602 Redemption ll
O'Neill was faced with knee surgery and the imminent destruction of the Earth, oh and Russians were on the base. What a day.
Most of the eggheads ran around flapping in their lab coats believing we were doomed. They had calculated there was only 54 hours left. The Stargate, presently under attack through a wormhole, would produce a massive explosion destroying the Earth. Rod...ah...McCoy, brought in to help Carter, in his arrogance, reduced the precious time to 25 hours. Now even McCoy, or was it McKay, thought it was hopeless.
Jack thought she needed a little sugar to feed those brain cells of her's and suggested cake.
Carter had to work with and very often take orders from those who did not understand the science behind her thinking. O'Neill could sense her frustration and knew they needed people like Carter in command in the future.
They all looked to Carter again for a solution to a problem never seen before, never imagined before. She struggled for an idea when Jonas asked a simple yet leading question.
The alien Jonas Quinn and Carter worked together and came up with a solution, a solution that could prove deadly. Both Carter and O'Neill volunteered to fly the X-302. Jack brought his reasoning to Hammond "I'm expendable, Carter's not. It's as simple as that." Although Hammond didn't think of Jack as expendable he knew O'Neill was the man for this mission.
They had two hours to raise the Stargate to the surface, four hour to get it to Peterson, two hours from Peterson to Area 51. There things got more complicated. They had a mere 16 hours to mount the Stargate under the stripped down X-302 and then mounted on a 747. Meanwhile the Colonel had been given further instructions, mostly gloom and doom. Finally O'Neill was to pilot the X-302 and save the Earth. And if he was lucky, save himself. No pressure.
Jack thought 'If Carter didn't think it could work, I'm not sure I'd be flying this beast. I trust her and she trusts Jonas' idea so…
They put me in a ship stripped down to the studs, carrying too much weight, with an insufficient fuel load and asked to do the impossible. We ask Carter every day of the week to do the impossible, guess it's my turn. Hope she's not just desperate to get rid of me.'
The SGC thought they were on their own in the relentless onslaught of Anubis' attack. Bra'tac and Teal'c had been warned of the use of the Stargate to attack the Tauri. Bra'tac figured out the source of the attack. Using the Tel'tak piloted by Shaq'rel, Bra'tac, Teal'c and Rya'c traveled there in an effort to help their allies and destroy the weapon.
Rya'c was eager to join the warriors to prove himself, in his own eyes as well as in his father's.
Forcing the wounded Rya'c to stay behind on the planet while his wounds healed, Bra'tac and Teal'c were both captured by Anubis's Jaffa.
Teal'c was tormented and insulted. "Evidence of how desperate your pathetic little rebellion is. You bring a boy to fight the war of men." was thrown at him. Teal'c feared for his boy's safety.
The X-302 with the Stargate affixed under it, was strapped to a 747. It was a last ditch effort to save Earth.
The 747 took the X-302 to the prescribed altitude of about 30 kilometres then released it. It was then O'Neill could feel the weight of the Stargate.
At the command post, the entire SGC watched, waiting to know the fate of the Earth and that of O'Neill.
He used every bit of fuel serially from the three terrestrial based engines. His flight suit compressed his lower extremities to keep a blood supply in his brain. And the damned X-302 felt like it was shaking apart. There wasn't enough power to achieve the altitude to engage the hyperdrive generator.
Jack thought 'And now I've got to keep this load in the air and I'm losing to the pull of gravity'. He was in free fall, fine for now, not so good when he made contact with mother Earth, especially with his payload of the Stargate at the point of detonation. The mission seemed doomed to failure as he fell relentlessly in the grip of Earth's gravity.
As he lost altitude O'Neill realized the only option he had left was the hyperdrive generator. Mission Control objected - it didn't work.
O'Neill reiterated "We just don't know where it'll send me, right." And continued "Who cares? As long as it's a galaxy far, far away…" Guess he had been paying attention when Star Wars was on, maybe he'd take out the Death Star. He had a whole thirteen minutes.
Carter in full science mode said "He's right."
All the scientists and officers in charge thought about it, arguing about it as O'Neill fell to Earth riding on the overcharged Stargate.
While Carter and company wrote a subroutine to open a window that would be stable for just a second, O'Neill realized he might be lost, million miles from Earth with the exploding Stargate. He was no longer the suicidal man that first traveled through the Stargate. Now he wanted to survive but his first loyalty, even over his life itself, was to his team, to the SGC, to Earth.
"Do it." she said.
'I hope I'm not fucking this up royally'. And he opened a hyperspace window aimed the X-302 through it with the Stargate attached.
And when Sam had a moment to think time slowed down to a crawl.
He said "Who cares?", "We don't know where it will send me.", "Who cares?"
She cared.
She cared if Earth was lost.
She cared if he was lost.
She cared.
A hyperspace window opened.
The X-302 and the Stargate were away.
There was a spectacular light show.
There was no sign that he had ejected, no sign of a chute.
She cared.
He was optimistic that it would succeed yet willing to die in the attempt. It was a definite possibility. What other choice did they have?
He opened the hyperspace window and ejected. The momentum caused the gate to be swallowed up with the X-302. O'Neill in the cockpit module rocked violently and then plummeted toward Earth.
Rya'c proved his worth both in the ability to think on his feet and his prowess as a pilot and warrior. He stole a Death Glider, strafed the Jaffa guarding his father and Bra'tac. Then he attacked the Ancient Weapon, totally annihilating it.
It was apparent from observer 1 that the Stargate, still mounted on the X-302, was dispatched into Hyperspace. All in the command post as well as all the observers gave a sigh of relief but what of the cockpit module and the pilot.
He heard Carter call him, heard the tone of her voice as he tumbled to Earth waiting for the chutes to engage. Above all the chatter and warning lights and alarms he heard her.
Within a few moments his chute was spotted. Carter could breathe again and time resumed it relentless pace.
Bobbing in the capsule in the water O'Neill did a lot of thinking about the end of his career on the front line. Surgery was next and the accompanying physical therapy. He may eventually be flying a desk. His career at the SCG was over, he did just deep six the Stargate.
It was a rough water landing and O'Neill was grateful to be hauled aboard the nearby Naval ship, helo'ed to shore, flown to Peterson and finally driven to Cheyenne Mountain. As tightly as he was strapped into the cockpit, the ejection and violent swerving away from the Wormhole caused bruises along every inch of the restraints. And his knee was throbbing.
It's a while before the Jaffa warriors could make it back to their Tel'tak and then journey to Earth. By the time they arrived the Stargate was roughly three million miles away. It is either in deep space or likely the Ancient weapon was blown to hell.
O'Neill talked later to Teal'c and heard a proud father tell him of his son's prowess on the battlefield. How his boy had become a man, a warrior. Jack was happy for Teal'c and proud of Rya'c too. And much later when he tried to sleep that night, he thought of his boy and the life Charlie was deprived of. He knew he shouldn't dwell. Sleep was elusive so he got up, got dressed and drove to the SGC. The rental would be arriving today.