"Carter knows how much I love listening to scientific mumbo jumbo," he said, doing his best to keep things light. "But let's cut to the chase. If I'm right, we're flying this contraption into the upper atmosphere. Then I'm gonna think happy thoughts of April 1945. These Ancient folks will wave a magic wand and presto-chango, we're all living before we were born. Does that about cover it?"
Sam couldn't help but smile. "That's the plan, Colonel," she said pleasantly enough.
"Yeah, then Daniel and I get to do the hard part," Cam teased.
Chapter 19: Finding Ba'al
The next morning found an excited, somewhat apprehensive group of four explorers loaded into the Ancient puddle jumper, ready to embark on their fateful mission. All that was left were pre-flight calculations. Then under cover of darkness, the strange looking craft would emerge from the bunker and rocket towards the night sky. With any luck, the cloaked alien ship would go unnoticed or simply dismissed as yet another unidentified flying object.
Sam had assured her team and the President that where they were going (more specifically when they were going) they would be able to slip in without detection. After all the 1940s on Earth were not a period of high technological development; radar was still relatively unsophisticated and then again, there was that handy cloaking device. All in all, the risk of discovery while piloting the puddle jumper was low. What would happen once they arrived and began to search for their quarry was another issue altogether.
It was that issue which even now occupied the imagination of the reluctant addition to the team. Jack O'Neill muttered under his breath as he proceeded with the final test activation of the piloting controls. Sure he was duly impressed with his ability to interface with this amazing alien technology, but his faith in the plan itself, sketchy as it was, was less than optimal. He trusted Sam, Cameron Mitchell even, but this …jumping to the right spot in history and then finding an evil alien somewhere in Washington, D.C. before he ever met with President Roosevelt, that was another story altogether.
"Damn it!" Jack exclaimed as his distracted thoughts led to a sudden power outage. That had better not happen when we're in the air, he thought.
"What happened?" Daniel asked coming over to the copilot's position.
Jack looked up at the innocent face of the younger man he didn't know.
"What do you think happened?" he asked. "I stopped …thinking. I do that a lot. You should know that before we get started."
Daniel snorted.
"What?"
"Same old Jack," Daniel said pleasantly enough, "sarcastic, full of attitude. You'll fit right in."
"You okay?" This time it was Sam who asked, her voice concerned.
"Yeah," Jack answered, standing up and stretching. "Bored is all. You know how I get. When are we out of here anyway?"
"Colonel, you know we have one more systems' check before we leave," Sam said, recognizing some of her husband's less than endearing characteristics. "Try to relax; we'll leave by 0400 hours."
"Another thirty minutes," Jack muttered to no one in particular.
"Afraid so, Colonel," Cam responded. "I'm with you. I want to get this bird in the air so we can get on with it."
Sam turned to give the two of them a withering look. Daniel simply stood to the side and observed.
"Fine," she said, feeling as though she were riding herd on a pair of junior high adolescents. "Why don't the two of you get out and stretch your legs a bit before departure time. You know, take a bathroom break, or fiddle with things, whatever will keep you out of my hair."
"… and let you and Daniel work?" Jack added.
"There's that," Sam admitted. "And I know you'd feel more comfortable, Colonel."
"Will do," Jack said. "On one condition…"
"Name it," Sam said testily.
"Call me Jack."
OoOoOo
In the end, Jack and Cam Mitchell climbed back aboard less than two minutes before the scheduled departure. Their absence had blessed Sam and Daniel with twenty minutes of uninterrupted silence to complete the pre-flight checklist.
"Glad you two remembered to come back," Sam quipped.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Cam said. "I never traveled back in time like you guys have. It'll be a first for me, plus getting to kick Ba'al's butt again."
Sam and Daniel exchanged looks.
"I'll do it," Daniel said, nodding at Sam. "Cam, it's about all that enthusiasm of yours. It might be a good idea to keep some of it under wraps, if you know what I mean."
"What did I do?" Cam asked.
"It's just that there've been times the macho act has gotten us in more trouble than needed to happen," Sam supplied. "We're going into a very sensitive situation. A lot depends on how we handle this."
"And you don't think I know this?"
"I know you know," Sam admitted. "But you and Daniel are going out on your own to look for Ba'al. It's important that the two of you blend in, don't make waves. If you do anything to alter the timeline other than extracting Ba'al, we could end up with another whole set of problems."
"Point taken," Cam answered. "I suppose that's why we're all gussied up in these vintage Air Force uniforms," he added gesturing to the World War II style uniforms they'd decided to wear for the mission.
"Exactly," Sam responded, feeling everyone's eyes on her. "Are there any other questions before we get started?"
"Yeah, I've got one," Jack said. "If these Ancient folk were so smart, how come they never learned the Scotty trick?"
"The Scotty trick?"'
"You know, 'Beam me up, Scotty'. Be a lot easier than trying to park this thing."
"Oh, you mean a transporter," Sam supplied. "Well, actually they did have the technology. For some reason they never installed it on the jumpers." What were the odds this Jack was a Trekkie too?
Sam took her seat across from Jack, with Cam and Daniel bringing up the rear. All was in readiness. It was time for Jack to activate the drive engines and lift off.
OoOoOo
On his second attempt Colonel O'Neill managed to launch and maneuver the cloaked jumper out the hangar doors. With minimal effort he guided it into low Earth orbit.
"Now what?" he asked, all too predictably.
Sam got up to stand directly to his right. She began coaching him to do the impossible, something her husband did on regular basis as far as she was concerned.
"Now you take us back to April 1945. We need to be there before April 10th. Just do it as we practiced, Jack." Silently, she prayed the technical adjustments she'd made to the Ancient systems would allow for the precise placement of their jump.
Despite his desire to tell Sam she was out of her mind, Jack bit back his negative thoughts and did as she asked. He'd practiced visualizing the date they wanted, thinking it over and over again. They'd chosen to go with 4/8/45, deciding that would give them adequate time to prepare and not a lot of extra time to get in trouble.
Fine, let's do this, Jack thought, deciding to jettison his overwhelming skepticism.
Clearing his mind, Jack did as he was instructed, visualized the date and repeated it in his mind. He did this for no more than two to three minutes before he heard an odd sound from the area of the flux capacitor.
"What was that?" Cam asked, effectively breaking Jack's concentration.
Jack opened his eyes to see what looked like the identical orbital pathway he'd seen a moment earlier.
"See," he said. "Nothing happened. Nada. Zilch."
"Something did happen," Sam insisted. "The capacitor pulsed. I'm thinking we've jumped."
"So how do we know?"
"We set it down and follow the plan," Sam said.
"The worst that can happen is we hide the jumper in our own time," Daniel said.
"Not exactly," Sam said. "We could be in the wrong time altogether."
"Hey," Jack interrupted. "Who's being negative now?"
Sam nodded. Jack began the planned descent.
OoOoOo
The team had selected Fort Dupont Park as the landing site closest to their destination where they'd be able to safely land and conceal the jumper. Located on 376 acres of wooded area, they would be five to ten miles from where they hoped to locate Ba'al.
The jumper touched down without a problem, easily coming to rest in a small clearing Jack had spied from above. Sam assured the team they were off the beaten track as far as the frequented hiking trails of the park, but close enough to a main road to allow them to travel efficiently.
"Sam, you know I trust you," Cam said, "but how did you find this place?"
"I spent a lot of time in the Washington area before the Stargate program. I did a lot of hiking here when I was at the Pentagon actually," she said. "And, if you remember, Jack and I still have a home in Washington."
Colonel O'Neill turned to look at her, his face filled with conflicted emotions.
"Well we're down in one piece," he said. "Time to send the kids out."
Daniel smiled, "Yeah, why is it we get to take the five mile hike, while you guys … camp out in the woods?"
Sam sighed. "Remember, we decided Jack and I would stay with the ship in case something happened. Jack is the only one who can get it moving and I'm good for the technical expertise. Of course if you two have other ideas…"
"No, Ma'am," Cam replied. "You're right; we'd better get a move on. We'll stay in contact by radio. We'll check in as soon as we find out when it is."
"Good luck," Sam said, handing Daniel and Cam their backpacks. "You two really do look like soldiers returning from the war."
"Good. Maybe someone will give us a ride."
OoOoOo
During the week Daniel had spent pouring over Top Secret government documents from the 1940s, he'd discovered the circumstances of Ba'al's first documented appearance on Earth. Apparently, he'd presented himself to Eleanor Roosevelt during one of her personal visits to Walter Read Hospital. Dressed as a decorated Army officer, he had caught her attention and trust almost immediately, making suggestions for improving the fledgling medical facility.
From there, Ba'al had proceeded to amaze the First Lady with what Jack often referred to as Goa'uld parlor tricks. Mrs. Roosevelt had viewed the use of a zatnicketel and the personal shield Ba'al had available to him at all times. He'd promised to share these treasures and others with the government, thereby cementing the Allies' advantage in the War
Ba'al had been ushered in to the White House later the same day where he met with the President and the Joint Chiefs. The team reasoned that if they could abduct Ba'al, preferably before his initial contact with Eleanor Roosevelt they could minimize if not totally eliminate his influence on the timeline. Sam theorized that simply abducting him would be enough to reset the timeline, but on that count she was uncertain. She'd insisted that killing him was not an option, since in itself it would cause more complications. So the plan was to grab him and get him back to the jumper. Obviously, it would be easier said than done.
OoOoOo
With the basic plan in mind, Cam and Daniel easily found their way to the main road. Sure enough, after trudging no more than a mile, a trucker stopped to pick up two weary combat vets, genuine heroes of their country in an age of unbridled patriotism. By the time the driver delivered them to there destination, less than half a mile from Walter Reed, they'd determined the date to be April 8, 1945.
They were halfway home.
TBC
A/N: Thanks for continuing to read and review. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. More to come soon.