More Than Hopeless
"Come on, baby, ssh, please stop crying," Jack pleaded with the toddler in his arms. His pleads were drowned out by his daughter's cries and she continued to get hotter and redder with each wail. He had no idea how to calm her as he had already tried everything at his disposal. Never had he felt so completely useless in his role as a father, but the little girl knew that there was a problem. Sam had joked that the only reason she had worked so hard to find Jack after he had 'disappeared' with Maybourne to a paradise moon was to calm their daughter. Daniella knew that Jack was not calm and that her mother should be around. Jack continued trying to calm her even though he knew deep down that the only thing she wanted was her mother.
"I'll take her, Jack," Janet Fraiser said and Jack relinquished his daughter immediately. He knew that his own level of stress was not helping matters and that anyone other than he would do a better job of calming her.
It had been over a week since SG-1's mission to P6X 2AE and the capture of Sam by Osiris. With Daniel, Teal'c and Lieutenant Carpenter, Jack had left P6X to return to Earth and get re-enforcements. Unfortunately they had no leads and General Hammond had hesitated in allowing any teams back to P6X. That had not stopped Jack from shouting at General Hammond that he should be allowed to go through the Stargate. It had been Daniel that had calmed him down, telling him that Teal'c would go with the other SG teams to see if there were any clues on P6X and it had been Carpenter who had reminded him that his daughter needed him. Jack had watched, helplessly, from the Briefing room with Daniel as two SG teams, Teal'c and Carpenter had returned to P6X. Jack refused to leave the base as he wanted to be ready should he be needed. Daniel had tried to convince him to go home; to shower and change, maybe see his daughter. Jack had told Daniel to bring Daniella to the base which he had done.
Jack was glad that he had Daniella near him, in his quarters on base, because he needed to have a part of Sam close by, but he knew that it was not the best place for her. If the toddler were at home she would be in her normal environment which Jack did not doubt would comfort her. She would also have her live-in Nanny, Sasha, who was the only true constant in the girl’s life. Sam had never been away from her daughter for this long, Jack knew, just as he knew that Daniella also knew. In that respect, Jack wished that Daniella was at home with Sasha and that he was off world doing something. Not that any member of the SGC were off world searching for Sam anymore as there simply were no leads to go on and Sam was now the proverbial needle in the universe sized haystack. They had put out feelers to their contacts with the Tok'ra and Jaffa resistance. Jack knew that as soon as Jacob heard of Sam's capture, he would be here. There was not much else that they could do as they had no idea where Osiris was or what she was planning.
Just as Jack realised that Daniella had ceased crying, the alert system activated. "Off world activation!" Jack turned to Janet and Cassie who were sitting on the floor playing with Daniella and some toys. Janet nodded at him and he smiled his thanks as he ran from the room towards the control room. He ran up the stairs leading straight into the control room and came to a stop directly in front of the window. He was acutely aware of SG-1, Hammond and some technicians nearby, but all that he could concentrate on was the active Stargate.
"Receiving Tok'ra IDC."
Jack watched intently as the iris opened. He had never been a patient man and it seemed that in the past week he had lost more and more of what little patience he had. Finding time slowing as no one actually stepped through the 'gate, all Jack could do was guess at why the Tok'ra were visiting and who it would be travelling in their group. He hoped that it was Jacob arriving with the full force of the Tok'ra intelligence to help locate and rescue his daughter. Or he hoped that Jacob had already rescued Sam and they were both going to walk through the shimmering blue in a moment. Jack was happily considering any possibility, no matter how ridiculous. He would entertain any thought in his mind just to make this situation seem a little less hopeless.
He released his held breath when two figures finally emerged from the Stargate - Jacob Carter/Selmak and Anise/Freya. The Stargate disengaged behind them and they both silently walked down the ramp. The pair soon arrived in the control room.
"Jacob," Hammond greeted with a polite smile.
"George, I came as soon as Anise found me." He paused slightly ominously. "Where's my daughter, George?" Last Jack had known, the Tok’ra had given Jacob a few weeks of downtime after a series of long undercover missions, but he had returned to another classic Tok’ra operation; he was surprised that the human-Tok’ra had been found so quickly.
"She was on P6X 2AE," Hammond explained. Jack was sure that Jacob must already be aware of what happened and that he just wanted to hear it from the source. "When Osiris attacked."
"Well, who was with her?" Jacob demanded.
"All of SG-1."
Jacob turned towards Jack, almost ignoring the other members of SG-1. "What happened?"
"Osiris turned up and took her saying something about a plan. What do you know?"
"How could you let her be taken?" Jacob shouted.
"It was just she and I there when it happened," Jack explained in an aggravated tone. He wanted to know what information Jacob had brought with him because surely he must know something.
"And you had no weapons?"
"It all happened too quickly. Osiris appeared out of nowhere and Sam was down before I even knew about it. Osiris said it had plans for Sam and that it might spare me. She knocked me out with the damn hand device and fled before I could do anything or request back-up. I think it used Asgard beaming technology." Jack admitted, but he was not about to admit to Sam's father that they had been in the process of arguing and that Sam had 'gated to the planet without authorisation and without a full weapons complement. He considered himself grateful that General Hammond had not mentioned that element of the story since Sam had been taken.
"So you just let Osiris take her?" Jacob demanded, his voice still had a harsh tone, but his shout was not quite as loud as it had been.
"This is not my fault and don't dare try and pin the blame on me. I've been trying to do something for the past week. Where have you been? Not here helping look for your daughter."
"And what good has being here done?" Jacob asked. "At least I've been out there trying to find information. What have you managed to find out?"
"I've been here," Jack snarled, "looking after my daughter, your grand-daughter, so don't question what I've been doing."
"Oh, I can question what you've been doing if I choose to and I'd like to question your actions for the past three years."
"Gentlemen," Anise interjected, "we do have some news." Everyone turned to look at Anise, except for Jacob who kept his eyes on Jack.
"If I find out you did anything wrong," he warned before copying everyone else and turning to Anise.
"Colonel O'Neill, you said that Osiris knew of SG-1's mission to P6X 2AE and that she was expecting Major Carter?"
"Uh-huh," Jack nodded, glancing briefly at Jacob. Now was not the right time for him to admit that Osiris had originally been upset at thinking Sam was not there. It had originally been Sam’s command, until Carpenter had requested to remain on base working and, as a one off, Hammond had agreed to let Jack and Sam on the mission. When Jack had decided that he wanted to try and alter his relationship with Sam, he had covertly kicked her off the mission and then requested Carpenter personally.
"We believe that Osiris had this information due to a member of the SGC telling her."
"What, like a spy?" Daniel asked.
Anise shook her head because things were never that simple. "We believe someone here may be a Zatarc."
SG – SG – SG
Story Notes: Set after 7.03 Fragile Balance and a few weeks after the final chapter of More Than Mini. This series of stories now exists in an AU spinning off after Entity. 5th in the More Than series and one week after MT4. Contains a flashback and slight re-write of “Metamorphosis”.
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 ]