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Leap of Faith
Chapter 9
Duncan looked at the faces around the table. Sam and Casey were blushing furiously, neither looking up at him. He tried. He did his best. He couldn't help it. He snorted. He chucked. He burst into laughter. "Now this will go down as one of the most…interesting…missions that any team has been on!"
Daniel, Jack and Teal'c were chuckling as well. "Yeah, well, none of us were ever in any real danger," Daniel said.
"Speak for yourself," Casey retorted. "They wanted DNA donations from Sam and I!"
"And a wonderful addition to their gene pool your DNA would have been," Daniel teased.
"I hear that there were several men who found you absolutely irresistible," Sam said, her blue eyes twinkling.
Daniel shot a look at Jack. The older man ducked his head and grinned. "Yeah, well, they were more interested in hearing about women, and having a family."
"Aw, Space Monkey, that's just what they said so they could sit next to you," Jack teased.
Sam, Casey, Duncan and Teal'c laughed. Daniel glared at his best friend. "I guess you never noticed that there were several guys checking your ass out."
Jack jerked. "No way! Who? When?"
Casey giggled. "I just hope that the people on Dovinia understand that it's nobody else's business who one chooses to sleep with. The problem there was they weren't allowed any choices! Let's hope they don't go off the deep end the other direction."
Sam nodded in agreement. "It will be interesting to go back in a year or so, and see how things are."
Duncan was also nodding. He made a notation on the folder in front of him. "We'll go back, see about opening trade, maybe exchanging some technology. Those hovering guards are interesting, I'd like to have something like that around here."
"I agree," Sam said. No one was surprised. She loved doohickeys. And those hovering robots were some impressive doohickeys.
The Highlander closed his folder. "Okay, team. Good job. Have your reports on my desk by the end of the week. Down day tomorrow."
Jack closed his folder as well. "Any news on Kinsey…or Ptah, whoever he is?"
"Kinsey is definitely Goa'uld now. But he's not Ptah. Methos just received full intel on him. What he's up to we don't have a clue, at least not yet. We've also been hearing that there are repercussions all over Earth right now. There isn't a single government involved with the EDA that isn't going through the recall process. Seems the folks back home are pissed off, and they're doing something about it," Duncan replied.
"About damned time," Jack muttered.
"I also got an interesting report from George Hammond," the dark haired Scot said. "Remember PR3 569?"
Daniel and Sam both paled, and shuddered slightly. "Yeah, can't forget that one," Daniel said softly, his hand reaching out for Casey. His fingers closed over hers, held them tightly. Sam had reached out for Jack at the same time.
"Well, the contaminant seems to be gone. He's had his people working on the samples they bring back every month. Whoever did this wasn't NID."
Each of the faces around him registered their surprise. "Who, then?" Casey asked.
"Good question. The last report indicates some sort of alien DNA. Like nothing we've ever seen before. We do know that whoever created that…virus…was targeting Immortals. Which raises the question…are there other Immortals out there that we're unaware of?"
Casey shivered. Daniel noticed. So did Duncan.
"Case?" Daniel asked softly.
She gripped his hand harder. Waited until she felt his touch, his presence. She closed her eyes. Reached out. And felt them. She opened her eyes and looked at Duncan. "We need to talk to my dad," she said softly.
"Why?" Duncan asked.
"There was another Immortal nursery. It's been destroyed. Almost all of the Immortals destroyed as well," she replied. "I could feel a few, not more than a dozen. They're hiding."
"Oh, hell," the Scot muttered.
"Yeah. Seems that this group had set themselves up as gods. Very similar to our Greek gods, from the images I saw," she said. "They weren't…evil. Just…human. Immortal humans. And the people they were sworn to protect took a disliking to them. And destroyed them all with one fell swoop. The only ones to escape were the ones not on the planet at the time…whichever one it was… is."
"Do these people know about us?" Jack asked nervously.
She closed her eyes, looked again. She shook her head. "Not yet. But they seem to be searching the galaxy for Immortals. Probably for the ones who escaped them. I don't know how, or if, they can find them."
Daniel frowned. "Could they detect the 'buzz'?" He, Sam, Jack, and Teal'c neither felt nor gave off the electrical signals that resulted in sudden, intense pain, which in turn alerted Immortals to one another's presence. This, they hypothesized, was because the Ascended granted them Immortality, they hadn't been created Immortal.
Casey shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't even thought about the buzz in…well, since we moved here. It's like…I don't even feel it any longer."
Duncan nodded slowly. "Now that you mention it, I…" He closed his eyes. "It's still there, but very faint. I can feel you, Case, and I can tell that there are others nearby. But it's…different."
The young blonde did a search of her own mind. "It's barely there," she agreed.
"All the Immortals have been living together, in close proximity, for almost ten years now," Sam observed. "Is it possible that such constant, well - contact, has…changed…the way you feel one another?"
"Possibly," Duncan mused, a slight frown on his face. "I think I'll have Dr. Montigue take a look into this. This is something we should know about. Because if the 'buzz' is what these people use to find Immortals, Gamma is going to give off enough vibes to bring them straight to our door."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Case, day after tomorrow, I’m going to ask you to see if you can locate these Immortals. If we can get them here, they'll be safer than anywhere else. Especially with the NID out there as well as these…Immortal killers," Duncan said.
She nodded, glanced at Daniel.
"I'll be right here for you, Angel," he said softly.
"Okay, team. Take tomorrow off. Methos is working to find out more about Ptah, and we'll find out what Kinsey and that group is up to. George and Jeremy are handling the other NID group, it's best that Immortals stay away from them if at all possible. Depending on what Casey finds, you're going to be doing some Immortal hunting. We need to know who these people are." Duncan stood up. "It never ends, does it?" he said, a sad smile on his face.
Jack shook his head. "Guess not."
The team sat there for a moment after Duncan left the room. Casey started giggling. "You have to admit, this was a very…um… interesting mission."
"Yeah. Lots of…sex," Sam said, giggling now.
"What did I tell you?" Jack asked, his eyes dancing. "This team has more sex than any other team on Gamma."
"Only because we're screwing each other," Daniel said, grinning.
"We are so screwed up," Casey giggled, leaning against Daniel.
Unlike his friends, Teal'c had not had sex while on Dovinia. The large man stood to his feet, a huge grin on his face, his eyes full of Fire. "I am going home. Carlotta would be most displeased to find me screwing around here."
Casey and Sam were in hysterics as the Jaffa left the room. Jack and Daniel looked at each other, matching grins on their faces.
"Pour guy is suffering from the Fire," Jack said.
"Yep," Daniel replied. "I'm having a few problems with it myself."
"Yep," Jack said. "Let's go, Colonel. You have a fire to put out."
Casey looked at Daniel, her eyes dancing. "I suppose we need to go, too."
"Yep," he grinned. Daniel took her hand and led her to the elevator.
The four friends rode to the surface together. For now, they wouldn't think about all that Gamma, and the SGC faced. For tonight, they would concentrate on their spouses, and their children. For tonight, they would grab all the peace that they could.
THE END
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