Stargate SG-1, it's characters, and all related entities are property of Stargate SG-1 Productions (II) Inc., MGM Worldwide Television Productions Inc., Double Secret Productions, Gekko Film Corp, and Showtime Networks Inc./ The SciFi Channel. No copyright infringement is intended. This story is for entertainment purposes only and not intended for commercial profit.
Normally I don't do Alternate Universe fics. I generally put my stories in the little holes between episodes, sometimes using a crowbar to widen the gaps to fit my story in, but content to let the episodes play out as they are. For some reason though the thought for this story got in my head and I couldn't get rid of it.
As always I have no medical knowledge or training. Any information or procedures I use are made up simply to work with the story.
Enjoy.
"You gave up coffee for your symbiote?" Sam asked her father, sounding slightly stunned. Perhaps she had been spending too much time with Daniel if the thought of giving up coffee was as disturbing as trying to breathe underwater. Jacob nodded twitchily, as if he couldn't believe it himself. "I never knew that."
"We never talk anymore Sam," Jacob told her sarcastically. Sam rolled her eyes and refocused her attention on the power unit when a sudden alarm sounded.
"Lieutenant Glenn what's happening?" Sam asked as the young Lieutenant quickly entered the room.
"We're under attack," he quickly told them. "We just picked up Goa'uld ships entering the atmosphere. Colonel Riley just ordered an immediate evac to Beta. We're bugging out right now." Sam and Jacob jumped to action. Jacob grabbed the prototype while Sam quickly finished adjusting the power unit. "We have to leave now!" he urged them when they stayed in the lab instead of bolting for the door.
"Just give me a second," Sam said, saving up the new settings on the power unit.
"You have the prototype," Glenn reminded them. Jacob could hear the fear in his voice.
"We can't leave this information for them to find," Jacob said sternly heading toward one of the computers. The sounds of the battle were drawing closer. Lieutenant Glenn closed the door, took a deep breath, and stepped over to the computer bank.
"How can I help?"
"Wipe the computer memory," Jacob told him, doing the same thing to the computer he was working on.
"Finished," Sam told them, grabbing the power unit as the last of the computers were being wiped clean. "Let's go," she ordered, but before she could take a step away from the desk a Kull warrior blasted his way into the lab firing madly at everything. Sam was right in his line of fire. She quickly ducked behind the desk, letting it take the brunt of the damage, but the force of the attack caused the desk to flip.
"Sam," Jacob cried out, quickly shooting the Kull warrior with the prototype weapon. It took two shots to kill the monster, but right then Jacob was grateful they had finished the weapon at all.
"Major," Glenn shouted, dropping to his knees by Sam's head. The desk had flipped, pinning her securely to the ground.
"Don't worry Sam," Jacob reassured her. "I'll get you out of here in a jif." But Sam's attention was focused on the hallway outside the shot up door.
"No," she said, forcing the power unit into Glenn's unresisting hand. Jacob quickly saw what she did. Two Kull warriors were steadily approaching their lab. He was momentarily torn between his desire to protect his daughter and his duty to protect the galaxy. Sam took the decision out of his hands. "Run," she ordered, making sure Glenn's fist was tightly holding on to the power unit. "Run!"
Jacob nodded, locking eyes with his daughter one last time before dragging Lieutenant Glenn by the collar and running. He saw the Stargate take a hit and topple to the ground and knew they had to find another way out. Changing course for the tree line, and making sure Lieutenant Glenn was never more than two feet away from him, they ran. They reached the edge of the forest just as their world exploded.
Jack led a somber rescue team. After ascertaining the Goa'uld had left the planet, more teams had been called in to help search. The joy at finding some survivors hiding in the woods was tempered by the still high number of missing personnel. Specifically Major Carter and her father. Jack would never rest until they found them. He knew the rest of the team felt the same way.
"O'Neill," Teal'c stated and rushed toward a nearby group of downed trees. Jack and Daniel rushed after him, hoping to find their missing teammate. Instead they found Lieutenant Glenn trapped by an uprooted tree.
"Lieutenant," Daniel said while Teal'c and Jack moved the large tree off the unfortunate man's lower half.
"Colonel?" Glenn asked groggily, roused by the activity going on around him.
"You're going to be okay Lieutenant Glenn," Daniel quickly read his name from his uniform, letting a brief wave of regret was over him. How many more victims from this attack would be faceless names for him? Why hadn't he taken more time to get to know everyone who was stationed at the SGC? Teal'c and Jack had managed to get the tree off his legs by then and were checking the young man for injuries, wincing when he saw his mangled right leg.
"Sir," Glenn said as Jack used his belt for a tourniquet. The pain was intense. Glenn shouted as Jack tightened his belt around his wounded leg. He reached his hands toward his leg, but Jack quickly batted them aside.
"You're going to be fine Lieutenant," Jack reassured him before turning to the others. "We'll need to get him back to the gate before we keep looking for the others. He needs medical attention."
"No!" Glenn shouted as loud as he could. "You need to help General Carter." He reached toward his hurt leg again and this time Jack couldn't stop his hands in time. Instead of stopping at his injury his hands kept going down his leg, finally tugging fitfully on something he was laying on. Teal'c quickly pulled out the item.
"It's the prototype," he explained. "General Carter was running with it, but it must have lost it during the blast cause next thing I know is I'm laying on it with the tree on top of me."
"What happened?" Jack asked, taking the proffered weapon. Daniel began pulling out bandages for his deep wound, wrapping the laceration as much as he could.
"Anubis knows we have the weapon. The Kull came straight for us, ignoring everyone else scrambling for the tree line. The self destruct went off and next thing I know I'm trapped under the tree. General Carter tried to get me out, but the Kull was still coming straight for us. I gave him the power unit and told him to run. The Kull got to me, saw General Carter with the power unit, and gave chase." He gave a little laugh. "Guess it's a good thing the tree was there. If it saw I landed on the prototype I'm sure I would be dead by now."
"Glenn," Jack asked, preparing some morphine to ease the young man's pain. "Do you know what happened to Major Carter?"
"I'm sorry Sir," he said softly, unable to look the Colonel in the eye and instead finding his hands suddenly fascinating. Jack nodded, turning to the rest of his team. "Daniel, you stay with Glenn, make sure he gets back to the gate. Teal'c and I will find Jacob.
"Be careful Sir," Glenn said sleepily, the morphine already working. "At least one Kull survived the self destruct. And it's hunting General Carter."
"You did good soldier," Jack told him before nodding to his team. Daniel had already called for a medical team to come remove the injured man. He nodded to Jack and a few minutes later they were continuing the search for Jacob. They followed his trail as it weaved in and out of the forest. Hammond authorized a UAV to help with the search and soon they could hear the little plane zooming towards them before being shot down. They headed for the crash site, knowing the Kull was the only one on the planet who would shoot at the unmanned plane. As they neared the site a massive explosion shook the ground. They ran the last few feet, giving a sigh of relief when they saw Jacob sitting quietly next to the downed plane. But before they could yell a greeting the Kull warrior rose from the mound of dirt pointing his weapon at the exhausted Tok'ra.
"Damn," Jack mumbled as Jacob realized what was happening and slowly moved to the far side of the rocks the UAV was propped on. Teal'c immediately opened cover fire, allowing the older man to get to safety, while Jack doubled back and circled around to join Jacob behind the safety of the rocks. Jack fired on the Kull, wincing when the weapon didn't even slow him down. "I need the…" but Jacob was all ready ahead of him, holding out the power unit. Jack quickly changed out the units and fired again at the Kull. The Kull stumbled and a third shot finally dropped the warrior to the ground. Teal'c came out of the forest and Jack tossed the prototype to him before turning back to Jacob. "Jacob?"
"I'm fine Jack," he reassured him, although from what Jack could see he most definitely was not fine. His disbelieve must have shown on his face. "I will be fine," he amended, "it's nothing Selmak can't handle. I just need to rest." He slowly lowered himself to the ground.
"Jacob," Jack began hesitantly. Jacob looked up, the pain in his face clearly showing. Jack knew that kind of pain. The kind that wasn't physical.
"Sam was trapped in the initial attack," he told him, knowing Teal'c was listening a short distance away when his spine straightened. "I had to choose between her and the weapon. She choose the weapon." Jack nodded in understanding. "There was a few minutes before the self destruct exploded. There's a chance someone else was able to free her."
"We did locate survivors," Teal'c told him from his position over the fallen Kull warrior, "however Major Carter was not with them." Jacob's head slumped in defeat. His last hope, long shot though it was, was now gone. The three men stood quietly, silently mourning their friend.
"We should get going," Jacob said after a few minutes. He was still a soldier and he still had a job to do. Sam would come back from the dead and kick his ass if she found out he didn't do it because he was brooding over her. The time to mourn was later. "There's no way to know how long Anubis will stay away, but I'm sure he will want to recover his Kull warriors."
"We're already on it," Jack said helping the older man to his feet. He handed the prototype to Jacob as he and Teal'c grabbed the arms of the dead Kull.
"Damn," Jacob swore as he got a good look at the weapon he had spent the last few weeks working on. Jack looked up curiously. "It must have been damaged in the explosion. It fried the power unit." They began their hike back to the Stargate, Jack and Teal'c dragging the dead Kull behind them. It took such effort that Jacob was easily able to keep up with them even with his injuries. "We'll have to start the whole calibration process over again."
"Isn't there a record?" Jack asked.
"Yes," Jacob sighed, "on the hard drives we erased before the whole place went to hell. And on the crystal which I had."
"Had?" Jack asked. Jacob grimaced and shook his pocket, the unmistakable sound of rattling emerging. "How bad?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "I never really had a chance to look with that thing chasing me. And I don't think I want to risk taking it out of my pocket and dropping a piece with Anubis knowing about this place." Jack nodded in understanding.
"We'll check it out when we get back to the SGC." Jacob nodded as they continued their trek to the Stargate. They were quickly joined by the other search teams, who were able to put the dead Kull on a stretcher, allowing them to move much quicker. In no time they were back at the Stargate. Jacob went through to the SGC with the Kull, while Jack and Teal'c stayed and oversaw the last of the search operation. By nightfall the search and recovery was complete. Jack ordered his men home until it was just him and Teal'c on the planet. He stopped for one last look at the destruction around him. "It's all different now Teal'c," he said quietly, finally letting the grief show through the military mask.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. The two men stood there for a few minutes before turning and stepping into the wormhole. Both knew they would never return to the place where Samantha Carter died.