What Hurts the Most
Chapter 7: Stargate revealed
The week had passed by so fast. Even if she was working hard, Sam always found the time to mourn Daniel's death. Going over her things, trying to decide what she would use for the conference, she knew that this would be one of the hardest things that she had ever done in her life. A knock at the door prevented her from doing much more. Turning, she saw that Jack stood there, the same expression on his face as the first time Daniel ascended.
" Sir," Sam almost whispered, putting the pile of files back on her desk to go through later that day.
" Carter. What are you doing?" Jack asked as he entered the room, eyeballing pictures of the team when they had first destroyed Apophis. That was one hell of a party, ending with most of the base completely drunk and leaving Sam and Daniel to take care of them. The doctor at the time, Dr. Fraiser hadn't been happy at the turn of events, but she smiled and forgave them all when she learned that not every body was drunk that night. She would have been glad that Sam became pregnant.
" Preparing for the conference," she answered. " It won't be the same without Daniel here to explain how he knew all that he did and deciphered the cover stone."
" I know. Listen, I dropped by to see how you were doing. Teal'c, Mitchell and I were heading to O'Malley's for some food. You want to come?" he asked.
" Food sounds good," Sam said. She grabbed her coat, and put it on top of her casual's, having been too upset to put on her uniform. " I hope that you're paying, though, Sir."
" Now there's something that Mitchell can do," Jack said as he led the way to the outside of the base.
The President sat at his desk, reviewing the words that he had written for tonight's airing of the documentary and live conference while the camera crew set up. He sighed and drank a sip of water, placing the glass back on the desk as he thought of the future of it all.
" Mr. President? We're all set up and ready to go," a voice said, startling him out of his reverie.
" In five minutes," he replied.
As soon as the five minutes had passed, the President cleared his throat and looked down at his paper for the final time. " Citizens of Earth. Tonight I come to you to reveal to you all what has been hidden from you for all of twelve years. Last week, we all felt a crisis unfold, our minds accepting that there was something deadly going on very far from here. I beg for your forgiveness for all that has happened and please stay tuned. I have had a special documentary filmed five years ago and have decided to air it tonight. Afterwards, I have a scheduled live conference with these people who run a covert operation call the Stargate program. What we have covered up in the past will all be revealed to you. Listen as we tell you what really happens in the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain in The Gate of the Heavens."
" And cut," one of the technicians said and the camera man stopped filming. " And we are now proceeding to the documentary, Mr. President."
" Sir, will you be coming to the SGC for the conference?" Landry asked as he came into the room.
" Of course, Hank," Hayes responded, hiding his surprise when he was beamed to the base, along with the camera crew.
" What the hell happened?" one of them exclaimed, looking around him, amazed at the wonder of being beamed to another spot miles away from the starting point instantaneously.
" You didn't watch the documentary when we were told to, Dylan?" a technician asked, annoyed at the fact that the man never did his homework. " Maybe I should tell the boss that you should be kicked off the team."
Ignoring their bickering, the President and General Landry made their way to the Gate room, where a few other select crews were setting up. The original members of SG-1 were present, minus Daniel of course, and so was Colonel Cameron Mitchell. It ached to see that the man responsible for all of this would no longer be around, but in a war, things hardly always went according to plan.
" Will we be having a couple of our allies here?" Hayes asked, taking a seat in a nearby chair, nodding hello's to every one present.
" We have Thor of the Asgard, Master Bra'tac from the jaffa rebels and Jonas Quinn will also be here to replace Dr. Jackson," General George Hammond answered as he entered the room, followed by the Kelownan.
It wasn't all that long before they received a call that told them that the conference would be stating very soon. Setting up, they ignored a chill, assuming that it was a draft from the shaft. By the time they were ready to go live, they had all felt the chilly air.
" We are live in five, four, three," the cameraman said, and showing his fingers for the last two numbers before they aired.
" We are live, here with the front line defense of the Stargate program, the few who stand in the way of complete take over from the Goa'uld," the reporter said. " These men and women fight in a war that could bring the rest of us to our knees in defeat. The front team, SG-1, was once led by Jack O'Neill, who is now a General, and helps to over see the program's outings. The brilliant mind of the team is Colonel Samantha Carter, referred to as Sam by those who know her well. The commander at present, Colonel Cameron Mitchell has survived the attack at Antarctica four years ago, after his plane crashed. The alien member of the team, Teal'c, has been fighting his own kind since the beginning. Standing in for the now deceased Dr. Daniel Jackson is Jonas Quinn, a man who has learned all of Earth's history in a single year and is just as knowledgeable about history as the original linguist was. Together, they have turned back many forces that could have torn the planet apart long before now. They have accidentally gated to a planet on the verge of being sucked up by a black hole, have been overrun by alien life forms on too many occasions to count and have been forcefully taken by the enemy, but escaping without a scratch, which is rare enough in its own rights," were the introductions and descriptions of their close encounters. " Tell us about the Stargate, Colonel Carter."
" Well the Gate, is made up of a type of metal that resembles quartz not found on Earth. It's made of Naquada, a slightly radioactive material, but no more than a small radio. Once the seven chevrons have been locked into the system, it will activate. The resulting wormhole looks like a puddle of water. Now to remind you all that we can travel light years away from here, sometimes all the way to distant galaxies, which has happened to two locations, one many years back and the other recently, starting four years ago. One in the Asgard home world and to the Pegasus galaxy, where the Atlantis expedition crew has gone, led by Dr. Weir and Colonel John Sheppard," Sam explained.
" Who are the Asgard, Colonel?"
" They are the aliens that have crashed in Roswell. Their ship had been struck by lightning, and not knowing exactly what happened, they crashed. We have met with them several times, mostly by the fleet commander, Thor," Carter said, waving a hand to the alien, urging him to speak.
" I have been honored to fight with the Taur'i on many occasions. They have helped to save my home planet, just as I have placed yours in a system treaty, preventing it from attacks by those who fear us," Thor spoke. " Colonel Carter, I must leave. There is an urgent matter I must attend to."
" Good to see you Thor," Jack said. " Drop in anytime."
A beam of light blinded almost every one for a minute, except those who were used to the technology, before Sam hurriedly explained what had happened. " That was a transporter beam. The Asgard developed it. We have versions of it in our own ships that orbit around Earth," she said.
" That's amazing," exclaimed the reporter.
" You haven't seen anything just yet," Jack said, getting up and moving to Teal'c's side and place a hand on the big guy's shoulder in a friendly way. " Would you believe us if I say that we have seen beings that exist on a higher plane of existence, aliens who think that they are gods, little metal spiders that consume anything alloyed and weapons from ancient beings that once lived on Earth? Teal'c and Master Bra'tac here are the ones who pretty much coordinated the rebellion of the jaffa, and won, might I add. Or that Jonas here is an alien?"
" No I wouldn't. But still, it is amazing," the man said before the technician at the Gate controls spoke into the microphone at the desk.
" Incoming wormhole," he said. " We have no off world teams, Sirs, at present. The iris will not respond either."
" Get every one away from the ramp, now!" Landry called out from the sidelines where he stood with the President.
" Come on folks. Keep rolling, but back away. The grand opening can kill you when you're too close to it," Jack said, ushering the crew along away from the base of the ramp and to a safe distance.
The Stargate activated, sending forth its usual splash, which amazed all the camera crews. " Energy levels fluctuating, radiation has risen slightly. No signal from anyone as of yet," the technician said.
All of a sudden, sparks of energy jumped around the transportation device, the color of the event horizon change to a golden color. The same color, Sam realized as the energy forms of the ancients. The whining sound the Gate emitted was getting louder and louder, and a fog was beginning to form around it. They could all see a vague, shimmering figure in the mist, but couldn't tell who it was. Finally, the Stargate deactivated, the fog dissipating slowly.
She knew who it was that had collapsed at the foot of the Stargate. Sam's feet unconsciously carried her to the still figure, realizing that he was naked. Taking off her jacket, she laid it over his privates, gently shaking his shoulder. She felt the tears slip down her face as she continued to try and rouse him, memories of his gift rising to the surface. She was finally rewarded with a glassy blue-eyed gaze framed by a very pale face with telltale bruises here and there on his entire body.
" What happened to you this time, Daniel?" she asked cradling his head, ignoring the boggling eyes of the camera crews as they continued to film the entire exchange. She could feel his entire body stiffen and go into convulsions. " I need a medical team in here, stat!" she yelled out, holding on tighter to the body.
Hayes gaped like a fish out of water. Daniel Jackson had come back from the dead again. The proverbial cat with nine lives came to mind as he watched Dr. Samantha Carter hold the man close to her, trying not to cry in front of the others. The crowded around them, but gave enough breathing room that there would be no chance that if Daniel woke up, he wouldn't panic. Soon enough, he saw Hank's daughter run in with a couple of the nurses and a stretcher in hand.
" On three, we move him," she ordered. Counting down, the doctor steadied her grip on the linguist's feet. " One, two three, now!"
In one smooth movement, Daniel had been placed on the stretcher and was down the hall before any one could react to anything. Before anyone could stop her, Sam had taken off after the medical team.
" We need to clear this up, now," Hammond muttered to Jack.
" I agree," the gray haired man said before turning to the news crews. " May I have your attention…"
There's chapter seven. For originally a one shot, this turned out to be a good story. Next chapter, the archeological community apologizes to Daniel when he wakes up
Hey, what happens to Kinsey guys? Must I consult some crazy friends of mine and turn him into a monkey? Or an ass(donkey)?
I need some help. Seeing as I have a thing for Daniel related action/adventure stories, I need a title for my new one that I'll start as soon as What Hurts the Most is over with. The basic idea is that Daniel meets an animal spirit from the ancients, which will be a wolf, and he becomes one with it. He and Sam fall in love (they make such the perfect pair, I find), but Sam's being stalked and she's kidnapped. Haven't really worked out the details for the rescue, but it'll be a happy ending, that I'm sure of.