Thanks to the reviewers, as ever! You're all great and supportive :-D

I'm trying to get some more action into the story from now on. Let me know how you think it's going. Reviews are writer-food LOL. Enjoy.

Chapter 12: Renegades

"I can't believe it!" Jack paced backwards and forwards across his quarters, arms folded and expression grim. "I bet Kinsey is behind all of this. Rat bastard!"

Sam stood cautiously by the door, watching him nervously. He was fuming – she expected him to kick something in a minute. She pondered for a moment how much of this emotion came from Jack alone. Surely Einar was angry as well? Yet there was no way of telling. Even if she asked either of them, it was likely the unrepressed sentiments from both of them would be mingling with each other into a joint mix of anger, and they would be just as clueless who was feeling how much of what.

This was just from the news about the NID's plans. Sam was now glad that they had chosen to keep the revelations about the Innarim's origins and nature from the pair of them. She stood by her prediction that the combination of such information could push one or both of them over the edge.

"Can't Hammond do something?" Jack appealed. "He has to be owed some favours…"

"He's already tried that, sir," Sam informed him gloomily. "He didn't get anywhere. Apparently this is coming right from the top… the President, the Pentagon…"

"So there's no one we can turn to for help then?" Jack demanded, exasperated. "No one at the tops cares – they won't give me a break? I mean, come on, I'm in here too!"

"Sorry, sir. They think," Sam began, making sure the bitter edge to her voice was clear, "that the potential benefits we could gain from studying Einar and all the information we have on the Innarim is worth it."

Jack stopped pacing and sat heavily on the bed.

"So that's it, is it?" Jack rested his head on one hand, his voice becoming thick with mockery. "Thanks for saving the world and all, but get bent?"

Sam winced: he looked so desolate and miserable. She wasn't used to seeing him like this– the hopeless, anxious, fretful side of him. Jack O'Neill was a master of concealing his emotions, particularly those that expressed undesirable qualities in a team commander such as pessimism. Was Einar's openness beginning to bleed into his own personality? Was Einar changing to be more like Jack in turn? Could it be possible that the link between their minds would grow stronger over time, and eventually they would be like the Tok'ra – sharing more than just feelings? She shoved the questions aside and sat next to him.

"I can't let this happen, Carter," he stated simply. "Einar's been trapped for two hundred years; I won't let the NID keep him locked up forever. And I won't just walk into their hands."

"There's nothing anyone at the SGC can do, sir," she reiterated. "I'm sorry, sir."

"We were all so close to solving this. We do as we're told, and we'll never get out of this mess," Jack pointed out, suddenly calmer and quieter in calculated thought. "And you're wrong; there is one thing we could do…"

He fixed Sam with a knowing stare, waiting for her response. She eyed him warily, and then frowned. She knew what he was silently suggesting.

"Sir, are you sure?" she whispered urgently.

"Very," he whispered back firmly.

"It'd take a while to organise, and the NID will be here tomorrow morning. It might be too close."

"Carter, this is the NID we're dealing with!" he grasped her shoulders tightly – desperately? – and faced her fully. "They're willing to do anything to get their hands on alien technology. They'll torture me… and Einar along with me!"

Sam was taken aback. Jack and Einar were both strong-willed, and Jack at least she knew was courageous. Yet, she could see real fear in his eyes. In the pause before she answered, her mind backtracked to what she knew of Einar. The Innarim had a strong, innate sense of loyalty to those they lived with – betrayal would no doubt be beyond just a stinging blow – and here Jack was being betrayed by his own government. No wonder he was getting so worked up.

"I'll do what I can, sir," she nodded firmly.

"I just want to make this absolutely, completely clear first – you don't have to do this. Normally I wouldn't even dream of asking you to risk something like this… but I need the modified reactor, and you'd have to dial up the address for the planet where we first found Einar."

"I understand, sir, and you can count on me."


It was soon after midnight that Jack was awoken by the familiar beeping and buzzing of zat blasts from outside his locked base quarters. Fully clothed already in preparation, he hauled himself up off the bed and banged on the metal door. There was a jingle of keys and the click of a lock being turned before the door opened. Sam stood there equipped with a P-90 and heavy duty backpack of survival gear and supplies, zat in one hand and dragging a box (undoubtedly containing the reactor) with the other. The two SFs were unconscious at her feet. She offered him the zat without a word, and retrieved a spare one from a holster at her belt.

"You got everything, great," he observed. "Give me that backpack and P-90."

"I went to the security control room first and took out the airmen on duty, so we shouldn't have too much resistance on the way to the gate, but someone will notice at some point so we don't have much time," Sam explained with military precision as she removed the heavy load from her back.

Burden exchanged, they made their way through corridors, zatting personnel along the way. They soon made it to the elevator, and once at sub-level 28, they worked their way towards the gate room. Sam dropped her end of the reactor container, darting into the control room and systematically zatting everyone in sight. Dropping her weapon, she immediately sealed off the control and gate rooms before dialling up the designated planet. Below, she saw Jack tugging the reactor to the base of the gate ramp, only pausing briefly as the base alarms started blaring.

As the gate flared into life, Sam ran down to the gate room. The pair of them hauled the boxed-up reactor up the ramp, hefting it to the base of the gate and pushing it through the event horizon. Job completed, Sam untied the GDO from her forearm, and handed it to Jack, now fully prepped. He took it and hastily attached it to himself. They knew the control room would soon be full of personnel who would attempt to close the gate.

"You didn't have to do this, Carter," Jack stated. "You could lose your career for this… but thanks."

"Well, I don't want to see either of you turned over to the NID," Sam replied factually.

"Nice to know," he grinned, shouldering his P-90. "You stay here, Major. That's an order."

"Good luck, sir," Sam declared sincerely. "And say goodbye to Einar for me."

He nodded and looked towards the gate. He hesitated. There was little time left.

"I really shouldn't do this," he admitted ruefully, turning back to Sam. "Look, I know we're still technically in Rome, but …"

He didn't bother to finish. He simply cupped her face in both of his hands and brought his lips to hers.

She didn't move. This was the last thing she had expected. From his previous words, she deduced it was Einar in control, no doubt offered to say goodbye himself. The kiss was short, but it had been longer than the one in her lab, and this one was not so innocent – it was clearly supposed to have some meaning to it. Before she could gather herself to react, the sound of the blast door broke him away.

"Einar, what-"

He didn't listen, but took one look at the rising blast door and charged through the gate.

Sam knew that she too was low on options. There was no chance of sneaking out of this one. Within seconds she would be caught by the open gate, without Jack/Einar. Was there any other possible reason for her to be here? Not to mention, all of the security tapes would show her trailing him down the corridor to the gate room, and the unconscious SFs would wake up with their own reports at some point. Jack had ordered her not to follow, but her military duty demanded that she should have prevented him from escaping at any cost. She would be defying orders no matter what she did.

However, there was only one side of that equation which would court-marshal her immediately.

Without even a brief moment of hesitation, she threw herself through the gate.