FalloutGate (Part 3) Odyssey

by devilishlysas

The Summation of Sam and Jack's Odyssey through the Fallout 4 Universe (a Post-apocalyptic Nuclear Wasteland) and their epic struggle to return home. Picking up directly after the end of Commonwealth (FalloutGate Part 2). Please don't attempt to read this first without reading Parts 1 and 2 or it won't make a lick of sense. Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate, SG1, Fallout 4.

1. Chapter 1 - Wormhole X-Treme

FALLOUTGATE PART 3 – THE ODYSSEY

CHAPTER 1: WORMHOLE X-TREME

[Cheyenne Mountain, Stargate Command – Milky Way Galaxy]

AUTHORS NOTE:

Welcome back and Merry Christmas everybody! Hope you're ready because we're picking up exactly where we left off just in time for Christmas, don't say I never get you anything!

Quick Recap of Parts 1 and 2 that got us here.

FalloutGate Part 1 (Sanctuary): Sam and Jack are thrown out of a wormhole after it suffered an explosion mid-transit into the AU Fallout 4 Universe. Part 1 deals with their acceptance that no rescue is coming and that they may well be in this for the long haul, and what that means for their relationship as they navigate an alternate Earth that is as alien as any they've ever visited.

FalloutGate Part 2 (Commonwealth): Sam and Jack continue to explore the Wasteland in their strive to make a life for themselves encountering powerful new enemies and allies. Sam begins to set her sights firmly on finding a way home, whilst Jack is focussed on making the best of their new life together, but the Wasteland has other plans and neither of them will emerge unchanged by the experience.

Reminder this is now an AU SGC given as Sam and Jack got stranded in S8 just after Full Alert. Citizen Joe didn't happen/wasn't a thing in this AU and Threads never happened. Janet was alive in the AU world I established in Part 1 as a reminder. Odyssey the name of Part 3 – despite obviously being the name of the ship, represents a long eventful journey home. It's also written by Homer - which I thought O'Neill would appreciate.

00000000000000000

[Cheyenne Mountain, Stargate Command – Milky Way Galaxy]

Daniel almost collided with Mitchell as they both rounded a corridor in an attempt to get into the control room, Mitchell pipping him by seconds.

"What have we got Sir?" Mitchell barked, "One of the SFs said there was an SG1 IDC?"

General Landry turned and Daniel saw the expression of pinched concern on his face. "We have. Specifically Colonel Carter's IDC was received." Daniel felt his chest constrict and words failed him for a moment.

"Sam?" he asked and Landry gave him a knowing look.

"We'll see. We've been down this road before haven't we Dr Jackson? I've sent the redirect to Alpha Site signal to whoever or whatever might be on the other end of this wormhole," Landry informed him. Daniel opened his mouth to argue about giving them the benefit of the doubt when Mitchell stepped closer to the window peering through; they all stared in horror as the iris began to shudder, part opening and closing, like it was receiving alternate commands.

"What the hell's wrong with the iris?"

Landry frowned and looked sharply at Walter expectantly.

"Sir!" Walter spun on the chair, looking at the General then Daniel, an odd expression of both confusion and excitement there. "There's another signal coming through. I think it's a message." He pointed to the computer and Daniel craned his neck to see past Landry. There on the screen, in black and white, were a string of words that lit a spark of hope inside his chest and curved his lips into a grin. Maybe today really was the day.

"Tell Siler, Jack O'Neill wants his Simpsons boxset back. That's O'Neill – with two Ls"

Landry turned and gave him a look of amused irritation. Daniel couldn't help it, "Same old Jack." As coded messages went, that one was pretty obscure. Surely only those closest to Jack would know the significance of words like that, a Goa'uld – or a Replicator – wouldn't ever think to open with it if looking to prove their identity; it was inane, bordering on idiotic… it was completely Jack O'Neill.

"Like I said… we'll see," Landry replied shadows falling heavily across his face, not giving up the hard ass act which was for good reason Daniel acknowledged grimly. After what happened with Ba'al and his damn clone, even he was less inclined to trust just any Jack O'Neill that waltzed through the Gate, particularly one kicking down the door.

Walter looked panicked as he stared at his computer screen. "Sir! There's something wrong. The iris… I'm not in control," Walter exclaimed, "We're receiving some sort of signal. It's overriding my commands. Sir, I think we're being hacked!"

"Again?" Mitchell snapped, looking back at the wormhole suspiciously. "Damn. I thought all those Replicator bastards were dead." He glanced at Daniel, "Repli-Carter's dead… right? You said it yourself."

Daniel grimaced. "Technically I was dead myself at the time… a knife-hand through the chest will do that to you," he muttered, shifting on his feet. "We have no idea that's what this is… or who. Like I was saying, this could be the real Sam."

"We can't take that chance, not after the last time. Shut it down Walter!" Landry barked in alarm. They all watched as the Chief's hand went instantly to the palm reader for the kill switch.

"No wait!" Daniel shouted at the exact moment the power cut out and Walter's palm hit a blank reader. The overhead lights cut out abruptly and the red gloom of the emergency lighting flickered on. It was too late. All eyes turned to watch the iris as it opened fully over an active wormhole, leaving them exposed.

"Well that can't be good," Mitchell growled, going for his sidearm. "Permission to get the Replicator disruptor Sir and hope like hell!" he snapped at Landry, already moving towards the door.

"Granted!" Landry shouted after him. "Colonel, I don't want even one of those things getting out of the Gate room!"

"Sir, we've lost all power!" Walter shouted out, a touch of panic in his voice, "…to everything but the Gate that is!"

"I can see that Sergeant!" Landry snapped staring at the blue light emanating from the ring and the chevrons that were glowing violently as a faint tremble seemed to be coming from the Gate lit only by emergency lighting. "Get it back up!" he ordered.

"Up? It shouldn't still be running. There's nothing powering it on our end!" Walter looked alarmed and Daniel glanced curiously back at the wormhole; that never bode well.

Landry grabbed the microphone, "I want SG teams one to five in the Gate room, now! Lock it down people. Weapons hot," he barked into it and Daniel flinched. The standard security team was already there but clearly he was gearing up for a fight. Daniel turned to head down there when Landry stopped him with a sharp finger, tapping the microphone and realising with exasperation that it too was dead. But the men and women of the SGC were too well trained to need orders to defend the Gate room in a situation like this. Daniel could see them already filtering in, mobilising the mobile turrets as a small army descended into the Gate room, weapons on the shimmering event horizon.

Mitchell arrived with the Ancient weapon; his gene making it possible for him to use it. Daniel could see that the excitable Colonel had clearly been itching to crack it open and give the Replicators his best. Given they were supposed to be extinct, at least in this Galaxy, that was a faintly terrifying prospect.

Daniel made one more attempt at reaching Landry through the haze that had clearly descended amongst the military 'to hold the line'.

"General…Hank, please," he implored, "What if it is them. That message was…"

"Exactly the type of trick Ba'al would use. Although given our iris problem, this stinks of Replicators."

Daniel sighed, knowing he'd have to pick his battle with Landry on this. At least with the iris open there was a chance he realised, staring intently between Landry and the Gate, not quite daring to hope. He could feel the knot of tension and desperation blooming heavy as he spotted Teal'c stalk into the Gate room from the other side to stand next to Mitchell, his staff weapon trained on the Stargate.

It had been like this every time there'd been an unscheduled off-world activation. They'd never been declared KIA. How could they with all that had happened? No one could say for sure what the hell had happened to them. There'd been rumours of course; everything pointed to them being alive and hostages, possibly of Ba'al's. Jacob had flat out refused to sign anything with Sam's date of death on it, arguing it was much too soon to give up on POWs after only six months. Daniel tended to agree, especially with the strange sense of certainty he'd had when he'd de-ascended the last time that Jack and Sam weren't dead and would be home soon. He was sure it was Oma's parting gift as she fought her eternal struggle with Anubis. The gift of recollection, at least in part. Surely this time was different – now there was an IDC and a message. Surely that meant something?

Landry was giving him that pitying look he was starting to get used to from people. "Dr Jackson, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to welcome them back and declare this all a big misunderstanding. But you know I can't take that chance. Especially not when some unknown force has apparently commandeered the SGC and overridden our control of the damn Stargate… again!" he snapped, echoing Mitchell's words. After all, without his last 'miracle near-ascended intervention inside a Replicator's head' the Replicators, and the Replicator version of Sam in particular, would have overrun this base, the planet and the whole damn Galaxy. Because of course any version of Sam would aim that damn high.

But this time no Replicators had come marching through. Nothing at all had in fact. "Have you even considered that Repli-Carter learnt how to do this from our Sam? The real Sam. You and I both know that if she wanted a way back onto this base from off-world, there's probably not a damn thing you or I or anyone could do to stop her," Daniel quipped and Landry merely scowled, crossing his arms and staring out at the event horizon.

It seemed however that they wouldn't get any more warning than they had; the event horizon rippled and pulsed. Daniel imagined that the sensors, were they working, would be going crazy. As it was, everyone was on their feet, staring at the event horizon which seemed to be circling in a way which caused faint horror in Daniel as he recalled a briefing report of Sam's from years ago. The event horizon almost seem to being drawn to a point somewhere behind it. Almost exactly like it had when they'd gated to the planet with the blackhole. He'd thankfully missed that whole incident by being off world, and had consequently been stranded for two whole weeks on a dustbowl with a bunch of marines and a geological team not getting on at all. Still, the notion of a blackhole on the other end of the Gate filled him with dread.

Then there was an explosion of dirt and debris which blew out of the event horizon, showering the ramp, spraying a thin layer of black iridescent dust everywhere before several boulder sized rocks of what looked like twisted metal came through next, almost embedding in the concrete wall. Then energy blasts came shooting out from the other side and the soldiers in the Gate were scrambling to find cover. His heart in his mouth and unease growing, Daniel was helpless to watch from his position in the control room, whilst Teal'c ducked down back to the doorway and out of harm's way. The blasts scorched the concrete, blowing dust and debris everywhere but missing anything vital. Daniel's heart sank. Just another trick then?

Two armour clad figures in metallic suits emerged at speed from the event horizon landing with heavy booted footfalls on the ramp. There was stunned silence at the two bodies encased from head to toe in metal armour that made Daniel think of Anubis' Super Soldiers. The two invaders stood and straightened up, looking around. They had weapons strapped all over their suits but crucially nothing in their hands as they both raised their hands placatingly. Daniel's heart was in his mouth and his eyes like saucers as he got closer to the glass to see.

"Don't shoot. Friendlies… we're friendlies! I'm General Jack O'Neill and that's Colonel Carter!" The metallic modulated voice came through loud enough to carry from the figure at the front in the matt grey suit, his identity completely obscured. In the eerie red emergency light it was a frightening sight, with the headlamps on their helmets cutting through the gloom and alighting on the assembled soldiers with weapons pointed at them. But Daniel was sure it was Jack – it sounded like him. Hell, even the mannerisms in the gesticulating hands were achingly familiar.

"Well at least this one can talk in whole sentences!" Landry groused, inching closer to the glass to get a better look at them both.

"Lower your weapons. On the ground now!" Mitchell barked. To Daniel's relief they seemed to be complying, unstrapping what Daniel considered a truly unnecessary number of guns as they hit the grating with metallic thumps in the silence. But they were interrupted when two smaller figures, clad in less cumbersome-looking black armoured suits, materialised behind them brandishing smaller handheld guns, right before the Gate abruptly shut down, cutting off the main source of light and leaving them with just the red gloom, slashed through only by the headlamps of the assembled metal clad soldiers. Daniel's eyes went wide as silence descended in the room following the two further unexpected arrivals, until Mitchell's voice rose, loud and commanding.

"You two at the back. Weapons down! Right now! On the ground all of you!" He was waving the Ancient anti-Replicator weapon device around Daniel noted, wondering if that would do a fat lot of good if they weren't in fact Replicators this time. Mitchell seemed to come to the same conclusion, handing it off to an SF and snapping a P90 into place instead.

The two larger metal clad figures who'd emerged first, introducing themselves as Sam and Jack, were already lowering weapons and getting down on their knees with hands up. The movements of the one he took to be Sam was accentuated by the metal suit which drew his eye, as it was giving off the oddest blue glow. He was relieved to see that both of their behaviours were what you'd expect from someone familiar with the SGC's protocols for unscheduled arrivals and who didn't want to get shot.

The same couldn't be said for the two late arrivals. The smaller black suited figures were hissing in what it took Daniel a moment to realise was Asgard, or a dialect of it. They were still brandishing their weapons and clearly not getting the message – or ignoring it.

"That's Asgard!" Daniel exclaimed.

Landry looked at him and pointed at the microphone. "Then tell them to lower their weapons!"

Daniel frowned, "Why? The Asgard all speak English." He glanced at the microphone, "And tell them on what?" he questioned given as the power was out to that too. Landry opened his mouth to respond when there was a sudden battery of energy blasts against the ballistic shielded glass of the control room from their newest suited arrivals, forcing everyone inside to drop for cover, until they realised it hadn't penetrated the reinforced viewing window.

Landry shared a look with him, "Well that can't be good," Daniel muttered standing back up somewhat more hesitantly. He couldn't remember the Asgard ever shooting first. If they were even Asgard – after all Goa'uld spoke English too.

The unfriendly not-Asgard turned their guns on the two metal clad figures knelt at the bottom of the ramp that he was hoping were the 'real' Sam and Jack. A twinge of unease went through Daniel as the black clad figures held their guns on them, looking like they really had no intention of listening to Mitchell and his teams barked instructions to lower their weapons before they got shot. The blue suited figure that Daniel had taken to be Sam clearly had the same realisation as he did about their 'friends' and rose swiftly from her knees. There was no warning, just a sudden burst of movement which had her diving towards the two figures and delivering a metal fisted blow directly to one's chest that sent it sailing back. But not before it got a shot off, hitting the armoured figure beside her that had declared himself Jack, as he'd stood up to join the fight. The blast knocked him back and Daniel startled in surprise, and relief, as it rippled out over a personal energy shield in the suit, dissipating quickly and leaving him unharmed but clearly pissed as hell.

"Shoot them!" the unarmed figure roared, the tone, if not the modulated voice, so damn familiar that Daniel watched Teal'c snap into action and raise his weapon as if on instinct to obey the command. The alien was raising its weapon, pointing it directly at the figure claiming to be Jack, and Teal'c reacted, blowing a hole straight through its suited chest – only it didn't have a shield and fell back, smoke hissing from a gaping chest wound.

Daniel's eyes snapped to the blue suited figure, which was still in motion, grappling for the weapon with the remaining assailant until it was free, ignoring Mitchell's bellowing too as she swiftly bought her foot up and delivered a blow that shot the unfortunate recipient across the room to snap violently against the concrete wall, leaving a dent. The body crumpled to the floor and didn't get up as Mitchell and his teams moved in, holding a gun over the bodies. The rest trained their weapons on Sam and Jack indicating she drop the gun she'd just acquired, as Mitchell reached down to unclasp the black helmet.

The Gate room seemed to still as it came away to reveal a bulbous green head rather than the familiar grey of the Asgard. Now that was unexpected! Daniel looked from it to the armoured figures in confusion. Oh God! He hoped this wasn't a parallel Earth thing, complete with a set of missing Jack and Sam – just not their Jack and Sam. He wasn't sure he could take that disappointment.

"It's dead," Mitchell called out as he rose, gun trained on the two suited figures who had fallen still in the wake of the attack. "Whatever it is," he added, keeping his weapon cocked on the two figures standing on the ramp and indicated for them to get back on their knees. Daniel could see he was already thinking along a similar line

"You two," he pointed at them, "Helmets off. Now," he ordered, noting the serious number of weapons still strapped to them which Daniel realised they hadn't used to return fire on the Asgard. He was hoping that was a good sign. Mitchell must have clocked that too to be giving them some leeway now. "And finish unloading the weapons… all of them. Slowly."

"Yeah sure ya betcha," the bluish metal suited figure muttered, utterly unrecognisable beyond the mechanical voice modulator; it was a Jack-ism at least, strangely he was sure this was Sam it was coming from. But they were complying at least, as they continued to unload the weapons which would let everyone breathe a little easier after the recent excitement.

"Sorry about them. Nasty little buggers," the larger grey suited figure declared as he kicked a bag down the ramp towards them, which Mitchell glanced in and whistled loud about.

"Damn! That's some heavy duty firepower. You planning an invasion?" he questioned; far too casually for it actually to be idle, which made Daniel wonder just what the hell was in that bag and why they'd kick it away.

"Oh you know… always be prepared," the suited figure quipped and Daniel had heard enough. He ignored Landry's order to stay put and was flying down the stairs, through the corridor to come to a skidding halt in the Gate room, pushing past the armed soldiers without a care. Arriving just in time to see the helmet come off; dark irascible eyes stared straight at him with the lips forming a wry and oh so familiar smirk, even if the face it was set in seemed impossible. Bringing Daniel to a complete stop his heart crashing against his chest and his breathing caught. He'd imagined this moment… and yet, he still couldn't quite believe it.

"My God… Jack. It's really you?" He stared back wide eyed at a sight he'd not expected to see again but had never really stopped hoping to. Daniel tried to move forward towards him on autopilot when Mitchell's hand slammed into his chest, holding him back; his eyes narrowed, shaking his head violently back at him.

"Daniel, I know what it looks like but look closer huh. Be smart," Mitchell warned him with a sharp rasp in his ear and Daniel took in the face of one Jack O'Neill, give or take the impossible feat of twenty years. His heart sank and something bitter settled in his gut. Not again.

"Hey Space Monkey. You miss us?"

000000000000000

Jack stood staring at the stunned face of his friend and he felt a wave of emotion rock him; he wasn't entirely sure which one of them was feeling it. God damn it was good to see him. Hell it was good to see anything that resembled the SGC.

"Who are you?" the soldier accused; Jack recognised him from Antarctica – the injured pilot that had held back the flood. Mitchell… and he was pointing a gun at him. "Both of you." He refocused the gun in Sam's direction which Jack was none too happy about. His hand twitched, ready to rip it out of the flyboy's hands if he made the wrong decision.

"Are you serious Mitchell?" Daniel gave him a look, then waved emphatically at Jack's face. "You know who that is. Everyone in this room knows who that is!" he barked at him incredulously, building up a head of steam.

"Protocol, Jackson. Besides, look at him. If this is another clone, then it clearly wasn't done cooking. He's got another twenty years or so to go for the grey to really set in."

"Hey!" Jack scowled, faintly affronted at that.

Mitchell glowered back, "And what? We're supposed to believe that's Carter under that hood?" he gestured over to where Sam stood clearly agitated despite her silence. To Jack's dismay he realised that Daniel looked a little less sure as they stared at Sam's faceplate. Teal'c though was approaching, lowering his staff weapon, head cocked and that damn eyebrow up, examining them both.

"You are looking well O'Neill," Teal'c told him in that unflappable but slightly accusatory way of his, "Too well."

Jack probably should have responded to that but there was one overwhelming thought as he stared across at his brother in arms. The man had cornrows in his short hair. "T… what's with the hair?" he asked getting the oddest sense of déjà vu. He felt like whenever he disappeared for a bit Teal'c went crazy with the hair.

"That is not relevant. You will answer our questions and you will both submit to testing," Teal'c informed him sharply, his tone a clear command, as he turned to Sam. "You will reveal yourself, if you are truly Colonel Carter."

"See even Teal'c's not sure what the hell we're dealing with here… clone, robot duplicate, Replicator," Mitchell added as if needing to remind Daniel of the missions he'd lived and Jack found himself getting irritated. Then again maybe he was just paranoid about his facelift; he knew that was going to cause issues. Maybe it would have been safer to leave the damn helmet on like Sam had.

"I'm sensing tension," Jack observed, staring between them all.

"That's because we broke the door down in our excitement to get back through it Jack," Sam replied in her modulated voice, as she reached up and released the pressure seals on her helmet. The air released as she pulled it free and her long blonde hair, which had clearly come loose from the braid she'd placed it in, fell about her face. Damn, she was a sight for sore eyes.

"I told you… I said, we should knock first," he replied, trying to keep it light and defuse the tension he could feel from all corners.

"Don't start," but he heard her grouse in her head mulishly, 'damn him for being right'. He wasn't sure that he could gloat though given as her plan had got them back, although they might be shot pretty soon – at least they'd die on their Earth.

"Well, to be fair it had started raining spaceship. There'd have been no door to knock on in a few seconds," he had to admit, offering an olive branch. Sam seemed to be thinking along the same lines and came up to stand beside him, a united front. Jack took his eyes off her and faced the small crowd.

"Sam," Daniel managed, looking a little like he might actually break down, clearly torn between wanting to believe it was them and whatever the hell had happened to make them so hesitant to believe they weren't.

"Daniel." Sam nodded with a wide if uneasy smile. "Teal'c." She smiled gently at him but Teal'c remained stoic. Jack could feel her restraining her instinct to reach out and tug them both into a hug, which was wise given the current level of hostility in the air at their unexpected and somewhat violent arrival.

"I'll admit, this wasn't quite the welcome home we were expecting," Sam spoke into the silence as General Landry stalked into the room, both their eyes tracking him as he entered and Mitchell came to attention. The SF's didn't take their eyes or guns off them.

"Right?" Jack groused looking affronted, taking all this in and quietly making his assessments. Teal'c was the biggest problem if it came down to that, and he really hoped it didn't come down to that. "I thought for sure there'd be cake… bunting maybe." Jack made to move down, to test the seriousness of the guards, and to draw the line of fire off Sam.

"Ah, ah," Mitchell barked and his weapon went back up. "You stay put… Sir," he tacked on; 'just in case', Jack heard him think followed by, 'I'm totally going to get busted down to Lieutenant if I shoot him and it really is General O'Neill'. Jack smirked at him – he wasn't wrong.

Sam though seemed to have had enough; there was an urgency to her that Jack frowned at. Something was ticking somewhere he realised uneasily. "Oh please Cam. You're not going to shoot us!" Sam declared.

"Sam," Mitchell acknowledged with a genuine smile that was familiar. They clearly knew each other from some time before. 'The Academy' Sam's mind supplied. "I'd say it was damn good to see you except I can't right now. Not until I'm sure it's you." He waved his gun, indicating she and Jack separate. Sam stared him down. "Don't make me shoot you in the leg," he warned.

Sam winced and Jack stepped away from her a fraction; threatening her legs wasn't a good move.

"How about everyone just stay calm and nobody shoots anyone!" Daniel exclaimed, looking around hopelessly for support. Jack gave him a helpless shrug. He'd pretty much expected a variation on this reaction – would have been faintly disappointed in their security if they hadn't. Although this was a little extreme maybe.

"I take it there's been happenings, possibly shenanigans since we've been gone?" Jack asked, looking around for help and trying to jog some thoughts for the taking. He felt a little guilty doing it but he got a sudden mishmash of images from just about every SF in the room that reverberated around in his skull like feedback from a microphone. He winced slightly and discreetly tapped the side of his head. That would sting for a while. Apparently, the Gate room was an echo chamber – interesting. He wondered if that was something to do with the Gate itself or the position of it. He was betting on the former given this was an Ancient kind of problem.

Sam seemed to be having her own issues; he sensed tension rising in her as her gaze rose to the control room and then back to the man with the stars; a familiar face to Jack given as he'd been his first choice of replacement for the top brass "Sir. With permission, I need to deactivate a failsafe," Sam told Landry sharply.

"And what failsafe would that be?" Landry queried, which Jack also wanted to know. Then the alarms went off and there was a flashing red light accompanied by the computer informing them that the self-destruct had just been triggered on a five minute count down. Jack turned to Sam and she gave him a grimace. Oh. That kind of failsafe. Well, she said she'd secured her backdoor; he was both impressed and terrified of her forethought in this.

"That failsafe," she deadpanned and Landry gave her a dark look.

"What have you done?" he snapped, looking rightly furious.

"You booby trapped the backdoor?" Jack asked, sounding about as alarmed as Landry he realised and tried to curb his reaction as Sam gave him an irritated look. "Nice," he offered.

"Yes. I had to secure the backdoor I'd built into the system. Should I ever be compromised Sir," she addressed Landry. "When the backdoor protocol is activated, the failsafe algorithm gets initiated at random somewhere in the subroutines of the SGC systems. Only I can find it, deactivate it and prevent this base from self-destructing in the next five minutes."

"You stay put!" Landry pointed at her sharply, "Until we figure out what is going on here. No one is going anywhere."

"Chief. Deactivate that damn self-destruct," the General barked into a radio he'd grabbed off one of the SF's, looking up at the harried looking Walter Harriman. He got back some frantic arm waving before someone handed the Master Chief a radio.

"Sir. I can't shut it down. We've still got no power and I'm locked out of the system." He paused receiving information from someone before he came back. "Apparently the only thing that power's still reaching is an auxiliary sub-station on level 12, Sir."

"General," Sam cut in. "That won't work. You won't be able to deactivate it from here. And frankly at this point with so little time, I'm not sure anyone else could because I designed it that way. It's a failsafe Sir. Please, let me fix this!" Sam moved forward off the ramp and the SF's followed her with guns.

"Damned convenient that wouldn't you say? … you being the only one that could fix this." Landry barked, "And why should I trust you? I give you access to our systems… you could do anything."

"Like set the self-destruct?" Daniel pointed out. All eyes turned on him. "I'm just saying… seems like the damage is done. We're going to explode aren't we? What more could she do?" he shrugged nervously.

"How about open the iris, let more of her brethren through… deactivate the self-destruct and mount a full on invasion from this very base? It wouldn't be the first time now would it?!" Landry snapped back at him and Daniel grimaced and Jack winced. Oh boy, sounds like they'd had lots of fun without them if that had already been on the cards, Jack mused, wondering just how screwed they were if they couldn't build some sort of trust. He didn't especially want to blow up, not from a bomb Sam had set, or ever if he was honest about it.

"Oh for crying out loud. Mitchell. Shoot us with that damn thing!" Jack barked at the Colonel, and everyone glanced at the gun in his hand and back at Jack as though he was insane, even Sam. "No! With that thing." He pointed to the anti-Replicator weapon with a roll of his eyes. "If you're worried we're damn Replicators, prove we aren't!" He stared down Mitchell, his eyes glancing quickly to where he'd handed off the anti-Replicator weapon to the SF behind him. Mitchell's eyebrows went up and he spun taking the gun.

"Woah… wait!" Daniel cried out. Mitchell ignored him and the blast went off harmlessly, travelling over the both of them. Jack blinked.

"Told yah," he groused.

"Huh. So that means they aren't Replicators… right?" Mitchell asked, looking both relieved and confused.

"The Asgard recalibrated it after Repli-Carter's last attack, where she supposedly died. So yeah, they're not Replicators." Daniel looked at Sam again and Jack felt him seem to realign the idea that this might be a real flesh and blood human, if still not their Sam, which was an interesting thought process Jack thought with alarm. Seems like they still had some ways to go in convincing people, particularly given the tale they had to tell.

"Cool," Mitchell murmured, "Always wanted to fire that thing."

Sam stepped closer until they were side by side again, ignoring the SF's that shoved a gun at her back. "General. Sir, please… time is ticking. Take whatever precautions you need but I need to gain access to your system right now or it won't matter who the hell we are because we'll all be dead. Everyone under your command." Oh that was a low blow for any Commander to hear, the ultimate failure; Jack winced, provoking him so directly might not be the right move.

"You see… that just doesn't sound like the Colonel Carter I've heard so much about now does it? Risking the lives of everyone on base." Landry landed the barb and Sam stilled, swallowing the urge to shove him through a wall, much to Jack's relief.

"It wouldn't be a risk if you'd just let me deactivate it!" she snarled through her teeth, "Like Daniel says, what more could I do other than what's happening right now – and blow you all the hell up? You've got nothing to lose at this point. The Gate's powered down. The dialling systems offline. I can't dial out! The whole base is locked down – magnetically sealed if the powers out. All that's left is one auxiliary system on level twelve, isolated from critical systems except for the self-destruct – because I built it that way!" she argued.

"Sir, not to hurry you…" Mitchell glanced at his watch, "…but we got about three minutes left."

"Level twelve?" Landry looked both resigned and in the next moment aghast turning his widened eyes on Mitchell for a moment, as if finally realising what Sam was getting at. "Even if I let you go…" he turned to Sam, "…you won't make it in time."

Sam grinned taking that as permission. "Yeah, about that. These suits aren't just armour… they're fast too." Then she was running, hurdling over Teal'c like he wasn't over six foot and landing with a heavy clang in her armour as she went, pushing it and her bionics to the limit. Blame the suit – seemed like a solid Plan A. He'd just survived one nuclear explosion, he wasn't particularly keen on experiencing another if he was honest.

"What the hell?!" Landry barked, "Mitchell, take a team and follow her!"

"Follow her?!… I can't even see her." Mitchell was off and running though.

"Don't shoot her!" Jack called after them, "You'll just make her mad!" he added and sighed, turning back to Landry. "So Hank… how you been?" he grinned at the man.

"Busy. Big shoes to fill and all," Hank replied, "You?" This is why they'd always got on Jack decided when they'd met in Washington once or twice; the man could chit chat and deescalate a crisis as well as Jack.

"Extended vacation. Can't say I'd recommend it. The travel was hell and the locals weren't all that friendly." Jack smiled thinly.

Daniel stepped up beside the General, hands in his pockets; he looked older, his face sporting a scruffy short, cropped beard. "Really. To where?" Daniel asked, the tension and faint accusation in his voice plain as day. He'd always been a suspicious soul, although some of the curiosity seemed to have burned off him this death round.

"Oh little place right next to Satan's asshole that I call the Wasteland. Two years and not even a decent cup of coffee," he blew out an exasperated breath.

There was a look of alarm that rippled across the thoughts and faces of those around him and he tensed. "What?"

"Two years?" Daniel's voice snapped and Jack looked at him; there was confusion there and Jack felt the push of his mind against his. He swallowed, alarm bells going off.

"Not two years?" he asked uneasily, eyes widening at the answer that was coming back from several minds.

"No." Teal'c found his voice first. "General O'Neill and Colonel Carter have been missing, presumed captured, for six-months," Teal'c informed him grimly, clearly he was of the opinion they weren't 'the' O'Neill and Carter he was waiting for. But that was interesting, he'd said captured, not KIA. That tended to require some sort of proof of life. There was also sorts of crazy shit coming from the minds around him and a glimmer of understanding started forming; that might be a problem, he mused.

"Huh, you don't say?" he replied, not belying the genuine panic he was feeling that they might have broken time with this little blackhole stunt, because he was quite certain he'd spent the last two years in the shit – so to speak.

"This is news to you?" Daniel pressed, looking irritated that he could lose two years; to be fair he wasn't thrilled about it himself.

"Hey Daniel, you know me and science… it's all geek to me." Jack glanced over at the doorway. "I'm sure Sam will be back in a jiffy to explain it… once she's done making sure we don't all blow up."

"Watch him," Landry ordered Teal'c and the remaining SF's. "I'm going back up to the control room. I want to know the minute we've got power restored. Turns out I'll have a call to make on a certain red phone." He stalked away and Jack watched him go, which left him with Teal'c, a bunch of heavily armed SF's and one Daniel Jackson, bursting at the brim with questions that were already starting to crowd Jack's head.

"So, how've you been?" Daniel probed, rocking on the balls of his feet, hands in his pockets.

"Oh you know… same old," Jack gave him a thin lipped smile.

Daniel cocked his head. "You see, somehow I doubt that. I heard vacations could take years off but that seems a little much." He waved in the direction of his face. "You get some work done?"

"I did, thanks for noticing," Jack replied "Bit of an emergency situation really. Between you and me, those crow's feet were getting noticeable." Jack cocked his head, "I'm kind of liking the fuzz Daniel… lose your razor?" He pointed to his chin. "Almost looks like you hit puberty whilst I was gone." He noted that Daniel had also packed on some muscle mass; not quite so much as Jack had but then the Wasteland had carved him lean and mean, Daniel's was bulkier, like Teal'c had been feeding him his Jaffa protein shakes.

"Puberty?" Daniel glowered at the insult with faint amusement tinging his expression.

"You should be wary Daniel Jackson. We have been fooled before." Teal'c cut into their banter, not in the least bit amused Jack noted, his eyes drifting to those neat rows of braided hair on his head. What was it with hair and extended vacations?

"No, we weren't," Daniel stated adamantly, "That Replicator version of Sam might have had her memories but she couldn't pretend to be her for five minutes. And you remember what that clone of Jack was like. Jack was always a dumbass but that was ridiculous," Daniel huffed. "Although saying that, Repli-Carter didn't need much more than five minutes to practically decimate the Goa'uld. And we've got what?... two minutes left by my count."

"Indeed," Teal'c growled, his staff weapon still aimed at Jack, clearly still smarting from deciding to let Mitchell and the teams run after Sam after she'd launched over him. "Even if it is proven that he is human and indeed O'Neill, it does not mean he belongs in this world," Teal'c spoke up, his eyes firmly on Jack's, as if trying to see into his soul. His mind was difficult to read Jack noted, impressed.

"So, you said the Goa'uld are gone?" His mood had picked up at that.

"Yep," Daniel responded at the same moment as Teal'c barked, "Be silent."

Jack closed his mouth, miming buttoning it to Teal'c. But he'd got the information he needed. Daniel always had been a leaking sieve. State of play right now was key.

"One more thing… I gotta ask… tell me Repli-Carter got Bocce too," he growled expectantly, looking between his two former teammates.

"Assuming you refer to Lord Ba'al, she did not," Teal'c retorted, looking about as aggrieved at that as Jack was.

"Doh," he replied.

"So, two years?" Daniel queried cutting across and Jack shrugged.

"Apparently not, right?"

"What happened on P4M-523? We went through seconds before you."

"Gate malfunction," Jack shrugged, "You know how it is… massive energy blast hit us in transit. We got spat out into a whole other Universe somewhere on the other side of hell."

"Hell's in another Universe now is it?" Daniel looked both curious and concerned, almost a classic look on him.

"More or less," Jack replied, "No Goa'uld though so there's that."

"Huh." Daniel absorbed that.

"Apparently you were right… that theory of yours." Daniel's ears perked up at that and Jack rolled his eyes despite himself. "Oh don't get all excited. I didn't remember, Sam did. Something about the Goa'uld being a driving force in human evolution and life in this Galaxy… yadda yadda. Oh, no pyramids either… not without the Goa'uld. She said you'd find that…"

"Fascinating," Daniel exclaimed completely without irony, "So it was a…"

"Dead Universe," Jack clarified picking up on Daniel's thoughts easily, "And what wasn't dead was damn unpleasant."

"Oh… sorry," Daniel responded, sounding genuinely concerned for them. "Assuming a word of that is true of course…" he trailed off with a frown.

Jack's eyes drifted to the stoic big Jaffa beside him. "I'm sure Sam will be back any minute." He glanced at his Pip-Boy to check the timer he'd set discreetly when he'd heard the self-destruct timer start. "So… how are the Jaffa doing? With the Goa'uld gone, that's got to have been a party right?"

"The Jaffa are free of oppression and forging their own destiny," Teal'c admitted finally, clearly deciding there was no point keeping schtum when Daniel was running off at the mouth and Jack grinned genuinely.

"Really?… good for them," Jack told him, meaning it. Teal'c merely bowed his head in acknowledgment, clearly not yet convinced of this little resurrection or he'd have added an 'Indeed' to that bow. The awkwardness of this was a little jarring though. He'd expected hugs at least, but he supposed that might just have been his ridiculous rose tinted glasses view of 'home'.

"Say Daniel… you didn't happen to die whilst we were gone did you?" Jack enquired.

"Die?" Up went the eyebrows, high enough that Daniel had to reseat his glasses.

"You know… ascend to a higher plane… go all floaty and what not?"

"Yes actually." Daniel looked bemused. "At the battle of Dakara." He rubbed his chest. "Ran into the pointy end of Repli-Carter," he admitted, looking both unnerved and confused by the line of questioning.

"Ah... that'd explain it," Jack acknowledged offering no further explanation. Two months ago was about right for when Daniel had come to give him a kick up the ass to find Carter. He didn't dare start going down the rabbit hole that opened up regarding the timeline shenanigans. Unless of course being dead and ascended meant time was just one of those things that didn't matter anymore. Universes had apparently posed no problem so he wasn't discounting anything.

"Explain what?" Daniel stepped forward looking perplexed and agitated now.

"Nothing," Jack retorted, enjoying the look of irritation growing on Daniel's face.

"Seriously, how did you know?" Daniel asked clearly agitated now. Jack merely shrugged at him, a difficult feat in the damn Power Armour.

"You're really just going to leave it hanging like that?" Daniel accused.

"Pretty much."

"Yep, same old Jack." He didn't sound nearly as annoyed this time, his eyes were sparkling just a smidge behind the glasses.

Jack gave him a once over; he looked pretty good – buff even. Although there was something about him right now – like he was being pulled towards someone else. Linked. Almost as if by a thread; Jack could feel it pulsing through him heading out into the base. Weird. It made his head go a bit tingly when he looked at it, like he'd been futzing with Ancient head gear tech again.

Daniel's eyes narrowed, as if he could tell he was probing him. His eyes scouring him, but except for the head there wasn't much to see except the suit. "What's with the fancy wristwatch." He pointed to Jack's Pip-Boy. Eyes followed Daniel's keen gaze and Jack cocked an eyebrow hearing the flash of concern from Teal'c that it might be weapon of some kind.

"Fancy watch." he admitted. "Has a sort of Gameboy in it… so I guess it's cool. It's not a fan of my knees though." he added, quite likes my fertile balls though. He smirked to himself at that particular memory and the memory of Sam's blushing smirk.

Daniel shook his head, not getting the reference, which was kind of the point. "What?"

"What?" Jack aped with a smirk.

The alarms shut off suddenly and the emergency power gave way to actual power as the Gate room lit back up again. Jack glanced up to see some pleased faces around the control room, which was good.

"Sam did it," Daniel acknowledged with a tone of disbelief, as though he'd really been expecting this to go sideways.

"You doubted?" Jack quipped.

"I did not," Teal'c replied for them both, "any version of Colonel Carter would be capable of such a feat," he added, clearly not softening on the matter at all. Whatever had happened had clearly hit T hard.

A few minutes later, Sam was marched back down into the Gate room just as Doc Fraiser and a bunch of medical types turned up. He locked eyes with Sam for a moment and she gave him a nod. Job done. He really wanted to update her on the news he'd wheedled out of Daniel about the two years, the Goa'uld, Repli-Carter, and that itching feeling that they thought they were imposters, but his brain powers didn't work that way. Maybe he'd have to work on trying to push a thought rather than pulling one.

Fraiser came to a stop in front of him. In his power armour, he was somewhat taller than normal so she had to stare up as usual, and then up again, at him. "Doc," he acknowledged with a salute and she seemed to do a double take at his face. Damn it was good to see her again, to see all of them. He was just relieved that everyone he cared about most on base was still alive and well, which was more than he'd hoped to find.

"General. Whilst I'd say it's good to see you…" His eyes drifted to Sam and the other woman seemed to pause, "…both of you…" She swallowed what Jack could tell was a lump in her throat at seeing her friend alive and Sam sent her a warm smile in answer, one he hadn't seen her use in a while. "But first we have to ascertain that you are who you say you are," she explained with a faint hint of apology in it.

"You're going to stick us with something pointy aren't you?" Jack sighed, resigned to it.

"Several somethings," Fraiser muttered, as the Stargate hissed; the capacitors expending their energy harmlessly, as it rotated into standby mode.

"Main power has been restored. We're back up and running." Walter barked through the speaker needlessly. Jack grinned, his mood improving immensely now that they weren't a smear on the iris or being shot, for now.

Of course right then a whole other bunch of alarms started going off and Jack looked up in time to see more guns pointed their way. "What now for crying out loud?" Fearing he'd spoken too soon about the whole 'not being shot' thing, Jack looked to Sam who shook her head.

"This one's not me," she admitted.

General Landry's head appeared in the glass and his voice came over the now working speaker. "Clear the Gate room now everyone. We have a radiation spike!" He pointed at Sam and Jack as the Gate room turrets came back online and focused on them. Jack went still. "You two stay put."

Frasier was up in the control room in a few seconds as the blast doors closed, sealing them into the Gate room as everyone evacuated – all but Daniel and Teal'c who looked like nothing less than a nuclear blast would in fact move them.

"Teal'c that means you too. You have no symbiote to protect you from radiation anymore," Janet barked at him through the mic. Teal'c looked up at her, then at Jack, who inclined his head telling him to get out of here.

"You should do as the Doc says. I told you we've been to hell and back. I wasn't joking Daniel." The other man opened his mouth to argue as Frasier's voice came over the mic.

"Daniel!" Janet snapped at him, "I shouldn't have to explain to you the effect of radiation poisoning. Move. I promise you there will be no debrief until after. Then you can ask all the questions you want," Janet added when Daniel still had shown no signs of moving, until Teal'c placed a hand on his arm. Jack thought the big guy might carry him off if he refused.

Daniel sighed, clearly relenting. "Alright." He shrugged off Teal'c's hand and moved to the door. "We're not finished Jack." He stalked past the Marines still holding guns on them from the corridor as the fancy new turrets swung back to life – he thought he recognised them as Asgard in design, which was new and interesting.

"Janet…" Sam called up, "…I think there's a pretty good chance that radiation spike you're detecting is coming from us!"

"Are you telling us you're radioactive Colonel?" she queried through the microphone, sounding that half alarmed half fascinated thing she did so well.

Jack grimaced and took over. "Like I was explaining to Daniel… there was this alternate Earth…"

"Actually, he said Hell…" He heard Daniel's voice over the comms as he joined them. "…in a dead Universe." Sam gave him a look. Okay, so maybe blurting all that out off the bat hadn't been part of the plan either, but Daniel had a way about him; he usually got as much out of you as he gave.

"Janet…" Sam started, "I know you don't believe that we're who we say we are, but you need to understand that we were trapped on an alternate Earth. One that had experienced a nuclear holocaust, approximately two hundred years before our arrival. It was a Wasteland and we've been forced to survive there for two years, so yes… I'd say there's a very good chance what you're picking up is coming from us." She paused a moment, "And there's also the nature of the wormhole we just travelled through." Sam informed them coolly and Jack closed his mouth – he'd been getting to that. There was a flurry of activity up there and Jack sensed some nervous people about to do nervous things. There were the mutterings about the two-year thing again; he could hear that one playing out from several people, himself included, with growing concern as to what it might mean.

"Jack, do you still have your chem box?" Sam asked and he nodded. "General, Janet… with your permission, we'd like to take off these suits and take some radiation medication. That should help," she called up.

"Sam…this is a lot of radiation!" the Doc exclaimed and Jack winced, he'd been afraid of that, this wasn't going to sound good.

"Well…" Jack called out, "that's probably because we were caught up in a nuclear blast – quite recently," he added helpfully and Sam dropped her head in exasperation; her mental instruction to 'stop helping' came through loud and clear.

"You were in a what now?" Daniel asked in clear concern before Landry took his place.

"Just a little one." Jack shrugged, looking over at Sam's pinched expression.

"A decontamination protocol is in effect," Landry told them sharply down the mic. "Please, remove everything and stand facing the wall. We're sending in a team to scrub down you and your gear."

"Oh that sounds swell," Jack muttered to Sam who gave him an alarmed look. They'd both had the radiation decontamination protocol before – it was never pleasant. "Here." He handed her several Rad-X pills before Frasier decided they were poison and confiscated them.

Sam swallowed them and stepped closer to him. "There's RadAway hooked up to the suit. Issue a decon command via the Pip-Boy first," Sam told him, not raising her voice above his hearing level, with the pretence of helping him out of the suit. She tapped into her own console and he did the same, noting the readings had spiked a bit. Of course he was so goddamn used to radiation now that he barely batted an eye at levels that would have made him cross his legs across his balls once upon a time and pray it was quick.

"That planet was a little hot," she explained, "Plus we may have been dosed in the matter stream because of the…."

"Blackhole," Jack finished for her. "Yeah. So, about that… turns out it's been six months here, not two years. Any idea how that happened?"

Sam's eyes widened for a moment and he had to restrain from grinning at how her mind suddenly roared to life, giving him a front row seat on a rollercoaster of her thoughts as they went racing ahead down some scary as hell astrophysics he had no hope of catching up with.

"Wow. I hadn't expected that," she admitted.

"You mean it had nothing to do with the blackhole of doom you swore to me would be fine?" he snipped and she gave him an affronted look.

"This may not be my fault. It's just as possible that time moved faster in the Universe we were stuck in," Sam pointed out, "I'll have to run some calculations… figure it out. When I have time."

"Hey, I'm not blaming here." he reached up and brushed the hair that had fallen behind her ear. A gesture he'd never have dared give in the Gateroom of all places before now. "Hell, we both know I couldn't have gotten us back in a million years, let alone a year and a half," he shrugged giving her a wry grin, letting his gloveless hand rest against her cheek for a moment. "But you got us back Sam," he told her and her expression softened just a moment as she let herself try and absorb the enormity of that. He wanted to high five and swing her up into his arms, he settled for letting his fingers trail featherlight to her chin, before he leant in and pressed an earnest kiss to her lips for a just a moment. They were dry, chapped from the prolonged time in the damn helmet, but still heaven. Screw what the watching eyes thought – he'd said he wouldn't hide this, or them. Her eyes softened for a moment and he saw the same excitement shining back there before it clouded a moment later with the weight of all the concerns he felt pressing on her.

"We'll see," she admitted pulling back from him with a sigh and working on getting out of her suit. "If they don't like what they find we might find ourselves stuck in a cell… or worse… dumped back through the Gate," she cautioned, putting a dampener on his celebration plans.

"Nah. We know too much and can apparently render their iris and all base functions useless. I reckon they'd shoot us first. And I'm sensing a lot of itchy trigger fingers right now Sam." He felt the need to warn her though it seemed she was picking up the vibes just fine.

"I know. Mitchell mentioned my Replicator-self took out the Goa'uld before she died …supposedly." She glanced back up at the control room and at the rest of the new SG1 that were congregated there, staring back. "Jack, they don't trust us," she admitted, "And if you think about it, there's about a dozen reasons I can think of why they shouldn't." He didn't need telepathy to pick up on her apprehension and concern that this wasn't quite the place they'd left, and how in hell they'd ever be accepted back. He wished he could tell her she was wrong but that wasn't the feeling he was getting either.

"Right. So we should tread lightly. Plan A," he confirmed.

"Yep," she nodded and he sighed; Plan A – keep schtum about all their nifty little enhancements unless asked. Not ideal but he'd kept bigger things quiet before, like his impossible love for the woman in front of him and a whole host of black ops shit that was never going to see the light of day. Secrets were what he was trained to do best. He just didn't have to like it.

But it was official – radiation protocols and all sorts of precautions and suspicions aside – they were home and goddamn did it feel good to be subject to all that crap again.

0000000000000000000000

AUTHORS NOTE:

And we're off. Merry Christmas everyone!

I'd love to hear your thoughts, comments… have you missed us? Hope the start to Part 3 was everything you wanted. Lots more to work through but hopefully this sets us up nicely. Not quite plain sailing but then I think we all agreed it never really could be given all that's happened to them.

I'm doing shorter chapters this time to make it easier and breakup the time between each post. This and the next chapter were originally one large one.

So timeline wise, Jack and Sam are stepping back in it not long after S9e5, but before S9 E6 BEACHHEAD.