MEMOIRS OF
MAJOR GENERAL JACK O'NEILL
(Re-activated)
4. Pegasus
Chapter Three
By Arrietty
2009
The following day we were off, I felt really good, my knees didn't hurt at all, I felt twenty years younger not just a couple. I received a couple of strange looks from the other members of the mission team, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. Teal'c opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, seemed to think for a moment and then kept silent. I was so excited at the prospect of action I didn't ask Teal'c what was up.
The team was made up of Sheppard, Teyla, Teal'c, Ronon and myself. McKay had stayed behind with Carter to work on all the paraphernalia I had awakened with my 'mutant' gene.
Sheppard sat down at the controls and I plonked myself down in the co-pilots seat.
"While you're here, could you see if we've missed awakening anything in here?" he asked.
I rolled my eyes.
"Puddle jumper ready."
"Cool name," I said.
The puddle jumper sank down through a hole in the floor and hovered in front of the opened Stargate. It was really cool. I could see Carter in the control room, I waved at her. I hadn't seen her since yesterday. She waved back, her smile fell from her face and her hand dropped to her side. And then we were gone.
It was way quicker to go through the gate in the puddle jumper, and it lessened the effects of gate travel.
We arrived in space – which was even cooler. I turned and looked at Sheppard and grinned at him. He didn't grin back.
"We have to return."
"Why?" I asked.
Teyla came up and stood behind Sheppard and was staring at me. "I agree with Colonel Sheppard," she said.
"As do I," came the deep voice from Teal'c.
"I ask again, why?"
Sheppard turned and looked at me again, "Did you actually look at yourself in the mirror this morning?"
I remembered shaving, but the mirror was fogged up and I was in a hurry. Plus, I'd brought an electric shaver with me on this trip, but I didn't remember actually looking in the mirror at all.
"No, why?"
I was getting worried. I turned to Teyla, "I suppose you don't have a mirror handy do you?" Realising my mistake a little too late, Sam would never worry about her appearance anymore than we would when on a mission nor would Teyla, her thoughts on my question were evident on her face, ah someone else on Sheppard's team I'd pissed off.
Sheppard banked the jumper around and flew back towards the Stargate. I began to feel a lot younger. The skin on the back of my hands were smoothing out.
"I think it has stopped." Teyla was staring at me and she was frowning.
"I concur." I glanced over at Teal'c.
"So, just how old do I look?" My voice broke. I groaned.
"About eighteen, you looked about thirty-five before we went through the Stargate." Sheppard didn't even look at me as he spoke. "Dial the 'gate."
I was about half way through the dialling sequence and the Stargate blossomed into action.
"Colonel Sheppard, come in." It was Dr. Weir's voice. "You have to return immediately."
Sheppard replied, "Yes, we are aware of the problem, Elizabeth."
Sam's voice filled with concern came over the radio. "Jack. The reverse aging has sped up. We have to get you into the stasis chamber now, before you get any younger.
"Too late," I replied.
"We'll see you soon," Sheppard informed them.
The Stargate shut down.
I started to dial up the address again; these were cool machines, much quicker than the DHD's.
Teyla leaned against my chair. "The Wraith are here," she warned us.
The Stargate opened, this time an outgoing wormhole. A whine, familiar to me, filled me with dread – memories flooded my mind – unwanted, terrifying memories of being chased.
The jumper shuddered and brought me out of my reverie.
Sheppard banked the jumper around towards the Stargate and lined it up.
"Crap!"
"Indeed." I glanced over at Teal'c.
"We're cut off," yelled Sheppard. I looked back to see five more darts join the first two which were guarding the entrance to the Stargate. Another hit made the jumper shake. Sparks shot out of the bulkhead, narrowly missing Sheppard's head.
He hit the consol with the flat of his hand, then another shudder as we were hit. "They've damaged the cloaking device." He hit the consol again. Nothing happened.
"This has happened before," Teyla told us.
"So how did you get through last time?" I asked.
"We had cloaking ability," Sheppard said irritably.
"We'll have to make a run for the planet," he informed us as he swerved the jumper to miss another shot from one of the darts.
"Where is the hive ship?" asked Ronon, "There are too many darts for there not to be one."
"I agree, with Ronon," said Teyla. "The quicker we get on the ground the quicker we can get under some cover."
With my increased youth, I noticed a distinct lack of respect and acknowledgement. I was the resident teenager and was being ignored. I looked across at Teal'c. He was watching me. He knew; he'd had experience with the cloned mini me. I barely noticed the slight incline of his head, acknowledging the seasoned general trapped within the younger body.
The whole ship shook violently, Teyla slammed to the floor.
"We're losing power." Sheppard was holding onto the ship trying to regain control.
The surface of the planet was rushing to meet us.
"Hold on, we're going in," Sheppard shouted.
Broken branches snapped past the windscreen, making spine crawling squeals as the ragged edges scraped down along the sides.
Another whistling sound led to a bone jarring thump. The ship skewed sideways, great clouds of soil obscured the front windscreen and I was thrown to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs.
Another screaming whine as a dart flew overhead.
"Everyone, out," Sheppard commanded.
Teal'c hoisted me up by my arm. "O'Neill, are you injured?"
"Nope."
The ramp opened and we ran out onto the groove dug into the ground. The smell of the freshly opened up soil was earthy and damp. Sheppard sealed the door shut behind us. I was impressed by his command during this attack so far.
Memories of the Wraith, Ancient memories not my own flooded my mind. I stumbled and fell to the ground; once again Teal'c dragged me to my feet. 'A whine, explosions - villagers screaming in fear surrounded me.' Still caught in the memory, I didn't hear the warning shout from Teyla. Then it was too late.
I came to in a darkened room with blue lights set dimly glowing into the walls. The place smelled of fear and death. I looked around for my team mates. Fortunately, it looked like no one else was captured. I had no doubt that I was in a cell, imprisoned by these Wraith creatures. I tried to open what looked like the doorway, but it was shut fast. I could hear screams in the distance then a moan and it went quiet. Cold fear gripped my gut; maybe my team mates had been captured after all.
To take my mind off what had happened to them or what could be in store for me, I looked down at my hands, trying to gauge just how young I'd become. It was too late for the freezing chamber now. Whatever happened, I would always be a teenager or worse. My morbid thoughts turned to mini me. I hadn't seen him going on for five years now. Maybe we should get an apartment together. Nah! We'd drive each other nuts. Plus he would be a couple of years older than me by now. Whatever happened, Sam wouldn't want me anymore. I was overcome with the feeling of melancholy and I sank down in total misery onto the cold floor and awaited my fate.
It was four hours later they came for me. I recognised the hungry gleam in the eyes of the Wraith that stood before me. Two of his henchmen stood on either side.
The lead Wraith grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and pushed me down a long dark tunnel, past bodies of people wrapped in cobwebs. Was this my fate or would it be something worse?
I was shown into a large room. Another Wraith stood waiting for me. He circled me watching me all the time.
"Hi, there," I said.
He stayed silent.
"What's your name?"
He continued to circle.
"Oh, by the way, my name is O'Neill."
He reached across and ripped my jacket apart exposing my black T-shirt. I couldn't move, my body was frozen and my heart thumped loudly in my chest.
The Wraith's hand snaked out towards me and slammed into my chest. I fell to my knees. Excruciating pain shot through my chest, my heart stopped beating then started again as the talons sunk into my flesh. Fetid breath washed over me as the hungry Wraith dragged life from my body.
I cried out with the pain. Then I heard a sound of bullets firing and thudding into the walls around me. I just hoped they killed me before this thing sucked me dry. Another shot and the Wraith arched his back, growled and continued to feed on me. The renewed pain in my chest developed into a fire.
"O'Neill!" It was Teal'c. His body flew past me knocking the Wraith to the ground. I fell sideways onto the floor unable to move.
A knife buried to the hilt stuck out from the Wraith's neck. Teal'c retrieved the knife and wiped it clean on the creature's clothes. Pulling out his zat, Teal'c fired it three times at the Wraith; the Wraith disappeared into millions of molecules and was gone.
Guarding me, Teal'c crouched over me protectively and fired the zat at any Wraith that came towards us. Ronon joined in the fray, blasting holes into the enemy. The pain in my chest had reduced to an almost bearable ache.
"We gotta get out of here!" Sheppard yelled.
Teal'c hooked his arms around me and slung me over his shoulder. It hurt, but I didn't really care. We were leaving this waking nightmare.
"Come in jumper three." I could hear Sheppard talking to someone on the radio. Teal'c started to run through a small crop of trees and I blacked out.
"Jack." Sam's voice penetrated the grey fog that encompassed my brain. "Jack, what have they done to you?" I could hear the sadness in her voice.
"Sam?" I felt my head lifted and a canteen of water touched my lips. I drank greedily.
"Slowly." I opened my eyes. A bleary vision of blond hair swam before my eyes. "Jack."
"I'm here," I murmured. My eyes focussed on Sam. Her eyes were filling with tears. "So how old am I now?" I asked trying hard to keep things light.
She looked at me, eyes sad. "A lot older than you were." Was her answer.
I read the sadness and horror in her face, I knew it was most probably closer to ninety than thirty. "Dang! It could have stopped at about forty," I grumbled.
Sam stroked my hair and leaned close to me and whispered, "I love you, Jack, however old you are."
I released a sigh.
I was lying on the floor of a puddle jumper with my head in Sam's lap. Daniel's worried face hovered close by and Beckett was crouched down beside us, poking my ribs.
"Ow."
"Sorry, General, but I really need to see to these wounds." In truth Beckett wasn't hurting me at all, the wounds were doing a nice job all on their own.
A vivid memory of Baal dripping acid onto my chest flashed through my mind and I cried out in pain.
"Dr. Becket, can't you do anything for the pain?" Sam's voice was filled with concern.
"I've given him as much as I can and I wasn't touching him either." The broad Scottish accent faded and Baal's echoed voice returned.
'"You are O'Neill. What was the name of your symbiote?" A sharp pain hissed into my chest.'
"No! Please don't," I pleaded.
"Daniel, I'm worried. Dr. Beckett said that Jack shouldn't be in this much pain."
"I think I know what it is, Sam. We need to wake him."
"He is awake," said Beckett, "but I think he is hallucinating."
Daniel's voice whispered, "No, I think he's having a flashback."
Someone grabbed my jaw and gripped it tightly. "Jack!" I opened my eyes expecting to see Baal sneering at me, but I found Daniel peering at me, searching my eyes for something.
"You came back," I said quietly.
"Yes, Jack. I am here, but Baal isn't, you are safe now. You're free."
I looked around the small craft, Sheppard's team stood watching me anxiously, while a few others I didn't know were sitting over on the far side. I looked up and found Sam watching me too.
"So, what have I been saying while in space land?" I asked. I didn't want to move and the view was pretty nice anyway. I gave Sam a smile. She tried to smile back, but didn't quite make it.
"Nothing much, Jack." Daniel spoke very quickly. That meant I'd said enough and by the look on Sam's face, I had some explaining to do.
I had no idea how much life the Wraith had sucked out of me; by the way I was feeling, it must have been a lot.
The full magnitude of what had just really happened to me didn't hit until we'd reached Atlantis. There was instant action as everyone bustled around me as I was taken by stretcher towards the infirmary.
I was placed on a hospital bed and my clothing was cut away from my chest. The makeshift bandages removed. I couldn't help looking down to see five gaping holes punctured my skin. Suddenly, I felt tired in mind and as well as body. An edge of pure horror hovered just above my consciousness. I could do this old thing, I'd done it before, so I could do it again. As Beckett began to prod and poke my wounds, the pain began to return and I drew in a sharp breath.
"I'm sorry, General, but I have to make sure no foreign bodies have been left behind."
My over active imagination kicked in and I imagined, little miniature Wraith swimming around in my blood stream, then they metamorphed into little Baal's fighting the Wraith, and then joining forces to kill me from within.
"No! Please don't. I don't know his name. I would tell you if I could. I don't care about protecting the Tok'ra."
"Tok'ra have been a nuisance for centuries."
"Don't . . ."
"Even when we thought they had been wiped out. They've become all the more . . . insidious. Like acid . . . burrowing their way into our empires."
Baal tipped the bottle over and slowly let a drop of acid fall towards me. The acid hissed when it landed, making me cry out in pain.
The pain increased as the acid worked its way into my chest, burning through flesh and bone. Baal's face changed to reveal a Wraith standing over me, his hand plunged into my chest.'
"Janet! You've got to do something."
Sam.
She can't be here. "Sam get out of here, go," I shouted.
"You're safe, Jack." Sam's voice was close to my head reassuring me.
I opened my eyes and peered through my eyelashes, any wider and it hurt too much. "Sam," I rasped.
"You're going to be all right," she assured me.
I didn't believe her.
"This will help." Dr. Beckett's voice was near.
I began to feel the blissful numbing sensation slide through my veins as the morphine started to work and I slipped into a dreamless sleep.
"Janet, what are you saying?"
"He's getting younger, Sam."
"Not at the same rate as before, because I can't see any difference."
"We don't know, Sam. We'll have to just wait and see."
I had some questions of my own; like how old I was? What had that monster done to me? When could I have some breakfast? I still couldn't move, but at least the pain had gone. I tried to open my eyes, but nothing happened.
I felt a warm hand slide into mine. It was Sam's, I would know her hand anywhere. She squeezed my hand gently, I tried to squeeze hers back, but again nothing happened.
"Janet, I don't think I could bear to lose him."
"I know, Sam, but you haven't lost him yet. Dr. Beckett has some ideas of how we can stop this 'getting younger' process. I know it sounds awful, but the Wraith did him a favour, he'd be about three years old about now."
Sam giggled.
Janet must have silently questioned her as Sam explained her giggle. "I'm imagining trying to control a three year old Jack. I bet his mum had her hands full."
Janet laughed.
'Hey!'
I tried squeezing her hand again, but I still couldn't move. Maybe I could try and go back to sleep, but sleep eluded me.
"Sam."
"Yes, Janet."
"Are you and Jack . . ?"
"What, Janet?"
"You know, gonna have kids?"
"I hope so, we talked about it when we first got married, but we haven't since. I'm not sure I want to bring them into a world full of so much danger, but then again if everything turns out okay and Jack gets back to normal. I would love to have children. Even if they are like their father and make my life . . ."
"What?"
"His hand moved."
"You sure? It could have just been a twitch."
"No he squeezed my hand. There he did it again." Sam's voice was excited so I obliged her and squeezed her hand again.
"He's awake. Jack, can you hear me?"
I squeezed her hand twice.
I felt one of my eyelids being prised open and the infamous penlight was flashed into my eyeball.
I tried to move my head out the way, but it didn't move.
"Yes, he's awake, but still can't move."
"Dr. Fraiser, how's our patient?" It was Beckett.
"I believe he's awake, but has only moved one hand so far."
I tried to wiggle my toes, but I couldn't feel any movement in them.
Once again, my eyelid was pried open and the penlight was shone into my eye. I saw a glimpse of the Scottish doctor.
"Yes he is awake. The Wraith must have really pumped him full of their enzyme, I've tested his blood and there is more than what there usually is. The last time this happened, it happened to Lieutenant Ford and we know what happened to him. So we'll have to monitor him carefully."
"How serious is this?" Sam asked.
"Not as serious as Ford, he was totally overdosed with enzyme and I can't see the same effects here on General O'Neill that I saw with Ford. So he should be okay."
I was relieved to hear that news. It was bad enough being old, young and now old again without going Jekyll and Hyde as well.
"He needs time to heal and the best place to be is sleeping. We're going to have to wean General O'Neill off the enzyme and it isn't going to be very comfortable for him."
'Uh oh.'
I felt familiar numbness as the sedation travelled through my limbs and I slipped off into sleep once again.
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