Thanks for all your lovely reviews again. Getting near the end of the story now, but a little bit more angst to come before the fluff. Enjoy – and please, no death threats; another chapter coming real soon!
Censure.
By LetitiaRichards
Previously:-
She sniffed back the tears and he brushed them aside, pulling her into a kiss. She flung her arms around him and sobbed into his neck, hoping to god it wasn't the last time she would be able to hold him.
Chapter 11
She pulled back from the embrace when she felt him weaken, knowing it was time to try the machine. She stood up again, but kept a hold of his hand.
"Daniel!" she called, smiling down at Jack who'd closed his eyes again. She squeezed his hand to show him she wasn't leaving him and he pressed her fingers back. "We're ready!"
Daniel hurried back into the room and stopped suddenly at the sight of the two holding hands. He beamed at Sam and then scrambled over to the machine, continuing to examine it.
"From what I read on the discs, all I have to do is activate it and it should do the rest. Jack, I have absolutely no idea what will happen to you or...or if it will be painful or not..."
"Daniel," Jack sighed wearily. He was tired of being drugged up to the eyeballs and tired of being in pain. "Just do it!"
Daniel cast an apologetic look at Sam and flipped a switch at the side of the machine.
Nothing happened.
Daniel gasped in disbelief as they waited for something to happen, but their disappointment grew.
"It has to work!" Daniel cried, flipping a few more switches.
A beam of light suddenly shot out of the machine, playing over Jack.
He cried out in agony as it swept over him, holding him in it's intense beam.
"Daniel?" Sam cried, feeling helpless. She reached out to touch Jack, but as she got nearer, a spark of energy zapped her fingers and she yelped, jumping backwards, shaking her hand against the burning sensation coursing through them. "Are you sure this is the right machine?"
"Yes Sam. I'm sure it is, don't second guess me now!"
"Is it supposed to be doing this to him?"
"I don't know!" Daniel shouted back in frustration. He didn't like seeing Jack in agony any more than she did.
Jack seemed to glow, the beam was so bright that they could hardly see him, engulfed as he was. He was quiet now and that worried them more than anything as they stood by watching in silence unable to help their leader.
After what seemed like an eternity the beam cut off so suddenly that Jack collapsed to the floor, the chair having been disintegrated by the beam. Even Teal'c had been taken by surprise and was quick enough to catch Jack as he fell.
Jack's head hit the rubble with a sickening thud which spurred them into action.
Sam was down on her knees beside him in an instant, Daniel following shortly after while Teal'c stood looking over Daniel's shoulder.
Sam felt for a pulse and panicked when she couldn't find one.
"I can't find a pulse!" she cried. "He's not breathing!"
Daniel and Sam yanked Jack's limp, lifeless body from the floor while Teal'c cleared the debris from under him, then they laid him back and began CPR. Daniel doing the compression while Sam blew breath into Jack's slack mouth.
They worked at it for several minutes without any luck, but Sam refused to stop.
More minutes went by and Daniel slumped, exhausted from the wasted effort. Jack was dead and there was no way he wouldn't be brain damaged even if they did revive him now.
"Sam!" he sighed breathlessly. "SAM! It's no good. He's gone! We've tried Sam. God knows we've tried, but it's useless..."
"No Daniel. I'm not giving up on him. Pump Daniel Now! Don't stop!" she yelled, anger and frustration, warred with overwhelming grief and reality. She couldn't lose him, even though she knew it could have happened anyway.
Teal'c made his way round to her and physically pulled her away, holding her in his strong arms, engulfing her smaller frame. She struggled helplessly in his arms while he spoke gently to her.
"O'Neill would not wish you to be in such distress over his death Major Carter. It has been too long to revive him without damage. He would not desire this."
Daniel stood and came over to her and wrapped his arms around her too in a group hug. Consoling and being consoled. There were tears in each of their eyes as the reality of their situation hit them. Jack was gone and there was nothing they could do. Teal'c bowed his head and met with two others as they put their heads together to bring each other strength.
Eyes closed against the pain of loss, no-one saw a bright light that flashed around the room in the blink of an eye.
Teal'c was the first to break the trio from their shared moment and Sam felt him stiffen. She glanced up to see Teal'c's gaze rooted to the spot where Jack lay. Daniel's eyes followed and all of them stared in disbelief.
Jack was gone.
There was no body; no bundle of clothes containing their friend.
Nothing.
Daniel pulled away and hurried over to the spot where he had left his friend. Nothing remained of Jack O'Neill. There was nothing left to remind them that he'd ever been there.
"Daniel?" Sam cried absolutely stunned still. "What happened? Where did he go?"
Daniel shook his head in consternation, flapping his arms in useless frustration.
"I...I don't know Sam. God! I...I have no idea!" he cried almost hysterical with shock. He didn't know whether to laugh, cry, be insulted, or give in to hope. Hope that wherever Jack was he was safe and maybe, just maybe, being healed?
"Perhaps this machine also disposes of the bodies?" Teal'c wondered aloud.
Daniel's face fell, along with Sam's. She couldn't accept that. She had to have a body to bury at least. That way she could mourn him properly; give him a decent military funeral that he so richly deserved. He was a hero. He'd saved Earth so many times now, despite not being recognised as such. He couldn't just have gone! She stared at the empty spot, her heart in her throat. She needed tangible evidence of what she had lost.
Teal'c wandered over to the machine, but it was as dead as Jack was. There was no power left in it, and the useless lump of machinery sat idle and wasted, never to yield its secrets nor reveal whatever happened to its last victim.
It was with heavy hearts that they began to pick their way over the rubble back to the Stargate and home.
Jack was literally gone. His existence wiped out by a stupid machine that was supposed to help him. Sam broke down in tears, and gazed back at the building where she had lost the love of her life.
Daniel slipped his arm around her and gently pulled her towards the DHD where he proceeded to dial up Earth's symbols. He depressed the large orange centre crystal and the gate blossomed into life.
With a sniff, Sam entered the IDC and prepared herself to go home, albeit reluctantly. She felt as if she had lost part of herself. Leaving behind her heart here on the planet. It had gone missing, just as Jack had. He had taken it with him wherever he was.
Teal'c waited patiently for the Major to give the nod and any minute they would be explaining to General Hammond what had happened to O'Neill.
All three stepped onto the dais around the gate and all three disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.
OoOoOoOoO
"It's SG-1's IDC sir!" Walter Davis informed the General when he approached behind the technician's chair.
"Open the Iris and get Dr. Fraiser and her team down here!"
"Yes sir!" Davis snapped out smartly. He called for the CMO of the base and her team, knowing full well the condition of Colonel O'Neill last time he saw him. Goodness only knew what state he would be in now they were returning.
The General took up his position at the foot of the base anxiously waiting for his premier team's return, eager to learn the fate of his friend and best officer.
Time passed by in an agonising slow passage. Hammond looked up at Davis who shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what was keeping them and there hadn't been any signals from the team either. No voice or video feedback.
After a few minutes the gate shut itself down, and all hell let loose.
Hammond marched back up the stairs to the control room yelling orders.
"Get me SG-3 and SG-10 now. I want them fully geared up ready to leave a.s.a.p!" he puffed, winded from his climbing the stairs and fear for his best team.
Davis jumped at the orders and yelled urgently into the mike, calling for the said teams to meet in the gate room.
Several anxious minutes passed while everyone leapt to carry out their orders and soon a MALP was rolling up the ramp and disappearing into the wormhole.
Pictures were relayed back but showed no sign of SG-1.
It looked relatively clear so Hammond gave the order for the teams to move out. Their sole mission was to locate SG-1 and bring them home.
As one, determined to find their missing friends, the two teams moved up the ramp and vanished into the open event horizon.
TBC