Daniel walked out of General Hammond’s office. He took the elevator to the infirmary and saw Sam and Janet standing at the main nursing desk. Sam turned. “Daniel, how did it go?”
Daniel stopped and looked at the two women. Janet noticed the tiredness in his eyes. “He’s doing much better Daniel.” Janet said. Daniel flashed Dr. Frasier a smile. “Thanks, Janet.” He looked back over at Sam. “I need to see Jack first, Sam, then I think we’ll know.”
“He’s in your usual bed in the corner, Daniel. Why don’t you go on over, Sam and I will be right there.”
Daniel nodded and walked across to Jack’s bedside.
“What do you think?” Major Carter asked her friend. Sam watched as Daniel pulled the chair up beside the bed.
“I’m not sure.” Janet returned Sam’s worried look.
Daniel looked at his friend, lying under the stark infirmary sheets. Jack had massive bruising covering most of the left side of his face and trailing down his neck. Both arms were swathed in bandages from the bites and scratches. The worst wound had been his right ankle; the bite had caused an infection that Janet was treating with IV antibiotics. Jack’s fever had come down earlier the previous morning. Once Janet had been fairly confident the worst was over, Daniel had left Sam sitting by Jack and had made a quick trip back through the Stargate.
They had been in the small town on P4X-797 almost two weeks. The town sat at the base of a large forest that stretched for miles. Major Carter and Daniel Jackson were working out the final negotiations on the trade alliance. Teal’c was off world with SG-7, so Jack had spent most of the time in the town square alone, watching the people and the dogs. The dogs on 797 were small and came in colors Jack was quite sure Nature never intended. Major Carter had started to explain how this was possible, based on breeding, diet and the differences in the minerals, but as Colonel O’Neill’s eyes had started to glaze over, she had just smiled and walked back in to the conference center around the square.
Jack shook his head. He had just about finished feeding the last of his sandwich scraps to the blue-furred little dog that had been following him around. He knew the townspeople thought it was funny that Jack was feeding and playing with the dog. When he asked Daniel why, Daniel had told him that the blue dogs were considered bad luck. They were mostly ignored, not fed or allowed to drink where the other dogs did.
“Bad luck my butt, “ said Jack as he threw the last dog biscuit from his jacket pocket to the hungry little guy.
“You just save me from one of Carter’s incessant lectures.” He shuddered. “I so owe you.”
Jack looked around and realized that Oz (he fed it, he could name it) was the only blue dog he had seen the whole time he had been here. In the short time Jack had been feeding him, Oz had gained some weight, no longer looking like a sack of bones. He spent most of the day sitting near Jack, playing fetch with the blue rubber ball Jack had requested through the gate with the last load of supplies, or sleeping at Jack’s feet.
Jack was just getting ready to start a new game of fetch when he heard a scream. Jack jumped from the porch and ran toward the back of the building. The forest ran close to the back of the town here. He heard another scream and saw the child lying on the ground. Ten feet away, a large boar like creature was approaching. The animal was almost three feet tall, was black, ugly and had large upper and lower fangs.
Jack jumped over the child, placing himself between the little girl and the beast. He managed to pick the child up and while keeping an eye on the creature, was getting close to handing her over to one of the townsfolk who had followed him when the beast attacked.
Jack threw the child to the nearest adult as he felt the teeth close on his ankle. He fell as the large stinking animal pulled on his ankle, teeth sinking into the skin through his BDU’s. Crap, that really hurt! Jack tried to get his P-90 against the creature’s head, but it was too close. He punched at the face, almost gagging at the stench. He kicked with his left leg and managed to free his ankle. The blood running from his leg made the creature go insane. Jack reached for his sidearm when the creature charged around, knocking Jack full in the face. Jack swayed, barely hanging onto consciousness. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He felt the hot foul breathe in his face as the creature hammered back at his arms and hands. Jack cried out as he felt teeth start to break the skin, and the bones start to bend in his left arm.
Suddenly, Jack was free of the creature’s weight. He struggled to sit up. He looked over and saw Oz, pulling, biting and fighting the creature, leading it away from Jack. Oz was amazing, tearing at the beast, teeth slashing first on one side of the large, ugly head, then on the other. Blood flew everywhere.
Jack grabbed his P-90 and pulled the trigger, but not before the creature flung it’s head, catching Oz in the side, sending him flying to land hard on the ground. Jack almost cut the beast in half as he fired.
Then, it was all over. The only sound was that of a crying child and the sorrowful, swallowed breath of a black ops colonel as he cradled a still broken body in his bleeding arms.
Daniel had sat quietly beside Jack’s bed for almost thirty minutes before he looked up and saw two brown eyes looking back. Daniel swallowed at the sadness he saw there, but smiled at his friend.
“Hey, how are you?”
Jack shrugged. Daniel looked over at Sam and Janet, who had moved closer to the bed when Jack had opened his eyes. Daniel knew Janet was worried, mainly due to the fact that although Jack’s fever had come down, he had yet to ask when he could go home.
Daniel cleared his throat. “We had a message from the town council back on 797. They wanted to repay you for saving the child’s life. That meant a lot to them. They wanted to show their gratitude. Janet went back through the gate with me and General Hammond pulled in some favors with the President. Of course, he has to stay here on base, but…” Daniel reached down by his feet and pulled the leather knapsack onto his lap. He reached in and lifting the small ball of blue fuzz out, placed it on Jack’s chest. Jack’s eyes widened as the little blue puppy stretched then walked the rest of the way up his chest. A tiny tongue came out and licked Jack’s chin, then the small body curled up and fell asleep, leaning up against Jack’s cheek.
Jack blinked and Daniel saw a small tear sliding down the side of Jack’s face. Jack slowly reached his heavily bandaged left hand around the sleeping bundle and sighed. He smiled up at his friend.
“Thanks, Daniel.” Jack’s eyes closed, and he fell asleep, still smiling.
Daniel sighed. Jack was going to be ok. He looked over at Janet and Sam. Sam smiled back.
“You do realize you are responsible for any messes that need to be cleaned up, right, Dr. Jackson?” Whispered the CMO of Cheyenne Mountain.
Daniel smiled and nodded, not wanting to risk waking his friend.
© December 25, 2005 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.
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