The first thing Jack noticed when he and Woolsey were brought to another cell was that Samantha Carter refused to look his way.
She was doing it on purpose. Sam noticed when they'd arrived. He saw the quick flash of her blond hair and blue eyes behind Ronon, but her head quickly turned towards the ground. He still wasn't sure what had happened to her, but it looked like he was going to have to wait to find out. She either didn't want him to know or didn't want to tell him in a crowded cell.
When Sheppard told him that Carter was on her way to rendezvous with Beckett and Teyla, a part of him hoped for a happy reunion. He was starting to get the impression that things were going to be much more complicated than that.
The second thing Jack noticed was that John Sheppard was smiling. Considering he'd given Sheppard a direct order to get everyone to safety and they were all currently in a holding cell together, Jack figured that something was up.
He just hoped Sheppard knew what he was doing.
Getting captured and locked up was not an indicator of a great plan. Jack didn't even want to know what letter they were up to by now.
The Replicator finally let his arm go as he pushed him into the cell and Jack tried to stretch out, feeling cramped after having his arm twisted behind his back like that.
He followed Woolsey to the back of the cell and then moved a few feet to the left until he was standing next to Sam.
God, she was a sight for sore eyes.
Even if she looked about as exhausted as he felt.
"Sam? You okay?"
She finally looked up at him and Jack felt such a surge of relief knowing that she was alive. If they didn't have company right now and weren't in a really dire-looking position, he'd pull her into his arms.
Sam smiled at him, but it was a worn and weary sort of smile, as if she wanted to look hopeful and happy, but couldn't quite manage it.
"Daniel's missing." Her voice cracked on the second word.
No wonder she looked like she'd been through hell.
"And yet you came to find me?"
In a normal relationship, the prioritization wouldn't have been a surprise, but he knew her. If Sam lost Daniel on a mission she would move heaven and earth to try and find him. If she could've, he had no doubt she would try to clone herself to undertake two rescue missions at once.
Sam gave a low, bittersweet chuckle. "At least I knew where you were."
Jack grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze before releasing it.
"He'll make his way back or we'll find him. Daniel isn't the type to stay lost."
Sam nodded, but still looked upset.
"I'm sorry I couldn't come break you out," she whispered.
Jack knew there had to be more of a story there. No way Sam would have left him to Rodney McKay unless there was a reason.
"Yeah, about that -"
Sam shot him a look telling him to shut up and he knew the conversation was over for now. She glanced towards the entrance of the cell and he followed her gaze.
The Replicator who'd probed Jack's mind stood in front of Sheppard.
"Did you really think you'd be able to stop us?"
Jack brushed the back of his hand against Carter's, just so he could feel the touch of her skin. The few minutes when he thought she'd sacrificed herself on a rescue mission to save him were still too fresh in his memory for him to be completely circumspect in his actions.
"Well, of course we did," Sheppard said. "Why else would we be here?"
John Sheppard was a cocky son of a bitch sometimes, but Jack appreciated that type of attitude when the man had the record to back it up.
"Colonel? Am I gonna have to fire you?"
It was his way of asking whether the mission was successful. Sheppard caught on and responded.
"No, sir. I think you'll have that to look forward to when we get back."
Jack nodded. That was a good sign. It meant that Sheppard thought their plan would work, whatever it was.
"I'm afraid your plan has been discovered, Colonel Sheppard." The Replicator said confidently. "It is over."
The sentient machine looked pointedly at Richard Woolsey.
Of course.
Jack had known all along that Woolsey would be their weak point. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the rest of the group turned to look at Woolsey too. Sheppard had his arms crossed in front of him.
Was this part of their plan or had things just gone wrong?
"He put his hand in my forehead," Woolsey protested. "How can you resist that?"
"Well," Jack said, "I like to close my eyes and think of England."
Sam frowned.
It wasn't really a funny joke, but given the situation, he didn't care.
The Replicator ignored him and started talking. One of those typical evil monologues that all the bad guys liked to do.
"Mr. Woolsey informed us of everything we need to know. All of your C-4 has been removed from the emitters. I'm afraid they won't be destroyed when the Daedalus arrives…which should be in any moment. Your plan has failed."
Another replicator opened a bag and pulled out one of the blocks of C-4. Elizabeth Weir closed her eyes and turned away, pressing a hand to her forehead.
That wasn't a good sign.
"Carter?" he asked, under his breath.
"Don't worry," she replied.
She looked down at her watch and barely suppressed a smile. Jack was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of relief. Sam Carter wouldn't look like that if they were all about to die. There was something else going on here.
A voice spoke over the intercom.
"Talus. The Daedalus is approaching the planet."
Nice to finally learn a guy's name after he'd spent hours interrogating you, Jack supposed.
"As expected," Talus responded. "Activate the shield."
Jack watched as a blue-ish wave of energy moved from ceiling to floor. The six Replicators standing outside the cell disintegrated and fell to the ground in pieces.
That was unexpected.
"Ha! It worked!" McKay shouted. "I can't believe it worked!"
Weir looked at the pile of Replicator blocks and then back to McKay.
"Rodney, amazing."
McKay looked uncomfortable with the compliment.
"Well, it was-it was a group effort."
"You share credit now?" Sam asked. Her voice had a teasing note to it that let Jack know that she was feeling lighter now that they were out of danger.
"I always share credit."
Carson Beckett laughed.
"What?" McKay asked. "I do!"
"Sure you do, Rodney," Teyla said as she put a hand on his shoulder.
"Good old Plan D. Works every time." Sheppard threw the bag with the C-4 to McKay. "You guys stay here a sec."
Sheppard and Ronon left, no doubt to make sure that there weren't any remaining Replicators hanging around who were unaffected by Plan D, whatever it was.
"Excuse me," Woolsey asked, "but what just happened?"
McKay, still holding the bag of explosives - not very carefully, Jack noticed - looked almost giddy.
"We turned the shield into a giant Replicator weapon."
"I knew that!" Jack shouted.
Okay, so maybe he didn't know the exact plan, but he'd known that something was up when McKay supposedly tried to break them out and didn't do a damn thing except make him worry about Carter.
Woolsey turned towards him. "You knew?"
Jack's eyes shot to McKay and then to Carter. Her lips turned up slightly and he couldn't shake the unexpected feeling that she looked proud of him.
"Well, I've seen Carter crack enough codes to know that McKay was faking the door thing."
McKay frowned.
"He was?" Woolsey asked. "I bought it completely."
Teyla looked back.
"I believe that was the point."
He heard Sam turn a laugh into a cough beside him and Woolsey's eyes went wide.
"Wait a minute, you-you used me?"
Teyla smiled.
"You're alive, and you're welcome," Beckett replied.
Ronon re-entered the room.
"Hey, we're clear."
"Okay," Weir said, "we've gotta get to the Control Room and contact the Daedalus."
Sam spoke up.
"I'm 95% sure that they got my encrypted message so they should be waiting on our call, but we shouldn't wait long to get in touch with them just in case they missed the message and are still planning on dropping that bomb. They won't know that the Replicators are gone from the city."
The realization that they weren't completely out of the woods yet ran through the group.
"I'll run ahead," Sheppard said. He left with Teyla and Ronon.
Sam walked towards the exit with Weir, Beckett, and McKay.
Jack and Woolsey were the last two people to leave the cell. As they walked out, Jack put a hand on Woolsey's shoulder.
"You see, Richard? You were good for something."
In fact, it could've been argued that this final plan wouldn't have worked at all without Woolsey's gullible nature and the fact that he broke easily during interrogation. Of course, Jack kept that part to himself. It wouldn't be good for Woolsey's ego.
"Thanks," Woolsey replied.