Cameron entered Daniel's lab. The latter was reading Ancient books, a notepad by his side, while Vala was absently toying with a pen.
"Hey guys!" Mitchell said with a small wave of his hand. "What're you doing?"
"Well our resident archaeologist here thinks he has a lead…" Vala started, only to be interrupted by Daniel who closed his book noisily in a cloud of ancient dust.
"Morgan was trying to tell us something, but I can't seem to figure out what!" Daniel exclaimed, his hands flying up in frustration.
"Well, she gave us the name of two planets and a riddle… Three into one, three into one, said we had two, we needed to find the third and the fourth would appear…" Mitchell shrugged.
"Wait!!" Vala said with an excited look on her face.
Both men turned towards her, frowning.
"What did you say?" Vala asked, her face alight.
"What? That the fourth would appear?" Cameron asked, "We already know the four…"
"No… before that!" Vala demanded.
"Three into one," Daniel supplied patiently.
"Yes! That's it! Don't you see?" Vala exclaimed, hitting the inside of her left hand with her right fist. Facing the puzzled looks of both men, she shook her head and left Daniel's lab to go to Sam's. "Follow me!"
Both men looked at each other, shrugged and followed their team mate to the neighboring lab.
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter was obliviously hunched over her laptop running calculations when the buzzing alien woman entered her sanctuary.
"Colonel Carter!" she called. "Can you show us the three dimensional map with the tetrahedron?"
Sam looked at her a bit annoyed, then saw both Cameron and Daniel enter her lab and frowned. "Errr…. Okay…" she replied, reducing her current window and launching the mapping program.
On the screen the four dots representing the planets appeared. Vala moved to stand behind Sam and jumped in excitement. "We know the location of the Sangraal!"
"What?" Mitchell asked, intrigued.
Vala rolled her eyes. "The pyramid is a visual display of 'three into one'. Three addresses into one. That's what Morgan was telling us!"
"Oh my God!" Sam breathed as she was still staring at the screen.
Daniel looked at her, understanding slowly dawning as Vala continued. "The Sangraal's planet address is made up of symbols from each of the other three worlds!"
"Of course! You're right!" Sam exclaimed, starting to type furiously on her laptop. "It's so obvious! Why didn't I see it!" she muttered more to herself than for the benefit of her friends.
"But the number of combinations must be enormous!" Daniel pointed out.
"Well, we just need to cross reference the addresses from our databases with those of the three planets, and keep known planet addresses…"
"Huh?" Cameron asked, frowning.
Sam shook her head and set to work. "This program should help us, but I'm afraid given the number of symbols and the amount of addresses in the database, we could be looking at dozens, maybe hundreds of permutations, it could take some time…"
Mitchell looked down grimacing, while Vala let her head fall on her open hands, and Daniel rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses.
"… Or maybe just one…" Sam stated, her eyes widening as she saw the result of the computer search on her screen.
Vala stood up and took a peek behind Sam's shoulder, a huge smile spreading on her face. "Yes!!"
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The briefing room was crowded.
All the seats were taken and Jack and Jack J. were not even seated. Thor was taking a large part of the room –for a creature the size of an Asgard- with his chair; Landry was seated next to him and to Woolsey on the other side. Both Reynolds and Dixon were there with their teams, too. In a middle of the table a conference phone was buzzing with the chatter of a few men. SG-1 were all seated but Sam, who was standing next to Jack and fidgeting with a remote control.
"Calm down, Carter," Jack murmured, leaning toward her. "The joints chiefs can't see you're not wearing your dress blues!"
She shot him an aggravated look but had no time to reply since Landry called the meeting to order.
"Sirs," he said in a loud voice so the people on the other end of the conference phone could hear "Mr. Woolsey, General O'Neill and myself have called this meeting to decide, in a manner of speaking, the fate of the galaxy, Colonel Carter has made an interesting discovery with the help of Vala MalDoran. As for Thor, he also has some important things to ask from us and most of all," he looked pointedly at Jack J., "from Cadet Jack J. O'Neill, who's recently been rescued from Baal." He paused. "General O'Neill, you have anything to add?"
Jack cleared his throat and addressed his remarks to the speaker phone. "Yes Sirs. The Tok'ra Malek should join us as soon as his state allows it."
"Good," Landry resumed. "Now Colonel Carter, can you explain to us what you have discovered?"
"Yes, sir," Sam nodded, switching the large screen on, which was connected to a similar screen in the conference room of the Joint Chiefs, and beginning her presentation about the Sangraal's probable location. As she was reaching the end of her speech, the klaxons sounded. A short while after they had subsided, Malek, Kael and another aide entered the briefing room to join the meeting, earning surprised looks from Woolsey as they made their way over to stand next to Jack. Despite being aware of the transformation, both Jack and Jack J. couldn't suppress a frown at the sight of Malek's new host.
Carter resumed. "So what's been decided is to send SG-1 to the designated coordinates so they can try and find the Sangraal."
"SG1, minus Lieutenant Colonel Carter." Jack chimed in "Sorry, Carter, you're with me, and we're going to Orilla," he added upon seeing the surprised look on her face.
"I believe now is the time I should speak," Thor said in his usual calm voice as he stepped down from his Asgard chair to join both O'Neills at one end of the room. "The presence of Colonel Carter is highly wished to help us complete our research. Our computer models show that the weapon we have designed should work. However, we need the O'Neills and their genetic material for the next phase of the experiments. Colonel Carter is also needed to tune the weapon at best with her knowledge of human physiology, and especially O'Neill's."
If Sam could have turned a darker shade of crimson, she probably would have.
All previously ignorant eyes in the room looked alternatively from Sam to Jack as Daniel, Teal'c and Landry smiled smugly. Jack J., frowned, understanding slowly dawning.
Jack winced and stepped ahead. "Yes, well… Ahem… Not to say that our private life is boring, but we need to focus on the main tasks here…"
"I agree," Woolsey unexpectedly jumped to his rescue. "And for one, what is Baal doing here, unguarded?"
The fearsome image of the system Lord stepped ahead, smiling, and inclined his head toward the IOA representative. "Baal is no more," he spoke in the host's voice "I am Malek of the Tok'ra."
"That's what I was getting at," Jack mumbled.
Malek turned slightly to face him. "If you would allow me, O'Neill,"
Jack pinched his lips and waved his hand dismissively. "Sure, go ahead…"
Malek then proceeded to explain what happened after Baal's capture, specifically talking to Woolsey. He paused, letting the information sink in.
"So you're here to demonstrate that the procedure worked?" Woolsey enquired.
Malek smiled. "Not really. By mutual agreement with O'Neill, it was decided that I would share any relevant information with you and that is the reason for my presence. I know several things that you do not about the quest for the Sangraal, among them the name of the protector that will be important in the final trials. The only condition is that I come with you," Malek concluded with a slight bow toward Mitchell.
"It's not up to me…" Mitchell shook his head.
"Consider yourself a part of the expedition," Landry interrupted, speaking to the Tok'ra.
Malek nodded.
"So I take it we now have all the actors of this final plan of yours, General O'Neill?" One of the joint chiefs spoke.
Jack cleared his throat. "Sirs, I am fully aware that it may seem like we're breaking up our resources by having these two irons in the fire, figuratively speaking. But it is our best shot at striking a decisive blow to the Ori. Adria won't know what's coming,"
Woolsey interjected. "You are also aware that I will have to express these precise concerns to the IOA, General?"
"Do what you have to do, Woolsey, I don't need your approval to launch this mission but your presence at this meeting was requested by the president," Jack deadpanned.
The IOA representative frowned "Like you said, General, we are breaking up crucial resources, the risks may not be worth it…"
"Mr. Woolsey," one of the joint chiefs interrupted, "if Jack O'Neill hadn't taken measured risks several times in the past, we probably wouldn't be having this meeting right now. Your concerns are noted and the president will read your report as thoroughly as he has in the past, but we need to make a decision. General O'Neill's plan has been deemed reasonable by this assembly."
"Very well," Woolsey sighed. "Note that I am not opposed to the plan, I'm simply worried."
"Your job is to be worried, Woolsey, ours is to take action," Jack affirmed. "Now Sirs, I suggest all the participants to the plan get geared up and ready to depart."
SG1 stood up, signaling the end of the meeting, while Landry went into his office with Woolsey in tow.
Thor looked at both O'Neills "We will return to our ship. We will take your advice this time, O'Neill, and I am informing you that all three of you will be transported to the deck in 20 of your minutes. Please be ready by then." The small alien nodded then disappeared in a flash of light.
Jack turned to Sam. "Well there's some improvement…" he shrugged.
"I hate him so much right now!" she murmured.
Jack chuckled putting his arms around her waist as the briefing room was now deserted. "I'm sorry… I guess we're going to need to invite the joint chiefs to the wedding too…" he said, kissing the top of her head.
"The wedding?" she asked in a small voice.
Jack looked at her raising his eyebrows in an unsure manner "I thought after two years we could… It's not as if we need to, it's just… If you don't want to we'll just…"
"No, it has nothing to do with that… Jack…" she cut him looking straight in the eyes. "I love you…" she smiled. "We'll talk more about this later, okay?"
"Sure…"
She gave him a quick peck on the lips then stepped back a little, beaming. "How much time did Thor say we had?"
"20 minutes?"
"Then maybe we should get moving?" she winked before turning and heading to the corridor.
Jack smiled to himself and looked at Landry's office where he seemed to be in deep conversation with Woolsey. He sighed. He supposed he should say 'goodbye' before heading out to Orilla… Suddenly a thought occurred to him: where was Jack J.?...
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Sam peeked into the locker room after knocking and figured she was safe since no one responded. She went to her locker and started unbuttoning the jacket of her blue BDU when she heard fabric rustling in the second half of the room on the other side of the lockers.
She frowned. "Hello?"
"Yeah," she heard in an unmistakable voice.
"Jack?" she asked, surprised as she rounded the lockers to check who was on the other side of the room. "Oh!" She said, quickly pinching her open blouse shut.
Jack J. turned his head toward her, an obvious smirk on his face. Irritation overwhelmed her. She was about to say something nasty when the sad look in his eyes stopped her. She sat on the bench opposite him. He was already fully dressed and she had an uneasy feeling upon seeing Jack O'Neill so young, only it was not exactly Jack O'Neill.
"What is it?" she asked in a gentle voice.
Jack J. smiled sadly and shook his head "Nothing…"
"Jack?" she persisted.
Jack J. sighed and looked her in the eyes. "I guess I hadn't realized that your relationship with him could have finally gotten beyond professional once the job didn't get in the way." He replied.
"Ah…"
"Yes, ah."
"Look it's not…."
"No, you've got nothing to explain, Sam… I can call you 'Sam'?" he asked.
She smiled and nodded.
"I know the feeling, remember? It's just so difficult sometimes to be the copy, you know?" he said, defeated.
"Jack, you're not a copy… You might have been the second Loki created you, yes, but from then on, you started on your individual path. You're Jack J. O'Neill, Air force cadet and you have another chance at a lot of things. I know for a fact that Jack would have wanted that chance…."
"That's where you're wrong, Sam." He interrupted in a soft voice. "I was the same Jack O'Neill, once, remember?"
There was an awkward silence. "Okay, so let's say that your life sucks…" Sam started.
"No! That's not what I meant!… I…. Sam…. I may have had…" he hesitated then crooked both fingers from both hands into quotation marks. "'girlfriends' since the first day Jack dropped me at the high school, they cannot replace you, and never will. Sara, I could stop thinking of her day and night at some point and I really loved her, we had a great marriage until…. Well…" he paused briefly then resumed "… But you I can't. It's been four years, Sam, and it's like it was only a day. I don't know if the hormones are helping making me feel that way but I can't help it. I wish you and Jack all that you deserve…" he snorted. "I just… Don't take this the wrong way, Sam, but I'll always… feel… something I shouldn't for you…" he said finally, once again looking straight into her eyes.
Sam smiled sadly and opened her arms, the fact that her jacket was unbuttoned forgotten. Jack J. hugged her fiercely for a moment, and laid a chaste kiss on her cheek. Then he pulled back a little, his trademark cocky smile back in full force.
"I'd never had pegged you for a flasher, Colonel Carter!" he winked as Sam rolled her eyes and stood up to go back to her locker.
"That wouldn't have happened if you'd answered my knock, cadet!" she called from the other side of the room. "Besides, I'm wearing the standard issued Air Force bra… Nothing flashy there!"
Jack J. chuckled and exited the locker room.