The Allusion by Alli Snow

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Story Notes: Title: The Allusion

Author: Alli (alli@ecis.com)

Rating: PG/PG-13

Category: Future story, SJR, angst

Archive: SJA and Heliopolis

Please archive stories in the below order, under the series title: Andromeda (Thanks to Ness for the title idea)

1. The Assignment
2. The Aide
3. The Afterglow
4. The Arising
5. The Allusion

* * * * *

|| Jack O'Neill ||

Another day, another mission.

You know your life is truly weird when stepping through an inter-dimensional thingy, traveling what's technically faster than light to an alien world becomes commonplace. I used to think I was special because I'd been all over the world and met tons of interesting people and killed some of them. No siree. Nothing compared to this.

I bounced through the wormhole on the balls of my feet, hefting the familiar and altogether comforting weight of my HK in my hands. I'd used Zat guns, I'd used staff weapons, and once Carter'd actually been able to get me to try out one of those ribbon devices. It was the first and last time, believe me. Nothing feels quite as secure and satisfying as a big hunk of single-minded metal cradled in your arms.

Daniel was next through, almost bumping into me; six-plus years and he still had absolutely no coordination. And neither did I. Some things, it seemed, never changed.

Teal'c was next, staff weapon at the ready even though the MALP had detected nothing threatening hereabouts. That was what I liked most about him, though. He was always vigilant, always ready, always... prepared. He would have made a hell of a Boy Scout.

Hot on Teal'c's heels was Anthony Warren. Warren was twenty-eight, a red-haired, hazel-eyed Captain, pretty much a trainee. The next generation of Stargate explorers, in a way. He had come highly recommended by more than a few USAF friends of Hammond, and so far I was impressed. He was quick on his feet, a real smart cookie, and he had a sense of humor that made me proud. He held his weapon like a good friend, not as watchful as Teal'c but not as laid back as me. A little time and training, and he would be a great officer, a superb team leader. I could feel it in my bones.

His one flaw...

"Tony?"

"Sir?"

"You forget your hat again?"

Warren's hand went immediately to his bare head. "God... I'm sorry, sir, I was just in a hurry and --"

I had to smile at his flustered expression. "It's all right, Captain. Just... make sure to stick one in your bag when we get back. That hair," I waved my hands in the air. "is just a big, huge, massive target. You've got to cover it up, I'm telling you."

"Sorry, sir."

I just grinned.

With almost annoying elegance, the next member of the group stepped from the blue plasma. Brown hair, blue eyes, Mid-Eastern complexion. Green BDUs, jacket, pack, black boots. She looked just like any other human member of the SGC. Upon first glance you would never be able to tell that Jadae was a Tok'ra.

Being a Tok'ra didn't make one automatically non-human, of course, and especially when Jacob Carter was around I had to be careful how I referred to them. To her credit, Jadae was an extremely intelligent, adroit, admittedly beautiful woman and we were lucky to have her company. However, there was also Maretne -- the symbiote -- and something in me always rankled when confronted with one body with two names.

"Where's Sam?" asked Daniel, tugging on his hat; the drawstring had pulled a little too tight against his throat. Warren snickered at him.

Jadae let her eyes drift across the horizon before answering. "Coming."

"As in, coming soon?" I asked with just a hint of impatience.

Jadae just blinked at me. "Yes."

Jadae wasn't a big talker, but I didn't mind. Her official position on the team had never been EXACTLY categorized; all I knew was that it was more of a show of good faith with the Tok'ra than anything substantial. As long as she stayed quiet, and out of the way, and wasn't a hindrance when it came down to the line, she was welcome to follow us around wherever she might please.

With a watery slurp, Sam Carter stepped from the Gate, glancing over her shoulder as the event horizon dissipated. "Sorry I'm late," she said, addressing us all but somehow deflecting the apology more towards me. "We had a small, uh, catastrophe in the lab."

"Anything we should be worried about?" asked Warren, looking down on the MALP with the correct amount of contempt due to anything of the mechanical persuasion.

Adjusting the bag on her back, Carter flashed him a nasty grin. "Nothing you'd understand."

Warren ignored her, staring at the ground ruefully and kicking at the MALP's tread.

* * * * *

"Alright, campers," I announced, realizing that as entertaining as this all was, we did have a time limit and an objective. Times were a'changing. A few years ago I would have been completely happy to simply stand in the sunshine and get a good laugh from the others. Daniel was still pawing at his hat, which seemed to have cinched even tighter around his neck. Teal'c stood at parade rest, watching him, with the slightest ghost of a smile playing on his lips and between his eyes. Warren had abandoned the defenseless MALP in favor of cackling at the archeologist. Jadae simply stood and stared, her hands perched on her narrow waist, just above the Zat gun hanging at her hip. Carter appeared ready to trek out, but her face was clouded, her eyes far away. Back in the lab, probably, with whatever 'catastrophe' had been catastrophic enough to warrant her lateness, but not her absence from the mission.

Oh yes, our little family had grown.

"Okay," I continued, betting that no one had noticed the pause. "It's business as usual. Everybody buddy up. Teal'c and Danny, Carter and Jadae, me and Tony."

"Wait... wait..." blurted Carter, jerking from whatever scientific playground she'd immersed herself in. "Let's... Teal'c, you take Jadae and Captain, you go with Daniel." The others gave me a perfunctory glance, not even waiting so see my nod as they headed off in their new assignments. Carter's word was as automatically respected as mine. Not that one set of combinations was better than another, I reflected. Warren would give Daniel a hard time, and Jadae and Teal'c would talk about... well, whatever Tok'ra and Jaffa talked about when the rest of the universe wasn't looking.

"What was that about?" I asked Carter as soon as we were out of earshot of the others. We'd scout around a little, taking advantage of our advanced numbers to widen our preliminary search. The truth was that I often placed Daniel with Teal'c simply because it made me feel better. If anything was going to get to our dear Doctor Jackson, it would have to go through Teal'c first... and there weren't many things that could. I put Carter with Jadae, oh, for many reasons. Mostly because, of all of us, Sam was the most comfortable with the Tok'ra. It had something to do with Jolinar, I was sure. When something was up with Sam, it could usually be traced back to Jolinar.

Or my own stupidity. Usually it could be narrowed down fairly quickly.

"Nothing," Carter answered a bit too slyly for my own personal tastes. "Except... I think you and Tony have been spending a bit too much time together."

I feigned shocked disgust. "What the hell does THAT mean?"

She chortled. "Come on, Colonel. Everybody sees it. You're turning him into... well, a miniature Jack O'Neill." She grinned. I'd never known a smile like Sam Carter's: so open and enthusiastic, like she was happy simply to be able to be nice to you. After all the things that had happened between us throughout the years, I didn't deserve that smile, which made me treasure it all the more.

"Miniature?" I scoffed, idly scanning the terrain. Not the usual desert or woodland area, thank God; in fact, the surrounding land was mostly barren rock with a few sprigs of ivy growing here and there. The region was by no means flat; the bedrock twisted and turned and thrust surprisingly smooth pillars into the sky. The sky... I craned my neck up, noting with some displeasure the dark clouds forming forebodingly just overheard. Rain would certainly put a damper on the mission. "That guy's no miniature anything. Have you seen his muscles?" I let out a long, low whistle.

Carter looked up at me with a pointed glare. "No. I haven't. And trust me, I don't want him turning into, well... you."

"Ouch. I think I've just been insulted."

"Well, don't be," she demanded in a slightly more amiable tone. "All I'm saying is that... one of you is plenty."

"Don't you mean 'more than enough'?"

"I mean," she answered saccharinely, "we don't need another one of you running around. And that's certainly what Tony's turning into. I've been told he actually had a decent sense of humor back on SG-15."

"Are you sure?" I asked, just as innocent as she. "Because my personality, his looks -- that's a winning combination if I ever heard one."

"Oh, I'm sure," she promised. "And if this has anything to do with that coffee date last Thursday..."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that," I remarked, spying an easier path through the rocky piers and cutting towards it.

"It was ALL Tony's idea and it was JUST coffee. That and donuts."

"Aha. So that's what they're calling it these days."

Sam lurched to a stop beside me, looking outraged but also about three seconds away from bursting into laughter. "What?"

"You don't even like donuts," I reminded her, not pausing to check her expression again, knowing that it wouldn't exactly be favorable. "Really, Carter, I'm getting old. You've got to keep me up on the latest lingo."

"Sir..."

I grabbed a clump of what seemed to be firmly-rooted vines and used them to pull myself up an incline of bedrock and granite -- not all of Daniel's 'artifact' ramblings had gone unnoticed. "No reason to be ashamed, Major," I drawled. "Hammond's got an opne mind... the regs are sketchy as it is... he reports to me, not you..."

"What do you mean, Sir?" she asked, her voice noticeably softer and directly behind me. I was suddenly delighted that she couldn't see my face.

"I mean I can't date him." It was a bad joke, and I wasn't surprised when she didn't reply to it.

The impasse between the slabs of stone widened, and I glanced at Carter as she pulled up next to me, looking vaguely huffy but also a little pleased. "Anyway. Actually, there IS no 'anyway'. I should probably go back down and find Jadae."

"Please. You know the only reason you switched everyone around was to get away from her. Besides, I'm sure she and Teal'c are right in the middle of some FASCINATING discussion. No need to break that up." I didn't have to use my 'sarcastic voice', not with Sam, who could read my mood from the pace at which I walked and the angle of my hat.

"She's not that much of a conversationalist, that's for sure," Carter conceded, starting to sound a bit winded now that we'd been traveling on an incline for some time. Up, up, and up, this path seemed to go. I just hope it lead somewhere, or if it didn't, that the other four were having better luck.

"That's just part of her charm," I construed. "Though you'd think with two people in a single body, at least one of them would have something to say."

She laughed at that, and even as the wind picked up, sluicing around the rocky channel and chilling both of us, I felt something warm and cheerful rush through my veins. I loved her laugh as much as her smile.

"Maretne surprises me sometimes," Carter confided, ducking her head coyly. "But I have to admit, you are infinitely better company."

I straightened, more surprised than I let on. "I think I've just been complimented."

"You might have been," she retorted.

I shrugged. "But it's okay, Major," I continued. "You can admit the truth. You just wanted to drag me out here all by myself so you could have your way with me."

Another ear-to-ear grin.

"Go on," I urged her. "Do what you will. Just, I beg of you, be gentle."

Sam had no sooner burst into smothered laughter when the radio hanging at my side gave an insistent blip. Feeling the teasing mood slip away on the bitter wind, I grabbed at the small black box. "O'Neill."

"Colonel." It was Warren. "I'm with the others at the base of a precipice--"

"Carter and I are probably right on top of you," I guessed, taking a few steps further up the worn trail. Worn from traffic, I wondered, or something else?

"Are you near any sort of shelter, sir?" This time, Warren's voice was markedly tense, and I felt my own muscles pull taunt at the aspect of danger.

The sense of sudden dread only worsened as Carter and turned full-circle. It was a rock-climber's dream: sheer stone everywhere, marred only by the waxy ivy that skulked up through fissures and cracks. "That's a negative." The only thing covering us was the steadily-darkening sky. Okay, so it would suck to get wet, but it was just a little rain. What the hell was Tony's problem?

"Well, sir," the Captain answered. "You'd sure as hell better find some."

Lightening raced across the sky.

Fucking GREEN lightening.

The radio went dead.

* * * * *

Coming soon... The Attack

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