Chapter 11 is up! I hope you'll enjoy it! As always, it was a pleasure to write!
Eh, not much to say, I think. The chapter kind of speaks for itself. I do hope that none find it rushed, though.
Reviewers: THANK YOU! This chapter is dedicated to you guys who have taken the time to review this story, thank you. :).
makki - thank you very much! I was worried that the message would be too cliché and too... OOC-Sam... Ah well, I tried at least. :). Her mentioning fishing was a given to me, it just felt right. Oh, hey, I'm all for no Pete too. ;).
ALIMOO1971 - I love your idea. :P. As always, I should have thought of something like that, but I still kind of like this chapter's solution better, in a way. Oh, I love happy endings too. :D.
sammie77 - Thank you very much! I hope you like this too :).
Cecilia Friesen - Thank you, your words were really kind and sweet. :).
BettyHall223 - Aw, thanks! I hope you like the solution I thought of here...
Allie108 - Nervous? You? Nah, don't be. Leave that to the characters. ;).
HAZMOT - I know, it was stupid, McKay. It wasn't supposed to go down that way originally, but in the end it did... so technically it's stupid me, not McKay. :P. Thank you very much for your kind words! They make me feel as if I'm doing something right!
physicsgeek - You're welcome. ;). Hope you like this too.
I just want to say a final thanks to everyone who liked that Sam mentioned fishing, I always thought she was more likely to say that then to declare her love for him. I don't know, maybe that's just me. :).
Now go enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 11: Journey Home
Jack turned around as he, Daniel and Teal'c were beamed up to Jacob's ship through the ring transporter. As the rings disappeared, Jack smiled at Jacob who was looking more hopeful then the colonel had ever seen the older man.
"Jack?" Jacob asked. "You wanted to talk?"
"Yup."
"…So?"
Jack smirked, sometimes Jacob and Carter sounded too darn alike. "So, I have a plan."
Jacob raised a questioning eyebrow and turned to Daniel and Teal'c.
"I know," Daniel began. "It sounds shocking."
Jack ignored the teasing comment and waited until Jacob turned back to watch Jack once more, "I know how to get your girl home. We're going to need your ship for it."
"Of course, anything, Jack," Jacob guaranteed with a nod. "What are we going to do?"
"I'll tell you on the way, just take us to Earth's orbit as fast as you can first," Jack said, for once in his life not bothering with his usual wit.
Jacob hesitated a second, looking as if he wanted Jack to tell him more about his plan before agreeing but on seeing the firm, determined look in Jack's eyes, Jacob nodded and turned around to the control panels to do as he'd been asked.
Up on the spaceship, McKay watched as Sam ran around the bridge, preparing her plan, which she still had failed to fill him in on.
"Eh, Sam?" he tried, but got no response. "What about telling me the plan too? You know I can help."
"I know," she said, nodding fervently, but didn't say anything else.
McKay frowned as she sat down in the seat before a control panel and leaned closer to her in the captain's seat to try and see what she was doing. "…You're transferring power from the shields, why?"
Sam glanced at him briefly before turning back to her work again, "The shields are inoperable when we're in hyperspace anyway, I figure this way they can still be useful to us. I'm transferring the power to the hyperdrive."
"You think the extra power source will be enough to boost our speed and bring us home before the crystal breaks?"
"Yes. Exactly," Sam nodded.
"Well, then, why didn't you tell me that? I can help!" Rodney said, pouting slightly.
"Then help, Rodney," Sam sighed back at him.
"Oh, okay, I'll see if I can find any other power sources that we can spare for the hyperdrive's power," Rodney said and quickly jumped down to the other control panel on his left. He pressed a few buttons and initiated his search for useful energy. "I can transfer power from the heat tank, but that means it could get awfully cold in here if we don't make the entire jump."
"We're going to die anyway, McKay," Sam said. "I mean, if we don't get home that is."
"Right," McKay nodded and set to work.
"I'm going to transfer power from the steering crystal as well," Sam said.
Rodney turned to her in confusion, "What? Why?"
"So that we can go home, Rodney," Sam said and jumped from her seat, exiting the bridge before Rodney had a chance to stop her.
Rodney frowned as the doors closed behind her, what was she planning?
They wouldn't be able to get home without the steering crystal, they wouldn't be able to steer if she transferred power from it. Knowing Sam, though, Rodney knew she wouldn't have suggested it if she didn't have a good plan. He just hoped it would work too.
Rodney turned back to his work and managed to pull energy from the heat tank, radio and from the radar as well. When done, Rodney leaned back in his seat just as the doors opened again and Sam returned.
"I think that's all the extra power we can acquire at the moment," Rodney said and tiredly pointed to the control panel.
Sam nodded as she lifted the camera that was resting on top of the control panel and Rodney watched in silence as she walked to the rear regions of the bridge and plugged it into the ship.
"What are you doing now?" he asked, still not entirely following her line of thought.
"We are going to send a message back home."
"But we can't record a new one, Sam. The batteries won't last for that."
"No. But we can send a message we've already recorded," Sam pointed out.
"…True. But what good will it do us?"
"We're going to follow it, Rodney," Sam explained.
"Follow it? As in, follow it?" Rodney asked. "You mean we're going to fly after the radio transmission through the hyperspace window?"
Sam nodded in response, "Yes, on autopilot."
"Well then…," Rodney said, processing her plan, finally understanding why she wanted to pull power from the steering crystal as well. He thought it over once and came to the conclusion that it could work. "Let's do it. Let's fly home."
Sam smiled as she opened up a hyperspace window and transmitted the message. She quickly walked back to her usual seat and started the autopilot, within seconds the Arcanum zoomed off into hyperspace, flying fast towards Earth.
"We're flying faster then normal in hyperspace. It's working," Sam said and smiled to herself, she was finally going home to where she belonged.
Jack tapped his foot restlessly where he stood next to Jacob on the bridge, on his left, Jacob was steering the ship.
"So…," Jacob said again, raising an eyebrow at Jack. "You've still not said much about your plan and we'll reach Earth shortly."
Jack looked down at his watch, they'd flown for about an hour now and Jack knew the others must be getting irritated at not hearing his plan, if the roles had been reversed, he knew he'd have been.
"It's simple really," Jack began as Daniel and Teal'c joined them on the bridge. "We fly to Earth's orbit, ask Hammond to send the last message we received back to the Arcanum and then we follow the transmission. We do what they've been doing, but in reverse."
Daniel and Teal'c exchanged a look.
"That is indeed a good plan, O'Neill."
"Thanks, T. I still got it, eh?" Jack asked, a smile once again forming on his lips.
"I have to agree with Teal'c, Jack. The plan could work," Jacob nodded and turned forwards again to look out the window at the planet below. "And now we're here. You better radio George, tell him the plan too."
Jack nodded and went off to do as he'd been told. As Jack walked off the bridge, Jacob turned to Daniel and Teal'c.
"If you guys know something else, some information that hasn't reached me yet, please tell me."
"Eh, well," Daniel began. "I'm not sure what information you've been given, Jack's told you quite a lot, hasn't he?"
"Yeah, but I'm sure he's left something out," Jacob said. "He knows I'm worried about Sam and doesn't want me to panic, I see it in his eyes."
"Ah," Daniel nodded. "I think I know what he could have ...withheld from you. I don't suppose he told you about their oxygen supply?"
Jacob felt his heart constrict and leaned back against the panel behind him, he heard Selmak's soothing voice in his head, telling him to calm down before he heard what Daniel had to say, perhaps it wasn't so bad. Mentally, Jacob asked Selmak to be quiet as he looked up at the archeologist again.
"What?" Jacob asked, his voice quivering just the tiniest. "What about the oxygen supply?"
"They're running short of oxygen, Jacob. In fact... we don't know if they still have oxygen."
"What?" Jacob asked, his eyes now wide and fearful.
At that same moment, Jack entered the bridge with a wide smile, waving his radio in the air. He stopped mid-step as Jacob turned to watch him, complete worry written over the older man's face.
"…What? What's wrong?" Jack asked.
"They're running low on oxygen?" Jacob asked. "You're telling me my daughter could already be dead?"
Jack's head whipped in Daniel's direction as the last of Jack's smile disappeared. Jack had hoped he wouldn't have to face that information again, gladly accepting the notion of ignoring it completely. Daniel shrugged as an apology but Jack understood why he'd told Jacob, the Tok'ra deserved to know everything that was going on about his daughter.
"Jacob," Jack began, but wasn't sure how to continue, as he turned back towards the older man.
"Tell me we're not doing this in vain, Jack."
"We aren't, Jacob," Jack said, knowing that he was trying to convince himself as well. "We aren't."
Jacob watched Jack's brown eyes for a second, searching for validation and finding it there, he nodded. "Alright then. What did George say?"
"Hammond is waiting for us to give him a go," Jack said.
"Good. Tell him to transmit the message," Jacob responded and turned back to the controls. "We're ready to follow."
"O'Neill to Hammond," Jack began, speaking into his radio. "We're ready for you to transmit. I repeat, transmit the message."
A few minutes of silence followed, Jack knew it was because of their distance from Earth and found that this time he could wait patiently.
"One radio transmission is being transmitted," Jacob said suddenly, reading the ship's scanners. "I'm moving the ship to follow in hyperspace."
Jack nodded and was about to reply when there was a reply on the radio and Hammond's voice spoke loudly, "Copy that, colonel. We're transmitting it now, you should see it shortly on the scanner. Good luck, son. Good luck."
Sam checked her computer screen again, to make sure that everything was working the way they were supposed to work and smiled as she saw the results she wanted. They'd been flying for almost two hours in hyperspace now and they were flying faster then Sam had hoped. Sure, there was still at least an hour left, but hopefully the hyperdrive crystal wouldn't break before they'd reached Earth's orbit. Sam bit her cheek, deep in thought, there was of course the chance that they would be stranded further out in the Milky Way galaxy, and then they'd be in trouble. Not only did they have less then a day of oxygen left, they also didn't have a working radio, so they wouldn't be able to call for help if they were stranded too far away from Earth.
Suddenly, the Arcanum started rocking slightly back and forth and Sam shot to attention.
"What's going on?" Rodney asked, from his own seat behind the other panel. "Why are we rocking like this? There shouldn't be speed bumps in space."
Sam watched the screen, "There's not. We're in trouble."
"Woah, Sam!" Rodney suddenly exclaimed as he looked down at his screen. "I'm not sure what's happening, but you're on my screen."
Sam frowned and tried to look across the bridge at Rodney's computer, sure enough there played the video message she'd sent to Earth.
Sam and Rodney exchanged another look of confusion when suddenly the hyperspace window started to disappear and the ship shook more violently, finally coming to a grinding halt with a loud bang. The ship kept shaking for a few minutes before everything went completely black.
"Dammit!" Rodney cursed. "The universe must really hate me!"
Sam tried pressing several buttons on the control panel, but nothing happened. The entire ship was dead.
"Overload," Sam said at last. "The hyperdrive crystal must have overloaded and exploded, in doing so it took out all the other energy sources that we wired to the hyperdrive and ultimately the entire system overloaded. The ship's completely dead, Rodney."
"But we're nowhere near Earth! We're… where the hell are we?"
"I don't know. I guess we're in the Pegasus Galaxy… Maybe at the very outskirts of our own…," Sam theorized, before repeating. "I don't know."
Sam felt the very last of her hope disappearing down the drain, this had been their last chance and now they were doomed. There was no way they'd be able to get home without a hyperdrive from here in less then a day, even less was it possible considering the engine was completely dead. She'd been so close to home, yet so far away, and now she'd never see her friends and family again.
Hot tears prickled down her cheeks and she wiped them away before lowering her head to the control panel. Slowly she banged her forehead against the panel, hoping that this action could make her forget the entire event of these past twenty days.
"Eh, Sam…," Sam heard Rodney's voice beside her but didn't bother looking up. "I think you ought to see this."
"Not now," was her response. "Busy."
Sam closed her eyes and kept banging her head lightly on the panel, she thought she saw a flash of light around her and was almost positive she'd heard a familiar sound… but, Sam knew better, there was no one else out there, there were no ring transporters out here, so it couldn't have been one. It was just Rodney, her and the Arcanum.
She raised her head to hit the panel again but when she lowered it she found that the panel was missing and her head hit nothing but air.
Her eyes shot open and looked down at a floor Sam was very much aware didn't belong to the Arcanum, she frowned slightly before suddenly a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Becoming a masochist in my wake, Carter?"
Sam's head shot up and she saw the one person she'd longed to see the most actually standing before her, a relieved smile on his lips and a familiar twinkle in his eyes.
Jack shrugged, not losing the smile, "It was bound to happen, I suppose."
"Sir!" Sam breathed at last, Jack's smile grew and he offered her his hand to help her up from the floor. She took it and he pulled her from the ground and into, what could only be described as, a bear hug. She felt his arms tighten around her waist and she returned the gesture, closing her eyes at the feel of his warm body.
Jack felt a huge sensation of relief washing over him, she was here, in his arms, and she was alive. A throat cleared somewhere beside them and Jack reluctantly took a step back to allow the others a chance to say greet Sam too.
Sam turned from Jack's arms and looked at three other people she'd missed sorely; her dad, Daniel and Teal'c.
"Sammie," Jacob said and stepped forward to hug her.
"It's amazing really," Rodney spoke, addressing Teal'c. "What we managed to pull off. I don't suppose an alien like you could understand but we managed to pull off a great plan, several great plans. I might even say that if it hadn't been for my-"
Rodney stopped abruptly as Teal'c turned in his direction with a raised eyebrow and Rodney knew better then to continue. Teal'c turned back to Sam, who was now hugging Daniel tightly, and smiled as she stepped out of her embrace with Daniel to hug Teal'c too.
"It's so good to see you guys," Sam whispered, trying to hold back her tears.
"The feeling of extreme joy is shared by all aboard the ship, major Carter," Teal'c responded and Sam nodded as she stepped back.
"How did you know where to find us?"
"We followed a transmission we sent back to you," Daniel explained.
"That explains why we received the video message Sam recorded," Rodney nodded in understanding.
"That's a really good plan, Daniel," Sam said with a smile.
"Ah, eh, don't thank me. It was Jack's plan," Daniel said, pushing his glasses up on the ridge of his nose.
"You don't have to sound so surprised every time you say it," Jack frowned slightly at Daniel, but there was no anger in his statement as he still had a smile on his lips. Jack turned back to Sam who was watching him with wide eyes. "I do have my moments, you know."
"I know," Sam smiled back with a nod, before turning to her dad. "Where are we, by the way?"
"Outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy," Jacob explained. "Let's take you home, Sam. You need to be checked up, you both do actually."
"Yes, well, thank you," Rodney said truthfully. "For saving us and all."
Jacob nodded and together with Teal'c, Daniel and Rodney, he left the room. Sam moved to follow the others but was stopped by a gentle hand on her arm. She turned back to Jack and looked into his deep brown eyes that were looking at her with such warmth and affection that Sam felt her heart speed up.
Jack's eyes looked her up and down, looking for any wounds but found no other then the old one on her forehead, "You okay?"
"I am."
"You sure?"
Sam smiled and repeated softly, "I am. I'm okay."
"I'm… I'm glad your okay, Carter. I really am."
"Me too," Sam said and hesitated just a split second before continuing. "Jack."
Jack's smile grew as she said his name, "C'mere."
He pulled her back into a protective hug and they stayed in each others arms a few minutes before pulling back, though Jack still held her close to him, his arms still encircled around her waist. Slowly he leaned towards her, resting his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.
"What happens now?" Sam asked and Jack was aware she wasn't talking about their journey home but about the two of them.
"What do you say we go fishing?" Jack asked and Sam pulled her forehead back from his to look into his eyes. She looked at him inquiringly and all Jack could do was smile back.
"I'd like that," Sam said at last and reluctantly stepped out from Jack's embrace.
"What do you say we join the others?" Jack said and cleared his throat.
"Good idea."
Together they headed out the room, walking shoulder to shoulder, still reluctant to lose the touch of the other.
"Hey, Carter?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Do try and stay away from spaceships for awhile, will you? Wouldn't want you stranded a third time, now, would we?"
"I'll try, Jack. I'll try."
"That's all I ask. Come on, let's go home."
And that's Chapter 11 and we have a happy ending! :).
Ending might have been a bit cliché, but I'm still happy with it. :).
I'll ask again, for this interested, if you want an Epilogue or not. I know there isn't one needed, but if you're interested I could always whip something up.
It's leaning towards an Epilogue as several dear reviewers has commented on that, so I'm going to think up a few ideas... Still not sure when it's supposed to take place... Ah, this can only be good. :).