Chapter 18
Couple months later it was Christmas , and Sam had taken some time off to pick Mark and his family from the airport. She had just called Jack to let him know that Mark and his family managed to get through the airport before it was closed due to the incoming storms when the alarms started.
"Sorry Sam, I gotta go." He told her before ending the call and jogging to the control room.
"Who is it" Jack asked the Lieutenant
"Getting IDC it General Cater sir"
"Open the iris," he ordered when the code appeared on the screen. He walked down as the iris retracted. "Dad! What a surprise! Welcome back!" Jack greeted him with a hand shake.
"Thanks, Jack. It's good to be back. Where's Sam?" He asked as he didn't see her behind them.
"Oh, you got here in time for Christmas…" Jack smiled.
"I know, or at least I hoped I did." Jacob chuckled.
"He still gets confused on interstellar time," Selmak commented after a bow.
"Selmak, how are you?"
"I'm well, General O'Neill. I'll give you Jacob back." She grinned before bowing once.
"So? Where's she?"
"She went to pick Mark and his family. They just landed on time, I was on the phone with her a few moments ago, and look like they will be closing the airport."
"Oh, the weather is that bad?"
"I wouldn't know, I'm stuck inside." He shrugged as they started to walk to his office.
"Oh, well. I guess I'll risk it if there's any chance of borrowing a car for few hours."
"Sure, you can borrow my truck is all winter ready, just please return by six."
"Is something happening then?"
"I'll be free of paperwork!" Jack grinned showing him the piles of papers the overcrowded his desk and making Jacob chuckle.
"In that case, I'll make sure to be here on time. So, if Mark is here, do you still have some room to fit me in?"
"More and some, the place we told you about it is finished. Your furniture is all in there. Sam wanted to unpack and prepare everything for when you had some free time, but I told her it's for you to do it, it is yours after all." Jacob grinned
"Thanks."
"So, how long are we going to have you in town?"
"A few days, I'm hoping to stay until the new year, you know to help bring joy to the next one." He joked, and Jack grinned.
"Well, we will be thrilled to have you around. And here, the keys to my truck and your gate passes, the green one for the front gate, the red for checkpoints two and three." He said giving them to Jacob.
"Thanks, Jack. See you at six then." Jacob waved, and Jack sighed.
"Yeah, I'll better get back to my lovely paperwork, or I risk not being on time," Jacob laughed walking out of the office.
After his entry check-up, he finally was changed into human clothes and driving away of the mountain into town; the snow making everything look prettier.
"Well, Selmak, you will now know the Christmas shopping frenzy," he said out loud as he parked the truck at a mall. Couple hours later his his christmas shopping list was completed, he drove to Jack and Sam's house.
He was about to park in the main entry way when he spotted a new drive way added to the side. Remembering Jack's words, he took it and stopped in front of a new cottage. It was a log cabin style with a joined garage. Parking outside, he reached the home and used the key he found in his locker back on the base to unlock it and walk in side.
With a grin, he looked around, the living room was still filled with boxes, and his furniture was everywhere. He reached the kitchen where his table and chairs were settled on the corner. There was a small fridge freezer, gas stove, sink, small pantry and six cupboards on the other side. The bench was in 'L' shape with a breakfast bar at one corner and three chairs just under it. Nodding his approval, he walked to towards the doors he still needed to find out what they were.
Opening the first one, he found a toilet with a hand basin. The second one was the bathroom, which had a hand basin over a long bench, and a walk-in shower. A door joined bathroom and toilet. With a smile, he closed the door and went to the third one. Finding one of the bedrooms and plenty of boxes in there. And finally, he reached the last door and understood that it was his bedroom.
The bed and bedside tables were already set, although the bed wasn't made since they weren't expecting him. He sighed happily and walked to the car, to pick up all the things he brought which took him four trips. Opening his boxes, he found his alarm clock and settled it for five o'clock before he started to unpack things and sort furniture around. The alarm went off sooner than he expected and changed into dust free clothes he headed back to the SGC to pick up Jack. He reached the base with a quarter of an hour left to six, but Jack was already waiting for him. With a grin, Jack opened the passenger door and got inside the truck.
"You can drive us home, dad." Jack grinned.
"Ok, so did you killed all your paperwork or are you just making a hasty retreat?" Jacob asked as he turns the truck around and drove towards the exit, Jack snorted.
"I killed it! I'm that good." Jack grinned. "What about you, how was surviving shopping?"
"Well, it leaves you considering that a battle is something to be fond of," he chuckled. "I love the cottage by the way," he added.
"Sam's ideas, you know how that goes…" he trailed.
"Yeah, Selmak likes it, she said it is different."
"Who knows? Maybe one day the Tok'ra won't have to live underground, and you can fill a planet with little cottages."
"One day, Jack."
"Yeah. Have you seen Sam and the family?"
"No, not yet. I've been busy between shopping and unboxing."
Talking about nothing in particular, they got home and parked in the main driveway. Jack opened the door.
"Honey! I'm home!" He screamed winking at Jacob. Soon a bunch of footsteps was heard, and the kids appeared followed by their parents behind. "Cool, you are all here. I got a surprise for you all!" Jack said moving away from the door and giving Jacob room to enter.
A couple of 'grandpa' and 'dad' were heard as he walked inside. Hugs were exchanged, and Sam looked at him.
"I have nothing to do with it," He whispered to her once he reached her. "He showed up on time."
"Thanks for the surprise anyway." She told him.
They had a wonderful Christmas, and Mark's family remained until the twenty-ninth for Sam's birthday party before they had to leave. Then, on New Year's Eve, The Carter-O'Neill family plus Jacob joined the SGC staff at a hotel for a fun evening that ended up with fireworks going off Cheyenne Mountain and other parts of the city.
In Sydney, New Year's Eve was quite the event for Kate, Swain and his family; he watched from the wharf as the countdown started. In Cairns, Mike, Charge, Amy, and Jaime celebrated with the rest of the city on the beach as the fireworks went off in the harbor.
A few days later, Jacob returned to the Tok'ra for a mission. And on the other side of the world, the Hammersley set sails for a six-week patrol.
On February, Jack checked the letters and grabbed one marked for two days later, and brought it with him to the SGC. Once the date arrived, he called Sam to his office, and as she reached it, he started to read it. He finished it and gave it to Sam.
"It looks like we are going to be busy," Sam said placing the letter on his desk.
"Yeah. What you think about dad and this Sokar guy?" He asked her looking her reaction.
"Well, we need to kill Sokar, and from what's in this letter, we are going to need Jolinar's help. Perhaps she knows who this Bynar is." She shrugged,
"What about Edora? Any ideas there?"
"I guess we need to move the gate, seventy-three meters south east," he said reading that part from the letter.
"You think the Tok'ra will help us moving it?"
"I'll guess we better ask. But first things first, I'll send SG1 to meet the people from Edora in three days. Tomorrow, I'll send SG1 to talk to the Tok'ra, while you are there, find and talk to Jolinar."
"Ok."
The next morning after the briefing, SG-1 went to the Tok'ra world. When they returned, they all had happy expressions.
"I take they agreed to help?"
"Yes, there a ship already in the area, they will meet us at Edora in two days."
"Excellent!" Jack grinned, and they started moving.
"So, how's dad?"
"We didn't see him; he's on a mission."
"Oh, so who's meeting you guys?"
"Rosha. She was gone to rescue one operative. See you at lunch?" She asked as they reached the corridor to the control room. He nodded.
Two days later, SG1 stepped on the platform on the planet called Edora and looking around they noticed smoke from the other side of a small hill which guided them to the town. Hiking to it, they reached the village and met the people. A ship landed a few hours later.
"Teal'c, can you go check?" Teal'c nodded and walked to the ship.
When he was close, the side door opened and a woman stepped out. Greeting her, Teal'c walked her towards SG-1.
"Rosha, thank you for helping." Sam greeted her.
"You are welcome, Major Carter. The council says this planet could benefit us both, do you know how they could?" She said looking around.
The town was far from being technologically developed, but Sam nodded. She rummaged through her backpack and picked out a small bottle. She opened and gave it to Rosha. The Tok'ra eyes widened in surprise.
"Is this?"
"Naquadah, yes."
"Then. This is indeed good news, Major Carter. What's the help you need? I can only remain for a short time."
"We need to move the Stargate and DHD to another spot. I'm not sure why but that is what we've been told."
"Then let's start," Rosha affirmed.
Once they explained everything to her, Daniel joined Rosha on the ship to keep the radio conversation. For the next hour, they worked as quickly as they could until everything was placed in the right spot. Sam checked everything was alright and tested the gate. And after thanking Rosha, the two women spoke for a few minutes. Then, the Tok'ra left them. SG-1 stood around the town for a couple more hours to get back in time to a waiting Jack.
"How did it go?" Jack asked
"Mission accomplished, sir," Sam said smiling
"Good, do we know the answer?" He asked curiously.
"Yes, Naquadah." Jack raise his eyebrow
"Naquadah?"
"Yup and they are willing to let us mine it." She grinned.
"How much are we looking at here?"
"A lot."
"Awesome, see you in an hour for debriefing!"
"Yes, sir." She said, the rest of her team already walking out of the gate room.
"Sam," he called, she stopped, and he jogged to her.
"Did you talk to Rosha?"
"I did. She agreed to help saving dad. And to get revenge on Bynarr. She didn't tell me what happened, but I think it was bad."
"Ok, let's get back at this later."
As ordered, an hour later SG-1 was seating around the briefing room and talking about the mission. Jack listened to them until they finished their version of the history.
"We have an open door for a treaty with these people then."
"Yes, sir. They agree to lets us mine Naquadah, while we provide basic things, from fruits and vegetable seeds to hammers, tools, pots, axes, clothing materials, books. Nothing too out of our hands," Sam explained.
"I'll talk to the President. In the meantime, try to work out a date for this meteor shower, and we can work it from there."
"Yes, sir."
"Well, good work guys. I will wait for your reports, oh joy. Dismissed." He said
The briefing room was empty, and Sam returned to her lab where she started doing calculations to get a possible date for the meteor strike that supposedly will destroy part of Edora surface. Later that afternoon, Jack walked into Sam 's lab, clearing his throat and making Sam look up and smile
"Hey, you can't read anymore?" she asked
"That, and I've spoken to the president. We have a go on the treaty. He said to give them whatever they need."
"So, thank you for the good news," she started.
"But?" he asked looking at the numbers in the papers scattered on her table. "Sam?"
"This is Edora, and this is the asteroid belt," she said pointing to them on her screen. "This is the rotation of Edora" She brought up a blue line, Jack saw where the planet is heading, he looked at her.
"How much time do we have?"
"From what they told me? Or from what I worked out?"
"Sam," he said. Sam let out a breath
"Four months."
"Are you sure?" She didn't answer but lowered her head. He raised her face until her eyes contacted his.
"Yes."
"How many people do you think lives there?"
"For what I saw and heard about a hundred or so." She added sadly. Jack looked at her.
"Ok, don't worry, Sam. Four months is a long time, and we will find something to do." He whispered, and she nodded, but still worried her lower lip.
"Sam, don't worry. I mean it, don't make me do it an order," he added making her chuckle.
"That's better. Trust me we will come up with something." She inhaled deeply, and he kissed her softly before he walked away.