I'm sorry everyone. These next few chapters may be short as I don't have a lot of time to write. Also - thank you for your reviews and I will get back to everyone when I have a bit more time. Just so you know - these next chapters advance the plot but aren't terribly exciting. It will come! Thanks for your patience.
Sam walked into the room and looked at the people she'd spent the last six and a half months with. They were all good people, and had held up remarkably well, although she knew they were fearful about what the future would bring. She knew they had all hoped she'd be successful in getting the gate open and felt horribly guilty at her failure. At the same time, she knew they didn't blame her, for which she was extremely thankful.
Nurse Soto – Teresa – was watching Ferretti and Reynolds kids but they'd each brought their wives. They were the only ones in the group who were married. In a way, Sam was glad to have the two families here. It gave an atmosphere of some kind of normalcy to the situation. The kids especially, were all young enough that they could still play and take joy out of simple things.
As she sat down at the briefing table, and looked down at the serious faces around her, she knew that what Cassie had said was right. She needed to listen to what these people had to say.
"Thank you for coming, everyone", she said calmly. "I think it's time we sat and discussed options. As I'm sure everyone knows by now, I haven't been able to get the gate open and I honestly don't think I'm going to. It's time we looked at alternatives."
To say everyone looked surprised was an understatement. Again, she felt a rush of guilt as she realized how closed off she'd been to everyone.
It was Reynolds who began to speak as the most senior officer next to her (actually, they were the same rank, but she had seniority due to her position as – former - 2IC of the base).
"I think we need to find out what's happening on the outside. We haven't heard anything since all radio signals stopped."
"I believe Colonel Reynolds is correct", Teal'c said. "We need to understand what is happening and proceed from there."
"It could be bad out there", Caroline Lam spoke for the first time. "We don't even know if it's safe."
"I think it's best to assume it isn't", Sam said clearly. "We will have to figure out how, but we'll need to send a small team to the top and see what's going on. Then, we need to decide our next steps."
"But what can we do?" asked Chloe. There's only a small group of us. What if the aliens have taken over the whole planet?"
"It's possible", Ferretti spoke up. "But those odds have never stopped us in the past." He grinned slightly as he looked at everyone. "Let's think about it. We've got what looks like an impossible situation, with no – or little – hope. We've got evil aliens who appear much stronger than us and obviously have superior technology." He looked around the table. "Any of this sounding familiar? We've kicked butt before, I don't see why we can't do it again."
"The problem is we don't even know who the aliens are", Stephanie Reynolds added. "None of us even saw them. How can we fight something we don't know or understand?" Everyone at the table suddenly looked towards Sam.
She wanted to ask why everyone was looking at her. No, she wanted to scream it. Why did everyone always expect her to perform miracles? Couldn't someone else, just once, figure it out. She felt an unexpected wave of sadness, knowing that there was one other person who had that ability. Unfortunately, he wasn't here.
"We must find out as much as we can about them. Colonel Carter is correct, that means someone going to the surface to determine what is happening", Teal'c said solemnly.
"Who and how?" asked Airman John Peters. Except for Cassie and the kids he was the youngest one present. He'd just transferred to the SGC a few weeks before the attack but he'd volunteered to stay below, for which Sam was grateful. He proved to be, not only smart, but one of the steadiest people in the bunch. She knew she could always count on him – and Siler – to calm her down when she became upset.
For the next 45 minutes they discussed various options of who should go and what they would need to do when they got to the surface. Stephanie was right. It was hard to know what to do when they had no information.
It was finally decided that Ferretti, Peters and SF Phillip Chang would be the ones to head to the surface. Teal'c had offered, and Sam had been tempted to send him, but finally agreed that the tattoo would be too difficult to hide. They would continue to plan, and put together supplies for the next few days and then they'd leave.
Sam worried, sure that it was a suicide mission. She couldn't explain how she knew – just that she had a very bad feeling about it. It was kind of like watching someone standing next to a cliff, she finally decided. You were terrified they would fall. However, if you were the one standing there you knew it was okay and you were safe. She figured that if it had been Sg1 going – the original, four person team, they would have had more opportunity for success and she would have felt much less fatalistic.
As she pondered this, she realized it wasn't arrogance that made her believe this. No, she knew others were as bright and as competent. It was not those things that had made them such a successful team. No, it was something much more intangible, something which even she, after all these years, couldn't quite figure out. It was as if, somehow, the coming together of those four, somewhat wounded souls, had created a powerful force in the universe. She knew it wasn't any one of them individually that made the difference. It was all of them together. That was why she'd been unsuccessful in getting the gate to operate. She was not complete without the rest of her team.
0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0
Jack insisted on getting up and wandering around the cabin, much to Sophie's dismay and Daniel's long-suffering acceptance.
"There's nothing you can do Sophie", he'd explained. "If Jack O'Neill wants to get up he will, even if he's not ready for it!" he shouted. "Keeping Jack in bed long enough to recuperate is like trying to keep the snow from melting in the spring. It just ain't gonna happen."
Of course, he'd almost passed out after his first foray out of his bedroom and Daniel had had to practically carry him back to bed. It was later that same day that O'Neill again attempted to get up and move around. With a sigh, Daniel simply went and stood close to his friend. When Jack glared at him he replied.
"Look, if you fall and seriously hurt yourself again, Sophie and I are the ones that are going to have to deal with it so I'm going to make sure you don't. If you don't like it – tough!" Jack glared for a few more seconds and then simply ignored his friend as he slowly shuffled his way to the living room.
Once there, he collapsed onto the couch, exhausted but pleased with himself. Daniel rolled his eyes and sat in the chair across from him. Sophie had gone outside for a bit of fresh air.
"So, any thoughts about what we should do?" he asked the older man. Nothing more had been said after Daniel had introduced the idea of flying to the SGC. He knew Jack wasn't ready for anything yet, but at least they could discuss it.
"Yeah", Jack answered shortly, his gaze far away. After a few seconds his eyes dropped and he looked at Daniel. "I think you're right. We've got to go to Colorado and see if anyone's there."
"What if they're not?"
"Then we'll have to go to Plan B." O'Neill answered.
"Plan B?"
"Yeah, Plan B."
"And that's - ?"
"Don't know yet. It'll come to me when we need it. No point deciding on Plan B when Plan A is in the works."
"Okay, so we're going with Plan A. Uh, what is Plan A?"
"We go to the SGC and see if they're there." Jack answered, speaking as if Daniel was – what was it Jack had said – 'two fries short of a Happy Meal'.
"Yes, I got that Jack. I mean how are we going to do that?"
"Remember Daniel, 'piece of cake'. We fly the tel'tak there – hoping it doesn't fly apart and spread various pieces of us all over the planet. The cloaking device seemed to work the first time so we keep our fingers crossed that it works again. Then, we land it and go in."
"Okay, sounds rather 'iffy' to me. How do we get in? I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the exits will be blocked."
"Look if there are people there, they need to have a way to get out. I'm pretty sure I know what way that is. There's a top-secret entranceway to the lower levels that only a handful of people knew. I know because of my position but I doubt anyone other than a few people in the Pentagon" he stopped briefly, thinking of all those who had died, "and Landry and Sam knew about it. I expect that one is still open."
"Only the US military would have secrets on top of secrets!" Daniel said sarcastically.
"Yeah, and aren't you glad they did?"
He couldn't exactly argue with that, but still felt their plan was awfully simplistic. Too much could go wrong.
"What about scouting around a bit first? I'd like a bit more information on what's happened. We really don't know anything."
"Yeah, I was thinking about that." Daniel suddenly realized that Jack was looking terribly tired, and was still favoring his arm.
In fact, now that Daniel thought about it, he didn't remember seeing Jack trying to move his arm or shoulder. That was not at all like the man. He remembered Janet complaining, countless times, about how Jack always pushed himself too soon. She was always worrying that he would aggravate whatever wound he had at the time by trying to do too much before he was ready.
"Daniel?" Jack's voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked over to see his friend looking at him, a question on his face.
"Sorry. What were you saying?"
"I was saying that I've been thinking about what's happening. You said that everyone seemed either disinterested or belligerent?"
"Yes. It was strange. You'd think people would try and come together – for protection if nothing else. But instead, it was like everyone was wandering around on his or her own. They were frightened of each other – or, as you said, openly belligerent."
"Not acting normally?"
"Well, no, although if your world has just been destroyed it would be pretty hard to act completely normally. I would have expected trauma – even fear and anger – but not this strange inability or interest in connecting with others."
"Do you think they could have been drugged or under some kind of influence?"
Daniel frowned and looked at Jack. He had thought of that very thing, at one point, but decided it couldn't be, otherwise he would have been affected.
"If that was the case", he went on to explain his thoughts, "then why wasn't I affected? Surely I would have been exposed to the same thing?"
"Were the men that were captured with you 'normal'?"
Daniel thought about it briefly and then shook his head. "No, they wouldn't speak with each other or with me – in fact, they seemed to want nothing to do with anyone."
"But didn't you say a number of them tried to escape?"
"Yeah, but if I remember correctly, I don't think they were working together so much as they decided to act out at the same time. It may have been that there were some of them who became aggressive and when one decided to make a break for it, a bunch of the others did as well. But that still doesn't answer why I wasn't affected."
"No, I know." Jack closed his eyes for a second, considering. "Maybe it's like the Broca virus. Maybe there's something about you that causes you to be immune."
"Like what? I haven't taken antihistamines for a long time."
"No, I don't think it would be something like that – there'd be too many people who were immune if that was the cause. No, it's got to be something else."
"Like what?"
"Well, what makes you different from almost anyone else?" Suddenly, Jack got a big grin.
"No, don't say it Jack."
"Why not? Nothing wrong with being 'different'."
"Ha! You should know."
Jack still grinned, but didn't say any more, knowing this could soon dissolve into childish 'name calling' – something he would have enjoyed previously, but knew that now they had to focus. With a final chuckle he nodded. "Okay, touché and all that. But let's think – what is different about you?"
"Nothing as far as I can tell. I think I'm a pretty normal guy." When Jack started to smirk again Daniel rolled his eyes. "Okay, I know I'm not completely normal – but physiologically I am. There's nothing about me, physically, that's different."
"Other than the fact that you've died – how many times now? – and come back. That's not normal."
"No, but how would that protect me?"
"I don't know. Maybe being revived by the sarcophagus has done something. Maybe it's given you immunity."
"It's possible I guess but in that case you're immune too. You've technically died more times than me and were brought back"
"If you want to compare deaths okay – but you've been in the sarcophagus more."
"Fine! But we still don't know if that's it."
Jack sighed. "I know Danny, but I think the fact that you seem to be immune could help us. If we could get to the SGC – and if there are some scientists or doctors there – we might be able to figure it out."
"Yeah, but if it was the sarcophagus there's not much we can do. It's not like we have one just lying around."
"No point in worrying about it now I guess – although it does give us some bit of hope. In the meantime we'd better get ready to go."
"Now?"
"Yeah, no time like the present."
"But Jack, you're not well enough - "
"Hell, I don't mean we're leaving right now, I mean let's start getting ready."
"Oh, okay", Daniel said, looking relieved.
"No, we'll leave tomorrow."
