Part 4: Solidarity
SG-1 came together with the same quiet deliberateness that had torn them apart. Quick trips across the galaxy, a few bright flashes of white light, and then they were standing together in the metal hollows of Thor's ship.
Jack had once thought that being a part of SG-1 would be like a million other things he had been a part of; just a period in his life with a beginning and an end. Something temporal, with a before and after. Just like he'd been a husband and then he wasn't. A prisoner in Iraq. A father. There was always an after.
Each of them had understood this in their own way. They told themselves that SG-1 was only one aspect of their lives. They had walked away, believing they could move on, become other people. And they had, in a way, but not for the better.
As Jack stood with his ex-teammates on the bridge of Thor's ship, he finally realized the truth. None of them had spared a glance for the spectacular view of Earth from orbit; they only had eyes for each other. Reunited for the first time in two years, Jack was forced to realize that for SG-1, there would never be an 'after.'
And he was oddly comforted by that knowledge.
Jack let his eyes travel over the people that now stood in a rough circle, watching each other almost warily. Daniel had gained back some weight in his months off world, but his eyes were still heavy with fatigue, with seeing things he should never have witnessed. Jack should have known exiling Daniel from Earth could never have removed his capacity for empathy.
Sam was the first to move, to break the stalemate that seemed to have risen up between them. Four quick steps and she was in Daniel's arms, ending two years of separation. Each held the other a little too long, a little too hard, revealing their ragged edges to the other without the need for words. And then Sam was softly whispering and Daniel was nodding quietly against her in understanding.
Jack watched the display from a few feet away and only felt a renewed drive to make these people safe.
Somewhere in all of this Teal'c had shifted to stand by Jack's side. There was no need for words or hugs between them. Jack could read everything he needed to in the Jaffa's jagged profile, the way his robes didn't quite sit right on his shoulders. Things with the Jaffa were not as Teal'c had foreseen. Jack could tell he was just as adrift as the rest of them had been.
But in that moment, watching Daniel and Sam reunite and feeling the quiet presence of Teal'c at his side, Jack no longer felt so lost. He was surprised at how the mere company of these people was enough to settle everything, to make everything seem more manageable. To make the path seem clear.
It was a glimpse of how they had once been, and suddenly Jack understood exactly why they were the ones to save Earth over and over again. When SG-1 was together they were unstoppable, invincible.
And he couldn't help but think that maybe none of this would have happened if they had just stuck together from the beginning.
Daniel and Sam eventually pulled apart and then she was at Teal'c's side, her hands touching him softly to reassure herself of the reality of his existence. Jack clapped one hand on Daniel's shoulder, only in that moment realizing just how much he had missed the younger man.
Daniel glanced up at Jack, still looking more than a little lost, and said softly, "Please tell me we are finally going to do something."
Jack took a deep breath and looked over at Sam, who was staring steadily back at him.
"I want to steal the Stargate."
There was a flash of something in Sam's eyes, quickly hidden.
Jack wasn't sure what they had expected from him, some magic fix perhaps, but he could tell that his words were not the ones they wanted to hear.
"You want to steal the Stargate," Daniel repeated slowly, as if trying out the words.
Jack nodded silently.
Daniel stared at him for long moments, looking like he was waiting for Jack to take the words back. When no retraction came, he blew out a frustrated breath. "You can't really think that will fix anything," Daniel said, soft hope and bewildered confusion firing into disbelief.
Teal'c tilted his head to the side in a way that told Jack he was seriously mulling over the plan, if you could call it that. "The fighting began because of the Stargate," he observed. "Removing the object of contention may diffuse the situation."
"It's not that simple, Teal'c," Daniel said.
Sam stepped forward, her brow furrowed. "But once the U.S. no longer had access to superior technology, they may appear as less of a threat to the rest of the world," she said slowly as if working out all the angles, "At least maybe enough to get them talking again."
Teal'c nodded in agreement.
Daniel made a rough sound of disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. Am I the only one who remembers just how many people have died? We can't just steal the gate in the middle of the night and slink off like cowards."
"Daniel," Sam hissed, her face stricken.
But Jack didn't need to be defended. There was far too much truth in Daniel's words for that. "Give us a different plan then," Jack said instead, knowing that Daniel would have to work this out himself.
Daniel's mouth snapped shut at Jack's request and he began pacing absently. "We go back down and make them listen."
The room was silent once again for a long time, each of them doing their best to avoid Daniel's penetrating gaze.
"There's no going back, Daniel," Jack finally said quietly. "I thought you would have figured that out by now."
Daniel roughly turned away from them and stared out the window, his anger and indignation apparent in every sharp angle of his body. He just wasn't willing to accept the facts of their new lives.
Jack gritted his teeth and accepted the inevitability of this conversation. "If you go back, you know what will happen. How long do you really think it will take for them to lock you up? And I'm sure they'd have a nice cell next door for Carter. Is that what you want?"
Daniel looked surprised, turning to Sam. She shrugged nonchalantly, not quite meeting his gaze. "I've been gone too long already."
Understanding dawned on Daniel's face and he rounded on Jack. "And whose fault is that?" he asked harshly.
Jack wasn't completely unprepared for Daniel's anger, knowing that Daniel had been exiled from everything he'd known for more than sixth months, cut off from doing anything, from any chance at making a difference. Jack, the one who facilitated his departure, made an easy target. "You're not really mad at me, Daniel, you're mad at the situation. So knock it off before you say something you'll really regret."
But Daniel's face had taken on that mulish look that was far too familiar.
"O'Neill is correct, DanielJackson," Teal'c finally said, breaking the stalemate. "Your anger is misplaced."
Daniel released a heavy breath and ran one hand over his haggard face. "There just has to be another way," he maintained.
Jack's anger finally spiked in that moment, the way Daniel made it sound like Jack hadn't thought about this. Didn't he realize that questioning and thinking this through were the only things he did anymore?
"You want plans, Daniel? I'll give you plans. How about we stage a coup and conquer the world? We know better than the rest of them, so it would really be for their own good, right? But how many more people would die then, do you think?
"Or should we go back in time and try to keep the program from going public? From ever existing in the first place? Because we have been heading towards this point for centuries, Daniel, no matter how much we meddle. How far back would be enough? How much would we have to change?
"Or maybe it would be better if I just continue to wile my time away in the SGC and ignore all the death or the fact that the Asgard High Council is threatening to renege on our status as a Protected Planet because the fabled 'Fifth Race' has shown a penchant for violence? One that they are reluctant to see spread to the impressionable, newly free cultures in the Galaxy? And once they have abandoned us, maybe I could stand by and watch as Earth is destroyed by the last wily Goa'uld that's too damn ornery to die? Or maybe just wait for the next new threat?"
It was now Daniel's turn to look ashen. To be honest, Jack had revealed more of his burden these last months than he intended, but maybe Daniel just needed to understand how impossible this situation was.
"I…I didn't know…," Daniel stuttered shakily, obviously flabbergasted by the Asgard's threatened withdrawal. Even as experienced as he was with intergalactic diplomacy, he just couldn't accept that the Tau'ri wouldn't be considered worth protecting.
Jack felt his anger melt into simple tiredness. "No, Daniel, you didn't know. Things have only gotten worse since you left and you couldn't have known, because you haven't been sitting behind a desk for two years watching everything that ever mattered to you fall to pieces, knowing that there was absolutely nothing you could do to stop it. It feels like I've had a lifetime to think about this. And really wish I could have come up with some miraculous fix, but this is all I have."
Teal'c took a small step forward at this point, coming to stand between the two men. "Have the Asgard agreed to this course of action?"
Jack nodded, not taking his eyes off of Daniel. "If the Stargate goes, they promise to keep Earth in the Treaty, and even that much cost me every favor they ever owed us."
"It seems we have little choice," Teal'c observed. "And as much as I, too, wanted to put my faith in the Tau'ri, it is perhaps best that this fighting not be allowed to spill over onto the innocents of other planets."
Jack felt burning shame that his people, who had once been the hope of the Galaxy, were now a bad seed to be feared. He briefly wondered if Teal'c had come to regret giving up his whole life on Chulak and putting his faith in a rundown soldier of Earth. "I'm sorry we couldn't be what you hoped, Teal'c."
Teal'c smiled softly, barely more than a miniscule stretching of his lips. "We have already achieved more than I had ever dreamed, O'Neill. So perhaps it is best to see this present unpleasantness as a valuable reminder that we are all capable of mistakes, mythical race or not."
Jack nodded, but still wished they could have learned that lesson another way.
Daniel visibly took a deep breath as if trying to control his emotions long enough to make one last point. "I hear what you're both saying, I really do. But I don't think you truly comprehend what taking the Stargate means for Earth. You're taking away their last chance to make themselves better. It's…it's admitting that we never really had any potential to begin with. You can't take that away from them."
"They don't deserve it."
The stilted words were the first Sam had spoken since the argument had begun. All three men turned with surprise to look at her where she stood with her back to them, staring down at Earth.
Sam's voice was achingly thin and she hugged herself tightly as if trying to hold herself together. "Everything we've done, everything we sacrificed…it was all because we thought we were making Earth safer, better. But they twisted it all around. They made it…something dirty. And I don't think they'll stop until there is nothing left of any of us. Until it all means nothing."
Watching her, wanting to do nothing more than wrap his arms around her and help her hold it together, Jack knew with unbreakable certainty that this was the greatest rationale of all. He would not allow this planet to break these people, to break her.
Daniel's soft words finally broke the shocked silence following Sam's proclamation. "So we just take that chance away from them?" he asked, not without gentleness. "Who are we to decide that? Who are we to play god?"
It was a valid question, one that had been rattling around in Jack's head ever since he had made this decision.
"What kind of people would we be if we didn't?" Jack countered. It was the only kind of answer he had ever been able to come up with.
Daniel stared back at Jack, processing his words, still looking for any other way. Jack didn't push him; instead he looked over at Sam who was staring out at the tiny blue sphere that seemed so incongruously peaceful from orbit. She must have felt his eyes on her because she turned back to him, her eyes steadily holding his gaze and revealing none of her misgivings.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked.
They all recognized the question for what it was: her vote of support for the plan.
Daniel moved across the room to her side, taking a moment to stare out the window. "I'm scared it won't be enough."
"It has to be," Sam answered lowly.
Daniel sighed, not bothering to deny her words. "I never imagined it ending this way."
None of them had, Jack knew. But he guessed that everyone always eventually learned the truth: fairy tales weren't real. And neither were heroes.
Teal'c remained by Jack's side in a quiet show of support and Daniel eventually nodded his acceptance.
And so SG-1 was reunited, to complete one last mission for Earth.