He awoke in the Gate Room to find Oma Desala on the ramp. "Oh, great. Oma! One of my favorite people!"

She smiled. "Colonel O'Neill. A pleasure as always."

"So, I'm dead." Jack replied after a moment of looking around.

"Not exactly. However, you do not find meaning in your life, therefore you are no better off than dead." She replied, smoothly.

"Yeah, well, thanks for the chat, but aren't you kind of interfering?"

"No. I am simply a personification of your subconscious mind."

"In English, please."

"I am not who I appear to be. Your mind has given me this form, therefore I am here as I am."

"So if you are...me, why are you...am I, using words like personification and subconscious?" Jack asked, throwing down the "trump card."

"Because you are only successful in hiding the magnitude of your intelligence from those who watch you at a distance."

"You mean like Carter, Daniel and Teal'c?" He asked, coolly.

"Much farther removed."

"Really?" He asked.

The Stargate activated, and Oma looked from the event horizon to Jack.

"So you're not going to turn me into a glowing jellyfish thingy?"

"No."

"Great. Just as long as the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future don't visit me tonight, I'm good." He added, spitefully.

"No, but we will visit a few alternate realities..."

"Through the Stargate? I thought that was the mirror thingy's job."

"In dreams, it mattereth not." She said, softly. "Come."

He followed her to the event horizon and he appeared on the planet SG-1 had just been to. How sad is it that the first thing that you did to change the future happened less than 24 hours ago? He thought to himself.

"Watch."

He immediately saw Daniel race toward the DHD followed by Teal'c and Sam. They were under enemy fire. Jack's breath caught. "Where am I?"

"What difference does it make? You would only stand in the way of their success." She replied, calmly.

"But Carter...she's..." He couldn't describe her effectively. To say that she had changed would be an understatement. She was like a living, breathing GI Joe, expressionless and tough.

A twig snapped beside him and he turned to face a Jaffa. It was the Jaffa that he had shot!

The warrior took aim.

"Carter!" Jack yelled.

There was no response. Jack looked from Sam to the Jaffa. He stood in the line of fire. The blast ripped past him, catching Carter in the back. He turned in time to see her crumple to the ground. With Carter gone, the Jaffa she had been fighting took aim at Daniel who had just finished inputting the coordinates. "Sam! Teal'c!" He yelled, turning.

A staff weapon fired, catching him squarely in the chest.

Teal'c continued to fight his opponents, but ultimately, he was caught in the back by the blast from a staff weapon.

Jack just stared. His whole team was dead just because he hadn't been there to watch Carter's back?