-- Chapter 6 --

Something had changed.

I didn't know what it was, but Sam was avoiding me. Then again, maybe she wasn't. There was a lot going on as the Tok'ra moved their supplies and equipment onto our Ha'tak and their few scout ships.

Jack was doing most of the supervising – he kept complaining that they were going to mark up the walls and scuff the floors – but maybe Sam was busy with that as well. Or maybe being in the Tok'ra tunnels again was bringing back more of Jolinar's memories and she wanted to be alone. Or maybe seeing Cronus had bothered her more than I realised. Or maybe—

With a heavy sigh, I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. This was getting me nowhere. I really needed something to do. Anything to keep my mind off the memory of Sam's gentle touch in the infirmary just a few days ago. I hadn't meant to kiss her fingers, but it had happened.

I had to admit that during those months just after her rescue from Cronus, when I used to wake up with her in my arms, a few inappropriate thoughts had crossed my mind. But I had squashed them down, ignored them as much as I could, expected them to go away. I certainly never expected them to become...this.

"Everything okay?"

I looked up and was surprised to see Sam standing in the doorway. She seemed hesitant, almost nervous.

"Yeah," I said as I stood and approached her. "You?"

She just smiled and nodded, which did nothing to reassure me that she was alright. I knew her better than that. I reached out to touch her arm, but she pulled away, running her hand through her hair. I tried not to react.

"I was just on my way to a meeting with the Tok'ra," Sam said. "Their gear's all loaded, so we can start transporting people on board soon."

I nodded, following her down the hall. "How long will that take?"

She wrinkled her nose. "If they had more than one ring platform, it'd go a lot faster. As it is, we were already pushing the limits of the matter stream's pattern buffer with all of the equipment. It might take a day, maybe a day and a half, to get everyone on board."

We met with Jack, Teal'c, and a number of the Tok'ra in their council chamber, and Sam brought everyone up to date. However, the meeting was interrupted when an alarm went off. A few seconds later, Jacob arrived to inform us that Tanith had escaped.

Jack and Teal'c joined one Tok'ra search party while I joined another. After a few hours of searching, it was obvious we weren't going to find the escaped Goa'uld. My team checked on the contingent that was guarding the stargate, and then returned to the base. I found Sam in one of the control rooms with Jalen and Jacob.

She looked up as I entered, her expression tense. "Is the Colonel with you?"

"No, he and Teal'c are still searching for Tanith."

"Looks like we have a bigger problem," said Jacob. "Can you get to the surface and get him on your radio?"

I wasn't sure what was going on, but I nodded and headed for the ring platform. I had just arrived when the rings activated. When the flash of light faded, Jack and a couple of the Tok'ra from his search party were standing before me.

"Any sign of him?" I asked, already knowing the answer. The fact that Teal'c wasn't with Jack was a dead giveaway.

"Nope, Teal'c's still looking."

"You guys have been out there for hours already."

Jack shrugged. "It's a Jaffa revenge thing."

"Ah. Uh, Sam and Jacob sent me. They want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I don't know. They just said we have a bigger problem."

"Oh, good." Jack nodded as we started down the corridor. "I was so hoping there'd be a bigger problem."

It turned out that our 'bigger problem' was that Tanith had managed to contact Apophis and had given him the coordinates for Vorash. To deal with the Tok'ra threat once and for all, Apophis was apparently sending the largest attack fleet ever assembled. And to make matters even more exciting, he was expected to arrive in less than a day.

Since the ring transporters were already being pushed to the limits, Sam and Jacob had come up with a new plan. A rather crazy plan. Definitely ambitious. But it was amazing. And did I mention crazy?

Instead of taking the Tok'ra by ship to their new planet, Sam wanted to send them through the gate, then dial P3W-451, the planet where we encountered the black hole two years ago. If we were able to establish a connection, the plan was to jettison the active stargate into Vorash's sun. Apparently, the idea was that the black hole would suck some of the star's matter through the gate. The star would destabilize and explode, taking out Apophis's fleet in the process.

Yup. Blowing up a star. That was actually the plan.

Despite his understandable wariness, Jack agreed, and the Tok'ra base was a flurry of activity once more. There wasn't enough time to get all of the equipment off of the Ha'tak and through the Stargate. Getting the people to safety was the priority, so only the most important items were transported back to the surface.

In an effort to accelerate the evacuation process, the Tok'ra grew a tunnel to the surface. A few hours later, only a few Tok'ra remained on Vorash, the rest having gated to a new planet called Revanna. The ones that stayed behind would leave on the cargo ships that had already been loaded and were waiting nearby.

Once Apophis's fleet was dealt with, we'd fly to Revanna and resume the original plan with a change of scenery – taking the stargate and the Tok'ra to an uncharted planet.

Sam, Jacob, and a few of the other Tok'ra began working to fit Vorash's stargate with a force field and some thrusters that would allow the gate to be safely jettisoned from the Ha'tak into Vorash's sun. It all appeared to be very complicated, so I left to see if I could find Teal'c. I hadn't seen him since being told his search party had returned without finding Tanith.

He was in one of the chambers within the Tok'ra base, meditating with a crystal. Someone had told him of the change of plans, but I was concerned for my friend. Despite the impossibility of Tanith surviving the supernova and the fact that we were about to take down Apophis, Teal'c still seemed disturbed.

"Knowing what Apophis did to Sha're, and what Cronus did to Major Carter, would you not wish for the opportunity to crush the life from their throats with your bare hands?"

Jack was right. This was a Jaffa revenge thing. I stared at the crystal on the pillow before us for a moment, collecting my thoughts. "I've thought about it," I finally admitted. However, from what he and Jack had told me about the mission to Juna, Cronus had got what was coming to him without my help.

"As have I," said Teal'c.

"But the thing is, helping Sam get through what happened to her has made me realize something. Holding onto the pain, anger, and guilt for events in the past only serves to make you miserable in the present and future. I helped her see that she could move forward past those feelings. In the process, I moved on myself. And I think we're both better for it."

"I do not believe Major Carter has forgotten the events of her captivity with Cronus."

"No, of course not. And I haven't forgotten Sha're either. What I'm trying to say is that it isn't healthy to live like that. With the constant need for revenge. When you hold onto fond memories with that kind of hatred and anger inside of you, it changes the memories. It deforms them. You have to let go before it turns your memories into something they're not."

Teal'c didn't say anything, but I could tell that he was digesting my words. What I didn't tell him was that being able to let go of the pain and guilt I had felt over Sha're's abduction and death had brought me to another important realisation. Sha're wouldn't have wanted me to be angry and alone for the rest of my life. She would have wanted me to find a way to be happy. To really live, not just survive. Just as I would have wanted for her if our roles had been reversed.

Over the last several months, Sam had unknowingly helped me recover as much as I had helped her. I didn't even notice when she started to heal the gaping hole in my heart left by Sha're's death. Only, over the last few days, Sam seemed to be pulling away. I couldn't bear the thought of feeling that empty again.

"Perhaps you are correct, Daniel Jackson. However, I am unable to release my anger at this time."

I smiled and rested my hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't happen overnight, Teal'c." I nodded my head toward the door. "Come on. Let's go see how the new plan is going."

We ringed back to the surface to find our friends doing a final check on the stargate. It was strapped to the underbelly of Jalen's Tel'tak.

"Jalen's going to fly the gate into one of the cargo bays on our mothership," Jacob explained to us.

"Uh, excuse me?" Jack crossed his arms over his chest.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Sorry, Jack. Your mothership. Once it's secure, both Tel'taks will be taken out of this star system to observe the explosion from a safe distance."

"Great," said Jack. "Well, let's get up there then." He looked around at the sand, a perturbed expression on his face.

Sam took a few steps and stopped. "Here, sir."

"How do you know that?" he asked as we all gathered close together on what I assumed was the ring platform.

"The rings are made of naquadah, like the stargate." They activated, transporting us to the pel'tak level of our ship. "I can sense where they are."

"Ah." Jack grimaced. "In that case, never mind."

We followed Jacob and Sam onto the bridge. I looked around as they checked some consoles.

"Ooh!" Jack hopped up onto Cronus's gaudy throne, grinning excitedly. "Shotgun."

"I have Apophis's fleet on long-range sensors," Jacob said, ignoring Jack's antics. "He should be here in sixty-eight minutes."

Sam's teeth tugged at her bottom lip. "The timing is critical. If we launch the gate too early, the sun will explode before the fleet arrives."

I glanced over at Teal'c, wondering if he felt as useless as I did right now.

"Is Apophis going to have much advance warning of what's going on?" asked Jack.

"No." Jacob shook his head. "He won't be able to detect the gate because of interference from the star's natural emissions. And he'll have no idea that Vorash has been evacuated until they're in orbit. But by then, it'll be too late."

"Good. So what's next?"

"Next..." Jacob turned to Sam. "We prepare to jettison the stargate."

She nodded and Jack hopped off his throne.

Jacob held up his hand. "Actually, Jack, Sam might need some help translating the consoles in the cargo bay."

I looked at him, confused. That was an odd thing for him to say. Sam hadn't needed help translating Goa'uld control systems for a long time. And was it my imagination, or did she glare at Jacob for his suggestion? I tried not to let my disappointment at her reaction show. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what had changed to cause Sam to become upset at the thought of us working together.

Jack shrugged. "Whatever."

Sam was definitely avoiding my gaze as she walked past me toward the hallway. We stopped when we heard Jack's voice.

"Hey, what's this?"

Turning back, we saw him standing over a blue console that was rising out of the floor.

"That is the weapons' console, O'Neill," said Teal'c. "The tile under your foot has activated it."

"Cool." Jack stepped up to it, a blue light from the console shining on his face. His eyes widened, and he waved a hand in the air in front of him. "Whoa!"

Jacob smiled. "The tactical display provides information about weapons, ship's systems, detailed sensor readings... Basically, it's a three-dimensional HUD that's projected directly into the user's eyes."

Sam perked up at that. "Really? We've been doing some research into the development of virtual retinal displays."

"You think you can hook up something like this to my TV, Carter?" Jack was clearly thrilled with whatever it was he was seeing. "Mmm...hockey in 3-D..."

She chuckled softly. "I'll look into it, sir."

Jack placed his hands on the blue globes on either side of the console, apparently manipulating the images he was seeing. "Sure took forever to come out of the floor though."

"Its advanced sensors use up a lot of power," explained Jacob. "It's simply more efficient to leave the console inactive until it's required."

"Yeah? Well, what if there was an emergency? I'd call it a design flaw."

Jacob just shook his head, turning back to his monitors, and Sam and I headed for the cargo bays.

The ship's communication system clicked on. "We're approaching the sun," came Jacob's voice. "Slowing to five percent light speed."

Sam nodded, tapping some controls. "Show time," she said softly as the doors to the cargo bay opened. The stargate was secured in the bay with two docking clamps at its base.

"What do we do if we can't connect to the gate on P3W-451?" I asked.

She wrinkled her nose. "We won't have much choice but to abort the mission and deal with Apophis later."

"We're in position," said Jacob. "Ready when—"

"Hey, Jacob," came Jack's voice. "These are the sensors, right? What's this squiggly thing here?"

There was a pause, and then Jacob said, "Hang on, Sam."

"Dad, the timing on this has—"

"I know. Just hang on a minute."

There was a click, and then silence. "Dad?" Sam's eyes widened as the silence continued. She gave me an incredulous look. "He hung up on us!"

I just shrugged. Truthfully, I was glad to have a few minutes alone with Sam while no one was listening in. Maybe I could get to the bottom of what was bothering her. "You okay?"

Sam's cheeks puffed out with a heavy sigh. "Yeah." She wasn't looking at me. Her hands moved through the air over the panel before her in a repeating pattern over a sequence of controls. She looked out at the stargate in the cargo bay and rubbed her forehead.

"You sure about that?" I asked quietly, taking a step closer.

She glanced my way, a slight smile on her lips. "I'm fine. Just..." She sighed again and uttered a weak laugh. "Just a little nervous."

"Well," I said, leaning back against the console so I could face her. "That's understandable. You've never blown up a star before."

Without warning, she snorted. The snort gave way to a chuckle, and all I could do was watch in awe as Major Samantha Carter was quickly overcome by a fit of laughter.

"What?" I asked, grinning. "You have blown one up before?"

That was when she doubled over and collapsed to the ground.

The hilarity was contagious, and I couldn't help but join her, snickering away on the floor, even though I didn't know what had triggered it. Sam leaned into me, her forehead resting on my shoulder. I welcomed the contact and wrapped my arms around her.

"What's so funny?" I managed to choke out.

She lifted her head to look at me, tears streaming down her smiling face. "It's just so...obvious! Of course I've never blown up a star before!" And with that, she relaxed into my arms again as we descended once more into gasps of laugher.

When was the last time I'd laughed this hard? Clearly, it had been far too long. It felt fantastic. Though the feel of Sam in my arms and having her relax around me again probably had a lot to do with that, too.

Abruptly, the mood seemed to change. Our laugher died down, and I became acutely aware of Sam's hot breath tickling my neck. I felt her nose graze my jaw as she slowly lifted her head. And when she looked into my eyes, my breath caught in my throat.

Her lips were just inches from mine. She couldn't want me to kiss her... Could she? With my heart pounding in my ears, I leaned slightly forward, watching her for any sign I should stop. I couldn't see any.

Then, several low vibrations rumbled through the ship, breaking the spell. Sam pulled away. She stood up, looking around in alarm. "That's weapons fire."

I also stood, listening for further sounds from the ship. "Are we under attack?"

"Don't think so. Sounds like it's coming from us."

The ship's communication system clicked back on, and Jacob's voice filled the room. "Sorry about that, guys. Jack spotted a cloaked Al'kesh on the tactical display. We managed to take them out before they realised we had seen them, though."

Sam frowned. "How did it get here so fast?"

"I don't know," said Jacob. "It can't be part of Apophis's fleet."

"Perhaps the ship was intended to retrieve Tanith," came Teal'c's voice.

"That makes sense. He could have had it waiting for him in a neighbouring system the whole time," said Jacob.

"He will not escape this time." The satisfaction in Teal'c's voice was undeniable.

"Did he signal Apophis?" asked Jack. "Tell him what's going on?"

There was a pause, and Sam glanced at me for a brief moment before staring at the floor near her boots.

Jacob's voice came through the communication system again. "Looks like we destroyed the ship before they could alert anyone. Apophis's fleet is still on course to arrive in fifty-nine minutes. You can release the gate as soon as you're ready, Sam."

She gave a tight nod. "Copy that."

I watched as she began the remote dialling sequence. "Are we still on schedule?" I asked.

The stargate whooshed to life, and she checked her watch. "It's going to be tight," she muttered, not looking at me. Then, louder, she said, "The gate on P3W-451 is still active. Wormhole established. Engaging the force field."

She pressed a button on the control panel and a red field of energy crackled to life around the gate. The event horizon had already begun to move in a slow spiral from the gravitational effects of the black hole on the other end of the wormhole.

"Opening cargo bay doors." Sam pressed another button on the console.

I watched her confident actions, frowning slightly. She didn't need my help. What had Jacob been thinking?

"Releasing the clamps," she said.

We watched as the docking clamps disengaged. Sam tapped a few symbols on the panel. The thrusters that had been attached to the stargate gave short bursts, and the gate drifted out of the cargo bay. She checked the sensor readouts in front of her and adjusted the gate's heading with a few more taps to the thruster controls.

Moments later, she seemed satisfied with the information displayed on the console. "The gate is away." The cargo bay doors closed.

"Alright," said Jacob. "The trajectory looks good. Prepare for hyperspeed." The communication system clicked off, and Sam and I braced ourselves as the ship blurred for a moment.

"That's it," she said, checking her watch again. "Fifty-four minutes until the sun goes nova."

"Do we have enough time to get to a safe distance?"

"Um." Sam's eyes moved over the console, the walls, the floor. Anything but me. "Fifty minutes at hyperspeed should get us just over three light years away. That should be fine. And if the explosion is larger than anticipated, we'll still have plenty of time to get farther away."

I raised my eyebrows at her, surprised. "So...four whole minutes to spare." A four-minute window was hardly a close call for SG-1.

"Yeah." She plucked at an invisible loose thread on her BDUs.

"So, when you said we were cutting it close, you really meant you were worried you wouldn't get to see it."

She smiled then. A big, brilliant, beautiful smile. "You know me so well," she said, looking up at me at last. Suddenly, she was my Sam again.

Whoa. My Sam? My thoughts were getting ahead of me. Nevertheless, I couldn't ignore the fact that her smile made me feel like I wasn't alone anymore. I took a step forward and placed my hand gently on her arm.

Gradually, Sam's smile disappeared. She looked up at me with an expression I couldn't quite pinpoint and what looked like a question in her eyes.

"We'd better get back to the bridge," she said, abruptly pulling away and heading for the door.

I watched her close herself down again, effectively shutting me out. She stepped into the hallway and disappeared from view.

And I'd never felt more alone in my entire life.

Forcing myself to shake it off, I followed Sam up to the pel'tak.

"Now," Jack was saying, grinning from ear to ear. "Imagine what would have happened if I hadn't found the tactical console! Or if we had to wait three whole seconds for this thing to come out of the floor to return fire! This whole situation could have turned to crap really quickly."

"Indeed," said Teal'c.

Jacob was looking back and forth between me and Sam expectantly. Though I had no idea what he was expecting.

I glanced at Sam and saw she was meeting her father's gaze steadily. "We should do a full check on sensors before we come out of hyperspace."

"Good idea." Jacob nodded. "Teal'c, you have the helm."

Teal'c nodded solemnly as Jacob walked over to his daughter. He slung his arm over her shoulders as they headed for the door.

"Well?" I heard Jacob ask Sam quietly. She just elbowed him in the ribs, and they disappeared around the corner.

Too many long minutes of being annoyed by a very bored Jack later, Sam and Jacob came back to the pel'tak. It was time to come out of hyperspeed.

Jacob activated the ship's long-range sensors immediately. The star system we had just left was displayed on the screen. A minute later, several distortions appeared. "That would be the arrival of Apophis's fleet," Jacob said. "Right on time."

Sam checked her watch. "If my calculations are correct, the sun should go nova in three min—" Her voice cut off abruptly as the star erupted in a brilliant flash of light. Then the display screen went blank. "Or, it could go right now." She glanced sharply at her dad. "Did you—?"

"It was recording from the moment we came out of hyperspace."

She flashed him a relieved smile.

Jacob pressed a few buttons and the display came back to life. He played back the last few seconds of sensor data in slow motion. "Sensors went blind from the nova's energy blast, but there are no indications of any subspace windows being opened beforehand."

Jack squinted at the display. "And that means...?"

"That means none of the ships in Apophis's fleet jumped to hyperspeed before the explosion. There's no way a mothership could have survived that blast." Jacob looked at each of us, a slow grin spreading over his face. "Apophis is dead. Tanith is dead. Vorash and all the other planets in that star system have been destroyed."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," said Jack. "But I believe this is the first Tok'ra mission that's ever actually gone according to plan."

Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't think I'd go that far, Jack."

"Of course," Jack continued. "You wouldn't have been able to do it without our ship."

Jacob just smiled. "This is a good day."

"It is indeed a glorious victory," said Teal'c.

"Don't tell me you're finally coming around to our way of thinking." Jack gave Jacob a nudge on the shoulder. "Taking a little more of an active role in fighting the Goa'uld?"

"The defeat of Apophis will create a power void that will have the Goa'uld in chaos for years to come as the remaining System Lords fight amongst themselves. Getting them preoccupied with infighting again is good, Jack. As long as they're trying to kill each other in their struggle for power, we can resume our efforts to undermine their control from the inside."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"It's a strategy that's worked for us for—"

"Thousands of years," interrupted Jack. "Yeah, I know. Let's go pick up your people."

As Jacob entered the coordinates for Revanna, I stole a glance at Sam. I wanted to get her alone again. I wanted to find another excuse to hold her in my arms. For the two of us to fall to the floor again in a fit of hysterical laughter for no reason at all. To be close to her again.

But between our ongoing flying lessons, all of the ship's systems to learn, and Sam analysing the data from her supernova, we all had plenty to do. There would be time to talk to her as soon as we had a moment alone.

To be concluded...
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