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�And� Doctor Jackson got addicted to the sarcophagus?� John guessed, his voice gentle.
�We were on a planet� and we were captured and put to work in Naqueda mines. The king�s daughter decided that Daniel was her destiny and she saved his life with the sarcophagus. But then� she asked him to use it again, when he was healthy, and he did because he thought it was the only way to get her to trust him so he could get the rest of us out of the mine,� Sam said. She shifted her weight, clearly uncomfortable with the subject, but she didn�t stop. That was something John had always admired about her. She never gave up, even when things got really tough. �We didn�t have a clear understanding of Goa�uld technology back then� but it turns out that when you use the sarcophagus when you�re healthy it just makes you stronger. We didn�t realize the other thing, that Daniel was losing his soul, until later. It� it got real bad for a while. But what was harder was watching him deal with the withdrawal, knowing that there was nothing we cold do to stop the pain he was in, knowing that he had to go through the torture before he could be himself again.�
After a minute Sam shook her head, shaking away the memories of that dark time in her past. She gave his fingers a squeeze before untangling their fingers and pulling her hand away from his. �I just want you to be aware of how hard this is going to be, John. Both for you and for him. And that�s if you even find him, which is a big if considering the number of planets with a Stargate he could go to,� Sam said.
John nodded. �I know,� he said, looking down at his coffee. �But he�s just a kid. He joined the expedition before he even left the Academy.�
Sam nodded. �We started recruiting directly from the Academy pretty early into the program. It�s easier to train for non-terrestrial thought processes before you�ve locked yourself in to the terrestrial. Plus, if you just keep bringing in senior officers with field and command experience��
�No new blood to keep the legacy going,� John nodded. �Still� he�s just a kid. When we sent those files and letters a few weeks ago all he wanted to do was tell his grandmother how much he missed her.� He sighed heavily. �And� now I�m waiting to finish all this debriefing crap so I can leave the mountain and tell his grandmother that her grandson, who she raised since he was a little kid, is missing in action.� John looked at Sam, his hazel eyes telling Sam just how much it hurt him to know that he had to break a grandmother�s heart. �I�ve never had to deal with this part of being a leader before.�
�It never gets any easier,� Sam said. �Which is good,� she continued. �It shouldn�t be easy.�
�No, it shouldn�t,� John agreed.
For the next three days the four Lantians were debriefed until the SGC knew every detail about every mission, discovery, screw-up, enemy, ally, death, and incidental action from the Atlantis expedition starting with the instant they stepped through the Stargate right up to the morning that they left to return through the Stargate to Earth. Finally they were finished, though, and the subject of new recruitments had taken over the attention of the four Lantians, the two Generals, and the department heads from within the SGC.
�Okay here�s the deal. There is an expected level of cannibalism from SGC personnel. You�ll need people with experience and our standing orders have become a lot easier to deal with lately,� Landry said. �That said, please remember that the threat in the Pegasus Galaxy is not the only concern we have to deal with, and so I�m asking you to make sure that your people keep that in mind when they start taking away my people.�
�Understood,� Elizabeth nodded, though she didn�t appreciate the implication that the situation was her people versus his people.