Like I went six rounds with a panther and lost."
Janet came over and checked his vitals. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"That's rude," Jack replied. He moved his fingers and toes when she asked. Janet smiled. "You are doing okay Colonel."
Daniel and Teal'c came in and they had a rowdy reunion until Janet threw them out so Jack could sleep. He had a long hard road to recovery ahead of him, but he would get there. He had beaten Murphy's Law this time.
© Tels Oct 2002/Aug 2006.