George peered down at Jack, SG-1, and Zhu’s daughter, their condition unchanged. In his head, he replayed every moment of Lt. Graham Simmons’ time at the outpost. From coffee to counsel, the visitor’s actions had fitted the young man to a tee.
If it wasn’t Graham, then who was it?
“I’m not imagining things,” he told Dr. Lee.
“No one’s saying you are, General, but…” Lee shrugged. “I never saw him. I gave you coffee the first couple of times, and then — ”
“Brooks and Gerling. I realize that now.” Beneath the force field, the rise and fall of his people’s chests was the only sign they were still alive. “Is it possible we’ve had an alien visitor?”
Lee’s voice lowered. “Maybe an Ascended Being?”
“If it was, then why the masquerade?”
“Well, this was their equipment.” Lee pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “According to Dr. Jackson’s reports, they were Ancients first, right? Maybe one of them wanted to see what we broke.”
“By impersonating one of our own?” With a sigh, George turned his gaze back toward the force field. “I’d have appreciated the visit if they just gave us the instructions on how to fix this mess.”
The frown on Jack’s unconscious face deepened. He looked downright angry. Moving closer to the hole, George wondered what on Earth was going through his protégé’s head. On the other side of the illuminated platform, Teal’c jerked from side-to-side, his broad chest shuddered once, and then his shoulders sagged.
As he quieted, George felt his own heart slow down in relief.
“General Hammond?” Major Davis called out.
“Report.” George turned his attention away from the force field. The Navy SEALS had packed enough C-4 on the Ancient Weapons chair to blow up the entire installation.
“That’s the last charge, sir.” Davis beckoned Colonel Ferguson over. “Two Bell 212s are waiting topside to evacuate the last personnel over to Marble Point and then, McMurdo.”
Ferguson hurried over and snapped to attention. He’d pretty much clammed up since his arrival. No surprise. The Ancient chair and the sight of SG-1 under that force field was enough to make anyone do the same. “At ease, son.” George glanced over at the archway where Ambassadors Zhu and Duebel stood, each lost in their own thoughts. “How many can fit on one of those choppers?”
Ferguson slid a look toward Davis. Either the outpost spooked him or something else was going on.
Davis gave him a nod. “Colonel, how many?”
Ferguson returned his attention to George. “I can squeeze a good fifteen in, General, if there’s no equipment to carry.”
“That’ll do it.” He indicated the ambassadors. “Get them out of here. Leave me one chopper, but the remaining personnel should go now, including the SEALS and — ”
“If you’re staying,” Dr. Lee chimed in from his computer, “I’d like to do so, too, General. There’s still a good thirteen hours left. Who knows? Maybe that Ascended Being will come back, or I’ll have a breakthrough with the device before we lose the western hemisphere.” He smiled feebly, but George appreciated the sentiment.
And the reminder of what was at stake.
“Sir?” Davis turned to face him. “Permission to stay as well. I’d like to help, if you’ll have me.”
“Happily, Major.”
An appreciative whistle came out of Ferguson’s mouth. He stuck a hand out toward the major. “You’re serious as a heart attack. You know that, right?”
“Never more serious.” Davis shook his hand with a smile.
George watched on as the two slapped each other’s backs, fully aware of the difficulties the major had faced in dealing with the more ‘by-the-book’ colonel. Camaraderie came in all colors. Sometimes, they mixed. Sometimes, they clashed. Somehow, Davis had managed to persevere, do what was right, and win Ferguson’s respect in the process.
With a final slap to the major’s back, Ferguson stepped back and saluted George. “I was wrong, General. I thought all Davis did was tinker with budgets so those SG teams — What I mean to say is…” He dropped his hand. “True fact, sir. We never would’ve gotten those birds out of the ice if it wasn’t for the major’s smarts.”
“Dismissed, Colonel. And thank you.” George returned the salute. Ferguson gave Davis a nod and ran out.
No doubt about it, Davis was long overdue for a promotion.
Lieutenants Brooks and Gerling hurried in. George had sent them on what now seemed to have been a wild goose chase — searching for a ‘back door’ into the chamber below.
“Find anything?”
The airmen’s matched frowns told him everything.
“All right. It was worth a try.” He rubbed his eyes, contemplating how he’d manage to stay awake in the hours to come. Simmons’ coffee would’ve come in handy right about now.
So would an explanation as to who — or what — had impersonated the lieutenant.
Gerling handed him a slip of paper. “This came in over the wire from McMurdo, sir.”
George read the hurriedly scribbled note out loud. “Capetown, South Africa. 6.3 Richter along Antarctic Intercontinental plate. Emanating inland from shore. Aftershocks ongoing.”
“We didn’t feel anything, sir,” said Brooks.
“That’s Ancient technology for you.” Lee took the note and scanned it. “South Africa’s thousands of miles away. If the device has that sort of reach, Europe can’t be far behind.”
In other words, it was time to move on to phase two. George turned back toward the airmen and ordered, “Assist Ferguson in escorting everyone topside.”
Brooks dashed out, but Gerling stayed at attention. “Sir? Brooks and I would like to stay, too. I’m qualified to fly a Bell 212 chopper. General O’Neill deserves all the help we can give him, sir.”
George sized the young woman up. “Permission granted. First escort our diplomats to the surface and then report back.”
Gerling spun on her heels and strode over to the ambassadors. She spoke softly, presumably telling them, far more nicely than George, that they needed to get the hell out.
Duebel got the message, following Gerling out of the chamber. Zhu, on the other hand, stayed stock-still.
George girded himself for the inevitable confrontation. Of course she wouldn’t want to leave her daughter — no parent in their right mind would.
He skirted the hole and approached her. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but there isn’t anything more you can do here except jeopardize your own safety.”
Tears welled in Zhu’s eyes. “She is my child. Any hope — ”
“We won’t stop trying until the very end. I promise.” He nodded toward Gerling.
“This way, ma’am.” The airman took Zhu’s elbow.
George headed over to the SEALS as they packed up their kits. “You won’t have room for those. Leave them here.”
They exchanged glances, each as freckle-faced and wide-eyed as a pair of kids and George suddenly felt his age. It was high time he retired and he knew it. If Jack made it out of this alive —
“General Hammond?” The taller of the two SEALS —Lieutenant Kalsner — pulled a palm-sized green metal box from his parka’s inner pocket. “Major Davis said we should leave the remote trigger with you. We set it to blow twelve hours from now. All you need to do is start the timer.”
“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 bare-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!”
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.
“Excuse me, but,” Lee waved toward the floor and ceiling, “there’s no silver here.”
“General Hammond?” Brooks raised his hand.
“Go ahead, Airman.”
“Sir, when Gerling and I crawled through some of the outer hallways of this place, we did see some metallic carvings in the walls.” Brooks shrugged. “We thought they were decorative.”
“That’s a problem, sir.” Sam exchanged glances with Jack. “Silver works as a thermal-electrical conductor. If there’s any circuitry left in the crystal, it’ll super-charge whatever power’s left and — ”
“Rip the planet to shreds?”
“Huang must accompany you, O’Neill,” said Skaara. “You must take him through the Stargate to Kunlun. Now.”
“Even if I agreed to Huang’s participation,” said General Hammond, “there isn’t enough time. Huang is in Beijing, the Stargate’s in Colorado, and we’re in Antarctica. I’m sorry, but we need to evacuate and go through with our original plan.”
“Blowing up the outpost,” Daniel mumbled, devastated at what the loss signified for Earth.
“Sir, wait!” Sam ran over to the hole. “Major Davis, are the F-302s still over at Observation Hill?”
Paul climbed halfway up the ladder. “Actually, Colonel, they’re over at Marble Point. That’s only a ten-minute chopper ride from here. Oh, wait!”
He scrambled off the ladder, landing on the outpost floor with a thud. “Use the 302s for hyperspace jumps! Hop over to Beijing, then — ”
“Jumping in and around Antarctica is one thing,” Hammond said, “but you can’t go jumping in and out of populated areas with top secret equipment.”
“But they could fly in,” Sam said. “If final approach was handled at normal speeds.”
“Carter, what do you have in mind?” Jack said.
“The 302s are capable of Mach 6, easily.” Sam headed toward Robert’s computer and tapped furiously on the keyboard. “There are two, right?”
Paul nodded. “I doubt Colonel Ferguson moved them back.”
“You better hope you’re right.”
Another airman came in, holding a gurney. He went over to the hole and handed it down as Teal’c climbed up. He saw Skaara and bowed, surprisingly unconcerned.
“What will they do with Weiyan Shi?” he asked.
Daniel sighed. “I suppose they’ll medi-vac her, maybe — ”
“You must tell them to stop,” Skaara said.
“I can’t do that. What if there’s a way to — ”
“Daniel…” Skaara’s brow furrowed, his eyes stern. “Her journey’s end begins here. Tell them to stop.”
A cold breeze blew across the back of Daniel’s neck. He shuddered, remembering.
Please, Jack. Tell Jacob to stop.
“You’re going to help her ascend,” Daniel realized aloud.
Skaara nodded. “She deserves no less.”
“I concur,” Teal’c intoned. “If there are no objections, I will inform the airmen.”
No one said a word. How could they? Death was one thing. What Skaara offered Weiyan?
General Hammond broke the silence. “Let them know, Teal’c.”
Their Jaffa teammate hurried over to the hole and relayed Hammond’s orders. Though Daniel couldn’t see her, he didn’t hear Zhu object.
“Generals,” Sam announced from the computer, “I think this will work if General Hammond can get permission for a 302 to enter China’s airspace.”
“Easier said than done, Colonel.”
Sam looked up from the screen. “Sir, their government already knows about the fighter-interceptors and the truth is — ”
“Their butts are at risk as much ours.” Jack scowled. “I get it, Carter. Do the math.”
“Beijing has a military airstrip just outside the city. They’re about 7,300 miles from here. At Mach 6, that’ll take a bit less than two hours from Marble Point. I can fly out there, grab Huang while you take the other 302 and head directly for Petersen. I can meet you back at the SGC in,” she ran another series of keystrokes, “another two hours. The trip from Beijing to Petersen is about 7,500 miles.”
Jack folded his arms. “That leaves ten hours to go through the gate, grab the crystal, hop back in the 302s and fly back here before a whole bunch of C-4 goes off. What time is sunrise?”
“A little after twelve-noon,” Lee said.
“Piece of cake except for one small change.” Jack turned toward General Hammond. “Sir, I’d like to be the one to get Huang. I think I owe that much to his kid.”
Hammond glanced over at the hole. “If you’re willing to try it, then yes. There’s a chopper waiting topside. I’ll call the President and make arrangements.”
With a nod toward Skaara, he headed toward the exit. “It’s gonna be one heck of a phone call.”
“Uh, General Hammond?” Jack raced after him. “Since we’re short on time, can we request that Huang be waiting at the airstrip? I’m not exactly keen on the idea of going into a prison to sign him out.”
“Sam said it was a psychiatric hospital,” Daniel pointed out.
Jack’s eyes darkened. “Same difference when it comes to the Chinese. Trust me.”
“O’Neill,” Teal’c said. “As there are only two seats on each Interceptor, I will remain here.” Without waiting for an answer, he climbed back down.
Jack shared a look with Daniel, who could only shrug.
“Allow Teal’c this action, O’Neill,” Skaara offered. “Daniel’s path is with you and Colonel Carter.”
“You’ll take care of her after,” Jack said. “Right?”
“Of course.”
“And you’ll take care of yourself? No more sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong?”
Skaara grinned, reminding Daniel of how young he’d been before his untimely death.
“Daniel. O’Neill.” Those soft Ls again.
Daniel’s chest ached, thinking back on everything he’d lost in the fight against the Goa’uld. Skaara. Kasuf. Sha’re.
Skaara met his gaze, his grin softening into a knowing smile. “So much lies ahead for you both. Find peace in your work, Daniel. Find peace in your life, O’Neill. Let go of the past and live for the future.”
With that, Skaara faded away.
Daniel stared into the space where he’d been, wishing Skaara could have stayed longer. There were so many questions needing answers. Why had Oma sent him? How was Sha’re’s son, Shifu?
Why had he turned his back on ascension?
“Daniel?”
“Yeah, Jack.”
“Let’s go save the world.”
Teal’c sank down on the platform, eyeing the surrounding force field. Ambassador Zhu sat across, focused on her child. A blanket had been draped below the charred crystal protruding from Weiyan Shi’s belly, covering her legs against the biting cold of the outpost.
While Teal’c’s heart was glad that he and his team had wrested free of the platform’s grip, Weiyan Shi was not as fortunate.
Was it ill fate, he wondered, or should he consider the path she would soon encounter to be fortunate?
“I have read Stargate Command’s files concerning Dr. Jackson’s ascension,” Zhu whispered. “Will my daughter…? Will she — ?”
The woman broke down in a fit of tears. Teal’c waited patiently, knowing that the ambassador must summon the strength on her own to face what would happen next.
When her sobs subsided, Teal’c explained what he knew of both the legend, and the reality, of ascension. “Before learning the truth, I knew only of the tale told amongst my people.”
Zhu returned to stroking her daughter’s sweat-plastered hair. “If my former husband’s origins are to be believed, all legends begin in truth. Tell me of the Jaffa’s beliefs.”
Teal’c bowed his head in assent. “When a Jaffa could no longer carry a prim’tah, they would make their journey to Kheb. There the Ko’lak would learn the path through the darkness, into the next life.”
“I have read your file as well, Teal’c. If you no longer carry a symbiote, you cannot follow the ways of your people.”
“On the contrary, Ambassador Zhu. When SG-1 first visited Kheb, an ascended being told my friend and mentor that only by losing our symbiotes would the path to ascension ever be possible.”
“The tretonin.” Zhu grunted. “Thanks to alliances made through Earth’s Stargate, you might one day achieve what my daughter must now embrace.”
Someone coughed from above. Major Davis appeared at the hole’s edge.
“The F-302s are in the air,” he reported. “Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson are on their way to Petersen. General O’Neill’s on track to land in Beijing in about 90 minutes.”
“He will see my father,” Weiyan Shi whispered. “Please, tell General O’Neill — ”
A thunderous rumble shook beneath them. Another quake. Snow and ice tumbled down from the ceiling and though Teal’c did his best to shield Weiyan Shi, several small chunks of ice smashed against her legs. As the shaking subsided, he took note of the fact that her wound had cauterized around the crystal. Nonetheless, the pain would be significant and yet, she made no complaints. He was not certain whether this was a sign of bravery or the possibility that she could not feel her body.
In either case, Teal’c knew that the tremors would not stop. Not until O’Neill had returned with the crystal from Kunlun and shut down the device. A pang of guilt washed over him and he wondered once more at the possible hand he’d had in their current fate.
No. There was no way to truly know. What mattered now was Earth’s future. He must face the present and do what was needed.
Weiyan’s ravaged features told him how he must proceed. He stood up. “Major Davis?”
The major appeared again by the ladder. “What do you need, Teal’c?”
“An injection to blunt Weiyan Shi’s pain. And another blanket.”
A moment later, Major Davis returned and handed him a syringe and a plastic-wrapped blanket. Teal’c administered the shot to Weiyan’s arm. He then tore the plastic off the blanket and shook it free.
Major Davis took the discarded plastic. “You’ve seen ascension happen twice, haven’t you?”
“I have. First when Daniel Jackson departed, and then Skaara. The event is,” he glanced down at Ambassador Zhu and frowned, “disquieting, but significant.”
Balling up the plastic, Major Davis then glanced over his shoulder. “Airmen, withdraw to the outside chamber.”
Muffled sounds of acknowledgement reached Teal’c’s ears. He thanked Major Davis and unfurled the wool blanket and spread it over Weiyan’s shoulders. She whimpered.
When Ambassador Zhu made no move to attend to Weiyan Shi, Teal’c slid over and cradled her head in his lap. “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten, Weiyan Shi.”
She opened her eyes. “Please hold me.”
“I will stay with you as long as you like.” Ambassador Zhu crawled around the crystal and joined them at the platform’s edge.
“Mother,” Weiyan Shi cried out. “I am sorry I failed you.”
“You have failed no one, child.”
A gasp escaped Weiyan Shi and she squeezed her eyes shut.
Teal’c had seen and felt much physical pain in his hundred and six years of age, and yet watching Weiyan Shi, watching this young woman barely out of childhood, unsettled him greatly.
In her weakened state, her groans had become barely whispers. He knew she would not ascend until she was truly ready to do so, but surely, there must be something he could do to ease her final moments. Something beyond Tau’ri painkillers.
He began to sing. “Kel ma kree. Sha’shan. Kel na t’ai. Or’intani. Kel han’dai.”
Weiyan Shi’s eyes fluttered open. “A song for Jaffa?”
“Indeed. My wife Drey’auc would sing this to our son Rya’c when he was very young.”
“Rya’c.” Pain shadowed across her face and she paused until it passed. “Will you see him soon?”
“When the time allows, yes.” Rya’c had joined Master Bra’tac in assisting Ishta and the Hak’tyl women Jaffa in coordinating Fifth Column efforts. It had been many weeks since father and son had met. Teal’c silently promised to visit soon.
“Is he a warrior?” Weiyan Shi asked. “Like you?”
“Youth still has him in its grip, but yes, Rya’c is and shall always be a warrior.” He gazed down upon her worried brow. “Just as you shall always be, Weiyan Shi.”
With that, the pain left her and she fell asleep.
“This ascension,” Ambassador Zhu whispered, “is it possible that my daughter might still exist, once she has died?”
“Believe it.” Teal’c glanced at her. “You must. She sacrificed herself so that we might save your planet. That sacrifice must be remembered, not denied.”
Ambassador Zhu brushed a wisp of hair from her daughter’s forehead. “I will not dishonor her memory.” She returned Teal’c’s gaze. “Nor do I any longer believe that others who have served the program are fools.”
“You remember our discussion.”
“How can I forget your ardent speech about duty and honor?” She turned her gaze upwards toward the Ancient Weapons Chair. “Upon my return to China, I will devote my energies to convincing the upper leadership of the need to leave the chair here in Antarctica. Under the care of those who serve so that Earth may be protected.”
“You honor your child’s death,” he said, relieved that some good would come of this day.
“What I wish to do, Teal’c, is honor her life.”