“Hang on a moment.” Lieutenant Mason, the other and even younger of the pair, flipped open his case. He pulled out a bar of C4. A receiver tab stuck out of its side, its light gauge blinking yellow.
Mason jerked his chin toward the hole. “There’s a small indent in the force field behind the chair. I’d like to try squeezing — ”
“Get yourselves topside, Lieutenant. I’ll place the final charge.” Taking the C4 and remote, George dismissed the guards.
He circled the hole, searching for the right spot to plant the final C4. He found it, just behind the chair as Mason had said. While the rest of the force field lay flush with the floor, a hands-width-wide area dipped under the jagged edge. Unlike the rest of the force field, this particular patch appeared thicker, more opaque than the rest. George knelt down and wedged the C4 block into the gap, careful to not touch the force field.
Beneath that force field, Jack’s frown became an outright scowl.
Forgive me.
George examined the remote’s simple digital display and small keypad. At the bottom, a red start-up button blinked, its innocuous cadence a mock counter rhythm to the force field’s thrum. The thing barely weighed half a pound.
A half-pound of wires, metal, and a simple transmitter that would blow up the Ancient outpost.
And everyone still trapped in its grasp.
“Sir?” Major Davis stepped up beside him and lowered his voice. “If you’d like, I can operate the remote.”
“No, thank you.” George dropped the remote to his side. He wasn’t afraid to admit his protégé and flagship team had come to mean as much to him as his own grandchildren. Their dedication, their unwavering loyalty to him, the nation, and the planet made them the very definition of what it meant to serve.
“Integrity first. Service before self. Excellence in all we do.” If anyone was the inspiration for the U.S. Air Force’s creed, it was Jack O’Neill, Samantha Carter, Teal’c, and Daniel Jackson.
“General?” Davis asked.
He stared at the remote. “If and when the time comes, Major, I think it’s best that I be the one to pull the trigger.” It was the least he could do to honor their last sacrifice. He thumbed the start button. The digital display changed from 12:00 to 11:59.
“Godspeed, SG-1.”
If Jack had to pick the most surreal part of this experience, he wouldn’t have chosen seeing Skaara. As much as he missed the kid, that wound had scabbed over, thank you very much. It only took a few bottles of scotch, an occasional bout of self-loathing, and the daily reminder that somewhere out there on the Oma Express, the boy was safe and out of harm’s way.
A visit would’ve been nice, but who was he to complain?
Strolling through an Ancient ghost town wouldn’t have been high on his list, either, and while Skaara’s tale about Huang coming through the Antarctic gate some fifty-odd years ago raised an eyebrow, Jack really wasn’t all that surprised. Actually, it explained a lot, though he didn’t quite get why Skaara had interfered when Ascended Beings were supposed to be above that sort-of-thing.
Kid probably got lonely. Maybe that’s why Daniel came back.
On the surreal meter, being told that he was in a funky dream-state, his body sprawled out on a platform in Antarctica, just underneath the weapons chair, came close to the top. But really, when it came down to it, the most surreal thing was…
“Please tell me Hammond didn’t just plant a block of C4 feet away from his — I mean my — head!”
“If you do not act soon, General Hammond will have no choice but to destroy the entire outpost.” Skaara pointed at the blackened crystal projecting out of Weiyan’s gut. “You must fix things to be as they were.”
Weiyan. The girl hadn’t said a word since Skaara’s little parlor trick revealed their bodies lying on the platform. She just stared at her impaled image, chewing her lip like it was going out of style.
Jack reached out to take Skaara’s elbow and then stopped himself, remembering that ascended folks weren’t really there-there. They just looked that way. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “What about her? Is Weiyan going to make it?”
“Her journey is on another path.”
Jack bit back a reply. He’d spent enough time around Ascended beings and their cryptic language to know he wasn’t going to get a straight answer. At least not on that front. He glanced over at Teal’c still passed out, still sweating like he was inside a furnace. “And Teal’c?”
“His tretonin is only an arm’s reach away,” Skaara said. “Once you have awakened, he will be fine. Then will you go.”
“Go where?” Daniel had slid around the platform to stand beside his own comatose body. The doubled image wigged Jack out, but he’d seen worse.
“You want us to go back to P3Y-702,” Carter said. “Kunlun.”
Skaara nodded. “It is the only way to replace the damaged crystal in Antarctica. Huang will travel with you.”
“That’s never going to happen.” Not as long as Jack could draw breath. “The man’s a menace.”
“Will the plague harm my father?” Weiyan touched the control crystal. Apparently, she wasn’t listening.
For a father she’d only met once, she sure cares about the bastard more than herself.
Skaara stepped up beside her. “The plague has long faded. You should not fear this for your father.”
“I don’t.” Weiyan pulled back from the crystal. “’The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.’”
Jack grimaced, recognizing the words.
And the truth behind them.
“Sun Tzu,” said Daniel.
Weiyan grinned. “When I met my father last year, his insistence that I read The Art of War seemed…”
“Irrelevant?”
She blushed. Jack found that rather amazing, considering the fact that she was basically staring at her soon-to-be very dead body, breathing her last breaths.
When he’d told her earlier that she’d grown a backbone, he wasn’t kidding.
Still…
“Look, Skaara. I’m more than ready to go after this crystal if it’ll save Earth, but Huang can’t travel through the Stargate. No way. He’s a security risk.”
“He’s also in a mental institution, sir.” Carter glanced at Weiyan. “I’m sorry. I’m guessing your mother didn’t tell you.”
“No.” The girl looked shocked. “She did not.”
Skaara shook his head. “Two with the Ancient blood are required to open Kunlun’s chamber. O’Neill is only one. The other must be Huang.”
“Why can’t Weiyan go?” Daniel asked. “She’s certainly demonstrated she has the genetics.”
Jack kept his face as neutral as possible. Maybe Daniel didn’t get it, but she certainly did.
Weiyan touched the crystal protruding from her body. “If we wake up, I will die, won’t I?”
“Wait a minute!” Daniel raced from behind the platform.
“There is no waiting, we must awaken at once. It is the only way to save Earth. Sun Tzu, and my father…” she gulped. “I understand now what matters most.”
Daniel shook his head. “If they can save Teal’c when we wake up, they can save you — ”
“Let it go, Daniel,” Jack warned. “Let the girl have her dignity.”
She’s earned it.
He shared a glance with Carter who nodded. She understood.
Skaara turned toward him. “O’Neill, you must find it within yourself to forgive Huang. Only by doing so, and permitting him to help, can you retrieve the crystal and save Earth.”
“There’s gotta be another way,” Jack said. “One of the other ATA trainees — ”
“Is it Huang you cannot trust, or is there someone else?” Skaara stared at him, hard. For a moment, it felt like Jack’s clothes had been stripped and he was standing ba
re-assed naked while something older and wiser than his young Abydonian friend measured him up.
And found him wanting.
Jack shook off the feeling. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’d trust Carter, Teal’c, and Daniel to get me through anything. You know that.”
“And yourself?” Skaara pressed. “Do you trust that you can use your abilities to retrieve the crystal? Using your genetics to operate the weapons chair will be a — ” He grinned. “A cakewalk compared with how you must cooperate with the technology on Kunlun. Otherwise, the crystal will be lost.”
“So I hate using Ancient technology,” Jack retorted. “I’m a big boy. I can deal with it.”
“Like the general who does not fear disgrace?”
He shrugged. “Something like that.” It wasn’t the first time he’d pretended a bravado he wasn’t necessarily feeling. He hated using the ATA gene, hated giving himself up to something he could barely control. It didn’t feel right, but neither did huddling like a coward while his planet got ripped to shreds.
A warm hand clasped his shoulder. Skaara’s hand. “Unlike Huang whose path was set very long ago, your journey still has far to go, O’Neill.”
“Thanks. I think.” Jack cleared his throat. “You… You could visit sometime, you know. We could go fishing.”
Skaara dropped his hand to his side. “In time all paths cross, O’Neill.” He turned to face Carter, Daniel, and Weiyan. “Are you ready to return to Antarctica?”
“Wait!” Weiyan dashed across the room and knelt beside Teal’c. “I am ready.” She held his hand.
“What do we do?” Jack asked, keeping sight of Teal’c and Weiyan. “Click our heels together and say ‘There’s no place like home’, or — ”
The room disappeared in a flash of light. For a moment, all he could see was, well, basically nothing. Like staring at a white wall. Suddenly, he felt jittery, as if he’d had too much coffee before breakfast.
“Hello?” he called to the blank wall.
“I will not try.”
Weiyan’s voice. Somewhere far off.
A thumping filled Jack’s ears. Rhythmic. Repeated.
“General! They’re awake.”
Thump. Thump-thump.
Unless he’d gone nuts, that was Major Davis’ voice. Where the hell…?
The thumping became deafening. The white light, blinding.
“I will do, Teal’c,” Weiyan whispered.
Thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
“I will make you proud. All of you. Even you, General O’Neill. Even my moth — ”
Jack’s vision plunged into darkness.
Footsteps, yelling.
“The force field’s receding below them!”
Though the thumping kept up, he felt his eyes open even though he could’ve sworn he’d never closed them.
Above a ragged hole in the ceiling, the Ancient outpost glared down at him. General Hammond’s very round and very welcome face then slid into view.
“Almost thought I’d lost you there, son.”
Every bone in Jack’s body ached as he struggled to sit up. Daniel did the same, but Carter bolted to her feet. Davis reached down and gave her his hand to climb out.
Thump. Thump-thump.
She waved him off. “We need Teal’c’s tretonin. Now!”
Davis opened his hand, a vial of the purple stuff stuck neatly in his palm. Grabbing the vial, Carter clambered over to Teal’c. She bent down and Jack heard a hiss.
Thump. Thump.
Beside him, Weiyan’s eyes opened. She lowered her chin, glanced down at the crystal sticking out of her stomach, and closed her eyes.
The thumping subsided, but not before Jack recognized the sound.
It was the beating of his heart.
“Medic!”
ANCIENT OUTPOST, ANTARCTICA
18 AUG 04/2245 HRS MCMURDO STATION
Daniel sat on the weapons platform, processing everything Skaara had told them. Down below, Paul Davis and a female airman argued on how to best pull Weiyan out. If Skaara was right, all the efforts in the world couldn’t save her.
Pulling off his glasses, he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. She’d been so young. So innocent. She’d put her life in the hands of the IOA, of the Stargate Program, and all for what?
If he thought about it too much, he’d think about how Weiyan’s life was never really meant to happen. Huang was never supposed to come to Earth, as a clone, he should’ve never been allowed to have children, and the mother —
Where was Ambassador Zhu?
Daniel scanned the chamber, but didn’t see her. The other ambassadors were missing, too. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Jack and General Hammond stood by the back wall, their heads bent in discussion. A heated one from what Daniel could tell. Jack waved his hands around — probably trying to explain what they’d experienced — while Hammond’s frown just deepened and deepened. The two generals occasionally glanced over at Daniel, then at Sam. She sat with Teal’c on the other side of the platform. The Jaffa’s eyes were closed, but he already looked far better than he had for hours.
Daniel peered at the carnage below. Blood pooled on both sides of Weiyan’s body. All backlit by the platform’s self-illuminated top.
A low rumble filled the chamber. The room shook for a second and then settled down. A light dusting of ice wafted down from the ceiling, but no one seemed to pay attention. Apparently, a small aftershock was nothing compared to the quakes that had been hitting the southern hemisphere. Fatalities in the hundreds, thousands more homeless. It would get worse before it got better. He knew that.
He glanced at Robert Lee, focused on his monitor, studying quake reports from across the globe. All thanks to the Ancients’ terra-forming device. Daniel believed in science. He believed in exploring the great unknown. If it wasn’t for the Stargate, his life would’ve had little meaning.
But not at such a cost.
Someone put a canteen in his free hand. With a nod of thanks, he unscrewed the cap and gulped the cold water down. Once that was empty, he looked up to see Airman Brooks standing over him. “How long…?”
“Were you out?” Brooks stuffed the canteen in his parka. “Nine hours, give or take.”
“Nine hours?” Impossible. Too much had happened.
“That force field had you locked up good and tight, sir. Not sure what made it finally drop low enough to get you out, but, well…” Brooks shrugged. “I guess alien technology can do anything.”
Not anything, Daniel thought wistfully. It can’t save Weiyan.
He stood up, his legs wobbly. Teal’c was still resting so he decided to take a short walk. Clear his head. A plank had been put over the hole between the platform and the rest of the chamber floor. He cautiously made his way across and headed through the archway and into the outpost’s main room.
“Dr. Jackson, can you help me?”
Daniel turned toward the voice. It was Graham Simmons. The lieutenant stood by the stasis unit with a clearly distraught Ambassador Zhu.
“She was supposed to evacuate with the others,” Graham explained.
Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you have done the same?” He didn’t remember seeing the lieutenant there before the accident, but in all the confusion with the trainees and diplomats, he hadn’t really been paying attention.
“Please,” Zhu said. “Let me see my daughter.”
He hesitated. Telling any woman their child was dying was hard enough. Breaking the bad news to Zhu could put the tenuous future of the Stargate Program in jeopardy.
“Of course,” he decided out loud. With a nod to Graham, he ushered her through the archway and into the weapons chamber.
The two generals were still conferring.
“I’m sorry,” Hammond said to Jack, “but request denied. Allowing Huang anywhere near the Stargate or the chair would be like handing over nuclear launch codes to the — ”
The general’s head jerked up as Daniel entered with Zhu by his side. Graham was just a step behind them.
“Weiyan!” With help from Teal’c, Zhu climbed down a ladder into the hole.
“Step away, Dr. Jackson,” warned Hammond.
Soft sobs rose up from the hole, punctuated by Teal’c’s murmured words of comfort.
“It’s all right, sir.” Daniel stopped beside the hole. Graham joined him in watching mother and daughter meet. Paul injected Weiyan with something. Hopefully, pain medication.
“Daniel.”
“I know Zhu shouldn’t be here, Jack, but the ambassador wanted to see her daughter, before — ”
“Huang must accompany SG-1,” Graham said. “The Ancient blood runs stronger in his veins than anyone else’s, even O’Neill’s.”
O’Neill’s…
The exaggerated O. The soft double L’s that almost sounded like R’s. Daniel heard Sam gasp. He whirled toward Graham. Skaara gazed back.
“You must hurry, Daniel.” Skaara stepped across the plank and stopped in front of Jack and Hammond. “The crystal must be replaced before your sun rises.”
“Hello, Skaara,” Hammond said, a tinge of awe in his voice. “So you’re our mysterious visitor.”
“I apologize,” Skaara said sheepishly. “I had hoped to minimize my involvement, but time on this level has not allowed me to do so any longer. Not without risking the Others’ attention.”
Though Daniel privately wondered what Skaara meant by ‘the Others,’ there were more pressing matters at the moment. He hurried over to join Skaara and the generals. “What happens when the sun rises?”
Sam wasn’t far behind. “The crystal’s ruined, Skaara. There shouldn’t be any threat from solar power.”
Skaara frowned. “Each of you by now should know that what is seen is not always what is true. Yes, the crystal is damaged, but built within these walls are the conduits needed to bring new power from your sun.”
Sam reminded them of the silver lines etched on the floors of both the Kunlun chamber and the one on Yu’s planet.
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