Disclaimer: I do not own stargate sg-1, it is the property of MGM and this story has been written purely for entertainment value. No money has or will exchange hands – however all original story lines and characters belong to me. Thanx
Okay, this is getting close to the end now…
It wasn't until the circle of rings fell from around them that Liam and Amy realized where they were – or at least what their surroundings appeared to be, it looked like a concrete bunker and felt like a steam cooker. Where ever they were was not inhabitable by any means.
"Welcome, just don't get too comfy here – we're not staying long" Kinsey told them, calmly stepping away from them and towards the door of the room.
"I intend to bring the transfer closer."
"What the hell do you need us for? We're not going to tell you anything." Liam asked, still aiming his zat, despite knowing it was a completely useless action.
"No, but there are other ways of getting inside your head." He explained, "and my associates have made an offer I can't refuse – all I needed to do was provide them with a suitable host." Liam shuddered and Amy set her eyes on the senator, unable to comprehend what he had just told them.
"But you managed to get two… damn it Kinsey, what could you possibly get out if this?" Liam shouted, holding onto Amy protectively, there was a time when she would have hated that sort of protoection, but it seemed as though she welcomed it in that kind of situation.
He just smiled and without saying another word he left, locking the door behind him.
As soon as he had left the fight went out of her and Amy's knees gave way. Liam half fell with her, setting her down on the floor as carefully as he could and started to examine her and clean the wounds she'd sustained.
"Where did he go?" she asked him, sounding as though she was half asleep.
"I don't know, but as long as he's gone I can make sure you stay safe. I don't know what he's done to you but I swear that I'll make him pay." She turned her head and smiled at him, reaching out her hand to his that had finished bandaging her arm.
Liam took tight hold and lifted her gently off of the floor so that she rested in his arms, despite the temperature she still felt cool to the touch – something that worried him, but there was nothing he could do about that there.
"I hope the others manage to figure out what happened, otherwise there will be no way to get any help to us… we might have to find our own way out of here, if we can figure out where here it." He explained, placing kisses into her hair and making sure that she was comfortable.
"I just don't understand Liam… how did he plan this? " she whispered, tears starting to stream down her face.
"Shhh." He soothed, " I'll explain later, we'll get out of this I promise." There is no way in hell I'm letting any goa'uld get their hands on either of us.
"Sir we're receiving another transmission from Colona." The sergeant called, as General Hammond, Jonas and Naomi all stepped into the control room. The iris was closed on the gate before them but the transmission lines were open.
"This is General Hammond of the SGC speaking." He told them, leaning over to speak into the small microphone, which acted as a communications device.
"Greetings General, we have just received another transmission regarding your Senator Kinsey and the goa'uld he seems to be bargaining with, it seems that it was only sent a few hours ago." The voice, who he recognized as the ambassador he'd spoken to last time, told him.
"Have you been able to decipher the message?" the General asked, concerned.
"Yes General, the program which you sent to us has been most useful and we believe that you should hear the message for yourself." There was silence over the other line for a moment before a transmission could be heard faintly in the background.
"Put it on the main speakers son." General Hammond advised the sergeant and within seconds they could all here the conversation being broadcast.
"You have done well senator, managing to take hold of both of them is a much welcomed surprise and we will make sure that you are greatly rewarded for your services."
"Thank you, but as I'm sure you're aware the situation down here is becoming one of urgency. I am not sure how long it will be before our position is located."
The goa'uld grunted, "Normally senator I do not change my arrangements for ANYONE, however in this case I believe that it is in MY best interest as well as yours to be there as soon as possible."
"Thank you."
"I will be there within the next twelve of your hours."
Then the transmission seemed to cease after that and left all who had heard it stood there in a state of shock. Naomi stood gripping the back of the empty seat in front of her; Jonas was at her side, also showing a look of concern. But it was General Hammond who eventually broke this tense silence as his duty and responsibility kicked in.
"Right, we have to assume that their rescue mission has failed and resulted in the capture of Liam as well, I want as many people as we can sent over to their last known position with orders to secure that base with minimal casualties or damage."
"Yes sir." The sergeant replied, busying himself with the task.
"Miss Witters, Jonas I want you both to get over there as soon as the area has been secured I'm sure that your respective expertise will be needed." Jonas nodded firmly, but Naomi only made a weak attempt, knowing what she had to do and actually bringing herself to do it seemed to bring back all of her old fear. But this has to be done; he won't get the chance to ruin another reality.
"How many of them are there?" Daniel shouted so that he could be heard over the blazing firefight around him. Teal'c at his side merely shrugged in response as he shot another stream of guards with his zat.
The noise was so loud that neither of them noticed the panel behind them open, or the two figures that came to sit at their sides.
"Hey guys how's it goin'." Jack asked, catching Daniel off guard – if only briefly. Teal'c didn't even flinch.
"It does not seem to be progressing well O'Neill, these guards seem somewhat relentless and I am unsure as to how long we can hold this position." Jack nodded, firing another round before giving a verbal response.
"Yeah, seems to be the same everywhere – we'd better find the girl soon and get the hell out of here." Then he took a moment to look around before he spotted who was missing. "Where'd Liam go?"
"He headed in the direction of the door on the other side of this lab, he hasn't returned but that could be because he can't." Jack nodded at this and continued to defend their position.
Jonas and Naomi sat in the back of one of the land rovers waiting to be told that the building had been secured. The teenager didn't seem to be paying any attention to the situation and Jonas could see how scared she was by all of this.
"It'll be over soon you know, I know you're probably not used to this sort of situation but you're pretty safe with us." He didn't know if his words would be of any help, but he needed to feel like he was at least trying to do something.
"I know, I just don't do well under pressure." She told him quietly, looking up at him to give him her thanks.
The radio communicator that she was holding came to life then.
"Come in rover six, this is colonel Richards, we have secured the area, can you read us rover six?"
She clicked the small receiver button, "we read you, do you want us to proceed towards the building?" Jonas watched her as she spoke, it seemed as though she was actually capable of pretending to handle the situation – even if she was scared out of her mind.
"Affirmative, head towards the main entrance, over."
"I wonder if they know that Kinsey's got them both yet?" she asked as they walked towards the slightly smoky entrance, there were signs of a battlefield everywhere.
"Kinsey's got who?" asked a welcome and familiar voice.
"Kinsey took Liam as well as Amy colonel." Jonas explained the situation to Jack, whose face had taken on a slightly darker expression. "We received another transmission a little while ago, he's transported himself to another location – we haven't determined where yet… but the goa'uld are going to be there in twelve hours or so."
Jack nodded, "ok well you'd better head up and tell everyone else, I need to fill General Hammond in on what we've found."
"Well it would explain a lot." Sam told them, and then walked over to the floor, kneeling down and running her fingers over the apparent circular indent that ran around most of the room. "You see this?" she asked as Naomi, Jonas and Daniel joined her on the floor.
"Yeah, it goes all the way around the room…" the brunette commented, although she didn't exactly know what she was looking at.
"It's about the same size as Goa'uld transportation rings, which means that if we can get these working we can probably find Liam and Amy." Daniel told Sam, knowing that it was her suspicion anyway – she had no idea where he'd managed to get them from though… unless the goa'uld he's currently involved with had provided them.
"Yeah, but I can't seem to find the controls and there are no other energy readings in this room. The only clues we have are on the computer systems… but I can't seem to get past the encryption." Sam explained looking to the others.
Naomi smiled faintly at this, realizing why it was she had actually been sent.
"Do you mind if I take a look?" she asked, Sam sent her a cautious smile, knowing that the young woman in front of her had certain abilities they weren't even aware of.
"Sure, there's a terminal in the lab next door, but it's a high level encryption setting Naomi, it might take a while." She stood and walked towards the door, Jonas followed her by means of offering moral support.
"I know, but I'd like to have a go at it anyway, I've done this sort of thing before on that course you sent me on – it may be a harder program... but the tricks are still the same."
Sam nodded and let her go, deciding instead to busy herself with the task at hand, she seemed to be making sure she didn't stop – didn't giver herself a moment to think about anything else. Daniel had seen her act like this before – several times and each and every one of them was in some way related to Jack – or their lack of.
This time he guessed that it was more than that, so knowing that it would only beat her up inside if she didn't talk about it, he decided to start the inevitable conversation.
"Have you and Jack talked about any of this yet?" he asked, seeing her tense up at the sound of his name.
"Yeah." Was the only answer she gave him, refusing to look up from her task.
"And?" he prodded.
"And with all due respect Daniel it's none of your business." She told him quietly. This didn't faze him though and he continued on.
"Come on Sam, I know you're hurting – I can see it in your eyes – both of you have been running from this for far too long and now it's literally right in front of you." She looked at him warily but he continued. "What I'm trying to say is that it'll never go away and it shouldn't have to."
"It's not that easy Daniel." She told him, her voice low and sorrowful. "We'd be – we are putting our jobs on the line for this, and I know that we'd have lost Liam by now if it hadn't been for Amy… but it's different."
Daniel sighed, "You have to stop thinking that the way you feel about each other is wrong." He told the woman he saw as his sister, noticing the way she cringed, as he got closer to the truth.
"But it is wrong Daniel – I'm not supposed to fall in love with my commanding officer." Sam put her hand to her mouth as soon as she realized what she'd said. She tried to look anywhere other than Daniel, like the confession she'd just let slip made her appear naked.
"Whether that's true or not doesn't stop the fact that it happened, and I don't see it as a bad thing. It's hard enough to find someone in this world anyway – and when it happens… you have to take advantage of it while it lasts because it can be taken away from you at any point." He told her honestly, fighting back emotions that accompanied any thought relating to his late wife.
Sam out her arm on his shoulder, momentarily forgetting what she had confessed to him.
"I'm sorry Daniel…. I know that to you our situation must seem like torture… but it's the way that it has to be – at least for now." To her surprise he shook his head, knowing that if he didn't say what he wanted to tell her then the opportunity might not present itself again.
"Sam, you and Jack can't keep living this lie anymore – it's hurting you both. You know as well as I do that your feelings will never go away, living your lives through Amy and Liam isn't going to be enough anymore and it never will be. The sooner you realize that then the sooner you two can be happy." His eyes seemed to bore their way into her and she found herself unable to deny the truth of his words.
"I don't know what to do." She admitted finally dropping onto her knees properly and looking at her friend almost as though she was in despair.
"You have to get through this mission and then take some time to look at everything – no matter what the military decide, this should be up to you." Sam nodded slowly and just sat there for a few seconds, trying to calm herself down.
"Daniel… I don't know what I'd do without him… but the military aren't going to let this go so easily."
"They don't really have any real evidence Sam, and whatever they try, you and Jack will beat it – we all will." She smiled weakly at his comforting words.
"Yeah, I know… but for now we have to get this over with – we have to get them back." She said, standing and once again examining the room to try and see where the control panel was, it didn't really help much. But it kept her mind occupied – at least for now.
"Damn this thing." Naomi muttered under her breath as she managed to knock down another wall of encryption only to be confronted by another. She was typing and countering as fast as she could, but the system seemed way too advanced compared with what she usually had to deal with.
"Hey, you know if it keeps changing like that couldn't it be some sort of rolling program?" Jonas offered as he watched the young woman scroll through screen after screen of a seemingly endless pattern.
"You mean that the changing of the codes could be the actual encryption and not the codes themselves?" she asked, still trying to get through.
"Yeah, I mean it would explain the loop you're in with this program – can you try accessing another part of the system and directly attack the code?" he asked, coming to lean on the table next to her. He'd only suggested this because he'd seen her work like this before on a problem he'd encountered on his world a few months ago. She learned things quickly – more so than he did, which seemed to help her in situations like this. I just hope she can pull it of this time…
"Yes!" she muttered, eyes not leaving the screen as she continued to type away, but after a few more seconds the screen changed and displayed menu options. "I've got it, can you go get Sam for me? She's going to want to see this."
"Yeah sure." Jonas told her, before heading off.
"What the hell is that?" Jack asked the group that had gathered around the table, Sam had called him about ten minutes ago having apparently found something that would take them to Liam and Amy."
"It appears to be some sort of modified hand device, same basic structure but with a few differences." Sam explained as she handed it to him.
"Does it work?" he asked, looking at it with some speculation. "It looks like a kids toy." Sam chuckled and took it back.
"According to the information that Naomi managed to uncover, yes sir it does – all we have to do is press the silver button and it should activate the rings."
"Right, well let's do it." Jack told them, walking towards the room, but Daniel stopped him.
"Jack it's not that simple, we don't know where we're going to be heading too – or what the situation is there, we could be walking into a fire fight." He explained, ignoring the glare his friend sent him.
"Isn't the location on that computer somewhere?"
Naomi shook her head, "No, it seems as though Kinsey kept that to himself – even the scientists that have been interrogated don't know where he was planning on going with it."
"Ok then," he started coming back towards the table. "We'll send a transmitter and a radio to where ever the hell Kinsey has taken Liam and Amy, that way we can see if they're still there, and if not we can find out where it is – we should probably leave a note too, just incase it's out of communication range." Everyone nodded, it seemed like a good plan and they had managed to re engineer a tracking device that could be detected even with the interference they'd found at the NID base.
Liam had been resting half asleep at the other side of the room when he heard the rings activate, Amy still slept soundly at his side and he wondered what she had been through to keep her so deeply in slumber.
At first he though that Kinsey or someone from his base were coming through, but the rings descended again, leaving only a small communicator and tracking device, there also seemed to be a note attached.
Leaving Amy asleep at his side he went o collect the small device and read the note, it read only.
If you're there be at this spot in ten minutes.
A wave of relief washed over him at the sight of his own handwriting – they were going home. He moved over to where Amy was again and started to carry her sleeping form over to the center of the room counting down how long they had to wait.
"I though that this might happen… can't leave the two of you alone without you hatching some sort of escape plan." Liam glared, and once again lifted his zat at the senator. He moved from his sitting position, taking the sleeping form of Amy with him.
"Go to hell Kinsey." He snarled.
"You see, I don't think so… I have the power to save this world; all it takes is using you as a sacrifice. Which is why I can't let you go." Liams inner count down told him he had two minutes to wait… it seemed like they would never be over.
He watched hopelessly as four armed guards entered the room and dragged him, along with Amy, who now started to stir out of the room. But knowing that he couldn't let it end this way he through the note back, hoping to give his other self and everyone else back there some sort of clue.
Back at the NID base, the rings engaged at the right time and fell again, but instead of what they had been hoping for all that was there was the note that had been sent. Leaving everyone there in no doubt of what they had to do…
Well this story is nearly there and I will try and get it finished as soon as possible. As always, constructive criticism and positive feedback is welcome, thanx to all those who have been reading and reviewing this story, it gives me the motivation to improve and update my work.