Author's note: This chapter has a special guest star.

Content Warning: Mild Language and Violence

Fallen Star



Journal Entry, April 17th, 2025:

After a long three weeks that proved to be completely fruitless on planet Demeter, we've set up camp on our next planet on the list, codenamed Apollo. In only a few short hours, Chris has determined that some of the debris on the planet definitely indicate a former SGC facility somewhere in the vicinity. We've decided to head out at first light tomorrow to investigate. That is if any of us are still alive tomorrow after Corra's dinner tonight. The last time Corra cooked all of us lost two days bent over giving it back. I guess I didn't realize how much I would miss Sarah and Christine when I let them stay behind with Homeguard and his group.

Another thing that disturbs me is that I have yet to find conclusive proof that there is a traitor in our midst and if there is, who the person may be. When Homeguard told me that transmitter that brought the Maldorian destroyer was found on Chris, I avoided him for quite a while. I didn't want to believe that he would be working for the Maldorians but as I began to think about it, I didn't want to believe any of them had betrayed me. Thinking about it further, I realized that the fact that the transmitter was found on him meant nothing. Anyone of them could have planted it on him to implicant him if it was discovered. By the same token, there is always the idea that Chris just didn't have time to get rid of it. Maybe I'm just over thinking things, but I need to figure out what's going on before we discover anything that would lead us to the SGC base, otherwise it could mean the end of this rebellion.

Anyway, as for the old SGC facility, if we're lucky we can find something substantial enough to give us a clue as to where they moved. I must admit, however, as I've taken the last month to think about the fact that the SGC is in fact still alive, I now once again struggle with the thought of how many of my friends are still alive. Are Riley and Chrislyn still alive? Did any of SG-12 make it through the Maldorian attacks? If I ever find the base, how many of the faces will I recognize?

Maybe I should give up this journal writing stuff. Reading over what I've written I realize how little this is helping. Oh well, maybe I'll just end this whole thing by eating some of Corra's cooking.

****Planet Apollo (April 18th, 2025, early morning)****

As the sun was just cresting over the horizon when Sharp got up to conduct his new routine to watch the sun rise and reflect on the day's objectives. It took only one good stretch to shake off any early fatigue and he quietly moved to a spot where he could sit and watch. He knew the others would be up for at least another hour, and he had become accustom to this quiet time. Today, however, he was enjoying it a little more than normal for some reason, which was why he didn't notice at first, the thin trail of smoke that the rising sun has revealed.

"You do this every morning?" a familiar voice called from behind him.

"Ever since we left P9T-573," he said still watching the sun rise.

"Seems like a big waste of time if you ask me. The sleep would be more valuable."

"You should try it sometime. Its actually quite relaxing."

"And sleep isn't?" Luke asked, looking at him kinda fun.

"Its not the same thing," Sharp replied, still not looking up. "Sometimes you just need some time to yourself when you're awake to put things in their proper perspective."

"Put things in their proper perspective, huh?" Luke said as he looked up off into the horizon. "And what's the proper perspective of that campfire in the distance?"

Sharp didn't know at first what he was talking about but when he took a closer look, he slowly got and tried to focus in on where the fire originated. "Wake up everyone else. We're gonna find out who else is here. And put that fire out!"

****************

As she pulled her breakfast off the fire, she carefully smothered the flames so that the thin smoke trail would not become noticeable. She really shouldn't have built the fire at all, but every once in a while during the almost eight years she had been stranded there, she just got sick of the taste of meat cooked on hot coals and went for the full blown cookout. It still never tasted great but it did taste better.

She was about halfway through her... whatever it was, when she noticed the big puff of dark smoke from another fire going out. Tossing the rest of her breakfast, she quickly retreated into the cave she used for shelter to prepare in case company decided to drop by.

****************

"I can't see the smoke anymore," Davenport informed Sharp.

"Me either," Sharp responded. "Keep your eyes out for any welcoming parties. Chances are if we spotted their campfire, they saw ours. If we keep heading northeast, we should find wherever the fire was."

Each of them went on high alert looking for people, who were looking for them. Sharp took point with Davenport and Grissom to either side of him and then Stewart and Corra covering the rear. Slowly moving to the northeast through a forest, Sharp was beginning to wonder if all of them has been seeing things earlier, because there seemed to be no other evidence of anyone being anywhere near them. And then after about another twenty minutes, however, Sharp and Davenport realized they were right.

"You smell that, Captain?" Davenport asked, getting a good whiff.

"Yeah, I do," Sharp confirmed.

"What?" Stewart question, wondering what he was missing.

"You don't smell that, Chris?" Corra said, trying to bug Stewart and not really smelling anything.

"John, Chris, flank left," Sharp said, ending the discussion. "Paul, Luke, right. I'll move up front." Sharp now moved cautiously toward a rock face that seemed to have a few caves carved into it. "Well, well. Looks like we found our neighbors." He approached one of the larger caves when he saw what looked like the remains of a smothered fire in front. Then out of no where, an older woman in her mid fifties sprung from what seemed to be out of no where, grabbed Sharp's rifle, swung it up, hitting him on the bottom of the jaw, knocking Sharp to the ground and leaving a deep gash between his chin and neck.

Turning the rifle toward him, she recognized the uniform of the SGC. She looked around the tree line and ordered, "Tell your friends to drop their weapons and come out, NOW."

"I'm alone," he bluffed. "There is no one else here."

"I wasn't born yesterday you know," she responded with a look that spelled out she hadn't bought it. Calling out to the surrounding area, she yelled, "Come out now and I won't hurt this man." Then under her breath, "At least not yet anyway."

Realizing none of them had a decent shot, Davenport and the rest complied with the order, emerging in full view. "Alright, we did as you asked," Davenport bargained. "Now let him go."

"Get up," she told Sharp and motioned with the gun. Sharp slowly got up and finally got a good look at the woman who had assaulted him. "Who are you and where did you get that uniform?"

"You know, the next person that asks..." Sharp said, starting to give his usually smart ass remark, when he suddenly recognized the face of the women to whom he was talking. He stopped in his tracks and he smiled in disbelief. "Wait a minute, I recognize you now. You're Major Samantha Carter!" Sharp exclaimed. "You were a part of the original SG-1!" Sam tightened her grip on the gun and gave Sharp a death glare. "Whoa... hold on, Ma'am. I'm Captain Glenn Sharp, commander of SG-12," Sharp said as he stood at attention and saluted her.

"I don't now if that's your real name or not, but you better find a new source of information, because everyone knows there haven't been that many SG field teams in over eight years. So you can cut out the act and tell me what this is really all about."

Sharp dropped the salute and took a deep breath. "Look, Major, this is gonna sound outrageous, but if anyone is gonna believe this story, it would be you."

"Well you better talk fast and it better make sense." Sharp did his best to recap what he had experienced and tried to fill in some of the technical details from what Riley and Stewart had told him about the wave. While he was explaining, he tried to see if Sam was believing it or not, but she kept a very stern poker face through the entire explanation. "And that's the whole story, Major."

"Its an interesting story and theoretically possible. You got anything to back it up?"

"Well I know you worked with Captain Riley Fox and Dr. Chrislyn Star. They must have mentioned something to you about the wave on P9T-573. And the fact that I never came back?"

"Sorry, doesn't ring a bell," she answered as she shook her head.

"Well it's nice to know I was missed," Sharp said under his breath. "Look, I don't know how else to convince you, Major. You're just gonna have to trust me."

"Give me one good reason why I should," Sam asked with the weapon now trained on Sharp's head.

"Because there is a SGC base still out there," Sharp offered. "Together we could find it and maybe then we can find a way to win this war." Sharp paused as he saw he was finally getting through. Sharp softened as he spoke, "Major, we stand a much better chance working together then working alone."

Sam slowly lowered the gun as she took one last look into Sharp's eyes, to assess his sincerity. "Well if we're going to work together, then I guess I better fill you in on what's happened since you've been gone."

Sharp approached her and extended his hand, which Sam took and shook. "I'd like that, Major" he smiled.

"Oh, and Captain?" Sam interjected. "I've been out of the military for a long time, so why don't you call me Sam."

"On one condition of course. You have to call me Glenn."

"Deal," she agreed.

****Planet Apollo (20 minutes later)****

Sharp wrinkled his forehead, trying to make sense of what Sam was telling him as she treated the gash she had given him with his gun. "So someone drops an anonymous tip about the Maldorian invasion twenty-three years ago just out of the blue?"

"Well I don't know if it was anonymous or not, I just never found out who it was. I didn't return to the SGC until shortly after the destruction of the Argos colony in 2007."

The mention of Argos peaked Sharp's interest. "Argos? That was the mission that followed the test flight of the O'Neill."

Sam looked at him in surprise, "How did you know that?"

"I was able to recover some of the data from the computers at the SGC," Sharp explained. "One of the files I recovered was the mission report on the test flight. It mentioned the Argos mission as a follow-up. It was a colonizing mission?"

"The first human off-world colony, yes," Sam nodded. "It was also the location of the first Maldorain attack against earth and its allies." Sam became very sober as he continued. "They wiped out the colony and all of its defenses, including the O'Neill, in the middle of the dedication ceremony."

Sharp could see in her face how hard it was for her to continue and decided that for now, changing the subject might be best. "So, they brought you back as a civilian scientist to work on a way to defeat them?"

Sam composed herself and looked back up at Sharp. "We realized that we were completely wrong in our assessment of the O'Neill. It didn't stand a chance when matched up against one of their destroyers. They were looking to develop weapons and defenses for the next class of human destroyers. That's when Dr. Orion came to see me."

"Dr. Orion?" Sharp questioned. "Dr. Matthew Orion?"

Sam looked at him with a kinda of crooked smile and raised eyebrow. "No," she said with a slight laugh. "Dr. Chrislyn Orion. She married Matthew about a year before I came back to work for the SGC. She said it was something about a deal they worked out."

Now Sharp got a chuckle. "Up until now I didn't think she would ever actually go through with it. Then again I never did quite understand went through her head half the time. It kind of surprises me that she would be working on something like weapons for a destroyer." Then Sharp's curiosity got the better of him and he had to know what happened to Chrislyn. "Do you know where she is now? Could she be on the new SGC base?" Sam paused for a moment and looked away from him. "What's wrong?" Sharp asked with a worried look, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was going to be.

Unfortunately for Sharp, Sam confirmed what he feared. "Chrislyn died, Glenn. eight years ago."

Sharp swallowed hard as his head hit the cave wall he was sitting against. "How did it happen?"

"Well like I said we had been working on a way to improve the weapon and defensive systems of our destroyers," she started.

****Orion Star Space Station in orbit of Planet Apollo (November 28th, 2015)****

Captain Johnathon Tainn bounced little Paris Orion on his knee as he waited for his shift to end. What was ordinarily an extremely boring job had been brightened emensly because the visit from the giggling seven year old. "So Miss Paris," Tainn said as he picked her up off his knee, "what game shall we play next?"

"Well whenever Aunt Riley visits we play chess," Paris smiled. "Its my favorite!"

Tainn was surprised by the answer. "Chess? But that's a grown up person game."

"Not uh," Paris argued. "I bet I can beat you!"

"Oh you think so, huh?" Tainn said in a humoring tone. "Well we'll just see about that now, won't we?" he smiled.

"I'll go get the game!" she exclaimed excitedly as she ran out of the room.

Tainn smiled. Yeah he was gonna like being stationed here. He turned his eyes back to the monitors to go through his hourly checklist. It had almost become routine. This facility's location was so well concealed, they hardly ever saw friendly ship approach, let alone hostiles. He was in the home stretch of his checks when something caught the corner of his eye. "That's odd," he said to himself. They hadn't been expecting any ships in today, but the long range sensors clearly indicated a Thor class destroyer. Tainn immediately turned on the long range communication equipment to get some answers. "This is the Orion Star Space Station, calling Thor class destroyer, over." All Tainn heard in reply was static. "This is the Orion Star Space Station, calling Thor class destroyer. Come in, over." Still nothing. Something was definitely up. Just as he was about to contact the station commander, the threat indicator sounded. Peaking back at the monitor, the friendly Thor class ship was now being read as a fast moving Apophis class destroyer. Eyes frozen to the screen for several seconds, Tainn finally sounded the attack alarm and tried to raise the command room.

****************

Major Tim McKinney was enjoying his evening cup of coffee when a young Lieutenant walked up with the news from Captain Tainn.

"Sir, we have a problem," she informed him. "Long range sensors detect an Apophis class destroyer headed for our position."

The very thought of being compromised was so foreign to McKinney's mind that it didn't register completely until he thought about it for a moment. "How soon to firing range?"

"At current range and speed, they will be in optimal firing range in 20 minutes," she answered.

"Long range weapons?"

"They are already in range, sir. They may not know our sensors have identified them as Maldorian. They tried to pass themselves off as a friendly, sir."

"Damn! And we were so close! Sound the evacuation alarm and have Dr. Carter and Dr. Orion meet me in my office, ASAP!" The Lieutenant nodded obedience and turn to carry out her orders. McKinney trashed his coffee and frustrated, rushed to his office for his meeting. A few seconds later, the evac alarm sounded.

****************

Chrislyn and Sam each rushed to Major McKinney's office, meeting each other a little over halfway there. Sam was a few seconds faster with the question they were both thinking.

"Do you know what is up with the evacuation?" Sam asked as they continued walking.

"No I don't, but it better not be another stupid drill," Chrislyn responded with annoyance in her voice.

They both entered McKinney's office just as another officer was leaving. As they walked up to his desk, McKinney turned to face him. Sam could see the concern in his face.

"This isn't a drill is it, Major?" she asked.

"I wish it was, Doctors," he answered. "We're tracking a Maldorian destroyer that is about 15 minutes from firing range. When it is, it will attack this facility and probably try to acquire the plans for Argos laser. We can't let that happen."

"Major, Sam and I can take the plans for the laser with us in a hyperspace glider," Chrislyn offered. "By the time they got here we'd be long gone."

McKinney shook his head as he responded, "They're too close now. They would intercept you and download the plans for the laser. I'm afraid this situation calls for a scorched earth approach."

Sam and Chrislyn weren't about to give in that easily. "Sir, what if we launched a few extra gliders as decoys. That would increase the chances of us getting away with the blueprints."

"We don't have the gliders to spare for something like that and besides its too risky," he said in a disapproving tone. "We couldn't take the chance, no matter what the odds. I want those blueprints and the prototype destroyed and then I want you two to evacuate the base. That's an order."

Chrislyn was getting quite upset by this time, "Well that's too bad, because this is a civilian space station under MY authority and we've worked too hard to just destroy it because you're afraid!"

Now it was McKinney's turn to become angry, "Now you listen here, Dr. Orion! I'm here to represent the interests of the SGC, which incidentally is the one who approved and funded construction of this space station! Now we've sent off your work every 3 months for the last few years, so as long as we get you off this station you'll be able to recreate anything that was destroyed."

"Its not that simple, sir," Carter corrected him. "Most of the research and experiments we've conducted would take over a year to reproduce anywhere else."

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, Dr. Carter, but we're implementing a total shut down and destruction of this base to be carried out in less than 15 minutes. Now I would like you to be off the base by the time that happens but that's up to you. Dismissed," McKinney finalized, turning to another officer to discuss another matter relating to the evacuation.

Chrislyn just stormed out of the McKinney's office while Sam give him one last look before following her. "Chrislyn, what are you up to?"

Trying to look innocent, Chrislyn responded, "What? I'm not up to anything."

"I know you better than that, Chris. You're up to something."

Chrislyn turned to look at Sam, "You just take care of getting rid of the blueprints and prototype. I'm going to find Paris and my journal. I'll meet you at the glider bay." Sam shook her head as she watched Chrislyn walk away and then started toward the laser laboratory.

Chrislyn was halfway to her quarters when she heard a familiar little voice yell, "Mommy!" Chrislyn turn to see Captain Tainn carrying Paris on his shoulders, trying to catch up to her.

"Paris Kaydence Orion!" Chrislyn scolded her. "Where have you been? You were supposed to be waiting in our quarters with Miss Hanson while I was working!"

"But Miss Hanson is so boring, Mommy," Paris complained. "Captain Tainn is so much more fun!"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, it's my fault," Tainn tried to assist, putting her down. "I just can't say no to her."

"Well you should be sorry!" Chrislyn yelled at him. "You're just as bad as another captain I used to know! Can't seem to stop screwing up!" Turning to Paris, she took her hand, "Come with me, Paris. We're going to get my journal and then go meet Aunt Sam." They both continued to their quarters while Tainn went back to assist with the evacuation.

Chrislyn and Paris entered their quarters a few moments later and Chrislyn immediately went for her journal while Paris grabbed a few of her prized possessions including the chess game Riley had given her for her seventh birthday. As they turned to leave, Chrislyn bent down to address the look of fear on Paris' face. "What's wrong, Paris?"

"I'm afraid, Mommy," she said, trying to be as brave as possible.

Chrislyn hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. "Everything is going to be ok, Sweetie. You don't have anything to worry about." Picking Paris up in her arms, Chrislyn made her way toward the glider bay, where escape ships were being launched, trying to flee from the long range weapons of the Maldorian destroyer. As she turned the corner, the base PA activated. It was Sam's voice.

"Dr. Chrislyn Orion, to the laser laboratory. Dr. Orion, report to the laser laboratory at once." Something had to be seriously wrong for Sam to still be working on breaking down the laser laboratory. Not wanting to endanger Paris and with the attack looming, Chrislyn made a tough decision. Luckily for her she didn't have to go far to implement it or she might have changed her mind.

"Captain Tainn!" she called to him as he was leading the next group to the escape ships. Tainn stopped momentarily and looked at Chrislyn. Taking a deep breath, she fought back tears as she asked, "I need you to take Paris with you. I have to stay a little longer but I want Paris off this station now."

Paris looked up at her mother, not happy that she they would be separated. "I want to stay with you, Mommy."

"I know you do," Chrislyn said, with a few tears tickling down her face, "but I'll see you when we get to our new home, ok?" Paris was now crying as well as they shared a hug.

Tainn, waited for them to complete their goodbye and then picked up the crying Paris who wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I'll make sure she's taken care of, Ma'am," he said softly.

Chrislyn tried to pull herself together and turned to Tainn. "You better or I'll have you skinned alive." Tainn smiled and nodded in understanding before continuing to the glider bay. Chrislyn turned her mind to the task now at hand and that was making sure that the Argos laser prototype did not fall into Maldorian hands and invalidate the last three years of work on the laser alone. Walking into the laboratory, she saw Sam frantically working on the computers.

"Chrislyn, we have a big problem," Sam said, out of breath. "Someone's tampered with the laser's deactivation codes. Without those codes, we can't safely destroy it."

"What if we input the codes directly," Chrislyn reasoned. "They probably were only able to tamper with the network connection to the laser." She didn't wait for a response. After placing her journal on one of the work benches, she immediately walked into the laser containment room to begin.

"Chrislyn, be careful," Sam warned. "If you damage any of the energy regulators, we won't have to worry about the station's self-destruct, except that we'll still be here." Chrislyn listened but didn't respond. She carefully open the laser's casing and went to work. She was about to finish inputting the codes when the station rocked violently. Before anyone could react, the containment room began to seal, locking her inside. Sam began typing on the computers in a blind panic, trying to release the seal.

"Sam!" Chrislyn called. "What's going on? Why did the room seal?"

Sam checked the radiation count before answering. "I don't know. I'm not reading a radiation leak anywhere. The explosion must have accidently triggered the sealing protocol."

The station rocked again followed by a alarming PA message. "The Maldorian are in firing range. Auto-destruct has been set at 3 minutes. Proceed immediately to the escape ships. Repeat the Maldorian attack has begun."

Chrislyn looked back at Sam through the glass. "You have to go, Sam," she said reluctantly.

"I won't leave you, Chrislyn," she said with conviction. "We'll leave together or not at all."

"There isn't time, Sam, and you have to continue the work we started," Chrislyn pleaded. "Its our only chance." Sam and Chrislyn looked at each other with tears in there eyes. "And with Matthew gone I need someone to take care of Paris. You need to go now, Sam."

"Chrislyn, I can't just leave you!" Sam argued with her. "I don't leave people behind!"

"You don't have to. Take my journal. Everything I am is in there. When the time comes, you'll know what to do with it."

Sam wanted to continue arguing with her, but there was no time and she knew Chrislyn was right. Saying one last goodbye with their eyes, Sam grabbed the journal and rushed for the glider bay.

Chrislyn slowly sat down and tried to block out the countdown. She thought of Paris and now how she too would have to live without her parents. She had just begun to accept Matthew's death in the invasion of earth three years ago and now she would only be two year older then Chrislyn was when she lost her parents in a car crash.

And Chrislyn Orion cried her last tears alone.

****************

Sam boarded the last escape ship with five others. The countdown gave them just under a minute to achieve escape before the station exploded. The pilot immediately began the launch sequence and Sam strapped herself in, thinking about how she was going to tell Paris of her mother's death. Twenty seconds later, they launched. Sam watched as the countdown approached zero and then turned to look out the window and watch the station explode... but nothing happened.

"Oh God," Sam said in disbelief. She yelled up to the pilot, "We have to turn around! The station's auto-destruct have been stopped!" The pilot hesitated but obeyed, knowing the consequences if the station was captured. They had to trigger it themselves.

****************

Chrislyn had braced herself for the end as the countdown struck zero, but when nothing happened, she became concerned. She frantically thought of a way to prevent the laser from falling into Maldorian hands. Then she remembered what Sam had said about the energy regulators. Upon hearing footsteps, she got up and opened the laser casing once again. The Maldorian soldiers burst down the door to the lab just in time to see Chrislyn place her hand on the main energy regulator. She made her last thoughts, happy ones about Matthew and Paris. Then then removed the regulator and within seconds the lab exploded into a bright flash of color.

****Planet Apollo (April 18th, 2025)****

"I figure Chrislyn removed one of the energy regulators and the chain reaction destroyed the station," Sam finally finished. Both Sharp and Sam sat in a long silence.

Finally, Sharp turned to her and asked, "So how did you become stranded here?"

"When we turned back toward the station, the ship's navigational systems were damaged in the explosion," Sam explained. "We were able to make a semi-control descent onto the planet, but the landing was rough. I was the only one to survive."

"Why didn't you leave through the stargate?"

"The DHD's master control crystal was damaged somehow. With no power and no way to dial, I was forced to try and find another way off the planet."

Just then, Stewart came running back into the main room and starting talking excitedly, "Captain, you have to come see this! It's amazing!"

Sharp looked at Sam, who smiled, before he got up to follow Stewart. He lead him into a large room where Sharp couldn't believe what he saw.

"I have been working the last eight years on repairing and modifying the escape ship. In a few more months it will be ready to fly," Sam said behind him. "With help, maybe sooner."

Sharp smiled. "Sam, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

****To Be Continued in "Robin's Hood"****