Major Samantha Carter was sitting in her lab finishing off a report on the latest analysis findings on the minerals from planet PX 849. She found she needed to keep busy. It had been three weeks since the run in with Tolgarth and his Jaffa. Without the constant use with 'think talking' with Jack, the white mass in her brain was slowly decreasing in size. Janet had released her for light duties and soon she would be back on active duty. Sam felt well rested. In fact she hadn't felt so good physically for several months. The headaches had stopped and she hadn't had a single nightmare for three weeks. She hadn't even dreamt. The last time was when she woke up in the infirmary. Sam had heard Jack calling out her name to save him. He had sounded terrified, but she couldn't find him. Then, that was it, nothing. It confirmed her thoughts that the nightmares that she had suffered were actually Jack's and that she had just been sharing them. Though she had had similar types of nightmares of her own in the past. It now explained the one dream that had always confused her. It was the one where Jack wasn't there. She now realised that she must have been in Jack's shoes, as it was totally his dream. With a small sigh, she looked at her watch. It was time to go and see General Hammond. //'I wonder what he wants to see me about.'//
Sam walked into General Hammond's office and stood at attention in front of his desk.
"Major Carter. Please, sit down."
"Thank you, Sir."
"Major Carter. Colonel O'Neill's wishes were that you would take on the leadership of SG-1 if anything should happen to him. I happen to agree with him." General Hammond paused for a moment, as he watched the realisation of what he had just said come across Major Carter's face. "There is also something else that you were not aware of. I had put it on hold in light of the recent events. But a promotion had come through for you to be made a Lt. Colonel."
Sam sat there dumbfounded as she was still trying to get over the fact that she would be leading SG-1, let alone a promotion.
"Thank you, Sir."
"I have here three dossiers on three different potential additions to SG-1. I'd like you to look through these and come back to me with your thoughts."
"Yes, Sir."
"Has Teal'c said anymore of what he wishes to do?"
"No, Sir. He hasn't."
"Dismissed, Lt. Colonel." General Hammond was smiling as he spoke. He watched the smile spread across Colonel Carter's face, when she heard him call her Colonel. It was the first time he had seen her smile since Colonel O'Neill had died.
Sam walked down the corridor of the SGC with the folders clutched in her hand. She couldn't believe it, because she had assumed another team leader would have been brought in over her head. She was pleased that she was leading the team and also that Jack had thought her capable. She just hoped that the others felt the same. Sam was relatively certain that they would. Shutting the door to her lab, she sat at her desk and started to study the dossiers. The first one was a Major Trent. She had worked with him before and he was a good soldier. The only thing was that he might find it difficult to listen to her orders as they had been equals up to a few minutes ago. Also, he was slightly sexist in his attitude. Putting the folder aside she opened the next one. This was of a Captain Green. From what Sam could see she was an excellent soldier, but was totally unknown to her. Sam thought it would be nice to have another female on the team, but she couldn't use that as a reason for her decision. Picking up the last folder, she opened it: Lt Grogan. Sam smiled and was pleased. She had made her decision. Grogan would be on her team. As Sam got up from her desk and made her way to General Hammond's office, she hoped that he agreed with her decision.
Later in General Hammond's office, Sam had just revealed whom she would like to add to her team.
"Excellent choice, Colonel Carter. He will make a good addition to SG-1. Would you like to tell him yourself?"
"Yes, Sir, I would, but I would like to inform the rest of the team first about what is happening."
"Good idea. Colonel, tell me. What made you choose Lt. Grogan?"
"I have no doubts about him, Sir and I know from personal experience that I can trust him in combat conditions."
General Hammond gave a small smile and nodded at Carter.
"Dismissed."
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"Jonas, that is my decision and my decision is final. Grogan is not replacing the Colonel. If anything, it is me who is replacing the Colonel and Grogan is replacing me."
Jonas glanced across at Teal'c, but as usual Teal'c was showing no emotion at what had transpired here. Getting up abruptly, Jonas walked out the door.
Sam sat down with a sigh. "This is going to be harder than I thought, Teal'c. I thought everyone would be pleased. You are OK with this, aren't you, Teal'c?"
"I thought your decision was final, Lt. Colonel Carter. Congratulations on your promotion."
"Thank you, Teal'c." Sam said, giving him a small smile.
"I think Jonas is taking the loss of O'Neill a lot harder than we have allowed him. He hadn't known O'Neill long, so I believe we have tended to disregard his feelings."
"Yes, I think you are right, Teal'c. Can you talk to him? It will come better from you."
Teal'c nodded his head at Sam and walked out of her lab, but she quickly called him back.
"Teal'c, have you decided what you want to do yet?"
"No. I hadn't until now. I wish to stay with SG-1. That is, if you will let me serve with you on your team?"
"Of course, Teal'c. I am glad you are staying. And thank you, Teal'c."
Teal'c nodded his head in respect to Sam and then left her lab.
Sam was still using her lab as her office. General Hammond had offered her Jack's office to use, but she hadn't felt comfortable about using it yet. //'Maybe in time,'// she thought.
Sam was relieved that Teal'c was staying. She had found it very hard with Daniel leaving and then Jack dying. The thought of Teal'c leaving too would have been too much to handle. Teal'c had also been very quiet since he and another team had gone back to the planet where Jack and Lt. Andrews had died, to see if they could recover the bodies. They had reported total devastation. The Goa'uld had obliterated everything. She had seen the pictures and the once green land was now a blackened smoking ruin of craters and rocks. When Teal'c had returned he stood for three days in the gate room. Only moving to take a short break for Kel'no'reem and use the facilities. Then he would take up his stance beside the ramp looking at the Stargate. It was almost as though the Stargate represented Jack's coffin and Teal'c was taking up vigil beside it. Janet had tried to get Sam to talk to Teal'c, as he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for two days by then. But Sam had refused to help Janet and when Janet had suggested that it was about time Teal'c had moved on, Sam had walked out on her. Since then Sam had managed to repair her friendship with Janet, but until now she hadn't been sure that Teal'c was all right. She wasn't sure that she was all right yet herself. In fact, if she was honest with herself, she knew she would never be all right again. Getting up from her desk, she made her way to tell Lt. Grogan that he would be joining SG-1.
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Two days later, SG-1 were off world and working well together. Sam wasn't sure what Teal'c had said to Jonas, but it had worked. There wasn't any tension in the team and things seemed to be running smoothly. They had just left a local village that was situated near the Stargate. They had been there before and the people had been kind and welcoming. Sam had found it hard explaining to them about Colonel O'Neill's death. She realised that this was going to be a regular occurrence for a while. When they arrived back at the Stargate, she stood and watched patiently while Lt. Grogan dialled them home. Sam felt a bit weird, because usually she was the one who dialled them out. There were a lot of things she was going to have to get used to.
As she stepped through to the other side of the Stargate behind her team, she saw her father standing at the bottom of the ramp. Sam felt relieved, as she really needed her Dad at the moment. By the look on his face, she realised that General Hammond must have told him. Immediately she felt the beginning of tears form. Blinking the tears away, she walked down to her Dad. As soon as they were in her lab, Sam locked her door and threw herself into Jacob's arms. Sobbing she told him everything that had happened on that fateful day. Jacob wasn't surprised at all. He had known that his daughter and Jack were having trouble keeping their feelings under control and the fact that they had become telepathic had made things considerably worse. Jacob soothed her and said that he understood and that he would be staying a few days this time. He would come home with her for a while and spend some time with her. Sam was grateful; she really needed his company for a while.
"I will ask General Hammond if he will let me have a few days off."
"Its already arranged, Sam. As soon as you've been checked out at the infirmary, we can go. I'll have to get changed though."
Sam smiled up at her Dad through her tears. "Thanks, Dad."
While they were driving through the winter rain to get to her house, Sam thought about her outburst in the lab. This was so unlike her, as she never got this emotional over anything, especially in front of her Dad. She had noticed lately, that she had found it very hard to keep the tears at bay. It didn't take much to set her off crying. She knew if she were going to be able to lead SG-1 successfully, she would need to take better control of her emotions.
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~Sam was walking up a small track. The sky was a clear deep blue and a slight breeze moved through her short hair and made the skirt of her summer dress billow out around her bare legs. Her brown open sandals were making slight footprints in the dry dusty ground. Reaching out, she bent down to help herself over a difficult part of the pathway. She knew where she was and where she was going. She started to go faster, because she had to get to that ridge. When she reached the top, she looked down. It was just as she remembered. The flowers swayed in the breeze. They were all the colours of the rainbow and the fragrance wafted up to her from the full-headed blooms. Not waiting for a second she rushed down amongst the flowers, looking for him. Where is he? She started to walk through the flowers towards the direction he had come from before. As she walked, she noticed the ground crunched beneath her feet. She looked down to see what she was walking on. It was the flowers. They had withered and had turned black. She reached down and closed her hand over a black bloom. The once beautiful flower crumbled in her hand and a small cloud of dust puffed up through her fingers. In a panic she looked all around her. The flowers were all blackened as though they had been in a fire. Looking down again, Sam noticed that her dress was covered in the black soot from the flowers. Sam carried on towards the other side of the meadow. When she reached the other side, she came to a large outcrop of rock. Imbedded into the side of the rock was a black wrought-iron gate. She carefully opened it and walked through. Sam was walking down a large corridor. There were torches burning with a naked flame, set into the walls of the corridor. The ground was made up of hard packed earth. The corridor looked familiar to her. It reminded her of Tolgarth's tunnels in his castle. Finally, she came to the end of the corridor. Across the end of the tunnel, set into the walls on either side, was a large iron cage. The flat bars were about two inches wide and criss crossed by weaving in and out of each other. The gaps in between were eight inches in diameter. Sam cautiously walked up to the wall of the cage and peered in through one of the gaps. She had found Jack. He was chained up against the far wall and someone was torturing him. He was in obvious pain, but she couldn't see who it was doing this to him. Frantically she looked around the cage wall hoping to find an entrance, but she couldn't find anything. ~
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"Hey, Sammie, wake up. It's all right!"
Sam woke up with a start, looking at her father. Quickly wiping her face, she muttered. "Just a nightmare, Dad. I'm all right. Go back to sleep."
"Are your sure, Sam? I'll stay, if you want me to?"
"No, Dad. I'm OK. I have lots of nightmares and I'm used to them." She gave her Dad a reassuring smile and watched him walk out of her room.
As soon as Jacob had closed her door, Sam leaned back against the headboard of her bed and thought about what had just happened. She was dreaming about when they had been tortured by Tolgarth again. Sam had thought the bad dreams had stopped when Jack had died. She really hoped this wasn't going to be regular occurrence again.
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Teal'c walked into O'Neill's old office. Lt. Colonel Carter was sitting at the desk going through some papers. She certainly had made an improvement to the place. On the shelf behind her was a large vase of hothouse flowers. A very strong perfume filled the room, which was coming from the colourful blooms. Parts of her lab seemed to have found there way into the room, also small bits of machinery were littered across her desk amongst her papers.
"Hello, Teal'c." Sam looked up with a smile.
"Good afternoon, Lt. Colonel Carter."
"Eh, Teal'c I think we need to do something about my name, don't you? It's a bit long. How about you call me Sam, or Carter. I don't mind which."
Teal'c bowed his head in acknowledgement.
"General Hammond needs you in the briefing room immediately, Sam."
She was pleased that he had chosen to call her Sam.
"Thank you, Teal'c. I'm coming."
Getting up from her desk with a smile, she followed Teal'c out of her office down the corridor towards the elevator.
As Sam and Teal'c walked into the briefing room, Sam was surprised to see her father sitting at the table.
"Dad, hi. I thought you had gone."
" Hello, Sam. I will explain in a minute."
"OK, Jacob, why have you come back so soon? What is happening?"
"Well, George, since I saw you two days ago, a lot has happened. You remember when Jack said he thought something was brewing, well he was right. Anubis and the system lords have been systematically attacking our Tok'ra strongholds. Unfortunately, they have been very accurate; many of our people have been taken as prisoners. At the moment no planet that we have used as a back up for refuge, is safe. Tolgarth seems to be in the picture too, I think he must be using that new device that Sam spoke of. It seems a lot to have happened in only two days, but while I was here for the three days, it all seemed to have come to a head. You must be extra cautious with everyone who comes through your Stargate, even with the Tok'ra. We just don't know who to trust anymore."
"Dad, where are you going to go when you leave here?"
"I don't know yet, Sam. It will have to be a planet that we haven't been to before. The Tok'ra are scattered right across the Universe. We have lost contact with each other. Twenty-four of us are here at the moment and it is something we will have to discuss amongst ourselves."
"Jacob, you are welcome to stay here as long as you need to, at least until your wounded are healed."
"Thank you, George, but we need to keep moving. Maybe we can find the others and we can't help them holed up here."
"Maybe Colonel Carter can look through our data banks and find some possible planets for you?"
Jacob looked up startled at General Hammond. Closing his eyes and bowing his head he then raised his head again and Selmac spoke.
"General Hammond, that is most generous of you. We will take you up on this offer. Maybe then we will be safe for a while."
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Jacob's visit seemed to herald the beginning of a full-scale war. When Jacob was speaking to them, they thought it was something that was only affecting the Tok'ra. But only days afterwards, an uninhabited planet that was being tested for naquada by an SG team was raided. Two were killed and the other two were unable to be found. They found a dead Jaffa who had been in the service of Tolgarth. They had to assume that the missing team members were prisoners of Tolgarth.
Sam found that she didn't have time to keep grieving for Jack, as she was too busy trying to work out Tolgarth's next move. Several friendly planets they had known, had been raided by Tolgarth's Jaffa. The Jaffa hadn't used the Stargate, but had come in ships and attacked from above. The small villages of these planets hadn't had a chance. Sam was furiously sending out different teams to other planets that hadn't been hit yet, trying to get the residents to move to a safer place. Often the teams would arrive and they would be too late, as the towns and villages would be wiped out. Instead of being mainly an exploration team, SG-1 were becoming a clean up the mess team. Everyone at the SGC was tired. General Hammond hadn't been home for several weeks now.
SG-1 were all suited up to go to PX-953. They needed to go to this planet to warn the people who lived there. Sam was pretty sure that the two missing scientists that had been taken by Tolgarth were not aware of this planet, but she still didn't want to take any chances. All the codes had been changed in the computer system. Each team was given a new code when they left, which was changed again the next time they left. They couldn't take any chances.
When they arrived at the village, it was quite calm. People were quietly going about their work and the children were playing outside their homes. Though as soon as the villagers saw SG-1, they dropped what they were doing and rushed forward to meet them. Sam asked to see the village elders.
SG-1 were seated around a table discussing the problem with the elders of the village. Sam was trying to explain the danger that they might be in.
"But Samantha, we are safe. The Goa'uld that you speak of, have never bothered us before and they are not likely to. We have nothing of value to them. We are but a small village."
"I'm sorry, but we believe that you may be in danger. Not because of what you have or are, but because you are known to us. We believe that this Goa'uld will attack you just to get to us. You must pack up your things and move far away from here. The further from the Stargate you are, the better. It will be only for a while, until things calm down. If you would rather, we could find you another planet to move to. There are a number of planets that should be safe."
Just then they heard some shouting coming from outside the building. They heard the whine of death gliders, swooping over the village. There was a great explosion as one of the houses was destroyed by fire, followed by screams from the villagers. Teal'c, Grogan and Jonas quickly moved out of the building. Sam spoke quickly to the village elders.
"You must come quickly. Gather everyone together. We may make it to the Stargate in time. Don't worry about bringing your things, as we will help you settle into your new home."
With that said, Sam followed the rest of SG-1 outside. Teal'c and Grogan were already firing at the death gliders as they dive-bombed the village. Jonas had two crying children, one tucked under each arm. Teal'c was firing his staff weapon at the enemy with excellent results. Sam watched as a death glider whined it's way through the air with smoke billowing out of the fuselage. It then crashed into some trees. Soon most of the villagers had been collected together and they started running towards the Stargate. Teal'c led the group and Sam took up the rear making sure that no stragglers were left behind. They were nearly at the Stargate when a blast hit the group of villagers. It landed right in the middle of them, killing many of them instantly. Sam quickly bent down and lifted an injured toddler up into her arms. He was crying and there was no sign of his parents. When Sam arrived at the Stargate, Teal'c had already dialled it up and had gone through to the SGC to warn them of what was happening. Grogan was trying to hurry the villagers through. The death gliders banked around and started to come around for another strike at the group. Fortunately Sam had just arrived and the last of the villagers had gone through. It just left Jonas, minus the two crying children, which were safely at the SGC, Grogan and herself still carrying the crying boy.
"Come on. Let's go." Sam pushed Grogan through the Stargate, waited until Jonas had gone through and quickly ran through after him.
The SGC was in turmoil, when they arrived. The Gate room was full of shell shocked injured people. Some were crying. Children were calling out for their parents, parents calling out for their children. It was hard to believe that you could fit 50 people in the Gate room, but they seemed to have managed it. Sam didn't envy Janet today; she knew that she would have her work cut out for her.
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Over the next two months, things got worse. The Asgard had now become involved, as the system lords had openly broken the treaty with the Asgard by attacking protected planets. The Asgard certainly had their hands full. The replicators were still causing them trouble, even though not as bad as previously. So the Asgard were stretched very thin. They had the only ships that were large enough to penetrate the hulls of Anubis' ships. Fortunately, Anubis hadn't been generous and shared his technology with the other system lords. So the system lords were still vulnerable to the smaller ships that were available.
Throughout this time, Sam had been working on defence shields for Earth. This had been hard to do. When she wasn't off world with SG-1 or finding new planets for the refugees they would bring back, she was working with her science team on the shields. The Asgard had offered to help her and had sent plans to her. She had found them hard to understand. The technology was way ahead of them, but not impossible to decipher. If only she had more time.
Sam was still having trouble sleeping. The dreams had become more frequent, three or four times a week. Every time she would find Jack, he was being tortured. The previous night the dream was slightly different. When she had looked at her dress, it had been covered in blood. She tried not to think about it, but every so often, like now, the memory would come unbidden flooding her thoughts. Suddenly, she heard the klaxons sounding; there was a breach in the security. Picking up her firearm, she quickly made her way to the Gate room. She could hear the sound of rifles firing and staff weapons discharging. By the time she got there, it was all over. There were dead Jaffa lying on the floor of the gate room and several injured SF's. Janet was bending over someone on the floor. It was Teal'c and he was badly hurt. Quickly, he was whisked off to surgery. Sam seeing that everything was under control, followed behind, wanting to know how Teal'c was. It was four and a half hours before Teal'c came out of surgery. Janet looked tired as she came out to speak to a very worried Sam. Jonas and Grogan were hovering in the background as well.
"He's going to be OK. It was doubtful at the beginning, as his symbiote was injured too. But knowing Teal'c's quick healing, he should be up and around in a few days."
"Can we see him?"
"Yes, but he is still under the influence of the anaesthetic and he will go into Kel'no'reem straight after he wakes up. So you most probably won't be able to speak with him until tomorrow. Don't stay too long."
They moved quietly through to where Teal'c was lying. He was hooked up to machines, so his condition could be monitored. Sam stood back and let Jonas and Grogan go first. After they had gone, she pulled up a chair and sat down. Reaching across, she took Teal'c's hand in her own. She was glad that the others had left as she noticed that her hand was trembling. Leaning forward, Sam whispered to Teal'c.
"Teal'c, I nearly lost you today. You can't do that to me again. We are the only two left with Daniel and Jack gone. I can't lose you too."
She gave Teal'c's hand a quick squeeze. She stood up, quietly left the infirmary and walked towards the elevator.
Fortunately, she hadn't met anyone as she walked down the corridor of the storage area. Opening the door to Storeroom 16, she quietly slipped inside. Sam hadn't been down here since Jack had died. The storage room was a lot more crowded than before. They were waiting for JAG officers to go through his papers and belongings. A lifetime of classified assignments has a way of throwing a wrench into the probate process. So, Sam and Teal'c had rented out Jack's house fully furnished and had packed up his personal items and stored them down here with Daniel's things. Sam ran her hand over a large awkward looking package; the telescope was wrapped up in cloth and plastic to keep it clean. Moving over to the boxes, she started sifting through them looking for a particular box. All of Jack's boxes had O'Neill written on them in her own hand. She found the one she wanted. She had marked it so she would know which one. Opening it, she started to burrow down to the bottom. It was full of his clothes and nearly at the bottom she finally found it. When they had been going through Jack's things, Sam had come across a denim shirt. She had never seen Jack wear it before. She had found it folded up, tucked right at the back of his cupboard. The shirt was identical to the shirt Jack had worn in her dream. Picking it up, she went over to Daniel's couch and sat down holding the shirt closely to her. She started to cry. It had been a long time since she had had a good cry. The last time was when she had opened herself up to her Father. It seemed like such a long time ago.
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~The strong wind whipped through her hair. She shivered as the icy wind blew her dress away from her legs. Sam was cold, very cold. She only had her summer dress on. She was standing in the meadow. All the flowers were just grey dust on the ground. Looking down at her dress, the bloodstains were still there, the only colour in the black and grey dismal landscape. She started to move towards the iron gate. Opening the gate, she carefully walked down the corridor. When she arrived at the cage, she sank down against the wall and tiredly looked through the gap in the bars. When Sam couldn't see him at first, she began to panic. Then she found him. He was curled up in the foetal position on the floor. There were chains fastened around his wrists and ankles. He was just clothed in his black t-shirt and BDU trousers. There were no boots or socks on his grime covered feet. In fact, all of his skin seemed to have a layer of filth from the dirty cell. Sam could see the red colour of his raw wrists and ankles where the shackles had rubbed them. No one else seemed to be in the cell. Shifting quietly, Sam knelt up onto her knees and sat back onto her heels. She noticed that Jack's eyes were open. They seemed to be fixed on her, but they showed no sign of life. She could see he was alive as he was breathing, but his eyes looked dead. Sam's heart began to thump fast with anguish as she sat back down and leant against the wall while she waited. ~
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The beeping of her pager woke her up. Looking down at it, she could see that General Hammond wanted her. With a sad sigh, she got up, re-folded Jack's shirt, placed it neatly back in the box and closed it. She wondered when she would have time to come back here again. Moving quickly she left the room.
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A week later, Sam was in Janet's office. She was talking to her about her nightmares as she was getting to the stage that she was afraid to go to sleep. Since being in the storeroom, she had dreamed that same dream every single night. One night she even dreamt it twice.
"Isn't there anything you can give me for this. A knock out pill, something that will put me so far into a deep sleep, I won't dream?"
"No. I'm sorry, Sam. With counselling we could maybe do something, but it will take time. You should have come to me when they first started, not when they were this bad."
"I thought I could handle them, but now I keep seeing the different scenes over and over. Even when I'm awake."
"You are tired. You need some down time. When was the last time you went home for a rest?"
"When my Dad stayed for a visit."
"Sam! That was nearly four months ago."
"I have been home, but not to stay. Just to see to a few things that's all."
Their conversation was interrupted by the warning klaxon telling everyone that the Stargate was active.
"Sam, are any teams due back?"
"No. Janet, none of the teams are off world at the moment. I've got to go. We'll finish off this conversation later."
Sam ran off towards the gate room. As she arrived, she saw her father and several Tok'ra run down the ramp.
"Close the iris." Jacob barked out towards the control booth.
As the iris closed, Sam walked up to her Dad. She hadn't seen him for a while. He looked tired and he had fresh scratches on his face.
"Boy, that was close. Thanks. Hi, Sam, how are you?"
"I'm fine, Dad. What's going on?"
"Oh, Tolgarth doesn't like us much. He decided that we would make good target practice. Hello, George. Look, I need to speak with you and Sam. I have some good news."
"OK, Jacob, come to the briefing room."
"How long will you stay this time, Dad?"
"Sorry, Sam, only a couple of hours. We made this stop over to talk to you, but then we have to move on. Where are the rest of SG-1? This concerns them too."
"We are here, Jacob. It is good to see you again." Teal'c, Jonas and Grogan sat down with the others at the table. Jacob turned around so he was facing Sam. Looking directly into her eyes, he spoke quietly, but firmly to her.
"Jack is alive."
Sam started to shake her head from side to side in disbelief.
"Sam, it is true. One of the Tok'ra that was taken prisoner escaped. We came across him at the last planet we were on. He was very badly injured, but he asked me to give you a message. He said: 'Jacob, tell your daughter that Tolgarth has O'Neill. I know, because I've seen him.' That is all he said. He died soon after that. I'm sorry, there isn't more information."
"It can't be, Dad. I watched him die and there was a large explosion behind me. It would have obliterated anything that was there."
"The Tok'ra who told me this, would not have lied. I knew him and he knew Jack too. Quick, someone get a glass of water."
Jacob had been watching Sam throughout this conversation. She had become very white and it looked like she was going to pass out any minute. Jonas quickly passed a glass of water to Jacob who in turn gave it to Sam. Sam sipped the water as she slowly let the information sink in. Everyone else seemed to be talking at once, discussing what had happened and what they were going to do about it. Sam reached across the table, pulled a pad of paper towards her and furiously started to sketch something on it. Janet had come into the briefing room now and was joining in the discussion. Sam realised now why Tolgarth had known about all the planets. He must have got them out of Jack. There is no way he could have held out from the effects of the death gun for any length of time, especially with the use of a sarcophagus.
"I know where he is being held." Sam announced and then threw her pad of paper into the centre of the table. Looking at Janet and with enthusiasm, she went on to explain. "When the Colonel and I had the telepathic abilities, we would often share the same dreams or I should say nightmares. For just over three months I have been having the same dream. Until now, I thought it was residue from when Tolgarth held us captive. But now I don't think so. We know from scans that the white mass in my brain had been decreasing over time, but it is still there and I think there may still be a connection between Colonel O'Neill and I. What I have sketched here is the holding cell he is in. I can't remember seeing any doorway in or out and so we will need to take cutting tools with us. There is one very important point. The ground is hard packed earth, not metal flooring, so it must be deep underground. I am certain that it is in Tolgarth's Castle."
Everyone sat in stunned silence. Jacob cringed within himself, realising the pain that Sam must have suffered through all of this time.
With the news delivered, Jacob gave Sam a small smile. "I have to go now. We were warned of an impending attack on a planet where many of our operatives are stationed. We need to go and try to get them out." He paused, quietly addressing the group. "I know that this may be hard for you all to accept, but there is the distinct possibility that the torture Jack has sustained is the source of much of the information that has allowed Tolgarth and the system lords to be so successful in their attacks."
"Yes. Dad, I totally agree with you. The effects of the death gun, used over all this time would be impossible to resist. We will have to assume that anything that the Colonel knows, Tolgarth knows."
Sam left the briefing room with a small amount of hope inside. Not as much as everyone else, as they hadn't seen the state he was in like she had. She wondered if the man she knew would be completely destroyed when they found him. For the first time, she welcomed sleep that night. Maybe she could find out more information, because tomorrow they were going to try and rescue Jack from Tolgarth's castle. Sam was convinced that was where he was being held.
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~Sam found herself standing in the middle of the soot-covered meadow. The black clouds built up overhead and the wind blew the dust off the ground and it swirled all around her. She found this dream hard to control. She wanted to get to Jack's cell quickly, but it seemed to take her ages to get there. After she had closed the iron gate behind her, she cautiously walked down the corridor towards the iron cage. Crouching down outside the bars, she looked in through the square gap. Jack wasn't lying on the ground; he was sitting up against the far wall. His arms were lying across his drawn up knees and his forehead was resting on his arms. "Jack! Jack!" His head shot up and with clear eyes he looked directly into Sam's. "Jack, we're coming to get you. We are going to get you out of here." A look of horror crossed his face. He leaped up. Straining against the chains that held him, he shouted.
"No! Don't! It's a trap."
Sam had been reaching her arm through the gap, trying to touch him, but he was too far away. She only got her arm out in time as a solid metal door came crashing down in front of her. Spinning around, she could hear a distant rumble. She ran as fast as she could through the iron gate. Just as she fell down amongst the ashes of the dead flowers she heard the resounding crash, as another solid metal door came down behind her, blocking off any chance of going back to Jack. ~
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With a start, Sam woke up. She found herself breathing hard, as if she had been running. Remembering the dream, a feeling of anguish passed over her in a wave. Then with determination, she controlled her emotions and started to plan how to rescue Jack from Tolgarth.
To be continued - Part 8 - Trapped
Feedback: Yes please. arrietty39@hotmail.com
Story Notes: Author's Note: This is the seventh part of a nine part series. You need to read the previous parts for this part to make any sense. Thank you so much to my fantastic patient beta readers. DJ, for the hard work. Vicky, for being so thorough and Tricia, for that extra help and encouragement. Any mistakes that are found, blame me.
FEEDBACK: Woohoo, thanks to all the lovely people who have being giving me feedback, it is appreciated so much. Please don't stop though. :)
FEEDBACK: Woohoo, thanks to all the lovely people who have being giving me feedback, it is appreciated so much. Please don't stop though. :)
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 ]