"Fate!" she heard her own voice in her mind as the world around her slowed, several blurry paths of colour appearing before her, suddenly realising she had activated a pysker power. Kioko heard her comrade's voices in her mind, startlingly aware that she saw through their eyes as well as her own. Then there was the unfamiliar mind again; Sam. Through her eyes, she saw only pain and fiercely suppressed fear. She shook herself; she had to choose a path. Force a path, one that would not touch Jack. Only one was visible, a murky grey, that grazed his arm. Injure him or kill him. He'd have to put up with the pain. Sensing agreement, Kioko concentrated, desperately willing the bullet to alter its path. Opening her eyes, trying to prevent herself from falling backward, she winced as the bullet sliced straight through Jack's arm, hearing his curse of protest with relief. He was lucky it wasn't a lithium bullet; he'd have lost the limb.

"What the hell was that!?" Gambit was already back in action.

Fay shook herself, spinning her scythe in an attack pattern, "…I think that was…"

"Fate," Drake finished.

"Fate is used alone," their leader stated gruffly.

"Evidently not if you're me," Kioko forced herself to fight, hating the sense of fear and shock resounding in the back of her mind.

"Colonel!" Sam fell on top of him as he hit the ground.

Jack grit his teeth, opening his eyes, "Carter?"

All she could do was stare in shock…

If he could have, he would have nudged her, "Sam? You look like you've seen a dead man."

"…No…Sir…" she managed.

"…Just be thankful we appear to be beyond Fate's charm…"

Kioko's voice in her mind. Sam blinked, trying to decide whether the voice was wry or simply laced with hidden relief. She shook her head, "Can you stand, Sir?" she questioned.

"Can you?"

She thought about it, trying to get her legs to respond, "…No," she ripped a section of her already burnt combats away, to the knee, shifting so she could tie it around Jack's arm to stem the blood flow, choosing to ignore his grunt of pain.

"Looks like that's up to me then…" he mumbled several more curses as he got to his knees, then to his feet, dragging her with him.

Gambit narrowed his eyes, seeing another team of mechs approaching, "Do whatever you have to do to that thing now, if you want to live to see your world!"

Daniel was already inputting the sequence that would dial Earth's 'Gate, suddenly having to duck to avoid crossfire, setting his GDO to send the code to allow them through.

Slowly semi-running toward the steps at the foot of the 'Gate, Sam suddenly felt a blazing pain in the back of her head, her vision blurring to black;

-

"…Where's Colonel O'Neill?" she was clearly afraid of the answer.

Janet looked away for a second, unable to tell her the truth.

"Janet?" Sam knew her voice shook and was powerless to stop it, "Where is he?"

The Doctor met her gaze, tears in her eyes, "…I'm so sorry, Sam…He didn't make it. There was nothing I could do…nothing any of us could do."

She threw back the covers of her bed, jumping to her feet, wincing at the cold of the Infirmary floor, "…No!"

"Sam!"

"No, you're wrong…he wasn't hurt that badly…one shot…just one shot!" she protested.

"…One shot that did too much damage to repair, Sam…" Janet tried to reason with her.

Sam sank back down onto her bed, "…This isn't happening…this can't be happening…"

-

"Some of you may not be aware of this…in fact, the majority of you won't know," she straightened her shoulders and stared steadily out at the crowd around the 'Gate, "But I loved him. I loved Jack O'Neill and I never told him. At least, not properly. I never got to say how I felt," she refused to cry in front of them, "So I'll tell you the biggest mistake I made in my life. Not ever admitting it to him. I would have lost my job, but I sacrificed my feelings for it instead. Jack O'Neill was the bravest man I've ever known. He wasn't afraid to kick up a fuss for what he believed in, he wasn't afraid to die for it either," she lost the battle as tears escaped, "I know it's a cliché, and we all know how much he hated clichés, but.. tell people how you feel before its too late. How much they mean to you, how much you value them…how much you love them."

-

"I will miss him every day of my life. And I will curse myself each and every day for keeping it in the room."

-

The pain was gone as swiftly as it had started, and Sam found herself in a heap on the bottom step, Jack calling out to her.

"Carter!"

"Go!" Gambit's voice.

"Thank whatever Gods you believe in that you still have the chance to tell the truth…" Kioko met her blank gaze, only for a second, annoyed with herself for losing grip of her own mind like that, before she twisted into another attack.

"Come on, Carter!" Jack had a grip on the back of her jacket, hauling her behind him, she never had the chance to form a reply, as she felt herself fall through the 'Gate after him.

Teal'c waited only two seconds, as Daniel ran through after them, before he stepped through himself.

"Now…" Gambit said aloud, taking down another mech with another shot, "Why does this scene look familiar?"

"Its what we do on a regular basis?" Fay slashed the wiring of another.

"Its another mech carnage?" Drake struck out.

Kioko alone smiled, "One thing for sure," she commented, "I didn't show you this. This time…it wasn't me."

-

She would have fallen to the ramp if Jack had not held her up, though how, with his injury, he had been keeping such a grip on her, she didn't know. Sam looked around at the familiar surroundings of the 'Gate room, up into Jack's eyes, and finally fainted with relief.

-