Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! It's great to hear your thoughts on the story.
Sam looked at the zat aimed in her direction and the two anti-replicator weapons in the hands of Doctor Carson Beckett.
"Colonel Sheppard, what's going on here? Why are you taking the anti-replicator weapons?"
Sheppard's hold on the zat was steady, but he gave a slight tilt of his head. "We're calling them ARGs."
ARGs. Anti-Replicator Guns, she assumed. With a sudden wave of emotion, she missed Jack desperately. He also liked naming things.
Such as the zat that John Sheppard was pointing at her chest.
"Is there something I can help you with?" she asked cautiously.
For all that there were moments when John Sheppard reminded her of Jack, she didn't know the man that well. She had no idea what he could possibly be doing here with another former member of the Atlantis operation, taking weapons they should have no need of. More so, she couldn't even fathom why Carson Beckett might be handling a weapon at all, let alone stealing several from a lab at ten o'clock at night.
"I'd really appreciate it if you got out of our way, Colonel Carter. I don't want to have to shoot you."
Sam knew she was at least four steps away from the security alarm and she didn't have a weapon on her. She didn't think she'd need one for a late night in the lab.
She should have been a little more specific when she'd been wishing for a distraction.
"I'd really appreciate if you avoided shooting me, John," she replied calmly. "I don't exactly want to spend more time in the infirmary. But I need to know why you're taking those weapons from the lab. I've been running some experiments on them and the truth is, they won't work with their current modifications unless I reset them to the default."
It was all a bluff and based on the way Sheppard was looking at her, she suspected he knew it.
Thankfully, Beckett believed her.
"The Replicators are attacking Atlantis," the doctor explained.
Sheppard let out a frustrated sigh and lowered his weapon.
"Seriously, Carson? What part of secret rescue operation do you not understand?"
"She said the ARGs won't work," the Scotsman exclaimed.
Sheppard shook his head. "She was probably lying."
The pieces were starting to come together in Sam's mind and she didn't like the picture they were making.
Replicators attacking Atlantis.
Rescue operation.
"Is General O'Neill still there?" she asked, voice rough.
Both men looked back in her direction.
"He and Woolsey didn't make it back to the 'gate," Sheppard admitted. "General Landry is sending the Daedalus to nuke the city in less than four days."
Sam felt her stomach plummet to the floor. She couldn't lose Jack too.
"Landry can't do that."
She knew that Landry technically could make that decision, but she was surprised that he'd make it unilaterally.
"General O'Neill's standing orders, apparently," Sheppard responded. "We're supposed to be working on a plan to get the nuke through the shield."
Things just kept getting worse.
Sam could only imagine how Jack must feel, trapped on Atlantis knowing that an order he'd given was going to cause his death. Assuming, that was, that he wasn't dead already.
She blinked back the tears that started to form in the corner of her eye and focused.
"What's your plan?"
Sam watched as Sheppard raised his weapon again.
"No offense, Colonel, but things are on a need to know basis right now," he said. "And I need to know if you're going to fix those weapons and let us out of here peacefully or if I'm going to have to shoot you before we go on our merry way."
She took in the determined look on John Sheppard's face and remembered how the one black mark on the man's record was an unsanctioned rescue mission where he saved three lives.
Jack would be so proud of him right now.
Of course, first he'd be mad as hell at Sheppard for disobeying direct orders and returning to a high risk situation with low odds, and he'd argue for some stupid reason that he wasn't worth the risk, but then he'd cycle back to being proud of the man without showing it. After all, this was exactly the type of thing she'd seen Jack O'Neill do many times during their years on SG-1.
"Don't bother shooting me," Sam replied. "I'm coming with you."
"Really?" Beckett asked.
Sam shrugged. "Why not? I love a good covert rescue operation, and plus -"
She cut herself off. She couldn't exactly say that the love of her life was one of the people stranded out there.
She couldn't say that she'd already lost one person she loved this week and she sure as hell wasn't going to lose a second.
"Anyway," she continued, "I scheduled a couple week's leave and my plans just fell through."
Sheppard visibly relaxed and lowered his weapon.
"Well, Colonel, we're happy to have you along."
For the first time since she found out that Jack was stranded on Atlantis and under attack - maybe for the first time since the Stargate shut down without Daniel walking through - Sam felt like she could breathe. This was where she was comfortable - not sitting at home waiting to hear from him, but instead taking action to make sure he was safe.
She might not be able to help Daniel, but she could save Jack.
Beckett lifted up one of the ARGs. "What do you need to do to fix these?"
Sam shook her head.
"Nothing. Those are all fine."
"The truth is?" Sheppard teased, referring to her comment about the problem with the weapons.
Sam gave him a pointed look. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?"
While Sheppard and Beckett changed, she walked to the other side of the lab and texted Cassie to let her know that she might be out of touch for a while, but not to worry. She also asked the girl to do her a favor and cancel the plane tickets and hotel reservation that she'd already been hesitant about keeping after Daniel went missing. She definitely wouldn't need them now.
Sam didn't bother to contact anyone else. All the people she worked with would find out soon enough and those who cared about her would understand the choice she made to go after Jack.
"We don't have an extra tac vest," Sheppard acknowledged when she walked back over to them. "I don't think it's worth trying to get another one."
They hadn't planned to have a another member of this operation and she hoped that it didn't cause any more problems.
"It's okay," Beckett said as he handed his tactical vest to Sam, "You'll make better use out of this anyway."
It was the right decision. She'd be more likely to be on the front lines of whatever situation they encountered than he would. Still, she appreciated the gesture and would make sure he didn't end up regretting it.
"Thanks, Carson."
Sam was in the middle of putting on the vest when Elizabeth Weir and Rodney McKay entered the room.
"We got it done," McKay said, laptop in hand. "You should have seen Elizabeth in there talking World of Warcraft with Bill Lee. I wish I had it recorded."
Elizabeth Weir didn't look like she found the World of Warcraft conversation with Bill Lee nearly as amusing as McKay did. Sam didn't blame her.
"We've got an extra passenger joining us," Sheppard announced.
"I added my name to the authorized personnel list so we should be good to go," McKay continued.
Then he looked up, spotted her, and came to a complete stop.
"Sam?"
"I figured I'd come along and help you all out."
"But...what…" Rodney sputtered.
Elizabeth walked over and Beckett handed her a uniform. "Nice to have you join us, Colonel Carter."
"Happy to be invited, Doctor Weir."
Sheppard shoved a uniform into Rodney's chest. "Get changed now, act surprised later. Carter's coming with us."
Minutes later they were all ready to go and headed towards the jumper bay. Unfortunately, they ran into Captain Wallace on the way. The man had been on SG-4 with Sheppard, which made it all the more difficult.
"Wallace. What are you doing here?"
Sam planned to follow Sheppard's lead on this one and tried to hang back from the man on crutches. He might not recognize McKay, Beckett, and Weir, but he would recognize her.
"General Landry wanted to talk to me about reassignment."
Sheppard winced and for the first time she wondered how his non-Atlantis missions had been going. She remembered hearing some rumors about SG-4's recent bad luck.
"Oh, right. Sorry about that," Sheppard said.
Wallace looked uncomfortable.
"Are you already going on missions without me, or…?" His voice trailed off.
Beckett placed a comforting had on Wallace's shoulder to distract him as Sheppard checked the status of the corridor behind them.
"You should really stay off of that ankle, son," Beckett advised, a medical doctor even in the middle of a covert operation.
Sheppard nodded to her to let her know the corridor was clear and she nodded back in acknowledgement.
"Yeah, well when General Landry says now, it's now."
Sam frowned. If the man planned to go directly from talking with them to meeting with General Landry, it would make their plan even more difficult.
"Colonel Carter, are you going with them? I thought you were on leave."
"You know me," she replied, "Can't keep away from the lab."
"But you're geared up…" Wallace's voice trailed off as he looked at the group and began to notice that something wasn't right.
Sam glanced at Sheppard.
"Sorry about this," he apologized before firing the zat at Wallace.
Beckett grabbed Wallace's crutches and Sam caught the man as he fell.
Sam never liked it when they had to fire on their own people. She wondered if it was even tougher for Sheppard to fire on Wallace because the man had been a member of his SG team and under his command.
They dragged Wallace's unconscious body through the closest door and left him there.
Sheppard looked at her and then answered her unasked question. "Can't afford to have him tell Landry he ran into us."
Sam gave him a nod and they all headed towards the jumper storage area where, unfortunately, Sergeant Siler was working on one of the jumpers. Luckily, he was the only staff member there.
She turned to Sheppard.
"Let me handle it. All of you fall back out of sight and I'll get him to leave."
Sheppard peered around the corner to where Siler was running through a checklist and performing diagnostics tests.
"Sure you can get him to leave without sending up any red flags?"
Sam didn't bother to get into her long history of working with Siler.
"Yes, as long as all of you hang back and wait for my signal."
Sheppard nodded and asked the rest of the team to head to the storage room they passed further down the hallway.
"I'm giving you two minutes before we move in anyway, Colonel."
"Understood."
Sam gave the gear she'd been holding, and her tac vest, and went to go have a chat with Siler.
"Hey Sergeant," she called when she got in range. "They got you doing ship diagnostics again?"
He looked up and adjusted his glasses.
"Colonel, I thought you were on leave."
Sam smiled.
"Starting tomorrow."
The technician chuckled. "Which explains why you haven't left for the day yet."
"You know me well," she replied.
Siler looked over at her and she could see his expression become more serious. She knew what was coming.
"I'm sorry about Doctor Jackson."
"Thank you."
"I heard they're getting close to narrowing down the address. Might be able to find it and send a MALP through tomorrow."
Sam knew he was trying to be hopeful, but it just reminded her of how Daniel was gone and she'd been kicked off the project for all intents and purposes and forced to take her leave.
And then there was Jack.
"So what's the deal with the jumper?" she asked, desperate to change the subject and get things back on track. "I thought you were working on some updates to the power grid."
Siler looked down at the paperwork in his hand before looking back up.
"I got pulled off of that because we're using this jumper for a mission tomorrow afternoon. They wanted me to make sure it was in good shape. Took some enemy fire to the outer hull last mission."
He handed over the folder of paperwork to her and Sam glanced through it.
"Why aren't they taking one of the other jumpers?"
Siler shrugged.
"This one's in the best shape. The others need more extensive repairs and we don't have the resources right now to fix them all at the same time. This jumper is looking good and it's passed all the initial diagnostics, but I haven't put it through the stress tests yet."
It wasn't ideal news to know that the one jumper they had an option of taking could have some unknown repercussions from its last mission. Then again, it wasn't like they were going to find a brand new ship anywhere either, and these jumpers could withstand way more than any of their man-made ships could.
She'd tell Sheppard, but this was still their best bet.
"Unfortunately, Sergeant, you're going to have to come back for the stress tests later. I didn't come down just to catch up. Felger's experiment just cut the power to several labs on level 19. The General asked me to grab you for repairs."
Siler closed his eyes and grimaced.
"I thought after the last time when he brought down the whole base that we isolated his lab enough to prevent this from happening again."
"At least it didn't take out rest of the base this time," Sam offered.
"Okay," he sighed, before placing the paperwork and diagnostic tools on a nearby table. "You going up with me?"
Sam shook her head. "I've got some other things to finish up before I'm off for two weeks."
Siler nodded.
"I know things aren't great right now, but try to enjoy some of your time off."
Sam almost laughed. Enjoying herself wasn't even on her radar right now. She had much more important things to worry about. Still, it was sweet of Sergeant Siler to worry.
"Thanks. I will," she replied. "Now you better get up there."
They walked out into the corridor together and then Sheppard showed up.
"Colonel Carter, there you are! I've been looking for you. I was hoping we could discuss your recent mission to P4Z-433. We're doing the follow-up next week and I wanted to get your opinion on a few things before you leave."
Siler looked at them and greeted Sheppard before looking back at her.
"Have a good leave, Colonel."
"Thanks again. I have a few ideas for that power grid we'll have to talk about when I get back."
"Always a pleasure to hear your ideas."
As soon as Siler walked away, Sheppard started talking. Sam continued to watch Siler walk down the hallway.
"Now, about some of the local traditions on '433. What components of that are necessary for us to participate in and what's optional? Because I -"
"He's gone," she hissed.
Sheppard opened the door where the remaining team was hiding.
"Let's move!"
Beckett handed her the gear and tac vest that she'd taken off before going to talk to Siler and then they moved quickly to the jumper storage room.
Sam walked next to Sheppard and gave him an update.
"We have to use the jumper Siler was running diagnostics on. The others are out of commission for repairs. He didn't finish the stress tests, but it's good based on initial diagnostics. It did take enemy fire on its last mission out."
"So," Sheppard said, "try not to damage the SGC's only currently functional puddle jumper while engaging enemies in another galaxy. No pressure there."
"On the plus side," Sam added. "It was supposed to be used for a mission tomorrow afternoon, so it's all packed up."
Sheppard grinned.
"Maybe luck will be on our side after all."
They tossed duffles packed with extra ARGs and additional gear in the jumper and then Beckett and Weir went inside to sit down. Sam and McKay headed to the computer outside the jumper.
"Do you think this will work?" Sam asked.
"Of course it'll work," McKay said, ignoring her to focus on his work interfacing with the SGC dialing computer.
Sam hated this feeling of jumping into a mission halfway through. Her contributions were necessarily limited without knowing the full plan, but she needed to help because otherwise her mind would turn to the reason why they were stealing a jumper to return to Atlantis in the first place.
She headed to the jumper and hoped they'd all be able to fill her in with the rest of the details on the way to the Pegasus galaxy.
"You set?" McKay shouted at Sheppard.
"Go for it," came the call from the jumper.
McKay joined them in the jumper and sat down next to Sam.
"Okay, they're going to be able to get through my hack pretty quickly."
Quickly, but not quick enough, Sam assumed. Maybe if she'd been in the control room when the Stargate started dialing she would have been able to stop it. Sergeant Harriman, as good as he was at his job, wouldn't be able to discover the hack and shut things down in enough time.
"It's all right," Sheppard assured them, "I don't need much time."
He piloted the jumper to the 'gate room, where the wormhole was already open to send them to the McKay-Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge. Jack liked to tease her and say that it should have been the Carter-McKay Intergalactic Gate Bridge, but Sam didn't mind. Rodney McKay seemed like he needed those wins a little more than she did.
General Landry's voice, telling Sheppard to stand down, echoed through the puddle jumper before being cut off as they entered the event horizon.
They were at Midway Station before she knew it and Sam hoped that she'd be able to get some answers before they arrived in Atlantis.
Beckett started talking about turtles that he left behind, but Sam interrupted.
"So how did this happen?" she asked.
"The Ancients were supposed to be safe from attack from this version of the Replicators," Weir began.
McKay shifted uncomfortably and jumped in. "Like I told General Landry, it is remotely - only remotely - possible that in trying to rewrite Niam's base code we may have opened the door for them to make other changes."
This was what always happened. They tried to solve one problem and then it caused another. Sam was getting really sick of it. She was also pissed because she was supposed to be on vacation with Jack right now. Instead, Daniel was gone and Jack might be dead in another galaxy.
"So this is all your fault then, McKay," she replied, with more of an edge to her voice than she would've normally shown.
"At the time, we needed to do it to save the city," Dr. Weir tried to explain.
"It doesn't matter," Sheppard cut in.
"It does matter if General O'Neill and Richard Woolsey die because of it," Sam replied. "They might even be dead already."
"Hey, we're trying to fix it now," Sheppard said. His voice was soft and comforting.
"I know, I just -"
How did she explain that her heart was out there in Atlantis, unprotected?
"I've read some of your SG-1 mission reports. General O'Neill has been known to get out of pretty tight spots." Sheppard's look was appraising and she wondered how much he saw. "We're good at getting out of tight spots too. We're going to make this work."
Sam nodded and reminded herself that she couldn't break down now. She needed to hold it together.
"How's it coming, McKay?" Sheppard asked.
Sam watched as McKay's fingers flew over the keyboard.
"Trust me, I'm going as fast as I can."
All of the sudden, the Milky Way gate activated. Sheppard turned to McKay.
"Did you do that?"
"Nope," McKay replied.
General Landry's face appeared on the display.
"Colonel Sheppard. I'm going to assume that you're still at the Midway Station waiting for Doctor McKay to rewrite his macro. I understand what you're doing, Colonel. Hell, I'll even call it brave, but if you don't turn that ship around immediately and come back to the SGC-"
Sam moved next to John Sheppard and interrupted Landry's tirade.
"Hi General, in all the madness I might have forgotten to mention that during my leave I was going to hang out with some friends off-world. I hitched a ride."
"Colonel Carter?" Landry asked. "Why the hell are you involved in this? You weren't even supposed to be on base."
"Seemed like they might need some assistance, sir."
"Both of you turn around right now or I'll see that your careers in the military are -"
Sheppard hit a button to shut off the transmission. Weir, Beckett, and McKay looked at him in surprise, but Sam knew exactly why he hit that button.
Sheppard shrugged. "That way I won't know what he was gonna say."
It was usually easier to plead ignorance when disobeying a direct order.
"Okay!" McKay suddenly shouted. "I've got it!"
Sam took a breath, glad they were getting closer.
"All right," Sheppard offered as he turned to face them, "last chance to change our minds."
They all sat silent, determined to move forward with the plan to save Jack and Woolsey. Sam looked around at the Atlantis team. They came from such different professional backgrounds, but were set on doing the right thing and making sure no one was left behind. They reminded her of SG-1, in all of its various incarnations.
Sam felt so grateful that they were all here with her. She was so grateful that they'd told her what happened and accepted her on this rescue mission.
If she'd known that Jack was trapped on Atlantis, she would have tried to plan a rescue. The fact that these people, who didn't know or care about him nearly as much as she did, would break the rules to do the same, meant the world to her. She just had to make sure they all made it out of here alive.
"All right," Sheppard replied as he faced forward, "let's do it."