Choices Matter

Chapter 17 -

They packaged the machine up, took it through the gate and made their way back to the cloaked ship. Jack took off and pointed them back towards Earth. "You're sure she's got it?"

"No doubts." Daniel crossed his arms. "I've seen it several times." He closed his eyes. "I can get it."

"And then?"

Daniel slowly opened his eyes. "'Adria and the gem are currently in the Ori galaxy. I'll take the machine with me. Once I get the gem it will be easy to activate it."

Jack snorted. "There's no way I'm letting you take our one hope with you."

"You still don't trust me."

"Not as far as I can throw you."

"You are welcome to come along but you'll have to pretend to be a prisoner."

"Of course I will." Jack stood up from the pilot's chair and moved to the back. "I'll think about it."

Sam followed him to the back. "Do you have another idea about how to get the gem and get the machine to the Ori galaxy?"

Jack grimaced. "Not yet."

"Your trust in him is so low you're willing to let yourself be taken prisoner?"

Jack rubbed his hands through his hair. "Maybe."

"Jack."

He put a hand up. "Don't." He looked at her despair. "It isn't the same for me here. I don't have a reason to not go and there are millions of reasons to go."

She sat beside him and laid her hand over his. "She loved you. She worked hard to hide it because she was worried if someone could tell it would hurt you both, but she loved you."

Jack just nodded. "I hope she knew I felt the same way."

"She did." Sam knew she was lying, remembering her own internal debate while on the Prometheus. It wasn't so much that she had questioned his interest in her, but she had been unsure they would ever be able to work out a relationship. She had given up on him while working through her concussion. Maybe his Sam hadn't given up on him. Was that what had prevented her from realizing how she could free the ship? Sam knew something different had happened that had resulted in her not making it home. She still regretted giving up on Jack and almost marrying Pete, but as she sat here with this Jack she was left wondering if even her mistakes had mattered. She squeezed his hand. "She'd want you to live."

He shook his head. "She'd want me to save Earth...again." He gave her a tight grin. "It's what we did."

"That seems to hold true in every alternate universe I visit."

He looked over at her. "Were we together in those universes?"

"We were in some and not in others."

He nodded. "Too bad we can't always get our crap together." He looked into her eyes. "I'm glad you made it work."

"So am I."

They all used the trip back to sleep in shifts. Jack landed just outside Cheyenne Mountain, letting Reynolds and Sam hide in the cloaked ship in the woods while Daniel brought Jack back to the mountain, claiming to have captured him after he escaped. Once Jack had been transported to Daniel's ship Daniel came back to the cloaked ship and got the machine.

"Be careful Daniel. She can see what's in your head."

"I've had a lot of practice keeping small pieces of myself hidden from her."

Sam opened her arms and Daniel leaned into her for a hug. "Good luck Daniel. Don't forget to get to the Ark of Truth once you eliminate the Ori. That's the only way to stop the Priors."

He leaned back "Jack and I know. You've walked us through it a million times. What are you going to do while we're gone?"

"Wait here and if it doesn't work come up with a plan B."

Sam reassured Reynolds that she was fine hiding in the woods on her own, so he left to find his family after two days of waiting. Each morning before the sun rose Sam hiked up to a vantage point that allowed her to monitor who was going in and out of the mountain. She was trying to come up with a plan B, which started with making contact with the resistance Jack and Reynolds worked with. Before he left Reynolds told her where she could find him. She only had a couple days of food left and was wondering if it was time to start tracking Reynolds down when she noticed the Ori soldiers congregating in front of the mountain, something she hadn't seen over the last few days. Several Priors showed up, but their arrival did not seem to calm the soldiers. Sam was watching through a pair of binoculars when everything around her was enveloped in a bright white light. Her last thought as she switched realities was they must have succeeded.

As the light faded Sam refocused her binoculars on the mountain's entrance. The priors and Ori soldiers were gone but there also weren't any Air Force personnel out front. She decided it would be best to watch the mountain until she had a better feel for what was going on in this reality. As the sun set, she headed back to the ship, only a little surprised to find it was gone. She was glad she'd kept most of her supplies with her. She sat back against a tree and rested as darkness enveloped her. She was drifting in and out of sleep when the sound of a cracking twig heightened her awareness. She slowed her breathing and listened intently, hearing a noise to her right. Sam reached for her handgun and let out a slow breath. Sam looked around the trunk of the tree and knew as soon as she saw the long white hair that she was in trouble. She pulled back and looked down the slope then back around the tree. The wraith was moving away from her, so she decided to stay put, which went against all her instincts. Her muscles stayed tense, even as the sounds disappeared.

Sam waited fifteen minutes, checking her watch twice just to be sure, before heading up the mountain. She found an access point and used a small charge to open the metal lid. She looked around her one more time before levering over the edge and closing the lid. The climb down was long and she had to rest several times. She couldn't help but remember how much easier this was fifteen years ago. Maybe it was time for her to be riding a desk. She went down to level 26, knowing she had to get to the control room in order to access the gate. She slowly opened the access door, thankful to find the hallway empty. The mountain seemed to be on emergency power, with only green lighting in the halls. Sam stuck close to the walls as she moved. She knew the mountain well and hid each time she heard movement, avoiding two wraith.

She quietly moved into the control room from the upper access through the General's office. She double zatted the two wraith between her and the base computer. She hated to do it, but she had to sit the zat beside the keyboard as she sat down. She knew her time was limited but she had spent years planning for just this moment. She keyed in a quick sequence and the security doors slammed shut, leaving the gate room only accessible to someone with her commands. The gate began to spin as Sam grabbed the zat and ran down the steps, closing the last blast door behind her. As soon as the gate finished kawooshing Sam ran through, hoping her planet pick was safe in this reality too.

Sam ran out of the gate at the delta site with her zat held in front of her ready to be attacked. She spun quickly, checking the immediate vicinity. She finished checking around her as the light from the gate vanished. Sam headed toward the delta installation just past the tree line. She slowly opened the door that was half hanging off the hinges. She pulled out a flashlight as she entered the dark building. She carefully searched, finding a few tools, broken electronic equipment, some medical supplies, and a few MREs. It looked like this place had been abandoned quickly. Once Sam made sure the building was empty, she opened one of the MREs and had a quick dinner. She was exhausted and decided to curl up on a cot in a room with the door barricaded.

When she woke, she made sure the building was still empty before she had a quick breakfast and started trying to rebuild the delta site emergency transponder. She needed a way to make contact with any SG teams still out there. She spent most of the day piecing together the transponder. She knew she was painting a target on herself, but she wasn't sure what other option she had. She moved the transponder to the clearing around the gate and hooked it up to the DHD power supply. That meant she couldn't use the gate to dial out, but since she didn't know a safe place to go she decided the transponder was a better bet. She went back inside the building, knowing that was a more defensible position than the clearing when her signal got attention.

She amused herself by working on the station's power and making regular rounds to check the building perimeter over the next two days. On day three four airmen transported down into the clearing. They unhooked the transponder and moved towards the delta site building. She saw them coming and decided her best choice was to walk out with her hands up. All four of them pointed their weapons at her but they lowered them as she calmly walked out the main door.

"Hi, Cam." Sam kept her hands above her head as the men looked her over.