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Coming Home

 Chapter 10

SG-1 and SG-7 had boarded the Prometheus, the plan being to rendezvous with the Tok’ra ship.

"So, you think they’ve really figured out how to make this work?" Cam asked Jack as they walked down the corridor.

"Jacob sounded optimistic. Won’t know until we try."

Cam glanced behind them. "How in the hell did Kinsey manage to worm his way in on this?"

"Bastard apparently pulled some favors out of his ass. Some crap about direct orders from the IOC, and the President. Hate to have him tagging along with us, but it’s better than letting him out of our sight."

"Does Jacob know not to mention anything about Jessie’s little problem in front of him?"

"Yeah. Already gave him a head’s up about it."

They stopped on the bridge, checking in with Colonel Pendergast. Only a couple of minutes had passed before Sam and Jessie walked in.

Sam’s gaze flickered over Kinsey, trying but not completely succeeding in hiding her disgust. Turning to Jack, she said, "Sir, we have everything set up and ready to go."

"Good. We’ll give you a head’s up when we’re ready on our end."

It would have been a four-way tie as far as who was more surprised by what happened next. Kinsey walked over to Jessie, reaching out and patting her on her back.

"Dr. Watson. It’s nice to see that you recovered from the unfortunate incident with, uh, I believe his name was Kaitsenko?"

Jessie stiffened, taking a step backwards to move out of his reach. "Yes."

Kinsey was not deterred. "I know we haven’t exactly seen eye to eye in the past, but I just wanted you to know I’m glad you came through your ordeal unscathed."

Jessie was eyeing him like he was a scorpion, and Jack intervened before she had a chance to reply.

"We’ve almost reached the destination, Kinsey. If there’s anything you’re gonna bring with you, you’d better go get it now."

Kinsey gave Jack a sickeningly sweet smile. "Ah, yes. Well. Dr. Watson," he said, bowing slightly to her as he exited the bridge.

"What the hell was that all about?" Sam asked.

"I have no idea, but I don’t trust that bastard as far as I can throw him."

"We’ll keep a close eye on him," Jack said. "If he gives us any trouble, he just might end up getting lost." Even though it was said jokingly, Jack was serious. Kinsey had become a serious liability. If he endangered anyone this time around, Jack would make certain it was a one-way trip.

Once they met up with the Tok’ra ship, Jack, Cam and Kinsey transferred over with the Destroyer weapon. The cover story they gave Kinsey was that the Tok’ra had a more stable power supply for it, whereas in reality they were going to attempt to operate the device without the interaction of the nanites. Jacob was almost certain it could be done. Sam was staying on the Prometheus to run simulations from her lab there, correlating with Jacob once they got things online. Wanting to be sure Jessie wasn’t affected in some adverse way, Janet had boarded the Prometheus ahead of everyone else. After the weapon had been moved to the Tok’ra vessel, she had Jessie meet her in the infirmary, proceeding to hook her up to the monitoring equipment so she could keep an eye on her.

Greeting Jacob, Jack looked back to where they had been transported onto the Tok’ra ship.

"That’s new," he said, looking at the platform. "You’ve got kind of a Star Trek vibe going on there."

Jacob grinned. "Yeah, well, it’s a end result of a lot of Tok’ra research. It allows transportation to any location. Kind of like a portable Stargate and Asgard beaming technology rolled into one."

"Sweet."

Ignoring Kinsey, Jacob gestured to Jack and Cam. "C’mon, let me show you what we’ve come up with for the weapon."

They hadn’t been on the Tok’ra ship more than fifteen minutes when trouble erupted, and they received an urgent message from Colonel Pendergast.

"General O’Neill, I was just notified that Dr. Watson was beamed off the ship."

"What?!"

"We’re conducting a scan of the immediate area…"

Jack glanced over at Kinsey, noting the smirk on his face.

"What the hell did you do, you son of a bitch?"

"Who, me? I haven’t done anything, General. I’ve been with you the entire time, haven’t I?"

Jacob immediately started running his own scans using the modified technology on the ship. "Jack, I’ve picked up a cloaked ha’tak, eight degrees starboard." After a moment, he said, "We’re being hailed."

Looking up, they were definitely not pleased to see the image of Camulus fill the view screen.

"O’Neill. Encountering you again out in the middle of nowhere—what are the odds?"

"My thoughts exactly."

"I do believe I owe you a bit of payback from our last encounter."

"Hey, you got exactly what you deserved."

Camulus’ eyes flashed, but he maintained his smile. "Perhaps from your point of view, but I plan on evening the score." Moving to the side, he made sure they had a clear view of Jessie behind him. Camulus taunted her and she came at him, unaware of the energy field shielding the cell she was in. She hit it hard, causing it to spark heavily, knocking her to the ground.

At that moment the Destroyer weapon disappeared from the Tok’ra ship.

Before anyone had a chance to react to that latest development, Kinsey began yelling at Camulus.

"That wasn’t part of the deal!"

Camulus smiled. "What are you whining about, Kinsey? I told you what I wanted, you delivered it. You’ll get what I promised you."

"You only said Dr. Watson. You didn’t say anything about the weapon!"

"I needed someone more reliable to secure the weapon. There was no reason to involve you in that."

Cam grabbed Kinsey by the shoulder and spun him around. "You’re the reason Jessie’s been taken prisoner by him?" he asked incredulously.

"Get your hands off me, Colonel, or I’ll see you court-martialed."

Jack punched a couple of buttons on the console. "Walter, you there?"

"Yes Sir."

"I need you to get a lock on Jessie and get her out of there."

"I’m trying, Sir. The ha’tak’s shields are interfering."

"Keep trying."

"Walter, this is Senator Kinsey. I order you to get a lock on that weapon immediately."

While that scene was playing out on the Tok’ra ship, Jessie was picking herself up off the floor, holding her left arm close to her body. The shock from hitting the energy field had caused it to go numb. Regardless, she had heard the exchange between the ships.

Staring at Camulus coldly, she asked, "Why the hell do you want me?"

Camulus smiled. "I could give you several reasons. Do you really want me to spell them out?" As he spoke, he walked over to a small cart and rolled it over in front of her cell. Jessie felt a knot grow in her stomach as she recognized the weapon sitting on top of it.

Camulus reached over and inserted a power supply into the appropriate slot.

"While your obeisance to me the last time I saw you was quite…entertaining, your scream and subsequent collapse made me realize you had something to do with my shields being rendered ineffective. I correlated that with additional information I received from other sources." Switching on a data screen, he used it to power up the weapon, and Jessie felt the scar on her back begin to throb in response. "Today, I will take out the famed SG-1, along with the Prometheus. That feat alone will increase my standing among the System Lords exponentially."

The energy field around Jessica was solid, with no fluctuations. She had heard Cam and Kinsey arguing, and Jack telling Walter to get a lock on her, but with the shields up, even she knew the transporter couldn’t get a lock on her. The enormity of the situation hit her as the humming in her ears grew louder, the sweat breaking out on her skin. She remembered Pendergast saying, ‘If our shields go down, ha’taks could theoretically destroy us within minutes.’

They couldn’t help her, nor could she help herself.

Looking at Cam on the view screen, she caught his gaze, causing him to cease his argument with Kinsey. ‘I can’t let this happen. I love him too much to be the reason why he dies, why they all die.’ Glancing at the weapon, she knew it wouldn’t work without her. Reaching down, Jessie’s hand closed around her 9 mm, and she pulled it free from its holster.

Camulus saw her action, and began to laugh.

"Foolish woman. You think you can kill me? The energy field prevents anything from passing through it. You cannot harm me."

Jessie felt the sweat trickle down her back, the shudders starting to rack her body uncontrollably. The roaring in her ears had grown so loud, it almost blocked out what Camulus was saying.

"You arrogant son of a bitch," she gasped in between shudders. "It’s always about you." Her hand shook as she raised the gun. Jessie looked up at the screen, an overwhelming sadness reflected in her eyes.

"I love you, Cam," she whispered.

Putting the gun to her head, she closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.

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