"A favor?" Jack asked into the radio. "I don't really think that we're in the position to do anyone a favor right now. In fact, I was under the impression that you were supposed to be rescuing us."
He wondered what problem Sheppard and his gang of misfits had gotten themselves into. Even more pertinent, he wondered what problem they'd gotten themselves into that they couldn't shoot themselves out of or have Sam and Rodney McKay solve.
"Well, sir, we seem to be trapped underwater."
So it turned out that the underwater jumper bay wasn't a good plan after all. Great.
"Sheppard, I don't really know how we can help you. This place is crawling with hundreds of Replicators and we've only remained undiscovered because we're in a damaged area of the city. We move and they'll spot us, either visually or on the sensors."
They were lucky that they'd kept away from the Replicators so far, but Jack didn't really want to test that luck.
"The sensors should be out right now," McKay's voice jumped in. "They were probably damaged when we set off the original explosive."
That would have been good to know. It would have given him and Woolsey the option of freer movement right after the blast.
"Replicators fix things fast, McKay," he pointed out.
Woolsey, gun in hand again, was darting nervous glances toward the hallway.
"They shouldn't have fixed them yet," McKay insisted.
Jack wasn't really sure he wanted to base his survival on Rodney McKay's gut instinct.
"Sir," Sheppard's voice cut in, "unfortunately, it doesn't matter if they've fixed the sensors or not. We're going to need you to come help us."
Jack closed his eyes and tried to get in the right mindset for the task he had in front of him. He was a little out of practice, but all of this life and death bullshit was coming back to him quicker than he would have thought. He just wasn't sure if he could pull this off with Woolsey dragging him down. The man didn't know the meaning of the word quiet.
Add that to the fact that he still didn't know what they wanted him to do, besides getting across the city without dying or being captured.
Jack thought back again to the dead bodies of the Ancients he'd walked past in the hallways.
"Sir." It was a different sir this time, softer and feminine with a backbone of steel.
"Yes, Carter?"
"The jumper has a leak. It's slowly filling with water. The manual override in the jumper bay control room is the only way we can get out of here."
He thought back to another time when he and Sam were stuck in a small, enclosed space filing with ocean water. He remembered how the space filled much more quickly than either of them were expecting it to. Jack thought about how he held her hand underwater when they thought they were going to die. They clung to each other when the water finally drained for a few breathless moments before they had to get up and run again.
"Carter, how long do you have?"
She went quiet and he imagined her eyes going to the leaks, trying to calculate the volume of the interior of the jumper and the rate of the leaks.
Eventually, Sam spoke.
"More time than the last time we almost drowned, but not by a lot. As the pressure keeps up, the cracks will expand and it will continue to get worse more rapidly as time passes."
He'd already decided to go, but the thought of Sam drowning because she'd come to another galaxy to save him led Jack to feel a sudden sense of urgency. He stood up, picking up his P90 in the process, and motioned for Woolsey to do the same.
"We'll get there as soon as we can."
"Thanks," she replied.
He knew which smile would be on her face at that moment. It would be the soft one that usually preceded a happy hug where she cuddled into his body. The one bright spot of his day was that he'd soon see that smile in person.
"Anytime," he told her.
Of course, then McKay had to speak up and ruin the moment.
"I'm going to give you directions."
"McKay, we're walking through enemy territory. I'm going to need you to maintain radio silence until I signal you."
"How are you going to signal me?"
They'd have to use the same methods they used on SG-1, with clicks on the radio to identify when it was safe and not safe to talk.
"Carter will explain."
He thought about Sam sitting there telling McKay when he was allowed to talk and when he had to shut up. It made Jack smile, just a little.
"Now, tell me the first section of the route. We'll make it as far as possible and contact you when we can."
McKay explained the start of the way to the underwater jumper bay, with Sheppard jumping in every once in a while with corrections or ideas for shortcuts. Jack was glad that he'd spent a lot of time wandering around the city while he was here for the negotiations. It made it a lot easier to add Sheppard and McKay's instructions to his own mental map of the city.
The first leg of the journey was normally about a ten minute walk. If they were lucky, today they'd accomplish it in less.
Jack gave Woolsey a recap of all the instructions on staying alive that he'd been trying to drill into his head.
It all worked pretty well until Jack peered around a corner as they were leaving the damaged area of the city and the man asked if he saw anything.
Jack turned around, frustrated and angry. He did not get this close to survival only to have the IOA rep ruin it for him.
"When I said to maintain silence, I meant you too," he hissed.
Woolsey nodded, eyes wide.
After making their way through several corridors, they ducked into an empty room. Jack clicked the radio twice.
"How far did you get?" Sam's voice asked.
"About two thirds of the way through McKay's initial set of directions. We just exited the damaged section of the city we were holed up in." He mentioned a couple nearby landmarks and then McKay took over, spouting another set of directions.
"Be safe," Sam said once McKay finished.
"Will do. O'Neill out."
The next few minutes were the most dangerous. He and Woolsey had to pass somewhat close to the central core of the city before veering away from it again. Jack stayed at the ready and they passed slowly and deliberately.
When they got back into another damaged area, he breathed a sigh of relief. He still couldn't let down his guard. There was something suspicious about the fact that they hadn't encountered any Replicators yet. Not knowing where they were didn't make him feel any safer.
He signaled McKay and the man started speaking with the next set of directions.
Jack and Woolsey walked for another five minutes and turned into the hallway McKay had mentioned on their last exchange. He signaled the scientist again and told him where they were.
"You should be getting close to the jumper bay. You're one level above it. Turn right when you get to the end of the hallway and then go down the stairs."
They turned another corner and Jack gave a mental thanks for the auxiliary lights he could control with the ATA gene. Having a long lost ancestor with Ancient blood had caused him a lot of trouble in the past, but every once in a while it came in handy.
They headed down a set of stairs and McKay spoke again.
"Okay, there should be a hatch leading down to the next level. Do you see it?"
"Yep. Sure do. We see it."
He and Woolsey walked over to the hatch at the end of the hall. It was surrounded on three sides by a metal railing and had a ladder leading to the level beneath them.
"The Control Room should be almost directly below," McKay explained.
Jack and Woolsey leaned against the metal and looked down into the hatch.
It looked like the group on the jumper weren't the only ones with water issues.
"Okay, slight problem here."
Massive problem, really, but he didn't want to overstate it.
"What's that?" McKay asked.
Jack looked back down at the water below. It was above the ceiling, which meant there wouldn't be any breathable air down there.
"Well, the level below is completely flooded, too."
He hoped that the controls were right by the ladder.
"Ah," McKay replied. "I, uh, couldn't convince you to take a swim today, could I?"
Jack almost let him try to be persuasive, just because he thought it would be good for a laugh. He'd known he would attempt it since McKay asked, though, and he didn't have time to mess around. Their jumper was leaking out of two cracks and he was their only hope to get out of there. Sam needed him, so Jack would do what he needed to do.
He sighed and handed his P90 and the radio over to Woolsey.
"All right. If you hear something, don't call out to it. Shoot it."
"Understood."
The fact that they were relying on Richard Woolsey to not get himself caught showed what a bad plan this was. Jack wished they had any other choice.
"Anything that's not me is a Replicator," Jack reminded him, "so don't hesitate."
He took off his outer fatigue shirt and boots and placed both his hands on the railing at the edge of the hatch.
The water looked dark and cold.
Jack was sure as hell taking a vacation after this.