Chapter 2 - A Man, A Plan
Jack retreated to his office where mounds of paperwork stared at him.
SG-1 was on stand down. On their last mission without Jack, a piece of fluff, Daniel and Sam both somehow managed to get injured. Daniel's sprained leg was almost healed, but he was still taking physical therapy and only cleared for light duty. SG-1's duty was rarely light. So Daniel was spending time in his office studying pictures of rocks. Artifacts. Whatever.
Sam's arm sprain had healed and she was fine. She'd been busy coordinating the search to recover energy crystals on P8S-909 with Chanah's father-in-law, the Tinkerer, and acting as a technical liaison with him on other matters.
For the SGC, the Tinkerer had been the real find of the mission to locate Chanah. A nephew of Machello, the Tinkerer was a formidable scientist himself. He had developed a Goa'uld killing toxin harmless to humans and a cure for the Jaffa immune system. He also created a powerful energy weapon that Chanah carried, one that just looked like a big stick, using energy crystals. If they could locate more crystals, they hoped to use them for planet-wide defense applications as well as personal energy weapons.
Sam and the Tinkerer had developed a quick rapport. There was probably no one else at the SGC who could understand the Tinkerer as well as she. So her time was committed there for the immediate future. Jack suspected in that time Sam would probably even convince the Tinkerer to create an antitoxin to protect the Tok'ra.
Teal'c was taking a sabbatical to work with Bra'tac. Together they were attempting to ally the Jaffa that Chanah had cured and freed, gathering intelligence on the Goa'uld, and putting in motion a plan to continue Chanah's distribution of the immune system cure.
So Jack had time. Time he could use to think. Time he could use to reflect. Time that he didn't use for either. Time to catch up on the Simpsons, to watch hockey, to come up with more reasons not to get a dog yet. Time to do paperwork. But now Janet gave him a good excuse to stop the paperwork. In fact, she gave him two.
The Sam issue was easy for Jack. Talk to Jacob Carter, her father. Jack was confident that Jacob, even though he shared his body with the Tok'ra Selmak, would help force Sam's hand. It wasn't as if the SGC had decided yet to use the toxin as an offensive weapon, for chrissake. Protecting off world teams from being taken as hosts was purely defensive. And as far as Jack was concerned, for the sake of the security of them all and Earth, it should be mandatory. If Sam was unwilling, then maybe she shouldn't be out on the front lines. Jack wouldn't like the result, but that much loyalty to the Tok'ra was insane in Jack's eyes.
The Chanah issue weighed more heavily on Jack's mind. Jack had already gone way out on a limb for her. Told her crap he never even told Daniel. Course he never engaged in scar foreplay with Daniel either. He knew he'd kind of abandoned her at the end; that she was returning to a situation that probably wouldn't offer her the kind of support she needed. Or even if it did, she'd be too goddamned stubborn to take it. Much like Jack.
The difference was that Jack's teammates and friends at the SGC couldn't be shunted away that easily. They would accept that his emotions were off limits, and would distract him back to health. He knew of no one who'd do that for Chanah. He hoped he was wrong.
Jack brushed aside a pile of papers and opened a drawer to pull out a clean tablet. Right underneath it was his "Wanted Alive" sketch of Chanah – whom he'd nicknamed Caine before he met her – the one with no face, just a couple of randomly drawn scars. He pulled it out and studied it, feeling disturbed, like he'd left a job half done. He absentmindedly drew in a sad face and put her scars in the right places while thinking about what to write on his tablet.
"A plan, O'Neill, a plan."
He started a list. He wrote down "Assets." Excel at distraction. Relentless – Chanah had called him that a lot. Competitive – both of them rose to a challenge. Banter – she fell right into his word play and sardonic humor. Know how to have a good time in a cave – probably not useful, but keep in mind suitable alternative locations. He quickly scratched that out. Earth – a Goa'uldless planet full of things that can't be found elsewhere. Liabilities: Suck at talking about feelings – both of us. Okay, thought Jack, we'll avoid that.
Working with the list of assets, he formulated his approach. Next he made some phone calls. As long as General Hammond would cooperate, Jack was a man with a plan. He was even feeling rather pleased with himself.
At 0:900 the next day, Sam arrived in the gate room ready to depart for P3X-819 to consult with the Tinkerer. She was surprised to see Jack there holding a long, thin rectangular case.
"Morning, Colonel. I didn't expect to see you here."
"Maybe that's my sole motivation for coming Carter."
"What, Sir?"
"To annoy you, Carter."
"Oh. You'd have to do more than that, sir."
"Don't tempt me, Carter."
"No sir. Is there something I can do for you Colonel, take that package, a message or something?"
"You know Carter, you and Doc are as subtle as a ton of bricks."
"It's possible we miscalculated the density of the subject matter, sir," Carter said poker-faced.
"Are you calling your superior thick as a brick, Carter?" Jack gave an exaggerated stern look.
"No sir, I believe you managed to reach that conclusion yourself, sir." Carter stifled a giggle.
"Proving that I'm only as thick as aluminum siding, perhaps?"
"So sir, may I ask again what brings you here?" Carter could not hope to match the level of silliness to which Jack was capable of descending.
"I'm coming along. Thought I'd say hello to Micah. Check out the fishing there. Hear it's mighty pretty."
"Escape the paperwork?"
"That too."
"Would you like me to bring you up to date on the technology that we're working on with the Tinkerer?"
"Depends. Will you need apples to explain any of it? I didn't bring any."
"You could just say no, sir."
"No, sir."
"Then this really is a vacation, Colonel?"
"Elvis has left the building, Carter."
Carter and O'Neill stepped through the wormhole.
