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Teal’c stepped through the gate and onto Dakara, his oaths weighing heavily on his shoulders. He had promised that he would save General O’Neill twice over, but he had no idea how he was going to keep his word.
But O’Neill had saved Teal’c’s life on more than one occasion, even against impossible odds, and Teal’c could do no less.
He felt a moment of dislocation as the ‘gate closed behind him, cutting him off from the rest of the team. A few months ago, he had been ready to leave the SGC to devote his time to the Free Jaffa Nation, but that had been by his own choice, and knowing his teammates were happy and fulfilled. Teal’c disliked being forced down a particular path, and he disliked even more leaving his friends in danger when he could render assistance.
And yet, Teal’c could not stay with his team because his primary duty was still to his people, and he could not serve the Jaffa in the Pegasus galaxy.
But Teal’c could do everything in his power to find and save O’Neill.
A young Jaffa ran up to Teal’c as he strode away from the gate. “Master Teal’c!” the boy called. “May I be of assistance?”
“I must find Master Bra’tac,” Teal’c replied. “Do you know where he is?”
The boy smiled. “Of course! I will take you to him immediately.”
Teal’c followed, feeling a flash of pleasure at seeing the boy’s unmarred forehead, knowing that the child had never pledged his life to a Goa’uld. There were now many such children, who would grow up free from false gods.
Assuming, of course, that his people did not fall prey to the machinations and rhetoric of the Ori, which concerned Teal’c more and more. There were far too many Jaffa who would like nothing more than to replace the Goa’uld with another set of gods, to be free from the burdens that freedom imposed.
Teal’c did not understand that attitude, but he could recognize it in others.
Bra’tac was watching a group of Jaffa as they trained, his arms crossed over his chest, calling out the occasional instruction. “No, no, no!” he shouted. “Ru’tak, you are dropping your guard again! Do you want your enemy to kill you during your first engagement?”
Teal’c’s lips twitched up in a smile. He remembered Bra’tac shouting very similar instructions at him while he trained; it felt like a lifetime ago.
Bra’tac caught Teal’c’s eye and nodded almost imperceptibly. He allowed the sparring to continue for a few more minutes, and then he called, “That’s enough! Go home! Let us hope that we do not have to rely on your skills to save our people before you learn something.”
Teal’c dismissed the boy who had led him to Bra’tac with a brief word of gratitude, and then waited until the other Jaffa had drifted out in small groups.
“Teal’c,” Bra’tac said, clasping Teal’c’s forearm in a warrior’s greeting. “I was not certain I would see you again.”
“Tek’ma’te. You have heard, then,” Teal’c said quietly.
Bra’tac nodded. “Word has reached us. Come, let us find a private place to speak.”
Teal’c followed Bra’tac to a small, neatly kept house a short distance from the training field. “Is it safe to speak freely here?” Teal’c asked.
Bra’tac nodded. “I am careful. Even among our own people, I am careful. These times we live in, Teal’c. We are free men, and yet we live in fear.”
Teal’c glanced away. “They are more difficult than you know.” Slowly, Teal’c began to tell his old master of the last two weeks—their imprisonment at the hands of an unknown Goa’uld, their escape, and the decision to part ways with the rest of his team.
Bra’tac remained silent through it all, nodding occasionally. “How is your tretonin supply?” he asked at the end of Teal’c’s story.
“I have very little left,” Teal’c admitted.
Bra’tac rose from his seat. “Lucky for you, I have laid in a large supply, and we have the means to synthesize more. The Tau’ri gave us that much before they broke off contact.”
“I promised I would save O’Neill if I could,” Teal’c said quietly.
Bra’tac pushed a dose of tretonin into his hand. “As I expected. You wish to go to Earth?”
“I do,” Teal’c admitted. “Do you have another suggestion?”
“No, I think it is necessary,” Bra’tac agreed. “And I would like to know what has happened to Hammond of Texas for my own peace of mind.”
“I must also discover what has become of Cassandra Frasier,” Teal’c added.
Bra’tac’s expression did not change. “We must keep our promises if our word is to mean anything, Teal’c,” he said softly. “But I believe that we will need help. I can find a ship to take us to Earth, but we require an inside source, someone who knows the location of secret facilities, and how to access them. Do you have this information?”
Teal’c shook his head, his heart sinking. He had a great deal of information about the SGC, and a little information about the governments of Earth. He did not know where to begin looking for O’Neill.
An idea struck him, and Teal’c suddenly understood why the Tau’ri spoke of a light bulb going on above a person’s head. “I believe I know the perfect source.”
~~~~~
Teal’c did not ask where Bra’tac had found the al’kesh, or what Bra’tac had to do in order to secure it. If Bra’tac wanted to tell him where he’d acquired such a vessel, he would, but Teal’c trusted his old mentor.
The trip to Earth took time that Teal’c didn’t want to spend traveling, but there was no other, faster way to get there. Teal’c used the opportunity to make note of every piece of information he’d ever encountered about the SGC and how best to hide in plain sight. He and Bra’tac would have to be very careful and very quick, and they couldn’t afford any mistakes.
Bra’tac agreed that they needed to find Cassandra first. O’Neill had buried any reference to his clone, and therefore he would be difficult to locate. Teal’c had been one of the few who knew where the clone had been placed, and Teal’c believed he could trace him, particularly with Cassandra’s help.
Cassandra had been attending Colorado State University, and Teal’c knew that she had been living in the dorms. He thought it would be easy enough to locate her.
Teal’c had to do a little judicious pilfering to find clothing and a hat he could wear in order to blend in, but he regarded it as a necessary evil. He knew little about college campuses, other than what Cassandra had told him, but he had enough information to give him the cover he needed.
In the end, Teal’c approached Cassandra wearing the same green BDUs he’d worn when he’d been captured on P9X-680, a black t-shirt, and a black stocking cap. The weather was cold enough that the cap wouldn’t be too remarkable, at least so far as Teal’c understood it since he didn’t feel the cold the way humans did. Plus, he’d seen a few people around the school wearing military garb, so he believed he might go unnoticed.
Teal’c waited outside Cassandra’s dormitory, having obtained directions from a young man who reminded Teal’c of Daniel. Cassandra waved when she spotted him, a welcoming grin breaking out over her face. “T—Murray!” she called, apparently remembering his pseudonym mid-syllable. “I’ve been trying to reach you guys for weeks.”
He managed a smile, because he knew it would be expected, at least from the girls flocking around her. “It is good to see you,” he said with sincere pleasure.
“Who is that?” one of Cassandra’s companions asked.
Cassandra smiled. “That’s my uncle,” she replied. “He’s cool.”
The reassurance was apparently enough to put their fears to rest, because they entered the building while Cassandra took Teal’c’s arm and drew him away. “What’s really going on?” she asked, her voice low and intense.
Teal’s hesitated. Cassandra had apparently managed to remain under the radar of those who had closed down the Earth’s stargate. Teal’c realized that he had put Cassandra in danger by coming here, but there had been no other option if he was to keep his promise.
Finally, he said, “We were trapped off-world, and the stargate had been disabled. Colonel Carter went with the others to the secondary site, and I went first to Dakara, and then came here.”
Cassandra’s face lit up. “Sam is safe?”
“She was under orders to go to the Pegasus galaxy,” Teal’c replied. “But yes, she was safe, as was Daniel Jackson.”
“Okay,” Cassandra said slowly, apparently sensing that Teal’c was not telling her everything. “What about Jack?”
“He is still on Earth,” Teal’c admitted. “I do not know where, but I will find him.”
“I want to help,” Cassandra said instantly. “It’s bad, isn’t it, Teal’c? I have to know if Sam is okay, and—I think someone’s been watching me the last couple of weeks.”
Teal’c could not imagine leaving Cassandra here alone if there was even a chance that she might be in danger. He knew that Doctor Fraiser would have preferred Cassandra to remain in college, and to have a life typical of any teenager, but Teal’c wasn’t certain that was possible.
Not now. Maybe not ever. But there was a chance that if he sent Cassandra with Jack, if she went to Pegasus, she might be safe.
“Very well,” Teal’c replied. “I need your help,” he admitted. “I need to find General O’Neill’s clone.”
Cassandra blinked. “Wait, Jack has a clone?”
~~~~~
Teal’c was unwilling to let Cassandra out of his sight now that he’d found her, fearing that if she were being followed his presence would have put her in danger. She began to throw things in a duffel bag, which already appeared to be half-full.
Cassandra caught his look and shrugged. “I’ve been out of touch with Sam before, but I couldn’t reach Jack either, and I knew he wasn’t scheduled to go off-world. Both Mom and Sam talked about what I should do if things got dicey, so I kept my head down and my eyes open.”
“You did well,” Teal’c said.
She flashed a brief, slightly wobbly grin. “Thanks. Things have just been weird, you know?”
“I don’t know,” Teal’c replied.
Cassandra shook her head, grabbing a framed photograph of herself, Janet Fraiser, and SG-1, taken when she had been new to Earth. “It’s the news. They’ve been talking about FEMA a lot, and restrictions on movement. Nothing has happened yet, but some of my friends are talking about protesting. They’ve already announced a zero-tolerance policy for that sort of thing, though, which tells me they’re expecting trouble.”
Teal’c nodded, and Cassandra zipped up her bag and shoved a laptop in her backpack. “I know of a coffee shop where we can use the wireless. I don’t want to do a search here,” she said.
Teal’c couldn’t fault her logic. “Do you have a vehicle?”
“Mom’s old car,” Cassandra replied. “It’s not too far.”
Cassandra paused in the doorway of her dorm room, looking around as though committing it to memory. Her expression indicated that she did not believe she would return, and Teal’c was once again struck by the differences between the children of the Tau’ri and the Jaffa.
The children of the Tau’ri were soft in many ways, but it was a softness born of innocence, and Teal’c wished they could retain it. Although Cassandra appeared to be just another student, she was not a child of Earth, and Teal’c remembered that fact as Cassandra packed a bag and prepared to leave her life behind.
She had done this before; she had started over on a new planet, and if she was afraid, she did not show it.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Let’s go.”
“Do you need to tell someone that you’re leaving?”
She shook her head. “No, I think it’s better if nobody knows where I’ve gone.” She managed another smile. “It’ll be just one more mystery.”
Cassandra drove them to a coffee shop some distance from the campus. “This place is pretty far off the beaten path, but there’s free wi-fi, so we can use the internet. We’ll see what we can find out.”
They ordered drinks and pastries at Cassandra’s insistence. “If we keep drinking coffee, we can use the internet as much as we want,” she explained in an undertone. “By the way, how did you get here? Do you have a ship?”
“Master Bra’tac found an al’kesh to use,” Teal’c replied, gingerly sitting down across from Cassandra in one of the small, wooden chairs. He wasn’t certain it would support his weight, but while it creaked ominously, it did not collapse. “It is cloaked in a field outside of town.”
Cassandra smiled. “Well, that’s one way to do it. Okay, who am I looking for?”
“His name now is Jonathan Owens, and he was attending high school in Fountain, Colorado,” Teal’c replied.
Her fingers flew over the keyboard. “What year?”
“Two years ago.”
“How old was he when he started?”
“Approximately 15, but I am not certain.”
Cassandra pushed her hair behind her ears. “Okay, that gives me a place to start, anyway.”
Teal’c watched silently, sipping his coffee and eating a cookie. He could use Tau’ri technology, but he was not as proficient as Cassandra or Daniel Jackson, and he hadn’t been certain that he could find O’Neill’s clone.
“Okay, so good news,” Cassandra said just as Teal’c had finished his coffee. “He has a Facebook page. Bad news—he graduated from high school last spring, and I have no idea where he’s at now.”
Teal’c frowned. “Is there a way to contact him?”
Cassandra frowned, clearly thinking about it. “Yeah, I can send him a friend request, and maybe a coded message. He’ll know who I am, and we can clue him in that something is going on, if he doesn’t already know.”
Teal’c nodded. “What will you say?”
“Long time, no see,” Cassandra said, typing as she spoke. “We’re planning another birthday trip, and it would be great to see you again.”
Teal’c was impressed. The message was vague enough so that those who might be monitoring Cassandra’s communications wouldn’t understand, but it was personally meaningful. O’Neill had taken Cassandra to Elitch Gardens every year around her birthday, and had usually dragged other members of the team along as well.
The very public location would also make it more difficult for them to be attacked.
Cassandra hit send and then leaned back in her chair. “Okay,” she said. “Now we wait.”
~~~~~
They stayed in the al’kesh that night, eating fast food that Cassandra had insisted on picking up on their way back to the ship. Since Teal’c harbored a love for hamburgers, he didn’t protest.
Teal’c understood the necessity of lying low, but the forced inactivity was difficult for Cassandra. He and Bra’tac took turns keeping watch and meditating—the habit of kelnorim was difficult to break—but Cassandra had no such outlet, and she fidgeted and paced, her worry growing as she had more time to think.
Although he wanted to reassure her, Teal’c could not make any promises. This plan rested on their ability to find O’Neill’s clone, and the clone’s knowledge of O’Neill and other covert operations.
And then, of course, they would have to successfully locate and possibly rescue O’Neill, without getting caught or killed, and then they would need to get off-world.
There was much that could go wrong, and many things that would have to go right in order to succeed.
Once the sun had gone down, Teal’c judged it safe enough to leave the al’kesh again. They went to a public library this time, and Cassandra quickly logged in to check her messages.
“We should celebrate early,” Cassandra read in a whisper. “I’ll be in the area tomorrow. I can’t wait to see you again. Hopefully, the line for the best one won’t be too long.”
Teal’c smiled grimly. O’Neill and Cassandra had always ridden the Mind Eraser when they had gone, at least five times if the lines weren’t too long, but only the team would know that.
“Are we flying or driving?” Cassandra asked quietly.
“Driving,” Teal’c replied definitively. “We cannot risk moving the ship until we must.”
Cassandra logged out. “Okay, so I guess it’s more waiting.”
Later that night, after Cassandra had finally fallen asleep, Bra’tac said, “I must admit that when you told me you wanted to involve the girl, I did not think it wise.”
“I had no choice,” Teal’c replied. “I promised Colonel Carter that I would make sure Cassandra was protected, and we do not have many allies among the Tau’ri these days.”
Bra’tac shook his head. “Losing the Tau’ri as our allies will make it that much more difficult to bring democracy to our people. Some Jaffa are still looking for orders, rather than direction.”
“We must make our own way now,” Teal’c said softly. “The Free Jaffa Nation will stand or fall based on our own choices.”
“As we must,” Bra’tac agreed. “Are you certain you do not want me to accompany you tomorrow?”
Teal’c nodded. “If it is a trap, we will need an escape route.”
“And I can provide that,” Master Bra’tac replied. “I pray that your plan will succeed, Teal’c.”
“Indeed.” Teal’c did not like to think of the alternatives.
~~~~~
They left the al’kesh in the predawn hours and found an anonymous Starbucks that was open. Over coffee and pastries, Cassandra once again checked her email. She grimaced over a message from a friend, and looked at Teal’c. “I’m going to tell her I had a family emergency. Otherwise, she’ll call the cops, and that’s going to bring unwanted attention.”
“I will defer to you on the matter,” Teal’c replied.
Cassandra sent off a message to her friend, and Teal’c wondered how much time she could buy with half-truths. He hoped for at least a week, or possibly two—time enough to find O’Neill and attempt a rescue—if a rescue could be attempted.
They stopped on the way to Denver so that Cassandra could take out enough cash to keep them going. “If they’re watching, they’ll know I took money out of my account, but they won’t know where I spent it,” Cassandra said, somewhat grimly.
Teal’c did not ask how she knew these things. Cassandra had known Jack for a long time, almost as long as Teal’c had known him, and he suspected she’d picked up more information than even O’Neill knew.
She paid for their tickets at the amusement park in cash, wincing at the price. “I always forget how expensive it is,” she said. “Jack usually paid when we came here.”
“Do you have enough money?” Teal’c asked, knowing that neither he nor Bra’tac would be of much use in this department. He had drawn a salary at the SGC, and he had a bank account under the name “Murray Teal’c,” but accessing it would surely send up alerts.
Cassandra shrugged philosophically. “I draw benefits from Mom, and I’ve got a scholarship for school, so I have a cushion. It’s just hard to know how much we’re going to need.”
“What about school?” he asked. “Do you wish to return?”
Cassandra shook her head, leading him unerringly toward her favorite roller coaster without consulting a map. “It would be nice, but that’s not really who I am. I can pretend to be this normal kid, and most of the time I am, but then I’ll have a nightmare of being back on my home planet, and being the only person left alive, and when I wake up, I can’t tell anybody about it. Normally, I could call Sam or Daniel or Jack or you, but if you’re all gone—if there isn’t anybody around who knows who I really am—I can’t see the point in staying.”
Teal’c considered her words, considered living life as Murray, and having no one who knew his past, who he was, and what it meant to be Jaffa—and he could not. He had been incredibly lonely at the SGC the first few years he had been there. As much as he loved his team, he had still longed for his people.
Cassandra had found her people, Teal’c thought. And she would gladly leave this world to be with them again.
The line for the roller coaster was short when they arrived, and O’Neill’s clone was nowhere to be seen, so Cassandra suggested, “Let’s go for a ride. Maybe he’s waiting to be sure it’s not a trap.”
Being on the roller coaster reminded Teal’c of riding in a death glider, but without the control, and he enjoyed the sensation, although not as much as Cassandra or O’Neill did. When they got off, Cassandra was laughing—and then she stopped as though she’d been struck.
Teal’c followed her gaze and saw the clone standing a little ways off, hands in the pockets of his well-worn jeans, his expression watchful and wary.
“Hey!” Cassandra called, covering up her confusion with a grin and a wave.
The clone smiled then and began walking toward them, pulling Cassandra into a hug, exactly as though he was seeing an old friend for the first time in a long time, and then he did the same for Teal’c.
“It’s great to see you guys,” he said. “It’s been too long.”
“Too long,” Cassandra agreed. “Thanks for meeting us, Jonathan.”
“I go by Jon now,” he said mildly. “I know you guys just got off, but do you mind going again?”
They rode every roller coaster in the park—some two or three times—exactly as if they were old friends meeting up for a day of fun. In the late afternoon, Jack bought them all hotdogs, and they sat and ate on a picnic bench under a tree.
“I don’t think anybody’s listening,” Jon said quietly. “And I know something big is going down, so what’s up?”
Teal’c described the events of the last few weeks in as few words as possible, although he went into a little more detail than he had when it had just been Cassandra. When Teal’c glanced over at her, Cassandra’s eyes were wide, and she was a little pale, but she kept her peace.
Teal’c was more and more impressed with her.
Jon nodded slowly. “I’ve got a few ideas. Cassie, how are you with a computer?”
“I get around,” she replied. “Jack was kind of a Luddite.”
“I’ve picked up a few things,” Jon replied with a smirk. “I thought I’d round out my covert ops skills by learning how to hack.”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were going to relive your adolescence.”
“That got a little boring after the first couple of months,” Jon replied. “I graduated early and decided I’d do a little traveling. And, because I know the Air Force keeps tabs on me, I thought I’d go off the grid for a while.”
“But you kept your Facebook page up,” Cassandra said with a smile.
“I had to give people a way to reach me,” Jon replied with a grin. “Besides, there aren’t a lot of people who know who I am who would also look for me on Facebook.”
“And you’d like to keep it that way,” Teal’c said.
Jon shrugged. “I’d like to keep the wrong people from knowing about me.”
“And we’re not the wrong people?” Cassandra asked.
“If you had been, you wouldn’t have seen me,” Jon replied. “You know, I think we’ve spent enough time here. Let’s do this thing.”
Jon had taken the bus in, so he didn’t have a vehicle, and he willingly climbed into the backseat of Cassandra’s car.
“This was Janet’s,” Jon said quietly once they were on I-25, heading north towards Fort Collins.
“Yeah, it was,” Cassandra confirmed.
“I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but I’m sorry about your mom,” Jon said. “She died after—well, after. I liked her a lot.”
“Me, too,” Cassandra replied. “Thanks.”
Teal’c thought about what Cassandra had said about being around people who knew her, and he thought that Jon was in a similar position. Jon and Cassandra were people who were out of place in their own lives, and perhaps that made it easier for them to leave those lives behind.
They stopped by the tiny apartment Jon had rented in Broomfield so he could pick up a few things. Teal’c noted with approval that Jon traveled lightly, just a few things thrown into an old duffel bag—clothing, a few books, a leather jacket, and a hunting knife. Jon tucked a gun into the back of his waistband and added a box of ammunition to the bag.
Cassandra glanced around the apartment, and then looked at Jon’s bag. “Is that it?”
Jon shrugged. “It’s never really felt like my life, you know? Come on. Let’s go save my ass.”
~~~~~
Jon greeted Bra’tac as though he was an old friend, which Bra’tac accepted with only a raised eyebrow. “When Teal’c told me that there was another O’Neill out there, I was curious,” he admitted.
“I’m the younger, better version,” Jon replied with a smirk. “But I know all my tricks, so I should be able to track him down.”
“He may have been captured,” Teal’c warned him, feeling somewhat disloyal for making the suggestion.
O’Neill was eminently capable, but he didn’t have his team, and Teal’c had learned the value of having a trusted ally to lead the way or watch his back.
Jon shrugged at Teal’c’s reminder. “And we’ll deal with it if he has. I told you I was going to help you save the old man, and I will. But first, we need to figure out where he’s been.”
Bra’tac cleared his throat. “Perhaps you could inquire as to the fate of Hammond, as well.”
Jon nodded. “Yeah, no problem. We can do that.”
As Teal’c had expected, that required use of the internet, and after a brief discussion, they agreed that it would be less suspicious if Cassandra and Jon found a place to research with her laptop. Teal’c accepted the rationale, but he did not like being in a position where he could not provide support if necessary.
Bra’tac raised an eyebrow after Cassandra and Jon had departed. “You are uncomfortable with this plan?”
“I believe it is the correct decision,” Teal’c said evenly.
Bra’tac snorted. “Please, Teal’c. You forget how long I have been sending warriors into battle. I know this feeling.”
“They are children,” Teal’c admitted reluctantly.
Bra’tac considered that for a moment. “Cassandra might be, perhaps, but she has much experience with the Goa’uld, and Jon has O’Neill’s lifetime of experiences, as well as his own.”
“His appearance is that of a child,” Teal’c replied. “And yet I know he is not.”
“They will be fine,” Bra’tac said. “And there is always a first mission, Teal’c.”
Teal’c hummed under his breath, not agreeing, but not disagreeing either.
“I remember your first mission. I was concerned.”
“Concerned?” Teal’c inquired.
A smile just barely tilted the corners of his mentor’s mouth. “Perhaps even worried,” Bra’tac admitted.
Teal’c smiled. “Perhaps.”
Cassandra and Jon returned—both in one piece—well after midnight, and they appeared both victorious and sorrowful. “We’ve got good news and bad news,” Cassandra said.
“I’d like to hear the bad news first,” Teal’c said.
Cassandra nodded. “We couldn’t find General Hammond. There’s no record of his death, and there aren’t any missing persons reports that we could find. It’s possible that he’s gone underground with his family.”
“If we start digging too hard, we might alert the wrong people,” Jon added. “General Hammond is a smart man. He knows how to take care of himself.”
“Then we will trust in his skills,” Bra’tac said with a sigh. “And the good news?”
Jon smiled. “We think we know where they’re holding the old man.”
Teal’c noticed that Jon did not use O’Neill’s name, but Teal’c did not comment on that fact; he suspected that it was a sore subject with Jon, and that Jon would have preferred to forget that he was the clone, and that there was another with a better claim to his own life.
“Continue,” Teal’c said.
Cassandra sat down and pulled her laptop up. “Lucky for us, the café had an available outlet, so I have a full charge.”
Teal’c could see that Bra’tac didn’t completely understand, but Bra’tac indicated that she should continue.
“We were able to follow a trail of breadcrumbs to Chicago,” Jon said. “And to be fair, the only reason I was able to get a read on the old man was because I knew exactly what to look for, and I knew what to look for after they captured him, too.”
“So, you are certain that he’s been captured,” Teal’c said heavily.
Jon shrugged. “I’m about 95% sure. It’s possible that your O’Neill managed a miracle, but in this case, I don’t think he did.”
“But if he didn’t manage it,” Master Bra’tac began.
“If he didn’t, he’s going to be at an installation in Montana,” Jon said. “Malmstrom, to be specific.”
Teal’c frowned. “Why Montana?”
“Trust me on this one,” Jon said. “There aren’t any other military bases in Montana, and it’s quiet. They’re still trying to lay the groundwork for the takeover, which means they can’t make a lot of overt moves. Malstrom is a military installation that will allow for that kind of freedom.”
“And it should give us plenty of room to land and get Jack out,” Cassandra said enthusiastically. “They won’t be expecting us.”
Teal’c nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do, if you’re certain.”
Cassandra grinned. “Oh, we’ve got plenty of proof. Check this out.”
By the time Cassandra and Jon had demonstrated how much proof they had, Teal’c was more than convinced.
They were going to rescue O’Neill, Teal’c thought. He was going to keep his promise.
Using two children to perform such a feat merely proved what strange times these were.
~~~~~
After some discussion, they determined that flying to Great Falls was their only option, and that they would need to get as close to Malstrom as possible. “We’ll need to set the ship down right outside the front door,” Jon said. “We don’t know what kind of shape the old man will be in, but I think it’s safe to assume that he might not be able to do a lot of running.”
Cassandra smiled, although the humor didn’t quite reach her eyes. “And Jack’s knees probably wouldn’t thank us for making him run.”
“I agree,” Teal’c rumbled. “Master Bra’tac, how close can we get?”
“As close as you’d like,” Bra’tac replied. “They cannot detect the al’kesh when it is cloaked.”
Jon nodded. “Our best option is to put down inside the base, uncloak, get the old man, and then get out. They probably won’t be scanning for aircraft inside the base perimeter.”
Cassandra winced. “Probably?”
“It’s our best option,” Jon repeated. “It’s probably our only option if we’re going to get him out alive.”
“Then that’s the option we’ll take. We will infiltrate the base after dark,” Teal’c said.
“Right around shift change,” Jon agreed. “And we’d probably better do it immediately. How many zats do we have?”
“Enough to allow each of us to carry one,” Bra’tac responded. “And we have stunners.”
“Great,” Jon said. “Cassie, have you ever used a zat before?”
Cassandra shook her head.
Jon grabbed one and began a demonstration. “Teal’c and I will go in alone, but you’ll need to know how it works just in case.”
They spent the remainder of the day making preparations. Cassandra insisted on making a supply run for food and first aid supplies, and Teal’c had to admit that she had a good point. They would need both.
Teal’c donned his disguise again and joined Cassandra for the trip to the pharmacy while Jon went for food. Teal’c kept an eye out for anyone who might be following them, but he did not see any pursuers.
“How bad do you think it’s going to be?” Cassandra asked as she loaded gauze into the basket Teal’c carried. “Do you think Jack is going to be okay?”
“I do not know,” Teal’c admitted.
Cassandra threw in a dozen tubes of antibiotic crème. “Do you think we’ll need splints?”
Teal’c considered the question. “Perhaps.”
“Okay.” She put a couple into the basket, too. “Maybe some Ace bandages, then, and hydrogen peroxide.” She suited actions to words and continued to fill the basket, and when that was filled, she piled items in her arms.
“Do you have enough money?” Teal’c asked hesitantly.
“Jon’s buying food, and we don’t know if we’ll have access to a doctor,” Cassandra replied. “I have enough cash for this stuff, anyway, and I’d rather have too much than too little.”
“That is wise,” Teal’c replied. “How much do you know about first aid?”
“I’ve taken a few courses,” Cassandra replied. “I was planning on becoming a doctor, so I thought it might be a good idea to see if I could hack it.”
“Hack it?” Teal’c inquired.
“You know, to see if the sight of blood would freak me out,” Cassandra replied. “It turns out that I’m pretty good with injured people.”
Teal’c smiled slightly. “You are much like your mother.”
“Thanks,” Cassandra shot him a real smile. “That means a lot.”
“It’s true.”
“Which is why it means a lot.” Cassandra took a deep breath and looked at their supplies. “Okay, I think we’ve got enough. There’s probably something I’m forgetting, but I don’t know what it might be.”
“Then we have done our best,” Teal’c replied. “And we will do what we can with what we have.”
~~~~~
In the end, their supply runs were more than successful. Jon returned to the al’kesh with plenty of dried and canned goods, things that would not easily go bad. He had also stopped by an Army surplus store to purchase a few boxes of MREs.
There was more than enough food to get them from Earth to their safe haven. They did not have to worry about that much, at least.
Once they had all returned to the ship, and had stored the supplies, Bra’tac prepared for takeoff. Teal’c could feel the tension as they took off, waiting for any indication that they had been discovered, but there was nothing.
The trip between Colorado and Montana was short, and Bra’tac maneuvered the al’kesh carefully, just skimming over the tops of the trees to land on the parade ground at Malstrom.
Jon pulled up a blueprint of the base. “As far as I can tell, this is where the old man’s being held.” He pointed at a building that was near the parade ground. “That’s where the brig is, and the building is secure. Between second and third shift is probably the best time to hit them. From what I could tell, they’ve been working on O’Neill for a while, but they still haven’t gotten any information out of him.”
“Good,” Teal’c said, thinking that O’Neill wouldn’t want it any other way. “Then we should be able to rescue him.”
“In theory,” Jon agreed. “So, we’ll wait for the shift to change, and then we’ll move.”
Teal’c wished he had Colonel Carter advising them on the science aspects, or that Daniel Jackson was there to provide the voice of reason, or that O’Neill had been present to give advice on strategy, or that Colonel Mitchell had been around to offer an opinion or two, even if Teal’c ignored it.
Instead, he was left with Cassandra, who was quite capable, but was still a child by Teal’c’s reckoning, and with Jon, who had O’Neill’s knowledge and experience, minus the last two years. Teal’c was not comforted by their presence the way he would have been comforted by the presence of his team.
Still, Teal’c had often heard O’Neill say that beggars could not be choosers, and he understood the sentiment now.
The minutes passed slowly and silently, each of them lost in their own thoughts. For his part, Teal’c worried about the upcoming mission, about Cassandra, and about O’Neill. He worried that the current mission would be fruitless, and that he would get Cassandra killed.
In many ways, the concerns were the same he’d had as First Prime of Apophis, sending Jaffa into battle, but this mission felt more important. If Teal’c could not rescue O’Neill, what chance did Teal’c have of saving his people? What chance was there that the Jaffa Free Nation could fend off the Ori and Goa’uld?
As the appointed hour drew near, Teal’c began to arm himself. He left his staff weapon behind, as it would only draw unwanted attention, but he slung a bag with several stunners over his shoulder and attached a zat to his belt. He checked the clip in his handgun and thumbed off the safety.
“Zats are the better option.” Jon checked his knife and slid it back into its sheath. “They’re quieter.”
“I agree,” Teal’c replied. “But in this case, I would rather have too many weapons than too few.”
Bra’tac watched their preparations with silent approval, and Cassandra sorted first aid supplies for the sixth time.
Teal’c straightened. “The time has come.”
“Good luck,” Bra’tac said.
Teal’c inclined his head.
Cassandra’s expression was anxious, but her gaze was clear. “Go get him, Teal’c, and come back safe.”
Jon had changed into the BDUs he’d purchased at the Army surplus, and in the fatigues and combat boots, he looked like any other young airman. Teal’c pulled on his stocking cap, and nodded at Jon.
There was little light in the predawn hours; the sun was not yet up, and the moon had already set. The parade ground wasn’t lit, although Teal’c could see floodlights in the distance, delineating the perimeter of the base.
Jon had all of O’Neill’s skills, as well as the agility of youth, and when they reached the building, Jon proved that he could break in just as well as O’Neill could.
“I did not know that they had holding cells here,” Teal’c whispered.
Jon shook his head. “I didn’t either until I heard some chatter, but this base is one of three with our ICBMs, so it would make sense that the Trust would want to control it.”
“ICBMs?”
“Really big missiles,” Jon replied. “Okay, let’s find the old man.”
They began a stealthy reconnaissance, and soon came across a locked room that appeared to have more than the usual number of protections. “You know, you lock me out of someplace, and I’m going to want to get inside.”
“Do you think this is where they are holding O’Neill?”
“It’s as likely as any other spot,” Jon said. He made quick work of the locks, and the door opened. The lights in the room were bright enough to hurt Teal’c’s eyes, and he immediately saw O’Neill curled up in a corner of the room.
Teal’c could not remember O’Neill ever looking worse than he did at that moment. O’Neill’s face was bruised, one eye swollen shut, and he had a thick beard. His expression was pinched and tight, and his clothes were stained and torn.
“You get him,” Jon said. “I’ll keep watch.”
“General O’Neill,” Teal’c called. “We must hurry.”
“You’re a figment of my imagination; go away.” O’Neill’s voice was raspy and hoarse.
“I am not,” Teal’c insisted, feeling a great sense of pity wash over him. “O’Neill, can you walk?” He reached down to help O’Neill up, keeping his touch gentle. “We must hurry.”
“T? What are you doing here?” O’Neill asked, opening one eye.
Teal’c let out a sigh of relief, grateful that O’Neill was making sense at least. “I believe you would call us the cavalry. Can you walk?”
“I don’t know. Help me up.”
Teal’c helped O’Neill to his feet, but O’Neill would have fallen immediately had Teal’c not kept a firm grip on the general.
They would have to move quickly, and Teal’c would have to drag O’Neill out, but at least they’d found him.
The trip to the al’kesh was made in silence; Teal’c heard the alarm go up behind them, but he had to trust that Jon would be able to handle any pursuers. When the ship dropped the cloak, Teal’c manhandled O’Neill aboard.
Jon ran onboard a moment later, firing behind him with the zat. “Go, go, go!” he shouted.
Teal’c lowered O’Neill to the floor as gently as he was able. “Go help Bra’tac,” Jon said. “Cassie and I will take care of O’Neill.”
O’Neill called for Cassandra, and she took Teal’c’s place by O’Neill’s side. Teal’c took his seat in the co-pilot’s chair and held on tight.
“How is he?” Bra’tac asked.
“He is badly injured,” Teal’c admitted, “but I believe he will recover given enough time.”
“That is good news,” Bra’tac replied. “Assuming we are not shot down, I believe I can give him that time.”
“Then let us not get shot down,” Teal’c said.
~~~~~
Bra’tac was still one of the most skilled pilots Teal’c had ever known, and he brought them outside of Earth’s atmosphere without the al’kesh being hit, then opened a hyperspace window.
Teal’c relaxed for the first time in days, a fact that Bra’tac didn’t miss. “That was well done, Teal’c,” Bra’tac said warmly. “Very well done.”
Teal’c could hear Cassandra and Jon’s low voices, and he called out, “How is O’Neill?”
Jon appeared a moment later. “Lots of bruising, some busted ribs, maybe a couple of loose teeth, but we’re pretty sure he doesn’t have any life-threatening injuries. He’s just gonna be completely miserable for a while.”
“How long?” Bra’tac asked.
Jon shrugged. “At least a couple of weeks. He’s not as young as he used to be.”
“None of us are,” Bra’tac replied mildly. “Other than you.”
Jon grinned. “True. Hey, would you mind if I sat in the pilot’s seat for a while? It’s been a long time since I’ve flown, and I miss it.”
There was a wistful note in Jon’s voice, and Teal’c rose. “Please. Sit.”
Jon sat down, looking very much like a child in that moment, all wide-eyed wonder and excitement.
Teal’c watched as Bra’tac made suggestions in a low voice, offering bits of pieces of wisdom stored up over a long life. The scene brought back many memories, of his own training, and of watching Bra’tac with Rya’c and other young Jaffa.
He had learned many lessons, and had come to value many different qualities—bravery, loyalty, love, generosity.
Tenacity.
Bra’tac and O’Neill had been his chief instructors, and they had taught him well. Teal’c would never have succeeded in his mission had he not learned that most important lesson: a true warrior never gives up, no matter how futile the mission appears to be. If a warrior did not try, he could not win.
Teal’c heard O’Neill’s voice, and he turned and headed that direction. Cassandra was speaking to him, trying to soothe him, and O’Neill said, “So, tell me the plan. You’ve got to have a plan.”
“We are going to a place Bra’tac knows to be safe, where you will recover,” Teal’c interjected. From there, you can travel to Atlantis.”
“We’ve got a plan, Jack,” Cassandra asserted, her hand still on O’Neill’s forehead.
“How did you find these two, Teal’c?” O’Neill asked.
Teal’c could see that O’Neill was fighting sleep, but rest was what he needed most at the moment. “It’s a very long story, and you need to rest.”
“I hurt too much to sleep,” O’Neill protested, but his eyes were already sliding shut.
Teal’c was not to be moved. “Nevertheless, you must rest. I will tell you the story when you are awake enough to appreciate it.”
“Is it a good story, T?” O’Neill asked, opening one eye.
Teal’c smiled. “It is the best kind of story, O’Neill.”
O’Neill’s eyes closed again, and his breathing evened out and deepened. Cassandra rose stiffly from her position by his side. “What if we can’t make it to Atlantis?” she asked.
Teal’c put an arm around her shoulders. “Then we will continue to try, and we will continue to fight. There is nothing else we can do.”
Cassandra rested her head against his shoulder. “I guess there’s something to be said for tenacity, huh?”
Teal’c didn’t take his eyes off his friend. “Indeed.”