Jack walked down the corridor, gun relaxed against his chest, listening to the echo of his footfalls against the curved walls. He came around the corner and slowed considerably, knowing what was lying just around the next bend. Steeling himself for the sight, he trucked on and felt his breath hitch when the boots came into view.

She'd fallen in the midst of battle, doing what she did best; saving everyone else. He dropped reverently to one knee, the drone of the engines filling his ears as he looked down at her slack face. She was beautiful, even now. Even after everything that had happened.

Someone else had closed her eyes - or had they closed on their own? He didn't know - but he brushed his hand through her hair. There was something in the back of his throat, something clutching at his lungs. He slid his foot back, removing himself a little from the scene and looking at her from arm's length.

The sight of her lying there, dead... He swallowed sharply and remembered the tests. The za'tarc test. "Keep it in the room" and all that, but... she felt the same way. He still felt a flutter in his chest when he thought of that. She feels the same way. After all this time. We can't do anything about it, but... there it is. Take from it what you will.

And now. Nothing. They'd done nothing.

'Doing nothing' was the smart route, sure. But... he was looking at her dead body and wondering just how in the hell regulations made sense.

Footsteps sounded in the corridor and he composed himself, rising and bringing his gun up. Just in case there were a few Jaffa they hadn't taken to the brig. Carter came around the bend a few seconds later and he relaxed. "Sir," she said. "Teal'c is in the tel'tac with the other... Teal'c. One of them took out Cronus."

"One of them?"

She nodded. "They're both hurt pretty badly. I figured we could get the specifics later." She glanced at the floor behind him, her eyes dancing across the body of her fallen, robotic counterpart before focusing on him again. "What were you doing, Sir?"

"Giving this place another going-over. Make sure we didn't miss any Jaffa."

"Right," she said, nodding in a tone that said she didn't believe him but was willing to let it go.

He swallowed, brushing his hand across his lips. "Well, I should... go tell... Darian's people that Cronus is dead. Is his body...?"

"Yeah, right in front of the command chair."

"Apropos," he muttered. "I'll go tell Darian that his people can look for themselves."

He started to walk away, stopped by her voice. "Sir." He turned. "Your body... the, uh... body of your robotic counterpart... is down there. I think you should brace yourself for the sight."

He nodded. "I'll be fine," he assured her. He turned and walked away, not adding that it would be far easier to look upon his own corpse than it had been to see hers.