A Hidden Threat

Chapter 8

Carter and O'Neill were in the observation room. By this time Amiri was laying comfortably in the infirmary. The sedative had taken and she had relaxed and fallen asleep.

"Sir, I know what you are going to say...please see I just need more time...I" Carter stated fumbling over her words finding the right ones to convince O'Neill not to ambush Amiri with questions once she woke up.

"Carter..." O'Neill interrupted her babbling...."it's ok..."

"Sir?" Carter stated his name with a confused look on her face. She remembered his face when he summoned her to the observation room but wasn't sure that was just her with high expectations.

"Listen Carter, Amiri might have the answer after all" O'Neill stated as the wheels in his head began to turn.

"Sir....?" , again Carter questioning his statement.

"Look, I'm not too keen on keeping this girl here. She has a connection with you that....well.....hell Carter, I just don't like. And neither does Hammond. But if she is asking to return to her planet, then she might have just solved this whole dilemma for us." O'Neill stated thinking he had found the answer to the question of all time. He had a smirk on his face as if he had licked quantum theory.

"Sir....we can't do that?" Carter couldn't believe he was even fathoming the idea.

"Why the hell not Carter? She asked to be returned to her planet?" O'Neill at this point was starting to get agitated.

"Sir, you, yourself know that if we return her to her planet, Tenan will kill her. You were there in the Gate Room, you heard him with your own ears." Carter was becoming desperate. She knew that the return of Amiri would only mean sudden death. The worry that Amiri had signed her own death sentence was filling Sam's face with emotion, emotion that she could not hide from her CO.

"Then tell me Carter, what do we do?...tell me....? This girl has been through hell, I'm not denying that, but how long will it take for her memory to return. In the meantime, how do I know that whatever connection you two have, won't jeopardize SG1 on a mission?" O'Neill was angry now. Not at Carter, not even really at Amiri. He was angry because he couldn't figure out what to do. When it came to his 2IC it became personal. And the fact that he could not control this was making him mad.

"Sir, please" Carter tried to reason with him. By this time O'Neill was doing his usual. Pacing, and running his fingers through his hair back and forth as if that would help him find this answer to this dilemma.

"Sir,....what if Amiri could tell us the location of Catek" Carter hoped her statement would grab his ear.

He stopped. He lifted his eyebrow, a task he mimicked so well from his friend Teal'c.

"Go on Major" He stated. Knowing Carter had an idea. When didn't she?

"If we find Catek, maybe he can tell us something more about Amiri..." Carter stated. She slowly fed him the idea, so as to calm him with every word she spoke.

"Better yet Carter, what if we find this Catek, and leave Amiri with him?" O'Neill stated. Remembering Carters dream. "You said so yourself they would hide in a cave, so that Catek could teach her?" Carter's eyebrows winced. She couldn't believe he was paying attention, when she told him about the dream.

"Catek can hide Amiri there, away from Tenan. She can continue to learn and who knows maybe her people will come to accept women as equals someday" O'Neill stated. He knew she wouldn't be happy with the idea, but he wanted Amiri as far away from Carter as possible. And this idea could do the trick.

"What is it with you wanting her off this planet?.....Sir" She stated. Now she was getting upset. This girl was helpless. Has been helpless her whole life with no one to stand up for her. She couldn't let Amiri down. Even though Amiri wanted to return, Carter knew that she would be returning to her death.

"How do you know returning her to her planet, will sever this...this connection, for lack of a better word. We may still be connected Sir? Then what? Do we return to the planet to retrieve Amiri again? How do we explain that to Tenan, should we get caught by the Jibaritan people. How do we retrieve someone who supposedly never returned? Carter tried to have him see the other side of his solution.

"Look Carter, " O'Neill stated, as he placed his hands on her shoulders. He knew that she meant no disrespect. He knew that Carters heart was huge. And after that dream, he also knew that a part of Carter experienced some of what Amiri did. And Jolinar was enough to send Sam over the edge. And he wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

"Let's just go talk to Hammond. If he agrees that we can return to the planet, we'll go and find Catek. The Stargate was miles away from the village. We've been there before, so we'll just go and do our own little survey. If Amiri can direct us to where Catek is hiding, and we find him, we'll talk, and see what he has to say. We'll take it from there" O'Neill knew that he had to present her with some hope even if his final decision could be to return Amiri.

"Thank you Sir" Carter said, with tears that already were swelling in her eyes. She backed away from him, and left the observation room before her emotions got the best of her.

As she walked away she glanced down at Amiri. This young girl, away from her planet, her loved ones and all she had known. Used as a sex toy her whole life, and yet had the capacity to absorb information faster than any human could. The advantages she would have by staying on earth were endless and Carter knew this. She only wished she had time to show Amiri. She knew she was getting attached. Although it was not protocol, she couldn't help it. This, electric surge, shock, whatever you wanted to call it, somehow had Amiri and her connected, and why, was something that Carter was going to find out. But at what cost?