Underground facility
Nation state of Euronda
January 25, 2000
The sudden silence in the corridors of the underground base was a little unnerving. No, it was unnatural. The irony wasn't lost on Jack. He spent most of his time in the SGC, but at least the base was always bustling with activity. It was far too quiet in the Eurondan base with the defense shields at full strength, making the airspace above the facility impenetrable to the still unnamed enemy. Jack couldn't help but wonder at the number of Eurondans and their way to preserve – for lack of a better word – their older generations in stasis. He tried to push his unease away, something he'd been doing a lot the past couple of days. Still, he couldn't fault the Eurondans for their way of life.
He glanced at Alar walking next to him, the man's pleasure obvious. For some reason, it grated on him. There was just something about the Eurondan that didn't sit well with Jack. Well, if he was being honest with himself then there was simply something about the Eurondans. That Farrell wasn't any better than Alar, tricking him and Teal'c into killing enemy combatants with those aero-fighters. Not to mention the change in Alar's demeanor over Daniel's questions during the formalizing of the treaty…
"I understand you shot down an enemy bomber for us Colonel, congratulations," Alar said, smirking. "Perhaps you'll try your hand at it again?"
"I don't think so," he replied with narrowed eyes.
"Well, if you are concerned about lives lost, remember they are your enemy now. I look forward to your return. Which reminds me; perhaps it would be best if the Jaffa did not return."
Alar's tone made the hairs on the back of Jack's neck stand up and he turned to him slowly. "Teal'c… why? He hasn't said a word."
"It's not what he said. It's what he is," Alar said as they stopped at the DHD.
"Well, he's different, I'll grant you that."
Alar smiled and leaned in a little, as if they were sharing a secret. "Not… like us."
Jack stared at him, all the puzzle pieces finally falling into place. He clenched his fingers and swallowed against the bile rising in his throat. "Right."
"Shall we, Colonel?"
"Um," he cleared his throat and glanced over his shoulder at his approaching teammates. Thinking on his feet, he gestured for Alar to keep going. "Why don't you go on ahead? The war room, right? I'll catch up with you." He took a step closer and whispered, "That way I can talk to Teal'c and make sure he won't return along with the next batch of deuterium."
Alar nodded, his eyes crinkling with glee. "Very well. A wise decision, Colonel."
Jack watched the man walk down the corridor and shook his head. How the hell could he have missed it? Had Hammond's orders to exchange highly advanced technology to fight the Goa'uld blinded him? Perhaps it was his own desire for vengeance for what the Goa'uld had done to those he cared about – Sam, Skaara, Sha're and countless others in the galaxy. The sickening feeling that had accompanied him since seeing the people in the bomber he destroyed increased and he turned to his two teammates.
"Jack?" Daniel asked when he grabbed his arm as Daniel started dialing the coordinates for Earth.
"You're not going."
The archaeologist's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "Why?"
"Teal'c and I are going to have a look around first. You… ask questions."
"I thought you told me to-"
Jack sighed, his earlier frustration with Daniel returning quickly. "I know what I said, Daniel." He paused and weighed his next words. He hadn't been wrong per se, about the way he'd shut him up after the things Daniel did and said in front of the Eurondans. Undermining his authority was one thing but actively sabotaging a treaty – approved by the President and JCS – in front of potential allies while in said potential allies' territory was taking things too far. He couldn't deny Daniel had been on the money with his questions though… "It was rude, short-sighted and I'm sorry."
Daniel seemed a little perplexed by his apology. "Well, uh, thank you for recognizing that."
"Now I'm saying this: go ask questions. Lots of questions."
"I shall accompany him, O'Neill," Teal'c said.
Jack nodded in approval and watched them go. Sometimes, he wished Daniel was a little more military – four years was plenty of time to get used to it – but right now he could appreciate how the guy could be like a dog with a bone. Still, having someone with a military mindset back him up would have been good. But at the same time he wasn't sure there was anyone at the SGC who'd make a good fourth to SG-1 and he really didn't want to repeat the mistake that'd been made with Kershaw…
Shaking himself, he quickly made his way to the war room, intent on finding out as much as he could from Alar. The man was standing around the display table and Jack could see the plans of the facility when he joined him. He wasn't stupid by any means but he felt a headache coming on as Alar started talking about controlled fusion. At times like these it would be great to have a scientist like Catherine – or better yet, Sam – on the team. He sighed, immediately dismissing the thought, and turned his attention to Alar's explanation.
"…one single fusion reactor is capable of generating power to the entire facility. I assume you extract deuterium from seawater?"
"Yeah," Jack said, nodding. Sam had been put in charge of arranging the heavy water Earth-side by Hammond after SG-1 had relayed the Eurondans terms for a treaty. They hadn't had much time to discuss it when he got back from his first trip to Euronda but she'd done her best to explain the process to him in simple terms. "Seventy percent of the Earth's surface is ocean so heavy water extraction shouldn't be a problem."
Alar had a somewhat nostalgic look on his face before he pointed at the displayed plans, "Ah… The sea from which we used to extract our own heavy water as you call it, is now in enemy hands hundreds of miles away. You can see that the storage tanks are nearly empty."
Jack studied the plans, his suspicious nature rearing its ugly head as he took in the proportions of the base and the pipes leading up to the surface. "You guys must have been building this place long before the war started," he said slowly, cautiously.
"The war was inevitable."
"How long did your father expect your people to stay down here?"
Alar raised his brows and seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Until the air was free from poison… Excuse me."
The man walked away and Jack waited until he was gone to study the map a little closer. The more he saw, the more suspicious he became. There was no way he could prove his suspicions but he knew he had to talk to his team. Once again, he found himself wishing Sam was with him to tell him whether he was interpreting the plans correctly. Then again, if Daniel's accusations were true then he didn't want her there at all.
Thinking of how excited she'd get – that bright smile he loved and her sparkling blue eyes – at seeing the Eurondans' advanced technology and medicine made Jack realize something. With her brains and fair appearance, the Eurondans would welcome her with open arms, unlike Alar's attitude towards Teal'c.
It didn't take him long to find Teal'c and convince him to check out the stasis chambers. The Eurondans were all scrambling towards the war room or wherever as another attack had started, so he waited until they were the only ones in the corridor to broach the subject.
"So, what's your impression of Alar?"
Teal'c raised a brow, as if it was obvious. "That he is concealing something."
"Like what?"
"I am unsure," Teal'c said in that pragmatic way he had, "he is concealing it."
Jack couldn't argue with that and grabbed his zat to open the lock to the chamber. A password wasn't required to activate the computer display and within seconds he was browsing through the profiles of the people in stasis. Their pictures confirmed what he'd suspected earlier; like Sam, they all had fair hair, eyes and skin.
"What is it, O'Neill?"
"They're the same," he said, looking up at the Jaffa. "Every damn one of them is the same!"
Together, Jack and Teal'c went in search of Daniel and found him in the corridor leading to the war room. The archaeologist basically confirmed their findings with the answers he'd found. Perhaps the most worrying thing was that the Eurondans didn't mind sharing their xenophobic beliefs with outsiders and thought nothing of it.
"They did it," he said. "They started the war. I don't know how they did it but they did."
Jack took his team to the war room with them and pointed at the facility's plans that were still being displayed. "The Eurondans built this place long before the war started. They planned it from the beginning."
Daniel bobbed his head, already convinced. "Right! But how did they expect to win a war from underground?"
"See these enormous gas pipes? They run from the holding tanks underneath the facility right up to the surface-"
"And the surface is poisoned!"
Grimacing, Jack looked at his teammates. "They didn't just start a war, they were trying to exterminate them."
Alar came rushing towards them before either man could react and handed Jack a cylinder. "This storage cylinder contains plans, specifications and formulas on which our technology is based. Where is the fuel?"
"Oh, there's a delay," Jack said in a casual tone as he glanced down at the object in his hand, weighing it as if it didn't contain everything Earth might need to get rid of the Goa'uld.
"What sort of a delay? The enemy is attacking in force. We need that fuel!"
He waved his hand in a reassuring manner to Alar and handed his MP5 to Daniel, before taking off his pack. He strapped the cylinder to the back of his pack and let it rest at Daniel's feet. "We just have to buy a little time. Teal'c and I can help fight them off until it gets here."
Alar narrowed his eyes, either in dismay or suspicion but nodded anyway. "Do it!"
"Teal'c." Jack could see the disbelief written all over Daniel's face at his offer to help but the big guy remained impassive and got into one of the stations. "Stay on my wing, Teal'c."
"Most certainly," the Jaffa replied, glancing at him knowingly.
Jack got settled in his station and piloted his squadron of unmanned aero-fighters towards the unnamed enemy aircrafts. In the distance, he could hear Daniel arguing with Alar's second in command and Alar was yelling something about General Hammond, but Jack's attention was focused on the task at hand. Being back in the station brought back the sick feeling in his stomach from what happened before, but he was determined to get this done.
As soon as the enemy was in sight, he tilted his formation and locked on to the other Eurondan vessels. He left Teal'c's alone and shot down the squadron to his left. The ones on his right were downed by T just before he turned his vessel around to show the enemy where to strike, shooting down any Eurondan aero-fighters he encountered on the way back to the base.
"He's attacking our own bombers!"
"Stop him!"
Jack was dimly aware of what was happening outside his station but he trusted his team to watch his six as he escorted the bombers to the underground facility. His surroundings started shaking as the enemy attacked and he knew they were running out of time. Piloting his formation, he took a nosedive and crashed all the aero-fighters into the ground just above the facility.
He blew out a deep breath to steady himself, feeling a little better about helping the other side after shooting down their people earlier. After unhooking himself, he climbed out of the station and found Alar on his knees in front of Teal'c and Daniel pointing his weapon at Farrell. "Nice work, guys."
"You too," Daniel said, looking relieved at the outcome.
Teal'c smirked. "Indeed."
"Let's blow this popsicle stand," Jack said, taking his MP5 from Daniel and gesturing for Daniel to grab his sidearm just in case. When they were all armed again and he'd slung on his pack, they started backing out of the war room towards the corridor leading to the stargate. Jack was scanning the corridor while the guys kept an eye on the occupants in the war room.
"It could have all been yours!" Alar cried from his spot on the floor.
Jack turned to look back at him. "I wouldn't follow us if I were you."
The three of them turned towards the corridor just as debris started falling from the ceiling. Jack didn't have to order them to get a move on and they quickly made their way to the stargate. He could hear the Eurondans on their heels and gestured for Daniel to start dialing Earth while he and Teal'c watched his six.
As soon as he heard the kawoosh over the zat- and gunfire, he called for Teal'c and Daniel to "Go!" and started slowly walking backwards to the gate as he returned fire to the attacking Eurondan guards heading his way. The two men went down and he heard a loud explosion in the distance, so he moved closer to the stargate.
"Wait, wait!" Alar suddenly appeared, running desperately towards him. Jack trained his sight on him but didn't fire. "I could teach you everything I know! Just let me come with you! Please!"
Jack looked at him coldly, finally allowing himself to show his disgust with the Eurondans. Without a word, he reached behind himself to unstrap the cylinder with all the plans, specifications and formulas the Eurondans based their technology on. He held the cylinder in one hand, before tossing it at Alar's feet.
Turning around, he stepped through the event horizon and three hundred milliseconds later, he exited on the ramp at the SGC.
Teal'c and Daniel were standing facing him, armed, at the foot of the ramp flanking General Hammond and behind them a bunch of SFs were ready for any unwelcome visitors.
"Close the iris," he called, looking at his CO.
"Do it!" Hammond ordered, glancing up at the control room over his shoulder.
Jack dropped his hands from his weapon as he heard the iris slide shut behind him. The others were looking at him expectantly and all winced as one as a rather loud thud sounded. He looked up at the control room, expecting to find the technicians looking down at him but instead it was Sam who stood there, staring at him with wide eyes.
General Hammond was the one who broke the tense silence. "I take it, Colonel, that you were unable to procure any of the Eurondan technology."
"That's correct, Sir," he said, unable to break eye contact with Sam.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
At that, he snapped his gaze back to Hammond. "Don't be!"
The base commander narrowed his eyes at him and nodded sharply. "We'll debrief in one hour."
"Yes, Sir." Looking up, Jack realized Sam was gone. He knew he'd made the right choice – both in Euronda as well as on the ramp – but he had no idea what was going through her head. She had only seen him in action a few times, never when he had to make the hard decisions. All she knew was that he'd promised to bring her some shiny new toys in return for the heavy water she'd arranged for them. Only to witness him effectively killing someone. He had no idea how to interpret the look on her face as she registered the impact on the iris but it certainly hadn't been approval.
He wanted to go up to the control room and find out where she'd gone to explain himself. Unfortunately, he had a post-mission exam to undergo and shower before his debriefing. And aside from that, it was damn unprofessional for the base's second-in-command to go running after his girlfriend…
Taking a deep breath, Jack walked down the ramp.
Stargate Command
Colorado Springs, CO
"… and you were promoted to major," Doctor MacKenzie said with a kind smile.
It had been a week and the mention of her promotion or new rank still made Sam grin. To think she'd contemplated not returning to active duty after returning to Earth. At the time she hadn't felt anything like an officer in the Air Force and had been prepared to throw away all her hard work by resigning her commission or requesting a medical discharge. All she'd needed was time, apparently. "Yeah, it still takes some getting used to."
"I believe it was well deserved, Sam."
"Thank you."
The psychiatrist waited a moment before he spoke again, watching her. "I heard you were present when the Eurondans made contact with us a few days ago."
She swallowed hard, thinking back to the unscheduled off-world activations. "There had been four attempts to contact us before we realized what was happening. Protocol dictates closing the iris and when we received their audio message, I checked the readings and noticed the prior impact events."
"Eurondans who'd been sent to Earth?"
"Yeah," she said, sighing, "three people died in the hopes of reaching us."
He gave her a moment to get her emotions under control. "It wasn't your fault, Sam."
Realistically she knew that to be the truth, but it was difficult to accept because of her sense of responsibility. "Jack told me it wasn't my fault and to move on, as well."
"Did that bother you?"
"It was easier said than done," she hedged. "He was doing his job and needed me to find a way for two-way communications with the Eurondans."
MacKenzie looked at her pensively. "That doesn't answer the question."
Shifting in her seat, Sam thought about it. General Hammond had ensured she wouldn't fall under Jack's chain of command because of their personal relationship but situations like the one in the control room that day were unavoidable – she had been present and was the most qualified to do what was needed to be done. Jack had touched her shoulder briefly when he told her it wasn't her fault and she knew that little gesture was more than he could have given her. "It wasn't what he said, how he said it or that he was the one that said it. The situation itself bothered me because I felt responsible."
"It wasn't something you could have prevented. The moment you found out what was happening, you found a way to stop others from risking their lives."
"It doesn't really matter anymore, now does it?"
The Doctor glanced up from his notepad. "Are you referring to the outcome of the mission?"
She took a deep breath at the memory and nodded. From Jack's demeanor as he stepped onto the ramp and his order she probably should have expected it, yet she'd still winced at the loud thud. "I was in the control room when SG-1 returned."
"You were involved in the treaty with the Eurondans, right?"
"I was put in charge of arranging the heavy water they required."
"Did that concern you?"
"Their need for heavy water?"
"Yes." He made a noncommittal noise and tapped his pen. "The whole mission took place over several days during which SG-1 returned to Earth a few times. Did you and Colonel O'Neill discuss the treaty?"
Between their different work schedules and the time difference with Euronda she and Jack had only seen each other once. He, as commander of SG-1, had consulted with her a few times over the radio but they only met once on base. The team had to go back and forth which meant going home hadn't really been an option. "We briefly spoke about the Eurondans in general and their advanced technology."
"Colonel O'Neill informed you about their technology?"
"He explained they used controlled fusion to fuel their defense field and the stasis chambers." She shrugged and decided to leave out the bit about Jack's frustrations with Daniel's incessant questions and undermining his authority. "Their level of technology is quite amazing when you compare it to Earth and take into account the war they've been fighting."
MacKenzie frowned and glanced down at his notepad. "General Hammond informed me SG-1 was unable to procure any Eurondan technology. Most unfortunate."
From Jack's reaction, Sam wasn't sure whether she agreed with the shrink or not. There hadn't been an opportunity to talk to Jack yet, though. "I don't know what happened."
"Euronda was under attack from their enemy when SG-1 left." He was watching her while explaining the debriefing Hammond had given him, as if gauging her reaction. "The Eurondan leaders lied to SG-1 about their involvement in the war and Colonel O'Neill retracted the agreement to the treaty. He supposedly warned them not to follow before stepping through the stargate."
"And ordered the iris closed once his team was through," she concluded.
"The Eurondan leader, Alar, ran after SG-1 regardless."
Jack's expression as he issued his order flashed through Sam's mind – he'd known Alar would follow him. "The impact event we registered."
The psychiatrist nodded, his perceptive gaze still on her. "Have you spoken to Colonel O'Neill about it?"
"His order? No," she shook her head. "I was called away and haven't seen him since."
"Doctor Jackson appeared to be rather upset with his decision."
Sam frowned, "Daniel is a civilian. He's not… military. What I mean is that he doesn't always understand the necessity of certain actions or decisions."
Cocking his head, MacKenzie looked at her curiously. "Did it affect you differently?"
"As the leader of SG-1, Jack has to make the tough calls," she hedged.
"That's true, but I was asking about how it affected you."
She weighed her words carefully when she replied, "I was… shocked, I guess. I wasn't expecting it but I wasn't there and can't judge the call he made. If the Eurondans were a danger-"
He interrupted her with a raised finger, "Their leader was the only one following SG-1."
"But their facility was exploding and we know that certain kinds of energy, like a blast wave, can be sent through an open wormhole."
"I suppose that's true," MacKenzie said pensively. "But what I really want to know, Sam, is how you felt about the decision Colonel O'Neill made. Just a few days ago you had a hard time accepting the loss of three Eurondans who'd impacted the iris, even though you weren't responsible for their deaths."
"That was different."
His eyebrows rose in surprise, "How so?"
Sam was aware of what he was doing and sighed, trying to decide how much she wanted to tell him. "The Eurondans from a few days ago had no idea what would happen, whereas Alar was warned. Jack gave the order to protect Earth."
"Your reasoning is sound but it doesn't tell me how you felt about the decision Colonel O'Neill made."
"Like I said, I was shocked… It wasn't what I was expecting when SG-1 returned. Up until then, there had been no indication that the Eurondans were a threat or that the team was coming in hot."
MacKenzie held her gaze, his dark eyes scrutinizing her. "Colonel O'Neill made a judgement call, a very difficult one. He could have chosen to let Alar come through and have him taken into custody. Yet he chose to close the iris. An action he knew would result in the death of the Eurondan leader."
Breaking away, she looked down and studied her hands. He was right. Jack had known full well what would happen and it was clear he didn't regret the decision to close the iris. It made her wonder about the true nature of the Eurondans because she knew Jack and he wouldn't make such a decision lightly. He was former black ops and had done some awful things in service of his country, but she trusted his judgment. "He did what needed to be done."
"Perhaps. It's not a choice everyone can make, though. In this case, Colonel O'Neill was judge, jury and executioner. Some might say it was a cold and calculated move."
"It's what he was trained for," she said. "He wouldn't be General Hammond's second in command otherwise."
The doctor nodded in acknowledgement. "Does it worry you that he's capable of such emotional detachment?"
Contrary to what he might say about himself, Sam knew Jack was a complex man. One thing she'd learned early on about him was that he cared deeply, though. A decision like the one he'd made earlier that day would weigh heavily on him, even if he didn't show it. It was his job to make the tough calls and he masked his emotions while doing it, but deep down he was still Jack and it was bound to affect him.
She realized what MacKenzie was really asking and shook her head, "Jack's not like the Goa'uld. He has a conscience and does what he thinks is best for others, even if it's detrimental to himself. If anything, I admire him for it."
"Why is that?"
"Because," she said after a moment, "I've been there."
"Before you returned to Earth?"
Sam glanced down and nodded slowly, thinking back to some of the situations she'd found herself in. During her time with the Goa'uld she'd been forced to make tough calls, prioritizing her unborn child's life above everything else. Some of the things she'd endured she wouldn't wish on anyone and yet there had been occasions she'd chosen her own wellbeing above that of someone else. Even after she'd escaped the Goa'uld there had been situations in which she made choices she wasn't proud of.
Some of those decisions still weighed heavily on her – there was a reason for her recurring nightmares – and she'd never quite managed the level of conviction she'd seen on Jack's face. He knew what needed to be done and wasn't afraid of doing it despite the repercussions.
Thinking back to the look he'd given her from the ramp, Sam realized he had no idea how she had interpreted his actions. If their roles had been reversed, she would be terrified of what he thought of her and her actions. His debriefing was probably already over with, so she got up and spared MacKenzie an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I've got to go."
She had to see him, and it needed to be now.