Its Classified
Its Classified
by JollySam
Title: Its Classified
Author: JollySam
Email: billiebox@hotmail.com
Category: Drama
Season: Season 5
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Rating: PG
Warnings: minor language
Summary: When Sam is given a mission, she can't tell her team. What will the consequences be?
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
"IT'S CLASSIFIED"
The three men were pulling on their fatigue jackets when a slender figure slipped into the locker room - her demeanour illustrating her attempt at remaining inconspicuous. Two of the men turned to look warily at the other man, who was now stood - his back military straight - glaring at the woman. "Well, Carter, finally joining us on a mission?" he spat out. The atmosphere froze. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c simultaneously turned their attention to Major Samantha Carter, who looked as if her Colonel had just slapped her. "Colonel O'Neill...." She began, barely hiding her shock and hurt, but O'Neill was already carrying on. "No, Major, I don't want any excuses from you. General Hammond has explained to us - your team mates - that you had classified sciency stuff to be getting on with. So classified, in fact, that you couldn't even tell SG-1 - your team...your friends...your family, for crying out loud!" He was breathing hard, knowing that he should understand her need for secrecy, the fact that she couldn't disobey orders. He was being unfair and unprofessional, but dammit - she was his second in command, his right hand man (well, girl), his mind-reading best friend! The emotions of Carter's face were changing, he could see. Anger was there now. Oh crap. "Sir! How can you be so cruel?!" she shouted, and then added more calmly: "No disrespect meant. Colonel." Cold, calculating. Don't let him know how this has been killing you over the last few months, she thought desperately. O'Neill flinched, just as she knew he would. Daniel and Teal'c both adjusted their weight, and Daniel coughed slightly. "We'll be in the gate room, waiting for you two," he muttered, before he dragged the bemused Jaffa from the room. O'Neill and Carter were left alone, facing each other, the air thick with tension. Carter looked into O'Neill's eyes and whispered: "I'm sorry, Jack." He had been prepared for a fight. A verbal onslaught. But, no, she was apologising, and dropping his rank! He could count the number of times she had done that on one hand - what was going on? "Uh, that's ok Carter, but its me who should be apologising..." he gabbled, trying to get back the upper hand - he was severely off-kilter. Sam stepped forward and took his hand, and suddenly he couldn't look away from her piercing blue eyes. "Sir, this is no ordinary mission, and I shouldn't even be telling you that much. Promise that if I tell you to do something, you'll do it?" she whispered, imploring him to see what was right in front of him. That she was not returning with them. That she was going to die on P4C-273. He shook her off, grabbing at his macho military persona, which had slipped for an instant. "I'll do whatever's needed, Carter. I'm the CO." His stubbornness as usual. She shook her head and let an involuntary sigh escape, before turning away from him. "Come on, sir. They're waiting for us."
The look that passed between General Hammond and Major Carter wasn't missed by anyone, let alone Jack, Daniel and Teal'c. She held her head high as she turned to look into the control room, from the ramp, her eyes filled with determination. His eyes, if anyone had had looked closely, were full of unshed tears. Struggling to keep his voice steady, he said: "Good luck, SG-1. See you when you get back." Carter took a tighter a grip on the bag she was holding - he knew what it contained - and raised on hand in salute. He hesitated, knowing that they were making it obvious that something wasn't right, and then returned the action. The loss of colour in Colonel O'Neill's face was almost enough to make the tears of the hardened soldier spill. God, thought Hammond, the Colonel is going to miss his 2IC more than he'll ever admit - and he doesn't even know what's going to happen yet. The four team members stepped through the rippling event horizon and the General went to make the necessary phone calls.
"Alright, Sam, what was that with Hammond?" Daniel asked, the minute they were on the other side. She looked towards the horizon, where two suns hung in the sky. "DanielJackson, I do not believe that MajorCarter can talk about it," Teal'c stated, before he and Sam shared as look - she with a smile of gratitude, and he with one questioning eyebrow raised. Then O'Neill did the one thing that Sam had been praying he wouldn't. "Trees, bushes, for crying out loud!" he muttered, kicking at shrubbery. The sound of bone and flesh hitting metal could be heard echoing around as he jumped backwards, screaming. "Yow! Owwy.....ouch...crap!" He took a deep breath. "What the...?" he gasped, pulling the shrub away to reveal a shaped charge. A bomb. And not a small one at that. Sam cringed. Why couldn't the Colonel just leave things alone? "Uh, Sam?" Daniel placed his hand on his team mate's shoulder. "Did you put that there?" "No," she answered, truthfully.
"Did you know it was there?" he persisted. Steeling herself to lie to her closest friends, she swallowed soundlessly and shook her head. "Nope. Don't know what's going on. Probably some NID trick as usual." "MajorCarter," Teal'c began, as he approached the scene, "I do not think that your team believes you." Sam stared at the ground, intimidated far more than usual by his impassive stance. She could feel the heat of the eyes, of the three men, on her. "Oh, Teal'c..." she started, wanting desperately to tell them everything, but her military training kicked in. Follow orders, Major, she told herself, sternly. "It's classified," she finished, still gazing intently at the soil. "Teal'c, Daniel, you secure the area," O'Neill ordered, aware that he or Carter should take that job. The look that Daniel flashed him made the fact, that his team mates knew this, perfectly apparent. The archaeologist had obviously been hoping to get Carter to talk - scientist to scientist - but as her CO, O'Neill was certain that he could extract the information from her. Especially as it was something he was sure would jeopardise their lives. When he and Carter were left alone, he began his attack. "Ya know, Carter, if you're gonna get me killed then I'd like to know about it first - how, why, when - that sort of thing." She was concentrating very hard on a stone, now - and chewing on her lip. But no dice - no movement towards telling him anything. OK, different tactic: "Carter, I order you to tell me what is going on." Ah, a reaction. She had looked up at him. "Sorry, sir, but I have orders to the contrary. From further up the chain of command." She felt sorry for him, and for herself. He was worried that something terrible was going to happen, and wanted to prevent it. She knew that something was going to happen, and the only way to prevent him being involved was to keep quiet. He looked like thunder. Bother. "OK, how far up?" he asked, still insistent. "As far as you can imagine." That shocked him, she could see. "We're not on Earth now, Carter...Sam...I...please, tell me." He'd run out of options. He was begging his 2IC to tell him why they were on P4C-273, and whether they would ever leave. She stared at him, anguish filling her eyes, and she could see realisation dawn in his depths. "You are...I mean, we are returning as a team, aren't we, Major?" Get it together, Sam, she thought angrily. Don't mess up your mission because you've got a soft spot for your CO! Taking a deep breath, she forced her face to break into a classic Sam-grin. O'Neill felt himself thaw instantly. "Of course SG-1 will be returning as a team, Colonel. Don't we always?" she replied, her smile feeling as if it was cracking her face open. "Damn straight," he countered, his bravado returning. "Uh, Jack?" a voice from behind him stuttered. The two officers turned to look at Daniel. "What's up, Daniel?" Carter asked, relaxing back into her usual role. "Something big," was the clipped answer. "Come on. Hurry." The two scientists exchanged a glance. So, this is what's she's here for, Daniel thought, recognising the signs of rising tension and excitement in his friend's face. He also noticed the way she kept a tight hold on the bag she was carrying. "What is that, Sam?" he asked, pointing at the oddly shaped hold-all. "Just sciency stuff!" she answered, too brightly. "Hey! I'm not Jack!" he exclaimed - surprised to see O'Neill look embarrassed. "You're no theoretical astro-thingy-wotsit yourself," Jack muttered, unwittingly saving Sam from having to think up more lies. They reached a clearing, where Teal'c was lain, looking out over a valley. Joining him on the floor, Daniel motioned with his hand. "Look at this. It's insane. The Goa'uld are becoming too damn formidable." Hearing the mild-mannered archaeologist using even a tame swear word, O'Neill and Carter joined their team mates on their stomachs. "The Goa'uld have indeed come far in these past few years," Teal'c added. O'Neill sucked in a breath. What the hell was it? Stretching out as far as they could see were ships, buildings and Jaffa. Mines flanked the scene. It looked like a military base...but it was...it was... "It's massive," he breathed in awe and shock. "Yes sir," Carter agreed, flexing her knuckles around the handle of her bag. "My guess is, Jack, that if they finish that and use it to attack Earth, not even the Asgard will be able to stop it," Daniel hypothesised. "I concur," Teal'c stated. "It appears that the System Lords have finally managed to reach an agreement, and have joined forces, as you would say." A tap on his shoulder made him turn towards Major Carter, with a start. "Teal'c," she whispered, "get them out of here. Please. I don't care how, but get them out. If the Colonel resists when the time comes - you'll know when - zat him or something. I promise, it is of utmost importance. Please." The Jaffa merely nodded at her, signalling that he would do as she wished. Major Carter was a capable warrior, he reasoned. She knows what she is doing, and she does not want her friends to die needlessly. Then again, he mused, looking at O'Neill, he doubted if the Colonel would prefer to be alive if his Major was dead. After that Za'tarc incidence, Teal'c did not believe that O'Neill would be happy at all, but if it was MajorCarter's last wish then he must respect it. Carter smiled slightly and backed away. "Christ." It was all O'Neill could manage in the face of such horrific evidence of Goa'uld power. "Right, SG-1, lets retreat to the Stargate and inform Hammond. We're gonna need some mega fire power out here. Carter..." he trailed off as he realised that the woman was no longer lying beside him. "Uh, Carter?" he continued, looking around him. "Ahh....crap!" "She has disappeared, O'Neill," Teal'c pronounced. "I knew it, I knew it," Daniel stammered, his hands over his face. "You knew what, Daniel?!" Jack shouted, his anger overwhelming him. "You knew what her mission was...?" "No, no! I just...I knew when I saw this that it had to be connected. Her funny behaviour, this base..." the younger man trailed off helplessly. O'Neill grabbed his binoculars and stared out over the valley, looking for his 2IC. A flash of blonde hair, anything. But no, she was gone. "Dammit! Dammit all to hell!" he shouted, his words echoing out over the valley.
Sam froze as she heard the words. They were very loud, helped out by the acoustics that the valley offered. Shut up, Jack, she thought, uselessly. Her descent from the precipice to the valley floor was an interesting one, she decided, as she continued to skitter down the mountainside. All she needed to do was hook up the huge naqueda reactor she knew that the Goa'uld were using, to her homemade device, which would cause an explosion big enough to destroy the entire planet - not just the base, and then get the hell out of dodge. Yeah, she thought, except that's not it! No, then I have to burn rubber back to the gate and set that damn charge and programme in the correct co-ordinates to make the wormhole jump to the other planet on which they have their Beta Base, so the explosion translates to there, too. God, that had been a hell of a job - trying to work out how to 'jump' the wormhole to a specific gate, but the two bases had to be taken out simultaneously, or Earth would be mincemeat before Colonel O'Neill could say: 'for crying out loud.' The thought of the Colonel made Sam smile for an instant, as she dropped quietly into position on the fringes of the base.
The rest of SG-1 were still on the precipice. "Jack, come on. She has her orders!" Daniel shouted. "For God's sake, stop being an ass!" "No, Daniel! She's my 2IC! I can't just leave her to do...whatever she's been ordered to do...on her own!!" "Yes you can! You must! Teal'c and I feel the same way, Jack, but we've got to accept it and hope that she can get out of it by herself!" "O'Neill, MajorCarter is capable. She will manage as well on her own as she would with us there. You know that she often believes you...us...to be a hindrance," Teal'c agreed with Daniel, and he knew he must not allow O'Neill to rush to 'help' Major Carter. "I'm gonna goddamn kill her myself! And whoever gave her these orders..." Jack trailed off, knowing that doing that meant personally murdering most of the government - or so Sam had had him believe. "O'Neill," Teal'c countered, a bemused smile on his face, "I do not believe that you would want to do that to MajorCarter." "No,Teal'c," Daniel answered, tiredly, "he wouldn't." Jack sighed and leant back against a tree trunk. "I just don't understand why she wouldn't accept our help...." His words were stopped by the unmistakable sound of a Goa'uld alarm system. "What's it say?" he whispered urgently to his comrades. The linguist and Jaffa listened intently to the words, and then turned back towards him. "I believe it says 'intruder alert'," Teal'c answered. "Wait, there's an announcement of some kind," Daniel said, quickly, stopping Jack from speaking. "Someone's tampered with the naqueda reactor..." "Umm...crap?" Jack asked, humour evident around his eyes. "Oh yes, Jack. Crap."
"I believe that we should leave, O'Neill," Teal'c suggested, knowing that now was the time the Major Carter was referring to earlier. "No, Teal'c. We're staying until Carter's back with us, safe. We'll lay down cover fire for her..." "Jack, we couldn't see her descent, why do you think we'll be able to see her ascent - if she's even going to bother! Maybe that's why she didn't tell us..." now it was Daniel's turn to trail off. Teal'c was resolute. "O'Neill, Daniel Jackson. We must leave. Now." "Is that really the Jaffa way, Teal'c?" O'Neill challenged. Teal'c did not rise to the bait. "MajorCarter wanted us to leave," he replied, but Jack was already crawling back to edge of the cliff to look for Sam. "Jack..." Daniel began, before a rustling near to them stopped him. Teal'c raised his staff weapon and O'Neill spun around, ready with his P-90.
Sam had to use all of her skills and wits to get to the naqueda reactor, but she managed it. Then, once she was safely inside the complex, she knelt down beside it and opened her bag. The computer inside contained a programme of her own devising, which would override every Goa'uld safety protocol and overload the reactor. All she needed to do was connect the two items together in a certain way to ensure total 'blending' - for want of a better word - between them. Like Goa'uld and host, she thought bitterly. She also knew that once the programme was initiated, it would set off the alarms on the complex - a situation that was impossible to avoid. Overriding the alarm system was simply impossible without the correct command codes. Simple answer to that: run like hell - which of course, she was intending to do anyway, because watching this baby overload would not be pretty. She was just praying that Teal'c had got Daniel and the Colonel off the planet. Please God...she thought, as she hurried to set up the computer. Typing frantically, she heard the voices of Jaffa outside, as they discovered the bodies of their dead comrades. Damn, damn, damn....The computer set up was completed - now the interface...Moving a few crystals, Sam succeeded in creating the desired connection. OK, here goes, she thought as she pressed the 'enter' button on the keyboard. The reactor went into overdrive, and so did Sam. Bolting out of the building she didn't bother to be alert for Jaffa or Goa'uld. She had to reach the gate, alive, to set up the bomb, she had to. There were two choices: one, to go slowly and watch out for the enemy, or two, to run as fast as she could and hope that the alarm took all available Jaffa towards the reactor - away from her. She reached the layer of shrubbery that hung down the cliff, which was concealing her escape route: a rope. Just ingenious, Sam, she mused. Now, get moving.
Rounding the corner, she ran straight into the nasty end of Teal'c staff weapon, and could see that O'Neill's gun wasn't that far away. Her anger at them for still being there was all-encompassing. "What the hell are you still doing here?!" she shouted, not caring about respect for the Colonel. "MajorCarter, we are just leaving," Teal'c reassured her. "Well move it then!" she gasped, still recouping her energy after the cliff climb. O'Neill gathered himself together, after the surprise he had felt at her appearance. "Dammit, Carter! We're not going anywhere until you tell us what's going on!" Carter looked from on face to another, before changing her tactic. "Fine. Stay here and die. Come on Teal'c!" She turned and ran through the forest, followed closely by the Jaffa, who did not want her to leave his sights - especially not since she had drawn him into her confidence, even if it was just slightly. Daniel and Jack exchanged glances and bolted after them. Teal'c and Sam ran side by side with the other two just behind them. "MajorCarter, have you completed your mission?" Teal'c asked, barely out of breath. "No, Teal'c," she answered, beginning to pant. "My request still stands. I expected you to still be here at this point. But you must get them out when we get to the gate. Dial up and get them out. Whatever it takes. I'll follow if I can - I promise." The two ran on in companiable silence, both determined to complete their tasks to the best of their ability. When they got to the gate, Sam glanced at her watch. Not much time left. She looked at Teal'c. "Cheers, big guy," she whispered. He nodded in return, before turning to the DHD and dialling the Tau'ri planet. She dived towards the shaped charge, plugging a second, smaller computer into it. Then she began tapping at the keyboard furiously. Daniel and Jack stared at her as her fingers flew over the keys. "Uh, Sam - I'm guessing that you did something to their reactor that could create a very nasty explosion - shouldn't we get going?" Daniel asked. "Yes, DanielJackson, we do need to get going," Teal'c replied, as the gate engaged and the event horizon exploded forward. "Go," Carter said in a flat monotone, without looking up. Jack's eyes flashed fire. "Carter, get up here now - that's an order!" She ignored him. "Right, if I have to carry you myself...." He began, as he walked towards her. He didn't finish what he started, however, because zat fire engulfed him and he collapsed onto the shoulder that Teal'c proffered. "Come on, DanielJackson, we must go now," the Jaffa ordered, aiming his zat gun at the archaeologist now. Daniel nodded, and with one final glance at Sam, he ran into the wormhole. "Good luck, MajorCarter," Teal'c whispered, knowing that her entire being was focussed on what she was doing, and that she couldn't hear him. He turned, swaying slightly under the weight of the Colonel, and followed Daniel.
The programming was almost finished. She tapped in the final encoding sequence and set the timer for five seconds - it was all that was left. Then she ran for the gate, with its still-open wormhole. There was a chance, after all, that she could get through to Earth before the wormhole jumped to the Goa'uld's Beta Base - just like when Teal'c and Daniel had got through, and she and the Colonel had been thrown out in Antartica. The event horizon swum before her as she dived into it.
"Get off me! For crying out loud!" O'Neill scrambled out of the reach of Teal'c. "We've left her behind! General, permission to...." "Sir, the gate is drawing more power than normal - it's increasing!" shouted the Sergeant in the control room. General Hammond felt an overwhelming sense of dj vu. This was what had happened when two members of SG-1 were spat out in Antartica....but this time...He looked at the remaining members of SG-1, standing in front of him. "We debrief at 1300, gentlemen. Dismissed." He barely had time to force the clipped words out of his mouth before the body of Major Sam Carter was thrown out of the gate so fast that she flew across the room and hit the window of the control room, before sliding to the floor with a thud. "The wormhole has disengaged, Sir," said the Sergeant's startled voice. "Good. Thank you, Sergeant," the General replied, mechanically. "Get a medical team down here - stat!" The occupants of the room were all staring at the huddled figure in the corner of the room. "Major Carter?" Hammond ventured, not expecting an answer. And he didn't get one. Sam was well and truly unconscious.
Hammond marched into the infirmary, and was greeted by the sight that he'd expected to see. Jack, Daniel and Teal'c stood around Sam's bed, watching her. Janet was trying to explain to them what she thought was wrong. "Basically, guys, she flew out of the gate so fast that she hit the wall with a force of a ten-tonne truck. I don't think that she's left anything in the wormhole...like her mind...so she should just wake up. Eventually. I hope." The three men didn't look convinced. "Gentlemen, our debriefing began 15 minutes ago," the General said, loudly. SG-1 turned to face him, startled. "Yes Sir," O'Neill muttered, as they trouped towards the debriefing room. "I think that you might find this debriefing quite interesting, Colonel," Hammond said, as they sat down. "Yes sir."
"I'm authorised now to tell you what Major Carter had been assigned to do." Ears pricked, the team looked at him intently. "Go on sir."
"We discovered that the Goa'uld had built two bases - one that you saw, and one that was on another planet. The Tok'ra gave us the intelligence, and we built upon it. We came to the same conclusion that you did - that they had to be stopped. If one had been destroyed, the other would have been mobilised and we would not have stood a chance - so they had to be taken out simultaneously." The General paused, watching the effect of the words on the men. They were beginning to look shell-shocked. "Major Carter was ordered to devise a way to take out both bases at the same time. She came up with an overload of the primary naqueda reactor on one the bases, and then a wormhole translation to the other planet. We couldn't dial directly to the Beta Base's gate, because the Goa'uld had blocked the dialling sequencer somehow - they had not set one up yet on their Alpha Base, so the gate had to be dialled to our gate and then 'jumped' to the Beta Base. So Major Carter had to devise a way to program the gate to jump to a specific gate. That is why she didn't accompany you on any missions for months - she was holed up at the pentagon and here, in her lab, working on a method. She came up with one. We couldn't risk anyone knowing about the scheme, just in case of a leak, and also because she knew that you - her team - would be so concerned for her that you would stop her completing her mission. She was the only one who could complete it, after all, she did create the method, and it was probable that she would die. I'm afraid, according to Doctor Fraiser, that may still be the case." Finished, the General sat back in his chair and watched his best team deal with the information he had given them. He saw embarrassment and sadness wash over the Colonel - he knew that Teal'c had zatted him to get him home, at Sam's request. "Colonel? You weren't to know. You were trying to protect your team." "Yes sir...it's just that...."
"O'Neill, MajorCarter knew that you would try to help her, and she only wished you to live, which is why she asked me to use a zat'nik'ital on you. It was because she knew you were a great leader, and a great man, that she was so concerned." Teal'c stared at O'Neill, his impassive face for once distorted with emotion for his friends. "Thank you, Teal'c. God...thank you," O'Neill stammered, before burying his face in his arms to try to control his own feelings. Daniel placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Jack, it'll be ok - it will," he whispered. The room fell into silence. "I was so horrid..." he gasped out, his voice breaking. Hammond stared at his second in command with sympathy. "SG-1, you are dismissed," he said, quietly, before returning to his office to struggle against his own weighing emotions.
"SG-1 to the infirmary!" the joyous voice over the comm was not what the men expected, but they raced towards the infirmary anyway. "How is she, doc?" Daniel asked, as they skidded into her office. "She's conscious, coherent...she's fine," Janet finished with a smile. "Go and see her!" Grins plastered to their tired faces, SG-1 collided into each other in an effort to get to the fallen member of their team. "Hey Sam," Daniel breathed, looking down at the exhausted figure. "Hi, Carter..." Jack interjected.
"MajorCarter, you are well again," Teal'c stated. Sam smiled up at them. God she loved her team.
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