Part 3: Destiny Determined

Three months away from retirement, General Evan Lorne glanced at the retreating figure of McKay as the Airman led the physicist away to await Lorne's decision. He got up and closed the door before he frowned heavily and opened a drawer in his desk. He reached in and pulled out a worn envelope. He sat down and upended the contents onto his desktop; a letter from his predecessor and a smaller unopened envelope. He picked up the letter first. It was well read; the pages smudged from his finger-tips, the lettering beginning to fade away.

'Evan,

Congrats on the job – you deserve it! There's a tradition that General Landry started for the outgoing SGC commander to write a letter welcoming the latest and who am I to argue with tradition?

You're an experienced guy, so I only have a few words of advice;

One, never touch anything they bring back through the gate.

Two, you'll probably want to resign in about a month (another tradition) but you won't do it.

Three, don't worry about Daniel Jackson descending into the office naked; we're all pretty sure he's Ascended for good this time.

Four, take the envelope included in this one seriously. It contains the last standing order of General Jack O'Neill.

Good luck,

Cameron Mitchell.'

Lorne put the letter down and picked up the unopened envelope. He turned it over in his hands. He'd worked with SG1 as a Major both at the SGC and in Pegasus; the fact that he had, made him a legend amongst the men and women serving under his command.

He read the outside instructions with a sinking heart.

'To be opened in the event Rodney McKay proposes a time travelling mission.'

Lorne tore open the paper and extracted the single sheet. The tight feeling in his chest prompted him to breathe. He smoothed the paper out flat; the words were handwritten.

'To the SGC commander; standing order by the authority of General O'Neill.

If Earth isn't safe, help McKay.'

He slumped back in his chair. Was Earth safe? It had been decimated by the virus. They'd got a handle on it eventually but it had reduced their population by over a third before they'd got it under control. Michael's prodigy – Teyla's son – was making headway in conquering the Milky Way. He'd left Earth alone but he was happily engaging them in battle off-world and Lorne figured it was only a matter of time. Earth wasn't safe. Still, Lorne hesitated.

'It's a big decision.'

'You got that right.' Lorne muttered. He froze and turned around. His eyes widened. 'Daniel?'

'Hey.' There was a faint glow around the archaeologist's form that gave away his Ascended nature. He pointed at the desk. 'I see you got Jack's order.'

'I did.' Lorne picked it up again. 'Are you here to talk me into doing this?' He asked suspiciously.

Daniel laughed. 'No.'

'To talk me out of it?' Lorne checked.

Daniel shook his head, his eyes twinkling in amusement. 'This is your decision, Evan. I'm just here to, oh I don't know,' he hunched his shoulders and wrinkled his nose, 'give you a sounding board.'

Lorne seemed bemused. 'OK. I guess I could use a sounding board.'

Daniel moved swiftly to sit the chair McKay had occupied. 'So. What are you thinking?'

'I'm thinking I just don't know if I can follow General O'Neill's order.' Lorne sighed heavily. 'If I let McKay do this…'

'You could change the timeline?' Daniel prompted. 'And do you have the right to do that?'

'Does anyone?' Lorne wondered. He flushed realising that SG1 had changed the timeline in the past. 'Sorry.'

'No, you're right.' Daniel said understandingly. 'Changing the timeline is a huge deal and I don't believe it's ever something we did lightly.'

'But you did it for the greater good?' Lorne mused out loud. 'To save Earth.'

Daniel nodded. 'Jack wrote that order for that very reason.'

Lorne looked at him questioningly. 'What?'

'McKay went to Jack years ago with this plan. Jack spoke with me about it.' Daniel admitted. 'McKay's original plan was to use the Ancient time-machine – go forward in time to rescue Sheppard and take Sheppard back to the past. Only McKay couldn't get the time machine to work.'

'And if he had General O'Neill would have allowed him to execute his plan.' Lorne realised.

'Jack would have gone with him.' Daniel confirmed. 'Even back then it was clear that Michael wasn't going to be stopped easily and the virus had started to spread around Earth. When McKay couldn't fix the time machine, he told Jack it could take years to come up with the math needed to make his plan B work. Jack knew leaving the standing order was his only way of helping McKay.'

'By ensuring any future SGC commander was at least forced to take the request seriously.' Lorne murmured.

Daniel clasped his hands atop his stomach. 'Jack died two hours after handing that order to General Landry.'

Lorne was aware of the stories; how O'Neill had handed Landry the envelope as his last act before they had gone to a surprise retirement party in the gate room. How O'Neill had given a speech paying tribute to the Stargate programme, the men and women he had served with including his late wife, and how he had stepped from the podium and collapsed. The reports said it had been a stroke; there had been nothing anyone could have done to save him.

'So, I'm supposed to agree to this because it was the last act and wish of a great man?' Lorne frowned. 'Because General O'Neill would have agreed to this?'

Daniel gestured at him. 'I just want you to consider why Jack left that order; how important it was to him that he did.'

'I'm not General O'Neill.' Lorne stated.

'But you are a good General, Evan.' Daniel said. 'You're respected; admired. You've had some hard decisions and you've made them. But you haven't been scared to take chances and that has worked in your favour.'

'Not every time.' Lorne was compelled to point out. 'I've made my share of mistakes too.'

'So did Jack.' Daniel replied. 'You know Jack told me McKay believed that it was destined.'

'Destined?'

'That Sheppard got thrown into the future for the specific purpose of ensuring that this future didn't happen because we would be able to get him back to our past to change things.' Daniel explained fervently. 'Think about it; think about all the things that have happened to make it possible – all things that still have to happen even if you agree to this.'

'Such as?' Lorne asked.

'Well, McKay coming up with a solution; Jack leaving a standing order that actually has made it into your hands right now.' Daniel expanded. 'And if you agree, it's going to be a miracle if everything plays out in the future to get Sheppard back to the past. I mean, the holographic technology has to work, Atlantis has to still be intact, the Stargate there has to work, the solar flare McKay predicts has to happen.'

Lorne leaned back in his chair. 'So even if I agree to McKay's plan, this may not work.'

'Put it this way,' Daniel said sympathetically, 'given the odds of everything happening the way it needs to in order for it to work, then if it does work maybe McKay is right; maybe it's destined to happen; maybe we aren't meant to have this future at all.'

Lorne lowered his gaze back to the letter in his hand and O'Neill's order. 'But what if…' he asked, raising his head to look at Daniel and finding an empty space in the chair. He looked around quickly; the office was empty. He was on his own. He looked down at the order again. He placed it carefully on his desk.

Changing the timeline was a big deal but Daniel's comment about destiny had struck a chord. Lorne sighed; he also couldn't ignore the fact that a man he had deeply respected and who he had considered a role model – O'Neill – had considered the plan important enough to leave a standing order. O'Neill had even qualified it; if Earth wasn't safe…because if Earth was safe the plan wasn't needed.

Earth wasn't safe.

Lorne felt the pinpricks of responsibility on his conscience. He had always felt responsible for allowing Teyla to fall into Michael's hands…if they had rescued her before her son was born then maybe Michael couldn't have achieved so much in so little time. And John Sheppard…Lorne had been the last to talk to him. The SGC had a long-standing edict never to leave a man behind. Didn't his old CO deserve a chance to be saved and returned to his own time?

His decision made, Lorne picked up his internal phone. 'Have Doctor McKay brought to my office.'

o-O-o

'I don't know what to think.'

Jack watched his monitor as Sam leaned forward, propping her elbows on her desk a galaxy away. Atlantis had dialled into the SGC for its regular update. Jack had taken advantage of being there to grab a one-to-one session with his wife.

'John's whole account of what happened seems unbelievable.' Sam concluded. She had just finished briefing Jack on Sheppard's story: of finding himself forty-eight thousand years in the future with a holographic McKay who had helped him get back to the past via the Stargate and a handy solar flare.

'Which bit?' Jack asked wryly. 'The time travel or the Doomsday future?' He tried hard to keep his voice even. It had been hard listening to her recount John's prediction of her death. He vowed silently that he wouldn't allow it to happen; they wouldn't allow it to happen.

'I was thinking Rodney rewriting the future just to make sure his wife doesn't die.' Sam said dryly.

'That doesn't sound strange to me at all.' Jack murmured. It's what he would have done given the opportunity.

Sam gave him a loving look before she sighed. 'I'm just waiting on Sheppard's DNA check.'

'Wise.' Jack commented.

'It's weird but I think this may have actually been meant to be.' Sam mused out loud. 'The odds of this future Rodney's plan working to send John back to us. The math alone that he would have had to create…I think this is case of a cause in one timeline creating the correct effect in another.'

Jack didn't even try to follow her. 'So what next?

'If the account of the future is right, we need to get Teyla back before she delivers her child.' Sam said firmly.

Jack smiled into the web camera on his laptop. His brown eyes gleamed with humour and love. 'Sounds like you're going to have a busy day.'

She smiled back and nodded ruefully. 'You had something to discuss with me?'

'It can wait till next time.' Jack said, dismissing his news with a wave of his hand.

'Jack.' Sam raised an eyebrow expectantly.

'Hayes signed off on my retirement.' Jack said.

'Oh my God.' Sam smiled brightly. 'When?'

'Three months from now.' Jack grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. 'You want to go fishing?'

Sam touched the monitor, her eyes softening as they met his. 'Always.'

'It's a date then.' Jack said gruffly.

Her eyes flickered away briefly before they returned to his apologetically. He read her need to leave easily.

'Go.' Jack ordered. 'Go, save the galaxy.' He held her gaze until the screen went blank and he knew the Stargate in the gate room would have winked out.

He sighed and looked around Daniel's office where he had taken his call with Sam. He frowned. It sounded like they had dodged a bullet if the story of the future was right; maybe he owed McKay a drink. He pushed it out of his mind. Three months to his retirement. No more Replicators or Wraith or bad guys…just him, Carter and fishing. Sounded like destiny to him.

The End