AN: Ok I hope that you all like the chapter, I am saying sorry before hand if you are disapointed with it in any way! Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Chapter 12 – Journey home.
Jack looked around at his friends and smiled, he rarely had a chance to smile after a raid of such a kind because every time someone didn't come back or was severely injured. However, this time, although there were some injuries there weren't any major injuries. Cam had to have his arm seen to but with the Asgard's help there was no reason to worry for him. Everyone of course had been knocked around by the blast that had rocked the whole of the fortress. The blast had done a lot of structural damage to the fortress and the Tauri forces had beat a hasty retreat. The Tok'ra operatives got out successfully as well, and the Tok'ra were in general pleased with all the events, they had even got a tentative peace with the free Jaffa.
FLASHBACK
Ba'al meanwhile had set himself up in one of the storage rooms, more precisely the storage room that held all the explosives that he could get his hands on. He looked round satisfied that he would go out with a bang and he would be taking some people with him. He could hear a team of the Tauri's getting closer and closer to his position, it was just a matter of the timing of it. The door opened and as soon as it started to open, Ba'al set the bomb to go off.
The backlash of the explosion ripped through the fortress with a lot of force. Every Jaffa, Tauri and Tok'ra alike were taken off their feet. Some slammed into walls and were put unconscious however their team mates soon made sure that they were ok and none had suffered large injuries.
The explosion however had killed Ba'al instantly and it had also killed the Jaffa of Ba'al's that had gone to investigate whether there were any weapons that could have been of use. Ba'al had thought that it was a Tauri team that had been closing in on his position so had mistakenly set of the bombs at the precise moment that they entered. This was of course his last mistake.
The teams of ground troops, retreated on Jack's orders "everyone, retreat back to the designated areas, I repeat get out of the fortress it will collapse." With that all teams retreated back out of the doors that were closest to them. SG1, Cam and Vala found SG2 waiting for them at the main entrance. They all retreated back to the spot from which they had been transported too.
"Thor, beam us up buddy," requested Jack. However, before they were beamed back to Thor's ship, they saw that the fortress finally collapsed.
END FLASHBACK
Over the next couple of hours, Jack had all reports in from every ship to find that no one had severe injuries and that no one had died. Jack watched as Cam was talking to Sam about some complicated device that Sam was building, Cam obviously having absolutely no clue as to what she was talking about but nodding along anyway. Daniel and Vala were teasing each other unmercifully on the other side of the room. Teal'c was standing quietly near him.
"O'Neill, are you ok?" asked Teal'c suddenly.
Jack turned to Teal'c "Yes Teal'c, I'm ok," he replied "although I really wanted to get that bastard myself, I think I can live with the fact that he killed himself in vain." Jack really was ok with it, he knew that he would have liked proper revenge but then he also knew that it probably would not have been wise to let himself get the revenge he wanted. Teal'c was satisfied with this answer and went back to staring out the window. Jack then decided that he wanted to go to the quarters that he shared with Sam and have some quiet time. He signalled to Sam that he was leaving and walked down the corridors whistling a jaunty tune.
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Meanwhile Daniel and Vala had also left and decided to go for a walk together. "So…" started Daniel.
"So what?" replied Vala playfully.
"Well, I just wanted to make sure that it would be alright with you if.." he trailed off again.
Vala looked at him, she knew that this was Daniel being serious and so decided to not play any games. "If?" she asked.
"If, I do this," he replied, he leaned in and gave her a deep kiss, she responded in kind. After a couple of seconds they broke the kiss.
"So from that response I guess you don't mind!" said Daniel looking very happy indeed.
"Daniel, of course I don't mind and before you ask, yes I am very serious about liking you. This is not something that would be short term in my eyes," said Vala seriously.
"Me neither, I'm lucky to have you Vala Mal Doran, and I will defend you at all costs" he said.
"I'm lucky to have you Daniel Jackson, and you know I'll defend you" she replied. With that they kissed again and walked back to Daniel's quarters.
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"Sam, how are you doing?" asked Jack when she appeared in their quarters.
"I'm good I think," replied Sam "I think I might just also be able to sleep without the nightmares, now that Ba'al is gone."
"Yes, I think that I might be able to do that as well, how about we get some sleep?" asked Jack.
"That sounds like a good idea," replied Sam.
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The ships all came out of hyperspace at the same time, this time their numbers were depleted because not everyone wanted or needed to go back to Earth. There was one Asgard ship, all the Tauri ships, and one Jaffa ship. There was also some Tok'ra on the ships but they did not have their own.
"General Hammond are we clear to beam down?" asked Jack.
"Clear to beam down when you are ready," replied Hammond. All the Tauri beamed to the SGC along with Thor, Freya, Bra'tac and Ry'ac.
"Welcome home everyone, welcome to earth," greeted Hammond "I have heard that your mission was a great success. The full debriefing will take place in the morning. However I will tell you now that the day after tomorrow there will be a ceremony taking place here to honour you all for your bravery."
"D'oh, that means dress uniforms," was Jack's reply. Everyone around him laughed as he looked very annoyed at having to wear smart clothes.
"Yes Jack, even you although you have retired, I still insist you wear your old uniform," replied Hammond laughing.
"Damnit," was Jack's only response.
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Anubis was also celebrating the loss of Ba'al at the hands of the Tauri, he had never liked that Goa'uld and was glad to get rid of him. Ba'al had been too slippery by half.
AN: So I reckon some of you by now are realising how anticlimatic that was, however, I didnt really want any of our characters to be seriously hurt in this raid, I just wanted Ba'al to die really. The next chapter will be the last one and hopefully it will be up later tonight. Thankyou for reading plz review! (It really does put me in a great mood!)