CHAPTER TWO
Daniel returned to the bridge and walked up to the others.
"I have managed to send advance warning to Orilla," Thor said. "By providing them with the Replicator ship's course and speed, they should have a fair approximation of where it will drop out of hyperspace. What ships we have available will be waiting in ambush."
"Ambush?" Daniel repeated, his stomach clenching.
"When the ship exits hyperspace, they will be defenseless for a few moments. If the Asgard ships are able to fire upon it before it raises its shields, their combined firepower should be able to destroy it."
"But what about Sam?"
Thor gazed at him in sympathy. "I am sorry, Doctor Jackson. There is nothing else we can do."
Sam cried out in pain. Fifth withdrew from her mind, and she collapsed to the floor.
"Stop it, please!" she sobbed, grabbing her head as she wept.
"Why should I?" Fifth asked heartlessly.
"You can't change what happened. Is this making you feel better?" Sam managed to sit up. "I never intended to abandon you."
"But you did. You gained my trust, then you used me and left me behind."
"It wasn't my decision." 'Please, Fifth, please understand,' Sam begged silently.
"You could have come back for me," Fifth whispered.
"There was no time!"
"Time!" Fifth spat. "Thanks to what you did, I had plenty of time . . . to think about what a fool I was."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what we did to you."
"Yes." Fifth squatted before her. "You are now."
"Part of being human is having compassion, learning to forgive," Sam told him, praying that, somehow, she'd get through to the human part of Fifth that still possessed some shred of compassion.
"Yes. I'm not there yet. I need more time."
As Fifth moved his hand toward her face, Sam flinched away, sobbing deeply. Fifth stopped and stared at her. He felt something stir inside him, something that banished the hatred within. He reached out and ran his fingers through Sam's hair, gently cupping her head as she continued to cry brokenly. The desire to hurt her, to make her pay for her betrayal, disappeared, replaced by another desire.
With a small smile, Fifth decided what he was going to do. He would make her love him . . . just as he loved her.
Daniel, Jack, Teal'c and Thor were standing at the control console as the image of an Asgard came onto the viewscreen.
The image of an Asgard came onto the viewscreen.
"Commander Thor, this is Aegir of the Valhalla. We have assumed defensive positions and are awaiting the target ship."
"Understood," Thor responded.
Moments later, the Replicator ship exited hyperspace over the planet. The Asgard ships immediately opened fire upon it. Within seconds, it was destroyed.
"The enemy ship has been destroyed," Aegir announced.
Thor looked at the rest of SG-1. "I am sorry."
Daniel closed his eyes as the pain of Sam's death struck him. He felt it rip a hole in his heart. He couldn't believe that she was gone. Eyes filling with tears, he looked at Jack and Teal'c to see the grief on their faces as well.
The Jaffa turned to Thor. "Should you not consider evacuating your people?" he asked.
"That is no longer possible," Penegal replied on the viewscreen.
"There are too many," Thor explained. "We carried numerous stored minds aboard the computers of our ships when we fled our homeworld. When Orilla was finally found, we were able to place those minds into cloned bodies so that we could build our new colony."
"The Replicators have already infected systems needed to save those minds," Penegal said. "If we lose this battle, they will perish, along with their bodies, taking with them the hopes of the Asgard race."
Thor gazed at Teal'c. "Orilla is the last chance of ever rebuilding our empire."
"Then we must fight to save it."
"I must examine the device Doctor Jackson created. But, first, I must recompile the data."
It took several minutes for Thor to collect and compile the scattered bits of data, some of which was damaged by the Replicator attack and had to be repaired.
"I have succeeded in gathering the data. I believe I can synthesis the device now."
A prototype of the thing Daniel had created in the computer appeared on a nearby stand.
"Do you know yet what it is?" Teal'c asked.
"No. I am not familiar with the design, though I am assuming it is a weapon."
"It is," Daniel confirmed. He gazed at the weapon he had created. When he made it, it had been to help the Asgard. Now, it was the thing that would enable him to avenge the death of someone he loved.
They dropped out of hyperspace near Orilla. Several other Asgard ships were there, none of which could dare land because of the Replicators that were quickly decimating the Asgard civilization below.
The image of Penegal came onto the viewscreen. He gave Thor a brief update on the situation. "I do not know how much longer our communications system will be functioning. There are things you should know. The Replicators infesting the colony are behaving in an organized fashion, unlike any we have encountered before."
Thor was disturbed by the news. "Perhaps they are being controlled by a human-form leader who has yet to reveal itself."
A sharp gasp from Daniel drew the attention of the others to him. His eyes were staring off at nothing, distant and unfocused.
"She's alive," he whispered.
"What?" Jack said.
Daniel turned to him, eyes bright with joy. "She's alive, Jack! Sam's alive!"
Hope blossomed within the colonel's heart. "Are you sure, Daniel?"
"Yes! I can feel her, Jack. I don't know how I can at this distance, but I do know what I'm feeling. She's on the planet somewhere."
"Yes!" Jack clapped Daniel on the back, grinning.
"We have to find her," Daniel said.
"We will, Daniel." Jack turned to Thor. "If one of the human Replicators survived, that could explain how Carter is alive. One of those guys got off the ship with her before you blew it up."
"Can you scan the planet for life signs?" Daniel asked.
"We already have. There are none," Penegal told them.
"Then she must be shielded from your scanners," Daniel stated firmly, "because I know she's alive."
"We believe you, Daniel," Jack assured him.
"It is possible that the human-form Replicator is hiding her from our sensors," Thor said. He, too, did not doubt Daniel, knowing that the archeologist's highly advanced paranormal abilities enabled him to sense things that Asgard sensors could not.
"Were you able to procure a means of fighting the Replicators?" Penegal asked.
"Yes, but it still requires more research," Thor replied.
"I hope that you will have the answer soon," Penegal said gravely. His image disappeared.
Thor turned his attention back to the weapon Daniel had created. "What can you tell me about how it functions?" he asked Daniel.
"Nothing technical. All I know is that it somehow makes it impossible for each Replicator block – or whatever they're called – to communicate with the others."
"Which would render each one inert," Thor said. "We explored such a technology in the past with no success. If you are correct, this will be an extremely effective means of destroying the Replicators."
The Asgard ran some scans on the device. "The technology is quite impressive and very advanced."
"Will you be able to duplicate it?" Daniel asked.
"I can synthesize more of the weapons, but their effectiveness would be extremely limited since one would have to be in close proximity to a Replicator to destroy it."
"Well, can't you make a bigger one or something? You know, one that would zap all the bugs on a planet at once." Jack asked.
"Such a weapon would require a great deal of modifications, something I could not accomplish without a greater understanding of this device. It is likely that I will be able to do it, but I fear it may take more time than we have."
As the Asgard got busy on the project, Daniel wandered away to the window. He gazed down at the planet below. Somewhere down there was Sam. He wished that he could talk to her, let her know that they were near and were going to find her.
Daniel sensed Jack come up behind him.
"We will find her, you know," the colonel stated.
"I know. They're not hurting her anymore. I don't sense that she's in pain." Daniel turned to him. "I think . . . I think the reason why I was able to sense her from so far away is that a big part of me didn't want to believe that she was dead. Maybe, subconsciously, my mind was searching for her, trying to confirm what my conscious mind didn't want to accept."
"Makes sense to me . . . well, as much sense as any of your abilities make to me."
"I just hope we find her before they start hurting her again."
A while later, the image of an Asgard came on the viewscreen.
"Thor, this is Commander Aegir, of the Valhalla. We are losing contact with the colony."
"We knew that communications would be lost eventually," Thor responded. "What have you to report?"
"We have located what appears to be the remains of a human-form replicator floating in space. It obviously survived the destruction of its ship. By all appearances, it is currently inactive."
"Transmit coordinates," Thor said.
"Use caution, Thor," Aegir warned. The transmission ended.
"What are you going to do?" Daniel asked.
The Asgard walked past the three humans.
"Where are you going?" Jack questioned.
"I am going to transport it aboard," Thor replied.
"Why?"
Thor walked up to the control console. "We must learn the location of the human-form controlling the Replicators on the planet."
A human-form Replicator was beamed onto the bridge. It was inside some kind of chamber. The three men stepped closer to it
"Anybody recognize him?" Daniel asked.
"No," Teal'c replied.
Jack stepped up to the chamber and laid his hands on the glass cover of the chamber. "Is it dead?"
"Hopefully not completely," Thor replied.
Jack quickly pulled his hands away from the cover and stepped back to join Daniel and Teal'c.
"All Replicators are linked by a sophisticated communication system," Thor explained. "If we can use this one to tap into the network, we will be able to see what any of the Replicators can see."
"And if he wakes up, is this chamber going to hold him?" Jack asked.
"Probably not."
Daniel and Jack exchanged a look as Teal'c got his weapon.
"Then perhaps there is no great wisdom in this," the colonel remarked.
"I will transport it back into space, if necessary, but we must take the risk," Thor responded.
An armed Teal stepped up to the other two men.
Jack looked at the weapon. "Good idea." He went and got a P-90. "Want one, Daniel?"
"Actually, I do better using my abilities," the archeologist replied.
The three men stood near the chamber, ready to attack the Replicator if it awoke and escaped. Thor activated the viewscreen, which showed white lines streaking across it, almost like severe video interference.
"What's that?" Daniel asked.
"Replicator communication data. I am searching for any references to other human-forms."
"And if you find one?" Jack queried.
"We must do all we can to destroy it."
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