Chapter 3: Fighter

If any of them had thought it would be easy, at least in the beginning, to start the journey, they were wrong. They'd all hoped it would be as simple a beginning as dialing the first gate address, but were severely disappointed when they couldn't get a lock.

"What's the problem?" Jack asked as he stood behind Walter's chair in the control room. A MALP stood ready on the ramp, but the gate was dark and still.

"We can't get a lock on the seventh chevron, sir." Walter said. "It's like there's something wrong with the gate on the other end, or this could be a bad address."

"Damnit!" Jack said loudly, turning to kick the wall behind him. This attracted several odd looks from the other technicians, but Jack ignored them. "How can we figure out what's wrong?"

Walter shrugged, shaking his head. "All we can do is figure out if it's a problem on our end by running a few diagnostics."

"Where's Carter when we need her?" Jack said, looking around.

Hammond was just coming down the stairs and walked over. "Major Carter is in Isolation Room C with Doctor Fraiser receiving the first of her radiotherapy."

Jack swore again.

Daniel and Teal'c had joined them by this time and Daniel stood next to Jack, arms folded over his chest. "What's the hold up?"

"The address you gave us isn't working, Daniel." Jack sneered.

"Uhh…" Daniel frowned. "It was the only one that we'd be able to reach from here. It has to be the first one."

"Well it isn't working!" Jack jabbed his teammate in the chest with one finger. "So get back to work and recheck to make sure you've got it right."

Daniel sighed, throwing his hands in the air in surrender before turning and marching back out of the control room. Jack sighed and turned to follow him as well, but Teal'c grabbed his shoulder.

"O'Neill."

"I'm going to go see how Carter's doing." Jack said, trying to shrug the Jaffa's hand off.

"I understand this is difficult for you, O'Neill," Teal'c said. "But we will find a way to save Major Carter."

"I know." Jack patted Teal'c's arm then turned away.

He found Janet in the observation bay of the isolation room. She was standing over an instrument panel and smiled briefly at him as he walked over to the window and looked down at Sam. She was laying flat and still on a bed, underneath a large machine that seemed to be aimed at a her head.

After a few minutes Janet stepped away from the control panel. "Colonel." She nodded in greeting.

"Hey, Doc." Jack nodded down in Sam's direction. "Is it safe to go in there?"

Janet nodded. "Yeah. Right now she's receiving external radiotherapy, so it doesn't cause her body to emit any radiation." She motioned for Jack to go first, then followed him down to the room where Sam was already sitting up and pulling her jacket back on.

"Yo, Carter, how'd it go?" Jack asked, walking over to her.

"Ugh…" Sam winced, pressing one hand to the side of her face. She looked at Janet through her uncovered eye. "This is really going to suck, isn't it?"

"I wish I could tell you that you'll feel better soon but…" Janet sighed. "The side effects tend to get worse."

"And then there's the chemo."

Janet nodded sadly. "And then there's the chemo. Can you stand up? Or should I have one of the nurses send in a wheel chair?"

"I can stand." Sam said, getting a little shakily to her feet. She turned to Jack. "How's the search coming? Did you send a MALP to the first address?"

"We couldn't get a lock on it. Walter thinks it might be a bad address so I sent Danny to make sure he gave us the right one."

Sam looked down at her shoes despairingly. "What if it doesn't work at all? Ever?"

"It'll work." Jack said, taking hold of her arm as they headed towards the door. "Don't you worry about it. We'll keep trying until we get a lock."

"Ok." Sam slowed as they reached the door, coming to a stop and still staring at her feet.

Jack looked over to Janet questioningly. The doctor had a pitying look on her face and jerked her chin towards Sam as though to say 'Do something'. Jack sighed.

"Sam, you're going to be ok," he said, unsure of what else he could tell her. Sam looked up at him and to his surprise leaned in and put her arms around him. Awkwardly he put his arms around her as well, being careful not to squeeze to tightly. "Come on, let's get you somewhere where you can sit."

Jack got more and more frustrated as the days, then weeks passed and none of the addresses that Daniel came up with worked. Watching Sam slowly get weaker and weaker from her various treatments was leaving him with the feeling that they were running out of time.

After two weeks of worrying about dealing with the ever-present hair loss, Sam finally gave in and shaved her head, taking to wearing a knit cap that Cassie had bought her. She managed to keep a cheerful face, even cracking a few jokes at herself, and all in all on the outside seemed to be dealing with it very well. But after finding her crying in her lab a couple times, the team soon knew better.

"I just…this is so hard…" She said despairingly to Jack and Daniel the fifth time this happened. She was sitting at her lab table with her face in her hands, fingers curled around the edge of her hat.

Daniel was standing behind her, sympathetically rubbing her back with one hand. Sam looked up at Jack. She had dark circles under her eyes and appeared much thinner and more gaunt than she had a few weeks ago.

Jack was pacing back and forth, trying to wear away the anxious feeling that seemed to cling to him. He looked over and caught Sam wiping her eyes again on her sleeve. "What about that…starry thing. Stellar whachamacallit."

"Stellar drift?" Sam looked at him blankly. "What about it?"

"Doesn't that affect whether gate addresses work or not?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, but the dialing program automatically compensates for that."

"Damnit." Jack sighed. "And we've tried dialing it from other planets…still can't get a lock."

Sam shook her head slowly. "I don't know what could be the problem then. Nothing's wrong on our end, and Daniel's sure the address is right. So unless the book was lying…"

"Sometimes I wonder if the Ancients are interfering somehow." Daniel murmured thoughtfully.

Jack craned his head back and shook one fist at the ceiling. "Alright, you ancient sons of bitches, unlock the stupid address! I'm ready to save my friends life already!" He was silent for a moment as though actually expecting some sort of response.

"Jack, I don't think that'd convince them to do anything." Daniel said.

"Damnit! I'm just sick of sitting here and watching Carter get worse and worse without being able to do anything!" Jack roared. Sam slouched down slightly in her seat.

Daniel looked between the two before his gaze finally settled on Jack. "Maybe you should go calm down a bit, Jack, this isn't helping."

"Nothing is helping!" Was Jack's reply. He scowled at Daniel then marched out of the lab. The control room was fairly empty when Jack got up there and he walked over to Walter who was tapping his hand on the console in a bored sort of way. "Walter, dial the address again."

Walter looked up at Jack. "Sir?"

"Just humor me."

With a shrug the tech sergeant began dialing the gate. The first six chevrons encoded, and Jack found himself holding his breath as it came to the last chevron. For a second it seemed that it would be like all the times before and wouldn't work, then suddenly the chevron lit up, locking into place.

"Chevron seven, locked." Walter said, grinning a little.

The wormhole stabilized. Jack rushed to the phone, first calling Siler to get a MALP up there asap, then calling Hammond and the rest of SG-1. Soon they were all gathered behind Walter, watching the screens as the MALP went through.

"Looks normal enough," Jack said as images of a forest appeared on the screen. "How are the readings?"

"They're fine, sir. Temperature is in the sixties, air breathable, no detectable radiation or harmful chemicals." Walter replied.

Jack turned to Daniel. "What'd the book say about the first planet?"

"Not much in the way of specifics," Daniel said with a shrug. "The book pretty much says that passing the planets is harder than it seems. I mean, you'd think we'd just have to dial the next address, but apparently there's going to be something else."

"We're approaching the 38 minute mark," Sam said. "The wormhole won't stay open."

"Ah, close it up, Walter." Jack said. "We'll just have to hope that it opens again."

They went up to the briefing room, then, where they were joined by Janet a few minutes later.

"So, what, is this cure going to be something you guys can bring back?" She asked.

Daniel fidgeted nervously in his seat. "Uhm, no, that's not how it seems to work. Sam's going to have to come with us."

"What?" Janet scowled. "Absolutly not. I wouldn't clear her for normal gate travel in her condition, let alone some extended mission that's going to take you god knows where. If you were going by ship it might be a different matter."

"Janet, we have to bring her with us. That's the only way." Daniel said. "I'm not sure how this is going to work, exactly, but I do know that it isn't something we can just go and bring back with us. It's far more than that." Janet huffed at his words and turned to look at Hammond, who shrugged.

"I don't see what other choice we have, Doctor." Hammond had his hands clasped and a thoughtful expression on his face. "If they need to bring Major Carter along…"

"Then I'm going too." Janet said matter of factly.

The general's scowl deepened. "We'll have to see, doctor."

"Sir, I trust my medical staff to take care of things here while I'm gone." Janet said. " Dr. Werner is a very capable doctor. However, I wouldn't trust them with taking care of Sam. I know exactly what she needs, I know what to do if anything goes wrong…"

"There's also the chance that none of you will come back alive…" Hammond said, looking around at them.

"It is a risk we are willing to take for Major Carter's life." Teal'c replied solemnly.

Sam looked up. "Guys, you don't –"

"Carter!" Jack cut her off. "Don't argue with us. That's an order."

Sam gave him a rather watery, yet grateful smile and fell silent again.

"Well," Hammond said with a sigh. "I suppose the decision is going to be up to Colonel O'Neill."

"Sir, I would feel ten million times better if Doc Fraiser was with us."

"Thank you, Colonel." Janet said, smirking.

Hammond nodded. "Very well. You're all dismissed, plan to depart in two hours."

A little more than two hours later they all stood in front of the gate, laden down with packs of medical supplies in addition to the standard overnight gear. Sam's load was considerably less than the others, obviously, despite her insistences of not being treated differently. They held their breath as the gate dialed, releasing it as the seventh chevron locked.

"Ok, kids, ready?" Jack turned to look at them from his position at the head of the group. He locked gazes with Sam. "Hanging in there, Carter?"

"Yes, sir." Sam smiled determinedly.

"Doc, you ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Janet looked up at Sam, putting a hand on her arm and giving it a comforting squeeze.

Jack looked up to the control room, to Hammond, who gave them the go ahead. Motioning for the rest of the team Jack headed up the ramp, vanishing through the shimmering blue surface of the event horizon.

Back in the control room Walter looked to Hammond. "Sir, are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

"No more sure than I ever am, Sergeant." Was Hammond's reply.

They stepped out of the gate on the other side. Jack looked around as they walked over to the DHD and Daniel took out his notebook to get the next address.

"Nice place." Jack said. "Shame we couldn't spend more time here."

"Uhh…Colonel…" Janet said from behind Jack. "We might just be doing that..."

Jack spun around. His eyes fell on the battalion of Jaffa that had appeared out of seemingly nowhere and were now pointing staff weapons at the group. "Aww crap."