Rabb, Webb, and Chegwidden looked at each other for only a moment before rising to follow General Hammond back to the control room. Moore and Rivers weren't about to be left behind though. They followed the other three men down to the control room just in time to watch the Stargate activate. The atmosphere in the control room was tense as they waited for something to appear in the pool of energy within the Stargate.
Finally a figure landed on the ramp with a thud. The mood of the SGC personnel noticeably shifted as they got a look at the man on the ramp. Hammond looked at the men who had followed him into the control room. "Follow me and keep your mouths shut," he ordered.
"What's going on?" Moore demanded.
"That's Major Carter's father," Hammond explained. "The message we sent him said only that she'd been found. He doesn't know about the twins or how bad her condition is." Leaving them to follow on their own Hammond took the stairs out of the room. He entered the embarkation room with the visitors close on his heels.
"George!" Jacob Carter cried. "She's been found? What about Jack?"
Hammond came forward and gave his old friend a quick hug in welcome before stepping back though he left one hand resting on Jacob's shoulder. "Yes, she and Jack rescued themselves," Hammond told his friend. "Jacob, it's...it doesn't look good. They're both hurt bad."
There were tears in Jacob's eyes as he nodded. "Take me to them?" he requested.
George nodded as he led the former general toward the infirmary. Most of his focus was on his friend, but he was dimly aware of the JAG officers and Webb following. Jacob asked no questions on their short walk, for which Hammond was grateful. He didn't know how he was going to tell his friend what had happened to his daughter. Entering the infirmary, George led Jacob towards two beds placed side by side secluded near the back of the infirmary. He smiled sadly upon seeing Teal'c seated between the two beds in the same place he'd been almost constantly for six days.
The tears Jacob had kept at bay until then burst free as he saw the multitude of equipment attached to his daughter and O'Neill. "Holy Hannah, George!" he whispered hoarsely. "What..."
"There will be time for that later, Jacob," George told his friend. "Talk to her," he urged his friend. "Let her know you're here."
Jacob nodded then stepped forward towards the bed. Teal'c rose as the former general approached.
"GeneralCarter," he acknowledged the other man with a respectful bow of his head.
"Hey, Teal'c" Jacob greeted the jaffa warrior as he came to stand beside Sam's bed. He leaned down and very gently kissed her cheek. "Sammy, it's Dad," he whispered to her. "Hang in there baby. Keep fighting. I need you to keep fighting, Sammy. I'm going to go say hi to Jack, " he told her as he straightened and turned to the other bed. His daughter's appearance was bad, but Jack's was so much worse. Unlike Sam he lay nearly on his stomach with a pillow propping him slightly on his side. The bandages covering his back making it obvious why he had been placed in such an awkward position. Jacob leaned over the bed placing one hand carefully on Jack's shoulder. "Jack, it's Dad," Jacob whispered to the unconscious man in the bed. "I'm going to tell you what I just told Sammy. Hang in there, Jack. Keep fighting. You didn't make it all the way back here to die now. We need you to keep fighting, Jack." Jacob straightened and turned back to where General Hammond stood with the strangers who had followed them down to the infirmary. "Where's the healing device, George?" he asked.
"I will retrieve the device," Teal'c offered and after receiving a nod from Hammond suited action to words leaving the room.
"What happened?" he demanded as he took Teal'c's seat between the two beds. He gingerly held his daughter's hand as he waited for Hammond to speak.
George hesitated then took a deep breath before finally saying in a rush, "They were on Panersh."
"God!," Jacob sobbed as the knowledge of just what Panersh was relayed to him through his symbiote. "Sammy...no...."
"You know better than that, Jacob" Hammond admonished gently. "Jack would never let...that...happen to her. You are a grandfather again though, " Hammond told his friend. "Sam was in labor when she dragged Jack through the 'Gate six days ago. Probably brought on by her wounds."
"Then..." Jacob said with some confusion.
George smiled sadly. "Let's just say that Jack can call you Dad legitimately from now on," he said gently.
Jacob nodded as he looked over at the man in the bed next to his daughter's. "She could do a lot worse," he choked out.
"Wait a second," Moore said. "I served under you. You're an Air Force officer! How can you be taking this so calmly? Your daughter's CO is the father of her children! It's a court-martial offense!"
Jacob's eyes flashed suddenly causing the visitors to startle then jump back as he spoke in the resonant voice of his symbiote, "Jacob has seen and experienced more than enough in this universe to know that the rules as they are on Earth cannot always apply off-world."
"What the Hell?" Moore demanded as he looked first at Jacob and then at General Hammond.
"Jacob's been blended with a Tok'ra symbiote," Hammond explained not quite hiding his enjoyment at the two Air Force officer's obvious discomfort. "Gentlemen, meet Selmak. Jacob, Selmak, meet General Moore and Colonel Rivers. They're here to court-martial Sam and Jack for fraternization."
Jacob's eyes flashed again causing Moore and Rivers to flinch though they both controlled the reaction admirably. Only Hammond and the various medical personnel realized that the flash most likely meant that Selmak had taken control to prevent Jacob from doing something most unwise in the heat of the moment.
"Admiral Chegwidden and Commander..." Hammond stopped turning to the other Navy officer.
"Rabb, sir" Harm supplied.
"Rabb have volunteered their services as Sam and Jack's attorneys," Hammond continued with a nod of thanks to the commander.
"And you are?" Selmak asked the remaining stranger.
"Clayton Webb. I'm with them," he explained nervously as he pointed to the two Navy officers.
Jacob bowed his head a moment before speaking in his own voice, "And just why are you here, Mr. Webb?"
"A former colleague of mine asked me to inform Admiral Chegwidden that Colonel O'Neill needed help," Webb said as he stared at the former Air Force general curiously. "He said the NID were after the colonel's twins. I don't like the NID, so I decided to tag along to see what kind of help I could be."
"Twins?" Jacob asked.
"Your grandchildren, sir" a voice said from the far end of the room. "I heard your voice out here and went to get them."
"Janet," Jacob greeted the doctor as she walked carefully forward carrying a blanket wrapped baby in one arm at the same time she pushed an IV stand along beside her with the other. A nurse pushed a second cart on which various pieces of monitoring equipment rested. A second nurse followed behind the two of them carrying a second bundled infant. "What's wrong with my grandbaby?" he demanded anxiously.
Janet quickly explained the injuries J.D. had sustained as she gently placed him into his grandfather's arms. "The monitors are just a precaution because of the drugs we're giving him through the IV. The burns are painful, but he'll recover. He probably won't even scar," she assured the elder Carter.
"J.D.?" Jacob questioned as he looked down at the bandage swathed infant in his arms.
"Sam and Jack had a journal on them, Jacob" Hammond explained quietly as he took the second infant from the nurse. "They were pretty sure they weren't going to survive the escape. They named the babies in the journal. That's Jacob Daniel you've got there, and I've got Georgiana Tia. So...J.D. and Gina."
"What about Sam and Jack?" Jacob asked as he gently loosened the blanket around his grandson so that he could count toes and fingers and get a better idea of just how injured the boy was. It seemed important to him somehow that he perform this age old ritual of new parents for Sam and Jack. George loosened the blankets wrapped around his namesake so Jacob could count Gina's fingers and toes as well.
"Sam has several blast wounds on her torso. She was hit at a distance so the damage wasn't as extensive as it could have been," Janet explained quietly. "When she came through she was already in heavy labor probably brought on, as I said, by her injuries. From what we can gather from their journal the twins are nearly full term. Sam lost a lot of blood though. If it weren't for the extra blood volume from her pregnancy, I don't think she would have made it through the 'Gate. She and Jack are both malnourished which is complicating things."
"And Jack?" he asked.
"He suffered multiple blasts to the back. One...one hit his spine," Janet informed him in a choked voice. "I can't tell how much damage it did. There is reflex movement in his extremities, so I don't think his spine has been severely injured. I'm keeping them both in a coma with medication to keep them from aggravating their injuries further. It's the best way we can do for them right now."
Jacob bowed his head briefly as he allowed Selmak to take control. "Dr. Frasier, I do not believe we can help them using the healing device," Selmak admitted. "If they are as weak as you describe, using it on them could send them into systemic shock."
"I suspected as much," Janet admitted. "Can you stabilize them for transport through the Gate?"
"For what purpose?" Selmak questioned. "The Tok'ra cannot heal them, Dr. Frasier. We depend on our symbiotes to heal us, and the Tollan are gone."
"The Asgard have agreed to help them," General Hammond explained. "They owe Sam a lot."
"But the war with the Replicators?" Jacob asked in his own voice.
"It's going better since SG-3 found that android, but we still have to take Sam and Jack to them," Hammond explained. "There are no ships to spare to come here."
"Are you sure these Asgard can heal them, sir?" Rabb asked. "I mean...won't it be dangerous to move them?"
"I can't allow it," Moore stated firmly. "I can't allow two officers facing court-martial to..."
"You'll allow it, Moore, because if you don't and my daughter or Jack dies, I'll spend the rest of my life making you pay," Jacob vowed menacingly. "And thanks to Selmak I'm going to live for a very long time." Whatever Moore would have replied remained unknown as Teal'c returned carrying a small box.
Teal'c opened the box and held it as Jacob pulled the alien healing device recovered on Cimmeria from within. The visitors traded curious looks at the small device that looked more like a piece of jewelry than anything else.
"Let's take care of you first, huh J.D.?" Jacob murmured to the infant he held in his arms. "Your mom and dad would be pretty ticked off otherwise." Jacob held the instrument over his grandson and the others watched as the ruby-like jewel covering his palm began to glow. A minute later the glow faded and Jacob began tugging at the baby's bandages.
"Let me get some scissors, sir" Janet told him. One of the nurses had already gone to the rolling cabinet along the wall and quickly retrieved a pair of scissors from within. She returned and handed them to Janet who made quick work of carefully cutting the gauze from the baby's chest and arm. "Like it never happened," she confirmed with a smile as J.D. latched onto her finger. With her other hand she quickly removed the electrodes attaching him to the monitors. After the electrodes were gone, she pulled her finger away from J.D.'s grip so she could gently remove the IV inserted in his tiny foot. "There you go," she murmured.
"Take him for a minute while I see to Sam and Jack," Jacob ordered as he rose from the chair. He transferred the baby to her waiting arms then turned his attention to where his daughter lay. He placed both hands together on the healing device this time. As the jewel began to glow this time, there was a look of intense concentration on his face.
Janet stepped back slightly as she jostled the baby in her arms soothingly.
Harm stepped forward to her side and whispered in her ear, "May I?" Without waiting for her reply he carefully unwrapped the baby and looked down at his now unburned skin. "Incredible!" he murmured before looking up at Jacob. "Will this work?"
Janet gazed solemnly at the Navy commander. "I don't know," she admitted frankly as the glow from the healing device on Jacob's hand faded. "Excuse me," she said as she rose from her seat and returned to her friend's bedside.
"That is all I dare do for now," Selmak informed them. "Her body needs to rest from the strain the healing device has put on it. I will continue with Samantha in a few hours," he told them as he turned to the other bed where Jack lay. As Jacob held the healing device over Jack's prone body the jewel began to glow again.
Janet held J.D. in one arm as she checked his mother's vital signs one-handed with the help of one of the nurses.
"DoctorFrasier?" Teal'c asked.
"There's some improvement," she informed him with a tired smile. "I'd say Jacob's going to need to do several more sessions with the healing device at this rate, but it is working."
"Sir, Doctor. Can you answer some questions for us while the general works?" Rabb asked politely.
"Ask," Hammond replied.
"Why are the NID after J.D. and Gina?" he asked with more than a small amount of confusion in his voice. "What's a Harcesis?"
The reaction when that word left his mouth was instantaneous from the SGC personnel. "Where did you hear that word?" Hammond asked in a low controlled voice.
"Topside," Admiral Chegwidden said. "When Dr. Jackson was on the phone with you."
Hammond and the others relaxed slightly though the tension in the room was still thick enough to cut with a knife. "Harcesis are the human children of Goa'uld parents," Teal'c explained in his solemn quiet voice. "Such a child contains the genetic memory of the entire Goa'uld race."
"Why would the NID think that those babies are Harcesis?" Rabb asked with a nod towards the baby General Hammond still cradled.
"Sam was host to Jolinar," Hammond reminded them.
"That still leaves Colonel O'Neill," Moore said entering the conversation.
"Hathor stuck a symbiote in him about three years ago," Hammond explained. "One of the Tok'ra managed to kill it before it could bond to him, but the NID wouldn't care about that. The twins still have naquada in their blood from Sam."
"Why is that significant?" Webb asked.
"They can wield Goa'uld technology," Hammond replied. "Like the healing device. Without naquada in your blood it's just a pretty trinket."
"That's why you didn't attempt to use it until now?" Moore asked. "But if you can't use it why keep it?"
"Sam can use it and has in the past," Dr. Frasier informed them not mentioning that her own daughter Cassandra had naquada in her blood. "And we have a team studying it to figure out how it works."
"So the twins aren't Harcesis?" Rabb asked.
"No, I've run tests. They're definitely not Harcesis," Dr. Frasier confirmed.
"How would you know?" Moore asked curiously.
"I've had the chance to examine a real Harsesis child," she told them. "I know what to look for."
"What child?" Moore asked.
"My stepson Shi'fu," Daniel replied from the doorway as he half-carried an injured soldier into the infirmary and laid him on the nearest bed. Janet quickly handed J.D. to Daniel so she could go to work treating the injured man. Admiral Chegwidden looked like he wanted to ask more, but a slight shake of the head from General Hammond silenced him before he could further open the wounds on Daniel's heart.