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A Stargate: SG-1 Fanfiction Site
Generations
by T L Kay
“Well, are we doing this or what?” Jack asked the next morning.
They were all standing around in the gate room, next to the modified jumper. Everyone was looking nervous, and avoiding eye contact with the others. Daniel stood very close to Vala, watching her nervously. Cam stood just inside the door, decked out in his usual off world uniform, but looking strangely out of place. He was waiting for whatever it was that had stopped the other Cam from going originally. Sam was talking quietly off to the side with Jacob, she and the boy had gotten pretty close in the week since he had arrived Kara stood somewhat apart from everyone, taking it all in.
Just then General Landry walked into the room, a strange look on his face. “All right, I guess this is happening. I probably couldn’t do anything to stop you anyway.”
“Probably not Hank,” said Jack, bouncing a little in his anxiety.
“Well then you have a go, but before you do I need to speak to Colonel Mitchell.”
Cam looked up at the General, then glanced at Kara. “Yes sir,” he said, stepping out into the hallway with Landry.
They watched them talk, Cam a little heatedly after a few minutes. Finally, with a sad little shake of his head Landry indicated that Mitchell could go as well. Cameron walked back into the room and straight into the jumper without saying a word to anyone.
Jack smacked his hands together. “All right then,” he said, before climbing into the jumper after Mitchell. The others exchanged looks before joining them.
Jack had settled into the pilot seat and was turning things on. When they were all in and had taken their seats he closed the rear hatch.
“I miss this,” he said. “These little jonts through the gate.”
Sam smiled. “Yes sir, but this time it’s a little different.”
“Ah, yes it is.”
She laughed as she dialed the gate.
There was the familiar swoosh and then the shimmering pool of what looked like water.
“Well, here goes,” said Jack, and he eased the jumper up and through.
************************************************
The mission went well; they were met by the people of the planet and instantly accepted. Daniel was in a new kind of heaven, getting to meet people that were descended from the Ancients. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, but Kara noticed that Cam seemed distant.
“What’s up?” she asked as she sat down next to him around a campfire. “Is it about what General Landry said?”
Cam nodded. “It’s my dad. He’s been kinda sick lately and he got worse. They moved him to the military hospital in Colorado Springs and I was supposed to go to him. That’s why I didn’t come on this mission the first time around.”
“What changed for this time?”
He sighed. “Well, I knew what we could possibly be getting into. I mean, no offense to your tinkering with the puddle jumper, but we don’t actually know if it’ll work. My dad would never have forgiven me for abandoning my team to be with him.”
Kara smiled. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
Cam smiled too. “Yeah, you’re about as good at lying as your father.”
Kara laughed. “At least I tried.”
Cam put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “You know, for being related to those two,” he indicated Daniel and Vala, “you’re not half bad.”
She laughed again. “I’m not really sure how to take that, but thanks.”
“No problem.”
************************************************
“All right, let’s load up,” Jack was saying.
They had been there for almost a day, and it was time to get back. The people were moving on to their next destination, and Kara was urging them to leave. The longer they stayed there the more she began to feel that it wasn’t going to work. They settled into the jumper and Kara picked up her computer screen, checking some last minute calculations.
“We ready?” asked Jack.
Kara murmured a quick plea to Oma under her breath, then nodded.
“Well all right then.”
Sam dialed the gate, they all took a deep breath and Jack flew the jumper through.
************************************************
Their first indication that it hadn’t worked was the speed at which they came out of the gate, the second was the fact that they weren’t at the SGC. Jack quickly regained control of the jumper and set it down as soon as he could. He had barely landed before Kara leapt to her feet, opened the rear hatch and raced outside.
“Damn it!” she yelled in frustration and anger.
The others got up warily and stepped out of the jumper.
“Damn it!” she yelled again and they could hear angry tears in her voice. “This should have worked, I did everything right.”
“Kara…” Daniel started, but she cut him off.
“No, I just need to think.” She started to walk away. “I wouldn’t advise wandering off; there are Jaffa all over this planet.”
Jacob gave the others a wary look before slipping after her into the woods. He caught up to her and spun her around, enveloping her in his arms.
“Hey,” he said, pulling back from her a little, but not letting go. He took her face in his hands, smoothing back her hair. “It’s gonna be fine,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “You’ll fix this.”
She pushed away from him. “I don’t know how. This wasn’t supposed to happen this time. Oma told me that I would fix it, she promised. This isn’t fixed. If they die…”
“It won’t be your fault, Kara.”
She took another step away from him. “Thanks Jacob, but I really just need to be alone right now, is that all right?”
Jacob nodded and she turned and walked away.
************************************************
They looked up when Jacob wandered back to the jumper, but he was alone.
“How could this have happened?” Jack asked Sam, turning back to their previous conversation.
“Well sir, I’m not entirely sure, but at this point I’m starting to expect a black hole.”
“I hate those things.”
“Yes sir. They also have unpredictable effects on wormholes, we’ve seen it before.”
“Don’t remind me,” Jack muttered.
“So what do we do now?” Daniel asked.
Sam sighed. “I really don’t know.”
They looked at her in astonishment.
“What?”
“You always have an answer,” said Cameron.
“Not always.”
Jack gave her a look.
“Ok, so maybe always. But I don’t have an answer this time.”
“I do,” said a voice.
They turned to see that Kara had rejoined them.
“You do?” asked Sam.
She nodded. “I think so. But it will require some intense modification to the jumper, and finding out where we sit in the timeline.”
Sam was looking at her curiously. “What have you got in mind?”
“I want to turn the jumper’s shield into a reverse time-dilation field.”
They gaped at her.
“Can you do that?” asked Sam, impressed.
Kara sighed. “I think so. But it’ll have some repercussions.”
“Like?” asked Jack.
“It’ll deplete the jumper’s power. When we get back to our own time there won’t be enough juice left in it to fly us back, so we’ll have to go on foot.”
“Why don’t we just fly the jumper over to the gate now?”
“Because it’s heavily guarded by Jaffa most of the time. We barely missed them coming in, I don’t think we’ll be so lucky a second time.”
“Ok, so flying it closer is out,” said Cam. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re leaving something out about walking back there?”
Kara threw him a look. “There are Jaffa on this planet in the future. A minor Goa’uld took over this planet after Ra died. He was minor enough that he managed to escape all of your valiant efforts to eradicate the Goa’uld from this galaxy.”
“Great, and just when I thought we were finally done with the snake heads,” mumbled Jack.
“Aside from those…minor complications, I believe that this can work.”
Jack nodded. “Then let’s get on it.”
************************************************
It wasn’t long after Kara began working on the jumper that they witnessed Ra’s mother ship descending from the clouds. Predictably Jack wanted to interfere, but the combined effort of his son, Sam and Kara kept him where he was. Kara was pleased that Ra had come, as this gave her a frame of reference for how long they would need to be in the field. After a day and a half she was confident that the field would work.
“You’re sure?” Sam asked her when the girl had finished up.
Kara sighed. “In all honesty…no.”
“But…”
“This is all we’ve got Sam. I won’t let this happen to you guys again.” She glanced over at Vala. “Won’t let it happen to me again.”
Sam nodded. “I understand,” she said, giving Kara a quick hug. “I trust you.”
“That makes one of us,” Kara mumbled.
She waited as Sam called the others in closer. Kara was going to extend the field slightly to incorporate some of the area around the jumper. She had inherited her mother’s loathing of confined spaces for extended periods of time, and this would take awhile.
“All right,” she said, “here goes.”
She activated the time-dilation field and watched as they could instantly see the world outside begin to speed past. With a satisfied sigh Kara set down her computer and walked outside. She moved up away from the others and sat down against the jumper to wait out the 12 hours it would take them to reach their own time. She pulled a very battered book out of her pocket and turned it in her hands. It was her most prized possession, she never went anywhere without it.
“What’s that?” said a voice.
She looked up to see Jack hovering over her.
She smiled. “Just something sentimental.”
He sat down next to her and pulled the book out of her hands. “I recognize this,” he said.
She smiled slyly. “You should, you gave it to me.”
Jack looked surprised. “I did? That was uncharacteristic for me.”
Kara took the book back and ran her hand over the cover. “I know you pretend that that he drives you crazy and that you don’t care about him, but you do. You, the other you, risked everything to get this back for me, and you never told anyone about it. There were times when you’d sit and tell me stories, and I could always tell that you blamed yourself for what happened.”
Jack shifted uncomfortably. This girl knew him a little too well.
“I never thanked you for being there for me. I know that it wasn’t really you exactly, but…”
“You’re welcome kiddo,” he said, nudging her with his shoulder.
She smiled.
“Well, I’ll leave alone with your book,” he said, standing up.
“Really, thanks Jack,” she said.
He smiled down at her, and then went to find Sam.
Kara sighed and looked down at the tattered book in her hands. She took a deep breath and opened it, looking down at the familiar handwriting. She smiled as she ran her fingers over the name on the inside cover, Daniel Jackson.
************************************************
Kara monitored the computer screen, it would happen anytime now. There was a beep and a slight shudder and she gave a weak smile. They were back in their own time, or so she hoped.
“Is it safe to go out there now?” Jack asked warily. She had warned them what would happen if they strayed across the field, and it wouldn’t be pleasant.
Kara nodded. “I think we should go now. And, well, it would probably be a good idea not to leave this thing lying around.”
“Jumper go boom?” Jack asked excitedly.
Kara laughed. “Yes Jack, jumper go boom.”
“Yessss!” he said childishly.
Kara laughed again. Sam came into the jumper looking curious.
“Are we good?” she asked.
Kara nodded. “We should get going. We’ve got a ways to walk and blowing this thing up will draw attention.”
“We’re blowing up the jumper?” Sam asked.
“Yeah,” said Jack with a playful grin.
Sam laughed. “I’ll go tell the others to gear up. We should probably have more than enough C4,” she added with a smile.
Kara grabbed her pack and her P-90 and followed Sam out into the clearing. The others were suiting up, except for Sam and Mitchell, who were attaching explosives to the outside of the jumper. When they were done they came back over to the group, handing the detonator to Jack.
“Shall we away?” he asked.
They all moved out, heading back for the gate. Jacob made his way over to Kara’s side and slipped his hand into hers. She smiled at him and gave his hand a squeeze.
When they had made it almost back to the gate Jack pulled put the detonator. “Anyone order a diversion?” he said slyly, before pressing the little red button. A profound explosion came from the direction of the puddle jumper, and they all dropped to the ground as they heard Jaffa racing past them.
“Psst,” whispered Jack. “I think they bought it.”
“Yes sir,” said Sam, stifling a laugh. “But nevertheless I think we should lay low until we get to the gate.”
“Agreed,” he said, taking a quick look around. “Let’s move out.”
They all shuffled along from bush to bush, trying to keep hidden. Jack stayed close to Sam’s side, Daniel to Vala’s, but neither of them would have admitted to trying to protect them. They got to the clearing around the gate and stopped.
“Well this can’t be right,” said Jack, looking at the unguarded gate. He thought for a moment. “Ok, I want the majority of you to stay here until I give the signal. Daniel, you come with me and dial the gate.”
“Wait,” said Kara, catching Daniel’s arm. She grabbed a stick from nearby and etched a symbol in the dirt. “That’s our point of origin.”
“Thanks,” he said with a smile.
“No problem.”
Jack and Daniel looked around warily before creeping out into the clearing. For a few moments it seemed that things were going their way, and then staff weapon blasts came out of nowhere. Cameron, Vala and Sam had their guns up in record time, firing into the brush. Teal’c, Bra’tac and Jacob were firing their staff weapons with gusto. Jack had set himself up to give Daniel the cover he needed to get to the DHD, but things were going to start going downhill quickly.
Sam and Mitchell slid down the hill and took up positions near Jack, moving slowly closer to the enemy. Kara couldn’t think, all she was focused on was the image of her father out there so exposed to enemy fire. Before she knew what she was doing she was sliding down the hill and inching to his side.
“Kara!” he yelled over the weapons fire. “What are you doing here?”
“Somebody’s gotta watch your back.”
He frowned, but nodded, turning back to the DHD. He finished dialing and they heard the gate forming. He turned to the control on his wrist and inputted the IDC, then grabbed his radio and called to the others.
Kara heard the staff weapon before she even knew someone was there. The world seemed to slow and she turned to see and energy blast hurtling toward her father. She didn’t think, she just reacted, hurling herself in front of him. The blast hit her in the stomach with such a force that it drove her to the ground.
Daniel turned fluidly and fired his gun into the Jaffa, who went down. He turned to Kara, scooping her up in his arms, ignoring the mass amounts of blood spilling over him. “Hang in there Kara,” he whispered. “Jack we gotta go!” he yelled.
Jack turned to say something smart and saw the figure in his arms. “Oh God,” he said. “Get to the gate!” he yelled to the others, before racing over to Daniel’s side and helping him pick up Kara. With her supported between them they raced for the gate, not even pausing to see if the others were coming.
Please God, Daniel thought, let us not be too late. Please let us not be too late.
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