"Level 28"
By "AriadneInLove"
DISCLAIMER: This Fanfic is based on Stargate SG-1 right after Daniel returned from Ascension and before Mitchell joined the team and Jack O'Neill became a general. (Circa Season 7, Death Knell) I did not invent Stargate or own any part of it or its characters.
SUMMARY: (Sam has recently been MIA and has just been rescued. This takes place as soon as she gets back to Stargate Command and 48 years after.) A powerful stranger from the future seeks asylum at Stargate Command. What will happen when SG-1 discovers she's the daughter of one of their own and wants to kill her parent before she can be born? What will Daniel's feelings for her develop into when he realizes who and what she is? READ and REVIEW!
MAJOR 'SHIPS: Jack/Sam, Daniel/Adrienne.
Cheyenne Mountain Complex, April 2052
Level 28 was on fire. The Gate was set to self-destruct and the countdown rang in her ears like a deadly reminder of her failure. She ran through the hallways as swiftly as she could but she couldn't make her feet move as they once did. She felt exhausted, moving simply because stopping, she knew, would kill her. She looked down at the rubble flown around the floor and heard the squish of blood under her army boots that seemed to drape the walls.
I know that blood anywhere, she thought. But mine's not going to join it.
She reached the door to the Gate Room, the red light of the sirens highlighting the sweat on her forehead. She fumbled with her ID card. She finally slid it through with trembling fingers. The floor began to shake as the blast door receded into the wall.
She ran in, the Gate already open. She didn't know to where but she didn't care. Any place was better than this one. Just as she ran onto the ramp, the Gate and alarms shut off. The blast doors opened on either side of the Gate and earthquakes stopped. Her back to the Gate, she looked up as the blast doors to the Control Room slid up, revealing a single feature looking down at her.
"Think you've won yet, love? 'Cause I'm just dying to prove you wrong," she said loudly with a devious smirk, waving her arms like a mad woman with a zat in hand. Insanity was one of her trademarks.
The man bent over to the microphone and said, "One last chance, O'Neill! Join us or die."
She laughed. "I'm dead anyway. Might as well go down fighting."
And she carefully slid her hand into her uniform pockets and pulled out a small, round hand-held device made out of silver. She played with the buttons behind her back and took a large step back before ducking as the Gate sent the event horizon plunging forward.
As soon as it receded, she turned around and ran right into the Gate.
February 2004
Colonel Jack O'Neill made his way up the stairs to General Hammond's office. Major Carter was already inside wearing her blue uniform with that determined look as if some tragedy might ensue if she didn't give every detail of her scientific exploits to a very weary General. As soon as Jack walked in, General Hammond put on a smile and a look like Jack was his godsend.
"Colonel, welcome!" he said. "Turning in that report?"
Jack looked down at the half-assed report in his hands and nodded. He looked over at Sam with sad eyes. He was so happy to have her back but seeing her there brought back the inevitability of their relationship. It was easy to sneak glances at her while on a mission or around base because Daniel couldn't get his head out of his passionate little conversations and Teal'c couldn't care less, but around the General, he had to be careful. As sure as he was that Hammond knew about his feelings, he felt improper even looking at her as anything other than his subordinate.
He quickly looked back down at his report and saw that Hammond was waiting for him to give it to him. He slowly moved over to his desk but he refused to hand it to him. It took Hammond three pulls for Jack to let go.
"Something on your mind, Jack?" he asked. Sam was still looking up at him, her leg crossed. He looked over at Hammond and back at Sam and realized how ridiculous he was being.
"No, sir. Nothing important," he gulped. Hammond raised an eyebrow and looked over at Sam. He sighed and thanked him and Jack was off.
Just as the door closed he asked Sam, "Major, would you see what that was about please?"
She nodded and excused herself, running after him. "And could you tell him to stop eating around the reports!" she heard Hammond yell as the door closed again, holding up a slice of tomato with two delicate fingers.
She caught up with Jack on the way to the control room. "Colonel, hold up!" she yelled after him.
He stopped mid-step but didn't turn around. He didn't want to face her, no matter how glad he was to have her there again.
"Sir, what's going on? Is there something you want to talk to me about, or-"
"I doubt I could translate it, Major. Don't worry about it."
"Translate it, huh? No offense, sir, but I need to know if my commander is going to be daydreaming in the middle of a mission."
"I don't daydream. I just… my mind wanders, is all. You know I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize a mission."
"Lately, that hasn't been exactly true-"
"Carter, if you have something to say, just spit it out. What does it take with you, woman? If we get captured again, I'm sending you to get interrogated. It'll be 4 years before they can get through the psychobabble and science jargon!"
"Stop changing the subject!"
"Are you raising your voice at a superior officer?"
She stopped, dumbstruck. She stared at him with narrowed eyes like he'd hit the lowest blow in years, since she first thought he was a womanizing bastard with a loaded gun… though that could have just as well been last week.
"All of a sudden you're my superior officer? After nearly 7 years of wanting me to go fishing and calling me Sam and pretending that we had some sort of friendship basis going on? With all do respect, screw you sir!" she said and began to make her quick escape before she came to her senses when the sirens began to sound and crimson rays of light made their faces hide the truth once more.
They both ran to the control room, watching the airmen run with guns towards the gate room as the Iris began to close. But before it could close, it began to recede back into the gate.
"What the hell's going on, Walter?" Jack asked the sergeant.
Hammond came running down the stairs and asked the same thing.
Jack smiled. "Just asked that, sir."
Walter's jaw began to drop. He shook his head slowly with wide open eyes and shrugged. "I have no idea sirs. The Iris is not responding."
Sam went down to fiddle with the computers but she was stomped too. As much as she tried to bypass the outside command, they could not close the Iris. They were defenseless.
"Who do you think is doing this? Anubis? The Ree-tou again?" Jack asked, but Sam refused to answer, not that she had any idea who.
The Gate room began to rumble, the floor to shake. The airmen lost their aim and Hammond ordered them to retreat from the room. And then it stopped. The entire base was calm again.
They all paused to see what figure would walk through the event horizon. The alien came, rolling onto the ramp with a bang as if she'd jumped through the other side. She quickly drew her zat and pointed it at the control room.
"Close the Iris!" she yelled. Hammond nodded at Sam who placed her hand over the control panel. It quickly began to shut without resistance.
But just before it shut completely, a beam of fire came through the gate like staff weapons shooting blindly through the horizon. They caught the alien in the legs just as she was getting up, her zat sent flying across the room. The Iris finally closed and the Gate shut down but they could not send the paramedics. A hazmat team came running in and lifted her up into a stretcher and took her to the infirmary but she was bleeding all over the ramp.
After they took her away, Sam and Jack came down the stairs into the Gate room. Sam bent down next to the largest pool of blood and took a sample with her handkerchief. Sergeant Siler came running after them with a medical hazard bag. After all, there was no way to know what she was. They took the handkerchief to the lab and Jack and Sam were left alone as people ran about.
Jack looked up at Sam on the ramp. "Did you see that?" he asked.
"The uniform? Yeah. Standard SGC issue. She's one of us."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The alien woke up several days later in a quarantined section of the infirmary. A nurse had been checking her vitals and as soon as she saw the young girl's eyes open, she ran to get Frasier. As soon as Hammond heard, he called down SG-1 to have a talk with her, and who better than the eloquent and sensitive Daniel Jackson.
"Hey," he said, standing at the foot of the bed. "How are you feeling? Do you understand me?"
"I speak 22 languages, Daniel. Pick one," the alien said, looking down at her cast and groaning as she sat up. He helped her with the pillows and she gave him an appreciative smile.
"Wait, how'd you know my name?" he asked.
She looked up at him through thick eyelashes. He admired her sky-blue eyes, shining through the dim lighting of the room and her dark-colored hair like ocean beacons. When he noticed he was staring, he quickly looked away.
She still hadn't answered his question. "Well?" he asked again.
"You were there when I was born, Danny. I grew up in your little museum of an office. For 12 years, people couldn't sit across from me in the briefing room without smelling the old books."
"What do you mean? You're from-"
"The future," she interrupted him. "Yup. Mind-boggling, eh?"
He smiled nervously. "You mean I know your family? They work here?"
"Well, Dan, you know better than anyone that I can't tell you a thing without messing up the fabric of time. So I'd keep it to first date information."
"Must you be so dramatic?"
"Oh it's what I do best."
"But… are we… related?" he asked sheepishly, praying they weren't.
She shook her head from side to side and rested it back against the wall. She looked up at the observation deck of the quarantine room and saw they were not alone.
"You getting all this, Sam?"
Daniel looked up at Sam and Jack sitting side by side next to machines and monitors. "How can we trust you really are from where -- when you say you are?"
"Several ways but mostly, because I know things about you that you've never told anyone," she said, and then looked up at Sam and Jack. "Even things you've yet to admit to yourselves."
Sam went to look at Jack but he had already gotten up and walked through the door. She looked back down at the girl with worrisome eyes and for once, she felt someone understood what was really happening between them.
"What do we call you?" Daniel asked.
She sighed and thought about it but before she could answer, Jack walked in carrying the uniform she'd come in with in transparent plastic bags. He dropped it on her stomach, the label with her name on the breast pocket looking up at her menacingly.
"Care to explain something, Ms. O'Neill?" he asked, his tone dripping disdain.
A pause. No one dared speak as both O'Neills looked at each other with narrow eyes.
"That's General O'Neill to you, sir," she finally broke the silence. Danny whipped his head to look at her. He couldn't understand how someone that looked 25 could possibly be of such rank.
Sam stood up on the observation deck. Jack refused to look away but his face began to drip into appreciation.
"You're my daughter," he whispered. Daniel looked up at the observation deck and for a moment, he was sure he saw a tear coming down Sam's face. When he looked back at the General, she was still caught in a deep glance with Jack. She seemed so apologetic.
But Jack couldn't help noticing her eyes, her beautiful blue eyes, even as they looked at him so. He recognized them from first glance in that Gate room, and he sighed. He looked down at the floor and sat beside her on the bed.
Daniel felt an uncomfortable silence coming on and decided it best to leave the room. He shot one last look up at Sam and said, "I'll just leave you two to talk."
Sam left as well, reluctantly. She had to talk to the stranger herself. She had to know. But she resisted and met up with Daniel as he left the quarantine room.
"You all right, Sam?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She smiled weakly but refused to look up from the floor. Her eyes showed no signs of crying but something about the General had affected her.
"Briefing's in two hours. I've got to get some papers and gate diagnostics together. I'll see ya then," she said blankly, refusing to blink or look away from the floor.
Daniel saw her go and his worry went with her. He'd always known there was something between her and Jack but he'd never seen her so affected. He saw her turn the corner on the way to her office and his worry melted into sympathy and pity that followed her as his gaze dissipated. Then he made his way back to his office where he found his mind wandering from his book on the agricultural developments of Mesopotamia to the stranger that would be his best friend's daughter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The briefing was about to begin but Colonel O'Neill had yet to arrive. Sam, Daniel, Teal'c, Hammond, and Frasier all waited patiently but when they figured he wasn't going to make it, they began.
"Dr. Frasier, what have her tests concluded?" Hammond broke the silence.
She straightened up and opened her folders. "We've found several abnormalities in her blood work. This girl's got surgery scars all over, her senses seem extra-sensitive to outside stimuli, and I'm pretty damn sure she's got several organic prosthetic parts -- organ tissue, bone marrow, even skin that isn't natural. I'm waiting on some EKGs, ultrasounds, and on some work I requested from our on-call genetics team. This girl's a mess, sir. And scarily enough, she's in the most perfect health I've ever seen. Her leg's almost healed. Given a few days and she'll be good as new, despite the severe burning."
Sam listened carefully, her eyes widening as Janet spoke, her fear rising to the surface. Daniel was scared too. Teal'c seemed concerned as always.
"She's from the future," Sam said.
Hammond, Janet, and Teal'c all looked at her but she and Danny were caught in a trance, looking down at their hands as they played with the edges of a notepad or twirled a pen. She got to them and worry held them by a leash.
"Are you sure, Major?" Hammond asked.
"Positive. Her medical workup proves it. She didn't deny it."
"Well did she reveal anything about why she's here?"
Then they heard a voice coming from the stairs. "She wants asylum."
Colonel O'Neill came around the table, handed Hammond a folded piece of computer paper, and sat down beside Teal'c. His face was solemn, like he'd just learned far too much for such a simple mind.
"What is she running from? Will they come after her?" Danny asked, looking up from his notepad.
"She said a faction of her government went corrupt and turned on its own people. She's here to change the timeline so that it doesn't happen. She's got a mission, sir. I'm not sure what it is but there's a pretty big determining event coming up that she's here to stop. She's asked to be put to action as soon as possible. It involves the death of a crucial member of the SGC," Jack explained.
"And you think we're just going to let someone from the future run around changing history to her will?" Sam protested. Jack looked slightly shocked but he was just as blank as the rest.
"I trust her, sir. She left everyone she cared about behind. She's willing to help us with any technology or resources we might need… that we would have developed ourselves eventually. She's been privy to top-secret information and has been studying reports of past missions since she was a child, sir. Plus, she grew up around my old glory stories. She's willing to submit herself to any security measures you want to take but asks to be incorporated back into active duty," he told Hammond, ignoring everyone else in the room.
"Son, why was she willing to release all this information? Is there any chance she might be one of the agents that corrupted her government in the first place?" Hammond asked.
"She's my daughter, sir. She's telling the truth. Frasier can check it out."
There was a small moment of silence as they all awaited Hammond's response. "Colonel, you know that ultimately, there might not be anything I can if my superiors get hold of a time-traveling super-soldier. We may not be able to protect her from--"
"She'll only talk to me, sir. That's their collateral."
"There are ways of making her talk," Teal'c finally entered the conversation, his tone serious as usual.
Sam spoke this time, stopping Jack just as he opened his mouth to speak. "She won't. She'll be trained to withstand torture. The real question is: What's she really here to do and why her?"
Nobody dared speak. Jack felt her drift away even as they sat across from each other.
Hammond stood up and the others followed, "It's up to you 5 to figure it out. This doesn't leave us, understand? Keep me apprised of her condition and her test results. Colonel, I'm putting you in charge of her."
They all accepted and nodded along. Just as the General had turned around to go back and everyone was about to go on their way, he turned around and called out, "Colonel, what do we call her?"
"Adrienne, sir. Just Adrienne."
---------------------------------------------------------------
To be continued in PART TWO:
--Who is Adrienne's mother? o.O
--How far do her genetic enhancements take her?
--Who is she here to kill?
--What is Daniel planning to win her heart?
--Are Jack and Sam going to stop fighting and make up… or make out?
--Is the government going to take her away?
--Is Adrienne going to be the latest addition to SG-1?
--And what's going to happen when Jack's no longer around to protect her?
Tune in. It gets good. Ships galore! Snogging and someone gets caught with their hand in the Jell-O with a certain geek we all love. READ & REVIEW!