We Love as One – Chapter 9

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Elias scanned the darkness for any signs of movement as he jogged quietly alongside Samantha. Daniel and Teal’c were right behind them, then Malek and Korra, zats still clutched in hand even though they had been told they were ineffective, and Jacob bringing up the rear.

They had been silently jogging toward the Chappa’ai for around twenty minutes and Elias estimated that at their current pace, they should reach the Chappa’ai soon. He clenched his hands around the straps of Samantha’s backpack, hoped that they would be able to escape safely, and undetected.

“Elias,” Sam started as she trotted beside him. He looked at her in the surrounding darkness and was slightly taken aback at the picture she made, with her bright blue eyes and golden blonde hair; in the failing light, she looked ethereal. Her words brought him and Lantash back though. “I just wanted to say thank you for letting me ramble earlier about you know and that you listened without saying anything. I appreciate it.” She said softly. 

“I also thank you Samantha, for being comfortable enough with me to share what was bothering you. It troubles me to see you so sad; if I can help you in any way, I would be glad to.” Elias vowed quietly, but knowing the ultimate way to make Samantha’s pain go away would be to tell her that Lantash was his symbiote.

Sam smiled lightly before focusing her attention back on getting her team and the Tok’ra safely to the Stargate and home. By her estimation, they would be upon the gate in a matter of minutes, which was a good thing since she could hear Daniel panting behind her. She could understand, in all of their missions together, they had never had to jog such a long distance in a short amount of time.

As she ran, the question that had popped into her head earlier when she was talking to Elias surfaced. She assumed that he knew her name from her dad, but when had he switched from calling her Major Carter to Samantha? The only Tok’ra to ever call her that was Martouf and hearing Elias say it and the way she’d catch him watching her unnerved her slightly, but also aroused her curiosity. She couldn’t help but think that there was something more to Elias than he and the other Tok’ra let on. For instance, when she had asked her father about him earlier, he skirted around Elias’s watchful behavior, but Sam knew her dad and also knew that nothing escaped his notice.

Sam’s eyes lit upon the outline of the Stargate in the distance and she breathed a sigh of relief, but didn’t let her guard down. There was still plenty of time for things to go wrong. Sam sped up her pace and felt Elias do the same.

Reaching the gate, Daniel headed toward the gate, gasping for breath and holding his side. Malek, Korra, and Jacob continued to monitor their surroundings, Teal’c stood stoically a few feet behind Daniel and Elias, in the past few days, was once again standing guard beside Sam.

“Sam!” Jacob hissed, looking in the direction behind the gate. As the rest of group looked through the ring of the gate to the other side, they could make out a group of small metal replicators making their way toward gate.

Sam swore mentally. “Elias, I need my pack.” Elias obeyed, swinging it from his shoulders and handing it over to Sam. She opened the flap.

“Don’t make any sudden moves.” Sam ordered, warily watching the advancing metal bugs as she rummaged around in her backpack. “They won’t attack you unless provoked. Daniel, start dialing.”

Korra stepped up to Sam. “Samantha Carter, what is it that you are looking for?”

Sam scowled as she continued to prowl around in her bag. “Explosives. Damage the DHD right after we leave so that the replicators can’t use it.” She gave a sigh of relief as she pulled out some objects that Elias had no idea what they were.

Sam closed her pack and handed it to Elias before moving to the DHD where Daniel had begun dialing. She slapped some explosive putty onto the DHD and attached a pack of C4 to it along with a timer. Looking over her shoulder, she estimated that the replicators would make it to the gate in five minutes, maybe less. She waited until the wormhole was established and Daniel had inputted the GDO code before beginning to set the timer. She didn’t want to give the replicators time enough to disable the explosive.

“Everybody go now.” Sam ordered, her back to the gate as she keyed in the countdown. The gentle sounds of the wormhole told Sam that four people, single-file, had gone through. Taking a glance behind her, Sam saw Elias and her father waiting tensely on the steps of the Stargate for her.

The sound of metal clinking against metal was eerily close now and Sam entered the time. Fifteen seconds.

A gunshot rang out and Sam heard her father shout at her, “Sam! Hurry up!”

Sam pressed the button for the countdown to begin and jumped to her feet. Looking on both sides of her, she could see why her father was so frantic; the bugs were everywhere. Sam began firing her P-90 at the bugs in an attempt to keep the bugs away from the DHD. Shots fired from behind her signaled that her dad was also covering her.  

Eleven seconds. Sam walked as quickly as she could backwards, still firing away.

“Samantha!” Sam heard a Tok’ra symbiote cry out, but was unsure of whether or not it was Selmac or Elias’s, who had yet to make an appearance. She risked looking back and found herself being grabbed by her jacket backwards as a spray of acid melted the tip of her gun.

As Elias or rather his symbiote pulled her jacket, she was yanked backwards hard and she tripped over the steps, hitting her head. She immediately felt herself being hastily lifted and bounced as she was carried through the gate.

Right before she felt the familiar coldness of the wormhole, she heard Elias’s symbiote murmur, “Samantha, love, please be all right. Martouf is gone, but I cannot lose you.” Her eyes closed and blackness settled in before confusion could rein in her mind.