Fallout

Spoilers for "Metamorphosis"

"You are next." Woden said, pointing to Carter.

"Uh, I think I'm next." He said, realizing that the machine would not bode well for anyone.

"Nirrti has asked for this one."

He didn't even risk glancing in her direction. "And I'm asking you to take me in…"

"No." Woden said, using his powers of telekinesis to restrain Jack. A little time elapsed and Jack tried to undermine their surety in Nirrti's deity. "Come!" He said to Sam, tired of the Colonel's desperate attempts at distracting him.

She looked at him, a sick look on her face. "At least, I'll find out how the machine works." She said before she was forced up the hallway.

"Colonel?"

"Yes, sir?" He asked, looking at the General.

"I asked you if you had anything to add."

"No, sir."

Sam, Jonas and Teal'c were looking at him almost expectantly. "Sir, none of us were there when you convinced Eggar to look inside Nirrti's mind." Sam said, reminding him that he had a vital part of the story to tell.

"You should not have come here, O'Neill."

"Can you undo what you've done to Carter?" He asked, trying to be like Daniel in hopeful optimism.

"If I choose to."

"I let you go once. We made a deal, I honored it." He said, hoping that a sense of responsibility would get her to help them. To let them go.

The look in her eyes showed that she was finding his desperation amusing. "I told you then I would not have done the same.

"Fix what you've done to Carter. Let the rest of my team go. That's all I ask. You can do what you want to me."

"Yes, Colonel." She said, a faint smile on her lips. "I can."

"She never put you in the machine?" General Hammond asked, surprised.

"No, sir. Eggar looked into her mind before she had the chance to do whatever she was going to do to me."

"Sounds like you got lucky."

"We did, sir." Jack said, looking at Sam.

"Wodan…" Nirrti said, clutching helplessly at the invisible force grabbing her neck and lifting her high into the air.

"Stop." Jack said, trying to be the voice of reason. But even he could only stare in horrified fascination as he saw Carter's last hope beg for her life.

"I am your god." She said, trying to convince him to let her go.

"We need her alive. Wodan, she's the only one who can help your people." Jack said, practically praying that would help him see reason.

"I can make you more powerful than your wildest dreams." It was the last straw. Her neck was snapped, and the goa'uld died alongside the host.

"Why did you do that?" He asked, staring at the dead body, almost disbelieving that he had killed her. Any other time, this would have been a time for celebration, but…because of this, Carter was as good as dead.

"She deserved to die." Woden said, a certain hatred in his voice that had only been present earlier toward them.

"She was Carter's only chance."

"Not so, O'Neill." Eggar said, staring straight ahead with an almost superhuman understanding. "Before she died, I looked into Nirrti's mind and took what I needed. Hurry. While there is still time."

He didn't need telling twice. He raced down the stairs and Woden opened the gates to the prisons holding Carter, Jonas, and Teal'c captive. He hurried to where she lay, soaked in her own sweat. "Sir." She said, weakly.

It was almost as if she was trying to say goodbye. He picked her up easily. She had lost a lot of water weight, and Jack could tell that the end was near. He placed her into the machine, hoping that Eggar knew what he was doing.

"It is done. You are as you were before." Eggar said, kindly, as he released Sam from the machine's grasp.

"Thank you." She said, stepping off the pedestal.

Jack hurried to her side, and placed a tender hand at the small of her back. "Yes, thank you."

"Colonel, is there something wrong?" General Hammond asked, noticing that Sam was squirming under the intensity of his gaze.

"No, sir…not anymore."

"And once we get to know each other a little better, I'd really like a chance to study this machine." She said, a gleam of excitement in her eye.

There was a slight hesitation as Woden looked at Eggar. "As soon as we have made our people whole again, we intend to destroy it."

She looked surprised that anyone would even consider destroying this advanced piece of technology. "I mean, but…This is an incredibly advanced piece of technology…"

"Carter. Don't you think it would be for the best?" He asked, trying to convey that it would be VERY bad if any of the other system lords were to find the device.

"Yes sir, I guess it would." She said, conceding to his judgment.

"Well, once Dr. Fraiser gives you all a clean bill of health, you are more than overdue for some personal leave."

"Thank you, sir." Jack said, standing. He left before any of the rest of them had stood.

Sam cast curious looks to Teal'c and Jonas.

"Major, is something wrong with Colonel O'Neill?"

"Not that I know of…" She said, confused.

"Well…I expect not to see you on the base for at least a week, Major." He said, a paternal look on his face.

She nodded with a grin. "Yes, sir."