Chapter 15 : Flesh and Blood
The silence. The silence was deafening. She drifted slowly, gradually away from the now inactive Supergate. She was afraid, a fear she had not felt in a very long time. The feeling of helplessness was eating away at her. There was nothing she could do to get out of this situation alone, and the silence was oppressing her, more and more, every minute. She had been a helpless spectator of the fighting, then of the disappearance of the Ori fleet. She had been left alone, slowly drifting in the interstellar void, far from the stargate. She could do nothing alone, she needed a ship to pick up her SOS, before it was too late and her oxygen supply reached zero. She forced herself to breathe slowly, focusing her attention on regulating her heart rate. She couldn't panic, she would use up too much oxygen.
"This is Lieutenant Colonel Carter, come in please? Can anyone hear me? Please respond. If anyone can hear me, this is Lieutenant Colonel Carter. Please respond. This is Lieutenant Colonel Carter. I'm in a spacesuit drifting free, approximately two thousand feet off the front right position on the Supergate."
"Sam, it's me, Mitchell. Can you hear me ?" He sounded stunned, but alive.
"I can't tell you how good it is to hear your voice." She sighed in relief. Mitchell's answer had broken four hours of deafening silence. She was no longer alone and selfishly relieved that her friend had made it. Maybe he could bring her some answers.
"Yeah, you too." He must have taken quite a blow to the head, he looked really unalert, but at least he was there, somewhere, in an X304 most likely.
"I saw the Korolev explode." She announced, the question noticeable in her voice. Yet Cameron did not give her the answer he was expecting.
"I was able to get into an X304 before the ship exploded... I must have lost consciousness." His voice sounded a little less distant, though still a little slurred.
"Daniel?" It was a difficult question to ask. She wasn't sure she wanted confirmation of what she sensed. If Daniel wasn't in X303 with Cameron, it could only mean one thing.
"Still on board… I think." Sam's heart cracked. She closed her eyes, holding back the emotion that ran through her. She couldn't let her grief get the better of her. She had to fight and survive. Earth needed them. "What happened to the Ori ships ?" Cameron asked.
"They left here approximately four and a half hours ago." Informed her, she was about to continue when suddenly the silence was broken by a new radio communication.
"This is Colonel Emerson aboard the Odyssey. Colonel Mitchell is that you?" Sam's radio and Mitchell's radio received the same message.
"Yes sire."
"Thank God." She murmured, relieved. "This is Carter. Are you in range to beam me back aboard?" The relief was unfortunately short-lived.
"I'm afraid that we haven't got beaming capability at this time. Kvasir's working on it."
"Where were you ?" Sam asked, frustration evident in her voice. She had been drifting alone in space for hours, convinced she was the only survivor of the Ori attack.
"I'm sorry we were out of touch there for a while. We lost all communications in the battle. We got our sub-light back on line and then tracked the Ori safely from a distance using our long-range sensors, til they jumped into hyperspace about an hour ago. We're still just getting back our basic operating systems." This was proving problematic. She had designed most of the plans for some of the systems and engines of the Earth ships. And if, despite the presence of an Asgard, the repairs took time, it meant that the ship was in bad shape.
"Look, uh, I hate to be self-centered here, especially given what's just happened, but uh, I've only got a couple of hours of life support left here." She informed them, aware that she was adding a problem to the Odyssey commander's long list of concerns.
"I'm aware of your situation, Colonel. I'll keep you apprised." Then it was radio silence again. She sighed. What she wouldn't have given to be on Earth right now, surrounded by her friends and colleagues, waiting for a certain US Air Force General to arrive.
(...)
"Is Earth aware of our situation?" Cameron asked Colonel Emerson.
"Our only long-range array that wasn't fried was sensors. Sub-space communication is beyond repair. Still, they gotta know something's wrong. We've missed two scheduled check-ins." Informed the Colonel as they walked through the corridors of the ship towards the Bridge.
"So, there's no help." Cameron deduced, cruelly aware that the Ori could open their Supergate at any moment to send a new wave of ships.
"No, unfortunately there's nothing they can do. The Korolev and the Odyssey are our only two ships in the galaxy."
WASHINGTON D.C. - HOMELAND SECURITY - CRISIS ROOM
NORAD's transmission was jammed. Ship explosions were causing interference in the telemetry. It was impossible for Earth to know exactly what had happened there. But it had been more than four hours since the Odyssey's last transmission, and Colonel Emerson had not sent any messages to Earth since the confrontation with the Ori began. There was no word from the Earth ships or their crews. Jack had not heard from SG1. Yet the room was buzzing with activity. Everyone was busy organizing the planetary defense. Jack had sent the SGC Commander back to base, they were already organizing reconnaissance missions to planets close to the confrontation to try to find out what was coming. The thunderous silence on the other side of the Galaxy could only mean one thing... the Ori had successfully entered the galaxy and opened a supergate. The invasion had begun. Jack had put on his uniform, in a video conference with his Russian counterpart, keeping him informed of the progress of the rescue missions when his phone rang. Apologizing to his counterpart, he took the call.
"O'Neill."
"Jack, Brata'k just came through the stargate. He has confirmed that the Ori ships have decimated our fleet and are on their way. We're going to send a Jaffa device to the area, to search for any survivors." General O'Neill could not afford to show any emotion, the video conference screen told him that his Russian counterpart was paying attention to the slightest reaction.
"Thanks Hank, I want to be kept informed of any progress." He hung up after greeting his friend. Then, he tightened his fingers in his pocket around the object which had not left him since his departure from Washington. He drew there an anchoring in the real, a tenuous hope. She was alive. The team was alive, it was SG1... They were immortal! "General, General Landry informs me that the Earth ships have been defeated by the Ori. We don't know yet if...".
SOMEWHERE IN SPACE
"Sam, I'm sorry. We're not quite ready yet." She closed her eyes for a second, terrified. This was the last chance she had.
"Hate to rush you." She muttered.
(...)
"Uh, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, it won't work." This time, she was terrified as she watched the Earth ship fire its thrusters. She knew Cameron was capable of great feats at the controls of an X304, but this was a much larger ship. If he made the slightest mistake, she would be dead in a second. Crushed in her astronaut suit.
"Hang on, Sam. We're coming to get you." Cameron confirmed to her. Oh God. It couldn't end like this. She couldn't end like this. She could feel her legs shaking in her space suit. She needed to be sure it wouldn't end like this for her. Not so soon, not without her being able to find out what "srew the rules" could possibly mean.
"Oh boy !" She was panicking. She never usually panicked. But here she was tiny and the ship was huge. "Look, the sub-light engines don't have that much control. If you hit me, even at minimum velocity…." Her brain was spinning in a loop, analyzing the parameters, the chances of this ending badly.
"I am not gonna hit you.."
"Even if you get me in past the shield, the artificial gravity will kick in. A fall from even thirty feet in this suit…"
"Sam, stop worrying. Kvasir's riding the controls manually." She would have liked to close her eyes and pray. But she couldn't. She could see the ship coming faster and faster, even though she was barely moving with each passing second. When she entered the hangar, she closed her eyes for a second. When she hit the ground, her legs gave way and she fell on her side, dragged down by the weight of her suit. She was alive. She was safe. She was going home. And SG1 would be by her side. Everything would be okay. Her helmet had just been removed, she breathed in air that wasn't from a bottle for the first time in over 6 hours, her head spun. A light was shone in her eyes
"Colonel Carter, are you okay?"
"Head spinning, but I'm fine." She muttered, reflexively closing her eyes to the light.
"We have her, sir. She's okay." Informed the chief medical officer over the radio. She was safe.
SOMEWHERE IN SPACE - ODYSSEY - INFIRMARY
She had been installed in a bed in the on-board infirmary to undergo a small battery of routine tests. She was feeling a little weak from lack of hydration and time spent in the weightlessness of space. She was waiting patiently for the results of her tests when Cameron joined her in the infirmary. She held out her hand and he shook it as he sat by her bed.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Yeah, I was going to say no sweat, but there was definitely sweat involved. In Kvasir's case I think it was perspiration." A smile grazed Samantha's lips. Cameron's humor reminded her of Jack's sometimes.
"Any news on Teal'c?" She asked almost immediately.
"No but we have something else, eh Marks, show her." The lieutenant handed her a tablet where several data were recorded. She understood at once what she had in front of her.
"We downloaded the blackbox data from the Korolev." He confirmed.
"We know that six people got off using beaming technology before it went up. None of them was Jackson. However…" Cameron added. She had seen the spike too.
"The rings were also activated." Daniel was alive, she was sure of it.
"You betcha."
SOMEWHERE IN SPACE - ODYSSEE - OFFICERS' QUARTERS
The last two days had been trying. The Odyssey was on its way to Earth with the entirety of SG1 and Vala on board. The Odyssey would not reach Earth for several hours, and after working hard with Kvasir to restore many of the systems, Colonel Emerson had encouraged her to take some time off, saying that there were more battles to come and she should be in shape. She crossed her fingers under her neck and gazed at the ceiling above her. The intercom in her cabin beeped. She straightened up and rushed to pick it up.
"Carter."
"External communication for you, Colonel. From Earth."
"Pass it to me, Lieutenant."
There was a click on the line, indicating that the call had been switched.
"Sam." She smiled impulsively, knowing no one would see her sketch that gesture. "Tomorrow." And he hung up. The smile had blossomed on her face.
"Tomorrow." She murmured.
