A/N: And so we have reached chapter 26! It's showtime! The next chapter, 27, will be posted, hopefully, within 24 hours! So stay tuned!

Reviewers: All your kind words never cease to amaze me! I couldn't have asked for a nicer crowd of people to leave comments to my story!

remerkaba - Thanks! :). Yeah, if I was Sam, I wouldn't have wanted to be left behind either.

ALIMOO1971 - Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

dp - Definitely a big project, and I am proud :). It took us 2.5 years to finish it. But enough about other projects, thank you for liking last chapter!

Greeneyedgirl - Your review was good, what are you talking about? ;). Overall, the comment was very kind and makes my tiny, shipper heart flutter with pride.

JustHorsenAroun010 - Updated! I tried to make it sooner, but I'm never fast enough, am I? ;).

SLITH - So many questions... so few I can answer. :P.

LadyMo - I get a kick out of writing 2 Jacks argueing with each other. xD

And now, the chapter itself:

Chapter 26: Day of Reckoning

What followed happened so quickly that Jack wasn't sure how he managed to catch it all. First thing that happened was that they heard sounds of heavy, armoured boots running towards from behind and Jack and Teal'c spun to prepare themselves for action.

At the same time they turned, Jack saw from the corner of his eyes, O'Neill slowed his movements abruptly at something he saw on the other side of the corner ahead. The man whipped around faster than was expected for someone his age, and dove towards Sam as a staff blast shot out in their direction. With wide eyes, Jack saw the two of them go down forcibly and remain motionless on the floor.

"SG-1," a familiar voice spoke out of sight, from around the corner of which the blast had just been fired. Jack knew immediately who it was; he didn't need to take a peek to see it with his own eyes. It was Ba'al, who had finally revealed his latest plan. As the sound heavy, armoured boots came louder and closer from the other direction, the voice floated once more around the corner where Jack and the others remained hidden. "Welcome."

This was it, their defining moment. They would get no other chance, and as it was, one might never present itself again due to life apparently being about to be abruptly cut short for them all.

Teal'c fired his staff weapon at the guards approaching from behind the second they came into view, and Jack set off a round of bullets on his own. Behind him, Daniel crouched by Sam and O'Neill to check on their status. Jack was positive his heart had stopped beating entirely as he, too, waited for the verdict.

He'd only seen the lick of the blast burn them, but he wasn't sure just who had taken the full force of the shot. For all he knew, both Sam and O'Neill could be dead.

Jack pulled the trigger with more force as a staff blast passed right by his ear, the heat of it scorching his hair somewhat.

He silently promised himself that if Sam was dead, if he had failed to keep her alive, she wouldn't be the only who died on this ship. He'd follow her into death willingly, if he had to. He hadn't gotten this far, finally achieving the romantic relationship he'd coveted for so many years and surrendered entirely to the feelings that came with, just to have it all ripped out from under him now. No, he would be dead within seconds, too. But, hopefully, he'd be able to take Ba'al with him. That snake bastard was going to be blown up, one way or another, Jack just preferred it if he was the one to do the deed.

The Jaffa approaching from behind had successfully been taken care of and Teal'c and Jack turned back to their other problem at hand. Around the corner ahead, waited an army of a quantity Jack didn't really want to know.

As Jack turned, his eyes were immediately drawn to Daniel, who was frantically trying to shake Sam awake. All the sounds around him faded into nothingness as Jack watched and numbly moved closer. He pushed Daniel out of the way and towards General O'Neill, as he kneeled beside her.

Jack was barely aware of his fingers searching across her body, trying to find the blast wound he was sure to find there. She moaned – the most beautiful sound Jack had ever heard - and moved under his probing touch. He immediately tightened his hold of her vest.

"Carter," Jack managed. He heard the way his voice broke as he whispered her name.

Her eyes opened and looked up at him, the blue pools were to some extent dazed and a crease formed between her eyebrows as she silently concentrated on something. Finally, she croaked, "Sir… I'm not hurt."

Jack let out a sigh of relief and relaxed his grip on her, patting her shoulder, before turning his gaze to Daniel. The archaeologist's face was pale and the man looked back at the Colonel in silence. His blue eyes shone unusually pale under the golden lights above, and he was clearly struggling to hold back his emotions. Jack could only let out a stunned breath at the implication of what the younger man's face was telling him.

"Hasn't anyone told you," Ba'al's voice echoed from around the corner, oblivious to their private moment, "it's rude to keep people waiting."

Jack ignored this in favour of helping Sam into a sitting position as she looked down at O'Neill without blinking. She reached out a slender, trembling hand to the General's cheek. His eyes remained closed and his face relaxed, as if he was merely asleep and dreaming of a world free of Goa'ulds and wars. From the severe wound on his side, they all knew that wasn't the case. General O'Neill was dead.

"O'Neill," Teal'c said and pulled Jack from his stupor. He looked up at the Jaffa, who was the only one who'd kept his cool thus far, and saw the determination in his eyes. Jack knew the elder alien was right, they needed to refocus. He pushed off the floor and joined Teal'c by the edge of the wall. He peeked out around the corner and inhaled sharply. Oh, boy…

A group of well armoured soldiers waited for them with Ba'al standing in the centre of the pack, a staff weapon rested in his firm grip. It must have been the System Lord himself who'd shot O'Neill. The malicious smirk on his face had Jack's hatred for the Goa'uld bubbling under his skin, tugging on him and urging him to take action.

If Teal'c hadn't placed a heavy hand on his shoulder, Jack was sure he would have jumped out to avenge O'Neill's death then and there. Instead, he forced himself to calm down and to stay in control, in command.

"And we have to take this way?" Jack whispered breathlessly. Teal'c merely nodded. "Dammit."

The pathway ahead was their only way to the engine room and the only way for them to place the last remaining explosives that would take out the ship and its crew. Jack turned back to Sam and Daniel, who were still hunched over O'Neill's still form.

"Carter!" Jack hissed and her head turned to him slowly as if it was a difficult task to move her head, her head seemed to move in slow-motion and not follow the current time flow. As she finally looked over at him, her eyes darkened and her face was far from the impassive Doctor he needed her to be now.

Jack avoided looking back down at his elder twin on the ground and instead crept over to the blonde woman. He reached for her backpack and pulled out a grenade. He hadn't come unprepared, after all. He tried to smirk at her as she noticed this new weapon in his hand, but was sure it came out as more of a grimace.

He tossed the grenade over to Teal'c, who caught it deftly. The Jaffa pulled out the splint, waited a second until Jack nodded his head, and then threw the grenade around the corner.

"Fire in the hole," Teal'c warned, the sentence seemed strange and out of place coming from the alien's mouth. A staff weapon fired, probably to eliminate the grenade, but the impact only made the explosion more intense. The fires licked along the walls of the ship as Jack covered Sam's body with his own to shield her from any flames that might reach them. The heat wasn't overbearing, as it was still out of their reach, but Jack cringed internally as he heard a few guards around the corner howl in pain. The explosion died down, but the cries kept on screaming in agony.

Teal'c took the window of opportunity they'd been given, turned around the corner and fired his weapon. The blasts that were shot back at him almost hit the Jaffa's firm shape, before they slammed into the wall above the dead O'Neill.

"Daniel!" Jack called as he saw how close the blasts had been to the archaeologist as well. The younger man jumped as if he'd been pulled from deep thought and Jack waved for him to join them. Daniel hurriedly crawled over to the wall where the rest of them were and held his gun tight to his chest.

A vicious laughter echoed through the hall as Ba'al spoke again, "You think this will be enough to stop me? Is this what I get for trying to form a peaceful alliance between our races?"

"Save it for somebody who actually believes you, Ba'al!" Jack retorted loudly. "We're here to stop you from destroying Earth. We're quite keen on keeping it intact, you know!"

The silence that followed passed a second too long. "We'll see, Colonel. We'll see."

Teal'c moved to turn the corner with his weapon along with Daniel who was now kneeled on the ground beneath the Jaffa's feet. They fired off a round briefly before ducking for cover as their enemies fired on them again. When the enemy fire stopped, Daniel looked up at Jack.

"Anymore grenades?" the archaeologist looked hopeful.

Jack shook his head. He knew that their odds weren't too great at the moment, but they'd faced worse. They would find a way out of this, too. The only option at the moment was getting out alive; surrendering wasn't an option as that would most likely lead to all of them being poisoned and/or tortured.

"C-4?"

"None that can be spared," Sam responded. Her voice was just a note darker than normal, Jack noted. "Not if we want to blow up the entire ship."

"Perhaps it's time to rethink that plan, Doctor Carter," Teal'c pointed out in a whisper, before firing his weapon around the corner. Daniel followed suit, but soon fell back with a smoking, burning wound on his upper arm. The archaeologist groaned in agony as Sam pulled him out of harms way. She inspected the blast wound carefully, trying not to inflict him any more pain than he was already suffering. Daniel whimpered and kept his eyes shut tight.

"It's not bleeding too much," Sam determined, "but we still need to get you out of here quickly." She reached into Daniel's breast pocket, pulled out a bandage and proceeded to wrap his wound with it.

Jack cursed to himself. So now they had limited time, as well. More and more things were starting to work against them on this ship. His intention of making things easier wasn't exactly working as planned. The option of getting out alive was growing fainter and fainter, and it was only vaguely visible on the horizon for them now. Maybe it was time for option B; blowing the whole ship up with one or all of them still onboard. Jack made the decision without hesitation.

"Give me the remaining C-4," he ordered in a short, commanding tone. Sam's head whipped up in his direction and her eyes widened as she realised what he was planning.

"I throw, detonate and you guys run," Jack continued and stretched out his arm in Sam's direction. She didn't move an inch. Her darkened eyes were clouding over with an emotional pain Jack didn't want to see in them. She'd just lost one Jack, and here he was ordering her to lose the other. But there was no other choice. He had to do this; he had to keep her alive, just like he'd promised O'Neill. He wouldn't let O'Neill's attempts at fixing things go to waste, this wouldn't be a failure.

"I… Sir…" she managed but was unable to finish what she'd started to say.

Jack nodded sharply, but refrained from commenting on her frail words. "Just give me the explosives and hurry out of here."

She moved from Daniel and over to the Colonel without a word, the conflict was clear in her eyes as she silently begged him to reconsider. She held out the last C-4 to him and Jack looked into her eyes a second longer. Then he took the explosives from her hand.

"I'm not leaving," she said and Jack felt his heart pick up speed again.

"Like hell you aren't!" he argued fiercely, but kept his voice low and harsh. "Leave. That's an order, Carter!"

"O'Neill, Carter," Teal'c stopped them from continuing and lowered his voice further as to not be overheard, "whatever choice we make, we better make it soon. However, I agree with Doctor Carter, I am also not leaving."

"Neither am I," Daniel hissed from the ground, clutching his injured arm to his side.

"You need medical attention, Danny," Jack argued as he prepared the C-4.

"Still not leaving."

Jack stopped what he was doing and looked at his partners one by one. Two pair of blue eyes and one pair of brown all looked at him with the same determination shining in them.

Jack sighed. He knew when to fight, and when to surrender. This wasn't the time or the place to disagree. "Alright… Let's try another option. Ba'al's not expecting us to attack him full force, he knows we're outnumbered. If we attack and throw the C-4, it might be enough to catch his troop off guard. Teal'c, how many are there of them out there?"

"Approximately thirty, O'Neill. We have diminished their number from about fifty to this. I believe they won't be a problem."

"Right," Jack nodded, trying to let the Jaffa's words sink in and reassure him, too. It didn't. "Then we fight until we die." And hope the son of a bitch doesn't have a sarcophagus.

"Or win," Daniel pointed out, more optimistic. Jack waved off his words and helped the man from the ground. Daniel nodded once as he was up on his feet to signal that he was alright. His left arm hung limply by his side, blood staining the white bandage, but he was biting back the pain.

"Are you still there, Ba'al?" Jack called out, raising his voice so that the Goa'uld would hear.

"I am," was Ba'al's response. "As a matter of fact, I was beginning to worry you had fled from me. There is still time to surrender, O'Neill. If you do, your lives will be spared. I cannot promise what will become of you if you remain and fight, except that it is not going to be a pretty sight."

Jack inhaled deeply and looked at Daniel, Sam and Teal'c. He nodded once and threw himself into the hallway, where he wouldn't be covered. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c followed immediately. Jack could actually see the surprise in Ba'al's face momentarily, before he fired his weapon at Jack. The Colonel ducked to the ground just as the blast flew through the air where his head had been seconds before.

He fired his gun and heard the sounds of the multiple bullets slam into the Jaffas' armour, from both his, Sam and Daniel's weapons. Several alien guards fell to the ground, dead, with their weapons lying limply by their sides.

As Sam shifted closer to Jack, the latter slid the C-4 across the ground with a harsh shove. The small, moving object soon had the attention of several Jaffa, who, because of their distraction, were shot down by Teal'c and Daniel. Before any of them had a time to actually turn their weapon on the explosives that was moving closer to Ba'al's guards, Jack pressed the button on the detonator.

SG-1 and Sam all threw themselves back on the ground and away from the explosion. The heat was almost overbearing to Jack. They'd been too close to the blast; he should have ordered them further back. He bit back a groan as pain stung his leg and clenched his jaw tight. The heat finally died down and Jack dared to peek out from beneath his arms.

On his left, Teal'c met his gaze with a firm nod. The Jaffa was unharmed. On Teal'c's other side, Daniel was shaking his head as if trying to clear it, but at least he was okay. The archaeologist turned to Sam and so she was almost entirely out of Jack's limited sight. Jack wished he had time to strain his neck in their direction and see if she was alive, as well, but he knew they had other concerns.

He pushed off the ground and swirled around with his P-90 raised. The walls were scorched black and a foul smell was in the air, burned flesh and gunpowder. On the ground on the opposite end of the hallway lay most of Ba'al's troop dead with badly bleeding wounds, their armour was charred and dark after the explosion. There didn't seem to be anyone unharmed and Jack fired his weapon on the one Jaffa who tried to lift his arm, the staff weapon clattered to the floor as the alien fell dead. Jack waited for someone else to try and attack, but the silence and stillness was deafening.

Jack ignored the pain on his shin as he pushed himself up to his feet and noticed Teal'c to the same from the corner of his eyes. The Jaffa was also watching their enemies cautiously with his weapon trained on them all.

"Jack," Daniel said and the Colonel's focus was immediately pulled down to the other man. Daniel was kneeling by Sam; the blonde Doctor was lying immobile on the ground. For the second time this day, Jack's heart stopped.

"She's unconscious," Daniel said and Jack felt his heart jumpstart again. He was pretty sure this emotional roller coaster wasn't good for his heart; Janet would probably have a lot to comment on when they returned to the SGC.

"Is she hurt?" Jack rasped.

Daniel shook his head. "Just a bump on the forehead, she'll be fine."

Jack nodded. She would be fine. He hadn't failed. Somehow, a part of him couldn't rest despite knowing this. She might be alive, but she was still out of the game, and Daniel was injured, too. They couldn't afford anymore screw ups now.

They'd used the last of their C-4 on blowing up the troop, so blowing up the ship itself wasn't an option. It didn't matter; Jack reminded himself, as long as Ba'al died, they'd have still done their job successfully.

As the thought registered in his mind, Jack turned back to the fallen Jaffa guards and stepped forward. Putting one foot slowly in front of the other, Jack watched the pile of dead guys for any sign of movement that might try and catch him off guard.

He could hear several of the guards rasping for oxygen, but they were all on the brink of death, unable to attack. Jack walked towards the centre and pointed his gun down at the familiar Goa'uld. Ba'al's clothes were charred and charcoal black, evidence that he'd been caught in the worst of the explosion, too. But, unlike the ones closest to him, Ba'al was alive. He was rasping for breath, as well, and his eyes glowed maliciously as he saw Jack tower over him.

"O'Neill…" the Goa'uld managed. It was a simple word, filled with much hatred. Ba'al was unable to say any more, but Jack got the message. It was a promise of revenge, to one day destroy the Tau'ri. Like that was going to happen.

"Goodbye, Ba'al," Jack said simply while moving his P-90 to single shot mode, pointed it at the snakehead and fired. The Goa'uld twitched a final time and the glow of his eyes faded. Jack felt a fleeting wave of accomplishment, but it soon passed. Killing Ba'al hadn't been as satisfactory as he'd expected.

He turned his back on the dead Goa'uld and faced his friends. "Let's go. Teal'c, think you can carry Carter?"

The Jaffa nodded and wordlessly bent to scoop up the Doctor into his arms. Jack took point and headed down the corridor they'd just come from, it was time to go home.

"Wait!" Daniel called out. "Where's General O'Neill?"

Jack and Teal'c turned to where the dead man had been just minutes before and noticed that it was empty. There was a pool of blood on the spot, but no General.

"He must have disappeared," Teal'c said.

"Disappeared?" Daniel asked with a frown. "What for?"

"The threat was eliminated," Teal'c said and turned to Jack.

Jack's eyes travelled to the dead Ba'al behind him and then over to the relaxed face of Carter in the Jaffa's big embrace. "You're right, T. It has."

As if hearing his words, Sam's eyes fluttered. Jack signalled for Teal'c to put her down and he did.

"What's going on?" she drawled and opened her eyes.

"We've won," Teal'c informed her.

"Ba'al?"

"Dead," Jack explained shortly.

She nodded slowly and took a look around her. After a minute, she tried to stand and managed to do so with the help of Teal'c. She swayed a little and pressed a hand to the bump on her forehead, Jack grimaced in sympathy.

"What about the ship?" she asked and turned to the Colonel.

"Good question, what about it?"

"Shouldn't we destroy it?" she asked. Jack opened his mouth to respond, but she anticipated this and was quicker, "I know Ba'al's dead. But there's still the possibility of a sarcophagus…"

Jack felt his posture stiffen and his grip tighten around his P-90. "Blow up the ship, gotcha. Any idea how we can do that, seeing as we've run a little short on C-4?"

"Engine room," Sam waved with her arm in the general direction of the room in question. "I can overload the system with a little work."

"Are you sure you're up for the job?"

Sam nodded.

"Alright. Let's do this."

"Come on," Jack pleaded under his breath. He pressed his hand closer around Sam's waist and held onto the arm she had slung over his shoulder. He was practically carrying all of her weight, but they had to be faster.

Sam had managed to set an overload of the engines on five minutes. It had taken SG-1 three to get off the ship and they were now attempting to put as much space between themselves and the ship before the explosion would destroy the ship with a little help from the pre-planted C-4. That was about to take place any second now, and Jack still wanted a little more ground between them and the ha'tak.

"I'm trying," Sam murmured and Jack knew she was losing a battle against staying conscious. She was probably suffering from a concussion and she'd strained herself enough for one day, she needed rest.

Jack glanced ahead at Teal'c and Daniel, who were having an easier time manoeuvring themselves between the trees than Jack was with carrying Sam's weight.

A loud explosion roared behind them, they weren't close to the source of it, but it was still loud enough to hurt Jack's ears. This time, the heat was out of range, and Jack was grateful.

Together, he and Sam stumbled onto the open plain, and Jack could see the Stargate in the distance. Finally, he let his heart feel elated at the prospect of the change they'd managed to procure. The war that had almost destroyed Earth had been prevented, no one needed to die. Sam was safe, though a bit bruised up, and would remain alive and well. They'd managed to fix what had been impossible, and it was all thanks to O'Neill.

Yes, they'd completed this mission for him, for the General, without whom, things would have gone down differently. Jack glanced behind him once as they hurried home.

General O'Neill hadn't failed in the end; he'd made it all possible, and Jack knew he owed him a lot more than life.

TBC…