As Jack sat on one of the beds in the the SGC infirmary as his hand was re-bandaged by one of the nurses he explained to his friends, "Doc says nausea will be followed by tremors, convulsions and something called at...at..."
"Attaxia," Carter supplied quietly.
"Right that," O'Neill agreed as he gestured to her with his
bandaged hands. "Surface tissue, brain tissue and internal organs
will inflame and degrade, I believe that's called necro-some-sis. Now based on
the dose of radiation I got, all that will happen in the next 10-15 hours and if
I don't drown in my own fluids first, I will bleed to death and there is no
medical treatment to prevent that."
"Maybe not that we know of," Daniel refuted.
"Daniel, we don't go running to our off-world allies every time one life's
at stake. No good telling me that this
is any different because my life is no more valuable than anybody elses,"
Jack said. "I was just doing my job."
"It isn't your job, Jack!" Daniel objected. "It's not your job to die."
"It is, Daniel. Have you forgotten how we met? It's my job to save lives," Jack reminded him. "Even if I have to die to do it. If I had just stood there the thing would have exploded."
Daniel looked away from his friend as the memories of their first mission to Abydos flooded his mind for a moment. "What happened, Jack?" Daniel asked after a few minutes.
"Doesn't matter," Jack replied.
"Yes it does. You didn't try to sabotage anything," Daniel argued.
"There was an accident. I guess the geeks figured the government would hold
them responsible," Jack said before adding, "I guess they figured it
was easier to blame me."
"And you're okay with this?" Carter asked.
"No," O'Neill answered, "but there's not much I can do about
that."
"Yes, there is!" Daniel demanded.
"If they really want to blame me, denying it isn't going to change
anything. We've done something similar on this planet and almost blew ourselves
to Hell. I tried telling them that, they wouldn't listen. They're gonna build
that bomb and nothing we say is gonna stop them," Jack said with a hint of
defeat in his voice.
"Jack..." Daniel cajoled his friend.
"No, Daniel" Jack told him. "Let it go. Life's full of little ironies isn't it. When we met I wanted to die, and I didn't. Now that I want to live again. I'm going to die."
There was nothing Daniel could say to that statement so he turned away and stormed out of the infirmary.
"I'll talk to him, Jack" Hammond said as he squeezed the other man's shoulder. Jack nodded and watched as the general followed Daniel from the room. It didn't take Hammond long to track down the young archaeologist, but he decided to wait on confronting the other man until he'd checked on their progress in contacting their off-world allies. It was two hours before he entered Daniel's office with a quiet knock. "The Asgard are still not responding, Dr. Jackson. We've tried to reach Jacob Carter but last we heard he's on a mission to recover the last remaining undercover Tok'ra," he told Daniel.
"General, we do have intelligence on a sarcophagus," Daniel argued.
"SG-3's mission report 2 months ago?" Hammond asked.
"Yes, sir" Daniel replied.
Hammond sighed as he said, "You know better than anyone the negative
effects of that technology, Doctor."
"Jack's been in one of those things before. Once more won't hurt,"
Daniel objected. "We know we can cure the addiction."
Hammond replied, "SG-3's report clearly indicated the sarcophagus is
heavily guarded and likely retrieving it would result in significant casualties
which is why I did not order a recovery mission at the time."
"Sir..." Daniel begged the general.
"Daniel, please don't think you're alone in your feelings on this
matter," Hammond gently rebuked the younger man. It was as far as he
could go in stating his deep friendship with Jack and the anguish he felt at
what Jack was going through.
"Yes sir," Daniel acknowledged. "I'm...I'm going to check
on Sam."
Hammond nodded and watched Jackson take off knowing he had failed the younger man. He hoped that Sam could do better at getting past the Air Force indoctrination about expressing emotions to give Daniel the support he needed. They needed each other's support right now. Sam would no doubt take this harder even than Daniel. Hammond closed his eyes as he let himself acknowledge just what Sam and Jack had given up for the sake of Earth and their respective careers. A decision he had no doubt they were regretting now.
As Daniel entered Sam's lab he asked, "Got anything?"
"Well I've been doing some calculations," she explained as she hugged
herself as if to ward away a chill.
"Anything to help Jack?" he asked pointedly as he came to stand in
front of her workstation.
Sam sighed. "I wish. Based on the amount of radiation the Colonans
say Jack was exposed to, I've estimated the amount of energy that would have
been generated by the experiment," she said.
"And?"
"The potential's astronomical, Daniel. Even a very small amount of
the unstable element they're working with emitted a pulse of energy far greater
than anything I've ever believed possible. Much more than weapons grade naquadah
would have. It would require a massive nuclear reaction to even approach this
level," she told him with more than a small amount of excitement.
"So?" Daniel asked confusedly
"This could be the missing link we've been looking for in terms of
generating the kind of energy I believe is necessary to create a hyperspace
window. Or to generate and sustain the kind of shields the Goa'uld have been
using to protect their ships. Daniel, we have to get some of this
element," Sam said.
"I don't like it," Daniel argued. "What they're doing, Sam."
"It's none of our business, Daniel" Sam argued.
"How can you say that!?" Daniel gasped. "Jack's going to die because of what they're doing."
"Yes, he is" Sam agreed blinking back the tears in her eyes. "But he's not going to die for nothing, Daniel. I won't let that happen. All this...what he's going through. It has to mean something, Daniel."
"Let's take it up with the general," Daniel suggested. After five years working together, they both knew that neither of them were likely to change their opinions about the naquadria.
As soon as they exited the solitude of the lab Sam visibly straightened as she sniffed away the tears threatening to fall and forced herself to become the perfect image of an Air Force officer. Daniel sighed inwardly as he let his supporting hand drop. 'Damn the military,' he thought. 'Damn the regs. She can't even grieve for him!'
Twenty minutes later, Sam finished explaining her tests to Hammond as they sat at the conference table in the briefing room.
"By now their government believes Jack was trying to sabotage
their research," the general reminded them.
"It's a lie. They're using the colonel as a scapegoat," Sam argued.
"Still you said he was vocal in his disapproval of their project before the
accident. None of this bodes well for diplomatic relations," Hammond
agreed.
"Why are you talking about diplomatic relations? This is Jack's life,"
Daniel reminded them needlessly.
"Daniel, I know how you feel, but I cannot stress enough how valuable this
element could be," Sam reminded him.
"I'll draft a letter to the Colonan leader.."
"General, you cannot capitulate to these people. What they're
doing..." Daniel argued.
"Their government doesn't know the truth," Hammond reminded him.
"So we tell them," Daniel suggested.
"They will have little reason to believe us over their own people
especially when what we're forcing them to admit would be a major embarrassment.
It would put them at too great a disadvantage in further negotiations,"
Hammond said.
"Sir, you cannot admit Jack is guilty," Daniel plead.
"Give me some credit, Daniel. I will tell them that we did not order any such
action and do not condone its obvious intentions. Both of which are true.
Hopefully we can lay the groundwork for further diplomatic negotiations which
will eventually result in an amicable trade for the naqadria. I'm ordering you
to deliver the letter," he told Carter.
"Yes, sir" she acknowledged.
