Chapter 25

Jack and Teal'c stepped out of the wall and into the corridor. It was empty. Jack hoisted his weapon and silently indicated for Teal'c to proceed. They made their way back through the maze of corridors and stairwells. Jack unerringly led the way; he had memorised the way knowing – hoping – they would use it on the way back. He couldn't stop the hope building in his gut; they had a plan, a way of stopping the galaxy from being destroyed and a way to get off the rock they were currently stuck on. It was more than they'd had in hours. They would do it; they would get home, Carter would get medical attention and…

And then what, his mind asked bluntly.

And then, he was not going to miss his window of opportunity, Jack thought fiercely. No more trying to hide behind his excuses; thinking there was time, worrying about whether he was right for her. He just needed to get over himself. He loved Carter – Sam. He wasn't going to be an idiot, not again.

They came to a halt in the stairwell of the original tower and Jack held up a fist and lowered his hand as they got to the door. He and Teal'c sank to the ground as they listened.

'Unas?' Jack mouthed.

Teal'c nodded.

Jack nudged the door open a crack and peered into the operations room. There was a group of Unas lurking – Jack counted twenty, maybe thirty of the reptilian creatures. They filled the tower room. He wondered briefly where they had come from and whether there were more lurking. There was no way they were going to be able to go through them. He gestured at Teal'c and they moved to the floor below.

'There's over twenty.' Jack kept his voice low. 'We don't have enough ammo.'

'We do not.' Teal'c said.

'We've used the C4.' Jack continued.

'We have.' Teal'c confirmed.

'And there's no way we can take them all out hand to…whatever they have.' Jack commented.

'It would be difficult.' Teal'c admitted calmly.

'Options?' Jack said, gripping his gun tightly as he darted a look up the stairwell.

Teal'c considered his answer. 'We must find another way to the bridge.'

'Right.' Jack replied. 'And how do we do that exactly?'

'Perhaps we can observe a way from one of the balconies above us.' Teal'c suggested.

Jack winced at the thought of climbing up the stairs but nodded. They made their way up quickly, careful to make as little noise as possible. They checked the next level up but there was no balcony and barely any visibility of the bridge. They took another flight of stairs. They were almost at the top of the tower.

Teal'c shoved the balcony door open and Jack stepped out. The heat struck him and he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. The air was sticky and humid. Somehow he didn't think the force-shield holding back the lava above them was going to hold for much longer.

He leaned over the edge of the balcony and looked down. It was a good drop to the bridge – twenty feet at least. They had rope they could rappel down, Jack considered. He frowned, wondering how Sam would be able to do it in her concussed condition. One of them would have to take her.

'O'Neill.' Teal'c pointed downwards.

Jack looked down to where the Jaffa's finger extended. His brown eyes widened in horror. The ground far below was a moving red river – a river that was beginning to rise. Obviously the shield had already been breached on the lower levels.

'It is rising rapidly.' Teal'c commented. 'I do not believe we will make it back to the control room and back in time to make it to the bridge before it is consumed.'

Teal'c was right, Jack realised. They might have made it if they'd all been fit but not with Carter injured and there was no way they were leaving her behind.

He felt his earlier optimism start to fade away.

Dammit, Jack thought angrily. They had already given so much – lost so much, and this was to be their reward for saving the galaxy again? Dying on some Godforsaken rock thanks to Ra? Oh the Goa'uld must be laughing with glee in whatever afterlife he had ended up in at the irony.

And it wasn't as though they could wait for the Prometheus to arrive and beam them out; the planet was going to blow within the hour. Jack froze. Beam them out. He turned it over in his head. The Ancient transportation device – maybe it had some way for them to get to the temple.

'I have an idea.' Jack said. 'Let's get back to the control room before…'

There was an angry growl from the bridge below them. An Unas stared up at them and howled; it beat its chest angrily.

'They discover us.' Jack completed with a sigh. He was already turning toward the door, Teal'c beside him.

They ran for the stairwell but turned back abruptly as they met the charging Unas on the way up. They ran down the corridor, taking an alternative set of stairs down to the right level.

Jack could hear the pounding footsteps behind them as the Unas followed. A stick sailed past his head and he ducked instinctively. He stopped as they neared a corridor intersection, turned and fired his weapon.

One Unas went down; the others charged over the body.

Jack turned and ran; he ignored his racing heart, the burn in his lungs, the way his knees ached with every jolt as his feet hit the ground. He focused on getting back to the control room.

He slipped as they rounded a corner and fell; Teal'c hauled him to his feet by his vest and he felt the stiff material cut into his underarms – he was going to be sore and bruised. He pelted for the wall – held out his hand and felt Teal'c clasp it firmly. They sailed into the wall and landed in the control room. Jack rolled to soften the landing.

'Sir?'

'Carter, keep working.' He ordered as he got up and pointed his gun at the wall. He was barely aware of Teal'c stood beside him in a similar pose and a heartbeat later Daniel joined them.

A split second later, there were thuds.

One.

Two.

Jack counted a dozen before they ceased.

'Guess they don't have the secret password.' Jack quipped as he tentatively lowered his weapon. He willed his heart to return to a more normal rhythm.

Teal'c and Daniel followed his example and lowered their weapons.

'What happened?' Daniel demanded, waving a hand at the wall.

'The Unas were in the tower room.' Jack explained succinctly, wiping his brow. He leaned on a console, trying to make it appear that he wasn't as exhausted as he felt.

'We cannot go back the way we came.' Teal'c added. 'The bridge will soon be consumed by lava.'

'Then how do we get out of here?' Daniel asked, his gaze travelling between them.

Jack waved his hand at the console where they had found the transportation device. 'Maybe we can get that to work.'

'That's a good idea.' Daniel said sounding surprised.

'I have them occasionally.' Jack said dryly. He put his gun down and walked over to Carter. 'How are you getting on?'

'I've switched off the machine so no further energy is being siphoned into the subspace device.' Carter informed him, barely sparing him a glance as her fingers flew over her keyboard. He belatedly realised she had plugged in her own computer as an interface. 'I'm draining the residual energy built up within the subspace device now, sir. It should only be a few minutes.'

'OK.' Jack said relieved to hear that part of their plan was going to, well, plan.

Carter glanced at him. 'You OK, sir?'

'I'll survive.' Jack said softly, warmed by the concern in her blue eyes. 'You?'

She shrugged and dropped her gaze back to the monitor.

Jack felt his heart drop. She usually said she was fine even when she wasn't; her non-answer was filling him with fear. 'Carter?'

Sam stared at the monitor. 'I only have partial vision, sir.'

His heart seized. Losing her vision was an indication of something else being wrong – swelling, bleeding – something. He wished he'd paid more attention to the docs.

'We're going to get you home.' Jack promised her. 'And we'll fix it.'

Sam paused in her typing but she continued again without responding to him.

'Hey.' Jack laid a hand on her arm and she looked up at him. 'We'll fix it.' He repeated roughly.

Their eyes met and held.

Jack stroked his thumb over her bare arm, marvelling at how soft her skin was.

'I need to…' Sam gestured at the screen.

'I should probably…' Jack indicated behind him.

Sam nodded again. He squeezed her arm gently and let go. He made his way back over to the transportation device. Daniel was hunched over it with Teal'c stood behind him.

Jack pointed at the device. 'Can we use it?'

'Maybe.' Daniel said absently. He frowned at the screen before he looked over his shoulder at Jack. 'Oh, I figured out the gate address to Earth.' He motioned at his journal on the side bench. 'I wrote it down.'

'It isn't going to be much use to us if we can't get to the temple, Daniel.' Jack snapped impatiently. He wanted them out of there; off the planet and safe at the SGC.

'Sam needs to drain the subspace device.' Daniel retorted.

'She's almost done.' Jack shot back. 'Are you?'

'If you just give me a minute.' Daniel said, clearly irritated.

'We don't have a minute.' Jack said.

'Yes, we do.' Daniel shot back.

'We don't.' Jack retorted.

'Do.' Daniel said.

'Daniel.' Jack shoved his hand through his hair and shot Sam a look before he turned back to the others. He lowered his voice. 'Carter's lost some vision.'

Daniel stared at him with dawning horror and Teal'c bowed his head. Both of them knew that it was a bad sign.

'She what?' Daniel whispered.

'She's lost some vision.' Jack repeated. 'We need to go as soon as she's done.'

Daniel looked over at Sam concerned before he turned back to the console obviously intent on finishing.

Jack nodded relieved and gestured at Teal'c. 'Let's pack it up.' He and Teal'c focused on the mundane task, stuffing items in an unconscious order back into the backpacks.

'Colonel?' Sam called out to him weakly. 'I'm done.' She was dismantling the connections to her laptop.

He walked swiftly over to her and helped her pack up. 'Come on. Let's get you out of here.'

'We have a problem.' Daniel said bluntly.

Jack walked Sam over to the transportation device and lowered her gently into a stool.

'What's the problem?' Jack glanced at the countdown. Just over thirty minutes remained before the planet blew.

Daniel looked at him. 'The way this works is for the device to be told coordinates and target items for transport. It has to be exact. My maths isn't up to it.' His eyes glanced at Sam and the unspoken question of whether she was up to it with her worsening head injury was clear.

Jack rubbed Sam's shoulder. 'Are you OK to do the calculations?'

'Yes, sir.' Sam said crisply.

Daniel shook his head. 'That's not all.' He looked at them sadly. 'Someone has to press the activation button – someone who isn't a target.'

Jack looked back at him with a sinking stomach. 'So, what you're saying is…'

Daniel nodded. 'One of us has to stay behind.'