A Gift Of The Amazons 7

Grief, Truth, And Lies

by John O'Connor

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asj/john/amazons07.php
Summary: The loss of Marcy and Mavis deeply affects the rest of SG-13, while more of the mystery of the Amazons come to light

Themyscira - Day Five - Midafternoon

Sam felt her legs turn to rubber. Mavis? Marcy? It just couldn't be... It was impossible.

Feeling lightheaded, Sam knew she was close to keeling over when she heard Carla cry out.

"MARCY! NO!!!"

The young ensign collapsed in a heap on the floor of Hippolyta's chamber. Her entire body shook with sobs. The rest of SG-13 looked at her, their faces registering shock, sadness, anger, and even fear.

Janet mentally shook herself and went to the young woman and cradled Carla in her arms. "Ssh. Ssh. It'll be okay. I'm here..." Janet murmured over and over. Carla could only make incoherent sounds.

Sam looked at her friend and lover. She couldn't help but wonder how Janet would be affected by similar news. How she had been in the past...

Turning back to Hippolyta, Sam asked, "There's no hope?"

Shaking her head sadly, the Amazon queen replied, "It's highly unlikely. Their last reported position was several miles from any habitable land mass. And the magnitude of the storm is greater than the ship's structure could withstand for very long."

Diana stepped up and placed her hand on Sam's shoulder. "Samantha, please understand that we will continue to scour the seas until we find anything to indicate what happened."

Sam looked into the princess' blue eyes and nodded, "Thank you. I, uh... I don't know... I need some more details and then I must contact my people."

"Anything we can do, we shall," Hippolyta promised sincerely.

~~~

As she did everyday before joining her team in the diner, Sam was taken to the Stargate by hover to report in. Today though, she had news she'd give almost anything not to send.

Standing at the DHD, she dialed Earth and started to transmit her sorrowful news as soon as the event horizon stabilized. Once that task was done, she closed the Gate and stepped back onto the hover.

Shortly, Sam was sitting quietly with the rest of SG-13, staring unseeing at her untouched food.

~~~

General Hammond's Office - Day Six - Early Morning

"You sent for me, Sir?" Jack said, his head thrust around the door to Hammond's office. He had reported to the CO's office as soon as he arrived in the Mountain. He knew enough not to dally when it came to an early morning page.

"Yes Jack. Come in, close the door, and have a seat," the general directed.

"Wassup?" Jack nodded at Teal'c sitting in the other chair.

"There's been a problem...and accident really. On Themyscira."

"Sam? Janet?" Jack asked quickly, leaning forward in his seat.

Patting the air in front of him, Hammond shook his head. "No, they are fine. But Lieutenant Commander Davis and Lieutenant Cavanaugh have been lost at sea."

"Lost at sea? How?"

"They were guests on one of the Amazonian naval vessels. It got caught in an unexpectedly large tropical storm and has disappeared. It is presumed lost with all hands." Hammond leaned forward, his hands on his desktop, "There's not much we can do right now. But I am concerned for our team."

"Why?" Jack asked. "Oh, Carter's first command. She's never lost anyone under her command before, has she?"

"No, she has been extremely lucky."

"Not like us, huh Sir?" Jack sat back, his thoughts flashing back to a couple of disastrous Black Ops he was assigned in Germany almost twenty years before.

"No, not like us," Hammond responded. His mind flashed back to his tour in Viet Nam. After the strange events in 1969, he felt his duty was to volunteer for combat duty. He was shipped to Ton Son Nhut Airbase outside of Saigon. There he lost several men and women under his command to continual Viet Cong mortar attacks.

Teal'c's thoughts were masked by his stoicism but Jack had a good idea of the direction they were taking. As First Prime, he had sent many men to their deaths for the glory of their 'god' Apophis.

Jack looked up, "Carter'll be fine. She's tough. I mean look how quick she rebounded after the whole Jolinar thing..."

"Indeed, Major Carter is a strong, resourceful warrior," Teal'c agreed.

Hammond nodded in agreement, "Yes, I believe she'll be fine. Doctor Fraiser is there and she's had dealings with this kind of thing before."

"Yeah, the Doc'll take care of her. And the rest," Jack said. "Uh, General, with your permission, I think I should let Cassie know some of this. She'll need to be prepared for their return. They are returning, right?"

"Not right away. This was an accident, a mistake. As long as they can function, and they are in no immediate danger, the mission will continue."

"What? You're not bringing them home? Begging your pardon, Sir, but I think that's a mistake. Sir." Jack was sitting ramrod straight in his chair. His prior experience as well as his pessimism made him suspect the worst in any mission.

"I don't think that's wise, Jack. I think it would hamper the reason for this mission in the first place and it would erode the confidence of one of my best officers. They stay, for now." Hammond stood, "Now, maybe you should see to Cassandra."

Jack stood and nodded before leaving Hammond to the most difficult and painful task any commanding officer could face. Condolence letters to families that will be devastated by the horrible news.

~~~

"Daniel! You're with me!" Jack leaned into Daniel's office and slapped the wall with his hand in emphasis.

"What is it, Jack? Can't it wait? I'm finally making some headway with this curious translation from PY3-291." Daniel looked up, owl-like behind his glasses. Teal'c stood quietly inside the lab, awaiting his instructions.

"There's been a problem on the Babe Mission. We need to prepare Cass. So, c'mon!"

"What? Something happen to Janet? Sam?" Daniel said as he rose slowly from his seat.

"No, no. They're fine! They lost a couple of people though and..."

"Perhaps it would save time if you explained en route, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"Yeah, that sounds... Yeah," Jack agreed. "C'mon, Danny. Shake a leg. Teal'c, do me a favor and stay here. You hear anything new, call my cell."

Teal'c inclined his head in a brief nod.

~~~

Themyscira - Day Five - early evening

Janet entered the quarters she shared with Sam, saying, "Carla is still pretty torn up. I never knew she and Marcy had been together so long..."

Without looking at Janet, Sam asked, "Is she gonna be alright?"

"I gave her a sedative and Ashley and I put her to bed. I'll check on her after dinner," Janet replied.

"Go on and eat. I'm not hungry."

"Sam, honey, you have to eat. C'mon. Let's go to the diner," Janet urged.

Sitting almost motionless in her chair, Sam shook her head. "Not hungry. You go."

"It won't bring them back if you starve yourself," Janet said.

"They shouldn't be dead!" Sam thrust herself out of the chair, shouting. "They should be on a tropical atoll sipping Mai-tais or whatever the hell they drink here. Not dead!"

"It's not your fault. There is nothing you could've done differently," Janet argued.

"Except maybe not letting them go..." Sam countered.

"That would've gone against the entire spirit of this mission. And I know you don't want that."

"No...it's just... Goddammit, Janet! I never lost anyone under my command before! Even in the Persian Gulf! And for something as stupid as a tropical storm!"

Janet went to her love and held the taller woman. "There, there. It'll be alright. General Hammond said you were not responsible. And you're not. Please don't do this to yourself. It hurts me to see you in pain..."

Sam buried her face in Janet's neck. She began to speak softly. Janet wasn't sure if she was hearing the words or feeling the vibrations.

"When I was a kid, I used to watch 'Star Trek' all the time. It was my favorite show. But you know something? There was fear mixed in there." Sam stood a little straighter, her deep blue eyes locked with Janet's, "You know the joke about the red shirts always buying it?"

"Except Scotty."

A ghost of a smile flashed across Sam's face, "Yeah, except Scotty. Anyway, the dead red shirts were buried on those dead, empty worlds hundreds or even thousands of light years away from the Solar System. That always scared me - being buried alone on a deserted, barren planet.

"Janet, please don't let that ever happen to me."

Holding her love close, Janet said, "Never gonna happen, Babe. You're stuck with me."

"And thank God for that!" Sam agreed.

"Hungry now?"

Sam nodded slowly and followed Janet to the diner.

~~~

After a very quiet dinner with the rest of SG-13, Sam and Janet headed back to the quarters set aside for Marcy and Carla, the two Naval representatives on the mission. After checking with Ashley, who was going to stay the night and keep an eye on the distraught ensign, they headed back to their quarters.

Inside, Sam hugged Janet fiercely. As Janet wrapped her arms around Sam, the blonde leaned down and crushed her mouth to Janet's. The force of the kiss shocked the doctor.

"Sam!" she exclaimed, pulling away.

"I need you Janet. I need to prove that I, that you, that we're alive!"

Nodding in understanding, Janet held Sam's hands. "Okay, but there's no need to be rough, love. Let's make slow, sweet love. That's the best way to prove we're still alive."

"Take me, Janet."

Smiling gently, lovingly, Janet nodded and dropped to her knees. Pulling Sam's fatigue pants down, she buried her face in Sam's crotch, using her tongue and lips to prove to Sam that they were both living, loving beings.

Sam's climax took her by surprise and she had to lean on Janet's shoulders to keep from falling over.

Janet looked up, her mouth and chin wet with Sam's essence. "Come on to bed."

As they lay together, their naked bodies molded together, Sam slowly, deliberately fingered Janet to an orgasm. The blonde absorbed the brunette's screams in a passionate kiss.

They spent the rest of the night cuddling in each other's arms, as if afraid to lose contact.

~~~

Jack's House - Day Six - Midafternoon

"Hi Daniel! What are you doing here?" Cassie called from the entryway as she closed the front door. "Where's Jack?"

"He's, uh, he's tied up."

"Oh, did he take the Sports section?" Cassie asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, he did..."

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Cassie asked.

"The mission your mom and Sam are on...there's been an accident..." Daniel paused when he heard the sound of a toilet flushing towards the back of the house.

"An accident?" Cass' eyes were large and she stood stock-still just before going down the short steps to the main room.

"There were a couple of deaths."

"Deaths? Mom? Sam?"

"Your mom's okay..."

Cassie interrupted before Daniel could finish, "Then is Sam...? Oh God, Mom will be devastated..." The teenager paused for a moment as the effect of what she thought happened finally took root. She started to cry then, sobbing loudly. "Saaam!"

"Cassie. Cassie!" Jack said as he came up to her and grabbed her shoulders as the girl started to sway on her feet. "Cassandra! Listen. Sam's okay. Janet's okay. You understand?"

Gulping, she nodded. "They're okay?" Jack nodded. "Then who...?"

With a glare at Daniel and a muttered, "Dammit, Daniel!" Jack led Cass to the couch. "One of the Navy officers and the Marine. Um...Mavis Davis and Marcy Darcy?" Jack cast a confused glance at Daniel.

"Um, Mavis Cavanaugh and Marcella Davis."

"Yeah, that's it. Don't know either of them myself..." Jack said. Turning to Cassie, he asked, "You okay, kiddo?"

Her cheeks still damp and her eyes red, Cassie nodded. "I'm okay. I just thought..."

"Yeah, I know," Jack said as he threw another glare at Daniel.

"Are they coming home soon?"

"No, not yet. But when they do, remember that Sam might be a little sensitive about this. Okay?"

Cassie nodded. "What happened?"

Jack responded, "Well, there was an accident... Daniel, get me a beer and Cass something..."

"Coke please."

Daniel nodded and went towards the kitchen as Jack shouted, "And whatever you want..."

Settling down, his arm protectively around the teen's shoulder, Jack began to tell her what he knew of the incident on Themyscira.

~~~

Themyscira - Day Six - Halfway between Midnight and Dawn

Sam stirred restlessly.

She and Janet had managed to wear each other out, trying to exercise the demons cast on them by the loss of their teammates. Janet had drifted off several hours before. Sam hadn't slept a wink but she was reluctant to get up and do anything. She didn't want to lose contact with the warm, loving body in her arms.

Janet must've felt Sam shift. "He-ey, what's the matter? Can't sleep?"

"No, I guess not."

"After all that sex..." Janet said with a snicker in her voice.

"It's just that... How come it doesn't bother you like..."

"Like you?" Janet asked, sitting up. Sam nodded. "Sam, this is the first time you've lost anyone under your command, isn't it?" Sam nodded again. "I lost my first patient in Saudi Arabia. And Desert Storm hadn't even begun. He was in a stupid jeep accident. That was the hardest thing I ever had to deal with. Far worse than anything involved in my divorce."

"How did you deal with it?"

"It took time. I just went on with my duties. It was hard at first. I won't lie to you. I didn't sleep well that night. But eventually, I learned there are just some things you have no control over."

Sam leaned up and tenderly kissed Janet.

"What was that for?"

"For being you. For being such a wonderful, loving part of my life."

"Come here my love. Rest," Janet said as she pulled Sam down and laid the blond head on her bare breast. She lay there, stroking the woman's back as Sam's breathing eased and she finally fell into a restful sleep.

~~~

In the diner later that morning, Janet saw that all of the team was together. 'All that are left,' she thought to herself. Even Carla Greene was there, looking stronger than the day before.

Sam sat at the head of the table and said, "Good morning. I know we all had a horrible shock and we're, many of us, still dealing with it. I just want to say, for the record, I will not give up on our teammates. Not until I am shown positive proof that they're gone."

Many around the table nodded. Carla's eyes brightened and she looked up at Sam hopefully.

"Some of you might remember when Colonel O'Neill was lost on Edora? I refused to give up. Right, Janet?"

Janet nodded, "Yeah, you had me a little worried there for a while. You were so driven..."

"Right, until we could get him back. And we had no way of knowing if he was even alive... But I still refused to give up. And I refuse to give up now."

Everyone around the table nodded and agreed with Sam. No one there was ready to give up on the missing members of SG-13.

~~~

Janet stood at the main information terminal in the lab she was assigned in the Themysciran Medical Research Center. She had again called up the ancient data on the genetic 'inoculation' the Themyscirans had created to end their effectiveness as host bodies for the Goa'uld.

Looking at the holographic representation of the classic double helix pattern of DNA, Janet looked for the specific, highlighted sequence that was affected by the genetic manipulation. It wasn't there. She couldn't tell one set of nucleotide pairs from another.

"Paula? Could you take a look at this? For some reason, I can't find the specific section that needs to be altered," Janet said.

Paula, the Amazons' chief research scientist, came over. Brushing back the grey-streaked, auburn hair framing her face, the woman adjusted controls, changing the orientation of the hologram on each of it's three axes.

"That's strange," she muttered. "The sequence did start with the adenine/thymine pair..."

Working with the terminal as Janet watched helplessly, Paula's actions became more agitated. This had become a sign to Janet that the woman was becoming frustrated.

"Damn it! It was here. I saw it yesterday after you were called to the Queen's chambers..." Paula stopped when she realized why Janet had been called. "Oh, Janet, I'm sorry. I forgot about your friends..."

Janet placed her hand on Paula's shoulder, "That's alright, Paula. We haven't given up hope. Our people have come back from worse situations."

"I hope you are right in this case, as well." Paula looked at Janet with a hopeful smile. Turning back to the holo-screen, she began to adjust controls as Janet watched. The woman barely glanced at the control panel but stared intently into the hologram.

'Such control,' Janet thought wonderingly. She herself was a hunt-and-pecker on a type writer or computer keyboard. A fast hunt-and-pecker though.

Several minutes later, Paula slammed her hand on the console, "This is ridiculous! The information, almost all of it, is missing!" She stepped over to a communicator and punched in a alpha-numeric sequence. "Hello? Helene? Paula. Is there some problem with the data banks or the feed? A project I'm assisting one of the Earthers with has lost a significant amount of data since yesterday. I see... Yes. Thank you, Helene."

Turning back to her guest, Paula held out her hands in frustration, "I don't know what to tell you, Janet. Apparently something happened to some of the old archives, they are trying to rebuild them but it may take some time. Days perhaps. I'm sorry."

"That's alright, Paula. It's frustrating but nothing I haven't dealt with dozens and dozens of time before. There are times I swear the computers know when we are in the middle of something important and decide that's the time to shut down, reboot, or just lose the information."

Nodding, Paula responded, "Yes, but it is such a rare occurrence. Our data systems are nearly infallible..."

Janet smiled and said, "There was once a ship that was unsinkable..."

"Let me guess, it sank." Janet nodded and Paula smiled ruefully, "I hope that analogy doesn't necessarily apply here.

"I must let Diana know this. She was adamant that any problems with your, or any of your teammates, work be reported to her," Paula said as she keyed in a new sequence.

"Diana, this is Paula. Janet and I came across a major problem while working on the ancient DNA files. It seems there is some critical information missing from the data base. Yes, of course I called Helene. She didn't say but she did say they were trying to rebuild the base as fast as possible. Wha...? Yes, she is. Hold on." Paula stepped back from the wall unit and waved Janet towards it. "Diana would like to speak with you."

"Yes Diana?"

"Would you and Samantha meet me in Mother's chambers this afternoon?" Diana asked without any preliminaries.

A puzzled Janet agreed and then tried to track down her other half.

~~~

An hour later, Sam came jogging across the courtyard towards Janet. "What's going on?"

Janet stood up from the column she was leaning against and uncrossed her arms, "Don't know. But today, Paula and I couldn't find the information on the gene resequencing that we had been working on. Apparently, some of the older archives have to be rebuilt."

"That's odd. But then, I don't suppose any system is invulnerable," Sam said as they entered the building. "You don't suppose they heard anything about our missing people?"

"I don't know. Possibly but Diana sounded tense on the phone. Or whatever you call the damned thing," Janet replied.

They crossed the large entrance hall and were let into the inner chamber. As usual, the building was full of busy women hurrying to and fro on various errands. They were shown to a different door than the throne room. "The Queen asked that you be escorted to her private chambers," the aide explained.

Outside of the Queen's inner chamber, Diana waited. Her face was grim and her whole posture seemed tense.

"Samantha, Janet, please come in. Mother is with one of my sisters but wanted to see you immediately," Diana said.

She opened a single door that blended with the corridor wall. They stepped into a room that would put any luxury suite in any hotel on Earth to shame. Sam whistled unconsciously and Janet looked around the sumptuous room.

Hippolyta, holding a brown-haired baby in her arms, smiled at Sam's whistle. Then, in a deadpan voice, she said, "Yes, these rooms are adequate."

Shaking her head, Diana simply said, "Mother..."

"You are right, daughter. This is a serious matter. Please, ladies, sit down." Looking to the side, she beckoned one of the women waiting for her. "Please see to Hera. Thank you, Rachel."

As the woman took the infant and left, Hippolyta said, "That's my youngest. She is too young for court functions."

"She's lovely," Janet said.

Hippolyta nodded her thanks, "As is her mother.

"I hope you weren't taken from anything important. However, I believe it is time to clear the wind. I believe that's the expression."

Sam shook her head, "Actually, it's clear the air. But that's irrelevant. How may we help?" Sam had to almost physically restrain herself from shouting the question she already posed to Janet.

As if she was telepathic, Hippolyta said, "I'm sorry to tell you that we have no further word on our missing ship or your teammates. The search is still ongoing though."

Visibly sagging slightly, Sam acknowledged the information, "Thank you for the information. And the effort."

Hippolyta waved off the thanks, "Little enough to thank us for."

"Mother, perhaps we should..."

"Yes, of course. This more directly affects the doctor's efforts but I feel you should be made aware of this as well, Samantha."

Sam and Janet shared a puzzled look then turned their attention to the queen.

"We have not been completely frank with you. There is an aspect of the genetic resequencing that most of our people are not familiar with. It was a consequence that was devastating for our ancestors."

Sam had a feeling she knew where the conversation was going. Janet, on the other hand, still seemed a little confused. "What are you talking about, your majesty?"

"In our rush to make ourselves incompatible with the Snakes, we didn't realize..."

Diana stepped in, "What Mother is trying to say is that within two hundred of your years of our genetic manipulation, the entire male population of our planet died off."

Next: The Explanation