Author's note: Haylo everyone! I know it's been a long time, almost a year in fact (slaps her own hand Bad Cairis!), but at long last, I have reentered the word of fanfic. The last year had been a real 'dark' time for me. To deal with it, I stepped away from pretty much everything and everyone, and I want to give as much a public apology as I can for going dark. Thank you so much to the reviewers who've left notes over the year in the hopes of me writing more, to the readers who have/might still read this monster of a fic and keep reading till I finally finish. And a most special thanks to all those who took the time to send me an email. I never responded, and I regret that deeply. To be honest, I just didn't know what to say.
I do now. "Thank you so much for your interest! Real life not withstanding, I'll have a new chapter up very soon! Your encouragement means so much to me, and I hope not to let you down."
Lastly, a huge thanks goes to my beta readers, SealRescuer, and Dimac, for their continued patience with keeping my writing in line.
Now on with the most long overdue chapter.
Sam had never seen so much duct tape on any one object before in her life. While MacGyver had assured them the helicopter would hold together, the Major wasn't so confident. And she knew she wasn't the only one. The pilot's eyes were wide with panic, while his grip on the stick was so tight his fingers had gone white.
"Where did you even find duct tape?" Colonel O'Neill demanded of his semi-brother, yelling over the noise of the wind rushing through the pocketed helicopter.
"In the medical tent."
The Colonel glared at him hard, but MacGyver just shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'Well I did!'
They both looked tired, the way SG1 often did after a rather nasty mission. Only they weren't heading home, or even back to the SGC. Sam looked away in frustration. After the night she'd spent searching for them, Sam couldn't believe it was only to watch them leave again on what was most likely a suicide mission. It just wasn't right!
As if in response to her agitation, her arm began to throb, reminding her just how useless she was at the moment. But looking back at the two men she'd come to respect most, Sam knew even if she was in top form they still wouldn't risk her going with them.
Just what would happen if they couldn't stop the effects their respective close proximities were causing? The situation was so peculiar it was hard for the scientist in her to keep from trying to reason it out. Maybe there was another explanation for what was happening? The number of strange events was occurring more often now, and by the time they had left the SGC it had already spread as far as the east coast. It all seemed to be happening faster than anyone could control, but could the mere presence of two exactly identical people really cause the cataclysmic event Gents predicted?
"Sir?"
"Carter?"
Sam hesitated, but when he gave her that look that practically screamed 'what!' she finally blurted out, "We brought it, sir. We brought the device."
Both MacGyver and the Colonel looked at her in confusion. "What device? The message thingy?" The Colonel asked, perplexed.
"No." Sam took a nervous breath. "The device that…changed…you." She suddenly realized that not only did the pilot not know anything about what was really going on, but neither the Colonel nor MacGyver knew just how much they'd uncovered about the twin's 'secret.'
As she expected, the Colonel's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but MacGyver looked at her with open curiosity and surprise. "There was a device?" Wordlessly, Teal'c handed over the small alien object they'd found in the Redfield's warehouse. He turned it over a few times, looking at it with some scrutiny before remarking, "It's made of the same stuff the Keys are. Guess that means it's from the same guys?" She nodded, and he looked down at the object again, a peculiar expression creasing his face. "Wonder how Gents got it to work?"
"You mean you don't know?" Again they looked at her in confusion.
Sam felt like an idiot. Of course they wouldn't know how it worked. It would take her years to figure it out, and while MacGyver was a genius, this was alien technology made by an extremely advanced society. Once again the feelings of helplessness tried to overwhelm her, but they were quickly followed by another rush of stubborn anger. They should forget about Sedet and work on this instead. Maybe they'd get lucky and figure it out before the Colonel and MacGyver…
Her mind honestly didn't know how to finish that train of thought.
The Colonel rubbed at his face, softly groaning with frustration. "Carter. We were only nine when Gents died. And even if he'd been using it back then, I highly doubt we'd know what to do with it."
"We might," MacGyver contradicted. "If this was created by the Hereta, then the instruction manual is on the disks."
"Disks?" Sam's father inquired. Teal'c replied, "MacGyver is referring to the Keys."
"I thought only the Hereta could unlock them, and don't we need all of them?"
MacGyver shrugged. "We won't know until we try."
"Plus we have two of the three already," the Colonel added, suddenly thoughtful. "Right T?" The jaffa nodded, so Colonel O'Neill continued, "Getting the third one from Sedet will be easy, just another step on the yellow brick road!"
Considering the Colonel and his brother looked like they'd just come from a war zone (or a dump heap), Sam wondered how easy it would really be, but a bit of hope sprang up inside her. Back on the ground, they'd implied their encounter with Sedet would be a one-way trip only. Perhaps they planned to come back after all, and if that was the case, then maybe she could convince them to let her go, too.
Encouraged by this thought, Sam pushed aside her weariness and steeled herself for whatever happenstance came next. This day wasn't over yet, and she was determined not to loose the Colonel and his brother again. Not if she had anything to say about the matter.
"Sir?" The pilot called back to them, "We're approaching the area you requested."
Sam looked out the side window, or where the window would have been if the glass was still there. Below them the mountain range was coming to an end. Strips of rocky outcroppings formed sharp valleys and dangerous looking crevices while trees had begun to appear with greater frequency, like weeds growing up between cracks in the land.
"It's there," the Colonel stated with certainty, pointing down at the unfriendly landscape. "See if you can find a place to land."
"Here!" The pilot exclaimed, looking even more terrified than before. Sam felt a pang of sympathy for the man, and then decided to pity everyone, including herself. Between the trees and the sharp jagged mountain hills, there didn't seem to be a flat piece of land around for miles.
"There," MacGyver directed, pointing towards a ledge not much bigger than the helicopter itself.
"You have got to be kidding me!"
The Colonel scowled at the pilot in annoyance. "Oh, just give me the stick and I'll land us."
The pilot instantly turned an ashen shade of grey. Sam opened her mouth to back the pilot up, but her father pushed his way up front and dryly remarked, "I thought you said we were going to crash. You're not trying to fulfill your own prophecy now, are you?"
"No," the Colonel disputed, "I said you won't be able to fly outta here. I never said anything about crashing."
Then MacGyver calmly added, "It's not really something we predict, but once-"
The Colonel cut him off, exclaiming with a smirk, "Watch, and be amazed!"
After an impatient gesture from the Colonel, the pilot reluctantly gave up control of the helicopter, breathing out, "This is insane," as he did. The Colonel just ignored him, maneuvering the helicopter around for another pass over their targeted ledge.
Everyone else, including MacGyver, quickly found something, anything, to hold on to, and in the tense seconds that followed, Sam wondered once again if duct tape could really hold a helicopter together.
But to everyone's surprise, and immense relief, the Colonel set the helicopter down as softly as if he were landing on a cloud. As the pilot shut everything off with shaking hands, the Colonel smugly turned to them all, and stated, "See? Piece of cake! Come on kids, the wizard awaits!"
Much to her surprise, Sam discovered she had to pry her grip loose from the chair. But while the landing had gone without incident, getting down off the ledge to the valley below proved problematic.
The Major looked down at the trees whose tops were almost in reach, tantalizing her, and then looked are her bandaged arm. Janet had been rather adamant when instructing Sam not to use it, but she'd need to climb down somehow, and one handed climbing wasn't her specialty.
"I think I can help," MacGyver commented, having realized the dilemma, just as she had.
Embarrassed, Sam quickly refused, "Thanks, but-"
But, just like that, he'd assembled a harness and was already asking Teal'c if he wouldn't mind giving the Major a piggyback. Once the meaning of 'piggyback' had been clarified, Teal'c had been more than pleased to lend Sam his assistance.
Sam on the other hand was twice as embarrassed and almost as angry to have been reduced to an invalid when she was perfectly capable of climbing down herself, arm or no arm. To make it worse, when they reached the bottom, she got tangled in the ropes while trying to get the harness off, and wrenched her arm so bad she had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out loud.
"Sammy," her dad started, worry shining in his eyes, "maybe you should stay with the helicopter."
"I'm already down, Dad," Sam scathingly told him, silently cursing the offending arm. Everyone else had just slid down the cliff with the help of a single rope. Only the pilot had remained up top. "Besides," She continued, "when we find the ship you might need my help getting it started again." She didn't really believe that. Between Selmak's knowledge and MacGyver's genius, they probably wouldn't need her for anything, but Sam refused to be left behind.
Stubbornly setting her jaw and giving her father a glare that dared him to challenge her, Sam stepped past him to follow after the Colonel and his brother.
Behind her, she heard her father sigh and make a comment to Teal'c too low for her to make out, but the jaffa's somber response was crystal clear, "MajorCarter always listens." The proverbial 'but' was left unspoken.
Sam quickened her pace, following the twins as they moved purposely through the stingy forest. She really needed to get a hold of her emotions, but it wasn't easy, especially with so much at risk. Distracted, her foot caught on a rough stone and she tripped, a nearby tree catching her fall.
With a grunt of pain she pushed herself off the tree and continued down the path only to trip again. It was like she suddenly had absolutely zero coordination. Her third stumble sent her careening into another tree, only this time her injured arm took the full brunt of the impact. The Major couldn't quite hold back the small cry of pain that escaped her lips.
MacGyver immediately turned back to look at her with eyes full of worry. "Are you-?"
She didn't let him finish as she forcefully stated, "I'm fine!" and resolutely continued on past him. Ahead, the Colonel had stopped in a small clearing and was turning around in a slow circle with a peculiar look on his face.
Stepping up behind him and desperately hoping she wouldn't trip again, Sam hesitantly questioned, "Sir?"
"It should be here," he told her, again turning around as he examined the ground for any signs of the ship.
They all started searching the little clearing, but Sam didn't see a single lump to indicate something might be buried underneath. Her father crossed his arms, and with an almost expected expression, dryly questioned, "Well, Jack?"
"It should be here. Right here!" The Colonel exclaimed. Then looking around as if some otherworldly entity were present, he suggestively called out, "All we need is an earthquake." They waited in silence but nothing happened. The Colonel even jumped up and down as if he could get the earthquake started, but the ground remained stubbornly still.
"Jack," MacGyver slowly began, looking equally frustrated, but somewhat unsure, "Maybe it's not here?"
"O'Neill!" Teal'c suddenly called out in alarm. "Something approaches."
They all looked up the hill where the jaffa was pointing, but all Sam saw was the black smudge on the horizon from the distant fire. A flash of light cut through the dark sky and with a start, the Major suddenly realized it was much more than just smoke in the sky. She heard it a second later, the faint rumble of thunder, only it wasn't fading away, it was getting stronger.
"Everyone, grab onto something! Tight!" Both the Colonel and MacGyver simultaneously ordered.
Sam responded with all the instincts of a trained soldier, although it was a couple seconds before her tired mind reasoned why. The increasing rumble wasn't thunder at all. It was the sound of rushing water. The flash flood surged down the side of the mountain, building exponentially as it traveled across the impermeable ground, and pulling with it anything that wasn't tied down. Seconds later it caught up with them and Sam tightened her grip around the slim tree right as the six foot wall of muddy water hit, broken tree branches and other pieces of debris relentlessly pounding against her back and side.
The rest disappeared from sight as the water covered her head, but a second before it did, Sam thought she saw everyone else clinging to a tree just as she was. Then a large branch struck her in the shoulder blade and Sam jerked, pulled by the current. Her grip came loose and she felt the waters tugging at her, trying to pull her away. She automatically reached with her injured arm to secure her position, but it wasn't strong enough and all too soon she was caught in the tide of the flooding water.
It was impossible to control her decent down the craggy mountainside, and her movements felt sluggish as she tried to break free of the flood's grip, but she wasn't even sure what way was up anymore. Then she hit something so hard it jarred her whole body and Sam found herself choking on the muddy water.
She wasn't going to die like this! The thought raged through her mind even while her body panicked; gulping in more water instead of the air it sought for. She hit something else and pain laced up her leg, but whatever it was, it managed to snag her, holding her in place as the flood continued to rush around her. She was on the verge of passing out when the water finally receded, the numbing roar moving further and further away to leave her in a shocked silence.
Still fighting for breath, Sam began bringing up as much of the vile water her body could manage, choking down gasps of air between each heave until the there was nothing left for her stomach to reject. Rolling onto her side, she concentrated on relaxing, letting the air come naturally through her greatly abused lungs.
It was hard to say how much time passed, she didn't think she'd fallen asleep, but the world was a foggy daze until the Colonel's familiar features suddenly came into focus.
"Carter?" He hesitantly questioned and she felt him feel her neck for a pulse. His touch felt like fire against her cold skin, filling her with warmth, which for a brief moment felt like life itself.
Blinking up at him, Sam automatically replied, "I'm fine, sir," although her voice sounded thick and her tongue kept getting stuck in her mouth. Forcing sore limbs into motion, she struggled to sit up. Water gathered in puddles on the cleanly swept red brown ground. Except for the trees, the land looked desolate.
"Hold on, Sam. Your leg's stuck," her father warned, drawing her attention to where he stood by a knot of tree limbs that had managed to catch hold of her during the flash flood. He, along with Teal'c, were working at untangling the thick branches while MacGyver stood next to the Colonel, their faces awash with worry.
She could feel when her leg was released from its temporary prison, and carefully pulled it out, amazed to find she could still bend it. Unsurprisingly, her father was more than a little alarmed by her initiative, and giving her a stern look, ordered her to stay still till he could have a look at it. To her it seemed as if everyone wanted to 'have a look' and all she could think was to reassure them she was fine.
"You're probably in shock," MacGyver bluntly told her.
"It does hurt, but it's not bad," she told them again, and it wasn't, only a gash across her thigh that looked a little swollen, but it wasn't like it was bleeding profusely or anything. Other than a few tender spots where passing debris had bruised her, only her arm really hurt, and she wasn't about to tell them that. It was still bandaged up pretty tight so it would be fine, she instantly reasoned to herself. The bindings were a faint brown now, but they all looked a little muddy. In the case of the twins, it could only be an improvement.
To prove that she was, in fact, still alive, and perfectly able to continue with them, she pushed them all away and got to her feet, only stumbling a little as cold muscles became reacquainted with the act of movement.
Looking for the entire world like both a disapproving General and an overprotective father, Jacob smartly stated, "You're lucky you're even alive! Do you know how rare it is for someone to survive a flash flood? I'm surprised we did, and we had something to hang on to. When I saw you-" His voice faltered as he swallowed down the rest of the sentence.
Feeling her own breath catch in her throat, Sam immediately stepped up to him and threw her arm around his neck, all notions of stubbornness giving way to her need to reassure him. "It's okay, Dad. I'm okay."
Then the Colonel turned on her, anger almost radiating off him in his concern. "I knew this was a mistake. You should all go back now! Get away from us as far and as fast as you can!"
Teal'c tried to console the man, saying somberly, "We would not leave you to fight this battle by yourselves."
"No, T! It's too dangerous. This proves it! You guys need to get out of here, now!"
Sam shook her head, telling the Colonel, "It's too late for that, sir. The effects have already spanned several states."
MacGyver looked at her in shock. "Really?"
"Yes. And besides, we can help."
"Carter," Colonel O'Neill growled out, "How does almost getting yourself killed help?"
Part of her wondered that herself, but she ignored that part, knowing that she couldn't simply leave. Then MacGyver spoke up, his soft voice breaking the tension that was quickly building. "When it gets us where we needed to go? I think I found the ship."
Everyone turned to find him examining a large lump sticking out of the ground that had been washed clean by the flood. Teal'c walked completely around it, saying needlessly, "The ship appears to be buried to some depth."
"Ya think?" the Colonel groused, but immediately turned away from them. Sam knew her CO well enough to know he was still highly upset. MacGyver glanced at the Colonel, just as worried. Her still somewhat sluggish mind noted how strange it was that the brothers could be so equally concerned over the same thing, but deal with it so differently.
"We should probably get going," MacGyver stated.
Sam's father left one arm protectively around her as he turned to the Colonel's twin. "And just how do you propose we do that? I don't recall bringing any shovels, and that ship's not going to come out of the ground on its own."
As soon as he spoke the words, the ground began to tremble. Sam was still reeling from the last ordeal, so she did the only thing she could and clung to her father with an iron grip. It wasn't long before the ground gave way beneath their feet and everyone went tumbling head over heels.
It wasn't an earthquake as Sam first assumed, but a landslide, as the entire side of the mountain broke apart, spilling them out like sand through a funnel. Dirt completely surrounded them, making it impossible for Sam to tell which way was up or down, again. For a brief moment she wondered if the ground would literally swallow them whole, but then they hit something hard enough to end their decent. Rocks pounded against her back, the pain mixing with the cold chill in her limbs till it was all nothing more than a numb beating.
When the noise faded and Sam could hear the faint sound of people coughing, she finally dared to open her eyes. While it felt like they'd fallen miles, they hadn't really come down so far, but the ruin that lay before her was still a devastating sight. Out of that ruin, the rumble shifted and the Colonel rose unsteadily to his feet.
"Everyone alive?"
"Sammy?" her father questioned softly, and Sam suddenly realized she was still tightly clinging to him. She forced white knuckles to release their grip, and slowly sat up.
"I'm fine," she told him, even while her mind informed her she wasn't. He gave her a look of disbelief, but it was undermined when he tried to sit up and visibly flinched.
"Dad?"
"Selmak's got it," was all he said before saying louder in response to the Colonel, "We're alive here, Jack."
Teal'c stood up and brushed off the dirt as if their sudden decent was nothing more than a minor tumble on the ground. "As am I."
MacGyver had already gotten up and was walking back up the slope. "Looks like there were a few large cavities in the side of this hill. The flood probably broke some of the foundation away. At any rate, the ship's free and clear now."
Sam looked up the hill to see that MacGyver was right. The slope's collapse had dug out all but a quarter of the ship, which now sat crooked against the ground, it's small black-brown pyramid shape a sharp contrast to the red, brown, and green surrounding it.
A shadow loomed over them, and startled, Sam looked up at the Colonel, meeting his deeply worried gaze. "You okay?" She could only nod, not trusting herself to actually answer without sounding pathetic. Then his expression changed to one of annoyance. "Next time Jake, think about what you're saying before you say it."
A look of shocked realization covered her father's face. Sam knew exactly how he felt.
Jack closed his eyes and instantly felt himself drift off to sleep. It had taken them a surprisingly short amount of time to get off the ground. The ship's door had opened up when he and Mac approached it, and even after all these years, it powered up as if it'd only been a day since it was buried. It took much longer to convince the rest to stay behind. In the end Jacob had talked Jack into letting him come, insisting that he and Selmak would be needed to operate the ship, especially since everything was written in that ancient dialect of goa'uld.
"Besides," Jacob had told them, "With Selmak, I have the best chance out of all of us of surviving our encounter with Sedet." Jack didn't feel like correcting the man. Instead, he'd found a place to relax while they made their way towards one more confrontation Jack already knew would probably end in both victory and disaster.
It felt like it was only a minute later when MacGyver shook him awake. "How long was I out?" Jack groggily asked.
"Only about a minute."
"Figured as much."
Mac gave him an apologetic smile, and then explained, "We already picked up Sedet's ship on the scanners. It's a lot closer than we thought."
"What else is new?" Jack grumbled. He pulled his feet closer to get up and see for himself, but then thought better of it. Best to rest as much as possible now, while they had the chance.
As if reading his mind, Jacob told them, "We're still twenty minutes out." The man was perched precariously on the edge of a seat obviously not suited for humans. He fiddled with the controls for a minute, and then turned in his seat, a troubled expression creasing his face. "Do you have a plan for when we get there?"
MacGyver and Jack exchanged knowing looks before Mac shrugged, replying with a simple, "No."
"Call me picky, but don't we need a plan?"
"Probably not."
Jacob looked at him with droll disbelief. Jack tried hard not to smirk, and smartly told him, "Hey, you're the one who wanted to come along."
Then Mac explained, "Plans don't ever seem to work out the way we intend them to, anyway. Especially lately. Improvising seems to work much better."
A whole new expression creased Jacob's face making Jack want to sigh. When a couple of minutes had passed and Jacob still hadn't said anything, Jack finally stated, "You might as well ask what you really want to ask, Jake."
"So, are the two of you really exactly identical? Because I trust Sam when she says your odd…connection...is having adverse side effects, but I find it hard to believe that your mere proximity to each other could possibly destroy the world."
"It's what Gents believed would happen," Jack said, instantly subdued by the thought.
"We are exactly identical, physically at any rate, and even then, only once we've run into each other," MacGyver confirmed, and then almost absently extrapolated, "For some things distance doesn't seem to matter, like when we both broke our leg, I was halfway around the world at the time, but the closer we are the more similar we become. And the more our luck intensifies." His expression became troubled. "Sam said the effects had spanned several states. Just how bad has it gotten?"
"According to the news, pretty bad," Jacob told them. "Things are getting really crazy down there."
Jack felt his heart sink in his chest. His worst fears were finally coming to light, and they were the cause. Looking equally disconcerted, MacGyver sank to the floor beside Jack and murmured, "I just don't get it. It doesn't add up."
"We knew this was always a possibility," Jack glumly told his twin.
"The area of effect has never been so large before, and it hasn't even been more than three days!" MacGyver adamantly argued.
Was that all? To Jack, it felt like it'd been forever. Jacob frowned at them. "Just how often have you run into each other before now?"
"Several times. Except for that one time as kids we've always made sure it was never more than a couple days, but things have never escalated as far or as quickly as they have this time round."
"Because we've never been so different," Jack stated with sudden realization. His mind quickly worked through the theory that had blossomed in his head. He turned to Mac, hoping that voicing his thoughts out loud could make it all fall into place. "Everything has a quantum field, and in our case, it always seems to want to change the things around us, creates our so called 'luck.'"
MacGyver nodded like it was old news, adding, "It's when we come in contact with each other that, for lack of a better term, we 'synch up,' and as a consequence the resulting 'backwash' increases our 'luck' as well as the field of influence."
Feeling rather impatient, Jack finished the theory they'd worked out over the years, "Every action must have a consequential reaction, even on a quantum level. And the reason things get worse the longer we're together is because life can never stay constant, so changes are constantly being made and accounted for between us, adding to everything that's already happened. But Mac," and suddenly Jack just knew what he was about to say was absolutely true, "We haven't completely synched up…yet."
At first startled, MacGyver just stared at him, but then understanding as well as fear entered the eyes of Jack's genius brother. "The time between you getting shot and me getting stabbed in the side…"
"Should have been almost instantaneous," Jack grimly finished for him. "I think we're still trying to synch up. The last time we saw each other was before I stepped through the gate, and a lot has happened since then. More than just your average change in blood pressure or diet. I've been affected by alien parasites more times that I'd like to recount, I've even had a snake…evaporate, or whatever, in my head once."
"If we haven't synched up by now, then the amount of energy coming from us must be…" Mac was at a loss for words, caught up in the magnitude of what they were suggesting.
Jack knew how Mac felt, but now that it was out, there was no denying it. "It's gotta be huge. Astronomical even. It's why things have gotten so out of hand."
"And why we can't seem to get away from each other, or why the effect doesn't wear off that quickly even when we do."
Grimly, Jack stated, "This won't end until we do synch up, one way or the other." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Now that it was out, he wished it wasn't. What could they possibly do to stop something like this?
After a minute of depressed silence, Jack opened his eyes to see that Jacob was staring at him. Not them, him. "What?" Jack finally demanded.
"You really are twins, aren't you?" Jacob simply asked.
Jack was completely thrown by the question. "What, you couldn't tell from looking at us?"
"No, what I mean is…Jack, I had no idea how smart you were." And suddenly a grin spread across the man's face. "Sam's going to be annoyed when she finds out."
Now Jack was really floored. Here they were talking about how everything was completely messed up and could result in the possible destruction of Earth, and all Jacob had to say was Carter would be upset because Jack had finally revealed his hidden IQ! "Who says she has to find out," Jack sullenly grumbled.
Jacob laughed, but MacGyver gave him an injured looked, quietly questioning, "Just how dumb do you act, Jack?"
It wasn't like he did it specifically to spite Mac or even scientists in general, although in a way he realized it was, but science was what had created this mess to begin with, and he'd never forgiven Gents for what happened to them.
"We all knew he wasn't an idiot," Jacob answered Mac. "We just didn't know he was secretly a scientist, too."
"I am not a scientist," Jack adamantly proclaimed. When Jacob just chuckled, Jack exclaimed with frustration, "I can't believe you're laughing at a time like this!"
Jacob just shrugged. "To be honest, even Selmak's having a hard time grasping what's going on between you two. Sam thought if you could get Gent's device to work, you could somehow reverse everything, or at least stop whatever it is that's really happening. Maybe that's still true."
MacGyver instantly supported Jacob's idea, adding, "We just need to unlock the Keys to figure out how to work it."
Jack groaned. He was surrounded by optimists. Then Jacob finally turned the conversation to something more tangible. "How much do you know about Sedet?"
"Not much," Mac admitted. "Just that he was Akh's brother."
Jacob proceeded to fill them in on everything he'd learned back at the SGC. The part about the 'Gifts of the Hereta' was especially disturbing to Jack.
"It's most likely Sedet has some sort of cloaking technology," Jacob told them.
"I don't know Jacob. That doesn't seem right to me."
"I agree," Mac added, siding with Jack.
"What else could the Gift of Shadows mean?" Jacob argued, but Mac just shrugged.
"I guess there's only one way to find out."
A beeping pulled Jacob's attention back to the console. "We're there, but I don't know how you plan to get them out of hyperspace. This ship doesn't have much in the line of firepower."
"Don't worry about that," Jack told him. "Just make sure we cross in front of their path."
Jacob seemed dubious, but Jack felt the subtle shift as Jacob changed course. A minute later a hard jolt shook the ship, and they instantly dropped out of hyperspace.
Jack gritted his teeth as the momentum of their sudden stop tried to imbed him into the wall. "Jacob! I said to cross in front of them, not to hit them!"
"I didn't!" Jacob protested. They were all trying to get to their feet, and as Jacob worked furiously at the controls, resolving one 'beeping' emergency after another, Jack finally got his first look at Sedet's ship.
It was huge, much bigger than the standard ha'tak, but still in that familiar pyramid shape. The biggest difference was that it was predominantly black, making it much harder to see with the naked eye. And like them, the monster was currently stuck in space.
"I can't get our shields up," Jacob informed them with concern.
"Any chance you're still working on it?" Mac hopefully questioned as several small ships left the black ha'tak and headed in their direction. In many ways they resembled arrowheads, and looked just as ready to cut right through them.
"Of course I'm still working on it," Jacob practically growled.
"The only reason I'm asking is-"
"Incoming!" Jack interrupted, grabbing onto the back of Jacob's seat as missiles of energy rocked their little ship, threatening to tear it to pieces. A wave of electricity seemed to pass over the entire hull and go straight into the systems, causing several of the warning 'beeps' to both start and stop suddenly. "Jake, hail them."
"And say what?"
"I don't know. We're emissaries of Akh or some diplomatic crap like that! Anything."
But it became apparent they wouldn't get the chance the moment Jacob reached for the controls. "Comm's out. Everything but life support is down!"
Then an all too familiar sound emanated from behind them. Jack turned to see the transport rings materialize in the cabin's small space. Instinctually, Jack reached for his gun, only to realize he didn't have one, none of them did. For that matter, they hadn't brought any weapons of any kind with them, not even a zat. "D'oh!"
Inside the rings, three aliens appeared, unlike any Jack had met before. He thought they were bipeds, but their limbs had a disjointed look to them, and like bugs, they had an exoskeleton, the hard shimmering shell literally becoming their armor. Then all at once they disappeared and alarm washed through him.
Unable to see the enemy, they were helpless to stop them. Only instinct saved Jack from a blow that very well might have smashed his skull in, but several somethings still struck him in the neck, the thigh, and the ankle, the last pulling his feet out from under him.
"We come in peace!" Jack heard Mac try, but they wouldn't know English, and the creatures' rather fanatical reaction was to open fire inside the cabin itself. A blast knocked the lights out plunging everything into complete darkness.
Feeling more confident now that they were on equal ground –forget the fact that the aliens had weapons and they didn't- Jack decided to attempt a tackle on one of the creatures. If he could just wrestle away one of their weapons, whatever they were, wherever they were, maybe they had a fighting chance, but this time luck was against him.
A knock to the head put a ringing in his ears, and the next punch Jack swung connected with something soft, not hard. "Ow! Jack!" Mac protested even though Jack knew his twin couldn't see him.
More shots were fired, creating sharp flashes of light that hurt the eyes. Then one finally hit Jack in the shoulder and he fell, crying out against the pain. It had the same kick a staff weapon did. Jack blinked back the tears that filled his eyes, but a light suddenly enveloped him. Thankfully it wasn't the light of another weapon discharge, but it was something almost as equally unwanted.
His body went numb as the rings reduced him to nothing but energy. He wasn't sure if he fell unconscious at the other end or mid transport, but either way, Jack welcomed the darkness.
Next chapter should be up next week. It needs editing. Lot's of editing. .
Ffnet changed the way my files format...now I'm missing all my chapter breaks and stars...how annoying :(