Chapter 14 – Companionship

Sam looked down at Valin, giving the boy to whom she was an honorary Aunt a big grin, which he returned happily. Within moments they had caught up to Luke, Mara and the guys as they trooped through the corridors of the giant ziggurat, Sam feeling completely at home in the ancient structure.

"The temples were built by an extinct race – the Massassi – at the instruction of Exar Kun, a powerful Dark Lord of the Sith," she heard Luke telling them, feeling the touch of sadness in his mind at the reminder of the people that had been lost because of Kun.

"What is a Sith? You keep talking about them but…" Jack trailed off and shrugged.

"Well, 'sith', in English around the time of Queen Elizabeth the First meant 'since'; I don't know if that has any relation or not…" Daniel commented, his linguist's mind going into overdrive.

"Probably not," Sam told him, still holding Valin's hand as they walked along. "Humans have inhabited this galaxy for millennia. If there wasn't the evidence on Earth to show that we evolved there, and a lack of evidence to show human evolution here I'd say that we were moved from this galaxy to ours."

"Is it not possible that the humans of this galaxy were transplanted from the race of which the girl who was frozen near the Antarctic Stargate-"

"But they didn't evolve any further than the stage they are at now?" Sam finished for him. "That's pretty much what I figured."

"The one that gave us all the disease that…" Jack asked, internally flinching at the memory of his cure for that, and what it led to.

"…Yeah." Sam told him, a pang of guilt stabbing at her. Luke and Mara exchanged a confused look, silently communing with each other, Dentralla keeping silent, knowing that if it was important Sam would tell her.

"What?" Daniel asked, not catching on.

"Oh, you were dead at the time." Jack told him dismissively.

"Dead?" Mara asked, her eyebrows creeping into her hairline.

"Ascended," Daniel corrected, before briefly explaining what had happened.

"That's why you always made bad jokes about death 'not being all its cracked up to be'," Luke commented, nodding as several comments he had thought strange at the time clicked into place.

"Sounds like you're almost as good as farm boy here at getting into trouble."

"Farm boy?" Jack echoed with amusement, even as Sam commented.

"Oh, you have no idea. Whatever you do, don't let them and Luke go anywhere together." Sam gave a mock shudder even as Daniel swatted her arm, only to find that she had seen in coming through the Force and caught it while it was still inches away from her.

Valin chose that moment to run ahead. He had recognised where they were going and, bored of the conversation, decided to run ahead the last few feet to one of the doors in the corridor, key the panel to open it and let himself in.

"These used to be the old fighter pilot quarters when it was a rebel base," Luke explained as he moved aside to let Sam into her quarters first. She stepped in to find it exactly how she had left it, only with a few extra layers of dust. She called Valin out and stepped back into the corridor to where Luke was keying open the room opposite.

"It may take a bit of cleaning; they haven't been used in 20-odd years, but you can take the spare bunks out, make a little more room, rearrange as you like," the Jedi master told them as Jack inspected the room, silently claiming it as his.

They were also shown to the rooms next to Sam and Jack's, which Daniel and Teal'c claimed, respectively.

Valin tugged impatiently on Sam's sleeve, "Sa-am, I'm hungry," he whined.

"Alright, we'll go eat in a few minutes, I promise," she murmured to them as Luke finished explaining a few things to the guys.

A short while later and they entered the Mess Hall, several of the other students welcoming Sam back with cheery smiles and greeting her friends warmly.

Moving over to one of the food synthesisers, Valin rushing ahead while her three friends trailed behind, drinking in the sights of the world that they had been thrust into.

Dentralla moved to another area of the 'kitchen' area, heading for the cold store that housed the raw meat. When they sat down at one of the tables, Jack gave the bowl of thick stew a baleful look and prodded it with his two-pronged 'fork' as the others dug in with gusto, Teal'c and Daniel being a little more careful than Sam and Valin.

"What is it?" he asked as a piece of what he hoped was vegetable (it was purple) bobbed to the surface."

"Gornt stew. Simple, nothing special but it doesn't taste bad," Sam told him between mouthfuls, tearing off a piece of bread simultaneously.

"Gornt?"

"You know, Jack, you should just try it, it's not all that bad; we've had worse."

"If we'd come at a normal meal time then someone would have done a decent meal, but we're a bit early for lunch."

"But…Gornt?" he asked again, waving his fork for emphasis.

"It's like beef." Sam suddenly grinned wickedly as she saw Dentralla strolling over. "Of course, you could always share Dentralla's," she told him. The Wookie let out a sharp growl that very clearly meant 'get your own' as Jack looked over at her plate.

"Uh…you know what…I think I'll just eat this," he said, seeing the raw meat. "At least I know that this is dead." Dentralla urfed a laugh at him before digging happily into her meal. They ate in silence for a few moments before Valin piped up, his bowl clear.

"Sam can I-"

"Sure, as long as you show Teal'c how to get some more." Valin clambered off the bench and very carefully put his bowl in the washer unit before darting back and grabbing Teal'c hand to drag him over to the synth units and patiently describing to him how to work them as he got some pudding for himself.

"Can everyone here do that? The telepathic bit?" Daniel asked her, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"First, it's not telepathic. We can sense emotions, feelings, intents and the like, but not actual thoughts. But yes, most of them can, to varying degrees." She could see both Jack and Daniel squirm at the idea and bit back a smile. "They don't though, most of the time. Only a vague sense of whether you're happy, sad, tired…hungry; like if we were reading body language, but more accurate."

"Oh."

Valin and Teal'c walked back over, Teal'c bowing his head deeply as he spoke.

"Thank you for your assistance, Valin," he told the small boy, who delightedly returned the bow of the head before climbing up on the bench again.

Sam remained silent as she finished off her meal, her mind whirring as she thought. She wanted to ask them about the others back on Earth and her Dad, but she was afraid of what the answer would be.

"…Earth to Sam? Come in Sam?"

"What?" She blinked, looking up at Jack, who had been waving a hand in front of her face and calling her.

"I said penny for your thoughts?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about…people…"

"Dad?" he asked, knowing that she would ask eventually.

Sam nodded, "And Cassie and Janet and Hammond…"

"Well, Dad's fine, last we heard which was…oh a few weeks ago. George…tried to retire but couldn't rest easy knowing that there was someone else running the SGC. Cass is currently following in her mother's footsteps and Janet…" Jack smirked and his eyes flickered towards Daniel for a brief second. "Janet snagged herself a husband." Sam was suddenly torn between elation at knowing her friends were okay, and doing well and grief that she had missed so much.

"She did? Who? Anyone I kn- DANIEL!" she cut herself off, suddenly realising why Jack was smirking and Daniel had a little grin playing at the edges of his mouth. Daniel broke into a grin and nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah…she's now Doctor Lieutenant Colonel Janet Fraser-Jackson."

"Well…congratulations!" Sam grinned, but it didn't quite hide the sadness that tinged her eyes. They continued to chat for a while as Teal'c and Dentralla finished their huge helpings of food, Jack entertaining the increasingly fidgety Valin.

"Sam?" Sam turned at the small, high voice that suddenly called her name from halfway across the large room.

"Tekli!" she greeted the small, large-eared Chadra-fan with a smile, inviting her to sit with them. When the diminutive healer reached them, though, she launched into a tirade at her.

"Why did you go running off like that? You had us all worrying about you! I didn't know if you had caught the virus on that planet and gone primitive, and flying your ship into a black hole or something," Tekli berated her.

"I'm sorry, Tekli, but I had something I had to do." Sam gave her an even stare, for a moment before turning and gesturing each of her friends in turn. "This is Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill and Teal'c. I followed the outbreaks of the virus back and found them at Telk's base."

"These are the friends that you thought you would never see again," Tekli stated in reply. "I am Tekli," She greeted them. A chorus of 'hello's followed. "If you will excuse me, I need to eat before I return to train with Master Cilghal. It is good to see you again, Sam."

"You too, Tekli. We'll probably be in the med centre later." Sam sensed, more than heard Jack's muttered 'for crying out loud'.

"Good-bye."


"Tell me, Sam, why exactly do we have to do this?"

"Firstly, because you really don't want to get something like the Mandalorian 'flu, or any of the other immunisable diseases in the galaxy; secondly, because unless I'm much mistaken, Teal'c can only have a small amount of Tretonin with him, and we don't know how long you're going to be here."

"Do you have an alternate treatment to Tretonin?" Teal'c asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I don't know; that's why we're here to see Cilghal." The three men turned to look curiously at Cilghal when the Mon Calamari entered the room and greeted Sam.

They had spent several hours working on taking the spare bunks out of the rooms and getting them as comfortable as possible, with Valin helping as much as he could, and being entertained by Jack when they needed him out of the way before he had run off to his own room and his parents.

Cilghal took one look around the packed room and promptly ordered everyone bar Sam and Teal'c out of the room, suggesting that they wait in the medical lounge, which they reluctantly agreed to before she started work on carrying out various tests.

"So Teal'c has no immune system…it is being maintained by a drug called Tretonin, of which you have very little," Cilghal re-affirmed, looking at the charts from the tests she had just run, having given them the all-in-one hypo spray immunisation drug.

"That is correct," Teal'c told her sombrely. Sam flicked a brief smile at him as Cilghal continued to read the charts, analysing the information on the Datapad minutely.

"How did you end up with this condition?" she then asked, lifting her salmon-pink head to regard him carefully. Teal'c's eyes flicked almost imperceptibly towards Sam, who gave an equally discreet nod of her head.

"When I was young, I underwent a ritual known to my people as Primta. I was given the ability to carry an infant parasite known as a Goa'uld within me in exchange for health and long life. It is the means by which the Goa'uld enslave my people." Cilghal blinked her large eyes in shock for a moment before swivelling her right eye to look at Sam.

"When I said old friends…they're my team, from my home planet." Sam paused, letting that little bit of information sink in for a moment. As ever, the Jedi ambassador cum healer took it all in her stride. "From another Galaxy." Sam's added comment, however, wasn't quite as easy to believe, and Cilghal stretched out with her senses to detect whether or not Sam was playing some kind of joke on her; another example of the woman's often obscure sense of humour.

Sam, for once, did not immediately slam her mental guards into place, instead letting the other into her mind to see that she was not lying, before she gave her a brief explanation.

"This explains a great many things," Cilghal said once Sam had finished her explanation, Teal'c remaining silent the entire time. "You were once taken over by one of these parasites?"

"Kind of – I was taken over by a Tok'ra who was trying to escape an assassin. When Jolinar – the Tok'ra – died to save me, she left a few souvenirs such as-"

"The protein marker and the element in your blood."

"Yes; Naquada." Sam shrugged, "I've sometimes wondered about whether the Naquada in my blood could be related to my strength in the Force…it would explain part of how the Goa'uld control many of their devices."

"It could be. Is this also what left you unable t-"

"So…back to Teal'c," she cut Cilghal off sharply, obviously wanting to change the subject. Teal'c raised an eyebrow at her odd behaviour, but knew better than to ask.

"Of course. I will have to check with experts and do some research, but I'm afraid that I do not know of any cure for this. It is not a common enough ailment for there to have been much research or publicity into any cures. If nothing comes up then I will try a healing trance, but I don't know. How much…tretonin? Do you have left?" Cilghal ran a hand over her smooth scalp in a gesture Sam had long ago recognised as being a sign of frustration, most probably at being unable to help.

"I have enough with me for three weeks…four if I limit the dose that I take."

"I will do my best. I will need to run more tests, though, I am afraid, not for another couple of days."

"Thanks Cilghal." Those simple words conveyed Sam's gratitude to the somewhat empathic water-loving alien as they left, and not only for her help in looking for a cure for Teal'c.


Word spread through Chariot of the Gods like wildfire and Lord Hetarn – as he had taken to being called – had garnered a healthy respect from the men that crewed his fleet.

Two in particular were the once-rebellious Shivral Telk, and the once dubious Captain Joshar. Both stood in front of him now, waiting to find out why he had called them to his quarters.

Joshar stood stiffly 'at ease'; his hands clasped behind his back and feet shoulders width apart, chin up, staring unseeingly ahead. Telk, on the other hand, was managing a sloppy rendition of the captain's posture, made all the more difficult by the tendency to flinch and quiver whenever he saw or heard Hetarn move.

"Captain Joshar," he began, stopping his idle pacing to stand in front of the ship's captain. "I want a squad of your best troops, heavily armed for a planet side mission. Standard Forest Battle Armour, including speeder bikes, two AT-ST walkers, anti-grav transport pad. You will need to take engineering specialists with you, the exact specifications are all stored on this datachip, along with the information on what it is that you will be retrieving." The smallest flicker of surprise was all that passed across the captain's face.

"Yes, sir. When will this be needed by?"

"How long do you think you will need?" Joshar could not control his face this time, and the surprise was clearly visible. Imperial Commanders didn't ask their subordinates how much time they needed, or advice…they commanded arrogantly. Hetarn was no different. Used to be no different, Joshar corrected himself, thinking of the man who had risen only as far as he had because of his skills as a tactician.

"I'm not sure, sir. Two days, three at most. I can give you more accurate estimates after I've looked the data over, and conferred with the engineers."

"Very well. Dismissed."

"Sir." Joshar saluted, about-turned and marched crisply off, his fearful respect for Hetarn transforming into the true respect of a subordinate to a man he knows to be superior in more than just rank.

Hetarn waited until the door had slid shut before addressing the wreck that was Telk.

"Now, we must address the issue of the pitiful humans that escaped after coming through your Chappa'ai. You have the security footage?"

"Y-yes, my Lord," he stammered, holding them out to Hetarn. Hetarn waved him over to a console, ordering him to display the holo's.

"Yes, it was as I thought. SG-1," he sneered. "They will attempt to return home, of course, and for that, they will need the Chappa'ai," he mused aloud. "They know that my forces are far superior to that of the pitiful Jedi that they have taken refuge with." He stalked over to a console and keyed the holo-units that could give him a full view of the bridge and the command data, bringing up a large representation of the Galaxy. He walked over to a small, pulsing red shrouded sphere and peered at it for a moment.

He smiled a twisted, humourless expression that looked out of place on his face.

"Tell me, if you are the Jedi, and you discover something of great importance, such as the Chappa'ai, where would you go for support, and backing for an assault to gain control of it?"

"I, I don't know, my Lord."

"I didn't expect you to. I want the best bounty hunter in this Galaxy to take these people out," he demanded, moving to the planet that he had keyed up. "He will know nothing of why he is killing them, only that he will be paid well.

"Do not fail this, Telk," he told him, handing the man a Datachip and dismissing him with a wave of his arm. He did not need to threaten him; he had already experienced Hetarn's displeasure once.

Once Telk was gone, Hetarn summoned his head of intelligence.


Jack awoke from his light slumber slowly, not entirely sure of what it was that had disturbed his sleep. There was no urging pressure on his bladder, no insistent beeping from the small black comm unit on his bedside unit…nothing. Now fully awake, he knew that there was little to no chance of him getting back to sleep that night. It could have been a result of the slightly longer 28-hour days on this planet, he thought as he rolled over to lie on his back, staring unseeingly at the dark ceiling above him, but he knew that was not it. It was far more likely his own worries about getting back to Earth, or the lack of finding any cure or treatment for Teal'c so far. Feeling suddenly claustrophobic in the large room, he rolled off the bunk and pulled on trousers, T-shirt, shirt, jacket, and boots before hitting the door release and making his way outside.

Glancing only once at the closed, dark door opposite his, he found his thoughts turning to the recently rediscovered member of his team as his feet trod their own path through the ancient, empty corridors of the ziggurat.

Sam had been unusually quiet over the last few days, judging, at least, by her behaviour and manner of the first few days after their arrival in this galaxy. She had seemed somewhat introspective, thoughtful, and melancholy. Jack's suspicions that something was not right with her had been confirmed the evening before when a tall, mildly angry tower of fur had planted itself in front of Jack, demanding to know what they had done to upset Sam this time. Well, it had taken several repetitions and the help of a student who understood Shyrriwook to discover what Dentralla was growling about, but he'd managed it eventually.

Jack looked up, surprised to find himself standing on the large, flat expanse of the great temple's top, but even more so, he was surprised to see a lonely figure stood with her back to him, arms crossed and looking out over the forest canopy.

"Sam?" he asked, walking towards her.

"Hello, Jack." She didn't turn around as she replied, and he came to stand beside her, looking out across the dark forest with her.

"And here I thought that it was just us old men that couldn't sleep at night."

"Old men and overactive scientists." Sam had mused briefly, when she first realised that Jack was subconsciously following her up here, whether it had been such a good idea to teach him to use that minute potential he had to sense things…as a kind of an extension of his black ops awareness skills. She knew, however, that it had been…not least because it stopped him bugging her for awhile when he was bored.

With Teal'c with Cilghal, and Daniel absorbing the history of another galaxy into his collection and learning from Tionne, Jack had been left at a loose end. So, naturally, he'd decided to 'bug his favourite super-being' until she had been forced to attend several meetings with the Jedi. She had finished with most of the tedious debriefing sessions now, though, and knew of the perfect way to entertain Jack, as well as giving him something useful to which he could apply the intelligence that she knew he had locked away in his head.

"Uh…demi-cred for your thoughts?" he asked quietly, showing that he had already picked up on some of the local lingo.

Sam snorted and told him, "They're not worth that much."

"Come on, Sam, even I can see that something is bugging you."

"I'm fine."

"And I'm the almighty Lord Rhode of Dhendron."

"Its just…I'd accepted the fact that the one thing I wanted more than anything else was to go home, and that it was never going to happen, and now you're all here, and there's a chance that I could go home.

"I'd accepted that, but now there's a hope that I might see my Dad and Janet and Cassie and Mark and my niece and nephew again; to go home." Sam could sense Jack's happiness at that idea; she could almost reach out and feel his anticipation at showing them who they'd found lurking in another galaxy and it made what she felt so much harder.

"But?…I'm sensing a but here," Jack commented after a moment's tense silence. Sam finally turned to face him, her eyes glittering with reflected starlight and full of unshed tears.

"But…this is my home now."

"Ah."

"I gave up that life, I moved on when I was left here and I made a new life for myself. I can't just abandon these people now as much as I could never have just abandoned you back then."

"So, what, just because you moved on we don't count any more?" he bit back harshly. "Dad, Cass, none of them matter any more?"

"Of course they do! And I want to see them, I really do, but I can't just abandon who I've become. I'm a different person now…do you really think I'd fit in back on Earth? God…I get nervous going into the 'fresher without a weapon, how do you think I'd handle walking around back on Earth, trying to have a normal life?" The trace of tears had vanished now, replaced by an iron emptiness.

Jack clenched his teeth, the muscles of his jaw contracting visibly and he turned his gaze out to the dark forest. He could see her point, could understand where she was coming from. He had done the same thing when he was stuck on Edora, but the difference being that Sam had had 6 years to reinforce that. He started to try to explain his understanding to her but she cut him off with a nod, showing that she knew what he meant, after he stumbled over the words. They lapsed into silence once again, the softness returning to Sam's face.

"Y'know I was angry at all of you for years without even realising it. It's only recently that I've been able to come to realise that and deal with it. Apparently my subconscious mind thought that you should have saved me, or come for me, or something, but you never did."

"I'm sorry."

"I'd worked my ass off to get you back from a million and one places and, even when I was told it was impossible, I'd found a way to do it." Her eyes were glittering once again. Apparently, she hadn't dealt with those feelings as thoroughly as she'd thought.

She looked up into his shadowed face, arms still folded across her chest and told him, "But you never did."

Jack stared at her a moment, guilt and pain ripping through him at the sight of her so stricken and hurt, the pain a gaping wound held open by years of bitterness and anger. Still the tears did not fall.

He suddenly took a half pace forwards, hands gently grasping either side of her face as he tilted it towards him and kissed her, pouring all of his feelings since she had been taken into it.

Surprised by the suddenness of the kiss, Sam did not react except to let her arms drop to her sides. All of a sudden, she was filled with a torrent of feelings and impressions…the pain of a blaster bolt to the arm, agony, guilt, self-loathing, anger, the pain of knuckles split on a concrete wall, fatigue, worry, the oblivion of an alcoholic pit, love for her, for Daniel, for Teal'c, Cassie…everyone who mattered. There was more information there than she could comprehend, and the list went on.

Jerking back to reality, Sam lifted her hands and pushed him away, stumbling back away from him, a shocked look on her face. Jack looked a little surprised too, and not at her rejection of him.

"I…sorry, I shouldn't…" They both belatedly realised that the tears had finally fallen, streaming silently down her face.

At this realisation, she gave an almighty sob and slumped to her knees, finally able to let go of her anger, of the darkness that tried to clutch at her heart and claim her soul.

"Oh, god…" was all Jack muttered as he darted forwards to catch her and envelope her in a warm, comforting hug.

After what seemed like an age, Sam lifted her face and Jack smoothed her hair back from her face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," he told her softly, puzzled when she gave a soft chuckle.

"You didn't, not really," she explained what the Force vision had shown her and his eyes widened, tinged with embarrassment at the realisation that she had – in a way – seen him at his weakest.

Keeping her eyes locked with his, Sam broached the other side of what had just happened, resolve evident in her face.

"I can't do this, not now," she told him, knowing that he understood what she meant by 'this'. Jack nodded, not trusting his voice as all of his thoughts of the first few days, when he mistakenly believed that she was with Corran returned full-force and he started to tell himself that she'd never returned his feelings.

Sam resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she sensed that particular train of thought getting up to speed and de-railed it before it could really get going. "Jack, I know that I used to love you, god knows I tried not to, but I'm a different person now. I have to get to know you again, to know that it's me that feels this, it's not just an echo of the person I used to be." She had an odd sense of déjà vu as she said this, feeling the echoes in her situation with Martouf and Jolinar. "I don't even know if you'll like me any more," she told him, 90 jokingly.

"I know," he told her, understanding the emotions she was broadcasting more than the words. Jack may not have had anything more than a minute skill and 10 minutes worth of lessons on reading people through the Force, but he had over 5 decades of reading body language. He gave her a wry grin, "Its nice to dream, though."

"Humph," she snorted, returning her gaze out to the forest and the slightly pinkening horizon. "Even six years ago, we would still have had to get to know each other better, outside of the SGC. It's only in holo-drama's that the man and woman can just realise their love for each other and jump straight into bed together."

"Right. Bad holo-drama's and any man's fantasy." Good old sarcasm, great for any uncomfortable, intense emotional conversation.

"Who says it's only the men?"

Jack was torn between laughing and letting his jaw drop to the floor, settling instead for smirking to himself.

Stretching languidly, Sam squinted at the horizon for a moment before gracefully crossing her legs underneath her and sitting on the cold stone of the temple, patting the floor beside her. He gave a quizzical look as he plonked himself down, knees clicked noisily.

"You'll see," was her cryptic reply. Drawing his knees up, legs crossed at the ankle and arms wrapped around them, he settled himself and fell into silent contemplation of their recent talk.

It wasn't long until his patience was rewarded.

A spectacular array of colours crackled and sparked through the atmosphere, dancing across the sky as light was refracted through ice droplets in the air.

It was only then that he realised that he was cold, the enormous stones of the temple having given off the last of their retained heat before the sky was alight with a spectacle that he could only liken to the Aurora Borealis.