T
itle: Distant Chains
Date: June 25, 2001
Status: Complete
Author: Jmas
Category: Drama, angst
Rating: PG-13
Email: jmasg1@bellsouth.net
Spoilers: Chain Reaction
Summary: Some chains are welcome parts of us….
Author's note: Another of the missing scenes or tags for season
4 promised to the HC list.
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the
property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I,
the Goa’uld and all other characters who have appeared
in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles
and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide
Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret
Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This
fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights
and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the
story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the
author.
Distant Chains
By
Jmas
‘Dammit…’
Letting up on the gas pedal by sheer effort of will, Jack
hit the redial on his cell phone once again. Placing the phone
to his ear, Jack counted the rings as he slipped out of the
interstate traffic onto the off-ramp that would put him on
the highway leading to Cheyenne Mountain. Fifteen miles to
go and another thirty rings with no answer. Someone had to
be there. Hundreds of people didn’t just disappear from
a twenty-four/seven military complex. Three hours now and nothing.
Nada. Zip.
Even Daniel’s direct extension continued to ring, his
cell phone politely requested a voice mail message - the last
had been unprintable. They’d missed three check-ins and
the last time they’d spoken Daniel had told Jack about
the bomb and Carter’s concerns over just how much of
an effect the naquada-enhanced warhead would have on an open
wormhole.
“Dammit, Daniel, where the hell are you?”
Making a left turn east, Jack could finally see the crest
of the mountain and breathed a long sigh of relief that the
mountain was still there, not reduced to a pile of smoking
rubble the way his imagination had seen it for the last hundred
miles.
‘Doesn’t mean something else didn’t get
them - radiation, pissed off goa’uld…. What the
hell were those guys thinking? You go around blowing up planets
and somebody’s not going to notice? Most likely somebody
of the snaky persuasion just itching for a reason to break
the treaty and blow us all to hell and gone….’
Looking down at the speedometer, Jack realized he’d
red-lined it again and eased off. Not even his military credentials
would keep him out of jail if he were pulled over, and he sure
as hell couldn’t count on being able to reach anyone
from the mountain to get him out of trouble.
“Shit…” Jack cursed aloud and hit redial
again. After another dozen rings he cursed again.
He was worried about his team - his friends. They had to be
okay; there was no other option. Kinsey and his lame threats
aside, no one deserved to be there more. They were SG1 and
they had, by damn, more than earned their place as General
Hammond’s top team. After four years of the SGC’s
operation they were the only team still intact, still healthy
and kicking and backing each other up, and Hammond knew the
kinds of odds they’d had to buck to be able to say that.
Kinsey be damned, they’d done the kind of work a brown-nosing
fanatic like the good senator could only dream about. Maybe
they hadn’t gotten their hands on a lot of the coolest
toys but they had built a name in the galactic community Earth
could be proud of. And that stood for something, stood for
a damn lot and there was no way it could be over. His kids
were fine, the SGC was fine and Hammond was - by God - coming
back to command them all.
Exiting right onto the road that would take him to the main
gate, Jack caught himself holding his breath. There were two
guards at the checkpoint, one gesticulating into the phone
as if whoever was on the other end of the line could see him,
the other already leaning out to greet Jack and smiling tightly
in recognition. At last a familiar face.
“What’s going on, Sergeant Redmond?”
The sergeant looked tired and more than a little frazzled. “A
whole hell of a lot, sir. Everyone’s gathered just past
checkpoint C, you can meet up with them there.”
Torn between demanding more information from the sergeant
and going to see for himself, Jack let his foot make the decision
for him and he shot through the barrier as soon as it was raised.
Checkpoint B was the tunnel entrance, C the one just outside
the blast doors. If everyone was there, they’d evacuated
the mountain. Jack felt his gut clench again, hating these
damnable unknowns. The duty officer at the tunnel entrance
waved his car through and Jack sent a silent thanks to Redmond,
who’d apparently called ahead for him. Jack pulled into
the tunnel and swung to a stop along the tunnel wall, prevented
from driving any further by emergency barricades not usually
in place there.
Jumping out and taking off at a run, Jack tried to keep the
worst-case scenarios from playing out in his brain. Tried not
to think that whatever had gone wrong his team were the most
likely to have remained to try to make it right…and the
most likely to have died if they couldn’t.
Above the sound of his own running footsteps and harsh breathing,
Jack began to hear the murmur of voices echoing off the living
rock of the tunnel walls, nothing loud or distinct, no crisis-in-progress
shouts of pain or panic. Rounding the last bend before the
main blast doors, Jack spotted the first SFs, maintaining a
loose perimeter around a mass of SGC and NORAD personnel. Though
Jack knew NORAD was never unstaffed - the place was just too
vital for complete evacuation - apparently nonessential staff
had been cleared out.
Making his way through the crowd, Jack peered over the gathered
heads hoping to spot the one head guaranteed to stand above
most of the others - Teal’c. Near the wall on the far
side of the blast doors, looking down in his uniquely scathing
disapproving manner at the slumped and defeated-looking form
of General Bauer. Carter stood arms crossed and deep in thought
just beyond him and Daniel was on the other side of her, one
hand pinching his nose - sure sign of a stress headache - the
other punching numbers into his cell phone. Jack’s pocket
rang, causing three sets of eyes to come flying up in his direction.
“Um, hello?”
A round of smiles and questioning looks greeted him and with
a quick glance down at the seemingly unaware Bauer, Jack nodded
and gave a thumbs up. Mission accomplished and Hammond would
soon be back where he belonged. Likely well before Bauer’s
mess was cleaned up. Speaking of which ….
Jack looked at Carter and nodded toward the blast doors.
“We’re waiting for the radiation levels to go
down, it’ll be a while before we’re back up and
running again.”
“Long story?”
Teal’c nodded solemnly, eyes once again straying to
Bauer with all the sympathy he might have granted Apophis. “Extremely.”
Daniel’s expression spoke more eloquently of how close
Jack’s waking nightmares on the drive back had come to
reality.
“Welcome home, Jack.” The tone was slightly sardonic
but warmly sincere.
As ranking officer with Bauer - indisposed, Jack knew he’d
soon have to go into command mode and get things on the road
back to order, but for now he was just content to stand a moment
and let his fears dissipate into the cool breeze slipping through
the tunnel. With a pat to Daniel’s shoulder, Jack accepted
the words as they were intended and sighed. “Glad to
be home.”
*fin*
