CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Daniel sat down beside Sam where she worked on some wires. None of them had spoken since the fateful decision had been made.
"Sam," he murmured.
She turned to him. The moment their eyes met, hers filled with the grief inside her heart.
"I don't want to do this, Daniel," she said. "I don't want it to end like this."
"I know. I don't want it to either. I wish there was another way. If there was any way that I thought we could get away from Anubis once he captured us, I'd take the chance, but the first thing he'd probably do was knock me unconscious. Once I was out, I wouldn't be able to prevent him from probing yours and Teal'c's minds and getting all the information about the location of the Alpha Site, about the weapon we have against the supersoldiers, the Jaffa rebellion and so many other things. He might even choose to take me as a host while I was still unconscious. And the thought of what he'd do to you and Teal'c using my mind and body. . . ." Daniel shook his head. "I can't let that happen."
"I know, Daniel. I know this is what we have to do. This isn't the first time we all thought that we where going to die, but it seems like we're dying for nothing this time. We didn't save anything, we didn't accomplish anything. The information we learned is going to die with us." Her eyes looked into his. "And it's so much different now. There's so much more to live for."
Daniel pulled her into a tight hug, unable to speak. He had wanted to grow old with her, to have children with her, to someday look back on the years and be happy with what they'd brought. The only consolation was that they were going to be together in the end. He wished so much that Sam wasn't going to die, too, but if they both had to die, then better it be together.
"Are communications still working?" he asked. "Could we send a transmission to Earth, tell them what we found out?"
Sam pulled away a bit, swiping a finger across her eyes.
"Maybe, although it's possible that Anubis will pick up the transmission and trace our whereabouts."
"Then we'd have to send it just before . . . you know."
Sam nodded. "I'll check to see if we can still broadcast."
It turned out that the communication system was still functioning.
"If we send a message, would they try to reply?" Daniel asked.
"Well, technically, they could. Since the Asgard technology was integrated into our communication systems at the SGC, we've had the ability to transmit through subspace in the same way this ship can."
Daniel paused before saying the next words. "Then I think it needs to be a recorded message, Sam, and it needs to be sent just before the ship blows."
Sam met his eyes in understanding. If they gave the SGC time to respond, Jack might order them to hold off on blowing up the ship, and they couldn't hold off.
The astrophysicist nodded. "I'll make a recording and program the system to send it just a few seconds before the engines go critical."
Daniel's sad eyes looked into hers. "I can do the message."
"No, Daniel. I'm the team leader. It's my responsibility to do it."
She walked away, dreading the new task that now lay before her.
Throughout the message, Sam managed to remain professional and factual, but it was still hard to speak the words, knowing how Jack was going to react when he heard them.
Sam then got back to work on the engines. A few minutes later, she was done. She joined Teal'c and Daniel.
"I've rigged the engines to overload," she told them. "If I just had another hour or two, I could probably have gotten power restored to the systems, and we could have flown out of here."
"We don't have that much time," Daniel told her quietly.
Sam sighed and nodded. "Once the overload starts, we'll have two minutes before the engines go critical."
Teal'c gazed at his teammates. "I have known no greater honor than these years that I have fought at your side, my friends."
"We feel the same, Teal'c," Daniel said. Tear-bright eyes met Sam's. "I love you, Sam."
She grabbed his hand, trying to convey all her feelings in her eyes. "And I love you."
Daniel swallowed the painful lump in his throat. "Let's do it."
Hesitating a moment, Sam pressed the icon on the control panel that would begin the overload. She felt Daniel's arms come around her from behind. She turned in his embrace and held onto him tightly, closing her eyes.
Teal'c looked at the lovers, his heart filled with sorrow, not over his own impending death but of theirs. There was also the sorrow that the power Daniel Jackson possessed would now be lost to the galaxy and the fight against the Goa'uld. Today was a day that would bring sorrow to all Jaffa seeking freedom.
Jack doodled on the pad upon his desk. He was starting to get a little worried. They'd heard nothing from SG-1. The general knew that, if the team had continued to the second part of the mission, it might take a while to gather the needed intel, but he still wished that they'd call and let him know what was going on.
"General O'Neill, we just received an encoded transmission from SG-1," Walter said over the intercom. "It's an audio only recorded message."
"I'll be right there."
Jack hurried to the control room. "Play the message."
"Stargate Command, this is Colonel Carter. We've discovered that Anubis himself is in control of his forces. We have no other information regarding this."
"Damn!" Jack cursed. "Why can't we get rid of that guy?"
"I regret to inform you that, in gaining this information, our ship sustained major damage and can no longer fly," Sam's voice said, making Jack's gut tighten, a terrible feeling building inside. "We managed to put it down on one of the uninhabitable planets in the solar system, but Anubis is aware of our presence and will begin looking for us soon. If he captures us, not only will he learn things that could threaten Earth and its allies, he will also likely succeed in making Daniel a host. We cannot allow that to happen, so . . . so I am rigging the ship's engines to explode. I've programmed this message to transmit just before the engines go critical. By the time you receive it, we will be dead."
'God, no,' Jack silently gasped.
"I want to say that it has been an honor and a privilege to serve my country and Stargate Command," Sam concluded. "I know that Daniel and Teal'c feel the same." There was a brief pause. "End message."
The control room was utterly silent, everyone stunned and horrified by what they'd just heard. Jack stood frozen in place for long seconds, unable to believe that it could be true.
"Call them," he said in a rough voice.
"Sir?" Walter questioned.
"Call the Al'Kesh."
"But . . . but, sir, the recording said—"
"I know what it said, but something could have happened. Just . . . just try." Jack's voice broke slightly. "Just try."
"Yes, sir." The sergeant turned back to his console.
Unable to stay there a moment longer, Jack quickly left the room and went to his office, closing and locking the door behind him. Slowly, he sat down, rested his elbows on the desk, and dropped his head into his hands.
It had been nearly two hours since the SGC received the message from SG-1, and the entire base was reeling from the news. Janet had fled to her office and was crying. She was not the only one. The cloud of mourning was heavy in the air, on nearly every face.
As for Jack, he hadn't left his office in all that time, and no one had the heart or the desire to disturb him. All attempts to contact SG-1 had failed.
A big part of Jack still could not believe it, couldn't accept that Daniel, Sam and Teal'c were dead. A voice inside his head kept crying out that it couldn't be true, that they had to be alive. But Sam was too good at what she did to have failed to get the engines to explode. The only way that SG-1 could still be alive was if Anubis captured them before the ship blew. In that case, they'd be far better off if they were dead. The thought of what Anubis would do to them, especially to Daniel, was even worse than thinking of them as dead.
Jack's gaze went to one of the pictures that sat in his office. It was only a few months old, having been taken during Daniel's last birthday party. Jack had given Sam a very nice digital camera for her last birthday, and she'd used it at Daniel's party to take lots of pictures of all of them. The picture in Jack's office was of all four of them, taken using the timer. They were all smiling, arms draped over each other's shoulders, Sam's and Daniel's heads leaning in toward each other, touching.
Jack felt tears burning his eyes. "Damn," he whispered, quickly wiping away the moisture. He couldn't lose it now. He had to maintain appearances. But later, when he was all alone at home, then the tears would come – followed by at least half a bottle of Jack Daniels.
Clearing his throat, Jack picked up the phone. There was a call he had make, one he really didn't want to. General Hammond needed to be told the news.
He was hitting the first button when the gate began to dial, followed immediately by the announcement of an unscheduled off-world activation. Jack looked at the clock. None of the off-world teams were due back any time soon. Had some other terrible event taken place?
Though he knew it was wishful thinking, Jack couldn't stop the flame of hope that lit within him, the hope that, somehow, it was SG-1. He went down to the control room, ignoring the looks of sympathy he was give.
The wormhole established with its usual violence. Jack looked down at Walter Harriman.
"Receiving IDC, sir," the sergeant said. He then gave a little gasp, shock on his face. "Sir, it's SG-1!"
Jack dove for the microphone. "This is General O'Neill. SG-1, is that really you?"
"It's really us, Jack," answered the very familiar voice of Daniel Jackson.
"We're alive, sir," Sam said, a smile in her voice.
It took all of Jack's control not to let out a loud whoop of joy. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. So, care to tell me how it's possible?"
"Well, we sort of got rescued," Daniel replied.
"By whom?"
"Yu."
"Me?"
"No, not you you, Lord Yu."
Jack was rendered speechless for a moment. "You got rescued by a Goa'uld?"
"In a way. We'll explain it all later. He dropped us off on a planet with a gate, and we're very ready to come home. It's been a pretty rough mission."
Jack wanted nothing more than to tell them to come right through, but there was the question of whether or not they were who they said they were.
"Um, Daniel, I'd love to say come on home, but the last message we got from you said that Anubis knew about you being there and would be searching for you."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess you have to consider that we might not exactly be us anymore."
"What do you suggest, sir?" Sam asked. "Blood tests would prove that none of us are being possessed by Anubis, but they wouldn't detect the presence of a regular symbiote."
Jack thought about the problem for a moment. "We'll send someone through to get blood from all of you and search you for hidden weapons. If the tests come back clean, then you can come on through. We'll have to keep you under guard until you get your MRIs."
"Yes, sir. We understand."
Sam gave them the gate address of the planet they were on. After the gate shut down, Jack instructed Walter to tell SG-5 to start getting suited up for a mission. Then he strode out of the control room and went to the infirmary. Not seeing Janet, he went to her office, not thinking to knock before entering. He was dismayed by the grief on her face, the reddened eyes, tear-streaked cheeks, and, for an irrational moment, he wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her close.
Seeing him, Janet jumped to her feet, hastily wiping her face. "Sir, I—"
Jack didn't let her finish. "They're alive, Janet."
The doctor blinked, her face blank. "W-what?"
Jack smiled. "They're alive. They just dialed in. According to them, Lord Yu rescued them."
Janet's mouth opened in surprise. And then the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her face brightened it like the sun breaking through clouds. She laughed.
"I should have known," she said. "I should have known that, somehow, they made it out alive."
Jack laughed, too. "Yeah, we all should have known. My gut was trying to tell me that they weren't dead, but I wasn't listening well enough." He lost his smile. "But we have to make sure that they haven't been compromised. There's the chance that they've been in Anubis' hands and that one of them is Anubis. Someone needs to go to the planet and get blood samples."
"I'll do it," Janet instantly said.
"You could send someone else, you know."
The doctor shook her head. "Sir, I need to be the one to do it. I need to. . . ."
"Look at their faces and see that they really are alive?"
"Yes, sir."
Jack nodded, wishing he could go with her. "Okay. Get what you need and come to the gate room. You'll be going through with SG-5."
When Janet exited the gate and saw Daniel, Sam and Teal'c, she wanted so badly to run up to them and hug them all, but, instead, she remained professional and approached with the same caution as the members of SG-5. She noted that all of the team's weapons were trained directly on Daniel. They knew, as did she, that, if Anubis took one of them as a host, it would have been Daniel, and he was by far the most dangerous of the three.
Sam smiled. "Janet. I didn't think it would be you coming through."
"I volunteered. Okay, roll up your sleeves."
They did as she asked, and she drew the vials of blood.
"I'll process these as quickly as possible," the doctor said.
"We're not going anywhere," Daniel responded. He looked over his shoulder at some dark clouds on the horizon. "Although it would be nice to get home before we get rained on."
Janet went back through the gate alone, SG-5 remaining behind to keep SG-1 under guard.
"Well?" Jack inquired. He'd been waiting in the gate room.
"It looks like them, sir," Janet replied, "and they act like themselves, but you know that doesn't mean anything. I need to get this blood to the lab." She hurried off.
Too keyed up to remain in one place, Jack began to pace. He went to the control room and paced some more. He then went to his office and did still more pacing. He was just about to call the infirmary when the phone rang. He snatched it up.
"The samples are clean, sir," Janet announced. "Anubis is not within any of them."
"Thanks, Doc."
Jack wasted no time in going to the control room.
"Dial up SG-1," he said. "They're coming home."
The three members of the Stargate Program's premier team took seats at the briefing room table. Not long ago, they'd all gone through the process of an MRI under the watchful gaze of SG-5, who hadn't left them from the moment they got back to Earth. It wasn't normal for SG teams returning from a mission to be put under guard like that, but all three of them knew that the circumstances warranted it.
Jack exited his office and took the seat at the head of the table.
"I just got off the phone with Hammond. He wasn't happy to hear about Anubis, but he's delighted that you guys pulled another rabbit out of your hat and made it home alive. He's eager to read the report . . . but not as eager as I am to hear it." Jack gestured at them. "So, please. I'm all ears."
Daniel, Sam and Teal'c started at the beginning, explaining what happened at Tartarus and their subsequent trip to Albaren, leading to the return to Tartarus' solar system.
"We took up a position well out of the battle zone," Sam said.
Daniel took over the narrative. "But I couldn't see what we were after. We were too far away, and everything was moving too fast. If I'd kept trying, I'd probably only have ended up with a headache. There was something that I did sense, though. I got the strong feeling that it was really important for us to find out who was in control of Anubis' forces."
Sam resumed speaking. "After we found out that there was likely going to be a battle at Tartarus, we realized that it could be to our advantage. It would be possible for us to hide out on one of the planets in the solar system as the battle was fought. In that way, we'd be a lot closer to the ships, giving Daniel a greater chance of seeing what we were going there for. When Daniel failed to succeed from our position outside the battle zone, we decided to go in." The lieutenant colonel paused. "General, I want to say that, though we all agreed to this, as team leader, I had the final decision. I know now that we should have just left. Going in was too dangerous. I risked all our lives and almost—"
The voices of two men interrupted her, Daniel's, "Sam," and Jack's, "Carter." The archeologist let the general be the one to continue.
"Carter, you took what you thought was an acceptable risk, and you did it for a good reason. To ignore it when Daniel has a feeling about something is nothing short of idiotic, and you are most definitely not an idiot. If I'd been in your place, I'd probably have made the same decision. And, as it turned out, Daniel was right . . . again. Knowing that it's Anubis out there really changes the picture. It means that we really have to be on our guard since he most definitely does not have any fond feelings for Earth or any of us. You can bet that we're high on his list of targets. We all have twenty/twenty hindsight, Carter, and can look at things afterwards and think we should have done something differently, but you made the right call."
Sam's gaze was turned downward. "Yes, sir," she said, lifting her head.
"Continue."
"Once we were on the planet, it was pretty easy for me to find the right ship," Daniel said. "I'd barely gotten inside, though, when I sensed Anubis. There was no mistaking that presence. The problem was that he somehow sensed me as well. I knew that he'd come after us and that, if we were caught, he wouldn't stop until he'd taken me as a host."
"We departed the planet," Teal'c told Jack, "but were struck by weapons fire from a mothership. I was unable to maintain control of the craft, and it no longer had the ability to enter hyperspace."
"We crashed on the planet we'd just left," Sam explained. "If I'd had the time, I probably could have gotten the ship back up and running."
"But we didn't have that much time," Daniel said. "I knew that Anubis would find us long before we could get out of there." He looked at his teammates. "That's when we decided to blow up the Al'Kesh with us in it."
"We fully expected to die, sir. What happened next was pure luck."
They were almost thirty seconds into the countdown that would end with their deaths. Sam was glad that there was no voice counting off the seconds. It was bad enough that they were counting off in her head.
Suddenly, Daniel stiffened in Sam's arms. He pulled away from her and dove for the communication controls.
"This is Doctor Daniel Jackson of SG-1," he announced. "I'm trapped onboard a damaged Al'Kesh with Samantha Carter and Teal'c. We're on the fifth planet in the solar system, and our ship is about to explode."
"Daniel, what are you doing?!" Sam cried, thinking he'd taken leave of his senses.
Daniel didn't answer her. Instead, he kept broadcasting. "Lord Yu, we have valuable information about the forces of Anubis, information we will give to you in exchange for our lives. But we will be dead very soon if you don't come get us. We'll be waiting on the ring platform."
The archeologist turned to his teammates.
"I do not know if what you have done is wise," Teal'c stated.
Sam agreed. "Daniel, what if Yu finds out that you're Dan'yar?"
"If that happens, I can do something to make sure that he can't take advantage of the knowledge. But at least we'll have hope, Sam."
They hurried to the ring platform and waited as the seconds counted down. There was around ten seconds remaining when Sam said, "He's not going to get us."
Two seconds after that, the rings activated. And then they found themselves on Yu's ship, surrounded by Jaffa.
"Cutting it kind of close, weren't you?" Daniel said to the Jaffa, sounding an awful lot like Jack.
"Silence, human," one of the men ordered. "We will take you to Lord Yu so that he can decide your fate."
At that moment the ship jumped into hyperspace. Every member of SG-1 breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that they were safe from Anubis.
They were led out of the room and marched down a corridor.
'Sam, if things turn ugly, I'm not sure what I'll have to do,' Daniel said to the astrophysicist mind to mind. 'If it had been Amaterasu instead of Yu, I'd know that there would be trouble, but I'm hoping that we'll fare a lot better with Yu.'
'How did you know it was him? Did you see him?'
'Yeah. He was retreating, and his ship was nearing the planet. I decided it was worth the chance since the alternative was to just sit there and be blown up. Let's just hope that Yu hasn't gotten so senile that he can't be reasoned with. Just follow my lead, okay?'
They were taken to the chamber that acted as a sort of throne room. Lord Yu sat upon the throne, his First Prime, Oshu, at his side.
The Goa'uld rose to his feet and approached them, studying them narrowly.
"For what reason were you in that place?" he asked.
"We were there trying to learn the identity of the one who controls Anubis' forces," Daniel replied.
"And did you succeed?"
"Yes. We'll tell you what we know in exchange for being set free on a planet with a working Stargate."
Yu stared at him haughtily. "What would prevent me from taking that information from you by force?"
"Our people have never targeted you, Lord Yu. We've never attacked anything within your territories. In fact, there have been times when we've helped you. We were the ones who told you where to find Baal's fortress, and you succeeded in destroying it, dealing a heavy blow to an enemy. All I'm asking is that you let the three of us go free in exchange for information that would help you. We have a common enemy, the forces that you just battled against. You and Earth may not exactly be allies, but we are on the same side in that fight."
Yu walked away several paces. He motioned to Oshu, who joined him. They spoke in low voices for a moment, then Yu walked out of the room.
Oshu turned to SG-1. "My master wishes to consider your request." He addressed one of the other Jaffa. "Take them to a cell, but treat them well. Do not harm them."
The teammates were taken to a cell and left alone.
"So, do you think he'll go for it?" Sam asked.
"Well, he's let Teal'c go free in the past because it was a matter of honor. Teal'c had gone to him freely, not as an enemy. We aren't here as his enemy either. We're not seeking to do him any harm. On the contrary, we're both fighting a common foe."
"I believe that Daniel Jackson is correct," Teal'c said. "Lord Yu could have kept me prisoner, but, instead, he allowed me to go free and did me no harm. If there is a Goa'uld who can be called honorable, it is he."
They'd been in the cell for over an hour and a half when Oshu came.
"My master will speak to you now," he said.
He took them back to the throne room. Yu remained seated this time.
"I agree to your request," he stated. "This ship will take you to a world with a Stargate. Now you will tell me what you have learned about the one who controls the forces of Anubis."
Daniel exchanged a glance with his teammates. "It's Anubis himself," he said. "I can only guess that he somehow got off the planet we stranded him on. It might not have been him all this time. There could have been someone else in control at least for a while, but it's Anubis now."
Yu stood and paced the room slowly. "You are certain of this?"
"Positive."
The Goa'uld looked at Daniel. "This information is of great value. Knowing that it is Anubis himself changes much."
Just then, the ship exited hyperspace.
A Jaffa came into the room. "Lord Yu, we have arrived at the planet you commanded us to go to."
"Take these three and send them down to the planet."
The Jaffa bowed his head. "Yes, Lord Yu."
Oshu accompanied SG-1 and the Jaffa to the ring platform.
"For my master I thank you for the information you gave us," he said once they'd arrived. "We had hoped that Anubis would never again trouble us, but knowing that it is him will help us in this fight."
Daniel nodded once. "Thank Lord Yu for setting us free."
Oshu lifted his chin. "My master is a man of honor, and the words you spoke before are true. Your people have aided us, and, though you are an enemy of the Goa'uld. you have never aimed an attack against what belongs to Lord Yu. Farewell. I wish you good fortune in your fight against our common enemy, Anubis."
"The same wish we express to you," Teal'c declared, bowing his head.
"They ringed us down to a spot not far from the gate," Daniel said, "and we called you. And that's it."
Jack was silent for a few moments, thinking about how very close his former teammates had come to dying. Eight more seconds. Just eight more seconds and they'd have been dead. It wasn't the first time things had been cut that close, but it still made him shudder to think of it.
"So, no more Al'Kesh, huh?" he said.
"No, sir," Sam replied. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize to me, Carter. I'm sure there is more than one person who isn't going to be happy about losing that ship, but it doesn't really make me cry. You wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place if we hadn't still had that ship. We don't need it anymore. We've got the Prometheus. Besides, you guys found us a brand new toy, that time-traveling puddle jumper, so maybe the brass won't be so upset after all." Jack leaned back in his chair. "So, tell me. Do any of you have any idea how Anubis could have gotten off popsicle planet?"
"We talked about that while we were in the cell, sir," Sam replied. "The only thing we came up with is that a ship went there. It's the only thing that makes sense."
Jack shook his head. "We just can't seem to get rid of that guy, can we. He reminds me of Apophis. Look how many times we thought he was out of the picture only to find out that he wasn't."
"But Apophis at last met his fate," Teal'c said, "and I believe that the day will come when Anubis is no more."
Daniel frowned. "There's one big difference with Anubis, though. He's not mortal. The only ones who can really destroy him are the Ascended, and, obviously, they're not going to do it."
The members of SG-1 could have no doubt that everyone on the base was happy that they were alive. People kept smiling at them. Even Teal'c received some smiles.
They all had a very late lunch in the commissary, and Janet joined them. Once the doctor had confirmed that none of them were carrying symbiotes, she'd given both Sam and Daniel big hugs and Teal'c a littler one, telling them how hard it had hit her when she'd thought they were all dead. Now, she felt the need to spend some time with them.
"Janet, you didn't call Cassie and tell her about our presumed deaths, did you?" Sam asked.
"No, thank goodness. I'd have waited till I got home tonight to tell her. I don't think I'll ever tell her how close you came to being killed. She doesn't need to know that, and it'll just freak her out. She'll be heading off to school in only a month, so she definitely doesn't need to be thinking about you guys dying."
Sam smiled. "So, is she getting all excited?"
"Excited doesn't even come close. Two of her friends are also going to UCLA, so she's already thinking about all the fun the three of them are going to have. I've told her not to forget that she isn't going to college to have fun." Janet sighed. "I'm going to miss her terribly. The house will feel so empty without her."
Sam touched Janet's arm comfortingly. She knew how much her friend had been dreading the day Cassie went off to college.
"We should have a get-together before she leaves," Daniel said.
Sam smiled. "Yeah, a going off to college party. We'll have to start planning it."
Janet looked at the three people sitting with her at the table. "I'm just really glad that you're all alive to see her go to college."
