Chapter 8
"Chevron two, encoded," came Carter's voice over the PA. Unable to take a more active roll in the mission, she had insisted that Simmons move over and allow her to activate the gate for her team.
Jack stood at the bottom of the ramp, in full kit and flanked by Teal'c and Jacob Carter, ready to go off and save some Tok'ra operative who had skillfully managed to get herself captured. Christ, with his luck, it would be Anise.
"Chevron three, encoded."
The briefing had been surprisingly… brief. Jacob had been unusually forthcoming with the information he had and Jack was actually feeling quite confident… if not for that sinking feeling that he was missing something.
"Chevron four, encoded."
Jack glanced over at Teal'c, who seemed lost in thought. He began going over the mission again in his own head, following his friend's example, when the blast doors opened, distracting him momentarily. In walked a panting Sgt. Siler carrying a Zat.
"Chevron five, encoded."
"Sir! I'm glad I caught you! The Armory Officer on duty stopped me and told me to get down here right away. He was double checking his logs and thinks he may have given you a defective Zat. He wanted me to give you a new one, just in case, sir." Siler handed Jack the new weapon, who took it cautiously, examining it.
"How can he even tell which one's which?" Jack asked, preparing to relinquish the old one.
"Chevron six, encoded."
Siler shrugged and held out his hand. "Ours is not to question why, sir. God only knows."
Jack smirked and handed over the old Zat before holstering the new one. "Thanks Sergeant. Appreciate the effort."
Siler nodded and made a hasty retreat as the seventh chevron ka-chunked into place.
"Chevron seven, locked. Wormhole engaged," Carter said, as the event horizon plumed out toward the three waiting men before settling back into the familiar blue pool.
"SG1, you have a go. We'll expect you back within twenty-four hours," General Hammond said over the PA. Jack turned around and glanced up into the control room, giving Carter a casual salute. She smiled and leaned toward the microphone.
"Good luck, sir. Come back safe, guys," she said. Jack turned back toward the event horizon and gestured for his companions to start up the ramp.
His last thought before passing through was, *Am I imagining things, or did that gate just flicker?*
* * * *
Carter gasped quietly, blinking hard. Had she really just seen what she thought she had seen? Well, if she had really seen something, then the guys would *definitely* have seen it, and the Colonel surely would have aborted, or stepped back, or *something*. It was probably just her imagination. Nerves. She was just a little apprehensive, that was all. Instead of feeling sick to her stomach or getting all itchy, she was just experiencing mild hallucinations. The gate *so* did *not* just flicker. Hallucinations. Yeah, that was it. She probably just needed to get some sleep.
"Major? You okay, Ma'am?" The sound of Lieutenant Simmons' voice snapped her back to reality in an instant, her recollection of that… anomaly with the gate suddenly becoming a vague, dreamed memory. It had never happened.
"Want your seat back so soon, Lieutenant?" She smiled as best she could, trying very hard to make it look sincere, as she pushed her chair away from the console and slowly stood. She ignored whatever response the Lieutenant had made, opting instead to high-tail it out of the control room.
They were gone. Her friends. Her family. They had abandoned her, and suddenly, her conversation with the Colonel a few hours earlier began to fade into the background of her memory. It tried to fade, anyway, but she held onto it. Grasped his promise to return for dear life. It was all she had left, right then. That, and the 'assignment' the Colonel had given her.
A shiver ran down her spine as she contemplated just how *alone* she was. The people she passed on her way to her lab didn't feel real anymore… like ghosts, or shadows. They nodded and spoke to her, but she didn't respond. Why should she talk to someone that wasn't really there? Why did everything suddenly feel so different?
Lost in thought, she turned a corner. Suddenly, there was a strong hand over her mouth and an arm across her collarbone. Instincts kicking in, she struggled as her attacker pulled her into an open supply closet.
* * * *
Jack, Teal'c, and Jacob had entered the wormhole with their weapons drawn, ready for an ambush upon exiting on the other side. The second he emerged from the event horizon on P9H-742, Jack's attention focused on combing his surroundings for threats. Carter's analysis of the area surrounding the gate had been right on. And, for once, Jack felt prepared.
After a quick recon of the area, Jack gave the all-clear and Jacob gestured for the group to get moving… in the exact *opposite* direction of the village. Jack looked at him for a moment, puzzled.
"Uh, Jacob?"
"Yes, Jack," the older man replied, making a concerted effort to sound annoyed. That struck Jack as a little odd. Jacob had never had to try to be annoyed with Jack before. It usually just came so naturally. Jack tried to shrug it off. He must be getting paranoid in his old age.
"Isn't the village *that* way?" Jack said, pointing to where Carter had shown the route to be.
"Now, why would we be going to the village?" Jacob put his hands on his hips and spoke in that 'I'm the Dad, so I know better' voice that drove Jack nuts. He couldn't imagine how Carter could have put up with it all her life.
Jack was taken aback by the innocent sounding question and threw a sideways glance at Teal'c, who predictably raised an eyebrow in response. Jack was confused.
"Well, maybe because that's where you said that Tok'ra of yours would be, before we left."
"I never said anything of the sort. There's a network of caves *this* way, where I think she's probably hiding." Jacob pointed toward the southwest and the really icky looking terrain that Carter said they would be able to avoid, going to the village.
Jack's stomach did a 180. One of the Carters was lying to him. He turned to Teal'c, well aware of the fact that Jacob was mentally tapping his foot in impatience.
"Teal'c, what did *you* hear?" Teal'c thought for a moment, as though sifting through a vast amount of information in his brain.
"I do not recall being given that specific information, O'Neill. You mentioned that it had been given to you, and I did not feel it necessary to pursue the topic further. I am sorry."
Jack winced at his response. Damn. He usually told Teal'c everything. Why would it have slipped his mind this time? And why would Teal'c not think that that information wasn't pursuit-worthy? The funny feeling like he was missing something was slowly becoming more and more pronounced as Jack's recollection of the day's events and conversations started to fuzz ever so slightly. Just enough for him to be a little unsure about what he really knew. An unsure mission commander was not a good thing.
Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair out of frustration. "Fine. We'll go that way and then we can make camp in the cave network tonight. Jacob, take point."
Jacob nodded his assent and the group moved out in the waning light.
* * * *
Leske couldn't stand it anymore. The two women were sitting in Janet's office for what seemed like hours, the doctor pouring over the records in front of her, occasionally raising a question for Leske to answer, otherwise ignoring her.
Leske's body was physically exhausted, but her mind would not quiet long enough for her to relax. She couldn't help thinking about Daniel in the next room, his need to save his friends. Thinking about his friends on her world, not even aware of what Daniel was going through for them.
"Leske. Leske!" Dr. Fraiser called impatiently. Dr. Fraiser looked at the other woman in concern. The doctor rapped on her desk to get Leske's attention.
Leske jumped turning to Dr. Fraiser apologetically. "Sorry…"
"Leske, we don't have time for your daydreaming. Stay with me here." Sliding the file across to where Leske was sitting she asked, "Those numbers next to the ID number of the neurofilter…what are they?"
"The codes…ohmygod the codes. We can use…" Excitement to frustration flashed through Leske's eyes in seconds.
"What codes, Leske?"
"We can't use them. It's won't make a difference." Leske was berating herself for being so stupid and not taking with her an NfDaD. Lowering her face into her cupped hands, her shoulders shook with quiet sobs. She had thought of the medical records, the iris codes, and everything else… but *that*. The hand-held device they needed was sitting right on Dr. Fraiser's desk on her world.
Janet's persistent voice was beginning to penetrate Leske's haze of self pity. Leske raised her head, wiping tears with the back of hand. Swallowing, she realized she was going to have to explain to this woman, how her incompetence was going to possibly kill Daniel.
"On my planet, we don't use…nerolo… doctors to remove the filters. We use a device called a Neurofilter Deactivating Device or DaD for short. The codes you see next to the ID number in Daniel's medical file are the codes to deactivate his neurofilter. When every filter is implanted, the codes are set by the unit that implants the filters."
"Leske, do doctors insert the neurofilters?"
Leske glanced at the doctor, a look of confusion on her face "Like operate? Open the skull and place the filter in place? NO. Even we would not be that inhumane." Confusion changing to disgust on Leske's face.
Softly Janet asked her, "How did you think I was going to remove it, Leske? I was going to do brain surgery. That is what a neurosurgeon does."
"To remove a filter, you would cut into Daniel's skull? How can you be so barbaric?"
Throwing up her hands in frustration. Janet was practically screaming at her. "How the hell do you *expect* me to go and get it, Leske? Give me an answ…" Janet paused her eyes widening with understanding. "Leske, the codes deactiviate the device, correct?"
"Yes, but we don't have a DaD…"
"These neurofilters run on an emitting a small EM field."
"Yes…"
"What happens to the devices when they are deactivated?"
"To my knowledge, they become absorbed into the body. I'd expect there to be some headaches and dizziness until the unit is completely absorbed."
Headaches and dizziness were a much more doable side effect than recovering from brain surgery and then attempting gate travel to a hostile, alien world. Janet knew that Hammond was eventually going to acquiesce to Daniel's demands, but never if he was going to have brain surgery. Daniel would never recover properly knowing his inactivity was causing his friends further distress…it would become a Catch 22.
Taking a deep breath she asked, "Do you think we could build a DaD with the schematics and your knowledge of the EM transmission and match the codes?" Janet didn't wait for an answer as she paged Sgt. Siler to her office.
* * * *
Janet took the printout from Daniel's most recent EEG, anxiety evident on her face as she reviewed the results. Rolling the paper up and placing it in her lab coat pocket, Janet walked over the infirmary bed that Daniel as lying in. Checking the pulse ox meter, mentally recording his heart rate and respiration from the various monitors surrounding the bedside, confirming what she already knew. "Fight this Daniel. Goddamn it, this time *we* can't do it without you". She gripped his hand and tickled his palm, hoping for any type of response. Nothing. Time was running out.
Janet ran down the hall to Sam's lab. Amazingly, Hammond had fought to keep Daniel's and Sam's offices intact as onsite research areas, so this was the best equipped place for Leske and Sgt. Siler to perform their miracles.
Janet ran into the room. "Is it ready? It needs to be ready, like *now*."
Leske turned around to face Janet. "Why? We should have more time than this. It couldn't have been more than 48 hours. The filters will stay intact longer than that before they self destruct."
"Well obviously, human physiology may be a little different than yours. Because in about 8 hours, that piece of equipment that *your* world placed in *my* friend's head is going to self destruct. " Glancing at her watch Fraiser continued, "And guess what, that's about 10 hours off your 48 hour mark. So the next words I better hear out of your mouths is that the DaD is ready now and it is going to work."
Siler and Leske answered simulteneously, "It's ready." 'As for working, that's another story,' thought Leske nervously, as she took the bastardized DaD off the lab table and handed it to Janet.
"This is it?" Janet asked incredulously, gazing down at what looked like an oral temperature wand and key pad base.
"That's it, Dr. Fraiser. You see it works like…"
"Not now, Sergeant. You can explain it to me when Dr. Jackson is up and around."
A few minutes later, Janet and Leske were standing over Daniel's bedside. "Would you mind very much if I did this Janet? I just feel the need to make things right here."
Janet wanted to rip the device out of her hands and deactivate the device in Daniel's head herself. She didn't trust her…didn't trust any of this idea. Instead, she begrudgingly handed the device to Leske.
"I will take the keypad and punch in the codes that were in Daniel's medical records." Tilting the device towards Janet, Leske continued her explanation. "The numbers will start to blink until each one is found and deactivated. When deactivated, they will revert back to a '0' in its place."
"Hold it…this seems too easy," Janet commented. Nothing with Daniel was ever this easy.
"Well…you have a time constraint in finding the numbers."
"Knew it. Knew it was something…how long?…20…30 minutes?" Fraiser asked, her patience drawn tightly.
"Five minutes," Leske mumbled.
"FIVE MINUTES?…oh, pray tell what happens if you can't deactivate it in the five minutes…wait…it self destructs, then."
"Right," Leske whispered, ashamed.
Janet hated this. Hated relinquishing the care of her patient to another…one that she didn't even trust, never mind she was an alien and had abducted her friends for twelve months and one friend was lying here…… "Leske, just do it."
Leske punched in the six numbers she found in Daniel's folder. Positioning the wand in the center of his forehead…one number locked…..two numbers locked….three numbers locked…fourth number…the fourth number wouldn't lock and Leske looked at Dr. Fraiser with a panicked look in her eyes. "I can't get the 4th number to lock."
At that precise moment Daniel's monitors started to go crazy. "Leske," Fraiser shouted…"DON'T' YOU DARE QUIT ON ME NOW! God, he's crashing! Finish what you started…!"
Leske closed her eyes and placed the wand over Daniel's forehead. Concentrating, she heard the beep signifying that the fourth number had locked and returned to the '0' position. Fifth number locked…Sixth number locked. Leske and Dr. Fraiser breathed a collective sigh of relief. The monitors returned to normal and a low moan brought their attention back to the figure in the bed.
"Daniel. How you feeling?" Dr. Fraiser asked, clicking on her penlight.
"Shine that penlight in my eyes, and I will barf all over your labcoat and shoes."
"I'll give you something for the nausea and…."
"Headache…bad headache." Daniel attempted to sit up, ripping off the electrodes in the process. "Gotta talk to the General about getting the devices from Area 51. .."
"Dr. Jackson, you're not going anywhere for awhile," General Hammond said, upon entering the infirmary.
"General Hammond, I need to get the devices from…" Daniel replied, rubbing the front of his head. "…from Area … Shit Janet, what is that?" he asked, attempting to grab the IV line that the doctor was injecting medication into.
"Painkiller and a sedative…you need to sleep, and I need to run some more tests later," Janet said, disposing of the empty syringe.
"NO!" Daniel shouted emphatically. "Their time is running out. I can't stay in the infirmary again, not like before with the replicators, while they go…please, Janet. I need to go." Daniel felt his eyes close and he was fighting it every inch of the way.
"Dr. Jackson, the devices you requested are on their way from Area 51 to be refitted. By the time you wake up, you will be good to go."
Daniel rubbed his eyes, attempting to clear his blurry vision. "Sorry General, that is not acceptable. I need to go now. I need to be awake and aware…to fine tune the plan." Pointing to the IV with a shaking hand. "This isn't helping." He rubbed his head in obvious discomfort.
Janet stepped forward to Daniel's bedside. Grabbing his hands she forced them down to his side and pushed him gently onto the bed. "The reason the pain medication isn't helping is because you need to relax." Daniel's attempt to disconnect the IV tubing was thwarted by Dr. Fraiser. Daniel fought a losing battle against the various medications running through his IV. Eyes closing, he turned away from Janet mumbling about payback being a bitch. Dr. Fraiser laughed and covered the now slumbering archeologist with the infirmary issued blanket.
Janet noticed that Leske was standing by the foot of Daniel's bed, the DaD still held in her trembling hands. Janet walked over to her and gently removed it. "He'll be okay, Leske. You did fine, he did fine."
"Dr. Fraiser, as soon as you are confident concerning Dr. Jackson's condition," the General said, "I need to see both you and Leske in my office."
"Yes, Sir," they both replied.
"I think there is something we need to discuss."