Out of Time
Part 6
Infection Plus Seventeen Years
"Are you planning another attack on the Aschen? Can I help?"
Sam looked up into the brown eyes of her daughter standing at the other end of the table and had a sense of déjà vu. Across from her Jack looked up at Jade too and then over at her, giving her a half-shrug and a resigned look. Sam nodded at Jade.
"Have a seat," she said, indicating the place next to her at the table.
The tall teen slid noiselessly into the chair and hooked a lock of her blond hair behind one ear as she leaned over the diagram Sam and Jack had been studying. It occurred to Sam that she might as easily have been looking at a school yearbook or a magazine, her interest was so keen. Except Jade had never seen either one. Sam felt a pang of regret at the thought, but pushed it aside as she had many times before. She'd learned years ago to be grateful for what she had for however long she had it. Jade had been nothing short of a miracle. There was no room for regret.
"Whoa!" This from Jade after she'd studied the image for a few seconds. "Is this what I think it is?"
"If you think it's the layout of an Aschen warship, then you're right," replied Jack. "All decks; all systems. It's boring as hell, but then what would you expect. Except in this case, boring works to our advantage."
Sam saw Jade flash her father a grin.
"Predictability," she said, understanding. Jack nodded.
"Exactly. They're so damned anal we'll know every protocol they'll follow and every post they'll man. Hell…we could probably even guess how many times they'd fire a weapon, if they actually carried any."
"They have weapons," contradicted Jade with a scowl. "I've seen them…." Her voice trailed off and Sam saw her swallow. She touched her daughter's arm in a silent show of sympathy. They'd both seen too many friends die.
"Not on the ships," explained Jack. "The weapons are there…in the armories, but their SOP is to remain unarmed unless under attack. And trust me…attack is going to be the last thing on their minds where we're getting on board."
Jade's eyes lit up.
"You've found the Aschen home world!"
"Well…not found, exactly. We always knew where it was. But given its distance it was never a viable target until now," answered Sam. "It's not like we've got a lot of ships at our disposal." She couldn't help a sigh that escaped her and she saw a dark look of anger pass over Jack's face. Of the five ships that had left earth ten years before, only the Daedalus remained. Three—the Apollo, the Korliev and the Phoenix—had been taken out by Aschen warships within the first year. The Odyssey, under the command of Paul Emerson, had done some damage, but ultimately it too had fallen to the Aschen's superior technology. Colonel Caldwell was the only survivor of the original six commanders who'd left earth a decade ago.
"And we just couldn't waltz in through the stargate," added Jack. "At least not until now."
Jade was nodding. Sam could see her already putting together the plan in her head. She had Jack's gift for strategy.
"The Ancient gateship," she said. Sam couldn't help but cringe. For some reason she really hated that term. "The one we found on the planet where Uncle Harry was."
"Oh for cryin' out loud, don't call him that," complained Jack, irritably. "Maybourne's not your uncle! I hate it when you call him that. I should never have let you go with Daniel to study those damned ruins."
Sam and Jade shared a furtive glance. Jade was only too aware that calling Maybourne "Uncle Harry" would push her father's buttons. Sam knew she did it just so she could hear him sputter. The briefest of smiles crossed her daughter's lips.
"The ship's got a cloaking device. And, it fits through the gate," said Sam, trying to get off the topic of Maybourne before Jack could get up a full head of steam. "We can take it to the Aschen home world and insert some operatives. They'll get aboard the warships in orbit, plant explosives in the core of each of the ships, set them to blow and leave. Nothing too complex."
"Too bad the ship doesn't still have that time travel doo-dad in it that Daniel read about," muttered Jack. "Now that would have been helpful. We'd go back and stop the Aschen before they ever let their damned plague loose. Somehow I don't think I was meant to spend my golden years plotting terrorist attacks."
"You know very well Daniel wasn't absolutely certain his interpretation of those ruins was correct. And even if he was…."
"Oh here we go," groaned Jack, sinking back in his chair and tossing his pen on the table in exasperation.
"Dad…Mom's right…once you start messing with the timeline…."
But Jack had stuck his fingers in his ears and was humming loudly, his eyes closed. Sam just shook her head as Jade glanced at her, rolling her eyes.
Finally Jack opened one eye, then two, and then lowered his hands.
"Are you two geeks done?" he asked them, pointedly. Sam couldn't help but smile. The way he said "geek" had always made the word seem like high praise.
"I think so. Besides. It's a moot point anyway. There is no time travel device and no way to change the past," she said. "All we've got is the present."
"Then I guess we'd better make the most of it," Jack replied.
OOOO
"No."
She heard the word rumble in his chest as she lay with her head against his shoulder in the dark. Her fingers traced by memory the scars that adorned his body. She knew where each and every one had come from…except one. He would never discuss that one. She knew why. It was from his time in the Iraqi prison. A time he'd never talk about. Not that he had to. Sometimes Jack's silence said a lot more than his words ever did.
She found the scar in question. It was ragged and raised, signs it had once been infected. And in a place that had to have hurt like hell. She felt his hand fumble for hers and press it against the old wound, as if somehow she had the ability to take away the memory of the pain. She wished she did. Just as she wished she could take away the reality that was staring them both in the face.
If they wanted to make absolutely certain they had the best chance of pulling off the attack on the Aschen, they needed Jade.
Jack had not agreed.
She hated to break the moment by mentioning it again. She'd rather lay here, listening to the beating of Jack's heart, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, feeling the light touch of his calloused hand as it absently played across the skin on her back. If she could make the night last forever, she would, content just to be wrapped in Jack's strong arms.
But in a few hours Chulak's too early dawn would invade their sanctuary. The day lurked ahead of them and there was no going back now. The half dozen strike teams were in position at the Gamma Site, waiting to be shuttled in under cloak by the small, Ancient ship that only Jack and a handful of others could fly. The tablet she needed with the interface codes on it necessary to hack into the Aschen transporter system was already packed and on board. Over on the back of the chair hung the drab Aschen pants and tunic that would assure she looked like any other maintenance worker who might be tinkering with an out-of-service transporter station. Only a few ticks of the clock and everything would be set in motion. One way or another, everything was about to change.
But she needed Jade, regardless of what Jack said. Not to infiltrate one of the ships, God, no! But to be her own back-up, in case…well, in case. Beside herself, Jade was the only other person capable of hacking the Aschen transporter system. If for some reason she was compromised, someone needed to be able to transport the mission teams back to the planet. There was no way she was going to risk leaving Jack or anyone else on those ships when they blew. Everyone else had back-up; it was short-sighted to leave her with none. As much as she hated it, Jade had to come.
The time had come to break the moment.
"I need her, Jack. You know I do. If anything happened…."
"Nothing's going to happen." He cut her off sharply. She couldn't help notice, though, the almost reflexive way he'd tightened his arms around her as he said it.
"You don't know that. Anything could go wrong; and she's the only one who knows enough to get the teams in and out, beside myself. She has to come, Jack. You know it. You just don't like it."
"And you do?"
"God, no! Of course not! I wish she could stay here with Daniel and as far away from the Aschen as she can get! I don't want her in harm's way any more than you do."
He was silent. Maybe it was her imagination but she thought she could hear his heartbeat speed up. Certainly his body had gone tense, but he continued to hold her hand, as if he was somehow reluctant to let it go.
"I used to think I could protect her from this," he said finally. "That they'd give up and leave us the hell alone. I never wanted to turn our kid into a soldier."
"She's her parents' daughter," Sam admitted. "Like it or not, we taught her this."
"Yeah. Lucky her."
His bitterness was like a knife. Sam felt her eyes sting. She'd tried not to think too often of what Jade had become, or how they were responsible for it. Their daughter was brilliant, quick, perceptive, irreverently funny—and beautiful, on top of it all. On earth she would have been a top student, already looking at colleges, involved in all kinds of activities—and probably fighting off the boys with a stick…not that Jack would have let one within a hundred yards of her anyway.
And yet Sam couldn't help but think it ironic that, had it not been for the Aschen, Jade might never have even existed. Who knew what would have happened had earth been allowed to continue on it's merry way, free from the Aschen's cataclysmic intervention. She thought vaguely of the guy she'd been dating…Pete something. It had seemed so serious at the time. Who knew...she might have even married him. Jack had been forbidden territory, after all, and those feelings that they'd harbored for one another for so long might well have never been brought to light.
That thought alone left her feeling bereft. To never have openly loved Jack—or to have been loved by him—been cherished by him in all the ways he let her know that she was. In spite of everything, she could not imagine not having had him in her life this way.
And she could not imagine a life without Jade, who was, in some ways, the best of both of them, combined.
Which made bringing her along on this mission that much more worrisome. And that much more necessary.
Perhaps they had failed Jade as parents; but in a daughter, they could not have asked for more.
Jack must have felt a dampness on his shoulder. He let lose her hand and brought his to her face, wiping it gently and then resting his hand on her cheek.
"Or maybe it's lucky us," he said quietly, this time without a trace of bitterness. Sam looked up at him, barely finding his face in the darkness. If she hadn't already loved him to the point of it almost being a physical ache, she'd have cherished him all the more for that. As it was, she felt as thought her heart was going to burst.
She said the only thing that seemed appropriate to say.
"Indeed."
OOOO
The intel had been good. The Aschen did not carry weapons as they roamed the corridors of their warships. At least not while they were in orbit around their home world. And that would probably account for why he wasn't dead right now. Not that it gave him a whole lot of comfort.
Nor did it give him any comfort that he was not alone in his misery. Sheppard was in an adjacent cell…or whatever the hell it was they were locked up in. Cell was close enough, though it wasn't like anything he'd ever seen, goa'uld or otherwise. It was constructed of some kind of blue plastic with each side a wall of what turned out to be pliable bars. When they'd put him in one and Sheppard in another he'd watched as the edges all but glued themselves together. It reminded him of those flimsy bubble packs that stuff had come packaged in—the ones that seemed like they'd be easy to open but never were without a pair of scissors, a jackknife and a couple of bricks of C-4. He wasn't sure the scissors or jackknife would do much good at the moment, but he sure wished he had some of that C-4. Especially since he'd left all of his strategically placed around the engine core of the ship. And most especially since it was set to detonate in, oh…about eighteen-minutes, give or take a couple ticks of the second hand.
Oh yeah. They were so screwed.
Damn bum knee, anyway. Creeping through the corridors he'd wrenched the thing again. Not that it had ever been right since P5X-whatever-the-hell-it-was. But considering the quality of medical care on Chulak, he was surprised he'd ever been able to walk on it again. And it wasn't that he didn't appreciate being the local weather barometer, forecasting rain by how badly the thing ached, but all things considered, he'd have given anything for a bed in the ortho ward of Walter Reed or even Colorado Springs Memorial Hospital. He figured any place could have helped him more than did those weeks of Jaffa poultice made from something that smelled worse than the skunk cabbage on his grandfather's farm.
None of which had mattered when he'd pulled up lame, trying to dodge a couple of pasty-faced security guys who'd been tracking them half-way around the ship. He'd signaled Sheppard to go on—to leave him, but the guy wasn't exactly the model soldier when it came to following orders. Which was why, he was sure, Carter had insisted that he accompany Jack. Not that Sheppard couldn't have lead his own team—in fact, he damn well should have. After Carter he was the next highest surviving member in the chain of command. Which was exactly why he should have been on a different ship with a team of his own, successfully eluding capture and getting the hell back down to the planet and safely onto the cloaked gateship. If the two of them didn't make it, the escape of the other teams was solely dependent on the flying skill of a twenty-something year old lieutenant who'd only been in preschool the first time the Aschen ever put in an appearance.
But Carter had worn him down and so he'd taken Sheppard with him. He was sure she'd known that the major would never leave him behind, even if given a direct order. And that was exactly what had happened. If they made it out of here maybe he'd think about re-establishing court martials.
He hobbled around his cell, running his hands along the seam, looking for any kind of weakness. Not that it would do them much good. In addition to having grown themselves back together, the cages were also suspended in mid-air about ten meters off the ground by some kind of force field device. Even if they did get out, it was one hell of a long way down.
"I don't think you're going to find any way out, sir," Sheppard advised from the adjacent cell. "I don't know what these walls are made of, but it's not like anything I've ever seen."
"Just checkin'," replied Jack, although he'd come to the same conclusion about five minutes earlier. He couldn't just sit there, though, waiting to be blown to smithereens. It gave him way too much time to think. It was better to act and push those persistent thoughts to the back of his mind. If he did it long enough, it wouldn't matter: there'd be no mind to push them to the back of, and so he wouldn't care.
At least he hoped he wouldn't. Considering all the things he'd done in his life, it seemed highly probable that he'd end up some place other than at the pearly gates. And who knew what kind of loathsome things he might have to live over and over again in the toasty netherworld. Something else he really didn't care to contemplate at the moment.
There was one thought, though, that he couldn't rid himself of: the hope that Carter would follow the standard mission protocol they'd established and get the hell out of there with everyone else. He'd all but made her promise she would, but he hadn't gone quite that far. Somehow he couldn't. Maybe it was because he knew, in her place, he'd have resented being asked to make that promise…just as, if she were in his place, he'd ignore the standard mission protocol and come after her anyway.
He hoped she was smarter than he was. Well…okay—that was a given—she was way smarter than he was. He just prayed she had more common sense.
He flipped back the cover and checked his watch. Fifteen minutes twenty-three seconds. Huh. Well. He'd seen his life count down before. More than once, in fact. Which just proved that the obvious end wasn't always all that obvious, even though, in this instance, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to get yanked back from the edge of the precipice in time.
This was good. Thinking about dying was keeping him from thinking about dying. Or more precisely, keeping him from thinking about what it was he would be leaving behind once the actual dying part took place. He refused to let himself think about them. That would lead to regret, and he would not face his death with regret. He intended to be a royal pain in the ass the whole way out.
Sheppard was silent. Good. He hated chatty roommates. Still—he wondered if he ought to say something to him. The guy was still relatively young—and he had the Ancient gene to boot. He was the future of the human race—able still to have kids. It was a shame he had to be locked up here with a lame CO who should have known better than to take anyone else with him on this mission.
The cell lurched and Jack uttered an oath in pain. It had thrown him on his bad knee which had nearly buckled under him. Glancing through his grimace he saw that Sheppard was on the floor. Someone was messing with the controls. In jerky, unsteady motions, the two cells were inching their way to the ground. Great. Maybe it was time for some Aschen torture. He only had about twelve minutes left; this would make it seem like twenty. Maybe they would bore him to death.
But it wasn't an Aschen at the panel when they were low enough to see into the room. Jack's mouth went dry and his gut squeezed into a tight ball before a combination of admiration and fury burst into his brain.
It was Sam.
Her face was taut and she kept looking over her shoulder, as if expecting company at any moment. Behind her, on the floor, slumped a zatted Aschen. Jack couldn't tell if he was alive or dead, and frankly, he didn't care. They'd all be dead in a matter of moments if Carter didn't move things along.
She'd seemed to have managed to figure out how to lower the cages, but not how to open the doors. Frustration showed on her face from the other side of the glass booth she was in. She tried sequence after sequence on what seemed to be the Aschen equivalent of a keypad, but still nothing happened. She had one hand on her zat and looked for the world as though she was considering the O'Neill technique for dealing with uncooperative technology, when she suddenly found the right combination and the doors slid up.
They were free.
He couldn't help himself.
"Dammit, Carter!! What the hell did I tell you? You weren't to come after us. No matter what!"
If she took offense at his tone, she didn't show it. She merely handed each of them a weapon.
"Sorry, sir," she replied, quite evident that she wasn't in the least. "But maybe we can discuss this later…Jade is waiting to bring us down if we can get to a transport station. By my watch we don't have a whole lot of time to spare."
There was still the matter of the knee, though, which was what had gotten them into this situation in the first place. He doubted Carter would be willing to take Sheppard and go on ahead, so there was no point in even suggesting it. Being the millstone he had no choice but to be, he accepted help from Sheppard and hobbled off in Sam's wake.
He had to say this for the Aschen—they hated inconvenience of any kind. Which was why every level on the ship had it's own transporter station and sometimes even two, as it did on this level. Quite convenient, if he did say so himself. It would save him a lot of embarrassing whimpering.
With Sheppard's help he struggled forward and up onto the small platform. Carter was bringing up the rear now, still watchful for anyone on their tail. He looked up and down the corridor, but there wasn't a soul in sight. Time to get the hell out of here.
He never did see where the blast came from. There was a sound—an oddly funny sound—and suddenly Sam had the most surprised look on her face. For one insanely bizarre moment he thought she was laughing at the weird little noise, but then he saw the stain blooming across her chest, brilliantly red against the drab pale gray of her tunic. Her eyes met his and time came grinding to a halt. Fear, sorrow, love, regret, condolence, acceptance passed over them in the space of three heartbeats. And then she dropped. First to her knees, then crumpling to the floor, her eyes drifting closed before she lay still.
"NOOOOOOOO!!"
From some place a horrible, heart-rending cry had erupted, filling the corridor with an inhuman sound. It took Jack a moment to realize that it was coming from him, and that he was struggling, fighting with every bit of strength to get off the platform and over to where she lay. But something was holding him back. Someone. It was Sheppard. Strange sounds were coming from elsewhere now. That funny noise that could hardly be lethal. But Sheppard was pushing him down behind the console as charges of energy rained around them on either side.
He saw Sheppard lunge for Sam. For a moment he thought he was going back for her—that he'd seen some sign of life in her and wasn't going to leave her behind any more than she had been going to leave them. But then he saw the major reach for the small device that had fallen from her hand—the communicator she'd brought, to alert Jade when it was time to bring them down.
One of the smaller shots clipped Sheppard as he crawled back to the platform. A red blister appeared on his face and began to ooze. Jack glanced at him briefly but he couldn't tear his eyes away from Sam. Her face was serene. At peace. Oblivious to his suffering, to the horrible, dark emptiness that was inside of him where she used to be. A nothingness. A hollow. Like someone had come and eviscerated him, yet left him cruelly alive. His heart ached with a pain that he'd only felt once before in his life and had hoped to God never to feel again.
He couldn't leave her here. Not to the Aschen. Not to the bastards who had done this to her. To them. He had to bring her home, if it was the last thing he ever did.
He scrambled, as Sheppard had done, trying to get off the platform amidst the flying energy bolts. The knee stopped him. Down he went, like a sack, pain shooting up and down his leg in both directions. He must have cried out because he felt Sheppard's hand grip his arm and pull him back.
A moment later the nightmare scene shimmered into nothing behind a waving, wrinkling curtain as he was wrenched away to a safety he did not want.
OOOO
Somewhere, far away, like a faint echo off a distant wall, she thought she heard the sound she'd been waiting for. A hum. The harmonics of atoms being deconstructed into their subatomic particles before they were transported to another place. A place that wasn't here.
Her eyes were so leaden she could barely make them open. The images were far away too. Like a picture at the end of a long tunnel. But she could see him. One more time she could see him. And then he vanished from sight.
A final breath that was a sigh.
He was safe.
And she could rest.
OOOO
"Jack…."
"Go away, Daniel."
Instead of vanishing, however, the dark form silhouetted in the doorway came closer. Jack squinted at the light that took his place and was grateful when the door groaned shut behind him.
"No, I'm sorry. I can't do that. Not this time."
Oh for cryin….
"Trust me, Daniel. It's for your own good," he growled. "Now go the hell away."
Daniel took another step closer. Jack was caught between an overwhelming urge to leap up and physically make Daniel leave and a desire to slink back deeper into the corner so that Daniel could not find him in the darkness that was their home. His home. His home alone.
"And what about Jade's own good?" Daniel was relentless. His voice was edged with his own brand of anger. Like Daniel really knew what true anger was like. "She's your daughter, Jack. She needs you."
Jack reached for the cup he had already drained twice and looked in it ruefully. Jaffa ale had nothing on Guinness. What he'd give for a couple of six packs about now. Or maybe a couple dozen. He was still studying the few remaining drops on the bottom of the cup as he answered Daniel.
"That's what she's got you for. You're good at that stuff. I'm not."
But Daniel would not be deterred. He'd planted himself in the middle of the room, arms crossed in front of him.
"She needs her father."
He had nothing to say to this. What was there to say. Certainly not yes. Okay—so maybe she did need a father. But she sure as hell didn't need him.
"Jack…she's in pain," Daniel tried again, his voice almost breaking.
That almost…almost, got to him. But then he batted it away. He was empty. He had nothing to give. Not to Daniel. Not to Jade. Not even to himself. It was easier to sit here in the dark and drink whatever the hell it was the Jaffa had given him. He was pretty sure if he drank enough of it, whatever little feeling he had left would finally go away. That was a goal worth striving for.
"Yeah. Well. Sorry. Can't help."
"You sorry sonofabitch," mumbled Daniel, his anger palpable. He was moving agitatedly around the room now. It added to Jack's intolerance level at the moment.
"Yeah. You called me that once before, if I recall. Turned out I was right then too."
"Jack…this isn't a matter of who's right or wrong You've got a fifteen year old girl out there who's lost her mother."
"And what have I lost, Daniel?"
The archeologist studied him for a moment. Jack couldn't help but feel like he was a subject under a magnifying glass.
"I was going to say 'Sam'," he replied "But I think you've lost even more than that. I think you've lost your soul."
"Humph," he huffed. Like he ever had one to begin with.
Daniel was back standing in front of him. He could see the emotion in the archeologist's eyes, even in this dim light.
"So….what are you going to do? Sit in here in the dark and drink Jaffa rotgut until you pass out?"
"It's a start."
Daniel made a noise of disgust and turned as if to go. Finally.
But then he turned back.
"Sam wouldn't want you to do this, you know. She'd want—she'd expect you to be there for Jade—for the two of you to help each other through this. If she saw you like this…."
"Daniel…remember what I said before…about getting out of here for your own good?" He didn't wait for him to answer. "If I were you…I'd do it now."
There must have been something deadly enough in his voice to finally convince Daniel. He turned and headed for the door, but paused before actually lifting the handle. He didn't look at Jack but kept his eyes glued to the floor.
"The Jack O'Neill I thought I knew would never leave a kid to hurt on her own. I guess I didn't just lose one friend on that Aschen ship. I lost two."
And with that he was gone.
Jack sat in the dark, staring absently at the door that had clicked close with hardly a sound in Daniel's wake. It took a moment for Daniel's words to sink in.
"Yeah, Danny-boy," he muttered to the now empty room. "Yeah. I guess you did."
OOOO
"What?" Jack didn't even bother to look up from his desk. His peripheral vision registered that someone had walked into the room. He didn't know who and at the moment he didn't care. He was reading a report on a recon mission by SG5. They'd found a stash of Ancient technology the likes of which they'd never seen before. A bunch of Ba'al's Jaffa had driven them off before they could collect any of it, but not before they'd been able to hide it. It might be worth going back for.
"I'd like to join the Special Ops unit," said the person on the other side of his desk. The voice alone brought his head up with a jerk.
"What are you doing here?" he asked irritably. She didn't meet his eyes. She was standing there, at attention, just as he'd taught her when she was a little girl and it had been a game. It was no game now.
"I said, I'd like to join the Special Ops unit," she repeated. "I'd like to become a trained operative and do my share in the war against the Aschen."
"We kicked their asses," growled Jack, turning back to the report. "They won't be bothering us for a while."
"But they'll rebuild their ships eventually. And we can't ignore the goa'uld either. Or the replicators. You need every person you can get. You need me. "
"I don't need children," he muttered. "Or scientists."
"I'm not a child," she replied steadily. "And if you don't think my training with Ry'ac and the Jaffa around here have make me tough enough, then maybe we can arm wrestle, Dad."
Jack felt his chest tighten. The tone of her voice. The inflection….even the words.
He swallowed hard and carefully set the pen down on the desk before looking up at her.
No. No child stood before him. Just a recruit. Smart and tough like her…well. Smart and tough.
A good commander didn't let assets go to waste. A good commander knew when to make the most of the resources he'd been given. A good commander knew when to take any advantage that presented itself.
He stood up and looked into eyes that were both like and not like his own.
"In that case, you may call me 'Commander'."
-o-o-o-o-
Time Incursion #11
Infection Minus Fourteen Days
"Of course it wasn't easy. But we did okay. Until the Aschen hunted us down again. They were determined to exterminate us, no matter what it took…or how long." She took a deep breath. She'd managed to get through the hardest part. She'd done it. And they were still here, listening to her. Maybe this time, she thought. Maybe this time she'd get them to believe her.
"Since then we've been on the run," she continued. "A few years ago we found some technology that enabled us to time travel and we decided rather than watch the human race die out, if we came back in time and fixed it, we'd never have to go through this in the first place. That's why I'm here."
Barrett scribbled some more notes and without looking at her murmured,
"I see."
Her stomach dropped. For all his attentiveness she could read him like a book. He hadn't bought it. Not one word of it. Hope drained from her. Not again.
"Look…." She leaned toward him trying to infuse as much intensity into her look as she could. He glanced up at her. "I know this sounds incredible. I know this sounds like I took every disaster and end-of-the-world movie and rolled them all into one unbelievable storyline. But I swear to you—on my mother's grave—that this is the absolute truth. You have to believe me."
She could still feel the doubt emanating off of him. This was her last chance. If the Commander became involved.…
"Please," she pleaded one more time. "Please…you just can't ignore this. You have to believe me. You can stop this from happening. Just don't go to P5X-404," she entreated the dark. "Don't make a treaty with the Pack. That's where it all starts. If you listen to me…none of this has to happen."
She saw Barrett look over her shoulder and give a nod to one of the SF's standing guard by the door. No. No. No. She couldn't fail this time. She just couldn't. She looked back at Barrett hoping that he would see in her face the truth she was telling him. As she caught his gaze she thought for a moment she saw a look of surprised recognition cross it. But as quickly as it was there it vanished. He was Agent Barrett doing his duty. And his duty was to send her off to Area 51…again. She'd never arrive. Just as she never had the last ten times she'd been sent there. But there wouldn't be a twelfth.
She had failed. The Commander would insist on his plan now. It was complex and dangerous and had as high a risk of failure as it had of success. But now it was the only one left. They had run out of options.
They had run out of time.