DISCLAIMER: All characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
"Congratulations Jack O'Neill, you have brought us a newer, healthier body in which we can rest and plan for the restoration of the Cragsh'a."
O'Neill heard the voices and grabbed at the helmet which Fraiser had left for him to wear. He pulled it over his head and gestured for Daniel to do the same.
"You guys not learnt anything yet?" he taunted, just before he pulled it swiftly downwards. He fingered the chin strap and activated the small device which created a low comforting sound at his ears, masking any attempts by the aliens to infiltrate his mind or his thoughts. He then turned his back on the aliens and indicated for Daniel to do the same.
O'Neill grabbed Daniel's shoulder and indicated the staff weapon which Teal'c had entrusted to his care. Daniel shrugged not knowing what Jack had in mind.
O'Neill took the small laser and the staff and placed the laser at the end. He then demonstrated wrapping something around the laser to fix it to the end, and shrugged to tell Daniel he didn't have anything.
Daniel nodded and reached into his pack withdrawing the roll of insulating tape they used for setting explosive devices to targets.
Between them they taped the laser tightly to the far end of the staff.
The aliens stayed hovering some fifty feet from their position, their energy levels ebbing, their interest in what the humans were doing piqued. But they had no fear. The humans were helpless, as all humans had been helpless. Destroying the Cragsh'a had been an assault on their source of life but not on their being. It was done. They believed the humans could do no more to hurt them now, and they continued to taunt and try to engage them in conversation. They continued to bait them until they knew they would succumb and die. They wanted them to suffer, suffer in the knowledge that death was hovering nearby.
O'Neill assumed they were probably engaged in verbally assaulting them, but the warm noise in his ears prevented the encroachment and he hoped disorientated the aliens when they tried to read their thoughts and emotions. He smiled to himself. For the first time in some twenty-four hours he felt back in control. It felt good. He touched Daniel and readied himself for an assault on them. Daniel reached across and flicked a tiny switch on the laser, watching a small light glow on its stem. Then they waited for the light to turn green. Fraiser had told them, that as soon as the light turned green they would know the laser was charged.
O'Neill looked around, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the aliens suddenly start to work their way towards them. O'Neill eyed the laser with irritation. Why wasn't it charged? He looked at Daniel whose face was beginning to show some degree of alarm. Daniel looked at him and shrugged, shaking his head.
'Dammit', thought O'Neill. 'After all this, after all they'd been through, were they about to get fried because a piece of equipment didn't work? Fraiser had recommended not firing it up until necessary. The longer the power left within the laser, the more likely it would be that it would affect the aliens. O'Neill ran his tongue across his lips, moistening them, his mouth dry suddenly. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, he could feel beads of sweat standing on his forehead. Time seemed to be suspended.
He felt the insistent shoving on his arm before he noticed the light turn green, and then he saw Daniel grab the body of the laser and activate its tiny beam. He signalled Daniel to move aside quickly and then swung and moved forwards.
The aliens didn't see the attack coming and didn't have time to react quickly enough. O'Neill pushed the end of the staff into the pulsating mass of energy, which made up the first alien and held it there. The pressure on the staff was unexpected and he was pulled to the ground immediately. He felt hands around his own and knew Daniel was there, helping him, holding the staff as tightly as they could. He couldn't see. The swirling mass of energy was so close it was electric. He saw blackness and odd strands of light sparking in front of his eyes, trying to reach him, trying to get to him. No longer recognisable as a shape, the energy, which made up the alien swirled and writhed as the laser gently did its work. The alien seemed trapped within the grip of the staff and its payload. Its control of its own energy lost.
O'Neill felt as if he were taking its entire weight, and for a single moment he felt his arms buckle under the strain. Then Daniel boosted his strength and raised the staff again. The weight lessened, gradually at first, then it seemed to speed up. The air around them became thinner, the light filtering through the energy cloud once more. As a shaft of sunlight hit their faces and made them look away, they saw the last of the dark energy flow from around the staff and downwards through the ground. And then there was nothing.
The staff lowered slowly to the ground, as O'Neill rolled onto his back and sighed with relief. Daniel lay next to him, struggling to find his breath, exhausted from the sheer effort of what they'd done. They slowly took their helmets from their heads and O'Neill propped himself on his elbow.
"Wow," he muttered, shaking his head. "Daniel, my boy, we did it," he added grinning at his friend.
"Sam was right. She was right," Daniel said as he sat up and smiled triumphantly at O'Neill.
O'Neill nodded and then cast his eyes behind him. He leapt to his feet within seconds and swung the staff around once more.
Daniel followed his gaze and put his arms to the ground to push himself into a standing position once more, his eyes locked on the creature, which hovered some distance from them, its energy ebbing and flowing, its muted screeches hanging across the air around them.
"Damn I thought we'd get both. Looks like we pissed this one off for killing its mate," O'Neill muttered under his breath.
"Jack, recharge the laser!" urged Daniel as he reached for the end of the staff to reset the switch on the laser once more. How much power it had left he couldn't know, but Janet had told them the energy within the creature might help to boost the neodymium in the laser, and give it more of a punch. Daniel flicked the switch to charge and waited.
"You will taste death." The alien's chilling words hit both their ears as they reached for the helmets to drown them. "You have witnessed my sorrow at the loss of my mate. You will suffer the same sorrow at the loss of yours."
The laser charged to green the second the alien's words faded. Daniel grabbed the staff from O'Neill's hands and rose from his crouching position. Before O'Neill could stop him, Daniel raced the distance from where he was, towards the alien, without helmet and without cover.
O'Neill's cry was lost to the air and he watched with horror as Daniel neared the alien. This time the alien had time to react to the threat and it did. The bolt of energy flew from the depths of the alien and blasted at the staff weapon, the energy flying down the staff weapon and reaching Daniel's hands as he held the staff tight. O'Neill heard him cry out as he dropped the staff and dropped to his knees in shock, his face registering surprise and extreme pain.
"Daniel," O'Neill called as he covered the distance between them and knelt beside him. He turned his hands over and winced. The energy flare had taken the skin from his palms. Before they had time to do anything, the alien moved away and turned towards the direction of the gate.
"Witness your mate's death," it whispered to them and then it fled across the ground and disappeared at speed from their sight towards the Gate.
Daniel turned quizzically towards O'Neill. "Jeez, what just happened then?" he asked. His shoulders were trembling slightly with the shock of the current he'd had pass through him. His eyebrows raised, his eyes hollowed with the pain, which burned on his hands. "Our mate?" he repeated, gritting his teeth as the pain crept up his arms and made him shudder. "Oh God," he uttered as the pain hit crescendo level.
O'Neill touched him on the shoulder and squeezed gently, conveying the fact that he was there. He reached silently into the bag, which Janet Fraiser had given him and pulled a small syringe loaded with painkillers from it. He plunged it into Daniel's arm and then sprayed the burns lightly, roughly bandaging the two hands.
"Jack? The alien said 'your mate'? What or who is it referring to?" Daniel persisted, wincing at every touch, the extreme pain ebbing slightly, as the jab set to work.
Jack continued with the job at hand, his eyes lowered, attending to what he was doing. "Carter," came the muted response.
"But why? She's no one's mate," Daniel persisted with surprise.
"I know, Daniel. And you know that, but the damn creeps don't," O'Neill said as he hauled his friend to his feet and grabbed the staff weapon from the ground. "The alien felt our concern for her when she was hurt, and somehow came to the conclusion that she's a mate. Maybe, just because she's the opposite sex or something," he said, feeling a sense of guilt, though he couldn't think why.
Daniel's eyes narrowed at his friend's reticence.
"Why? Um how..did the alien manage to blast us? I mean before, they never physically touched us?" Daniel continued, changing the subject, as Jack grabbed his helmet and Daniel's.
"Beats me. Maybe it thinks it can do anything now their damn energy source is dead. Maybe it changed it in some way. I dunno, Daniel. I just know it's after Teal'c, the Doc and Carter and we're some way behind," O'Neill replied, setting Daniel's helmet on his head and pulling on his own.
Daniel reached across a bandaged hand and stopped him from pulling it right down.
O'Neill turned, surprise registering in his eyes. "Daniel?" he said.
"Jack. You..and Carter....?" The sentence was unfinished, and its implication hung in the air.
"Daniel...you know the answer to that," O'Neill retorted as Daniel raised an eyebrow. "She's our friend. I care about her as a friend," he replied, knowing Daniel had suspicions and hell, hadn't he himself? He'd begun to wonder in that chamber what he felt for her. He'd begun to wonder and then dismissed it as unrealistic, impossible and all the other negatives you could put with something which couldn't happen, not in this lifetime, even if he wanted it.
And then it struck him. Of course, having thoughts even if they were impossible or fantastic, was irrelevant to the aliens. They'd listened into his mental thought processes and found what they wanted and what they interpreted. O'Neill mentally put his head in his hands and let his mental fingers fill with regret. To Daniel he appeared solid in what he said. To himself he lied. To the aliens he'd provided a perfect victim, a perfect revenge attack for what he and Daniel had just done. He gripped the staff and pulled the helmet down, his teeth gritted in determination.
He pointed to the gate and began to run. Daniel hesitated for just a second, trying to analyse what he'd seen register on his friend's face and in his eyes. Despite his outward strength, he knew he'd glimpsed his friend's fear.
Teal'c stopped as they drew nearer to the gate, Janet Fraiser's breaths coming in gasps as she reached his side. The gate and DHD were unguarded and Teal'c put Carter to the ground next to the DHD, pulling himself up straight and flicking the energy weapon to his side. He pulled off his helmet for a moment and reached across to lift Janet's off.
"Doctor Fraiser, please stay with Captain Carter," he said, pulling the helmet back as he started towards the gate area, his back lowered, his knees bent. He took cover behind the rocks and searched the immediate vicinity with his eyes. He knew he was too near, when the Goa'uld larva within him lurched in agony in reaction to the device still attached to the gate.
He grabbed at his stomach and moved slowly back to Janet Fraiser. He pulled off his helmet and flung it to the ground.
"I will need the armor, doctor" he said, breathing heavily, as he crouched beside her, letting the larva settle once again.
"It's on the evac vehicle," she replied and pointed to the vehicle, which sat to their right well away from the DHD.
Teal'c nodded and turned to move towards it and then he froze. The alien form hovered over the vehicle, its eyes gleaming even though its energy ebbed with each phase. It had waited for them to arrive. They were slow, but it had waited. Next to the truck lay several lifeless bodies. Teal'c's eyes narrowed. The SG unit which was guarding the gate. The technicians were nowhere to be seen.
Teal'c turned and retreated to the doctor. "I am unable to reach the suit, Doctor," Teal'c informed her and indicated with his eyes his problem.
Janet Fraiser rose to her feet and felt a cold hand grip her heart. She knew that if it chose to destroy the suit, they'd never get Teal'c back home, and without Teal'c she couldn't get Carter through the gate on her own.
"The being is approaching," Teal'c said, pulling his energy weapon to his shoulder and readying it.
A blast of energy shot out from the alien's direction suddenly, and the two helmets which lay on the ground near to them, disintegrated.
Teal'c fired immediately but watched with some dismay as the energy was absorbed.
"They appear to be able to use their energy as a weapon. They have changed." Teal'c said, his eyes registering the surprise, which he felt.
"We don't stand a chance," whispered Janet as she crouched beside Sam. "Not without the laser which the Colonel has," she added.
The alien hovered, cutting off the route to the gate, shards of blue energy creeping from its very essence as it phased in and out, weakening but not giving in. It needed a new vessel, one which would provide an energy source, one which would rebuild the Cragsh'a. It could have chosen one of the SG unit which remained at the gate. It could have. But it had the taste of revenge in its heart and it wanted to feel it. It wanted to punish O'Neill. It moved towards them, its mind set on Sam, its memory of tasting her acceptance of death fuelling it.
Teal'c stood in front of the doctor and her patient and prepared to meet a mortal enemy. As the alien neared he fired again. The alien was thrown off balance and shrieked loudly, disorientated but absorbing the energy still. Teal'c raised his energy weapon to fire again.
The figure, which raced past him and fell to the ground beneath the alien took him off guard.
O'Neill pushed the staff upwards and into the energy mass which was left of the alien. "Eat this," he shouted loudly as he held firm, the alien writhing above him.
"Help him, Teal'c," Daniel shouted as he dropped beside the Doctor.
Teal'c didn't need any more urging. He covered the distance between himself and O'Neill within seconds and fell to the ground, grabbing the staff and taking the weight.
The screeching filled the air and then ebbed. As the laser did its final work, the energy dissipated until it flowed as one into the ground and ceased.
Teal'c turned his head to look at O'Neill.
"Thanks," O'Neill mouthed, his eyes softening, as Teal'c got to his feet and held out a hand for the Colonel to take.
"It is nothing, O'Neill," Teal'c replied and reached to take the staff from O'Neill's hands, the laser still at its end, the tape around it melted and disintegrating.
Teal'c and O'Neill moved to the evac vehicle and checked the bodies of the SG soldiers. Then they noticed the two technicians behind a boulder, their eyes wide in horror, their faces registering the fear, which they had felt in death. They found the charred remains of the helmets close by and a small detonation unit charred next to them. The gate explosives would be useless. Teal'c lifted each body into the interior of the vehicle.
"Daniel, dial us home," O'Neill ordered as his friend fingered the DHD and tapped in the co-ordinates with difficulty, his bandages awkward, his hands painful.
The evac vehicle moved slowly forward. The interior loaded with the dead bodies of the SG unit and technicians. Teal'c sat in his armor suit filling the surface at the top, with Janet Fraiser walking beside him supporting him. Daniel stood the other side, his hands resting on the Jaffa as the vehicle moved slowly through the gate towards Earth's co-ordinates.
As O'Neill moved onto the ramp, Carter lying in his arms, he turned to look at the planet surface briefly.
"Godammit, you're going to regret what you put my people through," he said quietly as he turned towards the wormhole and stepped through.
The bomb slipped neatly through the wormhole and delivered its deadly nuclear payload to Feldos and its gate.
The staff stood silently in the gate room watching. The air was heavy with memories and regret. Each officer stood with head bowed until the camera on the bomb broke through the other side and gave them a last fleeting glance at the DHD and its surroundings. And then they closed the iris.
Carter lay in her bed, her stomach sore from the recent surgery, and watched the transmission. A drip ran from her arm to a unit nearby. She smiled as her Commanding Officer entered the room and sat down next to her.
"How's life, Carter?" he said, smiling. He placed a small spray of flowers on the bedside table awkwardly. She let a smile break loose at his embarrassment.
She nodded. "Fine," she said. She actually looked less than fine but who was counting.
"Colonel?"
"Yep," he replied looking at her eyes. He couldn't place what was mirrored there.
"Did you tell them about the other gates the aliens mentioned?" she asked.
"Yep," he replied. "They're going to try to find them. If we do, we'll nuke them too," he said and thought for a single moment. "You did good, Captain," he said softly.
"Thank you, sir," she replied, blushing.
O'Neill pulled himself off the bed and walked to the door.
"Colonel," she called.
He turned.
"You did good yourself, sir," she said and felt a glow as he acknowledged the compliment with his eyes, nodded and left the room, a smile playing across his lips as he did.