Chapter 5
Sara O'Neill was given base housing with assistance from General Hammond. She would work as a contractor for the base and be the mother of two very special teenage boys. Deep in her heart, she hoped to get Jack back. With Charlie being in her life again, she dreamed of having her family restored to what it once was.
Charlie had a similar dream. To have his parents not only back from the dead but back in his life and together, as a family. He welcomed the idea of a new brother in his father's clone. He also dreamed of being a family again.
Jon on the hand did not want Jack as his father or even in the house. He was perfectly happy having Charlie as his brother and let Sara mother him a bit. For Jon, it was heaven.
Charlie was a bit miffed that the first mission through the mirror happened without him. He wanted to be there to help back Jackie and his father up. But, he was now enrolled in high school and now had a new family. He had a hard time adjusting at first. Moving into a house and getting a room of his own once more. Jack never told him how his alternate died as a child. He just assumed it was some kind of strange accident. The boy stood in his new room of the house. He spied Jon walk down the hallway through the door and he called.
"Jon! Can you help me with this?" he called out.
Jon immediately entered Charlie's room to see what he needed help with. He found Charlie trying to change the light bulb in the ceiling lamp. The boy stood on his bed reaching up. He spied the light bulb by the bed.
"Hand me the dead bulb." he held up his hand.
Charlie handed him the burnt out bulb and kept his hand down waiting for the new bulb.
Jon tossed the dead bulb in the trash and handed him the new bulb. "Here."
"Thanks Jon." Charlie told him as he finished the job. He screwed in the bulb and replaced the glass shade. "You know everything my dad knows, right?"
"Yup!" he nodded.
Charlie climbed off the bed. "He told me that my alternate died in an accident as a child. Was it a car accident or something? Mom will not talk about it."
Jon closed his eyes for a moment for the memory was very painful even for the clone. "He came home from work. He walked into the house. He saw you sitting, watching cartoons. He did something real stupid. He left his sidearm ontop the t.v. and told you not to touch it and went back outside to see your mom. You got up, decided to play with the gun and it accidentally went off." He took a deep breath. "He blamed himself and tried to shoot himself the day of your funeral but couldn't pull the trigger. The he became distant from Sara, who needed him and he just couldn't be there for her. The Brass knew he just lost you and Sara was filing for a divorce and they offered him what was a suicide mission to Abydos. It was Daniel who pulled him back from the edge to be honest. He won't admit it. But Daniel did pull him back. That's the special bond he has with him."
Charlie gave a heavy sigh. "When I was a kid, Dad taught me gun safety. He had me in competitive shooting when I was eight. Started with a Daisy BB gun. He put me on that BB gun when I was seven. I loved that BB gun! I would hold onto it while watching cartoons. I knew not to touch his sidearm. I remember him and mom getting in a big fight. She didn't want me to have the BB gun. She thought I was too young. So, Dad promised her that he would teach me all about gun safety and have a safe to lock everything up. He taught me how to always keep the barrel down, never put my finger on the trigger. He took me to a gun range and blew up a few watermelons to show me what a gun could do. All that when I was seven. How old was I when I accidentally shot myself?"
"Eight." he winced. "I remember the BB gun idea. He wanted to get you a BB gun and Sara was afraid you would hurt yourself. He gave in and didn't buy it." He pondered. "Maybe had he stuck to his guns a bit." he soured. "I didn't mean that way."
"Pun not intended?" Charlie chuckled.
Jon asked. "So, what kind of competitive shooting were you doing?"
"Time and accuracy. Youth league." A smile graced his face as he recalled the fun of the sport. "I was good at it too. I had a 22 semi. I could also shoot a 12 gauge on light loads. When I was ten, I was getting into the cowboy shooting. That's when I first met Jackie. She was cowboy action shooting. She could fan that revolver faster than anyone I knew. She could shoot from the hip. She had this Anne Oakley routine. She impressed the hell out of my coach." The smile melted. "Then the invasion happened and everything went to hell."
Jon pondered. "I wonder if they did do a dial out to Abydos but without me…I mean him…and it failed. Maybe they led Ra right to your Earth."
He shrugged. "Dad never went on any top secret mission to another planet that I knew of. Uncle Charlie went on some top secret mission and never came back. No idea what happened to him. He was listed as Killed in Action. They wouldn't tell dad what happened."
"Uncle Charlie was on the first dial out." Jon told him. "They nuked Ra in orbit as he tried to flee."
Charlie stated. "Nuking the bastard in orbit sounds like a good idea to me."
"So it is." Jon had to agree. "Hey! I want you to meet a friend. She knows all about the Gate and everything. Her name is Cassie Frasier. She goes to school with us. Frasier adopted her. She lost her whole planet."
"Sure." Charlie agreed. He kidded. "We can start our own little club."
"The Star Gate club?" Jon laughed to himself.
"Yeah…" a grin crept across his face. "Call it the S.G.C.."
His head rolled back amused. "Ah man."
Meanwhile
The team returned from the mission through the mirror back to base. The mirror was moved to the basement of the old house for security. Sam had taken the two zero point modules that they discovered to her lab for further analysis.
General Hammond had called for a debriefing. SG-1, Jacob and Jackie Carter were all present.
Sam reported. "Both of the zero point modules recovered are full." She grinned excited.
Daniel perked up. "That's great."
Jackie could help but wonder. "So, what are you going to use those big glowing batteries for?"
Jack teased his favorite major. "Carter is just going to play with them."
Sam shook her head. "In order to dial past the Milky Way galaxy and to another galaxy we would need the power of the ZPM. It can also power ancient artifacts that we find."
"Oh." she puckered in thought. "You mean like whatever is down in Antarctica?"
The table fell silent.
Sam asked. "Antarctica?"
"Ra has ships down there. Rumor is, he found something big." she informed. She looked about. "Come on! Something has to be down there. Admiral Byrd? Before Ra showed up there all sort of conspiracy theories about it."
Daniel stated amused. "Like hollow earth?"
"Stuff like that." she nodded. "Ra is sitting on something down there."
Hammond sated. "We are not aware of anything in the Antarctic."
"Something is down there." she stated confidently.
"There could be I suppose." Sam shrugged. "But right now we have a lot more to go through in the basement of that old house and we will need transportation for when we are on the other side of the mirror. Jackie, you suggested bicycles as they are quiet and not very threatening to Ra."
"Plus gas is limited. Only Ra loyalist get cars, gas, food, clean water. Everyone else is on their own." she informed.
Hammond asked. "Do you know who the loyalist are?"
"A guys named Maybourne is one. A few politicians who sold us out. Robert Kinsey. He used to be a senator." she told them.
Jack cocked an eye. "Harry Maybourne?"
"I think that's his name." she shrugged. "He was military. You know him."
He sighed. "I know him. Need to be a bit careful. He can go either side. But usually, he's out protect his own skin."
She asked him. "Who isn't? Very few people are out to save the world at their own expense. We have to be real here. When the, pardon my French, shit hits the fan…that's when you find out who is your friend or just an associate." She then added. "And boy did the shit hit the fan in my world."
Sam pinched her lips together trying to keep a straight face. She glanced at Hammond wondering how he would react to the cursing.
Jacob agreed. "Boy did it ever hit the fan there."
General Hammond kept his composure. He looked to Jack. "What kind of supplies will you need on your next trip, Colonel?"
Jack requested. "Maybe a nuke."
Daniel shook his head. "I don't think that is such a good idea, Jack. They do have a resistance. They are fighting back."
"And losing." Jack rebutted.
"Sir!" Sam interrupted. "We are limited on what we can get through the mirror. I don't think a nuke that can take our Ra will fit. And a tactical nuke, is useless. We can support the resistance. We can go into the town and make contact with them. But whatever we take has to be able to fit through the mirror. Only objects that can be seen in the reflection can fit through. We could probably get a few bicycles through. Maybe a small motorcycle. We cannot get through a car or a tank or a plane or anything like that. Just what we can carry or push." She then added. "And we are limited on resources on the other side. Gas, ammo, food and drinking water all needs to be taken with us."
Jackie suggested. "If I were you guys I would bring bicycles. You don't need to worry about gas and you can get around on them. Carry light. Don't weigh yourselves down."
Sam added. "And we are on a time limit. We don't know if Daniel or Teal'c even exist there."
"Unless we make that frequency altering thingamajig." Jackie suggested.
Sam looked at her cockeyed. "Thingamajig?" She shook her head.
"What's wrong with thingamajig, Carter?" Jack asked for he liked the old term.
Jackie reminded her. "I don't do big words. That's your thing."
Jack gave a smirk to Sam. "A Carter that I can understand."
Sam merely shook her head and rolled her eyes.
General Hammond stated. "We will schedule the next mission through the mirror for tomorrow at O' eight hundred. I will have a number of bicycles secured for morning."