April 4, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO

"SG units one and two, report to the briefing room," Walter's voice called out on the base intercom.

A few moments later, the eight of them entered and took a seat.

"I have some news. Two weeks ago, General O'Neill was sent by the president on an unofficial mission. Apparently, something went wrong, as he is now listed as MIA. I was explicitly ordered by Hayes to tell you that there will be no official rescue mission forthcoming from the SGC due to the risk of a serious, international incident should such a mission be discovered. I have been ordered to continue business as usual, and I expect you will do the same."

"Yes, sir," Mitchell replied.

"Sir, do you know where he was?" Sam asked.

"I don't, Colonel. No one does. SG-1, you are still scheduled to embark at 1330. If I get any more news, I will keep you posted. SG-2, stay behind a minute."

After SG-1, left the briefing room, Dixon continued.

"Ok, guys, the president made sure to emphasize that there would be no official involvement in a rescue. If you guys are going to come up with something, you can't do anything that could be tied to the U.S. military or the Asgard. I know you guys know it works. If you are going to take some leave to do this, have it on my desk right away."

"Yes, sir," Ferretti replied.

SG-2 immediately went down to the infirmary and knocked on the door to Janet's office.

"Come in."

"Janet, you have a minute?"

"Yeah, Louis. Oh no, what's wrong?" She noticed the grim look on Ferretti's face.

They all entered her office and closed the door behind them.

"Jack's been declared MIA. Dixon has orders that there will be no official rescue. "

She fought back the moisture in her eyes. "Oh, no. Well, I don't care what his orders are. I'm not going to sit here while he's out there."

"I know, Janet, we aren't either. We need to put in for some leave and then meet somewhere and come up with a plan," Ferretti replied.

"Fine, let's go."

They all put requests for a week leave directly in Dixon's hand. When he saw them, he looked surprised to see Dr. Fraiser's request in there too, but he didn't comment on it.

They all went straight from the mountain to Jack's house.

"Ok, Janet, what do you know?" Jen opened.

"I overheard Jack's side of a conversation, I'm guessing with the president. He was to go to China and take out two targets. Unofficially, no backup, no government acknowledgement, top level classified. Actually, the president wanted him to have someone else do it, but the stubborn ass insisted that he be the one to go. That's all I know for sure."

"I'm sure. When you been an assassin, you don't wish for anyone else to have to go through that. Where in China?" Wilkins asked.

"Shenzhen."

"Oh, I remember that dump alright. Jack and I had an op there about 15 years ago. That still doesn't help us now, though. He could be anywhere," Wilkins added.

"We can assume that if he was free, he would have found a way to make contact. I mean, Hong Kong is right there, and he could have probably gotten a commercial flight home if he made it there," Ferretti remarked.

"If the Chinese have him, and we find him, we can't leave any surviving witnesses or evidence of our involvement in his escape, or you get the international incident Hayes warned Dixon about," Wilkins came back with.

"Vala, how well do you know how to work those Asgard sensors on the tel'tak?"

"I'm not an expert, but well enough I think. I've used them several times now."

"I guess we can always get the ship and fly around southern China until we pick up his life sign, and then come up with a plan from there," Ferretti concluded.

"I'll take a transporter up to the cabin and fly it back. I'll be back soon," Vala said as she ran out the door.

While Vala was gone, Ferretti and Wilkins went home to gear up in their black, unmarked BDUs from their long journey with Jack to save Earth. Jen did the same, and gave Janet a set to wear.

"We're going to get him back, Janet."

"I know we are. I don't care what kind of international incident we have to cause."

The first thing Vala did when she got to the ship was put a call in to Thor.

"Vala Mal Doran, how can I assist you?"

"Jack was sent on a top secret mission on Earth and is missing. He's been out of contact for weeks now. We were wondering if you can help."

"Unfortunately, we are not permitted to interfere in the affairs of your world. There is growing concern on our Council that we have already provided your military with the means to conquer Earth and use our technology for less than honorable ends. Most believe in O'Neill and his influence, but for us to involve ourselves in this would only cause greater alarm among the discontented Council members."

Vala was appalled. "So there's nothing you can do? What if we find him and he needs medical help?"

"I can provide medical aid if you bring O'Neill to me. I will arrive within three of your hours and await word."

"Thanks, Thor."

Vala got back at the same time Ferretti and Wilkins did. She quickly changed into her BDUs, and then played them the conversation with Thor.

"I'm not surprised. This isn't really their business. Just having us coming for him is more than a black ops officer can dream of. So, everyone ready?" Ferretti explained.

...

They all boarded the tel'tak and took off for the Far East. When they arrived, they hovered directly over the city, and Vala had the sensors search for Jack's life sign. Shenzhen is a large city, and after several painstaking hours, they found no sign of him. Next, they tried Hong Kong, then every town surrounding Shenzhen, and came up empty handed. After three days of unsuccessful searching, they all looked dejected.

"They could have him anywhere by now. Hell, they might even have him on a ship to prevent a rescue mission," Ferretti mentioned.

That gave them a new plan, and they hovered over the waters off the coast when they finally found him.

"He's under the water!" Vala exclaimed.

"Do not beam him up yet! We can't leave any witnesses, but we also can't go sinking Chinese subs either. We need to see what we're dealing with," Wilkins cautioned them.

"Will this thing go underwater?" Ferretti asked.

"With the shields up, it will, sir," Hailey assured him.

"Let's go down there, but give it a little distance. Even if we're cloaked, I'm sure they'll notice the disturbed water."

They submerged the tel'tak and got just close enough to the sub to get a look.

"Now, get out of the water!" Ferretti ordered.

"Hopefully they won't notice that we were down there for a few seconds," he continued.

"That's a Han class sub. Hailey, can you get blueprints for them?" Wilkins inquired.

"Already working on it, sir."

Janet just sat back in silence and hoped. There wasn't much she could do, she's a doctor, so she just waited. She did notice how well SG-2 worked together. No doubt Jack's influence commanding them played a part in that, but also that he knew to put these people together in the first place was impressive.

"Here they are. Who can read Chinese?" Jen announced.

"I can. Not as well as Jack, but well enough." Wilkins stepped up to the screen.

"Alright, he's being held in a storage room. No cameras, solid door. If the door is closed, we should be able to beam out the occupants of the room safely."

"What do life signs look like in the hallway outside the room?"

"All clear," Vala told him.

"Ok, so it doesn't matter if the door is open or not. How many life signs in the room?"

"Two."

"Beam them up."

Appearing in the middle of the floor were a Chinese Naval officer holding a branding iron, and a naked Jack O'Neill lying face down on the floor, every inch of him covered in U-shaped burns and lacerations. When the officer went to stick the iron against Jack's skin again, Wilkins immediately drew his sidearm and put a bullet in between his eyes, reacting before anyone else even knew what exactly was happening. Ferretti zatted the dead body a couple times to get rid of it, and Janet was immediately at Jack's side, tears rolling down her cheeks as she felt for his pulse.

"He's alive, but I don't know for how long. Several of these burns are badly infected."

"Thor!"

"I am here, Vala Mal Doran."

"Jack needs dire medical help. Can you beam him aboard?"

Jack and Janet disappeared in a flash.

"Let's fly this boat home, then we'll beam up there and visit," Ferretti ordered.

...

Meanwhile, on Thor's ship, Jack was lying in the healing pod with the top open, covered only in Janet's BDU jacket over his waist. His physical injuries have been healed, but he has yet to awaken. All of a sudden, he started to stir back to consciousness. He felt someone holding his hand. He opened his eyes and saw Janet with tear stained cheeks and a big smile on her face.

What the hell? I must be dead.

"Janet?" he mumbled. "I'm so sorry. I tried to hold on, to get home to you. I never wanted to leave you."

Her tears came out in full force now.

"Jack! You're not dead. You did hold on. You came back to me."

He shook out the cobwebs.

She must be right, because I know she sure as hell won't be there where I'm going after I die. She's here again, always saving me, always there for me. It's always her.

He looked at her in awe, and with heart wrenching love pouring out of his dark brown eyes. The same look she used to see Sam get from him, she got it now.

"How?"

"SG-2 borrowed your ship. I'll explain the rest later. You just rest, ok?" She gave him a soft, emotion-filled kiss.

A few minutes later, SG-2 beamed aboard.

"How is he?" Jen asked wearily. She was still shaken up at the sight of him on the tel'tak.

"Physically fine, but exhausted. The rest, I don't know yet."

They all sat there quietly for a while, until Jack woke up and broke the silence.

"So, how did my unofficial mission get such a big rescue party?"

They explained everything to him, including the orders not to mount a rescue, and that the Chinese would have no way to tie this to the U.S. or the Asgard.

"Thank you. All of you."

April 9, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO

Jack was beamed right from the pod into his bedroom, so that he could put some clothes on. Then he went and sat with Janet on the couch while Hailey and Vala went to their own bedrooms for the night.

Jack put his arm around Janet, and she leaned into his side.

"How did you guys know where to look for me?"

"The day you left, I actually overheard you on the phone with the president. I didn't say anything to you because I didn't want you to be distracted by it, and I had no intention of telling anyone else either. Even now, only SG-2 knows. We have a cover story ready to go for when you show up at work again."

"Well, thank you for keeping it quiet. They could have my ass. How much do you know about the mission?"

"Just where it was, that it was 'unofficial', and that it was hit on two targets. You don't have to tell me about it. I would never ask you to reveal classified information to me."

He leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss, lingering for a moment.

"I'm going to be a mess for a while. Not only what was done to me, but what I had to do as well. You've seen my flashbacks enough in the infirmary. I want nothing more than for you to stay with me tonight, but I don't want to hurt you either."

"I know, Jack, and I'll be here. I know how to handle your flashbacks and nightmares. There's something I want to talk to you about, too."

"Ok."

"I'm going to resign my commission as soon as you are back to process it."

"Janet…"

"Listen to me. When you came back a General, you thought you were going to be safe and sound behind a desk, and I had hoped that was going to be the case. But since you've been back, you were in a coma for weeks, and then had this whole ordeal. No matter what job you are doing, you are always going to be asked to do dangerous things, and you will always do them because that's who you are. I'm not mad at you about it. I wouldn't change a thing about you.

But the thing is, I can't handle standing there and having to pretend that everything is fine when you are hurt or missing. I can't do it anymore, and I won't. Jack, what we have is everything I had hoped for and much more. I will never regret giving up my commission for this."

Jack regarded her stubborn look and smiled at her.

"If that's what you want. I just want you to be able to have everything you want. You deserve everything, a lot more than me."

"Jack, I have everything I want, right here and now. Whether I'm Major Fraiser or Dr. Fraiser makes no difference to me."

"Let's go to bed."

He got up and took her hand and led her to the bedroom.