Disclaimer: Please see chapter one for full disclaimer.
Another Trip into Wonderland
Chapter Six
"So, Jack" Daniel tentatively began speaking to the General as they made their way to the base storage facility which housed the deceased Daniel's books and research notes, "do you have any idea which language or culture may have once occupied the temple?"
"Well, we have two linguists and one archeologist at the Alpha site but they can't seem to agree on anything except that they don't agree. But, if you ask me, I'd say it was probably the Ancients" the older man said as they came to the door of the storage room.
"What makes you think that O'Neill?' questioned Teal'c.
"Because I spent some time a while back with all of their knowledge jammed into my head and although it was all taken out, courtesy of the Asgard, the symbols still seem familiar" he concluded.
"So the people at the Alpha site haven't been able to decipher any of the writings?" Daniel questioned momentarily envying the scientists the opportunity to further decipher and understand the language of the Ancients.
"Nope, not a thing" the General replied as he stopped to stand in front of a small stack of boxes. Eyeing Daniel warily for a moment he asked, "Do you know how to translate their writings?"
"I had some experience when we went through the time loop" the young man responded absently as he began sifting through the box nearest to him.
"Time loop?" the General questioned noticing how the Colonel suddenly seemed to study an imaginary spot on the ceiling and shift from one foot to the other. Obviously this time loop was something that O'Neill didn't want to remember or at least, didn't want to discuss.
"Um, yeah" Daniel replied absently as he looked through a large book that had yellowed with age. "Jack and Teal'c were stuck in a time loop a while back due to a time travel device devised by the Ancients to save their dying civilization. Unfortunately, it didn't work properly and they kept living the same day over and over until we finally figured out how to translate the writings on the device and shut it down."
"And how long did this take?" the General asked.
"Several months" Teal'c replied as his facial expression became slightly haunted.
"I take it you didn't get a chance to experience the same time loop," the Colonel asked.
"No, I think I would have remembered that one" the General answered. Looking to Daniel he continued "Daniel, why don't you stay here and sort through these books? I figure you know more about which ones may be useful to the geeks at the site then I would," he said stopping as he realized what he had just said.
"Sure" Daniel replied looking to the Colonel for confirmation.
"Yeah, it's fine" the Colonel agreed. "Teal'c" he said turning to the Jaffa, "stay with him."
"As you wish O'Neill," the warrior replied as he watched the Colonel and the General continue on toward their destination.
"Not that you're a geek or anything like that Daniel" the General amended remembering his comment about the scientists as the Alpha site.
"Yeah, sure Jack" Daniel said absently as he began to sift through the box of texts.
With a slightly uncomfortable look, the General turned and exited the room as the Colonel's face took on a slight smirk. 'At least I'm not the only one that sticks my foot in my mouth' he thought.
The two men continued their trek in silence for a few moments when the General turned to his counterpart and asked a little uncomfortably "so you and Carter aren't involved?"
"What?" the Colonel asked more out of shock then anything else. 'This is so not the conversation I want to be having with myself or rather him' Jack thought to himself. The truth of the matter was that he envied the other man. Not because of his rank and of course he certainly didn't envy the man the position of trying to hold together what was left of humanity but he did envy him for being able to do the one thing that he himself could not. Make a life with Sam. After all, it was something he had daydreamed about way too many times but until one of them retired or the fraternization regs were changed then there wasn't much either one of them could do without risking a court martial. And Jack wasn't willing to risk Sam's career. 'We'd probably have a better chance of wiping out the snakes' he thought to himself sadly.
"I asked if you and Carter were involved" the General repeated bringing his counterpart back to reality. "I realize that she's under your command and all but surely you've thought about it?"
"You of all people should know that it just isn't possible," Jack said quietly. "Neither one of us are ready to give up the fight against the Goa'uld and retirement is not an option at this time. Besides, Carter is career military. I can't see her giving it up."
"No, not voluntarily" the General said remembering how hard early retirement had been for Samantha. "Of course, Samantha didn't have a choice after her injury but things were still difficult at first."
"Yeah well, you're the lucky one" Jack said as they arrived at the artillery lockers.
"Lucky?" the man asked with a deprecating laugh. "My planet has been rendered lifeless, the only remnants of humanity are in a galaxy far, far away and it's my job to see to their survival. But yeah," he conceded giving the Colonel a wry grin "when it comes to Samantha and Jayden then I guess you could say I'm lucky."
"Yeah, I guess so" the Colonel agreed.
"You're lucky too though," the General continued with a small catch in his voice. "You've still got Daniel. Things just haven't seemed the same since his death and you wouldn't believe how many misunderstandings we've had on missions with the inhabitants of other planets. It's a wonder that we haven't been speared, beheaded or scalped on some of our missions because the geeks that call themselves linguists mistranslated initial conversations."
"Good help is sooooo hard to find nowadays" the Colonel muttered.
"You have no idea," the General agreed. "Could you grab a couple of those," he asked tossing a duffel bag toward the Colonel.
"Sure," Jack replied placing several Zatniktels in the black duffel. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, a couple of those and some of these" he answered indicating several other types of weapons as he loaded his own duffel with extra ammunition.
"Got 'em" Jack called as he zipped the duffel and threw it over his shoulder.
"Good, let's get Danny and Teal'c and head back to Samantha's lab. She should be about finished by now."
And with that the two men exited the artillery locker and headed back to meet with Daniel and Teal'c.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Is that the device you mentioned?" Samantha asked as she entered her lab and noticed the alien device.
"Yes" Sam answered as she picked the device up and brought it to her counterpart for inspection. "There are markings here along the outer casing, she continued as she pointed out the unusual alien markings. "Daniel said it's a derivative of Latin but he's still trying to translate this last set of markings along the outer rim."
"Hmmm…" Samantha remarked absently as she peered inside the casing to get a closer look at the internal mechanisms. "You said the device emitted a loud whine before you were transported to our reality?"
"Yes, although I think that was my fault. There was a small object that was lodged right here in this little crevice. The noise began after I removed the piece. Four hours later we woke up to find ourselves here in the lab," Sam explained.
"It looks like it might have disrupted the matter stream" Samantha replied as she studied the device in closer detail. "It's too bad we don't have more time to study this and exchange notes on our realities but we are going to have to get you all back to your reality before the entropic cascade failure begins."
Sam nodded her head in agreement as she shuddered slightly, remembering what her previous counterpart had gone through when she and Kawalski had stepped through to her own reality. "What about the research you mentioned?" she asked as Dr. Carter-O'Neill began pulling up various files from the computer at the far end of the lab.
"I'm copying our research files now so that you can take them with you" she answered as she transferred the appropriate data.
"Howdy campers," the Colonel called as he, General O'Neill, Teal'c and Daniel re-entered the lab. Looking up from the files, Sam was surprised to see the men laden with so many supplies. In addition to a couple of boxes of books, both the Colonel and the General carried duffels of weapons, ammunitions and MRE's.
"Samantha, did you get everything you need?" her husband asked.
"Yes, we're just about finished here" she replied handing a small stack of disks to Sam. "All I need to do now is retrieve…" she stopped mid-sentence as the base alarms sounded.
"More of your people coming through?" Jack asked the General as he laid the duffel down and grabbed his own weapon.
"I don't think so. Everyone had strict orders to stay on the planet. Samantha and I are the only ones that have any business here," the General replied.
"Teal'c, let's go check it out" the Colonel ordered handing Teal'c a zatniktel. "Carter, Daniel, make sure that device is ready to go in case we have to make a quick exit. We can't leave the mountain because of the toxin and the only other way out would be the gate."
"I'm coming with you," the General commented. "Samantha, see if you can help them with that device thingy and keep your radio on" he ordered as he followed the other two men out of the lab.
Arriving at the gate room, the three men entered with weapons raised just as the Stargate whooshed to life. Several seconds later a lone figure carrying a small bundle came running through the gate looking back as if being chased. "General O'Neill" the figure called to the man that met him at the base of the ramp.
"Simmons, what are you doing here? What's happened?" he asked as he took in the man's disheveled and bloodied appearance.
"The Alpha site, sir" he responded gasping for breath from the staff weapon blast he had taken to his left side, "It's gone, everyone's gone. Jaffa came through the gate and death gliders came from the sky all at once. We tried to stop them but there were too many of them. They took some of the children back through the gate and a few of the women but everyone else is dead" the man finished giving a cry of agony and clutching his side.
"Who was it Simmons?" the General asked as he tried to suppress the emotions threatening to erupt at any moment.
Opening his eyes, he looked at the General with a mixture of terror and pain. "Osiris sir. The Jaffa wore the mark of Osiris."
"Alright, let's get you to the infirmary and see what supplies are left to patch you up. Then we'll figure out what we do now" the General choked out.
"No sir. Not enough time" the Lieutenant uttered as he was momentarily overtaken by a bout of coughing.
"What do you mean not enough time?" the Colonel asked as he leaned down to gently speak with the dying man.
Seeing two Jack O'Neill's was enough to cause the man to momentarily forget his circumstances and his eyes went wide and he looked from the General to the Colonel wondering what he had missed.
"It's okay Simmons," the General said giving the Colonel a wry smirk. "We ran into a couple of friends from an alternate reality. Now, what do you mean there isn't enough time?"
Just as Simmons was about to answer, the base alarms began to sound once again. "The Jaffa that followed me to the gate," he answered pausing as he gasped for breath, "they're on their way here." And with his warning delivered, Lieutenant Simmons gasped and coughed one last time, and died…
Suddenly, the small bundle Simmons was clutching began to move and the ear-shattering cry of an infant could be heard.
"What the hell…" the General muttered as he leaned over to inspect the bundle. Removing the wrapping, the man was surprised to find himself staring into the face of his own son.
"Jayden" he whispered in shock having believed his son had been killed along with the others at the Alpha site. Choking back the tears he lovingly picked up the child and looked at the corpse of the man who had given his own life to bring him not only a warning but his son as well. "Thanks Simmons, I owe you," he said quietly. Giving the body one last look he turned to the others "Let's get back to Samantha's lab. Maybe we can use that device of yours to beam ourselves out of here while we figure out what to do next."
"What of the Jaffa?" Teal'c asked. "Should we not stay and fight?"
"If I know Osiris, he'll send everyone he has through the gate to destroy what's left. We need to get out of here now or we're all toast." the General replied.
"What about Simmons?" the Colonel asked.
"Leave him. I'm hoping the Jaffa will be fooled into thinking he was the only one here. Seeing him lying there may serve to slow them down and buy us some time," the General said.
"Okay folks, let's move out" the Colonel said as they quickly made their way to the lab.
TBC
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