Well, here it is folks, the end! Thank you all for reading and commenting.
This will be the last fan fic I write for awhile, at least on my own. I'll be starting the MacGyver virtual season premiere episode next, hopefully you'll join us for the ride!
Jack did a double take. “Say
what?”
“If we can’t beat them, then we join them,” Mac offered somewhat cryptically.
Teal’c cocked his head. “I do not believe I understand.”
“Fighting isn’t always the best way to win in a situation.” MacGyver was going through his pack, checking out what items he had on him. “Remember when I said earlier I thought the bad guys’ cloaks caused the anomaly that brought you here? Well, I still believe it. And if you’re their prisoners, what are they most likely to do?”
Oh, I dunno, kill us maybe?” Jack offered, the usual air of irony in his voice.
“I believe the first prime would take us back through the gate as trophies for his master,” Teal’c suggested.
Mac nodded almost excitedly. For the first time in hours he felt like he might have a solution to this mess. “Exactly, they take you back through the gate and as they have the cloaks, hopefully back to your own time and dimension!”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Jack sounded weary. “We might go back to our own time and universe, but they’d also be taking us back to a planet full of Jaffa who’d like nothing better than to can our butts!”
“That’s where I come in,” Mac explained. “They probably don’t know about me. They didn’t see me in the labs, and I’m pretty sure they haven’t gotten a look at me out here. So, while you’re busy surrendering, I’ll be busy rewiring the DHD.”
This seemed to catch Teal’c’s interest. He raised a brow. “I believe I understand. You will attempt to cold wire the dialling device. When the Jaffa dial PX97-554 they will actually be dialling the earth gate…”
Jack winced. “That would be
hot wire, Teal’c. And it doesn’t quite work that way…”
Mac butted in. “I think he gets my meaning. Can you talk me through what I need to do to make it happen?”
Teal’c considered it, and then nodded sagely. “Indeed I can, but it is not an easy task.”
O’Neill coughed. “Ahem, aren’t you two forgetting something? Even if this whacko plan works, those guys aren’t going to leave your friend Pete and the security guy behind. They’ll get stuck in another dimension with us. And, what about the small fact that I disabled one of those cloaks? Won’t that change the whole effect they have?”
“I had not considered this,” Teal’c admitted.
Mac continued sifting through his bag. “I had,” he sighed. “And the simple fact of the matter is that I don’t know if losing one of the cloaks will change anything. But I also don’t see another option. If it works, you’ll walk right into your own people the other side the stargate, and I was kinda hoping they’d be able to disarm the bad guys and then send Pete and Eric back by jury rigging the cloaking technology.”
Jack shook his head. “I gotta admit, I’ve never met anyone quite like you before.” He smiled wanly. “You’re completely mad, but I guess you’re my kind of mad.”
Mac smiled back and pulled out a roll of duct tape. He offered it up to the colonel. “If this works, I probably won’t see you again. Consider it a leaving present.”
Jack grimaced and touched his side as if he’d never quite forget the stuff, but he took it anyway. “All I’m gonna say is, if you’re as good at rewiring a DHD as you are at patching someone up then we’re in real trouble…”
MacGyver’s eyes sparkled with amusement, but he didn’t answer. Instead he focused on Teal’c. “Okay, tell me as much as you can about the dialler and which symbols I need to redirect.”
Teal’c nodded. “I will do my best.”
* * * *
Samantha Carter really didn’t like eating dirt.
And right now, laying flat on her stomach, hands tied behind her back, that was pretty much all she could do.
She had a bad feeling she’d be this way a lot longer, too, if the first prime had anything to do with it.
Sam had overheard him talking earlier about his plans to take them back and offer them up to his master. And she had visions of remaining trussed up like a chicken all the way back to PX97-554.
Of course, Jack, Teal’c, and the new guy MacGyver were still out there somewhere.
At least, she hoped they were.
One of the Jaffa had not returned, and one had come back minus his sparkly blue cloak, so the colonel and his cohorts had been up to something.
The question was, had they gone for reinforcements, or would they mount a rescue mission?
She guessed the first prime behind her was hoping for neither.
He’d been screaming for the Tau’ri to surrender for the past half an hour, and Sam was getting worried if something didn’t happen soon he might get violent.
She wasn’t afraid for herself, but for the rather portly man named Pete. He was blind, and goa’uld and their Jaffa tended to usually pick on the weak.
Then there was Eric the guard. How on earth he’d gotten a job in security, she would never know. He was just too jittery.
As if to almost confirm her suspicions, the first prime leaned down low, as if he was scenting his foe. He moved back and forth across them, choosing.
And then he grabbed Pete by the collar, tugging him roughly into a standing position.
Pete coughed at being so roughly and unexpectedly handled, but to his credit, he didn’t cry out are plead for mercy.
“This is your last chance!” The Jaffa boomed. “Reveal yourselves, or I will tear this one limb from limb with my bear hands!” He shook Pete like a dog would shake a toy. “Well, Tau’ri, what is it to be..?”
“Alright, alright, keep your hair on, missy.” Jack O’Neill moved slowly from his cover, both hands raised.
Behind him, Teal’c followed.
From her position, Carter could barely see what was happening, but MacGyver appeared to be missing from the trio, and it looked like the colonel had been hurt from the dried blood on his jacket.
Is MacGyver hurt? Or worse..?Despite only knowing the man for a few hours, Sam realized either thought was quite painful. It was like it was Jack it had happened to.
“Throw down your weapons or be destroyed!” The first prime was laying down the orders, and callously let Pete drop to the floor now his usefulness was over.
The Jaffa at his side now pointed his staff weapon at the yielding duo.
Jack tossed down both his sidearm, and his MP5, Teal’c did the same with his staff.
As soon as they grew close enough, the Jaffa moved towards them, urging them to drop down onto their knees, hands behind their heads.
“Where is my second Jaffa?” The first demanded. “For your sakes, I hope he is not dead?”
“He is not,” Teal’c confirmed. “In fact, he is merely incarcerated in a small pit in the ground of the training area…”
“Training area?” The first prime looked like he would slap Teal’c until his companion stepped in.
“It is where I was ambushed,” the Jaffa offered subserviently.
“Go, retrieve him.” The leader snapped. “I shall watch over the Tau’ri until you return.”
The Jaffa bowed his head and jogged off towards MacGyverland.
Jack took the opportunity for a little banter. “Ya know, while he’s gone, you might wanna be figuring out how to fix that cloak of his?”
“Silence!” The first glowered. “You dare to speak to me?” He kicked out, catching Jack on the side where he’d been injured.
The colonel took in a sharp breath and closed his eyes momentarily before retorting, “Yeah, I dare speak to you. And if you listen I might just save all our asses. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re not exactly in our own dimension. Those cloaks you wear are the key to that. And if one isn’t working, you just might not get back to where you started from.”
“You lie. You try to trick us!”
Jack shrugged, or at least tried from his position on the ground. “C’mon, think about it. You know I’m right!”
The Jaffa turned away from the group for a second, as if he didn’t want them to see his expression while he pondered. When he turned back, he moved away just far enough to still be able to cover them with his staff, while he removed his own cloaking device and began to examine it.
Carter watched him for a short time, then carefully turned her attention to the colonel. “Sir, is this true?” she whispered. “And if so, why tell them? Once they have it fixed they’ll take us straight back to their system lord for punishment.”
O’Neill grinned. “That’s what I’m counting on. Well, actually, that’s what MacGyver’s counting on. I’m just along for the ride.”
Carter’s brow furrowed. “With all due respect, Sir, I don’t understand? And where is MacGyver?”
“The Jaffa did not see him. Therefore he did not need to surrender with O’Neill and I. At this moment, he is attempting to reconfigure the gate DHD as per my instructions.” Teal’c tried to whisper, but his deep voice wasn’t very accommodating.
Sam couldn’t contain her in disbelief. “He’s what?”
“I have no idea what he’s doing,” Jack looked over at the first, but he was still fiddling with the cloak. “What I do know, is when he’s done it, these guys will dial PX97-554 to take us to their leader, and what they’re actually gonna get is close up and personal with the SGC. At least we hope that’s what’s gonna happen…”
Sam thought about it. Rewiring the DHD to different symbols was theoretically possible, especially with Teal’s knowledge. But could a man who had no experience with the technology actually pull it off?
And what about the cloaks?
Were they really the cause of the gate malfunction? Thinking about it, it made more sense than the storm having affected the stargate. And the blue hue from the cloak did match what Daniel had seen on the DHD. “So we need to actually help them fix a cloak or we won’t get the power surge at the correct level to cause the inter universal bridge and time jump?”
“If that means we need all three cloaks to get home,” Jack questioned. “Then yeah. So if Jaffa boy over there can’t fix his buddy’s toy, then we may need to help him.”
The prime appeared to have finally noticed their banter and stormed over, cloak in one hand, staff in the other. “You will be silent, or I will merely take your bodies back as trophies.”
“Can you fix it?” Carter dared to ask anyway. “I mean, maybe we can help.”
The prime snorted. “I do not need the help of the Tau’ri. I have already mastered the problem.” He pointed to his own cloak triumphantly. “These cannot be repaired, but, I can increase the power of the two remaining cloaks to match the output of the original three. When my Jaffa return, you shall bow to my lord and god on PX97-554!”
“Sounds like fun,” Jack grinned cheekily. “Do you think he’ll throw us a party?”
The remark earned him another kick to his already bleeding wound.
* * * *
Inside the labs, MacGyver could hear O’Neill and the others and had to smile at their ingenuity in getting the first prime to inadvertently help them get the dimension jump right.
Of course, none of that mattered if he didn’t pull of his part. He’d easily gotten the side panel of the DHD off – he’d remembered that much from Giza.
Once inside, the technology he was dealing with was a whole different ball game, though. Without Teal’c’s help, he wouldn’t have stood a chance of rewiring the device. Even now, he was actually scared at the thought of what he was trying to do.
When his own life was on the line and he pulled off one of his tricks, that was one thing. But a whole bunch of people were relying on him right now, including Pete.
Mac tried not to let the thought cloud his mind as he pulled out a very alien looking circuit board and began to trace the tracks on it that were the different paths to the DHD buttons.
Once he was sure which ones he needed to reroute, he took a glance over his shoulder to make sure the Jaffa was still outside, and then jogged over to a lab workbench. There was burner there, but no soldering iron.
He thought about it.
It was crude, but he could probably heat up a tool on his knife with the burner to try and melt some solder on the board in the right places. It wasn’t going to be easy without a continuous current to heat the tool, so he was going to have to be fast, and very accurate.
If he messed up the circuit board, there was no chance of a replacement.
Tentatively, he began to work, all the while listening to the voices outside to try and give him an idea of how much time he had left.
He’d made it to the last solder joint he needed to make, when the two Jaffa returned from the woods.
Mac grimaced, finished up as best he could and jogged back to the DHD.
The soldiers were dragging his friends to their feet one by one and pushing them towards the huge hanger door. Within seconds the group would be inside, and he would need to be finished and in hiding for any of them to escape.
Mac pushed in the circuit, wishing there was some way to test it. It snagged momentarily as one of his impromptu solder seams caught as he slid it home, and he felt his heart skip.
Then it was in, and he was closing the side to hide any evidence of his work.
There was a crate nearby that O’Neill had used for cover earlier, and Mac ducked behind it just as the first prime and his Jaffa brought in their prisoners.
It was time to watch them leave, not knowing if he was sending them all, including Pete and Eric, to their deaths.
The Jaffa herded there prisoners into the lab, roughly pushing them forwards all the time until they stood before the gate. Everyone still had their hands tied, this time in front of them.
The first prime took a look at his prizes and smirked, his eyes almost glowing as much as if he were a goa’uld. “It is time! Dial the planet!”
The Jaffa O’Neill had fought stepped forwards and began punching in the symbols for PX97-554. The DHD responded, hesitating only once when the last symbol was input.
Mac held his breath, and then suddenly there was a whoosh, and an out rush of air as a wormhole was established.
A wormhole to where, was the only problem.
The first prime suspected nothing, and stepped happily into the rippling tide that would either carry him home, or to the SGC. Then the two Jaffa began to prod their captives with their staffs, urging them to move into the vortex.
Daniel and Carter went first, followed by Pete and Eric.
O’Neill and Teal’c were next up, but just before he stepped into the whirlpool, Jack turned to face the room, just for a split second and smiled.
Mac knew the expression was a silent thank you he could never answer.
And then Jack, and everyone else was gone, vanished into the stone ring like they had never existed.
The wormhole closed and suddenly this little part of the Phoenix Foundation seemed a whole lot smaller.
Mac walked up to the gate and put his hand on it, still momentarily feeling the vibrations from its recent activity. “Godspeed, folks,” he whispered, and then slumped down beside the now sleeping device.
He would wait here now, hoping against hope that at some point, Pete and Eric would return, safe and alive.
The Gate Room
SGC
1999 Klaxons screamed and soldiers ran to their positions in front of the gate, as the huge circle began to spin, locking on to chevron after chevron as someone attempted to dial in.
An extra tough iris closed over the center of the alien device, effectively shutting off access to earth.
In the control room above, a sergeant at the main console looked to his superior. “I’m getting SG-1’s access code, General Hammond.”
Hammond nodded. “Open the iris.”
The metal shutter opened back out, and a wormhole gushed from the stargate, spilling into the gate room.
Seconds later, several figures emerged, and not exactly the group Hammond had been expecting. The first man through was dressed as a lead Jaffa, and instantly acted accordingly.
He moved to quickly fire his staff weapon at the awaiting soldiers, even managing to blast a hole into the far gate room wall before being overpowered and tussled to the floor.
The remaining two Jaffa were less hostile once they realized they were not on their home planet, and there was little chance of escape.
The first tossed down his staff the moment he exited the gate. The second pondered a second, weapon in hand, staring at his foes and their MP5’s and M16’s. Eventually, he too gave in to the inevitable.
Teal’c bowed his head to them. “You have made the correct choice. There would have been little point in dying here.”
Neither Jaffa responded as they were lead away, but the first prime could be heard screaming all the way to his holding cell.
“Jeez, I don’t think he likes us very much,” Jack said wryly as a soldier cut his bonds. “Guess we’re off his Christmas list.” He moved to walk down the ramp then paused and winced, his hand moving to his side where the Jaffa had kicked him. It came away bloody.
“Are you alright, Sir?” Carter’s brow furrowed and she moved to help once her own hands had been untied.
“Nope,” Jack confessed. “I think I bust my duct tape…”
* * * *
24 Hours Later…Sam Carter knocked on the open door of Jack O’Neill’s quarters and then entered without waiting for a response.
The colonel was sitting at his desk, one hand rubbing his left brow as if he had a headache. He looked up as the major walked up to join him.
“Excuse me, Sir, but we’re ready in the gate room.” Sam looked expectantly at Jack and then paused when he didn’t immediately move. “Is everything okay, Sir? I mean, I didn’t really expect you to be out of the infirmary so soon…”
“I’m fine.” Jack rubbed at his brow again. Something was definitely bothering him, but it wasn’t the huge amount of sutures Fraiser had put in his side. It was something no doctor could fix.
“Colonel…I don’t mean to pry, but something is clearly bothering you, and if it’s not your injury then?” Sam’s eyes shone with concern, and Jack knew if anyone was going to pry this out of him, it would be her.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed, and then tapped at a closed manila file on his desk. “When I escaped the doc’s torture chamber this morning, I decided to do a little digging. MacGyver and I got to talking while we were in the woods, and he told me a little about his family. Seems his dad and grandma were killed in a car accident when he was a kid and his mom and grandpa brought him up. At least until his mom died later on.”
“And?” The major prodded, obviously intrigued.
Jack opened the folder and pushed it over to where Carter was standing. “I wasn’t born in Chicago after all. My parents were from Minnesota all along. When my whole family died in a car accident and I was left alone, I was put up for adoption…”
Sam read through the file a little way. Jack O’Neill had been born in Mission City, Minnesota to parents Ellen and James MacGyver. And he had been christened one Angus MacGyver – his name had only changed once his new parents from Chicago had adopted him, and he’d taken their family name, along with a new forename.
“I guess they didn’t like the name Angus anymore than I do, huh?” Jack said ironically.
Sam bit her bottom lip. “So you two really were, I mean are the same person, except that in this dimension the accident happened when you were younger, and took all your family, not just your dad and grandma?”
Jack nodded, for once no mirth in his voice. “Sure looks that way. I guess I got the bum deal.”
Sam cocked her head in surprise. “Why would you say that, Sir? You got a stable family life as a kid, a career, friends?”
Jack inhaled. “Maybe, but when I looked into his eyes, into his soul, he’s the better man, Carter. He doesn’t need guns or bombs or staff weapons to solve problems. Heck, he saved me with a piece of duct tape and all of SG-1 by rewiring that DHD. And all without a weapon save for that knife of his.”
Sam shrugged. “That doesn’t make you any less of a person, Sir. You just do things differently. I know you, and you have just as much heart and soul as he does. You fight for what you believe in, and that’s important, Sir. If you could ask Mac, he’d tell you so.”
Jack smiled, apparently jarred from his gloomy mood. “I knew there was a reason I liked you, Carter,” he teased, rising from his seat. “C’mon, let’s go see some people safely home.”
Sam nodded and they both headed out for the gate room.
* * * *
Pete Thornton and Eric the guard where waiting on the ramp in the gate room when Sam and Jack arrived. Daniel and Teal’c were close by, along with General Hammond.
There was a MALP also sitting on the ramp, ready to roll.
Jack nodded to Hammond as he entered and then joined the group.
“Ready to go home, people?” O’Neill noted Thornton looked a little apprehensive, but then who wouldn’t, when you were about to step into an alien created wormhole with a piece of jury-rigged technology Carter had been up all night creating from the Jaffa shields?
Not to mention, poor Thornton couldn’t even see what a stargate or wormhole looked like.
“I guess we’re ready to try,” Pete acknowledged. “Just don’t expect me to enjoy it.”
Jack patted him gently on the back. “You’ll be fine. Just look after that gung-ho, duct tape loving friend of yours for me, will ya?”
Pete smiled. “More like he’ll look after me. That’s what Mac does, looks after everyone else.”
“Yeah, I kinda noticed,” Jack conceded. “Will you tell him something from me? Tell him…” There was a long pause, because Jack really didn’t know how to put into words how he felt, or what he wanted to say. In the end, he just added, “Tell him thanks, he’ll understand.”
Pete nodded as if he understood too. “I’ll tell him.” He turned to Eric and tugged on the man’s arm. “Ready to go?”
Eric shivered. “I…um…no,” he admitted. “But I guess I have to anyway, huh?”
“Don’t worry,” this time it was General Hammond who spoke. “We’re sending a MALP along with you all the way. We can track you, and even talk to you once you’re through for at least as long as the wormhole is active.”
“That’s right,” Sam agreed. “If anything should go wrong and you didn’t land in the right place, we can track you and hopefully try again.”
Jack pulled a face as if to say “what the heck are you freaking them like that for?” “But it’s not going to go wrong,” the colonel soothed. “Is it, Carter?”
Sam smiled. “No, Sir.”
Jack rubbed his hands together. “Okay, let’s get these folks home for supper!”
Hammond turned and nodded to the staff in the control room and the iris covering the gate spun open. One by one, the chevrons spun into place and locked, and the wormhole whooshed into existence.
Pete and Eric stepped back in surprise and alarm until it settled back, then Pete licked his lips. “Let’s do this, Eric.” He pulled on the guard’s arm until the terrified man yielded and stepped forward, stopping only when he reached the bristling stream of energy.
Hammond gestured again, and the MALP vanished. They waited seconds, hoping it would send back pictures and sound before the two travellers had to step into the wormhole.
And then, in the control room, the staff at their consoles were suddenly greeted with the smiling, waving face of Angus MacGyver.
When Pete heard the cheers, he didn’t wait for confirmation, but simply smiled and stepped forwards, dragging Eric with him.
He didn’t want to keep an old friend waiting any longer.
Jack watched as Pete and Eric disappeared and then jogged up to the control room to see the feed the MALP was sending back.
Daniel, Teal’c, Carter and Hammond all joined him, eager to know they had their happy ending.
They needn’t have worried.
Mac was giving Pete Thornton a bear hug, and Eric had crumpled into a quivering heap on one of the lab chairs.
When MacGyver finally appeared to remember they had an audience, he moved back to the camera on the MALP.
And as his alter ego looked back at him, for once, Jack O’Neill found he was speechless. “I err…”
MacGyver waited, and somehow seemed to know what the colonel was thinking, even though they were so many, many miles apart. “You’re a good man, Colonel, don’t ever let anyone tell you any different. It was an honor to meet you.”
And with that he snapped Jack a salute and held it.
Jack grinned. Maybe they really were the same person.
The colonel shot a salute back, and behind him, gradually every other person in the room did the same.
As if to break the surreal moment, the wormhole began to sputter and flicker and then with a gigantic pop, it was gone. The connection to the past and another dimension, gone along with it.
Sam glanced at the Colonel. “I guess that’s the last time we’ll see MacGyver, Sir.
Unless…”
“Unless
what?” Jack suspected he wasn’t going to like what came next.
Teal’c even smiled wryly and offered, “Unless we begin to call you Angus, instead of O’Neill.”
Daniel snickered. “Maybe we could um, even buy you a pocket knife?”
Jack scowled as if he was going to bite someone’s head off. “Don’t
even think about it, kids, not if you don’t want to face a court martial,” he barked.
But as he turned away, hands behind his back, O’Neill was grinning broadly and thinking about the thousand and one uses he might actually have for his roll of duct tape.
The End
Wow, did not know that about Jack. Great story , I love crossovers. 
