Chapter 1

"Sam's Decision"

It was a day just like any other day. Some rays of sun shone brightly through thin clouds, though most if its light was blocked by foreboding, much denser clouds of grey. Birds streaked through the sky, some returning home to a nest of chicks, some flying next to their mate, some flying for the sake of flying. Squirrels darted to and fro, always on the lookout for food. Rabbits hopped around their homes, stretching from a long night's sleep. Cheyenne mountain was home to various kinds of wildlife, deer included. All was peaceful.

On the outside.

Deep inside Cheyenne mountain, a team of military personnel was slowly preparing themselves for a mission. The missions this team and many other teams like them embarked on were highly unlike any other missions anyone across the world ever faced; the first thing they had to do was travel to another planet. Then the real mission would begin.

A bright red light lit up on the massive circle of metal with many different symbols engraved in its surface as chevron one was encoded.

"Chevron one... encoded."

General George Hammond turned at the sound of footsteps. He smiled as his number one team came up into the control room. "SG-1, glad you could make it."

Colonel Jack O'Neill laughed at his general's sense of humor. "Always can, sir, especially when it involves kicking some Goa'uld ass."

Hammond chuckled merrily. "I see I can count on you to complete this mission, Colonel."

Jack nodded. "Oh yes, sir. You can definitely count on me."

Beside Jack, Major Samantha Carter stepped forward and saluted to her general. "Sirs, may I suggest we send a MALP through first?"

Jack raised an eyebrow and turned to face Sam. "Why? We already know it's safe, Carter. There's no need to waste time."

Sam shrugged. "I'm just saying, sir, that it's been quite a while since we've visited. Even though it was safe the last time we went, things might have changed."

"She's right." Doctor Daniel Jackson suddenly spoke up. "I think it would be best to send a MALP. So it takes an extra five minutes, isn't that worth making sure the planet really is safe?"

General Hammond nodded. "I agree. Sergeant, send a MALP through when the gate has finished dialing."

The sergeant at the computer nodded, his eyes never leaving the computer screen. "Yes sir. Chevron five... encoded."

Jack sighed. "I guess you can't put a price on safety... Though I'm sure it's a waste of time..."

Sam shook her head. "It's just a precaution, sir. For all we know we could have walked straight into a line of Jaffa."

"I know."

"For all we know we could have walked straight into Anubis."

"I know."

"For all we know we could have walked into the same planet, no changes."

"I know!"

"For all we know the planet's been blown up and-"

"I KNOW!" Jack threw his hands up in the air. "I mean, yes, Carter. I'm aware of the possibilities. Let's send the MALP."

Sam smiled. "That's better."

"Chevron seven... locked. Preparing to send the MALP." The sergeant grabbed the microphone that was connected with the loudspeakers of the gate room. "Send the MALP through!"

Jack sighed as he watched the MALP slowly pass through the shimmering event horizon. The fact that the reason behind this mission was unknown to him suddenly struck him. He turned to the rest of his team. "Uh... Mind telling me why, exactly, we're going back to P3X 293 anyway?"

Sam's eyes widened and she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, sir, I was supposed to tell you, but, uh... Ah, it slipped my mind."

Jack grinned, though sarcasm weighted his voice. "Why thank you, Major, that really helps."

"Sorry sir, it-"

Jack waved it away with his hand. "No need, Major. You can just tell me now."

Embarrassment painted Sam's cheeks a bright red, contrasting her pale complexion. "Right. Uh... It turned out, sir, that when we last visited P3X 293, we... Well, sir, we missed something quite obvious..."

Jack's eyebrows raised in shock. "Come again?"

"We missed something that when I look at now, it was so-"

Jack shook his head. "Major, how could we have missed something? We spent at least a week on that planet and came back empty handed. It's not possible."

Despite being slightly put off by his second rude interruption, Sam began to explain once more. "We never realized that what we saw was abnormal, sir."

Jack blinked, dumbfounded. "What?"

Sam sighed. "We did spend a week on that planet, sir, but during our time, we were too busy checking everything. Taking samples of the air, searching for ruins, looking for any signs of life, checking-"

"I'm glad that you wish to enlighten me on what we wasted our time on, but it isn't necessary, Carter," Jack spat, losing what little bit of patience he had left. "Just get to the point!"

Sam glared at Jack and desired nothing more but to put him in his place, for she too was losing her patience - losing her patience for being cut off every damn sentence - but she couldn't, not as long as he was her superior. "Of course, sir," she said through gritted teeth. Drawing a deep breath that calmed her slightly, she started again. "As I was saying, sir, we were too busy investigating the wrong things. Can you think of something we saw that shouldn't have been there?"

Jack shrugged. "Uh... I saw us."

Sam shook her head and sighed impatiently. Of course the colonel wouldn't realize it. She hadn't even realized it - until the previous day. "We saw that plant, sir."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What-" The vision of a very short, gnarly tree suddenly popped up in his mind. Neither its vivid red bark or mint-green leaves had appeared to them to be out of the ordinary, though; even now, the thing that remained the clearest in his mind was the fruit it had bore. From far away it had looked like it had been a money tree; the fruits were small, unusually spherical and completely silver. "Oh yeah, I remember that plant. Looked like a money tree from far away. Too bad it wasn't, huh?"

Sam closed her eyes and drew another deep breath. "Tell me, sir. Do you remember seeing any water on that planet?"

Jack thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Nope. That planet was actually pretty dry, as I remember."

"And that doesn't strike you as being the least bit funny, sir?"

Jack shrugged helplessly, unable to see what Sam was getting at. "Um... no?"

Sam sighed, feeling as helpless as Jack but in a much different sense. "Sir, how could that plant survive with no water!"

Jack frowned. "Carter, we were there for a week. A week is no where near enough time to assume there's absolutely no water on that planet, even if we didn't see any."

"But sir-"

"For all we know it rains every two weeks and we just showed up at the wrong time!"

Sam felt her fingers curl, her nails digging into the palms of her hands. She sighed deeply and slowly forced her fingers to relax. "Sir, with all due respect, you're not giving the possibility of what that plant could be the least bit of consideration!"

Both eyebrows raised as Jack scoffed, slightly offended at Sam addressing him in such a way, especially since it made him appear to be stupid. "Major. It's a goddamn plant. What's there to consider!"

Sam shook her head and sighed in anguish. "Daniel, you explain it to the Colonel. I'm going to go check the video transmission from the MALP."

Daniel nodded and gulped. He knew Jack was hard to deal with sometimes - and moreover that now was one of those times.

As Sam walked over to the monitor of the video transmission being sent back through the MALP, her frown lengthened. A shadowed figure had just passed across the screen. She thought the figure had looked oddly familiar. But it couldn't have been...?

"Carter!"

Sam turned from the screen, eyebrows raised. "Yes sir?"

Jack came over to her, his face contorted in anger. "Danny-boy says that you guys think this... plant, or tree, or whatever the hell it is, is some tree of immortality. Is that true?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, sir. That's what Daniel and I presume it is."

Jack shook his head, a smirk playing across his handsome features. "I never thought I'd live to see the day you lost your marbles, Carter."

Sam sighed angrily. "Sir, how else could that tree have been able to survive without water!"

Jack rolled his eyes in obvious annoyance. "For crying out loud, Carter! We were there for a damn week! How do we know it's not raining cats and dogs there right now!"

Sam glared at Jack. "For God's sake, sir! Take a look at the monitor and then ask me that same question again!"

Jack sighed and shoved past Carter, looking up at the monitor where the video transmission of the MALP was being sent to and viewed. He did a double-take as he saw a shadowed figure dart across the screen.

"What was that?"

Sam turned around, an uneasy yet familiar sense of dread rising in her chest. "What was what, sir?"

Jack raised a shaky hand and pointed to the monitor. "I swear I just saw something run across the screen."

Sam bit her lower lip. "I thought I had too, sir... I thought I saw something before..."

Jack raised his eyebrows and turned his neck around to see half of Sam's face. "And you didn't say anything because?"

Once again Sam felt herself flush with embarrassment. "I wasn't sure if I really saw it, sir. Part of me just didn't want to believe it because it looked so much like a... A..."

"A Gou'ald?"

Sam's eyes widened. "Yeah. Don't tell me..."

Jack nodded. "Yup. That's what it looked like to me."

Sam opened her mouth to point something out, but nearly choked as her heart jumped into her throat. The picture on the monitor went blank for a split second before turning into nothing but hazy static.

"Oh my God..."

Jack sighed. "Yup. Definitely Goa'uld."

Sam's eyes widened, if possible, even more. "Oh no..."

Jack turned completely to face her, concern etched into his features. "What?"

"If that tree really is what we think it is, and the Goa'uld are on that planet..."

"They might be able to create a hok'tar, and an immortal one at that." Daniel voiced his opinion behind Sam. Sam's heart was beating wildly against her rib cage, hammering loudly. This was not good.

"Sir, we can't let them have it!"

Jack saw it in Sam's eyes before it happened. "No. Carter, no-"

Sam shook her head and whirled around, taking off out of the control room. Jack tore after her. It was suicide. She knew better than to do it. There were Jaffa just on the other side of the gate. What could she possibly hope to achieve?

"CARTER, STOP!" He managed to yell, just as she disappeared around the corner in front of him. He cut around it and saw her just a few feet away. He swore under his breath and kept going, willing himself to run faster and faster. He had to stop her. He had to save her.

Bursting into the gate room, he skidded to a stop near the ramp leading up to the still activated stargate. He looked around in front of him, but no matter how many times he blinked, his eyes told him Carter was not there.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

Jack spun wildly at the sound of her lulling voice, though filled with guilt. His eyes widened at the sight of her, a zat cradled in her hands and raised to shoot. What rooted him to the spot, however, was not the zat that was aimed at him - it was the overwhelming sadness in Sam's eyes. It was tearing her apart to do this.

"Carter. You don't have to do this."

Sam shook her head, a tear escaping from the puddles of water crammed in her eyes. "I have to, sir. I can't allow them to reach those fruit. It won't take them long to find out what they really are."

Jack bit back the urge to swear. He swallowed his rage and very calmly said, "Carter. You don't even know for sure that it's the tree of immortality. Just... Put the zat down. We'll disconnect from P3X 293 and give it a couple of minutes for the Jaffa to leave the gate. Once they're gone, we'll all go."

Sam shook her head, causing more tears to slip down her face. "Sir, there's not enough time! I doubt they're still hanging around anyway. They probably think no one's coming because we've waited so long."

"And we're keeping the gate open for the air to travel through?"

Sam sighed heavily. "Sir, I'm not going to P3X 293 just to take all the fruit. I have other plans as well."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Like?"

Sam sighed and looked away, unable to meet the Colonel's gaze. "I want to find out if they really have been able to create a hok'tar or not."

Jack scoffed. "What are you going to do, ask them?"

Sam hung her head and fell silent. Jack narrowed his eyes. "Carter. What are you going to do?"

Sam swallowed a sob. "I'm turning myself over, sir."

Jack's eyes widened. "Uh... How about no?"

"Sir, I have to, it's the only way we can find out without endangering anyone else!"

"So you want to go get yourself captured instead!" Jack spat. No. He could not and would not let her do this.

"I'm sorry, sir."

Jack shook his head. "No. Over my dead body are you going to turn yourself over. You stay right where you are, Major, and that's an order!"

"Sir..." Sam's hold on the zat faltered, and it was then that Jack made his fatal mistake. He lurched forward, reaching out for the zat, but Sam was too fast. Just as his fingers scraped the surface, it fired. A surge of electricity shot through his entire body as he fell to the floor, consciousness rapidly falling. The last thing he saw was Sam moving towards the gate as the words "I'm sorry." softly brushed his ear.

And then he heard no more.