Chapter 3: In The Name of Love

When Dr. Werner entered Jack's office he didn't look too happy. Jacob Carter wasn't doing as well as they'd expected him to. In fact, he wasn't really doing anything at all.

"He's slipped into a coma, sir," Werner said in response to Jack's query on Jacob's well being.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "A coma? I thought Selmak was going to make sure he'd be ok."

"I don't know what happened," Werner shook his head sadly. "Something went wrong. The Tok'ra seem to think that Jacob will be better once we get a symbiote in him, but the real problem is keeping him alive until that happens.

"Just do your best, Doc."

"I will, sir." Werner turned and headed back to the infirmary.

Jack groaned, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes. The past day had been thoroughly screwed up. Everything from loosing Selmak, to Anubis being a royal pain in the ass, and Daniel still not showing his face…

"I could really use a little help here, Danny!" Jack shouted up at the ceiling. In response the klaxons started blaring. Jack swore rather loudly before getting up and heading down to the control room.

"We're receiving the Tok'ra IDC, General." Walter said.

"Open the iris."

Moran, the Tok'ra who seemed to be in charge of finding Jacob a new symbiote, stepped through the gate. Jack hurried down to the gate room to meet him.

"Moran, old buddy, any good news?"

"No." Moran walked calmly over to Jack. "In fact, it's rather unpleasant news. The ship carrying Ahmnen, the new symbiote for Jacob Carter, was forced to make an emergency landing as their hyperdrive malfunctioned. Sadly, the planet was occupied by a goa'uld."

"Aw crap." Jack muttered under his breath.

Moran nodded. "As far as we can tell, from what intelligence we've gathered, all the Tok'ra aboard the ship have been captured."

Jack ran a hand through his hair. This day was just getting better and better.

The second that Sam heard what had happened, she was in Jack's office, leaning on the desk and looking Jack hard in the eye.

"I want to go."

"I know you do, Carter, but I just don't know if it's such a good idea at the moment." Jack said, folding his hands and looking up at Sam. Of all the things he could be talking to her about right now, it had to be this one… "Look, the Jaffa are busy keeping Anubis in check, the Tok'ra are busy plotting to destroy the weapon, and we're busy trying to keep some sanity in place…The forces just aren't there to back you up."

"Send one of the SG teams with me," Sam pleaded. "Sir, this is important."

"I know it is, I want to help Jacob too," Jack sighed. "But do you realize how guilty I would feel if you got captured?"

"I won't."

Famous last words…Jack ran a hand over his face. There was just way too much to be thinking about right now. Finally he looked back at Sam. "Anyway, don't you have a wedding you're supposed to be getting ready for?"

Sam's stomach did an uncomfortable sort of flip flop. She'd been trying not to think about that, at least, not until she could decide for sure what she was going to do. She looked down at the floor. "Sir, saving my father's life comes first."

"Okay." Jack nodded. "But for God's sake, Carter, watch yourself. Something tells me Jacob wouldn't be too happy if you got yourself killed trying to get him a symbiote." Not missing a beat, he added, "I wouldn't be too happy about that either."

"I'll be careful," Sam reassured him.

Jack flashed a slight smile. "Good. Now go get your team together."

Pete wouldn't take it as easily, Sam knew, which is why she called him from the phone in her lab. Though she could still hear the panic in his voice when she told him what she had to do.

"Sam, you can't do this…"

Sam sighed. "I have to, Pete, this is my dad…he'll die if I don't."

"I know, I know. I just…" There was a long pause, and Sam could hear Pete taking a couple deep breaths. "I just don't want to lose you."

"It's a risk we have to take," Sam replied. She sincerely hoped that she wasn't laying on the detached military persona too much…though Pete could use a little indifference himself. "You knew a long time ago that I have to do stuff like this."

"Yeah. Just be careful, Sam." Pete's voice sounded a little choked. "And if this alien does anything to you…I swear I'll come out there and kick his ass."

Sam chuckled. "Sorry, I think it would be the other way around."

"Hurry home."

"I'll try."

"Sam? I love you."

Sam's heart fluttered, but not in the pleasant way. "Yeah…I…I love you too." It came out all too quickly, and she hoped that Pete at least had found it convincing.

An hour later Sam stood in the gate room with Major Angela Gosling from SG-7, Captain Dave Beron and Captain Larry Summers both of SG-5. From the Tok'ra they'd received the gate coordinates of the planet where the goa'uld was holding Ahmnen and the others captive. The MALP had shown the gate room on the other side to be deserted; a fact that immediately raised everyone's suspicions.

Looking up to the window of the control room, Sam could see Jack looking down at her as the gate dialed. He gave her a faint, encouraging smile before leaning forward to the mic.

"Colonel, you have a go."

Sam nodded, then motioned for the team to follow her through the gate.

The gate room on the other planet looked like it had once been a temple of some sort.

If only Daniel was here… Sam found herself thinking as she and the other three moved to the shadows, listening for any sounds of Jaffa. He'd probably be able to shed some light on what we're going to be dealing with… Sam signaled for them to move out, keeping low. The corridor was deserted, or so they thought. The team had walked maybe two hundred feet when suddenly something appeared in front of them.

The only way Sam could think to describe the thing was a three dimensional human shadow. It was gray, and faint, and though they could easily see the planes of its face and body, they could also see through it to the end of the corridor.

"Did you come through the Chaapa'ai?" the being demanded. It was hard to tell, but the figure sounded masculine.

Sam kept her P90 raised cautiously. "We did."

"You are not goa'uld or Fades," it observed. "You are not supposed to be here."

"Ma'am." Major Gosling nudged Sam with her elbow. Sam turned to see more of the shadow people appearing all around them.

"Who are you?" Sam asked the first one.

"I am Nerlok, second in command to Lord Jupiter. We," he gestured towards the other shadows that surrounded the team, "are the Fades. Loyal army of the God-King Morpheus."

Sam and Major Gosling exchanged a worried look. Sam took a deep breath. "We're looking for the Tok'ra that were captured by Jupiter-"

"Silence!" Nerlok raised one hand.

Suddenly something hit Sam hard in the side of the head, knocking her to the ground. She couldn't see anything but Nerlok standing over her, when something struck her again and everything went black.

Sam awoke to feel someone shaking her and saying worriedly, "Colonel Carter? Colonel Carter…"

Sam sat up. "I'm ok." She assured Gosling. She looked around; they were in a cell, with other cells on either side. Sam was sitting by the bars and she found herself face to face with someone on the other side who could only be a Tok'ra.

"You are Samantha Carter?" the young man said, his voice the strange harmonic tone of the symbiote. Sam nodded and he looked very relieved. "I am Derrin, my host is Merlow." He turned and looked back into his cell, where another figure lay on the floor.

"Is that Ahmnen?" Sam asked, craning her neck to see.

"His host is very weak, they cannot travel and Jupiter is making it worse." Derrin wrinkled his forehead. "They will not make it back to Earth."

Sam swallowed thickly. Ahmnen had to make it back…that was the whole point of the mission. She bit her lip. "Could he…er…blend with me temporarily? Just to make it back to my dad?"

Derrin seemed to think for a moment. Then he nodded. "That may be our only chance. Here, stay by the bars…" He moved over to pull the limp body of Ahmnen's host closer. It was an older woman. She opened her eyes and used the bars to pull herself up into a sitting position.

"Thank you, for helping us," the woman whispered, her eyes half shut. "I'm sorry there isn't time for a proper blending…"

"It's only to get Ahmnen back to Jacob Carter," Derrin explained. "Selmak is dying."

"Dead." Sam murmured.

Derrin looked upset. The woman nodded and leaned forward, parting her lips. Sam took a deep breath and leaned forward herself, opening her mouth and bracing herself. She felt something pass into her mouth, and then the jabbing pain in the back of her throat. She fell backwards and Major Gosling caught her.

"Colonel, are you-"

"I'm fine," Sam coughed, rubbing her neck. Derrin was looking at her expectantly.

You don't mind, do you? A thought that most certainly wasn't Sam's passed through her mind. I must let them know that I am well.

Go ahead Sam thought back.

Though she remembered it from Jollinar, Sam still found it incredibly strange when Ahmnen spoke through her. She could feel her lips moving, feel her body moving, but she had no control over it. All she could do was think.

"My host has held a symbiote before," Ahmnen observed absently to Derrin, who nodded.

"Yes, she was the last host of Jollinar."

"Ah, well," Ahmnen nodded. "I will let her have control, she most likely will have a better chance of getting us out of here."

Sam found she had regained control of her limbs once again.

Not so bad, is it? There was a hint of laughter. What I remember about Jollinar, she was a little more manipulative than myself.

Yeah, I'm fine though.

Sam turned and smiled at Major Gosling. "I'm fine." She said, then looked around at the others. "We're going to get out of here."

"Your first priority is to get yourself and Ahmnen out of here," Derrin said. "Don't worry about us."

"We're all going to get out of here." Sam said firmly. She looked over when Gosling made a worried noise. Two Fades stood by the door, looking in at them with amused expressions on their shadowy faces.

They do not know I am blended with you, Ahmnen's voice sounded reassuring. I will keep you alive, Samantha. Do not fear.

If Jack thought that things couldn't get any worse, with Jacob laying in a coma and Sam chasing across the galaxy for a group of Tok'ra, he would soon be proven wrong. He was standing by the window in the briefing room when Teal'c appeared by his side, looking even graver than usual.

"O'Neill, the rebel fleet guarding Dakara has fallen to the forces of Anubis," Jack turned towards the Jaffa, a wide eyed expression on his face. Teal'c continued. "I'm afraid that Bra'tac and the others won't arrive in time…Anubis has control of the weapon."

Great, that's great…just what I needed! "You know what we do, T? We get the biggest damn nuke we can find and shove it through the gate…"

"The gate will be shielded, O'Niell." Teal'c replied. "The nuke will not arrive in one piece."

Jack swore under his breath. Carter, where are you when we need you?! The klaxons started blaring. Jack groaned, wondering what possibly could happen now as he hurried down to the control room.

"What've we got, Sergeant?" Jack asked, taking up post behind Walter's chair.

"I don't know, sir," Walter checked a few screens. "Incoming wormhole!" He quickly closed the iris.

"It is the weapon," Teal'c murmured gravely. "We are too late."

"Self destruct!" Jack ordered, already bending over one of the consoles. Walter opened his mouth to protest, but the grim looks on everyone's faces convinced him otherwise.

Then everyone stood back to wait in nervous anticipation. The clock on the self destruct ticked down.

Twenty seconds.

The only thought Jack had was of Sam, who would try to return only to find nowhere to return to. He closed his eyes for a second, picturing her face and feeling a slight ache as he realized he wouldn't see her again.

Ten seconds.

Oh, Sam, I wish I was there with you…

Suddenly the counter slowed, each fraction of a second taking an age to pass. When it read 1:26 it stopped all together. Everyone stared. A moment later came the sound of the gate shutting down.

"Wormhole disengaged."

Jack blinked. "What happened?"

"I don't know, sir," Walter was rechecking the readouts. "It was probably a system malfunction."

"Aborting self destruct." Jack shut down the self-destruct sequence, and everyone in the room visibly relaxed…then tensed again as another wormhole opened. Walter shut the iris, but before Jack had a chance to start the self-destruct sequence, a waivery holographic form of Ba'al appeared, looking up at the control room window with his usual expression of contempt. Jack hurried to the gate room.

"Ba'al…what's going on?"

"You may think I am here to blame you for my lord's fall, but I am not," Ba'al tilted his chin up. "I know it was higher powers than you could possibly comprehend."

"So what does bring you here on such a fine day, in my gate room?"

Ba'al didn't seem amused. "I've come to warn you."

"Warn me?" Jack stared disbelievingly. "Since when do you care about me?"

"There's as much in it for me as you."

"Ah right."

"There is a goa'uld, Jupiter. He is not from this galaxy, he's not a system lord. He serves the god-king Morpheus." Ba'al tilted his head to one side. "It would be to both our advantages if you destroy this Jupiter."

Jack made a face. "What's in it for me?"

"He's holding your Samantha Carter hostage." The goa'uld smirked. "And he will most definitely be having a lot of fun with her."

"Like hell he will!" Jack's eyes flashed dangerously.

Ba'al smirked again.

"You will kneel before your god!" The Fade jabbed something sharp and painful into Sam's back, causing her to fall to her knees.

Sorry, Sam, I'm working on it… The pain dulled a little as Ahmnen healed her.

Sam looked up slowly. Sitting on a chair before her was a hansom, clean-shaven middle-aged man dressed in flowing robes. His dark hair was curly, his skin lightly bronzed.

"Very interesting, such a pretty thing." He stood and walked over to Sam, who scrambled to her feet. "And one of the rebels as well. Tell me, Tok'ra, who is your symbiote?"

"I'm not telling you anything." Sam growled.

Jupiter stepped closer, reaching out and taking her chin in one hand. She jerked away from him and he chuckled. "Come now, I will not hurt you. You are pretty, I do not like hurting pretty things." His voice momentarily became menacing. "Unless, of course, they disobey me."

Sam gritted her teeth.

Just hang on, you can make it through this. Ahmnen was certainly encouraging. Sam's first impression of him was that he was the type who was normally cheerful and joking, but could become very serious and level headed in an emergency.

I know, I know…I've been through worse…

Good girl. If you are anything like your father, I'm sure I'll get along marvelously with him.

Jupiter was running his fingers lightly over Sam's face and through her hair in an appreciative gesture. When she couldn't take it anymore, Sam reached up and grabbed Jupiter by the wrist, her jaw tightening. The goa'uld's eyes flashed and he chuckled.

"You've got spirit, Tok'ra, I admire that!" Jupiter suddenly turned Sam around and wrapped an arm about her stomach, holding her tightly to him. She felt him hold something against the back of her neck. "But I'm afraid I will have to drive that from you…"

It felt like someone had driven an ice pick through the back of Sam's skull. She tried hard not to give in, not to make a sound, but a scream broke forth anyway. Not just from her, but from Ahmnen as well. Her symbiote's pain seemed to rebound inside Sam. Her vision clouded and she felt her knees hit the stone floor before she finally fell into blissful unconsciousness.

When she awoke the haze of pain was still with her. She was alone, now, in a tiny, dark cell.

You're not alone, Sam.

She smiled slightly. Ahmnen was trying to repair what damage was done, whatever it was.

It was some sort of advanced hand device, from what I could tell.

I just want to get home! Sam thought desperately.

I know, I know… Ahmnen's tone was soothing. But we must be strong, Sam. Very strong.


"I think we can only assume that Anubis was vanquished by some being," Bra'tac said. He, Teal'c and Jack were sitting around the briefing room table, discussing the strange events of the previous day. "Did Ba'al not say anything?"

"Nope," Jack shook his head. "All Ba'al said was that Carter's captured by some Goa'uld…I'm still trying to decide whether or not to believe him. Especially after the last time he told me my people were captured. But I've got my own ideas on who stopped old Anubis."

"Of what do you speak?" Bra'tac gave Jack a questioning look.

"O'Neill believes that Daniel Jackson is somehow responsible." Teal'c said.

"Nope, it wasn't me."

Jack frowned. "Did anyone else hear that?"

"I did not." Teal'c arched one eyebrow, looking at Jack curiously.

"They can't hear me, Jack," came Daniel's voice from Jack's office. "Come in here a sec."

"Excuse me…" Jack got to his feet. Walking into his office he spotted Daniel sitting on the desk. "Danny boy! Good of you to drop in…" He looked at Daniel suspiciously. "Wait…why do I have the feeling if I threw a shoe at you, it would hit the wall behind you?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "There's actually a good reason I'm still like this. Because I could have just fully 'de-ascended' if I'd wanted to."

"Ok, so what's this reason?"

"Sam's in trouble…I can help her a lot more in this form."

Jack sighed heavily. Ba'al had been right… "So she is captured by this goa'uld Jupiter?"

"Yeah," Daniel bit his lip. "Jack…in Roman mythology the god Jupiter was known for lusting after beautiful maidens and when they refused him, taking them by force. The goa'uld Jupiter doesn't use Jaffa…he uses creatures called Fades."

"Well, whatever those are I'm sure Carter can handle herself against them."

"Jack," Daniel looked very seriously up at the general. "Fades aren't like anything we've run into so far…they…they're four dimensional…It doesn't matter how smart or strong Sam is, they can still move and she won't be able to see them until they've got her."

"Crap." Jack closed his eyes, kneading the heel of his hand against his forehead.

Daniel's blue eyes were wide and concerned. "We have to help her, Jack, before its too late."