Chapter 1
2024
Jack sat on the camp chair on the dock of the pond behind his cabin. He wore jeans and a red flannel shirt. His hair was white and he sported a mustache with a goatee and was healthy for his age. He heard the engine of a vehicle pull into the drive. He turned his head and spied a familiar red Subaru Outback park near his truck. Daniel emerged from the car and soon made his way to the back. He opened the door, removed a folded camp chair and a small cooler. Wearing jeans and a yellow tee shirt with boots he made his way to Jack sitting alone on the dock.
He greeted, "Jack." he set up his chair, took a seat and opened the cooler. It was apparent the routine seemed rather normal.
"Daniel." Jack replied waiting for his beer.
Daniel handed him a can of cold beer and one for himself. The pair opened the beers and simply sat and looked at the water.
Jack liked his peace and quiet but Daniel was a bit of a chatterbox and thus the peace and quiet would not last long.
"For the longest time I wanted disclosure and now that it's nearly here…I wish it wasn't." Daniel confessed.
Jack asked. "Why is that?"
"So many are not here who really should be here." he sighed. "We lost so many."
"People die." he shrugged. "People move on. Some go back home." He referred to Teal'c returning to his people.
"Ever wish you could change some things?" he asked.
He nodded. "Who doesn't?" He took a swing of beer. He looked over at Daniel. He could tell by the expression he was holding back. "What?"
"When I was on Atlantis, I found a storage room that wasn't touched. In the room I found this red stone. I thought it was a gem at first. I had McKay examine it. He says it's a subspace mental imprinting device."
Jack cocked his head. "What is that, Daniel?"
"According to McKay, it can take your current mind, your thoughts, memories, everything, send it on a subspace level to yourself through space."
"Why?" he asked baffled.
"You could take everything you know now, send it to yourself when you were younger, Jack. Like sending yourself a message in a bottle." he explained. "Sheppard, McKay and I were talking about what the implications are."
"What are the implications?" Jack wondered.
"Imagine knowing everything you know now at the first dial out." he suggested.
Jack paused. "We can do that?"
"The device can." he nodded. "Needs two individuals with the gene to activate it. You and Sheppard both have the gene."
"Then what?" he wondered.
"We send an imprint of our current mind to our younger self." he stated.
"To myself." he clarified.
Daniel nodded. "Yup."
"How far back would it send me?" he wondered.
"That's just it. We only get one shot at it. And it's programmed to send whoever is exposed back to childhood." He then explained. "You would be sending information to yourself as a child."
Jack paused. "You run this by, Carter?"
He winced. "We thought it would be best to keep to ourselves."
"Carter doesn't know?" he asked surprised.
"Come on, Jack." he sighed. "Sam would be telling us we can't do it and we could alter the timeline."
"And?" he asked.
"If we could send a few of us back. With all the knowledge of what it to come. We could change some things. Save Thor and the Asgard. Save Janet." He paused for a moment. "Save Charlie."
He sat in silence as he debated the suggestion. He could save his own son's life. That would change the timeline and may even save the Asgard. Jack slowly began to nod. "I think I'm in."
Daniel grinned. "Great! I'll call, John." He retrieved his cell phone. He swiped the screen and complain. "Damn political text messages. How many times do I have text stop?"
Jack looked on amused. "Just get a flip phone, Daniel."
"But I need this for research now." he complained. "Everything is online."
He sighed, "Tell me about it."
Daniel soured frustrated. "Yes I want to unsubscribe. I never subscribed in the first place."
Jack asked. "Miss dial up sometimes?"
He gave a heavy sigh. He then made the call and placed the device on speaker phone. John Sheppard soon answered.
"What did Jack say, Daniel?" John Sheppard's voice came over the air.
Jack grinned. "I'm in!"
"Great!" he cheered back. "It will take the two of us to activate the stone."
"Who you got for this little mission, Sheppard?" Jack wondered.
"So far…you, me, Daniel and Rodney." he replied. "Should we bring in Teal'c or Ronon?"
Jack asked. "Is there a limit to what the stone can handle?"
Rodney's voice came over. "Yes! The more people exposed the less effective it will be. We should keep it at just the four of us."
"Okay." Jack went along. "Where we doing this?"
Sheppard coyly stated. "I was thinking someplace secluded. Kind of off the beaten path."
Jack offered. "You can come to the cabin."
He cheered. "Great! I got one of those camera drones and I wanted to see if I can get some good aerial shots."
"You can bring it." he agreed.
Rodney asked. "What you got for food there?"
"Bring your own." Jack told him.
Daniel stated. "Jack has a brand new grill that he hasn't used yet. Bing some steaks, Rodney."
John cheered. "Beers and steaks. We can have a guys' weekend."
Jack welcomed the idea for mostly he was alone at the cabin. "Sounds like a plan." he agreed.
Later that Day
Rodney McKay and John Sheppard arrived very close to dinner time with the steaks and beer for the cookout. Driving a old green Ford pickup truck, John Sheppard parked right next to Jack's old pickup truck. The two men climbed out. Both in jeans and tee shirts and sporting country flannels with boots.
Jack opened the door. "I see you made it." He welcomed his guest.
Rodney carried a cooler of food. "I got the steaks." He was cheerful and happy for it was a rarity to be part of such an experience. A cabin, woods, the great outdoors were all a foreign concept for Rodney who just wanted to be one of the guys at the moment.
Sheppard grinned. "I got beer!"
Daniel stood near Jack and had to ask. "You guys bring anything else?"
Jack looked at his friend. "Like what, Daniel?"
"Salad or something?" he suggested.
John Sheppard smirked. "I brought salt potatoes."
Jack approved. "Good choice." He then teased his friend. "This is a man's cookout, Daniel. We don't do salad. That's for chicks."
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Steak goes good on salad. Just add some ranch dressing and you have a dinner."
John Sheppard couldn't help but tease Daniel as well. "Men don't eat salad. We're doing this the old way tonight. Steak and potatoes with plenty of beer."
"Right." he shook his head amused.
Rodney had to confess. "Actually that steak on salad with ranch dressing does sound good. I've been cutting back on the bread lately." He followed John into the cabin. He looked about. "This is nice." he noted.
"Thanks, McKay." Jack told him.
"This is way nicer than I thought it would be." he admitted. "It didn't look like much from the outside." he rambled on.
Daniel told him. "Never judge a book by it's cover, Rodney. Jack's inherited it from his grandfather."
John Sheppard frankly replied. "You can leave your cabin to me in your will, Jack. I would love to have this place."
"When I'm ready for the nursing home, I'll sell it to you." he told him. "I don't have any kids to pass it down too anyways." he shrugged.
John Sheppard offered. "You can always adopt me. Sam says I'm just like you anyways."
Rodney had placed the cooler down and spied a photo of Sam from when she was much younger. He lifted up the photo and stared at it longingly. "The one that got away." he sighed.
John cocked an eye. "You never had her."
"In my dreams." he confessed.
Jack stated. "I almost had her. Then I retired and she got a command and we hardly ever saw each other after that." He omitted the affair he had with her.
Daniel sighed. "Least it was to her career and another man, Jack. Vala up and left me for Mitchell."
Jack stated. "We all kind of saw that one coming."
John Sheppard had to admit. "I never got a chance to tell Elizabeth how I felt. Not sure if anything would have come of it anyways."
Jack wanted to cheer up his friends. "This is a guys' cookout. We are here to have fun and discuss a mission. We're not even going to discuss women."
"Agreed." John cheered. "I'll get the grill started."
Daniel grabbed the bag of salt potatoes. "I will get this cooking."
Rodney asked. "What can I do?"
Jack smirked. "I got some fish to clean."
He soured. "That sounds gross."
"It's not so bad." Jack told him.
Later
As John Sheppard grilled the steaks, Daniel tended to the potatoes and Jack found himself tempted to gut Rodney instead of the fish. Rodney stood before the cutting board, holding a fish fillet knife and being most squeamish. He soured as Jack showed him how to gut a fish and scrape off the scales.
Rodney nearly vomited. "I really don't think I can do that."
Jack handed him the fillet knife. "Just like I showed you."
"I couldn't do it when I was a kid. My sister could." he recalled. "Dad always liked her better."
"It's not that hard, Rodney. It's not like you will hurt it." he reminded him.
He winced. "Just so…squishy and slimy…like…"
Daniel stood at the pot on the stove. "Like some alien goo from off world?"
"Yeah." he had to agree. "How about I cook the potatoes and you gut fish, Daniel?"
He replied. "I already know how to gut a fish. My dad taught that when I was eight. Being archeologists, my folks traveled the world and camped out a lot. I knew camping and cooking from a very young age."
"Fine." Rodney gave in. He felt as if he was the only male in the cabin that never gutted a fish and was squeamish at the sight. He dramatically sucked in a deep breath, exhaled and then squinted as he plunged the fillet knife into the fish. He soured and his stomach churned as he made the slit. He removed the knife hoping he was done.
"Now stick your finger and in and drag the guys out." Jack told him.
He gave a pleading look.
"Just stick your finger in and pull down, with a hook movement." Jack advised.
Rodney gathered his gumption and jammed the finger in the fish and pulled down to the tail. The innards fell out into a small pile on the cutting board. Rodney then placed the fish down, swallowed hard. "I going to go throw up now." he announced. He covered his mouth and bolted for the bathroom.
John stepped into the cabin holding a plate of steaks. "Steaks are done!"
Daniel cheered. "Salt potatoes and butter is ready!"
Jack tended to the fish. "I'll finish this up."
John asked. "Where's Rodney?"