redux

A glider swept out of the bright blue sky, skimmed the earth and shot upwards, performing a perfect somersault. As it returned, it made a point of firing at the wreckage of an already crumbling building, turning it into a pile of dust.

Rhea watched as a cloud of dust spat into the sky and the glider headed off to terrorize other ruins. Warily she emerged from behind the carcass of a twisted, rusted, overturned bus and stared at the pitiful remains of her town. This was the planet all over. Dead and crumbling. Earth, once a thriving planet with the potential to go beyond the stars, was now a graveyard of homeless people trying to survive until the next day at the most. The enemy had just emerged in the night sky years ago and then fired upon everything in sight. Rhea had been certain of an eventual apocalypse, but never in her lifetime.

She quickly made her way down the street, her sack of salvaged goods hugged close to her chest, the cold of the night biting through her layers of tattered clothing. She had to be careful. Breaking the evening curfew meant asking for trouble. The Jaffa soldiers were accountable to no one. They could treat the people of her world in any way they wanted and no one would ask questions. She knew because she had seen the horrific things they had done to others.

She was only thirty-five, but her body felt like that of an arthritic eighty-year old. The daily horrors of living under Goa’uld rule and a lack of food and safe housing did that to a person. It was almost laughable. Years ago she was an affluent person. Wealthy, successful, desirable and now she was a shadow of her former self. She was worse than the beggars in the street she had often passed and ignored. Her face was hollow and shadowed. Her brown eyes were dull and tired, her hair graying. A woman who spent her evenings wining and dining, now eagerly tried to limp home to a communal building where no one had a family. For the millionth time since the attack, she cursed the enemy and those the enemy had arrived to destroy. She was innocent. It wasn’t fair.

The wind rushed hurriedly over her as she felt the glider come back overhead. She could hear it landing somewhere behind her. Rhea sped up with difficulty, an old leg injury not allowing her to run. She knew she wouldn’t be able to outrun anyone, and desperately looked around for anywhere she could keep out of sight until morning.

It was no use. She heard footsteps running in her direction and it wouldn’t take long for them to catch up.

“You! Stop!”

Terrified, Rhea stopped in her tracks. She had seen people killed for no reason, and here she was breaking curfew.

She tried not to flinch as footsteps closed in behind her. Two Jaffa came to stand in front of her, their hulking bodies towering over hers. One of them snatched her bag, the other one gave her a disgustingly invasive look. The first one proceeded to rummage through the bag as she nervously kept her eyes on the ground. When finished, he carelessly dumped the bag on the ground.

He looked at the other Jaffa, his face serious. The other Jaffa stepped forward.

“It is forbidden to roam the streets at this hour. What reason do you have?”

“I… I’m sorry,” she managed to utter.

“Are you above the law?”

“No… I….”

Before Rhea could think of what else to say, he grabbed her arm roughly. “You will come with us.”

The first Jaffa took her other arm and they both began to pull her across the street. She didn’t know where they were going, but she knew it was nowhere good.

“No!” Rhea began to pull back so they had to drag her. She kicked and screamed against them. She was damned if she’d make it easy for them.

She was thrown hard to the ground and saw the second Jaffa swing his staff as though to hit her, but before he could, a staff blast was fired at a crumbling wall behind him. Rhea watched the first Jaffa stiffen, his eyes narrowing as he sensed something. He lifted his staff, but his actions came too late as an orange blast hit him square in the chest.

“Show yourself!” the remaining Jaffa shouted, as he grabbed Rhea around the neck and hauled her to her feet.

A large black man dressed in layers of tattered brown clothing, black hat pulled down to his forehead, stepped from behind the glider that was presently hovering a few feet off the ground. He held a staff weapon that was pointed straight at Rhea’s face.

“Step away from the woman,” he said calmly.

“Lay your weapon down or I will kill her!” the Jaffa shouted into her ear.

“Then I will be forced to kill you,” he replied.

The Jaffa spat a succession of guttural sounds at the other man.

Done shouting, the Jaffa pointed his weapon at Rhea’s head as she screamed. The next thing she felt was a sharp painful surge through her body as she fell to the ground. Only it didn’t come from the weapon pointed at her head, but from somewhere to the right of her. Through the blur of tingling pain, she saw the shocked look on her captor’s face when he rose from the ground to fire at someone. In the next moment, lines of blue light snaked across him and he fell flat on the ground.

Rhea let her head fall back onto the sidewalk, the pain of the blast she had felt ebbing away, the adrenaline level lowering and fatigue entering her tired body.

She looked up at the dark night sky, no longer obscured by unnatural city lights; the stars clearly twinkling away. A head appeared under the stars and looked down at her with concern.

“You are safe now,” the man with the golden tattoo spoke quietly. “Are you hurt?”

Rhea dumbly stared back, unable to form words. There were fast footsteps approaching.

“She okay?” someone called.

“I am not sure, O’Neill.”

“What did you do?” The voice was speaking from somewhere behind her where the footsteps had stopped.

“I did nothing. It was in fact your zat'nik'tel blast, O’Neill.”

“Oh.”

Another head appeared over her. This one Caucasian with gray salt and pepper hair and brown eyes. “Tell her one of your jokes T, that should get a response.”

T looked at his friend without amusement then back down at Rhea. “I believe she may be in shock, O’Neill.”

“Okay, grab her, Teal’c. We’ll take her back to the bunker.”

“As I recall, O’Neill, our transport was blown apart. There is already too much to carry.”

Both men turned their heads to look at something behind them.

O’Neill looked back down at Rhea and asked, “You ever been in a glider?”

Rhea felt her heart do a series of jumps and then decided to give into the impulse that had been asking her to pass out for a while now.

There were voices in the distance. Not the same voices as before. These were female, quiet, hushed. Rhea opened her eyes slowly, lethargy lingering over her eyes. She could see she was in a large room with rows of beds arranged down the length of two walls. At the far end was a woman half sitting and half leaning against a metal desk, her arms loosely crossed over her stomach. She had mousy colored hair and was, possibly, in her mid-twenties. She was involved in a serious-looking conversation with a significantly shorter woman who stood in front of her. The second woman was much more petite, her hair a fading brown color.

It was a dark room with no windows and very low lighting. The walls were a dark gray concrete. The far wall, where the two women were immersed in conversation, had a few rows of metal shelving lined with all sorts of supplies in plastic bags and boxes. It looked nothing like a hospital, but it was definitely some kind of medical facility. There were even a few machines near the shelves that looked as though they had obviously been fixed or patched up. It was laughable. The planet Earth was just one big junkyard with second-hand goods.

Rhea noticed the shorter woman had stopped mid-sentence as she turned her face for a split second and caught her eye. She touched the younger woman’s arm and said something quietly before heading towards Rhea’s bed. The other woman pushed away from the desk, looked at Rhea and broke into a smile as she also made her way to the bed.

“Hi.” The petite woman looked down at Rhea.

“Who are you? Where am I?” Rhea asked, still feeling groggy as she tried to sit up.

Rhea was gently pushed back onto the bed. “It’s okay, you’re safe here. I’m a doctor. My name’s Janet, and this is my daughter, Cassie. You are?”

Rhea stared in silence for a moment, not accustomed to being told she was safe. “Rhea… I’m Rhea Mason. Why am I here?”

“Well, your blood sugar was very low, so I’ve put you on a drip here that should make you feel a little better. Otherwise there’s nothing wrong with you that a good meal won’t fix.”

“Actually, you should be feeling much better by now.” Cassandra idly flicked her finger at the drip pack and then smiled at Rhea.

Rhea thought for a moment. She didn’t feel great, but in truth she did feel better than before. Slightly sturdier if not healthier. “Yeah, I do a bit.”

“Hungry?” Janet asked.

Rhea nodded.

“I’ll go and see what I can rustle up and Cassie’ll keep you company.”

“Make mine with extra cheese and no anchovies,” Cassandra called as Janet headed towards the door. Janet turned back and raised her eyebrow earning a sly grin from her daughter.

Cassandra sat down on the edge of the bed, “So…” Cassandra said smiling before she launched into small talk that let Rhea lie back without having to answer unless she had something to say. Rhea ignored most of the conversation. There was something beginning to press on her mind. Something about the two men that had rescued her. She was certain she knew them from somewhere else. The dark of the night hadn’t allowed her to see their smudged faces properly, but there was definitely something there. She just wasn’t sure what.

Janet walked through the deserted concrete room that passed for a commissary and straight into the kitchen. There wasn’t much to choose from in comparison to the days when millions were being pumped into the Stargate project. Now the SGC was an abandoned underground bunker and was funtioning on rations and a scraping together of resources. An SGC that had no Stargate to speak of. There had been moments where personnel had been forced to bake bread. It was laughable but necessary. In the present circumstances, food had become a very valuable bargaining tool. In these instances it was quite humorous to see people pulling rank to get out of their duties. But when you weren’t being paid for your efforts to save the world, rank didn’t mean as much as equality. Everyone had to pull their weight from menial tasks such as cleaning toilets to the organizing of raids and resources.

“Hey, Janet.” Sam walked into the kitchen looking worn and tired, much older than her age, the last ten years having taken their toll. “How’s your patient?”

“She’ll be okay. She’s tired, scared. Nothing new. How about you? You look beat.”

Sam poured herself a weak coffee, water and coffee being the two things they had plenty of still. “Ran into some Jaffa last night. Looks like they’re getting closer. Don’t know how long it’ll be before this place isn’t safe anymore.”

Janet sighed, and squeezed Sam’s arm. Sam weakly smiled back. “I wish we could somehow go back and stop this from ever happening, Janet. One single action and we could stop this. The way things are, I don’t think the Stargate will ever be in our control again.”

“We got close.”

Sam shook her head. “We got careless and nearly got caught. The Goa’uld’ll probably find this bunker before we have a chance to run out of weapons or food. We’re running out of time, Janet.”

They both looked at each other. There was nothing else to be said. They all knew the slim chance of regaining control of the gate. The fact that they had made it this far without being discovered was a miracle in itself. And miracles were notoriously thin on the ground. Time was running out. If only they could turn it back and start again.

The briefing room, like all the rooms of the bunker, was large and made of thick concrete. It was always cold, forcing the personnel to don layers layers worthy of winter. In the middle of the room were tables joined together to form one large table, large sheets of paper scattered across them with Intel, maps, co-ordinates, shopping lists. Even the walls were plastered with maps and schematics of Cheyenne that had been obtained with great difficulty.

At the end of the briefing room stood Jack, staring at the most recently acquired maps of Jaffa movement in the area. He turned around when he heard the footsteps entering the room and saw ex-Pentagon liaison, Paul Davis, walk in with a tatty brown envelope in his hand. Jack eyed the man as he took the envelope. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought of this scenario. Pristine Major Davis dressed in a frayed, faded old brown sweater and jeans so old they were crying to be put to sleep. Odd they were working together in their former roles without rank, without uniform, or without any real sense of hierarchy.

“News?” Jack said pulling a bunch of photographs from the envelope.

“Just made a pick up. Latest surveillance pictures show that security at Cheyenne is tighter than ever, so unless we’re thinking of turning into smoke and going through the keyholes, we’re in for a long wait to regain control of the SGC.” Paul sat down on the edge of the table as Jack looked through the photographs.

“There’s a way in, Major,” Jack said using the title more from habit than protocol. Protocol and regulations had dissapeared with the hierarchies that were responsible for making the rules. If anyone used rank now, it was simply because you didn’t stop being military overnight.

“We just don’t know what it is yet.” Paul smiled, knowing this would be Jack’s inevitable conclusion to their situation.

“What don’t we know?” Sam asked as she walked in with Teal’c.

Jack put the photographs back in the envelope and slid it down the table towards Sam. “The way in, Carter. They’re tightening the place up.”

“Anyone find that a little odd?” Sam asked taking the photographs, looking and then passing them one by one to Teal’c.

“What?” Jack picked up a mug of now lukewarm coffee from the table.

“Well, judging by the last few drop offs, they’ve been increasing security for over a month now.”

“It may have to do with our previous attempt at breaking in, Major Carter. We were almost successful,” Teal’c said, carefully examining the photographs.

“I dunno, Teal’c. Carter’s got a point. They’re still going to way too much trouble to just keep us out or to see us coming.”

“Uh… unless,” Paul began with a look of worried realization.

“What?” Sam and Jack spoke in unison.

“Well, maybe they’re preparing…”

“Don’t say it,” Jack said closing his eyes.

“I might be wrong, Colonel.”

“You’re always right, Major.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say always, but then I’m not really counting.”

Teal’c and Sam gave each other a look, the conversation having gone from their grasps.

“What is your assumption, Major Davis?”

Paul took a deep breath as he walked off to lean against the wall. “What if, they’re tightening security because they’re expecting someone. Someone important. It’s happened before.”

Sam closed her eyes for a moment and grimaced. “Right.”

“Anubis,” Teal’c said flatly.

“Yes. And if that’s the case…”

“We could be in trouble,” Sam said nodding.

Paul nodded back. “Right.”

Cassandra and Janet seemed like perfectly nice women, but it didn’t stop Rhea from distrusting them. It was second nature to her now. She had seen her whole family killed by the Goa’uld and she was now, completely alone. Trusting people seemed pointless. More a hindrance than help. These days, a person would think nothing of murdering another over a loaf of bread. Every man and woman for his- or herself.

Cassandra had been pleasant enough and Janet had a very caring and sympathetic aura about her, but Rhea had decided to leave the minute both of them left the infirmary. She was going to leave and go back home. Even if home was a hovel. Luckily her clothes and belongings had been in a pile on one of the other beds in the infirmary. Now it was just a case of finding the way out.

The rest of the facility was similar to the infirmary. Drab, gray, cold and concrete. She didn’t pass a single person as she searched the corridors. It was disturbing that even with all the chaos, this facility seemed to exude a sense of order. The people she had seen looked self-assured, confident and strong. Rhea wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that they seemed more protected from Goa'uld threat than the ordinary man, woman or child on the street. She wouldn’t have been surprised if that Air Force One crash years ago had been a hoax and that the president was actually hidden away safely within concrete walls similar to the facility she was in now. How sad that, in the end, everything came down to saving yourself.

Frustrated at not finding any visible way out, Rhea hurried up in her search for an exit. Rounding a corner, she walked straight into a body and dropped her sack on the floor. She quickly got to her knees to put back the few things that had fallen from it.

"Hey, you're up. Here, let me help you with that," a male voice said somewhere above her.

Rhea didn't look up; she just wanted her things packed so she could leave. She did keep an eye on the hands though as they picked up her things, opened the bag and put them in it. Then his hands stilled and he kept the bag open. One hand slowly went into the bag and pulled out a golden globe. Rhea looked up to see the gray haired man that had saved her. He was looking at the globe, a grim expression on his face. Then, slowly, he got to his feet.

"That's mine! Give it back!" Rhea stood up and reached for the globe.

He pulled it away from her reach. "It's worthless to you. I'll trade you for it," he said.

Rhea began a protest that died on her lips as she looked properly at the man’s face for the first time . She knew this man. There wasn't a single person on Earth that didn't know who this man was. This was one of the people responsible for the demise of Earth. He was one of the most hated men on the planet. This was Colonel Jack O’Neill, one of a few men that were responsible for pointing Earth out to the Goa’uld. She knew the legend, every human being knew it. The gate was opened by a man called Jackson and O’Neill opened it a second time to bring the first man back thus angering the aliens. They had waved a red flag to a psychotic bull and now Earth had to pay the price.

“You. I know who you are,” Rhea said, her voice thick and her vision clouding from the tears in her eyes. The sack fell from her hand and lay forgotten on the floor as she stared at the man in front of her. Jack only met her eyes briefly before staring at the globe in his hands. This wasn’t a first experience for Jack. It had happened so many times he had lost count. It stopped stinging a long time ago.

“Is it true?” Rhea tried to hold back an urge to scream.

Jack suppressed a sigh and looked at Rhea. “Is what true?”

“What they’ve been broadcasting. About the government hiding a star gate. About you going through it and making enemies, risking the life of this planet. Is it true you refused to give it back to them even when they offered protection? All of it, is it true?”

Jack looked at Rhea. It didn’t matter what answer he gave her. She would only believe what she wanted to. She had already made up her mind. In her eyes, the man standing in front of her was just as bad as the Goa’uld.

“No, it’s not true. The Goa’uld attack without cause. They attack to make sure no one can ever challenge them. We posed a threat, so they attacked. We tried to stop them. But we couldn’t. That was the one time we couldn’t stop them… and I’m sorry,” Jack said solemnly, unaware that only a few feet behind him stood Teal’c, Sam and Paul.

Rhea lost her composure, her anger crumbling as the tears streaked down her face. She stepped up to Jack and just stared. Jack tried to match her gaze, at which point she slapped him hard. As her hand hit his face, Rhea started to sob, her hands fisting themselves in his shirt as she pulled at him in her grief.

“I had a family. I had a life dammit. I had a life.” She beat her fist against his chest. “How could you play with innocent lives?”

Jack didn’t resist her. He let the woman take her anger out on him. He knew there wasn’t much they could have done the day the Goa’uld came, but he felt the overwhelming weight of the guilt, nevertheless. And it didn’t get better with time either. It only got worse.

Paul stepped around to try and pry the hysterical woman off Jack. It was no easy task. Her strength was purely adrenalin-driven. She could have been as strong as Teal’c at that moment. Teal’c stepped forward to help pull her away as gently as possible. Her fingers managed to unlock from Jack’s shirt and she stumbled back, falling to her knees where she continued to sob. In the scuffle to pull her away, Jack lost the grip on the globe and it felt to the floor with a metallic ring as it bounced then rolled away from him.

Everyone in the corridor stilled as the globe emitted a painfully high pitched screech before a cone of light shot out of the top, widened once it was a few feet in height and revealed a transparent image of a man. He stood straight and tall, his posture, stiff, his demeanour, all business. His blue eyes were focused ahead of him, at the recorder, or now viewer, of the message. His hands were clasped behind his back and he wore a long robe with a symbol that everyone recognized as the one belonging to Anubis.

Rhea’s tears stilled as she looked at the familiar sight. She had seen this man make announcements before, but never from one of these globes. They were usually in a public place, very rare. She knew who this man was. He was the supposed protector of Earth. If there was anyone hated more than the members of SG-1, then it was this man. He was the most hated man. Hated because he was an outsider and had usurped a place that did not belong to him. He would always be hated. He was the one that Anubis had left in charge of the decimated Earth. His name was Jonas Quinn.

“Tau’ri. As emissary of Anubis, I must once again order you to cease any activity of dissent. All rebellions will be dealt with harshly. Anubis is your God and protects you from threats not of this planet. You are foolish to be easily swayed by propaganda that promises you freedom and autonomy. Accept your fate. Those found encouraging rebellion of any kind will be punished severely. Also, anyone willing to supply information on the whereabouts of members of SG-1 and their affiliates will be rewarded handsomely. A good day to you all,” he ended the message with a small smile.

The edges of the holographic cone snapped shut and the single beam of light dropped back into the globe. A deadly silence had fallen in the corridor, others having also witnessed this latest transmission. Even Rhea’s sobbing had stopped.

“Teal’c, get her out of here,” Jack said quietly staring at the silent globe, “and make sure someone keeps an eye on her.”

Teal’c slowly lifted Rhea to her feet. She let herself be slowly pulled along, the anger and frustration having left her feeling dead and flat.

Paul picked up the globe and threw Sam a concerned look. She stared back, tired and fed up.

“What happen? Somebody die?” A voice made their heads turn towards the end of the corridor where Harry Maybourne stood bundled in tatty clothes, his face sporting the grisly beard and amused grin.

Jack took a deep breath and walked off in the opposite direction before the urge to break something gave way. Sam watched Jack leave, the weight of the world on his shoulders. They were all in it together, but for some reason Jack always seemed as though he felt it was all up to him. Sam sighed and headed towards her make-shift lab to see if there was any way to stretch resources even further.

Paul looked down at the globe in his hand as Sam brushed past him. He had been working side by side with them longer than Daniel Jackson had. But there were still times when he had no idea on how to break through into their heads. Why everything had to come down to them accepting blame for something that wasn’t their fault. Paul looked sadly at the globe as Maybourne approached him.

Maybourne frowned at Paul, never phased, never surprised. “Something I said?”

Janet and Cassandra had been in the midst of panicking after their current patient had vanished. Moments later, Teal’c had walked in, guiding a miserable and slightly dazed Rhea to one of the beds. On hearing what had transpired, they hadn’t really been shocked. It was a common reaction from anyone that recognized the faces of SG-1.

The infirmary was quiet now. Rhea had started to sob moments after she had been brought back. Teal’c had stood guard at the door, refusing to move until someone would be available to take his place. Janet tried to console the distraught woman, but Rhea judged her as being amongst the so-called killers of Earth. Cassandra sat on a bed at the other end looking over an inventory book, Rhea’s tears made no impact. She had spent her whole life observing what it was that people like her mother, people like Sam, Jack, Teal’c and Daniel had done for this planet. These people had no idea how close they had come to being destroyed completely and how many times. Cassandra still had memories of how her planet had been thoroughly destroyed by Nirrti. She knew what the Goa’uld were.

Janet had gone back to her desk after Rhea had screamed to be left alone. Now everyone occupied their space in silence and thought. Every now and then Cassandra would look up and over at her mother, who sat subdued as she wrote something into a journal. Janet would look up to see Teal’c standing rigid and staring ahead, hands clasped behind his back. And they knew that they were all thinking about the same thing. Would they ever be free again?

“Why are you keeping me here?” Rhea broke the silence in the room, her eyes boring into Teal’c.

“You are unreliable in your present state,” Teal’c said evenly, his head slowly turned to look at her as Cassandra and Janet threw each other a silent communication of worry.

“If you mean I’ll go find one of your Goa’uld friends and give you all up, you’re right. Only I don’t even know where the hell this place is. So I can’t really do that, can I?”

“Perhaps,” Teal’c said quietly, a tone of weariness about him. “But in this condition you are as much a danger to yourself as you are to us.”

“Condition? And who’s responsible for this… condition? Huh? I had a life. I had… a husband. We were going to have children. We were going to make plans. Have a life. But because of you people, I can’t to do that. You pissed these Goa’uld off and they took it out on the whole planet. So don’t you tell me about my condition.”

Teal’c’s jaw had clenched as he listened. Both Cassandra and Janet were on their feet and headed towards the bed as Teal’c also approached it. They knew that Rhea was in no danger with Teal’c. But she was emotional and by the looks of it, she had gotten to Teal’c. Janet for one didn’t want him to say anything that would push Rhea any further.

“Teal’c…,” Janet began as he came to stand by the bed.

“I have a son. I have not seen him since the Goa’uld invaded this planet. I can only hope that he lives. But without the Stargate, I cannot be certain. I gave him up with his mother a long time ago and gave my allegiance to this world so your people could fight the Goa’uld. I was a First Prime. I was in control of the army of a God. I turned my back on my God, my beliefs and my family. I did this because your people were free and they fought for this freedom and I knew they would take these ideals with them wherever they went. There are worlds that have never tasted freedom because of the Goa’uld. If the Goa’uld have attacked this planet, it is not because of those who went through the Stargate, it is because this is what the Goa’uld do. They came to this planet…because on that day, no one could stop them.”

Rhea watched Teal’c speak, an anger shining bright in his eyes, and she felt her tears streak down her face again. She didn’t care. She didn’t believe any of them. She just wanted her life back. Janet blinked back tears and touched Teal’c’s arm. As if realizing that the chink in his armor had become visible, Teal’c bowed his head in Janet’s direction and then straightened, simply breathing the pain of the events away.

“Why couldn’t you just give them what they wanted?” Rhea said quietly. “If they didn’t want you to use the gate… why couldn’t you just stop?”

“Rhea,there’s no guarantee they wouldn’t have attacked anyway,” Janet said wearily.

“You don’t know that!” Rhea snapped.

“Yes we do!” Cassandra stepped forward. “We do. They destroyed my world for no reason. They didn’t have to, but they did it anyway. Did you know that after Anubis took this planet over he then used the database from the Stargate facility to systematically destroy worlds that Earth had made efforts to become allies with? He pillaged their technologies and then left behind nothing. He even destroyed planets that were of no threat. Just so he could become stronger. And you believe whatever his people tell you? What are you? Stupid?”

“Cassie! That’s enough!” Janet snapped, shocked at her daughter’s outburst. “I think you should go take a walk.”

“It’s the truth Mom. I don’t know why everyone’s so afraid of telling it.” Cassandra turned back to Rhea. “You think we’re to blame? Then how come we’re still trying to fight to get the gate back? You know, if you people hate us so much, maybe we shouldn’t bother putting ourselves in danger. Maybe you should get off your ass and do something.” Cassandra turned on her heel and left before Janet could reprimand her any further.

Teal’c simply looked at Janet, his eyebrow raised in slight surprise.

Janet sighed. “She’s been spending way too much time with Jack O’Neill.”

Paul poured Maybourne a shot glass of Scotch. It was from the one holy crate of alcohol left. Strictly for occasions of epic misery. Paul shuddered at the thought of what would happen if the crate ever became empty.

“I’d give myself up to Anubis if he promised me another case.” Maybourne smiled before downing the Scotch in one gulp.

Paul frowned. Maybourne simply laughed. “Thinking out loud again, Major.” He held the glass out for more.

Paul smiled and topped off the glass. “Well, I don’t think that time will come. We might not actually make it that far. Especially if those broadcasts keep going the way they have been for the last few weeks.”

Maybourne nodded to a sack in the corner of the briefing room. “What do you think that is? Gifts from Santa? We’ve been rounding them up for the last two weeks now.”

Paul emptied his glass and went back to staring at the scrap of paper he had written worthless notes on prior to their attention turning to the Scotch. “It looks like we might be right about Anubis then. There’s something definitely about to happen at Cheyenne.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Well, if I recall our last intel report, Anubis rarely comes through that gate. He doesn’t have to, it’s enough that he’s got control of this planet. Even when he is in the neighborhood, he gates to Cheyenne and stays in a ship that’s been in Earth’s orbit for the last three years.”

“Guess he doesn’t like the accommodations. You know, they could just be tightening security. We did get pretty close. Maybe it shook 'em up a little.”

Paul shook his head. “No. We were close. Not close enough. You have to remember, Anubis was in exile for a long time. He’s very paranoid about his current position from what we know. If he were thinking of coming here, these are the security precautions he would take. Keep the people inside the mountain inside. The ones outside, out.”

“Why come back? Why after all this time? If things carry on the way they are, in ten years this planet will have nothing left worth saving. What’s left for him to destroy now?”

Paul scribbled over a roughly sketched Stargate he had absently been working on seconds ago. “That’s what we have to find out.”

Maybourne pushed his shot glass towards Paul. “I think now would be a good time to start finishing this stuff off. Don’t you?”

Jack sat uncomfortably on a rock amidst the bushes. The night was cool and silent. An eerie silence that belonged on a dead planet. Sighing, Jack craned his neck back and looked up at the stars as they twinkled away like diamonds sewn onto black velvet. He knew he was throwing caution to the wind sitting out there waiting to be found by patrolling gliders, especially so close to the bunker. But there were nights when the narrow corridors of the bunker were too suffocating, even for him. Sometimes there was a realization that this was all he had. This was his home and his life. This fact was more apparent as he had stood in the corridor and the voice of Jonas Quinn bounced off the walls, echoing in his head like a bad record.

The SGC had been the embodiment of exploration, quest for knowledge, fighting the good fight on even ground. This new place from where they now launched each battle was a symbol of their failure. They failed to protect the Earth. Their bodies would soon fail them as time took its toll. The Goa’uld had won, and all sacrifices had been wasted.

Realistically speaking, they were running out of time. Global communication was virtually non-existent. Only a few hidden lines of communication remained across the country. But sure enough the Goa’uld were searching for them with an intent to destroy. This present makeshift SGC was operating on one line of communication. One that could be discovered at any moment.

Jack found himself wishing, for a moment, that he had been at Cheyenne Mountain the night of the invasion. No, he couldn’t have saved the world, but at least he could have gone down trying like Hammond and the majority of the people that had been on base that night. Jack wasn’t a defeatist, but on some days, trying to save the planet did get old.

He thought back to that night. It was vivid in his mind as though it had happened only moments ago. The Goa’uld had proved themselves much more clever than anyone had assumed. Their attack had been swift, the enemy informed. The first places that went up in smoke were the military installations and the seats of power in the world. It was the poorest and least advanced that survived the attack. It was an irony that what had been killing these people for historic periods of time saved them when Earth faced its biggest enemy. The irony was not lost on many.

The night sky had been filled with fireworks in many parts of the world, where humans scrambled to make some kind of a defense. But before the world actually got the chance to witness its own destruction, the walls had already been breached. They had come through the Stargate and someone had let them walk straight in.

It wasn’t late in the evening, around nine perhaps. The conversation was slow, quiet and unenthusiastic. SG-1 had sat in a quiet corner booth at O’Malley’s, feeling the extremely heavy burden of one missing voice. One passionate voice that would have spent a whole night airing one of a million concerns or causes. Teal’c would have interjected by spotting the common human flaw of hypocrisy or irritating paradoxes. Sam would have agreed in part but raised military trained skepticism. Jack would have yawned only to be annoying. As much as everyone tried to accept that people moved on, things changed, it didn’t stop one thing from being apparent. SG-1 without Daniel Jackson was incomplete.

So they had sat there, in a semi-silence, making pointless conversation. Jack's cell phone rang. Within seconds his face seemed to stiffen, his eyes locked in place. All he had said to Teal’c and Sam was the word ‘foothold’ as he made a call to the Pentagon. Teal’c and Sam listened as Jack forwarded the information he had just received from an under attack Hammond. The Goa’uld had simply dialed in. A computer outside the control room somewhere overrode the commands for the iris. First came an explosive device that killed everyone in the gate room. Then came a small army of Jaffa.

It wasn’t long before a black ops team was dispatched to Cheyenne and Major Davis was on a plane to Colorado. But they never made it into the base. Cheyenne had quickly become a Goa’uld fortress while Earth was dealing with sudden unknown attackers in the sky. Newsreaders were reporting with a frantic excitement mingled with fear. People were running in all directions in panic. It had been like a bad movie. Only there hadn’t been a happy ending. They were still fighting the Goa’uld and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

“That rock taken?”

Jack turned to see Sam a few feet behind him, huddled up in a thick black coat. “Nope. My date’s gone to powder up, but I don’t think she’ll be back. Something to do with the clams.”

Sam grinned with a certain amount of relief. Joking was good. Joking was safe. Jack O’Neill being serious meant it was time for everyone to get way more than serious. Sam sat down next to Jack and joined in looking at the stars. It was odd to think that once they had been traveling amongst those stars. She knew it was the same thing that Jack saw when he looked up at the sky.

Jack sighed.

Sam turned to look at him. “Something on your mind?”

Jack didn’t turn his eyes away from the stars. “Getting older, Carter.”

“I know,” Sam said quietly.

“Maybe we did screw up. Maybe there was something we could have done to stop all this.”

“Even if we had been there that night, we couldn’t have done anything. It was all preplanned. They knew someone was holding the door open for them. They knew the Stargate was our first line of defense. The only way we could have stopped them is if Jonas had never been there.”

“Right. Jonas. You know, at this point I’d just like to say in reference to trusting Jonas: I told ya so.”

Sam looked down at the ground, her mind bouncing back an image of Daniel. Wherever the name of Jonas came up, for some reason all it managed to do was make Daniel’s absence more apparent.

“You think he’s still out there somewhere?”

“Dunno,” Jack said after a while, as reluctant as ever to bring up the subject of SG-1’s missing limb.

“You think he knows what’s happened here?”

“I don’t know, Carter,” Jack had an annoyed edge to his voice. “Maybe he’s out there, maybe he knows what’s happened. But then maybe he’s not. I guess we’ll never know.”

Sam looked at the palm of her hand for no reason, just somewhere to concentrate her gaze. She knew Jack’s way of dealing was to get on with life and pretend there were no gaping holes left behind, no regrets, no matter how many there were.

“I just miss him, that’s all,” Sam said flatly.

Jack looked at Sam. In many ways, she was infinitely stronger than he was. She never felt the need to hide from her feelings, whether they were good or bad. She had openly grieved when Daniel had died… ascended… whatever they wanted to call it. She had openly shown her anger at having to move on without acknowledging that he was gone. Jack had just wanted to forget. It was the way he dealt with everything. Old habits died hard.

“I know, Carter. We all do.” Jack reached over and patted Sam on the back, letting his hand stay there for a while. It was all he could offer at that moment. He had no other consolation to give, no other promises to make.

They both sat in the silence for a while, unsaid words hanging heavily between them. So much was wrong with the way things were in their current state. There was so much both of them would liked to have said, but couldn’t. Sam simply looked at Jack, her silence voicing her thoughts. Jack let his mouth curl up in small smile before he withdrew his hand and looked away.

It was just as Sam opened her mouth to speak that a glider swooped dangerously low and then circled back towards the sky.

“Whoa. That can’t be good.” Jack pulled Sam up from the rock as he got up and looked at the glider shining in the distance.

“No, look.” Sam jogged over to a nearby spot and picked up a small Goa’uld globe. “I think we just got mail.”

“Tom. He was a stockbroker,” Rhea said quietly letting Janet prod her about her past life. “I met him at a party. It was one of those eyes meeting across a crowded room moments. He died in the first attack. Never had a chance. They blew the building up in one shot.”

“I’m sorry,” Janet said, recalling the memories of that day the Goa’uld came and destroyed Earth.

Rhea kept staring ahead of her as though she hadn’t heard Janet at all. “Your daughter… she said they destroyed her world. She’s an alien.”

“No. She’s human, but she is from a different planet. A Goa’uld called Nirrti destroyed Cassie’s people. For a moment we thought she wouldn’t make it either.”

Rhea frowned. “How can she be human?”

“Well, there are a lot of planets out there populated by humans that the Goa’uld took from Earth a long time ago, as slaves. They stopped when the ancient Egyptians rebelled and buried the gate.”

“And I suppose your friends unburied it again?” Rhea said with a bitter smile.

Janet’s jaw clenched, Rhea’s resentment having begun to wear thin a considerable time ago. “No. The gate was unburied in 1928 on the Giza Plateau. The U.S government thought it was a weapon and set about trying to make it work. They managed to open it but lost their first explorer, a Dr. Ernest Littlefield. Of course they realised it wasn’t a weapon and the research was stopped until 1992. In 1994 they found someone who could decipher the symbols needed to gate to the planet Abydos.”

“So we should blame him for this.”

Janet laughed and shook her head. “Sure. You can blame him. But before you do you might want to know that he helped save a lot of people from slavery. He lost his wife to the Goa’uld. He gave his life to save a lot of people that would’ve otherwise died from radiation. The only reason Jonas Quinn is alive and doing Anubis' dirty work is because Daniel saved him, and his people. I watched that man bleed to death in my infirmary, and I couldn’t do anything to save him… to make it better. I couldn’t help my friend. Want to know what Jonas Quinn did to repay this debt? He led the Goa’uld right in through the Stargate and sold us out. These people you hate so much? They only ever tried to do the right thing. We all did.”

“Why? Why would he do that?” Rhea said numbly.

“Only he can answer that.”

After a lengthy silence, Janet got up from her chair with a sigh, her body felt old and worn, the spirit for fight and explanation had left her. She headed towards her desk, no real task awaiting her. She just wanted to get away from Rhea’s infectiously depressive self-pity. She couldn’t afford to feel sorry for herself.

“Ever wish you could turn the clock back?” Rhea’s voice called out as Janet sat down at her desk.

Janet looked up to see Rhea’s hunched over figure on the bed, the dimness of the infirmary flickering for a moment.

“Every moment of every day.”

Jack walked into the conference room with Sam in tow and Goa’uld communication device in hand. Paul and Maybourne were already sitting at the table, empty glasses in front of them, expressions grim.

“Happy hour?” Jack drawled as he walked past.

“It’s never happy hour around here, Jack,” Maybourne said flatly.

“News?”

“Yep.”

“Good or bad?” Jack sat down on the edge of the table.

Maybourne thought for a moment. “I’ll give you two guesses.”

“Good.”

“Wanna take the other guess?”

Jack looked back grimly. “Maybe later.”

Teal’c walked in and took a seat next to Sam. Jack held up the globe for everyone to see.

“We got mail. ” Jack rolled it down the table towards Paul and Maybourne. Paul stopped it with his hand.

“Our mole?” Maybourne said looking at the globe.

Jack shrugged. “Either that or the patrols are getting closer. Take a look, we’ll find out.”

Paul looked over the silver globe. Turning it over he found the small sensor on it. Getting up, he placed the globe in the center of the table and waved his hand slowly over the globe. They all watched as a beam of light shot out and then vanished. There was no further visual display, just a fuzzy crackling sound.

“It seems to have been damaged, O’Neill.”

“Can’t we fine tune it or somethin’?” Jack waved his hand in the direction of the globe.

“Try it again,” Sam said.

Paul waved his hand over the sensor again once the crackling noise had disappeared. But the globe simply gave a repeat performance of static crackling.

“Well, if it was the mole, then we have no idea what the information on this thing is. And if it’s another broadcast, we should consider moving house. That bad news Jack? We just lost one of our bases. The Goa’uld made our position and stormed the place. Any equipment we could salvage is sitting in the armory now. And it’s not much,” Maybourne said, as unphased by bad luck as ever.

Jack sighed. “’Maybe later’ mean anything to you Maybourne?”

“Yeah well, at this rate there won’t be a later.”

“I could have a look at it,” Sam said, watching as Paul started off the crackle of the recording again. “If it is just damaged, the information, even if it’s only a broadcast, might be salvageable. At least that way we would know.”

Jack nodded. “Do it.”

Meanwhile, Teal’c noted with interest that Paul was frowning at the globe, listening to the crackling noise with extreme concentration.

“Major Davis, something is the matter?”

Paul looked at Teal’c, a confused frown on his face. “Uh… yes.” He turned to look at Jack. “I don’t think this is damaged.”

“Oh?” Jack got off the table and walked around to Paul’s side.

“Listen to this.” He started the crackle off again. “It sounds like static, but if you listen carefully, there seem to be popping sounds in the background.”

The room became quiet with the exception of the crackling noise from the globe. Maybourne laughed. “You’re kidding. Morse?”

Paul shrugged. “Why not? The Goa’uld are looking for radio transmissions, not an archaic form of communication like Morse code. I think it’s worth a try.”

Jack patted Paul’s shoulder. “Do it. Harry, a word.”

Harry and Jack left the room and went into the corridor. Jack walked a few steps ahead, made sure the corridor was as empty as it appeared, then turned to face Maybourne, “What happened?”

Maybourne shrugged. “What happened? The inevitable, Jack. Our needs are infinite our, resources aren’t. The Goa’uld outnumber us in every way. It was only a matter of time before they were going to figure out where we were. It’s a miracle any of us got out of there.”

“Casualities?”

Maybourne sighed and looked away for a moment before answering, “We lost at least half of our people. Not to mention weapons, Intel. We gotta think of moving base, Jack. How long before the Goa’uld find this place? The last break-in attempt had to have let them know that we’re close enough to be able to disappear so quickly. We’re not going to stay invisible for much longer.”

“Damn it, Maybourne, don’t you think I know that? But we can’t do anything yet. Not until we find out what the deal with Anubis is. If he’s in the neighborhood and why. I can’t afford to spend time and people on trying to move at this point. There’s a bigger chance of getting caught with all these gliders over our heads twenty-four hours a day.”

Maybourne grinned. “By the way, I hear you got a new ride.”

Jack grinned and started to head back to the conference room. “Oh yeah, straight out of the showroom.”

“Trying to impress the ladies, Jack?”

“You know I don’t need to try, Maybourne.” Jack smirked as he entered the room. “Okay. Let’s crack this thing. What have we got?”

Paul held up a piece of paper with some scribbles. “Well, there’s definitely something there.”

“Just one question though,” Sam said. “Why switch to Morse all of a sudden? The voice messages have been fine up to now.”

“Perhaps our informant’s situation has become more sensitive,” Teal’c said.

“In which case, this information might not be exactly reliable,” Maybourne offered.

Jack looked at his people and nodded slowly. “Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Well, this is it,” Sam said as they reached a dense part of the forest in their black camo gear and weapons at the ready.

Teal’c, with zat uncoiled and ready to fire, did a quick scout of the area as Jack impatiently tapped the top of his P90.

“You know, I figure since we’ve done this before he could show up on time,” Jack groused.

“Actually, you’re late, Colonel,” a voice said from behind them.

SG-1 turned around to see Jonas emerging from the dark, flanked by two burly Jaffa, their staff weapons armed and aimed, ready to fire. Within a second of seeing Jonas and his guard, SG-1 trained their weapons on the men in front of them.

“What’s with the guards?” Jack asked, nodding his head at the Jaffa.

“Our heat sensors detect two people hiding in those bushes,” Jonas pointed across.

Jack rolled his eyes and sighed. “You can come out!” he shouted, P90 still trained at Jonas’s head.

A moment later, Paul and Maybourne left the bushes, hand guns pointed ahead of them. It made Jonas smile with amusement.

“There’s no need for precaution, Colonel, we’ve done this before,” Jonas said amiably as he pushed the staff weapon in the hand of the Jaffa next to him towards the ground.

Jack glared back icily, his hands tightened around the weapon. After a long, silent moment, Jack slowly lowered his gun, Sam and Teal’c followed suit. Jack looked back at Maybourne.

“The word covert mean anything to ya?” he asked dryly.

Maybourne gave an exasperated shrug. “Sorry. I’ll pretend to be a reptile next time.”

Jack rolled his eyes and turned back to Jonas, who stood with his hands clasped in front of him.

Jonas gave a slight smile that seemed edged with nervous tension. “So, I see you recognized the coded message. I was worried you wouldn’t.”

Jack remained silent, his eyes rock hard, expression impenetrable.

“How did you come up with the idea for Morse?” Sam asked.

Jonas smiled, proud look on his face. “Many of the SGC files are in still in my possession. One file mentioned an off-world mission where a military faction was using a code similar to something called Morse code. I did some research on this Morse code. The Goa’uld have no knowledge of it and even if they had intercepted any of the drop offs the glider made, they would not have been able to decipher the message. It would have been seen as damage. I was hoping someone amongst you would recognize it.”

Sam nodded trying not to look too impressed. “Actually we thought it was damaged. Major Davis figured it out.”

Jonas turned to Paul and smiled with a nod. “Well, I’m glad he did. It wasn’t the easiest of tasks. We had to make more than one drop to make sure you would find one. In the event that all the globes were found I varied the messages so no similarity would be noticed. ”

“Well, aren’t you clever?” Jack’s voice was low and hard, his eyes never moved fromJonas. “You have any useful information or are we just here to witness the Jonas show?”

Jonas looked disappointed and embarrassed, but it was nothing new to him. Over time he had learnt to deal with Jack's hate. Jack O'Neill was a man that didn't trust people easily, or forgive them, for that matter. And Jonas knew he had given Jack reasons to continue hating and distrusting.

"Yes, information - it is why I contacted you. Perhaps we'll leave my unimpressive endeavours for another occasion."

The corner of Jack's mouth went up in a hateful fashion. Jonas had been stung, that was good enough for him.

"We have noticed the increase in security at Cheyenne Mountain. Are we correct in assuming that Anubis' arrival is imminent?" Teal'c broke through what appeared to be a staring match between Jack and Jonas.

Jonas looked away first and Jack finally broke off his gaze and looked at Teal'c. Jonas stepped away from his Jaffa and stepped further into the group.

"Yes, you are correct. Anubis has arrived. He is, at present, in Earth's orbit. He wants to make sure there are no threats to his plans from outside the mountain as well as through the Stargate."

"What kind of plans?" Maybourne asked as he and Paul stepped closer.

Jonas hesitated, his eyes searching the ground for an answer before he finally said, "Plans for Earth."

Jack’s patience wearing thin, he swiftly pointed his gun at Jonas. "Wanna cut the dramatics and tell us what we need to know?"

Jonas glared at Jack and pushed the gun away from his face. "I would not go to the trouble of meeting you here if I had no intention of helping you. Anubis already suspects my loyalties."

"Well he'd have good reason to, wouldn't he? You don't think much of selling people out for your own benefit."

"I have paid for my actions over and over, Colonel. I am trying to make amends. I am trying to help you save this planet."

"You're the reason it needs saving. We gave you a place to stay and you sold us out the minute you had the opportunity. A good man died trying to save the lives of your people and this is what you did in return. You want gratitude? You're looking in the wrong place. You can never make amends for what you’ve done."

Discomfort was visible on Jonas's face. His eyes didn't know where to look. His mouth was unable to form words. He was a picture of misery. But none of the people that saw this cared an iota. A single man had brought about the fall of a planet. How did you forgive something like that?

Jonas turned to look at Sam who stared back with glassy eyes. In the time he had spent with these people before opening the gate to the enemy, she had been the one that had extended her hand in friendship first. She had allowed herself to not hate him with the same fervour that Teal'c and Jack had. In the simplest of terms she had been kind.

"I am sorry," Jonas said quietly, looking at Sam. "I was trying to save my people. My superiors told me to ask for asylum. They said if I opened the door to the Goa'uld, they would leave our people alone. I did not envision the rest."

"What else?" Sam asked, her voice thick and edgy.

Jonas frowned.

"What else did they give you?"

"I don't understand," Jonas replied.

"Come on, you're clever enough to figure it out. See, I think that Naquadria had to come from somewhere. Or someone more advanced than your people. I also think there had to be a reason why Daniel bled to death when you were only inches from a broken window and survived."

Jack's jaw clenched. This was something he had speculated himself on numerous occasions. Yet it was something he didn't want to know. He had a good idea of the answer. It was obvious. What one single way was there of surviving radiation? What one single way was there to be brought back from the dead? What was it that made the Goa’uld immortal? There couldn't be any other way. But Jack didn't want to know.

Jonas closed his eyes for a moment. "They had a sarcophagus to revive me in. When my peers tried to tarnish Dr. Jackson's name but were unable to, they thought it would be believable for me to ask for asylum. Anubis promised that once I had done my job, my world would be safe. My people believed him. I obeyed my orders."

Jack tried to restrain his anger, but couldn’t for more than two seconds. The butt of his gun smacked Jonas in the jaw sending him to the ground. Everyone turned to look at the Jaffa as they heard the staff weapons being armed before being pointed at Jack.

"No!" Jonas cried and held his hand out to the soldiers. "Stand down. Do it!"

"You sonofabitch, you could have saved his life. You could have stopped all this from happening. You traded in the lives of one planet for another. You're the reason millions are dead. You think saying sorry cuts it?" Jack stood menacingly over Jonas.

Jonas slowly got to his feet and stood inches in front of Jack; his eyes defiant and angry. "Anubis destroyed my people. He has rendered a whole planet lifeless. I carry the blame for that too. I could not save my people, and I was foolish to think that my loyalty to Anubis would pay off. I am, however, trying to save your planet. Hate me if you will, but don't be foolish enough to let your hate be the reason Earth is destroyed completely. I'm not asking you to be my friend. But if you want to save this world from complete annihilation, then you will have to trust me. If physically harming me makes you feel better, then by all means take out all of your aggression. Otherwise, listen to what I have to tell you."

Jack stood, listening, tight-lipped. As much as he hated Jonas Quinn, this was not the time for recrimination. The ugly truth was, if anyone could help them it was Jonas. Jack lowered his P90 to his side and stepped back.

"Why is Anubis here?" Jack sat down on a nearby fallen tree trunk.

Jonas took a moment to feel his jaw where Jack had hit him. "Earth's position in this system has proved to be a beneficial one to Anubis. If he were to base his forces here, it would strengthen his position even further. It would allow him to mobilize his forces much faster if he needed to launch an attack. The only problem is that the people of this world have not accepted slavery as others have. Anubis faces the same problem that Ra did. There are too many rebel factions on this planet that oppose the Jaffa patrols. The only thing keeping Anubis in power is the Stargate."

"Anubis wants to base his armies here, but first he needs to get rid of the people opposing him," Paul said matter-of-factly.

"Yes," Jonas said in a measured tone. "Therefore he will destroy indiscriminately. If the people of this planet refuse to become slaves, they will die. And so will those that put up no resistance."

"Wait a second! He can't kill everyone," Sam said.

"Anubis is a powerful Goa'uld, Major Carter. As First Prime of Apophis I was witness to the complete destruction of many planets," Teal'c said grimly, his mouth turning down and his eyes darkening visibly even in the black of night.

"Okay, so how is he planning to do this?" Maybourne asked.

"He will systematically destroy everyone, then his people will move in to start turning this planet into a base for his armed forces. His fleets will arrive in the coming weeks and others will arrive by Stargate."

"What kind of timescale are we talking?" Jack asked, dreading the reply.

Jonas hesitated for a long moment. "Days."

"What?" Sam, Paul and Maybourne shouted in unison. Jack covered his face with his hand and muttered something incomprehensible.

"It will take more than days for the firepower needed to start systematically destroying every inhabitant on this planet," Teal'c commented.

Jonas went quiet, his gaze shifting to the ground and one hand wrapping around the fingers of the other as he appeared to ponder over whatever information he had that made him so nervous.

"What?" Sam snapped at Jonas.

Jonas looked at Sam, then Jack, who had a look of complete and utter annoyance on his face.

"A weapons array. There is a network of eighty satellites in the orbit of Earth."

Jack's mouth opened but words failed him as he stood up. Looking at the others, Jack saw that they were similarly stunnned, gawping at Jonas in bewilderment.

Jonas continued quickly before anyone could interrupt, "They have been in Earth's orbit for the last nine months. Anubis has been using them to deter outside threats. They have very long-range capabilities and could wipe out whole fleets with a single command. And it seems that over the last two days the satellites have been repositioning in their orbit."

"Nine months?" Sam said amazed, "You're telling us now?"

Jack lined up his P90 to Jonas's head. "Carter, move, I'm going to shoot him."

Teal'c stepped towards Jack and pushed the gun away. "Why did you not inform us of this before?"

"I didn't know he would use them for this purpose. If you were to gain control of the system, a Goa'uld ship would not dare pass anywhere near your planet. Your position would be much stronger."

"Not while they're pointing at US!" Jack yelled.

"With all due respect, what use is this information at this stage?" Paul asked.

"You must make an attempt to retake the Stargate. There will not be another opportunity. As I've said, Anubis has begun to doubt me. I will not be able to help you if I am dead."

"I can live with that," Jack said flatly.

"Security's so tight air can't get into that place, how the hell are we supposed to? We almost got killed last time remember?" Maybourne waved his gun in Jonas's direction.

"I will make sure you reach the mountain. After that you must go to Anubis' ship…."

"Whoa!" Jack immediately shouted.

"Excuse me?" Maybourne said at the same time.

"Your plan is flawed in its immense stupidity," Teal'c said with a disgusted look.

"Well that's not how I would put it, but I agree with Teal'c." Paul frowned at Jonas. "I'm guessing it'll be hard enough to get into the mountain, let alone the ship."

Jonas shook his head. "I've thought it through. There will be a disruption during which you can use the rings to get to the ship. The controls for the satellite system are on the ship. Right now the satellites have only shifted positions, but they're still pointing away from Earth and into space. The minute they're re-aligned it's over. The last I checked they were maintaining their position."

"And what if this disruption goes wrong?" Sam asked with a wave of her P90 and a cold hard glare.

"It won't, not if you do this according to my timing. Tomorrow night."

"Okay, everyone move, I'm going to shoot him." Maybourne pointed the handgun at Jonas.

Jonas sighed wearily. "Anubis is worried. He knows there are Goa'uld waiting to usurp his power. He knows Earth will make a good stronghold. He also knows there are people who know Cheyenne Mountain like the back of their hand and are just waiting for an opportunity. The truth is, your last break-in attempt has made him realize that he may be powerful, but he's still vulnerable. After tomorrow, you will never have another chance."

They all exchanged tired and weary looks. Time was something they didn't have. Not even for tossing about ideas or making decisions.

"Look, I know I'm partially, if not completely, to blame for all this. But I want to help you save your planet and you're going to have trust me whether you want to or not."

Sam’s face seemed to frost over. "You could have saved Daniel, but you and your people let him die.Then you turned up on our doorstep pretending you had nowhere to go just so you could let the Goa'uld in. Trust? You have no idea what that means."

“I had no choice!” Jonas shouted, surprising everyone. “The Goa'uld threatened to destroy my people if we didn't help. I did it to save my world. I am trying to help you to save yours now. The choice is yours."

Jack sighed and looked at Teal'c. "Teal'c?"

"It seems we are choiceless."

"Yeah, I was getting that too. What do you say, Carter? Ready to save the world?"

Sam sighed. “It may be our only chance.”

Jack turned to Paul and Maybourne. “We’re gonna do this?”

Paul seemed to think it over for a moment before giving a single sharp nod.

Maybourne shrugged. “Well, I did have plans, but I guess they can wait.”

Jack turned to Jonas. “Okay, seems like we’re all agreed on this group suicide. But first things first. I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you. If we have one shot left, I’m gonna take it. But you remember one thing. Give me one reason, any reason, and I will shoot you, last chance or not. You got that?”

Jonas’s jaw clenched, his body stiffened. “It’s not a subtle point you’re making, Colonel. I think I understand.”

Jack nodded. “Good. Tell us what we need to know.”

Jack walked down the corridor. He would have done anything for this corridor to be longer. Maybe to have it never end. It was a hard thing to do, ask people to willingly give themselves up for sacrifice all in the name of duty. Those people of Earth who were familiar with the words SG-1, Stargate, or SGC had nothing but contempt for the people associated with them. These names were blamed for the destruction of Earth. They were the enemy within. If these people disappeared, no one would care they had done so in trying to save the planet. Again.

Jack’s footsteps on the concrete echoed in a dull and dead manner about him. This would be their last shot. Save the planet once more or prepare for the Apocalypse. Jack pulled his cap forward and made sure the radio was strapped securely to his jacket as he approached the door. Denying himself a moment to stand still, pray or think he pushed the door open and entered. The briefing room held every member of the facility, decked out in their preserved black uniforms. Crates lay empty of their zats, guns, C4 and every other weapon they had left up until this point. Jack looked to the front where Teal’c, Sam, Paul, Maybourne, Janet and Cassandra stood.

“Wish I was coming with you guys,” Cassandra said holding back tears.

Jack stepped forward smiling at her. “Well, you have to stay here, look after the place. Water the plants. Keep the doc company. Don’t worry. We’ll be back in time for happy hour.”

Cassandra leant into Jack and let him give her a tight hug before he turned to everyone else in the room.

Jack took a deep breath and looked at his people. “Well, you all know what we gotta do. What’s at stake, I won’t go over it again. All that remains is for me to say something profound, I guess.”

Jack thought for a moment. He didn’t want to say anything profound. He wanted this night to be over as quickly as possible. He didn’t want to tell these people to go to their deaths with a smile on their face. He looked at his team. Teal’c and Sam. Teal’c looked back, calm, and gave a slow nod in return. He turned to Sam. She had a somber look on her face as she nodded to him.

Jack faced his people. People that had remained a part of this new SGC even when they could have gone their own way like every person on the planet. Men and women that had stayed a part of the SGC because they felt it was their duty. Men and women that weren’t getting paid for their efforts. Good people. “It’s been an honor serving with you all. Let’s go kick some Goa’uld ass.”

“Harry,” Jack turned back and whispered, “you and your men hold your position until we give the signal. Remember, not until then. If we don’t give the signal I want you to abort.”

“Jack there’s no need to be so fatalistic,” Maybourne said.

“I’m not asking for your opinion Maybourne. It’s an order.” Jack sighed and looked away into the pitch black of the forest for a moment. “I know you don’t have to take any orders I give you, but I can’t let you lead those people to their deaths if we fail. I don’t trust Jonas. If this goes wrong, they’ll have the only people that have had the ability to launch an attack against them. That’ll be the end of it. If we don’t make it back outta there, I want you and Davis to get back to base, and evacuate to the beta site. You got that?”

Maybourne shook his head tiredly. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good.” Jack nodded and turned to join Sam and Teal’c.

“Colonel?” Paul called after Jack. Jack turned back.

“Sir? Major Carter, Teal’c… good luck.” Paul nodded to them trying to keep down the dread in his stomach. “We’ll be right here waiting for your signal.”

Teal’c bowed his head towards Paul, and Sam smiled with a nod. Jack moved forward and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “We’ll see you in there Major.”

SG-1 made their way cautiously through the forest. They knew that from this point onward the Jaffa presence would be heavy and had resorted to radio silence.

“O’Neill,” Teal’c whispered, “you have changed the plan.”

They stopped behind a dirt mound with fallen trees, a reminder of the first Goa’uld attacks. Jack sat with his back to the tree and looked at the blackened faces of his team. “I told you, I don’t trust Jonas.”

“You think he was leading us to an ambush,” Sam said.

“Well, you gotta admit it all sounds a bit easy. We all turn up and Jonas lets us in through the front door and then we hide out until this diversion of his? The guy spent three months with us. You’d think he’d know we wouldn’t fall for this,” Jack said with an unimpressed tone.

Teal’c nodded. “He will be expecting the others to be here.”

“Right, only that’s not going to happen now; is it?”

“And if it’s not a setup?” Sam said.

Jack shrugged. “Then one of us will find an access hatch and send up a flare and the cavalry can join us.”

“It may not be enough to overcome the numbers inside, O’Neill.”

Jack gave Teal’c a flat look. “You’re like a ray of sunshine, Teal’c. We might be outnumbered but we can still do a lot of damage.”

“O’Neill!” Teal’c quickly assumed a defensive position, zat aimed in front as movement in the bushes nearby disturbed the quiet.

Both Sam and Jack aimed their P90’s in the direction of the movement. A moment later Jonas appeared with two Jaffa guards. SG-1 slowly stood up, weapons never moving from their position. Jonas looked bewildered for a moment.

“Where are the others?”

“Others?” Jack said casually.

“The rest of your people, Colonel. You cannot overthrow an army of Jaffa with three people.”

“They’re not here. I’m not willing to risk lives on your word. For all I know this could be your way of offering us up on a plate to your pal Anubis,” Jack said with a degree of smugness.

Jonas’s face took on an angry appearance as he took a deep breath. “Why can’t you just listen and die? Don’t you understand? It’s too late! This planet is finished. Your people may have escaped their deaths tonight, but in due time they will die. Like you.”

“I don’t think so,” Sam said shaking her head and flexing her finger to fire the P90.

Jack smiled. “What she said.”

“Drop your weapons, Colonel,” Jonas said in a disinterested fashion.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Um…no?”

It was when they heard the arming of staff weapons behind them and from around them hidden in the trees, that SG-1 realized why the command had been so calm. They were surrounded and there was no escape except for the staff weapons that promised certain death.

Had their last attempt to break in brought them this far, SG-1 would have seen the degree to which Cheyenne Mountain had changed. The corridors were now gilded with Goa’uld hieroglyphs. The lighting everywhere was warm and low, armed Jaffa busily walking to and fro as SGC staff would have done so years go.

They may have not stepped inside this facility for a long time, but it was obvious they were being led to the MALP room. The Jaffa soldiers pushed SG-1 into the room that had been widened, tiled and decorated in rich warm colors that made the interior glow. Shiny silk curtains hung around the whole place and especially over the throne, which was at the far end of the room, on a raised platform, colorful cushions at its foot. No mystery who that belonged to.

Jonas entered the room and looked at Jack, Teal’c and Sam; each member throwing back murderous looks. SG-1 had assumed the customary position: on their knees with their hands bound behind their backs.

“How do you like it?” Jonas asked, smiling as he motioned to the surroundings. “I think the colors add character. In your day this facility was so gray and dull. Not very uplifting.”

Jack kept back a snort. “Huh, I give you the man who knows everything including interior design.”

Jonas didn’t reply, but looked to the Jaffa that stood behind Jack. A second later, Jack felt the hard jab of a staff weapon in his side. He scrunched his face but managed to keep the groan at bay as he tried not to topple forward on to his face.

Jonas looked down at Jack with a small smirk. “You should be careful of what you say, Colonel. Anubis isn’t as lenient as I.”

Still feeling a substantial amount of pain from the staff that had tried to remove his kidney, Jack settled for keeping his mouth shut as Jonas just kept smiling in an irritatingly smug fashion.

A moment later, a bright beam appeared in front of the throne. In a few seconds the beam widened to create a holographic image of a man in a black cloak and mask that obscured his face. The image was over eight feet tall and was looking down at the prisoners.

“My Lord, I have done as you requested.” Jonas was no longer smug.

The room was silent as Anubis stayed still, his invisible eyes not moving from SG-1. The three glared back with defiance.

“So, you are the ones that would save this planet?” came a deep reverberating voice. “Jack O’Neill, slayer of Ra. The Shol’va, Teal’c. Samantha Carter, host of Jolinar. Was there not a fourth?”

Anubis turned to Jonas who looked much more uncomfortable than earlier. “Ah yes. The fourth one died a hero’s death, did he not, Councilor Quinn?”

Jonas bowed his head in reply as Anubis began to laugh; an echoing and heavy sound.

“There are more of us out there. The fight doesn’t stop because you've got us,” Jack said, looking at the masked face as if he could see the creature behind it.

“But it does, Tauri. First we will kill you, then the rest of this planet. The prices on your heads have long expired, even an eternity of death for you would be pointless. You are nothing. The people of this world are nothing. They will perish to make way for their god.”

“Not unless it’s Elvis,” Jack said with utmost seriousness.

A hollow laugh sounded from behind the mask as hand came up slowly and he pointed at SG-1. “Kill them all…slowly.”

Jack shook his head. “Hey, you’ve got us now, there’s no need to impress us with clichés.”

Anubis turned to Jonas. “You have done well in restoring my faith in you, Councilor. You will be rewarded for your work.”

Jonas bowed his head. “Thank you, my Lord.”

The image of Anubis disappeared into a beam of light that shot back up into the ceiling where it had come from. SG-1 found themselves being pulled off the ground by their collars, all under the gaze of Jonas. Jonas had a satisfied smile on his face as he approached the group.

“You failed,” Jonas said standing in front of Jack. “You could not save your friend. You could not save yourselves. And you could not save your planet.”

“You’re right,” Jack said quietly, “but there is one thing.”

Jonas frowned curiously. “Oh?”

Jack smiled. Then without warning he head butted Jonas square in the face. In the next few seconds the Jaffa beat Jack to the ground, followed by Sam and Teal’c who had tried to come to his aid. Jonas slowly got to his feet, wiping his bloody nose on the back of his hand. He motioned with this head to the nearest Jaffa and Jack was hauled back to his feet.

Both men stared at each other, years of bad blood thrumming between them. Jonas stepped closer so their faces were only an inch apart. Sam and Teal’c watched as Jonas’s face became ugly with anger. He was looking at the blood on his hand one second and the next moment, he buried his fist hard in Jack’s stomach. As Jack doubled over, Jonas hit him again, Sam and Teal’c were held back by their captors. Jack fell to his knees with a small groan and Jonas knelt down with him.

“You made my life hell. I have waited a long time to do that,” Jonas whispered quietly.

Getting up, he stepped away from the group. “Lock them up. I will deal with their deaths personally.”

“Okay, we should start making our way,” Maybourne said, glancing at his watch.

“But Colonel O’Neill….” Paul started, but Maybourne held his gun up to silence him.

“I know what he said, but you want to leave them on their own so the Goa’uld can keep killing them and reviving them in the sarcophagus for the next hundred years? Or better still, make them all into hosts?” Maybourne asked quietly.

“No, but I’m not sure if I want to lead our people to their deaths either. I understand why he gave us those orders. This isn’t a time for false bravado. Don’t you think the Goa’uld have taken enough human lives?”

“A few more makes no difference to us, sirs,” a voice spoke from behind them.

Maybourne and Paul turned to see their soldiers grouped behind them, weapons at the ready, and determination visible even through the night and face paint. Maybourne turned to face Paul.

Paul nodded. “I guess we have our answer then.”

The cell they had been thrown into hadn’t changed much, aside from the fact that conveniences such as the bunks or a chair had been removed. Jack, Teal’c and Sam sat on the floor of the dimly lit cell, nobody spoke.

“You were right,” Sam’s voice sounded broken, “you were right all along. For a moment I thought we could trust him.”

“You were not the only one,” Teal’c said with a slight sigh as he looked away from Sam.

“Yeah, well. This is one of those times I wish wasn’t right.” Jack placed his hand flat on his stomach and tried not to grimace when the bruised area flared up in pain.

“I really thought we had a chance. I thought we’d get the gate back in our lifetime,” Sam said with a small, sad smile.

“It doesn’t stop with us, Carter. You know that right? And you know whatever happens, one day the Goa’uld are gonna get their asses kicked off this planet,” Jack said with a stubborn assurance.

Sam nodded. “I know, I just wish we could have been a part of it.”

Jack sighed and wrapped his arms around himself. “Yeah…what he said.”

They fell into silence, Teal’c closed his eyes in a form of semi-meditation, Jack sat on the ground, felt his bruises and Sam looked around the cell and thought about the base.

“You know, I can’t believe they redecorated,” Sam said after a moment.

“Indeed.”

“Pft! If you wanna call that decorating,” Jack griped.

Jack closed his eyes and let his head rest against the wall as Teal’c and Sam carried out an almost monosyllabic conversation. He hugged himself tighter as it, for some reason, seemed to dull the pain in his torso. Jack’s eyes snapped open as the base alert suddenly came alive. The three were instantly on their feet and looking at each other. Not only were the klaxons blaring, but over them was a recorded Goa’uld voice that was repeating the same message over and over again.

Jack turned to Sam. “You gotta be kidding me. That’s like insult to injury.”

“Teal’c, what’s it saying?” Sam asked as she realized Teal’c was carefully listening to the message.

“It is an intruder alert. Someone is trying to come through the Stargate.”

Jonas, flanked by his guards, hurriedly walked along the corridor. Another Jaffa rounded the corner and went straight for Jonas.

“My lord, the shield is malfunctioning and the system has become inaccessible.”

Jonas clenched his jaw. “Fix it. Find out who is responsible for this. I want that iris closed, you understand?” He turned to two of the four guards with him. “You and you, assemble the guard to deal with the intruders. You two, with me.”

The Jaffa nodded and quickly about-faced and ran in the opposite direction. The other Jaffa followed Jonas as he uncoiled his zatnikatel on approaching SG-1’s cell.

“I thought this place was under a lock down,” Jack said.

“Well, it’s obviously an uninvited guest,” Sam suggested, putting her ear to the door.

Jack gave Sam an exasperated sigh as she tried to listen. She saw the look on his face and sheepishly pulled away, giving a small shrug.

Jack looked at Teal’c. “Think they still have the iris?”

“I believe Jonas said they did,” Teal’c responded.

“Yeah well, Jonas’s word doesn’t stand for squat.”

They all took a step away from the door as they heard the loud clunking noise of the locks releasing. The door heavily swung in to reveal Jonas in the corridor, zat pointed in front of him.

SG-1 stared in silence as he stepped into the cell, his Jaffa soldiers standing menacingly behind him. There was a bloody looking cut on the bridge of his nose where Jack had head butted him and his face seemed flushed.

“The iris is malfunctioning, because its commands have been overridden from a remote computer elsewhere in this base. Most of the Jaffa in this base are, right now, in the gateroom waiting to kill whoever comes through the gate. In moments, if they have followed my instructions, this base will be flooded with rebel Jaffa. Led by your son, Teal’c. But it will take only moments for Anubis to know what has happened and he will send reinforcements from his ship. One of you can take the access shaft at the end of this corridor to signal Major Davis. Your things are in the next cell. All other access to the mountain has been closed off by my command. The people Ry’ac brings, and your people outside this mountain, along with the few Jaffa I have on my side here, can take back control of this base. But only if we hurry.”

Sam and Teal’c exchanged looks, but Jack continued to stare at Jonas, listening to every word.

“I thought one of us was supposed to go to Anubis' ship,” Jack said.

“Yes. One of you will have to come with me. I will try and relay the command frequency of the satellites to the base so the array can be controlled from here. Someone here must plant the explosives in the shield generator. A small explosion will destabilize the generator and destroy the ship. Anubis has set the repositioning in motion. We don’t have long before the last signal for firing is sent to the array.”

“What about Anubis and his Jaffa? You think they’re going to let you waltz in and out of there just like that?” Sam cut in.

“They know me. I have been on that ship many times. They won’t question my arrival in the time of a crisis.”

Jack frowned. “This all your plan?”

Jonas nodded in an almost defiant manner. “Yes. It is. Why?”

Jack nodded back and said, “It’s a good plan. I’ll come with, to plant the explosives. C4?”

Jonas stared back dumbfounded, “Yes…uh…a small charge of C4 would be enough to destabilize it.”

“Good, let’s go then,” Jack said, pushing past Jonas and into the corridor, leaving him behind wondering if Jack had really called his plan good or if it was a newer and more sophisticated style of O’Neill sarcasm.

Armed and ready, they ran down the familiar corridors with Jonas and the few Jaffa he had on his side. Every now and then a surprised soldier would appear around a corner and stare uncertainly at the supposed prisoners, only to be zatted down.

“Carter, you get Maybourne and Davis down here,” Jack said. “You go get your son, Teal’c, rally the troops,” he added with a grin.

“O’Neill, I will come with you,” Teal’c started.

“No, I need you down here, Teal’c.”

Jack nodded to Sam and Teal’c, his jaw clenched because he wanted to say something else. Teal’c bowed his head to Jack, Jack gave his arm a pat. He looked at Sam whose eyes had an imploring look in them.

“I’ll be right back,” Jack said before turning to go.

“Jack,” Sam grabbed his arm to stop him. Jack turned around to look at her, eyes glassy as if there would be tears, but knowing her, there wouldn’t be. "Be careful."

“I’ll be right back,” Jack said quietly, reaching out and squeezing Sam's shoulder as she nodded back.

“We'll be waiting,” she said, the face of a soldier back in place.

The gate was open, the iris closing halfway and then opening again as the technicians in the control room tried to access the commands. The gate room was filled with Jaffa, their staff weapons aimed at the event horizon as they awaited the intruders.

The technicians in the control room panicked only when they heard staff blasts in the room above and from the corridor just below the control room. Moments later Teal’c strode in and zatted the unprepared staff, two Jaffa soldiers behind him doing the same. He stood in the control room, dead and unconscious people lying at his feet, his eyes drinking up the sight of the active gate. Hoping the first time he would see his son wouldn’t be the last.

The Jaffa with him made quick work of gathering the unconscious bodies in the control room and putting them in a corner, their hands tied. Teal’c looked over the control panels. Still the same controls with a few Goa’uld adjustments. It was then a silver globe came flying out of the gate and landed on the ramp, stopping just before falling off the end. Something Teal’c may not have realized had he not been watching one of the monitors that was focused on the gate. Teal’c quickly hit the button to close the blast doors just as everyone realized what was happening. The door closed, but not before allowing Teal’c a small glimpse of a flash.

Sam had climbed out of the hatch and was on the verge of lighting a flare when the familiar sound of an armed staff made her stop.

“Stop what you are doing, now,” came a deep sounding command from behind her. Sam dropped the flare to the ground and raised her hands in the air. Just as she made the decision to sneak attack him and throw him down the shaft she had climbed out of, she heard the high-pitched sounding blast of a zat gun. Sam turned to see the Jaffa glow blue in the dark for a moment before falling to the ground.

“Glad we didn’t wait for your signal?”

Sam turned to see Maybourne and Paul followed by their group. She sighed and nodded to them, “We’ve got reinforcements coming through the gate. This shaft is the only unguarded way in, so the guards on the outside won’t be a problem for now.”

“What about Teal’c and Colonel O’Neill?” Paul asked.

“The colonel’s headed to Anubis' ship with Jonas, Teal’c’s coordinating the reinforcements. I think we can do this.”

Maybourne looked at the entrance to the shaft. “Well, in that case, what are we waiting for?”

Jack followed Jonas through the familiar, yet alien, corridors. They came to a stop near a corner and Jonas signaled that two people were approaching. The Jaffa ran around the corner straight into zat fire. Jonas and Jack continued towards the ring room. The room had been an adequate sized storeroom in a previous incarnation, now it seemed larger, and had been decorated with the now familiar golden Goa’uld motif. Both men stood in the center of the room. As Jonas was about to press a remote control device in his hand Jack stopped him.

“You just gonna beam up there?”

“They know me. I can get to the satellite controls without anyone stopping me.”

“And me? They’re just gonna let me in?”

“You don’t have to go,” Jonas said evenly.

“Right, and you’re going to plant the explosives in the generator while you also…,” Jack waved his hands trying to prompt an explanation not really sure what Jonas’s intention towards the satellite array was.

“Relay the array command to Cheyenne, so once you have command of the gate and mountain, the array functions will be at your fingertips,” Jonas sniped.

“Right, that. So you’re gonna do both things at once? Or you got a time machine of some sort? I said I was coming with you. It’s my planet that’s at stake,” Jack sniped right back.

Jonas smiled. “And because you still don’t trust me.”

“What? You gonna argue about it?”

Jonas shook his head, a look of disappointment on his face. “No. I’m not.”

“Okay, then.”

Jonas sighed, “What do you suggest then?”

“You guys have an armory around here right?”

”Of course.”

Jack nodded. “Let’s take a little detour.”

Headed by Maybourne, half of the unit ran through the corridors taking down Jaffa like dominoes. Paul led his half towards the gateroom to rendezvous with whomever was coming through the Stargate. Sam followed Maybourne and his unit as they headed towards the upper levels; the Jaffa there had obviously caught on to the developing situation. As she rounded a corner, her radio crackled to life.

“Carter, make your way to the old storage room on seventeen. You’re gonna need people,” came Jack’s order, crisp and clear, and back in the saddle as though he’d never left the SGC.

“Copy that,” Sam said as she caught up to her group.

Teal’c stood outside the gate room, knowing that all the Jaffa soldiers would have fallen where they stood when that stun grenade went off. He wasn’t wrong. Teal’c walked through the bodies, picking up zats and pushing away staff weapons from the hands of the fallen as he made his way to the ramp. There it stood. The Stargate. He stared at it in wonder, as if it were the first time he had seen it. The human phrase of there being light at the end of the tunnel never made so much sense. Teal’c completely understood it as he looked at the shimmer of the event horizon. He saw hope.

Even so, as the Jaffa soldiers stepped through two by two, Teal’c still raised his zat in defense. But there was a distinct difference in these Jaffa to the ones that lay fallen. None of these had the symbol of a false God tattooed on their forehead. The room filled quickly with the presence of these men that curiously regarded Teal’c standing there with his zat pointed without real aim now.

Teal’c scanned their faces, looking for one face in particular. He wasn’t sure he would be able to recognize it after all this time, but his eyes sought it out hungrily, nevertheless.

It was then the last man stepped through. He was young. He was as tall as Teal’c and his eyes carried a ferocious intensity. He had immediately seen Teal’c. Teal’c watched the young man walk slowly down the ramp, his eyes never moving from Teal’c’s face. Teal’c didn’t even realize that his hand was lowering the zat as he stared at the face of his son.

Ry’ac jumped off the ramp and threw his staff to the ground as he looked at Teal’c, a smile spreading on his face. “Father.”

Teal’c’s heart seemed to swell to the point it would burst with the pain of happiness. He embraced his son tightly in his arms, with no intention of letting go. “My son.” He was barely able to speak.

Grabbing Ry’ac by his arms, Teal’c pushed him back to take a long look at him and this time, his eyes on the verge of tearful, he said with a stronger affirmation, “My son.”

Paul trained his weapon in front of him and then stepped into the corridor. The path clear, he motioned for his unit to follow and they proceeded down the corridor towards the gate room. As soon as he stepped in, P90 pointed in front to shoot hostiles, every Jaffa armed and aimed his staff at Paul.

“JE-sus!” Paul said looking into the end of every staff pointed at him.

“No! He is with us,” Teal’c explained, holding up his hand.

Paul gave a small sigh of relief as the Jaffa all lowered their weapons, “Teal’c?”

“We have the gate, Major Davis, now we must keep it in our control,” Teal’c replied.

“Okay, station a few men to guard this area, but we’re going to need more people outside. The Jaffa topside know something’s up and they’re trying to infiltrate the base. Colonel Maybourne and Major Carter are headed to level seventeen.”

“Do not worry, we will deal with the infiltrators,” the young man next to Teal’c spoke up with much conviction.

Teal’c looked at the younger man and smiled proudly, “This is Ry’ac, Major Davis. My son.”

Paul nodded. “Pleased to meet you, but we’ll have to keep introductions short if we’re going to take on the rest of this base.”

Ry’ac gave a sharp nod. “Understandable. My father, my men and myself will accompany you. These Jaffa will be of no worry for a while.”

“Good, let's move out!” Paul said, headed back out into the corridor. Ry’ac motioned to his men to follow, and then to a few to stay behind with the fallen Jaffa as he and Teal’c followed Paul out of the gateroom.

“Father, there is something I must tell you,” Ry’ac said as they ran down the corridor.

“Now may not be an appropriate time.”

Ry’ac smiled. “You will want to know this father, believe me. It is about an old friend of yours.”

Jaffa gathered in the ring room following Jonas’s call up to the ship that he would be arriving to speak with Anubis. Something in his voice suggested vigilance would be a good idea. Therefore the room was filled with a noticeably large amount of soldiers. They all stepped back and armed their staff weapons as the rings shot up from the floor. Each soldier stood with staff aimed, ready to shoot any potential enemy in the heart or head as they had been taught to do so.

Therefore, it was too late when they realized the rings had not transported anybody. And as they lowered their staff weapons, it was then they saw the shiny stun grenade sitting in the middle of the floor. By the time anyone thought of disabling it or running for the door, it engulfed the room in a painfully white light and sharp metallic sound that sent every Jaffa to the ground.

Moments later the rings activated again. This time the transport included Jonas Quinn and Jack O’Neill.

Maybourne’s unit had smoked out a whole corridor of Jaffa to get to level seventeen. The Jaffa had not expected tear gas. In their years of occupying Cheyenne Mountain, it seemed they had become complacent and forgotten that once the Tau’ri had been a formidable enemy that fought hard, even with primitive knowledge and technology.

“Clear!” Maybourne shouted as he entered the storage room, Sam right behind him. “Now what?”

Sam shrugged. “I dunno, I guess we wait. He said to come here.”

”You sure this is the old storage room?”

Sam nodded adamantly. “Positive. I know this place like the back of my hand. I’m sure.”

Maybourne stepped in and scanned the room. It was an ornate room like a lot of the SGC. Gilding, satin fabrics, strange spicy scents. At one time lavish, but at the same time almost gaudy. It was the kind of décor that made him appreciate minimalism even more than usual.

“This place reminds me of a motel I stayed at once,” Maybourne muttered.

Sam frowned. “I won’t ask.”

Maybourne took a step into the room. Had he stepped any further, the descending rings would have stopped him, by landing directly on top of his head.

“What the…?” Maybourne yelled as he jumped back.

They all looked, in confusion, at a group of unconscious Jaffa left lying on the floor as the rings disappeared.

Sam looked at the Jaffa and back at Maybourne. “I guess that means they’re up there.”

“You know where you’re going?” Jack asked as he ran behind Jonas through another elaborately decorated corridor. “These people have no idea about overkill, do they?”

“It’s this way.” Jonas pointed to a corridor. “I’ll try and relay the command frequency while you plant the explosives.”

“Why not just plant the explosives and blow the whole thing up?” Jack asked not entirely trusting the plan.

Jonas shook his head. “You have no idea how powerful the network is. They can detect a Goa’uld mothership from a thousand light years away. They could destroy a whole fleet of motherships. If you have control over this network, Earth will never be at the mercy of outside forces again. For once, the Goa’uld will fear you. Destroying this ship will eliminate Goa’uld control over the array. It’s a weapon worth possessing.”

Jack nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, I can live with that. Which way to the generator?”

Anubis sat in his throne, relishing the echoing silence of the room, the darkness of the colors enveloping him in a sensual manner. He let himself smile behind his mask. A Jaffa walked in, eyes to the ground as he bowed in front of Anubis.

“My lord, Councilor Quinn is here with one of the Tau’ri. The mountain has also been taken by the Tau’ri and a large number of Jaffa that came through the Chaapa’ai.”

The room was silent for a long time. Then, without warning, a deep rumble of a laugh emerged from behind the mask. “Excellent. Councilor Quinn has done well to bring all our enemies to us in one swoop. Bring the good councilor to me with the Tau’ri.”

“And the other intruders, my lord?”

“Round them all up and kill them.”

The first sign of trouble was every locked door in the SGC opening of its own accord and opening the corridors up to each other.

“What’s going on?” Sam spoke into her radio, heading back out of the storage room now that the Jaffa were tied up and harmless.

”Someone’s opening all the entrances,” was the breathless reply from Paul. “There’re Jaffa everywhere. They knew we were coming. It’s an ambush. Get out of ther…” the transmission broke off suddenly.

Maybourne looked at Sam and said exactly what he knew they were both thinking. “It was a setup.”

Jack ran down a corridor towards the shield generator, while musing on how this had almost seemed quite easy. His path through the ship had been unsurprisingly uncluttered. Almost as if someone was keeping people out of his way. Jack slowed down and took a stun grenade out before turning into the corridor that would lead him to the core of the ship. They might have let him get there without a fight, but dollars to donuts they’d be waiting for him around the corner.

He set the grenade and gently rolled it on the ground towards its destination, before moving to a safe distance from it. Even with eyes closed, he knew when the grenade had gone off, feeling the bright flash from around the corner on his face. Jack started to make his way down the corridor again and just as he had guessed, there on the ground lay a welcome wagon of soldiers.

What he didn’t see was a door to his left slide up and a Jaffa coming through it before he zatted Jack.

Maybourne and Sam ran down the corridor, their unit following them. The only choice they had left now was to get out of the mountain. They didn’t want to leave the others. They didn’t want to leave with Jack on Anubis' ship, but the reality dictated that the only way another attack could be launched was if there were survivors on this mission. It was practicality over loyalty. Of course this all depended on whether or not Anubis would really bring Earth to the virtual brink of destruction in order to build on the ashes.

Whatever events were to unfold, they had to get out if there was to be any chance of surviving to fight another day. It was when they ran into an adjoining corridor and saw Teal’c, Ry’ac and Paul on their knees, with staff weapons pointed at their heads, and the realization that Jaffa had closed in behind them, they knew the choice between running and staying had been made for them.

The Jaffa shoved Jack into another over-decorated room, pushing him down onto his abused knees. Looking up he saw the familiar sight of Anubis peering at him through his mask.

“See how easily I have crushed your rebellion? You brought your people into my waiting hands. Now they all die,” Anubis said, the smile on his face visible in his tone.

“You know, nobody likes a showoff,” Jack drawled only to receive a sharp jab in his side. “Especially one that hides behind a mask. What is with that anyway? Goa’uld have no halitosis remedy?”

The Jaffa behind Jack promptly shoved the end of his staff into Jack’s back to shut him up as the door they had come through slid back again. Jack turned his head to see Jonas standing in the entrance, an apprehensive look on his face.

“Councilor Quinn. Come,” Anubis said, beckoning Jonas.

Jack shook his head in disgust. “You don’t know when to stop do you?”

Jonas looked at Jack and rolled his eyes as he stepped forward into the room and almost tripped. It was then, Jack realized Jonas was being prompted forward by a guard that had his staff right in the middle of Jonas’s back. A second later Jonas was pushed to the ground next to Jack.

“Well, this has got to be embarrassing,” Jack said to Jonas who looked back with a sour expression, then away.

Anubis looked at Jonas who stared back defiantly. “Your betrayal will cost you dearly, Councilor.”

“It already has,” Jonas replied quietly.

Anubis laughed. “Pathetic. You two will die. Over and over again, just for our amusement. But first we will rebuild our empire and it will start with the destruction of this planet.” Anubis turned to a Jaffa at his side, “Reposition the weapons system. Towards Earth.”

“NO!” Jonas jumped towards the throne, only for two burly Jaffa to grab him and beat him to the ground.

Jack glowered at Anubis. “Why? You’ve already got the planet. You don’t have to do this!”

Anubis laughed as he clicked his fingers for the guards to take the prisoners away. “Why? Because I can. Because I am your God. Take them away.”

Everyone was quickly herded into the gateroom. The Jaffa had unexpectedly sprung from every direction, going through offensive maneuvers and quickly regaining control of the base. The intruders sat on their knees now, Jaffa standing all around them with their weapons ready to fire.

“I can’t believe we walked right into it,” Sam whispered to Paul who sat next to her, a bloody bruise on his cheek.

“You and the rest of us,” Maybourne answered from her other side.

Teal’c sat next to Ry’ac and they both stared ahead at the gate that was still engaged. But, Ry’ac did not looked as perplexed as many of the others. Teal’c almost smiled, but stopped himself.

All heads turned towards the door as a Jaffa strode into the gateroom and spoke to the one that stood on the ramp overlooking everyone, “Anubis has given the order.”

A cruel smile appeared on the Jaffa’s face as he walked down the ramp and looked at the prisoners and then motioned to his men.

“Wait!” Teal’c got to his feet, instantly receiving the attention of many a staff weapon. “You must lay your weapons down.”

Every Anubis guard began to laugh. Maybourne frowned and looked at Sam. “I hope he’s got a plan. Take it from someone who knows, the crazy act doesn’t always work.”

“Silence!” A Jaffa smacked Maybourne in the face with his staff, sending him to the ground. Sam helped him to sit up as he covered his numbing split lip.

“Teal’c, what are you doing?” Paul whispered with a cautious tone.

Teal’c looked to Ry’ac, who slowly nodded back. “You must relinquish your weapons. Or it will be regrettable,” Teal’c said with more force.

“The Shol’va has finally lost his mind,” the head guard said, laughing as he aimed the weapon at Teal’c.

Every prisoner watched in horror waiting for the inevitable. Teal’c’s jaw clenched as he took a deep breath and stood with shoulders squared and chest thrust out.

“I die free,” he said, his voice low and never wavering.

Ry’ac stood up, next to his father, another group of weapons focused on him. “As do I”.

Maybourne looked across at Paul as they shared a thought. Paul nodded and in a flash jumped to his feet, his elbow thrusting the nearest Jaffa in his face as he grabbed the startled man’s staff and fired at the Jaffa on the ramp. Maybourne jumped next, stopping a Jaffa from hitting Paul in the chest, the staff blast instead, grazing his arm. All hell broke loose as everyone struggled to regain power. Then, all of a sudden, everything came to a stop as the room became divided between Anubis’ guards with weapons and the former prisoners.

“Well, this is a tricky situation,” Maybourne said, armed staff weapon in hand.

“Lay down your weapons,” the Jaffa in front demanded.

“Or what? You kill us? You’re going to do that anyway,” Sam said from her position at Maybourne’s side, her staff weapon also ready to fire.

Everyone stood stock still, glaring in silence, no one willing to change the situation of the stand off.

“What the hell is that?” Paul broke the silence as he stared at an emerging light that rippled through the pool in the Stargate.

Eyes cautiously turned to the event horizon to see a bright glowing light hovering away. The Anubis guards stared in fear and confusion. Sam stared at Teal’c, face wearing apparent shock as her friend nodded back.

“Drop your weapons,” Sam instructed.

”Do as she says,” Maybourne said to the Jaffa.

“No not them. You. Everyone drop their weapons,” Sam said as she began to lower her staff to the ground.

“Are you insane?” Maybourne snapped. “We don’t exactly have the upper hand here.”

“Maybourne, trust me. Everyone, put them down.”

Maybourne sighed and shook his head before throwing the staff down, others following his example in confusion. The Jaffa in front armed their staffs ready to fire, confused by the actions of the prisoners, but ready to carry out their orders, nevertheless.

The light hovered warmly above everyone in the room. It began to descend slightly, almost coming to stop over the front line of Maybourne, Teal’c, Ry’ac, Sam and Paul.

“What trickery is this?” A Jaffa waved his staff at the light.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Sam warned with an almost malicious glint in her eye.

Too late. The Jaffa fired at the prisoners. When the light swooped down and absorbed the blasts, they fired at the light. The light burst into an extreme glow with the energy from the blast. It seemed to swell as it ascended towards the ceiling. Everyone watched in a quiet horror as the concentration of the light began to split, sending out crackles of electricity across the ceiling. In a few seconds the ceiling became a heaving mass of bright light, waves of electricity shooting through a forming mist.

Sam looked at the Jaffa in front of her then waved. “Bye.”

The Anubis guards didn’t even see the bolts of lightening that hit them.

Jack paced the small cell as Jonas stood at the door with his ear plastered to the door.

“You know, if you’d known all along this was going happen, we could have avoided it.”

“So you keep saying,” Jonas replied irritably.

“Hey! You knew he suspected you, and you still walked right into this trap.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Jonas turned to face Jack.

”Oh. I’m sorry, because I thought there was a little matter of Earth being blown up here?”

Jonas shook his head. “Anubis will have sent most of his guard into the mountain to round everyone up. He thinks he has everyone that’s opposing him in one place. He’s let his guard down now.”

Jack strode over to Jonas and grabbed him by his jacket. “The SGC is being stormed by Anubis' guards right now. And what about my people?”

Jonas stared back at Jack. “Trust me,” he said evenly.

Jack let Jonas go, abruptly, and motioned to the door. “Any bright ideas?”

Jonas went back to the door and placed his head next to it. “I think we’re alone.”

“That’s nice. How does that help us?”

Jonas knelt on the ground and began to loosen his boot. Jack watched with curiosity as Jonas removed a long thin wire and a small black cube from inside. He stood up and stuck the wire widthwise across the door and then added the cube to the end. As soon as the wire end was embedded in the cube Jonas ran from the door to the far end of the room, Jack followed suit. A few seconds later, the cube crackled and a bright blue flash tavelled the length of the wire. The color suddenly exploded splitting the door in half.

Jack looked at Jonas. “You carry that around in your boot? No wonder you always look so nervous. That and all the lying.”

Both men crept down the corridor, armed thanks to two negligent guards they had met on the way.

“Anubis has ordered the array to realign. There’s no time to relay its command functions. We’ll have to disable the satellite network before it issues the final command to fire. Without the explosives, there’s no way we can affect the shield generator either. The satellites will reposition any moment. As soon as that happens the final command to start firing will be transmitted,” Jonas whispered.

“Forget that. Just destroy the system. A few zat blasts should fry the works, right?”

“No point. The weapons system’s been built to carry out the last command unless the authorized codes to abort are used. If I destroy it, the network will carry out the last command anyway. There’s a back up system on board in case the primary one is destroyed or damaged. If the first is destroyed, the secondary system will automatically start up and the weapons will fire no matter what happens.”

“See that’s funny, because I don’t remember you telling me that part,” Jack snapped.

“It didn’t seem important at the time.” Jonas tried not to raise his voice.

“Right. Y’know, why you joined the Goa’uld is mystery. The Tok’ra would love you.”

“You don’t understand,” Jonas said looking deflated.

“Try me.”

Jonas sighed. “I don’t know where the second unit is. Only a handful of people know. Anubis didn’t deem it important enough to tell me.”

Jack stared flatly. “Of course he didn’t. I wonder why that was. What if you can’t disable the satellites?”

Jonas sighed and stopped walking to look at Jack. “Then, all this has been for nothing.”

Jack shook his head. “Knew I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning.”

The corridors seemed too deserted as Jonas and Jack made their way to the control room.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” Jack said, zat ready to fire on any surprise visitors. In his experience, when things got simple, they were about to get complicated. And since they were already on Anubis’ death row, he really didn’t like the idea of more complications arising.

As they entered the deserted control room, it was apparent why there was such a lack of security.

Jonas went to the burnt out control panel. “No.”

Jack looked at the controls, a number of black charred gaping holes where staff blasts had hit. “What now?”

Jonas shook his head. “I…I don’t know. The secondary system will already have gone online. It’s why they did it. It’s too late. The weapons will complete their repositioning, then the final signal will be sent.”

”I don’t wanna hear that. Gimme another option,” Jack said and waved his zat at Jonas.

Jonas combed his hand through his hair, a look of desperation on his face. “I can’t. I don’t know any other option.”

Jack stared at the zat in his hand. “What about an electrical discharge into the generator? A few discharges in fact.”

Jonas shook his head. “No. No point. It’ll destabilize the core and yes it will work, but you wouldn’t have enough time to get out. A timed explosion would have…”

“We don’t have that option,” Jack said seriously. “We can’t let those weapons fire. We have to blow this place before that last command. All I want to know is, will it work?”

Jonas nodded. “Yes. But we won’t make it out.”

“No, I won’t make it out. This isn’t a two-man operation. You get off the ship.”

Jonas shook his head. “No…I.”

“You’re sorry about what you did,” Jack cut him off, “I get it. No one's asking you to be a hero.”

“Jack… I’ll do this. I don’t have anything to go back to… you have a whole planet.” Jonas took the remote for the rings out of his pocket and handed it to Jack. “I started this all. So let me finish it.”

Jack took the remote and looked at it. “You don’t have….”

Jack stopped as he heard a shout followed by a blast from the corridor. Jonas suddenly lurched forward, not falling only because Jack grabbed him. Jack dragged the injured man behind a large computing console as the attacker ran towards the room. Jonas lay motionless on his side, a black hole smoldering square in his back. Jack lunged from behind the console firing twice as the Jaffa entered and sending him to the ground. Kneeling down, Jack gently pushed Jonas onto his back.

Jonas stared back, fear creeping into his eyes, a look of shock on his face followed by a grimace from the pain. “Huh, this hurts… more than I expected….” he choked.

“Hang in there, there’s gotta be a sarcophagus on this boat somewhere.” Jack began to lift the dying man.

Jonas resisted. “No… no time. Blow it up. The ship… blow it up….”

Jack looked at Jonas and tried to shake a painful feeling of déjà vu. He nodded as Jonas shut his eyes tight against the pain.

Jonas opened his eyes and coughed, blood staining his lips. “Are we even yet Colonel?”

Jack sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Dammit,” he muttered, then nodded to Jonas. “Sure, we’re even.”

Jonas’s body went rigid for a moment, his face contorting in pain before he went completely still. Jack looked at the dead eyes that stared back at him vacantly.

He put his hand over the dead man’s eyes and closed them as he muttered, “Yeah, we're even.”

He ran down the corridors, guessing wherever the action was it had something to do with the secondary weapons system. If Anubis had figured out they were aiming to take control of the satellite array, then he also knew Jack was headed to the generator. Which meant he’d probably be greeted by a few dozen Jaffa when he got there.

A zat in each hand, Jack cautiously made his way through the ship, knowing any moment the satellites could launch their attack. He turned the corner, foolishly complacent and…

“Kree!” a Jaffa at the head of a unit of at least seven or eight shouted. Each one was aiming his weapon at Jack’s head.

“You guys are early,” Jack said still holding onto the zats.

“Drop your weapons,” the Jaffa warned.

“Or?”

The Jaffa smiled and then moved the staff, firing so Jack’s arm got partially caught by the blast. It was enough to knock him off his feet and onto his back as he rolled over onto his side, a hand covering the wound.

Jack watched the Jaffa come closer and point the staff straight at his head. Swallowing against the pain, Jack looked at his executioner. “Go to hell.”

He closed his eyes and fell back as he heard the staff arm to fire. If this was it, he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of seeing fear. He had lived a long life and escaped death more times than anyone was allowed. To go down fighting wasn’t a shame. It was an honor.

Jack heard the blast. He waited for it to hit. He waited some more. He waited and waited. It was when he heard a series of different sounding blasts that he opened his eyes and sat up.

Jack stared in amazement at the dead Jaffa, all of them burnt to a crisp. He swiftly got to his feet and frantically looked around the corridor. There at the end towards which he had been headed, the golden walls seemed to glow for a moment. Jack picked up the zat gun and fought the pain as he ran down the corridor.

The generator room was huge and circular, a large glassy cylinder extending high up into other levels of the ship and down into the lower decks presumably. The cylinder was glowing a bright electric blue. Jack looked around for the other light he had witnessed only moments ago. He walked towards the steps that led to the generator and the control panel that extended around it.

He couldn’t help but let out a yell of frustration as he walked into a crackling forcefield in front of the steps. Jack kicked it a few times and then walked the length of the circular room. To his disappointment, the forcefield extended the whole way around the generator. It seemed Anubis hadn’t shown Jonas all his cards. Jack stepped back and fired the zat at the forcefield. The forcefield became visible for a moment as the zat blast caused small ripples of light to cascade across it.

It was then Jack noticed, from high above somewhere, a glowing light was descending towards the ground. It stopped on the other side of the forcefield, just a mass of pure light.

“Is that you?" Jack yelled.

The light seemed to shift, an illusion of shape appearing and two vague spots of blue light blinking back at Jack.

"Come on! You gotta give me more than that!" Jack said with frustration.

He watched as the light slowly morphed into human shape, the very distinct human shape of one Daniel Jackson. Daniel stood inches away from the forcefield, no glasses, and dressed in khakis with a cream sweater.

“You guys having a casual Friday?” Jack joked with a small smile. “What took you so long?”

“I’m sorry.” Daniel nodded. “These guys have more regulations than the military. Otherwise I would have been here.”

“So how come you’re here now?”

“Some things are worth breaking the rules for.” Daniel looked at the generator and then back at Jack. “You won’t be able to get through the forcefield. Actually, neither can I.” Daniel put his hand against it to illustrate. “Some kind of fluctuating frequency. If I tried to get through it, I’d probably end up scattered all over the room. It’s why I had to come through a wall, and I really hate that.”

Jack looked at his best friend. Still the same Daniel. Had no qualms about giving up his life for others, but still made time to complain about the little things. He even looked the same, except for that etheral glow of course. If someone had told him that the awkward geeky guy that couldn’t stop sneezing would one day ascend to some higher life form, Jack would have died laughing. But there he was again, more than willing to give everything up. The unfairness of the situation cut deep. All those years had passed and finally they were face to face again, only it wasn’t much of a meeting.

“Daniel, you don’t have to do this,” he said quietly.

Daniel smiled. “The array’s going to be in its final position in about five minutes. Got a better idea?”

Jack shook his head sadly. “No. I don’t.”

Daniel looked back, his face mirroring Jack’s sadness. “Not the reunion I was hoping for.”

Jack nodded regretfully. “No, not really.”

Daniel cleared his throat and gave a sharp nod. “Okay, I’ll give you two minutes to get to the rings. Go on, go,” he paused and then smiled feintly, eyes shining, “I’ll watch your back.”

Jack closed his eyes for a second and then nodded, his face expressionless. “Yeah.”

Though his legs seemed to refuse the direction he was forcing them to take, Jack backed away from the forcefield and started towards the entrance. Daniel walked up the steps and towards the giant cylinder that was giving the room an almost supernatural glow.

“Hey! What’s it like out there?” Jack shouted from the entrance.

Daniel looked away into nothing as he tried to construct an answer that could fully articulate the things he had seen and felt. He looked back at Jack with a bright smile. “It’s beautiful Jack. There’s so much you haven’t seen.”

Jack smiled. "I'll see you around."

Daniel frowned in confusion for a moment and then nodded. Jack took a last look at his friend and the huge generator, then turning his back, he left the room as the form of his friend began to blur into a mass of light.

Jack ran as fast as his legs could take him. There was that disgusting feeling in his gut. Like the one the first time he had left his best friend to die on Klorel's ship. But they had all survived it. The present always seemed of no consequence when the future was at stake. He knew what future was at stake. It was one with a free Earth without Goa’uld rule. An Earth that could thrive again. It wasn’t about saving the planet and being a hero. It was about freedom.

It didn’t make losing a friend any less painful. He couldn’t let his regret get in the way though. There was still so much to do.

Jack stepped into the ring room and reached into his pocket for the remote.

“You! You will pay for this!” the heavy voice startled Jack as he spun around and straight into the hold of Anubis' ribbon device.

Daniel looked at the glow of the cylinder. It was quite beautiful. It was odd seeing through the eyes of the ascended, almost everything held a beauty. Even the actual process of being able to visually strip the layers of an object and seeing it at its most base level, at it’s sub atomic, was beautiful. Daniel slowly let himself drift towards the light and energy of the generator. He could feel the particles dance just with the proximity of his presence. For a moment it was just as beautiful as the rest of universe.

Jack felt himself slipping as the device bore into his skull, into his brain. His stomach clenched and the bile made its way to his mouth. His head felt as though he was on fire. Part of him knew they had succeeded. While Anubis stood there killing Jack, Daniel would destabilize the generator, destroy the ship and render the weapons array harmless. They would win. No, saving the planet never got old.

Something in Jack sparked. A spark that sprang from hope. He felt his mind trying to repel the weight bursting in his head. Jack willed his hand to into his pocket to retrieve the remote, the other hand reaching around Anubis' wrist and trying to push it away.

It was time. Daniel pushed through the casing of the cylinder and melted into the energy. For a single moment everything in the universe seemed to make sense.

A rumbling sound and tremor within the ship distracted Anubis and his hand came away from Jack’s head.

“What have you done?” he said, his voice reverberating with anger.

Jack lifted his heavy head and looked at Anubis, his breath hitching. “Go to hell you sonofabitch.”

“NO!” Anubis yelled as he brought his hand up again, only this time Jack lunged forward and threw Anubis to the ground. Jack managed to get a punch of surprise past, but in his weakened condition it did nothing. Anubis retaliated with a hard back swinging punch that sent Jack sprawling. Anubis walked into the middle of the room and stood over Jack, bringing the ribbon device down, the crystal already aglow. Jack pressed down on the remote in his other hand. The rings descended.

Sam, Teal’c, Maybourne and Paul stood in the storage room waiting to see the rings descend. Waiting to find out if Earth had any time left. They stood silently in the room, no worry of an ambush or attack as charred remains made the gate room into a mass graveyard and any alive Jaffa were now being rounded and locked up by the sufficient number of ‘real’ SGC personnel and friends that had been brought by Ry’ac.

No one dared to raise the possibility that Jack wasn’t alive.

Which was why they all rushed forward as the rings made an entrance by dramatically whooshing towards the floor. They watched anxiously as the matter stream entered the rings leaving behind a semi-conscious Jack, the rings then disappeared.

Sam rushed to him and placed her hands on both his cheeks. “Jack?”

Jack slowly opened dazed eyes and mumbled, “Hey, how’s it goin'?”

Sam laughed with tears in her eyes. “Good, great… you?”

“Oh yeah… good… little headache, but good.”

Everyone looked at each other with relief, a little fear of the future and little regret of the past. Perhaps, finally, the time to look forward had arrived. The euphoria was so great that no one thought to question why there was a dismembered hand adorned with a ribbon device laying next to Jack’s head.

One day into freedom, the base was teeming with people. Mostly SGC personnel making acquaintance with their old home again and Tok’ra that had offered to help get the SGC running, take the Jaffa prisoners and other various things.

Jack looked through the briefing room window at a group of Anubis guards being taken by the Tok’ra through the Stargate.

“They would show up when we don’t need them anymore,” Jack muttered as Teal’c came to stand at his side.

“Rebuilding must start somewhere, O’Neill.”

Paul walked in to see the two men standing at the window, looking down into the gate room. He stood back at a distance and tried to recount the times he had walked into this briefing room to watch the best and the brightest of the SGC at work. It felt almost surreal to once again stand there as if nothing had happened. As if they’d stood there for the past eight years. He almost felt as though any moment General Hammond would walk out and greet him with a warm handshake even though the Pentagon rarely sent good news. Or had rarely sent good news.

Most definitely sensing another presence, Jack turned around, surprised to see Paul standing in the middle of the room. Jack smiled and walked over to give the man a pat on the shoulder.

“Major. Feeling a little déjà vu there?” Jack asked with a knowing smile.

“You could say that.” Paul smiled back. “I’ve just been talking to some Tok’ra.”

“Still as annoying?”

“Yes, I would say so. Also still as forthcoming as ever… or not. But they’ve been assessing the satellite array situation. They think we may still be able to control the array from the SGC, but they’re going to have to take a closer look.”

Jack looked at Teal’c with familiar and welcome annoyance. “Of course they are.”

“Any news of our off-world allies?” Teal’c asked and turned away from the window through which he had been watching Ry’ac in conversation with a pretty Tok’ra woman.

“No, but I’ve scheduled a briefing for tomorrow morning with a Councilor Tar’mok,” Paul said, received a grin from Jack.

“Look who decided to join us,” Sam said entering with Cassandra and Janet at her sides.

“Hey, what took you so long?” Jack asked, grinned at the trio.

“Well, we had to look good for the saviours of the planet,” Janet commented.

Sam’s smile faltered slightly as a look passed between her and Jack, Teal’c turning back towards the window. Daniel’s absence came back to haunt them once again. His presence had been so brief it was almost as though he had never been there and now his friends seemed to feel the pain of loss even more than before. Gate or no gate, SG-1 without Daniel Jackson was not SG-1 and they all felt it.

Cassandra walked over to Jack and gave him a hug. “How’s the arm?”

Jack looked down at the sling and shrugged. “I’ll survive. Cut myself worse shaving.” Jack put his uninjured arm around Cassandra’s shoulders and took her to the window of the briefing room.

“See that? That’s yours. One day, you’re going to help us get home. You’re going to tell us that we have a long journey ahead of us. So you look after this place,” Jack instructed with a warm smile as Cassandra frowned, obviously confused, but nodded anyway.

When Jack turned back from the window, he saw everyone in the room staring at him, their faces unable to mask the surprise.

Jack smiled at Sam. “Carter? Maybe now would be a good time for that talk,” he said motioning his head towards Cassandra.

Sam nodded, unable to believe that all the times she had wanted to turn back time, the option had been right there.

Cassandra slowly walked down the silent corridors of the SGC, a smile on her face and her heart skipped a few beats. It had been so long since she had seen these dear friends of hers. And the things that had happened, how she wanted to tell them everything. But she knew the rules.

Cassandra looked at the envelope in her old wrinkled hands and sighed, wondering what new future it held. She carefully placed it in one of the folds of her dress.

"Okay, they're here," a speaker in the corridor called out.

Cassandra stepped in front of the bay doors and let them slide open. She walked in to see them all there. Still so exuberant and filled with energy. Their eyes hadn't been dulled by the tragedies that had befallen them in the future not yet encountered. That was why Cassandra was here.

Cassandra looked up at the confused group. "Hello, Jack."

Startled, Jack turned to stare at her. Cassandra walked up to the base of the ramp, looked at them, unable to believe they were there, right in front of her. “Teal'c? Daniel?” she laughed, “I hardly recognized you with hair.”

Sam looked at Daniel and Teal'c, both of whom look puzzled by Cassandra’s remarks. Jack stepped forward frowning with curiosity, “Do...do we know you?”

Cassandra looked at Sam. “Sam will recognize me. Come closer.”

The group slowly walked down the base of the ramp, Sam in front. As she reached Cassandra, she suddenly smiled, her eyes lit up with recognition. “Oh my God,” she said hugging the woman. “Cassandra!”

Cassandra laughed and returned the embrace. “Dear Sam,” she said discreetly placing the envelope in Sam’s pocket as everyone watched her face in bewilderment.

“Excuse me,” Jack interrupted and tapped Sam on the shoulder. “Who is this?”

Sam stepped back. “Cassandra.”

“Cassie's thirteen years old.”

“Not anymore, Jack. I've been expecting you. My whole life, in fact. You entered the Stargate a few seconds too soon, so the flare threw you far into the future. I've come to send you back where you belong.”

“How did you know we'd come here?” Daniel asked.

“When I was old enough to understand, Sam explained what happened, and that I'd be the one to send you home.” Amongst other things, thought Cassandra.

“Like a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Sam said.

Cassandra nodded. “Mm-hmm. As much as I would love to spend more time with you, the timing must be precise. You have to go.”

“Already?” Sam complained. “But there's so much that you…”

“You of all people know I can't,” Cassandra answered.

Sam nodded with visible disappointment. Cassandra lifted her hand, and traced a finger around the stone in the dialing device strapped to her hand. It lit up with a green glow and the wormhole activated but without the usual burst of energy as SG-1 watched, questions obviously going through their minds.

Cassandra smiled. “I will tell you this... your journey's just beginning,” she said as they looked at her for a moment before going back to, hopefully, a new future.

Sam stood in the locker room, still in a state of confusion and bewilderment from having traveled to the past, future and then back home to the present. If flares could be predicted with precision and accuracy, then the Stargate could be used as a device for time travel. To what ends she wasn’t sure, as playing with the past meant huge implications for the future. But as an impartial observer, traveling throughout time would be an adventure greater than the ones they had encountered through the Stargate.

Tired, Sam sighed and pulled off the jacket. She would keep the clothes, a fond reminder of the latest adventure the Stargate had thrown them into. Sam threw the jacket onto the bench, the jacket stayed there for a moment and then slid to the floor. Muttering a curse, Sam bent down to retrieve the jacket, an envelope fell from one of the pockets as she did so.

Frowning, Sam looked at the envelope which had the name ‘Samantha Carter’ written across it. Sitting down on the bench, Sam opened the envelope. Inside she found a note and a smaller sealed envelope. The note read, ‘Do not open this envelope before May 1st 2002.’

The note was in her handwriting, her signature at the bottom. Sam sat and stared at the sealed envelope for a very long time.

“Under no circumstances must you go to P3X 4C3. The future of Earth depends on it. And it’s got my signature along with the colonel’s. Both our fingerprints are all over it too.” Sam passed the note to Daniel.

“And you’ve had this note since we got back from 1969?” Jack asked, unimpressed by the new information. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Actually, Colonel, Major Carter showed me this note the day she found it. We both concurred that opening it before the intended date may have undesirable repercussions,” Hammond said nodding towards the note. “We opened it last week, almost forgot to with all the chaos the replicators caused.”

“We must heed its warnings if the fate of the planet is indeed at stake. Those are strong words,” Teal’c said from beside Jack.

“I wonder what’s on… P3X 4C3,” Daniel said, frowning at the note in his hand, his wrist still aching from the encounter with Reese.

“Well, whatever it is, we’re not supposed to find out. I’d say the fate of the planet is something worth worrying about,” Sam spoke with the feeling that no one seemed especially worried. “Look, remember that note we got from the future, signed by you, Colonel? It was warning us about the Aschen, and we almost screwed things up anyway. This note is much more specific, and I’m guessing it’s because the future… us… remembered the note about the Aschen planet. Otherwise I would never be as specific as to say ‘the future of the planet depended on it.’”

Hammond nodded. “I agree with the Major which is why the address has been locked out of the dialing system.”

“What if we end up getting there anyway?” Daniel mumbled, oddly fixated with the words on the paper he still held.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Daniel?”

“Well, as I recall, we still ended up meeting the Aschen. There’s no guarantee that we won’t end up on P3X 4C3 some other way. Maybe it’s a fate thing,” Daniel said, finally pushing the note away. “Maybe if it’s supposed to happen it’ll happen anyway.”

Jack shrugged. “Well maybe time and fate can both be changed.”

Daniel nodded slowly in partial agreement, but the planet P3X 4C3 stayed with him for the rest of the day.

Jack pulled his jacket on as he pretended to listen to Sam about the decay rate of something or other that was sending him to sleep on his feet, while Teal’c walked along impassively, hands behind his back, hat strategically placed to cover the gold tattoo. Hammond walked into the corridor just as they neared the elevator, a jovial expression on his face.

Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned. “Join us for dinner sir? We’re going out for steak.”

Hammond smiled. “No, you all enjoy yourselves, I still have a lot to finish up here. Doctor Jackson not going with you?”

Jack looked at Sam. “He said he’d meet us down here,” Sam said.

Hammond nodded. “Well, you all have fun then and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”

They all bade Hammond ‘good night’ as he walked away, Jack pressed the button to call the elevator. “I tell you, that guy still has no idea of what being on time means.”

Sam smiled at the good-natured whining as they waited, Jack wondered if they’d be allowed into O'Malley's yet, as Daniel appeared at the end of the corridor adjusting his jacket.

“About time?” Jack said, over-playing the annoyance, making Daniel roll his eyes in response.

Daniel walked towards the elevator, an unsettling feeling still lingering in his gut since the arrival, or discovery, of the note. Or perhaps even before. In fact, when he’d awoken in the morning, there had been a feeling akin to déjà vu, only more intense and it had intensified throughout the day, peaking as he’d read the note. A part of him wanted so much to go to P3X 4C3 and test fate, but another part was afraid. Not real fear, rather instinctual fear. He shook the thoughts from his mind as he reached the corridor.

Jack rolled his eyes and said exasperatedly, “Finally.”

It was as he was about to step into the elevator it happened. An almost violent gust of wind came from nowhere and blew right through Daniel, shocked him and left him breathless for a moment.

“Whoa, what the hell was that?” Sam said looking at Daniel who appeared slightly shaken.

“Perhaps it is the ventilation,” Teal’c answered with a frown.

“You okay?” Jack asked and gave Daniel a pat on the back.

Daniel, still aimlessly searching for the source of the gust, turned to Jack. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Good. Let’s get outta here.” Jack stepped into the elevator.

Daniel took a step forward, but then without real reason turned back and looked into the corridor, as if to find something or someone there. Finding the corridor empty, and ignoring the gentle breeze that seemed to skim past his forehead and into his hair, he turned around and joined his friends.

- the end -