Date: 2 Mar 2003 17:27:23 -0800
From: montana1416 <pglore@aol.com>
Subject: xfc: Hope Dies Last (5 of 8) by Montana1416
Source: atxc

Hope Dies Last (5 of 8)
Montana1416

Disclaimer in part 1

" 'K Jack take your time...pizza just got here."  
Penny headed back next door.  

Jack closed the door and headed for the 
bathroom, he couldn't shake the dream it was so 
vivid like Daniel had been lying next to him 
urging him to go through the gate, and save the 
world.  But he had no idea what Daniel was 
talking about; a government conspiracy, black 
oil, alien viruses, bad Thor's and who the hell 
was Scully? He wondered.  Daniel had said that 
Jack needed to help Mulder get Scully back. He 
splashed his face with water.   He went over to 
Penny's still pondering.  He, Mulder and Penny 
made small talk during dinner.  Jack found that 
Mulder was quite the sports enthusiast so they 
stayed mostly to that subject.  

Then on a whim Jack asked, "Who's Scully?"
   
Mulder looked like a fish, his mouth opened and 
closed before he said, "What do you know about 
Scully?"  Both Mulder and Penny were looking 
at Jack for an explanation. 

"Absolutely nothing. I just had this bizarre-o 
dream, where Daniel told me I had to help you 
save someone named Scully.  It seemed so real 
so I thought I'd ask and see if I got a response 
and it looks like I just did.  So I'll ask again 
who's Scully?"  

This time Mulder replied, "She was my partner 
at the FBI, she disappeared three month's ago."  

"How'd that happen?"  Jack asked.  Mulder was 
not given to trust easily so he looked at Penny 
she nodded her encouragement.  So Mulder 
related the tale of Scully's disappearance and 
what he and Penny had hypothesized had 
happened to her, to Jack. 

When he finished, Jack was still wondering why 
Daniel thought he could help Mulder so he 
asked, "Have you made any progress in finding 
a way to get her back?"

"Not really," it was Penny who answered.  "In 
order to go back in time we'd need and 
monstrously big wormhole and then have to be 
able to open it at precisely the time when a sun 
flare would hit it to send us back in time.  We 
figured out when the solar showers would create 
the flare but without being able to create and 
sustain a stable wormhole we're at a dead end. 
In fact Mulder's thinking about leaving this 
weekend."  

Jack understood at last what Daniel had been 
trying to tell him and then he realized it must 
have been Daniel not just a dream.  "No 
interference."  He murmured absently which 
drew a puzzled look from Penny.  He hadn't 
realized he had spoken out loud and did not want 
to explain so he quickly returned to the topic at 
hand.  

"I think I may be able to help you.  I am not at 
liberty to go into specifics.  But can you hold off 
on leaving Mulder." Mulder nodded slowly 
assessing Jack with suspicious eyes.  

Jack was contemplating if he were to do, what 
he was thinking of doing, exactly how much 
trouble was he going to be in.   "Penny what's 
your security rating?"  

"I have a Top Secret L2, classification."  

"Really! Why Dr. McAllister what are you 
working on?"  Jack said mildly surprised that 
Penny's classification and compartment were 
almost as high as his own. Penny smiled 
knowing she had shocked the Colonel.  

"Ok, meet me at the O Club at Cheyenne at let's 
say 10:00 pm tomorrow night. I'll tell you as 
much as I can then."  With that Jack said his 
good nights and headed back to Daniel's.  

"What was that all about?"  Mulder asked after 
Jack's departure.  

Penny shrugged, "Your guess is as good as 
mine. I don't think Jack's hiding a giant 
wormhole somewhere.   I was thinking though 
that you've said you had trouble with the 
military, maybe we've been barking up the 
wrong tree thinking that Scully vanished in time; 
maybe the explanation is much simpler.  Maybe 
those rogue military guys that you dealt with 
took her and planted the thought in your mind 
that she had vanished."  Penny speculated. 

"Penny, I just can't believe that, she was 
practically touching me when she vanished and I 
had a hell of a headache but didn't lose time or 
wake up from being unconscious.  Unless the 
military is a whole lot more sinister than I'm 
giving them credit for I really don't think they 
kidnapped Scully.  But if you're telling me, you 
now believe that; and you are in the military, 
then I don't know what to believe."  Mulder 
looked at Penny searchingly.  
"No. Mulder I don't believe it, it just isn't 
plausible but then again neither is anything else 
we've come up with. I guess we need to just 
wait and see what Jack has for us. Tomorrow is 
going to be a heck of a long day, though. I hate 
waiting."  

Mulder smiled and nodded his agreement.



Cheyenne Mountain Air Station

Jack knew he'd need help if he were to carry off 
getting two unauthorized people through the 
Stargate.  Luckily, the graveyard shift had fewer 
people working so that would be to his 
advantage, but he would need someone he 
trusted in the control room. He waited until it 
had been almost time to meet Penny and Mulder 
before he'd asked Teal'c for his help. Jack was 
not given to doing things on a whim or flights of 
fancy so when Jack explained about Daniel 
urging him to help Mulder, Teal'c accepted his 
story without reservation and agreed to help 
him. Jack knew that either Carter or Teal'c 
would have helped him but Carter could be 
court-martialed, Teal'c couldn't, so that made 
Teal'c his choice.  Jack finished briefing Teal'c 
and then headed down the Mountain to the O 
Club.

He was seated at a corner table when Mulder 
and Penny walked in. Jack wanted to get a feel 
for Mulder, after all he was risking the security 
of the Stargate Program on a "vision" from 
Daniel telling him that he had to help Mulder get 
his lost partner back.  Jack believed that there 
were times when you had to go where angels 
feared to tread but if you weren't making the 
journey on your own, you had to be able to trust 
those making the journey with you.  Jack 
decided that he would be as direct as possible; 
he had run a background on Mulder and had 
come up with a strange and checkered career 
record with the FBI, but more interesting than 
that had been a sealed military file that had 
recently been added to Mulder dossier.

As Mulder and Penny sat down Jack said.  "If I 
am going to help you find your partner I need 
you to be straight with me and answer a few 
questions.  I realize that this may all seem a little 
one sided and I am asking you to blindly trust 
me, but what we are about to do involves a great 
risk. I need to know if that risk is acceptable."  

Mulder nodded, he did not trust easily and could 
see that Jack was the same way, but to get Scully 
back he would trust the smoking devil himself if 
it came down to it, so he would answer Jack's 
questions.  "Ask away."  

"I read your file Mulder, you have had quite a 
colorful history with the FBI, chasing aliens, 
proposing government conspiracies and even 
interfered in a couple of secret military ops."  

Mulder gave Jack and Penny the "ah, here we 
go" look.  "So is this the part where you pull the 
rug out from under me and write me off as the 
FBI's most unwanted."   

"No Mulder, I just want to understand.  You 
really believe all this stuff.  Jack said waving his 
hand as if to present Mulder with "the stuff".  
Mulder looked at Jack thoughtfully.  

"Listen Jack, I've seen things that I refuse to 
deny and I know something bad is coming and 
it's been in the works for a hell of a long time. 
I've been to hell and back in the last two years 
and had to give up far too much, watch the 
people around me suffer..."   Mulder paused and 
then said, "In the grand scheme of things I 
suppose I care about all those things that have 
lead me down this path and if I can help stop the 
coming apocalypse; you know what I'm 
referring to if you've read the file, then I will, 
but really all I want at this minute is to get 
Scully back.  

Jack nodded then asked, "Tell me one more 
thing Mulder why has a sealed military file 
recently been added to your file."

Mulder looked at Penny puzzled.  "I know why 
it would be there, but I'm confused because I 
thought in this reality...."  Damn, his other set of 
memories were intruding, convoluted was the 
only word that came to Mulder.  Right from the 
start nothing about Scully's disappearance made 
sense.  These new memories were getting 
stronger and he seemed to be experiencing 
another Star Trek moment with zero time to 
figure it all out. He shot a quizzical look at 
Penny. She shook her head.  She was fresh out 
of ideas.
  
Jack drew them back from their silent 
conversation by asking again, "Well supposing 
we're in the right "reality" what would be in that 
file?"  

Mulder saw that he had no choice but to tell Jack 
about the tribunal. He still had to find Scully so 
he took a leap of faith that Jack would believe 
his version of what happened at the military 
tribunal. "I was tried for the murder of a military 
man before a military tribunal.  The charges 
were trumped up basically to stop my work.  
And here's the kicker the supposed dead man 
was an alien and didn't actually die.  I got the 
chair.  Some people helped me escape and 
Scully and I have been on the road ever since. 
They must have sealed the file, once they 
realized if anyone stumbled across the 
information about the conviction they might go 
looking for records of the proceeding.  They 
would come up empty because there are no 
records. All I can give you is my word that I did 
nothing wrong."  

Jack looked, sizing Mulder up then said, "Good 
enough, Mulder. You didn't have to tell me all 
of that.  The record was sealed even my 
clearance couldn't get it opened so..."  

Not knowing what else to say Jack went with,  
"We need to move out.  Penny you have 
clearance to get in just show your ID."  Penny 
nodded.  "Mulder you are a visiting linguist 
named William Fox.  Here are your credentials.  
Once we're inside the Mountain I want to head 
straight for our destination so take those garment 
bags into the restroom get geared up."  He 
pointed to the two garment bags lying across the 
back of the empty chair at their table.    "I'll be 
outside in the golf cart."  

Mulder took the garment bag marked Fox and 
started in the direction of the restroom but then 
turned around to face Jack he said,  "Listen 
Colonel I know you're taking a big risk with 
whatever you have in that Mountain, but I 
wanted to say no matter how this turns out 
thanks."  And with that he turned and headed to 
change clothes.  Penny caught Jack's eye and 
smiled and nodded her assurance as he walked 
out the door to the parking lot.

Cheyenne Mountain
SGC

As they got off of one set of elevators and got 
onto another set, Penny and Mulder were silent 
the lighted button on the elevator told them their 
destination was way into the depths of the 
Mountain.  Getting off the elevator Jack led 
them down a long corridor to the armory where 
he issued each of them a side arm. Once they left 
the armory they headed back down the corridor 
and into a large room where the focal point 
seemed to be a large metal ring.  

Jack broke the silence, "Welcome to the 
Stargate."  

Penny looked at him inquisitively, "The 
Stargate? What does it do?"  

Jack replied, "Well, you know that stable 
wormhole that you think you need to help 
Mulder here find Scully?  This makes one."  

Penny walked closer to the gate clearly 
fascinated and then asked, "How?"
  
Jack chuckled but knew his answer needed to be 
phrased in a way so as to not give out a whole 
lot of information. "Listen you're asking the 
wrong guy if you want a long drawn out 
scientific explanation but as for the basics this 
gate connects to other gates out there and when 
the right address is dialed a wormhole forms and 
if you step into the center of the ring you are 
taken to the other gate."  

Penny processed Jack simplified explanation and 
then asked, "Dial?"  

"Yeah, the gate has symbols around the edge. 
See?" He said pointing up at the rings of the 
gate.  "You dial in the symbols with a computer; 
like dialing a giant rotary phone and the number 
you put in determines where you end up."  Jack 
explained.  

Mulder stood transfixed looking at the huge ring 
and listening as Penny questioned and Jack 
answered.  He was still working on the fact that 
Jack had said this thing would create the 
wormhole they needed to get Scully back so as 
Jack finished he asked.  "So how does this thing 
help us get Scully back?"
 
Jack shrugged, "I'm not really sure but Daniel 
said to dial the gate and to engage the last 
chevron at exactly 1:11am, so that's what I'm 
gonna do."

The light of understanding hit Penny's face.  
"The next solar flare hits today at 1:11am."  

Mulder nodded catching on.  "So this is some 
sort of black ops military operation dealing with 
time travel and this devise; the Stargate will 
send us back to save Scully." 

Jack decided better to let them think whatever 
until they actually went through the gate so he 
answered them by saying.  "I guess we'll see but 
for now if we're gonna do this thing we've gotta 
move out now. Teal'c buddy you ready up 
there."  

From the control room above Teal'c replied. "I 
am ready, O'Neill."  

"Then dial her up and remember don't engage 
the seventh chevron until precisely 0-1-11. You 
two need to stand clear." Jack said as he pointed 
to where Penny and Mulder should stand. 

Teal'c replied from the control room as he 
started dialing the gate.  "I will remember, 
O'Neill." 

The inner ring of the gate started to move and 
one by one the chevrons were engaged.  At 0-1-
11 Teal'c put in the last chevron and a large 
plume burst from the middle of the wormhole.  

"Well, I'll be damned."  Jack said looking up at 
Teal'c knowing that dialing Earth's own address 
should not allow the wormhole to engage.  
Teal'c gave a slight nod of his head seeming to 
mean that he too was amazed.  

"Let's go."  Jack said as he moved Penny and 
Mulder toward the shimmering blue surface that 
now covered the middle of the gate.  Jack 
reassured his fellow travelers that everything 
would be ok.  "Just step through the Gate and 
I'll see you on the other side." First, Mulder then 
Penny stepped through the surface in the middle 
of the gate.  Then just as Jack was about to step 
through he heard a familiar voice. 

"Colonel O'Neill just what the hell are you 
doing?"  General Hammond bellowed from the 
control room.  

Jack turned and replied, "Not quite sure, sir but 
you'll be the first to know when I get back."  
Before the general could say anything else Jack 
stepped through the gate. 

Teal'c turned to face General Hammond, 
thinking that things were going to be unpleasant 
until O'Neill returned.  "Teal'c what address did 
you dial for them?"  The General glowered.  
"General Hammond, O'Neill had me dial the 
address of Earth."  

Teal's answered candidly.  "Earth?"  General 
Hammond gave Teal'c a puzzled look.  

"Ye...." Teal'c started to reply when the 
General winked out of sight.

Cheyenne Mountain 2012

	As Jack stepped out of the gate and into 
the gate room he first spotted Daniel; who was 
waiting at the bottom of the ramp.  After taking 
a moment to get his bearings, he looked to make 
sure Penny and Mulder had come through the 
gate unharmed. He saw Mulder with Penny 
standing by Daniel's side at the end of the ramp.  
He headed toward Daniel.  As he approached, 
Jack felt something was different about him at 
least different from the last time he had seen 
him.  Jack reached out a finger and poked Daniel 
in the chest he felt flesh.  

Surprised by the mass under his fingers he stated 
incredulously, "You're solid. How?"   

"Why thanks for noticing Jack, yes I am, but it's 
a long story and we only have one hour. We 
have more important things to talk about."  
Daniel smiled and motioned for Jack to follow 
him to the briefing room.   He turned to make 
sure that Mulder and Penny were following as 
well.
	
Samantha Carter was waiting for them in the 
briefing room, after a minute of hellos and 
introductions Daniel took the lead.  "We have 
one hour before you have to go back through the 
Gate.  First off, we are going to tell you only 
those things that are absolutely necessary for 
you to get Scully and get back home.  Each of 
you has unique knowledge that will be needed to 
accomplish the task. Jack, you have to do what 
you do best, lead and take out the bad guys.  
Mulder, you have very specific knowledge of 
the place Scully is being held and Penny you 
have to do the math to bring everyone home."  

Sam took over from Daniel and looking at 
Mulder she said.  "Scully is not lost in time.  She 
was taken by a group of hostile aliens called the 
Muspelheim.  They are the same aliens that held 
you captive, Mulder."  Mulder protested 
haltingly.  "How can that be?  I know each 
abduction experience may vary slightly but they 
all have certain similar elements; like time loss 
or bright lights. And if these were the same 
aliens that took me then why was Scully's 
disappearance nothing like my abduction?"  

Sam answered carefully.  "They didn't come 
from the future when they took you." 

Mulder nodded then hung his head as he was 
suddenly struck by the image of Scully enduring 
the same torture he had gone through at the 
hands of the aliens. 

Sam continued.  "When you go through the gate 
this time you will be going to Muspelheim home 
world at a time just after Scully's disappearance. 
Mulder you may not realize this consciously, but 
you have intimate knowledge of their home 
world and will know once you get there where 
Scully is being held. Penny you have to calculate 
from there how to get the three of you back 
through the Stargate and to you own time just 
one hour after you arrived here.  We can't give 
you more specific details if we do we may tell 
you the wrong thing or forget to tell you 
something that you need to know and could 
cause a rift in time or change the timeline all 
together. So you'll have to figure the how to's 
once you get to the planet. Penny, I'll take you 
up to the control room where you'll be given the 
spatial coordinates you'll need for your 
calculations."  

Jack spoke up for the first time.  "That's all 
you're givin' us to go on?  We're going to some 
planet controlled by hostile aliens, that 
supposedly Mulder here knows like the back of 
his hand and we have to rescue Scully and then 
gate back home hoping Penny gets the timing 
right so we end up in our own time not lost in 
time somewhere? "  

Daniel and Sam gave each other knowing looks 
and smiled. Daniel answered, "Yeah, Jack that 
pretty much sums it up."  

Jack looked from Daniel to Sam. "Carter?"  
"Yes, that's right, sir."  Jack shook his head and 
shrugged his shoulders.  

"Oh well then, that's no problem at all," still 
looking for either one of his teammates to give 
him more information.  

Sam and Daniel turned to the others in the room. 
Sam told them, "You have fifteen minutes 
before departure, Penny, Mulder follow me up to 
the control room.  Sir, we'll meet the you and 
Daniel in the Gate room in 10."  

Then looking at both Daniel and the Colonel she 
said, "Daniel do your stuff."	
	
Daniel sat down next to Jack.  

"What'd she mean by that?"  Jack asked 
suspiciously.

"Oh...um...she just meant that when I came 
back to this form..." Daniel started but was 
interrupted by Jack.  

"Yeah, How did that happened, you being back 
to normal and all?"  Daniel smiled.  

"I can't tell you that yet, but just know that when 
I...ah...descended so to speak I had a few 
changes. So if you'll let me I'll show you why 
you're doing this."  

"Ok. Show me."  

"I have to touch you, it won't hurt and you kind 
of need to clear your mind out."  

"Not usually a problem." Jack said and smiled.  

Daniel reached out and placed his hands on 
either side of Jacks face with his fingertips 
pressing gently against his temples.  "Close your 
eyes, Jack and try not to think."  

Jack followed Daniel's instructions closing his 
eyes and trying to clear his mind.  As he started 
to relax he started seeing flashes of images.  The 
images came like a slideshow; smoke and ash, 
gray dried out soil, trees charred and black, 
flames and fire raining down from the sky, cities 
burning, roads with cracks and potholes, swarms 
of bees, weather-beaten people, alien ships 
swooping, a warped and distorted world.  Daniel 
took his hands away, Jack slowly opened his 
eyes, and brown eyes searched blue ones.  

Jack said quietly,  "So do we make it?"  

Daniel gave an almost imperceptible nod.  Jack 
satisfied that he had seen a nod asked.  "What 
year is it?"   

"2012." Daniel replied.  

"So who wins the Cup in 2003? Jack asked 
trying to lighten the mood. Daniel shook his 
head and laughed.  Daniel's laugh felt 
comforting to Jack. He had missed having him 
around and he told him so.  

"I've really missed you, Daniel, SG1 just isn't 
the same without you."  Daniel bowed his head 
touched by his friend's sentiment.  Daniel then 
continued Jacks briefing on the information that 
he; Sam and Brian had agreed all three travelers 
would need to know.

Penny and Mulder followed Sam to the Control 
room.  Penny smiled as she saw the man at the 
controls.  

"Brian?" He smiled at her knowingly. 

"Yeah, Penny it's me and before you ask I can't 
tell you how, why or any of those other things 
you are about to ask."  Penny laughed.  After 
witnessing the reunion Sam took Mulder off to 
the side and was briefing him on his part of the 
plan.  

"Mulder, there's not a whole lot I can tell you 
safely.  Just know that like I said before you do 
know where Scully is and you also know where 
the stellar cartography lab is that Penny will 
need in order to get you guys home.  I need to 
warn you that you may be hit hard from your 
subconscious when you arrive on the planet."  

She paused and Mulder interjected.  "You're 
sure I know this place? How is that possible...I 
mean... I was taken, tortured and imprisoned on 
a spacecraft not another planet.  I've always 
been open to extreme possibilities but this...."   

Sam did her best to sound reassuring putting 
herself in Mulder's place and what he must be 
thinking. "I'm sorry, I can't answer your 
questions.  I'm told that trust is hard for you but 
know this I promise, you have the answers and 
Scully; well actually, we all need you to have 
those answers.  

Mulder nodded his hesitant acceptance.  

Sam continued.  "I have some things I'd like for 
you to carry and you'll know when you need 
them."  She started handing him some items to 
place in his pockets.  "I also have something for 
you to tell Colonel O'Neill."
  
Brian wanted to keep things very business-like, 
he knew Penny's safety and future were in his 
hands and he didn't want anything to get in the 
way of that future so he went straight to the task 
at hand.  

"From here we can send you to the Muspelheim 
home world two days after Scully was abducted, 
three months in your past.  We can help you by 
giving this Yerzaman to attach to the Dial Home 
Device or DHD for the Muspelheim Stargate."

He handed her a small object that looked like a 
spy camera.  She turned it over in her hand 
listening as he continued his explanation. "The 
problem is you have to calculate the spatial 
coordinates from the planet so you know which 
of the chevrons on the DHD the Yerzaman 
needs to attach to, so that you get back to your 
time at the right time."  

"Ok Bri you're talking Greek and I speak 
English what the hell is a DHD and a chevron 
and while we're on the subject how am I 
supposed to do those kind of calculations I 
haven't studied star charts, I'm not an 
astrophysicist and right now I feel that I'm in 
way over my head.  One of my oldest friends, 
the love of his life and a very important USAF 
Colonel are depending on me to be right."  
There was that candor that Brian loved, Penny 
was never afraid to say I don't know, but the 
other thing about Penny was that she would 
figure it all out.  

"Penny relax, the DHD is simply the devise that 
lets you dial the address home and Jack will 
handle that and he will also show you what 
chevrons are.  As for the other it's simply a 
matter of applying the Q calculation on a larger 
scale.  You're the one who figured it out in the 
first place. In this case it's looking at the chart, 
and then figuring out at what point the solar flare 
will hit the wormhole so that the time-like curve 
will take you to the right time."  

"The "right" time is the thing that has me 
worried Bri, I have to calculate for the future 
and we both know my success rate at that.  No 
one's life has ever depended on my calculations 
before either."  Brian understood her concerns 
but with only a short time to give her all the 
information she needed he continued briefing 
her.   

"Here, this is a handheld computer for making 
your calculations and these are the coordinates 
and the Earth times of three solar flares."  He 
handed her a very small palm computer and a 
piece of paper.   

Sam had finished briefing Mulder and so they 
had rejoined Penny and Brian for the final part 
of the briefing.  "In the stellar cartography lab 
you will find a huge computer screen  like 
movie theatre size  but it's a liquid screen so if 
you touch the representation of Earth it will 
show you a map route from there back to earth." 

Brian finished and Sam took over.  "The colonel 
can help you identify the constellations 
compared to the Stargate address.  You apply the 
calculations and then attach the Yerzaman to the 
chevron on the gate and you'll be back home 
before you know it."  

Brian took over again.  "It's very important that 
you bring the Yerzaman back through the gate 
with you.  Under no circumstances leave it on 
the Muspelheim planet. Daniel has briefed the 
Colonel so I guess we're all set let's hit the 
Gateroom."  

Mulder and Sam headed out the door Brian 
stopped Penny.  "Penny," he said softly, she 
turned to face him.  

He was still handsome maybe even more so age 
suited him.   "I trust you with my life and I know 
saying this may be giving too much away; damn 
it - but I want you to know that's exactly what 
this is all about our lives - trust yourself."  He 
reached out and pulled her to him hugging her 
close then let her go so she could join the others 
in the Gateroom.

Jack and Daniel were waiting when Sam, 
Mulder, and then Penny arrived in the gate 
room.  Brian had stayed in the control room and 
from there dialed in the coordinates for the 
Muspelheim home world.  

The gate whooshed open in a plume of blue 
liquid.  "Ready gang, the adventure continues."  
Jack said as he led the way up the ramp.  

He turned to say see ya 'round to Daniel and 
Sam and was surprised when the younger man 
came up behind him, grabbed his hand and put it 
to his chest.  Jack could feel Daniel's chest 
muscles and heartbeat beneath his fingers.  He 
looked at Daniel inquisitively.  

Daniel smiled at his friend then said 
mysteriously, "You'll find out how this 
happened in six months." 

Jack smiled and nodded his understanding. 
"Lookin' forward to it." He patted Daniel's 
chest then gave a salute goodbye to Sam, turned 
toward the event horizon and stepped into the 
shimmering blue light of the Stargate.
 
Muspelheim Home World
Three Month's in the Past

	Mulder and then Penny followed Jack 
closely. The world they stepped into on the other 
side was hot.  No, not just hot, it was that 
unbearable kind of arid-hot that produced bone-
sucking heat that zapped the energy out of 
everything it touched. The source of all the 
tremendous heat was two huge twin suns that 
could be seen setting just on the eastern horizon. 
Surveying the area Jack noted that the gate 
seemed to be in a junkyard. A low-lying haze 
caused by the heat blanketed the devastated site, 
but he could see what appeared to be broken and 
jagged objects; snapped off pipes and conduits, 
shards of glass, twisted sheets metal and 
crumbled debris surrounding the trio. Looking 
further out, the land was an austere gray 
wasteland that stretched from horizon to 
horizon. The only relief from the grayness was 
the blazing heat waves that shimmered just off 
the surface in the distance. They had to move 
out the fading light would make this a dark 
netherworld in a very short time. A light wind 
whipped up as Jack turned to Mulder to see if 
anything looked familiar. 

Hope Dies Last (6 of 8)
Montana1416

Disclaimer in part 1


Mulder was doubled over holding his head in 
both hands. Mulder felt as if his head were about 
to explode. He was having flashbacks of himself 
during his torture; his cheeks being pulled, his 
nose invaded, his chest being cut open, he own 
voice screaming as his soft palette was being 
drilled, six alien Bounty Hunters surrounding 
him. Jack and Penny managed to get a struggling 
Mulder to sit down. Jack was the first to break 
the silence. 

"Any ideas?" Penny shook her head.  "Maybe 
the atmosphere here is causing him..." before 
she could finish Mulder started swaying and 
speaking disjointedly.

"Nooooo...not...please...Nooooo...SCULLEEE
E...."  

Jack recognized posttraumatic stress when he 
saw it. What was going on?  What had happened 
to Mulder here?  Sam's words at the briefing 
came flooding back to him- Mulder you may not 
realize this consciously, but you have intimate 
knowledge of their home world  Jack guessed 
that Mulder's subconscious was informing his 
conscious of the events that had transpired here.  
He reached out and slapped Mulder across the 
jaw. Seeing a slight glimmer of recognition in 
Mulder's eyes Jack tried the one thing that he 
thought might get Mulder back to the here and 
now. 

"Mulder I know this is hard for you but we have 
to go find Scully right now."  Penny saw Mulder 
key on Jack as he said Scully's name, but it 
wasn't quite enough to bring Mulder back.  

"Colonel let me give it a try maybe a familiar 
voice will snap him out of it." Jack stepped to 
one side to give Penny room to kneel in front of 
Mulder.  

She placed her hand gently on the red mark 
Jack's slap had left on his face,  "Mulder, Scully 
really needs your help."  Mulder tilted his head.  
"Jack and I can't find Scully.  We need you to 
tell us where Scully is."  Mulder seemed to be 
snapping out of his trance-like state each time 
Penny mentioned Scully's name. 

"Keep going Penny, I think you're getting 
through to him."  Jack said.  

"Mulder you have to help us find Scully. So we 
can all go home."  

Recognition passed through Mulder's eyes.  
"Penny? What happened?  Oh my god they 
brought me here. All this time I thought I had 
been on a spaceship but I was here Penny.  They 
tortured me here."  He stopped.  For a moment 
Penny thought he had receded within himself 
again but then he stood up and in an almost 
hypnotized voice said, "We have to find Scully, 
I know the way."  

Jack and Penny looked at each other.  Jack was 
unconvinced as to Mulder's ability at the 
moment to actually walk let alone find Scully, 
but with no other choices available and the light 
of the two suns fading quickly he followed 
Mulder's lead through the flotsam and jetsam.  
As they came to the entrance of the yard it was 
soon apparent that the junkyard was part of a 
larger complex.  Mulder stopped behind one of 
the debris piles.  He motioned for Jack to look in 
the direction he was pointing.  Jack saw little 
gray Thor-like aliens guarding what looked like 
the traced out plan of a large round building.  
Mulder could see the questioning looks on Jack 
and Penny's faces so he explained what they 
were seeing.  

"The buildings are all underground we have to 
get in through one of the exhaust vent tunnels.  
Once inside we may have to take out a few of 
the aliens but you can't shoot these guys you 
have to take them out hand to hand."
  
"By Hand?" Jack asked.  

Mulder nodded.  "Yes, take your knife and stab 
them right here."  He pointed at the back of 
Penny's neck just to the right side of her 
vertebra then explained the need for this method.  
"They're blood is toxic to us so this is the only 
way to kill them that won't harm us."   Mulder 
stopped and thought then added.  "Jack, Sam 
gave me a message for you she said to tell you to 
use your Zat."  

Jack smiled.  "Mulder you just concentrate on 
where we're going I'll take out the aliens."  
Mulder's look questioned Jack.  Jack simply 
said, "Trust me.  There'll be no toxic fumes.  
Lead on we still have to get Scully, find their 
stellar cartography lab and hike back through 
this junk in the dark to the Stargate."  

Penny spoke up,  "Is that steam coming up out 
of the ground over there?"  Mulder and Jack 
looked in the direction she was pointing.  

Mulder said, "That's one of the exhaust tunnels 
we're looking for. Let's go."
  
The trio cautiously approached the vent, 
Jack kept his Zat at the ready should they be 
spotted.  Mulder, Jack and Penny peered down 
the hole, but the steam rising from it made it 
impossible to see too far inside.  Mulder started 
to position himself to go down into the hole but 
Jack took his arm to stop him.  

"Better let me go first just in case there are 
hostiles at the end of the tunnel."  Mulder 
wanted to disagree but conceded knowing that 
Jack was right.  He nodded his acceptance.  Jack 
positioned himself so he could crawl down the 
hole but at the last minute he turned around so 
he could drop feet-first into a huge metallic 
structure. He found himself in a hallway and 
could just make out containers of some sort on 
either side of him. He stretched up to help 
Mulder and Penny down and out of the tunnel.  

Mulder whipped out his flashlight and said to no 
one in particular,  "This is like a bad case of dj 
vu."  

Penny replied with a question as Mulder's 
flashlight was joined by her's and Jack's,  "What 
are these things?"  She saw stacks and stacks of 
coffin-like pods, piled row upon row. She stood 
in-between Jack and Mulder and looked in awe 
at the huge structure before her eyes. Hundreds, 
no more than likely thousands of these rows 
stood before them. 

Mulder replied, "Frozen bodies infected with the 
alien virus I told you about, preserved until they 
need to replenish their numbers."	    

Jack frowned.  "How the hell are we supposed to 
find Scully here?"
	
Suddenly, he brought his Zat into aiming 
position as a movement caught his eye near the 
bottom of the rows. He relaxed as he realized 
that a rack; of pods, was moving as if on a 
conveyer belt.  He looked back at Mulder to 
answer his question,         

"She's not here. Scully's immune to the virus so 
the bastards can't do this to her again."  

Penny had turned her flashlight to the rack of 
pods closest to them shining her flashlight from 
one to another; the beams of light caught a 
frozen face in each. She stifled a scream and 
moved closer to Mulder as she noticed that the 
eyes on each one were open in shock, and their 
mouths were held open by a tube, a picture of 
silent horror.
  
Jack seeing the object of her horror asked, 
"What the hell?"

"Welcome to my world Colonel O'Neill." 
Mulder said as he reached out and put his arm 
around Penny's shoulders drawing her to him.   

"Scully should be down there."  He said pointing 
the beam of his flashlight to a door far down 
below in the chamber. Jack followed the point of 
light to the far off door then looked for a way to 
get too it from where they stood.  He spotted 
catwalk about 50 feet from where they were 
standing.  

Realizing the enormity of the chamber they were 
in Jack suggested,  "We need to tie something to 
this grating at each level that we'll be able to 
spot on the way back up."  

Mulder reached in his pocket, "Sam gave me 
these."  

Mulder pulled out several strips of reflective 
Velcro.  "Ah, that Carter."  Jack chuckled. 
Before they reached the first set of stairs that 
would take them to the next level they tied a 
strip to the grated floor of the catwalk about 
halfway between the hallway and the metal 
stairs.  It would hang down as a marker for the 
way home.  They tied the Velcro flags to every 
third catwalk as they made they way over and 
down to ground level.
 
As they crossed the last catwalk and headed 
toward the stairs for the last level;   Mulder 
spotted one of the aliens coming from the 
direction of the pod conveyor belt they had seen 
moving earlier.    He signaled Jack and was 
rewarded by three Zat shots hitting the alien and 
the alien disappearing. "Cool."  Mulder said.  
Jack nodded and took the lead to the massive 
metal door they had been working their way 
toward. The door stood at least twenty feet high 
and about ten yards from their current position. 
It was covered with some sort of script and 
didn't look as if it had been opened anytime in 
recent memory.  It took all three of them to tug it 
open.  As it swung open a gust of foul air 
whooshed past them.  Jack wanting to insure 
Penny and Mulder's safety led the way down the 
dark passageway beyond the door.  Jack 
estimated they had gone about the length of a 
hockey rink when they came to a huge open 
room. The room was somewhat like a hospital's 
Operating theatre.
 
Jack spotted a petit woman, presumably, Scully 
lying on a large medical-type of table.  The table 
was lit from below providing the only light in 
the darkness of the vast room.  As Jack moved 
closer cautiously, he observed that Scully's arms 
were stretched out to about a thirty-degree angle 
on either side of her body and held down by 
cuffs, as were her feet.  Her head was attached to 
some kind of monitoring device with mini 
probes attached to her skull.  She seemed 
completely peaceful, eyes closed, and unaware 
of her surroundings. Jack motioned to Mulder 
and Penny the all clear; that the room was safe 
to enter.  Returning his attention to Scully, Jack 
moved toward her stopping as he bumped into a 
small metal cart on the far side of the table 
Scully occupied.  The vials and large needles 
clinked together as the cart lurched forward from 
hitting Jack's thigh.  Each of the vials were 
filled with some sort of black substance.
   
As Mulder crossed the threshold into the room, 
his brain was once again under assault.  
Memories of this room invaded his 
consciousness.  This had been his prison for 
months this is where the Muspelheim tormented 
him.  Raising his hands to massage his temples 
he refused to give in to the pain.  He spotted 
Scully lying on the table and he forced himself 
to focus on her.  He saw Jack moving closer to 
the table and then stop. The sound of clinking 
glass filled the quiet of the room.  Mulder 
trained his flashlight at the source of the sound.  
What he saw horrified him Jack was reaching 
out to pick up a vial or needle filled with black 
liquid.  

"Jack! Stop! Don't touch that and back away 
from that table!"

 Jack, startled at the command, stopped mid-
reach and shot a quizzical look at Mulder.  

"Look around you! Did any of the vials or 
needles fall on the floor?"  

Jack was not used to taking orders but the 
urgency in Mulder's voice prompted him to aim 
his flashlight at the floor, seeing no broken vials 
or needles, he reported to Mulder.  "No, nothing 
on 
the floor. What is this stuff anyway?" 

"That's the alien virus, I've seen it leap into 
people and you have no immunity so come back 
around to this side of Scully."  Jack nodded and 
backed away from the table.  Mulder continued 
walking toward Scully.  

"Those bastards must have been trying to figure 
out Scully's immunity by injecting her with 
more of the virus."
 
Mulder reached Scully and seeing that Jack was 
out of danger turned his attention to her.  

He stroked her face and called her name "Scully, 
it's me.  I know that you can hear me; if you can 
just open your eyes.  Scully, please open your 
eyes."   Almost crying as he pleaded with her, 
his thoughts fleetingly returned to the torture he 
endured here.  To stave off another attack he 
moved to take one of her hands in his gripping it 
tightly, staring into her blank face.   

"Scully you have to wake up, we have to get out 
of here." He urged.  

Her eyes started to flutter open.  "Yeah Scully, 
look at me.  Open your eyes."  Mulder found a 
button on the side of the table and pushed it to 
release the cuffs holding her arms and legs.  He 
then half lifted her and hugged her to his chest.  
"Scully, its Mulder wake up."  

She opened her eyes.  "Am I dreaming?"  She 
murmured.  "You're not dreaming at all it's me.  
I've brought a couple of friends and we're going 
to get you out of here. Let me get this off of 
you."  He and then carefully removed the 
banded monitor from her head.  

"I can't believe you found me Mulder."  Scully 
said as she clutched him to her. 

"I can hardly believe it myself Scully.  I'd 
actually given up hope but I had some help and 
do I have a great story to tell you when we get 
home."  Mulder saw Jack getting antsy out of 
the corner of his eye.  He glanced at Penny who 
was acting as a lookout by the door and she 
didn't look too comfortable either. 

"Scully did they inject you with the virus?"  

She looked thoughtfully then said, "No, no, they 
just strapped me down gave me what must have 
been a sedative and left."  

"Good, we have to get out of here now.  Do you 
think you can stand?"  

She nodded and swung her legs over the side of 
the table and with Mulder's help she stood.  
Mulder drew her to him gently cradling the side 
of her head, and Scully closed her eyes tightly 
taking in the safe and familiar scent of Mulder.  
He kissed her gently on the forehead and stroked 
her temples as she looked up at him.  For a 
moment there was no one else in the room.  
Coming back to reality he put his arm around 
her and helped her make her way to the door. 
Once they were all together Mulder introduced 
Scully to her other rescuers.  

"Scully, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill and Penny 
McAllister."

 "Thank you for helping Mulder find me."
  
Jack took command.  "Thank us later, when we 
get out of here.  We need to find that stellar 
cartography lab, Mulder do you have any idea 
where it is?"   

"Yes. But there are bound to be more of the 
aliens in that area.  I'm not sure Scully can take 
it."  

"Mulder, I'm fine and if it means getting out of 
here I can endure it."  Mulder smiled how many 
times had he heard, "Mulder, I'm fine."  But he 
knew that determined look her eye; Scully was 
in for the whole pound.  

"The lab is this way."  Mulder said indicating 
that they would have to walk to the other side of 
the room.  

Once there, they came to a door.  
A normal looking door this time as they opened 
it to step through, the hairs on the back of Jack's 
neck came to attention.  He could feel the malice 
of the Muspelheim; then he spotted gray silent 
shapes standing on either side of the door that 
opened to the stairway that Mulder was 
signifying led to the stellar cartography lab.  
Jack needed to get closer in order to get a good 
shot at the guards.  He needed a distraction and 
it seemed that Mulder was ahead of him.  

He had already stepped out into the passageway.  
"Hey, I'm baaa-ack!"  Not original or profound 
but it did the trick the aliens were moving 
toward Mulder.  

Jack zatted each of them once to make them go 
down and then twice again a piece to make them 
disappear.  

"I want one of those."  Mulder commented as he 
let Jack take the lead to stairway door and he 
returned to helping Scully.   

Jack checked out the intersecting corridors to 
make sure no others aliens were lying in wait for 
them before motioning for the others to enter the 
door to the stairs.
 
Entering the stairway it was quickly decided 
since Mulder knew where they were going he 
would lead the way up the stairs.  Jack would 
take the follow-up position and Penny would 
help a still slightly out of it Scully in the middle.  

"Mulder you may have to use your sidearm, but 
only if it's absolutely necessary. We don't need 
the sound giving us away."  

Mulder got out his newly issued Beretta and 
nodded his agreement as he started up the stairs.  
Three flights and no alien appearances later they 
arrived at the door for the stellar cartography 
lab. It was another huge door. Jack yanked on 
the round metal knob but the door didn't budge. 
He again twisted and jiggled the knob, but 
nothing changed. He motioned for the others to 
stay back with a wave of the Zat gun in his hand 
and aimed for the top hinge. Jack thought 
blowing off the hinges would insure that the 
door would not cause a problem on the way 
back.  He fired a second shot at the next hinge 
and at the same time a flash of green hit the floor 
on the ground beside Mulder.  

From his position under the stairwell Jack was at 
a bad angle and could not get a shot at the 
offender, so he threw the Zat to Mulder and 
instructed, "Just point and shoot."  Mulder did as 
directed and was rewarded by an alien falling 
from above to hit the landing near the door.  
Jack took the Zat and fired twice more 
disintegrating the body before they could inhale 
the toxic fumes escaping the green ooze leaking 
onto the floor in front of them.  

As soon as the alien disappeared and Jack was 
sure there were no others following behind, he 
enlisted Mulder and they pushed at the bottom 
of the door, making the top tilt toward them. The 
solid metal creaked and groaned as it gave way 
from its' frame.  Jack and Mulder caught the 
falling door and then with some effort and 
Penny's help, to hold it steady, leaned it against 
the wall on the landing.
  
Entering into a dark passageway the 
group made careful progress toward an opening 
at the far end.  Once there, they discovered an 
observatory with a huge domed ceiling.  Jack 
went in first and checked for any signs of aliens, 
seeing none, he motioned for the rest of the 
group to join him.  Looking around they 
observed that most of the walls were covered 
with round star charts of different galaxies.   The 
farthest wall from the door had what appeared to 
be a huge rectangular liquid computer screen, 
which was projecting map images.  Seeing the 
screen Penny made her way toward it, it was just 
as Sam and Brian had described.    She reached 
out and touched the round blue symbol 
representing Earth. The map opened like a sort 
of a trip tik and showed the route from the 
Muspelheim planet back to Earth. From the 
coordinates on the map and the earth time of the 
next available sun flare she would be able to 
figure out which chevron on the DHD to attach 
the Yerzaman.  Jack had joined Penny at the 
map while Mulder kept an eye on Scully and the 
entrance.  

"What are we looking at here?"  He inquired.  

Penny looked at Jack and then pointed at the 
straight map line,  "This is the route back, can 
you help me identify the constellations on the 
map and which chevrons they represent?  Like 
this one," she said pointing at the piece of paper 
in her hand, "is that this?"  She pointed to a 
cluster of stars on the map.  

Jack looked at the paper and then looked at 
where Penny was pointing.  "Yes, that's that and 
this one is right here," he said looking at the next 
symbol on the paper and then pointing up at the 
wall map.  

They continued in this fashion until they had 
identified each of the chevrons with their 
corresponding map coordinates.  With Jack's 
help finding the information on the map, she 
started entering the calculations into the small 
hand-held computer.  Scully had wandered away 
from Mulder and over to where Penny and Jack 
were standing looking more aware of what was 
going on and more than a little curious.   It 
always helped when Penny talked things through 
out-loud.  She had some of the biggest "A-HA" 
moments while teaching at the Academy.  In 
fact, it had been during an explanation to one of 
her classes that she had figured out the Q 
Calculation in the first place. Penny started 
explaining to her audience how the calculations 
worked. 

"You know those old time, rate, distance 
problems you used to do in Algebra, Train A 
leaves Chicago at a certain time traveling a 
certain speed while Train B leaves New York at 
a certain time and traveling a certain speed, 
when will they intersect?  The Q calculation is 
just a little more in complicated version of that.  
Sam and Brian basically did all the work.  They 
gave me the rates, times and distances, all I just 
need to figure out isthe intersection and what 
constellation the time-like curve will form 
from."  

"I hated those problems." Jack said, making 
Penny chuckle.
   
Penny took the times for the flares from a piece 
of paper in her pocket and then looked at her 
watch.  She had to be precise in attaching the 
Yerzaman, if not the time-like curve, created by 
the sun's flare, could take them either back to 
the past or into the future depending on how 
much her calculations were off.    As soon as she 
had finished, she again touched the screen in 
front of her returning it to its original state.  

Hope Dies Last (7 of 8)
Montana1416

Disclaimer in part 1



She turned to her companions.  "Ok, I've figured 
out two times for us to return home, but we have 
to hustle if we want to catch the first one. It 
happens in less than fifty minutes."    

"When's the next one?" Jack asked.  

"You don't want to know,"  came her reply.  

"Ah, let's make tracks so we can get outta 
Dodge then."  Jack said. 

No sooner than the words were out of Jack's 
mouth they heard shouts in a foreign tongue and 
the sound of feet pounding and echoing past 
above their heads.  They hurried down the dark 
passageway that led to the open doorway and the 
stairs.  Jack stuck his head out and strained to 
see if anyone was on the landing just above. 
Seeing no one he motioned for Mulder, Scully 
and Penny to follow and then led them down the 
stairs.  The stairwells were lit with an eerie 
reddish glow that had not been there on the trip 
up.  It was coming from high above them. As 
they proceeded down the stairs, they could hear 
doors banging, more shouting and then silence.  
As they reached the second landing, there was a 
green flash beside Mulder and a chunk of the 
railing disintegrated. Someone was firing at 
them from above. Jack cursed and motioned for 
the others to get out of the line of fire, they 
pressed against the wall for minimum exposure.  
Jack with the Zat at the ready aimed the gun 
upwards, scanning to see their attackers.  No 
further shots came but the noise level increased 
with footfalls on the stairs somewhere above 
their position.  Jack surmised that in a few 
seconds aliens ascending from the level below 
and those descending from above would 
surround them. He motioned for Mulder to take 
position beside him.  

He pulled out a grenade and handed Mulder the 
Zat.  "I'll take care of the aliens headed down 
with this." He said raising the grenade. 

"You take Penny and Scully down the stairs and 
take out any aliens climbing up with the Zat.  
Just hit them with one shot that will neutralize 
them and give you all enough time to get out.  
I'll be working clean up behind you.  If I get too 
far behind make sure you check out the 
intersecting corridors before leaving the 
stairwells.  Hopefully, I'll blow these guys up 
and be there in a sec to help out.  Go, go, go."  
He said as the aliens appeared at the top of the 
stairway. 
 
Mulder, Penny and Scully hurried down, Jack 
waited until they rounded the corner before he 
threw the grenade.  The stairway exploded 
before him in a gust of smoke and debris.  
Knocked off of his feet by the concussion of the 
blast, Jack quickly recovered and pulled his P90 
from his belt while searching with his eyes 
through the dusty air to see if any of the aliens 
had survived the detonation.  Seeing none he 
dusted himself off and ran down the stairs after 
his companions.  Catching up he found Penny 
and Scully stopped in the middle of the second 
to last flight of stairs waiting for Mulder to give 
the all clear. Jack motioned for them to follow 
him. 

"Stay close behind me. Penny watch our six, I 
think I got them all but keep your eyes peeled."  

As they rounded the last corner, they spotted 
Mulder about three yards ahead.  Using the 
dividing wall between the stairways for cover 
they made their way to his position.  He was 
methodically clearing the aliens one by one as 
they tried to ascend to his level on the stairway.  
Jack took position behind Mulder.  He got a 
good look at the Muspelheim as they came at 
Mulder's position.  They looked like the Asgard, 
gray, large heads, huge eyes, short in height but 
with long spindly legs.  Jack watched as Mulder 
zatted the Alien in the lead up the stairway.  
Hitting his mark the alien tumbled down the 
stairs practically bowling over his remaining 
comrades. Mulder had such a rhythm going with 
the Zat in the narrow confines of the stairwell 
that the aliens could do little more than fire wild 
shots up in his direction.  Jack readied his P90 to 
help.  He felt a hand on his shoulder.  

"Jack, don't fire that. The toxic fumes from their 
blood in this stairway will kill us."  Scully 
warned him.  

Damn, why hadn't he thought to bring two Zats.  
Jack assessed the situation and realized that 
Mulder had things pretty much under control.  
He peered over his shoulder looking to see how 
Penny was doing.  No aliens were in pursuit. 
 
Once they were relatively sure that the 
Muspelheim presence had been cleared they 
progressed down the final staircase to the 
intersecting corridors by stepping gingerly over 
Zatted aliens lying in their path.  Before heading 
out of the stairwells, Jack took the Zat and the 
point from Mulder.  Looking both ways up and 
down the corridor, he found the hallway to be 
empty.  Maybe they had used the brunt of their 
forces in the stairwells or they were lying in wait 
for them further up the line.  He motioned for 
the others to move to the room in which they 
had found Scully earlier.  Once in the safety of 
the room they ran to the huge door, Mulder and 
Jack muscled it open carefully.  Still on the alert 
for any sign of a trap, they ran to the first 
landing.  From their vantage point they could see 
the markers they had left shimmering as they 
dangled from the grated steel walkways all the 
way up to their vent shaft destination.
 
Making their way up and over the metal steps 
and grated walkways at each level, they were 
vigilant in making sure no one was in pursuit.  
No one was following them; giving both Jack 
and Mulder the distinct feeling this part of their 
retreat was too easy.   On the final landing Jack 
peered down the passageway, in the darkness he 
could barely make out movement of some sort.  
He thought it could be the pods moving on the 
conveyor again but for the second time in so 
many hours the hairs on the back of his neck 
signaled otherwise.  In assessing the situation he 
decided his flashlight was not an option.  He 
didn't want to draw attention if what he saw was 
more of the Muspelheim. He didn't want to let 
whoever was there know that he knew they were 
there.  Instead, he motioned for the others to 
make their way to the vent hole. Jack shuffled a 
little to get a better look.  It was still too dark.  
Suddenly, a hand burst through the darkness and 
grabbed his shoulder.  Jack expected when he 
looked down to see long gray fingers but it 
wasn't an alien hand that had him it was a 
human hand.  Jack dropped his Zat as he was 
pulled into the darkness. Mulder hearing the 
sound of the Zat hitting the floor turned in time 
to see Jack grabbed by the Alien Bounty Hunter 
 the same one he had dealt over the years.  Jack 
managed to break free.  Mulder saw no choice 
but to use his Beretta.  Scully seeing the 
situation quickly took Penny's flashlight and 
shone it directly in the Bounty Hunter's eyes, 
disorienting him.  Mulder yelled at Jack to stay 
down then aimed and fired.  The bullet hit its 
target in the forehead. Unfortunately, the body 
fell forward landing on Jack.  Green ooze poured 
from the wound.  Jack started coughing and 
hacking, his eyes burning, as he pushed the dead 
weight off of his legs.  As soon as he was clear 
Mulder picked up the Zat and disappeared the 
corpse of the bounty hunter; which reverted to 
alien form before it disintegrated. 
 
Scully ran over to Jack to check him out.  She 
reached out and pulled Jack's hands away from 
his eyes, examining them she noted that they 
were red, and a little puffy but nowhere near the 
condition Mulder's had been in the first time he 
was exposed.

"You'll be ok, you weren't exposed long enough 
to do any real damage. You'll just feel like 
you've been pepper sprayed for a while.  Try not 
to rub you eyes, the tearing will help soothe 
them."  Scully explained. 

"Thanks, good to know." Jack replied as he used 
the back of his hands to wipe the tears streaming 
down his cheeks.  

Penny who had been standing behind Mulder 
with her own gun aimed as backup, holstered it 
and looked at her watch.  She quietly said, "Jack 
if you're ok we really need to go, or else we 
won't make the window."  

"Yeah, I'm fine let's get a move on."  

"Yeah it seems that we've worn out our 
welcome."  Mulder said as he helped Jack to his 
feet. 

To which he got the classic O'Neill reply. "Ya 
think!"  

Deciding Jack wasn't in any condition with his 
eyes tearing to have another alien encounter, he 
would be the first out.  He moved under the 
hole, grabbed the vent and pulled himself up as 
Mulder leveraged his feet and pushed him up 
and out.  The air of the surface was warm, still 
and dry, but the overbearing heat of earlier had 
gone with the sunset.  A blackout type darkness 
surrounded him.  Taking a moment to let his 
stinging eyes adjust to the lack of light, he 
surveyed the area best he could.  It was really 
too dark to see too far in the distance but as best 
he could tell there were no hostiles in the 
immediate area.  Tapping the end of his 
flashlight on the vent wall he signaled to the 
others it was safe for them to come through to 
the surface.  He reached his hand down and 
assisted Penny then Scully out of the vent shaft.  
After helping Jack through the vent Mulder had 
moved to stand at the edge of the passageway 
Penny and Scully were safely above ground then 
took up position under the vent and started the 
climb up.  As he reached up to grab onto a hold 
in the vent shaft he heard footfalls on the metal 
stairway prompting him to hurry his ascent. He 
made it halfway up the hole with only his legs 
from the knee down hanging down when 
something reached out and grabbed his calf. 
Damn dj vu.  He had flashes of being grabbed 
in his Artic rescue of Scully.  Only this time 
Jack tugging at him from above and whatever 
had him by the legs pulling from below made 
him feel like Gumby.  He yelled up at Jack to 
hold on tight as he kicked at the unknown 
assailant.  Jack with Penny's help tugged his 
arms. Finally, he broke free and made it through 
the tunnel.  As soon as Mulder had his feet on 
solid ground, he grabbed the Zat from Jack and 
shot down into the hole.
  
The four sprinted from the wide-open area near 
the vent to the relative safety of the debris in the 
junkyard. Stopping only to take a brief 
accounting to make sure everyone was all right.  
With time growing short and having to navigate 
in the dark through the large debris field the 
group followed Jack's lead and flawless sense of 
direction as they double-timed it back to the 
Stargate.  Reaching the Stargate with only a 
matter of minutes to spare, Penny placed the 
Yerzaman under the chevron as Sam and Brian 
had told her to do once she determined which 
was the correct one.  They had two minutes to 
wait before the gate could be dialed.  Scully 
looked around curiously.  

"Welcome to the Stargate, Scully. You are about 
to take one wild ride and this will be one time 
you will have to believe me." Mulder said as he 
winked at Scully. 

"Mulder I'm still not convinced that this isn't 
just a really bizarre dream."  Scully laughed 
nervously. 

"Time."  Penny called.  Jack quickly dialed 
home on the DHD.
   
"Good timing."  Mulder pointed at the grayish 
blobs bouncing in the distance; that could only 
be the Muspelheim, closing in on their position.  

As the Stargate whooshed to life, little green 
shards of laser light puffed up the dirt all around 
them.  Jack sent the code to open the Iris and 
seeing the green light he told Mulder and Scully 
to move out.  Mulder took Scully by the hand 
and dove into the event horizon.  Jack waited as 
Penny grabbed the Yerzaman from its place 
under the chevron and then they ran together 
into the whirlpool of the Stargate leaving the 
Muspelheim and their world behind.
  
Cheyenne Mountain 
1994

	Stepping out of the Stargate, Jack fully 
expected General Hammond to be there waiting 
to kick his ass, but after about thirty seconds he 
realized they weren't where they were supposed 
to be.  "Ah, Damn it!"  It looked like the gate 
had just been put into place. The ramp beneath 
his feet was made of wood, the room was huge 
and hangar-like, the control room hadn't been 
built and the only access seemed to be an 
elevator in the room's left-hand corner at it's far 
end. He turned around fully expecting the 
Stargate to disappear; as it had when SG1 had 
gone back to 1969, but it stayed right where it 
was.  At least that was a good sign.  Penny, 
Mulder and Scully were looking at Jack 
curiously not having the intimate knowledge of 
the Gateroom he had, they had no idea they were 
in the wrong place.   Jack scanned the room and 
saw a computer on a table off to one side of the 
gate. The little orange light on the monitor 
indicated that it was hooked to a power source.  
He walked over and took a closer look at the 
gate.  He could see wires hooked to the outer 
ring so he knew it also had a power source.  

He spoke for the first time.  "Listen, we're not in 
Kansas anymore. I'm not sure where we are but 
this isn't home, well it is home but not our 
home, meaning our time."  

Penny stared at Jack eyes wide with disbelief.  
"You're sure?"  

Jack replied, "Yep, pretty damn sure."   
Horrified Penny looked at her companions.  
"I am so sorry..." she began.  

Jack held up his hand.  "Penny don't.  This is 
fixable, at least we're on Earth so let's not 
panic..."  

"Where do you think we are?"  

"I think we must have gone back in time. This" 
he said making a sweeping motion with his 
hand, " looks like pictures I've seen of the gate 
room when the project was first brought to 
Cheyenne Mountain.  It 's about 1993 or 1994."  

"So how do we get back to our time? Penny?"  
Mulder asked. 

Penny looked at Mulder regarding his question.  
"We would have to use the same theory we used 
to get to the future, but we don't have sun flare 
times.   I need to know the exact flare times, or I 
could just keep bouncing us around from time to 
time."   

"How do we calculate a flare time that hasn't 
occurred yet?"

"Penny what is it you need to know?"  Scully 
asked getting ready to roll up her sleeves and 
help. 

"Basically, I need an atmospherics report and 
data on recent solar activity then based on that 
and past activity I should be able to calculate the 
date and the exact time to engage the wormhole 
but it will take time and it's a lot more difficult 
from here...Oh wait, Project Q is in operation 
they should have some of the information we 
need.   What I'd really like to know is how I sent 
us back instead of forward."  The last sentence 
was said more to herself than to the others.  

"Wait Penny."  Mulder interrupted.  "Sam gave 
me this piece of paper it has times and dates on 
it. Could this be the solar flares?"
Jack smiled shaking his head. "Remind me to 
put Carter up for a promotion.  Got anything 
else, Mulder?"  

"No that was the last thing she gave me." 
Mulder replied.  

"That computer can give us the date and time, 
then we can see how long we have to wait for 
these flares."  Jack said.  

Penny walked over and pushed the computer's 
power button.  "Isn't it a bit odd that nobody's 
down here?"  She asked waiting for the 
computer to boot.  

"From what I remember since this thing didn't 
work, security was not a big priority."  Jack said 
nodding his head toward the gate. The computer 
whirred on. As soon as the screen came up 
Penny looked at the bottom corner to see the 
time then double clicked to find the date.  

"It's 0203, so I can see why the place is 
deserted."  Jack, Mulder and Scully had joined 
Penny at the computer. 

"Here, here's the date."  Penny said pointing at 
the screen.  What dates and times are on Sam's 
paper?"  

"Let's see we've got 0331 with today's date, 
October 16, 1994."

Jack looked troubled as he said the date out 
loud. "Jack you ok?"  Penny inquired.  

"What...oh...Yeah, I'm ok, so we only have an 
hour and a half to wait. Do you need to do any 
other calculations to get us back home?"  

"No, but I still think it's important to know 
which of the variables I screwed up on the 
calculation to get us here instead of home, I was 
so sure I was right." She started to pull the small 
hand held computer out of her pocket so that she 
could refigure her last calculations but then 
looked at her watch and then at the computer 
clock then back at her watch. "Oh no, no, no, 
unbelievable my watch is wrong, it's one minute 
slow.  Damn, that's why we went back in time, 
we powered up the gate a minute late. Of course, 
I can see why gate travel would screw up a 
normal watch...but this is an astronaut's watch 
and is supposed to..." Mulder interrupted 
Penny's self-rant.  

"Pen, you can't cry over spilt milk, we got 
Scully back, we're here on Earth, reasonably 
safe for the moment and we're going home in an 
hour and a half so quit beating yourself up."  
Mulder said gently to his friend.  

Jack nodded his agreement and then said.  "We 
have one more little complication we're going to 
have to dial the gate by hand and that's going to 
make hitting the precise time slightly more 
difficult. Mulder, when the time comes you and 
I are going to have to dial this thing and it's 
heavy, let's give it a try so we'll know what 
we're dealing with."  Mulder stepped off to the 
side of the platform with Jack.  They grabbed 
the inner ring and then like contestants on the 
"Price Is Right" gave it a spin.  After about three 
or four tries with Penny and Scully timing them, 
they got a feel for the device and we're fairly 
sure they would be able to dial it and hit the 
right time.  

Jack halted the practice spins by telling the 
others to,  "get some rest.  I'll keep an eye on the 
elevator."  Mulder nodded then looked at the 
gate.  He, Scully and Penny settled on the floor, 
quietly talking while Jack walked over to the far 
corner and sat by the elevator lost in thought.
  
Jack could see the telephone on the table next to 
the computer, he could make one phone call and 
change his life.  This had to be a test.  

"Jack you can't, I know you want to but you 
can't." Daniel appeared next to him just out of 
sight of the others. 

"Daniel, I could save his life." Jack said quietly.
 
"I know, but you can't. It's already happened 
Jack, you can't change the past."  Daniel said 
tenderly.  

"Damn it Daniel, it's not the past; right now, it 
hasn't happened and it won't for two more years 
yet.  I could just leave myself a note like the 
one's Sam has left for us on this 
mission...what's so different about what we're 
doing and saving my son?"  Jack's emotions 
were on the surface.  

"Jack I understand, I do..." Daniel's voice was 
full of sympathy, but Jack interrupted abruptly.  

"How could you understand?  I don't think you 
do."  

"Jack, you don't think when we went back to 
1969 that I didn't want to call or write or 
telegram my parents to stay far away from the 
New York Museum of Art, so I could save them 
and grow up with two loving parents rather than 
a string of abusive foster families? What you're 
doing right now is securing the future, not 
changing the past. Scully wasn't supposed to be 
taken.  The Muspelheim tried to change the past 
you're just correcting things.  If you save 
Charlie, what happens to the man that could go 
to Abydos and not care enough about himself to 
detonate a nuclear devise?  Even though we 
found another way, you still had to believe it 
was a possibility.  The fate of millions, no 
billions of people rested on your shoulders many 
times over the last eight years and without the 
events that took place in your life and I mean all 
of the events, you would not be who you are 
right now."

Jack buried his head in his folded arms that were 
resting on top of his bended knees.  He knew 
Daniel was right.  "Daniel, leave me alone." He 
said quietly.  Then a thought struck him; one of 
how often in the months since Daniel's 
ascension he had wanted his friend by his side.  
With his head still buried, he turned it slightly to 
see if Daniel had indeed left, he said.  "Danny?  
Wait, stay, sit here with me."  Daniel stayed 
even though he could feel the others looking for 
him. He only wished he were there in solid form 
so he could put his arms around Jack and 
comfort him.  
	
Mulder and Penny were filling Scully in on the 
events that had taken place since her abduction 
in the airplane graveyard. 

Scully was astonished. "I've actually been 
missing for over three months and when I 
disappeared you thought I was lost in time. It 
never occurred to you that I was abducted by 
aliens, Mulder?"  Scully said in a teasing tone.  

"No time loss, no bright lights and no space craft 
what can I say Scully? Time travel seemed to be 
the best alternative."  He smiled down at her.  

She shook her head.   

He continued, "At least I had the best quantum 
physicist helping me find you."  

Scully gave both Mulder and Penny a brilliant 
smile.  "I'm not complaining. Thank you both."  

Penny smiled back.  "I think the real hero is 
Jack.  Who knows, what's in store for him when 
we get back.  He could be court martialed. The 
gate is top secret, black ops. Apparently, he was 
convinced enough to take the risk because he 
believes that you both are key to stopping a 
future alien invasion."  Scully glanced in Jack's 
direction no wonder he had seemed so stressed.  

"Great, I only wish someone would tell us 
exactly how we're supposed to do that."  Mulder 
sighed.  

Penny looked at her watch, "It's 0325, and I 
think it's time."    

As she finished talking Jack had joined them.  
"Listen change in plan.  The computer's hooked 
up to the Stargate so we can dial from there."  
He noted the puzzled looks he was receiving.  
"Don't ask how I know I just do."  He walked 
over to the computer. From where Mulder, 
Penny and Scully sat it appeared as if he was 
listening to someone giving him instructions.  
Penny looked from Mulder to Scully.  

Mulder spoke up "Hey, he's gotten us this far 
I'm not going to doubt him now."  
	
Finished with his prep work Jack walked back 
over and knelt down. An action he decided 
immediately was a mistake when his knees 
protested.  

"Listen the gate is going to shake like a son of a 
bitch so it will get someone's attention.  As soon 
I put in the last coordinate I'll send the code and 
then you guys hustle through.  There will be 
guards in the Gateroom with guns pointed at you 
so don't make any sudden moves just wait at the 
top of the ramp I'll be right behind you, as soon 
as I clear the program. Ready."  

Jack stood gingerly and took his place at the 
computer entering the coordinates Daniel was 
feeding to him.  At 0331 the gate activated, the 
whole room was shaking so bad it felt as if the 
mountain might come down on their heads.  Jack 
ran over hit SG1's code watched for the green 
light and then gave Mulder, Scully and Penny 
signal to go as he ran back to the computer.  
Again, listening to Daniel's instructions he 
wiped everything he had done clean.  Just as he 
finished deleting and headed toward gate, he 
heard the elevator coming down the shaft.  

He ran up the wood ramp, and before stepping 
into the event horizon he looked over to Daniel 
and said,  "See you in six."  Daniel looked 
puzzled.  Jack smiled, see Danny boy you don't 
know everything.  

 
Cheyenne Mountain
Present Day

	Jack popped out of the gate to find 
home, a little hostile but home none the less. 
Mulder, Scully and Penny had done as he 
instructed and waited at the top of the ramp for 
him.  He moved in front of them so that the 
Security Forces surrounding them would have to 
shoot him before hitting one of them. General 
Hammond entered the gate room looking not 
pleased at all.

"Colonel O'Neill you want to tell me why I 
shouldn't have you drawn and quartered right 
this very minute."  

"Sir, I can explain."  The Colonel started but the 
General held his hand up.  

"Security, take Colonel O'Neill and his guests 
into custody. Escort them to the Infirmary for a 
post-mission exam and then directly to the 
briefing room."  

Jack thought about saying something but 
thought better of it and allowed the security 
team to lead him by the arm to the infirmary.  
An hour later Dr. Frazier and her staff cleared 
them and they were ushered to the briefing 
room.  

"That will be all."  The General dismissed the 
Security Forces.   
	
Jack had given quite a bit of thought about what 
to tell the General.  He decided that the truth was 
the way to go even if it meant a court martial.  
The effect on the future would remain an 
unknown and he wasn't sure how Mulder and 
Scully fit into the picture, but he had 
accomplished all of the mission objectives, so he 
supposed the rest would work itself out.  The 
general took his seat at the head of the briefing 
room table.  Jack waited for his commanding 
officer to speak.  

"Colonel, introduce me to these people."  

"Yes Sir, this is Fox Mulder formerly of the 
FBI, Dana Scully also formerly of the FBI and 
Lt. Colonel Penny McAllister, I believe you 
know.  General, I believe if you let me tell you 
what happened you..."  Jack stopped as the 
General again held up his hand.  

"Not necessary, Colonel, I already know what 
you did and why you did it. In fact, I'm pretty 
sure I have more of the pieces than you."  The 
General continued despite the inquisitive looks 
he was receiving from around the table.  "Right 
after you left, I had a visit from the Asgard.  
They explained about Dr. Scully's kidnapping 
and their Muspelheim cousins trying to change 
the timeline. What you don't know is why.  
What I'm about to tell you is classified and 
needs to remain in this room, understood."  "Yes 
sir's," echoed around the table.
  
"According to the Asgard this all goes back to 
Mr. Mulder's abduction.  The Muspelheim 
realized after torturing and experimenting on 
Mr. Mulder that they had the wrong partner.  
You see, they had recently acquired the capacity 
to time travel on Earth using the sun's solar 
activity and a small device that they stole from 
the SGC in the future.  Through time travel, they 
were shown their own defeat so they decided to 
set an elaborate plan in motion that spanned 
sixty years.  They first went back to 1941 and 
took the Lucky Lib."  

Mulder and Penny looked pointedly at each 
other. "My father's Lucky Lib?"  Penny 
questioned in a perplexed voice.

"Yes, they had seen the story of the Lib in Mr. 
Mulder's mind during his imprisonment.  
Taking the Lucky Lib, they dropped it off in the 
airplane graveyard with a homing device built 
into the radio to be activated by Mr. Mulder.  
Now, when they dropped Mr. Mulder in that 
field in Montana they fully expected him to be 
revived in the form of what you call in your files 
a "super soldier"." The general said looking at 
Scully. She nodded.  "The "new" Mulder was to 
lure Scully to the airplane graveyard on a case 
and activate the beacon so the Muspelheim 
could take Dr. Scully.  No one would be the 
wiser because "new Mulder" would play the role 
of looking for his lost partner.  Two things 
happened from the offset to foil their original 
plan; one, Dr. Scully was pregnant; something 
they hadn't foreseen.  When they realized she 
was with child, they wanted the baby to be born 
because they thought he would be a true 
human/alien hybrid. Secondly," he said looking 
directly at Scully, "you buried Mulder.  They 
fully expected you to realize he was still alive 
when you found him but not realize he was 
infected with the virus until it was too late and 
the transformation had occurred.  Burying 
Mulder and then not unearthing him until Billy 
Miles' was discovered alive first then watching 
his transformation gave you time to figure out 
that something was not right which lead you to 
treat Mr. Mulder for the alien virus, stopping his 
transformation."  All eyes were glued to the 
General as he continued.  "The Muspelheim 
actually cut their losses at this point, not wanting 
to risk taking Dr. Scully and exposing the 
breadth of their operation to Mr. Mulder, even 
after Mr. Mulder left they were never too sure 
what he would remember from his time in 
captivity. The Asgard spy said that they decided 
to bide their time and take Dr. Scully closer to 
the planned invasion date but prior to her 
discovery." 

"What discovery?"  Mulder asked.  

"Ah, Mr. Mulder, that the Asgard wouldn't 
reveal.  Apparently, we have to get that one on 
our own."  

Both Mulder and Jack shook their heads.  

The general continued, " The whole idea was to 
figure out another way to separate Mr. Mulder 
and Dr. Scully which did happen, but they 
couldn't take Dr. Scully as long as she had 
William.  That's when fate stepped in; it was 
actually a coincidence that you two ended up in 
that airplane graveyard.  Mr. Mulder the 
Muspelheim placed a small chip under the scar 
tissue on your chest.  It activated once you were 
near the plane drawing you to it.  When you 
keyed the radio mic they homed in on your 
signal and took Dr. Scully.  They flooded your 
brain with a new set of memories and intended 
for you to end up with only that set after they, 
well, for lack of a better term downloaded them.  
They encountered a problem with your brain 
chemistry and you ended up with conflicting sets 
of memories and you decided the ones with 
Scully were the correct ones.  At that point, 
though, they just thought you'd get lost in a mire 
of time travel theory and even if you searched 
you would not find Dr. Scully.  What they 
hadn't counted on was Dr. Jackson. His meeting 
Mr. Mulder and hearing his story was key.  After 
his ascension he stumbled into a future; that 
because of hearing Mr. Mulder's story, he 
believed had been altered."  

Penny interrupted the General, "Wait, excuse me 
sir what does that mean Daniel ascended?  He's 
not missing in action from a flash flood?"  

"Sir, with your permission I'll tell her later."  

"Permission granted Colonel."  Penny gave Jack 
a curious look.

Hope Dies Last (8 of 8)
Montana1416

Disclaimer in part 1


"Now where was I, oh yes, Dr. Jackson, armed 
with the certainty that the future he had seen was 
wrong because of Dr. Scully's disappearance, he 
convinced you, " he said glancing at Jack, "to 
help Lt. Colonel McAllister and Mr. Mulder 
rescue Dr. Scully."  

Jack smiled, "Count on Daniel to go where 
angels fear to tread."

"I have to agree with you there, Colonel, and I 
know someone else like that but we'll get to that 
later."  The general said leveling a look at the 
Colonel.  "Without Dr. Scully's abduction we 
would not have known about the Muspelheim 
changing the timeline nor would the Asgard 
have been able to put measures in place to stop 
the Muspelheim from any repeat performances.
 
What we need to decide now is how to proceed.  
Obviously, we need to be able to keep in contact 
with Mr. Mulder and Dr. Scully.  Earth is not 
out of the woods, we need Dr. Scully to make 
that discovery and secure a future free of alien 
invasion.   Lt. Colonel McAllister your transfer 
to the Stargate Project will be effective 
immediately."  

"Yes sir."  Penny beamed.   

"Mr. Mulder what are your immediate plans?"  
The General asked.  

"I guess my immediate plans are to keep Scully 
safe and to stay one step ahead of the people 
trying to kill me."  Mulder answered.  Scully 
reached over and took his hand under the table 
and squeezed his fingers.   

"Mr. Mulder, Dr. Scully I have read the files that 
pertain to you and I think you are in desperate 
need of someone to watch your back. I have a 
suggestion that I would like for you to consider.  
Instead of constantly running and looking over 
your shoulder we would like to hide you in plain 
sight.  We could provide you with jobs, not here 
at the SGC but at the Air Force Academy.  Mr. 
Mulder, I believe you are qualified to teach any 
number of psychology courses and Dr. Scully 
they could use a good doctor at the Academy 
Hospital or you could do research.  We will, of 
course, have to provide you with new names, but 
your back grounds would pretty much remain 
the same with a couple of exceptions."  

As General finished, Mulder ever the suspicious 
one questioned the General's motives.  "Why 
would you do this for us? What do you want 
from us?"   

He was surprised when Jack not the General 
answered.  "Because if you are the key to 
stopping a future alien invasion we need to be 
able to find you at a moments' notice.  We want 
to know what you may already know and that 
could be of great value in saving Earth from her 
enemies."  Jack finished. 

"I couldn't have put it better myself Colonel.  
We would like to debrief you on all the 
information you've managed to gather about 
these aliens and their earthly conspirators. And 
from time to time you may be called on to help 
the SGC."  The general looked from Mulder to 
Scully.  

This time it was Scully who asked.  "What if we 
choose to leave? Will the SGC just let us walk 
out?"  

"Yes, but you go with the condition that you 
either let us know where you are or how we can 
reach you.  If you are hesitant about giving us 
the information for fear of your safety, I would 
even agree to let Colonel O'Neill and Lt. 
Colonel McAllister be your SGC contacts. You 
would also have to sign a non-disclosure 
agreement about the Stargate and we would 
expect you to honor that agreement. I hope that 
you will give my first offer serious 
consideration, though.  Life on the run can be 
hazardous at best and let me explain you are not 
only trying to avoid your old enemies you have 
some new ones now that you know about the 
Stargate, the SGC would try to protect you, but 
you'd make our jobs a lot easier if you would 
just hide here."  General Hammond answered 
honestly.  

Mulder looked at Scully in silent 
communication.  "We need to talk this over.  Is 
there somewhere we could go and talk?"  
Hammond nodded at Jack.  

Jack strode over to the door and asked the 
Sergeant securing it to step inside.  "Sergeant, 
please escort Mr. Mulder and Dr. Scully to Dr. 
Jackson's old office."  

Mulder and Scully smiled at Jack and Penny as 
they followed the Sergeant out of the briefing 
room.   
	
"Lt. Colonel you know Mulder what do you 
think he will do?"  

"It's hard to say, General, Sir.  Mulder doesn't 
trust very easily, but then again I don't think he 
wants to drag Scully around from pillar to post 
either.  If I were a betting person, I'd say they're 
going to stay.  I think the biggest carrot for 
Mulder was when you said the SGC may need 
them from time to time.  Curiosity always gets 
the best of Mulder, Sir."  Penny smiled at the 
General.  

"Thank you, Lt. Colonel. Would you please wait 
outside for a moment?"   He asked.
  
"Yes sir."  
	
General Hammond waited until Penny had 
exited the room.  Jack knew what was coming.  
"Colonel you are damn lucky the Asgard 
stepped in or you'd be looking a whole very 
long list of charges at your court martial.  You 
want to tell me what exactly you think you were 
doing risking the security of this program, not to 
mention this facility."  

"Sir, for my actions I take complete 
responsibility, it all happened so fast and you 
must admit your hands would have been tied and 
I was convinced it was the right thing to do."  

"Jack, you know I trust you and your judgment.  
I know how you got the information thanks to 
the Asgard, but you still haven't told me why 
you chose to act on your own."  

Jack sighed.  "Look it actually sounds crazy 
when I say it out loud, when Daniel came to me; 
in I guess a dream or something, and told me to 
help Mulder because it was important to the 
future of Earth, I questioned Mulder about 
Scully.  He confirmed what I had dreamed so I 
investigated further and found out what I could 
about Mulder, it all turned out to be legit.  We 
had a small window of opportunity and at first I 
thought it involved rescuing Scully from the 
past, so that coupled with the fact that Daniel; 
him being a higher being or whatever these days 
had said that no one else should be involved was 
what I considered reason enough for secrecy and 
I went for it."  Jack looked the General in the 
eye.  
	
The General had great respect for the Colonel 
sitting across from him, but could not simply let 
the incident go unpunished no matter what the 
reason.    

"Jack," the General's tone had softened 
considerably from earlier.  "I can't have my best 
people going off half-cocked, no matter what the 
reason or how trustworthy the source of the 
information seems, you know that.  Now thanks 
to the Asgard, I know your visit from Dr. 
Jackson was the real thing, but what if it had 
been the Muspelheim trying to get to you 
somehow.  I have to give you a week off, 
suspension, but due to the sensitive nature of the 
material it will not be noted in your file. I know 
it's pointless but I going to say it anyway let's 
not have a repeat, Colonel."   

"No sir and Thank you sir."  Jack said.
  
A soft knock on the door sounded.  "Come."  
General Hammond ordered.  The door opened 
Mulder and Scully entered the room.  

"General, Colonel, we've talked it over and 
we've decided we'd like to stay here in 
Colorado Springs at least for the time being."  
Mulder told them.  

"Fine, I'll make to arrangements, we can find 
you some accommodations until your paperwork 
is ready."  

"General if it's ok with you we'd like to stay 
with Penny...uh; Lt. Colonel McAllister, until 
that time.  That'll be fine.  I'll call you tomorrow 
with your instructions."  

"Thank you."  Mulder said.  He turned so that he 
and Scully could go meet Penny, but Scully held 
his arm.  

"Colonel O'Neill, Thank you.  I know you took 
a huge risk rescuing me and I hope you're not in 
too much hot water."  Scully said looking 
pointedly at the General. 

"Not too much Dr. Scully, thanks."  Jack winked 
at her.  She and Mulder exited the briefing room.  

Six Months Later

Brian let himself in to Penny's 
apartment.  He could hear the sound of running 
water.  Walking through the living room and 
down the hall toward the sound, he summoned 
his courage; Penny had spent most of the last 
nine months just being his friend not allowing 
their relationship to step over the boundary that 
it had once traversed.  He had thought after 
Lynn's passing, Penny would relent but each 
time he broached the subject all she would say is 
that he needed time to mourn.  In his heart, he 
felt like he had mourned; his wife had been lost 
to him for over two years.  Officially, she had at 
last been allowed to rest. Her parents had finally 
accepted that the daughter they loved was not 
the woman being artificially kept alive.  It had 
been hard but they loved Brian and realized that 
he would not be able to move on with his life 
while their daughter was in this limbo.  One 
more set of extensive tests showed that Lynn's 
condition remained unchanged. She had no brain 
function.  With the help of Dr. Haley, Brian and 
Lynn's parents had let her go and laid her to rest.  

All of this had happened five months ago just 
one month after both he and Penny had been 
suddenly transferred to the Stargate Project.  In 
the succeeding months, working side-by-side on 
the secret project had just made Brian want 
Penny that much more.  He knew she still loved 
him it was in her eyes every time she looked at 
him when she thought he wasn't looking.  So 
when he noted a small drop in her defenses as of 
late he decided to take drastic measures. The 
perfect opportunity presented itself when she 
informed him after qualifying on the gun range 
that she was going home and taking a hot 
shower to rinse away the grimy feeling of 
gunpowder residue.
  
Steam escaped from the open bathroom door, he 
stepped over the pile of cloths that lie in the 
middle of the floor. He quietly shed his own and 
dropped them letting them commingle with 
those already there. He hadn't meant to scare her 
but he saw her start when she heard the metal 
hooks of the shower curtain pulling across the 
metal rod.  

"Oh my god Brian, you scared the crap out of 
me."  

"I'm sorry," Brian said as he peeked around the 
edge of the curtain, then asked, "is there room 
for two in there?" 

"Brian." She said his name like a warning.  

He repeated his question. "Is there room for two 
in there?"  Penny sighed.  She was tired from 
months of fighting her true feelings for him. 

She wanted nothing more than for him to join 
her, "I give up, in your case I'll make an 
exception."  He grinned as he pulled the curtain 
back more and stepped in.  She moved aside so 
that he could stand under the water. As he tilted 
his head back to wet his hair, she took the 
opportunity to look, really look at his body. Her 
eyes traveled from his broad shoulders down the 
muscled expanse of his chest and stomach to his 
cock, resting in a nest of wiry dark curls.  

With rivulets of water running over his face, he 
opened one eye and then the other, "What are 
you looking at?" 

She moved closer, until their bodies were a mere 
inch from touching. "You." 

He closed the distance remaining between them 
pressing into her, she could feel his growing 
erection against her hip. His hand reached 
around to the back of her neck to tilt her face up 
for a kiss. Opening her mouth to him, she slid 
her tongue into his mouth, allowing it to dance 
with his. She took his cock in her hand; it was 
full, long and ready for her. Moisture pooled 
between her legs, her center throbbing. He 
turned her so that her back was to the tile wall.  
With her back resting on the wall he lifted her so 
that she could wrap her legs around his waist 
and slide down onto his erection. Once in place 
he moved forward and thrust into her. 

"I've missed you."  She whispered in his ear.  

He smiled and said, "Mission accomplished," 
then recaptured her mouth with his own as he 
made another thrust.

*******

It had been a long day at the hospital a long soak 
in a hot bath would feel good Scully thought as 
she opened the door to the apartment she shared 
with Mulder. Jack had been generous enough to 
let them sublet Daniel's apartment with the 
understanding that Daniel's furnishings and fish 
were part of the deal. Mulder wouldn't be home 
for an hour or so, just long enough for a relaxing 
soak.  It seemed that she had no more than 
settled into the steamy hot water of the tub when 
she heard Mulder calling her name.  

"Scully?" 
 
"In here Mulder in the tub." She called to him.  

"Hey, you ok, you sound strange."  He said from 
the other side of the door.  

"I'm fine Mulder just fell asleep in the tub."  She 
was out of the tub and wrapping a towel around 
her as she opened the door to greet Mulder.  

"Guess who I road up on the elevator with?"  
Mulder asked moving into the bathroom.  

"Who?"  She responded.  

"Who, what?" Mulder said a bit distracted at the 
sight of Scully in her towel.  Scully raised an 
eyebrow and gave Mulder the look. 

"Who'd you ride up in the elevator with?" 

"Oh, Brian."  

Scully nodded knowingly then asked. "Do you 
think he stands a chance?"  

Mulder looked thoughtfully. "She's been 
softening a bit but your guess is as good as 
mine."  

"Penny loves him Mulder, I hope they work it 
out."  Scully said.  Penny had become like 
family to them and they both wanted what was 
best for her.  

"I'm going to get something to drink you want 
anything?" Mulder asked.  

"Yes, ice tea, I made some, it's in the frig.  I'll 
just get dressed and join you in a sec then we 
can think about dinner."  

"Don't feel you have to get dressed on my 
account Scully."  Mulder leered as he left the 
room, leaving Scully a little concerned.  
Normally, that kind of leer would have had her 
towel hitting the floor and she and Mulder 
horizontal in less than thirty seconds.  She had 
thought something was on Mulder's mind this 
morning; now she was sure of it.  Leaving for 
work he had shrugged off her attempts to find 
out what by saying he was distracted by work.  
Scully didn't buy his excuse but she figured that 
Mulder would eventually tell her.   She quickly 
dressed in a pair of jeans and a white tee and 
went to the kitchen to join Mulder but found that 
the apartment was dark and there was no Mulder 
to be seen.   As she turned from the kitchen she 
saw flicker of light; that she failed to notice on 
her way to the kitchen. It was coming from the 
small balcony just off the living room.  

"Mulder?" she queried as she walked toward the 
French doors that led to the balcony.  "So what 
are you doing Mulder?"  She asked as she 
opened the doors to find Mulder busy lighting 
candles.  

"We're celebrating Scully."  

"Celebrating what?"  Scully said sidetracked at 
the sight of Mulder lighting little votive candles 
all around the balcony.  Mulder gave her a 
strange look as he moved to lean against the 
balcony railing in the twilight.  The sky in front 
of him looked as if it had been lit by the embers 
of a giant fire. 

"Life." He said and closed his eyes, as a light 
spring breeze stirred to clear his head. 

"Mulder, are you ok?" She said worriedly, it was 
not too often that Mulder was completely still. 
He turned and smiled down at her.  

"Fine, Scully just thinking, come over here." 
She complied, and he turned her to face forward, 
looking into the spectacular sunset against the 
mountains to the west. He pressed her gently to 
the rail, as he stood right behind her.  She leaned 
back into his embrace, gently pressing her back 
against his chest. He pushed forward slightly 
against her and spoke softly into her ear.  

"Scully, I realized today that we're still here; 
we've made it together to another spring."  All 
of a sudden Scully knew the significance of the 
day; it had been two years since Mulder had 
miraculously come back from the grave, how 
could she have forgotten. Mulder continued.  

"I don't know, I was thinking about destiny. Our 
destiny changed when I was taken and then 
brought back to life and then again when the 
Muspelheim took you." His hands gripped he 
arms as he mentioned the aliens.  "We're not 
supposed to be Melvin and Schuyler Haley, but 
we are.  Our lives have taken so many twists and 
turns and with the exception of the past six 
months we've lived in almost constant turmoil 
because of this quest of ours.   While you were 
missing Penny said to me that hope dies last and 
maybe that's what this is, I'm hoping to give 
you some semblance of a normal life, but it 
doesn't feel quite real.  I realize Melvin and 
Schuyler are necessary for our safety and we 
have to keep up our faade, but at the same time 
I want something real Scully.   I can't change or 
be anything, but what I am. And Scully, 
everything I am is in love with you. So would 
you do me the honor of becoming my wife for 
real?"  

Tears brimmed in Scully's eyes as she absorbed 
what Mulder was saying.  "And I love you." She 
leaned her head back slightly to look up at 
Mulder.  

Then being the ever-practical one and thinking 
of their safety she asked, "but how could we?"  

Mulder smiled. "Scully you just say yes and I'll 
figure out all the rest."  

"Yes."  Slowly he slid his hands from their 
resting place on her arms and found her hands 
with his and gently touched her fingertips. Then 
their fingers intertwined. Moving slowly, their 
fingers caressed through and around each other 
like the bodies of two lovers.  Mulder tipped his 
face forward, letting the scent of her wash over 
him, until his cheek is against her ear.  Scully 
turned her head until her lips were near his.  
Turning further, she found his mouth with hers. 
His arms enveloped her from behind, and they 
kissed with her head turned and tilted back, 
surrendering to him, to the emotion, to the 
inevitable. They kissed, slowly and tremulously, 
and with building passion.  

Breaking the kiss, Scully whispered, "Maybe we 
should take our celebration inside."  

Mulder smiled.  "Lead the way."  Scully took 
Mulder's hand and led him indoors.  

As the French doors closed to the balcony, 
across the street at ground level a man moved 
out behind a tree and quickly put what looked 
like a camera into the bag he was carrying on his 
shoulder.  Securing the bag he swiftly walked 
down the street and around the corner to a black 
sedan parked against the curb.

*******

Daniel Jackson woke up disoriented in a space 
that was dark and cramped.  Raising both hands 
to his head, he pressed his fingertips to his 
pounding temples.  An eerie glow was filtering 
to him through the darkness.  With his vision a 
little blurry, obviously related to the pounding in 
his temples, Daniel struggled to sit up and adjust 
his eyes so that he could focus on his location.  
Looking around, he did not recognize his 
surroundings.  He found the source of the dim 
light was a hole high above his head and a larger 
source of light was approximately sixty yards in 
front of him.  As he became more oriented, he 
started to move around bumping his head on the 
rock protruding beside him for his efforts.  
Pressing the bump with his fingers, it suddenly 
dawned on him that he was flesh, bone and 
blood not energy.   The next thought struck him 
like a bolt of lightning, through the fog and the 
pain in his head memories came flooding back, 
he had just returned from the future.  He and 
Jack were running up a hill toward a Stargate, 
the loud rolling thunder of artillery shells 
closing in from the distance.  We have to hurry.  
Shaking his head to clear the memory  he had 
to focus.  Where was he? He figured out he was 
in a cave but where?   Gingerly he got to his feet 
and slowly made his way to the cave entrance.  
As he exited the cave the heat of the outside air 
hit him and wrapped like a hot moist towel 
around his body.  He closed his eyes to the glare 
giving them time to adjust to the bright greenish 
morning light.  As he stood waiting his mind 
wandered to the last memory he had before 
waking in the cave. Dancing...dancing was the 
last thing he remembered.  A slight smile played 
on his lips as he remembered Jack gently 
holding him in his arms, their foreheads 
touching, his arms around Jack's neck, and a 
paper's width separating their gently swaying 
bodies as they danced around the floor. Dancing 
with Jack?  The thought perplexed Daniel, he 
tried to remember more but the rest of the 
memory eluded him so he opened his eyes.  He 
couldn't think about that now.   Shading his eyes 
with his hand, he started walking down hill.  
About halfway down, he noticed two greenish 
colored suns coming up over the hills to the east.  
Scanning his surroundings he found he was 
completely surrounded by grayish colored sand 
and small jagged rocks as far as the eye could 
discern.  At that moment it dawned on him that 
he was completely alone.  He was on an 
unknown planet, in an unknown galaxy.   The 
realization sent him to sit down on the nearest 
available rock.  "Great now what?"  He muttered 
to himself.   Jack, help me!  He shouted in his 
mind.

*******

"Daniel!" Jack shouted as he sat straight up 
waking with a start.

End