The Calm Before The Storm
The Calm Before The Storm
by Lucy Maria Elmer
TITLE: The Calm Before The Storm
AUTHOR: Lucy Maria Elmer
EMAIL: sweetaspie@talk21.com
CATEGORY: Sam/Jack angst, AU, adventure, drama
SPOILERS: Point of view and someother I really dunno the names of.
SEASON / SEQUEL:
RATING:
CONTENT WARNINGS: Character death (sorta), male/female relationship
SUMMARY: A visitor from an alternate universe brings confusion to Cheyenne mountain and paves the way for a mission that none will ever forget!!!!
STATUS: Complete
ARCHIVE: Heliopolis
DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the authors. Not to be archived without permission of the authors.
DEDICATION: To my family, and the actors who have turned this universe into something special.
It was a stormy night and a bitter wind was howling outside the SGC. Rain was hammering the mountain base as if trying to beat it down. Inside however inside it was unusually tranquil, the only significant sound being the siren warning of an imminent arrival through the Stargate of one of the SG teams returning from a mission to an unknown and uncharted world.
Christmas was approaching and an air of holiday spirit had already cascaded through the mountain.
SG:1 sat playing a game of cards. Sitting around the conference table playing were Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Smantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Dr. Janet Frasier and Teal'c, formerly a follower of the Goa'uld god Apophis. Normally they were a busy team, one of many who seemed to constantly visit other worlds, with the exception of Doctor Janet Frasier who was not a member of the team as such, but was a close friend of those who were, something which explained her presence at the table, however as Christmas was close on it's approach the off world mission were winding down, giving the teams a chance to wind down and relax around each other.
"Hey this can't be right, how can you win for a fourth time?"
"Because I have skill!" Major Samantha Carter told her superior officer and close friend Jack O'Neill.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" He asked Sarcastically
"Oh look you've insulted the Colonels intelligence, he's really mad now." Janet Fraiser told her friend in the same tone making the others laugh.
Suddenly interrupting the friendly banter came a big clap of thunder.
"Think that's a warning of something bad?" Daniel Jackson asked his friends.
"I think you may be closer to the truth than you expect." came the voice of General Hammond from the doorway. "Very close." he told them before sitting down, preparing them for the calm before the storm.
They were already waiting when she arrived, a young woman scared, alone and injured and far away from home. As she entered the conference room escorted by two officers something struck those present, the incredible sadness and sense of knowing radiating as if from her spirit. She was a youngster of seventeen years, her light brown hair tangled and glistening with sweat, her face dirty and tear stained and her green eyes dull as if their light had gone out. She sat down, her escorting officers leaving, preparing herself for the questioning that was about to commence.
"So...you're from an alternate universe huh?" Jack O'Neill asked the young woman.
"Technically yes, a future one by the looks of it." She answered him just as quickly as he had asked his question.
"And you know that..."
"Holly..." she answered reading his mind "because you guys look just a little bit older in my universe. You're balding." She said pointing to Jack.
"And you got here through the quantum mirror?" Samantha Carter asked surprised.
"Technically I was sent here through the quantum mirror, but yes."
"But I thought that had been destroyed." she turned around and stated to General Hammond. "after what happened last time..."
"I know Major, but we didn't quite get around to it. We have had more pressing matters to attend to."
"But surely something could've been done to prevent this sort of thing from happening again" she answered.
" Look Ma'am, I'm sorry if I've inconvenienced you by arriving here, if I've stirred up memories you're uncomfortable with, but it wasn't my choice to come here. My mother sent me, all of you guys at this table did, along with another sixty or so kids from my homeworld."
"Then where are they?" Carter asked.
"Before it was my turn to go through the mirror there was an explosion. It caused the device to turn off and reset itself before I could follow the others through. My home, my planet is under attack by the Goa'uld, a scenario I'm sure you're familiar with. They began to approach the room the mirror was in, and Uncle Daniel didn't have time to find the same world, if he had I would be dead, so he just sent me through to one where there seemed to be no attack, where I could be safe. That's here."
"Damn those idiots." Jack O'Neill stated getting angry. "why can't they just let people live, instead of attacking every damn thing that's different."
"It's not in their nature is it." She answered him remorsefully. "My home, my family is dying Colonel. I don't know who's alive, who's dead, if my mums well, or even where all those other kids from the base ended up, though I'd probably recognize it if I saw it. I'm alone sir, and we need your help."
"Well we stopped the attack on the other alternate version of earth by helping Samantha to contact the Asguard. That made the Goa'uld run like hell." Daniel Jackson contributed.
"Actually they retreated and flew off Daniel Jackson." Teal'c answered not quite understanding the term Daniel had used.
"It's a figure of speech Teal'c." Daniel answered making the others smile, even the young woman, her face black with dirt.
"So.. do you have the Asguard in your universe?" Jack O'Neill asked trying to find out if there was a glimmer of hope in that respect.
"Yes we do. They managed to scare most of the Goa'uld fleet away, but I guess in eighteen years the scare factor of the Asguard must've lowered. We've had one or two ships, big ships..." she added sarcastically before stating "...constantly attacking Earth and the base for two weeks now, holding on for dear life."
"But surely some shuttles could be sent up, or some sort of ship to fight against them." Janet Frasier who was still in the conference room asked.
"We just don't have the kind of fire power to do that." Holly stated "I mean sure in eighteen years the technology has developed to use to fight any threat to the planet, or the mountain, but the Goa'uld...no-one can create enough fire power to destroy them." she turned to the doctor. "Janet anybody who's gone up to fight against them, well lets just say they never came back."
"They're being used as hosts?" Major Samantha Carter asked the youngster.
"Yeah or killed. I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen one of our guys killed by a colleague taken over by one of those things. Too many to count." she answered getting upset.
"I'm a goddamn kid." she told them tears running down her face. "I'm meant to be going to the movies, going to school, not seeing things like this happen, not watching that damned ugly race kill my friends and take over my planet. No offense." she said then turning to Teal'c.
"None taken." he answered her.
She noticed Janet Frasier looking at her sleeve, blood was appearing through the fabric.
"I got caught in an explosion. I'm fine really."
"I'll be the judge of that." the doctor answered going over to her and taking off her blood stained jacket. Her arm was burnt and bleeding. "We're going to have to finish this later I'm afraid, this one should be in the infirmary." She told the General helping the young woman up.
"Agreed." he told her, "we'll carry on this conversation later see if we can find a way to help your world."
"Thank you General." she answered him before going up to him and giving him a kiss on the cheek, a gesture that reminded Jack O'Neill of an alternate version of Major Carter, a doctor in her universe rather than a military officer who did the self same thing to her friend after his being tortured by the Goa'uld trying to take over her planet, her Earth.
Something fell on the floor.
"It's my locket." they youngster answered. Sam picked it up.
"Thanks, it was a birthday gift from my mother, grandpa gave it to her when she was a teenager. I was kinda hoping I didn't have to go down and pick it up, I think my legs kinda hurt too."
They realized Major Carter had gone quiet and turned to look at her.
"You say this was your mothers?" she asked.
"Yes." the youngster answered quietly.
"Sam..." O'Neill asked his friend wanting to know what was up with her.
She pulled a necklace out of her uniform, the same necklace though a little less worn than Holly's, a gold heart containing a picture of her mother and father.
"That would mean..."
"I'm your mother." Samantha Carter finished.
"Oh brother." Jack O'Neill said sitting down again.
"Well if I'm your mother then who's your father?" She asked the young woman with a sense of dread. In so many other alternated universes she had been involved with Jack, in one they were engaged, well before she died there, and in another they were married for a year before Jack's death in a similar invasion situation. It was not that she perceived this as anything bad, it just confused things between them. It was hard to know they could be so happy in those places, so in love, but that here there was just no way it could ever happen, he was her superior officer, it was against the regulations.
"I don't know." the youngster told her going back to their earlier conversation.
"What do you mean you don't know." Jack O'Neill asked her.
"Exactly what I said. My mother never told me who my father is just that he is someone who she loves very much, and that she doesn't regret it, it could just never be, no matter how painful that is. I figure there must be a reason."
"Obviously." the General stated before heading for the door. "I'll see you in four hours, hopefully then someone will have figured out a way to help you and your world."
"Looks like it's gonna be one of those days" Daniel stated joining Jack at the table.
Suddenly the young woman fainted.
"We've gotta get her to the infirmary stat." she told them checking her pulse.
"Someone call for a crash team."
"I have a better idea." Jack O'Neill told her going over to the young woman and taking her into his arms, noticing blood seeping from her leg."
"Ah hell." he shouted, the others joining him on a desperate run to the infirmary.
An hour and a half later the young woman was sitting up, the med. team still however not finished working on her. Her leg, cut by flying debris had been cleaned up, stitched and dressed, however her arm was a little worse for wear, and that was what doctor Janet Frasier was working on now.
Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill were standing just inside the door with their colleagues Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, watching as she was being worked on. Her arm was burnt, there was no doubt there would be scarring.
"You okay." Daniel Jackson asked his friend Samantha Carter.
"I guess." she answered him. " I just...I have a child, well in another universe, and I don't even tell her who her father is? what kind of mother does that make me?"
"Carter it doesn't make you anything, you're not the one with the child...okay you are sort of, but you're not the one responsible for her...okay we are now..."
She turned to face him, smiling, trying to grasp what he was trying to say.
"What I mean is there must be a reason. You're great with kids, you have that whole maternal instinct thing going on...I'm sure there has to be a reason for your counterparts not telling Holly who her father is, because if she's anything like you she'd never hurt a child, she'd be too nice for that."he finished.
"He's right Major Carter." Teal'c agreed.
"Yeah but..."
"Major stop worrying." Jack O'Neill told her, placing his hands on her shoulders looking right into her eyes. "She's fine...well except for the obvious, and she's going to continue to be fine, she's strong, just like her mother.."
"Thanks Colonel." she told him realizing just how important he had become in her life since the team was formed, then immediately pushing that thought away again, as she had done so many times before.
"Owl!" the youngster cried from across the other side of the infirmary, the antiseptic being used to clean up her arm sending sharp pains through her body.
"You're a brave girl." the doctor told her reassuringly, not able to imagine the kind of loss this child had faced, not wanting to.
"That she is" O'Neill stated approaching her.
"must've been quite an explosion. Was anybody else caught in it?" Janet Frasier continued.
The youngster began to cry. "I don't know. They pushed me through the device just after the explosion. I have no idea if my mums alive, if any of you guys are. I don't even know if the quantum device is still intact. What if I can't go home? What if I never get a chance to say good-bye?"
She suddenly burst into tears. O'Neill took the youngster in his arms.
"Listen, we'll find some way to send you home, and a way to help your world even if it kills us." he told her.
"What if you can't?" she answered him.
"there's no such word as can't." he told her as Carter came over to hold her hand while Janet did her job.
Two and a half hours later they were in the conference room. Holly however was not present as she had been sedated and sent to rest in some quarters, where doctor Frasier was now with her.
"How's she doing?" General Hammond asked.
"Poor kids exhausted." Jack O'Neill answered.
"Yes I'd imagine it must be difficult for somebody her age to absorb all that's going on it that world at the moment." the General replied.
"I personally think she's absorbed it pretty well, I mean there's no reason why she shouldn't have done is there?" Daniel Jackson stated noticing the others looking at him. "Look I'm not trying to be hard or anything, but this kid has grown up on this base around the SGC and its teams, her mothers a member of one for gods sake..."he stated trailing off noticing the others were still staring.
"...well I would imagine she would have been prepared for such an attack as much as any person can be anyway. I mean they held one off for eighteen years, they had to know they couldn't do it forever."
"I agree with Daniel, she is handling it pretty well, but we have to remember she is just a child. Who knows what's going on in her head at the moment. She has no clue if her mothers alive, no idea who her father is, imagine how hard it is for her not knowing while all this is going on. He could be dead for all she knows... we all could." Major Carter answered.
"Or right there all the time." O'Neill blatantly stated with regard to the Majors statement, then noticing all the others in the room staring at him stating "well he could've been."
"On to more pressing matters however." The General interrupted trying to quell a argument about to start between Carter and O'Neill "did doctor Frasier do a blood test to check the child's allegations?"
"Yes sir." the Major answered "and yes they do indicate that the child is indeed my daughter."
"and the father.."
"We didn't feel it necessary to identify the father through these tests."
O'Neill told his superior officer.
"Colonel?"
"her own mother didn't want her to know who her father was, and I think we should respect that. I'm just glad that for once this doesn't seem to involve me being in a relationship with Sam."
" I'm not happy about this you realize Colonel." The General sternly told him.
"However we do have some more pressing matters to discuss at the moment, one of those being that if we don't figure out a way to end this invasion Holly and the other sixty or so children who are refugees from that universe may not have one to go back to."
"Well apart from the Asguard I seriously doubt that there is any other race who hold the ability to put the proverbial wind up the Goa'uld. Hell even they couldn't scare the fleet enough to stop the invasion. The Goa'uld at the base we could fight using the weapons we have gained from them here, and any others the planet has in their own resources. However even if we beat them as no-one has the technology or firepower to go up and fight the damned ships which are causing Earth all this trouble, then I can see no end to it at all." Jack O'Neill commented his military mind working overtime.
"If there was just some way we could organize a fleet, one who already knew their ways, one who possessed the kind of technology we need to fight those ships and take those bastards down, then maybe we could scare them off. But as Earth doesn't possess the kind of technology or ships to fight threats such as the Goa'uld even if we could find the right people to go up in them, the way I see it is we're totally stumped." Daniel Jackson agreed.
"Maybe not..." Samantha Carter answered leaving the table.
"Major..." O'Neill replied seeing she had an idea.
"We..the other earth doesn't have the kind of technology to fight the Goa'uld right, but we know a race who does, a race who know the Goa'uld very well." she answered running out of the room.
"That's our Carter." O'Neill sarcastically said to his colleagues, as they got up ready to follow her wondering what was going through her mind.
Holly was fast asleep when Carter entered her quarters, with Janet Frasier not far away from it herself.
"Holly." Carter called touching the young woman's face.
"What's going on?" Janet Frasier exclaimed suddenly snapping awake.
"Sleeping on the job huh?" Carter asked her friend smiling.
"Cassie had an earache last night. I was up all night with her."
"No wonder you're tired." Sam exclaimed.
"So what's going on?" her friend repeated
"I think I know a way to stop the invasion. I need to know If Holly knows who Jolinar is." Samantha Carter told her.
"Jolinar." Janet Frasier repeated. "Why?"
"Holly." Sam called again.
The sleeping girl rubbed her eyes stirring at Sam's call. She was now wearing customary blue overalls, under which both her leg and arm had been treated and bandaged.
"Mum?"
"No honey, it's Sam. I need to ask you something."
The youngster sat up. "Shoot."
"Has you mother ever spoken of someone called Jolinar, and a race called the Tok'ra?" she asked.
"I don't think so why?" came the reply.
"They're enemies of the Goa'uld. Are you sure you've never heard of her speak of them, or a person called Martouf?"
"Pretty sure... You think they can help?"
"You think we should do what?" General Hammond asked Major Carter during her explanation for leaving the conference room.
"Sir it may be the only chance that planet has." she told him forcefully.
"...If we can get their SG:1 team through their Stargate..."
"presuming it's still standing." Jack O'Neill added.
"...to the Tok'ra homeworld,"she continued glaring at him " and get them to persuade the Tok'ra to organize a fleet of ships like the ones used to rescue my father, they may just be able to scare the Goa'uld off, or fight them. They have the ships, Earth doesn't, and both races want to see the Goa'uld destroyed. I don't see why we shouldn't try and unite them.
As far as Holly knows the SG:1 team in her world never encountered the Tok'ra.
Again we have fate working for us that we have, just as in the case of the other Sam's universe we met the Asguard while their SG:1 team didn't. The Tok'ra hate the Goa'uld General, if we can persuade them to join forces with the planets own..."
"It would make sense General." Jack O'Neill continued seeing where Carter was going "We've seen those ships, they have weapons capable of using to fight the Goa'uld. If we can persuade the Tok'ra to use them and go up against them....Sir it is their only chance."
"I agree." General Hammond answered. "So what's the plan?"
"First we're going to have to get Holly down here to identify her universe through the device. When she's done that we're going to have to enter that universe, find our counterparts if they're not already dead, and provide a distraction allowing them to get through their Stargate to the Tok'ra home world using the coordinates we have for it. Then I guess we just wait."
"Or run like hell." Daniel Jackson said as an offhand remark before continuing.
" what about the side effects the other Sam got while she was here, that entropic cascade failure thing. Will we get that?"
"we're not going to be there long enough to be affected by it. If you remember it took a couple of days for the symptoms to exhibit themselves in the other Sam. We should only be there a couple of hours." Carter answered.
"Or we'll be dead." Jack O'Neill cut in.
"Thanks for that." Daniel answered clearing his throat.
"Geez, look at this place." Jack O'Neill exclaimed loudly as they entered Holly's universe through the quantum mirror. It was obvious they were on the mountain base, albeit a slightly differing one, however this one was dark with sirens wailing being the only sound that could be heard, sirens that warned of a breach of security. Debris covered the floor along with scraps of ripped clothing and pellets which had been shot from the guns of soldiers trying to protect themselves from the Goa'uld in a somewhat futile effort. Scorch marks covered the walls from the use of Goa'uld technology the humans were using to fight the Goa'uld and the Goa'uld the humans, however it was obvious that this part of the base was like a ghost town.team took out their weapons, and got ready to advance towards the Stargate.
"Wait a second." Daniel Jackson told them before they left the room.
They turned to look at him.
"Somebody needs to stay here and guard the device and it's control. If we all go then this could get destroyed and we'd be stuck here... we need for someone to stay and make sure that that doesn't happen."
"Then I will stay." Teal'c told his friends. "If the Goa'uld return and my counterpart is not with them, I may be able to convince them to leave the mirror alone by taking on his role."
"You'll have a few problems doing that." came a pained voice behind them. "You were good here, well before you were killed by Apophis for being a traitor."
They turned around to see a figure slumped in the corner, one who had been shot and was bleeding a considerable amount.
"Kawalsky?" Jack O'Neill asked instantly recognizing his late friends voice.
"I take it I'm dead in your world then." he told the team.
"Just a little." Jack answered in his usual sarcastic tone, going over to his friend who noticed Jack staring at his wound.
"I was caught in a fight with the Goa'uld. They got into the base just before Holly left this morning, been trying to take it over ever since, to no avail though cause everyone's been fighting back. It's not gonna be long before they do...you know take over the base though. Half the bases population are dead, others are enslaved while the rest are in hiding or have been left to die on their own."
"You should go get it seen to...if there's an infirmary left."
"It's a scratch, I'll be fine."
"Looks a little more than a scratch to me." Carter stated.
"Look I'm not here to argue, just...if you need anyone to look after the device I'll do it. The Goa'uld already think I'm dead, I suppose if they come back I'll hide this little beauty and play it. Go save our universe will ya, we've certainly run out of ideas...GO." he shouted snatching the device from Daniel.
They left the device in Kawalsky's hands, and praying he didn't die before they returned left the room. There was an eerie feeling about the base now, it was too quiet, they couldn't hear screaming or footsteps, nothing.
"What the hell is going on here?"O'Neill shouted.
"Could you have done that much louder?" Daniel answered back.
"Cut it out you two." Samantha Carter told her friends quietly. "We're here to do something, lets just get on with it."
They carried on walking along the corridors which were now becoming distorted with the lack of light. Looking for their counterparts was proving just a little harder than they thought. Suddenly it became just a little bit easier when Daniel tripped over a figure slumped on the floor. Shining a torch on the figure he discovered it was his own counterpart though a little grayer and obviously injured.
"So you're here to save the world huh." the injured man asked sarcastically. "I take it Holly got through the device all right."
"Yes she did, and she's fine. What happened to you?" Carter asked the older and alternate version of Daniel.
"Got electrocuted by one of those Goa'uld weapons on my way to the infirmary."
"You got shot on your way to the infirmary? isn't that just a little bit strange." O'Neill asked.
"Not when your wife's down there it's not." he told them. "So you guys gotta plan?"
"your wife? Shar'ees here?" Daniel asked.
"No she's dead sadly. I got married again after deciding life was there to be lived, not spent alone. Look I asked a question."he continued firmly.
"Yes we have a plan." Jack O'Neill told him. "And we're going to need your help to execute it. We have to find your colleagues and get you guys through the Stargate."
"May I ask why?" came another voice from down the corridor.
A figure approached limping. Daniel shined his torch upon the approaching figure already recognizing the voice, knowing he wasn't a threat. It was an older, and balding version of Jack O'Neill.
"Sorry , I didn't mean to startle the guys who have come to save our world."he told them sarcastically.
"They have a plan Jack, lets hear them out before you get your usual bitter and defensive self." Daniel replied.
"Fine spit it out." he told them lowering himself to the floor.
"Look we know a race in our world who are enemies of the Goa'uld. A race who totally hate them and disagree with everything they stand for, as we do ourselves. We think they could provide you with ships, maybe even a fleet which could fight against the Goa'ulds own." Samantha Carter explained.
"The Asguard? yeah we met them. Thought they could help us too. Turns out they couldn't even disperse the whole fleet."he told them sarcastically.
"They tried their best Jack." His colleague told him.
"We don't mean the Asguard." Daniel explained. "In our universe we came across a race called the Tok'ra. Now they're kinda like the Goa'uld, they carry the same Goa'uld larvae inside them, but they're good guys who totally disagree with the Goa'uld ways. In our universe they've formed a resistance. Now we figure if we can get you guys through the Stargate to their home world using our coordinates, and you tell them what's going on..."
"Earth just might stand a chance." the younger Jack O'Neill finished. "The Stargate is still standing right?" he finished.
"Yes it is." the balding Jack O'Neill stated standing up with new found determination. "You gonna cover us, or are we gonna do it the hard way."
"We'll cover you old man. Wouldn't want you to slow us down now would we." the younger Jack told his limping older counterpart. "Lead the way."
Before making their way to the Stargate the team and their older counterparts made their way to the infirmary at Daniel's insistence. There they found doctor Janet Frasier and her team. Many were dead however the doctor herself, and a few others were alive. She had obviously been trying to help her colleagues, though injured herself, a typical trait of doctor Frasier in the teams own universe.
"Daniel?" she called to her colleague as she saw him enter the infirmary, a colleague who was also her husband. He ran as best he could over to her.
"Hey," he told her gently as she fell crying and injured into her husbands arms.
"We got some people here to help." he told her introducing her and her team to their younger counterparts. "They have a plan to save us." he finished before he too gave in to emotion. "God I'm so glad you're alive." he told her holding her tight.
"Well that's eight down, one to go." O'Neill said of the survivors they had found, now back on their way to the Stargate. Carter's counterpart was now the only one missing and for safety the team had brought the doctor and her colleagues from the infirmary along figuring it would be easier seeing them go through the gate to the Tok'ra rather than being left to die. They had had absolutely no luck finding Carter though she had stopped in the infirmary, alive but injured after the Goa'uld attack.
"Do you have any idea where she would be?" Samantha Carter asked, wanting to get this mission over as soon as possible.
"She said something about clearing the way." Janet Frasier told them being helped along by Daniel, the older version, though he was hurt himself.
"Then I think I have some idea. After Holly left she told me she knew you guys would come with a plan, and that by that time she would have everything ready for you. If she'd deduced that you guys would be needing the Stargate then..."
"We'd better hurry don't you think." the older Jack cut in. "If I know the Goa'uld I'd say she might need our help."
When they reached the Stargate control room they were greeted by quite a fight, the Goa'uld were being given a taste of their own medicine by the older Carter and some surviving soldiers she'd caught up with on her way there. Although the control room was nearly clear, getting to the actual gate was going to be a little more difficult seeing as there were Goa'uld surrounding it.
"That's eight out of eight." O'Neill shouted firing his weapon at the Goa'uld who were left in the control room, his team joining suit until they were all dead or unconscious.
"Nice of you to finally show up." She told the team.
"Sam...you okay?" the older Jack asked his friend.
"Been shot actually," she answered in pain. "Thanks for asking though."
"Let me have a look at that." Janet asked moving to her friend. She lifted her head and looked at the others after examining the wound shaking it.
"You're going to need surgery Sam." she told her. "There's no exit wound, the bullets still in there somewhere. If you don't have surgery..."
"Oh jesus...Sam." the older Colonel said upset.
"First I want to see the end of this invasion." she told her friend. "And I want to know how my child is."
Her counterpart went over to her. "Holly's fine, she's been well looked after.
She want's her mother though, want's to come home, so you see you have to survive this."
"That's easier said than done."the older Sam stated in pain.
While Janet put a bandage on the wound adding pressure to try and stop the bleeding, the others blocked the door and discussed how they would get to the Stargate.
"If only there was some way we could get them out of the room. You're all way too injured to fight, and there aren't enough of us." Daniel stated.
"Then we must let them stay." Teal'c told them.
"Teal'c that's defeating the whole point of this mission." Jack O'Neill told him.
"He's right. If we can get them close to the iris, and then activate the Stargate, well we won't have that problem anymore." Samantha Carter told her friends.
"How do we do that?" O'Neill asked.
"Any of you guys used to be good at the high jump or athletics?" Major Samantha Carter asked the officers in the room.
The two officers could be seen by the visiting team approaching the Stargate, those who needed to go through it not far behind them. The door to the control room was being guarded by Jack O'Neill, Teal'c and Daniel Jackson watching carefully to make sure there were no Goa'uld approaching.
Carter had been briefed, and although still badly injured she had agreed to go through with this mission wanting to see her world freed. All of the others, even those from the infirmary had also agreed to go, now all they had to do was get to the gate.
The officers approached as quietly as they could. Most of the Goa'uld had left this part of the base, but there were still over six guarding the Stargate in case anyone made an attempt to escape. After entering the room one of the soldiers threw down a grenade releasing a gas which blocked the Goa'ulds line of vision and then they both ran as fast as they could to the platform leading to the gate. When the gas cleared the Goa'uld lifted their staff weapons, getting ready to kill those who were getting in their way, advancing towards then up the platform, but just as they were about to shoot, up in the control room Carter typed in the coordinates to the Tok'ra home world and activated the gate in a well executed plan of attack.
As soon as the iris opened and the siren sounded the two officers in an extreme act of fitness somersaulted off the side of the platform, the Goa'uld though trying to escape got caught by the force of the gates discharge and were incinerated. Before any of the other Goa'uld from the different parts of the base could reach them, the eight officers entered it, traveling to a world which held their only hope.
"So now we wait." O'Neill stated loudly, to his friends.
"I'm married to Janet." Daniel stated still in shock.
"Does anyone else think we'd better get to the quantum mirror?" Samantha Carter added to the conversation.
By the time they decided to make their way back to the mirror Goa'uld officers were already approaching from different parts of the base, something which provided quite an obstacle for the SG:1 team. All became injured fighting to get back to the mirror, however they managed to avoid most of the officers by using their knowledge of the base to hide as they approached. From the Goa'ulds still being there the team deducted that the mission had not been successful yet though they were holding out hope.
After an hour of fighting, getting injured, and being faced by debris blocking off doorways they reached the room where the quantum device was held. Kawalsky was alive, though barely but had managed to protect the quantum device and the control for it, and surprisingly as if fate was on their side the device was still connected to their own home world.
"C'mon buddy." Jack O'Neill told his barely conscious friend taking the control for the device off him and giving it to Daniel, then helping him up "Let's get you fixed up." he told him signaling someone on their side of the mirror to prepare for some casualties. He then sent his friend through to their own world to get treated.
The Goa'uld could be heard approaching down the corridor.
"Damn. Where the hell are those guys." O'Neill said of the Tok'ra.
The footsteps got closer. Suddenly the ground shook, bricks and rocks could be heard crashing down, and the area where O'Neill was standing suddenly became engulfed with rocks from the collapsing ceiling, rocks which blocked off the open doorway so the approaching Goa'uld could not enter.
"Jack!!" Samantha Carter cried, the sound of Goa'uld staff fire surrounding her as they tried to break through the rocks.
"Jack?" Daniel shouted, joining in and trying to pull some of the rocks away.
"Say something please!!" she cried, all her emotion pent up throughout this mission needing to be released.
Suddenly Daniel stopped.
"Sam we have to go." he said slowly looking through a hole in the roof of the base.
"Daniel we can't leave him." She cried getting more and more upset.
"Look!" he told her.
She followed his eyes to the gap in the roof. A Goa'uld ship could clearly be seen hovering over the top of the base, one of the few which had been torturing this planet for the past few weeks, however now a fleet could be seen approaching, the sky filling with ships, Tok'ra ships. Firefight suddenly filled the sky, the Tok'ra ships using all they had to fight against their mortal enemies. They were then joined by the Asguard, coming back to see the Goa'uld beaten. The base began to shake with the intensity of the blasts, some of the ships could be seen exploding however many were fighting on.
"If we stay we could die." Daniel told her. "This is a war now."
"If we leave so could Jack. I need to stay Daniel, don't you understand I have to."
"Sam I know you care for him, but look at the rocks on top of him. Look at the number of them...I don't think even Jack could survive this."
"He's not dead Daniel, don't you understand?"
"You don't know that Major." Teal'c told her firmly.
"But I do...and no I can't explain it. All I know is we just can't leave him here." she told Teal'c.
"Damn it guys he's part of us...part of the team...how would you feel if you left him knowing he could still be alive under there. I'm not ready to lose him Daniel, as a friend or as anything, and I don't think you are either. So if you give a damn at all then..."
Suddenly the sound of the staff weapons went dead and the sky turned orange, orders were being given to the Goa'uld outside. Inaudible orders from Carter's point of view, and also in this case Daniel's, words which caused the conversation to cease.
"What does that mean?" Carter asked Teal'c regarding what they were hearing outside.
"Surrender." he told her actually with a small smile. "It seems we have been successful."
It was in the early hours of Christmas Eve at the base and everything was just about normal. Holly and the other children from their universe had been sent home to their freed planet, Holly with the knowledge that her father, Jack O'Neill had been by her side all the time, but sadly without her mother who had died during surgery. Kawalsky recovered from his injuries had also gone back to join in with the massive clean up operation that was now being undertook on that alternate Earth with which both the Tok'ra and Asguard were helping. Dr. Janet Fraiser, the alternate version from Holly's planet who had been a patient in sickbay, much to her counterparts confusion, with critical injuries had been safely transported back through the device with her husband and two children after she had undertook massive surgery to stem internal bleeding, worsened by the fact that she had been operating on her friend rather than seeking medical help for herself, the friend Samantha Carter who died from a gunshot wound to her side.
These past few days had taken their toll on everybody on the base. It had been overrun with children and refugees from the alternate version of Earth for the past two days, while shelters were being built for them to live in until their homes had been rebuilt. One of the saddest moments though had to be when Jack O'Neill had to tell Holly that her mother had died, and that he was after all her father. Daniel Jackson from that universe explained to this universes Samantha Carter that this was the reason the older Jack O'Neill had become so bitter during the years, because he had loved his Sam with all his heart but could never be with her or his own child because of regulations, and the fact they didn't want to risk their military careers by telling anybody who Holly's father was, and by acting on their mutual feelings, something which broke both his and Samantha Carter's heart. He had also explained what had brought him and Janet together, telling Sam that he eventually got tired of being alone, and when he took the time to get to know his universes resident doctor he knew she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his days with, their being very much in love. This had been something hard to grasp for this universes own Daniel Jackson and Janet Frasier who previously wouldn't have even thought of each other that way, though seeing how devoted their counterparts were they could understand how their relationship had resulted in two little girls.
For Samantha Carter these last few days had been brutal. After suffering serious injuries due to part of the bases roof collapsing on top of him in the alternate universe Colonel Jack O'Neill remained in a coma. He had been intubated, and on an electrocardiograph for a week now suffering from trauma to his head, severe bruising, and internal injuries, and for the past week she had barely left his side. There had been signs of improvement but he had not awoken from his coma, there was a chance he may never do so.
"Sam..." a voice called from behind her, snapping her out of the sleep like state she was in.
She awoke.
"Hey there." doctor Janet Frasier said gently "Why don't you go get some sleep in some quarters or something, I promise I'll come get you if there's any change."
"I'm fine thanks." Samantha Carter told her friend.
"Sam you're in shock." the doctor told her. "You need some rest. You've barely slept in the past week...If you don't do what I tell you I swear I'll pull rank"
she told her friend making her smile.
"Janet I have to be here for him ...damn it we were going to leave him there, leave him when he was alive. Do you have any idea what that feels like?"
"From what I heard you weren't." Janet told her friend sitting down beside her.
"Sam you guys did your best, now it's up to him." .
"You really should get some rest, look at you you're a wreck." she finished.
"I know and I will, I'd just feel better if I was here...you know just in case..."
"Yeah I know. But Sam you do realize there's a chance he may never wake up from this, you're not doing either of you any good by sitting here worn out and as tired as hell are you?"
"I don't know...Maybe. I mean they say that if you talk to people who are in a coma, if they hear someone they recognize it might bring them round right?"
"In some cases yes, but..."
"Janet I just want to feel like I'm doing something for him...I care about him, as much as I hate to admit it I do, even though we couldn't possibly do anything about it right?. Okay he can be a jerk, and he can be annoying, and a massive pain in the ass, but the truth is it'd be weird not having him around."
"Yes it would." came a voice from behind them belonging to Daniel. "I have come to take over while you go get some sleep." he told her sitting down.
"Daniel I..."
"Look I don't think he's going to be going anywhere Sam, I promise I'll come get you if there's any change at all."
"Really I'm fine." she told him.
"Look, am I going to have to get Teal'c to carry you to some quarters and lock you in there until you get some rest, or are you going to go willingly. You're a wreck...do you really think you could handle sitting here for hours and hours on end if that's what it takes, surviving on just odd snippets of sleep here and there?"
"Fine I'll go, anything to shut you guys up!" she told them leaving her vigil by his bedside to finally get some rest.
As soon as she laid on the bed in those quarters she fell into a sound sleep, though she did dream about recent events until Daniel came in to wake her up four hours later.
"You're kidding." she said smiling after he told her the news.
"Come see for yourself." he answered her, something which she did straight afterwards.
When they reached the infirmary they were greeted with a sight that they truly were not expecting. Colonel Jack O'Neill was sitting up in bed having had the tube previously helping him breathe removed, and was talking to doctor Frasier, now fully conscious.
"So Doc, what's the prognosis?" he asked in his usual tone of voice, though more quietly than usual.
"Well fifteen minutes ago I wouldn't have known what to say, we were beginning to lose hope there for a while."
"Well now..."
"Now I would have to say that if you rest, and allow yourself time to recover before going back to work, then you should be fine. Your head injuries were what we were most worried about, but there doesn't seem to be any long-term damage, other than that you had before of course."
"Oh yeah, that's nice, take advantage of the sick guy."
"It's nice to have you back in the land of the living Colonel." Doctor Janet Frasier told him.
"Come on Daniel, lets go get something to eat." she told him throwing a glance at him which made him realize precisely what she meant.
"Huh? yeah I guess I'm kinda hungry." he told her following her out of the infirmary though not before telling his friend. "It's good to have you back with us Jack."
"So...Holly's gone back home then. I take it we won, or else turned her over to be a Goa'uld host, a lifelong ambition I'm sure." he said turning to Major Samantha Carter.
"Yeah we won. The Tok'ra turned up just after...well you know. The Asguard came back too actually" she told him, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I hear I've been out for a week." he told her. "I also heard you haven't slept for a week because you've been here. You didn't have to do that." he finished.
"Yeah I did." she told him.
"You look like hell you know." he told her smiling.
"Thanks...you know you don't look so good yourself."
"Ah, but you see I have a reason not to look my usual handsome self, having a ton of rubble fall on top of you kind of does that to a person, but you on the other hand..." he stated sarcastically.
"Would you rather I hadn't been sitting here with you? because you know I could knock you out again and leave you to your own devices...if you have any of those when you're unconscious." she told him smiling.
"Hey I didn't say that." he told her taking her hand "I'm just saying you should have got some rest that's all. I appreciate your having been here for so long."
"So you should." she told him sarcastically then smiling.
"Holly was mine wasn't she?" the Colonel asked changing the subject.
"Yes she was." Sam answered him quietly, "How'd you know."
"Well I figured that as we'd been engaged in one universe and married in another it wouldn't be completely implausible for us to have had a child together in another one. Besides she's totally got my looks and personality down...oh yeah and Daniel told me." he finished.
"What do you think it is with us. In each alternate universe we've encountered we either seem to be married or involved, and then doomed to an unhappy ending.
Think fates trying to tell us something?"
"What by having us get together and then have one of us die?" he asked her. "So who died in Holly's universe, me or you?"
"I did, that's the only reason Holly found out who her father was. Samantha number two didn't want her to be left not knowing who her father was if she died, so she asked you before she did die to tell Holly."
"and how'd she take it?"
"Well she seems willing to give it a go, you're not doing so well though. You're filled with regrets and what ifs, a pretty hard way to live huh?"
"Tell me about it." he told her. Then quickly jumping on he stated "So Daniel and Janet too huh? who would've guessed."
"I guess you never can tell what fate has in store can you." she answered him.
They heard footsteps approaching, coming back to the infirmary was Janet.
"Well guys I've come to tell you that I'm off duty and I'm going home to spend the day with Cassie, she loves Christmas Eve."
"Tell her I'm sorry I can't make it today, but that I'll see her tomorrow okay?"
Samantha Carter told her friend.
"Sure, but you'd better come tomorrow otherwise I swear I'll never hear the end of it." she laughed.
"Look why don't you go spend the day with Cassie and Janet, I'm not going anywhere." Jack O'Neill told Sam
"Either am I." she told him firmly.
"You ready" came a voice behind the door.
Jack and Sam looked at each other and smiled.
"Hey it's his first Christmas knowing that he hasn't got Sha'ree anymore and Cassie thinks the world of him, why shouldn't I invite him for Christmas?"
They carried on smiling.
"She's my friend guys." came Daniel's voice from behind the door.
"Whatever you say Daniel Jackson." Jack O'Neill stated in his usual sarcastic tones.
"Anyway, see you tomorrow Sam?"
"Sure." she answered giving her friend a hug.
"Me too." stated O'Neill from his hospital bed.
"You Colonel are too ill to go anywhere." Janet Frasier stated before leaving the infirmary with Daniel.
"What if I came in a wheelchair." he shouted behind her.
"We'll save you some Christmas pudding Sir." came a sarcastic shout from down the corridor.
"Carter could you do me a favor and get something out of the pocket of my uniform over there?" O'Neill asked her pointing at his belongings once he was sure they had left. She complied and came back over with a wrapped up box. "Well open it." he told her. She sat back down and unwrapped it.
"I got it for you for Christmas, then I got worried about giving it to you because of it's price." he told her of the silver necklace she had found in the box with a diamond heart at the end. So do you like it?"
"It's beautiful." she told him dumb struck "You really got this for me?"
"Who else would I buy diamonds for?" he told her.
"Your ex wife?" she answered.
"No she got a dishwasher." he replied wittily. "Look I can take it back if you don't like it, it's just as soon as I saw it I thought of you so I figured it must be an omen or something."
"No really it's beautiful." she answered a tear running down her cheek.
"Merry Christmas Sam." he told her taking her in his arms.
"Merry Christmas." she answered thinking somehow a miracle had happened on that Christmas Eve.
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Lucy Maria Elmer
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