Carter and Haley came through the Stargate.
Haley grinned from ear to ear. "That REALLY is a trip."
"Yep, you never get tired of it. It's the most incredible rollercoaster in the universe." Sam laughed.
"People, get to the infirmary. Briefing at 14:00 hours." Hammond ordered.
------
During the briefing, General Hammond watched Cadet Jennifer Haley. He seemed to detect a change in her attitude from this morning. He smiled to himself. "Looks like Carter was right," he thought to himself.
He stood and said, "Very well, people, you're on stand down for four days. Dismissed."
They all stood up to leave.
"Cadet," he said.
Haley snapped to attention as the others left, except Carter.
"Good job out there. But remember, when you're in the field, it's not a competition on who's right. The priority is completing the mission and getting your team home safely." Hammond smiled at her. "I hope I get to see you here after graduation, Cadet."
"Yes, Sir! I want to be here, Sir!"
"Then Cadet, I suggest you listen to everything Major Carter has to say."
"Yes, Sir! I will, Sir."
"You're dismissed, Cadet."
Carter stayed a moment to talk to General Hammond then met Haley in the hallway.
"Want to go get something to eat?" she grinned at Haley.
"Yes, Ma'am. I just realized I haven't eaten since breakfast. Is it always like this?" she asked.
"Yeah, I don't know how many meals I've missed in four years," Sam chuckled.
They went to the commissary and got their dinner. As they were sitting there eating, someone called out, "Ten-HUT!" A familiar voice then said, "As you were." The owner of that voice walked over to Sam. Sam hugged her father. "Hi Dad! Why are you here?" Jacob was in his dress uniform.
"George and I have a meeting at the Pentagon. I'm leaving in 10 minutes. We'll be back tomorrow evening."
Sam nodded. "Want to have dinner when you get back?"
Jacob smiled " Sure, George said you have a few days of down time. I'd like to spend a day together before I have to go back to Vorash."
"Great! Dad, this is Cadet Haley."
"Haley? Yes, I believe I met you two years ago didn't I? At the Academy?"
"Yes, Sir." Haley seemed a little uncomfortable.
"Dad?"
"I was speaking to her class and she pointed out an error I made." Jacob chuckled.
Sam snickered as well. "Hmm. She did the same thing to me. Seems she likes to pick on Carters."
Haley looked shamefaced.
"Samantha, it's not nice to embarrass people," said Selmac.
"You're right, Selmac. I'm sorry. Are you going to keep Dad out of trouble in DC?"
"I will do my best, but it's a hard job sometimes," laughed Selmac.
Sam hugged her father. "Thanks, Selmac. I love you, Dad. Have a safe trip."
"I love you too," said Jacob. He turned and left the room.
Haley looked stunned and confused. "I didn't know General Carter was your father. I had heard he was very ill, dying. And why did he use a different voice? Why did you call him Selmac?"
"Ordinarily, I wouldn't be able to tell you that but General Hammond gave me permission to show you some other things around here. You're right, Dad was dying. He became a host for a Tok'ra symbiote. The symbiote cured his cancer." She looked at Haley. "We are fighting a war here against an alien race called the Goa'uld. The Goa'uld System Lords would enslave and kill us. The Tok'ra are former Goa'uld who now oppose the System Lords. Selmac is a Tok'ra. I'll show you later what a Goa'uld symbiote looks like."
Haley stared at Sam. "How many people know about the Goa'uld?"
"This base, the NID, the Joint Chiefs, the president and you."
"Wow."
"Are you done eating? I have a few more things to show you," said Sam.
"Sure!" Haley jumped up and took their plates to the conveyor.
Sam took her to her quarters. She picked up a picture that was on her dresser. It was a picture of herself, Jack O'Neill and Dr. Samantha Carter-O'Neill. She gave it to Haley.
"Is this your sister?"
"No, this is Dr. Samantha Carter. Your paper, "Toward A New Cosmology". You're right. Dr. Samantha is in an alternate reality. We found a mirror that can take us to alternate realities. She came from one. In her reality she never joined the Air Force. She's a civilian scientist assigned to the SGC. Their world was being overrun by the Goa'uld. She and her late husband's best friend came through the mirror to escape. We were able to go back with them and contact a race that we are allies with here. The Asgard came and destroyed the Goa'uld. She couldn't have stayed here. Because I existed in this reality, she suffered entropic cascade failure."
"You're serious! Wow!" Haley looked down at the picture. "Whom was she married to?" Haley asked curiously.
Softly, Sam said. "Colonel O'Neill. He was killed by the Goa'uld Apophis."
Haley heard the tightening of Sam's voice and saw the flicker of pain in her eyes. For once she decided to keep her mouth shut.
"We've gone to other realities, and viewed some through the mirror. Dr. Samantha made a "tuner" for the mirror to adjust to other realities. In some, I was not in the military, in some I was still a captain. In others, the Goa'uld had over run the complex. Circumstances varied in each reality," said Sam.
"Can I see the mirror?"
"General Hammond ordered it destroyed. He was worried about another reality's Goa'uld coming through it. Sorry." Sam took the picture from Haley and returned it to the dresser. "Come on, I've got something really neat to show you," Sam said brightly.
Haley thought her smile and tone were a little forced.
Sam led Haley to her lab and took the cover off a piece of equipment. "A particle beam generator," she said smiling.
"I thought we didn't have the physics to create one! It works?" Haley asked in astonishment.
"Yes. We knew one could be created because the Goa'uld Sokar tried to use one to breach our Iris."
"Why'd you make it? How'd you make it? How long did it take?" In Haley's excitement, her sentences ran together.
"Colonel O'Neill got trapped on a planet when a meteor struck close to the gate. A mineral called Naquadah was liquefied by the strike and then hardened over the event horizon of the gate like an Iris. It took me three months to come up with the physics and build it. We used it to superheat the Naquadah and let the vortex expand it to create a chamber. Teal'c went through and dug out the gate. It had been buried horizontally by the strike."
Haley just shook her head. "That's fantastic."
Sam grinned. "Hey, I wrote the book on wormhole physics, why not?" She picked up a loose-leaf notebook. "Here, you can read this while you're here. But it can't leave the complex."
"What is it?"
"My book on wormhole physics!" Sam laughed. Sam got a picture out of her files and handed it to Haley. "That is a Goa'uld."
"Ugh. It's horrible looking! How do they get inside?"
Sam rubbed the back of her neck and grimaced. "They go in through the back of your neck and coil themselves around the spinal cord and cerebral cortex. They take over your body. Goa'uld never let the host surface. You're a prisoner in your own body. The Tok'ra share the body but it's still a really weird feeling. You have your memories and the symbiote's, as well as their feelings. It sometimes becomes hard to separate whose feelings are who's."
"Major? You sound like you're speaking from experience."
Sam nodded. "I was a host for the Tok'ra Jolinar for a short while. It happened involuntarily, which is against all Tok'ra rules but her host was dying and she was running from a Goa'uld Ashrak, an assassin. He found us. I almost died but Jolinar saved me by dying herself." Sam took a deep breath. A look of pain passed over her face. "Because she died within me, my body chemistry has changed. I might not be able to have children. The whole experience was not one of my favorites."
"I'm … sorry, Major." And Haley was. She'd come to like and respect Major Carter today. The pain on Sam's face when she talked about not being able to have children surprised her. From everything Haley had ever heard about her, Samantha Carter had seemed one track, focused solely on her career and work.
"Come on, Daniel has some things he wants to show you."
They left Sam's lab and went to the elevator. The doors opened and out walked Colonel O'Neill. He looked at Sam with that same soft smile he'd greeted her with on the planet. His face and hands had been bandaged where the "lightning bugs" had stung him.
"Sir."
He saw a shadow of pain in her eyes. "Thera," he said softly.
"Jonah," she said quietly. The names had become their code, meaning, "I'm here for you."
Sam and Haley got on the elevator and the doors closed. Haley looked at Sam out of the corner of her eye. She suspected that there was more to Major Carter's relationship with Colonel O'Neill. There seemed to be a lot of tension between them. She had noticed that they would start to move a hand to touch the other and then stop. Haley remembered the pain in Sam's eyes as she talked about the other Colonel O'Neill dying. Truth be told, Haley couldn't believe Sam had created a particle beam in three months. She obviously had a lot of motivation. The elevator doors opened and they went to Daniel's lab.
"Daniel, I've brought Cadet Haley. You want to show her the things we've talked about? I need to go write up my report."
"Sure, Sam. Nice to meet you, Cadet." Daniel shook her hand as Sam left. Daniel showed her the artifacts that they had found on various planets. Haley felt comfortable with Daniel. He seemed so … open.
Finally, she got the courage to ask, "Is there something between Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill? I mean, I get the feeling …"
Daniel sighed. He looked at her and said, "Sam said you had a problem with regulations, Cadet. If you stay in the military, you have to follow those regulations. You've seen Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill. Yes, I believe they have feelings for each other. She's a General's daughter and together they have saved this world, THE WHOLE WORLD, several times. But they sacrifice their happiness for the oaths they swore. They do not put themselves above the regulations, even though I personally think they deserve some happiness for all they've given. But they don't." Pain flashed across Daniel's face, for his friends. "Why? Why don't they break the regs? Because "it's their honor to serve"," he said sardonically. "Think about that. They serve their country, their world, their people at the sacrifice of what they want most for themselves." He looked down at her. "Think about that, Cadet. Think about their honor and what they've given up. That's what you have to uphold. Those are pretty big shoes to fill." Daniel turned toward the door. "Come on. I'll take you back to Sam."
Haley was very quiet. To give up so much. To sacrifice everything. Yes, those really are big shoes to fill. "I guess I've grown up today," Haley thought to herself.
"Cadet, are you ready to go?" Sam asked.
"Yes Ma'am."
They were both quiet on the trip back to the Academy. Sam stopped the car in front of Haley's barracks and they got out.
"So, … Cadet." Sam said.
Cadet Haley looked up at her. "Thank you, Major. You took a chance on me and I appreciate it. I promise, I won't let you down. I'll be there after graduation." She paused. "It is my honor to serve."
She saluted Major Carter.
~Fin~
Story Notes: SEASON/SERIES: 4
SPOILERS: POV, 100 Days, Beneath the Surface, Prodigy
STATUS: Complete
PARINGS: Sam/Jack,
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Feedback is greatly appreciated (especially if you like it ). I would like to thank my Beta Readers: Wilma, Stacey, Shannon, and Jo. Your encouragement has meant a tremendous amount to me.
DEDICATION:
SPOILERS: POV, 100 Days, Beneath the Surface, Prodigy
STATUS: Complete
PARINGS: Sam/Jack,
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Feedback is greatly appreciated (especially if you like it ). I would like to thank my Beta Readers: Wilma, Stacey, Shannon, and Jo. Your encouragement has meant a tremendous amount to me.
DEDICATION:
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]