The beach wasn't exactly the same as Jillian's beloved beach house in St. John. The sand was not quite sugar-white. But the ocean was warm and inviting, sparkling pale blue. All of those things were no doubt important to Jillian and she had seemed relaxed and happy during their swim. He was watching her standing in the bright afternoon sun, drying her hair with a towel. He got lost again for a moment, enchanted by the idea that this singularly amazing woman had agreed to be his.
Then he noticed she was staring at the sky and had stopped moving.
"Daniel?"
"Yes?"
"What's that?" She pointed up.
Daniel had to reach for his glasses first. When he followed the direction of her hand he stopped for a breath. Then another. All around them the other beach goers were standing up and pointing. A hushed murmur rippled through the crowd.
"It's the Prometheus," he said, coming to his feet.
"Making atmosphere?" Jillian questioned, "What would make Jack send her back?"
"Nothing good I can think of," he answered.
Daniel reached for his wife's hand standing on a Mau Lo'an beach…..
….And finished taking it standing on the bridge of the Prometheus. Noise and activity swarmed over them. He and Jillian were flanked by the geologists to their right and by Scotty, Annie, and Alexander North to their left.
The Whytes immediately erupted in emphatic protests.
"Colonel! What is going on? The Mau Lo'ans have just granted us access to their observatory platform. We were right in the middle of gathering crucial data on the volcano! That was a magnitude 6 earthquake and it caused several landslides near the summit. There are incidents of venting from new chambers as well as lava flow on the north slope. We had just detected a cyclicity in the harmonic tremors…"
Colonel Pendergast ignored Lamarr Whyte for most of his rant as he alternately took a report from one Airman about incoming Mau Lo'an Kekoa-class ships and from the Helm about setting a course over the city. It was Daniel who cut off the frustrated scientist.
"Dr. Whyte! Lamarr, listen. They've clearly got a situation here. I've been pulled off archaeological ruins in ways I thought would make my head explode but maybe we ought to find out what's going on," he said. If he felt odd about standing on the Bridge of a 304 wearing nothing but a wet swim suit and his glasses it didn't show.
"Dr. Jackson, I wish I had time to explain it to you," Colonel Pendergast said, "Suffice to say we are under attack by an unknown force of unknown strength and for unknown reasons. At the moment I need you all to clear the Bridge. Lawrence!"
"Yes, sir!"
"I need you in weapons."
"Yes, sir," Scotty was in motion without another word to anyone, vanishing through a doorway.
"Wait! Colonel, where's Jack? General O'Neill?"
"The General and Colonel Carter commandeered a 302 and joined the dogfight."
"Dogfight!" A chorus of voices repeated the word while Daniel said, "They did what?"
As if on cue a flight of Mau Lo'an fighters swept across the forward viewer. Orange-red weapons fire spat at the Prometheus, causing the 304's shields to visibly ripple with the force of the blasts. Plasma energy ebbed and flowed across the ship's hull and windows like a flooding river and then shimmered out of existence. The Bridge occupants were forced to close their eyes and look away for a moment. When they looked back they saw an angry swarm of 302s bearing down on the attacking Mau Lo'an ships. One of the 302s came racing in straight at the Prometheus, ducked under an enemy fighter by spinning 'upside down' beneath it. The 302s weapons systems lanced red bolts at the enemy ship until it started to come about in sheets, slowly disintegrating before erupting in a flash-fire. Then the 302 veered off at the last possible second, pulling up just before it would have hit the Prometheus. It seemed to stand on its tail, hovering like an ornament on a string. The maneuver had killed the 302's velocity and no doubt tested the g-loads of its occupants beyond normal parameters. It hung over the Prometheus for a breathtaking moment before rocketing straight 'up' and disappearing.
"Guess who that was," Daniel said, drily.
Static came over the comm system and Jack's voice suddenly filled the Bridge.
"Pendergast! You have everyone from the surface?"
"Negative, General. We retrieved everyone except Dr. Rand."
An Airman came to them on some invisible order. He picked up the abandoned locator from the floor beside Alexander.
"Jack!" Daniel shouted, "What the hell is going on?"
"Go to your quarters and stay there, Daniel."
Daniel's face set in the grim line that indicated how much he enjoyed being ordered around. By anyone. Ever. Jillian squeezed his hand and stepped closer.
"Daniel, please," she whispered urgently.
The Airman at the comm system spoke up. "Colonel, we have an incoming message from the Uhane."
"On visual, Airman," Pendergast said.
"Prometheus, this is Commader Kaimano of the Uhane. Coming to your assistance. Do not fire! Repeat, do not fire."
Pendergast looked at Daniel. Without the benefit of the translators, he had only understood every other word.
"Dr. Jackson?"
"He said his name is Commander Kaimano and he's here to help."
"Is there any indication that he's lying?" Pendergast asked.
"None that I can see," Daniel answered.
"With all respect, Commander," Pendergast said, "I have nothing but your word that you're here to help."
Daniel turned to the view screen and repeated what Pendergast had said, hands and fingers moving eloquently. Kaimano turned and gave an order that Daniel didn't translate.
"Colonel!" The Helmsman said, sharply, "Uhane is opening fire on the hostiles, sir."
There was a flash of light on the forward viewer – a brief and blazing shower of white and red and orange. It was followed almost immediately by another.
"Two hostiles eliminated, Colonel."
"Will that suffice, Colonel?" Came the voice on the comm from the Kekao-class heavy cruiser. Daniel translated.
"That will do, Commander," Pendergast answered.
Commander Kaimano continued to speak, hands gesticulating for meaning and emphasis. Daniel watched intently. When Kaimano finished, Daniel turned to Pendergast again.
"He says that there's been a mutiny on board one of their ships, the Makani. The Bridge is being held by mutineers and they are intent on destroying the Earth people, or at very least driving us away."
Pendergast threw an order over his shoulder. "Helm, evasive maneuvers. Airman Michaels! Get those people off the Bridge!"
"Yes, sir.
"Dr. Jackson, I'd appreciate it if you could return to the Bridge in case I need you for communication. As soon as you're dressed, of course," Pendergast said, "I understand that General O'Neill ordered you to your quarters…."
"It's fine," Daniel said, "I wasn't going to follow the order anyway."
Airman Michaels started herding them towards the exit. Lamarr Whyte was still upset however.
"Colonel Pendergast I demand you send my wife and I back immediately…"
Alexander stepped between Whyte and the Colonel. "Lamarr, let them deal with this. The volcano has been there for thousands of years. It will still be there in a few hours," he said.
"Dad," Jillian spoke up. Her voice was almost as tight as her grip on Daniel's hand. "You really don't know what's going on either?"
Daniel glanced at his wife and could tell from the startled look in her eyes that she had been assuming her dad knew. Why she had thought that, Daniel didn't know.
"No, Baby Girl I'm sorry. I think it may have something to do with a small group of dissidents that don't want the treaty to be signed. It's probable they are the ones who commandeered the ship and attacked us."
They were out in the hall by this time, though it was no less chaotic there. The ship suddenly gave a hard shudder. The occupants of the corridor were tossed casually against the bulkheads. Daniel caught Jillian and pivoted so that he hit the steel wall and let her fall against him. Alexander caught Annie. The Whytes stumbled and caught each other.
"Dissidents?" Daniel repeated, incredulous, "No one said anything to us about dissidents."
"It's in my report," Alexander answered, "Doesn't anyone read those things?"
"Not the whole thing," Daniel admitted softly. There was an edge in his voice that made Jillian look at him sharply. His eyes had a glazed, cool look in them. She knew the look, the sound. She'd been using it to gauge Daniel Jackson for many years. His temper was on the rise.
The ship rocked again.
"Daniel, I'd really like to get somewhere safe," Jillian said, gripping him tightly with both hands, more to keep his attention than because she needed him.
"We were somewhere safe," Daniel said. The tone of his voice was both seduction and threat and she was never quite sure how he managed it. "That beach had to be much safer than a ship that is under fire. I'm going to murder Jack if he doesn't get himself killed out there."
"Well we aren't going back to the beach," Jillian said. She trembled suddenly.
"You're cold," Daniel said, anxiously.
"I'm not wearing anything but a wet bathing suit."
Alexander turned to Airman Michaels. "We can find out way to our own quarters, Airman. Thank you." He pivoted back to the group, "Ladies and gentleman, I suggest we all take ourselves to a safe location."
Looking slightly less unhappy but still grim, the Whytes linked arms and set off down the shivering corridor. Alexander put his hand in the center of Annie's back and smiled at her, clearly intending to escort her to safety.
Daniel slipped his arm around Jillian's waist as they headed for the ladders that would take them to the deck where their quarters were located. As he pulled her in tight to his side she whispered.
"This is the part where you tell me everything is going to be all right."
"We'll be all right," he said, pressing conviction into his voice and into the way he held her shivering body until he felt the shivering stop.
"Okay," she said, with a tone of 'that's settled then' and she put her arm around him too.
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