Chapter 4: Beachhead
A sigh escaped him as he closed the last mission report of a new SG team. The reports piling up on his desk about the Ori were no laughing matter, almost every report mentioned a preacher and a new people converted to Origin. He was the commander of Homeland Security, the one to whom all the other generals in the various programs that flowed from the Stargate program answered. He had to make decisions. And the Ori were a thorn in his side that he could have done without. The only reason he hadn't retired from the SGC was because Samantha had insisted. He knew the SG program better than anyone, he had been its commander of course, but more importantly he was the first active duty soldier who had been sent through the Gate. Therefore, she had argued, he was in the best position to know what the program entailed, the best position to defend the budget allocated to each of them, and the best position to coordinate all the SG services: the SGC, Area 51, Alpha and Beta sites, the space programs... Nevertheless, he had not expected this, that a new enemy would emerge from another galaxy, that the Earth would be in danger again. And that he would have to send her back to the field. If he stopped lying to himself, that was the biggest thorn in his side. Samantha Carter. He had served with her for ten years. He knew she was irreplaceable. He knew that if Earth was in danger, Samantha Carter would find a way to save it. He knew he would have to give in. Landry was pushing hard for her to join the SGC. But Landry didn't have much of a say in the matter, when Samantha flatly refused to join Cheyenne Mountain. Jack was a star general, but in front of Samantha Carter, he was just a man. A man in love who couldn't come up with any arguments to convince her to return to the SGC.
"General?" Jack turned his head in the direction of the door.
"Lieutenant?"
"A new report from Stargate Command just came in. The latest mission report from SG1." She handed him the file, Jack retrieved it, pushing aside the other files waiting on a corner of his desk.
"Thank you, Lieutenant."
With a new sigh Jack opened the report and immersed himself in the writings of his former team members. In each report he saw the urgency that was looming, the decision he would soon have to make. He knew that the sword of Damocles was hanging over him and that soon he would have to make his decision.
WASHINGTON D.C. - JACK O'NEILL'S PENTHOUSE - 6:45 PM
She had two more days of leave before returning to Nevada. The two weeks she'd spent aboard the Daedalus had seemed like a long time, even though she'd loved every second of tinkering with the ship's systems. But for the first time in years, Samantha Carter was happy to be away from her lab and her experiments, she didn't even think about it. She was taking advantage of the five days of leave she'd been granted. Five days she had spent in this apartment, enjoying life as much as possible. Today, she was wearing jeans and an oversized T-shirt, she was barefoot, the radio was playing American classics in the background, she was chatting while preparing dinner. Jack should be here any minute. Jack, the simple fact of allowing herself to think of him by his first name still surprised her. Yet their relationship had been going on for several months now. He had left early this morning, she had spent the day doing some sport, visiting the Smithsonian again, reading at the terrace of a café. Then, she had taken advantage of a small farmer's market in the neighborhood to buy some food to prepare dinner. Jack's fridge had the distinction of being filled with beer and leftover take-out food, habits that had been well established for ten years. But she had to admit it, the beer omelette of Jack O'Neill was a delight, especially after a night of love with the said Jack O'Neill. Two arms slipped around her waist as she stirred the contents of a pan, and two lips placed a tender kiss on her neck.
"Colonel, is it worthy of a member of the military to be caught in the middle of a mission." She laughs, amused.
"At your orders, General" Murmured she while turning over in his arms to kiss him sensually. She ran her hands under the General's uniform jacket and nibbled gently on the skin of his neck. Jack glanced at what was simmering on the stove and reached out to turn off the fire.
"Oh my orders are going to break every non-fraternization law, Colonel." She laughed harder as he lifted her up to sit her on the kitchen counter as he went for her mouth.
"I certainly hope so, sir."
(...)
The cell phone had been ringing for a few seconds when Jack O'Neill's hand fell on him to retrieve it. He had straightened up in bed, fully awake despite the few hours of sleep he had gotten. The habits of years in the field and extremely light sleep had made him wake up at the first ring of the device.
"O'Neill"
His companion had straightened up too, the habits of the field again. She could not hear what the interlocutor was saying, but Jack had this impassive expression on his face, that of a General. He stood up, pacing the room, wearing only his boxers. He paced back and forth, dropping a few "well", "umh umh", "I see". Then suddenly, a spark of pain passed in his eyes and he left the room, avoiding Samantha's gaze.
The soldier pushed back the covers and stood up, pulling on a pair of pants and a sweater to replace her pajamas. She knew that look didn't bode well. She had seen it many times in Jack O'Neill's eyes and she knew that the conversation to come would not be easy. They had waited nearly ten years to be together. Ten years. She grabbed a pair of sweatpants and an SGC T-shirt from the dresser and headed for the office, knowing she would find him there. Jack was sitting at his desk, his computer open in front of him, the phone still to his ear, he wasn't shouting, but his tone was cold and dry, that of a General. He was giving orders to his interlocutor.
"Hoswald, get the plane ready to take off. I don't care what Renfry says, he has to be ready. The Daedalus teleportation system is not yet..."
" ... " His subordinate's response stopped him in his litany of orders.
"Thank you, Hoswald. I'll take care of notifying the Lieutenant Colonel and arranging her arrival at Andrews."
Jack's gaze met Sam's as she laid the clothes she held in her arms beside him. "I'll take care of notifying the Lieutenant Colonel," that could only mean one thing. She was going back to Colorado Springs, Jack had made a decision that tormented him. There could only be two reasons for this: either their friends were in mortal danger, or the Earth or the Galaxy were under threat. Jack got dressed, phone pressed to his ear, continuing to arrange for Lieutenant Colonel Carter's transfer with his subordinate. Samantha sat in one of the office chairs, legs tucked under her, waiting for the conversation to end so she could find out what had happened. Her phone had gone silent, which didn't bode well. Jack would be the one to inform her. Which meant that the SGC had requested her presence not for scientific advice but for a field mission. She was waiting. When Jack put the phone back on his desk, she was ready.
"When do I have to leave?" She asked.
"An F-302 will be waiting for you at Andrews Air Force Base in one hour. The Ori have opened a portal from their Galaxy and we believe an invasion is about to begin. I need you to get back to the SGC, we're going to test the Mark IX to close that gate." She paused in surprise. She had worked on the warhead at Area 51, it was she who had designed the naquadria bomb core.
"Jack, the Mark IX may not be enough to ..." He cut her off as she was about to make many scientific arguments.
"We have to try. And I need you to go there, you practically single-handedly designed the plans for this warhead, they're going to need you there, Landry's going to claim you, it's only a matter of time. I'll drive you to the base and ..."
"I'm not rejoining SG1." She was adamant, arms crossed over her chest.
"Sam I..."
"I'm not rejoining SG1, I'm not going back under your direct chain of command. I want to make that clear."
"Sam they ..."
"No Jack, I'm saving the Galaxy and then going home. That's non-negotiable. Unless of course it's an order ... General." She finished by taking a protocol tone and approaching him until she brushed against him.
"Sam..." He whispered her name as he took her cheek in the heart of his hand, tenderly caressing her face. "We may not have a choice."
"Then order me to leave." She provoked him, with a determined look.
"You know I can't." He whispered as he kissed her eagerly.
"Then don't. I love you Jack, the Galaxy will do without me after this last mission."
CHEYENNE MOUTAIN BASE, COLORADO - GENERAL LANDY'S OFFICE 06 : 34 AM
Landry was on the phone, pacing back and forth behind his desk, furious at having to plead his case and being turned down by his friend
"Jack…Jack, Jack! She practically invented the Mark IX, and you're the one who thinks we should use the damned thing. Why are you wasting valuable time saying no? "
"Carter is critical to getting the Daedalus Hank's navigation system up and running quickly, we could really use that ship if the Ori attack." Jack knew that Samantha would be arriving in Landry's office in just a few seconds. He wanted her to hear him, to hear Hank plead for her to come, and to know that he was there... that he was waiting for her. He would have liked to go with her, to go out into the field with her. But that was impossible. He was nailed behind that desk in Washington so he wanted to get her to smile there, before she went on her mission.
"I've read enough of your SG-1 mission reports to know that there were times when no one else but Samantha Carter could have pulled your ass out of the fire. Well, this is one of those ti..." Jack knew just then that Hank had turned around and spotted the sculptural Samantha Carter dressed in her uniform in the doorway. Jack heard her voice through the speaker of his phone.
"Reporting as ordered, sir." Samantha declared. Jack's laughter reached Landry immediately. He perceived Sam's amusement in this simple sentence and it made him regret not having accompanied him to the SGC.
"Did my surprise arrive?" He commented mockingly.
"Yeah. She's standing right here. You're a funny man, Jack. Very funny."
PROMETHEE EARTHSHIP - CORRIDORS - 11 : 26 PM
The team headed for the infirmary. Samantha was shaken by what had just happened, by Vala's sacrifice to save the galaxy and delay the Ori invasion. She sensed that Cameron wanted to talk to her. She knew what he was going to ask her. But she couldn't, she wouldn't. She had waited so long. She had hoped for so long to have as normal a life as possible with him. To find a compromise so that both their careers would survive. That they could continue to serve the Earth as best they could without sacrificing their lives together. She wasn't ready to come back. She wanted to be selfish. But seeing Daniel and Teal'C back on the ground. She couldn't deny it, being on the field was exhilarating. But, Vala's sacrifice had reminded her that this program was certainly giving, but it was also taking a lot. She wanted to live, be happy, have a family, with Jack. But going back to SG1 meant giving up on Jack and she didn't want that.
"You know, these Ori are just going to try it again." There, she knew Mitchell would ask her.
"Probably" She answered laconically, avoiding voluntarily the glance of the man who had saved the life to them all in Antarctica.
"I'm saying we could sure use someone like you on the front line." He struck a pose, but the expression on Samantha's face seemed to tip him off to her answer, so he preferred to cut her off before she opened her mouth. " Just think about it."
She did not answer, preferring to finish the walk to the infirmary in silence.
EARTHSHIP PROMETHEE - OFFICER'S QUARTERS - 03 : 11 AM
She had dropped her things off in her quarters and was finishing plugging her computer into the ship's network. She was exhausted and still shocked by Vala's disappearance, despite what she had discovered about the activation of the rings before the supergate exploded. She connected to the network using her credentials, trying to initiate a subspace communication while the Prometheus took a break between hyper jumps.
"Sam." His voice echoed in her headset before his image appeared on the screen. He was in his office at Homeland Security headquarters, she recognized the setting. He was no longer wearing his General's jacket, only his shirt with the stars on his shoulders, he looked tired, his hair was standing on end, too disheveled, a gesture he kept doing when he was nervous. He seemed relieved, he devoured her with his eyes, looking for signs of injury.
"I'm fine. And so are the others... Well, we don't know about Vala but... You'll get the report in a few hours..."
"To hell with the report. I was worried about you Carter. The latest Prometheus broadcasts on the Supergate ..."
"We had to get away from the planet, the destruction of the Super Porter caused interference in the communications network and ..." She spoke quickly, losing herself in an endless scientific explanation so she wouldn't have to say what had been weighing on her since Vala had sacrificed her life for them.
"Carter," he cut her off in a soft voice. "Are you okay?"
" Jack... I'm scared." The tears she'd been holding back since Vala's sacrifice flooded her eyes. Only with him could she afford this kind of confession. What she had witnessed today had upset her. She realized that Mitchell, Landry and all the others were right. She realized what she would have to do. What she was going to have to sacrifice for it. She knew she had to come back. They needed her and she couldn't stay away, not after seeing what the Ori could do.
"Everything will be fine Sam, you'll see. They are false gods, we will triumph over them as we triumphed over the Goa'uld and ..."
But Sam didn't listen to him, only one thought occupied his mind. But I don't want to have to choose between us and the survival of the universe. I want both.
