The Dome, a stargate: sg-1 fanfic

this is the edited version of the story. the inside of the dome is in italics and chapters have break points. hopefully it will not be confusing anymore. enjoy.

SG1 stepped through the gate onto yet another world and looked around to see… a jungle. Humidity, drizzle and screeching of the native wildlife are what they encountered. And miles of path that they hoped led to civilization. They seemed to walk endlessly before they finally found a city that obviously exceeded their wildest expectations. A city of glass, or was it crystal? They couldn't be sure until they got a closer look.

They walked into the city and every man; woman and child in the city looked at them with fear. Except one woman. She was young, 25 maybe. Chalk white hair and pale skin but young features. She wore the same white gown that every person there wore. The gown was naturally white, made from white feathers. She stepped forward and offered her hand. But not to shake, her hand was flat, her fingers stretched and pointing out, palm down.

"Hello, my name is Daniel Jackson. This is Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter and Teal'c. We are explorers from a planet called earth. We came through the stargate."

"Name? Stargate? Earth?" she repeated these words as though they were the key to a lost memory "my name is Weisheit" she said with her hand to her chest.

"That's German, it mean's wisdom." Daniel said inquisitively

"Wisdom" she repeated while Jack rolled his eyes at the imminent language barrier

"Ancients?" she asked curious

"No, humans" Daniel explained "Tar'ri" he added and her face brightened

"The words of the Tar'ri have evolved since our records" she stated stunning them "my name is Tara, though my people call me the wise one or Weisheit" she explained

"Tara?" he asked noting the common name

"It is a short name for my name of birth, my name is Tarinca" she explained "you are obviously not from the land of the misjust so I welcome you" she said with her hand stretched out again and Daniel mimicked the action.

"What is the land of the misjust?" Sam asked stepping forward

"Our planet is divided in three, the land of the just" she gestured towards the city they stood in "the land of the misjust," she gestured over I giant crystal dome "and the land of the unknown" she gestured towards the dome itself

"What is the dome?" Carter asked admiring the technology

"It is best described in your words as a doorway to opposites" she explained as Carter walked closer to the dome's edge that was beside them.

"Do you ever use it?" Daniel asked watching Tara watching Sam.

"I have used it once" Tara nodded and a small child stepped forward.

"The dome is great. Had it not been for the dome then our land would still be ruled by the misjust and we would live in panic." the child stated and Tara shot the girl a look warning her to step back, the child did with a bow.

"How does it work?" Sam asked edging even closer to the dome, fascinated by it.

"That, we do not know. We only know that it does and we do not bother it" she explained as she walked up to Sam and directed her away from it. "Come, I will show you our land"

"I'd love to have a better look at the technology," Sam asked

"You may, in time" Tara nodded

After an extensive tour of the whole of 'the land of the just', which was surprisingly short but somewhat expected given the population was so small.

'Our numbers had diminished because of the battle between the just and the misjust' Tara had explained

The SG1 team had been shown rooms that they could stay in and given food to eat, the bedrooms seemed to be the only rooms where the crystal walls weren't clear. Each room had advanced bathrooms, consisting of a shower that looked more like a spa and a colander and a toilet that was surprisingly similar to earth's toilets. The main focus of each room was the bed made entirely from the soft white feathers that everything else seemed to be made from.

'Everything is made from crystals, wood and feathers. There is a specific type of bird amongst the trees near here that sheds its feathers daily, we harvest these feathers and in return we stay clear of the birds" Tara had explained.

"The whole city seems to run on the honor system" Daniel stated as he and Teal'c entered Jacks room "they don't disturb the wild life and live off fruit's, vegetables and wheat's. Everyone does equal work except the children and the elderly and in return everything is provided for them" Daniel explained "by all rights, they live in harmony"

"Yeah well I don't buy it" Jack stated as he put down his things

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked uncertain

"A whole community living without greed or hate?" Jack criticized

" I spoke to Tara about that, they do have laws. Basically if you don't follow the guidelines, then you are banished to the land of the misjust. Of corse there are lesser punishments before that extreme, such as no food and water privileges or they keep you locked in your room. But ultimately, since the war between the just and the misjust, there have been few mishaps." Daniel explained

"According to their legends, before the war they lived under the rulership of someone very powerful and greedy. The people were split into the providers which were the lesser people, the poor and the weak, and there were the law makers who ruled under an unjust leader, they controlled everything and did what they pleased" Daniel added

" I assume that the just used to be the providers?" Jack asked and Daniel nodded.

"The war started when the leader switched sides," Daniel added and all eyes were now on him. "According to their written history, Tara used to be the unjust leader. The dome was supposed to be some kind of high tech prison for the providers but they screwed it up. The dome became something much better but it's never said what. Tara activated the dome and it did something to her that made her switch sides."

"Okay I think we should stay clear of the dome" Jack ordered before looking around in realisation "uh, where's Carter?"

Sam sat inside the room that housed the machine that powered the dome. The technology was overwhelming, definitely advanced. She studied it but all she could figure from a basic look was that the machine worked by passing stored energy through a series of crystals. She new one thing, light was a major factor in the power of the dome but that didn't help her understand what the dome actually did. Growing tired of studying the way that the light bent through the active crystals, she ventured away from the machine and wandered over to the dome's edge.

'The land of the unknown, did the dome house an entirely different civilization?' she wondered 'was the machine just a power source, a kind of life support?' she wondered. The crystal walling of the dome was incredibly dense, probably impenetrable. Sam placed her hand against the dome wall to feel the texture and felt a mild surge of electricity. After taking a step backwards from the dome she felt something hit her back like a tranquilizer dart, she felt weak, dizzy and tired. She collapsed.

"Tara, have you seen Major Carter?" Daniel asked running up to her

"Last I saw of her, she was examining the machine that powers the dome" Tara explained

"Where's that?" Jack asked with his hand resting on his P-90

"I just came from there, she was not there so I assumed she had gone to her room"

"Okay where's that?" Jack asked getting irritated

"It is right next to yours," she said nodding in Teal'cs direction

"Teal'c check her room, Daniel do a search of the grounds, I'll recheck the machine room" Jack ordered as they split up.

Daniel searched the grounds quickly, clear walls helped. Having not found her, he turned back to find Jack and Teal'c; then he saw a woman in a black dress sitting by a water fountain. She caught his eye as she was wearing black instead of the white-feathered clothing that everyone else wore. At a closer glance he recognized the hair.

"Sam?" he asked confused and she turned around, what looked like a snake was resting over her shoulders.

"Daniel?" she asked amazed as she stood up and walked closer.

"Um Sam what are you doing out of uniform and do you think it's wise to be holding that?" Daniel asked gesturing towards the snake.

"It's harmless" she assured him

"How do you know that?" Daniel asked nervously

"You came looking for me" Carter commented as she edged closer.

"Um yeah, we were worried that you might activate the dome" Daniel explained as he watched the snake.

"It won't hurt you Daniel, though I don't think you can say the same about me" she smiled as she stood directly in front of him. She placed her hand against his cheek and kissed him.

"Daniel, Carter wasn't in the… whoa, did I miss something?" Jack asked as he spotted them. Daniel was pulling back from Sam and only when she heard Jack's voice did she turn away from Daniel.

"You!" she hissed glaring at Jack

"Nice to see you too Carter" Jack commented as she dropped the snake and pressed a button on her wristband that released a blade.

"I will kill you were you stand, I will not hesitate this time" Sam declared as she darted towards him. Jack quickly aimed his gun and she stopped.

"I should have known you'd come armed" she sneered as she set the blade back in the wristband

"Carter what the hell is going on?" Jack demanded to know

"I refuse to answer the questions of the Goa'uld" Sam stated as she turned from him

"That's nice Carter but here's the catch, I don't have a snake in my head!" Jack yelled frustrated

"Trust not the Goa'uld, his words are lies"

"Major Carter does not appear to be herself" Teal'c said and Jack shook his head at him

"Just restrain her Teal'c" Jack ordered and Teal'c obediently took out some cable ties.

"Do what you wish with me but harm Daniel and you won't live another day" Sam declared as she held out her wrists for Teal'c to remove the wristband and tie with the cable ties.

"Who are you?" Daniel asked from across the table that was dividing them.

"My name is Samantha Carter, I am one of the two greatest assassins in 'the inside'. You are the other and three months ago, we were to wed but that Goa'uld stole me from you" Sam spat as she glared at Jack through the clear walls of the room.

"The inside? Are you from the land inside the dome?" Daniel asked

"As are you" she nodded

"So the inside is like an alternate reality" Daniel muttered

"Daniel why do you speak like you do not know of the inside?" Sam asked confused

"Because I don't. You see here, on the outside of the dome, everything is different. I'm just an explorer from a planet called earth, I have never seen the inside of the dome and the Samantha Carter of the outside, is my friend and only my friend." Daniel explained and Sam closed her eyes with a breath of realisation.

"If what you say is true than my words of the inside will not effect you?" Sam asked looking at him solemnly

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked concerned

"My love, I did not wish to tell you this because I did not wish to hurt you. When the Goa'uld took me from you, he kept me his prisoner, he forced himself upon me and I could not escape him. He wanted me to be his. I managed to get a weapon from a guard who doubted the Goa'uld, I tried to kill that Goa'uld but I hesitated. I tried to escape, he would have killed me had I not been taken here" she explained as she kept her eyes on the table.

"We don't touch the dome" Tara stated as she watched Daniel interrogate Sam. The clear walling allowed for them to watch while Sam would not be able to hear them.

"Why?" Jack asked

"The dome, trades you with your opposite" she sighed watching

"What so that's Carter's exact opposite?" Jack asked and Tara nodded

"it is believed so"

"shouldn't she be a completely different person?" Jack asked "like a man instead of a woman or have…left shoes…?" he stumbled

"If a man who loved everything touched the dome, he would become trapped inside the dome and in his place there would be a man who hated everything"

"So a good man becomes a bad one, a rich man becomes a poor man and a fat man becomes thin" Jack shrugged

"No, in his mind he would be different and he would have grown up inside the dome but he would not be different in accordance with this reality. His personality would be different and he would have been raised in accordance with the reality inside the dome. I know this because I was raised inside the dome, I am the opposite of the real Tarinca" she confessed and Jack's eyes grew wide but decided not to go into it just yet.

"Okay how do we get Carter back?" Jack asked aggravated

"You can not"

"Jack we have to get Sam out of the dome" Daniel insisted as he came out of the room

"Love to but Tara here says we can't" Jack groaned

"The dome was designed as a prison, you can enter but once you go inside, you can not exit" Tara explained

"There has to be a way to get out, they wouldn't have willingly locked away all their slaves?" Daniel asked

"You would have to ask the other Tarinca but she is inside the dome. Or you could ask the misjust, it takes 16 days to walk there from here and I warn you, they are brutal"

"No that's too long, we need to get her back now" Daniel insisted

"Daniel if we go in there and find out that we can't get out…"

"Jack you don't understand, we need to get her back now" Daniel pushed

"Why?" Jack asked uneasily

"Just trust me" Daniel hoped that he wouldn't have to tell him

"Daniel why?" Jack asked more insistent

"The version of you inside the dome is Goa'uld. The Sam here was taken prisoner by him and…" he paused "he raped her"

"I would never…" Jack said shaking his head

"You wouldn't but the opposite of you might and with a Goa'uld… I think it's pretty obvious what would happen to Sam"

"Gear up"

Sam woke up to find herself inside some kind of prison cell. The last thing she remembered was touching the wall of the dome. And now to find herself in here was very confusing. She picked herself up off the cot inside the small cell and stepped over to the door that had a clear crystal window. She looked out the window and saw a man holding a staff weapon. It was definitely a man and not a Jaffa. He spotted her and then left. A moment later he returned and Jack followed. The door opened and Sam stood aside as Jack entered.

"Sir, why am I locked in here? And where is this room?" Sam asked but Jack didn't appear to be listening.

"You think you can run from me? You know as well as I that there is no escaping the dome" Jacks voice had the mechanical sound of the Goa'uld's. Sam instinctively stepped back. "You can hide but you can not run. You killed many of my men in your escape. Your will to escape only strengthens my lust for you. You should have killed me when you had the chance" his eyes glowed

" Ready Jack?" Daniel asked as they stood in front of the dome. Jack nodded and all three of them touched the wall. They disappeared momentarily and then three new people appeared in their place.

"You!" the replacement Daniel hissed once he spotted Jack beside him.

"Ah, Daniel the assassin." The replacement Jack said in the voice of the Goa'uld

"Tell me where she is?" Daniel ordered "or I will kill you" he said holding a knife against his throat.

"You will not" the replacement Teal'c told him as he pressed a staff weapon against Daniel's back.

"No-one will be killing anyone" Tara snapped as armed men surrounded them.

"Sir, don't do this. I know you're in there somewhere, something of the host must survive" Sam pleaded as she struggled beneath him and tried to pull her hands free from his grip "Colonel please" she begged.

"Carter?" Jack asked in a daze

"Sir?" Sam asked hopeful

"Where am I?" he asked lifting his head to see that he was on top of her "whoa no!" he shrieked as he jumped up and across to the other side of the small cell. "oh god did I?" he asked looking at her as she sat up and straightened her clothing.

"No" she assured him shaking her head and he let out a breath of relief. She stood cautious of him as he looked around trying to think clearly. He spotted her nervous appearance and gave her a reassuring glance.

"I'm not Goa'uld" he assured her

"Sorry sir but you were a minute ago," she apologized explaining her cautious behaviour

"That wasn't me. You're in bizzaro world Carter" he smiled at her reassuringly and she looked at him confused

"It's something from the Simpson's, the comic book guy gets insulted and he says that in bizzaro world it was a complement…" Jack tried to explain but she still looked at him puzzled "Carter, we're inside the dome. The dome copies everything on the outside only it makes everything opposite" Jack explained and Carter showed a look of understanding.

"In that case, good to see you sir" she admitted with a releaved smile

"You too Carter…When you came here, we got a copy of you that was …just weird"

"You must have switched places with the versions of you in this world" Sam suggested

"That why Daniel and Teal'c aren't here?" Jack asked and Sam nodded

"Well then Daniel should be nearby, trying to break in, but I haven't a clue where Teal'c would be" Jack thought out loud as he plotted a way to get them out.

"How do you know Daniel would be trying the break in?" Sam asked with a basic curiosity

"Um, the Sam and Daniel of this world are kinda getting hitched" Jack grimaced

"Getting hitched?" Sam criticized

"They're engaged Carter, pardon the pun" Jack added

"Pun sir?" Sam asked becoming increasingly confused

"They're both assassins" Jack shrugged as he examined the door

"Sir, just call for the guard" Sam suggested

"Would that be wise?"

"They think you're a Goa'uld sir"

"Take your hands off me" Jack ordered the man who had led him into the clear room that held Sam. Then two more men came in with Teal'c and Daniel.

"Daniel?" Sam asked hopeful that it was the Daniel she knew from 'the inside'

"Samantha" his face brightened as he moved close to her, wrapped an arm around her and kissed her passionately.

"Cease this at once!" Jack ordered "she is my future wife now"

"You have no claim on her" Daniel insisted as he stood in front of Sam to block Jack's sight of her.

"I do. The law of the inside indicates that when engagement is broken a new engagement can be reinstated" Jack said slyly as he sat down in one of the two chairs

"Yes but in order for engagement to be broken, one or both of the fiancée's must have consummated a relationship with someone not involved in the engagement" Daniel corrected him and Jack laughed

"The engagement has been broken" Jack grinned and Daniel went to retaliate when he suddenly felt the pinch. He swallowed back emotions and turned to face her.

"Tell me it isn't true?" Daniel pleaded and Sam's gaze drifted to the floor in guilt "why Samantha? Don't you love me?" Daniel asked feeling the harsh stab of rejection.

"I do love you" she tried to reassure him

"How could you?" Daniel snapped

"Daniel you don't understand…" she began but Daniel placed a finger over her lips silencing her. He turned away from her in hatred.

"I'm tired of lies Samantha" he told the clear wall and Sam's eyes let a glimpse of agony be seen as silent tears fell. With out seeing her, he knew she was crying.

"Don't cry, you weren't the one betrayed" Daniel snapped

"I tried not to betray you, but the Goa'uld was much stronger than I was…" Sam begun when Jack cut her off.

"For the last time woman, I am Tok'ra!" he yelled slapping her Daniel flinched but his pain from her betrayal kept him from hitting Jack. "Like our lady Tarinca explained, we are opposites. The Goa'uld would not still have the courage to take action if they were the opposite of themselves. The Tok'ra symbiote inside me should be weak but instead it has that courage, and so do I" Jack declared in rage, his voice was that of a humans now.

"It doesn't matter what species you are! I would still despise you no matter what you were because you are dissolute!" Sam snapped, Daniel would expect these words from her but he was still confused by her rage.

"Just like you" Jack snapped back "it is hypocritical for you to label me like that when you disrespect others just the same"

"I have morality!" this hit him like a blow to the head "see that's why I never accepted your advances, your 'gifts'. I love Daniel because I'm a love to him, I'm just meat to you" this made the room go silent. No one spoke as she paced in rage "and Daniel you're an idiot if you believe that I willingly betrayed you, you can't honestly believe that if I wanted to betray you that I would do so with someone like him?"

"The engagement was broken without consent" Daniel muttered as he absorbed her violent words

"Consent doesn't matter in our laws" Jack reminding him and killed Daniel's hopes.

"This is wrong" Teal'c added and Jack glared at him for speaking with out permission

"What is? The fact that the Goa'uld stole my body or the fact that my fiancée doesn't believe me?" Sam laughed

"Tok'ra!" Jack snapped

"Or the fact that our laws don't care about consent?" Daniel asked

"The just have put us together, why would they do so knowing of our hostility?" Teal'c asked explaining his unease

"Yes, we could kill each other so easily" Jack spoke with his eyes on Daniel

"We have no weapons" Sam shrugged

"We all know how to kill with out the means of weapons" Jack stated with a clenched fist

"The just don't" Daniel smiled and everyone looked at him confused "they are harmonious, they have no knowledge of physical injury being inflicted by anything other than weaponry. They think that taking away our weapons will render us inapt" Daniel explained

"Then the just are wrong in many ways" Teal'c stated as he stood behind Daniel facing a bench that had been made with woven branches.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked watching him as if he was concealing a secret.

"We may not have our own weaponry, but the just have provided us with sufficient weapons" Teal'c explained and in one swift move he grabbed Daniel by the throat and pulled him backwards, pushing him into the bench. A jagged point from the end of one of the branches stabbed through Daniel's back, piercing his lungs. Both Sam and Jack were frozen in shock as they watched Teal'c pull Daniel off the pointed branch and drop him to the floor. Daniel's body reacted by trying to cough as his lungs quickly filled with blood. He convulsed in shock momentarily. Unable to breathe, Daniel made a wet hissing sound as he choked. He'd drowned in his own blood. Sam finally found the strength to run to his side but he lay lifeless, it was too late but she wouldn't have been able to help him anyway.

The guard outside Sam's cell didn't believe Jack to be Goa'uld. He said that his clothing was not of the clothing he had worn when he entering the cell. The Guard restrained Jack and Sam, taking Jacks weapons and leading them away from the cell to find a superior officer. After a long walk through the halls of a place that definitely was not the city of the just, they came to a room where the first prime of O'Neill stood amazed at the Guard who held Jack restrained.

"Release him!" Teal'c ordered and Jack let a smile creep across his face

"You too wear clothing that is foreign to us!" the Guard stated as he deliberately left Jack restrained

"Dare you disregard my command" Teal'c snapped

"No man can change the form of their clothing in such a short time, only gods possess such power," the Guard added

"You don't believe that he is a god?" Sam asked

"If you truly were the real Samantha Carter, you would not ask such questions as only yesterday I had explained my doubt of this Tok'ras claims" the Guard stated

"Tok'ra?" Jack asked confused

"You see, you yourself were the one who insisted that your symbiote was that of the Tok'ra. If you were my lord O'Neill, you would still now insist upon the dome changing the Goa'uld and making them weak, the idea of being Goa'uld repulsed the true O'Neill" the Guard explained

"I can understand how this other me feels" Jack joked and then they heard an explosion behind them. A wall collapsed and through the dust, Daniel ran in with his gun drawn. He aimed at the guard and fired but his gun failed. The guard smiled as he fired his staff weapon at Daniel. Daniel fell after a blast collided with his chest.

"Daniel!" Sam yelled, seeing him hit the floor with a deathly thud. She tried to run to him as he slay on the floor dying but her restraints wouldn't yield

"Your primitive weaponry will not work here" the Guard spat

"Teal'c shoot him!" Jack yelled at Teal'c, more alert about the situation then Sam.

"I am trying O'Neill" Teal'c replied as his staff ceased to fire. The guard aimed his staff weapon at Teal'c and fired. The blast hit Teal'cs throat and he collapsed to the ground in certain death.

Sam stood over Teal'cs lifeless body, his neck just snapped by her bare hands. The Tok'ra stared, frightened of the fury that burned inside of the woman he was once so determined to have. Now he wanted nothing more than to flee that small crystal room that held two dead bodies, a quivering Tok'ra gone insane and a scorned woman on a crusade to avenge the death of her love.

He darted away from her and with the few seconds that the leap provided, he searched frantically for a weapon of some sort. He laughed with glee as he found a heavy utensil that was startlingly similar to a hammer. It was obviously used to break open a hard-shelled fruit that had been left in a basket for them but to him it looked like the perfect tool to break through her skull.

When he spun around he saw that she was directly in front of him. She grasped her hands around his throat as she attempted to choke him but he jabbed the tool against her stomach, pushing her away from him. She stumbled to the floor and he knelt over her, holding the tool above her head ready to slam into her skull. She was defenseless yet he didn't strike her.

She looked up to see his eyes unable to contain tears that fell. The tool was up high, ready to swing down with full force but he was hesitating. Ironic that her hesitation was what had stopped his death in the first place. Now it appeared that he too could not kill her.

"I can't do it!" he cried as he let the tool drop to his side. She looked at him, not with confusion but with pity and above that she looked at him with compassion. "I don't know why. You are just a woman; you mean nothing to me. Yes I am attracted to you but I shouldn't have this guilt!" he dropped the weapon "I loathe you yet something inside of me is screaming that it is wrong, something I can't explain" he whispered as his emotions surfaced. Sam looked at him and instantly recognized this feeling, she too had felt it as the one thing that made her hesitate to kill him. A distant memory burned inside her mind. It was a memory of him, or rather his eyes. A look that she didn't recognize in the man that was kneeling over her.

"Sir" she whispered and Jack looked at her puzzled. He didn't understand the word but was drawn to it.

"Carter" he whispered back and she lent forward as she placed a hand on the back of his neck. She pulled him closer to her as she kissed him. Piled up tension released as Jack let himself fall into the kiss and returned the intimate gesture by taking her into his arms and intensifying the passion of the kiss…

"This room is shielded" the Guard declared as he held up his staff weapon "only one weapon works in this room and that is in my hands now" he exclaimed and their eyes were drawn to the crystal accessory that had been added to the staff weapon.

"That device must create a field around the staff that keeps it from being shut down by the shielding around this room" Sam whispered to Jack

"Our laws indicate that I must use it and do whatever it takes to prevent this city from being over taken by the outsiders. Those men I just killed were outsiders and you too are outsiders" he stated as he opened the staff and held it ready

"I wouldn't if I were you…" Jack warned the guard while he held the staff aimed at him

"Then I shall shoot her" the guard indicated as he directed the staff weapon at Sam

"Oh come on!" Jack groaned in frustration. The guard closed the staff weapon and directed it at the floor.

"I will not kill her" he stated with a smile as he tapped the inactive staff under her chin. With it he directed her to get up on her feet. Sam stood up and the guard smiled as he directed her to turn around. She clenched her teeth and stood still.

"Stubborn" he grinned at her disobedience

"Hey don't even think about it buddy" Jack snapped at the guard but he ignored him and jabbed the staff weapon into her stomach, she stumbled onto the floor.

"For crying out loud, enough!" Jack yelled. The guard persisted to ignore Jack as he knelt over her and aimed the weapon

"The stubborn slaves are always killed first," he said holding a strong hand around her neck and reading himself to fire

"Oh for crying out loud!" Jack yelled as he stood up to charge at the guard. The guard pressed a button on the crystal device and suddenly the metal restraints on Jacks arms became incredibly heavy, he was pulled to the ground and lay beside Sam as the guard held the staff above her head. Sam looked at Jack as their eyes connected; they saw fear and pain alike. Sensing they wouldn't get out of this one. Through that look, they whispered a silent good bye.

Jack lay on top of Sam as he kissed her, his hand holding her face. Breathless moments were all that passed between lips. One of these breaks drew on longer as Jack pulled back and Sam smiled as their eyes locked. Jack didn't smile, his face looked cold and his hand quickly shifted from her cheek to her neck as he held her in place, gripping her neck and squeezing. His eyes glowed.

"O'Neill has lost his courage" the familiar mechanical voice of the Tok'ra said as her eyes flooded with fear. His grip tightened as he choked her. Through her fear, Sam searched for an escape and felt the tool beside her hand. She grasped the tool and in one swift swoop, she hit him with it. From the wound that the tool was lodged in, Jacks blood dripped onto her cheek. In his last moment of life, she saw a silent apologetic goodbye in his eyes. Then his body fell limp.

Sam flinched as the guard fired the staff weapon. She felt warm blood on her cheek and instantly knew something was wrong. She opened her eyes to see something she never wanted to see. Jack's silent features still held his last emotion. His eyes strong with a look of sorrow. So much pain in his eyes yet the staff blast had hit the side of his head. He was killed instantly.

"Why?" she whispered as the guard stood up and walked away from her but didn't respond "I asked you a question!" she yelled sitting up and glaring at the guard

"You trusted me" he shrugged and she stared confused and furious "you promised you would kill him and you trusted me. I brought you a weapon because of that trust. You see no one on this side of the inside exercises trust; everything is about greed and betrayal. To have someone trust you, was and still is beyond me. It felt amazing, something I've never felt before. Those on the other side of the dome call it happiness, here we call it foolishness"

"I want to know why you killed him!" she demanded

"I had to kill one of you and I promised not to let you die, you trusted me to make sure of that"

"If I trusted you then why did you kill him?" she asked in a cold tone

"I held up my end of the deal but you didn't keep your promise!" he snapped "you didn't kill him like you were supposed to, I knew then that you didn't care. Betrayal is a trait of this side, I felt betrayed and I

Wanted to hurt you. I killed Daniel because I knew you loved him, I killed Teal'c just to protect myself And I wanted to kill you but I saw the way you looked at O'Neill. You felt something for him, so I killed him. At least one of us killed him." The guard scowled

"What are you going to do know?" Sam asked as she glanced back at Jack

"I'm going to do what I have to do, take you to our Lady the Queen" he said grabbing her arm and pulling her up.

"Queen? I thought O'Neill ruled?" she asked puzzled

"He did but our Lady Tarinca was to take his place had he ever fallen, he has so she now has rightful rulership"

"Get me the hell out of here!" Sam screamed as she banged her blood-smeared fists against the crystal door. A child running down a nearby hall saw her through several clear walls. He made his way down the glass halls until he was in front of the room. He slid back a crystal lock and the door opened. She quickly took the child into her arms and hugged him. She then stood up and scanned the halls to find the quickest route out of there.

"Why are you holding that munshi opener?" the boy asked touching the tool then he looked at his fingers "the juice of the munshi does not look like this, what fruit has red liquid?" the boy asked looking at the blood on his finger tips.

"Shh kid, don't look at that" Sam told him as she wiped the blood off his fingertips and wiped the tool with the skirt of her dress "it's not for you to be concerned about okay" she said reassuringly and the boy nodded as he looked into the room with curiosity

"Where are we going?" he asked looking at the three bodies

"Somewhere safe" Sam replied as her eyes followed the halls to find an escape

"Should we wake them so they can come?" the boy asked as he let go of Sam's hand and ran into the room

"No kid, stay away from them!" Sam shouted at the boy but it was too late. The boy stood over Jack who was closest to the door. He knelt down and touched the wound.

"More red liquid" he whispered as he looked at the blood on his hand. He touched Jacks face but Jack didn't move. The boy shook Jacks body and it moved unnaturally, limp with no resistance.

"Wake up mister, we are going" the boy told Jacks body. Sam watched in silence as the boy started crying "Wake up!" the boy demanded more loudly as he fought off sobs. This boy was only young, 4 maybe 5; he had been raised in a world that knew nothing of death yet in this instance, he understood. "He's not going to wake up is he?" the boy asked and Sam shook her head "none of them will" he whispered and she nodded as he came closer to her. "You did this didn't you?" he asked taking the tool out of her hand and dropping it on the floor. She nodded as her eyes released a tear. The boy wiped it away but in its place left Jacks blood on her cheek.

"It's alright" he said reassuringly as she hugged him "Mummy will bring them back" he assured her and she looked at him confused "Come" he said leading her down a corridor

"When you said Tarinca, I didn't think you really meant Tarinca" Sam exclaimed as the guard pushed her to the ground

"Samantha Carter, I did not think you would dare show your face back here after you murdered Tialla" Tarinca smiled as she stood up from the chair she had been sitting in

"Excuse me, murdered?" Sam asked wide-eyed

"You heard me. As I understand it, you have quite the death toll under your belt" Tarinca added as she glided over the floor and stood in front of her

"Death toll?" Sam asked and then paused "oh right, I'm an assassin" she sighed and Tarinca smiled before slapping her.

"Your insolence is infuriating" Tarinca scolded her "now tell me, why have you returned?"

"I didn't return here, as I understand it, I was dragged here unwillingly and held captive" Sam wasn't really aware but she hoped she was right.

"My queen, Samantha Carter was to be Lord O'Neill's wife" the guard explained and she nodded

"So you're his latest and as I hear it, his last personal interest" Tarinca nodded while Sam tried to focus her attention on something less infuriating. "Can I ask you something?" she asked and Sam looked at her expectantly "what was it like when he forced you down and inserted himself" Tarinca asked working at pushing her over the edge. But Sam just looked at the guard in disbelief; the guard kept his eyes away from Sam.

"He didn't" Sam said with a small smile "he tried and failed" she said with slight pride.

"Really" Tarinca smirked feeling like she had caught her bluff "that's unusual as you see, late at night I am often awoken by the screams of his 'personal interests'. Lately I have heard those screams and we have all known that he had found a new interest only no one knew who" Tarinca smiled "I can imagine those screams would suit you"

"They weren't mine" Sam insisted as she held her cold demeanor "I came from the outside, I switched places with this version of me and my friends came here to free me"

"You know a way out" Tarinca jumped excitedly

"I assume my friends did before they were killed" Sam glared at the guard

"You lie, why would you come here with no means of escape?" she asked through clenched teeth

"I didn't exactly plan on coming here" Sam groaned

"I wouldn't lie to me Samantha Carter," she warned and Sam looked at her with an icy glare

"What are you going to do, shoot me?" she asked grinding her teeth

"I might" Tarinca said as if thinking about it

"Go a head, I'm not giving you anything" Sam declared as she looked away again. Tarinca nodded towards the guard and he retrieved a Goa'uld pain-stick off of a nearby wall.

"I warned you" Tarinca chimed as she accepted the stick and then tore open the back of Sam's Jacket and shirt as she pushed her down onto the ground and held her face against the floor.

"This is going to pinch," she said as she stabbed it into her spine and sent a violent electrical charge through her system. Sam cried out and Tarinca grinned as she pulled the stick back from her spine.

"There's those screams I heard" she laughed "your screams of agony and helplessness"

The boy had shown Sam to a room stocked with useless stasis pods that had been used when the misjust still ruled. With the misjust now banished and the just not wishing to 'keep lost souls from rest', they had no use for these pods. After boarding three pods into a transportation vehicle, the boy drove the small yet tall vehicle back to the room and Sam put the bodies into the stasis pods.

Sensing Sam's anxiety, the boy quickly drove the vehicle out of the city and into the desert.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked as she watched the small child direct the vehicle towards a cave in a mountainside.

"To see mummy" he smiled and she nodded "few people know about the quick route to the misjust. The people who have loved ones amongst the misjust, take this route to a cave deep underground to meet them half way." He explained and Sam nodded understanding "mummy will meet us there"

"STOP IT!" Sam screamed after yet another blow from the unethical device

"Are you ready to talk?" Tarinca asked pulling the device away

"Talk yes, give away information freely, not a chance" Sam laughed as she sucked in the pain.

"How do you get out of the dome Samantha Carter?" Tarinca asked kicking her onto her back

"I don't know" Sam hissed and Tarinca frowned

"Why won't you tell me?" Tarinca asked rubbing her temples

"Because I DON'T KNOW!"

"Why would you come here not knowing how to leave?" Tarinca pushed on

"I didn't actually know I could come here, why would you come here not knowing the way out?"

"You try my patience Samantha" Tarinca groaned as she waved to the guard. He knew exactly what she wanted him to get her; she had a routine way of torturing her prisoners. There was an order to follow that this guard usually had no problem with but tonight. Tonight he refused to get her the next device; he couldn't do it and stood still.

"Excuse me" she said warningly to the guard. He stood still, as if he hadn't heard the command "bring it to me!" she ordered and he closed his eyes as if willing himself to have the strength. She stormed up to him and struck his face with a furious slap. Her nails left claw marks against his cheek. She frowned at him as she took his staff weapon from his hands and then pushed him to the floor. She aimed the staff and without hesitation, she fired. She stepped over his lifeless body as she grabbed the second device herself. It was a small device that looked no bigger than a lipstick. How could this Possibly be a torture device?

"This is what we call the nest" Tarinca smiled as she walked closer to Sam. She stood over her and pressed a button on one end of the device, a long funnel like pipe shot out of the device. "The Attenione is an insect that releases a slow acting flesh eating acid when around weaker acids. Our experiments have discovered that the acid inside the human stomach is one of those weaker acids" Tarinca smiled as she tapped the device against the floor "we have also discovered that the Attenione is attracted to the smell of the acid produced inside the human stomach and will do whatever it can to find it" she explained as she pressed the end of the pipe against Sam's lips. Sam kept her mouth shut but Tarinca pressed a second button that released forceps to pry her mouth open.

"We mustn't keep them waiting" she whispered as she pressed a third button to release the insects through the pipe.

"Tony, why did you bring a woman here?" the boys mother asked as they reached the half way point

"Her name is Samantha Carter, she comes from inside the dome" Tony explained after hugging his mother

"Really? Pleasure to meet you Samantha, my names Loral" she greeted her with her hand out flat, a gesture that everyone seemed to use. "And to what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked with her arms crossed

"Your son tells me that you can help these people" Sam explained as she showed her the three stasis pods

"Oh they're dead alright" she sighed looking at the pods "you'll have to use a sarcophagus, though hopefully there hasn't been enough damage to this ones mind for him to be revived" she weighed looking at the gash in the side of the duplicate Jacks head.

"What's a sarcophagus?" Sam asked never before hearing that word

"It's a Goa'uld machine they use to bring their dead back to life. You see ten years ago the Goa'uld came to this planet and invaded the misjust, started taking them as hosts. They left the just alone because there is something in their blood that rejects the Goa'uld symbiotes, they can't even use them as Jaffa. With the Goa'uld came Goa'uld technology such as the Sarcophagus" she explained while Sam absorbed this hopefully.

"Where is the Sarcophagus?" Sam, asked a little eager

"It's deep inside the land of the misjust. It's guarded but you're in luck, there has been a Tok'ra operative guarding the sarcophagus. Of coarse the Goa'uld don't know he's Tok'ra"

"Can he be trusted?"

"The Tok'ra are good" she nodded and Sam looked at Jack through the pod.

"This Tok'ra is not" Sam whispered

"Well if he's a duplicate then he wouldn't be" she smiled

"Duplicate?"

"Oh you don't know do you?" she asked and Sam's face stayed vacant "the dome is a prison right, so the misjust created it to punish the just. Basically they throw the Just in and the dome gives them a duplicate so that the work load doesn't slow down but the slave still gets locked in. the duplicates have different personalities so that the misjust would know if it was a duplicate or not. That and there's an id code on the duplicates ankle" she explained and Sam looked at her ankle to see '8925' tattooed in blue ink.

"How soon can we get to the Sarcophagus?" she asked eyeing the rest of the tunnel.

"If we go now we can be there by night fall" she nodded

"Climb in Tony, we gotta head off"

"No" Loral hissed "Tony can't come. The Goa'uld are evil and the misjust know no restraint. I will not have my son endure that world"

Sam tried to spit out the insects but they were too quick. They forced their way down to the stomach, burning as they went. And once inside the stomach, they quickly began eating through the lining of the stomach wall. Violent stabbing and burning was what Sam felt as her stomach slowly started breaking down.

"Make it stop!" she screamed as she writhed in agony, clutching her stomach in an attempt to calm the pain.

"Tell me how to get out and I will make them stop" Tarinca whispered as she knelt over Sam

"I don't know, I swear I don't but I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Just make it stop" she pleaded as she choked through the pain of her stomach deteriorating. This pain was like nothing she had ever felt before. Bullets, burns, stabbings, Goa'uld pain sticks and that's just to name a few. She had felt all kinds of pains before but never anything like having her stomach eaten by acid and bugs.

"Drink this" Tarinca told her as she held up a flask of liquid. Sam drank it quickly and instantly felt nauseous. "That will counter the acid and kill the Attenione" she explained as Sam started throwing up. "It works quickly, as you see your body is already getting rid of the dead Attenione"

"Pains still there" Sam hissed as she wiped her mouth

"I will relieve your pain only after you tell me what I want to hear"

"I don't know how to get out" Sam reminded her

"I believe you." She nodded "who are those men? Everyone here is imprinted but they are not imprinted, just like I am not" she explained as she exposed her bare ankle. Sam exposed her ankle

"Nor am I" she said, "they are my colleagues, people I work with. We are explorers just exploring the galaxy" she stated careful not to mention anything of earth or the SGC "we aren't imprinted because we're from the outside of the dome, no-one there has those tattoo's"

"If this is true then you are foolish for coming here" Tarinca smiled as she handed Sam another fluid. Sam drank it and the pain in her stomach was instantly numbed.

"Look all I want to do is get out of here so I can get back home before it's too late" Sam explained

"It seems we both want the same thing, why not tell me all that you know and we can work together?"

"I'd love to but that is just about all I know" Sam admitted and Tarinca laughed

"I think not Samantha Carter, there is much you can tell me" she smiled as she revealed a third device.

"You must hurry" the Tok'ra whispered as he helped her place Daniel's body into the Sarcophagus

"Why is it so urgent?" Sam asked looking around

"The Jaffa check on the Sarcophagus every few hours, I think that they don't trust me" he explained and Sam nodded as she watched the sarcophagus close.

We will do the Jaffa next but the Tok'ra will have to wait until after the Jaffa have done their check" he directed while she nodded looking through Jacks stasis pod. Only mere hours ago she hated this man, loathed him and would rather see him dead then watch all the Goa'uld fall. Now something had changed, she still hated the Tok'ra but she felt something for the host.

Her feelings weren't the same happiness and comfort she felt with Daniel but something distant yet burning and strong. She felt desire, attraction, compassion and something more powerful that she didn't understand. It was fear, but a fear she could easily grow accustomed to. It was a good fear, not of him but a fear for him. She mourned him and felt guilt. All these emotions were foreign to her but at the same time familiarly overwhelming.

"Loral" she whispered and Loral lifted her head from the floor where she was resting "is it normal to feel emotions for someone you hate?" Sam asked and Loral frowned in thought

"Well I always hated my husband, the brute couldn't keep his fist to himself, but I always loved him" she explained as an example

"Yes but that was love before the hate. Is it possible to love someone that you have always hated?"

"It is in the case of the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld. Many people have separate feelings towards the symbiote and the host" the Tok'ra operative explained

"But I have always hated the Tok'ra and the host" she replied still gazing in at Jack

"What changed?" he asked curious.

"Nothing changed but now my feelings towards the host are of love, a love I fear is far greater than that of my love for Daniel." She explained as the Sarcophagus opened.

"Samantha?" Daniel asked as he sat upright in the sarcophagus

"I'm here" she smiled as she helped him out

"I thought I was dead, I thought I would never see you again. You brought me back," he said hugging her

"And you doubted me" she laughed as she fell into his embrace. She lavished the comfort of his arms around her and his body close to hers but her thoughts still lingered on Jack. Her eyes stayed watching his stasis pod.

Tarinca stepped closer with the third device and Sam clenched her teeth in fury. She had had enough along time ago and this was pissing her off. Just as Tarinca stepped close enough, Sam swung her foot underneath Tarinca and she fell to the floor. Sam then quickly rolled over to her and pinned her down under Sam's weight.

"Get off me!" Tarinca snapped but Sam pushed down harder until Tarinca was gasping, her lungs being crushed "GUARDS!" she managed to scream before she passed out from lack of oxygen. Sam sprung up off the ground and grabbed the staff weapon as she stood beside the door. Sure enough two armed men ran in and Sam fired, killing them both. She took what she thought were a type of keys from one of the men and then used them on the metal device that was restraining her wrists. The device broke off and her hands were free. She quickly made her way out of that side of the city she was trapped in and started her search for the bodies of her teammates. After a while of sneaking through the city and hiding in tunnels, she soon found the room where her friends were held. Their bodies lay naked and exposed on three separate benches as if ready for their autopsies. She quickly found metallic blankets and used them to cover their bodies up. Then she quickly looked for a plan. She saw one when her eyes fell upon a series of stasis pods. She was about to attempt to put Jack inside one of them when she heard footsteps enter the room. She snapped round and aimed her staff weapon.

"Who's there?" she demanded at the figure standing in the shadows of the room. The figure stepped forward and with a familiarly cold voice spoke 3 chilling words "we are Hathor"

"Be silent" Sam hissed as she, Daniel and Loral held Teal'c down while they hid in the shadows as the Jaffa Entered the room. Following their footsteps was a Goa'uld.

"Where are they?" she demanded as they entered the room

"I do not understand goddess Hathor?" the Tok'ra asked

"The Tar'ri known as SG1, Major Carter was spotted coming in here with a woman. They brought in three stasis pods" she explained. And Sam gulped knowing she had been found out.

"I am here" Sam exclaimed standing up

"Where are the others?" she demanded to know "dead, I brought them here to use the sarcophagus but it didn't work" she explained

"And the woman?" she asked impatiently

"There was no other" she shook her head

"Bring forth their bodies" Hathor demanded and Sam pushed Jacks stasis pod forward.

"This is the only one left to try" Sam assured her. Hathor walked over to his pod and opened it. She looked at the back of his neck.

"He has been blended" Hathor commented "pity, you will have to do," she said grabbing Sam's arm. "Place him in the sarcophagus" Hathor ordered the Tok'ra "ready her for implantation" Hathor ordered one of her Jaffa

"No!" Daniel shouted standing up

"You fool" Sam said shaking her head as Hathor ordered her men to take them out of the shadows

"Explain!" Hathor ordered the Tok'ra

"I assure you, I knew nothing of their presence" the Tok'ra lied and Hathor frowned

"Lock up the woman, then send those three through the dome once he has been revived" Hathor ordered pointing to the three male duplicates. Hathor then dragged Sam from the room.

"How did you get in here?" Hathor asked calmly and Sam held up the keys as she aimed the weapon "will you harm us?" Hathor asked nervously and Sam looked at her confused "we will not harm you" Hathor assured her

"I find that hard to believe" Sam commented as Hathor stepped closer and looked down at Daniel's body

"We are sorry for your loss Samantha. Rest assured he will always be remembered as 'Daniel, the Great assassin'" Hathor bowed her head in sadness "as will you, when your journey ends 'Samantha the great assassin. One of the pair'"

"Your personality has been changed" Sam stated in realization as she lowered her weapon

"Personality?" Hathor questioned

"Never mind, just help me put these bodies into the stasis pods" Sam directed her and then she nodded as she helped her lower Jack onto a pod. For a brief moment, he was weightless and invisible. He reappeared fully clothed but in the blood stained clothes of the Tok'ra.

"Sir?" Sam asked as Jack's eyes opened

"Samantha Carter, am I back in the dome?" he asked in the voice of the host

"Yes sir" she nodded cautiously

"The last I saw of you, was inside the isolation room we were kept in. you killed me," he said confused

"Go me" she said backing away from him in realization.

"Sam?" Daniel asked as he sat up right "get away from her!" Daniel snapped as he jumped up off the bench, clothed in the blood stained clothing he had died in.

"It's alright Daniel, the Goa'uld personality's change for the better when they're inside the dome." Sam assured him

"I killed you" Teal'c exclaimed as he arose and saw Daniel.

"You must have been put in a sarcophagus" Sam thought out loud as she noticed the blue tattoo's on each of their ankles "you're the duplicates" she muttered

Hathor watched with a sly smile on her face as her slaves sent the duplicates through, in their place came the bodies of Colonel Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson and Teal'c. Her face fell at the sight of their lifeless bodies.

"The Tar'ri are far too breakable" she muttered before ordering them to the sarcophagus.

"Actually honey, this man is a Tok'ra" Daniel explained as he stepped closer and pulled Sam towards him. Sam looked at him confused and then quickly connected the dots as she stepped back with him.

"Now you recognize my heritage, now when that one factor determines your fate" he laughed as he advanced on them.

"Stop!" Hathor yelled holding up Sam's staff weapon "you will move no further" she ordered and he paused

"You think I fear you? You think I don't know that you can not fire that?" he mocked her cunningly walking straight up to her "you are weak"

Hathor trembled; he took the staff from her hand and ordered her to kneel before him. She did and he smiled at her obedience.

"You see the power the Tok'ra have, I didn't even touch you" he laughed brushing his hand against her cheek. She looked up at him confused and he paused in contemplation.

"O'Neill has grown weak, taking value in his interests. He chooses strong women, for the sport. You were once strong but now…" he stared down looking into her eyes and studying Hathors features.

"Stop it!" Sam snapped but the Tok'ra only raised his weapon at her

"You will suit" he stated leaning down to steal a kiss, Hathor pulled back but he held her still. Sam glanced away as he kissed her. Hathor let out a breath just as he released her, a breath of pheromone.

"Why did you come here?" Hathor demanded and Sam looked up fiercely.

"I told you, to revive the others" she stated and Hathor snorted

"There is a spy amongst our ranks, a Tok'ra" she stated "do you deny this Tok'ra has told you of this planet"

"The Tok'ra is gone, you sent him through" she told her "I'm from the inside"

"We do not believe you" Hathor challenged and Sam showed her ankle to reveal the tattoo. Hathor frowned.

"Take her" she ordered her guard "send her through like the others."

"I'm sorry my queen" Jack stuttered at the sight of Hathor's tears "I should have asked"

This tweaked the interest of the room.

"Are you alright O'Neill?" Teal'c asked grasping a scalpel of sorts

"Fine now that my queen is here" he smiled kneeling down for her. Daniel spotted the scalpel and grabbed another, charging at Teal'c and slicing into his throat without hesitation.

"No!" Hathor yelled at him "he has not lived for more than a moment and you take his life again"

Jack looked to Hathor's reaction and reacted by firing the staff at Daniel

"No!" Sam gasped at the sight of Daniel's body fall, she grabbed the third scalpel and ran at him as her only choice, but he aimed the staff at her so instead she stuck it to Hathor's throat.

He dropped the staff.

The guard released Sam's cuffed arms as he went to direct her to the dome edge but Sam panicked and wrapped her arm around his throat choking him. He gasped for breath.

"Show me where the others are" she demanded and he nodded so she released him but took his weapon

"Take me to them"

"Don't hurt her" he pleaded under the influence of the drug

"Tell me how to get out of here" she demanded.

"I don't know" he lied and she pushed against Hathor's throat harder, piercing the skin slightly "um your counter person from the other side has to touch the dome, it's the only way" he explained and she frowned

"Why did you come here?" she asked not believing him

"I was forced here, she sent us back" he said pointing to Hathor. Hathor had begun hyperventilating at the stress. Flinched at the thought of Hathor being in control on the other side.

"Let her go please" he pleaded kneeling down on his knees beside his staff

"Where were you when you came here, they revived me in a sarcophagus I think." He explained and she frowned. Hathor's hyperventilating was getting out of control.

"Please" he pleaded and Sam nodded releasing Hathor. Hathor took in a deep breath and then collapsed.

"My queen!' he shrieked standing over her, Sam stepped back. He picked up the staff.

"You will pay" his eyes glowed

Jack awoke to the sound of his cell opening; dressed in robes he'd never put on. The doors swung open and there before him stood Sam and Hathor's guard.

"Come on, we have to get out of here" she told him ushering for him to stand

"What?" he slurred in his sleepy revere

"Come on, we have to get out now" she pleaded and then the alarms rang. Jack sat up and followed her out.

Jack aimed the staff at her. Sam ducted down as he fired the staff and then kicked it from his grasp, he growled and rather than run after it, he leaped at her as she ran and pulled her down. She tried to kick free but he hugged her legs to him, keeping them still. She reached for the staff but he pulled her closer to him, a tactic he'd taught himself for a different use.

She like everyone else he tried this on instinctively beat at him and tried to claw away. He shifted his weight on top of her and grabbed her arms. She then realized she'd need to fight her way out rather than run or shoot. He now held her arms above her head like he had before, gripping two wrists in one hand, bruising her. She pushed up against him with all her strength trying to make him lose balance and fall.

He smiled knowing she'd try that and was prepared for it. With his free hand he wrapped it around her neck squeezing her throat. She choked and gasped for air that couldn't pass through. His pulse had quickened and the rush of the tussle had begun to counter the effects of the pheromone. His thoughts no longer lingered on Hathor. Hathor still lay unconscious not far from them, unaware.

Sam was growing weak; panicking as he began crushing her windpipe. In the panic she couldn't focus on her training, she couldn't think what to do and her perception of reality began to scramble. Oxygen deprivation blinded her and through her eyes she only saw Jacks Face as he choked her.

"Sir please…" she pleaded

Jack looked at her with mixed emotion. He felt the initial hatred that boiled over with Hathor's sudden collapse but that was slowly subsiding, he felt the anger that fuelled from the Tok'ra. He felt the lust he'd had when he first laid eyes on the Samantha of his world, yet he also felt a strong but strange emotion, something he'd never felt before. He felt the need to stop; he wanted her to live.

He tightened his grip on her arms but let her throat go. She gasped for air, choking from the pressure and sucking in fresh air. She looked up at him with relief that she wasn't dying but as she felt her wrists bruising, she felt fear. Jack was struggling inside of himself fighting the words the Tok'ra was whispering, fighting with 'need'. As his mind started to fill with thoughts of compassion, morals and a growing conscience the Tok'ra was fighting him, repressing those new thoughts and emotions.

Sam struggled beneath him trying to free herself from his grasp. He seemed preoccupied, he wasn't as focused and she thought she had a chance. She tried to buck him away from her but that only woke him out of his revere.

Jack no longer saw her as the person he did for just that moment, he saw her as an object once more.

Jack, Daniel and Teal'c reached the glass city following the duplicates lead. It had taken time to get through the tunnels but they had made it and felt relief at the escape of Hathor's domain.

They were greeted by the Just and Tarinca took them in.

The first thing on the agenda now that Hathor's men weren't hunting them was to get their Sam back. The obvious answer entered all their minds. They all glanced at the duplicate who was standing by a glass wall looking out over the dome solemnly.

Daniel moved to speak to her but Jack stood up first.

"Carter…" he spoke as he walked over to her

"Samantha" she corrected and he smiled

"Samantha. You came here because Carter touched the dome and we went there because we did, then we came back because Hathor sent our duplicates back…"

"You want me to go back inside" she stated and he sighed

"Look I can imagine what it must be like in your place, being asked to go back to world ruled by a Goa'uld who takes women as his property…" she laughed cutting him off

"That's not why" she told him and he tilted his head in surprise and confusion. "It's him," she said looking at Daniel

"Oh…what do you mean?" he asked and she smiled sadly

"The Daniel of my world thinks he loves me, we're engaged. I thought I loved him but in our world love isn't recognized. So few of us even get a chance to experience simple happiness or kindness, trust or compassion. I felt those for Daniel and misconstrued them. I now realize that we aren't your opposites O'Neill, our minds just use traits of your personalities that are usually dormant in you. I never loved Daniel; I just cared for him, like you would a friend. I was attracted to him because of my need to be close to another and simple hormones."

"Oh, so you don't want to go back because you don't love your fiancée anymore?" he asked and she sighed

"None of us feel these emotions, unless they're triggered by a memory. I've only felt these emotions because I remembered a moment that had never occurred. A memory that didn't belong to me. Something as simple as the words Carter and Sir triggered feelings I'd never dealt with before. I don't want to return because this memory was triggered by O'Neill of my world" Jack listened and felt the pinch as he knew exactly what emotions had been triggered.

"It's not a memory, it's something me and our Carter deal with on a day to day basis" he began to explain when she looked to him with a solemn look of understanding

"Regulations" she stated and he nodded. She sighed and then bit her lip "you care for her, far more than I ever did for Daniel" she stated and he kept eye contact

"Yes I do, very much so"

"Then I will go back" she decided and turned to head towards the dome but he grasped her arm stopping her

"Thank you" he said in return and she closed the space between them, gently pressing her lips to his, taking one kiss and then stepping back and running towards the dome room.

The Tok'ra urged Jack on as he kissed her neck, using his free hand to push her torn shirt up to her neck, exposing her bra.

Sam fought beneath him trying to pull her legs free to kick him off. Twisting her wrists to break his grip but he held too tight for her wrists to move. The only thought she came up with was to play into it. She stopped pulling against his grip or trying to wriggle out, hoping he'd soften his grip. When he didn't she used a final fleeting trick, she kissed him. Distracting him enough to throw her body weight with her hip and roll him under her. Then she lifted her knee powerfully into his groin.

Leaving him in agony she got up and grabbed the first weapon she came across which turned out to be one of the scalpels. He'd gotten up to run after her by then and she'd only just grabbed the scalpel in her hand when he wrapped one arm around her arms, pressing them to her sides and the other around her neck. As he pulled the arm around her throat, she choked and dropped the scalpel.

"Jack…" she pleaded and he dropped her, holding his head as his mind flooded with emotions and imagery he'd never known. She ran and grabbed the staff, backing away from him. Suddenly he jerked forwards choking. The Tok'ra escaped him and tried to go launch at Sam but she shot it.

Jack saw the dead Tok'ra and then saw the weapon. He saw her pull her shirt back down and aim the staff weapon at him. His face fell and he moved closer to her

"Samantha I'm…" he was cut off as she fired at the floor right in front of him. He paused and looked at her not saying anything. She held the staff aimed at his chest.

"Carter I'm sorry." he stated and she flinched

"Don't!" she snapped, making him frown in uncertainty "don't call me that, you're not him"

"I know, I was trying to fight the Tok'ra."

"Tok'ra aside, you're not him" she cut him off "keep away from me"

"Listen Sam, I know you don't believe that I don't want to hurt you but you're just going to have to trust me" he told her but she didn't even blink. She kept her eyes focused on her aim while her mind danced not knowing what to do. She hadn't expected what happened next. She was studying his features trying to determine if she could believe anything he said. "It was that damn Tok'ra, something happened when I was on the outside, I started to remember things, things I'd never done. He was loosing control so he started to screw around with my head"

"Stop it" she ordered and he threw up his hands in defense.

"I'm not going to hurt you Carter" he assured her as he started walking towards her, she held her staff steady but he just stood directly in front of it, much like Teal'c would do. "Go on shoot" he ordered "you can't do it can you? You can't kill me because you feel to much for me, I know you do because the same thing happens to me whenever I hear the word sir or whenever you look at me that way, that pleading look, it's a silent wish" Sam's mind jumped back to a time she'd been in this same situation, she'd had the gun and had been talked out of it by her ex fiancée. He'd convinced her she couldn't shoot him and he took the gun. She looked up at Jack; he was standing in front of the staff asking her to shoot. Telling her he remembered something that the Jack she knew could only know. She fired the staff.

Jack ran into the dome room to find her mere steps away from the edge. Before she touched the edge she looked back towards him and smiled.

"Perhaps I will find you in the O'Neill I know" she offered to reassure him and he nodded smiling. Daniel and Teal'c came in just then and she touched the edge. For a brief moment she disappeared and then reappeared in Sam's SGC uniform that was torn open at the back and covered in blood. Sam took one look around and then collapsed. Jack stood in shock for a brief second and then ran up to her. She sat on the floor cradling herself. Her clothing was drenched in blood and her face white and tear-stained. Jack for a moment thought she was injured and scanned her for wounds but she pushed his hands away.

"It's not my blood" she put him at ease and he sat back. Teal'c had wisely stood back and Daniel had only gone a few steps closer to her.

"Carter?" he asked not needing to say anything else. He wanted to ask what had happened but knew enough not to. Her eyes met his, burning with emotion she so desperately didn't want him to see yet wanting to voice the emotions. His face stayed blank, not knowing what to say yet always knowing that she didn't need him to.

"Home sir?" she asked and he nodded as she picked herself up and walked out ahead of him

"Sir"

Samantha reappeared on the inside to find herself cradling Jacks body. He had a staff blast through his chest and had bled out a fair bit but he wasn't dead. She pressed her hand to his throat and felt his pulse. It was there but it was very weak.

She swallowed back emotion and placed her hand against his cheek. He opened his eyes at the touch and she smiled sadly.

"Samantha?" he asked and she nodded "it's me O'Neill" she told him and he nodded

"I'm…" he began but closed his eyes drifting a bit, she shook him back

"You're what?" she asked and he looked at her intensely. She stroked her thumb against his cheek. He didn't understand this after all he'd done to her. After all that he'd 'taken' so wrongly.

"I'm sorry" he whispered to her as best he could and she nodded holding his head in her hand.

"I can't help you O'Neill" she admitted and he just smiled

"Don't worry about it" he joked and she sighed fighting back the tears that were forming. She couldn't understand why this was as painful as it was. Up until she'd met the real people on the outside, she'd loathed him…but now.

He cupped her spare hand with his own, holding eye contact. "Sam…Daniel has been killed" he told her and she nodded

"I know" she reassured him "it doesn't matter now" she whispered and he nodded

"You made it through Carter, you're gonna be all right" he muttered closing his eyes. She sighed as another memory flickered through and then she felt his body sink against her. She gasped as a wave of sorrow overwhelmed her and then she smiled, fighting back the teardrops that were falling and gently kissed him.

She eased him out of her arms and then wondered over to the others, she could see they were dead except Hathor who was breathing.

She tapped Hathor with her foot to wake her. She stirred and then looked up alarmed.

"What happened?" she demanded and Hathor looked at Jack and then back at her.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked pushing herself up but Sam shook her head

"You killed him" she explained and Sam looked at the staff by his side and nodded

"Come on" she gestured towards the door

"Where are we going?" Hathor asked and Sam looked at her as if it was obvious

"To find the other opposites of the misjust" she explained. Hathor let out a sigh of relief and stood up following her. Sam let Hathor lead and then looked back at Jack one last time.

"Yes sir"

End