MEMOIRS OF
BRIGADIER GENERAL JACK O’NEILL
(Retired)
Part VI
Chapter Three
By Arrietty
2006
“No!” I heard the scream of defiance then glimpsed a flash of white as a form darted in front of me, right into the line of fire. I watched in horror as Alexander’s body was blasted backwards from the force of the shot fired by the super soldier.
I scrambled to my knees; the only weapon left was my hand gun, useless against the hardened amour of this beast. Looking around desperately to find anything to defend myself with, my eyes fell upon a severed black clad arm, with a similar weapon that was so bent on destroying me still attached. I quickly detached the weapon from the gruesome find and held it out in front of me, hoping that it still worked; I pressed the button and hot fire shot out of it the same instance as he fired at me. I rolled out of the way and fired again. This time he faltered in his step, so I fired again, and again. He sank to his knees, wavered for a second before falling flat on his face. A small cloud of dust rose up around him before settling down onto his dull amour.
Ignoring my minor injuries, I ran to Alexander who lay in a crumpled heap between us. He was alive; a rasping sound came from his lungs as he struggled to breathe. I pulled out a med bandage from my combat vest and pressed it to his stomach to stop the blood flow at the same time yelling for help. I looked up at his face; he had been watching me the whole time. Eyes glowed yellow, then Kanan spoke; “I’m sorry, Jack. I know I put you in an impossible situation.” ‘Ya think!’ The eyes faded back to normal, and my terrified friend looked out at me.
“It’s going to be all right, Alex.” I looked up and watched people scrambling over the fallen rubble to get to us. Looking down at my friend, I saw tears in his eyes. “No, Alex, you’ve got to hang on.” I pleaded.
“He’s gone, Jack, he’s gone,” he whispered and then closed his eyes.
~*~
That night was filled with trauma; my emotions ran a roller coaster, from sheer happiness to despair. Lisle gave birth the night we defeated the Kull warriors. Mariam was torn between being there for her daughter-in-law and her husband who was fighting for his life. I was at the point of leaving to get Janet, when a doctor of medicine arrived from a nearby town. Within a few hours he had the bleeding under control and assured us that Alexander would survive.
The neighbors were extremely angry that their houses had been destroyed by me and I found myself being shouted at in Ellinika so fast, I couldn’t follow. My head, my body and my heart ached. I had come face to face with my nemesis and the last thing I needed was the haranguing I was receiving. Fortunately, Eimon arrived and rescued me. He offered to pay for all the damages that had occurred.
~*~
I slipped into Alexander’s room. Mariam was sitting quietly beside his bed, watching him as he slept.
“Mariam,” I whispered. She looked up at me, her eyes haunted by what I had told her the previous day. She already knew of Kanan as I had told her about some of my experiences, but she still couldn’t digest it all this quickly. So much had happened.
“Jack, he woke up briefly a few moments ago. He seems really sad. I don’t know what to do.”
I knew exactly what was wrong with Alexander; I had seen the same thing happen to Sam when Jolinar had died to save her. “It’s going to be all right, Mariam, I know what has happened. He will be okay,” I assured her.
She smiled tearfully at me, and then rose quietly from her seat. “I need to see how Lisle is,” her voice was filled with exhaustion, “Will you watch him for me?”
“Yes, and get some rest while you’re gone. I will not leave him alone.” I reached out my hand and lightly touched her arm; she paused for a moment before silently leaving the room.
~*~
{Sam stood before me, anger in her face as she shouted her demands, her eyes flaring with gold light. I lunged towards her, but she held me at bay with the hand device that bore into my head.
“You will not escape this time,” the cruel double inhuman voice echoed out of her beautiful mouth.
The bright light intensified as it flowed from her hand and I fell to my knees, the pain increasing through my head. “Sam, no, it’s me. Don’t… don’t,” I sobbed with emotional pain.}
“Sam, no…”
“Jack – Jack!” A man’s voice penetrated my dream, and I slowly opened my eyes. I was lying flat on my back, with the chair broken beneath my body. My head was pounding; I must have bashed it against the floor as I fell. Stiffly I stood up and looked at Alexander on his bed, his face was ashen in colour and he was leaning towards me.
“Are you all right, Jack?” he enquired, concern evident on his face.
“Yeah,” I rubbed the back of my head, relieved to feel no telltale wetness there, although I found it was tender to my touch. Seeing no other chair in the room, I kicked the broken one aside and gently sat on the edge of Alexander’s bed.
“So…” I said, “How long have you been awake?”
“Not long, someone made a lot of noise and woke me.” I glimpsed a humorous spark in his eyes as he spoke.
I smiled ruefully, “Yeah well, you’ve been getting far too much attention; I thought it was about time I got some.”
“What happened, Jack?” His voice was serious as he spoke.
“You tell me, Alex. All I know is that since I got here, someone has been taking up residence in your head.” I shot of pain spasmed across his face at my words
“No… not that, Jack. What happened just now?”
“I was asleep and fell off my chair.” I stared back, “What about you?”
I could see a great wave of sadness flow over him and he closed his eyes. “I need to sleep now, Jack.”
I kicked myself for reminding him of his inner pain and sorrow. A vision of Sam, curled up within herself, not acknowledging anyone or anything after Jolinar died came into my thoughts. Remembering Cassie, I quickly stood up. The pounding increased in my head, but I ignored it and left the room.
Five minutes later, I returned to Alexander’s room with a worried Mariam in tow. His eyes were firmly shut and he didn’t acknowledge us as we entered. Mariam looked questionably at me when she saw the broken chair. “I fell asleep and then woke up abruptly,” I whispered to her.
A small gurgle came from the bundle in my arms and I pulled back the blanket to see the screwed up face of a newborn baby just as she started to cry. I reluctantly handed her over to Mariam, wondering to myself at my hesitancy. For those few moments that I had carried this precious bundle to Alexander’s room, I had felt happy and content. Now I felt like I had before – empty - as I watched Mariam walk over to Alexander’s bedside. She had realized as soon as we entered his room what I had in mind. I made my way out of the room, pausing by the door, I glanced back and waited for a few moments.
“Alexander,” Mariam whispered by his head, “meet our new granddaughter.” His eyes flew open at her words. Mariam held the baby close to him so he could see her face. She had stopped crying and all I could hear was a gurgle and newborn baby noises as she yawned. “Her name is Mariam,” Mariam spoke with pride. I quickly slipped out the door and closed it gently behind me and went to my room to sleep.
~*~
2007
Two weeks later, I said my farewells to my friends. Alexander was still not quite up to walking around, but he was able to sit in a chair for a few hours a day. I was amazed at his quick healing, making me wonder if Kanan had done some healing before he relinquished his life for Alexander’s. Yes, I had been right; Kanan had done exactly the same thing as Jolinar had done for Sam, and given his life so that Alexander could live. There was a lot that Alexander had not revealed to me, but he seemed to understand me a lot more since his experience with Kanan. I suspect that Kanan had shared a lot of what went on in my head when he had resided there, even though I don’t remember much of my experience – thank goodness.
When Alexander had revealed to me that Kanan had thrown them in front of the blast that was meant for me, it shocked me to the core. Alexander did tell me that Kanan felt true remorse about what had happened to me and what he had done to Alexander. I had wanted to know how he had escaped Baal’s planet and why he hadn’t he got me out of there. Alexander couldn’t explain any of that. I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not, but I decided not to press the matter any further – for now.
Eimon and I walked in companionable silence towards the Stargate. My numerous small injuries and my bump on the head had healed leaving me fighting fit. I had been concerned that more Kull warriors would come when these two didn’t return to their master, but Alexander had reassured me that these two warriors had been following him for months and never seemed to report back to anyone. I found this information reassuring and disturbing, as previously the super soldiers had only lived for a short while, before collapsing and dying. But at least I knew that my friends would be safe for a while.
When we arrived at the Stargate, I pulled out the piece of parchment that Eimon had given me so many months ago, this time I was going to go to one of the addresses. Apparently they were all relatively safe planets that mainly spoke Ellinika, which would be good. I needed something peaceful this time, no more snakeheads and no more black warriors coming out of nowhere.
“Jack, go to this one, it is a good planet. They are friendly and they have some machines there, similar to the ones you have described.”
I grinned at my friend. “Thank you, Eimon; once again you have been good to me.”
I gave him a quick hug and punched in the co-ordinates near the top of the list. After waiting for the wormhole to settle, I waved a quick goodbye and stepped through the window to another adventure.
~*~
2026
“O’Neill.”
“Teal’c. Come in… How are you? Take a load off.”
“I am well, O’Neill. And you are well?”
“Yes, fine thanks. When did you get in?”
“I came directly here.”
“Your family, are they with you?”
“No, they remained at home. I came to see you as something has been troubling me and I wish to ask you a question about it.”
“Shoot! Fire away, I’m all ears.”
“A long time ago, when you were traveling, you came to see me at my home. What…”
“Hold on, Teal’c, I just need to switch this off.”
~*~
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