CATEGORY: a bit of it all: Adventure, Betrayal, Romance, Angst ...
SUMMARY: Sam's world threatens to fall apart when someone unexpectedly returns to the SGC ...
TIMEFRAME: about four months after "Shades of Gray"
"Trust is a two-edged sword."
TURNING TABLESSamantha Carter felt like her world was disintegrating.
Again.
Everything had seemed to be fine. All the earth-shattering events and confusing revelations of the past months had finally been put behind her. She had been able to settle down again, secure in the knowledge that her world was once more as safe and stable as she could make it - always considering the fact that she was part of SG1, the SGC's leading away-team, which made the term 'safety' relative at best.
Now the foundations of her existence were rocking once again.
It had started with an unscheduled activation of the Stargate.
Two hours ago the symbols on the gate had suddenly begun to spin, had locked and - following procedure - the iris had closed, as was to be expected. Nothing unusual really. Then the code had come through. A code that had caused eyebrows to rise in the control room. A code that should not have been accepted by the system.
But the computers had declared it valid, and so had General Hammond.
The iris had opened and the broken, bloodied figure of a man had come stumbling through the big ring, only to collapse on the ramp as soon as he had passed the shimmering curtain of the event horizon.
Now that same man was in the infirmary, had been hurriedly wheeled there the minute Janet Fraiser had laid eyes on him. Squashing all speculations as to his astounding presence, Janet had roughly assessed the possibility of broken bones and inner bleeding, had frowned over the all too apparent cuts, bruises and burn wounds, and had had him whisked away for surgery and treatment immediately.
"No questions!" she had ordered brusquely, fending off an apparently deeply concerned General Hammond, who had followed the gurney in the hope that the man on it would regain consciousness and answer the questions which were burning on his lips. "With luck you will be able to get some answers from him ... later. With a lot of luck. ... And before you ask, ...." She had shot him a caustic look. "No, I don't know yet whether he'll make it or what his chances are."
The door of the operating room had closed in his face.
The general wasn't the only one whose questions were left unanswered.
Sam, like almost everybody else on the base, waited for Janet to come out again and explain what was happening. Explain the sudden, unexpected appearance of a man she had thought she'd never see again. A man who had once been her friend, at one time even her lover.
Robert F. Makepeace.
The traitor.
* * * * *
Seven months earlier, Sam's world had collapsed for the first time.
She had worked herself into exhaustion to find a way to get Colonel Jack O'Neill back home again from the planet Edora, where a meteor shower had buried the Stargate and thus stranded the leader of SG1 far away from Earth for months. When they had finally reached Edora, they had found him strangely reluctant to leave.
It had hurt. Very much so. So much, that she had done something previously unthinkable. She had sought comfort from a man she, until that time, would have considered a most unlikely source for any kind of contact outside the SGC, Colonel Robert Makepeace, the leader of SG-3.
Their relationship had only lasted for a short time. Until she had realized that it wasn't Robert Makepeace her heart really wanted. In the following weeks, she and Jack O'Neill had slowly built something that had been deeper than mere friendship. They both weren't quite sure what it was that was developing between them, and by unspoken agreement, neither of them openly acted upon their feelings. For more than the very obvious reasons. But still, their bond was deep and built to last. Or so she had thought.
She and Robert, on the other hand, had stayed friends, very good friends. A fact that, from time to time, had had O'Neill break out in small, unreasonable bouts of what could only be called jealous ranting. It seemed that he wasn't able to simply accept her friendship with the Marine.
Sometimes Sam had even thought that it was rather sweet that the Colonel wasn't just taking her for granted, that he was treating their new relationship as something very fragile and precious.
So, despite this strange state of a non-relationship relationship, she had been happy.
Then another 'bomb' had exploded, turning her world upside down again.
On a diplomatic mission to Tollana, the Colonel had stolen a technical device.
Confronted with his theft back home on Earth, he had shown them all a side to his character that they hadn't thought existed. Bitter, and determined that what he had done was right, that the Asgard, the Nox and the Tollans owed it to them to provide Earth with their technology, and if they wouldn't, that they, the humans, had the right to take what wasn't given.
This 'new' Jack O'Neill had been a complete stranger.
Sam had tried to find a reason for his behavior, had tried to understand him, but he hadn't even wanted to see her. He had told her in no uncertain terms that he considered their 'little fling' a mistake. That he wanted her out of his life.
One week after General Hammond had assigned Robert Makepeace as the new leader of SG1, O'Neill had asked to be sent to Edora, to spend the rest of his life there with Laira, the woman he had been living with there.
Sam had been devastated.
What had made things worse was that, even before these events, Makepeace had seemed to have changed in some strange, inexplicable way, too. Nothing big or very noticeable. Most of the time he had just appeared to be distant and preoccupied, no longer the friend she might have taken her worries to. To anybody but Sam, the change would probably not have been apparent at all.
If it hadn't been for Daniel and Teal'c, Sam would not only have been very unhappy, but also very, very lonely.
Then, in the space of a few days, the tables had turned again.
Jack O'Neill had been returned to them, ... but, for her, the price had been the loss of a good friend. Robert had been arrested for high treason.
O'Neill's actions had been nothing but a ruse to ferret out the 'mole' in the SGC, the man who really had been stealing from their allies.
Colonel Robert F. Makepeace, USMC.
* * * * *
For a while, Sam hadn't known who to trust anymore. Too much had happened in too little time.
O'Neill had devoted a lot of his time and effort to rebuilding their trust. He had tried to convince them that what he had told them, had told her, had all been a necessary part of his act, a ruse meant to deceive Maybourne. It hadn't been easy, but finally Sam had allowed herself to believe in him, in a possible 'them', again.
Her world had stopped rocking. Her life had become normal again - well, as normal as could be expected, anyway. But she had slowly started to enjoy herself again. To feel safe.
Until two hours ago, when she had recognized the bloodied features of the man lying in the embarkation room, close to death.
Until she had observed Colonel Jack O'Neill unobtrusively take the general aside and overheard him whispering, "He must have put up one hell of a fight from the look of things. Seems like they found him out. What do you think happened, sir?"
Yes, what had happened?
More still, what was happening?
* * * * *
After Robert's arrest and subsequent court martial, which had led to his being stripped of his rank and dishonorably discharged from the Service, she had tried to find him, had wanted to talk to him, to offer her help. But he had been gone without a trace. He might as well have disappeared from the face of the earth.
Now she wasn't so sure if that hadn't been exactly what had happened.
How had he come to be off-world?
What had he been doing wherever he had been?
How was it possible that he had a working GDO?
And a valid code?
So many questions!
Did all the answers really lie with the unconscious man in the infirmary only, the man who at the moment was kept alive by blinking and beeping machines and by the skills of a woman who refused to give one of her patients up to death?
What was going on?
More lies? More deceptions?
Was there anybody she could really trust?
Which way were the tables turning now?
* * * * *
"Sam?" Daniel's face swam into her vision and disrupted her confused thoughts. "Do you know what's going on?"
Sam needed a moment to concentrate on his question. "What?"
"Someone said that Makepeace came through the gate. That he's wounded and Janet's treating him." Clearly puzzled, Daniel looked to her for answers. Answers that she would like to hear as well.
"Yes, Daniel. He came through and Janet has him in the infirmary. But that's all I know. ... I think you're asking the wrong person."
Daniel's eyes opened wide at the bitterness that was reflected in Sam's voice. She sounded hurt.
"Sam?" Concerned, he stepped closer and lightly touched her arm.
"It appears that Dr. Fraiser has finished," Teal'c observed.
As one they turned and watched an exhausted Janet Fraiser walk past them into General Hammond's office.
"Where's Jack?" Daniel looked around him, noting the absence of their team leader and friend for the first time.
"Closeted in there with the general." Sam indicated the general's office with a curt nod of her head.
"Why ... " Daniel broke off when Sam raised her hand warningly. Faint voices could be heard issuing from General Hammond's office. Janet had forgotten to close the door. She really had to be very exhausted.
"We have taken care of most of his injuries, sir. It isn't quite as bad as it looked at first glance. All the blood made it seem worse than it really was. ... To sum it up, apart from a mass of mostly minor cuts, bruises and abrasions, he has suffered several burn wounds and a slight concussion. We also had to reduce his left shoulder, and he has probably torn a ligament in there. ... The worst we're dealing with at the moment is the blood loss. It has caused a severe shock to his system. From his obvious exhaustion and dehydration I assume he probably walked ... or ran a considerable distance before he came through the gate."
Janet had apparently finished her report on the extent of Makepeace's injuries.
"Was he tortured?" Hammond's inquired
"I can only guess, but considering the state he's in – I'd say yes." Janet didn't beat about the bush.
"When can we talk to him?" That was the general again.
"For the moment he is stable, though still unconscious. We have him on IV, replacing lost blood, minerals and body fluids to help rebuild his strength. ... I think his overall excellent physical condition will help to see him through this without any lasting problems. You will probably be able to talk to him as soon as he wakes up. So, given proper medical care and sufficient rest, his chances for a full and speedy recovery are very good."
"Thank you, Dr. Fraiser. I know you have done all you can for Colonel Makepeace. ... What do you think happened?"
"Sir, I'm only a doctor. I don't know. ... From the extent and nature of his injuries, I'd say it must have been one hell of fight to get away from whoever was torturing him. And he was lucky to get away. Some more of this treatment and I doubt he'd have made it back."
Silence, until Janet continued.
"We had to treat stab wounds and blunt force trauma; and I also found evidence of staff weapon bursts or something very similar. One wound looked suspiciously like a good, old gunshot graze. Most of his injuries are several hours old; they were already starting to scab over, but they were left largely untreated, which explains part of the blood loss .... For more information you'll have to wait for him to wake up. He's the only one right now who can tell you exactly what happened. ... If you don't mind, sir, I'd like to catch some rest now."
"Of course. Thank you, Doctor. Please, notify me as soon as Colonel Makepeace wakes up."
"Yes, sir."
Janet turned to go, but before she had left the office and could close the door, the three people in the corridor clearly heard Jack O'Neill's voice stating, "Gods, what is it about those stupid Marines, that they always think they have to save the planet single-handedly? Doesn't anybody teach them common sense at that clown college of theirs? Why the hell didn't he contact us and .... " The door closed on the rest of Jack's exasperated ranting.
With a shrug and a tired smile for Sam, Teal'c and Daniel, Janet left.
Daniel turned to Sam, his eyes mirroring disbelief. "Colonel Makepeace?"
When Sam didn't react to the implied question, he added, "Didn't somebody say that Makepeace had been demoted and kicked out of the Marine Corps? What gives?"
"It would seem that we must wait for O'Neill, if we want to obtain that information."
'Teal'c's face was devoid of all expression, as usual, but his voice definitely carried a hint of annoyance', Sam thought detachedly. The same kind of annoyance she felt. Though, annoyance wasn't exactly the right word for what she felt. ... What was it she was feeling?
Betrayed?
Again?
So, what else was new!
* * * * *
"Hi, folks, so this is where you got to." Jack O'Neill's lanky frame lounged against the door of the lab. He surveyed the three people inside the room. His team and his best and probably only friends.
The guarded, almost expressionless looks with which they returned his scrutiny caused a string of warning bells start a cacophonous ringing in his head. Uh, uh. He had done it again. They were mad at him.
"What's wrong, people?" He thought he knew, but maybe it wasn't that. 'Fat chance' he silently admonished himself ironically, 'don't delude yourself!'
"Why don't you tell us?"
'Oops, Daniel really sounds pissed this time.' Jack winced inwardly. "Hey, come on, give me a break. I may be good, but even I can't read thoughts, now, can I?" Maybe a touch of the good old stalling technique would get him off the hook.
Not this time.
"Yes, sir, I think you should tell us what is going on." Carter sounded more tired and disappointed than mad. He had to tread carefully with her. She had been through too much already. He wasn't sure how much more she could take. But, damn, he couldn't tell them, too much was at stake.
He sighed and stepped into the lab, closing the door behind him.
"Listen, Carter, Daniel, ... Teal'c," he added with a sideways glance at the stoic face of the Jaffa, "I would tell you, if I could, but I can't, ... really I can't." He swallowed; the open disbelief and hurt in Carter's eyes were almost more than he could take. "Carter, .. you of all people, you ought to understand,..." he tried to plead with her. She was military. She just had to understand that there were some things which simply couldn't be disclosed, no matter how much he might want to do it.
"Why is Robert here?"
Robert!? Did she still have feelings for the Marine? Jack had to suppress a twinge of…. Hm, to be honest, yes, it was jealousy.
"Uhm, Makepeace, I ... ahem, ... yeah, ... " This definitely wasn't one of his better days. Even if he wasn't as eloquent as Daniel or Carter, he still usually managed more than this helpless stuttering. "I can't tell you."
"You can't trust us, you mean, don't you?" Daniel accused him.
"Daniel, that's not it. Truly. Please, ... Carter, you know I trust you. All of you."
"Do you, sir?" Her voice reflected a considerable measure of pain.
Suddenly Jack couldn't stand it anymore. Damn the regulations, damn all that stupid secrecy. It wasn't worth losing his team and his best friends over. These people deserved better from him. It would be out soon enough anyway. So, they got the knowledge a bit earlier, that was all, no harm done, right?
He sighed again. "Okay, I know I shouldn't and the general will probably have my ass for it, but I'll tell you what I know." Nervously, he licked his lips. 'Where should he start?'
"You all remember the incident with the Tollans, Nox and Asgard and what happened afterwards, don't you?"
They did.
"Yeah, well, it seems Makepeace wasn't quite the guilty party. Not really, anyway. ... Ahem, ... I mean he did take that device and he took others before that. " Jack gestured vaguely. "But, ... he did it on orders."
"Yeah, Maybourne's." Occasionally even Daniel could be sarcastic.
"Hm,.. no ... or at least, hm ... his orders didn't originate from Maybourne only." If he hadn't had it before, now he certainly had their full attention.
"Maybourne had approached Makepeace some weeks earlier. He obviously thought Makepeace would make a good candidate for his illegal 'acquisitions' operation. Unfortunately, - for Maybourne -, he was wrong. Makepeace reported the whole thing to General Hammond. And some cunning guys in the Pentagon saw this as a god-sent opportunity to finally get a line on the bastard and whoever was behind him. They decided that Makepeace should go along with Maybourne and his cronies. So he happily joined Harry's ring of busy, little beavers. Then they got a little too busy and the shit hit the fan."
"The Asgard, the Tollans and the Nox complained," Daniel translated. He remembered the time only too well.
"And threatened to sever all ties with us," Jack added, nodding.
"So why didn't Makepeace just blow the whistle on the whole operation? Why the bad-Jack-the-disgruntled-thief act?" Sometimes it seemed that Daniel was still smarting from that episode at Jack's house.
"From what the general told me, at that time Makepeace only knew about this one group – well, apart from one other thing that he had found out. But they were certain that Maybourne had several groups operating independently from each other. They didn't know how and who. And they still didn't know who was sanctioning and protecting Maybourne's activities. On the other hand, the Asgard and the other races wanted to see results. So they dealt me in."
"Then the whole thing was a scam? Put on just to keep Makepeace in the game and placate our allies at the same time?"
"Yeah, sort of."
"Then he isn't a traitor?" It was said so softly that Jack had almost missed it, almost that is, if he hadn't been watching Carter's face. She had listened to his story and he had seen disbelief, surprise and finally hope and joy pass through those beautiful eyes of hers. ... And the first thing she said, referred to Makepeace.
"No, he isn't," he admitted, careful to keep his voice devoid of any expression that might betray his feelings.
Jack could see that her mind was far away. Right now miles were separating them instead of the few feet they stood from each other. Desperately, he sought for something to draw her back into the room.
But Daniel wasn't finished analyzing his tale. "You knew all along that Makepeace wasn't a traitor? I mean, it looked so real when you cuffed him and all."
Jack blinked and turned back to Daniel. "No, that was real. I didn't know about it at the time. The general didn't tell me until much later. He must have thought my reactions to discovering the traitor to be Makepeace would be much more convincing that way."
Silently he had to admit that the general hadn't been far off in his assessment. In a way, Jack had been glad when he had seen the big Marine pocket the Asgard device. Glad because it hadn't been any of his team. Glad that it had been the man he still considered something of a rival when it came to SG operations - and Carter.
"What about the Tollans and the Asgard?" Daniel wasn't satisfied. "Do they know?"
"General Hammond told them. They agreed to play along. Foremost in their reasoning was that - no matter what - they'd get those gadgets back. Newman and his goons must have grabbed some pretty sensitive stuff. As long as they got that back, the Asgard wouldn't squeak. They'd leave the mopping up to us." What he didn't say was that there was still another reason for the alien races to go along with the humans' plans. He'd come to that later - if he had to.
"Since when have you known?" Carter's attention was back with them, her eyes unreadable.
Now came the hard part. "Since about a week after Makepeace suddenly disappeared."
He met her eyes.
Saw the realization dawning in them.
And he couldn't help noticing the darkness that suddenly clouded them.
What could he say? How could he justify what he'd done? What he hadn't done?
'Dammit, Carter!... Sam! …I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't allowed to. ... Fool! ... Since when has that ever stopped you? ... Admit it, you were glad he was gone, and gone was what you wanted him to remain.' Jack wasn't sure the woman before him had ever realized the extent of his jealousy of Makepeace.
"O'Neill?" Teal'c's deep voice interrupted his self-castigation. "You said that Colonel Makepeace had discovered one other thing."
Yeah, you could always count on the Jaffa to find the hole in his logic. This was one of the two things Jack would rather not have mentioned right now, but he obviously had no choice.
"Listen, kids, this has to stay between us, understood? You don't talk about it. Not among yourselves, not to anybody. Got that?" Jack felt like he was playing a part in a bad melodrama.
With three pairs of eyes upon him, - unreadable, expectant, detached - , he continued, sure he was about to give them ample food for thought with this little bombshell. "Makepeace discovered that there are at least three people in the SGC working for Maybourne currently, two inside the teams, one from staff."
"Colonel O'Neill, report to the infirmary, please." The blaring overhead speakers saved O'Neill from further discussions.
With the memory of Carter's eyes burning into his, he left the lab.
* * * * *
There were certainly places he'd rather be. The infirmary had seen him as a patient too often, and it held far too many unpleasant memories for him to ever be really comfortable in there. Even though, this time, it wasn't he or any of his 'family' occupying the hospital bed.
Jack O'Neill hardly recognized the man before him. The former leader of SG3 was swathed in bandages. What could be seen of his face was swollen and discolored by bruises. The rest of him didn't look much better. Yet, he was arguing with Janet Fraiser. It had started the moment the general had left the room to report Makepeace's findings to the President.
"Doc, I'll be fine. I need to go there. You can't stop me. I've got to go back. So, get those things off me."
"No way, Colonel Makepeace. You can forget about that. In fact, you can forget about going anywhere in the next few days. You'll stay put. If necessary I'll have one of my nurses sit on you."
Janet didn't even notice how funny her statement sounded, she was so angry at the rebellious Marine. Jack thought that she still had to be pretty exhausted. She seldom lost her calm this way.
Giving up on courtesy, Makepeace retorted through clenched teeth, "Doc, there are two ways we can do this. With your help or without it. You decide which it is going to be, but I'm going!"
"Damn! ... Oh, I know you Marines constantly have to prove how tough you are, but if you think I spent all that time patching you up just to have you—"
Before the shouting match could devolve any further, the calm, authoritative voice of General Hammond halted the combatants.
"Colonel Makepeace, Doctor Fraiser, ... " They both looked at the general who had stopped just inside the doorway, a disapproving frown clearly indicating what he thought of their behavior. "I will be the one to decide who goes where and when. Please, bear that in mind."
He turned to O'Neill. "Colonel O'Neill, the President has given us the go-ahead on the operation. In three hours, you will lead three SG teams through the Stargate and apprehend the people you'll find at the location that Colonel Makepeace will take you to. I want all three teams in the briefing room in half an hour and I expect SG-1 to be present as well."
"Yes, sir." With a nod at Makepeace and a shrug and an apologetic smile for Janet, Jack left the infirmary.
"Dr. Fraiser, unfortunately, we can't dispense with Colonel Makepeace's help in this matter. So, I suggest, you make sure he is in the best possible condition to carry out the mission." He raised a hand to forestall her arguments. "This is an order, Dr. Fraiser." Acknowledging her honest concern for her patient, he added on a softer note, "I am sorry, doctor, but this is really necessary. Please, believe me. Colonel Makepeace and other people have put too much into the matter already to let this opportunity pass. We do need him out there. There is no other choice."
With that, he left.
Janet turned to her patient.
In a silent request to have her disconnect the drip feeds, Robert Makepeace simply raised a bandaged arm to her.
With a sigh, Janet complied.
She'd have him back here soon enough.
If he were lucky.
* * * * *
"All right, people, you all know the setup. I expect to see you geared up and ready to deploy in the gate room in an hour." Jack O'Neill turned from the maps spread out against the walls of the briefing room and looked at his C.O. "General?"
"Good luck." Hammond nodded, looking at his best teams. Grim, determined faces returned the look. "Dismissed," the general concluded the briefing.
The members of the SG teams filed out of the briefing room. They had got over the surprise of what O'Neill and the general had just disclosed to them, and they had a mission to prepare for.
Hammond turned to a small group of people on his left.
"Jacob, Narrim, Colgar, I'd like another word with you, if you please." With a swing of his hand he motioned for the three aliens to precede him into his office.
The Tok'ra and the two Tollans disengaged themselves from the rest of the group - they had been conferring with, SG-1 and a seated Colonel Makepeace - and left the room.
"Yeah," Jack clapped his hands, lightly rocking on his feet, "we should be going, too. Getting ready for the show."
Teal'c was already at the door. With an uneasy glance at Sam - and Makepeace - Daniel followed him.
"Ahem, yeah, ... hm ... Carter, see you in the gate room. Right? ... Makepeace." Jack didn't like leaving them alone, but he really had no choice. She obviously wanted to talk to the Marine. She certainly hadn't spoken to Jack yet.
"I'm glad you're back, Robert." The tender tone of her words followed Jack O'Neill out of the briefing room.
"I'm glad I managed to get back in one piece - sort of."
With a wry smile Robert motioned to the visible bruises and Band-Aids and to the bandages that were strapped around his left shoulder and arm, rendering that side of his body virtually immobile. Most of the signs of his stay in the infirmary had disappeared beneath his BDUs, but there was still enough visible to show the extent and seriousness of his injuries.
Then he looked at her, noticed her confusion and awkwardly pushed himself up from his chair to go up to her side.
"I'm sorry, Sam."
She nodded.
"I wish I could have told you. But I couldn't. If anybody had any idea that I wasn't what I pretended to be, this whole thing would have blown sky high right away."
"And you'd probably be dead," she added softly.
"Probably," he conceded with a dry laugh. "As it is, it took them a while to have a go at me. Until I made a mistake, and they found me out. Guess I'm just not prime spy material."
"Then why do you have to go back? Look at you! You're in no condition to go anywhere, let alone on a dangerous mission like this."
She was afraid for him, he realized with a start.
"Hey, loosen up." Gently he touched her arm. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You heard the general; I'm needed to get our people on site. Besides, I've got a score to settle with those murdering bastards."
"But you're hurt pretty badly!"
'She must have talked to Janet Fraiser,' he thought grimly. "Sam, you know me. I'm tough." Despite his bruised face, he grinned at her. "Remember, I'm a Marine."
"Even Marines can die," she whispered. "And I don't want to lose you. Not again."
It had to be more than that. Sam usually was all business and competence at the SGC.
"What's wrong, Sam?"
She just shook her head and tightened her grip on the back of the chair in front of her, picking at the gray fabric.
"O'Neill, I suppose. Hm? What's he done this time?"
That flyboy had a talent of messing up whatever his relationship with Sam was that was unparalleled. Makepeace put his good hand over hers, trying to think of a way to defuse the situation. The last thing she needed now was any kind of emotional baggage to hinder her on a serious mission like the one before them.
"Sam, can you put whatever it is behind you for the moment? When we've passed the gate, you'll need a clear head. You know we can't do without you there, but we will, if we have to. If you're not up to it, we will have to take someone else. Who knows what Maybourne and his idiots have done with the stuff they've stolen. The things need to be checked out for us before we move them, and the Asgard won't be there to help us this time."
He tightened his grip and forced a hard tone into his voice. "Can you do it, Sam? Because if you can't, I'll have to tell the general you can't go."
Shocked out of her gloom, she raised her head, unshed tears clinging to her lashes.
She saw the determination in his eyes and knew it wasn't an empty threat. She felt hurt by his attitude for one second, but then she realized that he not only meant well, but that he was right. It would be dangerous for all of them if she couldn't keep her mind on the job. She couldn't jeopardize the mission with her troubles. After all, she was a soldier first. Her personal problems would just have to stand in line.
Steadying herself, she took a shaky breath and looked him straight in the eyes. "Don't worry. I can manage. I'll be okay." She even scrounged up a weak smile.
For a moment, he scrutinized her face, trying to judge her frame of mind. Then he relaxed and returned the smile, gently stroking a finger over her cheek. "We'll talk about it when we're back, okay?"
"Okay, we will. ... Thank you. ... And, ...ahm, Robert, I'm sorry, ... for not having had more faith in you, for believing the things I did about you."
"It's alright, honey. That's another thing we can leave for later, okay? ... Hey, how about you help me get my gear and I'll help you get changed and all?" He affected a mock leer that made her laugh.
"Sure thing, Colonel Makepeace, sir." Still grinning, they left the briefing room together.
Strangely, Sam felt a lot better already. Robert was still her friend. She had him back and with his help she'd sort out things, later.
Maybe for once the tables were turning in her favor.
* * * * *
With the usual 'whoosh' the wormhole closed behind them. SG-1 and the three other SG teams had reached the planet of their destination.
"Normally we would use those Goa'uld transportation rings to get us to their base, but I lost my control bracelet and those things don't work without the right code. Besides, I think, I might have put a bolt in this one's innards. So, we'll just have to hoof it." Colonel Makepeace briskly set out in the direction of the village that loomed ahead, about half an hour's march away.
'He's holding up quite well.' Jack grudgingly admitted to himself. Before they had left, Janet Fraiser had taken him aside and told him to keep an eye on the Marine. "He isn't as strong as he pretends to be, he has lost too much blood. And as soon as the painkillers wear off, he'll be in considerable pain. But I have given him as much as I dare already. Another dose might do more harm than good."
When Jack had replied that Makepeace was old enough to know what he was doing, Janet had snapped at him, "You're the leader of this mission. So it's your job to take care that everybody makes it back." And he knew that she was right. If it had been anybody but Makepeace, Jack would have been the first to agree with her, but he still had very mixed feelings where the other man was concerned.
Jack checked his little assault group and signaled for them to follow Makepeace, making sure once more that SG-1 stayed in the rear. He was uncomfortable about having Carter and, especially Daniel there, but Makepeace and the general had insisted their skills would be needed in identifying and appraising the stolen items.
It was his job not to let any harm come to them.
"Tell me again why we need the help of these natives, Makepeace." He had caught up with the former leader of SG-3.
"Oh, come on, Jack, you were at the briefing." Makepeace sounded a little out of breath already ... and a lot annoyed.
"I'm just a dumb flyboy. Spell it out again for me, will ya?" Jack told himself that he wasn't needling the other man; he was just making sure he had his facts right. Right? Yeah, and Santa was real, too.
Makepeace stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face him. His glare told Jack that the Marine knew exactly what Jack was doing or trying to do.
"Okay, once again, just for you, and I'll try not to use words of more than two syllables." Their eyes locked. "That village sits at the entrance of a short cut that ends up directly inside the base and unless you wanna walk the whole 6-hour trip around the mountain, we'd better sweet-talk the village elders into letting us use that passage, ... which is part of their temple, by the way. So they won't exactly be thrilled to let us defile it."
"What makes you think you can do it?" It was out before Jack had a chance to check the thought. He knew the answer to that one, too.
"Oh, for God's sake! You heard me tell the general that I think they'll listen to me, cause they think they owe me. I stopped that bastard Cleary from having a go at the chief's wife and daughter. I don't go with molesting women and kids.... Any more things you didn't understand, O'Neill, and want me to clarify for you? Or can we move on now?"
Jack could tell that Makepeace was pissed off with him. Great, another one. He could stand right there in line with the rest of his friends.
It was not one of his better days.
He followed Makepeace, oblivious to the puzzled looks their little by-play had elicited from the other teams.
* * * * *
Makepeace had been right. On the strength of the debt owed to him, he had been able to convince the village elders that their use of the 'holy passage' wasn't a violation of the temple's sanctity.
And he had been right about being needed for another reason, too. Without him, they'd have never found the way through the maze of tunnels that riddled the mountain.
"Remnants of the mines that those Goa'uld had their slaves dig for years to search for Na'quada," Makepeace had explained. "They run all through the mountain. It's a wonder it hasn't collapsed yet."
"Did you ever find out what happened to the Goa'uld and why they left?" Daniel's natural curiosity wasn't dimmed by their march through the narrow, poorly lit passages. Down here, he was in his element. This was his world - much more than the fighting - and possibly killing - that was about to happen soon.
"The natives say that one day they simply disappeared, leaving most of their stuff behind. But none of locals would go there - some sort of taboo, I guess. Maybourne and his people took over the stronghold and got a few of the things working, those transportation rings among them."
"Yes, but ..."
"Shh! Hold it!" Makepeace dropped his voice, stopping them with a raised hand. "We're almost there. If we don't keep quiet from now on, they'll hear us coming." He glanced at O'Neill for further orders.
"Alright, people, this is it." Jack looked at the other team leaders. "You all know the plan. We move in, grab them and secure the stronghold. Then Carter and Jackson will take a look at the doohickeys in there, pack them up and we move out again. Understood?"
Nods of agreement all around him.
"Makepeace, you, Carter and Daniel stay right here. You'll wait until we've secured the area. Then, and only then, will you come after us. ... Peters, you stay with them." One of the Marines moved to their side.
Jack stifled the protests coming from Carter and Makepeace with a shake of his head and a raised finger. "Ah! No! ... No arguments. That was an order. You know you'll only hinder us, Makepeace, and your time will come later, Carter." He turned to the other teams. "Let's go."
As silently as possible, they moved out.
* * * * *
"Is it okay, if we talk in here?" Daniel whispered. On Makepeace's orders, they had moved back to an intersection of tunnels to keep an eye on various escape routes. Peters had stationed himself a few steps up into one of them, leaving the others sufficient privacy to talk.
"Should be," Makepeace answered softly. "The access tunnel begins on the other side of that rock formation, so we ought to be pretty much protected here. Just don't start yodeling, Doc, okay?"
Sam had to suppress a smile at the perplexed look on Daniel's face. "Oh? ... Yeah." He smiled too, as he got the joke - a bit belatedly. Not that it hadn't been pretty feeble anyway.
Sam flopped down next to Makepeace. He was on the floor, his back propped against the rocky walls, eyes closed, breathing in short gasps. She scrutinized his face. He couldn't hide his exhaustion, and deep lines of pain were engraved in his face.
"Robert?" Recognizing the concern in her whispered question, he looked up at her.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." He patted her hand.
"You don't look it."
"Looks can be deceiving."
Daniel wasn't done getting to the bottom of the secrets of this new planet. During the briefing he had stopped listening to the general after his astonishing revelation of Makepeace's discovery and of his intention to return to the place where he had almost been killed. Now there were things he wanted to know. "How did Maybourne ever find this place?"
"Someone showed him the way."
The somewhat curt answer didn't only catch Daniel's attention. Sam threw Makepeace a puzzled glance, too.
"Yes," she said slowly, remembering the briefing. "Come to think of it, the general never mentioned it ... or how you got to be here, either."
Both looked at Makepeace, waiting for an answer to the mystery.
All they got was a deep, exasperated sigh.
"Oh, come on. We're bound to find out soon enough. So, why don't you tell us?" Daniel thought there'd be no harm in trying a little wheedling on the Marine.
He was more than slightly surprised when the other man chuckled and sat up straighter, obviously about to answer their questions.
"Haven't you wondered why the Tollans and Jacob Carter were present at the briefing?"
"Ye-es?"
"Well, this part of the story concerns them directly, that's why General Hammond called them in. After my court martial, Maybourne arranged for me to be transported off world, to continue my 'work' for his group. You can imagine how surprised I was to find myself a passenger on a Tollan ship."
Gasps of surprise interrupted his report.
"What?"
Makepeace shrugged, hissing with pain when his injured shoulder protested at the movement.
"The Tollans?"
"Yep, the Tollans. Seems like there are some folks out there in the galaxy who don't agree with the general conception that we humans aren't to be trusted with advanced weapons and technology. They aren't many, though, all I ever saw were a few Tollans ... and a Tok'ra."
Makepeace had to stop as another wave of pain washed over him.
"Robert!"
"It's alright," he groaned. "There's nothing you can do about it."
Sam knew he was right. He had known about his condition and that it wouldn't be easy for him. It had been his decision to come.
"That Tok'ra and the Tollans, how did Maybourne meet them?" Daniel again.
"From what I could gather, they contacted him, offering to help him find what he was looking for, instead of letting his people stumble from one planet to the next. They wouldn't give him any stuff, but they pointed out planets to visit, and occasionally they ferried things or people for him. ... The general said the other races suspected someone was helping Maybourne's guys. They knew too much about where to raid and what to find. Someone had to give them the info."
"So, they went along with the general's scheme to flush out not only the traitors in the SGC, but also among themselves?"
"Yeah."
"And you suffered for it."
"Hey, cut it out, Sam. I'm gonna be fine. As soon as this little skirmish is over and done with, I'll get my rank and my command back. No sweat."
Suddenly Daniel snickered softly. When the others looked at him inquiringly, he explained. "I just remembered that scene in the gate room. You really had me fooled. I never would have thought ..., ahem, I mean I didn't think you'd ... " Embarrassed, he stopped speaking. His face took on a reddish hue and his hands clutched his legs nervously.
"You didn't think I had it in me, huh?" Makepeace grinned at the archaeologist's discomfort. "I was quite impressed with my performance myself. Though, truth to tell, I didn't know what was coming. General Hammond had just told me to play along, whatever might happen. ... So I did."
"You had me convinced, too. I fell for it like everybody else." Sam bit her lip. She still felt bad about not trusting him enough.
Robert took her hand, gently squeezing it. "You were meant to. ... Come on, Sam, stop feeling guilty. It wasn't your fault."
"Maybe, ... but the Colonel could have told me, us, ... afterwards. He has known for almost three months and he never said a word. When I think of all the things I believed about you. I really thought you had betrayed us and everything we'd been working for. He knew the truth, but he let us go on believing you were a traitor. Either he didn't want us to know or he didn't trust us to keep our mouths shut." Brooding, she looked straight ahead at her outstretched feet, her expression mirroring the hurt she felt.
'So that's the problem.' Makepeace thought. O'Neill had probably been glad to be rid of him. Makepeace harbored no delusions as to how Jack O'Neill felt about him when it came to Sam.
"How do you think Jack's doing?" In an attempt to change the subject, Daniel looked the way the others had disappeared. "Shouldn't we have heard from him by now?"
* * * * *
Colonel Jack O'Neill was almost happy at the moment, thank you. For once, things were going rather well. At least as far as the mission was concerned.
They had been able to surprise Maybourne's merry band of 'shoppers'. Makepeace had been right; his fiddling with the transportation rings had rendered the things useless, thus preventing the group from disappearing through the Stargate. And the Tollans and the Tok'ra had taken care of the ship belonging to their errant friends, now that they knew names and faces.
Unfortunately - for Maybourne's people - they hadn't known about their taxi service being out of business, so to speak. They had still been waiting for the promised ride to a new location, when the SGC forces had come over them.
They hadn't expected an attack from inside their base, either. They had the access road covered that lead around the mountain. That was the way Makepeace had made his escape, and that was where they expected any opposing forces to arrive from.
So the SG teams didn't meet any serious resistance. They had secured their prisoners and had taken over the stronghold in next to no time. A couple of hand-to-hand fights, some shots fired into the air, nobody hurt. A picnic, really.
Jack had already sent a man back, to fetch Peters, Makepeace, Daniel and Carter. The stuff they were to look over was even bundled or packed up already, ready for transport - courtesy of their prisoners.
An all around success.
By rights he should be feeling elated.
Then why wasn't he?
* * * * *
Three hours laterThe last of the packing crates had just cleared the event horizon of the gate inside Cheyenne Mountain and so had most of the SGC people and their unwilling company.
The stolen items were piled up next to the ramp, to be redistributed to their rightful owners at a later time. The prisoners would soon be on their way to a far less accommodating location than their last 'home'.
Sam and Daniel walked down from the Stargate, towards General Hammond who stood beaming at the foot of the ramp, one eye on the fluctuating surface of the wormhole.
The general was still waiting for the rest of his people to pass through the ring structure - O'Neill, Makepeace, Teal'c and the last three of their prisoners had yet to come through - when suddenly the iris slammed shut with a screech.
"No!" Daniel gasped, wheeling to face the Stargate with wide, incredulous eyes.
Everybody, prisoners and soldiers alike, stared at the shining titanium shield helplessly, shocked into immobility by the enormity of the tragedy played out before their eyes.
Waiting for the dull thuds that would signal the deaths of three of his best people, General Hammond's first reaction had been denial. For a micro-second he held his breath, before swiveling around to face the control room. "Open that damned iris," he bellowed in a voice few had heard before, nor ever wanted to hear again.
Daniel grabbed for Sam's arm, holding onto to her for support, keeping himself from running up the ramp.
"It's too late," she whispered. "They were coming through right behind us."
And the iris stayed shut.
The thud nobody had wanted to hear shook the silver-blue metal, signaling death.
"Harriman, dammit! What the devil do you think you're doing? I told you to open the iris! ... Harriman!" The general's roar drew most eyes away from the closed iris to the big window overlooking the gate room.
To the control room where several people could be seen struggling.
"Captain, security detail to the control room, at once!" General Hammond's normally calm, drawling voice, was cracking. After another, stricken, disbelieving glance at the still locked iris, he hurriedly followed the soldiers up to the control room, where chaos still reigned.
Down in the gate room, Daniel still clutched Sam's arm. Her lower lip was bleeding from where she had bitten it. Daniel's stare was fixed on the gate, as if he could change what had happened by the force of his will alone.
Fate had turned the tables again.
Permanently, this time?
* * * * *
On the planet, the wormhole had disengaged when nobody tried to enter it.
On the grass in front of the big portal a vicious struggle took place.
One side saw a burly prisoner trying to overpower Teal'c – without much success. The Jaffa had lost his staff weapon in the beginning of the fight, when the man had suddenly jumped him - but Teal'c was well able to take care of his opponent without it. Satisfied, he looked down on the man who had folded at the Jaffa's feet after a few well-placed punches. This one would be out for some time.
Jack O'Neill, on the other hand, hadn't fared quite as well. He lay sprawled in front of the gate, raising his aching head, and could only helplessly look on as the second prisoner held a weapon to Makepeace's temple. O'Neill's sidearm.
Makepeace was slumped on the grass. Gray-faced from exhaustion, some of his wounds broken open and bleeding again, he had reached the end of his strength moments before they were about to enter the wormhole. Clinging to consciousness by mere force of will only, he'd sunk to his knees with a groan of pain.
That had given the last of the remaining prisoners the opening they had been waiting for. Ignoring the fallen Marine, two of them had jumped O'Neill and Teal'c, who had both been distracted by Makepeace's collapse. O'Neill had managed to shove the third of the thugs into the wormhole before he himself was attacked, struck down and relieved of his gun.
Weaponless and too far away to do anything, Jack was forced to watch as the injured Marine looked down the barrel of the weapon that was pointed at him.
"Okay, Makepeace, you traitorous scum! It's payback time," the NID man snarled. He kicked the kneeling man.
Makepeace groaned again, biting his lip in agony. "Go to hell, Cleary," he gasped.
"After you, you sniveling bastard!" Cleary hissed and raised the gun, his finger curled around the trigger, a cruel smile playing around his mouth. The smile died the same time as the man did. With an incredulous expression, Cleary looked down at the knife that had suddenly appeared in his chest. The gun dropped from his fingers as he died right there, next to the man he had wanted to kill.
Stunned, Makepeace looked at the knife as well. Then he glanced at O'Neill, who shrugged in astonishment.
"This man was a fool. He would not have survived one day in the army of a system lord," Teal'c's deep voice stated calmly. "You do not disregard an enemy just because he has lost one weapon." He walked to the fallen man and calmly retrieved his knife, cleaning and then sheathing it again.
Next he extended a hand to the Marine. Still dazed, Makepeace let the Jaffa help him up. "I believe it is necessary to reopen the gate, O'Neill," Teal'c addressed his commanding officer.
Jack raised himself to a sitting position and gazed first at the gate, then at his comrades. He winced, knowing they wouldn't like what he was going to tell them. "There is a slight problem, guys."
"Come on, O'Neill, don't play coy. Dial us home. And don't tell me you have forgotten the chevrons for Earth." Makepeace leant heavily on the Jaffa's arm.
"Ahem, ... yeah, ... No, I haven't forgotten them. ... It's just, ...." He raised his arm, showing off the broken remains of his GDO. "You two don't happen to have a working GDO, do you?" He knew they hadn't. The general hadn't thought it necessary for everyone to take a GDO. O'Neill grimaced apologetically.
His statement was met with silence.
Teal'c and Makepeace both stared at him.
Jack spread his arms wide, shrugged and tried a crooked smile.
Makepeace was the first to find his voice again. "Great, so what do we do now?"
"We wait."
* * * * *
The control room was a shambles. General Hammond stood amid the spilled files and papers, the overthrown chairs and shelves and the smashed consoles. Bemused, he looked at Sergeant Siler, who returned the look with a helpless, troubled expression.
"What?"
"Sorry, sir, but we can't open the iris." Siler squared his shoulders, aware that his news might mean the death of more of his comrades. "He hasn't just smashed the consoles; the computer program that controls the iris has been wiped. He must have set an eraser some time ago and activated it after he closed the iris. ... I'm sorry, sir."
"There's got to be something we can do. We have people out there. They don't know we can't deactivate the iris."
Nobody had to spell it out loud. They all knew what would happen if one of the teams out on a mission decided to dial home right now.
"When is the next team due back?" the general demanded of Harriman, the technician who normally operated the computer controls.
"Not until tomorrow, ... if they keep to the schedule, sir." In addition to sporting a black eye, Harriman was cradling a bleeding arm. He had tried to stop the tragedy, but had been too late.
"We need to load the back-up files and reroute the program through another system." Sam's voice broke into their discussion.
She looked terrible. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her face stony.
"Major Carter, how soon can you do it?"
"I'll have to check the logs, see if whatever virus was used also affected the back-up, but we need to hurry if we want to have the system back online soon," Sam told the general, looking him squarely in the eyes. "I may need Sergeant Siler," she added as an afterthought.
Hammond nodded. "Very well, Major. Get to work immediately. ... Sergeant." He motioned Siler to accompany her. He hoped to God they'd get control back before anybody else decided to come home.
* * * * *
"You really have an exceptional talent for messing things up, O'Neill, you know that, don't you?" Makepeace was more exasperated than really angry. After all, all they had to do was wait for the SGC to notice that they hadn't followed the others. Then Hammond would open the gate from their side and send somebody to come looking for them. Couldn't be long.
"Shut up, Makepeace."
"Hey, you used to call me Bob, remember? Haven't heard that in a long time from you." In fact, not since Jack had found out about Sam seeing him. Way back, after the Edora debacle.
"Yeah, so what?"
"Why are you so mad at me, Jack? What have I done?" Suppressing a smile, Makepeace thought that he knew the answer perfectly well, but he wanted to hear the other man admit it.
"Nothing! ... Leave it, Makepeace. ... Bob," he amended belatedly.
The two of them sat with their backs propped against the DHD, their last prisoner bound and gagged, lying at the foot of the steps to the gate. They had soon got tired of listening to the stream of abuse he had thrown at them when he had seen his dead partner. Well, if he still wanted to rant and fume, he could now do so without turning the air blue.
Teal'c stood with his back to the Stargate, keeping watch.
Makepeace's wounds had been treated and rebound to the best of their knowledge and emergency med kits. His headache was slowly fading to a dull throbbing, now that he got some kind of rest.
The Marine decided to change the subject." Do you think we'll be able to nail Maybourne and whoever is behind him?"
"Don't know."
"Well, I do know some names now, but I've got the feeling we've still only scratched the surface of this particular iceberg," Makepeace said thoughtfully.
"Did you ever find out the name of the third man who's working for Maybourne, the one from the general's staff?"
"Nope, no such luck. I only met those two guys from the teams that I told the general about. We'll just have to wait, until he gives himself away, I guess."
"Yeah, and Maybourne will happily go his way again. Seems we keep closing down parts of his operation only to watch him open up new ones somewhere else. ... Like that scaly monster with the many heads, what's her name?" Jack had decided it was useless to pretend the other man wasn't there.
"Hydra, I believe."
"Yep." He didn't know what else to say.
"Hm."
Silence ensued for a while.
"Tell me, ... when you were working for them, did you never, not once, think it might be right what they were doing?" That was something Jack had asked himself many times during the past. What if Makepeace had suddenly decided to change sides?
Makepeace, ... ahem, Bob, Jack silently reminded himself, sighed. "It's funny, but sometimes, like deep in the night, when I thought of all the people we've lost to those damned Goa'uld, I asked myself the same question. Those NID guys weren't doing it for personal profit or anything; they honestly wanted to help Earth. Well, most of them, anyway. People like Cleary simply did it for the thrill of it." He stopped, lost in thought.
"Then one of those jerks would do something, bully a native, set off an explosion without regard as to who they'd hurt or kill - those other folks were either only primitives to them or alien monsters," he laughed scornfully, "and I'd know that whatever their motives, their way was wrong. And I just couldn't cross the line."
"Yeah."
Silence again.
"Jack?"
"Hm?"
"You're a fool."
"Huh?" Eyebrows raised, Jack turned to Makepeace, ... Bob.
"A complete and utter idiot, and I don't think anybody is gonna argue the case in your favor." It was delivered quite calmly, as a simple statement of facts.
Stunned, Jack scowled speechlessly at Makepeace, who didn't hesitate to elaborate. "I mean, what other guy do you know who, on a regular basis, manages to reduce a normally self-assured and competent woman like Sam to a bundle of conflicting emotions? ... You're the only one I know."
"Cut it out, Makepeace, you don't wanna go there," Jack warned the Marine. Whatever his relationship with Carter might be, it wasn't open for discussion with anyone, let alone the jarhead.
"Why not? Cause I'm right?" Makepeace challenged.
He got a dirty glare in return.
"Yeah, right, Jack, ignore the problem. That'll certainly solve it."
"You are the problem!" Jack suddenly burst out, causing Teal'c to turn around, puzzled. "Everything was going just fine, until you showed up again."
"Sure, what a pity those thugs didn't manage to kill me. Problem gone, huh?" Makepeace snapped.
"Not a bad idea at all," Jack retorted heatedly.
That dumb Marine really was a pain in the ass, and Jack couldn't even beat the shit out of him. The guy was wounded, for God's sake. You simply didn't beat up wounded 'heroes'. Wasn't done. ... More's the pity!
What Jack really needed was a boot up his ass, Makepeace thought. A good, swift kick might shake that stubborn bastard to his senses.
O'Neill wasn't finished, though. "How come, that every time I turn around, I find Sam with you? Since you're so very good at explaining things, got an explanation for that, too?"
"Matter of fact, I have. ... I'm her friend. Someone she can turn to when she's in trouble. Someone who'll listen when you've succeeded messing up once again."
"I take it that means every time she's mad at me, I can come looking for her in your bed?" Jack was losing it and he knew it. That irrational remark was so far off, it might have landed in another galaxy. No matter what had happened between Carter and Makepeace earlier, he knew it was none of his business. It was just so damn hard to control himself; especially when he knew he was in the wrong. And when he cared so much.
"Dammit, Jack, for that stupid remark alone you deserve a good beating," Makepeace said, dangerously quiet. "You know Sam would never do that. If I thought for a second that I'd still have the slightest chance, any chance at all, I'd grab it. Unfortunately, I know I haven't. Not that I have any idea what she might see in you." He sounded really angry now.
Silence.
Then, a bit later. "I guess I really blew it this time, huh?" Jack looked at the man next to him with a sheepish half-smile.
"Yeah. Well, you seldom do things halfway."
"She's mad at me because I didn't tell her about you, ... about you not being a traitor," Jack finally admitted quietly.
"I think she's not sure if you didn't tell her, because you didn't trust her to keep the secret or because you simply wanted to keep me out of her life," Makepeace,... no, Bob, added.
"I guess I was … hm…kind of … jealous. I was glad you were gone and I didn't have to compete against you anymore." Jack sighed.
"Well, I don't know about the competition thing, but I'm back. And I wanna stay her friend ... and yours, too, ... if you'll let me." Bob looked at him.
"Does that mean we're gonna have to kiss and make up now, you and me?" Jack drew back in mock dismay.
"You're a fool, O'Neill!"
Teal'c was silently shaking his head. Tau'ri! But he was glad that those two had resolved their problems - for the moment at least. Who knew about the future? They were both good men and that was all that mattered. He was proud to be their friend.
"What are those guys back home doing? What the heck's taking them so long? Doesn't need a genius to open that damn gate, now does it?"
"Apparently not, since even you can do it, Jack."
* * * * *
"An hour, sir, and we can give it a try. Everything should be up and running by then." Sam had told General Hammond.
That had been fifty minutes ago. For the last ten minutes, the general had been pacing like a caged tiger in the hurriedly restored control room. This just had to work. They needed that damn iris gone.
Two technicians were still installing new computer consoles to replace the broken ones. The files and papers had been put back into the shelves and cabinets, the chairs righted and the shards cleaned away, but the feeling of helplessness remained in the air. They all couldn't get the sound of that thud out of their minds. It would haunt them for a long time, the general suspected.
He looked up when Carter and Siler entered the room, trailing a connecting cable.
"Sir, we have rerouted the control programs. The back-up is still intact and should be working without any problems. Sergeant Siler has installed an independent system to operate everything from, so the eraser or virus can't affect it. All we had to do was rig it up to the gate. So, …we can try it out now." Sam looked at him questioningly.
"What if you're wrong, Major?"
"Then the iris will stay closed, and we will have to find another way."
"Well, then this had better work. Somehow I don't think we have all that much time," the general muttered. He heaved a sigh. "Alright, Major Carter, give it a try."
Siler connected the trailing cable to a console that stood apart from the other work places. He gave Sam a thumbs-up, and she punched a key.
The screen lit up and she typed in several commands and passwords. Then she watched the signs and numbers roll up on the screen, automatically checking them against what ought to be there.
"Sir, the system is working again."
"Okay, Harriman, see if you can open the iris."
The technician sat down in front of the console and typed in the relevant commands.
Every eye turned to the Stargate and to the iris that was still blocking it.
For a moment nothing happened. Then, with the usual well-known groan, the iris rolled open and the metal spikes disappeared behind the gate structure.
A ragged cheer went up from the soldiers and technicians in the gate room and upstairs in the control room tentative smiles emerged.
A big, relieved smile lit up General Hammond's round face, until he turned around and caught sight of the lost and empty look in Sam Carter's eyes. He swallowed.
"Major Carter," he started gently. "Thank you very much. ... Now I want you to go down to the infirmary and get some rest."
"No! … No, sir."
"Major Carter," Hammond insisted. "There is nothing you can do at the moment and I really think ..."
He was interrupted.
"There is something we can do. Something we've got to do." Daniel stood in the door to the control room.
He looked as if he'd been crying. "We've got to go back to that planet and see if ..." He stopped, unable to go on, but his pleading eyes stayed locked on the general's face.
Behind him, Janet Fraiser appeared. She nodded silently when the general glanced at her.
"Alright. Tell Major Parker to accompany you with one of his men, Dr. Jackson."
"I want to go, too." Sam bit her lower lip. A look of determination had crept into her eyes, shoving everything else aside for the moment.
"Do you really think that wise, Major Carter?"
"Please, sir."
Recognizing her need to see for herself, General Hammond finally nodded.
"Activate the gate."
* * * * *
The three men on the planet had started to feel distinctly uneasy by now. It had been almost two hours and no sign of any Stargate activity yet.
"What do think is keeping them?"
"No idea."
Jack tried not to show how worried he was. Bob Makepeace really had to have more than the patch-up job Jack had done on his injuries. The imposed rest was helping, but the man needed proper medical attention, damn. Where were they? Something had to be seriously wrong.
"Something pretty serious must have happened to prevent them from coming for us," Bob echoed his thoughts. The Marine shivered uncontrollably, a sure sign that his body was losing the struggle of coping with blood loss and general exhaustion.
"Yeah."Jack scowled at the big ring in front of them. Come on, one big whooosh, please, that's all I ask! ... Open up! Dammit! ... Carter, Daniel, where the hell are you?
As if on cue, the gate sprang into activity. The wormhole formed, blew out and settled to its normal serene blue shimmer.
Teal'c instantly went into fighting stance, watching the surface of the gate, ready to take on anything, or anybody who might come through with ill intent.
O'Neill and Makepeace drew their sidearms and sank lower behind the DHD. Better to be prepared than to get fried by a Goa'uld weapon.
All three relaxed again, when the gate spewed out four familiar figures.
Slowly Jack O'Neill drew himself up to his full height. "How nice of you guys to come visiting. What took you so long?"
"Colonel! Teal'c!"
Perplexed, he looked at the little group that stared back at them as if they were seeing a couple of ghosts.
"Jack! Teal'c! You're alive!" Daniel gripped the Jaffa's arm, beaming radiantly into the inscrutable face of his alien friend.
"Whoa!"
Bewildered, the three men looked about them.
With a big smile, Major Parker stepped up to them.
"Glad to see you Colonel O'Neill, Colonel Makepeace, Teal'c."
"Well, I'm glad somebody's noticed that I'm alive, too," Makepeace remarked dryly.
"Any particular reason why we shouldn't be?" Jack inquired of the group at large.
"We thought you were dead," Sam swallowed.
"Dead? ... As in ... 'dead'?" His disbelief was almost palpable.
"Dead, as in splattered against the closed iris," Daniel explained.
"What?"
A bit later, after Daniel and Parker had finished their brief explanation of what had transpired at the SGC, O'Neill and Makepeace exchanged a look.
"I'd have never thought that it was a good thing that those thugs jumped us when they did." Jack could hardly believe what he had heard.
"Yeah, that was a close one," Makepeace agreed. If possible, he was even paler now than before.
Teal'c simply nodded his agreement.
Something finally occurred to Daniel. "If it wasn't you, then who was it? Who died when Simmons closed the iris?"
"One of the NID guys." Jack thought of how he had shoved the man into the wormhole to avoid a three-sided fight, thus condemning him to his death.
Makepeace shook his head over something else. "Simmons! Who'd have thought it? So he was Maybourne's man."
"Yes, it seems he was afraid you'd point your finger at him," Sam said. She was still pretty pale, but also smiled in relief at seeing them all alive.
"I don't know what he hoped to achieve." Daniel wondered, trying to figure out Simmons' motive. "I mean, what he did gave him away more than anything else. So why did he do it?"
"Human nature, ... mindless panic, ... who knows. He definitely wanted to make sure that Colonel Makepeace didn't come back," Parker put in.
"Speaking of Makepeace." Jack shot the Marine a look. "It's high time we got you back into the doc's capable hands. She must be eagerly awaiting you already ... with her needles and one of those cute little, open-backed hospital gowns."
"Shove it, Jack." Colonel Robert Makepeace grinned, belying his rough words. Matching the grin with one of his own, Jack turned to the Stargate and looked around at his team and his friends.
"Let's go home, kids."
* * * * *
Several hours later"It's so beautiful." With a contented sigh Sam leaned back into the deck chair. Jack O'Neill followed her eyes, admiring the velvety sheen of the starry sky above them for a moment, before his glance fell to the woman sitting next to him.
'So are you,' he thought, maintaining the status quo of unvoiced emotions between them.
They sat on the roof of his house, star gazing, or at least that was the pretense Jack had used to lure her up.
"Glad you followed my invitation?" He knew he was.
"Why, yes, I am and thank you, Colonel O'Neill." The silvery light of the moon illuminated Sam's face. She looked happy. All the bitterness was gone. She smiled into his eyes, a promise of things to come.
He ached to gently stroke a finger along her cheek, rest his hand at her jaw, but he knew that that was a boundary they both weren't ready yet to cross. Though he had to know something else.
"Then you're no longer mad at me, Carter?" He had to hear her say it. He had to know she had forgiven him.
For a moment her eyes grew thoughtful. Then the smile returned and she reached for one of the bottles sitting between them in a cooler. "No, sir, I'm no longer mad at you. I don't even think I was ever really mad. I was just very disappointed because I thought you didn't trust me. It hurt so much."
When he didn't say anything, she looked up at him, a silent question in her eyes.
"Maybe I really didn't trust you," he finally admitted. At her hurt look he amended. "Oh, not with the secret. I knew you wouldn't have let on about that. No, it's rather that I didn't trust you with Makepeace,... uh, Bob."
Sam had to suppress a smile. He obviously had a hard time getting used to calling Robert by his first name again. Ever since they had got back, O'Neill had stuttered his way through a series of 'Makepeace - uh … Bob' variations, whenever the Marine's name had come up. Sam was glad that the enforced stay on the planet had given them the chance to finally make up their differences.
"Why?"
"I don't know. I guess I … I felt … ahem… sort of … threatened as long as he was still around. And when he was gone and you thought he was a traitor, the threat was gone as well. … Well…, yeah, … so I kept quiet."
Rolling the bottle between her hands, she gazed up at the stars for so long that he grew worried by her silence.
"Carter?"
"Hm?"
"Is he a threat?"
She turned back to him, understanding the deeper meaning implied by the question.
"No. No, he is no threat at all," she answered so softly, he almost didn't hear it. "Once, after Edora, for a short time, he might have been, but now .... No, ... Robert is just a very good friend, nothing more and nothing less. ... Do you think that is something … you … could live with?"
Before he could say the words, the expression in his eyes already gave her the answer she needed. "Oh, I think I can." His smile only confirmed it.
"Good, … sir."
"Yes, very good, … Major."
Maybe those blasted tables would finally stop turning now.
At least for a while.
Neither of them turned around when they heard the unmistakable sounds of people noisily climbing up the ladder to the roof. O'Neill had invited Daniel, Teal'c and Makepeace … ahem Bob as well, after all.
End of part twoTo be continued in Part 3: The Long way Home