Chapter 32 - Resolution
Sam saw a visible change in Sha're as they walked across the desert, but couldn't discern the cause. It had begun after leaving Shifu in Larys' care, but became most evident as she and Jolinar ascended to the surface of the planet, walking towards where Shan'ak waited to dial the gate. And it wasn't anticipation.
To take the trip by hyperdrive to M4D-495 would take over a day, so the tel'tak had been left orbiting a planet much nearer to the destination moon. Sha're and Sam would gate to the planet, and finish the rest of the trip in only an hour. Jolinar was apprehensive, and Sam could best describe herself as nervous, but Sha're was not. Her step was light, her face beaming, and there was a light in her eyes that Sam hadn't seen for a while.
"It is here at last," she murmured as they made their final approach. Sam glanced to her, and she smiled broadly. "Oh, you cannot realize what it is like to be gone for more than a year from those you love. I have borne it for so long, and that burden is being lifted even as we walk."
Sam held in her misgivings about today's outcome, but a part of her wanted to calm Sha're, to protect her from disappointment. Then again, disappointment did not have to come; Sam wondered if that feeling came from Jolinar.
It did not take long to reach the gate.
"Good journey," said Shan'ak with a nod, as the first few symbols lit up the gate. "And a safe return."
Sam nodded to him, taking a second to wonder at how strange it was that there was a symbiote who would willingly take such a dull and repetitious role in the Tok'ra culture. Did he ever take on a mission as vacation? He wouldn't have sick-days...that was something that Sam had not quite accustomed herself to about this life, and still found herself twitching her nose as if she should have a reason to sneeze.
Sha're stepped into the event horizon before Sam and Jolinar, something that made Jolinar twitch with the security precaution violation. They followed, and Sam felt the exhilaration of gate travel once again.
"Sha're," said Jolinar, as her switch with Sam was almost at once after she thought her desire for it. "Remember, our personal shield cannot protect you if you are not within a very short distance. This world is safe, but..." She nodded towards Sha're, leaving the final words unsaid and walking towards the ring platform. A few seconds later, and they were inside the tel'tak.
~Oh, it is small,~ commented Sam. ~Very nice.~
*What is nice is that it can be upgraded with a cloaking device, rather,* corrected Jolinar.
~You're right,~ answered Sam with a silent chuckle. Her apprehension didn't keep her from a sort of euphoria at the important day finally being upon them.
"Why was I not given a shield device of my own?" asked Sha're curiously.
"There are few in existence, even among the Goa'uld," said Jolinar. "What god would fear mortal weapons?"
"And do you fear them?" asked Sha're, taking the copilot's seat comfortably.
"Fear?" Jolinar started up the engine from the pilot's seat, running a last diagnostic.
"They are not Goa'uld, even, they are Sa'm's people."
"They are not mine," answered Jolinar simply.
The ship rumbled into waking, soon rising from the planet's surface to touch the stars for a second before darting into hyperspace.
ooooooo
Dixon hopped down the steps from the control room, gun in hand, to join Daniel and Teal'c by the gate. Unlike the others, he did not have his BDU jacket buttoned over the bullet-proof vests that General Hammond had ordered for SG-1 as a matter of caution. But as he also had his bandaged arm in full view, Daniel had no doubt that the jacket would be on in a second. No military man would betray his advantage and his weakness at the same time.
"Where is Colonel O'Neill?" asked Teal'c.
"Arguing with Hammond about sidearms," said Dixon. "It may be a while."
"Well, we can't leave until Janet clears Jacob anyway," said Daniel, casting a glance towards the corridor that led to the infirmary. "Wait—sidearms?"
"The Colonel thinks that sidearms give us an advantage that zats don't," said Dixon, barely refraining from an eye-roll even though his superior officer was not within hearing. "Says the Goa'uld won't have defenses primed for bullets."
"Wasn't he against bringing any weapons at the pre-mission briefing?" asked Daniel, confused.
"Yeah, but he hasn't actually changed his mind," said Dixon, slipping the jacket over his still-injured arm with no visible wince. "We can't shoot Captain Carter—Jolinar—but if there's a Jaffa ambush..."
"It is a far-reaching assumption," commented Teal'c, the traditional eyebrow rising accordingly.
"That's the Colonel," said Dixon with a shrug, and Daniel nodded. Mckay would have added some snarky comment if he had been present, but his condition was still severe enough to require constant infirmary supervision and treatment.
Jack followed Dixon's path down the stairs with much less bounce in his step, favoring his knees. The rest of the team widened their pseudo-circle to admit him, and he sighed.
"Just zats."
"Anything else you discussed, sir?" asked Dixon.
"Hammond said they scouted the moon yesterday, found nothing suspicious or strategically dangerous," said Jack. "So the only trap we'll be walking into is the obvious one." He glanced around. "Where's General Carter? The plan does kind of revolve around him."
"He hasn't been so good," said Daniel, cleaning a near-invisible speck on his glasses with a frown. "Janet's trying to get him as stable as possible."
Before Jack could answer, Daniel nodded towards the corridor, where the General was coming. Jacob did look a couple steps away from death; pale faced, with purple hollows beneath his eyes, and a conspicuous oxygen tube running from just beneath his nose to the small tank he carried in the hand not holding his walking cane.
"Do you need any help?" asked Daniel, concerned.
"No, thank you," said Jacob, as curt as ever, his steps solid even if slow as he joined them. "The oxygen is for show—if this ruse works at all, it will be the guilt and sympathy side that does it. I'm not above manipulation to save my daughter." He put the cane down once he stood with the team, adding a slight snort before he spoke. "Your doctor thinks I need that, but it will be a hindrance more than a necessity."
The team met his eyes, accepting the bluster as a distraction to his dangerously poor state.
"You have the sedative?" Dixon asked.
Jacob nodded, foregoing speech.
"We all remember the plan, right?" Jack quizzed. "Go in, distract Jolinar, make sure nothing's obviously screwed up. If it's working, Jacob comes in, knocks her out before she can adapt. That fails, the marines come in with the tranq guns and we cross our fingers and hope that this Goa'uld isn't as smart as she seems."
The team stood for a second, nothing to say for or against what had already been decided. Jacob had a slightly fierce look to his face, Daniel thought, and it matched the one in Jack's eyes. Fierce was both the right and wrong word, though; they were strongly determined to succeed, not because they saw it as just the capture of a dangerous enemy and added no feelings to the mixture, but because their deeply rooted personal biases made it so that they needed to do whatever it took to bring Sam home. Daniel might have been fooled once before by the apparently professional detachment, but if nothing else, he'd learned to read military reactions to loss in the past couple months—at least when it came to Jack.
Jack looked up to the control room where Hammond stood.
"SG-1, you have a go," came his voice over the loudspeaker.
Leaving the team of on-edge marines and Jacob Carter both, the remaining four members of SG-1 walked up the ramp and through the Stargate.
The world on the other side was not even a proper world. A smallish moon orbiting a huge gas giant, it had enough gravity to hold an atmosphere just noticeably lighter than Earth normal. There was a slight airy effect in the first couple seconds, but it was quickly dismissed for what was important. They were not the first to arrive.
The moon was bare, a rocky plain under an overcast sky, and Sam/Jolinar stood about a hundred yards off in the complete open. Nothing and nowhere to hide. She looked the same as the last time Daniel had seen her, some things achingly familiar while others disturbingly changed. Her hair was worn tightly back this time, though, giving her figure a sparse, sharp look at this distance.
All in a second, though, as the team stepped forward, Daniel saw her as she seemed to appear from behind Sam. His heart caught in his chest as the sight seemed to barrel into him with the force of a cannon. He didn't even need to look a second time. Sha're. His wife. Standing just a few feet from Sam with a smile he could see from here. He heard Jack inhale sharply to his left, and glanced quickly to him. Things were already drifting from the plan. But oh god he wasn't sure if he cared.
They all walked forward a little more quickly, coming closer to where Sam/Jolinar and Sha're stood. Daniel's mind was whirling about, remembering what Sam had told him last time about Sha're being freed and ill and pregnant, and wondering if it had been a ploy with a hint of truth. Or maybe this was Amonet he saw. Her face, though; the smile was Sha're's, surely.
"Dan'yel," she called to him, taking a step forward as they drew near, about five yards apart.
Sam/Jolinar put out a hand to hold her, caution plain on her face.
"I see you brought company," said Jack, breaking the ice.
"I can see you didn't," answered Sam without pause. "I didn't expect SG-1 to be the diplomatic mission."
"Hammond will be along shortly," said Jack.
"I can sense a Goa'uld still in Sha're, ColonelO'Neill," said Teal'c quietly.
Sam/Jolinar and Sha're glanced at each other.
"The Goa'uld is gone, my Dan'yel," Sha're said, in a voice that very nearly broke Daniel's heart to hear again. "It is only a remnant that you feel."
"Just, don't come any closer for the moment; we can't be sure of that," said Jack.
Daniel's eyes followed Sha're's as she looked to Sam/Jolinar, who nodded. Sha're kept her position, but all Daniel could see in her face was a longing to run into his arms. Was it just wishful thinking? Was Amonet playing him for a fool? He couldn't bring himself to believe it without evidence.
"So, here we are," said Sam shortly, dragging Daniel's attention reluctantly to the mission at hand. "Colonel."
"Captain," answered Jack, in the same tone. "Or is it?"
"Still unsure of that, I see," she commented, without surprise. Daniel watched her face closely, seeing what could be the Sam he knew. That was hopeful.
"No reason to be otherwise," Jack answered. "And on that note, what are you doing here?"
"You mean what's the goal?" she asked back.
"Daniel said you were trying to get a new host for your—" Jack didn't add a word. Daniel knew he wanted to say snake, or Goa'uld, but that might let their hand fall too soon. "That didn't happen."
A slightly unreadable look passed over Sam's face. "Well, things don't always go according to plan. That was why we arranged for a diplomatic meeting."
"For what?" asked Jack, playing at curiosity as he stalled for time.
"The Tok'ra have agreed to form a treaty with Earth," said Sam.
Daniel glanced at Jack. "Oh really?" was all that the Colonel said in response. Whatever they had been expecting Sam/Jolinar to try, this wasn't exactly the direction they thought it would go. Simple, to the point, and she looked dead serious.
"If Sha're is free, why didn't she return to Abydos to her family?" asked Daniel.
Jack glanced over at him with barely-hid confusion, then seemed to catch the trick in his question.
"Amonet poisoned her when the Tok'ra tried to kill her," explained Sam grimly, after a look of her own to Sha're. "She was unwell for some time after we last met. And don't you know what happened on Abydos?"
"Ah, so you know," commented Jack. Daniel knew he took that as confirmation of her involvement in the attack.
"We have been trying to make amends for that, ever since we discovered it," continued Sam, complete with a display of openness none of them expected.
Amends, repeated Daniel to himself, and the look on Jack's face confirmed that it was that word he had latched onto. A strange admission of guilt, but any admission at all struck at Daniel's heart.
"Amends?" Jack queried, almost innocent in tone.
Sam frowned, but as if to herself. "Is something wrong? Where's General Hammond?"
Avoiding the question—another confirmation of their assumptions and fears. Daniel's gaze swung back to Sha're for a moment, and he caught a crease of worry in her forehead, and a pursing of her lips. Whatever Sam had not said, it was important. Could Sam/Jolinar have influenced Sha're to betray her people in some way? Or was Amonet objecting to her partner's honest admissions? Daniel felt lost in the complications. Where was Jacob?
Behind them, the Stargate made a wet noise as another figure walked through. Sam did not appear to be able to see who it was through SG-1, but something in her stance relaxed—she must assume it was General Hammond.
Looking at Jack, she asked another question. "Isn't there a Dr. Mckay on SG-1?"
Jack didn't seemed surprised by the almost detached way she worded the question, and Daniel was moving closer to his point of view with every word from her mouth. This wasn't the Sam he knew, and yet it was...just...twisted somehow. Where was her emotion upon seeing people she had once called friends, had survived almost certain death with? Why did she look to Sha're the way she had once looked to Daniel, and why did she hold herself so defensively? Why were her words crisp, and why did she seem comfortable with silence while they waited for Hammond?
"He wasn't able to make it," answered Jack after a second's pause.
If Sam added any meaning other than surprise to that pause, she didn't show it. "I would have liked to meet him," she said.
"I doubt that," answered Jack with the usual snark.
Without turning, Daniel heard Jacob's footsteps as he came up behind SG-1.
"Dad?"
Turning as Jacob came up between them, Daniel saw the look on the dying general's face, and had a terrible fear that Jacob wasn't prepared to be swift and focused enough. Daniel could only hope that he knew how even a short stall might ruin things for good.
ooooooo
Sam had been doing all the talking out loud, but Jolinar's presence had been very close to her. There was a tenseness in both of them that they couldn't seem to shake. It was strange, alien, to be so near people who did not give that unnoticed tingle of naquadah; unnoticed until missing, at least, though not for Teal'c. Sam had a moment of near panic when she didn't know her role as they waited for the true negotiations to begin—what was she going to say to them? This had to be professional, but she felt something was missing, even though she knew that something couldn't be offered until she had their trust again.
*They are just as on edge,* Jolinar had offered as reassurance. *If not more so.*
Were they? It couldn't be the same tension, though—Sam felt out of place here, especially as Jack called her by her old rank. She hadn't realized she would need to reconcile herself back into that way of thinking.
Just as she threw out a half-baked attempt at conversation, someone else came through the gate. Thank god...she was ready for this to be over. She finished up the topic as quickly as she could, waiting for the general to come up to them. With SG-1 in the way, she couldn't see where he was until they parted rank and—
"Dad?"
~Oh my god.~
*Your father?*
Sam was stricken in her place, limbs and mind frozen alike. Her dad, whom she had not seen or heard from in so many months, was here, of all places. But—god—what was wrong with him? Was he sick? He looked deathly ill in so many ways. She couldn't voice anything, and thankfully he didn't seem to expect it. He took painfully slow steps, but he crossed the invisible line to come up to her.
"Dad?" she whispered finally. He barely started to put out his arms before she wrapped her own around him in a tight embrace. "God, dad, what are you doing here?" Her eyes squeezed shut for a moment despite the tactical error, burning behind her eyelids.
"I came to bring you back home," said Jacob, pulling back and putting his hands up to clasp her face, looking deep in her eyes. "Sam, do you know how worried you've made me?"
*Samantha,* began Jolinar, sounding a little unsure, but breaking herself off before she could say anything else.
"It wasn't exactly my plan," Sam said with an ironic, sad laugh.
"Sam, sweetheart, I need you to come back with us now," urged Jacob, his hands slipping from her face to rest on her shoulders. "I know it's been tough for you, but we can help."
"Of course I'm coming back," Sam assured him. "Just as soon as—" She broke off abruptly when she realized that it couldn't be for a while.
"Sam, I'm not going to last that long," said Jacob, squeezing her shoulders with only a fraction of the strength he used to have. "I have cancer, and it's almost got me beat."
Sam felt a lump rise painfully in her throat. "Dad," she began, a little shaky, with nothing coming to her mind to follow it. "I—I can't just come now."
The light in Jacob's eyes faded for a second, and he closed his eyes with a sigh.
*Samantha, there is something wrong here,* broke in Jolinar urgently.
~What?~ asked Sam, confused by all the emotions that were rising to the surface.
*Your general has not arrived, and your father...* She didn't have time to finish it.
In a move almost faster than Sam could see even with Jolinar's keen sight, Jacob whipped out a hypodermic needle and plunged it into her upper left arm. Jolinar wrenched control as Sam froze, and struck the needle away, breaking it in half before Jacob could inject all its contents.
A fierce look had replaced the light of desperate hope in Jacob's eyes, and he responded to the glow of Jolinar's with a hiss of rage.
As Jolinar ripped the broken needle from her arm, she looked beyond the fragile general who was no real threat. SG-1 was raising weapons, and the shimmer of the gate beyond meant only one thing.
*Marines,* hissed Jolinar. *We are betrayed.*
~Sha're has no protection!~ insisted Sam.
Before a weapon could be raised, Jolinar had taken a step back and roughly pushed Sha're backwards into the ring circle. Sha're gasped in shock and opened her mouth to speak, but Jolinar had pressed the button, and the rings came down and she was gone to the ship in a flash of light.
Things were happening too fast; Sam was getting lost in the confusion. Teal'c fired a zat just past Sha're as she ringed, but that was no worry. The rest of the team seemed just as ready to follow, and Sam only saw determination to take her down in their eyes. And she saw the marines running for them from the gate, guns that did not hold bullets in their hands.
~Tranquilizers, Jolinar. The shield may not help us.~
But even as Jolinar acknowledged the fact and was stepping towards the rings herself, they had forgotten Jacob. With all the strength left in him, he came out of their periphery and grabbed at Jolinar, gripping onto her with more strength than he seemed able to possess.
Jolinar was shocked for a moment, and indecisive on what to do.
~Don't hurt him!~
A tranq dart grazed her leg, and Jolinar hesitated for a moment. They didn't have another second to waste, and Jolinar suddenly pulled away and jumped backwards into the ring circle. Her symbiote strength was enough, and Jacob couldn't hold on. But just as Jolinar pressed the button that would ring them to safety, the general stumbled into the circle from the force of his hold breaking, falling heavily into Jolinar and knocking her wind out. There was a flash of light, and then they were falling with a crash onto the hard naquadah floor. Sam heard a crack, and saw stars and Sha're rushing from just out of the circle to stand above her.
ooooooo
Jack had cursed as the first rings lit, and Daniel's fear bit sharply at him as Sha're was whisked away. But even as he heard the support coming from behind, there was nothing to do. His heart sank as Sam/Jolinar escaped again, this time with Jacob as hostage.
"Damn it!" cried Jack as he ran up to the rings, marines a few seconds behind him.
"They must have had a ship," said Dixon.
"Then they will be gone in a minute at most," said Teal'c, looking up. "We have failed."
"Son of a bitch," murmured Jack, raw emotion full on his face. "We trusted that son of a bitch to do the job, and..."
"They're gone," said Daniel quietly. He didn't even know what he was saying, looking up at the sky where a ship would now be flying away with all his hopes. He didn't know what should be said.
"Sir, if that thing has a ship, it can fire on us at any moment," spoke up one of the marines with urgent worry.
"I'm not losing anyone else today," Jack turned to him, with a fierceness not directed at the marine. "Dial the gate!"
He turned back to Daniel, with a darkness in his eyes that probably mirrored Daniel's own. "We're done here," he all but whispered.
And all Daniel could do at the moment was nod, and follow him as they retreated through the gate. They could start beating themselves over it later.
ooooooo
Sam was barely breathing again after being stunned when Sha're knelt by her.
"Get me back!" she demanded frantically.
Sam was bewildered, in control as Jolinar was suddenly busy with something. Her dad was still collapsed on top of her.
"I need to go back!" Sha're continued, eyes darting.
"What?" asked Sam
"They will leave if you do not send me back down, and Dan'yel will be lost to me forever," Sha're urged. "Sa'm, I cannot work the technology on my own; you must send me."
"They were going to shoot you!" protested Sam, her head still fuzzy, but that memory clear.
"It would only have stunned," said Sha're, her voice aching with hurry. "They will take me back, and they will see that Amonet is gone—I will be safe. Sa'm, please, hurry!"
Sam saw a horrible desperation in Sha're's eyes, as she gripped Sam's arm and begged for this. "I can't, Sha're—what about Shifu?"
Sha're jerked back, gasping.
"Sha're, we can't go back once we leave; it's now or never," Sam continued as she sat up, gently rolling her father off to one side. "It's Daniel or Shifu."
Sha're didn't move, didn't speak. She stared at Sam.
"I'm sorry," Sam whispered, the weight of her confused feelings now crushing her.
Sha're let out an agonized cry and turned away, crumpling.
"I'm so sorry," Sam whispered, as she moved closer to her, feeling her grief in this moment as her own.
"Do not speak to me." Sha're's tone was bitter and sharp, and Sam drew away.
~Jolinar?~ Sam reached for her symbiote, lost in her emotions. Then, out loud, "Dad?"
Jacob lay on the floor, eyes shut, breathing heavily. Sam's emotions were too much, as worry overwhelmed her grief for Sha're, and she moved to his side. "Dad, are you all right?"
*Samantha,* came Jolinar's voice, strangely strained.
~What, what's wrong?~ asked Sam, suddenly noticing an odd feeling in her limbs. Her dad lay limply on the floor, but she couldn't seem to reach out her hand to check his pulse.
*Sedatives...couldn't...* Jolinar didn't finish, and Sam suddenly felt a loss of connection with her.
Her mind was growing dull, her limbs heavy, and she couldn't even think to know why. Sha're was to her left, curled in on herself as she was wracked by acute grief; her own father, dying of cancer, was lifeless on the floor of the tel'tak. And the world was going dark. She didn't hear the crack as she collapsed the floor again.
—
Author's Notes: Jacob's ability and willingness to be manipulative for Sam's sake comes straight out of his behavior in Secrets. He wants the best for his daughter, but at this point he does not believe in her ability to make the right choice.