Chapter 11 - Free

The Tel'tak sped away in a series of twists and turns with Jacob using his piloting skills to avoid any ground fire that might pursue, but there was none. He triggered the cloaking device as soon as he could, and to the Andans watching from the island, the craft winked out of existence at around one hundred chains distance. He steadied its course and Sam took the first opportunity to enter the cargo bay. The door slid open, catching her unprepared for the sight before her.

Jen Hailey was kneeling down, cradling Jack's head as he lay on his back. The beginnings of a red stain discoloured the sodden brown tunic across his chest and his breath came in faint rasps. His leg lay at an awkward angle. "Stay with me, Jack." she was saying, stroking his temple. "Come on, Dad. Don't give up now. I'm with you. Fight for me, come on. Come on! Come on!"

The sudden shock that ran through Sam started in her head and ended up as a tingling sensation on the backs of her hands. She had anticipated that Jack would be in a poor condition from what she'd seen on the viewer when he had been hauled out of the water, which had decided her father to move in immediately to lift them with the ring transporter. It was the obvious *intimacy* of the scene that was unexpected. Hailey hadn't even looked up at her entrance. Jack's grey beard and long hair contrasted so much with his deeply tanned face - still instantly recognisable, but so different from the person who had haunted her dreams these last few months.

Recovering a little, Sam called "Captain! Talk to me about the Colonel's condition?" as she knelt down beside them.

Hailey glanced up briefly but returned her attention to Jack. "He got a double blast from their stun guns in the chest. The impact knocked him back into the railings real hard and he cartwheeled backwards into the water. I think he was out the moment he went over. Jeff dived in and saved him, but they were none too gentle in hauling him up again on the rope."

Jack began to stir and moan, moving his head from side to side slightly. Suddenly he began to retch, and Jen moved quickly to turn him onto his side, assisted by Sam. A spasm ran through him and he coughed up sea water, gasping, spluttering and wheezing until the sensation died away after a couple of minutes.

He doubled up into the foetal position and clutched his hands to his aching chest, but snatched them away at the first contact as a blazing pain coursed through him. Sam took hold of both wrists and gently forced them away from his body. "Hold him still, Hailey. I'll get the med kit." She stood up and left, returning just moments later with the green plastic box.

Jack was moaning again, and that meant it really hurt - they knew he wouldn't do it by choice or habit. As Sam unceremoniously cut open the front of his tunic with scissors, his eyes slowly came into focus and he realised that something significant had happened since he'd been standing on the dockside. "Jen?" he whispered. Sam once again felt the hammer-blow of the apparent closeness between the two of them.

"I'm here, Jack." she replied. "Take it easy now. You're safe."

"Jeff?" he gasped again. "How is he?"

"We've got to go back for him." said Hailey immediately, looking up at Sam. "Haven't we, Ma'am?" she added emphatically.

"Presently." replied Sam. "We couldn't get all of you in one go."

"Carter?" said Jack, blinking and seeing for the first time that she was here. "What're you?......"

"Keep still, Sir." she replied, pulling aside the halves of the tunic to reveal a blood-soaked t-shirt. She continued cutting and then pulled his inner garment away from his skin. The whole front of his upper torso was red raw and extensively blistered, with blood slowly seeping from several abrasions and cuts. Her professional soldier's training took over and she proceeded to clean and dress the affected area. Jack stayed silent, wincing occasionally at her ministrations. Jen helped in applying the dressings and bandages, noticing how Jack kept staring at Carter's face and then looking away again, embarrassed and uncertain where to look instead. She noticed too the way that Sam looked back at him, locking onto his gaze for brief seconds before concentrating again on his injuries.

"Where is Grogan?" said Jack as they helped him up slowly. He grimaced again as he weight came down on his bad knee, and they hobbled him over to a couch.

"He was in the water when you took us." said Jen. "So he's either still on the island or they're moving him back on the ferry or a smaller boat."

"Then we've got to go back now." grunted Jack. "The best chance of taking him is before they get him back to land." He looked up at Sam. "What weapons do we have on board?"

"Only two Zat guns and my personal side-arm." said Sam. "This isn't exactly an official rescue mission, Sir. I was on leave when we left. Dad's in the pilot's seat."

"Oh great!" sighed Jack, struggling to get up again. Jen quickly moved to support him by placing his arm round her shoulders, much to Sam's irrational annoyance. Together they made their way through to the control cabin and he sank onto a seat at the side. Jacob glanced round at him for a couple of seconds, taking in the bedraggled sight of his daughter's desire, but then looked back at the scanner console.

"What sort of air defences do these people have, Jack?" he asked. "Nothing's showed up yet in all the time we've been stooging around looking for you."

"Not much to worry about." replied Jack. "Nearly everything here's electric- powered. The airplanes are pretty but small and slow by our standards. As far as we could gather, the only things you should worry about are some very powerful electric cannon, isn't that right, Jen?"

"Right, Jack." she replied straight away. "I never got to the section in the SHB where they kept files about heavy equipment. Maybe I should have dated one of those militiamen for a while." she added with a grin. Jack smiled briefly back at her, again not unnoticed by Sam, for whom shock and uncertainty was beginning to be replaced by irritation.

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Sam's suggestion concerning how they could bring the ferry boat to a halt on its way back to the mainland, simultaneously disabling many of the crew members and guards, was as usual simple and brilliant.

Jacob lined up the Tel'tak some forty kilometres away from their target and applied full power, estimating that at this distance and flying just five metres above the waves, that they would be travelling at just over Mach 6.5 in this atmosphere when they passed over the ferry. Sam switched briefly to a rear-view mode on the scanner and saw that although their craft was cloaked and invisible to anyone near, the stern shock wave was churning up the sea behind them just as though they were a giant ship passing through the water instead of over it. The bow shock wave was impacting the sea directly underneath them and they couldn't see its direct effect. But the Tel'tak was of sufficient size and mass that the combined effect of these two pressure waves hitting one after the other would smash anything delicate aboard the ferry, including much of the ship's glasswork and instrumentation, as well as incapacitating the crew and passengers. That would be unfortunate for Jeff, but the possibility of permanently damaged eardrums had to be traded off against his freedom.

Everyone stared through the forward view screen as the small dot that was the ferry boat grew large extremely quickly, and they all flinched when it seemed for a second that they must surely hit the large grey vessel amidships. But somehow they missed, and Jacob cut the power, lifting the nose to climb into the sky to kill their speed as quickly as possible. He executed a wingover turn and they descended much more slowly back towards their quarry, the Tel'tak still invisible to anyone on board who might be in a fit condition to be watching.

Only Jack suspected the degree of damage that could have occurred on board the ship. He remembered the time he'd flown an F-4 Phantom supersonic at low altitude over a small town during the 1970's, and as a consequence, his subsequent reprimand and punishment had included a tour of the damaged property directly under his flight path. The Department of Defense had paid compensation, of course, but the sight of dozens of people in shock and upset by the loss of so many items that they held dear had affected him deeply. He had been careful never to do that again. But the Tel'tak was so much bigger and heavier than an F-4, and had been travelling nearly seven times faster: the damage quotient would be significantly higher.

Sam stood transfixed by the sight on screen as they hovered over the ship. It was slowing to a halt in the water, with the engines stopped judging by the lack of turbulence in the wake. Shattered glass lay everywhere, and some of the smaller above-deck housings were battered as though they had been hit from the side by a giant hammer. But worst of all was the sight of the crew and Andan security guards laying or sitting on the decks, hardly moving. Nearly all had their hands to their ears, and some were bleeding from the effects of flying glass or the impact of the double shock wave. They may as well have dropped a bomb, she thought.

She was shaken out of her inaction by her father's voice. "Sam, Hailey! Take the zats and ring down to the ship. Look for your friend. You've got about ten minutes before they might get aircraft here, so get moving!" Jacob looked over at Jack, who was clearly not capable of joining in the action. "Jack! Take over here and maintain position. I'll activate the rings."

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Some eight hours later, Sam awoke from her short nap on one of the two sleeping couches aboard the Tel'tak. Before she opened her eyes fully, she knew that this was not like a normal awakening from a dream that is quickly forgotten. In her mind she'd been walking with Jack - not the current version whose face resembled no-one so much as a rough-living gypsy, but the clean-shaven military man of the last few years - and they were dancing round the age-old subject of what was right and what wasn't, according to Air Force protocol. She recognised instantly that for the first time in so very long, she could smell the essence of him from where he'd lain on the couch before she had occupied it, when he had been sleeping off the first round of pain-killers they'd given him. Not the sea water stench of when he'd been brought on board, but *him*. The sheer electricity of the moment brought her to full consciousness and she opened her eyes.

Across the dimly-lit cabin, she took in the view of Hailey and Grogan lying asleep together on the other couch, he on his back, with dressings covering his ears held in place by bandages round his head, sandwiching her against the wall. She lay on her side facing him, an arm placed protectively across his chest. If there was an expression to be got from looking at her, the word 'contentment' would have come to mind. As Sam rose, she saw that Jack was sitting on the floor nearby, his back against the wall. It was clear that he had an easy view of both beds, and she wondered if he'd been watching her the same way his gaze was now directed at them.

"Sir..." she began.

"I've kinda got used to being 'Jack'." he said in a quiet voice. "At least until we get back to Earth, OK Carter?"

She swallowed and just managed to avoid the obvious trained response. "Well, I've got a name too, *Jack*. Slightly different from my father's."

He was silent for a moment. "I gather I have you to thank for getting us out." he said, shifting his position to get up but wincing with a sharp intake of breath, causing Sam to get off the couch quickly and move across to assist him. Unusually, he didn't refuse her offer. He stood for a second or two looking over at his two companions still sleeping, and shuffled forward to the control cabin, with Sam still guiding him by the elbow.

Jacob looked round from the pilot's seat at their entrance. "Ah! Beauty and the Beast. About time too, Sam. Symbiote or not, I need to take a long break." He rose and gestured for Sam to take his place. Jack sat down awkwardly on the second chair. "Sam can fill you in on the details from our side." he continued, staring meaningfully at his daughter. "That's *all* the details, Sam." She glared at him in return before turning to check the instruments. He smiled and said to Jack as he left, "And you just make sure you listen, Jack."

Sam remained obstinately silent, making out that the readings on the panel were somehow interesting.

"So?" said Jack after a while. "I'm listening, Carter."

"That makes a change, *Sir*." she replied, still not looking at him.

"Sam, we're really grateful for you getting us out of there. I mean that." he said softly. "The fact that you said it's an unofficial mission means that as usual, it took guts and persistence and loyalty to your teams, all the things I've admired in you. I know I don't say this as much as I should, but thank you. And I'll say the same to Jacob as well, but he's been reluctant to talk to me since we left the planet. Why is that, do you think?"

"Because we have some issues that need to be discussed." she replied carefully.

"But we'll have an extended debrief back at the SGC to describe what's going on." said Jack, puzzled by her statement.

"That's the thing. You can't do straight back to the SGC." she replied. "Not if you value your life. I met the Andan Ambassador briefly a while ago. Your capture and return for a show trial is part of the negotiations between Andar and Earth."

"What about Hailey and Grogan?" he responded. "Are they part of the deal too?"

'Typical.' thought Sam. 'Always the others first.' "I don't think so." Sam said. "At least, not until they started shooting back there at the Stargate." She ventured a statement. "You've grown very close to them, haven't you?"

"I guess so." said Jack. "We've been living as though we were a family on Andar and it worked out really well." He stayed silent, thinking over some of the moments they had been through together. "Jen's more than just your star science pupil, Sam, She's been the key to us getting out of there. Resourceful, gutsy - you name it."

"And Grogan?"

"Not in her class, obviously. But from what I gather he did for me back there, it's a rare man who can seize the moment to act like that, when his own life is at risk. He's back in her good books now, probably for quite a while. Mine too."

"So what went wrong with your escape plan, then?" she asked at length.

"My fault. I should have realised that the Andan SHB would track the people who smuggle others out. All they had to do was stick closely to them and wait near the Stargate." Jack explained. "But the other two might have got out as per the original plan if they hadn't started shooting when I was taken."

Sam looked sharply at him. "What do you mean, 'as per the original plan'? I thought you were all trying to leave together."

"No, it wasn't going to go down like that." he sighed. "I used what cash we had as a down payment to get them through the Gate. By rights I should be back with the traffickers now to pay off the rest of the debt."

"How, precisely?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't matter now. They're safe, and that's all that matters."

Sam swallowed. "That's not all that matters to me, Jack."

"What? Your trade deal for the doohickeys?" he came back. "Well, that's not all it's cracked up to be, Sam. Jen reckons that the SuSp Multipliers will do just as much damage to a planet as any other form of wasteful energy use." He shrugged. "She's probably right - you coached her, after all."

Sam closed her eyes momentarily in frustration at his obtuseness, but knew that she couldn't resist following this revelation. "Damage the planet how? If they drastically reduce the energy we consume, then what's the problem?"

"You're asking me?" he laughed. "Something about gravity wells and changing the Earth's core. Talk to her about it." He became serious again. "All I know is, the Andans' major interest in the deal is obtaining state-of-the- art US weapons and getting trained in using them. Not to fight off or deter any known threats from other races, but to subdue and possibly kill off a significant part of their own population. I never lived in a state run by the Nazis or the Khmer Rouge or the Politburo, but now I think I know what it must have been like."

Sam thought about what she'd just learned. "This changes things, then. I'll inform the SGC when we get back and get the deal stopped."

"I doubt that very much." He looked back at her and for the first time began to notice the way she looked more weary and concerned than he remembered before... Well, before it all went to hell for him. "They want those Andan Multipliers no matter what. They want them first and foremost to make more powerful weapons and gizmos with the technology. They'll present them as life savers for the planet anyway and no-one will care what long-term damage is being done. It'll be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind', just like it is now with energy consumption. And since when has the Government really cared about who they sell weapons to as long as they get something back?" He paused for breath.

"Sam, do you remember in that briefing when I kept on asking whether the deal was worth it?" She nodded. "Well, the Andans wanted a demonstration of the capabilities of our weapons under real conditions. They wanted us to take out some rebel leader as a demonstration of our *sincerity*. Hammond was acting under the strictest secrecy from Washington when he asked me to find someone to make the hit. I wouldn't let anyone even consider it and did it myself."

"Why?" she asked softly.

"Because my life is going nowhere." he replied almost inaudibly. "I won't let anyone else face the degradation of taking another life in cold blood, not if I can help it. In the heat of battle - well, that's different - sometimes. But I've lived a lifetime of violence and I figured one more wouldn't make that much difference, seeing as the deal was *worth any price*. I was wrong. I don't think I can do it any more."

Sam looked down and her face reddened as her own words came back to her. "You could have a life.. With me."

His eyes focussed sharply on her. "Why? Because you feel sorry for me? Don't. You chose a life with someone else, Sam. Go live it."

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