Sam had never been so happy in her life when she spotted the two people O’Neill had sent after them. One was Sergeant Rick Deland, a veteran of countless ‘Off World’ missions, and the other was the ever-stoic Teal’c.

Teal’c had taken one look at his alien friend Clark, and had hoisted the teen over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing. No words had been spoken between them, they just weren’t necessary. Clark and Teal’c were two of a kind, and had shared a bond from their first meeting.

Carter was glad of that bond right now as they at last jogged into the new, temporary encampment. Clark needed someone to be there for him while his real family could not, and she guessed that Teal’c was the one that could give the most reassurance right now. He was, after all, the only other ‘alien’ on the team.

“Carter!” Jack O’Neill spotted their arrival and beckoned that they head for the one marquee they’d managed to salvage and erect. He looked tired and abruptly worried as he noted Clark’s limp form strung over the ex-Jaffa’s right shoulder. “Hey, how ya doing, farmboy?” He tried to sound jovial, at least in front of the kid.

Clark responded with a low moan, and managed to half lift his head to glance at the officer. He appeared in a daze and squinted as if he wasn’t really sure who he was gazing at. After a second, he slumped back into unresponsiveness. Teal’c silently bobbed his head to O’Neill, and then pushed through the tarp to the inner tent where Frasier and Bryce where waiting.

Inside was pretty sparse compared to what Frasier had set up originally, but most of the equipment had been lost in the Jaffa raid. Nevertheless, the two doctors had done their best to prepare for Clark’s arrival.

A military-style cot had been placed in the corner and Teal’c gently lowered his burden onto it. Clark was oblivious. He could have been in a hi-tech hospital for all he knew. He groaned, and this time Helen Bryce was there to comfort him while Janet Frasier looked him over.

Blood had already seeped through both the dressings Sam had applied earlier, and as Frasier probed she guessed there was probably as much on the inside as out. “How’s his pulse?” She asked her companion.

“Fast and weak,” Helen inhaled- she had expected as much from just seeing the entry wound, “I’m guessing his BP is pretty low too…”

* * * *

Once he was sure Clark was in safe hands, Jack got back to business. “Just what the hell happened out there, Major?”

Sam stole a glance past her superior, wanting to be inside the marquee, but snapped back with her own response, “I could ask you the same thing, Sir!” She sighed and both officers calmed slightly. “Did the Goa’uld know we were coming? Or did we just have the unluckiest day in the universe?”

Jack put a hand on his waist. “Oh, I’d go with unluckiest day theory, except I have a feeling that things might get worse yet…” He pointed to what was left of the groups supplies. A solitary drum surrounded by sandbags sat near a humming power unit. “We lost most of the fuel for the generator. I’d estimate we have maybe an hour or so of gas left. Oh, and did I mention that almost all our fresh water supply is gone too? A day or two out here and we’ll be crawling the walls drinking that tainted water like your friend Maya. If she really was a friend. For all we know she could be involved in this little fiasco…”

Carter got defensive again at the remark. “Oh, come on, Jack! Can you blame these people for laying low?” She tugged off her pack which suddenly felt like a ton weight on her shoulders, tossing it to the ground, and then continued, “Besides, there’s a lot you don’t know.” Sam recounted what they’d learned about Sobek, and that he may now inhabit the body of an extremely evil Kryptonian. “I’ve been thinking about the whole deal, and I may have an idea why Sobek poisoned the water…”

O’Neill let his eyes spin skywards, “Well do tell, Carter, we don’t have all day!” He shot her his usual satirical smile just to make sure the she knew he wasn’t quite as angry as he sounded.

“Well, we know that Goa’uld System Lords are pretty feudal in nature, Sir, and I’m guessing Sobek didn’t want any competition.”

“Say what?” Jack made a little reversing motion with his hand, indicating he’d somehow missed the point.

Sam tried again. “Sobek doesn’t want to destroy the planet in case he needs access to the computer files that are still active here. I’m guessing he can’t copy or remove them for some reason. He doesn’t want any of the locals left alive though, just in case they have any of the traits of their sister world, Krypton. Effectively, he’s poisoned the people here to make sure none of the other Goa’uld uses them as hosts, because he’s so paranoid he thinks there’s a chance the locals may gain powers in our sun’s presence…”

“You’re saying this snakehead poisoned an entire world on a whim? Just so that he could be the only one? Sheesh, this guy has watched too much Highlander’!” Jack turned to look over how the camp defenses were coming along. Satisfied with the proceedings he looked back to Carter. “If this, Maya is really on our side; do you think she’d be willing to help us?”

Sam thought about it. It was a lot to ask of such a repressed people. They’d been through so much at the hands of the Goa’uld already. She was about to point that out to O’Neill when Janet Frasier emerged from the tent behind them, shortly followed by a solemn looking Teal’c. The ex-Jaffa took up a sentry-like position at the flap opening, holding his staff weapon aloft almost menacingly.

Jack stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets. He always felt useless around doctors. After all, he took lives, they saved them. He always found it an odd kind situation to have to deal with them- even when it was Janet. “How’s the kid doing?”

Frasier shuffled a little closer. She wore fatigues, with the familiar white coat of her profession over the top. It was an awkward moment for her, and she slipped her hands in her own pockets as restlessly as the Colonel had. “It’s not good, Jack. The bullet has caused an internal hemorrhage, and Helen and I can’t stop it without removing the offending slug. The problem is, the surgery itself will cause more initial bleeding- it’s a catch twenty-two situation. Clark needs blood, which ordinarily wouldn’t be an issue, but he’s unique. It’s not like we could draw blood from one of us like in a normal situation.”

“Isn’t there something else you can give him?” Sam was almost as upset as O’Neill at the news.

Frasier shook her head despondently. She hated it when she was put into a situation where her hands were so tied. “We have him on a saline IV to help keep his blood pressure up, but other human blood products aren’t an option.”

Jack rubbed a hand over his head and paced a little. “What you’re telling me is, if we don’t get him back through the Stargate, he’ll die?”

“It’s not that simple,” Janet suddenly found she could look neither officer in the eye. “Clark has a couple of hours at most. Even if you could regain control of the gate, it wouldn’t be quick enough. Clark’s regenerative cells don’t ‘recharge’ that fast when exposed to sunlight…”

O’Neill felt numb. He’d lost men already today, but Clark was just a kid- a kid everyone thought was beyond harming. Now, not only was some maniac Goa’uld parading around in an indestructible body, but the only person who could help them fight him lay dying. And he’s just a kid, no matter where he originally came from. Jack thought of his own son again. I’m some death omen…Kids always die around me…Damn it, he can’t die! I like this kid! “What about a Goa’uld sarcophagus?” He eventually barked grasping at the impossible.

Teal’c raised a brow critically. “O’Neill, where upon this planet would we find such a device? And indeed, should we be fortunate enough to discover one, how would we transport it back to the camp in time?”

Jack kicked a sandbag that helped hold the tarp in position. “Dammit! I won’t give in!” He spun around and put a closed fist to his mouth in contemplation. After two minutes, his exasperated expression had changed and he turned back to face the others. “Teal’c, you and I are taking SG6 on a little social gathering.”

Teal’c raised a brow. “A festivity of some kind, O’Neill?” He asked, half expecting the answer.

Jack grinned and grabbed his cap, tugging it on. “Oh yeah, you could say we’re going to do a little ‘gate crashing’.” He nodded to Sam, “I’d like you and Daniel to do something else, just in case plan A doesn’t work…”

The Major took in a breath, “I’m ready for whatever it takes, Sir.”

Jack smiled. One way or another they were going to get through this. He glanced back to Frasier. She was still standing outside the marquee feeling helpless. “Doc, I have some instructions for you too.” He cocked his weapon and checked the sights, “Don’t you or that mad woman Bryce let that kid die until either I get back, or Sam does, ya hear me?”

Frasier wanted to ask just what the crazy Colonel was about to do, but she didn’t need to. It was pretty obvious. “You’re going to try and retake the Stargate anyway, aren’t you? Even though I don’t think it would help Clark.”

“Well, we have to get home somehow.” He winked and then broke into a run as SG6 began to assemble with Teal’c ready for their departure. All he had to do now was brief Carter and Jackson on their separate mission, and then they head out for their respective fates.

Base camp
Almost One Hour Later…

Helen Bryce looked at her watch and then to the cot in the corner. Clark lay so still, the only indication he was still alive was the monitor they had him hooked to. She sighed. The others thought it was hard, how did they think she felt? She’d known Clark for months during her undercover assignment in Smallville.

Outside, the generator’s rhythmic humming began to become erratic. It was a sign that the fuel in its tank was becoming alarmingly low. Bryce stood up and poked her head through the tarp opening to see a soldier pouring the last dregs of gas into the top of the power unit’s fuel tank. The sputtering noise abated, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long and she knew it. She looked across, searching the countryside for O’Neill, Carter, or anyone from the SG units that were out there.

“Helen?” Janet Frasier tapped her fellow physician on the shoulder, “There’s no sign of anyone making it back, is there?”

Bryce shook her head and spun back into the tent. “Clark won’t wait much longer. I think we should try removing the bullet while we still have fuel for the lights and equipment. We’ve nothing to lose by trying.”

“Except his life.” Frasier knew Bryce was right, but she also knew there was little chance of success.

“Janet…” Bryce took another glance across the room at her patient, but all she kept envisaging were the faces of Jonathan and Martha Kent. She’d watched the family confront tragedy before when Clark and Martha had been stricken by some bizarre fever, but this was so much worse because it had been caused. It wasn’t an illness. “Janet, I have to try.”

Helen began gathering the instruments she would need, and when she looked fleetingly over her shoulder Janet Frasier was filling in one of the nurses on what they required.

Five minutes later they were all set. Frasier was the senior, and so she had volunteered to perform the surgery. Helen would be her second, with Hayley the unit’s head nurse keeping a close eye on Clark’s vitals.

Helen closed her eyes for a split second as Frasier made her first incision. This would be so easy if we had blood. Without it, this was a game of Russian roulette- except every chamber in this game contained a bullet with Clark’s name on it. The only certainty was…

Helen shook herself. Nothing would be achieved by thinking like that. She mopped some of the teen’s precious blood away from where Frasier was working, and noted that despite the odds her companion was about to successfully remove the flattened slug. It was then that it happened.

Bryce had expected it earlier, but had prayed the fuel might last until they were finished- it apparently had not. The overhead light sputtered and then extinguished, followed by every other lantern in the tent and the monitor Clark was hooked to.

“Dammit, not now!” Frasier cursed as she tried to finish working in the dull light.

Helen swiftly sprang up and flicked on two jury-rigged battery lights she’d strung from the main tent pole just in case of such an event. The units were pretty dim in a marquee of such size, but at least they could see to finish up. If there had been anything to finish up.

Clark had lasted almost as long as Janet Frasier’s estimate to O’Neill, but now his body just couldn’t go on without blood. As the lights had failed, so finally had his beleaguered heart.

“He’s arresting…” It was Hayley, the head nurse. She moved calmly to begin chest compressions, but Bryce pushed her clear intent on doing the job herself.

No sooner had she placed her hands on his sternum than Janet Frasier gently pushed them away. “Helen, without blood there’s nothing we can do, you know that. Let him go…”

At the Stargate

Jack O’Neill dropped silently behind a thorn bush and pulled out a hi-tech set of binoculars. Below and to his left lay the illusive Stargate, and unfortunately it was still guarded by a full unit of Jaffa troops. The Goa’uld worshipping soldiers had a perimeter line set up, along with two men protecting the gate like sentinels. It looked like a pretty solid defense arrangement.

O’Neil squinted and then adjusted the range so that he got a clearer view. “What do you think, Teal’c?”

The tall, often philosophical alien gave the officer his best look of disdain. “I do believe, O’Neill, that we are about to die.”

Jack smirked. “You know, I think you’re finally getting the hang of the humor thing!” He patted Teal’c on the back and received a scowl. He didn’t, however hear Teal’c’s following comment as they emerged from the shrubbery in a full frontal assault.

“I was not making a joke…”

O’Neill led the charge that was like something out of a movie. He and Teal’c stormed forward with absolutely no regard for their lives, or the amount of opposition they faced.

The first Jaffa that noticed their offensive almost balked, but then regained his composure enough to summon his leader.

The First Prime to Sobek stared incredulously at the two men that were still rushing his entire unit and couldn’t stifle a fit of deep-throated, hysterical laughter. “Wait until they are upon us, and then strike them down hand to hand. It will be good sport for the men.”

The underling nodded and dropped his staff weapon, eager to be the first to take on the soldier from earth and the Jaffa traitor- O’Neill’s ruse was working.

As they neared the enemy Jack finally played his hand. Without actually speaking, he reached up and double clicked the radio unit on his shoulder. The two clicks signaled for SG6 to join in the fray, and several claymore mines began to explode to heighten the Jaffa’s confusion.

At the last moment O’Neill opened fire, and for a short time he actually thought they might have a chance at retaking the gate. Bullets flew across the open landscape in a haze of fog caused by unrelenting explosions. Bodies, both alien and human fell to the uncaring earth, but Sobek’s men were unyielding. They knew if they did not die saving the Stargate, they would die at their master’s hand shortly after.

Jack pulled his rifle’s trigger, emptying an entire clip into just one Jaffa, but still the soldier refused to fall. Instead, he attempted to crawl to the D.H.D and dial out with the Stargate so O’Neill could not. Perhaps he was even attempting to open the gate to where Sobek waited.

Jack grabbed the soldier’s shoulder, pulling him away from the device just before he could hit the first symbol. A ball of energy from a staff weapon whizzed by, narrowly missing O’Neill and forcing him to take cover behind the D.H.D he sorely needed to use.

Another member of SG6 succumbed to a Jaffa’s wrath mere yards away, and O’Neill gave into the inevitable- they were not going to win this fight. “Teal’c!” He yelled over short staccato bursts of gunfire, “Get everyone to the gate. If we can’t retake it, were damn well going to at least use it!”

Teal’c nodded silently and began trying to regroup what was left of SG6. O’Neill gave as much cover for them as he could, while slapping the required symbols on the D.H.D that would open the gate with his free hand. He didn’t usually do the dial out procedure, but he knew what he needed to press to get them home.

“Ramirez, send the SG6 code…” Jack dodged yet another Jaffa weapon blast and then ducked as he waited for the familiar surge of energy from the gate opening. Anyone caught in its eye was immediately vaporized until the wormhole had stabilized, and O’Neill had no intention of having his molecules fried anytime soon.

Once the watery-looking epicenter was rippling gently inside the actual Stargate, O’Neill beckoned for his troops to retreat through it. He stayed behind until every last man was on their way home, and then dived into the wormhole himself with a heavy heart. He had hoped to retake the structure so Clark at least had some kind of chance, but now the kid was probably already dead, and the rest of the medical team and Airforce units were stuck on PX4761 with no way home. Maybe its time I retired again, It was a forlorn thought, but one he was actually considering as his body was dematerialized and reconstructed millions of miles away at the SGC.

* * * *

General George Hammond stood with his hands behind his back in the gate control room. He was a short, bald man, whose actual size gave away nothing about his military stature. He was also a proud man, and he was beginning to believe a decision he had made had been grossly negligent. Sending SG1 through the gate on reconnaissance had been a justifiable risk; sending Frasier, Bryce and the teenager Clark Kent had not.

When not one of the teams had called in he had realized his mistake. Now, the away mission was looking like a disaster. The SGC hadn’t been able to make any kind of contact with PX4761, and O’Neill and his people had missed three call ins.

Hammond sighed and turned to peer at the gate through the Plexiglas shield. A klaxon began to scream as if his gaze had summoned it, and several red warning lights began to flash.

The duty sergeant at the nearby console spun around to his superior. “Sir, we’re receiving SG6’s authorization code.” The soldier appeared relieved. It looked like someone was coming home after all.

Hammond cleared his throat, and his Texan accent softly responded. “Open the iris…”

The sergeant nodded, thankful to do his duty, and from their position both men watched, as did the entire control room as the ultra strong iris protecting unlawful access spun open.

The Stargate activated with its usual inter-dimensional whoosh, and after breathtaking seconds five soldiers almost fell through the obscure miasma, with O’Neill bringing up the rear.

Two of the soldiers were unable to stand unaided, and as Hammond briskly joined Colonel O’Neill he noted just how fatigued the officer looked. He almost dare not ask about the rest of the team members who were apparently missing or worse on the planet they had just hastily vacated.

Jack tugged of his cap and handed his weapon to a nearby soldier, then turned to the general, expecting a whole lot of questions- he wasn’t disappointed.

“Just what went wrong out there, Colonel, and where are the rest of your unit?” Hammond rested a hand either side his waist as he waited.

O’Neill licked his lips. “We had unexpected company from the locals, and a surprise visit from the new System Lord’s Jaffa, Sir.” He mopped his brow and looked instinctively back to the now dormant gate. “I had to leave people behind…I’d like to respectfully request a rescue attempt…”

“Jack, you know I can’t authorize that! This mess needs dealing with, but not at the risk or expense at more lives!” The general’s voice softened slightly. He knew how Jack was feeling, and he also knew just how many faces had not returned through the gate. “What about the Kent boy? I take it he’s stuck back on the planet too…and a civilian…”

O’Neill peered straight down at the concrete floor of the gate room after checking his watch. “It’s worse that that, Sir. Clark was injured. Without help, Janet gave him a couple of hours…that time was up before we even made it through the gate.”

“You’re saying…” Hammond couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

Jack nodded dolefully. “I’d at least like to be the one that speaks to his parents, Sir. I feel I owe them that much.” He tugged off more gear, “I’ll go clean up. If it’s alright with you I’ll call the Kents before debriefing?” It was a question to his superior, but even if Hammond said no, Jack had every intention of proceeding.

“That won’t be necessary, Colonel.” Hammond wasn’t refusing the request, but O’Neill didn’t quite grasp that, he was far too quick to assume.

“Now just wait a minute…”

Hammond waved him off with an irked tone. “Jack, Clark’s parents are already here.” He let his eyes fall back towards the door that led to the guest quarters section of the facility. “When you missed two call ins I decided the Kents should be informed. I asked an old friend who is based near Smallville to have them flown in. It seems Sam Lane knows the Kents somewhat, and so I felt it appropriate he was the one to escort them here.”

Jack bit his lip. Maybe cleaning up should wait too. The kid’s parents shouldn’t be forced to suffer any longer just because he was still in grimy fatigues. “Thanks, Sir. With your permission I’d like to go speak with them now. They deserve to know.”

Hammond agreed. After that most unpleasant of tasks was over, then would come the debriefing, and the decisions on what to do about those left alive on PX4761.

* * * *

Martha Kent sat on the edge of the bed in the room they’d been taken to. It was a cold, harsh environment after life on a country farm. The grey military walls and sparse trappings made the quarters seem almost like a cell. She squeezed her husband’s hand as he sat silently beside her. They’d nearly lost their daughter over a year ago, and now a mother’s intuition was telling her something was gravely wrong with Clark. Right now, she was glad she’d left little Kara with Bill Ross. He may not be with Abigail anymore, but he could be trusted with the infant.

The SGC hadn’t contacted Sam Lane on a whim. He may be a pretty big army general, but he was still not part of the Airforce, or the Stargate program. To involve him, and let him know that Clark was somehow caught up in national security had not been done without serious thought.

“Jonathan…” The concerned mother didn’t have to say more, her husband put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her. He was feeling the same sense of loss already, even though they had been told very little.

“Its okay, Sweetheart,” he cajoled, even though he didn’t really think it was.

Someone tapped at the door, and before they could speak Colonel Jack O’Neill entered. His face was grave.

Jonathan gulped and held Martha tighter. He may just be a farmer, but he had already noted O’Neill was still wearing some pretty battle scarred clothes. He had obviously come back from a fight, and if Clark had come with him, he’d be in the room right now.

“Mr. and Mrs. Kent,” The officer nodded showing his respect for the couple, and then pulled out a nearby plastic chair from where it rested under a desk.

He sat down, wanting the Kents to remain seated too while he told them the news- news Martha and Jonathan had already guessed from his somber attitude. Jack O’Neill usually found it impossible not to smile in any given five minute period; he was too much of a prankster, but today he didn’t joke.

“Something’s happened to Clark, hasn’t it?” Martha’s voice quivered. She hadn’t wanted her son to go off world again, but she and Jonathan had admitted that he was now getting old enough to make certain choices himself- like he had with the football team. Both parents knew he was special, and sometimes he was going to be put in danger because of it, but it didn’t lessen the burden.

Jack leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. He’d never had to tell a civilian kid’s parents before, and it wasn’t exactly easy. He cleared his throat. “I’m assuming Clark told you that his abilities don’t seem to last on the planet we were visiting?” When Jon nodded grimly he carried on, “Well, from what I know, Major Carter was about to take a bullet and…”

“Clark got in the way and took it for her, didn’t he?” Jonathan finished when the officer’s words began to wane. It was just so Clark-like it was obvious. “Is he…?” Jonathan gulped again, unable to ask the burning question.

When O’Neill found he couldn’t force a reply, Martha began to sob.

PX4761
Base Camp

Helen Bryce never gave up on anything in all her life, and her friend and superior telling her she had too wasn’t about to make one iota of difference. She pulled away from Frasier’s touch, and was about to continue where she left off when a familiar but impossible noise made her look up.

From outside, several shrill voices were shouting across the camp as a small motor kicked back into life- it was the generator. To prove Bryce wasn’t hearing things the marquee lights fluttered and then began to re-illuminate as they gained power. Lastly, the monitor Clark was connected to began to scream as it showed a flat line.

The noise broke the doctor from her trance and she resumed chest compressions, disregarding Frasier’s last remark.

Janet looked to her colleague and then towards the sounds coming from outside. Something was obviously going on, and if Jack or Sam were back they may have brought something to help Clark with them. It was stupid to think it possible, but what if they had brought a Goa’uld sarcophagus?

Frasier pulled off a bloodied glove and ran outside to check. As she reached the open tarp flap a breathless Sam Carter almost barged into her.

“Tell me he’s still alive?” Sam asked frantically. When the doctor didn’t speak she glanced over to where Helen was still struggling to get a pulse. It wasn’t over yet. “I’ve brought help, but you’ll need to hurry…”

“I don’t understand?” Frasier raised a brow, but Sam wasn’t wasting time explaining. Instead, she fastened the tarp back and ushered in a large group of strangers. Frasier estimated at least twenty.

“This is Maya,” Sam introduced a blonde, seemingly withdrawn local who appeared to be about twenty. “Jack had the idea if Sobek thought her people could be a threat, then maybe they really shared some family traits with their sister world. It’s worth a shot…”

Frasier finally got the picture. “Their blood might be a close enough match!”

Maya appeared overwhelmed, peering around the tent as if it were something alien and frightening, but as Janet took a small blood sample she didn’t argue or flinch. In fact, she remained eerily quiet, as did her brethren as they too were tested.

“Five matches,” Janet was now the breathless one as she eventually finished analyzing the samples, “There’s no time to draw it all first, though.” She glanced at Carter, hoping she had already explained to the volunteers what might be asked of them.

Sam nodded, and finally Maya spoke unexpectedly. Her voice was soft and low, and had the most soothing of qualities. She gave off an air of sophistication and grace that didn’t seem to fit the planet she inhabited. “We understand doctor. Who of our number can help save the Kryptonian?”

Janet pointed to four individuals who had been singled out. There were three women and one teenage boy not much younger than Clark. “And yourself…but we must hurry. A nurse will draw blood from the others while we do a direct transfusion from someone.”

Maya inhaled. “I will do this…” She appeared so serene in her white flowing robe that Frasier had to shake herself to be convinced she wasn’t speaking to a ghost- but then again, maybe she was. Maya’s people were all that was left of a long dead world; a world that had once been as advanced as Clark’s home world, Krypton.

As they approached Clark, Helen Bryce looked up. She was sweating from exertion, but the monitor was at least no longer screeching its death wail. “I’m barely getting an output and Hayley’s about the only thing keeping him breathing.” She nodded to the head nurse who was forcing air into Clark’s lungs with a bag and mask.

“We have blood,” Frasier explained as she sat Maya down next to the unresponsive teen, “You were right, Helen, not to stop. Let’s not let your efforts have been in vane…”

General Sam Lane’s office
Kansas

Lois Lane was bored- worse, she was on a military base with nothing to do, and farmboy wouldn’t answer the phone. She slammed down the receiver in her father’s office and considered snooping through his things to pass the time. He’d been gone for hours, and now it would seem so had Clark and his parents.

“I knew that farmboy would be a no show!” Lois cursed and looked out of the window as several armored cars trundled by. It was a sunny, but annoying day at the military base. Clark was supposed to be in right now to go over the details of the weekend trip they had all planned. “I told Kent I’d break his legs if he upset Chloe, and I will! Sheesh he can’t even manage to be home on time, let alone be there for us gals at the weekend…” Lois continued grouching until she heard the sound of someone coming through the door.

“Lo?” Sam Lane ambled in wearing his dress uniform. He had a hand rolled cigar in one hand and a manila folder in the other, “What’s got my lil girl so all fired up?” He dropped the folder and walked over to his still incensed daughter.

Lois crossed her arms. Should she admit that the offender was a guy, even if it wasn’t romance that was the problem? “Nothing I can’t deal with when I get my hands on him!”

“I thought I heard you say the name Kent?” General Lane frowned at his daughter and she knew then he was being deadly serious. Something was going on she didn’t know about.

“Yeah, you remember Clark Kent? The jerk who wears plaid, and who just stood me and Chloe up!” Lois continued to rant until her father put a hand on her forearm.

Sam Lane’s deep and staid tone made her pause. “Lo, sometimes a man has to do more than just escort girls around. You have to understand that.”

Lois’ eyes narrowed and she pulled lightly from his grasp. In all the years of being watched over by her father he had never come spoken to her so dourly. “You know something about this don’t you? And it’s not a regular Kent show of non-punctuality, is it? Is Clark alright? What have you gotten him into?” The questions just kept coming, but the general had no intention of replying. He couldn’t.

“Lo, just leave it alone this time…”

“Dad, Clark might be a geek, but he’s Chloe’s friend and that makes him my friend!” Lois stormed from her father’s office and ran to her red Mustang as fast as her legs would carry her. First dear daddy had hidden the whole ‘Chloe’s alive’ thing, and now he was up to something that involved Clark Kent. The not knowing annoyed her.

She fired up the ignition and gunned the gas, narrowly missing two of the soldier’s on gate duty as they raised the barrier for her to exit. Once she had the Ford clear of the barracks she slowed somewhat, and when a suitable section of road became available she pulled over and tugged out her cell phone.

Lois hit speed dial and waited. “Chloe, its Lois, I know this sounds weird but have you been able to contact Clark or the Kents today?”

Chloe Sullivan munched on a French fry with one hand, and continued typing with the other, keeping the phone pressed to her ear with just her shoulder. “No, should I have been able to? I thought you were making all the arrangements with our resident football hero?”

Lois sighed. “Listen, I know this sounds weird, Chlo, but I just had the craziest conversation with my dad, and he seemed to expect no one to be at home at the Kents. He said something about ‘sometimes a man has to do more than just escort girls around’.” Lois screwed up her face, “I mean, sheesh, if I didn’t know dad better I’d say he’d been watching too many corny cowboy movies!”

The comment got Chloe’s attention. “Give me a second…” She put down the handset and rolled her chair across the room to the Torch’s second line on Clark’s desk. She hit the Kents home number, but all she got was an incessant ringing. After ten minutes of failed attempts and two other calls she rolled back to her own desk. “Lois, I’m not liking this. There’s no one at the farm, and when I rang the Talon the girl there said Martha rang in and said she wouldn’t be in for a couple of days…” Chloe bit her lip. The Kents couldn’t leave the farm unattended that long.

“See!” Lois waved her hand around as if Chloe could actually see her making the gesture. “Now, don’t get me wrong, your farmboy can be annoying, but he has saved my butt a couple of times, and if he’s in trouble…”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “You just feel guilty after stringing him up in the barn that time.”

“Get real, Chlo! Besides, you were the one that clawed him…and don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it getting him almost naked- possessed by a witch or not!” An air of mirth edged Lois’ voice and then was gone again. “I’ll meet you at the Torch in an hour. I think farmboy needs our help…”

PX4761
The Next day

A small shaft of light crept in through the open tarp. It played across the ground sheet causing cascading shadows that looked like impish wraiths. Clark groaned as some of the rays’ warmth hit him- warmth that on this world only dispelled heat, not strength.

He stirred slightly and found even the tiniest movement required immense effort, and instilled considerable pain. I was hurt, the memory came back, and with it he realized something near him was chirping. Something was nauseatingly pinching his nose too.

Clark dared to open his eyes and found he needed to squint a little. The chirping was a monitor he was hooked to, and the pinching sensation was some kind of oxygen cannulae under his nose. He coughed a little and found that hurt too- especially his chest.

“Clark?” At the sound of his hacking Dr Frasier appeared. She looked tired, but not as tired as the teen felt, “You lost some blood,” She explained while feeling his pulse, “you gave us quite a scare, in fact.”

Clark dared to move his head and look up. Something that seemed to be blood was dripping down an IV and into his arm. He blinked, I’m dreaming. I must still be unconscious. “Chest hurts…” He managed to croak.

Janet pulled up a nearby foldable chair and sat down. She smiled softly. “You had the unsociable desire to die on us last night, but Dr Bryce had other ideas. Any bruises you have are courtesy of Helen pounding on your chest. The blood…well that came from a different source.”

Clark raised a brow. I definitely must be dreaming, and if I am I should be able to get up! He pushed hard on his elbows and abruptly realized he was not asleep after all. The side where the bullet had entered seemed to suddenly burn like a white hot spear had been forced through it.

“Easy!” Frasier pushed him back down, “we just got the bleeding under control. No dancing for a few days, okay?” She puckered her brow, “your blood type isn’t exactly easy to get a hold of. So, no more trying to get up.”

“Thirsty…” Clark licked his lips and Frasier nodded.

“I’ll go get you some water.” The doctor rose from her seat and headed for the tarp opening. As she walked away Clark heard her speak under her breath, “We’ll all be thirsty pretty soon if we don’t find a fresh supply…”

“She is a good woman and a competent surgeon…”

Clark moved his head to see the face behind the voice. He didn’t know how he hadn’t spotted her before, but sitting placidly at the bottom of his cot was a young woman. Her eyes sparkled with life, and some all-knowing benevolence. “Who…are you?” He gulped after almost every word.

“My name is Maya, and my blood now flows through your veins.” She smiled, and to Clark she suddenly seemed very familiar. He had never seen his biological mother, Lara, but Maya spoke with the same underlying tenderness it was almost surreal. “You and your alien friends tried to assist my people. When we saw the others attack, and then the evil ones return, we knew you were not deceiving us.” She paused as if she bore great heartache, “I knew all along, but they would not listen to me…”

Clark winced but managed to hold his head from the pillow, “From what I’ve learned here my father had the same problem,” He coughed, “He knew Krypton was going to be destroyed, but no one listened until it was too late.”

Maya nodded, cupping her hands in her lap. “I am merely glad that my people saw their error in time that you may live and that we may share fuel with your friends. You are the one last true link to Krypton. Some of my ancestors became joined with Kryptonians- in your terms they became man and wife. I am a result of such a union. You are the only pure blood.

Clark let his head drop back down. Losing most of his blood volume had taken its toll, even with the transfusions. “That’s why you shared information on databases, but some of your access points had interfaces made from Kryptonite?” Clark thought back to his first visit and the green hand imprint login interface.

Maya smiled. “The government believed some security measures were required, but they didn’t plan on the Goa’uld…”

“Why didn’t they take me back through the gate?” This time the teen spoke as much to himself as Maya. The thought had just occurred to him, and now he was beginning to become stressed, as the monitor at his side quiet clearly showed.

“The Goa’uld have control of the Stargate once again,” Maya laid a hand on Clark’s forearm, “It would seem your friends’ leader tried to retake it, but he has not returned…”

“I think he’s had enough now…” Janet Frasier finally reappeared with a canteen of water. She nodded to Maya and smiled, letting the girl know she wasn’t being rude, but that Clark really did need rest. The girl vanished outside, her footsteps almost seeming to float over the ground.

“I never had chance to thank her for saving my life,” Clark peered at Frasier feeling a little guilty about his lack of manners, but took the cold water she offered gratefully.

“Slow sips,” The doctor watched he didn’t gulp the liquid, and then responded, “Maya knows, Clark. She’s the strangest person I know, and that includes Teal’c, but I think she is also one of the smartest. Don’t let her façade fool you. These people were once great intellectuals.”

Clark took small mouthfuls, letting the liquid moisten his lips before swallowing. He pulled back after a moment, knowing the beverage was in short supply. “What about Colonel O’Neill? Maya said…”

“He hasn’t returned yet, but if I know Jack he isn’t dead either. He has even more lives that you, Clark!” Janet patted the teen’s arm gently and then snuck a peek at his vitals, “Get some sleep, I’m sure Sam and Daniel will want to see you later, but I want you rested first.”

Clark gave the doctor his legendary smile and then let his head slump sideways. He wanted to know everything that was going on now, but his body was screaming for a peaceful abyss that he just couldn’t resist. Within two minutes he was fast asleep, and Janet Frasier was soothingly slipping an army issue blanket under his chin.

Clark smiled again in his slumber, as some part of his mind imagined it was Martha tucking him in for the night under the convivial Kansas sky.

Later…

Clark didn’t know how long he had slept, but he did know the only reason he had awakened was because he was being jostled. He opened an eye cautiously and found that he was being set down on his cot in an unfamiliar chamber by two soldiers.

Daniel Jackson was close by, and at noticing the teen was awake he jogged over. “I know it’s extremely clichéd to ask, but how are you feeling?” He smiled.

“Better that earlier,” Clark admitted, noticing he was thankfully no longer hooked to any monitors or oxygen. “Where are we?” he asked, glancing around the white walled chasm.

“Apparently, Major Carter expected company from the Goa’uld any time soon, and Maya graciously offered that we could take sanctuary with her people in the catacombs where they live and hide.” Jackson leaned on the pallid wall stone and glanced around their new surroundings. “It’s fascinating just to be down here. I could spend months cataloguing their history since the meteor shower hit…”

Clark smiled. The archeologist in Daniel was running rampant again. “What about Jack?”

“Um, there’s still no word on Colonel O’Neill, but from what we know he wasn’t among the bodies the Jaffa put on show as a warning near the gate. Neither was Teal’c.” Daniel looked almost guilty at his words. After all, several soldiers’ bodies from the SGC had been strewn up like wild game.

“What happens next?” Clark gulped a little, “I mean we have no water, and no way of escape, right?”

“That’s what we’re about to discuss…” Major Carter appeared from a group of locals and soldiers nearby. She looked weary, but then everyone did. “Are you up to joining in? This involves your future too.”

Clark nodded, and when a very stern looking Helen Bryce arrived he glanced at her apologetically. Helen slipped on her glasses however, and helped him into a sitting position without him having the need to ask.

“If I don’t help you, you’ll only defy me anyway.” She glanced over the top of the glasses then and smiled, “this way I at least get to make sure you don’t overdo it.” Helen took a seat at his bedside just to prove her point. Then, the room began to grow quiet as everyone else settled into some kind of order for the meeting.

From what Clark could tell, Maya and Sam where going to head the discussions together. Maya began first.

“As many of you know, the Goa’uld have persecuted our people for far too long. Once, our proud nation’s population was in the thousands- even after the meteor strikes. Now, because of their atrocities we number less than two hundred.” Maya paused, letting the insane truth sink in to all that were in the room. “If we do not find a cure for the toxin they have introduced to our water table, there will be nothing left of our once great people…”

A tall man in his early thirties stepped forward. He didn’t seem angry, but he obviously thought the meeting was futile. “We already know these facts, Maya, what would you have us do? These so called friends that you have brought here cannot even help themselves!”

Carter raised a hand before more of the locals could join in the disgruntled man’s argument. The officer didn’t know why, but after seeing countless anti-military protests she had singled the speaker out as a trouble maker already. “The doctors we brought through are still working on an antidote to try and help you. If we hadn’t lost access to the gate we could also have relocated your people on a less hostile world. We still can if we can work together to escape the Goa’uld.”

“You are stranded here, yet you have the audacity to offer us relocation!”

The crowd began to rally around the man, and Clark realized they had to do something to give the inhabitants and SGC soldiers alike some hope. He hunched forward and winced, making Helen almost growl at him. She held back when he didn’t try moving further.

“What if we could find a portable Stargate? Like the ones Amon Ra was using the Kryptonite to construct. There was at least one here before.” Clark suddenly felt all eyes on him. It was worse than when he had run for class president, “If we could find one it might not be so heavily guarded as the actual main gate…” He leaned back slightly, aware that Helen was most definitely about to pounce if he didn’t sit back and rest.

“How do we know where to even look? What does this ‘portable’ gate look like?” It was an older local this time. He seemed genuinely interested in helping.

Carter took the initiative with the technical query and gave everyone the best description she could. “Basically, it’s a smaller version of the original design that can be disassembled in around thirty minutes. However, the derivative the Goa’uld extract from the Kryptonite gives the portable wormhole an equal power to size ratio as a full blown Stargate. There are huge technical difficulties that they have managed to overcome, but we don’t need to go there…”

The man nodded as if he had already encountered what they required. “I believe I have seen such a device. I thought it was some kind of mock up, or experiment, but once Amon Ra left the thing was abandoned.”

The last remark got everyone attention again.

“Abandoned?” Carter inhaled; this could be the break they needed. “Can you lead us to it?” She stepped forward until she joined the local. “If you can, it could save not only my people, but your own too.”

Clark watched with bated breath, and it was then that he noticed something. As Carter spoke to the local about his discovery, the trouble maker from earlier had pushed forward and was listening intently on every word. His expression hadn’t changed. In fact, now he seemed to be getting angry, when all the odds said he should be feeling the total opposite.

Clark shook his head. There was no sense to the situation. He prodded Daniel lightly and pointed out the individual. “He’s acting kind of weird for someone who should be pretty happy right now…”

Jackson watched as the man tried to vanish back into the crowd unnoticed, and then scooted into a chamber that led to darkness. “Maybe it’s just our presence he doesn’t like, or the thought of leaving his home world.” He offered.

Clark frowned. There was something more, something bad, but of curse there was no way to know what. He turned his attention back to the meeting which was all but over. Carter addressed the chamber again. “I’ll take two men and check out the portable gate at first light. If it’s for real, and it’s still active, will you join us?” The question went out to Maya’s entire race.

There was a low murmur among the gathering. Some heads began to nod their approval; others began to voice valid concerns. The throng remained noisy for the next fifteen minutes, and then Maya cleared her throat and asked for their final decision.

She held out her hands. “My people, we must vote on the future of our nation…who shall leave with the soldiers of earth and the Kryptonian?”

Hands began to slowly move aloft, and Clark breathed a sigh of relief. It would be hard for these brave locals to abandon their dying planet, but it was better that they survived. Of course, this all depended on the portable gate working and it not being a rather nasty Goa’uld trap.

Clark suddenly felt drained again. He lay back down and as the masses began to dissipate his own worries began to resurface. He needed desperately to get home. Just because Sobek’s troops were still on PX4761, it didn’t mean Sobek/Zod was. What if I’m going home to an empty farm and a dead world? He could easily have already killed my parents and Kara. The teen envisaged his tiny sister. She was over one year old now, and quite a terror.

The Kents didn’t really know exactly what the ship had done to let Martha get pregnant, but they had soon discovered that it had bestowed Kryptonian gifts on their daughter. She had once bitten Lionel Luthor so hard his finger had become infected- or so Lex had told Clark. Lex had found the incident quite amusing, but would he have had he known just how strong Kara’s jaws were?

Clark began to think about home, the farm, Chloe, Lana and that annoying girl, Lois too. As he drifted off back to sleep alone in the corner of the cavern, all he could dream about were the people who might at that very moment be in danger, and I’m not there for them…not there…

Smallville
Kansas

Chloe Sullivan headed her little VW down Hickory Lane with a bizarre sense of trepidation. She’d driven out to the Kent farm so many times she could do it blind folded, but today was different. She let her foot unconsciously ease of the Beetle’s gas peddle as she neared the turn off for Clark’s home.

“Chlo, what are you doing?” Lois Lane sat in the passenger seat, obviously not feeling the same unease as her cousin, but then she was a newcomer to the crazy Kansas town. “Are you slowing on purpose?”

Chloe avoided the urge to hit the gas again and admit that she had. Instead, she kept the car to a reasonably slow pace. “There are quite a few ruts on the Kent driveway. It is a farm, you know?” It was a small white lie to cover her nervousness.

Lois wasn’t buying it. “Yeah, I had noticed that on my numerous past visits! What’s eating at you? I know you have the whole love angle with farmboy, but…”

Chloe’s knuckles whitened as she gripped the wheel harder at the words love and farmboy in the same sentence. “Lois…” The pair bickered awhile longer until they’d both run out of acerbic, snark filled comments, then the car interior fell silent.

“So,” Lois finally gave in, “What do you think we’ll find out here? Maybe Clark and Lana got it together and eloped…” The deliberate jibe earned the general’s daughter a mock punch from her cousin.

“Be serious, something is going on, and we the daring Torch duo are going to find out what,” Chloe looked across and noted Lois had at last become a little less flippant. “I’ll tell you what was weird this morning…I noticed Bill Ross in town buying toddler stuff.”

Lois smirked. She hadn’t ever met Pete Ross, but Chloe had filled her in on all the skeletons in the creepy little town’s closet pretty well. She knew almost everything, about almost everybody. “Maybe he’s got a new woman in his life with a little excess baggage, if you know what I mean.”

“Or,” Chloe pointed out, “He’s looking after Kara…” She was going to say more, but instead she swiftly was forced to hit the brakes as a heifer decided to walk out in front of her. “What the…”

As the two girls glanced around more of the Kent herd could be seen ambling across the driveway, and one was munching happily on Martha’s prize blooms in what little was left of the flower garden. Two of the main fences were down, and from the way the wood had been smashed through it had been no accident.

An upper story window pane smashed in the farmhouse and something was tossed out to the ground below. Someone was inside, and it looked like they were searching.

“Whoa!” Chloe was torn between hitting reverse and pulling out her digital camera. In the end she chose reverse, but not before Lois had a chance to hop out onto the gravel lane. “What are you doing?”

Lois bounced on the balls of her feet ready for action, “My dad knows what’s going on here, and I’m not being left in the dark like I was after you ‘died’.” Without further argument she trotted towards the welcoming, yellow farmhouse with her fists poised for action.

Chloe grimaced and reluctantly slammed the VW into park. Something in the back of her mind suggested leaving the engine running, and she did, despite it being pretty risky with the modern day GTA figures.

Another crash erupted from the Kent house, this time from downstairs, and as Chloe ran to catch up with Lois she thought she heard the TV news channel blurting out above all the commotion. It was the weirdest situation she’d ever been in- and it was about to get far weirder, not to mention dangerous.

Lois barged through the screen door way ahead of her cousin and almost gaped as three muscular men rummaged through the Kents belongings as if they were at a garage sale. The center figure was attired totally in black, and as he whirled at the sound of her entrance Lois stopped in her tracks.

The man had the most evil eyes she had ever seen, and as he scowled at her they glowed an almost iridescent orange.

“Eww gross contacts…” Lois pulled a face, and when the first stranger attempted to grab her, she lashed out with her boot heel, catching the side of his kneecap.

The man should have fallen at the perfectly aimed kick, but he did not. It was then Lois noted the strange tattoo he seemed to have almost burned into his skull. She kicked again, this time at his stomach, but he was faster even though his size made him appear clumsy.

The stranger dodged her move, and his black clad superior laughed, not at his minion, but at Lois’ attempts at fighting. “You would dare to challenge the First Prime of Sobek?”

Lois scowled again and kept a spring in her feet, just in case. “Yeah, well I don’t know if I should be impressed, but I never heard of the dude.” She shrugged mockingly just enough to earn herself a painful lesson in manners.

Sobek smirked and held out his hand. In his palm something began to shimmer the same orange hue as his eyes. In a second, the circular glow grew outward in a bolt of energy that hit Lois square in the chest and knocked her back into the Kent farmhouse wall. Several family photos crashed to the carpet as she slumped down with them at the base of the stairs.

The System Lord nodded approvingly. “Next time you will remember the name of your master, or die at my hand.” He ignored Lois’ low moans and began to search again. Tossing out everything in his desire to find his goal- Clark Kent.

Chloe careered in next, almost falling over her cousin who still hadn’t stirred. The reporter gulped and was about to stoop to check on Lois when a huge outstretched hand grabbed her by the neck and squeezed.

Chloe’s eyes almost popped out in shock and surprise, and she clutched desperately at her throat trying to draw in air. Sobek pressed just a little harder and using his immense strength lifted the tiny blonde off her feet until they were face to face. “Where is the Kent boy?” The accent was deep and somehow seemed to have intertwined tones, as if two distinct voices had been blended together.

Chloe shook her head even though it felt like she was being hanged. Sobek pinched her larynx even harder. “I know you watch him, Chloe Sullivan. I know all about you and this worthless planet he has chosen to call home.”

Chloe struggled and her legs flailed helplessly in midair, but there was nothing she could tell this stranger who appeared to be a manifestation of the devil. She would never put Clark’s life in danger anyway, but she just didn’t know where he was.

The air began to drain from her lungs and the world began to darken. All she could discern was the earsplitting sound of the TV on way too loud. Why would a thief or whoever this guy is have the television on? The newsreader was talking about upcoming events in the area, and at the mention of one person in particular Sobek released his grip slightly.

Suddenly, the local news was much more important than throttling Chloe Sullivan. Sobek threw her to the floor like a piece of discarded trash and turned up the volume even louder.

‘The Vice President, Richard Cheney, will be paying the state a whirlwind visit this afternoon after he announced a short stop off at the Kansas State Economic Conference in Topeka. It’s expected Mr. Cheney may also visit surrounding rural areas due to the recent monetary difficulties experienced by many local businesses….’

Sobek inhaled with a sinister and malevolent grin, ignoring the gaping stare of the girl reporter he had thrown aside. He laughed and then tossed the TV remote at the screen so hard it smashed into a myriad of pieces. Then, he turned to both earthly clad Jaffa at his side.

“Clark Kent can wait another day. This will not…” His eyes blazed again for a second and then he turned for the door, treading on Lois as he exited without even giving her a glance.

Lois groaned and finally stirred at his weight trampling her calf. Chloe tried to scramble up to help her cousin, but then paused. Sobek had stopped in the middle of the Kent yard and seemed to almost crouching.

Chloe’s brow shot up as she realized what she was witnessing. The stranger wasn’t crouching- he was taking off! In a haze of pure energy, Sobek shot skyward, leaving his two flightless subordinates behind. The reporter did a double take and then continued trying to clamber to her feet. No way is that thug going to leave me and Lo behind as witnesses to that!

It was pretty easy to see from the two goons’ expressions what their next job would be. They would need to silence the girls to appease their God. The nearest to Chloe flexed his hands in anticipation, and as a kind of knee-jerk reaction Chloe dived for the door and began tugging at her cousin’s arm.

“Hey, that jerk squished my ankle, stop yanking on my arm will you?” Lois was still dazed from her impact with the wall and didn’t seem to understand what was about to happen next. She was rubbing her foot and ankle in a state of confusion.

Chloe informed her in no uncertain and very frantic terms. “Lois! You’ll have a squished head, never mind your ankle if you don’t move your butt! NOW!”

Lois took the offer of help up without further question. She grabbed her cousin’s hand, and as she hopped up she heard the sound of an engine outside. “At last, the farmboy might be home!”

The two huge Jaffa looked at one another at her comment and then pulled out their strange looking hand weapons- something they called a zat'ni'katel. As they flicked a button, the top part of the firearm popped up like a snake’s head. Chloe took the move as a very good reason to make a dive out the screen door, dragging Lois with her with one quick jerk.

“It’s not Clark! It’s Lex!” Chloe spotted the silver Porsche first and continued dragging Lois towards it. As they neared, one of the Jaffa grew tired of messing around and clicked back on his trigger.

A bizarre blue flash of electrical charge shot across the Kent yard and narrowly missed Lois’ feet. She turned and shot the Jaffa a rather crude hand gesture she had given many a soldier at her dad’s barracks, and then almost tripped right into Lex’s arms.

The bald entrepreneur steadied her, and then pulled her down as another shot tore at them and skimmed the roof of his car. “Just what in heaven is going on here?” He shouted above the sound of two more blasts while roughly forcing both girls inside the back of his vehicle through the passenger door.

“I think Lois rubbed them up the wrong way…she has that effect.” Chloe rolled her eyes as Lois attempted to jump behind the wheel of the flash car. The reporter was shocked when Lex not only didn’t try to stop her, but threw her the ignition keys while he pulled out a small automatic from a hidden holster.

Lex cocked the weapon and ducked from behind the cover of the Porsche to let off half a clip at the nearest Jaffa. The Goa’uld servant hadn’t expected the man to be armed, and hadn’t anticipated the shot.

The bullet hit him square in the chest and he looked down, astonished as blood dribbled through his shirt to the yard. He stumbled but didn’t fall. A Jaffa was harder to kill than any human being due to the larval Goa’uld they carried within.

Lex gaped but didn’t waste time staring. He jumped in the spare front seat and slammed his door shut. “Hit the gas!”

Lois obeyed, enjoying the extra power this German made vehicle had over her common Ford. As she yanked the steering over another blast tore across the enclosure, this time hitting its mark and sending the car spinning in the gravel. Lois just managed to regain control before she crashed into one of the few remaining fence sections, and then floored the accelerator past where they had left Chloe’s VW.

Lex wiped perspiration from his face, but kept a firm grip on his weapon until they were well clear of the farm. “I had heard you girls knew how to throw a party, but…” He panted.

Chloe checked out of the rear window and then pulled herself forward using the back of Lex’s seat. “Yeah, well since when did you go around packing a gun?”

Lex smirked slyly. “Since my wife tried to turn me into Robinson Crusoe and my father decided it was fun to take over teenage boys bodies and attack me…” He didn’t elaborate, which clearly irked Chloe and made Lois take her eyes of the road to scowl at him.

“So, does anyone have a clue what just happened, and who those guys in black from the Matrix were?” Chloe was obviously frustrated, but she was skeptical about mentioning the whole ‘flying’ deal in case someone suggested she’d reported on one too many Wall of Weird cases.

As it happened she needn’t have worried. Lex instinctively checked the side mirror in unison with Lois and then finally relaxed a little. “I was over at the Talon grabbing a latte when I overheard a customer saying they’d seen half the Kent herd roaming free on the road. Let’s just say my interest and concern were piqued.” He checked behind again, still not believing his eyes. “When I arrived at the farm I saw a man in black outside and he…well let’s just say he left in a hurry…”

Chloe grinned with relief. “Yeah, skyward!”

“You saw him too?” Lex turned to look at the blonde, “After Belle Reve I have to be careful what I say in public, and to the press. I’m sure you understand, Miss Sullivan.”

Chloe nodded, suddenly painfully aware of the implications of what had just transpired. She gulped. “Lex, I don’t know who or what those freaks were, but the Kents weren’t home and I think they’re in danger, Clark especially. The head thug almost squished my throat to find out where Clark is.” She rubbed at the already blackening bruises around her neck.

“We need to get the authorities involved. This could be considered a kidnapping.”

“Or an alien invasion,” Lois scoffed, and then hit both feet down on the brake pedal as hard as she could as she topped the brow of a hill.

The other side a roadblock had been set up that not only covered the highway, but half the surrounding land too- just in case. She exhaled as the Porsche’s hood shuddered to a halt not two inches away from an army Hummer that had been strategically placed with four others.

“Dad!” Lois had never been so happy to see the cigar chewing General. He was standing, arms folded in the center of the road, frowning at her. She hopped out and raced up to him, ignoring the other two uniformed men at his side.

Teal’c watched in bemusement as Lois began speaking to her father far too fast to understand. He glanced sideways at O’Neill who shrugged his shoulders. “Today’s kids,” he said sarcastically.

“Lo, calm down and start again,” Sam Lane growled in his bass voice, “have you been to the Kent farm?” he knew she would have defied his earlier order to ‘leave it alone’.

Before Lois could answer, Chloe put her spoke in, speaking at almost super speed, “Boy, have we! Talk about Weirdsville! Thank God you’re here. I think Clark is in big trouble. You have to help him!”

O’Neill and Lane both shared a knowing and pained look. Jack nodded, giving the army officer confirmation to tell the girls and Lex the bad news.

Teal’c stared down respectfully at the road surface in honor of the boy’s name they would now speak.

Sam Lane took Lois by the shoulders and then looked to Chloe. He knew Lex by reputation, and didn’t expect the news to trouble him quite so much.

“Chloe, Lo, there’s no easy way to tell you this, but your friend Clark is dead…”

PX4761

Clark rolled gently over and tucked a hand under his head, even though he still slept soundly. He dreamed fitful dreams of Kansas, and of an earth ravaged by the evil tyrant, Sobek.

In his nightmares there was no one to protect the innocent. He tossed over onto his back, and groaned subconsciously as the sudden movement tore at the stitches in his side. The pain jogged him from the depths of his slumber, and his ears caught a faint noise.

It sounded like muffled footsteps on the bare stone flooring of the cavern. Clark murmured, and when the sound came again he began to stir. It was strange really, but even in the depths of the locals’ hospitality, Clark sensed some hidden danger, and instead of opening his eyes he let his ears do more work first.

The teen’s super auditory skills had vanished along with his invulnerability, but that didn’t stop him listening to the footfalls in the otherwise silent chamber.

The pattering of feet came again, and this time it was too close to ignore. Whoever was nosing around was almost hovering over Clark. “We will not leave our world…I have made sure of that…”

The words were spoken with such vehemence that Clark instantly opened his eyes and held up a forearm intuitively. It was a wise move.

The local who had almost caused a ruckus at the meeting earlier, was standing near the edge of Clark’s bed with a large blade in his hands. From the way both palms were clasped around it in a downward plunging pose, it didn’t take much imagination to guess his next action.

“No!” Clark yelled out as he just managed to repel the man’s thrust with his protective move.

The weapon narrowly missed slicing his arm and slammed harshly into his pillow inches from his face. Clark pulled his body up despite still feeling fatigued, and rolled clear as the attacker pulled back his knife and jabbed again.

“We tried to help your people…” Clark struggled to stay upright as the man prowled around him, weapon in hand. It was then he noticed just what he was dealing with.

The local twisted the blade in the shadows, and its distinct and frightening shape became all too clear. The knife seemed to have two blades, one intersecting the other until it almost made a star shape if you looked at it head on.

Clark gulped. I thought there had only been one. Is this where the mystical weapons originated from? Of course, right now any kind of dagger was just as deadly to the teen as the next, but seeing the thing again only brought back harsh memories. One lucky break was that it didn’t appear to give its owner any new strength. Maybe that only happens on earth, like my gifts.

The man saw his amazed expression and mistook it for fear of his skill. “I will finish you now, boy…” he lunged forward, misjudging the extent of Clark’s immobility.

Clark leapt back and almost tried to use his heat vision. He caught himself at the last moment and instead grabbed a pack of medical provisions and brought it down hard on the man’s extended arm. The Starblade clattered to the floor, glinting malevolently. He followed the move by throwing his full weight at his assailant, forcing him hard into the nearest craggy rock-face.

The aggressor took most of the impact as the back of his skull smashed heavily against the unusual white stone. He began to collapse to the floor and Clark fell with him, exhausted.

“Clark!” Daniel Jackson raced from the adjoining chamber’s entrance as the noise from the scuffle finally alerted someone there was a problem. “Are you alright? I’ll go get Helen or Janet…”

“I’m alright,” He said breathlessly, and then after realizing his earlier deception he added, “Really, I’m alright this time, but I think we may have a problem with using the other Stargate.” He pointed to the man who was now becoming cognizant again. “He said something about making sure we didn’t leave this world right before he attacked me.”

Sam and two armed soldiers appeared. “What’s going on here?” The Major looked gravely to both her friends and then to the native.

“I um, think we have a spy in camp,” Daniel pushed at his glasses in his customary nervous habit, “The question is has he been informing the Goa’uld of our escape plan?”

Carter bit her lip and the local leered at her. “My people belong here, and now they will remain here. You, well you will die here.” He laughed almost hysterically, “I came to kill the Kryptonian, but I have already reported your plan to use the gate to a Jaffa of Sobek. He is probably informing his master right now so that they may spring a trap.”

Clark shook his head at the man’s stupidity. His people had been hunted till near extinction by the Goa’uld, and he still trusted them before the ones who had really tried to help. “Maybe if we leave now we’d still beat them to the Stargate?” He asked hopefully.

Daniel looked to Carter. She was the one with the awful command decision to make. If they tried and Sobek’s troops were already waiting it would be a bloodbath. If they didn’t leave now then the chances were Maya’s people and everyone from earth would die here.

Sam breathed in hard and then turned to the sergeant at her side. “Inform Maya we have to move now. I want the sick given priority, but not at the expense of security. Set up what men and resources we have with your discretion, Deland.”

The battle-hardened soldier nodded and jogged off to begin hastening the huge undertaking. Moving over two hundred people- some sick from the toxin, in such short a time was almost impossible, but Deland would follow orders till his last breath.

Daniel watched Deland scurry away and then grimaced as his eye caught the traitor in their midst. “Um, Sam, what do we do with him?” He raised a brow.

Carter decided the man should see his own handy work. She gestured to the other soldier still at her side. “Take him with us and let him see the carnage he’ll probably have caused.” She paused, thinking about the supplies that had been piled in the chamber near to Clark’s cot.

They couldn’t afford to take them on the trip, there was no time. “Daniel, forget everything in here. Can you help carry Clark?”

The archeologist nodded, but Clark had other ideas. “I don’t need carrying. I’ll slow you down. I think I can manage if Dr. Jackson gives me a hand.” He stood up, straining hard not to show weakness in front of the Major.

Carter wasn’t convinced, but when Daniel put the teen’s arm over his shoulder, taking some of his weight, she appeared at least half satisfied. “Alright, but when we get to the outer catacombs, if Helen or Janet says you need carrying you get carried, okay?”

Clark tested a foot on the floor and felt reasonably confident he could cope. The pain in his side wasn’t getting any easier, but if they made it through the gate he would soon heal, and if they didn’t it wouldn’t matter anyway. My dreams will have come true, and Sobek/Zod will have won. “Okay,” He agreed feeling pretty much a burden.

Daniel noted his attitude. “Hey, last time we were here I was the dead weight, but you helped me. Just look upon it as a favor returned.” He smiled and then tugged lightly on the teen’s arm, signaling they should get moving.

The archeologist glanced down as Clark almost stumbled after one step, and was surprised at the cause. In their haste to depart they had nearly walked right over the Starblade where it had come to rest.

Daniel eyes widened instantly. The weapon beckoned him to pick it up and take it with him. It was like nothing he had ever seen before.

“Be careful,” Clark warned, “I’ve seen one of those before on earth. They sometimes bestow some kind of intoxicating powers on the person touching them.” He watched as Jackson warily picked up the blade in a surgical dressing from the nearby supplies and tucked it into his pack.

“I’ll have plenty of time to study it once we get back to earth. Perhaps Maya will be able to help us uncover its origins.” The scientist retook Clark’s arm and urge they move again.

Clark didn’t argue. They would need to be fast to outrun the Goa’uld, and right now he wasn’t feeling very speedy. If they did survive though, it would be interesting to learn more about the ancient Starblade that has once almost killed him.

* * * *

Carter looked back at the vast entourage of people that were following her lead. It was almost scary. If a Goa’uld glider should fly over now they would all be done for. And let’s face it the odds are pretty good Sobek will have sent out reconnaissance by now. The Major tried not to think about how they would all die. Better that than becoming hosts...

“Major, the portable gate is just up ahead over that ridge.” It was Deland, “As far as I can tell there are no enemy troops in the vicinity, but it could still be a trap…”

Carter nodded and took a fleeting glance at Maya who stood silently at her side, “I guess it’s now or never, Sergeant. Start taking the people in groups to the gate. Keep four men back as lookouts.”

The soldier threw a swift and unnecessary salute, and then jogged over to his unit. It was time for the action to begin and he knew it. Deland had been in so many battle situations he could practically smell danger in the air like some static charge waiting to disperse. Pretty soon the Goa’uld would come, and he and a few men were all that stood between them and the locals. He began barking out commands. If nothing else, they would be ready for the fight.

Sam watched as Deland began the evacuation to the gate. He was ushering people into clusters depending on their age and health with the help of the SGC’s two doctors. Sam nodded her approval but didn’t join them. She would be one of the last through to make sure no one was left behind.

The sick were being taken ahead first, and as she spotted Clark with Daniel she motioned that he should join the group with Helen and Janet at the front of the procession. “Time to get you home where you belong.”

Clark watched the frail and infirm being aided across the open ground and shook his head. “This planet’s people deserve to go first,” he shot her the Kent grin, “Besides, I need to catch my breath. Doctor’s orders…”

Sam couldn’t help a small smile. The kid was so naive sometimes, and others he was simply incorrigible with that grin of his. It was impossible not to like him. “Fine, but you go through with the next group, Major Carter’s orders!”

Maya observed the interaction, finding earthly ways most bemusing. She liked these newcomers, and she found Clark or Kal-El as she preferred to know him, to be most intriguing. He was not like other Kryptonian’s- at least not like the ones she had learned about in the history archives. “You should go soon as Samantha asks. I would not wish my blood to have been wasted.” She gave them both the demurest of smiles and then let her gaze fall elsewhere as a sudden whooshing noise signaled the opening of the Stargate.

Deland was on the ball with his team, and had around thirty of the sickest natives ready to jump, or be carried through the gate. As the epicenter calmed, the sergeant gave the order to send SG1’s signal to open the iris the other side.

Clark’s eyes narrowed. Over the top of the gate noise he could hear something else- something skyward. He looked up as in the distance a vague shape began to form into some kind of arch-winged aircraft. He’d never seen one before, at least not that he remembered, but he’d heard enough to know what it was.

“We have company!” He pushed away from the tree stump that had held his weight while he rested, and began frantically pointing to the heavens. The thing was almost close enough for them to see the Jaffa pilot now- and the grin that played across his features.

Daniel grimaced as the Goa’uld craft grew closer. Within seconds they would all be in range of its deadly weaponry.

Carter pushed Maya down and then let of a whole clip at the evil airborne menace, but her tiny bullets did little to impact on its armored fuselage. It turned, readying to make its first attack run.

“Get those people through now!” Sam gestured with her weapon that the group idea should now be forgotten, and everyone who could make a run for it should do so. She then rammed another clip home and fired again, even though it was a totally futile move. At least her bullets might draw the enemy’s attention.

Maya watched in horror as her people began to panic and crowd the gate steps, but better to be trampled than to be burned to a cinder by the Goa’uld weaponry. She ran forward, desperate to help those who were falling as the SG troops tried their best to defend the masses.

Soldiers and locals alike were being slaughtered as they raced across the open, and as Clark attempted to make a run for it too he realized the word massacre wasn’t too much in this situation. And this is nothing to what Sobek will do on earth if he isn’t stopped! The idea of his parents or Kara being subjected to such cruelty spurred him on, and despite his earlier injuries the teen managed to dodge several explosions and heat blasts as he traversed the grassland.

The glider turned again to make another pass, and this time it had company. Its pilot had obviously called for more back up, and he now had two wingmen. Each aircraft targeted a specific area for maximum effect, and as Clark began to slow from cramp in his injured side the nearest glider took a shot in his direction.

Luckily for Clark, his lack of speed worked to his advantage, and the blast narrowly spiraled over his head and impacted just forward of his position. Grass and earth erupted as the energy ripped the ground apart.

Clark let his body go with the momentum and as the dust cleared found he’d been thrown onto his back. He rolled over and groaned, but there was no time to feel sorry for himself. The teen scrambled up and found it was getting harder to run. He jumped with difficulty over a pothole and then almost doubled up with nausea from what he saw the other side.

The blast from the glider may have missed him, but someone had not been so fortunate. A severed and bloodied arm lay on the ground with various other body parts scattered about the crater area.

Clark coughed back his own sick feeling and was about to continue towards the gate when he heard crying. It wasn’t a baby, but the kid was definitely young. He scoured the blast area as more people pushed past him in terror and despair, and eventually he spotted the youngster.

It was a little boy with dark raven hair, and he was wriggling to free his legs from beneath a bloodied pulp that once may have been his mother. The sight reminded the teen of photos Martha had about the farm of him at that age. So innocent- so thrown into a world he didn’t really belong. It looks like me the day mom found me in that crater!

Clark pushed his way through the throng of runners and carefully pulled the boy out from under the body. Pain seared through his side as he hoisted the kid up with one arm, but he didn’t falter.

The little boy looked up into his savior’s eyes as tears welled from his own. He didn’t understand what was happening, how could he?

“It’s alright, Buddy. We’ll soon get you somewhere safe and warm.” Clark tried to sound reassuring as he ducked another weapons discharge and finally headed towards Sergeant Deland at the gate entrance.

The kid either didn’t understand his English, or was too afraid to respond. All he wanted to do was hide away in the dark somewhere, and seeing as that wasn’t possible, he dug his face as far as he could into Clark’s shirt and sobbed.

Clark felt every wretch the youngster made against his chest, and it broke his heart in a million pieces. Is this how mom and dad felt when they held me? Was I so lost and despondent?

“Come on, Son, we have to get everyone through and fast,” It was Deland, beckoning him up the gate steps, “A Jaffa patrol is on its way through that gorge. Once they get here anyone left is dead meat for sure!” The soldier was yelling over the battle sounds that enveloped them.

Clark looked up as he started to struggle up the stone pathway, but he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Deland suddenly being dragged backwards. His first thought was that the Jaffa had somehow got here already, but then he realized the problem was much closer to home.

In the madness that had ensued from their rush to escape, the traitor who had caused the whole mess had somehow broken from his guard. He now held a knife to Deland’s throat as he pulled back on the sergeant’s head.

“Shut the Stargate down, now!” He pressed the stolen airforce issue blade into his prisoner’s flesh slightly, “My people are not leaving their home world!”

Clark pried the youngster from his arms and set him down behind the D.H.D. It wasn’t exactly safe, but under the circumstances it was better than nothing. The boy squealed in anguish and held out his arms to be picked back up, but Clark had someone else to deal with first.

Locals still ran to the gate’s swirling center and dived in with total disregard for what might happen next. They either had no clue what was happening with Deland and his captor, or chose to ignore it in favor of freedom. Clark however, did care. He knew there would be no talking to the native. Deland would die and the gate would end up closed if he didn’t act. He could see Sam, Daniel and a few straggling soldiers crossing the grassland, but would they be in time? He doubted it.

Clark held up a shaking hand, “I don’t know how to deactivate it…I’m not a soldier.” He stalled while shuffling closer.

The native backed up, his eyes darting from the still shimmering portal to the SG team members rapidly approaching. “You’re playing for time!”

Clark saw the man’s hand clench the hilt of the blade that little bit tighter and knew he was about to use it. Powers or not he had to move. He whirled around, suggesting he was looking for Sam’s impending arrival, and then spun back without warning, diving at his foe.

All three men crumpled to the ground in a heap of flailing limbs. Clark put his priority on the knife, and grabbed the aggressor’s wrist trying to pry the blade free. The man spat in his eyes, and Clark was only saved another puncture wound by Deland putting his boot full force in the man’s groin. The native howled but still refused to give up his weapon, or the fight. He lunged again and received another kick from the Sergeant for his trouble.

Two seconds later a shot rang out and the native abruptly stopped his struggling. Clark looked up to see Sam Carter standing at the gate rifle in hand. “Why are you so determined to get yourself killed?” She looked around as Daniel made the jump. They were now the only three left, and the Jaffa were dangerously close. “Move it you two!”

Deland gave Clark a hand up and noticed how pale he was looking. “Thanks, Kid. He’d have stuck me with that thing if you hadn’t distracted him.” He winked and urged Clark up the steps to join Sam at the threshold to the wormhole.

Clark paused at the base of the gate however, and headed back to the D.H.D. He had hoped someone would have taken the kid through, but instead he found the boy cowering behind the device like a frightened rabbit. The youngster’s face seemed to brighten a little at the teen’s reappearance.

“Clark! Move!” Deland had made the jump and Carter was now realizing her last charge was missing. When she turned she understood why he had not followed. The Major kept her back to the swirling miasma, waiting for Clark and his extra baggage to arrive.

Clark struggled up the last few steps and almost fell on his knees with exhaustion as he neared the Stargate. “Go, I’m here,” He gasped raggedly, “We’re here.” He corrected and smiled at the kid in his arms.

Sam finally exhaled with relief and pushed backwards, letting her body slip into the fluid-like void. Her last vision should have been of Clark and the kid following suit, but it was not. As her body was transported millions of miles across the galaxy, all that Sam Carter could think of was the Goa’uld glider she’d seen behind Clark, hurtling towards the gate in a death dive…