SG-1 Season 10 Episode 11 – The Quest Part 2
Atlantis Season 3 Episode 11 – The Return Part 2
Episode summary for 'The Quest': Vala has a dream that reveals the address of the planet where Morgan Le Fay hid the Sangraal. They go there, and embark on a quest to find it, with the help of a local librarian as guide. They pass several trials, encountering Ba'al on the way who they agree to let join them when he says he has the name of the dragon (necessary for the last trial). Daniel realises that the old man guiding them is actually Adria in disguise. They confront her, and they agree to let her join them as well when she threatens to kill off team members, starting with Sam. They pass the remaining trials, and the group minus Adria are beamed to another planet, where they discover Merlin in stasis. He is revived, and begins working on building a new San Graal. Sam and Ba'al work on deactivating the dialing program that is automatically transporting them from planet to planet, because they need it turned off in order to escape. Merlin realises he doesn't have the strength to finish the weapon, and transfers his memories into the Ancient knowledge sharing device, before dying. Daniel realises that that is what Merlin's last act was, and so accesses the knowledge himself via the device. He gains Merlin's memories, and resumes building the weapon. Sam and Ba'al successfully de-activate the dialing program, but Adria catches up with them. Daniel uses his new Ancient powers to kill all of the Ori soldiers to allow SG-1 to escape, telling them he will be right behind them, but Adria is too powerful for him, and she captures him.
Episode summary for 'The Return': While testing the new McKay-Carter interlactic bridge (the Midway station), the Daedalus encounter an Ancient ship. The Ancients, on arriving at Atlantis, take control of the city and demand that the humans from Earth leave. Jack comes to help negotiate, but all they can achieve is an agreement that one person can stay. The IOA insist that that be Richard Woolsey. Six weeks later, Jack has been recalled to Atlantis to give Woolsey some 'back-up'. The Replicators are detected approaching Atlantis, but the Ancients are confident they are no threat, because of the element in their base code preventing the Replicators from attacking their creators (the Ancients). However, the Replicators have managed to re-write their base code, possibly as a result of McKay's previous attempts to re-write it, and they attack Atlantis, killing all of the Ancients. Gen Landry makes preparations to comply with Jack's standing order to nuke Atlantis. Dr Weir, Col Sheppard, McKay, and Dr Beckett steal a puddle jumper and go on a rogue mission to fight the replicators for control of Atlantis, and possibly to rescue Jack and Woolsey, if they are still alive. They pick up Teyla and Ronon, and make radio contact with Jack and Woolsey, who are the sole survivors of the Replicator attack, and are hiding in a damaged part of the city. Sheppard and co have a plan to retake the city involving McKay once again accessing the base code of a replicator they had previously left floating out in space. This plan fails when the replicator wakes up. Jack and Woolsey are caught and the Replicators probe their minds. Jack is adept at resisting, but Woolsey is useless. Landry asks Dr Lee for advice on the best way to destroy the Midway intergalactic gate bridge, and orders him to prepare a Mark 9 nuke to destroy the Midway station. While feigning an attempt to break them out of captivity, McKay tells Jack and Woolsey about a new plan. It is misinformation however, planted so that the Replicators will read the plan in Woolsey's mind and will give the team cover to carry out their real plan. McKay manages to rig it so that when the city's shields are activated, it triggers the anti-Replicator disruption wave to hit the whole city at once, destroying them all. They make contact with the Daedalus before the nuke can be deployed. Atlantis is saved.
Author's note: Sorry about the epic-length episode summaries – that's what happens when I try to summarise four episodes worth of material! This episode tag is set after The Quest Part 2, and begins during The Return Part 2, towards the end. I figure the reason Sam (at the very least) didn't go with Col Sheppard's team on the mission to rescue Jack is that she was still away on the SG-1 'Quest' mission.
Sam ran down the ramp and spun to watch the event horizon.
"Come on Daniel." She said, and she felt Vala step beside her.
"Where is he?" Vala asked urgently.
The wormhole disengaged with finality.
"Where is he?!" Vala shouted.
"He said he was right behind us." Sam said.
"We have to go back." Vala said. She spun around to look at Landry standing in the control room. "General, dial the gate, send us back!"
"To where?" Landry asked, and Sam grabbed hold of Vala's arm.
"Vala, I don't know the address of the planet we just came from. We can't go back."
Vala looked around at them all desperately, and then stormed out of the room. Cameron followed her, and Sam and Teal'c were left looking at each other in shock.
They'd lost Daniel. Again.
"Colonel Carter, report!" Landry ordered as he entered the gate room.
With a last agonised look at Teal'c, Sam explained what had happened.
"So he's in the hands of the Ori." Landry concluded.
"Yes sir." Sam said quietly. "Sir … with your permission …" She nodded at the door, asking permission to be dismissed.
Landry closed his eyes briefly with an exhausted sigh. "I'm sorry Colonel, I need to speak with you in my office."
He turned and walked away. Sam exchanged a perplexed look with Teal'c, who took her weapon and pack, and she followed the General to his office.
"Close the door and have a seat." Landry ordered, and she did so.
"Is this about the mission sir?"
"No." He leaned forward on his desk. "I have some bad news."
Sam's heart clenched in her chest. "Sir?"
"You're aware that General O'Neill was recalled to Atlantis to assist Mr Woolsey in his negotiations with the Ancients."
"Yes sir." Her blood was running cold. Something had happened to Jack.
"We received this message from him early this morning." He used a remote to turn on a video playback on a screen behind her, and she turned to see Jack's panicked expression as he told them about the Replicator attack, requesting immediate evacuation.
"Is there a rescue plan?" She asked. Landry looked pained.
"Colonel, they never made it to the gate." He paused, giving her a moment to absorb the information, clearly expecting her to take it as confirmation Jack was dead – although she wouldn't, couldn't believe that. Even if she hadn't had foreknowledge of the future, she still would have believed Jack could have found a way to escape the situation. "General O'Neill left standing orders that in the event the city was compromised, Atlantis must be destroyed. The Daedalus is on its way to deliver a Mark 9 tactical nuclear warhead, right now."
It felt like time had stopped. She wasn't entirely certain she was still breathing.
Landry looked at her sympathetically. "It's strange, I never anticipated having this conversation this way around. I prepared myself for the possibility that one day I'd have to deliver news of your death to Jack, but not …" He trailed off.
"He's not dead, sir." Sam said shortly. "Which means there's still time to mount a rescue."
"Well, as it happens, Colonel Sheppard, Dr Weir, Dr McKay and Dr Beckett agreed with you. They stole a jumper, hacked the control room systems and mounted a rogue rescue mission earlier today."
Sam looked up at him in shock, clinging on to the lifeline of hope. "Have you heard from them since?"
"No." Landry stood, and Sam followed suit automatically. "Go get your post-mission check-up, Colonel. I'll let you know if we hear anything."
"Yes sir." She said numbly, and left the office.
Out in the corridor, she sagged against the wall. Daniel missing. Jack missing and presumed dead. And there was nothing she could do about either of them.
Bad day.
SG-1 didn't leave the base that evening. They holed up together, first in Daniel's office, and then in Sam's lab when she needed her computer.
A little after 1900, Dr Lee appeared in her doorway.
"Sam, I heard you were back. You need to talk to Landry."
"Already did." She said shortly, her eyes not leaving her computer screen.
"So he told you he wants to nuke the Midway station?"
Sam looked up at him incredulously, glancing at the faces of her teammates. "He's nuking Atlantis, Bill."
"I know, I know, but he wants to blow up Midway too. We only just finished building it!"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the point of Midway that it would help us travel quickly to Atlantis? What's the point of having Midway if we destroy the city? It would just be a security risk." Cam said.
"That's what Landry was saying, but surely it's worth having. We invested so much research and time into building it, to just blow it up would be … disrespectful."
Sam stood, her eyes flashing dangerously. "General Landry is about to blow up the Ancient city of Atlantis with my husband at ground zero, and you want me to go and convince him not to destroy Midway?"
"H – husband?"
Cam got up and seized Bill by the arm, hauling him out of the room for a little chat. Sam stood there, breathing hard, and she felt Vala's arm slip around her waist. Teal'c moved in front of her.
"I have faith that O'Neill will find a way to survive. Colonel Sheppard and his team are competent warriors, they will prevail." He looked to Vala. "Daniel Jackson has also escaped situations far more dire than this on many occasions."
He put one large hand on Sam's shoulder, and another on Vala's. "They will both be fine."
Vala tucked her head on Sam's shoulder, and Sam just nodded.
At a little after 0500 hours, the klaxon sounded for an unscheduled gate activation. SG-1 all ran for the control room. The wormhole had just opened as they entered the room, and Landry was standing behind Sgt Harriman's chair.
"We're receiving a transmission sir." Walter announced, and a moment later a radio signal crackled to life.
"Stargate Command, this is Colonel Caldwell, do you read?"
"Loud and clear Colonel, have you successfully detonated the warhead?" Landry asked, and Sam felt Teal'c, who was standing directly behind her, grip her elbow.
"That's a negative General, but I have good news. It seems Colonel Sheppard and his team were successful in retaking the city. All of the Replicators in Atlantis have been destroyed."
Landry glanced at Sam. "Are there any survivors?"
"Yes sir, we have Colonel Sheppard, Doctors Weir, McKay and Beckett, Teyla Emmagen, Ronon Dex, General O'Neill and Richard Woolsey."
Sam closed her eyes and sagged in relief. Teal'c was now gripping her with both hands around her upper arms.
"Get Colonel Carter a seat." Landry ordered quietly, before toggling the radio transmitter again. "That's good news indeed Colonel Caldwell. Perhaps you would be so kind as to ask General O'Neill to gate back to Earth with a puddle jumper, so we can start ferrying you some personnel to secure the city."
"Yes sir. Daedalus out."
The wormhole disengaged, and Sam realised she was sitting in one of the chairs at the control console. She looked to General Landry, who grinned at her and clapped a hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe I won't fire Sheppard after all." He said, and headed back up to his office.
She chuckled, and took a deep breath to prevent the chuckle from turning into hysterical sobbing.
"Come on you." Cameron said, taking her hand and pulling her up.
They got all the way back to the lab with Sam in a relieved daze, but then Vala hugged her, and that was her undoing. She completely broke down, sobbing into Vala's soft black hair, and Teal'c wrapped his arms around the pair of them.
Cameron held a box of tissues in front of her face when she wriggled free of them all, and she took a handful gratefully.
"Sorry." She said in a congested voice.
"Don't be silly." Vala said, squeezing her arm.
"He's ok." Sam said softly.
"And on his way home." Teal'c said.
"Ok." She nodded, taking a deep breath. "That's one down. Now we just need to get Daniel back."
They all sobered, and Vala hugged her again. Sam wrapped her arms around Vala comfortingly, stroking her hair.
They would get Daniel back. He always came back eventually.
Sam was in the control room when the jumper arrived, her expression calm and professional, all trace of her earlier crying jag washed away.
Jack waved at her and Landry from the pilot's seat. "Honey, I'm home." He said over the radio, and Sam rolled her eyes and bit back a laugh.
"I'm glad to see you're in one piece, Jack." Landry answered. "And Mr Woolsey, of course."
The IOA representative in the passenger seat looked decidedly worse for wear.
"No valet parking?" Jack asked.
"Bay 2 is free." Landry said, and Jack lifted the jumper up and out of sight.
"Let's go meet them." Landry said to Sam, and she happily followed him to the elevator.
A few levels up, they got to the jumper bay just as the jumper's hatch was opening. Woolsey stumbled out immediately, with the attitude of a man who wanted to kiss the ground in relief to be back on Earth. Jack followed more casually with a swagger.
"Have you got someone to pilot this thing, or should I stick around to ferry people back?" Jack asked Landry.
"We've got it covered." Landry said. "You two need to get checked out in the infirmary. Mr Woolsey, if you'll come with me I'll escort you there now – General O'Neill can follow after Colonel Carter here has assisted him with the post-flight checks."
Jack raised an eyebrow at Sam as Landry guided the shaken Woolsey away.
"Post-flight checks? Since when do the puddle jumpers need those?"
"Emergency protocol." She said, and walked into the jumper. He followed, and she closed the hatch behind them.
The second the hatch was closed, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him fiercely.
A minute later he pulled back, gasping for breath. "Not that I'm complaining but …"
She punched him in the arm, hard. "Don't you ever do that to me again."
"Ow." He complained. "I got home, didn't I?"
Sam felt tears threatening again, and buried her face in his shoulder as her breath started to shudder with repressed sobs.
"Hey, it's ok." He said soothingly, rubbing her back.
"We lost Daniel. Adria captured him." She confessed quietly. "And then mere minutes after that happened, General Landry informed me of his intention to kill you with a nuke."
Jack sighed and held her closer. "It was my standing order …"
"I know."
"Adria has Daniel?"
"Yes. And we don't know where."
"We'll find him." He breathed into her hair. "We'll find him."