AU: A freak accident aboard The Odyssey flings Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter back in time further than she expected or thought possible. Will she choose to preserve the original timeline, or will all hell break loose? How will her decisions affect the rest of the team both now and then?
Summary: Daniel's looking for Janet... what he discovers is a secret... enter sneaky Daniel because do you really think he's going to be left out?
Part 6 of my Lost and Found Universe. A short story explaining the 89 year old Sam Carter from previous stories.
Takes place during 10.22 Unending and 7.13 Grace using Air Dates for the timeline.
Probably should have said this earlier, but I have no beta so all mistakes are my own and these guys don't belong to me 😪, I just just poking big holes in their psyche's!
Chapter 9: Red-Inked Subterfuge
Same Day – Stargate Command, Level 21 – Daniel Jackson
With half the team off on adventures and my brain descending into the second level of translationary hell with this Lost City tablet, I decided to go and find Janet hoping she was equally as unbusy.
Since Siler was on a few precious days of leave and with Jack not being in a position where he could get himself shot, arrowed, zapped, food poisoning, pumped with pathogens or any other number of things he had managed over the years, there was a very good chance that she'd be free.
Cassie was still on school term break, so getting up to mischief at her house – especially the kind we enjoyed – wasn't feasible, and my bed didn't have a bed head for the attachment of accoutrements. Not that we could do any of that here, but the idea of being caught was thrilling enough.
Walking into the infirmary, my stomach sank a little when I saw the door closed. That generally meant she was with a patient or on the phone. Nevertheless, I decided to wait because she was not one prone to prolonging conversations of a professional nature. Leaning against the wall, I looked at the door when I swore I heard Jack's voice. That wasn't right. He was off world somewhere. Getting closer, I put my ear to the side of the door below the hinge to better hear what was being said.
"She is Carter, and you know I'd…"
"Yes, Jack."
"Of course, Sir."
Jack was talking with General Hammond about Sam. While I wasn't one for engaging in idle gossip, if Jack was finally doing something about his feelings for Sam, I was all for that. Watching them these last few years had become tiresome and frankly downright annoying. It was like watching moony teenagers or the Bold and the Beautiful. They would get there eventually, it would just take 200 episodes over 10 years.
They talked a bit more about ships and designs, all very classified. Since everything going on here as always classified, I didn't understand why the brass would hide a fleet of ships. I mean, it was only a matter of time before we went bigger than Prometheus.
"Lieutenant Colonel Carter was most vague…" I pulled my ear away. That was Teal'c. Lieutenant Colonel? Sam was still a Major. Unless she had been promoted secretly, though I doubted that. These things were always big and showy normally involving blue backdrops and dress uniforms.
Jack was always talking about her value to the programme and how he had recommended her for Lieutenant Colonel many times. One night – a couple of years ago – with a little too much under his belt, he complained bitterly that Hammond had pulled the recently promoted Albert Reynolds out of Area 51 and installed him as team leader for SG-3 instead of giving Sam the opportunity to shine. She would not have been the only team leader at the rank of Major, a point he had driven home multiple times that night.
Leaning in again, names like Odyssey, Iliad, Metamorphoses and Daedalus popped into the conversation. It didn't surprise me that Jack knew about Greek tragedies. He might act dumb, but the man was a borderline scholar. If I didn't value my life and limbs, I would have called him out on it before now.
"…the presence of the Lieutenant Colonel puts us in a bind. I am assuming that she is unable to return to her own timeline…"
Whoa! Own timeline? Then a fleeting thought jumped into my head. Isolation room 3. It was under guard, and I now suspected why. There was another Sam here. Not an alternate, the real Sam and based on the talk about ships that we didn't have, she must be older.
"No, Sir. She says she can't be fixed."
I'd heard enough for now. I'd get the rest out of Jack later. Right now, I had to see this for myself. Maybe Janet was with her. Pushing myself away from the door as quietly as possible, I turned and deftly walked out of the infirmary being careful not to make a noise on the polished concrete floors. Iso 3 was left and around the corner. It took not more than a few minutes for me to get there only to find it guarded by Henderson and Pitchers. Damn. So, the General was pulling out the two most unflappable officers in the security division. Oh well, I wasn't a diplomat for nothing.
"Hi, Jerry, Liam." I greeted the two cheerily, hands in pockets and smile on my face.
"Doctor Jackson." Major Jerry Henderson nodded.
"I've been sent to check in wi…" I didn't get to finish before he cut me off.
"Sorry, Sir. This room is to remain sealed under order from General Hammond." Jerry responded, eyes straight ahead, voice level and business like. So that was the game we were playing. Right. Game face on Jackson.
"He did. From everyone except SG-1." I replied, hoping he'd let me in on that technicality. His expression told me that I should be so lucky.
"Sorry, Doctor. I have been ordered to keep this room sealed from everyone." Damn. No cigar on that one. I'd have to step it up. Play a little sneaky squirrel. Good thing I had a prop that could be utilised to get me what I wanted. Looking back at the Major, I nodded before continuing.
"Right, I see. The General is with Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c at the moment discussing what is behind that door. I have a document for Doctor Fraiser." I pulled out a folded Air Force emblazoned envelope sporting a red CLASSIFIED EYES ONLY stamp across the front from my pocket, making sure to hide the fact that it had been opened and resealed. "But I guess I will have to go back to the General and tell him to deliver it personally." I replied with a wince making it seem like telling the General to do his own letter delivery was not on my list of favourite things to do.
In truth, the envelope contained my recent performance evaluation given to me by Jack a few days ago. He thought it would be funny to stamp it with the rarely used over-the-top classified marking rather than the normal 'private and confidential' that would generally go on these things.
Henderson's eyes flicked to the very important envelope and back to my face. My very calm, very professional, very 'I'm not pulling-the-wool-over-your-eyes' face. I smiled uneasily and turned to leave, assuming the slumped approach of someone who had to tell a General 'No'.
"Sir?" Henderson replied, making me turn back, the very official looking, red-inked subterfuge in my hands on full display being the centre of his focus.
"Yes, Major?" I prompted. Henderson flicked his eyes to Pitchers who shrugged. Then he took a stiff-backed step to his right and prompted Pitchers to mirror his movement, allowing me access to the closed door.
"Have a nice day, Sir." He replied, once again business like and staring straight ahead. Holding my smile until I stepped up to the door, I pushed the handle down and grinned once it was open. Done and done.
Sliding through a small gap to stop any by passers from looking in, I came to a sudden stop. It was the first time I had been in this room since I had died from radiation poisoning. My mind conjured the smell of death and chemical laced blood that lingered in the room during those hours, though I inherently knew everything had been cleaned within an inch of its life several times over since then. Nevertheless, I could still smell it. The room was smaller than the others which is why it wasn't used that often. A dying man didn't require a lot of space when none of the medical equipment could help him. Asleep on the bed was a frail looking elderly woman. She was curled on her side half hugging her pillow, the corner of the blanket wrapped up over the hand that I could see was curled up under her chin.
"My God. Sam?" I said a little too loudly. Her eyes fluttered open, and she stared at me. No smile, no warm greeting, just dark stormy eyes laced with tiredness, age, and a bone deep sorrow. Walking over to the bed, I looked down on her. She looked back. Reaching out to wrap a piece of loose white hair behind her ear was the wrong thing to do. She jerked backwards.
"Don't touch me!" My hands flew up in the sign of surrender.
"Whoa, Sam… it's OK, I won't…"
"Hurt me? Ha! Just like Teal'c said he would drop me at the nearest planet? Instead, I get thrown into Jack's path and end up here, the last place I wanted to be seeing the last people I wanted to see before I die." She scoffed, fire in her eyes and derision in her voice. Her scorn shocked me. This couldn't be a future version of our Sam. She would never dismiss us so readily.
"Die?" I choked out. The thought of losing the woman who was like a sister was too much. I'd known her almost as long as I had my parents before I lost them. She didn't elaborate, instead rolling over and presenting her back to me. The door opening caught my attention first followed by Janet's words.
"So, Doctor. I hear you have a very important letter for me from the General." She stated with a suitably peeved look on her face. Unfortunately for her, the twinkle in her beautiful brown eyes gave her away. I grinned broadly and pulled the envelope out of my pocket, giving it a little shake.
"Very important. Look, it has the special special stamp." She pursed her lips and came towards me trying not to smile. She knew exactly what was in that envelope.
"Janet?" Sam said out of the blue, her voice shaking. We turned to look and found her lying on her back almost in tears, the monitor showing her pulse had risen.
"Hey, Sam honey. You're awake." Janet replied soothingly as she walked up to the side of the bed beside me. She struggled to sit up, so Janet used the electronic controls to adjust the bed. As soon as Sam was in a position to do so, she reached out, tears flowing freely and folded Janet into a fierce hug clearly not wanting to let her go. I felt something settle in the pit of my stomach.
Fear.
Sam was gripping Janet hard, eyes closed, head turned, and nose tucked into her artfully pinned coiffure, almost as if she'd… No! Was her Janet dead? I swallowed hard at the thought of losing another person I loved. Especially this woman. Sam's eyes opened, the haunted look knocking me for a row of sixes.
"Hey, it's OK. You'll be OK. We'll figure out what happened to you and try…"
Sam cut her off with a harsh mirthless chuckle, releasing her iron grip and settling back onto the bed, though I did not fail to notice that she still held Janet's hand with a white knuckled grasp as if she would dematerialise if Sam let her go.
"You can't fix me, Janet. I don't belong here."
"Of course, you do. Even if we can't fix you, you're still a part of us. We will always need you." Janet reassured, giving me a look. Janet knew more than what she was letting on, probably because I was here and not officially read in on the situation. Sam's lip trembled. I could see shadows of doubt and something undefined in her eyes.
"No. You need her. She will be back. I am certain now that I have not overwritten her." She replied, shaking her head before putting her free hand up to her temple. I decided to reveal what little I knew to reassure Janet that I was almost on the same page.
"You're a different Sam, aren't you? The future." I asked her. Sam's eyes drifted to mine, and I saw the truth of her existence in her inky depths. She had lost everyone, but it was more than that. There was a sorrow so deep that it could only be caused by one person. Jack. She lost Jack.
Slowly she lifted her other hand and motioned for me to hold it. I followed her prompt. Her hand was ice cold, white and foreign. I could see the old scars from her brush with the alien computer entity still marring her hands and fingers. That itself was proof that she was our Sam. She tugged my hand prompting me to step closer. She looked down and brought her hands together – one holding Janet's hand and the other holding mine.
"Promise me." She pleaded seemingly with us both, though she was looking at me. "Promise me, no matter what happens, that you will keep each other safe." The emotion in her voice was palpable. She was tasking me with keeping Janet safe. In our world, that meant alive.
"I promise." I replied, wrapping my hand firmly around Janet's, and bringing my other arm around her shoulder, tugging her toward me. Janet easily folded herself into my chest allowing me to bury my nose into her hair. I could see Sam over the top of her head. She was smiling. Then her eyes closed as she dropped back to sleep.