A/N: To recap so far: When the team gates to a planet where the atmosphere is unexpectedly poisonous, they are rescued from certain death by an old acquaintance and find the Tollan remnant living on the inhospitable world. Sam has the most trouble recovering because of the Naquadah in her system. She experiences optic nerve trauma, temporarily blinding her. The Tollan take SG1 captive in an attempt to prevent knowledge of their existence from falling into the wrong hands. But Jacob, using information supplied by Hammond, finds them anyway. Unbeknownst to Jacob, a spy aboard his ship relays the information to the Goa'uld. The Tollan are forced to flee to Earth. While Sam's eyesight slowly returns, the rest of her team receives word that the Goa'uld have also located the hidden Tok'Ra base and are now poised to attack the Tok'Ra world as well...


The SGC was in chaos when Jack, Teal'C and Sam arrived minutes later. They met Hammond and Daniel in the crowded conference room.

There wasn't room for everyone to be seated as Hammond called the emergency meeting to order. After outlining the new threat from the Goa'uld, Hammond outlined the evacuation plans for both the Tok'Ra and the Tollan. The Tollan would remain at the SGC until the Tok'Ra had evacuated all their people and equipment from their old base. SG1 would assist with the relocation of the Tok'Ra to the Alpha site and supervise all activity involving their Stargate. The coordinates for the Alpha site would remain unknown to the Tok'Ra until all sides were satisfied that there were no more Goa'uld spies in their ranks.

"There's not much time to get the Tok'Ra out of harm's way," Hammond concluded. "Dismissed."

The room emptied quickly, including Sam, who carefully made her way down the hall in the direction of the infirmary to see Janet. The interrupted night's sleep had caused her a monster headache. But the headache was minor compared to the heartache she was experiencing over staying behind. Janet was always a good source of comfort in times like these.

Jack, Daniel and Teal'C were ready to embark in the Gateroom within fifteen minutes of the end of the briefing. Jacob and the Tok'Ra that had accompanied him were standing at the foot of the Gate with them, anxious to get back to their world and begin the process of moving their people to safety.

Walter Harriman's voice boomed over the intercom, "Chevron 7, locked!"

As the wormhole roared into existence, Hammond stepped into the throng of soldiers and began shaking hands and patting shoulders.

"Godspeed."

Jacob was standing a few steps apart, looking towards the door. Jack moved over to him.

"You ready, Jacob?" Jack was adjusting his cap and gear.

"I thought Sam would be here to see me off," Jacob answered plaintively. The relationship between father and daughter was tighter than ever, a far cry from when Jack had first seen the two together in Washington, D.C., several years ago.

"So did I," Jack agreed. He looked back towards the entry where Jacob's eyes were focused.

"I wish she was coming with," Jack added unguardedly. Jacob tried to hide his sudden amusement and turned back towards the wormhole.

"Maybe she'll hook up with us at the Alpha site later this week. Let's go...we don't have much time."

The soldiers disappeared with a resounding plop one by one until the Gateroom was empty again. Walter shut down the wormhole and leaned back to wait out this already very eventful night.


Janet smiled at Sam as the blonde Major found her way into the infirmary and sat down on the nearest cot with an exaggerated gesture of relief.

"I was afraid I'd end up in the men's locker room or something," she explained with a chuckle. "I'm seeing just well enough to get myself into trouble."

"Then it's time to rest your eyes. Lay back and close 'em. I'll keep you entertained."

"Just don't sing to me, Janet."

"That hurt! If you want to hear my juicy gossip, you'll have to take back that comment," Janet teased mysteriously.

"I take it back! I take it back! What's the latest?" Sam smiled as she lay back and relaxed. Janet heard everything, being the base doctor, and her information was well worth sucking up for.

"Cassie first. Guess who came by to pick her up for a trip to the ice cream shop last night?"

"Just tell me, Janet, I'm too tired to guess."

"Jonathan," Janet giggled.

"You mean, 'clone of Jack' Jonathan?"

"Yes!"

Sam was silent for a few seconds, digesting this strange information. "That's just too weird," she finally concluded. "Tell me something else."

Janet laughed wickedly. "Don't tell me you're jealous of his clone!"

"No! Eww! Just change the subject, Janet!" Sam threw a pillow in her general direction, missing wildly.

When Sam fell asleep a few minutes later after listening to Janet spill all the latest on who was seeing who, her friend smiled and tucked a blanket around her. Janet had known this subject would not hold Sam's interest for long and would consequently bore her to sleep.

Mission accomplished, she thought smugly.


The Tok'Ra base was one of the most complicated series of tunnels that they had seen yet. Daniel and Teal'C followed Jack around curves and bends until none of them would have ever seen the light of day again had Jacob not been bringing up their six, giving course adjustments as they loped along. Finally, when it seemed they must be hopelessly lost, they arrived at an underground laboratory far from the other inhabited portions of the tunnels.

"The research in this lab is vital to our war effort," Jacob said quietly. Only the most trusted of the Tok'Ra Council even know this lab is down here. We need to try to pack as much of this stuff as we can, and then we'll destroy the rest. Let's get started."

Jacob pulled a large, wheeled cart out from the shadows along the wall and the four got to work filling it with carefully wrapped equipment from the tables. When it was full, which was not too much later, Jacob pushed it towards the door.

"I guess I'll have to walk it up to the Stargate room since none of you know the way," Jacob mused.

"I know the way," Teal'C offered. Jacob looked at him quizzically.

"He's good with directions," Jack explained.

"I really should stay here and finish picking out what needs to go with us," Jacob agreed.

"Okay then, Daniel, go with Teal'C and we'll be right behind you with the last of this stuff. See you back at the Alpha site." Jack pointed up the long tunnel.

"Indeed."

"Got it."

Jacob lost no time finding another cart and the two continued carefully wrapping and stowing the Tok'Ra instruments.

"So," Jacob said, breaking the silence. "What's up with you and my Sammy?"

"Very subtle, Jake," Jack observed. "Look, I know what it looks like, but she needs a lot of, well, hands-on help right now. I'm just doing my part to help out a good friend and colleague."

"Right," Jacob replied with a cynical grimace. "So why isn't Daniel helping her around?"

"Well, he has," Jack started, then shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Well, okay, maybe he hasn't, but she's gotten used to me doing it. No reason to switch seeing eye dogs on her now."

"You're a dog, alright, Jack," Jacob agreed heatedly in that 'keep your hands off my only daughter' tone.

"Look, whatever you think is going on..."

A huge explosion somewhere above them shook the room and released thick clouds of dust. The two men froze and forgot their battle of words.

"We'd better get out of here, now," Jack suggested urgently. Before either could move, another, stronger explosion caused several items to fall from their ledges and break on the stone floor.

"Come on!" Jacob shouted, and they each grabbed an end of the cart and started back toward the main tunnels at a jog, jarred by more explosions as they ran. Jacob, who was out in front of the cart, was thrown to the ground when a particularly close bomb impacted the tunnels around them again.

"Jacob! You okay?" Jack cried.

The older man was already back on his feet, answering Jack's question without words. They made it a ways further when they came to a caved-in section of tunnel, barring the exit.

"What now?" Jack asked, panting for air.

"We try and find another way out."


Daniel and Teal'C pulled their loaded cart out of the Stargate at the Alpha site into the hands of waiting Tok'Ra and T'auri scientists. They turned back to wait for Jack and Jacob to come through, but were surprised by a large flood of people suddenly coming through the Stargate from the base, wild-eyed and gasping for breath.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked worriedly. Their account of the unexpectedly early enemy attack caused Daniel and Teal'C to become alarmed.

"We've got to go back! Jack and Jacob were down in those tunnels!" Daniel cried out.

The Alpha site equivalent to the SGC chevron guy began to immediately dial up the besieged base, but to no avail.

The seventh chevron would not lock.


"Watch out!" Jacob yelled frantically to Jack as yet another series of tremors ominously shook the ground under their feet and the walls around them. Jack tried to jump out of the way of the crystals that crashed from the ceiling above him, but he had nowhere to go. With his back against the wall behind him, Jack was thrown to the ground, his left leg painfully crushed under a boulder of Tok'Ra crystal. Jacob was at his side in a moment, shoving at the rock mightily, managing to move it a little but causing Jack more pain in the process.

"Don't, just leave it!" Jack gasped. He let out a string of lively curses before lapsing into silence so as to catch his breath.

After a minute of shocked paralysis, Jacob began to assess the situation. He pried a long metal bar off the side of the now ruined cart.

"This rock's gotta come off you, Jack, or you could lose that leg." Jacob jammed the bar under the rock and levered at it. Finally, with a groan that mixed with Jack's sharp cry of pain, Jacob rolled the boulder away, revealing an obviously fractured leg.

"This is not good, Jack," he commented grimly.

"Doesn't...feel... so hot...either," Jack added hoarsely. Jacob went down on his knees to examine the bleeding, mangled limb.

"I'm going to have to stop this bleeding," Jacob said hesitantly, knowing it would cause the injured man more pain.

"Let me guess, and put a splint on it."

The grim inside joke was lost on Jacob, however. He nodded affirmatively and pulled Jack's own pack off his back to get out his med kit. Jacob only hoped he could stop the bleeding thoroughly enough to save Jack's life.


Sam awoke to the familiar noises of the infirmary. After stretching luxuriously, she opened her eyes. Shock and delight coursed through her when she realized her vision was almost completely normal.

"Janet?" She called.

There was no answer, so she hopped off the bed and went out into the hall, wondering where everybody was. Her feet automatically took her to the control room, where she found Walter, Hammond and several other officers in deep discussion.

The discussion abruptly stopped when she entered, giving way to an uneasy silence.

"Major Carter, are you alright?" Hammond wanted to know.

"I'm doing much better, sir. How's the evacuation proceeding?"

"It's...over," Hammond said cryptically. "Can we talk in my office, Sam?"

"Sure, sir," she agreed, swallowing uncomfortably. She could tell when Hammond was worried or upset, and this was definitely one of those times.

"Sir?" Sam questioned anxiously as he drew her inside and shut the door to his office.

"Sam, we've lost contact with the abandoned Tok'Ra base, and there's still two of our personnel on the planet."

Sam sat down weakly, dreading the punch line.

"Who are they?" She whispered, looking at him with wide, teary eyes.

"Your father. And Colonel O'Neill. We haven't been able to make contact with them in over four hours, now. Daniel and Teal'C got out of the tunnels just before they collapsed. Jacob and Jack were somewhere behind them."

Hammond didn't elaborate further. There was no need to spell out the probabilities to the stricken woman sitting before him.

"We have to go back," Sam replied urgently, jumping to her feet.

"The wormhole to the planet won't engage, Major. We can't go back."

"There's got to be a way!" Sam protested loudly and angrily, pacing the floor. "The Goa'uld will sometimes keep a Gate open so it can't be dialed, but they can't keep it up for very long. We should keep dialing until we get a lock. Or we could map out another planet with a Stargate close by, or call the Asgard, or the Nox?" Sam ranted.

"We're doing everything we can right now, Major. But it doesn't look good. I thought you should know what's going on. I'm very sorry."

Sam stood frozen to her spot in the middle of the room, thinking obsessively, her mind racing in a thousand different directions.

And then it hit her.

She had to find Narim.


"Jack, stay with me, fella," Jacob pleaded, watching the younger man's eyes fading in and out of focus.

"'m tired," he murmured indistinctly. Jacob had managed to slow down the bleeding considerably, but Jack was in and out of consciousness now from the pain and shock.

"Come on Jack, we'll be rescued soon, but you gotta hang in there. Hey, you know what you should do as soon as we get home and your leg's all fixed up? You should ask Sam out on a date, you know, a real date. Dinner and dancing. Flowers. She likes that kinda stuff."

Jack's eyes fluttered open and he rallied a little, just as Jacob had suspected he would.

"Carter 'n me, we're just..."

"Don't give me that crap, Jack. You think I can't see how much Sam likes you?"

Jacob watched Jack closely, hoping he could keep the injured man alert with this line of conversation.

"She does? You...can?" He said with skepticism.

"Sure, I'd even say it goes deeper than like," he continued with a gleam in his eye, deliberately baiting him. "Whenever we get together, it's sir this, and Colonel that, until I feel like I'm gonna be sick."

"Why, don't you like me?" Jack coughed out, his eyes closing again.

"Sure, Jack, you're okay, I guess, but Sam, now, she adores you. It gets kinda syrupy sweet sometimes."

"Adores... me..." Jack whispered with the faint shadow of a grin on his lips.

"I'm beginning to be sorry I brought this up," Jacob groaned.

"Tell me more. Wha's Carter say 'bout me..."

Jacob swallowed his pride and kept going, remembering the goal was to keep Jack in the land of the conscious.

"How about you tell me what you think about her? But you better not break her heart, soldier, or you'll have to answer to me."

"I don' think you could hurt me any worse...than this does," Jack slurred slowly, weakly. He was fading again.

Jacob had come close to giving up the effort to keep Jack talking when the wounded man's eyes flew open again, dark and intense and focused sharply on Jacob's face.

"I think she's... the most incredible person...amazing...best soldier ever ...worked with..." Jack paused, then went on.

"I... need... love Sam..."

With that, Jack's eyes really did close and Jacob could tell he had finally slipped into unconsciousness.

But not before his unexpected confession had turned Jacob's heart inside out.


Sam paused outside the door of Narim's temporary quarters at the SGC, composing herself before she saw him again. For years, she had kept the pleasant memory of his friendship, and she had trusted and thought highly of him. But his behavior towards her in New Tollana had changed all that, and now she didn't know if she could even trust him enough to do what she had come here to ask.

But she knew of no better alternative than what she had planned.

She knocked.

For a few long seconds there was still no noise at all, so when the door opened Sam was startled by the suddenness of being in Narim's presence. His eyes widened at the sight of her, and a poorly concealed sadness crept across his features, but he smiled hesitantly and opened the door wider.

"Samantha!" It was all he could say in his surprise. He hadn't expected her to seek him out.

"May I come in, Narim?" Sam asked boldly.

"Of course. Samantha, your eyes- you can see again!"

"Yes, my eyesight is almost as good as ever. I get tired easily but I am recovering quickly. Narim, I came here to ask you a favor, a big favor."

"Anything," he responded quickly, hoping she had forgiven him.

"My father and Colonel O'Neill were left on the Tok'Ra planet, and they are trapped below the surface in the abandoned tunnels. The Goa'uld arrived before they could be rescued. I want you to help me get them out."

"I am sorry. But how can I help?" Narim sounded confused.

"Back on New Tollana, you had the technology to pass through solid matter."

"Yes."

"Please tell me you still have some of those devices, Narim." Sam's control was beginning to crack in her desperation to get back her loved ones.

"Yes, I still have the technology. The wrist devices are small and were easy to bring with me. But I do not know how deep one could go with the devices. You want to use them to go into the tunnels and mount a rescue, do you not?"

"That's exactly what I want to do."

"The planet is now occupied by the Goa'uld?"

"I'm betting they will have left by now, when they realize that the Tok'Ra have escaped them. We can send a probe through first to see if there is a guard at the Gate."

"Does your General Hammond approve?"

"Narim, the truth is, he doesn't know yet. I wanted to talk to you first. But I know he will agree. There are no other options right now."

"Then we must go as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Narim."

Sam's voice broke in her profound relief that Jack and Jacob would now at least have a chance.

"Thank you so much," she repeated as a tear slid unchecked across her face.

Hammond gave his wholehearted approval to the plan, and Daniel and Narim immediately gated to the Alpha site to enlist the help of Teal'C. Meanwhile, the SGC sent a probe to the abandoned Tok'Ra planet and soon relayed an 'all clear' to the rescue party waiting to leave the Alpha site.

Less than an hour after Sam had approached Narim with her plan, Teal'C, Daniel and Narim were on the Tok'Ra base, working their way down the tunnels as far as they could before using the wrist devices. When they reached the collapsed part of the tunnels, Daniel hailed Jack and Jacob over the radio.

"Jack, do you read?"

"Come in, Jack," Daniel called several times.

The radio sputtered with static and to their joy, they got an answering hail.

"Daniel, that you?"

"Yes...Jack?"

"No, it's Jacob. Jack's here with me. He's alive, but he's injured and unconscious. How are you going to get us out of here?"

"Jacob, it is Narim." The alien's deep voice was received with a cold silence on the other end of the com.

"Narim, uh, hi."

"I have Tollan wrist devices with me. We will attempt to use them to pass through the rock layers and then exit the tunnels. Please stand by." Narim handed a device to Daniel and to Teal'C.

"Do not let go of the control lever until you are sure you have passed completely into an air pocket, or you may re-materialize inside solid rock."

"Right," Daniel muttered. Teal'C gave the Tollan an uncomfortable glance.

"Follow me."

The three took deep breaths and depressed the wrist controls. The rock face before them appeared to be nothing more than water. They essentially swam through it and emerged on the other side of the cave-in. Jack and Jacob were within sight at the end of the cavity they now stood in.

Jacob stood up painfully and limped over to them.

"I can't tell you how glad I am to see you," he said fervently. "Jack needs medical attention, fast. He's been unconscious for over an hour now."

Alarmed, Daniel hurried to the side of his friend and took in his injuries. Although concerned about Jack's grave condition, he was glad his friend was unaware, for moving him would have been painful otherwise. Teal'C carefully secured his legs and Daniel grabbed Jack around the chest, making sure the unconscious man's head flopped back onto his shoulder.

"Now we must do the same to leave this place. Hold down the lever on the device until we have passed completely through the rocks. Do not worry about O'Neill. As long as you are in physical contact with him the effect will transfer."

Daniel and Teal'C found it much more difficult to hold onto Jack while simultaneously depressing their control levers, but they managed to reverse their steps and were soon on the other side, heading for the Stargate. This time, they dialed directly to the SGC.

Sam paced the length of the Gateroom for the hundredth time. When the wormhole finally burst into life, she froze in midstride, wildly hopeful and yet dreading what she would see. She only dimly heard Walter call for a medical team, or felt Hammond's hand on her arm. She only had eyes for the two dusty, bloody figures on the ramp, one walking and one being carried by her teammates.

Jack. He was so pale, so still. No. It couldn't be.

"Sam!"

Her Dad was hugging her now, a strong, comforting, needy embrace. His mouth grazed her ear. She melted into tears when she heard his whispered words of assurance, "He's alive."