"General, we've had an urgent message from the Jaffa on Dakara." Jack's already pulling on clothes before Reynolds finishes his sentence. "Teal'c's disappeared."
"Disappeared? Like, poof?" He digs through a drawer for a pair of socks that match.
"Sounds that way, sir."
Jack says, "Oy."
He calls Daniel while tying his shoes -- Daniel's still up, translating more of the Ancient text from the weapon on Dakara -- and calls Carter while brushing his teeth.
"Jack?" she mumbles, not quite awake. Jack grins at the slip, making toothpaste run down his chin, and hopes he knows what she was dreaming about. By the end of the day, he won't be her boss anymore.
"Mountain," he says, tilting his head back so he won't drool again. "Now. Teal'c."
"I'll be right there, sir," she says. "Great way to start your last day?"
Jack grunts with his mouth still full. "Super," he says.
***
0340
"He went where?"
Bra'tac leans close to the camera, one hand resting on the MALP. "It is a device found on the other side of the mountain from the weapon. Teal'c entered it to investigate."
"And you let him?"
Daniel bends down, his head accidentally hitting Jack's on the way, and grabs the microphone. "Bra'tac, are the symbols the same? In Ancient?"
"They are," Bra'tac says. "We have several of Anubis' former Jaffa in our ranks and one of them believes he can translate three of the words. Time, history, and power."
"Oh, boy," Carter says.
Jack, still rubbing his head, exchanges a look with Carter. Then he takes the microphone back. "I'm sending Carter, Daniel, and SG-4 through right away," he says.
"Thank you, O'Neill. I shall see you soon, Colonel Carter, Doctor Jackson." The screen goes blank as the wormhole closes.
Jack sits back in his chair, scrubbing at the stubble on his chin. He wishes he'd had time for a shower. "Any guesses?" he asks the two remaining members of SG-1.
"Well, that inscription sounds ominous," Daniel says. "Another Ancient time machine?"
Carter swivels her chair to face them both. "Or maybe he's been beamed somewhere relatively nearby, like you and Maybourne, sir."
"I'm not sure which of those would be more of a pain in the ass," Jack says.
"Oh, I'd say it's probably a draw," Daniel says.
Jack shrugs one shoulder in agreement.
"It would depend on where he was sent," Carter says. "In either case."
"One way to find out." Daniel frowns. "I have to get some of my notes."
"Ten minutes, Daniel," Carter calls as Daniel hurries down the steps. He waves a hand at her without looking back.
Carter's biting the inside of her cheek, already, Jack knows, running through hundreds of scenarios and permutations in her head. He's always liked watching her in genius mode, though he's too smart to say so.
"Just," he says. "Try not to disappear anybody else. Please?"
She gives him a soft smile. "I'll try," she says.
*
0407
Carter's the first one back from gearing up; Jack meets her in the gate room and makes a point of grumbling. "What the hell was he thinking, anyway?"
"I get the feeling the Jaffa might be letting their enthusiasm get the better of them," she says.
"Is that a diplomatic way of saying they're all nuts?"
"Maybe," she says, and smiles, which makes Jack's mind wander a bit.
"You know," he says, "I was supposed to spend the day packing and taking congratulatory phone calls. Maybe even knock off early."
"Early, sir?" And she looks him right in the eye, and Jack's positive there's something here he's never seen before. He thinks he likes it.
They had talked a bit up at Jack's cabin, after Jacob died, and a bit more since then. But they haven't made any definite plans, an oversight Jack intends to rectify at exactly 1701 hours, when he asks her out to dinner.
He doesn't get a chance to reply, because SG-4 troops into the gate room, followed, a few seconds later, by Daniel.
"Dial it up, Sergeant," Jack says to the window above.
They make it to the second chevron before the gate spins to life on its own.
"What the ..." Jack turns to look up at the control room again. "Airman, when's the next team due back?"
One technician says, "Not until 0800, sir," while the other sounds the alarm. "Unauthorized offworld activation, unauthorized offworld activation."
"Maybe ...?" Daniel says hopefully, unholstering his zat; Carter and SG-4 pull theirs out, too. SFs stream into the gate room and Jack commandeers a P-90.
The seventh chevron locks and the wormhole spits out towards them. "There's no code coming through, sir," Sergeant Kennedy says into the microphone. "Should I close the iris?"
"No," Jack says, and though he knows it's a long shot, "Teal'c might have lost his GDO."
Everybody in the gate room has their weapons trained on the wormhole. There's a ripple, and a serpent guard in full battle gear steps onto the ramp. Which is more than a little odd, considering that Apophis has been dead for years.
"Teal'c?" Jack asks. "That you, buddy?"
But the Jaffa has already raised and armed his staff weapon. Plasma snaps around the end.
"What the ..." Jack says again, and Carter zats the guy.
Then comes another Jaffa, and another, six in all, each of them zatted as they step onto the ramp. Finally, the gate spits out a ghost.
"Holy shit," Daniel says.
Apophis lowers his golden helmet and raises his hand, the one with the ribbon device. "What is the meaning of this insolence?" he demands.
Jack shoots him straight through the hand. Somebody zats him a second later, and he falls to the ramp with a clank. The wormhole disengages behind him.
Carter starts up the ramp, lowering serpent helmets, and Jack and Daniel follow with the members of SG-4. Jack's got a bad feeling about this. He kicks Apophis' armor. It's real, all right.
"Haven't I seen this movie before?" he asks.
Daniel's eyes widen as he puts it together. "Teal'c's report from the first time he came to Earth with Apophis. To harvest hosts."
"Bingo," Jack says.
"Sir," Carter says, standing by the first Jaffa who came through. Jack sees a familiar, bald, unconscious head sticking out of the armor. It's also more gold than Teal'c's been in years.
"Holy shit," Daniel says again.
"I'm thinking time machine, Carter," Jack says. "How about you?"
*
0425
"Figure this out, will you? I've got a schedule to keep here," Jack says as the wormhole splashes out of the gate. Their new guests have been removed to the lockup, and SG-1 and SG-4 are ready to go, again.
"We'll bring him home, Jack," Daniel says.
"Of that I have no doubt, Daniel," Jack says. Okay, maybe a little doubt, but their record with mystery Ancient devices has been pretty good lately, Daniel's better at the Ancient since his last, brief ascension, and anyway, it's Carter. Carter always beats the crazy alien tech in the end. Almost always.
"Good luck," he tells her, and his eyes settle on her hand where it rests on the butt of her weapon. Her fingernails are shiny, catching the light, and he's sure they weren't yesterday. Interesting. He wonders what color her toenails are.
*
0443
Apophis wakes up first. Figures. Jack waits outside the cell bars, confused as all hell.
"Human! I am your god! Bow before me!"
"Yeah," Jack says. "Not so much."
The snake looks at his bandaged hand as if he's never seen it before. His eyes glow in anger. "What is the meaning of this?" he says. "I command you to release me at once!"
"Don't think so," Jack says. He turns to go, ordering the guards to keep the safeties off.
Next door, Teal'c wakes slowly, then jumps to his feet when he sees Jack.
"Heya, Teal'c. It's okay if I call you Teal'c, right?"
Teal'c's body is tense, ready to spring, and his face is set in his old, dangerous frown. There's no recognition in his eyes. But he's definitely more gold -- and less pumped, smaller. Younger.
"I'm Jack. Jack O'Neill. You can call me O'Neill."
Teal'c just keeps frowning.
"Don't suppose you can tell me where you were right before you came to our lovely planet? Dakara, maybe? Ring any bells?"
"You know nothing, human."
"Oh, you'd be surprised," Jack says. "Listen, why don't I let you relax for a bit, maybe eat some breakfast? We can talk more later."
Teal'c frowns some more.
"In fact, I'm looking forward to it," Jack says.
Apophis' voice follows him as he walks to the elevator. "Free me or you will be destroyed! You will witness the power of your god!"
"Yeah, yeah," Jack says.
*
0641
"Carter, give me good news."
She shakes her head, squinting in Dakara's harsh light. It's midafternoon there. "Not yet, sir, sorry. We've identified the controls and Daniel thinks it's a time machine of some sort, but I'm not sending anybody in until we get a better idea of what the inscriptions say."
"Working on it," Daniel says, from somewhere out of sight.
"This is not how I want to spend my last day, Carter," Jack says.
"Yes, sir. Me neither, sir."
Jack stops for a moment, takes in the sight of her -- her face a little pink from the sun, her hair being tossed by the wind.
"Keep me informed, Colonel," he says, and signs off. He's got some reports to sign.
*
0734
Jack walks Reynolds to the elevator at the end of his shift. Jack's replacement -- and nobody's decided who that will be yet -- won't report to the base for at least a week, so Reynolds will be in charge.
"Don't burn the place down, okay?" Jack says.
Reynolds says, "It's been an honor serving with you, sir."
*
0812
"Yeah, it's definitely a time machine," Daniel says over the radio. "Sort of."
Jack does not like the sound of that. "Sort of?"
"Well, it doesn't send you back in your present form. It sends you back exactly the way you were then."
"So this is definitely our Teal'c, right? Just the younger model?"
"Oh, he's ours. Though how it also manages to bring to life people who weren't in the machine, I have no idea. Actually, I think it might have been intended as an alternative to the sarcophagus, because of the -- uh -- you know." Daniel pauses uncomfortably; Jack pictures him taking his glasses off and putting them back on. "Side effects," he finishes. "With this one, when you're about to die, you just -- reset."
"But what's the point if you don't keep your memories?"
"Yeah," Daniel says. "They do seem to have gotten something wrong here. I get the feeling they tried a lot of different ideas before the puddle jumper finally worked."
Jack pinches the bridge of his nose, wishing he were out there with them. He's always restless when they're offworld without him, but now, knowing that in a couple weeks he'll be holed up in the Pentagon while they're getting shot at or walking into time machines, it's all magnified.
"Hey," he says. "Any chance you need somebody with the Ancient gene?"
"Don't think so," Daniel says. "But we'll keep you in mind."
*
0905
"Yes, sir. Thank you very much, sir. Yes, I'm looking forward to it, too. I'll see you in a week, sir," Jack tells the president over the phone.
*
0953
And the secretary of defense.
*
1028
And the chair of the joint chiefs.
*
1122
"You really sure you want to do this, sir?" Jack asks the soon-to-be-retired General Hammond, when he, too, calls to congratulate Jack on his promotion.
Hammond chuckles. "I'm sure, Jack," he says.
*
1230
Jack figures it's time for another visit to Teal'c. He's not sure why, since Carter's going to fix the thing and they'll have Teal'c back to the right place in the timeline in a matter of hours. But he is their Teal'c, albeit a less politically evolved version, and in the extremely unlikely event that Daniel can't translate it and Carter can't make it work, he might end up staying here for a very long time.
"Kneel before me!" Apophis shouts, eyes aglow. "You will suffer greatly for this!"
"Whatever you say," Jack says. He tells the airmen on duty to get themselves some earplugs, and they salute him as if he's their savior.
Teal'c's doing pushups, and doesn't look up at Jack's approach.
"So Teal'c," Jack says. "They treating you okay?"
Teal'c does some more pushups.
Jack pulls over a chair, from the corner. "Look, there's no point in wasting time here, so I'm just going to cut to the chase. You, my friend, don't believe your god is a god any more than I do. Which he isn't, by the way."
Teal'c looks up long enough to frown.
"You're even thinking of offing the guy and switching sides, but you've never seen another culture with technology advanced enough to help you out. Right? Well, we've got it."
Teal'c hesitates for a fraction of a second.
"You saw the weapons we had when you came through the gate, right? So let's dispense with the unpleasantries and you decide right now that we're smarter than he is. Deal?"
Teal'c doesn't slow down, or look up. "You know nothing, human. I am honored to serve my god. "
Jack scratches his ear. "I figured you'd say that. How about telling me why you're here, then? Wouldn't be to find a host for Apophis' queen Amonet, would it?"
Teal'c frowns up at Jack, his face registering what Jack knows is surprise, though nobody who hasn't spent eight years with the guy would see it. He stands and moves minutely closer to the bars. "You merely wish me to know that one of my men has succumbed to your torture and told you the information you require."
"No torture, Teal'c," Jack says. As he leaves, he says over his shoulder, "Just think about it."
Jack walks the other way this time, to avoid the heckling.
"I will have my revenge!" the Goa'uld calls down the hall.
"But I have a zat," Jack calls back.
*
1300
Jack tries to sit down for lunch in the cafeteria, but so many people drop by to say, "Thank you" and "Good luck in Washington" and "It's been an honor, sir," that all he manages to eat is one bite of an apple and two bites of cake.
*
1430
"It really is good news this time," Carter says, via the MALP camera.
"Thank god," Jack says. "The verbal abuse from a dead guy is starting to get old."
One corner of her mouth quirks. "We've figured out how it works. Now we just have to figure out how to reverse it."
Jack eyes her with suspicion. "This figuring wouldn't involve going in there, would it?"
"No, sir," she says, a trace of guilt on her face mixing with amusement. "Absolutely not."
*
1600
Jack's last official briefing at the SGC is with SG-25, who are headed back to the mining camp on P3C-816 after a week's leave. They don't exactly need advice.
"Have fun with your rocks," he says.
"It's been an honor to work with you, General," says Captain Torres, while her team all rise and give him a snappy salute. Jack salutes them back.
*
1646
The last thing Jack puts in his USAF-issue moving boxes is an eight-year-old picture of SG-1.
*
1701
So much for asking Carter out.
*
1710
"Carter?"
"Just a couple more hours, sir."
"I'm officially off the clock, you know."
She checks her watch. "Yes, sir," she says with a smile. Her eyes are very blue, and Jack starts a bet with himself about her toenails.
*
1800
Jack doesn't even try to eat dinner. He sneaks down to the locker room for a shower and shave, instead.
*
1940
"You are all my slaves! On your knees, human!"
"On and on and on," Jack says.
The shift has changed, but the new guards are also wearing earplugs. "Nice work, Airmen," Jack says.
Teal'c is standing up, almost as if he were waiting for something. "O'Neill," he says.
Jack raises an eyebrow. "O'Neill?"
"What world is this?" Teal'c asks.
"This, Teal'c, is Earth. You know us as the Tau'ri."
Teal'c looks skeptical. "The Tau'ri chappa'ai was lost centuries ago."
"It was. We dug it up." Jack studies Teal'c's face, recognizing a hint of his friend's familiar curiosity. He unbuckles his watch and hands it over. "Here, take a look at this."
Teal'c hesitates before accepting, then examines it closely. "This is a magnetic device for charting a course on land. It is a very simple implement."
"We call it a compass," Jack says. "Flip it up on the side there and see what's underneath."
Teal'c does, then looks up in amazement.
"It's a watch, Teal'c. It tells you the time of day." Jack knows Teal'c's never seen such a thing; aside from large clocks in city squares and consoles on Goa'uld ships, there are no timepieces in Jaffa land. "Our day is divided into twenty-four hours. What does it say?"
"One thousand nine hundred and fifty three," Teal'c says. "This means the day on your planet is nearly over."
"Almost. Our day goes from midnight to midnight. At 20:31, our sun will set."
Teal'c hands the watch back and pays attention as Jack puts it back on. Then his eyes look to the left, where Apophis is in the next cell, and he drops his voice. "Tell me more of your world, Tau'ri," he says.
*
2110
"The system lords will track you down when I do not return! You will be punished! I will flay you myself! I am your god!"
"Oh, shut up," Jack says.
*
2152
"I think we've got it, sir," Carter says over the radio. No picture this time. Shame. "All we had to do was set the dials in the right order. The hard part is getting the time right. Luckily, it's a lot more precise than the puddle jumper."
"So I could go back and watch the Cubs win the World Series?"
There's a pause, and Jack's pretty sure she's rolling her eyes. They've had this conversation before.
"I'm afraid not, sir. You can only move back and forth within your own lifetime."
"Damn."
"So I think we're all ready to --"
"No." Jack's impatience has finally got the better of him. It is his last day, after all.
"Sir?"
"I'm coming through. To, uh, supervise. Don't touch anything until I get there!"
"What's to supervise?" Daniel says from a distance.
"Hey, if something goes wrong," -- if Teal'c goes up in flames, if Carter or Daniel disappears, too -- "I want to be the first one to know about it. Besides, you might need the gene."
There's a pause on the other end of the line. "I don't think we need the gene, sir," she says. Jack thinks she's messing with him. "Teal'c didn't need the gene."
"You might need it!"
"Are you bored, by any chance, sir?" Definitely messing with him.
"No," Jack lies, knowing she'll recognize it. "Absolutely not."
*
2317
"I don't see any Teal'cs, Carter."
She half-shrugs, her eyes glued to the entrance of what looks like a big, black box with writing scribbled all over it.
"It might take a few minutes," Daniel says, though Jack can tell from his voice that it's a guess.
"Come on, Teal'c," Carter mumbles.
There's a loud clang, then the dials on the front of the thing start spinning.
"Good sign?" Jack asks.
Lightning -- or something like lightning -- erupts from the top of the box and crackles toward the sky. Something inside the box thumps, loudly, followed by a low groan.
"Teal'c?" Daniel calls.
"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c says. "I seem to have tripped."
"That wasn't a trip, Teal'c," Carter says.
Teal'c emerges, limping but otherwise unscathed, and Daniel ducks under his arm to help him stand. "I beg to differ, Colonel Carter," Teal'c says. He looks around at the large assembly of SGC personnel and Jaffa. "I did not realize you planned to visit Dakara today."
"Sort of a last-minute thing," Jack says. "Now stand still. Yes, right there. Don't move. I mean it."
Jack grabs his radio; they've kept the line open. "Walter? Did anything strange just happen?"
"Strange, sir? I don't -- oh. Yes. The guards on 23 have just reported that the holding cells are empty."
"All of them? Poof? No unwanted guests?"
"All of them, sir. I take it you've recovered Teal'c, sir?"
"But the Earth's still there, right?" Jack asks, ignoring Walter's question. He catches Carter's eyes as she rolls them. Well, hey, you never know with time travel. She taught him that, after all.
"As far as I know, sir, yes, the Earth is still here," Walter says.
"Perfect," Jack says. "O'Neill out."
Teal'c examines the faces of his three former teammates. "I do not understand."
"Long story," Daniel says.
"Teal'c, what just happened to you?" Carter asks.
"I have told you. I tripped. "
"Right," Carter says, grinning now. "Just one piece of advice. You might want to block this thing off."
Teal'c's head cocks to one side. "I seem to have had a dream in which O'Neill offered me his watch." He holds up his wrist, examining his own watch, and seems confused to find only one.
Jack slaps him on the back. "Nice," he says.
*
0038
As SG-1 walks together back to the gate, Jack stops to see the sunrise. The light on Dakara is red -- iron dust in the atmosphere, or something -- and everything it touches turns orange. There are still a few stars in the sky.
"This may be your last visit to another world for quite some time, O'Neill," Teal'c says.
Jack squints in Earth's direction. "Guess so," he says.
Teal'c and Daniel start walking again, Daniel explaining Teal'c's adventure, but Jack holds back a bit with Carter. Staying on earth might have some benefits, he thinks.
Her hand brushes his as they walk.
***
Jack's last day in command of the SGC ends at 0300, as he waits outside the women's locker room. Maybe dinner tomorrow instead, he thinks, yawning.
Carter emerges in a very pretty, summery outfit. The skirt shows off her legs, the top shows off her -- but Jack's not going to stare, at least not yet. Her toenails, as Jack had hoped, are painted light purple, peeking out from open-toed, high-heeled sandals.
Jack brings his eyes up to her face to see one of those indulgent smiles of hers, like she so has his number. He grins. "Walk you to your car, Colonel?"
"Thank you, General," she says, and falls into step by his side. Her sandals click on the concrete floor.
Dinner, yes, Jack thinks as they enter the elevator to the surface. Tomorrow, when they've both had some sleep. And after dinner -- who knows?
Once they've left the building and entered the parking garage, he notices Carter looking at him sideways. He looks back, and she ducks her head.
"So, Carter," he starts.
"How do you feel about breakfast?" she says before he can finish. "Tomorrow?"
"I like breakfast," he says, "but it already is tomorrow, Carter." She shakes her head in feigned annoyance, and Jack offers, "Meet you at ten?"
"Actually," she stretches the word out, "I was thinking a little earlier. At my place."
Jack's insides start to tingle pleasantly.
"And maybe," she says, "just to save time, you might want to sleep at my place. So you won't have to drive over in the morning. "
Jack stops walking and grins at her. She grins right back.
"That, Carter," he says, "is one of the most brilliant ideas you have ever had."
Thanks for reading!