Lightning

"Movie-verse. Jeff reminisces the rumors he heard about a certain mountain in Colorado so many years ago. Could they actually be true? (Crossover with Stargate SG-1)"

After SG-1 encounter one of their most unwanted enemies, they have to make a big sacrifice in order to escape – but when they reach Earth, nothing appears to be the same. Up in Thunderbird 5, John notices the high-leveled energy outburst in Colorado, but Jeff has his doubts about what happened. Could the rumors he heard so many years ago actually be true?

Disclaimer: Thunderbirds: The Movie is © Universal Pictures. Stargate SG-1 is © MGM.

Author's note: As of June 1st, this story is completely revised, double checked and I've also added a bonus chapter, mostly because I wasn't satisfied with the original ending, but also because you, my readers 'n reviewers thought that the original ending was too abrupt. The new ending, however, is not just simply chapter one re-posted, as I think some people may have misunderstood - to fully comprehend it, you'll have to read very carefully. Anyway, I truly hope you like the renewed version of Lightning. Enjoy! –May Portland.

Part I

WOOSH-

As the wormhole had roared to life, and General Hammond's 'SG-1, you have a go' sounded all over the gate room, the four members of Stargate Command's all-famous team walked into the watery liquid.

But what SG-1 didn't know, was that one their most unwanted enemies was standing at the other side of the gate, not knowing what to expect when the chevrons of the Stargate at their side started to encode, though no one from his squadron had dialed any planet. So, it had to be an incoming traveler…

As the man yelled, "Guards!", his men responded quickly and formed a line directly opposite the gate, aimed and ready to fire.

The men waited patiently for the chevrons to lock, and when the wormhole formed its usual watery liquid, they tightened their grip on their weapons and their fingers were aching to shoot.

"Oh, boy…" was the first thing Dr. Daniel Jackson, SG-1's translator and archeologist, let out. "That doesn't look very good."

Jack, or Colonel Jonathan O'Neill, the officer in command of SG-1, let out a grunt. "No kidding."

Suddenly, he saw the face of his best friend ever, Apophis. "Oh, well…" he sighed. "When you think things can't get worse…" But Jack stopped talking as soon as he saw the face of his fellow team member Daniel, full of anger and hatred. Jack wasn't really surprised though. In fact, he'd expected something like this would eventually happen. Hell, he'd probably do the same thing if your mortal enemy – in this case Apophis – had imprisoned hiswife, and then unwillingly used her as a host for a Goa'uld.

Jack sighed. With an entire unit of serpent guards, the situation was pretty hopeless. Apophis however, was on the contrary to Jack, very pleased.

"And I thought this day couldn't get any better. If that isn't the infamous Tau'ri and the shol'va Teal'c walking straight into my hands."

"You know us, anything to make you happy," Jack bit back, while assessing their situation.

Twenty serpent guards, one Apophis, four SG-1 members. Hiding places? He heard the Stargate behind him disengage. Make that one. One problem though. We need to get closer to the DHD, instead of backing away. Problem two: how are we supposed to get the gate up and running while we're surrounded by a bunch of trigger-happy serpent guards?

But Apophis interrupted Jack's deep thoughts by giving the solution to all of Jack's problems, though he was unaware of that, of course.

"You will make a perfect asset to my plan. You there!" he yelled, while pointing at Daniel. "Give us the address of the Tau'ri world."

Damn, Jack thought, as he heard Daniel say 'No'. There goes my plan.

But instead of becoming even more desperate, a new plan developed itself in his mind.

If I dial Earth, I can give Daniel, Sam and Teal'c the chance to escape. But before any of the serpent guards can follow, I'll attack Apophis hand on hand, so that the guards will focus their attention on me. Hopefully, I'll buy enough time for the Stargate to disengage, or at least for closing the iris, before the serpent guards will continue their pursuit.

But even before he had the chance to say 'I'll do it', Teal'c said the exact same thing, and when he looked to Jack, the Colonel knew that he was also planning to do the exact same thing.

He was about to say something along the lines of 'No Teal'c, damnit, don't sacrifice yourself like that, I'm the damn leader of SG-1, it's my damn duty to sacrifice myself in order to save my team!', but realized that it would shatter the entire plan, so Jack decided to stay quiet, when Teal'c dialed Earth and the wormhole behind him came to life. He turned to Carter, and she nodded, to show that she understood what they were planning to do. She pressed the GDO button for SG-1's iris signal and knew this was the moment. He looked at Teal'c, who also nodded.

"On my mark…" Jack whispered. "Three, two, one… NOW!" he yelled, and jumped into the Stargate.

While Jack, Daniel and Sam traveled across the galaxy, Teal'c grabbed Apophis around his waist and threw him on the ground. The serpent guards were, to say at least a bit confused. Neither of them really knew how to react – some of them quickly grabbed Teal'c, helping Apophis on his feet again, but the major part of the group decided to open fire – on the gate.

One could say that opening fire on an active Stargate wasn't such a bright idea. Especially not, when a couple of bad-aimed shots from several staff weapons hit the ring itself. The Stargate started to shudder violently, and electric sparks were appearing all around it. Teal'c, held tightly by two of his former colleagues, could only watch, when smoke started coming out of the gate, and it finally disengaged – before any of the serpent guards could step into the gate. He made a quick wish that everything was fine with his fellow team members, before someone knocked him unconscious.

Somewhere in the middle of the South-Pacific ocean, on an isolated island surrounded by bright blue water and white beaches, and filled with all sorts of tropical plants, was the Tracy residence, where life was peaceful and quiet.

The many occupants of the house were either relaxing in the sun, swimming in the pool, eating a sandwich – or in Brains' case, designing some high-tech multi-functional tool.

Jeff took a bite of his fruit-salad sandwich, and enjoyed the moment of true peace. He saw three of his sons, Scott, Gordon and Virgil, swimming – no, wait – trying to drown each other in the swimming pool and Alan and Tin-Tin both relaxing in the sun on two comfortable chairs. Jeff looked up at the sky. His last son was up there, in a geostationary orbit around Earth. Sometimes he felt sorry for John, that he had to miss moments like these. Instead of having fun with his brothers, or in this case fighting for his life in the pool, he was sitting there all alone, watching the stars and events that happened on this planet. The satellite had practically become his second home – John spent more time in number 5 than down on Earth. Jeff was glad though, that one of his sons had volunteered to go up there, several months at a time, because he was sure that he couldn't make such a heart-wrenching decision on his own, sending one of his five sons to outer space. Oh yes, of course they would all be willing to help their father out, but none of them would actually be looking forward on spending such a long time in the satellite-station, all alone.

About 7500 kilometers higher, John didn't have time to think about that. He was just having his lunch, when something on the console desk started to blink. John sighed, and put his sandwich away. He took his place behind the consoles.

"Let's see what we got here…" he said, while trying to figure out what exactly had interrupted his lunch.

He soon found out that there had been a weird occurrence, somewhere in North-America. Not exactly sure what it was, he decided to contact his father. "Thunderbird 5 to Tracy Island. Dad, come in."

As soon as Jeff realized there was an incoming message from the son he had just been thinking about, he rushed to his office, and turned on the monitor.

"Thunderbird 5, this is Tracy Island. What's up, John?" Jeff asked, when he saw his second eldest son appearing on screen.

"Hey, dad. A few minutes ago, radars picked up an unusually high energy outburst somewhere in Colorado."

"How high?"

John smiled. "Believe me when I say very high. Anyway, I just did some research, and the mountain where I picked up the outburst, seems to have been related to some top secret USAF-projects."

Now, Jeff was a bit confused. "Hold on, John – so this energy outburst came from the top of a mountain-"

"Negative." John interrupted his father. "It didn't come from the top. It was from underneath the mountain."

"And it's related to some old USAF-projects." Jeff stated. He didn't like the suggestions this statement raised.

"That's right," his son continued. "I don't know yet what exactly happened and what those projects were, but I'm busy researching…"

"FAB, John. Let us know when you find out anything else. Until then, we'll be on stand-by."

"FAB, Dad. Thunderbird 5 out."

When the screen went blank, Jeff didn't move. John had just confirmed something, Jeff didn't want to be involved in. Not now, not back then. Back in his army days, he had heard the rumors. Everyone had heard the rumors, but no one knew exactly what it was. But, fact was that everyone knew something big was going on in a top secret facility somewhere in a mountain in Colorado. Some said they were developing a major weapon, some said they were genetically manipulating and cloning people, but the most popular theory was – certainly after the release of the '96 movie Independence Day – that the secret base was in fact Area 51. Jeff didn't really believe it though, because his mind was at that time occupied with something else – the death of his wife and his early retirement from the Air Force.

But now, almost 15 years later, one of his sons had witnessed it. Something was still going on there, but what? Though Jeff was curious to find out, he decided to wait until John had found out some more information, because he didn't want to send any of his sons on what very possibly could be a suicide mission.

So peaceful, so quiet… Jack liked the place he was, though he didn't know exactly where it was. He felt like he could spend eternity there, and… did he just hear someone calling his name?

"… Jack…"

Sam?

"… come on Jack, don't leave us here…"

With a shock, he opened his eyes, though he couldn't see much. The place he was in, was pitch black. If Sam hadn't called his name in the first place, he probably would've believed that he was all alone.

He could feel the floor beneath him, and – oh yeah, all the bruises that covered his body. It was then that he remembered what happened. Stargate, Apophis, serpent guards, Teal'c-

"Teal'c?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"I'm sorry, sir…" came the gentle reply from his second in command. "We haven't seen him."

Jack sighed. "Well… I don't blame you. I can't see anything either."

At that, Sam had to grin a little, despite their situation. "No, that's true."

"And Daniel?" Jack asked, worried that yet another team member might not have survived their latest mission.

"Over here." Daniel said, from somewhere near Jack.

"Where?"

"Here."

"Yeah, but – oh, never mind. Carter, status?"

Sam hesitated. "Eh, bad, sir. Although I am positive that Teal'c dialed the right address, as you can see, we've ended up somewhere else…"

"No kidding, huh."

"I don't know how long we've all been unconscious, but I was the first to wake up. A few minutes later Daniel joined me, and again a few minutes after him, you did."

"So, where are we exactly? And how come it's so dark in here? I mean, we've got flashlights, right?" Jack said, already searching for his.

"Well sir, I think it's some sort of cave, chamber – I don't know exactly, it's made of metal, but no one's been here in a really long while, I think. I haven't had the chance to check it out properly. And the fact that we're not using flashlights – in case we have to travel in complete darkness trying to find our way out of here…"

"Good thinking, Carter," Jack said. "And how are you both doing?"

"Pretty good, some bruises, but I'm okay considering our circumstances and the fact that…" Her voice faded away.

Jack nodded, although he knew it was useless; because no one could actually see it. "And you, Daniel?"

Silence.

"Daniel?"

"If you really need to know, I'm a little angry. First, he takes my wife and now one of my best friends! Excuse me for being mad at him, but right now, I feel I could kill with my bare hands and-"

Jack tried to calm his friend down. "I know Daniel, I know…"

"No, Jack," came Daniel's reply. "I don't think you know. But since arguing isn't going to help us out of here, I suggest we gear up and get out, 'cause this cave is really starting to give a major headache."

As Jack found his flashlight, he switched it on, and nodded again. "You're right. Folks, let's get the hell out of here. Does anyone see an exit or something?"

Daniel and Sam both switched their lights on, and went searching for a way out.

"Negative, sir. I see lots of debris, mostly pieces of metal… hold on," she said, while walking towards a corner of the cave. After examining the piece of metal that lay on the ground, she quickly called her CO. "Sir, take a look at this."

"What is it?" he asked, while trying not to trip over any debris as he walked towards her.

"Sir… this looks like a piece of the iris."

"What? Are you sure?"

"I'm almost positive, sir…"

Suddenly, Daniel interrupted. "Hey guys, I think you should see this."

As Jack and Sam had reached Daniel he continued. "Do you see this?" He pointed his flashlight to a high wall. "What do you see?"

Carter gasped, as she looked at the ceiling. "A reflection of the light. Which means…"

"There is glass there." Jack said, and looked behind him, at the Stargate. "At the exact same spot of the window in the gate room. Which means…" He directed his flashlight to the right side the room. "… the door should be there."

All three of them looked at the place where the door should be. It was there.

"What the hell?" Jack exclaimed. "Where are we?"

"Eh, sir," Sam said, hesitating a bit, "I think the question is: When are we?"