FALLOUTGATE PART 3 – THE ODYSSEY
CHAPTER 1: WORMHOLE X-TREME
[Cheyenne Mountain, Stargate Command – Milky Way Galaxy]
Welcome back and Merry Christmas everybody! Hope you're ready because we're picking up exactly where we left off. Thank you all of you that were patient with this story and me having to take a bit of a break for my muse! And thank you to my Beta Neverbefore who has stuck with me and helped get me back on track a number of times as a sounding board for my crazier ideas.
Quick Recap of Parts 1 and 2 that got us here.
FalloutGate Part 1 (Sanctuary): Sam and Jack are thrown out of a wormhole after it suffered an explosion mid-transit into the AU Fallout 4 Universe. Part 1 deals with their acceptance that no rescue is coming and that they may well be in this for the long haul, and what that means for their relationship as they navigate an alternate Earth that is as alien as any they've ever visited.
FalloutGate Part 2 (Commonwealth): Sam and Jack continue to explore the Wasteland in their strive to make a life for themselves encountering powerful new enemies and allies. Sam begins to set her sights firmly on finding a way home, whilst Jack is focused on making the best of their new life together, but the Wasteland has other plans and neither of them will emerge unchanged by the experience.
Reminder this is now an AU SGC given as Sam and Jack got stranded in S8 just after Full Alert. Citizen Joe didn't happen/wasn't a thing in this AU and Threads never happened. Janet was alive in the AU world I established in Part 1 as a reminder. Odyssey the name of Part 3 – despite obviously being the name of the ship, represents a long eventful journey home. It's also written by Homer - which I thought O'Neill would appreciate.
00000000000000000
[Cheyenne Mountain, Stargate Command – Milky Way Galaxy]
[RECAP]
Daniel almost collided with Mitchell as they both rounded a corridor in an attempt to get into the control room, Mitchell pipping him by seconds.
"What have we got Sir?" Mitchell barked, "One of the SFs said there was an SG1 IDC?"
General Landry turned and Daniel saw the expression of pinched concern on his face. "We have. Specifically Colonel Carter's IDC was received." Daniel felt his chest constrict and words failed him for a moment.
"Sam?" he asked and Landry gave him a knowing if somewhat pained look.
"Sir!" Walter cut in, "we're receiving an additional incoming transmission… digital." He pointed to the computer and Daniel craned his neck to see past Landry. There on the screen, in black and white, were a string of words that lit a spark of hope inside his chest and curved his lips into a grin. Maybe today really was the day.
"Tell Siler, Jack O'Neill wants his Simpsons boxset back. That's O'Neill – with two Ls"
Landry turned and gave him a frown but Daniel couldn't help but grin, "Same old Jack." As coded messages went, that one was pretty obscure. Surely only those closest to Jack would know the significance of words like that. A Goa'uld – or a Replicator – wouldn't ever think to open with it if looking to prove their identity; it was inane, bordering on idiotic. It was completely Jack O'Neill.
"We've been down this road before, haven't we Dr Jackson?" A shadow fell over the General's features, not giving up the hard ass act, which was for good reason Daniel acknowledged grimly. After what happened with Ba'al and his damn clone, even he was less inclined to trust just any Jack O'Neill that waltzed through the Gate.
"We can't take that chance. We do this by the book. Walter…" he barked down at the man in the seat, "…send the redirect to Alpha Site signal to whomever or whatever might be on the other end of this message," Landry ordered and Daniel watched helpless as Walter sent the signal.
"General, you can't mean…" he started to argue when Mitchell shoved past him, knocking into his shoulder to peer through the viewing window.
"Erm, anyone noticed the iris? What the hell is it doing?" Mitchell turned back to stare at them and Daniel frowned, glancing down as the iris was clearly shuddering, part opening then closing. Like it was receiving alternative commands.
Landry frowned and looked sharply at Walter expectantly. "Why's it doing that?"
Walter spun in his chair to look up at him, "I don't know Sir. There's something wrong. The iris… I'm not in control," Walter exclaimed as he typed furiously at the keyboard, "We're receiving some sort of signal. It's overriding my commands." He paused and his fingers froze as his screen went blank and a new command prompt started without his input. "Sir, I think we're being hacked!"
"Again?" Mitchell snapped, looking back at the wormhole suspiciously. "Damn. I thought all those Replicator bastards were dead." He glanced at Daniel, "Repli-Carter's dead… right? You said it yourself."
Daniel grimaced. "Technically I was dead myself at the time… a knife-hand through the chest will do that to you," he muttered, shifting on his feet. "We have no idea that's what this is… or who. Like I was trying to say, this could be the real Sam."
"We can't take that chance, not after the last time. Shut it down Walter!" Landry barked in alarm. They all watched as the Chief's hand went instantly to the palm reader for the kill switch.
"No wait!" Daniel shouted at the exact moment the power cut out and Walter's palm hit a blank reader. The overhead lights shut off abruptly and the red gloom of the emergency lighting flickered on. It was too late. All eyes turned to watch the iris as it opened fully over an active wormhole, leaving them exposed.
"Well that can't be good," Mitchell growled, going for his sidearm. "Permission to get the Replicator disruptor Sir and hope like hell!" he snapped at Landry, already moving towards the door.
"Granted!" Landry shouted after him. "Colonel, I don't want even one of those things getting out of the Gate room!"
"Sir, we've lost all power!..." Walter shouted out, a touch of panic in his voice, "…to everything but the Gate that is!"
"I can see that Sergeant!" Landry snapped, staring at the blue light emanating from the ring and the chevrons that were glowing violently as a faint tremble seemed to be coming from the Gate, lit only by emergency lighting. "Get it back up!" he ordered.
"Up? It shouldn't even be running! There's nothing powering it on our end!" Walter looked alarmed and Daniel glanced curiously back at the wormhole, that never bode well.
Landry grabbed the telephone, "I want SG teams one to five in the Gate room. Now! Lock it down people. Weapons hot," he barked into it and Daniel flinched. The standard security team was already there but clearly he was gearing up for a fight. Daniel turned to head down, he could see the teams already filtering in, mobilising the mobile turrets as a small army descended into the Gate room, weapons on the shimmering event horizon.
Mitchell arrived with the Ancients anti-replicator weapon. Daniel could see that the excitable Colonel had clearly been itching to crack it open and give the Replicators his best. Given they were supposed to be extinct, at least in this Galaxy, that was a faintly terrifying prospect.
Daniel made one more attempt at reaching Landry through the haze that had clearly descended amongst the military 'to hold the line'.
"General…Hank, please," he implored, "What if it is them. That message was…"
"Exactly the type of trick Ba'al would use. Although given our iris problem, this stinks of Replicators."
Daniel sighed, knowing he'd have to pick his battle with Landry on this. At least with the iris open there was a chance he realised, staring intently between Landry and the Gate, not quite daring to hope. He could feel the knot of tension and desperation blooming heavy as he spotted Teal'c stalk into the Gate room from the other side to stand next to Mitchell, his staff weapon trained on the Stargate.
It had been like this every time there'd been an unscheduled off-world activation. Jack and Sam had never officially been declared KIA. How could they? No one could say for sure what the hell had happened to them. There'd been rumours of course; everything pointed to them being alive and hostages, possibly of Ba'al's. Jacob and Selmak had flat out refused to sign anything with Sam's date of death on it, arguing it was much too soon to give up on POWs after only six months. Daniel tended to agree, especially with the strange sense of certainty he'd had when he'd de-ascended the last time, that his friends weren't dead and more disturbingly, that somehow they'd be home soon. He was sure it was Oma's parting gift as she fought her eternal struggle with Anubis. The gift of recollection, at least in part. Surely this time was different – now there was an IDC and a message. Surely that meant something?
Landry was giving him that pitying look he was starting to get used to from people. "Dr Jackson, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to welcome them back and declare this all a big misunderstanding. But you know I can't take that chance. Especially not when some unknown force has apparently commandeered the SGC and overridden our control of the damn Stargate… again!" he snapped, echoing Mitchell's words. After all, without his last 'miracle near-ascended intervention inside a Replicator's head' the Replicators, and the Replicator version of Sam in particular, would have overrun this base, the planet and the whole damn Galaxy. Because of course any version of Sam would aim that damn high.
But this time no Replicators had come marching through. Nothing at all had in fact. "Have you even considered that Repli-Carter learnt how to do this from our Sam? The real Sam. You and I both know that if she wanted a way back onto this base from off-world, there's probably not a damn thing you or I or anyone could do to stop her," Daniel pointed out and Landry merely scowled, crossing his arms and staring out at the event horizon.
It seemed that they wouldn't get any more warning than they had; the event horizon rippled and pulsed. Daniel imagined that the sensors, had they been working, would be going crazy. As it was, everyone who wasn't armed and in the Gate room already was on their feet, staring at the event horizon which seemed to be circling in a way which caused faint horror in Daniel as he recalled a briefing report of Sam's from years ago. The event horizon looked like it was being drawn to a point somewhere behind it. Almost exactly like it had when they'd gated to the planet with the blackhole. He'd thankfully missed that whole incident by being off-world and had consequently been stranded for two whole weeks on a dustbowl with a bunch of marines and a geological team who were not getting on at all. Still, the notion of a blackhole on the other end of the Gate filled him with dread.
Then there was an explosion of dirt and debris which blew out of the event horizon, showering the ramp, spraying a thin layer of black iridescent dust everywhere before several boulder sized rocks of what looked like twisted metal came through next, almost embedding in the concrete wall. Then energy blasts came shooting out from the other side and the soldiers in the Gate were scrambling to find cover behind the heavy-duty shields. His heart in his mouth and unease growing, Daniel was helpless to watch from his position in the control room, whilst Teal'c ducked down back to the doorway and out of harm's way. The blasts scorched the concrete, blowing dust and debris everywhere but missing anything vital. Daniel's heart sank. Just another trick then?
Two armour clad figures in metallic suits emerged at speed from the event horizon, landing with heavy booted footfalls on the ramp that seemed to shake the whole damn Gate. There was stunned silence as everyone took a second just to absorb the sight of two bodies encased head to toe in metal armour; it reminded Daniel far too much of Anubis' Super Soldiers and nothing at all like the two people he'd been expecting, or hoping to see. The two invaders stood and straightened up, looking around. They had weapons strapped all over their suits but crucially nothing in their hands as they both raised them placatingly. Daniel's heart was in his mouth and his eyes like saucers as he got closer to the glass to see.
"Don't shoot!" The one in the metallic black suit barked through some sort of voice modulator. "We're friendlies!" it insisted, still not moving a muscle with arms raised. "I'm General Jack O'Neill and that's Colonel Samantha Carter!" The voice carried, but with the identity completely obscured through the intimidating faceplate, it was impossible to determine the truth of that. If Daniel was completely honest it was an eerie sight in the red emergency light, with the headlamps on their helmets cutting through the gloom and alighting on the assembled soldiers with weapons pointed at them. But Daniel was sure it was Jack – it sounded like him. Hell, even the mannerisms in the gesticulating hands were achingly familiar.
"What fresh hell is this!" Landry groused, inching closer to the glass to get a better look at them both. "And why the hell is that Gate still open? Walter, tell me you can get it closed!" Walter was shaking his head, looking like a deer in the headlights and Daniel felt faintly sorry for him; he was little more than an operator.
"Lower your weapons. On the ground now!" Mitchell barked, drawing Daniel's attention back on the activity in the Gate room. To his relief they seemed to be complying, unstrapping what Daniel considered a truly unnecessary number of guns and equipment; he spotted a massive black duffel bag, it all hit the grating with metallic thumps in the silence. The relatively peaceful moment was interrupted when two smaller figures, clad in less cumbersome-looking black armoured suits, materialised behind them brandishing smaller handheld guns, right before the Gate abruptly shut down, cutting off the main source of light and leaving them with just the red gloom, slashed through only by the headlamps of the assembled metal clad soldiers. Daniel's eyes went wide as silence descended in the room following the two further unexpected arrivals, until Mitchell's voice rose, loud and commanding and torches clicked on from all sides.
"You two at the back. Weapons down! Right now! On the ground all of you!" He was waving the Ancient anti-Replicator weapon device around Daniel noted, wondering if that would do a fat lot of good if they weren't in fact Replicators this time. Mitchell seemed to come to the same conclusion, handing it off to an SF and snapping a P90 into place instead.
The two larger metal clad figures who'd emerged first, introducing themselves as Sam and Jack, were unarmed and getting down quickly on their knees with hands up. The movements of the one he took to be Sam was accentuated by the metal suit which drew his eye, as it was giving off the oddest blue glow. He was relieved to see that both of their behaviours were what you'd expect from someone familiar with the SGC's protocols for unscheduled arrivals and who didn't want to get shot. The same couldn't be said for the two late arrivals. The smaller black suited figures were hissing in what it took Daniel a moment to realise was Asgard, or a dialect of it. They were still brandishing their weapons and clearly not getting the message – or ignoring it.
"That's Asgard!" Daniel exclaimed.
Landry looked at him and pointed at the microphone. "Then tell them to lower their weapons!"
Daniel frowned, "Why? The Asgard all speak English." He glanced at the microphone, "And tell them on what?" he questioned given as the power was out to that too. Landry opened his mouth to respond when there was a sudden battery of energy blasts against the ballistic shielded glass of the control room from their newest suited arrivals, forcing everyone inside to drop for cover, until they realised it hadn't penetrated the reinforced viewing window.
Landry shared a look with him, "Well that can't be good," Daniel muttered standing back up somewhat more hesitantly. He couldn't remember the Asgard ever shooting first. If they were even Asgard – after all Goa'uld spoke English too.
The unfriendly not-Asgard turned their guns on the two metal clad figures knelt at the bottom of the ramp that he was hoping were the 'real' Sam and Jack. A twinge of unease went through Daniel as the black clad figures held their guns on them, looking like they really had no intention of listening to Mitchell and his teams barked instructions to lower their weapons before they got shot. The blue suited figure that had been introduced as Samantha Carter clearly had the same realisation as he did about their 'friends' and rose swiftly from her knees. There was no warning, just a sudden burst of movement which had her diving towards the two figures and delivering a metal fisted blow directly to one's chest that sent it sailing back. But not before it got a shot off, hitting the armoured figure beside her that had declared himself Jack, as he'd stood up to join the fight. The blast knocked him back and Daniel startled in surprise, and relief, as it rippled out over a personal energy shield in the suit, dissipating quickly and leaving him unharmed but clearly pissed as hell.
"Shoot them!" the unarmed figure roared, the tone, if not the modulated voice, so damn familiar that Daniel watched Teal'c snap into action and raise his weapon as if on instinct to obey the command. The alien was raising its weapon, pointing it directly at the figure claiming to be Jack, and Teal'c reacted, blowing a hole straight through its suited chest – only it didn't have a shield and fell back, smoke hissing from a gaping chest wound.
Daniel's eyes snapped to the blue suited figure, which was still in motion, grappling for the weapon with the remaining assailant until it was free, ignoring Mitchell's bellowing too as she swiftly bought her foot up and delivered a blow that shot the unfortunate recipient across the room to snap violently against the concrete wall, leaving a dent. The body crumpled to the floor and didn't get up as Mitchell and his teams moved in, holding a gun over the bodies. The rest trained their weapons on the supposed figures of Sam and Jack, indicating she drop the gun she'd just acquired, as Mitchell reached down to unclasp the black helmet of the dead assailant.
The Gate room seemed to still as it came away to reveal a bulbous green head rather than the familiar grey of the Asgard. Now that was unexpected! Daniel looked from it to the armoured figures in confusion. Oh God! He hoped this wasn't a parallel Earth thing, complete with a set of missing Jack and Sam – just not their Jack and Sam. He wasn't sure he could take that disappointment.
"It's dead," Mitchell called out as he rose, gun trained on the two suited figures who had fallen still in the wake of the attack. "Whatever it is," he added, keeping his weapon cocked on the two figures standing on the ramp and indicating for them to get back on their knees. Daniel could see he was already thinking along similar lines to him.
"You two," he pointed at them, "Helmets off. Now," he ordered, noting the serious number of weapons still strapped to them which Daniel realised they hadn't used to return fire on the Asgard. In fact, pretty much every movement they'd made had been carefully defensive only. It was a good sign he hoped. Mitchell must have clocked that too to be giving them some leeway now. "And finish unloading the weapons… all of them. Slowly," he instructed, stalking closer to them as Teal'c approached from the rear.
"Yeah sure ya betcha," the bluish metal suited figure muttered, utterly unrecognisable beyond the mechanical voice modulator; it was a Jack-ism at least but strangely Daniel was sure it was coming from Sam. At least they were complying, continuing to unload the weapons which would let everyone breathe a little easier after the recent excitement.
"Sorry about them. Nasty little buggers," the larger black suited figure declared as he kicked a bag down the ramp towards them, which Mitchell glanced in and whistled loud about.
"Damn! That's some heavy-duty firepower. You planning an invasion?" he questioned, far too casually for it actually to be idle, which made Daniel wonder just what the hell was in that bag and why they'd kick it away. "Or you coming in peace?"
"Oh you know, just like those boy scouts… always be prepared," the suited figure quipped and Daniel had heard enough. He ignored Landry's order to stay put and was flying down the stairs, through the corridor to come to a skidding halt in the Gate room, pushing past the armed soldiers without a care, arriving just in time to see the helmet come off; dark irascible eyes stared straight at him with the lips forming a wry and oh so familiar smirk, even if the face it was set in seemed impossible, bringing Daniel to a complete stop, his heart crashing against his chest and his breathing caught. He'd imagined this moment and yet, he still couldn't quite believe it.
"My God… Jack? It's really you?" He stared back wide eyed at a sight he'd not expected to see again but had never really stopped hoping to. Daniel tried to move forward towards him on autopilot when Mitchell's hand slammed into his chest, holding him back, his eyes narrowed, shaking his head violently back at him.
"Daniel, I know what it looks like but look closer huh. Be smart," Mitchell warned him with a sharp rasp in his ear and Daniel took in the face of one Jack O'Neill, give or take the impossible feat of twenty years. His heart sank and something bitter settled in his gut. Not again.
"Hey Space Monkey. You miss us?"
000000000000000
[And now the conclusion….]
Jack stood staring at the stunned face of his friend and he felt a wave of emotion rock him; he wasn't entirely sure which one of them was feeling it. God damn it was good to see him. Hell it was good to see anything that resembled the SGC. But it was especially good to see him alive given as the last time they'd met Daniel had been all ascended, which usually meant sort-of-dead.
"Who are you?" the soldier accused; Jack recognised him from Antarctica – the injured pilot that had held back the flood, Mitchell – and he was pointing a gun at him. "Both of you." He refocused the gun in Sam's direction which Jack was none too happy about. His hand twitched, ready to rip it out of the flyboy's hands if he made a wrong decision before he remembered – no powers. Not yet. He was picking up a hell of a lot of suspicion and concern flying about. More so than he'd expected.
"Are you serious Mitchell?" Daniel gave him a look, then waved emphatically at Jack's face. "You know who that is. Everyone in this room knows who that is!" he barked at him incredulously, building up a head of steam.
"Protocol, Jackson. Besides, look at him. If this is another clone, then it clearly wasn't done cooking. He's got another twenty years or so to go for the grey to really set in and you know what happened with the last one." They shared a significant look, but Jack was too offended by that comment to focus on it.
"Hey!" he scowled, faintly affronted and running a gloved hand through his mostly darker hair now. "It was distinguished." he replied. Using Sam's term.
Mitchell glowered back, "And what? We're supposed to believe that's Carter under that hood?" he gestured over to where Sam stood clearly agitated despite her silence. To Jack's dismay he realised that Daniel looked a little less sure as they stared at Sam's faceplate. Teal'c though was approaching, lowering his staff weapon, head cocked and that damn eyebrow up, examining them both.
"You are looking well O'Neill," Teal'c told him in that unflappable but slightly accusatory way of his, "Too well." Damn it was good to hear that sardonic tone in that flat delivery aimed his way again.
Jack probably should have responded to that but there was one overwhelming thought as he stared across at his brother in arms. The man had cornrows in his short hair. "T… what's with the hair?" he asked getting the oddest sense of déjà vu. He felt like whenever he disappeared for a bit Teal'c went crazy with the hair.
"That is not relevant. You will answer our questions and you will both submit to testing," Teal'c informed him sharply, his tone a clear command, as he turned to Sam. "You will reveal yourself, if you are truly Colonel Carter," he barked and Jack winced. Huh.
"Done with that vow of silence then?" Jack quipped recalling what Daniel had said and all eyes turned to him in surprise and he quirked an eyebrow trying to pretend he hadn't said that. 'What?' he gave back with an eyebrow quirk.
"Indeed," Teal'c sniffed at him, stalking forward and using his bulk to get in Jack's face, his weapon still clutched in his hand as the big guy stared him out. Well, this was all new and unpleasant, and unfortunately he wasn't getting much out of the big guy; his mind and thoughts equally quiet as the man himself but there was some heavy duty guilt and disdain coming off him. Duty. Distrust.
"See, even Teal'c's not sure what the hell we're dealing with here. Clone, robot duplicate, Replicator," Mitchell added as if needing to remind Daniel of the missions he'd lived and Jack found himself getting irritated. Then again maybe he was just paranoid about his facelift; he knew that was going to cause issues. Maybe it would have been safer to leave the damn helmet on like Sam had.
"Or… maybe we're really just, you know… us," he posed.
"Were you captured?" Mitchell posed sharply and Jack frowned.
"Nope. Parallel Universe."
"Really." Mitchell snorted in clear disbelief and even Daniel looked slightly disappointed with that as an excuse.
"I'm sensing tension," Jack observed, staring between them all, an uneasy feeling from all sides hitting him. Weapon hands were tensed, jaws and muscles straining, they were all waiting for him to launch some sort of attack, expecting it almost, which was frankly odd. They were usually suspicious of parallel Earth claims but he didn't recall them being held with such hostility at gunpoint. After all, it was a fairly common occurrence around here.
"That's because we broke the door down in our excitement to get back through it Jack," Sam replied in her modulated voice as she reached up and released the pressure seals on her helmet. The air released as she pulled it free and her long blonde hair, which had clearly come loose from the braid she'd placed it in, fell about her face. He was tempted to argue the 'we' in Sam's statement given as he had very little to do with the door kicking shenanigans with the Stargate, but wisely held his tongue. Damn! If she wasn't a sight for sore eyes, and not just for him, he felt the tension ratchet down a notch with confirmation she was in fact Sam. Interesting. He got hostility whereas she got curiosity, some sent relief. It seemed like more than a few people were convinced Sam had been dead before now. His fate seemed to have been more ambiguous and less peaceful. He was getting a spattering of violence and he winced – his head was cracking like a watermelon with too much input and he deliberately pulled it back for a bit.
"Sam." Daniel's voice held nothing but honest to God relief and his grin was wide, his eyes shining like he might break down but he was clearly torn between wanting to believe it was them and whatever the hell had happened to make them lean towards believing they weren't. For a brief moment, even Teal'c seemed to soften that aggressive stance he'd taken as he took her in.
"Colonel Carter. It is good to see you again." The stoic Jaffa declared, not giving away the fact that Jack was certain he could feel some measure of joy beneath the surface, but he couldn't be sure. He'd gotten used to reading the minor inflections in Teal'c's otherwise inexpressive features, it might have just been that.
Sam was practically vibrating with the urge to reach for them but restrained herself, the guns still on them, including Teal'c and Mitchell's warning that any sudden movement might be met with lethal force.
"You have no idea Teal'c," Sam breathed, "We've missed you… both of you." She turned to take Daniel in with that statement too.
"In a bit of a rush to get home?" Mitchell cut across the touching reunion. "Standard procedure is to gate to the Alpha Site after capture. Want to explain to us what the hell this was?" he barked, pointing to the still darkened Gate room.
"Capture?" Sam queried with a frown.
"Well, it was sort of raining spaceship and green meanies on us… but we did knock first," Jack countered. "Sent an IDC and everything. Did you get my message?" he asked in his faux casual way, looking over their shoulders, hopefully for Siler and those very DVDs and taking the opportunity to scan the setup. Not easy given the emergency powered gloom still going on, whatever Sam had done had clearly done a number.
Daniel frowned. "We did. Very clever."
"And yet… door remained closed." He cocked his head.
"I'll ask again, why didn't you obey the message to convene at the Alpha Site? Or did you not know the address?" Mitchell accused and Teal'c was right there with him, giving Jack a glare that went right through him.
"Well, its complicated Cam," Sam bit out and Jack blinked; Mitchell's expression shifted to her and there was something else there, familiar recognition and a slew of memories. They knew each other.
"That's Colonel… Colonel," Mitchell snipped.
"Okay. It's complicated Colonel," Sam bit back, not sounding nearly as phased by his hostility as Jack knew she was. "Like the General said, we were trapped on a parallel Earth. Gating back from one isn't as easy as that. It had to be Earth. I'd explain the quantum physics of it to you but as I recall from the Academy, that never was your strong suit… was it?" Oh there was definitely history there, but despite Sam's acerbic tone, Mitchell's tension eased a fraction. She knew their history, which to him seemed to be a good sign.
"Convenient," Mitchell growled, not letting on to the tone shift Jack could hear going on internally.
"It really wasn't," Sam countered.
"Let's not fight kids. We've just got home." He cut across what he sensed might become bickering, resolving himself to find out about that later. "Speaking of," he took a step forward down the ramp, hands still carelessly at his metal armoured sides, testing a theory and drawing the current ire back onto him and off Sam. "I thought there'd be cake… and bunting. Definitely cake… maybe a pie." Jack glanced around as if someone was suddenly going to whip out a hamper for him.
Instead, everyone started barking instructions at him to remain where he was and, if he put so much as a toe out of line, the SFs with the guns trained on him were serious about shooting him he realised. He was a threat, dangerous; Replicators and clones swimming were in their minds again and he winced. Damn. His abilities were definitely not liking something right now; he was going to end up with a nosebleed at this rate, which given the itchy trigger fingers he was sensing might not be the best move. Beside him he felt Sam bristle at the outright threat, wanting to go for a gun herself. She didn't like being disarmed any more than he did but then he supposed they were both weapons now, as lethal as any gun.
"Easy. Take it easy!" Daniel cried out, panicked, arms up and stepping in front of the line of fire, which was stupid. Jack would have balled him out if they were on a mission but right now he appreciated it.
"Jackson. Get out of the line of fire," Mitchell ordered, and Jack felt his respect and appreciation for the young Colonel move up a notch. Protecting Daniel would do that.
"I'm not about to let you shoot them." Daniel glowered, "I told you they were alive. What if it really is them?!" He looked around a little hopelessly, clearly not seeing much support for his line in the sand. Jack appreciated that at least, even as he shrugged at Daniel's appealing look to him. What could he say right now? If he was honest, he'd expected suspicion to some degree. He'd have been disappointed with security if there wasn't but this reaction was a little extreme.
"And what if it is not Daniel Jackson," Teal'c got out coolly. "Step aside." Okay, Jack had to admit that one hurt.
"No one's shooting anyone right now, so long as everyone stays calm," Mitchell got out. "But we're going to be holding off on the parade until we've confirmed you are who you say you are… General," Mitchell replied, tacking on the salutation at the end 'just in case' Jack heard him think.
"I'll admit, this wasn't quite the welcome home we were expecting," Sam spoke into the silence as the new base commander stalked into the room, both their eyes tracking him as he entered and Mitchell came to attention.
"Hank!" Jack declared, delighted; he'd named his successor as part of the backup protocols for the base when he'd been in command and was pleased to see they'd taken his suggestion on board.
"General." Sam stood to attention, snapping out a salute like the good soldier she was, even if she was mildly surprised by the ingrained response he noted. But she had no idea who the man in front of her was.
"Samantha Carter… General Hank Landry… I recommended him," Jack told her with a grin that appeared amiable enough but he suspected that Hank would see through it. They were alike in that way. He hoped that it might help with Sam's growing desire to bolt if she knew he at least respected the man.
"I take it there's been happenings, possibly shenanigans since we've been gone General?" Jack asked, looking around for help and trying to jog some thoughts for the taking. He felt a little guilty doing it but he got a sudden mishmash of images from just about every SF in the room that reverberated around in his skull like feedback from a microphone. He winced slightly and discreetly tapped the side of his head. That would sting for a while. Apparently, the Gate room was an echo chamber – interesting. He wondered if that was something to do with the Gate itself or the position of it. He was betting on the former given this was an Ancient kind of problem but he thought it odd it hadn't happened back in Nuka World; he'd been around the Gate for a while and not had that issue. He resolved to shut his brain off for a bit; the last thing he wanted right now was to give them another reason to want to shoot him, or give 'ole Doc Frasier extra incentive to stick him with something pointy.
Sam seemed to be having her own issues; he sensed tension rising in her as her gaze rose to the control room and then back to the man with the stars.
"Colonel Carter, General O'Neill. If you are who you say you are, then I demand that you return control of the Stargate and our systems to us. Immediately!" he barked in a no nonsense tone.
Jack grimaced. He'd been worried about that when the lights and the power hadn't kicked back on.
Sam stepped up beside him and the weapons trained on her, much to Jack's irritation. "My apologies General. With your permission, I'll need access to deactivate a failsafe I enacted," Sam told Landry sharply.
"And what failsafe would that be?" Landry queried; Jack winced, that was going to be a doozy of a conversation later. Then the alarms went off and there was a flashing red light accompanied by the computer informing them that the self-destruct had just been triggered on a five-minute count down. Jack turned to Sam and she gave him a grimace. Oh. That kind of failsafe. Well, she said she'd secured her backdoor; he was both impressed and terrified of her forethought in this.
"That failsafe," she deadpanned and Landry gave her a dark look.
"What have you done?" he snapped, looking rightly furious.
"You booby trapped the backdoor?" Jack asked, sounding about as alarmed as Landry he realised and tried to curb his reaction as Sam gave him an irritated look; he turned his grimace into a thumbs up.
"Yes. I had to secure the backdoor I'd built into the system… should I ever be compromised Sir," she addressed Landry. "When the backdoor protocol is activated, the failsafe algorithm gets initiated at random, somewhere in the subroutines of the SGC systems. Only I can find it, deactivate it and prevent this base from self-destructing in the next five minutes."
"Bull," Mitchell called out and he darted across, picking up the Ancient Anti-Replicator gun Jack had seen him abandon earlier. "This is a trick General," he informed the Base Commander.
"You realise that only works on Replicators?" Jack pointed out with enough snark to quirk even Daniel's eyebrow.
"Oh I'm counting on it!" Mitchell returned looking like he really did expect the damn thing to work.
"We don't have time for this. The base will explode," Sam informed them all, stepping in front of Jack and stalking right up to the Mitchell inches from the weapon. "Shoot me Cam. I dare you."
There was a murmur of sound and Mitchell's expression darkened, right before he fired. The blast wave passed over them both harmlessly. A beat of silence passed.
"I'm not a Replicator," Sam bit out with relish, irritated that yet again she was being accused of being a robot. Honestly, Jack had to concede it was getting old now. Although if her evil twin had been running around on this end, which he suspected she might have been given the hostility and a few mental images he'd gotten of her, then he could understand the caution.
"Honestly Sam, we were more worried about Jack than you." Daniel stepped up beside Mitchell; Jack didn't have to feign confusion.
"Moi?" he hesitated, "Oh fer crying out loud! Don't tell me they made me a bot again! Hate when that happens," he grumbled, but Mitchell and Daniel were conferring amongst themselves.
"I told you Mitchell… Repli-Carter is dead. She died with her fleet. Right after she murdered me." He made a stabbing motion and Jack winced, Sam though seemed to recoil.
"She killed you?" Sam asked Daniel, clearly horrified but something slid into place in Jack's understanding and he opened his mouth to respond, right when the alarm blared again; the countdown informing them they had three minutes left. Nervous eyes shot to Sam and to the General.
"Chief Harriman… deactivate that damn thing!" Landry barked back up at Walter who was looking downright nervous in the hot seat back up in the control room; he waved his hands around and made a kill gesture across his throat. Clearly they hadn't got power for the mikes yet, but there wasn't much interpretation needed. Someone handed him a radio.
"General Sir." He crackled across Mitchell's radio who handed it over to Landry, handing off the Anti-Replicator weapon as he did to an SF and getting his gun back out and fixed on them again.
"I can't shut it down. We've still got no power to the Gate and I'm locked out of the system." He paused receiving information from someone before he came back. "Apparently, the only thing that power's still reaching is an auxiliary sub-station on level twelve Sir."
"General," Sam cut in. "You won't be able to deactivate it from here. And frankly, at this point, with so little time I'm not sure anyone else could because I designed it that way. It's a failsafe Sir. Please, let me fix this!" Sam moved forward off the ramp and the SFs followed her with guns.
"And why should I trust you? If I give you access to our systems, you could do anything."
"Like set the self-destruct?" Daniel pointed out. All eyes turned on him. "I'm just saying… seems like the damage is done. We're going to explode aren't we? What more could she do?" he shrugged nervously, 'And we've just proven she's not a Replicator."
"I think you know as well as I do Dr Jackson that is no way of proving anything at this point." They shared a look, looked at Sam and more tellingly around her to Jack.
"Why don't I stay here as collateral? We can have a nice little chat while you let Sam go do her thing and stop us all from dying," he counter offered.
"General. Sir. Please… time is ticking. Take whatever precautions you need but I need to gain access to your system right now or it won't matter who the hell we are because we'll all be dead. Everyone under your command." Oh that was a low blow for any Commander to hear, the ultimate failure; Jack winced, provoking him so directly might not be the right move.
"You see, that just doesn't sound like the Colonel Carter I've heard so much about now does it? Risking the lives of everyone on base." Landry landed the barb and Sam stilled, swallowing the urge to shove him through a wall, much to Jack's relief.
"It wouldn't be a risk if you'd just let me deactivate it!" she snarled through her teeth, "Like Daniel says, what more could I do other than what's happening right now? You've got nothing to lose at this point. The Gate's powered down. The dialling systems offline. I can't dial out! The whole base is locked down – magnetically sealed if the powers out. All that's left is one auxiliary system on level twelve, isolated from critical systems except for the self-destruct… because I built it that way!" she argued.
"Sir, not to hurry you…" Mitchell glanced at his watch, "…but we got two minutes left."
"Level twelve?" Landry looked both resigned and in the next moment aghast turning his widened eyes on Mitchell for a moment, as if finally realising what Sam was getting at. "Even if I let you go…" he turned to Sam, "…you won't make it in time."
Sam grinned taking that as permission. "Yeah, about that. These suits aren't just armour… they're fast too." Then she was running, hurdling over Teal'c like he wasn't over six foot and landing with a heavy clang in her armour as she went, pushing it and her bionics to the limit. Blame the suit – seemed like a solid Plan A. He'd just survived one nuclear explosion, he wasn't particularly keen on experiencing another if he was honest.
There were shouts but Sam was already out of the room and going hell for leather. "What the hell?!" Landry barked, "Mitchell, take a team and follow her!"
"Follow her?! I can't even see her." Mitchell was off and running though.
"Don't shoot her!" Jack called after them, "You'll just make her mad!" he added and sighed, turning back to Landry. There was a beat. "So Hank… how you been?" He grinned at the man.
"Busy. Big shoes to fill and all," Hank replied, "You?" This is why they'd got on Jack decided, when they'd met in Washington once or twice; the man could chit chat and deescalate a crisis as well as Jack.
"Extended vacation. Can't say I'd recommend it. The travel was hell and the locals weren't all that friendly." Jack smiled thinly.
Daniel stepped up beside the General, hands in his pockets; he looked older, his face sporting a scruffy short, cropped beard. "Parallel Earth huh? What was it like?" Daniel asked, the tension and faint accusation in his voice plain as day. He'd always been a suspicious soul, although some of the curiosity seemed to have burned off him this death round.
"Oh little place right next to Satan's asshole that I call the Wasteland. Two years and not even a decent cup of coffee," he blew out an exasperated breath.
There was a look of alarm that rippled across the thoughts and faces of those around him and he tensed. "What?"
"Two years?" Daniel's voice snapped and Jack looked at him; there was confusion there and Jack felt the push of his mind against his. He swallowed, alarm bells going off.
"Not two years?" he asked uneasily, eyes widening at the answer that was coming back from several minds.
"No." Teal'c found his voice first. "General O'Neill and Colonel Carter have been missing, presumed captured, for six-months," Teal'c informed him grimly; clearly he was of the opinion they weren't the O'Neill and Carter he was waiting for. But that was interesting, he'd said captured, not 'presumed dead'. That tended to require some sort of proof of life. There was also sorts of crazy shit coming from the minds around him and a glimmer of understanding started forming; that might be a problem, he mused. Then he winced and surreptitiously coughed, wiping his nose on his hand to hide what he suspected was a spot of blood.
"Huh. You don't say?" he replied, not belying the genuine panic he was feeling that they might have broken time with this little blackhole stunt, because he was quite certain he'd spent the last two years in the shit, so to speak.
"This is news to you?" Daniel pressed, looking irritated that he could lose two years; to be fair he wasn't thrilled about it himself.
"Hey Daniel, you know me and science… it's all geek to me." Jack glanced over at the doorway. "I'm sure Sam will be back in a jiffy to explain it… once she's done making sure we don't all blow up."
"Watch him," Landry ordered Teal'c and the remaining SFs. "I'm going back up to the control room. I want to know the minute we've got power restored. Turns out I'll have a call to make on a certain red phone." He stalked away and Jack watched him go, which left him with Teal'c, a bunch of heavily armed SFs and one Daniel Jackson, bursting at the brim with questions that were already starting to crowd Jack's head.
"So, how've you been?" Daniel probed, rocking on the balls of his feet, hands in his pockets.
"Oh you know… same old," Jack gave him a thin lipped smile.
Daniel cocked his head. "You see, somehow I doubt that. I heard vacations could take years off but that seems a little much." He waved in the direction of his face. "You get some work done?"
"I did, thanks for noticing," Jack replied "Bit of an emergency situation really. Between you and me, those crow's feet were getting noticeable." Jack cocked his head, "I'm kind of liking the fuzz Daniel… lose your razor?" He pointed to his chin. "Almost looks like you hit puberty whilst I was gone." He noted that Daniel had also packed on some muscle mass; not quite so much as Jack had but then the Wasteland had carved him lean and mean, Daniel's was bulkier, like Teal'c had been feeding him his Jaffa protein shakes.
"Puberty?" Daniel glowered at the insult with faint amusement tinging his expression.
"You should be wary Daniel Jackson. We have been fooled before." Teal'c cut into their banter, not in the least bit amused Jack noted, his eyes drifting to those neat rows of braided hair on his head. What was it with hair and extended vacations?
"I know," he replied. "But we've got a few minutes to kill before we all blow up. May as well catch up." Daniel stared at Jack adamantly, his head cocked as if waiting for him to do or say something that wasn't distinctly him.
"So… how's things? We still kicking Goa'uld ass?" Jack questioned.
'You could say that, they're all dead. Repli-Carter wiped them out.' Daniel thought smugly.
"Cease these attempts to engage us in conversation. We will not reveal tactical information to you," Teal'c growled, his staff weapon still aimed at Jack, clearly still smarting from deciding to let Mitchell and the teams run after Sam after she'd launched over him. "Even if it is proven that he is human and indeed O'Neill, it does not mean he belongs in this world," Teal'c spoke up, his eyes firmly on Jack's, as if trying to see into his soul. His mind was still giving him diddly squat Jack noted, impressed; he wasn't going to push him in the damn Gate room, he might end up killing the guy before they'd even hugged it out.
"Incidentally, whom was it you supposed had captured us if the Goa'uld are all gone?" His mood had picked up at that little tidbit.
Daniel gave him an odd look. "Oh don't pretend you don't know," he accused and Jack frowned.
Teal'c was practically spitting at him by this point. "Be silent!" he commanded; it was so like the version of his friend he'd met a time or two before, back when he was First Prime, that Jack felt momentarily concerned that this really might not be his world.
Jack closed his mouth, miming buttoning it to Teal'c but he'd got the information he needed. Daniel always had been a leaking sieve. State of play right now was key.
"Just one question… tell me Repli-Carter got Bocci too," he growled expectantly, looking between his two former teammates. There was a pause and no one gave him anything back, but he got a distinct disappointment and anger.
"Doh," he let out, interpreting that as a negative. "Slimy git always survives," he muttered, his eyes finding Daniel's which had gone quietly contemplative behind those familiar frames.
"So, two years?" Daniel queried cutting across his musings and Jack shrugged.
"Apparently not, right?"
"What happened on P4M-523? We went through seconds before you," Daniel faintly accused and Jack sensed a lot rested on that question.
"Gate malfunction," Jack shrugged, "You know how it is… massive energy blast hit us in transit. We got spat out into a whole other Universe somewhere on the other side of hell."
"Hell's in another Universe now is it?" Daniel snipped quickly.
"More or less," Jack replied not missing a beat, "No Goa'uld though so there's that."
"Huh." Daniel absorbed that.
"Apparently you were right… that theory of yours." Daniel's ears perked up at that and Jack rolled his eyes despite himself. "Oh don't get all excited. I didn't remember, Sam did. Something about the Goa'uld being a driving force in human evolution and life in this Galaxy… yadda yadda. Oh, no pyramids either… not without the Goa'uld. She said you'd find that…"
"Fascinating," Daniel exclaimed completely without irony, "So it was a…"
"Dead Universe," Jack clarified picking up on Daniel's thoughts easily, "And what wasn't dead was damn unpleasant."
"Oh… sorry," Daniel responded, sounding genuinely concerned for them. "Assuming a word of that is true of course," he trailed off with a frown.
Jack's eyes drifted to the stoic big Jaffa beside him. "I'm sure Sam will be back any minute." He glanced at his Pip-Boy to check the timer he'd set discreetly when he'd heard the self-destruct timer start. "So… how are the Jaffa doing? With the Goa'uld gone, that's got to have been a party right?"
"The Jaffa are free of Goa'uld oppression and tyranny and forging their own destiny," Teal'c told him with clear pride, as if expecting Jack to react poorly to that news. Jack grinned genuinely.
"Really?… good for them," Jack told him, meaning it. Teal'c merely bowed his head in acknowledgment, clearly not yet convinced of this little resurrection or he'd have added an 'Indeed' to that bow. The awkwardness of this was a little jarring though. He'd expected hugs at least, but he supposed that might just have been his ridiculous rose tinted glasses view of home.
"Say Daniel… about that little dying thing you did… careless by the way, you gotta watch that!" Jack chastised the man who rolled his eyes, "Say, you didn't happen to ascend to a higher plane of existence and go all floaty again did you?"
"Yes actually." Daniel looked bemused. "At the battle of Dakara." He rubbed his chest. "Ran into the pointy end of Repli-Carter," he admitted, looking both unnerved and confused by the line of questioning.
"Ah... ouch." He considered how unsettling that would be, that evil manipulative Replicator bitch had probably been the only time he'd not welcomed two versions of Sam.
"Still, that would explain it," Jack acknowledged offering no further explanation. Two months ago was about right for when Daniel had come to give him a kick up the ass to find Carter. He didn't dare start going down the rabbit hole that opened up regarding the timeline shenanigans. Unless of course being dead and ascended meant time was just one of those things that didn't matter anymore. Given as parallel Universes had apparently posed no problem he wasn't gonna assume anything.
"Explain what?" Daniel stepped forward looking perplexed and agitated now.
"Nothing," Jack retorted, enjoying the look of irritation growing on Daniel's face.
"Seriously, how did you know?" Daniel asked clearly agitated now. Jack merely shrugged at him, a difficult feat in the damn Power Armour.
"You're really just going to leave it hanging like that?" Daniel accused.
"Pretty much."
"Yep, same old Jack." He didn't sound nearly as annoyed this time, his eyes were sparkling just a smidge behind the glasses.
"Let's hope," Jack replied, giving his friend a once over; he looked pretty good, buff even. Although there was something about him right now, like he was being pulled towards someone else. Linked. Almost as if by a thread. Jack could feel it pulsing through him, heading out into the base. Weird. It made his head go a bit tingly when he looked at it, like he'd been futzing with Ancient head gear tech again.
Daniel's eyes narrowed, as if he could tell he was probing him. His eyes scouring him too, but except for the head there wasn't much to see except for the metal suit. "What's with the fancy wristwatch?" He pointed to Jack's Pip-Boy. Eyes followed Daniel's keen gaze and Jack cocked an eyebrow hearing the flash of concern from Teal'c that it might be weapon of some kind.
"Just that. It's a fancy watch," he explained. "Has a sort of Gameboy in it… so I guess it's cool. It's not a fan of my knees though," he added. Quite likes my fertile balls though; he smirked to himself at that particular memory and the memory of Sam's blushing smirk.
Daniel shook his head, not getting the reference, which was kind of the point. "What?"
"What?" Jack aped back.
The alarms shut off suddenly and the emergency power gave way to actual power as the Gate room lit back up again. Jack glanced up to see some pleased faces around the Control Room, which was good and a small wave of relief went through everyone. One crisis averted at least.
"Sam did it," Daniel acknowledged with a tone of disbelief, as though he'd really been expecting this to go sideways.
"You doubted?" Jack quipped.
"I did not," Teal'c replied for them both, "Any version of Colonel Carter would be capable of such a feat," he added, clearly not softening on the matter at all. Whatever had happened had clearly hit T hard.
"You mean given as she caused it," Daniel pointed out shrewdly, that suspicion back and Jack chose not to poke at that for now.
A few minutes later, Sam was marched back down into the Gate room just as Doc Frasier and a bunch of medical types turned up. He locked eyes with Sam for a moment and she gave him a nod. Job done. He really wanted to update her on the news he'd wheedled out of Daniel about the two years, the Goa'uld, Repli-Carter and that itching feeling that they thought they were imposters, but his brain powers didn't work that way. Maybe he'd have to work on trying to push a thought rather than pulling one, though maybe not on Sam given her brain was too precious to futz with.
Frasier came to a stop at the bottom of the ramp, keeping her distance and taking him in decked out in his Power Armour with clear hesitation. To his surprise he felt a clear flicker of fear from her, although he supposed the Power Armour was a tad intimidating as the diminutive Doctor had to look up, and up again to take him all in.
"Doc," he acknowledged with a salute and she seemed to do a double take at his face. Damn, it was good to see her again. To see all of them. He was just relieved that everyone he cared about most on Base was still alive and well, which was more than he'd hoped to find.
"General. Whilst I'd say it's good to see you…" His eyes drifted to Sam and the other woman seemed to pause, "…both of you…" She swallowed what Jack could tell was a lump in her throat at seeing her friend alive and Sam sent her a warm smile in answer, one he hadn't seen her use in a while. "…now we're no longer at risk of the Base blowing up, we still have to ascertain that you are who you say you are," she explained with a faint hint of apology in it; there was a definite sense of unease there he noted as she stepped away from him quickly.
"You're going to stick us with something pointy aren't you?" Jack sighed, resigned to it.
"Several somethings," Frasier muttered, as the Stargate hissed; the capacitors expending their energy harmlessly, as it rotated into standby mode.
"Main power has been restored. We're back up and running," Walter barked through the speaker needlessly. Jack grinned, his mood improving immensely now that they weren't a smear on the iris or being shot at, for now.
"Way to go Sam." He smirked at her and she rolled her eyes, unnerved by the tension and gunpoint she'd been frog marched at, which seemed a little more than was warranted given the situation. Mitchell looked like she'd run him ragged, which she probably had; his face was red and blotchy and there was a sheen of sweat there.
"Brisk jog Airman?" he mocked because he couldn't help himself; Mitchell threw him a look.
Of course. Right then. A whole other bunch of alarms started going off and Jack looked up in time to see more guns pointed their way. "What now for crying out loud?" Fearing he'd spoken too soon about the whole 'not being shot' thing. Jack looked to Sam who shook her head.
"This one's not me," she admitted.
General Landry's head appeared in the glass and his voice came over the now working speaker. "Clear the Gate room now everyone. We have a radiation spike!" He pointed at Sam and Jack as the Gate room turrets came back online and focused on them. Jack went still. "You two stay put."
Frasier was up in the Control room in a few seconds as the blast doors closed, sealing them into the Gate room as everyone evacuated – all but Daniel and Teal'c who looked like nothing less than a nuclear blast would in fact move them.
"Teal'c that means you too. You have no symbiote to protect you from radiation anymore," Janet barked at him through the mic. Teal'c looked up at her, then at Jack, who inclined his head telling him to get out of here.
"You should do as the Doc says. I told you we've been to hell and back. I wasn't joking Daniel." The other man opened his mouth to argue as Frasier's voice came over the mic.
"Daniel!" Janet snapped at him, "I shouldn't have to explain to you the effect of radiation poisoning. Move. I promise you there will be no debrief until after. Then you can ask all the questions you want," Janet added when Daniel still had shown no signs of moving. Teal'c placed a hand on his arm; Jack thought the big guy might carry him off if he refused. Clearly no one wanted a repeat of Kelowna.
Daniel sighed, clearly relenting. "Alright." He shrugged off Teal'c's hand and moved to the door. "We're not finished Jack." He stalked past the Marines who were still holding guns on them from the corridor as the fancy new turrets swung back to life; he thought he recognised them as Asgard in design, which was new and interesting.
"Janet…" Sam called up, "…I think there's a pretty good chance that radiation spike you're detecting is coming from us!"
"Are you telling us you're radioactive Colonel?" she queried through the microphone, sounding that half alarmed half fascinated thing she did so well. She had that in common with Sam.
"You heard of the expression hot potatoes?" Jack growls pointing between them both and thinking that was probably an apt description of what was about to go down here and realising that it was about to get all sorts of messy.