Life is Sweet!
"Warning! Unauthorized off-world activation!" Sergeant Walter Davis called out over the base PA system at the same moment klaxons started going off.
"What teams are off-world Sergeant?" Major General George Hammond asked, coming into the control room to see what the fuss was all about.
"Just SG-9, sir," Davis replied. "Receiving IDC now, sir. It's the Tok'ra."
Just then Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, the ex-First Prime of Apophis, burst into the room, coming to stand by the General's side.
"Do we have to have that alarm go off every time someone knocks on our door sir?" Jack complained, already knowing the answer.
"Think of it as a doorbell Jack," Daniel advised with a smirk.
General Hammond just sighed. Officially, the four people beside him were known as SG-1. Unofficially, they were known as just plain trouble. Not that it was ever on purpose mind you… Well, three-quarters of the team never purposely caused trouble, they just seemed to have a knack for stumbling upon it. Some days General Hammond swore Jack caused trouble purely out of boredom.
"It's the Tok'ra," General Hammond informed them, noting the way the men of SG-1 made faces to display varying levels of displeasure with the news.
"Do you know who sir?" Sam asked anxiously.
"Carter, if there's a trip to Earth to be made…" Jack began, thoroughly amused by her enthusiasm.
"Your father will be the first one through the gate," Daniel finished with a smile.
As a figure finally broke through the rippling surface of the event horizon, everyone in the control room returned their attention to the stargate. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the new arrival strolled casually down the ramp. There was always a chance that the Tok'ra would evacuate to Earth if they were under attack, and SGC personnel had no way of knowing if their allies would be coming in under fire until they actually arrived.
"Dad!" Sam broke out in a smile and ran down the gate room to greet her father.
"Whoa!" Jacob exclaimed moments later when he got an armful of Sam Carter thrown at him at top speed. "Watch you don't knock me back through the gate, kid!" He chuckled, returning the hug with an equal amount of enthusiasm.
"You didn't tell me you were coming," Sam pointed out somewhat petulantly, much to her chagrin.
"Sweetie, I'm afraid this isn't a social call, it's an urgent matter," Jacob advised, looking up as General Hammond entered the gate room, the remainder of SG-1 trailing behind him.
"We can discuss it in the briefing room," General Hammond acknowledged. "SG-1, lead the way."
"Hold it!" a rather exasperated Jack O'Neill interrupted two hours later. "Basically, you're saying that the Tok'ra accidentally stumbled across a Goa'uld fortress? One in which, coincidentally, Apophis is holding the Harcesis child? Oh yeah, it's a small world, wonders never cease and I'm a monkey's uncle!"
"Yes Jack, that about sums it up," Jacob agreed with a grin.
"Oh well, so long as we're all clear on that," Jack retorted sarcastically, shooting glares at Daniel and Sam who were trying – and failing – to suppress their laughter.
"Dad," Sam started, regaining her composure, "Why are you telling us this?" She was pretty sure she already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.
"There aren't enough Tok'ra to launch an attack on the fortress. However, if we join forces, we should be able to storm the place and free the child," Jacob said, pitching the plan the High Council had come up with.
"If Apophis is there, Sha're may be with him," Daniel noted hopefully.
"Danny, I promise that if this mission is a go, getting her out will be a secondary objective," Jack swore, looking to General Hammond to see him nod his agreement.
"George, I'm not asking you to order your people to join us on this one," Jacob began, knowing he was asking a lot but making the proposal the High Council had requested anyway. "I am, however, asking your permission to take volunteers."
"Understood," General Hammond said, standing and walking to the phone hanging on the wall. "Sergeant, call all available SG-teams to the embarkation room immediately."
"I want to remind you all that this is a voluntary mission. Anyone who does not wish to go should leave now so that we can determine if there are enough people to stage an attack on the fortress," General Hammond spoke loudly from the ramp in the gate room. Looking at the men and women standing before him, he waited a full ten seconds, giving all of them ample opportunity to consider his request and elect not to participate. When no one moved, he smiled to himself and continued, "Very well then, you're all on stand down until further notice. Dismissed."
As the assembled people in the room shuffled out of the room and dispersed throughout the base, Jacob came to stand beside his old friend.
"Good group of people you've got there, George," Jacob observed.
"I know," the other man replied proudly.
"…And you said that the child is being held here," Sam recapped later that evening, pointing at various positions on the map laid out in front of them. They were camped out in the living room of her apartment, drawing up possible attack plans for the Tok'ra-Tau'ri siege on the Goa'uld fortress.
"Right," Jacob confirmed, practically able to see the wheels in his daughter's head turning, trying to weigh all their options.
"What are the odds we could get a chopper, through the gate?" the younger Carter asked, only half-kidding.
"Nada," Jacob replied, laughing at how thoroughly determined his daughter was to kick some Goa'uld ass on this mission.
"How about an F-16?" she asked, her face lighting up at the idea. That would be a wild ride through the stargate! And a pretty damn cool one too!
"Even worse odds than the chopper!" he replied, proud that despite the field work she did on a weekly basis, she was still a fighter jock through and through.
"Okay," she acquiesced, serious once more, "What if we…"
Three days later SG teams 1-11 stood armed and alert in the gate room. Ever since volunteering for the joint mission with the Tok'ra, their days had been filled with rigorous training and learning the details of their main attack plan, as well as back-up plans for every possible situation they could possibly encounter (or so they all hoped).
"People, you have a go. Good luck," General Hammond announced from the control room.
"All right campers, let's move out!" Jack called loudly from the base of the ramp.
The large group dispersed into their individual teams, going through the gate in reverse numerical order. SG-1 stepped through last, much to Jack's displeasure, as he liked to be the first one on another planet and the last one off of it, and the stargate shut down behind them.
The Tok'ra had already been on the planet, doing recon since well before the mission had been made official. When SG-11 emerged from the wormhole, they automatically dropped into defensive positions at the base of the stargate. SG-10 did the same behind the gate, while SG-9 went left and SG-8 went right. It may have been overkill, but no one wanted to take a chance that the Goa'uld would gain control of the stargate and cut off their only escape route.
With the stargate secured, SG teams 4 through 7 dispersed into the forest, heading north, south, east and west so as to make sure there were no enemy Jaffa in the area before converging on their target. SG-3 was tasked with guarding the DHD from Goa'uld control as well as sabotage. A damaged DHD would cut off their escape route as surely as losing control of the stargate would.
SG-2 moved to the base of the stairs leading to the stargate and waited for SG-1 to emerge. When the wormhole disengaged, the two teams headed north-east into the forest to rendezvous with the Tok'ra already on the planet. Everyone knew their roles in the operation and moved with the practiced ease of a well oiled machine.
As they approached the appointed meeting place, Jack flicked on his radio and informed Jacob of their impending arrival. It would seriously suck if they snuck up on the Tok'ra and got taken out by their allies before the hard part of the mission was even under way.
"SG-12," Jack began, using the code name assigned to the Tok'ra so as to keep their presence on-world a secret, "This is O'Neill. We are approximately five minutes out, over."
"Roger that son, we'll keep an eye out for you. Jacob out." The static-y response was barely audible.
SG-1 and SG-2 silently moved through the underbrush, wary of anything that would alert a Jaffa patrol to their presence.
Just as Daniel was sure they must have walked right past the Tok'ra, a hand reached out and covered his mouth. He panicked and tried to warn Sam, who was directly in front of him, but without success. He stopped fighting when he recognized Jacob's voice hissing in his ear.
"Daniel, relax. It's me, stop fighting!" the older man hissed, maintaining his grip on the archaeologist until he settled down. "I didn't mean to scare you, but I couldn't afford for you to make any noise. There are three Jaffa less than a hundred feet away," Jacob warned. "Get down and don't move. Do you understand?"
Daniel nodded and upon being released, did what Jacob instructed, dropping down to the ground beside him. Squirming till his head was right beside the older man's ear, Daniel asked "What about the others?" He scarcely breathed the words for fear of being heard by the nearby Jaffa.
"The other Tok'ra are taking care of them," then, sensing Daniel's worry, he added, "They're as safe as you are son. Don't forget, my daughter's out there. I would never do anything to put her in danger."
Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes to their right, making both men tense up. Just as Jacob wrapped his hand around his zat gun, they heard an obnoxious voice that they would both recognize anywhere.
"Hey dad! Long time no see! Did ya miss me?" Jack hissed.
Daniel and Jacob sighed in relief, glad their surprise visitor was an ever-sarcastic Colonel rather than a patrol of Jaffa.
"Never do, I tend to enjoy the peace," Daniel quipped quietly, ignoring the wounded puppy look Jack shot at him.
"All right people, right now we're a hundred feet from the only way in. I have confirmation from SGs-4, 5, 6 and 7 that they are in position. SGs-8, 9, 10 and 11 report that the stargate is still secure and SG-3 assures me that the DHD is functioning properly. No Jaffa patrols have spotted any of our people. The guards change up in three minutes and ten minutes after that, we move in. Any questions?" Jacob updated everyone, automatically assuming the command role - and for once receiving no complaints from Jack about it.
"What if we can't set the charges on the door?" a member of SG-2 asked quietly.
"If something doesn't happen according to any of our plans, wait for the order before pulling out. If it comes to that, we all fall back to the gate and SG-1 will cover the retreat," Sam informed him in hushed tones, knowing Jack would insist on making sure all the other teams made it home before stepping through himself.
They all sat in silence, reviewing their roles in what would hopefully be their most successful attack on the Goa'uld to date.
Finally, Jacob looked at his watch and announced, "All right people, let's do it." Into his radio, he said "All teams, commencing rescue operation Alpha. Stand by."
"Ready for some fireworks Carter?" Jack asked with a cheeky grin, trying to alleviate some of the tension he knew they were all feeling.
"Sir, you know I'm always ready to blow something up!" Sam chided, knowing what he was trying to do and doing her part to lighten the mood. Seeing smiles break out on everyone's faces, she knew Jack had succeeded.
"That's my girl!" Jack said proudly, patting her on the back.
Silence fell again as the most dangerous phase of the mission began. Sam and Jack moved deeper into the forest, her moving left and him moving right. They moved soundlessly through the night, finally meeting up behind the fortress long minutes later. As planned, Jack covered Sam as she sprinted two hundred yards to the back wall of the building. Crouching down, she checked every direction for threats and, finding none, gave Jack the all clear. He copied her and joined up with her again at the wall. Scanning the area himself for possible threats, he flashed her a thumbs up, their signal to continue. Splitting up, they snuck around to the two doors around the front as quickly and quietly as possible, hugging the walls as tightly as they could.
As they had hoped, the Jaffa stood several feet away from the door rather than right against it. Sam and Jack focused on remaining silent during their final approach. Both of them hoped that if the Jaffa did notice them, the others still in the forest could react fast enough to grant them a chance to escape.
Sam reached her door first and pulled out her C-4 charge. She planted it on the door and set the timer for ten seconds. Her finger hovered over the switch that would activate the timer while she waited for Jack to catch up. Hardly daring to breathe for fear of the Jaffa hearing her, she focussed on using the adrenaline pumping through her veins to her advantage. She would have preferred more time to get away, but if they waited too long, the Jaffa would have time to react and possibly even deactivate the C-4.
Jack arrived, planted his block of C-4 on the door and set the timer. He worried that the Jaffa would hear his heart thudding and turn around, but fortunately it seemed to only be beating that loudly in his imagination. The Jaffa were close enough to reach out and touch, a thought that added a new element of worry to the whole situation, but he refused to let himself dwell on that thought. Instead he pushed down all his conerns and the "what ifs" racing through his mind, just as he'd done a million times before, and focussed on the task at hand. Sam was looking at him expectantly, waiting for his nod to activate the countdown. Finally, he gave her the signal she was waiting for and they both flicked their switches at the same time.
Their tasks complete, they turned around and raced madly for the forest, all thoughts of stealth gone. The noise of their retreat attracted the three Jaffa's attention. They raised their staff weapons and primed them, aiming at the two retreating figures, but it was in vain…
… Three Mississippi, two Mississippi, one Mississippi… Jack counted down mentally. He just dove for the tree-line as a deafening boom shook the ground. He rolled to his feet in time to see flames licking the stone of the building, searching for fuel to consume and failing to find any.
Bingo! Thought Sam from her position with SG-5. She heard her father's voice on her radio and grabbed her MP-5, swinging it into a readied position.
"Phase one of rescue mission Alpha complete. Begin phase two. Spray the place, watch out for friendlies," Jacob ordered.
As one, SGs-1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 moved in on their target. SG-5 went in first and immediately began zatting Jaffa. SG-1 remained outside as everyone else, including the Tok'ra, charged through the door. While they lay down cover fire, SG-1 headed directly for the room they knew the Harcesis was in.
Jack rounded the corner and immediately eliminated the two guards in front of the door. Sam ran up to the door and pushed it open, jumping out of the way to allow Daniel and Jack to take out the two guards inside the room. As his team went into the now clear room, Teal'c covered their backs. He killed the eleven Jaffa that tried to pass him with deadly accuracy.
Rushing to the child's side, Daniel held the baby while Jack inspected the tiny body for Goa'uld entry wounds. When his search turned up nothing, he sighed in relief.
"He's clean, we are snake-free," Jack announced.
"We've got the child, Goa'uld-free. Start falling back. ETA at the gate is one hour, say again, one hour," Sam reported over her radio.
"Roger that, commencing phase three of rescue mission Alpha," came her father's reply. There was no relief present in his voice yet, as they all realized that the retreat would be the hard part now that the enemy knew they were here.
Daniel held the boy close as his friends provided cover fire for their escape. They turned and left the same way they'd arrived: quickly and unexpectedly.
Forty-five minutes later SG-3 began dialling the gate. They sent the GDO code and waited. The teams left behind at the gate were glad that there were so many of them, sure that they would have been unable to hold the gate for this long without the manpower. Jaffa bodies littered the ground in the immediate area. So far there had been only three casualties on their side, and they had all been sent home for medical attention.
Suddenly all hell broke loose. The sounds of heavy weapons fire echoed throughout the forest. SGC personnel began pouring out of the wood work, doing their best to hold back the pursuing Jaffa.
"Move out! Fall back through the gate!" Jacob's voice screamed through their radios.
People started streaming through the stargate, most having no clue as to the whereabouts of their team mates. The initial wave of retreating personnel flooded back through the stargate, filling up the gate room quickly. Despite the fact that they were safely back on Earth, they all held their weapons at the ready, lest any Jaffa succeed in breaking through their ranks and making it to the stargate. Fingers already prepped on triggers flexed every time a figure emerged from the wormhole, but for long minutes the only people emerging were SGC personnel. Finally, Jaffa began emerging from the stargate and General Hammond ordered the iris shut even as they fell in a hail of bullets fired by the assembled SG-teams.
"All right people, assemble into your teams and give me a head count!" General Hammond ordered from the control, dreading the possible outcome of such an exercise but knowing the necessity of it.
People began wandering about, searching for their team mates. The three men who had been sent through the gate to receive medical attention re-entered the gate room and found their team mates with only marginal difficulty, as everyone gave them a wide berth so as to avoid exacerbating their injuries.
Jack found Daniel and Teal'c standing in a corner, removed from the throng of personnel. He couldn't stop the smile that formed at seeing Daniel finally holding his son. No, Jack thought, his wife's son, not his. Although, judging from the look on Daniel's face, he didn't particularly care that another man had fathered the child in his arms.
Teal'c, sensing Jack's gaze, looked up and nodded in acknowledgement of his presence. Jack nodded back and the two shared a smile, relieved that life had finally decided to cut Daniel a break. Daniel looked up from the boy's face, and positively beamed at his two friends, making both men smile widely. Suddenly, the happy expression on Daniel's phase morphed into one of dread and the colour drained from his face.
"Jack, where's Sam?"
Their hearts all stopped at the same moment.
"Ferretti! Have you seen the rest of SG-1?" Sam asked urgently.
Ferretti looked up calmly and gave a cursory glance around the room. "They're probably around here somewhere. You know how flaky those guys are!" he said flippantly. Seeing the complete and utter panic that flashed across Sam's face, he turned serious. "C'mon Carter, they're here somewhere, I'll help you find 'em. Don't worry."
Sam felt her heart jump into her throat. She'd already searched the crows without finding her team mates. We practically have radar that tells us where the others are, Sam thought to herself. If I can't find them, I doubt Ferretti can.
Oh boy, Ferretti thought, if those guys aren't here she's gonna have a fit. "Stay here," he called to his team, "I'll be right back." Grabbing Sam's hand, he squeezed it reassuringly and led her through the semi-organized group of people, hoping the extra few inches he had on her would enable him to see her teammates in the crowd.
He was beginning to worry that she was right and the rest of SG-1 wasn't around, when out of the corner of his eye he spotted a flash of light over most of the crowd. Turning, he led Sam towards it, hoping against hope that it was Teal'c's forehead.
"Hey O'Neill," Ferretti called loudly, being particularly obnoxious to hide the worry he'd felt growing. "Aren't you missin' one of your kids?"
"Ferretti have you seen…" Jack called back, panic lacing his voice and displayed clearly on his face for all to see. "Carter." Jack finished with a relieved sigh as Ferretti pulled the missing astrophysicist in front of him.
"Thanks Ferretti," Sam called gratefully as Jack pulled her into a tight hug.
"Carter, if you ever do that to me again, I'll find you, make sure you're okay, and then kill you! Got that?" Jack admonished, pressing her tightly to him and stroking her hair.
"Yes sir," she mumbled against his shoulder. Her relief at finding him safe and sound was palpable.
"Between you and Daniel, I'm gonna have a heart attack before I'm old enough to retire," Jack groused, reluctantly letting her go.
"Yeah, well it'll mmphly me manmel's maulph," Sam retorted as Daniel swept her up in another hug, equally tight as Jack's despite the fact that he held the child in one arm.
"You scared us to death!" Daniel said, hesitantly releasing her.
"Now you know how we feel!" Sam and Jack said in unison.
"Major Carter, it pleases me greatly to see you again," Teal'c welcomed her affectionately.
"You too," Sam smiled at him, squeezing his arm. "So Daniel, what are you going to call the boy? You can't let him walk through life as "The Harcesis"!"
"I was thinking Nicolas Jonathan Sam Teal'c George Jackson," Daniel said with a grin.
"Poor kid, by the time he learns his full name, he'll be driving," Jack quipped, secretly pleased that Daniel wanted to name the boy after him.
"SG-1, are all members present and accounted for?" General Hammond's voice boomed out through the PA, effectively ending all conversation.
"Yes sir," Jack said with a proud grin, "Plus one."
The General continued asking the same question and getting similar answers from each team commander. To the surprise and relief of everyone, no SGC personnel had been captured or killed during the assault.
"Do the Tok'ra have all of their people?"
"Jacob and Selmac are not here," Martouf replied sadly, searching for Sam through the crowd to offer support but failing to spot her through the masses.
Sam felt her heart constrict and the panic that had dissipated just moments before threatened to swallow her whole once more. All three of her team mates laid comforting hands on her back, but they knew their presence alone wouldn't alleviate the dread coursing through her veins.
Just then the gate started spinning from an off-world activation. Worried that it was an attack by the Jaffa from Apophis' fortress, all the soldiers in the gate room flicked the safeties off their weapons and aimed them at the stargate. In the control room, the order was given to seal off the gate room.
"Are we receiving a signal?" General Hammond asked hopefully.
"Negative, but the wormhole was established from Cimmeria sir," Davis replied.
"Open the iris," Jack instructed, earning him a glare from the General. "If that's all right with you sir," he amended, earning chuckles from everyone present, including General Hammond.
"Open the iris," the General confirmed.
Waiting with baited breath, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Jacob Carter stepped out of the wormhole. Assured by the calm way he returned to the SGC, everyone put the safeties back on their weapons and lowered them as the stargate shut down.
Breaking away from the reassuring hands of her team mates, Sam bolted up the ramp and into her father's arms for the second time in less than a week. She was the only one in the room who didn't notice the person Jacob had brought with him.
"Honey I'm home!" Jacob chuckled, holding his daughter tightly.
"You scared me," Sam whispered into his shoulder. "I thought I'd lost you."
"Never," Jacob swore, relieved to know she'd made it back to Earth safe and sound despite the chaotic retreat.
Not noticing the father-daughter reunion taking place on the ramp, Daniel stared in disbelief at the person Jacob had brought through the stargate with him.
"Sha're?" he breathed, hardly daring to believe his eyes.
"Dan'yel, I am free of my demon," she whispered, tears shining in her eyes.
Jack almost dropped the baby Daniel practically threw at him in his rush to get to his wife. For his part, Daniel grabbed Sha're and held her as tightly as he dared, whispering over and over again that she was safe now and repeating how much he loved her in a voice so quiet only she could make out the words. Oblivious to the audience he had, Daniel simply savoured the fact that he was holding his wife again for the first time in far too long.
Watching with satisfaction, Jack couldn't hold back a full fledged grin at seeing both of his team mates reunited with their families.
Oh yeah, Jack thought as baby Nicholas gurgled happily in his arms, life is sweet!