A/N – The series "Threads of My Wings" so far…

Book 1 – The General's Daughter

And now for book two…so enjoy, and please review! They're like gold to me…


Chapter 1: No Mistakes

"So basically what you're saying we need to do is kick Jupiter's slimy ass right out of this galaxy, am I correct?"

Sam nodded slowly, those hadn't been her exact words, but they were good enough. "Pretty much."

"Great, we should be able to handle this then!" Jack's voice was full of forced cheerfulness. "All it is is a new goa'uld, hungry for naquadah, who doesn't give a rat's butt about the Asgard protected planets treaty. Oh, and we still don't have any intelligence on what Ba'al's been up to lately."

"Well, judging by the way he reacted before to Jupiter," Daniel said. "I think we can safely assume that he won't join up with them."

"I believe you are incorrect, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c interjected in his usual solemn tone. "Ba'al will serve whomever offers him the most power."

"Ah politics," Jack muttered. "The universal modus operandi. Anyway," he stretched. "I think we're done here for now. The Tok'ra and Asgard will keep us updated on Jupiter's movements, so you all can go." He waved his hand, and the three members of SG-1 got to their feet. Jack caught Sam's eye , however, and beckoned. "Carter, I need to ask you something."

Sam walked over, sitting back down in the chair next to Jack's. "What is it?"

"Well, you know, I was just wondering, since this is official…if you would let me take you out for dinner tonight? Or something?" It took Jack an unusually long time to get this out. All the years he'd devoted to the SGC and now he seemed to have lost his touch for something as simple as this.

"Sure." Sam grinned. "I'd love to." She noticed the strange look on Jack's face and tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just not used to this whole formal dating thing…" Jack said with a shrug. "I'm worried that I'll screw up horribly and you'll never speak to me again."

"Is this General Jack O'Neill I hear being unconfident about himself?"

"Retired! And is this Colonel Carter I hear trying to give advice about dating?" Jack shot back.

Sam pretended to pout and look the other way. Jack held out his hand. Sam looked at him from the corner of her eye and held out her hand as well, spreading her fingers as she pressed her palm to Jack's. The simple contact seemed to spark something, and Jack could feel a smile spreading across his face as he attempted to get Sam to look at him again. She did, finally, and they both laughed.

"I'll pick you up at six, ok?" Jack said, curling his fingers around hers.

Sam smiled, nodding. "Sounds great."

"I really hope you weren't expecting anything too fancy or anything," Jack said when Sam opened the front door. He'd put some effort into his outfit, but it was no tuxedo.

Sam, who was wearing a dark red shirt with flowing sleeves over blue jeans, shook her head, linking her arm through Jack's as they headed out to the car. "With you? Never."

"Oh, that hurt, Carter!"

"How long are you going to keep that up?" Sam asked, climbing into the passenger seat of Jack's truck. "The whole 'Carter' thing."

"Does it bother you?"

"No, just seems a little formal."

"Well, seeing as we're starting a new life together…" Jack's voice trailed off as he was momentarily distracted by a cat rushing out in front of the car. "I suppose I could stop. Is that what you want, Samantha?"

Sam grinned, leaning back in her seat. "Yep."

They ate at a little Italian place downtown, then walked arm in arm down the sidewalk, enjoying the not too impressive night life, but more importantly, enjoying each other's company. As he'd been getting ready earlier, Jack had guessed that it would feel strange to walk down the street with his arm around Carter's…Sam, he reminded himself She can be 'Sam' to you now…his arm around Sam's waist. But now that he was actually doing it, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. As such, Jack felt a twinge of disappointment when it finally came time to drive her back home again.

Standing on her front porch, Sam turned to face Jack, a dreamy smile on her face. "This was really fun, thank you."

"Yeah, we'll have to do it again sometime," Jack's voice was lighthearted, but he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying. He was more distracted by Sam, who had now draped her arms loosely around his shoulders and was leaning closer…

Seconds after their lips touched there was a bright flash of white light that Jack could see even through his closed eyelids.

Sam's lips were still touching his when she muttered, "Jack…please tell me Thor did not just beam us up…"

Jack slowly opened his eyes, aware that his hands were still resting on Sam's back. "Yes, Sam…He just did."

"O'Neill, Colonel Carter."

"Thor!" Jack said, his voice dripping with poured on enthusiasm as he pulled away from Sam. "Old buddy, I'd love to say I'm happy to see you…But actually…I'm not."

"I apologize," the little gray alien said, walking over from behind his console. "I only needed Colonel Carter."

"Yeah, well she's kinda busy," Jack snapped. "Was…Was kinda busy until you beamed us up."

Thor nodded. "I apologize again. But there is a most urgent matter that needs your expertise, Colonel."

"What is it?" Sam perked up, and Jack could have sworn he actually saw her go from normal mode to geek mode in two seconds.

"If you will follow me…" The alien turned and headed towards a side corridor. Sam shot Jack an apologetic look before following.

"And so to continue our first date…" Jack muttered, stalking after Sam.

"What I should have said," Thor said as they gathered around an opaque container sitting on a pedestal. "Was that I needed your ability to comprehend."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Comprehend?"

Thor waved one hand over a sensor and the container opened. Inside were what appeared to be two half-face masks, both of them missing eyeholes and made out of a dull grey metal. Sam picked one up; it was extremely light.

"This is a new technology only recently developed by our scientists," Thor explained. "They were created specifically to deal with the new problem of the Fades. When this…mask…is put on, it interfaces itself to the visual cortex of your brain using infra red signals sufficiently formatted so as not to damage your normal sight."

"Ok, you lost me right after the word 'mask'," Jack mumbled, but was quiet when Sam nudged him sharply with her elbow.

"So what do they do?"

"Essentially they synthesize an extension for your visual cortex, one that allows you to see four dimensions rather than the normal three."

Sam's eyes went wide. "Does it work?" She asked excitedly. Thor nodded.

"Now wait a minute," Jack cut in. "What the downside? As in side effects? Like, will it make Sam start speaking in a funny language or anything?"

Thor blinked his large black eyes at Jack for a moment before replying. "The only side effect of using the device for a prolonged period of time may be a slight headache."

"Can I use it?" Sam sounded like a little kid with a new toy; she was practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

"That is why I brought you here," Thor said, nodding. "There is a Fade loose on the ship. We know how to capture one, but we'd like you to use the device to study it and develop a weapon to destroy it."

Sam turned the device over in her hands then tentatively held it to her face. She removed her hands and it stuck in place over her eyes. Suddenly, however, she let out a yelp of pain and stumbled back.

"Sam!" Jack rushed forward, his fingers curling around the edge of the mask.

"O'Neill!" Thor shouted, his voice full of warning. "You must not remove it while it's interfacing with her visual cortex, it could cause permanent blindness. You must wait until it is finished then press the buttons on either side to remove it."

"It's ok, Jack," Sam murmured, straightening up. "It doesn't hurt…I can see. But…nothing looks different."

Thor shook his head slightly. "You are not looking at anything that exists in four dimensions."

"Oh…"

"Here…" Thor walked over to another one of the opaque cases and opened it. To Jack it looked like it just contained a dark grey net, but Sam let out a gasp as she walked over, looking down at it.

"What do you see, Sam?" Jack asked, tilting his head to one side curiously.

"I don't…" Sam shook her head. "I don't even think I could describe it! It looks like a net, but it's also…" She made a vague gesture with her hands that even Jack couldn't understand. "It's almost like seeing a solid hologram of two things that overlap impossibly. But not really…"

Jack snorted. "Oh yeah, that made perfect sense."

Sam reached out and grabbed at the air above the net that Jack could see, but the dark grey net was lifted out of the container. She moved her hand, and draped the strange net over her shoulder then turned to Thor. "So where is the Fade?"

Thor walked over to a display screen and brought up a floor plan of the ship. A section was blinking yellow. "There."

The corridors of the Asgard ship were eerily quiet except for the hum of machinery and occasional odd drip. Sam and Jack moved carefully, the zat guns Thor had beamed up for them in their hands. Not that they were even sure the zats would work against the Fade.

"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I asked you out for dinner…" Jack grumbled. Sam turned around and he presumed she was giving him a pitying look behind the half mask. "I just…wanted to spend some time with you without anything like this getting in the way…"

"I know," Sam had stopped walking, moving over to Jack and putting a hand on his arm. "I know…but this is what we do. We can't just-"

"Sam." Jack was looking behind her. He jerked his chin at something.

Sam turned slowly around and froze. To Jack, it was just a dark humanoid shape standing in the shadows. But to Sam it was a huge form, only vaguely humanoid and unlike anything she had ever seen. It's surface turned in on itself in folds that weren't at all possible on something with three dimensions. It's yellow eyes were…spheres and yet not.

"It's got hyper-spheres for eyes!" Sam gaped, her eyes widening behind the, mask. "This is incredible! I'm actually seeing in four dimensions."

"Look, fascinating as that is, Sam," Jack said, raising his zat. "That thing is heading right for us, and something tells me if I shoot the shadow I'm seeing, it won't do much good."

The Fade was indeed moving. It opened its mouth and let out a snarl. Sam raised her zat, aiming somewhere far to the left of the shadow that Jack could see. She fired once. The Fade let out an inhuman cry as it fell in a heap on the ground. Shaking slightly, Sam moved over and wrapped it in the net. She and Jack retreated behind a set of doors, which immediately closed. On the other side, Thor opened that corridor to outer space, the rush of oxygen being sucked out pulling the Fade's unconscious form off the ship.

Back on the bridge, Sam pressed the buttons on the sides of the mask, where it wrapped around her temples. The thing came off with a slight suction pop. She blinked a few times, getting her vision back to normal before holding the device out to Thor.

"Take it with you," Thor said. "I understand that you and the other scientists at the SGC would be very eager to be able to study this technology. It is the least I can do to thank you for helping me."

"Wow…" Sam's eyes widened as she looked down at the mask in her hands. "Thank you." She smiled up at Jack and linked her arm through his.

Thor moved to the console and began turning one of the jewels. A moment later both Sam and Jack vanished in a flash of white light.

Unbeknownst to them, seconds before they vanished the three-dimensional shadow of a human stepped up behind Jack, and disappeared along with them.