Choices Matter

Chapter 16 -

Sam got several hours of sleep before the door to their room opened. Daniel walked in, as pale as she expected and carrying his staff.

"Hallowed are the Ori."

"Wrong crowd Daniel."

"Jack, good to see you still have your wry wit."

"And you still have a complexion that's far too pale."

Daniel turned to Sam who had sat up while the two bantered. "I actually came to see you. Your appearance came as quite a surprise."

"Didn't see her coming Mr. All Powerful?"

Daniel ignored Jack. "Where have you been all these years and how did you get here?"

"I'm from an alternate reality. I was brought here by the machine that was taken from me."

"This?" Daniel pulled it from his pocket.

"Yes." Sam stood up.

"Why did you come here?"

"There's something here I need to fix."

Daniel gave her a small ironic grin. "And what exactly is that?"

"Well, you for starters." She waved her hand from Daniel's head to his toes. "And then I want to help you eliminate the Ori."

"They're too powerful to be eliminated."

"Not with the help of an ancient."

"The ancients have been silent for a long time."

"There's one who will help, and I know where to find him. All you have to do is break us out of here."

Daniel's eyes narrowed but he left without speaking again. Sam looked over at Jack. "Do you think he'll help?"

Jack flopped back on his cot. "Not a chance."

For the next two days meals were delivered but their guards refused to speak with them at all. Jack and Reynolds filled Sam in on what had happened in their reality since she went missing. She gave them few details about her plan to eliminate the Ori, since she assumed they were being monitored and recorded. It was after midnight when Daniel reappeared.

"We need to go now."

The locks on their doors popped open. "Daniel?"

"Now or stay here Jack."

"Now it is." Jack pushed up off his cot.

"Do you have the machine I brought with me?" Daniel held it out towards her. Sam took it and stuffed it in her pocket. "The only way to get there is by gate."

Jack shook his head. "There's no way we're getting through the gate without being followed."

"Just trust me and come on." Daniel led them out to a cloaked puddle jumper. "You can fly us out of here, right Jack?"

"Where are we headed?" All eyes turned to Sam. "Somewhere with an unguarded gate."

She took the co-pilot's seat while Daniel gave her a set of coordinates. "That planet should be Ori free."

Jack put in the coordinates. "We can be there in sixty-four hours." Jack looked around the ship, accepting their silent nods, before taking off. The Ori ship in orbit over Earth did not fire at them and they were on their way without resistance. Once they were out of the solar system Jack set it on autopilot.

Jack turned his chair to look back at Daniel, who was sitting behind Sam. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I thought this might be our last chance to get rid of the Ori."

"Now you want to get rid of them." Jack waved his hands in circles. "You're one of them."

"I didn't have a choice Jack. By letting Adria change me I earned a certain level of trust, which has helped me stop her from annihilating Earth."

"Oh right, so you've been on our side the whole time."

"Yes, Jack! I have!"

Sam reached out between them. "He was only pretending to be a Prior in my reality. That's why I asked about him."

Jack shook his head. "You should have done something long ago."

"I've been doing stuff all along. Me doing stuff is why you're still alive. I just couldn't make a big move…" He looked at Sam."...until now."

All eyes turned to Sam. "So, where are we headed and what's your plan?"

"Merlin was an Ancient."

Daniel's head tilted. "Merlin as in Arthur and the roundtable."

Sam nodded. "That's the one. He's in stasis. We just have to get to him." She twitched. "We can help him build the anti-Ori machine and then send it through to the Ori galaxy."

Jack held his hands up. "Whoa, Whoa. Get it to the Ori galaxy? The only way there is the super gate, which is damn well guarded."

"I wondered about that."

"Why can't we just use it here?"

"If we used it here it would wipe out the Ancients and leave the Ori alone."

Daniel grimaced. "That would be bad. Although the Ancients haven't gotten directly involved the Ori haven't done more because they're afraid the Ancients will get involved. If the Ancients disappeared the Ori would make things much worse in this galaxy."

"So, the super gate it is. Good to know this will be easy." Jack got up and went to the back of the ship and fished out a bottle of soda. "Seriously Daniel, you couldn't round up any beer."

They took watch in pairs, just to make sure they could each keep the other awake. Sam also suspected Jack didn't trust her or Daniel. Daniel and Reynolds were up front while Sam and Jack laid down on the benches in the back. Sam shifted from her back to her side, trying to get comfortable.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Jack looked over at her.

"Just a bit. Sorry if I'm bothering you."

"You're not. It reminds me of her. She usually had a hard time turning her brain off at night. The only time she could fall straight asleep was if we'd hiked more than ten kilometers that day."

"You know her sleeping patterns well."

"We shared the same tent for years."

"Were you in a relationship?"

"No, that would have been against the regulations."

Sam squinted. "But you both knew you had feelings for each other?"

"Yeah."

"Did you ever talk about it?"

"Nope, not much point in it really." He sighed and rolled onto his side so he could look at her. "If she'd survived there wouldn't be any rules against it now." He tucked his arm under his head. "How about you and your Jack?"

"We're together now. It took us a while to work out our careers though."

He glanced at her hands. "Are you married?"

Sam snickered. "No, that hasn't really come up."

"I see." She could hear the doubt in his voice and felt the need to defend her relationship.

"We've been apart most of the time we've been together. He's been in D.C. while I've been commanding Atlantis or the Hammond. He retired just before I started moving between realities. He was about to move back to Colorado Springs."

"You were finally going to be able to live together?"

"We were discussing it."

"Discussing it?"

Sam winced. "I'd offered to let him move in with me, but he didn't jump at the idea."

"Still have that cute little place near downtown?"

"Yeah."

Jack shook his head. "I'd feel cramped in that place. Have you thought about getting something together, something with a big backyard and nice view at night?"

Sam grinned. "I should have thought of that."

"Well, now when you get home you can look together."

"I've been wondering about that."

"About what?"

"Going home. I assume all these realities are moving forward in time at about the same rate."

"So?"

"That means I've been gone for months."

"So?"

"Things can change in that amount of time."

"I'm sure some things will have changed." Jack rolled over onto his back. "But some things will never change, no matter how long it's been."

Sam's heart broke for him and it made her nostalgic to get home. She tried not to focus too much on missing him, missing all her friends, but as she laid on the bench that was all she could think about.

When they got to the planet Jack flew over and confirmed it was Ori free. Jack landed close to the gate in a thicket where they could leave the cloaked ship. Sam dialed the address and led them through town, following the route she remembered until they got to the cave. Luckily once Sam told Daniel the dragon's name was Morgan LeFey in Ancient he knew how to say it.

The cave was just as Sam remembered. Sam walked over to Merlin. "Jack?"

"Yeah."

"Walk over there near the memory machine but don't get too close."

"I know enough to stay away from that thing." Jack moved near the opposite wall.

The stasis pod lit up and Sam and Reynolds caught Merlin as he fell out. "Lay him down over there." She lifted his feet. "He just needs to rest for a few minutes."

All four of them just stared at the old man until his eyes fluttered. Sam sat on the edge of the platform and held his hands. "Merlin?"

He looked at her and his face brightened. "Gweneviere."

"Not exactly. That was a while ago. You've been in stasis. We're here to get your help defeating the Ori."

"The Ori." He started sitting up so Sam put her arm behind his shoulders and gave him some support. "The others never stopped them?"

"No, and now they've made it to this galaxy."

"You sought me out for help?"

"Yes, you know how to make a machine that can eliminate the Ori and free us."

He stood on wobbly legs. "Yes, I do." He moved to the machine in the wall and looked into it. An hour later he stumbled back from the wall. "I need to rest."

Sam helped him sit down and sat beside him. "You aren't going to be able to finish it, but we can if you give us the information."

He reached out and held her hand. "I think you might be able to, with guidance." He looked into her eyes. "Help me back up." She supported him as he looked into the machine again. When he fell back unconscious Reynolds helped her lay him back down. As soon as his eyes closed, he glowed and disappeared. As the room got over the shock of seeing Merlin disappear Sam turned towards the machine and stepped closer to it.

Jack reached out and grabbed her arm. "What do you think you're doing?"

"He downloaded the information we need to finish the machine."

Jack shook his head. "There aren't any Asgard around to fix you."

"It still has to be done."

"I know." He turned around and stepped into the machine, letting it grab his head. He slumped to the ground when it released him.

"Damn it, Jack." Daniel reached down and checked his pulse. "If you would have just given me a second, I could have explained that the changes Adria made to me would have allowed me to handle this better than you."

Jack huffed as Sam and Daniel helped him stand up and moved him to a chair.

"Let me guess, you don't trust me to build it, do you?"

"Nope." Jack looked over at the machine and pushed himself out of the chair. "Now give me a little time." Jack put his head back into the machine and the building platform began to glow again. It took a couple sessions, but Jack finished the machine in less than four hours.

"Is that it?" Daniel looked at it.

"Almost." Jack sat down. "There's a gem that we need. A red one. It's pretty big." Jack shook his head. "I have no idea where to get it."

Daniel sighed. "I do."