817 Reckoning ll

O'Neill's frustration was evident in his voice. "How, I ask you, how did he come back? We sent him to that frozen world, didn't we, Carter? He was a block of ice"

"Yes sir, I did, I'm sure." She had been sure but Anubis' appearance had her second guessing herself. "We can check the logs."

"Could he have done that himself?" O'Neill wondered then said "Who could have helped him? Ba'al doesn't want the competition and certainly doesn't want to be subservient."

Sam said "Oh my god, it must be the Trust."

"Oh shit." Jack, hand to his forehead, knew it had to be true.

"We assumed they were all dead when the Alkesh was destroyed. But there must be some still on Earth." Carter said.

"Or even here on the base - a spy. The CIA was supposed to weed them all out and one of them must have seen the report with that gate address. But why him? Don't they know…"

"They want a piece of that power and don't realize the jeopardy they've put themselves into." Jacob said.

"Right now our first priority is to find that weapon on Dakara and destroy it."

After Sam kitted up for her mission to Dakara she asked the General, who looked a tad dispeptic, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, fine. Thinking about Anubis when he was inside Daniel... and me." He winced at the memory.

"Me too," Carter shuttered at the thought.

"You don't think he could have left anything behind? Any lingering effects?" Jack asked.

He could see by the look on her face she had never thought of that and the very thought disgusted her. "No sir." Her reply was adamant.

First it was they couldn't destroy the Ancient weapon until they found it.

Then it was they couldn't destroy the Ancient weapon because they needed it to destroy all the Replicators with it.

After that was accomplished they couldn't destroy the Ancient weapon because the Jaffa would not let them.

She died … denying

Her wounds

denying

her wounds came from the same source as her power.

Power by Adrienne Rich

RepliCarter delved mercilessly into Daniel's mind, not realizing the power of the man. He searched her mind and took control of her minions, giving his friends the respite to defeat her and her kind. Her only recourse was to slay him. But her doom was sealed by her arrogance. And no, she was not Samantha Carter. And her components were scattered into the void.

It was an exhausting and at times a terrifying week. The base was sort of cleaned up, lots of bullet holes yet to be patched, and the team from Dakara had returned and were debriefed. Carter was bubbling happily in O'Neill's office and Jack was feeling out of sorts.

Happy, she was happy and there was one less problem in the galaxy. Maybe!? The base had been invaded by an army of the relentless bugs and they nearly had a ten kiloton nuke rammed down the silo. Who knows what was going to pop up next. And did that damn thing, the Ancient weapon, really work? Were all the replicators dead - destroyed? On the base they had swept up piles of the blocks, what if they became reanimated? Did they find them all or were some behind the walls or had some made it to the surface? Teal'c was still with the Free Jaffa. And where the hell was Daniel?

And all Jack really wanted to do was sweep the piles of folders off his desk and put Carter up there. After the firefight he hadn't felt this alive since becoming General. The adrenaline rush of the fight, then only to come back to the stacks of paperwork and Carter with a god damned boyfriend.

In the past, after an exhilarating successful mission, alcohol and sex were the remedy to the come down. Now all he had were reams of paper that needed pushing. He had a sour look on his face - he had to either dismiss Carter or take her right on his desk. He loved her too much to dishonor her. So he dismissed her and got back to the possibility of a slow painful death by papercuts.

Kerry thought they had to spend more time together if this thing between them was ever to get off the ground. Had she sensed a bit of reticence on his part or was it that they were both crazy busy? She had to find the remaining members of the Trust, any collaborators in Groom Lake or at the SGC and any paid or inadvertent informats again from Groom Lake of the SGC. She hadn't seen or heard from Jack in over a week and surmised he was embroiled in some crisis that she wasn't privy to. Kerry called on the chance he'd be free and suggested a late supper. She brought a take out meal and a bottle of good bourbon.

Jack made his way home after a harrowing day of invasion by the replicators, almost annihilation of all life in the galaxy and the automatic self-destruct going off, which would have been anticlimactic if everyone was already dead. He was exhausted and yet still keyed up. He and Kerry ate, drank, chatted and watched a little tv and then went to bed. He had been flattered by the beautiful woman's attention to him, putting up with his chaotic life. They made love, nothing earth shaking or acrobatic, just good, very good. And yet, he lay there awake, staring at the ceiling and felt lonely.