Sam groaned as she glanced at the red light, illuminating the time. 0632 and she had barely slept a wink. Her mind was too active to even attempt further sleep, so she got up, showered and changed, hurrying to see if there was any further news. As she rushed down the nearly deserted corridors, the rational part of her brain told her that had anything happened to her friends, she would've been told. It didn't matter that she was't on SG-1 or any SG team, everyone knew the close friendship she shared with Daniel and Teal'c, and would have woken her if anything had occurred.
She knocked politely on General Landry's door, and entered when he waved her through the open door. He hung up the phone, and she asked about any new information. General Landry informed her that SG's 12 and 22 had gone to the Alpha and were currently trying to retrace where the three missing teams had gone. During their conversation, the klaxons sounded, alerting them all to an incoming wormhole. Sam followed Landry to the gateroom, and listened as Colonel Raimie checked in.
From the Colonel's report, the two teams had visited 3 planets with no sign of SG's 16, 3 or 1 there at that time. There were signs however, that several men from the teams had been to those locations, as material from the SG uniforms had been found caught on trees and various other natural obstacles near the gate. General Landry ordered the two teams to return to the base after finishing the sweep of the area, and they would debrief before deciding what to do next.
Sam left, knowing she would not be a part of the debriefing. She went to her scheduled appointment with Dr. Lam, then back to her lab. Not knowing what else to do, she dialed Jack's number at the Pentagon. After being informed that the General was on another phone call, she left a message. About to turn to her computer, Dr. Lee dashed in, startling her.
"Dr. Carter, we've found something." He gasped, out of breath.
"What?"
"We didn't think to look for it before. Chloe.."
"Chloe? As in Dr. Felger's..." Sam interrupted Dr. Lee, and he did the same to her.
"Yes. I know it's not her area of expertise, but Dr. Felger thought she should have a look at one of the samples we took from Ba'al, and she had something for us this morning." Dr. Lee was already on his way out of her lab, walking quickly towards the elevator.
"Dr. Lee. Wait. What did she find?" Sam caught up to him as he was waiting for the elevator, cursing the brace on her leg for slowing her down.
"Nanocytes."
"What!" Sam was appalled at his answer.
"Don't worry, they're inactive."
"Are you sure?" Sam remembered the times they had come into contact with the buggers, most memorable when Jack was infected.
"You'll see."
"Why didn't we catch this earlier?" Sam distinctly remembered scanning Ba'al's body for any electrical pulses, and nanocytes should've definitely registered.
"They seem to have broken down. They only exist as fragments of what we've seen before."
As the elevator doors opened on the level the tests on Ba'al's body were being conducted, Dr. Lee dashed off again, leaving Sam to hurry behind him. She entered the room and was directed over to a microscope. She peered through, and understood immediately what Dr. Lee was talking about. The nanocytes appeared to have broken into fractions of their original size, making them incredibly small.
"How did this happen?"
"We're not too sure at the moment, Dr. Carter." One of the other scientists answered Sam.
"Is this what killed him?"
"Right now, we can't tell exactly what killed him, but I bet that this has something to..."
Dr. Lee was interrupted by General Landry's voice over the base intercom, requesting a medical team to the gateroom, immediately. Sam, hoping SG-1 had been found, left the lab for the gateroom. By the time she arrived, whatever had caused the page, had gone, and Sam was standing in the gateroom, with only the SF's as company. She saw Walter wave her up, and walked up to the control room.
"What happened?"
"SG's 12 and 22 returned with Peterson from SG-3." Walter filled her in on what he knew.
"Did they find any of the others?"
"Not that I'm aware of. General Landry's in his office if you want to go check with him. He should be finishing talking to Colonel Raimie by now."
Sam thanked Walter, and went to see the General. As she walked up the steps, Colonel Raimie brushed lightly past her, barely noticing that she was there. Sam cautiously knocked on the General's door, and entered at his call.
"Dr. Carter, what can I do for you?" He looked tired, and worried.
"Uh, Sir, I was wondering if there were any signs of SG-1 yet?"
"No, I'm afraid not."
"Walter told me that Peterson was found, I was, er, kinda hoping he would have some information..."
"Lt. Peterson is currently in surgery."
"Thank you General." Sam left sensing that she would not be able to find out any more information.
Sam found herself sitting in the commissary, pushing her pasta around her plate, rather than eating it. She was lost in thought, and jumped when Colonel Raimie dragged a chair over to her table.
"Hi. Been looking for you. Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to run right into you."
"Nah, don't worry about it. I could see you were in your own world. What happened?" Sam went straight to her point.
"We were waiting for SG 12 to return to the gate and heard something moving in the bushes surrounding the gate. We went to check it out, and found Peterson, literally crawling towards us. He told us that he was the only one and passed out."
"Landry said he was in surgery. Is he going to be ok?"
"Dr Lam thinks he will be. He was hit by a staff blast, but his vest stopped him from being killed then and there. The force of the blast caused some pretty bad internal bleeding and the doctors are patching him up right now."
"Thanks." Sam excused herself, and wandered up to her lab, needing something to keep her occupied. It didn't take her long to become completely absorbed in her work. She was so involved that she didn't hear the quiet knocking on her almost closed door, or the soft footsteps towards her desk. She jumped when she heard someone clear their throat.
"Hey."
"Hi. What are you doing here?" Sam was grateful that he was here, but wondered why he was.
"When I got the call that 3 SG Teams were missing, I had to come." Jack stated it simply, but Sam knew there was more behind the words.
"Peterson..."
"He's going to recover. How long you been in here?"
"Uh..."
"That's what I thought. Hungry? I am." The missing men weighed heavily on Jack's mind, but he wanted to make sure that Sam didn't slip into old habits of diving into work, for far too many hours, to distract her from whatever had happened. He smiled as she turned off the computer, and followed him to the door.
"So what is Landry planning on doing?" Sam hadn't heard any of the plans for a rescue, but assumed there would be one.
"Hank has scheduled a mission leaving in 6 hrs to go back to the planet where they found Peterson. It's dark there right now, and even with the night-vision goggles, we could easily miss something."
"We?"
"Yes. SG's 12, 22, 24 and myself."
"Why are you going?"
"I have to Sam. Three teams disappeared, seemingly into thin air. No one, for a second, thinks that this is any kind of coincidence, and the best way for me to find out what's going on, is to go with the search teams."
"Were you ordered to go?" Sam knew he was right, but some part of her wanted to know if he was doing this by choice.
"No. Not exactly." Jack didn't elaborate, and Sam didn't push for answers.
"If you're leaving, shouldn't you be getting some rest first?"
"I will. I wanted to stop by and say hi first, and check out if they had anything good to eat. I haven't had anything since lunch, so I'm starving." Jack shot Sam a lazy smile as the two entered the elevator.
During their late snack, Sam asked Jack how they were going to conduct a search that had spread across several planets so far. Jack revealed that when Peterson had emerged from the anesthesia after the surgery, he had informed General Landry of two possible worlds the Jaffa had taken SG's 1 and 3. Jack and the three teams going with him would check out those planets, after conducting another search around where Peterson was found. Using the remote control, they would send the MALP through first, to make sure there were no Jaffa guarding the gate, then follow through if it was safe to do so. If they found enemies waiting, they would assume they had found the planet, and gate home to Earth.
After they cleared up their trays, Jack headed off to a room set aside for his use, and Sam returned to her quarters, wanting to get some sleep before Jack left in a few hours. Trying to clear her mind of all the thoughts swirling around in there proved to be almost impossible. Her two closest friends, Daniel and Teal'c, were who knew where, in unknown conditions, and now Jack was leaving too. She completely understood why he was going, and had she still been in the Air Force she would've volunteered immediately. However, the fear that she would loose all of them, remained, and was her last thought as she drifted into an uneasy and restless sleep.
Her alarm woke her half an hour before Jack was to embark on his mission. She quickly showered, and made her way to the gateroom. The 12 men were armed and ready to go, milling around in the gateroom. Sam scanned the men, but couldn't find Jack. She looked up, and spotted him in the window from the briefing room. She made her way up as quickly as she could, and found Jack alone, pacing around the table.
"Jack?"
"Sam. You didn't have to come."
"Course I did." Jack looked awkwardly around the room at Sam's comment. "Kinda weird huh. You going off on a mission, and me being the one staying behind." Sam attempted to keep a smile on her face, and a light tone to her voice, but heard herself fail. Jack took a quick look around the room before moving towards her. He pulled her into his arms for a short, but effective hug, and released her. As he left the room, he spoke in a quiet, but firm voice.
"I'll be back soon, and I'll have Daniel and Teal'c with me."
AN: I broke my index finger on Monday, and when I type, I keep trying to use it. Unfortunatly, as it's in a splint, this results in much frustration and many many errors. I've managed to get this chapter out, and the next few are mostly written, just a case of editing, and final touches. Providing life at work doesn't go completely crazy this weekend like it did last weekend, the next few chapters should be quicker. Really, really sorry about the delay. Thanks to all of you who reviewed the last chapter.