Coincidence

By Demon Faith, Meloko and Stephali

 

TITLE: Coincidence

AUTHORS: Demon Faith, Meloko and Stephali

EMAIL: rosabeth@hotmail.com , meloko8@hotmail.com and stephalij@hotmail.com

CATEGORY: S/D, Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, H/C

SPOILERS: A few minor dotted about: but a general knowledge is all that’s needed.

SEASON/SEQUEL: Set after Season 4.

RATING: PG-13

CONTENT WARNINGS: injury, sexual situations, torture, (evil) character death

SUMMARY: SG-1 are trapped off-world – and another SG-1 have taken their place…

DISCLAIMER: The original SG-1 belongs to MGM/Showtime/Viacom. The ‘other’ SG1 kinda belong to us: anything original – looking is the property of the authors. Not to be archived without the authors permission.

AUTHOR’S NOTES: There is only one thing I have to say – we survived! We have not been committed to mental health – yet. Anything you don’t understand, just e-mail us!

 

DF/xx

 

 

 Daniel stared at the vast landscape in front of him; it was perfect in every way. The sun hit the leaves at just the right point and reflected beautifully. The birds were singing and for once he’d had a good long sleep. They were all happy, actually, Sam was more than happy she was ecstatic, as the natives had given her what she believed to be a miracle drug, everything couldn’t be better.

“It’s too perfect, ” he thought. “Or maybe I’m just being cynical, I should just enjoy it for how it is, as we only have a short time left”. As much as all of them liked it, they had to go home; they’d already stayed longer than they needed to. Jack had told them if they didn’t go soon they would be tempted to stay forever, and he was right… but that feeling wouldn’t go away, it just lingered in the air and no matter how hard he tried to forget it, he just couldn’t.

 

“Daniel? Daniel, where are you?”

 

“Over here, Sam.”

 

Sam moved towards his voice, passing through the dense bush to reach the cliff edge and the view beyond.

 

“I thought you hated heights.”

 

Daniel turned around, just as Sam stepped through the last metres of scrub.

 

“But the view is worth the trouble.”

Sam turned to look, and gasped with wonder. The sky was filled with orange light and there was an ambient glow coming from the hills. The fiery red sun had just risen and was throwing the whole spectre in a blood red light.

 

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

 

“Yep, it sure is. Come on, Jack’ll be looking for us.”

Sam nodded slowly, but didn’t move from the spot. Daniel sighed, took her arm and began to drag her backwards.

 

“Hey! Stop it!”

Sam turned towards him, trying to look annoyed. Daniel just laughed. She chased him towards the bushes but suddenly stopped, as the ground began to quake.

 

“Daniel…”

The archaeologist stopped, grabbing onto her arm again.

 

“What’s happening Sam?”

 

Before she could answer, the ground beneath split and they fell into the dark chasm below.

 

~

 

“Where the hell are they?”

 

“I know not, O’Neill.” Teal’c stopped to consider this. “However, I do believe that they would most likely be in a close proximity to the tremor we just felt.”

 

“That would be just about typical, I suppose. Well, come on. Let’s go look for the little lost sheep.”

 

They trudged up the path, alert for any sight or sound of their missing team-mates.  Even if he didn’t want to admit it, Jack was getting worried, it was unlike Sam to miss a deadline, and the fact she was responding to her radio either meant that something was almost definitely wrong. They had finally reached the spot that Daniel and Sam had been admiring, but any sense of beauty or wonder was lost on them, as their feelings of anxiety and concern took over.

 

Teal’c began unconsciously retracing the steps that his friends had taken only a few minutes before. He strode towards the bushes, until he saw a strange sight. A small hole, no larger than an elevator, was cut square into the ground. It looked cold and black, and seemed to disappear downwards forever.

 

“O’Neill!” he called and within seconds, Jack was standing by his side.

 

“You don’t think they….?” He didn’t need to finish the question; in his mind there was no doubt where his colleagues were. “So how are we going to get down there?”

 

Whatever Teal’c was about to say was lost in a terrific rumbling sound, like thunder, but coming from below. Jack shot a glance at him and nodded once. They both stood their ground, even though it seemed that the planet itself was trying to move them from this place. In a few seconds it was all over. It was as if nothing ever happened.

 

“So what do we do now?” Jack asked, a rescue plan forming in his mind.

 

There was no need for that plan. The ground splintered, as before, shards of rock falling away like melting snow. Jack lunged for the seemingly unaffected tree, standing only a few metres away. But it was too late. They were swallowed by the darkness, and not a trace of their presence remained.

 

~

 

“Any report of SG1” asked the General.

 

“No, there has been no contact from them for days” the technician told him.

 

“Tell me as soon as they do” the General insisted. “Are any teams on Earth now?”

 

“SG3 and” he quickly looked through the files. “They’re the only team here, General”

 

“Get me SG3 at once and tell them to be ready immediately”

 

“Will…” he stopped as a signal appeared. “It’s …SG1’s signal, Sir”

 

The General now glad but a little confused ordered “Open the iris”

 

The wormhole gushed out and with it came SG1, with a serious tan.

 

Hammond walked down to see them; but this was no greeting.

 

“Colonel O’Neill you were due back days ago”

 

“Sorry, Sir we lost track of time but Carter did find something which the doc might be interested in seeing”

 

Sam reached into her bag and pulled out a small green herb like plant.

 

“I’d liked to run some tests on them Sir”

 

“Of course Major”

 

Sam went to her lab to uncover the mystery.

 

~

 

Daniel coughed and opened his eyes; where was he?

 

“Sam” he called in worry.

 

“I’m here Daniel” she managed to reply through her splitting headache.

 

Daniel looked around him and tried to figure out where they were. A shiver went down his spine. Well it’s cold for a start but it’s lit, by what? He tried to stand up and fell back down. He looked back up and saw a friendly face.

 

“Need any help Daniel” Sam asked, swaying slightly.

 

“Are you alright?” Typical Daniel; caring by nature.

 

“Yes, but I think I have a migraine. Give me your hand”

 

Sam helped Daniel up. “How do you think it’s lit?” he asked the expert.

 

“I don….” She stopped as she saw two people lying on the floor a few feet away.

 

“Sir! Are you alright?”

 

Sam took two hurried steps forward, then stopped when her headache overtook her. Daniel took her waist and arm, gently helping her lean against the wall…ah, there was a wall! Daniel’s mind quickly jumped to the conclusion of intelligence. An intelligent earthquake? Jack’s gonna really hate this…Remembering his friend, Daniel left Sam and went over to Jack, who was moving to sit up.

 

“You just had to wander, didn’t you? I can’t leave you alone for one minute…”

Satisfied that Jack was his normal self, Daniel glanced over to Teal’c, who was already on his feet.

 

“Daniel Jackson, you are injured.”

 

Daniel frowned, and then noticed the pain in his side. He looked down and winced. There was a large gash in his side that had, up to now, dulled its protests because of Daniel’s worry and guilt. Now, that he was assured everyone was safe, albeit also sorry, the pain could take over. He just shrugged and made his way back to Sam, who was looking far worse than he did. He slid slowly down the wall and touched her arm gently.

 

“Hey, you okay?”

 

Sam looked up at him, and blinked at him rapidly.

 

“Um…I have a huge headache. I think I’ve been out for a while.”

 

“Well, I think we all have major concussions! No thanks to you two wanderers, who just had to stumble into an earthquake!”

 

Sam tried to smile and laugh, but she suddenly saw black creeping across her vision. She tightened her grip on Daniel’s arm.

 

“Daniel, help me. Please, Daniel…”

 

Sam collapsed to the floor, completely unconscious.

 

~

 

Jack strolled into Sam’s lab – well, his Sam anyway – and smiled at her.

 

“How’s it going, Carter?”

 

She looked up and smiled at him. She walked over, pointed to a piece of paper and wrote a passage:

 

NO ONE SUSPECTS US. WE’RE CLEAR FOR NOW. THE PROTOTYPES WILL NEVER ESCAPE. WE ARE PERFECT COPIES.

 

Jack smiled and picked up the pen, writing back:

 

I KNOW. WE WILL SOON TAKE OVER THIS WORLD AND ADD IT TO THE VAST EMPIRE OF APOPHIS.

 

She nodded and then spoke aloud. “Have you seen Daniel recently, sir? I think he was going to go and look for you.”

 

“No I haven’t seen him, but thanks, I’ll go and look for him now.” He went out the door, into the wider SGC.

 

~

 

“Dr. Jackson?” Daniel turned and scowled, but quickly covered it up. It was one of those really annoying military linguists who only spoke a few languages and expected him to translate for them on the spot, it wasn’t as if he had anything better to do than help them was it?

 

“Yes,” was all he answered.

 

“I was just wondering if you’d take a look at these markings. Now they seem to be hieroglyphics, but the word patterns are more compatible with the structure of modern day Italian…”

 

Now didn’t that seem absolutely stupid? Of course this Daniel knew all of these languages and could easily point out where this young officer was going wrong, but he found it so absolutely boring. At least the rest of them got interesting jobs.

 

At the turn of one of the off-shooting corridors, he saw the form of Jack. He decided to make his escape.

 

“Well, you’re doing fine on your own.”

 

“I am?”

 

“Yes. You’ll soon have this sorted. If you’ll excuse me, I have to talk to Colonel O’Neill.”

 

He hurried off, glad to be rid of the linguist and also glad to get the chance to talk to Jack, to see if their plan had developed any further.

 

~

Sam opened her heavy eyes and let the light return to them.

 

“Sam” said a caring voice.

 

 Daniel she realised, he was sitting next to her and a sigh of relief had cast through him, as she had awoken.

 

“Ah, Carter, you’ve returned” the Colonel joked.

 

“Are you alright?” Daniel’s voice was of pure concern.

 

“I’m still not a hundred percent but I’ll manage, thank for asking Sir

 

“What?” he defended.

 

Just as Sam was about to reply with a snide remark, the Jaffa returned.

 

“Any luck?”

 

“Yes I found a hole, but it’s only big enough for one person to fit through, but not of my size” Teal’c informed.

 

They all looked at Sam.

 

“What?” then she realised. “I’m not going through there…..suddenly I’m feeling faint again”

 

“Strange that isn’t it?” Jack commented.

 

“Well I took a sudden turn”

 

“Major, by the sounds of it, you’re our only hope” Jack explained in a melodramatic voice.

 

“But Jack, she’s just woken up” Daniel reasoned.

 

“What if I get stuck?” she asked in attempt to discourage Jack.

 

Carter, you’re going through whether you like it or not, even if I have to physically push you”

 

Sam agreed, though not through choice.

 

“If I do get stuck, be it on your head, and you better be able to get me out of here” she threatened him.

 

She looked at the hole and saw what Teal’c meant, there was a pretty small gap which no-one else could have fitted through. “But what if I can’t get through?” she worried as she reluctantly placed her head in the gap and pushed herself through.

 

“You alright Carter?”

 

“So far” she answered as half her body was in and the rest was still at their end; had it not been so serious, it would have almost been comical.

 

She grabbed onto a rock to help her go forward and felt the ground shake.

 

“Jack” she cried as the rocks tumbled around her.

 

~

 

Daniel woke up, feeling ten times worse than when he fell asleep. Oh, that might be because he was buried under a huge rock! Daniel stared at the massive boulder in horror, as it sat on his protesting legs. His arms were spread-eagled under quite a few rocks, and obviously pinned to the ground. It seemed the wall had fallen on him.

 

To make matters worse, Sam, who had been in the wall, was lying unconscious beside him. He heard someone stir nearby, and, seeing as Teal’c didn’t curse in quite that language (who was he kidding? Teal’c didn’t swear at all!), it had to be Jack. He tried to call, but the rocks made breathing difficult. Damn, he always got himself into these stupid situations! So, he tried another way…

 

Jack could hear something. A slow and steady tapping noise drew his attention to rather large pile of rocks. He moved over to them and gasped.

 

“Daniel! Are you okay?”

 

Daniel glared at him, and Jack grinned sheepishly.

 

“Okay, so I can see you’re not. Um…what do you want me to do?”

 

Daniel was getting frustrated now. Jack wasn’t quite that thick, was he? Then, Sam woke up.

 

“What the hell happened?”

 

She stood up, clutching her head. She glanced at Jack and then followed his eyes to Daniel.

 

“Daniel! Oh, let me help you out!”

 

Then, Jack caught on. Together, they started to move the smaller rocks from Daniel’s chest, Sam apologising profusely every time Daniel yelled.

 

“ O’Neill, Major Carter; do you require assistance?”

 

Teal’c bounded up and took over Sam’s position, meaning she could try and make Daniel more comfortable as the pain got worse.

 

“Carter, we’ll need your help with this boulder.”

 

Sam nodded, squeezed Daniel’s hand, and then helped them try and shift the boulder. Daniel fully screamed, but the boulder was gone. Sam sat back beside him, and cradled him gently in her arms.

 

~

 

Sam was typing, Jack looking anxiously over her shoulder. He wasn’t sure that their plan would work and if didn’t: he knew he would be the one blamed for it.

 

“Are you there yet?” he asked impatiently.

 

“Not yet. But I will be. And soon.” He lay his hand firmly on her shoulder, gripping it tightly.

 

“Good. We wouldn’t want to keep the General waiting.”

 

Finally, she brought up the computer program from which she could assess all the iris codes and disable them. It had taken her a long time to get into them, as they had been very well protected. Unfortunately for the SGC, Sam Carter had protected them, and as she was the one breaking in, it was inevitable that she’d get there in the end.

 

“Now, we know what we’re doing, right?” Jack said slowly.

 

“Of course we do.”

 

Suddenly they heard a loud sneeze, followed by the sound of someone falling violently to the floor. “Damn it!” said Jack, “If that’s Daniel…”

 

It did indeed turn out to be Daniel. Surprisingly though, he was not the one slumped on the floor, or the one staring in horrified shock. He was the one laughing at the scene, in a rather evil kind of way.

 

“Daniel! What the hell is going on?” Well Jack thought, have to stay in character.

 

“Sergeant Rogers was fixing those fiddly control panels things…. And then Dr. Frasier came up behind him to tell him something, but instead she sneezed…. And he was a bit shocked, so he turned round really fast…. And hit her.”

 

Sam burst out into the corridor. “Oh my God! Janet?”

 

The well-trained medical response team was already there, attending to her. “Excuse me Major Carter, but could we use your office for a moment, since it’s just over there?”

 

Sam could think of no reason to say no. “Of course,” she said, winking at Jack. He understood and rushed in, flicking off the power to her computer and shutting it down.

“We’ll only be a few minutes, then we’ll move her to the infirmary.”

 

“As long as she’s all right.” Sam said that with the sweetest voice she could muster, but inside she was feeling as bitter and evil as a vampire, she could almost taste the blood…..

Perhaps this wasn’t going to be that bad after all.

~

 

Daniel winced as he attempted to stand up with Sam’s help, as he gripped tightly on her shoulder, he decided pain did have it’s perks after all! But that feeling didn’t last……

 

“Daniel I’m sorry, but I can’t keep this up, my head still spinning, Jack can you take over?” Sam asked.

 

“What take hold of that lump!”

 

“Excuse me” Daniel protested. “I’m not that heavy!”

 

“Well I didn’t mean that” he paused. “Well actually I did, I should think about……”

 

Daniel glared at Jack with a thanks-a-lot look.

 

So it was the strong Jaffa that carried Daniel to the…

 

“Er, Jack, remember how our only escape route got blocked up” she reminded him.

 

“Then how exactly are we meant to get out of here?”

 

As much as Jack wanted to have the solution, he didn’t have a clue. They were stuck and there wasn’t anything they could do about it.

 

~

 

Daniel was feeling powerful. He strolled through the corridor, until he came to Jack’s office. He opened the door, and saw Sam sitting in the middle, deep in meditation. Jack and Teal’c were nowhere to be seen, so Daniel locked the door and sat down beside Sam. Colonel’s offices have no video cameras…he thought gleefully.

 

“Daniel, you wanted something?”

 

Daniel leaned close to her, so that his breath was warm on her neck.

 

“You need me to answer that?”

 

Sam opened one eye lazily, before stretching out her legs and leaning back on one hand.

 

“And have you thought about what I want?”

 

Daniel mimicked her position, and raised an eyebrow.

 

“What you’ve always wanted…”

 

Sam threw herself at her Daniel, sending him to the floor, as she lolled on top.

 

“Wants are dangerous things…”

 

“Who cares?”

 

Sam kissed her Daniel deeply, before the outside world was lost to them.

 

~

 

Teal’c laid Daniel gently on a nearby piece of flat ground. Sam sat down next to him, and he looked up in concern.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Sam eyed him sceptically.

 

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?”

 

“You know it’s really not so bad.”

 

Sam studied him. “Really?”

 

He tried to lie but it didn’t work. “Yes… no.”

 

“Do not worry Daniel Jackson, we will find a way out of here soon.”

 

“Thanks Teal’c. I hope so.”

 

~

 

Teal’c headed up to the briefing room; he needed to speak to Hammond to confirm something. Something important.

 

“Ah Teal’c! What can I do for you?”

 

“General Hammond, are there currently any teams off world?”

 

“No I don’t think so. SG6 got back two hours ago and no one is scheduled to leave until your mission tomorrow. Is there a problem?”

 

“No General Hammond, I was wondering if the Stargate would be activated again today. Sometimes its vibrations disturb my meditation.”

 

“Well you’ve got nothing to worry about. No one will be coming through that gate while I’m around.”

 

“The same goes for me.”

 

Teal’c turned away, he had to find Jack and tell him that the coast was clear. Any time they wanted they could use the Stargate. And now the iris was temporarily deactivated, who knew who would be paying Earth a visit.

 

~

Jack paced for the hundredth time. “I can’t stand doing nothing, there must be some way out”

 

“In theory, no-one would build a place without an entrance…” she stopped and the obvious came to her. “What am I saying, there has to be an entrance otherwise they couldn’t have got out, or in”

 

“Maybe it got covered with the constant earthquakes,” Daniel suggested.

 

“How are you feeling?” asked Sam, how many times had she said those words? Each time they left earth, she feared for his safety, oh Daniel………

 

“My chest still hurts a bit…………”

 

“Do you want me to check to see if you’re okay?” Sam asked quickly: what if he was really hurt?

 

“I’ll be fine, I just don’t think I’ll be going to the gym for a week…………”

 

Jack burst out laughing and couldn’t control himself.

 

“What’s so funny?” Daniel asked.

 

“Nothing” Jack replied calming himself down. “You made a joke”. “Gym…” Jack muttered.

 

“You’re ok then?” Sam clarified.

 

“I’m fine…”

 

“Carter, Danny been in a lot worse situations than this, anyway we have more important matters to deal with, like the fact we’re stuck with no food, nothing” Jack reminded everyone. “We need to find the exit, now, as I don’t think this place will ever grow on me”

 

“Ok Sir, what do you think we should do?”

 

“Ok, then Major, you go down there, don’t go to far, cause Danny here’s pretty helpless, if anyone tries to attack……….” Jack ordered but was cut off by Sam.

 

 

“Who?”

 

“I don’t know, just because we haven’t met the natives, doesn’t mean there aren’t any” Jack reminded them. “Teal’c you go that way and I’ll go down here, are we clear?”

 

“As day” Sam muttered.

 

“Right come back here” he looked at his watch. “In about half an hour, if you find anything, you come back here, you don’t go on, Ok?” Jack checked.

 

“Definitely” Sam commented. “See you soon Daniel”

 

“Bye”. Daniel watched her and everyone go; so what was he going to do?

 

Sam walked slowly down; what seemed to be a never-ending path. “Everything’s the same, haven’t they heard of decorating? Oh I wonder what I’m going to find down here?” she wondered as she turned the corner. “More stone, how exciting!” She stopped. A faint dripping sound, she sped up her pace; the sound got louder.

“Water” Sam said in glee. She bent down and swept the cool water on her face, the water dripping into her mouth. “It’s fresh”. She scooped another handful into her hand and drank. “What am I doing? This is what we wanted, our way out. If I follow the water, in theory, it should lead us out of here”

 

She turned round to return to the others when a hard object hit her head. Sam slumped to the floor and fell in to unconsciousness.

 

~

 

“Sam?”

 

Sam lazily opened her eyes and smiled.

 

“Daniel.”

 

He smiled back, fingers trailing down her chin.

 

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that…”

 

“The prototype, not you. You’re the replica, aren’t you? Hang on, if we’re the replicas…”

 

“Then, how come we can do this?”

 

Sam stared deeply into her Daniel’s eyes, knowing that somewhere there was another, with another Sam, possibly doing exactly what they were doing. However, not in Jack’s office. Prototype Jack’s office. For the first time, Sam had an overwhelming feeling of unease: this wasn’t her world, this wasn’t even her time. She was living someone else’s life, and for what? To please a Goa’uld. The thought made her sick. This wasn’t what the Amalai were for: they were peaceful, loving people. Now, Apophis had found them after many centuries of searching, and had harnessed their shape-shifting abilities for his own use. However, she wasn’t going to think about it. The act was everything: she was Samantha Carter and he was Daniel Jackson. And the act must continue…

 

~

 

Daniel woke up to beating drums, wondering what the hell was going on. And found himself hanging from the ceiling. Upside down. And it hurt.

 

“You are awake, stranger.”

 

Daniel hissed with the pain, wondering just why someone felt like stringing him up on the ceiling.

 

“Who the hell are you? Where are my friends?”

 

“Your friends? The others in the caves? Why, you are one of them?”

 

The alien was suddenly very frustrated, and Daniel rolled his eyes. Well, at least the others are okay.  

 

“Yes I am. Um… we’re peaceful explorers from another planet, we didn’t mean you any harm.”

 

“We could see that from the others, but you? We will not be so easily fooled.”

 

“What?! Sorry, let me rephrase that. You think I’m here to hurt you and the others aren’t?”

 

“We have no reason to believe your story. Those such as yourself are accomplished liars.”

 

This was going nowhere fast. An expression more suited to Jack sprang into Daniel’s mind. Oh for cryin’ out loud…

 

“What have I done? Why do you not believe me?”

 

The alien poked its finger into Daniel’s wound, causing him to yell out. “That is proof enough. I will leave you to your torture.”

 

~

“How you feeling Carter?”

 

Sam lifted her head up. “Like someone’s continually beating my head, as if it’s a drum”

 

“That bad”

 

“I gather aspirins are out of the question” Sam joked

 

“I’m afraid so”

 

Sam opened her eyes fully, and looked around her. “Jack where are...” there was someone missing. “Where’s Daniel?”

 

Jack looked at the floor.

 

“Where is he?” she insisted.

 

“They, have him”

 

Who exactly are they?” she demanded.

 

“An alien” Teal’c explained.

 

“So why Daniel, and not us?”

 

“We’re not sure either, maybe they didn’t like his face!” Jack remarked.

 

Sam gave Jack an evil look.

 

“Ok, maybe now isn’t the best time for jokes, but the fact of the matter is, we’re stuck”

 

“Right, they have Daniel...somewhere, and we are where exactly?” she asked.

 

“Somewhere in this cave, they don’t believe we’re threats but they’re still wary”

 

“Which is why we’re in a...prison, and Daniel’s not?” Sam said in frustration; the situation was hopeless.

 

“O’Neill, they seemed to look suspiciously at Daniel Jackson’s injuries” Teal’c told him.

 

“Really” Jack responded as he hadn’t noticed it, actually the fact was these, alien species were hardly nice to look at, he wanted to spend as little time as possible looking at them.

“What’s so fascinating about injuries?”

 

“Maybe, their race doesn’t injure easily and they’re fascinated or even wary of it?” Sam suggested.

 

“Ok so they’ve got some, thing for injuries” Jack searched his mind for any way this could possibly help them but found nothing. “Which doesn’t help us at all, and we’re basing this all on one suspicious glance, we are doing well,” he added with a sarcastic tone.

 

“There must be some way out of here,” Sam reasoned.

 

“Sam, its rock, there’s no way out, unless you have an idea”

 

“No, I don’t ” she admitted.

 

“This is just how I wanted to spend my day...”

 

~

 

Daniel felt very sick. His head was throbbing, and the steady drip of blood wasn’t helping much either. Oh, why is life so unfair? No one felt like answering.

 

Suddenly, a young woman, the same sickly mottled green as the rest, walked in. She carried a bowl of water and a cloth and looked as if she was afraid of being seen. She had a jagged scar just above her eye