Stargate Aschen

Chapter 9 - Disobedience

Sam wiped the sweat from her forehead and raced along the uneven forest path. Her muscles screamed for rest, but she pushed on. The backs of two recruits disappeared into the trees. Damn, they would show her up this time again.

This deep into the forest, the large trees shielded the ground from sunlight, but the resulting drop in temperature did nothing to cool her down. She’d never been this drained, physically or mentally.

Another field-training day. She’d hardly done anything else during the past weeks besides running through the forest on some make-believe mission. Always with the same outcome. Somebody screwed  up, and in the end they all got in trouble for it.

Colonel Sheppard didn’t care whose fault it was. At least not officially. Rumor was O’Neill kept detailed records of mistakes and who exactly was responsible for them.

A lot of times she was the one who made the mistake. Some of the recruits grew impatient with her already. A ‘girl’ didn’t belong among them, or so they said. Sam couldn’t blame them with all the mistakes she made. The pressure added to her stress, which made her make more mistakes. Vicious circle.

She flicked more sweat out of her eyes. Her training would never end. She’d never be good enough to become a full member of the resistance. Maybe she’d overestimated her abilities. Back when she’d set out to join them in their fight against the Aschen, she’d thought it’d be easy.

Nothing had prepared her for this. Endless days of crawling and running through the forest, superiors constantly yelling at her, and worst of all, the constant obligation to obey every order. She was getting sick of it.

For a fraction of a second, Sam lost her focus. Her foot snagged on a root sticking out of the forest floor. She landed on all fours. Pain shot through her ankle, and she winced. Jason, who was running behind her, tripped over her, and with a curse, landed a few feet further ahead in the dirt.

“Aaargh… God, Carter.”

“Sorry.” Sam leaned up on her elbows. Damn, that hurt. But she wouldn’t show weakness again. “You okay?”

“My leg freaking hurts.”

She crawled over to him. He was a decent guy, serious and not afraid to speak his mind. With him, she always knew exactly where he stood. She respected him for that. Carefully, she examined his leg and then exhaled.

“It’s not broken. You may have sprained your ankle, though.”

Before he could give her a snippy answer, steps approached and they looked up. Hanson came jogging towards them. He was their appointed team leader for the day. Great. Sam closed her eyes. Here it comes.

“What’s up? The others are almost there already. We can’t lose again.” Hanson jumped from one leg to the other.

Sam rolled her eyes. Always so arrogant and condescending.

“I fell. Jason couldn’t stop in time and tripped over me.”

Hanson groaned and stopped moving. “Of course you did.” He muttered a curse. “Is his leg broken?”

“No.” Sam got up. Pain shot from her foot through her leg but she ignored it. “He still needs to see the doctor. His ankle is swelling up. I’m taking him back to camp.”

“The hell you are.” Hanson glared at her. “Morris, can you walk?”

“Think so.”

“Then he can make his way back to camp alone.”

“No.” Sam fisted her hands. Okay, technically, she was getting close to insubordination again.  Hanson was their team leader for the duration of this mission, so not following his orders could get her in trouble. His decision was wrong, though. “We don’t leave people behind. We made that mistake on day one.”