816 Reckoning l

Jack and Daniel were sitting in Jack's office chatting. Within the hour Daniel and Sam were due to gate to a Jaffa world and from there to a ship to observe the Free Jaffa attack Amaterasu's fleet.

"So tell me about her and why now?" Daniel asked.

"Use your imagination." Jack replied.

"You don't seem any more relaxed. But I mean…"

Jack rubbed his face and grimaced. "I didn't want to cause a scene, you know, get loaded and when they asked if you know any reason why these two shouldn't…" Jack let Daniel fill in the blanks.

"She probably loves him."

"Probably?"

"Well yeah"

"And that's enough?" Jack asked

"It's a good start."

Jack sighed. "So I thought if I took a date it would show I'd moved on too. And it would be easier for both of us."

"How did it happen?"

"Kerry?"

"Yeah Jack, Kerry"

"Oh, one minute we're discussing possible the Goa'uld, Jaffa and Trust complications here on Earth and then...well you know...she's...ah...she's pretty…"

"Aggressive?"

"Assertive...and then the next minute we're in bed."

"Oh you poor man." Daniel gently mocked his friend. "She is pretty and young." Daniel emphasized the young.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Daniel looked smug and innocent. "Not fazed by the grey hair?" Daniel asked and Jack just squinted his eyes at him.

Then Daniel asked, "She's not intimidated by the star."

"No, I think she likes that. Anyway she said she wanted it to be 'casual'."

"Casual?" Daniel said with a hit of incredulity.

"Yeah, casual, as in not too serious." Jack responded as if Daniel was an idiot.

"Well, sometimes they say 'casual' cause they don't want to scare you off."

That was making Jack a tad nervous and thoughtful and he said "One minute you're, well you know, and the next you're thinking they're CIA and maybe playing you."

"Geeze Jack, you don't trust her?"

"Of course I do...I don't know." They were quiet for a moment

"Does Sam know?"

"God no." Jack said.

There was a knock on the office door and they both looked up to see Sam Carter smiling face, obviously curious about what these two were discussing. The General had the look of a dear in the headlights.

"What don't I know?" She asked.

"Carter, you're early."

Sam glanced at her watch, her ring sparkling, "No Sir, right on time."

"Oh well then, I was just reminding Daniel it's not a mission, not a sanctioned mission. You're only consulting in Jaffaland." General O'Neill said.

"Yes Sir," Carter replied to his obvious misdirection.

The unsanctioned mission was an unmitigated disaster:

Amaterasu, the Goa'uld they were targeting, was destroyed by an invasion of replicators,

Daniel was beamed out, presumably by the replicators,

and they lost the ship they had been in when it was taken over by the same evil bugs.

Jacob came to call and brought a device to track the Hataks of the Goa'uld and watch them fall to the onslaught of the Replicators.

Then Ba'al, that son of …, Ba'al came to call. Jack hated him. Jack didn't want to show Ba'al he even cared. He put on an air that Ba'al had absolutely no effect on him. He smiled and treated Ba'al as a creature of no consequence, someone he didn't care if he lived or died.

But it did affect him. O'Neill could feel the knives, feel the acid burn through clothes and flesh, feel the hopelessness and thoughts of the release of death. And Ba'al smirking, knife in hand. The fact that Ba'al came to call looking for help gave Jack a frisson of pleasure. But Jack might need the false god and that galled him even more.

Although Jacob or Selmak wanted O'Neill to tell Ba'al to change his tactics in fighting the Replicators, Jack demurred. Not only did he want to protect Teal'c and his Free Jaffa, O'Neill knew Ba'al was not an idiot. Of the Goa'uld he was one of the last of the System Lord standing. Something else had to be going on or someone else was pulling the strings.

Sam reasoned that Daniel was taken in order for the human form Replicator to mine his subconscious. It was possible he retained the Ancient knowledge that could defeat the relentless mechanical bugs and their more advanced forms. With that thought in mind they reached out to the Asgard and Carter was promptly whisked away by Thor right from under O'Neill's nose. They reset the Ancient weapon and although it worked once the Replicators immediately readjusted and were again immune. When Thor's ship was invaded by the mechanical bugs he deposited Carter in O'Neill's office, almost in his lap, and got as far from Earth as he could.

The Jaffa resistance was falling into disarray. So to reunite the Rebel Jaffa Bra'tac and Teal'c proposed taking the planet of Dakara, sacred to all Jaffa. With Ba'al occupied elsewhere they hoped to be successful. There they find an Ancient temple.

Daniel was helpless in RepliCarter's hands as she probed his mind. She posed as Oma in order for Daniel to open up and there she found an Ancient weapon that could destroy her and her brethren. It was on Dakara.

Anubis sent Ba'al and his entire fleet to reconquer the planet Dakara and take possession of the Ancient weapon which possesses the power to wipe all life from the galaxy.

And so the Tauri, Free Jaffa, Replicators and Goa'uld all converge on the sacred planet.

With so much tumult in the galaxy, so many allies in jeopardy and so many enemies threatening, the powers that be were seriously worried and on O'Neill's back. He was spending so damn much time on the phone. It wasn't exactly like DC was trying to micromanage, they just wanted to be informed - constantly.

O'Neill had trouble going home for the night when he had members of his old team, especially Carter, off world and possibly in jeopardy. And now with the fate of all life in the galaxy teetering so close to the edge he needed to stay on the base and in command when he felt the urgency to physically do something. This was more exhausting than being in the fray. To grab a few hours of down time he chose to sleep in a bunk room near his office usually used by the men who guarded the gateroom. Drifting off at his desk was hell on his neck and embarrassing if Walter caught him. He could have used more private quarters as befit his station but felt the need to be near to the center of the action and his responsibility. On base he barely got an hour or two of solid sleep. After being awakened by a klaxon or an urgent phone call he'd get up and walk the base, checking in with the troops and scientists in the labs.

He needed to breathe fresh air and so obviously did his crew. He chased them out at the end of shift but kept the base fully staffed round the clock. Jack would hit the commissary for some companionship and a hit of caffeine and sugar. Then back to his office for more paperwork and more phone calls. And if all were quiet perhaps to get some more sleep. He knew if he was running on fumes he could make rash decisions or worse, serious errors in judgement. In times like this there was no margin for error.