I'm so sleepy! Must...finish...chapter...before...bed...

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Jade knew that it was only a matter of seconds before the Replicators swarming into the room found their way to her position, and she tried to prepare herself for what was about to happen. She covered her ears with her hands, wishing she could block out the deafening mechanical noises around her, when suddenly she heard a sound that was completely out of place. She shot up from her coiled position, searching for the source of the gunfire she had clearly heard coming from the hallway. The bugs heard it too, and they all immediately stopped to turn toward the sound. Jade's heart leaped in her chest when she saw a small, grey face peek around the corner of the doorway, vanishing again as quickly as it had appeared.

"Hey!" she yelled out, leaning forward on her knees. "Get out of here! Run!"

The Replicators began skittering towards the doorway, following the sound of weapons fire that drifted down the corridor. Jade was stunned, unsure of what to do, and extremely confused by what she had seen. As the last of the bugs disappeared out of the room, she climbed down from her hiding place, heading for the corridor with a small semblance of a plan to draw the Replicators away from the poor Asgard in the hallway.

"Psst!"

Jade spun around in surprise and looked up, overjoyed to see Jack pressing his hands against a large grate high up in the corner of the wall.

"Dad!" she cried out, almost jumping up and down with happiness. "I'm so glad to see you! But I have to go help-"

"No, you don't," he interrupted, finally shaking the grate loose, the heavy material hitting the floor with a loud clang. "It's just a hologram from the ship. Let's go!"

Jade blinked in surprise, turning back to the door and peeking her head out into the hallway. Her eyes found the small grey alien at the end of the corridor, awkwardly firing a spray of bullets into the mass of Replicators approaching his position. The bullets disappeared into the air as they passed the hologram's perimeter, and Jade couldn't help but grin, wondering how the bugs would react when their mechanical bodies shot right through the projection.

"Jade!" Jack hissed from behind her. "Let's go!"

She spun and around and pushed the large container she'd been hiding on top of across the room, climbing up to grab Jack's outstretched arms. He tugged her up to the opening, and she wrapped her arms around him as soon as she made it over the edge.

"Thank you so much, Dad," she cried, pressing her cheek to his shoulder. "I'm so so sorry that I-"

"We'll talk about it later," he said gruffly, leaning over her head to eye the room below them. "You got the research?"

Jade nodded and patted her pocket, and Jack leaned back away from the opening.

"Then let's get out of here."

There was just enough space for Jack to turn around in, and Jade spied Daniel's boots crawling in front of Jack as they headed away from the room behind them. She assumed Teal'c was leading the way, and she followed as quickly as she could, trying not to feel claustrophobic in the cramped crawlspace.

"Daniel?" Jack called out ahead. "How are we doing?"

"Our twenty minutes are up," Daniel answered over his shoulder. "Got a plan B?"

Jack paused to pull his communicator out of his pocket, and Daniel and Teal'c stopped to wait for him, resting back on their feet with their backs against the curved walls around them.

"Carter?" Jack said nervously. "We're out of time."

There was no response, and Jade turned her head to look over her shoulder in horror as she heard the Replicators from somewhere behind her, the whirring sound echoing through the tunnel. They had figured out Thor's hologram a lot quicker than she'd thought they would.

"Carter!" Jack cried out, his eyes widening. "Did you hear me? Get us out of here!"

The sound grew louder, and Jack dropped his communicator, yelling out, "Move! Move!" to his friends in front of him. Jade tried her best to keep up with them, but she could hear the bugs right on her heels, and she cried out in terror as something sharp grabbed her ankle.

"Dad!" she screamed, trying to kick it off as she crawled. Jack spun around and held up his weapon, pushing Jade's head down and firing into the bugs behind her. The bullets whizzed over her head, the Replicator blocks scattering in every direction and raining down on her as more of the bugs swarmed the tunnel.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c called out from ahead of them. "There are more Replicators coming from this direction! We are trapped!"

Jade heard gunfire coming from everywhere, and it mixed with the growing sound of mechanical limbs as more Replicators attacked from behind her. Jack was trying his best to hold them back, but they poured down the tunnel relentlessly, and he was quickly losing ground. Jade had nowhere to run, and she screamed and held tight to her father's ankle as the cold metallic legs began skittering up her body.

All of a sudden, everything went completely silent, as if someone had flipped a switch somewhere, and Jade pressed her forehead into Jack's boot, afraid to even breathe.

Am I dead?

The floor beneath her was cold, and she peeked open one eye to see her mother standing over her, concern all over her face.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked nervously.

Jade blinked and slowly released Jack's boot, raising herself up and glancing around her. Daniel sat up and leaned back on his hands, a huge grin on his face, and he slapped Teal'c on the back.

"We made it!" he said excitedly. "Way to go, Sam!"

Sam had knelt down next to Jade, holding the girl's arm and turning it to get a good look at the cuts in her skin.

"Are you hurt?" she asked, and Jade shook her head slowly, still unable to believe that she was alive. Sam reached over and held out her hand to Jack, helping him sit up beside Jade.

"Nice timing, Carter," he said simply, stretching as he rose up from the floor. The wall in front of them was riddled with bullet holes, and Thor stepped away from the hologram platform, returning Sam's weapon as he approached his computer panel.

"We must leave orbit, O'Neill. I must escort our damaged ship out of this region of space."

Jack waved his hand and replied, "Fine. Let's go, then!"

Jade leaned over her bent knees, watching as Sam and Jack exchanged a meaningful look, Jack's eyes warm as he smiled down at her. She glanced at the large screen across the room, watching as Thor navigated the ship away from the two Replicator vessels still in orbit, leaving the planet behind. A grin slowly spread across her face, and she hugged her knees, hardly able to accept that it was all over.

I can't believe I actually did it!

"Jade?"

She turned her head and saw four pairs of eyes on her, and she let out a small sigh.

"I guess I'm in trouble, huh?"

Jack crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "You guess?"

She smiled sheepishly and stood up, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "I guess I owe you an explanation, too."

Jack leaned forward and frowned. "You guess?"

The ship hummed as Thor activated the hyperdrive, and Jade leaned back against the computer panel behind her.

"Well, I guess I should start at the beginning..."