This chapter's a little short, but I think you'll like it.
For those of you who've followed this from the beginning, thanks for reading and for putting up with my crazy posting schedule. This isn't the last chapter, but I'm getting close. Enjoy.
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Chapter 9- Decisions and Changes"I have come with a message for Colonel O'Neill." The little gray man turned to the human. "O'Neill, the Goa'uld Anubis is preparing to attack Earth. He will attack in three days."
Jack immediately sprung into action. "Lya, do you guys have transporter thingies, or do we walk all the way back?"
"We do not have instant transporters."
Jack nodded. "Thor, can you help us?"
"Unfortunately, I cannot. Anubis was never part of the Protected Planets Treaty, and so the Asgard..." But Thor was talking to air. Jack had already moved for the stairs leading downward.
He keyed his radio. "Carter, come in."
"What's up, sir?"
"I just got done talking to Thor. Anubis is going to attack Earth. I'm on my way back."
There was a shocked pause before Sam responded. "Yes, sir. What other intel do we have?"
"He's gonna attack in about three days, that's all I know. Start thinking about options." He ordered.
Jack and Lya made their way down the path back to Lya's home. Jack hurried at first, so much that Lya could barely keep up.
"Colonel, understand this, you are choosing a violent path again. If you do this, you will not be allowed to live here with us."
Jack stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her. He opened his mouth, but then shut it again and kept moving. I'm not going to get into this argument right now. They continued on silently for a long while.
As they walked, Jack was thinking. He was looking around, looking at these beautiful woods. This beautiful planet, with beautiful people. Wise people. Intelligent people.
When he arrived back at Lya's home, he had a plan, but he decided to let his team speak first. Maybe they'd come up with a better one.
"Sir I've been thinking."
"You thinking? Wow, Carter."
She smiled, and would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. "Anyway, it's possible that the Prometheus can handle the attack. It could probably take two or even three. However, I'd be willing to bet Anubis is sending more than that. The Prometheus won't stand a chance."
"How does this help us, Carter?"
Sam shrugged. "It doesn't really. I'm just making a threat analysis."
"The threat is, Earth is about to be wiped out by the most evil snake ever. What do we do about it?"
There was silence.
Lya spoke again, reminding them that violence would cause them to be sent away from Nox.
Still nobody had a plan. So Jack tried his. "Lya, what if we just made Anubis go away, without fighting him? Could we do that and still come back?"
Lya tilted her head, and nodded. "Yes, but how would you accomplish this?
"You guys can make things invisible, right?"
Daniel's eyes widened. "You want them to hide the PLANET!?"
Jack's eyes remained fixed on Lya. "Could you do it?"
Lya seemed to be thinking. Before she could speak, however, Opher answered. "I could. With practice, a Nox is able to perform his mastery of the mind more and more. Lya and Anteus are much younger than I, and they probably could not. "
Jack nodded. "Would you do that for us?"
Opher nodded. "Anteus and I will accompany you."
"Thank you. We'll take the scout ship to Earth, and you can do your magic there. Oh, and we'll do one other thing..." Jack laid out the rest of his plan.
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They left the next day. SG-1 buried the bodies of Makepeace and his men nearby, but the Scout Ship still smelled like death and vomit.
It was agreed that SG-1 would go with Anteus and Opher. Sarah O'Neill, Sara Gardner and Cassie would stay behind on Nox with Lya. They would be safe there.
Once in orbit, they cloaked the ship and went into hyperspace.
Teal'c was piloting the ship. "We will arrive in approximately twenty four hours."
"Sweet."
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"Carter?" Sam was looking at the hyperdrive crystals when her CO came in.
"Hey sir."
"What ya doin'?"
She shrugged. "Nothing. I'm a little bored."
He smiled. "That's 'cause you think too much, and now you've got nothing to think about. I'll bet if we weren't using them, you'd want to pull out the hyperdrive crystals just for fun."
She giggled. "Y' know, you're right."
"It happens."
She giggled again. This man was so funny and sweet and... but he had Sara back, now. "So, you and Sara must be happy."
"Huh?"
"Well, I mean, you've both moved on from Charlies death, maybe now you two can get back together." She swallowed.
Jack knew her well enough to know that while she was trying to be nice about it, she didn't really like the idea. He thought back to what she had said back at the beginning of this crazy chase through the galaxy. 'I don't want Pete!' she had said. It seemed like ages ago. He made his decision. "You know, I talked to your dad."
That threw her. "Sir?"
"Yeah, I figured if I was going to start dating you, I should get his permission first."
She was taken completely by surprise. She found that she couldn't speak, and just sort of stared at him.
"That is, if you want."
"My God, Sir!" Her eyes were wide. Then they went dark.
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"Sam. Sam!" She opened her eyes to find herself lying in the Colonels arms. He was kneeling over her.
"Sir? What.."
"You fainted, Carter. Jeeesh, you can fight legions of Jaffa, but one old Colonel asks you out and you go weak. Tut tut."
She giggled. And hugged him. Her genius mind caught up quickly, and she decided to be playful. "So where are we going for our first official date?"
Teal'c chose that moment to call back. "O'Neill, we have arrived."
Jack smiled at her as he helped her to her feet. "We're going to save the world."