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More String Theory: An AU Series
Dr. Samantha Carter joins the SGC and discovers a life she never expected.
Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, Romance, S/J
Teen: language and violence
Ficlet 31-Radium Eyes
Shit, shit, shit, is all Jack can think as he watches the rest of the matted hair fall back from Sam’s face. Her skin is one giant mass of bruising and she holds herself as if suffering from multiple broken bones. Jack is filled with the undeniable urge to rip Apophis’s head from his gaudily clad shoulders. What the hell is she even doing here?
She meets his eyes across the room, a hazy mix of surprise and confusion on her face like it’s taking her a really long time to reconcile what she is seeing. Then her mouth drops open, the raw relief in her eyes almost more than Jack can handle. They stare at each other as the Goa’uld continues to drone and Jack finds he can’t look away even to save her. He knows he is giving far too much away.
Apophis isn’t so self-absorbed not to notice. “How fitting to have a little reunion at this moment,” Apophis says with a sick smile, his rage finally boiling down into haughty malice. “We can all watch your planet burn together.”
Apophis nods to his First Prime to start the attack, but right before he can comply the C-4 countdown finally ticks down, Klorel’s ship shattering in a blinding ball of light. Even Apophis shrinks back from the glare as the ship teeters in the concussive wake of the explosion.
Jack doesn’t allow a single moment to think of Daniel or Skaara, instead pushing to his feet in the confusion, throwing himself at the nearest guard. The little rebellion doesn’t last long, however, seeing as they are outnumbered by quite a bit. But it does pull the Jaffa behind Apophis across the room to help subdue them, offering Jack a much clearer view of Sam, who has pushed into a half crouch, her eyes surveying her surroundings as if seeing them for the first time.
“My son!” Apophis roars as the guards force them back to their knees. He whirls around, pointing a finger at Jack. “I will have the pleasure of taking your life myself!”
Apophis snatches a staff weapon from his First Prime. Jack can already sense the rest of his team tensing for action when movement comes from the most unexpected quarter. With a look of grim determination, Sam pushes unsteadily to her feet and covers the distance to Apophis in three quick, faltering steps.
Jack barely registers the glint of a syringe in her hand before she jams it into the back of Apophis’s neck, sliding the plunger home.
The Goa’uld spins around at the unexpected attack, swinging his staff weapon into Sam in his haste. She slams back into a console and slides limply to the floor. An unnatural silence fills the room, everyone staring at Apophis, waiting for something to happen, any reaction at all to explain what they just witnessed.
Apophis drops the staff weapon and rips the syringe out of his neck with a sneer. He tosses the object aside contemptuously and looks down at Sam. “What did you hope to accomplish, human? I am a god, your petty tricks cannot harm me.”
Sam remains mute, her eyes riveted to the Goa’uld, but she’s biting her lower lip in a way Jack has come to associate with Sam on the edge of a major breakthrough.
“Just as you cannot stop me from eradicating your planet,” Apophis continues, striding across the room.
Jack has just convinced himself that Sam’s little attack had been nothing more than a flashy distraction when Apophis inexplicably stumbles mid-step. The First Prime rushes forward, grabbing Apophis’s arm to offer support, but the Goa’uld shrugs him off. Jack is fascinated by the sheen of sweat visible on Apophis’s increasingly pale face.
Apophis tries another step only to stumble again, his eyes glowing weakly. Surprise crosses his face as he reaches out for the control panel to steady himself. “What...what have you done?”
Sam gingerly lifts her head, obviously biting back pain. “Science experiment,” she says, her voice not completely steady. “How long exactly does it take for a god to die?”
There is unmistakable panic in Apophis’s eyes as he roars, raising his hand device to Sam’s chest. Jack begins to push to his feet as Sam uselessly tries to back away, but the expected blow never comes.
“What?” Apophis asks, fear beginning to leak into his voice as he tries over and over again to make the device fire. He takes a few awkward steps towards Sam, eventually falling to his knees mere feet from her. They stare at each other as all the energy seems to drain away from his body.
“You wanted to know what I was working on,” Sam says. “Now you know.”
Apophis’s mouth opens soundlessly as the light fades from his eyes. Before their very eyes he begins to age, skin sinking in, hair losing pigment until there is nothing left but the mummified shell of a man curled up on the floor. He takes a last shuddering breath, his eyes wildly looking around the room.
When the last bit of life finally leeches away from the corpse that had once been Apophis, Sam rests back against the consol, her hands covering her face.
It takes Jack a moment to realize that he is standing side by side with a Jaffa, both of them staring in complete amazement. On the other side of the room, the First Prime is the first to recover, his eyes latched on Sam. “What have you done?” he yells, reaching for his master’s dropped staff weapon.
Jack doesn’t think, he sees the First Prime advancing on Sam and his instincts take over. He has the two Jaffa next to him stumbling backwards, one of their weapons in his hands before his brain is even aware of the command. Dropping to one knee, Jack fires twice in quick succession, both blasts impacting the First Prime squarely in the chest.
Sam lets out a strangled sound as the body impacts the floor, both of her hands clamped over her mouth.
Jack is just about to turn his weapon on the next Jaffa when Bra’tac darts out into the middle of the room, arms held wide.
“Brothers! You have finally seen for yourselves that the whispers are true.” He gestures towards Apophis’s lifeless body. “This is no god, but merely a parasite hiding in a man’s body. Powerful, yes, but mortal as all other beings.”
The Jaffa look uncertain, some half raising their weapons, others looking searchingly at their neighbors. Jack takes advantage of the moment to circle around and stand between the majority of the Jaffa and Sam. Despite a significant glare from Bra’tac, he refuses to lower his weapon. Jack might be willing to let Bra’tac try to talk them out of this, but there is no way he is giving up plan B, even though it mostly consists of being completely out manned and out gunned.
“You speak blasphemy,” one of the bolder Jaffa eventually says, stepping in front of the rest. “We know of your crimes against the Gods, shol’va.”
“If my desire for freedom for all Jaffa makes me a traitor, then so be it,” Teal’c says, smoothly stepping forward to stand by Bra’tac.
“You are a warrior without honor,” the Jaffa spats. “Your words mean nothing.”
“But what of the woman?” another voice in the back questions. A buzz passes through the group, heads nodding in agreement.
“What of her?” the loudmouth Jaffa scoffs, taking a step in Sam’s direction. “She will be the first to pay for her crimes against the gods.”
“You’re gonna find that difficult to do when you’re dead,” Jack grinds out, his confiscated staff weapon trained on the Jaffa.
Apparently deciding to call Jack’s bluff, the Jaffa lunges forward, but before Jack can fire, the blue crackle of a zat blast envelopes the warrior from behind. Momentum carries the now unconscious Jaffa to the ground right at Jack’s feet.
“Enough blood has been spilled in the name of petty tyrants,” says a young, dark haired Jaffa as he lowers his zat. “Today I choose freedom.”
“Your words are wise, Rak’nor,” Teal’c says with a nod.
Jack is a bit startled to hear Teal’c call the Jaffa by name; it’s hard to remember sometimes that Teal’c had once led all these men. Teal’c steps towards Rak’nor, holding out his hands. The young Jaffa hands over his staff weapon and zat.
“It is time to lay down weapons carried in the name of false gods,” Rak’nor says.
The remaining Jaffa look uncertainly between Apophis and Rak’nor until one warrior steps forward and then another, their loyalty to their dead god breaking like a dam. One by one, they follow Rak’nor’s example, handing their weapons to Bra’tac and Teal’c. Only when the last Jaffa voluntarily complies does Jack finally lower his weapon and let himself move to Sam’s side.
She’s speaking rapidly before he can even lift her to a sitting position. “Reynolds, he’s three levels down in a cell. At least I think it’s three levels. You have to get him out. He’s going to need medical care, and eight or so more civilians in a brig much lower down. I can’t remember exactly-.”
“Sam,” Jack tries to interrupt.
“And the host,” she says as if he hadn’t spoken. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to…but…it was just an experiment. I didn’t know-.”
“Sam,” Jack says more loudly, hands insistent on her shoulders. “It’s okay.”
She looks up, finally focusing on him as her whole body begins to tremble. “Jack.”
He gingerly touches her face. “Yeah,” he confirms.
She lunges forward unexpectedly, grabbing for his shoulders, burying her face in the hollow of his neck as if she’s trying to climb inside him. She’s whispering something over and over again and it takes him a while to realize she is saying, “Thank you.”
Jack wraps his arms around her as tightly as he dares, pulling her into his chest.
Lorne crouches down next to them, his eyes lingering on each bruise visible on Sam’s skin. “We need to get the injured medical attention,” he says.
“There is likely a tel’tak in one of the bays,” Teal’c offers.
“First we need to contact the SGC,” Jack says.
They brainstorm for a while, working out all the particulars of suddenly finding themselves in control of a Goa’uld mothership. Across the room, Bra’tac and his Jaffa from Klorel’s ship speak quietly to Rak’nor and the others. Even as one part of Jack’s brain focuses on these particulars, the importance of treading carefully in the next few hours, the rest of him is lost in the feel of Sam’s fingers twisted up in his shirt, the heavy weight of her labored breathing against his neck.
They have just decided on a course of action when Sam speaks.
“Is he dead?” Sam asks softly.
Lorne stops talking mid-sentence, looking down at Sam. Jack assumes she means Apophis, but she is staring hard at the First Prime’s body. Jack feels his gut twist painfully at the terror in her eyes.
“Sek,” she reiterates, her voice little more than a croak. “Is he dead?”
“Yes,” Jack says.
Sam nods and turns her face into Jack’s chest, but he can still feel her trembling.
“Lorne,” Jack barks a little more harshly than he intends. “Get an open line to the SGC.”
Lorne doesn’t look affronted, rather annoyingly sympathetic. He nods his head and moves off to the main controls.
“What do you intend to do with the Jaffa?” Teal’c asks, something unreadable in his eyes.
Jack looks around at the remaining Jaffa being loosely guarded by Bra’tac’s men. Most of them are staring in complete awe either at Apophis’s desiccated body or Sam, the seemingly insignificant Tau’ri woman who killed him. Jack feels his arms tighten around her as if to protect her from their gaze.
None of them are completely innocent of what has been done to Sam and Jack struggles against the overwhelming desire for revenge. Looking up at Teal’c, he knows Teal’c understands this. Unfortunately there is something much larger at stake, and if anything can finish off the Goa’uld once and for all, it’s the idea of a Jaffa rebellion.
Jack takes a deep breath and firmly shoves down the rage crawling up his throat. “I think we should give any Jaffa willing to lay down his arms free passage home through the gate,” Jack decides.
Teal’c nods his approval. “They will undoubtedly spread the tale of what they have witnessed here today,” he says, another gentle reminder that this mercy is in the best interest of all.
“Colonel,” Lorne says. “General Hammond has given permission to land a tel’tak on the airstrip. They will have medical teams standing by.”
“Okay. We need to clear a path to the tel’tak and get the other prisoners out of the lower levels.” Jack moves to push to his feet, but Sam’s fingers dig into his shirt, refusing to let go.
“Sam,” Jack says, kneeling back down by her, his hands covering hers. “I have to get the rest of our people out.”
“Of course,” Sam replies, but her hands don’t release their death grip.
Jack glances up at Lorne. “Evan is going to stay with you.” Lorne squats down next to Sam, bringing his face into her line of sight.
“Hey, Sam,” Lorne says gently. “Can I take a look at you and see what we can do to make you feel better?” He holds out a water bottle and Sam looks back and forth between Lorne and Jack.
Jack nods encouragingly at her, pulling her fingers free as they loosen on his shirt. Jack isn’t too thrilled about letting her out of his sight either, but he knows he has to. Some days it just sucks to be in command.
“I’ll come right back,” Jack says. “I promise.”
“Of course,” she says again, nodding her head. Looking over at Lorne, she finally reaches out to take the water bottle.
Jack stands and forces himself to join Teal’c, grabbing a staff weapon and a zat from the pile. “Let’s get this done,” he says.
Despite Jack’s best intentions, it takes a few hours to locate the prisoners and send the Jaffa through Apophis’s personal Stargate. It’s another frightening reminder how powerful Apophis had become, Teal’c saying that he has never personally heard of a ship equipped with a Stargate, let alone two in one fleet. No wonder the Jaffa were so astounded by his sudden downfall from the most unlikely source.
With Teal’c helping get all the injured into the tel’tac, Jack heads back to keep his promise. Bra’tac is already in the peltac, keeping an eye on the systems. Lorne is exactly where Jack left him, sitting by the main controls, Sam’s head now resting on his shoulder as he speaks lowly to her.
“…And that is why, to this day, I absolutely refuse to eat Twinkies,” Lorne is in the middle of saying when Jack gets within hearing range. Jack raises an eyebrow at the major, but doesn’t bother to ask.
“Hey, Sam,” Jack says, crouching down by her. “How are you doing?”
She gives him a fuzzy smile, but doesn’t answer.
“I gave her some of the good drugs,” Lorne says.
“Probably a good idea.” She has an obvious facial fracture and broken ankle added to the high probability of some cracked ribs from her close encounter with Apophis’ staff weapon. As if that weren’t enough, there are singe marks on her shirt that Jack really doesn’t like the look of.
“Ready to go for a ride?” Jack asks Sam as he slides his arms under her to pick her up.
Sam nods against his shoulder.
Jack insists on carrying her the entire distance to the tel’tac with Lorne trailing behind. When they finally enter the ship, instead of placing her in the back with the rest of the Beta Site personnel, he puts her down in the passenger seat up front before taking the pilot’s seat himself. Teal’c doesn’t even bother arguing about who should fly, probably recognizing all too well the look in Jack’s eye.
Guiding the tel’tac carefully out the bay door, they leave the looming ship behind, the inky black of space filling the windows. Banking left, Earth slides into view, a swirling mosaic of white, blue and green. Against all odds it still spins quietly, completely unaware how close it brushed with disaster today.
Jack’s still not even sure how, but they’d saved it.
“It’s beautiful,” Sam says, her voice hoarse with exhaustion.
Jack looks over at her. Under the bruising and fatigue he still recognizes the glimmer of wonder on her face. “Yes, it is,” he agrees.
By the time they break atmosphere she’s sound asleep.
next
Dr. Samantha Carter joins the SGC and discovers a life she never expected.
Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, Romance, S/J
Teen: language and violence
Ficlet 31-Radium Eyes
Shit, shit, shit, is all Jack can think as he watches the rest of the matted hair fall back from Sam’s face. Her skin is one giant mass of bruising and she holds herself as if suffering from multiple broken bones. Jack is filled with the undeniable urge to rip Apophis’s head from his gaudily clad shoulders. What the hell is she even doing here?
She meets his eyes across the room, a hazy mix of surprise and confusion on her face like it’s taking her a really long time to reconcile what she is seeing. Then her mouth drops open, the raw relief in her eyes almost more than Jack can handle. They stare at each other as the Goa’uld continues to drone and Jack finds he can’t look away even to save her. He knows he is giving far too much away.
Apophis isn’t so self-absorbed not to notice. “How fitting to have a little reunion at this moment,” Apophis says with a sick smile, his rage finally boiling down into haughty malice. “We can all watch your planet burn together.”
Apophis nods to his First Prime to start the attack, but right before he can comply the C-4 countdown finally ticks down, Klorel’s ship shattering in a blinding ball of light. Even Apophis shrinks back from the glare as the ship teeters in the concussive wake of the explosion.
Jack doesn’t allow a single moment to think of Daniel or Skaara, instead pushing to his feet in the confusion, throwing himself at the nearest guard. The little rebellion doesn’t last long, however, seeing as they are outnumbered by quite a bit. But it does pull the Jaffa behind Apophis across the room to help subdue them, offering Jack a much clearer view of Sam, who has pushed into a half crouch, her eyes surveying her surroundings as if seeing them for the first time.
“My son!” Apophis roars as the guards force them back to their knees. He whirls around, pointing a finger at Jack. “I will have the pleasure of taking your life myself!”
Apophis snatches a staff weapon from his First Prime. Jack can already sense the rest of his team tensing for action when movement comes from the most unexpected quarter. With a look of grim determination, Sam pushes unsteadily to her feet and covers the distance to Apophis in three quick, faltering steps.
Jack barely registers the glint of a syringe in her hand before she jams it into the back of Apophis’s neck, sliding the plunger home.
The Goa’uld spins around at the unexpected attack, swinging his staff weapon into Sam in his haste. She slams back into a console and slides limply to the floor. An unnatural silence fills the room, everyone staring at Apophis, waiting for something to happen, any reaction at all to explain what they just witnessed.
Apophis drops the staff weapon and rips the syringe out of his neck with a sneer. He tosses the object aside contemptuously and looks down at Sam. “What did you hope to accomplish, human? I am a god, your petty tricks cannot harm me.”
Sam remains mute, her eyes riveted to the Goa’uld, but she’s biting her lower lip in a way Jack has come to associate with Sam on the edge of a major breakthrough.
“Just as you cannot stop me from eradicating your planet,” Apophis continues, striding across the room.
Jack has just convinced himself that Sam’s little attack had been nothing more than a flashy distraction when Apophis inexplicably stumbles mid-step. The First Prime rushes forward, grabbing Apophis’s arm to offer support, but the Goa’uld shrugs him off. Jack is fascinated by the sheen of sweat visible on Apophis’s increasingly pale face.
Apophis tries another step only to stumble again, his eyes glowing weakly. Surprise crosses his face as he reaches out for the control panel to steady himself. “What...what have you done?”
Sam gingerly lifts her head, obviously biting back pain. “Science experiment,” she says, her voice not completely steady. “How long exactly does it take for a god to die?”
There is unmistakable panic in Apophis’s eyes as he roars, raising his hand device to Sam’s chest. Jack begins to push to his feet as Sam uselessly tries to back away, but the expected blow never comes.
“What?” Apophis asks, fear beginning to leak into his voice as he tries over and over again to make the device fire. He takes a few awkward steps towards Sam, eventually falling to his knees mere feet from her. They stare at each other as all the energy seems to drain away from his body.
“You wanted to know what I was working on,” Sam says. “Now you know.”
Apophis’s mouth opens soundlessly as the light fades from his eyes. Before their very eyes he begins to age, skin sinking in, hair losing pigment until there is nothing left but the mummified shell of a man curled up on the floor. He takes a last shuddering breath, his eyes wildly looking around the room.
When the last bit of life finally leeches away from the corpse that had once been Apophis, Sam rests back against the consol, her hands covering her face.
It takes Jack a moment to realize that he is standing side by side with a Jaffa, both of them staring in complete amazement. On the other side of the room, the First Prime is the first to recover, his eyes latched on Sam. “What have you done?” he yells, reaching for his master’s dropped staff weapon.
Jack doesn’t think, he sees the First Prime advancing on Sam and his instincts take over. He has the two Jaffa next to him stumbling backwards, one of their weapons in his hands before his brain is even aware of the command. Dropping to one knee, Jack fires twice in quick succession, both blasts impacting the First Prime squarely in the chest.
Sam lets out a strangled sound as the body impacts the floor, both of her hands clamped over her mouth.
Jack is just about to turn his weapon on the next Jaffa when Bra’tac darts out into the middle of the room, arms held wide.
“Brothers! You have finally seen for yourselves that the whispers are true.” He gestures towards Apophis’s lifeless body. “This is no god, but merely a parasite hiding in a man’s body. Powerful, yes, but mortal as all other beings.”
The Jaffa look uncertain, some half raising their weapons, others looking searchingly at their neighbors. Jack takes advantage of the moment to circle around and stand between the majority of the Jaffa and Sam. Despite a significant glare from Bra’tac, he refuses to lower his weapon. Jack might be willing to let Bra’tac try to talk them out of this, but there is no way he is giving up plan B, even though it mostly consists of being completely out manned and out gunned.
“You speak blasphemy,” one of the bolder Jaffa eventually says, stepping in front of the rest. “We know of your crimes against the Gods, shol’va.”
“If my desire for freedom for all Jaffa makes me a traitor, then so be it,” Teal’c says, smoothly stepping forward to stand by Bra’tac.
“You are a warrior without honor,” the Jaffa spats. “Your words mean nothing.”
“But what of the woman?” another voice in the back questions. A buzz passes through the group, heads nodding in agreement.
“What of her?” the loudmouth Jaffa scoffs, taking a step in Sam’s direction. “She will be the first to pay for her crimes against the gods.”
“You’re gonna find that difficult to do when you’re dead,” Jack grinds out, his confiscated staff weapon trained on the Jaffa.
Apparently deciding to call Jack’s bluff, the Jaffa lunges forward, but before Jack can fire, the blue crackle of a zat blast envelopes the warrior from behind. Momentum carries the now unconscious Jaffa to the ground right at Jack’s feet.
“Enough blood has been spilled in the name of petty tyrants,” says a young, dark haired Jaffa as he lowers his zat. “Today I choose freedom.”
“Your words are wise, Rak’nor,” Teal’c says with a nod.
Jack is a bit startled to hear Teal’c call the Jaffa by name; it’s hard to remember sometimes that Teal’c had once led all these men. Teal’c steps towards Rak’nor, holding out his hands. The young Jaffa hands over his staff weapon and zat.
“It is time to lay down weapons carried in the name of false gods,” Rak’nor says.
The remaining Jaffa look uncertainly between Apophis and Rak’nor until one warrior steps forward and then another, their loyalty to their dead god breaking like a dam. One by one, they follow Rak’nor’s example, handing their weapons to Bra’tac and Teal’c. Only when the last Jaffa voluntarily complies does Jack finally lower his weapon and let himself move to Sam’s side.
She’s speaking rapidly before he can even lift her to a sitting position. “Reynolds, he’s three levels down in a cell. At least I think it’s three levels. You have to get him out. He’s going to need medical care, and eight or so more civilians in a brig much lower down. I can’t remember exactly-.”
“Sam,” Jack tries to interrupt.
“And the host,” she says as if he hadn’t spoken. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to…but…it was just an experiment. I didn’t know-.”
“Sam,” Jack says more loudly, hands insistent on her shoulders. “It’s okay.”
She looks up, finally focusing on him as her whole body begins to tremble. “Jack.”
He gingerly touches her face. “Yeah,” he confirms.
She lunges forward unexpectedly, grabbing for his shoulders, burying her face in the hollow of his neck as if she’s trying to climb inside him. She’s whispering something over and over again and it takes him a while to realize she is saying, “Thank you.”
Jack wraps his arms around her as tightly as he dares, pulling her into his chest.
Lorne crouches down next to them, his eyes lingering on each bruise visible on Sam’s skin. “We need to get the injured medical attention,” he says.
“There is likely a tel’tak in one of the bays,” Teal’c offers.
“First we need to contact the SGC,” Jack says.
They brainstorm for a while, working out all the particulars of suddenly finding themselves in control of a Goa’uld mothership. Across the room, Bra’tac and his Jaffa from Klorel’s ship speak quietly to Rak’nor and the others. Even as one part of Jack’s brain focuses on these particulars, the importance of treading carefully in the next few hours, the rest of him is lost in the feel of Sam’s fingers twisted up in his shirt, the heavy weight of her labored breathing against his neck.
They have just decided on a course of action when Sam speaks.
“Is he dead?” Sam asks softly.
Lorne stops talking mid-sentence, looking down at Sam. Jack assumes she means Apophis, but she is staring hard at the First Prime’s body. Jack feels his gut twist painfully at the terror in her eyes.
“Sek,” she reiterates, her voice little more than a croak. “Is he dead?”
“Yes,” Jack says.
Sam nods and turns her face into Jack’s chest, but he can still feel her trembling.
“Lorne,” Jack barks a little more harshly than he intends. “Get an open line to the SGC.”
Lorne doesn’t look affronted, rather annoyingly sympathetic. He nods his head and moves off to the main controls.
“What do you intend to do with the Jaffa?” Teal’c asks, something unreadable in his eyes.
Jack looks around at the remaining Jaffa being loosely guarded by Bra’tac’s men. Most of them are staring in complete awe either at Apophis’s desiccated body or Sam, the seemingly insignificant Tau’ri woman who killed him. Jack feels his arms tighten around her as if to protect her from their gaze.
None of them are completely innocent of what has been done to Sam and Jack struggles against the overwhelming desire for revenge. Looking up at Teal’c, he knows Teal’c understands this. Unfortunately there is something much larger at stake, and if anything can finish off the Goa’uld once and for all, it’s the idea of a Jaffa rebellion.
Jack takes a deep breath and firmly shoves down the rage crawling up his throat. “I think we should give any Jaffa willing to lay down his arms free passage home through the gate,” Jack decides.
Teal’c nods his approval. “They will undoubtedly spread the tale of what they have witnessed here today,” he says, another gentle reminder that this mercy is in the best interest of all.
“Colonel,” Lorne says. “General Hammond has given permission to land a tel’tak on the airstrip. They will have medical teams standing by.”
“Okay. We need to clear a path to the tel’tak and get the other prisoners out of the lower levels.” Jack moves to push to his feet, but Sam’s fingers dig into his shirt, refusing to let go.
“Sam,” Jack says, kneeling back down by her, his hands covering hers. “I have to get the rest of our people out.”
“Of course,” Sam replies, but her hands don’t release their death grip.
Jack glances up at Lorne. “Evan is going to stay with you.” Lorne squats down next to Sam, bringing his face into her line of sight.
“Hey, Sam,” Lorne says gently. “Can I take a look at you and see what we can do to make you feel better?” He holds out a water bottle and Sam looks back and forth between Lorne and Jack.
Jack nods encouragingly at her, pulling her fingers free as they loosen on his shirt. Jack isn’t too thrilled about letting her out of his sight either, but he knows he has to. Some days it just sucks to be in command.
“I’ll come right back,” Jack says. “I promise.”
“Of course,” she says again, nodding her head. Looking over at Lorne, she finally reaches out to take the water bottle.
Jack stands and forces himself to join Teal’c, grabbing a staff weapon and a zat from the pile. “Let’s get this done,” he says.
Despite Jack’s best intentions, it takes a few hours to locate the prisoners and send the Jaffa through Apophis’s personal Stargate. It’s another frightening reminder how powerful Apophis had become, Teal’c saying that he has never personally heard of a ship equipped with a Stargate, let alone two in one fleet. No wonder the Jaffa were so astounded by his sudden downfall from the most unlikely source.
With Teal’c helping get all the injured into the tel’tac, Jack heads back to keep his promise. Bra’tac is already in the peltac, keeping an eye on the systems. Lorne is exactly where Jack left him, sitting by the main controls, Sam’s head now resting on his shoulder as he speaks lowly to her.
“…And that is why, to this day, I absolutely refuse to eat Twinkies,” Lorne is in the middle of saying when Jack gets within hearing range. Jack raises an eyebrow at the major, but doesn’t bother to ask.
“Hey, Sam,” Jack says, crouching down by her. “How are you doing?”
She gives him a fuzzy smile, but doesn’t answer.
“I gave her some of the good drugs,” Lorne says.
“Probably a good idea.” She has an obvious facial fracture and broken ankle added to the high probability of some cracked ribs from her close encounter with Apophis’ staff weapon. As if that weren’t enough, there are singe marks on her shirt that Jack really doesn’t like the look of.
“Ready to go for a ride?” Jack asks Sam as he slides his arms under her to pick her up.
Sam nods against his shoulder.
Jack insists on carrying her the entire distance to the tel’tac with Lorne trailing behind. When they finally enter the ship, instead of placing her in the back with the rest of the Beta Site personnel, he puts her down in the passenger seat up front before taking the pilot’s seat himself. Teal’c doesn’t even bother arguing about who should fly, probably recognizing all too well the look in Jack’s eye.
Guiding the tel’tac carefully out the bay door, they leave the looming ship behind, the inky black of space filling the windows. Banking left, Earth slides into view, a swirling mosaic of white, blue and green. Against all odds it still spins quietly, completely unaware how close it brushed with disaster today.
Jack’s still not even sure how, but they’d saved it.
“It’s beautiful,” Sam says, her voice hoarse with exhaustion.
Jack looks over at her. Under the bruising and fatigue he still recognizes the glimmer of wonder on her face. “Yes, it is,” he agrees.
By the time they break atmosphere she’s sound asleep.
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