Jack
It infuriates me that they are shutting down the SGC when we need it most. We sit in a room with drapes over the furniture. It's like they are closing it down right around us.
"Hammond's given up. They're going to bury the 'gate day after tomorrow," I announce to the new SG-1 and Siler…my fellow exile from the team.
"Then I must return through the Stargate as soon as possible," Teal'c says.
"Yes, we all should go through the 'gate as soon as possible," Daniel says.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, go through, to where?" Sam says looking concerned and reluctant. I've never seen Sam reluctant to go on a mission before. Of course, we're not exactly talking authorized mission right now and she hasn't been back at work long since the baby.
"To the coordinates I got in the other reality."
"Daniel, dammit!" I shout. I can't believe he is still harping on whatever dream he had in whatever world that was. Doesn't he realize that this is real life and that shutting down the Stargate is serious?
"Jack—it was real," he insists.
"Hey, even if it was, how do we know that that address correlates with this reality?" Sam cautions.
"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Daniel says.
"We should enter the coordinates and attempt to open the 'gate," Teal'c is always a good one for stating the obvious.
"Okay, hold on. Has anyone considered that we would be in gross violation of orders? Sir, we would be court martialed the second we got back," Sam says looking at me. Looking at me like I'm her commanding officer again, even though I haven't been her commanding officer for the better part of a year.
"If. If we got back," I say slowly to make sure they get it. To make sure especially that I got it.
"Jack, if we don't go through, what I saw in the other reality could happen here. This whole planet could be wiped out. Now in the other reality, by the time I left, Cassie was dead, Serendipity was dead, Carter, your whole family was dead, hell, I was dead. Everyone was dead."
"Daniel, I got it," I say waving him off.
"Okay, well don't you think we should see if we can stop the same slaughter from happening here? Let me ask you something, Jack. If we don't go through now and the Goa'uld do attack later, how are you gonna to feel?" I turn away from them and scrub my face with my hands while looking at the gate.
"How are just the six of us going to stop the attack anyway, even if we do go through?" Sam says.
"Well, we'd have a lot better chance now than we would trying to stop an overwhelming onslaught later. Trust me—I have seen it," Daniel says desperately.
"If the coordinates are for a Goa'uld world which is not on the Abydos cartouche, the Goa'uld will most likely not expect us. I believe a medical attack could be successful," Teal'c informs me.
"Surgical attack, Teal'c. It's called a surgical attack and I'd feel like an idiot." I say.
"Sir?" Carter says in surprise.
"I was answering Daniel's question. If we don't do something now and they do attack later, I'd feel like an idiot. We go," I say.
"I too will go," Teal'c says.
"I'm in," Siler says.
"So am I," Ferretti says.
"I'm going," Sam says.
"We can't both go," I say.
"Sir, this is an unauthorized mission I don't think the frat rules apply."
"I know that Sam, but they exist for a reason. I won't risk both of our girl's parents on one mission," I whisper.
She nods.
"Rock paper scissors?" I ask.
"Winner goes or stays?" she asks.
"Goes," I say.
I pick scissors and she picks paper. Everyone has walked a few steps away to give us some privacy.
"You don't have to go either, Jack," she whispers.
"Sam, our kids are not going to be murdered by Goa'uld," he whispers. "You guard them, got it? You get a weapon at home and take care of those bastards if they come for our girls, got it?" Jack has never let me have a gun in the house before. It's a side effect of Charlie's death. He must actually be worried that the alien Goa'uld will be going door to door.
Daniel
We gated to the coordinates that I saw in the other reality. Right after arriving, Jack orders me to dial home. I don't know why I'm always the one that has to dial home. I mean, am I the only one who even knows the address?
The 'gate doesn't light up.
"Daniel?" Jack accuses when the 'gate fails to make a lock. Suddenly I'm wishing we had Sam along on this one. I'm getting the sinking feeling we might need her.
"What? I dialed home just like I've done a million times before," I say.
"Well, do it again," I do but nothing happens.
"Uh oh," I say. A door opens out of the wall. We all duck behind some fancy shipping crates. Six Jaffa come into the room, take a large crystal ball out of a box and light it up, before marching their retreat.
"I always get a happy tingly feeling when I see those guys," Jack says.
"Teal'c, what is this?" I ask.
"It is a Goa'uld long-range visual communication device. Somewhat like your television, only much further advanced," he says with a touch of scorn.
"Think it gets Showtime? Can you open that door?" Jack asks Teal'c.
"Now that I know its location, I believe I can," Teal'c says going over and effortlessly opening the door.
Jack
"Teal'c, why didn't you tell us we were on a ship?" I ask in shock.
"I was not sure. I have never been aboard a Goa'uld vessel such as this. Most accelerate very differently. Most do not contain Stargates," Teal'c says.
"The blast spread across this area like there was glass here. This is a force field of some sort," Siler says fascinated by what looks to me like a window.
"That is correct. There is no transparent material capable of withstanding this velocity," Teal'c says.
"Or temporal displacement. We're traveling faster than light, right?" Siler asks.
"That is correct," Teal'c replies. I was not aware that either Siler or Teal'c were capable of understanding this kind of technical talk. I thought that was Sam's personal prerogative.
"So the ship must have been in orbit around a planet when we 'gated here. Then it left orbit, which would explain why we can't 'gate home," Siler says.
"The point of origin isn't valid anymore," Daniel says in shock.
"Well, I suggest you figure out how to get us back home," I scold.
"Sir, the only way to do that would be to turn this thing around and go back to where we started," Siler says.
"Right, I'll just go tell the pilot," Daniel says snidely.
"Teal'c, you know how to fly one of these things?" I ask hopefully.
"Of this I am unsure. It appears to be of a new technology," he says, of course it is. Everything else about this mission has been brand new.
"So, you couldn't turn this tub around, I take it," I say.
"I am qualified only to pilot the Goa'uld death gliders. I suggest we relocate to another chamber as soon as possible. Royal sarcophagi are rarely left unattended for long," he says as we make our way out of the room.
Daniel
It's like Déjà vu, except a thousand times worse. I watched the whole world destroyed in another reality and now it looks like I get to watch it in this one. My stomach is twisted up in horrible knots.
"Jack? It's happening," I warn, staring out at the giant room full of death gliders, "We're on an attack ship headed to Earth."
"Okay. Well, we've got some problems then," he says trying to sound nonchalant. Trying and failing.
"Teal'c, how fast can this ship go?" Siler asks in concern.
"Goa'uld ha'tak vessels can travel at ten times the speed of light." Teal'c answers with concern.
"Okay, so if we are heading to Earth, then we have a long time," Siler says.
"Based on what?" Jack says giving him a critical look.
"Based on the coordinates of the planet we gated to," Siler offers.
"We didn't 'gate to a planet, we 'gated to a ship," Jack says with the slow speed you would use when talking to a small child.
"Yeah, but that ship had to have been in orbit around or on the surface of a planet in order for those 'gate coordinates to work. So, based on the location of those coordinates, even if we were traveling at ten times the speed of light, it would take at least a year to get to Earth, probably more," Siler explains.
The Goa'uld language comes over the loudspeaker and I do a quick translation for Jack, "They're being summoned to some sort of gathering."
"Okay, let's go," Jack says as if it was completely obvious where we'd be going.
"Wait a minute. Go where?" I ask.
"Wherever they're goin'." He says as if I was dense.
We slip into the corridor and follow traffic to the room with the sarcophagus in it. Jaffa and servants walk around it. The crystal ball television lights up with a translucent image of Apophis.
"Chel hol, Jaffa. The end of a dark moment in Goa'uld history approaches. Soon we will wipe out the scourge that plagues us. I will rejoin you as we come out of the shadows. Until then, you are to follow all orders of my son, as if they were my own," he says in a booming voice. The sarcophagus opens with all of its dramatic smoke, "Bow down now. Show your reverence for my son. The mighty warrior, Klorel!"
A body comes out of the sarcophagus, but it doesn't belong to Klorel. It's Skaara.
Jack
I can barely wait for the Jaffa to march out of the room before I rant, "He called him his son. That's sick!" I don't want to have to deal with the loss of another kid.
"The Goa'uld inside Skaara is probably the son of the one inside Apophis," Daniel points out.
"Thank you, Daniel, that's encouraging," I mutter.
"O'Neill, what is our plan of attack?" Teal'c asks.
"We're going to split up. Siler, you Ferretti and Daniel start planting C4 all over this ship," I instruct. Siler is really good with explosives. We're going to have one hell of a firestorm in the sky tonight.
"And what are you and Teal'c going to do?" Siler asks.
"We're going to try and grab Skaara." I say.
"Sir. Contingency plan," Siler says.
"C-4," I say.
Teal'c and I slink down the corridor. The room Skaara is in sounds silent from the outside. We walk in firing our zats as we duck for cover. Teal'c hits an armor-clad Jaffa in front of me with a zat blast, while I aim for the one in front of him and miss. A staff blast hits the pillar I am hiding behind. The side of the pillar I am standing behind is warm to the touch. I scoot back from it before it burns me. Another staff weapon blast hits the pillar. As soon as he's fired, I step out and fire a zat at him. I'm sort of using old military theory, because staff weapons don't exactly have a reload time. A quick check around and all of the Jaffa are on the floor. Skarra sees me and prepares his hand device to fire on me. He doesn't know that Teal'c is in the room. Teal'c leaps up behind him grabbing the hand that is pointed toward me with one of his arms and his other hand with another.
"Chel nok, makor," Skaara says in his scary Goa'uld voice.
"Rin nok," Teal'c replies holding both of his arms behind his body and pulling the hand device off his hand.
"You dare to do this to Klorel? You will die a painful death," he spouts.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I say.
"There's a raised hieroglyphic on the wall next to the door. It resembles a coiled serpent. Push, then turn it," Teal'c instructs. The door closes, "Stand aside," he instructs. Teal'c zats the wall. I do the same thing to the other door, "They will not be able to access this room for some time," Teal'c assures me.
"Hey, Skaara. Long time, no see," I say. "C'mon, Skaara, think. Try to remember me, I'm Jack O'Neill; this is Teal'c," I plead.
"Ah, Teal'c, the traitor. I will take great pleasure in delivering his head to my father," the thing inside of Skaara sneers.
"He's not your father," I demand.
"He is my father. He seeded the queen mother. He chose the host in which I will live out eternity. Apophis gave me life."
"All right, I'm not talking to that thing in your head. I'm talking to Skaara," I say cruelly.
"Nothing of the host survives," he says making his eyes glow.
"That's bullshit. Now let him talk to me," I demand.
"Your friend had a feeble mind. It suffered greatly and gave in easily," he taunts while laughing. I slug him in the jaw. I can tell it caused him pain, but not enough. "C'mon Skaara. Look at me. Try," I say.
"Perhaps I will not kill you. Perhaps you will make a good host yourself," the thing in Skaara sneers.
I know that for a moment real fear crossed my face, and that this thing saw that fear there. I need to act now, before it uses my weakness against me.
"All right, promise me this thing won't kill him," I say to Teal'c.
"Two shots will. One shot will only cause him great pain," he says.
"So here's the deal. Let him out, let him talk to me, or you get the whole load," I tell the thing in Skaara.
"You will only hurt your friend," he sneers.
"He's a tough kid," and those words stab me. Skaara really is only a kid. Two or three years older than Cassie, perhaps. Not old enough to be engaged in a galactic battle for the soul of the universe. Not old enough to fight mind control. Not old enough to witness the acts of a Goa'uld and certainly not old enough to do them.
"Your friend is too afraid to come forward. He enjoys my protection. He really does not wish to speak with you," the thing in Skaara sneers.
"Is that right? Let him go, Teal'c. Let him go," I say more firmly when Teal'c doesn't respond. I zat Skaara and blue lightning bolts jut across his body sending him to the floor.
"Sha'uri! Daniel!" he screams in his own voice.
"Skaara. Hey there," I say taking the kid into my arms.
He looks terrified as he looks into my eyes saying, "O'Neill! Oh, it hurts," he's almost in tears.
"I know, kid. I'm sorry."
"O'Neill, are you still my friend?" he sobs.
"Yes, I am," I assure him.
"Can you forgive me for what we are about to do?"
"What are you about to do? Skaara! Skaara, what are you about to do?"
"Please forgive us," he begs and I can see that we are losing him.
"Hang in there kid, c'mon, hang on! What are you about to do?" I repeat.
Suddenly, I can tell that his body has been taken over again. The thing within him shouts, "Jaffa! Nok kree tol!"
The Jaffa burst into the room with a flash of light that could have been anything from a welding torch to a staff weapon to an energy beam. "Drop your weapon," the first one to enter the room commands.
"Release Klorel now," another commands.
"C'mon Skaara, help us," I plead to Skaara.
"Release him, or we will kill the human," a Jaffa commands.
"If you kill the human I will kill Klorel," Teal'c says quickly and with such confidence that for one gut wrenching second, I believe him. Unfortunately, the Jaffa do not.
"And the host in which he resides?" the Jaffa sneers.
Teal'c lowers the zat onto the floor. The thing that controls Skaara picks it up and zats me in the back. Damn, but that thing really does hurt.
By the time I wake up from the zat blast we are being ushered before the crystal ball that has Apophis's face on it.
"Father, I wish to present you with a great gift. The traitor, Teal'c. And, I present the human that recruited him," the thing in control of Skaara says.
"Hey Pops," I say cheekily.
"Silence! Klorel, where did they come from?" Apophis asks.
"I do not know. We found them after departure," Skaara's body says.
"How many more came with you?" Apophis demands of me.
"Thousands. We brought a whole army," I sneer.
"I assure you, Father, there could be no more," Skaara's Goa'uld voice says.
"You have made me proud, my son," I still want to spit every time Apophis calls him that.
"Do you wish that I keep them until our rejoining?" the snake in Skaara asks.
"No. Teal'c must suffer the most painful death a Jaffa can know. Removal of his prim'ta. Let his new master watch him suffer and die," Apophis demands.
"What about the human?"
"You may choose his method of death, but do it soon. It is almost time for remoc."
"Yes, Father."
"I look forward to seeing you at our destination. Lek tol.
The crystal ball with Apophis' image on it disappears. People gather around Teal'c including some guy wearing a strange helmet. He pulls a knife that looks like two velociraptor claws out of a sheath.
"Skaara, don't let this happen. Don't let 'em do this,' I plead.
"Na-nay," Skaara says causing the priest to pause, "Take them to the peltac." The Jaffa lead us out of the room. I'm not sure if we were just granted mercy or not.
I really hope that Ferretti, Siler and Daniel find a way to make sure that this ship never reaches earth.
"You wish to go home to your planet?" the thing in Skaara's body says.
"Of course," I say.
Skaara says some things in Goa'uld (which is harder to pick up on than Arabic by the way) and one of the Jaffa puts his hand on a crystal ball. It is smaller and murkier than the one they use as a TV.
"O'Neill, prepare yourself for—"Teal'c begins. The ship slows down so suddenly that I go sailing into a wall, hitting my head.
"Extreme deceleration," Teal'c finishes.
"Thanks, Teal'c," I say sarcastically. I stand up and can't believe what I am seeing. Saturn. Saturn is outside of the window of the ship. I thought I had more time.
"Oh my God," I mutter.
"You will get to see your home one last time, before you and everyone on your planet, are destroyed. And your kind will disturb the Goa'uld no more," the thing inside of Skaara says.
There is smoke in the hallway and the hissing sound that lets me know an earth weapon is the cause. I turn to see the fiery show that is caused by automatic weapons and staff weapons firing in a small metal hallway. The ricochet in this type of situation means that you almost don't have the luxury of picking your target. Bad for a hostage situation, which is exactly what my teammates are fighting their way into. But, they were smart to draw the enemy out into the hall. Fighting in a Goa'uld mother ship is lot like fighting in a tank or submarine. It occurred to me it would be, and so I read everything I could about close quarters combat that year after the first Abydos mission.
Ferretti bursts into the room shooting down one of the Jaffa before ducking behind the sarcophagus. A Jaffa takes aim at Ferretti and I kick him in the stomach. His metal armor hurts my knee, but he doubles over. I slam him in the back of his head as hard as I can.
Siler and Daniel come in the door through the smoke. There are zat blasts everywhere. I can't follow all the action at once, but only have the vague knowledge that my team is still safe and that Teal'c is taking down more than his fair share of the enemy.
Suddenly Skaara grabs Daniel, who drops his weapon and Skaara starts using the hand device on Daniel's forehead. I grab Daniel's gun and point it at Skaara.
"Skaara!" I regrip the gun, trying to convince myself I can really do this, "Skaara, don't!" I plead.
"O'Neill, you must take action!" Teal'c exclaims.
"Skaara!" I scream before shooting Skaara in the arm. He falls to the floor and I rush over to him to see if I killed him. I know that I've said I killed my son many times, but I didn't kill him like this. I didn't actually shoot him.
"Daniel, you okay?" Ferretti asks.
Daniel is gasping for breath and he can't even answer, "O'Neill," Skaara pleads. It's a fatal shot.
"Ah, Skaara, I'm sorry," I say.
He gives me a sad smile and then dies in my arms. Charlie died in my arms too. It was hours after he'd suffered his own gunshot wound. We were in a hospital and we'd had plenty of time for goodbyes. But the death was remarkably the same.
"Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c says.
"Yeah, gimme a second, here," I say looking at Skaara.
"I cannot," Teal'c insists.
"Earth," Siler says looking out the big front window.
"I thought you said we couldn't be there for at least a year," Daniel says accusatorily.
"I guess this ship can go way faster than ten times the speed of light," Siler says.
"Colonel, we saw the death gliders. They're prepping for launch, sir," Siler says.
"Sergeant Siler?" I ask.
"Sir?" she asks.
"Were you able to put enough C4 around this ship to make a dent?" I ask.
"We placed charges where they should generate secondary explosions, so, yes, sir. Should make a hell of a dent," he responds.
"Thank you, Sergeant."
"Given enough time, I might be able to figure out…" Ferretti cautions.
"Negative. We should expect some of their reinforcements through that door any second. Stand by to detonate your charges on my order," I say.
"Yes, sir," Siler says.
"Wait!" Daniel says.
"Daniel, if we don't stop them now, we may never stop them," I say. I know that he's supposed to be the conscience of this outfit, but this time I know what the right thing is, saving earth at the expense of my team has got to be the right thing.
"Yeah, I know that," he says pausing to take some C4 out of his vest and attaching it to the control panel. "Let's just make as big a dent as possible, okay?" he asks.
"Ready and awaiting your order, sir." Siler says as he fiddles with the detonator.
"Okay. Well, I suppose now is the time for me to say something profound," I pause, but the only thing I can think of are Sam, Cassie and Serendipity's faces, "Nothing comes to mind. Let's do it."
"O'Neill, Apophis's ship approaches," Teal'c says. Shit.
"We overheard in the 'gate room, he said he would rejoin Klorel once they came out of the shadows," Daniel informs us.
"Teal'c, if we can knock out this ship, will it stop them?" I ask.
"It will not. Apophis's vessel is equipped with defense shields. He will still be able to destroy your cities from high above." Just once, I would like the answer to be yes. Just once, I would like things to be easy. I hear Jaffa banging at the doors in an attempt to get into the room.
"Tell me those C4 charges are on automatic timer," I plead with the rest of the team.
"They're on automatic timer," Siler says.
"Good. How long do we have?" I ask.
"Twenty-four hours," he says with a flinch.
"Twenty-four hours?" I say in disbelief.
"At the time, sir, I thought we were still light-years away," he says looking slightly annoyed. Sam got that I was annoyed at the situation and not her. She never got offended at something as little as that. But Sam hasn't been on my team for a long time and isn't going to be on my team again anytime soon. Siler isn't even on my team anymore. I'm going to be running without a scientist safety net before too long.
The sound of Jaffa banging on the door is getting louder, "Just a minute! Teal'c, work with me, buddy, is there any other way out of here?"
"None."
The Jaffa are starting to peel the door open, "Cover up," I command, "This is turning out to be a bad day."
As the door peels open, we shoot guns and zats furiously toward the Jaffa. They aren't making any headway into the room and I'm just beginning to think we might have a chance of getting out of here alive when a little round ball enters the room shooting out a bright light and a high pitch sound. I feel myself falling to the floor.
Jack-later
"O'Neill?" I hear Teal'c say. I put a hand up and feel his shoulder. I open up my eyes and sit up. I can't see anything. I rub my eyes and am horrified to discover it doesn't help. "Teal'c. Ahh! Teal'c. I can't see!" I exclaim alarmed.
"I am blinded as well. It will pass," he says with his usual calm. His calm always has a way of making me calmer.
"What the hell was that?" I ask.
"A Goa'uld shock grenade. Though extremely painful, its effects are temporary," he informs me.
"That's good to hear," I say reaching backward and running into Ferretti who sits up startled, almost swatting me.
"Colonel? Sorry, sir. It's just so dark," he mutters.
"It's all right," I assure him, "Siler you here somewhere?" I ask.
"Yes sir," he replies.
"It isn't dark. We're blind. And we failed," Daniel says in the most depressed tone I've ever heard.
"All right, take it easy, Daniel. We've been in worse situations than this," I say.
"Not to my knowledge," Teal' informs me.
"Thanks, Teal'c," I say, but it was a waste of breath; the man doesn't get sarcasm.
"Right now they're getting ready to wipe out the major cities of Earth. They'll do it from orbit, out of reach," Daniel says.
"Daniel…" I caution.
"Jack, I've already been through this once before. I've already seen this before," he says in a desperate voice.
"Daniel, will you relax? You've been through it before and you survived. We're just having a bad day," I say. I am not very good at raising morale, especially with people smarter than me. But it has to be done.
"Colonel, I think I'm starting to see something," Siler says.
"My sight returns as well," Teal'c says.
"Now, that's what I want to hear.
Jack-later
"Well, on the bright side, my hand isn't blurry anymore," Daniel says. He must be coming out of his funk, because he's trying to be more cheerful.
I hear footsteps coming down the corridor, "Teal'c?" I ask hoping he is going to be able to explain it.
One of those guys in the shiny metal serpent suits is silhouetted on the curtain. Teal'c and I stand one on each side of the door preparing to take this guy out, because it really does look like just one guy. The door raises and we see Bra'tac. Or at least I think it is Bra'tac, my eyes still aren't working all that well.
"Bra'tac?" I ask uncertainly. He gives me a sideways halfhearted punch, but he gets me right in the nose so it still sends me against the wall.
"Fools! Hashak! You doom yourselves. It is all I can do to keep you alive. Do you know all I have done to regain the trust of Apophis and join this campaign? Hm? Hm?"
For being our ally, this guy sure does beat me up and insult me a lot.
"Tek'ma'te, Bra'tac," Teal'c says.
Teal'c turns to him and allows a ghost of a smile to cross his face, "Hello again, old friend. Your son grows strong. One day he will be a great warrior. But you should not have come."
"I stand by my friends. I believe this world may be our only hope in one day overcoming the false gods," Teal'c says.
"Yes. As pathetic as that may seem at the moment, I agree," he practically spits.
"You do?" Daniel asks in shock.
"I may even have been able to save this world had you not interfered," Bra'tac says.
"Hey! What do you think we've been trying to do? It is our world you're talking about here," I protest, standing up from the ground.
"Enough, human! This is not the place to talk of these things. I have been ordered by Apophis himself to execute you" he pauses for a long time and I find myself really hoping I don't have to die by the hand of an ally, especially one that is over a hundred years old, "—an order I intend to disregard. Come!" he says leading us out of the cell.
"Here are your weapons. You will need them," Bra'tac says thrusting our weapons toward him.
"Erm, Bra'tac, you mentioned something about saving the world. Care to elaborate on that?" I ask as I add my gear to my clothes.
"By assaulting Klorel, you have made that impossible," he says.
"Why?" Daniel asks.
"Among the Goa'uld, a Pharaoh's power is more often challenged by their sons than by their enemies. Once we had joined battle with your world, I was prepared to lead my wing against Apophis, in Klorel's name." Bra'tac explains.
"Apophis would assume your attack was ordered by Klorel and reciprocate. A daring plan!" Teal'c explains with an approving nod.
"I had hoped to drive a stake of mistrust between them. Now I fear they will bond against their common enemy," Bra'tac says.
"What bond? Klorel's dead," I say.
"He will rise again," Bra'tac says.
Skaara isn't dead? I didn't kill Skaara?
"The Sarcophagus," Daniel says.
"Wait a minute. You put him in that thing to bring him back?" I ask in disbelief.
"I knew it would delay their attack until he arose. Perhaps when the warships of your world attack…" Bra'tac begins. Oh, I'm thinking he overestimated our power.
"Um, excuse me, did you say "the ships of our world"?" Ferretti asks.
"Surely you have such vessels?" Bra'tac says.
"Well, we have a number of, of…" Daniel begins.
"Shuttles," I finish with him.
"These shuttles—they are a formidable craft?" Bra'tac asks, sounding excited.
"Oh yeah," I say with fake confidence, "Yeah. Bad day," I mutter.
"We accelerate. Klorel has risen," Teal'c says.
"Then the campaign has begun. Once we launch, we will do what damage we can," Bra'tac says.
"How many in your wing?" I ask.
"Three," he says stoically.
"Three?!" I ask suddenly feeling nauseous. Earth is doomed.
"Teal'c makes four," Bra'tac says sharing a smile of pride.
"Oh well, four," I say forgetting again that Jaffa don't get sarcasm.
"I have trained these warriors since they were Chal'til. They have sworn their lives to me. It is no simple thing to ask," Bra'tac says. He gets sarcasm better than Teal'c and he hasn't even lived on earth.
"And we appreciate it, believe me. But what are the odds of taking out a ship like this, with four gliders and ... maybe a shuttle?" I ask.
"A Goa'uld attack vessel is heavily armed, shielded and capable of launching a legion of gliders against us. I would say slim," Teal'c says stoically.
"Okay, call me a pessimist, but I think it's time for a new plan," I say.
"We offer to lay down our lives for your world, Human. You cannot ask more," he says sounding truly offended.
"No, I can't. But I think a better idea is to get the other guys to lay down their lives for their world first, hmm? How long before the C4 goes?" I ask Siler.
"Forty-one minutes, sir," Siler says.
"Okay, with any luck at all, this ship is going to blow within the hour. It might be a good idea for us to get to the other one. Can you do that?" I ask him.
"Have you more of this 4C?" Bra'tac asks obviously impressed.
"It's called C4," I correct.
"The answer is no. We used it all to take out this ship," Siler says.
"Well you guys must have something left," Daniel asks Bra'tac.
"We shall have to cross that bridge when we come to it," Bra'tac says. Does he have to go and learn my expressions?
"You know, that particular cliché—doesn't always work," I mutter, but he's already out of earshot.
We walk down the hallways, at one point we encounter some kind of turbulence. Teal'c says something must have hit the shields. A part of me is hoping that it is someone from earth fighting back. Another part of me is hoping that it isn't. When earth tries to fight back, I want it to do more than make me feel like we're on an airplane that hit a bit of rough air. We keep walking down the corridor.
We come around a corner and see two Jaffa. A wall of zat blasts suddenly comes toward us. I duck back around the corner. I dart out and take one of them down with my zat. I then do a summersault move to the other side of the corridor before spinning back and taking the other one out. Bra'tac peeks around the corridor to ensure that it is cleared.
"Not bad. The peltac is two decks above. This way!" he says leading us off.
"Looks clear," I say looking down a corridor.
"No. There are sentries in every corridor." Bra'tac tells us.
"Siler, how many grenades?" I ask.
"Two left," he says.
"Grenades?" Bra'tac asks.
"A crude explosive device," Teal'c explains.
"No! Observe—and learn," Bra'tac commands. He walks slowly into the corridor. I hear the sound of crunching metal even though I can't see what he's doing.
"Hmmm!" Bra'tac says obviously looking for my approval.
"Not bad," I tell him.
"All right, here's what we do," I say when we have finally reached the bridge of the ship.
"I will lead. You will follow," Bra'tac informs me.
"Right," I mutter.
"You will know when it is time," Bra'tac says.
"Whoa! You're just going to walk in there alone?" Daniel asks in shock.
"I am Klorel's loyal servant," Bra'tac says.
"Bra'tac," I hear Skaara's Goa'ulded voice say.
"My Lord Klorel," Bra'tac says.
"Come. Witness the power of your god," he says gesturing toward the window.
"I cannot," Bra'tac says.
"Why do you defy me?" the thing in Skaara asks taking a few steps toward him.
"Because you are not a god. You are a parasite within a child and I despise you," Bra'tac says bravely.
"Jaffa, Kree Tal! I am your god!" Skaara bellows. I hear the sound of the hand device activate along with the words, "And you will feel my wrath!"
"I—die—free!" Bra'tac just barely manages to huff out.
"Let's go!" I nod to my team in the hall, "Daniel, watch our backs," I say. Siler hands him a MP5. Teal'c, Siler, Ferretti and I enter the room. The Jaffa are trying to use the sarcophagus as cover, but they don't get low enough to do it effectively. If you aim for their heads, you can still get them. When I dive for cover I do it completely, way under so no shot can reach me. Ferretti takes out one of the Jaffa, I another and Teal'c's gets two. Siler helps Bra'tac off the floor and Teal'c grabs Skaara, trapping his hand behind his body like he did before.
We have the situation mostly under control here, but I hear the sound of firing in the hallway as well as the call of, "Jack!" in Daniel's voice.
I run around the corner as fast as I can. Daniel is laying in a crumpled mess. I stick my gun around the corner, but whoever did this to Daniel is dead. I crouch by his side furious at myself for putting him in this place. For being responsible for yet another kid getting shot to death.
"Daniel! Oh, dammit!" I start trying to field dress the wound, but the only nice things about staff blasts is that they instantly cauterize the wound. The not so nice thing about them is the smell. God I hate the smell of burnt flesh. Since field dressing doesn't seem necessary I try to pull him up.
"I'll be dead anyway. Just get out of here!" he screams at me.
"I am not leaving you here, Daniel," I tell him. I do not leave men behind.
"Get out of here! You're just going to blow up with the other ship anyway. What difference does it make? Go!" he says stopping to pant," Just go! I'll stay—and watch your back," the last part is soft.
I put my hand on his cheek softly, then get up and leave. "He's—staying behind," I say. The rest of my team looks at me, really confused.
"Come," Bra'tac says as the transport rings descend around us. Those things are really disorienting, even when you expect what is going to happen. One second you are in an empty room with no threats to your safety and the next second you are in a room full of Jaffa. The fact that we have Skaara as hostage is the only reason we are still alive right now. Teal'c is used to the rings and he tightened his grip on Skaara's neck as we came out of them. Teal'c and I hustle Skaara to the far end of the room.
"Come, come, come!" Bra'tac commands.
"If you fire upon us, I will kill Klorel!" Teal'c warns. Teal'c is always stating the obvious and I love him for it.
"Bra'tac, how dare you betray me?" Apophis nears.
"I have spent 133 years worshipping false gods—no more!" he says dramatically as he fires his weapon upon the part of the ship that controls it. Once we are all out of the room, Teal'c pushes Skaara into the room as the doors close. He zats the door closed as best as he can.
"Colonel, the C4 on the other ship goes in six minutes," Siler says.
"How do we blow this ship?" I as Bra'tac.
"When we were on Klorel's vessel, I directed it closer to this one," Bra'tac informs me.
"If we disable the shield generator of this vessel, both will be destroyed in the explosion. Two birds with but one stone," Teal'c says.
"This way," Bra'tac says taking point.
He leads us to an impressive room. The thing must be six or seven stories high. It's got metal and lights and all kinds of complexities that would keep Sam busy for months if she could get her hands on it to study it.
"The shield generators are far below. There, in the very bowels of the ship. We must climb down several decks, through the length of the ship. Then, taking our weapons, we must…" Bra'tac begins.
Six minutes, we don't have time for that. I dig into my vest for two grenades, pull out the pins and toss them down the hole. They cause a fireball to get a third of the way up the cavity.
"Grenades," I inform him and he looks suitably impressed.
"This vessel is no longer protected by an energy field," Teal'c says with relief.
"So that's it?" Ferretti asks.
"That is it," says Teal'c.
"I think what the Major is asking is, "What now?"" I clarify. This human/alien communication thing needs some work. It's usually Daniel's job to facilitate such things. But Daniel…isn't here right now.
"Now we die," Bra'tac says with that strange pride in death he's been showing all day.
"Well, that's a bad plan. Where are the glider bays from here?" I say squinting at him.
We get to the glider bay, "Siler, you and I will go in first. We'll take up positions to…"
Bra'tac raises his hand in what I've already figured out is the Jaffa equivalent of 'shut the hell up,"
"Never mind," I say.
"Observe!" Bra'tac proclaims as he slides one of those slivery balls into the glider bay, "Cover!" he shouts to us. Those things are a lot more fun from this side of the door. All the Jaffa are hitting the deck, "Now, that was a grenade! Come." He says. Bra'tac gestures me into the same glider as him, while Teal'c helps Siler into a second and another one of Bra'tac's Jaffa gets he and Ferretti into a third one. The last Jaffa takes a fourth death glider.
"Human, put this on," Bra'tac instructs me, throwing me an earpiece.
"Will you please stop calling me "Human"?" I protest.
"Our time is up. We have got to go," I tell the drivers of the ship.
"Punch it," Siler says. The ships shoot out into space. Inertial dampeners are pretty cool. I know our ships are moving fast, but I don't feel like the ships are moving fast. I can see that our wings are on fire, as well as the other gliders. But it doesn't last long. That's the nice thing about space, it's a vacuum. Fire needs oxygen. Without it, it doesn't burn long. It does leave holes in our wings. I studied aerodynamics of course, but on earth where gravity and wind were huge factors. I'm not sure what will be the effect of holes on the wings of the death gliders in space. The effect seems to be minimal (although goodness only knows what would happen if we tried to land these things, we don't have enough fuel to try that anyway so it really doesn't matter).
"Bra'tac? Bra'tac? You okay?" I ask. The man is rubbing his head and I'm a little worried that the pilot is done for. That would be really bad, not only because Bra'tac is one of the best warriors I've ever seen, but also because I'm pretty sure I couldn't actually manage piloting this thing.
"Not bad, for an old man," he says with pride.
"Colonel? Come in," Ferretti's voice says.
"We're okay, Major," I assure him.
"Same here, sir. But I don't think we bought ourselves much time. Our glider's had it," Siler says.
"I concur," Teal'c says stoically.
"Sergeant, take a look up," I say.
"It's beautiful," he says in awe, catching an eyeful of the planet earth. A very close eyeful of the planet earth.
"Yes it is,' I agree.
"We saved it, sir," Ferretti says.
"Yes, we did," I say, but as I say it I'm really only thinking about three earthlings. Three earthlings that I saved today. They are worth dying for.
"It's going to be a beautiful sunset, sir," Ferretti says.
"You know, Major—this wasn't such a bad day after all," I say.
"Not bad at all," he repeats.
"We die well, Teal'c," Bra'tac says.
"More than that, old friend—we die free!" Teal'c says and I don't even mind the dramatic death talk this time.
Suddenly I catch sight of a shuttle, "Or not …"
I hear someone from the shuttle say, "Er Houston, this is Endeavour. We have them in sight. I repeat, we have them in sight."
Sam
I watch as Teal'c, Siler, Ferretti and Bra'tac come into view. I catch sight of Jack and my heart gives a jump of relief. I heard that they were ok, but hearing really isn't the same as seeing. The room breaks into applause as the heroes walk into it.
"Master Bra'tac. Words cannot express our gratitude," Hammond says to him.
"You are Hammond of Texas?" Bra'tac asks touching his head.
"I am," Hammond says with a nod.
"Your warriors serve you well," Bra'tac says.
"I know they will be sorry to see you return home so soon," Hammond replies.
"I must return before word of our rebellion reaches Chulak. My place is there." Bra'tac gives a nod to Siler and Ferretti,, and grabs Jack by the shoulders before he turns to Teal'c and touches his face tenderly.
An airman in dress blues says, "This way, sir. We want to ask you a few questions before you leave." Bra'tac walks out of the room with him.
"Not bad at all," I hear Jack mutter to no one in particular.
"SG-1—there's someone who'd like to see you," Hammond says grandly. Daniel pushes his way through the crowd. I hear Siler and Ferretti both exclaim his name, but I'm mostly watching for Jack's reaction. I know that Jack thought he was dead, even though he's been back safely longer than Jack has.
Jack breaks into a wide grin and pulls him into a tight hug. He gives him a good hug. The kind of hug he usually reserves for me or Cassie. Not the kind he usually offers to male friends. He pulls away, "Spacemonkey!" he says giving him a light slap on the cheek, "Yeah!" Daniel goes on to hug the other members of SG-1.
Jack sees me and his eyes light up. He mouths 'ccome 'ere.' I go over to him and he pulls me into a tight hug. His head is in the crook of my neck.
"Jack, we're in the gateroom," I remind him.
"Carter, I am beyond caring right now," he whispers back. I try to pull away, "Jack," I protest.
"Carter, I just gave Daniel a hug, I think I can hug my…Carter."
I laugh, we still haven't given a name to our relationship and now we're kind of past that.
But Jack isn't laughing. I pull away and get a look at his face, "Are you ok, Jack? Did you get hurt?"
He shakes his head and pulls me back into another hug, "I thought I was going to die," he whispers, "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
"It's ok," I say.
"I didn't want to lose you, our girls, my family, not even to save earth. I shouldn't feel like that, but…I didn't want to lose you for anything."
That is a long way from depression.
"I'm right here, Jack," I say.
"I want to go home," he says.
"You want me to ask Hammond?" I ask.
"No," he shakes his head, "We'll wait until the ceremony is over. I can wait."
Cassie
"Daddy!" I scream, running out of the house
"Hey," he says picking me up and holding me in a tight hug. He holds me tight for a really long time. Longer than I thought he would. Something is wrong.
"Are you ok?" I ask.
He nods, but he still hasn't put me down.
"Jack, you should get off your leg," Mom says.
Today was his first time going through the Stargate since his leg got better. He was gone for a long time.
"Hey, Janet," Jack says coming through the door, "how is the baby?"
"Fine, sleeping, how are you?" she asks.
"Good, glad to be home. Glad there is a home," he says.
She nods like she knows what he means, but I don't feel like I do. I have the strange feeling something really bad almost happened tonight.
Note: I am not confused about who is Skaara and who is Klorel (and I do know the Goa'uld's name) but Jack sorta is.