Author's Note: Thanks again for the reviews, they're much appreciated! Now hopefully, you guys haven't lost interest in this story, and just to see how many people are reading…is it selfish to ask for a review from everyone this time? I'm just curious, really, and you don't have to write much. Just tell me if it's good or not. Going through a bit of a time where I wonder if I actually can write, so yeah. That's what's spurring this on. Please review for me!

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As the sounds of footsteps faded, Vala stood up, ankle deep in riches, but for the first time in her life, she didn't care. Sighing slightly and putting her hands on her hips, she blew a strand of hair out of her face, slightly irked. "Well, I guess it's up to me to save the day…and that last bit didn't sound very good…" she shrugged again, "Hmm."

And with that, started down the tunnels, careful not to follow too closely behind, but hoping she could at least see where they were going. No such luck, she lost them as soon as they'd come to the armory room. Breathing deep, she readied her ZPM in her hand. "Well, here goes nothing…"

Vala had never been good with stealth. Or subtlety. But she was determined, and by God, that was going to be enough. It had to be.

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When SG-1 regained their consciousness, three found themselves in strange positions while Jack O'Neill knew exactly where he was and what was going to happen. To them all…to her. Not trying to resist the reverse gravity or the shackles around his ankles, he looked to his right and saw her. Maneuvering to grab her hand, he squeezed it tightly, not having to say a word. They both knew what it meant: they were still in this together.

Leave it to Jack to try and lighten even this mood. He sighed slightly, looking up at the ceiling of gold. "Daniel…why did you have to go into your whole 'We come in peace' spiel?"

"Because I thought it might've been helpful. I didn't know Baal was—"

"Helpful? No, Daniel. Helpful would've been shooting your gun and being out of my line of fire."

"Well Jack, I'm sorry, I thought that—"

"See, that's the problem. Don't think so much."

Even Teal'c couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in entertainment. The feuding friends were quite hysterical no matter where they were. Daniel knew he was smarter but would never flaunt it, and Jack O'Neill would never cease to be just that: Jack O'Neill. Sam piped up with a question.

"So…what happens now?

"We die."

Her and Daniel exclaimed together. "We WHAT?"

"Yep, we die in some new, inventive, and incredibly painful way only to be brought back to life for more by a lovely little sarcophagus."

His sardonic nature wasn't at all surprising, but what shocked them all into silence was the truthfulness of his words. They all knew what he'd been through, Daniel more than any of them. The archaeologist seemed to shrink into himself, contemplating what would happen and why the hell he hadn't stayed Ascended. Not really, but it was a thought. Teal'c had endured worse than this, not by much, but worse still. He simply put on an indifferent face, hiding behind his training as a warrior to be free from such weak things as fear. As for Sam, she found herself staring into Jack's eyes; unsure of whom she was more concerned for. Still holding hands, they gripped each other hard. Jack shrugged, now obviously out of his morbid tone of before.

"Don't worry about it. Vala's still free, we'll be outta here in no time."

As if on cue, Vala was lead in a side door by two of Baal's trusty stooges. They shackled her like the rest of SG-1, by ankles and reversed gravity, and started to leave. One had trouble with this, needing the assistance of the other to get to the door. They both left, their work having been completed for the time being. All stunned, Vala flashed a weak smile, giving a reason for her capture. "Oops."

Daniel hit his head against the wall, harder than he'd meant to, for the moment he tried to move it forward it went slamming back. Swearing at that as much as her, he yelled. "Dammit, Vala! What the hell is your PROBLEM?"

"Well, stealth was never my strongest point—"

"Quite apparent, thanks!"

This newest fit of bickering was interrupted as Baal himself stepped in front of them. Obviously not affected by th3e gravity change. Motioning at Sam, she was seized by one of Vala's captors and led away, much to Jack's despair.

"Baal! Leave her outta this! Take me, we've done this before, I know the drill—"

"Exactly, O'Neill. We have done this before. Samantha Carter, however, has not."

And with the vilest smirk of a demon, Baal continued out, despite Jack's yelled, and very far from empty threats.

"If you lay a HAND on her I will KILL you with my own! I don't need a gun, I'll just strangle the life from you!"

The door slammed, and Vala spoke, breaking the otherwise serious mood. "Well, as fun as this is, I'm all for getting the hell out of here," she revealed a personal shield that cut her chains and allowed her to walk to the panel. She shut off the gravity and struck a confident, cocky pose, one hand positioned defiantly on her hip. "What can I say? It's a gift."

Moving to help the astounded guys, well, Teal'c more pleased than fascinated, Daniel started rationalizing as she worked on his shackles. "You got yourself captured on purpose so you could snatch the shielding technology from one of the guards and free us all."

"Exactly. I had absolutely no way of knowing where they'd taken you, and if I made myself look stupid, the last thing they'd do would be to thoroughly search me, especially for something of their own making," she released one of his ankles, "Though seeing you chained here does give me a few fun options…"

"Vala, don't even think about it."

"Too late, Daniel."

Jack, being the oldest and supposedly wisest, foresaw something that would make him want to vomit if he didn't act fast. "Hey Vala? Less chatter, more lock picking."

Once they were all freed, Jack thought rationally. "We need to get back to the armory where there'll at least be Zats, and hopefully our weapons as well."

"What about choking the life out of Baal with your bare hands? I daresay that sounded fun."

"Well Vala, that requires close range, and I'm not sure I can take that chance right now. After that we'll find Sam, I'm pretty sure I know where he's taking her."

"How?" Daniel asked.

"You should know, too! The place where they took me to torture me! Baal would enjoy the idea of getting two of SG-1 broken in the same place, she has to be there."

Though the task seemed difficult, the found the armory with little difficulty, seeing as it was only a few doors down from their containment cell. Vala, the first done with the suiting up (their weapons had been inside), saw something that caught her eye across the hall. Cameras. As the guys followed her in, she heard them start to argue. "When did they get cameras?"

Daniel used his brain. "Probably after you escaped the first time."

Jack shook his head once. "Oh."

Teal'c decided to contribute. "The cameras appear only to be positioned in rooms that are of importance. No hallways are monitored."

"Well at least we have that going for us," Jack scanned the screens, looking for her, "There. Last camera on the right, top row."

Teal'c stood guard as Vala found the volume and her, Daniel, and Jack started to watch.

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"You're pathetic, you know that? We beat the Replicators, we beat the Goa'uld, and this is your sorry attempt at revenge. Pathetic."

"I do not attempt to change your opinion of me, only to explain a few things to you. The Goa'uld will never be gone; the System Lords have simply taken their own well beings into account. The ZPM you so graciously donated will be an asset to our new armies."

He let a knife go, and it landed squarely in her chest. She would not give him the pleasure of seeing her in pain. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"The reason the our new soldiers were not our only force as soon as they were discovered is because they are manufactured by an interfacing of Goa'uld and Ancient technology, and so naturally, it needs power from a—"

"ZPM." Sam understood now. They'd taken the keys to the universe and handed them back to the Goa'uld on a silver platter.

"Very good, Samantha," and he let two more knifes fly at her, one getting her in the right thigh and one missing her left hand.

Sam knew what she had to do, but there had to be an opportunity for it. When a super soldier came through the door and commanded Baal's attention, she knew she had to work fast. Grabbing the knife nearest her, she noticed how small it was. It would fit easily in her side. Gouging a space for it, she slid it in, moving another missed knife to where the other used to be. It hurt more than she could've imagined, but it had to be done. Once the knife was in deep enough, she allowed herself a cry of pain, knowing it was only a matter of time before she died. Looking at Baal, she saw him smirk, and Sam let her words fly.

"You ungrateful son of a bitch you deserve worse than hell itself. Kill me if you can."

With that, Samantha Carter went limp, and was removed from the wall.

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Jack's hands were shaking. She was…she was dead. Temporarily, yes, that last comment made sure of it, but…she inflicted such pain upon herself…why the hell would she kill herself? Sam had obviously committed suicide when Baal's attention was elsewhere…why would she do that? Daniel merely placed a hand on his shoulder, but Jack shrank away from it as quickly as he could. He didn't want to breathe. A gaping hole was in his heart, swallowing everything inside of him…the best part of him was dead. He searched the cameras desperately for a sarcophagus, finding one near but not in use. They needed to stake it out.

Daniel tried again, this time verbally, to comfort his friend. "Jack…Sam's got a plan, you know she does. The best thing we can do right now is search for the ZPM and stop what he's trying to do."

"No. We won't have a clue how that damned thing works, we need Sam for that."

"Jack, think rationally, we only need to take out the ZPM, it's not rocket science—"

"We need her!" His voice was louder than it should have been, but luckily there was no guard alerted. Vala tried her hand at consoling him.

"Honestly, Jack, what would Sam want you to do?"

"Go and get her! Because I promised her I WOULD!"

"And when did you say those exact words to her—"

"When I MARRIED her!"

Silence. Utter silence. Uncomfortable silence. Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Vala cocked her head. Daniel nearly fainted. As the oldest companion of Jack got his ability to speak back, he stuttered out a question.

"W-when you d-did what?"

"When I married her, Daniel. We did it ourselves."

"Then you're not really married."

"Yes, we are! I got a marriage license, and we signed our names, recited vows and everything," Jack saw him look at his left hand, "We're still working on the rings."

Daniel found himself at a loss for coherent thought, and so resorted to a very Jack-like tactic. "What the hell! When? Where? Why didn't I know about this?"

"Because we promised to keep it a secret, Daniel. And personally, I don't have any interest in explaining my love life to you right now, but I do care about getting my wife's life back. So here's an idea: You guys go and get the ZPM, and I'm gonna find Sam. Radio silence unless help is desperately needed. Channel 8."

"Jack, do you know what you're doing?" Daniel asked.

"Nope."

Teal'c gave him a pat on the shoulder, a smile playing on his face. "Congratulations on your wedding to Samantha Carter. You will be very happy."

Jack smiled back, suddenly a little raised in spirit. "Thanks, Teal'c. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a rather long 'Honey-Do' list."

And when he departed, all his common sense stayed with them. The others started out, knowing exactly where they were going and what to do, while Jack had a vague idea of where the sarcophagus was and no idea what in the hell he was going to do once he got there. Praying to God Sam was alive by now; he hoped she had a plan. "Come on, Sam…don't let me down this time."

She wouldn't. She'd promised him. For better, for worse.

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Like the twist? I do! Hope it thoroughly surprised you all, tried not to hint to it too much, but I did give you a vague idea of what might have happened when they were all on the Daedalus in Chapter 6! Hopefully this'll mean LOTS of reviews!

So do it. Click the pretty little button and tell me what you think!

And don't worry. Jack's love life does get explained. :D Now review!