Chapter Six
"Carter!"
"Yes, Sir?"
"You bit me...again."
"Sorry, Sir."
"It's not like it was her fault, Jack."
"Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c suddenly asked.
"Welcome to the party, T." Jack chuckled.
The whole team cringed as the high pitched squeal of Teal'c's wrathful symbiot sliced through their thoughts. There was a moment silence and then the creature screamed again. When the Gou'ald went quiet again Daniel got the feeling it was more out of sulking than a lack of strength.
"Your friend there has a bit of a temper." Jack mocked.
"Indeed."
"Although I'm not feeling particularly violent at the moment." Sam noted.
"I think when Teal'c was disturbed from his meditating we had to go through that whole calibrating process with them again."
"So why didn't any of us act like Teal'c?" Jack asked.
"I think we did." Sam corrected. "We were trying to stop each other even as we were fighting."
"You didn't attack General Hammond, did you Teal'c?"
"I did not." Teal'c replied indignantly. "I am used to my symbiot's displeasure with me...and those around me."
Once again the symbiot cried out incomprehensibly.
"Well, if we're all going to be living together we should at least try and get along." Jack chuckled. "Teal'c, you're being rude, aren't you going to introduce us?"
"I do not understand." Teal'c replied.
"Jack," Daniel admonished "don't antagonize the symbiot any more than it already is, or Teal'c for that matter."
"I wasn't antagonizing the symbiot," Jack said defensively "I was just asking his name."
"Her." Teal'c corrected.
"'Her'?" Jack repeated. "You've got a girl Gou'ald in your belly?"
"Indeed."
"She's probably pissed about me calling her 'Junior' all of these years." Jack mused.
"That's actually quite interesting." Daniel noted. "I guess I always assumed that male Jaffa carried male symbiots."
"They do." Teal'c informed. "This is not the symbiot I was originally charged to care for. You chose this one for me."
"Oh, that's right. Ry'ac has your original symbiot."
"As fascinating as this is, guys, it doesn't really help us." Jack interrupted. "I assume everyone is locked up?"
"Yeah." Daniel and Teal'c grumbled in unison.
"This poses a bit of a problem." Jack said unnecessarily. "Teal'c...I don't suppose your little girl-friend had any ideas, I mean Gou'ald seem to be masters of escape."
"She is not about to lower herself to speaking to us." Teal'c said bluntly.
"Of course."
"Jack, even if we did 'escape', where would we go?"
"We'll figure that part out later."
Sam was only half listening to the conversation in her head. She was more involved in trying to understand the words being spoken outside her door. She recognized Janet's voice, and she could tell that it was an argument. Beyond that Sam didn't comprehend a word of it.
"Frustrating...isn't it?" Daniel's voice interrupted Sam's thoughts.
"Yeah." Sam sighed. "Something makes me think that I get to be the first 'Lab Rat'."
"Have fun." Jack mocked.
"Jack!" Daniel admonished.
"What?"
Sam chuckled at Daniel's mental sigh. He could finally see that Jack honestly didn't think he'd said anything wrong. She quieted down as Janet stepped into her containment room. She was obviously angry, but when she looked up at Sam she put on her best 'bedside manner' face. Two guards tried to follow her in, but she waved them away.
"Hey, Janet." Sam greeted with a warm smile.
Janet returned the smile, but she couldn't hide her anxiety. Sam looked nervously at the syringe in Janet's hand.
"Sam, what's wrong?" Daniel asked.
"Policy says that she needs to sedate me."
"Nighty, night." Jack chuckled.
Sam chuckled at the way she could sense Daniel rolling his eyes. The mirthful sound seemed to depress Janet further. She pulled the safety cap off the needle and stepped closer.
"Sam, try and convince her not to do this," Daniel instructed "I'm not sure what will happen if she does. Particularly with the Gou'ald here."
Sam winced as the Gou'ald screeched again.
"Teal'c can't you keep that thing quiet?" Jack growled.
"I can not."
Sam thought about her options. When Janet approached Sam flashed her best smile and pulled up her sleeve. Janet froze and just stared at her willing patient. She said something that Sam couldn't understand, but from the tone it seemed like a rhetorical question. Sam just shrugged.
"Sam?" Daniel asked confused. "What are you doing?"
"Trust me."
Janet hesitated for a moment and then recapped the syringe and placed it in her pocket. She chuckled and held her hand out for Sam to take. Followed closely by the two guards they made their way down to the MRI room. Looking around at the lack of personnel walking around Sam decided that it must be latter at night than she'd thought.
Once in the room Sam voluntarily hopped up on the MRI table while Janet bustled about, getting everything ready. Sam had done this so many times that she knew the routine. When just about everything was ready Janet came over forced a smile.
Janet reached out to take Sam's dog tags and at the same time caught sight of the more delicate necklace. She commented on it once more and went to remove it. Sam couldn't believe that they'd forgotten about them again.
When Janet couldn't find a clasp she knit her brow in thought. She started to ask Sam a question, but stopped with an irritated shake of her head. Wanting the necklace off Sam tugged on it and gave Janet a desperate look. Janet tried to break the chain, when she couldn't she turned to one of the technicians and made some order.
"Carter, what's happening?"
"She found my necklace and tried to take it off."
"The metal can't go in the MRI." Daniel pointed out.
"I think she's sending someone to get some wire cutters."
"Why did you not think of this before?" Teal'c asked.
"Because we forgot." Daniel admitted. "Something about them keeps us from remembering them for more than a few minutes at a time."
"I see."
"We should take turns thinking about it to keep this from happening again."
"I will take the first watch." Teal'c offered.
"Let us know when you need a break, T."
Sam brought her attention back to Janet as someone handed her a pair of surgical metal cutters. Although she wasn't nervous Sam's blood suddenly chilled. It took her a second to figure out why.
"Daniel...what's wrong?" Sam asked.
"Um...well...I'm just wondering if cutting the necklace off by force is such a good idea. We are obviously dealing with an extremely advanced piece of technology here."
"I'm going to risk it."
"Carter..."
"Sir, we can't stay like this. I'm not living the rest of my life in that room."
Sam peacefully allowed Janet to take the stainless surgical steel cutters to the delicate necklace. Janet strained to cut the chain. When she failed she called over the stronger of the two guards. He tried and then handed the cutters back to Dr. Frasier.
"Sam?" Daniel asked.
"It didn't work."
"Obviously." Jack grumbled.
"The chain broke the cutters." Daniel sighed. "I doubt there is anything on the Base that can cut through whatever this is."
"I'd love to know what it's made of." Sam mused.
"Carter, let's worry about ourselves right now."
"Yes, Sir."
At an impasse Janet took Sam's hand and guided her off the table. It was far too dangerous to run the MRI with the necklace still in place. There was no telling how the alien metal would react to the MRI's powerful magnets. She was almost back to the containment room when Jack's voice rang out.
"Okay, that's it. I think it's time for plan B."
"Sir?" Sam asked hesitantly. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"What are you tal..." Daniel stopped as he saw their plan. "No, Sam...don't, it's too dangerous."
"Carter I'm not going to make this an order, but you know it's our best shot."
"And you know that I know that, Sir." Sam replied with a wry smile.
"Am I the only one here that thinks this is a bad idea?" Daniel complained.
"Yes." The others answered in unison.
Without warning Sam whipped around. She struck one guard in the stomach and the other in the throat before they could react. They would not be stunned for long. Sam snatched one of the guard's sidearm.
Janet was almost to the Base Alarm when Sam grabbed her from behind. Sam hated to do this, but she wrapped one arm high around Janet's chest and held her captive. The guards were up, but Sam now had Janet at gun point.
"I'm so sorry, Janet." Sam sighed.
The guards treated Sam like any other hostage taker, which was advantageous because she knew what they were going to do before they even did it. Sam made it clear that their normal tactics weren't going to work.
Sam backed herself and Janet up against the door to Jack's room. She tapped the gun on the door in a silent demand to have it opened. The guard begrudgingly complied. Once freed Jack took the other guard's gun, the keys, and then locked them in the room he'd been staying in.
Janet remained calm. Sam was relived that she didn't seem fearful at all. She hoped that her friend knew what she was doing. Daniel did not look pleased when they let him out. He looked at Janet and shook his head sadly.
Once they had Teal'c they made their way through lesser used corridors towards the Gateroom. Coming to the Control room they silently ordered the two night technicians out. They had just locked the Control and Gateroom down when the alarms finally went off. Now that they were sealed in Sam released her captive. Janet pulled away, but didn't go far.
"Carter, get us out of here."
"Where are we going?" Sam asked.
"The last place we went."
Sam put her fingertips on the keyboard and then stared at the computer screen. As she looked over the interface that icy feeling crept back into her blood. She took her hands away from the computer and put them on her hips in frustration.
"Carter?"
"I...uh...can't look up the Address. The text doesn't make any sense to me anymore."
"Oy vey." Jack moaned.
Janet came up next to Sam and looked at the computer as well. After a moments hesitation she put her fingers on the keyboard and started typing. The Gate sprung to life and within minutes an open wormhole shimmered in the ring.
Sam stared at the newly created wormhole and then back at Janet. She could be Court-martialed for this. Janet smiled knowingly and shrugged. Sam laughed and pulled her into a grateful hug. Janet returned the affection and then gently pushed Sam off in the direction of the stairwell that led down to the Gateroom.
"When we get back I'll thank you out loud."
"Hell, after this I say we take her out to dinner, some place fancy." Jack added.
"Assuming we make it back." Daniel grumbled.
"Daniel, I never knew you were such a pessimist."
"Yeah well...I usually just think that sort of stuff quietly to myself."
"Well let's see what we can do about restoring your 'optimism'."