A/N: Hmm, I'm in a really weird mood…so lol…I dunno what's gonna come out of this today! But here we go anywayz…
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Chapter Six
"Are you sure you're ready for this?"
General Johnson had asked her three times before he'd finally agreed to let them offworld. They had found a new CO for the base extremely quickly, as if they'd already given up hope. Sam had convinced the new General that it was necessary for them to continue with normal procedures while they were trying to gather information on where General O'Neill was.
"SG-1, you have a go," General Johnson announced.
Sam held back an expression she'd been about to use. That wasn't his saying to use. Hammond had always said it, and since Jack had become General he'd been using it as well. But General Johnson had no right.
Sam stepped onto the ramp, aware of the two remaining members of SG-1 on either side of her, and walked silently up to the wormhole. Teal'c and Daniel walked through the gate but she paused for a moment.
-
"Captain?" she heard the Colonel said.
"Don't worry Colonel, I won't let you down," she replied rigidly, not wanting him to think she was any less than him just cos he was a man.
"Good," he said.
She'd guessed correctly of course.
"I was gonna say 'ladies first'," he continued.
Or not…
Colonel O'Neill walked past her onto the ramp and towards the Stargate; she caught up with him. What had she ever done to him? He'd instantly disliked her just because she was a scientist. What had scientists ever done to him to make him like this?
"You know, you really will like me when you get to know me," she told him.
"Oh, I adore you already Captain," he replied.
She couldn't tell if it was sarcastic or not, so she chose not to respond. She didn't have to spend long not responding though, she suddenly realise exactly how close they were standing to the event horizon.
"My God…" she said quietly. "Look at this! The energy the Gate must release to create a stable wormhole is - is astronomical, to use exactly the right word."
She reached out and touched it, fascinated.
"You can actually see the fluctuations in the event horizon…" she marvelled.
Suddenly she felt herself being pushed through the Stargate, she knew it was the Colonel who'd pushed her through…
-
Jack looked up from the memory. Charlie was standing in front of him. He'd spent the first two days or so playing nice, trying to get information out of Jack in the more pleasant way. Now it seemed the aliens had gotten annoyed and had just decided to pull the memories from his brain and record them.
"Why are you doing this?" Jack asked.
"We are gathering information," Charlie replied.
"For what?" Jack asked, sounding like his usual narky self.
"We are explorers, as are you," Charlie said.
The image had swapped between Charlie and Grace for the past few days. Jack had watched intently for a sign of how to get out of the place, but there was no way of doing so.
"Shall we take another memory?" Charlie grinned evilly and Jack looked away.
He couldn't watch him like this. It wasn't him, he kept reminding himself. It's not Charlie.
"Lets pick a year," Charlie put his hand on Jack's chin and pulled his face back to face his. "Shall we?"
Jack avoided looking into his eyes.
"Look at me," Charlie ordered, but the voice was not his own, there was another tone below his normal one.
For a moment Jack thought he sounded like a Goa'uld, but it was different from the normal Goa'uld voice. Jack's eyes met Charlie's, and he glared at him. Caught in Charlie's gaze Jack could no longer move his eyes away, he suddenly felt himself falling back into the memory of yet another event…
-
Jack stood in the hospital ward, staring at the young boy lying on the emergency bed in front of him.
"Is he going to be OK?" Sara O'Neill grabbed the shoulder of one of the nurses.
She stared back at Sara, but didn't respond. She pulled her shoulder away and ran off to get something.
Suddenly the mass of doctors and nurses dispersed, a look of resign on the main doctors face.
"Don't you dare tell me he's dead," Jack said suddenly, bursting forwards and finding himself at Sara's side.
"I'm sorry there was nothing we could do…" the doctor said quietly.
Jack grabbed him by the collar. "Well then find something you can do. He's not dead!"
"He's been dead for an hour," the doctor replied. "We just took him off life-support."
"No you didn't, put it back on," Jack ordered, pulling his collar closer to him.
The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry."
Jack heard Sara sob from next to him and looked at her. She was staring at Charlie's dead body lying on the bed. He let go of the doctor, pushing him away and hugged Sara.
This was his fault. He'd done this.
She shook him off.
He let her
"I told you we shouldn't have left that thing in the house," Sara said, coldly.
Jack didn't say anything. What could he say? It was his fault, he'd killed his own son, even if it was an accident. Suddenly the memories of every person he'd ever shoot or killed came back to him. Those people all had families, parents who cared about them. He'd killed them too.
He was a killer.
-
Suddenly older Charlie's face became visible to him again, the evil smile had disappeared from his face.
"Don't. Ever. Show. Me. That. Again," Jack said slowly.
He was shaking, the memories all too much for him to mentally or physically hold at that moment. He pulled himself to his feet and looked Charlie, or whatever he was, in the eye.
"I am sorry," Charlie whispered.
Jack didn't reply, but turned around and walked off into the darkness surrounding him.
Charlie let him leave.
----------
"Sam!" Daniel called, dumping the armful of firewood on the ground next to his tent.
The sun was setting but it wasn't quit dark yet. Him and Teal'c had been searching for good firewood for hours. It had been raining heavily and all the wood nearby was wet, but they had eventually found some sheltered by a tree.
"ColonelCarter," Teal'c called.
They both waited.
No reply.
Suddenly through the silent night they heard the familiar noise of the Stargate engaging a chevron.
"Oh sh…" Daniel ran off towards the gate, Teal'c on his tail.
They reached the gate just in time to see Sam walked up the steps.
"Sam!" Daniel shouted. "Don't, we'll get him back some other way."
She turned slightly and stared at him. "No we won't…I have to do this Daniel."
She stepped through the gate. Daniel ran to the DHD where Teal'c was already standing.
"You remember the sequence?" Daniel asked.
Teal'c nodded astutely. "Indeed."
"We're going too," Daniel said.
They headed back to base camp to pack up.
---
Sam found herself standing in the middle of the village, in the same spot she had seen General O'Neill abducted from a week or so before hand. She bent over to tie her shoelace up properly and noticed something glinting under the mud next to her foot. She moved the mud away and picked it up.
It was one of Jack's dogtags.
Again the words haunted her.
Brigadier General Jonathan O'Neill.
She placed it in her pocket and stood up again, looking around. Where could she possibly find out who those aliens were and where'd they'd gone?
"Not by standing here," she said to herself.
She was about to head into one of the village houses when she heard a call from behind her.
"Sam," the voice said calmly.
She turned to find Daniel and Teal'c standing behind her.
"We thought you could use some help," Daniel smiled.
"We can not be court marshalled," Teal'c smiled in his mysterious Jaffa way. "Therefore we can help you freely."
"Thanks guys," Sam said.
She turned around and saw a glint of something on top of the hill where the alien spaceship had first appeared.
The realisation sprung at her.
"They never left…" she whispered.
-----
"Your friends are on the planet."
The voice came from all around him again.
"I told you not to do that," Jack said, sounding annoyed.
Grace appeared before him again.
Jack jumped. "Or that! Don't…appear."
"I apologize," Grace replied.
"I told you they'd come," Jack said.
"They will be dealt with," Grace said.
"You'll kill me before you harm them," Jack replied instantly.
"Yes, we will," Grace met his eyes. "To their eyes you will be dead."
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A/N: Someone asked for longer chapters!! So this one's slightly longer than the last. But I really have to go out now lol…please review!!
